On this week’s SoloPod, our guest is Dr. Adjoa B. Asamoah, leader of the CROWN act movement, which recently saw yet another victory in Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania CROWN act, and others like it, classify protective hairstyles (like braids and dreadlocks) as a racial characteristic. That makes it illegal to forbid those hair styles at schools and in work places. Michelle Obama has been outspoken lately about the need to protect our hair, much to the chagrin of rightwing media personality and bi...
Dec 02, 2025•29 min
On this week’s MiniPod, hosts Tiffany Cross, Angela Rye, Andrew Gillum, and Bakari Sellers talk about navigating family dynamics. Whether it’s in the family group chat when it pops off, or around the table at Thanksgiving, family dynamics can get… tricky. Our hosts share stories and strategies for “family beef.” If you’d like to submit a question, check out our tutorial video: http://www.instagram.com/reel/C5j_oBXLIg0/ and send to @nativelandpod. Welcome home y’all! —--------- We want to hear fr...
Nov 28, 2025•35 min
In a world of Trumps, be a Cameran. On this week’s SoloPod, the 19 year old who beat his high school teacher in an election become the next member of the Board of Supervisors for Surry county, Virginia. You will not believe this incredible young man’s story! Want to ask Angela a question? Subscribe to our YouTube channel to participate in the chat. Welcome home y’all! —--------- We want to hear from you! Send us a video @nativelandpod and we may feature you on the podcast. Instagram X/Twitter Fa...
Nov 26, 2025•24 min
On episode 107 of Native Land Pod, hosts Tiffany Cross, Angela Rye, Andrew Gillum, and Bakari Sellers are joined by renowned academic and multi-platform journalist, Marc Lamont Hill. Marc Lamont Hill hosts UpFront for Aljazeera and is a co-host on The Joe Budden Podcast. He’s been a commentator for outlets from CNN to BET and has made remarks before the United Nations on the Israel-Palestine conflict. You can check out his work and support him at https://www.patreon.com/cw/MarcLamontHillOfficial...
Nov 25, 2025•1 hr 32 min
On this MiniPod, hosts Tiffany Cross, Angela Rye, Andrew Gillum, and Bakari Sellers share some of their favorite (and LEAST favorite) Thanksgiving recipes. If you’d like to submit a question, check out our tutorial video: http://www.instagram.com/reel/C5j_oBXLIg0/ and send to @nativelandpod. Welcome home y’all! —--------- We want to hear from you! Send us a video @nativelandpod and we may feature you on the podcast. Instagram X/Twitter Facebook NativeLandPod.com Watch full episodes of Native Lan...
Nov 21, 2025•22 min
On episode 106 of Native Land Pod, hosts Tiffany Cross, Angela Rye, Andrew Gillum, and Bakari Sellers discuss... President Trump has been under enormous pressure to release the Epstein Files. Republicans–who wanted the files released under President Biden–are now twisting themselves into knots trying to protect Trump’s reputation. Democrats are also finding themselves mentioned more than they’d like in what’s been released thus far. As it turns out, proximity to power knows no partisan bounds. M...
Nov 20, 2025•1 hr 35 min
Tanzanian President Samia won re-election on October 30th with an unbelievable 98% of the vote. The opposition has called the election results a “mockery of Democracy. On this week’s SoloPod, a rigged election leads to social unrest and hundreds of protestors disappeared or killed. Our guest is a local governance expert who was in Tanzania on election day working as a poll observer. Elizabeth A. Adundo-Yogo is going to tell us what conditions are like on the ground in Tanzania right now. Want to...
Nov 19, 2025•40 min
On this week’s MiniPod, hosts Tiffany Cross, Angela Rye, Andrew Gillum, and Bakari Sellers are joined by the prolific organizer and political strategist, LaTosha Brown. Ms. Brown wants you to stay home on Black Friday weekend. Target, Home Depot, and Amazon have all rolled back their DEI initiatives. We need to make them feel the pain. More broadly, it’s economic actions like these that leverage our PEOPLE POWER to redistribute the wealth. Learn more about BlackOUT Friday at https://weaintbuying...
Nov 13, 2025•30 min
On episode 105 of Native Land Pod, hosts Tiffany Cross, Angela Rye, Andrew Gillum, and Bakari Sellers recap the end of the government shutdown. Moderate Democrats in the Senate caved and passed a temporary budget without getting their demands met to continue funding health care subsidies. What the heck happened and what was the point of this record-breaking standoff that saw federal workers furloughed and the poorest Americans lose food assistance? It is not Democrats who “lost” the government s...
Nov 12, 2025•1 hr 31 min
On this week’s (somewhat) SoloPod, Angela Rye is joined by renowned political commentator on Native Land Pod, our very own Tiffany Cross, to talk about these BEEFS between Black media outlets and figures. There are mysterious forces driving wedges between Black media figures who represent various factors of the Black community. We gotta have a meta conversation about what’s driving these beefs. For example, Roland Martin recently criticized Charlamagne for using his platform (The Breakfast Club)...
Nov 11, 2025•41 min
Host Angela Rye is joined on stage for a candid conversation with Vice President Kamala Harris! This convo kicks off with a look back to election night 2024. VP Harris takes us through HER experience of that night and the days and weeks that followed. They discuss some of the most controversial political issues that Kamala grappled on the campaign and afterward, like the war in Gaza, and how to confront fascism on-the-rise. VP Harris' new political memoir, 107 days, goes deep into her historic r...
Nov 10, 2025•56 min
On this week’s MiniPod, our hosts Angela Rye, Tiffany Cross, Andrew Gillum, and Bakari Sellers are joined by Maurice Mitchell, the National Director of the Working Families Party for a conversation on breaking the two-party system and getting corporate (and AIPAC) money out of politics. The WFP is a political party aimed at taking power from the rich and powerful, and putting it in the hands of the working class through a broad multi-racial coalition. They run their own candidates AND run candid...
Nov 07, 2025•46 min
On episode 104 of Native Land Pod, hosts Tiffany Cross, Angela Rye, Andrew Gillum, and Bakari Sellers go through this week’s election results and take an account of how our Black candidates (and voters) performed. The race for NYC’s mayor dominated the airwaves, where Democratic Socialist Zohran Mamdani won. BUT there were other important races. Black mayors were elected across the country, the governor race in Virginia and New Jersey went solidly Democratic, and State-level elections in the Sou...
Nov 06, 2025•1 hr 22 min
Angela Rye's first guest is the California Assemblywoman from the 61st district, Tina McKinnor. Angela chats with her about California’s Prop 50, a ballot measure to redraw the state’s electoral map to favor Democrats. Our second guest is Melanie Campbell, the president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, a national civil rights nonprofit organization. She is best known for her voting-rights activism and is dedicated to mentoring and providing leadership opportunities...
Nov 03, 2025•46 min
On this episode hosts Tiffany Cross, Angela Rye, and Andrew Gillum answer YOUR questions at the AfroTech conference in Houston, Texas. AfroTech is a hub for Black S.T.E.M professionals, innovators, entrepreneurs, & visionaries. It was founded in 2016 by Blavity Inc. and aims to inspire future Black leaders within the tech industry where Black professionals are significantly underrepresented. Black workers accounted for just 7.4 percent of the high-tech workforce and 5.7 percent of high-tech ...
Nov 02, 2025•42 min
On this week’s MiniPod of Native Land Pod, it’s a boys takeover. Andrew Gillum and Bakari Sellers discuss the recent spate of violence during homecoming weekend at our HBCUs. There has been some hysterical reporting about violence around the Howard University and Lincoln University campuses. Surely, violence surrounding large gatherings at our HBCUs is a cause for concern, and we’ll talk about it. Also, there’s a (false) media trope about violence at HBCUs that media outlets are playing into, an...
Oct 31, 2025•14 min
On episode 103 of Native Land Pod, hosts Tiffany Cross, Angela Rye, Andrew Gillum, and Bakari Sellers are TOGETHER at a studio in Houston, Texas. Starting on November 1st, SNAP (food stamps) benefits will reportedly run out of funding, affecting more than 40 million Americans, or about 10% of the country. This despite the fact that the federal government could easily appropriate funds to continue the SNAP program through November. This is a result of the federal government shutdown which will so...
Oct 30, 2025•57 min
On this special SoloPod, Angela Rye and attorney A.B. Burns-Tucker (A.K.A. IAMLEGALLYHYPE) tackle California’s proposition 50, CA reparations measures, and answer YOUR questions. This episode originally aired as an Instagram live stream on 10-23-25. Proposition 50 seeks to redraw California’s electoral maps to give Democrats as many as 8 more seats in the U.S. Congress. It’s the only measure on the ballot for CA voters this November. Recently, Governor Gavin Newsom signed a reparations bill to c...
Oct 27, 2025•56 min
The Perfect Neighbor debuted this month as the #1 film on Netflix, bringing attention to Stand Your Ground laws through the story of Ajike “AJ” Owens. AJ was killed in 2023 by her neighbor Susan Lorincz, a woman known throughout the neighborhood as “The Karen." This documentary, told through police bodycam footage of the confrontations leading up to the horrific murder, is part of a movement for social change. On this MiniPod, our hosts Angela Rye, Tiffany Cross, and Andrew Gillum speak with the...
Oct 24, 2025•24 min
On episode 102 of Native Land Pod, hosts Tiffany Cross, Angela Rye, Andrew Gillum, and Bakari Sellers are joined by Charlamagne Tha God, host of The Breakfast Club, to talk about the controversy NLP stirred up with our “anti-intellectualism” episode last week. Our hosts also cover Trump’s grifting, a call for a general strike, and an update on threats to the Voting Rights Act. Trump is seeking $230M in damages from his own Justice Department for investigations into him, the 2016 Russia-election-...
Oct 23, 2025•1 hr 50 min
Native Land Pod hosts Tiffany Cross, Angela Rye, and Andrew Gillum are LIVE at CultureCon 2025 for a special conversation about where they see politics intersecting with creative spaces. PLUS questions from the audience. CultureCon started in 2016 as a small gathering of Black creatives in Imani Ellis NYC apartment. In less than 10 years, it has become one of the world’s most premiere gatherings of creatives and cultural influencers, with Black talent at the center. And of course we’ll hear from...
Oct 22, 2025•26 min
The federal government shutdown is impacting broad swathes of American life, from health care costs, to plane travel, to baby formula, to federal workers and members of the military missing pay checks and ending up at food banks. On this episode, we'll hear from some of the folks who have been impacted, and talk about how WE get ourselves out of this mess. Contact your members of Congress: https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member Want to ask Angela Rye a question? Subscribe to our YouTu...
Oct 21, 2025•32 min
Our MiniPod this week is inspired by one of your questions. Should we attend the No Kings protest? How do we maximize our political power through other methods besides voting? We’ll hear some personal testimony from Andrew about what it means to folks like Letitia James and Lisa Cook, and all the folks being unjustly targeted by the Trump administration, about what it means to see folks protesting the same system that’s grinding them down. If you’d like to submit a question, check out our tutori...
Oct 17, 2025•21 min
On episode 101 of Native Land Pod, hosts Tiffany Cross, Angela Rye, Andrew Gillum, and Bakari Sellers talk about Ignorance. Some Ignorant young Republican leaders had their group chat leaked, as reported in a recent Politico article. You are NOT going to believe what these 20 and 30-something conservatives in positions of power said when they thought they were in private. Their racist and violent rhetoric illuminates how young conservatives think and how these words become policy, see below– LA ...
Oct 16, 2025•1 hr 21 min
On this special episode of Native Land Pod, host Angela Rye is joined by attorney for the Legal Defense Fund, Janai Nelson. Ms. Nelson joins us just after leaving the Supreme Court, where she argued a case which could have radical implications for the Voting Rights Act and redistricting across the country: Louisiana v. Callais. In 2024, Louisiana was found to be in violation of the VRA and was forced to redraw their congressional map. The original map created only one majority Black district out...
Oct 15, 2025•39 min
On this week’s SoloPod, Angela Rye breaks down the charges against New York’s Attorney General Letitia “Tish” James, and connects them to a larger pattern of powerful Black women being unjustly prosecuted. SPEAKING OF DISRESPECT TO BLACK WOMEN, our NLP hosts called out Stephen A Smith last week for his comments disparaging Congresswomen Jasmine Crocket over her lack of “civility.” Stephen accused his critics, including our hosts, of attacking him without substance. Sir, these attacks have substa...
Oct 14, 2025•31 min
Does Black Girl Magic tread on Black men? Some have said that the renewed positive focus on Black women and girls has cast the triumphs and plights of Black men into the shadows. Let’s dispel some notions and interrogate this y’all. If you’d like to submit a question, check out our tutorial video: www.instagram.com/reel/C5j_oBXLIg0/ Welcome home y’all! —--------- We want to hear from you! Send us a video @nativelandpod and we may feature you on the podcast. Instagram X/Twitter Facebook NativeLan...
Oct 10, 2025•22 min
We are celebrating episode 100 of Native Land Pod!! With our hosts Tiffany Cross, Angela Rye, Andrew Gillum, AND Bakari Sellers. Bakari joins as our fourth host of Native Land Pod! Like Angela, Bakari is the child of an activist, and similar to Andrew, he made history when he became the youngest South Carolina state rep back in 2006 (beating a 26 year incumbent). He brings his sharp wit, cutting political commentary, and sibling-like sass. Welcome Bakari!! Native Land Pod has launched a Substack...
Oct 09, 2025•1 hr 35 min
On this week’s MiniPod, our hosts Angela Rye, Tiffany Cross, and Andrew Gillum are joined by the host of Therapy for Black Girls: Dr. Joy Harden Bradford. You may have seen the 12 year old who caused 70K worth of damage after having his phone taken? Or perhaps you’ve seen the back and forth between Serena Williams and Megyn Kelly (CLIP FIXED) over cotton plant decorations in a hotel lobby. We’ll get therapist Dr. Joy to help us unpack these viral clips, PLUS we’ll hear from friend of the show, R...
Oct 03, 2025•49 min
On episode 99 of Native Land Pod, hosts Tiffany Cross, Angela Rye, and Andrew Gillum talk shutdowns, Bad Bunny at the super bowl, and a new directive from Trump to go after “domestic terrorists.” Republicans and Democrats are once again at an impasse on the budget, meaning the federal government is officially shut down. Democrats are making a stand over health care. The Trump administration is threatening to use the shutdown to enact more cuts and layoffs. Our hosts outline what’s at risk and pr...
Oct 02, 2025•1 hr 28 min
