Taking Our Civic Duty Seriously with Jamaal Bowman

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm Tamika d.

Speaker 2 (00:01):
Mallory and the ship Boy my Son in general, we
are your host of TMI.

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

Speaker 2 (00:09):
Inspiration name New Energy.

Speaker 1 (00:11):
But how good.

Speaker 2 (00:16):
We got a big show today. It's a lot to discuss.
So our guest is a friend, A friend, a friend.
That's one thing we brought over from street politicians to TMI.
That's still we keep our friends.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
Our friends are doing really powerful things, you know. And
so a friend is coming in.

Speaker 2 (00:37):
But it's a friend who's in a very powerful position
in our society, and so I look forward to interviewing him.
And because we have so much to discuss, I think
it would do us some good to just kind of
get into the show and not have an argument at
the onset, Like, I mean, what.

Speaker 4 (00:54):
Does that mean. I don't really create arguments.

Speaker 3 (00:57):
I just I defend myself because for the most part,
I'm always being attacked. Yeah, I don't know that this
this is a room for the eye women. TV is
full with women, and they are attacking me. They beat
on me every time. Everything I do wrong physically to me,
not physically, not physically. Not physically, there's no physical there

(01:20):
is a mental and emotional lashing that I deal with Tamika,
it becomes my mother on here. She tells me how
to say the words, how to pronounce them. She stops me.

Speaker 4 (01:31):
There. You don't see that. You don't see the stuff
that I gotta do with. That's what I do.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
It's for your I guess you know.

Speaker 3 (01:38):
That's why I don't really, you know, quit, That's why
I'm still here, because you know, if I thought it
was for my betterment, I would quit.

Speaker 4 (01:46):
I would just say, you know what, I'm not gonna
do this.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
Wow, we should quit. No, I'm serious, tradition.

Speaker 2 (01:57):
The reason why I thought about that is because the
weather is literally going to kill us, like seriously, it's
really going to kill us. Every single day, the weather
changes so drastically that you don't know exactly what you're
supposed to be wearing.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
And it is freezing cold.

Speaker 2 (02:16):
It seems like everywhere else across the country that I'm
talking to family members and friends, they are in almost
summer condition.

Speaker 1 (02:23):
They got on like a sweat suit and.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
That's it we are deal I literally the last few
days have had.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
On full winter clothes and I.

Speaker 2 (02:34):
Would have put a scarf on my neck if it
were not for the fact that, like I didn't want
to look crazy, right, so I was like cold trying
to be cool. Thank you shout out to the Black
Effect for sending us those jackets, because at least it's
like a real almost winter cold.

Speaker 4 (02:49):
It's like.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
I've been wearing I've been wearing that jacket every day,
every day, no matter what what I have, because it's
like a little thick and I'm just trying to figure
out Groundhog Day, right, this is really my thought of
the day. The groundhog be missing a lot, not all

(03:12):
the time, but the groundhog it don't always work.

Speaker 1 (03:17):
Why do we even like it's just because.

Speaker 3 (03:19):
You don't realize we just have symbol a lot of
symbolism in America, a lot of the ship that they
told me it don't work. It never really works.

Speaker 4 (03:27):
And it's just like the weather man is off. He's
gotten better. He's gotten better over the years, the weather man.
Because there was times.

Speaker 3 (03:36):
When you go outside and the weather man that said
something and we don't I done stayed home from school
for storms that never came. That you be looking out
the window like it used to be crazy and it
never came or just missed us.

Speaker 4 (03:49):
Like two inches it was supposed to come. And you
know what I'm saying.

Speaker 3 (03:52):
So there's a lot of symbolism shit in America that
just don't make sense and it really doesn't add up.
And I think the groundhog is one of those things
that the good white people in America who who've seen
his ground hog, he somebody obviously has some level of.

Speaker 4 (04:08):
Work at one point, don't want to look at it.

Speaker 2 (04:11):
Probably well, yeah, because I mean I can remember times
when the groundhog did work, and it's true, true, it's true.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
We should really look at the history.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
Look how the groundhog started and try to understand it,
because it doesn't always work. Nothing is one hundred percent.
We already know that. But this is why I'm saying
that we should quit the groundhog. Right, this is this
is truly my thought.

Speaker 4 (04:36):
The groundhog.

Speaker 3 (04:36):
I don't think you have anything against us quitting him.
I don't think he wants people just looking at him
and he come on this little hole.

Speaker 2 (04:42):
And off want to deal with but being captured to
be hell, he don't want to have to see if
he sees the shadow.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
The animal cruet, right, I wonder, I mean, we really
do need so.

Speaker 4 (04:54):
Listen, man, what they doing to that poor groundhog.

Speaker 1 (04:58):
I don't think it's the same.

Speaker 2 (04:59):
We should fight out because I would be ignorant.

Speaker 4 (05:03):
Leave him alone.

Speaker 1 (05:04):
But this is the real question.

Speaker 4 (05:06):
House. He probably got to use the all type of ship.
Y'all just grabbing him.

Speaker 1 (05:10):
Talk about his house.

Speaker 4 (05:11):
He got a house. It's a little cubby.

Speaker 1 (05:13):
That is created for the experience.

Speaker 3 (05:16):
No way, they took him from somewhere in the wild. Yeah, house,
that's where they live at. That's the reason.

Speaker 1 (05:25):
Why, Michael, he's a bathuum in the house.

Speaker 2 (05:27):
My issue with the groundhog situation is how much money
do we spend to produce that little thing that they do.
I just want to know, like how much does it cost?
It's in Pennsylvania, and I just want to know what
goes into it, how many people are paid?

Speaker 1 (05:43):
What is what are the structures?

Speaker 2 (05:44):
Like what's the budget for producing the groundhog moment? That
fails often? And people do not really know whether or
not the weather is going to be determined by what
the groundhog sees.

Speaker 3 (05:57):
What's probably it's probably like a holiday in Pennsylvania, right,
so groundhog gets probably something that people pay to come
to be a party.

Speaker 4 (06:07):
They might.

Speaker 2 (06:10):
So you all know that our show is called TMI,
which a lot of people when they first hear it,
they're like, oh TM, I like too much information, But no,
it's t making myissan's information. However, one of our segments
is called too Much, And for the too Much segment today,
I want to talk about this swatting issue. Right, A

(06:30):
lot of people don't understand what swatting is, except I
watched a show about it. I don't know if it
was a documentary, but it certainly was a movie and
it's definitely on one of these platforms, might have been Netflix.
And it happened to Cardi B recently where her home
she was swatted, which means that someone knows your address

(06:52):
and they call the police and tell them that you have.

Speaker 1 (06:57):
You know, you're just you dealing drugs, or.

Speaker 2 (07:00):
Is a body in your house there was a murder
or something which will which will pretty much summons the
swat team to your home. Now, anybody that's ever seen
a swat team, if you know anything about what that
looks like, it is no joke.

Speaker 1 (07:17):
Like a swat team.

Speaker 2 (07:19):
When they run down on you. They come in with trucks,
guns out, people moving into your space. Look, it looks
very similar to what folks saw at Diddy's house recently,
same thing at Puff's house. So our homes, that's what
it looks like when a swat team comes. Sometimes there

(07:40):
are a helicopters, there's certainly all types of technical devices
they come in, and by the way, most of them
come with no knock warrants where they busting through your door.
They're not giving you time to think, to do or whatever.
They running up in your shit and they tearing up
everything until they get to a conclusion. You could be

(08:01):
sitting there saying, as Carti said, she was like, I'm
Cardi B. They was making her get naked, basically almost
stripping her while she's explaining to them, I'm Cardi B.
Sometimes these offices, especially depending on where you live, you're
dealing with a bunch of white officers or a bunch
of officers that don't know shit, don't care, and even

(08:21):
if they know who you are, they don't care.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
They have no consideration or.

Speaker 2 (08:25):
Understanding about who you are and what you do, and
that you're an entertainer. Somebody said you're doing drugs, gun
dealing whatever out this house. They do not care, and
they go through your shit and tear your house up.
The question that I think it it.

Speaker 1 (08:41):
Oh, and let me go back.

Speaker 2 (08:43):
So in the SWAT, I don't know if you ever
saw this the SWAT documentary or movie. They there were
some young people, mainly young white kids, boys, young men,
young white men, who were doing it all the time
to their neighbors, to other people that they're playing video games.

(09:05):
But I think that's kind of how it started. That
they would be doing video playing video games, and if
they lose or if they get upset in the midst
of the game, and they knew the address of the person,
the virtual person, you know, the person on the other
side of this virtual experience, they would call and do
a SWAT call on them, and then the police show
up in the middle of the person playing the game.

(09:27):
And this was like real life and they'd be sitting
there playing the game and all of a sudden, the
police is like boom, boom, boom, or they coming straight
through the door. So they did this so many times
that several of them were arrested. It became an addiction,
and several people were arrested for it. One guy he
got he was arrested. His parents was like, what the hell.
His grandmother, I believe began to realize that he was

(09:51):
doing some weird shit in the basement, because you know,
they'd be in the basement doing weird stuff. So she
was doing she was doing some weird stuff, and the
grandmother was like, you know, she thought she figured he
had something to do with this. The boy went to jail,
spent time in prison for swatting people. I don't know

(10:12):
if that's really what it's called, but I'm gonna call
the swatten people. And then he got out of jail
and did it again, like he could not stop. But
the last time that he did it a man. When
the police showed up at some brown people's home, it
wasn't there wasn't a white family. It was some brown
people's home. They showed up the father or the son whatever,

(10:35):
a man in the house. I guess the way in
which he approached the police, so how he probably was like, yo,
what the fuck?

Speaker 1 (10:42):
They killed him?

Speaker 2 (10:43):
And the young man who sent the police there, he
was charged with exactly. He was charged with like some
serious crimes. And it's probably gonna spend a.

Speaker 5 (10:54):
Long, long, long long because in the commission of a felony,
a life was lost because you committed a felony by
falsely calling that person, so you actually responsible for the
death of the person.

Speaker 1 (11:07):
And it's so crazy and it's like bruh, like that's
just it's just too much much, like you way too much.

Speaker 2 (11:17):
So but then then the larger conversation here is it's
law enforcement doing too much.

Speaker 1 (11:24):
But then what if some what if someone.

Speaker 2 (11:26):
Knows that you or I are kidnapped or we're somewhere
and someone tries to report it and then they don't
take it seriously and they approach it with soft gloves
like let me, oh, hey, do you have a body
in the house because somebody.

Speaker 1 (11:39):
Called and that, and then you're like, well, no, I
don't have a body in here.

Speaker 4 (11:44):
I mean, the thing is, I don't I don't blame
I don't blame the officers because they're doing their job.

Speaker 3 (11:49):
Because exactly if somebody makes a call with that level
of you know, haineus talking about something a murder or
somebody being kidnapped or something to that degree that we
need that level of action. But the fact the accountability
has to be very strong. The accountability when you find
out somebody's lying and they sending that type of you know, date,

(12:09):
they're making us send out that level of military to
people's homes. That's taking away, that's taxpayers money, like thousands
of dollars that people are going out. People's lives are
at risk. So if they find that you lying about that,
I think it should be some very steep consequences.

Speaker 2 (12:27):
I agree, I think it should be steep consequences one
hundred percent.

Speaker 1 (12:31):
And I want so bad to find a way to
say that.

Speaker 2 (12:35):
Law enforcement could do X, Y or Z right, Like,
I want to find a way that they can. If
they got to knock down a door and and and
you know, and and go in, cool, But I need
them to say, let's not go in and start tearing
the walls out without understanding who we're dealing with. Unfortunately,

(12:59):
there might be somebody behind a door with a weapon,
and they do have to protect themselves. But I wish
there was some type of balance now that we know
that swatting is a thing, because then what like now
this man is dead. The man was killed because first
of all, when law enforcement approaches people of color, they

(13:20):
come with a level of aggression that they do not
have when they're dealing with their own or not their own.
Because the blacks, the black officers have the order somehow
they find a way to calm down.

Speaker 3 (13:34):
There's a training inside these a lot of these institutions
that train you that black people are dangerous, and they
even train you as.

Speaker 1 (13:42):
A blacker seper and black.

Speaker 4 (13:44):
And brown people are dangerous, so they train.

Speaker 3 (13:46):
That's how they train who when they're showing images of
the criminals, right, those images.

Speaker 1 (13:52):
Have done that. They have done that.

Speaker 2 (13:54):
I mean that is supposed to be changing within police departments,
like within their training, they are supposed to, you know,
not show pictures of black folks and brown folks. But
that was at one point that was a really big issue,
and so it certainly criminalizes folks who like off the back,

(14:14):
you're criminalized, even if you're wearing a suit.

Speaker 1 (14:16):
It doesn't matter.

Speaker 2 (14:17):
It's the color of your skin, it's the neighborhood you
come from, it's all of those things. Of course, you
know the zip code that you're in and so you know, those.

Speaker 1 (14:26):
Who are making the phone calls need to know. And
I hope that this.

Speaker 2 (14:29):
Is not a thing that young black kids pick up
on and start doing it, because you going under the
jail for sure.

Speaker 4 (14:36):
For show.

Speaker 3 (14:41):
So today's music Spotlight comes from a young girl from
Hobridge from my hood. See, and I actually happened to
be in the video.

Speaker 1 (14:49):
You know.

Speaker 3 (14:51):
Yes, I grew up with her mother and her uncle
like day from the hood. She remixed a boogies did
Me Wrong and it's called Noble Shout out to Embroidery Kings.
They provided the hats and the gear for the video.
It's a dope video. It's a really dope video. Her
name is Princess Ariah Princess.

Speaker 1 (15:13):
How old is she?

Speaker 4 (15:14):
She did she's probably about eight or nine. She's a baby.

Speaker 3 (15:19):
And the energy is just like her talking about she
got so much swag with it. But she's talking about
how you know you tried to bully me.

Speaker 4 (15:25):
We could have been cool and you was trying to
bully me and we don't.

Speaker 3 (15:28):
This is no bullies on. We don't want to be
around bullies. It's people that love each other here. So
it's energy. And then it's her talking about her hot bridge,
got all the swag and how we the best.

Speaker 4 (15:38):
So I love it. It's a person.

Speaker 1 (15:40):
She's a rapper.

Speaker 4 (15:41):
She's a young rapper.

Speaker 3 (15:42):
I think I'm not saying she's a rapper, but she
got a song, okay, so she's rapping in the song
I think she's more into modeling, but I think she
found the laying with this song and probably do more
music's most but if you watch her, she moves like
a model. If you go to her Instagram following on
Instagram Princess Soarriat, you'll see she does modeling all the time.

(16:04):
And the song took off on the internet. So I
just want to give her shout out for some positive music.

Speaker 2 (16:09):
Princess Soriah. Yes, So next up we're gonna hear from
our guests. Like I said, I'm I'm quite excited to
have our.

Speaker 3 (16:18):
Boy Brox finance a congressman in the United States, these
United States of America, and it's a lot for us
to talk about.

Speaker 1 (16:28):
We're covering everything.

Speaker 2 (16:29):
We're talking about the TikTok band, We're talking about the
Naga influence over our country, and what will happen with
the Republican Party. We're talking about DEI.

Speaker 1 (16:42):
I mean, there's so.

Speaker 2 (16:42):
Many issues on the table right now, and it is
so good to have in studios someone who can take
us through the ins and outs of what's happening with
our government.

Speaker 4 (16:52):
Sure is.

Speaker 1 (16:55):
So we are privileged honor today, Yes to be joined.

Speaker 4 (16:59):
By Oh we got the bro in the building.

Speaker 2 (17:01):
You know, he's the bro to us, but to a
lot of people across this country, and particularly my parents
who live in his district and co Op City in
the Bronx. You know, you are actually very important and
a lot of people depend on you to make good decisions, uh,
and to be a an advocate for the people and
not just for yourself. And so I'm grateful we have

(17:24):
now become really good friends.

Speaker 1 (17:26):
We talk all the time.

Speaker 2 (17:28):
And I think, you know, there's something to be said
about people like you, a congressman or a congressional person,
a person who has been elected to public office, who
picks up the phone like when people are calling, because both.

Speaker 1 (17:45):
Of us are right not picking up the phone as
a thing.

Speaker 2 (17:49):
You and I have actually had to have that conversation
about different people. I'm like, well, I called congressmen or
woman so and so or Senator such and such, and
you got to track them down and call fifteen times
and then start threatening the protests and sending letters and
doing that.

Speaker 1 (18:04):
And it's like, oh, wait, I didn't I missed it.

Speaker 2 (18:06):
You don't miss it too much, because you know you
could call a person back at least.

Speaker 1 (18:10):
But you are a like in real time. Yo, Yo,
what's up?

Speaker 2 (18:15):
Taught me to issue or let me break it down
for you and explain to you what you don't know.
And I think that's pretty powerful. And you had that
relationship before I even Yeah.

Speaker 3 (18:23):
Man, the congressman, you know, I have actually met him.
I went to the school where he was the principal
at and there was an issue in one of the
teachers have brought me in and I talked to the
young boys. We had a round table me and and
because in that area there are just different communities that
have been beefing for years, and those beefs carried into

(18:44):
the school, so they and we were sat at the
table and a lot of them didn't even know why
they was beefing. They just know this side over here,
don't mess with this side. That's just what it is.
And they even heroded these beefs. So you know, I
went in there to facilitate and sit down with the
young boys, and we came to you know, a lot
of agreements.

Speaker 1 (19:02):
I understand. Been a wow long time.

Speaker 3 (19:04):
So we've been outside. We've been outside.

Speaker 2 (19:07):
And so you've been elected to Congress since twenty twenty,
sworn in in twenty twenty one. You served the sixteenth
Congressional district, which is the Bronx and Westchester. So tell
us more about your background.

Speaker 6 (19:19):
Yeah, who is Jamal Bowman? Black Man in America, Pauline
Bowman's son, educator, father, husband, just trying to do good work.

Speaker 4 (19:32):
You know.

Speaker 6 (19:32):
I was blessed to work in education for twenty years
before I ran for Congress. Started my career in the
South Bronx as an elementary school teacher before becoming a
high school Diana students at the High School for Arts
and Technology in the MLK campus.

Speaker 4 (19:45):
I was there for three years.

Speaker 6 (19:47):
And it was there that I, you know, pursued school leadership,
wrote my own proposals, submitted to the city, and opened
up KASA where we met and I was there for
ten and a half years. So black man in America,
Pauling Bowman's son, Cata and just trying to change the world,
particularly for our people and marginalized people.

Speaker 1 (20:06):
How old are your children.

Speaker 6 (20:07):
Twenty two, fourteen and nine. Mine is about to be
ten April seventeen.

Speaker 3 (20:12):
So what made you make the transition from educated to
elected official.

Speaker 6 (20:17):
Yeah, when you work in education, you realize everything that
happens in public schools is based on policy. These are
policy decisions made at the local level, at the state level,
at the federal level, and then financial decisions are also
made at the local, state, and federal levels. So when
we talk about underfunded schools, we're talking about policy decisions

(20:37):
made by people in elected office. And when we talk
about underfunded and underresourced communities, it's the same thing. And
when you work in education, you know, parents send their
best children to your school, right, so whatever the community,
whatever's going on in the community, that's going to land
in your school. So you know, kids with food and security,
housing and security, entanglement with the criminal jobs system, on gangs,

(21:02):
lack of resources, lack of community centers like I couldn't
believe and still we have a lack of community centers
in places like the Bronx, Mount Vernon, Yonkers, etc. So
you know, we did good work in our school, but
kids still had to go home. And then, particularly the
year before I decided to run, I saw a rise
in violence, and I saw a rise specifically in mental

(21:24):
health challenges in the community. And I first saw that
rise with young girls who started to commit self harm
at a higher rate, and it was concentrated amongst Latinas
young Hispanic girls. And I started like just doing research
on what was going on here, and so that's what
was happening in my school, rising self harm, rise in

(21:46):
suicidal ideation. But then around the school thirty four kids
died with adicated tall school system. In the Bronx, seventeen
died by suicide. One fourteen year old in co Op City,
she was being bullying school, went to school officials to
talk about it. No one really helped her. She went
to the top of a building after school and jumped

(22:07):
off right after school and arrived the street and nuw
Michelle girl stabs and other kills right down the street.
And another school near the Bronzou you know LGBTQ student
ty to being bully stabbed, the kid killed him. This
is the same year where in the South Bronx this
kid junior got jumped case of mistaken identity beat the death.
The same time Parkland school shooting happened. And this is

(22:31):
Trump's first YA in office. And I had done work
with elected officials around all of these issues dropped my career.
But I realized that they didn't have the background and
expertise to really understand what was going on with kids
and what was going on with families and connecting it
to policy, and the elected official at that time was
completely absent and completely ignoring what was going on in

(22:53):
our community. So, you know, I had seen sort of,
you know, the movement that kind of Bernie started in
twenty six and then twenty eighteen the whole squad got elected.

Speaker 4 (23:03):
So AOC.

Speaker 6 (23:05):
Ilhan and Rashida and AOC was right next door to
me in the Bronx and still is. And so that
watching them gave me a footprint of the kind of
politics I wanted to do, Like what I want to
speak to, what I want to fight for, what I'm
all about, you know, working class people, marginalized people, black
and brown people, et cetera. And so I decided, you know,

(23:27):
after I got my doctorate early twenty nineteen, I was like,
you know what I think. I'm just I'm gonna go
for it. And I had no idea how to run
for office. I was just like, I'm an he had won.
I counted the votes the year before or the election
before the twenty twenty cycle. He had won with only
twenty thousand votes, and it was four hundred and forty
thousand elected Democrats in that district. So I realized people

(23:51):
weren't voting. People weren't voting, probably because no one talked
to them. Probably they were just disengaged.

Speaker 4 (23:56):
They like that.

Speaker 6 (23:57):
So I was like, So my thinking was I could
knock on more than twenty thousand doors myself and get
people the vote easy. So that's what I jumped out
and did it and got a lot of support.

Speaker 4 (24:07):
And we were able to win big election in twenty twenty.

Speaker 2 (24:10):
Wow, you talked about AOC and the squad. You know,
I noticed that since you joined Congress, you chose a
difficult route. You went straight for the super progressive side.
You're with the folks that are you know, they being
attacked for everything, and sometimes they are the ones doing
the attacking because it's necessary, right, Like somebody has to

(24:33):
be the has to push the envelope for real.

Speaker 1 (24:38):
And so why did you go that route?

Speaker 2 (24:40):
Like why not just go hook up with the moderate
Democrats or the ones that's kind of in the middle,
so you could have an easier path through your beginning stages.

Speaker 4 (24:51):
At least it's just.

Speaker 6 (24:53):
Who I am, And I mean I was a kid
who got in a lot of trouble in school. You
know what I'm saying, So like I didn't you know,
I got in a lot of trouble in school when
I was in high school.

Speaker 4 (25:03):
Uh, you know you talk about beefs with kids.

Speaker 6 (25:06):
You know, when you can't go this project, you go
to this project, you know, you get caught up in hell.

Speaker 4 (25:13):
No I had.

Speaker 6 (25:14):
I went to three high schools to graduate. I had
to leave New York City to graduate because it was crazy.
I went to high school at first August Martin. Uh
got into a situation, there was some shooting, transferred out
of that, went to Humanity's High School, gotten a beef
with kids from Chelsea, pretty much fighting every day, got

(25:35):
my report car failed every class. It was like I
got to get out of here and think I was lucky,
because a lot of people ain't lucky.

Speaker 4 (25:42):
They can't leave.

Speaker 6 (25:43):
My father lived in New Jersey and I was able
to go live with my father and finish high school.
And I literally had a chance to reset my life
because I was away from the city. And so I
got lucky and that got me through it. But no,
it's who I am. I mean, even as an educter.
You know I've been you know, uh In trouble a

(26:04):
couple of times when I was a principal, just because
I the status quo ain't working. Like kids are dying,
people are dying, people are suffering inequality.

Speaker 4 (26:15):
All the issues we know, we know.

Speaker 6 (26:17):
And there's no way I'm gonna go in there and
just keep doing that thing thing. It has to be
something different. It has to be disruptive in a good way.
I mean, John Lewis's legacy is all about good trouble.
So if we're gonna follow the legacy of the people
shoulders we stand on, it's about being disruptive in a
good way. And then the last thing I'll say is

(26:40):
when you talk about how the resources are disseminated in
our country, the wealthiest country on Earth, our communities continue
to be marginalized and left behind. And again this is
not because we don't got the money. We got the money.
We choosing to invest it in in the military industrial
complex and weapons contract and jails more than we are people.

(27:03):
So people who can afford childcare, healthcare, housing, not getting work,
not earning enough in their jobs, food and secure, whatever
the case is, there's money to help them. And if
you help them, they actually help the economy. Any political system.
But we so built on racism and sexism and discrimination
and maintaining that cast system.

Speaker 4 (27:25):
That's right.

Speaker 6 (27:25):
That new movie origin so powerful with our political system
is designed to maintain that. And so you got majority
white men from certain backgrounds in Congress. They're gonna make
decisions to maintain that. First time they get a black man,
a person of color representing them, they redraw the lines

(27:45):
and take one.

Speaker 4 (27:46):
Hundred and eight thousand black people away. That's crazy.

Speaker 6 (27:50):
It's crazy, and it's not by accident. Like now that
I'm in Congress, I realize powerful special interests control the
whole thing, and we they're pushing back against that, which
is why they come out to us the way they do.

Speaker 3 (28:01):
Speaking of controversy, and you being with the controversial team.

Speaker 4 (28:07):
You know, to turn.

Speaker 3 (28:10):
You know this TikTok Man that they voted on, you
were one that voted against it. You know, their position
was that it threatened national security China's allies, and you
have a very different position because we definitely know that
we're dealing with censorship, you know what I'm saying, And
our kids are the ones that's on it, and they're vocal.
This is especially on TikTok A lot of the the

(28:33):
posts of our kids with their voices and what they
think is on it. So give give me some insight
on why you made that. Yeah, first of all, why now,
Like when we first allowed TikTok to operate in our country,
we didn't know if it was really true. We didn't
know that China may have the ability to commit espionageal

(28:56):
We didn't know that when we first made that decision,
So why now from that perspective, But then also why
now in terms of it's an election year. Young people
are using TikTok way more than everybody else. They are
building their own political power on TikTok. They are becoming
more politically engaged than ever before. People have small businesses

(29:19):
on there, more people of color on there, the algorithms
more aligned to building community and power. And so now
we're talking about banning it right before an election. It
doesn't make any sense to me.

Speaker 6 (29:31):
We were talking about it last year, and we were
out front last year and saying nowhere against the band
as well. But the most important part is we got
privacy issues on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram, on YouTube,
on Google. Did we have privacy issues? They sell our
data third party all over the world right now as

(29:55):
we speak. I know for a fact China use its
Facebook book to get more most of its information from us,
way more than TikTok right now as we speak. So
why are we only talking about TikTok and not talking
about privacy legislation for all of social media across the board.
That's all I've been saying. Let's have a comprehensive public

(30:17):
conversation about all the social media. Figure out how can
we keep kids safe? Figure out the mental health piece,
figure out the safety piece. And our third party data
give us the opportunity to opt out of having.

Speaker 4 (30:32):
Our data soul.

Speaker 6 (30:33):
But they're using our data for their own bottom line
to gain wealth and revenue. And so let's have a
let's do something comprehensive when it comes to all of
social media. Let's not keep isolating TikTok.

Speaker 2 (30:46):
So I mean your prediction TikTok is banned? Oh yeah,
how does that impact the election? Because I'm confused as
to why we.

Speaker 1 (30:56):
Want, especially democratics, just enfranchise young people who are already pissed.

Speaker 6 (31:02):
When we disenfranchised voters, it benefits Republicans, and right now,
the Republican Party is a fascist, racist, maga party that
cares about power, really, that cares only about power, and
they don't care about democracy, right, newspapers and all that.

Speaker 4 (31:23):
Right, Yeah, yeah, it's wild.

Speaker 6 (31:25):
So it makes no sense to me that Democrats will
go along with this right now, because those young people,
even when they pissed at us, they're more likely to
vote for us when they do come out, and so
we need to figure out a way to engage them
and pull them into the process, and TikTok is one way.

Speaker 4 (31:41):
To do that.

Speaker 6 (31:41):
So we'll see what happens in the Senate. It moved
out the House, we'll see if they could get sixty
votes in the Senate to ban it. Or it's not
an outright bands, it's byte edance. The company that owns
it has a has an affiliation with the Chinese Communist Party,
and so the bill is by dance. You have to
sell TikTok to an American company if you want to

(32:06):
continue to operate in the US.

Speaker 2 (32:07):
But I just would love to know, so tell us
really quickly, which this was not a question we were
supposed to ask, But what's the process of who could
buy it?

Speaker 1 (32:17):
Right?

Speaker 2 (32:18):
Because I bet you the devil is right in that detail. Yeah, yeah,
and I've already heard. I don't want to speculate, and
clearly we don't know the process, but I've already heard
of the types of people.

Speaker 1 (32:28):
Who are attempting to buy it. So what's that process
look like.

Speaker 6 (32:32):
Well, I'm not a businessman, so I don't really know
what that process looks like. But if the government is
saying you gotta sell it within one hundred and eighty days,
then it's going to be we're going to oversee that
process in some way. We don't know the details of
that department overseas, it will theoretically in that on our side,
on the House side, it will be the Committee on
Energy and Commerce E and C.

Speaker 4 (32:55):
But we'll see. We got to stay tuned on that.

Speaker 3 (32:57):
So, moving from TikTok's hip Hop, you create or you
were one of the people who created the hip Hop
Task Force, and what is that about?

Speaker 6 (33:08):
I mean, we need to build political power within hip
hop culture. You know, hip hop's an art form, it's
a musical genre, it's culture, it's clothes, it's marketing. It's
a lot of different things. But for me, it was
the genesis of my identity and it was a thing

(33:29):
that helped me to evolve into the person I am
right now. And so how do you harness the power
of that into something that could build not just economic
power because we make a lot of money for other
people mostly, but how do you harness that into political
power that then is used to change legislation in our

(33:50):
country at a national level, state level, local level. And
so you know, and you heard me on the call
the other day, you know, Carraswan, Rock Kim, Chuck d Brand,
Nubian x Clan, Big Daddy Kane. These are artists who
like aren't just rap artists. They're like philosophers, they're like greots,

(34:11):
they're like poets, they're creative, innovative geniuses, and they're visionaries.
And so you know when we talk about when when
Karaswan mentions, you know, hip hop as a revolutionary tool
to change the structure of racist America, like that, I
still live by those words when ro Kim says, when

(34:35):
knowledge of self does nothing, not can't solve like that,
those words literally guided me throughout my entire life towards
searching for black knowledge that was taken from us when
we were brought here, as in women, our ancestors brought
here as enslaved people, and so how do you harness
the power of that politically? I don't know yet, but
we're gonna figure it out, you.

Speaker 4 (34:56):
Know what I'm saying.

Speaker 6 (34:57):
And so, working with you and working with many others
who are already doing incredible work in the community, how
do you harness that towards lasting, sustainable political change? Because
you know, when we talk about all the issues we
care about affordable housing and redlining, hip hop deals with that.
Domestic violence. Hip hop deals with that, justice reform, police brutality.

(35:22):
Hip hop deals with that, wealth inequality. Hip Hop deals
with all these issues directly. Hip Hop holds the mirror
of America up to itself and says, look at yourself,
this is what you are.

Speaker 4 (35:34):
I am what you made me. Pop said this, this
is what you made me. Now deal with me.

Speaker 6 (35:39):
So I'm going to do my part as a member
of Congress, hopefully to bring the culture in to help
me write legislation and pass legislation and then leverage the
power of the fans and the supporters and the money
to really build sustainable political power. It's just to me,

(36:01):
the skies the limit there. To me, hip hop is
the rebirth of black civilization in America. Look a where
it came from. Like you try to you burn down buildings,
You created the conditions where kids in the Bronx and
kids all inner cities, kids in all inner cities will
kill themselves. They you know, the system continues to create

(36:23):
conditions where they hope we kill ourselves. And what do
we do? We become reborn. We do kill ourselves too,
But but the essence of who we are continues to
be red reborn.

Speaker 1 (36:37):
So no, absolutely, we do.

Speaker 2 (36:39):
We welt sexualized nature of like we.

Speaker 3 (36:47):
Have issues, like to act like we don't havesues issues
with hip hop in this culture. But it would be
I would just be dishonest to say that because it's
definitely over sexual used. It's definitely you know, there's a
growth of violence within it, you know, but to not
acknowledge the voice and the reach of it and saying

(37:07):
if it's harnessed, right, and as we grow in that,
if we take the minds of these young kids who
who are embracing the culture and we lead them right,
because we were we were misleading, because we were misled right.
So and that's what my goal is now to teach
so that these young kids have the understanding, Like we're
doing programs in school from drill music to build music

(37:31):
in which we're taking the same energy and everybody who's
spending the block and killing and got the black we
ain't putting that. We want you to talk about the
reality that's going on in the community, which I don't
want you to kill nobody right so once, because those
things that have been incentivized incentivized in this culture. There
was a time, like you said, there was Karrus One
and it was rock Kim. Those were the major people

(37:52):
on hip hop. So people wanted to emulate that. When
you stop emulating that, when you stop promoting that, and
you stopped showing us that vision, then you showed them
the only way you can make money is if you
killing and shoes somebody. Then that's what incentivizes them. So
we just had we got weat Like you said, that's
one of the things I want to focus on with
the hip hop. You know, hip hop task for us

(38:13):
is really taking the message and harnessing the same energy,
but changing the message and direction because we know once
you see it, you can be it.

Speaker 6 (38:22):
It's on us to do it too, right, Like it's
on us to do it. We can't just say, oh,
you know, dismiss those kids and marginalize those kids. It's
on us to work with them. On the other side
of it, there's a policy connection here. Access to guns
is due to lack of gun reform legislation at the
federal level. How do we work with the hip hop

(38:45):
community and culture to change that particular policy so guns
can stop being trafficked in our community?

Speaker 4 (38:52):
Poverty? Right, So when we.

Speaker 6 (38:54):
Talk about the root causes of this violence we're talking
about it's all connected to policy. And many times the
young people who are you young people are victims of this, right,
They're victims of a lack of access and opportunity in
their communities. I mean, we're the only developed nation that
doesn't doesn't have paid maternity leave, right, so you know,

(39:20):
people are having families, they got to rush back to work,
you know, have their child go to childcare, and childcare
is unaffordable. Right, So that's two policies right there, lack
of access to pay leave and lack of affordable childcare.
How many of the kids were talking about are suffering
because they didn't have access to a nurturing environment when

(39:41):
they were babies. Instead, they were born and raised into
toxic stress and chronic trauma created by horrible policies that
are actually violent policies, and then that kid grows up
more likely to be in special ed, more likely to
be incarcerated, more likely to be vulnerable, and to pick
up a gun and cause harm in their community. So

(40:04):
we got to do the policy stuff, and then we
got to do the on the ground cultural pie.

Speaker 2 (40:09):
So there are people who are like, see, see, that's
why we shouldn't vote at all, because to hell with it,
Like the system doesn't work.

Speaker 1 (40:17):
And there's another narrative that I see. It is so
sad to me that our people.

Speaker 2 (40:25):
Sometimes we own the narrative that has been pushed on
us from white supremacists, from right wing media. And so
now I hear black folks saying, some black folks saying, oh, well,
the Democratic cities are the ones with all educational problems.

Speaker 1 (40:43):
That the schools in.

Speaker 2 (40:46):
The Democratic cities, the poverty and the Democratic cities. That's
what it's the problem is the Democrats. I mean, it's
a black people, oftentimes black men who are trying, who
are saying gun violence and violence is a problem in
democratic cities.

Speaker 1 (41:01):
Do you how do you respond.

Speaker 4 (41:03):
That, I mean it's not true.

Speaker 6 (41:05):
I mean the the life expectancy, healthcare outcomes, economic outcomes,
and death by gun is higher in every Republican led
state and county city.

Speaker 4 (41:18):
So that that's just not yet correct. That's just not
a true statement.

Speaker 6 (41:24):
At the same time, you know, the Democratic Party ain't
you know, like, ain't perfect. You know what I'm saying,
ain't doing everything right by us as well? The system
is designed to maintain the cast.

Speaker 4 (41:37):
System that is.

Speaker 6 (41:38):
Designed for that. It's also designed to be changed if
we get involved and we get engaged. So if I
had that attitude that you're you're sharing, I would have
never ran for Congress. I would have internalized a sense
of despair and hopelessness and frustration that I completely understanding

(42:00):
from our people. Because it is hard.

Speaker 2 (42:02):
But if you just hard the money, if you just
focus on money, money, money, money, because again.

Speaker 6 (42:07):
Well but that's yeah, yeah, but that's part of the
cast ideology. So if you focus on raising money, you
could become a billionaire, but you still not. If you black,
you still not at the top of that cast. Because
it's two stories that come to mind for me. One,
remember in the sixties when we was fighting the marching
for civil rights, and we got the civil rights back

(42:29):
pass and the voting rights ACKs past fifty sixties. You
know what they were doing on the other side, they
were creating a micro chip. So think about that, like
they were creating the next revolution, next wave of scientific technology,
and we were finding for our humanity. Right now, That's
one example. The other example is we've had rappers for

(42:52):
thirty twenty thirty years talking about, you know, a billy abillity.
We want to make a billion, a billion. The goal
is to get to a Billy bill We got how
many billionaire is now? How close is that billion to
the wealth of Jeff Bezos? Hundreds of billions gates hundreds
of billions. Right, so we cha, we've been chasing what

(43:12):
white supremacy is put in front of us as a
carrot like chase this thing over here, a full sense
of accomplishment, full sense of utopia, full sense of accomplishment,
full sense of success.

Speaker 2 (43:26):
If you have everything and your people don't, you still
have nothing.

Speaker 6 (43:31):
Correct, right? So, but in reality we have lost we
our sense of self determination and our identity has been
stripped from us. So we have to connect back to
that first and foremost and Through that, then we can
self actualize and manifest our magic in whatever way it

(43:55):
manifests itself. It doesn't have to be a billion dollars.
It could be a million other things that we haven't
even thought about yet.

Speaker 4 (44:02):
And so.

Speaker 6 (44:05):
Yeah, man, it's the culture is you know, it is
what it is, but it's America and it's on us
to in my opinion, connect with it and do something
about it to change America.

Speaker 2 (44:17):
I want to talk about Biden, the Biden administration, accomplishments
and the perceived and or actual failures. Right, so there's
a lot of stuff that's supposed to happen as slow
moving if at all. The George Floyd justicson police and

(44:38):
actor is just nobody's even talking about it. It's like
that just discipine, I don't know what happened, no more, right,
because we work in trends. Unfortunately in this country that
people are still dying, but yet they've moved on to
something different. So talk about what you think are accomplishments

(45:00):
that you all have worked on, things that the administration
has been able to get done, and then we can
kind of go into the and I say proceed because
some people are like student loans. He didn't do anything.
It's a failure, even though so much we see.

Speaker 6 (45:14):
It is a lot on student loans. Yeah, so yeah, no,
great question. So, first of all, Biden is a president.
He has to work with legislators in order to pass legislation.

Speaker 4 (45:28):
That's o fact.

Speaker 6 (45:29):
So if people are only focused on Biden and don't
even know who their Congress members are, that's a problem
because those are the people we got to vote in
and out to work on. Legislation that Biden is going
to ultimately sign are not signed. So just wanted to
put that out there. What is Biden done? The American
Rescue Plan was huge. When our first got into Congress,

(45:51):
we were we were still dealing with COVID. We needed
a vaccine. We needed to save education systems across the country.
We need to save poor city. We got people checks,
we had unemployment extended. Like American Rescue Plans, saved the economy.
That was about an accomplishment. Safer Communities Act is the
first piece of gun legislation we passed in over a decade.

(46:13):
A lot of resources for mental health, a lot of
supports to communities that have been ignored when it comes
to these issues. Huge huge piece of legislation, the Inflation
Reduction Act four hundred billion invested in climate the most ever,
caps prescription drug costs, insulent drug costs at thirty five
dollars a month and gives it was crazy, and gives

(46:36):
Medicare the opportunity to negotiate drug prices which never happened before.
And caps senior Drug court at two thousand and a year,
which is a game changer. You ain't gonna hear seniors
saying what we hear people saying about body. You ain't
gonna hear that from seniors because they feel the effects.
The Infrastructure Bill, which is historic investments in our infrastructure

(46:58):
one point three two trillion to rebuild roads, bridges, and tunnels.

Speaker 4 (47:03):
A great bill.

Speaker 6 (47:04):
My problem with the bill is then there wasn't enough
equity provisions in it to make sure black and brown
people got those jobs, which is one of the reasons
why I voted against it. And then the other bill.
His other signature bill is the Chips and Science Act.
We're bringing semiconductive manufacturing back to our country, which means
we're going to start building our microchips again, which is

(47:26):
going to create thousands of jobs. If not millions and
re empower us with our technology. And I personally love
that bill the most, well second most, because I have
two amendments in that bill. One is for building community
wealth through technology and the other is for building worker
cooperatives through technology. So whenever I'm dealing with legislation, I'm

(47:48):
specifically thinking about the Bronx Mount Vernon Yonkers and where
black and brown people live in my district and thinking
about what they need. So those are the amendments I
wrote to that bill. So those huge accomplishments. The challenge
continues to be how is that impacting people's pockets on

(48:09):
a day to day basis, And those bills haven't come
online yet to do that except for seniors. With the
other stuff, it's coming online slowly, but surely not at
the rate we needed. What I wished Biden did more
around was this issue of price gouging. So the reason

(48:29):
why inflation still is still higher than it should be
is because corporation raised prices during COVID and many of
them never bought the prices back then, which is why
people still can't afford all that stuff. This is why
people still which is why people still struggling so much,
to live and you know people both pointed out it. Yeah,

(48:51):
I mean, so we have a bill called the Ending
Corporate Greed Act, which focuses specifically on this issue of
price gouging. We want to hold companies accountable for price
s gouging, right, and we want them to open their
books to show us what's going on in their companies
so that we can see how much is going to
profit and how much is going to the people. It's

(49:12):
called the Ending corp agree that that's something we would
like the President to support. We talk a little bit
about price scugeing, but we don't talk about it enough.
So the Republicans have run with the narrative that the
reason why inflation is crazy because it's too much government spending. No,
it's because of price gouging. When you look at I
don't have the number in front of me. Was it
tens tens of billions of hundreds of billions of dollars

(49:35):
that billionaires gained during COVID versus working class people? It's
because of price gouging. So they got their check. But
that that ran out right, that ran out and now
you know correct, and we also have a system where

(49:57):
you know, like you see the mo flee or quarterly
celebrations of job growth growth, Right, more jobs, got more jobs,
more jobs. We still have underemployment, which means people aren't
making enough money. So people may have jobs, but they're
not making enough prevailing wage and so. And part of
that is because we have a system where if you
are large corporation, uh, you you get rewarded for buying

(50:22):
your own stock to prop up the value of your corporations,
where you should be investing in creating paying wage job,
living wage jobs for people, but they're not, and they're
not held accountable for that. So a lot of our
eyre towards President Biden or the Democratic Party should go
towards the corporations that are that are you know, destroying

(50:46):
us right now economically.

Speaker 3 (50:47):
So those things help black people? What's that the stuff
you said that did? Yes, directly helped black because that's
what people are going to say, Yeah, whatever, what have
you done for black people?

Speaker 4 (50:59):
Yeah?

Speaker 6 (50:59):
Exactly right, So yes they do. Here's a challenge though
one it doesn't help them fast enough.

Speaker 4 (51:07):
So that's the problem.

Speaker 6 (51:08):
So that that that criticism is well taken for Biden
and for all of us. It's not just Biden, it's
the legislators. Here's here's the challenge.

Speaker 4 (51:16):
Though.

Speaker 6 (51:17):
A lot of that money is made available in grants,
so it's not just given. The American Rescue Plan was
just given. It was given the Mount Vernon, it was
given the city.

Speaker 4 (51:27):
It was it was it was yeah, it was.

Speaker 6 (51:29):
Given the Yakers, it was the stimulus checks given. Certain
things were given in the beginning. These bills have grants
attached to them. So if you don't have a grant
writer to go after the grant, you can't bring X
program into your into your community. That's a major part

(51:50):
of the problem. But again it's not just it's it's
the it's the government side. It's the government, it's accessing
opportunities the government side. But it's also the corporate side
as well. And one of the challenges with Biden, particularly
in this day, Biden is a capitalist. He you know,
he supports you know, large corporations and building wealth corporations

(52:10):
and whatever we can. We can save that for another conversation.
My point is what are we doing to invest in
working class people every day and support them so that
they can afford childcare, housing, healthcare, transportation, utilities, et cetera.
Utilities are crazy killing everything.

Speaker 1 (52:30):
Seriously, this is a real problem.

Speaker 2 (52:32):
And I tell people that will see this interview will say, still.

Speaker 1 (52:40):
How exactly does.

Speaker 2 (52:43):
TT in Alabama, who lives in a trail apart, who's
taking care of her kids, struggling, doing everything possible to survive,
how does t T get money in her pocket?

Speaker 1 (52:57):
That is?

Speaker 2 (52:58):
That's still And until we can answer for that, because
it's not responsibility only or whatever, it's it's like you said,
it's a full legislature. It's it's a lot of people
involved in that. But until you can answer that question directly,
you're going to have a lot of people who just
checked out. And I'll give you an example of something
that happened recently I was talking to.

Speaker 6 (53:18):
Before you do that, I just make one quick counter argument.
There are certain groups and lobbies that have incredible power
in Congress because they vote every single election, They vote
in every primary, they voted in every general, and made
itself a priority the right.

Speaker 1 (53:38):
So a politicians care about money and.

Speaker 6 (53:42):
Votes, right, And so if you say you not voting,
are you in participating?

Speaker 4 (53:47):
Why do I care about what's.

Speaker 1 (53:49):
Easier for them to run to completely ignore you?

Speaker 4 (53:52):
Why do I care about what you want to what
you think.

Speaker 1 (53:56):
But I was going to give you this.

Speaker 2 (53:58):
I was talking to some cousins on the phone, you know,
having our little Sunday kicking around doing we still do
zoom and conference calls like COVID. And my cousin said,
I said, you know, we gotta get ready to vote.
Country is crazy. This is serious, serious election. Gotta do it.

(54:19):
And she laughed and said, child, y'all live a different world.
We down here hustling from moment to moment to survive.
We was hustling when Trump was the president. We've been
hustling since Biden is the president. It does not change
for us. None of that stuff impacts our street, like

(54:41):
where we're living and what we're suffering with.

Speaker 4 (54:43):
But that's just the reality.

Speaker 3 (54:44):
The reality is right there is there is a demographic
in this country that is not served right, and that
when we were sitting here making up alive.

Speaker 1 (54:56):
They are for real, that's nobody not they.

Speaker 3 (55:00):
They've so below the Holidy line that they don't even
they not even counted. It's a reality.

Speaker 6 (55:05):
When I first got to Congress.

Speaker 4 (55:08):
We couldn't. We failed to raise the.

Speaker 6 (55:11):
Federal minimum wage from seven dollars an hour to fifteen.

Speaker 1 (55:15):
Dollars, simple thing. Seven dollars.

Speaker 4 (55:18):
The federal minimum wage is people.

Speaker 2 (55:21):
And Democrats and Republicans allowed federal.

Speaker 3 (55:26):
That's crazy to happen the federal I thought it was everywhere.
So the federal no minium wage is still seven.

Speaker 2 (55:33):
I think, yeah, corporations have to take it upon themselves
at this point, or.

Speaker 4 (55:40):
States like New York State has it. You know, I
think it's seventeen now.

Speaker 2 (55:44):
Business owners coming to this conversation because I've had several
business owners say they cannot handle the increase in minimum
wage for the employees.

Speaker 1 (55:54):
So I mean, it's a what to your point?

Speaker 2 (55:57):
And we're gonna move on because we only got one
more one, two more things and then I know we
gotta cut this. But we knew that this would be
a real powerful interview, and it has to, you know,
between yourself and others like you, Congresswoman, and Corey Bush
and just a number of individuals who are in the
federal government pushing to make progressive and radical change. Right,

(56:20):
your voices need to be amplified because our people are bewildered,
feeling disrespected. Don't understand. Some people are confused. Other people
are like, I'm not confused.

Speaker 1 (56:32):
At all.

Speaker 2 (56:33):
My middle fingers is up to the whole jam. Like
I'm checked out completely, you know, And when you think
about how many people are suffering, it's almost like nothing
that we ever could say can make them feel better.
Especially on top of all of the financial issues. The

(56:53):
police are still knocking them upside the head, right, the
schools are still not properly educating their children properly. They
are tired and worn out, and so I get frustrated
because I'm like, we can't stay home, not in this
people keep I think the worst talking point is this
is the most election, the most important election of our time.

(57:15):
Every single election, city council, district leader, every single election
is the most important election of our lifetime. And because
we just start that when it comes to keeping Donald
Trump out of being becoming president, it's lost, you know
what I'm saying, because yeah.

Speaker 4 (57:37):
Voter die over.

Speaker 6 (57:39):
Yeah yeah, I mean, slogans ain't going you know, we're
not gonna a revolution from slogans, right, But to your
point of myself and others in Congress.

Speaker 4 (57:48):
Where's some of the few who don't get the middle finger?

Speaker 1 (57:53):
All Right?

Speaker 4 (57:53):
When we show up.

Speaker 6 (57:55):
In community, people actually are excited, and it's inspire to
engage with us. They beat us down to right, y'all
ain't doing nothing, and we got to what's going They
do that, but they still engage, and we engage with
them because that's why we in Congress for them. We
are ran for Congress because of them. I ran for

(58:16):
Congress because kids in the Bronx Mount vernon Y, because
all were ignored, marginal and dying every day in our streets.

Speaker 2 (58:24):
So I'm a quick questions, a question that we want
to know. How you deal with the black whatever they
call themselves that they listen. You talked about radical on
your side, They outside the building, down the hall around it,

(58:48):
behind them, the what you call it, the shrubs hiding
from a radical conversation?

Speaker 1 (58:55):
How do you deal?

Speaker 6 (58:56):
I mean, yeah, it's you know, I don't I don't
really deal with it, you know what I'm saying Because
at the end of the day, we got work to do, right,
So I'm I'm hyper focused me personally, I'm hyper focused
on the work we need to do. And you know,
Malcolm educated us, educated us on the on on the bourgeoisie,

(59:18):
uh friends for none, educated us on the colonized bourgeoisie.

Speaker 4 (59:23):
And for me again, if we not.

Speaker 6 (59:27):
Going all out for for our people and hurt people
and marginalized people, we don't need to be there.

Speaker 4 (59:32):
We don't need to be in.

Speaker 6 (59:33):
No elected office if we're not trying to go all
out for our people. And so you know, that's what
I'm all about it and that's why we we And
it's not just words, it's legislation is money. One quick example,
you know, horrible incident took place a couple of years
ago in Mount Vernon. UH girls from neighboring cheerleading squads

(59:56):
got into some beef. It went to Snapchat, it got
out of control. They decided they was going to meet
and fight a block away from city hall.

Speaker 4 (01:00:05):
In Mount Vernon.

Speaker 6 (01:00:07):
One girl pulls out a knife, stabs one girl kills her,
stabs another one critical condition. The one who did the
stabing is now going for fifteen twenty years right one.
The other girl's going forever, family, community, never going to
see her again. And one's in critical I don't know
how she's doing right now. So you know, I show

(01:00:29):
up at the mayor's office the next day, we have
a community meeting, town hall circle, trying to understand what
the hell happened, and why couldn't we stop this. In
addition to that, we worked with them to bring in
a million dollars to create a program called Safe Place
for Our Girls, where now we're targeting middle school and
high school girls in Mount Vernon to support them in

(01:00:52):
their growth and development as young women. If someone like
me wasn't in office, that doesn't happen. There's another incident,
young man Newishelle High School kid gets into an argument
with some other kid, apparently fencing always involved. Kid pulls
out a ghost gun, shoots the kid, kills him. I

(01:01:13):
think the kid was fifteen years old, shot by sixteen
year old. Again, one life going, one life change forever,
Community change, forever, show up.

Speaker 4 (01:01:23):
Meet with community, meet with teachers.

Speaker 6 (01:01:25):
Parents, administrators, families, not just thoughts in prayers. Figure out
how can I use my position bring in resources to
help this community. We brought in about three million dollars
for the Boys and Girls Club and the school district
to work specifically with at risk youth. If we not
voting in every election, you not gonna get someone like

(01:01:49):
me in office doing that work with our most vulnerable communities.

Speaker 4 (01:01:53):
All you gonna get his thoughts in prayers, and that's it.
The last thing I'll say on that is this is
personal for me. Personal. I mean shit, it was.

Speaker 6 (01:02:08):
I must have been eleven years old, so it must
have been like eighty seven eighty eight. My sister I
got two older sisters, both was dating drug dealers, you know,
big radios all at you know, eighty seven eighty eight.
One of them took me on a run uptown to
the Bronx with them. I'm from Manhattan. Took me uptown
on the Bronx for a run to go drop off
something and pick seing up whatever it was. We get

(01:02:29):
into an alley. He pulls out a gun, shoots in
the air.

Speaker 4 (01:02:33):
Three times, blah blah blah.

Speaker 6 (01:02:34):
He's like, here, you want to shoot it. I'm like,
hell no, I was scared to death. I don't want
to touch that gun. But I tell our story to tell,
like from when I was eleven, the issue of gun violence,
since the violence was going on our community has been
in my life personally, professionally.

Speaker 4 (01:02:53):
So now obviously I'm going to govern from that perspective.

Speaker 6 (01:02:56):
So now because of the way I govern and we
go with community, we have some of the most powerful,
wealthiest people in the country coming to take me out
of my seat because.

Speaker 4 (01:03:10):
We challenging that power. So we're challenging this power.

Speaker 6 (01:03:15):
So now APAC Republican mega donors who support Trump and
over one hundred insurrectionists who are racists and support the
mass murder that's happening in Gaza right now, they're coming
to take me out of my seat.

Speaker 4 (01:03:30):
And it's crazy. And it's crazy to me.

Speaker 6 (01:03:32):
Simply because we fight it for black and brown lives
hair and in Gaza it's connected.

Speaker 4 (01:03:39):
It's white supremacy. It's all connected, you know.

Speaker 3 (01:03:42):
And I just want to say that I commend you
because when I talk about voting and I talk about
who do we elect, and people say who are we
supposed to elect? And no party of this? And I'm
not a party person, you understand I'm saying. But the
reality of the situation is I need the proper representation
for me. I need to know that people get it.
I need to know that there's somebody in these offices

(01:04:05):
that understand my reality, that understand that's been through the alleyway,
somebody shot a gun, that's been had a couple of
fights in school and had to switch to school, that
had to go through something to overcome something that actually
understand and identify what it is these kids are dealing with.
You can't govern our communities if you not even you
don't understand the realities that we have to deal with

(01:04:27):
every day. So when I vote, it's for somebody like you.
So I want to I just want to commend you
because I understand what it is that you represent and
understand the fight that you have against you because we
fight against it every day, you know.

Speaker 4 (01:04:39):
So what I want to say is, continue to fight.

Speaker 3 (01:04:41):
We're gonna do everything we can to fight with you,
because this is what representation looks like.

Speaker 4 (01:04:48):
This is what our communities need. We need young.

Speaker 3 (01:04:50):
Boys that are at risk need to see somebody like
you that's willing to come and argue with the people
or take the abuse and deal with it because we
reality is y'all just talking from your talking points and
this with the community. You've never been in that community.
You having a conversation with me about what black people
is and what hip hop is and what the culture

(01:05:10):
is and what violence doesn't mean. And y'all want to
say no, Unfortunately, this is how we had to survive. Unfortunately, somebody,
this was the only thing we had to survive.

Speaker 4 (01:05:21):
But we didn't know anything else.

Speaker 3 (01:05:23):
Unfortunately, some of us had to go through things and
actually overcome those things, you know.

Speaker 4 (01:05:28):
And so now we come.

Speaker 3 (01:05:29):
From a perspective of lived experience, and we want to
help our kids get through that and before they have
to go through what we've been through. So I reject
the notion that somebody outside of my community that's never
been through can govern my community.

Speaker 4 (01:05:43):
I reject that notion.

Speaker 3 (01:05:45):
I reject that some white man that's never been in
my community can can tell me what's better for our community.

Speaker 4 (01:05:50):
I reject that. I vehemently reject that.

Speaker 3 (01:05:54):
And I want our community and our representation to look
like the people that's inside those communities. So I want
you to tell us when is reelection, what is the STRATEGYAH.

Speaker 6 (01:06:04):
Election day is June twenty fifth, that's the primary, June
twenty fifth. Early voting starts June fifteenth. If you're not
registered to vote, please register the vote by June fifteenth.
That's the last stay to vote in this election. And
in New York State, I don't agree with the law,
but you have to be registered with a party to
vote in a primary. So if you want to vote

(01:06:25):
the demoprat primy, no, the congressional primaries June twenty fifth.
That's my primary. The presidential primary is like next week.
What's happening right now?

Speaker 4 (01:06:34):
Yup?

Speaker 6 (01:06:35):
So for the congressional primary June twenty fifth. Congressional primary,
early voting June fifteenth. Congressional primary. Last day to vote,
register to vote is June fifteenth. You could vote early
beginning June fifteenth.

Speaker 4 (01:06:48):
You could do mail in.

Speaker 6 (01:06:49):
Ballots, but not just in my election. You got to
register in New York State. You gotta be registered Democrat
or Republicans vote. I'm saying registered Democrat in my district
to vote for me, because I have someone who has
been a Democrat in his old career, but he's partnering
with racist Republican mega donors to take me out my seat,

(01:07:12):
out this seat, the district seat. They had a whole
campaign trying to switch Republicans to be Democrats to vote
against me. So that's only happening because we're causing good trouble,
Like we're being disruptive.

Speaker 3 (01:07:24):
If they wouldn't, they wouldn't go to hard, they wouldn't
go so hard.

Speaker 6 (01:07:28):
They're throwing everything at us right now. So June twenty fifth,
Election day June fifteenth, early voting. Please register the vote
Democrat in my district, at least register the vote because
we need people involved and engaged. Because the federal government
spends four hundred and fifty billion dollars a year on weapons,
nine hundred billion for the military industrial complex, and the

(01:07:50):
second largest expenditure is jails. So they spend on war,
they spend on jails. The only way to get them
to spend on our people in our communities is to
get involved in vote and change the whole game.

Speaker 3 (01:08:03):
We appreciate you, thank you, we got you got we
got your back man, Thank you, man, appreciate such.

Speaker 1 (01:08:08):
A very very informative interview. And you have to come back.
But you're our friends.

Speaker 3 (01:08:15):
So you know you boycott black murder all day.

Speaker 1 (01:08:20):
Well that's enough said, I.

Speaker 3 (01:08:22):
Mean our brother listen, man, Like things like that invigorate
me to you know that have some little bit of hope,
you know, because it's so it's so few people that
that you can even vote for it that even represent
what it is your mind state that said understands what
the problem is and willing to fight regardless. And it's

(01:08:44):
it's sad because what we have to do and how
we have to stand behind. We got to do put
everything we have because that's not a popular thing.

Speaker 4 (01:08:53):
One is something.

Speaker 3 (01:08:54):
Different and one better for your community and understanding the
dynamics of your community and fighting for all the time
it's not popular, like they want you to forget where
you come from. They want you to forget the realities
that they want you to just go along with status
quo while I'll continues where our communities continue to fall
apart and our young kids' education is shot and there's

(01:09:15):
violence going on, and you not care about that, and
you focus on we just need money for the district,
so you could just keep funneling the same money to
this which really.

Speaker 2 (01:09:23):
Need people like Jamal Bowman to be reelected. So I
just know that for people who are listening to this,
this is a serious situation. And I think he said something.
I mean, we could have done so much more with
that interview, but he said something that I hope folks heard.
He said, because we stand up for black and brown people,

(01:09:46):
they put everything when we say cease fire and Gaza
they come after us. But they're not only coming after
us because Gaza, they are also they already had a
target on you because of your advocacy and radical voice
for black and brown people.

Speaker 4 (01:10:06):
It's so crazy the word radical.

Speaker 3 (01:10:09):
Well, I'm saying no, but that's the best word.

Speaker 1 (01:10:12):
I use.

Speaker 2 (01:10:13):
The word radical is because I want to to to to.

Speaker 1 (01:10:16):
Take the stigma from it.

Speaker 2 (01:10:18):
It should be used and we should normalize saying it
because we do need radical because progressive is not getting
us enough. Progressive has been co opted, by the way
by it mean that.

Speaker 4 (01:10:27):
You got to run instead of they want to tiptoe.

Speaker 2 (01:10:34):
Progressives many of them are people that are also not
from our community, that are fighting for this whole pie theory, right.
So it's it's sort of like one of our critiques
about well, one of my critiques about Bernie Sanders was
this idea that if we just raised the entire all
the people, right, so the entire nation gets support and resources,

(01:10:58):
then it will benefit it every micro group.

Speaker 1 (01:11:02):
And that is not true.

Speaker 2 (01:11:02):
You have to have a very specific focus on black
folks if you want to, if you want to, if
you are if you are a true fighter and believer
in the success of our communities, you gotta target us.
You have to focus us, which is the whole thing
around DIA that we have to do on another day,

(01:11:24):
but which is diversity, equity, and inclusion. So you know,
I want to say radical because I don't care if
they don't like it.

Speaker 4 (01:11:33):
Now it's not to me.

Speaker 3 (01:11:34):
It's I just the definition of radical means something that's
so far gone and it's so far left to pushing us.
To me is like why is this pushing? Like this
shit has just common sense to me. So that's why
I'm saying. I'm not saying you shouldn't use it or
kid how they weaponize it, because fuck them anyway, you know,
But that that goes to my I don't get it.

Speaker 4 (01:11:58):
I'm just noticing.

Speaker 3 (01:11:59):
Just it's is so many things, you know, this Internet
and misinformation and the intentional spreading of misinformation is just
at an all time high. Like people are just reposting
and resharing and re saying things.

Speaker 4 (01:12:17):
That they have no clue about, like.

Speaker 3 (01:12:21):
Shit that just makes no sense, and you be like
you really didn't did you even think about that?

Speaker 4 (01:12:27):
Did you? Who told you to post it?

Speaker 3 (01:12:29):
And these are supposed to be reputable sites and reputable
blog sites and reputable people.

Speaker 4 (01:12:34):
And they're just saying anything.

Speaker 3 (01:12:36):
And it's just like, I just fear for us that
this misinformation age that we're in this is.

Speaker 4 (01:12:42):
Going to be the death of us.

Speaker 2 (01:12:43):
It's misinformation and disinformation, and there are people who benefit
from from making sure that we are uninformed and misinformed.
And I've been watching also over the last week or
two weeks misinformation even around the situation with Diddy that

(01:13:06):
I don't know what the hell has happened.

Speaker 1 (01:13:09):
I have no idea.

Speaker 2 (01:13:10):
It is very alarming and very disturbing to hear the
types of allegations that are out there about someone that
I love. But nonetheless, I know people that I love
that may have done something wrong. So I don't say
because I don't know, but I certainly see misinformation even
in that and even when someone says, actually we were wrong,

(01:13:35):
people have taken whatever that thing was and they've gone
with it.

Speaker 1 (01:13:40):
And it is very very dangerous. Not because.

Speaker 2 (01:13:45):
Not because any one of us can definitively say or
this or that and the third in that situation. That's
not what we are here to discuss. But what it
makes me worry about is that in an election season,
well we're now learning is that if a blog site
or even a news outlet, because even The New York
Times has been found throughout the issue of the attack

(01:14:09):
on Gaza.

Speaker 1 (01:14:10):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:14:10):
The New York Times has been found, by the way,
put that to the side. Even in my own life,
The New York Times has been found to push propaganda
and to report things that are actually unfounded and pure lies.

Speaker 1 (01:14:26):
Right.

Speaker 2 (01:14:27):
So now we're in a situation where people can't even say, well,
let me go look at media sources to get info.
You don't even you can't even because you don't even
know whether those media sources are true or not. So
they've been running for the last week. It was a
whole thing about the shares of that that puff sold
the shares of his shares of revolt, and Roland Martin

(01:14:50):
is like, I'm talking to the people at the highest
level and that is actually not the case. And it's like, okay, cool,
put that over here, because that's people's personal bit. This
is whether he sells it, doesn't sell it, who buys it,
how it all works out. Shout out to the family
at Revote. I pray for every single staff person that's
there that I know are people who are trying to

(01:15:11):
do their job despite all of this other craziness that's
going on. They are attempting to be a voice for
Black America and try to get it right, right, So
shout out to them, much love to them.

Speaker 1 (01:15:22):
But let's say put that over there.

Speaker 2 (01:15:23):
Imagine when people realize that, all they gotta do is say,
you know, boom.

Speaker 4 (01:15:29):
But that's what they realize. But that's what I'm trying.

Speaker 1 (01:15:32):
To state it as fact.

Speaker 4 (01:15:33):
But that's what I'm explaining to you. That is the
error we are on.

Speaker 3 (01:15:36):
That's why we have so many quote unquote Internet influences.

Speaker 4 (01:15:40):
YouTubers.

Speaker 3 (01:15:41):
They come on there with the most outrageous shit that's unfounded.
Nobody fact checked them, nobody looked it up. They just repost.
People could come to you and say, oh this is true,
this is true, and you're like, where did you get
the information?

Speaker 1 (01:15:54):
But I want to believe, mice.

Speaker 2 (01:15:56):
I want to believe that because of what women have suffered, right,
women have suffered abuse and discardment for a long time,
and I want to believe that we are living in
an era where some of our people are just like,

(01:16:17):
we want to support those who may have been harmed.
I mean, we see this going on across the board, people,
young people, kids on Nickelodeon.

Speaker 3 (01:16:26):
And how do you support somebody by life?

Speaker 2 (01:16:29):
Well no, Well, what I'm saying is I don't know
that folks believe that they are caught up in lies.
I think they are really There's some people that's just
trolls and they idiots and that's it. But there are
some people who are truly trying to advocate for what
they believe is the underdog or the victim.

Speaker 4 (01:16:46):
You can advocated, you can advocate with the truth.

Speaker 2 (01:16:49):
I believe that, But you don't know the truth. But
that means if you don't know the truth, what.

Speaker 4 (01:16:53):
Can you advocate?

Speaker 3 (01:16:54):
You advocate and say, hey, this is such and such
said this, and I believe such and such right, But
you can't you can't push that as is a fact.
Right if somebody come to you and say something such
happen to me and they say, this is my friend,
I believe that that and based on what my friends said,
I believe it. But you can't come in fact and
act like.

Speaker 4 (01:17:13):
You was there.

Speaker 2 (01:17:14):
The macrocosm is that we are in a time where
you will take anything they say on the internet and say,
well they said, they said who's that?

Speaker 1 (01:17:25):
And who is that?

Speaker 2 (01:17:26):
Nobody never tells you who they are, and it's a
real dangerous it's dangerous.

Speaker 1 (01:17:29):
So I just I just I just hope that we learn.
That's what they what the ministers been. I told you
what I learned, learned, I.

Speaker 3 (01:17:36):
Learned, learned, and with that learn we've come to the
end of another episode. Shout out to Congressman Jamal Bowman.
We appreciate you, We appreciate our fans, Tea and my fans.
Make sure that you go let us know what topics
you want us to talk about. Who y'all want us
to interview. We're still the number one podcast in the world,

(01:17:57):
number one number one podcast. I could always be right
to mek, It's not gonna always be wrong. We'll both
always and I mean always be authentic that check out
the video version of TMO.

Speaker 2 (01:18:18):
Every single Wednesday on Iwoman dot TV.

Speaker 4 (01:18:22):
That's

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