August 16, 2025 • 22 mins
Areva Martin is a Harvard-trained civil rights attorney, author, disability justice advocate, and founder of Special Needs Network. She’s on the front lines of today’s most pressing racial and social justice issues, leading the charge in California’s landmark Palm Springs reparations case and helping Black families navigate systemic barriers in special education.
In today’s conversation we cover everything from DEI rollbacks to the intersection of civil rights and disability rights. This inspirational speaker keeps us motivated as we endure a challenging administration and gives us the guidance to be effective in our collective pursuits.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
And now part two of our conversation with Ariva Martin,
a Harvard trained civil rights attorney, disability justice advocate, and
founder of Special Needs Network. She's on the front line
of today's most pressing racial and social justice issues, leading
the charge in California's landmark Palm Springs reparations case, and
helping black families navigate systemic.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Barriers in special education. This is civic cipher.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I remember being very young and hearing about affirmative action
and how this was going to be something that would
be beneficial for black people, and it would be beneficial
as I came to age right, and then that conversation,
i'll say, sort of evolved into diversity, equity and inclusion
(00:47):
twenty twenty one, we'll call it maybe four years ago,
and there seemed to be this kind of push to, hey,
let we've been very unkind and we've been very blind
to the fact that we're not sharing all these opportunities.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
And there was this.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
National push to include other voices, other talents from other
communities in business, economic spaces, et cetera, politics, you name it.
And then the right and Donald Trump kind of took
this idea and espoused it during his campaign, but the
(01:24):
right pushed back and saying, hey, this is not fair
to us. They're choosing people, and they switched the narrati.
They're choosing people who are not qualified simply because they
are black, instead of what we were saying, which is
we're qualified to please consider us.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
But you know, that was the story.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
And now DEI on basically every front has been rolled
back from the private sector, obviously the public sector in
the past. During Donald Trump's second administration, black women have
suffered the greatest job loss I think to the two
and three hundred thousand history of this country, black people
have overall suffered a job lostness job losses.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Or two pandemic levels.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
So it's there's as many jobless black people as there
was during the pandemic, and diversity, equity and inclusion being
under attack was one of the main reasons for that.
So we're talking about black economics here. Let's get your
thoughts on what we do with respect to our push
(02:33):
for DEI. Is there a pivot, do we rethink this,
Do we have a different conversation with those who are
still sympathetic but have to sort of been the need
to keep their businesses moving forward. You know, any thoughts
you have on this.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
One, I think we stayed a course.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
We cannot allow this administration to wipe away the gains
that we have made in this country over the last
fifty years. We can't run, we can't hide, we can't power,
we can't capitually kissed the ring because one man has
essentially decided that white supremacy is the order of the day.
(03:08):
And let's be real clear that DEI and the rollbacks
on DEI is all about, uh, you know, a white
supremacy narrative that has been percolating under the scenes, or
you know, you could say, uh, slowly percolating and gaining
traction in the form of a Donald Trump administration. There
are people in this country, white people in particular, who
(03:30):
are afraid to death of the browning of this country,
that the minority, the minorities, are becoming the majority, and
that that somehow, this this this this scarcy mentality that
they have, that somehow, when black folks do well, it
means they do less well, that they suffer.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
That there's a detriment to them.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
And that is what we are fighting against. And we
see it in this last election. We see it in
elections over the last decade. So where you have white
voters in southern states, some of the poor states in
this country, voting for elected officials not who are improving
their lives, but who are continuing to support this.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Hierarchy, this hierarchy of whiteness.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
And they'll do that even to their own economic and
financial detriment. And so that is what we are fighting against,
and people won't call it out.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
And I'll give you this example.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
I've been reading all these articles about the takeover of
DC by the Donald Trump administration, the federalizing of the
police department and putting a national Guard on the streets
of DC, and there were people who were challenging and saying, well,
wait a minute.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
First of all, crime is down in DC. Let's keep
real clear about that.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
And what about the fifteen hundred insurrectionists who committed more
crimes in three hours than we've seen, you know, in
a year or more, who were not only in some
cases given light sentences, but who were then pardoned by
the very man who says he's concerned about crime. But
they challenged the hypocrisy, but they didn't call out the
(05:04):
racial peace. And that's one of the things we have
to continue to do let's call a spade a spade.
Donald Trump is going into these cities that are predominantly black,
that have black leadership, whether it's DC, whether it's Los Angeles,
whether it's of Pokland and Chicago and Baltimore, you know,
maligning the people, talking about lawlessness and homeless people, and
(05:27):
you know, maligning American citizens and then saying he and
only he, the King can clean it up, and I'm
going to do so by sending in the National Guard.
But when it comes to white led cities, when it
comes to states in the South that are led by
white elected officials, we don't hear the same kind of
rhetoric and we don't see the same kinds of actions.
(05:49):
So we have to in this moment continue to call
it out. It's not just hypocrisy, of course, it's rank hypocrisy.
But it's more than hypocrisy. It is racial filing. It's
racially motivated attacks on cities led by black people and
cities that have predominant or majority black and brown populations.
(06:11):
And I think in this moment that is again one
of the most important things we can do is not
allow the narrative to be twisted, to be distorted to
be changed in a way that erasist the important element
that race plays in so many of the decisions that
are being made by this administration.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Yeah, yeah, and I think the sobering reality that a
lot of this country is either racist or predisposed to
racism is something that was a bit of a gut
punch for me, you know, to help you make your point.
The pushback against DEI had been percolating this whole time,
(06:53):
because it was the same pushback against affirmative action way
back in the eighties and nineties. And you know, the
voter base that elected Donald Trump, they've been primed to
receive the narrative that he gives them. You know, crime
is rampant in DC, as you mentioned, crime in DC's
(07:13):
at a thirty year low, thirty years lower than it
was in the past three decades. And Donald Trump gets
into office says crime is rampant, I'm going to federalize
the police, and his base eats it up like, yes,
he's bringing law in order to DC, ignoring the context,
the facts.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
The proper framing, et cetera.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Because they're primed for the racism, if not already racist themselves. Right,
So either it doesn't matter, or they don't care enough
to look because they don't question their reality, right, And
so again I appreciate this perspective. This is the sort
of conversation that our listeners come to this show to hear,
and this is the way that we push back against
(07:54):
the narrative that he is trying to chronicle in these
United States of America. So again, this information as well received.
I do want to ask a question that I think
that you're in a good position to maybe not answer,
but at least give us some.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Perspective on.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Talk to us about reparations and why reparations still matter,
why that conversation should still be taking place given the
current political climate.
Speaker 4 (08:25):
Yes, we made a lot of progress. You look at
states like California and New York that enacted legislation to
create reparations committees cities around the country, whether it was
Saint Louis, Detroit, Sacramento, I mean, so many cities creating
reparations committees to study the harmful impact of slavery and
(08:49):
policies enacted post slavery, the impact that they had on
black families, whether it was in the healthcare system, educational system, obviously,
around home ownership, around generation of wealth, around building wealth,
around economic advancement, and reparations. You know, in the last
ten years moved from this fringe concept to this very
mainstream concept. We had elected officials at the national level
(09:12):
saying yes, we.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
At least need to study it. I mean that was huge,
the study.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
Bill that was never passed in Congress, but being talked
about in Congress HR forty to study the impact of reparation.
So the progress has been enormous. And in case I
was working on in Palm Springs, California, we reached a
historic settlement that included cash payments to survivors who have
(09:39):
been racially targeted community burned down, upended, also significant payments
that will be made from a programmatic standpoint to improve
the opportunities for people in Palm Springs, California to purchase
homes to help them with the development of small businesses.
That historic resolution was reached on November fourteenth, twenty twenty four,
(10:04):
just weeks after the national election, and you know, a
couple of months before Donald Trump was you know, back
in the White House after his January you know, inauguration,
and then to see the complete you know, dismantling the
complete going in on anything black, anything remotely black, and
(10:26):
then to see cities around the country who had done
this work, who were doing this work, legislative bodies who
were in the process of doing this work, start to retreat,
start to retrench funders. There were a number of philanthropic
organizations who were funding organizations and individuals like myself who
were on the front lines of this reparative justice work
(10:46):
starting to again pull back because they're board members there,
you know, their their advisory boards, they're boards of directors
getting cold feet, not wanting to do anything to you know,
end up on the wrong side of Donald Trump, or
to in any way, you know, inflame him. And so
I was just having this conversation with someone again, in
(11:07):
these moments where we've had progress and then we see
this retreat, what do we do? And again the answer
is always the same. We keep forging ahead, We keep pushing,
We keep trying to push the envelope as far as
we can, because.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
If we give up.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
Now, all the work that was done, that historic settlement
that I reached in Palm Springs, the work that was
done in Everston, Illinois, the work done in Redondo Beach, California,
around the returning of the land owned by the Bruce
family to its ancestors, I mean, to its descendants.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
All of that work will.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
Be for naught and we cannot let that happen.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Now.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
Does it mean that we are hopeful that we're gonna
see states like New York or California past significant laws,
you know, addressing reparations. Probably not in this legislative term,
probably not in next year's legislative term. But it doesn't
mean that we don't keep pushing.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Forward, trying to hold our.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
Elected officials accountable. Those that say they are with us.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
In this fight.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
We have to keep holding their feet to the fire
and keep getting them to push even if it's incremental progress.
You know, I talked to the legislative the black legislators
in the California State legislature all the time about this issue.
We're not likely to get cash payments, you know, in
this legislative cycle, and in fact, the efforts for cash
(12:35):
payments in California were defeated last year.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
But it doesn't mean we can't.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
Get some legislation passed that advances this work. And so
that's what I tell the folks doing this work. We're
not going to get everything we want. But it doesn't
mean we can't get something, doesn't mean we can't make
some progress in this work. And I say to folks
who care about reparations, and you should, all of us
should keep doing the work.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Just keep doing the work.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
I think that.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
This helps make the point that you were making earlier
when you said that. I'm gonna paraphrase, but you said
it a lot more eloquently than I'm going to.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
So forgive me an advance.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
But you know, one generation will do what they can,
and it's up to the next generation to pick up
that baton and carry carry it forward.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
And so.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
You know, I just want to say this real quickly
to that point. When I took the case in Palm Springs,
everyone told me it was a dead loser. The statute
of limitations had run. People had been in that community
for sixty years trying to advance that work, and they
had been shot.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Down over and over again. And it was.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
Channeling that thought that even if I wasn't successful, whatever
progress I could make, I delayed the foundation for some
other brilliant civil rights lawyer ten years from now, fifteen
years from now, twenty years from now to pick up
that baton and to carry that work forward. I didn't
know where we would end up. I didn't know that
we would reach this historic settlement. But I hope that
(14:16):
the fact that we did encourages again that next generation
of civil rights lawyer when they get the next case
like that that looks insurmountable, that looks impossible, that they
can look back on that work and say, well, even
if I don't cross the finish line, maybe the progress
that I can make in this work will have a
profound impact on a community of black folks.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Sure, there's a gentleman that we've talked to a few times.
His name is doctor Marcus Anthony Hunter, and he's the
person who is a very vocal advocate for reparations. He
travels the country speaking. He works very closely with doctor
David Johnson, Angela Ryan, those folks.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
And I think that his thoughts very much.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
He sounds like he's learned a lot from you. So
so it wouldn't surprise me if you know the work
that you've done and are doing has reached folks like
him around the country. And that's what I want to
talk to next before we let you go. Uh, let's
talk about your books, Uh Awakening, Make It Rain, the
(15:30):
Everybody or sorry, the everyday Advocate. You know you said
you said that you've you've written four books. Talk to
us about each book. Who he wrote these books for,
What people can expect to learn from these books, and
how you can create, how how there can be more
(15:51):
you know, doctor Marcus Anthony Hunters, And hopefully you know,
I got a trip overseas here pretty soon I can
grab one of these books and have something to read
on my flight. Talk to us about what we can
expect for the folks who haven't read the books.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
And you know who you wrote these books for.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
Yeah, the first every Advocate I wrote after my son
was diagnosed with autism, and just my own frustration with
the system, the insurance system, the healthcare system, the school system,
the fact that there were more questions than answers. And
I took what I learned advocating for my own son
(16:26):
and using my civil rights background to write a book
that would hopefully be a guy for parents who are
navigating what to do after getting a diagnosis, how to
navigate those very complex systems of care.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
So that's that book.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
The Make It Rain book is really about after I
started working in the media, being a legal and political
commentator on so many national shows, Understanding the power of media,
really really understanding how you could shape narrative, how you
could change narrative, whether it was around I remember most
impactful work I think I did was on CNN, working
when Donald and Still had his show, when the uprising,
(17:06):
you know, it's happening in Ferguson, Missouri, and trying to
help people from saying, well is have a better understanding
about what was happening around Mike Brown and Ferguson and
helping to reshape what was coming out of the mainstream
media about what was happening on the ground. So that
book was about helping people understand the power of the media,
(17:28):
and now the media, you know, it's not just a
cable network news show. It's what you're doing, you know,
it's what folks do on their TikTok account and what
people do on Instagram. So really getting folks to understand
that power. Awakening a book about breaking down the patriarchy,
understanding the lies that women have been told, you know,
(17:50):
throughout history in this country about you.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Know, our power or lack of power.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
And really trying to help women understand how to break through,
fight through some of those lies, and really embrace the
power that we have.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
So those are the books that I've written.
Speaker 4 (18:09):
I'm you know, needling a book around this reparative justice
worth that I'm doing, thinking about how I want to
frame it, how I want to write about how I
want to tell stories, because stories are very powerful, very
powerful in legal cases. That was so important in that
Palm Springs case was the narratives, the stories of the survivors.
(18:31):
You know, those stories help move the needle in a
significant way. So I'm working on some projects about storytelling
in that reparative justice space.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Okay, well it occurred to me just before you jump
to get your thoughts on one of the things that
has caused a lot of concern recently. And as someone
who has again the level of perspective that you know,
and I think that the temperament to help us make
(19:03):
heads or tails of it, if you would be so kind.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
This Texas redistricting.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Has been deeply concerning Donald Trump's call to redo the
census ahead of the midterms so that jerry mandering will
be a bit easier to hold on to the majority.
The conservative majority in the House of representatives is unsettling
for folks that are aware that politics works that way, right,
(19:37):
And we got some I guess some good news recently
that that would is basically an impossibility that that would
be done prior to the midterm elections. But still these
moves that are blatant powergrad they're not even hiding it anymore,
have been deeply concerning for people who feel like, let's say,
(20:00):
the Democratic establishment is really the only infrastructure in place
to push back against this conservative supermajority.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Talk to us.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
About kind of those goings on, maybe what the future
of the Democratic Party looks like, or if you had
a magic wand what you would see folks do, or
maybe just your thoughts, your reflections on this for a
lot of us.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Oh, all of us, absolutely.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
I think the thing that is teaching us the most
is as much as we love our forever first lady,
you know, and you know her mantra of yes, when
they go we go high, Yes, that our mantra in
this moment means needs to change.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
And when they fight, we fight harder.
Speaker 4 (20:43):
There you go, because we cannot continue to fight a
battle with our hands tied behind our backs, you know,
with our eyes closed with our feet feet shackled when
we are dealing with the likes of the corruption of
someone like Donald Trump and these governors in these red
(21:04):
states who are willing to do his bidding, who are
willing to be as corrupt and engage in the kind
of corruption that they're willing to do.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
You mentioned that you're kind of kind of needling, you
said a new book. I want to give you a
chance to, you know, shout out anything that might be
coming up for you that people should look out for.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
I know you do public speaking. I know you do
a number of things.
Speaker 4 (21:26):
Yeah, nothing that I am at liberty to share right now,
just to encourage folks to follow me on all things
social Adareva Martin Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
I love to hear from folks.
Speaker 4 (21:38):
I'm constantly posting, you know, thought leadership type content.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
Folks who aren't glued to the news. I do the
work for them.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
I read a gazillion newspapers a day and try to
post those stories, particularly those that impact the black community,
so they can follow my social feeds to feel up
to date and get my commentary on what this administration
is doing. Thank you, Thank you, appreciate that just followed you.
Thank you, and I will likewise follow you back. But
(22:08):
just want to be in conversation with folks and want
folks to feel like there's a trusted voice. I have
a podcast called The Special Report. You can go to
my YouTube page and subscribe. You can check out content
I post regularly. It's political, but it's also pop culture,
it's also current events. Just again trying to make sure
folks are feeling like they have some trusted source that
(22:30):
they can go to to make sense of this craziness
in this crazy world that we're in right now.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Well, again, I appreciate you taking the time to talk
with our listeners to share some perspective, and I appreciate
your commitment once again. Today's guest is Harvard trained civil
rights attorney, author, disability justice advocate, and founder of special
needs Network at Riva Mark.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
Thank you.
And now part two of our conversation with Ariva Martin,
a Harvard trained civil rights attorney, disability justice advocate, and
founder of Special Needs Network. She's on the front line
of today's most pressing racial and social justice issues, leading
the charge in California's landmark Palm Springs reparations case, and
helping black families navigate systemic.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Barriers in special education. This is civic cipher.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
I remember being very young and hearing about affirmative action
and how this was going to be something that would
be beneficial for black people, and it would be beneficial
as I came to age right, and then that conversation,
i'll say, sort of evolved into diversity, equity and inclusion
(00:47):
twenty twenty one, we'll call it maybe four years ago,
and there seemed to be this kind of push to, hey,
let we've been very unkind and we've been very blind
to the fact that we're not sharing all these opportunities.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
And there was this.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
National push to include other voices, other talents from other
communities in business, economic spaces, et cetera, politics, you name it.
And then the right and Donald Trump kind of took
this idea and espoused it during his campaign, but the
(01:24):
right pushed back and saying, hey, this is not fair
to us. They're choosing people, and they switched the narrati.
They're choosing people who are not qualified simply because they
are black, instead of what we were saying, which is
we're qualified to please consider us.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
But you know, that was the story.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
And now DEI on basically every front has been rolled
back from the private sector, obviously the public sector in
the past. During Donald Trump's second administration, black women have
suffered the greatest job loss I think to the two
and three hundred thousand history of this country, black people
have overall suffered a job lostness job losses.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Or two pandemic levels.
Speaker 1 (02:11):
So it's there's as many jobless black people as there
was during the pandemic, and diversity, equity and inclusion being
under attack was one of the main reasons for that.
So we're talking about black economics here. Let's get your
thoughts on what we do with respect to our push
(02:33):
for DEI. Is there a pivot, do we rethink this,
Do we have a different conversation with those who are
still sympathetic but have to sort of been the need
to keep their businesses moving forward. You know, any thoughts
you have on this.
Speaker 3 (02:44):
One, I think we stayed a course.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
We cannot allow this administration to wipe away the gains
that we have made in this country over the last
fifty years. We can't run, we can't hide, we can't power,
we can't capitually kissed the ring because one man has
essentially decided that white supremacy is the order of the day.
(03:08):
And let's be real clear that DEI and the rollbacks
on DEI is all about, uh, you know, a white
supremacy narrative that has been percolating under the scenes, or
you know, you could say, uh, slowly percolating and gaining
traction in the form of a Donald Trump administration. There
are people in this country, white people in particular, who
(03:30):
are afraid to death of the browning of this country,
that the minority, the minorities, are becoming the majority, and
that that somehow, this this this this scarcy mentality that
they have, that somehow, when black folks do well, it
means they do less well, that they suffer.
Speaker 3 (03:51):
That there's a detriment to them.
Speaker 4 (03:53):
And that is what we are fighting against. And we
see it in this last election. We see it in
elections over the last decade. So where you have white
voters in southern states, some of the poor states in
this country, voting for elected officials not who are improving
their lives, but who are continuing to support this.
Speaker 3 (04:11):
Hierarchy, this hierarchy of whiteness.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
And they'll do that even to their own economic and
financial detriment. And so that is what we are fighting against,
and people won't call it out.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
And I'll give you this example.
Speaker 4 (04:24):
I've been reading all these articles about the takeover of
DC by the Donald Trump administration, the federalizing of the
police department and putting a national Guard on the streets
of DC, and there were people who were challenging and saying, well,
wait a minute.
Speaker 3 (04:39):
First of all, crime is down in DC. Let's keep
real clear about that.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
And what about the fifteen hundred insurrectionists who committed more
crimes in three hours than we've seen, you know, in
a year or more, who were not only in some
cases given light sentences, but who were then pardoned by
the very man who says he's concerned about crime. But
they challenged the hypocrisy, but they didn't call out the
(05:04):
racial peace. And that's one of the things we have
to continue to do let's call a spade a spade.
Donald Trump is going into these cities that are predominantly black,
that have black leadership, whether it's DC, whether it's Los Angeles,
whether it's of Pokland and Chicago and Baltimore, you know,
maligning the people, talking about lawlessness and homeless people, and
(05:27):
you know, maligning American citizens and then saying he and
only he, the King can clean it up, and I'm
going to do so by sending in the National Guard.
But when it comes to white led cities, when it
comes to states in the South that are led by
white elected officials, we don't hear the same kind of
rhetoric and we don't see the same kinds of actions.
(05:49):
So we have to in this moment continue to call
it out. It's not just hypocrisy, of course, it's rank hypocrisy.
But it's more than hypocrisy. It is racial filing. It's
racially motivated attacks on cities led by black people and
cities that have predominant or majority black and brown populations.
(06:11):
And I think in this moment that is again one
of the most important things we can do is not
allow the narrative to be twisted, to be distorted to
be changed in a way that erasist the important element
that race plays in so many of the decisions that
are being made by this administration.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
Yeah, yeah, and I think the sobering reality that a
lot of this country is either racist or predisposed to
racism is something that was a bit of a gut
punch for me, you know, to help you make your point.
The pushback against DEI had been percolating this whole time,
(06:53):
because it was the same pushback against affirmative action way
back in the eighties and nineties. And you know, the
voter base that elected Donald Trump, they've been primed to
receive the narrative that he gives them. You know, crime
is rampant in DC, as you mentioned, crime in DC's
(07:13):
at a thirty year low, thirty years lower than it
was in the past three decades. And Donald Trump gets
into office says crime is rampant, I'm going to federalize
the police, and his base eats it up like, yes,
he's bringing law in order to DC, ignoring the context,
the facts.
Speaker 2 (07:30):
The proper framing, et cetera.
Speaker 1 (07:32):
Because they're primed for the racism, if not already racist themselves. Right,
So either it doesn't matter, or they don't care enough
to look because they don't question their reality, right, And
so again I appreciate this perspective. This is the sort
of conversation that our listeners come to this show to hear,
and this is the way that we push back against
(07:54):
the narrative that he is trying to chronicle in these
United States of America. So again, this information as well received.
I do want to ask a question that I think
that you're in a good position to maybe not answer,
but at least give us some.
Speaker 2 (08:09):
Perspective on.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Talk to us about reparations and why reparations still matter,
why that conversation should still be taking place given the
current political climate.
Speaker 4 (08:25):
Yes, we made a lot of progress. You look at
states like California and New York that enacted legislation to
create reparations committees cities around the country, whether it was
Saint Louis, Detroit, Sacramento, I mean, so many cities creating
reparations committees to study the harmful impact of slavery and
(08:49):
policies enacted post slavery, the impact that they had on
black families, whether it was in the healthcare system, educational system, obviously,
around home ownership, around generation of wealth, around building wealth,
around economic advancement, and reparations. You know, in the last
ten years moved from this fringe concept to this very
mainstream concept. We had elected officials at the national level
(09:12):
saying yes, we.
Speaker 3 (09:13):
At least need to study it. I mean that was huge,
the study.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
Bill that was never passed in Congress, but being talked
about in Congress HR forty to study the impact of reparation.
So the progress has been enormous. And in case I
was working on in Palm Springs, California, we reached a
historic settlement that included cash payments to survivors who have
(09:39):
been racially targeted community burned down, upended, also significant payments
that will be made from a programmatic standpoint to improve
the opportunities for people in Palm Springs, California to purchase
homes to help them with the development of small businesses.
That historic resolution was reached on November fourteenth, twenty twenty four,
(10:04):
just weeks after the national election, and you know, a
couple of months before Donald Trump was you know, back
in the White House after his January you know, inauguration,
and then to see the complete you know, dismantling the
complete going in on anything black, anything remotely black, and
(10:26):
then to see cities around the country who had done
this work, who were doing this work, legislative bodies who
were in the process of doing this work, start to retreat,
start to retrench funders. There were a number of philanthropic
organizations who were funding organizations and individuals like myself who
were on the front lines of this reparative justice work
(10:46):
starting to again pull back because they're board members there,
you know, their their advisory boards, they're boards of directors
getting cold feet, not wanting to do anything to you know,
end up on the wrong side of Donald Trump, or
to in any way, you know, inflame him. And so
I was just having this conversation with someone again, in
(11:07):
these moments where we've had progress and then we see
this retreat, what do we do? And again the answer
is always the same. We keep forging ahead, We keep pushing,
We keep trying to push the envelope as far as
we can, because.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
If we give up.
Speaker 4 (11:26):
Now, all the work that was done, that historic settlement
that I reached in Palm Springs, the work that was
done in Everston, Illinois, the work done in Redondo Beach, California,
around the returning of the land owned by the Bruce
family to its ancestors, I mean, to its descendants.
Speaker 3 (11:44):
All of that work will.
Speaker 4 (11:45):
Be for naught and we cannot let that happen.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
Now.
Speaker 4 (11:50):
Does it mean that we are hopeful that we're gonna
see states like New York or California past significant laws,
you know, addressing reparations. Probably not in this legislative term,
probably not in next year's legislative term. But it doesn't
mean that we don't keep pushing.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
Forward, trying to hold our.
Speaker 4 (12:10):
Elected officials accountable. Those that say they are with us.
Speaker 3 (12:14):
In this fight.
Speaker 4 (12:15):
We have to keep holding their feet to the fire
and keep getting them to push even if it's incremental progress.
You know, I talked to the legislative the black legislators
in the California State legislature all the time about this issue.
We're not likely to get cash payments, you know, in
this legislative cycle, and in fact, the efforts for cash
(12:35):
payments in California were defeated last year.
Speaker 3 (12:39):
But it doesn't mean we can't.
Speaker 4 (12:41):
Get some legislation passed that advances this work. And so
that's what I tell the folks doing this work. We're
not going to get everything we want. But it doesn't
mean we can't get something, doesn't mean we can't make
some progress in this work. And I say to folks
who care about reparations, and you should, all of us
should keep doing the work.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
Just keep doing the work.
Speaker 2 (13:05):
I think that.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
This helps make the point that you were making earlier
when you said that. I'm gonna paraphrase, but you said
it a lot more eloquently than I'm going to.
Speaker 2 (13:19):
So forgive me an advance.
Speaker 1 (13:20):
But you know, one generation will do what they can,
and it's up to the next generation to pick up
that baton and carry carry it forward.
Speaker 2 (13:30):
And so.
Speaker 4 (13:33):
You know, I just want to say this real quickly
to that point. When I took the case in Palm Springs,
everyone told me it was a dead loser. The statute
of limitations had run. People had been in that community
for sixty years trying to advance that work, and they
had been shot.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
Down over and over again. And it was.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
Channeling that thought that even if I wasn't successful, whatever
progress I could make, I delayed the foundation for some
other brilliant civil rights lawyer ten years from now, fifteen
years from now, twenty years from now to pick up
that baton and to carry that work forward. I didn't
know where we would end up. I didn't know that
we would reach this historic settlement. But I hope that
(14:16):
the fact that we did encourages again that next generation
of civil rights lawyer when they get the next case
like that that looks insurmountable, that looks impossible, that they
can look back on that work and say, well, even
if I don't cross the finish line, maybe the progress
that I can make in this work will have a
profound impact on a community of black folks.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Sure, there's a gentleman that we've talked to a few times.
His name is doctor Marcus Anthony Hunter, and he's the
person who is a very vocal advocate for reparations. He
travels the country speaking. He works very closely with doctor
David Johnson, Angela Ryan, those folks.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
And I think that his thoughts very much.
Speaker 3 (15:07):
Uh.
Speaker 1 (15:07):
He sounds like he's learned a lot from you. So
so it wouldn't surprise me if you know the work
that you've done and are doing has reached folks like
him around the country. And that's what I want to
talk to next before we let you go. Uh, let's
talk about your books, Uh Awakening, Make It Rain, the
(15:30):
Everybody or sorry, the everyday Advocate. You know you said
you said that you've you've written four books. Talk to
us about each book. Who he wrote these books for,
What people can expect to learn from these books, and
how you can create, how how there can be more
(15:51):
you know, doctor Marcus Anthony Hunters, And hopefully you know,
I got a trip overseas here pretty soon I can
grab one of these books and have something to read
on my flight. Talk to us about what we can
expect for the folks who haven't read the books.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
And you know who you wrote these books for.
Speaker 4 (16:06):
Yeah, the first every Advocate I wrote after my son
was diagnosed with autism, and just my own frustration with
the system, the insurance system, the healthcare system, the school system,
the fact that there were more questions than answers. And
I took what I learned advocating for my own son
(16:26):
and using my civil rights background to write a book
that would hopefully be a guy for parents who are
navigating what to do after getting a diagnosis, how to
navigate those very complex systems of care.
Speaker 3 (16:39):
So that's that book.
Speaker 4 (16:40):
The Make It Rain book is really about after I
started working in the media, being a legal and political
commentator on so many national shows, Understanding the power of media,
really really understanding how you could shape narrative, how you
could change narrative, whether it was around I remember most
impactful work I think I did was on CNN, working
when Donald and Still had his show, when the uprising,
(17:06):
you know, it's happening in Ferguson, Missouri, and trying to
help people from saying, well is have a better understanding
about what was happening around Mike Brown and Ferguson and
helping to reshape what was coming out of the mainstream
media about what was happening on the ground. So that
book was about helping people understand the power of the media,
(17:28):
and now the media, you know, it's not just a
cable network news show. It's what you're doing, you know,
it's what folks do on their TikTok account and what
people do on Instagram. So really getting folks to understand
that power. Awakening a book about breaking down the patriarchy,
understanding the lies that women have been told, you know,
(17:50):
throughout history in this country about you.
Speaker 3 (17:54):
Know, our power or lack of power.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
And really trying to help women understand how to break through,
fight through some of those lies, and really embrace the
power that we have.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
So those are the books that I've written.
Speaker 4 (18:09):
I'm you know, needling a book around this reparative justice
worth that I'm doing, thinking about how I want to
frame it, how I want to write about how I
want to tell stories, because stories are very powerful, very
powerful in legal cases. That was so important in that
Palm Springs case was the narratives, the stories of the survivors.
(18:31):
You know, those stories help move the needle in a
significant way. So I'm working on some projects about storytelling
in that reparative justice space.
Speaker 1 (18:40):
Okay, well it occurred to me just before you jump
to get your thoughts on one of the things that
has caused a lot of concern recently. And as someone
who has again the level of perspective that you know,
and I think that the temperament to help us make
(19:03):
heads or tails of it, if you would be so kind.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
This Texas redistricting.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Has been deeply concerning Donald Trump's call to redo the
census ahead of the midterms so that jerry mandering will
be a bit easier to hold on to the majority.
The conservative majority in the House of representatives is unsettling
for folks that are aware that politics works that way, right,
(19:37):
And we got some I guess some good news recently
that that would is basically an impossibility that that would
be done prior to the midterm elections. But still these
moves that are blatant powergrad they're not even hiding it anymore,
have been deeply concerning for people who feel like, let's say,
(20:00):
the Democratic establishment is really the only infrastructure in place
to push back against this conservative supermajority.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
Talk to us.
Speaker 1 (20:09):
About kind of those goings on, maybe what the future
of the Democratic Party looks like, or if you had
a magic wand what you would see folks do, or
maybe just your thoughts, your reflections on this for a
lot of us.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Oh, all of us, absolutely.
Speaker 4 (20:25):
I think the thing that is teaching us the most
is as much as we love our forever first lady,
you know, and you know her mantra of yes, when
they go we go high, Yes, that our mantra in
this moment means needs to change.
Speaker 3 (20:41):
And when they fight, we fight harder.
Speaker 4 (20:43):
There you go, because we cannot continue to fight a
battle with our hands tied behind our backs, you know,
with our eyes closed with our feet feet shackled when
we are dealing with the likes of the corruption of
someone like Donald Trump and these governors in these red
(21:04):
states who are willing to do his bidding, who are
willing to be as corrupt and engage in the kind
of corruption that they're willing to do.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
You mentioned that you're kind of kind of needling, you
said a new book. I want to give you a
chance to, you know, shout out anything that might be
coming up for you that people should look out for.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
I know you do public speaking. I know you do
a number of things.
Speaker 4 (21:26):
Yeah, nothing that I am at liberty to share right now,
just to encourage folks to follow me on all things
social Adareva Martin Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, LinkedIn.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
I love to hear from folks.
Speaker 4 (21:38):
I'm constantly posting, you know, thought leadership type content.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
Folks who aren't glued to the news. I do the
work for them.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
I read a gazillion newspapers a day and try to
post those stories, particularly those that impact the black community,
so they can follow my social feeds to feel up
to date and get my commentary on what this administration
is doing. Thank you, Thank you, appreciate that just followed you.
Thank you, and I will likewise follow you back. But
(22:08):
just want to be in conversation with folks and want
folks to feel like there's a trusted voice. I have
a podcast called The Special Report. You can go to
my YouTube page and subscribe. You can check out content
I post regularly. It's political, but it's also pop culture,
it's also current events. Just again trying to make sure
folks are feeling like they have some trusted source that
(22:30):
they can go to to make sense of this craziness
in this crazy world that we're in right now.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Well, again, I appreciate you taking the time to talk
with our listeners to share some perspective, and I appreciate
your commitment once again. Today's guest is Harvard trained civil
rights attorney, author, disability justice advocate, and founder of special
needs Network at Riva Mark.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
Thank you.
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