February 3, 2025 • 44 mins
In this episode, Cari discusses the current socio-political climate, emphasizing the dangers of apathy and the importance of activism. Joined by Brittany Packnett Cunningham – The Baddie for Justice, they explore the intersections of sports, politics, and culture, and how community engagement can lead to meaningful change. They reflect on the historical context of activism, the need for accountability, and the significance of self-care in these challenging times. The conversation highlights the importance of channeling outrage into constructive action and the necessity for supporting one another in the fight for justice.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Today's episode is interesting.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
I have been thinking about how I do my job
as a journalist in these times that I believe are
very dangerous and also very uncomfortable, And I think what
makes me uncomfortable the most is the apathy, the apathy
that this isn't really a dangerous time that we're living in.
(00:29):
I am not an alarmist. I am very optimistic. I
always like to think about the future.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
And here's a kicker.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
I don't believe that what I'm afraid of really truly
will affect me in ways that it will affect the masses,
if that makes sense. Meaning I'm not worried about being deported.
I'm not worried about certain housing insecure, or things that
really are everyday issues, or how simple things that we
(00:59):
should be aware of. These things aren't necessarily at the
forefront of my mind. What I am worried about again
is the apathy, the idea that we are not living
in dangerous times. We are twenty some odd days, maybe
more than a month by the time you hear this
(01:20):
into this new year, and so much has happened. I
don't know how y'all can keep track, because I know
I can't keep track and that is my job as
a journalist to keep track. And the other day I
got a text from David Johnson. It said, guard your joy, sibling,
guard your joy, And I thought to myself, that's really powerful.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
So instead of.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Complaining, I said, let me find some joy today, let
me do something that I love to do.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
And that was just laugh of my friends.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
It was just that simple, go hang out with my folks, laugh,
be silly, and enjoy myself because those days, to me,
are going to be the most important to keep the
balance of where we are. President Trump signed an executive
order that essentially said, if you are a federal employee
under any type of d E and I, we're going
(02:13):
to put paid leave and we eventually will then lay
you off. DEI is not a thing. Diversity, equity and
inclusion is not a thing anymore. If you are the
head of that department, if you work under that guise,
if somehow you are employed that way, especially if it's
by the federal government, you quite frankly will not have
a job unless you switch departments.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Who knows what happens.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
The insurrectionists have been freed from January sixth. People are
truly worried about being deported as they should be. There
are simple liberties that you and I have taken for
granted that will no longer be there.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
And I'm worried.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
And I need to understand what I should do because
I don't feel really educated about how to fight a
battle I've never been a part of before. So on
today's episode, Brittany Pacnett Cunningham Activists, mother friend's sister, smart lady,
(03:20):
you know all of the adjectives, joins us.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
On the podcast, and I gave.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Her some examples of things that I've been able to
see in these first few weeks of the new year,
And how do people who are frustrated or want to
be involved, or people who want to see a difference,
how do they respond? And I simply took on a
couple of key phrases. If I see something, say something.
(03:47):
I'm very intentional about what I see because they will
tell you you didn't see it. But I'm also intentional
about not being emotional in these times, because you can't
do anything if you only move with emotion. It doesn't
help you think straight, it doesn't help you strategize, it
doesn't help you play a different type of game. And
(04:08):
right now, a different type of game is being played,
and I don't quite frankly know what it is. But
what I do know is that I want to help.
I want to live in.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
A world where I raise.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Children in there and they have the same rights in liberties,
and right now it feels as if they're being taken away.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
It really does.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
And for those who are like I don't care, I
don't want to hear about this. It's exhausting. Let's just
wait this out for four years. Brittany has a really
good message today.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Do your work. Do your work, your work.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Whether that's raising your children, whether that's paying and providing
for your family, whether that's being a journalist, whether that
is being an activist, whether that is being someone who
works in the customer service department. Do your work, whatever
that looks like. And little do we know, we're helping
out society at large. I am my brother's keeper. We
(05:07):
truly are. And I know most people don't want to
hear that, but we all want to live in a
safe space. We all want to live in that world
where we feel as if we have rights. Call me crazy,
and so I hope you enjoy this edition of Naked
Sports Brittany's heavy because she's so smart. Her brain's so big, right,
(05:31):
so she breaks it down and have a break it down,
and break it down, break it down. It's just like
you know, PhD level, and I need you to give
it to me at a bachelor's level. Maybe even give
it to me at a high school level, break it
down to elementary. Matter of fact, is there any books
and pictures that come with what you're telling me? What
is the instruction? I only want pictures that tell me
(05:51):
what to do, kid, I joke. I hope you enjoy
this edition of Naked Sports. Welcome to Naked Sports, the
podcast where we live at the intersection of sports, politics,
and culture. Our purpose reveal the common threads that bind
them all.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
So what's happening in women's basketball right now is what
we've been trying.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
To get to for almost thirty years.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
From the stadiums where athletes break barriers and set records.
Kayden Clark broke the all time single game assist record.
This is crazy for rookies to be doing. To the
polls where history is written.
Speaker 5 (06:26):
And now we have Kamala Harrison. It feels more like
women are sort of taken what they've always deserved, as
opposed to waiting on somebody to give them what they deserve.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Our discussions will uncover the vital connections between these realms
and the community we create. In each episode, we'll sit
down with athletes, political analysts, and culture critics because at
the core of it all, how we see one issue
shines the light on all others. Welcome to Naked Sports.
I'm your host, Gary Champion.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
I'm Brittany Paknak Cunningham.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
I am an activist, a writer, an educator of strategist.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
I'm basically a battie for Jeffrey.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
A batty for Justice. Y'all did y'all know they existed? Yes?
Speaker 2 (07:13):
You did, because I'm sure you're familiar with her. In
the spirit of transparency, we have a very intimate girl
group that we all are baddies for Justice, if you will,
and Brittany is one of ten total collective and I
think when I describe Brittany and you should always give
your friends their flowers. When I think of her, I
(07:35):
was a fan before I even knew her, but I
loved how eloquent she was and she always met at
the intersection of elegance rationality. Believe it or not, and
righteous anger.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
It's hard to give.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
It's hard to give all of those things without sounding
too emotional. And if you are emotional, it's righteous. It
feels fair, it feels balanced, it feels very on scale
with what we should be talking about. And here we
are twenty three days, twenty two days correction into the
new year, and it feels like it's been ten years
into this new year.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
It does.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
This has been a long year.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Talk to me about how you felt when Kamala Harris
lost the election.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
Oh, chow, Well, first of all, let me give you
your flowers.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Because we were mutual fans before we knew each other,
and then immediately fell in like we had.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
Always been sisters. And that is a.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Rarity, right, because you can meet people and have an
instant connection and it not be a lasting one.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
And I'm so glad that this one is a lasting one.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
You have always been so clear eyed about your purpose work,
and to watch how deftly you intertwine for culture, woman
is done justice and you do it while you're like
a full gra amazon h st tall. But actually don't
(09:08):
you You physically looked down on us, but you never
actually looked down on any women I just think that
that's a beautiful thing because you're You're beautiful enough to
be a jerk if you.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
Wanted to.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
And when I'm a jerk, it's only because I'm really
wanting to be a jerk because something is wrong.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Yes, but that's that's my kind of battie, right, Those
are my kind of keey balls.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
Amen? Amen?
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Anyway, Okay, so so so our dear sister, Madame Vice
President Kamala Debbie Harris. It's interesting because I know that
you know, I very quietly served as a senior advisor
for her campaign and had known her for a number
(09:51):
of years since she was in the Senate, and had
developed a relationship with her that was both personal, because
I think you know that as people get to know
that the aunty thing really does bring true right, like
when there was stuff going on with me or when
our first son was born, like he would call, she
would check it, she would encourage, she would offer help,
(10:11):
and all of that was very genuine. But she'd also
call and be like, Okay, this is what we're planning.
Tell me what's wrong with it? Like poke holds in it?
Where should we be going? What should I be saying?
Speaker 4 (10:21):
About it. You know, where are the flaws in the plan?
Speaker 3 (10:24):
And it is rare to meet a public servant like
that who displays that level of consistency an.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
Interest in being responsive to the people.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
And so that is the kind of person I was
looking forward to inhabiting that office. It meant something, certainly
for her to be a black and South Asian woman.
It meant something for her to be a woman, It
meant something for her to be a history maker in
so many regards. But it also meant something to have
(10:55):
someone who was interested in the constituency she serves as
her and the constituency being her leaders instead of the
other way around.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
And so my reaction had everything to do with the
pain of knowing that not only were we not going
to get somebody like that, but we were going to
get the exact opposite, somebody who seeks to.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Disempower the people through overwhelmed, through destruction, through being power hungry,
money hungry, and through ego, right like through pure ego.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
That night was.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
You know, we got to Howard's canvas and we were
like ready to slag surf to victory, and we swag, sir,
but not to victory.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
The next day going back for our concession speech. It
felt like it felt like a.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Funeral march until she hit the stage and reminded us
that we have work to do. And I think in
this day since I, like many other black women, have
been resting up and trying to prepare for what this
new season is going to look like. I've been trying
to make sure that my house is in order, because
you know, I'm very close to popping out baby number two,
(12:16):
and I want these two black boys that I'm raising
alongside this black husband of mine, in this very black
household of ours, to be safe and secure always. And
you know, I'm trying desperately to raise a different kind
of man and our voice. And I'm thinking a lot
about that. In the days past past the selection result.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
You wrote an article I mean prolific with your words.
You really are, and you describe a universal feeling or
at least represent the ninety two and that is inclusive
of myself and the article that you wrote for the Cut,
the plight of Black women in America is seeing Kamala
Harris Loose confirmed that the solid dare we work so
(13:01):
hard to create may still abandon us. He wrote, and
these are some of the highlights. I wish I wasn't pregnant,
and that's the most crushing thing to feel right now.
Usually I leaned into my black girl tendency to lie
and say I'm fine, but in truth, I wasn't. In
(13:22):
my raw's place, I'm still left feeling like I can't
trust any damn body.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Friend.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
That makes my eyes water. Considering where we are right now,
and you have been in this game, this political activism game,
for some time.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Where's our hope? What do we do now? If anything
at all?
Speaker 4 (13:56):
I mean.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
For me, besides my fate background, my hope is ancestral.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
Right, there's a.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Calling I think so many of us have been feeling
back to the blueprint. You know, it is not lost
on me that Reverend doctor Bernice King was very clear
in saying that she felt like it was divine that
the juxtaposition of Trump was cast so clearly against the
(14:28):
life and legacy of her father and mother, as Inauguration
Day was also on MLK Day, And I'm glad that
she called us to recognizing the stark gap between where
our reality is and where the dream is. And so
(14:49):
the good news though, about us bridging that gap, right,
us making it across that chasm is that, Carrie, we
come from people who have done far more, was far less.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
Right.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
We come from people who literally wrote their own freedom
into existence when it was not accessible, when they were
not allowed to read it write right, when connecting with
one another was illegal and punishable by death, when daring
to say I love you, let's build through the build
(15:25):
a family through the institution of marriage is actually not allowed.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
Right, We're talking about people who.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Put themselves in the posture of emancipation before it actually
came to be. That's where our ancestors are like, let's
be very very clear. So there's a precedent for freedom
and a blueprint that they said that we get to
follow their descendants, right in the era of the Civil
rights movement, in the era of Black Power, in the
(15:55):
era of black arts, recognizing that from a Philip Randolph
and the Brotherhood of Pume Importers forcing black people into
the labor rights conversation in the nineteen forties, all the
way through Gil Scott Heron in the sixties and seventies
telling you that the revolution won't be televised because dot
(16:15):
dot dot it needs to be communal, it needs.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
To be grounded. It needs to be real and that
revolution will be live.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
As he said, like, that is another era of blueprints
for us, Right, Ida d Wells gives a blueprint for
the journalists to be compelled to tell the truth and
to devise a way to do so independently.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
Right.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
So what her newsletter was is what our podcasts are there,
what our subsets are there, what you know our speeches are?
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Right? The educators, like said to Maclark, gave us a blueprint.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
She built the school herself and said literacy is critical
to our freedom and if they won't teach you, we.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
Will, right. And there are literal.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
There are literally entire communities, generations of black people who
owe their ability to read and write to the fact
that she built the Highlander Center in Tennessee and shuffled
as many children through that place as possible, made sure
that they all came out knowing how to read and
write and knowing that the power of life and death
was in their tongue.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
Right, So, like, that's that's a blueprint, Manny.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
Helen Burrows built a school in DC for black women
and girls to say, you should have access to every
option that if you want to be a domestic will
teach you how to do that.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
But if you want to be an.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Administrator or a secretary or a teacher, will teach you
how to do that. Right, if you want to be
an entrepreneur, will teach you how to do that because
you are owed every single option and you can write
generational wealth into your family's future through the schooling that
we give you here. Right, those are the you know,
the the midwives gave us the blueprint. They said, you
can't go to the hospital and expect to be treated fairly,
(17:51):
So we're going to make sure that we can help
you bear your children at home. Right, And you know,
I look at organizations like Mama Glow and Jama Birth
Center and my Home Saint Louis, and they are carrying
on that blueprint. So I give those examples to say
we're not in this alone. Our ancestors have reached out
guiding hands to pull us along the way.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
We just have to be smart enough to grab holds.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
We have to be smart enough to read the books
and watch the documentaries and talk to the elders, many
of whom aren't still with us, and understand how.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
To move deafly. How in a lot of ways to
move secretly.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
And how to be organized, disciplined and loving enough with
one another that we look back over these four years
and realize not only have we survived, but we found
creative ways to thrive, and we set new blueprints for
the future.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
And we've done, as you said, far more with far less.
This season will require sacrifice if we want to see
true justice. This season will require us to not be
as comfortable, and I don't know if everyone knows what
that looks like or feels like there will be I
think that this also is a beautiful time for us
(19:04):
to remember those blueprints to empower ourselves if we feel
because everyone may not feel the way we feel. People
may feel like there is the saying I'm taking my
cape off and I'm gonna put on a blanket. People
may feel like they want to check out. I don't
feel that way. I felt that way after Kamala lost,
but I knew I just needed a minute to understand
(19:25):
the loss and then I'm going to get back in
the fight.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
I just needed a minute to mourn.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
And I don't think that many of us, as black
women were allowed that space that saves space to mourn
because we needed to It was a visceral reaction to
watching what we needed, which was the hope we needed
to believe she could even though it didn't happen.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
We needed to believe she could. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
Absolutely, I know exactly what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
And to be clear, I think that lots of black
women in particular are shifting how we shut up. We
might be taking off the cap and need to realize
if that's okay because we taken off the cape, but
we're putting on a rope because actually, what this time
is calling us too is intentional self care such that
we can teach.
Speaker 4 (20:12):
Future generations how to care for themselves.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
Right, Like, maybe you are taking off the cap, but
you're putting on the apron and you're saying the thing
that actually makes me happy is feeding the people that
I love.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
And there is a role for that.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
Right in freedom work, I often talk about a woman
named Mama Cat who back during the Ferguson uprising was
literally feeding us right when people were out on the
front lines in front of the Ferguson Police Department on
West Forest and Avenue right by Canfield.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
Where Michael Brown was murdered.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
Like she's literally passing out plates of food, and often
the hands that are accepting that food.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
Are people who've lost their jobs.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
For participating in this uprising, right, people who were housing
insecure and didn't know where their next meal was coming from.
Speaker 4 (20:57):
And then as that time marched on, Mama Cat.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Got with formally incarcerated people, she got with protesters, she
got with organizers, and she said, if you want to
write your future, let me teach you how to cook.
Speaker 4 (21:09):
Let me teach you how to be a chef.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Let me help you find a career and a passion
that not only can feed your community, but help you
feed yourself.
Speaker 4 (21:17):
And so that kind of work is what she was
born to do.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Part of the reason why we're so exhausted is because
we keep accepting other people's responsibilities. And Mama Cat said, no, no,
no, no no, I'm going to do my job. I'm going
to stay in my lane. I'm going to make my
contribution of consequence.
Speaker 4 (21:37):
So it's not like she gave up. It's not like
she wasn't doing the work.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
It was that she was not being somebody else's mule
because they wanted.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
Her to perform in some other kind of way.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
And I think that's what a lot of us are
doing right, So it doesn't It doesn't mean that we're
giving up.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
It means that we're shifting how we contribute.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
So that we can do so in a way is sustainable, healthy,
and respectful of who we are.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Beautiful, do you hear that we can shift the way
we show up and still do the work. We can
shift the way we show up and still do the work.
It doesn't have to be loud and proud. If you
think that's what work looks like, it could be cooking
for someone.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Powerful because we now, all of us, I think, are
looking for ways to do this, but do it with intention,
real intention, And the conversations that I'm hearing in our
world and this group of people who want to do
the work is let's organize silently, let's do it, Let's
do it privately and then take it to the streets.
(22:33):
But we have to be organized. And by we I
mean the people who want to see the world that
doctor King wanted us to live in, the people who
believe that we all who believe what America promised. In short,
these first few days with forty seven in office have
been chaotic in terms of the executive orders the people
(22:57):
who were immediately affected, and they have been very punitive,
as he has promised back in a moment, Welcome back
to naked sports survival tips.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
What do you say?
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Do you have any Yeah?
Speaker 4 (23:23):
A couple of things.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
One one is to find no and remain connected to
your people.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
This is a time when community.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Let me be clear, community always matters, whether you've built
digitally in person and whether it's your blood family, whether
it's your chosen family, whether it's a combination of all
of the above, and then some You need to know
who you can call when times get rough, and you
need to be the kind of person that can be
called when times get rough.
Speaker 4 (23:55):
Right.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
People talk about mutual aid as if it is just fundraising, Right,
if it's just somebody making it GoFundMe and.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
That matters, right.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
I think the response to the LA fires, for example,
has shown us very recently how much community matters, how
much mutual aid matters. But what is also true is
that mutual aid is about emotional connectivity, solidarity and respect
such that I won't disappear when either things get tough
(24:28):
or when the thing you're going through is out of
the headlines, right, And that kind of mutual aid that
is consistent and thoughtful and intentional.
Speaker 4 (24:37):
That's how we need to be showing up for one another.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
And so like, know who your people are and make
sure that they know who you are through consistency of action,
I would.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
Say, is the first thing. The second thing I would
say really is to mind mind.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
Your locus of control. There's I wrote about this online,
maybe yesterday, maybe the day before, I don't know. We
all have work to do, and remaining focused on that
work is part of.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
What survival in this time looks like.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Because we know that a fascist playbook is shock and awe,
overwhelmed and distract So hundreds of eos in one day,
dozens of incindiarra remarks in one day, wild tweets and
posts in two days, completely and totally offensive remarks from
(25:29):
podcasts to television to you know, discord or whatever, all
in a matter of a day or two.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
All of that is supposed to keep.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Us so distraught and so reactive that we can't focus
on what's important, right, Because what's actually important is making
sure that all of us, for example.
Speaker 4 (25:48):
Know what to do with ice knock on the door? Right?
Speaker 3 (25:51):
Did you know that you don't have to tell them anything. Nope,
I don't know anything about it. Nope, I haven't seen them, nope.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
Right, Like, you know how to be a.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
Disruptor and an interrupter of that injustice instead of even
unwittingly participating and someone's removal from this country, right, Like,
that's actually timely, and those resources have been going around
the internet, right for like, instead of just likeing it,
take the time to save the post, read through it,
share it over touch with your friends and say hey,
(26:21):
let's make sure that we all do this. Share it
with your neighbors, and say, hey, let's make sure we're
all on the same page about this.
Speaker 4 (26:26):
Right.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
But if you're so busy being outraged at his tweets,
then you'll miss the instruction of the moment this somebody's
gonna end up screwed. And I think that is really
important that we mind the business that matters, right, that
we stay in our lane, and then we give ourselves
an opportunity to keep our nervous systems in check long
(26:50):
enough to be effective instead of just constantly be overwhelmed.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
Because that's so precisely they're texting.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Right, you're so right, You're so right.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
I don't know how people who are an emotional group
of people know how to recalibrate. Yeah, we and when
we say we for everyone listening, I'm talking about the culture.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
I'm talking about black folks. I need to speak.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Really plainly because we are we are not be real
clear because they're not politicizing their words. They're being very clear.
If you see something, say something, Stop telling me. I
post this the other day about Elon Musk, Stop telling
me I didn't see what I saw. It's not fair
to do that. It's not fair to let them win
the campaign of social media, which is so clear and
(27:32):
what they're trying to do.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
So, how do you.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Tell a culture not to be emotional when that is
all we have ever known in so many ways is
the emotion. I'm gonna talk back to the TV. I'm
gonna yell at the scream when I'm gonna do it.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
You know we do this.
Speaker 4 (27:48):
Yeah. I don't think to focus each other not to
be emotional.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
I think we tell each other go ahead and be
emotional and then challenge the channel the emotions.
Speaker 4 (27:58):
Right, since you're.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
Feeling the rate, feel it, feel it deliberately, right, feel
it at your local school board meeting? Right, like, take
take the rage over to your mayor's office.
Speaker 4 (28:09):
Right.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
I live in a state that has joined a number
of other states, for example, in suing the administration over
these ice rays. Right, So, like, you know, there are
petitions going around to support that. There's letter writing that
happens with that. Let me go channel my rage into
this email, right, because my you know, maybe you live
in a state that hasn't joined up and you need
(28:32):
to say, hey, it's time to do so, or you
live in a state that has joined up.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
And you're sharing that post to say I'm triud to
live here. Right.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
I don't think we discourage people from our natural human tendencies.
I think that we give people the opportunity to be
disciplined with them. I also think, and this is both
to the question of survival and the question of emotion.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
Part of what we have to become disciplined in, and
this is hard for all of us, is.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
To quell our addiction to views and likes. We not
gonna be secretive. We're not gonna move smartly and deathly
if we feel like we got to broadcast the plan
before we enact the plan. Because as long as I'm
the first to broadcast the plan, then I'll go viral.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Yeah, yeah, I agree.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
And the tech oligarchs are removing the incentive, to be
very clear, from plenty of us who are doing this work,
to broadcast the work, because they're demonetizing those creators, they're
demonetizing those platforms, they're shadow banding us, et cetera. So
like they're helping you break the addiction because you're not
(29:43):
gonna make the kind of money off of it that
you might once path right, so like, go ahead, let
it go, baby. We have to be more addicted to freedom,
the idea of it, the taste of it, the smell
of it, the feel of it. We have to be
more addicted to freedom than we are. Applause, Brittany.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
I'm going to name a few things that where people
were outraged about, and you just gave examples of what
to do with this outrage channel it in other places.
So I'm going to give you an example of where
everyone was so outraged, and by everyone, I mean what
you saw on social media and talked about in the culture,
and then you tell me what to do with that outrage.
Snoop Dogg performing at the Crypto Ball, Nelly performing at
(30:21):
the inauguration and Soldier Boy being there and and Ross
helping Snoop DJ. What do we do without outrage? And
I'm saying we collectively, I didn't participate. I felt it,
not surprise, but what does someone do if they're so angry,
as opposed to just passing that post around?
Speaker 3 (30:37):
I felt it too because Nelly performed, and then I'm
very glad that she apologized to Doctor Bernie King, but
Sexy Red put up a post with her and.
Speaker 4 (30:46):
Doctor King dancing with the club child.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
My own city, Saint Louis was down back a thousand, Okay,
So like, I understand the frustration, but shout out to
Sexy Red for taking responsibility, shout out to doctor King
for being so gracious in her response and giving teachable moment.
But I actually think that's the thing, right, We channel
that rage and we educate.
Speaker 4 (31:05):
Here's how we educate.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
Here's a book that a friend of mine is reading
and has been encouraging us to read to prepare for
this time, called Hitler's First one hundred.
Speaker 4 (31:13):
Days, Because we bet their aki.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
One of the things that the book talks about is
that it's not just the coercion and the brute force
of Hitler's government that got Germany in line with their agenda.
Some of it was consent, some of it was capitulation.
Speaker 4 (31:34):
Some of it was people looking.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
At the awe and the pomp and the circumstance and
the pageantry of it all and being so overwhelmed with
a sense of patriotism or unity or whatever that they
readily accepted a Nazi authoritarian regime.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
And the Nazis did not have to.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
Beat them into submission, because they awed them into submission.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
Right. So like, if you are more impressed.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
With who's performing at the ball, with how much money
you can make by going ahead and taking that little
trump check, right, Like, if you're more and always that,
then you are your own freedom.
Speaker 4 (32:16):
Then you are at risk.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
Of being seduced into compliance and capitulation with that which
means to kill you.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
Right.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
This is and I wrote about this in the cut
just recently, right, because yeah, I'm mad at Smooth, but
this is a teachable moment to say everybody who's sitting
there responding and saying, well, I mean at least he
got a check.
Speaker 4 (32:41):
What profit of a man to gain the whole world
and lose your soul? Right? What's that check worth?
Speaker 3 (32:45):
To you, baby, let's actually talk about the people that
accepted those checks in Nazi Germany and then ended up
in somebody's concentrations.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
Again. Woof. It's a teachable moment.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Because everyone, not everyone, but you can feel the disengagement
of what. I'm just gonna chill out. I feel like
disengagement at this time is so so deadly there. It
is so dangerous to not be activated and or educated
at this moment.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
You can choose one.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
You don't need both, but it is so dangerous to
be I'm gonna just gonna mind my business in this moment.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
It's scary to me.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
When we help people have the information though, and we
were just talking about this on Undistracted, when we help
people have the information, we have to actually help people
translate it into knowledge.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
Okay, So where our friend.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
Doctor Brittany Cooper, who was on the episode, was talking
about the fact that we are a very information rich
society that you at the click of a button or
at the sound of your voice, at the click of AI.
Speaker 4 (33:46):
You can have an answer to any question in the world.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
Right, But if you don't synthesize that information into knowledge
and actually connect the dots onto.
Speaker 4 (33:54):
What it means, then all you have is like a
bunch of stuff rattling around your head mean anything. So
part of the overwhelm of.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
Just having so much information is what leads people to
be desensitized and to check out. But if we can
help people crystallize this is the information. Here's how information
like this was used against people like.
Speaker 4 (34:15):
You and I in the past.
Speaker 3 (34:17):
So here's how to protect yourself, here's what to watch
out for. Here's how to protect your neighbor. If we
can help people synthesize that and connect those dots, then
we give them a sense of purpose. Right, then we
give them a sense of control. I can do something
about this versus the helplessness that makes you just say
I'm almost said it on the couch and just wait
it out and hope that I don't.
Speaker 4 (34:35):
Get taken out.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
If people don't get that synthesis and that knowledge and
that understanding, we're we're not doing a good job of
helping powers.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Right right, right, And And that's actually just gave me
a starting point. I'm like, where do we begin? How
many calls have you received? Or you're like, what we're
gonna do? We're we're moving to how are we gonna get.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
Our money out.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
And if we don't have information, simple information that pertains
to your specific infor situation, then we can't. That's what
we have to have that information available to help everybody.
I feel like we're getting ready to enter a time.
We're journalists, people who who who want to speak truth
to power. We're really gonna have to make some really
(35:15):
significant choices. Candidly, I thought, dang, we're not going to
see ann What am I going to say?
Speaker 1 (35:20):
What's going on?
Speaker 4 (35:22):
Like?
Speaker 1 (35:22):
How do I approach this?
Speaker 2 (35:23):
I don't want to be on TV arguing with a
white man and then I'm somewhere on somebody trying to
fight me, you.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
Know what I mean? Like, I want more for I
want more for my.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Life than this, because the boldness of their behavior is
out of control.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
You can feel it.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
This president has emboldened people who have very little knowledge
but are on emotion and bravado, and it is scary
to move that way. So I always think what to do,
and I want to get your take on this. I
think that we should handle everyone accordingly until we see
a clear and we're all leaders until we see a
(35:58):
very clear leader step up from whatever side. I'm not
talking about parties. But yeah, we can talk about the
Democratic Party. But I'm looking for clear leadership. These times
create that, though, These times create that where people want
to really change the world and they speak truth to power.
We give so many of our leader's passes and we
have to hold them accountable. When Michelle stands on business,
(36:19):
we got to talk about everybody else who didn't stand
on business, including her husband.
Speaker 4 (36:23):
And why you leave her out there like that?
Speaker 1 (36:24):
Why you got her out here saying I'm not gonna.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
Go to the people should have been saying, oh, I'm
not coming either. I'm gonna be a Michelle's house, playing state.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
We will be or dominoes or whatever.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
We're dominoes or passing out food to the people, or
passing out banned books to the kids.
Speaker 4 (36:41):
Something.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
Nah, I'm not goingsten and no is a complete sentence.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
See Michelle's face. And so I think.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
We culturally need to be okay with calling out those
who are not doing us right, even if we love them,
even if we do because we're doing it loving.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
Yeah, I don't think that that's wrong. I think that
we just often forget the second half of that equation.
So of the call out of the wrongness plus the
opportunity to be better equals all of us getting more free, right,
which is part of the reason why I love this
exchange between Bernie's King and Sexy Red. Bernie's King sees
(37:26):
this picture and it's an AI picture of Sexy Red
and Doctor King in the club dancing, and Doctor.
Speaker 4 (37:32):
King is looking at her like seductively crizy, right, like
what is wrong with the paople?
Speaker 3 (37:39):
And like, to be clear, had this been anybody else,
they just would have gone outside her head, right, okay,
baby girl, Like, let's if you really want to go there,
let's go there. Doctor King says, you know, please delete this,
and here's why. The why is that you have to
understand that it's disrespectful to my father's legacy. It helps
(38:01):
other people who have ilentations for our community undermine what
his example was. And I'm that man's daughter. Do you
know what it feels like for our family to keep
looking up and see him be mischaracterized and being made
a caricature of and demeaned in ways when like, that's
my father who was assascinated right fixy read comes back
(38:23):
and she's like.
Speaker 4 (38:24):
You are absolutely right. I am so sorry. I just
I thought it was innocent.
Speaker 3 (38:30):
I retreated it and I shouldn't have deleted it. Then
doctor King comes back and she.
Speaker 4 (38:35):
Says, I appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (38:38):
And I also want to speak to everybody in the
comment who are taking this as an opportunity to disparage you.
They said, don't nobody, She was like, don't nobody need
to be in here calling you a hood, ghetto, trash, tasteless,
blah blah blah. She said, I want the best for you.
The freedom that he fought for and the freedom that
I'm fighting for is for all of us, including you,
baby girl. So thank you for listening. Let's go do
(39:01):
better together. She got everybody together in that one, right,
Like I got chills reading it, and so like she
gave the opportunity to do better, to show up better.
And I think that we just often don't give people that.
I'm not saying that there doesn't need to be reconciliation,
I'm not saying that there doesn't need to be truth.
Speaker 4 (39:19):
I'm not saying that there doesn't need to be accountability.
There was, there does.
Speaker 3 (39:22):
And if you give somebody the opportunity improve and they
ain't trying to do it, then you gonna have to
catch the train another time, I can't wait.
Speaker 4 (39:30):
For you and rate.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
Other part is to give them grace so they can
have room to grow and be better, so we.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
Can call them out. But there's still that other part.
Speaker 3 (39:39):
I think what's fair is that our grace can extend
to where somebody's responsibility begins.
Speaker 4 (39:45):
Sexy Red took responsibility.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (39:47):
Doctor King offered her grades and in doing so gave
all of us and Sexy read.
Speaker 4 (39:52):
To teachable moment right, and.
Speaker 3 (39:53):
It went much better and can be uplifted as a
beautiful example and teachable moment for everybody versus some that
ends up on the shape.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
Room back in a moment.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
The other thing that I think big is often missing
is that while we call out the people who ain't
doing it, we need to amplify and pump up the
people who are doing it right, who are operating with integrity,
who are operating with consistency, who are teachable, who are
correctable right. And I think that like the truth of
the matter is, there are lots of leaders in lots
(40:28):
of places where we need them. There are people who
are operating at the national level, but there are folks
who are doing that in the narrative space, and we
need them. There are people who are doing that in
sports and culture and we need them. There are people
who are doing that in politics, and we need them.
But we also need like local people who are making
sure that the one abortion clinic in town stay open.
Speaker 4 (40:49):
Right, We also need local folks who are.
Speaker 3 (40:51):
Willing to say, I'm going to run for school board
because Miles for Liberty took over my school board and
somebody's gonna have I yelled at them for eight meetings
straight last school year, and now I'm just gonna have
to go up there and sit next.
Speaker 4 (41:04):
To them and try to prevent them from doing all
this damage.
Speaker 3 (41:06):
Right, Like, I think it's so important for us to
realize that whatever space in which we're leading, we all
have a position of impact.
Speaker 4 (41:16):
It may just be over your children, but how.
Speaker 3 (41:19):
You raise them, the books that you have in your house,
the films that you take them to, who they have
a play date with, where you decide to raise them,
what zip code they're being raised, and what school they
go to. All of that is helping either perpetuate supremacy culture.
Speaker 4 (41:33):
Or dismantle supremacy culture.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
So you made a choice about how you lead, right,
But it is all of our job to lead in
some kind of way, and we have to make sure
that we don't keep leaving that work to somebody else
because we're looking for a savior.
Speaker 2 (41:46):
It's all of our responsibilities. That was the charge, folks.
Did you hear what we gotta do? And it's real simple.
Speaker 3 (41:53):
You don't cook.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
You gotta do or you're gonna cook. Cook. You're gonna
raise the kids right, raise the kids right, You're gonna
raise good citizens. Dude, if you want to be in
the front lines.
Speaker 3 (42:01):
If I have to hi, if I had to cut
your kid out because they ain't class of mine and
they start tripping, then we got a whole problem.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
Then you add then you mad at me.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
Brittany, You, as I have said before, always always, always
make it so crystal clear. And I so appreciate you
for being a leader in this space and reminding us
to give grace because I'm tired of us kicking each
other's back sand when we're mad, like we can give
grace and our grace, our grace can turn into a
teachable moment no matter what.
Speaker 1 (42:33):
And for doctor King.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
To say, with accountability, they can live with accountability. This
is for all y'all, and y'all stop calling her hood
and y'all stop calling her names.
Speaker 1 (42:41):
That's not the response. The response is to educate.
Speaker 2 (42:44):
I love that more than anything, and so as we
buckle down forever long.
Speaker 1 (42:50):
If some say four years, I would you know that
would be.
Speaker 4 (42:53):
Only four years. That's that's our job to make sure.
Speaker 1 (42:56):
That's that's the job.
Speaker 4 (42:58):
But I don't.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
Hear like good.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
Nothing surprises me anymore. And I don't think it's just
four years if I was honest. But that's because I'm
mentally getting myself ready. Always keep God first, Always remember
to pray. I don't know who your God is, but
my God says pray, and my God says give grace.
But my God says, this time we got to be revolutionary.
This is a time for us to be revolutionary with
our love and our bodies and our spirits and and you,
(43:23):
to me, that means we are still fighting. Whatever that
looks like. I'm not saying, go and cuss everybody out
of work. Don't go and cuss out John at work tomorrow.
But I'm saying, you still need to be revolutionary. We
need to be revolutionary before I let you go, Doctor, Preacher,
Bishop all the things healer, mother, wife, sister, all the things.
(43:46):
Mama John's said this, guard your joy, siblings, guard your joy.
I don't care how you feel about him, not you,
per se. But the proverbial you guard your joy to
me was just made sense. It was like, I'm about
to go out here and do this, but I'm gonna
guard my joy to at the same time.
Speaker 1 (44:05):
What would you like to tell the people? Prittany Oh?
Speaker 3 (44:10):
First of all, David Johnson's the one who told me
to read Hiller's first one hundred days.
Speaker 4 (44:13):
Hey, what would I like to tell the people? Do
your work? Do your work, do your work, do your work,
do your.
Speaker 1 (44:25):
Work, Harry's work, do my black job, my black Jessee.
That's what I'm gonna do.
Speaker 2 (44:31):
Yes, I love you, Sis, thank you for being here.
On Naked Sports. Naked Sports written and executive produced by
me Harry Champion, produced by Jock pys Thomas, Sound designed
and mastered by Dwayne Crawford. Associate producer Ola Busayl Shabby.
Naked Sports is a part of the Black Effect podcast
(44:53):
network in iHeartMedia.
Today's episode is interesting.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
I have been thinking about how I do my job
as a journalist in these times that I believe are
very dangerous and also very uncomfortable, And I think what
makes me uncomfortable the most is the apathy, the apathy
that this isn't really a dangerous time that we're living in.
(00:29):
I am not an alarmist. I am very optimistic. I
always like to think about the future.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
And here's a kicker.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
I don't believe that what I'm afraid of really truly
will affect me in ways that it will affect the masses,
if that makes sense. Meaning I'm not worried about being deported.
I'm not worried about certain housing insecure, or things that
really are everyday issues, or how simple things that we
(00:59):
should be aware of. These things aren't necessarily at the
forefront of my mind. What I am worried about again
is the apathy, the idea that we are not living
in dangerous times. We are twenty some odd days, maybe
more than a month by the time you hear this
(01:20):
into this new year, and so much has happened. I
don't know how y'all can keep track, because I know
I can't keep track and that is my job as
a journalist to keep track. And the other day I
got a text from David Johnson. It said, guard your joy, sibling,
guard your joy, And I thought to myself, that's really powerful.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
So instead of.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
Complaining, I said, let me find some joy today, let
me do something that I love to do.
Speaker 1 (01:49):
And that was just laugh of my friends.
Speaker 2 (01:51):
It was just that simple, go hang out with my folks, laugh,
be silly, and enjoy myself because those days, to me,
are going to be the most important to keep the
balance of where we are. President Trump signed an executive
order that essentially said, if you are a federal employee
under any type of d E and I, we're going
(02:13):
to put paid leave and we eventually will then lay
you off. DEI is not a thing. Diversity, equity and
inclusion is not a thing anymore. If you are the
head of that department, if you work under that guise,
if somehow you are employed that way, especially if it's
by the federal government, you quite frankly will not have
a job unless you switch departments.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
Who knows what happens.
Speaker 2 (02:37):
The insurrectionists have been freed from January sixth. People are
truly worried about being deported as they should be. There
are simple liberties that you and I have taken for
granted that will no longer be there.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
And I'm worried.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
And I need to understand what I should do because
I don't feel really educated about how to fight a
battle I've never been a part of before. So on
today's episode, Brittany Pacnett Cunningham Activists, mother friend's sister, smart lady,
(03:20):
you know all of the adjectives, joins us.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
On the podcast, and I gave.
Speaker 2 (03:25):
Her some examples of things that I've been able to
see in these first few weeks of the new year,
And how do people who are frustrated or want to
be involved, or people who want to see a difference,
how do they respond? And I simply took on a
couple of key phrases. If I see something, say something.
(03:47):
I'm very intentional about what I see because they will
tell you you didn't see it. But I'm also intentional
about not being emotional in these times, because you can't
do anything if you only move with emotion. It doesn't
help you think straight, it doesn't help you strategize, it
doesn't help you play a different type of game. And
(04:08):
right now, a different type of game is being played,
and I don't quite frankly know what it is. But
what I do know is that I want to help.
I want to live in.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
A world where I raise.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Children in there and they have the same rights in liberties,
and right now it feels as if they're being taken away.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
It really does.
Speaker 2 (04:31):
And for those who are like I don't care, I
don't want to hear about this. It's exhausting. Let's just
wait this out for four years. Brittany has a really
good message today.
Speaker 1 (04:41):
Do your work. Do your work, your work.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Whether that's raising your children, whether that's paying and providing
for your family, whether that's being a journalist, whether that
is being an activist, whether that is being someone who
works in the customer service department. Do your work, whatever
that looks like. And little do we know, we're helping
out society at large. I am my brother's keeper. We
(05:07):
truly are. And I know most people don't want to
hear that, but we all want to live in a
safe space. We all want to live in that world
where we feel as if we have rights. Call me crazy,
and so I hope you enjoy this edition of Naked
Sports Brittany's heavy because she's so smart. Her brain's so big, right,
(05:31):
so she breaks it down and have a break it down,
and break it down, break it down. It's just like
you know, PhD level, and I need you to give
it to me at a bachelor's level. Maybe even give
it to me at a high school level, break it
down to elementary. Matter of fact, is there any books
and pictures that come with what you're telling me? What
is the instruction? I only want pictures that tell me
(05:51):
what to do, kid, I joke. I hope you enjoy
this edition of Naked Sports. Welcome to Naked Sports, the
podcast where we live at the intersection of sports, politics,
and culture. Our purpose reveal the common threads that bind
them all.
Speaker 3 (06:07):
So what's happening in women's basketball right now is what
we've been trying.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
To get to for almost thirty years.
Speaker 1 (06:14):
From the stadiums where athletes break barriers and set records.
Kayden Clark broke the all time single game assist record.
This is crazy for rookies to be doing. To the
polls where history is written.
Speaker 5 (06:26):
And now we have Kamala Harrison. It feels more like
women are sort of taken what they've always deserved, as
opposed to waiting on somebody to give them what they deserve.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Our discussions will uncover the vital connections between these realms
and the community we create. In each episode, we'll sit
down with athletes, political analysts, and culture critics because at
the core of it all, how we see one issue
shines the light on all others. Welcome to Naked Sports.
I'm your host, Gary Champion.
Speaker 4 (07:02):
I'm Brittany Paknak Cunningham.
Speaker 3 (07:04):
I am an activist, a writer, an educator of strategist.
Speaker 4 (07:08):
I'm basically a battie for Jeffrey.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
A batty for Justice. Y'all did y'all know they existed? Yes?
Speaker 2 (07:13):
You did, because I'm sure you're familiar with her. In
the spirit of transparency, we have a very intimate girl
group that we all are baddies for Justice, if you will,
and Brittany is one of ten total collective and I
think when I describe Brittany and you should always give
your friends their flowers. When I think of her, I
(07:35):
was a fan before I even knew her, but I
loved how eloquent she was and she always met at
the intersection of elegance rationality. Believe it or not, and
righteous anger.
Speaker 1 (07:48):
It's hard to give.
Speaker 2 (07:49):
It's hard to give all of those things without sounding
too emotional. And if you are emotional, it's righteous. It
feels fair, it feels balanced, it feels very on scale
with what we should be talking about. And here we
are twenty three days, twenty two days correction into the
new year, and it feels like it's been ten years
into this new year.
Speaker 1 (08:10):
It does.
Speaker 4 (08:11):
This has been a long year.
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Talk to me about how you felt when Kamala Harris
lost the election.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
Oh, chow, Well, first of all, let me give you
your flowers.
Speaker 3 (08:27):
Because we were mutual fans before we knew each other,
and then immediately fell in like we had.
Speaker 4 (08:33):
Always been sisters. And that is a.
Speaker 3 (08:37):
Rarity, right, because you can meet people and have an
instant connection and it not be a lasting one.
Speaker 4 (08:43):
And I'm so glad that this one is a lasting one.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
You have always been so clear eyed about your purpose work,
and to watch how deftly you intertwine for culture, woman
is done justice and you do it while you're like
a full gra amazon h st tall. But actually don't
(09:08):
you You physically looked down on us, but you never
actually looked down on any women I just think that
that's a beautiful thing because you're You're beautiful enough to
be a jerk if you.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
Wanted to.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (09:21):
And when I'm a jerk, it's only because I'm really
wanting to be a jerk because something is wrong.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Yes, but that's that's my kind of battie, right, Those
are my kind of keey balls.
Speaker 4 (09:29):
Amen? Amen?
Speaker 3 (09:30):
Anyway, Okay, so so so our dear sister, Madame Vice
President Kamala Debbie Harris. It's interesting because I know that
you know, I very quietly served as a senior advisor
for her campaign and had known her for a number
(09:51):
of years since she was in the Senate, and had
developed a relationship with her that was both personal, because
I think you know that as people get to know
that the aunty thing really does bring true right, like
when there was stuff going on with me or when
our first son was born, like he would call, she
would check it, she would encourage, she would offer help,
(10:11):
and all of that was very genuine. But she'd also
call and be like, Okay, this is what we're planning.
Tell me what's wrong with it? Like poke holds in it?
Where should we be going? What should I be saying?
Speaker 4 (10:21):
About it. You know, where are the flaws in the plan?
Speaker 3 (10:24):
And it is rare to meet a public servant like
that who displays that level of consistency an.
Speaker 4 (10:31):
Interest in being responsive to the people.
Speaker 3 (10:35):
And so that is the kind of person I was
looking forward to inhabiting that office. It meant something, certainly
for her to be a black and South Asian woman.
It meant something for her to be a woman, It
meant something for her to be a history maker in
so many regards. But it also meant something to have
(10:55):
someone who was interested in the constituency she serves as
her and the constituency being her leaders instead of the
other way around.
Speaker 4 (11:08):
And so my reaction had everything to do with the
pain of knowing that not only were we not going
to get somebody like that, but we were going to
get the exact opposite, somebody who seeks to.
Speaker 3 (11:24):
Disempower the people through overwhelmed, through destruction, through being power hungry,
money hungry, and through ego, right like through pure ego.
Speaker 4 (11:37):
That night was.
Speaker 3 (11:40):
You know, we got to Howard's canvas and we were
like ready to slag surf to victory, and we swag, sir,
but not to victory.
Speaker 4 (11:47):
The next day going back for our concession speech. It
felt like it felt like a.
Speaker 3 (11:54):
Funeral march until she hit the stage and reminded us
that we have work to do. And I think in
this day since I, like many other black women, have
been resting up and trying to prepare for what this
new season is going to look like. I've been trying
to make sure that my house is in order, because
you know, I'm very close to popping out baby number two,
(12:16):
and I want these two black boys that I'm raising
alongside this black husband of mine, in this very black
household of ours, to be safe and secure always. And
you know, I'm trying desperately to raise a different kind
of man and our voice. And I'm thinking a lot
about that. In the days past past the selection result.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
You wrote an article I mean prolific with your words.
You really are, and you describe a universal feeling or
at least represent the ninety two and that is inclusive
of myself and the article that you wrote for the Cut,
the plight of Black women in America is seeing Kamala
Harris Loose confirmed that the solid dare we work so
(13:01):
hard to create may still abandon us. He wrote, and
these are some of the highlights. I wish I wasn't pregnant,
and that's the most crushing thing to feel right now.
Usually I leaned into my black girl tendency to lie
and say I'm fine, but in truth, I wasn't. In
(13:22):
my raw's place, I'm still left feeling like I can't
trust any damn body.
Speaker 1 (13:32):
Friend.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
That makes my eyes water. Considering where we are right now,
and you have been in this game, this political activism game,
for some time.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
Where's our hope? What do we do now? If anything
at all?
Speaker 4 (13:56):
I mean.
Speaker 3 (13:58):
For me, besides my fate background, my hope is ancestral.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
Right, there's a.
Speaker 3 (14:06):
Calling I think so many of us have been feeling
back to the blueprint. You know, it is not lost
on me that Reverend doctor Bernice King was very clear
in saying that she felt like it was divine that
the juxtaposition of Trump was cast so clearly against the
(14:28):
life and legacy of her father and mother, as Inauguration
Day was also on MLK Day, And I'm glad that
she called us to recognizing the stark gap between where
our reality is and where the dream is. And so
(14:49):
the good news though, about us bridging that gap, right,
us making it across that chasm is that, Carrie, we
come from people who have done far more, was far less.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
Right.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
We come from people who literally wrote their own freedom
into existence when it was not accessible, when they were
not allowed to read it write right, when connecting with
one another was illegal and punishable by death, when daring
to say I love you, let's build through the build
(15:25):
a family through the institution of marriage is actually not allowed.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
Right, We're talking about people who.
Speaker 3 (15:33):
Put themselves in the posture of emancipation before it actually
came to be. That's where our ancestors are like, let's
be very very clear. So there's a precedent for freedom
and a blueprint that they said that we get to
follow their descendants, right in the era of the Civil
rights movement, in the era of Black Power, in the
(15:55):
era of black arts, recognizing that from a Philip Randolph
and the Brotherhood of Pume Importers forcing black people into
the labor rights conversation in the nineteen forties, all the
way through Gil Scott Heron in the sixties and seventies
telling you that the revolution won't be televised because dot
(16:15):
dot dot it needs to be communal, it needs.
Speaker 4 (16:17):
To be grounded. It needs to be real and that
revolution will be live.
Speaker 3 (16:22):
As he said, like, that is another era of blueprints
for us, Right, Ida d Wells gives a blueprint for
the journalists to be compelled to tell the truth and
to devise a way to do so independently.
Speaker 4 (16:35):
Right.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
So what her newsletter was is what our podcasts are there,
what our subsets are there, what you know our speeches are?
Speaker 4 (16:44):
Right? The educators, like said to Maclark, gave us a blueprint.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
She built the school herself and said literacy is critical
to our freedom and if they won't teach you, we.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
Will, right. And there are literal.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
There are literally entire communities, generations of black people who
owe their ability to read and write to the fact
that she built the Highlander Center in Tennessee and shuffled
as many children through that place as possible, made sure
that they all came out knowing how to read and
write and knowing that the power of life and death
was in their tongue.
Speaker 4 (17:17):
Right, So, like, that's that's a blueprint, Manny.
Speaker 3 (17:20):
Helen Burrows built a school in DC for black women
and girls to say, you should have access to every
option that if you want to be a domestic will
teach you how to do that.
Speaker 4 (17:28):
But if you want to be an.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Administrator or a secretary or a teacher, will teach you
how to do that. Right, if you want to be
an entrepreneur, will teach you how to do that because
you are owed every single option and you can write
generational wealth into your family's future through the schooling that
we give you here. Right, those are the you know,
the the midwives gave us the blueprint. They said, you
can't go to the hospital and expect to be treated fairly,
(17:51):
So we're going to make sure that we can help
you bear your children at home. Right, And you know,
I look at organizations like Mama Glow and Jama Birth
Center and my Home Saint Louis, and they are carrying
on that blueprint. So I give those examples to say
we're not in this alone. Our ancestors have reached out
guiding hands to pull us along the way.
Speaker 4 (18:13):
We just have to be smart enough to grab holds.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
We have to be smart enough to read the books
and watch the documentaries and talk to the elders, many
of whom aren't still with us, and understand how.
Speaker 4 (18:24):
To move deafly. How in a lot of ways to
move secretly.
Speaker 3 (18:28):
And how to be organized, disciplined and loving enough with
one another that we look back over these four years
and realize not only have we survived, but we found
creative ways to thrive, and we set new blueprints for
the future.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
And we've done, as you said, far more with far less.
This season will require sacrifice if we want to see
true justice. This season will require us to not be
as comfortable, and I don't know if everyone knows what
that looks like or feels like there will be I
think that this also is a beautiful time for us
(19:04):
to remember those blueprints to empower ourselves if we feel
because everyone may not feel the way we feel. People
may feel like there is the saying I'm taking my
cape off and I'm gonna put on a blanket. People
may feel like they want to check out. I don't
feel that way. I felt that way after Kamala lost,
but I knew I just needed a minute to understand
(19:25):
the loss and then I'm going to get back in
the fight.
Speaker 1 (19:27):
I just needed a minute to mourn.
Speaker 2 (19:29):
And I don't think that many of us, as black
women were allowed that space that saves space to mourn
because we needed to It was a visceral reaction to
watching what we needed, which was the hope we needed
to believe she could even though it didn't happen.
Speaker 1 (19:48):
We needed to believe she could. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
Absolutely, I know exactly what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (19:52):
And to be clear, I think that lots of black
women in particular are shifting how we shut up. We
might be taking off the cap and need to realize
if that's okay because we taken off the cape, but
we're putting on a rope because actually, what this time
is calling us too is intentional self care such that
we can teach.
Speaker 4 (20:12):
Future generations how to care for themselves.
Speaker 3 (20:14):
Right, Like, maybe you are taking off the cap, but
you're putting on the apron and you're saying the thing
that actually makes me happy is feeding the people that
I love.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
And there is a role for that.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
Right in freedom work, I often talk about a woman
named Mama Cat who back during the Ferguson uprising was
literally feeding us right when people were out on the
front lines in front of the Ferguson Police Department on
West Forest and Avenue right by Canfield.
Speaker 4 (20:41):
Where Michael Brown was murdered.
Speaker 3 (20:43):
Like she's literally passing out plates of food, and often
the hands that are accepting that food.
Speaker 4 (20:48):
Are people who've lost their jobs.
Speaker 3 (20:50):
For participating in this uprising, right, people who were housing
insecure and didn't know where their next meal was coming from.
Speaker 4 (20:57):
And then as that time marched on, Mama Cat.
Speaker 3 (21:00):
Got with formally incarcerated people, she got with protesters, she
got with organizers, and she said, if you want to
write your future, let me teach you how to cook.
Speaker 4 (21:09):
Let me teach you how to be a chef.
Speaker 3 (21:11):
Let me help you find a career and a passion
that not only can feed your community, but help you
feed yourself.
Speaker 4 (21:17):
And so that kind of work is what she was
born to do.
Speaker 3 (21:22):
Part of the reason why we're so exhausted is because
we keep accepting other people's responsibilities. And Mama Cat said, no, no,
no, no no, I'm going to do my job. I'm going
to stay in my lane. I'm going to make my
contribution of consequence.
Speaker 4 (21:37):
So it's not like she gave up. It's not like
she wasn't doing the work.
Speaker 3 (21:40):
It was that she was not being somebody else's mule
because they wanted.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
Her to perform in some other kind of way.
Speaker 3 (21:47):
And I think that's what a lot of us are
doing right, So it doesn't It doesn't mean that we're
giving up.
Speaker 4 (21:51):
It means that we're shifting how we contribute.
Speaker 3 (21:54):
So that we can do so in a way is sustainable, healthy,
and respectful of who we are.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
Beautiful, do you hear that we can shift the way
we show up and still do the work. We can
shift the way we show up and still do the work.
It doesn't have to be loud and proud. If you
think that's what work looks like, it could be cooking
for someone.
Speaker 1 (22:12):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
Powerful because we now, all of us, I think, are
looking for ways to do this, but do it with intention,
real intention, And the conversations that I'm hearing in our
world and this group of people who want to do
the work is let's organize silently, let's do it, Let's
do it privately and then take it to the streets.
(22:33):
But we have to be organized. And by we I
mean the people who want to see the world that
doctor King wanted us to live in, the people who
believe that we all who believe what America promised. In short,
these first few days with forty seven in office have
been chaotic in terms of the executive orders the people
(22:57):
who were immediately affected, and they have been very punitive,
as he has promised back in a moment, Welcome back
to naked sports survival tips.
Speaker 1 (23:18):
What do you say?
Speaker 2 (23:20):
Do you have any Yeah?
Speaker 4 (23:23):
A couple of things.
Speaker 3 (23:25):
One one is to find no and remain connected to
your people.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
This is a time when community.
Speaker 3 (23:36):
Let me be clear, community always matters, whether you've built
digitally in person and whether it's your blood family, whether
it's your chosen family, whether it's a combination of all
of the above, and then some You need to know
who you can call when times get rough, and you
need to be the kind of person that can be
called when times get rough.
Speaker 4 (23:55):
Right.
Speaker 3 (23:55):
People talk about mutual aid as if it is just fundraising, Right,
if it's just somebody making it GoFundMe and.
Speaker 4 (24:04):
That matters, right.
Speaker 3 (24:05):
I think the response to the LA fires, for example,
has shown us very recently how much community matters, how
much mutual aid matters. But what is also true is
that mutual aid is about emotional connectivity, solidarity and respect
such that I won't disappear when either things get tough
(24:28):
or when the thing you're going through is out of
the headlines, right, And that kind of mutual aid that
is consistent and thoughtful and intentional.
Speaker 4 (24:37):
That's how we need to be showing up for one another.
Speaker 3 (24:40):
And so like, know who your people are and make
sure that they know who you are through consistency of action,
I would.
Speaker 4 (24:46):
Say, is the first thing. The second thing I would
say really is to mind mind.
Speaker 3 (24:52):
Your locus of control. There's I wrote about this online,
maybe yesterday, maybe the day before, I don't know. We
all have work to do, and remaining focused on that
work is part of.
Speaker 4 (25:05):
What survival in this time looks like.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Because we know that a fascist playbook is shock and awe,
overwhelmed and distract So hundreds of eos in one day,
dozens of incindiarra remarks in one day, wild tweets and
posts in two days, completely and totally offensive remarks from
(25:29):
podcasts to television to you know, discord or whatever, all
in a matter of a day or two.
Speaker 4 (25:36):
All of that is supposed to keep.
Speaker 3 (25:37):
Us so distraught and so reactive that we can't focus
on what's important, right, Because what's actually important is making
sure that all of us, for example.
Speaker 4 (25:48):
Know what to do with ice knock on the door? Right?
Speaker 3 (25:51):
Did you know that you don't have to tell them anything. Nope,
I don't know anything about it. Nope, I haven't seen them, nope.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
Right, Like, you know how to be a.
Speaker 3 (26:01):
Disruptor and an interrupter of that injustice instead of even
unwittingly participating and someone's removal from this country, right, Like,
that's actually timely, and those resources have been going around
the internet, right for like, instead of just likeing it,
take the time to save the post, read through it,
share it over touch with your friends and say hey,
(26:21):
let's make sure that we all do this. Share it
with your neighbors, and say, hey, let's make sure we're
all on the same page about this.
Speaker 4 (26:26):
Right.
Speaker 3 (26:27):
But if you're so busy being outraged at his tweets,
then you'll miss the instruction of the moment this somebody's
gonna end up screwed. And I think that is really
important that we mind the business that matters, right, that
we stay in our lane, and then we give ourselves
an opportunity to keep our nervous systems in check long
(26:50):
enough to be effective instead of just constantly be overwhelmed.
Speaker 4 (26:55):
Because that's so precisely they're texting.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Right, you're so right, You're so right.
Speaker 2 (26:59):
I don't know how people who are an emotional group
of people know how to recalibrate. Yeah, we and when
we say we for everyone listening, I'm talking about the culture.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
I'm talking about black folks. I need to speak.
Speaker 2 (27:12):
Really plainly because we are we are not be real
clear because they're not politicizing their words. They're being very clear.
If you see something, say something, Stop telling me. I
post this the other day about Elon Musk, Stop telling
me I didn't see what I saw. It's not fair
to do that. It's not fair to let them win
the campaign of social media, which is so clear and
(27:32):
what they're trying to do.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
So, how do you.
Speaker 2 (27:36):
Tell a culture not to be emotional when that is
all we have ever known in so many ways is
the emotion. I'm gonna talk back to the TV. I'm
gonna yell at the scream when I'm gonna do it.
Speaker 1 (27:47):
You know we do this.
Speaker 4 (27:48):
Yeah. I don't think to focus each other not to
be emotional.
Speaker 3 (27:52):
I think we tell each other go ahead and be
emotional and then challenge the channel the emotions.
Speaker 4 (27:58):
Right, since you're.
Speaker 3 (27:59):
Feeling the rate, feel it, feel it deliberately, right, feel
it at your local school board meeting? Right, like, take
take the rage over to your mayor's office.
Speaker 4 (28:09):
Right.
Speaker 3 (28:10):
I live in a state that has joined a number
of other states, for example, in suing the administration over
these ice rays. Right, So, like, you know, there are
petitions going around to support that. There's letter writing that
happens with that. Let me go channel my rage into
this email, right, because my you know, maybe you live
in a state that hasn't joined up and you need
(28:32):
to say, hey, it's time to do so, or you
live in a state that has joined up.
Speaker 4 (28:35):
And you're sharing that post to say I'm triud to
live here. Right.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
I don't think we discourage people from our natural human tendencies.
I think that we give people the opportunity to be
disciplined with them. I also think, and this is both
to the question of survival and the question of emotion.
Speaker 4 (28:54):
Part of what we have to become disciplined in, and
this is hard for all of us, is.
Speaker 3 (29:00):
To quell our addiction to views and likes. We not
gonna be secretive. We're not gonna move smartly and deathly
if we feel like we got to broadcast the plan
before we enact the plan. Because as long as I'm
the first to broadcast the plan, then I'll go viral.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
Yeah, yeah, I agree.
Speaker 3 (29:22):
And the tech oligarchs are removing the incentive, to be
very clear, from plenty of us who are doing this work,
to broadcast the work, because they're demonetizing those creators, they're
demonetizing those platforms, they're shadow banding us, et cetera. So
like they're helping you break the addiction because you're not
(29:43):
gonna make the kind of money off of it that
you might once path right, so like, go ahead, let
it go, baby. We have to be more addicted to freedom,
the idea of it, the taste of it, the smell
of it, the feel of it. We have to be
more addicted to freedom than we are. Applause, Brittany.
Speaker 2 (29:59):
I'm going to name a few things that where people
were outraged about, and you just gave examples of what
to do with this outrage channel it in other places.
So I'm going to give you an example of where
everyone was so outraged, and by everyone, I mean what
you saw on social media and talked about in the culture,
and then you tell me what to do with that outrage.
Snoop Dogg performing at the Crypto Ball, Nelly performing at
(30:21):
the inauguration and Soldier Boy being there and and Ross
helping Snoop DJ. What do we do without outrage? And
I'm saying we collectively, I didn't participate. I felt it,
not surprise, but what does someone do if they're so angry,
as opposed to just passing that post around?
Speaker 3 (30:37):
I felt it too because Nelly performed, and then I'm
very glad that she apologized to Doctor Bernie King, but
Sexy Red put up a post with her and.
Speaker 4 (30:46):
Doctor King dancing with the club child.
Speaker 3 (30:48):
My own city, Saint Louis was down back a thousand, Okay,
So like, I understand the frustration, but shout out to
Sexy Red for taking responsibility, shout out to doctor King
for being so gracious in her response and giving teachable moment.
But I actually think that's the thing, right, We channel
that rage and we educate.
Speaker 4 (31:05):
Here's how we educate.
Speaker 3 (31:07):
Here's a book that a friend of mine is reading
and has been encouraging us to read to prepare for
this time, called Hitler's First one hundred.
Speaker 4 (31:13):
Days, Because we bet their aki.
Speaker 3 (31:16):
One of the things that the book talks about is
that it's not just the coercion and the brute force
of Hitler's government that got Germany in line with their agenda.
Some of it was consent, some of it was capitulation.
Speaker 4 (31:34):
Some of it was people looking.
Speaker 3 (31:36):
At the awe and the pomp and the circumstance and
the pageantry of it all and being so overwhelmed with
a sense of patriotism or unity or whatever that they
readily accepted a Nazi authoritarian regime.
Speaker 4 (31:53):
And the Nazis did not have to.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
Beat them into submission, because they awed them into submission.
Speaker 4 (31:59):
Right. So like, if you are more impressed.
Speaker 3 (32:03):
With who's performing at the ball, with how much money
you can make by going ahead and taking that little
trump check, right, Like, if you're more and always that,
then you are your own freedom.
Speaker 4 (32:16):
Then you are at risk.
Speaker 3 (32:17):
Of being seduced into compliance and capitulation with that which
means to kill you.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
Right.
Speaker 3 (32:26):
This is and I wrote about this in the cut
just recently, right, because yeah, I'm mad at Smooth, but
this is a teachable moment to say everybody who's sitting
there responding and saying, well, I mean at least he
got a check.
Speaker 4 (32:41):
What profit of a man to gain the whole world
and lose your soul? Right? What's that check worth?
Speaker 3 (32:45):
To you, baby, let's actually talk about the people that
accepted those checks in Nazi Germany and then ended up
in somebody's concentrations.
Speaker 4 (32:50):
Again. Woof. It's a teachable moment.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
Because everyone, not everyone, but you can feel the disengagement
of what. I'm just gonna chill out. I feel like
disengagement at this time is so so deadly there. It
is so dangerous to not be activated and or educated
at this moment.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
You can choose one.
Speaker 2 (33:13):
You don't need both, but it is so dangerous to
be I'm gonna just gonna mind my business in this moment.
Speaker 1 (33:22):
It's scary to me.
Speaker 3 (33:23):
When we help people have the information though, and we
were just talking about this on Undistracted, when we help
people have the information, we have to actually help people
translate it into knowledge.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
Okay, So where our friend.
Speaker 3 (33:36):
Doctor Brittany Cooper, who was on the episode, was talking
about the fact that we are a very information rich
society that you at the click of a button or
at the sound of your voice, at the click of AI.
Speaker 4 (33:46):
You can have an answer to any question in the world.
Speaker 3 (33:48):
Right, But if you don't synthesize that information into knowledge
and actually connect the dots onto.
Speaker 4 (33:54):
What it means, then all you have is like a
bunch of stuff rattling around your head mean anything. So
part of the overwhelm of.
Speaker 3 (34:03):
Just having so much information is what leads people to
be desensitized and to check out. But if we can
help people crystallize this is the information. Here's how information
like this was used against people like.
Speaker 4 (34:15):
You and I in the past.
Speaker 3 (34:17):
So here's how to protect yourself, here's what to watch
out for. Here's how to protect your neighbor. If we
can help people synthesize that and connect those dots, then
we give them a sense of purpose. Right, then we
give them a sense of control. I can do something
about this versus the helplessness that makes you just say
I'm almost said it on the couch and just wait
it out and hope that I don't.
Speaker 4 (34:35):
Get taken out.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
If people don't get that synthesis and that knowledge and
that understanding, we're we're not doing a good job of
helping powers.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
Right right, right, And And that's actually just gave me
a starting point. I'm like, where do we begin? How
many calls have you received? Or you're like, what we're
gonna do? We're we're moving to how are we gonna get.
Speaker 1 (34:53):
Our money out.
Speaker 2 (34:54):
And if we don't have information, simple information that pertains
to your specific infor situation, then we can't. That's what
we have to have that information available to help everybody.
I feel like we're getting ready to enter a time.
We're journalists, people who who who want to speak truth
to power. We're really gonna have to make some really
(35:15):
significant choices. Candidly, I thought, dang, we're not going to
see ann What am I going to say?
Speaker 1 (35:20):
What's going on?
Speaker 4 (35:22):
Like?
Speaker 1 (35:22):
How do I approach this?
Speaker 2 (35:23):
I don't want to be on TV arguing with a
white man and then I'm somewhere on somebody trying to
fight me, you.
Speaker 1 (35:28):
Know what I mean? Like, I want more for I
want more for my.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
Life than this, because the boldness of their behavior is
out of control.
Speaker 1 (35:36):
You can feel it.
Speaker 2 (35:38):
This president has emboldened people who have very little knowledge
but are on emotion and bravado, and it is scary
to move that way. So I always think what to do,
and I want to get your take on this. I
think that we should handle everyone accordingly until we see
a clear and we're all leaders until we see a
(35:58):
very clear leader step up from whatever side. I'm not
talking about parties. But yeah, we can talk about the
Democratic Party. But I'm looking for clear leadership. These times
create that, though, These times create that where people want
to really change the world and they speak truth to power.
We give so many of our leader's passes and we
have to hold them accountable. When Michelle stands on business,
(36:19):
we got to talk about everybody else who didn't stand
on business, including her husband.
Speaker 4 (36:23):
And why you leave her out there like that?
Speaker 1 (36:24):
Why you got her out here saying I'm not gonna.
Speaker 3 (36:26):
Go to the people should have been saying, oh, I'm
not coming either. I'm gonna be a Michelle's house, playing state.
Speaker 1 (36:33):
We will be or dominoes or whatever.
Speaker 3 (36:36):
We're dominoes or passing out food to the people, or
passing out banned books to the kids.
Speaker 4 (36:41):
Something.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
Nah, I'm not goingsten and no is a complete sentence.
Speaker 1 (36:47):
See Michelle's face. And so I think.
Speaker 2 (36:50):
We culturally need to be okay with calling out those
who are not doing us right, even if we love them,
even if we do because we're doing it loving.
Speaker 3 (37:01):
Yeah, I don't think that that's wrong. I think that
we just often forget the second half of that equation.
So of the call out of the wrongness plus the
opportunity to be better equals all of us getting more free, right,
which is part of the reason why I love this
exchange between Bernie's King and Sexy Red. Bernie's King sees
(37:26):
this picture and it's an AI picture of Sexy Red
and Doctor King in the club dancing, and Doctor.
Speaker 4 (37:32):
King is looking at her like seductively crizy, right, like
what is wrong with the paople?
Speaker 3 (37:39):
And like, to be clear, had this been anybody else,
they just would have gone outside her head, right, okay,
baby girl, Like, let's if you really want to go there,
let's go there. Doctor King says, you know, please delete this,
and here's why. The why is that you have to
understand that it's disrespectful to my father's legacy. It helps
(38:01):
other people who have ilentations for our community undermine what
his example was. And I'm that man's daughter. Do you
know what it feels like for our family to keep
looking up and see him be mischaracterized and being made
a caricature of and demeaned in ways when like, that's
my father who was assascinated right fixy read comes back
(38:23):
and she's like.
Speaker 4 (38:24):
You are absolutely right. I am so sorry. I just
I thought it was innocent.
Speaker 3 (38:30):
I retreated it and I shouldn't have deleted it. Then
doctor King comes back and she.
Speaker 4 (38:35):
Says, I appreciate that.
Speaker 3 (38:38):
And I also want to speak to everybody in the
comment who are taking this as an opportunity to disparage you.
They said, don't nobody, She was like, don't nobody need
to be in here calling you a hood, ghetto, trash, tasteless,
blah blah blah. She said, I want the best for you.
The freedom that he fought for and the freedom that
I'm fighting for is for all of us, including you,
baby girl. So thank you for listening. Let's go do
(39:01):
better together. She got everybody together in that one, right,
Like I got chills reading it, and so like she
gave the opportunity to do better, to show up better.
And I think that we just often don't give people that.
I'm not saying that there doesn't need to be reconciliation,
I'm not saying that there doesn't need to be truth.
Speaker 4 (39:19):
I'm not saying that there doesn't need to be accountability.
There was, there does.
Speaker 3 (39:22):
And if you give somebody the opportunity improve and they
ain't trying to do it, then you gonna have to
catch the train another time, I can't wait.
Speaker 4 (39:30):
For you and rate.
Speaker 2 (39:30):
Other part is to give them grace so they can
have room to grow and be better, so we.
Speaker 1 (39:36):
Can call them out. But there's still that other part.
Speaker 3 (39:39):
I think what's fair is that our grace can extend
to where somebody's responsibility begins.
Speaker 4 (39:45):
Sexy Red took responsibility.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (39:47):
Doctor King offered her grades and in doing so gave
all of us and Sexy read.
Speaker 4 (39:52):
To teachable moment right, and.
Speaker 3 (39:53):
It went much better and can be uplifted as a
beautiful example and teachable moment for everybody versus some that
ends up on the shape.
Speaker 1 (40:01):
Room back in a moment.
Speaker 3 (40:07):
The other thing that I think big is often missing
is that while we call out the people who ain't
doing it, we need to amplify and pump up the
people who are doing it right, who are operating with integrity,
who are operating with consistency, who are teachable, who are
correctable right. And I think that like the truth of
the matter is, there are lots of leaders in lots
(40:28):
of places where we need them. There are people who
are operating at the national level, but there are folks
who are doing that in the narrative space, and we
need them. There are people who are doing that in
sports and culture and we need them. There are people
who are doing that in politics, and we need them.
But we also need like local people who are making
sure that the one abortion clinic in town stay open.
Speaker 4 (40:49):
Right, We also need local folks who are.
Speaker 3 (40:51):
Willing to say, I'm going to run for school board
because Miles for Liberty took over my school board and
somebody's gonna have I yelled at them for eight meetings
straight last school year, and now I'm just gonna have
to go up there and sit next.
Speaker 4 (41:04):
To them and try to prevent them from doing all
this damage.
Speaker 3 (41:06):
Right, Like, I think it's so important for us to
realize that whatever space in which we're leading, we all
have a position of impact.
Speaker 4 (41:16):
It may just be over your children, but how.
Speaker 3 (41:19):
You raise them, the books that you have in your house,
the films that you take them to, who they have
a play date with, where you decide to raise them,
what zip code they're being raised, and what school they
go to. All of that is helping either perpetuate supremacy culture.
Speaker 4 (41:33):
Or dismantle supremacy culture.
Speaker 3 (41:35):
So you made a choice about how you lead, right,
But it is all of our job to lead in
some kind of way, and we have to make sure
that we don't keep leaving that work to somebody else
because we're looking for a savior.
Speaker 2 (41:46):
It's all of our responsibilities. That was the charge, folks.
Did you hear what we gotta do? And it's real simple.
Speaker 3 (41:53):
You don't cook.
Speaker 1 (41:54):
You gotta do or you're gonna cook. Cook. You're gonna
raise the kids right, raise the kids right, You're gonna
raise good citizens. Dude, if you want to be in
the front lines.
Speaker 3 (42:01):
If I have to hi, if I had to cut
your kid out because they ain't class of mine and
they start tripping, then we got a whole problem.
Speaker 1 (42:08):
Then you add then you mad at me.
Speaker 2 (42:11):
Brittany, You, as I have said before, always always, always
make it so crystal clear. And I so appreciate you
for being a leader in this space and reminding us
to give grace because I'm tired of us kicking each
other's back sand when we're mad, like we can give
grace and our grace, our grace can turn into a
teachable moment no matter what.
Speaker 1 (42:33):
And for doctor King.
Speaker 2 (42:34):
To say, with accountability, they can live with accountability. This
is for all y'all, and y'all stop calling her hood
and y'all stop calling her names.
Speaker 1 (42:41):
That's not the response. The response is to educate.
Speaker 2 (42:44):
I love that more than anything, and so as we
buckle down forever long.
Speaker 1 (42:50):
If some say four years, I would you know that
would be.
Speaker 4 (42:53):
Only four years. That's that's our job to make sure.
Speaker 1 (42:56):
That's that's the job.
Speaker 4 (42:58):
But I don't.
Speaker 1 (43:00):
Hear like good.
Speaker 2 (43:01):
Nothing surprises me anymore. And I don't think it's just
four years if I was honest. But that's because I'm
mentally getting myself ready. Always keep God first, Always remember
to pray. I don't know who your God is, but
my God says pray, and my God says give grace.
But my God says, this time we got to be revolutionary.
This is a time for us to be revolutionary with
our love and our bodies and our spirits and and you,
(43:23):
to me, that means we are still fighting. Whatever that
looks like. I'm not saying, go and cuss everybody out
of work. Don't go and cuss out John at work tomorrow.
But I'm saying, you still need to be revolutionary. We
need to be revolutionary before I let you go, Doctor, Preacher,
Bishop all the things healer, mother, wife, sister, all the things.
(43:46):
Mama John's said this, guard your joy, siblings, guard your joy.
I don't care how you feel about him, not you,
per se. But the proverbial you guard your joy to
me was just made sense. It was like, I'm about
to go out here and do this, but I'm gonna
guard my joy to at the same time.
Speaker 1 (44:05):
What would you like to tell the people? Prittany Oh?
Speaker 3 (44:10):
First of all, David Johnson's the one who told me
to read Hiller's first one hundred days.
Speaker 4 (44:13):
Hey, what would I like to tell the people? Do
your work? Do your work, do your work, do your work,
do your.
Speaker 1 (44:25):
Work, Harry's work, do my black job, my black Jessee.
That's what I'm gonna do.
Speaker 2 (44:31):
Yes, I love you, Sis, thank you for being here.
On Naked Sports. Naked Sports written and executive produced by
me Harry Champion, produced by Jock pys Thomas, Sound designed
and mastered by Dwayne Crawford. Associate producer Ola Busayl Shabby.
Naked Sports is a part of the Black Effect podcast
(44:53):
network in iHeartMedia.
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