The People’s Town Hall: Native Land Pod x State of the People

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

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

Speaker 1 (00:07):
Welcome, Welcome home.

Speaker 3 (00:10):
Y'all.

Speaker 1 (00:10):
We are starting to show Andrew Gillum, it's so nice
to be with you, Jackson, Mississimmy Jackson, Hey, y'all. All right, everybody,
so we're happy to be here with you all today.
We're going to bring up our post, our other post.
The third portion of this time.

Speaker 4 (00:28):
Tiffany Cross, Tiffany, Tiffany Cross.

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Wait a minute, Andrew, Tiffany looked different. Tiffany, Tiffany, Tiffany
got Tama. Hold on, wait a minute, y'all. This is
Elizabeth Booker Houston. She is Booker Squared our Minds, government
employee in the country.

Speaker 5 (00:50):
Elizabeth, Hey, what's up, y'allith Welcome, Thank you?

Speaker 3 (00:55):
How you doing? Just off?

Speaker 4 (00:58):
Jumped off the plane, okay, jumped into the room. Jackson, Mississippi,
how we doing. I was just going to tell you Angela,
my wife was born here. She lived here the first
five years of her life.

Speaker 3 (01:10):
She remembers it so well.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
I love this well. We are so blessed to have
someone who is teaching many of us every day on
Instagram and TikTok. Elizabeth, how's your experience been today at
stated the people in Jesse.

Speaker 5 (01:22):
Oh, I'm having a good time, you know. I'm happy
to come back home down south. So I flew into Memphis,
y'all know that's my hometown. And then me and my
daddy drove down here this morning.

Speaker 3 (01:31):
Where's your dad?

Speaker 6 (01:33):
Where is my daddy?

Speaker 3 (01:34):
Where are you at there? He is, Hey, dad, mister Booker.

Speaker 6 (01:39):
Huh, mister Booker, Yes, mister Booker.

Speaker 3 (01:42):
Yeah, mister Booker.

Speaker 4 (01:43):
I really enjoyed that talkathon on the floor of the
US Senate.

Speaker 3 (01:48):
Oh that Booker.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
That's that's not her dad.

Speaker 6 (01:50):
Yeah, no, I'm not really in relationship.

Speaker 5 (01:52):
That's that's the New Jersey bookers were we are the Memphis,
Tennessee bookers. It's a whole different, whole different set of bookers.

Speaker 3 (01:58):
But yeah, I've had a good time in.

Speaker 1 (01:59):
Jackson Old on a minute. Okay, Well, we have a
jam packed show with a lot of guests. And Andrew
got the nerve to have to leave here at about forty
minutes less than that. He got another flat, y'all, but
he got it. He has to get to Caroline's recital.

Speaker 4 (02:13):
But it is not my fault that we are booked
today with guests. So let's get it started, y'all. You
bett to hear from some good voices from not just
surrounding the state, but around the country. Thank y'all one
for taking time to join us here. This tour has
been about empowerment, making sure that we keep every part
of our community informed, especially when it seems that the
enemy is surrounding us on all sides. So today we'll

(02:37):
hope to bring you some information, maybe even inform you
a little bit, but mostly we want you to leave
your charge or ready for the fight.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
And the part that is my favorite that you're going
to miss this when we get to hear from the audience.
So y'all know even why you can do one of
these town hall shows, so get ready for that. First
up joining us is the president of the NAAC. Yeah, yeah,
Dereck Johnson. Who's joining us?

Speaker 3 (02:57):
It's the president.

Speaker 1 (03:01):
Where's Lolo covering her mount? That was Ron? Hi, Derek,
welcome back, Uh, Lolo, we do with everybody else. We're
bringing everybody else up, she said, No, okay, we're gonna
start with Derek Johnson. How you doing, Derek good?

Speaker 3 (03:13):
How you doing. Happy to be here, Derek. You right
at home. I am at home. You should be welcoming us,
That's right, that is special. Say welcome home, be welcome home.

Speaker 1 (03:23):
Okay, well we'll take it down.

Speaker 3 (03:25):
Well, welcome home, welcome home. You know Andrew and ACP.

Speaker 7 (03:29):
You know that's when I first met him, youtha college division.

Speaker 3 (03:32):
That's right. Well, I'm at home, at home. He's already
at home. You already know that.

Speaker 1 (03:40):
Okay, Well, we want to get started with u d
because we're in the birthplace of the civil rights moment
movement in so many ways. And you landed Jackson, you
land at the Medgar Evers Airport. Talk about life is
important for us to be gathering around our power in
Jackson's city.

Speaker 7 (03:57):
The fact that you are landed at an airport name
after meg ever demonstrate black power that would not have
happened but for black folks organizers, namely miss and even
made Pitton, who's now deceased, who advocated to make sure
that took place. You know, we worked hard in this state.
I'm originally from Detroit, but moved here, stayed here, and

(04:17):
still live here because I see the power of black
folks in this state and how when we work together.

Speaker 3 (04:24):
We have an impact.

Speaker 1 (04:25):
Yeah, we want to bring up two additional Mississippi legends.
Alba Sykes is in the building. Alpha Sykes come up
and join at hour.

Speaker 6 (04:35):
I don't know what you know and I'm in my flow.

Speaker 1 (04:37):
Now, Lolo, I didn't get no notes. Albert's ready, here
we go. Who you say? Oh, and here's Maya. We're
gonna bring Maya before we bring up doctor ke Maya Wiley,
who is the president of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights,
and she can't stay with us long. She has a
flight to take.

Speaker 6 (04:52):
But I'm not gonna miss it.

Speaker 1 (04:53):
You're not gonna miss your flag. Okay, Well, Mayo, weren't
come to you right now, just so you don't miss
your flight. So tell us how you're building white to
important to be on this movement in your power. Talk
to us about what's this.

Speaker 8 (05:04):
I am exhausted and I am inspired, and I say
I'm exhausted intentionally because we act like we're supposed to
be tireless, and it's never true, nor has it ever
been true, And we don't stop because we're tired. They're

(05:26):
banking on that. And Derek made an important point earlier
about and they one us distracted, which is also which
is also exhausted. But the inspiration matters. And I think
the important thing about being here and being together and
being with you is that it's both a reminder of
our power, and that reminder is important in exhaustion, but

(05:51):
also a reminder of what it means to find inspiration
in one another, because every last one of you is here,
and every one of you that I get to sometimes
get to know better even though we chat online and
don't get to meet, or new years ago when some
people weren't famous and then got famous, and some people

(06:13):
we knew back when when they were young and not
And but I'm just saying this because at a time
when we are facing hate, facing literal destruction of all
that we and our forebearers have fought for, it is

(06:33):
so important to remember and to be in a place
like Jackson, Mississippi, in Mississippi, to remember where the hard
battles were fought. People were exhausted, It was hard, it
was dangerous, and people didn't stop. So I'm just grateful
because I feel like I may I'm probably getting more
than I'm giving, and it just matters for all of

(06:54):
us to get out.

Speaker 4 (06:55):
Of our bubbles, Doctor Wilie, Can I ask you that
you started on the same of exhaustion And I think
it's something that's built across the.

Speaker 1 (07:01):
Community right now.

Speaker 4 (07:03):
When I was growing up in the NAACP, I have
mentors who would say, we have to sleep in shifts.

Speaker 3 (07:09):
Can you communicate what.

Speaker 4 (07:11):
It means to sheep to sleep in shifts amids exhaustion?

Speaker 3 (07:15):
What does that translate to you?

Speaker 8 (07:17):
Well, for me, part of what it translates to is
we're in it together and we have different roles to play,
and there are different times in which we do what
we need to do and different ways in which we
spell each other when we need to spell each other.
I am privileged to run the Leadership Conference on Civil
and Human Rights, which is the nation's oldest and largest

(07:38):
civil rights coalition, founded by the NAACP. I think Derek
founded it because he's much older than he says, but.

Speaker 3 (07:48):
He's not all fast.

Speaker 8 (07:51):
But you get My point is that it is it is.
It is like coalition because it's the recognition that there
are things I I'm not going to do or shouldn't do,
and there are others who can and should. There are
also times when it's important to be able to get
arrest knowing somebody else is going to pick up the slack,

(08:14):
and those are things that have always.

Speaker 6 (08:16):
Happened in community.

Speaker 8 (08:17):
Is the recognition when somebody needs to back up or
be taken care of, or to be enabled to lead
and support it in that so the stepping up and
stepping back is a critical part of everything we've always
done and need to keep doing.

Speaker 1 (08:35):
Maya, how long do we haverilla?

Speaker 8 (08:37):
One more minute?

Speaker 1 (08:38):
Okay, Okay, Well, I want to make sure that you
have an opportunity to have any closing remarks what you're
called to action for the people who are at home
watching on the live stream, or the folks who are
in this room who's been with us all day, clappitter,
for yourselves to be in here with us all days,
say you beat your power doing.

Speaker 6 (08:57):
Well.

Speaker 8 (08:58):
I first want to just acknowledge that Congressman Benny Thompson
has walked in h and to say.

Speaker 1 (09:04):
Oh, but yeah, I can waste that mighty oh right.

Speaker 8 (09:07):
And to thank Congressman Thompson for his incredible leadership uh
and for being someone who doesn't rest even when he's
tired and never stops.

Speaker 3 (09:18):
UH.

Speaker 8 (09:19):
But I think that the the call to action is
to say, don't stop, but whatever that is, because I
know and believe that all of us are searching for
the ways in which we are going to save our communities,
our people, and then by extension, our country like we

(09:40):
always have. Then we always always, we always save on people.
But but but the but what that means right now
is we're searching for the ways and the means is
to remember that we we have it within us to
do it. And while you're sitting there thinking well, what
should I be doing, the question is what do you feel.

Speaker 6 (09:59):
Called to do.

Speaker 8 (10:01):
Whatever you're called to do is going to matter. Whether
you're called to talk to your neighbors about why they
should go and fight with the school board about how
the school board is not taking care of kids who
with learning disabilities, that's important. Whether it's going and showing
up at a rally, that's important. If it's important to you,
whether it's going and participating, whether you're an NAACP member

(10:24):
in the calls to action that are coming from whatever
you're connected to, it's going to matter. And it's also
going to matter to do. Something that Derek has reminded
us is not to be distracted by the things they
want to distract us from and to stay focused on
the things that bring us power and are actually going
to make sure our people have jobs and are getting

(10:45):
fed and are being able to see a doctor, the
things that actually matter. So as long as you're doing that,
and as long as you keep doing it, we're going
to find this path together, and we're going to beat
it together, and we're going to win.

Speaker 1 (10:59):
Give it Maya Riley, everybody, al amayah. So this podcast
Andrew as you know, Elizabeth as you finding out aka
Tiffany for today, this often moves in divine appointments and
it wouldn't be anything other than what is best for Mississippi.

(11:19):
Then for Congressman Thompson to a batman just now, and Boss,
I would love for you to come join us up here.
This is a legendary multi generational panel, and I think
given all that Congressman Thompson has done to pour him
too many of us for the Congressman definitely Mississippi. If
you all know what this man has done, I challenge

(11:40):
you to get on your feet and say thank you
to Congressman Minnie Gordon Thompson for all he's done for
all of us across this country, for black business, for
black farmers, for black people, for black workers. Yes, thank
you so much. I'll call him boss forever. Thanks for
joining us, Albert. I want to come to you. Albert

(12:03):
and I have known each other, have been a part
of a leadership cohort for many years. I think it's
twenty years now, Albert. Talk about some of the work
you're doing on the ground now and how important it
is to be inconvenience like this.

Speaker 9 (12:17):
Well, I definitely want to speak to the exhaustion that
Ms Maya just spoke about.

Speaker 3 (12:24):
Can you hear me?

Speaker 10 (12:25):
I'm sorry, so I definitely want to speak to the
exhaustion that Miss Maya just spoke about because people don't
understand and our existence in this country as black people.

Speaker 9 (12:37):
We can't depend on a pandemic to be the only
time that we can take a break of sense our lives.

Speaker 3 (12:45):
Look at what we're trying to do.

Speaker 9 (12:46):
And that wasn't even a real break, that was a
pressureized break of Hey, it don't matter how many people dying,
you need to show up the work because the country
needs to make its money off the backs of you
who we give the least.

Speaker 3 (12:59):
And it's a it's important for me to.

Speaker 9 (13:01):
Be not just here but anywhere, because it's an example
that I've absorbed the things that were laid out before me.
So growing up under the Tutela Jabia, Moses, Hollis Watkins, Dave, Dennis, Harry,
Bella Fonte, all of these people, but then to have

(13:22):
the opportunity to grow on the folks like Derek who
grew under some of the same people comforts and Thompson
who grow in.

Speaker 3 (13:31):
All of us.

Speaker 9 (13:33):
If we're gonna be something, and so it is, I
think it's important to show up because a lot of
times movement stories tell us that it's a hero ahead
of it all.

Speaker 3 (13:45):
And so it's important that.

Speaker 9 (13:47):
We keep duplicating, duplicating, duplicating what leadership looks like in
all of these different ways so that they can understand
that we can't be Christian killed because you thought that
that was divorce or that was the was.

Speaker 3 (14:00):
We have a collective voice right right, and we have
to express that collective voice.

Speaker 11 (14:05):
And we also got to make this country do it
is what it has to do, which is take its
mirror and say, if it's proud of what it's looking at,
and if it is we in trouble, and I be
and this.

Speaker 3 (14:20):
Ain't the trouble that we're gonna save America from.

Speaker 9 (14:23):
We're gonna save ourselves, but we definitely not gonna be
able to exist in a place that continually tells our
kids by the time they get the pre k in kindergarten,
we don't love you and you have no value. That'll
tell a black city like Jackson, Mississippi, black leadership is
gonna fail you.

Speaker 3 (14:40):
You can't trust it.

Speaker 9 (14:43):
And then when it's time to hold a president accountable,
who leading the charge to say this is wrong?

Speaker 3 (14:51):
It's the people that they told you don't have value.
So it's important to be here because it contributes.

Speaker 9 (14:57):
To the narrative of what we'll tell about ourselves versus
a narrative we have to consume.

Speaker 5 (15:20):
So I have a question for you, Congressman. Hello, how
you doing doing so? You know, I think we've seen
each other around in DC my work of the Congressional
Black Caucus, which as we know, has become the conscience
of Congress. That's what we've been calling the Congression of
Black Caucus because y'all are really the ones doing the work.
And so since we're here in Jackson, Mississippi as a

(15:42):
as a.

Speaker 1 (15:42):
Black Southerner myself.

Speaker 5 (15:44):
I want to talk about the fact that a lot
of black folks in the South feel like the Democratic
Party has left behind the South, feel like the South
is not a place to even try to fight for
because oh, this is just MYGA country, this is just
Republican land, and don't really come down here in campaign
like they should. But we know that the members of
the Congressional Black Caucus move differently, So talk to us
about the importance of coming down here and speaking to

(16:06):
the South and understanding that this is not just Trump country.

Speaker 7 (16:10):
Well, thank you so much, and I apologize for being
a little late.

Speaker 3 (16:15):
We have elections on Tuesday.

Speaker 12 (16:18):
And I've been about three hundred and twenty miles today
speaking all over the place, encouraging people to go out
next Tuesday and vote their conscience and voting their own interests.

Speaker 3 (16:31):
Part of what we try to do.

Speaker 12 (16:33):
At the Congressional Black Caucus is we're the ones who
can say what other people want to say, but they'd rather.

Speaker 3 (16:42):
Somebody else say it.

Speaker 7 (16:44):
And that's why we call ourselves the Conscience of the Congress.

Speaker 12 (16:48):
It's important when you elect people that they carry the message.
Sometimes we elect people who say, well, I just want
to get along with everybody.

Speaker 7 (17:03):
Well, if people have their foot on your head, it's
impossible for you to get along with them.

Speaker 12 (17:13):
So what we have to do in this country is
figure out our strategy and what it is we really want.
Someone talked about school boards in Mississippi. We elect our
school boards, but the average age of a school board
member in Mississippi is sixty to seventy something.

Speaker 3 (17:37):
And so I look out in this audience and you
not represented.

Speaker 7 (17:43):
If you want to change curriculums and a lot of things,
put some people on those bodies that look like you
and think like you, and I encourage you to do that.

Speaker 3 (17:55):
More importantly, we have to come up with a strategy.
And I don't think the strategy is tied to part.

Speaker 12 (18:04):
Obviously, I'm a Democrat because if I had a choice,
obviously it's either that or just being independent, because the
other party doesn't identify with those things I identify with.

Speaker 3 (18:20):
But even my party I identify with. We need some work.
We need a lot of work.

Speaker 7 (18:26):
And part of what happens in the South is they
count our numbers, but they don't count our internect. Other
people will say to us, well, we know what you want, No,
you don't. You're not a mind reader or anything like that.

Speaker 12 (18:44):
So a lot of us get pigeonholes being difficult or
hard to get along with. But that's part of why
you are here today, why everyone Angela and others are
trying to go out.

Speaker 3 (19:01):
And hear from people what you're thinking. And I think
it's so important that you do that now.

Speaker 12 (19:10):
If any organization is of the mindset that everybody is
on the same page, we got a problem. It's only
when you have differences of opinion do you understand what
the debate is all about. If any council meeting or

(19:30):
anything where it's always a five zero or three zero vote,
you never know what the discussion is because they all
get along. So there's a place in this country in
the South but disagreement.

Speaker 3 (19:45):
But you have to.

Speaker 12 (19:46):
Also understand what the ground rules are, and most organizations
ground rules.

Speaker 7 (19:51):
If you study them in reality, you could take the
organizations over real quick.

Speaker 12 (19:58):
But you got to put some time into grade. And
I encourage you to look at that. The other thing
I'd like to encourage you, and this is what Derek
and I heard last night at another event.

Speaker 3 (20:12):
You know, they said, well, what are the Democrats going
to do?

Speaker 12 (20:15):
Sit wait now, and I'm not talking about I'm thinking
you can't blame a party because you got to come
up with principles and what you stand for, and we
haven't gotten there. So my response back is, well, it's
not democrats, it's black people coming up with a plan.

Speaker 3 (20:39):
And in some.

Speaker 12 (20:40):
Instances it's reparations, and some instances it can be whatever.

Speaker 3 (20:44):
But come up with a plan and let's discuss it
right now.

Speaker 12 (20:49):
Historically, black colleges on the threat that a lot of
things we can core less around and it doesn't have
to be anything about a party. It can be the
play and the principles, and then you sell that and
then we go talk to everybody who'll talked to us
and say what makes sense.

Speaker 3 (21:09):
But you've got to stay engaged.

Speaker 12 (21:10):
The worst thing you can do, uh, is to tune out,
because the system is not looking for people who are
tuning out.

Speaker 3 (21:23):
You can tune in and you can be.

Speaker 12 (21:26):
One hell raiser uh into that because you are involved.

Speaker 3 (21:31):
I encourage you to do that, and I encourage uh
all these these young folks compared to me.

Speaker 8 (21:40):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (21:41):
But you know, when I go on, I want to.

Speaker 7 (21:45):
Be able to pass the torch to the future of
people take it and go forward. But if you hear
when I'm going, you've got to start back at square one.

Speaker 12 (21:59):
We're not getting anyway. So we count the numbers in
the South. We're there. We districting is important.

Speaker 7 (22:07):
We have to fight, and we can't let other people
make decisions for us. They are a seat here in
Mississippi other than mine. If we fight, we can take it.
And look and my other colleagues, I'm the only something
on in a delegation who looks like you, And so

(22:30):
every time I raise a race issue, they look at
me real funny. But what else can I raise? You know,
I look in the mirror, I see Bennett uh.

Speaker 12 (22:42):
And and I can't let other people try to determine
what I'm all about.

Speaker 3 (22:46):
So I think part of what.

Speaker 12 (22:50):
People are trying to say is if we go around
the country enough and put together what we hear, then
that becomes part of the plan as to you know,
what people used to say back in the day, what
y'all want?

Speaker 3 (23:07):
You know, Okay, I'm glad you asked.

Speaker 12 (23:09):
We went to all these areas and here's a collection
of what we want. Healthcare, education, you know, opportunity, all that.

Speaker 7 (23:20):
But we want to be able to define it. We
don't want you to define our opportunities.

Speaker 13 (23:26):
Ut so.

Speaker 12 (23:28):
You know, the Black Caucus is committed to doing it.
We get a lot of heat costs. They say, why
aren't you a Democrat? So yeah, but I'm black first,
and I have to be able to carry that message
forward with pride, and so you know, we have to
justify our existence quite a bit. Our principal leader is

(23:52):
a person of color, and Hakeem Jeffers good man. But
you can't let the system target him as the problem.
You know, we've had other people at the head of
the party caucus, but nobody attacked them. But now we
get someone of color at the top, not even want

(24:14):
to attack him all of a sudden, And so we said, well,
when Nancy was there, you didn't say this when we
were getting our butt kicked, you know, So don't let
them use a person at the top who looks like
you as the.

Speaker 3 (24:30):
Whipping board because you're not winning.

Speaker 7 (24:34):
So and that's that's the other part of the discussion,
that we can't turn on each other.

Speaker 3 (24:40):
We have to turn to each other, and that's so important.
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (24:49):
Well, we have a women's panel that is also joining us,
but we know you all are sticking around and do
the rally too. Right after this, there's an election on Tuesday, Boss,
that's what you said, so people got to hear from
you about that. We're going to bring our women's panel up.
Now there you were picking up the mictis or something
you wanted to share before jump into the rally.

Speaker 7 (25:08):
I just want to thank everyone that's here for your
ongoing support.

Speaker 3 (25:12):
I look out, I see Barbara Longmire.

Speaker 7 (25:15):
I see so many people who support us, who have
always stood up, you know too, glue for me, your
sacred the Shambee, Lambright and I we've been doing this.

Speaker 3 (25:23):
For a long time.

Speaker 7 (25:24):
And when the cogital talked about training other people, the
Chambee has maintained the Mississippi Black Nicha Vinstitute.

Speaker 3 (25:33):
Now on fourteen years, a pipeline.

Speaker 7 (25:37):
To support the replenishment of leadership across the state. This
is about a contact sport. It is not about a
microwave movement. You have to have people who are doing
the hard work every day, not people just showing up
for the stage.

Speaker 3 (25:58):
And that becomes really important.

Speaker 7 (26:00):
And when you asked the question about the South, what
we see as blight, what we see as blight, others
see as opportunity.

Speaker 3 (26:11):
Stop seeing what we have as blight.

Speaker 7 (26:14):
That some of the neighborhoods that you are riding past
now others are making designs to come and redevelop it
on the cheap.

Speaker 3 (26:23):
What you see in the South is.

Speaker 7 (26:25):
A in emerging reality of a blackening state called Mississippi.
We will be the first majority black state in the
country ringing it. And so it is time to go
deep and organized now, because when it's too late, you're
gonna say, man, we should have could have I wish

(26:46):
we would have. This is that time. What we see
as blight as opportunity. Final point, we are part of
a continuum. Is not a one transaction based on the election.
The Democratic Party, like the Republican parties, nothing but a
vehicle for agendas. It doesn't define our agenda. We need
to define the agenda to ride through that vehico, and

(27:09):
oftentimes we have it upside down, like what is the
party going to do with the contemns saying what are
we gonna do to force the party to get done
or what policies we care about? Because we woke up black,
We're gonna go to sleep black. And part of this continuum,
we would have never had ib Welles. If it wasn't
for Charles Cardwell, we would have never had a doctor

(27:29):
t R. M.

Speaker 3 (27:29):
Howard. If it wasn't for id B.

Speaker 7 (27:31):
Welles, we would have never had an m Z Moore
Aaron here at c C Brian if it wasn't for
so many other people, but for Henry Kirksey, Conchman Thompson
wouldn't be sitting here but for Contvan Thompson and Angela
Rod probably wouldn't be sitting here. We're part of a
continuum and all of us have a role to play,

(27:53):
and we have to put a community interest over individual
interests to ensure that the legacy that was left for
us to carry forward, that we're leaving a legacy for
the next iteration of individuals to step into places that
we could not step in. Piece of power.

Speaker 3 (28:08):
All right, let's give it up for these gentlemen as
they make way for us.

Speaker 9 (28:12):
You got ten seconds, because no, no, no, I just
want to reiterate what Derek is saying, because it's very important.
We live in a country that demands black excellence and
accepts white mediocrity every day, and we got to stop
being the backbone of the things that these people can't
be responsible for doing and the excellence that they don't hold,

(28:33):
they can't use ours to get where they're going. So
stop looking at black cities like Jackson, Mississippi, black places
like Flint, Michigan. Is saying that black leadership is felling
itself or its people when it's inside of structures that
was never meant to absorb, protect it, and support it.

Speaker 14 (28:51):
Now that's a mic drop moment.

Speaker 1 (28:53):
Thank you so much to Congressman Benny Thompson, Dereck Johnson,
and to my good brother Albert site love you.

Speaker 3 (29:01):
Okay. In the meantime, we want to bring up de
Wanna Thompson with creator Woke vote.

Speaker 4 (29:07):
Uh do you want to read Cassandra, Yes, the whole panel.

Speaker 3 (29:10):
Let's bring up Ken.

Speaker 4 (29:15):
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, y'all. I do I do, I do
I do to quickly say to the folks in Mississippi,
we're not the only ones that know that black folks
will soon be a majority in this state, and we
all have to be on guard doing sure that the
folks in power right now aren't creating systems that disempower

(29:35):
us before we find ourselves in position to take advantage
of what it means to be a majority. And speaking
of majority is the one I'd love for you to
talk about what has been required of us as citizens
to be full participants in this movement around being a
woke voter and woke vote period. We know the other
side is defining what woke means, but for us, uh,

(29:57):
we don't have to give way to their definition. Hope
the audience understand mission purpose vision absolutely.

Speaker 13 (30:04):
So as a daughter of the side, I bring you
greetings from Birmingham, Alabama, which listen when we talk about
kissing cousins Jackson and Birmingham, That's what it is. But
why that's so important is because while you had a
Mega Evers, we had a Fred Shuttlesworth and they were
in constant radical collaboration. And that is what this moment

(30:25):
calls for. So when we're talking about being woke, that
is not a new concept to our people. The concept
of being woke is not something that we can give away.
It is not even something that they can mislabel because
we determine who and what we are and how we
build our narrative and how we label ourselves. So when
I come to you and I say on what that

(30:46):
simply means is that I am awake and alarmed at
your actions and I am in full control of mind.
And no one should be concerned about that, right unless
you are coming to harm me, because then I'm gonna
have to.

Speaker 1 (31:00):
Like you, right?

Speaker 13 (31:01):
And how are what are our tools to fight? Yes,
voting is a big part of that, but it's.

Speaker 6 (31:07):
One tool and a toolkit, right.

Speaker 13 (31:09):
And what we have to remind each other is that
while we're doing radical collaboration, we also have to be
okay with making sure that there's room for everybody's voice
and their power. And the reason why that's important on
a tour like the State of the Power People tour,
and the reason why we do the work is the
way we do is that when people realize that power
in this country, when you talk about building it for

(31:30):
black people, people get concerned. People think they start asking questions, well,
when I want to put in for some money to
organize with, Well, why you want to organize?

Speaker 6 (31:39):
You didn't ask anybody else that.

Speaker 13 (31:42):
You didn't ask them the sert to fill out twenty
five questions on a question there for five thousand dollars
about organizing their community. You only ask that because you
know that when we put our minds together to do something.
Whole countries, change nations, change world's change.

Speaker 6 (31:58):
And so what you're trying to do is wrap your arms.

Speaker 13 (32:01):
Around that and stifle our imagination and our creativity. And
so to be what means that you cannot do that,
that we still move with ancestral power, that the teachers,
that our teachers, I will make a vis in our
merles right, not just making our merleys, that they are
still with us, that their words are still with us

(32:22):
and their teachings are still teaching us as we continue today.

Speaker 6 (32:26):
And that's what Woke vote is about.

Speaker 1 (32:28):
Thank you so much. GT. Let's give it up for
woke vote. Ind Wanna Thompson please and keep clapping it
up for her, because do Wanna has been leading all
of our cities making sure that our tour stops are amazing,
stay that the People Power Tour would not have happened
without Da Wanna Thomson. Please give it up for our girl, Cassandra.
I want to come to you also. Can we just

(32:49):
talk about how these ladies can see clearly and they
see clearly with some bad frames. Y'all see these glasses.
I mean, come on, I was.

Speaker 5 (32:56):
Just thinking that I was like, damn, I need some
new glasses, Like I'm out of I'm not a place
right now.

Speaker 1 (33:01):
Everybody up here, Okay, see, at least we have twenty
twenty vision.

Speaker 5 (33:04):
I'm like yours though.

Speaker 6 (33:05):
Oh look at this Andrew.

Speaker 1 (33:06):
Gillen looks so much different. Here comes there, Derek drives
us back. Okay, because Sindra, we want to come to you.
You all had an amazing panel yesterday with Black Women's Roundtable.
You're doing the work every single day. What is a
key thing that you hear from black women on the ground.
What's the most important things? They say? They need money? Yeah, yeah,

(33:28):
they need money.

Speaker 13 (33:29):
You know.

Speaker 14 (33:30):
Part of our work is around this economic justice reality
and how you know, we live in this capitalistic you know, society,
and you have to have money to thrive, and so
this system was not built you know, for black folks,
for black women, right, and so in order and we're

(33:50):
talking about women still in Mississippi, the minimum wage is
still seven dollars and twenty five cents, right, We still
have black women making fifty five cents on the dock
here in Mississippi. And then what we also have been
hearing too is its and it's so real people don't
have access to healthcare, and so black women are dying

(34:14):
like never before in Mississippi because we don't have the
health care infrastructure. I can't tell you how many times,
you know, we're in the washers because we do this
incredible quarters because we care where we're washing people's clothes
and we're asking them like, what does it mean for
us to wash to wash.

Speaker 6 (34:34):
Six loads of your clothes?

Speaker 14 (34:35):
And it's like, now I got extra money left where
I can go pay my bills or get my prescription.
And then we hear moms talk about, you know, I
almost lost my life. I almost lost my life because
the doctor wouldn't believe me, right, And so it's all
of it's really working and thinking around this intersectionality of race, gender,

(34:59):
and economic justice. We gotta have money to live because
it is our dollar that fuels the local economy. It
is our paycheck that goes to that gas station, patronize
that gas station, go over to Dollar General buy something,
and then if we have a little left over in
our air conditional breaks, we then go to that home depot.

Speaker 15 (35:19):
So it is our.

Speaker 14 (35:21):
Dollars that's fueling that local economy, and so people need
economic liberation right, and so that is what we hear
all the time from our black women. But we're centering
their narratives, right, because you can't argue with people's experiences,
and so it is important for us that we center
them in this fight for economic justice and centering them

(35:44):
so that they can be a part of the implementation
and the formation of the public policies because we believe
again that those policies should look like people's kitchen tables.

Speaker 5 (36:05):
Thank you so much. I have a question for wa Kenya,
and I want to I want to talk about this.
We were talking in the back about this with the
Southern Poverty Law Center and what's going on. I've talked
to you about, uh, that man Elon Muskrat putting that
supercomputer in my hometown in Memphis, Tennessee, and how that's
not just going to affect Memphis, but it's going to
bleed into Mississippi. We know that the health effects are

(36:25):
going to bleed in the Mississippi with the air and
the water and with what you know we just heard
talking about women's health. Can you talk to us a
bit about environmental racism and how that's impacting our communities
and how they look at places like Jackson, Black cities
like Jackson and say, oh, this is a place for
us to put our industrial wasteland because who cares? Who
cares about the people there? Talk about that for us?

Speaker 6 (36:47):
Please, thanks so much for that, Elizabeth.

Speaker 16 (36:50):
You know, environmental injustice is also economic injustice, it is
racial injustice. And you know, I think it was doctor
King he said that a threat against any of us
is a threat against all of us, right, and then
justice against one of us is in justice against all
of us. And I think when we think about how

(37:11):
we can't be silent in this moment, environmental injustice directly
impacts each and every last person in this room. We
have seen it time and time again, especially in places
like Mississippi, where people think that you are disposable. Right,
a place that has I think it's forty three percent
of black population, we still can elect a black stay

(37:34):
wide official. Because people don't see the value in our existence.
They do everything to try to suppress us in our power.
And so I think in moments like this, when you
see companies get all of this this write off, right,
this ability to go in deregulation around what it means
to protect life, you still as a corporation, have a
responsibility to the communities in which you occupy. And what

(37:55):
we're seeing happen in this country started actually not this year,
but last year.

Speaker 13 (38:00):
Right.

Speaker 16 (38:00):
We saw it when they start deregulating EPA. They wanted
to challenge and take away the power of EPA to
protect our communities.

Speaker 15 (38:08):
And we see it growing.

Speaker 16 (38:09):
Whether it's water injustice like in Flint and in Jackson,
whether it is environmental injustice like we just saw across
the river in Louisiana. It's happening to all of us,
and it actually started way before these major things start
popping up. It starts with landfills being put in our community,
and our communities being built around landfills and power power
towers and all of these other things because they don't

(38:30):
value our bodies and our existence. Which is why our
voices are so important. Right, we have a responsibility and
a right to make our voices heard. If something is
happening around you and happening to you, it's only because
you have chosen to disassociate yourself with your power. These
meetings can these buildings can't come up if you show up, right,

(38:51):
if you go to your community meanings, if you go
to city hall, if you go to your board meetings
where they're trying to make decisions around water, or what
they're going to put what new business they're gonna allow
to come in with tire plant they're going to try
to put into your community. You can say no, don't
let them dress up your death in the under the
guise of jobs and opportunities, because no job is worth

(39:12):
your life, no plant is worth your life. And so
you have to really hold the line on that because
when they're putting these buildings up, they're not.

Speaker 6 (39:19):
Just putting up edifices.

Speaker 16 (39:21):
They're also talking about tearing up your sewer, tearing up
your water.

Speaker 6 (39:25):
Right, they're changing your roles, they're changing.

Speaker 16 (39:27):
Your air quality, and so all of those things are
connected and they're important, and so we cannot operate under
this farce right of you know, we're going to create
a thousand jobs, but it's a thousand jobs worth one
hundred thousand lives.

Speaker 6 (39:41):
That's the question.

Speaker 16 (39:42):
That's the question that we have to ask ourselves and
hold people accountable. If it's so great, go take it
across the river.

Speaker 6 (39:49):
We got enough in ours. We don't need more concrete jungles.

Speaker 16 (39:51):
We need thriving communities with fresh plants and trees and
public sidewalks and all of the things that make communities
hole and save for people.

Speaker 1 (40:04):
Are so grateful for y'all. And we're gonna go to
these young people next year. This is a past for podcast.
We can leave. Welcome home, she said, we're gonna leave
you just get started. He's just a little warm up.

Speaker 5 (40:18):
Thank y'all so much. All right, y'all, So I'm so excited.
So we're gonna bring up the young people's panel.

Speaker 3 (40:23):
Okay, I don't know if.

Speaker 5 (40:24):
I qualify as the young people anymore.

Speaker 3 (40:26):
I don't know.

Speaker 5 (40:26):
Do I still thirty five? I'm old enough to be
the president.

Speaker 1 (40:29):
At my grandma's house. We I think that people probably
say that the young People's table until about fifty. Yes, yes,
we'll laugh because you know it's true.

Speaker 5 (40:39):
Look, well, we're gonna bring up the young people. We've
got Shamikh Reid from Young Gifted and Powered. We've got
Paul Evans win Winfried from Young Activists and gen z
Ford Charing founder, and we've got Gus Daniels, the executive
director of Jacksonology.

Speaker 1 (40:53):
So hey, y'all, Jacksonology. Did we get it right?

Speaker 3 (40:56):
Yes?

Speaker 1 (40:56):
Yes, we got it right, So welcome off, young people.
Go ahead and question so.

Speaker 5 (41:02):
My question, and I could just put this to the
whole panel. Okay, So we talk a lot about young
people and how you have a role in this movement.
You have a role in politics, right, but there's a
lot of frustration. A lot of times I feel like,
maybe on that end of seeing that there's still the
old guard in power. I think somebody mentioned Nancy Pelosi earlier,
but I'm not going to be messy, maybe a little messy.

(41:26):
Tell me, what are you trying to see shift in
the political movements to bring young people forward? And what
changed you hope to see and hope to bring to
this movement.

Speaker 17 (41:35):
Well, a big change that I want to see is messaging.
I think that something no matter what you look like,
who you believe in, what your gender is, who you love,
is messaging. And we have to get to basics. We
live in a country where about fifteen percent of us
are practically illiterate when it comes to understanding and processing

(41:59):
difficult and.

Speaker 3 (42:00):
We have to make it basic.

Speaker 17 (42:02):
A show of hands, how many people can define what
a tariff is? It's a few of y'all, but everybody
knows what a tax is right when you look at that,
why are we saying, well, Trump is raising fifteen percent
on taxa terrists and one hundred and fifty percent on
this terra. No, he's raising fifteen to one hundred and

(42:25):
fifty percent on everything in your Walmart, half the stuff
in your Amazon shopping list. That's what he's doing, and
it's a tax. So we have to make sure that
when we message to people, it's clear and it's understandable.
And I think that a message like that on several
other issues, it's simple. He's raising your taxes, he's cutting

(42:50):
your medicaid, he's cutting your student loans, and he's deporting
our friends, our neighbors in our communities.

Speaker 3 (43:00):
We have to be clear about that.

Speaker 1 (43:03):
Guess I want to come to you about the importance
of position building as we work to build power all
over this country. There are organizations that do this work
every day. They often go unnotice. We've heard that a
lot on this tour. Like you all have these major platforms,
so it's easier for you, but it's harder for us.
What are some of the things that national organizations, folks

(43:24):
with national platforms can do to ensure Organizations like yours
also get their just opportunity to be heard and to
help the facilitate power.

Speaker 18 (43:33):
It's funny because it was going to be my same
response if the question was more generational.

Speaker 6 (43:38):
But I think that what we have to.

Speaker 18 (43:39):
Really figure out is how we make better smooth transitions,
like if this is a race, how often are we practicing?
Do people know what their job is and do people
know when to activate? And I think that the problem
is is that we're not shifting as quickly and as
seamlessly as we can. So when we do need to
tap somebody from Jackson, Mississippi who's been doing the groundwork

(44:01):
vote like NINAACP, nobody's ready because we didn't talk about it,
because we didn't coalition in a national level in order
for us to be able to make sure our strategy
can be felt very comprehensively. And I think it looks
like Jackson fighting independently a lot and us straining ourselves
when we could have tapped Alabama, when we could have CATAPPT,
Texas or Chicago or other spaces with major black cities

(44:24):
who could have been like hit, I'm passing it to
you and what I need you, I'm gonna need you
to pass it back to me, and it's not enough
back and forth and equity distribution of skill in between
the coalitions to make sure that when you need an artist,
we can activate artists. When you need a legislator, we
can activate a legislator. Instead, we're all being impacted independently
and we're all going through independent crisis and we're not

(44:46):
sharing the toll of what justice really requires. And I
think if we're going to really use our coalition strategically,
we need to be able to say, hey, I need
you right now, and somebody gets there. And the only
way we do that is if we practice what that
looks like till we get it perfected.

Speaker 19 (45:03):
Social media the Paul just saying, how do you shift
the conversation that there are from a problem discussion to
a solution?

Speaker 7 (45:16):
There?

Speaker 15 (45:18):
I think it goes back to controlling the message. I
think once we understand how important messaging is, then we
began to control how others view us, how they see us,
how they interact with us. So we can't take for
granted social media and the power of social media. We

(45:41):
can't take for granted the power of traditional media. We
can't take for granted our voices and our platforms and
and use those for good. We can't take for granted
our vocal power, and we have to make sure that
we are we are, you know, just coming to the
aid of our communities and saying no, we have more

(46:04):
stories than that that are being told in the media.
We have to make the media be accountable for what
they are putting out there about our communities. And we
also have to comeback what they're putting out there about
our communities by putting our own information out about about
being our own storytellers. And that's how I believe that
we began to make those changes.

Speaker 3 (46:26):
I love it.

Speaker 1 (46:26):
We're gonna go to the audience with the time we
have left, which is none, but we're gonna make some
time for you because you have earned it. You all
have come with us along this journey all day long.
I'm actually gonna I'll take my mic down there. My
shoe is untied. Let me not try to trip, but
I want to come down and ask you your name,
where you're from, and Lola, you're gonna do the mic.

Speaker 20 (46:48):
Okay, Yes, I'm Charles Hampton from Winston County.

Speaker 3 (46:56):
No.

Speaker 20 (46:57):
I read something this week is did the baby boomers.
We are leaving our kids in the word shape that
can ever be left they can ever be left in.
And one thing that I just President Derrick Judson just
said that we are Mississippi becoming a black state. But
what we are doing now in Mississippi we are losing

(47:18):
our land because we haven't taught out of children the
value of land and and uh so this is something
that we definitely need to start teaching and uh and
in educating our community. And another thing that concerns me
since Katrina, we have been on the front line to

(47:40):
make sure that our community get the things that they
need in time of a disaster. But the last tornadoes
that we had, uh the Trump administration that just now
declaring them a disaster, and our community where oas tornado
will hit, they are suffering, still is suffering, and don't

(48:02):
nobody seem to care.

Speaker 7 (48:04):
So that just what I am so thank you, min Sirhampton.
When you think about land loss, is that's the problem, right,
what's the solution? This is the best time in the
state's history to start buying land is as cheap as
is gonna get. It is as productive as any land

(48:26):
in the country, and many of us need to be
thinking about alternative food sources that.

Speaker 3 (48:32):
We grow and not buy. Why because the chemicals.

Speaker 7 (48:40):
All of the stuff they're putting into the food is
killing us. And the fact that we have a whole
generation that's not understanding value of land.

Speaker 3 (48:50):
We have a whole generation we don't want to cook.

Speaker 7 (48:54):
They rely on fast food and restaurants for their meals,
and microwaves is not a good thing. So moving from
problem to solution, encourage people to start buying land.

Speaker 3 (49:06):
It won't get this cheap again.

Speaker 7 (49:08):
And this is the best state to do it because
we have some of the most fertile land on the globe.

Speaker 5 (49:15):
I just want to say, I'll know.

Speaker 1 (49:16):
How to cook same. I was also going to say,
on this tour, we have a partner called Acre Boys,
and Acre Boys is giving away an acre of land,
Miss Charles. They're giving away an acre of land on
this tour and it's the new generation of young folks
who are farmers and care very much about us buying
and developing land. So I make sure you get their

(49:38):
page so you can check them out, make sure they're
on the right track.

Speaker 6 (49:50):
We had another question over here, Hell, I have a
comment in a question. The comment is I appreciate.

Speaker 21 (50:00):
The diversity within the folks that were up here, and.

Speaker 6 (50:04):
The reason I say that we need.

Speaker 21 (50:08):
Everybody from every category, from every circumstance with the seat
at the table.

Speaker 6 (50:15):
And the gentleman said that.

Speaker 21 (50:16):
We are kind of leaving people behind because of the
way systems are designed or the way that we're bringing
our children up. We got too many politicians, and if
you are a politician and you're over the age of fifty,
be thinking about who you can mentor like, these are
young people who can we mentor to bring up so
that we can prepare them to take the seat. We
have too many people dying in the seat and so

(50:38):
we're not training up the next generation to take over,
and so when they get into these positions, they have
no clue what to do.

Speaker 6 (50:45):
And so we need you all so bad, I'm urging you.

Speaker 21 (50:49):
And then the last thing, I would love to buy land,
But what am I gonna do when I get that land?

Speaker 6 (50:54):
So we had people to come into.

Speaker 21 (50:55):
Our community to explain to us how can we profit
from land?

Speaker 6 (51:00):
That would help? Thank you, So we stick it on land.

Speaker 4 (51:04):
Right.

Speaker 7 (51:05):
The beautiful thing about what mister Hampton is talking about.
He moved here from Milwaukee. He moved back home. He's
a part of a group of other landowners in his area.
They have a cooperative. They raise cattle, they do a
tree farming. And the person who really launched that is
a guy by the name of Frank Taylor. And Frank

(51:28):
will go to anywhere in the state to train people
how to do it. And Frank dook through another entity
that black folks created in the forties called the Missippi
Association of Cooperative. It is a cooperative of black farmers
across the state. I get buy cabbage from their water
millers and all kinds of stuff. We have more resources
than we realize if we sit down to begin to

(51:49):
talk about the resources we have. Final point, people are
dying in the seats because young folks think the movement
is a microwave. I think folks who young folks who
go to meetings get frustrated because all folks think they
own the seat. But now those are the extremes on

(52:13):
both sides. There's a middle that we have to cultivate
so folks can recognize there's a seat at the table
for everybody. But you have to be both patient and
you have to be open at the exact same time,
we have to move out of the deficit mindset of
US versus US and begin to lean into the US

(52:35):
for us with all the resources that we have that
many of us don't even recognize that is right under
our feet.

Speaker 17 (52:42):
Might I add something to that, especially the first part
of your question. I think that we're really facing what
is becoming an existential crisis. The last ten members of
Congress to pass away, nine of them have been Democrats.
Can get easier for Trump to cut Medicaid, for him

(53:04):
to cut Social Security, for him to really affect people.

Speaker 3 (53:08):
And it is going to take us.

Speaker 17 (53:11):
It's going to take leadership and younger people stepping up,
younger people being given this microphone and a platform, and
also the resources to be able to effectively campaign and
to effectively lead. I think that Progressives and Democrats we
have good policy overall. Generally we agree on things, but

(53:32):
where we get confused and where we get stopped is
when it comes to messaging, messaging on these issues and
breaking them down for people. And I think we have
to do a better job of messaging to recruit young
people to run for office and to become politically involved.

Speaker 5 (53:49):
And this is for the women I'm just going to
let you know. There is an organization called Emerge.

Speaker 3 (53:54):
You can look them up.

Speaker 5 (53:54):
They specifically they're one of the Partners, and they train
up women to run for They will help you.

Speaker 3 (54:01):
If you're like.

Speaker 5 (54:02):
I don't know, I just want to run for something,
They're gonna find that something and they give you the support,
they give you a network. Their very first client was
Kamala Harris when she ran for da That was the
very first person that kicked off a merge.

Speaker 3 (54:14):
And there's so many women.

Speaker 5 (54:15):
So if you can go check that partner out, and
if you're interested in running for office, it doesn't matter
what level at, go to their website, check them out
and see if they've got resources for you. I ain't
running because it's a hatcheck violation. That's the only reason
I'm not running. But everybody else, if it's not a
hatcheck violation, you should run.

Speaker 15 (54:30):
And another resource in Mississippi is the Mississippi Black Women's Roundtable.
They have women in the lead and it is a
great program if you are a woman interested in running
for a political office and it's right here in Mississippi.
Cassandra can give you more information about it. But that's
another great resource.

Speaker 3 (54:49):
As well.

Speaker 1 (54:50):
We have two more hands are here alone, and then
right over here, Hey.

Speaker 22 (54:54):
Y'all, I'm Camille On from Tupelo, Mississippi, and I run
an organization called Black Women on a Mission. We do
events similar to this called the ninety two Percent Club,
where we bring black women together to.

Speaker 6 (55:06):
Talk about these type of issues.

Speaker 1 (55:08):
Yes, Elizabeth has We're very involved.

Speaker 22 (55:10):
But one of the things that I get, especially from
my younger audience, my college students, is that we talk
a lot about a lot of heavy topics.

Speaker 6 (55:19):
We talk about a lot.

Speaker 22 (55:20):
Of problems, and in the end, a lot of times
we're really not leaving with a clear action item.

Speaker 6 (55:25):
People want to do something.

Speaker 22 (55:28):
I know that I can work as a convener and
I can bring people together, and I can talk on
social media, but at the end of the day, like
what's the takeaway?

Speaker 6 (55:37):
What's to do?

Speaker 22 (55:39):
Because we have people that are ready to get their
hands dirty.

Speaker 1 (55:42):
I'm one of them.

Speaker 6 (55:43):
But all the time I don't know what to do,
you know what I mean?

Speaker 22 (55:46):
Like I can't just go knock on the door to
White House, like God, just you know.

Speaker 23 (55:54):
But I'm just not reflect I'm sorry, but anyway you
get what I'm saying, which is that I'm looking for
an action item and a practical one because I also
understand people can get involved with my organization, they can
get involved with the NAACP, they can get involved.

Speaker 6 (56:11):
With all twenty nine. That is great. What should we do?

Speaker 1 (56:16):
So I want to do a personal plug one. We
are on Native Lampard right now. It is live streaming.
We talk about this every single week. We have calls
to action. In addition, the State of the People power
Tour is not designed to come swoop in and create
and organize. We have resource tables in the back all
organizations that are Jackson based where people can plug in

(56:38):
with what to do. We have our black papers policy initiative.
Through State of the People, people have written policy positions, demands,
action items. Look at those policy papers, see where you align,
see where you'd like to revise something that is something
to do. We will convene in Baltimore on juneteenth through
juneteenth to the twenty first talking about these black papers,

(57:00):
talking about how what else we need to do to
continue this movement. We are late. I keep saying we're late,
They're just tap the table, but it's true.

Speaker 6 (57:08):
We are late.

Speaker 1 (57:09):
There are some organizations like the NAACP that never stop
doing this work. But there are a lot of our
family members, maybe some of them sitting in the chair
with you right now. I know it's not the NAACP shirts,
the other folks. Have you stayed engaged, have you continued
to do the work? Have you connected with folks like

(57:29):
Camille to ensure that we haven't let trouble catch up
to us? Right now we are in very serious die
your times. We cannot afford to be fighting one another.
Your mission might be different by two words. Is that
a fight you really want to take on in the
face of fascism?

Speaker 6 (57:45):
Probably not.

Speaker 1 (57:46):
So there's a lot to do, and there are a
lot of organizations that are already doing it, but they
need you and your gifts and your talents to ensure
that you take them across the finish line. That is
what this moment is about. Part of the tour is
to bring awareness to the groups that are already doing
the work. Part of the tour is to align around
the places where we might have a slight distinction, but

(58:08):
do we agree on the end goal even if we
don't agree on the means. That's part of what this
is about, right.

Speaker 7 (58:15):
So actually listen to you. Clearly I didn't taple coast
of that. The success of Mississippi movement was local people
identifying the issue in their local area they can organize around,
which then build up to a state movement which became
a national movement.

Speaker 3 (58:33):
I recommend to you and.

Speaker 7 (58:34):
Others, what is the issue in two below on the
city level or in Lee County on the county level.
That's something that you can identify, organize people around, and address.
We have been the most successful state in getting black
folks elected the office. Ten percent of all black folks
in the United States live in the state of Mississippi.

(58:57):
We have been the worst state in the entire country.
Were given those same elected official an agenda of what
we want while they get in that office, and measure
them based on their performance. We have not done that well.
And so in every Tupolo has an election, the city
is changing fast racially, the county is changing fast racially.

(59:21):
Who are the people you could organize to begin to
address some of the policy issues. Their whole set of
ordinances that was adopted in Tupelo in the fifties and
sixties in anticipation of black folks voting. What are those
ordinances that are barriers. How do you address a school
district that when desegregation happened, it was one of the
areas that did not create private academies not going in

(59:43):
that direction. How do you stop that erotia to make
sure you capture your tax dollars to ensure we get
excellence in our education systems. There are so many things
to be done tangibly in a local community, but it
will not be people starting nationally and have an impact.
It's in the backyard. That's why we know FEDEEU.

Speaker 3 (01:00:03):
Hamer.

Speaker 7 (01:00:04):
That's why we know all of the civil rights folks
because they started locally.

Speaker 24 (01:00:15):
Hello, my name is Hope Green. I'm here from Austin, Texas,
and I have been a business owner for over thirty
eight years. I recently retired and now I'm transitioning into
becoming an educator. I went back to school certifications and stuff.

(01:00:36):
Right now as I'm going through school, I'm working as
a guest teacher, substitute teacher, and I feel the gentleman
that was saying he made the comment about our kids
are being raised and how our kids are coming up
right now, and just most of the schools that I

(01:00:57):
serve in right now are predominantly kids of color, and
just the level of disrespect that I deal with on
a regular basis at these schools is it's crazy. And
I just wanted to put that out there because there
are people trying to do the work, and I work

(01:01:18):
with leadership organizations in my community, in my area, and
you get into these zones and it's like there's so
many obstacles of us trying to work together, and I
want help on how to be different myself, to show
up differently.

Speaker 3 (01:01:38):
Maybe there's something I'm doing.

Speaker 24 (01:01:39):
I think communication is something is an art that's lost
these days, the way we communicate.

Speaker 3 (01:01:45):
As I'm trying to get a job.

Speaker 24 (01:01:47):
As an educator, I've worked with three black female principles
and I was not like I was dismissed from assignments
with no explanation as to why I'm one of those
teachers that literally shows up with all the decorations and
all the stuff.

Speaker 3 (01:02:06):
I come early, I do all the.

Speaker 24 (01:02:08):
Things, and I wouldn't I don't understand why you wouldn't
want somebody like that working for you, But there's no
communication as to like what are we you know, what
are the expectations?

Speaker 3 (01:02:19):
And also from the young people, on the panel.

Speaker 24 (01:02:22):
If you guys have any tips or pointers that y'all
can give me on how to connect with young people,
I'm open for that. And then also just doing community work.
When you show up and you're like, hey, I want
to work, I want to do some things, and you know,
they have their the same people do all the stuff
all the time. So I think that's something that we

(01:02:42):
need to kind of move away from that and be
more open to, like you're saying, new voices and different
voices and you know, like a more welcoming environment so
that we can all work together.

Speaker 1 (01:02:54):
Thank you so much, Oh, thank you, thank you.

Speaker 17 (01:03:00):
One thing that I think that is important when talking
to young people is that there has to be a
level of buy in. People have to know that they're
fighting for something, they're earning something, and I think that
a lot of the times with the educational system, that
disconnect is there.

Speaker 3 (01:03:20):
We also see that exact.

Speaker 17 (01:03:21):
Same disconnect when it comes to getting young people and
politically engaged. And you know, that's why I started a
political Action committee when I was a junior in high
school because I saw a problem, a broad issue that
young people are not voting at the rates they should
because them voting depends on their future. And what my

(01:03:43):
pack does gen z Ford is it funds young candidates
to be able to run an office. And we see
those spikes in voter participation among young people when there's
someone young on the ballot. That's the type of buy
in that's necessary. So I think that when you talk about,
especially the educational system, that same thing is there. There

(01:04:05):
has to be something that we're earning, something that we're
looking forward to, something that we're fighting for in order
for us to truly engage in really one of the
most important things there can be, which is getting an education,
what so many people have fought for.

Speaker 5 (01:04:22):
So I'm coming at this from the perspective of a
mama of a baby in public school. This is a
cultural issue that we have to work on. Everybody wants
a village, and nobody wants to be a village member.

Speaker 3 (01:04:35):
That's the problem.

Speaker 5 (01:04:38):
I keep seeing this a lot, especially in mom groups,
and I understand that there could be like old wounds
of the way that our parents raised us. I was
fortunate to be raised shout out to Daddy by a
boomer who did gentle parenting before gentle parenting was gentle parenting,
So I'm very fortunate that that's how I was raised.
I understand everybody's raised that way, and so a lot
of folks are now going too far in the other direction,
and they don't like any correction of their chill, and

(01:05:00):
they don't want anybody to be involved.

Speaker 6 (01:05:02):
They don't want to be in a village.

Speaker 3 (01:05:04):
They want to be a dictator.

Speaker 5 (01:05:06):
And I know this is like a crazy like topic
I'm getting onto, but I've just noticed this over and
over again when I see people saying things, if I
give my baby to my auntie or my daddy or
my mama to watch and they let him play a
keyboard and eat goldfish and whatever, I can't micro manage that, right,
like if I want the help, if I want the assistance.
And I think that's why we have to go out
and teach people how to live in a village again
and understand, you can't micro manage every single thing, and

(01:05:28):
sometimes you need to let other people correct your children.
Sometimes somebody else needs to do that at like, it
can't always be just the mom and the daddy doing it.
And I think that comes from having these conversations on
a personal level, right You can't have these over social media.

Speaker 3 (01:05:40):
It comes like an attack.

Speaker 6 (01:05:41):
It doesn't work that way.

Speaker 5 (01:05:43):
But being in the groups with parents getting to know them,
getting to talk to them and understanding like Okay, where
are you coming from, and building a friendship. Like I
talk to my son's teacher. She has my number, We
text each other. I feel like that's not a thing.
She's shot it out. I feel like that's not a
thing people do anymore. But like laying that foundation and
encourage that here's my number. You know, between these hour
set boundaries, healthy boundaries. Right, they don't need to be

(01:06:04):
texting you at midnight, but you can say you can
message me, we can talk about this, understand what's going on,
what's going on in their home life. Like we've kind
of lost that whole sense of the village and the
community that we don't have, and it's making it very
difficult for people to take what is honestly a lot
of times valid criticism and correction that is needed for
their children, especially in the public school setting, and then
it burns out the teachers.

Speaker 1 (01:06:26):
And we want to thank you all so much for
this time. As we get ready to transition to our
rally time, I know they're gonna take these tables down,
we go to turn the music on. This has been
Native Lampod. Everything that you heard is reflection of our podcast.
Nobody here, none of the C three orgs, none of
the Seed four orgs. It got a little political and
on y'all at all. It's on us. I want to

(01:06:48):
bring in to take us over to Charles who will
help us set this for m Seeing Charles Taylor, we
have Tugaloo Trustees here, Derek who's sitting next to me.
I'm gonna pass the mike to Derek, and ta Key
Houman who just wrote a best selling book who's also here,
and while we were talking about where we get our products,

(01:07:10):
created an amazing concept called the village market. So we're
going to turn it over to Derek and takey. We
are at Tugalu College. Shout out to Tugalu College, and
we're gonna turn this over. And then here comes Charles
right after.

Speaker 25 (01:07:22):
Well, first y'all, can we give a shout out for
Native Lampod and also can you give it out give
it up for yourselves.

Speaker 6 (01:07:35):
Before we go to this rally.

Speaker 25 (01:07:36):
I know that there has been a lot shared today,
a lot of information, and when I receive a lot
of information, I'm always left with what is the one
thing I'm going to take away? So I think when
you leave here today, leave with one thing that you're
going to take away. It's something that you are going
to share. Because the only way that this movement becomes

(01:08:00):
a movement, we got to take all the things that
we learn in this space at least one thing. Take
it back to our households, take it back to our block,
take it back to our schools, take it back to
our churches. And before I give it to to Derek,
as much as we can talk about how sensitive this
time is, if I can leave you all with this,

(01:08:23):
I need you to protect your mind. I need you
to protect your psyche. I need you to protect your spirit.
I need you to protect your consciousness. Protecting it doesn't
mean that you don't get to work. Protection means that
everything won't work you. And there's a difference in that.

(01:08:45):
So every single day I challenge you, when you wake up,
give thanks to something. Acknowledge the presence of life in
the gift that there is. Drink your water, Drink your water,
move your body, affirm your day, speak over the day

(01:09:05):
that you have, will have your children, your grandchildren, your community,
because we know words are prophetic, and y'all, we as
a collective, as a people bound by destiny and chance.
It is not by accident that God called us all
here to be together at this time. Every generation has

(01:09:25):
something they're going to respond to, and it doesn't mean
it's going to be easy. It just means that meant
that we were called for it. We were called for it, y'all.
So I hope that helps you sit up a little
bit higher. I hope that tells you to walk into
your rooms and sit at your tables, know that you
are there and meant to be a transformer because it

(01:09:46):
is not by accident. It is destined, curated, orchestrated by
the most High that we all share time purpose in
this season together.

Speaker 7 (01:10:01):
So as we transition, I just want to thank everyone
who came out tu lou College's sacred ground. It's five
hundred acres of protection. We own it, it's ours, and
we don't want anyone on this campus. We have security
at the gate to stop them from coming in. That
is the legacy of this school, particularly doing the civil
rights movement. That's why it was important for us to
have this meeting here. And so give yourself a round

(01:10:23):
of applause for this marathon of a day, for you
all being here, and if you ever in Atlanta, stop
by the village. Key has a black business incubator that
is now nationally known where she's incubating black businesses and
they're growing.

Speaker 3 (01:10:39):
And it's a two GLU graduate.

Speaker 7 (01:10:40):
She's from a small town here in Mississippi, Basefield, and
now she over there doing all this stuff.

Speaker 25 (01:10:45):
Hold on the big city of Baseville, Mississippi, right.

Speaker 3 (01:10:51):
You know.

Speaker 7 (01:10:52):
But the beautiful thing about the campus is we own it.

Speaker 3 (01:10:58):
Ownership is moreort now than anything else.

Speaker 7 (01:11:02):
Let's protect it, let's grow it, and let's celebrate it
because without us, there is though us. And it's only
through the stuff that we own the control that we
can maintain a free US, peace and power.

Speaker 25 (01:11:17):
And lastly, send your students and your kids to.

Speaker 9 (01:11:27):
Let's give it Up a Native Lamp podcast.

Speaker 2 (01:11:32):
Thank you for joining the Natives intentional with the info
and all of the latest rock gillim and cross connected
to the statements that you leave on our sociales. Thank
you sincerely for the patients. Reason for your choice is clear,
so grateful it took the execute roles for serve, defend,
and protect the truth even in paint. Go walking Home
to all of the Natives, We thank you.

Speaker 21 (01:12:06):
Native Land Pod is the production of iHeartRadio in partnership
with Recent Choice Media.

Speaker 1 (01:12:10):
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts,
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Tiffany Cross

Andrew Gillum

Angela Rye

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}The People’s Town Hall: Native Land Pod x State of the People