September 29, 2025 • 31 mins
Prop's friend, Tanjint Wiggy aka Tristian is the the elected Union negotiator for the health workers in the Inland Empire of California. We talk to him about the highs and lows of negotiating with the state, ICE raids, the jailing of David Huerta and how we can stand in solidarity with them.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Also media recording in progress.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Okay, check this out now.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
I have always been amazed by when I take a
second to actually tap into like my actual network of
just friends.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
You know, you have friends in categories, you know what
I'm saying. Like it's just like this, Yeah, like.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
You just don't really picture those things colliding or when
like your friends like meet each other and turns out
they know each other.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
It's the weirdest thing anyway for me and my.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Like podcast activists, you know, activism world, you know a
lot of times overlasts with the hip hop world because
you know, we believe with a lot of same stuff.
But like this one like really happened where I was
just like in my own network somebody I've known for
a while who I'm just now learning.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Your name is Tristan.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Yeah, yeah, I didn't know your name was Jason. Yeah exactly.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
You say, that's how wrap works, So introduce yourself however
you want to be introduced, yeah, you know, and then
let's let's get into it.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Hey, everybody, I'm a Tangent Wiggy aka Tristan Hacker. I
got a lot of other names too, but I'll keep
it to those for now. And I'm from Sam Bernardino UH,
and I'm an artist in the community with the with
propaganda as well as a state employee. I paid disability
claims for the State of California. And in my role
as a state employee, I am a union REPUH and
(01:29):
I'm an elected member of my union's executive board. So
I represent state employees from Ontario region, the Sam Bonardino
region and in between. And I'm on the bargaining team,
So I go up to Sacramento and help prepare for
bargaining against Governor of news of his team as well.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Words.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
So so this is like with this is frontline energy, okay,
which I love about it because it's like, like you said,
like your your day job is in some ways it's
it's so crazy because it's like as far away as
that is from the actual like worker per se, like
you have just this parasocial, like intimate relationship with everybody
(02:06):
that works for the state because like you're seeing, you know,
I'm saying, what they're going through and how great it
is to think inside of such a here be a bureaucracy,
there's somebody there that's like, no, I'm actually like fighting
for y'all. Yeah, I appreciate that word. So first of all,
tell them what the union is. Which union were talking about?
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Yeah, s isn't sam E is in everybody I is
an incredible you as in Union Service Employees International Union,
but one thousand, right, So SEIU is one of the
biggest international unions in the world. And everyone out there
has probably seen the purple purple SEIU stuff on all
kinds of stuff, from nurses to state workers, in home
(02:45):
support services workers and home care nurses, and there's a
lot of different people that are under SCIU. More broadly,
state employees in California are SEIU one thousand, So we're
local one thousand, and that's the broader union that.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
I'm a part of all of Cali.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Okay, you know, all all hundred thousand state employees that
are represented, damn Okay. And but I am elected to
the executive board of DLC seven o four, which is
the Inland Empire, well the Ontario Samarandino, part of the
Inland Empire's chapter.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Word Ontario Sammarandino. Okay, this is going to be very
Cali specific. Like obviously this is everybody here who listens
ain't from here. So like I've I've cracked many LA
and I E jokes and just like you know, throughout
throughout our time, you know what I'm saying. I like
to say that I have an IE passport stamped like
I have my guy.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
I worked in Pomona.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
See I didn't never lived there, Okay, but you know
what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
So my strong connection to Pomona as far as I've seen,
I've seen you.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
You absolutely that's what I mean. Like I'm a naturalized citizen.
I got a green card. I got I got an
I E Green card because like I worked at Pomona.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
You know, foundation was in Pomona. My condemn Lights was
in Pomona.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
For y'all listeners, These are like the hip hop and
poetry spots that I kind of grew up because since
I'm you know, born in South Centric but from the
six to six, so you me, coming from La Penteve, Linda,
Pomono is just so much more closer than La Merk Park,
you know.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
What I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
So yeah, so.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
I ended up just kind of like spending a lot
of time there and then for high school, I got
I got bussted to the Inland Empire. So I got
bussed I went to school out of district because my
parents split up. It's a long story, but anyway.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
It happens a lot. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
So that being said, like I have a lot of
love for the Inland Empire and spent a lot of
time there.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
So that's what I was like, I got I got
a visa, I got a ie visa.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Absolutely, Yeah. But that being said, what would you say?
Speaker 1 (04:36):
I mean, if it's kind of like I'm kind of
springing this one on you, but like, what would you
say would be something that's like unique, a unique thing
that someone from where you guys are at, like a
service worker where you guys are at, it might be
a unique issue that's specific to them that wouldn't be
somewhere else.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
I'll do two because I feel like I need to
to kind of to answer it.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Well.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
One is that the Inland Empire in Highland, which is
a city kind of a little connected city to sanm Maerdino.
Highland has Patent State Hospital which is basically Arkham Asylum.
You know, it's basically Arkham Asylum from the Batman comics,
which is it's a hospital for the criminally insane. Okay, yeah,
you know it's like like in other words, like you've
committed crimes, but you have mental health issues. Yeah, so
(05:23):
you're not in the regular prison, but you're not in
the regular mental hospital. You are in the prison for
the mental patients. And it's a massive twenty four hour facility.
And I feel like, even though I work for EDED
doing disability claims, because I'm in a regional chapter with
the patent State hospital folks, they get a lot of
the attention of what the union organization does because twenty
(05:44):
four hour facilities are very, very taxing, and they're very
right for abuse and for people to go through really
difficult things. And then the second thing I would say
would be the fact that where we are, we have
a lot of we service a lot, maybe more of
my job, right, we service a lot of undocumented people,
Like a lot of the disability claims I pay for
the state I paid a undocumented folks. So which is
(06:04):
one reason that the ice stuff has been hitting so
close to home. And also people may not realize that
California doesn't regulate about documented status the way that the
federal government does. Right, so, as long as you could
prove your wages to the state of California in a legit,
straight paper work kind of way. We don't care that
you're in document and we're going to pay you because
you're a worker and you need our services.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Facts.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
And like, I love that you said that, because when
they talk about like how the undocumented don't pay taxes,
I'm like, yes, they.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Do, Yes, they do, Yes, they do, Yes, they.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Pay a lot.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yeah, if you can think of just off the head,
Like obviously over the years, the negotiations and different things
that have come up varied over time. We'll get to
the ice raids, because that's obviously where everything got super
ratchet up, ratpeted up, But like what was some of
the most like I don't, like, I don't know how
would I phrase this where you were like, this is
the most reasonable request we can ask for, Like this
(06:55):
is just like I don't this is so I don't
understand why this is so hard for y'all. Like this
is incredibly I just want to like calibrate because a
lot of times people here the here to wear a union.
They got all these pictures about what the things are
and what this you know what I'm saying. They got
all these pictures, But I'm just like fam. You ever
heard of a five day week? Yeah, work week, that's unions,
(07:16):
ma Gi, you know what I'm saying. So like that
seems very reasonable, you know what I mean? So if
you could think of like some of the things you've
had to negotiat, what was some of the most Like
this is, I don't understand why this is so hard
for y'all.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
So have you ever heard you have ever heard the
phrase every crisis is an opportunity? Right, Yes, you've heard
people say that. Right. So, my union and other unions
have been pushing for telework, you know, being my entire
twenty years with the state. I'll be seventeen years veteran
with the state as of December. Right, Wow, the entire
time we wanted telework. It took the quarantine crisis of
(07:47):
twenty twenty, twenty twenty one to actually get the state
to agree to mass implement telework. And so that was like,
that's a crisis that we made an opportunity. That's like, hey,
we need we needed telework. So many people are also
caring for the kids, are also caring for their elderly,
people in the home, caring for a new baby, or
you know, take you know, just at the house so
the contractors could come fix their plumbing. You know, it's
(08:08):
likeful like tell of work has been something that we
thought was very reasonable for a long time that it
took it took until the COVID crisis for us to
get telework. And we feel like we're pioneers in that
in a workforce way, because now there's lots of places
that have telework, partly because I think the work that
unions like us.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Have done that's dope, man.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
You know, obviously coming out of the pandemic and recently
like a lot of companies are like, hey, you guys
can come back to the office and people are like
absolutely not.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Wow, Like why.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Take it away? Are you taking away once you got it? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Yeah, why would we do that?
Speaker 1 (08:41):
I know my own like my wife, you know, she
pre pandemic at the spot she was working as she
was working at a nonprofit. You know, she was like, Okay,
I was touring so much and she was just like, dude,
like you want me in this office at a certain time.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
It's stressed on the whole family.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
I had to get one daughter to school, is you know,
just breaking her neck to figure stuff out. She's like,
I'm done with the stuff that can be done at
a desk within an hour. She's like, I'm just I'm
just scrolling the internet. Like I'm just like, like I'm
trying to tell you you're paying for lights, you're paying
for you're paying for audi. There's no reason, like I
(09:19):
don't have to be here, you know, And so she pushed.
She was just like, you know, looked up her own rights,
you know, figured it out and you know, without telling
her business. She uh, she actually helped the staff unionize.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
There, Like you know what I'm saying. She was like, look, man,
it's ridiculous. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
You got a real one, Yeah, don't don't. Don't google
it anyway.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
So, yeah, so something that you had to you know,
you said, you actually go to the state, you you
interact with Gavin Newsom, you know, which is the whole thing.
Sure we have our opinions on mister Newsom, sure, you know,
and like how allied are you as an ally.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Like you always say and you know, if you were complicated.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
We can't always agree on the same things, you know
what I'm saying, Like, but like that's correct. There has
been there have been times where it's been like, hey,
you know what, sou he's.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Doing something dope, and then other times when he's not, yeah,
doing something though the other times it's like broh, who
are you?
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Yeah, right, like what is happening right now?
Speaker 1 (10:27):
So obviously you know when you go up there, you're
you're not interacting with him, You're interacting with his team, right.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Yeah. The one time I actually met him, I went
to the California Democratic Party convention in twenty twelve in
San Diego, and I just went with a friend, just
showed up. I was not a delegate. I was a
Union rep already, but I had no official role. I
just showed up and walked around the San Diego Hilton,
which is also where they founded San Diego Comic Con. Yeah,
and I got to meet a lot of officials, including
(10:54):
some inland ones, including some really famous people like Nancy
Pelosi's daughter. But I went up to I went up
to left the time Lieutenant Governor Newsom and basically thanked
him because he had just voted against the tuition hype
for the cal States and UC. And I was and
I went to cal say, Sammary, you know I have
my master's in poetry, my MFA and poetry from cal
say Sammarino. And so I was still a student at
(11:15):
the time, and he had just voted against a tuition increase.
So there's a picture of me meeting him from that
from that time.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
That's all. That's great.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Yeah, yeah, And he had just done something good and
he and he said humble things about it when I
thanked him for it. So my one personal interaction with
him was good. But since then, when in the capacity
of the union, I deal with his bargaining team, like
my our bargaining team deals with his bargaining team instacramental where.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Okay, so give me one something that's been like opposite
where what they were asking for. Yeah, it was like
this is completely unreasonable, guys, Like what are you talking about?
Speaker 3 (11:43):
So every three years, every three years, our state employee
contract goes up, uh huh, right, And so around the
two year mark we start gearing up negotiations, you know,
and the state newsom has the power to summon us
for negotiation, and we have the power to summon his
team for negotiations. Right, So at that two year mark
we start negotiating. So in twenty twenty two, we started
negotiating about the twenty twenty three expiring, you know, so
(12:06):
that by the end of twenty three we could have
a new contract. Then your state employee, it's difficult. It's
hard to strike, right, Like you have to have an
extremely high threshold to strike. Like if you're a a
private company in you're union, it's a lot easier to strike.
You guys don't want to strike, you strike Like that
episode of The Simpsons, the omber became the union. They're
just like dental plan. You know, they started striking right
with the state because we provide essential services to Californians
(12:29):
in need. It is an extremely high threshold in terms
of what it would take for us to legally be
allowed to strike, right, and Newsom and his team know that,
so they could kind of like really slow walk negotiations
and stop negotiating in good faith. But as long as
there's like you know what, there's signs of life on
the hospital ticker of the negotiations, then we're still obligated
(12:49):
to not strike down, right. So in twenty twenty three
our contract expired, Newsom was offering us one or two
percent raised for the next three years, and meanwhile he
was going on TV saying, oh, debate Ron.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Desantish during that time.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
I want to help the screen Actors Guild finish their
contract and the Screenwriters Guild, and I want to So
it's like, well, whoa bro, where are your kids? Why
are you trying to go help their kids?
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Yeah, you know, it was.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Like, why you're not negotiating with us, but you're on
TV talking about I want to help Harrison Ford and
I want to help, you know, I want to help
the actors get their contract. And it's like, so i'd something.
I I made a TikTok recently about how I think
my h my lefty friends, and I'm lefty to help
of course, but like artist friends, anti establishment friends, you know,
leftist friends, I think hate Democrats in stupid ways, whereas
(13:35):
there are smart ways to hate democrats right, Like, to me,
the stupid, the stupid way to hate Democrats is to
be like, oh, both parties are the same, I'm going
to sit out and let Republicans win and hurt us worse. Yeah, right,
to me, the smart way to hate on Democrats is
to realize when they're doing a good thing here, they're
distracting you from a bad thing here, and then they're
doing a bad thing here. They're distracting you. You know,
(13:56):
it's like a good thing, right, So, like Newsome at
times might be capitulating to Trump on something federally, but
then he does something good state domestically in the state
to kind of keep his reploff. Or the reverse. Maybe
he's fighting with Trump on something and that's good, but
he's doing some wax shit like slow walking our contract negotiates.
We're not Hollywood actors, right, so when our contract goes up,
you didn't get the news about it, like with the
(14:17):
Screen Actors Guild, because that's slapping your Hulu, that's stopping
your Disney. Plus, you know you hear all about that.
When our contract expires, you don't hear about it unless
you're on disability, unless you're on one of our programs.
And then you can't go to the office because because
we're understaffed or because something's going wrong with us. Right,
So twenty twenty three was a pissed off time for
us because he's offering us peanuts. He was offering to
help everybody else. Let me help the actors, let me
(14:38):
help the screenwriters, Let me fight Ron DeSantis, Let me
go go to Washington and have federal fights. Meanwhile, we're
our contract expired. And when our contract expired, there's things
we lose. There's stuck things we lose, there's benefits we lose.
And he just so he has had us in a bind.
So I organized a work site picket at my office
in San Unardino a one hundred and two degree weather.
We can't strike, but we can pick it. Wow, Okay,
(15:00):
I didn't know that, you know, so that that's part
of being a union rep is like what are my tools?
You know? Like what are my tools? Like? No, your
know your arsenal, know your weaponry, right, And so I
organized to picket. We had signs me and and I'm
just I tear up and I think about this because
I had coworkers, but I didn't think we're going to
march in the heat with me. I thought it might
have been me by myself.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
You know.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
I was one of only one or two union reps
in my office at the time. Now we have four
because I've been recruiting, you know, and I have good
people in my office, you know, But at the time,
I was one of the only union reps. There's people
who I knew had legits get the system about the
union I didn't expect it. But every single lunch, not
just my lunch, at every lunch, we had people picketing
in front of my office with signs, people were honking
in support of us. Within a month or two, we
(15:39):
got an eight percent raise on that next negotiation. Let's go,
you know. And so you know, when we fight, we win,
When we unite, we win. You know, like you don't.
We're not fighting for nothing. And that was a dru
or die moment for me as a union organizer because
I hadn't had many real fights yet, and I had
I couldn't really point to my co workers and say, hey,
we did this and got this. We did this and
got this. So the fact that I got my co
workers tomorrow marching one hundred two degree with me instead
(16:01):
of just sitting in the air condition having lunch, and
that we won that. A few weeks later, they said,
you're going to get a eight percent rais that's hard?
You know? Like I was like, yes, like proof of concept.
I have proof of concept. I'm not just wasting my
coworker's time. I could tell you there's a tangible results
when we organized together.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
See that's these are the type of like wins. We
need to hear because we've been we've been taking some ails,
like yes, sir speaking to l so, y'all's y'all's s
CiU one thousand.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
You know they were ware a right, that's his name.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
M David Wad is from one of the California s
CiU branches. He's tightly connected to our union.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
But he's not one, he's not one thousand, okay words,
but he is c CiU, so he is part of us.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
So when I, you know, invaded our streets, yes, he
was outside, you know, doing what he had to do.
I know s s CiU set up the thing at
Alvera Street. Yeah, they set up a location there for
like to educate. It was just such a beautiful thing.
But the first thing that got me out the house
was the rally for when he was detained. So like, man,
(17:01):
tell me what was going on and as much as
you can behind closed doors. So most of the listeners
here know this story because this show is like pretty
tapped in.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
But yeah, right m hm.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
So what I would say is this to me an
opportunity to talk about like the cultural differences with Inland
and LA right, because the Union is very progressive right,
But the Inland is a much more conservative area, right,
And compared to Los Angeles, compared to San Francisco, compared
to you know, it's not as big of a city.
It's more impoverished.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Yeah, you know that.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
There's a lot of you know, even just the geography
of it, right. People me grew up in the city,
like my mom grew up around where you're talking about
day and a month day. I was born in the monthday, right,
But there was a suburban exodus in the late eighties
of like people who wanted to go from that east
of late six to six area to raise their kids
in the Inland because that was the more conservative suburbs.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Right.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
So for me, every time something like that happens, with
something like a David Watar or something in one of
the bigger cities happens and we're fighting with the with
the right wing about things, it's a matter of me
educating my Inland people about why we care and we're okay,
you know, and then there's always some people and I
got to respect this. As a union organizer, I really
have to be able to talk with my more conservative
members because there are people in the union that are
(18:10):
not super progressive warriors like me. They're just workers who
want to be represented. Right.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
I was gonna say, that's actually a good point to
hammer down because like last year, one of the shows
on our network covered a union strike at a I
want to say, it was like a metal plant in Alabama,
like in the sticks of Alabama.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
These are good old boys from the South.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
But one thing we can agree on, me is like,
pay me what I'm worth, Like yo, saying like it
just seemed pretty simple to me. I don't understand how
you got to be a progressive to want to be
paid what you're worth, you know. So so I think
that that's a good point to say that, Like, even
in a rather conservatives place, all of us want to
go home and eat, you know, and earn the wages
(18:52):
that I.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
That I should be. Pay me what I'm worth.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
It just it seemed that simple, exactly. And so so
that's a tension that happens, right, And this is kind
of this is probably a discussion that happens among a
lot of progressive groups in general, that like, there's people
who want you to focus on your issue, but there's
also people who recognize that we're part of an interconnected society,
where it's like, if the immigrants are being harmed, then
the laborers are being harmed. If the artists are being harmed,
(19:15):
then the nurses are being harmed, if the teachers. You know.
So there's always that divide, But in the Inland, which
is a more conservative area, there's especially that divide between
people who are like, I don't want my union fighting
about immigration and ice. I don't want my union fighting
about the environment.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Wow, I don't want the.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Union fighting about LGBT. I just want the union to
fight for my race. I want the union to fight
for my telework and that's all I want them to do, right.
So that's a big thing for me is to kind
of explain to people how, no, David where that fighting
for immigrant rights is him fighting for you as a worker. Okay,
you know, because if they came for then they could
come for you, you know. So that's kind of how
I see that.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Yeah, did you feel like it landed?
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Well, it always does with some and it doesn't with some.
You know, I'll be honest with you. There are people
who just left the union after the Charlie Kirk killing.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Oh wow.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
In my opinion, they're going to really weird logic jumps
when they're like, well, the union endors Kamala, and Kamala
has supporters that are happy about Charlie Kirk dines with
in the union. Yeah, I'm like, uh so you don't
want that raise.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
You really ran string in that joint, you know.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
That is definitely the all Bay Sunny in Philadelphia meme
of just you like tie these strings together, like bruh,
I don't know what you're talking about.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
Yeah, right, And so, to be honest, there's been some
of that. You know, I'll say this that Charlie Kirk
gave us more of that than that immigration stuff. But
there's always those few whispers from a few people who
are like they're just not down with the broader cause.
Those of us who are in the leadership of the union,
I think we have solidarity. You know, we have solidarity
not just with other state workers, but with anyone who's
in any SAAU. Yeah, with Team Skirts and anyone who's
(20:42):
in any union, and with Californians, anyone who is somebody
who is in a vulnerable group, you know. And so
there's just always that difference of the opinion. I would say,
over let's say sixty percent hits in a good way
and in my area because it's so conservative, let's say
forty percent, it doesn't you know some.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Way you work on that's interesting? Okay. My last two questions.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Would be this, like I've given them both, Like, so
what do y'all currently kind of like pushing for. I'm
assuming it has a lot to do with immigration and
ice rays and stuff, but also in what ways can
we as just a broader community help?
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Well? How do I put this? So I work in
downtown sam Ardino, okay, and my disability office is next
to the Mexican Consulate.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Let's go.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
First of all, we need to paint the picture of
Sam Bernardino. I really feel like, yeah, for those that
don't know California, the nature of what Sam Bernardino is
is a part of this story that you might be missing.
First of all, Like, okay, all that you pictured, everything
that everybody else pictures around what you thought Compton was
in the nineties, all the pictures that you think YO
(21:55):
said that you go, oh, it's really Sam Bernardino.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
So I mean I'm trying to say this in a
way that's a descriptive and not derogatory, because obviously like
it's always Kali love for me, and you know, I'll
of course, yeah. But there is a certain there's a
certain part of Sam Bernardino that feels like like just
a spirit of like we just gave up the walking Dead,
(22:21):
the walking Debt's exactly it. It feels like a zombie land,
like just this dark I remember the Carousel mall, Like
you walk by that mall, it's eerie. It just feels
like when people talk about the Forgotten Man, the Forgotten America.
I'm like Sam Bernardino, like, yes, Win done gave up
on that city.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
Yeah, it had recently gone from two hundred and thirty
thousand people to only two hundred thousand people. But also
probably because a lot of people that left were the
most impoverished people. Our poverty rate went from let's say,
in the post Bush Shoo recession, like twenty ten, we
had a thirty percent poverty rate. We were the most
impopulous city in the state. We've gotten down to like
seventeen percent poverty, which is still bad. Yeah, you know,
that's still almost one one out of five people. What
(23:01):
was it? It's very diverse, I mean, and someone who
pays anention in to politics it has all the problems
exactly like you said, all the problems that people talk
about when they say the important problems. It's post industrial,
there's gun violence, it's diverse, there's poverty. You know, there's
environmental issues because it's such a warehouse empire. Yeah, because
it's such a you know, area of freight and warehouses.
It's like the air quality is some of the worst
in the state. Yeah, you know, we we have real problems.
(23:22):
You know, we got real problems. And in downtown downtown
Sammer do you know, is a lot of where the
problems are. We want to get it, like downtown Redlands
and downtown Riverside and some of the other NICs of downtowns.
But it's just not there yet. And there are people
absolutely working on that. And like there are a couple
of alleyways in the city that sounds so it sounds
so humble, but we have a couple of alleyways in
the city that got five hundred thousand dollars grants recently
to kind of make them an ARC's alleyway to kind
(23:43):
of look like something more like the Claremont Village let's go,
you know, And so yeah, you know, and so we
are always working on it, and I will always you know,
as somebody who founded co founded the Inland Empire Music
Award Show and other platforms that I put on not
just my art, but I helped put on other artists
in the Inland. I will always tell you about the
amazing tacoic you to get in my CD, the amazing
small businesses you can spport my city, the amazing art community, yeah,
(24:04):
put on by my by my ogs like Judah one
of Pomona, like Noah James of the Inland and Lisa
j and many others you know who helped build a
really beautiful ecosystem, like there's there's please come come to summery,
you know, and hit me up and I'll take you
to save beautiful sports of it, you know.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
But yes, it's it's rough to your point. I know,
I want you to get to the next thing. But
to your point that was the same as that picture
of content to where it's like yes, like in the
sense that like we know it's dangerous, we know there's poverty,
we know there's that, but there's beauty here stuff, you know,
and let me come like and again like just the
hood rules where it's like well, you with me, like,
so you're good, you know what I'm saying, Like you know,
(24:42):
and some of them may yeah, like we can, we
can definitely shine lights like I said, Like, you know,
I've talked about Noah James on this show.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
You know I'm saying, I've talked about Juda one.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
You know that I talked about sincere C four, like
the people that like I came I came up with.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
You know what I'm saying, Yeah, the Inland Empire.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
A lot of the stuff that the nation attributes to
LA is really ie. You know what I'm saying, Yes, sir,
And we know, like we know because they're not lying
about it. We know that matter of fact, nobody has
pride about I. He got pride, boy, Like they're like no, no, no, no,
we are to Inland.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
And I love that about y'all.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
Anyway, I'm wearing my Jaden Daniels check it out.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Yup, yup, yop yup.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
You know, yeah, because I got a highs I gotta hides.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
So yeah, okay, So anyway, so your office is next
to the Mexican Consulate.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Mexican Consulate, right, and so I've actually spent my you know,
I've been at this office in Samaradino since twenty fourteen,
and five years before that I worked in the Riverside office.
But I've been in my office in Chamuary No. Twenty fourteen,
and I have gone to so many I've infiltrated so
many right wing protests that are in front of the
Mexican Consulate. Yes, and like and like, so I'll go
hang out with them. They're like, oh, what do you guys,
(25:47):
what are you guys doing? And then I'll like take
their markers, I'll take their posters and I'll just kind
of be like, oh, yeah, maybe you have a point there.
And then I'm like, I'm in my office. And then
my secretary is, you know, the secretary of my office
is like, oh, where'd we get these markers? Loot? I
got you some mark because it's you know. And so
I'll infiltrate right wing protests. But but on the flip side, lately,
you know, Ice knows they could come to my corner.
And my corner in downtown has the Chase Bank, the
(26:10):
Wells Fargo Bank, the Mexican Consulate, the Disability Office, the
old City Hall building. Like it's it's like the hub.
It's one of the downtown hubs of the city, and
Ice has been coming and snatching people up in front
of my office. It happened. It's happened twice at least
in the last month. And one of the days that
it happened, I was in the office. I called my congressman,
I called the mayor. I got all the local authorities involved.
(26:31):
By the end of the day, the horse mounted unit
of my city's police was like patrolling to make sure
Ice wasn't messing with us. Wow, And I tell you, homie,
what a weird place this is. I've never been so
happy to see the regular cops.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Right right right, you know, what is this?
Speaker 3 (26:44):
What is this? Timeline? Are you doing to me? What
are you doing to me? We're like, I'm in I'm
in seven eleven at six in the morning, getting my
getting my coffee, and I see regular cops. I'm like,
thank you, sir for at least jong a warret.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
Yeah, yeah, exactly, rest me, yeah exactly.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
You know, because Ice is doing none of that, none
of it. None of that. They're not doing warrant to
do it. They took I don't want to cry. They
pushed a wife out of the way. She's like what
are you doing? They took the husband, tossed him in
the band and drove off. It all happened so fast
that no one was able to film it. Damn you, No,
in this era, no one was able to film it.
And they know how they're doing it that fast.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
That's the trick.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Yeah, that's the trick.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
That's what we've been telling.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Like a lot of people have asked me, just friends
from out of town, like, dude, has it has it
toned down? And I was like, no, it just went underground.
It's like they just they're a lot more sneaky now,
Like it's not this big display of power. It's more
the sniper guerrilla warfare to where like you said, you
just get in your gas like you usually how your
plumbing gas and then somebody just and it's so fast,
(27:42):
I can't film it, you know what I'm saying. Yes,
And the hard part for me is like is to
your point to where it's like, since you know, identifying yourself,
like you might not even be an ice agent.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
And that's a thing that happened. That's the thing that
there are people who impersonate law enforcement officers and go
harassed people just on a racist basis. Yeah, you know,
and and and it's arguable that the Trump administration is
empowering people like that. M h Man. Yeah, so so yeah,
it absolutely is happening. To be honest, my union, Uh,
we're going to always support the actions that are fighting
(28:13):
back against it. But the but the only things that
we really have jurisdiction to actually fight h is the
labor religious word, you know. And so you know, we
we actually just got telework extended in exchange for delaying
our rais you know, because the states really broke right
now for a lot of reasons. Yeah, we delayed for
two years a raise that we were about to get
in July, so there were already couple of months past
(28:34):
not having that raise. But in exchange, we got our
telework agreement extended for two years. So what I would
tell people who want to get involved is like, if
you are in a workplace that has a union, get involved,
you know. Or if you had someone in your life
like me who does union stuff outside of work. Next
time they invite you to a phone banker, next time
they invite you to an event, go support Because we're
absolutely we were at the No Kings protest, We're at
(28:56):
the anti ice protest like like like we're in the
unofficial capacity, we're gonna we're going to do all those
kind of things to support the broader community. And even
though it's my union. For example, on Wednesdays we have
a lot of our meetings, we're doing a phone banking
for Prop fifty right, which is the whole redistrict, which
gives us the power to take some seats away from
the Republicans. I know there's a lot of there's a
debate to be had there, but ultimately it's us trying
(29:17):
to keep some power away from the right wing. And
you don't have to be in my union to go
to those phone banks. If you want a phone bank
to help Prop fifty pass, so we could take some
Republican seats away from the federal House representatives, hit me up,
hit up anybody you know in the Inland Empire chapter
of SEIU, and we can bring you to a phone
bank in Ontario and we'll get pizza or barbecue or whatever,
and we could phone bank against these dang Republicans.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Yeah, man, Man Tangent, I appreciate this, man, I appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
Man. I've wanted to have wanted you to have me on.
I love your show and I love you man. I
think you're such a cool dude. I think you wise.
I think that you're engaged in the community in a
cool way. You're an artists I respect a lot, and
not just me. I mean people friends like sincere like
explain to me why you're significant to them and why
you're an influence and stuff like that. So I appreciate
even being on your radar.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Brother, man, stop it, stop it some more. I'm just kidding.
My wife says that, okay, so perfect.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Well, then tell us how people need to hear your music,
how they can get in touch with you, how they
can follow you.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Give me all the links.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
Oh yeah, yeah yeah. So uh t A n J
I n T is tangent. You know you can find
me on everything on Twitter, Instagram, you know, Facebook. What
was it the Inland Empire Music Award show that I'm
a co director and co founder of. Is that it's
only Empire dot com. That's its only Empire dot com.
And also I want to encourage Inland Empire artists. You know,
(30:34):
you still have from now to the end of September
to submit to the award show, and we've been doing
it for three years. We partner with nonprofits and businesses.
We throw a dope ass's skinny gala.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Yeah you know, a award.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
Show at a little art center in downtown senmmer Den
with the Garcia Center for the Arts. Or we give
away real trophies and real awards and we have red
carpet media and performances. It's like it's like the Grammys
for the Inlant Empire. So you know, please get involved
in Its only Empire dot com. That's only Empire now.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Now.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
Famli Likely is my group with Diesel. We got a
new album out that's like scam likely on your phone,
but fam likely because it's likely that you're family hitting
you up. Fam Likely. West Coast Avengers is my first group,
the more nerd core Inland Empire stuff and we got
an album that came out just under a year ago now,
The Harvest. So I'm everywhere.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
You can catch everything all over the place.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Yeah, Tangent Wiggle, thank you so much, my brother, Hey.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
Thank you man much love.
Speaker 5 (31:24):
It could happen Here is a production of cool Zone Media.
For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website
cool Zonemedia dot com or check us out on the
iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
You can now find sources for it could happen here
listened directly in episode descriptions. Thanks for listening.
Also media recording in progress.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Okay, check this out now.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
I have always been amazed by when I take a
second to actually tap into like my actual network of
just friends.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
You know, you have friends in categories, you know what
I'm saying. Like it's just like this, Yeah, like.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
You just don't really picture those things colliding or when
like your friends like meet each other and turns out
they know each other.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
It's the weirdest thing anyway for me and my.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Like podcast activists, you know, activism world, you know a
lot of times overlasts with the hip hop world because
you know, we believe with a lot of same stuff.
But like this one like really happened where I was
just like in my own network somebody I've known for
a while who I'm just now learning.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Your name is Tristan.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
Yeah, yeah, I didn't know your name was Jason. Yeah exactly.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
You say, that's how wrap works, So introduce yourself however
you want to be introduced, yeah, you know, and then
let's let's get into it.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Hey, everybody, I'm a Tangent Wiggy aka Tristan Hacker. I
got a lot of other names too, but I'll keep
it to those for now. And I'm from Sam Bernardino UH,
and I'm an artist in the community with the with
propaganda as well as a state employee. I paid disability
claims for the State of California. And in my role
as a state employee, I am a union REPUH and
(01:29):
I'm an elected member of my union's executive board. So
I represent state employees from Ontario region, the Sam Bonardino
region and in between. And I'm on the bargaining team,
So I go up to Sacramento and help prepare for
bargaining against Governor of news of his team as well.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Words.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
So so this is like with this is frontline energy, okay,
which I love about it because it's like, like you said,
like your your day job is in some ways it's
it's so crazy because it's like as far away as
that is from the actual like worker per se, like
you have just this parasocial, like intimate relationship with everybody
(02:06):
that works for the state because like you're seeing, you know,
I'm saying, what they're going through and how great it
is to think inside of such a here be a bureaucracy,
there's somebody there that's like, no, I'm actually like fighting
for y'all. Yeah, I appreciate that word. So first of all,
tell them what the union is. Which union were talking about?
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Yeah, s isn't sam E is in everybody I is
an incredible you as in Union Service Employees International Union,
but one thousand, right, So SEIU is one of the
biggest international unions in the world. And everyone out there
has probably seen the purple purple SEIU stuff on all
kinds of stuff, from nurses to state workers, in home
(02:45):
support services workers and home care nurses, and there's a
lot of different people that are under SCIU. More broadly,
state employees in California are SEIU one thousand, So we're
local one thousand, and that's the broader union that.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
I'm a part of all of Cali.
Speaker 3 (02:59):
Okay, you know, all all hundred thousand state employees that
are represented, damn Okay. And but I am elected to
the executive board of DLC seven o four, which is
the Inland Empire, well the Ontario Samarandino, part of the
Inland Empire's chapter.
Speaker 1 (03:13):
Word Ontario Sammarandino. Okay, this is going to be very
Cali specific. Like obviously this is everybody here who listens
ain't from here. So like I've I've cracked many LA
and I E jokes and just like you know, throughout
throughout our time, you know what I'm saying. I like
to say that I have an IE passport stamped like
I have my guy.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
I worked in Pomona.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
See I didn't never lived there, Okay, but you know
what I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (03:39):
So my strong connection to Pomona as far as I've seen,
I've seen you.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
You absolutely that's what I mean. Like I'm a naturalized citizen.
I got a green card. I got I got an
I E Green card because like I worked at Pomona.
Speaker 2 (03:51):
You know, foundation was in Pomona. My condemn Lights was
in Pomona.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
For y'all listeners, These are like the hip hop and
poetry spots that I kind of grew up because since
I'm you know, born in South Centric but from the
six to six, so you me, coming from La Penteve, Linda,
Pomono is just so much more closer than La Merk Park,
you know.
Speaker 2 (04:09):
What I'm saying.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
So yeah, so.
Speaker 1 (04:11):
I ended up just kind of like spending a lot
of time there and then for high school, I got
I got bussted to the Inland Empire. So I got
bussed I went to school out of district because my
parents split up. It's a long story, but anyway.
Speaker 3 (04:21):
It happens a lot. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
So that being said, like I have a lot of
love for the Inland Empire and spent a lot of
time there.
Speaker 2 (04:28):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
So that's what I was like, I got I got
a visa, I got a ie visa.
Speaker 3 (04:31):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
Absolutely, Yeah. But that being said, what would you say?
Speaker 1 (04:36):
I mean, if it's kind of like I'm kind of
springing this one on you, but like, what would you
say would be something that's like unique, a unique thing
that someone from where you guys are at, like a
service worker where you guys are at, it might be
a unique issue that's specific to them that wouldn't be
somewhere else.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
I'll do two because I feel like I need to
to kind of to answer it.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
Well.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
One is that the Inland Empire in Highland, which is
a city kind of a little connected city to sanm Maerdino.
Highland has Patent State Hospital which is basically Arkham Asylum.
You know, it's basically Arkham Asylum from the Batman comics,
which is it's a hospital for the criminally insane. Okay, yeah,
you know it's like like in other words, like you've
committed crimes, but you have mental health issues. Yeah, so
(05:23):
you're not in the regular prison, but you're not in
the regular mental hospital. You are in the prison for
the mental patients. And it's a massive twenty four hour facility.
And I feel like, even though I work for EDED
doing disability claims, because I'm in a regional chapter with
the patent State hospital folks, they get a lot of
the attention of what the union organization does because twenty
(05:44):
four hour facilities are very, very taxing, and they're very
right for abuse and for people to go through really
difficult things. And then the second thing I would say
would be the fact that where we are, we have
a lot of we service a lot, maybe more of
my job, right, we service a lot of undocumented people,
Like a lot of the disability claims I pay for
the state I paid a undocumented folks. So which is
(06:04):
one reason that the ice stuff has been hitting so
close to home. And also people may not realize that
California doesn't regulate about documented status the way that the
federal government does. Right, so, as long as you could
prove your wages to the state of California in a legit,
straight paper work kind of way. We don't care that
you're in document and we're going to pay you because
you're a worker and you need our services.
Speaker 2 (06:23):
Facts.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
And like, I love that you said that, because when
they talk about like how the undocumented don't pay taxes,
I'm like, yes, they.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
Do, Yes, they do, Yes, they do, Yes, they.
Speaker 2 (06:32):
Pay a lot.
Speaker 1 (06:33):
Yeah, if you can think of just off the head,
Like obviously over the years, the negotiations and different things
that have come up varied over time. We'll get to
the ice raids, because that's obviously where everything got super
ratchet up, ratpeted up, But like what was some of
the most like I don't, like, I don't know how
would I phrase this where you were like, this is
the most reasonable request we can ask for, Like this
(06:55):
is just like I don't this is so I don't
understand why this is so hard for y'all. Like this
is incredibly I just want to like calibrate because a
lot of times people here the here to wear a union.
They got all these pictures about what the things are
and what this you know what I'm saying. They got
all these pictures, But I'm just like fam. You ever
heard of a five day week? Yeah, work week, that's unions,
(07:16):
ma Gi, you know what I'm saying. So like that
seems very reasonable, you know what I mean? So if
you could think of like some of the things you've
had to negotiat, what was some of the most Like
this is, I don't understand why this is so hard
for y'all.
Speaker 3 (07:27):
So have you ever heard you have ever heard the
phrase every crisis is an opportunity? Right, Yes, you've heard
people say that. Right. So, my union and other unions
have been pushing for telework, you know, being my entire
twenty years with the state. I'll be seventeen years veteran
with the state as of December. Right, Wow, the entire
time we wanted telework. It took the quarantine crisis of
(07:47):
twenty twenty, twenty twenty one to actually get the state
to agree to mass implement telework. And so that was like,
that's a crisis that we made an opportunity. That's like, hey,
we need we needed telework. So many people are also
caring for the kids, are also caring for their elderly,
people in the home, caring for a new baby, or
you know, take you know, just at the house so
the contractors could come fix their plumbing. You know, it's
(08:08):
likeful like tell of work has been something that we
thought was very reasonable for a long time that it
took it took until the COVID crisis for us to
get telework. And we feel like we're pioneers in that
in a workforce way, because now there's lots of places
that have telework, partly because I think the work that
unions like us.
Speaker 2 (08:23):
Have done that's dope, man.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
You know, obviously coming out of the pandemic and recently
like a lot of companies are like, hey, you guys
can come back to the office and people are like
absolutely not.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
Wow, Like why.
Speaker 3 (08:36):
Take it away? Are you taking away once you got it? Yeah?
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Yeah, why would we do that?
Speaker 1 (08:41):
I know my own like my wife, you know, she
pre pandemic at the spot she was working as she
was working at a nonprofit. You know, she was like, Okay,
I was touring so much and she was just like, dude,
like you want me in this office at a certain time.
Speaker 2 (08:55):
It's stressed on the whole family.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
I had to get one daughter to school, is you know,
just breaking her neck to figure stuff out. She's like,
I'm done with the stuff that can be done at
a desk within an hour. She's like, I'm just I'm
just scrolling the internet. Like I'm just like, like I'm
trying to tell you you're paying for lights, you're paying
for you're paying for audi. There's no reason, like I
(09:19):
don't have to be here, you know, And so she pushed.
She was just like, you know, looked up her own rights,
you know, figured it out and you know, without telling
her business. She uh, she actually helped the staff unionize.
Speaker 2 (09:33):
There, Like you know what I'm saying. She was like, look, man,
it's ridiculous. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (09:37):
You got a real one, Yeah, don't don't. Don't google
it anyway.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
So, yeah, so something that you had to you know,
you said, you actually go to the state, you you
interact with Gavin Newsom, you know, which is the whole thing.
Sure we have our opinions on mister Newsom, sure, you know,
and like how allied are you as an ally.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
Like you always say and you know, if you were complicated.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
We can't always agree on the same things, you know
what I'm saying, Like, but like that's correct. There has
been there have been times where it's been like, hey,
you know what, sou he's.
Speaker 3 (10:17):
Doing something dope, and then other times when he's not, yeah,
doing something though the other times it's like broh, who
are you?
Speaker 2 (10:23):
Yeah, right, like what is happening right now?
Speaker 1 (10:27):
So obviously you know when you go up there, you're
you're not interacting with him, You're interacting with his team, right.
Speaker 3 (10:32):
Yeah. The one time I actually met him, I went
to the California Democratic Party convention in twenty twelve in
San Diego, and I just went with a friend, just
showed up. I was not a delegate. I was a
Union rep already, but I had no official role. I
just showed up and walked around the San Diego Hilton,
which is also where they founded San Diego Comic Con. Yeah,
and I got to meet a lot of officials, including
(10:54):
some inland ones, including some really famous people like Nancy
Pelosi's daughter. But I went up to I went up
to left the time Lieutenant Governor Newsom and basically thanked
him because he had just voted against the tuition hype
for the cal States and UC. And I was and
I went to cal say, Sammary, you know I have
my master's in poetry, my MFA and poetry from cal
say Sammarino. And so I was still a student at
(11:15):
the time, and he had just voted against a tuition increase.
So there's a picture of me meeting him from that
from that time.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
That's all. That's great.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Yeah, yeah, And he had just done something good and
he and he said humble things about it when I
thanked him for it. So my one personal interaction with
him was good. But since then, when in the capacity
of the union, I deal with his bargaining team, like
my our bargaining team deals with his bargaining team instacramental where.
Speaker 1 (11:35):
Okay, so give me one something that's been like opposite
where what they were asking for. Yeah, it was like
this is completely unreasonable, guys, Like what are you talking about?
Speaker 3 (11:43):
So every three years, every three years, our state employee
contract goes up, uh huh, right, And so around the
two year mark we start gearing up negotiations, you know,
and the state newsom has the power to summon us
for negotiation, and we have the power to summon his
team for negotiations. Right, So at that two year mark
we start negotiating. So in twenty twenty two, we started
negotiating about the twenty twenty three expiring, you know, so
(12:06):
that by the end of twenty three we could have
a new contract. Then your state employee, it's difficult. It's
hard to strike, right, Like you have to have an
extremely high threshold to strike. Like if you're a a
private company in you're union, it's a lot easier to strike.
You guys don't want to strike, you strike Like that
episode of The Simpsons, the omber became the union. They're
just like dental plan. You know, they started striking right
with the state because we provide essential services to Californians
(12:29):
in need. It is an extremely high threshold in terms
of what it would take for us to legally be
allowed to strike, right, and Newsom and his team know that,
so they could kind of like really slow walk negotiations
and stop negotiating in good faith. But as long as
there's like you know what, there's signs of life on
the hospital ticker of the negotiations, then we're still obligated
(12:49):
to not strike down, right. So in twenty twenty three
our contract expired, Newsom was offering us one or two
percent raised for the next three years, and meanwhile he
was going on TV saying, oh, debate Ron.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Desantish during that time.
Speaker 3 (13:04):
I want to help the screen Actors Guild finish their
contract and the Screenwriters Guild, and I want to So
it's like, well, whoa bro, where are your kids? Why
are you trying to go help their kids?
Speaker 2 (13:13):
Yeah, you know, it was.
Speaker 3 (13:14):
Like, why you're not negotiating with us, but you're on
TV talking about I want to help Harrison Ford and
I want to help, you know, I want to help
the actors get their contract. And it's like, so i'd something.
I I made a TikTok recently about how I think
my h my lefty friends, and I'm lefty to help
of course, but like artist friends, anti establishment friends, you know,
leftist friends, I think hate Democrats in stupid ways, whereas
(13:35):
there are smart ways to hate democrats right, Like, to me,
the stupid, the stupid way to hate Democrats is to
be like, oh, both parties are the same, I'm going
to sit out and let Republicans win and hurt us worse. Yeah, right,
to me, the smart way to hate on Democrats is
to realize when they're doing a good thing here, they're
distracting you from a bad thing here, and then they're
doing a bad thing here. They're distracting you. You know,
(13:56):
it's like a good thing, right, So, like Newsome at
times might be capitulating to Trump on something federally, but
then he does something good state domestically in the state
to kind of keep his reploff. Or the reverse. Maybe
he's fighting with Trump on something and that's good, but
he's doing some wax shit like slow walking our contract negotiates.
We're not Hollywood actors, right, so when our contract goes up,
you didn't get the news about it, like with the
(14:17):
Screen Actors Guild, because that's slapping your Hulu, that's stopping
your Disney. Plus, you know you hear all about that.
When our contract expires, you don't hear about it unless
you're on disability, unless you're on one of our programs.
And then you can't go to the office because because
we're understaffed or because something's going wrong with us. Right,
So twenty twenty three was a pissed off time for
us because he's offering us peanuts. He was offering to
help everybody else. Let me help the actors, let me
(14:38):
help the screenwriters, Let me fight Ron DeSantis, Let me
go go to Washington and have federal fights. Meanwhile, we're
our contract expired. And when our contract expired, there's things
we lose. There's stuck things we lose, there's benefits we lose.
And he just so he has had us in a bind.
So I organized a work site picket at my office
in San Unardino a one hundred and two degree weather.
We can't strike, but we can pick it. Wow, Okay,
(15:00):
I didn't know that, you know, so that that's part
of being a union rep is like what are my tools?
You know? Like what are my tools? Like? No, your
know your arsenal, know your weaponry, right, And so I
organized to picket. We had signs me and and I'm
just I tear up and I think about this because
I had coworkers, but I didn't think we're going to
march in the heat with me. I thought it might
have been me by myself.
Speaker 2 (15:18):
You know.
Speaker 3 (15:18):
I was one of only one or two union reps
in my office at the time. Now we have four
because I've been recruiting, you know, and I have good
people in my office, you know, But at the time,
I was one of the only union reps. There's people
who I knew had legits get the system about the
union I didn't expect it. But every single lunch, not
just my lunch, at every lunch, we had people picketing
in front of my office with signs, people were honking
in support of us. Within a month or two, we
(15:39):
got an eight percent raise on that next negotiation. Let's go,
you know. And so you know, when we fight, we win,
When we unite, we win. You know, like you don't.
We're not fighting for nothing. And that was a dru
or die moment for me as a union organizer because
I hadn't had many real fights yet, and I had
I couldn't really point to my co workers and say, hey,
we did this and got this. We did this and
got this. So the fact that I got my co
workers tomorrow marching one hundred two degree with me instead
(16:01):
of just sitting in the air condition having lunch, and
that we won that. A few weeks later, they said,
you're going to get a eight percent rais that's hard?
You know? Like I was like, yes, like proof of concept.
I have proof of concept. I'm not just wasting my
coworker's time. I could tell you there's a tangible results
when we organized together.
Speaker 1 (16:17):
See that's these are the type of like wins. We
need to hear because we've been we've been taking some ails,
like yes, sir speaking to l so, y'all's y'all's s
CiU one thousand.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
You know they were ware a right, that's his name.
Speaker 3 (16:30):
M David Wad is from one of the California s
CiU branches. He's tightly connected to our union.
Speaker 1 (16:35):
But he's not one, he's not one thousand, okay words,
but he is c CiU, so he is part of us.
Speaker 3 (16:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
So when I, you know, invaded our streets, yes, he
was outside, you know, doing what he had to do.
I know s s CiU set up the thing at
Alvera Street. Yeah, they set up a location there for
like to educate. It was just such a beautiful thing.
But the first thing that got me out the house
was the rally for when he was detained. So like, man,
(17:01):
tell me what was going on and as much as
you can behind closed doors. So most of the listeners
here know this story because this show is like pretty
tapped in.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
But yeah, right m hm.
Speaker 3 (17:11):
So what I would say is this to me an
opportunity to talk about like the cultural differences with Inland
and LA right, because the Union is very progressive right,
But the Inland is a much more conservative area, right,
And compared to Los Angeles, compared to San Francisco, compared
to you know, it's not as big of a city.
It's more impoverished.
Speaker 2 (17:30):
Yeah, you know that.
Speaker 3 (17:31):
There's a lot of you know, even just the geography
of it, right. People me grew up in the city,
like my mom grew up around where you're talking about
day and a month day. I was born in the monthday, right,
But there was a suburban exodus in the late eighties
of like people who wanted to go from that east
of late six to six area to raise their kids
in the Inland because that was the more conservative suburbs.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Right.
Speaker 3 (17:49):
So for me, every time something like that happens, with
something like a David Watar or something in one of
the bigger cities happens and we're fighting with the with
the right wing about things, it's a matter of me
educating my Inland people about why we care and we're okay,
you know, and then there's always some people and I
got to respect this. As a union organizer, I really
have to be able to talk with my more conservative
members because there are people in the union that are
(18:10):
not super progressive warriors like me. They're just workers who
want to be represented. Right.
Speaker 1 (18:15):
I was gonna say, that's actually a good point to
hammer down because like last year, one of the shows
on our network covered a union strike at a I
want to say, it was like a metal plant in Alabama,
like in the sticks of Alabama.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
These are good old boys from the South.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
But one thing we can agree on, me is like,
pay me what I'm worth, Like yo, saying like it
just seemed pretty simple to me. I don't understand how
you got to be a progressive to want to be
paid what you're worth, you know. So so I think
that that's a good point to say that, Like, even
in a rather conservatives place, all of us want to
go home and eat, you know, and earn the wages
(18:52):
that I.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
That I should be. Pay me what I'm worth.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
It just it seemed that simple, exactly. And so so
that's a tension that happens, right, And this is kind
of this is probably a discussion that happens among a
lot of progressive groups in general, that like, there's people
who want you to focus on your issue, but there's
also people who recognize that we're part of an interconnected society,
where it's like, if the immigrants are being harmed, then
the laborers are being harmed. If the artists are being harmed,
(19:15):
then the nurses are being harmed, if the teachers. You know.
So there's always that divide, But in the Inland, which
is a more conservative area, there's especially that divide between
people who are like, I don't want my union fighting
about immigration and ice. I don't want my union fighting
about the environment.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
Wow, I don't want the.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Union fighting about LGBT. I just want the union to
fight for my race. I want the union to fight
for my telework and that's all I want them to do, right.
So that's a big thing for me is to kind
of explain to people how, no, David where that fighting
for immigrant rights is him fighting for you as a worker. Okay,
you know, because if they came for then they could
come for you, you know. So that's kind of how
I see that.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
Yeah, did you feel like it landed?
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Well, it always does with some and it doesn't with some.
You know, I'll be honest with you. There are people
who just left the union after the Charlie Kirk killing.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
Oh wow.
Speaker 3 (20:00):
In my opinion, they're going to really weird logic jumps
when they're like, well, the union endors Kamala, and Kamala
has supporters that are happy about Charlie Kirk dines with
in the union. Yeah, I'm like, uh so you don't
want that raise.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
You really ran string in that joint, you know.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
That is definitely the all Bay Sunny in Philadelphia meme
of just you like tie these strings together, like bruh,
I don't know what you're talking about.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
Yeah, right, And so, to be honest, there's been some
of that. You know, I'll say this that Charlie Kirk
gave us more of that than that immigration stuff. But
there's always those few whispers from a few people who
are like they're just not down with the broader cause.
Those of us who are in the leadership of the union,
I think we have solidarity. You know, we have solidarity
not just with other state workers, but with anyone who's
in any SAAU. Yeah, with Team Skirts and anyone who's
(20:42):
in any union, and with Californians, anyone who is somebody
who is in a vulnerable group, you know. And so
there's just always that difference of the opinion. I would say,
over let's say sixty percent hits in a good way
and in my area because it's so conservative, let's say
forty percent, it doesn't you know some.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
Way you work on that's interesting? Okay. My last two questions.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
Would be this, like I've given them both, Like, so
what do y'all currently kind of like pushing for. I'm
assuming it has a lot to do with immigration and
ice rays and stuff, but also in what ways can
we as just a broader community help?
Speaker 3 (21:23):
Well? How do I put this? So I work in
downtown sam Ardino, okay, and my disability office is next
to the Mexican Consulate.
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Let's go.
Speaker 1 (21:32):
First of all, we need to paint the picture of
Sam Bernardino. I really feel like, yeah, for those that
don't know California, the nature of what Sam Bernardino is
is a part of this story that you might be missing.
First of all, Like, okay, all that you pictured, everything
that everybody else pictures around what you thought Compton was
in the nineties, all the pictures that you think YO
(21:55):
said that you go, oh, it's really Sam Bernardino.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
So I mean I'm trying to say this in a
way that's a descriptive and not derogatory, because obviously like
it's always Kali love for me, and you know, I'll
of course, yeah. But there is a certain there's a
certain part of Sam Bernardino that feels like like just
a spirit of like we just gave up the walking Dead,
(22:21):
the walking Debt's exactly it. It feels like a zombie land,
like just this dark I remember the Carousel mall, Like
you walk by that mall, it's eerie. It just feels
like when people talk about the Forgotten Man, the Forgotten America.
I'm like Sam Bernardino, like, yes, Win done gave up
on that city.
Speaker 3 (22:38):
Yeah, it had recently gone from two hundred and thirty
thousand people to only two hundred thousand people. But also
probably because a lot of people that left were the
most impoverished people. Our poverty rate went from let's say,
in the post Bush Shoo recession, like twenty ten, we
had a thirty percent poverty rate. We were the most
impopulous city in the state. We've gotten down to like
seventeen percent poverty, which is still bad. Yeah, you know,
that's still almost one one out of five people. What
(23:01):
was it? It's very diverse, I mean, and someone who
pays anention in to politics it has all the problems
exactly like you said, all the problems that people talk
about when they say the important problems. It's post industrial,
there's gun violence, it's diverse, there's poverty. You know, there's
environmental issues because it's such a warehouse empire. Yeah, because
it's such a you know, area of freight and warehouses.
It's like the air quality is some of the worst
in the state. Yeah, you know, we we have real problems.
(23:22):
You know, we got real problems. And in downtown downtown
Sammer do you know, is a lot of where the
problems are. We want to get it, like downtown Redlands
and downtown Riverside and some of the other NICs of downtowns.
But it's just not there yet. And there are people
absolutely working on that. And like there are a couple
of alleyways in the city that sounds so it sounds
so humble, but we have a couple of alleyways in
the city that got five hundred thousand dollars grants recently
to kind of make them an ARC's alleyway to kind
(23:43):
of look like something more like the Claremont Village let's go,
you know, And so yeah, you know, and so we
are always working on it, and I will always you know,
as somebody who founded co founded the Inland Empire Music
Award Show and other platforms that I put on not
just my art, but I helped put on other artists
in the Inland. I will always tell you about the
amazing tacoic you to get in my CD, the amazing
small businesses you can spport my city, the amazing art community, yeah,
(24:04):
put on by my by my ogs like Judah one
of Pomona, like Noah James of the Inland and Lisa
j and many others you know who helped build a
really beautiful ecosystem, like there's there's please come come to summery,
you know, and hit me up and I'll take you
to save beautiful sports of it, you know.
Speaker 1 (24:19):
But yes, it's it's rough to your point. I know,
I want you to get to the next thing. But
to your point that was the same as that picture
of content to where it's like yes, like in the
sense that like we know it's dangerous, we know there's poverty,
we know there's that, but there's beauty here stuff, you know,
and let me come like and again like just the
hood rules where it's like well, you with me, like,
so you're good, you know what I'm saying, Like you know,
(24:42):
and some of them may yeah, like we can, we
can definitely shine lights like I said, Like, you know,
I've talked about Noah James on this show.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
You know I'm saying, I've talked about Juda one.
Speaker 1 (24:51):
You know that I talked about sincere C four, like
the people that like I came I came up with.
Speaker 2 (24:56):
You know what I'm saying, Yeah, the Inland Empire.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
A lot of the stuff that the nation attributes to
LA is really ie. You know what I'm saying, Yes, sir,
And we know, like we know because they're not lying
about it. We know that matter of fact, nobody has
pride about I. He got pride, boy, Like they're like no, no, no, no,
we are to Inland.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
And I love that about y'all.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
Anyway, I'm wearing my Jaden Daniels check it out.
Speaker 2 (25:17):
Yup, yup, yop yup.
Speaker 3 (25:19):
You know, yeah, because I got a highs I gotta hides.
Speaker 1 (25:23):
So yeah, okay, So anyway, so your office is next
to the Mexican Consulate.
Speaker 3 (25:26):
Mexican Consulate, right, and so I've actually spent my you know,
I've been at this office in Samaradino since twenty fourteen,
and five years before that I worked in the Riverside office.
But I've been in my office in Chamuary No. Twenty fourteen,
and I have gone to so many I've infiltrated so
many right wing protests that are in front of the
Mexican Consulate. Yes, and like and like, so I'll go
hang out with them. They're like, oh, what do you guys,
(25:47):
what are you guys doing? And then I'll like take
their markers, I'll take their posters and I'll just kind
of be like, oh, yeah, maybe you have a point there.
And then I'm like, I'm in my office. And then
my secretary is, you know, the secretary of my office
is like, oh, where'd we get these markers? Loot? I
got you some mark because it's you know. And so
I'll infiltrate right wing protests. But but on the flip side, lately,
you know, Ice knows they could come to my corner.
And my corner in downtown has the Chase Bank, the
(26:10):
Wells Fargo Bank, the Mexican Consulate, the Disability Office, the
old City Hall building. Like it's it's like the hub.
It's one of the downtown hubs of the city, and
Ice has been coming and snatching people up in front
of my office. It happened. It's happened twice at least
in the last month. And one of the days that
it happened, I was in the office. I called my congressman,
I called the mayor. I got all the local authorities involved.
(26:31):
By the end of the day, the horse mounted unit
of my city's police was like patrolling to make sure
Ice wasn't messing with us. Wow, And I tell you, homie,
what a weird place this is. I've never been so
happy to see the regular cops.
Speaker 2 (26:42):
Right right right, you know, what is this?
Speaker 3 (26:44):
What is this? Timeline? Are you doing to me? What
are you doing to me? We're like, I'm in I'm
in seven eleven at six in the morning, getting my
getting my coffee, and I see regular cops. I'm like,
thank you, sir for at least jong a warret.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
Yeah, yeah, exactly, rest me, yeah exactly.
Speaker 3 (26:57):
You know, because Ice is doing none of that, none
of it. None of that. They're not doing warrant to
do it. They took I don't want to cry. They
pushed a wife out of the way. She's like what
are you doing? They took the husband, tossed him in
the band and drove off. It all happened so fast
that no one was able to film it. Damn you, No,
in this era, no one was able to film it.
And they know how they're doing it that fast.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
That's the trick.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
Yeah, that's the trick.
Speaker 2 (27:19):
That's what we've been telling.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
Like a lot of people have asked me, just friends
from out of town, like, dude, has it has it
toned down? And I was like, no, it just went underground.
It's like they just they're a lot more sneaky now,
Like it's not this big display of power. It's more
the sniper guerrilla warfare to where like you said, you
just get in your gas like you usually how your
plumbing gas and then somebody just and it's so fast,
(27:42):
I can't film it, you know what I'm saying. Yes,
And the hard part for me is like is to
your point to where it's like, since you know, identifying yourself,
like you might not even be an ice agent.
Speaker 3 (27:51):
And that's a thing that happened. That's the thing that
there are people who impersonate law enforcement officers and go
harassed people just on a racist basis. Yeah, you know,
and and and it's arguable that the Trump administration is
empowering people like that. M h Man. Yeah, so so yeah,
it absolutely is happening. To be honest, my union, Uh,
we're going to always support the actions that are fighting
(28:13):
back against it. But the but the only things that
we really have jurisdiction to actually fight h is the
labor religious word, you know. And so you know, we
we actually just got telework extended in exchange for delaying
our rais you know, because the states really broke right
now for a lot of reasons. Yeah, we delayed for
two years a raise that we were about to get
in July, so there were already couple of months past
(28:34):
not having that raise. But in exchange, we got our
telework agreement extended for two years. So what I would
tell people who want to get involved is like, if
you are in a workplace that has a union, get involved,
you know. Or if you had someone in your life
like me who does union stuff outside of work. Next
time they invite you to a phone banker, next time
they invite you to an event, go support Because we're
absolutely we were at the No Kings protest, We're at
(28:56):
the anti ice protest like like like we're in the
unofficial capacity, we're gonna we're going to do all those
kind of things to support the broader community. And even
though it's my union. For example, on Wednesdays we have
a lot of our meetings, we're doing a phone banking
for Prop fifty right, which is the whole redistrict, which
gives us the power to take some seats away from
the Republicans. I know there's a lot of there's a
debate to be had there, but ultimately it's us trying
(29:17):
to keep some power away from the right wing. And
you don't have to be in my union to go
to those phone banks. If you want a phone bank
to help Prop fifty pass, so we could take some
Republican seats away from the federal House representatives, hit me up,
hit up anybody you know in the Inland Empire chapter
of SEIU, and we can bring you to a phone
bank in Ontario and we'll get pizza or barbecue or whatever,
and we could phone bank against these dang Republicans.
Speaker 1 (29:37):
Yeah, man, Man Tangent, I appreciate this, man, I appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (29:41):
Man. I've wanted to have wanted you to have me on.
I love your show and I love you man. I
think you're such a cool dude. I think you wise.
I think that you're engaged in the community in a
cool way. You're an artists I respect a lot, and
not just me. I mean people friends like sincere like
explain to me why you're significant to them and why
you're an influence and stuff like that. So I appreciate
even being on your radar.
Speaker 2 (30:00):
Brother, man, stop it, stop it some more. I'm just kidding.
My wife says that, okay, so perfect.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Well, then tell us how people need to hear your music,
how they can get in touch with you, how they
can follow you.
Speaker 2 (30:11):
Give me all the links.
Speaker 3 (30:12):
Oh yeah, yeah yeah. So uh t A n J
I n T is tangent. You know you can find
me on everything on Twitter, Instagram, you know, Facebook. What
was it the Inland Empire Music Award show that I'm
a co director and co founder of. Is that it's
only Empire dot com. That's its only Empire dot com.
And also I want to encourage Inland Empire artists. You know,
(30:34):
you still have from now to the end of September
to submit to the award show, and we've been doing
it for three years. We partner with nonprofits and businesses.
We throw a dope ass's skinny gala.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Yeah you know, a award.
Speaker 3 (30:45):
Show at a little art center in downtown senmmer Den
with the Garcia Center for the Arts. Or we give
away real trophies and real awards and we have red
carpet media and performances. It's like it's like the Grammys
for the Inlant Empire. So you know, please get involved
in Its only Empire dot com. That's only Empire now.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Now.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
Famli Likely is my group with Diesel. We got a
new album out that's like scam likely on your phone,
but fam likely because it's likely that you're family hitting
you up. Fam Likely. West Coast Avengers is my first group,
the more nerd core Inland Empire stuff and we got
an album that came out just under a year ago now,
The Harvest. So I'm everywhere.
Speaker 2 (31:16):
You can catch everything all over the place.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Yeah, Tangent Wiggle, thank you so much, my brother, Hey.
Speaker 3 (31:23):
Thank you man much love.
Speaker 5 (31:24):
It could happen Here is a production of cool Zone Media.
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iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts.
You can now find sources for it could happen here
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It Could Happen Here News
Hosts And Creators
Robert Evans
Garrison Davis
James Stout
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On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.