Your Rest is Selfish

This week hosts Tiffany Cross, Angela Rye, and Andrew Gillum interview Atlanta’s former mayor–and now GA gubernatorial candidate–Keisha Lance Bottoms. And we’ll respond to some of your criticism… 

 

Last week we did an episode about migrant rights that some of y’all pushed back on in the comments. Some challenged the notion that we ought to stand alongside communities who, according to some, do not stand alongside the Black community. Moreover, we hear your criticism that y’all want to know what to do and not necessarily just a lecture. We’re here for this back-and-forth, let’s talk. 

 

Gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms tells us what she learned from Stacey Abrams near-miss in Georgia, offers a thought or two on the situation at FAMU, and opens up about her strategy to win rural voters. It’s not all about the ATL y’all! 

 

NLP will be joining the State of the People tour next Saturday 5/31 in Jackson Mississippi! Find out more at https://stateoftheppl.com/

 

And of course we’ll hear from you! If you’d like to submit a question, check out our tutorial video: http://www.instagram.com/reel/C5j_oBXLIg0/ and send to @nativelandpod. 

 

We are 530 days away from the midterm elections. Welcome home y’all! 

 

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We want to hear from you! Send us a video @nativelandpod and we may feature you on the podcast. 

 

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Watch full episodes of Native Land Pod here on YouTube.

Native Land Pod is brought to you by Reasoned Choice Media.

 

Thank you to the Native Land Pod team: 

 

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. 

Theme music created by Daniel Laurent.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Native lamp Pod is the production of iHeart Radio in
partnership with Reason Choice Media.

Speaker 2 (00:04):
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.

Speaker 3 (00:07):
Welcome, Welcome home.

Speaker 1 (00:08):
You guys, this is episode eighty eighty. Like Grady, if
you know about Atlanta, you know what I mean. We
are your hosts. Welcome to Native Lampod. I'm Tiffany Cross
here with Angela Rye and Andrew Gillam. What's up you guys?

Speaker 4 (00:21):
Can we talk.

Speaker 3 (00:24):
Because he let me show you week Welcome home, y'all.

Speaker 5 (00:33):
This was.

Speaker 4 (00:36):
Yo, show up, up, up, tip say something else.

Speaker 1 (00:40):
Let me show you Andrew and we're thrilled to be
here with you guys, because.

Speaker 6 (00:48):
More exciting.

Speaker 3 (00:51):
Every week.

Speaker 1 (00:55):
This is why when we're not we love being together,
but when we're not in the same place, it gets
a little challenging. So anyway, welcome home. We got a
lot to get into today. I'm really excited that we
have a guest joining us, Mayor Keith ha Lance Bottoms,
the former mayor of Atlanta who kicked off her gubernatorial

(01:17):
bid in Georgia this week. We'll be joining us shortly,
but we have other stuff to get into too, So
do you guys have other topics? You want to talk
about or are you going to save it off for
the mayor.

Speaker 6 (01:27):
I would not mind talking about the hell Andrew's been
through a FAM You, and that's something we can also
talk to the mayor about as a FAM You rattler ourself. Yes,
do you hear half right now?

Speaker 1 (01:39):
He doesn't your audience, you can see what we're talking about.

Speaker 6 (01:43):
Section wait until like this latter half of my sentences.

Speaker 4 (01:49):
It did sound like the end of the sentence.

Speaker 6 (01:50):
You know what? Actually, you know what? Tip I got
to get him right now, keep saying amen. I also
want to talk about everything that's been going on at
FAM You because it is just been Oh now you
want to be quiet, because.

Speaker 1 (02:04):
I am curious to hear the not be complicit. Okay,
he does it all the time. I am curious to
hear the mayor's response from that. As you all know,
she is an alum of FAM You and this week,
Andrew you did your solo pot on everything happening at
FAM You, and we've also talked about it on the episode.

Speaker 3 (02:21):
So yeah, I'm eager to hear it. So let's get
into it.

Speaker 6 (02:27):
Well. As the honorary rattler, I am I just want
you all to know. I'm also wearing fear of God
today in the spirit of solidarity, as y'all know. Jerry
Lorenzo also University.

Speaker 4 (02:38):
Yes, it is not a coincidence that so many of
the people that with whom we know, and even the listeners. No,
Noah Rattler, because fam you is the number one producer
look beach you laureate degree holders. Yeah, it's the single
largest single campus HBCU. So it's right that we should,
you know, have a role in producing.

Speaker 6 (03:00):
Instead of paying homage. Today we're paying homage.

Speaker 4 (03:08):
Y'all.

Speaker 6 (03:09):
Don't get it. Listen to the last show. What you
said if I get flowed out?

Speaker 4 (03:14):
Yeah, I said that you had us flute out of
Detroit or wherever it is you are. You know we
have problem.

Speaker 6 (03:19):
Well, I wanted you guys to get fluid out to
everywhere the State of the People tour would be. I
wanted you to get flood out to Atlanta, to Richmond.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
You brought that up, Angela, because we will be in Jackson, Mississippi.
So if you have not signed up for staying the
Tour of the People there, I think the people of
the tour of the thing.

Speaker 6 (03:42):
Did you know what I said when he came a
greet us. He was like, I just want to greet everybody.
It's the state of the people. State the people said,
sitting very very Are y'all not going in Los Angeles
where we land on it?

Speaker 1 (03:58):
Well, we'll talk about that after we're still there are
some off camera folks who I think we're still time
to get that together. But I want to say really
quickly a topic that I wanted to get into you guys,
so you all know I read all your comments, So
please make sure that you're subscribed to our channel, that
you're liking it, that you're sharing it, that you're telling people,
because it really does feel like you all are community

(04:19):
with us, and so I read all of the things
that you guys say, mostly on YouTube. I read Instagram too,
but it really it feels like we're in conversation, in
constant conversation, and I'm always very interested in how people
receive the show. And I love hearing your thoughts because
people weigh in on all of our topics. And I
have some thoughts which we'll talk about after the mayor,

(04:41):
but a lot of comments last week's show about being
in solidarity with communities of color, and so I wanted
to touch base about that. Do you guys want to
do that quickly now or do you want to do
it after the mayor.

Speaker 6 (04:58):
I think the Mayor's joined us.

Speaker 1 (05:01):
Oh, perfect, okay, So after we have Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms,
we are going to pick up on some of these topics.
But right now we're going to bring in the mayor
to join us. All right, appearing like that like magic
on screen, Madam Mayor. Soon to be we'll see maybe
a governor Keisha Lance bonding. So very excited to have

(05:25):
you join us today. Congratulations on the announced come.

Speaker 3 (05:30):
Oh, it's so good to see all of you all all.

Speaker 6 (05:35):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (05:36):
And you know, people always always always think I will
call you Madam Mayor, but I know her, so I'm
saying Keisha. They always say I think we look alike,
and somebody I was telling her all the time.

Speaker 4 (05:51):
Very beautiful.

Speaker 3 (05:52):
Well, thank you, Andrews.

Speaker 1 (05:54):
But we were in Miami together, Angela, the mayor, and
I and I sat at breakfast with a woman who
I thought she knew who I was, and I realized
at the end that she thought she was having breakfast
with Mayor Lance Bottoms. Yes, yes, and I'm like, had
I known that I would have taken full advantage.

Speaker 6 (06:14):
Oh my God, was like, oh, well, you know you
could send me a donation. Let me get these wire restructions.

Speaker 3 (06:19):
Let me give my cash just so you know, tiffaniye,
we're getting breaks next week.

Speaker 1 (06:25):
So okay, okay, Tiffany. I want so bad for America
to finally have a governor who has breads because this
natural hair is not for the faint of heart and
not that you are humidity.

Speaker 3 (06:43):
No, no, no no. And I just told somebody today,
I said what I do know. I said, people will
talk about my hair before they talk about the governor's race.
Called out here and looking crazy.

Speaker 6 (06:56):
And I'm gonna tell you right now. I'm gonna be
the first one in your text messages because I'll be like,
now what happened? Because I can't have you out here
in Keisha, I can't have you out here. I'll be like,
what we got all what we do. I'll be the
first one. I'll tell you when it's flight, I'm tell
you like, oh, let's go to tomorrow real quick.

Speaker 4 (07:13):
This past week were weird, bros.

Speaker 6 (07:16):
Because my joke was funny.

Speaker 5 (07:17):
I knew she found it was funny, and we were
when we were in Miami, my line sister Denise, not
Denise Hendricks Landa, my former e p A.

Speaker 3 (07:29):
And know I'm talking about Denise.

Speaker 4 (07:31):
Uh.

Speaker 3 (07:31):
It was like, your hair is making me so mad
because the natural hair was doing all this and the
other people's hair was doing all this and the other
people's hair and get out of this situation.

Speaker 1 (07:45):
Well, shout out to Denise hendricks Yes, all right, rattler
for another rattler.

Speaker 3 (07:51):
Yes, yes, yes, yes.

Speaker 1 (07:52):
Keisha's lion sister was my former executive producer, so shout
out to her. But very happy to have you and
congrats on the announcement. I'm sure my co hosts have
many many questions for you.

Speaker 6 (08:04):
Can I ask before we get into the announcement, Yes,
Andrew and we've been watching Andrew and our good brother
Vince Evans been running ragged on this family stuff. Mayor Keisha,
I gotta ask you, I know, take a deep breath,
because I got to ask you, what do you think
is going to take for the trustees, the newly appointed

(08:26):
and the ones who have been on the board for
some time, the alums, the students. The students been in
the hallways singing Ald Negro spiritual since they've been like,
help us overcome. What do you think is the path forward?
Given where we are right now with Fam You.

Speaker 3 (08:42):
Fam You is in a really interesting spot, to say
the least, because it is a state institution, so part
of what sets family apart. There's so many things that
set us apart. But when you are a state supported HBCU,
you are literally at the mercy of the state. And
I know my brother Andrew understands that. So it is

(09:07):
my hope that she'll surprise us all that she won't
be all the things that we are expecting someone sent
to dismantle Fam You as we know it. I don't
know her personally. I think at this point the best
we can do is try and work with her as

(09:30):
best we can. You know, we're working under some very
difficult circumstances. I had a conversation with someone earlier today.
I have an doubt scholarship in the journalism program. I'm going,
what do I do with the money that I've donated
to the university. What do I do with the money
that I am planning on donating to the university. I

(09:52):
think none of us know. I mean, this is uncharted
territory for us at fam you, but unfortunately, I think
it's probably in the indication of what's to come for
our HBCUs across the country. Any HBCUs, especially that are
controlled by the state Republican led at states.

Speaker 4 (10:11):
Well, yeah, well the mayor is right that we as
a state institution do fund ourselves, you know, oddly at
the mercy of the power structure that the However, traditionally
governors have not really come for vent. When when we
end up in the mouth of the governor or in
the mouths of state legislative leaders, it's usually in preparation

(10:34):
of them taking something from us. When we don't hear
from them, that's a good day, it's a good year,
it's a good time. Even though we're not funded the
way we should be funded, we're not supported by the
state and the way that we should be, but we
punch above our weight. I do know Marva. I have
worked with her before on some broad band issues previously,

(10:55):
and if she were pursuing something in that range, I
think it'd be wholly supportable. The issue is is that
when you don't have a candidate with the experience that
the board advertised and wanting for a president, then you
have to measure them, so you don't have a record
of their academic you know, sort of management and what
they've done. You sort of have to take what cues
you can from the people who are around them, who

(11:18):
they are appointed by, who they have been in alignment with.
And unfortunately a candidate who has been appointed by Rick Scott,
former governor of Florida, and now you a senator who
has been reported appointed repeatedly by Ronda Santis to boards,
who sat as the chair of the State Board of Education,
the K through twelve system when it started to ban books,

(11:39):
ban history, and redesign what black history is so basically
center white folks as the heroes and heroines. I don't
know what cues to take. I don't know what the
master plan is all lie and she may not know
what the master plan is. What I do know is
when the call comes in from the person who puts
you there, you take it. And the second thing is

(12:02):
is you largely do what it is that they asked
you to do. And for somebody like Trump decantist Rick Scott,
they ain't never have nothing good coming for us, and
I don't anticipate they'll have anything good coming from for
us in the future, and so I would just say,
the fight's not over. We're going to continue to figure
out how we make this happen. And it's not just
about family. You fam you guess is the fight right now.

(12:23):
But the reason they came after the biggest, the largest,
and the highest producing university of vacculaureat masterial degree holder
and doctoral degree holders is because that you can take
us out, then they consume then that they could take
anybody else out right, the Santis punch, Walt Disney World
when he first got into office, the biggest thing sitting

(12:45):
in the state. Right, So I take my cues from
those folks. But I know you are here, Keisha, as
a gubernatorial candidate now, which I can't tell you. I'm
over the moon, excited as a rattler, as someone who
has known you and watched your journey, including your service
as mayor of Atlanta. This is I think the future
is bright, and I do think the time is now.

(13:06):
My question would be if I could journey to take
the first one would be having watched Stacey Abrams make
the run for governor not once, no, but twice a
lot of times. The pooh bahs of the party you
know what I mean by that. The folks, you know,
behind the scenes, raising the money and telling folks what's
viable and what isn't viable. Largely when they take a risk,

(13:30):
which they considered a risk, right getting behind a black
woman nominee. They usually try us once and if it
don't work out, they draw the conclusion that is it
isn't it isn't a viable or possible thing to make happen.
Of course, we know that to be false because they
run and lose all the time, yet they keep running
the same play. So my question would be is have

(13:51):
you learned lessons or what lessons do you think have
been instrumental as you look at that race and now
build a campaign of your own that you think might
be instructed to the way in which you might run
this race.

Speaker 3 (14:04):
So you know, Andrew, you've been on the ballot a
lot of times and even running for governors. I know
you and I are going to have an offline conversation
about that. But you look at every race, and every
race is also a new race. So you look at
the numbers. You look at see where turnout was high,
where turnout was low. You look at demographic ships, where

(14:25):
are the Democrats where the Republicans, and then you build
from there. You take the good, you keep it, you
take the not so good, and you move on from it.
So we've got an ever changing voter role in Georgia.
You all know the Secretary of State has purged hundreds
of thousands of people from the voter role recently. Sometimes

(14:49):
you do need to clean up voter rolls, but when
you do these wholesale purges a half million.

Speaker 4 (14:55):
You're right, half million, Yeah.

Speaker 3 (14:57):
You get real suspicious. So this is gonna be a
new role, a new race for us. But that being said,
we're gonna cover it the way that we know it
has to be done. We're gonna knock on doors, We're
gonna go in church basements, we're gonna visit the little
league softball field. We're gonna call people, we're gonna post

(15:19):
on social media. We're gonna do all the things that
we know you have to do. And part of it
is old fashion campaign and you go into communities and
you hear directly from people. I remember when I ran
from mayor, I paid for this great pole that Cornell
Belcher did for me, and it was spot on in

(15:39):
so many issues. But when my phone. Bankers were calling people.
They said, people are talking about potholes and libraries. I
can't show up anywhere in my data, but it was
what people were talking about when we got them on
the phone. So share that to say, you come up
with your issues. I'll come up with my issues that
I'm gonna focus. No, we'll talk more about that. And

(16:02):
then I got to go into communities and hear directly
from people about what they care about. We'll see if
they ALIGNE.

Speaker 1 (16:18):
Well, I'm glad you brought up our communities, Madam Mayor,
because as you know, I grew up in Georgia, and
I think there is this misunderstanding about Georgia. Sometimes people
think Atlanta is Georgia, But there are a lot of
communities outside of Atlanta, and the racial demographics in Georgia
are shifting rapidly. As you well know, the population right

(16:38):
now is still fifty almost fifty three percent white. Black
folks make up almost thirty two percent of the population.
In Fulton, Decab and Cobb Cobb County, where I grew up,
black voters account for around six hundred thousand voters. But
then I think about all the people in the rural
parts of Georgia, and there's likely twice that amount. I'm

(17:03):
doing a lot of writing, so I'm spending a lot
of time in rural Georgia. I'm in rural Georgia about
once a month. At this point, I wonder why the
Democratic Party does not tap into those voters. Oftentimes, when
people say rural, they think of rural white folks. But
the truth is there are black, Latino Indigenous Api people

(17:23):
in rural Georgia. So I'm thinking about areas like Augusta Warner, Robbins, Marshallville,
make in Savannah. Right now, most of the according to
people I've spoken to on the ground, spent time with,
most of the GOLTV efforts to get out the vote
efforts are coming from the NAACP down there, which speaks
mostly to older people.

Speaker 3 (17:44):
So younger black rural people feel completely untapped. What is
your plan to reach those voters? And you know, Tiffany,
that's exactly what we've heard over the last few election cycles.
Nobody's talking to me. Nobody cares about what I think,
So why should I care about going out to vote
for you? What difference does it make? And it's important

(18:06):
to remember Atlanta is only roughly six hundred thousand people
in population metro area just over six million. We're barely
hitting half the state. So there are a lot of
people who don't live in urban centered areas that you're right,
they live in other corners of the state. And again
it goes back to tapping into people. When you're talking

(18:26):
about expansion of medicaid. In Georgia, we always talk about
we want to be LSU and we want to be
Alabama in football. But yet Louisiana and Alabama have expanded medicaid,
we still got three hundred thousand people who are not covered.
Nine rural hospitals have closed because we've not expanded medicaid.

(18:48):
Those are the issues that you talk to in these
rural talk about in these rural communities, and you're talking
about counties that don't have pediatricians, that don't have OBGYN.
That makes a difference. We're not just talking about our farmers.
We're talking about people who own small businesses. We've got
forty five percent of the people in the state employed

(19:09):
by small businesses. When you're talking about terras, when you're
talking about the six hundred thousand people from the Port
of Savannah and Port of Bronswick who had businesses directly
related to the ports. They're being impacted by chairs. And
then a lot of these other issues, whether it's my
plan to eliminate income taxes or teachers, that impacts communities

(19:33):
across the state. It transcends party lines. You're talking about
corporate landlords. People can't afford to buy houses, they can't
get anybody on the phone to talk about of repair
in their home from these corporate landlords that nobody's ever
seen before. Those things transcend communities. When you're talking about
our support of small businesses, so so many of these

(19:55):
issues aren't just urban issues. We all want the same things.
We want our communities to be safe, we want to
have access to healthcare, we want to be able to
put food on the table. All these things transcend community.

Speaker 6 (20:12):
You know, one of the things I just thought about
Keisha when you mentioned teachers, there's one that I was
trying to literally find. Her name is Kimberly. We did
end up finding her. You've been on wind with black
women calls with us, and you know how that community is.
We met this black woman who teaches young and shapes

(20:35):
young minds every day in Georgia. She came to the
first day of the State of the People Power to her. You,
of course were there on the second day when we
met her, she talked about essentially having to put on
a mask for her students during the day and when
she leaves at night, her home is her car. And
so to hear what you were just saying about relief

(20:55):
of income text, I just think about all the other
forms of relief our teachers need. And I always say,
like I can name every single one of my teachers
from the first grade on. I can, so they are
so mission critical. What other relief are you thinking of
when it comes to those folks who are shaping young minds?
Again their top of mind, because I want to do
everything to make sure this is that has a place

(21:16):
to lay her head at night, not her car, you know.

Speaker 3 (21:19):
And what's interesting about that, Angela. When I was mayor,
one of the cornerstones of our administration was improving affordable
housing stock in the city of Atlanta. And I remember
needing to go over to state capital to talk to
the Republicans about my priorities thinking and not gonna care

(21:39):
about affordable housing because that kept thinking that's just an
Atlanta issue. And even in talking to CEOs, I'm like,
what do they care about affordable housing? And I remember
having a conversation with someone who I didn't expect with care,
And you know why they cared because their teacher, their
child's teacher, was having to drive two hours from or

(22:02):
two hours in traffic or have it worked out to
be because they couldn't afford to live in the city
of Atlanta. The legislators cared because they had to come
into Atlanta and rent places, or their kids were working
in Atlanta. So I say all that to say, these
issues touch all of us. So we have a teacher

(22:23):
shortage in Georgia of about fifty two hundred I think
were the last numbers that I saw, So we know
eliminating those income taxes will help them immensely. But also
again going back to this affordable housing piece workforce housing.
I remember Ambassador Young telling me many years ago, stop

(22:44):
saying affordable housing makes people think about the projects. That
doesn't invoke good thoughts. Talk about workforce housing. These are
houses that we're talking about for our teachers, for our nurses,
for the person who picks up your the person who
delivers your mail. We just got to push for policies

(23:06):
that make it easier for people to exist. And so
here go ahead.

Speaker 6 (23:13):
No, just a follow up on this housing piece. According
to an Axios piece, it says that Atlanta is ranking
fourth in terms of gentrification eliminating majority black areas, and
so I want to know how you'll combat that. And
now taking that full that's that full expectation and that

(23:38):
intentionality around affordable housing throughout the state of Georgia, starting
with you know your hometown and where you served as mayor.
That is a hard stat and it's super sensitive to
me because I'm from Seattle and our black population has
been reduced to half in Seattle.

Speaker 3 (23:55):
You know, I would tell people all of the time,
don't sell your house in Atlanta. One of the big
challenges we have in Atlanta, and my family was even
faced with this. Your grandparents leave a house, somebody in
the family lives in the house. Nobody has a will.
We don't think about, We don't always give the attention

(24:15):
we need to things like that. So then you get
these clouded titles. The roof starts to cave in. Who's
going to pay for the roof? You can't access the
grants and all the things available because you don't have
title to the house. So that's something specifically that the
state can help with helping people clean up titles, helping
make it making it easier for people to access resources

(24:40):
to help them maintain these family homes. But what I
did when I was mayor, I created an affordable Housing
Trust Fund. I actually started it when I was on
City Council. I introduced this legislation when we were doing
all the things related to Mercedes Bend Stadium and we
started seeing the community flip. This community that my family
ca from the cotton fields of Crofitville, Georgia, landed on

(25:03):
the west side. We created this affordable Housing Trust Fund
that was for a very small portion of the city,
helping the people pay their property of taxes, because that's
the offshoot of gentrification. Sometimes you want the communities revitalized,
but you want the people who have stuck with the
community to be able to afford to stay and enjoy

(25:25):
the benefits of the revitalization. When I was mayor and
we negotiated the transaction to for what we call the
Goat now Centennial Yards right there in downtown Atlanta, I
expanded that Affordable Housing Trust Fund. We put part of
the money that we got from that transaction into the

(25:45):
Affordable Housing Trust Fund so that we could expand that
city wide. So when your property taxes go up, as
it has on my grandparents' house that my mother now owns,
you can now have enough access to this Affordable Housing
Trust Fund to help you offset those property taxes. And

(26:06):
then just lastly, we're just going to be thoughtful about
how we are preserving our communities. We can't stop redevelopment.
It's a free market. People can come in, they can
build within the zoning parameters what they want to build.
But it also means we are saying, when you come

(26:27):
into our communities, these are the things that we are
asking for you. We need to set aside for workforce housing.
We need to make sure that you're contributing to our
Affordable Housing Trust Fund to help people be able to
pay their property taxes. And it's also good for business
because you want to come in as a good neighbor

(26:50):
and you want people to be able to you want
a variety of people in our communities. It makes our
communities better. So it's a very tough issue that's being
faced by cities across America. But it's also very frustrating
because so many people have stuck with cities when cities

(27:12):
didn't stick with them. And it's something that you have
to be intentional about. And as governor you can have
either an even larger impact because you can push through
policies through the state that doesn't make it one off.
Whether it's just in Atlanta, it can be in policies
where they be in Monroe and Madison, Valdosta, or wherever

(27:34):
it is across the state.

Speaker 1 (27:35):
Madameyor I want to ask you about what I would
consider it to be the biggest economic theft in Georgia,
and that is essentially the defunding of HBCUs there. And
I'm sure you know what I'm talking about. There was
a lawsuit, a sixty seven pages lawsuit that alleged the
Board of Regents there were diverting resources away from hbc

(28:00):
is like Fort Valley giving that money to UGA. In
this lawsuit, it was uncovered that nineteen members of the
Board of Regents went to UGA Fort Valley students talk
about how their campus looks. And I ask about this
because given what is happening with FAM you and given

(28:21):
the importance of our HBCUs right now, the lawsuit eventually
went away, but the problems did not. So I'm just curious,
as governor, how you would address the funding of ever
so important HBCUs that exists in Georgia.

Speaker 3 (28:38):
Well, and I'll give the example of fam You in
the FSU. It's not Georgia, but you think FAMU has
a beautiful campus right up until you go over to
see FSU and you realize how short Fam YOU has
been cut and multiply that in Georgia. So again, the
governor controls a lot. The governor makes those meant to

(29:00):
the Board of Regents. So if you want people, Brian
Kemp went to the University of Georgia, So if you
want representation, you got to make sure the representation is
representative of the state. Making sure that our HBCUs are
represented at the Board of Regions, making sure the funding

(29:22):
is fairly allocated, making sure that our HBCUs aren't a
second thought when we're allocating resources, that we aren't pouring
it all into just certain schools, that we are being fair,
and it also means that we're making sure that these
schools can be destination places, so that all of the

(29:44):
top programs aren't just at one university, but they are
equally allocated at our HBCUs. I remember a professor at
FAM YOU and I wish I could remember his name.
He would tell the story about many decades ago, FAM
you used to have a law school. Now we have
a law school now, but it was after the first
law school was taken away from FAMU, and the story that.

Speaker 4 (30:09):
And given to FSU and given the FSU.

Speaker 3 (30:11):
The story he would tell was that one day, the
way they knew the law school was being taken away,
they came and started taking the boats out of the library.
That's how they knew the law schools being taken away.
That's not just the story of FAM You and FSU,
that's the story of HBCUs across Georgia. Make sure that
we are putting programs at our HBCUs that make them

(30:34):
destination institutions, and then we are attracting and recruiting great
people to lead our HBCUs. It can't just always be
about fundraising. That's important, but it's also got to be
about academics and making sure that our students are equipped
for success. Again, the power of the pen from the

(30:56):
Governor's office, it's so important.

Speaker 4 (30:59):
I know.

Speaker 3 (31:00):
Unfortunately the mayor has to run.

Speaker 1 (31:01):
I'm told you tell us because Andrews respect Andrew will
ask her do you have time for more question?

Speaker 3 (31:09):
Because I'm being told that you have to run. I
do have time for another question.

Speaker 4 (31:12):
My encouragement, Mayor, I want you is that what you
are saying the issues that you were hitting, that title issue,
which is just such a processing thing, you might think.
But my family who were enslaved in Georgia and Clientsville, Georgia,
just outside of Valdosta, lost our family's property, my great

(31:32):
grandfather because of this whole title issue, and the banks
were ready to steep in, take it, sell it to
the developers, and it's gone down the road in a
whole host of history and service and sacrifice is lost
for a group of people. But everything that you have
mentioned today, you haven't talked about Donald Trump once. And

(31:53):
I think it's important that the people of Georgia know
that as governor, you're the number one priority. You're waking
up and going to bed every night thinking about them.
The wallet, kitchen table and pocketbook issues. That's all you
have talked about given the time that we have had
here today. And that's the stuff that people aren't saying
in polls because it's just so baked into their everyday experience.

(32:16):
It's just par for the course. So they're not complaining,
but it is a big complain for a lot of people.
And my support of you and love of you not
only as a mayor but as a candidate for governor
is further now steeped in. What I know about mayors
is that they keep it close to the people. Is
that you'll take that same energy of your closeness and

(32:37):
advocacy for the everyday folks in Georgia, regardless of party affiliation,
who they voted for, didn't vote for, or if they
voted at all, that you know the heart in their
mind because it's been your lived experience too. And I
can't think of a higher recommender for a person for
public office, the one who has not just talked to
talk about walk the walk. So I wish you the
very very best, I think on all of our behalf

(33:00):
as you as you as you climb this mountain, and
and and I know that your pathway will will will
hopefully one I know, be successful. But to ease it
for all the rest of us, at every level of
government wherever it is that we choose to serve.

Speaker 3 (33:15):
Thank you. I really appreciate that you are my brother.
You all are my sisters. I love you. I thank
you all for always fighting the good fight on behalf
of all of us, and keeping all of us honest
and holding us accountable to the reasons that that we

(33:35):
are here and the work that we are called to do.
So I appreciate you all. Thank you.

Speaker 1 (33:40):
Go get them, get the Bottoms a former member of
Atlanta City Council, former mayor, former judge, former appointees in
the Buying administration, lots of titles. We will stay tuned
to see if Governor Keisha at Lance Bottoms will be next.
Is America ready for a black governor? Is about damn

(34:00):
time we need governor? Black woman governor?

Speaker 6 (34:05):
For joining us, we are gonna book TIFFs Braid's appointment
right after this so that y'all can really keep rocking
a little.

Speaker 3 (34:13):
I love it one B thirty Okay, that's.

Speaker 6 (34:16):
What I love it.

Speaker 1 (34:21):
Thank you, see you on the campaign trail. Thank you
so much for joining us.

Speaker 7 (34:25):
Thank you, lord, y'all know I'll know what, yes, I thought, Okay,
all right, I love it Keep it real, mate, keep
it real.

Speaker 1 (34:37):
I thought, you know, I really enjoyed the conversation with
her because I feel like all of our questions are
things that she will likely not be asked and other outlets.

Speaker 3 (34:47):
I did a lot of reading this morning.

Speaker 1 (34:49):
This morning, looking at you know, The Times, the Post,
even the a JC. I talked to reporters even before
we got on air, and just some of the things
that they were concerned about in highlighting just really we
didn't speak to our community, and it just shows the
disconnect sometimes between media and the people.

Speaker 4 (35:05):
It's also intentional tiff to keep her from being able
to get to the stuff that she was talking about today,
because what she was saying today is exactly what can
move people from their couches and get them to the post.
I already have a sense of how she is going
to respond to a fourth grader as president throwing a
temper tantrum. Right, I've seen her handle people like that.

(35:27):
But what You're Gonna do for me is going to
be the first in the last question that voters were asked,
what are you gonna do for me?

Speaker 6 (35:34):
What I really appreciated about this is it felt we
felt really economics focused, and I know that we hit
on those issues every now and then I know we
plan to get to tariffs at some point really soon too,
and the impacts on our communities. But I got to
tell you, like the exposure that I've had recently to

(35:56):
I can't even call them kitchen table issues because the
people I've been encountering don't have kitchen table conversations because
some don't have kitchen tables, you know what I mean. Like,
so the sensitivity around, like even seeing her reaction to
kimberly situation in Atlanta, like her eyes closed and you
can see like the pain. Like, I just think it

(36:18):
matters to have people who aren't just from our community
but have stayed in tune with our community representing us.
Whether they're in corporations or labor union leadership or in government,
it matters. And I am grateful that she has has
a demonstrative, demonstrated record of caring about these issues and

(36:39):
working to address them.

Speaker 4 (36:41):
So he gives a damn about the people.

Speaker 1 (36:43):
Now some understanding for how funding allocation works at the
state level, you know, I think about ray Lewis, who
we had on, you know, saying politicians don't do anything,
and it really is just a lack of understanding. There's
a disconnect between civics, civic engagement leaders and who they

(37:04):
choose to talk to media and who they choose to cover.
And you know, you can feel that way, like maybe
my mayor doesn't care about me, but you don't know
that the Republican governor is the person who's allocating the
federal funding to the mostly white neighborhoods, and that's why
the black neighborhood doesn't have access to clean drinking water.
So connecting those dots, I think is really important. So

(37:24):
I'm very happy that we have as a guest.

Speaker 4 (37:27):
But Tiffany, to your point just now, it is also
a call up for the electeds and the policymakers, who
they know every day they are doing what they can
for communities to not And it's easy to happen, because
it's happened to me repeatedly, to not just be in
the office doing the world, but communicating back to the
people exactly what you're doing on their behalf. That way,

(37:49):
even if they never get to see the fruit of
the labor, that they know somebody's laboring, and they literally know.

Speaker 6 (37:55):
Who you are, like they know who you are because
they've met you, they've had encounters with you, I don't
think it's a lack of understanding at all.

Speaker 1 (38:02):
I think it's a lack of connection. You know, I
like it is a lack of understanding. There are plenty
of people out there who do not know that the
governor is the person allocating the funding. Like I said,
I grew up in the Bible, but I've spent a
lot of time down south. I can assure you it
is a lack of understanding with a lot of people.
But you can't blame this is a conversation I've been
having a lot. You cannot blame voters. People always tell

(38:25):
me that. Sometimes I disagree with that, or people say,
you can't blame the community. So it's I don't think,
you know, it's always necessarily about blame, but challenging folks
who maybe understand the inner workings of how things are
working in the community, right.

Speaker 6 (38:46):
And I don't think that it's just a lack of understanding.
I know I've met plenty of people on the road
that understand exactly how government works, but they ain't seen
their elected official in months or ever. I think that's
just a disconnect. So I'm not saying that. Nope, everybody
understands I'm also not willing to say that nobody understands.

Speaker 1 (39:06):
I think that I don't think anybody was making those
general terms.

Speaker 6 (39:09):
But yeah, I think a lot of people don't understand.
But there are a lot of people who are left
in the dark and treated like they don't matter by
their elected officials.

Speaker 4 (39:19):
Testimony you wanted.

Speaker 6 (39:20):
To share, Okay, No, I was gonna say. The one
good thing that I think happened from last week when
we talked, since Tip brought up Ray lewis uh, he
actually did have the opportunity to connect with Randall Woodfind Randall,
who is the mayor of Birmingham, reached out to Ray
and they've had a conversation. So since then, Ray has

(39:42):
been in contact with an elected official who seems to
care very deeply about his situation. Tips. So maybe we're
gonna change the narrative one story at a time. We'll see.

Speaker 1 (39:51):
Yeah, I mean, but to your point, Andrew, I think
that is the responsibility of mayors, you know, like we
all have a role to play. But it can't just
be like Nail lamp. I don't have the reats to
talk to every innern city community.

Speaker 4 (40:05):
You know, Yes, but it's a lesson but I would
suggest would I would say, I think the onus has
to be on both sides, right, because it can be
I ain't seen my mayor. He don't never come to
my house and knock on the door, or to my
church or hang out on my neighborhood block. And the
assumption or rather the experience that you've not seen the

(40:27):
mayor there does not equal that the mayor isn't working
on your behalf because sometimes Randa wood Fin don't need
to walk the block to be educated on what's happening
on the block. Why because he came off that block
or he came through this experience, is understanding of what
it is that is happening and is in the halls
of power boxing like nobody's business, trying to make it

(40:49):
our priority and bring the resources back home. But that
isn't enough either. The mayor then has to make sure
that that cycle is being closed by keeping people informed
about what you're doing. I used to see it all
the time during Biden's administration, was they were doing a
lot early on particularly that advantage and with the benefit
of so many people, but not talking about it. He

(41:10):
was in the you know, he's in the bowels of
this stuff, but him not talking about it didn't mean
that it wasn't happening. It was happening, and his failure
was a failure to communicate what was happening.

Speaker 1 (41:20):
In my opinion, Yeah, I agree. Look, I feel like
we are at the breakdown of society right now. So
I agree. I think every single system out there is failing.
And I don't know if I've ever mentioned before to
you guys that I think the media is failing media.

Speaker 4 (41:41):
I also think the system and the places where it
does fail might be intentionally doing so. It is a
lot of times not in the interest of people in
power to have people checking and watching and listening to
everything that they are doing. And so what do they do.
They office gate, They make it plain, They put up
these uh you know, white out glasses. You can't suit
through the rooms anymore, Right, you don't get a record

(42:03):
of what is happening because they don't want you to know.
They're usually in there doing something they shouldn't be doing
in the first place. So to the extent that there
seems to be a disconnect in some cases, it is
a very intentional one.

Speaker 1 (42:15):
All right, that's a wrap. Takisha Lance Bottoms but on
the other side of this break, I want to talk
about y'all in some of your comments you made about
the show last week.

Speaker 3 (42:23):
Let's get into that. We'll see you on our side
of the break. Okay.

Speaker 1 (42:39):
I wanted to bring something up about our last show,
and I have to tell you guys, Yes to the
listeners out there and the people who tuned into our audience.
Like I said, I really appreciate the ongoing conversation we have,
even if it's frustration, you know, even if it's like
tifty your drive me crazy with filling the blank, you know,

(43:02):
I still appreciate that because it does feel like when
I'm with my people, I just feel at home. I
feel relaxed. Even if y'all mad at me, is like,
at least I know the space that you're coming from.
And so I have to say I was really disheartened
at a lot of the comments from last week's show,
with people expressing frustration with encouraging them to be in

(43:24):
solidarity with people of color, other people of color, and
you know, people continue to say things like this what
they voted for, this is what they got, And I'm
worried about black people and all the things.

Speaker 6 (43:36):
I thought you was mad at us, you mad at
the comments. That's a lot.

Speaker 3 (43:38):
I mean, I'm not mad, but just disappointed.

Speaker 1 (43:42):
You know, it's just because I can't deny you said this. Actually, Angel,
I don't remember what we were talking about, but I
was disagreeing with someone's thoughts about maybe you were the show,
and you were like, but that's their feeling, Like, that's
how they feel. And so I'm trying not to be
mad to take, you know, a page from your playbook
and say, well, that's how they feel. But I do

(44:03):
think it is a part of a narrative that feeds
that feeling. And so I just wanted to take thirty
seconds and just clarify a few things, the first most
important thing being that every single community of color voted
by majority for Kamala Harris.

Speaker 3 (44:22):
The media has.

Speaker 6 (44:24):
Said one more time, say it one more time, just in.

Speaker 1 (44:26):
Case, in single community of color voted for Kamala Harris.
The media has an intentional narrative to try to pretend
that Donald Trump built this multi coalition of voters and
he did not White people and white people alone put
that man in office. And we should not ever be
confused about that. I want to give the numbers. Fifty

(44:46):
seven percent of indigenous voters Native Americans voted for Kamala Harris.
In the Aapi community that's the fastest growing demographic in
this country, sixty one percent voted for Kamala Harris, of
which she is a member through her there. Even in
Latino voters, and this is an important one, a majority
of Latino voters voted for Kamala Harris. An important note

(45:09):
here undocumented migrants are not voters, so they did not vote.
When you say that's what they voted for, no, they
did not. That makes up the bulk of people in
these deportations, They did not vote. Sixty two percent of
Latino voters. She won this group by a twenty five
point margin. Now we get into Latino men, people say, oh, well, Latino.

Speaker 6 (45:31):
Men voted for her.

Speaker 1 (45:32):
Even Latino men voted by majority for Kamala Harris. No,
Trump did make gains among Latino men. We have to
consider in that community. There's I think over eighty countries
of origin in the Latino community, but Trump did get

(45:53):
significant gains there. The Arab community, everyone's like, well, how
that protest vote work out for them?

Speaker 3 (45:59):
Trump?

Speaker 1 (45:59):
They not vote for Trump. Kamala Harrison. Donald Trump split
that community almost evenly, twenty and twenty one percent, respectively.
They voted overwhelmingly for Jill Stein. Now we can talk
about how frustrating that is. We can get mad about
that Jill Stein. Well, Jill Stein is a liar and

(46:20):
she's a manipulator. But I'm gonna tell you if I'm
seeing this shit go down in Gaza with my people,
and you're asking me to vote for somebody who's only
willing to call for a temporary ceasefire, and I'm seeing
them bomb hospitals, schools, kill children, tens of thousands buying
of starvation, and the person that everybody saying, no, you
have to vote for her is only willing to say

(46:42):
I will call for a temporary ceasefire. She was willing
to go further than Biden, but at the end of
the day, she was sticking with the Biden administration's policy
on Gaza. If you got a bunch of black anybody really,
But if you got a bunch of black people dying
like that and you're telling me vote for this person,
I'm not gonna do it. So I just think sense
of our humanity, we have to understand that Jill Stein

(47:03):
ran on Gaza. She had a Muslim running mate. She's
also a liar. She's also an accused advocate of the Kremlin.
She was seen on Russian television sitting at a table
with Putin. This was all intentional. She was working hand
in hand with won't call him what they say, a
war criminal. She did eventually come out and call him

(47:24):
a war criminal, only because she was called out. But
but yeah, initially she wouldn't. But she was literally paying
when of Donald Trump's personal lawyers, Republicans were eagerly fighting
for her to get on the ballot in States, she was,
you know, an op. And it's the same way that
they were able to peel off a tiny, a useful tool.
It was the same way they were able to peel
off a slither, a slither of black men. But again,

(47:46):
the narrative is, oh, Trump got all these black men
to vote for him. No, he increased his gains with
black men, but he did not. Black men voted overwhelming
for Kamala Harris. So I just think if we can
start there, but let's just put all that aside for
a moment. I just wonder, can we tap into our humanity,
you know, and give a fuck about what people are
going through. And that's the part that's kind of heartbreaking

(48:08):
to me that so many people were like, who cares?
But there was I wasn't telling you this is Angela.
There was a fair criticism of me, I thought, and
they were saying, well, tiffany one. They felt like I
was finger wagging, like shame on you for not caring,
and a part of me does feel that wing but sorry.

Speaker 3 (48:23):
But I do feel like we care.

Speaker 1 (48:26):
But also they were like, what are the specifics? Like
what are you asking us to do? And the truth is,
I don't know what that is because right now I
am in a space of trying to gather my own beliefs.
I'm not in a space to uphold the system right now.
I'm in a space of what does protecting community look like?
And I have thoughts on that, But I want to

(48:49):
ask you, guys, have you seen anything? Is there any
tangible work right now that has stopped something disadministration is
doing because I've not seen it. Are not going to hold.
I've seen some things with the court. I don't think
they're going to hold, but I want the audience that point.

Speaker 4 (49:05):
But to this point, they have and including protests right
when they started to let's go back to the McCain flip,
when he went down to the floor in thumbs down. Right,
That was after as a result of overwhelming shows of
outrage by the American people saying you about to kick

(49:28):
me off my healthcare. It is no longer any theoretical fight. No, no, no.
But I went back that far just to come forward,
which is to say, this administration has announced departures from
the status quo at veterans affairs with cuts. They come
forward frankly with scrubbing websites of certain information, and after

(49:54):
certain outcries have had to put it back. They've attempted
to shutter departments that judges have for their hand on,
and they've had the reverse course or bring it to
a complete and total holt. Now, yes, the administration is
flouting the law in some of these instances, but yes,
also in some of these instances, and many of them,
these judges are holding accountable those lawyers that are in

(50:16):
their court rooms who have an obligation under the law
as officers of the court to one speak truth, but
also to follow the mandates of the court or suffer
thy consequences. They may be able to put Donald Trump
behind bars, but they can put Pam Bondi behind bars
anything or in the federal system. I'm just saying there

(50:37):
are consequences for flouting the law and flouting the jurisdiction
of the judges in the courts. But also I get
why everyone doesn't know the stories in which we've been successful.
They don't want us to think that there is a
way to beating them, so they're not elevating the stories
in which they've been beat They've been clapped back, beaten

(50:57):
contained quite a bit. It hasn't had it hasn't so
far been able to stop them from what they're doing wholesale.
But we've paused them, and the courts have stopped them
in their track on many of those on many of
those efforts. I just think we what we cannot do

(51:17):
is make the road for them easy. When you lie
down and you say what they're gonna do, what they're
gonna do, Well, guess what, We've got enough evidence that
they've changed course, or been forced to change course, or
have completely retreated in some instances. And that's really how
I feel you all about this budget that the Republicans.
I'm not changing topic. I just want to pile on here.

Speaker 1 (51:39):
You want to talk about the budget, so we can
talk about it here or we can get into it
on the minipid, because I do want to.

Speaker 4 (51:44):
Simply say, seventeen and a half million people they are
right now trying to cut off from having access to
health care. And for those individuals that they're cutting off
from having access to health care, they're also in this
legislation closing the door to them being able to go
on the exchange which came through Obamacare and purchased their
own insurance there. So if you are not awake to

(52:07):
the threats that are coming for our seniors and those
individuals who are benefit who are beneficiaries of Medicaid, which
by the way, seniors also benefit from Medicaid as well
as Medicare, but Medicaid as well, especially those in poverty.
And then let me tell you just to draw the
line complete those of us who have insurance, when that's

(52:28):
seventeen and a half so million people are removed. If
they have their way, and they still access health care,
except this time not through prevention and ongoing maintenance, but
through the emergency room. Those costs get passed on by
the insurers directly to us. The reason our prices will
go up, the reason our premiums what we have to

(52:48):
pay before they kick in, will increase, is because they
are now going to have to make space to get
back the money for the services that they're now being
forced to provide through emergency rooms and emergency room visits.
They've got to extract that cost somewhere, and where did
they go. Those of us who have insurance will pay
more to pay for those that they just kicked off
of insurance. So nobody's getting away here.

Speaker 1 (53:10):
But you're just so I'm clear, you're saying the thing
that has stopped the Trump administration.

Speaker 3 (53:14):
Are the courts.

Speaker 4 (53:15):
The courts have to stopped.

Speaker 1 (53:16):
Something, and protests. When you say protests, you mean like
literally people in the streets, on the streets, their members
and some pages on the website, well.

Speaker 4 (53:28):
Not just website, I don't mean just website. They've also
so if they intended to cut staff at veterans Affairs,
as one other example, right, bringing your level of service
to a screeching halt, right, you won't get callbacks. You
can get scheduled for six months, and your issue is
urgent and right now, but nobody can see to it

(53:49):
because there's nobody there to see to it. What did
they do? They backtrack on it when they there were
certain museums, certain government buildings, the Department of Peace, they
tried to go in wholesale shut down just yes. This
week the judge said, you don't have jurisdiction over that.
You don't even own the building. The building doesn't even
belonged to the federal government. Get out of there. Well

(54:09):
they have to do. What do they have to do.
They had to get out of there, and they were
they were accused of trespassing because the workers shut them
down and said, no, you can't. You cannot break into
this building.

Speaker 1 (54:18):
I think that people are asking, what are we asking
them to do?

Speaker 4 (54:22):
Protests if it's happening protests. I'm just giving one example
that people have disqualified the effect and the impact of
good old fashioned raising your voice, making calls and showing
up and telling your story.

Speaker 1 (54:35):
You know what I'm saying, and like, let them get
out there and protest, like you know, I'm not thank you.

Speaker 4 (54:39):
They're coming up my street, down my driveway trying to
take my stuff. I ain't wait, No nobody is in me.
I'm going out there.

Speaker 3 (54:45):
For the same same stop trying to get in.

Speaker 1 (54:49):
Yeah.

Speaker 6 (54:50):
I have a few things. One is I think is
I really would love for us to stop saying that
black people overall are not protesting. It's just nice.

Speaker 3 (55:00):
I agree.

Speaker 6 (55:01):
I just I like, let's just start there. Like, I'm
not protesting in that way. I'm focused on making sure
that we're all connected and we know how to survive collectively.
But there are black people who are actively protesting at
all of these major activations, So let's start there. The
second thing I want to say is there are some courts,

(55:22):
even some judges, to the risk of being threatened of arrest,
who are showing up to in their required duty as
a as an official branch of government, to challenge and
to take on and to hold accountable this administration. And
I don't want to be little that including surprise, surprise,

(55:44):
Clarence Thomas Dahuchi actually showed up as saying some good
other day at court. So I want to just be
clear about the fact that there are some people that
are saying, you know, enough is enough, John Roberts, who
they're challenging. And then I also want to knowledge that
there are members of Congress and a mayor that we
had on just last week, who are showing up in

(56:06):
their official capacities, just doing business as normal, just engaging
in their oversight responsibilities, just ensuring that you know, uh,
when you have a a migrant facility, the one that's
in Newark where Lamonica mc iver is now being threatened
with an assault charge for showing up. But I'm saying

(56:31):
I think that it could very well get thrown out. Right,
I'm clear about the fact it is a.

Speaker 4 (56:35):
Which should update Rasparakas was it is a false charge.

Speaker 6 (56:39):
I'm talking about Lamonica mc ivor right now.

Speaker 4 (56:41):
No, no, no, I was just.

Speaker 6 (56:43):
From all right, So on Lamonica mc ivor, a false
charge that she is now facing where she will have
to have an attorney, she will have to raise funds
to fight this charge merely in her oversight capacity after
she was allegedly violent with officers where there's no documentation

(57:04):
or proof of this. She gets the charge or she
gets the tour for the very thing that she showed
up to do with other members of Congress, which is
in their full oversight responsibility. What they really don't want
you to know is the migrants in that facility, going
full circle to Tip's point, are not just brown people.
They are black and brown people. So y'all can try

(57:26):
to make it in us versus them as much as
you want to, you're gonna miss out on what it
means to protect us. If they are willing to lock
up the mayor of Newark, if they are willing to
press charges against a sitting member of Congress, it ain't
no black or brown body that is safe in this country.
And we will do better if we all come together.

(57:49):
And that is the point from last week. That is
the point from this week. I don't know how many
black examples y'all need, but if you don't start paying
attention to it, I'm telling you you're not safe. These
people took oath and are being charged and arrested because
they're doing their duties of the oath they took. That
is what's at stake. And if you don't understand what

(58:09):
time it is, I don't know. Maybe we need to
get large fishburn to come on the handle up boom
people and their arresting lawmakers. It's like, what does that
mean for the everyday person? And those are some of
the comments, right, Yeah, I'm agreeing with you, but those
are some of the comments too that people were saying, like,
if we go out there and protests, we on the
front lines. But I think it's an important point that
you made about this narrative that like, no black people

(58:31):
are doing anything. I definitely don't want to echo that
because that's not true. But this was a lot of
the comments like, no, y'all want my nerves. I give
people space because in their mind, their rest is their protests,
but it's not stopping anything, you know. And I because

(58:51):
this this pissed me off too. You guys, there's a
difference between rest as self care. Rest is certainly a
form of self care. But if you are watching your
full neighbors sink, starve, be unhoused, not be able to
pay bills, your rest is selfish and somebody needs to

(59:13):
tell you that. I don't know what that is. I
ain't been raised around those black folks like that, and
I don't want y'all nowhere near me. So sleep your
ass off, but stay away from me, because I don't
know what time y'all are on. I'm not about to
watch all these people suffer who look like me to
take a goddamn nap, like I'm just not doing that.
So y'all some other stuff. I don't like that at

(59:37):
all in this I think that's real selfish if I could.

Speaker 4 (59:40):
In the spirit of accountability. Yes, after the election, you
all sounded a lot like the voices that we heard.
Let me finish making my point, okay, because I think
we can't talk at folks as if we hadn't been
there ourselves and you all, both of the three of us.
I was never there, but we're basic. But the rest

(01:00:02):
of them, I'm concerned about mystery and the people who
I love. That's where you were, but I know you are.
But let me just make room for the possibility that
we all need our own time and space for growth
to grow in like their phases of of of I'm
just trying to survive. Thank you, I need you mostly

(01:00:26):
just survive. But but just like their phases of grief,
folks have to come to the place that's true, where
it is now more clear to me the thing that
I've got to do in order to survive. And I'm
not I'm not even I'm not even suggesting that you
take actions to the benefit of your neighbor. What I'm
suggesting is you take I think where people have to

(01:00:48):
get to. Sometimes the problem has to travel not just
down our street, but up our walkway, down the driveway,
into the garage or under the covered patio or whatever
that is before we understand what the stakes are. Because
other than that, the stakes we're dealing with are I
got to keep a roof over my head, food on
the table, my kids fed and dressed, and keep my

(01:01:10):
job so I can get income and repeat this, you know,
this cycle next month. So I just think we think.
I think I understand the sentiment, even if it isn't
one that I share for myself. But I think the
best thing we can do is hope that folks can
recover much quicker than we have been recovered.

Speaker 1 (01:01:30):
I think people are fully real I don't think people
are completely engaged. I don't think people fully realize that
we are about to go through some bad times.

Speaker 4 (01:01:38):
That's well, the bad times have already started, and for
most people, they think they've been in it already for
a long time. But the truth is, if it has
been that way before, let's just multiply it. And I
don't mean that to be sensational. I simply mean it is.
The fact of the matter is is these folks are

(01:01:58):
coming for everything that's it. You can see it in
their movements, you can hear it and what they say.
And we could keep being entrapped by this idea that
he says one things, but he really doesn't mean it, y'all.
He said it, he meant it. They're taking action on it,
and they're going to figure out hella hogh water one
way or another, how to get there. Take for instance,

(01:02:21):
he wants to go after it. We talked about what
is it the place where you give money for Democrats
Act Blue? Right, Well, guess what in this legislation that
the Republicans are considering right now. They want to make
it a unilateral decision that the president can determine who
is a nonprofit and who is not. The president can
determine that if you're an organization that renders service to

(01:02:42):
people who are immigrants in this country, that you are
a seditionist, that you are a traitor to the country,
and you should be treated as a terrorist sympathizing organization.
And without any rule of law and designation will allow
the administration to do with us. No, this is all connected.
We are indivisible in this thing. No fight here yesterday.

Speaker 6 (01:03:04):
No, but wait a minute, because you said some of it.
I just want to be accountable. Just one second, just
one It's not even a production timeout, it's just a
a time out. Okay. I receive what you're saying about

(01:03:27):
people having to arrive in their own time. What I
think is not fair to everybody, But I'm my own.
My stuff is. I'm feeling the pressure and the fierce
urgency of now, and I am terrified that in our rest,
whoever's resting among us, we're going to miss the moment.
And I don't want people who I love and care

(01:03:49):
about in my community, in the culture to be left
behind because they thought they had more time than they
do to that right, like like do Like people are
feeling like already helpless. So while we're losing people on
rest that are fully capable, fully gifted, fully talented, fully resourced,
and we can't tap into them because they are on

(01:04:10):
a boycott right now, like keep boycott and target, but
show up us.

Speaker 4 (01:04:14):
We can't browbeat them back out to the streets. We
have to come.

Speaker 1 (01:04:20):
It's like when you have to come to their own
right when you felt that way. If somebody on November
ninth was like Angel, like what are you doing? Like
you we we I think we have to get out
of the habit of centering ourselves, which is the hardest
thing because it's like, because I care about this thing today,
everybody else should care about this thing.

Speaker 3 (01:04:39):
Every you're going to come to the right.

Speaker 1 (01:04:44):
I think we're both We're all saying that, all three
person are saying we are in this path of destruction together.
It takes together. And what will it take to get
people motivated? What our audience is asking is, okay, fine,
you want me to stop resting. What specifically are you
asking me to do? And how specifically will that stop

(01:05:05):
this shit show that we're seeing? And I think that's
a legitimate question. Let me just say is what I
just have one idea, okay, because I've been thinking about
it that I don't act in haste and so and
I don't thrive in chaos. Right now, it's so it's
like chaos, and so sometimes for me, when it's chaos,
I have to take a step back and just observe,
you know, just read, write, talk to folks, not not

(01:05:27):
necessarily in an organized way, but like just talk to
people on my terms, my time, Like let me figure
out what the fuck is going on. And that's what
I feel like I've been in that space for probably
three months now, and I have come up with an
idea that's not all the way thought through, and I
think a part of it is a reverse migration, which

(01:05:48):
is why I want to have Charles Blow on the show.
But I think what would happen if we build our
own little Wakandan communities in the rural south and reshape
the political map of America. We don't have to talk
about it now, but I like what you're saying.

Speaker 6 (01:06:03):
I think what's frustrating is because even for the three
of us, we've not been in conversation. That is part
of what's happening on the tour, the reason we have
the Acre Boys on the tour. I'm serious, I know
everything goes back to the tour.

Speaker 1 (01:06:16):
I'm sorry, No, it's not that I got something to
say about it. We're go ahead.

Speaker 6 (01:06:20):
I definitely want to hear. But we have like even
the stuff that Cliff and Latasha and them are working on,
same thing, like trying to create co op communities and
farming communities to ensure that our folks have food and
resource in case that's cut off in the stores. I
think even with the Acre Boys, where they like they
put up a post yesterday on where black folks can
buy land for reasonable costs in the South. That is

(01:06:43):
absolutely a part of it and has to be a
part of it. I'd love to have that conversation.

Speaker 1 (01:06:47):
But I think I think why I laugh a little
is because I think the tour has been awesome for
people who have curiosity about like what it's like in
these communities and what's happening and what where the work is.
That work is happening independent of the tour a lot
of places as Yeah, So I'm just saying, like, I'm

(01:07:09):
not doing this in isolation. This is also from you know, work, reading,
my upbringing, family, you know, different things that I do. Andrew,
I know you know in Florida you do, and we'll
all be together in Jackson, you know. You and I've
talked about the work I did in Jackson some years ago,
which is why I wanted to do that stop on
the tour.

Speaker 3 (01:07:28):
But I also I.

Speaker 1 (01:07:32):
Don't I don't know the tangible results of that either,
and so I guess I'm just looking at what can
I do selfishly. I'm looking at what can I do
for safety.

Speaker 6 (01:07:44):
For me and my family?

Speaker 3 (01:07:45):
Immediately?

Speaker 1 (01:07:47):
Oh, he can we talk about your thing yet, I'm
not gonna say it if we can't. I'm also concerned.

Speaker 6 (01:07:52):
About your ready to talk about Yeah, I'm concerned about
my safety too. I'll be ready to talk about it
next week.

Speaker 1 (01:07:57):
Okay, next week because we are if I could, well,
you know what, can I callow us right there? This
conversation is so robust? Can we pick this up on
the Mini pid. Y'all got to tune in tomorrow. Okay
for all the folks who are listening right now, we're
going to wrap up, but we're going to keep the
conversation going, so please be sure to tune in to

(01:08:19):
the Mini pod where we will finish this conversation because
we have a lot of things to say. Do y'all
want to do a CTA real quick or you always want
to go straight to minsictas.

Speaker 4 (01:08:28):
I just want to folks to know or FAM you
the battle is not over. There's another vote that must
take place. FAM you has not been wholesale taken over
by anything. Why because they are not fam you. We
are the institution. Somebody asked case. She said, do I
keep my money? Do I save it? What do I
put it? Guess what? That's our university. It ain't theirs,
and I don't care who the NAMN president is. I

(01:08:48):
do care, but on the real fam you doesn't belong
to any one individual that you can't drive me out
of my house. I'm driving your ass out of my house.
You're not going to drive me off. My campus is homecoming.
It's my homecoming. You're not welcome. You're not going to
keep me from giving money to scholarship my cousins and
them who are coming up after me, because it's my money.

(01:09:10):
Those are my cousins and it's my campus. So stay involved.
If you want to know more, keep keep keep. We
got a town hall meeting tomorrow night. I think we
put the alert out last night. And although these something
like seventeen hundred people of RSVP, this sweet, that's right,
it'll be out. You're right, Thank you, Tiff. That's my CTA.

Speaker 3 (01:09:28):
Do you having GTA.

Speaker 6 (01:09:31):
Yes, connect with people in your communities, y'all. I'm not
meaning to say that you can only get this work
on the tour. I'm just saying there are a lot
of people who are connecting across cities, across states, across
the country who are been doing similar work. And it
has been remarkable to watch people who've been doing similar things,
have similar ideologies finally be fully resourced and supported with

(01:09:54):
folks who are thinking like them all over the country.
So check us out at State of THEPPL dot com.

Speaker 1 (01:09:59):
Come through and we'll be in Jackson together and shout
out to all the folks who are working hard on
statements of people tour and follows them on Instagram. Okay,
please tune in, you guys, cause we'ren'n keep this conversation going. Also,
please be sure that you like and subscribe and share
and tell your friends about us. You know, new episodes
drop every Thursday and Friday, so you can hear this

(01:10:20):
next part of the conversation on Friday. And you can
check out solo pods with Angela and Andrew on Mondays
and Tuesdays. And please be sure to check out our
girl Jamil Hill on Politics and Off the Cup the
other shows on Reason Choice Media. There are five hundred
and thirty days until midterm elections.

Speaker 4 (01:10:38):
Welcome home, y'all, work from home, Welcome home.

Speaker 2 (01:10:41):
The last morning see thank you for joining the natives.
Attention to what the info and all of the latest
Roy Gilliam Cross connected to the statements that you leave
on our socials. Thank you sincerely for the patients. Reason
for your choice is clear, so grateful to execute role.
Thank you for serve, defendit, protective bank you in this case,
and we'll welcome home to all.

Speaker 4 (01:11:02):
Of the natives. We thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:11:16):
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