February 12, 2025 • 27 mins
Representative Lateefah Simon (CA 12th district) was there last Friday when an unknown man calling himself a “federal employee” blocked members of congress from entering the Department of Education. Simon and more than a dozen Democratic members of Congress were trying to speak with the head of the DOE after Trump and Elon Musk made clear their intentions to eliminate the department. She details congress’ ongoing efforts to limit Musks’ attempts to dismantle government agencies.
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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 Reason Choice Media. Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Hey, everybody,
it's Angela Rae. Welcome home. This is a special edition
of a solo pod with my good friend, Congressoman Latifa
Simon of California's twelfth Congressional District to talk about what
(00:21):
in the actual hell happened outside of the Department of
Education last week. So we had a conversation that same
day to talk about everything that happened and what recourse
members of Congress have to protect taxpayer money, taxpayer resources
and all of the things, and what is the role
of Congress and overseeing this government that is clearly going rogue.
(00:44):
So please tune into this conversation I first had on
Instagram live. Welcome Home, Happy Friday, y'all. It is a
special podcast, non podcast live. We're about to get into
what's happening in these DC streets.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
That's what we're about to do.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
You all probably have seen footage of our members of
Congress outside of the Department of Education at an all
access entrance by the way, and some random was out
there and wouldn't let them in. So I am going
to add this wonderful human being to this thread. She's here.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
How you doing, sin, I'm good, I'm good. I'm amped up.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
It's been a long week, but this is the work
that I'm so blessed to do.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
They're messing with the wrong one and the best coast
is out here. So for those of you who do
not know, this is Congresswoman Latifa Simon. She represents California's
twelfth district, following in the shoes of a deer mentor
and sister of ours, the Congresswoman Barbara Lee, and Latifa
is a force to be reckoned with. And if y'all
didn't see it already today, you will learn quickly. Today, Latifa,
(02:02):
you joined members of Congress outside of the Department of Education,
and I keep pointing out at an all access interests.
Can you talk about why you guys wanted to go
down to the Department of Education today.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
And what happened.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
For those who haven't seen the footage yet, well.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
I'm so happy to tell these stories. Sometimes a little
clips on the news station. Yes right, don't tell you
I didn't have a bullhorn, but I'm a thirty year organizer,
so I was screaming. My mom called me and said,
stop screaming, and I'm never going to let down for
our babies.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Ever.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
I haven't since I started working in juvenile halls and prisons,
in jails when I was seventeen year olds years old,
and on the streets of San Francisco and in Oakland.
It's what I do, is what you are paying me
to do, to not hold back. So a couple of
days ago, members of Congress, we wrote a letter to
the Department of Education. We have an acting director under
(02:55):
the Trump administration, and we asked if we could have
a Congress station because here's what happened last week. When
federal funding freezes were on the horizon. We were getting
thousands of calls from special education teachers, from organizations working
and headstart mothers who were like, if they cut off funding,
(03:18):
what are we going to do? We got calls from
mothers with children with autism saying that they had a
full time aid for their children. And with the federal
funding freeze arise, and with this threat to close the
Department of Education, millions millions of children were literally going
to be thrown out of support services. We wrote the
(03:40):
letter requesting a meeting. We didn't get a response. We called,
so today we came and we rolled up. It is
a public building. In fact, everybody on this line is
paying a little bit of money every time they get
their paychecks to ensure that we all were elected representatives
and you yourself.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Have access to the Department of Education. They literally sent.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Out a security guard. There were dozens of members of Congress.
They sent out a security guard. They locked the doors,
and they sent out Homeland Security. You couldn't see that
behind those those dark doors, but there was a line
of officers from Homeland Security ready to take down members
of Congress should we enter. They blocked the building from
(04:26):
American citizens.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
And when you do talk about that, just for a moment,
here's the thing that was astonishing to me. The first
video that I saw Latifa was Queen Maxine, who is
some people call her AUNTI max Queen Maxine with her
little bit powerful self standing in front of this white
man who I think, you know how like they tell
you to id people, so my ID might be wrong.
(04:48):
He's in a brown shirt like layman's clothes, with like
a fluorescent bandage on his neck. So this could be
like anybody like I'm like, I don't know if I'm
looking at an insurrectionist or a plane police officer. I
don't know who this man is in front of Congresswoman Waters,
but he's telling her that she can't get in. I
remember there was a back and forth of members saying
(05:10):
he's a contractor and him telling her that he's an
official government employee. Did you all ever resolve that, Like,
what's this man even a government worker?
Speaker 3 (05:19):
So what I want you all to understand is what
I'm learning to understand. But you already know what we
are seeing on Capitol Hill. It is shockhocking because our
grandmothers want order.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Let's just be clear, we want order. We are orderly people.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
We are working for communities that have order and promise.
The folks who are in the administration don't believe that
anyone should follow the law.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Clearly, Clearly, if they were.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Law abiding folk, they wouldn't have let out dozens of
folks who attack police officers on January sixth. Regardless what
you want to think about law enforcement, the hypocrisy is insane.
This man who's playing clothes did not clearly identify himself
as somebody who's taught folks who are going up against
law enforcement, you always ask them to identify themselves. Their
(06:06):
badge he threw out, you know, after questioning some kind
of badge.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Who knew what it was. But he didn't.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Clearly articulate what department he was working with and who
he was, So.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
He continued, he did have a badge, he.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Saw, he pulled it out. We didn't know what kind
of badge it was. Was it made from a printer?
You're if you're a member of law enforcement, you know,
and you are trying to clearly identify yourself, if you're
doing the right thing, You're certainly not supposed to stand
in front of a building surrounded by members duly elected
members of Congress and look at them smugly. The disrespect
(06:47):
was palpable. But the real injury is to.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
The parents on this phone.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
The real injury is we were going to do, I
believe the people's business to ask what were we supposed
to tell our constituents? What are we supposed to that
you all want to close down a department? Then I
just give me a couple seconds here about DOE, the
Department of Education. They set national standards, not just on
(07:13):
basic curriculum, what we should be learning, because that's really
that happens at the state level. They set national standards
for obedience to federal laws like Ada. So imagine you
have a child, your baby is wheelchair bound, and your
baby is in California and they can get into any
school they have support services. That's the law that California
(07:36):
abides by, but it's pushed by the Department of Education.
You move back to Arkansas to be closed to your people.
If in fact they close down the Department of Education,
there are no national standards for accessibility. There are no
national standards for entries into our state and local universities.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
There's no financial aid as you've known it. This is
critical stuff. I don't care how you vote, who you
voted for.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
What I do know is we have babies in our
communities who deserve the best. Does the Department of Education
need to be stronger and better yes. Do our teachers
need to be paid more and trained and loved on
and unionized, Yes, But you don't get there from closing
down really the essential department that is supposed to provide
(08:27):
national standards for our children and our teachers.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
So you, for the people who just join you talked
about you all writing this letter last week about what's
happening with the Department of Education. A lot of folks
who are following the news know that what Donald Trump
is talking about doing is shuttering the Department of Education.
What we have seen, Latipa, and now I'm talking to
you like a sister too. Yeah, what we have seen
(08:50):
is a very very clear fight that's easy to follow
in the news. On the judicial side, right, a lot
of cases there have been thirty six law suit file
that I know of so far on the fifty four
executive orders and actions from the Trump administration, that's right,
has not been as clear, and I'm hearing a lot
of pushback about it. You know, I get sensitive because
(09:10):
the CBC is my family, the Hills Ranch. One of
the things that I keep hearing is that where like,
where are the members of Congress? What's going on? Why
are they confirming? And this, of course is not that
person's not you all, but why is the Senate confirming
people like RFK and Tulca Gabbert. Where is the fight?
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Where's the legislation?
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Not understanding necessarily that we don't have the executive branch
and we don't have the legislative branch.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
So when you're in.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
The minority, just for a moment for those who are
really just starting to understand and pay attention to how
this works. When you're in the minority, what does the
fight look like? What are you all talking about doing.
I know you all are involved with the lawsuits. When
you think about as my role as a member from
California's twelve, this is what I see my role in being,
my role being in this fight right now.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
I think it's three things.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
One, we have to continue to tell folks what it
is with love and respect and understanding under a trifecta,
like you said, House, Senate right, and honestly, they have
the courts. So we still believe, if we will still
want to believe in this thinly veiled democracy, we are.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Going to sue, sue, sue, sue, sue.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
Their organizations like the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights under
Law and Democracy Forward NAACP. I can go on and
out Asian Law Caucus. They are holding this administration to
the fire. The judicial system is it's not perfect, but
judges have been doing the right thing in the last
week and throwing these executive orders right back to the
(10:41):
White House and saying this is unconstitutional. This is unconstitutional.
That has taken a level of coordination that unfortunately we'd
all don't see. But that's why we're having this conversation
right now. But two, there's two other things that Congress
can do. We can block our votes. We can hold
our votes. You don't get votes to racist You don't
(11:04):
give votes to folks who.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Don't care about our children.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
You don't give votes to folks who who don't believe
in the most basic of healthcare principles. And we have
been doing that in the Senate, and I got to say,
my heart has been breaking.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
You don't give votes to.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Policies that want to send you two thousand pound bombs
over to kill twenty thousand children. I think we got
to hold the line. And again, we are a part
of a body, and our leadership is saying, let's be strategic,
and I agree with that. For me, my focus is
making sure that one we are heard, our stories are clear,
(11:42):
that I am fighting with integrity on the streets and
inside the Congress. But more importantly for me, I represent Oakland,
I represent Oakland, I represent Berkeley, I represent the Bay,
and I need folks to know that one my office
is we are day in and day out, and they
have a fighter, but more importantly, they have.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
A key this government. This government.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
What's important too for folks who know who are on
the ground. These funding freezes affected federally qualified health centers.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
You know, the health centers right in.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Your community that you'd rather go to sometimes in the hospital,
that are wonderful, that have positions that look like us.
Those folks this week didn't know if they were going
to get paid. So I've been meeting with our health centers.
I've been meeting with our school principles.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
We've been meeting.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
We took I took Catherine Clark, who is right under
Hakien Jeffrey. She's a Democratic leader in the Congress. I
took her on a tour of the Children's Hospital of Oakland.
There are parents who literally are scared to bring their
children in for scheduled, scheduled heart transplants and sickle cell
treatments because they believe that they may be deported. These
(12:49):
are our Haitian brothers and sisters. These are our Latino
brothers and sisters. This chaos is killing people, and so
for us to be there on the ground, but listen,
and the last thing I want to say in my
TED talk, sister, I am reminding folks that you and me,
(13:16):
our parents were born into segregation.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
We have been here. Black folks have been here, and
we have.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Consistently with praise, worship, policy again, and culture, through litigation,
through movement, building, through study, through discipline, we have fought
horrific policies back.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
No freedom has ever been given to us.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
We've always had to take those freedoms through again. The
systems that have promised us, that have promised them, We've
held those promises.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Both want to go super hard. I think we should.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
The ground is strong, the legislative body, we must be
stronger than we've been. But I'm not going nowhere. I'm
four weeks in and this is where I think to
be exists.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
I'm proud of you. I'm proud that you were there.
I was so proud to hear your voice earlier. I
think the one thing, like I try to look at
the comments. I try to sit past the trolls and
look at the comments. And one of the things that
we're seeing is people saying, what do we the people do?
And they're also asking, like one of the things that
I'm kind of frustrated by is there are Republicans who
(14:23):
just barely eat their way into Congress. You guys have there.
It's the smallest majority, the smallest great depression, and so
there's leverage points that y'all have to get people to
vote with you. Yes they're opposed to recommit, that you
can force them on the issues to say that Elon
Musk South Africans, Elon Musk does not have the power
(14:46):
that he thinks he has. That the Department of Government
Efficiency is a random hair brained idea from Donald Trump,
who ain't even the real president. I would say Elon
Musk is the president of Stephen Miller's vice He did
not even been in control of this project twenty twenty
five by the Heritage Foundation is running this. And so
when you consider what levers you have with your colleagues,
(15:09):
who's in charge of going across the island being like,
if y'all don't vote with us over here, I guarantee
you you're going to be a one term wherever district
you came from.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
I think that's on the line. There's a march is
going to be crazy.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
In the United States Congress without without the Democrats, the
Republicans have no way forward, so we have to hold
our vote. We have to hold our votes for reconciliation.
That's a budget process. We have to hold our votes.
And the majority is so thin. If for of them
don't come to work, we win a vote. Hey, it
(15:44):
is so thin, and that's why I have I have hope.
But you know, Angela, I also know we are going
to win back the House in twenty twenty six because
poor folks, people of color, They're going to see the
very demonic ways of an administration that doesn't love its people.
They'll be able to see through the lives right. They'll
be able to see through the attacks on the smallest,
(16:07):
most critical safetyiness that unless you've lived it, you don't know.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Listen, I was a team mom. You know. I got
a twenty eight year old daughter. I had SNAP and
I also had WIG and I.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Would be at the counter and the grocery store having
to put back groceries.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
I know what that feels like. I know what that
feels like.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
I know what it felt like when a community college
finally transferring into a four year university.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
I have an MPa.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Now I can look through a budget. I can be clear.
I can educate our folks. They can educate me. I'm
not going anywhere. I think our people are doing the
right thing by calling members of Congress. I want you all,
particularly you all in Republican districts, to call them, to
call them every day. The Democrats in fact, and we
(16:53):
should be. We're getting more calls than the folks who
are complicit in this mess.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Enjoy all up their line. The majority has the power
right now. Phone number which we can sue.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
The phone number is two zero two two two four
three one two one. That is the Capital switchboard operator.
You can have her send you or them. I don't
know who's going to answer the phone, I said her,
that's bias. You can have the person who answers sends
you to your respective members' offices, even if you're adjacent.
Let's say you work in that Republican members this year,
(17:27):
whatever it is, if you are impacted by that district
at all, they are beholden to you. Why because whether
you voted for them or not, you pay their salary.
And that is exactly why our members today went to
the Department of Education. They said, if you're not going
to listen to oversight, we're gonna go and oversee you
on federal land that is paid for by our constituents.
(17:48):
And I was it was remarkable to me to see
what's happening. Donald Trump is saying he's given over Department
of Education in the Pentagon to Elon Musk next to
go through everything. Meanwhile, the courts have said, actually, Elon Musk,
you're now barred from handling any data.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
At Treasury.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
They're saying the actually the federal funding freeze is unfrozen.
They said USAID employees who are supposed to be placed
on administratively by midnight tonight, not so fast that would
have And then they were cutting five thousand workers to
two hundred and ninety workers at USAID. They said that
for all of the foreign aid that was supposed to
be frozen for ninety days, that's on hold as well.
(18:28):
So the courts are playing their part. Ye are saying,
what do we do?
Speaker 2 (18:32):
We're sewing.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Yeah, exactly, you guys are suing. But it also is
important to make sure that the people are supporting you
in your efforts to switch sway some of those votes,
to win some of those votes. Thank you for the
person who puts the number two zero two two two four, three,
one two one on there. And the last thing I
want to just have you in on because there are
a couple of questions that came in. Somebody said it's
(18:54):
a coup. Yeah, and there are a lot of people
who've been saying it's not a coup because the American
people voted for this. But really, what the American people
voted for when you look at the majority of voters,
they voted for the couch, They voted to be absent,
they abstained. So when you look at the terminology of
a coup and what you see happening, is it reminiscent
(19:15):
of a coup to you?
Speaker 3 (19:16):
You know, it does feel like a takeover because this
administration isn't.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Following the law.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
They don't follow the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the
Federalist papers. We all know who the Framers were, but
they're not even respecting. They're not even respected in that word, right,
And so in the sense that it feels chaotic and
crazy and it's by design, yeah, I think we can
own that that it does feel like a coup. I
(19:42):
want to push back and I don't think that majority
of the American public, as brilliant as we are, from
you know, the person who just got out of prison,
to the homeless person who is struggling to get housing.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Who voted that day.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
I don't think that folks could have imagined that a
administration would go after the snap benefits of or.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
What where we talked these people. You know, let me
let people and I just want you to see this.
Let me just tell you what I've been doing. I
just want you to see this. I have literally been
You're gonna laugh.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
This is hold on. Let me close this.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
So you can see them look here. Yeah, so I
have since the summertime, I have been studying this. This
is Project twenty twenty five. G You know, I printed
it because I was not gonna give them my book money,
so I got it printed at the FedEx Kikos. And
this is every time there's some another executive order he passes,
I literally go through here and find the page or
(20:42):
find the person he appointed to fulfill whatever the job is.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
This is so beyond Donald Trump.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
This is Harriet Foundation since years and you know, they
just remained this.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
This is a strategy to destabilize the social state net.
But what folks didn't understand is that it was going
to be them too. So for young women who are
forced to give birth in over twenty two states, your childcare.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
May not be a real thing.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
You're forced to give birth because you don't have reproductive
health freedoms. So you're not only your childcare, your health care,
you're housing all of these social safety nets that are
supposed to.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Be pro life.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Ye are in fact going to push more folks into
deep poverty. We know that, So I don't feel like
as brilliant as we are as a nation. I do believe,
particularly people who are suffering the most are the most
intelligent because we've had to survive so much. Nobody could
have predicted, even if you're reading that that folks would
really put into play the evil that we're seeing. When
(21:46):
the guy I'm written on paper, I know some people did,
but to folks who are just sick and tired of government,
and I wanted to be a rebel and vote for
the bully. I'm furious at the reality that more people
will be poor, more people will die, they won't be
able to get the medicaid and the medicare that they deserve.
(22:06):
That Little girls like my daughter who buried her father
when he was three.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
He had leukemia he died.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
I am a widow that their children like her, who
will not get survivor's benefits should this administration be successful.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
This is real talk.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
But you know what, I still have hope that we
could push this stuff aside. You have to because we
deserve better. So the fight is with you all and
your vote. It is the most powerful thing that we have.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
You saw it.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
The folks who voted for Donald Trump. They got them
and now we're having to deal with it. You can
do different next time. But in the interim, we do fight.
We march, we organize, we educate, We protect each other.
We protect each other, we love one another. I refuse
to spit venom at these folks directly. I can talk
(22:58):
about their policies. But again, my grandmother loved Jesus. I
was raised Muslim, I went to a Jewish day school.
I'm very bay Area and all literally the children of Gabriel, right,
you know, the children of David, the children of Jesus,
the children of Muhammad. We are taught in our text
to love our neighbors. So when we think that USAID
(23:21):
has nothing to do with us, you want to pull
back the millions of dollars that are going overseas to
protect the spread of HIV so your son doesn't get it.
I want you to think again to stop famine so
that we don't even have more forced migration. We want
to be a friend to our allies and really keep
us stable. We don't do that by making ourselves an
(23:41):
international enemy. I'm here for the fight for folks who
are really frustrated.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
I get it.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
I'm frustrated too for folks who don't buy it.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
I get that too.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
We have to earn the respect of the people on
the ground, and I'm honored to be able to serve
and to take the feedback. I'm honored to be on
to be on you know your channel right here and
invite me back. I would love to talk to you anytime.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
I want to make sure like I'm doing a better
job of providing access to my privilege. My point of
privilege is y'all are my family, and I thank God
for you every day. I thank God for the fight,
and I know that when y'all are like, Okay, this
fight might have been a little off, I know that
y'all will pivot. I want to make sure that the
people who follow me, or they follow our podcast, Native
(24:26):
lampid have access to you all and see the fight
when Lisa won't cover it because it's not as clickbaity
as whatever crazy nonsense Donald. I want them to know
there are fighters like Congresswoman Latif Assignment from California's twelve
district fighting for us every single day, and so I
thank God for you. I'm glad y'all went to the
(24:47):
Department Education.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Next time, y'all.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Need to go down there with some gangsters though, because
he ain't about to stare listen, so you.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Know what in the face.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
In fact, go down there and be like I wish
you would not let me in here, down there with
you woes like what we are.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
What I appreciate is we are three weeks. In three
four weeks, it's feeling like a year. Our tactics and
strategies will continue, you know, to be even you know,
I think more sophisticated.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
But what's important.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
You know, I am a kingsy and I have read
all of the king Papers a thousand times. When you
shine a mirror to evil, you know you we cannot
be what we hate. I will never be a violent, racist, homophobe.
I will never be those things. Right, we are surgical
in our strategy, and it is not. It doesn't show
(25:38):
up as quick as the man who propels violence. You
see the immediate effect. We cannot be what we hate.
That said, we got work to do because we will
win this.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
We will. We lost an.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Election, but that doesn't mean that we don't love the
promise of democracy. My babies deserve us to be working
twenty four hours a day. That's what I signed up
to do. I love you, says and thanks guys. Nice
to meet so many of you. All appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Y'all go follow Latifa at Rep. L Simon on her
page and make sure you stay. She is on it
like she's fighting when y'all don't know she's fighting. She's
studying when y'all don't know, she's up and working on
our behalf, even beyond California twelfth the greater parts of America.
So thank you for standing and a ground a Department
(26:23):
of education today, syst and we look forward to a victory.
We know it's coming soon. I'll have like all the
ring lights and everything like that.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
I don't have all that yet, having a little phone,
but I'm perfect.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
I'm on my phone too. I just got a.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Good light under here. Yeah, it's a great lights. All
you see is forehead. I love get it together, y'all love.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Me Perfect Bride Native Lampard is a production of iHeartRadio
in partnership with Reason Media. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
(27:02):
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows.
Native Land Pod is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership
with Reason Choice Media. Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Hey, everybody,
it's Angela Rae. Welcome home. This is a special edition
of a solo pod with my good friend, Congressoman Latifa
Simon of California's twelfth Congressional District to talk about what
(00:21):
in the actual hell happened outside of the Department of
Education last week. So we had a conversation that same
day to talk about everything that happened and what recourse
members of Congress have to protect taxpayer money, taxpayer resources
and all of the things, and what is the role
of Congress and overseeing this government that is clearly going rogue.
(00:44):
So please tune into this conversation I first had on
Instagram live. Welcome Home, Happy Friday, y'all. It is a
special podcast, non podcast live. We're about to get into
what's happening in these DC streets.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
That's what we're about to do.
Speaker 1 (01:04):
You all probably have seen footage of our members of
Congress outside of the Department of Education at an all
access entrance by the way, and some random was out
there and wouldn't let them in. So I am going
to add this wonderful human being to this thread. She's here.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
How you doing, sin, I'm good, I'm good. I'm amped up.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
It's been a long week, but this is the work
that I'm so blessed to do.
Speaker 1 (01:37):
They're messing with the wrong one and the best coast
is out here. So for those of you who do
not know, this is Congresswoman Latifa Simon. She represents California's
twelfth district, following in the shoes of a deer mentor
and sister of ours, the Congresswoman Barbara Lee, and Latifa
is a force to be reckoned with. And if y'all
didn't see it already today, you will learn quickly. Today, Latifa,
(02:02):
you joined members of Congress outside of the Department of Education,
and I keep pointing out at an all access interests.
Can you talk about why you guys wanted to go
down to the Department of Education today.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
And what happened.
Speaker 1 (02:17):
For those who haven't seen the footage yet, well.
Speaker 3 (02:19):
I'm so happy to tell these stories. Sometimes a little
clips on the news station. Yes right, don't tell you
I didn't have a bullhorn, but I'm a thirty year organizer,
so I was screaming. My mom called me and said,
stop screaming, and I'm never going to let down for
our babies.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
Ever.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
I haven't since I started working in juvenile halls and prisons,
in jails when I was seventeen year olds years old,
and on the streets of San Francisco and in Oakland.
It's what I do, is what you are paying me
to do, to not hold back. So a couple of
days ago, members of Congress, we wrote a letter to
the Department of Education. We have an acting director under
(02:55):
the Trump administration, and we asked if we could have
a Congress station because here's what happened last week. When
federal funding freezes were on the horizon. We were getting
thousands of calls from special education teachers, from organizations working
and headstart mothers who were like, if they cut off funding,
(03:18):
what are we going to do? We got calls from
mothers with children with autism saying that they had a
full time aid for their children. And with the federal
funding freeze arise, and with this threat to close the
Department of Education, millions millions of children were literally going
to be thrown out of support services. We wrote the
(03:40):
letter requesting a meeting. We didn't get a response. We called,
so today we came and we rolled up. It is
a public building. In fact, everybody on this line is
paying a little bit of money every time they get
their paychecks to ensure that we all were elected representatives
and you yourself.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
Have access to the Department of Education. They literally sent.
Speaker 3 (04:05):
Out a security guard. There were dozens of members of Congress.
They sent out a security guard. They locked the doors,
and they sent out Homeland Security. You couldn't see that
behind those those dark doors, but there was a line
of officers from Homeland Security ready to take down members
of Congress should we enter. They blocked the building from
(04:26):
American citizens.
Speaker 1 (04:27):
And when you do talk about that, just for a moment,
here's the thing that was astonishing to me. The first
video that I saw Latifa was Queen Maxine, who is
some people call her AUNTI max Queen Maxine with her
little bit powerful self standing in front of this white
man who I think, you know how like they tell
you to id people, so my ID might be wrong.
(04:48):
He's in a brown shirt like layman's clothes, with like
a fluorescent bandage on his neck. So this could be
like anybody like I'm like, I don't know if I'm
looking at an insurrectionist or a plane police officer. I
don't know who this man is in front of Congresswoman Waters,
but he's telling her that she can't get in. I
remember there was a back and forth of members saying
(05:10):
he's a contractor and him telling her that he's an
official government employee. Did you all ever resolve that, Like,
what's this man even a government worker?
Speaker 3 (05:19):
So what I want you all to understand is what
I'm learning to understand. But you already know what we
are seeing on Capitol Hill. It is shockhocking because our
grandmothers want order.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
Let's just be clear, we want order. We are orderly people.
Speaker 3 (05:34):
We are working for communities that have order and promise.
The folks who are in the administration don't believe that
anyone should follow the law.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
Clearly, Clearly, if they were.
Speaker 3 (05:45):
Law abiding folk, they wouldn't have let out dozens of
folks who attack police officers on January sixth. Regardless what
you want to think about law enforcement, the hypocrisy is insane.
This man who's playing clothes did not clearly identify himself
as somebody who's taught folks who are going up against
law enforcement, you always ask them to identify themselves. Their
(06:06):
badge he threw out, you know, after questioning some kind
of badge.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Who knew what it was. But he didn't.
Speaker 3 (06:14):
Clearly articulate what department he was working with and who
he was, So.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
He continued, he did have a badge, he.
Speaker 3 (06:23):
Saw, he pulled it out. We didn't know what kind
of badge it was. Was it made from a printer?
You're if you're a member of law enforcement, you know,
and you are trying to clearly identify yourself, if you're
doing the right thing, You're certainly not supposed to stand
in front of a building surrounded by members duly elected
members of Congress and look at them smugly. The disrespect
(06:47):
was palpable. But the real injury is to.
Speaker 2 (06:50):
The parents on this phone.
Speaker 3 (06:52):
The real injury is we were going to do, I
believe the people's business to ask what were we supposed
to tell our constituents? What are we supposed to that
you all want to close down a department? Then I
just give me a couple seconds here about DOE, the
Department of Education. They set national standards, not just on
(07:13):
basic curriculum, what we should be learning, because that's really
that happens at the state level. They set national standards
for obedience to federal laws like Ada. So imagine you
have a child, your baby is wheelchair bound, and your
baby is in California and they can get into any
school they have support services. That's the law that California
(07:36):
abides by, but it's pushed by the Department of Education.
You move back to Arkansas to be closed to your people.
If in fact they close down the Department of Education,
there are no national standards for accessibility. There are no
national standards for entries into our state and local universities.
Speaker 2 (07:58):
There's no financial aid as you've known it. This is
critical stuff. I don't care how you vote, who you
voted for.
Speaker 3 (08:06):
What I do know is we have babies in our
communities who deserve the best. Does the Department of Education
need to be stronger and better yes. Do our teachers
need to be paid more and trained and loved on
and unionized, Yes, But you don't get there from closing
down really the essential department that is supposed to provide
(08:27):
national standards for our children and our teachers.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
So you, for the people who just join you talked
about you all writing this letter last week about what's
happening with the Department of Education. A lot of folks
who are following the news know that what Donald Trump
is talking about doing is shuttering the Department of Education.
What we have seen, Latipa, and now I'm talking to
you like a sister too. Yeah, what we have seen
(08:50):
is a very very clear fight that's easy to follow
in the news. On the judicial side, right, a lot
of cases there have been thirty six law suit file
that I know of so far on the fifty four
executive orders and actions from the Trump administration, that's right,
has not been as clear, and I'm hearing a lot
of pushback about it. You know, I get sensitive because
(09:10):
the CBC is my family, the Hills Ranch. One of
the things that I keep hearing is that where like,
where are the members of Congress? What's going on? Why
are they confirming? And this, of course is not that
person's not you all, but why is the Senate confirming
people like RFK and Tulca Gabbert. Where is the fight?
Speaker 2 (09:27):
Where's the legislation?
Speaker 1 (09:29):
Not understanding necessarily that we don't have the executive branch
and we don't have the legislative branch.
Speaker 2 (09:35):
So when you're in.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
The minority, just for a moment for those who are
really just starting to understand and pay attention to how
this works. When you're in the minority, what does the
fight look like? What are you all talking about doing.
I know you all are involved with the lawsuits. When
you think about as my role as a member from
California's twelve, this is what I see my role in being,
my role being in this fight right now.
Speaker 2 (09:57):
I think it's three things.
Speaker 3 (09:59):
One, we have to continue to tell folks what it
is with love and respect and understanding under a trifecta,
like you said, House, Senate right, and honestly, they have
the courts. So we still believe, if we will still
want to believe in this thinly veiled democracy, we are.
Speaker 2 (10:18):
Going to sue, sue, sue, sue, sue.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
Their organizations like the Lawyer's Committee for Civil Rights under
Law and Democracy Forward NAACP. I can go on and
out Asian Law Caucus. They are holding this administration to
the fire. The judicial system is it's not perfect, but
judges have been doing the right thing in the last
week and throwing these executive orders right back to the
(10:41):
White House and saying this is unconstitutional. This is unconstitutional.
That has taken a level of coordination that unfortunately we'd
all don't see. But that's why we're having this conversation
right now. But two, there's two other things that Congress
can do. We can block our votes. We can hold
our votes. You don't get votes to racist You don't
(11:04):
give votes to folks who.
Speaker 2 (11:05):
Don't care about our children.
Speaker 3 (11:07):
You don't give votes to folks who who don't believe
in the most basic of healthcare principles. And we have
been doing that in the Senate, and I got to say,
my heart has been breaking.
Speaker 2 (11:19):
You don't give votes to.
Speaker 3 (11:21):
Policies that want to send you two thousand pound bombs
over to kill twenty thousand children. I think we got
to hold the line. And again, we are a part
of a body, and our leadership is saying, let's be strategic,
and I agree with that. For me, my focus is
making sure that one we are heard, our stories are clear,
(11:42):
that I am fighting with integrity on the streets and
inside the Congress. But more importantly for me, I represent Oakland,
I represent Oakland, I represent Berkeley, I represent the Bay,
and I need folks to know that one my office
is we are day in and day out, and they
have a fighter, but more importantly, they have.
Speaker 2 (11:59):
A key this government. This government.
Speaker 3 (12:02):
What's important too for folks who know who are on
the ground. These funding freezes affected federally qualified health centers.
Speaker 2 (12:11):
You know, the health centers right in.
Speaker 3 (12:12):
Your community that you'd rather go to sometimes in the hospital,
that are wonderful, that have positions that look like us.
Those folks this week didn't know if they were going
to get paid. So I've been meeting with our health centers.
I've been meeting with our school principles.
Speaker 2 (12:26):
We've been meeting.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
We took I took Catherine Clark, who is right under
Hakien Jeffrey. She's a Democratic leader in the Congress. I
took her on a tour of the Children's Hospital of Oakland.
There are parents who literally are scared to bring their
children in for scheduled, scheduled heart transplants and sickle cell
treatments because they believe that they may be deported. These
(12:49):
are our Haitian brothers and sisters. These are our Latino
brothers and sisters. This chaos is killing people, and so
for us to be there on the ground, but listen,
and the last thing I want to say in my
TED talk, sister, I am reminding folks that you and me,
(13:16):
our parents were born into segregation.
Speaker 2 (13:18):
We have been here. Black folks have been here, and
we have.
Speaker 3 (13:22):
Consistently with praise, worship, policy again, and culture, through litigation,
through movement, building, through study, through discipline, we have fought
horrific policies back.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
No freedom has ever been given to us.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
We've always had to take those freedoms through again. The
systems that have promised us, that have promised them, We've
held those promises.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Both want to go super hard. I think we should.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
The ground is strong, the legislative body, we must be
stronger than we've been. But I'm not going nowhere. I'm
four weeks in and this is where I think to
be exists.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
I'm proud of you. I'm proud that you were there.
I was so proud to hear your voice earlier. I
think the one thing, like I try to look at
the comments. I try to sit past the trolls and
look at the comments. And one of the things that
we're seeing is people saying, what do we the people do?
And they're also asking, like one of the things that
I'm kind of frustrated by is there are Republicans who
(14:23):
just barely eat their way into Congress. You guys have there.
It's the smallest majority, the smallest great depression, and so
there's leverage points that y'all have to get people to
vote with you. Yes they're opposed to recommit, that you
can force them on the issues to say that Elon
Musk South Africans, Elon Musk does not have the power
(14:46):
that he thinks he has. That the Department of Government
Efficiency is a random hair brained idea from Donald Trump,
who ain't even the real president. I would say Elon
Musk is the president of Stephen Miller's vice He did
not even been in control of this project twenty twenty
five by the Heritage Foundation is running this. And so
when you consider what levers you have with your colleagues,
(15:09):
who's in charge of going across the island being like,
if y'all don't vote with us over here, I guarantee
you you're going to be a one term wherever district
you came from.
Speaker 2 (15:17):
I think that's on the line. There's a march is
going to be crazy.
Speaker 3 (15:21):
In the United States Congress without without the Democrats, the
Republicans have no way forward, so we have to hold
our vote. We have to hold our votes for reconciliation.
That's a budget process. We have to hold our votes.
And the majority is so thin. If for of them
don't come to work, we win a vote. Hey, it
(15:44):
is so thin, and that's why I have I have hope.
But you know, Angela, I also know we are going
to win back the House in twenty twenty six because
poor folks, people of color, They're going to see the
very demonic ways of an administration that doesn't love its people.
They'll be able to see through the lives right. They'll
be able to see through the attacks on the smallest,
(16:07):
most critical safetyiness that unless you've lived it, you don't know.
Speaker 2 (16:12):
Listen, I was a team mom. You know. I got
a twenty eight year old daughter. I had SNAP and
I also had WIG and I.
Speaker 3 (16:19):
Would be at the counter and the grocery store having
to put back groceries.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
I know what that feels like. I know what that
feels like.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
I know what it felt like when a community college
finally transferring into a four year university.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
I have an MPa.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
Now I can look through a budget. I can be clear.
I can educate our folks. They can educate me. I'm
not going anywhere. I think our people are doing the
right thing by calling members of Congress. I want you all,
particularly you all in Republican districts, to call them, to
call them every day. The Democrats in fact, and we
(16:53):
should be. We're getting more calls than the folks who
are complicit in this mess.
Speaker 2 (16:58):
Enjoy all up their line. The majority has the power
right now. Phone number which we can sue.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
The phone number is two zero two two two four
three one two one. That is the Capital switchboard operator.
You can have her send you or them. I don't
know who's going to answer the phone, I said her,
that's bias. You can have the person who answers sends
you to your respective members' offices, even if you're adjacent.
Let's say you work in that Republican members this year,
(17:27):
whatever it is, if you are impacted by that district
at all, they are beholden to you. Why because whether
you voted for them or not, you pay their salary.
And that is exactly why our members today went to
the Department of Education. They said, if you're not going
to listen to oversight, we're gonna go and oversee you
on federal land that is paid for by our constituents.
(17:48):
And I was it was remarkable to me to see
what's happening. Donald Trump is saying he's given over Department
of Education in the Pentagon to Elon Musk next to
go through everything. Meanwhile, the courts have said, actually, Elon Musk,
you're now barred from handling any data.
Speaker 2 (18:04):
At Treasury.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
They're saying the actually the federal funding freeze is unfrozen.
They said USAID employees who are supposed to be placed
on administratively by midnight tonight, not so fast that would
have And then they were cutting five thousand workers to
two hundred and ninety workers at USAID. They said that
for all of the foreign aid that was supposed to
be frozen for ninety days, that's on hold as well.
(18:28):
So the courts are playing their part. Ye are saying,
what do we do?
Speaker 2 (18:32):
We're sewing.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Yeah, exactly, you guys are suing. But it also is
important to make sure that the people are supporting you
in your efforts to switch sway some of those votes,
to win some of those votes. Thank you for the
person who puts the number two zero two two two four, three,
one two one on there. And the last thing I
want to just have you in on because there are
a couple of questions that came in. Somebody said it's
(18:54):
a coup. Yeah, and there are a lot of people
who've been saying it's not a coup because the American
people voted for this. But really, what the American people
voted for when you look at the majority of voters,
they voted for the couch, They voted to be absent,
they abstained. So when you look at the terminology of
a coup and what you see happening, is it reminiscent
(19:15):
of a coup to you?
Speaker 3 (19:16):
You know, it does feel like a takeover because this
administration isn't.
Speaker 2 (19:20):
Following the law.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
They don't follow the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the
Federalist papers. We all know who the Framers were, but
they're not even respecting. They're not even respected in that word, right,
And so in the sense that it feels chaotic and
crazy and it's by design, yeah, I think we can
own that that it does feel like a coup. I
(19:42):
want to push back and I don't think that majority
of the American public, as brilliant as we are, from
you know, the person who just got out of prison,
to the homeless person who is struggling to get housing.
Speaker 2 (19:54):
Who voted that day.
Speaker 3 (19:56):
I don't think that folks could have imagined that a
administration would go after the snap benefits of or.
Speaker 1 (20:03):
What where we talked these people. You know, let me
let people and I just want you to see this.
Let me just tell you what I've been doing. I
just want you to see this. I have literally been
You're gonna laugh.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
This is hold on. Let me close this.
Speaker 1 (20:20):
So you can see them look here. Yeah, so I
have since the summertime, I have been studying this. This
is Project twenty twenty five. G You know, I printed
it because I was not gonna give them my book money,
so I got it printed at the FedEx Kikos. And
this is every time there's some another executive order he passes,
I literally go through here and find the page or
(20:42):
find the person he appointed to fulfill whatever the job is.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
This is so beyond Donald Trump.
Speaker 1 (20:49):
This is Harriet Foundation since years and you know, they
just remained this.
Speaker 3 (20:56):
This is a strategy to destabilize the social state net.
But what folks didn't understand is that it was going
to be them too. So for young women who are
forced to give birth in over twenty two states, your childcare.
Speaker 2 (21:11):
May not be a real thing.
Speaker 3 (21:13):
You're forced to give birth because you don't have reproductive
health freedoms. So you're not only your childcare, your health care,
you're housing all of these social safety nets that are
supposed to.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
Be pro life.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Ye are in fact going to push more folks into
deep poverty. We know that, So I don't feel like
as brilliant as we are as a nation. I do believe,
particularly people who are suffering the most are the most
intelligent because we've had to survive so much. Nobody could
have predicted, even if you're reading that that folks would
really put into play the evil that we're seeing. When
(21:46):
the guy I'm written on paper, I know some people did,
but to folks who are just sick and tired of government,
and I wanted to be a rebel and vote for
the bully. I'm furious at the reality that more people
will be poor, more people will die, they won't be
able to get the medicaid and the medicare that they deserve.
(22:06):
That Little girls like my daughter who buried her father
when he was three.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
He had leukemia he died.
Speaker 3 (22:14):
I am a widow that their children like her, who
will not get survivor's benefits should this administration be successful.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
This is real talk.
Speaker 3 (22:24):
But you know what, I still have hope that we
could push this stuff aside. You have to because we
deserve better. So the fight is with you all and
your vote. It is the most powerful thing that we have.
Speaker 2 (22:36):
You saw it.
Speaker 3 (22:37):
The folks who voted for Donald Trump. They got them
and now we're having to deal with it. You can
do different next time. But in the interim, we do fight.
We march, we organize, we educate, We protect each other.
We protect each other, we love one another. I refuse
to spit venom at these folks directly. I can talk
(22:58):
about their policies. But again, my grandmother loved Jesus. I
was raised Muslim, I went to a Jewish day school.
I'm very bay Area and all literally the children of Gabriel, right,
you know, the children of David, the children of Jesus,
the children of Muhammad. We are taught in our text
to love our neighbors. So when we think that USAID
(23:21):
has nothing to do with us, you want to pull
back the millions of dollars that are going overseas to
protect the spread of HIV so your son doesn't get it.
I want you to think again to stop famine so
that we don't even have more forced migration. We want
to be a friend to our allies and really keep
us stable. We don't do that by making ourselves an
(23:41):
international enemy. I'm here for the fight for folks who
are really frustrated.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
I get it.
Speaker 3 (23:48):
I'm frustrated too for folks who don't buy it.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
I get that too.
Speaker 3 (23:51):
We have to earn the respect of the people on
the ground, and I'm honored to be able to serve
and to take the feedback. I'm honored to be on
to be on you know your channel right here and
invite me back. I would love to talk to you anytime.
Speaker 1 (24:05):
I want to make sure like I'm doing a better
job of providing access to my privilege. My point of
privilege is y'all are my family, and I thank God
for you every day. I thank God for the fight,
and I know that when y'all are like, Okay, this
fight might have been a little off, I know that
y'all will pivot. I want to make sure that the
people who follow me, or they follow our podcast, Native
(24:26):
lampid have access to you all and see the fight
when Lisa won't cover it because it's not as clickbaity
as whatever crazy nonsense Donald. I want them to know
there are fighters like Congresswoman Latif Assignment from California's twelve
district fighting for us every single day, and so I
thank God for you. I'm glad y'all went to the
(24:47):
Department Education.
Speaker 2 (24:48):
Next time, y'all.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
Need to go down there with some gangsters though, because
he ain't about to stare listen, so you.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
Know what in the face.
Speaker 1 (24:55):
In fact, go down there and be like I wish
you would not let me in here, down there with
you woes like what we are.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
What I appreciate is we are three weeks. In three
four weeks, it's feeling like a year. Our tactics and
strategies will continue, you know, to be even you know,
I think more sophisticated.
Speaker 2 (25:16):
But what's important.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
You know, I am a kingsy and I have read
all of the king Papers a thousand times. When you
shine a mirror to evil, you know you we cannot
be what we hate. I will never be a violent, racist, homophobe.
I will never be those things. Right, we are surgical
in our strategy, and it is not. It doesn't show
(25:38):
up as quick as the man who propels violence. You
see the immediate effect. We cannot be what we hate.
That said, we got work to do because we will
win this.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
We will. We lost an.
Speaker 3 (25:50):
Election, but that doesn't mean that we don't love the
promise of democracy. My babies deserve us to be working
twenty four hours a day. That's what I signed up
to do. I love you, says and thanks guys. Nice
to meet so many of you. All appreciate you.
Speaker 1 (26:03):
Y'all go follow Latifa at Rep. L Simon on her
page and make sure you stay. She is on it
like she's fighting when y'all don't know she's fighting. She's
studying when y'all don't know, she's up and working on
our behalf, even beyond California twelfth the greater parts of America.
So thank you for standing and a ground a Department
(26:23):
of education today, syst and we look forward to a victory.
We know it's coming soon. I'll have like all the
ring lights and everything like that.
Speaker 3 (26:30):
I don't have all that yet, having a little phone,
but I'm perfect.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
I'm on my phone too. I just got a.
Speaker 2 (26:34):
Good light under here. Yeah, it's a great lights. All
you see is forehead. I love get it together, y'all love.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
Me Perfect Bride Native Lampard is a production of iHeartRadio
in partnership with Reason Media. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio,
(27:02):
visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows.
Hosts And Creators
Tiffany Cross
Andrew Gillum
Angela Rye
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