August 7, 2024 • 14 mins
Kamala Harris has picked Tim Walz as her VP nominee. Guest Host Q Ward reflects on this decision on today's "One More Thing" segment.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is the Black Information Network Daily podcast, and I'm
your host, rams' Ja. And sometimes the amount of stories
that make their way to us means that we simply
can't cover everything that comes our way. But from time
to time, a story just stays with me and Bill
compelled to share it with you and give you my thoughts.
And now one more thing.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
In an ideal world, when we go to the polls
to cast our vote, we would vote for the person
that we expect would have the greatest positive impact on
the lives of ourselves and those we care about. Unfortunately,
for black people in this country, we often have to
make the decision on who's going to do the least
(00:46):
amount of harm. Except for a couple of times in
my short life where I've had a little bit of
excitement when it came to casting my vote. Historically, I'd
like to brag that I was one of the first
people in Maricopa County to cast a vote for former
(01:06):
President Barack Obama. In that moment, I recalled when my
mother became a voting age Black women not being able
to vote in this country, So as you could imagine,
it was a very profound and pactful moment for me
to cast a vote for the man who would become
(01:27):
the first black president in the history of this country.
Here we are again at a time where I get
to be excited and energized about a candidate who will
not just stand in the way of harm, but might
bring about some change and progress for people who love,
(01:49):
look and think in ways that are very, very different
from just hers and now her running mates. Leading up
to this election, there was a lot of conversation about
who the vice presidential nominee would be. Now that that
(02:10):
announcement has been made, we watched the way that people
all over this country are reacting, some very very excited,
I'm sure some with question marks. So we've tapped USA
today to help us understand maybe the who and the
why behind the decision to tap Minnesota Governor Tim Walls
(02:34):
as the running mate for the now Harris Walls presidential campaign.
It's Minnesota Governor Tim Walls. Vice President Kamala Harris picked
Walls as her vice presidential running mate on Tuesday, thrusting
the outspoken Midwestern statesman into the national spotlight while adding
a key ally to her fast moving campaign for presidency.
(02:57):
Walls has decades of political experience in side and outside
of Washington, and the Minnesota governor has spent time a
courting pivotal Midwestern voters, but that doesn't mean most Americans
know his name or track record. In fact, seventy one
percent of Americans said they've never heard of Walls or
were unsure how to rate him, according to an NPR
(03:18):
national survey released earlier this week. It seems a big
factor on both sides of the aisle when it came
to who Vice President Harris would select as her running mate,
or even before then, even with the presumptive candidates who
were in the race, this whole time from constituents and
(03:40):
from other lawmakers was age. So I have to admit
when I saw the list of people that most assumed
Vice President Harris was considering as a running mate, when
I saw a photo of Governor Walls, I immediately, having
(04:03):
done no research, scratched him off. I thought that it
would be something the other side of the aisle would
point to as a problem because much of what they
had to say and the negative about President Biden was
that he was too old, and I've heard sentiments similar
to that echoed with regards to former President Trump. But
(04:27):
that was before I got a chance to do some
research about Governor Walls, and without showing my hand before now,
I had a conversation with my brother, collaborator, teammate and
partner in crime, Rams's Jaw about my excitement for the
(04:48):
possibility of Governor Walls being selected. I have to also
admit I was not very hopeful that that would happen.
There were younger candidates, there were candidates that were prominent
governors in swing states. There were those who people just
(05:08):
knew better, like Pete Buddhaicic, who was an awesome orator
and just a fantastic, seemingly people and service first politician.
So I thought that more popular or more strategic decisions
would be made with regards to her running mate. But
the person who made me feel the best was Governor Wallas,
(05:31):
from watching him at the state fair with his daughter
to what I can just call common sense humility, common
man empathy, and just down to earth human emotions. I
think a lot of this political race, and a lot
(05:51):
of politics in our country in general, have reached the
furthest extremes of division. Not that the country is the
most divided it's ever been, because people we had a
civil war before. But politics used to be people at
least performing the ideas of wanting to be the president
(06:14):
for everyone who lives here, whether you elect me or not,
or whether we share all of the same ideas or
want all of the same outcomes. If I become the president,
I will be the president for everyone. We've seem to
stray away from that position where our former president I
(06:35):
don't think i've ever heard campaign on a single policy.
He feeds more into the we hate the same things
or we hate the same people. So let's get excited
around that. Well, let's have some discussions about Tim Walls.
Who is he? You know, why is he the person
that she selected? You know, aside from the things that
(06:58):
I pointed out with regards to again the just common
man in him, the common decency in him, I'm here
to help everyone in him. I know the big bad
socialism word gets floated out there, but big business does
very well, and Governor Walls estate as well. I believe Target,
(07:18):
one of the largest retailers in the world, is based
in Minnesota, along with other companies that seem to thrive
where people try to paint him as a person that's
not for a big business. I think he's found a
way to balance being for a big business and being
for his people in his constituents as well. Tim Walls
(07:39):
is from the Midwest, like myself, and I think Midwesterners
have a lot to do with outcomes and elections, and
not just the fact that he's located in the Midwest,
but if you listen to him speak, if you watch
videos of him and his family and his dogs, he
gives you a very every man aid Westerner energy as well.
(08:02):
I think that's something that will resonate with people not
just in his state of Minnesota, but in Michigan, Ohio, Missouri, Nebraska, Indiana,
and I think people will see themselves or their dad,
or their granddad or their uncle in Tim Walls when
they see him. I said something earlier about the governor's age.
(08:27):
Tim Walls is not a very old man, not as
young as say a Pete Buddhachic. But Governor Walls vice
President Harris are both younger than Barack Obama, who is
not someone that we consider past his prime with regards
to politics. And again, listening to him speak, you can
(08:48):
see and feel the energy and watching the people if
you've had a chance to tune in to the rally
in Pennsylvania. If you weren't able to see it live,
I'm sure there will be clips available. The energy that
was already surrounding Vice President Harris seems and it might
just be my biased and me looking for hope anywhere
(09:11):
I can find it, but it seems that there's an
energy surrounding this ticket now that it's complete that makes
me feel even more hopeful than I did yesterday. People suggested,
with regards to strategy, that maybe Vice President Harris should
have someone with military experience standing next to her. She
(09:31):
went with a retired military vet who, at the time
that he left Congress was the highest ranking enlisted soldier
to ever serve in the US Congress. So again, the
boxes that they create for her to check. Even though
I don't think that's the reason she made that decision,
it definitely helps that that's the truth. We've seen some
(09:56):
very very disheartening things happen with regards to autonomy of
women in this country, the stripping away of freedoms and
reproductive rights, and in governor walls. We have someone who
stands with women and who is a very very loud
supporter of reproductive rights. We've seen things happen in real
(10:18):
life that I read about in books and that I
saw in movies that I considered so far fetching that
they would never actually happen. Until we start seeing politicians, governors,
legislators in Washington trying to ban books. I never would
have imagined that as something actually possible, but we're seeing
(10:42):
things like that play out in real time. Again, we
have a governor that is against the idea of book bands.
We've seen a huge surge throughout the country where states
have begun to legalize or at least decriminalize cannabis. Governor
(11:03):
Wats is one of the first in the country and
definitely someone that helped to oversee legislation regarding cannabis. There's
this fear that we've seen from those who want to
sow dissension and keep this swell of energy for are
now official Democratic candidate Vice President Harris, that she's going
(11:24):
to come and steal away your guns. And people are
very very strong on the Second Amendment, but they're fine
with people playing loose with other mimbis. But that's a
different conversation for a different time. The idea has never
been to strip away your rights just to have regular
(11:45):
background checks to make sure that people who have access
to these weapons are of sound mind, don't have violent
criminal backgrounds, don't have mental health issues that they're dealing with.
We want this country to be free, but we also
want this country to be safe. So again, there are
(12:06):
so many things about Governor Walls that excite me. Most
of them, however, and forgive me for this being the case,
are not policy related. For the first time in a
long time, I got to listen to a candidate speak,
and in this case, a candidate that does not look
like me. We are from a similar place in this country.
(12:29):
Him Minnesota, myself Michigan, lots of lakes, lots of Midwestern values.
But even though we don't share the same physical traits,
I see some of myself and some of the people
that I care about in Governor Walls, and I am very,
very excited that he is now a part of this ticket.
(12:50):
His appeal best summed up by this quote. He brings
political acuity, suburban and rural appeal, and progressive patriotism to
a competition where all three criteria are seen as helpful
for Democrats. To clinch a twenty twenty four win against
the Republican ticket. I think that there are more people
(13:12):
in this country that share common goals, common values, a
shared sense of self determination, and a shared sense of
believing that everyone in this country should be able to laugh,
should be able to love, and should be able to thrive.
And this ticket or the Democratic Party for this presidential election,
(13:37):
gives me more of those feelings I have to admit
that I've probably ever had, and that's including when I
got to elect our then first black president, Barack Obama.
So that's a little bit about what I think and
(13:57):
what I feel. But I like to have conversations and
if that's something you'd like to do as well, especially
regarding this topic, you can use the red microphone talkback
feature on the iarheartradio app. My name is Q Ward
and until next time piece.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
This has been a production of the Black Information Network.
Today's show is produced by Chris Thompson. Have some thoughts
you'd like to share, use the red microphone talkback feature
on the iHeartRadio app. While you're there, be sure to
hit subscribing. Download all of our episodes. I'm your host
ramses Job on all social media. Join us tomorrow as
we share our news with our voice from our perspective
(14:37):
right here on the Black Information Network Daily podcast
This is the Black Information Network Daily podcast, and I'm
your host, rams' Ja. And sometimes the amount of stories
that make their way to us means that we simply
can't cover everything that comes our way. But from time
to time, a story just stays with me and Bill
compelled to share it with you and give you my thoughts.
And now one more thing.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
In an ideal world, when we go to the polls
to cast our vote, we would vote for the person
that we expect would have the greatest positive impact on
the lives of ourselves and those we care about. Unfortunately,
for black people in this country, we often have to
make the decision on who's going to do the least
(00:46):
amount of harm. Except for a couple of times in
my short life where I've had a little bit of
excitement when it came to casting my vote. Historically, I'd
like to brag that I was one of the first
people in Maricopa County to cast a vote for former
(01:06):
President Barack Obama. In that moment, I recalled when my
mother became a voting age Black women not being able
to vote in this country, So as you could imagine,
it was a very profound and pactful moment for me
to cast a vote for the man who would become
(01:27):
the first black president in the history of this country.
Here we are again at a time where I get
to be excited and energized about a candidate who will
not just stand in the way of harm, but might
bring about some change and progress for people who love,
(01:49):
look and think in ways that are very, very different
from just hers and now her running mates. Leading up
to this election, there was a lot of conversation about
who the vice presidential nominee would be. Now that that
(02:10):
announcement has been made, we watched the way that people
all over this country are reacting, some very very excited,
I'm sure some with question marks. So we've tapped USA
today to help us understand maybe the who and the
why behind the decision to tap Minnesota Governor Tim Walls
(02:34):
as the running mate for the now Harris Walls presidential campaign.
It's Minnesota Governor Tim Walls. Vice President Kamala Harris picked
Walls as her vice presidential running mate on Tuesday, thrusting
the outspoken Midwestern statesman into the national spotlight while adding
a key ally to her fast moving campaign for presidency.
(02:57):
Walls has decades of political experience in side and outside
of Washington, and the Minnesota governor has spent time a
courting pivotal Midwestern voters, but that doesn't mean most Americans
know his name or track record. In fact, seventy one
percent of Americans said they've never heard of Walls or
were unsure how to rate him, according to an NPR
(03:18):
national survey released earlier this week. It seems a big
factor on both sides of the aisle when it came
to who Vice President Harris would select as her running mate,
or even before then, even with the presumptive candidates who
were in the race, this whole time from constituents and
(03:40):
from other lawmakers was age. So I have to admit
when I saw the list of people that most assumed
Vice President Harris was considering as a running mate, when
I saw a photo of Governor Walls, I immediately, having
(04:03):
done no research, scratched him off. I thought that it
would be something the other side of the aisle would
point to as a problem because much of what they
had to say and the negative about President Biden was
that he was too old, and I've heard sentiments similar
to that echoed with regards to former President Trump. But
(04:27):
that was before I got a chance to do some
research about Governor Walls, and without showing my hand before now,
I had a conversation with my brother, collaborator, teammate and
partner in crime, Rams's Jaw about my excitement for the
(04:48):
possibility of Governor Walls being selected. I have to also
admit I was not very hopeful that that would happen.
There were younger candidates, there were candidates that were prominent
governors in swing states. There were those who people just
(05:08):
knew better, like Pete Buddhaicic, who was an awesome orator
and just a fantastic, seemingly people and service first politician.
So I thought that more popular or more strategic decisions
would be made with regards to her running mate. But
the person who made me feel the best was Governor Wallas,
(05:31):
from watching him at the state fair with his daughter
to what I can just call common sense humility, common
man empathy, and just down to earth human emotions. I
think a lot of this political race, and a lot
(05:51):
of politics in our country in general, have reached the
furthest extremes of division. Not that the country is the
most divided it's ever been, because people we had a
civil war before. But politics used to be people at
least performing the ideas of wanting to be the president
(06:14):
for everyone who lives here, whether you elect me or not,
or whether we share all of the same ideas or
want all of the same outcomes. If I become the president,
I will be the president for everyone. We've seem to
stray away from that position where our former president I
(06:35):
don't think i've ever heard campaign on a single policy.
He feeds more into the we hate the same things
or we hate the same people. So let's get excited
around that. Well, let's have some discussions about Tim Walls.
Who is he? You know, why is he the person
that she selected? You know, aside from the things that
(06:58):
I pointed out with regards to again the just common
man in him, the common decency in him, I'm here
to help everyone in him. I know the big bad
socialism word gets floated out there, but big business does
very well, and Governor Walls estate as well. I believe Target,
(07:18):
one of the largest retailers in the world, is based
in Minnesota, along with other companies that seem to thrive
where people try to paint him as a person that's
not for a big business. I think he's found a
way to balance being for a big business and being
for his people in his constituents as well. Tim Walls
(07:39):
is from the Midwest, like myself, and I think Midwesterners
have a lot to do with outcomes and elections, and
not just the fact that he's located in the Midwest,
but if you listen to him speak, if you watch
videos of him and his family and his dogs, he
gives you a very every man aid Westerner energy as well.
(08:02):
I think that's something that will resonate with people not
just in his state of Minnesota, but in Michigan, Ohio, Missouri, Nebraska, Indiana,
and I think people will see themselves or their dad,
or their granddad or their uncle in Tim Walls when
they see him. I said something earlier about the governor's age.
(08:27):
Tim Walls is not a very old man, not as
young as say a Pete Buddhachic. But Governor Walls vice
President Harris are both younger than Barack Obama, who is
not someone that we consider past his prime with regards
to politics. And again, listening to him speak, you can
(08:48):
see and feel the energy and watching the people if
you've had a chance to tune in to the rally
in Pennsylvania. If you weren't able to see it live,
I'm sure there will be clips available. The energy that
was already surrounding Vice President Harris seems and it might
just be my biased and me looking for hope anywhere
(09:11):
I can find it, but it seems that there's an
energy surrounding this ticket now that it's complete that makes
me feel even more hopeful than I did yesterday. People suggested,
with regards to strategy, that maybe Vice President Harris should
have someone with military experience standing next to her. She
(09:31):
went with a retired military vet who, at the time
that he left Congress was the highest ranking enlisted soldier
to ever serve in the US Congress. So again, the
boxes that they create for her to check. Even though
I don't think that's the reason she made that decision,
it definitely helps that that's the truth. We've seen some
(09:56):
very very disheartening things happen with regards to autonomy of
women in this country, the stripping away of freedoms and
reproductive rights, and in governor walls. We have someone who
stands with women and who is a very very loud
supporter of reproductive rights. We've seen things happen in real
(10:18):
life that I read about in books and that I
saw in movies that I considered so far fetching that
they would never actually happen. Until we start seeing politicians, governors,
legislators in Washington trying to ban books. I never would
have imagined that as something actually possible, but we're seeing
(10:42):
things like that play out in real time. Again, we
have a governor that is against the idea of book bands.
We've seen a huge surge throughout the country where states
have begun to legalize or at least decriminalize cannabis. Governor
(11:03):
Wats is one of the first in the country and
definitely someone that helped to oversee legislation regarding cannabis. There's
this fear that we've seen from those who want to
sow dissension and keep this swell of energy for are
now official Democratic candidate Vice President Harris, that she's going
(11:24):
to come and steal away your guns. And people are
very very strong on the Second Amendment, but they're fine
with people playing loose with other mimbis. But that's a
different conversation for a different time. The idea has never
been to strip away your rights just to have regular
(11:45):
background checks to make sure that people who have access
to these weapons are of sound mind, don't have violent
criminal backgrounds, don't have mental health issues that they're dealing with.
We want this country to be free, but we also
want this country to be safe. So again, there are
(12:06):
so many things about Governor Walls that excite me. Most
of them, however, and forgive me for this being the case,
are not policy related. For the first time in a
long time, I got to listen to a candidate speak,
and in this case, a candidate that does not look
like me. We are from a similar place in this country.
(12:29):
Him Minnesota, myself Michigan, lots of lakes, lots of Midwestern values.
But even though we don't share the same physical traits,
I see some of myself and some of the people
that I care about in Governor Walls, and I am very,
very excited that he is now a part of this ticket.
(12:50):
His appeal best summed up by this quote. He brings
political acuity, suburban and rural appeal, and progressive patriotism to
a competition where all three criteria are seen as helpful
for Democrats. To clinch a twenty twenty four win against
the Republican ticket. I think that there are more people
(13:12):
in this country that share common goals, common values, a
shared sense of self determination, and a shared sense of
believing that everyone in this country should be able to laugh,
should be able to love, and should be able to thrive.
And this ticket or the Democratic Party for this presidential election,
(13:37):
gives me more of those feelings I have to admit
that I've probably ever had, and that's including when I
got to elect our then first black president, Barack Obama.
So that's a little bit about what I think and
(13:57):
what I feel. But I like to have conversations and
if that's something you'd like to do as well, especially
regarding this topic, you can use the red microphone talkback
feature on the iarheartradio app. My name is Q Ward
and until next time piece.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
This has been a production of the Black Information Network.
Today's show is produced by Chris Thompson. Have some thoughts
you'd like to share, use the red microphone talkback feature
on the iHeartRadio app. While you're there, be sure to
hit subscribing. Download all of our episodes. I'm your host
ramses Job on all social media. Join us tomorrow as
we share our news with our voice from our perspective
(14:37):
right here on the Black Information Network Daily podcast
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