Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
It's the week of September twenty first, twenty twenty five,
and this is what's on the people's news. The Texas
GOP is bowing and groveling to Trump by redistricting. What
comes next? Workers continue their strike against the Hilton Hotel
in downtown Houston. Trump's white supremacist agenda is having an
(00:28):
impact in black students enrolling in college. Trump's attempt to
fire FED board members fails, but is yet another crime
against the people of America. All that and more on
the People's News. I'm Steve Gallington. This is the people's News,
and the people's news starts now. The convicted felon Trump
(00:57):
demanded it, and GOP Governor Greg Abbott and the Texas
GOP bowed to his wishes and passed redistricting in a
explosive special session. These newly approved maps which give five
more safe Republican districts to the convicted felon and to
(01:19):
the Republican Party for Democrats, who are the slim majority
in the state, It affects minority communities, especially around Dallas
and Houston. For example, longtime Congressman Al Green has had
his district expanded to include Liberty County, which is a
Republican leaning area. Doctor Michael O. Adams is the director
(01:41):
of the Master of Public Affairs graduate program at Texas
Southern University's Barbara Jordan Mickey Leland's School of Public Affairs.
He has been speaking on the issue and the future
of democracy in Texas.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yeah, that's a good question, because, of course, in Houston
you have the largest customertration of African Americans or Blacks
in this area out of one of two metroplexes, the
other one being up in the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex.
And ironically, both of those were impacted with the redistricting process.
And I'll move from Houston to talk about Dallas and
(02:18):
how that's implicated both Dallas County and Terring County. But
I've been interviewed back and forth on this and what
I always like to suggest, I think what we're seeing
here is a classic case or a master class in
terms of vote manipulation, in terms of where given the
(02:40):
growth of Latinos and the Black population in Texas following
the last census count and I think it was over
increase of over a million, there has been a concerted design,
not only with this recycle of redistricting. But the last mass,
(03:00):
the twenty twenty one maps that were drawn, they are
currently in litigation in federal court in El Paso. And
so the Republican Party understands the growth of the minority
population in the state of Texas, who more than likely
(03:23):
will not be Republican voters. So what they've done is
to excuse me to manipulate the maps to make sure
that they would have a parson advantage inside of these
congressional districts. Now, the other part of that, we know
that we have a midterm election coming up, and as
(03:44):
the President of the United States, Donald Trump actually reached
out to Greg Abbott and said that, well, hey, I
need five more seats. And as a result of that,
we knew that there was going to be a special
session to deal with the davastation floods that we have
and I think more than one hundred people may have
(04:04):
lost their lives, lives or they're missing. And so the
legislature goes back into special session, and when they're in
the special session, uh, the registricting charge is added to
the agenda. And as we know, UH that only the
government in the state of Texas. This is by the
law and I teach teach this. In Texas politics, only
(04:26):
the governor can call and convene a special session. And
while they're in special session, Uh, they're confined to the
governor's agenda and if something needs to be added is
up to the governor to add that agenda. So that's
that's why we hear uh in terms of looking at
the registrictant. Now moving forward, do you do you do
(04:46):
you have a question or you want me to move
to Houston and talk about the impact in terms of well.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
I was just I was just curious if if if
Trump didn't didn't put this on the on the on
the on the plate, would we have had a special session?
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Now we were going to have a special session anyway
to deal with the floods. All right, the question would
from you would be would redistrict and been on the
special session agenda? Is that understanding what you're asking?
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Yeah? Yeah, yeah, basically, oh, if we didn't have this flood,
would we have had a special session? Of game with you?
What do you just what do you still call the
special session?
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Well, most people don't understand. According to the US Constitution,
we are supposed to count the population based on what
we call a decinial basis. That's every ten years. That's
in the Constitution to deal with the apportionment of the
House of Representatives in terms of we count people. And
I tell my students all the time because sometimes redistricting
(05:47):
is not understood, and I'm hoping what the only positive
things can come from this is that people will know
about redistricting and how it the implications it had for politics,
h and how it governs their their lives and also
in terms of resources coming into their state.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
All right.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Now, we have five hundred and thirty five members of
the Congress, and we have a bi camer Congress, two chambers.
In the House of Representatives. The representation there is based
upon population is proportional and in all four hundred and
(06:26):
thirty five members of the House of Representatives should represent
approximately the same number of people. So we know that
people move in population swales.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
All right.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
So we've seen growth in populations in California, which is
the largest in terms of population. They have the largest
delegation of more than fifty members of the Congress of
the House Representatives, and in the state of Texas we
have thirty eight and the population there in Florida the
population is grown, so people will move from Rush belt states,
(06:58):
they'll come from Michigan, they'll come from the people. So
those states can lose representation. Because what you do, how
do you get to the desirable number of how many
people each member of the House of Representatives should represent.
You take four thirty five and you divide that into
the population of the United States of America, and so
(07:19):
the ideal population will be between eight hundred and nine
hundred thousand for each congressional district. And that's the way
we come up with that number, all right, And there's
no mathematical exactness, like we'll say eight fifty if that's
the number, we know that CIVI or Garcia may have
eight forty, or Algreen could have a twenty. So the
(07:44):
Supreme Court will allow for what we call some deviation,
and normally that deviation is within ten percent. However, you
cannot have one member of Congress representing four hundred people
and if you have one of the other congress persons
represent eight hundred because why because a person with one
hundred four hundred here's or her vote would be twice
(08:07):
the impact. So it has to be equal in terms
of population. So that's the standard formula, and so people
have to understand that. So when they draw these districts. Now,
the US Supreme Court doesn't restrict them from calling redistricting
the districts at any time, and most people understand that.
(08:28):
And normally what has happened in the past is after
the census is taken every ten years, that's in your basis,
that's in the constitution. Where then after that, normally than
the first year twenty twenty one when Texas did it,
that's when they will draw new maps to account for
population changes. All right, And so what we have seen
(08:49):
in recent years is mid term redistricting. And I'm going
around the world to answer your question because first I'm
an academic and I'm a professor, and I have to
teach you all of these things, right, So, uh, yes,
there's nothing wrong with with what they're doing in terms
of redistricting. So to answer your question, what they have
done and now I don't think so if if top
(09:10):
had not make a call. So that's what.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Yeah, you mentioned. You mentioned the Supreme Court and the Constitution,
And what I've seen is that what this president has
done is rechanged and restructure the Constitution and restructure the
Supreme Court all decisions. That's that they're being made right now.
So you might want to explain how some people say this.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Is racist, Well, you know, I have to and again,
and I think that's one of the reasons I said
that I wasn't going to talk about, uh, what happened
with Charlie Kirk and whatever. But we get a lot
of misinformation and everything right now, you don't you don't
restructure as a formal process, the restructure and changing the constitution,
(09:55):
we call that the amendment process. If they want to
do a total rewrite, they have to have a convention.
Now the provisions in the Constitution for doing both of
those things all right Now, the Constitution is a living
document that is subject to interpretation. And we believe that
we're supposed to have this neutral Supreme Court or this
(10:16):
umpire if you will, which is the third branch of government,
and it was given the power of judicial review. That's
what means. It has the power to interpret the constitutions
and also deal with federal questions or disputes between states. Now,
is the Supreme Court politicized? Are they human beings? Yes,
they are. They come with persuasion and the presidents will
(10:39):
appoint people to the Supreme Court based upon whether or
not those potential justices that they place on the bench
will reflect what we call their judicial temperament. Now what
do we mean by the judicial temperament. That's a philosophical
point of view in terms of politics, whether they're liberal, conservative,
or Republican. We've seen in recent years, and Obama didn't
(11:02):
get the right to appoint Mary Garland, but we've seen
I don't want to say the packing of the court,
but adding of a Republican majority. And Trump was able
to add members to the Supreme Court, and we had
one the senator from Kentucky was Adam on but then
allow Obama to appoint Mary Garland. But however, I think
(11:29):
you can't just really blame the senator from Kentucky. But
ruthe Bada Ginsburg. She just stayed on there forever, all right,
and then when she came off, that allows somebody. So
some of these times, if you're strategic, if you're a
Supreme Court justice, and if you know that you're a
liberal persuasion, and if you have a person, if you're
believing in terms of a Democrat, would appoint somebody more
(11:51):
left the center as opposed to being a writer center.
Then why you just don't stay on message forever? All right?
So you come off all right. So that's what we've
seen in terms of the remaking of the court, all right.
And but Trump is not changing the constitution all right
in terms of right, there's a formal process for that.
But he's writing a lot of executive orders to get
(12:13):
around a number of things now and when these challenges
are calling into place, he's winning in the Supreme Court
because there's a court that is more of a kind
of conservative Supreme Court to the right, some people say extreme.
So I'll start there right talk about textas in terms
(12:34):
of how the maps in terms of what we see
in Houston.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Yeah, yeah, I don't want to talk about that. But
also I just want to back up a bit that
when you say Ginsburg, uh to the to the left earlier,
I mean I don't understand. I mean, she didn't know
what health was going to get. We're gonna get him
as he was. I've heard criticism like that, admiration for her, right,
(12:58):
But when you know that you're an object, uh, after
you know you're in your agies or whatever, just like Biden,
we can go. And we saw his vice president release
a book this week, and now she's come out and
said something that it was basically a disaster for him
to stay there that long. And I'm talking about Kamala
Harrison in terms of bike right and and some people
(13:18):
are speaking out in terms of what we may see,
what's gonna what's gonna happen in the eighteenth Congressional district.
And I'll get more into that because al Green's district, a.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Sizeable portion from the ninth has been moved into the
eighteenth Congression. Gotten that when you when we talk about redistrict,
you should have booked me for the day because that's
a lot that's that's taken place as a result of this.
So let's go back to the mass. Let's start in Houston, person.
So the nineteenth, I tell you, it's become with the
new math, will become a Republican right because they've included
more Republican votersts and so they took a large chunk
(13:50):
out of the ninth Congressional district the black people moved
them into the eighteenth Congressional district. So the eighteenth Congressional
district will remain even under the new mast a majority
opportunity districts for black people, all right. Actually it increased
the numbers because they were more Hispanics than Blacks in
(14:11):
the under the current configuration of the district. Okay, and
so what do we call that, well, in redistrict and parlast,
we call call that cracking and packing. So they cracked
the nineteenth, took the black voters, moved them into the eighteenth.
So they packed that concentrated them, all right, as opposed
(14:32):
to splitting them up having more blacks in the ninth
district where you get two black members of Congress, now
you will only have one. That was the aim, and
that will probably will be the eighteenth congressional district. That's
where they moved most of the black votes out of
the ninth congress districts out of that. Now, whether they
(14:53):
do for the twenty ninth district, they moved more Latinos
in that district and gives the appearance that it's a
Hispanic opportunity district. What we mean by what I mean
by opportunity district is where Hispanic candidate were to run
and then they have a good chance of winning a
majority in terms of the voting age, population, voting age
(15:15):
populations people eighteen years of age older and registered voters. Well,
a large number of citizens in the twenty ninth, and
even in the night district to a certain extent, they
may not even be citizens, or the voting age population
may may not favor Hispanics. So that's an illusion there. Now,
(15:36):
what they did to the twenty ninth, they did leave
a significant black population in that and then runs on
the north side. And what I think could happened is
that a black person could win that Democratic primary in
the twenty ninth district, And there are a number of
people I know who are looking into it. I think
Javis Johnson may be considering running for the twenty ninth
(15:58):
as opposed to running for the eighteen congress district because
he didn't file for the eighteenth congressional district in the primary.
Because Latinos and Hispanics they don't turn out, and so
that may be one of the problems. So if the
black people in that newly configured twenty ninth districts, the
one that Sevia Garcia represents, now, if they turned out
(16:18):
in the primary, which will more than life, it will
be a low turnout election. All Right, You can nominate
a black person. So that's where we are in the
Houston area in terms of the implication of the new maps,
of the new maps. But it's gonna so it's a
ball of confusion because you have this special elections for
you know, Turnacy and people in the eighteenth congressional district.
(16:40):
So oh no, I don't know. Then they change my
mat so they're listening to what happened recently. But no,
they're still in the eighteenth congressional district as it currently exists,
so they'll be able to vote in that. But whoever
win that election will have to come right back in file,
you know, and in December before yeah, right after the election,
(17:02):
they have to file to run in the twenty twenty
six print primaries. And so what I'm saying, the person
who win, and we know that the people in the
league who have the best chances Kristin Menefee, Amanda Edwards
and the month hel Lass running as a Republican and
we have some independent running right, but they're going to
(17:24):
have to come back and they have a face, al Green.
So that's what I'm saying, because a Green, you know,
people that power man, you know, you get addicted to it.
You don't want to leave Congress, right, you don't want
to retire, right. So that's where we are in terms
of day.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
That was doctor Michael O. Adams. He is the director
of the Master of Public Affairs Graduate program at TSU's
Barbara Jordan Mickey Leland's School of Public Affairs. Union workers
of the Hilton Hotel in downtown Houston voted to continue
their strike until the twentieth of this month. Union workers
walked out on strike, as reported on this show, fighting
(18:00):
for higher wages and more benefits. Some at the Hilton
have not had a raise in more than twenty plus years.
They have been with a company. Others work two or
three jobs just to make it buy. Unite Here twenty three,
the union representing the workers, stated that the latest negotiations
only lasted a short time. Now the Mayor of Houston,
(18:22):
John Whitmyer, is involved by canceling his State of the
Union function at the hotel and the city run gala
that was to be at the hotel. We talked to
Francesca Caraballo, Texas Chapter President of Unite here Local twenty
three downtown on Saturday.
Speaker 4 (18:39):
Yes, we decided to extend after having a conversation with
the company and them coming back with you know, we
can't even call it a real offer. When we came
back to the workers and let them know what the
company had said, workers unanimously said, we got to stay out,
we can't go back in.
Speaker 5 (18:57):
So we decided to extend the strikes ten more days.
Speaker 6 (19:01):
How's it gonna hold up for you guys.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
Yeah, I mean we're on day to state thirteen and
workers are feeling feeling strong. I mean, they really agitated
them the news from the company, and it just shows
that the workers are standing firm.
Speaker 5 (19:19):
They don't want to give up until they get what
they deserve. It's long overdue, so they're willing to do
what it takes.
Speaker 6 (19:24):
Did they come to offer anything anything positive?
Speaker 5 (19:28):
Or I mean not not really.
Speaker 4 (19:32):
I mean they came back with like another fifty cents,
So yeah, I mean they they originally offered fifty cents
at the table, and so.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
That's for that was it.
Speaker 6 (19:46):
You're trying to get twenty three.
Speaker 5 (19:48):
We're trying to get twenty three.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
They offered, you know, over a five year span. They
want to They had originally offered three twenty five over
five years. So some of the workers again they're making
sixteen to fifty, so they won't even make it to
twenty twenty thirty.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
So with the with the offer that they put.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
On the table back in July, you know, under twenty dollars,
we want twenty three now. So you know, they came
back after a week of striking and said, okay, we'll
bump it up to you know, we'll pump it up another.
Speaker 5 (20:17):
Fifty cents basically, So that wasn't obviously.
Speaker 7 (20:22):
Three years.
Speaker 6 (20:24):
It's not, it's not it's not immediate.
Speaker 4 (20:27):
I'm not quite sure like how it was going to
be phased in, but I just know the total package
was three seventy five over five years. Obviously, that's that's unacceptable.
That's not that doesn't meet the needs of the workers
living in Houston in.
Speaker 5 (20:39):
Twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
So, uh, you know, hence why workers were you know,
ready to do whatever it takes, so they voted to
extend the strike.
Speaker 6 (20:49):
Does this include everybody?
Speaker 3 (20:51):
It's just play.
Speaker 5 (20:51):
Differently, right, Yeah, different classifications.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
More.
Speaker 5 (20:57):
There are tips, Yeah, there are tip workers.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
So tip workers do make you know, less than the
sixteen fifty hourly workers, but you know they're wages mostly
made up by tips.
Speaker 5 (21:07):
So but we are fighting for tipworkers.
Speaker 4 (21:09):
We're fighting for better gratuity, right, we need higher gratuities.
The Hilton is behind when it comes to that. Most
establishments are at least twenty to twenty five you know, gratuities.
Some of these workers are still having to coast by.
Speaker 5 (21:22):
On eighteen fifteen.
Speaker 4 (21:24):
It's just not it's not reasonable at all for a
luxurious hotel like Hilton to refuse to move up the gratuity.
So we're not just ready for the hourly workers, you know,
we're also a union of tipped employees as well.
Speaker 6 (21:38):
What about the aspect of the mayor supporting you guys,
I guess you guys went.
Speaker 7 (21:41):
To City Hall.
Speaker 5 (21:42):
Yeah, so we went to city Hall.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
We backed the room on Tuesday, we had several powerful
speakers share why they're on strike. You know, got some
responses from the city Council and the mayor. But I
think workers really felt that boost of support when the
mayor's announcement came out. I think it was the next
day he announced that he was postponing his state of
(22:04):
the city at at at the Hilton. So that's a
big move, you know, where the words maybe didn't satisfy
a lot of people that action spoke, you know, spoke
louder so that.
Speaker 6 (22:16):
Make any statement for the for the Hilton to say
anything about.
Speaker 5 (22:19):
It, not that I'm aware of.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
I haven't heard any statement from the Hilton, but I
know that it means a lot to the workers that
you know, the mayor took this action. And you know,
this morning we had the Democrat Harrison County Democratic Party
also announced that they're postponing there gala that was supposed
to take place here on the twenty end, So that.
Speaker 5 (22:36):
Really excited the workers.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
If there's a momentum, momentum right now that the workers
are feeling and and are feeling.
Speaker 6 (22:44):
Very strong and supported meeting with.
Speaker 4 (22:48):
I believe we have some meetings maybe next week. I'm
not too sure, but I believe there's gonna be some
some conversations hapening.
Speaker 6 (22:56):
Next week that's going and any possible to come out
of that.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
Or I think so, I mean, they have to be
feeling the pressure. I mean, all eyes are on them
right now. The city, you know, slowly but surely her
coalescing around the workers, and I think that the Hilton's
feeling and how do you not, I mean, it's a
city owned hotel and the City Council, the mayor, the
Democratic Party, like they've come out very strongly in support
(23:21):
of the workers, So I think that's going to move
the needle.
Speaker 6 (23:23):
All says the city run hotel explain.
Speaker 4 (23:25):
It's yeah, it's owned by the by the City by
Houston First, which is like a quasi you know, governmental agency, So.
Speaker 5 (23:35):
They are the owners of the hotel. Hilton manages the hotel.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
We bargain with Hilton, but ultimately Hilly Houston person the
City of Houston have a lot of influence over what
happens here and so for them to you know, take
these actions now, it's it shows, you know, the pressure's.
Speaker 5 (23:50):
Mounting on Hilton management to come to the table with
a real offer.
Speaker 6 (23:54):
What do you mean is for support from the community.
Speaker 4 (23:57):
Well, yeah, like I said, we have extended the right.
Workers are out of work. It's a big sacrifice. So
we do have go fund me out there that's being
shared on social media. So anybody that can that's a
that's the biggest way to support right now because people
still got to pay their bills and support their family.
So we're a lot of workers are depending on these
donations to roll in and otherwise I.
Speaker 5 (24:18):
Mean coming to the picket line.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
Sharing, sharing our stories on social media is a big
is a big help as well.
Speaker 6 (24:25):
Go fund me is unite here.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
Yes, it was created by by us by unite here.
You know, it's on our social media pages.
Speaker 6 (24:32):
Social media pages unit here twenty.
Speaker 5 (24:34):
Three Local twenty Yeah, you know, I hear Local twenty three.
Speaker 6 (24:37):
That's where you can find find out about donating. Yes, correct, cool? Yes, cool?
And they can come down and people want to come
down and help out and.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
Do that too.
Speaker 4 (24:45):
Yeah, absolutely, Yeah. We have people coming down every day
to the picket line. We're out here usually from seven
am to like seven pm.
Speaker 5 (24:51):
We have picket lines.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
We do take breaks because it's hot out here, but
you know, come by and stick around for for picketing.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
That was Francesca carballa Texas chapter president of unite here
Local twenty three. They are continuing their strike against the
Hilton Hotel in downtown Houston. Their Facebook page is unite
here Local twenty three.
Speaker 8 (25:15):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
This is Steve Gallington, producer and host of the People's News.
If you have a story that needs to be told,
come to us. We accept fully produced audio, written material,
or just give us the idea and we will run
with it shiny. New one hour episodes of The People's
News drop each Sunday on The People's News podcast, hosted
(25:37):
by spreaker dot com and linked to my website Gallington
dot com. Months after targeting schools like Harvard with anti
Semitism allegations which have since been found false, and denying
federal funds to the school, now the convicted felon's criminal
administration is saying that schools are using proxies for race
(25:59):
in admission, even though there is no proof of that.
In late July, Attorney General Pam Bondi warned in a
memo against using unlawful proxies for race, such as geography
or applicants essays on overcoming hardships in admissions. Soon after,
the US Education Department announced that it would require universities
(26:20):
to report new data on applicants broken down by race
to ensure race based preferences are not used. Universities have
been prohibited from using racial preferences in admission since the
Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in twenty twenty three.
The Trump administration suggests that schools may be flouting the ban.
(26:41):
In the end, this results in fewer black students being
accepted to higher education. We talked to Dante King, author
of the new book Diagnosing Whiteness and Anti Blackness. He
spoke on what he sees is happening, what I see here.
Speaker 8 (26:56):
When I'm looking at this, especially when we look at
the memo that was issued by Pam Bondi in July,
the Attorney General, and they are targeting what they are
calling unlawful proxies for race. So go with me, unlawful
proxies such as geography or applicant essays on overcoming hardships,
(27:21):
all right. So in their minds, they have ideas about
what they're projecting is associated with certain races based on
these what they're calling unlawful proxies. This is all about
them projecting racist ideas and trying to find various ways
based on their projections with not roots in reality, to
(27:44):
try and limit the access to these institutions by black
and brown people. What is so interesting about this is
we know that by the numbers, there are more poor
white people in this country, because there are more white
people in this country by the numbers, all right, So
if we're talking about the likelihood of people who would
(28:07):
potentially you know, write more of these hardship essays or
you know, if they're coming from environments where they're writing
about how they had to overcome situations such as poverty,
et cetera. The likelihood of that there are more white
people doing that is very likely and very high. So
(28:28):
you know, this is all about to me, and I
write about this in my book, Diagnosing Whiteness and Anti Blackness.
This is all about psychological projection. You've got the other guy,
Edward Bloom, going on record. He's the one who brought
who got behind those Asian students and they were able
to bring that case that struck down affirmative action to
the Supreme Court in twenty twenty three. He says, I
(28:48):
suspect a goodly percentage are using illegal proxies because to
your point, black enrollment didn't fall in certain schools, and
so he's saying, I suspect the percentage are using ill proxies.
This is all about suspicion. This is all about ideas,
psychological projection, ideas that are that are not rooted in reality,
(29:11):
and it is in alignment with what this country is
all about, the legacy of this country, which is targeting
black people using American institutions and the predominance of the
white race and community using white institutions and manipulating institutions
to target black people. The legacy of this country is
(29:32):
anti black racism and white supremacy. And I think we
need to unpack this through both the historical and current
lens if we're ever to understand how these things have
been programmed and trained in over centuries.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
What why do you say this, but the predominant classes
are or still you know, the special major universities are
still being attach bio by so called allowing more afric
Commericans to go to school there. And I'm talking about
major university like Howard Howard, but like Harvard, Berkeley and
(30:11):
those types of schools. Those are the schools that are
being attacked by the time.
Speaker 8 (30:15):
Well, it's it's not and I'm not trying to you know,
assert or put forth any type of conspiracy theories. But
you know, one of the things that I thought about
over the last few years, especially when Trump was being
you know, before he ran for office, he decided to
run for office, and then they brought forth you know,
(30:37):
they started bringing forth those investigations regarding you know, January
sixth and so the other things. He's he's he was
prosecuted by you know, three top officials who happened to
be black, Alvin Bragg, Letitia James Fini, Fannie uh I
forget her last name, Willis. And then you've got you know,
(31:02):
Joe Biden coming along, and he appoints, for the first
time ever, the first black female Supreme Court justice. And
if we go back in history and we look at
when Lyndon B. Johnson, you know, after he was out
of office, they elected Nixon right after him, and that
had to do with a lot of wide America who
(31:24):
were very angry and upset about the Civil Rights build
of nineteen sixty four, the Voting Rights Act of nineteen
sixty five, and the Fair Housing Act of nineteen sixty eight.
In mind, you there's a Supreme Court ruling that actually
upheld the Civil Rights Act of eighteen sixty six, that
said that racial discrimination in housing was unjust because of
(31:44):
the Civil Rights Act of eighteen sixty six. And so
you have all of these things converging at that time,
and then Lyndon B. Johnson for the first time ever
appoints the first black Supreme Court justice, which is third
good Marshall wider America lost its mind and so we're
seeing the same thing here. And they don't want us
at these IV League institutions, and they are finding ways
(32:05):
to ensure that black people are not able to attend. Ever,
they just do not want a black presence at these
iv LEU institutions because they don't want another Fannie Willis.
They don't want another Katanji Brown Jackson. They don't want
another joy and Reid. We I mean, we have to
look at this through both the political and economic lands.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
What do you know, like at us also women the
speritin the HBCU schools and help more people attending the
HBCU schools making it as stronger.
Speaker 8 (32:39):
Well, you know what's very interesting you know about HBCUs
and this is very unfortunate I have you know, my
background is in human resources management, and I can say honestly,
I mean I've worked for some pretty national large corporations.
American institutions and degrees from HBCUs are not recognized the
(33:03):
same across this country. There are institutions just as well,
you know, geographically, just as well as you know, having
a certain brand right that when they are looking at
or assessing one qualifications for a position. They will look
and say, Okay, this person went to a first race school,
(33:26):
which is our Ivy League institutions, which are historically white institutions.
And then they will say, oh, this person wish to
a went to an ABC HBCUs And they're almost saying
it in ways that well, this is looked upon as
somewhat of an immigrant degree. It does not hold the
same weight. And so I think we have to look
at that too, because blackness in this country is seen
(33:50):
as something politically that is not that does not hold
the same value as things that are historically white and
or predominantly white.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
And I was going to say, but they still take
in our athletes.
Speaker 8 (34:04):
You know, right, well.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
We want the earlier you don't.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
By the way, those those athletes graduation rate.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Is still low.
Speaker 8 (34:15):
Wow, And what And that's a great point. That is
a great point. What I've always said to that though, too,
is that white people are comfortable with diversity as long
as they're able to exploit that diversity, as long as
they're able to see themselves as superior over that diversity.
So they're fine with black people being the entertainment. We've
(34:37):
always been the entertainment. They're comfortable. We can sing, dance,
we can record music, we can hold concerts, we can
host comedy shows, we can be athletes. They're fine with
us within that context. You can be from the breakfast
club to stephen A. Smith. They're fine with us in
positions of entertainment. But when we step outside of that
and we try to access positions to hold real influ
(35:00):
and power, they are not fine with that at all,
especially when that power compromise their own ideas about themselves
and their standing. You know, and I think we have
to understand that this is about uplifting and the resurgence
of you know, employing white inadequacy in white mediocrity across
(35:21):
American institutions. You know, the guy that is in the
Trump administration, Dan Batty. He talks about how American institutions
need to be run by competent white men.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
But what have we've seen.
Speaker 8 (35:32):
We've seen Pete heck Seth in Signal Gay. We've seen
Donald Trump, who is an admitted predator, who can't string
five citizens to get coherent citences together, who probably did
not take his own tests to write his own dissertation
to get out of college, who most likely didn't take
his own SAPs. What have we've seen. We've seen grifters.
We've seen grifters be funneled through these institutions because they
(35:54):
function on white affirmative action systems and processes of wide
affirmative action and have to say, a white sponsorship.
Speaker 3 (36:03):
We'll see this though. It puts it puts miss of
for the Americans in a spot because if you're not accepted,
you're not accepted in those those ivor league schools or
even even the state fund the state schools when it's
the same time you're defunding HBCU schools. Where those kids
(36:23):
to go if they're not an athlete or or or
or something to to to benefit that school.
Speaker 8 (36:30):
Well, let's be clear. These are people, I mean, over time,
we can just look back historically and watch what they've said.
For for the most part, especially those that make up
Donald Trump's followers, many of these people think don't don't
think highly of education at all. They want the educational
(36:53):
system defunded, They want these schools and institutions defunded. They
don't believe that they have value, and they really look
down or are quite bitter in terms of the sentimentality
that is expressed or conveyed when you know you're talking
about someone, even a white person that went to an
Ivy League school, they think that, you know, those individuals
(37:15):
for the most part, are classes that you know, education
people believe that they are better because they have gone
to these schools, and particularly liberal people. They believe that
many of these institutions have turned liberal because of philosophies
that are taught at these schools. Many of them have
ethnic studies departments. Many of them teach history that's very
(37:35):
you know, his disciplines in history within the history discipline
that are very expansive and don't just tell the white
narrative of you know, our country and the cherish narratives
that we hear about this country. And so they want
to dismantle those programs within these institutions, and they want
to dismantle some of these institutions. There's a lot of
(37:58):
ire and retribution that is felt where these institutions are concerned.
So some of these people that we're talking about would
rather not have education in this country.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
And so where are we at?
Speaker 3 (38:13):
What do you tell a young young black students just
graduating in high school.
Speaker 8 (38:18):
Well, I don't know where we are I mean, I
think we also have to contend with and deal with
the fact that education in this country has been a business,
but it's been sold as something that everyone should do
and once you do it, once you go through that process,
you will have access to opportunity. And yet we see
(38:39):
that that's not the case. We see that even while
many times there can be more jobs being produced to
the economy through the economy, that many people are still jobless.
Many people are in this country are still jobless. And
you want to know why, because you're recruiting people internationally.
Even though those jobs reports talk about jobs that are
(39:00):
directly impacting the American economy, many of those jobs are
not located here. Many of them are located internationally. And
so we have to understand that people go into debt
trying to access this opportunity, and then most people don't
even find jobs. I'm not going to say most of
many don't find jobs in the disciplines that they study.
Many people go through that process, go through the educational
(39:22):
process expecting that they're going to be able to make
a livable wage to afford not only liveability, but to
also pay back their student loans. In many cases, that
does not happen. So we have to think about, you know,
what is education set up to do in this country,
who is it for and who really is able to
benefit from it in terms of exercising it to access opportunity.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
That was Dante King, author of the new book Diagnosing
Whiteness and Anti Blackness, and yet another move to distract
away from his decades long relationship with convicted sex predator
and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and Lane Maxwell. The convicted felon, criminal, corrupt,
(40:04):
and incompetent. Donald Trump has called on his toady, Bill Poulty,
to go after his perceived enemies. Bill Poulty of Poulty Holmes.
Yes that Bill Poulty was named by Trump as the
director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and as such
(40:24):
has been filing criminal referrals to the Justice Apartment against
Trump's perceived enemies, Adam shift Letitia James and now finally
one of the Fed Governor's Lisa Cook, Congressman of the
ninth Congressional District in Houston, Al Green, the top Democrat
on the US House Financial Services Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight
(40:47):
and Investigations, which oversees the federal Reserve system. The FED
condemned the felon's unjustified and unprecedented firing of doctor Lisa Cook,
the first black woman appointed to the fed's Board of Governors,
as well as his unbridled efforts to undermine the independence
of the FED. The Federal Reserve is the central bank
(41:09):
of the United States. Its dual mandate is to promote
maximum employment and insure stable prices. In pursuing this dual mandate,
the FED was designed to function independently of political pressure
from either the President or Congress. Doctor Cook was appointed
to the fed's Board of Governors by President Biden and
(41:31):
approved by the Congress in twenty twenty two. He spoke
on this and his thoughts on not representing the district
because of the new redistricting map in Texas Quora.
Speaker 9 (41:42):
Thanks the members of the press for appearing on what
I consider short notice, but I do believe that there's
good reason for us to have this press event.
Speaker 7 (41:53):
The President has said that he has fired FED board
member Lisa Cook.
Speaker 9 (42:02):
The board member list the Cook has indicated that she
is suing the President and in fact has done so.
The FED chair Powell, has indicated that he will abide
by the court's decision, President says he's fired her this.
(42:23):
Cook has indicated that she is suing the President with
regards to what she believes to be an unjust firing,
and the Chair of the FED has indicated that he
will abide by the court's decision. I think that the
Chair Chair Powell, did not say enough. It is my
(42:45):
opinion that he is surrendering some of the independence of
the FED by giving an incomplete statement. I believe he
should have gone on to indicate that until the court
renders a decision, he will consider her.
Speaker 7 (43:03):
A member of the FED. The President is playing with
economic fire.
Speaker 9 (43:11):
In doing this, the President is putting the credibility of
our central Bank, which is thought to be an independent agency.
The President is putting the credibility of our independent bank
at risk. Global markets do not want our central bank
(43:32):
to become a presidential tool, something that he can at
a whim decide that interest rates may escalate or they
may decline, and the President does do things on a whim.
It seems in doing this, the President is demonstrating once
again that he has little respect for due process.
Speaker 3 (43:56):
Ms.
Speaker 7 (43:57):
Cook has not been charged with a crime.
Speaker 9 (44:00):
She has not obviously been convicted if she hasn't been charged,
she hasn't been convicted of any crime, not charged with
any crime. The President does not have proper respect for
a process, a due process. The President does not have
respect for the independence of the FED. The independence of
(44:22):
the FED is the means by which the FED maintains
its credibility. Global markets depend on this independence, and the
President is eroding the independence of the FED. And unfortunately,
mister Powell, in not standing with his Governor Cook, has
(44:42):
to a limited extent, surrendered some of that independence. The
President has demonstrated to us that he believes he is
more than the president of the United States. He is
the jury president, but he sees himself as a de
facto king, a de facto authoritarian president who.
Speaker 7 (45:07):
Can do anything that he wants, and has said as much.
The President cannot.
Speaker 9 (45:13):
Be allowed to destroy the dollar as the world's supreme currency.
It is the currency of choice, the reserve currency of choice,
and it is the currency of choice because people have
faith in the FED, and they have faith in the
FED because they don't believe the FED is tied.
Speaker 7 (45:33):
To the President. The President is playing with economic fire.
Speaker 9 (45:39):
If we lose dollar supremacy, it will have an impact
on our bond market.
Speaker 7 (45:45):
Our bond market is sought after globally.
Speaker 9 (45:48):
The bond market is what is used by municipalities when
they're issuing new debts, by corporations when they issue new debt.
The bond market is something that is not only helping
to stabilize this country, it really is important in geopolitical stabilization.
We have a duty and a responsibility to protect the
(46:12):
independence of the FED. Now let me define the we
and use a personal pronoun. I have served on the
Financial Services Committee since I arrived in Congress. I've had
the pre eminent honor and privilege of being the chairperson
of Oversight and Investigations, the subcommittee of the Financial Services Committee.
(46:34):
I am now the ranking member of the Oversight Subcommittee
of Financial Services.
Speaker 7 (46:39):
It is Financial Services that has jurisdiction of oversight for
the FED.
Speaker 9 (46:47):
When I say we, I'm talking about now members of
the Financial Services Committee. We have a responsibility to take
the stand to protect the independence of the FED. I
as a member of that committee, I'm going to do
all that I can, especially as the ranking member on Oversight.
Speaker 7 (47:06):
That means that I'm the top Democrat on the Oversight Subcommittee.
Speaker 9 (47:12):
And I'm gonna do everything that I can to protect
the independence of the FED, because in so doing, I'm
protecting the independence of our economy, our sovereignty. This is
bigger than the President simplifying a person. This is an
assault on the institution that has made our economy the
(47:33):
envy of the world. Yes, we in Congress play a role,
Yes we do. Yes, the President plays a role. But friends,
that independence of the FED is what global markets and
leaders look to when they want to invest in the
United States of America. So I'm calling them the President
(47:55):
to cease and desist with this unreasonable behavior. He has
gone too far. He's playing with economic fire, and he
he must retract what he is doing. If he does not,
then it's up to the courts. And I say the
(48:16):
courts because this could matriculate to the Supreme Court, and
it's up to these courts to do what they must
to protect the independence of the FED. Because the FED,
as it was designed, was to be an independent agency
within the federal government. It's not a separate government and
to itself, but it is an independent agency within the
(48:36):
federal government, and that independence makes all the difference. Now,
I want to close with something before I take your questions,
it's important for us to note that our president is
(48:59):
going after agency after agency, and in so doing, he
is taking away the credibility of these agencies. He has
looked at the labor markets in the sense of the
way he behaves when he sees a report that he
(49:24):
doesn't like. If it indicates that employment is great, it
is valid, it's legitimate. If the number is not something
that he finds favor with, he not only expresses his displeasure,
he goes after the entity, the agency that has acquired
the empirical evidence to produce the numbers that he finds.
Speaker 7 (49:47):
This favor with. The President believes that only he is
right and the world is wrong.
Speaker 9 (49:56):
This cannot continue. The president has it's got to be
brought back into control. If the courts can't do it
because he disrespects them, and the Congress won't do it
because he controls the Republican majority, then.
Speaker 7 (50:16):
We the people have the final option, and we have to.
Speaker 9 (50:20):
Say to the President and know on certain terms you
will not miss the president destroy the American economy.
Speaker 7 (50:28):
We the people can do this with many things.
Speaker 9 (50:31):
We have our voices, but we also have the right
to protest I'm a believer in Protestation. It was Protestation
that brought me to Congress. It was the Edmund Pettis
Bridge on bloody Sunday in nineteen sixty five, when persons
were beaten back to the church where they started as
(50:52):
they approached this bridge, they were beaten back to the
church where they started. John Lewis was there and he
told me the story, said he thought he was gonna
die on the end the Petts Bridge that the Voting
Rights Act was signed. Many of us who are in
Congress now are there because of the Voting Rights Act.
President is assaulting the Voting Rights Act. The courts are
abiding with his assault, and unfortunately Section two is under
(51:17):
great threat. Just today the governor has signed I believe
his new jerry mandering, unlawful jerry mandering that will challenge
in court.
Speaker 7 (51:29):
But the point is the President is doing all that
he can to destroy these.
Speaker 9 (51:36):
Institutions, and many of us in Congress because of these institutions.
So we have to protect what has caused us to
have the greatest economy in the world, and we have
to protect it with all lawful means necessary. And Protestation,
what happened that the Edmund Pettis Bridge is a supreme
(51:57):
superb example of how Protestation can be a difference because
it's made a difference in who's in the Congress of
the United States of America. The diversity in the Congress
of the United States of America. Protestation lead, legal, lawful, peaceful,
non violent. Protestation is a methodology by which change can
(52:19):
be made. And I believe that the President is going
to see more and more of this as he continues
his unbridled assault on American institutions. I welcome your questions.
Speaker 10 (52:38):
Why do you, in your opinion, why do you think
he did what he did to becong reserve. Well, let's
hear from the American Banker. The American Banker published an
independent piece and it is styled Fan's Independent Hangs on
Meaning of four Calls, published on August twenty nine, twenty five.
(52:59):
Let's read some of what they say here to answer
the question. The question is why do I believe he
has done this committed this act of firing. Let's read
what the American Banker says.
Speaker 9 (53:13):
It's indicates here in part ms Cook has not been
charged with the crime, let alone convicted of what.
Speaker 7 (53:20):
The claim that she listed two homes as her primary residence.
Speaker 9 (53:26):
Was first made by someone with another agency, the Federal
Housing Finance Agency.
Speaker 7 (53:33):
And then he loudly.
Speaker 9 (53:36):
And publicly demanded interest rates cuts, and he blames the
FED for constraining the housing market with high interest rates.
Speaker 7 (53:45):
The President wants the FED to do his bidding.
Speaker 9 (53:49):
The President wants the FED to lower interest rates because
he understands that if this happens, there would be a
better demand for homes because people can use low interest
rates to buy their homes.
Speaker 7 (53:58):
So he wants lower interest rates.
Speaker 9 (54:01):
Well, mister Powell and the members of the Fed have
not decided to cut interest rates, and they haven't because
they have concerns with the tariffs that the President continually manipulates.
One day they're high, the next day they're low. The
markets are responding as he raises tariffs and lords tariffs.
(54:23):
The President is fiddling with the economy, fiddling. It would
be too polite to say that he is managing. He
is just doing things in a willy nilly way with
the economy. They go on to indicate in this article,
(54:43):
Marcus have become more skeptical of America during his second term.
The dollar has fallen nine percent against other rich world currencies.
They go on to indicate, although short term treasury yields
have fallen as the American economy has softened, longer term
yields have stayed high, reflecting investor concern about America's death
(55:09):
load and threatens the economic institutions such as the FED.
This is what the American banker has said. So yes,
the rationale for his behavior appears to be his desire
to see interest rates lord.
Speaker 7 (55:24):
But the governors at.
Speaker 9 (55:25):
The FED seem to understand that keeping these interest rates
where they are until they get a better sense of
what the tariffs are going to do to the economy
makes sense. And quite frankly, that makes sense to me,
makes sense to a good many other persons who are
supposed to know how to manage our currency. I hope
(55:48):
that the President understands that he's playing with economic fire.
Speaker 7 (55:53):
This impacts all of us.
Speaker 9 (55:55):
Every person in this country should be concerned about what
the President is attempting to do to governor cook. You
should be concerned because it can impact your interest rates.
It can impact your ability to buy a car, to
buy a whole. It can impact your ability to borrow
money to start your business or to maintain your business.
(56:16):
This is the through line to almost everything that we
do in this economy. We have to be concerned about
what the president is doing, and the course should be
the last stand against this. But if the court should
fail us, then we have to do what the Republican
(56:36):
Congress won't do, and that is to take our calls to.
Speaker 7 (56:42):
The streets of America in a peaceful.
Speaker 9 (56:45):
Way, in a peaceful, non violent way, to show the
country that Americans are concerned about what's happening.
Speaker 1 (56:53):
That was Congressman Al Green from the ninth Congressional District
in Houston, Texas, holding a press conference of the firing
Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook. The People's News is
a production of Steve Gallington and Richard Hannah and is
protected by copyright laws. All the information broadcast on air
and online, as well as published in both print and
(57:15):
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are protected by these copyright and other state and federal
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(57:37):
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permission to use copyrighted material, email Steve Gallington at Steve
atgallington dot com. Thank you.
It's the week of September twenty first, twenty twenty five,
and this is what's on the people's news. The Texas
GOP is bowing and groveling to Trump by redistricting. What
comes next? Workers continue their strike against the Hilton Hotel
in downtown Houston. Trump's white supremacist agenda is having an
(00:28):
impact in black students enrolling in college. Trump's attempt to
fire FED board members fails, but is yet another crime
against the people of America. All that and more on
the People's News. I'm Steve Gallington. This is the people's News,
and the people's news starts now. The convicted felon Trump
(00:57):
demanded it, and GOP Governor Greg Abbott and the Texas
GOP bowed to his wishes and passed redistricting in a
explosive special session. These newly approved maps which give five
more safe Republican districts to the convicted felon and to
(01:19):
the Republican Party for Democrats, who are the slim majority
in the state, It affects minority communities, especially around Dallas
and Houston. For example, longtime Congressman Al Green has had
his district expanded to include Liberty County, which is a
Republican leaning area. Doctor Michael O. Adams is the director
(01:41):
of the Master of Public Affairs graduate program at Texas
Southern University's Barbara Jordan Mickey Leland's School of Public Affairs.
He has been speaking on the issue and the future
of democracy in Texas.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Yeah, that's a good question, because, of course, in Houston
you have the largest customertration of African Americans or Blacks
in this area out of one of two metroplexes, the
other one being up in the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex.
And ironically, both of those were impacted with the redistricting process.
And I'll move from Houston to talk about Dallas and
(02:18):
how that's implicated both Dallas County and Terring County. But
I've been interviewed back and forth on this and what
I always like to suggest, I think what we're seeing
here is a classic case or a master class in
terms of vote manipulation, in terms of where given the
(02:40):
growth of Latinos and the Black population in Texas following
the last census count and I think it was over
increase of over a million, there has been a concerted design,
not only with this recycle of redistricting. But the last mass,
(03:00):
the twenty twenty one maps that were drawn, they are
currently in litigation in federal court in El Paso. And
so the Republican Party understands the growth of the minority
population in the state of Texas, who more than likely
(03:23):
will not be Republican voters. So what they've done is
to excuse me to manipulate the maps to make sure
that they would have a parson advantage inside of these
congressional districts. Now, the other part of that, we know
that we have a midterm election coming up, and as
(03:44):
the President of the United States, Donald Trump actually reached
out to Greg Abbott and said that, well, hey, I
need five more seats. And as a result of that,
we knew that there was going to be a special
session to deal with the davastation floods that we have
and I think more than one hundred people may have
(04:04):
lost their lives, lives or they're missing. And so the
legislature goes back into special session, and when they're in
the special session, uh, the registricting charge is added to
the agenda. And as we know, UH that only the
government in the state of Texas. This is by the
law and I teach teach this. In Texas politics, only
(04:26):
the governor can call and convene a special session. And
while they're in special session, Uh, they're confined to the
governor's agenda and if something needs to be added is
up to the governor to add that agenda. So that's
that's why we hear uh in terms of looking at
the registrictant. Now moving forward, do you do you do
(04:46):
you have a question or you want me to move
to Houston and talk about the impact in terms of well.
Speaker 3 (04:51):
I was just I was just curious if if if
Trump didn't didn't put this on the on the on
the on the plate, would we have had a special session?
Speaker 2 (05:01):
Now we were going to have a special session anyway
to deal with the floods. All right, the question would
from you would be would redistrict and been on the
special session agenda? Is that understanding what you're asking?
Speaker 3 (05:13):
Yeah? Yeah, yeah, basically, oh, if we didn't have this flood,
would we have had a special session? Of game with you?
What do you just what do you still call the
special session?
Speaker 2 (05:25):
Well, most people don't understand. According to the US Constitution,
we are supposed to count the population based on what
we call a decinial basis. That's every ten years. That's
in the Constitution to deal with the apportionment of the
House of Representatives in terms of we count people. And
I tell my students all the time because sometimes redistricting
(05:47):
is not understood, and I'm hoping what the only positive
things can come from this is that people will know
about redistricting and how it the implications it had for politics,
h and how it governs their their lives and also
in terms of resources coming into their state.
Speaker 3 (06:04):
All right.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Now, we have five hundred and thirty five members of
the Congress, and we have a bi camer Congress, two chambers.
In the House of Representatives. The representation there is based
upon population is proportional and in all four hundred and
(06:26):
thirty five members of the House of Representatives should represent
approximately the same number of people. So we know that
people move in population swales.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
All right.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
So we've seen growth in populations in California, which is
the largest in terms of population. They have the largest
delegation of more than fifty members of the Congress of
the House Representatives, and in the state of Texas we
have thirty eight and the population there in Florida the
population is grown, so people will move from Rush belt states,
(06:58):
they'll come from Michigan, they'll come from the people. So
those states can lose representation. Because what you do, how
do you get to the desirable number of how many
people each member of the House of Representatives should represent.
You take four thirty five and you divide that into
the population of the United States of America, and so
(07:19):
the ideal population will be between eight hundred and nine
hundred thousand for each congressional district. And that's the way
we come up with that number, all right, And there's
no mathematical exactness, like we'll say eight fifty if that's
the number, we know that CIVI or Garcia may have
eight forty, or Algreen could have a twenty. So the
(07:44):
Supreme Court will allow for what we call some deviation,
and normally that deviation is within ten percent. However, you
cannot have one member of Congress representing four hundred people
and if you have one of the other congress persons
represent eight hundred because why because a person with one
hundred four hundred here's or her vote would be twice
(08:07):
the impact. So it has to be equal in terms
of population. So that's the standard formula, and so people
have to understand that. So when they draw these districts. Now,
the US Supreme Court doesn't restrict them from calling redistricting
the districts at any time, and most people understand that.
(08:28):
And normally what has happened in the past is after
the census is taken every ten years, that's in your basis,
that's in the constitution. Where then after that, normally than
the first year twenty twenty one when Texas did it,
that's when they will draw new maps to account for
population changes. All right, And so what we have seen
(08:49):
in recent years is mid term redistricting. And I'm going
around the world to answer your question because first I'm
an academic and I'm a professor, and I have to
teach you all of these things, right, So, uh, yes,
there's nothing wrong with with what they're doing in terms
of redistricting. So to answer your question, what they have
done and now I don't think so if if top
(09:10):
had not make a call. So that's what.
Speaker 3 (09:16):
Yeah, you mentioned. You mentioned the Supreme Court and the Constitution,
And what I've seen is that what this president has
done is rechanged and restructure the Constitution and restructure the
Supreme Court all decisions. That's that they're being made right now.
So you might want to explain how some people say this.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
Is racist, Well, you know, I have to and again,
and I think that's one of the reasons I said
that I wasn't going to talk about, uh, what happened
with Charlie Kirk and whatever. But we get a lot
of misinformation and everything right now, you don't you don't
restructure as a formal process, the restructure and changing the constitution,
(09:55):
we call that the amendment process. If they want to
do a total rewrite, they have to have a convention.
Now the provisions in the Constitution for doing both of
those things all right Now, the Constitution is a living
document that is subject to interpretation. And we believe that
we're supposed to have this neutral Supreme Court or this
(10:16):
umpire if you will, which is the third branch of government,
and it was given the power of judicial review. That's
what means. It has the power to interpret the constitutions
and also deal with federal questions or disputes between states. Now,
is the Supreme Court politicized? Are they human beings? Yes,
they are. They come with persuasion and the presidents will
(10:39):
appoint people to the Supreme Court based upon whether or
not those potential justices that they place on the bench
will reflect what we call their judicial temperament. Now what
do we mean by the judicial temperament. That's a philosophical
point of view in terms of politics, whether they're liberal, conservative,
or Republican. We've seen in recent years, and Obama didn't
(11:02):
get the right to appoint Mary Garland, but we've seen
I don't want to say the packing of the court,
but adding of a Republican majority. And Trump was able
to add members to the Supreme Court, and we had
one the senator from Kentucky was Adam on but then
allow Obama to appoint Mary Garland. But however, I think
(11:29):
you can't just really blame the senator from Kentucky. But
ruthe Bada Ginsburg. She just stayed on there forever, all right,
and then when she came off, that allows somebody. So
some of these times, if you're strategic, if you're a
Supreme Court justice, and if you know that you're a
liberal persuasion, and if you have a person, if you're
believing in terms of a Democrat, would appoint somebody more
(11:51):
left the center as opposed to being a writer center.
Then why you just don't stay on message forever? All right?
So you come off all right. So that's what we've
seen in terms of the remaking of the court, all right.
And but Trump is not changing the constitution all right
in terms of right, there's a formal process for that.
But he's writing a lot of executive orders to get
(12:13):
around a number of things now and when these challenges
are calling into place, he's winning in the Supreme Court
because there's a court that is more of a kind
of conservative Supreme Court to the right, some people say extreme.
So I'll start there right talk about textas in terms
(12:34):
of how the maps in terms of what we see
in Houston.
Speaker 3 (12:37):
Yeah, yeah, I don't want to talk about that. But
also I just want to back up a bit that
when you say Ginsburg, uh to the to the left earlier,
I mean I don't understand. I mean, she didn't know
what health was going to get. We're gonna get him
as he was. I've heard criticism like that, admiration for her, right,
(12:58):
But when you know that you're an object, uh, after
you know you're in your agies or whatever, just like Biden,
we can go. And we saw his vice president release
a book this week, and now she's come out and
said something that it was basically a disaster for him
to stay there that long. And I'm talking about Kamala
Harrison in terms of bike right and and some people
(13:18):
are speaking out in terms of what we may see,
what's gonna what's gonna happen in the eighteenth Congressional district.
And I'll get more into that because al Green's district, a.
Speaker 2 (13:27):
Sizeable portion from the ninth has been moved into the
eighteenth Congression. Gotten that when you when we talk about redistrict,
you should have booked me for the day because that's
a lot that's that's taken place as a result of this.
So let's go back to the mass. Let's start in Houston, person.
So the nineteenth, I tell you, it's become with the
new math, will become a Republican right because they've included
more Republican votersts and so they took a large chunk
(13:50):
out of the ninth Congressional district the black people moved
them into the eighteenth Congressional district. So the eighteenth Congressional
district will remain even under the new mast a majority
opportunity districts for black people, all right. Actually it increased
the numbers because they were more Hispanics than Blacks in
(14:11):
the under the current configuration of the district. Okay, and
so what do we call that, well, in redistrict and parlast,
we call call that cracking and packing. So they cracked
the nineteenth, took the black voters, moved them into the eighteenth.
So they packed that concentrated them, all right, as opposed
(14:32):
to splitting them up having more blacks in the ninth
district where you get two black members of Congress, now
you will only have one. That was the aim, and
that will probably will be the eighteenth congressional district. That's
where they moved most of the black votes out of
the ninth congress districts out of that. Now, whether they
(14:53):
do for the twenty ninth district, they moved more Latinos
in that district and gives the appearance that it's a
Hispanic opportunity district. What we mean by what I mean
by opportunity district is where Hispanic candidate were to run
and then they have a good chance of winning a
majority in terms of the voting age, population, voting age
(15:15):
populations people eighteen years of age older and registered voters. Well,
a large number of citizens in the twenty ninth, and
even in the night district to a certain extent, they
may not even be citizens, or the voting age population
may may not favor Hispanics. So that's an illusion there. Now,
(15:36):
what they did to the twenty ninth, they did leave
a significant black population in that and then runs on
the north side. And what I think could happened is
that a black person could win that Democratic primary in
the twenty ninth district, And there are a number of
people I know who are looking into it. I think
Javis Johnson may be considering running for the twenty ninth
(15:58):
as opposed to running for the eighteen congress district because
he didn't file for the eighteenth congressional district in the primary.
Because Latinos and Hispanics they don't turn out, and so
that may be one of the problems. So if the
black people in that newly configured twenty ninth districts, the
one that Sevia Garcia represents, now, if they turned out
(16:18):
in the primary, which will more than life, it will
be a low turnout election. All Right, You can nominate
a black person. So that's where we are in the
Houston area in terms of the implication of the new maps,
of the new maps. But it's gonna so it's a
ball of confusion because you have this special elections for
you know, Turnacy and people in the eighteenth congressional district.
(16:40):
So oh no, I don't know. Then they change my
mat so they're listening to what happened recently. But no,
they're still in the eighteenth congressional district as it currently exists,
so they'll be able to vote in that. But whoever
win that election will have to come right back in file,
you know, and in December before yeah, right after the election,
(17:02):
they have to file to run in the twenty twenty
six print primaries. And so what I'm saying, the person
who win, and we know that the people in the
league who have the best chances Kristin Menefee, Amanda Edwards
and the month hel Lass running as a Republican and
we have some independent running right, but they're going to
(17:24):
have to come back and they have a face, al Green.
So that's what I'm saying, because a Green, you know,
people that power man, you know, you get addicted to it.
You don't want to leave Congress, right, you don't want
to retire, right. So that's where we are in terms
of day.
Speaker 1 (17:37):
That was doctor Michael O. Adams. He is the director
of the Master of Public Affairs Graduate program at TSU's
Barbara Jordan Mickey Leland's School of Public Affairs. Union workers
of the Hilton Hotel in downtown Houston voted to continue
their strike until the twentieth of this month. Union workers
walked out on strike, as reported on this show, fighting
(18:00):
for higher wages and more benefits. Some at the Hilton
have not had a raise in more than twenty plus years.
They have been with a company. Others work two or
three jobs just to make it buy. Unite Here twenty three,
the union representing the workers, stated that the latest negotiations
only lasted a short time. Now the Mayor of Houston,
(18:22):
John Whitmyer, is involved by canceling his State of the
Union function at the hotel and the city run gala
that was to be at the hotel. We talked to
Francesca Caraballo, Texas Chapter President of Unite here Local twenty
three downtown on Saturday.
Speaker 4 (18:39):
Yes, we decided to extend after having a conversation with
the company and them coming back with you know, we
can't even call it a real offer. When we came
back to the workers and let them know what the
company had said, workers unanimously said, we got to stay out,
we can't go back in.
Speaker 5 (18:57):
So we decided to extend the strikes ten more days.
Speaker 6 (19:01):
How's it gonna hold up for you guys.
Speaker 4 (19:05):
Yeah, I mean we're on day to state thirteen and
workers are feeling feeling strong. I mean, they really agitated
them the news from the company, and it just shows
that the workers are standing firm.
Speaker 5 (19:19):
They don't want to give up until they get what
they deserve. It's long overdue, so they're willing to do
what it takes.
Speaker 6 (19:24):
Did they come to offer anything anything positive?
Speaker 5 (19:28):
Or I mean not not really.
Speaker 4 (19:32):
I mean they came back with like another fifty cents,
So yeah, I mean they they originally offered fifty cents
at the table, and so.
Speaker 3 (19:43):
That's for that was it.
Speaker 6 (19:46):
You're trying to get twenty three.
Speaker 5 (19:48):
We're trying to get twenty three.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
They offered, you know, over a five year span. They
want to They had originally offered three twenty five over
five years. So some of the workers again they're making
sixteen to fifty, so they won't even make it to
twenty twenty thirty.
Speaker 5 (20:01):
So with the with the offer that they put.
Speaker 4 (20:04):
On the table back in July, you know, under twenty dollars,
we want twenty three now. So you know, they came
back after a week of striking and said, okay, we'll
bump it up to you know, we'll pump it up another.
Speaker 5 (20:17):
Fifty cents basically, So that wasn't obviously.
Speaker 7 (20:22):
Three years.
Speaker 6 (20:24):
It's not, it's not it's not immediate.
Speaker 4 (20:27):
I'm not quite sure like how it was going to
be phased in, but I just know the total package
was three seventy five over five years. Obviously, that's that's unacceptable.
That's not that doesn't meet the needs of the workers
living in Houston in.
Speaker 5 (20:39):
Twenty twenty five.
Speaker 4 (20:40):
So, uh, you know, hence why workers were you know,
ready to do whatever it takes, so they voted to
extend the strike.
Speaker 6 (20:49):
Does this include everybody?
Speaker 3 (20:51):
It's just play.
Speaker 5 (20:51):
Differently, right, Yeah, different classifications.
Speaker 2 (20:56):
More.
Speaker 5 (20:57):
There are tips, Yeah, there are tip workers.
Speaker 4 (21:00):
So tip workers do make you know, less than the
sixteen fifty hourly workers, but you know they're wages mostly
made up by tips.
Speaker 5 (21:07):
So but we are fighting for tipworkers.
Speaker 4 (21:09):
We're fighting for better gratuity, right, we need higher gratuities.
The Hilton is behind when it comes to that. Most
establishments are at least twenty to twenty five you know, gratuities.
Some of these workers are still having to coast by.
Speaker 5 (21:22):
On eighteen fifteen.
Speaker 4 (21:24):
It's just not it's not reasonable at all for a
luxurious hotel like Hilton to refuse to move up the gratuity.
So we're not just ready for the hourly workers, you know,
we're also a union of tipped employees as well.
Speaker 6 (21:38):
What about the aspect of the mayor supporting you guys,
I guess you guys went.
Speaker 7 (21:41):
To City Hall.
Speaker 5 (21:42):
Yeah, so we went to city Hall.
Speaker 4 (21:43):
We backed the room on Tuesday, we had several powerful
speakers share why they're on strike. You know, got some
responses from the city Council and the mayor. But I
think workers really felt that boost of support when the
mayor's announcement came out. I think it was the next
day he announced that he was postponing his state of
(22:04):
the city at at at the Hilton. So that's a
big move, you know, where the words maybe didn't satisfy
a lot of people that action spoke, you know, spoke
louder so that.
Speaker 6 (22:16):
Make any statement for the for the Hilton to say
anything about.
Speaker 5 (22:19):
It, not that I'm aware of.
Speaker 4 (22:21):
I haven't heard any statement from the Hilton, but I
know that it means a lot to the workers that
you know, the mayor took this action. And you know,
this morning we had the Democrat Harrison County Democratic Party
also announced that they're postponing there gala that was supposed
to take place here on the twenty end, So that.
Speaker 5 (22:36):
Really excited the workers.
Speaker 4 (22:38):
If there's a momentum, momentum right now that the workers
are feeling and and are feeling.
Speaker 6 (22:44):
Very strong and supported meeting with.
Speaker 4 (22:48):
I believe we have some meetings maybe next week. I'm
not too sure, but I believe there's gonna be some
some conversations hapening.
Speaker 6 (22:56):
Next week that's going and any possible to come out
of that.
Speaker 4 (23:00):
Or I think so, I mean, they have to be
feeling the pressure. I mean, all eyes are on them
right now. The city, you know, slowly but surely her
coalescing around the workers, and I think that the Hilton's
feeling and how do you not, I mean, it's a
city owned hotel and the City Council, the mayor, the
Democratic Party, like they've come out very strongly in support
(23:21):
of the workers, So I think that's going to move
the needle.
Speaker 6 (23:23):
All says the city run hotel explain.
Speaker 4 (23:25):
It's yeah, it's owned by the by the City by
Houston First, which is like a quasi you know, governmental agency, So.
Speaker 5 (23:35):
They are the owners of the hotel. Hilton manages the hotel.
Speaker 4 (23:38):
We bargain with Hilton, but ultimately Hilly Houston person the
City of Houston have a lot of influence over what
happens here and so for them to you know, take
these actions now, it's it shows, you know, the pressure's.
Speaker 5 (23:50):
Mounting on Hilton management to come to the table with
a real offer.
Speaker 6 (23:54):
What do you mean is for support from the community.
Speaker 4 (23:57):
Well, yeah, like I said, we have extended the right.
Workers are out of work. It's a big sacrifice. So
we do have go fund me out there that's being
shared on social media. So anybody that can that's a
that's the biggest way to support right now because people
still got to pay their bills and support their family.
So we're a lot of workers are depending on these
donations to roll in and otherwise I.
Speaker 5 (24:18):
Mean coming to the picket line.
Speaker 4 (24:19):
Sharing, sharing our stories on social media is a big
is a big help as well.
Speaker 6 (24:25):
Go fund me is unite here.
Speaker 4 (24:27):
Yes, it was created by by us by unite here.
You know, it's on our social media pages.
Speaker 6 (24:32):
Social media pages unit here twenty.
Speaker 5 (24:34):
Three Local twenty Yeah, you know, I hear Local twenty three.
Speaker 6 (24:37):
That's where you can find find out about donating. Yes, correct, cool? Yes, cool?
And they can come down and people want to come
down and help out and.
Speaker 3 (24:45):
Do that too.
Speaker 4 (24:45):
Yeah, absolutely, Yeah. We have people coming down every day
to the picket line. We're out here usually from seven
am to like seven pm.
Speaker 5 (24:51):
We have picket lines.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
We do take breaks because it's hot out here, but
you know, come by and stick around for for picketing.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
That was Francesca carballa Texas chapter president of unite here
Local twenty three. They are continuing their strike against the
Hilton Hotel in downtown Houston. Their Facebook page is unite
here Local twenty three.
Speaker 8 (25:15):
Hi.
Speaker 1 (25:15):
This is Steve Gallington, producer and host of the People's News.
If you have a story that needs to be told,
come to us. We accept fully produced audio, written material,
or just give us the idea and we will run
with it shiny. New one hour episodes of The People's
News drop each Sunday on The People's News podcast, hosted
(25:37):
by spreaker dot com and linked to my website Gallington
dot com. Months after targeting schools like Harvard with anti
Semitism allegations which have since been found false, and denying
federal funds to the school, now the convicted felon's criminal
administration is saying that schools are using proxies for race
(25:59):
in admission, even though there is no proof of that.
In late July, Attorney General Pam Bondi warned in a
memo against using unlawful proxies for race, such as geography
or applicants essays on overcoming hardships in admissions. Soon after,
the US Education Department announced that it would require universities
(26:20):
to report new data on applicants broken down by race
to ensure race based preferences are not used. Universities have
been prohibited from using racial preferences in admission since the
Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in twenty twenty three.
The Trump administration suggests that schools may be flouting the ban.
(26:41):
In the end, this results in fewer black students being
accepted to higher education. We talked to Dante King, author
of the new book Diagnosing Whiteness and Anti Blackness. He
spoke on what he sees is happening, what I see here.
Speaker 8 (26:56):
When I'm looking at this, especially when we look at
the memo that was issued by Pam Bondi in July,
the Attorney General, and they are targeting what they are
calling unlawful proxies for race. So go with me, unlawful
proxies such as geography or applicant essays on overcoming hardships,
(27:21):
all right. So in their minds, they have ideas about
what they're projecting is associated with certain races based on
these what they're calling unlawful proxies. This is all about
them projecting racist ideas and trying to find various ways
based on their projections with not roots in reality, to
(27:44):
try and limit the access to these institutions by black
and brown people. What is so interesting about this is
we know that by the numbers, there are more poor
white people in this country, because there are more white
people in this country by the numbers, all right, So
if we're talking about the likelihood of people who would
(28:07):
potentially you know, write more of these hardship essays or
you know, if they're coming from environments where they're writing
about how they had to overcome situations such as poverty,
et cetera. The likelihood of that there are more white
people doing that is very likely and very high. So
(28:28):
you know, this is all about to me, and I
write about this in my book, Diagnosing Whiteness and Anti Blackness.
This is all about psychological projection. You've got the other guy,
Edward Bloom, going on record. He's the one who brought
who got behind those Asian students and they were able
to bring that case that struck down affirmative action to
the Supreme Court in twenty twenty three. He says, I
(28:48):
suspect a goodly percentage are using illegal proxies because to
your point, black enrollment didn't fall in certain schools, and
so he's saying, I suspect the percentage are using ill proxies.
This is all about suspicion. This is all about ideas,
psychological projection, ideas that are that are not rooted in reality,
(29:11):
and it is in alignment with what this country is
all about, the legacy of this country, which is targeting
black people using American institutions and the predominance of the
white race and community using white institutions and manipulating institutions
to target black people. The legacy of this country is
(29:32):
anti black racism and white supremacy. And I think we
need to unpack this through both the historical and current
lens if we're ever to understand how these things have
been programmed and trained in over centuries.
Speaker 3 (29:47):
What why do you say this, but the predominant classes
are or still you know, the special major universities are
still being attach bio by so called allowing more afric
Commericans to go to school there. And I'm talking about
major university like Howard Howard, but like Harvard, Berkeley and
(30:11):
those types of schools. Those are the schools that are
being attacked by the time.
Speaker 8 (30:15):
Well, it's it's not and I'm not trying to you know,
assert or put forth any type of conspiracy theories. But
you know, one of the things that I thought about
over the last few years, especially when Trump was being
you know, before he ran for office, he decided to
run for office, and then they brought forth you know,
(30:37):
they started bringing forth those investigations regarding you know, January
sixth and so the other things. He's he's he was
prosecuted by you know, three top officials who happened to
be black, Alvin Bragg, Letitia James Fini, Fannie uh I
forget her last name, Willis. And then you've got you know,
(31:02):
Joe Biden coming along, and he appoints, for the first
time ever, the first black female Supreme Court justice. And
if we go back in history and we look at
when Lyndon B. Johnson, you know, after he was out
of office, they elected Nixon right after him, and that
had to do with a lot of wide America who
(31:24):
were very angry and upset about the Civil Rights build
of nineteen sixty four, the Voting Rights Act of nineteen
sixty five, and the Fair Housing Act of nineteen sixty eight.
In mind, you there's a Supreme Court ruling that actually
upheld the Civil Rights Act of eighteen sixty six, that
said that racial discrimination in housing was unjust because of
(31:44):
the Civil Rights Act of eighteen sixty six. And so
you have all of these things converging at that time,
and then Lyndon B. Johnson for the first time ever
appoints the first black Supreme Court justice, which is third
good Marshall wider America lost its mind and so we're
seeing the same thing here. And they don't want us
at these IV League institutions, and they are finding ways
(32:05):
to ensure that black people are not able to attend. Ever,
they just do not want a black presence at these
iv LEU institutions because they don't want another Fannie Willis.
They don't want another Katanji Brown Jackson. They don't want
another joy and Reid. We I mean, we have to
look at this through both the political and economic lands.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
What do you know, like at us also women the
speritin the HBCU schools and help more people attending the
HBCU schools making it as stronger.
Speaker 8 (32:39):
Well, you know what's very interesting you know about HBCUs
and this is very unfortunate I have you know, my
background is in human resources management, and I can say honestly,
I mean I've worked for some pretty national large corporations.
American institutions and degrees from HBCUs are not recognized the
(33:03):
same across this country. There are institutions just as well,
you know, geographically, just as well as you know, having
a certain brand right that when they are looking at
or assessing one qualifications for a position. They will look
and say, Okay, this person went to a first race school,
(33:26):
which is our Ivy League institutions, which are historically white institutions.
And then they will say, oh, this person wish to
a went to an ABC HBCUs And they're almost saying
it in ways that well, this is looked upon as
somewhat of an immigrant degree. It does not hold the
same weight. And so I think we have to look
at that too, because blackness in this country is seen
(33:50):
as something politically that is not that does not hold
the same value as things that are historically white and
or predominantly white.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
And I was going to say, but they still take
in our athletes.
Speaker 8 (34:04):
You know, right, well.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
We want the earlier you don't.
Speaker 3 (34:11):
By the way, those those athletes graduation rate.
Speaker 2 (34:13):
Is still low.
Speaker 8 (34:15):
Wow, And what And that's a great point. That is
a great point. What I've always said to that though, too,
is that white people are comfortable with diversity as long
as they're able to exploit that diversity, as long as
they're able to see themselves as superior over that diversity.
So they're fine with black people being the entertainment. We've
(34:37):
always been the entertainment. They're comfortable. We can sing, dance,
we can record music, we can hold concerts, we can
host comedy shows, we can be athletes. They're fine with
us within that context. You can be from the breakfast
club to stephen A. Smith. They're fine with us in
positions of entertainment. But when we step outside of that
and we try to access positions to hold real influ
(35:00):
and power, they are not fine with that at all,
especially when that power compromise their own ideas about themselves
and their standing. You know, and I think we have
to understand that this is about uplifting and the resurgence
of you know, employing white inadequacy in white mediocrity across
(35:21):
American institutions. You know, the guy that is in the
Trump administration, Dan Batty. He talks about how American institutions
need to be run by competent white men.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
But what have we've seen.
Speaker 8 (35:32):
We've seen Pete heck Seth in Signal Gay. We've seen
Donald Trump, who is an admitted predator, who can't string
five citizens to get coherent citences together, who probably did
not take his own tests to write his own dissertation
to get out of college, who most likely didn't take
his own SAPs. What have we've seen. We've seen grifters.
We've seen grifters be funneled through these institutions because they
(35:54):
function on white affirmative action systems and processes of wide
affirmative action and have to say, a white sponsorship.
Speaker 3 (36:03):
We'll see this though. It puts it puts miss of
for the Americans in a spot because if you're not accepted,
you're not accepted in those those ivor league schools or
even even the state fund the state schools when it's
the same time you're defunding HBCU schools. Where those kids
(36:23):
to go if they're not an athlete or or or
or something to to to benefit that school.
Speaker 8 (36:30):
Well, let's be clear. These are people, I mean, over time,
we can just look back historically and watch what they've said.
For for the most part, especially those that make up
Donald Trump's followers, many of these people think don't don't
think highly of education at all. They want the educational
(36:53):
system defunded, They want these schools and institutions defunded. They
don't believe that they have value, and they really look
down or are quite bitter in terms of the sentimentality
that is expressed or conveyed when you know you're talking
about someone, even a white person that went to an
Ivy League school, they think that, you know, those individuals
(37:15):
for the most part, are classes that you know, education
people believe that they are better because they have gone
to these schools, and particularly liberal people. They believe that
many of these institutions have turned liberal because of philosophies
that are taught at these schools. Many of them have
ethnic studies departments. Many of them teach history that's very
(37:35):
you know, his disciplines in history within the history discipline
that are very expansive and don't just tell the white
narrative of you know, our country and the cherish narratives
that we hear about this country. And so they want
to dismantle those programs within these institutions, and they want
to dismantle some of these institutions. There's a lot of
(37:58):
ire and retribution that is felt where these institutions are concerned.
So some of these people that we're talking about would
rather not have education in this country.
Speaker 2 (38:09):
And so where are we at?
Speaker 3 (38:13):
What do you tell a young young black students just
graduating in high school.
Speaker 8 (38:18):
Well, I don't know where we are I mean, I
think we also have to contend with and deal with
the fact that education in this country has been a business,
but it's been sold as something that everyone should do
and once you do it, once you go through that process,
you will have access to opportunity. And yet we see
(38:39):
that that's not the case. We see that even while
many times there can be more jobs being produced to
the economy through the economy, that many people are still jobless.
Many people are in this country are still jobless. And
you want to know why, because you're recruiting people internationally.
Even though those jobs reports talk about jobs that are
(39:00):
directly impacting the American economy, many of those jobs are
not located here. Many of them are located internationally. And
so we have to understand that people go into debt
trying to access this opportunity, and then most people don't
even find jobs. I'm not going to say most of
many don't find jobs in the disciplines that they study.
Many people go through that process, go through the educational
(39:22):
process expecting that they're going to be able to make
a livable wage to afford not only liveability, but to
also pay back their student loans. In many cases, that
does not happen. So we have to think about, you know,
what is education set up to do in this country,
who is it for and who really is able to
benefit from it in terms of exercising it to access opportunity.
Speaker 1 (39:44):
That was Dante King, author of the new book Diagnosing
Whiteness and Anti Blackness, and yet another move to distract
away from his decades long relationship with convicted sex predator
and pedophile Jeffrey Epstein and Lane Maxwell. The convicted felon, criminal, corrupt,
(40:04):
and incompetent. Donald Trump has called on his toady, Bill Poulty,
to go after his perceived enemies. Bill Poulty of Poulty Holmes.
Yes that Bill Poulty was named by Trump as the
director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and as such
(40:24):
has been filing criminal referrals to the Justice Apartment against
Trump's perceived enemies, Adam shift Letitia James and now finally
one of the Fed Governor's Lisa Cook, Congressman of the
ninth Congressional District in Houston, Al Green, the top Democrat
on the US House Financial Services Committee's Subcommittee on Oversight
(40:47):
and Investigations, which oversees the federal Reserve system. The FED
condemned the felon's unjustified and unprecedented firing of doctor Lisa Cook,
the first black woman appointed to the fed's Board of Governors,
as well as his unbridled efforts to undermine the independence
of the FED. The Federal Reserve is the central bank
(41:09):
of the United States. Its dual mandate is to promote
maximum employment and insure stable prices. In pursuing this dual mandate,
the FED was designed to function independently of political pressure
from either the President or Congress. Doctor Cook was appointed
to the fed's Board of Governors by President Biden and
(41:31):
approved by the Congress in twenty twenty two. He spoke
on this and his thoughts on not representing the district
because of the new redistricting map in Texas Quora.
Speaker 9 (41:42):
Thanks the members of the press for appearing on what
I consider short notice, but I do believe that there's
good reason for us to have this press event.
Speaker 7 (41:53):
The President has said that he has fired FED board
member Lisa Cook.
Speaker 9 (42:02):
The board member list the Cook has indicated that she
is suing the President and in fact has done so.
The FED chair Powell, has indicated that he will abide
by the court's decision, President says he's fired her this.
(42:23):
Cook has indicated that she is suing the President with
regards to what she believes to be an unjust firing,
and the Chair of the FED has indicated that he
will abide by the court's decision. I think that the
Chair Chair Powell, did not say enough. It is my
(42:45):
opinion that he is surrendering some of the independence of
the FED by giving an incomplete statement. I believe he
should have gone on to indicate that until the court
renders a decision, he will consider her.
Speaker 7 (43:03):
A member of the FED. The President is playing with
economic fire.
Speaker 9 (43:11):
In doing this, the President is putting the credibility of
our central Bank, which is thought to be an independent agency.
The President is putting the credibility of our independent bank
at risk. Global markets do not want our central bank
(43:32):
to become a presidential tool, something that he can at
a whim decide that interest rates may escalate or they
may decline, and the President does do things on a whim.
It seems in doing this, the President is demonstrating once
again that he has little respect for due process.
Speaker 3 (43:56):
Ms.
Speaker 7 (43:57):
Cook has not been charged with a crime.
Speaker 9 (44:00):
She has not obviously been convicted if she hasn't been charged,
she hasn't been convicted of any crime, not charged with
any crime. The President does not have proper respect for
a process, a due process. The President does not have
respect for the independence of the FED. The independence of
(44:22):
the FED is the means by which the FED maintains
its credibility. Global markets depend on this independence, and the
President is eroding the independence of the FED. And unfortunately,
mister Powell, in not standing with his Governor Cook, has
(44:42):
to a limited extent, surrendered some of that independence. The
President has demonstrated to us that he believes he is
more than the president of the United States. He is
the jury president, but he sees himself as a de
facto king, a de facto authoritarian president who.
Speaker 7 (45:07):
Can do anything that he wants, and has said as much.
The President cannot.
Speaker 9 (45:13):
Be allowed to destroy the dollar as the world's supreme currency.
It is the currency of choice, the reserve currency of choice,
and it is the currency of choice because people have
faith in the FED, and they have faith in the
FED because they don't believe the FED is tied.
Speaker 7 (45:33):
To the President. The President is playing with economic fire.
Speaker 9 (45:39):
If we lose dollar supremacy, it will have an impact
on our bond market.
Speaker 7 (45:45):
Our bond market is sought after globally.
Speaker 9 (45:48):
The bond market is what is used by municipalities when
they're issuing new debts, by corporations when they issue new debt.
The bond market is something that is not only helping
to stabilize this country, it really is important in geopolitical stabilization.
We have a duty and a responsibility to protect the
(46:12):
independence of the FED. Now let me define the we
and use a personal pronoun. I have served on the
Financial Services Committee since I arrived in Congress. I've had
the pre eminent honor and privilege of being the chairperson
of Oversight and Investigations, the subcommittee of the Financial Services Committee.
(46:34):
I am now the ranking member of the Oversight Subcommittee
of Financial Services.
Speaker 7 (46:39):
It is Financial Services that has jurisdiction of oversight for
the FED.
Speaker 9 (46:47):
When I say we, I'm talking about now members of
the Financial Services Committee. We have a responsibility to take
the stand to protect the independence of the FED. I
as a member of that committee, I'm going to do
all that I can, especially as the ranking member on Oversight.
Speaker 7 (47:06):
That means that I'm the top Democrat on the Oversight Subcommittee.
Speaker 9 (47:12):
And I'm gonna do everything that I can to protect
the independence of the FED, because in so doing, I'm
protecting the independence of our economy, our sovereignty. This is
bigger than the President simplifying a person. This is an
assault on the institution that has made our economy the
(47:33):
envy of the world. Yes, we in Congress play a role,
Yes we do. Yes, the President plays a role. But friends,
that independence of the FED is what global markets and
leaders look to when they want to invest in the
United States of America. So I'm calling them the President
(47:55):
to cease and desist with this unreasonable behavior. He has
gone too far. He's playing with economic fire, and he
he must retract what he is doing. If he does not,
then it's up to the courts. And I say the
(48:16):
courts because this could matriculate to the Supreme Court, and
it's up to these courts to do what they must
to protect the independence of the FED. Because the FED,
as it was designed, was to be an independent agency
within the federal government. It's not a separate government and
to itself, but it is an independent agency within the
(48:36):
federal government, and that independence makes all the difference. Now,
I want to close with something before I take your questions,
it's important for us to note that our president is
(48:59):
going after agency after agency, and in so doing, he
is taking away the credibility of these agencies. He has
looked at the labor markets in the sense of the
way he behaves when he sees a report that he
(49:24):
doesn't like. If it indicates that employment is great, it
is valid, it's legitimate. If the number is not something
that he finds favor with, he not only expresses his displeasure,
he goes after the entity, the agency that has acquired
the empirical evidence to produce the numbers that he finds.
Speaker 7 (49:47):
This favor with. The President believes that only he is
right and the world is wrong.
Speaker 9 (49:56):
This cannot continue. The president has it's got to be
brought back into control. If the courts can't do it
because he disrespects them, and the Congress won't do it
because he controls the Republican majority, then.
Speaker 7 (50:16):
We the people have the final option, and we have to.
Speaker 9 (50:20):
Say to the President and know on certain terms you
will not miss the president destroy the American economy.
Speaker 7 (50:28):
We the people can do this with many things.
Speaker 9 (50:31):
We have our voices, but we also have the right
to protest I'm a believer in Protestation. It was Protestation
that brought me to Congress. It was the Edmund Pettis
Bridge on bloody Sunday in nineteen sixty five, when persons
were beaten back to the church where they started as
(50:52):
they approached this bridge, they were beaten back to the
church where they started. John Lewis was there and he
told me the story, said he thought he was gonna
die on the end the Petts Bridge that the Voting
Rights Act was signed. Many of us who are in
Congress now are there because of the Voting Rights Act.
President is assaulting the Voting Rights Act. The courts are
abiding with his assault, and unfortunately Section two is under
(51:17):
great threat. Just today the governor has signed I believe
his new jerry mandering, unlawful jerry mandering that will challenge
in court.
Speaker 7 (51:29):
But the point is the President is doing all that
he can to destroy these.
Speaker 9 (51:36):
Institutions, and many of us in Congress because of these institutions.
So we have to protect what has caused us to
have the greatest economy in the world, and we have
to protect it with all lawful means necessary. And Protestation,
what happened that the Edmund Pettis Bridge is a supreme
(51:57):
superb example of how Protestation can be a difference because
it's made a difference in who's in the Congress of
the United States of America. The diversity in the Congress
of the United States of America. Protestation lead, legal, lawful, peaceful,
non violent. Protestation is a methodology by which change can
(52:19):
be made. And I believe that the President is going
to see more and more of this as he continues
his unbridled assault on American institutions. I welcome your questions.
Speaker 10 (52:38):
Why do you, in your opinion, why do you think
he did what he did to becong reserve. Well, let's
hear from the American Banker. The American Banker published an
independent piece and it is styled Fan's Independent Hangs on
Meaning of four Calls, published on August twenty nine, twenty five.
(52:59):
Let's read some of what they say here to answer
the question. The question is why do I believe he
has done this committed this act of firing. Let's read
what the American Banker says.
Speaker 9 (53:13):
It's indicates here in part ms Cook has not been
charged with the crime, let alone convicted of what.
Speaker 7 (53:20):
The claim that she listed two homes as her primary residence.
Speaker 9 (53:26):
Was first made by someone with another agency, the Federal
Housing Finance Agency.
Speaker 7 (53:33):
And then he loudly.
Speaker 9 (53:36):
And publicly demanded interest rates cuts, and he blames the
FED for constraining the housing market with high interest rates.
Speaker 7 (53:45):
The President wants the FED to do his bidding.
Speaker 9 (53:49):
The President wants the FED to lower interest rates because
he understands that if this happens, there would be a
better demand for homes because people can use low interest
rates to buy their homes.
Speaker 7 (53:58):
So he wants lower interest rates.
Speaker 9 (54:01):
Well, mister Powell and the members of the Fed have
not decided to cut interest rates, and they haven't because
they have concerns with the tariffs that the President continually manipulates.
One day they're high, the next day they're low. The
markets are responding as he raises tariffs and lords tariffs.
(54:23):
The President is fiddling with the economy, fiddling. It would
be too polite to say that he is managing. He
is just doing things in a willy nilly way with
the economy. They go on to indicate in this article,
(54:43):
Marcus have become more skeptical of America during his second term.
The dollar has fallen nine percent against other rich world currencies.
They go on to indicate, although short term treasury yields
have fallen as the American economy has softened, longer term
yields have stayed high, reflecting investor concern about America's death
(55:09):
load and threatens the economic institutions such as the FED.
This is what the American banker has said. So yes,
the rationale for his behavior appears to be his desire
to see interest rates lord.
Speaker 7 (55:24):
But the governors at.
Speaker 9 (55:25):
The FED seem to understand that keeping these interest rates
where they are until they get a better sense of
what the tariffs are going to do to the economy
makes sense. And quite frankly, that makes sense to me,
makes sense to a good many other persons who are
supposed to know how to manage our currency. I hope
(55:48):
that the President understands that he's playing with economic fire.
Speaker 7 (55:53):
This impacts all of us.
Speaker 9 (55:55):
Every person in this country should be concerned about what
the President is attempting to do to governor cook. You
should be concerned because it can impact your interest rates.
It can impact your ability to buy a car, to
buy a whole. It can impact your ability to borrow
money to start your business or to maintain your business.
(56:16):
This is the through line to almost everything that we
do in this economy. We have to be concerned about
what the president is doing, and the course should be
the last stand against this. But if the court should
fail us, then we have to do what the Republican
(56:36):
Congress won't do, and that is to take our calls to.
Speaker 7 (56:42):
The streets of America in a peaceful.
Speaker 9 (56:45):
Way, in a peaceful, non violent way, to show the
country that Americans are concerned about what's happening.
Speaker 1 (56:53):
That was Congressman Al Green from the ninth Congressional District
in Houston, Texas, holding a press conference of the firing
Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook. The People's News is
a production of Steve Gallington and Richard Hannah and is
protected by copyright laws. All the information broadcast on air
and online, as well as published in both print and
(57:15):
or online, including articles, audio, clips, illustrations, graphics, photographs, and videos,
are protected by these copyright and other state and federal
intellectual property laws. Therefore, you may not use our content
in any prohibited way, including reproducing, publishing, transmitting, selling, rewriting, broadcasting,
or posting on the Internet without the expressed written permission
(57:37):
of the People's News. Prohibited use also includes publication of
our material in printed or electronic brochures, newsletters, or flyers,
as well as all website or email distribution. To obtain
permission to use copyrighted material, email Steve Gallington at Steve
atgallington dot com. Thank you.
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