INTERVIEW: Tamika D. Mallory & Angelo Pinto Talk 'Project Freedom', DNC Takeaways, Kamala Harris More

The Breakfast Club sits down with Tamika D. Mallory & Angelo Pinto to discuss 'Project Freedom', their takeaway from the DNC, and Kamala Harris. Listen for More!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Wake that ass up in the morning.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
The Breakfast Club Morning, everybody's dej envy Jess hilarious, charlamage
to God. We are the Breakfast Club. Laura Rossi is
feeling in for Jess. And we got some special guests
joining us this morning. We have Tamika d. Mallory welcome back.
What's good family, and Angelo Pento welcome, Thank you for
having us.

Speaker 3 (00:19):
Now, how you guys feeling How y'all feeling good?

Speaker 4 (00:22):
You know, ready for the fight.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Every day we're feeling good.

Speaker 5 (00:25):
I mean, we're in a poor and political moment, trying
to keep our eyes focused on election and just you know,
be present for our folks.

Speaker 6 (00:31):
I saw you at the DNC last week. To Meeka
as an activist, what did you see at the DNC
that you liked? What you see that you didn't like?

Speaker 4 (00:39):
I mean, you know, I thought the DNC was important.

Speaker 7 (00:41):
I've been doing this for a long time, as you know,
so I have been to a number of conventions and
I get the importance of bringing the base together, and
that was certainly the case. I think Chicago also did
a really good job of moving people around, by the way,
and so I thought that was good. It was an
opportunity to see a lot of political operatives and have

(01:02):
an opportunity to talk to them directly about issues. And
you know, people walking the halls, they didn't have a
million security folks around them stopping them from talking to
the people.

Speaker 4 (01:12):
So I thought that was good.

Speaker 6 (01:14):
You know.

Speaker 4 (01:14):
Obviously Michelle Obama was the highlight.

Speaker 7 (01:17):
I think they gave her enough time and space, it seemed,
because it's no way that she articulated her speech the
way that she did without it being her, Like it
had to be her words, she had to be involved in.
Nobody wrote that and gave it to her, and so
she really did her thing. I thought that, you know,

(01:39):
the president, the former president, Barack Obama, should have had
her speak after him hit it over, for.

Speaker 4 (01:47):
You know, she was incredible.

Speaker 7 (01:49):
I mean, he's I went back and I listened to
his speech as well, because I think being in the
space with all the people screaming and everything that was
happening from Michelle's speech, that I didn't hear him well enough.
So I went back to really listen to what he said.
And they was both out there like there was they
were firing.

Speaker 8 (02:06):
He still sounded like a politician, or he still sounds.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
Like he is.

Speaker 8 (02:11):
She didn't sound like that.

Speaker 7 (02:13):
She has made it very clear that she's not running
for anything period. So he is a politician and he's
gonna be you know, more safe or whatever. But if
you listen to what he said and really just kind
of unpack some of his statements, you can tell that
one they just tired. So they're just at the point
now where it's like, we don't need nothing for you.
We don't need a job, right, we don't need money,

(02:34):
we don't need anything. So we're just saying how we feel.
So I thought it was it was good for that.
There were other speeches. I thought AOC was great. I thought,
you know, obviously Jasmine Crockett, she always I love the
way that sister is just real, she's just herself. I
thought that Rafael Warnock, you know, speaking on the children
of Gaza was important. So there were, you know, a

(02:57):
number of important highlights. But of course, what's what I
didn't like is I don't I don't feel like enough
people including uh well, I'll get to that in the moment,
but I didn't feel enough folks were talking about police accountability.
I thought Sonya Massey's name should have come up many
times because you know, this is a sister that just recently,

(03:18):
you know, was was shot by that officer in her face,
and so I thought that someone should have more people
should have been talking about that.

Speaker 4 (03:26):
You know.

Speaker 7 (03:27):
I noticed that they brought out the officer with the
weapon on the stage.

Speaker 4 (03:33):
There was a lot of.

Speaker 7 (03:34):
Like military kind of you know, even the Vice president
saying that we're gonna make sure we have like the
lethal military. That type of language is triggering, particularly to
you know, our communities because we're already dealing with militarized
policing and and we're looking to find ways to reduce
it versus you know more. But I do also understand

(03:57):
that she has to be very clear that she's able
to run on the most powerful nation, as they say,
in the world.

Speaker 3 (04:03):
The world is.

Speaker 6 (04:04):
Volatile right now, so you got to put all the
other countries on alert. The Russia is the Chinese North Koreas.

Speaker 7 (04:08):
About the builds, it's bigger, you know, it's it's a
macro and a micro. But I still think that a
part of the micro that we as black people are
living under this military or militarized government. I think that
you know, if we could fix that, we might be
able to deal with some of the external stuff that's

(04:29):
happening around us. So it's a big political discussion that
you know, hopefully we will continue to have.

Speaker 4 (04:33):
Well we will because you know we're going to push
the issues and so.

Speaker 3 (04:37):
You know, but let me ask now.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
So you know, this conversation has been a conversation we've
been having for a while now, and it's it's recently
reunited the.

Speaker 3 (04:43):
Last couple of days.

Speaker 2 (04:43):
Especially applies that people feel like they shouldn't question the
vice president, right, what are your thoughts on that? You know,
I think we all feel up here that you question
any politicians, doesn't matter they black, white, green, and yellow.
If you have a problem or you want to know
about your interests, it's no problem.

Speaker 3 (04:57):
With questioning them.

Speaker 7 (04:58):
Well, first of all, shout out to my other plies.
I love him and like this brother over here. I
debate with both of them back and forth as his
shoes all the time.

Speaker 4 (05:07):
That's what we do. Charlamagne is the only boss I.

Speaker 7 (05:09):
Ever had that I could go, I could debate with
all the time. Right about I just hit him up.
You know, I don't agree, you know, I think I
see both points on one hand, what I believe, and
I'm not going to speak for Plies, but I do
see him online as some of the traction and traffic
that he gets, And what I think he is leaning

(05:30):
into is the idea that people are questioning her for
the wrong reasons. It's the intention behind the way in
which they're pressing the vice president, and they did the
same thing to Barack Obama and then trying to you know,
of course they're not black enough, they're you know, they
they're not qualified and all of that. So I think
that that's part of the statement that he made. But

(05:53):
at the same time, I come from the idea that
we can never ever stop putting pressure on elected officials.
We have to be questioning them at all points, but
we also have to be very genuine about what we're questioning,
why we're questioning it, and is it leading to an
end or are we just doing it to find ways

(06:15):
to discredit someone.

Speaker 4 (06:17):
Who's in a position of leadership.

Speaker 7 (06:18):
So I see both sides of it, and I think,
you know, I think either way you go.

Speaker 4 (06:23):
And I understand.

Speaker 7 (06:24):
The point is that at this moment, she is talking
about policy, right. I hate to hear people say that
the vice president is not speaking on policy because when
you're listening to her, I heard her talk about priorities,
and priorities are supposed to equal policy, right, it doesn't
always happen that way. That's why the people have to
continue to put pressure on these folks, because you can't

(06:48):
let them talk about one thing and not do anything
about it. But I've heard her talk about a number
of issues that, in my I think you would say
the same, that these things are priorities of hers.

Speaker 6 (07:00):
Building the middle class, that's opportunity. I everybody on the
home owned a business.

Speaker 7 (07:03):
Talking about economic issues, talking about women's rights to choose,
talking about things happening overseas, talking about Israel, Palestine. I mean,
we hear those things coming from her. Now, over time,
she's going to have to break it down and there's
going to be interviews and debates.

Speaker 4 (07:19):
And all of that.

Speaker 7 (07:20):
But I also went back and listened to other speeches
because I was like, let me see if I'm missing
that these other presidential candidates have just been talking about
all this policy stuff on the acceptance night of the nomination,
and it hasn't been there.

Speaker 4 (07:35):
That's not what they do.

Speaker 5 (07:36):
I think the other piece too, that applies and Angelo Pento,
Yes are talking about is this idea that if you're
going to question her, question everybody keep.

Speaker 4 (07:45):
The same energy Exactly.

Speaker 8 (07:47):
I feel.

Speaker 1 (07:49):
The energy. I don't know about trusty from black folk.

Speaker 8 (07:52):
But here's the thing.

Speaker 6 (07:54):
Most Black people I know aren't supporting Trump. We're supporting
the Democrats. So we pressure the party that we support.
And that's been going on since twenty sixteen. Is at
least I see that we made these people step up
and have to come with black agendas which they never
had before because we started asking questions, impressure in it.

Speaker 1 (08:10):
I think it's a two way street.

Speaker 5 (08:12):
I think because it's a black presidential candidate, she's going
to have a particular kind of scrutiny that they should have.
But I think they're scrutiny that comes to her just
because she's a black woman that I think in many
ways is misplaced.

Speaker 1 (08:25):
And I think what some folks are saying.

Speaker 5 (08:27):
Be honorable in your questioning right and don't let your
questioning come from a place of gender or race based bias,
because white candidates, even though they may be questioned, they're
not going to get that. And I think that's what
some folks are saying. And I think that's why Michelle
Obama was important. She's saying, her and her husband have
been here before. They've seen not just the political components

(08:48):
of what's going to happen, but they've seen some of
the hate components that she's going to have to endure
that make her political trajectory harder and more difficult. But
also the American publics perspective is going to be skewed
because of race. This isn't simply looking at a political
candidate and saying, what are their policies. We're saying, this

(09:08):
is a black woman, and what does that mean for us?

Speaker 1 (09:11):
And should we trust a black woman? Can a black
woman lead?

Speaker 5 (09:14):
And I think that's some of the questioning that we're
seeing that we're saying, we don't.

Speaker 1 (09:18):
Know if you should ask those questions.

Speaker 2 (09:20):
But with Joe Biden, we asked questions that people were
upset that we asked. I get it, like asked about
early signs of dementia. Well you shouldn't be asking that. Well,
I'm like it shows that he's he doesn't look.

Speaker 3 (09:32):
As as well he did three years.

Speaker 1 (09:35):
Ask the questions too.

Speaker 7 (09:37):
Because I think the intention behind it, and you can tell,
I mean, come on, like we listen to people, and
we know that part of the questioning is really for
them to say, we don't like you, Kamla Harris, period.
So nothing that you do will we ever be okay
with because we don't like you. There are people, both black, white,
all kinds of folks who don't want women to be

(09:57):
in positions of power. They don't want a women president,
a female president, and that's it. So again again, I
get the balance of both, but I also understand that
we have to always, always question and demand and it's
the way that it's done in an organized fashion is
what makes it real. Right Like, because you just being

(10:18):
on social media talking about the woman ain't black.

Speaker 4 (10:20):
That's not you know what.

Speaker 1 (10:21):
I'm saying that Angela.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
People that don't know who you are, breakdown who you
are to me because' been in many times they don't
know people listening.

Speaker 5 (10:29):
I've been here before with my solan and at talking
about gun violence. But I'm one of the four co
founders of unto Freedom and Attorney by Trade. I'm also
the activists and residents at Yale University, but do a
lot of work around policy and political change.

Speaker 4 (10:42):
He's smart.

Speaker 8 (10:46):
Another thing I wanted to talk about to in regards
to voting.

Speaker 6 (10:50):
I always feel like they end up pointing the finger
at black men, right, because that was the other thing
I had. The problem I have applies today. But he
said black men. He started with black men who look
like me.

Speaker 8 (10:59):
A quick dass.

Speaker 6 (11:00):
If Kamala wants my vote, she needs to explain. He
explain herself to me what she's going to do for
black people. Number One, I don't understand why black men
are always getting the fingerpoints out this when we're the
second largest voting.

Speaker 8 (11:12):
Blocks, say that of Democrats.

Speaker 6 (11:13):
Yeah, Like, I don't understand why all of a sudden
it's black men are the problem.

Speaker 7 (11:17):
Well, I would hope that Plies would come up here
and y'all would have this conversation directly, because you know,
I'm sure again I've been on his page a lot,
and I see the feedback, and my son is kind
of in the same vote, if you will, because he's
been communicating a lot with black men, and there's a
different energy around Kamala Harris that they both are experiencing, right,

(11:40):
like just dealing with you don't go on the internet
arguing with Johnny and to tool that's not just saying
some of them are actually not box because I've been
I've seen several of my son's friends questioning, why are
you supporting her?

Speaker 4 (11:56):
Blah blah blah.

Speaker 7 (11:56):
So there is, there is, and I'm not saying that
the issue is what the media and others are trying
to put forward, that black men are just this overwhelming
number of black men won't support her or are with Trump. Right,
I don't believe that that's true. But the numbers are increasing.
Their numbers are increasing, and there are and there are reasons. Well,

(12:20):
I mean, I can tell because in my own family,
I know what I know the difference between the way
black women and black men in my family are speaking.
I can see my cousins starting to be like, well,
you know Trump and I have more money in my pocket,
and you know, it's a different feeling. So I can
see it on a real level. And by the way,

(12:41):
let's just put this on the table. I will not
sit here and blame black men for that. I blame
the Democratic Party.

Speaker 4 (12:47):
Just as much as I do anybody any.

Speaker 7 (12:50):
Other part All the people everybody in charge of anything
is respond are responsible for how black men feel because
they ignore that particular voting base. Right, Black women, absolutely
we have organized ourselves to be able to fight for
what we want.

Speaker 4 (13:11):
We have.

Speaker 7 (13:11):
We fought to make sure that Kantanji Brown was selected.

Speaker 4 (13:17):
To the Supreme Court.

Speaker 7 (13:18):
Is selected. It's not really selected because they eventually appointed,
but they do kind of they go do aro we were,
you know, in the trenches, ensuring that black women are
not overlooked, right, And I want to see my brothers
be more organized the way that black women have organized ourselves. Nonetheless,

(13:40):
when I go and read the platform of all these
different candidates, you see a void and how they speak
to and address the needs of black men. I heard
someone say last night that black men don't only care
about criminal justice, and like, you know, you're mad at
Trump on one hand, because he's sitting up here saying
that his legal issues is what black men are attracted to.

(14:03):
But then on the other side, when you hear these
candidates who are supposed to be more liberal and progressive
speaking to black or to black people, it seems like
they're directing the criminal justice, police reform conversation only to
black men, and so that there's an imbalance there. And
if we want to see black men back into the
big tent that we're supposed to have, we have to

(14:24):
actually have a program and platform that focuses on black male.

Speaker 5 (14:30):
It's the type of black men too, because I think
black men who are traditionally engaged politically, who are somewhat
sophisticated in political process.

Speaker 1 (14:38):
Have not moved a lot.

Speaker 5 (14:39):
But those who are new to the political process, black
men who are older, have certainly shifted more towards Trump.
I have a son and a voting son who are
both voting age, and they both were talking about their voting.

Speaker 1 (14:50):
For I'm like, what is we talking about? So we
had to have.

Speaker 5 (14:54):
Real conversations about what does a Trump presidency mean? Why
are you aligned with this individual? So so I think
there are shifts happening, but it's not with the black
men who are traditionally connected to the political process, because
there's a lot of black men who don't see themselves
when they're watching the political conversations happening. And that's something
we've been talking about for weeks. How do black men

(15:15):
become a part of these conversations, but not just become
a part of the conversations, but have real decision making
authority in the political process. Because black women have found
their way to doing that and black men haven't, even
though to your point earlier, we're right behind them, so
we haven't got the kind of political benefit from our
political investment, and that at some points makes black men

(15:38):
shift in another political direction, and we're watching some of
that happen. But the other piece is that that can
be a very slippery slope and an avalanche could come.
While it's only a few percentage points, it could increase
quickly if something is happening.

Speaker 6 (15:52):
I also don't have a problem with people asking me
why I choose to support the vice president. I don't
know if y'all notice every day on this radio calls
in and asking me, Charlamagne, why are you?

Speaker 3 (16:03):
What's the same question in answer every day.

Speaker 6 (16:05):
I feel like because I asked when a brother tells
me it's the boy Trump, or even I asked why,
I really want to know.

Speaker 8 (16:12):
So I don't think that's a bad question.

Speaker 3 (16:14):
That people don't listen.

Speaker 2 (16:15):
Though, like you said, you said, and you said to
you said, people always say Trump put money in my pocket.
Right now, people have confirmed said it a million times
that money didn't come from Trump. He just signed his
name on it. And everybody's played it a million one times.
But people hear what they want to hear.

Speaker 7 (16:28):
But not only did he not sign it, he tried
not to give it to folks. His entire party was
trying to block it. If you're really really going to
get to the bottom line, And I'm not even like
a huge Nancy I'm not a Nancy Pelosi person. I
got my reasons for that, but I can tell you
that she was really leading the charge to move the

(16:49):
entire Congress to vote for the stimulus package.

Speaker 4 (16:51):
That's it. That's what happened.

Speaker 7 (16:52):
So we can you know, we could throw all these
other theories and conspiracies out there and concepts that are
not facts. The facts are the Republicans did not want
to give the stimulus money to y'all asks, okay, and
there were other folks who had the fight to make
it happen.

Speaker 1 (17:10):
So it's when it happened.

Speaker 5 (17:12):
Though, So when people think about how they feels.

Speaker 9 (17:18):
Been able to travel, been able to eat, and you
remember how somebody made you.

Speaker 1 (17:22):
Feel, they were just in proximity to that moment.

Speaker 7 (17:26):
But can I just say, I hope that we also
recognized that grandmamas had to die, grandfathers, families, ten twenty
people had to die in order for that money to
make it into your pocket. It's not like and I
could see if Trump had a policy where they just
decided we're about to give American citizens money that is

(17:47):
not connected to a pandemic, then.

Speaker 4 (17:49):
You might have a different type of point. That is
exactly that is not what happened.

Speaker 7 (17:54):
The money came because families and particularly our people were
dying in the midst of a pandemic. Now you could
say whatever you want, how you feel about the pandemic
and vaccines and all of that. That's cool, but the
reality is that people were dying.

Speaker 4 (18:10):
Hospitals were full, morgues were full.

Speaker 7 (18:12):
And that's why they had to find a way to
put money into the pockets of American citizens. So, you know,
as long as we talk about the facts, I'm cool
with whatever decision you make in terms of who you
want to vote for, because certainly no one will tell
me who I should vote for, who I should support.
But let's just make sure it's based in fact and
not something that you just made up. And let me

(18:34):
tell you, Trump is very very good at marketing.

Speaker 4 (18:37):
That's why he held those checks.

Speaker 7 (18:39):
So you could have had them a few weeks earlier,
but you got them later because he wanted his name
on those checks. So when you open it up, you
can look at it and say, Donald Trump is a response.

Speaker 1 (18:50):
And you still think that now, well, you.

Speaker 9 (18:53):
Said you guys were having conversations with men like I
feel like people are not listening to Kamala. It's like
the people that I talked to, they say they're vot
for Trump. The stuff that they're saying, I'm like, she
literally she's speaking to that. So why don't you see
it or hear from her? What can she do better
strategy wise or marketing wise to kind of make black
men be like hold.

Speaker 7 (19:10):
On, Democrats do a terrible job at marketing themselves. I
mean it's really bad. Like you know, it's just, you know,
they have to do a better job of putting out
there the things that they've been able to do. I
was just looking, you know, before coming here at the
Safest Community Act.

Speaker 4 (19:24):
Right.

Speaker 7 (19:25):
This is billions of dollars that they have allocated to
grassroots organizations and others that are in the gun violence
prevention space and in the community safety space. Right, you
would never know that, You would never know that it
happened because they do a terrible job. But also they
just do a messaging and by the way, let me

(19:45):
just be honest, I do a terrible job at it
as well. We do a lot of work and we
hardly tell people about all the things that we're involved.
And people say to me all the time, like why,
because sometimes when your head is down and you're doing
the work, you forget about the mar marketing component. And
a lot of us don't even want the clickbait of
it all, like nobody wants to sit there and may

(20:06):
sometimes I get so frustrated because I'm like, damn, I
left my comments section open and it's gone, Wow, it's
two thousand comments in there. And the Trump trolls and
or Trump people supporters, they're in my comments.

Speaker 4 (20:19):
Whatever they're talking points, they in on it.

Speaker 7 (20:22):
But looking out for the people who are supposed to
be on the more liberal progressive side to come in
there is very difficult, Like it's always in balance. So
we have to find a better way to get the
information out about what is happening.

Speaker 4 (20:35):
But I would say that trust and believe.

Speaker 7 (20:37):
As I left the house this morning, they were on
CNN talking about the vice president sitting down for interviews.
This is something that she's going to have to do,
which I'm sure they're working on, and she's gonna have
to break down because they are gonna question her like
they have never questioned a presidential candidate before in life,
and she's gonna have to answer the question.

Speaker 6 (20:57):
It's not just because you know, she's a woman. It's
really because the way she got the nomination. That's the
thing that's very unprecedented that people are not factoring in
like seventy days to an election.

Speaker 8 (21:08):
She became the candidate with one hundred days.

Speaker 7 (21:10):
Well, I saw someone write a loved one wrote a
post saying we didn't get it to vote because of
course there was no primary, and they said, you know,
this is unfair. They disappointed her and there was no process,
And I'm like, a lot of it is misinformation, right,
or just lack of information, because there is a process,

(21:31):
and the process is that if you're running for president
right now and you decide you're too sick, too old
to or just don't want to do it anymore, and
you decide to step away, there are what you call delegates,
And this is why we have to vote in every
election because when you turn that ballot over, there's a
bunch of stuff on there that is not just the

(21:52):
president or your congressional members or whatever. They have things
on the ballot that apply to your everyday life. We
vote to send delegates to the convention to represent us,
and the delegates had the people also DJMB, anybody in
here could have said in this process, I want to be,
I want to be, I want to go. I have

(22:13):
my delegate count I got enough to get on the
nomination list, right, and then they would have had to
vote on those individuals. The delegates didn't do so they
decided to support Kamala Harris, of course, because President Biden
had already endorsed her and so many people got behind
to I get it.

Speaker 4 (22:30):
Now you can say I don't like that process.

Speaker 7 (22:32):
I don't like the way, and just like we don't
like the fact that this two party process is the
only way that we can vote and decide on democracy
or not.

Speaker 4 (22:41):
Like we don't like that.

Speaker 7 (22:42):
We know that there needs to be other avenues and
other individuals that are seriously like they have the ability
to win, that we can choose from. But if you
don't like the process, you have to participate in it.
So you have to show up and be like, who
is this delegate? Because I want you to represent me,
and I didn't want you to vote for Kamala Harris,

(23:03):
So now let me what's your name. One of the
biggest things that happened to us while we were in
Kentucky with Brianna Taylor is.

Speaker 4 (23:10):
You know, people walking up to us going or for
Breonna Taylor. Excuse me.

Speaker 7 (23:14):
People were walking around saying, well, who is Daniel Cameron,
Like he's the attorney general. They were like, I didn't
vote for trying when is that election? So we can
and we transformed. We helped people along with the local
community to transform the minds of our.

Speaker 4 (23:30):
People to pay attention.

Speaker 7 (23:32):
So by the time he ran for governor, black folks
was like, oh wait, oh that's that dude. Oh okay,
you're not going You're not getting appointed to a new
position and getting a promotion.

Speaker 4 (23:43):
We shutting you down.

Speaker 5 (23:44):
But you're saying something important about the political political education.
Going to the DNC, which some of us had the
ability to do, you learn so much about the process
and going for many years, you understand how the process works.

Speaker 1 (23:56):
You know the people.

Speaker 5 (23:57):
Most Americans have no access to that. So because of that,
they become disenchanted with the political process. They feel like
they don't have any saying it. We didn't participate, and
they don't realize there's a way for you to be engaged.
And that's why even going to the DNC this year,
while I don't agree with many things, I understand it's
an important part of political education and I would like

(24:18):
more people to see that be a part of it,
watch it in a more intimate way because that will
enhance civic engagement, which just isn't voting, but it's this piece,
how do I get involved in who the delegates are
who make important decisions for the party. I think that's
a huge piece missing from the American political experience.

Speaker 1 (24:38):
But part of that is on purpose.

Speaker 5 (24:40):
Because parties know if you keep people politically uneducated, you
will keep them not civically engaged, and then they won't
vote and others could win. So I think we have
to shift and do a better job of that. But
we're also in a moment where people are very politically disenchanted,
where they feel like the political process doesn't serve them,
doesn't work for them, people don't care about them, and

(25:00):
I think that's the issue that the Vice president is
running into and why Michelle Obama resonated so much with
people because she's not a political person, but she's talking
to people's values and the realities they experience. So I
think she has to pivot and do that more, and
I think she'll reach a wider cross section of America.
But I think democracy in America has to change where

(25:20):
more people can be politically engaged to understand what the
process is and not to feel left.

Speaker 7 (25:25):
And if your political education is coming from Instagram, it
can be kind of man, I mean, it could be dangerous, so,
you know, and you know, unfortunately, I mean fortunately for
someone like me, I grew up in a household that
was all about black empowerment. It was about learning the process,
going to the precinct council meetings to see who the

(25:47):
police offices were. But my neighbors, people who live right
there in the building, they didn't get to do that.
They didn't get those same experiences. And you can see
the difference, you know. So it's our job to teach,
and which we are doing with our Project Freedom, which
we want to talk about, you know, making sure because
one thing I will say is I want to give

(26:07):
our people credit for the fact that even though we
may not have been properly educated folks are trying to
find out. So whatever way, wherever they're going, whether they
get the right information or not, they're like, some is
not right, Like.

Speaker 4 (26:21):
There's a fly in the buttermilk. We got it, this
is not. I'm not feeling this.

Speaker 7 (26:26):
And that's partially because I don't care how many times
the Biden administration says, well, we've cut child poverty in half,
and we did.

Speaker 4 (26:36):
We brought down prices.

Speaker 7 (26:38):
If that's fine, but the people that we work with,
they're still in poverty. Right, they're not feeling that they
have to be able to feel it. So however, they're
getting educated. At least they're coming to the process. And
I think it's our responsibility because I hear people saying, well,
what's our agenda, and we want to make sure, which
we have done by putting together Project Freedom, which is

(27:00):
a growing living document that really kind of looks at
many of the legislative items that have been hanging out
there for years, like people have been putting forth bills.
And in fact, one of the reasons why I support
Kamala Harris is because I know about the things that
she was doing while she was in the Senate, and
you know, before she became president. I know about bills

(27:22):
that she co sponsored, bills that she signed that she
helped write, the George Floyd Justison Police and Act when
it included ending qualified immunity, which means.

Speaker 4 (27:32):
That you could go after an officer directly.

Speaker 7 (27:34):
Like, these are things that she's been involved in supporting
the study for reper I don't know why people keep
saying that the woman is not for reparations. I have
heard her say over and over again. I don't understand them.
She said she supports it. The thing is, there are
many different people out here that see reparations differently.

Speaker 1 (27:56):
Right.

Speaker 7 (27:56):
There are people you got the uh the eight, which
is the American descendants of slaves. They have their concept
of the fact that reparations should only be going to
people who come who are American citizens. Then you have
people who come from a more of a mindset of
the diaspora, which includes people from all over the world

(28:19):
globally who are black or African receiving reparations. I fall
in that category because this is how I was raised.
Doctor ben Benjamin Johaka and others who taught us about
reparations from a global perspective that we must see Africans
around the world as part of our liberation. And so

(28:41):
there are different people who have different concepts. And in
her mind she said, you know something about like checks.
She didn't think that you could just give people cash
and let that be the end.

Speaker 4 (28:50):
There has to be a study that.

Speaker 7 (28:52):
You couldn't you can't some people feel that's all it
should be. So there's what you call a meeting of
the minds. But just because I'm might be in the
atos that pot or this or that, that doesn't mean
I don't support reparations.

Speaker 8 (29:05):
How we do it. What I'm that clip to day, what.

Speaker 5 (29:11):
The people also want to see. There's another piece and
we see this all the time when you do policy,
there's an implementation piece. So people like to hear you
care about an issue, but how are you going to
make an issue happen? Because we care about many things,
But what are you going to make actually happen? And
how are you going to do So it's part of
what's behind I don't know if you support it, because

(29:33):
it's like saying in your household, I support my children
eating right, but you buy junk food. It's like your
actions have to show how you actually support it. And
a lot of people's questioning is coming from a place
that says, you're saying this, but you're doing that, You're
not prioritizing the things you say you support. So that's another,
I think level of political accountability. And people may not

(29:55):
be asking the right question, but they're really saying, so
you say you support rep, tell me how, and now
show me how and a timeline in which you're going
to implement it.

Speaker 1 (30:05):
And I think that's what folks want to say.

Speaker 6 (30:07):
Yes, so talk about project for you comin just need
to tell these niggas what they want to hear.

Speaker 3 (30:11):
Say anything.

Speaker 8 (30:16):
Everybody else.

Speaker 5 (30:19):
The Democrats traditionally, and I think some of us politically
try to have a standard where we don't just lie
because we could say we're going to do all the
things you want and say all the right things, but
on the back end.

Speaker 1 (30:31):
You'll suffer because you don't really deliver them.

Speaker 4 (30:33):
Well, if you don't have a Congress that supports.

Speaker 1 (30:35):
You, then you can't implement it to begin with.

Speaker 8 (30:38):
Right now, what's our project freedom?

Speaker 5 (30:40):
So I'm going to read a few of the things
on Project Freedom, and one of the things I'll say
before I even do that is project freedom on some
level was a response to Project twenty twenty five. So
folks started to hear a lot about this plan to
roll back rights to attack particular groups. And part of
what we said is that we wanted to respond to
that because we're knowing to we're an.

Speaker 1 (31:00):
Important political moment.

Speaker 5 (31:01):
But also Project Freedom is a political platform or policy
that we said we would like to see whoever comes
into office a DoPT because there are certain things that
we know are important that should happen. Some of those
things are an end to gun violence, endto mass incarceration,
end of police brutality, strengthening and pass the George Floyd

(31:21):
Justice and Policing Act, providing a pathway to citizenship, ending
the war in Palestine and Sudan, protecting black history, provide
a reparations for slavery, offer free college and trade school,
Cancel student debt, Pastor John Lewis Voter Rights Act, launch
automatic voter registration, restore individuals voting rights, reform the Supreme Court,

(31:44):
expand child tax credits, and provide guaranteed annual income. So
it's a lot of things in there, but part of
what we're trying to convey to folks is that it
isn't enough to just have one policy, but you must
really have a political platform someone can adopt that creates
wide and sweeping changes. The other pieces that we know
a lot of these issues are connected, and how you

(32:07):
spend your money in one place will tell us how
you can spend or can spend money in other places.
So we're trying to provide a comprehensive platform that one
creates political education, but also a standard that we can
hold folks will come in to us.

Speaker 1 (32:21):
I love that.

Speaker 6 (32:21):
I was talking about guy Gary Chambers Junior yesterday and
he was saying, you know, one of the mistakes that
folks make, they'll ask questions, what have you done over
the last three and a half years, four years? He said,
instead of asking those questions, you should be just going
through them saying, hey, this is what you should be doing.
Here's the agenda that we want.

Speaker 8 (32:36):
You to ask implement.

Speaker 7 (32:37):
Yeah, and Project Freedom is important to us because we
know as we travel this country, we're going to be
out there knocking on doors.

Speaker 4 (32:43):
We knock on doors all year.

Speaker 7 (32:44):
Round, So this is not like we do a thing
that happens when it's a presidential election or some political
person that we want to get in or take out
do We do it all the time. We are always
engaging our people, and when we're knocking on doors, people
don't want to they hear you. They know Project twenty
twenty five is bad. They understand it. They've seen on
the news. They Grandmama's talking about it. People what do

(33:06):
they call it? It's called it's you know, black folks
go Shore. Is some project twenty five.

Speaker 4 (33:10):
We don't say.

Speaker 7 (33:11):
Twenty five, that project twenty twenty. Excuse me, project twenty five.
And so people know that, but they are gonna ask you,
and they should.

Speaker 4 (33:19):
What do we have.

Speaker 7 (33:20):
You're in the room with these people to meet Mallory, Angelo, Pino, Mysan, Linda,
y'all have talked to these people. What are you offering?
What are you demanding? What are you asking for? And
we wanted to make sure along with our partners. I
have to mention Michael Blake, Reverend Stephen Green, Pastor Michael McBride,
Dewana Thompson, of course, our sister Linda Sarsore. This platform

(33:45):
is something that all of us have worked on because
we've been doing this work and we know the legislative
items that are already out there that could help to
alleviate some of the suffering that our communities are talking about.

Speaker 4 (33:56):
We know how they can be strengthened.

Speaker 7 (33:58):
We understand that passing and George Floyd justicson Police and
Act as it currently stands will not work because of
one it has been watered down so much in order
to appease the Republicans who never signed it anyway, So
I have no idea. Corey Booker, Senator Corey Booker was
working with Senator Tim Scott, and every day we were all,

(34:19):
you know, advocating for what we wanted to be in
the bill, and they kept saying that Tim Scott had
this idea or he you know, he's trying to you know,
make the bills this way or that way in order
to appease the Republican leadership. And I kept saying, Tim
Scott cannot get anything done if white people don't tell
him what to do. So let's stop like it's a

(34:41):
game that's being played. And of course the bill fell through,
and it has sort of been dead since, you know,
you know, since we were out there in twenty twenty one. Now,
President Biden did sign an executive order, but what we
know about executive order is they only last to the
extent that the next administration wants to keep that legislation

(35:02):
and it only focused on federal legislation. We need to
get things happening in these states and we have to
be able to hold these police departments accountable. Let me
just say this last thing. You know, last last week,
we people were heartbroken to see that there has been
yet another setback in the case of the killing of

(35:23):
Breonna Tailor. And so there's two charges, two federal charges
that the judge dismissed. And of course they continuously blame
Kenny Walker, which is disrespectful and disingenuous because nobody in
that building heard the police officers announce themselves and to
say who they were at the door. And I don't

(35:45):
know where these other people live, but I know in
black people's homes, if you knock on the door and
don't say who you are, when we say who it is.

Speaker 4 (35:54):
We're not opening the door for you.

Speaker 9 (35:56):
In fact, we're finna get quiet, move around, try to
make sure we're out the way of the door.

Speaker 4 (36:01):
That's what we do. That's what they did.

Speaker 7 (36:03):
But also in the state of Kentucky, these people pass
laws and then they get mad at you for following it,
you are allowed to fire a warning shot inside of
your home if you feel in danger.

Speaker 4 (36:16):
That is what Kenny Walker did. He did nothing wrong.

Speaker 7 (36:19):
So we saw the setback where this eighty year old
conservative judge dismissed these two charges, which are again the
federal charges, which would have been felonies. Right, they're still
charges that those officers are facing.

Speaker 4 (36:34):
But it took him two years.

Speaker 7 (36:35):
And for whatever reason they decide to announce this the
day after the DNC maybe this conspiracy, I don't know,
but it's just very interesting it took him two years.
What I want people to understand why we sit up
here and debate whether or not is Trump and this
and that. The reason why there are even charges against
these officers at all is because President Biden also selected

(37:00):
Christen Clark, who is the head of the Civil Rights
Division within the Department of Justice, and because of her work,
we have seen a number of officers tried and prosecuted
and convicted. It will not happen under a Trump presidency.
Not because I think that, right, because drawn this new

(37:22):
thing online is that anybody who supports the Democrats, or
supports Kamala Harris, or you know, even when at the
point that people were saying we were potentially voting for
Joe Biden, which God blessed, I don't have to do that,
Thank God, I don't have.

Speaker 3 (37:36):
To do that.

Speaker 7 (37:37):
But even you know, during that time, one of the
things that I keep hearing, and it has been said
to me by a number of black men Charlemagne, Oh,
you guys don't think critically and objectively. You can't think
for yourself. No, I'm thinking for myself.

Speaker 8 (37:52):
Heard that.

Speaker 9 (37:53):
They said it all the time, and it's very disturct.

Speaker 4 (37:57):
Oh wow, I've been sitting here.

Speaker 9 (38:10):
I've been sitting here waiting to ask you about Brionna
Taylor because for me, like I've been studying, I've been
I've been reported on this case since it first like
started having a conversation, and people have continuously said if
there were video, things would be different. And now we're
here right where the charges are being dropped and like
there probably have to be an a pill which is
going to stress things out, which is like heartbreaking for

(38:31):
the family. I feel like it's a public trust thing now,
Like do you feel like this is going to shake
public trust even when it comes to like Coammala, because
people are gonna be looking at her like, I mean,
you're a black woman now, like we don't. We don't
have the luxury to say, well, Biden, he's there, but
he kind of he does what he can do, but
he doesn't get it well, I mean, by.

Speaker 4 (38:49):
The way it is.

Speaker 7 (38:50):
And I think that was one of the things that
was missing from her speech. Again, I feel like she
should have named Brionna Taylor Sonia Massy.

Speaker 4 (38:59):
You know.

Speaker 7 (39:00):
On other issues, she was very, very strong, and I
would like to see the same energy around police accountability.
And I know there are some of my people, especially
my elders, who will be like, well, you know, that
may not have been the time or place, and we
debate that, but they always say it's not the time
or place and we have to wait until and it's

(39:20):
gonna happen later.

Speaker 6 (39:21):
They said that in twenty twenty, had her debate because
I was listening to an old podcast meet BOOKAR and
W and K williamsday and that's one of the things
that every brought up. She wished she had spoken to
Brionna Taylor Moore because I guess it came up during
the Mike Pinch debate. I forgot what the context was.

Speaker 7 (39:33):
Absolutely so I think that that should have happened. But
I just want to say, to drill down this point.
I don't It's not that I'm not thinking objectively about
what Trump can do, or that I'm listening to some
you know, misinformation on the internet. I'm telling you about
what was happening when he was president. When he was
president what's his name, Barr, the former attorney William Barr,

(39:58):
William Barr, the attorney general at the time. Not only
did he dismantle all the work that President Obama was
doing to put these police departments under fire for violating
the civil rights of citizens, and because the consent decrees
and the work that they were doing, they were seriously
challenging police departments. And Christian Kark has started that back again.

(40:21):
She's doing that work around the country. I think Kansas.
I mean, it's a bunch of places to get a
lot of consent degrees, which is very important because it
puts us as citizens on notice and the police department,
and we want to see it strengthen more because we
wanted to be tied to federal funding.

Speaker 9 (40:37):
There is some of that now, but it could be more.
But not only did he dismantle all of that work.

Speaker 7 (40:43):
He also created the Black Identity Extremists List right, which
many of us are pretty sure we were on, which
they were pretty much targeting and surveilling activists and people
who talk black and speak truth to power. So it's
not that I'm not smart to understand or I can't
think objectively.

Speaker 4 (41:03):
Nah, I can see what you did.

Speaker 7 (41:04):
And I know there is a difference between a president
who I may disagree with on a number of things,
who decided to put black women in positions where they
are actually getting things done. Katanji Brown, She unfortunately is
outnumbered in the Supreme Court, but she and Sonya so
to Mayor, these.

Speaker 9 (41:22):
People are voting in the opposite direction to try to
protect American citizens.

Speaker 4 (41:27):
Okay, the people that Trump appointed to.

Speaker 7 (41:29):
The court are voting in the opposite direction to take
away our rights and our freedoms.

Speaker 4 (41:35):
So please stop.

Speaker 9 (41:36):
Trying to diminish our understanding of this political moment to
us just being democratic shills and we just have drunk
the kool aid.

Speaker 4 (41:45):
No, I'm paying attention to what's happening.

Speaker 7 (41:46):
And for people like Angelo in me if under a
Trump presidency, especially in this moment, knowing that he has
this venom in him, and you know he has this
venom in him also because he has to face a
black woman on the stage and you see him trying
to wiggle out of that. You don't want that they
will put us in jail.

Speaker 6 (42:07):
Can you speak to Donald Trump saying he pledges to
give cops community from prosecution.

Speaker 4 (42:11):
I mean, these are the things. This is the thing
he's saying.

Speaker 1 (42:15):
What I got about.

Speaker 4 (42:15):
They already had damn near immunity.

Speaker 7 (42:18):
And you said you asked about you know what happens
now and if there was a video, But there's actual
admission the one of the offices.

Speaker 4 (42:27):
She said, we met in the.

Speaker 9 (42:29):
Garage and made up a story and this happened, and
that the case was so crazy. I remember when I
was reporting this because the newsroom ice Worcord TMC, so
that newsroom is like it was just me on the
news desk, right, and they couldn't believe that police would
falsify a document. And like I remember the day when
that came out that it happened. I swear we had
a very long conversation and I'm like, I don't know

(42:50):
where y'all from, but where I'm from, that's normal. Like
it it's me the one that is the famous quote
the ones that write the reports. I have go look
it up because it basically is saying that the same
people who write the reports are doing the killing, and
they're the ones that they're supposed to police themselves.

Speaker 4 (43:09):
And so I mean immunity those that'sos to affect society.

Speaker 9 (43:17):
But I feel like in this case, it's like they're missing,
like that doesn't matter. It's like, oh, well, we're gonna
blame it over here. But it's like, you guys wouldn't
even have been in the house had you not done
everything you did to illegally enter the home.

Speaker 7 (43:29):
Absolutely, and so immunity is already there. But when he
says full immunity from prosecution. I don't know if you
watched it in.

Speaker 4 (43:38):
A BJ interviews.

Speaker 7 (43:40):
Okay, so there's a moment when he's asked about Sonia
Massy and he does this physical thing. I'm telling you
Trump is a very very dangerous man. He does this
thing with his hands. He says, oh, you're talking about
the case with the water, Like he does this, in
other words, to signal to people he's gonna throw the water.

(44:01):
And he did that intentionally because it puts a message
into people's minds that maybe she was threatening to the officer,
which we know did not happen.

Speaker 4 (44:09):
These are the excuses that they come up with.

Speaker 7 (44:11):
And then it was days later that the officers started saying, well,
I felt like her words and the water I was.

Speaker 9 (44:18):
It was, you know, so these people I'm not I'm
not here. Actually I wish that for me personally.

Speaker 7 (44:24):
If I could make a decision, I would vote for
Cornell West right, That's just me. I would absolutely be
with Cornell because Cornell has been with us in the trenches.

Speaker 3 (44:32):
Vote with Cornell Oma.

Speaker 4 (44:34):
Absolutely, I would vote think.

Speaker 9 (44:38):
Us.

Speaker 4 (44:39):
Yeah, I'm saying a lot.

Speaker 7 (44:40):
I'm saying yeah, I would vote for him if I
had an opportunity. And I'm not talking about race. I mean,
excuse me, gender. Let's take away whether they're a female,
male or any of that, because obviously, first of all,
Kamala Harris is my sorority sister, were both aka's and
I'm definitely that is one motivating factor for me, and
I don't care who doesn't like it, because that's what

(45:00):
and the divine.

Speaker 5 (45:01):
Nine we support.

Speaker 7 (45:04):
We support one another, and then we take you to
the side and pull your coattail. What we feel that's something,
but we support one another first, So absolutely, from a
female from a gender perspective, absolutely. However, if we're talking
about just looking at platforms and understanding people's political courage,
what they will do and say, we know who Cornell

(45:25):
West is.

Speaker 4 (45:26):
So if I had to make a decision today and
it would and I could really really ensure that Cornell
West wins, of course I would support him. But we
know good and well that.

Speaker 7 (45:38):
This country is not set up for a third party
to really ascend and win. I don't have time my
black son and my granddaughter being able to make decisions
on behalf of her body. Unfortunately, in these seventy days,
I don't have time to go messing around saying that
I'm gonna vote with somebody who I know does not

(46:00):
have the ability to win. I have to block Trump
from becoming president. What I will say, though, is that
I will make sure that I continue to work beginning
November six, so after the election, when other people go home,
we stay on the battlefield. Now, if we want to
organize ourselves to have a real serious third party situation,
I'm down let's do it. But if I come out

(46:22):
and tell y'all, we don't wear Gucci no more because
they came out with the blackface of sweater, or we
don't support Nike anymore because they just canceled Kyrie's contract
for nothing after the man or breed American Airlines threw
me off the plane, and that every week is a
different situation and people just black people just went back

(46:43):
on the plane, black people still wearing Nike. If we're
gonna be serious and discipline, don't come at me because
I'm making a decision on behalf of my family, my body,
my ability to choose for myself what to do with
my health, me personally knowing that I am on the
Black Identity Extremists list and I could be in jail

(47:04):
under a Trump presidency. Let's get organized, Let's stop using
social media to fight and harm one another and sit
down at the table and have somebody like Cornell West
who can help us. Do I think that Kamala Harris
could be a great president. I truly believe that, And
I'm gonna be there every day if I got to
use my divine nine hat to get in, if I

(47:24):
got to beg to get in, because I'm going to
Charlemagne and say, give me a ticket, so I can
embarrass you and go on and start yelling.

Speaker 6 (47:34):
Out, but I think there's I think there is going
to be a seat at the table for activists like
yourself and the Kamala Harris.

Speaker 4 (47:41):
I think so truly.

Speaker 7 (47:42):
I know Kamala Harris and and I have had conversation
with her. I truly do believe that within her it's
something different and that's what people are afraid of.

Speaker 4 (47:53):
And we know that because again we know where she
was and who she aligned with.

Speaker 7 (47:58):
I can remember the great, beautiful, intelligent, brilliant Congresswoman Shila
Jackson Lee speaking to Kamala's support of the reparations bill. Right, yes,
it is a study, it is not yet actual reparations,
but we know the process is what it is. And

(48:18):
I like the process, but we got to be involved
in it. So somebody like Shila Jackson Lee, if she
comes to me and says, well, you know, Kamala Harris
is with us, and she gives me a list of
people who are supporting and then the list of folks
who are not, that to me means something, right, because
I trust her.

Speaker 4 (48:35):
I believe her.

Speaker 7 (48:36):
I believe someone who says, as a prosecutor, I am
still willing to say that police officers need to be
on their own, challenged and prosecuted and sued financially if
they are going to violate the civil rights of citizens.
I believe in that, so I want to see more.

(48:57):
I did wish that she would speak to, you know,
the issue of police accountability, particularly around women.

Speaker 4 (49:04):
And also I'm hoping, I'm praying that she really means
and will do something to deal with the conflict of
Israel Palestan and the war on the Palestinian people. I
think it was a misstep. Well, you asked your question,
and then I'll say.

Speaker 6 (49:21):
Well, I was gonna say, you know, from an activist standpoint,
how much of an issue is Israel and gods are
going to be in this year's election, because we saw
all the uncommitted votes in the primary. So what are
our activists and pro Palaestinian people going and doing November?
And I was going to ask, how have you liked
the VP's messaging thus far about it?

Speaker 7 (49:37):
Well, I've been down the road of, you know, dealing
with the issue of Israel Palestine for lots of different reasons.
My proximity to our proximity to Linda Sarsour who is
our sister, our dear friend, who we pray for every day,
because what she has experienced over the last year is unthinkable, unthinkable,

(50:00):
watching her people perish and be starved to death, children,
people calling her from like I'm sitting with her, and
they calling from Gaza, like, help us do something because
they believe in her.

Speaker 4 (50:12):
She's a leader.

Speaker 7 (50:13):
So why can't you fix this you over there in
America her tax? Imagine that that your tax dollars as
an American citizen.

Speaker 4 (50:21):
Is going to the death and destruction of your own people.
It is terrible. And so you know, I know about this.

Speaker 7 (50:31):
I understand the APAC, you know the influence that they
have on our government officials. I understand the ADL and
the influence that they have. I get all of these things.
So I know that for her to say what she's saying,
it takes political courage. It is no joke for her
to even speak in the ways in what she's speaking.

(50:52):
And you know, you and I debated the Josh Shapiro Shapiro.

Speaker 4 (50:58):
Pick.

Speaker 7 (50:59):
You said that you know you know him well enough
to know that he's a good guy. And I believe
that because I heard that from a lot of people.
You know, you know, a lot of people talk about
the things that he's doing there in Pennsylvania, but I
think that his statements around that issue is something that
doesn't it can't align.

Speaker 4 (51:15):
And of course we do not know.

Speaker 7 (51:17):
Why she decided to pick Tim Wallas, although I believe
it was a brilliant decision, which gives me already an
idea of the way that she's thinking and her instincts.
Because there were a lot of people pushing for Shapiro,
but the attitude that he had and the words that
he said about the war, and some people don't like

(51:39):
to use the word war, So I will say the
attack on the people in Gaza, the way in which
he spoke about protesters and the students on the campuses
let me know, or at least made me feel that
it would be very difficult for her to have this
particular concept for ceasefire and the direction that she wants

(51:59):
to take, and then him really having a Zionist mindset,
that those two things will be very difficult to work
together because she already has to deal with within the
administration the people who are going to be pulling in
the direction of continuing to support Israel, no matter how
it is operating and the illegal activities that they are

(52:23):
involved in, right because we know as I listened to
her speak, she said, well, you know, it is horrible
what's happening to them, and so many lives lost, know,
their lives being taken. They are people being killed, and
we can't and it's hard to even be able to
speak to it in that way.

Speaker 4 (52:39):
And I have to be honest, if you listen to
what she said.

Speaker 7 (52:42):
She spoke to exactly what is happening to the Israeli
citizens or what happened to them.

Speaker 4 (52:48):
Murder.

Speaker 7 (52:49):
There's a lot of debate around rape, we won't get
into that today, but murder she talked about, you know,
all of those things, the horrific actions of Hamasue. But
then when it comes to the conversation around the Palestinians,
it's almost like there's an earthquake that happened, or it's like,
you know, it's so horrible what they are experiencing. So

(53:10):
I understand the nuances of how difficult it is to
talk about this, but the mere fact that she's saying
anything at all, and she had a very strong posture,
like you could hear the tone and the way in
which she delivered that particular portion of her speech. You
know that she also cannot stand to see children, innocent

(53:33):
people dying the way that they are.

Speaker 4 (53:35):
And I believe that if.

Speaker 7 (53:36):
We continue to push the uncommitted folks are not going
to stop organizing. People asking the question why at the
DNC and not the RNC. It's precisely for what you said.
These are generally Democratic voters. They are pressing their particular
party that they were once or are part of to
do something about genocide.

Speaker 4 (53:56):
So you know, so I know about that pressure. I
know about it because I experienced it in the Women's March.
I still experience it today. And look at Corey Bush
and Jamal Bowman. These are two people who just lost their.

Speaker 9 (54:10):
Elections because of APAC and the organizing that they did.
And let me say on this show publicly, there are
black people who are a part of APAX operation and
younger black people, some of them we know. So do
not sit there and get in your mind that this
is some group of white men that are some evil
white men. Know there are black people on APAX payroll

(54:32):
who are part of organizing to take out people who
are speaking truth to power. It is no way that
Corey Bush should have lost her election. As important as
that woman is Jamal Bowman, somebody who has been speaking
truth to power. You know, Jamal out there fighting in Washington,
DC for us, and they have been taken out by

(54:53):
people who will absolutely go.

Speaker 4 (54:55):
Along to get along within the system.

Speaker 5 (54:57):
And that's because and it's so important to connect all
the dots of what we've been saying, because even Project
twenty twenty five, there was a plan, right, there's a
plan to do these things. There's a plan to attack
political folks who stand up for important issues. There's a
plan to attack education. There's a plan to attack activists
who hold politicians accountable. There's a plan to do these things.

(55:20):
So if we don't have a plan to counter act,
then we find ourselves in a lot of trouble.

Speaker 1 (55:25):
And part of what's important for us and is what
we do.

Speaker 5 (55:28):
I think people see us sometimes at the DNC and
I got a lot of people say, oh, you support
the Democrats.

Speaker 1 (55:33):
I say, I'm here working.

Speaker 5 (55:35):
We're doing what we do, which is holding these folks accountable.
And I think one of the things we want to
see in others, particularly the Palestinian delegations, they want to
see and we have to make this happen.

Speaker 1 (55:45):
They want to see.

Speaker 5 (55:47):
Kamala Harris become more activists and how she moves and
her political skits.

Speaker 6 (55:52):
She can't do that, she's a politician. Well, what politicians
got to be politicians? Activists got to be acting well, I.

Speaker 1 (55:56):
Think politic you want to win.

Speaker 5 (55:58):
What politicians can take stances that become active in how
they move politically. I was watching a documentary on Jimmy
Carter and how activist he was around the environment, brokering
peace across the world.

Speaker 1 (56:11):
I think politicians get to decide who they are.

Speaker 5 (56:14):
Donald Trump is a great example of a politician who
decided I'm going to be completely unorthodox.

Speaker 8 (56:19):
And you think he decided.

Speaker 1 (56:23):
He's unorganized, But.

Speaker 5 (56:25):
I'm saying that resonated with people, and he has the
ability to decide how he shows up. And I think
people want her, and I think the excitement around her
is that.

Speaker 1 (56:34):
People believe she will show up differently.

Speaker 5 (56:36):
But it's our responsibility, people who care about progressive issues,
to make her show up in a way that's different
than every president before, because I think if she doesn't,
she will have.

Speaker 1 (56:45):
A hard future.

Speaker 5 (56:47):
We want her to succeed, but we want her to
be different. We don't want the same kind of politician.
We're not looking for a black woman to show up
how white men show up. If that happens, we've done
ourselves a disservice.

Speaker 6 (56:59):
I tell you, I feel like she's different. I feel
like for me personally, maybe because I know her as well.
This is the first time in a long time that
I feel like I'm not voting for the lesser of
two evils. I don't feel like I'm voting for evil
at all.

Speaker 4 (57:11):
Yeah, no, I don't think she's I don't think she's evil.

Speaker 1 (57:13):
A lot of people aren't there.

Speaker 4 (57:14):
But I just would like to say.

Speaker 7 (57:16):
When you say that she has to be a politician
and activists have to do one thing, just do for
us what you say you're gonna do for Israel.

Speaker 4 (57:26):
You speak activisty because I swear when they get not
just her.

Speaker 7 (57:30):
When these these elected officials get up and talk about Israel,
they are strong on it. They say, I, you know,
Israel has the right to defend itself, and we will
support speak like that about black people.

Speaker 8 (57:44):
When it comes to the innocent women and men and.

Speaker 4 (57:46):
Children, absolutely speak like that the Palesinians.

Speaker 2 (57:48):
So what do you think the Democrats need to do
to win this election. In Novemo, oh, they got to contemn.

Speaker 7 (57:53):
Let me tell you, do not translate excitement at a
convention or even excitement about out, you know, her ascension
to the top of the ticket to votes.

Speaker 4 (58:03):
Because you got to knock on doors.

Speaker 7 (58:06):
You have to go out and educate people, and you
have to make sure that there is that there is
resources on the ground, right, and we're not talking about
on the ground, like there's some people that claim they
on the ground, you know, like tangible, but we're talking
about under the root. They say there's the grassroots, and
then there's under the room. There's people, right, those people
have to have the resources that they need to be

(58:28):
able to knock on doors.

Speaker 4 (58:29):
You need credible messengers.

Speaker 7 (58:31):
This whole process of we gotta vet everything and everybody.
And you know, if you had this issue or that,
we got to stay away from you and we have
to do that. You know, one day, I'll tell my
story about what happened to me during the Stacy Abrams
campaign and factice in my book right now, it's called

(58:52):
I Live to Tell This Story and it's going to
be released in the winter. And you know, I and
and and and by the way, Stacey Abrams had nothing.

Speaker 4 (59:00):
To do with this.

Speaker 7 (59:01):
But I talk about me being held or told not
to come to Georgia at all, don't even step foot
in a state during the time in the last few
days of her election, and the folks saying it to me.
They really did have good intention, you know what I mean.
So I'll tell y'all not yet, not yet, but coming
out that'll be in there. But the reason why I

(59:23):
brought that up is because you know, oftentimes we sacrifice
some of our people because we're so busy trying to
appease these other folks.

Speaker 4 (59:31):
That's never gonna be with you.

Speaker 6 (59:32):
I don't think we have that luxury. We don't have
the luxury of cutting any of our people.

Speaker 7 (59:36):
Can't bring everybody along. We'll bring Pooky red ray Tt.
We always say, if you're not at the strip club, right.
I remember one night I was in the strip club,
and I think I may have told you this before.
You might have said it on this don't let's not.
I was in the strip club one night and this
young sister was like, you know what, I know you.

(59:57):
She went to her locker and came back with a
folder and the folder had all the information in it
on the union that they are working to establish for
strippers like these are educated people, right, so you can't
leave them behind because you don't like the way they
look and you don't want to go to the corners
where our brothers might be because those ain't your people,
and those are not the type of people. If you're

(01:00:19):
only talking to my mama and people who are in
the churches and people who maybe you can knock on
their doing their home. Some of our people don't even
have an address, so you don't even know where to
find them at, which means you got to engage them
on the streets. That's what's going to help the Democrats
win this election. So hopefully they do that. Hopefully they
don't give the money to the same people that they

(01:00:40):
always give money to and instead flip this thing. If
we're going to be different, let's invest in people who
never I know, organizations that never get a dime and
they go out and do more work than these big
organizations that get millions of dollars to go out and
knock on doors and engage voters.

Speaker 4 (01:00:57):
That's not but the reason.

Speaker 7 (01:00:58):
Why these other folks miss Susie, who lives in the
project somewhere in Louisiana. The reason why she knocks on
the entire communities doors is because she understands her social security,
the insulin, how much she got to pay for that,
her grandchildren, their survival safety, public safety policing.

Speaker 4 (01:01:17):
She understands those issues.

Speaker 7 (01:01:18):
So in spite of the Democratic Party, she goes out
and does work that she should be getting paid for.

Speaker 4 (01:01:24):
She should have resources in her.

Speaker 7 (01:01:25):
Community to do, but she does it out of necessity,
and they keep allowing that to be like, they keep
relying on that, and it is a dangerous thing, especially
in this moment where at misinformation is at an all
time high. So Miss Susie might be listening to them say,
you know, she don't support reparations, right, and then what
you know what I'm saying, We don't want to allow

(01:01:47):
people to fall into this place of feeling hopeless. Sure,
we need people to feel like, you know what, we
can continue to fight because we all got to live
here together. So regardless of what, it doesn't matter who
becomes president, who are going to live under their policy?

Speaker 1 (01:02:01):
And some people are excited now.

Speaker 5 (01:02:03):
I had a conversation with someone the other day talking
about the difference between excitement and commitment, and a lot
of folks are in Some folks are excited about a
Kamala Harris presidency, but a lot of folks are not
even excited yet. So I think part of the work
is getting to all the places to raise excitement that
this is something important, and not only that that it
will make a difference in your life.

Speaker 6 (01:02:23):
I think it's three. Angel I agree with you. I
think it's excitement, enthusiasm, contentment. But I was talking to
one of my young home girls and I asked her,
I said, are you excited or enthusias She said, I'm
content with voting. That's deed White President Colin. I think
that's a good place to be because it's one of
those three, I believe.

Speaker 5 (01:02:39):
I think being content, though you're on the line and
you could easily swing to I don't know about if
I'm going to do this. And we were talking about this,
I think we were in Chicago at Rainbow Push Coalition
office that not only do you need to vote, you
need a voting plan because some people are will say
they're going to vote, or they've been encouraged to vote,
but they don't have a voting plan, and a lack
of excitement will make them go in another direction on

(01:03:01):
that day. So we have to be and we know
this very granular about how we make these things happening.
Oftentimes you don't get to support from the big tent
party to fund this work because we know we got
to knock on doors. We have to talk to the folks.
Nobody cares about the individuals who are on defence or
who are behind the fence, ain't got nofense. We have
to talk to all those folks to move them in

(01:03:23):
a direction, not just because we want to see someone elected,
but because we know it will change their life and
if they don't do this, folks will die.

Speaker 6 (01:03:30):
And she has to she has to go out there
and explain herself that everybody. She can't leave no stone
unturned because the reality is they're going to need the
largest voter turnout possible course to try to defeat voter suppression,
because do you know, try to steal.

Speaker 4 (01:03:45):
That we are talking about. Look at that dread Scott thing.

Speaker 7 (01:03:51):
Yes, one of the Republican Factions, which is a group
within the Republican Party saying that the dread Scott decision
would make her not able to eligible to run for president.

Speaker 4 (01:04:02):
Because she wouldn't be a human like with three fifths.

Speaker 7 (01:04:06):
Human basically is still what the Constitution says about us.
So it's a lot of things that need to be
worked on because that's a real like part of why
we have so much mass incarceration is because we are
seen as three fifths and the election.

Speaker 5 (01:04:20):
It's interesting elections in America get stolen. Absolutely, this is
voter suppression. This is a key tactic.

Speaker 1 (01:04:27):
He's got for some folks to win.

Speaker 8 (01:04:28):
It's hit Supreme Court. Yeah, that too, His Supreme Court
is in his back pocket.

Speaker 6 (01:04:33):
You have all of these elected of ficerals that can
refuse to certify the results of the election.

Speaker 5 (01:04:36):
Like it's going to be crazy, which means the odds
are stacked against us. To get what we need. It
means we have to be on the ground in ways
that we never have before. But the other piece is this,
the party is going to over rely on black folks absolutely,
because black folks, black men and women come out. When
we come out, we come out in numbers that change
the election. It's happened with Obama and I think that

(01:04:57):
was a reason why they pivoted to Kamala now because
they know without black folks. They can't get it done, yea,
So they're hoping that happens.

Speaker 4 (01:05:04):
Now I believe, well you still have.

Speaker 7 (01:05:07):
I mean, and I think they're going to try their
best to appeal to white women who are concerned about
their reproductive rights. You know, this is very Handmaid's tail ish, right,
I mean it is.

Speaker 4 (01:05:18):
If you watched Handmaid's Tale. If you haven't, you check
it out.

Speaker 7 (01:05:22):
That's what we're really looking at Project twenty twenty five.
The feel of it is very Project twenty twenty five.
I mean, excuse me, the feel of it is very
Handmaid's tail ish, right, Like we're gonna have white men
basically making decisions on behalf of all women and the
white women and many times vote and help it happen.

Speaker 4 (01:05:41):
Because that's how Handmaid's Tale went down.

Speaker 7 (01:05:44):
The white women supported their husbands in taking over the
nation and creating a space where basically there was the slaves,
the enslaved individuals who were white, brown, and otherwise. To
these white men, they became rulers. And that's what I
hear when I'm reading Projects twenty twenty five when they
start talking about restoring the family, it's like which family,

(01:06:06):
which kind of family?

Speaker 4 (01:06:07):
Are you speaking about, you know.

Speaker 7 (01:06:09):
Being able to fire thousands of civil service employees who
don't support the MAGA agenda? Like this is very they're
very specific. People better read that Project twenty twenty five document.
And so there are white women who understand when the
President says a lot of folks keep saying, well, he's
saying the states have the power to make the decision

(01:06:32):
on abortion. That is the most dangerous proposition ever because
if you have a Ron DeSantis governor, imagine what will
happen to women in those states. You think these white
women are not sitting around like are we doing that?
I might not even like Kamala Harris, but I'm gonna
be able to go on and slip to the abortion
clinic if I need to, or go get my IVF right,

(01:06:56):
which is important for them because if you're not ready
to have children, you need another option. I have a
lot of people who have used as you know now
we're forty years old, forty four. I hear about IVF
all the time from women across the spectrum. And Donald
Trump would say, well, he doesn't support an ending IVF
or or blocking women from having that option. The problem, though,

(01:07:18):
is that when you hear the Project twenty twenty five coordinators,
they are saying, for sure, quietly, remember last week they
put out an interview where these two students went and
they changed their identity and they snuck in to get
an interview with one of the Project twenty twenty five creators,
and he basically was saying, you know, they gotta distance

(01:07:42):
themselves from us right now, but we're not worried about
it because we have people around him who are working
to make these things in reality, and we know we're
going to push the plan.

Speaker 4 (01:07:51):
I don't want to be I don't even want the
president where those are your friends. I don't even want
your friends.

Speaker 7 (01:07:58):
To be the type all of people that work for
you are folks that are part of writing a document
like Project twenty twenty five. It's something wrong with you
and your people. And I don't even want to have it.
I don't want to take the chance that's okay, come
back with some new friends.

Speaker 5 (01:08:13):
And the fact that that could be a political document
in twenty twenty four is outrageous, crazy, right. And I
was talking to somebody and they were explaining it or
comparing it to the twenty twenty four Willy Lynch papers,
because it's an agenda or a plan to really attack
black folks, brown folks, indigenous folks, and democracy as a whole.

(01:08:33):
That's really what the document seeks to do. It's like
it's a political document that says we're going to dismantle democracy.

Speaker 1 (01:08:39):
And that's okay, that should be mind blowing to.

Speaker 5 (01:08:42):
Us, but so much of us don't know exactly what's
in the document and the attack on us.

Speaker 3 (01:08:46):
Well, how can people follow you and support you if
need be?

Speaker 7 (01:08:49):
Well, first let me just say shout out to you,
said Willy Lynch, and so shout out to my son
who just did a response letter to the Willie Lynch letter.
And so it's on this page you can listen to.
It is obviously him speaking. And you know, I think
that in this particular moment, it's going to take all
different types of people to really help make the case

(01:09:11):
for why it's not even about people and personalities, but
the fact that we really do have to protect ourselves
in this country.

Speaker 4 (01:09:19):
And that's what I'm all about.

Speaker 7 (01:09:21):
And so if you want to follow me, and by
the way, let me go back and say my book
name is I Live to tell this story. The cover
is amazing it's about to drop. I'm really excited about
it and this book.

Speaker 8 (01:09:32):
In the video, I love this turn to comutre around.

Speaker 7 (01:09:34):
But this book is not political. This book is not
a political book. It is I mean, there is some
political commentary you've been there. But this book is my memoir.
It's about my life and that's why I say I
live to tell this story and I hope that people
will pick it up so that you can learn more

(01:09:56):
about me outside of what you read online or even
when you see me in the street. There's there's a
lot of stuff about imposter syndrome and other things that
I have been through in my life that have helped
me come to this point. So make sure you guys
stay with the journey for the new book. You can
go to Atamika D. Mallory on Instagram, follow us until Freedom.
We're on until freedom dot com. We're at until Freedom.

(01:10:18):
And unfortunately, I'm one of those people that gets in
the comments to cut your ass back out so.

Speaker 1 (01:10:24):
Someone might talk about your mama if you talk about us.

Speaker 7 (01:10:26):
I said it the other day. The man said you're
an airhead. I said, me and your mama.

Speaker 1 (01:10:31):
All right, Well.

Speaker 2 (01:10:33):
It's to med Mallory Angelo Pinto. It's the Breakfast Club.

Speaker 3 (01:10:36):
Good morning, wake that ass up in the morning. Breakfast
Club