Native Land Pod is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership with Reason Choice Media. Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.
Welcome, Welcome, Hey, everybody. This episode is a replay of one of our interviews from our live stream as a Congressional Black Caucus Foundation's Annual Legislative Conference. If you want to listen to or watch the full stream, check out the links in the episode description. You can also find a full list of all the guests we interviewed. Welcome home, y'all.
We got a whole Brothers panel right now.
We have I was gonna say, Congress, we said. We have Garrison Hayes, who's a video correspondent for Mother Hayes. We have Chris Ray, who is the international president of five Beta Sigma. You see him dapper in that blue and he's also the president of the Divine Nine Council of Presidents. Also, I don't know why Andrew is the Welcome Committee. He needs to do it on Life's so.
He just doesn't care. I got a He has no idea what I said.
He wants to be the Welcome Committee, the Goodbye Committee.
The Hello Committee.
I'm not listening to.
You committee anyway.
Last, but certainly not least in my introductions doctor Wes Bellamy, who is the public Policy chair for one hundred Black Men. He brings his students here to this conference every single year. I have the great honor of being an EP on his documentary more than a statue, and he's here, of course with a kin take clock bowta.
I love you.
And you guys are doing better.
He looks better than.
How you look. So tell us about what's going on. Man, get close to get close before Yeah, we did.
I did.
We were over there comedian talking about you should introduce him to mister president. Now that he's back and he knows that we actually did our black jobs.
You have to and before you leave, we have to get a photo because my brother, I would be remiss. My brother is a proud member of five Beta Sigma Fraternity Incorporated players that georgiis. Yes, you and I have to get a photo so I can send this listen.
First of all, thank you all so much for the opportunity to hang out with you all right.
Been following you all.
Love what you're doing for the culture, Love the information that you're sharing. I get to do my black job, which is I'm the international president of Phive Beta Sigma. I get to serve as the president, the twentieth president of Barbara Scotia College, the home of Mary MacLeod Bethune, and now I am the chairman of the Council of Presidents. He got a lot of jobs, a lot of black jobs, a lot of black leading literally but just doing the good work, doing the good work.
And this this.
Man right here, who has you know, who has been a big inspiration. I got caught up in this whole leadership chain when I had the opportunity service mayor of Spring Lake, North Carolina a few moons ago, and I was plucked out of this whole obscurity because of Andrew Gilliam And so just really glad that he was able to put me and connect me with a group of amazing young people who have now I've been able to grow up with in the fight.
And they all still design their own outfits. So let's just know everything is.
Purpose for him. Let's be clear. Let's be clear.
I'm super excited to be here.
One man, you know, with respect to our dear brother Andrew, but he's everybody's big brother, honestly, man. And the work and what you put in. It is super appreciative. Tiffany, you know how much I admire you and thank you.
Man.
I love both of y'all. But I'm gonna not gonna lie. I love Angela and anybody messing with her, I'm gonna find them. I was clear, but we'll see stop.
Joe.
Yeah, y'all can't let me and Wing win.
But we really appreciate all the work and what you all do, and we're excited to talk about, you know, a lot of the collaborative work efforts that we have going on and not only getting brothers and since was out the vote, but most importantly putting off for the culture for these last fifty some.
Days here it is Yeah, I mean, I'm really happy to be here as well. It's great to be on finally and make it happen. I mean, you guys are doing something really special in that I think black media has such a really important role right now, and so it's incredible to see your platform and the way you're using your platform is amazing. In my work, I'm covering black issues most consistently, telling black stories about the way
that we're utilizing our black political power. This year, I've been down in Atlanta, talking to both voters and organizers on the ground, folks who are mobilizing and communities that are often left behind, and many of them are getting their information from platforms just like this one.
So it's a real honor to be here.
I love it. Thank you for your work bringing information to people. I'm happy to have these black men at the table because we've talked about this a little earlier in the show, and that is this the manisphere and the comments coming from the manisphere, And I just wonder what you all might say to our good brothers out there who might be misinformed, misdirected, miseducated about what is
at stake for this election. And I hear consistently from the manisphere about this agenda to drive a wedge between us and y'all know we love you, we can't we need not only do we love you, but we need you. You are integral to our lives and our community. So what would you say out there the men who feel like, well, we left out of the conversation and this black women this and his black women always owe Democrats and black men vote with Trump, and what about me? What do y'all say to them?
Do the voice one more time and what about me?
And we appreciate it, but nonetheless, so the one hundred black men we're a part of this twenty one city tour talking about real men vote and to be candid, those are things in which when we go to these town halls, we hear some brothers say we feel left out, But I think what I would say to them is similarly what we say during the town halls. As brothers, we have to be one educated and informed on the issues. We know that there's a great deal of misinformation that
is specifically targeted towards us. And if you just look no further than the mother, the black mama that birthed you, her rights are under attacked. You're a black sister, you're a black daughter, your a black niece, your black cousin.
You all just had alectus on their.
Bodies and their ability to be able to do what they want to do is under attack. And candidly, what I'm often saying is currently we don't have the time to complain about what isn't happening or the wig that's being pushed between us, perceived wedge between us. What we have to do right now is what we have to do, which is be the true leaders of our communities, collaborate and work together, take care of our brothers and our sisters,
and most importantly, show up. That's most important. Show up and do your job because you have an obligation to do so.
Right now, I'm.
Sorry I would a little what you said. One of my favorite things about you is I saw your videos on TikTok and you are constantly educating in spaces where people will get on completely unresearched. Not saying much, but every video that I've seen from you, I've learned something. How are you utilizing that platform to kind of combat some of the misinformation that Tivi's talking about making sure you're bringing people in to be heard.
Yeah, I mean, I think what's so important here is that we don't get to this moment without the things that came before it. Right, Like, we have to talk about the fact that we are at this very week is the thirtieth anniversary of the nineteen ninety four crime Bill. Black men are left out of the conversation. I just
mentioned being in Atlanta. Just last week, I was in Atlanta talking to some young men and both of them had felony convictions, they can't vote, and so they have been taken out of this conversation in a way intentionally systematically, right, And so we have to acknowledge that that there are structures in place that have led to this kind of
disillusionment that we see. Yeah, And at the same time, I love the mentorship, the messaging that we're hearing from our brothers here about we don't have time to really get caught up in that. Right, they're using our vulnerabilities against us as men, the misogyny and sexism that we're taught from birth, the ways that we're being conditioned to believe that women are inferior to us. They're using that
against us to leverage our vote against us. And so much of what I try to do on my platform is that re education work, the work of really taking that history, taking the issues and reframing them, hopefully adding in some more information so that people understand things differently so that we can build a better future.
And I think that's so.
I think it's so important and often overlooked in this conversation because men are being educated by folks who do not have our best.
Interest in mind.
The last thing I'll say is is Unfortunately, men are taking their own lives and we have to ask ourselves why. And a lot of it has to do with the pressure that we put on ourselves, and the manisphere is a part of that.
They have blood on their hands and.
We have to call it that and say it that way. And this election is so important because.
I think that's such a thank you for that, for stating that the way you did. Anybody can answer this. I just wonder why out of that frustration, Because when our brothers are in pain, we hold your pain, we feel that pain. We too are in pain, and I think it's in our nature to love and to nurture. I wonder why out of that does it become that we, the black women, are your.
Enemy broken and you're the closest to many of us.
Are broken, and when what you don't realize is is that we are literally moving through life broken.
And so here I am.
I have been taught at a certain age how to carry myself or what I think a man should be, how I should move in this world. And then when they are individuals that see me not operate in that space, they criticize me, they tear me up. They It is literally death by a thousand cuts. So by the time I get to a space where it's time for me now to take a partner, I don't. I'm not even who I'm supposed to be, broken and so and then and then you have the individuals who say to you
you don't need to get any help. You know that's you know, you don't need any any support there? You know a real man, doesn't you know? You just suck it up. You know how many times I've heard that in my life, just suck it up. And here I am now. And so you wonder why as I moved through this space that I am not able to have the true conversation with my partner. I'm not able to really know how to navigate on my job. I don't
know how to navigate in other relationships. And so the only time that I find an opportunity for me to really express myself is in this informal opportunities, informal time with my brothers where I'm just kicking it and you know, you're saying stuff like man, she tripping right, But really what I'm saying is it's like, man, I don't know.
How to communicate to her.
I don't know how to move in such a way to let her know that I'm care I don't know how to say I'm vulnerable. Oh my gosh, that word very rarely comes out of our mouth, and so by because being vulnerable as a man is absolutely not a part of the lexicon of being a man broken.
And I'll just say brokenness also has no monopoly on men. Brokenness applies across the board. And the reason why I think it's important to say it is because we're almost always it feels like we're looked at from the deficit perspective of what we're not bringing to the table, rather than what is here present that you've never seen exemplified anybody else but me, if we're being honest with each other.
But I will say in y' all of y'all's comments that hit on this, that it is systematic that folks aren't waking up feeling broken. There are advertisers who put commercials on television between the most popular shows on tele that we're watching and others are watching, and never choose to take mental health as their mantle or their opportunity to say, you know what, this is in vogue. Whatever the phrasing is that communicates directly to us in a
way that we can hear it. When you consider black men taking on issues during this election supposedly not supportive of the black woman who's running for president, you are getting not just you United States of America, Republicans and conservatives coming at you in your inboxes, in your screen time and when you're twirling through trying to see what story you're going to read next. But you got China
and you've got Russia. You're so powerful as an individual and as an entity that foreign nations have determined that you are the enemy and are now putting endless resources into making it true. So it isn't by accident. Is we're not stumbling into it. We're not broken and falling into it. We are targeted, targeted with significant resources to perform a certain way.
But you said something also that I think is super important where you said the closest the proximity sivity, Like when you see the closest proximity to the person that you know is oftentimes the person in which you harm
if you're not healed in some regard. So our sisters often catch the brunt of our brokenness because they are the closest to us and we feel as if that's the only place in which we can try to be invoke some kind of superiority, which again is all systematic, you know, things in which we have to be intentional with breaking down. And I'm glad that we have in the platform the opportunity to be able to discuss this.
You ask a question earlier to what would we say to black men first and foremost, You're valued, you're loved, you're supported.
You're needed, you're necessary.
But you also have to go out and vote in this election, or at a bare minimum, encourage everyone you can to do the right thing, because if you don't do the right thing in this instance, you may not have another chance to do anything.
You're not going to have another chance.
And you know, I remember there was an argument the one time I had with my wife and she said, if you were on your job, would you talk to your supervisor your manager that way? No, you wouldn't because you're trying to protect your job. So why would you talk to me like that in our home where we are you know, the president and CEO or where the you know.
Why would you do that to me here? Knowing that.
You wouldn't do that outside of this space, but you would do it in this space, and I had to check myself, you know, she had to check herself realizing that, you know, I'm not going to blow up on you here because I know that I'm going to be able to manage how I'm going to delete, delete, delete that email before I resend it, because I'm trying to protect the lifestyle that I have. So why would I not try to protect the lifestyle that I got.
Now.
One of the things that we're doing with the National Parmle in the Council, specifically our fraternities, is we're having deep conress stations with the fraternities, the five fraternities on how we're going to make sure that we are seriously engaged in this upcoming election cycle. Now next week, we're excited that we're going to be dropping a lot of information on how the National Penalanonic Council is about to be a part of this process. We're not sitting on
the sidelines. We're going to make sure that we're going to be an intricate part. Every single week there's going to be something coming out from us about making sure that folks are getting to the poll.
I love it.
On November fifth, watch us work. I love you.
So this is amazing, so great. Thank you for that. What an amazing way to close out the show with words from black men and the openness and knowledge that you've armed the home viewing audience with, but also does us as your counterparts who are cheering you on and grateful to the roles that y'all play in our lives in our commune.
We do see, y'all, We do thank you. I do want to say his name one more time, Justin Robinson, who is the young man who was shot and killed by the police here in Washington, DC just days ago, And we want y'all to know we stand with you, we're thinking of you, and we're absolutely gonna talk to the CVC about what can be done on a federal level to prevent these shootings to continue to happen.
Thanks you so much for joining it. Thank you brother. Hey y'all, thanks for listening.
Remember to rate, review, subscribe, and tune into our regular episode that drops every single Thursday, Welcome Home, y'all.
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