August 6, 2025 • 43 mins
We've already done an episode on gerrymandering in Texas, but there have been some new developments. So we're running that episode back with a quick update to fill y'all in on what's changed.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Calls media. I guess it was a matter of time
because of how ridiculous the timeline we exist in is
that something that we talked about already would literally happen again,
almost exactly the same way. We got to talk about
(00:23):
jerry mandering, And as I was prepping to discuss jerry
mandering and the jerry mannering I'm talking about is happening
in Texas. What jerry mandering is what you will shortly
learn later, because apparently I don't already talked about. This
(00:43):
is the redrawing of congressional districts. And what's happening in
a fair and balanced world, big old air quotes, would
be as demographics change, as populations change, you have to
make sure the districts actually matches the needs of the
(01:06):
people that they are in and that they will be
in things that are what they would call competitive districts,
meaning that the areas are created in a way that
doesn't just consolidate power to one particular party, but one
that really represents the people for which they're supposed to
be representing.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Right, what an idealistic.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
World, this is what would happen if these things were
done fairly. Now in California, we got rules around this.
The people who draw our districts, which again we're gonna
get into like what all this stuff means a little later,
But the people who draw the districts in California, it's
a third party, independent institution that draws those lines. Which
(01:50):
is why you don't hear a lot of us necessarily
complaining about our gerrymandering our districts because politicians don't have
the right to redraw the districts, and if the districts
are going to get redrawn, you have to vote on it,
like you can't just do it.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Texas, however, is different. Now.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
You may have seen on the news a few days
ago when they ask President Trump, Hey, why are you
redrawing the districts? Why y'all trying to redraw the districts
in Texas?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
He said.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
The quiet part out loud without actually understanding that that's
the quiet part. He was like, Oh, we just need
four more congressional seats for the Republicans.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Like you what you.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
That's the part you're not supposed to admit. If you're
a politician, you're supposed to do this rigamarole about oh, well,
the demographics are changing we're realizing that the people aren't
being represented the way that they should. He's like, no, nigga,
I'm trying to keep control of the House. I need
the power because midterms is coming and we're gonna lose.
So I'm just what he's doing is disenfranchising. That's what
(02:57):
he's and he just looked at the camera, is like, oh,
I'm disinfranchising voters.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
It's what it's said. Now.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
How I'm able to run all the way down to
that conclusion is what I want to talk about in
this episode. But apparently I didn't already talked about it
because in Texas they already tried to do this.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
In twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
And what you what you do is if you are
the opposition party, is you just leave. So that's what
they did then, and that's what the Democrats is doing now.
Because time is a curling universe. So this episode in
twenty twenty one on December fourteenth, called You Ride with
(03:43):
Us Now, is about Jerry manderin where that turn came
from and how sometimes you know, I know, you might
wake up in a whole different hood. You ain't even know,
you ain't even know all of a sudden y'all crips now,
Oh we crips. Now, that's kind to happen with me.
Apparently we crips now. Anyway, all this will make sense
(04:05):
because apparently I have already taught it.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
So here's past me.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Talking about present day me in the past, not knowing
that future me was gonna have to talk about the
same thing. You right with us now, whether we talk
(04:45):
in world history, US history, neighborhood history, some of us
ain't really have an option what flag we was flying.
There was people one day that woke up in Arizona
and realized this was Arizona, that it's not Mexico no more.
There was people that woke up in Central Europe and
(05:06):
realized they was in Germany. It just they didn't move,
didn't know what happened.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
You just are.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
There was a moment I woke up and realized I
lived with crips. I didn't know. I didn't get no
flyers about it. There wasn't no recruiting. It wouldn't at
least I didn't know. I was too young. Maybe there
was some recruiting. I didn't know. I just woke up
one day and was like, oh, oh, we crips at
(05:33):
least my neighborhood was.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
I ain't signed up for this. This is just where
I live.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
And then don't mess around and make a friend, because
then you mess around and make a friend.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
And if you and your friend one day y'all walking
home and.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Somebody with some other colored shoelaces decided that they was gonna,
you know, take your bike right quick, and then that
friend go tell his big brother and then march you
and y'all homie back over there to either squad job
up you up said get your bike back, or he
do it too.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Guess what.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Guess what, your shoelaces the same color as that big brother.
Now in the eyes of the other hood, this you
wanted them, now, Homie Bamboo is telling me. When I
asked him how you got put on the hood, he
was like, look, it happened twice once. I was just
sitting outside with my uncles and they was like, yo,
go fight this fool. Now I'm all of a sudden,
it's like okay, and now I'm I just got jumped in.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I don't know just what happened.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Of course, later on he made his conscious decision to
be in the hood, but that first jump in nigga.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
That was like, oh, we just happen to be over here.
The district lines have been drawing, My nigga, this is
where you at. Somebody drew the districts. I had no say.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Then it might get even worse, because you know, sometimes
depending on who go off to jail and who's able
to hold down the block, sometime the neighborhood changes. I
know in a lot of parts of Los Angeles, just
neighborhoods went from Black to Latino quick, quick of courses
in air quotes. But once they become Mexican, these ain't
(07:09):
cripping blood neighborhoods no more.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
This is all cold and what if.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
You didn't move, guess what you'dn't been redistrict. I want
to talk to y'all about jerry mandering, hood politics, how
you soul hood? Right now?
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Little politics, y'all? Politics?
Speaker 1 (07:32):
All right, y'all, let me tell you this little story
from my life. So south of Los Angeles, northeast of
Compton City called Lynnwood borders Compton Long Beach. It's in
the South Bay Lynnwood. When I was younger, you know,
child middle school. Apparently I'm what they call an old millennial.
(07:53):
It's black hood.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
It's I mean, it's.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Watts Compton, Long Beach, Carson like they're all sort of around.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
It's this corridor right now.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
What borders up to Lynnwood is this area called Southgate
Huntington Park. These are these other now Southgate and Huntington
Park have been Astar as far as i've I've understood,
those were Latino. Those were Mexican hoods. My wife is
from Huntington Park. Uh shout out doctor Alma. So if
y'all knew here, you don't understand it preferred to her
(08:25):
by her prefix. But my pH d wife used to gangbang.
But we're gonna leave that alone for now. Anyway, So
that area of town, Southgate, Huntington Park, Bell Gardens, these
areas were, like I said, predominantly Latino and Cypress Hill.
Cypress Hill's from this around this area, right, So that's
(08:48):
those are. But Lynnwood, however, Lynwood was like it was
like it was black, and a lot of areas in
this part of town where people who were able to
you know, maybe leave South Central, maybe leave wads who
were just such activehoods to kind of like you know,
maybe own a house, maybe start a family. Like these
people had like these were two income homes or families,
(09:10):
you know what I'm saying, So like they were able
to afford something like this, But it didn't mean it
wasn't active. These were active areas that you didn't go
necessarily kicking in because I mean, you know, I'm a
child of you know, a young child of the heyday
of this of nineties, you know, gangbanging, like I'm a
(09:33):
little young for it. But I was a kid when
all this was, like all the movies was being made
about what was happening in La I was. I was
a kid then, So you know, you didn't you ain't
just venture in the neighborhoods.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
You didn't know you know. I think I've made this
made this very clear.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
But the but the borders, the lines, you had to
be able to read the Google map, you understand what
I'm saying. But the map was essentially it was fixed
in the sense that us a black neighborhood, you know
what I'm saying. So you knew, you know, red blue,
whatever you knew. You just read read the graffiti to
figure out where you are or know who know or
knows somebody over there.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
You just know the deal.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
So Lynwood's been like that as far as I can
remember now, when I met my wife, when we first
started dating, you know, I was rounding out, you know,
I was out of college.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
I was rounding out my twenties.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
She I'm starting to like meet her family and she
tells me, yeah, I heard her brother and nephew live
in Lynnwood And I was like, oh, that's crazy. It's
Mexican's and Lynwood.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
And she looked at me.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Like what And I was like, what do you mean
what She's all, We'll go visit them, y'all. Now obviously
this was some years back, but like when we got
off the freeway, I mean there was a Kudasal, which,
if you don't know, that's like that's like a Latino
best Buy. So it's like if you're buying like electronics
(10:58):
and you don't speak no English, like you would go there.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
You know what I'm saying. There's an l sup Bed,
which is.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Like you know, at a North Gate, which are like
Mexican grocery stores. I was like, ain't no sign in English.
It was the weird. I felt like I was in
an altered universe. I was like this, when did this
get When did this become Mexican and she was like,
what are you talking about? It always has and I
was like, no, no, no, it hasn't.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
She was like, you're the tweety. Tweety is a it's a.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Cholo like a like a vato, like like gang over there,
because it's a street called Tweety. And she was like, yeah,
my nephe, my nephew lives over here. And I was like, oh,
it got the mug right, Wait what? And I was like,
but I still got homies down here. I still got
friends who I never would and go visit because I
don't know, like, look I'm not good down there that
like that's dayhood. I thought I come see them in
(11:52):
neutral areas. I didn't know when did this become so this?
Ain't they not cripping down here? She was like, noah, no,
what are you talking about? The whole joint got redistrict.
I was like, I had no idea. Now you may
have not.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Whether you live.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
You may have lived in Liarwood for thirty forty years,
this where your grandma stayed. Like all of a sudden,
you gotta change your shoelaces. You didn't even know, like
you know what I'm saying. And obviously I'm talking about
like us who were civilians, Like who wasn't active? You
feel me when you active? You can't change your shoelaces
moneyga like nah, man like you? It is what it is.
(12:33):
You feel me like Yo?
Speaker 2 (12:35):
You are we right? I don't care who like you?
Know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Like when they don't redistrict your zone, it's like, no,
that's not your hood.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
No more homie like y'all. The geography has changed.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Now, this don't happen often, but when it do happen,
it's real stark.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
You didn't move, You ain't change.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Your location at all, but your affiliation has absolutely changed
right up under your feet. Okay, I want to talk
(13:37):
to you all about jerry mandarin. Now the situation I
just explained that you had to do with a vast
number of socioeconomic and migratory and just changes in the
demographic of the city, you know.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
In birth rates, all this good stuff.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Like there's a million different things that make this jerry
mandering is a lot more sinister. To step back to
explain jerry mandering, let me talk about why I want
to talk about it.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
So check this out.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Merrick Garland, the head of the US Department of Justice
is suing the state of Texas over districting.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
That's a lot going on here.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
So you got the federal government suing a state you
know so, and you like, how can you do that?
Speaker 2 (14:24):
What's happening right now?
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Well, every so often around time for mid terms or
voting things, you have to set up your congressional district.
And a congressional district is an area of town depending
on where you live. And in that district, there is
a representative that goes to the legislature that is supposed
(14:50):
to represent your district. That's who you are voting for.
And again in the legislature, you have the Senate and
then you have the House of Reps. Your district is
the person that's in the House of Reps or you're congressperson.
We're talking about Congress. There are every state only gets
two senators, right, so that's different. Right, your district goes
(15:11):
into the House. Now, how you decide who that person
is is y'all vote, you elect them, but you vote
based on your address because your address tells you what
district you in, and that district's gonna put up somebody'll
run for Congress for your district.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
And you vote for. Well, how do you decide what
district you're a part of? Now?
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Why is my address a part of a certain district
and not a part of another district. I live in
the thirty fourth district in Los Angeles and my Rep
is Jimmy Gomez. He been in this congressional district since
July of twenty seventeen. His next election is next Year's
a Democrat. That's my district. It's also important. I suggest
(15:51):
there's a GovTrack dot US if you want to like
find your district like that. Stuff is super important because
this is how we're gonna see how this.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Matters a little later. That's why I'm doing this thing.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Okay, you need to know what flags somebody done put
on you as you're walking around here, because sometimes imagine
imagine walking through a hood not knowing what flag you got,
but everybody else know. Niggas out here putting in work
for you and you don't know they doing it. Niggas
making decisions on your behalf. You feel me deciding who
(16:23):
the op is for you, my nigga. You just out
here trying to just buy some groceries, You trying to
go get a taco. You feel me over at the
over at the Holy Molly in Long Beach niggas and
already decided, Oh, no, we know who you is. And
you like, wait, what now I'm from And they're like, no,
that's not that hood. That hood is this now, and
you're like, well, nigga, when did you become an OP?
Speaker 2 (16:45):
When did I become the op? You better know your district.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
So, districts are set up in theory to be geographical,
and the idea of them being geographical has to do
with the thought that people in shared geographical spaces have
similar concerns because people usually cluster around people that they
(17:15):
live similar lifestyles too, similar socioeconomics and little ways.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Of life, YadA YadA, YadA.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Right, So like you're not gonna have city folk in
a farm, right, You're gonna have farm folk in a farm.
So you just make that one district because they're going
to have similar needs and desires and similar things and
things they're gonna ask for their rep Now, us in
you know, cities, we're gonna have also similar things, Like
(17:42):
we're all in my district, we're all kind of concerned about,
you know, whether it's gentrification, whether it's clean streets, good sewage,
good schools. Like, we're all concerned about the same stuff. Now,
Long Beach, Okay, that's a coast, right, So although we're
both cities, different needs, right. One of their needs has
(18:03):
to do with the beach and with keeping the beach clean,
and their sewage system is different, you know, and it's
you got more salt water in the air. So there
are certain things that they're gonna be concerned about that
even though we're both cities, we shouldn't be in the
same district because we have different needs.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Does that make sense, right?
Speaker 1 (18:19):
That's the way that districting is supposed to in a
type of democratic republic that we have. That's that's the concept, right,
But who gets to decide what district?
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Well, not us. Somebody draws red lines on a map.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
We'll talk about redlining one day, which is a different
type of district scene.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
But yeah, you just draw lines on a map.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Another good parallel that might help, Like, if you're not
really into the gang understanding is like what high school
you're gonna go to?
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Like your school district?
Speaker 1 (18:49):
You know, some of y'all may live in an area
where the high school closest to you is actually out
of district you gotta go to one different and it
seems like that don't make sense, right, But it's just
how the things were drawn, and then maybe next year
it might be different. All of a sudden that schools
in your district. It's just it's weird, right, it's it's
(19:10):
it's it's in a lot of ways. It feels real colonial.
Like now going into y'all's history, like y'all global history. Uh,
this is a freebie. You know a lot of North
or Saharan Africa or different just Africa period. Once Europe
got there and decided that it belonged to them, they
(19:31):
they decided to just like divide the land in being
like okay, you get this part, you get this part,
and they.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Just drew these lines.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
And these lines might have gotten drawn right in between
your neighborhood, split your house in half. All of a sudden,
your cousin across the street, who's this who that's your blood.
We're the same tribe, we're the same everything. They're a
different country because somebody drew a line there. It's just
you're no longer and all of a sudden, and they're
(20:00):
like oh no, no, no, no, no, that's that you're this. You
guys are different countries. What it's ridiculous, right, I mean,
but that's you know in a lot of ways, like
that's some of the borders in Africa where you know,
we're like that, like colonizers drew it. I mean, it's
(20:20):
I mean, I've said in a poem before, if you
guys are familiar with my other work, I have a
poonem called two Minutes and thirty Seconds. But I was like, yeah,
once you get up into space, you know, you look
back down at the Earth. You know, there's no lines
all over the ground. There's no word. The word Florida
isn't written across the ground. It doesn't look like it's
not because it's not real. Somebody drew a line, you
(20:42):
know what I'm saying, Like and then you you we
enforce them. I guess you know what I'm saying, But
like they don't occur, and there's no no force field
at the forty seventh parallel that separates Canada from It's
not a there's no magical thing there, although it feels
like it sometimes, but it's not like it's there's nothing
there except that we said it is the forty seven parallels,
(21:04):
not real.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
It's because of it's because of globes. That's why we
call it that, right.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
So anyway, so back to this, So congressional districting is
decided by.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
The state because.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
If you can clump certain people together for their shared
needs and concerns, if you get enough people that have
the same shared needs and concerns, then what do you
have your power?
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Right, That's how you consolidate power. That's how you get
stuff passed.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
That's how you get stuff done if you have enough
people with the same shared interests and they all are agreeing. Yo,
this is our guy. This is who we want. We
all want it to be like this. Boom, we got
it right, that's that district. I wonder if y'all can
already see how this can get weaponized in a white supremacist,
(21:57):
horribly racist system. If you have have a bunch of
black people living in the same space and they become
a district. When you outnumber everybody else, guess what you
have the most voting power. So if I draw a
line around this city and that city is comprised of
(22:19):
eighty percent black people, guess who gonna get to say?
Because it's just more of us. So if you're trying
to consolidate power.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
What do you do?
Speaker 1 (22:27):
You can redraw the lines. It's pretty simple. You divide that.
Let's just say, let's just keep it real clean. You
got eighty percent black people, and just for the sake
of this argument, the other twenty is white. Now there's
nowhere in California that's like that, right, but let's just
say that is.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Then what do you do.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
You draw a district around the white people and take
ten percent of the black people and make that one district.
You take another part of that eighty percent black folks,
and now that's only seventy percent you draw. You go
into another district over here that's maybe predominantly Latino, and
you take ten percent of that Latinos added to another
(23:03):
ten percent of in white people. Right, so now this
new district is ninety percent white and ten percent Latino.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
And then you take this other district.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
So you just keep drawing lines that consolidate power for yourself.
That's why the district's shapes are ridiculous, because they're not
about shared interests. They're about power. Y'all following me. You
just draw lines around groups that make you more powerful,
so you might wake up one day in a brand
(23:33):
new district.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
I'm looking around my neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
I live in a part of town that's like almost
one hundred percent Mexican. Like, I'm me and my daughter
holding down the black population in my neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
You feel me. So we're in this one district.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
But what if they drew our lines a little different
where our house is now included in area called Monterey Park,
which is almost one hundred percent Agent, then the things
that have to do with my community, I'm not gonna
not gonna matter my representative, like I don't represent the
vast majority of my district no more. Let's cause the
(24:07):
guy wanted that wanted to get elected redrew the lines
to make sure he could make sure she could. So
Mayor Garland is suing Texas because Texas is in the
process of redistricting. Now, what is the basis of the
seuing is? The basis of the suing is Section two
of the Voter Rights Act. I talked about the Voting
Rights Act before, Right, y'all do your googles on exactly
what that is. But what happened was when that Voting
(24:30):
Rights Act came into power in twenty thirteen, it got gutted.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
How did it get gutted?
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Basically, one of the things that we were trying to
do with the Voting Rights Act was just this was
this idea of redistricting oftentimes was for the purpose to
follow me disenfranchised black and brown voices.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Because there's so much of us.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
And when you hear white supremacists, like the extreme right
talking about like white genocide, talking about the fabric of
our nation being changed, the you know, the way that
our society is working now, they feel like they're being outnumbered.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Nobody's caring about them no more.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
This is a way to counteract that, because you're right,
if we're talking sheer numbers, there's more of us. So
why aren't we getting laws passed, Why aren't we being represented?
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Well, you just redraw the maps.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Rather than letting us consolidate and stay together, you just
readouted districts. It's it's actually pretty brilliant. But that's what will
always happen. Let me go back to reconstruction time, back
to when the slaves were fully freed, When the slaves
were first freed and we got the right to start voting.
That's why they invented the black codes, is because We
(25:42):
was like, oh wait, we get to choose our elected officials.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Oh nigga, we choosing us, and we.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Was winning because just like, use your logic, us your antennas.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
You got one slave owning family, it's.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Maybe five six of the m If they got twenty slaves,
you outnumbered one to four, right, five, ten, fifteen, twenty
one to four, you got it four to one. Okay,
a little bit of math, you out numbered one to
four to one. Right, you out number four to one.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Easy.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
So that means if you let me choose what I'm vote,
who nigga is more of us, we gonna choose the
stuff that got to do it.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
So, yeah, they invent the black codes.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
That was to disenfranchise us on purpose because when you
when you set there and when we get to elected,
we gonna choose what makes it.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
That's what you told me. That's what you told me.
How it works.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
You said, I get to You said I get to
choose my elected officials, the government by the people, for
the people.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
The people saying this is what we choose.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Say. It was like, oh, nigga, this this is working
too good. So they had to change the laws. The
Voting Rights Act was a way to say that you
can't just keep doing this because you're you're redrawing these
districts to make sure that our voices aren't heard. So
if you're going to redraw the districts, you got to
talk to the Supreme Court before you do it. That
was what was in the Voting Rights Act, to make
(26:59):
sure that you're not just being racist. Well, when it
got gutted and it was like, I said, this was
specifically because this is what was happening in the South.
It's just more, it's more, it's more people of color there.
So those who are in power were losing pacts, not
enough of them. In twenty thirteen, that part where you
had to check in with the Supreme Court got taken out.
(27:19):
So Texas was like, oh, well, we don't have to
when we have to check in, And what does the
Supreme Court know about us? Anyway? Y'all not down here.
You ain't out here, she wasn't outside. Y'all know what's
up down here? We draw on our own. So they
started drawing their own districts. Obviously, these are the Republicans
doing this because they they can feel the wind shifting.
(27:40):
How do they feel the wind shifting, nigga, because Austin, Dallas,
and Houston them is big cities, and them is big
and what happens in big cities, Nigga, they leen left
at least right now, That's what happens if if the
rest of Texas is ruled. Ain't nobody out there. It's
not enough people out there. So according to these Republicans,
(28:00):
they're not getting their voices hurt. These people outside not
getting their voices hurt. Right, So we need to draw
districts that make their voices in rural areas be just
as powerful as the ones in the city because the
city is getting too much. Hey, a lot of this, this,
a lot of this was some of the stuff that
was happening in California while California was talking about breaking up,
(28:22):
breaking it up as a state. Why in the hell
should Kerrent County? You know, Wyrika, California? You ever heard
of Wayrika? Exactly? Why they paying the same the same
taxes at San Francisco as La. It's like, nigga, why
are we paying what y'all gotta pay them? Prices is
(28:43):
for you? Like that's y'all's way of life. The rest
of Cali ain't like this, that's a good point. You
get up to Mount Shasta. Oh that's that's Trump Country
up there. It's I mean, it's like, it's crazy. It's
not you think California. This this bastion of leftists. No, nigga,
that's the cities. You get out the cities, bro. You
get down to u Kaipa. I'm naming cities that I know.
(29:05):
You gotta be from here to know. And I know
this is a national international pod. You don't know what
I'm talking about. But you get down to U Kaipa.
All nigga. You in Texas, you know what I'm saying,
Like they don't rural Texas. Cuse you know what I'm saying.
Because Austin becoming a lot like Portland. You feel me. Dallas,
you know what I'm saying. Dallas looking like Seattle these days.
(29:27):
You feel me like the cities is changing. So they
was like, oh no, bruh, we gotta we gotta, we
gotta fix this. They was they was they was doing,
they doing too much. So anyway, the Voting Rights Act
was saying, listen, you should be able to include not
just geographical but racial and linguistic interest right, Because that
(29:48):
at first wasn't a part of the districting process racial
and linguistics. So when you start adding racial and linguistic,
it's again, we have a burgeoning, you know, Spanish speaking
Latino commune that has very specific needs and nigga, if
you not looking around, they finill out number everybody, you
know what I'm saying, But they don't have no say
(30:09):
how Well, this is how you make sure, if you empower,
how you stay in power. If you're the guy that
you're like, Yo, I'm finna lose this district because it's
a gang of you know whats that have been filling
up in my district. I'm about to lose this job. Well,
what's the answer. Do you try to convince these people
(30:29):
who know for a fact you racist and you're not
doing nothing for us. You're gonna try to convince them
that you are, especially when they brought up their own champion.
You know what I'm saying, They got their own champion.
You're gonna convince them to go with another white boy.
You're gonna convince this group, You're gonna convince this whole
city of multicolored faces that what they need is another
(30:50):
white boy. That's what you're gonna do. Nah, we just
go redraw the districts. You feel me? All your bloods now? Nah,
Hey black practice practice, Hey bla practice, you got it.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
You got it, da mud, you know what I'm saying.
You got it. Piru y'all, y'all bloods.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Now, you redraw the district Now you ain't got to
worry about it. How we become bloods I just drew
another line around content, So now we now we're blud
Now you're in a blood like it just happened right
under your feet. So this is what Texas is doing.
And uh, Mary Garland is like, I don't know, man,
this feel real. I mean, you saying is to protect
(31:27):
the rural community, but it feels a little I don't know, man,
it feels a little Uh feels a little like paragraph
feel a little like protecting, protecting your whiteness kind of
what it feels like. Because Nikka, y'all almost lost. Last
y'all almost lost. It is your state flipping, and uh,
(31:48):
it seemed like you're not representing the people, you representing yourself.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
And just I don't know if y'all could do this.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Let's give you a little background history of like how
long people have been Jerry Mandarin and where we even
got that word.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Let's take a break. All right, we're back, y'all peak
(32:40):
that headlights yet did he drop it?
Speaker 1 (32:42):
I don't know when this episode is coming out. He
better have dropped the album by now. If not, hit him.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Again, drop the album. I listened to it.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
We don't help him put it in order. This fool
got slapstock. It's just good vibes. Like if you at
you know this the holidays, you know you kind of
tired of family.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
Keep it real, Tell niggas go home.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
You need something to chill out in, or even background
music while everybody there man throw on that head likes say, man,
it's good vibes.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
You feel me anyway?
Speaker 1 (33:12):
So Jerry Mandarin, all right, listen this mug go all
the way back to I mean the next day after
we became a nation, right like immediately you know what
I'm saying. Thomas Hunter, he's a political scientist over professor
over there at the at the University of West Georgia, Right,
I mean, like there's evidence in like Virginia, North Carolina,
(33:35):
South Carolina that they drew districts to benefit some candidates
over others. I'm talking like late eighteenth early nineteenth century.
They I mean, it wasn't called Jerry Mandarin then, but
nigga's been Jerry Mandarin the whole time, Right, it would
be called that a little later. I'm gonna quote him.
He's yeah, I'm gonna uote Thomas Hunter. He says, I
(33:56):
think that what they did in Massachusetts in eighteen twelve
really was on stere or is compared to what had
gone on before, said Hunter about Okay, I'm gonna get
to it now.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Check this out.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
So eighteen twelve, the Boston Gazette, right, was this political
he ran this political cartoon with this like species. Is
the drawing of this like monster, right that they called
it the jerrymander. Right. It was this fourk tongue creature
that looked like a almost like a dragon a little
bit that was shaped like a contorted Massachusetts voting district
(34:29):
that the States Jeffersonian Republicans had drawn to benefit their
own party. So again, rather than drawing, you know, district
map that made sense, they drew this weird shape thing
around the side of Boston and they called that one district.
And it's because they were just drawing circles around people
(34:50):
that would vote for a Jeffersonian Republican. So rather than
having a district and trying to win that district over,
you just drew a district, drew a circle around people
that would vote for you. And now Homie who signed
off for this, became a future vice president Eldridge Gary right,
(35:11):
who signed off on his party's redistricting in February, unwittingly
submitting his place in the United States lexicon of underhanded
political tricks. So the Federalists reprinted it. That's a newspaper,
and so when they reprinted it, it was kind of like this.
It was because it was supposed to be a play
(35:31):
on words with a salamander, right, so they called it
a Jerry Mander, even though Jerry's name is pronounced Gary.
When we say it like Jerry, it's just whatever. This
is what happens when something's two hundred years old. So anyway,
he drew a district that did not make sense to
make sure that he could stay in power. Right, But
(35:54):
before that they used to call him a Rotten Boroughs,
which is, again, you make a district that would ensure
that these people in this room would vote for you.
So if you living in this in this area, your
neighborhood happens to get redrawn. My nigga, all of a sudden,
you're on the wrong side of town according to your
voting practices. Now, in a defense of redrawing districts, a
(36:18):
defensive redrawing districts can in some ways be like my.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
First example of lynn Wood, the.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
Demographic changed, you know what I'm saying, Like the city is,
it's different, right, the the the borders are different. Using
a gang, using a gang analogy here, like when you
say you from Compton, we have to be like you
from east or West because one side is blood, one
side is crip. You know, but maybe it wasn't always
like that, because you know, there was a time that
(36:47):
bloods didn't exist, you feel me, right? So, uh, that
means that the city needs to be who's representing y'all
needs to be y'all need to this needs to need
to redraw these districts because these two areas have very
different interests, right, So because of that, you need different representatives.
(37:09):
So there is a time that maybe it is important
to redraw lines. But then it's other times that it's
like when it's coming from the top down rather than
the bottom up. It's because y'all these fools is consolidating power.
So more of the story for all of us. What
do we need to know? Your homework is today. As
(37:34):
soon as you finish this pod, go figure out what
district you in, who your representative is. Then do your
google's on this dude, on this lake, on this food,
on cuz on blood? Do you do your Googles? What's
this fool about? What they what they trying to do?
What's they vote in history? You know what I'm saying,
(37:55):
Pay attention like who who is this food? You know
what I'm saying, Know your district, know some of the
ballot measures that are in your district. And then after that,
like look around as to like, yo, maybe somebody else
might be Maybe it's trying to start paying attention to
your local commercials about who was running for district, Like
(38:16):
see who, see who? See who were putting up when
you see what your district is, look at the way
it's drawn, and being like all right, uh you know
your hood better than me. Be like okay, this seems
this seemed real weird, Like why are we looped.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
In with them and not with them?
Speaker 1 (38:32):
That don't make no sense. I'll tell you why somebody
wanted to keep their jobs. You feel me so? And
then just you know, now that you have this information,
like the next time these ballots come around, you can
make a more educated guess as to like who you're
trying to send You feel me who you're trying to
send to the table to be representing y'all? Like who's
(38:53):
your soldiers? Is this soldier? Is this soldier really interested
in our goods? See, there's a lot of things and
politics that are I feel you are so far away
from us that it seems like it don't do nothing.
And those ones that are so far away from us
usually get the most shine. These local ones, they don't
get a lot of shine. But that's the ones that
affect us the most. You know what I'm saying. Your
(39:14):
vote and your local one is one of a couple thousands.
Your vote put in national ones a couple of millions.
So I mean where you think your voice is gonna
have home or weight with a couple thousand or a
couple million. You know what I'm saying, Why not your district?
Why not what colored laces you've got? You know what
I'm saying, Maybe you ain't hand nom say, but you
(39:34):
do now the the politics, y'all? Okay, does that make sense?
So this is what's happening right now. Like I said,
President Trump tried to do it a long time ago.
(39:58):
Mary Garland sou dude Texas for doing this, because it's like,
my nigga, you can't just make up the lines because
you lose it. The conclusion that anyone would draw from this,
who got any logic is if y'all play fair, you're
gonna lose. And then some would argue, well, well, why
(40:18):
is the board the way it's set now?
Speaker 2 (40:22):
The fair way?
Speaker 1 (40:23):
You understand what I mean now because you just heard
me talk thirty minutes about what I mean by all this.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
Why is the board fair now? Or then?
Speaker 1 (40:33):
Yeah, like, why can't I change the board? Why is
this not fair? Why is it not fair to look
at what's happening right now and say, dude, like the
needs of my people are being underrepresented, so we need
to change this, We need to change the districts. Well,
because you already told me that's not what you're doing.
You already told me you doing this just to make
(40:54):
sure you stay at power. Your man said that we
just need five extra seats, So we're gonna redraw the
districts to make sure that anyone that is Democrat or
left leaning, or let's go ahead and give you a subtext,
a person of color is not going to have power.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
There. It is. Guys. What sucks about politics is.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
You're not really gonna find much that hasn't already happened
and has already proven to be quite detrimental to us.
But you know, here we are. So that's what's happening
in Texas. We'll see how it goes to the politics.
(41:54):
All right, Now, don't you hit stop on this pod.
You better listen to these credits. I need you to
finish this thing so I can get the download numbers. Okay,
so don't stop it yet, but listen. This was recorded
in East Lost Boyle Heights by your boy Propaganda. Tap
in with me at prop hip hop dot com. If
(42:15):
you're in the Coldbrew coffee we got terraform Coldbrew. You
can go there dot com and use promo code hood
get twenty percent off get yourself some coffee. This was mixed, edited,
and mastered by your boy Matt Alsowski killing the Beast Softly.
Check out his website Matdowsowski dot com.
Speaker 2 (42:33):
I'm a speller for you because I know.
Speaker 1 (42:36):
M A T T O S O W s ki
dot com Matthowsowski dot com. He got more music and
stuff like that on there, so gonna check out. The
Heat of Politics is a member of cool Zone Media,
Executive produced by Sophie Lichterman, part of the iHeartMedia podcast network.
(42:56):
Your theme music and scoring is also by the one
and Oble Adolsowski. Still killing the beats softly, so listen.
Don't let nobody lie to you. If you understand urban living,
you understand politics. These people is not smarter than you.
We'll see y'all next week.
Calls media. I guess it was a matter of time
because of how ridiculous the timeline we exist in is
that something that we talked about already would literally happen again,
almost exactly the same way. We got to talk about
(00:23):
jerry mandering, And as I was prepping to discuss jerry
mandering and the jerry mannering I'm talking about is happening
in Texas. What jerry mandering is what you will shortly
learn later, because apparently I don't already talked about. This
(00:43):
is the redrawing of congressional districts. And what's happening in
a fair and balanced world, big old air quotes, would
be as demographics change, as populations change, you have to
make sure the districts actually matches the needs of the
(01:06):
people that they are in and that they will be
in things that are what they would call competitive districts,
meaning that the areas are created in a way that
doesn't just consolidate power to one particular party, but one
that really represents the people for which they're supposed to
be representing.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Right, what an idealistic.
Speaker 1 (01:29):
World, this is what would happen if these things were
done fairly. Now in California, we got rules around this.
The people who draw our districts, which again we're gonna
get into like what all this stuff means a little later,
But the people who draw the districts in California, it's
a third party, independent institution that draws those lines. Which
(01:50):
is why you don't hear a lot of us necessarily
complaining about our gerrymandering our districts because politicians don't have
the right to redraw the districts, and if the districts
are going to get redrawn, you have to vote on it,
like you can't just do it.
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Texas, however, is different. Now.
Speaker 1 (02:08):
You may have seen on the news a few days
ago when they ask President Trump, Hey, why are you
redrawing the districts? Why y'all trying to redraw the districts
in Texas?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
He said.
Speaker 1 (02:20):
The quiet part out loud without actually understanding that that's
the quiet part. He was like, Oh, we just need
four more congressional seats for the Republicans.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
Like you what you.
Speaker 1 (02:32):
That's the part you're not supposed to admit. If you're
a politician, you're supposed to do this rigamarole about oh, well,
the demographics are changing we're realizing that the people aren't
being represented the way that they should. He's like, no, nigga,
I'm trying to keep control of the House. I need
the power because midterms is coming and we're gonna lose.
So I'm just what he's doing is disenfranchising. That's what
(02:57):
he's and he just looked at the camera, is like, oh,
I'm disinfranchising voters.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
It's what it's said. Now.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
How I'm able to run all the way down to
that conclusion is what I want to talk about in
this episode. But apparently I didn't already talked about it
because in Texas they already tried to do this.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
In twenty twenty one.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
And what you what you do is if you are
the opposition party, is you just leave. So that's what
they did then, and that's what the Democrats is doing now.
Because time is a curling universe. So this episode in
twenty twenty one on December fourteenth, called You Ride with
(03:43):
Us Now, is about Jerry manderin where that turn came
from and how sometimes you know, I know, you might
wake up in a whole different hood. You ain't even know,
you ain't even know all of a sudden y'all crips now,
Oh we crips. Now, that's kind to happen with me.
Apparently we crips now. Anyway, all this will make sense
(04:05):
because apparently I have already taught it.
Speaker 2 (04:08):
So here's past me.
Speaker 1 (04:12):
Talking about present day me in the past, not knowing
that future me was gonna have to talk about the
same thing. You right with us now, whether we talk
(04:45):
in world history, US history, neighborhood history, some of us
ain't really have an option what flag we was flying.
There was people one day that woke up in Arizona
and realized this was Arizona, that it's not Mexico no more.
There was people that woke up in Central Europe and
(05:06):
realized they was in Germany. It just they didn't move,
didn't know what happened.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
You just are.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
There was a moment I woke up and realized I
lived with crips. I didn't know. I didn't get no
flyers about it. There wasn't no recruiting. It wouldn't at
least I didn't know. I was too young. Maybe there
was some recruiting. I didn't know. I just woke up
one day and was like, oh, oh, we crips at
(05:33):
least my neighborhood was.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
I ain't signed up for this. This is just where
I live.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
And then don't mess around and make a friend, because
then you mess around and make a friend.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
And if you and your friend one day y'all walking
home and.
Speaker 1 (05:47):
Somebody with some other colored shoelaces decided that they was gonna,
you know, take your bike right quick, and then that
friend go tell his big brother and then march you
and y'all homie back over there to either squad job
up you up said get your bike back, or he
do it too.
Speaker 2 (06:04):
Guess what.
Speaker 1 (06:04):
Guess what, your shoelaces the same color as that big brother.
Now in the eyes of the other hood, this you
wanted them, now, Homie Bamboo is telling me. When I
asked him how you got put on the hood, he
was like, look, it happened twice once. I was just
sitting outside with my uncles and they was like, yo,
go fight this fool. Now I'm all of a sudden,
it's like okay, and now I'm I just got jumped in.
Speaker 2 (06:27):
I don't know just what happened.
Speaker 1 (06:29):
Of course, later on he made his conscious decision to
be in the hood, but that first jump in nigga.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
That was like, oh, we just happen to be over here.
The district lines have been drawing, My nigga, this is
where you at. Somebody drew the districts. I had no say.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
Then it might get even worse, because you know, sometimes
depending on who go off to jail and who's able
to hold down the block, sometime the neighborhood changes. I
know in a lot of parts of Los Angeles, just
neighborhoods went from Black to Latino quick, quick of courses
in air quotes. But once they become Mexican, these ain't
(07:09):
cripping blood neighborhoods no more.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
This is all cold and what if.
Speaker 1 (07:12):
You didn't move, guess what you'dn't been redistrict. I want
to talk to y'all about jerry mandering, hood politics, how
you soul hood? Right now?
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Little politics, y'all? Politics?
Speaker 1 (07:32):
All right, y'all, let me tell you this little story
from my life. So south of Los Angeles, northeast of
Compton City called Lynnwood borders Compton Long Beach. It's in
the South Bay Lynnwood. When I was younger, you know,
child middle school. Apparently I'm what they call an old millennial.
(07:53):
It's black hood.
Speaker 2 (07:54):
It's I mean, it's.
Speaker 1 (07:55):
Watts Compton, Long Beach, Carson like they're all sort of around.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
It's this corridor right now.
Speaker 1 (08:04):
What borders up to Lynnwood is this area called Southgate
Huntington Park. These are these other now Southgate and Huntington
Park have been Astar as far as i've I've understood,
those were Latino. Those were Mexican hoods. My wife is
from Huntington Park. Uh shout out doctor Alma. So if
y'all knew here, you don't understand it preferred to her
(08:25):
by her prefix. But my pH d wife used to gangbang.
But we're gonna leave that alone for now. Anyway, So
that area of town, Southgate, Huntington Park, Bell Gardens, these
areas were, like I said, predominantly Latino and Cypress Hill.
Cypress Hill's from this around this area, right, So that's
(08:48):
those are. But Lynnwood, however, Lynwood was like it was
like it was black, and a lot of areas in
this part of town where people who were able to
you know, maybe leave South Central, maybe leave wads who
were just such activehoods to kind of like you know,
maybe own a house, maybe start a family. Like these
people had like these were two income homes or families,
(09:10):
you know what I'm saying, So like they were able
to afford something like this, But it didn't mean it
wasn't active. These were active areas that you didn't go
necessarily kicking in because I mean, you know, I'm a
child of you know, a young child of the heyday
of this of nineties, you know, gangbanging, like I'm a
(09:33):
little young for it. But I was a kid when
all this was, like all the movies was being made
about what was happening in La I was. I was
a kid then, So you know, you didn't you ain't
just venture in the neighborhoods.
Speaker 2 (09:45):
You didn't know you know. I think I've made this
made this very clear.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
But the but the borders, the lines, you had to
be able to read the Google map, you understand what
I'm saying. But the map was essentially it was fixed
in the sense that us a black neighborhood, you know
what I'm saying. So you knew, you know, red blue,
whatever you knew. You just read read the graffiti to
figure out where you are or know who know or
knows somebody over there.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
You just know the deal.
Speaker 1 (10:10):
So Lynwood's been like that as far as I can
remember now, when I met my wife, when we first
started dating, you know, I was rounding out, you know,
I was out of college.
Speaker 2 (10:20):
I was rounding out my twenties.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
She I'm starting to like meet her family and she
tells me, yeah, I heard her brother and nephew live
in Lynnwood And I was like, oh, that's crazy. It's
Mexican's and Lynwood.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
And she looked at me.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
Like what And I was like, what do you mean
what She's all, We'll go visit them, y'all. Now obviously
this was some years back, but like when we got
off the freeway, I mean there was a Kudasal, which,
if you don't know, that's like that's like a Latino
best Buy. So it's like if you're buying like electronics
(10:58):
and you don't speak no English, like you would go there.
Speaker 2 (11:01):
You know what I'm saying. There's an l sup Bed,
which is.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Like you know, at a North Gate, which are like
Mexican grocery stores. I was like, ain't no sign in English.
It was the weird. I felt like I was in
an altered universe. I was like this, when did this
get When did this become Mexican and she was like,
what are you talking about? It always has and I
was like, no, no, no, it hasn't.
Speaker 2 (11:25):
She was like, you're the tweety. Tweety is a it's a.
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Cholo like a like a vato, like like gang over there,
because it's a street called Tweety. And she was like, yeah,
my nephe, my nephew lives over here. And I was like, oh,
it got the mug right, Wait what? And I was like,
but I still got homies down here. I still got
friends who I never would and go visit because I
don't know, like, look I'm not good down there that
like that's dayhood. I thought I come see them in
(11:52):
neutral areas. I didn't know when did this become so this?
Ain't they not cripping down here? She was like, noah, no,
what are you talking about? The whole joint got redistrict.
I was like, I had no idea. Now you may
have not.
Speaker 2 (12:12):
Whether you live.
Speaker 1 (12:13):
You may have lived in Liarwood for thirty forty years,
this where your grandma stayed. Like all of a sudden,
you gotta change your shoelaces. You didn't even know, like
you know what I'm saying. And obviously I'm talking about
like us who were civilians, Like who wasn't active? You
feel me when you active? You can't change your shoelaces
moneyga like nah, man like you? It is what it is.
(12:33):
You feel me like Yo?
Speaker 2 (12:35):
You are we right? I don't care who like you?
Know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (12:37):
Like when they don't redistrict your zone, it's like, no,
that's not your hood.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
No more homie like y'all. The geography has changed.
Speaker 1 (12:46):
Now, this don't happen often, but when it do happen,
it's real stark.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
You didn't move, You ain't change.
Speaker 1 (12:53):
Your location at all, but your affiliation has absolutely changed
right up under your feet. Okay, I want to talk
(13:37):
to you all about jerry mandarin. Now the situation I
just explained that you had to do with a vast
number of socioeconomic and migratory and just changes in the
demographic of the city, you know.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
In birth rates, all this good stuff.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
Like there's a million different things that make this jerry
mandering is a lot more sinister. To step back to
explain jerry mandering, let me talk about why I want
to talk about it.
Speaker 2 (14:05):
So check this out.
Speaker 1 (14:06):
Merrick Garland, the head of the US Department of Justice
is suing the state of Texas over districting.
Speaker 2 (14:15):
That's a lot going on here.
Speaker 1 (14:17):
So you got the federal government suing a state you
know so, and you like, how can you do that?
Speaker 2 (14:24):
What's happening right now?
Speaker 1 (14:25):
Well, every so often around time for mid terms or
voting things, you have to set up your congressional district.
And a congressional district is an area of town depending
on where you live. And in that district, there is
a representative that goes to the legislature that is supposed
(14:50):
to represent your district. That's who you are voting for.
And again in the legislature, you have the Senate and
then you have the House of Reps. Your district is
the person that's in the House of Reps or you're congressperson.
We're talking about Congress. There are every state only gets
two senators, right, so that's different. Right, your district goes
(15:11):
into the House. Now, how you decide who that person
is is y'all vote, you elect them, but you vote
based on your address because your address tells you what
district you in, and that district's gonna put up somebody'll
run for Congress for your district.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
And you vote for. Well, how do you decide what
district you're a part of? Now?
Speaker 1 (15:31):
Why is my address a part of a certain district
and not a part of another district. I live in
the thirty fourth district in Los Angeles and my Rep
is Jimmy Gomez. He been in this congressional district since
July of twenty seventeen. His next election is next Year's
a Democrat. That's my district. It's also important. I suggest
(15:51):
there's a GovTrack dot US if you want to like
find your district like that. Stuff is super important because
this is how we're gonna see how this.
Speaker 2 (16:01):
Matters a little later. That's why I'm doing this thing.
Speaker 1 (16:03):
Okay, you need to know what flags somebody done put
on you as you're walking around here, because sometimes imagine
imagine walking through a hood not knowing what flag you got,
but everybody else know. Niggas out here putting in work
for you and you don't know they doing it. Niggas
making decisions on your behalf. You feel me deciding who
(16:23):
the op is for you, my nigga. You just out
here trying to just buy some groceries, You trying to
go get a taco. You feel me over at the
over at the Holy Molly in Long Beach niggas and
already decided, Oh, no, we know who you is. And
you like, wait, what now I'm from And they're like, no,
that's not that hood. That hood is this now, and
you're like, well, nigga, when did you become an OP?
Speaker 2 (16:45):
When did I become the op? You better know your district.
Speaker 1 (16:50):
So, districts are set up in theory to be geographical,
and the idea of them being geographical has to do
with the thought that people in shared geographical spaces have
similar concerns because people usually cluster around people that they
(17:15):
live similar lifestyles too, similar socioeconomics and little ways.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
Of life, YadA YadA, YadA.
Speaker 1 (17:20):
Right, So like you're not gonna have city folk in
a farm, right, You're gonna have farm folk in a farm.
So you just make that one district because they're going
to have similar needs and desires and similar things and
things they're gonna ask for their rep Now, us in
you know, cities, we're gonna have also similar things, Like
(17:42):
we're all in my district, we're all kind of concerned about,
you know, whether it's gentrification, whether it's clean streets, good sewage,
good schools. Like, we're all concerned about the same stuff. Now,
Long Beach, Okay, that's a coast, right, So although we're
both cities, different needs, right. One of their needs has
(18:03):
to do with the beach and with keeping the beach clean,
and their sewage system is different, you know, and it's
you got more salt water in the air. So there
are certain things that they're gonna be concerned about that
even though we're both cities, we shouldn't be in the
same district because we have different needs.
Speaker 2 (18:17):
Does that make sense, right?
Speaker 1 (18:19):
That's the way that districting is supposed to in a
type of democratic republic that we have. That's that's the concept, right,
But who gets to decide what district?
Speaker 2 (18:28):
Well, not us. Somebody draws red lines on a map.
Speaker 1 (18:35):
We'll talk about redlining one day, which is a different
type of district scene.
Speaker 2 (18:38):
But yeah, you just draw lines on a map.
Speaker 1 (18:41):
Another good parallel that might help, Like, if you're not
really into the gang understanding is like what high school
you're gonna go to?
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Like your school district?
Speaker 1 (18:49):
You know, some of y'all may live in an area
where the high school closest to you is actually out
of district you gotta go to one different and it
seems like that don't make sense, right, But it's just
how the things were drawn, and then maybe next year
it might be different. All of a sudden that schools
in your district. It's just it's weird, right, it's it's
(19:10):
it's it's in a lot of ways. It feels real colonial.
Like now going into y'all's history, like y'all global history. Uh,
this is a freebie. You know a lot of North
or Saharan Africa or different just Africa period. Once Europe
got there and decided that it belonged to them, they
(19:31):
they decided to just like divide the land in being
like okay, you get this part, you get this part,
and they.
Speaker 2 (19:38):
Just drew these lines.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
And these lines might have gotten drawn right in between
your neighborhood, split your house in half. All of a sudden,
your cousin across the street, who's this who that's your blood.
We're the same tribe, we're the same everything. They're a
different country because somebody drew a line there. It's just
you're no longer and all of a sudden, and they're
(20:00):
like oh no, no, no, no, no, that's that you're this. You
guys are different countries. What it's ridiculous, right, I mean,
but that's you know in a lot of ways, like
that's some of the borders in Africa where you know,
we're like that, like colonizers drew it. I mean, it's
(20:20):
I mean, I've said in a poem before, if you
guys are familiar with my other work, I have a
poonem called two Minutes and thirty Seconds. But I was like, yeah,
once you get up into space, you know, you look
back down at the Earth. You know, there's no lines
all over the ground. There's no word. The word Florida
isn't written across the ground. It doesn't look like it's
not because it's not real. Somebody drew a line, you
(20:42):
know what I'm saying, Like and then you you we
enforce them. I guess you know what I'm saying, But
like they don't occur, and there's no no force field
at the forty seventh parallel that separates Canada from It's
not a there's no magical thing there, although it feels
like it sometimes, but it's not like it's there's nothing
there except that we said it is the forty seven parallels,
(21:04):
not real.
Speaker 2 (21:05):
It's because of it's because of globes. That's why we
call it that, right.
Speaker 1 (21:11):
So anyway, so back to this, So congressional districting is
decided by.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
The state because.
Speaker 1 (21:20):
If you can clump certain people together for their shared
needs and concerns, if you get enough people that have
the same shared needs and concerns, then what do you
have your power?
Speaker 2 (21:31):
Right, That's how you consolidate power. That's how you get
stuff passed.
Speaker 1 (21:34):
That's how you get stuff done if you have enough
people with the same shared interests and they all are agreeing. Yo,
this is our guy. This is who we want. We
all want it to be like this. Boom, we got
it right, that's that district. I wonder if y'all can
already see how this can get weaponized in a white supremacist,
(21:57):
horribly racist system. If you have have a bunch of
black people living in the same space and they become
a district. When you outnumber everybody else, guess what you
have the most voting power. So if I draw a
line around this city and that city is comprised of
(22:19):
eighty percent black people, guess who gonna get to say?
Because it's just more of us. So if you're trying
to consolidate power.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
What do you do?
Speaker 1 (22:27):
You can redraw the lines. It's pretty simple. You divide that.
Let's just say, let's just keep it real clean. You
got eighty percent black people, and just for the sake
of this argument, the other twenty is white. Now there's
nowhere in California that's like that, right, but let's just
say that is.
Speaker 2 (22:42):
Then what do you do.
Speaker 1 (22:43):
You draw a district around the white people and take
ten percent of the black people and make that one district.
You take another part of that eighty percent black folks,
and now that's only seventy percent you draw. You go
into another district over here that's maybe predominantly Latino, and
you take ten percent of that Latinos added to another
(23:03):
ten percent of in white people. Right, so now this
new district is ninety percent white and ten percent Latino.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
And then you take this other district.
Speaker 1 (23:12):
So you just keep drawing lines that consolidate power for yourself.
That's why the district's shapes are ridiculous, because they're not
about shared interests. They're about power. Y'all following me. You
just draw lines around groups that make you more powerful,
so you might wake up one day in a brand
(23:33):
new district.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
I'm looking around my neighborhood.
Speaker 1 (23:35):
I live in a part of town that's like almost
one hundred percent Mexican. Like, I'm me and my daughter
holding down the black population in my neighborhood.
Speaker 2 (23:45):
You feel me. So we're in this one district.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
But what if they drew our lines a little different
where our house is now included in area called Monterey Park,
which is almost one hundred percent Agent, then the things
that have to do with my community, I'm not gonna
not gonna matter my representative, like I don't represent the
vast majority of my district no more. Let's cause the
(24:07):
guy wanted that wanted to get elected redrew the lines
to make sure he could make sure she could. So
Mayor Garland is suing Texas because Texas is in the
process of redistricting. Now, what is the basis of the
seuing is? The basis of the suing is Section two
of the Voter Rights Act. I talked about the Voting
Rights Act before, Right, y'all do your googles on exactly
what that is. But what happened was when that Voting
(24:30):
Rights Act came into power in twenty thirteen, it got gutted.
Speaker 2 (24:34):
How did it get gutted?
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Basically, one of the things that we were trying to
do with the Voting Rights Act was just this was
this idea of redistricting oftentimes was for the purpose to
follow me disenfranchised black and brown voices.
Speaker 2 (24:50):
Because there's so much of us.
Speaker 1 (24:52):
And when you hear white supremacists, like the extreme right
talking about like white genocide, talking about the fabric of
our nation being changed, the you know, the way that
our society is working now, they feel like they're being outnumbered.
Speaker 2 (25:05):
Nobody's caring about them no more.
Speaker 1 (25:07):
This is a way to counteract that, because you're right,
if we're talking sheer numbers, there's more of us. So
why aren't we getting laws passed, Why aren't we being represented?
Speaker 2 (25:16):
Well, you just redraw the maps.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
Rather than letting us consolidate and stay together, you just
readouted districts. It's it's actually pretty brilliant. But that's what will
always happen. Let me go back to reconstruction time, back
to when the slaves were fully freed, When the slaves
were first freed and we got the right to start voting.
That's why they invented the black codes, is because We
(25:42):
was like, oh wait, we get to choose our elected officials.
Speaker 2 (25:44):
Oh nigga, we choosing us, and we.
Speaker 1 (25:47):
Was winning because just like, use your logic, us your antennas.
Speaker 2 (25:53):
You got one slave owning family, it's.
Speaker 1 (25:56):
Maybe five six of the m If they got twenty slaves,
you outnumbered one to four, right, five, ten, fifteen, twenty
one to four, you got it four to one. Okay,
a little bit of math, you out numbered one to
four to one. Right, you out number four to one.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
Easy.
Speaker 1 (26:13):
So that means if you let me choose what I'm vote,
who nigga is more of us, we gonna choose the
stuff that got to do it.
Speaker 2 (26:21):
So, yeah, they invent the black codes.
Speaker 1 (26:22):
That was to disenfranchise us on purpose because when you
when you set there and when we get to elected,
we gonna choose what makes it.
Speaker 2 (26:28):
That's what you told me. That's what you told me.
How it works.
Speaker 1 (26:31):
You said, I get to You said I get to
choose my elected officials, the government by the people, for
the people.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
The people saying this is what we choose.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
Say. It was like, oh, nigga, this this is working
too good. So they had to change the laws. The
Voting Rights Act was a way to say that you
can't just keep doing this because you're you're redrawing these
districts to make sure that our voices aren't heard. So
if you're going to redraw the districts, you got to
talk to the Supreme Court before you do it. That
was what was in the Voting Rights Act, to make
(26:59):
sure that you're not just being racist. Well, when it
got gutted and it was like, I said, this was
specifically because this is what was happening in the South.
It's just more, it's more, it's more people of color there.
So those who are in power were losing pacts, not
enough of them. In twenty thirteen, that part where you
had to check in with the Supreme Court got taken out.
(27:19):
So Texas was like, oh, well, we don't have to
when we have to check in, And what does the
Supreme Court know about us? Anyway? Y'all not down here.
You ain't out here, she wasn't outside. Y'all know what's
up down here? We draw on our own. So they
started drawing their own districts. Obviously, these are the Republicans
doing this because they they can feel the wind shifting.
(27:40):
How do they feel the wind shifting, nigga, because Austin, Dallas,
and Houston them is big cities, and them is big
and what happens in big cities, Nigga, they leen left
at least right now, That's what happens if if the
rest of Texas is ruled. Ain't nobody out there. It's
not enough people out there. So according to these Republicans,
(28:00):
they're not getting their voices hurt. These people outside not
getting their voices hurt. Right, So we need to draw
districts that make their voices in rural areas be just
as powerful as the ones in the city because the
city is getting too much. Hey, a lot of this, this,
a lot of this was some of the stuff that
was happening in California while California was talking about breaking up,
(28:22):
breaking it up as a state. Why in the hell
should Kerrent County? You know, Wyrika, California? You ever heard
of Wayrika? Exactly? Why they paying the same the same
taxes at San Francisco as La. It's like, nigga, why
are we paying what y'all gotta pay them? Prices is
(28:43):
for you? Like that's y'all's way of life. The rest
of Cali ain't like this, that's a good point. You
get up to Mount Shasta. Oh that's that's Trump Country
up there. It's I mean, it's like, it's crazy. It's
not you think California. This this bastion of leftists. No, nigga,
that's the cities. You get out the cities, bro. You
get down to u Kaipa. I'm naming cities that I know.
(29:05):
You gotta be from here to know. And I know
this is a national international pod. You don't know what
I'm talking about. But you get down to U Kaipa.
All nigga. You in Texas, you know what I'm saying,
Like they don't rural Texas. Cuse you know what I'm saying.
Because Austin becoming a lot like Portland. You feel me. Dallas,
you know what I'm saying. Dallas looking like Seattle these days.
(29:27):
You feel me like the cities is changing. So they
was like, oh no, bruh, we gotta we gotta, we
gotta fix this. They was they was they was doing,
they doing too much. So anyway, the Voting Rights Act
was saying, listen, you should be able to include not
just geographical but racial and linguistic interest right, Because that
(29:48):
at first wasn't a part of the districting process racial
and linguistics. So when you start adding racial and linguistic,
it's again, we have a burgeoning, you know, Spanish speaking
Latino commune that has very specific needs and nigga, if
you not looking around, they finill out number everybody, you
know what I'm saying, But they don't have no say
(30:09):
how Well, this is how you make sure, if you empower,
how you stay in power. If you're the guy that
you're like, Yo, I'm finna lose this district because it's
a gang of you know whats that have been filling
up in my district. I'm about to lose this job. Well,
what's the answer. Do you try to convince these people
(30:29):
who know for a fact you racist and you're not
doing nothing for us. You're gonna try to convince them
that you are, especially when they brought up their own champion.
You know what I'm saying, They got their own champion.
You're gonna convince them to go with another white boy.
You're gonna convince this group, You're gonna convince this whole
city of multicolored faces that what they need is another
(30:50):
white boy. That's what you're gonna do. Nah, we just
go redraw the districts. You feel me? All your bloods now? Nah,
Hey black practice practice, Hey bla practice, you got it.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
You got it, da mud, you know what I'm saying.
You got it. Piru y'all, y'all bloods.
Speaker 1 (31:06):
Now, you redraw the district Now you ain't got to
worry about it. How we become bloods I just drew
another line around content, So now we now we're blud
Now you're in a blood like it just happened right
under your feet. So this is what Texas is doing.
And uh, Mary Garland is like, I don't know, man,
this feel real. I mean, you saying is to protect
(31:27):
the rural community, but it feels a little I don't know, man,
it feels a little Uh feels a little like paragraph
feel a little like protecting, protecting your whiteness kind of
what it feels like. Because Nikka, y'all almost lost. Last
y'all almost lost. It is your state flipping, and uh,
(31:48):
it seemed like you're not representing the people, you representing yourself.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
And just I don't know if y'all could do this.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
Let's give you a little background history of like how
long people have been Jerry Mandarin and where we even
got that word.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
Let's take a break. All right, we're back, y'all peak
(32:40):
that headlights yet did he drop it?
Speaker 1 (32:42):
I don't know when this episode is coming out. He
better have dropped the album by now. If not, hit him.
Speaker 2 (32:46):
Again, drop the album. I listened to it.
Speaker 1 (32:49):
We don't help him put it in order. This fool
got slapstock. It's just good vibes. Like if you at
you know this the holidays, you know you kind of
tired of family.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
Keep it real, Tell niggas go home.
Speaker 1 (33:02):
You need something to chill out in, or even background
music while everybody there man throw on that head likes say, man,
it's good vibes.
Speaker 2 (33:09):
You feel me anyway?
Speaker 1 (33:12):
So Jerry Mandarin, all right, listen this mug go all
the way back to I mean the next day after
we became a nation, right like immediately you know what
I'm saying. Thomas Hunter, he's a political scientist over professor
over there at the at the University of West Georgia, Right,
I mean, like there's evidence in like Virginia, North Carolina,
(33:35):
South Carolina that they drew districts to benefit some candidates
over others. I'm talking like late eighteenth early nineteenth century.
They I mean, it wasn't called Jerry Mandarin then, but
nigga's been Jerry Mandarin the whole time, Right, it would
be called that a little later. I'm gonna quote him.
He's yeah, I'm gonna uote Thomas Hunter. He says, I
(33:56):
think that what they did in Massachusetts in eighteen twelve
really was on stere or is compared to what had
gone on before, said Hunter about Okay, I'm gonna get
to it now.
Speaker 2 (34:07):
Check this out.
Speaker 1 (34:08):
So eighteen twelve, the Boston Gazette, right, was this political
he ran this political cartoon with this like species. Is
the drawing of this like monster, right that they called
it the jerrymander. Right. It was this fourk tongue creature
that looked like a almost like a dragon a little
bit that was shaped like a contorted Massachusetts voting district
(34:29):
that the States Jeffersonian Republicans had drawn to benefit their
own party. So again, rather than drawing, you know, district
map that made sense, they drew this weird shape thing
around the side of Boston and they called that one district.
And it's because they were just drawing circles around people
(34:50):
that would vote for a Jeffersonian Republican. So rather than
having a district and trying to win that district over,
you just drew a district, drew a circle around people
that would vote for you. And now Homie who signed
off for this, became a future vice president Eldridge Gary right,
(35:11):
who signed off on his party's redistricting in February, unwittingly
submitting his place in the United States lexicon of underhanded
political tricks. So the Federalists reprinted it. That's a newspaper,
and so when they reprinted it, it was kind of like this.
It was because it was supposed to be a play
(35:31):
on words with a salamander, right, so they called it
a Jerry Mander, even though Jerry's name is pronounced Gary.
When we say it like Jerry, it's just whatever. This
is what happens when something's two hundred years old. So anyway,
he drew a district that did not make sense to
make sure that he could stay in power. Right, But
(35:54):
before that they used to call him a Rotten Boroughs,
which is, again, you make a district that would ensure
that these people in this room would vote for you.
So if you living in this in this area, your
neighborhood happens to get redrawn. My nigga, all of a sudden,
you're on the wrong side of town according to your
voting practices. Now, in a defense of redrawing districts, a
(36:18):
defensive redrawing districts can in some ways be like my.
Speaker 2 (36:23):
First example of lynn Wood, the.
Speaker 1 (36:26):
Demographic changed, you know what I'm saying, Like the city is,
it's different, right, the the the borders are different. Using
a gang, using a gang analogy here, like when you
say you from Compton, we have to be like you
from east or West because one side is blood, one
side is crip. You know, but maybe it wasn't always
like that, because you know, there was a time that
(36:47):
bloods didn't exist, you feel me, right? So, uh, that
means that the city needs to be who's representing y'all
needs to be y'all need to this needs to need
to redraw these districts because these two areas have very
different interests, right, So because of that, you need different representatives.
(37:09):
So there is a time that maybe it is important
to redraw lines. But then it's other times that it's
like when it's coming from the top down rather than
the bottom up. It's because y'all these fools is consolidating power.
So more of the story for all of us. What
do we need to know? Your homework is today. As
(37:34):
soon as you finish this pod, go figure out what
district you in, who your representative is. Then do your
google's on this dude, on this lake, on this food,
on cuz on blood? Do you do your Googles? What's
this fool about? What they what they trying to do?
What's they vote in history? You know what I'm saying,
(37:55):
Pay attention like who who is this food? You know
what I'm saying, Know your district, know some of the
ballot measures that are in your district. And then after that,
like look around as to like, yo, maybe somebody else
might be Maybe it's trying to start paying attention to
your local commercials about who was running for district, Like
(38:16):
see who, see who? See who were putting up when
you see what your district is, look at the way
it's drawn, and being like all right, uh you know
your hood better than me. Be like okay, this seems
this seemed real weird, Like why are we looped.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
In with them and not with them?
Speaker 1 (38:32):
That don't make no sense. I'll tell you why somebody
wanted to keep their jobs. You feel me so? And
then just you know, now that you have this information,
like the next time these ballots come around, you can
make a more educated guess as to like who you're
trying to send You feel me who you're trying to
send to the table to be representing y'all? Like who's
(38:53):
your soldiers? Is this soldier? Is this soldier really interested
in our goods? See, there's a lot of things and
politics that are I feel you are so far away
from us that it seems like it don't do nothing.
And those ones that are so far away from us
usually get the most shine. These local ones, they don't
get a lot of shine. But that's the ones that
affect us the most. You know what I'm saying. Your
(39:14):
vote and your local one is one of a couple thousands.
Your vote put in national ones a couple of millions.
So I mean where you think your voice is gonna
have home or weight with a couple thousand or a
couple million. You know what I'm saying, Why not your district?
Why not what colored laces you've got? You know what
I'm saying, Maybe you ain't hand nom say, but you
(39:34):
do now the the politics, y'all? Okay, does that make sense?
So this is what's happening right now. Like I said,
President Trump tried to do it a long time ago.
(39:58):
Mary Garland sou dude Texas for doing this, because it's like,
my nigga, you can't just make up the lines because
you lose it. The conclusion that anyone would draw from this,
who got any logic is if y'all play fair, you're
gonna lose. And then some would argue, well, well, why
(40:18):
is the board the way it's set now?
Speaker 2 (40:22):
The fair way?
Speaker 1 (40:23):
You understand what I mean now because you just heard
me talk thirty minutes about what I mean by all this.
Speaker 2 (40:30):
Why is the board fair now? Or then?
Speaker 1 (40:33):
Yeah, like, why can't I change the board? Why is
this not fair? Why is it not fair to look
at what's happening right now and say, dude, like the
needs of my people are being underrepresented, so we need
to change this, We need to change the districts. Well,
because you already told me that's not what you're doing.
You already told me you doing this just to make
(40:54):
sure you stay at power. Your man said that we
just need five extra seats, So we're gonna redraw the
districts to make sure that anyone that is Democrat or
left leaning, or let's go ahead and give you a subtext,
a person of color is not going to have power.
Speaker 2 (41:14):
There. It is. Guys. What sucks about politics is.
Speaker 1 (41:20):
You're not really gonna find much that hasn't already happened
and has already proven to be quite detrimental to us.
But you know, here we are. So that's what's happening
in Texas. We'll see how it goes to the politics.
(41:54):
All right, Now, don't you hit stop on this pod.
You better listen to these credits. I need you to
finish this thing so I can get the download numbers. Okay,
so don't stop it yet, but listen. This was recorded
in East Lost Boyle Heights by your boy Propaganda. Tap
in with me at prop hip hop dot com. If
(42:15):
you're in the Coldbrew coffee we got terraform Coldbrew. You
can go there dot com and use promo code hood
get twenty percent off get yourself some coffee. This was mixed, edited,
and mastered by your boy Matt Alsowski killing the Beast Softly.
Check out his website Matdowsowski dot com.
Speaker 2 (42:33):
I'm a speller for you because I know.
Speaker 1 (42:36):
M A T T O S O W s ki
dot com Matthowsowski dot com. He got more music and
stuff like that on there, so gonna check out. The
Heat of Politics is a member of cool Zone Media,
Executive produced by Sophie Lichterman, part of the iHeartMedia podcast network.
(42:56):
Your theme music and scoring is also by the one
and Oble Adolsowski. Still killing the beats softly, so listen.
Don't let nobody lie to you. If you understand urban living,
you understand politics. These people is not smarter than you.
We'll see y'all next week.
Host
Prop
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