February 21, 2025 • 29 mins
Rep. Ayanna Pressley on Reparations and Democratic Party Strategy.
Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley does not mince words; if you are not a part of the resistance then you are a part of the problem. In this interview with hosts Angela Rye, Tiffany Cross, and Andrew Gillum, this progressive Democrat outlines her frustrations with her own party and what she believes that fight against Musk and Trump should look like.
Part of the fight is not giving up on the Black agenda! Amidst this assault on DEI, Congresswoman Pressley and some of her colleagues have put forward a national reparations bill. Read more about H.R. 40 here: https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/40
If you’d like to submit a question, check out our tutorial video: www.instagram.com/reel/C5j_oBXLIg0/
We are 621 days away from the midterm elections. Welcome home y’all!
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Angela Rye as host, executive producer and cofounder of Reasoned Choice Media; Tiffany Cross as host and producer, Andrew Gillum as host and producer, and Lauren Hansen as executive producer; Loren Mychael is our research producer, and Nikolas Harter is our editor and producer. Special thanks to Chris Morrow and Lenard McKelvey, co-founders of Reasoned Choice Media.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Native Lampod is a production of iHeart Radio in partnership
with Reason Choice Media.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome home, y'all, this is Native Lampod. I am Angela
Raie with Tiffany Cross and Andrew Gillham. We are joined today.
You done, He's already so much with your delayed ass intro.
We are joined today by one of our good friends,
(00:28):
our dear sister, Congresswoman Ayana Presley, who represents Massachusetts seventh District.
And she is on the move, y'all. She's getting things done, y'all.
Talk about where are our fighters. She is in these
streets making sure that we are represented, that our interests
are heard, that they're known, and that we don't silently
disappear into the dark. So she is just coming from
(00:49):
a protest, which we will hear about.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
On the friend.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Oh, she's on the way, on the way into the protest.
All right, Well, let's hear about this protest from her
while I'm getting fact checked, and tell us where you
are headed and the importance of this moment.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
First, I just want to say that it's good to
be home, good to be with you, and I just
want to say this community in this moment is not
a nice to have, it is a must have. So
as we revisit that question from King, where do we
go from here? You know, in a moment of chaos, cruelty,
and corruption, where do we go from here?
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Chaos or community? We have to continue to choose.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
Community and solidarity because this wholesale harm is coming for everybody.
So right now I'm on my way to a protest
that one of our federal buildings in solidarity with federal workers.
And let me just say this, as someone who was
an aide for sixteen.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Years, I get so tired of.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
People not seeing the humanity of our federal workforce.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
And thinking that this is just you.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Know, hacks living on the government dole.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
These are people that could have been serving and taking.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
Their talent many other places, but with the intention they
arrived at the office every day to make sure that
someone was on the other end of the line to
pick up the phone when you were in christ and
you needed a lifeline and you needed an advocate. These
are dedicated, compassionate, brilliant individuals who deserve more than to
receive a pink slip or a threatening email.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
From a doge bro or from some rich, entitled, greedy, grubby.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
Hand millionaire who's taken a wrecking ball to the infrastructure of.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Our federal government.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
And now so many federal workers don't know how they'll
provide for their own families.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
But I'm gonna tell you what.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
I've spent a lot of time with these workers, and
their primary concern is not even how they will provide
with their families.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
It's not even their livelihood.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
It is how would their unfinished work impact the people
the communities.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
That they serve.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
What does this mean for their grant that someone is
now now advancing, What does the mean for that veteran
with the BA you know? What does this mean for
someone who's headstock portal, you know, is closed. So I'm
on my way in solidarity because every day, at this
inflection point, where cruelty, cares and corruption.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Are daily intake our daily food, I'm gonna choose.
Speaker 5 (03:24):
Community that's real, that's real. Do you think that it's
ironic that you get this guy head and doze a
made up organization that ain't really legit yet as an organization,
an agency of the government, The wealthiest man in the
damn world happens to be telling us about wasted federal
(03:45):
money taxpayer dollars while he's on the take that this
man is criticizing the appropriations of you all well at
the same time putting money in his pocket from the
very source that he's criticized. What's the irony in that?
And how do we drive that further home? Or do
you or do you even think it matters?
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Okay, let me just say this. As I think about
how to move forward, I always take a look back.
So there's three things that are guiding me in this moment.
One the blueprint.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
Laid out to us in the early chapters of the
civil rights movement, which we're still very much in. Doctor
King said, our most powerful weapon is organizing.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
So we have to organize organized organized. Now, Listen, that
is hard to.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
Do when their strategy is to flood the home is
shocked in awe, and it's to overwhelm.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Us to such an extent that we just start being reactive.
And sometimes in being reactive, we're not being strategic.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
So I keep looking back to those early chapters and
studying movements.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Like what did they do? What do resistance look like?
Speaker 4 (04:53):
And again, there's three things that I think we always
need imagination, strategy, and stamina.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
I've learned that from the movements. The second thing, you're
going to look at the.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
Pandemic, because there's the closest analogue.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
That I have to this moment is full sale harm.
And what did we do? We stood up infrastructure, rapid response,
mutual aim.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
Those are some of the things that I'm working on
actively right now to build so mutually.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
What's the second thing? And then the third thing, Doctor.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
King, you know, tells us that we have to study
the words of the oppressed to inform our strategy.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
So I'm paying.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
Close attention to every executive action and the words of
this authoritarium and fascist regime and Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
So doctor King says, we need to dramatize the evil,
Andrew and so that is why sometimes we go out
and we do these interviews and people.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Are like, you know, dang, Like all she did was
just tell us everything is wrong. Well, I have to
dramatize the evil. I have to tell you, and we
have to make them wear it. And let me just
say this, anyone that is.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
Not being actively disrupted and agitating and doing the work
of litigation legislation, agitation, mobilization is being complicit in this
wholesale harm. And although this harm is coming for everybody,
it is anti blackness of steroids.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
So I'm paying.
Speaker 6 (06:22):
Attention to who isn't saying anything, because everyone, what are
you talking about?
Speaker 1 (06:38):
I think, to Tip's point last week, if somebody needs
to be held accountable, they need to be held accountable.
We cannot hold people accountable who we can't name. I
don't think that that's a trap. I think that's the truth.
Speaker 7 (06:51):
Do you care to drop a name because we got some.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Bit abond?
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Well?
Speaker 7 (07:01):
Can I just say this, congresswoman, I you know I
if you, if I ever had to cover you for something,
I would have to recuse myself because I just love you.
And I want people, the American people watching this to
know that who they see on the floor of Congress,
(07:23):
who they see on this podcast, and who we are
privileged to see privately just with you, is consistently the
same person living in service to liberation, a true public
servant with a personal testimony, your story. And I think
there's a lot of complacency right now. I think there's
(07:44):
a lot of apathy when it comes to government, and
you still have that ability to give people goosebumps when
you speak, to speak with righteous indignation and anger.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
And I know I.
Speaker 7 (07:55):
Share all your videos, and so I just want to
take a moment to say thank you you for your work,
and that we are watching and paying attention and we
want to amplify you in whatever way. And I just
I cannot be an impartial or unbiased person ever with
you because you are my Aquarius sister. Happy belated birthday
(08:17):
to you, and I just appreciate you and love you
so much, and I want everybody to feel that way
about you. So I just I don't even have a question.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
I just want to tell you that diddo diddo last week.
Last week, the CBC was my family, though, I just
want to point that out.
Speaker 7 (08:34):
This is her family, your family. I love, I love
she did not pick up no because I love Ayana Pressley.
The CBC as a body, respectfully, is not my family.
Ayana Pressley is my sister. Who I will do it.
(08:54):
I'll fight somebody over les, somebody love. It will be
the CBC. Let MTG start acting fool on Capitol Hill.
Neg see the Jarius bringers there. Real Yeah, I'm not
a lawyer, Angela, get me out.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
I don't know if I get you out with this,
DJ and Bonnie Is.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
I love the levity of this for a moment, and
I thank you for those kind words since I receive
them and I spend them back to all of you.
The what you all are doing in this moment is
so essential because people are hungry for accurate information.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
And look, you all have your opinions.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
To the editorialize, but you also just bring the straight
facts and you are trusted voices right now at a
time of just mass diss and misinformation or no information.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
And I take so.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
Many of my cues from you. You know, honestly, this
is the season for calling a thing a thing. And
when I think about the fact, and this is what
democrats need to do. You don't talk people out of
their experience.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
You don't.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
You don't counter their lived experience with slide decks.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
You just listen and call a thing a thing. And
that's how you build trust. When I ran for Congress
for the first time, Can y'all believe it's almost seven
years ago? What I ran for Congress the first time.
Speaker 4 (10:14):
I can't tell you how many consultants told me. If
you get asked in an interview if Donald Trump should
be impeached for your.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
Opinion is a racist pivot?
Speaker 4 (10:23):
What that's why you'd be surprised, But we're saying that's
how we don't have trust. There's a deficit of trust
because you have to call a.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Thing a thing, and that's what you won't do.
Speaker 5 (10:51):
You definitely can't lead if you're afraid of your shadow.
And it seems to me that a lot of people
up there afraid of their shadow and what will come
up and creep behind them on the next race, and
therefore they're muted because they're in fear of themselves, stepping
over themselves, saying the wrong thing and being held accountable.
You speak the truth, The truth is the truth is
the truth all the time. You can defend it otherwise,
(11:12):
you know, to hell with you, because I'm not fighting
for people who don't fight.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Absolutely, and as our sibling in the movement, Brittany Pac.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
Mc cunningham says, swapping scared power is in power at
all And we although we worked our hearts out to
change this outcome.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Yo, what if listen.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
To black women was an actual practice and just not
a statement T shirt? Wow, we can't be in the canary,
in the coal mines on these things. I did not
None of us wanted this to come to pass, right.
We did everything to stop it from happening. The one
of the reasons I believe we're in this position is
because when Democrats have the power, we don't use it.
And Donald Trump and Eli Musk, they are transparent. They
(11:53):
want the power, they want to amass the power, they
want to wield the power.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
They will abuse the power. I've been so.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
Busy proving that we're the adults.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
In the room, so we forgot to prove that we're
the fighters in the room the moment.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
What do you think the fight looks like? And I
actually have a two parter because the whole reason you
wanted to come always tell about reparations. We're gonna get
the reparations too. But I want to make sure that
I asked this for those at home who feel like
they're not seeing a fight in the Democratic Party, who
feel like they're seeing people who just have kind of
rolled over and accepted what is, who are frustrated that
Ken Martin just yesterday or by the time this year
(12:33):
is a few days ago, dropped a memo that is
four pages long, single space talking about what is next
for the Democratic Party, and some of it is frankly
tone death. So when you look at party leadership, when
you look at the caucus, when you look at the
obligation of the Tricaucus, the Democratic Caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus,
(12:53):
the Progressive Caucus, where do you see the fight and
what is the role of the people in this fight?
Speaker 4 (12:59):
Okay, first, let me just say this, just for the
purposes of narrative shaping, Democrats did fight. We fought like
hell to try to stop this from happening. So I
want to start there, Okay, to do everything possible so
that Donald Trump will not be elected. The second thing is,
you know, Tim, I think I think the challenge that
we're having is a It's not a messaging problem because
(13:21):
I hear a lot of my colleagues in the fight
and saying the right things or things that I align on.
We have a density and saturation problem that we have
not overcome. We're trying to learn the lesson in real
time that people's news and information is so bifurcated across
so many platforms, and we're behind, so things don't feel coordinated,
(13:45):
they don't feel amplified because we're not reaching saturation, we're
not reaching density.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
And look, we're diverse caucus.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
But this is not the time for people to be like,
I'm gonna vote my district.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
I'm gonna say the thing that works best for my district.
We need to be of one accord. Now. Where I
know we're.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
All aligned on is the fight, and that is litigation.
Some members will be on amicust briefs. You know, the
courts have been able to be a stopgap to slow
roll some of this because it's just straight lawlessness. It
is an unprecedented power graph. But what does an unpressed
and the power graph demand of us? Unprecedented clarity, unprecedented conviction,
(14:32):
unprecedented leadership, unprecedented organizing, unprecedented mobilizing, and unprecedented joy y'all
because when they're coming for every civil right and human
right and gain, we cannot give them there too. So
that's why I said, I'm gonna choose community every single time.
But the fight is litigation, it's legislation, it's agitation, it's mobilization.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
But just like with the presidential raise.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
We have the better policies, but we did not have
the cohesive message that breaks through.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
And that's why I'm saying that, like, we really have
to challenge ourselves to just call a thing a thing.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
This is not the time for nuance because the harm
that is coming is blunt as hell, and we have
to be just as blunt in how we take it on.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
That's real.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Yeah, that's real. So with that one of the places
where we know, historically our folks have always felt unseen, unheard,
unrepresented by this government. Even if we have those one officer,
two officer, now sixty plus offs of folks who represent
our interests, what we know is that this country has
never properly served us. And one thing that you've done
is taken on the legacy of Congressman John Conyers and
(15:43):
Congresswoman Chila Jackson Lee and introducing HR forty, which is
of course, our reparations bill. So I'd love for you
to talk briefly, Congresswoman, about why you decided to take
up that mantle and what you're hoping to see happen
in this very divided congress.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
Okay, two says one, just to give you the background,
and I thank you for making sure there's no rature
of black history and saying that this was taken up
thirty plus years ago by John Conyers, then by Sheila
Jackson Lee, who is now both of whom are ancestors.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Sheila Jackson Lee's daughter, Erica Lee Carter.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
Who finished out her term, so former congresswoman I asked
me to meet with her and said, after a lot
of prayer and reflection, conversation with her staff, former staff
of Congress Ischeila Jackson Lee's and even her own family,
asked if I would take this on, wow.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
And sorry, we love you.
Speaker 7 (16:45):
And thank you for taking it on.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
So one, I'm emotional because that she had the confidence
to entrust me with this, and secondly, I was thinking
of Congress Ischela Jackson Lee, who are was texting with
in the final days of her time here, and her
last message to me was we must keep fighting for
our priorities and never give up.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
And her daughter came to stand with me.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
Through a snowstorm on the day that we reintroduced HR
forty and I said, you know, thank you for coming.
I know this is emotional, this heart for so many reasons.
That she said justice is never convenient, and that has
stayed with me because when we reintroduced this people, you
know some people were like, is she like adults? You know,
(17:38):
she's she's been a legislator, she's been an aid reparation.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
In this moment, Why would you do such a thing.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
Well, again, this is a moment of anti blackness on steroids.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
They've had different proxies for it.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
With critical race theory, black lives matter, diversity, equity and inclusion,
and diversity with an inclusion you know, means the dismantling and.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
Defunding of that to harm a lot of people. But again,
it's anti blackness on steroids. So what is the antidote
to anti blackness? Pro blackness? So this is this is.
Speaker 4 (18:12):
Not the time to moderate our aspirations.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
I'm not gonna shrink in the pursuit of our north star.
This is exactly the time, you know. So you this
is an.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
Educated, you know, you know, very conscious listener, you know
viewership that you all have.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
So folks don't need me to.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
Talk about Jim pro and redlining and Orangeburg and Tulsa.
But you know, the point is we are still very
much digging out from the vestiges of slavery, legislated harm,
not just things that happen organically in the ether. You know,
people forget that this is legislative precise harm. So that
(18:52):
is why we need rape conscious prescriptive responses because the
harm that was dealt was precise.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
And very race conscious, and it was legislated.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
So if we can legislate hard and harm, we should
be able to legislate justice and to legislate healing. We
have a team shrillion the racial wealth gap in this
country that was created, so we have to undo the harm,
do the reparative work that we did for indigenous people,
for Japanese Americans who were.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
In a tournament, camps.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
And the important thing to note in this moment is
that there is huge momentum around reparations. There are so
many municipalities throughout the country, including the City of.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Boston, and have reparations to task forces.
Speaker 4 (19:39):
There are so many municipalities that are now actively doing
the work of redress and reparations is not just about
a check.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
So let me just quickly explain HR forty.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
It is to It is an eighteen month process, so it.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Does have a finite end. Okay.
Speaker 8 (19:56):
There are people that are appointed to this federal commission
that we want to ASTABT published fifteen members in total
to examine and study the.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
Impacts of slavery to today, and then to offer up
reparations proposals across all areas, so healthcare, housing, social, economic.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
So I know people will say, well, you know, what
do we need to study?
Speaker 4 (20:24):
You know we already we already know this, but no.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
It's worth examination and study. We have more morementum than
ever before.
Speaker 4 (20:34):
In the last Congress, there were one hundred over one
hundred and twenty cosponsors for HR forty.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
That's the most that we've that we've ever had.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
I'm at about eighty right now, and I want to
make sure that we exceed that original number to get
this to the floor for a vote. So I'm not
in denial about the sobering landscape, but I think it
is important while we are doing the work of blunting
these harms and mitigating harms, that we have to be
proactively still advancing something. So I'm not just gonna take
(21:06):
my lawmaking pain home because people are like, oh, it's
gonna be hard, it could be impossible.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Because I don't want to. I don't want to dis rock.
Speaker 4 (21:14):
The momentum on the issue of reparation.
Speaker 5 (21:27):
You said a lot there, Congress women, but I tell
you that what will live for me is the reality
that when they are coming for us, we don't shrink
from that fight. We put a fight right back at them,
and it's not going to be on their terms. It
will be a fight determined by what is on our terms.
I know you've got a balance, but I am very
curious to pass this question on to you. That came
(21:47):
to us from listeners, and quite frankly continuously comes to
us from listeners. And it's in this space of whether
or not there are ways in which this Congress or
we as a peace people black folks can find common
cause with certain pieces of the Trump agenda. And I'm
just curious to know how it is you measure where
(22:11):
common cause might exist when such a foundational question around
whose role is what? And the triflingness over your role,
and then how you look past that and say, but
let's work together on this. This is that in the third,
because that's where we have common calls. Where's the balance
in that? How do you address? What would you say?
And maybe your answer as a legislator might be different.
(22:34):
A citizen's answer might be as an everyday person and consumer.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
Yeah, So you know, again, one of the things I
found frustrating is that it is only when republic when Democrats.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Are governing in the minority, that we.
Speaker 4 (22:50):
Are asked regularly what would you do in the name
of bipartisanship, But the question is never posed to people
across the aisle.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
I also have to.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
Be just real and say that I don't think that
there is a Republican party right now. It is a
cult of cowards who are complicit in wholesale harm of
our shared constituents. This doge so called Department of Government Efficiency,
that is taking a wrecking ball in a machete to
(23:18):
our government infrastructure. There is nothing efficient about it. It
certainly has a lower the price of eggs or housing.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
It's just going to make people poorer, hungrier, and sicker.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
And if I can't get my colleagues across the aisle
or four Republicans to join with us to move pieces
of legislation to stand in the gap and to buffer
these harms, I don't know. So it's a tough question
to answer, but I will say this, I will sit
at the table and work with anyone who is serious
(23:53):
about centering everyone who calls his country home.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
And advancing problem rest.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
But so far they have not proven that they are
serious about that work.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Is you know that that's it?
Speaker 4 (24:08):
But where where would where would I hope there'd be
opportunities housing cannabis community house centers. I mean again, there's
so many issues of consequence that affect our shared constituents,
and there should be nothing partisan about those things. People
(24:29):
housed and babies fed and things. These are not controversial
things and nothing radical about it.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
At least they shouldn't be. As we as we uh
prepare to let you go and bring that bring the
house down at the rally, Our dear sister, I want
to just ask you if you have parting words for
those who don't see themselves represented in the members they have,
whether you know, state, local, or on the federal level.
For those who see you as their representative in their voice,
(24:56):
what is the thing that you would say to everybody
who's continued going on in this fight and it's scrambling
to figure out what to do next. What's the thing
that you would tell them to do. What's the point
of encouragement?
Speaker 4 (25:10):
I would say that everyone has a role to play.
You know, some people are gonna I just left visiting
the program Youth Build right, they're picking up a hammer
in the name and the work of social racial justice,
progress and change. I pick up a microphone and a
lawmaking pen.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
Every day.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
Some people are going to pick up a paint brush,
you know, some people are going to leave the revolution,
and some people are going to pack the lunch for
the people leading the revolution. So I would just encourage
people to kind of do you know that that internal
audit of yourself, like what is my gift and what
do I seek to bring in this moment as my gift.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
If you're a prayer warrior, do that. If you're a nurturer,
do that. If your community and a movement builder, do that.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
If you believe in the electoral process still and want
to do the work of engagement, do that. You know,
if you want to storage your platform to share information,
do that.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
I think a lot of people think civic.
Speaker 4 (26:06):
Engagement is just running for office and voting. And so
if you're questioning the integrity of a voting process and
you have a deficit of trust and your elected representative,
you're like, now what, But the opportunities for civic engagement
and the responsibility have always been greater than that, and
the power of the people has.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Always been greater than the people in power. Now. People
always fill away a trip when I say that, because
they're like, well, technically art you want to position to power.
Speaker 4 (26:32):
Yes, but I defeated a nearly twenty year in covent
and one beh eighteen points because I know where the
real power lies.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
It is with the people. I govern cooperatively.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
So you the people are still powerful, yes, even in
this moment, because every game that has happened was.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
Not led by government. Government responded to the will of
the people. Come on, is this just.
Speaker 4 (26:59):
A fact, it's just effect. So I know folks are tired.
Like I said, every movement needs imagination. That's my HR forty.
That's one of my my things I'm dreaming on right.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
It's strategy.
Speaker 4 (27:11):
So we need a defensive strategy litigation, legislation, agitation, mobilization,
and we need stamina.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
And that's what we really struggle with. That's why boycott's.
Speaker 4 (27:22):
Are short lived, because we struggle with stamina. Some Yeah,
we've got the summon sleeper shifts.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
It's some summon.
Speaker 4 (27:32):
Uh you know, uh, every bit of strength that we
have in this moment. I'm gonna close with with this
Tosell Richards because I co chair the newly named Reproductive
Freedom Caucus, which used to be the Pro Choice Caucus,
and Cecil Richards was an incredible partner in that fire.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
You know.
Speaker 4 (27:50):
You know her from Planned Parenthood, the daughter of former
Texas Governor Ann Richards, and she recently died from brain cancer.
And she was out there organ rising and fighting even.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Though she was sick. And people said, what are you
doing here?
Speaker 4 (28:03):
And she said, because in the future they'll pose the question,
what did.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
They do when everything was at stake for the country?
Speaker 4 (28:11):
And she said, the only acceptable answer is everything, everything
we could.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
So I get it. Y'all.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
Y'all feel like you're losing everything, so you want to
know that we're willing to risk it all to.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
Put it on the line, and I am.
Speaker 5 (28:30):
We love you for it.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
Love you.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
Thank you so much. Yes, stand with them to tell
them we stay with them.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
You ball, you know they take so much time to
pain from Boston.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
Yes, thank you got your back.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
They thank you for joining the Natives attention of 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.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
Choice is cleared, so.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
Grateful and took to execute roads.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Thank you for serve, defend and protect the truth, even
if paint and walking home to all of the natives,
we thank you.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Native Lampard is a production of iHeart Radio in partnership
with Reason Choice Media. For more podcast from iHeartRadio, visit
the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to
your favorite shows.
Native Lampod is a production of iHeart Radio in partnership
with Reason Choice Media.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
Welcome home, y'all, this is Native Lampod. I am Angela
Raie with Tiffany Cross and Andrew Gillham. We are joined today.
You done, He's already so much with your delayed ass intro.
We are joined today by one of our good friends,
(00:28):
our dear sister, Congresswoman Ayana Presley, who represents Massachusetts seventh District.
And she is on the move, y'all. She's getting things done, y'all.
Talk about where are our fighters. She is in these
streets making sure that we are represented, that our interests
are heard, that they're known, and that we don't silently
disappear into the dark. So she is just coming from
(00:49):
a protest, which we will hear about.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
On the friend.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
Oh, she's on the way, on the way into the protest.
All right, Well, let's hear about this protest from her
while I'm getting fact checked, and tell us where you
are headed and the importance of this moment.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
First, I just want to say that it's good to
be home, good to be with you, and I just
want to say this community in this moment is not
a nice to have, it is a must have. So
as we revisit that question from King, where do we
go from here? You know, in a moment of chaos, cruelty,
and corruption, where do we go from here?
Speaker 3 (01:25):
Chaos or community? We have to continue to choose.
Speaker 4 (01:28):
Community and solidarity because this wholesale harm is coming for everybody.
So right now I'm on my way to a protest
that one of our federal buildings in solidarity with federal workers.
And let me just say this, as someone who was
an aide for sixteen.
Speaker 3 (01:44):
Years, I get so tired of.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
People not seeing the humanity of our federal workforce.
Speaker 3 (01:51):
And thinking that this is just you.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Know, hacks living on the government dole.
Speaker 3 (01:57):
These are people that could have been serving and taking.
Speaker 4 (01:59):
Their talent many other places, but with the intention they
arrived at the office every day to make sure that
someone was on the other end of the line to
pick up the phone when you were in christ and
you needed a lifeline and you needed an advocate. These
are dedicated, compassionate, brilliant individuals who deserve more than to
receive a pink slip or a threatening email.
Speaker 3 (02:22):
From a doge bro or from some rich, entitled, greedy, grubby.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
Hand millionaire who's taken a wrecking ball to the infrastructure of.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Our federal government.
Speaker 4 (02:35):
And now so many federal workers don't know how they'll
provide for their own families.
Speaker 3 (02:40):
But I'm gonna tell you what.
Speaker 4 (02:41):
I've spent a lot of time with these workers, and
their primary concern is not even how they will provide
with their families.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
It's not even their livelihood.
Speaker 4 (02:50):
It is how would their unfinished work impact the people
the communities.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
That they serve.
Speaker 4 (02:56):
What does this mean for their grant that someone is
now now advancing, What does the mean for that veteran
with the BA you know? What does this mean for
someone who's headstock portal, you know, is closed. So I'm
on my way in solidarity because every day, at this
inflection point, where cruelty, cares and corruption.
Speaker 3 (03:21):
Are daily intake our daily food, I'm gonna choose.
Speaker 5 (03:24):
Community that's real, that's real. Do you think that it's
ironic that you get this guy head and doze a
made up organization that ain't really legit yet as an organization,
an agency of the government, The wealthiest man in the
damn world happens to be telling us about wasted federal
(03:45):
money taxpayer dollars while he's on the take that this
man is criticizing the appropriations of you all well at
the same time putting money in his pocket from the
very source that he's criticized. What's the irony in that?
And how do we drive that further home? Or do
you or do you even think it matters?
Speaker 3 (04:07):
Okay, let me just say this. As I think about
how to move forward, I always take a look back.
So there's three things that are guiding me in this moment.
One the blueprint.
Speaker 4 (04:17):
Laid out to us in the early chapters of the
civil rights movement, which we're still very much in. Doctor
King said, our most powerful weapon is organizing.
Speaker 3 (04:24):
So we have to organize organized organized. Now, Listen, that
is hard to.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
Do when their strategy is to flood the home is
shocked in awe, and it's to overwhelm.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Us to such an extent that we just start being reactive.
And sometimes in being reactive, we're not being strategic.
Speaker 4 (04:46):
So I keep looking back to those early chapters and
studying movements.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Like what did they do? What do resistance look like?
Speaker 4 (04:53):
And again, there's three things that I think we always
need imagination, strategy, and stamina.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
I've learned that from the movements. The second thing, you're
going to look at the.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
Pandemic, because there's the closest analogue.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
That I have to this moment is full sale harm.
And what did we do? We stood up infrastructure, rapid response,
mutual aim.
Speaker 4 (05:15):
Those are some of the things that I'm working on
actively right now to build so mutually.
Speaker 3 (05:21):
What's the second thing? And then the third thing, Doctor.
Speaker 4 (05:25):
King, you know, tells us that we have to study
the words of the oppressed to inform our strategy.
Speaker 3 (05:31):
So I'm paying.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
Close attention to every executive action and the words of
this authoritarium and fascist regime and Donald Trump and Elon Musk.
So doctor King says, we need to dramatize the evil,
Andrew and so that is why sometimes we go out
and we do these interviews and people.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Are like, you know, dang, Like all she did was
just tell us everything is wrong. Well, I have to
dramatize the evil. I have to tell you, and we
have to make them wear it. And let me just
say this, anyone that is.
Speaker 4 (06:02):
Not being actively disrupted and agitating and doing the work
of litigation legislation, agitation, mobilization is being complicit in this
wholesale harm. And although this harm is coming for everybody,
it is anti blackness of steroids.
Speaker 3 (06:22):
So I'm paying.
Speaker 6 (06:22):
Attention to who isn't saying anything, because everyone, what are
you talking about?
Speaker 1 (06:38):
I think, to Tip's point last week, if somebody needs
to be held accountable, they need to be held accountable.
We cannot hold people accountable who we can't name. I
don't think that that's a trap. I think that's the truth.
Speaker 7 (06:51):
Do you care to drop a name because we got some.
Speaker 1 (07:00):
Bit abond?
Speaker 3 (07:01):
Well?
Speaker 7 (07:01):
Can I just say this, congresswoman, I you know I
if you, if I ever had to cover you for something,
I would have to recuse myself because I just love you.
And I want people, the American people watching this to
know that who they see on the floor of Congress,
(07:23):
who they see on this podcast, and who we are
privileged to see privately just with you, is consistently the
same person living in service to liberation, a true public
servant with a personal testimony, your story. And I think
there's a lot of complacency right now. I think there's
(07:44):
a lot of apathy when it comes to government, and
you still have that ability to give people goosebumps when
you speak, to speak with righteous indignation and anger.
Speaker 3 (07:55):
And I know I.
Speaker 7 (07:55):
Share all your videos, and so I just want to
take a moment to say thank you you for your work,
and that we are watching and paying attention and we
want to amplify you in whatever way. And I just
I cannot be an impartial or unbiased person ever with
you because you are my Aquarius sister. Happy belated birthday
(08:17):
to you, and I just appreciate you and love you
so much, and I want everybody to feel that way
about you. So I just I don't even have a question.
Speaker 1 (08:26):
I just want to tell you that diddo diddo last week.
Last week, the CBC was my family, though, I just
want to point that out.
Speaker 7 (08:34):
This is her family, your family. I love, I love
she did not pick up no because I love Ayana Pressley.
The CBC as a body, respectfully, is not my family.
Ayana Pressley is my sister. Who I will do it.
(08:54):
I'll fight somebody over les, somebody love. It will be
the CBC. Let MTG start acting fool on Capitol Hill.
Neg see the Jarius bringers there. Real Yeah, I'm not
a lawyer, Angela, get me out.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
I don't know if I get you out with this,
DJ and Bonnie Is.
Speaker 4 (09:15):
I love the levity of this for a moment, and
I thank you for those kind words since I receive
them and I spend them back to all of you.
The what you all are doing in this moment is
so essential because people are hungry for accurate information.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
And look, you all have your opinions.
Speaker 4 (09:31):
To the editorialize, but you also just bring the straight
facts and you are trusted voices right now at a
time of just mass diss and misinformation or no information.
Speaker 3 (09:42):
And I take so.
Speaker 4 (09:43):
Many of my cues from you. You know, honestly, this
is the season for calling a thing a thing. And
when I think about the fact, and this is what
democrats need to do. You don't talk people out of
their experience.
Speaker 3 (09:55):
You don't.
Speaker 4 (09:56):
You don't counter their lived experience with slide decks.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
You just listen and call a thing a thing. And
that's how you build trust. When I ran for Congress
for the first time, Can y'all believe it's almost seven
years ago? What I ran for Congress the first time.
Speaker 4 (10:14):
I can't tell you how many consultants told me. If
you get asked in an interview if Donald Trump should
be impeached for your.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
Opinion is a racist pivot?
Speaker 4 (10:23):
What that's why you'd be surprised, But we're saying that's
how we don't have trust. There's a deficit of trust
because you have to call a.
Speaker 3 (10:34):
Thing a thing, and that's what you won't do.
Speaker 5 (10:51):
You definitely can't lead if you're afraid of your shadow.
And it seems to me that a lot of people
up there afraid of their shadow and what will come
up and creep behind them on the next race, and
therefore they're muted because they're in fear of themselves, stepping
over themselves, saying the wrong thing and being held accountable.
You speak the truth, The truth is the truth is
the truth all the time. You can defend it otherwise,
(11:12):
you know, to hell with you, because I'm not fighting
for people who don't fight.
Speaker 3 (11:15):
Absolutely, and as our sibling in the movement, Brittany Pac.
Speaker 4 (11:18):
Mc cunningham says, swapping scared power is in power at
all And we although we worked our hearts out to
change this outcome.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
Yo, what if listen.
Speaker 4 (11:29):
To black women was an actual practice and just not
a statement T shirt? Wow, we can't be in the canary,
in the coal mines on these things. I did not
None of us wanted this to come to pass, right.
We did everything to stop it from happening. The one
of the reasons I believe we're in this position is
because when Democrats have the power, we don't use it.
And Donald Trump and Eli Musk, they are transparent. They
(11:53):
want the power, they want to amass the power, they
want to wield the power.
Speaker 3 (11:57):
They will abuse the power. I've been so.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
Busy proving that we're the adults.
Speaker 3 (12:03):
In the room, so we forgot to prove that we're
the fighters in the room the moment.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
What do you think the fight looks like? And I
actually have a two parter because the whole reason you
wanted to come always tell about reparations. We're gonna get
the reparations too. But I want to make sure that
I asked this for those at home who feel like
they're not seeing a fight in the Democratic Party, who
feel like they're seeing people who just have kind of
rolled over and accepted what is, who are frustrated that
Ken Martin just yesterday or by the time this year
(12:33):
is a few days ago, dropped a memo that is
four pages long, single space talking about what is next
for the Democratic Party, and some of it is frankly
tone death. So when you look at party leadership, when
you look at the caucus, when you look at the
obligation of the Tricaucus, the Democratic Caucus, the Congressional Black Caucus,
(12:53):
the Progressive Caucus, where do you see the fight and
what is the role of the people in this fight?
Speaker 4 (12:59):
Okay, first, let me just say this, just for the
purposes of narrative shaping, Democrats did fight. We fought like
hell to try to stop this from happening. So I
want to start there, Okay, to do everything possible so
that Donald Trump will not be elected. The second thing is,
you know, Tim, I think I think the challenge that
we're having is a It's not a messaging problem because
(13:21):
I hear a lot of my colleagues in the fight
and saying the right things or things that I align on.
We have a density and saturation problem that we have
not overcome. We're trying to learn the lesson in real
time that people's news and information is so bifurcated across
so many platforms, and we're behind, so things don't feel coordinated,
(13:45):
they don't feel amplified because we're not reaching saturation, we're
not reaching density.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
And look, we're diverse caucus.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
But this is not the time for people to be like,
I'm gonna vote my district.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
I'm gonna say the thing that works best for my district.
We need to be of one accord. Now. Where I
know we're.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
All aligned on is the fight, and that is litigation.
Some members will be on amicust briefs. You know, the
courts have been able to be a stopgap to slow
roll some of this because it's just straight lawlessness. It
is an unprecedented power graph. But what does an unpressed
and the power graph demand of us? Unprecedented clarity, unprecedented conviction,
(14:32):
unprecedented leadership, unprecedented organizing, unprecedented mobilizing, and unprecedented joy y'all
because when they're coming for every civil right and human
right and gain, we cannot give them there too. So
that's why I said, I'm gonna choose community every single time.
But the fight is litigation, it's legislation, it's agitation, it's mobilization.
Speaker 3 (14:55):
But just like with the presidential raise.
Speaker 4 (14:57):
We have the better policies, but we did not have
the cohesive message that breaks through.
Speaker 3 (15:03):
And that's why I'm saying that, like, we really have
to challenge ourselves to just call a thing a thing.
Speaker 4 (15:09):
This is not the time for nuance because the harm
that is coming is blunt as hell, and we have
to be just as blunt in how we take it on.
Speaker 3 (15:20):
That's real.
Speaker 1 (15:20):
Yeah, that's real. So with that one of the places
where we know, historically our folks have always felt unseen, unheard,
unrepresented by this government. Even if we have those one officer,
two officer, now sixty plus offs of folks who represent
our interests, what we know is that this country has
never properly served us. And one thing that you've done
is taken on the legacy of Congressman John Conyers and
(15:43):
Congresswoman Chila Jackson Lee and introducing HR forty, which is
of course, our reparations bill. So I'd love for you
to talk briefly, Congresswoman, about why you decided to take
up that mantle and what you're hoping to see happen
in this very divided congress.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
Okay, two says one, just to give you the background,
and I thank you for making sure there's no rature
of black history and saying that this was taken up
thirty plus years ago by John Conyers, then by Sheila
Jackson Lee, who is now both of whom are ancestors.
Speaker 3 (16:16):
Sheila Jackson Lee's daughter, Erica Lee Carter.
Speaker 4 (16:19):
Who finished out her term, so former congresswoman I asked
me to meet with her and said, after a lot
of prayer and reflection, conversation with her staff, former staff
of Congress Ischeila Jackson Lee's and even her own family,
asked if I would take this on, wow.
Speaker 3 (16:36):
And sorry, we love you.
Speaker 7 (16:45):
And thank you for taking it on.
Speaker 4 (16:49):
So one, I'm emotional because that she had the confidence
to entrust me with this, and secondly, I was thinking
of Congress Ischela Jackson Lee, who are was texting with
in the final days of her time here, and her
last message to me was we must keep fighting for
our priorities and never give up.
Speaker 3 (17:12):
And her daughter came to stand with me.
Speaker 4 (17:16):
Through a snowstorm on the day that we reintroduced HR
forty and I said, you know, thank you for coming.
I know this is emotional, this heart for so many reasons.
That she said justice is never convenient, and that has
stayed with me because when we reintroduced this people, you
know some people were like, is she like adults? You know,
(17:38):
she's she's been a legislator, she's been an aid reparation.
Speaker 3 (17:42):
In this moment, Why would you do such a thing.
Speaker 4 (17:45):
Well, again, this is a moment of anti blackness on steroids.
Speaker 3 (17:51):
They've had different proxies for it.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
With critical race theory, black lives matter, diversity, equity and inclusion,
and diversity with an inclusion you know, means the dismantling and.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
Defunding of that to harm a lot of people. But again,
it's anti blackness on steroids. So what is the antidote
to anti blackness? Pro blackness? So this is this is.
Speaker 4 (18:12):
Not the time to moderate our aspirations.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
I'm not gonna shrink in the pursuit of our north star.
This is exactly the time, you know. So you this
is an.
Speaker 4 (18:23):
Educated, you know, you know, very conscious listener, you know
viewership that you all have.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
So folks don't need me to.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
Talk about Jim pro and redlining and Orangeburg and Tulsa.
But you know, the point is we are still very
much digging out from the vestiges of slavery, legislated harm,
not just things that happen organically in the ether. You know,
people forget that this is legislative precise harm. So that
(18:52):
is why we need rape conscious prescriptive responses because the
harm that was dealt was precise.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
And very race conscious, and it was legislated.
Speaker 4 (19:03):
So if we can legislate hard and harm, we should
be able to legislate justice and to legislate healing. We
have a team shrillion the racial wealth gap in this
country that was created, so we have to undo the harm,
do the reparative work that we did for indigenous people,
for Japanese Americans who were.
Speaker 3 (19:24):
In a tournament, camps.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
And the important thing to note in this moment is
that there is huge momentum around reparations. There are so
many municipalities throughout the country, including the City of.
Speaker 3 (19:35):
Boston, and have reparations to task forces.
Speaker 4 (19:39):
There are so many municipalities that are now actively doing
the work of redress and reparations is not just about
a check.
Speaker 3 (19:47):
So let me just quickly explain HR forty.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
It is to It is an eighteen month process, so it.
Speaker 3 (19:53):
Does have a finite end. Okay.
Speaker 8 (19:56):
There are people that are appointed to this federal commission
that we want to ASTABT published fifteen members in total
to examine and study the.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
Impacts of slavery to today, and then to offer up
reparations proposals across all areas, so healthcare, housing, social, economic.
Speaker 3 (20:22):
So I know people will say, well, you know, what
do we need to study?
Speaker 4 (20:24):
You know we already we already know this, but no.
Speaker 3 (20:28):
It's worth examination and study. We have more morementum than
ever before.
Speaker 4 (20:34):
In the last Congress, there were one hundred over one
hundred and twenty cosponsors for HR forty.
Speaker 3 (20:40):
That's the most that we've that we've ever had.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
I'm at about eighty right now, and I want to
make sure that we exceed that original number to get
this to the floor for a vote. So I'm not
in denial about the sobering landscape, but I think it
is important while we are doing the work of blunting
these harms and mitigating harms, that we have to be
proactively still advancing something. So I'm not just gonna take
(21:06):
my lawmaking pain home because people are like, oh, it's
gonna be hard, it could be impossible.
Speaker 3 (21:12):
Because I don't want to. I don't want to dis rock.
Speaker 4 (21:14):
The momentum on the issue of reparation.
Speaker 5 (21:27):
You said a lot there, Congress women, but I tell
you that what will live for me is the reality
that when they are coming for us, we don't shrink
from that fight. We put a fight right back at them,
and it's not going to be on their terms. It
will be a fight determined by what is on our terms.
I know you've got a balance, but I am very
curious to pass this question on to you. That came
(21:47):
to us from listeners, and quite frankly continuously comes to
us from listeners. And it's in this space of whether
or not there are ways in which this Congress or
we as a peace people black folks can find common
cause with certain pieces of the Trump agenda. And I'm
just curious to know how it is you measure where
(22:11):
common cause might exist when such a foundational question around
whose role is what? And the triflingness over your role,
and then how you look past that and say, but
let's work together on this. This is that in the third,
because that's where we have common calls. Where's the balance
in that? How do you address? What would you say?
And maybe your answer as a legislator might be different.
(22:34):
A citizen's answer might be as an everyday person and consumer.
Speaker 4 (22:39):
Yeah, So you know, again, one of the things I
found frustrating is that it is only when republic when Democrats.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Are governing in the minority, that we.
Speaker 4 (22:50):
Are asked regularly what would you do in the name
of bipartisanship, But the question is never posed to people
across the aisle.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
I also have to.
Speaker 4 (22:58):
Be just real and say that I don't think that
there is a Republican party right now. It is a
cult of cowards who are complicit in wholesale harm of
our shared constituents. This doge so called Department of Government Efficiency,
that is taking a wrecking ball in a machete to
(23:18):
our government infrastructure. There is nothing efficient about it. It
certainly has a lower the price of eggs or housing.
Speaker 3 (23:26):
It's just going to make people poorer, hungrier, and sicker.
Speaker 4 (23:31):
And if I can't get my colleagues across the aisle
or four Republicans to join with us to move pieces
of legislation to stand in the gap and to buffer
these harms, I don't know. So it's a tough question
to answer, but I will say this, I will sit
at the table and work with anyone who is serious
(23:53):
about centering everyone who calls his country home.
Speaker 3 (23:59):
And advancing problem rest.
Speaker 4 (24:01):
But so far they have not proven that they are
serious about that work.
Speaker 3 (24:06):
Is you know that that's it?
Speaker 4 (24:08):
But where where would where would I hope there'd be
opportunities housing cannabis community house centers. I mean again, there's
so many issues of consequence that affect our shared constituents,
and there should be nothing partisan about those things. People
(24:29):
housed and babies fed and things. These are not controversial
things and nothing radical about it.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
At least they shouldn't be. As we as we uh
prepare to let you go and bring that bring the
house down at the rally, Our dear sister, I want
to just ask you if you have parting words for
those who don't see themselves represented in the members they have,
whether you know, state, local, or on the federal level.
For those who see you as their representative in their voice,
(24:56):
what is the thing that you would say to everybody
who's continued going on in this fight and it's scrambling
to figure out what to do next. What's the thing
that you would tell them to do. What's the point
of encouragement?
Speaker 4 (25:10):
I would say that everyone has a role to play.
You know, some people are gonna I just left visiting
the program Youth Build right, they're picking up a hammer
in the name and the work of social racial justice,
progress and change. I pick up a microphone and a
lawmaking pen.
Speaker 3 (25:27):
Every day.
Speaker 4 (25:28):
Some people are going to pick up a paint brush,
you know, some people are going to leave the revolution,
and some people are going to pack the lunch for
the people leading the revolution. So I would just encourage
people to kind of do you know that that internal
audit of yourself, like what is my gift and what
do I seek to bring in this moment as my gift.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
If you're a prayer warrior, do that. If you're a nurturer,
do that. If your community and a movement builder, do that.
Speaker 4 (25:53):
If you believe in the electoral process still and want
to do the work of engagement, do that. You know,
if you want to storage your platform to share information,
do that.
Speaker 3 (26:05):
I think a lot of people think civic.
Speaker 4 (26:06):
Engagement is just running for office and voting. And so
if you're questioning the integrity of a voting process and
you have a deficit of trust and your elected representative,
you're like, now what, But the opportunities for civic engagement
and the responsibility have always been greater than that, and
the power of the people has.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Always been greater than the people in power. Now. People
always fill away a trip when I say that, because
they're like, well, technically art you want to position to power.
Speaker 4 (26:32):
Yes, but I defeated a nearly twenty year in covent
and one beh eighteen points because I know where the
real power lies.
Speaker 3 (26:41):
It is with the people. I govern cooperatively.
Speaker 4 (26:44):
So you the people are still powerful, yes, even in
this moment, because every game that has happened was.
Speaker 3 (26:51):
Not led by government. Government responded to the will of
the people. Come on, is this just.
Speaker 4 (26:59):
A fact, it's just effect. So I know folks are tired.
Like I said, every movement needs imagination. That's my HR forty.
That's one of my my things I'm dreaming on right.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
It's strategy.
Speaker 4 (27:11):
So we need a defensive strategy litigation, legislation, agitation, mobilization,
and we need stamina.
Speaker 3 (27:18):
And that's what we really struggle with. That's why boycott's.
Speaker 4 (27:22):
Are short lived, because we struggle with stamina. Some Yeah,
we've got the summon sleeper shifts.
Speaker 3 (27:30):
It's some summon.
Speaker 4 (27:32):
Uh you know, uh, every bit of strength that we
have in this moment. I'm gonna close with with this
Tosell Richards because I co chair the newly named Reproductive
Freedom Caucus, which used to be the Pro Choice Caucus,
and Cecil Richards was an incredible partner in that fire.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
You know.
Speaker 4 (27:50):
You know her from Planned Parenthood, the daughter of former
Texas Governor Ann Richards, and she recently died from brain cancer.
And she was out there organ rising and fighting even.
Speaker 3 (28:00):
Though she was sick. And people said, what are you
doing here?
Speaker 4 (28:03):
And she said, because in the future they'll pose the question,
what did.
Speaker 3 (28:07):
They do when everything was at stake for the country?
Speaker 4 (28:11):
And she said, the only acceptable answer is everything, everything
we could.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
So I get it. Y'all.
Speaker 4 (28:20):
Y'all feel like you're losing everything, so you want to
know that we're willing to risk it all to.
Speaker 3 (28:25):
Put it on the line, and I am.
Speaker 5 (28:30):
We love you for it.
Speaker 3 (28:31):
Love you.
Speaker 1 (28:32):
Thank you so much. Yes, stand with them to tell
them we stay with them.
Speaker 4 (28:41):
You ball, you know they take so much time to
pain from Boston.
Speaker 3 (28:47):
Yes, thank you got your back.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
They thank you for joining the Natives attention of 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.
Speaker 4 (29:11):
Choice is cleared, so.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
Grateful and took to execute roads.
Speaker 2 (29:15):
Thank you for serve, defend and protect the truth, even
if paint and walking home to all of the natives,
we thank you.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Native Lampard is a production of iHeart Radio in partnership
with Reason Choice Media. For more podcast from iHeartRadio, visit
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Hosts And Creators
Tiffany Cross
Andrew Gillum
Angela Rye
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