Triana Arnold James, President of the National Organization For Women

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
All right, by welcome to anotheredition of the Leadership Podcast with your host

(00:03):
Recalled Your Rights and my co hostSimon. All right, so we rolled
it right along all today. Wegot a lovely treat in the studio on
today. Now, if you followedus during the pandemic, you met her
then? Was that twenty twenty one? Yeah, it was when we were
doing virtual, which y'all know,I hate it, but I did virtue
because the show had to go on, so we did virtual and we had

(00:25):
a lovely time with this young lady. So I'm a pastor to her.
She's gonna introduce herself and tell y'allall about her. Hello, Hello,
Hello, he thank you so muchfor having me in the studio. See
the whole different field when you Yeah, but it's got a good feel to
it, good feel. I'm TriannaArnold James for the listening audience. I

(00:48):
am the president of Georgia Now NationalOrganization for Women, which is the largest
feminist organization in the country. AndI'm also I sit on the board for
the same organization, and I amthe national chair for the Committee on Global
Feminism. So I get to workon a state level, a district level,

(01:11):
and a global level. So I'mexcited about that. You said she's
that chick for y'all. Did y'alldidn't get that she's saying, she's that
chick. We're here for it werefor. But we uh we uh fight
for the people we advocate for.We have six core issues, one being
reproductive constitutional equality, racial justice,economic justice, the lgbt Q bus community,

(01:38):
and ending violence against women. Soso we we touch on a little
bit of everything, but we honein on those six core issues. All
right, all right, So let'srevisit some some current events. Since we
have the Chick the check in thestudio, and since Georgia has solidified itself

(01:59):
as being the most important, oneof the most important states for the whole
country for good and for horrible reasons. Literally, I think we're in the
south. I think there's a lotthat we can discuss. We are,
as I said in the middle ofwe're really right in the swing of our
state legislative session. Lots of differenttopics going around, and there's a few
things. We've talked about this alittle bit earlier, but we haven't had

(02:22):
a chance to get into a lotof the meat because there's just so much
so I thought maybe we could startactually with something a little light, not
lighter, but a little shorter.Particularly, I don't know what is light.
Essentially, there is a bill thatthe Senate has recently approved on banning

(02:43):
the counting of ballots from q Rcode. So the Georgia Senate in particular,
this bill would require that there's thereadable portion, so the part of
the ballot that is read by themachines and allows of us to be counted
would not exist, so that essentiallythe only thing that would be there are
things that are legible and quote unquotehuman language. According to Max Burns,
Republican Max Burns, the goal isfor people to have to I guess count

(03:08):
by looking at the printed text orfilling in the owls next to the Canada's
names, and Republicans claim that itwill reduce the risk of tampering, that
it will make it hack proof.Once again, there's no indication that the
Georgia's boding machines have been breached duringan election. Our Republican Secretary of State
Brad Raeflersberger has said again not onlyis that there's never been any breach,

(03:31):
but also that this would be impossibleto implement for the twenty twenty four election.
It's just not a thing that wecould get done that quickly, which
right, I mean, it shouldmake sense. However, yeah, pass
the Senate. So do we haveany thoughts on well, oh gosh,
the ballots, the ballots in thestate of Georgia. And yes, you're
absolutely right. All roads to theWhite House leads to Georgia. Georgia completely

(03:54):
come that battleground state, and soit's very important. But I wish they
would just get on one page whenit comes to the ballots and what goes
on the ballots. Of course,you know, we've had issues with our
ballots and you know what they're talkingabout, fraud and things like that with

(04:18):
the State of Georgia. But butwe need to go into modern technology.
And if you're taking a piece ofpaper and you're just looking at you know,
and I don't know if y'all rememberwhen you used to take the SAT

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you take physically and you have tobubble it in. Well, sometimes those
bubbles wasn't read problem. Yeah,especially the race and try to switch and
switch the answers. You know,if you you know, you want a
you put a and you color itin and then you're like, no,
wait a minute, I need B, and then you gotta go and read
it. So A and B isbeing read. So my issue is how

(05:05):
will that translate into technology and beread properly. That's my problem with that.
Yeah, I mean it's it's it'sa quote unquote goal to make sure
that citizens can trust the process andbelieve it will go a long way.
And the quote the quote in particularfrom this from Max Burns with citizens don't

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trust the QR codes. They don'ttrust them. Oh please, that's that's
republican language. But we don't trustIt's right, we want to change it
because we don't trust it. Right, the estimated costs will be twenty five
million dollars or will we have thebubble stuff in and they seeing the people
that count? Because I don't wantto I want to be going like I
do give at right now, Igo in and and and then I'm done.

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I don't want to go exactly.I don't want to take a standardize
test to vote. What it soundslike. No, that's another ploice because
they know people like me don't.We don't want to do that. So
now you know I'm not even gonnabe bothered with it because I can't just
go in and come out. Won'twe bother with it? Yeah? That's
I think it's an it's just anotheropportunity to suppress the vote. Yep.
Yeah. People don't like to beinconvenience and any and I've noticed that's what

(06:09):
they do. Anything that's going toinconvenience the voters, particularly us, they'll
do because it'll stop us because theyknow, you know, not that into
it. So anything that's going tomake it more complicated than all then we
feel that already is we're just talkingto do it. You're like, yeah,
it's just a funny idea. AndI'm taking it back to the sort

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of election integrity conversations we're having inthe previous legislature with like Senate Bill to
two, and you know, allthe conversations about the technology being you know,
so untrustworthy, and it was likewhen you go to the grocery store
and you get a receipt and thereis a code, a barcode on that
receipt. Can you read the barcode? No? Is that human readbel
text? No? But it's abar code. You know what it is,

(06:50):
you know what it's for. Youknow when you go to the counter
with it that they're going to scanit and that's it. There's nothing else
to worry about. So right,yeah, it's republic anything. Yeah,
inconvence they gonna do. Yeah.I just think they're making it more,
uh more complicated to discourage and furthersuppress the vote. And uh so what

(07:11):
we have to do is to youknow, and it's kind of like with
my organization, because we do getout to vote. We do this thing
called no before you Go Vote campaign. We did it, well, we've
done it for the last couple ofyears, but we're really gonna do it
this presidential election year. And whatwe do is we educate and we actually
take printers. We have portable printersaround and we print your ballot so you

(07:36):
know, before you go vote.Helpful And and at first I thought,
okay, well, why can't wejust print ballots and make copies and just
pass them out. Well, everybody'sballot is different because you know, you
may live in the area where you'revoting for city or county, and I
may live in an unincorporated area whereI'm not voting for city and I'm I'm

(08:00):
only voting for state or Congress.So I and here's my whole day with
the ballots, right, we needto flip it. That's what we really
need to do. The presidential spotneeds to be the last spot on the
ballot because most people do not hearagain what we were talking about, how

(08:22):
making it complicated. Most people don'tvote down ballot. They go in and
they vote for the president or thegovernor and they're out, you know.
And that's why there was a bigdifference between when Senator Warnock ran, Senator
Ossov and our Public Service Commissioner DanielBlackman. There was at least over one

(08:43):
hundred thousand vote difference if not more, between the three. And that's because
people go and vote for Senator Warnockout or vote for Warnock and assof and
they're out instead of voting down ballots. So That'sumber one is the q R
codes. Let's let's stick to moderntechnology. Number two, let's change the

(09:05):
ballot. Let's switch switch it aroundso even ballot initiatives can be on the
top. And number three, oh, okay, we lead a ballot boxes
where they are because when people getgo, you get off work, you
know, you could just drive off, drop that ballot off and keep it
moving. It was the removal ofthe ballot boxes from places where they're convenient

(09:28):
where people see them, to onlythe county Registrar's office and inside. Right,
So which if I was going todo that, then I don't need
I mean actual vote. And thenthe it's only open to five o'clock facts,
So if you get off work atfive o'clock, which most people do,
how are you going to go vote? You know? And then you

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know, and let's not talk aboutit, you know, election Day not
being a federal holiday, which whichthat was several times. That's when the
proposals so many. I don't understand. I truly don't understand that. Always
when this stuff comes up, myquestion is what is the opposing argument?
So what is the argument not makingthat holiday? What is the argument?
That's that's the part that always getsthe legitimate argument? What's the legitimate argument?

(10:16):
I don't know, actually what isthe argument? Right? Argument is
Republicans know that the more people vote, the weaker their chances are. I
mean, we know that's Republicans.We know that that's that's their reason.
What is their legitimate argument in frontof them, in front in front of
a federal holiday so people can govote. I'm saying, what's on the
other side of it, like,what is the what is the argument for

(10:37):
not doing it? That's that's myquestion, Like what is their argument for
not doing it? Because they wantto keep their power, But how do
they formulate that into something that's viableto keep it from actually passed? And
that's my question. Call me thatday because I want to come. I
want to be I want you tomake this argument in front of me about
how make this a ballid argument aboutwhy we can't make this. We have
to take a trip to Washington,d C. I'm down. I'm like,

(11:00):
I really want to see the viableargument that you put up to not
make this a national holliday. Yeah, let's talk about different Georgia Shenanigans,
because we also wanted to talk alittle bit about women and about reproductive health.
And it was I think last fallNovember October, the Supreme Court of
Georgia reversed the lower court ruling sayingthat Georgia's abortion ban was unconstitutional, upheld

(11:24):
it essentially, so that was HouseBill four eight to one. The Living
Infanse Fairness and Equality Act was upheldin Georgia and so since then there have
been like a slew of different typesof pieces of legislation, not just in
Georgia but across the country to tryto find ways to safeguard, you know,
the right to reproductive health. Andthe Supreme Court very very recently it

(11:48):
was disclosed there will be ruling ona case involving restrictions to a pill called
mepha practice or yeah, the drugname and like the like the jargon name
are very similar, so it doesn'thelp you say any better, but yeah,
So last year, a Texas judgerule to suspend the FDA's approval of
this abortion pill, I mean,response to a lawsuit by the conservative coalition

(12:09):
Alliance for Defending Freedom. So theSupreme Court will be ruling on this very
soon to determine kind of what thiswhat this looks like. Strangely enough,
there have been so many different waysthat like this is translated, not just
in politics, but like to thebusiness world as well. There was some
protests going on against CBS in Californiafor about three months last year because a

(12:30):
few cvs has decided that they wouldnot be carrying it, and word got
out about that, and I thinkthat the actual governor excuse me, the
governor of California came out and spokeagainst like admonished those cvs is because of
for your out to carry it.So it's been interesting to see like how
business and like big pharma are respondingto these sorts of things. I'm still

(12:52):
obviously much more's learned about like womenand doctors and you know, potential liability
for doctors. But yeah, it'sit's going to lead to pharmaceudic companies manufacturing
some pill they're typically in favor of. Like that's just what it is.
Like healthcare is a business. Asmuch as I hate, I'm recognized that
they can come up with new pillsthat they can put us but or just

(13:15):
but denying access to things that couldbe helpful as a problem, right,
or making it completely unaffordable, rightinsulin, And I mean we have those
conversations last year too. Well let'sgo back a little bit. Okay,
when the Supreme Court overturned Rob Wade, Georgia stepped in and enacted HB four
eighty one and said that the sixweek abortion band is in effect and legal

(13:41):
in the state of Georgia, whichwe know that that's crazy because most women
don't even know that they're pregnant bysix weeks and so. So then so
the court says, well, we'llleave it up to well, the federal
government needs to make these laws.Then Texas came, so, so now

(14:03):
the abortion bands are going on.I like. So then Texas came and
they said, well, the abortionpill is illegal and it's left up to
the states. So my thing is, Okay, which one you want to
do? Does the federal government wantto tell us what we can and cannot
do with our body or or thisor Texas want to say, leave it

(14:28):
up to the states, So whichone? Or vice versa. Texas says,
okay, it's up to the federalgovernment. The federal government says it's
up to the states. So whichone? So where do we go?
So my question to y'all two is, because y'all see this more than I
do. Is this a boys versusgirls thing? Or are there actually women
who are actually on the side.Let me take you, Let me take

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you. I'm very curious about it. It's about keeping women property. Do
you know our only constitutional right iswomen And the only place that we're listed
in the highest law of land isour right to vote. That's the only
guaranteed constitutional right we as women have. That's it. That's it constitutional right.

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That's the only one is our rightto vote. Did you know that
we couldn't even own a business untilnineteen eighty eight? You serious? We
couldn't get a credit card until ninetyor hold a bank account without our husbands
until nineteen seventy two. This isreal. Yeah, this is real.
So when it comes to these abortionbands trickling, it's taking away our rights

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and keeping us in that box wherewe are considered chattel, where we're considered
property. And it's even worse forblack women and women of color, saying
this is across the border. Soyeah, yah, So they say they're
preserving life. But here's my thingyou care about. You talk about what's

(16:03):
in the womb. Let's talk aboutwhat's outside the womb. Let's talk about
job training, Let's talk about resources. Let's talk about educator raising children for
example. Right, Like we werejust talking about this with UH with health
care and with Medicare and with medicaidin Georgia and and what we don't haven't
talked about very extensively on this show. But I would love to talk to
somebody who knows more about it ismaternal mortality and the racial impact of maternal

(16:26):
mortality race in Georgia, where thisis one of the least safe states to
give birth right and then this isthe worst, it's the worst, is
the worst state to get especially forblack women. Explain this because for people,
for boys like me who aren't reallyI don't want to say invested,
but it's just not the top ofour list because it's not our body.
Black women are three times higher todie in childbirth than it than any other

(16:52):
race, and that's particularly get worse. I know that. So it's been
getting worse. It's not like it'sa flat line. And that's because you
know, people don't believe us whenwe say we're in pain or we need
this, oh we need I experiencedit. I mean I'm a veteran.
I don't know if you all knowthat or not. And you know I

(17:17):
have experienced where and I've become myown advocate. And you have to become
your own advocate, especially when itcomes to your health care and you're in
what happens with your body. Iexperienced an outbreak right in front of my
doctor that well, not my doctor, but this particular doctor and I'm telling

(17:37):
her I'm having an outbreak right now, and you know what she said to
me, Oh, you'll be okay. She said that, she said to
me, you'll be okay. Yeah, And the nurse practitioner came in and
I said, I don't want herin this room anymore because she did not
hear me, she did not listen, she did not see me, right,

(18:00):
And it's both it's both ends,right, because I've also heard that.
So when we do go into facilitiesand we are looking for something,
or we do we are saying like, what can you do for me?
Then we are very quickly labeled asdrug SEEKI is like, note that it's
drug seeking behavior exhibits drugs behavior.Whereas if a white patient comes in and
they say, well, I've heardabout this or i've heard about that.
Do you offer this? You offerthat, well, then they're just being

(18:21):
an informed consumer and they're just askingquestions. But we're drug seeking. Oh
here's the insult. They categorize usas obese and that justifies that gives them
justification, not yeah fair, Ohyou're just obese. Yeah, So I
mean maternal mortality is measured and likeas a ratio non Hispanic White being twenty

(18:45):
three point three percent and non HispanicBlack being forty eight point six percent.
The deaths look can look like hemorrhage, right, mental health conditions, cardiomyopathy,
cardiovascular and coroninary conditions, embolisms,and then preclamsia. Yeah, the
biggest thing. Yeah, So partof it is that about half of the
births in Georgia are paid for throughMedicaid, which we did not expand,

(19:10):
right, So it's like, Iknow this crosses crosses into general income and
equality as well when it comes towomen. But yeah, it's just it's
there's that piece and then there's them. You've got a heartbeat bill, right,
which is like, yeah, wedon't care what happens to you once
you have a child. If youhave one safely, you may not have
one safely, you will have one. Like it's like my God, force

(19:33):
pregnancy completely completely, and then youknow, good luck. Yeah that's good
luck. Yeah yeah. So andthen oh, let me take it I'm
sorry, I mean, let metake it a little step further. Well,
we got all of these resources.You could you could get a check,

(19:55):
and we got food stamps, andwe got this and we got that
you could, But wait a minute, I'm gonna need you to urinate in
this cup in order for you toget these benefits, right, I mean,
there's nothing I can do with thechild and twenty dollars in food stamps
anyway, which I mean George isnotorious, notorious for not just having a
pitiful SNAP program, but also havinglike one of the worst run SNAP programs.

(20:19):
There were just at a conference init that they spent millions of dollars
on, by the way, takingeverybody from the state down to Savana to
talk about SNAP when the average personthat we see in our nonprofit in particular,
spends at least eight weeks waiting foremergency food assistance. Emergency food assistance,
completely pathetic, and to get nineteendollars if that. South Carolina though

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passed a bill. Excuse me,there's a bill that's under consideration that would
offer compensation to women who'd been denied. But like, again, there's no
compensation for the fact that it's aforced pregnancy, right, Like what am
I going to do with that?Like the ridiculous narratives around a quote unquote
welfare queen or someone who is footingoff of having a child. Having a

(21:02):
child will bankrupt the most stable humanbeing. Literally, there is not a
subsidy in those not one, nottwelve. You have twelve kids? Yeah,
you kind of an MVP. Youshouldn't say out you're a politician,
you know. In fairness, mylast child is getting ready to graduate,
so I'm looking for in a way, I'm looking forward to it. No,

(21:22):
you have empty nests and drone.You have twelve one running around.
You have empty nest syn drones.So I'm warning you up front that's going
to happen. You raise twelve ofthem. You're used to always seeing a
kid somewhere. Appreciate that that istrue for you and that you've done that
successfully, but that you understand thisis wrong, right, because to your
point, the women who are onthe opposite side of the of this argument

(21:42):
are very much you know, Ithink using what that moralistic argument right like
I think they are. This iscalled the Life Act. Right, they're
calling women murderers for seeking this healthcare. So on the other side of it,
they're you know, they're trying toI think, pit people who have
sought abortion care against people who aren'tmothers. When half of people who receive
abortions already have children, which likethey're not two different groups of people.

(22:06):
That's what's crazy about. And it'snot like an easy decision. No,
you know, no, and andand for you to go through that,
and it could be it could beincest, it could be rape, it
could be you know, medical issues, what to go in particular, you

(22:29):
know. And then here it isthe government says, well, wait a
minute, you know you gotta dothis, but you're not giving me the
resources. You're not giving me theany opportunities for me to care for this
child. Maybe this child was bornwith with the you're not giving me that.
You're not giving me anything. Butfirst of all, even if you
I don't even want anything from you, I just want you to stop trying

(22:52):
to tell me what I can andcannot do with my own boss. You
know, this is my This don'tbelong to the government. Fact, it
belongs to me and the Lord andabove. Thank you. You get back
to this. Twelve kids, that'swhat I'm old school wounds. You got.
Well, my husband and I bothcame from a big family. So

(23:14):
between the two of us, yeah, and how it goes is I came
in with seven, he came inwith three and then we had two together.
God you still came in with seven. You had too many bands.
Yeah, that's speaking of speaking ofhuman rights violations authors, speaking of basketball

(23:40):
team, now, speaking of basketballteam. No, it's it's the pattern
of anti lgbt Q legislation. Yes, so I think about a little over
half a dozen bills were introduced inthis session that have some manner of anti
JBT legislation. A lot of itis targeted towards children and behavior in schools.

(24:04):
There have been bills introduced in multiplestates this year that I think are
being called like forced outing bills.So essentially, if a student confides in
a school counselor about their gender,gender identity expressional, parents are notified,
so it's considered like forced outing.There's also curriculum censorship. And then in

(24:25):
Georgia, one bill that is advancingis about the definition of It's called a
women's rights bill to define what awoman is, which will have implications across
I'm sure services and you know,other forms of public life, but curriculum
censorship is probably one of the mostcommon bills that's being introduced across states.
There's also those facilities bands, whichwe've talked about a little bit and in

(24:47):
Florida lots of other just general expressionrestrictions. Uh, but do we have
any thoughts on this one? Iwas dealing with the I can't remember what
state it was that band drag wingsfrom reading for read is in the library.
It's like, is this really somethingy'all were concerned about? Like this
is all this is all the time. Y'all haven't sit around word about what
drag queens are doing. Seriously,my issue is the care that the bills,

(25:15):
some of the bills that are beingintroduced, is not allowing what quote
unquote transgender care and you know,making services available for children that you know
that want to transition. Me carescare no matter who you are, how

(25:38):
you live, who you love,cares care. And if I go to
the doctor and and I've heard storieswhere they have asked, well were you
born male or female? And thenthey have to address you as what you

(26:00):
were born instead of you know,how you identify? I don't know.
I guess my concern in that particularspace is when people try to transition,
how do you go to a doctorso that say I'm a female? Who
I mean if I identify as afemale, but I still have male anatomy.
If I go to the doctor,you really can't treat me as a

(26:23):
female because I still have male anatomy. So how do I know that if
I don't ask you? Right,but don't use it against it. Don't
use it against that person, youknow, treat them, give them the
care, give them the guidance.Just like when you go to the emergency
room and they say, okay,you need to follow up with the orthodonis
or you need follow up with thephysical therapy or whatever. Treat based on

(26:48):
the need of care and provide thatas opposed to judging and saying okay,
I can't treat you so that No, it just it's making me think about
like protections and discrimination. And likeone of the quickest bills signed this session,
Black Governor Camp was the definition ofanti Semitism and like trying to create

(27:12):
There's been lots of strong statements around, you know, supporting sporting, obviously
the Jewish community. But last yearI was going to go to Pride Festival,
which I usually do not do.I didn't like the July one.
What do you mean you don't thinkI never heard you talk about you don't
come in with like rainbow flags andpad bands to a woman. But I'm
not very you know, but I'vebeen to Pride before, but it's just,

(27:34):
you know, I have been likeonce. I don't like the heat.
I don't like it. But itwas good last year, so well
true, well when there was soI'm talking about the one on July eighth
where there was the right wing mob. So there was I don't know why
there's a We can get into whythere's a black Pride and a non black
Pride later, but the July eighthfestival that had a was shut down over

(27:56):
a mob, and there was acouple of incidents essentially like of attacks,
right of aggravated assault, of threatsmade against LGBTQ I A plus two s
people. And this year to seethis type of legislation to me and to
see that a lot of these thingshave gone unpunished. Basically the gentlemen who
were a part of the brazen attack, you know that they were no charges

(28:19):
were filed, the cases did notgo to trial, so those individuals evaded
what you know, justice, andso to see that and to see like
you know, things like this,it's just like the implications are bigger than
to meet any individual, you know, how they one individual might live their
life. It's the fact that likeit creates a you're not protected. Yeah,

(28:42):
yeah, that the government is notconcerned about what happens to you.
I know now that we were talkingabout this is we had a conversation last
year about education on gender identity versussexuality. Uh So when we get into
this space, you kind of haveto have that conversation because what I identify

(29:02):
is if I go to a primarycaregiver, may not be what my anatomy
says. So it's kind of somethingyou do have to talk about when you
talk about curriculum, because somebody couldidentify as a toaster, but if you're
a refrigerator, right, I mean, you have different plugs in different spaces.
Silly analogy, but I'm just sayingwhat people identify is as may not

(29:23):
be feasible in a space where whatyour identity is doesn't match your sexuality.
But it's just not as complicated aswe make it. And it's definitely not
as charged as the right wing activistsmake it sound. Of course, it
truly is as simple as language,as learning language, and like learning how
to speak about different people, andlike race is a really good example for

(29:44):
that reason, because I do rememberhaving conversations as a little kid about different
cultures and how you refer to differentpeople and how you do not refer to
different people who do not look likeyou, and without that there is really
no knowledge. Well, also inthe funding, you know, taking away
the funding for the LGBTQ plus communitywhen it comes to care, when it

(30:07):
comes to especially mental health, whenit comes to justice, because you know,
transgender there's a higher rate of beingmurdered, you know, it comes
to domestic violence, So don't takeaway those funding. And I understand what
you're saying, like the doctor needsto know, but care. But my

(30:30):
thing is care is care, Sojust give me the care that I came
in here for or what I needto help me live my life the way
that I want to live. Andthen the government don't take away the funding
or don't punish his doctors because hetreated transgender individuals right right, you know.
That's that's another thing too, islike they find these broad sweeping ways
to punish people, like punishing aperson who I remember, I remember the

(30:55):
Herby Bells past. They talked aboutother states nearby, and like where could
Georgia women go? And then partof the law was right, like if
you aid in the bet someoneage,if you assist someone, yeah, and
you had those you can't cross statelines to go with abortion. You've seen
shocked, you see. But it'sjust every time we talk about it,

(31:17):
just it just freaks me out.It's just like you just got Land of
the Free. You can't go nowherelike it. Just so, how are
we free? How are we theland of the brave? And how are
we the land of the free?And why if that's even a bigger And
I know we can get into thatlater because I can go on and on,

(31:37):
but why are we the police ofthe world? And we can send
billions and billions of dollars? Butyou know, I'm telling you I can.
No. There's a reason I don'treally get into international stuff here because
I'm just like, we barely ourcommunities are being gentrified, and yet we're
sending aid to Ukraine and places thatback. You found that much not facts,

(32:01):
it's but you're going to gentrify ourcommunities some money, make no mistakes.
They don't live here, so youknow, and I do, But
but you know, there's always money. Literally. Actually, that's the one
thing I learned from Trump, thatthere's always money to do what they want
to do, what they want todo. That's the one thing Trump was

(32:21):
good for. The exactly. Thatwas the other thing he was good for.
When you want to past in aweek. That was the one thing
Trump showed us. And that wasactually very appreciative of that, because now
we're like, no, no,no, no, we're not trying to
hear that because we watched it.He wasn't good for nothing else, but
he showed us what y'all can dowhen y'all want to do it. So
we're not trying to hear that.Make it happen. We're not trying to
hear it exactly whereas before I'd belike, well, okay, well yeah,

(32:43):
I guess that's the way government works. Like oh no, no,
no, no no. If thatjoker can do it, y'all can do
it. I was in North Carolinaand this this person I'm not gonna say
the name, but they said,oh, we need to turn out to
vote, turn out to vote,turn out to vote, and I'm like,
wait a minute, we gonna turnout to vote? The vote is
not the problem. The problem iswhen you get in there, you're gonna

(33:06):
forget fact. Got you there facts, and you're not going to create laws,
you know. And just like wewere talking earlier about the Eco Rights
Amendment, so I brought that up, like we really need the equal Rights
Amendment, and she says, well, that's not an urgent issue. It's
not a kitchen table issue. Well, if we had the ego Rights Amendment,

(33:27):
then we wouldn't have all these kitchentable issues. Yeah, and the
may it make the math a math? Okay, and then just remains the
issue remains far past, like whateverthe incident is or whatever we were talking
about twenty twenty earlier today. AndI'm trying to remember where the George Floyd
protests were when we had our virtualinterview Minnesota. I mean, like,

(33:52):
had they just happened? Have theybeen going on for a while? I
can't remember. But that was atime in which, right, all these
companies and we're coming out with allof their anti racism statements and press kids,
the reality about press kids, butdiversity exactly. Yeah, Black people,
first of all, police involve shootingsare still climbing. They're rising,

(34:13):
They're not just still happening, they'rerising. There are still more than twenty
twenty three than there were in twentytwenty two, and in twenty twenty two
than there were twenty twenty one.That it's still true, and it's still
overwhelmingly black people, overwhelmingly young peoplebetween twenty and forty. That's still true.
But regardless of the national conversation orthe national headlines or like, but
you know, a horrible video footageof it, it still happens, and

(34:36):
it still happens a lot. Soit's just it doesn't go away, you
know, just because you know whennincident happens. It's just unfortunately, sometimes
it feels like we're pulled between somany different types of tragedy literally, right
that one might lose track the WashingtonPost. Why where do we go to
fight? Right? I mean,all of it, all of it is
just still important. Yeah, allof it is still important. That's that's

(34:57):
the relevance to me of having conversationsabout the to Public Safety Training Center and
the investment in COPAI call it whatit is, cop said. That's to
me the relevance of it, right, because it's still still happens all the
time. But I told him thathe voted on that before he became mayor.
He'd alreadyvote that, So I tellyou where he stood on it.
So I don't know why anybody issurprised. I said that when it happened.

(35:17):
Why are y'all surprised he voted yeson its not surprised outrage. Wasn't
that your homeboy? I'm moving along? Isn't that your homeboy? So moving
along? That's that's that's shift getinto it. I mean, what is
that to get into? That's yourhomeboy? I think what I think before,

(35:39):
which is which is that Andre dickInto, a city councilman at the
time and is now mayor at thetime, is doing what apparently an entire
council of individuals also wanted to do. Oh please, Andre Dickens is getting
a kickback making sure this happened.That's that's be very clear about it.
I said it, I said it, and I'll say it again. There
is no freerious. There's no reasonan African American male would be advocating.

(36:05):
We talked about him, and canwe talk about the film Went Went Went
to Prison? Atlanta is the biggestcash cow for a mayor ever that got
away without I hate and I believeI mean corporate corporations and government is the
reason we are. We are literallyall on our way out, either on

(36:28):
our way out because we tried tohave a child, or on our way
out because we got arrested for anft A. It is why I don't
I don't agree. Andre Dickens isa prime example of what we talked about
when we talk about why Atlanta's inthe state, a prime example of when
we talk about why Georgia's and someof these cities are in the state that
they're in with black leadership, becauseout of all the things you should be

(36:52):
focused on, you focused on acop center that not only bars this way
over some preserved Lanta was supposed tobe you for something else, But you're
watching our communities be gentrified and thisis your focal point. Boy, you're
getting a kickback, and you're notgonna tell me nothing. You might have
quite some moon, you ain't gonnatell me nothing else. You ain't gonna
tell me nothing else. As ablack man, whole big o'deal about,

(37:12):
you know, getting homeless off street, but most of his resources and energy
go to cop city. Don't comfortme. I did not no, you
want to advocate for your boy.You want to advocate for your boy,
we should have evidence of if thisnow this math maths. You are an

(37:34):
African American man and your focus iscop City, which is part of the
problem. But you're watching our communitiesbe gentrified and destroyed. I do a
both cop City. I was thereand destroyed, but your focus is cop
City. But you ain't getting akickback. I don't like the fact that

(37:55):
they released everybody's name that's signed petition. They did put it all lie.
You have to be anonymous? Well, they should have an option whether you
want to be anonymous or not.They should, but sometimes that I don't
know about that. But my nameand address address. Here's part of the
challenge, right is like the oppositionis always saying that you got a whole

(38:16):
bunch of out of towners to protest, right Like, you have to prove
that the excuse me, citizens ofthe community oppose a thing, and you
can't really do that without showing likewho the citizens are and listening to because
otherwise, but I posted all lie. I mean, was it an anonymous
post thing or is they no aperson in the in his office? Were

(38:37):
there any was there consequences, notthat I know of, not that I've
heard anything about that. I haven'theard hard but but like silent, you
know, anonymous names only you know, they really only take us so far,
like we kind of you know,you need people to you know,
say I'm as because even me livingin Marietta, I was not allowed to
sign the most recent petitions that weregoing around. You know, I don't

(38:59):
live there, so like I Ican oppose it all day. I was
down there, I was standing insolidarity. You live in Maria. I
live in Mario. I don't livein Atlanta. So when that have that
petition going around to try to stopit, I couldn't. I wasn't as
well to sign it. I'm justtired of the poor leadership black leadership,
or the I won't say poor,the unfocused black leadership that we continue to
have. Like you're to your point, you beg us to put you in

(39:21):
office, We put you in office, and then your focal point goes everywhere
else instead of the places that needsto be. And then it just continues.
Every time we get a new mayor, we never really get a governor.
Every time we get new mayor,we go through this like, it's
it's exhausting, and it's it's hardto validate that to this younger generation that
is constantly asking questions as to whywe're in the shape we're in. Well,
sweetie, Unfortunately, the elected officialsthat beg us to put us in

(39:44):
office lose focused when they get off. And this is also what I meant
by the fact that we were talkingabout this briefly with Zach, but true,
you cannot for younger people and forolder people were stared of it too.
Is you you can't just slap somenice things on top of things and
act like that is what people arelooking for. Systemic change, right,
not just service right like social servicesand programs and having like ten million dollars

(40:07):
to go to the Atlanta Boys andGirls Club. Oh that's great. What
about cop City? Like? Whatabout the things that are happening that are
going to change the actual way thatpeople like live and function and move Like,
we want to see these things dismantled. If you're going to be doing
things for us, that's not doingnothing for us at all. And I'm
saying that I work at a nonprofit. I need a job from you know,
a nonprofit? I do that's howI work. However, that's not

(40:28):
systems change. Yeah, those theservices and supports and programs, those are
great. We should we should befunding those things. We should not be
funding cop cities. And so youcan't just slap that on top of that
and think that you're doing like,that's not what people are looking for.
People are looking for you to actuallydismantle the systems that exist. Well,
my thing him is that if youcan sleep at night knowing that your legacy
is going to be cop city,which is going to do nothing for our

(40:50):
communities, if anything, probably putthem more in harm's way because now they
got a generalized session for the goodold boys to target and come up with
strategy to continue to deteriorate these communities. If you can sleep at that knowing
that's your legacy, I wish youthe best. I wish you the best.
What was you about to say,Well, Well, even with with
the laws that that they're putting inplace, and that that's not going to

(41:15):
do us any good. It's likea constant it's like a constant battle because
just like with and I don't knowif it's okay to transition a little bit,
but medicaid expansion. No go outand tell you we're gonna shift you
anywhere. Go ahead, Okay,Georgia has not expanded Medicaid. What is

(41:37):
the argument? Again, I siton the other side. Their argument is
we as taxpayers got to pay forit. But we're but the money is
not coming from the taxpayers, youknow, the money that the money is
coming from the federal government. Forthe governor to trickle down to the taxpayer,
that's what I thought, but youknow, Georgia state. So so

(42:00):
he came up last year. Hecame up, which I thought was okay
at first, with the Medicaid Pathwaysor something like that. And but we
have over five hundred thousand or morethat are in that gap, not just
uninsured, but in that gap wherethey can't afford the Affordable Care and they

(42:23):
don't qualify for Medicaid regular Medicaid,not the Medicaid that's under the Affordable Care
Act or that would have been underthat, that falls in that gap.
And I think it's up to likesix hundred thousand or something like that.
So he so Governor Kemp came upwith this pathways and said that it's gonna

(42:44):
cover three hundred thousand people. Wellit has not. It's only covered maybe
a not even a third of that, I mean maybe twenty thousand people or
something like that. Yeah. Yeah, So it's like what it is a
fail program and he needs to acceptthat. I'm sorry, no, I'm
not, but he needs it needsto be said that this program that you

(43:07):
tried to do, which okay,you tried to do it, but it
didn't work. Number one, itdidn't work. Number two, it's not
helping rural Georgia. That's what about. No, it's not helping rural Georgia.
Number three, it's not helping thehospitals in rural Georgia to stay open.
Now, Medicaid expansion would have helpedthose hospitals, and they're closing down.

(43:31):
Well you all see Atlanta Medical recentlyclosed down, closing down all over.
But think about it. Okay,that's in Atlanta because people could go
to graded right, But where peoplein rural Georgia. Where can they go
if they have to travel fifty milesto the narest emergency room? Where can
they go? Well, give mesomebody that And we said rural Georgia,

(43:52):
what places are we talking about?A pooler waycross Cairo making bill County,
Valdosta. You know areas around aroundthere, Wheeler County, Statesboro gotta be
Statesboro, Swainsboro, any places.Not Atlanta. Yeah, really in that,

(44:16):
in that what I call the blackBelt, that metro Atlanta area and
anything around around that, that's ruralGeorgia. The hospitals are closing down,
the schools are underperforming. The averageincome and I just looked to think the
average income now is up there.It was eighteen thousand a year, twenty

(44:36):
one thousand. Who can live offof twenty one thousand a year in this
day and age. I feel like, I mean, no one, no
one. So so my thought was, okay, so how did these Republican
rural voters contend with this? Like? How are they happy with this?
How are they containing with this?And I feel like the answer has got
to be that they're just not goingto the doctor because people just don't go
if they can't afford to go,right, they just don't get careful.
Well, Well, what one thingthat they do, They use the emergency

(44:59):
room their primary care. Their emergencyroom becomes their primary care. So I
don't have insurance, I can't affordit, but they gotta treat me.
But what happens is when you goto the emergency room, they're just giving
you a band aid, not andthen say, Okay, you need to
follow up with this person. Youneed to follow up with this. They're
not giving me a treatment plan that'sgoing to sustain. And I said this

(45:22):
the other day, and I thinkmost people don't want a handout. Most
people don't want to sit back andcollect a check. Most people actually do
want to work. And one ofthe things when I ran for Lieutenant governor
that I proposed is that these largecompanies that come into rural Georgia and buy

(45:45):
up this land, okay, andwe give them that tax break because we're
supposed to be the number one stateto do business, because we're giving them
all of these tax break only becausewe're the number one state to do business
because of our tax brackets that wethat we give. So we give them
these tax breaks. So say,I'm giving Tesla, you know, one

(46:08):
point three million dollars in tax breaks. Why can't Tesla take that money and
dump it into the school. Whyare children having to pay for breakfast,
lunch and a snack? Why whydo we have lunches? You know?
Why do they have to pay forminstrel products. No, you know so.

(46:31):
So only thing I asked is thatthese companies you come into rural Georgia,
if you buy into you buy theland cheap. Okay, I need
you to take that tax break anddump it into the school system. So
you getting two bytes at the Applebecause you're gonna you donate that money into

(46:52):
the school system. You're gonna geta tax break there. So you're getting
two bytes at the Apple. Andthe second thing is higher within rural Georgia.
Okay, let me tell you theargument on that. They say,
well, they're not skilled. Yeah, they're not. Okay, I'll excuse
me a lot. I like tocus No, I'm on the radio.

(47:13):
I told you I was gonna benice today. I don't care. But
why not develop a job training program? Make it make sense. That's too
much work. So so that thatand and then you got then you give
them benefits. So now I becameyou hired me in ryal Georgia. I

(47:35):
became a taxpayer, so I'm dumpingmoney into the economy. I'm dumping I'm
paying taxes, so I'm dumping moneyinto the Department of uh A Revenue.
Okay. In the economy, andyou're giving me health benefits. So now
I'm no longer flooding the emergency room. It's the process, all right.

(47:58):
So in that space, Uh,concerning bills that you've seen, give us
some concerning bills that you're like,I need to tell somebody about this one
particular that I've been working on.Like I said, the Eco Rights Amendment.
Most people think that the e era is dead in the water.
But wait for those of us thatdon't know, what is that The Ego

(48:20):
Rights Amendment is it guarantees the rightsof women in safe spaces where women would
have recourse any event of discrimination.And that and and that if you I
come in here and you say I'mgonna I'm gonna hire Tim and not Triana,

(48:40):
then I have to prove that youdidn't hire me because I'm a woman.
Well, the Ego rightsmer one ofthe things that it would do protect
me, giving me equal protection underthe law. And then you have to
prove instead of me having approofal it'sthat of the burden ap proof being on
me, the burdening proof is onyou. So it gives me that equal

(49:01):
protection under the law. Number one, it puts me enshrine me, and
I say me as women into theConstitution, the highest law of the land.
And like I said, I onlyguaranteed right and the only time women
are mentioned in the Constitution. AndI'm a veteran. I signed that dotted
line saying that I would support anddefend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign

(49:22):
and domestic. But I'm not inthat Constitution. I'm not even considered other
than my right to vote. Eventaking it a step further, I'm a
black woman of color, so Ihad to have the civil rights and the
voting rights in order for me toguarantee that I can't go vote. You
see what I'm saying. So that'swhy it's so important. And the Congress

(49:45):
said, okay, you need thirtyeight states. We met that. They
said that at thirty eight states toratify. I'm hoping that Georgia become thirty
nine, the thirty ninth state,but we only needed thirty eight states met
all the criteria that Congress has setout in order for us to be the
twenty eighth Amendment. Because we havetwenty seven amendments in the Constitution, the

(50:08):
Ecal Rights Amendment would become the twentyeighth and we need it. We need
President Biden, we need Vice PresidentHarris to publish. Call the archivists and
tell them to publish the twenty eighthAmendment so that we as women are enshrine
in the highest law of the land. So what's the hang up. The
hang up is they said that wemissed the deadline. But let me tell

(50:30):
you that our pushback with that.The fourteenth Amendment was ratified two hundred and
three years after after it was ratified, after it was put after it was
introduced and ratified among the states itwas it was published into the Constitution two
hundred and three years and our deadlinewas really which really wasn't a deadline,

(50:51):
was nineteen eighty two. So it'sbeen a in outside of that since it
was first introduced. It's been ahundred years. One hundred years. That's
a long time. So and here'sthe other thing about that. Okay,
we have the lad Better Act,which is the Equal Pay We got the

(51:12):
Voting Rights Act, we got theCivil Rights Act. We got all these
acts. But acts can be overturnedwith each administration. The Constitution cannot.
So it guarantees our equal protection underthe law and that's what we need.
So that's one of the things thatwe're working on. And of course I'm
hoping I'm making a big push.We got eer a day February twenty first

(51:35):
little plug there. So if youwant to come down to the state Capitol
February twenty, first come join us. We got a full day of things
and it's open to the public.Is free not to pay anything other than
parking, which is crazy. Andso we have that. And then menstrul
equity, and I know we havesome menstrual equity bills on the books that

(51:59):
has been introduced, not past,but introduced. But here's I don't know,
I know, I know, Iknow I have to think about,
you know, even being a veteran, I use a lot of acronyms,
so I have to think. Ihave to think about, you know,
in civilian terms. But mister equityis where you know there are okay,

(52:22):
First of all, we have topay taxes on minstral products. We have
the pink tax, and there aresometimes women products are are costs more than
male. Like you can go toWalmart now and you can look at your
razor and yours is cheaper than myrace. So so is go in the

(52:47):
CBS Walmart, any of them andlook at and you'll see other than dollars
store. Yeah, so uh sothere. And then also young girls they
don't go to school, they havemental health, you know, they developed
uh the stigmatism behind your cycle,things like that. And so the menstro

(53:14):
equity is saying that this is anatural process. But don't punish me for
for for having uh, you know, for being a woman, okay,
and then on top of that,don't allow me to uh like representative I
think Skolfield introduced the bill where youcan use your snap benefits to pay for

(53:37):
your uh minstral product products. Sowe want mister equity. But my part
is what I'm fighting for is adepartment of corrections. They give women three
pads for a week three yeah,that sounds about right. Yeah, and
then if they go to the store, like you can go to a store,

(54:00):
you could buy a pack for twentyfour and pay five six dollars.
Well, you can go to thecommissary in the prison system and it could
be ten dollars, it could befor three, and you're not getting enough
what they provide, and then whatyou go buy is not enough to sustain

(54:21):
you know, a woman for aweek, you know, or things like
that, and so as a resultof that, you develop reproductive problems.
So now okay, now we're gettinginto our reproductive you see. So one
thing collates with the with the other. And so what I'm asking them to
do is make more products available forwomen, and don't in the prison system.

(54:46):
Just because you're in the prison systemdoesn't mean that you're not human.
So treat women as humans. Treatwomen as women and what they need.
And the mistral equity would help getthe funding that Department of Correction needs in
order to give excuse me, inorder to give women inmates that what what

(55:12):
they need while they're there. Sothat's what I'm fighting for. Uh medical
cannabis medical. You know, it'slegal. And Georgia was the first state
to get a dispensary, and anduh, you know some of the dispensaries
there there, it's well, it'sa few of them that are opening up.

(55:37):
I don't want to give anybody noplug unless they're paying for advertisement.
But but but what what's happening isuh convenience stores or selling products that are
unsafe as as opposed to going toa dispensary where it is lab tested and

(55:59):
so, but we need is itto be straight across the board, Like
if the dispensary's got to have therequirements for the state in order to open,
then these convenience stores that are doingCBD all and things like that,
those need to be lab tested aswell. And then it needs to be
affordable, cause you're making it accessible, but it needs to be affordable,

(56:22):
especially where I also come in whenit comes to veterans, the the VA,
and it's so like up and down. They say one minute they say
they can talk about it, theother minute they say they can't. And
and veterans, especially when it comesto PTSD, could use cannabis. It

(56:42):
could help veterans function and also relievepain and issues that, you know,
whatever they're they're going through. AndI think it's seventy eligible conditions, Uh,
where you qualify to get your medicalmarijuana card, which you know,
reach out to me, you know, if you want your medical marijuana card.

(57:05):
I love it and uh, andwhat happens is is so you go
into a registry just like your driver'slicense, and they give you a card
where you can go to any dispensaryuh, in Georgia and get your products.
It helps. Can I ask aquestion that maybe kind of an two
question because I thought I remember thisbeing something that was available for like stage

(57:30):
four cancer, like chronic you know, toxic shock syndrome. Like I thought
there was a very short list ofindividuals who could take advantage. It has
expanded. It has expanded. Ibelieve it's seventeen seventeen. Quick look at

(57:51):
these interest in this and I'm yeah, well, intractable pain, intractable pain,
that's one of the main things onthere. I'm sorry, she's at
college that that's on the list intractablepain, cancer aids. It's a long

(58:14):
list. Uh yeah, but youknow it has gone. But but who
doesn't have intractable pain? Who youknow who does? So you're eligible to
get your your medical marijuana card andthen you could take that card and go
into a dispensary and and see thething. The good thing about the medical
marijuana car is issued by the Departmentof Public Health fighter records. So you

(58:37):
go in like you talk to someonelike me, and we process your car.
You go and and then you goto the Department of Public Health and
you're able to pick up the issueyour car right in the future conversation on
this because I have, we have, we have, we have, we

(58:58):
have a little bit more time.Let me see. So that was three
that I was working on, andthen uh, well I cervical cancer,
which that was past and adopted.Where we're we're more funding is going to
Department of Public Health and to clinicsthat are offering the HPREV vaccine. And
which brings me to my last billthat I'm working on, is the HPREV

(59:22):
vaccine. What happens in what wehad called I don't know how old y'all
are, but back in the day, you know, they used to call
it safe education, but now theycall it health. They just call it
health really, but they had atitle for health that was actually health health
education, and so they talked aboutall of the required vaccines in the health

(59:44):
classes. But HPREV is not onthere. And so the HPREV bill,
which is also sponsored by Representative Stintsonand Representative Schofield, Representative Cannon is on
the bill. Most all of mybill, those are the you know,
Representative Mitchell, Senator wrhtt all ofthem on my Oh he's your senator,

(01:00:07):
I love him. I love him. I think mine is actually I think
mine is Kim Kim Jaxon, Yeah, can Senator Kim Jackson, Yeah,
so and especially all like on thee r A bill, they're they're on
that bill. But the HPV isnot one of the vaccines that are being

(01:00:28):
talked about in the Department of Educationin the school system, and so we
need that to in addition to gettingfunding for minst products into the schools.
Okay, we need we need thatto be added. So that's one of
the things. That's the I thinkthe last bill that I'm working on.
So I was working on five andI gave you four because one, the

(01:00:51):
cervical cancer one has already passed andbeen adopted. That was done in January
during cervical cancer. You're pushing stuffthrough and making things happen. I'm saying,
I like when I'm hearing I wantto go to the c A thing,
don't play with me, don't playwith me. But no, I
I just love what I do,and I believe I'm people driven. I'm

(01:01:14):
boosts on the ground and grassroots,and I just think that all of these
things need to be done. Andthat's the reason why I didn't disappear after
I ran for Lieutenant governor because everythingon the campaign trail and a lot of
people do you know, they talkabout the issues and they you know,
they don't get again. I don'tsee them again. Not me, because

(01:01:36):
she was about that, okay onall social media Facebook, Instagram, Twitter,
known as x even TikTok, Igot some funny ones too. But

(01:01:57):
the number four Georgia spelled out.So that's how everybody could get in touch
with me and also with Georgia.Now you could go to uh Georgia,
dashnow dot org send me an email. It comes to directly to me.
I try to answer everybody. Itry to be dealt in doing that,
especially people that call me and wantto advocate with me, want to be

(01:02:17):
books on the ground, Come joinus, uh if you could join for
ten dollars or thirty five dollars ayear, that's it and h hey,
get on board, be with us. We fight, like I said,
mostly for rural Georgia. We do. We do the stuff in the metro
Atlanta area, but my biggest thingis people driven and rural Georgia and veterans.

(01:02:40):
We gotta get. We gotta getthe help that veterans neat agreed.
We got at least out of thisconversation. I'm just don't have enough time
for that. Well, what veteransright, and how we treat our veterans,
that's that's a huge topic in andof itself, and not just cannabis,
right, not just cannabis, Igot no. My final thoughts are

(01:03:04):
thank you, Thank you for thework that you're doing, and exactly for
the reason that you said it isbecause a lot of people will have an
opportunity to maybe like get people excitedabout them mumbilized. Some people were like,
Okay, this could be a greatperson. Maybe the election works out,
maybe it doesn't, and then poof, you never hear from them again.
Right, So thank you for continuing. Thank you for being who you
said you were. Thank you.I love that. I'm always and I

(01:03:25):
mean to say, well, whennow all of that becomes low, what
are you gonna do? Then Isay, I'll find something else. It's
never a shortage of stuff exactly evermoment, So that that definitely been all
right. Well. Shouts out toour guest, Miss Triana, for coming
in studio. We applaud you forthe work you do and so thank you
took the time to come sit downwith a little o leus on today and

(01:03:47):
uh yeah, we will see youguys on the same time, same place.
Onlyly you ship have been live podcastwith your host for Caldy Rice