Natasha S. Alford On Bad Bunny Interview, Lala's Spanish Skills, Cardi B & Offset's Parenting + More
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
What's up. It's way for the Angela Yee.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
I'm Angela Yee and I am very excited to be
joined today by Natasha Alford, who is many things, but
first off.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Happy Mother's Day.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Thank you so much. You know, feel so good to
be part of part of that club. A mom is
just trying to make it every day.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
One of the most important jobs that a person can have,
amongst other things that you do. But you are a
CNN political analyst but also the VP of Digital Content
and senior correspondent at the Grillo.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Yeah, and you.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Have multiple degrees, you know, but also in author Let's
not forget that. Yeah, I'm married me. Is that? Am
I saying it right?
Speaker 3 (00:40):
You're saying it right. Actually, I was advised when I
was coming up with this book idea like, be careful
with the title. People might be a little afraid of
the title. But you said it right, and that was
the hope that people would learn to say it and
learn what it means right.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Because and I want you to talk about this because
for me, I'm a person who's you know, I'm half
Chinese and I'm also half West Indian and so whenever
I would go get my hair done at the Dominican Salon.
I would have to explain because they always that I
was Dominican, so I would have to say, so echina
in negra, yeah, and let them know that because you
know that I can speak a little Spanish because I'm
(01:14):
from New York, and you know you have to come
up speaking some Spanish. I think here, but I always
had to explain that. That's why when I saw this
American negra, that's automatically I knew how to pronounce it.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
It's so relatable because a lot of us are asked
that question what are you? And I think that that
is what sent me on this journey to be like, well,
who am I? But also what did I need to
know back then to actually love myself? To accept myself?
And it takes time. So whoever reads this book is
really going on a journey of self discovery that I
(01:46):
hope is relatable to a lot of people. A lot
of people come from multi ethnic families like this is
more normal in America today and will soon be part
of the majority. So I thought it was important to
talk about what it's like to live between multiple cultures.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
I think timing wise, this is also a great time
for us to have this conversation watching everything that just
transpired with Kenjak and Drake too, because I think part
of that battle was Ken Jake telling Drake you can't
use the N word right because he is half you know,
half white and half black.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
I want to know what your thoughts are on that.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Well, you know, I think it's this idea of using
blackness when it's commercially advantageous to you. People have an
issue with that, and it's about being authentic, right, And
so I think that there are people who see Drake
sort of almost step into different cultures and sort of assume, right,
he gives you that sound one time, you know, pafro beads,
(02:42):
and then it's bat one. It's like, you know, it's
I think there's a way to do it that pays homage.
But then there's this line of are you explored exploriting people?
And I think for me, my bigger question with the
whole Drake thing was really related to gender because there
were so many women who we were part of his
early fans, like we made him really popular. But the
(03:04):
music has taken this term more recently sort of in
a dark space, like really embracing a lot more misogynistic
kind of tropes and ideologies. So I think for me
that was the thing where I was starting to feel like, damn,
does Drake love us? Like does he love you know,
the women who put him on? But I think it's
a question we're all asking about who has the right
(03:25):
to And you know what's interesting, Angela this La La
Bad Bunny interview. Did you see that when.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
She was on the red carpet and she was able
to fluidly go in between oh yeah, English and Spanish.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
She did a great job, she did, but there were
some people who thought she didn't do good enough. Right,
So even though there are all these people like, oh,
look yeah looking Lalla like she's she is. This is
an example of an Afro Latina. This is example of diaspora, right,
there were people like, ah, but does she really speak Spanish? Well,
how comes she didn't you know, respond more in Spanish?
(03:57):
Like there's always somebody trying to keep yeah and tell
you that you aren't what you are. So I think
that's the flip side, the negative flip side of trying
to tell somebody you know, who they aren't when clearly
like that is their culture. And I think that's part
of you know, what the book tries to do as well,
is to raise the visibility of black Latinos.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
You know, I think that you were fortunate to have
both parents that were helped, that helped you embrace both
parts of your culture because your mom's Puerto Rican and
you had a king king I'm trying to pronounce it
king saniea. And so that's when you turn fifteen years old, right,
and that was something that you wanted to do. As
a matter of fact, I can't believe you chose that
(04:38):
over a car.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Yeah, I know, it's kind of crazy to have a car.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Or you could have this kin sanieaeh.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
And so you chose that. Why did you choose that
over a car?
Speaker 3 (04:48):
You know, I think I really wanted to have this
right of passage. Those are important aspects of culture, right,
These moments that you look back and say, this is
something I share with other people. And so for our family,
you know, a lot of the women and our family
had again, Sanietta, my mom didn't. She's from the Bronx.
You know, my grandmother worked a lot of jobs. She
(05:08):
didn't really have a lot of money. So my mom
didn't want one because financially, her family couldn't do it,
but she wanted to give me that experience and I
did it. But it was a very African American like,
like we had yeah, like alsa, right, we're doing salsa.
Everybody was like half the squad was like Black American.
You know, we're listening to Jay Z and Little Mo.
(05:30):
But I tried to show that that's what it's like
to live between multiple cultures. You can't deny any side
of you. And there are a lot of us out there.
Think about it. We've got Cardi b An offset like,
they have a daughter, they have a son. That's an
example of children who are going to grow up with
different ethnicities or cultures. And those are Black children. So
(05:51):
what does it mean to live at that intersection and
have some people tell you, oh, well, you're not enough
of this or you're not that. And what's what's so
important is that people understand and I think you get this.
We're Black women no matter what, right, even if we
have you know, another ethnicity sort of mixed in in America,
people see us as black. So if you are raising
(06:11):
black children, you need to know that you are raising
black children and teach them to be proud of themselves,
but also fight against some of those messages that will
teach them that they aren't enough. And I think for
latina As in particular, this is important because we have
a Spanish language media that often shows white and light
skin and fair skin as what is beautiful. Even in
(06:31):
Puerto Rico right now, they just passed a law against
natural hair discrimination because black Puerto Rican act right, and
that's the Puerto Rican version of it, because there were
black Puerto Ricans who were being told they had to
cut their locks off, that they couldn't their natural hair
wasn't professional. I mean this is in twenty twenty four,
this is still happening. So I think, you know, within
(06:52):
Latin American culture there's this reckoning that needs to happen
around race. And the book tries to educate a little
bit in terms of history and why in this place.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
A lot of things do come back to the hair.
And you talk about Palo Mallow, Yeah, bad hair and
your own hair journey too of you wanting to see
have your hair be silky and straight, and the perms
that you had to go through to get to that space.
But then and I went through this too, right where
I would straighten my hair as much as I could,
but it would get so frizzy as soon as it
got a little humid or damp, and all of a sudden,
(07:21):
you know, because I started off going to public school
and then I went to private school, and in private school,
everybody wanted like this stick straight here.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
There weren't a lot of black.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Kids in the school, so what you saw, what was
considered beautiful was that, like, you know, long straight hair,
and so I never got a perm. But then when
I got a little older, I got this thing, this
treatment that made my hair straight and shiny, so easy
to take care of, because that's part of what it
is too. It's so much easier when your hair is
straight and you don't have to, like, you know, worry
(07:49):
about getting it tangled up and things like that. But
it really did damage my natural hair curls for a
long time.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
It took years before I saw my natural pattern, which
is crazy where you know, there's so many little girls
who don't even see their natural texture until later. And
that is conditioning, right, We're conditioned to do that. You're
talking about going to Dominican salon. I mean I would
go to Dominican salons because it's like, oh, they know
how to get the hair the straightest.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
But it's gotta be burning and everything get it straight.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
But where does that come from? Angela? We actually look
at history. We think about the colonial era and the
fact that there was slavery in Dominican Republican, Puerto Rico
and all of these places. And to look wider, to
present wider, to have straighter hair. That's an advantage in
a society that's racist against black people. So we figured
out a way to cope. We figured out a way
(08:39):
to navigate. But it's okay to question and say, you know,
do I have to buy into all of this? And
so even just now in my thirties, am I getting
comfortable with wearing my hair curly?
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Like?
Speaker 3 (08:49):
That's how long it took.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
And thank god we have all these products because that
was also an issue having the right products for hair
with text here to having the curly hair, natural hair products,
and they started to even be able to to purchase
you know that we didn't used to have that that
was we did.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
The market has finally realized that we're here and so,
and I think that's part of these conversations. You show people, look,
we're here, we got buying power. We matter. You can't
ignore us like we don't have to conform. My favorite
story is in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of the hurricanes.
Because there was no electricity, you know, people didn't have
their like straightening tools and stuff. There were a lot
(09:25):
of women who discovered their natural hair texture because they
had to. And then I was like, oh, wait, you
like this, so you know these are important conversations. Now.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Your parents also play a really large part of your story.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Your mom.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
You put a lot of the letters that your mom
wrote you, but one thing she always told you.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
I want to ask you about this.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Even as you were getting all these accolades and achievements
and learning to be a great speaker, which I want
to touch on too, because that's so important, she would
tell you to stay humble. Yeah, even when people were
praising you. It was always like, Okay, stay humble. Oh
she's just a regular girl. I want to know what
you thoughts are on that. Looking back at it today.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Yeah, I think some of it was genuine. I think
my mother always wanted me to remember we're a working
class family. We're not better than anybody, right. My dad,
he was a custodian for years he cleaned bathrooms. My
mother was a public school teacher and she had a
guidance counselor who told her she should be a secretary
because she was Puerto Rican. Right, those are the things
you come up against when you come from marginalized groups,
(10:23):
people who tell you that you can't be anything. So
she wanted me to stay grounded. But I think also
sometimes it's a protective mechanism. I think that in this
sort of, you know, race based society that we live in,
we don't want young people of color to get too
full of themselves because we know the obstacles that they're
going to face, right, they're going to take it away
from you. We don't want you to get disappointed. So
(10:44):
sometimes we might shoot down your dreams, you know. I
remember telling my dad, I'm moving to New York. Daddy like,
I might get this job at the Grio, and he
was like, all right, we'll see what happens. Like how
many times do we do that to our children out
of love because we don't want to protect that, But
then you also are limiting their sense of possibility. So
that's what I wrestle with in the book. Sometimes the
(11:06):
tensions I had with my family. You'll see a scene
in the book where I get into Harvard and the
reaction is not like the Instagram videos. Yeah, everybody's like cheering, like,
oh my baby got into the school. It was not
that reaction.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
How much is it gonna cost?
Speaker 3 (11:22):
It was that right, and that's a that's a that's
a real white at school. You're gonna be the Are
you gonna be the only black girl there? You know?
So I think that this book, as much as it
is about culture and being black and Latina, it's also
about the American dream and what is the path towards
the American dream? When we tell young people to go
(11:43):
after their education, are we really giving them the support
once they get there, Because just you just because you
got into Harvard, you got into Yale, it doesn't mean
you know how to navigate those spaces. You know, there's
a lot of sort of unofficial rules that will make
you a success or make you a failure. And also
why do we define those places as being signs of success? Right?
(12:05):
I wanted to go to an HBCU, I wanted to
go to Spellman. We just couldn't afford to send me there,
you know, so it raises these questions that I think
we should ask.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
And another thing, since we brought that up, because you
did go to Princeton, also, congratulations grating in public policy.
Still getting the education, which is not cheap to do.
You also went to a Northwestern right, and to Harvard.
You're not playing any games when.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
It kind of like, I mean, this is wow. And
I always believe in.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
You know, whether or not it's going to school to
get a degree, but education, right, whether you're getting a
certification in something or you're trying to learn more about
something and getting educated taking courses. I'm a big fan
of that because I feel like we should always be
students of something we don't ever know it all right.
But what I wanted to ask you was with all
of these conversations about DEI happening right now and at schools,
(13:00):
saying okay, now we don't have to do certain things
when it comes to the admissions process.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Clearly you deserve to be there.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
You belong there, and people are very confused sometimes about
what that means. They think if they see a student
of color on a campus, that is some type of
affirmative action. Right, So I want to see what your
thoughts are and a lot of things being rolled back now.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Well, first, I think that affirmative action has worked in
a lot of ways to help non people of color.
Why don't we talk about women that right? Okay, even
think about it. You know, I have studied policy this
past year and the things I've learned about the ways
that certain people were set up for success and others
were denied opportunity. It's insane. People want you to think
(13:43):
that we are somehow a problem people of color. We
don't work hard enough, we don't want nothing in life,
and then you learn about the ways that we were denied.
The GI Bill African American veterans who served, you know,
not being able to actually get mortgages to live in
certain neighborhoods while white veterans were able to do that.
Think about that people who tried to get into two
(14:04):
schools to actually get their education and they were denied
because of segregation. So I don't believe in sort of
ahistorical takes around this, And I think a lot of
people are talking about this without actually knowing the history,
and they want black people to feel shame about programs
that are about creating equity and writing past wrongs. I
(14:24):
don't care if somebody doesn't think that I deserve to
go to Harvard or deserve to go to Princeton. I
know I deserve to go there. There's a legacy of
people who came before me who fought so that I
could be there, and my people helped build this country right,
and we never got reparations. We never got forty acres things.
Things were taken away. So the least you could do
if I'm pursuing my education, I want to be somebody
(14:46):
I want to contribute is to support me in that.
And please know I'm qualified. This is not about putting
unqualified people in position. It's about making sure there's checks
and balances so that they aren't denied opportunities that they
should have.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Man, listen, you made me want to go back to
school myself.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
It's never too late. By the way, Princeton was free.
Just to be clear, Princeton paid for everything. That's why
I went back to school. You know, I just was like,
I can't say no to this. I you know, I
at this point in my life, I'm making my own education.
We go to school for so long someone else tells
us what to learn. I looked up, I looked at
the world. I said, I'm always talking about problems. I
(15:24):
want to know how do we fix the problems in
America and beyond. And so that's what I was doing.
I was going back and getting the education I always wanted.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
I saw you were there also on campus while there
were hunger strikes going on that just ended yesterday, and
so these were the anti Israel hunger strikes. And you know,
students have been protesting on campuses all over right now nationally.
So I want to get your thoughts on that because
some people feel, like you know, I've seen a lot
of different differing views on what's happening and students weighing
in and being active, which I think is a positive thing.
(15:55):
But I want to see what you think.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
Well. One thing about young people is that sometimes they
have a moral compass that the grown folks don't have
because we have things to lose, right, And there are
a lot of people who are seeing what's happening. They're seeing,
you know, innocent civilians who are dying, children who are dying,
women who are dying, and they're saying this is not right.
(16:18):
But there are people who use that and sort of
exaggerate right and say that oh, this is this is
about anti Semitism, this is about anti Zionism, or whatever
it is. But I see people who are taking folks
who are simply saying this is too much like innocent
people shouldn't be dying, and they are blanketing them with
(16:42):
judgment and sort of this sort of mass stereotype of
all the students. When I was on campus, I interviewed
many Jewish students who were part of the Gaza Solidarity encampment,
and they were saying, you know, not in my name
that I disagree with some of the policies the way
that Israel is, you know, carrying out this military operation,
and I don't want it to be done in my name.
(17:04):
Those students were anti Semitic, they were Jewish, right, But
if you were looking at some of the coverage on
the news, it was as if everyone was being painted
with a broad brush. So I think it's important for
us as media, our job is to be fair. It's
to make sure that we're talking to everybody so we
can tell the most accurate version of the story of
what's playing out. And I just felt like, you know,
(17:26):
there were certain instances in which there were just mass
sort of stereotypes being painted about everybody, And as somebody
who's literally on a college campus, I can tell you
that from what I saw, much of this was motivated
by concern about the humanitarian crisis at Princeton.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
And it's interesting because it depends on what media outlet
you're looking at. I was looking at an article about
science I was speaking at Duke and they said some
of the students like walked out and they were mad,
and they were But then other people, depending on which
article you read, you know, they said like a few students,
and they can make it seem like gets way more
people involved than what you think.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
And there's a diversity of views. When I was covering
the Princeton protest, you know, there were counter protesters there
who were holding pictures of hostages and saying bring the
hostages home. And it's like, you have to I chose
journalism because I have empathy, Like I think, I have
a heart for people, and so I can understand the
pain of people who are saying, my loved ones are
(18:24):
are gone, I want them back, and also understand that
there are people who are saying, oh, innocent people shouldn't
be dying, right, Like we shouldn't be like carpet bombing people.
Those stories, all of those stories have to be told
in this moment.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
All right.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
The other big thing that's happening right now here in
New York Donald Trump.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
Mm hmm. He's still we still talking about him.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Year and I see some of his some of his
supporters are saying, Oh, he needs to get out of
this trial and get back on the campaign trail.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Oh, he's on the campaign trail. Honey.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
This is part of his cat set.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
That's what he's doing.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
According to him, he's being targeted.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
But what I don't understand is why don't people understand
that what he did, he broke the lave. We got
the person that actually participated, that was down with him
for ten years, you know, testifying encor talking about what happened.
And a lot of people think he could potentially win
this election, and I see a lot of negativity. I'm
watching some of these campaigns already and some of these
(19:20):
advertisements on television, and it is concerning to me as
a person who wants to make sure that people do vote.
I see so many things that are not true on
social media that's being spread, that's getting you know, millions
of views. I want to know what your thoughts are
about what's happening with Donald Trump. Do you think that
this is something that he could win or get that'll
get tossed out?
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Well? Absolutely? I mean, well, are you talking about the
case or the case first? And so in terms of
this case, right, I think it's important for people to
understand that if you want the law applied right, you
want fairness. It doesn't matter who we're talking about.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Right, the president does not good immunity exactly, former president exactly.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
We've seen this before. Think about the Nixon era. The
only reason that Nixon didn't go to jail was because
Gerald Ford pardoned him. Okay, because he made a decision
and said that the country can't undergo this. But even
Nixon was held to a certain standard. So it's important
we understand that the law is the law.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
And this is about hush money.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
It's about hush money. It's about intentionally, you know, covering
up a payment and knowing that from a campaign finance standpoint,
that you were crossing lines, you were blurring lines, Okay,
And so to me, I think that you have to
let the case play out. But Donald Trump is using
(20:38):
this moment as a campaign moment, he's going out, he's
talking to the press. At the end of each day,
he's saying I'm the victim, and there are people who
are buying into it. What I think also is that
people are so overwhelmed with information they can't keep track
of anything. So they're like, Okay, there's how many cases,
there's how many charges, and at a certain point they
start to tune out. So that's my fear as ajournalist,
(21:00):
as a political analyst, is that even all this work
we're doing to keep people informed, that they're not processing
it because they're just overwhelmed and they're over it. In
terms of why he's winning in certain polls, one, it's
important to remember these polls are samples of the American public.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
They are not I feel like the polls are never
reflective of what actually happens.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
When you think about it. Have you passed up the phone.
Have you picked up the phone and been asked to
answer this question? Chances are you probably haven't, So it's
not over till it's over. At the same time, President
Biden should heed the criticism that he's getting, the fact
that people can't tell you what he did, even though
he's done a lot, and so that's a communication issue.
(21:45):
That is their responsibility as the administration and office to
make sure that they are reaching people where they are.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
I feel like that's been an ongoing problem that we
have too, because even with President Barack Obama, you hear
people say they'll be like, he didn't do anything. You know,
he didn't fight for black people. But if you like,
I read his very thick book, and it.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
Was a big book.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
It was a big book, very long, but it was
I thought it was very informative about how government works
and all of the obstacles and difficulties that he had
and still tried to manage to get things done. But
a lot of things that I shut down is because
there is a system that's in place.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
Checks and balances, right, and Angela, I think what you're
pointing to is very important. How many of us actually
know the different branches of government? Do we know that?
You know, President Biden isn't a king. Any president isn't
a king. There is Congress, right, there is Scotus, the
Supreme Court of the United States. You see what they've
done with abortion rights. You see that certain legislation President
(22:40):
Biden had got blocked by just two people in his party,
you know, Kirsten Cinema and Joe Manchin. And so these
were key moments in which change could have happened, but
because there were folks who were you know, had their
own agendas, it didn't happen. And so every piece of
this puzzle has to work in order for America to work.
And my concern is people want they want quick fixes.
(23:03):
Like democracy is messy. There's give and take, there's fighting,
there's pressure, there's protests. Authoritarians they just say they want
something done and they break rules to make it happen,
or they change the rules entirely. And so you may
think Donald Trump is going to come in, he's going
to fix everything, you know, but what is he breaking
in the process? What are you losing in the process.
(23:24):
On the other side, he's threatened to go after journalists.
He's threatened to deport students who are quote anti American.
What does that mean right now we're talking about Gaza.
What if that means black lives matter in another breath?
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Right, And he encourages violence.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
You know, these are all things that I think as
people are like, oh, but the eggs are high, and oh,
you know, my rent is high. I have deep empathy
for that, but also have we asked the question of
why things are the way they are. We got hedge
funds buying up single family homes so people can't compete
who want to buy a house. The inflation, it's not
(24:03):
just the president's responsibility to try to bring inflation down.
Supply chains were disrupted. That was a global problem that affected.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Us, and we still are seeing the results of that,
and we're.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
Still seeing it. And yet some people are saying that
that was all President Biden's doing, or even the fact
that unemployment was starting to go down before Trump even
stepped into office and he benefited from that. But he's
running around telling people that he brought unemployment down for
African Americans when it was already on the decline. So
it's there's so much information to keep up with that
(24:35):
I worry that people gravitate towards the loudest and the
simplest voice, which often is a Donald Trump, when the
truth is much more nuanced, it's much more complicated.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Well, Natasha, I hope that you come up here a
lot more frequent. I would love to, because I do
think it's important to have actual journalists, right come on
to discuss what's happening, because I feel like there's wayes
that get you very like confused and muddled, and you know,
those voices can be elevated, but I want to make
sure that we continue to elevate people who are really
(25:05):
doing this work, that study it, that understand policy, because
this is a critical It's always a critical time. But
I'm not gonna lie right now. I feel like I
want to make sure that I'm doing something to make
sure that I'm doing my part.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
And I think that's what everybody needs to do.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
It's not just you know, posting on social media, but
it's like you do have to vote.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
You do have to make sure you.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Know what you're voting for, who you're voting for, what
you support, what you need to make happen, and participate
and be a part of that process.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
I have deep empathy for everyone. I'm a mother, I'm working,
you know, multiple jobs, but I was in school this
past year. Like sometimes it feels like we just don't
have the time. But this is our future, this is
our children's future. And democracy is not about the politician.
They are a steward of our country, right, these are
our rights, this is our land. These are our tax dollars,
(25:52):
and so we put people in place to look over, right,
what belongs to us. They work for us, for us,
make them work for you, that's right. So even with
everything we have going on, even if it's just taking
a moment to listen, to read, to double check a source,
this is the work that we must do. Our ancestors
did it so we could benefit.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Go to some town, some local meetings, you know.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
They did it, so we have to keep doing it.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
And you know what American Negra is out right now.
There were so many other things that I had that
I wanted to talk about in this book. You know what,
Let's do one of them, okay, you know, because you
get personalized certain things that happened when you were younger.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
And there was a time in high school there was
an older guy, oh gosh, oh yeah, hang around.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
To high school and you, being young and innocent all right,
ended up, you know, going back to his house with him.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Thank god, nothing happened to you.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
But I was thinking about that situation, about how many
times people will blame a woman or blame a young
girl and call her fast for being in that situation.
You were a virgin you ended up at his house.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
You were scared.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
He was on top of you, like and fortunately he
got was this is too much, let me just take
you home and nothing happened. But I just thought about
how many times, as young girls, we make decisions that
we wish we wouldn't have made and then end up,
you know, in a terrible situation that could have gone
you know, awful.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Well, one thing is, our culture is so fear based.
Our young people are afraid to tell us what's going on.
So we think we'll get punished if we ask certain
questions or talk about certain relationships that are developing. And
all you do is you just push the activity into
the quiet, right into the dark, where it can't be
seen or monitored. So I believe in creating a culture
where we do talk about these things with our young people. Second,
(27:36):
I think there is this. I mean we're seeing it.
Even with the rap beef. We were just talking about
like how normal is it for people to go after
young girls? You know, that's just normal. We had older
guys driving around the high schools all the time, and
young girls think like they're flattered by it. They think
it means, oh, this means I'm smart. This means I'm
mature and we have to put our young girls up
on game Like, no, that's part of the game, right,
(27:58):
to make you think that you are special in some way,
when really, what grown man will want anything to do
with a sixteen year old seventeen year old? Right? But
I wanted to be honest about these things because I
think people just think, oh, you know Harvard, she's on CNN.
People project a lot of things, like they assume they
know what your life is, and I had the life
(28:20):
of you know, it was like a regular black girl
growing up in upstate New York. Like, this is what
we were dealing with, older, older adult men driving by
the high school trying to pick us up.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
That is not normal.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
That is not normal. So I wanted to talk about
that to you know, free us up, to share the
lessons we've learned, and hopefully you know what inspires somebody.
I think it's a great coming of age story, for sure,
it is if it's.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
For a long time.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
And I've admired all the work that you've been doing
for think, you know, over a decade now.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
I want to say so thank you.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
You were a part of my journey. I mean, you
were one of the first people to help me do
a national radio interview back when I was on the
Breakfast Club. And thank you for being somebody who opens
doors for others and doesn't like close them behind you.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
So well, hopefully we do a whole lot more together,
because you know, anything you need, I'm here.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Thank you, Sis.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
I'm gonna be holding you to that same same standard.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
Yes, absolutely, we int it together.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
It is a critical time, so I do want to
make sure you know, as we're on this platform right now,
that you're agreed that you'll be back, I will be back,
all right, all right, Well, guys, make sure you pick
up this book.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
You are going to love it. It's amazing.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
If you have you know, children, I think this is
a great book for them to read too, for the youth,
but for somebody like myself seeing your whole journey scene
where you are today, it was definitely something special to
be able to read. American Negra is out right now,
Natasha Alfred, thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Thank you. Angela
What's up. It's way for the Angela Yee.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
I'm Angela Yee and I am very excited to be
joined today by Natasha Alford, who is many things, but
first off.
Speaker 1 (00:12):
Happy Mother's Day.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
Thank you so much. You know, feel so good to
be part of part of that club. A mom is
just trying to make it every day.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
One of the most important jobs that a person can have,
amongst other things that you do. But you are a
CNN political analyst but also the VP of Digital Content
and senior correspondent at the Grillo.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Yeah, and you.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Have multiple degrees, you know, but also in author Let's
not forget that. Yeah, I'm married me. Is that? Am
I saying it right?
Speaker 3 (00:40):
You're saying it right. Actually, I was advised when I
was coming up with this book idea like, be careful
with the title. People might be a little afraid of
the title. But you said it right, and that was
the hope that people would learn to say it and
learn what it means right.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Because and I want you to talk about this because
for me, I'm a person who's you know, I'm half
Chinese and I'm also half West Indian and so whenever
I would go get my hair done at the Dominican Salon.
I would have to explain because they always that I
was Dominican, so I would have to say, so echina
in negra, yeah, and let them know that because you
know that I can speak a little Spanish because I'm
(01:14):
from New York, and you know you have to come
up speaking some Spanish. I think here, but I always
had to explain that. That's why when I saw this
American negra, that's automatically I knew how to pronounce it.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
It's so relatable because a lot of us are asked
that question what are you? And I think that that
is what sent me on this journey to be like, well,
who am I? But also what did I need to
know back then to actually love myself? To accept myself?
And it takes time. So whoever reads this book is
really going on a journey of self discovery that I
(01:46):
hope is relatable to a lot of people. A lot
of people come from multi ethnic families like this is
more normal in America today and will soon be part
of the majority. So I thought it was important to
talk about what it's like to live between multiple cultures.
Speaker 2 (01:59):
I think timing wise, this is also a great time
for us to have this conversation watching everything that just
transpired with Kenjak and Drake too, because I think part
of that battle was Ken Jake telling Drake you can't
use the N word right because he is half you know,
half white and half black.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
I want to know what your thoughts are on that.
Speaker 3 (02:20):
Well, you know, I think it's this idea of using
blackness when it's commercially advantageous to you. People have an
issue with that, and it's about being authentic, right, And
so I think that there are people who see Drake
sort of almost step into different cultures and sort of assume, right,
he gives you that sound one time, you know, pafro beads,
(02:42):
and then it's bat one. It's like, you know, it's
I think there's a way to do it that pays homage.
But then there's this line of are you explored exploriting people?
And I think for me, my bigger question with the
whole Drake thing was really related to gender because there
were so many women who we were part of his
early fans, like we made him really popular. But the
(03:04):
music has taken this term more recently sort of in
a dark space, like really embracing a lot more misogynistic
kind of tropes and ideologies. So I think for me
that was the thing where I was starting to feel like, damn,
does Drake love us? Like does he love you know,
the women who put him on? But I think it's
a question we're all asking about who has the right
(03:25):
to And you know what's interesting, Angela this La La
Bad Bunny interview. Did you see that when.
Speaker 2 (03:30):
She was on the red carpet and she was able
to fluidly go in between oh yeah, English and Spanish.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
She did a great job, she did, but there were
some people who thought she didn't do good enough. Right,
So even though there are all these people like, oh,
look yeah looking Lalla like she's she is. This is
an example of an Afro Latina. This is example of diaspora, right,
there were people like, ah, but does she really speak Spanish? Well,
how comes she didn't you know, respond more in Spanish?
(03:57):
Like there's always somebody trying to keep yeah and tell
you that you aren't what you are. So I think
that's the flip side, the negative flip side of trying
to tell somebody you know, who they aren't when clearly
like that is their culture. And I think that's part
of you know, what the book tries to do as well,
is to raise the visibility of black Latinos.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
You know, I think that you were fortunate to have
both parents that were helped, that helped you embrace both
parts of your culture because your mom's Puerto Rican and
you had a king king I'm trying to pronounce it
king saniea. And so that's when you turn fifteen years old, right,
and that was something that you wanted to do. As
a matter of fact, I can't believe you chose that
(04:38):
over a car.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
Yeah, I know, it's kind of crazy to have a car.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
Or you could have this kin sanieaeh.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
And so you chose that. Why did you choose that
over a car?
Speaker 3 (04:48):
You know, I think I really wanted to have this
right of passage. Those are important aspects of culture, right,
These moments that you look back and say, this is
something I share with other people. And so for our family,
you know, a lot of the women and our family
had again, Sanietta, my mom didn't. She's from the Bronx.
You know, my grandmother worked a lot of jobs. She
(05:08):
didn't really have a lot of money. So my mom
didn't want one because financially, her family couldn't do it,
but she wanted to give me that experience and I
did it. But it was a very African American like,
like we had yeah, like alsa, right, we're doing salsa.
Everybody was like half the squad was like Black American.
You know, we're listening to Jay Z and Little Mo.
(05:30):
But I tried to show that that's what it's like
to live between multiple cultures. You can't deny any side
of you. And there are a lot of us out there.
Think about it. We've got Cardi b An offset like,
they have a daughter, they have a son. That's an
example of children who are going to grow up with
different ethnicities or cultures. And those are Black children. So
(05:51):
what does it mean to live at that intersection and
have some people tell you, oh, well, you're not enough
of this or you're not that. And what's what's so
important is that people understand and I think you get this.
We're Black women no matter what, right, even if we
have you know, another ethnicity sort of mixed in in America,
people see us as black. So if you are raising
(06:11):
black children, you need to know that you are raising
black children and teach them to be proud of themselves,
but also fight against some of those messages that will
teach them that they aren't enough. And I think for
latina As in particular, this is important because we have
a Spanish language media that often shows white and light
skin and fair skin as what is beautiful. Even in
(06:31):
Puerto Rico right now, they just passed a law against
natural hair discrimination because black Puerto Rican act right, and
that's the Puerto Rican version of it, because there were
black Puerto Ricans who were being told they had to
cut their locks off, that they couldn't their natural hair
wasn't professional. I mean this is in twenty twenty four,
this is still happening. So I think, you know, within
(06:52):
Latin American culture there's this reckoning that needs to happen
around race. And the book tries to educate a little
bit in terms of history and why in this place.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
A lot of things do come back to the hair.
And you talk about Palo Mallow, Yeah, bad hair and
your own hair journey too of you wanting to see
have your hair be silky and straight, and the perms
that you had to go through to get to that space.
But then and I went through this too, right where
I would straighten my hair as much as I could,
but it would get so frizzy as soon as it
got a little humid or damp, and all of a sudden,
(07:21):
you know, because I started off going to public school
and then I went to private school, and in private school,
everybody wanted like this stick straight here.
Speaker 1 (07:28):
There weren't a lot of black.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Kids in the school, so what you saw, what was
considered beautiful was that, like, you know, long straight hair,
and so I never got a perm. But then when
I got a little older, I got this thing, this
treatment that made my hair straight and shiny, so easy
to take care of, because that's part of what it
is too. It's so much easier when your hair is
straight and you don't have to, like, you know, worry
(07:49):
about getting it tangled up and things like that. But
it really did damage my natural hair curls for a
long time.
Speaker 3 (07:56):
It took years before I saw my natural pattern, which
is crazy where you know, there's so many little girls
who don't even see their natural texture until later. And
that is conditioning, right, We're conditioned to do that. You're
talking about going to Dominican salon. I mean I would
go to Dominican salons because it's like, oh, they know
how to get the hair the straightest.
Speaker 1 (08:15):
But it's gotta be burning and everything get it straight.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
But where does that come from? Angela? We actually look
at history. We think about the colonial era and the
fact that there was slavery in Dominican Republican, Puerto Rico
and all of these places. And to look wider, to
present wider, to have straighter hair. That's an advantage in
a society that's racist against black people. So we figured
out a way to cope. We figured out a way
(08:39):
to navigate. But it's okay to question and say, you know,
do I have to buy into all of this? And
so even just now in my thirties, am I getting
comfortable with wearing my hair curly?
Speaker 1 (08:48):
Like?
Speaker 3 (08:49):
That's how long it took.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
And thank god we have all these products because that
was also an issue having the right products for hair
with text here to having the curly hair, natural hair products,
and they started to even be able to to purchase
you know that we didn't used to have that that
was we did.
Speaker 3 (09:04):
The market has finally realized that we're here and so,
and I think that's part of these conversations. You show people, look,
we're here, we got buying power. We matter. You can't
ignore us like we don't have to conform. My favorite
story is in Puerto Rico in the aftermath of the hurricanes.
Because there was no electricity, you know, people didn't have
their like straightening tools and stuff. There were a lot
(09:25):
of women who discovered their natural hair texture because they
had to. And then I was like, oh, wait, you
like this, so you know these are important conversations. Now.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Your parents also play a really large part of your story.
Speaker 1 (09:38):
Your mom.
Speaker 2 (09:38):
You put a lot of the letters that your mom
wrote you, but one thing she always told you.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
I want to ask you about this.
Speaker 2 (09:43):
Even as you were getting all these accolades and achievements
and learning to be a great speaker, which I want
to touch on too, because that's so important, she would
tell you to stay humble. Yeah, even when people were
praising you. It was always like, Okay, stay humble. Oh
she's just a regular girl. I want to know what
you thoughts are on that. Looking back at it today.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
Yeah, I think some of it was genuine. I think
my mother always wanted me to remember we're a working
class family. We're not better than anybody, right. My dad,
he was a custodian for years he cleaned bathrooms. My
mother was a public school teacher and she had a
guidance counselor who told her she should be a secretary
because she was Puerto Rican. Right, those are the things
you come up against when you come from marginalized groups,
(10:23):
people who tell you that you can't be anything. So
she wanted me to stay grounded. But I think also
sometimes it's a protective mechanism. I think that in this
sort of, you know, race based society that we live in,
we don't want young people of color to get too
full of themselves because we know the obstacles that they're
going to face, right, they're going to take it away
from you. We don't want you to get disappointed. So
(10:44):
sometimes we might shoot down your dreams, you know. I
remember telling my dad, I'm moving to New York. Daddy like,
I might get this job at the Grio, and he
was like, all right, we'll see what happens. Like how
many times do we do that to our children out
of love because we don't want to protect that, But
then you also are limiting their sense of possibility. So
that's what I wrestle with in the book. Sometimes the
(11:06):
tensions I had with my family. You'll see a scene
in the book where I get into Harvard and the
reaction is not like the Instagram videos. Yeah, everybody's like cheering, like,
oh my baby got into the school. It was not
that reaction.
Speaker 1 (11:20):
How much is it gonna cost?
Speaker 3 (11:22):
It was that right, and that's a that's a that's
a real white at school. You're gonna be the Are
you gonna be the only black girl there? You know?
So I think that this book, as much as it
is about culture and being black and Latina, it's also
about the American dream and what is the path towards
the American dream? When we tell young people to go
(11:43):
after their education, are we really giving them the support
once they get there, Because just you just because you
got into Harvard, you got into Yale, it doesn't mean
you know how to navigate those spaces. You know, there's
a lot of sort of unofficial rules that will make
you a success or make you a failure. And also
why do we define those places as being signs of success? Right?
(12:05):
I wanted to go to an HBCU, I wanted to
go to Spellman. We just couldn't afford to send me there,
you know, so it raises these questions that I think
we should ask.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
And another thing, since we brought that up, because you
did go to Princeton, also, congratulations grating in public policy.
Still getting the education, which is not cheap to do.
You also went to a Northwestern right, and to Harvard.
You're not playing any games when.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
It kind of like, I mean, this is wow. And
I always believe in.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
You know, whether or not it's going to school to
get a degree, but education, right, whether you're getting a
certification in something or you're trying to learn more about
something and getting educated taking courses. I'm a big fan
of that because I feel like we should always be
students of something we don't ever know it all right.
But what I wanted to ask you was with all
of these conversations about DEI happening right now and at schools,
(13:00):
saying okay, now we don't have to do certain things
when it comes to the admissions process.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Clearly you deserve to be there.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
You belong there, and people are very confused sometimes about
what that means. They think if they see a student
of color on a campus, that is some type of
affirmative action. Right, So I want to see what your
thoughts are and a lot of things being rolled back now.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
Well, first, I think that affirmative action has worked in
a lot of ways to help non people of color.
Why don't we talk about women that right? Okay, even
think about it. You know, I have studied policy this
past year and the things I've learned about the ways
that certain people were set up for success and others
were denied opportunity. It's insane. People want you to think
(13:43):
that we are somehow a problem people of color. We
don't work hard enough, we don't want nothing in life,
and then you learn about the ways that we were denied.
The GI Bill African American veterans who served, you know,
not being able to actually get mortgages to live in
certain neighborhoods while white veterans were able to do that.
Think about that people who tried to get into two
(14:04):
schools to actually get their education and they were denied
because of segregation. So I don't believe in sort of
ahistorical takes around this, And I think a lot of
people are talking about this without actually knowing the history,
and they want black people to feel shame about programs
that are about creating equity and writing past wrongs. I
(14:24):
don't care if somebody doesn't think that I deserve to
go to Harvard or deserve to go to Princeton. I
know I deserve to go there. There's a legacy of
people who came before me who fought so that I
could be there, and my people helped build this country right,
and we never got reparations. We never got forty acres things.
Things were taken away. So the least you could do
if I'm pursuing my education, I want to be somebody
(14:46):
I want to contribute is to support me in that.
And please know I'm qualified. This is not about putting
unqualified people in position. It's about making sure there's checks
and balances so that they aren't denied opportunities that they
should have.
Speaker 1 (14:59):
Man, listen, you made me want to go back to
school myself.
Speaker 3 (15:01):
It's never too late. By the way, Princeton was free.
Just to be clear, Princeton paid for everything. That's why
I went back to school. You know, I just was like,
I can't say no to this. I you know, I
at this point in my life, I'm making my own education.
We go to school for so long someone else tells
us what to learn. I looked up, I looked at
the world. I said, I'm always talking about problems. I
(15:24):
want to know how do we fix the problems in
America and beyond. And so that's what I was doing.
I was going back and getting the education I always wanted.
Speaker 2 (15:32):
I saw you were there also on campus while there
were hunger strikes going on that just ended yesterday, and
so these were the anti Israel hunger strikes. And you know,
students have been protesting on campuses all over right now nationally.
So I want to get your thoughts on that because
some people feel, like you know, I've seen a lot
of different differing views on what's happening and students weighing
in and being active, which I think is a positive thing.
(15:55):
But I want to see what you think.
Speaker 3 (15:57):
Well. One thing about young people is that sometimes they
have a moral compass that the grown folks don't have
because we have things to lose, right, And there are
a lot of people who are seeing what's happening. They're seeing,
you know, innocent civilians who are dying, children who are dying,
women who are dying, and they're saying this is not right.
(16:18):
But there are people who use that and sort of
exaggerate right and say that oh, this is this is
about anti Semitism, this is about anti Zionism, or whatever
it is. But I see people who are taking folks
who are simply saying this is too much like innocent
people shouldn't be dying, and they are blanketing them with
(16:42):
judgment and sort of this sort of mass stereotype of
all the students. When I was on campus, I interviewed
many Jewish students who were part of the Gaza Solidarity encampment,
and they were saying, you know, not in my name
that I disagree with some of the policies the way
that Israel is, you know, carrying out this military operation,
and I don't want it to be done in my name.
(17:04):
Those students were anti Semitic, they were Jewish, right, But
if you were looking at some of the coverage on
the news, it was as if everyone was being painted
with a broad brush. So I think it's important for
us as media, our job is to be fair. It's
to make sure that we're talking to everybody so we
can tell the most accurate version of the story of
what's playing out. And I just felt like, you know,
(17:26):
there were certain instances in which there were just mass
sort of stereotypes being painted about everybody, And as somebody
who's literally on a college campus, I can tell you
that from what I saw, much of this was motivated
by concern about the humanitarian crisis at Princeton.
Speaker 2 (17:42):
And it's interesting because it depends on what media outlet
you're looking at. I was looking at an article about
science I was speaking at Duke and they said some
of the students like walked out and they were mad,
and they were But then other people, depending on which
article you read, you know, they said like a few students,
and they can make it seem like gets way more
people involved than what you think.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
And there's a diversity of views. When I was covering
the Princeton protest, you know, there were counter protesters there
who were holding pictures of hostages and saying bring the
hostages home. And it's like, you have to I chose
journalism because I have empathy, Like I think, I have
a heart for people, and so I can understand the
pain of people who are saying, my loved ones are
(18:24):
are gone, I want them back, and also understand that
there are people who are saying, oh, innocent people shouldn't
be dying, right, Like we shouldn't be like carpet bombing people.
Those stories, all of those stories have to be told
in this moment.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
All right.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
The other big thing that's happening right now here in
New York Donald Trump.
Speaker 3 (18:41):
Mm hmm. He's still we still talking about him.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
Year and I see some of his some of his
supporters are saying, Oh, he needs to get out of
this trial and get back on the campaign trail.
Speaker 3 (18:53):
Oh, he's on the campaign trail. Honey.
Speaker 1 (18:55):
This is part of his cat set.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
That's what he's doing.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
According to him, he's being targeted.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
But what I don't understand is why don't people understand
that what he did, he broke the lave. We got
the person that actually participated, that was down with him
for ten years, you know, testifying encor talking about what happened.
And a lot of people think he could potentially win
this election, and I see a lot of negativity. I'm
watching some of these campaigns already and some of these
(19:20):
advertisements on television, and it is concerning to me as
a person who wants to make sure that people do vote.
I see so many things that are not true on
social media that's being spread, that's getting you know, millions
of views. I want to know what your thoughts are
about what's happening with Donald Trump. Do you think that
this is something that he could win or get that'll
get tossed out?
Speaker 3 (19:40):
Well? Absolutely? I mean, well, are you talking about the
case or the case first? And so in terms of
this case, right, I think it's important for people to
understand that if you want the law applied right, you
want fairness. It doesn't matter who we're talking about.
Speaker 2 (19:55):
Right, the president does not good immunity exactly, former president exactly.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
We've seen this before. Think about the Nixon era. The
only reason that Nixon didn't go to jail was because
Gerald Ford pardoned him. Okay, because he made a decision
and said that the country can't undergo this. But even
Nixon was held to a certain standard. So it's important
we understand that the law is the law.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
And this is about hush money.
Speaker 3 (20:16):
It's about hush money. It's about intentionally, you know, covering
up a payment and knowing that from a campaign finance standpoint,
that you were crossing lines, you were blurring lines, Okay,
And so to me, I think that you have to
let the case play out. But Donald Trump is using
(20:38):
this moment as a campaign moment, he's going out, he's
talking to the press. At the end of each day,
he's saying I'm the victim, and there are people who
are buying into it. What I think also is that
people are so overwhelmed with information they can't keep track
of anything. So they're like, Okay, there's how many cases,
there's how many charges, and at a certain point they
start to tune out. So that's my fear as ajournalist,
(21:00):
as a political analyst, is that even all this work
we're doing to keep people informed, that they're not processing
it because they're just overwhelmed and they're over it. In
terms of why he's winning in certain polls, one, it's
important to remember these polls are samples of the American public.
Speaker 2 (21:18):
They are not I feel like the polls are never
reflective of what actually happens.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
When you think about it. Have you passed up the phone.
Have you picked up the phone and been asked to
answer this question? Chances are you probably haven't, So it's
not over till it's over. At the same time, President
Biden should heed the criticism that he's getting, the fact
that people can't tell you what he did, even though
he's done a lot, and so that's a communication issue.
(21:45):
That is their responsibility as the administration and office to
make sure that they are reaching people where they are.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
I feel like that's been an ongoing problem that we
have too, because even with President Barack Obama, you hear
people say they'll be like, he didn't do anything. You know,
he didn't fight for black people. But if you like,
I read his very thick book, and it.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
Was a big book.
Speaker 2 (22:04):
It was a big book, very long, but it was
I thought it was very informative about how government works
and all of the obstacles and difficulties that he had
and still tried to manage to get things done. But
a lot of things that I shut down is because
there is a system that's in place.
Speaker 3 (22:18):
Checks and balances, right, and Angela, I think what you're
pointing to is very important. How many of us actually
know the different branches of government? Do we know that?
You know, President Biden isn't a king. Any president isn't
a king. There is Congress, right, there is Scotus, the
Supreme Court of the United States. You see what they've
done with abortion rights. You see that certain legislation President
(22:40):
Biden had got blocked by just two people in his party,
you know, Kirsten Cinema and Joe Manchin. And so these
were key moments in which change could have happened, but
because there were folks who were you know, had their
own agendas, it didn't happen. And so every piece of
this puzzle has to work in order for America to work.
And my concern is people want they want quick fixes.
(23:03):
Like democracy is messy. There's give and take, there's fighting,
there's pressure, there's protests. Authoritarians they just say they want
something done and they break rules to make it happen,
or they change the rules entirely. And so you may
think Donald Trump is going to come in, he's going
to fix everything, you know, but what is he breaking
in the process? What are you losing in the process.
(23:24):
On the other side, he's threatened to go after journalists.
He's threatened to deport students who are quote anti American.
What does that mean right now we're talking about Gaza.
What if that means black lives matter in another breath?
Speaker 1 (23:38):
Right, And he encourages violence.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
You know, these are all things that I think as
people are like, oh, but the eggs are high, and oh,
you know, my rent is high. I have deep empathy
for that, but also have we asked the question of
why things are the way they are. We got hedge
funds buying up single family homes so people can't compete
who want to buy a house. The inflation, it's not
(24:03):
just the president's responsibility to try to bring inflation down.
Supply chains were disrupted. That was a global problem that affected.
Speaker 1 (24:11):
Us, and we still are seeing the results of that,
and we're.
Speaker 3 (24:13):
Still seeing it. And yet some people are saying that
that was all President Biden's doing, or even the fact
that unemployment was starting to go down before Trump even
stepped into office and he benefited from that. But he's
running around telling people that he brought unemployment down for
African Americans when it was already on the decline. So
it's there's so much information to keep up with that
(24:35):
I worry that people gravitate towards the loudest and the
simplest voice, which often is a Donald Trump, when the
truth is much more nuanced, it's much more complicated.
Speaker 2 (24:45):
Well, Natasha, I hope that you come up here a
lot more frequent. I would love to, because I do
think it's important to have actual journalists, right come on
to discuss what's happening, because I feel like there's wayes
that get you very like confused and muddled, and you know,
those voices can be elevated, but I want to make
sure that we continue to elevate people who are really
(25:05):
doing this work, that study it, that understand policy, because
this is a critical It's always a critical time. But
I'm not gonna lie right now. I feel like I
want to make sure that I'm doing something to make
sure that I'm doing my part.
Speaker 1 (25:17):
And I think that's what everybody needs to do.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
It's not just you know, posting on social media, but
it's like you do have to vote.
Speaker 1 (25:22):
You do have to make sure you.
Speaker 2 (25:23):
Know what you're voting for, who you're voting for, what
you support, what you need to make happen, and participate
and be a part of that process.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
I have deep empathy for everyone. I'm a mother, I'm working,
you know, multiple jobs, but I was in school this
past year. Like sometimes it feels like we just don't
have the time. But this is our future, this is
our children's future. And democracy is not about the politician.
They are a steward of our country, right, these are
our rights, this is our land. These are our tax dollars,
(25:52):
and so we put people in place to look over, right,
what belongs to us. They work for us, for us,
make them work for you, that's right. So even with
everything we have going on, even if it's just taking
a moment to listen, to read, to double check a source,
this is the work that we must do. Our ancestors
did it so we could benefit.
Speaker 1 (26:12):
Go to some town, some local meetings, you know.
Speaker 3 (26:15):
They did it, so we have to keep doing it.
Speaker 2 (26:17):
And you know what American Negra is out right now.
There were so many other things that I had that
I wanted to talk about in this book. You know what,
Let's do one of them, okay, you know, because you
get personalized certain things that happened when you were younger.
Speaker 1 (26:29):
And there was a time in high school there was
an older guy, oh gosh, oh yeah, hang around.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
To high school and you, being young and innocent all right,
ended up, you know, going back to his house with him.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Thank god, nothing happened to you.
Speaker 2 (26:43):
But I was thinking about that situation, about how many
times people will blame a woman or blame a young
girl and call her fast for being in that situation.
You were a virgin you ended up at his house.
Speaker 1 (26:54):
You were scared.
Speaker 2 (26:55):
He was on top of you, like and fortunately he
got was this is too much, let me just take
you home and nothing happened. But I just thought about
how many times, as young girls, we make decisions that
we wish we wouldn't have made and then end up,
you know, in a terrible situation that could have gone
you know, awful.
Speaker 3 (27:14):
Well, one thing is, our culture is so fear based.
Our young people are afraid to tell us what's going on.
So we think we'll get punished if we ask certain
questions or talk about certain relationships that are developing. And
all you do is you just push the activity into
the quiet, right into the dark, where it can't be
seen or monitored. So I believe in creating a culture
where we do talk about these things with our young people. Second,
(27:36):
I think there is this. I mean we're seeing it.
Even with the rap beef. We were just talking about
like how normal is it for people to go after
young girls? You know, that's just normal. We had older
guys driving around the high schools all the time, and
young girls think like they're flattered by it. They think
it means, oh, this means I'm smart. This means I'm
mature and we have to put our young girls up
on game Like, no, that's part of the game, right,
(27:58):
to make you think that you are special in some way,
when really, what grown man will want anything to do
with a sixteen year old seventeen year old? Right? But
I wanted to be honest about these things because I
think people just think, oh, you know Harvard, she's on CNN.
People project a lot of things, like they assume they
know what your life is, and I had the life
(28:20):
of you know, it was like a regular black girl
growing up in upstate New York. Like, this is what
we were dealing with, older, older adult men driving by
the high school trying to pick us up.
Speaker 1 (28:29):
That is not normal.
Speaker 3 (28:30):
That is not normal. So I wanted to talk about
that to you know, free us up, to share the
lessons we've learned, and hopefully you know what inspires somebody.
I think it's a great coming of age story, for sure,
it is if it's.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
For a long time.
Speaker 2 (28:45):
And I've admired all the work that you've been doing
for think, you know, over a decade now.
Speaker 1 (28:50):
I want to say so thank you.
Speaker 3 (28:52):
You were a part of my journey. I mean, you
were one of the first people to help me do
a national radio interview back when I was on the
Breakfast Club. And thank you for being somebody who opens
doors for others and doesn't like close them behind you.
Speaker 2 (29:04):
So well, hopefully we do a whole lot more together,
because you know, anything you need, I'm here.
Speaker 3 (29:09):
Thank you, Sis.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
I'm gonna be holding you to that same same standard.
Speaker 3 (29:13):
Yes, absolutely, we int it together.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
It is a critical time, so I do want to
make sure you know, as we're on this platform right now,
that you're agreed that you'll be back, I will be back,
all right, all right, Well, guys, make sure you pick
up this book.
Speaker 1 (29:23):
You are going to love it. It's amazing.
Speaker 2 (29:25):
If you have you know, children, I think this is
a great book for them to read too, for the youth,
but for somebody like myself seeing your whole journey scene
where you are today, it was definitely something special to
be able to read. American Negra is out right now,
Natasha Alfred, thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (29:40):
Thank you. Angela
Way Up With Angela Yee News
Host
Angela Yee
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