Native lamp Pod is the production of iHeartRadio and partnership with Recent Choice Media.
So I want you guys to make a very very warm welcome as we introduced to the stage our three panelists.
For that discussion.
We have the co host of Native Lampod. First up, Andrew Gillotty.
Betty, y'all do better than that.
Talk about berry God because of my hip hop month. Wait, it's domastating. Damn you're going gun.
Next to the stage, we have the lovely Tiffany Cross lose me you.
Know that to tell his mom, tell your Mika issue. And last but certainly not Lise my girl Angela.
Ry Okay, we no st up gun and Nama Shine some up bed.
I know they have real fun.
May not get it for Mama. Don bemn out yet.
Bam y' welcome, hey, y'all, Welcome home, y'all see, and that's how we we know y'all listen to podcasts we say welcome home, y'all. You got to say it back, Welcome home, y'all, Welcome home.
That's better.
We know you've had a full day.
We are so excited to be here with you all.
This evening in New York Andrew Gillim and Tivity Cross.
Hey y'all doing, Welcome home, y'all. Thank y'all for coming out to hear us.
We so night. Thank you.
Yes, how many Native Lampard listeners out there?
All right?
All right, now, have y'all enjoyed the day so far? Been pretty good? Well, we're gonna we're gonna try not to overload you with politics. But if anybody's paying attention, if you're aware, if you're breathing, you realize that politics isn't just something over there that is affecting us every single day. Every decision that's being made in Washington and in state capitals and city halls around the country way on our quality of life and how we get to
live our lives. So we hope to share with you today some of our thoughts on how we may be able to live our lives to the fullest so that we're not just finding ourselves in a state of survival, but rather in a state of thriving.
Is that all right, yes, sir, it is.
We'll be your call and response so on that. One of the questions that we got back from this audience. We got questions submitted earlier today.
Thank you all so much.
We hate we didn't get your names and where you're from. But if you recognize the question, just wave at us so we know it came from y'all. The first question we got that we thought would be a great starting off point for us today is one more minute, just so y'all can follow along.
We do read as you go, so these questions.
The first question is there's been a lot of conversation lately about who gets to tell our stories? How do you all navigate that tension when you see outsiders profiting from or misusing black narratives. Story is old as time, Tiffany Cross, yep, I got you for all of us.
Why go on a lot of legacy media.
I don't think a lot of us are tuning in anymore. A lot of people are getting their information off social media of outlets like TikTok.
And there's some danger to that.
And so when we see people who have an intentional effort to lead us with misinformation and disinformation, we have a responsibility on Native lamppod to talk about things that are happening that are getting overlooked. Just this week, the federal government went into a neighborhood under the guise of looking for undocumented immigrants that has less than two percent of a Latino population in the.
Chicago and disappeared black people. They were bursting in their homes.
Zip tying children. You didn't see one story about that on Legacy Media. Those are the types of stories that we talk about on Native lamp Pod. It can be overwhelming when you don't hear about these stories and so you just check out. But that is what they're depending on for us to get to flood the zone with ca ch until chaos feels normal, until quiet feels uncomfortable and eerie.
But a Native Lampid we break it down for you.
We make it accessible, We make it digestible, to not only tell you what's going on, but to charge you with all call to action where you can combat us being at war and then make it black folks the face of the enemy by our own federal government.
So, first of all, y'all just heard the voice of Tiffany Cross, who I know some of us are remember from MSNBC when she had her show there. But her example there, similar to what we saw with Joy Reed, is that corporate America at any point in time can decide when they want to silence us. And this is what's so important about you all being here as creatives in this space. A lot of times it's difficult for
politicians to change culture. It's difficult for politicians. And I say this to somebody who ran for the governor of Florida and came within point three percent of winning that race out of eight million, twelve million vost casts in the state of Florida, that as much truth as I was speaking in as much as of an agenda I wanted to have for all of our community, but particularly for the black community, because when we thrive, everybody else thrives.
When we get when America gets a cold, y'all already know, we get COVID loan COVID right, And so creatives, people like you all, who get to tell stories and intriguing ways and in ways that people can relate to. You approach things that my brain cannot really process because I'm so technical in so many ways, except your expanded boundaries allow you to get at things in a much more compelling way. So the stories that we tell and that I believe are important, we need your help and repurposing
those stories, giving it more body, more contours. So that the person who thinks that they don't want to hear a thing about politics doesn't realize at the end of the day that they're hearing politics because you've put your spin on it.
Right.
If we don't start to transform more people into caring about these things, y'all will never ever ever win this race. And we've got to win this race because the ancestors did too much, laid down too much, sacrifice too much for a future that they knew they would never inherit. We're their wildest dreams. You know.
I want to double down here.
First, I want to shout out and Moni from Culture Con if y'all can give it up for Amani, she's done amazing.
Word.
And I'm saying that because as I sit here looking at my sister, my brother, Tiffany, and Andrew, there's a sign on the wall right here that says, we are culture. And because we are culture, we have always defined culture. We've given birth to this culture. We created the mad the science that they use to this day, fashion, the.
Arts, hip hop. We are hip hop. We are culture.
So of course they want to try to steal it. Of course they want to try to silence it. Of course they want to have our little flare and pizzazz. Of course they want to have Can we still say sweat? Can we still say sweat?
Okay, a little swag? Right, so like, of course that is what they want to do.
But this, this convening, this gathering of black folks, is an act of resilience.
It is an act of defiance.
It is an act of resistance, It is an act of rebellion to say, we are culture, We've been culture, we will always be culture. So that's what I think we need to lean into right now. So we have some questions, Tiffany, I'm gonna come to you first. The one question from the audience is sometimes people say representation matters, but not all representation is powerful or for us, how do you decide which stories or perspectives are worth platforming on Native land?
Pod I like that.
Well, luckily, we all have different perspectives on what should and should not be platform Our key importance, though, is what people want to know as well as what people need to know. And there are a lot of outlets, a lot of outlets, and some of y'all might follow that present as being black outlets, but sometimes they're parroting
conservative talking points. Sometimes these Instagram and TikTok outlets that are entertainment news, a lot of the things they posts are coming directly from the GOP, directly from right wing MAGA extremists, and I see a lot of people sharing them. We have to share responsibly, So we want to platform voices and stories that get overlooked. Like Angela said, and what I know is we are fourteen percent of the US population, and where we go, the entire world follows.
So what we have to put forth is uniquely important. And I hope that for the people who don't listen to Native Lampod that you start because we lived in.
Service to you.
We live in service to black liberation, because when black people win, everybody wins.
So you can catch episodes of Natal Lampod.
On iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts and on YouTube every Thursday, because every week we show up to inform you, give you context, and give.
You a call to action.
If that was an excellent answer, Andrew, I'm gonna go to your question. Andrew cannot see everybody say find your glasses, Andrew.
He's trying to get him discreetly.
Right now, I can say, everybody can see him going like this, Andrew, we know you can't. Oh look, bless your heart, lo Lo shout out our.
Producer, Lolo, everybody, poor Lolo.
Oh.
This question is for me, Andrew. You want to ask me?
No, okay, I'm gonna ask my, I'm gonna ask you. I'm gonna ask you.
This question is for you.
What does solidarity within the black creative and political community look.
Like to you right now?
What kind of collaboration do we need more of?
Andrew Gillim.
I mean when I think of collaboration, I think about I think about us w look together to tell stories that get resonance based off of Frankly, who is the person telling the stories. So I know, I'm very clear about the fact that I'm not everybody's cup of tea, that Tiffany may not be everybody's cup of tea, that Angela may not be everybody's cup of tea. We together may communicate a compelling story, but it doesn't break through to the masses and the way that we need it to.
So one of the challenges I think I would make to this audience it would be that if we can get you all, and I'm going to assume that most of you stay pretty aware. But if we can get you all to frankly lean on some of the trusted voices, some of the topics that we might platform, maybe you take those and you repurpose them in your own voice and get them out there so that we can get
greater buy in, greater spread, greater information sharing. When I ran for governor of Florida, the entire press cord, which are the people who write about or talk about on television, the race, the people who largely shape the questions that are asked and decide what matters and what it doesn't matter, and the entire state of Florida, the third largest state in all of America. There was not one single black
political journalist in Florida. So because I got brothers who went to jail, who served time for selling drugs, accused of selling drugs, reporters would ask me questions and hold me responsible for every single step of the actions that they may have taken, decisions that they may have made. You had white politicians whose fathers were benefiting from state contracting, who were making money hand over fists off of votes
that their brothers, sisters, daughters, sons had taken. In one legislature or another, and then they were benefiting from it financially, but those issues were never coming up. It seemed to me that their actions, no matter how illegal or inappropriate or unethical, I thought they were white people who for some reason were given grace. White was right, and if
they were doing these actions, it must be okay. But if we were doing it, something the farious, illegal, under the table untour took place, and for me would have just been so much better to be able to look out at an audience of black journalists or journalists of color, or journalists with diversified experiences who knows what it means to grow up in a poor neighborhood and have relatives who went to jail, but also some who went to college and graduated, and those who gave back, maybe not
in money directly to the institution, but by paying the tuition for their nephews and nieces as a way of giving back to the institution. So I would just say, it's helpful to have voices in this space with diverse experience. I like the term representation matters, but more than representation matters, diverse find experiences matter because you, oftentimes and they oftentimes experience the world through their lens, and oftentimes that lens bears no resemblance to our experiences, and so we need
more of us in more of those spaces. The collaboration that I think needs to take places, we've got to show up in those environments so that when our people are on the line and there are the targets, that we've got people who can rationalize, reason and explain those narratives in ways that our people can understand.
Okay, Angela, a question for you.
Culture con brings together a lot of creative people who care about impact but may not see themselves as political. Some mean y'all may not see yourselves as political. What would you say to folks who may be in this room who thinks politics isn't really their lane, or they don't do politics, or maybe some of y'all do politics, but.
You're just tired.
So I love this question because this gives me an opportunity to focus group the audience.
That's the way for us to pull you.
How many of you all think that we all deserve a safe place to lay our head at night, somewhere to live? Okay, how many of you all believe that we all deserve to eat, to make sure that our family members can eat, and we can eat good food.
That is healthy for us.
Raise your hands. Okay. How many of you all believe that.
We should have access to relatively easily clean drinking water.
Raise your hands.
How many of you all believe that we should be able to see a doctor, have access to healthcare, be able to go to an emergency room, get taken care of proactively, to ensure we can live.
Raise your hands.
How many of you all believe that black people deserve reparations?
Raise your hands?
Okay, all of.
That is political.
There is not a single one of us in this room that can afford to have our basic needs met in this country and.
Not be political. Your very existence is political.
There is a.
Constitution that would have declared you three fifths of a human being if you didn't reclaim your full humanity.
Our existence is political.
We don't have any choice but to be involved in the political process.
Why because if.
You opt to sit out, you see what these fools is doing. I know this ain't partisan, but I am.
They will shut down the government on your ass.
They will send your people home.
Who said the only way for me to thrive, for me to reach the middle class. For me to take care of my kids so they can go to college is for me to get this what this good government job? They're sending our people home from those good government jobs.
Our existence is political.
I know y'all are tired.
You know, I know I'm tired, But I don't have a choice.
I know that if we want to preserve a future for upcoming generations, for future generations, this fight is ours. It's not because we chose this fight. Some of us voted in twenty twenty four in the right way. Oh okay, that's my clothes, and I ain't got we're political, get involved.
So I think my question is to you Tiffany right. Yeah, So this question came from an audience member who said, I've been following Native Lampod for a.
Bit, but I love to know what sparked it. That's the right question. Yeah, okay, what sparked it? So what made you all decide to start this show in the first place, and why do we think it's necessary.
So one of the beautiful things I love about being a co host of Native Lampod is our friendship authentically and organically stretches two decades. Okay, when I say two decades, I all was supposed to, Well, what two decades? You guys were alive two decades ago? I thought you were
like twenty something. AnyWho we owed y'all real, We've known each other organically for more than twenty years, and so the conversations that you hear are the conversations you would hear whether there were a camera's roland or not, whether there was an audience before us or not. These are the conversations we have over dinner. And so when Angela called and said, hey, I want to do this podcast and I want you and Andrew to do it with me,
it was an immediate yes. The call came months after my own show on MSNBC was canceled, and at the time it was sure, I'll do it. But looking back, I cannot imagine during the grave dangers that we are.
Facing right now not having this platform.
This is where we get to cry, where we get to express our righteous anger right now, where we get to look to each other to be inspired. I'll take a brief, shameless promo and just say we covered the Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference.
Thank you. I don't know if you guys.
Remember Angela gave an amazing acceptance speech.
She got the Chairman's Award. I really encourage you.
Please go back and watch that speech, and you will see that we get goosebumps from each other. I learned from Andrew. I learned from Angela. We fight if y'all listen, y'all have heard us fight before. We yell, we scream, We fight like siblings. And so it really came together to answer the call for a time such as this. But I want y'all to hear from my co host as well, because each of us had a calling and
each of us brought something different to the platform. For me, my intention is always to inform, to break down things. When you hear things like the DLJ or the CBO, not everybody knows what those things mean, and you can feel like an outsider listening to political conversations. Listen to a white run media landscape talk about politics in a way that seems so far removed, and I remember watching thinking, you're not talking to me for me or about me.
We are intentional.
We say welcome home because we want you all to feel like you're at home, and a part of this conversation you send in a video. You can disagree with us, we play your video. If you have a question, we'll answer it. So it was really beautiful to be a part of building a home. But Andrew, I want to know for you what was it for you that you feel like you bring and also who's your favorite co host?
Well, okay, and.
Before you get to lining to her, since she had the mic, Glass, I want you to fold that answer into this because I'm going to take a page from TIFF's book, which is to get to as many audience questions as possible. So your last audience question also was if someone in the audience wants to use their platform, whether it's our business or content, to make change, what's one piece of advice you'd give them to start?
I would say whatever, the talent is the gift that you've been given. And sometimes we have that voice in our heads that tells us we're not enough, that we don't have as much experience or as background to do something. I would say, one, do your very best to silence that voice, or rather hear it and then ask it to take a seat. Because now oftentimes we'll continue to persist in our lives no matter how how we achieve how many audiences we've spoken in front of, how many
positions or titles we've had. That voice is always present. It's present with me right now. If my colleagues were to be honest, I'm sure they would tell you that those voices are present with them. And I would just tell you to again acknowledge that voice, tell it to have a seat, and you keep going. But the truth is is God has granted all of us with gifts.
He's given us a thing. He's given you a thing that only you can do that particular way for this particular time, this particular moment, and if you don't do that particular thing, then it will never be done. Believe that God is that intentional in your life to purpose you to have impact in your own way. And so I would simply say is I oftentimes would often find the people who were the best at the game and then think, compare myself to oh what do I need
to do? And movement building. Maybe the question out of be what can I do right now that might make something come out different, might change the outcome of a thing. Most of our greatest movements didn't start with a person believing, oh, we'll start a Montgomery bus boycott and all of a sudden or one hundred plus for over a year, black people will restrain from being on the bus and will change the trajectory of the South and black accommodations by
doing this. They didn't start that way. It started by saying I don't want to sit in the back of the bus and give my seat up to a white kid just because I happened to be black, and that one thing then transformed to something else. So I would simply say, don't start with the goal of changing the world.
Maybe the world being changed will eventually come start changing on your block, on your street, and your neighborhood and your city, county, state, and see if that won't then lead to something that creates just the most incredible opening that nobody ever saw, including you. That's how God works.
He takes the little things, the little people, puts them in the right places and the right moments and the right circumstances to blow it up so that all of us know that he's still possible that he could take a little thing and make it a big thing. So my advice is simply start where you are, do what you can, and then make the difference.
Okay, Tiff is gonna ask me this last question sooners she finds it.
Well, was the one I just asked Andrew? Yup. No, it's about why did we come together? Like why did Native Land come together?
Okay, so we've not answered my question? Well, how was your question?
It was?
It was for those of us in this room who want to build something that has purpose?
Okay, Oh, for those of us in this room, I want to build something to have purpose.
But what do you think? And also how did we come together as Native Lampop?
Okay, well I'm gonna I'm gonna start with this.
To build something that has purpose, you need to be building with people you admire, people you.
Can grow from, people you respect, people you can teach.
And I'll tell you this.
We might be the people you see on camera and whose voices you hear when you tune into the show, but there's an army behind us. Some of you all who listen to the show are the army. But we also have some of those army members in the audience today. And so you already saw Lolo run up here with Andrews glasses loo and waived everybody. This is Lolo Smith, our producer utility player. For those of you are old enough who know who Charles Barkley is. This is our
Barkley on the squad. Bree is helping us with press right now, Bri stand up and just wave. Brief is doing our pre r And then Chloe Pusche is. If you see any thumbnail that's beautiful, any of the graphics, y'all. She is also a creator, a brilliant creator, super dope artist. Chloe Puschet right here also looks like a supermodel. But we are so thankful to our team who's here, Nick and Lauren who aren't here, our iHeart family, Leonard and
Chris Marrol who helped us to create Reason Choice. Oh sorry, Tiff always Lenard is Charlemagne la God who also is one of our co founders a Reason Choice. With the thirty five seconds I have left, I will just say this. The name of the show comes from that last stanza in the last verse of lift every voice and sing the Black National Anthem, the Holy National Anthem, I will sing, they say.
James Weldon Johnson wrote, true to our God, true to our native land, and.
In a space where that land is being challenged on every side, our very existence is being questioned. It is more important than ever for black folks to create safe spaces where we.
Never question our belonging. And so to that in we welcome you all home.
Welcome home, y'all, Thank you so much, Welcome home to the Native landing on the podcast space.
That's it for greatness.
Sixty minutes, it's so hit, not too long for the great shift, high level combo politics in a way that you could taste.
It then digest it.
Politics touches you even if you don't touch it. So get invested across the t's and doctor i's kill them back to get them staying on business with Rod. You could have been anywhere, but you trust us Natively podcast the brand that you can trust us.
Native Lampod is a production of iHeartRadio and partnership with reisent Choice Media. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.