Black Men Vote

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm Tamika D. Mallory and the Ship Boy my Son
in General.

Speaker 2 (00:03):
We are your host of TMI.

Speaker 3 (00:05):
Tamika and my Son's Information, Truth, Motivation.

Speaker 2 (00:08):
And Inspiration Name New Energy.

Speaker 4 (00:14):
It's your boy Might song in general. Tamika D. Mallory
couldn't be with us today. She is working on her
book and she has a deadline, so I'm gonna hold
us down. But this book is amazing. You know, she
doesn't let me hear a couple of things. It's amazing.

Speaker 3 (00:28):
So as soon as it goes on, make sure you
pre order and get this book.

Speaker 4 (00:32):
The book is I'm not gonna tell you the name
of her book before she tells you, I would tell you,
but it's a dope name.

Speaker 3 (00:37):
Book is.

Speaker 4 (00:38):
Book is fire. But I'm gonna hold us down today. Man,
I'm gonna have some guests on. We're gonna talk about
what's going on with this election, because you know this
election is it's crazy. There's so much things going on
online and I'm not gonna talk about today.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
I'm just gonna wait till we have guests.

Speaker 4 (00:56):
You know, we're talking with black men today and how
they about this election and all of the things that
come with that. With that being said, I had a
dope week this week. Have you been watching the Olympics.
Olympics has been It has been exhilarating. And you know,
sometimes you don't have a lot of energy and sometimes

(01:18):
you just feel like down because I go through those periods.
Sometimes sometimes I'm real energetic and I've got a lot
of motivation to do stuff, and then sometimes I just don't.
So this week was one of those weeks that I
didn't have a lot of energy to do stuff. But
watching the Olympics, I have to tell you, the last
two basketball games of the Olympics, Like I watched the

(01:40):
Rais Chikari. We're just in It's amazing, you know, just
watching her. She always has this this level of energy
that is contagious. Like you watch her and you see
her run and everything about the way that she presents
herself as an athlete. It's just motivation of me, Like

(02:04):
she comes from. You know, we know all of the
controversy she's had and just keep seeing her overcome and
despite this continue to win. That's in itself, it's motivation.
But I watched the us A play against Serbia first,
you know, and that was on that was like last

(02:25):
week and that game, I caught it. In the fourth quarter.
One of my friends, Rubin calls me, like, Yo, you're
watching this game. The US is down by sixteen points
on like sixteen Yeah, they losing to Serbia Is in
the fourth quarter. Man, They're about to lose. So I'm like, damn,
they're about to lose.

Speaker 3 (02:43):
Now. If you know, Serbia is Jokis's team, you.

Speaker 4 (02:47):
Know who was actually the MVP of the NBA, So
it's not far fetched that you would be losing to
somebody who was voted the best player in the NBA.
The way they started that fourth quarter was amazing, Like,
it was nothing short of amazing, just watching like I
seen Lebron in a different life. Like I always been

(03:08):
critical of Lebron, especially after he did the trade, you know,
to Miami, and I always I never liked that move,
you know, just to me, it was like, Yo, you're
the best player in the world. Why would you go
join other great players to play with them instead of
just beating them, especially after they just want a championship, Like,
I never liked that move, So I'm not going to
act like I did. And I've always been critical of

(03:31):
his killer instinct and his warrior mentality ever since then,
but as of late, you know, he's grown on me
with the warrior But I think this that game solidified
it for me, Like just watching how he put the
US on his back, like literally he put that team
on his back by hisself, not by hisself, because everybody

(03:52):
contributed in the game. Steph hit like not like he
was just unconscious, but the level of energy he was
guarding Jokic, he was playing the point guard, he was
guarding the center, he was getting rebounds, he got blocks.
His intensity just went somewhere else, and people on the

(04:16):
USA team had to match that and the other team
couldn't match it. So he solidified this level of greatness
of this warrior spirit for me.

Speaker 3 (04:24):
In that game.

Speaker 4 (04:26):
They came back from that deficit to come back and
win that game, and it was just like.

Speaker 3 (04:32):
It was one for the ages. But then the championship game,
watching Steph Curry shoot threes.

Speaker 4 (04:41):
That I couldn't even believe he five in a row,
like it just didn't make no sense. It didn't matter
what defense they played on him, they tried to denomin
the board. He did whatever he wanted. The level of
ease and comfort in which he shoots three pointer is
just phenomenals. It is phenomenal. The skill level that he

(05:04):
had in shooting a basketball was just it was like, Okay,
I don't think we're ever going to have a generational
talent like that.

Speaker 3 (05:16):
Again, I don't. I don't.

Speaker 4 (05:17):
I can't see it, like somebody would have to then
it'd be perfect and never miss a shot and to
be able to shoot better than Steph Kirk, Like, I
just can't really see somebody being able to shoot better
than him.

Speaker 3 (05:28):
I don't.

Speaker 4 (05:29):
And if that they come, you know, I'm willing to
say I make a mistake, but I just don't see it.
I really don't see that happening. So shout out to
the USA for winning the goal. They had the most
gold medals and they had the most medals altogether, so
I think it was one hundred and twenty something go
I mean medals altogether, and I think they had like

(05:49):
forty something gold medals. So shout out to them for that.
And I'm not pretty much sums up what my week
was like. Man, just relaxed, you know, and just getting
prepared for summers almost over. I do my annual picnic
in the Bronx Merriam Day. If you know about it,

(06:12):
you know it's one of those. You know, we have
bouncy houses, face paint for the kids. We give away
book bags, food, basketball.

Speaker 3 (06:24):
You know. Music. It's just a vibe, man.

Speaker 4 (06:27):
So if you're in the Bronx August twenty fifth, Sunday,
August twenty fifth, pull up to Marriam Day, get you
some glizzies, get you some hamburgers. Some Hamburgers and glizzies.
We on deck man, bring the kids. Is a fun day.

Speaker 3 (06:45):
We're gonna have a good time. So my music segment
which I have, I have a music segment this week.

Speaker 5 (06:49):
Y'all.

Speaker 4 (06:52):
This one guy, his name is Marcus Klay. He's a
dope young rapper. He's actually really dope. I've discovered him
a couple of years ago. I was just on Instagram
with somebody at tagged me and Sunny did so I've
been watching him and.

Speaker 3 (07:11):
He has this song.

Speaker 4 (07:14):
Dedicated to Sonya Massy called Say Her Name, and it's
a dope song. It's talking about what happened to us,
talk about, you know, in general, what we deal with
with black people deal with in America. So look it up.
It's called Say Her Name by Marcus k you can
find Marcus clay You can find him on Instagram. It's
m A r q U s C l a E

(07:38):
Marcus clay Man. Naming the song is say Her Name
for Sonya Massey. It's a really dope song, y'all should
listen to. So, now what we're gonna do. We're gonna
bring on our guests. Man, We're gonna have a very
compelling discussion about the election.

Speaker 3 (07:53):
You know, we're gonna have some people who are pro
this antie that. We're gonna have some people that support Trump.

Speaker 4 (08:02):
We've got some people that don't support we got some
people that support Carol, And we want to get to
what the issues are. What are black men's issues, Why
they don't like candidates, why they do like candidates, what's
at stakedness We're gonna have. It's gonna be a compelling discussion.
It's gonna be some debating, So stay tuned.

Speaker 3 (08:21):
What's going on?

Speaker 4 (08:21):
Family, So today we're going to have a discussion. These
are brothers who I've known, friends, family, all of the above,
and they're black men, as you can see, and you know,
there is a lot of talk about black men in
this election and what they want, what they don't want.
You know, online there's been these feuds between people who

(08:44):
want Kamala, people who don't want Kamala, people for Trump,
people who don't want Trump, and I've been seeing it.

Speaker 3 (08:51):
I've been engaged in a lot of these dialogues.

Speaker 4 (08:54):
So I wanted to take time out to bring this
to TMI and have a discussion with black you know,
and get the different perspectives, different views. So today we
have on this panel my brother Angelo Pinto, who is
one of the co founders of Until Freedom and.

Speaker 3 (09:10):
He is a lawyer.

Speaker 4 (09:12):
We also have this esteem Jeff Johnson, who does everything
you know what he does. And we have my brother
James Bond, who is the founder of Dash organization about
fathers and fore fatherhood. He also does a lot of
management within the music industry and he's just a down
to earth brother of mins. And we have also have

(09:35):
another one of a good friend of minees the brother
Gotham from Harlem.

Speaker 3 (09:39):
You see he got Halem New York on his shirt.

Speaker 4 (09:41):
And we open up this conversation and you know, like
I said, it's been a lot of talk online and
so many different views. You know, I think, for me,
what what what troubles me? Is not who somewhat votes
for right or what your preference is, it's why right,

(10:05):
And then it's the way that you go about saying
that you don't want to vote for someone. There's this
this thing that I've seen, you know. I posted my
brother Rosparrock saying that he said that a man said
he would rather shoot herself in the head before he
voted for Kaana Harris, and he said, but he didn't

(10:27):
have that energy for Trump, but he felt the need
to express this level of disdain for this woman. And
that's the thing that confuses me because never had any
political views prior to this, Like I have never heard
them saying anything. They've just been quiet. But as soon
as this woman, you know, was announcing that she was
joinning for president, there was so much negative backlash talking

(10:51):
about her this she's not black, she didn't do this,
she don't deserve this. She's actually to me, and on paper,
she's probably the most qualified presidential candidate that we've had.
Like when you look at all her qualifications, I don't
think there's been a candidate that's more qualified than them.

Speaker 3 (11:10):
So this backlash just disturbed me.

Speaker 4 (11:12):
So I wanted to have this conversation with you brothers
and just get your perspective on what do you think
that backlash comes from, and do you think is warranted
or do you not think it's worth Angela, what do
you think?

Speaker 3 (11:27):
I mean?

Speaker 6 (11:28):
I think some of what we're seeing right now is
things that we saw with the Obama presidency.

Speaker 1 (11:34):
I think when you have a.

Speaker 6 (11:35):
Black person who's potentially going to secure the highest office
in the country, they're going to be met with racism.
Black folks are met with racism in this country, and
they're not trying and they're not trying to accomplish a
feat like that, just.

Speaker 1 (11:50):
Doing everyday activities.

Speaker 6 (11:52):
Black folks are encountering police violence and a number of
other issues. But I think when you look at what's
happening with her, it's similar to what happened with President Obama.
He experienced a tremendous amount of racism because he was
running for presidents his family experienced a tremendous amount of racism, and.

Speaker 1 (12:09):
I think it's no different for her.

Speaker 6 (12:12):
I think the additional pieces that she's also a woman,
so I think there's also a gender a gendered kind
of disrespect that she's experiencing as well.

Speaker 1 (12:24):
For me, if to your point.

Speaker 6 (12:26):
If you disagree with her, if you don't think she's
the appropriate candidate, I think that's a different conversation. But
because of the history of racism in America and the
history of gender depression in America, she's experiencing a kind
of vitriol and hate that many candidates, white candidates never
have to experience. Now, I think the other pieces that

(12:49):
black folks shouldn't contribute to that. We already know that
white folks and other folks are going to participate in
that kind of activity, which is not only going to
have an impact for her, but it's going to have
ant for the Black community at large, and I think
black folks shouldn't participate in that. If we want to
have heated debate and discussion, which we should abut the
political merit of her and the political merit of other candidates,

(13:12):
we should engage in that dialogue. But I think there's
a way to do so without disrespecting her and ultimately
disrespecting black folks. But not just black folks. I think
there's a kind of disrespect for black folks who are
trying to attain political position, which is also tremendously problematic
because it's not just her, but there's other black folks
who are aspiring. And people often talk about the presidency

(13:35):
of the United States, but we don't have many black
governors either, right, so there's still a lot of political
positions in the United States of America that black folks
are trying to break into or enter into, I should say,
and when we engage or participate in a race based
discussion about them, I think some of that sets us back,

(13:57):
and we certainly shouldn't participate and that either race based
or gender based disrespect towards her.

Speaker 1 (14:04):
Now, I have a different perspective around where.

Speaker 6 (14:06):
She lands politically, but I think before we could even
get into that, I think we need to be able
to say we shouldn't participate in the disrespect.

Speaker 3 (14:15):
James, what do you think?

Speaker 7 (14:17):
I mean?

Speaker 8 (14:18):
I agree with Angelo, you know, just to piggyback off
what he said. I mean, I think a lot of
it comes from her being a woman.

Speaker 1 (14:25):
Right.

Speaker 8 (14:25):
I've spoken to men and engaged with them, and they
told me, listen, a woman is not supposedly I spoke
with guys who a church goers avidly.

Speaker 7 (14:34):
And they say in the Bible says the women is
not supposed to lead.

Speaker 8 (14:37):
So everybody has their perspective on it from that point
of view, but you know, just in large, as Angela
already stated, she's a black woman, we never asked these
questions about the counterparts.

Speaker 7 (14:49):
You know, where they come from, what, you know, what
are their nationalities.

Speaker 8 (14:52):
It's just based on the politics and the policies that
they're trying to put in place.

Speaker 7 (14:56):
So you know, my outlook is that as a black woman.

Speaker 8 (15:00):
Because I see it, I ask that I'm looking forward
to seeing and hearing her policies more. But thus far,
I'm standing on that side of the fence, and I
don't consider myself Republican or Democrat, but I go with
the pros and the cons of you know, what these
people bring to the table.

Speaker 7 (15:18):
That's what I look at.

Speaker 3 (15:20):
Okay, God, what do you think.

Speaker 5 (15:24):
First?

Speaker 9 (15:25):
Like, I'm not even into the political thing to say,
like I've been following the politics of what's been going on.
My standpoint is just really just on morals and standards
of how she's moving and this race is like, you know,
they always say, your first impression is your best impression.

(15:46):
So since she stepped out, it's just been like she's
trying to sell something to us, and it's like as
me being around many different Black people who have different upbringings,
it seems like she's leaning more towards the nigga shit,
like to bring us in in it, And to me,

(16:10):
I always feel like that insult my intelligence when you
when you move like that, you make me feel like
this is what you think about your culture, Like we
can't comprehend with you on a higher level, so you
dumb yourself down to come down to the lower masses
of people to be like for instance, people ask about
like with the Tupac shit, it's like, how does that

(16:31):
have anything to do with politics?

Speaker 5 (16:33):
It really don't have something to do with character.

Speaker 9 (16:36):
Your character is everything, So me knowing black people that
never that don't listen to rap at all. That and
if you genuine about it, if you get asked that question,
it should be listen, I don't listen to that. I
don't listen to rap music. I prefer jazz, I prefer
rock and roll. But it's like everything that they asking her,
he's leading more on to the nigga shit, the bringing MEGANI,

(17:00):
Stallion Doug. It's just it's just it's just repetitively, like
he just keep doing it.

Speaker 5 (17:05):
So it makes you it makes you be like, yo,
what is you really? Hoiden?

Speaker 9 (17:10):
So even with the even with the racing, we as people,
it wasn't attack of her to say, oh, she's not black.
The reason why them statements have pain is because he
repeatedly from being an Attorney general to being a district attorney.
When she got sworn in, she's sworn in as the end.

(17:34):
So now when you fast forward and it comes to
you being a VP, you swear in as African American.
So people will say, okay, what's wrong with that? Okay,
my thing is this me. I'm half Dominican, so all
my life identify as African American. So now my Dominican

(17:54):
side stay. If I walk into we all been in prison.
You walk into prison, and then you see the Dominicans
is running the show. And then I just decide to say, yo,
I'm Dominican. The dominic gonna be like, no fight, no fight,
you can't do that. I understand what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (18:12):
That's no when I say I just think for me,
I don't. I don't ever remember a time when she
didn't acknowledge being black.

Speaker 5 (18:19):
I I'm not saying I'm not saying that, know.

Speaker 4 (18:22):
What I'm just saying this, but that's that's what you
would say if I was always Dominican, Right, if I
was Dominican in black and I hung with Dominicans in
blacks because I was Dominican in black. When I go
to the jail and I see my Dominican mans, I'm
hang with my Dominican mans, i'm'a hang with my black mans.
So niggain't gonna say you switching up if you've always
been Dominican and black, I'm just my thing.

Speaker 9 (18:43):
If I if I always identify as African American, that's
gonna be.

Speaker 5 (18:48):
That's gonna come out as I.

Speaker 9 (18:50):
As I speak to you and you get to know me,
I'm gonna say, yo, I'm mixed with Dominicans, but I'm
always gonna stand.

Speaker 5 (18:55):
So it's just like in a in.

Speaker 9 (18:56):
A face when you come in, it's like you you
you black, if you the Dominicans and all I got
their own shit going.

Speaker 5 (19:03):
So it's either gonna be you gonna choose.

Speaker 9 (19:06):
This side of your culture and go over there, or
you're gonna choose the culture that you've been saying you
African American and staying over here. You can't use it
when it's beneficial to you to say, yo, I'm okay,
I'm this now, and then I understand what I'm saying.

Speaker 4 (19:20):
So I don't really understand what you're saying because I
know mixed people who are have different ethnicity and to
come from different culture.

Speaker 3 (19:28):
But some people didn't play both of those those my time.

Speaker 2 (19:32):
I think the bigger issue here is Kamala's always claimed
to be black, so it's not as if she never
ignored either side. I mean, I was a national youth
director at NAACP back in two thousand through two thousand
and three, and I wrote a check for her when
she was running for DA in San Francisco, and I

(19:53):
fucked with her because she was. Everything she said to
me and everything I saw was she was moving as
a black woman, she was engaging with black people. She
embraced her Indian heritage, but she she was raised as
a black woman. She she didn't choose Howard because she

(20:14):
was trying to find blackness. She chose Howard because she
wanted to lean into it. She didn't become an AKA
because she was trying to find blackness. And we can argue,
you know, some of the some of the elitism that
exists within our community as it relates to HBCUs and
Greek letter organizations. But but we still know that they

(20:35):
are black. And so I just think we gotta we
gotta be real careful about some of the talking points
from the other side that we listened to or don't
dive into, because she never she never disengaged from her blackness.
She leaned into her blackness way more than she did
anything else.

Speaker 9 (20:53):
Of course, And of course I don't I don't think.
I don't think he denied did. She never denied did.
But it's like if you ask anybody who's mixed, right,
and they they stand on the African American when you
when you go fill out anything, job applications and anything,
you're gonna put what you dominantly is I'm African American.

Speaker 5 (21:15):
Then I'm missed.

Speaker 9 (21:16):
I'm not gonna say on a on a job application,
I'm Dominican.

Speaker 2 (21:20):
And then what what I'm asking is, where did she
do that? Where did where did she?

Speaker 9 (21:24):
She got sworn in, She got sworn in as an
Indian the first Indian bomb UH attorney general in the
first UH Indian UH.

Speaker 2 (21:35):
She also got attorney of the first black I mean
there was there was never. When she was elected attorney general,
she was the first black attorney general, and and those
were the things that were said about her. And those
were the you don't have to check a box when
you become when you get sworn in saying which one
of these do I choose?

Speaker 5 (21:53):
Okay, So why did it switch up?

Speaker 3 (21:54):
Now?

Speaker 5 (21:55):
Why did it switch from Indian to now African American?

Speaker 2 (21:58):
I'm saying. What I'm saying is it never switched up.
When she got elected as attorney general, she was named
the first black female, the first Indian female attorney general.
It wasn't one or the other. So in some cases
it was like how did how did certain media outlets
run with it? And in some cases how did certain

(22:19):
communities run with it? The Asian community was like, we
got ours, The Black community was like we got ours.
But but she never was like nah, I'm only nah
nah black people, I'm Indian right now, or nah Indian people,
I'm Black right now. She never did that, and so,
you know, a lot of times we got to be careful.
I think one of the biggest challenges about Kamala is

(22:40):
most people don't follow politics period, right then, most people
only follow politics that affect where they are. So it
was a whole lot of people didn't know who the
hell Kamala was until she became a senator, and then
a lot of people didn't know who she was until
she ran for president United States. So the challenge was

(23:03):
she didn't do that well when she ran for president,
and then when they said we want her to be
the vice presidential nominee, they were like, listen, don't say nothing,
don't say nothing about you, don't tell your story. We
just need you to show up. Get black women to
turn out because they're the most reliable demographic in electoral politics. Exactly,

(23:24):
get we need to beat Trump. So she was never
really I mean, if you talk to any insiders, the
folks like Bakari Sellers and others were like, yo, we
need Commona to be able to tell her story because
black people and black men in particular was like, all
she did was lock up a bunch of niggas and
I don't support her, And folks were trying to get
her to be able to tell her story, but she

(23:45):
never really told her story four years ago. So I
think the biggest challenge now my sign is and I
think one of my biggest concerns is there are folks
who are either Democrats or progressives that are trying to
beat up everybody that's not a black Democrat or progressive
telling them that they need to fall in live for Kamala,

(24:08):
anytime you tell somebody to fall in line, there needs
to be some level of membership. And if you've not
a Democrat or you not a progressive, then who the
hell are you to tell me to fall in line
for anything. My biggest concern, and it's primarily around black men,
is I'm not talking about the black men that hate
black women. I'm not talking about the black men that

(24:29):
don't support black women. I'm talking about the black men
that got questions. And black men should be able to
be allowed to have questions about who she is, about
her record, about how she feels about black men in
many cases, because she never told that story. I don't
have nothing wrong with brothers like yo. I got some questions.
I got some legitimate questions. And I see brothers getting

(24:50):
they asked beat or getting or getting shamed or getting
attacked in social not because they like fuck her, not
because they like I don't like women, or not because
a woman's not supposed to leave, but because they're like, yo,
I got some questions and all I want is my
questions answered, And she's got to be real. We got
to be real careful about not alienating brothers in particular

(25:13):
in our community, not who are against women, not who
don't like women, but those who are just like yo,
I'm not a democrat. I don't ride with none of
these people. I don't trust none of these people. And
you want me to say, yeah, I want to vote
for her, then I need to ask some questions answered,
and I need her to earn my vote. And then closing,

(25:34):
it's like, yo, I think Kamala wants to earn that vote.
I don't think she's sitting around saying, force these negroes
to vote for me instead of let me earn their vote.
Let me introduce them to who I am. Let me
stand on my record, because most of what most of
the people that have been talking about her record have
been lying. And so if we can get to that
piece and stop demonizing black men who have questions and

(25:57):
then hold accountable to brothers that are attacking women are
not standing with women. But the vast majority of brothers
I know is like yo, I don't trust none of
them I don't trust no Democrats. I don't trust no Republicans.
I don't trust I don't trust black politicians. I don't
trust white politicians. I don't trust no politicians. So if
you want me to turn out, especially because you got
me to ride on hope and change with Obama, and

(26:19):
I ain't feel like I got none, So don't try
to get me on this making history shit again, talk
to me like I'm an adult and like as a
black man, I gotta take care of a family, got
to I got to earn a living. I gotta try
to keep as much money as I can. I got
to be able to stay out of jail. I got
to try to find a way to thriveta. I gotta

(26:40):
deal with the fact that we got the lowest life
expectancy of any demographic in America, and we die in
of preventive stuff and I can't get health insurance. Like
those are real things, and so I should have questions
and we should honor that. And as opposed to beating
up brothers that are trying to ask questions before they
make a decision, we should have I think I think
my soign you might have said, or I think Angelou

(27:03):
you may have said, like, let's have a meaningful conversation
about some of this stuff. We don't have to yell
at each other and shout at each other even if
we Disagree's speak to each other, especially men. Let's speak
to each other like men, and we can respectfully disagree.
But I ain't kicking nobody out the camp because of
how they feel. If they're showing me they riding with

(27:25):
who we are in in their daily lives.

Speaker 4 (27:27):
Right, And I expect that and I think for me, right,
that's why I wanted to do this segment, is because
you know, I, like I said, I don't have I
don't have a problem with whoever someone wants to vote for.
It's just been mind boggling to me to see the
level of black men. Like you said, people have questions

(27:48):
and if you ask them questions, but it's black men
that I've never seen involved in a political standpoint, Like
Gotham said, like he's never been involved in the political politics.
But in the last three weeks he's posted about twenty things.
Nineteen of them wasn't even correct about what they're saying
about Kama. And we've had conversations either in his comings

(28:10):
or you know, in our dms, and.

Speaker 3 (28:11):
It's like, where did this, Where did.

Speaker 4 (28:14):
This level of energy come from, especially in black men,
that they this angry that they just like, oh, you're
just going with her?

Speaker 3 (28:21):
So what about this and what about this?

Speaker 4 (28:23):
With like what made them get involved in this political
conversation with this level they ain't shit.

Speaker 2 (28:30):
Black men keep being told they ain't shit if they
ain't right, and you know it's the truth. Like I'm
having conversations with women who I respect, who I trust,
whose leadership I follow, who I'm hearing them tell black
men ain't shit because they ain't falling in line and
supporting her. That's not the way we got to roll.

(28:50):
And so I've been able to have conversations with sisters
where I'm like, yo, that brother wasn't even saying he
don't like her. That brother wasn't even saying he hated
women leadership. I know women this brother follows. But if
he raising his hand like yo, I need to know
about the prosecute shit, that's not the time to say
Nigga was wrong with you. You just need to support

(29:10):
the black woman. Like I got black women I'm supporting,
and they mothers of black kids, and I gotta know
what kind of person is she if I want to
support her because of the black women I support. And
so I think so many brothers are mad, my son,
And I'm not saying all of them, don't don't get
don't get it twisted. I think it's some we need

(29:32):
to hold accountable. But the vast majority of brothers I
know are angry because it's like, you ain't never asked
me what I want. You never asked me why I vote.
You never asked me what I care about. You don't
never ask me what drives me. You telling me who
I should be because I'm a black man, and that
is problematic on so many levels.

Speaker 6 (29:52):
And I think that's where we feel politically. That's the
conversation I've been having with a lot of folks too.

Speaker 2 (29:57):
It's like, of.

Speaker 6 (29:59):
Course, we know black women are a super force when
it comes to the democratic process, particularly for Democrats.

Speaker 1 (30:07):
Black men aren't that far behind.

Speaker 6 (30:09):
But I think oftentimes in the conversation, black men don't
have the same kind of seat at the table, and
as a result, when.

Speaker 1 (30:17):
You talk, you're not allowed to engage in.

Speaker 6 (30:19):
A discourse in the same way. For me, that hurts
us politically because as a community when we're asking the questions,
when we're trying to get aligned or more aligned, just
get educated and formed, those conversations are cut short. Now
I'll say this, I do think black folks have been
let down politically. I think even to the point you made, Jeff,

(30:41):
around the Obama administration, we all were, I think, behind
making history, and in many ways we didn't get the substantative.

Speaker 1 (30:48):
Results that we wanted to.

Speaker 6 (30:50):
And I think Black candidates now are forced to contend
with that reality. Right, certainly, we might want to make
history in some regard, there's a symbolic piece here that's important,
but substantively, we want to know what you're gonna do
right and not just your track record, but what do
you plan to do moving forward that speaks to the

(31:12):
needs the issues that we have and for me, and
it's not just her, I feel like every candidate is
failing in that regard and putting for specifically what they
plan and intend to do on behalf of black folks.
But I think the other piece, for black folks who
are with her the way they are, they should be
engaging and we should be engaging in the conversation with

(31:35):
the rest of the community about who she.

Speaker 1 (31:38):
Is and what she plans on doing.

Speaker 6 (31:39):
But to your earlier point, Jeff, I don't think she
set that out enough. I think there's still much to
be desired around what she intends to really do politically,
and I hope to see that from her in the
coming days, weeks, and months ahead.

Speaker 4 (31:57):
And I agree with you, right, but I don't know
why what is Trump supposed to be doing? Because I've
never I don't hear these questions from.

Speaker 3 (32:10):
What is Trump?

Speaker 4 (32:10):
They said is policies, And I'm like, what is Trump's
policy that he has that that is appealing to y'all?

Speaker 3 (32:17):
Like? What is he saying and doing? What is his
appeal to black men?

Speaker 5 (32:21):
The black men?

Speaker 3 (32:22):
I want to know?

Speaker 4 (32:23):
Tell me what do you think that his appeal is?
I don't even let me answer you. I'm gonna let
you answer, right because to me, right, what I seen
is man like because I was listening to the news
and it was like, well, he presents this level of
manhood and strength. He don't remind me of nothing that
I seen as a man growing up. Right, My father
had levels of integrity, he had honored he moved a

(32:45):
certain way, He had discipline, you know, he had self control,
He didn't just lash out and yell whenever he was like,
nothing about him appeals to what I call manhood.

Speaker 3 (32:57):
So I'm trying to figure out what is.

Speaker 4 (32:58):
His appeal to black man? What do y'all think it
is that they're gravitating to. If they're not just Kamala,
what is it that they're gravitating to in Trump?

Speaker 5 (33:08):
Me? Me personally? This is my thing. It's not about
what's gravitating people to Trump.

Speaker 9 (33:15):
My my thing is this For the last eight years
or okay, twenty twenty, they got him out right, and
then when he was in for four years, right, all
you heard about is how much of a fuck up
Trump is, how much people don't like him, how much
they don't they.

Speaker 5 (33:30):
Not voting for him.

Speaker 9 (33:31):
So my thing is this, my people, I have a
ninety two year old grandmother, I got aunts and all
of that shit that I know.

Speaker 5 (33:37):
They don't know who Kamala is.

Speaker 9 (33:39):
So you are they already expressed the hate or dislike
for Trump and everybody, damn me on my page they
voiced the dislike for Trump.

Speaker 5 (33:49):
So I'll be keep questioning them.

Speaker 9 (33:50):
To say, who puts all of the energy into a
person that they not voting for? Why are y'all not
putting this energy into this lady to find out who
this lady is?

Speaker 5 (34:02):
You understand what I'm saying.

Speaker 9 (34:03):
You keep every time somebody voice opinion or asks about Kamela,
they say Trump, they answer what Trump name?

Speaker 5 (34:10):
It's like, yo, okay, we already know Trump is not.

Speaker 9 (34:13):
You feel he's not gonna do whatever you So it's
just like going to a dealership with a broken car
and you not gonna ask the dealership to tell you what's.

Speaker 5 (34:21):
Wrong with the car that you're bringing in.

Speaker 9 (34:23):
You're gonna start asking questions about the new car that
you're about the purchase. So if you're about to put
the world in this lady hands, why is nobody have
no concern? And that's what I asked you. Brother, you've
been in the situations that we've been in. You was
wrongfully convicted by a DA So just off the standpoint,

(34:44):
never understood why. You just never like had a little
bit rejection to say who is this lady? So now,
maybe the things that I might have posted about her
might have been exaggerated, but there was truth and stuff.
It was truth in these posts that dudes had got
railroaded under her, and she just you know laughed it
off or did whatever she did. So me being a

(35:07):
person that sat across from DA's that I know is
wicked and that abuse their power, and now shee is
running around and it's like, Okay, we not gonna we
not gonna condemn you for being a district attorney because
if motherfuckers do starting.

Speaker 5 (35:22):
To go to jail, that's what the fuck they belong
at in jail.

Speaker 9 (35:25):
But we also know that there are people who have
that seat that abuse it. You understand what I'm saying.
So when I when I talked to you, it's like, damn, Mike,
you sat and did time behind that shit. So automatically
if you hear these stories, yeah they might not be true,
but it's like, yo, let me see who the fuck
this lady really is before I start backing her. You

(35:48):
understand what I'm saying, and it's a lot of other
shit well her that to be like. So the things
that I post is I don't have no hatred for
that lady. I would love to see a black woman
be president, but I still have Like I said, I
got a ninety two year grandmother and aunt and all
that shit, and I ask them, why you why you
want to vote for us.

Speaker 8 (36:06):
I don't like Trump, right, let me say this though,
let me chime in real quick.

Speaker 7 (36:11):
The thing is Trump already has shown who he is.

Speaker 8 (36:14):
He already disclosed what he planned to do right, and
people are looking for somebody to go against them, somebody
to champion. So when you hear that this lady is
now running, right, you want to do your own homer
to find out all these things true. Or I'm hearing
this about let me do my own research. Then when
you talk to the masses, you gotta tell them what

(36:37):
you research because they might not take their time to
do the research. So you can't you can't magnify what
you hear on the fake news channels that people who
are just they saying anything right now. So as someone
who has a voice in a platform, you gotta, you know,
you gotta do the right thing by sharing with you
research because people not gonna do the work. And that's

(37:00):
that's what that's what I tried to do, bro, And
it's certain, it's certain.

Speaker 9 (37:03):
It's like when you dealing with as as a cult
of black people, we are super vulnerable when it comes
to fit that we've been through in just our culture.
So we are very sensitive when it comes to that shit.
You understand what I'm saying. When people see a black
person automatically it's Waconda forever, It's no, it's not Waconda forever,

(37:25):
because every black person that you put in a situation
is not with us. You understand what I'm saying. So
if I do post on and say, oh, he convicted
such and such and such of what we and that
shit be false. But then you dig and see a
dude who was convicted for fifty years, wrongfully convicted, and
he came and showed up and laughed at his trial,
it's some truth to what they're saying. You understand what

(37:47):
I'm saying. So it's not like YO, just th dirt
on her. But like you said, my grandmother is not
gonna do no research. Right, Trump the fuck about it is.

Speaker 7 (37:56):
Right because he's center.

Speaker 1 (37:59):
I think dond Trump.

Speaker 6 (38:00):
Part of what's happening in this moment is that Donald
Trump has showed his hand, and I think there's ways
in which if it's a conversation.

Speaker 1 (38:08):
Of character, he ain't got none.

Speaker 6 (38:11):
So I think for most folks when they just put
that up against what she represents, not even so much
of her track record, as a DA, but being an
educated woman going to an HBCU. Just based on how
she presents, there's a way in which people are saying,
which I think is a part of the electoral process,

(38:33):
they would rather have someone like her represent them than
someone like Donald Trump, And I think even from a
character perspective, people would make that decision.

Speaker 1 (38:42):
I do believe I'm a type of person. I've done
a lot of criminal justice reform.

Speaker 6 (38:49):
I'm generally a person who's going to have a challenge
with a DA that's just me personally because of the
ways in which I know they are intecral in how
mass incarceration operates. Right, So for me, a DA is
someone who I'm generally going to say, hold.

Speaker 1 (39:04):
On, wait, I want to see your track record.

Speaker 6 (39:06):
I want to know what you did and why you
did it before I make a decision and align myself
with you. And I would say there are things in
her track record that I have big questions about and
that I don't feel good about. Right However, I think
she has the opportunity in this moment to talk about

(39:27):
what she'll do different differently as the commander in chief
of this country.

Speaker 1 (39:32):
Mass Incarceration still is a huge issue in.

Speaker 6 (39:34):
The United States of America, and I think she needs
to put forth an agenda, particularly around criminal justice reform,
that shows some very progressive reforms, right because even though
master incarceration has been a big ticket item, people have
been talking about it for decades and there's been some
progress made.

Speaker 1 (39:54):
I think we're still far behind.

Speaker 6 (39:57):
But a person who has an experience as a d
has seen some of the pitfalls of the system. I
would like to see a very progressive agenda from her
speaking to those points.

Speaker 1 (40:06):
And I certainly haven't seen that yet.

Speaker 2 (40:08):
So I'll say, did you let me did you see
the case?

Speaker 9 (40:10):
Did you just see the case where the kid, the
autistic kid, he just got sentenced to five years for
assaulting the teacher. So my thing is like that that
was a perfect analogy for me, because you have somebody
that's that's that's that's autistic, right, and he he lastes

(40:30):
out and I guess.

Speaker 5 (40:31):
He assaulted his teacher. They sent this this kid the
five years.

Speaker 9 (40:36):
Now they say, oh, it's not the district attorney, it's
the judge. Listen, brother, I sat in court. The district
attorney is the one who proposed the time to the judge.

Speaker 5 (40:44):
And then the judge make their decision.

Speaker 2 (40:45):
So the center of ultimately wait wait wait wait wait,
wait your hold all the ones like because because I
want to, I don't. I don't want to miss the
question you asked, because I think there's two There's two
things here. One is why are certain men black men
resonating with Trump? And I think one we got to

(41:08):
recognize that she just became the candidate like five minutes ago.
So so most of that, most of these casts I
was choosing Trump, was choosing Trump over Biden, right, not
necessarily Trump over Kamala and and and that was connected
to me to a couple of things. One we gotta

(41:31):
we gotta forget that its nuts, as I believe Trump is.
Trump did a lot around criminal justice reform, and and
the Congress probably did more around criminal justice reform under
this nuts Congress, you know, two terms ago, than they
did under any previously. So they're there. And we got

(41:54):
to remember why though, Right, Like, you can't make trillions
of dollars on marijuana when nigga's still going to jail
for marijuana, so you got to start doing in order
to justify the money you about to make. So so
some of this is not about doing little bills. Some
of this is about, like, we didn't end slavery because

(42:14):
there was a moral anundrum about whether their slaves or not.
We ended slavery because of the Industrial Revolution, and the
North didn't need slaves anymore. They needed factories and they
needed people to work in those factories. In the South
didn't have those. That was what the war was about.
It wasn't about Abraham Lincoln loving black people and having

(42:36):
some moral awakening about the humanity of black people. Similarly,
you're not having legislators around the country saying, I think
we should decriminalize marijuana because we all of a sudden
fell in love with humanity and felt bad about the
war on drugs. Now, there were champions of that, but

(42:56):
but a lot of these conservative state legislators were like, Yo,
we got to pass these laws because we're about to
get we. I got boys that I need to make
money off of legal cannabis, and he can't do that
if we keep locking people up for cannabis. So that's
number one. And and and and Negroes heard that, and

(43:17):
and and brothers saw Kim Kardashian with President Trump freeing people,
getting him to pardon people, and and those are powerful
images for people who don't fully understand the system. The
second thing is there is an unbelievable narrative that money
they got during COVID came from Donald Trump.

Speaker 1 (43:36):
Oh that's a fact, and can't.

Speaker 2 (43:39):
Tell them Negroes that he didn't give he like he
Negroes believed that he got in ice cream trucks and
went house to house and started giving out ice cream
and checks. And so they was like this dude gave
me a check. He good with me. I ain't never
got no check from Biden. Right, then you have Republican
myths because any of us who have been around our

(44:00):
is I remember being on a set of Rap City
and Negroes telling me they was voting for Bush because
Republicans get allow them to keep more of their money.
Trust Republicans trust Democrats, but Republicans let me keep more
of my money. Now, Now there are there are there
are several levels of myth to that. Right. But but

(44:20):
because of Republicans fiscal policy versus Democrats fiscal policy, there
is a belief that as a as a Republican, Republicans
will help me, give me lower taxes and keep more
of my money. Now we can argue the myth, but
that is what a whole lot of brothers respond to.
And last, but not least, black people are more conservative,

(44:44):
right then we lit on. So so like like, I
know that there is a very loud set of black
progressives that are in social media, but the vast majority
of Black people are not socially progressive. They are moderates
to conservative. There's still a huge connection to the Black church.

(45:04):
There's still the huge connection to traditional morals and values.
And while you see a shift in that generationally, black
men over the age of forty in particular, and especially
over fifty and sixty are conservative as hell, and they
have some shifting beliefs, but by and large, I do

(45:25):
not mean they are right wing idiologue nutbags. I am
saying that they are primarily socially conservative, and we forget
that sometimes, and so especially for those of us that
live on the coasts and are surrounded by progressive view
I grew up in Cleveland, so when you start talking
about the Midwest and the South, it ain't a bunch

(45:46):
of bastions of progressive progressivism amongst black circles of black men.
Those in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincinnati, Youngstown, in North Carolina, and
you know what I'm saying. So I think when you
ask why have there been black men that have shifted
to Trump, it's because they have never trusted either party.

(46:09):
They don't believe that he's a politician. They believe he's
a gangster. And there are a lot of black men
in like gangsters, and they believe in some myths about
money they got and the fact that he freed people.
So that there's a huge every brother that is saying
I'm rhying with Trump. It's not Ryan with Trump for
the same reason. But when you look at the data,

(46:31):
these are things that we are hearing black men say.
And I believe what I hear black men say, not
what somebody else told me about why black men are
choosing him.

Speaker 5 (46:44):
Can I ask mycen real quickly, why is it right? Okay?

Speaker 9 (46:48):
They painted this boogeyman picture about Trump right through the
last campaign, right, y'all got him out.

Speaker 5 (46:55):
Y'all got him out.

Speaker 9 (46:56):
So when I asked, I asked my grandmother, and I'm like,
y'all win so hall to paint Trump to be the boogeyman.

Speaker 5 (47:02):
Y'all got him out.

Speaker 9 (47:03):
Then what did y'all get out of these four years
from Biden, and everybody's mute.

Speaker 5 (47:08):
They can't say nothing.

Speaker 9 (47:09):
So now they painting another picture of the Boogeyman to say, Yo,
this whatever is okay?

Speaker 5 (47:15):
Now, y'all, y'all, y'all.

Speaker 9 (47:17):
Nobody, they say, the primary is okay. She got one percent,
one point three million, was raised in eight percent of California,
in her own state. Nobody fucked with her, They say, oh,
she didn't have a chance, so she joined Biden. With
her joining Biden, you know, they play on our skin color.
Soon as Steve jumped on board, ninety five percent of

(47:37):
the Blacks voted for Biden, which they knew they was
gonna do.

Speaker 5 (47:41):
Y'all got him in the office, then what so.

Speaker 9 (47:44):
Now y'all trying to sell us the same shit again
with her in the forefront, like and Steve's telling this pitch, Oh,
I'm gonna change this my first day in miss you
a vice president right now. So this formula that you
saying you got, that's gonna work the first day you
get in.

Speaker 5 (48:00):
Why haven't you put this invite in here? Why what
the formula? You saying?

Speaker 2 (48:04):
Yo?

Speaker 5 (48:04):
And then you turn around and say, yo, were not
going to tax.

Speaker 9 (48:09):
Tips from the workers and all that, and then turn
around and pass the shit where they taxing them. So
it's like everything you saying, everything she stated this turned
out to be false. So that's why a person like
me who could think pass gold is asking these questions.

Speaker 1 (48:25):
But does that mean you're gonna vote for Trump?

Speaker 3 (48:26):
Though?

Speaker 5 (48:27):
No, I'm not voting Tell no, I'm not voting for Trump.
But listen to my thing.

Speaker 9 (48:31):
That's why I kept saying, if my thing is this,
if my people already is saying Trump is out of
he's not, I'm not voting for him.

Speaker 5 (48:38):
So I keep asking, Okay.

Speaker 9 (48:40):
If you know you not voting for this man, why
do you keep paying so much attention of this? You
need to take this attention and start digging into this
lady life to find.

Speaker 10 (48:51):
Out who you putting in the seat, who's run in
the world. Let me let me share. Let me share
a couple of things with you, right because I'll be
honest with you. Somebody asked when we when we did
the Black Men's Call, not the last one, but the
one before.

Speaker 2 (49:08):
I'm not excited about Kamala. I'm committed to Kamla. I
don't get excited about politicians unless I know them. So
so so I was the I was the chair of
Wes Moore's pack as he became the third elected governor
black governor in America. I was excited about West because
I know him, because he's my friend, because I because

(49:31):
I can speak for his character, because I know what
he does behind the scenes. I don't get excited about politicians.
I don't know. I know that somebody gonna get elected
and they're gonna spend money, they gonna pass laws, and
they gonna point judges. So I ain't got to get
excited to vote. I just know. I just want to
vote whoever I think is gonna kill my people less,

(49:52):
not even who gonna help him.

Speaker 5 (49:54):
More, who gonna kill him less?

Speaker 3 (49:56):
The evil?

Speaker 2 (49:57):
Yes, and but but I also have to knowledge when
I no, no, no, no no no no no no no,
that's just it. It's this right. If there's a horse race,
I can't I can't bet on the horse that ain't running.
I can only bet on the horse that's running.

Speaker 9 (50:15):
So somebody is going you can say, you can say,
I'm not betting on this race.

Speaker 2 (50:19):
But here's here's where, and here's why that's a flaw
for me. Somebody is going to win, and they're gonna
pass laws, They're gonna spend money, and they gonna point judges,
And so I need to vote because I can't afford
for the person that's gonna that's gonnappoint more the wrong judges,
that's gonna spend money the wrong way, that is gonna

(50:40):
pass policies, it's gonna hurt my people. So so so
it's not about me getting boxed into doing something I
don't wanna do. I vote because they gonna pass laws,
they gonna spend money, and they gonna point judges, and
I want to have a say and even the person
I don't like that's gonna do it versus having no

(51:02):
set in the person that's gonna be worse for my family.
But I want to be really clear about something like
there was real stuff that the Biden administration did, and
I don't think they did. I can't name a president
a presidential administration that did enough for black people. But
the other thing is I look for mayors to do

(51:24):
more for black people because a mayor is gonna spend
more money in their term towards a city that black
people live in than a president is gonna have the
ability to get policy pass, it's gonna impact the city
where black people live in. I'm looking at governors. I'm
looking at who spends money in the cities where my
people live in more than anybody else, and it's mayors

(51:45):
and governors. But like, when you think about how many
of y'all know that you got family members that got
a negative account because of overdraft fees and charges, I
do the Biding administration, the Biden administration limited the number
of junk fees and overdraft charges that banks can charge.

(52:08):
They they they did they I don't even want to
deal with the money they gave to HBCUs because I
think that's a whole other thing that we could talk about.
And and but but I do recognize that there were
a ton of black farmers who have had a better
life because we started shifting how the FDA was able

(52:30):
to limit crop crop development, how black farmers were able
to have access to money, and who black farmers could
suit there was so so they're they're there are things
that people don't really know because one they're small things
that that there's not gonna be a huge press release for.
And two, the Biden administration did a horrible job of

(52:51):
comms like they just did a horrible job of talking
about what they did. So I don't think this is
Kamma look coming out of nowhere, being like, Yo, we
didn't get nothing done, and now I'm trying to sell
y'all on some stuff. It was we didn't do a
great job of talking about the things we did, and
now we got to talk about them in a way
that we didn't.

Speaker 6 (53:09):
But I think there's things that black folks are at
were specifically hoping that the Biden administration did that they
didn't like. I think the Biden administration, you know, George
Floyd Justice and policing acts, I think broader criminal justice reform,
people having conversations about reparations. Even to John lou there's
a there's a few issues or many.

Speaker 2 (53:32):
Can you break down your opinion though on how much
of that was the Biden administration didn't champion it versus
Congress didn't pass it.

Speaker 6 (53:42):
Well, well, I certainly understand that, but I think it's
a little bit of both. And I think that's always
my point of contention around the issue when people say,
you know, Biden doesn't have any control over that, But
for me, Biden is not a champion and I think
even VP Harris wasn't a champion.

Speaker 1 (53:58):
And for me, if you fail and are unable to
deliver on.

Speaker 6 (54:03):
Those issues, but I saw you out front on those issues,
I could respect that.

Speaker 1 (54:08):
All I could say is job well done. You tried
your best.

Speaker 6 (54:11):
We have to create another strategy. But if we don't
get what we want and you're not championing them though
these issues, that's a problem. So for me, one of
the things I want to see from her in this
moment is be clear about what you're going.

Speaker 1 (54:26):
To prioritize for black folks.

Speaker 6 (54:28):
I want to know those things up front so I
know you we have a fighting chance that some of
those things will happen.

Speaker 2 (54:35):
And I guess that the job do you think that
is though, Because if I'm gonna be straight up honest,
I am cycle after cycle after cycle after cycle where
it wasn't no, it wasn't no Project twenty twenty five
for black people. There wasn't there was it wasn't the
end laz b in the Urban League and the Links
and the Divine nine all together and develop Black people

(54:57):
twenty twenty whatever and said, these are the issues that
we want, and here's the policies that we demand. In
like like we I really want to do a campaign
this season, like my vote ain't free and you gotta
do to get my vote. If you don't say you
champion this, this and this, then you ain't got enough

(55:20):
for my vote and that and that.

Speaker 6 (55:22):
You mentioned being committed and not excited, right, which I
think is an important distinction. And I also get the
idea that sometimes you can't wait for excitement because you
got to make serious decisions in the moment.

Speaker 1 (55:34):
I get that.

Speaker 6 (55:35):
But to your point in what you're articulating now, I
think we lose an opportunity when we commit too soon.
I think it's just like if you're in a relationship
with a woman and you get married after date one, brother,
some things may not work out for you down the line.
And I think we find ourselves in those moments often
where we commit a little too soon, not that we

(55:57):
shouldn't commit, but like you said, she just got this
five minutes ago, and what we committed four minutes ago?
And for me, and that's why, Brother Gotham, I really
understand your perspective on that is, like, how do we
move differently in this political moment so that we get
different outcomes? We understand Trump is what he is. But

(56:19):
we have this particular candidate who people are very enthusiastic about,
and I would say a lot of black folks are
excited about her. I think some of us are a
little bit more sophisticated politically, or you know, we've had
issues with the political process, so we committed and we're
not excited.

Speaker 1 (56:36):
But I would love to see the.

Speaker 6 (56:37):
Moment what black folks could be committed and excited at
the same time.

Speaker 2 (56:42):
And that's what I'm.

Speaker 1 (56:47):
Now. Let me just say this last piece.

Speaker 6 (56:49):
I think that that can happen in this moment. And
to your point, brother Jeff, if black folks who are
talking and having these conversations politically say these things that
we want to prioritize, we know we may get behind
this candidate, but man, we know we need you to
get behind these issues as well, and then you're gonna

(57:10):
get the full support of us committed and excited at
the same time. I feel like that is the responsibility
of politically minded black folks, because I.

Speaker 1 (57:19):
Don't know if the Democratic Party is going to do that.

Speaker 2 (57:23):
Was about to say something, though I heard him say it,
I really want.

Speaker 9 (57:26):
Him today, I said, I was saying more a lot
of this is this has always been my thing. They
more committed to the history of having the first black
woman president for sure that they don't want to hear
it because they like yo, especially black women, And it's like, yo,
I literally my grandmother is damn being ready to not

(57:47):
let me in the house no more behind me saying
what I say about this lady.

Speaker 5 (57:52):
Like he's like, how did you?

Speaker 9 (57:54):
But I still have to understand her perspective because but
dislike for Trump, he went dude, slavery and all of that,
like like that's not actually helped.

Speaker 5 (58:04):
But you know they come from that time. She's ninety
two years old.

Speaker 9 (58:07):
So her standpoint is, look, fuck him, we need this
black lady in And I'm like, Grandma, that's not enough
to put this lady in the office.

Speaker 5 (58:17):
You have to figure this.

Speaker 2 (58:19):
So I'm gonna say, so, bro, say you be a
favorite though, because I think a lot of sisters would
hear you more if you didn't keep calling her that lady.

Speaker 9 (58:29):
Oh what's my mouth fault? Because no, I get a
lot of fact about that too. They like, yo, you
be disrespected, huck so Kamela my fault.

Speaker 5 (58:38):
I'm sorry.

Speaker 4 (58:39):
So so this is what I would like to say,
we're gonna go I want to ask a question about
identity politics. Right, So we got like ten more minutes.
Can I get ten more minutes of this conversation? So
I got ten minutes? Listen, all right, I'm with your grandmother.

Speaker 6 (58:55):
Right.

Speaker 4 (58:57):
The reality situation is we we can be politically savvy,
we can have all of these conversations. I think those
conversations should have happened. I think when black men and
black women got on those calls and it was raising money,
when they was raising money, there should have been an
agenda that came with raising money. I think that's what
comes with when you sit down. Okay, we want her
to be here. We're gonna have on this call. Listen,

(59:17):
this is what we expect these certain things. You know,
this is our agenda. We're gonna We're gonna we support you. Look,
we're showing you were raising these millions of dollars. We
putting our money where our mouth is. But we do
have a black agenda, and that this is what we've
all agreed we should be doing, because that was the
moment to do it. Right then, right in front of
the world, we have fifty thousands, all these people on

(59:38):
the call like there should have been people who had spitheaded.

Speaker 3 (59:41):
And agenda, not just raising money.

Speaker 4 (59:43):
But I also say to myself, we have had forty
six presidents, forty five of them have been white men.

Speaker 3 (59:53):
I'm voting for a black woman.

Speaker 4 (59:56):
I'm telling you that, I'm unapologetic about it. I'm not
saying it, and I'm trying to tell you I understand.
I don't believe there's nothing that she can do that's
worse than what Donald Trump has already done.

Speaker 3 (01:00:06):
The Supreme Court justice is.

Speaker 4 (01:00:08):
He already put back that rollback things that you don't
even realize they roll back. Most of the average person
doesn't realize what's happening. It's not she can't do nothing
worse than most people.

Speaker 9 (01:00:19):
Respect though, Mike, I respect you saying that, but I
can't get other people to just keep it the buckets
to say that around.

Speaker 2 (01:00:29):
You don't.

Speaker 4 (01:00:30):
I think what happens is you don't like that right.
You want them to be more politically savvy. You want
them to look into her background and say, oh, she
like these people.

Speaker 9 (01:00:38):
No, I want them people who go I want the
people who just like you said that's vote for her
for that, that say that that.

Speaker 5 (01:00:45):
I'm voting for her, just don't must keep black.

Speaker 3 (01:00:47):
And that's what your grandmother is saying, Bro, that's what
she's saying.

Speaker 5 (01:00:50):
She no grandmother saying that.

Speaker 9 (01:00:53):
But when I'm saying online on my page or about age,
people won't admit that.

Speaker 5 (01:00:57):
They won't admit it.

Speaker 2 (01:00:59):
But I'm trying to just keep.

Speaker 5 (01:01:00):
Saying, Trump, Trump, Trump, say that.

Speaker 4 (01:01:02):
You we have this conversation with identity politics. America has
done identity politics since it's been here. White people have
supported white people and all the time, every time before
we was even able to run for office, is because
they thought white people only was smart enough to do.
When we start getting little pieces in there, they still

(01:01:22):
We look at.

Speaker 3 (01:01:23):
The Republican Party, got like.

Speaker 4 (01:01:24):
Five black people over there, and they do and they
don't even they don't even reflect what the average black
person thinks. So they doing identity politics. Why going for
us to say, look, I'm voting because she's black.

Speaker 1 (01:01:37):
It's not wrong.

Speaker 5 (01:01:41):
When they do it, they do it.

Speaker 6 (01:01:43):
My thing is not that I'm not going to play.

Speaker 4 (01:01:48):
Games by rules that don't fit everybody. You want me
to have this, listen, I'm looking into this. I'm worried
about the policies right and the white people is like, man,
the white lady told the Indian man, you're very smart
and on this, but you Indian, so I could never
vote for you.

Speaker 3 (01:02:02):
She said that straight to that.

Speaker 9 (01:02:03):
Man face this look, but look, you voted, y'all vote,
y'all voted, y'all voted for you.

Speaker 5 (01:02:09):
You're thing.

Speaker 9 (01:02:10):
You'll be making jokes and say you're this old last
man in office. But I turned around made made Kamala
the VP. The vote the old last see now man
in the office. I vote the Kamala Harris. So I'm
trying to tell you when when, when it's far happened.
I was never, They'll tell you Angelotta.

Speaker 3 (01:02:26):
I didn't hate it by it.

Speaker 4 (01:02:27):
I never was a body fan, none of that. I
wasn't even gonna. I was about to skip the process
right when I said we were about to get a
black woman, and always I say, you know what I'm
I'm with the black woman.

Speaker 5 (01:02:39):
It was it was.

Speaker 4 (01:02:40):
It was a chess movee, and he was never It
was according to everybody's calculation, he was supposed to be
a one term president. And then when they were supposed
to push Kamala to be the president. This was behind
the scenes when they when they when they demanded that
he have a black VP. This was what came with
the demands at some when people told him that the

(01:03:01):
poll said that she had no chance because nobody champed.
Like you said, she sat around for four years and
didn't say nothing, and everybody was like, why she not
saying nothing. We know that she has a story. We noticed,
but they purposely kept in the background. She didn't, now,
like you said, out of nowhere. To most people who
are not politically savvy and don't understand the political process

(01:03:21):
and haven't been engaged with this whole process for the
last four years, she's just coming out of nowhere.

Speaker 3 (01:03:26):
But a lot of us knew that she was there.

Speaker 4 (01:03:28):
A lot of us are disappointed because we thought she
was gonna have more of a say. We thought she's
gonna be more upfront, because that's what was pushed to us.
Right So, now that we're getting an opportunity to actually
see us, a lot of us wanted to give her
the opportunity to do what we voted her in to
do a vice president, because she never gets the opportunity
to do it.

Speaker 8 (01:03:49):
And what's most important is we gotta have these conversations
year in and year route, just not on the fourth
year months prior to the election takes place, you know,
So that's important. And we got to start with the
local electors too, like we got to really teach our
people and have these conversations because people don't know, like
you said, and most people want to vote based on emotions,

(01:04:11):
and you got to respect that too, because they want
proper representation, you know, visually.

Speaker 7 (01:04:16):
You know what I'm saying, they're not even doing the math.

Speaker 1 (01:04:19):
Just what I think.

Speaker 6 (01:04:20):
The other piece that's deep about it is and I
think when I look at politics, you and anything, really
you have to capture.

Speaker 1 (01:04:27):
The moments when people are excited because.

Speaker 6 (01:04:30):
Oftentimes when people are not excited, they're not going to engage.
And in this moment, people are very excited, which means
we have a lot of political opportunity to reach people,
to have important conversations, to.

Speaker 1 (01:04:42):
Educate folks politically. So for me, even though we should
have been doing this many many.

Speaker 6 (01:04:47):
Years before, we're in an opportune time to seize a moment.
My perspective is this, I don't think black folks should
ever do what we see white folks do, particularly when
it has no character or it's not to me beneficient,
So I don't. I'm not with doing it simply because
we saw white folks do it. I think that could

(01:05:08):
be very dangerous and a slippery You don't have.

Speaker 5 (01:05:10):
That shit in us.

Speaker 9 (01:05:11):
We're not born with that us, and we should want
to see no, no.

Speaker 5 (01:05:17):
Not that, not that.

Speaker 2 (01:05:19):
In general.

Speaker 9 (01:05:20):
I'm saying, in general, we're just not born with that
type of hatred in us.

Speaker 6 (01:05:24):
Like now, I will say this, and I think Obama
that this happened true. There's power in the symbol, there's
power in making history. I think all of that's true.
But I think as we become more politically sophisticated, we've
seen this happen before. Now it is a moment because
there's so much political excitement not only to move her

(01:05:46):
into position, but to get more of what we need,
not just in terms of the bills that we discussed
in policy. I think even the idea of what's hoping
happening at local elections.

Speaker 3 (01:05:58):
I think she can.

Speaker 6 (01:05:59):
Be in an individual who moves in a wave of
black elected officials.

Speaker 1 (01:06:04):
At the governor level.

Speaker 6 (01:06:06):
We have Ross Baraka running for governor of New Jersey, right,
I think she can be a wave of progressive black
folks at the local level. So for me, when I'm
thinking and seeing the excitement around VP Harris potentially becoming
President Harris, for me, it potentially means a lot for
black folks and con sent ripple waves across ripple waves

(01:06:31):
across the country, for governors, potential black governors who have
progressive agendas, potential black mayors who have who have progressive agendas.
But it's going to require her to take a particular
kind of position, and I'm not sure she's willing or
interested in doing that.

Speaker 2 (01:06:52):
And that's what I would like to do. That if
we don't do it, and so we keep acting like
elected officials are like messianic civil rights leaders and they not.
So the biggest thing that hurt Obama was that black
people didn't want to attack Obama. And so there were

(01:07:16):
folks that were like I've been. I was in meetings
with members of Congress that was like, I would come
after this dude if I didn't think it would hurt
me in my district because he's more popular than me.
So I think, I think, I think you're right, and
I think, James, something you said earlier, like we have

(01:07:37):
to build mechanisms that are about cultures of civic participation, voting.

Speaker 9 (01:07:44):
This is powerful and if we're all this is powerful,
if we're not building.

Speaker 2 (01:07:51):
Because what you just said, here's what's crazy. Angelo. You
got you got mayor Bibb and Eve when you got
you got my mayor in Baltimore. You got York and
I'm talking about brothers who are under forty when they
got elected. Yeah, yeah, so you got Randall wood find

(01:08:14):
in Birmingham, you got I mean so. And then in
the five Jackson in the five largest cities in America,
if we wouldn't have messed up in Houston, they would
have all been black mayors. So you got New York,
San Francisco, LA. And it would have been Houston all
with black mayors and primarily black women, but still black mayors.

(01:08:34):
So this move is already happening. The issue is that
we gotta stop thinking I'll never forget my sign. I
remember I was. I was having a conversation with the minister,
Minister fair Cohn, and he's been he's been an amazing
mentor for a long time to me. And I asked
him once, I said, if you could do anything different,
I said, what would you do? He said, who's the

(01:08:56):
leader of the Mormons. I said, what he said, who's
the leader of the Mormons. I'm like, I don't know.
He like exactly, he said, they got one hundred billion
dollar investment fund, they owned half of the state of Utah.
They're doing business, they're creating power for their people, and
don't nobody know who their leader is. And so we

(01:09:17):
got to stop thinking that messianic single leadership. A President
Harris administration is only going to be as strong as
we push her to be. When you think about when
you think about the passage of the Voting Rights Act,
the Civil Rights Act Johnson, President Johnson was saying the King,
I need to do it, yes, And somewhere forgot that. Somewhere,

(01:09:43):
we somewhere we thought that now we elect We didn't
elect the president with Obama, we elected a we met.
We felt like we elected a combination of a Negro,
Santa Claus, Jesus and Moses. That was that early.

Speaker 6 (01:10:00):
The early committing makes that very difficult when we commit early.

Speaker 2 (01:10:08):
But here's what's different. Here's what's different. Here's what we've
never had before. We've never had before. When you think
about we got two minutes, so Joe Takah, we take
about Joe Taka, we think about Latasha, we talk about
we think about Tamika. We think all of these sisters
got access to Kamala Harris, and so we never had

(01:10:28):
that before. We never had a space where real black
folks who really want to make change are not only
now a part of the cabinet, but in many cases
are who the president will be picking up the phone
and saying, hey, give me some intel on this. In ways,
we've never seen that before, and I don't think we
can underestimate that. And that's why these sisters are so

(01:10:50):
important and why they committed early, because they got relationship
many of us don't have. And so I think it
was a lot of conversations that have.

Speaker 4 (01:10:58):
Me being behind the scenes understanding and there's so many
things that's already happened that showed that access that a
lot of people don't know from just from how she
collected picked her VP and everything. There's there's been black
people and black women they're like, Yo, this is what
needs to happen. And she's take that against a lot
of shit that most people thought she should do.

Speaker 3 (01:11:18):
So for me, I.

Speaker 4 (01:11:19):
Understand, access is real. Like when I look at even
when you look at the buying administration. There's more blacks
in this administration than there's ever been in any administration.

Speaker 3 (01:11:27):
Like and this is a fact. This ain't something that
I'm making up.

Speaker 4 (01:11:30):
So when people keep saying what happened, we got real
access and we got real put in positions of power
to actually make such changes, Like it's you don't when
you see you see all the blacks at the White
House and the dances and know, no, you don't understand
behind those scenes, it was one hundred million dollars deals
made for anti violence, gun violence inside of the communities
inside it that I know brothers that are benefiting coming

(01:11:52):
home from jail, that's stopping violence in their communities. Like
these things was championed by black people having access to
being inside of the White House and being a part
of that cabinet.

Speaker 2 (01:12:02):
But it's of public. Angelo's point is just that the
regular Negro don't know that that.

Speaker 6 (01:12:07):
Stuff, and some of them don't feel it. So I
think there's a piece where it actually has to reach
the people. I think Jeff said it a few times.
There's a piece around the media and really making folks
aware of what's happening. But I think there's another piece
where it has to really translate and touch folks in
real ways, where they're seeing the change happen and having

(01:12:29):
an impact in their life, which I think the point
around us having access this could happen in this moment.

Speaker 2 (01:12:36):
I'm leary.

Speaker 1 (01:12:37):
I'm very leary.

Speaker 6 (01:12:38):
Because I do think there's a lot of groundwork we
still have to do to make that a reality.

Speaker 1 (01:12:44):
But you know, I'm hoping we.

Speaker 2 (01:12:45):
Also need some civics allow them. I wanted to say this.
I wanted to say my energy need to be with
my mayor as much as it is with whoever running
for president.

Speaker 8 (01:12:55):
I'm sorry to say this with my foundation with what
I plan to do is have a civics like meet
and slash group monthly just to inform the brothers about,
you know, the politics and really do deep dives and
you know, help them understand what was actually taking place
from the local elections all the way up to the presidency.

Speaker 7 (01:13:14):
And of course I'll be ye all of you brothers
so we can get it back.

Speaker 4 (01:13:19):
I would love that this we're gonna We're gonna have
a part two, maybe a part three, because it's some
other brothers that I wanted to have in this conversation.

Speaker 3 (01:13:25):
But I just want to thank all of y'all.

Speaker 4 (01:13:27):
For being here, you know, having me, well, you have
conversations even when we disagree, but just understand it because
black men are very important in this political you know,
stratosfy and then a lot of people don't realize that.
And a lot of people I heard a man say
the other day, like we've ignored the needs of the

(01:13:48):
black men, like when we get everybody else, everybody's needs
is this and that, and a lot of us we
sacrifice our needs for our family. We understand because that's
what we used to do, and we used to not
hearing we'll eat last, or we're gonna make sure the
kids got closed before we got.

Speaker 3 (01:14:02):
But at some point we can't just be disregarded.

Speaker 4 (01:14:05):
So all of our emotions, all of our feelings, all
of the things that we have to say here is important.
And I'm hoping that people are paying attention that black
men actually need. At some point, we need a hug too.
We need something that makes us feel like were value
with and that you care about what we think.

Speaker 1 (01:14:21):
Strong together and we definitely together.

Speaker 3 (01:14:26):
I appreciate you, brother, appreciate you.

Speaker 4 (01:14:30):
Let's we might we got to do this on a
broader scale, man, to get these get more brothers into
these conversations and start, you know, exactly what we need
to be doing.

Speaker 8 (01:14:38):
And well tomorrow might I go live. Every Tuesday, we
have a segment called a Perspective. I'm in, I'm gonna,
I'm gonna tune in what time?

Speaker 3 (01:14:47):
Time? Seven seventh?

Speaker 4 (01:14:48):
Being got you, I'm being my brothers, brothers, be safe
out there, man, appreciate your.

Speaker 5 (01:14:55):
Respect.

Speaker 4 (01:14:57):
Shout out to my brother's Dope Interview. Shout out to
Jeff Johnson, Shout out to my brother Angelo, Shout out
to James Bond, Shout out to Gotham. That's the way
you're supposed to be to communicate, even when you don't
agree with someone, you're supposed to be able to disagree
with respect.

Speaker 3 (01:15:14):
And that's why I don't get it.

Speaker 4 (01:15:16):
Why do people think they have to disrespect you because
they disagree with you?

Speaker 3 (01:15:23):
Right? Like?

Speaker 4 (01:15:23):
Where did that come from? We don't have to agree
about everything. Why do people, especially when you're online, the
people have the weirdest way of communication. You say I
like this or I don't like this, Oh fuck you
and your mother this, and they communicate with you in
a manner that they would never communicate you with you
in person, right, So why why can't we have disagreements

(01:15:45):
without having disrespect? Why can't manage to sit and discuss
things that they don't agree with it, right, without calling
people out their names or trying to discredit you or
calling you a sellout? And you sow your soul like,
I don't know why where men got comfortable disrespecting people.

Speaker 3 (01:16:04):
Because they don't agree with them. You know, I think
we need to we need to.

Speaker 4 (01:16:07):
Bring back respect, right, and I think we'll have a
way better world, right because that's once you start disrespecting somebody,
everything else is on the table. And it's never it's
never that serious. That's just my two cents man. Let's
let's try to respect each other more. Let's try to
hear people out understand that everybody's not gonna think like you.

(01:16:28):
Everybody doesn't want the same things that you want, and
that's what makes us all individuals. But with that said,
another episode of TMI, shout out to my sister Tamika,
who's working on her book right now, will be out.
Make sure that you be on the lookout for it.
It's gonna be a bestseller, you know, just like this
is the number one show, she's gonna have the number

(01:16:49):
one book. I'm not gonna always be right, she's not
gonna always be wrong, but we will both always and
I mean always be authentic.

Speaker 3 (01:16:57):
So that that s check out the video version of TMO.

Speaker 6 (01:17:10):
Every single Wednesday on Iwoman dot TV.

Speaker 1 (01:17:13):
That's how we

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