Why this Government Shutdown Could Be Deadly | Angela Rye SoloPod - Native Land Pod

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Native Landpod is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership with
Reason Choice Media. Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Hey, everybody,
Welcome home. This is Angela Raie with Native Landpod. I
am hosting today another solo pod, and I wish that
it were under different circumstances, but unfortunately, the American people

(00:22):
at this point are used to going from crisis to crisis.
We are facing another one as Republicans continue to delay
the vote on the government shut down and risk everything
that are they're supposed to protect the American people in
this era, at this hour, as we move from crisis
to crisis in this administration, we are facing yet another

(00:44):
government shut down. Many of you all know that we
just experienced something very similar over the summer as the
Congress considered HR one or Senate Bill one, and that
was designed to gut all of the services that we
pay our hard working tax payer dollars into things like healthcare, Medicaid, Medicare,

(01:06):
snap benefits. We saw all of that at risk over
the summer. The consequences of that bill still taking place,
and yet now we're facing another crisis, and so we
are going to hear today from some congressional members who
are working hard to ensure that the American people's values
are protected, their lives are protected, and policies that make

(01:29):
a difference to ensure they are better off and closer
to pursuing the American dream are also protected. Joining us
first is my forever boss. Her name is Congresswoman Maxine Waters.
I call her Queen Maxine. She represents the forty third
district in California. She is also the ranking member on
the House Financial Services Committee, where she works hard to

(01:52):
protect what the American people want to see every single day,
from housing to banking to opportunities for contractors who look
like you and I. So I'm bringing to the stage
now Congresswoman Maxine Waters.

Speaker 2 (02:04):
Hi, Congresswoman, Well, hello, thank you so much. I'm so
pleased to be on with you today.

Speaker 1 (02:09):
I'm so glad you I'm so sorry to cut you off.
I'm sorry. Go ahead, that's o co.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
I'm just wanting to say thank you, I'm glad to
be along with you.

Speaker 1 (02:17):
I'm happy to see you and you look beautiful this
weekend during the Annual Legislative Conference that you're a vent
and of course, walking across the stage. Seeing the members
walk across the stage is always my favorite thing. So
congress Woman, you've been doing this for many years. You've
been working hard to be the voice of the people
in Congress. When I think of the conscience of the Congress,

(02:38):
which is the moniker for the Congressional Black hau because
you certainly represent that. But I just want to talk
to you for a moment. Can you explain what this
particular shutdown means to the American people right now and
what is all at stake? Well?

Speaker 2 (02:52):
Absolutely, First of all, I am very concerned and really
upset about the crisis that we find ourselves in. This
crisis is initiated by the President and Republicans, and literally
the President is using his power once again to show

(03:14):
that he's going to tell this entire nation who's in charge.
And it's all about a big power play and some
of the right wing philosophies that go along with that.
The President of the United States has under his control
basically all of a cabinet that he has selected, many

(03:38):
of them are not qualified. But he's got trouble inside
his own Republican caucus, and he does not have the
votes in his caucus to do exactly what he wants
to do. Some of them want cuts even deeper, and
usually they expect the Democrats to bail them out when

(03:59):
they don't have the votes, so that they can get
basically most of what they want and throw some crumbs
to the Democrats. We're not having it. We are not
going to have it. We're not going to have it
because this president has led the way for cuts in
medical care in a way that we never dream would happen.
Whether we're talking about Medicaid and Medicare, we're talking about

(04:24):
the support of this government for the people of this
country who need assistance with meniccare, and they will die,
many of them will die without Medicaid and Medicare. We're
talking about the survival of the ACA and the work
that we did to get to the Obamacare where people

(04:44):
who had been excluded from coverage altogether because of pre
existing conditions, we're talking about saving that. We're talking about
the subsidies that go along with it, and the tax cuts,
and so we've made this a top prior. Trump cannot
be trusted. They had the one first meeting with him yesterday.

(05:06):
Of course, it didn't turn out very well. Nothing happened
no agreements were made. There was an attempt by the
Vice President to say, trust us, you know, vote for
what we have in the continuing Resolution, and let's identify
some concerns you have and let's deal with them later.
And of course, Haikem and Schumer said, no way, we're

(05:29):
not going for that. Whatever we agree on, and we're
pushing for having healthcare at the top of the agenda
along with some other very important things, but you got
to sign on the dotted line. We don't trust that.
Give us now what we're asking for and we'll take care.

Speaker 1 (05:47):
Of you later.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
That's not going to happen, but people will be hurt
very badly. It's not only in healthcare, but just think
about her and Section eight and all of the people
who are only able to have decent living and safe
living for their families because they're being subsidized with Section eight,
and still we've never been able to cover them all.

(06:10):
They're still standing in line sometimes for years. We will
increase homelessness if we do not do that. Let's look
at what they're trying to do with food stamps and
on and on and on. If we go along with
what the President and the Republicans would have we would
absolutely pull the rug out from under Americas in very

(06:31):
detrimental ways where so many people would be hurt.

Speaker 1 (06:35):
You know, I'm so glad you mentioned HUD, which for
our listeners and our viewing audience is the Housing and
Urban Development Agency the use Department of Housing and Urban Development. Rather,
I want to just come to this for a moment,
because we're seeing this administration do some really unprecedented things
with federal websites. We know that they were taking down

(06:56):
our history earlier in this term, and now they have
a website. Uh, they're using HUD to push political messaging,
and so if our viewing audience would go to HUD
dot gov, you'll see this and I'm gonna read it
to you all. It says the radical left are going

(07:17):
This is a home page, and there's also a pop
up screen that comes up that says the same thing.
It says, the radical left are going to shut down
the government and inflict massive pain on the American people
unless they get their one point five trillion dollar wish
list of demands. The Trump administration wants to keep the

(07:38):
government open for the American people, so he's essentially telling
this story. Congresswoman painting this image that they're the Party
of the people when we see how they continue to
inflict harm on the American people. Grocery prices have not
gone down. They're making Medicare, Medicaid, and other healthcare access
far more difficult to attend. We talked about snap. We

(08:01):
know what happened with summer jobs. We're seeing what's happening
with funding for our schools. They're trying to make it
harder for people to maintain their jobs. They're showing people
out of federal government work and employment opportunities. How do
do you feel, as the ranking member on Financial Services
seeing something like this on the HUD website. What's your
response to that?

Speaker 2 (08:22):
Well, we've got to do the best job that we
can do to educate the people. One of the things
we've been doing, we've been town hall meetings. Many of
our members not only are doing town hall meetings in
their own districts, but they're going to adjacent districts where
they are Republicans and letting them know who's doing what
and telling them the truth about what Trump and the

(08:44):
Republicans are doing. We have to continue to do that.
I've been involved in about eleven protests to actions. We
are organizing. We're on the streets in some of these
communities all over the country and people are learning and
so got to do a better job than they're doing.
They are lying, they are misleading the people. They are

(09:06):
thinking that the people are stupid and don't know that
the President of the United States, through executive orders, is
exercising the kind of power that we have never witnessed before,
and he's doing it to the detriment of millions of
people in this country. We've got a fight on our hands,
and we've got to stand up. We've got to be strong.

(09:28):
We cannot give in. We cannot be hustled by them,
we cannot be frightened or intimidated by them. We've got
to fight, fight, fight, And they're the ones who are
willing to shut down the government. They're in charge. They
have the majority in the Senate, the majority in the House,
and they own the White House, and if they wanted

(09:50):
to do right by the people, they could do that.
But no, they're trying to put us in a position
where we will be blamed. And I think the people
are catching on to this that we're the ones not
to blame. That we're fighting they're even threatening. They said
social security is on the line, and so I want
people to listen carefully to what he's saying and what

(10:12):
they're doing, and pay attention to what you just showed
them that they're advertising through the hub HUD website, and
know and understand that Democrats want to keep the government open,
but we're not going to throw away the rights of
the people and the rights of the people to have
their government assist them in a decent quality of life.

Speaker 1 (10:36):
Kiersonman, I know that you have to leave, but I
do want to ask you this last question because I
think there's a huge misnomer when the Republican Party considers
who is in most need of snap benefits, and for
those at home that don't realize snap benefits are food
stamps when you consider that sometimes in their minds, it's

(10:58):
clear that they see blacks, back and brown faces, black
and brown families. But there's data that suggests that the
population that requires the most amount of food stamps is
actually represented by a Republican It is the zip code
five one seven five zero, and that zip code, I'm sorry,

(11:19):
five to seven fives now I'm getting a wrong. Five
seven five seven zero is what I'm trying to say
five seven five seven zero. That's in South Dakota. Congresswomen,
South Dakota, seventy one percent of the people in that
zip code live in poverty. What do you say to
them where they will be massively impacted by this.

Speaker 2 (11:39):
Well, what we have to keep saying to them is,
don't be misled by the President and the Republicans who
are making you believe it's those people of color, it's
those immigrants. It's those people that's causing you problem, and
we're trying to save you. When you look at that area,
and you look at Appalachia, and you look at the
rural commune, you look at the hospitals that's going to

(12:02):
be closed in rural communities if they cut medicaid, the
one trillion dollars out of Medicaid that they're talking about.
And so they've led their people to believe that it
is people of color and people in inner cities who
are getting all of the support from government and they're
the ones. And these people, really, many of them don't

(12:24):
know because they've been fed a racist message and they've
bought into it oftentimes, and they're standing up for the
people of this country who should be running it and
not those people who are getting too much. They don't
deserve it. That's why he goes after diversity, equity and inclusion.
That's why he goes after education. That's why they go

(12:46):
after food stamp. Because really, what they're told and what
they're trying to do, is they're trying to limit the
success of people of color and put their feet on
our next to say you've gotten too much, you're making
too much money, you're buying houses, you're doing too much.

(13:06):
Those people who too are gonna get hurt. Believe that,
and they don't know until the access gonna fall on them.
We're trying to tell them every day what's gonna happen.
We have pregnant women who won't be able to deliver
babies in rural communities. The hospitals won't be there, the
obgyn services won't be there. We hope they are listening

(13:29):
because this president is a liar who cannot be trusted.
And here is mean, Honri, low down, dirty and no good.

Speaker 1 (13:39):
Well that's that on that And if you all do
not know, this is the legendary Congressman Maxine Waters. She
is the best fighter I know I learn from the best.
Let's square up. Let's square up. We gotta fight to
get engage in and it needs to be a bipartisan fight.
It should be multi racial, multi ethnic. It is a
coalition where all of us should be apart because we

(13:59):
want protection for all of us. Thank you so much, Congress.

Speaker 2 (14:03):
Thank you so much for not only your podcasts, and
as I reminded people the other day, you had a
podcast before most people didn't even know what it was.
And you've been with this and you've been communicated. You're
an organizer. You're someone who really does understand the legislative process.
You have headed the Black conquers. You've worked in this

(14:24):
atmosphere for so long that you know it, you know
without even thinking about it. So thank you for the
work that you do, and thank you for helping us
out as we try to move past what could be
a shutdown of government.

Speaker 1 (14:37):
Thank you so much, Congressoman if you all can't tell,
this is the very first political job I've ever had
working for this queen. So she's just slightly biased, but
I'll take it. I love you, I'll talk to you later.

Speaker 2 (14:48):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (14:49):
Right, Okay, everybody, we've had a little bit of a
love fest with somebody who I love dearly, Congressman Maxine Waters.
I want you all to know that if she continues
to engage in this fight for the people, she's got

(15:12):
to raise money. And one thing that I love about
the congresswoman is the resources that she raises even through
her campaign work to help to solve some of the
many crisis across the country. She doesn't just do casework
and help to solve issues for people in Los Angeles
forty three, California forty three. Rather she is across the
country working on issues. People reach out to her first.

(15:34):
They know her and trust her very well, as do I,
and she's still someone that I will go to for support.
So I just want to deepen into this for a
minute as we wait for our next guests to join us.
There's a lot on the line with this government shut down,
and I think what's frustrating for me, and I'll just

(15:56):
tell y'all is last time, when we were dealing with
a Senate bill, one that the House was considering in
the summer, we decided to do a sixty nine and
a half hour marathon. We didn't know how long it
was gonna be, but we know we wanted it to
lead right up into this vote, and Hakeem Jeffries ended
up doing I think a twenty four hour plus maybe

(16:17):
it was twenty five hours on the House floor also protesting,
and so we spent a lot of effort in combating
what we knew was likely to occur. What was shocking
to me, though, is when we reached out to members
of Congress. Our default normally is to tell you all,
because I know some of you are in the comments
right now, like what are we gonna do about this?
But we normally tell you is to call your representatives. Well,

(16:40):
when we called representatives over the summer, especially those who
are on the Republican side who would most likely to
flip votes because they lived in mixed party districts or
districts that were less conservative, some of them hung up
on us, some of them send us straight to voicemail,
some of their staff got honorey and rude. But what

(17:00):
we saw was that they were pretty much convinced. So
we don't know what this president has on some of
these folks, but what we do know is that they've
been compromised, that their consciences have been seared with a
hot iron from a biblity to use a biblical term.
But there is someone who I think regularly represents not
just the conscience of the Congress, but also the conscience

(17:23):
of the people. She says the quiet part out loud.
She says what needs to be said in hearing rooms,
she says what needs to be said on the House floor,
she says what needs to be said in interviews. And
she's normally representing not just the interests of black folks,
but I think all well meaning people. She is my
dear sister and friend, Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett from Texas's thirtieth

(17:45):
congressional district. She's joining us now to talk about the
government shut down and all that is at stake. And
we don't have a video for Congresswoman Crockett just yet,
but when we do, we will bring her back on one.
So I just want to flag that this particular shutdown

(18:08):
is even more harmful. And the reason for that is because,
and you guys know, we've been going from crisis to crisis,
So there's one shut down to the next. Right, it's
not like there's smooth government operations. We're going to continue
to fund the government at the levels that has been
funded were We've been going from shutdown to shut down
for many, many years. This is what happens when you

(18:29):
jerrymander districts, especially racially, and it results in the kinds
of problems that we've been having. But as we continue
to go from shut down to shut down, what happens
is it puts some essential workers in the government. It
is highly subjective to determine who is an essential worker,

(18:50):
but it puts essential workers at risk. We already have
a number of those people who are at risk because
many of them were forced to resign, forced to retire,
given the opt shouldn't option to retire. There's a big
piece about this in the Washington Post just over the weekend.
So a number of these workers are right in harms
way already. So my concern is that if the government

(19:12):
shuts down, they have get another out to get rid
of people like scientists, like people who are working to
preserve history, like the folks who are working to you know,
preserve civil rights, who might be flying under the radar
right now. And so that is the issue. That is
the issue. So we are still waiting for Congressman Crockett

(19:33):
to join us, but I know that'll just be a moment.
I think. The other thing that I want to bring
to you all's attention is Donald Trump just today said
that he was expecting that there will probably be a shutdown.
This president is highly cavalier, very cavalier about he doesn't
care because he's busy. They're getting ready to sell Trump

(19:55):
OURX with Pfizer prices. They're getting ready to do whatever
other business deal under violating clearly the Monument's clause, which
it appears that he is regularly doing, so he doesn't
have time to think about how a government shut down
might impact the least of these. When I was at

(20:15):
the UH where my mother gets cancer treatment yesterday. She
gets chemo on Mondays, two Mondays on one Monday off,
and we were in there, it was it was so many,
there were so many people, and my dad said to me,
he said, you know, it's good that people can come
to be treated, but it's probably gonna get so much

(20:35):
worse once more government services are are are cut. And
so that's what we're up against. But today when the
President talked about the government was probably going to shut down,
what he continues to repay repeat is something that has
been debunked over and over again. But this is what
happens when you have someone who is a pathological liar,

(20:59):
so it seems, who continues to spreads falsehoods. He used
a video that he posted on Trump Trump's Social Trump
socials really what it is but true Social yesterday of
Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer. Chuck Schumer is saying words
or it sounds like there's a voiceover on Chuck Schumer

(21:19):
words that he's never said. And then you have Hakeem
Jeffries standing there with a sombrero and a fake mustache.
What is the purpose of this, Well, let me tell you, so,
he says today they want to give Cadillac Medicare to
illegal aliens at the cost to everyone else. This has
been debunked. Undocumented people are not eligible to enroll in

(21:43):
subsidized programs like Medicaid, Medicare or the Affordable Care Act,
and this is sourced per The Guardian, But he continues
to repeat this claim. He continues to try to draw
a wedge between the migrant community and people who are
here and suffering, who feel like there is someone who
is responsible for what they have not received. There's someone

(22:08):
that needs to someone who is to blame for this right,
and I think that, uh, you know, we just we
just have these issues that we have to continue to
fight back against what I think is unfortunate. Here is
it appears that while Congress is deadlocked, the Democratic Party,

(22:29):
unlike with the Charlie Kirk resolution, is mostly together. Right. Uh,
they seem like they're in lockstep and they're planning to
vote no on this bill that would cause so much
harm to the American people. But it appears also that
the Republican Party is not in lockstep the government. The

(22:51):
government funding unless there is some type of agreement, will
be cut off by midnight, that is today. An number
of government services will be in harm's way as of
tonight midnight Eastern time. That can bring so many of
our government services to a complete halt, to a screeching halt.

(23:13):
We know that a government shutdown doesn't just impact government workers,
doesn't just impact the people who are before the government today.
That causes issues with refund checks from the IRS, it
causes issues with Social Security payments. It is normal at
this point for government shutdowns to be the way of governing.

(23:35):
I don't know when that became a responsible way of
doing so, but that is exactly what's happening. This also
is in part you know, the Republican Party work to
try to overturn the Affordable Care Act, what they call Obamacare,
which is a President Obama's crowning and most signature achievement.

(23:55):
They continue to go after that. They're trying to gut
those healthcare protections and services in this bill as well.
And I will let me see this is the other
thing again. We're just working out technical delays with the
Congressman Jasmine Crockett, so y'all stay tuned. I also have

(24:16):
a very special surprise at the end of the program.
But they are also saying that there are hold on.
I want to make sure I'm getting this right and
have the most update information. Chuck Schumer is also saying
that his colleagues are telling lies. I want to know

(24:38):
who among you is expecting truth from this party that
is clearly under Donald Trump's thumb. And what I want
to do right now is take some questions, Lolo, if
you could either come on screen or just text me
the questions that are popping up, the comments that are
popping up in our thread. I want to make sure

(25:01):
that we have what we need and we are answering
people and their questions in this moment. This shutdown can
be scary, and I know folks are used to again
moving from crisis to crisis and then this administration. But
people want to know what is going to happen and

(25:21):
what's at risk for them. They're battling, or you all
are battling people coming into your communities taking over. Donald
Trump is now being asked by governors of states in
the South to bring in the National Guard. We saw
that happen in Tennessee, dealing with that in Memphis right now,
we're seeing that happen. Louisiana's governor just today is asking people,

(25:44):
is asking the Trump administration to send in the National Guard,
putting people at risk, primarily in New Orleans. What is
not a mistake. Memphis is run by a black mayor,
I would say one that was a little soft on
whether or not to receive the National Guard. New Orleans
is ran by a black mayor. This is not by accident.

(26:07):
Here's the thing that is going to be maddening to
some people watching. The National Guard and other federal law
enforcement agencies have the resources, have the funding to go
into communities that really don't need their services in this hour,
when they can't get the food benefits they need to
feed their families, when they can't receive the access to

(26:30):
healthcare they need to survive. What is the excuse for
sending in the National Guard right now? What is the
real purpose of that? And that is the point. We
really need to ensure that we are clear about what
our actual needs are. So we normally tell you to
call your member. This isn't one of those times where
you call in and make a request, y'all. This is

(26:52):
a time where you call in and issue a demand,
a requirement. If you live in this state, this is
what you must be doing. If you have your own
snap benefit story, your own Medicare story, your own Medicaid
story for your children, what the healthcare needs are for
your children for them to survive in this moment. This
is a matter of life and death, and we cannot

(27:15):
escape that. We can't tell people that they that they
really don't need this. How does this shut down different
from past ones? One of the questions says, I think
that because of the number of cuts that we saw
take place in the bills that passed this summer, that
again that Senate bill won s one. We called it,

(27:38):
They called it the big beautiful Bill. We call it
a lot of other things that are not beautiful, ugly, trifling, wrong, foul.
That bill was already putting the most vulnerable Americans right
in the cross hair of harm, right in the cross
hairs of harm. This bill will double down on that.
I would submit to you all that if these services

(27:58):
are halted during this shutdown, that there are very there's
very well a possibility that these services don't return. Right.
This is what we are up against. Shutdowns are as
a result of Congress being at an impass not able

(28:19):
to get on the same page with each other, and
or the administration. When they have that type of a stalemate, right,
there's an impast there's nothing they can do to get
on the same page. That is, when the government shut downs,
shuts down, they shut down all non essential activity. What
I'm also telling you is different about this moment is

(28:42):
that this government, this administration, sees essential activities, essential workers,
different than a lot of common sense folks, y'all. So
these are the other things that could be in harm's
way because they are. They will say that even some
of these things that we would deem essential if they
support people of color, if they support immigrant communities, those

(29:04):
things could also be in harms way. Federal courts cold
potentially being in harms way. People who are locked up
waiting on bail to be released on bail may be
in harms way. This is a question that we keep
seeing over and over again. Why won't the Dems buck harder? Y'all?

(29:26):
This is a million dollar question, and it's so frustrating
because there are a lot of people who are representing
the Democratic Party, including our next guest, who you know,
don't don't don't have it in them to compromise or
to capitulate. They are fighting every single day to make

(29:47):
sure that our interests in our needs are met, and
so there are some fighters. I wish I could answer
you why all of them aren't coming together to fight.
And what I would say to you is so much
of this has to do with the districts they represent.
Some members feel like if they revolt or if they
fight back, that that means they will lose their seats.

(30:08):
There are still others, though, who are deciding, even on
the Republican side of the aisle. I think you're going
to see this a lot more, especially as you get
closer to the twenty twenty sixth election, who are saying,
you know what, I got to vote my conscience, and
if that means I lose my seat or I have
to retire after this term, I will because I'm going
to do what's right. I want to be able to

(30:28):
live with myself. I want history to be kind to me.
These are some of the things they're saying to ensure
that they are doing what is represents the American people
in the best way. We have someone who says, I'm
a federal contractor and was financially impacted by the government
shutdown during his first term. I would love to hear

(30:49):
about your story where you're a federal contractor how you
were impacted by that. I think people need to know
when these types of non essential activities are stalled, people
get thrown off there. You don't get your payments in time. Contractors,
subcontractors don't get payments in time. There are some instances
where payroll is halted. People don't get paid if they're

(31:12):
the non essential during a government shut down, the economy
is already crazy. Eggs is already seventy five million dollars. Like,
come on, somebody said Lolo. Are we to hold our
black mayors and governors accountable for asking for National Guard? Yes,
yes you are if they are doing things that directly

(31:32):
put you in harm's way. I did see some pastors
who are saying they also want the National Guard, particularly
in Memphis. You know, it's an interesting time to be
calling on federal support when we see the ways in
which our kids have been stopped and frisked, They have
been profiled, they have been harassed, some of them have
been physically harmed by National Guard and other federal law

(31:56):
enforcement being in cities, including in the district most recently.
So I would definitely suggest holding folks accountable. They said
that they can't be activated in a city without mayor
all approval. That I don't think is true. I believe
that the governor actually has that authority. It's a state
based criteria. If you know, have something different. Fact check

(32:19):
me boo. Who gonna check mayboo? Fact check me boo.
But I believe that it is actually a gubernatorial level
decision on whether or not to activate the state's National Guard.
We have another question, Angela, how can we as a
community help our federal workers who have been severely impacted
by this administration. I think it's a great question. I

(32:40):
would love for us all to be answering that. I
think that somebody should start a fund. I have my
good sister friend of Alicia Butterfield Jones, who has started
a fund to help black women who have been impacted
by the firings, by the mass layoffs, by the elimination

(33:00):
of DEI departments and spaces and corporations, and in the
federal government where DEI was once and equity was once
appreciated and even supported. So those types of funds are
necessary to ensure that people can live and thrive right now.
I think if you have a friend who's been impacted
by a federal layoff, a forced resignation, or an early retirement,

(33:24):
it's a great opportunity in time right now to let
them know where there may be a job announcement, a
contracting opportunity. For those of us who run our own businesses,
this is a great moment for us to bring people
in where we need support and say, hey, I've got
this opportunity, or I have this thing I've been struggling
with how to put it into place. Maybe I can

(33:47):
give you a contract even if it's for a short term,
just to help make ends meet. If you have twenty
dollars or thirty dollars to donate to some fund every month,
including the one Valisia stood up, I think it would
be great. Valisia runs Seed. I can not remember the
name of the fund she started, but Seed is her
organization and you can certainly check her out on Instagram

(34:08):
at Valicia V A. L E. I. S H A
and see how you can donate to the fund that
she's established. Additionally, there's another question, can the Dems. Oh sorry,
thank you, Lolo just sent this to me. Valicia's fund
is not through Seed. It is the Global State of

(34:28):
Women Rapid Relief Fund Global State of Women Rapid Relief Fund,
and you can find more information on that on Instagram.
If you have another question from light Moca, can the
DEM governors, ags and mayors band together in a soft
secession where they withhold federal money? They wouldn't withhold federal money.

(34:54):
Federal money is definitely being withheld from them, but there
are certain ways in which they can withhold the ways
that they interact with the federal government. There are there
are moneies that go into federal government pockets where they
could do that. I know there have been conversations about
this from Illinois to Maryland to some of the other

(35:15):
Northeastern states. Certainly, there are ways that the governors and
the attorneys general. You all know, many of the suits
being filed against the federal government have been led by
these state attorneys general. Those are the kinds of things
that must be done. It's not just a form of resistance.

(35:36):
It's also a way to present a real to mount
a real opposition, and to present some real alternatives to
our people right now in this moment. So there are
those kinds of things happening as well. Oh, here we go, y'all.
This is a hard question, but I'm gonna tell you
my hard truth. Right now, we have Angela. Do you
expect to have free and fair midterm elections? I'm concerned

(36:01):
Ice will wreak havoc in black and brown communities on
election day. Well, I hate to tell y'all this. We
don't have to wait till the midterms. There are mayoral races.
There's a mayoral race. Actually, early voting has already begun
in New Orleans. There is a Virginia gubernatorial race coming up.
We can see what they decide to do in these

(36:24):
races to determine whether or not there will be free,
fair elections. I have a hard time believing and even
saying that we are free and fair elections.

Speaker 2 (36:35):
Now.

Speaker 1 (36:35):
We had the current sitting President of the United States
who was charged in Georgia for asking them to find
some more votes in twenty twenty, so it ain't been
free and fair for some time. I question the outcome
of Stacy Abrams race. I questioned the outcome of Andrew
Gilliams race. Those are twenty eighteen races, right, I also

(36:59):
question now I'm in the twenty twenty two race for
Stacy Abrams. I think free and fair is a you know,
a far cry away from where we are right now
because of the ways in which the Supreme Court gutted
the Voting Rights Act of nineteen sixty five. Again, we're
celebrating that sixtieth anniversary right now. I question whether or

(37:22):
not we can have free and fair elections without the
full protection of the Voting Rights Act, which we do
not have right now. Congress Woman Sewell has introduced on
multiple occasions the Voting Rights Advancement Act. It is passed
the House when the Democrats were in charge multiple times,
I believe three in prior years, and she keeps introducing
it even now and they're still not support Do you

(37:46):
know understand and know that the Voting Rights Act reauthorization
used to be a bipartisan effort, a by partisan effort.
You want to know when it stopped being a bipartisan effort.
I am so happy you asked. It is when Barack
Obama won. So in two thousand and eight, Barack Obama
wins the election for president. They have not been able

(38:10):
to pass another Voting Rights reauthorization Act in a bipartisan
manner since then. This is where we are. This is
where we are. So I'm going back really click to
the Global State of Women Rapid Relief Fund. The link
for that is Global State of Women again, that's Global

(38:31):
Stateofwomen dot com. If you want to donate resources to
support black women who have been left out of the
federal workforce, who have been thank you all so much,
who have been taken out of the federal or the
private sector workforce or on the state level. This is
the fund that our good sister and friend Valicia Butterfield

(38:52):
Jones stood up to support these women who have been impacted.
We are now looking at at who should the public
be holding accountable? Is my next question, Who should the
public be holding accountable forgetting us here? Everyone seems to
be pointing the finger at the other side. Well, there's

(39:13):
a saying, when there's one point finger pointing at you,
it's a whole bunch more pointing this way. I think
that it's a good time for us to be taking
stock on what we did right in this last election cycle,
what we did wrong. Where do we fail to collectively

(39:34):
come together. For the folks who voted third party, where
is your candidate? What is she doing? For the folks
who wanted a Kamala Harris to pass a purity test
even though they knew that they agreed with her on
eighty to eighty five to ninety percent on issues, you

(39:59):
have to figure out if it was worth it. For
those who said, you know what, this election doesn't apply
to me. I'm just going to sit at home. I'm
tired of elections. I want to know if you feel
protected in this environment that we're in now. For the
elected officials who refuse to endorse or endorse late, or
didn't stump or didn't go to their communities and ask

(40:22):
for additional support. I want to ask you if it
was worth it for those of you who decided that
you didn't want another black president, or you didn't want
a woman president, or you you know didn't couldn't stand
with her because of her position on lgbt QIA rights,
or whether or not she was going hard enough for guys.

(40:43):
I want to know if it was worth it. I
can tell you that that is my big sister, and
she is my friend, and I know her heart and
I know where she stands, and we don't agree on
every single issue. But what I know for sure is
I would prefer to have someone in that office who
has experience, who was a prosecuting attorney, who was a

(41:11):
state attorney general, who was a United States senator, who
had experienced as the vice president, who has worked at
every level of government, has always been a public servant,
who understands what HBCU's need. Because she went to one
who understands the importance of coming together geographically, across racial lines,

(41:33):
income lines, all of that, I would have so preferred her.
And I still haven't forgiven this country for what you
did allegedly, because I'm still not sure about these election results.
I'm gonna just end up being an election denier from
this episode, and I'm totally fine with it. But let
me tell y'all, I would have so much rather have
that conversation with her, debate our differences, figure out where

(41:56):
we can find common ground and get there. Rather than
having someone who is ill fitted and unprepared and unwilling
to have any type of conversation unless it's on advancing
the priorities of Project twenty twenty five, I would so
much rather have her. And so we are seeing yet
again why having someone in the White House who has

(42:22):
my way or highway mentality, who was charged with ninety
one felonies dropped down to eighty eight never properly prosecuted.
I want to know. I want to know if we
all agree that it was worth it. I certainly don't
agree with that, right. I know you wanted somebody to blame,

(42:43):
and I know I'm telling you to turn to you.
I'm turning to me too. I want to know if
I did everything that I could have possibly done. I tried,
but maybe there's something else I could have done. I
also want to say this, and it may be an
unpopular opinion, right now I want you all to study
what Merrick Garland did. Study what Merrick Garland did as

(43:05):
the US Supreme Court justice nominee bi Barack Obama, who
never got an opportunity to serve in the Supreme Court.
I'm not mad at that. I actually wanted a black
woman then too. I think that that would have resulted
in a higher turnout for Hillary Clinton in twenty sixteen.

(43:27):
But I want to know how he went from becoming
what would have been a very moderate Supreme Court justice
to somehow Biden advisors and strategists and President Biden himself
thinking that this man was going to be a fierce
advocate as the Attorney General of the United States. I
would have preferred Sally Yates. I would have preferred them

(43:47):
as Eric Holder if he would come back, I would
have preferred they asked Stacy Abrams. I would have preferred
somebody that had a fight in them to ensure that
this man was prosecuted in a timely way. Instead, what
they allowed for was enough time for the former president

(44:08):
to mount a case. Now well now he's the current
president again, but to mount a case to say, you
know what I actually want to see if I could
be immune from any criminal liability if I was acting
in my official capacity. That's where we are now, where
the President of the United States could say, I may
have committed a crime, but I should be immune from

(44:29):
it because I took an oath. Well, because you took
an oath, it should mean that you are not going
to commit a crime to get the job done. How
about taking an oath of office and being the type
of public servant that could do within the best interest
of the people and not your pocketbooks. How about that?

(44:51):
How about you try to do that? So this is
where we are. We are in quite the crisis yet again,
and I want to know what is our next collective
best steps. As I said, the State of the people
for this last government crisis we were in had a

(45:13):
sixty nine and a half hour marathon, and I will
tell y'all at the time, I thought that was our
best way to fight. Now I'm questioning what is our
best way to fight If all of the tools that
we normally use are no longer at our disposal, If
calling our members of Congress does a result in the
type of sea chains that we know we deserve, I

(45:34):
think that we've got to figure out how to do
this differently, And I'm raising with you all now in
this moment that it may have to look different because, sorry,
because the old tools don't work. These people are under
the thumb of a dictator. He wants to be a
dictator so bad that they're willing to do anything that

(45:57):
he says, even if it is at the of people
who voted for them, of people who reside in their districts.
That is a very very challenging place to be. It's
very very challenging. So I just think that we've got
to figure out if we're doing our best. Are you
going to town halls of these members of Congress who

(46:20):
are now refusing to answer your calls and telling them
what you expect to see. Are you are you sending notes?
Are you on social media posting videos that could go
viral telling them why the makeup of their districts dictates
that they need to vote a different way. Are you

(46:40):
ensuring that people with large platforms have the information and
the tools they need to show up to these town
halls to challenge these members of Congress on social media,
to challenge them in press interviews. Are you telling your
local newspaper, your local news outlets this is how this

(47:00):
member of Congress voted, and I want you to know.
Let me bring up a recent example while we still
go through this troubleshooting, and again, thank you all for
your patients. What I want to know is if you
all paid attention to that resolution honoring the life of
Charlie Kirk. Our dear sister and friend, Jasmine Crockett, who

(47:22):
we're hoping joins us before the end of the show today,
said recently that there were only two white members of
Congress Democrats. Two white Democrats who voted no on the
Charlie Kirk resolution. Y'all can get good practice in right

(47:42):
now asking them what the hell they were doing. That's
what this moment requires. It's not a high member of Congress.
So and so I'm just calling because I'm urging you
to vote no on X y Z. That's not what
time we're on. The type of time we're on now
is HI. This is Angela RII calling Member XYZ. I'm

(48:04):
calling you because I need you to understand how detrimental
your vote is. I'm calling you because I need you
to know you've been on the wrong side of history
on the last five votes. I'm calling you because I
want I want to know. I want you to know
that if you continue to vote against our interests, we
will vote you out. Those are your only two options.
You either are with us or you're against us. I
want to be clear about that. And in fact, staff

(48:27):
for so and so, I appreciate you picking up the phone,
but where is your boss. I want to talk to
the Legislative director. I want to talk to the chief
of staff, and in fact, I really want to talk
to Member x YZ because they got me confused. I
will be right outside your office with a full rally.
I'm going to be at the district office every day
trying to figure out just what the hell you doing

(48:49):
because you stay on the wrong side of the issues,
and that is the thing. We have got to figure
this out. We have got to challenge these members in
a different way. And let me just say this, because
I think some of us mess this up. To y'all,
I'm giving you a little primer on how the HEILL works. Unexpectedly,

(49:09):
but it's probably a good time to go through this primer.
Y'all spend a lot of time calling the wrong member.
Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Congresswoman Evad Clark, all
of the CBC members, they don't need these calls. They
gonna vote the right way on the government shutdown. Some
of them messed up on the Charlie Kirk resolution. That's

(49:30):
the story for another day. But on the shutdown, that's
not what you need to call. You need to call
these Republicans. Y'all need to call Speaker Mike Johnson. You
need to call Republican leadership. You need to figure out
what it is they're doing. Because the conscience of the
Congress is going to vote together. The conscience of the
Congress is going to vote together. You need to call

(49:53):
the members of Congress who are confused about how they
got there and who they represent. That's what you got
to call. So there. I saw something recently where there's
a conversation again after the federal government takeover of DC,
where there were some DC folks saying, we need the
Congressional Black Caucus to stand with us on DC statehood.

(50:15):
And I was like, the Congressional Black Cauk has been
with y'all on DC statehood since it was founded in
nineteen seventy one. In nineteen seventy one, the Congressional Black
Caucus went to Richard Nixon with sixty one recommendations of
what would be what would result in the betterment of
Black America, the types of policies that would ensure the

(50:35):
protection and the development and the strengthening and the uplifting
of Black America. One of the key pillars of that
sixty one point recommendation plan was DC statehood. The Congressional
Black Caucus understands, right. So I just got to be
very clear about the fact that the members, the CBC

(50:58):
members are with y'all them other ones, so demand that
they tell you in writing how they're planning to vote.
You can reach out to these members on social media.
You can reach out to them by calling their office.
You can go to their town halls. Go on their
website and see when their next public event is. Go
look on their social media and see when their next
town hall is. I just did a teletown hall actually

(51:20):
with Congresswoman Frederick W. Wilson. It was amazing. Shout out
to you, Congressoman Wilson. You did an amazing, amazing job,
and there were forty thousand. She called me recently, I
think it was last week. She called me last week
and said forty thousand people. Forty thousand of her constituents
were on that teletown hall. People are thirsty for knowledge

(51:41):
in this moment. We just did the CBC Foundations Annual
Legislative Conferences this past week. The theme was made for
this moment. If you tuned into our live show, you
know that we talked about it over and over again.
If you came to any of the sessions, you know
that because I asked everybody to tell us why they
were made for this moment. In fact, in the comments
right now, as we get ready to transition, I want
you all to tell us while you're made for this moment.

(52:03):
We're gonna put some of those up in social on
our stories, and right now it gives me great pleasure.
I'm glad we were able to troubleshoot everything. Congress from A.
Jasmine Crockett is joining us right now. She represents Texas's
Congressional District thirty. My good, sister, how you doing. I'm well?
How are you? I'm good? You sound very chill today.
I'm hype because I've been in here yelling about this

(52:24):
crazy government shutdown. Ma'am. Yeah, let me take off my pen.
You like it before you say, before I get loose.

Speaker 3 (52:31):
Before I get before I start talking stuff. Let me
take my pin.

Speaker 1 (52:35):
You should have left it on you took it, you
had it. You took an oath of office to do
just that, to tell the people the truth, and you
do it every single day before you get into the
shutdown says I want to just acknowledge this because I
think it's important you get hit really hard. The opposition

(52:58):
is coming at you regularly. And Wes Moore joined us
for our live show on Saturday, and he said something
so good that our sister Dawn told him. He said
that when he was running for governor that she told
him was gonna get hard, that people were gonna start
coming at him relentlessly. And when that happens, No, it's
because you're doing everything right, and so you get hit often,

(53:23):
especially from the other side. Sometimes it's internal friendly fire too,
And I just want to remind you in this moment.
I know you know, but sometimes it's good to hear
from your sister friends too. That I want you to
know is because you're doing so much right. And if
there is never anything else to remind you, I hope
you can always hear in your mind what I heard
at the Phoenix Awards dinner Saturday for the CBC Foundation.

(53:46):
You all, when Congresswoman Crockett's name was called, the audience
roared and it gave me goosebumps. It was this beautiful moment,
and I was like, I hope she hears and receives
this love. I know they were cheering for the outfit too,
but I think they were mostly cheering for the way
in what you represent us so well. So I want
to tell you thank you and I love you before

(54:06):
this audience as well. You are always representing us even
when it's hard, So I want you to know we
see you, Sis.

Speaker 3 (54:13):
I love you so very much and I'm happy that
you are still in this space. For those of you
that don't know the full story of Angela Rye, she
is definitely not new to this. She is as true
as they come, and there's so much that she does
behind the scenes that y'all will never know about until

(54:33):
she puts it in whatever best selling book she decides
is going to be brought forth next right, But that's
what this work takes. It takes being able to build coalitions,
coalitions that are inside as well as outside, as well
as understanding the rules to the game so that hopefully
you can figure out how to maneuver. And I think

(54:55):
that one of the things about the moment that we're
living in is that we have somebody who does not
care about the rule, and so he out here wilding.
But the rest of us know that if we come
anywhere near crossing the line of like breaking any rule,
we know that it's not gonna be friendly fire. It's
just gonna be fire. We've seen how they've acted with

(55:16):
our siss, Tis James. We know that he believes in
going after his political enemies. We saw what he did
with my good siss who sits at the which one
is she?

Speaker 1 (55:30):
Oh, at the agency she's at she's at she's the
only black woman Federal Board of Governors.

Speaker 2 (55:39):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (55:39):
Ever, for I'm like, I was like, yeah, So I
was like, but we met barely passed the Civics test today,
but we did pass.

Speaker 3 (55:51):
But that but that is the issue, Like, so you know,
I have to make sure that I am always checking
myself and staying within the rules. You saw that I
was pulling off my pen because I didn't want any
drama because of something that I said.

Speaker 1 (56:04):
So it's all those things.

Speaker 3 (56:06):
So it's like, how do you function within the rules
against someone who is lawless?

Speaker 1 (56:13):
It is a wild dynamic to be in.

Speaker 3 (56:16):
But I appreciate the fact that there is some resistance
and opposition coming in the form of this shut down.
I don't appreciate the harm that is going to exist
as relates to all American people, especially our federal government workers,
who I love and adore and I appreciate. But sadly enough,

(56:37):
they've been violating the law and going after them since
the day he swore in. The illegal riffs that have
taken place, and even some of the things that the
courts has ruled as being lawful, they've not been smart.
We know that these agencies haven't been at full capacity anyway,
and now we're talking about just the big hit that

(56:59):
it's at actually happening to our economy overall, because the
largest employer period in the United States is the federal government,
so pulling out that many workers impacts all of us.
So yeah, so as relates to the shutdown, Listen, the
last time we had a shut down, it was Trump.
The longest shutdown we've ever had, it was under Trump.

(57:22):
So don't get caught up in this nonsense that it's
the Democrat's fault. You know, the bad part is that
people don't understand civics or they listen to people that
are gaslighting them and the facts of the facts. The
Republicans control everything.

Speaker 2 (57:39):
Now.

Speaker 3 (57:39):
There are people that want to talk about the filibuster.
We can talk about the philibuster if you want to
talk about the philibuster. But the reality is that y'all
control everything. You control every single lever right now. So
when you're in control, that means that it is up
to you to figure out how it gets done. When
Joe Biden was, you know, he had a house and

(58:00):
he had a Senate, he was able to get the
largest bill that we've ever seen as relates to infrastructure.
He got that passed. He didn't have sixty in the Senate.
He was able to get the Chips and Science Act done,
he didn't have sixty in the Senate. So people expect
you to be able to govern when you have the majority.

(58:22):
That means you're just in the best negotiation space. But
when you sit up there and you basically shun the
people that you need and then you want to come
around and just be like, well, just go do this
I'm sorry, but we not your flunkeys. And that is
not what we campaigned on. We didn't campaign on making
life worse or more harmful for people. So I don't

(58:43):
really know what the negotiating space looks like. I don't
sit at the negotiation table, but I can tell you
that usually when you go in and you negotiate with somebody,
the first rule is that you have to at least
be on the page where you can say we're going
to enter into honest negotiations.

Speaker 1 (59:02):
Right.

Speaker 3 (59:03):
Imagine walking into buy a car and you know that
you've got cash to pay for the car, and the
dealer tells you, yes, I will accept forty thousand dollars
for this car if you pay cash. And then you
pull up with the cash and you're like, give me
the keys, and then he's like, I've took your forty racks,
but I'm gonna need another five.

Speaker 1 (59:24):
You gonna look at him and be like, you can
go to hell because that's not what we agree to. Well,
that's exactly what's happened.

Speaker 3 (59:30):
We've seen that Democrats have entered into negotiations as it
relates to getting other funding bills passed, and as soon
as Donald Trump came in, he decided to claw back
whatever he wanted to clawback. He decided to illegally just
stop money from going out, whether it was to USAID
or USAID or otherwise. So we also have to have

(59:51):
assurances that even if we say, okay, we will do X,
we have to know that you're not gonna pull back
X and do what you want to do anyway. So
we really are in a bad way, and I need
the American people to understand how many problematic dynamics we
have in this moment.

Speaker 1 (01:00:10):
Sis. I want to ask you this too, because I
think it's so important. I keep getting asked. I'm gonna
be perfectly and transparent and honest with you. I keep
getting asked, what do we do, Like, you know, like
what do the what does the American people need to
do in this moment? Not just about the shutdown? But
I don't know if you're sensing this even from last
week at the conference, like people are so hungry for

(01:00:33):
like give me something I can do, because it feels
like we're grasping at straws. You talk about we, you know,
having people who know the rules of the game. I
got to be honest with you. I don't know these rules.
There are no rules, and so I am struggling to
tell people what to do and what and how to
do it because every like every tactic that I have

(01:00:53):
at my disposal from when I worked on the Hill,
which was fifty gizillion years ago, now it's changed, right,
And so I want to know one for you? Does
that make you deepen into the fight? Right? Or does
it do you? Are you ever a point where you're like, Okay,
I'm discouraged because this is some nonsense that I just
can't get with. I think it's important for people to

(01:01:15):
understand Jasmine the human versus the fighting Congresswoman Crockett, and
how you navigate those two things, because I bet you
a lot of folks are feeling that dichotomy. I know,
I am yeah, Angela is asking this question because she
knows the answer. No, I'm serious, because you might be like.

Speaker 3 (01:01:35):
She knows that there are times that she hits me
up and I'm over it. I am like, people just
don't get that, like I do this because I legitimately
like love this country and I love my people like period.

Speaker 1 (01:01:51):
That's it.

Speaker 3 (01:01:51):
That's it, that's all. There is nothing else. Life is
really complicated for me to navigate right now, from the
death threats to the death threats to you know, also
just a lack of security that they provide considering the
death threats to like the fact that I'm used to

(01:02:14):
working for myself and being able to go out and
dictate how much money I bring in.

Speaker 1 (01:02:18):
So here it is, I.

Speaker 3 (01:02:20):
Have these death threats, I have these costs that are
associated with death threats to try to keep me safe,
and then they're not really deciding that they're not going
to participate in that. But I also have like these
chains on me because I am a worker, right, Like,
I mean, anybody that's known me since I could work,
people used to talk about me all the time. I
work three jobs when I was in law school and

(01:02:42):
was still top of my class. Like I hustle. I
work hard for everything that I want. So like, I've
got all of these parameters, and there are times that
I get so frustrated because I go out, I get
all of the heat that's thrown on me, and I
don't ever know who are on my side will even
back me up if somebody comes for me, right, But

(01:03:04):
then I get a chance to actually be with the
people you talk about ALC. I was not feeling ALC.
I did not want to do ALC. I was like,
this feels like the wrong thing to be doing in
this moment, Like we're having parties. There is nothing so
party about like right now, Like people are losing. And
when I say people, I mean all people, but definitely

(01:03:26):
Black folk are losing. So I just was really torn
about ALC as a whole. And I was like, ain't
nobody comes to this, Like people are holding on to
their money because of all of the uncertainty. I was
just not feeling any of it. And like most things,
showing up and seeing the people that's where I get

(01:03:47):
my energy from.

Speaker 1 (01:03:49):
I had a chance to sit down.

Speaker 3 (01:03:50):
A group of us sat down with the Vice President
on Saturday morning, and it's my first time seeing her
in person since the certification of the election. We went
over to her office in the Senate prior to her
having to stand up there and do her job. We

(01:04:11):
went we had like a sit down, a pow wow
with her. So this is my first time seeing her
in about eight months or so. And she was talking
about how we have to get out a DC and
she wasn't just talking about physically, but like mentally, because
you can get just drained by like being here, and

(01:04:32):
she was like, you gotta basically touch grass. You got
to actually see the people, talk to the people. And
that is the thing that keeps me in this fight,
you know, the whole Laura Lumer thing. You brought that
up when I missed y'all, which I had to because
of the way my life is set up. I could

(01:04:53):
not go through the front of the convention center, so
I didn't get to go live with y'all. They had
to bring me around the back to get into the
convention center. So like even my routes getting into buildings
are changed sometimes on how large.

Speaker 1 (01:05:08):
Of a gathering it is.

Speaker 3 (01:05:09):
And literally we're supposed to be going to get me
like fitted for my bulletproof vests, like this is not
Like I wake up days and I'm like why right?
And then I see people and I hear the stories
of people, and most importantly young people that are inspired,
and I think, Okay, God, I get it now. I

(01:05:32):
get why you chose me for this moment. But I
can tell y'all that much like many of you, I
want to give up for different reasons though. And again,
even when the Lumer situation happened. I was flying in
and out of New York on that day to speak
at Unga, so I had no idea, like I'm busy,

(01:05:53):
like I'm working right, like I'm working. And it wasn't
until I got back to DC that I was made
aware of what was going on. But by that time,
the Internet had dragged her for filth and like there
was nothing to be said, like y'all left, no drums,
like y'all ate y'all ate her up, y'all.

Speaker 1 (01:06:10):
Still eating her up? And again you know what?

Speaker 3 (01:06:14):
Like seeing that happen completely organically, like people just being
like not on our watch, it makes me say, yes,
I have to stay in this fight, like these people
are out there saying you will not come for somebody
that is always protecting and fighting for us. So who
am I to give up in that moment? So yes,

(01:06:37):
DC may let me down in so many ways, so
very often, but every time I am given an opportunity
to just be with the people, that is where I
am re energized and when I refocus and say, this
is just what has to be done in this moment.
So I do want to say mad love to each

(01:06:59):
of you when you are trying to figure out things
that you can do. Just know that literally y'all are
keeping me in this game from the small dollar donations.
I think I was looking at our donations for this quarter,
and we've had one hundred and maybe twenty something thousand people.
That's a lot of people. One hundred and twenty thousand

(01:07:20):
people so far this quarter have contributed to me. They've
contributed a dollar, five dollars, ten dollars. It makes a difference,
like that money adds up. And so when I'm having
to pay for security, like, it's y'all that keep me safe,
right when I'm getting trolls on the internet, it's y'all
that are coming.

Speaker 1 (01:07:38):
To my to have my back.

Speaker 3 (01:07:41):
And so I just really want to say thank you
because when I do hit those lows, it's always y'all
that bring me back. And so, yes, there are things
that you can do. I just gave you examples, even
if it's a matter of making sure when they come
for somebody that you know is doing things purely because

(01:08:02):
they want a better country, have their back. Get on
the internet and drag them people for filth. Don't make
them have to figure out how to amplify and really
make a statement that helps. Also, Unfortunately, you know, I'm
a real one, so I'm not gonna lie to you
and say that there's a ton that we can do
in this exact moment for these exact things. But they

(01:08:25):
didn't get here overnight. So I need people to be patient.
They have been working for fifty years to overturn Row.
It took them fifty years. Now we ain't got fifty
years to be working on some of this stuff. But
just understand that progress comes, but sometimes it doesn't come
as fast as we want it to come. So some
of the things that we have going on right now,

(01:08:45):
we know that November fourth is another election day. It's
going to be a big election day in the state
of California. Prop fifty is something that I need everyone
to vote yes on. I need you posting on social
media about it. I need you talking to your friends,
families and about Prop fifty and why it matters. If
you are looking for us to kind of semi immediately

(01:09:07):
stop some of the pain. Then we have to win
the House. I don't know what our chances of winning
the Senate are, but we are in good position.

Speaker 1 (01:09:15):
That is why he is trying to rig the game.
Because he knows the change it the maps exactly.

Speaker 3 (01:09:21):
We should be ready to go ahead and take the
House and start to really get some accountability. So yeah,
we need to vote yes on Prop fifty on November four.
We also know that there's a gubernatorial race in the
state of Virginia. Virginia right now has a Republican that
controls that state. We need to get a Democrat that
is going to be in power. You talked about Wes Moore.

(01:09:43):
Wes Moore was able to push back on this administration
as the governor. So to protect those that are in Virginia,
we need a governor that will push back. So it's
important that we make sure everybody and anybody in Virginia
gets out and they actually vote on November fourth, not
only for governor.

Speaker 1 (01:10:01):
And not for that black lady, that black lady crazy.
I love black people, but some people are just skinned
forul she is exhibit A. Yeah y'all, yeah, no, she wild.

Speaker 3 (01:10:11):
But also every House member is up in Virginia. So like,
look at what the state of California did as it
relates to ice. They passed a bill that said no
law enforcement can be out here in these streets with
no masks. Like part of fighting back is our states
kind of rising up to protect their people, just like
our city councils can do some of the same.

Speaker 1 (01:10:32):
So you've got that election November four. You introduced a
bill like that in the House too. I know that
you're talking about the elections, but I do want to
say this. What Jasmine's bill does is the moral thing
to do. I can't remember the acronym for the so
that they have to be unmasked. What is she introduced
a lot of bills, you're claire, that's it, that's it.

(01:10:53):
But the thing is it is designed to make sure
that these federal operatives, federal law enforcement agents, cannot be
covered up while they're harassing our children and our elders
and our people on American streets. Y'all need to tell
your members to vote for that. There should be a
motion to discharge. That's what you do. There should be
a motion to discharge to make them have to vote

(01:11:13):
on this bill that Actually, you know what, I may
I may discharge it. I may discharge it. That's a
that's good. I think you should make them be on
the record for that and call every one of them
out when they won't sign on to that, So get
your back.

Speaker 3 (01:11:28):
Is that bill and for sure and just so y'all
understand discharge that's what we're trying to do on the
Epstein files. It is very difficult to get a discharge
petition done, but we are one signature away from getting
it done on the Epstein file, and I don't think
that we've actually had enough signatures, which it takes two
hundred and eighteen signatures to be able to then basically

(01:11:52):
usurp the Speaker and get a bill to the floor.
So this is kind of like when people go out
and they petition their government. Sometimes if the government don't
do what you want them to do, they can do
petitions in certain states. That's basically what it is.

Speaker 1 (01:12:05):
We're saying.

Speaker 3 (01:12:06):
Listen, the Speaker is the only one that can put
a bill on the floor, but if he refuses to,
then we as House members can come together and say no,
we're going to do this and we're going to override you. Well,
right now, we have four Republicans on the bill, We've
got every Democrat on the bill, and the last Democrat
that would be two hundred and eighteen to sign she

(01:12:26):
just won her seat. And he refuses to swear her in.
In fact, the Democrats went to the floor today because
we are in a performer session. They have sworn in
Republicans just this term during performa. They could have sworn
her in. They refuse to swear her in because they
don't want her to sign that because then that starts
the process of having to put this on the floor

(01:12:49):
by the time we get back into session and actually
vote on it. But I can discharge this. And that's
another thing that Angela brings up a lot of times.
If you're a Democrat and you're represented by Republican you
don't want to call them.

Speaker 1 (01:13:01):
You want to call the Democrats.

Speaker 3 (01:13:02):
You need to call the people they represent, you them
and tell them what it is that you want them
to do. Also talk to like your Republican neighbors and
friends or whatever, tell them too. Like a lot of
this stuff, like when we look at things like SNAP
benefits under the shutdown, snap benefits will continue for approximately
in additional thirty days. But rural America uses more SNAP

(01:13:25):
benefits than urban America.

Speaker 1 (01:13:26):
They I pulled when MW was on earlier. I pulled
the ZIP call with the highest number of SNAP beneficiaries
is in South Dakota. I mean that's okay. I just,
I just, I just want you to be clear. Yeah,
zero products.

Speaker 3 (01:13:44):
They try to make the face of SNAP and also
don't buy into their stereotypes. They try to make the
face of all violence be black. But we know that
as we have just endured. I don't know how many
shootings here recently. I think there were four mass shootings
in like twenty four hours here recently. The face of
mass shoodents ain't black, folks. I just want to be
clearing it. It's white, homegrown males. That's the face of it, right,

(01:14:11):
The face of SNAP benefits. It's not the welfare queen.
That was a whole thing that they pushed out there, right,
so that in people's minds they would believe that it
was some hood black woman or whatever. That is not
the face of SNAP benefits. The face is rule white America.

Speaker 1 (01:14:35):
That is the face of SNAP benefits. Right.

Speaker 3 (01:14:37):
So when I fight for it, I'm not just fighting
for my constituents, I'm fighting actually harder for theirs. Same
thing with Medicaid. Medicare all of the government assistance. The
numbers are going to be higher in those areas, so
you know it is unfortunate that this is where we
find ourselves. But until we start having conversations that are

(01:14:58):
with everybody so that we can educate even those and say, listen,
you're about to lose your health care, you're about to
lose your ability to eat.

Speaker 1 (01:15:07):
Your member voted for it. Right.

Speaker 3 (01:15:10):
But again, we've got these elections on November fourth, New Jersey.
If you're in New Jersey, definitely show up for that
gubernatorial race. It's a tight one. We have an opportunity
again to make sure that we've got a Democrat holding
that governor's mansion. So we saw what happened when Democrats
are fired up and they can focus. We ended up

(01:15:32):
with two Democratic senators out of the state of Georgia
because there was nothing else going on. So if you've
got that extra energy right now, find one of these
elections that you really are passionate about. Make phone calls
for Prop fifty, make phone calls for some of these
state representatives that are running in Virginia, or the gubernatorial
candidate or the goubernatorial candidate that is in New Jersey.

(01:15:56):
And we have an opportunity in Tennessee because we have
a special election because yet another Republican was up to
no good, so he decided he was going to go
ahead and get out. And so you know, I mean,
is it a long shot to think that we can
flip the seat. Maybe, but can it make a huge
difference if we flip that seat in the immediacy. Yes,

(01:16:17):
And we have been overperforming by no less than ten
points right now and all of our special elections. So
research that Tennessee race for Mark Green seat and maybe
we can end up with a random pickup. We did
it when we took the George Santo seat last time.

Speaker 1 (01:16:35):
That's true.

Speaker 3 (01:16:36):
Yeah, we flipped that seat. So it's not impossible. But
we've got a dream big and we've got to work hard,
and so I say put your energy into whatever is
in front of us right right now, and then ultimately
we've got to turn our attention to the midterms.

Speaker 1 (01:16:52):
That is true, And on that there's a happy note
that I want to end with, because I know you've
got a lot to do today, including holding the line
for the House of Representatives if they can find the line.
But we have our dear sister and friend who's joining us,
who's also a fighter for the people, but in a
different way. She founded win with Black Women and Joe

(01:17:14):
taka Edie and your sorority sister is coming on there,
she is is coming on, she is is gonna share
with us. She didn't get an opportunity to give her
remarks after winning one of the Phoenix Awards this past Saturday,
so I said I would yield the floor for my
podcast to do that, but I want to make sure

(01:17:35):
y'all get to love on each other before congress Woman
Crockett has to go. Joe, Yeah, so I'm gonna jump.
But congrats to both of you.

Speaker 3 (01:17:44):
I don't know if Angela made it clear that she
won finish award as well, but congrats to both of you.
And you know, one of the greatest parts probably about
Phoenix was just the fact that they took time to
specifically acknowledge black women, something that unfortunately this country still

(01:18:05):
has not gotten right. And so I am so happy
to say that the Caucus and the Foundation understood the
assignment and recognize the work that people see out front
as well as how much we labor behind closed doors,
and they decided to acknowledge your mini works. You both

(01:18:25):
are invaluable to this movement. Black women are invaluable to
every movement. And I cannot wait till the history books
are written about just the courageous things that you've done,
the innovative things that you have done to number one,
make sure that people are woke, but also to make
sure that we are moving this country forward and we

(01:18:47):
are never looking back. So thank you and congratulations to
both of you, amazing human beings, because besides the fact
that y'all are badasses when it comes to being in
these streets your heart, you're just good people. And I
can't say that about everybody, So.

Speaker 1 (01:19:06):
She wouldn't Joe, you're on mute. Joe, You're on mute
in case you're talking, Joe.

Speaker 4 (01:19:24):
You would think that I would have this right after
about five years on when with black women calls. But
I have to say progress women, Crockett. You know, I
often say if I am in a foxhold, there are
a few people that I want to be in a
foxhold with, And let me tell you, you are absolutely
number one on that list of who I want to
be in a foxhold with because you are a fighter.
You are representative of what it means to be a

(01:19:45):
black woman who understands the call to action, and I
just want to personally thank you for all that you do,
all that you endure, and just the way that you
lead with power and conviction, and you speak truth to
power even when it's a uncomfortable and I think it's
important for us to not only lift that up and
celebrate it because people will try you. And the thing

(01:20:09):
that you do is that you keep going despite what
anybody has to say or these these comments that these
these folks, and you know, I get real piping mad.
And you know that because at last time I checked,
there ain't nothing out of your name.

Speaker 5 (01:20:23):
I won't even go there because I know.

Speaker 1 (01:20:24):
We live right now.

Speaker 4 (01:20:25):
But let me tell you, I want to say to
those who want to ever, I actually Angela, may I.

Speaker 1 (01:20:30):
Please you may you may.

Speaker 5 (01:20:31):
You got to say this.

Speaker 4 (01:20:34):
Right because I've been wanting to say this because that
was a certain somebody I'm not even gonna give her
name any air, but she decided that she wanted to
get twitter fingers or ex figures of whatever kind of
figures that you want to call it, and that she
wanted to call my sore war, my congresswoman, my sister,
our sister, our leader out of her name. She wanted

(01:20:55):
to call her ghetto. And it ain't nothing already black women. Yes,
one thing she did get right is black women are
leading in this country. But one thing that she needs
to understand is that what she's not gonna do is
call us out of our name and think that it
is okay, and to think that we forgot about it,
because we have not. Because one thing that I will

(01:21:15):
say is that we will not sit back and let
them continue to call us out of our name and
to do whatever they want to say when we're doing
what we're supposed to do is representing our people, and
that's what you do. Congresswoman Jasmin Crockett, So, I hope
the lady is watching. I hope you watch it.

Speaker 1 (01:21:31):
Well. If she not watching, we're gonna make sure we
add her in a clip. We see you. You don't
want these problems, I would say, like a West Coast person,
but Joe takes about to do her speech, So I'm
gonna say anyway, Jazzman, at least she took her pin offs.
Since we love you, thank you so much for spending
so much time with us. We are praying your strength.

(01:21:51):
And if we need to get a bulletproof vest, we
gonna get it. I'm gonna get you a helmet too,
because we need you to keep your heart, your mind,
and everything protected. And we definitely got your front and
your back. Sure you're lucky, prob. We love you sis. Byebye,
Joe Taka Edie. I am going to yield the floor
and the screen, but before I do, I just want
you all to know this. Joe Taka Edie is my

(01:22:15):
sister for a long time. She's been in movement work
for a while in Double ACP Senior advisor, still very
active with n DOUBLEACP and runs at her own strategy firm.
And on top of all of that, during COVID, saw
fit that black women had a space to gather, to
come together, to strategize, to encourage one another and runs

(01:22:36):
these amazing calls every other Sunday for win with Black women.
Because of Joe Teika, black women are winning even more.
She is the person who was behind the one hundred
plus thousand Black women who came together as well as
other allies and supporters for Kamala Harris shortly after she
announced that she in fact would be the Democratic nominee.

(01:22:58):
And Joe Taika does so much on the scene, behind
the scenes, on the side of the scenes to make
sure that we are uplifted in power, whether it is
selling a book to the audience, whether it is running
for office, or having someone's back when they have found
themselves in the crosshairs of the man. And we know
the man is finding us in the cross hairs more
and more every single day. But it is for that

(01:23:19):
reason that she was recognized by this year's Annual Legislative
Conference co chairs as one of the Phoenix Award winners.
I was one as well. I am grateful. It's not
about me right now, so is Kamala Harris, our forever MVP.
But Joe Teika Edie has the floor right now to
share her remarks with you all. You can take me
off screen, y'all, let her have a moment.

Speaker 4 (01:23:41):
Well, thank you so much to you, my sister Angela Raie,
And I will say that when I look at that fotsho,
you are definitely a sister that would be.

Speaker 1 (01:23:49):
In there with me.

Speaker 4 (01:23:50):
I am very grateful for this opportunity and thank you.
And I'm going to share the remarks that I was
going to share on Saturday night. So first of all,
I just want to start off by saying I am
so deeply honored to stand here tonight to receive the

(01:24:12):
Phoenix Award alongside my sisters are Forever Vice President Kamala
Harris and my sister Angela Rye.

Speaker 5 (01:24:21):
This is humbling beyond measure. To receive this award.

Speaker 4 (01:24:25):
From my friend and my sister, my SOROL Senator Angela
Alsinbrooks makes it all the more meaningful. I want to
thank the Congressional Black Caucus, the conscious of our Congress,
and I want to think it's members past and present
is staff for being the moral compass in times what
our nation has lost his way. I also want to

(01:24:46):
take a moment of personal privilege to thank my family
and my friends because they are my foundation. I am
a daughter of a small town in South Carolina, Johnsonville,
South Carolina. I grew up on a dirt road watching
mister Jim Clyiver fight for us every single day. I
was raised by parents who believe that faith and hard

(01:25:09):
work would carry you further than fear ever would. My
father em and Edie gave me the discipline and the vision.
And my mother, Leonora Abraham Edie may her soul rest
in internal peace, gave me love, courage, and the roadmap.

Speaker 5 (01:25:25):
For my life.

Speaker 4 (01:25:26):
She is here with me tonight, and I honor not
only my mother, but all Black women like her, women
who soul, who sacrifice, who labor without recognition, but who
seeds had made it possible for all of us to
stand in this very room tonight. I do not accept
this award for myself, but I accept it on behalf

(01:25:48):
of the sisters of women with black women, and on
behalf of the forty four thousand and the additional one
hundred thousand allies who came together and answered the call
and helped shift this nation. I accept this on behalf
of the ninety two percent of Black women who election
after election hold the line for democracy and often do

(01:26:12):
it without any recognition and sometimes even a thank you.
But let me be clear, this is a time that
is calling us all to action. This is not the
time to whisper. We must war. This is not the
time to shrink. We must rise. This is not the

(01:26:33):
time to waiver. We must focus.

Speaker 5 (01:26:36):
We are living in times of chaos.

Speaker 4 (01:26:39):
Our freedoms are under attack, our bodies, our votes, our schools,
our safety, our very stories. And yet in this chaos
we must have clarity. And if you have ever wondered,
what might you have done during the height of the
civil rights movement. If you ever wondered if you would

(01:26:59):
have mark with doctor King, Might you have called to
action with Malcolm X? Would you have written like Baldwin,
use your artistry like Ruby d and Ozzie Davis. Might
you have sung a song of freedom like Marvin Gay
or Nina Simone a put pen to paper like Baldwin?
Might you have organized like Rustin? Or if you've ever asked,

(01:27:24):
would you have convened like doctr Hype? You don't need
to wonder anymore because this is your civil rights movement,
and this is our movement. Doctor Kreta Scott King reminded
us that freedom is never one in one generation. It
must be fought and one in every generation.

Speaker 1 (01:27:46):
And that means.

Speaker 5 (01:27:47):
Us, and that means now.

Speaker 4 (01:27:51):
One thing that I know for sure, and two things
that I know for certain is that organized people will
defeat organized chaos every day, all day, any day, but
only if we act. So tonight I beg and ask
the question, who are you and what are you willing
to do? Because in this moment of deep chaos, silence

(01:28:13):
is not an option, Retreat is not a strategy, and
shrinking will not be our story.

Speaker 5 (01:28:19):
We are the daughters and.

Speaker 4 (01:28:21):
Sons of those who endure the unimaginable and still believe
in the impossible. We are the heirs to greatness, bound
by broken chains, but molded into boundless excellence. And much
like the phoenix that we celebrate tonight, we will rise
from the fire. The fire will not consume us, it
will refine us. We will not be buried, but we

(01:28:45):
will be planted. And what is planted will certainly and
always grow. For such a time as this, we, my people,
my brothers and sisters, we shall rise. I pray that
we are called to our conviction and that we were
at and that we never forget that we are indeed

(01:29:06):
the power.

Speaker 5 (01:29:07):
Thank you God, best peace, love and blessings.

Speaker 1 (01:29:11):
Thank you. Yay y'all. I love it. It's so good.
It's so good. It's so good. Congratulations on this prestigious honor.
There's a member of Congress spouse who reached out and
was talking about it's a pinnacle award, and it is,
and there's not anyone more deserving than you. I've wanted

(01:29:32):
to make sure that we had this opportunity to do
this together, to celebrate together, and also for an opportunity
for our audience to hear your very powerful words, So
thank you for sharing those. This has been a whole
black women's show, and what better way to end a
black women's show than the one who make sure that
we stay winen with black women. I love you, Joe Taking,

(01:29:53):
I love you going. Let people know how to find you.

Speaker 5 (01:29:58):
I'm always for the movement. Go to win.

Speaker 4 (01:30:00):
If you can only go to one place, go to
win with black women. Go to at win with black women.
On all socials, you can find us, you want to
find me. I'm at Joe, Taika, Edie and on all
social platforms. But we look forward to engaging and on
most Sunday nights. If you're a black woman who share
our values, who share our values, we look forward to
you joining us on a Sunday.

Speaker 1 (01:30:20):
Night, who share our values. Emphasis on sharing our values.
I love you, Sys, Thank you so much to our
viewing audience. I know this has been a slightly longer
Native lamp Pod, but it's been so good. Thank you
all so much for tuning in. If you have not
yet subscribed, make sure you do that on YouTube and
Native Lampod, and of course on iHeart Ihearts Radio app,

(01:30:43):
and anywhere you get your podcasts check us out. Every
Thursday is our main pod, solo pods most Tuesdays, and
we have some on Mondays as well. We have a
special treat coming up for O one hundredth episode, so
I hope you all will stay tuned for that. I
don't mind if y'all start guessing in the comments what
might be happening for that one hundred the episode. The
news will be breaking very very soon. Until next time.

(01:31:05):
Welcome home, y'all. I'll see you soon bike this government
shutdown though Native Lampard is a production of iHeartRadio in

(01:31:25):
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Why this Government Shutdown Could Be Deadly | Angela Rye SoloPod

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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;}Why this Government Shutdown Could Be Deadly | Angela Rye SoloPod