Boycott or Nah?

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Native Land Pod is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership
with reisent Choice Media.

Speaker 2 (00:05):
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Home, y'all. This is episode sixty four. As in the
nineteen sixty four Civil Rights Acts that they're trying to
roll back, but this is episode sixty four of Native
Land Pod. I am kicking this off. I'm your host,
Tiffany Cross along with my other hosts, Angela Rye and
Andrew gillim And we got a pack show today, y'all.
What's going on? What's all got?

Speaker 3 (00:30):
Well?

Speaker 2 (00:30):
We got a special guest. That's that's one great thing.

Speaker 1 (00:34):
Yes, do you want to say?

Speaker 4 (00:35):
No, one and only Leslie Jones.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
We got Leslie Jones, y'all. I didn't want to give
it away.

Speaker 5 (00:40):
I was gonna let you tell us.

Speaker 3 (00:41):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (00:42):
We're excited because you know, we typically have guests during
our live shows. But you guys follow us. You saw
Leslie was like let me be I guess and we
were like, yes, through to have you. So we'll be
having guests done. So this is our first show. No,
it's not because we have we have Reverend we have Yeah,
but what am I talking about?

Speaker 6 (01:01):
This is our first time virtually, to be fair to
that's our first time virtually having you.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
That's true. That's true. So excited about that.

Speaker 4 (01:08):
But that's not true either, Andrew.

Speaker 5 (01:10):
No, no, no, I mean, hey, shout out to the first, but.

Speaker 6 (01:13):
It's some type of first. This is the only inauguration
that matters. Yeah, right, this in this calendar year. And
speaking of this calendar year, it's twenty twenty five, and
also Project twenty twenty five.

Speaker 4 (01:23):
As well underway yesterday. Well, by the time y'all see this.

Speaker 6 (01:28):
Two days ago, I did an executive order of conversation
with our NLP audience.

Speaker 4 (01:33):
We're calling them sidepods or solo pods.

Speaker 6 (01:37):
I I was gonna say, depending on if you ask Andrew.

Speaker 4 (01:43):
Or the rest of us, it's a side pod.

Speaker 6 (01:45):
And I think that what we also will get into
every show is what is happening from Project twenty twenty
five that the administration is pushing through.

Speaker 4 (01:54):
So that will come out for shore in today's show.

Speaker 1 (01:57):
I love it, Andrew.

Speaker 2 (01:58):
What you got, well you all know, I guess as
an extension of Project twenty twenty five Trump Racist January sixth,
insurrectionist slash racist bigots. Keeping with the theme and what's
motivating this administration and his supporters, it seems, is coming

(02:18):
after people of color, and in this case very specifically
black folk in this withdrawing of support for a diversity
and inclusion in the workplace, government, non nonprofit and for profit.
I want to assess to boycott or not to boycott?
That is the question. I look forward to getting into

(02:38):
it with y'all.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
I know a lot of you guys have asked about that.
Another question that we get asked a lot is what
do we do? So many people ask in our audience
but also in my personal space, just our personal friends
have been asking what do we do? Angela? I know
you get this question probably the most because people will
even ask me, can you ask Angela? And it'd be
about something very cific or something very broad. So I

(03:03):
just want to talk about that and what that means
for our audience and how we can better handle that
question and how people can better frame their question.

Speaker 2 (03:11):
And you say, what what can we do in response
to what's happening?

Speaker 6 (03:14):
Is that everything everybody knows? Everybody knows right now, we
say what do we do? That we are in an
existential crisis? How do we respond? I want to say
this before we went out of the rundown. TIFU laugh
at this, Andrew. For the first time. I finally got
called Tiffany in an Instagram comedy yesterday. So you know,
she's always like people are calling me and I was like,

(03:35):
that doesn't happen to me. They were like, Tiffany, I
just love you, can you? And I was like, I
just am not Tiffany.

Speaker 4 (03:39):
She ain't even anything.

Speaker 3 (03:40):
I love it.

Speaker 2 (03:41):
I love it.

Speaker 1 (03:42):
They do that all this time.

Speaker 5 (03:44):
I get it. I get it all the time.

Speaker 4 (03:46):
I'm gonna be called Andrew. I'm sure I know ORR
today because look at my shirt.

Speaker 1 (03:55):
Y'all are show up.

Speaker 4 (03:56):
Though I know. I was just thinking that.

Speaker 6 (03:58):
I would support black, our own brands and historically black collegists,
since don't nobody else want to.

Speaker 1 (04:03):
Okay exactly, speaking of let's get into it.

Speaker 7 (04:10):
Thank you so much for welcoming home each and every
week when I listen to you guys.

Speaker 8 (04:15):
My name is doctor annbra Brown, and I have a question.
I know that Donald.

Speaker 7 (04:20):
Trump is constantly putting out these ook orders that are
very harmful and very impactful in a negative way towards
the minorities.

Speaker 8 (04:29):
Especially brown and black communities.

Speaker 7 (04:33):
And so I think just recently he decided to stop letting.

Speaker 8 (04:40):
Funeral agency celebrate Black History Month.

Speaker 7 (04:42):
And my question is, like, why are Black Americans just
allowing us to happen? Like why can't we stay up
and say no, this is not what we're gonna do,
Like stop giving our money to companies and organizations and.

Speaker 8 (04:54):
Platforms that do not care about us. When that happens,
I feel like they can be defeated and show that no,
you can't do this. Test like why are we allowing us?
Do you have any thoughts? Fakes?

Speaker 2 (05:06):
Yeah, so Ambers, Ambers question is really hitting on what
a lot of folks in our community are talking about
right now. We've had conversations in my household I'm sure
y'all have with with family and other friends around you know,
how do we continue to give our money away to
corporations who at this time are backing away from us

(05:26):
and doing so in such a public way as you
all know, and we talked about in the rundown. You know,
some of the more patronized brands by our community are
looking like they are betraying us, and it's hitting very,
very close to home. I'll start with the fact that
Target just recently announced that they were ending their DEI work,

(05:52):
their emphasis on recruiting more minority let businesses into their profile.
We'll talk more about that, but I just wanted to
quickly mention some of the companies who have joined Target
in stepping back from our community and supporting diversity, Amazon, Walmart, Meta, McDonald's, Ford,
Harley Davidson, Lowe's, John Deere Tractor supply, Brown fore Men,

(06:21):
and the list actually is continuing to grow. I think
part of the good news is y'all is that the
list of companies who are saying they are sticking with
us is also growing. Some of those are Apple, Costco,
Ben and Jerry's, EIF Beauty, JP Morgan, and again that
list is continuing to grow. But folks, man, this is

(06:44):
our j and I were having a conversation about the
Target piece because it's one of the first places we
were able to go to find Black History Month shirts
that fit our kids that they could wear the school
and felt we're proud about it. And we also, of course,
as y'all know, have friends who are who on the
merchandising side. In fact, why don't we, just before we

(07:05):
get into our conversation just quickly throw to just one
of those examples of vendors, of black vendors who are
part of Target's national portfolio.

Speaker 1 (07:16):
Yeah, this is Melissa Butler. She's the owner of the
lip Bar, which is carried in Target. Let's take a listen.

Speaker 9 (07:23):
I've seen a lot of people like, this is why
we need our own Target, or this is why we
need our own Walmart, which is true. But do you
know why we don't have our own Target. Do you
know why we don't have our own Walmart? Because we
barely shop black brands. We're constantly competing to tell people
to shop the lip bar over Charlotte Tilbury, or the

(07:46):
lip bar over Mac, or the lip bar over Nyx
or Elf or etc.

Speaker 1 (07:52):
Etc.

Speaker 9 (07:53):
So the reason why we don't have these powerhouse brands
is because.

Speaker 4 (08:00):
Our support is finicky.

Speaker 9 (08:02):
In twenty twenty, when it was cool to shop black
owned businesses, we all got an inflated sense of support
for about three months, and then by the end of
the year we had all this extra inventory. Some people
had hired a bunch of people, and guess what, it
wasn't cool to shop black anymore. But again, the reason

(08:26):
why we don't have the control that y'all want us
to have is because we are not keeping our dollars
with on our community in the first place. So now
when somebody decides that they don't want to support our community,
we're all up in arms.

Speaker 4 (08:41):
Well, we've created this.

Speaker 5 (08:45):
So that's one perspective, y'all.

Speaker 2 (08:48):
I'm curious to know, ladies, how are you all thinking
about some of the upcoming I think boycotts that are
pretty well predictable. Reverend al Sharpton has announced along with
this committee that there'll be a strategic list of companies
that will be first targeted, no pun intended. And then

(09:08):
there's been an announcement that February first would be the
start of a nationwide boycott of target. I'm curious to
know how you all feel about that, especially in the
context of these business owners.

Speaker 4 (09:22):
I am.

Speaker 6 (09:24):
I was so grateful to our friend, Reverend Mark Thompson
in our feed we have a black media feed, and
he said, and I don't think I'm out of line.
We normally don't share out of here, but this is
a synopsis he gave us from the letter from the
Birmingham Jail, which we know is from Reverend Martin Luther King,
Reverend doctor Martin Luther King. He said that there are

(09:45):
four steps that you take in a direct action against
any entity, and the first is the collection of the evidence,
which I think that we mostly have. These companies have
come out now and have said where they are rescinding,
where they are retracting. I do think it's important that
we distinguish Amazon, and we can talk about that today
or another time. To negotiation, which normally are your list

(10:10):
of demands. I have not seen a list of any
clear demands. The third is spiritual purification. As you all know,
doctor King had a commitment to nonviolent resistance. Some people
believe it's something else, but there is that. And then
the fourth is direct action, which are your protests, your boycotts, etc. Now,

(10:32):
what I think is important in this day and age
is I think we've gotten very comfortable with our ability
to blow things up. And I don't mean in a
literal sense. I mean in a figurative sense. We can
say like we're gonna take this person that we cancel
in this person, this brand is canceled, blah blah, but
we don't have no type of strategic plan.

Speaker 4 (10:50):
Reverend now has talked.

Speaker 6 (10:51):
About them doing a ninety day review and then selecting
two companies from that there are more than two companies
that are basically assaulting our community, trying to take our money,
but not respect us, not honor us. And I think
that we do need to be in conversation with the
vendors at these brands to figure out what does support
look like for them if these boycotts are indeed going

(11:13):
to happen. What we should not do is subject our friends,
our family, brands that we care about to friendly fire,
because people are going to be real hot about if
they can't get Boss Lady no more. They're gonna be
real hot about if they can't get something from Tapa,
whether it's her book or some products she has in Target.
And I think that we are at a time a
very critical juncture where when we make enough noise, when

(11:37):
we make our demands clear, and we are on one
accord about it, there.

Speaker 4 (11:42):
Is a response.

Speaker 6 (11:43):
And I'll give you an example that's very timely right now. Yesterday,
the Trumpet or the night before, the Trump administration put
out a memo from the Office of Management and Budget,
which is what I talked about on the Live show yesterday,
which was essentially a federal funding freeze. Today as a

(12:03):
result of the up uproar as a result of the
clear information we gathered as a result of our requirements
about what our expectations are as taxpayers of the federal government.
That federal funding freeze has been rescinded. It's been rescinded.
A judge stopped them yesterday. But today just now breaking
news while we're recording, it's been rescinded.

Speaker 4 (12:25):
Stuff happens when we move, things change when we.

Speaker 6 (12:28):
Stand together, and so I would implore us to figure
out what our demands look like in this very critical time,
not just of brands, not just of entities, nonprofits, etc.
But also of this administration and also of the Congress,
particularly those representatives who are aligned with our beliefs. If
we stand on run accord, I believe that fascism can

(12:49):
be beat. So I wanted to use that example because
I think it's a timely and it's an approach that
works universally. Sure our methods can change. We don't have
to do as doctor King did in the fifties and
the sixties as TIFFs.

Speaker 4 (13:02):
So Alane went out as a.

Speaker 6 (13:03):
Sixty fourth episode for the nineteen sixty four Civil Rights Act,
because we're trying to preserve it.

Speaker 4 (13:08):
What is it look what does preservation, survival and.

Speaker 6 (13:11):
Abundance look like it look like for us in this
day and age. And I think that is what we
need to wrestle with and get on the same page about.

Speaker 3 (13:17):
Well.

Speaker 1 (13:17):
I want to thank doctor Brown for a question. Appreciate
you listening and tuning in and taking the time to
drop a video. I do take a bit of an
issue with the framing, and I think it's important for
us to know Black folks ain't sitting around letting anything happen.
We have never done that, and I can see why
some people may think that. And she's not doctor Brown.
You're not the only person I've heard say that. I've
heard so many people say that, and I want you

(13:39):
to know it is not true. We have never been
a docile, laid down and let it happen people. We
have always we damn near freed ourselves in this country.
You know, we did free ourselves in this country, and
we are a liberated people who will fight to hold
and protect that liberation. I know a lot of what

(13:59):
you see, the imagery you see on the very antiquated
echo chambers of cable news, shows like there are two
equal forces fighting each other because so often our truth
makes them uncomfortable, so that's not what gets highlighted. Our
resistance makes them uncomfortable. That's why you only hear about
Nat Turner as if that was the only slave rebellion,

(14:21):
when in truth, what there were hundreds of people who
fought to the death. And so if I can offer
some hope, there are people all across this country right
now as we sit here and speak, who are activating,
who are organizing, who are trying to figure it out,
just like you, and I think we have to at
least keep that hope in mind. Don't believe their truth

(14:45):
about us. What we need in this moment is black
folks who believe in black folks enough to not believe
the bullshit they put out there about us. So and
you all hear us on this podcast. You've watched the
work that Angela does, You've seen the work that Andrew does,
the work that we do here together to try to
make sure that people are informed. And we can't do
it all by ourselves. So I think that's an important

(15:07):
distinct distinction to make We are not let standing by
letting anything happen.

Speaker 2 (15:12):
I feel that I feel that I also feel what
Amber is pointing out if I were to compare the
Trump administration one to the Trump administration two and how
the country seemed to respond. Right now in this moment,
the pushback feels pretty vacant, pretty void, And from just

(15:34):
my own personal lived experience and conversations you know, that
I've had and just things that I've observed, it feels
like this man is browbeating us. We are catching whiplash
left and right, trying to keep up with the impact
of these executive orders. Angela's breaking news on the recension
of one. We saw them step back on the Tuskegee

(15:57):
Airmen when they had taken that out of the training
curriculum for members of the Air Force and the larger military,
And so they're hearing something and it's feeling like we're
revving up to show that we are prepared to reckon
with you when you better be prepared to reckon with
us if we can square up. But a as a country,

(16:22):
when we look at the inauguration and we see corporation
after corporation after corporation, people who wrote statements following January sixth,
cutting ties, We're done with this. This was a you know,
a reach too far? Are now special guests, and everybody's
treking down tomorrow Lago to pay homage to bend the knee.
That is, in my experience pretty how do you say

(16:45):
deflating for the opposition? And my response really is twofold
so one to our leaders, our national leaders, folks in Congress,
I mean folks in the Senate, I mean these are elected.
I'm speaking very specifically on the elected side of this,
which is y'all need to clone Mitch McConnell on the left,
because I don't know how it is that when Republicans

(17:08):
were out of power, they were somehow able to bring
the government, the business to a grinding halt. When the
President declared war on the Congress by saying he has
appropriation power over them, wherein it's given to the Congress
in the Constitution of the United States, I would have said,
we ain't hearing no more nominees for any position in

(17:29):
this government until we come to a reckoning on the
fact that Congress is the appropriator by constitution. Why would
we go from calling this man out saying that he
is creating an illegal act by trespassing on the rights
and the responsibility of Congress through appropriation and then in

(17:50):
the afternoon hold a confirmation hearing for three four five
of his nominees. No, sir, we're bringing the Congress to
a halt until you recognize this because this man is
willing to roll the dice and take a chance that
the same Supreme Court that made him a king when
it comes to prosecution and accountability, will be the same
Supreme Court that will hold him, that will have his

(18:14):
back on this fight with Congress around appropriation and then
to the boycotts. Just real quick and I'll be done.
And this is to say the folks in Montgomery did
not want to have to disrupt their lives by walking
and carpooling to work, to church, to school, to social activities.

Speaker 5 (18:36):
You have it.

Speaker 2 (18:38):
When the boycott was announced, it wouldn't agreed upon by
all black people and Montgomery. In fact, we know that
through protests practically ten percent of us participated and all
of the civil rights demonstrations combined during that period of time.
So we're not going to be able to get everybody
signed on and by in uh through ballot or or

(19:03):
them expressing their opinions. But the damn thing, after a
year's time worked. It was inconveniencing. It was. It was
mind boggling, it was frustrating, it was angering for us,
but they stuck to it. We there was an announcement,
there was the plan was laid. We said we are

(19:25):
not getting back on this and back on this bus,
and that indignity to be suffered until y'all come to heal.
And they bought Montgomery to heal. I say that to say,
I've seen people texting and me, and and and and
my wife and just reading some of this stuff. Folks,
Well we can't do this because we got black brands. Well,
guess what. We spent a couple of days just looking

(19:47):
at how we can get access to those black brands
outside of Target. Is there a direct distribution from a
from a provider directly to my house? And yes it
existed for a good number of them. Target was a
distribution opportunity, but there was also a direct way to
get to the to the to the vendor to get
what it is that you want us you can support them.

(20:08):
So all I have to say is where there is
a will, there is a way. And if it isn't
making you uncomfortable, if it isn't disrupting your pattern, if
it isn't inconveniencing, mind boggling, mind blowing, upsetting, then you're
not doing it right.

Speaker 1 (20:24):
Can I add?

Speaker 2 (20:25):
But these folks have never coming to us with respect
until we use our dollars to say hell Na, If
you don't respect me enough to employ me and to
employ the qualified brothers and sisters who are putting product
into this street, then you don't deserve my money. Period.

Speaker 1 (20:41):
Angela. Let me ask you, because Andrew's making this point
about our de lyrics in Congress, and I have to
be honest, like, I don't know who our leaders are,
and I you know, Andrew respectfully, I definitely am not
looking at elected officials as our leaders these days, because
I think they are there to uphold an institution that
quite frankly needs to be disrupted. At this point, I
think I'm ready to dis antle everything. But Andrew, you
do make a legitimate point that so many other people

(21:04):
have set. What are Democrats doing so, Angela? You heard
Andrew suggests, well they need to just halt government? Is
that possible? One? Do the Democrats have the power to
do that? And two? Is the Congressional Black Caucus large
enough in number where they can halt legislation. Most of
them are in the House, so I don't know how
they would like halt the Senate confirmations. And as we're

(21:25):
so disaggregated in Congress, and as a Democratic Party is
so disaggregated, you have white people there in the Democratic Party.
Who are you know, representatives in Congress who want to
uphold the institution of white supremacy, so it's not in
their interest to bring it to a haul. All the
Republicans were united in upholding white supremacy, and on the
Democratic site you don't have that. So what power do

(21:46):
Democrats have?

Speaker 4 (21:48):
You know?

Speaker 6 (21:49):
So first I just want to say we didn't know
what our mini power was going to be at I
really hope our MINIPO today can be the first party.

Speaker 4 (21:55):
Your question, which is, I don't.

Speaker 6 (21:56):
Even know who our leaders are, Okay, let's do journey
not look into two members of Congress. So I'm dying
to know who your leaders are. That is a cold tease,
So y'all just know. And also, since we talked about
teases before I answer this question, I'm already off topic.

Speaker 4 (22:11):
You guys.

Speaker 6 (22:11):
We have a really great interview with Leslie Jones at
the end of this show. Make sure you stay and
hear that interview. So the CBC does have the numbers,
but more importantly, the Congressional Black Caucus has always had
the conscience. And I think what is incumbent upon all
of us as black people right now is to move

(22:32):
as if we are the conscience of whatever space we occupy.
I love what Andrew said because it's such a good reminder.
You guys know, my memory sucks, but it was such
a good reminder what Andrew said. Only ten percent of
the people participated in the boycott practice in Montgomery. I
was watching this clip. It was Doctor Claude Anderson recently,

(22:56):
and this man was like critiquing a clip of Doctor
Claude on Breakfast Club. He mentioned that there was a
black man, I believe it was a preacher, and I
want to get this wrong, who offered up buying our
own buses during the time of the boycott. And I

(23:17):
had never heard this. I don't know if you guys
are familiar with the story. I had never heard this story.
Doctor King at al didn't want that as a part
of this strategy. But what would have happened if that man,
if this preacher would have just proceeded and said, well,
ain't but ten percent. He also, let's ten percent over
here are going to work on this. We are so
much more powerful when we play our role. When we

(23:40):
play our position, Like everybody not gonna go to the
boycott in a protest, and that's fine, you still gonna
reap the benefits like I wish you would participate. But
what I'm saying is ultimately your obligation is to find
your lane and occupy that well, it is to dominate that.
It is the person that writes the best should be

(24:01):
doing our demands. The person that articulates should be speaking
our demands. The person that can go and negotiate and
isn't the rebel riser should should be negotiating our demands,
and then we have to figure out what next. But
when I think about our members, the CBC was never monolithic,
and it's definitely not.

Speaker 4 (24:20):
Now you said you don't know who.

Speaker 6 (24:21):
Our leaders are, but the main leader we have is
a black man. For the first time, we have the
first ever black Democratic leader, and Hakem Jeffries as frankly, especially.

Speaker 4 (24:32):
This week, as far as I'm concerned, been killing it.

Speaker 6 (24:34):
They raised hell about the onb memo and they saw rewards.

Speaker 4 (24:39):
There is a day of.

Speaker 6 (24:40):
Action that they're planning the day this podcast drops, where
they're engaging all types of organizations with different interests to
ensure that this administration knows that it can't run over anybody. Now,
I'm gonna tell you the message has been a little flawed.
And I've said this to as many of them as
I can. It's not cohesive. And if enough people, whether
they're influenced or athletes or their political commentators, enough people

(25:04):
have said they're not clear about what the.

Speaker 4 (25:07):
Democrats path forward is.

Speaker 6 (25:09):
I think that they do need to say, you know,
this is a president that we didn't expect to see
in this role. Again, we have been on our heels.
We were on our heels of Project twenty twenty five.
We talked about it, but we didn't plan for it.
Now here are our plans, here's how we're going to respond.
We have Lisa blown Rochester, we have Corey Booker, we

(25:30):
have Angela also Brooks, we have Raffaeo Warnock, and we
have people who are allies to them that could stop,
you know, closure in the Senate who could say no,
you're not going to have unanimous consent to proceed with
these nominees.

Speaker 4 (25:44):
A lot of folks have said.

Speaker 6 (25:45):
They could push back on the folks who he keeps
trying to nominate, who represent because they wrote the chapters
in Project twenty twenty five, including his OMB nominee who's
not even an yet.

Speaker 4 (25:57):
That was the interim that caused out of hell.

Speaker 6 (25:59):
Yesterday, right, So there are things that they can do
in that regard as well. We can go on and
on about the ways, but I just don't want us
to give hope. And we should always remember that our
most sacred obligation to these members of Congress is not
to expect them to move without our demands. We should
be telling them what we want to see, what we
need to see, whether it's on our movement building, it's

(26:21):
on messaging from them, or it's on legislation that we
need them to pass or block.

Speaker 2 (26:25):
Angela, can I just borrow you.

Speaker 1 (26:28):
You really quickly, just so our viewers know. O and
B is the Office of Management budget sola OMB memo.
It is the memo announcing the funding free. So anytime
you hear O and B, that's what that is. Office
of Management.

Speaker 5 (26:39):
Correct, thank you for that.

Speaker 4 (26:41):
In yesterday, I said that ninety two times.

Speaker 2 (26:43):
I just want to give an example of what a
member of the United States Senate could do when I
said grind his confirmations to a whole Tommy Tubberville, a
US Senator last year, refused to confirm any nominees to
the military brass brought it to a screeching halt for months.
Criticized by Republicans and Democrats alike for the tactic, A

(27:06):
single member of the US Senate, which we got what
forty seven, forty eight Democrats whatever that are in the
United States Senate, one of them can grind that body
to a complete and total halt. Now again, I don't
think you go nuclear on every fight that we have
with this administration. I actually think they ought to have levels.

(27:30):
There are to be levels of urgency. This one, we
just get into people to make calls. This time, we're
going and we're putting our best communicators out there, and
they're going to bring the message into American people's homes.
Third level, when we at you know, level red, then
we are shutting shit down. And what I am terrified
of right now is that they have been told by

(27:52):
consultants that because Donald Trump is going to do everything
and have us ridditing every which way. We have to
hold our fire for just the right fight. Well, that
is nonsense. If Donald Trump is dropping shit every single
day that is impacting our lives, why do we leave
him the zone to make his message known? And nobody

(28:13):
is there with a counter And I don't mean nobody,
but I just mean a coordinated, strong, impactful, and strategic
way getting out there and fighting this man. You meet
him right where he is, well it it doesn't take
the right fight. Every fight that is deriving us of
our livelihood is the right fight.

Speaker 4 (28:33):
I agree with that.

Speaker 1 (28:47):
I like the idea of doing a minipod on who
are our leaders? I think that's definitely worth a discussion.
Some of the things you all are speaking to about
the fight and you know how to frame the fight.
I think it gets us to the conversation around what
do we do? And so we do have a viewer
question who poses a specific question around what Native Land

(29:11):
can do. So let's take a listen to that question,
and then I have thoughts on the other side.

Speaker 3 (29:16):
Good morning, Native lamp pod and pod fans.

Speaker 10 (29:20):
My question is for right now that we already know
we got four years of this everyday spend cycle that
will be the second round of the Trump administration. How
can Native Lamp pod help individuals understand better how to
get involved with the local and state government, because basically
the feeds have already said thanking the food with us,

(29:41):
So if y'all could, could y'all providing insight to help
us out watch for the hook?

Speaker 5 (29:47):
I love yes at the end of the building.

Speaker 1 (29:52):
Yes, shout out to Omega Side five Fraternity Incorporated. We
appreciate your question, brother, But I I love that question
because I like that he's focused on where can we go?
What can we do? But you know, I get asked
this question all the time, what do we do? What
do we do? What do we do? This question is
a little different because he's saying, Okay, the federal government

(30:14):
is going to be bulldozing ahead, what can we do
at the state and local level? And as I said
many times before, a lot of these policies began at
the state and local level. A lot of these shitty
policies bubble up from your Republican controlled state legislatures. These billionaires,
they are smart, they are strategic. They start placing people
on your school boards because that is a launching pad

(30:36):
for them to get into Congress, they start funding campaigns
as a state representative, a state senator. So you know,
some of this stuff has already happened. But this idea
of and my co host may disagree with me, so
I want to hear you guys thoughts. This idea of
somebody guide, somebody, point us in the right direction. And

(30:58):
we can get more into this on THEO when it
comes to our leadership. But what I've started asking people
is well what are you doing? Because I'll say I
am not an all seeing guru where I can say, oh, okay,
well here's what you need to wake up tomorrow and do.
I'll ask people, well, what is it that you care about?
What is the thing that's impacting you and your family most,

(31:20):
you and your community most? And then there's usually something
you can do in that capacity, there's some sort of
resource you can find. Our good sister Joteka Edie does
the win with Black women. Call every Sunday where they are.
It's thousands of women from across the country organizing. That's
just a step. Because some people have said to me, well,
I'm not the person to bring it together, I'm the

(31:41):
person to give me, my marchin orders, and I go
out and do it, and so my pushback. I always
say this all the people who say, if I was
alive during the Civil Rights Movement, I would have Whatever
you're doing right now is the thing you would have
been doing.

Speaker 2 (31:53):
Then.

Speaker 1 (31:54):
If you doom scrolling through Instagram, that's what you would
have been doing during the Civil Rights movement. If you
are man twelve hours of TV, that's what you would
have been doing during the Civil Rights Movement. The time
is now, So when it comes to these local government,
I think it's a lot easier to navigate local government.
And this takes the example of black folks ain't just
sitting around letting something happen. It's a lot eier. You

(32:16):
can get twenty of your friends at your house and
have a state senator over and confront them and talk
to them, say I got twenty people, we all got
twenty dollars each to donate your campaign, or we ain't
got nothing. We got bodies to move. I want to
come you to come to my house and hear what
we care about. You can do that. The city council,
school board, state rep, state senator, and even a representative

(32:36):
from the governor's office, like make noise and be heard.
So that's just my thought. But I'm curious from you
guys because I know you all get that question all
the time. And what do you say when individuals ask
you that?

Speaker 4 (32:47):
I want to defer to Andrew.

Speaker 6 (32:49):
And I'm also going to add an extra layer onto
this question for you, ag. You started such a tremendous
organization that I don't think gets enough credit. When you
were at P five, which is People for the American Way,
Andrew created an it's called the Young Elected I know
my question, Damn, I got it, the Young Elected Officials Network.

(33:14):
And it was so powerful because they harnessed the collective
energy and power of young elected officials and various capacities
throughout the country. Many of them are still in elected office. Sadly,
he's gonna be mad that I'm gonna do this, but I'm.

Speaker 1 (33:27):
Gonna do it.

Speaker 6 (33:28):
Sadly, one of them went on to become a turncoat,
that is Kristen Cinema. Kristen Cinema left and we don't
know what happened, or we pray that the lawyer brings
her back home to her right mind and to her
better politics.

Speaker 4 (33:41):
But in the meantime, Andrew, I do think.

Speaker 6 (33:44):
That things like that, where you're not only strategizing on
policies that matter and that would be impactful for communities,
but also what roads lead to next positions for these
folks are mission critical. Can you please talk about the
important of folks being engaged and running for office themselves?
Like it's so shyy to be in the game when

(34:06):
you standing on the sidelines barking orders but you're not
there on the field.

Speaker 4 (34:09):
I'm one of those. I'm gona stay on the sidelines,
but care that's real.

Speaker 2 (34:12):
And when you barking them a lot of times you're
not barking them to the right people.

Speaker 5 (34:15):
Yeah, so you kick it up dust.

Speaker 2 (34:18):
But I will say this because it's such a it's
a good question, a profound question, and also an accessible
response and answer. Y'all, it is not rocket science. I
know it feels that way. But you can't eat an
elephant hole. You eat it piece by piece by peace.

(34:41):
Angela earlier reference, we all have a role to play.
The first role all of us out of play is
we need to lock into our cell phone the district
office number for our member of Congress and both of
our United States Senators. I understood the question, but I
do not concede that the federal government is out of
our reach simply because the Republicans are in control. That's

(35:03):
when the that's when the right woke up, when we
were in control, started turning local offices and began going
after Barack Obama and the Democratic Congress on the House,
on the Senate side, and throwing them out at the
midterm elections. This is go time right now. We are
not excused out of Washington, DC because we are the majority,
and they still got our money up there, and we

(35:26):
ought to be telling them where those dollars ought to go.
So locking those numbers because we ought to be making
those calls. Every time the word comes down, we hear
that they're doing something, y'all. I know it sounds overplayed,
but I'm telling you right now, I've been an elected official.
I've been on the receiving end of what a massive
response looks like and what a doll response looks like.

(35:49):
And when the doll response comes in, I can tell
you it had no impact whatsoever on the way I
was going to vote on an issue, left or right, center, whatever.
A huge response for I'm a zoning issue. Right, a
gas station wants to go in on the end of
the corner of this neighborhood. The neighborhood says, we don't
need no gas station, we need a grocery store. Then

(36:11):
they organize and they start sending letters. They call my office,
They left messages we are against this. We are against
this even if no grocery store is out there to
be had right now. We believe you ought to sit
on the land until there is one that is ready
for us. Right And when those when my staff came
in and said, we've the phones are ringing off the
hook today about this thing, I knew that I couldn't

(36:34):
be cavalier. I had to deepen into it. I had
to know what I needed to know so that however
I arrived at my decision, I could explain it. It
was reasoned and it could stand the test of time.
So when we choose to say, oh, both my senators
are Republicans, and so they're not gonna hear me anyway,
light that line up anyway, because their interns and their

(36:57):
staff are going to report to them.

Speaker 3 (36:59):
Sir.

Speaker 2 (36:59):
We got a lot of calls on this, and guess
what that member of Congress is gonna ask that elected.
The physic's gonna ask, hey, are we hearing much feedback
from the district about such and such?

Speaker 4 (37:08):
And two zero two two two four three one two one,
and request to speak to your US House of Representative
member or your senator.

Speaker 2 (37:17):
And if you don't touch that google zero.

Speaker 4 (37:20):
Two two zero two two two four three one two one.

Speaker 6 (37:24):
That's not how you reach Andrew, but that is how
you reach your members of Congress.

Speaker 2 (37:29):
That is a a shuffle board. You call it, You
tell them who you want.

Speaker 3 (37:34):
What is it?

Speaker 2 (37:35):
Called it?

Speaker 3 (37:35):
Something?

Speaker 2 (37:35):
Board? Switchboard, switchboard and see look at me. Okay, okay,
I'm not gonna I'm not gonna list out everything at
this time, y'all, but I will say the accountability piece
here when we're out of power, quote is everything. We
cannot go silently into that good night.

Speaker 4 (37:54):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (37:54):
If they are coming for us, they need to hear
us in response. The other thing. It takes work, it
takes effort, it takes energy. But this is our time
where we need to be in our local communities registering
people to vote, and not just registering them to vote,
activating them around the issues in their neighborhood and in

(38:15):
our communities. That we can impact. If ten of us
went down to the city Hall meeting tonight and had
a word to say, I guarantee you, your mayor and
your commissioner's council members will hear you, because we don't
get ten people out of meeting on a single issue ever,
and when they do show up, it's a big a deal. Okay,

(38:36):
so it does. I guess I should say this. It
ain't that hard, y'all. It does require some work, but
everything I've said to this point is within our touch,
it's within our reach.

Speaker 1 (38:50):
They want us to believe that it's hard. They want
us to believe that they're inaccessible. It's complicated. Government lingo
is so complicated, and it does. I think there's a
concerted effort to not have intelligent found in black folks
who can actually take government lingo and make it very digestible,
very accessible. The Beltwegh media is very incestuous the way

(39:11):
they talk about these things, and they don't make it
very accessible to the masses. I know we have to
wrap up soon because I'm excited to get to the
mini pod about Angela's question, and I'm really excited because
we're going to have Leslie Jones on in just a
few minutes. And you know, look, I there's a lot
of serious things happening in the world, but black joy
is defiance. And you know it's okay sometimes to have

(39:35):
a light moment. But this is the question I want
to ask you guys, because it's something that I think
so many of us are struggling with. There is there
are some who believe we're gonna have to hurt for
us to really that is the thing that's going to
activate people. And I am struggling with this because I
do feel I just I feel like, you know what

(39:56):
y'all got it. This is what the majority of the
country voted for, or the majority of the voting population
voted for. Not even that, because he didn't win the
popular vote. This is what enough of y'all voted for
that I want you all to feal the brunt the challenge.

Speaker 4 (40:11):
Didn't win the popular vote.

Speaker 1 (40:12):
He didn't win the popular vote. He didn't win the
popular vote.

Speaker 4 (40:16):
No, Donald Trump, this election didn't win the popular vote.

Speaker 2 (40:18):
Did not win the popular vote.

Speaker 6 (40:20):
He won just win When did I miss?

Speaker 1 (40:24):
Yeah, he's never.

Speaker 4 (40:26):
He absolutely won the popular vote.

Speaker 2 (40:29):
No, he did not want the popular vote.

Speaker 1 (40:32):
He has never won the popular vote.

Speaker 6 (40:34):
I am trying to figure out that must change minority
of the voters.

Speaker 4 (40:40):
Electoral college, but I don't.

Speaker 1 (40:42):
He has never won the popular vote. So my my
point with that is the people who did want this,
I'm okay with them getting hurt, you know, like this,
this is what y'all got, get it. The problem is
we are going to be hurt first, and we gonna
be hurt worse. And so I'm trying to figure out
how to strike that balance. And there are some among

(41:03):
us even who say, look, a lot of us are disconnected,
we're despondent, we're not paying attention. Were gonna have to
feel that pain and that's gonna be the thing that
activates us. Is there a way to activate people before
we feel that pain?

Speaker 2 (41:14):
And I know before we have had enough pain to
last us our parageny and our children's children's children's children.
Yeah a lifetime. Yeah, so we we've experienced the pain.
But the truth is is it does in so many
ways have to travel up our street, down our block,
up our driveway into the house. In order for us

(41:38):
to see that this thing is coming apart at the seams.

Speaker 1 (41:41):
We have actually real quick correction from that neg correction.

Speaker 6 (41:45):
Yeah, because you guys we can never be associated with misinformation.

Speaker 4 (41:49):
I don't know. I know y'all is pain from this election.

Speaker 6 (41:51):
I was too, y'all are incorrect, like woefully Donald Trump
received seventy seven million, three hundred and one, nine hundred
and ninety seven votes. Kamala Harris received seventy five million,
seventeen thousand, six hundred and twenty six votes. The election
total in this election in twenty twenty four was over
one hundred and fifty five million voters. Donald Trump beat

(42:15):
Kamala Harris by more than two point three million votes.

Speaker 4 (42:20):
So I was like, I know, I'm not this.

Speaker 2 (42:22):
Way that's corrected. I just I think what I was
thinking was the twenty twenty what was.

Speaker 4 (42:28):
Elect twenty twenty sixteen, twenty sixteen?

Speaker 2 (42:31):
Sorry no, no, no, twenty twenty and twenty sixteen, how woefully
underperforming we were as voters as the electorate, so in
essence being he had less popular vote than the twenty
twenty or the twenty sixteen, and of course he didn't
have the popular vote in twenty sixteen, Hillary I.

Speaker 1 (42:50):
Won the popular vote by the smallest margin of any president.
But yes, you are, we are incorrect. Andrew and I
were in.

Speaker 4 (42:57):
I was like, wait a minute.

Speaker 2 (42:58):
I was like, I still want to be.

Speaker 4 (43:02):
You can't.

Speaker 6 (43:02):
I'm going to tell you right now, and this might
I might end up being more misinformation in y'all. I
still am not gonna miss this man won this election.

Speaker 4 (43:10):
I don't have no proof. I just got a good feeling.

Speaker 1 (43:12):
So there are so many people who feel that way,
and I that speaks to it though, because it's it's
almost like you would rather believe that than believe that
a majority of the people in this country voted for this,
and I am well.

Speaker 4 (43:26):
And the majority of people didn't.

Speaker 6 (43:27):
And more people stayed at home who are registered, more
people who are registered stayed at home. So really, what
we could say is neither one of in one the
couch did which is the fear of the whole time,
which is sad. I didn't mean to throw off the
whole conversation. That's important.

Speaker 1 (43:45):
We should. I want to get to the conversation on
leaders and we keep we have Leslie backstage waiting, so
we want to get to her. But I just want
to say I think I hope our people do not
have to feel so much pain before being activated. I
hope we can start paying more attention because I don't
feel good about letting by watching my people burn. And

(44:10):
there are people among us who are like, that's what
it's gonna take because we know.

Speaker 4 (44:16):
Yeah, I hope that that's wrong.

Speaker 6 (44:18):
Yeah, because I hope it's wrong, because I feel like
our people if we if we stop looking at ourselves
in the microcosm of the moment, our people have suffered enough. Yes,
like I'm tired of the suffering. I want us to
experience abundant joy, not be worried about the scarcity of resources.
We shouldn't have to keep suffering to prove a point,

(44:40):
especially a point that we're not the ones trying to make.
And I think the thing that's so frustrating and yet
beautiful in this moment is we are forced to come
to terms with the fact that we are forever inextricably linked.
Whether we're in the same cultural pocket and the same
you know, zip code, the same.

Speaker 4 (44:57):
Area code, what have you, we are inextric linked.

Speaker 6 (45:00):
And so it is imperative that we begin to look
out for our neighbors in the same ways that we
do for ourselves, whether they are in the highest earning
bracket or the lowest earning bracket. We are inextricably linked.
That's just the bottom line. And when do you tend
with that one group?

Speaker 1 (45:14):
They coming for you too. All these people are saying, oh, well,
they getting deported.

Speaker 4 (45:18):
Who cares.

Speaker 1 (45:19):
Listen, undocumented immigrants did not vote for this man. They
cannot vote. They are victims of this system like a
lot of other people. So I don't have I despite
paying taxes right right, they are paying classes.

Speaker 2 (45:35):
And their cousins and them who may have voted against them.
It is not a sentiment unlike many folks who immigrate
to this country. They pull the ladder up behind them. Yeah,
and it's unfortunately. We can dig into that another time,
because I do think it is worth a deep dive
on why it is. The sentiment is what it is.
But the right has created all of this. They want

(45:57):
to look more right on the right, on the on
the political rights side.

Speaker 6 (46:01):
I think race has created all of this, because don't forget,
and I think race has created all of this. I
would love to blame the right, But unfortunately, even when
you listen.

Speaker 4 (46:09):
To the rhetoric of our of people that we voted for.

Speaker 6 (46:15):
Around the summertime, the rhetoric started sounding very very conservative
around the border and around immigration policy.

Speaker 1 (46:23):
There's data behind that, so there was no uptick and
migrant crime, but the right introduced this, and so as
a result, members of the media and Democratic candidates mentioned
the border significantly more. I don't want to give the
exact percentage, but it was something like eighty percent more
than they had. So the right is constantly driving the
narrative and that's a challenge. I know we want to

(46:47):
bring in Leslie and I want to get to this
conversation about leaders. I'll just tell you I think the
leader of the black folks is drum Roll. You gotta
watch the mini pod to find out.

Speaker 4 (46:58):
Drum Roll. Yeah, you shouldn't let that thing breeze.

Speaker 6 (47:02):
So it was a good team. It was black anyway.

Speaker 1 (47:06):
While while Leslie getting herself together, just give y'all two
minutes to go and vote for us on NAACP Image Awards.
You can vote to yes image words dot net. I
hope that's the right address. But find us and vote
for us in masks please, and when we come back,
we will be joined by missus. Leslie Jones.

Speaker 11 (47:25):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, all right.

Speaker 1 (47:36):
Joining the podcast now is author, comedian and somewhat of
a social commentator. Leslie Jones, we are to have you
on this show.

Speaker 3 (47:46):
It's happening in your world.

Speaker 1 (47:47):
I've been seeing you pop up a lot, uh, so
I know we have a lot to get into you.
Thank you so much for joining us. We're happy to
have you, Susan.

Speaker 2 (47:54):
Welcome home.

Speaker 3 (47:56):
Thank you for having me. I'm excited. I watch you
and Angela and Andrew all the time.

Speaker 1 (48:02):
But we appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (48:04):
Yeah, I love your pot. I love your pot.

Speaker 1 (48:06):
We appre you know, we out here trying to do
what we can in this in this chaos, and it's
so much happening, Leslie. And what I would have to
say what I appreciate about you is you have always
tried to use your platform to either a make people
laugh or B speak out about something. I love that
you center women and black women and a lot of
the things that you do and hold the line for us.

(48:27):
So we appreciate you for that. I think in this
time we talked a little bit about what do we do?
So many people are asking us all the time, what
do we do? And on the other side, so many
people are checked out, like they're just like I can't
it's too much happening. You know, I'm gonna binge something,
I'm gonna stream something which uniquely puts entertainers in a spotlight.
So I'm curious what you think the role of Black

(48:50):
Hollywood is in this moment as we're facing assault on
every front, from our civil rights to our bodily autonomy,
to our finances to the very infrastructure of the country.
What do you think the role of Black Hollywood is there?

Speaker 3 (49:06):
Well, first, I feel like we need to realize what's
happening through each decade or it's that we're using less
and less percentage of our brain. Like there's no critical thinking,
there's no like and you get that through reading books
and Okay, it's hard to kind of say this without

(49:27):
I don't want to be offensive or whatever.

Speaker 5 (49:29):
But speak the truth.

Speaker 3 (49:30):
We had a crack erar you know what I'm saying.
We had There's there's kids that were born of that
that wasn't raised like us like to have boundaries and
critical thinking and think about it's we have to think
about where the mind state of where everybody is, not
just black people, white people, this society period. We are

(49:52):
in the complacent stage right now, Like people always ask like,
what do we do? What do we do. You know
what we have to do. Everybody knows what we have
to do. We just too complacent and we've paid for
our convenience with our democracy. You know what I'm saying,
We're not. No one's gonna stop watching Netflix, no one's
gonna stop ordering Amazon. And we could stop smoking cigarettes

(50:14):
for one week and shut shit down, but no one's
gonna do that, no one. No one's gonna take responsibility
for their role and what we have to do until
they actually take it serious. Because people still are on
that Oh they can't do that, Oh they can't make
that happen, but they are making that happen. And we're
sitting here not understanding that we hold that we hold

(50:36):
the key in our hand. It's us. Millionaires don't have
money unless we give them money, you know. And as
black people, we're one of the biggest consumers of this
market and we just uneducated. Man Like I'm so, I'm sorry.
It really comes down to whenever I hear anyone say
that they're racist or or they don't understand, you just

(51:00):
uneducated because DEI is very simple. No one's saying they're
lowing expectations. They're saying they're opening it up to everyone,
not just to white people. And if you think that
black people or immigrants are taking your jobs, go look
at the test scores. No, it's your white friend that's
taken your job. So I'm sorry.

Speaker 4 (51:21):
I was gonna ask you.

Speaker 6 (51:22):
So one of the things that that tiff was getting
at is the role that you see entertainment playing in
this particular moment.

Speaker 4 (51:30):
We know in our history, whether we're.

Speaker 6 (51:33):
Talking Harry Harry Belafonte to dig Gregory, entertainment entertainers have
always been an essential part of movement building. And you
brought up DEI, which for our audience, diversity, equity and inclusion.

Speaker 4 (51:45):
Hollywood was one.

Speaker 6 (51:46):
Of the first industries hit by folks saying you know what,
we actually are going to retract a little bit on
this whole DEI thing. So when you think about what
the requirement is, what is your most reasonable service in
this time?

Speaker 4 (51:59):
And that would you challengers to do?

Speaker 3 (52:01):
Yeah, I challenge them to when they go on a set,
which is something I do. How many black people here
like you know, you know, you're not gonna give me
favorite nations? That's what they want to use all of
it because can't no white woman do my hair? I've
had white hairdressers on set say to me, oh, I
date a black guy and we have a kid, so

(52:22):
I know how to do black hair. What I've had
a makeup artist said to me, Hey, I did Viola
Davis and Gabrielle, that bitch that has nothing to do
with me. You need to go and get that tone.
You need to go get my color tone because I'm
five shades darker than her and five shades lighter than her.

(52:43):
So what like? And I'm gonna tell you, you gonna get
labeled a bitch, but they gonna call you one anyway.
I me myself. I don't like to look like a
shiny ass bitch. When I was on SNL, we had
a light in person that was like, like, put some
more light, and I would like, put some more light

(53:04):
on me. This is a dark ass stage. I'm a
black bitch. Put the light on me. No, And I'm
very verbal. I'm very verbal. Oh I look shiny. No,
I look darker than what I am. Are you doing
that on purpose? Are you trying to make me look dirty?
Or are you Is there a reason put some light
on me?

Speaker 8 (53:22):
No.

Speaker 3 (53:23):
I had to learn that shit easy early too, because
I'm a dark skinned person and if I wear any
kind of light color, that shit flushes me out. So
you have to speak up. Some people are scared to
speak up because again, we in this this industry that's like, oh,
you know, she's how I have to work with whatever. Yeah,
I'm difficult, Yeah, because I'm walking Leslie Jones and I

(53:47):
This is what people need to understand in this business.
You are a business, that's right. You are a freelancer.
When people ask you to work for them, that means
that you are letting them have your surface is for
a certain amount of time. In other words, if I
have some tractors and you had a feel you are
renting my tractors and you're using them to do your field.

(54:09):
But mother, those are my tractors, and you know what
you're not gonna do. You're not gonna mistred and mistreat
my tractors either. You're gonna take care of them. And
if you puck up my tractors, you're gonna pay for them.
Do you get what I'm saying. So when you go
on set and you see that, man, I say it
straight up. I already know when somebody can't do my
makeup as soon as they go to reach for a brush.
I'll be like, you don't know what you're doing. I

(54:31):
call my girl, you got you gotta you gotta force
them to do it, because most people don't and they
get away with it. But if you say something, they
can do something. I mean, I mean at least when
I do it. I don't know about everybody else. But
when I speak up, Oh I have nappy hair, she
can't do my hair. So I have a glam team

(54:54):
and we What I do is I bring my glam
team in and they're good at what they do, and
they be good at what they do, and then those
people go, oh wow, yeah this works better, Oh wow,
she looks great. Did you get what I'm saying?

Speaker 6 (55:06):
So you hear I hear you saying, Leslie like youz
I down to the glam and we love you for it.
DA supports black businesses. I'm sure, Andrew, who is the
real fam?

Speaker 4 (55:15):
You for the culture?

Speaker 2 (55:17):
No, I'm just sorry. No, I'm love I'm loving that
you you broke it down like that, and more importantly,
I'm loving you calling out the fact that your talent
is a business, what you bring to the table. As
Jay Z says, I'm a business man, and I wonder
for you, Leslie, as you have increasingly become I don't

(55:41):
know if it's become of you always been outspoken, because
you know, I see you through the television screen and
the movie theaters. But but I'm wondering, as you speak
up and speak out in Hollywood, does it cost you? Yeah,
because I think you you were getting at this. People
don't want to be put in discomfort. They don't want
to be inconvenience, which is why we're not choosing to

(56:04):
boycott certain industries because that would hit too close to home.
Talk a moment, just about the fact that you're risking
something if you are well, every time you choose to
step in the gap.

Speaker 3 (56:16):
I'd rather risk that than the way. I mean, I'm
older now. Maybe in my twenties and thirties, you know,
I would have been like, Yo, I'm down for this.
Let's get this done because I'm trying to be in
the hustle. But the older I get, the more I
think about my parents, more I think about my grandmother,
the more I think about us as a people like
and as getting older, I just become so into me

(56:38):
being a black woman. Like I stopped perming my hair
I started growing my I just didn't realize how beautiful
black women really are until you really, like after SNL,
I dug deep into like a black woman's soul, and
it's so it was always there, you know, it was
always there. So whenever I'm choosing stuff now, it don't

(57:00):
don't be like I'm making a choice. It's just like, yo,
this is what's happening, Like no that I can't do
this because I feel like this. So, yes, I do
lose some things, but the good thing that I'm noticing
is that the people who do know that I'm good,
and the people do that know what integrity and dignity is,
they're starting to come back around it at because I'm

(57:20):
good at what I do. That's why I have to
be super good at what I do. You I wouldn't
be able to take a stance if I wasn't funny
as trust and believe. So that's why we tell everybody
have some foundation behind your you know't don't be the
pig with the stick house. Be the pig with the bricks,
you know what I'm saying, So and be able to
make more bricks, you know. So, yeah, I do know

(57:48):
all that we're talking about prices.

Speaker 1 (57:51):
The price right, right. I appreciate that we're also talking
about this boycott, right, a lot of things the boycott,
and I think as this administration continues to sow chaos
and we see the role of the private sector and
as they fund some of these really Dracronian initiatives, and
who knows what else is coming down the pike. But
a lot of us build audience on some of these platforms,

(58:13):
for example Instagram, Facebook. For some people, you have a
huge following on Instagram. Yeah, I used to, you know,
watch your replays when it was about like Game of
Thrones and all all the things that you do would
go viral on Instagram. But this is owned by meta
Mark Zuckerberg, who's a part we stream content on Amazon.
I'm just curious how you plan to navigate that space.

(58:35):
You plan on keeping your Instagram and if you get off,
like where is there to go? What are your thoughts?

Speaker 3 (58:41):
Well, Well, my thing too also is I'm a business
person also, like you know, it's I can't I have
to learn how to navigate a business too, But it
also has to be what people want to Like, if
people stop to win Instagram and you know, then I'm
a fine somewhere else because I was doing that before

(59:03):
Instagram and before TikTok and before Twitter, I still was
out there. You know what I'm saying, We I think
we need to start start like trying to wane off
that ship because it's not good for us anyway. You
know what I'm saying, Like, it's it's just making unnecessary
people like confamous that are really dangerous. You know. I

(59:24):
think we're just so into this social media ship that.

Speaker 2 (59:28):
I don't know.

Speaker 3 (59:29):
I just feel like if this wasn't around, we would
still find a way to communicate with each other. I
think we just have to put a little bit more
effort into it, and I would find a way. I mean,
you know, now they got substacked, Now they got h
what is that Patreon? You know? I mean, what.

Speaker 2 (59:51):
Are working on now?

Speaker 1 (59:53):
What is working to find you in? How are going
to promote it?

Speaker 3 (59:58):
Oh? I'm so many things. Well, people just came out
with it because you know, we're celebrating the sn L fifty. Yeah,
so I'm on the cover of that. So I just
sold the show with Universal, so that's going to be
coming out. I'm also uh getting ready to do a play.
Uh my specials coming out. Uh yeah, we got a

(01:00:20):
lot of good ship cooking.

Speaker 5 (01:00:26):
I think she's propriet keeping it down.

Speaker 6 (01:00:28):
And if and she had a special, she didn't invite
us to as much as she said, Oh my god, let.

Speaker 3 (01:00:33):
Me tell you, Let me tell you, let me let
me tell you, let me tell you what happened.

Speaker 2 (01:00:41):
So my my special was.

Speaker 3 (01:00:44):
My special was supposed to be taped in Rancho Cuckamonga.
So we was about to promote that, right racial Cookamonga
was like with it. They was like, yo, we're gonna
pay you twenty five thousand extra for you to mention
Rancho Cookamonga. And then somebody I guess on the board
went and looked at my material and they was like,
oh no, she can't represent Rancho Cuckamonga. So they banned

(01:01:06):
me from Rancho wow.

Speaker 4 (01:01:10):
Yo.

Speaker 3 (01:01:15):
And then I told him, I said, so it wasn't
the math that oh it was. It's not it's not
the it's not the robber reason nothing. That's not what's
killing Okay, me telling a dick joke, all right?

Speaker 1 (01:01:27):
Wow?

Speaker 3 (01:01:28):
So, so so what happened we end up when Yeah,
then we yeah, then we read we had the Rancho. Yeah,
we had to redo it and we end up doing
it the night after the election, which was the worst night.
And I'm telling you nobody, I was like so mad

(01:01:49):
because I was like, why did y'all pick that date?
And niggas like we thought Kamala was gonna win.

Speaker 6 (01:01:54):
All thought we would have we would have R s
v P that we were going lest and to celebrate
with you, and wouldn't shown done with it.

Speaker 2 (01:02:02):
Before we let you go? So many people before we
let you go, I have to just before we let go,
we gotta ask you had referenced your twenty somethings, your
thirty somethings, if you could turn back and look at that, sister,
for those of us who are you know, still coming

(01:02:23):
up on the rough side of the mountain advice, would
you give what? What? How would you ease the soul,
the mind, the heart looking back on your troubles at
the time and how how you got over You know.

Speaker 3 (01:02:37):
What's so crazy? First of all, I believe in God.
I really do believe in a higher power. You know
what I'm saying. I don't know if I believe in
the God that these people believe in. But when you
get older, you do start developing a real relationship with
him because you really do. Like there's times that come
the way you go, like I had a surgery and
you know that type of stuff. People die you you know,

(01:02:59):
you go on your knees and be like yo, you
say you there, like are you there? And he has
proven to me that he's there. So so that for
me is very important because then you just really hoping
faith work in together. You know what I'm saying. But
I would tell young folks, which I whish. I tell
people all the time if I could quanetum leap to

(01:03:21):
myself and say, please don't worry, Like worry is not
going to help it the situation at all. It's just
like try to enjoy every stage of your life, like
enjoy the small apartment, Enjoy the ragley ass car, Enjoy
the shitty job, enjoy enjoy, enjoy it, like there's so
many moments in there where you know you having fun.

(01:03:42):
I think back when I was broke, and the most
fun thing I used to do was like I had
a cup on for l Polo Loko and I would
go get me some chicken wings. I would give me
some chicken wings and two chair rows and let me
tell you something and go home and watch my favorite
and I'm talking about joy. You have to find the

(01:04:04):
little creases because that makes you human. Also disconnect like
I literally leave my phones now inside another room because
you have beneath connect. You have to promise you will
waste most of your life and go outside. Go outside,
walk in the park, look at the sky, and let

(01:04:26):
me tell you something. And I tell young inst this
all the time. If you do not appreciate where you are,
you will not be given the next step. Until you appreciate,
you will not graduate. That's just it.

Speaker 2 (01:04:40):
That's a word.

Speaker 1 (01:04:42):
You made me think of something. Andrew. This is gonna
be our last question because I know we overtime and
Leslie gotta go, but just really, before we let you go.
You you work with a lot of other comedians, but
also white women comedians, and I know we have talked
about on this show, and I've been struggling with this
question of the role of white women in our politics,

(01:05:03):
and so my attitude is kind of like, y'all, y'all
got it, y'all, y'all work it out amongst yourselves. I
can't do it. But when you're in those spaces, Leslie
as the sole black woman in an ensemble cast or
on a show like SNL. Do you get into those
conversations and what would you say to white women who
are complaining about it? And maybe they voted right, but

(01:05:24):
they grandma voted for Trump, or maybe they group chat
voted for Trump, or the assignment was to bring along
your friends. How do you respond to them in this
moment right now?

Speaker 3 (01:05:31):
Girl? Girl, do you know how much trouble I used
to get into. I used to get into so much
trouble because they would do things and I'd be like,
that's racist, Like I'm that person. I'd be like, Noah,
that's racist, or a microaggression, like that's racist? What you
mean by that? Liken' I don't give about calling a
bit chy'at because like you, you can't fight me. So
let's let's go like what did you mean by that?

(01:05:53):
But what did you mean by that? But what did
you mean by that? But like no, And then a
lot of white women do say things because they think
that they're like, oh, I love when they say, well,
I don't see color, and I'll be like, yes you do, bitch,
I said you see colors because your outfit is coordinated, right,
And let me tell you something. You're gonna see my color, bitch,
because I'm a beautiful black alabast and if you don't

(01:06:15):
see my tall then we have a motherfucking problem. So
you gotta check them. Like the there's club owners that
own that are trumpers, and you gotta check them. You
gotta check them. You're wrong, You're freaking wrong, You're faking wrong.
There's a club that I don't go to because I'm not.
I don't do this. I don't. You don't get to
have me. And then both the other way, you don't

(01:06:37):
get to have me, and then tell me that I
don't I'm a three fists of a person, or that
I can't take care of my body, or I can't
get the same pay as you. Now the fucking pay
is the motherfucking pay.

Speaker 1 (01:06:51):
Yeah, yeah, and and.

Speaker 3 (01:06:52):
And so I get in trouble all the time, son,
Trust I get in trouble all the time. And oh
especially the white men. Because let me tell you something
about white men, and I don't I'm gonna say this,
and I'm gonna be dumb, but I know every black
woman will feel this. You need to understand that white
men have a different type of fear for black women

(01:07:13):
because they was on the tit of our ancestors. We
raised them, we're their discipline when we talk to a
white man. Have you ever just really honestly talked to
a white man and you could see him turning inside
because because they know we right, we we your mammy,
We your mammy. I took a switch to you. I

(01:07:34):
took a switch to your great granddaddy, like real talk,
like there's that connection there, it really is. And I
think that's their biggest fear is that if we get
in control, that we're gonna do the same thing that
they did. But we we don't feel that way. We
are nurturing and race. And this is another thing. We
don't want to erase them. They want to erase us.

(01:07:58):
That's the problem. We We know you want to go
ahead and survive, but leave.

Speaker 1 (01:08:02):
Us alone, right, leave us alone? Well, an, that's say
the new name of the show, color.

Speaker 2 (01:08:18):
Coordinated.

Speaker 3 (01:08:19):
Yeah, you don't, leslie, We appreciate you do.

Speaker 1 (01:08:27):
Appreciation, No, we appreciate it.

Speaker 2 (01:08:29):
Well, I think we got our marching orders, y'all by
the marsh will break.

Speaker 12 (01:08:40):
Welcome, Welcome, welcome, welcome.

Speaker 2 (01:08:42):
Welcome, welcome, y'all, Is that time past the collection played,
Leslie dropped it because it was hot. Oh and now
and now we need our ct as to take us
on out of here minus simple lumbo double down on Tiff.
These previous comment about going and voting, please not because

(01:09:04):
only we asked you, but because hopefully you believe we
deserve it.

Speaker 4 (01:09:08):
For the NAACP Image Awards, not.

Speaker 2 (01:09:11):
Somebody gonna pull up a graphic where people gotta go
for listeners then give them away.

Speaker 6 (01:09:19):
A CP Image Awards dot net. And we are in
the News and Information category for podcasts. My CTA is,
please listen to this, this mini pod we're about to
do on who black leadership is or who are our
black leaders I am fascinated by this.

Speaker 4 (01:09:38):
I'm wondering if it's going to be a debate.

Speaker 6 (01:09:39):
And then also, even though they just rescinded the executive
action for for federal funding freezing federal funding, please listen
to the solo pod side pod for me yesterday that
we did on what I did on YouTube. I think
that it's still good information regardless because all of that
is still on the line. They just paused for now

(01:10:00):
because you're paying attention.

Speaker 1 (01:10:01):
So the solo pod drop Tuesday this week sorry, okay,
so be sure to go on native Land and I'll
keep my cta simple as well. And that is if
you are not already subscribed uh to native Land, please
do that because those numbers matter a great deal for
all you guys who say you love us, you love us,

(01:10:22):
you listen to us, tell your friends to subscribe. Make
sure you listen. We're trying to offer more content. So
the more you listen, the more content we can offer,
and the more you support us, the wider our audience
can grow and reach in the bigger this community we can.

Speaker 2 (01:10:38):
And if you're a subscriber, you get special content, right,
special content for those who subscribe, yes, so.

Speaker 1 (01:10:47):
Make sure you do that, uh. And then I will
also just say love on your fur babies, because I
love the fur babies.

Speaker 6 (01:10:55):
You know.

Speaker 4 (01:10:55):
One thing to do is bring up the dogs.

Speaker 1 (01:10:57):
I mean, they make me so happy. They make me
so happy.

Speaker 6 (01:11:02):
But am a graphic of a dog for her right
along as you be sure to subscribe, we also want
to ask leave us a review.

Speaker 1 (01:11:13):
Please please please please be sure to leave us a
review because the reviews matter. We're available on all platforms
and YouTube and new episodes as you all know, drop
every Thursday, and like I said, it will be more
content coming your way. Our mini pods drop Monday. You
can check out Angela's side pod not to be confused
with her side Peace, but her side pod it dropped

(01:11:35):
Tuesday this week. They don't forget to follow us on
all the platforms. A lot of you guys are asking
about Blue Sky. People been tagging me like Tiffany, when
is Angela getting on a blue skuy And I'm like,
I'm pretty sure she's on Blue Skuy.

Speaker 4 (01:11:51):
I am, but I need to get the password.

Speaker 1 (01:11:52):
Okay, all right, So she is on there. Native Land
is on there on all our socials, so follow us everywhere.
You can be sure to subscribe to our text or
email lists on our website at natal lampod dot com.
And a quick reminder when you are sending questions, we
do ask a dab video questions. Lolo want to make
sure I said that, So make sure that when you're

(01:12:15):
we play videos and so for you that for us
to answer h your question. We want to see you,
we want to talk to you, and we want we'd
like to use you guys in our social media as well.

Speaker 4 (01:12:24):
You need to know your name to and where you're from.

Speaker 1 (01:12:26):
Your name and where you're from, and quick questions. This
can't be Sunday Morning Communion Sunday where y'all testifying?

Speaker 6 (01:12:35):
It can, but it's gonna get cut. Yes, it's gonna
be yeah, So make it easy on names.

Speaker 1 (01:12:39):
Under sixty seconds, under sixty seconds. All right, Uh, there
are six hundred and forty two days until midterm elections.
We are Tiffany Cross, Angela and Andrew Gillim. Welcome home, y'all,
Welcome home.

Speaker 3 (01:12:52):
The last morning.

Speaker 12 (01:12:53):
Thank you for joining the Natives attention of what the
info and all of the latest Rock Gulam and Cross
are connective to the statement that you leave on our socials.
Thank you, sincerely for the patients reason for your choice
is cleared.

Speaker 3 (01:13:05):
So grateful to.

Speaker 2 (01:13:07):
To execute roads.

Speaker 12 (01:13:08):
Thank you for serve, defend and protect the truth. And
in case it well, walk a.

Speaker 13 (01:13:12):
Home to all of the natives, We thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:13:26):
Native Land Pod is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership
with Reason Choice Media. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows.

All Episodes

Episode Transcript

Hosts And Creators

Tiffany Cross

Andrew Gillum

Angela Rye

Popular Podcasts

Stuff You Should Know

Dateline NBC

On Purpose with Jay Shetty

.css-15opob5{left:0;position:absolute;top:0.8rem;} All Episodes

.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Boycott or Nah?