May 6, 2025 • 24 mins
Today's guest, Yannick Gill , is a human rights lawyer based in Washington D.C. Yannick worked in Congress with 2 progressive members of the House of Representatives. He is an accomplished human rights advocate defending marginalized people across the United States and abroad.
Part 1 of 2
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is the Black Information Network Daily Podcast and I'm
your host, ramses 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 feel
compelled to share it with you and give you my thoughts.
And now one more thing. Yannick Gill is a human
(00:24):
rights lawyer based in Washington, d C. Yannick worked in
Congress with two progressive members of the House of Representatives.
He is an accomplished human rights advocate defending marginalized people
across the United States and abroad. And he is our
guest today. This is the Black Information Network Daily Podcast,
and I'm your host, ramses Ja, and I am q ward.
(00:49):
Mister Yannick Gill, do us a favor. So again, we
have had conversations with you on the Black Information Network
and you always bring a sense of clarity to the
massive amount of political stories, headlines, goings on that you know,
(01:14):
the lay person, ourselves included because we're not political strategist.
We haven't worked with Congress folks. You know, we kind
of cover the news, but for folks that aren't as
familiar with your work. Like we are, talk a little
bit about your background and sort of what qualifies you
to help us make heads or tails of Trump's first
one hundred days in office.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Absolutely, and again I'm really happy to be here with
you all. I've described myself in a simple way. I'm
a town of immigrants, I'm a Florida man, I'm a
black man.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
But I'm also a lawyer.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
And I've also had the privilege of advising members of
Congress on how to navigate different issues that impact everyday folks.
And no matter what level of education you have, nomember,
what job title you have, some of those core principles
that I began with is really how I analyze the law,
how I navigate these issues, and how I approach this
(02:13):
new challenge that we're all in whether we want to
or not. And in my new role as Senior counsel
with Human Rights First, I'm able to do it all.
Human Rights First is an amazing organization where we have
a unique view of providing both litigation advocacy both here
(02:34):
meaning the United States, and abroad. And these first hundred
days have shown us that the strike of the pen,
the change of a tariff, the impact of any of
these laws. Don't stop with our borders, doesn't stop with
any race, a gender, any orientation. It's impacting all of us.
So above all these things, I say I'm an advocate
because that's what all of us need to be right now.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
In twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
I think you talked to about the stroke of a pen, teriffs,
the kind of muzzle velocity executive order disruption of seemingly
every marginalized community, not just like you said in our Borders,
but across the world the first hundred days man the
(03:21):
executive orders and their impact on our communities. Specifically from
your purview, what does that look like, what does that
feel like? And should we feel as kind of helpless
and hopeless as we.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Do, so the feeling is valid.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
As a millennial, I get tired of hearing the word unprecedented,
but in this case it's.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Very, very true.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Donald Trump has signed unprecedented and historic. Infamous is how
our kids will probably learn about it in a few years.
But one hundred and forty two executive orders in the
first one hundred days, he has moved at a neck
breaking pace, impacting every sector. So whether or not you're
(04:07):
really into politics in one way, or another you felt it.
This has been issues of immigration, asylum, human rights that
I work on on a day to day basis. It's
been issues tied to student loans, which many of us
can relate to, issues tied to the climate, policing and
the like. But your question tied to how it's impacting
(04:30):
us disproportionately, meaning black and brown communities, is key. Within
his first day in office, President Donald Trump assigned several
executive orders, and what it did is it placed us
in a situation of chaos and fear that is still
reverberating across the country. Namely, he tried to insinuate the
(04:55):
immigration that is the foundation of our culture, the foundation
of the United States, whether it be forced as it
has been for the descendants of channel slavery, or willing
economic immigration, or most recently asylum seekers. He tried to
paint this as an invasion and as you set executive
(05:19):
orders to try and circumnavigate some of the barriers that exist,
some of those checks and balances that we all learned
about with the bill on Capitol Hill.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
And is now.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Pushing for it to attack our constitutional rights, namely basic
fundamental human rights like the ability to protest, the ability
to congregate. All of these things have been challenged by
a plethora of again one hundred and forty two executive orders,
(05:52):
many of which are actively being challenged in the courts
as we speak. You see, the president playbook is something
that we saw in Trump one, where he throws something
flagrantly illegal at the wall to see if it sticks.
(06:13):
Many groups like Human Rights first turn around and sue,
and in most cases we were able to win and
uphold some of our constitutional fundamental rights. But in the
interim is where the pain comes to black and brown communities.
For example, when we have situations where US citizens are
(06:35):
now being questioned of their citizenship, are being placed into
immigration proceedings. We know, just taking a step out of
these technicalities, that some of these economic disparities that exist
hit black and brown folks the worst. So while you
may be listening to this and think, wow, that's crazy.
If I got arrested, what would I do? You might
(06:57):
have access to bail, money, might have access to a
sell You may have some way to get out, But
if you don't have that money, that liquid bread on hand,
what happens to you? That question is not to just
a legal fact batter, but it's what people are experiencing
now on a day to day basis under Trump's America
because of this onslaughts of executive orders.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
That he's unleashed.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Yeah, you know, one of the things that I have
discovered because I was really interested in this last election
and how it was the case that we as a
country were able to re elect someone that we said
no to, especially when compared to Kamala Harris, who we
(07:43):
felt was We're not the only ones who felt that way.
She objectively was the most qualified, you know, candidate whoever
ran for president in the history of the country. She
had worked in all three branches of the government. She
was just exceptionally qualified. So as the vice president, of course,
how were we able to get back there? And I
learned that, you know, as you mentioned, Donald Trump is
(08:07):
kind of cutting through protocol, the constitution, you know, the rules.
I learned that a huge amount of his voter base
absolutely does not care that he breaks the rules, does
not care that he has no fidelity to the constitution.
That's what they want. They want him to be their
(08:29):
guy and to protect their interests. And these are the
people in Middle Middle America, the reliably read states that
feel overlooked, and you know, and they're never going to
give up on Donald Trump. It's just they feel afraid.
They feel they feel disenfranchised, and they feel that and
they've gotten to the point where they feel like they've
(08:51):
been discriminated against. You know, we had a conversation recently
Q and I about you know, white evangelicals and how
they are reliably you know, Trump, Trump's voter base, you
know what I mean. And when you think of Donald
Trump and you think of evangelicals, it's not their morals
that they're voting on, and you would think that rather,
it's what are they afraid of? What do they think
(09:13):
is happening to them? And they feel like they as
human beings and their faith is under attack. But I
want to shift gears here a bit. You know, we
going into this last election, a lot of people were
discussing the potential of Project twenty twenty five. It's Trump's
Project twenty twenty five. He's going to implement Project twenty
(09:34):
twenty five, And of course Trump famously pushed back, I've
never heard project twenty twenty five. I've heard there's some
good things, but we have Agenda forty seven that's what
we want to do for people that are watching this playbook.
We're for people that are seeing Donald Trump fire people
from key government pradition, positions that are typically nonpartisan and
(09:54):
installing loyalists. That was kind of one of the big
things from Project twenty twenty five. To all the other
things that really mirror the either the spirit or the
actual language of Project twenty twenty five. How closely do
you feel that the first hundred days of Donald Trump's
administration reflect what the thrust of Project twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
You know, it's funny that you say changing gears, because
the keyword in what I heard was afraid, which was
woven in to Project twenty twenty five. The foundation of
the plan was to hit all components of our society
from every angle so that it was truly impossible to
(10:37):
respond in a succinct, meaningful, and most importantly strategic way.
So when we're looking at things from Project twenty twenty five,
what jumps out to me are some of the most
scary things that was talked about. Let's think about birthright citizenship,
the Fourteenth Amendment and shrine list that anyone born on
(10:59):
this oil would have access to citizenship in this country.
This is something that again has a history tied to us,
tied to black people, tied to the indigenous folks of
this land. And in twenty twenty five, ignoring our constitution,
(11:19):
ignoring years of precedent that the Court has analyzed over centuries,
he challenged this and it but for a lawsuit, but
for a lawsuit from similarly situated human rights organizations.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
It would have changed that.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Chaos is one of the many components brought up in
Brentwick twenty twenty five. So, whether it be leaving the
Paris Agreement, attacking the World Health Organization, brother there isn't
enough time to go through the thick destructive points within it.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
But let's be clear that is by design.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
They wanted to make it to where the women's orgs,
women's rights organizations versus the climate justice folks versus the
civil rights folks versus the human rights folks and immigrant
justice folks were so scattered, We're so concerned with these
egregious attacks against our fundamental rights that we didn't have
(12:22):
time to strategize and fight back in strategic way, in
the way that they had been plotting and planning for
four years ruminating after what was still an embarrassing loss,
which is why it took come so long to acknowledge
that he had loss. So the playbook is there, and
(12:43):
while we've seen components of it within these first one
hundred days, that is already throwing our country into a chaos.
Don't be fooled, it's only beginning. We are less than
halfway through the year in what is.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Supposed to be supposed to be.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Because, as I'm sure you all heard, our current president
has an ironically discussed the third term it is just
a scary time. Doesn't really articulate the complexities both legally,
socially culturally that we are up against right now.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
You know, it is.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
So refreshing to hear someone else say afraid and scared.
We are not typically comfortable with those feelings, and a
lot of times our brothers and our sisters don't want
to acknowledge them. I think we saw that during COVID nineteen, right.
The reason I think our people were so prone to
(13:50):
buying into conspiracy theories was it was just fear. And
instead of saying I'm afraid to get the vaccine because
I don't understand, we say we're going to get computer
chips implanted in us in the vaccine, and the vaccine causes.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
A list of.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
Things that should have sounded ridiculous, but again, no one
wanted to acknowledge fear, so we explained it away with
some things that just normally wouldn't have made sense to
us personally. I've been having to deal with friends and colleagues,
I'll flatly say, gaslighting me for being so upset at
what I'm witnessing. And we use the words black and brown.
(14:31):
In my world, that is a very very literal thing.
My children are black, African American and Mexican Hispanic Latin
mixed in a border state, and that what we've seen
happen with regards to immigration, with ice and raids and
(14:52):
communication from the Department of Education or the school board
or the GOP and the state that we live in
where they are a lockstep with the administration and the president.
When you have to go get your first grader and
your kindergartener from school because there might be an ice ray,
trust me, that is an actual scary thing. So thank
(15:14):
you for acknowledging that this is not just unprecedented, but
in some cases terrifying. Watching someone completely ignore and disregard
our constitution. One of the things that stood out to
me Yannick that I was.
Speaker 5 (15:28):
Really caught off guard by was the private sector's preemptive
bending of the need with regards to DEI like, I
knew that there were places that depended on federal funding
that kind of didn't have a choice.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
They had to just fall in line. But watching these
massively successful companies, in multi multi, multi billion dollar corporations
preemptively kissed the ring and bend the knee was shocking
for me.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
Maybe it shouldn't have been, but it was.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
How has that resonated in the position that you're in,
and from your purview.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
It has made collaboration that much more tricky within the
nonprofit space. Just as a man, it's made shopping that
much more difficult. Sure, when I have to consider as
a pedestrian where I'm shopping, how I'm getting just basic goods.
(16:32):
Because our power lives with our dollar, so let's be
clear when it comes to companies protecting their bottom line,
I am less shocked. And that may be the skeptic
in me. It may be just an analysis of US
history and the history of capitalism.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Across the world, where.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
I have been grappling and still am grappling with just
the impact is the attack on diversity, equity inclusion programs
within our federal government, within our schools, because so many
people that I know and love have been hurt by
(17:22):
what has been a surgical attack on communities that don't
reflect how the.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Trump administration wants America to look.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
These DEI programs have nothing, nothing to do with the
way that is discussed in twenty twenty five. And it
breaks my heart that when I hear the word DEI,
I feel compelled to provide an explanatory comma to punctuate
it with, Oh, but this is what it means in
(17:57):
this context because the definition it's within the name diversity, equity,
and inclusion, but no different than woke, no different than
equality or equity. The powers that be have attempted, Hey,
(18:18):
you know what, I'll give flowers where they do. They
have taken the words that we use to articulate justice, power, freedom,
equality and rebranded it in a way that has.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Folks confused about what's really going on.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
So when it comes to the way that DEI has
been attacked, I am still grappling with it. And in
this case, it's not just fear of what's to happen next.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
It's anger because it's surgical.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
You all can think again, I grew up in Floyda'm
in DC now, but not having been to y'all's border communities,
I could take a while, guess and say, you've seen
a black postal worker.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Why?
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Because black folks have disproportionally represented the federal workforce for decades, sure,
for decades, and by attacking diversity, equity inclusion in this
new form and fashion, they're attacking black communities. They're making
it to where you have less access to upward mobility
(19:24):
than you would have without access to federal jobs, and
while simultaneously attacking diversity acuity inclusion programs to gain access
to a higher education.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Again, I give.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Pause thinking about how it is that we're supposed to
approach this because such a complex assault on our human rights.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
You know something about you know what you're saying. We
found this out recently, that federal jobs and it was
a after the Civil rights movement. All the laws were
passed and it kind of helped make the country more fair,
But federal jobs, the federal workforce was the one place
(20:12):
in the country where black folks could get jobs without
the private sector discrimination. And so that allowed a lot
of black people to access the middle class, a lot
of brown people to access the middle class. And you know,
to be fair, the middle classes is shrinking, of course,
but you know, the legacy middle class, you know, from
(20:35):
you know, the we'll call the mid sixties to today.
You know a lot of the black folks that were
able to access that was through federal, federal programs and
federal jobs, is what I.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Mean to say.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
So, yeah, these these attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion,
because Q does like when we say the whole title,
so that people understand that as concepts they are not wrong, bad,
and consistent with our human nature. But when you it's
easier to politicize it by calling a DEI. But the
(21:10):
attacks have definitely been attacks that we felt, particularly so
in marginalized communities. I have just kind of like maybe
a minute or so here, maybe a minute and a half,
but I'd like to get your thoughts on the destruction
of us AID and the Department of Education and all
(21:31):
those other sort of ancillary Well, I guess they're not
ancillary things, but the additional elements that we don't talk
about as often as we probably should on this show,
and you know, with.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
A minute, I'll keep it very direct, keep it very simple.
It's very easy to.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Otherise what's happening to our Latino brothers and sisters if
you have interacted with them, maybe you're in the state
where the diasporas and is present. It's very easy to
look at all the Internet issues and say, what does
that have to do with me? And mins right here,
But when it comes to USAID, when it comes to
(22:07):
the Department of Education, it's forcing you to remember that
what happens to our brothers and our sisters, both here
and abroad, will ultimately impact US. USAID is one of
the primary sources for vaccinations across the world in many
parts of the world, and what we don't recognize is
(22:29):
that by simply stripping away access to life saving vaccinations,
it's not only impacting a country that you may not
have heard of or don't have any interest in going to.
It's impacting any and everyone that goes onto a plane
there and here and ultimately ends up walking around. That's
how globalized society works, that's how communical communicable diseases work,
(22:56):
and it's not something that stops by you staying in
your community in twenty twenty five. If I wanted to
be on the opposite side of the world tomorrow, I
can book a flight, hop on a plane, and go
and most of us rest assured that the standards around
health care and interconnection, it's going to be comparable, it's
(23:19):
going to be safe, and has lots to do with
diplomacy that USA has done. On the snap of finger,
Trump has destroyed this. He has destroyed our our ability
to gain actual education, access to Ada regulated care for
our children at schools.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
It's so much more.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Than what happens on the day to day to our
Latino brothers and sisters, because these issues definitely impact all
of us.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
This concludes Part one of our two part conversation concerning
Trump's first one hundred days in office with our special guest,
human rights attorney Yannick gil Be sure to check back
in with us tomorrow for Part two right here on
the Black Information Network Daily Podcasts.
This is the Black Information Network Daily Podcast and I'm
your host, ramses 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 feel
compelled to share it with you and give you my thoughts.
And now one more thing. Yannick Gill is a human
(00:24):
rights lawyer based in Washington, d C. Yannick worked in
Congress with two progressive members of the House of Representatives.
He is an accomplished human rights advocate defending marginalized people
across the United States and abroad. And he is our
guest today. This is the Black Information Network Daily Podcast,
and I'm your host, ramses Ja, and I am q ward.
(00:49):
Mister Yannick Gill, do us a favor. So again, we
have had conversations with you on the Black Information Network
and you always bring a sense of clarity to the
massive amount of political stories, headlines, goings on that you know,
(01:14):
the lay person, ourselves included because we're not political strategist.
We haven't worked with Congress folks. You know, we kind
of cover the news, but for folks that aren't as
familiar with your work. Like we are, talk a little
bit about your background and sort of what qualifies you
to help us make heads or tails of Trump's first
one hundred days in office.
Speaker 2 (01:36):
Absolutely, and again I'm really happy to be here with
you all. I've described myself in a simple way. I'm
a town of immigrants, I'm a Florida man, I'm a
black man.
Speaker 3 (01:47):
But I'm also a lawyer.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
And I've also had the privilege of advising members of
Congress on how to navigate different issues that impact everyday folks.
And no matter what level of education you have, nomember,
what job title you have, some of those core principles
that I began with is really how I analyze the law,
how I navigate these issues, and how I approach this
(02:13):
new challenge that we're all in whether we want to
or not. And in my new role as Senior counsel
with Human Rights First, I'm able to do it all.
Human Rights First is an amazing organization where we have
a unique view of providing both litigation advocacy both here
(02:34):
meaning the United States, and abroad. And these first hundred
days have shown us that the strike of the pen,
the change of a tariff, the impact of any of
these laws. Don't stop with our borders, doesn't stop with
any race, a gender, any orientation. It's impacting all of us.
So above all these things, I say I'm an advocate
because that's what all of us need to be right now.
Speaker 3 (02:56):
In twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4 (02:59):
I think you talked to about the stroke of a pen, teriffs,
the kind of muzzle velocity executive order disruption of seemingly
every marginalized community, not just like you said in our Borders,
but across the world the first hundred days man the
(03:21):
executive orders and their impact on our communities. Specifically from
your purview, what does that look like, what does that
feel like? And should we feel as kind of helpless
and hopeless as we.
Speaker 3 (03:34):
Do, so the feeling is valid.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
As a millennial, I get tired of hearing the word unprecedented,
but in this case it's.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Very, very true.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Donald Trump has signed unprecedented and historic. Infamous is how
our kids will probably learn about it in a few years.
But one hundred and forty two executive orders in the
first one hundred days, he has moved at a neck
breaking pace, impacting every sector. So whether or not you're
(04:07):
really into politics in one way, or another you felt it.
This has been issues of immigration, asylum, human rights that
I work on on a day to day basis. It's
been issues tied to student loans, which many of us
can relate to, issues tied to the climate, policing and
the like. But your question tied to how it's impacting
(04:30):
us disproportionately, meaning black and brown communities, is key. Within
his first day in office, President Donald Trump assigned several
executive orders, and what it did is it placed us
in a situation of chaos and fear that is still
reverberating across the country. Namely, he tried to insinuate the
(04:55):
immigration that is the foundation of our culture, the foundation
of the United States, whether it be forced as it
has been for the descendants of channel slavery, or willing
economic immigration, or most recently asylum seekers. He tried to
paint this as an invasion and as you set executive
(05:19):
orders to try and circumnavigate some of the barriers that exist,
some of those checks and balances that we all learned
about with the bill on Capitol Hill.
Speaker 3 (05:30):
And is now.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Pushing for it to attack our constitutional rights, namely basic
fundamental human rights like the ability to protest, the ability
to congregate. All of these things have been challenged by
a plethora of again one hundred and forty two executive orders,
(05:52):
many of which are actively being challenged in the courts
as we speak. You see, the president playbook is something
that we saw in Trump one, where he throws something
flagrantly illegal at the wall to see if it sticks.
(06:13):
Many groups like Human Rights first turn around and sue,
and in most cases we were able to win and
uphold some of our constitutional fundamental rights. But in the
interim is where the pain comes to black and brown communities.
For example, when we have situations where US citizens are
(06:35):
now being questioned of their citizenship, are being placed into
immigration proceedings. We know, just taking a step out of
these technicalities, that some of these economic disparities that exist
hit black and brown folks the worst. So while you
may be listening to this and think, wow, that's crazy.
If I got arrested, what would I do? You might
(06:57):
have access to bail, money, might have access to a
sell You may have some way to get out, But
if you don't have that money, that liquid bread on hand,
what happens to you? That question is not to just
a legal fact batter, but it's what people are experiencing
now on a day to day basis under Trump's America
because of this onslaughts of executive orders.
Speaker 3 (07:19):
That he's unleashed.
Speaker 1 (07:20):
Yeah, you know, one of the things that I have
discovered because I was really interested in this last election
and how it was the case that we as a
country were able to re elect someone that we said
no to, especially when compared to Kamala Harris, who we
(07:43):
felt was We're not the only ones who felt that way.
She objectively was the most qualified, you know, candidate whoever
ran for president in the history of the country. She
had worked in all three branches of the government. She
was just exceptionally qualified. So as the vice president, of course,
how were we able to get back there? And I
learned that, you know, as you mentioned, Donald Trump is
(08:07):
kind of cutting through protocol, the constitution, you know, the rules.
I learned that a huge amount of his voter base
absolutely does not care that he breaks the rules, does
not care that he has no fidelity to the constitution.
That's what they want. They want him to be their
(08:29):
guy and to protect their interests. And these are the
people in Middle Middle America, the reliably read states that
feel overlooked, and you know, and they're never going to
give up on Donald Trump. It's just they feel afraid.
They feel they feel disenfranchised, and they feel that and
they've gotten to the point where they feel like they've
(08:51):
been discriminated against. You know, we had a conversation recently
Q and I about you know, white evangelicals and how
they are reliably you know, Trump, Trump's voter base, you
know what I mean. And when you think of Donald
Trump and you think of evangelicals, it's not their morals
that they're voting on, and you would think that rather,
it's what are they afraid of? What do they think
(09:13):
is happening to them? And they feel like they as
human beings and their faith is under attack. But I
want to shift gears here a bit. You know, we
going into this last election, a lot of people were
discussing the potential of Project twenty twenty five. It's Trump's
Project twenty twenty five. He's going to implement Project twenty
(09:34):
twenty five, And of course Trump famously pushed back, I've
never heard project twenty twenty five. I've heard there's some
good things, but we have Agenda forty seven that's what
we want to do for people that are watching this playbook.
We're for people that are seeing Donald Trump fire people
from key government pradition, positions that are typically nonpartisan and
(09:54):
installing loyalists. That was kind of one of the big
things from Project twenty twenty five. To all the other
things that really mirror the either the spirit or the
actual language of Project twenty twenty five. How closely do
you feel that the first hundred days of Donald Trump's
administration reflect what the thrust of Project twenty twenty five.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
You know, it's funny that you say changing gears, because
the keyword in what I heard was afraid, which was
woven in to Project twenty twenty five. The foundation of
the plan was to hit all components of our society
from every angle so that it was truly impossible to
(10:37):
respond in a succinct, meaningful, and most importantly strategic way.
So when we're looking at things from Project twenty twenty five,
what jumps out to me are some of the most
scary things that was talked about. Let's think about birthright citizenship,
the Fourteenth Amendment and shrine list that anyone born on
(10:59):
this oil would have access to citizenship in this country.
This is something that again has a history tied to us,
tied to black people, tied to the indigenous folks of
this land. And in twenty twenty five, ignoring our constitution,
(11:19):
ignoring years of precedent that the Court has analyzed over centuries,
he challenged this and it but for a lawsuit, but
for a lawsuit from similarly situated human rights organizations.
Speaker 3 (11:36):
It would have changed that.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
Chaos is one of the many components brought up in
Brentwick twenty twenty five. So, whether it be leaving the
Paris Agreement, attacking the World Health Organization, brother there isn't
enough time to go through the thick destructive points within it.
Speaker 3 (11:59):
But let's be clear that is by design.
Speaker 2 (12:02):
They wanted to make it to where the women's orgs,
women's rights organizations versus the climate justice folks versus the
civil rights folks versus the human rights folks and immigrant
justice folks were so scattered, We're so concerned with these
egregious attacks against our fundamental rights that we didn't have
(12:22):
time to strategize and fight back in strategic way, in
the way that they had been plotting and planning for
four years ruminating after what was still an embarrassing loss,
which is why it took come so long to acknowledge
that he had loss. So the playbook is there, and
(12:43):
while we've seen components of it within these first one
hundred days, that is already throwing our country into a chaos.
Don't be fooled, it's only beginning. We are less than
halfway through the year in what is.
Speaker 3 (12:59):
Supposed to be supposed to be.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Because, as I'm sure you all heard, our current president
has an ironically discussed the third term it is just
a scary time. Doesn't really articulate the complexities both legally,
socially culturally that we are up against right now.
Speaker 3 (13:24):
You know, it is.
Speaker 4 (13:26):
So refreshing to hear someone else say afraid and scared.
We are not typically comfortable with those feelings, and a
lot of times our brothers and our sisters don't want
to acknowledge them. I think we saw that during COVID nineteen, right.
The reason I think our people were so prone to
(13:50):
buying into conspiracy theories was it was just fear. And
instead of saying I'm afraid to get the vaccine because
I don't understand, we say we're going to get computer
chips implanted in us in the vaccine, and the vaccine causes.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
A list of.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
Things that should have sounded ridiculous, but again, no one
wanted to acknowledge fear, so we explained it away with
some things that just normally wouldn't have made sense to
us personally. I've been having to deal with friends and colleagues,
I'll flatly say, gaslighting me for being so upset at
what I'm witnessing. And we use the words black and brown.
(14:31):
In my world, that is a very very literal thing.
My children are black, African American and Mexican Hispanic Latin
mixed in a border state, and that what we've seen
happen with regards to immigration, with ice and raids and
(14:52):
communication from the Department of Education or the school board
or the GOP and the state that we live in
where they are a lockstep with the administration and the president.
When you have to go get your first grader and
your kindergartener from school because there might be an ice ray,
trust me, that is an actual scary thing. So thank
(15:14):
you for acknowledging that this is not just unprecedented, but
in some cases terrifying. Watching someone completely ignore and disregard
our constitution. One of the things that stood out to
me Yannick that I was.
Speaker 5 (15:28):
Really caught off guard by was the private sector's preemptive
bending of the need with regards to DEI like, I
knew that there were places that depended on federal funding
that kind of didn't have a choice.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
They had to just fall in line. But watching these
massively successful companies, in multi multi, multi billion dollar corporations
preemptively kissed the ring and bend the knee was shocking
for me.
Speaker 3 (15:59):
Maybe it shouldn't have been, but it was.
Speaker 4 (16:03):
How has that resonated in the position that you're in,
and from your purview.
Speaker 2 (16:09):
It has made collaboration that much more tricky within the
nonprofit space. Just as a man, it's made shopping that
much more difficult. Sure, when I have to consider as
a pedestrian where I'm shopping, how I'm getting just basic goods.
(16:32):
Because our power lives with our dollar, so let's be
clear when it comes to companies protecting their bottom line,
I am less shocked. And that may be the skeptic
in me. It may be just an analysis of US
history and the history of capitalism.
Speaker 3 (16:52):
Across the world, where.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
I have been grappling and still am grappling with just
the impact is the attack on diversity, equity inclusion programs
within our federal government, within our schools, because so many
people that I know and love have been hurt by
(17:22):
what has been a surgical attack on communities that don't
reflect how the.
Speaker 3 (17:33):
Trump administration wants America to look.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
These DEI programs have nothing, nothing to do with the
way that is discussed in twenty twenty five. And it
breaks my heart that when I hear the word DEI,
I feel compelled to provide an explanatory comma to punctuate
it with, Oh, but this is what it means in
(17:57):
this context because the definition it's within the name diversity, equity,
and inclusion, but no different than woke, no different than
equality or equity. The powers that be have attempted, Hey,
(18:18):
you know what, I'll give flowers where they do. They
have taken the words that we use to articulate justice, power, freedom,
equality and rebranded it in a way that has.
Speaker 3 (18:33):
Folks confused about what's really going on.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
So when it comes to the way that DEI has
been attacked, I am still grappling with it. And in
this case, it's not just fear of what's to happen next.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
It's anger because it's surgical.
Speaker 2 (18:49):
You all can think again, I grew up in Floyda'm
in DC now, but not having been to y'all's border communities,
I could take a while, guess and say, you've seen
a black postal worker.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Why?
Speaker 2 (19:02):
Because black folks have disproportionally represented the federal workforce for decades, sure,
for decades, and by attacking diversity, equity inclusion in this
new form and fashion, they're attacking black communities. They're making
it to where you have less access to upward mobility
(19:24):
than you would have without access to federal jobs, and
while simultaneously attacking diversity acuity inclusion programs to gain access
to a higher education.
Speaker 3 (19:36):
Again, I give.
Speaker 2 (19:40):
Pause thinking about how it is that we're supposed to
approach this because such a complex assault on our human rights.
Speaker 1 (19:50):
You know something about you know what you're saying. We
found this out recently, that federal jobs and it was
a after the Civil rights movement. All the laws were
passed and it kind of helped make the country more fair,
But federal jobs, the federal workforce was the one place
(20:12):
in the country where black folks could get jobs without
the private sector discrimination. And so that allowed a lot
of black people to access the middle class, a lot
of brown people to access the middle class. And you know,
to be fair, the middle classes is shrinking, of course,
but you know, the legacy middle class, you know, from
(20:35):
you know, the we'll call the mid sixties to today.
You know a lot of the black folks that were
able to access that was through federal, federal programs and
federal jobs, is what I.
Speaker 3 (20:47):
Mean to say.
Speaker 1 (20:48):
So, yeah, these these attacks on diversity, equity, and inclusion,
because Q does like when we say the whole title,
so that people understand that as concepts they are not wrong, bad,
and consistent with our human nature. But when you it's
easier to politicize it by calling a DEI. But the
(21:10):
attacks have definitely been attacks that we felt, particularly so
in marginalized communities. I have just kind of like maybe
a minute or so here, maybe a minute and a half,
but I'd like to get your thoughts on the destruction
of us AID and the Department of Education and all
(21:31):
those other sort of ancillary Well, I guess they're not
ancillary things, but the additional elements that we don't talk
about as often as we probably should on this show,
and you know, with.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
A minute, I'll keep it very direct, keep it very simple.
It's very easy to.
Speaker 2 (21:46):
Otherise what's happening to our Latino brothers and sisters if
you have interacted with them, maybe you're in the state
where the diasporas and is present. It's very easy to
look at all the Internet issues and say, what does
that have to do with me? And mins right here,
But when it comes to USAID, when it comes to
(22:07):
the Department of Education, it's forcing you to remember that
what happens to our brothers and our sisters, both here
and abroad, will ultimately impact US. USAID is one of
the primary sources for vaccinations across the world in many
parts of the world, and what we don't recognize is
(22:29):
that by simply stripping away access to life saving vaccinations,
it's not only impacting a country that you may not
have heard of or don't have any interest in going to.
It's impacting any and everyone that goes onto a plane
there and here and ultimately ends up walking around. That's
how globalized society works, that's how communical communicable diseases work,
(22:56):
and it's not something that stops by you staying in
your community in twenty twenty five. If I wanted to
be on the opposite side of the world tomorrow, I
can book a flight, hop on a plane, and go
and most of us rest assured that the standards around
health care and interconnection, it's going to be comparable, it's
(23:19):
going to be safe, and has lots to do with
diplomacy that USA has done. On the snap of finger,
Trump has destroyed this. He has destroyed our our ability
to gain actual education, access to Ada regulated care for
our children at schools.
Speaker 3 (23:39):
It's so much more.
Speaker 2 (23:39):
Than what happens on the day to day to our
Latino brothers and sisters, because these issues definitely impact all
of us.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
This concludes Part one of our two part conversation concerning
Trump's first one hundred days in office with our special guest,
human rights attorney Yannick gil Be sure to check back
in with us tomorrow for Part two right here on
the Black Information Network Daily Podcasts.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Therapy Gecko
An unlicensed lizard psychologist travels the universe talking to strangers about absolutely nothing. TO CALL THE GECKO: follow me on https://www.twitch.tv/lyleforever to get a notification for when I am taking calls. I am usually live Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays but lately a lot of other times too. I am a gecko.