Pardon Me: Give US Free!

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Native Landpod is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership with
Reason Choice Media.

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

Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome, Welcome home.

Speaker 3 (00:09):
Y'all.

Speaker 1 (00:09):
This is episode fifty six of Native Lampod. I am
so so grateful to be joined by my friends and
co hosts Tiffany Cross and Andrew Gillim. I'm Angela Rye
and today we got a lot to talk about. So
what are we getting into today, y'all? Freedom is on
the line for me. That's all things I want to
talk about. I want to hear what you guys got, Andrew,
what do you have? Well, Andrew's on mute, so I'll

(00:33):
hop in. I don't know why Andrew mutes, but I'm gonna.
I want to talk about there were there were twelve
men since September of this year who set themselves a
blaze in protests to conditions in their prison. So I
want to talk about the state of prisons in this country.

Speaker 4 (00:53):
Wow. Well, Trump continues to transition transition and as he
takes aim at DOJ Department of Justice in the YEA,
I'd like for us to charogate the history of the
FBI and it's historic violence toward black folks, and where
we put that today.

Speaker 1 (01:08):
Well, speaking of the justice system, I want to talk
about Joe Biden pardoning Hunter Biden and who else should
be on that list. As you all have seen, he
has the lowest pardon record since Richard Nixon. So I
want to talk about that, and if there's time, I
also want to talk about Mitch McConnell's surprise or not
so surprising hypocrisy on judicial appointments. So that's what we got.

(01:31):
Let's get into it. So pardons has been the topic
of conversation everywhere, and of course we're going to talk
about it right here at Native Lampid. We're going to
start with this question.

Speaker 5 (01:42):
Hey, Native Lampod Kimberly Archie, I'm just wondering, can Biden
step down and appoint Kamawan president for the next sixty
days where she can pardon Hunter Biden and flip some

(02:04):
tables over legislatively while she's president.

Speaker 6 (02:10):
Imagine her being the person to transition the powerful position
to forty seven. Actually she would be forty seven and
he would be forty eight, which would really mess up
all of his merch.

Speaker 7 (02:32):
Think about that, but I like that, petty, Okay, So
I like that, Petty, I want to talk about Joe Biden,
who has said repeatedly he would not pardon Hunter Biden.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
He has now pardoned Hunter Biden. And so my focus
group question is not being in public. My focus group
question is do y'all think he's wrong for that?

Speaker 5 (02:55):
I don't.

Speaker 1 (02:56):
I'm just curious to know that. And then I want
to get into who else should be pardoned.

Speaker 8 (03:01):
I don't think he's wrong for that.

Speaker 9 (03:02):
I think any parent would have pardoned their children if
in the same position. You know, I would pardon you guys.
I would pardon your parents. I would pardon your kids
if I had the power of the pen to do that.
I wouldn't fall no matter what side of the divide
this is. I would understand any parent pardoning their child.

(03:23):
But I think the subtext here is what they were
accusing Hunter Biden of was some bullshit. At the end
of the day, like this was you know, political theater
put on by the Republican Party. It is not analogous
to the Mueller report or you know, the the impeachment hearings.
Like this was a very it was a witch hunt,

(03:46):
and so I don't really I think putting a lot
of this emphasis on Hunter Biden's pardon. Quite frankly, somebody
tweet I can't remember who it was. It was like
the executive director appointer. I think somebody tweeted and said
no matter how you feel or posted, I should say,
because it wasn't on Twitter. But no matter how you
feel about the Hunter Biden story, it certainly is not

(04:09):
the biggest story this week. And I just think that's
a big part of it. Like, why are we even
talking about, Yeah, he pardoned his son. Anybody's gonna do that, Like, Okay,
he did it. Next, let's think about all of the
craziness coming out of the Trump administration. But in the
echo chambers, all you heard about was this Hunter Biden pardon.
So no, I don't think he was wrong at all.

Speaker 1 (04:29):
Let me ask you this, because there are folks who
are feeling somewhat frustrated because when they have sought pardons
for people who are equally deserving, this administration has been silent.
One of them is a case that we're very familiar with.
The close to is our friend Marilyn Moseby. And my
biggest gripe here is not that he that he pardoned

(04:50):
Hunter Biden again, tip to your point, I would have
agreed and done the same thing. It is the fact
that the same prosecutor who was attached to and prosecuted
and was on a witch hunt against Maryland is the
same prosecutor who was a science of the Hunter Biden case.
This man's name is Leo Wise. Y'all should look him up.
We talked about on the podcast prior Before I go

(05:11):
down my rabbit hole, Andrew, I want to hear where
you're at on this.

Speaker 9 (05:13):
Can I before you answer, Andrew, can I ask Angela
a quick question? Because we love you know Maryland obviously
you know we know her personally, but what does because
she didn't serve prison time, So if you can just
remind us what is her current punishment I guess, and
why a pardon matters for her.

Speaker 1 (05:35):
So, Marilyn Moseby is currently on house arrest. She is
someone who is in the car Storo system. Still, she
has to check in with a probation officer, she has
to follow a curfew. She has a job offer that
you know, she was really excited about that she's not
been able to take because it requires some travel. Her

(05:57):
law license is still on the line. The forfeiture of
her property. The properties that she purchased still on the line.
She had to sell one, there's another one that is
potentially in jeopardy because of this conviction, and so there
is so much on the line. Just because you didn't
actually go to jail doesn't mean that you're not in
the carceral system. And I will tell you, guys, the

(06:18):
other thing that is a little troubling for me, And
this is where I, like many of the others who
are frustrated by Joe Biden's hypocrisy on this. It's not
that he said he wouldn't. I don't know why he
said that he wouldn't, to begin with, pardon Hunter Biden.
But what they did say at the White House in
our conversations is that they would not get involved before
the full trial was over, before the sentencing of Marilyn Moseby,

(06:43):
they would not get involved. Guess who hasn't been sentenced, Biden,
Hunter Biden. Yeah, So I just need to understand what
it is if you say, well, you know, we will
get involved, but y'all didn't turn into part and application. Okay,
we turn it in part and application where we wouldn't
get involved. But y'all, she hasn't been sent yet. Okay,
now she's been sentenced. What is the hold up now?

(07:03):
Because it's the same person. In fact, the same argument
that Joe Biden used in his statement about why he
wanted to pardon Hunter. Biden is because of selective prosecution.
That is what we argued in the Maryland Mosby case.
It's the exact same thing. And so my lawyer in mind,
exactly it's the same unit. Right, there are folks right

(07:23):
now choquit lamonba who is who's being targeted by this
same Department of Justice, same agents that were involved in
Andrew's case. Over and over again. It's the same thing.

Speaker 3 (07:34):
And so.

Speaker 1 (07:35):
Yes, black mayor surprise, surprise, So we keep going through
this same thing. And Marilyn Mosby is an example of
a larger issue with the justice or the injustice system
and the carceral system. It has to be fixed. And
if Joe Biden, who is responsible for authoring the crime bill,

(07:56):
cannot see the issue here, he's already said, you know,
we're gonna parden some marijuana offenses, all of them, all
nonviolent drug offenses. Period. Do you know forty four percent
of those incarcerated federal prison are drug related offenses. Pardon
these folks. Some of this is the vestige of your work,
and it can't just apply to your son. You can't

(08:18):
just have compassion in your heart for your son who
struggle with addiction. There are many people who struggle with addiction,
who have lied on applications or who stole because of
their addiction. You have to have compassion for all these people.

Speaker 4 (08:32):
Yeah. Yeah, when you mentioned the drug system and almost
half the prison population and being there as a result
of we all should say in direct credit to the
United States government, who is in part, quite a great
part responsible for much of the infiltration of drugs into
this country, the introduction of it into our communities, very specifically,
and those are facts and non fiction. The other consequence,

(08:55):
partly of Maryland's the penalties that she faces, the jobs
that she'll never be able to apply for, and many
of which in the federal government, which because of a
federal finding of guilt you're automatically disqualified from.

Speaker 3 (09:13):
Now.

Speaker 4 (09:13):
Of course, that does not apply to the presidency of
the United States. You all know which I want to
spend my time, all right, you know, right at this
very second. But y'all the I'm of course not upset
with the President for the partning here, partly because it
is the President, in fact, the reason why Hunter was
charged in the first place. Had he been Hunter Smith,

(09:36):
this would never have been a charge Leo Wise. The
only other case is to your point givity, where in
this gun charge was ever bought before in that district
was once before, and it was summarily dismissed by the prosecutor.
They chose to drop it and not move forward. Yet
in this case, they decided to go after this man
after a possession of a weapon for twenty four hours

(09:59):
while active addiction. While most of us who know people
who have been addicted, I have and others I know
you are very much so in denial about being an addiction,
and so part of that question and answering that question
is a person being able to even recognize that they
are in active addiction when they take in action, take

(10:19):
a step. Most people in an addiction are the last
ones to see it and are the last to admit
that they have a problem. My biggest issue, and Angela
and you hinted at this, is that this is not
a new occurrence and our understanding from a public policy standpoint,
which the President is chief at that you have to

(10:41):
understand that it's not just in your relationship to a
person under which you understand the circumstances of an injustice.
You ought to be able to recognize an injustice on
his face when it happens. And selective prosecution going after
individuals because of the positions they hold and who they
may be related to, not because of an offensive they've created,
is problematic, period. And so he's got what forty some

(11:02):
of our days, y'all. I want to see what the
pardon list looks like as he rushes to a close.
But I want to hold my biggest beef for the
Democrats who are out here on television talking about how this,
you know, the action by Joe Biden is offensive, and
they're clutching pearls and they're, you know, losing their head
over this action. And we just gifted Donald Trump something. Well,

(11:24):
guess what all the things you think you gifted Donald
Trump he was accusing us of in the first place.
He was already accusing of the president of running a
partial justice department that went after Republicans and and and
stayed off Democrats. They were already saying he's the most
corrupt president in the history of this country. So why
is it that our beef with Biden has to be
in proximity to what Trump and his supporters and Republicans

(11:47):
are going to say, think, and do for Democrats later
they should be time out for this. I'm so sick
of Democrats being the establishment to uphold the standard rails,
but never ever ever seeking to question and interrogate those
rails of government that quite frankly, have overstepped. And that's
why I want to talk about the D D o
jpiece because I think it's it's been that way for

(12:08):
a very long time.

Speaker 9 (12:09):
I think they're trying to appease people, you know, like
they're they're there. They're trying to appease this base of voters.
And it's like, guys, if you haven't learned anything from
the last election, the people who you're trying to appease
left you. They are not coming back, right, They're not
coming back. So instead of trying to appease and walk
this middle of the road, especially when it comes to

(12:30):
criminal justice, which has disproportionately harmed us, all you do
is become political roadkill. When you walk in the middle
of the road. What if you led with with your
conscious the conviction and courage of your beliefs, and spoke
to real life policy. Maybe, just maybe you can inspire
a new base of voters. Because you know who did that,
Donald Trump, low propensity, first time voters, helped put him

(12:52):
in office. There is a whole bunch of other people
who just sat on the couch to have an opportunity.
You have an opportunity to tap into those people and
speak about these things.

Speaker 8 (12:59):
And when you were about to say something.

Speaker 1 (13:02):
Yeah, I was just gonna say. You know, the thing
that's frustrating to me is we keep saying, like I
remember being on Capitol Hill and hearing actually one of
the contenders who I don't think should become DNC chair,
Ram Emanuel say to a member of Congress who is
from a battleground state, he told him to vote his conscience.

(13:23):
And I think that what's missing here is there is
this idea that you know, you have to do the
right thing. He was willing to sacrifice his son. Nobody
asked you to sacrifice your son, Like what would everybody
else do or want to do or encourage you to do.
But also, don't forget about the least of these this
this pardon power should not be reserved for the privileged few. Otherwise,

(13:44):
what does make you different from Donald Trump?

Speaker 10 (13:46):
Right?

Speaker 1 (13:47):
If Jared Kushner's father could get pardoned and after that
pardon become the ambassador to France and everybody who is
proximate to the part and power because of what we're hearing,
we're hearing allegations that people pay for these pardons under
the Trump administration. What makes people any different? Does your
last name have to be Biden to receive a pardon?

(14:08):
Because what about Kim Gardner? Kim Gardner had to take
a plea deal, arguably because she couldn't pay for a
defense Andrew, you know how much it costs five dollars
a five thousand dollars reimbursement office. Who she is? I'm
going to write, like from her office a prosecutor who

(14:30):
like Marilyn Moseby, modeled her office after Kamala Harris in
Saint Louis. Five thousand dollars reimbursement that the ethics attorney said,
millions caused you to run that case against Kim Gardner,
and she took the plea because there was no way
out for her. They were suffocating her and they made

(14:51):
it seem like it was going to be private. They
issued a press release. These are just a couple of
the names that we can mention. I know there are
so many other.

Speaker 4 (14:58):
About the apologies. What about the folks that they drug
like myself through the mud after being in my emails,
my cell phone, my life, my bank account, my children's
business for eight years and bought a case with no evidence.

Speaker 1 (15:12):
Yeah, none.

Speaker 9 (15:13):
The financial impact that it has on you, Andrew that
you talk about saying.

Speaker 4 (15:17):
The emotional right now, y'all, I'll work for the rest
of my life to pay a million dollars off. But
it takes on you and legal fees, but the toll
that it takes on you to have had to stand
subject of everything you've tried to do and be upright
in so doing because you feel it, you believe it,
you're doing it for the right reason. These folks snatch

(15:38):
away from you like they're just turning on the fucking lamplight.
That's right, with no apology, no redress. No, I'm sorry
for what we did. We got it wrong.

Speaker 1 (15:48):
And that's the point as we go to break and
get ready to talk about what else is wrong with
that goddamn Department of Justice going down to the FBI.
We'll get into that on the other side of this break,
But yes, they not Sorry Andrew, that's the truth.

Speaker 10 (16:01):
That's real.

Speaker 4 (16:15):
So, y'all, our last you know segment really just put
me even more deeply in this place about Tiffany You're
comment about Andrew's reference to speak your con about your conscience,
and then your reference to you know, folks getting up
there and just speak the truth and see if you
can't reach voters by just saying a thing is a thing. Well,

(16:36):
to me, y'all, I think Donald Trump is accomplishing this
as well as it relates to the Department of Justice. Now,
of course, I can't stand the folks he's appointing over there,
don't know the the man he's trying to put over
the FBI certainly a disruptor, there's no doubt, but also
himself got some issues. But y'all, any of us who

(16:57):
could sit here with a straight face and say that
they're are not deep seated issues in the Department of
Justice and in the Federal Bureau of Investigations, which reports
up through the Attorney General, we would be lying to
ourselves as a community of blacks period. If we go
back to the FBI's founding and the war on the

(17:19):
freedom and Liberation movement largely sparked in California and Northern
California and spread all throughout the country and the world
as we fought for our freedom. The list of terrorists
that they kept, domestic terrorists that they kept, which was
largely held by black folks, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X.

Speaker 1 (17:40):
Stokely, Carmiel, John Lewis was on the no fly list.
Andrew of course come on like on the no fly
list after two thousand like fighting when I worked on
the Homeland Security Committee, they had to get him off
the no fly list.

Speaker 4 (17:53):
So, in other words, the violence continue until this day,
islence against our community perpetrated by the federal government visa v.
The Federal Bureau of Investigations. These are the same people
you talked about, the mayor of Jackson, Choquay you talked.
I tell you my example, same agents who are not

(18:16):
going into communities to snuff out crime. They're not going
into situations where crime is being committed, and they're trying
to do the business of problem solving to get a
problematic individual, person, entity, whatever, out of the way. No, no, no, no,
no no. They're going in creating crimes, perpetuating these things,
and then in their best effort, attempting you to be complicit.

(18:38):
And even when you do the right thing and say no,
it's too late. You're caught in their web. They have
invested too much money, They've got to bring charges, and
they got to look good at the end of the day.
And the problem is is that, y'all, this has been
happening not only to our movement leaders, but think about
I'll just give you one example here in Florida, Florida,

(18:59):
the highest number of blacks we had representing us in
Congress and any one particular point in time is three
at the highlight four And do you know of those four,
three of them had FBI investigations and the consideration or
actual charges bought against them as leaders. And so my

(19:19):
point is is, and we see this through your example,
Angela and the cases that you've bought out, they are
intentioned on going after our people, shutting us down. Whether
we follow the law and do right or whether like
other individuals, we make mistakes. They are committed to our
public assassinations. Maybe not in literal form, but very much so.

(19:43):
In our ability to contribute and exactly and in some
cases very much so little, and we all know what
you're talking about there, but their commitment to it is
so deep, so ingrained, that in my opinion, Donald Trump
would not be in the ro if his even though
it may be motivated by, you know, very individual and

(20:04):
personal reasons, we know enough from our experience as black
folks in this country that this is not an agency
out to do in wholesale good by all people. In
some cases, it is to perpetuate the worst and then
put it on us to take us out the game.

Speaker 1 (20:21):
I even this is such a go ahead. I think
this is such a good point and part of like,
I literally was watching something yesterday. I can't remem if
I said this to you guys or not, but there
was a Russian outlet talking about how good it was
that Donald Trump was getting ready to dismantle the FBI,

(20:43):
and I found myself in this really interesting predicament. I
just want to be honest, like very interesting predicament, which
is he's going to try to just try the garment wall.
Actually I don't really like the FBI like that, right
is the one that I want to fight. And the
reason for that is, you guys, we laugh about this

(21:04):
all the time, but it's true. I'll be on the
phone with my dad sometimes, who is an activist whose
parents received a death threat phone calls just for him
trying to get the street name changed after Martin Luther
King from Empire Way and in Seattle. And he always
will tell us like, maybe don't say that, you know,
they tapping a phone, Like we have been conditioned to

(21:25):
believe these things. And I got to tell you, I
don't bit my trust nobody working in the Jay Edgar
Hoover Building at all, you know, Like, and I think
we have to be honest with this. So I'm trying
to think and what the thing that gives me comfort
is what the Congressional black HAWKUS founders used to say,
which is there are no permanent friends, no permanent enemies,

(21:47):
just permanent interests. So what are some of the things
when we look at like we've looked at all of
Donald Trump's appointments. We continue to dig through that as
we talk about these each week on the podcast. Tip
was like, you should just forget it. It's late by
the time He's appointing so many people they would draw
but here's the thing. If we are able to wrestle

(22:08):
with what we would actually be in favor of and
be honest about it, because there are things that Donald
Trump could do that I could support, including recentering and
refocusing the FBI and stuff that matters. I don't know
the cash, but tell is the dude to do that.
I'm gonna be honest with y'all. I think he ends
up using it to target us more in the spirit

(22:31):
of j Edgar Hoover, right, But if he was to say,
you know what, there are people like Moumea and Asada
and folks who have been targeted by these agencies that
they need to be pardoned, they need a second look.
There are people who we've already named, some elected officials
who Donald Trump would normally brand his political enemies. If

(22:52):
you were to say, welly I know it's been weaponized
because I too experienced that. Y'all know. He said he
was a victim of the system, So I was going
with that for me. You know, all of these things
are there some places where because of our oppression systemically systemically,
so in this country, we could align with our permanent interests,
and I think this is one of them. I if
they do the right thing now that if it's so

(23:13):
damn big, I don't even know why we going down
this road, but I gotta be honest with y'all. That's
what I was thinking Washington. I was like, what these
Russians say is something that I actually agree with on this.

Speaker 9 (23:22):
I want to pick up on Andrew's point about the
FBI surveillance was because I think, you know when you
say things like that, like, yes, co Intel pro is
something that a lot of people know. But long before
co Intel Pro, in ninth the Red Scare of nineteen nineteen,
the FBI was targeting black people. Then they were so

(23:42):
concerned at that America was treating black people so shitty
that they would align with the foreign adversary. So the
FBI was more concerned with black people than they were
with foreign medaling itself. Then you cut to one hundred
years later, a century later, not quite, but ninety eight
years later, in twenty seventeen, the reporting came out that

(24:05):
the FBI had another watch list of black identity extremists.

Speaker 8 (24:10):
And some of our friends were on this list. Black
Lives Matter were on this list.

Speaker 9 (24:15):
So I think it's really dangerous and some of our
luminaries throughout history have been on the FBI list. Cash
Battel is the person who Donald Trump has tapped to
take over the FBI. Of course, right now it's FBI
Director Chris Ray. Donald Trump can't just tap people. This
person has to be appointed or approved by the Senate

(24:36):
and he you would also have to fire Chris Ray.
And the term for these directors write our ten years,
so they could go across administrations. That is the whole
point that they're not supposed to be political. I just
want to tell the viewers a little bit about Cash Betel.
He is a forty year old extremist. He is a
lawyer with very little government experience. He was tapped by

(24:59):
this trumpet, minished and rose rapidly there. Now, you guys
know how many loyals well out of New Jersey eventually
out of Florida. Yeah, but you guys know how many
loyalists surround Donald Trump. That's how you get to rise
in that administration by being loyal to him. Among the loyalists,
Cash Betel was considered the most loyal. Why that should

(25:19):
be frightening is he doesn't he's not an expert on
a lot and what might he be willing to do
to appease his boss. One of the people, Mark Milly,
who was the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff
at the time, had to pull him aside and say,
do not break the law in order to appease Donald Trump,
because life behind bars isn't great. He was raised Hindu parents,

(25:42):
grew up in East Africa. They were Reagan Republicans. He
was only a handful of people of color in his class. Well,
once he went to law school. That's when he went
to Florida. Like you said, Andrew and was a public defender,
so was doing good work, and people saw him get
radicalized and he became more to the right, more to
the right, and then he startedizing off his government experience,
selling wine scarves, tank tops, ridiculousness, I mean, making a

(26:08):
mockery of government. He worked a security consultant for the
Qatar government during the twenty two twenty twenty two five
Foot Cup. He is willing to do anything he has said,
and had I had time, I would have pulled this down.
He has said we will go after the media criminally
or civilly. He has been one of the loudest people

(26:29):
who says he wants to expose the deep state within
the halls of the FBI. Imagine what somebody liked this,
with access to all types of information with security clearance,
could do in order to weaponize his position to appease
a political infant like Donald Trump. This is something we
have to pay attention to.

Speaker 4 (26:49):
I want to on his hitness absolutely the top absolutely
lists of people he wanted to go after. I agree.
I mean, I think the person Tiffany, to your point,
which we have to interrogate obviously, is is woefully wrong
and unqualified and all that other stuff. But I tell
you another thing, and institutionalists who believes that all systems

(27:09):
and structures of our government are beyond reproach is also
a bad idea. I don't know who that person is,
and I don't think Donald Trump probably has the capacity
to a point somebody qualified for these kinds of positions.
But the institutional list, which unfortunately it feels to me
like the party, the Democratic Party itself, is molding increasingly
into sort of the standard bearers for the status quo.

(27:34):
The institution is itself. And yes, there are parts of
the institution that must be stabilized for the for the
the frankly well being of the American people and our
interaction with the global community. But then there are other
parts of this system, FBI being one of them. The

(27:54):
Department of Justice, you know, in part and in some
cases almost in full, very little exception, have done tremendous violence,
have had rules and laws propagated off of the activities
that they have observed us to do. And that is
the only reason why certain things have become illegal. Federally

(28:18):
have created sentencing guidelines perpetuated off of not the horrendous
nature of a crime, but the nature of the person
who has done that crime. To me, that's ass backwards,
that's discriminatory, it's wrong. It ought to be leveled. And
if the Democratic Party can't stand up and look at
a thing and call it exactly what it is, they

(28:41):
can't hope to gain any credibility with the American voter
who sees these things every day. They see it, perpetuate it.
They see y'all drop the charges against Donald Trump across
all federal counts after he becomes the nomination the president
to be. And you don't think people are saying, well,
that looks political to me now, But yet you you

(29:01):
crying about Hunter Bideny, Well, let.

Speaker 1 (29:03):
Me let what's on this point. I'm so glad you
brought it up because I forgot to bring it up
when we were talking about pardons. We have a clip
from Joe Manchon that I want to run as we
go to break. Let's talk about it on the other side.
Let's hit that clip.

Speaker 10 (29:14):
Nick as a.

Speaker 11 (29:15):
Father, I don't know if a father that wouldn't have
done the same thing. What I would have done differently,
in my recommendation as a counselor, would have been, why
don't you go ahead and pardon Donald Trump for all
his charges and make it you know, it had gone
down a lot more balanced, if you will.

Speaker 9 (29:36):
Welcome back everybody. I just wanted to say really quickly
about Joe Manchin. His an independent senator from West Virginia.
Bug Joe Manchin, Okay, Like this guy has been such
a problem in the Senate. Nobody even ask your opinion
on this, and I just I think that is part.

Speaker 8 (29:55):
Of the problem. It is their side of the divide
can express.

Speaker 9 (30:01):
Empathy only when it's people who look like them. They
can express empathy only when it's something that impacts their lives. Specifically,
how many times have you seen a right wing Republican
senator or elected official who's very anti LGBTQ until their
child comes out as a member of the community, and

(30:21):
then all of a sudden, you have all this compassion.
And I think that's the difference between a lot of
us and a lot of them. It don't have to
impact me. I'm not that self centered for me to
express empathy and understanding to somebody else. Joe Manson is
a part of a bigger problem, a bigger political problem.
But I'm really I'm on strike from the US government.

Speaker 8 (30:39):
I just feel like.

Speaker 9 (30:42):
They don't even deserve my attention right now. In January,
I'll be back, but right now I'm on strike from
engaging the US government the job when having something to
say on Joe Manchin or can I talk about prisons?

Speaker 4 (30:52):
You can be on strike from Joe Manchin. But I
know you too well. You know that when we don't
pay attention awaypen, I'm paying attention community almost. I know
That's what I'm saying. You're not on strike. Well, there
are wars who violating us.

Speaker 1 (31:04):
Here's the thing that I thought was important about this
and why I was glad you brought this up. Andrew
was talking about Democrats being the standard bearers for like
right institution, doing the right thing, protecting institutions. Andrew, you
one of them. We got in a whole ass.

Speaker 4 (31:18):
But there are certain guardrails that must exist. But then
there are ones that have real implication, like whether or
not I serve time. Yes, but also so I did
a crime that I'm being accuted consecuted for.

Speaker 1 (31:32):
But also inviting a terrorist into the oval to have
a transitionation now well, I mean almost, especially when he's
getting told welcome back by the President. But here's the thing.
So when you say to the American people, this man
is a threat to democracy, and now you have Democrats
because it wasn't just Joe Mansion who I love, somebody

(31:56):
who I love. Congressman Clyburn was on air last night
also suggest that Joe Manchin was quote onto something about
this pardon for Donald Trump. And my concern is that
you cannot speak out of both sides of your mouth
and expect for people not to see the blatant hypocrisy here.
If Donald Trump commits eighty eight felonies ninety one, but

(32:20):
you know, some of those were dropped, as we know,
and now he gets he's considered to be pardoned. They're
look hearkening back into history when this happened under another administration.
Richard Nixon is the person who comes to mind, right,
this is not politics or business as usual, and so
it's very very concerning to see that they would have

(32:42):
this conversation at all, like why are you talking about
pardoning this man? Those all of the charges have already
everything's been postponed. Jack Smith had to postpone the case.
So the fact that they're now considering a pardon of
Donald Trump when they're again so many people's freedom is
hanging in the balance, is so disturbing to me. And TIF,

(33:02):
I know you have something on freedom. This all shows
about liberation today and I'm not talking about liberating Donald Trump.

Speaker 4 (33:07):
Well, I want to quote Tip again before we go
to this prison piece, which I'm incredibly interested in as well,
And that is her point around roadkill, around rocking down
the center of the goddamn road. That is what you
get with Joe Manchin and I love you, brother Cliburne.
But any sympathy in that direction is a bad Eyedea.
It is a bad idea because let me tell you

(33:28):
this much that MF. En all lock her up right right?
When his first time around, do you think for a
moment they would not have gone full tilt to ward
prosecuting and persecuting their political enemies. Now we're not that,
I get it, but I know this much. We don't
provide cover. You don't give shelter to the terrorists, to
the domestic terrorists who is trying to destroy everything and

(33:53):
everybody who's not him and those who are not in
his circle. And that's my real problem with allyship with
Trump is that I am always confused around whether or
not they are learning the right lesson from his prosecution.
What he learned was that he's got sympathy with black folk,
and that was that was the lesson. No, sir, no,
what you should have learned is that there are some

(34:14):
laws that are directly targeted toward certain people who are
then admonished, prosecuted, drug through the mud for things that
quite frankly, are irrelevant and if you ask the American people,
that wouldn't care two shits about. And that's the problem
when you create laws around who commits them versus something
being bad for society, period, that's it.

Speaker 9 (34:36):
But the whole probly the entire show has been teeing
up this point that I want to make around prisons.
Right now, there are I want to give this information
before you here, right now, there are four hundred and
sixty five thousand, two hundred black inmates in state or

(34:57):
federal prison.

Speaker 8 (34:58):
I'm sorry.

Speaker 9 (34:58):
That was that as of at the end of twenty eighteen.
That's according to Brookings. Now this year, since September fifteenth,
at least twelve black men incarcerated at Red Onion State Prison.
This is in West Virginia. I'm sorry, why is County Virginia.
They have set themselves on fire in response to degrading
and inhumane conditions at prison. I want you this is

(35:22):
from a documentary that HBO did. I want you to
take a listen to why one of the men is
even in prison. And this is not a discussion. I
want to be crystal clear. This is not a discussion
around who should be in prison or who should not
be in prison. This is a discussion around the conditions
that hundreds of thousands of black people and all people.
But I'm just focused on black folks because we are

(35:44):
disproportionately represented, are facing every day in prison. Take a
listen to Mike Kelly, who is an inmate at red
Onion State Prison.

Speaker 12 (35:54):
My name is Michael Kelly. I originally Consage, Los Angeles.
I don't know nobody out here. I don't have no family,
no friends out here.

Speaker 11 (36:00):
I don't know a.

Speaker 12 (36:01):
Soul in Virginia. I came out here to Virginia to
drop somebody off, and I commended a couple of robberies,
and the courts in Virginia gave me thirty eight years
for two RM robberies. If I would have known that,

(36:26):
I would have got thirty eight years for two armed robberies.
Like I would have never done it, you know what
I mean, Because would have been like, holy shit, I'm
not flint throw on my life away with thirty eight
years for two armed robberies. That's crazy, that sounds nuts.
But I didn't know how serious it was out here
in Virginia. In California, i'd have got like eight years
and not have been that, you know. But I didn't

(36:48):
know how serious it was, and I didn't know how
serious a society took that.

Speaker 9 (36:55):
Now that's one inmate there, and again we're not talking
about his crime, but I do think it's important to
point out that white, privileged, wealthy people get to make
mistakes and fail and are absolved from a very harsh,
punishing criminal justice system when it comes to the rest
of us. When you look at baill reform, when you

(37:17):
look at people who are held in jails until their trial,
who are appointed overcrowded public defenders, this is all a
problem in the system. Now, the twelve black men who
set themselves on fire, imagine how dire conditions have to.

Speaker 8 (37:29):
Be for you to set yourself on fire.

Speaker 9 (37:32):
This is from a podcast hosted by Malika BALaw that Arizona,
Al Jazeera English, and she spoke with Noel han Rana,
who is a legal director for Redwo Justice Fund, and
she's the co director of something called Prison Radio where
you can actually hear what it's like form men in prison.
Take a listen to how she describes the conditions at
Red State Onion Prison. At Red Onion State Prison.

Speaker 13 (37:55):
We've had reports over the last number of years. Actually,
one of our main correspondents, Kevin Rashid Johnson, has been
reporting from Red Onion State Prison for over a decade.

Speaker 11 (38:07):
Prisoners treated worse than dogs.

Speaker 4 (38:10):
Britain Is such as Curtis care who put.

Speaker 2 (38:12):
A whole resistance, but was mored by two dolls than
beaten by guards.

Speaker 13 (38:15):
The conditions there are deplorable.

Speaker 14 (38:18):
Twenty eighteen.

Speaker 1 (38:21):
And as a results, and they take.

Speaker 13 (38:24):
Many people from our inner cities and move them to
this very remote location that has almost exclusively white staff
rural county, where the prisoners are almost exclusively people of color.

Speaker 8 (38:42):
Okay, deplorable conditions.

Speaker 5 (38:44):
What are we talking here?

Speaker 13 (38:46):
We're talking dogs used on prisoners to intimidate, threaten, and
bite them. We're talking about spitting in people's food. We're
talking about no respect for people's religious tradition. They cannot
kneel to pray, They have their religious materials such as
the Qur'an or their Bibles destroyed in front of them.

(39:11):
They are brutalized, they are covered in caps mace. They
are left to not be able to be taken care
of in terms of getting the mace off of them.
They are beaten, They are denied access to their families,

(39:32):
to phone calls, to reaching the outside world.

Speaker 9 (39:37):
So why this matters today? And this is crucially important
to people who voted for Donald Trump over a STEMI check.
One of Projects five's most significant proposals will terminate the
use of consent decrees.

Speaker 8 (39:52):
We've talked a bit about that.

Speaker 9 (39:54):
These are legal mechanisms that the federal government ensures that
state and local jurisdictions comply with constitutional law. For black folks, specifically,
consent degrees are crucially important because it can compel prison
in jail systems or police departments to remedy systemic violations
or breaking the law. Project twenty twenty five will require

(40:15):
the Department of Justice to again pursue mandatory minimum sentences.
It erroneously claims that the more people you let out
of jail, the higher the crime goes up. We have
not seen that happen. There's no data to support that,
and they're citing catastrophic increases in crime.

Speaker 8 (40:31):
Again, no data supports that.

Speaker 9 (40:33):
Project twenty twenty five will establish an extremely punitive approach
to justice, and it's calling on the dj to do
everything possible to execute anyone currently on death row. So
all the people which I've talked about on this show
before and how dispportunate we are represented on death row,
they're going to press them to do that. And this
is despite stark racial disparities among black folks in Florida,

(40:57):
your neck of the Woods and Drew. In twenty twenty,
the Santas signed into a law a bill that allows
people to be convicted and sentenced to death without a
unanimous jury.

Speaker 1 (41:08):
With only eight.

Speaker 9 (41:09):
People on the jury finding you guilty, that is enough
to send you to the death right. So you think
about if you got that one black person on a jury,
their vote is now they're rendered powerless. This is federal
prisons and red Onion State Prison is a microcosm for
all how all prisons operate. You when it comes to jails,

(41:30):
black people made up almost half the state jail population,
even though we're only thirteen percent of the US population
that was in two thousand and all of these laws
that we talked about, the First Step Act has not
been enough because black adults were still in prison in
twenty twenty at five times the rate.

Speaker 8 (41:51):
For white folks.

Speaker 9 (41:52):
So I just you know, the administration is moving so
quickly it's hard to keep up with these things. This
is something that is going to be relevant for a while.
This is evergreen in the sense that we all I
don't want to forget about people in prison again. There
I'm not being an apologist for problematic people who've committed
crimes who've murdered, people who've raped, people who've drugged people.

(42:13):
All of those are legitimate problems. But the way that
we treat these men in prison and women women in prison,
it does not rehabilitate anyone. It is not reforming anyone,
and it's not being helpful to society. It is a
drain on taxpayer resources. But most importantly, it's a disgrace
to humanity.

Speaker 4 (42:32):
So if I love that you, I mean I obviously
the topic is degrading, but it's real. It is exactly
what is happening. And I appreciated you invoking the word
rehabilit rehabate, rehabilitive, because prison is to serve two purposes,
one punitive so that you pay for the crime and

(42:52):
it be such that it is dissuading to people outside
to do it again, and the others rehability. I don'tabilitative, well,
but in the context of the sentence, really rehability.

Speaker 8 (43:08):
I didn't know that was.

Speaker 1 (43:09):
To be honest, rehabilitative isn't the work.

Speaker 8 (43:12):
Is it rehability rehabilitative.

Speaker 4 (43:17):
Comment? I'm either way. It's meanted to help rehability an individual,
so that once the punitive part of your sentence is
over the time you must spend there that you're able
to move back into society and play a functioning role. Well,
guess what happens when you decide to extract a person

(43:38):
from the community in which they know that they love,
that they will be given any reason in the world
to want to do right by so that it can
be returned to when you extract them and get them
all the way across the country. And this happens by
the way they shift inmates with it or within the
prison system to worse ones within the prison system, sometimes

(43:59):
away from their family as as as as part of
you knows back.

Speaker 9 (44:04):
A lot of the guards are members of white supremacist
societies and gained.

Speaker 4 (44:11):
You don't have to call back the layer too far
to see why it is that so many of these
law enforcement and incarceration agencies are almost all stocked with
white folks. And while they're almost always put in very rural,
sequestered areas of states where the population that surrounds them
the workforce that then obviously works there are all homogeneous,

(44:35):
almost all of them being white. But the part about
removing people from their family, this is the cruel and
unusual part of it because if you're trying to get
somebody to understand what they did wrong and then get
to a place where they can then make a commitment
to do right by whom by this society. No, they
want to do right by their children, but their mother,

(44:56):
by their wives and husbands and girlfriends. That's what you
want to do right. But when you starve the humanity
out of a person by starving them from the people
who love them and whom they love, when you don't
allow them to be in communication with them, and when
they are in communication the rates are socking high on
the phones that working people can't even do it right. So,

(45:21):
if we have international laws about how it is we
deal with prisoners of war, people who are coming for
our lives, our land, that your punishment can't be cool
and unusual, and their whole set of standards on the
which they must be treated, how is it that right
here in this country we don't have a standard against

(45:42):
crul and unusual, that you can be as cruel and
unusually cruel with your tactics as possible to bring people
to heal and have it on.

Speaker 1 (45:51):
Paper, right, Yes, we have it on paper, but it's
not applied, you know, it's yeah.

Speaker 4 (45:58):
Again and it's on paper to to to bring someone
to heal in a system of justice in this case
is these are punished sights. These are you you you
f with the right one today.

Speaker 1 (46:09):
And it's not rehabilitative.

Speaker 9 (46:12):
Rehabilitative rehability is not. But the word is rehabilitative.

Speaker 8 (46:16):
Is that what we learned?

Speaker 4 (46:17):
That's okayabilitated? Thank you whoever gave us that. We got
that part of it.

Speaker 3 (46:21):
Now.

Speaker 8 (46:21):
I want to quick shout out expect.

Speaker 4 (46:23):
People to return to a community when you've taken all
of the humanity, when you stripped it and starved them
of any remnant of what it feels like to be
treated like a normal, regular human. I just want to
what happens to be in.

Speaker 9 (46:36):
Shout out the Virginia Legislative Black Caucus because they are
looking into the accusations about the Red Onion State Prison.
So if any member of the Virginia Virginia State Legislature
Legislative Black Caucus, if you're listening, we would love a
video update from you guys, what you find out, what

(46:56):
actions need to be taken, how we can be supportive
then anybody out there really, because like I said, this
is a microcosm. And for if, for some by some miracle,
if someone is incarcerated listening to this, I just want
to say, you were not forgotten about. We honor and
remember that you exist just as a human being, independent

(47:17):
of your crime. And I'm not excusing anyone's behavior or
excusing anything alleged. Right, Well, well, some people have been
convicted and even but even that doesn't mean they're still Yes,
but even for the guy who said, yes, I committed
these armed robberies, like I don't think he should be
held to that for thirty eight years of his life.

(47:38):
And to your point, and even how law enforcements slowed
their ranks, it was because it wasn't to keep America safe.
It was to keep white communities safe from black people.
They said, you can, Yeah, you could beat a negro,
you could shoot a negro, you could murder one. You
just got to be wearing a badge when you do it.
And that that has helped expand lawns don't even need

(47:59):
to be wearing a bad exactly exactly.

Speaker 1 (48:02):
Well, but the system was correct. Stem came out of
vigilanzi just we're a little overtime for a break. But
I do want to just on this point around sentencing
the armed robbery, the gentleman that committed the armed robberies
that he talked about. He lolo sent these statistics from
the United States Sentencing Commission. The average sentence for robbery

(48:25):
offenses and fiscal year twenty twenty three was one hundred
and eleven months months, which is approximately nine point two
five years longer than murder in a lot of that's right.
At twenty seventeen USSC report found that black mail offenders
received sentences on averages nineteen point one percent longer than
similarly situated white male offenders. So the thing that we

(48:48):
are hoping for is one that the Virginia State Legislative
Black Caucus reaches out to us with the video that
you guys can email your videos to hello at Native
lampod dot com. And also we would love to come
yeah and bear witness to what's happening in that prison
and like lift up the stories of the folks Tiff

(49:10):
has talked about today as well as many others who
are not yet heard.

Speaker 4 (49:14):
So we thank you, Angela to those lawmakers to not
be cowed by the organized industry of the prison industrial
complex and the police and the and the and the
patrol unions to not be cowed by those people, to
push through for what's righteous, what's righteous, and what's right right.

Speaker 1 (49:35):
And so with that, we are going to righteously take
a break.

Speaker 2 (49:45):
Welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome.

Speaker 1 (49:50):
So one of the things that I think we have
to talk about is we've contemplated the full justice system today.
Whether we're talking about the federal state level, it's important
to and Tiff brought u juries. We also got to
talk about judges. And one of the things that we've
seen happen in Congress is the blatant hypocrisy that exists

(50:11):
when it comes time to appoint these judges. So recently
there are a couple of democratically appointed judges who've said
that now that Donald Trump is out in office, hey,
you know what that retirement I was thinking about, I
ain't gonna be able to do it. And my outgoing
Minority Leader McConnell, who is still in he mad age

(50:32):
these people who he thinks are older, too old to
be judges anymore. His old ass had this to say
about in chief right, about them not stepping down. Now
that the twenty twenty four election results are in let's
roll that clip.

Speaker 10 (50:48):
Looking to our history, only two judges have ever ever
unretired after a presidential election, one Democrat in twenty oh
four and one Republican in twenty oh nine. But now,
in just a matter of weeks, Democrats have already met

(51:12):
that all time record. It's hard to conclude that this
is anything other than open partisanship. They roll the dice.
They're a Democrat who replaced them, and now they won't.
They're changing their plans keep a Republican from doing it.

(51:32):
It's a brazen admission, and the incoming administration would be
wise to explore all available recusal options with these judges
because it's clear now that they have a political finger
on the scale.

Speaker 1 (51:48):
This sentime right, I know, right, and I wish it
was but in twenty sixteen, So this is of course
just this week. But in twenty sixteen, eleven months before
the twenty sixteen election, Mitch McConnell had this to say
about Obama's decision to nominate Merrit Garland for the Supreme

(52:09):
Court vacancy.

Speaker 10 (52:11):
Miss President, the next justice could fundamentally alter the direction
of the Supreme Court and have a profound impact on
our country. So of course, of course the American people
should have a say in the Court's direction. It is
a president's constitutional right to nominate a Supreme Court justice,

(52:33):
and it is the Senate's constitutional right to act as
a check on a president and withhold its consent.

Speaker 1 (52:42):
So, of course, if eleven months is way too close
to an election to appoint someone to the Supreme Court
in twenty sixteen, certainly when Mitch McConnell, who's now eighty
two years old, and it's pushing for people's retirement except
for his own. Certainly, certainly in twenty twenty, when there
were only six weeks left, he would not want Donald

(53:04):
Trump to appoint anyone to the Supreme Court.

Speaker 4 (53:06):
Let's roll that clip.

Speaker 10 (53:08):
On Saturday evening, President Trump announced his nominee for the
Supreme Court, Judge Amy Conye Barrett of the US Court
of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. I had the opportunity
to meet with Judge Barrett earlier today. I left our
discussion even more convinced that President Trump is nominated exactly

(53:30):
the kind of outstanding person whom the American people deserve
to have on their highest court.

Speaker 1 (53:38):
Okay, So I just you know, I'm surprised, right, because
miss McConnell said eleven months was way too close to
an election. So then it's six weeks.

Speaker 4 (53:46):
He's like, well, well, six weeks is a.

Speaker 1 (53:49):
Perfect time to appoint a conservative justice. And now he said,
these democratically appointed judges, I don't know why they won't
retire anymore. And at that point, you know, and they
said that they weren't going to return. He mores about
the same point as them. Amy coy Barrett nomination. I'm
trying to understand what's happening.

Speaker 4 (54:07):
Well, all this proves, as you know, Angela and Tiffany,
Mitch McConnell is not only a hypocrite, but the greatest
thief in American history, you know, the one that stole
a Supreme Court justice. See eleven months before Obama was
the American people should have a choice, that was his line. Well,
they did have a choice. They elected a president for
four years, and he gets to act as president all

(54:28):
the way up until those four years are up. That's
how he goes. But he's a great thief. He's a
great com man and the thief.

Speaker 3 (54:35):
That's it.

Speaker 9 (54:36):
I just want to remind people that Mitch McConnell is
a direct descendant of people who enslaved black folks.

Speaker 4 (54:44):
Is you sure he not the one?

Speaker 9 (54:46):
I mean what I'm saying, you know, like he says
he's in his eighties, but evidence would argue otherwise. And
is he is retiring finally or stepping down as a
majority leader? But every time I see him, I still
be in the Senate. Yeah, I just I That's what
I was No, no, I would listen to. I was

(55:08):
just gonna say when I saw my retirement earlier, I've
cleared that he's yeah, he's yeah, but he's no longer
the majority leader because we have seen him have several
health issues on camera where he literally freezes like the
internet does here sometimes.

Speaker 4 (55:24):
So he on baby, yeah, we got we got more topics.
But I do know that I think we might be
surprised by this dude and how he votes these next
two years. And I hope surprised in a good way.

(55:45):
But we'll see surprised.

Speaker 1 (55:48):
Who's surprising you?

Speaker 4 (55:50):
I think I think we may all up saying the
man ain't gonna be leader, and he's looking down the door,
and and he probably didn't run for re election.

Speaker 1 (56:02):
He's stillist.

Speaker 9 (56:05):
But when you say surprise theory is what specifically you mean?
Do you think he might go to the last I
get more conservatives, Like, what do you mean.

Speaker 4 (56:13):
For inst all? I don't know that it's on the
spectrum of of conservative versus liberal. That's not the surprise.
I think the matrix is going to be on craziest
versus just crazy as it relates to some appointments. So
the craziest might not get through on certain things, but
crazy still going to So he.

Speaker 8 (56:32):
Might support HEAs but he might not support but exactly. Okay,
I think you you can.

Speaker 9 (56:38):
See that and some of the Republicans, But when you're
deciding between Freddy and Jason, you know, I kind of
feel like.

Speaker 4 (56:44):
The craziest and crazy it's still crazy is going in period.
Just know that's the low bar.

Speaker 1 (56:49):
Okay, well we got such it's such a low bar.
We in hell, so I wanted to speaking of not
being in hell. We have an angel among us are
one of our producers, Lolo, who was just a gods
ending during our tour, and of course all the time
she liked to fact us up check us. While I
was googling, she was sending rehabilitative Andrew and I just

(57:12):
want to shout her out her birth She just celebrated
her birthday and instead of getting loved on and getting
all the gifts, Lolo went to be a gift to
some other people that she shared a video of her
experience with us, and we want to share it with y'all.

Speaker 5 (57:27):
Hey Lolo, Hey NLP found.

Speaker 1 (57:30):
My name is Lolo.

Speaker 14 (57:31):
I'm one of the producers with the show.

Speaker 13 (57:33):
Now.

Speaker 3 (57:34):
Usually I'm behind the scenes, but today I wanted to
do something a little different and share a unique experience
that I had. And so in November, just like many
of you all, I was feeling a lot of despair
and I'm like, dang, it's my birthday. Move. So I
decided to travel overseas and go to different countries and volunteer.

(57:55):
I went to Bangladesh, I went to Sri Lanka. I
went to Jordan and amongst some other places where I
got to just kind of explore. And with that I
met so many different people. I was able to experience
so many different cultures. My point to all of this
is when experiencing those cultures, it really made me feel empowered.

(58:18):
I say that because I met so many different people,
like women who had no opportunity of being able to
own anything because.

Speaker 1 (58:26):
That was how it was in their country.

Speaker 3 (58:29):
I met people who had no rights, who had no
ability to be able to advocate or say anything without
being oppressed in their country. And I think about the
different ways that we can play a part in policymaking
and government in our community. There's so many different avenues

(58:49):
and how often sometimes we take that for granted, something
as simple as just going to vote. And so I
wanted to share this experience, but I also wanted to
pose a question with you all about how are you
activating in your power in twenty twenty five. I don't

(59:10):
believe that you have to be the next Martin Luther King,
but what I will say is we can't just rely
on the Angela Rise, the Tiffany Crosses, the Andrew Gillums
to be the leaders and the advocate and the voice
for us. It's exhausting, but we all have a small
role that we can play and really uplifting our community.

Speaker 4 (59:32):
So what are you going to do?

Speaker 3 (59:34):
How are you going to act in your power in
twenty twenty five? I love that?

Speaker 1 (59:38):
And Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday. For the rest
of the year. Belolo you know, I'm mad a tale
about you having a camera up vertically when you know
that we got to record the video. But it was
just so good and I love that she's always she
was committed to love it. But I'm mad about that.

Speaker 9 (01:00:00):
Well, I think, Angela, you know this how black women
and our Black women group chat, like we talk about
our exhaustion. And I was working the other day and
I'll tell y'all, a young woman came up to me
and you know, asked, are you Tiffany Cross? And I
said yes, and she said, I love Native Land and
thank you all for the work that you're doing. And

(01:00:22):
she was there doing some work. She worked for a
group Mama Lobby or they basically they helped elect mothers
to office. And so I was poking on on their website.
But they were doing this whole retreat and I was
telling her, like, you didn't know that black women were
on strike. You don't have to do anything this month,
but you can rest and relaxed. And she said, you
don't wanna take the last two weeks. But after this election,
like we had to get right back to it. So

(01:00:43):
just shout out to all all everybody who's doing something
and you know, I just the work that black women
do and the way that we are quick to organize
and mobilize. So I think it's really awesome that Lolo
in that space said I want to give back. I
want to focus on other people, and I wish that

(01:01:04):
more of us would do.

Speaker 4 (01:01:05):
That well on there, and you know, that's in service.

Speaker 1 (01:01:10):
It sounds like that's tips called a action.

Speaker 8 (01:01:13):
I din't mean it to be, but.

Speaker 1 (01:01:18):
There's black women. We all strike and then we'll serve
you in a little.

Speaker 4 (01:01:21):
Bit and well hopefully when you serve, when you come
back around to service, which, by the way, I still
debate whether or not black women are out of service.
It's just not a luxury. But I will say this
much that when we are in service, first be in
service to yourself and then through that service, allow yourself
to still be served. It's uplifting. It gives me joy.

(01:01:42):
I want to, you know, plan and do for the
next And I would just say, there was a listener
question Angela that we passed around. You passed around a
couple of weeks ago with a young woman who had
an idea about how we can share the load during
this administration versus sort of putting it all on just
a few of us to sort of track what's happening

(01:02:02):
in this administration. I would love for us to play
that maybe next episode and let it be.

Speaker 1 (01:02:07):
An admonishment Thanksgiving.

Speaker 8 (01:02:08):
Oh yeah, Thanksgiving?

Speaker 4 (01:02:13):
Okay, but I missed it? Can we do it one
in this one when people?

Speaker 10 (01:02:18):
Maybe?

Speaker 8 (01:02:19):
But that's your call to action?

Speaker 1 (01:02:22):
Action is running video again?

Speaker 4 (01:02:24):
No?

Speaker 9 (01:02:24):
But also we got a request for our viewers. We
need you all to tell us your favorite episodes. Yes,
that's our collective call action.

Speaker 1 (01:02:33):
Yeah is tag team? This is so.

Speaker 8 (01:02:38):
But we we got caught up with lolo.

Speaker 9 (01:02:40):
But yes, we needed We want to hear from you guys,
give us your favorite episodes of Native Land.

Speaker 8 (01:02:46):
It doesn't have to be a whole episode.

Speaker 9 (01:02:47):
You tell us a segment that we did, a story,
we told the policy, we uncovered something, we unpacked, a
beef like whatever.

Speaker 8 (01:02:56):
It is like, we want to hear from you. What
was your favorite moment? So how can they.

Speaker 4 (01:03:00):
Ael part two of that is run that back?

Speaker 1 (01:03:04):
You can do that they should d m us. I
would love we love the videos. We'd like to feel
connected with y'all because we don't always get to be
in person. And while we love the shoutouts that y'all
will run up to us in the store or whatever
and say you love NLP. We love that too, But
please sending your videos to Instagram, stay your name and
where you're from, or you can also email us at

(01:03:26):
hello at native lampod dot com. I'm gonna donate my
call to action to my brother and friend, assembly Member
Isaac Bryan out of the California State Assembly because he
dropped a very important piece of legislation this week. And
there's some things that the nl PEP fam can do
because Lolo told us we got to still get to

(01:03:48):
work to even though you on strike, you ain't gonna
be on strike for this. Well, let's route a clip.

Speaker 14 (01:03:52):
I'm assembly Member Isaac Bryan from California's fifty fifth Assembly
district that's Cuver City, Mid City, the West Side, Lamart Park,
the Crashop Corridor, and Ladare Eyes. And this week I
introduced AB seven. What assimbly Bill seven would do is
allow for colleges and universities in California to prioritize applicants
who are a descendant of a chatteling slaved person in

(01:04:13):
this country. The reason I introduced this piece of legislation
is because we've seen the attacks on affirmative action going
back decades, including Proposition two nine here in California, and
we've seen the incoming administration and their plans to gut DEI.
In fact, we live at a time right now where diversity, equity,
and inclusion are not only demonized as bad words, but

(01:04:35):
on the verge of being criminalized, and we've got to
do something about it. Meanwhile, while all this is in place,
legacy admissions are still going on all across the country.
If you're related to a major donor, you often have
a backdoor inside track and the admissions decision. If you
are the relative of somebody who went to a prestigious university,
you often have an inside, back door advantage in the

(01:04:55):
admission's decision process. So if we're rewarding legacies of privilege,
I think we you also have a conversation about legacies
of harm in this country. It's not about undue advantage.
It's about an equal and earned opportunity. That's why I
introduced AB seven.

Speaker 4 (01:05:12):
Bless you, I love this.

Speaker 1 (01:05:14):
My call to action as a result of that is,
please make sure you go read up on that that
bill is giving me so much joy because this white
women who benefited from affirmative action. That's another podcast for
another day, but I'm gonna tell y'all right now, that
made me feel happy when you see folks like Isaac
doing the work in spite of the opposition that they're facing,

(01:05:36):
in spite of everybody coming up against us. Walmart On
down saying we don't need your DEI and we don't
need y'all. I live for an Isaac Bryan saying, actually,
you do need us, and I'm gonna show you how
much you need us. It's time for us to get
our just due. So shout out to you, Shout out
to all of our listeners. As always, we want to
remind everyone to please leave us a review and subscribe

(01:05:57):
to Native lamppod. We're available on off platforms and YouTube.
New episodes dropped every single Thursday, with the special mini
pod every Monday. Please don't forget to follow us on
social media, but most of ull send your comments. We
are Angela Raie, Tiffany Cross, and Andrew Gillam and there
are six hundred and ninety eight days until the midterm elections.

(01:06:21):
Welcome home, y'all, Alcome home.

Speaker 8 (01:06:23):
Guy's a question before we go, what we talking about
on the mini pods.

Speaker 2 (01:06:27):
Morning Slee. Thank you for joining the Natives attentional with
the info and all of the latest rock gulum and
cross connective to the statements that you leave on our socials.
Thank you sincerely for the patients reason for your choice
is clear, so grateful and took to execute roads. Thank
you for serve, defend and protect the truth even in paste.

Speaker 3 (01:06:46):
Well.

Speaker 2 (01:06:46):
Welcome home to all of the Natives, We thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:06:50):
Welcome home, y'all. Welcome Native Lampod is a production of
iHeartRadio in partnership with Reason Choice Media. For more podcasts
from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever

(01:07:12):
you listen to your favorite shows.

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Hosts And Creators

Tiffany Cross

Andrew Gillum

Angela Rye

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