April 14, 2025 • 21 mins
Andrew Gillum goes LIVE with Gen Z organizer Deyona Burton who shares her insight into how self-care and activism go hand in hand.
Burton first made waves in 2020 when she led the effort to change the name of her Florida highschool from “Robert E. Lee” to “Riverside” High. Then, while attending FSU, Deyona Burton rose to national prominence as the Director of Programs for College Democrats of America. Her accolades include being honored at the White House, an impactful TEDx talk, earning the President’s Volunteer Service Award, and being named the 2024 National Action Network’s MLK Youth Honoree.
Having contributed to campaigns and worked within offices at local, state, and national levels, Deyona now continues her mission to drive change from Washington, D.C.
Check out this spreadsheet of organizations to join, volunteer, or donate to: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13Qxu32zcQNhVRNkhSy2oy0IDLY4VVLhuZC9N-2FXLTQ/edit?usp=sharing
Want to ask Andrew a question? Subscribe to our YouTube channel to participate in the chat.
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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.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome, welcome.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Well, So set, what's up everybody. This is Andrew Gillham
coming to you from a little bit of a change
of scenery. I'm so tired of my office and doing
these episodes out of the other like going to the
living room today. But most importantly, we're continuing our conversation
on this series of you know, organizing in the aftermath
(00:32):
of Trump two point zero, and I was a little
bit concerned about some of the recent writing I've seen
on the black community sort of taking arrest break and
not yet being willing to be on the front lines
of organizing a movement. I reject that outright. I know
(00:54):
that not to be true as a as a matter
of fact, but we do see a lot of conversation
and social media and elsewhere about basically, you know, for
black women, Look, we're the ninety eight percent, we're the
one ninety percent. We're there, We're tried and true. Now
it's something for you all to do, so we know
that it exists, it's not coming out of thin air.
(01:15):
And today to help me sort of diagnose this to
drill a little bit deeper for just a few minutes
of our day, because I'm sure you all out there
are engaging in this conversation as well. Is a fellow Floridian?
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (01:32):
You're Jacksonville right.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Raise in Jacksonville, Florida.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Jacksonville native who happens to be striking it hot in Washington,
d C. Even and gystopian Washington, d C. Under the
Trump administration, you're finding a way to have impact and
make change. I would love for you to just give
your vita, but do it in a way that I
know you know how to, which is by of just
(02:00):
conversation introducing what your experiences have been that have led
you to this particular political moment and how we're navigating it.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah. So, hey, y'all, my name is Dianna Burton, as
mister Gilliman.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
And I Andrew Andrew, Oh gosh.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
I'm from the South. You know it's coming. But as
he mentioned, I'm from Jacksonville, Florida. I now reside in DC.
And prior to me getting in a little bit about myself,
I do want to preface I do not have all
the answers. I will try my best to engage in
this conversation. I worked on a multitude of campaigns and
multitude of offices, from the local state to the federal level,
(02:36):
and now I'm here in BC where everything's happening, so
happy to answer anything.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Well, I'll tell you your involvement in Florida prior to
going off to Washington, prior to becoming what we might
describe as sort of professional staff on political campaigns, and
so on and so forth. Many of our listeners are
agitated and frustrated and want to know what they could
(03:05):
do right where they are to disrupt what they see
happening in the country. And I would argue probably not
just at the federal level, but it's trickling down as
Trump naseum continues into our local levels, our school boards,
our city council meetings, the kind of divides that local
government never had to experience. They're now coming fast and furious,
(03:28):
and our heads are on a swivel, just trying to
protect the little turf that we do have. What advice
would you give to folks who are just starting out.
They want to make an impact, they just don't know
what to do.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
So to answer that question, I'm actually going to tell
a story in reference to Michelle Obama famously saying do
something back in twenty nineteen, twenty twenty, my apologies. I
was elected senior class president of my high school, what
was then Robert E. Lee High School. I'm seventeen. It
(04:02):
was following the summer of twenty twenty, and we all
know the activism and the activation that was happening there.
Our school board introduced a docket to remove all Confederate
tied names from public institutions. My school being named after
Robert E. Lee, it was one of the most profound
names and there I was also part of the student
(04:25):
advisory council, So I attended a couple of meetings as
part of the student Advisory Council member and this year
class president. But one of the public hearings, I noticed
that there were I was the only student there other
than teachers and the principal. The auditorium was filled with alumni.
My school was desegregated and I want to say the seventies,
(04:45):
so we had a lot of angry alumni that stated
that there was nothing wrong with the name Robert E.
Lee and if there was something wrong or if somebody
had a problem with the name. It's probably because it's
a predominantly black school now, and maybe we should go
back to segregation. Following that, right following that public hearing,
we started getting more alumni with Confederate flags, with newses,
(05:07):
screaming more and more racial slurs. And I was seventeen.
I couldn't vote, couldn't sign my own name on certain documents.
I still had to ask for my mom's permission. I
was going through my own financial and personal issues. I
was homeless at the time. It felt like I could
do nothing until I could. We organized a protest in
(05:30):
front of the school board building, and we had a
couple of news outlets there and they wanted to hear more.
So we started getting more students. We brought them to
the public hearings. We made sure that they could be
at the school board meetings. We had the superintendent, we
had the principal, We had school board members be there
and listen to the students. To the point where the
school board could do nothing but host a vote vote,
(05:51):
a vote in which students could participate in. We got
community leaders, we got students, and on the day of
my graduation, the superintendent made a recommendation to change the
name of Robert E. Lee High School to Riverside High
which it is now named. It has been named Riverside
High School since twenty twenty one. I am the last
senior class president of Robert E. Lee High School. All
(06:11):
of that change happened within a few short months, within
my graduation before I went to Florida State and I
was a care student. So I went off to Florida
State in the summer. That's an example of doing something.
That's an example of speaking out. I had no money,
no home, no notoriety, no nothing other than a voice
(06:32):
and a will. If you care about something, it doesn't
matter how niche it is, it doesn't matter how small
it is. Sure post it, but also talk about it.
Go to those meetings, go to your library, research it,
Go to your city council meetings and stay. Sometimes they're
long and we don't always know what they're talking about,
but stay to the end. Speak to the members after,
(06:53):
give them your number, give them your email. Be willing
to have a conversation, because ultimately, action doesn't happen without conversation.
I think we like to skip to the action part,
but talking about it and making sure that it's pressing
making sure that it is even if it's not hot news,
making sure that it is still being talked about, still
(07:13):
being known. That's half the battle, right there.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
I love that and I appreciate you sharing that story
with us. It's amazing. When white Americans are asked the
question whether or not this country is racist or rooted
in a racist past, the immediate answer, no, of course
not da. But you challenge the systems and the structures
in the institutions that have given them great cover and
(07:36):
comfort for as long a time as they've ever known,
back to their ancestors. When you disrupt that, then it's
all you know, the mass comes off. You start dealing
with them in real fashion, and now you can go
back to your country. Right after you've built this one
and perfected it over time, you can go back. I'm
(08:09):
curious to know. In the in the in the aftermath
of the election, obviously the man I don't. I don't
even know ground shaking, earth shaking moves. By the early
months of the Trump administration, a lot of folks are
feeling great despair. A lot of folks do want to
check out, or they have checked out since the election,
and frankly hadn't found a reason yet to check back in,
(08:33):
choosing instead to be not as aware and not as
informed of the day to day to protect their peace
of mind and also to keep them focused on what's
most important, which is probably the safety, security and support
for their family. Right, How do we shake folks out
of that or do we need to if we're about
(08:55):
to fight this marathon of a fight over the next
four years to keep what little we already have.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Before hopping on here, you referenced something you said, two truths,
and I think that's the perfect way to go about
answering this. You know, running a marathon, you gotta pace
yourself doing any endeavor. We have to plate pace ourselves
because the seeds that we're selling now, we're often not
(09:28):
gonna be able to see the fruits of our labor.
And this isn't necessarily me doing the work for me
or even for my kids. It might be for my kids'
kids or their grandkids and so on. So I think
the first part of that is acknowledging that the people
on one side of a conversation, regardless of which side
(09:48):
it is, they have a right to feel that way.
You're right, a lot of people were in despair. A
lot of people were tired. I was one of those people.
I gave my all to that campaign, this Kamala Harris
run for office. It was historic, of course, but that
was the first presidential election I could vote in. As
I mentioned a lot of the activism, especially for young people,
(10:08):
especially for my peers, we were starting it without being
able to be fully represented where you know, whether it
was March for Our Lives and us just asking to
not get gunned down in schools, or asking for school supplies,
or asking for our schools to not be named after
a racist Confederate. We are advocating, we are chanting, we
are yelling, we're giving our all, but we can only
(10:31):
do so much because we're not of age, because we
don't have the status. Then then we finally can vote,
We finally can be in college. Make some noise in SGN.
I know, you know how that goes, make some noise
in our community, and we're we're seeing this movement on TikTok,
We're seeing this movement online where we're thinking that everybody
(10:52):
you know knows the right answer to this very simple question,
and it doesn't go that way. It's almost like it's
almost like While it's not our fault that the election
turned out the way it is, we owe it to
ourselves to allow ourselves to feel all the emotions, to
allow ourselves to go through the stages of grief, to
(11:12):
come to terms with what that means. And it's not
just it didn't just end in November, you know what
I mean, because then we had the inauguration followed by
several mandate, several executive orders. I have friends, I have
family members that either don't know what their educational status
is going to be, don't know what their citizen ship
(11:33):
status is going to be. We have people getting their
resources stripped away from them. We have people who don't
know if they could continue going to school. I want
to go to law school. I don't know if that's
financially feasible for me anymore. I don't know if that
matters anymore. I don't know if the rule of law
matters anymore. And as big or symbolic as that may sound,
you know, sometimes we just need to detach. You know,
(11:58):
I'm not a technician or anything, but if my if
you stop working, I'm gonna unplug it, give it a
little time, and plug it right back in same thing
with my computer. If it's not working, I'm gonna turn
it off. If my phone freezes up, I'm gonna turn
it off, give it a little second, and I'm gonna
turn it right back on. Just because people are taking
some time to enjoy homecoming, learn a few new trail
(12:18):
ride dances, to do a few new hairstyles, to learn
a new trend, to do whatever it may be. Just
because people are expressing joy doesn't mean that they're not
going to get back out there, because that's what our
people have always done. And I the one thing I
will say is that the idea that we just need
to jump right back into action, that's harmful. Not saying
(12:41):
stop it. I'm not saying stop caring, but take care
of yourself, because how could you possibly how could you
possibly complete the marathon if you're not, If you get
injured on mile three and you're not taking care of yourself,
we're we're I don't know how far we are in
the race. I our ancestors laid the foundation and we're
(13:02):
just gonna keep on pushing on. But part of that
is finding the joy within it. And we know that
some of us still seeing the slave hymns. You know
what I mean. Some of us still have those recipes
that were passed down from generations. We still have cookouts,
we still have family reunions, We still run apart from
each other when we laugh like it's embedded in us.
(13:22):
It's embedded in us. And part of the need to
keep on keeping on is taking rest, because rest isn't
just revolutionary, it's needed. And rest can look like a
multitude of things. But I don't believe that there's no
liberation without fun, because what are we fighting for If
I can't laugh? What are we fighting for if I
can't go out to the protest and then go to
(13:44):
my last appointment after, get my hair done after Because
I don't feel like my best self when I'm not
put together. And if I don't feel like my best self,
I can't show up for the people. And part of
showing up for the people is recognizing that as a person,
I am the people, so I also have to show
up for myself.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
I love that. I love that. Well, we know where
you stand, and I hope nobody comes sideways toward you
or your friends on this conversation. Welcome, Well, well let's
do this. I want to invite in our mutual friend, Lolo.
And as we wind down our few minutes, it really
does go quickly. Deanna Butcher, you've inspired us with your
(14:23):
own jewels and wisdom. And I can tell you from
just personal experience, the idea, the fact that I so
forcefully threw myself into leadership and the government and to
change making, so much so that when it was gone,
I had no real appreciation for who I was, and
it was a spiral I would not wish on anyone.
(14:43):
And so the self care piece is important here. And
my only hope is that people aren't bandwagoning this thing,
but are truly deepening into what their need is, seeing
about their need and how it gets met, and then
getting themselves strapped right back in for the fight. We're
gonna have to sleep in shifts. We don't get the
luxury of of of checking all the way out because
(15:06):
we know that we sit in at the greatest epicenter
of impact. Lolo, where are you? I don't know if
you're here with us, all right? I think we're without
Lolo at the very moment. But Dianna, if you if
you had something, a note that you wanted to leave
with the folks who have joined us and those who
(15:26):
will listen when this is in a production post production form,
what would you say to those like you who are
disheartened to found you know it very difficult to sort
of check back in although you have, what would you
say as as the as the big push that made
sense for you and for the things that you care about,
(15:48):
and maybe others might take some wisdom from that as well.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
I'm a firm believer that to reach your target audience,
or to reach the community, you have to know the community.
And I want to correct you for just a brief moment,
because you said what got me back in? And honestly,
I'm not all the way in my candor my piece
(16:15):
about taking care of yourself wasn't I read it in
a book and all that just makes so much sense,
or I heard it in passing, or I saw it
on a billboard. It was because I had to stop,
because I gave my all. So I come to this
conversation as someone who wasn't sleeping, as someone who was
always protesting, always activating on several zoom calls, sometimes on
(16:40):
a multitude of calls. You can tell Nick, that's I
learned my suitcase trick. But the multitude of calls, trying
to get the resources to the people, whether that be food,
whether that be knowledge, whether that be funding. I gave
my absolute all at at the expense of myself. We're
not talking about just losing our way. I was a
(17:03):
machine for a candidate, multitude of candidates for a cause,
and think these are all things that should be common sense.
I was fighting for my livelihood, fighting to be represented,
fighting to be seen as a person, and in turn,
I wasn't treating myself like a person. I am not
(17:24):
a therapist. I don't do yoga. I probably should, but
I don't have all the answers in regards to self care.
And when I hear people say that, I'm happy that
it's a part of the conversation because it's also attached
to mental health. Your mental health will take a toll
if you don't do something for the outside and for
the community and for the environment. But if you don't
(17:45):
do something for yourself, I don't care. If showing up
for yourself is deciding to take the day off if
you can, I don't care. Doing something for yourself is
doing your hair, is taking some rest, is going out
and going to a crap well, I don't know what
it is. I don't know what it is, but whatever
it is, for you, every time you do something for
(18:06):
the community, give it back to yourself. You have to. No,
it's not worth there's no fight worth it without you.
You can't fight without you. You can't abandon yourself. And
I think it's and hopefully this is another topic for later,
but I really want people to show up for themselves
(18:26):
because I'm speaking from experience. We have a lot of people,
we have a lot of organizers and leaders who have
abandoned themselves and what you see is a vessel for
the people, and they've forgotten that they are the people.
So not to tune out of elections, not to tune
out of activism, but it's it's a hard balance when
(18:50):
you when people when every time you open your phone
it's something that this administration is doing, and you can't
even draft up a graphic quick enough, get out the
word quick enough, because by the time time is posted,
there's something else. If you look on any of my
activism pages, there's there's time gaps in between it because
I have to take time for me because sometimes news
isn't the most helpful thing, but it's being ready for
(19:13):
the fight. And I can't be ready without having myself
to get there. So I just love that that'll preach No,
I've seriously just hoped that people know I'm not just
talking to them. I've been through it. And if they're
not there right now, that's fine. Your body will let
you know when you're ready. Your body will also let
you know when you need to stop, and if you
have to stop, stop, But just remember unplugging that TV.
(19:35):
I'm plugging that core doesn't mean you're never gonna watch
TV again. Just plug it right back in when you're ready.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
And activist leader, advocate, social justice warrior uh Deanna Burton,
Florida native, homegrown Duval County, Jacksonville, Florida. Very successful. We're
incredibly proud of you and for you, and thanks to
(20:00):
just a few moments, especially at last minute notice, to
share some pearls of wisdom with us and for the
old heads, y'all, I think we heard pretty clear from
Dianna that we should just take a beat before we batter.
The next generation come in after us on what they
are and aren't doing. Let's take a beat, let them
rest into themselves and very quickly renew the fight and
(20:22):
get back on the field. Y'all. It's been real and
guess what. I'll be right back next week Monday. We'll
have a consecutive back to back and we'll get back
to our training curriculum on organizing. We'll catch up with
you later, Deanna, thanks again for your time.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Native Land Pod is a production of iHeartRadio and partnership
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Native Land Pod is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership
with Reason Choice Media.
Speaker 2 (00:06):
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.
Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome, welcome.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
Well, So set, what's up everybody. This is Andrew Gillham
coming to you from a little bit of a change
of scenery. I'm so tired of my office and doing
these episodes out of the other like going to the
living room today. But most importantly, we're continuing our conversation
on this series of you know, organizing in the aftermath
(00:32):
of Trump two point zero, and I was a little
bit concerned about some of the recent writing I've seen
on the black community sort of taking arrest break and
not yet being willing to be on the front lines
of organizing a movement. I reject that outright. I know
(00:54):
that not to be true as a as a matter
of fact, but we do see a lot of conversation
and social media and elsewhere about basically, you know, for
black women, Look, we're the ninety eight percent, we're the
one ninety percent. We're there, We're tried and true. Now
it's something for you all to do, so we know
that it exists, it's not coming out of thin air.
(01:15):
And today to help me sort of diagnose this to
drill a little bit deeper for just a few minutes
of our day, because I'm sure you all out there
are engaging in this conversation as well. Is a fellow Floridian?
Speaker 2 (01:31):
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (01:32):
You're Jacksonville right.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Raise in Jacksonville, Florida.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Jacksonville native who happens to be striking it hot in Washington,
d C. Even and gystopian Washington, d C. Under the
Trump administration, you're finding a way to have impact and
make change. I would love for you to just give
your vita, but do it in a way that I
know you know how to, which is by of just
(02:00):
conversation introducing what your experiences have been that have led
you to this particular political moment and how we're navigating it.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah. So, hey, y'all, my name is Dianna Burton, as
mister Gilliman.
Speaker 3 (02:14):
And I Andrew Andrew, Oh gosh.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
I'm from the South. You know it's coming. But as
he mentioned, I'm from Jacksonville, Florida. I now reside in DC.
And prior to me getting in a little bit about myself,
I do want to preface I do not have all
the answers. I will try my best to engage in
this conversation. I worked on a multitude of campaigns and
multitude of offices, from the local state to the federal level,
(02:36):
and now I'm here in BC where everything's happening, so
happy to answer anything.
Speaker 3 (02:43):
Well, I'll tell you your involvement in Florida prior to
going off to Washington, prior to becoming what we might
describe as sort of professional staff on political campaigns, and
so on and so forth. Many of our listeners are
agitated and frustrated and want to know what they could
(03:05):
do right where they are to disrupt what they see
happening in the country. And I would argue probably not
just at the federal level, but it's trickling down as
Trump naseum continues into our local levels, our school boards,
our city council meetings, the kind of divides that local
government never had to experience. They're now coming fast and furious,
(03:28):
and our heads are on a swivel, just trying to
protect the little turf that we do have. What advice
would you give to folks who are just starting out.
They want to make an impact, they just don't know
what to do.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
So to answer that question, I'm actually going to tell
a story in reference to Michelle Obama famously saying do
something back in twenty nineteen, twenty twenty, my apologies. I
was elected senior class president of my high school, what
was then Robert E. Lee High School. I'm seventeen. It
(04:02):
was following the summer of twenty twenty, and we all
know the activism and the activation that was happening there.
Our school board introduced a docket to remove all Confederate
tied names from public institutions. My school being named after
Robert E. Lee, it was one of the most profound
names and there I was also part of the student
(04:25):
advisory council, So I attended a couple of meetings as
part of the student Advisory Council member and this year
class president. But one of the public hearings, I noticed
that there were I was the only student there other
than teachers and the principal. The auditorium was filled with alumni.
My school was desegregated and I want to say the seventies,
(04:45):
so we had a lot of angry alumni that stated
that there was nothing wrong with the name Robert E.
Lee and if there was something wrong or if somebody
had a problem with the name. It's probably because it's
a predominantly black school now, and maybe we should go
back to segregation. Following that, right following that public hearing,
we started getting more alumni with Confederate flags, with newses,
(05:07):
screaming more and more racial slurs. And I was seventeen.
I couldn't vote, couldn't sign my own name on certain documents.
I still had to ask for my mom's permission. I
was going through my own financial and personal issues. I
was homeless at the time. It felt like I could
do nothing until I could. We organized a protest in
(05:30):
front of the school board building, and we had a
couple of news outlets there and they wanted to hear more.
So we started getting more students. We brought them to
the public hearings. We made sure that they could be
at the school board meetings. We had the superintendent, we
had the principal, We had school board members be there
and listen to the students. To the point where the
school board could do nothing but host a vote vote,
(05:51):
a vote in which students could participate in. We got
community leaders, we got students, and on the day of
my graduation, the superintendent made a recommendation to change the
name of Robert E. Lee High School to Riverside High
which it is now named. It has been named Riverside
High School since twenty twenty one. I am the last
senior class president of Robert E. Lee High School. All
(06:11):
of that change happened within a few short months, within
my graduation before I went to Florida State and I
was a care student. So I went off to Florida
State in the summer. That's an example of doing something.
That's an example of speaking out. I had no money,
no home, no notoriety, no nothing other than a voice
(06:32):
and a will. If you care about something, it doesn't
matter how niche it is, it doesn't matter how small
it is. Sure post it, but also talk about it.
Go to those meetings, go to your library, research it,
Go to your city council meetings and stay. Sometimes they're
long and we don't always know what they're talking about,
but stay to the end. Speak to the members after,
(06:53):
give them your number, give them your email. Be willing
to have a conversation, because ultimately, action doesn't happen without conversation.
I think we like to skip to the action part,
but talking about it and making sure that it's pressing
making sure that it is even if it's not hot news,
making sure that it is still being talked about, still
(07:13):
being known. That's half the battle, right there.
Speaker 3 (07:15):
I love that and I appreciate you sharing that story
with us. It's amazing. When white Americans are asked the
question whether or not this country is racist or rooted
in a racist past, the immediate answer, no, of course
not da. But you challenge the systems and the structures
in the institutions that have given them great cover and
(07:36):
comfort for as long a time as they've ever known,
back to their ancestors. When you disrupt that, then it's
all you know, the mass comes off. You start dealing
with them in real fashion, and now you can go
back to your country. Right after you've built this one
and perfected it over time, you can go back. I'm
(08:09):
curious to know. In the in the in the aftermath
of the election, obviously the man I don't. I don't
even know ground shaking, earth shaking moves. By the early
months of the Trump administration, a lot of folks are
feeling great despair. A lot of folks do want to
check out, or they have checked out since the election,
and frankly hadn't found a reason yet to check back in,
(08:33):
choosing instead to be not as aware and not as
informed of the day to day to protect their peace
of mind and also to keep them focused on what's
most important, which is probably the safety, security and support
for their family. Right, How do we shake folks out
of that or do we need to if we're about
(08:55):
to fight this marathon of a fight over the next
four years to keep what little we already have.
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Before hopping on here, you referenced something you said, two truths,
and I think that's the perfect way to go about
answering this. You know, running a marathon, you gotta pace
yourself doing any endeavor. We have to plate pace ourselves
because the seeds that we're selling now, we're often not
(09:28):
gonna be able to see the fruits of our labor.
And this isn't necessarily me doing the work for me
or even for my kids. It might be for my kids'
kids or their grandkids and so on. So I think
the first part of that is acknowledging that the people
on one side of a conversation, regardless of which side
(09:48):
it is, they have a right to feel that way.
You're right, a lot of people were in despair. A
lot of people were tired. I was one of those people.
I gave my all to that campaign, this Kamala Harris
run for office. It was historic, of course, but that
was the first presidential election I could vote in. As
I mentioned a lot of the activism, especially for young people,
(10:08):
especially for my peers, we were starting it without being
able to be fully represented where you know, whether it
was March for Our Lives and us just asking to
not get gunned down in schools, or asking for school supplies,
or asking for our schools to not be named after
a racist Confederate. We are advocating, we are chanting, we
are yelling, we're giving our all, but we can only
(10:31):
do so much because we're not of age, because we
don't have the status. Then then we finally can vote,
We finally can be in college. Make some noise in SGN.
I know, you know how that goes, make some noise
in our community, and we're we're seeing this movement on TikTok,
We're seeing this movement online where we're thinking that everybody
(10:52):
you know knows the right answer to this very simple question,
and it doesn't go that way. It's almost like it's
almost like While it's not our fault that the election
turned out the way it is, we owe it to
ourselves to allow ourselves to feel all the emotions, to
allow ourselves to go through the stages of grief, to
(11:12):
come to terms with what that means. And it's not
just it didn't just end in November, you know what
I mean, because then we had the inauguration followed by
several mandate, several executive orders. I have friends, I have
family members that either don't know what their educational status
is going to be, don't know what their citizen ship
(11:33):
status is going to be. We have people getting their
resources stripped away from them. We have people who don't
know if they could continue going to school. I want
to go to law school. I don't know if that's
financially feasible for me anymore. I don't know if that
matters anymore. I don't know if the rule of law
matters anymore. And as big or symbolic as that may sound,
you know, sometimes we just need to detach. You know,
(11:58):
I'm not a technician or anything, but if my if
you stop working, I'm gonna unplug it, give it a
little time, and plug it right back in same thing
with my computer. If it's not working, I'm gonna turn
it off. If my phone freezes up, I'm gonna turn
it off, give it a little second, and I'm gonna
turn it right back on. Just because people are taking
some time to enjoy homecoming, learn a few new trail
(12:18):
ride dances, to do a few new hairstyles, to learn
a new trend, to do whatever it may be. Just
because people are expressing joy doesn't mean that they're not
going to get back out there, because that's what our
people have always done. And I the one thing I
will say is that the idea that we just need
to jump right back into action, that's harmful. Not saying
(12:41):
stop it. I'm not saying stop caring, but take care
of yourself, because how could you possibly how could you
possibly complete the marathon if you're not, If you get
injured on mile three and you're not taking care of yourself,
we're we're I don't know how far we are in
the race. I our ancestors laid the foundation and we're
(13:02):
just gonna keep on pushing on. But part of that
is finding the joy within it. And we know that
some of us still seeing the slave hymns. You know
what I mean. Some of us still have those recipes
that were passed down from generations. We still have cookouts,
we still have family reunions, We still run apart from
each other when we laugh like it's embedded in us.
(13:22):
It's embedded in us. And part of the need to
keep on keeping on is taking rest, because rest isn't
just revolutionary, it's needed. And rest can look like a
multitude of things. But I don't believe that there's no
liberation without fun, because what are we fighting for If
I can't laugh? What are we fighting for if I
can't go out to the protest and then go to
(13:44):
my last appointment after, get my hair done after Because
I don't feel like my best self when I'm not
put together. And if I don't feel like my best self,
I can't show up for the people. And part of
showing up for the people is recognizing that as a person,
I am the people, so I also have to show
up for myself.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
I love that. I love that. Well, we know where
you stand, and I hope nobody comes sideways toward you
or your friends on this conversation. Welcome, Well, well let's
do this. I want to invite in our mutual friend, Lolo.
And as we wind down our few minutes, it really
does go quickly. Deanna Butcher, you've inspired us with your
(14:23):
own jewels and wisdom. And I can tell you from
just personal experience, the idea, the fact that I so
forcefully threw myself into leadership and the government and to
change making, so much so that when it was gone,
I had no real appreciation for who I was, and
it was a spiral I would not wish on anyone.
(14:43):
And so the self care piece is important here. And
my only hope is that people aren't bandwagoning this thing,
but are truly deepening into what their need is, seeing
about their need and how it gets met, and then
getting themselves strapped right back in for the fight. We're
gonna have to sleep in shifts. We don't get the
luxury of of of checking all the way out because
(15:06):
we know that we sit in at the greatest epicenter
of impact. Lolo, where are you? I don't know if
you're here with us, all right? I think we're without
Lolo at the very moment. But Dianna, if you if
you had something, a note that you wanted to leave
with the folks who have joined us and those who
(15:26):
will listen when this is in a production post production form,
what would you say to those like you who are
disheartened to found you know it very difficult to sort
of check back in although you have, what would you
say as as the as the big push that made
sense for you and for the things that you care about,
(15:48):
and maybe others might take some wisdom from that as well.
Speaker 2 (15:53):
I'm a firm believer that to reach your target audience,
or to reach the community, you have to know the community.
And I want to correct you for just a brief moment,
because you said what got me back in? And honestly,
I'm not all the way in my candor my piece
(16:15):
about taking care of yourself wasn't I read it in
a book and all that just makes so much sense,
or I heard it in passing, or I saw it
on a billboard. It was because I had to stop,
because I gave my all. So I come to this
conversation as someone who wasn't sleeping, as someone who was
always protesting, always activating on several zoom calls, sometimes on
(16:40):
a multitude of calls. You can tell Nick, that's I
learned my suitcase trick. But the multitude of calls, trying
to get the resources to the people, whether that be food,
whether that be knowledge, whether that be funding. I gave
my absolute all at at the expense of myself. We're
not talking about just losing our way. I was a
(17:03):
machine for a candidate, multitude of candidates for a cause,
and think these are all things that should be common sense.
I was fighting for my livelihood, fighting to be represented,
fighting to be seen as a person, and in turn,
I wasn't treating myself like a person. I am not
(17:24):
a therapist. I don't do yoga. I probably should, but
I don't have all the answers in regards to self care.
And when I hear people say that, I'm happy that
it's a part of the conversation because it's also attached
to mental health. Your mental health will take a toll
if you don't do something for the outside and for
the community and for the environment. But if you don't
(17:45):
do something for yourself, I don't care. If showing up
for yourself is deciding to take the day off if
you can, I don't care. Doing something for yourself is
doing your hair, is taking some rest, is going out
and going to a crap well, I don't know what
it is. I don't know what it is, but whatever
it is, for you, every time you do something for
(18:06):
the community, give it back to yourself. You have to. No,
it's not worth there's no fight worth it without you.
You can't fight without you. You can't abandon yourself. And
I think it's and hopefully this is another topic for later,
but I really want people to show up for themselves
(18:26):
because I'm speaking from experience. We have a lot of people,
we have a lot of organizers and leaders who have
abandoned themselves and what you see is a vessel for
the people, and they've forgotten that they are the people.
So not to tune out of elections, not to tune
out of activism, but it's it's a hard balance when
(18:50):
you when people when every time you open your phone
it's something that this administration is doing, and you can't
even draft up a graphic quick enough, get out the
word quick enough, because by the time time is posted,
there's something else. If you look on any of my
activism pages, there's there's time gaps in between it because
I have to take time for me because sometimes news
isn't the most helpful thing, but it's being ready for
(19:13):
the fight. And I can't be ready without having myself
to get there. So I just love that that'll preach No,
I've seriously just hoped that people know I'm not just
talking to them. I've been through it. And if they're
not there right now, that's fine. Your body will let
you know when you're ready. Your body will also let
you know when you need to stop, and if you
have to stop, stop, But just remember unplugging that TV.
(19:35):
I'm plugging that core doesn't mean you're never gonna watch
TV again. Just plug it right back in when you're ready.
Speaker 3 (19:39):
And activist leader, advocate, social justice warrior uh Deanna Burton,
Florida native, homegrown Duval County, Jacksonville, Florida. Very successful. We're
incredibly proud of you and for you, and thanks to
(20:00):
just a few moments, especially at last minute notice, to
share some pearls of wisdom with us and for the
old heads, y'all, I think we heard pretty clear from
Dianna that we should just take a beat before we batter.
The next generation come in after us on what they
are and aren't doing. Let's take a beat, let them
rest into themselves and very quickly renew the fight and
(20:22):
get back on the field. Y'all. It's been real and
guess what. I'll be right back next week Monday. We'll
have a consecutive back to back and we'll get back
to our training curriculum on organizing. We'll catch up with
you later, Deanna, thanks again for your time.
Speaker 2 (20:37):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (20:52):
Native Land Pod is a production of iHeartRadio and partnership
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Hosts And Creators
Tiffany Cross
Andrew Gillum
Angela Rye
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