April 28, 2022 • 34 mins
Senator Turner and Louisiana’s Gary Chambers (running for U.S. Senate) grabbed a moment on Easter Sunday during a Get Out the Vote stop in Cleveland to talk Hot Topics. Most on their mind? Changing the politics of cannabis and the movement from its decriminalization to legalization.
LINKS:
Gary Chambers - @GaryChambersJr
https://chambersforlouisiana.com/
Bigger Than Me
"37 Seconds" - Legalize Marijuana
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qj_FD25oREY
Wanda James
Emerge Colorado
https://co.emergeamerica.org/about/about-us/
Phillip Agnew
Hello Somebody: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/lets-keep-our-foot-on-the-gas-with-philip-agnew-revisited/id1513745000?i=1000485184784
TED Talk: https://www.ted.com/speakers/phillip_agnew
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Turn Everything Somebody. Welcome to Hello Somebody, a production of
(00:28):
The Black Effect Podcast Network and I Heart Media. Where
we rage against the machine, where we raise our voices
against injustice and stand up for justice. Where we embrace
hope and joy with an optimism for a bright or
more justus future. Each week I'll be dropping knowledge, whether
(00:48):
it's a solo episode from me or a hearty discussion
with esteem guests doing great things in spaces and places
of politics, entertainment, social justice, and beyond. We get real, baby,
I mean really real. We get honest, We get up
close and personal for you, Yes, you, because everybody is Somebody.
(01:15):
Before we begin, I want to give a special shout
out to my team. Thank you, Sam, Tiffany, Sam and
the team over at Good Jujuic Studios, Erica, England, Pepper
Chambers the Hot One, and my social media team. Hello Somebody.
I hope everybody is doing well. I hope you're easing
(01:38):
into spring. I really do now in Ohio and Cleveland
spring games from yet, I got my dear friend Gary Chambers.
Brother Gary Chambers is laughing on the side because he
is here with me in the great state of Ohio,
in the land and he cannot believe that we are
looking at mid April and it's cold and snowing and
(02:01):
raining that you can get every season in one day
in Cleveland, Ohio. But I'm so glad that he's here.
So today we're just gonna talk about some hot topics.
That's what we're gonna talk about. What is on each
other's minds and what is on your mind today. I
gotta imagine that if you are among the working class,
which most of us are just different levels within the
working class, you've gotta be thinking about how high gas is,
(02:24):
A cost of food is going up a whole bunch
of stuff. So brother Gary Chambers, from the great State
of Louisi and aby way of that route. He didn't
bring me, no gumbling on every everywhere every place we
have been in clean somebody that brought up some food
he can probably can't go nowhere outside of Louisiana. People
not talking about that good that good cooking. Yeah, what's cooking?
(02:46):
What's on your mind? Well, the temperature is not cooking
in Cleveland, Okay. I saw snow flurries in April out
here in Cleveland, and I don't understand it because it's
eighty degrees in Louisiana, And so you know, I understand
how y'all stay up here, but God bless y'all. Forward. Okay,
(03:07):
somebody got represented, no doubt, no doubt. Uh. And that's
why I'm up here for you, sister, because you know
this work and that we are doing is serious and
not unlike Cleveland. There are too many families who their
bank accounts are cold and there's not enough food in
the kitchen. They're trying to figure out how they're gonna
make things work for their kids to do after school programs,
(03:31):
and how am I gonna work in a vacation for
kids this summer? Can we afford to go on vacation
with gas prices as high as they are? Folks canceling
flights so people won't get in the car right right
on the other side of a pandemic hoping that it
don't come back, all our fingers crossed because we're all
sick of COVID right. So I think we're just in
a very, uh peculiar place. But I don't think we
(03:55):
are in any phase that previous generations haven't had some
form of having to deal with the question is for
me today, how much further can I go? You know?
And I have different things that helped me recharge. And
last week I had a Bishop William Murphy come to
Baton Rouge and we did a night of worship, and
(04:15):
that gave me a recharge. When he finished talking, that
sounded like my elders, I said, I can go on
a little further on. I feel like going on and
going a little further now, you know, And and coming
up here with you helps me go on a little further.
And so you know, I'm just pushing to go on
a little first. Well, having you here with me makes
me feel like I can keep going on. As they say,
you are running, you know, I know that's on your mind,
(04:38):
and you came here to help your sister, and you
are running for the US Senate in the great state
of Louisiana. Tell us your wives and how things are
going well. My wife, because I live in the state
that ranks fiftieth in the nation, and I have a
senator who is closer to fog Horn leg Horn than
he is to represent the people of our state. That's
(04:58):
my wife. My wife's also so my daughter Zoe and
all the kids of Louisiana. When you walked out yesterday.
I was telling this African proverb. When they greet each other,
they say, how are the children? You hope the answers
the children are well, right, because if the children in
the society aren't good, then the society isn't good or
the community isn't good. And in Louisiana children are dealing
(05:18):
with all manner of things. The school system and the
state ranks for the eighth in the nation. Not enough
jobs that are of a good living wage that young
people can graduate and become a part of the workforce,
And so those people are a part of my Why
how are we doing? I feel like we're doing great.
Our first quarter numbers are gonna come out. We raised
a good deal of money, and we are building a
(05:41):
similar strategy to yours, a field first strategy. We knocked
our first doors last weekend, and we six months away
from election day, so we got a lot of ground
to cover to cover the whole state. But we're after
it and on it. And for me, it's about I
know you understand this managing all the motions that come
with running, because you know, you go from one day
(06:03):
it's all this good news and the next day it
is bad news, and it's it's up and down, and
you just have to figure out how to maintain a
level head and maintain your emotions through it. Because the
thing that I don't think folks recognize that are not
in this position is how much pulling gets done on
you as a result of And sometimes you have to
(06:24):
look up and say, am I meet? Am I still meet? You? Know?
So that's been maybe the challenge of it all. But
I feel good about where we are. And for me,
I told you this last year. Folks may say, well,
you're you've been traveling all over the country. Well, U s.
Senator should have an understanding of what people in every
(06:45):
part of this country are going through because you make
your decisions not just for for the people that voted
for you, but for the betterment of this nation. Or
should be a member of Congress is the same way.
And so how do you know what Cleveland is need
if you've never been to Cleveland? How do you know
what people in Atlanta need if you've never been to Atlanta.
And so we've been all over the country and it's
(07:08):
been overwhelmingly beautiful and so for me, I'm just enjoying
the experience. But committed to us having a path to victory,
which we do. Yeah. No, I am just incredibly impressed
and all that you would run for Congress and just
step right in there and run for the US Senate,
bigger territory when you're talking about the entire state. I
(07:30):
ran statewide many moons ago. At this pointeen seems so
long ago, really, but then long ago, so I definitely
understand the grind, the difference between running in the district
or award a state level district, I should say, versus
running statewide. And it is a lot of work. It's
a lot of work, but we need you there. I'm
so glad that you are doing what you're doing. And
(07:53):
then the pause and find time to be with me. So,
for those of us who are tuning in the Hello
somebody for the first time, I want to welcome you
to the show. I'm here with my dear brother, my friend,
the one and only Gary Chamber as many of you
may know of him from how he dressed down the
(08:14):
school board and backing route. Lord have mercy if you
haven't just gone to google that and watch that baby,
That will get a firelit under you like none other.
And then he produced this incredible with an incredible team,
a video to lift up the need. So since we're
gonna talk about hot topics, we might well gone and
(08:34):
light it up. But he did this incredible video to
draw attention to the need to legalize cannabis, decriminalize it.
Legalized cannabis in the United States of America. Powerful, powerful
video and as he always says, that that wasn't just
about the act that people saw in the video. He
was making a larger point about freeing the tree. When
(08:55):
I saw it, you know, I sent you with tell
I'm sure everybody was texting you body brown that tide.
But it was so incredible, and it did start a
national dialogue again because we go through these ebbs and flows.
But you put it right there center about the legalization
of cannabis in the United States, the whole country. You know,
certain states have legalized, especially from a discable purposes, but
(09:17):
you brought a whole you brought a whole another level
on thought patterns to legalize in cannabis. Well, for me,
it's about people like Kevin Allen. Kevin Allen is serving
a life sentence in and goal to penitentiary for less
than a graham of cannabis and he's been there since.
For me, we did the thirty seven seconds ad because
(09:40):
it's a moral, just and just down right wrong that
somebody is sitting in a cage for a plan. And
I don't necessarily think about what is most advantageous for
us personally when we do things like this. It's more
about what is the issue that we know needs to
be addressed, and how can we cut through the noise
at this issue. Nineteen states of legal or thirty four
(10:03):
plus states have medicinal legalization. Louisiana takes my tax dollars
to grow cannabis at l issue and Southern University state
funded institutions. But Kevin Allen is in jail for what
the state is legally growing. Right, that's problematic and and
it's it's duplicitus, it's hypocrisy, and I want to see
(10:23):
that in and we have the ability to do something
about it. And it's no it's no different than any
other issue that we pick up. Senator. We could do
something about health care in this country, we can do
something about the environment in this country. We can do
something about cannabis legalization. It's these are things that we
have power to do something about student loan debt. We
have power to do something about it, yet we aren't.
(10:44):
And so the question becomes why and are we afraid
to just like take the stigmas off of this, take
the controversies off of this. People literally go in California,
Colorado and Illinois into stores that are like candy shops
and purchase cannabis. And in southern in states still here
in Ohio and other places, if you don't have a card, right, uh,
(11:06):
in a in a medical state, which isn't that easy
to come by in every place, you can't consume right.
And and it's no different than cops being able to
use it like stopping frisk. Oh I smelled marijuana, and
and now it's a reason for me to stop you,
entertain you, and search your vehicle and and and violate
your rights in certain states. Right. And so that's why
(11:29):
some folks say stuff like these yet to be United
States of America, because the rules aren't the same everywhere.
They say that. And when you talk about Kevin Allen,
you remind me of a story that Wanda James told me.
Wanda James own simply pure to flatting, first black woman
to rock in the cannabis industry in the deep way
that she is in Colorado, Denver, and you right, mine
(11:51):
was blown. I went to Denver, Colorado for an Emerge event.
It's a group that helps women run for office. And
mind blown. I had never of my first time being
and it does all kinds of different flavors and types
and and t T was THH C s and turpent
times and all of that. I was like, wow, but
it's beautiful. I mean, it's like going to a jury
(12:13):
store almost, you know, the packaging and the different But
she tells a story similar to what you're telling that
the reason why she got into this industry is because
her brother went to prison for I forgot how many
it was. It was it was very small amount of
cannabis that he went to prison for it and was
(12:36):
working picking cotton. And this was in the nineties. This
wasn't that long ago, you know, like mine blown. And
she took the story of her brother and that motivated
her to get into this industry. So not only is
she a businessman, I call it the Madam C. J.
Walker of cannabis, she's also an activist and the advocate
(12:57):
too for changing the federal rule. I mean like ruined
her brother's life over like they probably a little more
than nickelbag. But I just want people to picture people
who understand that lingo a nickel bag and this man
went to prison. It makes no sense. And similar to
to Kevin Allen. And we know that the forces of
law come down harder on black people first than brown
(13:21):
people other people of color. If you pour, it's coming
down on you because the system was never designed for
poor people, was designed by people who had more influence
and more money, and it beens towards their will. And
your point about we can do something about it, We
absolutely can do something about it, and we should do
something about it. There was a prohibition on alcohol once
upon a time in this country and the temperance movement
(13:42):
and all that kind of stuff, and that change. What
about cannabis and the war on drugs? How it impacts
our communities deeper, the first more deadly. It's just this
cannot stand so many people. I mean, you, Bill Maher,
You're on the Bill Mars Show over it. People were
talking about this all over the country. What motivated you
(14:02):
to touch that topic in that way? Because you made
people think it was almost how comedians handle hard topics,
and they put it out into the world in a
way that satirical, you know, using satire, but it makes
people think it wasn't preachy, you know that's but you
I mean it was so it was amazing. Our comms
(14:23):
team wrote the script and I think the script really
gave us a visual to go for. Irwin Marino, who's
my media director, shoots all my videos. As soon as
I read the script out loud, he said he saw
the video, and so we got the script on the Friday.
We shot the video on Saturday, um, and the video
(14:43):
was done on Sunday. And you've had over a million views,
uh seven millions, seven millions turner late about thirty million
on social media, and you duplicated all over and over
the imprint. You're probably missing some imprints to wow, lo
Ord have mercy. But it's a teachable moment and I
could see for forever somebody's gonna pull up that video.
(15:07):
You know, it's it's gonna be in class because to me,
you know, as a college professor, I use real life
situations like that to teach my students. And I'm sure
you are being talked about in many a classroom, especially
on the college level in this country. Irwin has actually
gone to speaking some classes college campus classes since this.
(15:29):
For us, when we captured visuals, we're always looking at
how do we tell a story in a way that's
not gimmicky. That was very important to me that I
not look like a prop or not make this look
like something where we were actually glorifying weed or making
light of it, because it's a serious subject that we
were approaching. And so we did the whole suit and
(15:50):
type thing on purpose, the chair, and it just so
happened that that day it was cloudy and started raining.
So we were like, well, the rain works what we're
talking about some let's just do it, you know. Uh,
we didn't stop because it started raining. And for me,
when when they stopped rolling, I told him, I said,
you know, it kind of feels like it fits the
mood of what we're talking about. You know that it's
(16:11):
sad Dad Kevin Allen's in jail. It's sad that people
are still being arrested for this, and so that's no
different than the Confederate flag video or anything else they
were working on. For us, we're always going to push
the limit to tell the stories that need to be told,
but we're gonna do that in a way that is
visually stimulating. Well, you all have proven to be hell
(16:32):
of a storytellers and people create to the number you know,
our five senses, and as many as you can bring
into a moment, you put an imprint on people's minds.
I mean, you really do have people talking about this.
When you hear folks say because some people believe that
marijuana is a gateway drug, what would you say to
a person who sees cannabis in that way. So two things. One,
(16:57):
people who have opiord addictions are said to be able
to use cannabis to wean themselves off of opioids. We
know that opioids are causing people to overdose and lose
everything that they have, including their lives. Ohio is one
of those states that has a ton of people who
have struggled with that addiction, and so legalizing cannabis would
(17:19):
help people to wean off of opioids. Secondly, I gave
this speech in Las Vegas that I do see cannabis
as a gateway drug. It is a gateway to better roads,
better bridges, better schools, better opportunities in our communities, and
new industry that can create jobs and allow us to
advance ways in ways that we have in Colorado didn't
(17:39):
always have the fourth rank school system in the country,
but a billion plus dollars a year in revenue from cannabis,
hundreds of millions of dollars of that going into the
public schools of Colorado have helped them to go up
in their ranking national legal education because they got the money. Right.
If you look at the state that are legalized, their
(18:01):
crime numbers are lord than Louisiannah's Louisiana ranks fifty in
the nation and crime forty nine. And the opportunity. So
you can't tell me that weed is the problem because
the states that legalized cannabis have less crime than we do.
Go on that point the chance I want you to
lose your thought, But I just think if we want
to mellow folks out, I'm telling you, hello, somebody, Hello, somebody,
(18:24):
keep it cool, keep it calm, puff puff pass or
or now there is edible man, there's there's teachers, there's
and I have learned so much. I'm not kidding you.
This lady gave a a rub to us that had
THC in it, and it's supposed to help with your
joints of inflammation and things like that. And it's some
(18:45):
of the best rub that I've ever used on my joints,
you know. And I've let other folks use it and
it's good. I have a family member of mine who
uses a t HC teacher. It's very little th HC
in it, but it helps her to sleep better at
night because she gets a deeper sleep as a result
of it. She doesn't smoke this, she doesn't do edibles necessarily.
(19:05):
She just gets the tea shirt, puts it under her tongue,
waits thirty seconds, and then thirty minutes later when she
goes to sleep, she has a deeper sleep. Right, It's
better than a prescription drug. That's probably why the pharmaceutical industry.
It is exactly why the pharmaceutical industry is not gonna
want people to use cannabis, because they're not gonna take
these pills. Hello, somebody, shouldn't we want more natural remedies
(19:28):
for me. We should want people to be able to
deal with things in a way that's healthier for them.
Cannabis in dangerous for the environment either. It doesn't require
you to build a bunch of facilities that are detrimental
to the environment, right, it grows within our environment, and
we can turn that into an industry, an agricultural industry
that prospers in many places. And and that's what I
(19:49):
want us to recognize, that their medicinal benefits to this.
But there's also a business side of this, that this
is an agricultural industry that can be grown throughout this
country in a way that could transfer on communities and
it can be a gateway drug, a gateway to better schools, bridges,
and the whole community gateway the opportunity baby, and part
of that opportunity, I want to see black folks reap
(20:11):
the benefits first, since black people caught most of the
hell on the war on drugs, and then our Mexican
sisters and brothers got all caught up in that as
well when it comes specifically to cannabis. So black people,
other people of color, poor people, women, I mean, there's
enough for everybody. What I do not want to see,
and we did a lot of this and we made
that clear on the Sanders campaign. As you you might
(20:31):
recall this, which is to make sure that these mega
corporations don't get their hands on it before a people
who paid the price for it get a chance to
reap the benefits through economic viability and businesses. And that
is what is happening in most of the states where
it is legalized. It's not necessarily the people who went
(20:51):
to prison first, whose lives were torn apart. It really
is big business, big industries that dominate the industry. For now.
We know that this country is going to legalize it eventually.
People like you and me and others are pushing forward.
Ben Cohen is a big advocate, one of the founders,
and Ben and Jerry's and he tells a story about
how he smoked cannabis. You know, he would say we
(21:13):
and he would let go. And what he says is
that he believes in his heart that if he was black,
he would have went to jail, but because he's white,
he did not go to jail. And he has a
very conscious mind about that. And he's working too, knowing
that cannabis will be legal at some point in this country.
(21:38):
What are your thoughts about how we ensure that the
major tobacco companies, the major liquor companies, all of the
players that have everything now that they don't block the
sun for the people who really should be reaping the benefit.
I could see this close in the wealth gap too,
and black people never did get the forty acres in
(21:59):
the mule, so maybe we get forty trees and something.
I think that on a federal level, and anybody who
understands federal policy, if you create a federal law, that
means that the states can't take anything from you from that.
They can add more rights to you, but they can't
take away anything from you beyond what the Feds give you.
I think that from a federal level, we need to
(22:19):
talk about equity because the FEDS participated in the War
on drugs as well orchestrates, right um, and so the
FEDS should participate in creating policies that talk about equity.
I don't oppose companies growing to big companies, right, but
I think that they should not grow to big companies
at the expense of other people being able to participate
(22:40):
in the process. And I want to see us say
very intentionally. In New York has given the first one
hundred licenses to people who were previously incarcerated from cannabis.
I think we should look at policies like that. In
New York's policies are not in full implementation yet because
they're going legal this year. But I think that we
should be looking at bringing in the people in the
industry who have been negatively impacted by the lack of
(23:03):
inclusion and diversity and let those folks help us craft
those policies right because they understand it and in a
real time way because of what has happened. I think
when California attempted to do social equity, they were trying
to do a good thing right. I think that in
many cases that that states do try to do the
right thing sometimes, but what happens is you may not
have thought of everything, or you may not have gone
(23:25):
through the process with efficiency. I remember when President Obama
road out Obamacare and the website crash or something like that,
and everybody is talking about the website. Right. When you
roll out new things, everything doesn't always work right, And
so I think that we've got to also just be
cognizant of the fact that, you know, if we're intentional
about crafting policies with equity at the center of it,
(23:46):
then we can go through some of the trial and
era that helps us get to what is a real
equitable pathway for this and I think that's possible, but
I think that the federal government has to lead that
because if it doesn't, then states already show you that
they're dysfunctional. Yeah, they do. The States Rights didn't work
out so well for the black black folks, and I
(24:08):
do believe that, and we need the states the partner.
But what you're saying is that the fans have to
definitely take the lead. I want to see leaders who
will acknowledge that black people call the most health first.
Don't play around with it your word that you use equity.
You didn't say equality equity. I just want to remind
folks that there's a difference between equality and equity. Equity
says I'm gonna give you what you need, even if
(24:31):
it's a little more than what I have. You know,
I love this great visual cartoon that I used to
see about the Gate defence. You know you got three yeah, yeah,
the kids on the boxes. Everybody's a different height, and
the one that is the shortest has to have higher crates,
and that don't bother the other because now everybody can
see over the fans. We're all looking over the fens.
It addresses the deficit that the equality just says I'm
(24:54):
gonna give everybody the same thing. Equity says you have
a deficit. Let me address that deficit. Make sure that
we get to the same point. If I give everybody
the same thing, but we're not all at the same level,
then you never address my deficit, and we never reached
the same point. You know. And so in America understands
this because America was intentional about creating those deficits. And
so if you were intentional about creating those deficits, if
(25:17):
you ought to be true to what you said on
paper that all men are created equal and endowed by
their creator with unalienable rights, then you have an obligation
to address that disparity and that deficit. And and so uh,
in the words of Dr King, I'm just asking America
to be true to what it said on page that's
it address the deficity. We can fix the deficit. So
(25:41):
we're using cannabis as the framework for our conversation mainly today.
Something that you just said, the deficit was created on purpose.
Let's peel that back a little bit, because I don't
think some people really get it, or if it really
thought about it deeply, that they are system and or
structures in place that keep certain people where they are.
(26:07):
It doesn't mean that they're not people who gonna break
out of the system, but that from a global perspective,
there are systems there. The legal system is one example
of a system that has already determined you gotta pay bail.
A lot of people in this country are in jail.
They ain't been charged with nothing, they can't make bail.
That's one example of a system. When we look at
(26:30):
education that's based on property taxes, both personal property taxes
or business property taxes. Same thing. If you live in
a high wealth district where the property values both personal
or homes, and then businesses commercial that was the word
I was looking for commercial. Then if you live in
a high wealth district with high property values, then the
(26:53):
amount of money that's gonna go to the schools to
pay for the children who live in those communities will
be more versus a child that's rocking in Cleveland, where
the property values be their commercial or private homes are not.
That's another example of systems. I'm sure you can throw
some other systems. My base question is why do you
think so many people just accept the system as it
(27:16):
is when you ain't never seen different. You don't know
if their things can be different. And so I think
that it's not a lack of desire, because people always
want better. I think it's a lack of understanding how.
And when people don't understand how do we change these things,
then they're often not as motivated to to put in
that work because they don't know to what in they're working.
(27:39):
I think for us the position where in really just
requires us to be more intentional about educating not folks
about how we got here. That folks were methodical and intentional,
that they sat and they thought about, oh, well, if
we do this, then this would impact black people this way,
like they literally when they had this new Southern strategy
when Nixon was running for president. Part of it they said, well,
(28:01):
you can't say the N word. You can't go around
saying N N N N N. Right. What you can
do is you can talk about crime, you can talk
about violence, and you can change the language. But the
message will still get out to the people that we're
trying to talk to, the people in the suburbs, the
middle aged white woman or her husband, those folks who
(28:23):
are just above poverty to want to hold onto what
they have and have some level of resentment if somebody
else gets an opportunity that they feel like Mrs makes
them miss an opportunity. Right, America was intentional about weeding
into that. America was intentional about saying that they were
gonna draw certain lines to put certain people in this
neighborhood and say that banking was allowed to not give
(28:45):
people loans in these neighborhoods. America was intentional about saying
that certain people literally in loan documents to say that
the home can be sold to black people, right like,
like they're literal people restrictive covenants who were told that
they couldn't sell their homes to somebody if they were
a negro. That's right, This was legally allowed in this country.
(29:06):
And so if those things were, they were intentional and
hood participated in it. And so when you when you
process that, how did we get here? Some people sat
in the room and had a conversation just like what
we're doing right now now. I'm a paraphrase for Brother Agnew,
but he said that we sit at the table and
we whisper about a thing. We talk about health care
for everybody. We we talk about job opportunities for everybody,
(29:29):
we talk about a green new deal. But Sister Turner
goes out and she says that thing loud. He says,
she says the quiet things loud to you both. Y'all
bag y'all are bad. And I told him, for the record,
I'm stealing it. You're gonna hear me say it again.
I'm gonna attributed to him a few times, and that's it.
(29:52):
We might as well call this the first time. Brother Agne.
We're talking about the great Philip Agnew from Shottown originally,
but many of you may know of him because he
helped to found a tremendous group that put the pressure
on elected people in communities when Traybon Martin was murdered.
The name of the group is the Dream Defenders, is
(30:15):
being ran right now by some other sharp folks, but
that that group really set it up, set it off,
and then now he helps to run a group that
I the name alone just says so much. Black Men, Bill,
think about that. I mean, you're talking about a paradigm
shift in your mind. Organization called Black Men Building. It's
in Miami, Florida. They have chapters all over the country
(30:37):
and I hope they continue to grow. Black men do,
Bill Brother, Chambers, will motivates you? Zoe, my daughter, your baby,
my daughter, she is the driving force but keeps me going,
wanting to give her a world better than the one
we inherited. Yeah, yeah, that's that's the same thing. My son.
I love the ground he walks on. He's the best
(30:58):
thing I ever did in my life. Yeah, we what
motivates you out there? I got us going deep today. Well,
I'm so glad. Look, hot topics turned into one or two,
but I'm glad we had a chance to have this,
this conversation. So if people want to get involved in
your campaign, the work to justice work, because you have
an organization bigger than me that you started, talk a
(31:21):
little bit about bigger than me, and then let folks
know how they can reach you if they want to
get involved and help you on this justice mission that
you're all well. Bigger than me is an organization that
we are using to help people of like minded views
get trained up and ready to be elected in office,
as well as to help mobilize communities around the issues
that are important to the next generation of people in
(31:43):
this country. How you get involved with our campaign? Chambers
from Louisiana dot com. You can send an email to
info at Chambers from Louisiana dot com if you've got
a question or anything like that. If you want to volunteer,
you can send an email to volunteer at Chambers from
Louisiana dot com. But you can go to the website
and everything they about how you can get locked in
and loaded. And we need people from every corner of
(32:03):
this country to make phone calls and help us. We're
even gonna drive folks in on bustetes later this year
by train, plane, bus, a call, walk, whatever you got
to do, just come on down south and help us
get this vote out. Hello, somebody, I heard that, and
I will be coming to be side by side in Louisiana.
Here I come, baby, brother cham I'm glad. I'm glad
that God put on your heart to be a freedom fighter,
(32:26):
and I'm glad you're out there fighting for the people. Hey,
game recognized game, Baby spirit recognized spirit. I hope you
all enjoyed this conversation. I want you to give some
thought to what motivates you as well. All Right, Hello, somebody,
because everybody is somebody. I want you to keep the
faith and I want you to keep the fight now.
(32:49):
You can't have the faith without the fight, faith without works.
Dead baby, were alive, Lord, every story, everything that's wor
somebody it's a turn. I believe it. Somebody turning your
(33:12):
works giving us two tell up somebody in the time.
Time sweet is yeah, change is coming. The pain is nothing.
Trying to shoot for the stars. If you're gonna, ain't
for something. Embrace the love for your brother and sister.
You need these the mission brush. We need to puzzle this,
pictures painted up and frame it up for the world
(33:33):
to see. Ain't to hate it up. Enough is enough,
It's enough making changes orenough in turn of a voice
of the truth to wise words inspire the youth to
keep their eyes on the roof. It's the end. Never
give up, keep conquering goals to the eye. Intelligence, silver,
wisdom is gold. Back to the end. Now is your time.
Stay firm, don't fold to the a or you need
is the three bones. That's what Rannie said. Now I'm
(33:56):
gonna make sure these words from Rannie spread for all
the hair. To give it your hair. She can take
you to the promised land. I swear world pieces what
they fear from Queen's to Cleveland on how Yo were here?
Famous famous turners an equality in brans, Hello somebody, You
don't need to turn of the white spanning somebody ship
(34:19):
in eternal Hello, somebody need to turn more times world
points as Charles charcause, one of those great more prices
on our hands? Well not Hello Somebody is a production
(34:43):
of I Heart Radio and the Black Effect Network. For
more podcast from our heart Radio, visit the I heart
Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.
Turn Everything Somebody. Welcome to Hello Somebody, a production of
(00:28):
The Black Effect Podcast Network and I Heart Media. Where
we rage against the machine, where we raise our voices
against injustice and stand up for justice. Where we embrace
hope and joy with an optimism for a bright or
more justus future. Each week I'll be dropping knowledge, whether
(00:48):
it's a solo episode from me or a hearty discussion
with esteem guests doing great things in spaces and places
of politics, entertainment, social justice, and beyond. We get real, baby,
I mean really real. We get honest, We get up
close and personal for you, Yes, you, because everybody is Somebody.
(01:15):
Before we begin, I want to give a special shout
out to my team. Thank you, Sam, Tiffany, Sam and
the team over at Good Jujuic Studios, Erica, England, Pepper
Chambers the Hot One, and my social media team. Hello Somebody.
I hope everybody is doing well. I hope you're easing
(01:38):
into spring. I really do now in Ohio and Cleveland
spring games from yet, I got my dear friend Gary Chambers.
Brother Gary Chambers is laughing on the side because he
is here with me in the great state of Ohio,
in the land and he cannot believe that we are
looking at mid April and it's cold and snowing and
(02:01):
raining that you can get every season in one day
in Cleveland, Ohio. But I'm so glad that he's here.
So today we're just gonna talk about some hot topics.
That's what we're gonna talk about. What is on each
other's minds and what is on your mind today. I
gotta imagine that if you are among the working class,
which most of us are just different levels within the
working class, you've gotta be thinking about how high gas is,
(02:24):
A cost of food is going up a whole bunch
of stuff. So brother Gary Chambers, from the great State
of Louisi and aby way of that route. He didn't
bring me, no gumbling on every everywhere every place we
have been in clean somebody that brought up some food
he can probably can't go nowhere outside of Louisiana. People
not talking about that good that good cooking. Yeah, what's cooking?
(02:46):
What's on your mind? Well, the temperature is not cooking
in Cleveland, Okay. I saw snow flurries in April out
here in Cleveland, and I don't understand it because it's
eighty degrees in Louisiana, And so you know, I understand
how y'all stay up here, but God bless y'all. Forward. Okay,
(03:07):
somebody got represented, no doubt, no doubt. Uh. And that's
why I'm up here for you, sister, because you know
this work and that we are doing is serious and
not unlike Cleveland. There are too many families who their
bank accounts are cold and there's not enough food in
the kitchen. They're trying to figure out how they're gonna
make things work for their kids to do after school programs,
(03:31):
and how am I gonna work in a vacation for
kids this summer? Can we afford to go on vacation
with gas prices as high as they are? Folks canceling
flights so people won't get in the car right right
on the other side of a pandemic hoping that it
don't come back, all our fingers crossed because we're all
sick of COVID right. So I think we're just in
a very, uh peculiar place. But I don't think we
(03:55):
are in any phase that previous generations haven't had some
form of having to deal with the question is for
me today, how much further can I go? You know?
And I have different things that helped me recharge. And
last week I had a Bishop William Murphy come to
Baton Rouge and we did a night of worship, and
(04:15):
that gave me a recharge. When he finished talking, that
sounded like my elders, I said, I can go on
a little further on. I feel like going on and
going a little further now, you know, And and coming
up here with you helps me go on a little further.
And so you know, I'm just pushing to go on
a little first. Well, having you here with me makes
me feel like I can keep going on. As they say,
you are running, you know, I know that's on your mind,
(04:38):
and you came here to help your sister, and you
are running for the US Senate in the great state
of Louisiana. Tell us your wives and how things are
going well. My wife, because I live in the state
that ranks fiftieth in the nation, and I have a
senator who is closer to fog Horn leg Horn than
he is to represent the people of our state. That's
(04:58):
my wife. My wife's also so my daughter Zoe and
all the kids of Louisiana. When you walked out yesterday.
I was telling this African proverb. When they greet each other,
they say, how are the children? You hope the answers
the children are well, right, because if the children in
the society aren't good, then the society isn't good or
the community isn't good. And in Louisiana children are dealing
(05:18):
with all manner of things. The school system and the
state ranks for the eighth in the nation. Not enough
jobs that are of a good living wage that young
people can graduate and become a part of the workforce,
And so those people are a part of my Why
how are we doing? I feel like we're doing great.
Our first quarter numbers are gonna come out. We raised
a good deal of money, and we are building a
(05:41):
similar strategy to yours, a field first strategy. We knocked
our first doors last weekend, and we six months away
from election day, so we got a lot of ground
to cover to cover the whole state. But we're after
it and on it. And for me, it's about I
know you understand this managing all the motions that come
with running, because you know, you go from one day
(06:03):
it's all this good news and the next day it
is bad news, and it's it's up and down, and
you just have to figure out how to maintain a
level head and maintain your emotions through it. Because the
thing that I don't think folks recognize that are not
in this position is how much pulling gets done on
you as a result of And sometimes you have to
(06:24):
look up and say, am I meet? Am I still meet? You? Know?
So that's been maybe the challenge of it all. But
I feel good about where we are. And for me,
I told you this last year. Folks may say, well,
you're you've been traveling all over the country. Well, U s.
Senator should have an understanding of what people in every
(06:45):
part of this country are going through because you make
your decisions not just for for the people that voted
for you, but for the betterment of this nation. Or
should be a member of Congress is the same way.
And so how do you know what Cleveland is need
if you've never been to Cleveland? How do you know
what people in Atlanta need if you've never been to Atlanta.
And so we've been all over the country and it's
(07:08):
been overwhelmingly beautiful and so for me, I'm just enjoying
the experience. But committed to us having a path to victory,
which we do. Yeah. No, I am just incredibly impressed
and all that you would run for Congress and just
step right in there and run for the US Senate,
bigger territory when you're talking about the entire state. I
(07:30):
ran statewide many moons ago. At this pointeen seems so
long ago, really, but then long ago, so I definitely
understand the grind, the difference between running in the district
or award a state level district, I should say, versus
running statewide. And it is a lot of work. It's
a lot of work, but we need you there. I'm
so glad that you are doing what you're doing. And
(07:53):
then the pause and find time to be with me. So,
for those of us who are tuning in the Hello
somebody for the first time, I want to welcome you
to the show. I'm here with my dear brother, my friend,
the one and only Gary Chamber as many of you
may know of him from how he dressed down the
(08:14):
school board and backing route. Lord have mercy if you
haven't just gone to google that and watch that baby,
That will get a firelit under you like none other.
And then he produced this incredible with an incredible team,
a video to lift up the need. So since we're
gonna talk about hot topics, we might well gone and
(08:34):
light it up. But he did this incredible video to
draw attention to the need to legalize cannabis, decriminalize it.
Legalized cannabis in the United States of America. Powerful, powerful
video and as he always says, that that wasn't just
about the act that people saw in the video. He
was making a larger point about freeing the tree. When
(08:55):
I saw it, you know, I sent you with tell
I'm sure everybody was texting you body brown that tide.
But it was so incredible, and it did start a
national dialogue again because we go through these ebbs and flows.
But you put it right there center about the legalization
of cannabis in the United States, the whole country. You know,
certain states have legalized, especially from a discable purposes, but
(09:17):
you brought a whole you brought a whole another level
on thought patterns to legalize in cannabis. Well, for me,
it's about people like Kevin Allen. Kevin Allen is serving
a life sentence in and goal to penitentiary for less
than a graham of cannabis and he's been there since.
For me, we did the thirty seven seconds ad because
(09:40):
it's a moral, just and just down right wrong that
somebody is sitting in a cage for a plan. And
I don't necessarily think about what is most advantageous for
us personally when we do things like this. It's more
about what is the issue that we know needs to
be addressed, and how can we cut through the noise
at this issue. Nineteen states of legal or thirty four
(10:03):
plus states have medicinal legalization. Louisiana takes my tax dollars
to grow cannabis at l issue and Southern University state
funded institutions. But Kevin Allen is in jail for what
the state is legally growing. Right, that's problematic and and
it's it's duplicitus, it's hypocrisy, and I want to see
(10:23):
that in and we have the ability to do something
about it. And it's no it's no different than any
other issue that we pick up. Senator. We could do
something about health care in this country, we can do
something about the environment in this country. We can do
something about cannabis legalization. It's these are things that we
have power to do something about student loan debt. We
have power to do something about it, yet we aren't.
(10:44):
And so the question becomes why and are we afraid
to just like take the stigmas off of this, take
the controversies off of this. People literally go in California,
Colorado and Illinois into stores that are like candy shops
and purchase cannabis. And in southern in states still here
in Ohio and other places, if you don't have a card, right, uh,
(11:06):
in a in a medical state, which isn't that easy
to come by in every place, you can't consume right.
And and it's no different than cops being able to
use it like stopping frisk. Oh I smelled marijuana, and
and now it's a reason for me to stop you,
entertain you, and search your vehicle and and and violate
your rights in certain states. Right. And so that's why
(11:29):
some folks say stuff like these yet to be United
States of America, because the rules aren't the same everywhere.
They say that. And when you talk about Kevin Allen,
you remind me of a story that Wanda James told me.
Wanda James own simply pure to flatting, first black woman
to rock in the cannabis industry in the deep way
that she is in Colorado, Denver, and you right, mine
(11:51):
was blown. I went to Denver, Colorado for an Emerge event.
It's a group that helps women run for office. And
mind blown. I had never of my first time being
and it does all kinds of different flavors and types
and and t T was THH C s and turpent
times and all of that. I was like, wow, but
it's beautiful. I mean, it's like going to a jury
(12:13):
store almost, you know, the packaging and the different But
she tells a story similar to what you're telling that
the reason why she got into this industry is because
her brother went to prison for I forgot how many
it was. It was it was very small amount of
cannabis that he went to prison for it and was
(12:36):
working picking cotton. And this was in the nineties. This
wasn't that long ago, you know, like mine blown. And
she took the story of her brother and that motivated
her to get into this industry. So not only is
she a businessman, I call it the Madam C. J.
Walker of cannabis, she's also an activist and the advocate
(12:57):
too for changing the federal rule. I mean like ruined
her brother's life over like they probably a little more
than nickelbag. But I just want people to picture people
who understand that lingo a nickel bag and this man
went to prison. It makes no sense. And similar to
to Kevin Allen. And we know that the forces of
law come down harder on black people first than brown
(13:21):
people other people of color. If you pour, it's coming
down on you because the system was never designed for
poor people, was designed by people who had more influence
and more money, and it beens towards their will. And
your point about we can do something about it, We
absolutely can do something about it, and we should do
something about it. There was a prohibition on alcohol once
upon a time in this country and the temperance movement
(13:42):
and all that kind of stuff, and that change. What
about cannabis and the war on drugs? How it impacts
our communities deeper, the first more deadly. It's just this
cannot stand so many people. I mean, you, Bill Maher,
You're on the Bill Mars Show over it. People were
talking about this all over the country. What motivated you
(14:02):
to touch that topic in that way? Because you made
people think it was almost how comedians handle hard topics,
and they put it out into the world in a
way that satirical, you know, using satire, but it makes
people think it wasn't preachy, you know that's but you
I mean it was so it was amazing. Our comms
(14:23):
team wrote the script and I think the script really
gave us a visual to go for. Irwin Marino, who's
my media director, shoots all my videos. As soon as
I read the script out loud, he said he saw
the video, and so we got the script on the Friday.
We shot the video on Saturday, um, and the video
(14:43):
was done on Sunday. And you've had over a million views,
uh seven millions, seven millions turner late about thirty million
on social media, and you duplicated all over and over
the imprint. You're probably missing some imprints to wow, lo
Ord have mercy. But it's a teachable moment and I
could see for forever somebody's gonna pull up that video.
(15:07):
You know, it's it's gonna be in class because to me,
you know, as a college professor, I use real life
situations like that to teach my students. And I'm sure
you are being talked about in many a classroom, especially
on the college level in this country. Irwin has actually
gone to speaking some classes college campus classes since this.
(15:29):
For us, when we captured visuals, we're always looking at
how do we tell a story in a way that's
not gimmicky. That was very important to me that I
not look like a prop or not make this look
like something where we were actually glorifying weed or making
light of it, because it's a serious subject that we
were approaching. And so we did the whole suit and
(15:50):
type thing on purpose, the chair, and it just so
happened that that day it was cloudy and started raining.
So we were like, well, the rain works what we're
talking about some let's just do it, you know. Uh,
we didn't stop because it started raining. And for me,
when when they stopped rolling, I told him, I said,
you know, it kind of feels like it fits the
mood of what we're talking about. You know that it's
(16:11):
sad Dad Kevin Allen's in jail. It's sad that people
are still being arrested for this, and so that's no
different than the Confederate flag video or anything else they
were working on. For us, we're always going to push
the limit to tell the stories that need to be told,
but we're gonna do that in a way that is
visually stimulating. Well, you all have proven to be hell
(16:32):
of a storytellers and people create to the number you know,
our five senses, and as many as you can bring
into a moment, you put an imprint on people's minds.
I mean, you really do have people talking about this.
When you hear folks say because some people believe that
marijuana is a gateway drug, what would you say to
a person who sees cannabis in that way. So two things. One,
(16:57):
people who have opiord addictions are said to be able
to use cannabis to wean themselves off of opioids. We
know that opioids are causing people to overdose and lose
everything that they have, including their lives. Ohio is one
of those states that has a ton of people who
have struggled with that addiction, and so legalizing cannabis would
(17:19):
help people to wean off of opioids. Secondly, I gave
this speech in Las Vegas that I do see cannabis
as a gateway drug. It is a gateway to better roads,
better bridges, better schools, better opportunities in our communities, and
new industry that can create jobs and allow us to
advance ways in ways that we have in Colorado didn't
(17:39):
always have the fourth rank school system in the country,
but a billion plus dollars a year in revenue from cannabis,
hundreds of millions of dollars of that going into the
public schools of Colorado have helped them to go up
in their ranking national legal education because they got the money. Right.
If you look at the state that are legalized, their
(18:01):
crime numbers are lord than Louisiannah's Louisiana ranks fifty in
the nation and crime forty nine. And the opportunity. So
you can't tell me that weed is the problem because
the states that legalized cannabis have less crime than we do.
Go on that point the chance I want you to
lose your thought, But I just think if we want
to mellow folks out, I'm telling you, hello, somebody, Hello, somebody,
(18:24):
keep it cool, keep it calm, puff puff pass or
or now there is edible man, there's there's teachers, there's
and I have learned so much. I'm not kidding you.
This lady gave a a rub to us that had
THC in it, and it's supposed to help with your
joints of inflammation and things like that. And it's some
(18:45):
of the best rub that I've ever used on my joints,
you know. And I've let other folks use it and
it's good. I have a family member of mine who
uses a t HC teacher. It's very little th HC
in it, but it helps her to sleep better at
night because she gets a deeper sleep as a result
of it. She doesn't smoke this, she doesn't do edibles necessarily.
(19:05):
She just gets the tea shirt, puts it under her tongue,
waits thirty seconds, and then thirty minutes later when she
goes to sleep, she has a deeper sleep. Right, It's
better than a prescription drug. That's probably why the pharmaceutical industry.
It is exactly why the pharmaceutical industry is not gonna
want people to use cannabis, because they're not gonna take
these pills. Hello, somebody, shouldn't we want more natural remedies
(19:28):
for me. We should want people to be able to
deal with things in a way that's healthier for them.
Cannabis in dangerous for the environment either. It doesn't require
you to build a bunch of facilities that are detrimental
to the environment, right, it grows within our environment, and
we can turn that into an industry, an agricultural industry
that prospers in many places. And and that's what I
(19:49):
want us to recognize, that their medicinal benefits to this.
But there's also a business side of this, that this
is an agricultural industry that can be grown throughout this
country in a way that could transfer on communities and
it can be a gateway drug, a gateway to better schools, bridges,
and the whole community gateway the opportunity baby, and part
of that opportunity, I want to see black folks reap
(20:11):
the benefits first, since black people caught most of the
hell on the war on drugs, and then our Mexican
sisters and brothers got all caught up in that as
well when it comes specifically to cannabis. So black people,
other people of color, poor people, women, I mean, there's
enough for everybody. What I do not want to see,
and we did a lot of this and we made
that clear on the Sanders campaign. As you you might
(20:31):
recall this, which is to make sure that these mega
corporations don't get their hands on it before a people
who paid the price for it get a chance to
reap the benefits through economic viability and businesses. And that
is what is happening in most of the states where
it is legalized. It's not necessarily the people who went
(20:51):
to prison first, whose lives were torn apart. It really
is big business, big industries that dominate the industry. For now.
We know that this country is going to legalize it eventually.
People like you and me and others are pushing forward.
Ben Cohen is a big advocate, one of the founders,
and Ben and Jerry's and he tells a story about
how he smoked cannabis. You know, he would say we
(21:13):
and he would let go. And what he says is
that he believes in his heart that if he was black,
he would have went to jail, but because he's white,
he did not go to jail. And he has a
very conscious mind about that. And he's working too, knowing
that cannabis will be legal at some point in this country.
(21:38):
What are your thoughts about how we ensure that the
major tobacco companies, the major liquor companies, all of the
players that have everything now that they don't block the
sun for the people who really should be reaping the benefit.
I could see this close in the wealth gap too,
and black people never did get the forty acres in
(21:59):
the mule, so maybe we get forty trees and something.
I think that on a federal level, and anybody who
understands federal policy, if you create a federal law, that
means that the states can't take anything from you from that.
They can add more rights to you, but they can't
take away anything from you beyond what the Feds give you.
I think that from a federal level, we need to
(22:19):
talk about equity because the FEDS participated in the War
on drugs as well orchestrates, right um, and so the
FEDS should participate in creating policies that talk about equity.
I don't oppose companies growing to big companies, right, but
I think that they should not grow to big companies
at the expense of other people being able to participate
(22:40):
in the process. And I want to see us say
very intentionally. In New York has given the first one
hundred licenses to people who were previously incarcerated from cannabis.
I think we should look at policies like that. In
New York's policies are not in full implementation yet because
they're going legal this year. But I think that we
should be looking at bringing in the people in the
industry who have been negatively impacted by the lack of
(23:03):
inclusion and diversity and let those folks help us craft
those policies right because they understand it and in a
real time way because of what has happened. I think
when California attempted to do social equity, they were trying
to do a good thing right. I think that in
many cases that that states do try to do the
right thing sometimes, but what happens is you may not
have thought of everything, or you may not have gone
(23:25):
through the process with efficiency. I remember when President Obama
road out Obamacare and the website crash or something like that,
and everybody is talking about the website. Right. When you
roll out new things, everything doesn't always work right, And
so I think that we've got to also just be
cognizant of the fact that, you know, if we're intentional
about crafting policies with equity at the center of it,
(23:46):
then we can go through some of the trial and
era that helps us get to what is a real
equitable pathway for this and I think that's possible, but
I think that the federal government has to lead that
because if it doesn't, then states already show you that
they're dysfunctional. Yeah, they do. The States Rights didn't work
out so well for the black black folks, and I
(24:08):
do believe that, and we need the states the partner.
But what you're saying is that the fans have to
definitely take the lead. I want to see leaders who
will acknowledge that black people call the most health first.
Don't play around with it your word that you use equity.
You didn't say equality equity. I just want to remind
folks that there's a difference between equality and equity. Equity
says I'm gonna give you what you need, even if
(24:31):
it's a little more than what I have. You know,
I love this great visual cartoon that I used to
see about the Gate defence. You know you got three yeah, yeah,
the kids on the boxes. Everybody's a different height, and
the one that is the shortest has to have higher crates,
and that don't bother the other because now everybody can
see over the fans. We're all looking over the fens.
It addresses the deficit that the equality just says I'm
(24:54):
gonna give everybody the same thing. Equity says you have
a deficit. Let me address that deficit. Make sure that
we get to the same point. If I give everybody
the same thing, but we're not all at the same level,
then you never address my deficit, and we never reached
the same point. You know. And so in America understands
this because America was intentional about creating those deficits. And
so if you were intentional about creating those deficits, if
(25:17):
you ought to be true to what you said on
paper that all men are created equal and endowed by
their creator with unalienable rights, then you have an obligation
to address that disparity and that deficit. And and so uh,
in the words of Dr King, I'm just asking America
to be true to what it said on page that's
it address the deficity. We can fix the deficit. So
(25:41):
we're using cannabis as the framework for our conversation mainly today.
Something that you just said, the deficit was created on purpose.
Let's peel that back a little bit, because I don't
think some people really get it, or if it really
thought about it deeply, that they are system and or
structures in place that keep certain people where they are.
(26:07):
It doesn't mean that they're not people who gonna break
out of the system, but that from a global perspective,
there are systems there. The legal system is one example
of a system that has already determined you gotta pay bail.
A lot of people in this country are in jail.
They ain't been charged with nothing, they can't make bail.
That's one example of a system. When we look at
(26:30):
education that's based on property taxes, both personal property taxes
or business property taxes. Same thing. If you live in
a high wealth district where the property values both personal
or homes, and then businesses commercial that was the word
I was looking for commercial. Then if you live in
a high wealth district with high property values, then the
(26:53):
amount of money that's gonna go to the schools to
pay for the children who live in those communities will
be more versus a child that's rocking in Cleveland, where
the property values be their commercial or private homes are not.
That's another example of systems. I'm sure you can throw
some other systems. My base question is why do you
think so many people just accept the system as it
(27:16):
is when you ain't never seen different. You don't know
if their things can be different. And so I think
that it's not a lack of desire, because people always
want better. I think it's a lack of understanding how.
And when people don't understand how do we change these things,
then they're often not as motivated to to put in
that work because they don't know to what in they're working.
(27:39):
I think for us the position where in really just
requires us to be more intentional about educating not folks
about how we got here. That folks were methodical and intentional,
that they sat and they thought about, oh, well, if
we do this, then this would impact black people this way,
like they literally when they had this new Southern strategy
when Nixon was running for president. Part of it they said, well,
(28:01):
you can't say the N word. You can't go around
saying N N N N N. Right. What you can
do is you can talk about crime, you can talk
about violence, and you can change the language. But the
message will still get out to the people that we're
trying to talk to, the people in the suburbs, the
middle aged white woman or her husband, those folks who
(28:23):
are just above poverty to want to hold onto what
they have and have some level of resentment if somebody
else gets an opportunity that they feel like Mrs makes
them miss an opportunity. Right, America was intentional about weeding
into that. America was intentional about saying that they were
gonna draw certain lines to put certain people in this
neighborhood and say that banking was allowed to not give
(28:45):
people loans in these neighborhoods. America was intentional about saying
that certain people literally in loan documents to say that
the home can be sold to black people, right like,
like they're literal people restrictive covenants who were told that
they couldn't sell their homes to somebody if they were
a negro. That's right, This was legally allowed in this country.
(29:06):
And so if those things were, they were intentional and
hood participated in it. And so when you when you
process that, how did we get here? Some people sat
in the room and had a conversation just like what
we're doing right now now. I'm a paraphrase for Brother Agnew,
but he said that we sit at the table and
we whisper about a thing. We talk about health care
for everybody. We we talk about job opportunities for everybody,
(29:29):
we talk about a green new deal. But Sister Turner
goes out and she says that thing loud. He says,
she says the quiet things loud to you both. Y'all
bag y'all are bad. And I told him, for the record,
I'm stealing it. You're gonna hear me say it again.
I'm gonna attributed to him a few times, and that's it.
(29:52):
We might as well call this the first time. Brother Agne.
We're talking about the great Philip Agnew from Shottown originally,
but many of you may know of him because he
helped to found a tremendous group that put the pressure
on elected people in communities when Traybon Martin was murdered.
The name of the group is the Dream Defenders, is
(30:15):
being ran right now by some other sharp folks, but
that that group really set it up, set it off,
and then now he helps to run a group that
I the name alone just says so much. Black Men, Bill,
think about that. I mean, you're talking about a paradigm
shift in your mind. Organization called Black Men Building. It's
in Miami, Florida. They have chapters all over the country
(30:37):
and I hope they continue to grow. Black men do,
Bill Brother, Chambers, will motivates you? Zoe, my daughter, your baby,
my daughter, she is the driving force but keeps me going,
wanting to give her a world better than the one
we inherited. Yeah, yeah, that's that's the same thing. My son.
I love the ground he walks on. He's the best
(30:58):
thing I ever did in my life. Yeah, we what
motivates you out there? I got us going deep today. Well,
I'm so glad. Look, hot topics turned into one or two,
but I'm glad we had a chance to have this,
this conversation. So if people want to get involved in
your campaign, the work to justice work, because you have
an organization bigger than me that you started, talk a
(31:21):
little bit about bigger than me, and then let folks
know how they can reach you if they want to
get involved and help you on this justice mission that
you're all well. Bigger than me is an organization that
we are using to help people of like minded views
get trained up and ready to be elected in office,
as well as to help mobilize communities around the issues
that are important to the next generation of people in
(31:43):
this country. How you get involved with our campaign? Chambers
from Louisiana dot com. You can send an email to
info at Chambers from Louisiana dot com if you've got
a question or anything like that. If you want to volunteer,
you can send an email to volunteer at Chambers from
Louisiana dot com. But you can go to the website
and everything they about how you can get locked in
and loaded. And we need people from every corner of
(32:03):
this country to make phone calls and help us. We're
even gonna drive folks in on bustetes later this year
by train, plane, bus, a call, walk, whatever you got
to do, just come on down south and help us
get this vote out. Hello, somebody, I heard that, and
I will be coming to be side by side in Louisiana.
Here I come, baby, brother cham I'm glad. I'm glad
that God put on your heart to be a freedom fighter,
(32:26):
and I'm glad you're out there fighting for the people. Hey,
game recognized game, Baby spirit recognized spirit. I hope you
all enjoyed this conversation. I want you to give some
thought to what motivates you as well. All Right, Hello, somebody,
because everybody is somebody. I want you to keep the
faith and I want you to keep the fight now.
(32:49):
You can't have the faith without the fight, faith without works.
Dead baby, were alive, Lord, every story, everything that's wor
somebody it's a turn. I believe it. Somebody turning your
(33:12):
works giving us two tell up somebody in the time.
Time sweet is yeah, change is coming. The pain is nothing.
Trying to shoot for the stars. If you're gonna, ain't
for something. Embrace the love for your brother and sister.
You need these the mission brush. We need to puzzle this,
pictures painted up and frame it up for the world
(33:33):
to see. Ain't to hate it up. Enough is enough,
It's enough making changes orenough in turn of a voice
of the truth to wise words inspire the youth to
keep their eyes on the roof. It's the end. Never
give up, keep conquering goals to the eye. Intelligence, silver,
wisdom is gold. Back to the end. Now is your time.
Stay firm, don't fold to the a or you need
is the three bones. That's what Rannie said. Now I'm
(33:56):
gonna make sure these words from Rannie spread for all
the hair. To give it your hair. She can take
you to the promised land. I swear world pieces what
they fear from Queen's to Cleveland on how Yo were here?
Famous famous turners an equality in brans, Hello somebody, You
don't need to turn of the white spanning somebody ship
(34:19):
in eternal Hello, somebody need to turn more times world
points as Charles charcause, one of those great more prices
on our hands? Well not Hello Somebody is a production
(34:43):
of I Heart Radio and the Black Effect Network. For
more podcast from our heart Radio, visit the I heart
Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your
favorite shows.
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