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Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Hey, fam You're about to hear a replay of one of our interviews from our live stream at the Democratic National Convention. 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 are joined now by Derek Johnson, the president of NAACP, and Angela and Derek have a unique history. Angela, you want to tell us about your bond.
Thank you all have yues We actually and that's a good teaser for our next guest. Derek and I become like siblings because of the tutelage and the mentorship of Benny Gordon Thompson, who of course was mentored by Fanny Louhammer. And that's the sixth year anniversary that Bacari just referenced. Derek, you are running the most innovative campaign in restoring the
brand and the legacy of NAACP. He talks to us about why this week is so important for the civil rights community and what you had to say in your speech in bringing people into the folk, Well.
It's significance because we didn't get here because we woke up this morning.
One second, Derek, we are well, yeah, okay, go ahead.
You're on test one, is it?
Yes?
Sure? That was angela fault for those at home.
I think we didn't get here because we woke up this morning.
We got here because there was a lot of sacrifice, blood,
strategy and work to bring us to this moment. And so part of what I talked about in the speech was given the history of the nineteen sixty four Missippi Democratic Freedom Democratic Party and all the work they did leading up to nineteen seventy three in large city mayors getting elected, whether it's Manager Jackson, Coleman, Young, Tom Bradley turning the corner to nineteen eighty four to eighty eight with Jesse Jackson, who really established what was possible would
keep alive, and you turn the corner, you look at this moment, we would not have a convention the way we're having. And now if individuals didn't put together strategy, they understood the rules, they implemented the rules, and they didn't run to the microphone, they ran to the work, and that's what's really important.
Derek, let me ask you because there are a lot of people you and I met in Jackson where you did a lot of work, and in Jackson, the NAACP is like a governing body practically has a lot of relevance. There are cities where you know, when it's time for strategy, don't hear people say, oh, I just came from the
NAACP meeting. So for people who don't necessarily have a personal connection to the organization, what today is the significance of the NAACP and why should people pen their care excellent question.
So you know one of thing I'm gonna start here fam two rays Socli car mic who's to coming to two Glue College where I'm a graduate every year? And he'd say organized, organized, organized, And he said, whether it was your Sunday school or this organization. I don't believe in organizational supremacy. I believe in getting the work done. And if the NACP is your view vehicle for voice,
then use it. If you go to another community, is that's not your vehicle, but you have a vehicle to impart of Black community, then I celebrate that.
So for us.
We got to make sure that community by community we build out an.
Infrastructure of black power and use the vehicles that are available.
In ACP.
We are most predominant in the Southeast region where the former Confederate states, where majority of black people live, not large metropolitan areas. In fact, I met Andrew through the NACP when he when he was a high school student and then went on to the family because in local communities, whether you Florida, where th h Pool when you started, Aaron Herrey, when I started, that's the infrastructure, the backbone
of the black community. We oftentimes look to major city politics and we forget about majority of black folks.
Don't live in Detroit, Chicago, New York. They live in the Southeast region.
Yea autaw was from Chicago.
From Mississippi anyway, is nothing but the capital of Minnisoa, Mississippi.
I mean this is north north Mississippi.
And you think about you know your father, your father is a part of that group who put forth a strategy as students to recognize that this generational fight we have us versus them, old versus young, male versus female, it's a self defeating reality. Intergenerational organized have always been the most effective approach. Community centric leadership is the most effective approach. When you start having ecocentric leadership is the beginning of the end because individuals will fail you, but
community interests will always secede. And that's how I try to lead to NACP. So if I go to the community in ACP, ain't the lead? Great, plug me into what is the lead? Because i'most celebrate that too.
Go ahead ahead, but what are some of the I mean, we celebrate you often, but we don't necessarily know the challenges you face.
What are some of the challenges you face.
And overcome on a daily basis as being the leader of the oldest civil rights organization?
That yeah, remember right? So the internal community external because internal.
You want to hit a mess.
If anybody ever went to a tendor of the Black Baptis Church, that's the na A CP.
We are all of you name it, We just fo come up.
We're being joined by Congressman Benny Thompson, who's of course ranking member on Homeland Security out of Mississippi, and he and Derek and Angela all work together in the House were of Congress.
We look we work for this lovely gentleman he's also the superstar that you all recognized from the January sixth Special Committee.
Welcome Boss, thank you so much.
I'm happy to be We're happy to have you.
You arrived just in time, Congressman, because Derek was about to tell us what is the biggest challenge he faces at the NUA A c P and needs all of.
Our help and try to address.
His money is people with common sense and courage. Yeah, you get the money, common sense and courage. You know the confent and I it was been fourteen years ago. I was in DC for something and we were trying to get someone to activate because we was doing inside outside strategy.
And he looked, he says, you know, I'm getting older. You can't do this by yourself.
We need to build something so we can replenish the progressive black community in Mississippi.
You are fourteen years later.
We have a whole system where we train people over nine months, twenty five folks and we put them that we have I mean, you have actually US attorney nominees, district attorney, sheriffs, beautentions, barbers. Because the leadership don't come with titles or degrees, becomes with courage and common sense.
And that's how we see this.
Congressman, I want to bring you in the conversation because Derek was just explaining to our list centers or something. We all know that a lot of times in the mainstream media when we talk about rural politics, the face of that politic is the body politic is a white person. When we know a lot of our community lives below the Bible Belt in rural communities, we too are rural America. You have championed legislation the lack of hospitalization in the South.
That was a piece of legislation that you introduced in the House to make health care more accessible. What would you say to the people who feel forgotten about in those Bible belts, like, how can they too seeing America and be acknowledged that they too are a part of a country that sometimes so often forgets about.
Well, thank you so much for having me. The notion is, in this democracy, you have to participate.
What we have to do is to organize those communities just like we organize urban areas.
They're no different.
They've just been overlooked and once you get there you find out, Gee, they're just like people in the big city. And so what we have to do is have a joint strategy urban rule to make sure that no one is overlooked. Our problem in America is that we somehow, even in urban areas, overlook the black community.
In the rural areas, they're forgotten.
And so, uh, we just resolved a lot of black farmer issues in this country US.
But this is the fourth time that we had to do a pavement. You know, we did the pickfoot case and two.
That's right, and so all of a sudden, Uh, people say, oh, we isn't that wonderful now, but we're still behind because there are a lot of people who still owe debt. Uh that got the money, but they owe more money in debt than they had.
That's right.
So what we have to do now is to somehow come up with that strategy that encompasses it all. And so that's why at a convention like this, we need to make sure that a lot of those policies after we celebrate are talked about. Yes, and that policy is absolutely how.
We put it together.
Boston.
That's one of my favorite things about having worked for you, and I think still work for you. I learned from him all the time, and you will always say we can celebrate this, but we got work to do, so we can't celebrate too long.
What are some of the things that you think it.
Is imperative in addition to taking care of our rural communities that have to be addressed this week. We know there are protests happening simultaneous.
Yeah, but you know, to be honest with you, the protests that are going on when you talk to people in my district, it's probably number twenty out of fifteen in terms of priorities because everybody is in a survival mode, right. They want to make sure that kids get education, they want healthcare. Now, you can talk foreign policy, but you know it's about what I'm getting right here at home. And if the policies don't impact me at home, it's
tough for me to look overseas at a policy. The other situation we have to do is to make sure that the policy make us don't overlook people. That paternalistic approach to politics is crazy. That means that, oh, you just elect me and I know what's good for you. That's absolutely ludicrous. You know, unless you've walked in my shoes, you don't know anything about me other than what you might have read and so our challenge in this country is to put those concerns on the front.
Bunner. You know, too many times we've been told, oh, we're gonna get to it. Yeah, you know, I got to get elected.
And you know, look, every major entity in this country has leveraged, but somehow the black community has always been told, well, you know it'll come, you know it'll and it never comes.
Congressman, can you speak to as our nominee Kamala Harrison continues to make her rounds around the country a lot of time, and in really important flip states. But I wonder to the point that you just made for the community that sits at home and says, we're always the backbone of this party, but we rarely rarely get to
toil in the largest of it. What advice might you have for her, as she, of course rightly focuses on some of these swing states to ensure that a message is delivered are at home community that she's going to be their president too.
Well, that's why the speech I'm looking for Thursday night has to be encomfliencing of all the Democratic constituents. And I think she is that person properly positioned to make those arguments on behalf not just.
Of people of color, but people who have been let out.
And so it's it's look, the people on the other side are gonna demogogue her anyway, So you might as well come with those issues that are important, and once you come with them, then you go with it. But you come with sound policies, those policies around healthcare, those policies around education, those about income insecurity, all.
Those kinds of things.
One thing she's talking about with the housing issue, well, you know, when you put that twenty five thousand dollars down on a home ownership thing, guess guess who does the financing.
Guess who owns the lumber company?
You know.
I mean, so it's a it's good for the economy. Don't look at that family that gets a home for the first time. Right, I'm still putting water systems together in my district. When the system comes and say, well, why are you always helping them? I said, I'm glad you asked. Do you know who owned the pipe company that sells all these pipes for this rule water system? You know who sells a meter, who's supplying the pipes? Yeah, so all we get is the water, we get none
of the economics. Now, if we are really radical, we would say to that pipe company, you have to have a conversity, equity inclusion program so that when that community gets water, they also get some of the economics that go with it. Right now, some said that's radical, but that's paying community back, putting people in office.
Let me just ask a question of both of you guys, while you're here and before y'all traverse and meet all these people, good folks out here, what I've been admiring is nineteen eighty four was Jesse, two thousand and eight was Barack Obama.
Twenty sixteen was also Hillary.
With the little history, they all stand on the shoulders of Fanny Lou and they stand on the shoulders of Shirley Chisholm. But what are you seeing in this convention that makes Kamala Harris a little bit different? And what do you hope we learned from all of those heroes and heroines that have come before. Well, and that's for both of that one, both of you guys.
Yes, yeah, Well I knew Fanny Lou oh very personally. She became my role model. The first real campaign I worked in was her campaign for Congress, of which I now represent that district. So you know, history has a way of repeating itself, so that legacy we can't let become forgotten. So for sixty years she came and said to Democrats, you know you got to do better. You know, you can't patronize us and then enjoy all the spoils of victory.
You have to be inclusive.
And that's that's what we have to do as a people, is not let our friends forget us. That's right, not let our friends take us for granted. And so for Fanny Luke celebration sixty years, we're still in training.
Yes, because we haven't filled.
That notion that somehow, as Fan lu said, we're sick and tired of being sick and tired. And a lot of us are sick and tired of being sick and tired of telling our friends what they need to do.
Yes, yes, saying for the people in the back boss.
Yeah, you know.
The lesson and all of this is none of us can do it by ourselves. And if we think we are the super person that's gonna do by ourself, we're gonna fail every time time, and we're going to.
Disrupt progress of people. You know, I grew up in Detroit.
I come to Mississippi, I went to Tugaloo, and instantly I was surrounded by you know a large number of folks who were ciper rights veterans, whether they's sneak or whatever else. And I felt that why because the lessons that were there for me not to make old mistakes. We'd got to stop making old mistakes. There as new ones to make. Secondly, you have people who were committed to improve the qualit of life of our communities and
they had been doing it for generations. Thirdly, I have a responsibility to both listen to the wisdom and train the youth, because if we don't do that, we would lose the progress that's made. We wouldn't sit we be, We wouldn't be sitting here. We would have never had a Barack Obama. If it wasn't for your father, if it wasn't for a feed new hammer, if it wasn't for you can name another a lot of people, including conference maker Ella Baker, you know, because they sacrificed and
they would not you know, celebrities. Then we celebrate them more now, but now that they're dead than when they was alive, and so we need more people who are willing to sacrifice to improve the quality of life of all black folks and not just for themselves.
Yeah, can I ask so, Congressman, I want to tell you that. And I told us the story one time about when she was your staffer and she was exhausted with something and she made the mistake of saying she was tired, and you said you tired, stressed out, stressed out, stressed out, and you stressed out. We heard you gave her quite the tongue lashing that day for being stressed out.
Well, you know, when I was a young child, uh, who loved me the most, Yes, gave me the worst whooping of my life, and that was my mama.
Yeah. And look, and after Mama disciplined me, she said, I did that because I loved you. Yeah, all worse.
She said, you know that hurt me more when it hurts you. So I take Angela in that perspective because I see the talent. The other thing she didn't tell you she might have is I told her that her job was to help me make some black folks rich
in the government space. She looked at me and said, I said, look, I don't care what you do if we need to bring booring Lockheed Martin the CEOs here and asked them about diversity, asked them about and so twice a month we brought those folks in and we asked, you know, do y'all have black people?
I love that, you know, I mean, you know, I mean, it's it's what you do.
How many people on your board, your corporate board? How many in the c suite the executive rings? Absolutely right, We appreciate you.
But now that the problem with that is those companies will go around my back to somebody.
Who looked like me.
And every time and try to, you know, say oh, well, you know, we can't talk to Benny, but we can we can talk to Robert.
The people Harriet was have left behind.
You let me ask you, oh sorry, when you for the cont man about second day, he said, okay, let me tell you what you do your jobs have black folks. You may you're gonna make a mistake. That's okay. As long as you having black folks. If you make them say ain't having black folks, and we got a problem. But as long as you having black folks, yeah, and you fast forward, you talk to our college. Our college will say tell you that his consultancy government relationships.
Firm would not exist but for the contry. That's right, because folks came to his office.
One of me.
He said, y'all come back when y'all got somebody that can talk to Well, you.
Said you got a recommendation, He said, yeah, it's.
Fell over here.
Next thing, you know, Art starts the group and he did it all ethically and above board.
That's most important thing.
Yes, absolutely, because you know they would tell me say, you know, if I could find somebody, the funniest.
Thing right there, if I could find some if I could find some talent right today.
Sometimes it made us put together a book for hearing witnesses, for appointees in the administration, for staffers. He absolutely had to do that. So you talked right to his heart.
Yes, well, we tried to do on mainstream media as well, because it's like, there are black people who can talk about Middle East politics, there are black people you can talk about domestic policy.
But the example of.
The congressman, what I love about it and Derek, I'm going to sell you something about you and this but it is it is transferable any if you are an elected official, you're a policymaker, You are a person out there who runs owns a business, and you are operating right now, and you're not asking the sensible questions about why doesn't this reflect the community that we have?
Why doesn't this room reflect the community that we have?
When I lost the race for governor and twenty eighteen, one of the first calls I got in late twenty eighteen was from that brother over there, Derek Johnson, asking me.
Are you set up? Are you okay?
He knew that in addition to me having come out of that race that way, that I was also no longer mayor, and he didn't know what my economic situation was. But he came and I had kids, and he's that he wanted me to be okay. And I use these two examples. One, they're excellent examples of of of of humans. But their their clarity around the way in which they are to impact the world is clear. But it doesn't belong to them. It's transferable. All of us can learn
from it and we can repeat it. And gentlemen, we thank you for that Examtly.
You know what, I think I messed up because I asked him should I start a gofund me.
Yeah, but he didn't take it. He didn't take mine. Coming from the heart, we can't help Bari Congress.
Before you leave the set, I do want to ask you have two former staffers here. Which of the two former staffers.
The most.
I don't know.
He just look.
Look.
Uh, my job is to train another hundred people. And look when somebody comes and complain to me about how hard Angela is on them, I know Angela is doing her job. When they say to Derek that, you know, I don't understand. I can't talk to Derek.
He did. Derek's doing his job. So I judge them by.
The people who come to me complaining about that. If nobody is complaining.
Doing that's that's right. And we have a lot to do. But our charge for this audience.
We now have people in positions who can help us make a difference, and somehow they take the coloration and character of the enemy, and so we now find ourselves button the heads with people who look like us, trying to convince them that it's all right to do business with people who look like you. Now we would never say do business with someone that's not qualified, but the.
Most of the people you're doing business with you don't even know.
One of the things I'm doing now is mentoring people who are new mayors in cities. I was a mayor in the seventies, and I said, especially when those mayors have either been congress people or something like that.
I said, Now, when you win that.
Office and this consultant comes up, who've been representing that city that you've been the congress person, and you never met them, problem, run them off. Run them off if they didn't see the value of you when you were in this other position. When you hear now, yeah, if you want to watch out, they'll go and bring somebody who looks like you that you don't even know. They're not going They're not going to even give you the respect of saying, look, I'm looking for somebody.
Send me some people you might know. They'll go pick Joe blow off the street. Yes, put put a suit on him.
Uh huh, yes, exactly. Yeah.
Congressman, we know, we know you and Derek are both super busy. We want to thank you guys so much for joining us. We appreciate you being here. Thanks for listening to you.
Guys.
Please please please remember to rate, review, subscribe, and tune into our regular episode on Thursday. Welcome Home, y'all.
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