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Welcome Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome home.
Y'all, I'm Angelariah, your host for today's solo pod. I just got to give a shout out to the community right now, the culture. We were in Montgomery, Alabama, in mass there are so many people that are asking these days, what can we do to make sure that our rights aren't.
Continued to be trampled on?
And the people showed up and showed out, And I want to be honest with y'all. When I was first hearing that we were going to Alabama, I was like, that's hard to get to. We need to go somewhere that's easier. Why aren't we going to DC? In fact, why are we marching?
Oh?
We just doing a rally?
Is that going to be sufficient? And one thing that I believe. I'm a Christian woman, so I believe where two or three are gathered there, God is in the mist. And I will tell you that that is absolutely the case from this past Saturday in Montgomery, Alabama. I do want to shout out my movement family, Black Voters Matter Cliff and Latasha. Melanie Campbell with National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, Dowana Thompson, the legendary logistics planner of Woke Vote.
I'm thinking about Vince Evans, who managed the stage like a champ, all of the people that threw down and threw in to make sure things got done.
Jen A.
Nelson with the NAACP Legal Defense One who said, hey, y'all, we're not mobilizers, we're litigators, and it needs to be all hands on deck given the hour we're in right now. And I've got to say, you know, it was called all Roads lead to the South. We were in the South, and part of that the purpose there is because it feels like the South is always under attack, just you know,
a hair away from Jim Crow. And then yesterday, in my home state of Washington, Republicans filed suit, I believe last week in a federal district court alleging that our maps were not fair and they wanted to redraw based on a Latino district in the Yakama area. A federal judge in our area of course, through the case out, and these fools appeal to the Supreme Court. I'm bringing this up to tell you all that nobody is particularly safe under fascism, that we all have to do our
part to fight back whatever that is. We don't all use the same tools, we don't all have the same talents, but what we do know is that we all deserve freedom and liberation. This is not a black fight, and I want to shout out the allies who are also present this past weekend. But it isn't okay just to show up for the rally and not do anything when
you get home. So make sure that you are doing exactly that, especially when your guy, the President of these United States, says, you know that whole reparations thing, that whole forty acres and a mule thing, that whole Andrew Jackson guy want to keep on the twenty dollars bill and.
Keep up in my office at the White House.
Well, I want reparations too, but just for the white folks that terrorize the capital on January sixth.
That's what the clips Justice Department has.
This new fund that was announced today, seven billion dollars.
Why should tapayers pay for the January.
Well, it's been very well received. I have to tell you I know very little about it. I wasn't involved in the whole creation of it and the negotiation. But this is reimbursing people that were horribly treated, horribly treated as anti weaponization. They've been weaponized, they've been in some cases imprisoned wrongly, they paid legal fees that they didn't have, they've gone bankrupt, their lives have been destroyed, and they
turned out to be right. I mean, it was a terrible period of time in the history of our country, and they worked on it. I know the Justice Department, it's really been working on it very hard. There's been numerous other occasions over the years where things like this
have been done. But these were people that were weaponized and really treated brutally by a system that was so corrupt with corrupt people running it, and they're getting reimbursed for their legal fees and the other things that they had to suffer.
There's another clip.
I thought we had it, but there's another clip where Donald Trump essentially says that he.
Prefers loyalty over the law.
In any other normal time in this country, that would be impeachable and cause to remove a president, but alas we are not in.
Normal times, and so welcome to America.
It's two hundred and fiftieth anniversary, where it's time for maps to be redrawn, where black people have finally gotten some, not even all, but some of.
The representation that they deserve.
Let us now turn our attention to the South Carolina House that is now seeking to withdraw its maps and carve out Congressman James Clyburn out of his district. For those of you listening at home, a white man was just thrown to the ground by a Capitol police officer in South Carolina.
This protest led by Zika Nickler.
They're yelling, don't rig our maps, Derek, we can cut the clip here as a black woman is getting forcibly removed from the chamber. Zakia voluntarily left and she also sent this clip in.
Hey, folks, it's Tekia mikel Here.
I am the founder and chief collective strategist at the What's a Collective. We're a social action firm based right here in Columbia, South Carolina, making sure that impacted individuals are centered as we seek policy solutions and solutions in the systems that.
We all engage every day.
And so we've been on the ground working on this redistricting issue where our voter rights are attempted to be stripped by our General Assembly after being a form to do so by order of the President, and so we're here to let folks know how they can get involved. We're here to let communities know you can be a part of this even if you can't make your way to the state House.
Here's how. We have a week of action coming up.
We have an event here in the Midlands on Monday, we have an event here in the PD on Tuesday, and we have an event actually happening at the State House on Wednesday morning. Please follow our page to learn more about those events, but also make sure that you're reaching out to each other to make sure that you're okay in tough times like this. Make sure that you and your loved ones are registered to vote. Make sure that you know who you're voting for. Because the thing is,
this is a long game moment, folks. We have to make sure that folks have access to the resources that are at threat of being gutted if this legislation passes. So we can lose access to things that we already have, like medicaid, we can lose access to snap benefits, we can lose assets to social security, things that are already being diminished. We're seeing these rising gas prices and the
cost of food. All of these things are only going to worsen if this plan works, and so we need to come together and get connected so we can maybe stop it here, and if not, we can already be in community to know what to do nextent.
Zakia, thank you so much for sending in that clip. What I will tell you is she said we could lose SNAP benefits, we could lose Medicaid, we could lose Medicare. Well, the Republicans were pretty smart to ensure that an HR one the bill that passed last July. I remember I had just landed in New Orleans for Essence Fest and we were on a live stream a marathon informing people of how dangerous these cuts that were in the bill were.
And what they did was they ensued that many of those cuts on two SNAP too, medicare too Medicaid would happen after the November election. So here we are qu for some of the state maps they've been redrawn during elections. Louisiana, for example, knows all too well because because it was Saturday, their election was Saturday. They defeated three very important constitutional amendments.
But there were two members.
Of Congress who were on the ballot, one of whom will not likely be well. They won't be on the ballot in the fall unless they're written in by some resilient and resistant people. But Cleo Fields and Troy Carter were impacted by the latest maps in Louisiana. There was an election, or there is an election. Today is Tuesday. There's an election in Alabama. The maps in Alabama have also been challenged, Shamari Figures and Terry Sewell being those
impacted members. There's an election in Georgia. While those maps haven't changed for this primary, it's just a matter of time. And so joining me today is Louisiana State Senator Royce duplus Is to talk about what is happening in the state legislature, what we need to know, what we can do, and what they're doing to actively combat this. I would call it a voter terrorism. But he joins us now. Hello Senator Royce.
Hey, Angela, thanks for having me on.
It is my highest pleasure. Thank you so much.
I really appreciated last week you did a video.
We played it on the podcast.
It was like four in the morning, you were like, we just got done, and you talked about how long you all had to fight for that. I want to know just how you're feeling right now. You're carrying a lot. It feels like we're going backwards. How are you feeling? Honestly, I don't think you get to talk about that. You're a human and an elected official, and I think that dichotomy has to coexist in one body as a cult truth.
But we do want to know how you're feeling. Well.
Thank you for that question and recognizing the humanity that's behind all of this, because the truth is that this is so much more than lines on a map. This is really about who gets to fully participate in this democratic experiment here in America, right when we thought we had made so much progress to be living it in real time.
It is.
It is.
It's obviously troubling, but I'm I'm gonna tell you I'm hopeful, and I'm gonna tell you why because after that ten hour committee here, and I didn't I probably didn't.
Emphasize this enough, Angela.
Was that as disappointing as it was to sit in a committee here for ten hours and knowing that there was nothing that was gonna change with my Republican colleagues. They could have basically been like little robots sitting there because they were gonna vote how they were gonna vote. The people who were so committed, the hundreds of people who came to the capital and stayed from like one in the afternoon to like five in the morning just
to be heard. The brilliance and the diversity of the people who came from across this state really inspired me, and it reminded me of how fortunate I am. So yes, while it is, while we aren't trying times, I am incredibly fortunate just to be in a position to try to speak on behalf of not just the people who deserve representation today, but the people who fought to give us the right to have this representation, the people who filed the lawsuits, the people who marched, the people who bled,
the people who died to give us this representation. And I just feel incredibly privileged to be in that position.
It is, It is quite a privilege, but it also has to feel frustrating. You all are not in the majority, and sometimes people at home don't understand that, Like, there's only so much you can do. There are some legislative tactics that you can pull. But where do you feel like you're relying what you're relying on more. I know you guys have a filing deadline, whe some of us are trying to push us, like make sure that they file the state voting Rights bill that that deadline had passed.
You have filed that bill. Can you talk about you know how close you got to seeing Republicans support a measure that's so important for all of us, including their own constituents.
Yeah, thanks for asking that question too. So at the beginning of session, I actually filed a state Voting Rights Act. Had no idea that the Cali decision was going to come down while we were in session, but we knew that at some point they could issue a ruling that helped that hurt the Voting Rights Act, and I wanted to give the state the opportunity to make a values decision, to say this is where we stand on voting rights.
My bill didn't necessarily expand voting rights. It was just a statement saying we protect voting rights where they are today. You want to move precincts, you want to make it harder for people to vote. Add additional barriers. Then then you have to go before basically a state a base commission like we had when we still had Section five. But the bill failed on party lines by four to three vote. This was several weeks before the Cali decision even dropped. So it was it was, it was, it was.
And you're saying it failed in committee. It didn't even get to the yeah, yeah.
And and and then this was it was the right thing to pass the bill, but of course they didn't. They didn't pass it out of committee. But we had no idea that the Cali decision would be coming just a few weeks after the Voting Rights Act bill was voted down the committee, so we didn't even get to debate it on the floor.
So the Louisiana versus CALAEI decision. Of course, Calai is also a January sixth insurrectionist. Is why I wanted to play the clip that I did of Donald Trump at the top of the show, where he's talking about giving restitution reparations in a sense to folks like.
This guy that was an insurrectionist.
We can't even ensure that our basic human and civil rights are protected.
What are the.
Things that you all are doing as legislators, knowing that even when you file bills they won't likely pass. What are the ways in which you're working to protect us us, those of us who live in Louisiana, and those of us who deserve to be protected nationally.
Absolutely, so, it's so much more than legislating. We have to litigate, and we've been litigating. We have to always organize and educate our people basic civics, helping everybody understand what these decisions mean and how they impact daily living. This is so so vital that we just do more than just try to work inside the rails, understanding rules and procedures. We know we're in the super minority and we can't get the bills out that we want to get out. We can't stop the bad bills. But we
can educate our communities. We can engage with lawyers who are going to represent communities when they've been harmed or disenfranchised. And we have to continue to organize and push our people and let folks outside of Louisiana know that they have to invest in Louisiana. You can't treat the South, whether it's from South Carolina all the way down to Louisiana and Texas. You can't treat us like it's just
like a regional thing. This impacts the entire nation. So we have to talk with leaders like you, Angela who have national platforms to help the rest of the country see why this fight in the South impacts everyone. It impacts everyone across this country because this is really the fight for democracy. And yes, people are tired, people are disaffected, people are being pushed the question whether or not they're vote even matters anymore. And I think that's really what
today's fight is about. It's not even about fight for access to the ballot, even though that they're trying to make it harder to get to the ballot, But the real fight is about whether or not when you vote, whether or not your vote is even going to mean something, because they're saying, well, the only people that's going to have representation now in Louisiana are Republicans. They want a one party system, and that's truly anti democratic. It's a
disenfranchisement at the highest level. And we're just trying to always remind people of and help them to see how it all connects.
So let's let's go go down that line a little bit, right, and I want us to talk as friends, but Frank, so that people at home can get into you know, they're used to hearing political answers. But I think we got to be real, real right now. So let's walk this through. So we know they want a one party system. Have you guys been having conversations about why, Like why do they why do they want to eliminate any other
possible viewpoint? Like what is your perspective on why that's important especially in Louisiana.
A couple of things, Well, they feel threatened.
We know this is all part of the larger Project twenty twenty five effort, whether it's it's neo Confederate movement, uh uh, this this far right uh, this far right movement to basically do away with anything that's black or brown and all throughout the country. This is this is the the plate that they've been running for a long time.
So they feel threatened. And we fought really hard for that second black.
Congressional district that that's currently represented by by Congressman Fields. And while while thankfully we have to not like South Carolina or like Tennessee or Mississippi or miss Mississippi.
But but we but we make up one third of this state.
So so I guess in the mind of those who want to quote make America great again, the question has to be asked who you're making it great again for. So to make it great again for some means that you roll back representation for others. So black progress to some people, they feel threatened by that. And that's what
this is all in response to Black progress. And I mean, I don't know how more direct we can make it in terms of just just saying what calling it for what it is, but that's what this is all in a response to. So, if they were confident in their policies, they would feel like they can go and win in November. But the president doesn't feel confident because they have a losing message. Our country is suffering, and they're going to
get beat in the mid term. So now they've got to go out here and try to steal elections, rig elections. They're currently throwing away over forty thousand ballots in Louisiana in an election that's currently underway, right, I mean, this is just mass chaos and confusion that's all rooted in the fear of black progress.
And I think that's spot on the fear of black progress. And so then the next question becomes what are they willing to do?
Like how far are they willing to go?
And I keep asking this question to people, like what is their bottom their floor?
And so my theory of the case, right, no, I want to hear it. Go ahead.
I don't believe there is one. When you say what the floor is, I don't think one exists.
And so then what I am concerned that we're doing, Senator, is we're spending a lot of time fighting them on the level we're at right now, but we're not spending the time we need to prepare for the next floor. Right, So in my mind, I'm a nerd and I got add so I'll go down all kinds of rabbit holes. So the other day I found this document and I encourage you guys at home to check this out for state of Conventions. State of Conventions came out when Ben
Carson will still huts secretary. So first Trump administration, state of conventions is gathering people to have a constitutional convention. I think they were going after the how those seats first because they were like, oh, we can do a constitutional convention if we get a congressional supermajority. They need two thirds. They can't get it in the Senate, I don't think. I think it will be really, really tough.
But where they could get it, and this is where they haven't really gone yet, is at state, the state legislative level. You need two thirds to amend the Constitution, three fourths to ratify with is thirty eight states. Y'all have not been targeted yet, has there been? Have there been conversations about redrawing state legislative districts as well?
In Louisiana?
Not yet, but I imagine it is coming once we get through congressional So the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the district course ruling that deemed our current maps to be unconstitutional. So it's been remanded back to the trial court and it's going to be relitigated under the Calaid decision. So all of our seats are at risk. So I don't see that fight going away. It just hasn't come yet, but I imagine that that's going to be the on on the table very soon.
I think so too, because in Washington State, like I said, that is about state legislative seats, and they're what, you know, what's crazy to me?
The grace.
There was a time where we went, especially in the South, we sought relief at the federal level.
The federal level is now the one exacting the.
Harm, you know, like we're you know, Jim Crow versus Ferguson, which you know all two well, you know, right out of your home in Louisiana, Like we're going backwards and it's at a lightning pace. I have been feeling really bad about the fact that I feel unprepared. Like we told people this was coming. I think I didn't realize the pace. The thing that I want to talk about now selfishly for us too, is you talked about national leadership.
Of course you're you're a national leader, but a state senator in Louisiana.
What can we do to not be arrested by despair? Right?
Like?
What are the things that we know we can do in all of our different lanes, because we have something we gotta do. I got Harriet on my neck, so I know we can't sit still and just watch it happen, you know what I mean?
So like, what's the thing that we gotta do to keep pushing?
Yeah, I want to take a quick moment to shout out a brother he came and testified that night. It was the morning and this brother never met him before. He came to committee's name Marshawn Camisa.
You hap to have seen his speech. Yeah, this brother brilliant.
What did he say that to your colleague? He went in on it.
He said that's it's like, that's adorable. He's like burn yeah, yeah, and he cut up this brother brilliant. I don't think he's ever done that before. I mean, I never met him before, but he felt a responsibility to come and speak his peace and he was He was just so amazing. And my message is that not everybody has to come and spend ten hours in a committee here and to testify, but whatever whatever opportunity, you have to speak up and to share your voice. This is everybody has to carry
some weight in this fight. Everybody has to carry some some of the burden. And also we have to have some faith. We have look, Optimism is a choice, Hope is a choice. We have to choose to believe that this is all gonna work out for the best in the end. And we and we have to lean on our history. We have to lean on what people like
Harriet went through. Right, we have to lean on what people like Fanny lou Hamer and so many others went through, that this was not all in vain, people like John Lewis who fought and died to give us the opportunity just to be here. So I choose to just try to keep a healthy balance of not letting despair overtape me. Being in the super minority angela servant in the Louisiana Legislature is not for the faint of heart. I'm telling you,
it is not for the faint heart. But when people like Marshaun Camise come and testify, that gave me a spark like I hadn't had in a long time. The way he's the way he captured, the way so many people are feeling. So we're going to We're gonna do everything we can to continue to push people to get out and vote this upcoming fall. We just had an election this past Saturday where people voted down. Look at wasn't three, it was all five of The governor was five and and and And when I say they voted
him down, they voted him down. Some amendments went down like seventy five percent no against. So people are people are angry and black voters came out at a higher clip, at a higher rate than than everybody. So people are motivated, People are are are are trying to find a way to channel that that that that anger, and I think by continuing to show up to to to the polls, we have to invest in organizations. I'm asking people to support the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus Pack.
And I know not everybody's happy with.
The with the Democratic Party in Louisiana, but we got to continue to support the party, and we need the national Party to support southern states like Louisiana, like Mississippi, like South Carolina. So it may not sound like the most exciting answer, but it's a real answer. We just got to show up and everybody has to has to carry their weight.
You know.
The other question I have for you is when we look at all of the efforts we have traditionally focused on legislative and legislation and litigation to get us out of.
These types of moments.
One other place that, at least traditionally in civil rights orgs, we had Operation Breadbasket under Doctor King in his final speech in Memphis. You hear him, You hear him say to Jesse Jackson. He's like, what are the companies Jesse, And he's asking him while they're in the midst of that action against or for Memphis sanitation workers, where do we need to keep our money out of so that
people understand this is not a game. And I think that's a place where collectively, not just black folks, but the whole of America gets really lazy. The Congressional Black Caucus sent out a letter to the folks who they demanded support John the John R. Lewis Voting Rights in Advancement Act. Those companies, where are they now? These companies that lobby these Southern legislators, these Confederate wannabes, they should
be held to the carpet to ensure our representation. These multinationals like FedEx is based in Tennessee, I can't think of it. What's a major company based in Louisiana. We should not be giving them our money. You know, if they can't protect our rights, then that means you don't respect our personhood or our dollars, so we should not.
Give it to you.
So the other thing that's been really controversial, I think a lot of us have been talking about it at home, is whether or not, students should go and play in the SEC if the SEC is not safe for us play sports. So today the NAACP announced the out of Bounds campaign. They're saying it's in response to the Louisiana
versus Calai decision. And when you go into what are they're calling on students uh and and for fans to no longer support It's in Tennessee, it's in Mississippi, Louisiana, South Carolina, Texas, Florida, and Alabama.
I think that's everywhere.
I would throw in Indiana and Missouri because Congress mccarson seats not up right now for a challenge, but it's coming and mister Cleaver just lost a state Supreme Court battle for his seat.
So that is what we are up against.
And they say at the end of their this tweet, this is about more than sports, it's about justice, and they offer ways for people to join the movement. I gotta know what you think about this. You got LSU at home. They they literally list out all the state schools where they don't want people to support.
Look, they're laying off the problem and laying out an issue, and it's something that we can't run from. We have to be honest about these things.
Now.
Look, I'm a person that's always been a strong proponent of building black institutions. I attended a Zaber University, I attended Howard University School of Law, and so I've always been a strong proponent of building our institutions. If we don't want to spend our money or go to other institutions, that's fine, but we need to also be focusing on redirecting those resources and that support in our community.
So it's really important.
So to the young people who have the talent and have the skills to even play at the level of some of these colleges, they have to make some hard decisions.
And the decision that they have to make is if they're.
Going to attend these schools, it has to come with some demands, it has to come with something. It has to come with some demands. And having a scholarship to play out a school like LSU is an incredible opportunity that It's one that I would never dismiss, as though that would be an easy thing to do. But we're in critical times right now, and these young people when they make their decision to attend schools like this and
in the climate that we are in. They have to understand their value and they have to understand their work that they are the ones that generate these millions of dollars that do so much for this, for this, for those institutions. So what I would say is that it's
a real conversation that we need to have. And I think that if any young person chooses to go to one of these schools, to bring their talents to any of these schools in these states, like the ones that are listed, it should it should absolutely come with some demands. But first and foremost, I'm just a big proponent of
supporting HBCUs and black institutions first and foremost. So that's my thoughts on the matter, and I'm willing to engage with anybody to try to help advance that conversation going forward.
I love that.
Yeah, we do have to figure out what our collective sacrifice looks like right now. If we keep trying to do business as usual in every other lane, the political lane won't work. I can't tell you how frustrated I've been over the last several days with some friends saying, oh, I don't really like politics, like that, I don't really do politics like that.
I'm like, at what point do you like?
This isn't just politics, This is oppression, this is racism. These are things that will go outside the boundary that it's going to impact your drinking water, in the food, you have access to your healthcare, all of these other places, and I just don't understand.
So anyway, I'm so grateful for your time. I see that we have our clip from mister Marshawn, so I feel like this is a good place for us to rest. The sign out, let's play that clip.
Heels great.
I have no doubt in my mind that the map's going to pass. If y'all can give us less than zero seats, you would do it. Y'all do this under the orders of somebody that said the Civil Rights Act was harmful the white people that it calls reverse racism. RFK said that black children are overfilled on antidepressants and that they need to be reparented on different forms, all of them. Pete Hedseeth constantly brings Doug Wilson to the
Pentagon to give a prayer service. Doug Wilson is the same passive that said that slave owners were on strong spiritual ground. I don't have no belief in no morality on anybody that followed Donald Trump. If you wasn't with this map, you wouldn't be underneath this president, you wouldn't be in your party. You would stand up, you would stand against it, you would speak.
Out about it.
So, as far as I'm concerned, if you here as one of these Trump Republicans, you already showed us who you are.
You showed us what you want to do.
And I believe the country as a whole is rebuking your party.
Y'all are in a death spile. That's why y'all have to redistrict.
That's why y'all have to cheat.
That's why Trump got to go to Texas and say he entitled the five more seats. It's because y'all know what y'all doing is a pooring. We letting our people die any rome based on false pretense that Taulci, GABTT and Joe can't say it ain't real. Y'all okay with all that, So I'm positive y'all gonna be okay with the maps. But the beautiful thing is the children that y'all have made, and the people that's younger than y'all
don't support none of this racism that y'all want. The Maga Party is the last breath of the Confederacy, and I'll be happy to see millennials in GenZ Bury.
Y'all, there will be no more of your party. The midterms gonna come.
Y'all gonna get wiped out. Trump gonna get dragged out of the White House, and I'm gonna love every second of it, because y'all loved every second of the suffering that he calls to everybody in this country and worldwide. We starve in Cuba, we bomb Nigeria, we hold in Zimbabwe and Zambia hostage for their minerals. We don't want to give them a support. The pro life is that say all life is special?
Y'all?
Legging kids die of eights? What part of your Bible say that?
Point out the scripture?
I think everybody would love to see it, and we would love to see y'all in the midterms.
WHOA, that's that on that er?
Thank you so much to y'all at home, Senator Royce d Plus it's also if you have any last words, I'll let you do that.
Senator.
Thank you, Angela.
I want to thank you for everything that you do every day, and just giving me an opportunity to come and shed a little light on what's happening here in Louisiana. Let this be a clarion call to everyone across the country.
What's going on.
Louisiana has always been in some ways the laboratory for issues like this, when you go back to Homer v. Plessy, when you go back to this, you know Ruby Bridges, you know, integrating schools back in the back in the sixties.
The fact that this case came out of Louisiana and what we're dealing with now, setting back the country and the Voting Rights Act more than six decades just within our lifetime, what we've seen, Let this be a clarity call for action in this moment is so much more than just about maps on our lines on a map. This is about whether or not people black people in particular are going to be able to fully participate in democracy going forward. And there's just no clear to no
other two ways about it. Hiding behind party as a proxy for race should not be allowable under any circumstances. And that's what they're trying to do, just like they did back when they said separate but equal now it's just a different that they're playing at a different level, and we have to also be willing to play at that different level. So I'm going to continue to push and do everything that I can in the super minority
in this legislature. But we need everybody, we need all hands on deck to support what we're trying to do here in Louisiana and throughout the South for representation.
Absolutely, thank you so much, senator. We will be in touch very soon.
Wow, that was sudden. I don't think that he meant to go out like that.
No, thanks you got I was just respectful.
I'm sure.
Thank you so appreciate.
Everyone at home.
We are going to get smoother with our transitions, but just know that we are not finished. So we were in Montgomery on Saturday. Native Lampod announced last week on our show that we were going to start a tour in the South. Bakari required that it be in parts that normally don't get all the attention, more rural areas, more concentrations of black people who have been feeling disenfranchised, voiceless,
and invisible. So we are starting that tomorrow Wednesday, May twentieth, in Jackson, Mississippi, NAACP will be holding a rally to demand fair maps, to demand that maps not be rigged, and certainly to protect one of the greatest champions we have in the Congressional Black Caucus, Benny Gordon Thompson, who was also my former boss.
We will be in Jackson talking live.
We're going to be with Eddie Glaud to share some strategies, some thoughts about what our path forward must include. Our path forward cannot go, cannot be successful without real intentions around our economics. We have one point three trillion dollars worth of buying power in this in this country. We are not just consumers, we are owners too. We will make sure that capital is flowing through the doors of
black business. I appreciate the Senator for raising that, but we also need to talk to students, fans, employees alike, these Southern schools, these public schools that are using the talents of our athletes, but not lifting a finger or raising their voice when they watch this oppression happen around restricting our voting rights and our voices from being heard at the hands of the Supreme Court at the Louisiana Versus Cali decision. They continue to exact this harm in Alabama,
of course, we know what they've said. In Mississippi, we know what they've said, so we're going to keep fighting. It is all hands on deck. Y'all certainly have a role. If you aren't following us, follow us on social media at Native lamppod. Make sure that you are subscribed on our website Native lampod dot com so you get text
updates and also we have substack. We are going to be following all the state action very very closely with a new phased rollout with some young people who will be on the ground in states that's coming at you soon.
But regardless, we need you all to stay in the fight.
Do not be discouraged. I'm not gonna lie to y'all. It's hard not to be in this moment. I feel you, but let me tell you, it would be so much more discouraging sitting here with no rights because they had a constitutional convention to get rid of.
All of them. We ain't going out like that.
So until next time, welcome home, y'all. Native Lampod is a production of Heart Radio and partnership with reisent Choice Media. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio visits the iHeartRadio, app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.