December 19, 2025 • 17 mins
On this week’s MiniPod, hosts Tiffany Cross, Angela Rye, Andrew Gillum, and Bakari Sellers talk about holding our elected leaders accountable. Not everyone who is Black is pro Black and we should call that out, BUT there are moments when we hold our leaders to impossible standards. We saw this on flagrant display with some of the critiques of Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett after she announced her run for senate.
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Native Land Pod is brought to you by Reasoned Choice Media.
Thank you to the Native Land Pod team:
Angela Rye as host, executive producer, and cofounder of Reasoned Choice Media; Tiffany Cross as host and producer, Andrew Gillum as host and producer, Bakari Sellers as host and producer, and Lauren Hansen as executive producer; LoLo Mychael is our research producer, and Nikolas Harter is our editor and producer. Special thanks to Chris Morrow and Lenard McKelvey, co-founders of Reasoned Choice Media.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Native Lampod is the production of iHeartRadio in partnership with
Reason Choice Media.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Okay, welcome to the Mini Pod. Today we got a
great viewer question asking us about supporting black elected who
might not support us. But I don't want to butcher
his words. He can say it much better than I
can take a Listen, Hey.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Native Lampod, this is Councilman Efao luclaytor of Shaker Heights, Ohio.
Welcome Bakari to the Native Welcome home, Baccary to the
Native lamp Pod. I wanted to ask you all. We're
in the season, a lot of us are trying to
root for everybody black, but when it comes to voting
and recognizing that there are black electives who maybe haven't
(00:44):
supported policies that support black communities and black Democrats even
that maybe our supporting policies aren't beneficial black communities, particularly
doing things completely opposite of what our activists, brothers and
sisters might be wanting us to do. I'm curious about
how you thread that need on how you hold black
colletin's accountable and they're running for higher office, and especially
(01:06):
when they've done when they support some policies that ultimately
will be harmful towards black communities.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Thank you, Thank you Counselman for that question and for
taking the time to weigh in. Who wants to jump
at that one?
Speaker 4 (01:18):
I think.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
No, no, I just I double down agree that that.
First of all, I do want to champion everything black,
but not at the cost of things that are black
and that are good for communities and good for good
you know, good for us, good for communities. And I'm
I'm frankly looking at something similar in my own city
where where some of the black council persons are not,
(01:43):
in my opinion, acting in the best intelligence or interest
or with an acknowledgment of the history that's just easily
available to us in their decision making. And it's and
it is a far gone conclusion as far as I'm concerned,
that some of that decision making is going to result
and bad impacts for our community, not just for black folks,
(02:05):
but for our community writ large. And so, you know, Mkara,
be interested in your perspective on this, because I know
we have both had to balance these things as elected officials.
But I think I think, in the spirit of the
last comment that was made. We have to interrogate everything,
and that all skin folks and kinfolk are Everybody who
stands up black and says that they'refore us is in
there necessarily acting in our interests. I think people largely
(02:28):
acting their interest and their interests are not always our interests.
You hope that as an elected official their interest is
in advancing their communities. But who knows what's gotten in
the mix. Who knows what's in that equation, Which is
why it's incumbent upon all of us to interrogate everything,
ask the tough questions, ask the why, and deal with
(02:48):
the fallout from it later. But if you're interested in
protecting your home, your community, your family, you damn well
but asked the questions and the right ones, or you
may find yourself on the wrong side of the impact.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (03:01):
No, I think that's important because accountability is a two
way street. And I think that it goes to a
comment that I made on a previous episode about the
stagnant nature of our black leadership and our black institutions
and our black foundations. I mean, the best example is
even black elected officials really don't even show up in
our communities. This is a harsh over generalization until after
Labor Day and they do the same old thing. Let's
(03:23):
have a fish fry, let's go to the football game,
let's come to church, and then we expect people to
come out. I think that we have to have an
age old mantra, but a new way of doing it,
which is the meet voters where they are. And I
think that I find my greatest disappointment maybe because of
my level of expectation to be with black elected officials
not white ones. And the reason being is because I
(03:45):
don't necessarily have that same level of hope or expectation
that you're going to care for our community as I
would for black elected officials. And maybe that's a maybe
that's a downfall on my part, but I also think
it's incumbent upon our black ministers, our black small business owners,
our leadership in our communities to ensure that they are
(04:07):
holding these people accountable, Like we have to show up
at school board meetings, Andrew, we have to show up
at city council meetings. Like I would challenge our viewers
and listeners right now, like when was the last school
board meeting you went to? When was the last city
council meeting you went to, and not just you know,
tuning in to Fox or MSNBC or CNN to watch
(04:27):
what's happening at sixteen hundred Pennsylvania. Truly understanding what's happening
in our local communities is so important. So I think
that is a two way street. One they owe us.
They being our elected officials, owe us the discernment of
putting our interests first. Second, we owe them showing up
and showing out, listening and be a part of the democracy,
(04:49):
because democracy is participatory. And the best example I could
give you is when I was serving Andrew, the group
of people I paid the most attention to was AARP.
Why because they they vote and they showed up every
time every issue. AARP was right there in my doorstep.
Now a lot of them were black, a lot of
them were older black folks. But I'm with you one
hundred and fifty percent.
Speaker 6 (05:10):
Can I just say here, and I just told you
if I didn't want all of us to say something
on every question, but I just want to say on
this one part. ARP is a model to look at,
and the reason for that is ARP does not expect
the elected officials to carry their agenda without telling them,
requiring out of them, demanding them to do so. And
(05:31):
for whatever reason, we think that when someone in office
looks like us, that they're automatically going to be carrying
our water.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
And I think it is a big mistake.
Speaker 6 (05:40):
I think that we really have to make sure that
we're clear, Yes, we can celebrate your ascension, but we
are also going to demand and require that you meet
our needs the same way with anybody else. It is
our seat, it is not just yours, and that means
that you have to ensure that you're representing our best
interests the last thing I'll say, and I think that
this is something across the board that we need to
(06:02):
deal with. There's a purity test that we expect people
to pass, whether they are in leadership somewhere at work,
in office, wherever, that we would not be able to
pass ourselves. It hurt my heart to see how people
who look like us cannibalize Jasmine right after her announcement
last week, cannibalized, you know, there are all these things
(06:24):
that they don't think she's gonna be able to do,
that she can't do, that she's not on the right
side of the issue. For I think it's fine to say,
I would like to see you pivot here or in
this way, but damn, you don't think.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
She's gonna be better than John Cordon.
Speaker 6 (06:35):
I mean, like, I'm sorry, so I wanted to be
able to hold both.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
I didn't. I didn't hear that I didn't. I'm fortunate
to get to observe the keble.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Give us some examples.
Speaker 6 (06:48):
I'm happy to so, and I'm happy to also send
you guys clips if that's helpful.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
Jason's going to join us next week.
Speaker 5 (06:53):
I dropped the chat. I dropped the whole article in
the group chat that we have about the elected officials. Now,
by the way, they would democrats to collected officials, and
they ain't put their name on it, but there was
a whole political article about those individuals who were mad
at Jasmine, who were in the House caucus for running.
Speaker 6 (07:08):
Yeah, that's true too, but because they think that she
is not going to win, and that means that she
would not hold her seat. Because so when she announces
for Senate, she automatically has to not she won't be
in the House, and to be fair, she could lose
the House seat too because of how they we've redrawn
(07:28):
the districts in Texas, right. I don't think that's the case,
but that could be the case. So she announces for
Senate people think there are a lot of our elders
that think you should wait your turn. So there's that
thing happening. And then there's also a lot of folks
who felt like she was wrong on the Israel Gaza piece.
And so the things that have been said have almost
been like she's not said that she stands with Palestinian
(07:51):
people that she like they've they've just taken, they've taken.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
I mean, I think that's part of the accountability piece
that we're all arguing for.
Speaker 6 (07:59):
Its wowow should it be effective?
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Well, let me just say this. I think, first of all,
Democrats are the worst at negotiating against themselves before the
other side throws their terms out. We have already whittled
down the options of where we can go by just
debating amongst ourselves of what's possible and what is impossible.
And as far as I'm concerned, every person who has
ever broken any record over the history of time has
(08:24):
heard that this isn't your time, that you're not the
right one, that your profile isn't the right one to
get us to where it is that we're going. Well,
let me tell you if it worked for Beto, a
Congress member who quite frankly, at the time of his
running for the US and it had an undistinguishable record
as a member of Congress from a legislative standpoint, if
we were able to rally there and get a ninth
(08:46):
hour endorsement from beyonce An, a rallying cry from Democrats
across the country, by God, you surely can hang in
there for a woman who has gone out on the ledge,
put her reputation and service on the line, and service
to the best of us. So don't get me started
about the negotiating against ourselves. She is as right for
(09:06):
this moment as any other name that you might throw
out there, as far as I'm concerned, And let her
go through the contested process of determining whether or not
she ought to be the nominee, and from that go forward.
But the truth is that the Democrats, they're going to
be the first one's bed wedding, and the first one
is talking about what's not possible, what we can't do,
what records you absolutely have to have in order you're
going to compete in a state like Texas. And by
(09:28):
the way, everybody else who is never built in a
record has heard that same thing before they broke the record.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
That's right.
Speaker 5 (09:42):
Let me chime in SIMPLI and also say that it's
a really healthy primary in Texas. I mean a really
healthy primary. I know we're uplifting Jasmine as we should often,
but the Tarorleco fella ain't bad himself, and I think
the Jasmine. Look, whoever wins that primary is going to
be better for it. And I think that watching both
of them run this race is going to be something
(10:03):
that Democrats need more of. I mean, you know, instead
of crowning it or on the flip side with Andrew's
talking about saying who ain't qualified when they announce it's
because of X y Z. This is what people want
to see, a very very healthy primary. Let them get out.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
Hold people to the same standard.
Speaker 5 (10:20):
That's what I was about to say, Like, we also
need to put the Terry lecos his record of helping
black folk or not helping black folk up in the
light because I don't know, but you know, a state
house record don't have that many wards. But can me
and Andrew can put it up in the light and
see where it stands. But we need to go through
that process with him, just as we're like the same.
(10:40):
That's what I'm That's what I'm trying to articulate. Not well,
the same robust standard that black folks and Democrats are
putting Jasmine through the ringer, they need to put Tera
Leco through that same ringer. Because I think both of
them are good, and I think this process is healthy
for both of them.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
I think a contesting process is always the best period.
I was neverdvocating for any of my opponents to be
put out of the race. I don't think any of
them should be simarily dismissed simply because we had a
difference of opinion. I thought we ought to go through
the process. And as we're saying here, if you're going
to hold me to a standard, just hold them to
the same standard. The cheapness by which we are willing
to give away our vote in our community simply because
(11:18):
a person of a different skin color showed up at
the barbecue. They didn't promise that this to anything. They
hadn't gotten us anything in the legislative record product to
this point, but the showing a face was enough for
them to be qualified. I show my face, but it's
expected I'm gonna show mine, right, But if they do,
you know, the damn star has been hung.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
I hear you, I hear y'all saying the same thing,
but about two different groups. And I'm interested in this, Angela,
because we were just talking about this a couple of
months ago. So one is the infrastructure of the Democratic Party,
like undercutting each other trash.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Right.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Then there's the other point in Angela, you found yourself
in the crosshairs with some people over this, over like
holding our elected officials accountable. Like it doesn't mean that
you're saying, like we don't want this person, but declaring
that we have a right to demand that they live
in service to us, Like we elected them. Our salaries
(12:17):
pay or our tax dollars pay their salaries. You know
what I'm talking about. I'm talking about Gavin. Gavin. Yeah,
So I don't know. I'm trying to figure out like
telling voters like, yes, you can hold them accountable, Yes
you can demand of them what you want.
Speaker 5 (12:31):
There do you have enough gang signs with kay, I'm
a gang member on the weekends. But there's also a third.
There's also a third thing, which is that we we
I touched on a little bit, but I see in
my professional career as a lawyer, but we also do
it in elected politics, which is what Andrews talking about,
which is black folks, we have this theory that their
ice is coded than ours. And that's some of y'all niggas,
(12:55):
they exactly like I mean, whether or not, it's the collective. Yeah,
I mean, I'm just quote somebody had come in my
office with a with a criminal case. I'll quote him
twenty five thousand dollars, right, and they'll go right down
the street to the white person with twenty five thousand
dollars and pay it because his ice is coded in ours.
And as Andrew was saying, just because James is at
(13:17):
the barbecue now, I do want to give him a
chance to interrogate his record, but like we just can't
say that all of a sudden, he's.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
Sposed to me a selfie lit the black people.
Speaker 6 (13:27):
That he like down for the car. It's so annoying,
and I think that is it too. It's just like
what like I hate that mentality and I hate to
go back into Gavin.
Speaker 4 (13:36):
But just like that he's only he the only one
we got. He's fighting. He the best he gets trumped, right, wet.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Is that you don't you don't You say these are
the last thing enduring elements of racism and white supremacy.
I mean this is else well, no, but these are
the remnants, the last These are the gifts that just
keep on giving that white is right, and that if
(14:06):
it's not right white, then it deserves all these other
layers of conditions that we would never expect it say,
I couldn't be more tired because I lived as I
lived every week, every day. It seems as an elected
official of having to overprove and you know, on every level,
(14:26):
because I wasn't white, and I'm running in a community
that has never been majority black, in a state that
is less than twelve percent of the electric is black.
Speaker 5 (14:34):
And there's this.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
But my service has never just been to that by
the way it's been to that, and by effect of
helping all of us, and you just happen to help
those who often find themselves at the bottom of every checklist.
And by helping that you lift the boat. I mean truly,
you get to lift the condition for everybody else. But
that argument was never good enough.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Ourselves first, you know, I think that is like healing.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
That's the period. The foundation tip is.
Speaker 6 (15:06):
It's so right because at the end of the day,
what we keep doing is succumbing to the nature of
the abusive, toxic relationship dynamic, and that is what it is.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
It's like, we don't think we deserve better.
Speaker 6 (15:19):
If you just acknowledge us, if you just take this
picture with us, if you could just wrap that lyric,
if you could just do them where my fans at dance,
if you could like then all of that is.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
Like, Oh, he did owt for the cause. Tho what
does his policy say?
Speaker 2 (15:33):
You know?
Speaker 6 (15:33):
And I think what is interesting Tubacari's point is there
was all of this criticism, you know of the folks
who critique Gavin, but with Wes Moore, there was a
ton of criticism for him saying, no, we've already done
the studies.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
Now it's time for us to do the work.
Speaker 6 (15:49):
Well, you all know that just this week the state
legislature and Maryland over has overridden that veto and now
they're going to do a study. And I just would
urge the folks in Maryland to consider what you all
going to do after the study's back, because that's what I.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
Want to get to. I'm not mad at the study, though,
but how many more studies do we need? And that
was Wes's point. It's like we've studied this five times
in Maryland.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
What leads us to studies oftentimes is the fact that
our white liberal colleagues, and certainly the white folks on
the Republican side, demand that we must have an accounting
for every cent, line dollar whatever of the conditions before
we can then move to solutions. So we then chase
that rabbit, We then get that rabbit, and then a
new condition gets set into motion. And I don't envy
(16:32):
really any side of this, because the truth is is
that the cheese just keeps moving, and it's going to
move again after this survey is done. There'll be another
condition that must be in place before we can then
get to the action, and then there'll be another thing
that is imposed on that before we can then again
get to the action. This is a cyclical motion that
they already know in advance. The delay tactic will always
(16:54):
be the demand for the next thing that keeps you
from getting to the thing. That's always going to be
the condition.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
I think this is a conversation that Native Land will
be revisiting many times, so we're gonna leave it right there.
Thank you guys so much for tuning into these mini pods.
Remember these drop every Friday, and don't forget to keep
sending us here, videos, questions, comments. You never know you
may be the subject of our next mini pod. Happy holidays, guys,
We'll see you next time.
Speaker 5 (17:30):
Native Lamb Pod is a production of iHeartRadio and partnership
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Native Lampod is the production of iHeartRadio in partnership with
Reason Choice Media.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Okay, welcome to the Mini Pod. Today we got a
great viewer question asking us about supporting black elected who
might not support us. But I don't want to butcher
his words. He can say it much better than I
can take a Listen, Hey.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
Native Lampod, this is Councilman Efao luclaytor of Shaker Heights, Ohio.
Welcome Bakari to the Native Welcome home, Baccary to the
Native lamp Pod. I wanted to ask you all. We're
in the season, a lot of us are trying to
root for everybody black, but when it comes to voting
and recognizing that there are black electives who maybe haven't
(00:44):
supported policies that support black communities and black Democrats even
that maybe our supporting policies aren't beneficial black communities, particularly
doing things completely opposite of what our activists, brothers and
sisters might be wanting us to do. I'm curious about
how you thread that need on how you hold black
colletin's accountable and they're running for higher office, and especially
(01:06):
when they've done when they support some policies that ultimately
will be harmful towards black communities.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
Thank you, Thank you Counselman for that question and for
taking the time to weigh in. Who wants to jump
at that one?
Speaker 4 (01:18):
I think.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
No, no, I just I double down agree that that.
First of all, I do want to champion everything black,
but not at the cost of things that are black
and that are good for communities and good for good
you know, good for us, good for communities. And I'm
I'm frankly looking at something similar in my own city
where where some of the black council persons are not,
(01:43):
in my opinion, acting in the best intelligence or interest
or with an acknowledgment of the history that's just easily
available to us in their decision making. And it's and
it is a far gone conclusion as far as I'm concerned,
that some of that decision making is going to result
and bad impacts for our community, not just for black folks,
(02:05):
but for our community writ large. And so, you know, Mkara,
be interested in your perspective on this, because I know
we have both had to balance these things as elected officials.
But I think I think, in the spirit of the
last comment that was made. We have to interrogate everything,
and that all skin folks and kinfolk are Everybody who
stands up black and says that they'refore us is in
there necessarily acting in our interests. I think people largely
(02:28):
acting their interest and their interests are not always our interests.
You hope that as an elected official their interest is
in advancing their communities. But who knows what's gotten in
the mix. Who knows what's in that equation, Which is
why it's incumbent upon all of us to interrogate everything,
ask the tough questions, ask the why, and deal with
(02:48):
the fallout from it later. But if you're interested in
protecting your home, your community, your family, you damn well
but asked the questions and the right ones, or you
may find yourself on the wrong side of the impact.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (03:01):
No, I think that's important because accountability is a two
way street. And I think that it goes to a
comment that I made on a previous episode about the
stagnant nature of our black leadership and our black institutions
and our black foundations. I mean, the best example is
even black elected officials really don't even show up in
our communities. This is a harsh over generalization until after
Labor Day and they do the same old thing. Let's
(03:23):
have a fish fry, let's go to the football game,
let's come to church, and then we expect people to
come out. I think that we have to have an
age old mantra, but a new way of doing it,
which is the meet voters where they are. And I
think that I find my greatest disappointment maybe because of
my level of expectation to be with black elected officials
not white ones. And the reason being is because I
(03:45):
don't necessarily have that same level of hope or expectation
that you're going to care for our community as I
would for black elected officials. And maybe that's a maybe
that's a downfall on my part, but I also think
it's incumbent upon our black ministers, our black small business owners,
our leadership in our communities to ensure that they are
(04:07):
holding these people accountable, Like we have to show up
at school board meetings, Andrew, we have to show up
at city council meetings. Like I would challenge our viewers
and listeners right now, like when was the last school
board meeting you went to? When was the last city
council meeting you went to, and not just you know,
tuning in to Fox or MSNBC or CNN to watch
(04:27):
what's happening at sixteen hundred Pennsylvania. Truly understanding what's happening
in our local communities is so important. So I think
that is a two way street. One they owe us.
They being our elected officials, owe us the discernment of
putting our interests first. Second, we owe them showing up
and showing out, listening and be a part of the democracy,
(04:49):
because democracy is participatory. And the best example I could
give you is when I was serving Andrew, the group
of people I paid the most attention to was AARP.
Why because they they vote and they showed up every
time every issue. AARP was right there in my doorstep.
Now a lot of them were black, a lot of
them were older black folks. But I'm with you one
hundred and fifty percent.
Speaker 6 (05:10):
Can I just say here, and I just told you
if I didn't want all of us to say something
on every question, but I just want to say on
this one part. ARP is a model to look at,
and the reason for that is ARP does not expect
the elected officials to carry their agenda without telling them,
requiring out of them, demanding them to do so. And
(05:31):
for whatever reason, we think that when someone in office
looks like us, that they're automatically going to be carrying
our water.
Speaker 4 (05:38):
And I think it is a big mistake.
Speaker 6 (05:40):
I think that we really have to make sure that
we're clear, Yes, we can celebrate your ascension, but we
are also going to demand and require that you meet
our needs the same way with anybody else. It is
our seat, it is not just yours, and that means
that you have to ensure that you're representing our best
interests the last thing I'll say, and I think that
this is something across the board that we need to
(06:02):
deal with. There's a purity test that we expect people
to pass, whether they are in leadership somewhere at work,
in office, wherever, that we would not be able to
pass ourselves. It hurt my heart to see how people
who look like us cannibalize Jasmine right after her announcement
last week, cannibalized, you know, there are all these things
(06:24):
that they don't think she's gonna be able to do,
that she can't do, that she's not on the right
side of the issue. For I think it's fine to say,
I would like to see you pivot here or in
this way, but damn, you don't think.
Speaker 4 (06:33):
She's gonna be better than John Cordon.
Speaker 6 (06:35):
I mean, like, I'm sorry, so I wanted to be
able to hold both.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
I didn't. I didn't hear that I didn't. I'm fortunate
to get to observe the keble.
Speaker 1 (06:45):
Give us some examples.
Speaker 6 (06:48):
I'm happy to so, and I'm happy to also send
you guys clips if that's helpful.
Speaker 4 (06:52):
Jason's going to join us next week.
Speaker 5 (06:53):
I dropped the chat. I dropped the whole article in
the group chat that we have about the elected officials. Now,
by the way, they would democrats to collected officials, and
they ain't put their name on it, but there was
a whole political article about those individuals who were mad
at Jasmine, who were in the House caucus for running.
Speaker 6 (07:08):
Yeah, that's true too, but because they think that she
is not going to win, and that means that she
would not hold her seat. Because so when she announces
for Senate, she automatically has to not she won't be
in the House, and to be fair, she could lose
the House seat too because of how they we've redrawn
(07:28):
the districts in Texas, right. I don't think that's the case,
but that could be the case. So she announces for
Senate people think there are a lot of our elders
that think you should wait your turn. So there's that
thing happening. And then there's also a lot of folks
who felt like she was wrong on the Israel Gaza piece.
And so the things that have been said have almost
been like she's not said that she stands with Palestinian
(07:51):
people that she like they've they've just taken, they've taken.
Speaker 2 (07:56):
I mean, I think that's part of the accountability piece
that we're all arguing for.
Speaker 6 (07:59):
Its wowow should it be effective?
Speaker 2 (08:03):
Well, let me just say this. I think, first of all,
Democrats are the worst at negotiating against themselves before the
other side throws their terms out. We have already whittled
down the options of where we can go by just
debating amongst ourselves of what's possible and what is impossible.
And as far as I'm concerned, every person who has
ever broken any record over the history of time has
(08:24):
heard that this isn't your time, that you're not the
right one, that your profile isn't the right one to
get us to where it is that we're going. Well,
let me tell you if it worked for Beto, a
Congress member who quite frankly, at the time of his
running for the US and it had an undistinguishable record
as a member of Congress from a legislative standpoint, if
we were able to rally there and get a ninth
(08:46):
hour endorsement from beyonce An, a rallying cry from Democrats
across the country, by God, you surely can hang in
there for a woman who has gone out on the ledge,
put her reputation and service on the line, and service
to the best of us. So don't get me started
about the negotiating against ourselves. She is as right for
(09:06):
this moment as any other name that you might throw
out there, as far as I'm concerned, And let her
go through the contested process of determining whether or not
she ought to be the nominee, and from that go forward.
But the truth is that the Democrats, they're going to
be the first one's bed wedding, and the first one
is talking about what's not possible, what we can't do,
what records you absolutely have to have in order you're
going to compete in a state like Texas. And by
(09:28):
the way, everybody else who is never built in a
record has heard that same thing before they broke the record.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
That's right.
Speaker 5 (09:42):
Let me chime in SIMPLI and also say that it's
a really healthy primary in Texas. I mean a really
healthy primary. I know we're uplifting Jasmine as we should often,
but the Tarorleco fella ain't bad himself, and I think
the Jasmine. Look, whoever wins that primary is going to
be better for it. And I think that watching both
of them run this race is going to be something
(10:03):
that Democrats need more of. I mean, you know, instead
of crowning it or on the flip side with Andrew's
talking about saying who ain't qualified when they announce it's
because of X y Z. This is what people want
to see, a very very healthy primary. Let them get out.
Speaker 4 (10:17):
Hold people to the same standard.
Speaker 5 (10:20):
That's what I was about to say, Like, we also
need to put the Terry lecos his record of helping
black folk or not helping black folk up in the
light because I don't know, but you know, a state
house record don't have that many wards. But can me
and Andrew can put it up in the light and
see where it stands. But we need to go through
that process with him, just as we're like the same.
(10:40):
That's what I'm That's what I'm trying to articulate. Not well,
the same robust standard that black folks and Democrats are
putting Jasmine through the ringer, they need to put Tera
Leco through that same ringer. Because I think both of
them are good, and I think this process is healthy
for both of them.
Speaker 2 (10:56):
I think a contesting process is always the best period.
I was neverdvocating for any of my opponents to be
put out of the race. I don't think any of
them should be simarily dismissed simply because we had a
difference of opinion. I thought we ought to go through
the process. And as we're saying here, if you're going
to hold me to a standard, just hold them to
the same standard. The cheapness by which we are willing
to give away our vote in our community simply because
(11:18):
a person of a different skin color showed up at
the barbecue. They didn't promise that this to anything. They
hadn't gotten us anything in the legislative record product to
this point, but the showing a face was enough for
them to be qualified. I show my face, but it's
expected I'm gonna show mine, right, But if they do,
you know, the damn star has been hung.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
I hear you, I hear y'all saying the same thing,
but about two different groups. And I'm interested in this, Angela,
because we were just talking about this a couple of
months ago. So one is the infrastructure of the Democratic Party,
like undercutting each other trash.
Speaker 4 (11:54):
Right.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
Then there's the other point in Angela, you found yourself
in the crosshairs with some people over this, over like
holding our elected officials accountable. Like it doesn't mean that
you're saying, like we don't want this person, but declaring
that we have a right to demand that they live
in service to us, Like we elected them. Our salaries
(12:17):
pay or our tax dollars pay their salaries. You know
what I'm talking about. I'm talking about Gavin. Gavin. Yeah,
So I don't know. I'm trying to figure out like
telling voters like, yes, you can hold them accountable, Yes
you can demand of them what you want.
Speaker 5 (12:31):
There do you have enough gang signs with kay, I'm
a gang member on the weekends. But there's also a third.
There's also a third thing, which is that we we
I touched on a little bit, but I see in
my professional career as a lawyer, but we also do
it in elected politics, which is what Andrews talking about,
which is black folks, we have this theory that their
ice is coded than ours. And that's some of y'all niggas,
(12:55):
they exactly like I mean, whether or not, it's the collective. Yeah,
I mean, I'm just quote somebody had come in my
office with a with a criminal case. I'll quote him
twenty five thousand dollars, right, and they'll go right down
the street to the white person with twenty five thousand
dollars and pay it because his ice is coded in ours.
And as Andrew was saying, just because James is at
(13:17):
the barbecue now, I do want to give him a
chance to interrogate his record, but like we just can't
say that all of a sudden, he's.
Speaker 4 (13:24):
Sposed to me a selfie lit the black people.
Speaker 6 (13:27):
That he like down for the car. It's so annoying,
and I think that is it too. It's just like
what like I hate that mentality and I hate to
go back into Gavin.
Speaker 4 (13:36):
But just like that he's only he the only one
we got. He's fighting. He the best he gets trumped, right, wet.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
Is that you don't you don't You say these are
the last thing enduring elements of racism and white supremacy.
I mean this is else well, no, but these are
the remnants, the last These are the gifts that just
keep on giving that white is right, and that if
(14:06):
it's not right white, then it deserves all these other
layers of conditions that we would never expect it say,
I couldn't be more tired because I lived as I
lived every week, every day. It seems as an elected
official of having to overprove and you know, on every level,
(14:26):
because I wasn't white, and I'm running in a community
that has never been majority black, in a state that
is less than twelve percent of the electric is black.
Speaker 5 (14:34):
And there's this.
Speaker 2 (14:35):
But my service has never just been to that by
the way it's been to that, and by effect of
helping all of us, and you just happen to help
those who often find themselves at the bottom of every checklist.
And by helping that you lift the boat. I mean truly,
you get to lift the condition for everybody else. But
that argument was never good enough.
Speaker 1 (14:58):
Ourselves first, you know, I think that is like healing.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
That's the period. The foundation tip is.
Speaker 6 (15:06):
It's so right because at the end of the day,
what we keep doing is succumbing to the nature of
the abusive, toxic relationship dynamic, and that is what it is.
Speaker 4 (15:17):
It's like, we don't think we deserve better.
Speaker 6 (15:19):
If you just acknowledge us, if you just take this
picture with us, if you could just wrap that lyric,
if you could just do them where my fans at dance,
if you could like then all of that is.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
Like, Oh, he did owt for the cause. Tho what
does his policy say?
Speaker 2 (15:33):
You know?
Speaker 6 (15:33):
And I think what is interesting Tubacari's point is there
was all of this criticism, you know of the folks
who critique Gavin, but with Wes Moore, there was a
ton of criticism for him saying, no, we've already done
the studies.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
Now it's time for us to do the work.
Speaker 6 (15:49):
Well, you all know that just this week the state
legislature and Maryland over has overridden that veto and now
they're going to do a study. And I just would
urge the folks in Maryland to consider what you all
going to do after the study's back, because that's what I.
Speaker 4 (16:02):
Want to get to. I'm not mad at the study, though,
but how many more studies do we need? And that
was Wes's point. It's like we've studied this five times
in Maryland.
Speaker 2 (16:11):
What leads us to studies oftentimes is the fact that
our white liberal colleagues, and certainly the white folks on
the Republican side, demand that we must have an accounting
for every cent, line dollar whatever of the conditions before
we can then move to solutions. So we then chase
that rabbit, We then get that rabbit, and then a
new condition gets set into motion. And I don't envy
(16:32):
really any side of this, because the truth is is
that the cheese just keeps moving, and it's going to
move again after this survey is done. There'll be another
condition that must be in place before we can then
get to the action, and then there'll be another thing
that is imposed on that before we can then again
get to the action. This is a cyclical motion that
they already know in advance. The delay tactic will always
(16:54):
be the demand for the next thing that keeps you
from getting to the thing. That's always going to be
the condition.
Speaker 1 (17:00):
I think this is a conversation that Native Land will
be revisiting many times, so we're gonna leave it right there.
Thank you guys so much for tuning into these mini pods.
Remember these drop every Friday, and don't forget to keep
sending us here, videos, questions, comments. You never know you
may be the subject of our next mini pod. Happy holidays, guys,
We'll see you next time.
Speaker 5 (17:30):
Native Lamb Pod is a production of iHeartRadio and partnership
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Hosts And Creators
Tiffany Cross
Andrew Gillum
Angela Rye
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