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Welcome home, y'all. This is episode counted, episode sixty nine of The Native Lampod, where we give it to you straight, all the breakdowns you want in politics and culture, your way right away. We are your hosts. Tiffany Cross, does she go? Angela Ride? Does she go? And I'm Andrew yelling what's up? Everybody?
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What a week? A week?
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I'm gonna call him Golf in Mexico.
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It is quite simple, quite simple paper first brought to you by none other than the Collective Pack. We thank our friends over there, que steph, what's up? What's up? What's up? Y'all? There's so much to get to and through, uh and the short amount of time that we have
a lot of to us. But before we get to it, get to it, we just want to remind everybody to please, please please remember to subscribe to your favorite pod us Here at Native lampod we actually to rate us and review us so that we can move even higher in the charts. You're our home, our friends, our family, and we want to keep you here. But we also want to keep the audience growing, so please remember to do that. Angela, Tiffany,
what is on the list, y'all? There's a lot we can cover, but what's on the top of your mind?
Well, I think we have to start out.
This week, the President gave a joint address to Congress. I know a lot of people are saying state of the Union, but Andrew, you're quick to correct us and only.
That is the state of the Union. When the president gives a one year look.
Bad, save it for the segment.
No, I just wanted to quickly, that's all it is. It's not that So this started with Reagan. When Reagan first came in, he wanted to give an address at the early part.
Save it for the segment.
Yes, Oh that's right, just the rundown.
So I just want to Yeah, so for me, I know that we want to get into that. It was a lively event on Capitol Hill this week, and I know that you guys will Angela in particular organize the State of the People, which got great online response. So, Angela, I know you want to talk about that.
I want to talk about State of the People, state of all the people here in these United States.
And I'm in for both of these. I'm down, like for flat tires. I am particularly feeling inspired about the State of the People. I'm buoyed by it. And so I want to get into some reflections on some very specific remarks from specific presenters from that twenty four hour athon. Thank you Angela for waking up and joining us today, because I know it's been quite a few sleepless days for you. So welcome home, Angela, Tiff, and welcome home to you all. Let's get at it.
All right.
So State of the Union's last joint Address. It's a congress that our historian and our resident institution to List Andrew is going to keep us honest on calling it what it is. But you know, I have to be honest. I think you know there there was the joint address that happened there this week. The Democrats you know, set in the audience, some of them, and they held up signs. You know, Elon Musk is a liar, protect medicaid, you know what about federal workers.
I felt a bit.
Underwhelmed by that there are organizing calls happening all over the country. But I have to be honest with you guys, and I just feel a bit hopeless.
I just don't I don't know.
Oh Like, I definitely applaud especially you Angela, because you like hit the pavement with State of the People, and there were a lot of people who tuned in. There were also a lot of people who didn't even know that the Joint address was happening this week. There are people who are so disconnected, and I don't want to take away hope from people, but I do feel like, Okay, so what do all these speeches and calls, like.
What does it mean?
And even if it means nothing except to give people hope and that's something you know, that counts, that matters to us. But I just wonder, like, what can we do specifically to beat back the fascism that is aggressively taking over this country because historically, I don't know how many countries get to this point and then they turn around. The closest thing in my reading canon I can think is Germany. You know, after World War Two, within a ten year period, they turned around. But ten years is
a long time for our people to suffer. So congrats on State of the People. But I have to be honest with you guys, and I still feel a bit hopeless.
For you, Angela, before you get before we go into in more detailed state of the People, I would actually love if we could play the cliff from Congresswoman Latifa, our good friend who took Congressman Barbara Lee's seat in Congress. Quite a pair of shoes to fill, but she's doing her thing. But it speaks to what you talked about just there at the tail an, Tiffany, This whole idea of once the power is taking it rarely ever finds its way back to its original place. Latific gates some
comments along those lines. I'd love for us to play that and then out the other side, angel I got a question for you.
I couldn't listen to someone who's trying to tear apart the very structures that we have fought to build in the last sixty years in this country.
I had to walk out.
It's my job to be in this building, but I refuse to sit and kowto to the neo clan.
I'm not doing it.
Had you contemplated that, did you have a feeling that might be what you would do?
I knew it, but my mother said, listen.
My mother is from Malvern, Arkansas, and she told me this morning, Latifa, eight hundred thousand people are expecting you to do your job and at least go. No one is supposed to kick you out of your house. So I wasn't kicked out today. I left mid mid speech very clear that we have work to do on the ground, and factually, block by block, if we vote walk back block, we can take back the house, stop this mad man, and win the presidency.
It's that simple.
These folks don't care about laws, they don't care about the judiciary.
We're facing a constitutional crisis.
But moreover, America is about to be sicker and poor, and none of us are safe.
You know last thing I'll say on this.
You know, a few weeks into me being here, I'm a new member of Congress. I was one of the few people outside of Doe saying let us in and talk to these folks who want to take apart funding for HBCUs, want to take disabled services out of our eight through twelve for a disabled autistic children, intellectual and physical disabilities, want to talk to them. Not only did they lock the doors, they sent Homeland security. You couldn't see that behind the doors there's a roll of Homeland
Security officers with their hands on their guns. This is not the republic that we have fought for. These are dangerous times. This democracy is in hospice. Watch out and be close and be clear. We have to organize and folks have to run and went off this because we are this close, this close from being in a segregated apartheid America once again. We have literally shed blood, tears, intellectual beauty to have the small rights that we have.
My mother wasn't born in a democracy. Yours wasn't either in this country.
Literally they couldn't vote, Their grandmothers couldn't vote.
We are only two and a half generations past those times. This thinly veiled democracy can be whipped away in a second.
And her comments powerful as they are. Also continue to talk about examples of regimes where then they take power. It doesn't find its way back to the hands of the people and Angela. We talked on this show prior to the joint address about what our expectations were or should be for Democrats and how to respond to the
urgency of this moment. I'm curious as we look at that, and I know your experience is grounded in and juxtaposing what happened at the Capitol to what was happening in regular people's lives, which we'll get to, but I'm curious how you assess what you saw and what we all took in from how the opposition responded to to this week's you want to.
Address well one I just I want to say to those who are feeling hopeless. I think one of the most remarkable lessons we learned over the last twenty four plus hours is that it's a lot easier and better when you lean into what is rather than focus on the gloom and doom that could be coming. The things that we're seeing and reading every day, the things that are being kind of force fit to us through various media outlets, whether it's in news and print form, on
the radio, on podcasts, or on TV. We actually spent I couldn't go to I was watching most of the content that we put together for State of the People State of the People was organized by the people for the people. Every single panel was put together not just with influence or influencers or leaders of organizations, but with
people who want to see and create change. What we know, based on what Representative Latifa Sima just shared, is that you know, there are things, there are the powers that be are working adamantly to make our lives more difficult every single day, so we can watch it happen or we can ensure that it doesn't happen. And I think
it's much more about resist or opposition than it is resistant. Andrew, I think that those words are similar, but they are different enough for us to lean into providing people in an alternative way, providing people with solutions that we create. You know, as we sit here talking about this, and I want to get into the Republicans introducing a bill to s I'm sure Congressman Greened, I know we can get into that later. But I just think that what we're up against are the way they want things to
be perceived versus reality. And if we can stay grounded in reality and the hope that the talents, the skills the ability to communicate, the ability to spread the word, the ability to create different solutions exists within the people will be good. Our sister joy Reid said yesterday there was a marked difference between the people who were watching the Joint Address, which we've been calling the State of
the Union. We'll talk about why we're doing that later, the Joint Address versus the people who leaned in to the truth and tuned in to State of the People. There's a huge difference in the response people who talking about what are we about to do next? Like, it's a complete difference for.
Those who don't know, though, can we just explain what State of the People is? Because not everybody knows. I didn't explain it. I was the saying congrats on State of the People, But what exactly was state of the People this week?
Yeah?
So I think Friday night there were some conversations happening with members of Congress who were feeling very torn. We should also talk about this feeling very torn about boycotting the State of the Union period, going and walking out with some form of protest or staying for the duration. And the most important thing was that we were able to provide a space for them if they did leave a place for them to communicate directly to the American people to say, listen, we weren't going to sit around
and watch him bly to us, you know. We wanted to make sure that we were serving our constituents and the American people justly and rightly, and so when there needed to be a content alternative, many of us watched these addresses on cable news mainstream news outlets all the time. And what we found recently, I won't say we found recently.
A number of us found out recently that that's not necessarily reliable, particularly when they're going to continue to silence our voices, voices that we can count on to speak facts, regardless of they'll be punished or not. So we wanted to create an alternative of programming where people could see one a protest twenty four hours to demonstrate what is ahead. There were twenty one hours of programming before Donald Trump
even walked into the House Chamber about executive orders. What they're attacking around DEI for real, the fourteenth Amendment being under attack, the fact that it is a constitutional crisis, the fact that people are organizing every single day, working people and others to combat. This a conversation with state's attorneys general around the lawsuits they're filing and why the people who are responsible for messaging out to union labor
folks and labor leaders. In conversation with other organizational heads, there was civil rights, protections everything. Sorry, yes, the course, I'm miedaid that in the constitutional crisis that is talked about the attorney's general and the lawsuits that they're filing again, the Trump administration successes and failures thus far, all of that was covered in twenty one hours before, and the way that we could politically mobilize on the local level.
Latasha's panel emphasize some of this just tremendous work. Farmers who've been impacted by what Donald Trump is doing, Folks who are on the other side of the research cuts, content creators like I mean, it was massive, and there were panels around all this, so it got to the point where many of us couldn't even sleep. We're like, oh,
gotta sleep for our next panel. Andrew and I were up at three and three in the morning Eastern talking about what we needed to do, why we need to lean in the important work that Andrew has done over the years to organize and the fact that those gifts already exist within our community. So at the twenty one hour mark, when every I won't say everybody, because to Tip's point, everybody didn't know that there was this address happening. But for the folks who knew, we gave an alternative.
We didn't turn on, We didn't start commenting on Trump's State of the Union address. We started to talk about where we go from here. We started a Black leadership summit. It was kicked off by Tis James talking to us about the road that we have to plow against Donald Trump in this administration, the work that she's doing that we can counter her to continue doing. And then Governor Wes Moore addressed us talking about what is at stake,
the importance of us leaning in together. And then you heard from a bunch of other black leaders and then members of Congress who were walking out. Mark Thompson by the way, shout out to Mark for pulling these members with Vince Evans to ensure that we heard in real time what was really going on. Despite what the TV was showing you, there was some real opposition happening. And so I just want to commend him for pulling those I.
Just want to.
I just want to, yeah, just sorry, a little bit of context. One tis James, of course, is the Attorney General of New York. So it was a big deal to have her be a part of the State of the People because she has been for almost eight years now on the front lines of trying to attempting to bring justice to Donald Trump or bring Donald Trump to justice,
among many other things that she's led. I just also want to add really quick context, and the way that Angela described this is kind of accurate, but the subtext that she would never say is that she helped organize a lot of these people and brought a lot of
the people to the table. It was such a delight to hear from Joy read the trash ass cable news networks severily dismissed voices of colors of color, but particularly black voices, when a lot of this fascism rises on our back so at a time where we are so on the front lines of being harmed, Angela had the vision to do this, and so many people across many sectors that she talked about joined, including hearing from a lot of members of Congress. And you can still watch
the State of the People. It's available on YouTube and also at the State Offthepeople dot net dot.
Org no the State of Theepeople dot media.
State of the People dot Media. It is still available to watch, so after you watch this pot cast or listen to this podcast, you can still catch it. And I'd be curious to hear from the viewers if they can leave a comment. Do you feel more hopeful, because I'll be honest with you all, I fell asleep at the last hours of it, which were the nicest hours. I was in my pajamas and I logged in ready to go on, and Angela was all dressed up and
Roy Wood Junior was on there. Like I didn't understand the assignment, but there were some really heavy hitters who were a part of it.
So I hope that you all will check it out.
And just want to give Angela her flowers for pulling that together because there needed to be counter programming.
So I just wanted to offer that.
I want to exclamation mark the comments you made about Angela's ingenuity here, and I know she would not want us to spend this precious time giving you know, thanks and appreciation, but you know, you gotta yield where it is necessary, and where the work is being done, there are a lot of people who are checking out. There are a lot of folks who were sidelining and waiting
for somebody else to come up with the solution. And you know, I think the revelation appear to you, Angela, and to Joy and the many others that we are the infantry that we've been waiting for, the savior that everybody's been leaning back, waiting to, you know, usher in the kind of beloved community that we deserve and that many of us are fighting for. Well, guess what, y'all we're at. Every single one of us has a role
to play. And what I thought was so brilliant about the twenty four hours spent there was that you didn't just hear from the names that can flow from my mouth so easily, the personalities and the images that we
will recognize without introduction. You heard from folks from as they say in Boomerang Touda, of this movement work, the folks young people, folks who operate oftentimes in the backframe, the folks who are doing a lot of the laborious work that nobody ever gives credit to, who were made centerfold and I think the beauty of it wasn't just that folks reached out and said, oh, this person who
doesn't get acknowledgement gets acknowledged. No, I think it exhibited exactly what we are being asked to do right now, which is wherever you are, whatever it is, is your skill set, whatever it is you do, or maybe you don't do so publicly, but this moment is requiring that lean in, that extra push. You have a place in this movement, work too, in this not just resistance, but
in this opposition. But really, and I plan to introduce a clip a little bit later here, but what sister Latasha Brown talked about as she's saying us us should us, cradled us, empowered us, and then how do you say commanded that we each do a few things for was her list, but a few things to undergird us at this time and in this movement. The diversity of all of that was I thought incredible and at the same
time very genius. Angela. The subtext was we all have a part to play, everybody, and we saw it in full force right before our eyes on those in the twenty four hour marathon, which I believe is also available on the Breakfast Club website. I'm sure we will embed it somewhere where within the framework of Native Lampire.
Native Lampid's YouTube as.
Well all of it. So you've got places to go. So if you missed the highly celebrated and famed twenty four hours, that got us, certainly some of us up feeling cheery and almost excited about the work ahead that twenty four hours, wherever you tap in at it and hopefully consume, you'll understand where the fuel is coming from. You'll understand where the energy is to not just push back or resist, but also to create a new to reimagine and then do the work to bring that imagination forward.
Angela, I was just gonna say two things. One is, I just want to acknowledge some of our traditional civil rights orgs that completely set EGO aside to participate in this. Yesterday, Shavon Arline Bradley, who runs n CNW. Melanie Campbe I particularly want to shout out she was on a panel earlier in the day and couldn't get in on time before her phone died last night, who runs a National
Coalition on Black Civic Participation. Mark Morial from Urban League chimed in and so did Derrick Johnson from the NAACP. So I just want to honor those traditional civil rights leaders who came in who've been speaking up all week. It means the world to folks like me, and I.
Also like those legends in this space.
Absolutely. I also wanted, oh, of course, but I just was, I said Chavon, I just wanted to honor those those the traditions. There's like a zillion more folks who participated in the Black Leadership Summit. Please listen to them. They were incredible and they tuned, they participated all day. There's one person who helps this show run every week too, and when I told her that we were doing this,
she jumped right in. She did not sleep, and that is Lolo and I just wanted to give her an opportunity to share something about the state of the people addressed because she did so much of the work behind the scenes. And also shout out to Holly Holliday, whose birthday is today. Ashley Allison was tremendous. Mark Thompson on camera and off camera, tremendous. Everybody who anchored segments and hours long ed Gordon Mark Amy Allison to thank God for you Lola, where are you?
Angela? I'm gonna get on you later because I look crazy. I haven't slen to like three days. But thank you. I just want to say, thank you, thank you, thank you for acknowledging me right now and making me feel seen and always, especially in this time, giving me space to just create around with it and to see the depths of where my capabilities could go. You are one of one. Thank you for making room for me, and thank you for having the vision to follow through on this.
What I will say is that Angela was the glue, and I think I want to say that was my favorite part about doing the State of the People. Angela was the glue that brought so many different activators together, from the people who were speakers and they led their segments, to the people behind the scenes who were making this whole putting together this whole thing, organizing this whole thing, to the politicians, the congressmen, the attorney attorney generals, the mayors, the governors.
Who was a part of this.
It was so beautiful to see, especially during a time when so many people say that black people we can't come together, that we're so divided, and there was people who was a part of this that may not agree or see I to eye, and you know what, they put their differences aside, and this was the most beautiful thing I have ever been a part of creating. And so I just want to say thank you so much for being in the center of that creation and allowing
I told Angela. I was like, hey, Angela, I want to build this campaign, and she was like, I can't support the way that I want to, but basically the way she wants to because she was at capacity.
But she was like, go for it.
And so I got some volunteers and I want to use the end of my time to shout out the people who volunteer, and we started working on this campaign around CBC members not going to the congressional address. And so then I get a call from Angela, but I'm still in communication with her. I get car from her and she's like, hey, I really think that we should do this state of the State of the Union, but do our own State of the Union. And I was like, I agree, I agree, let's do it. And I'm like,
this is what I got. I already got some people I can get the organizing. Angela have already had some other people who I'm going to shout out to.
They the best.
They are the best, and they were who was going to be able to get our technical aspects together. And when I say, we pulled this off in forty eight hours, forty eight hours, so all of that, like it's blowing my mind the what we were able to do in this small timeframe. Thank you Angela for bringing us together and not caring and not having ego.
Thank you.
I also want to say these thank you too, because sinceh'awnen gave me the time, I'm gonna use gu time. But I really want to make other people feel seen because there again, there's so many people behind the scenes doing stuff and I need them to feel appreciated. So first I want to say, it was such an honor to.
Work with Holly Holliday, Reverend Mark.
Thompson, Oh my god, be and here I'm gonna fight, Holly Weeks and Ashley Allison. Wow, it was so amazing to be able to work with them. When I said, we were on calls one am, two am, three am, like we became best friends during this time. They were the driving force. Like really, all of us coming together really carried this. So thank you, Thank you, thank you, thank you, Thank you, Christopher's guy who designed the website, Rachel nor Linger and Stephanie Young.
It was such like what the heck.
I can't even believe I got to work with them. I'm just it's amaz, But thank you so much for for the p R like really handling that. I also want to say thank you to Evonnie Lewis and Chloe Pusha for like all the graphics that you see. They really blew that out out of the water. On the leadership of volunteers from our PDP program to just interns
to fellows. So Crystal A, Sylvant, h Salvin, Jill Cartwright, Uh, Nicole Thomas, Brie Cislo, Shoota, Brittany Scott, Zarry Scott, Shay Bryant, Trisha Lestrade, Kenny Brown, Kyla Simone Vincent, Uh, oh my god, Sierra Johnson who works over there with women for Black women.
I am so grateful.
I know that I was not probably not supposed to take as much time, but I'm gonna make room. Angela makes room for me, and I am going to make room for others, and I'm also going to make room to make sure that they are acknowledged.
So thank you y'all.
I appreciate all of the love we've gotten for what we were able to create, and I just love y'all.
And I got through that without getting emotional.
So thank you, guys, and welcome home, y'all.
Thank God for you Lolo that I call her our Charles Berkley utility player. And that's not just for Native Lampire, that's for the people so.
Well.
I you know, I have to say, I think, you know, it's a lot of you know, feel good. But again, I think a lot of people didn't even know that the State of the Union slash Joint address was happening last night. A lot of people did tune in the State of the People, but there are a lot of people who didn't even know State of the.
People was happening.
And I hear you, Angela when you talk about like boom and looom for what's coming, but it's also not what's coming, it's what's happening right now. People's lives are being devastated right now. We saw a woman being carried away by ice. She was her child's sole caregiver and they were literally wheeling her child out, who had cancer because they were deporting her and her daughter who was born here. They were wheeling her out on a stretcher. So I just want to honor what people are experiencing
right now. The federal workers who knew a month ago how they were going to pay their mortgage, who don't know how they're going to pay their mortgage today. I just I think about that. But I hear the contrast that you guys are pointing out, So the people who watched State of the People and didn't watch the Joint Address, who didn't watch the twenty four hour news networks, and how they felt empowered. So that's why I'm saying there
is something about us feeling hopeful. I just don't know that I feel it yet, but maybe I need to hear some clipsand and Andrew can.
I just want to respond because this I feel like this happens every week where there's so yeah, we're I'm not saying that that that that the house is not on fire. We keep going back to that Congressoman Gwynmore and heard like timely remarks, this is not normal.
We're not having a normal session, mister Speaker.
The house is on fire. The house is on fire.
There's nothing legal or constitutional that is going on. We have unelected billionaires running the country and this is not a political graph for power.
It's a crime.
The whole country is on fire, and that's why we would respond with a twenty four hour marathon that is a protest. Twenty one hours of that was contextualizing all of the fascist actions that we're seeing come out of this White House, the nearly one hundred executive orders that he signed, the defunding of government entities and programs that we need, and the freezing of those funds, and the complete ignoring of court orders. We are clear, but also we have to hold on to something and for me
right now, that's hope. That's what the three hour Black Leadership Summit was about. It's about convening people with new ideas, old ideas, somewhere in between ideas, and figuring out how we march forward. What I'm not about to sit here and do is watch him take over and just roll over. I can't do that. I might as well die if I do that. So I'm going to fight with everything
in me. We are inviting people to fight. We have State of the People, dot Media, we got a bunch of other folks who are doing amazing work that we heard about, including the target fast and what that really means. There are so many actions for people to take. I do not want people to feel hopeless only because they're not aware. That's my only pushback, you know.
I respect all sides of this, particularly Tiffany what you sort of high for us, which is the pain that folks are going through who are living in the crisis at this moment. But what I think the State of the People helps us to do is one for those who are going through the crisis very personally and quite frankly, if you're not yet, just hold on. Based on the cuts that have been announced by this administration, were all about to be going through it. So as we think
about going through we have a choice to make. We can be paralyzed by that situation and circumstance center out, dazed and confused, wondering where the next meal, check and so on and so forth is going to come from. Or we can feel that, internalize it, but then transition that thing into some real power, which is I completely get. And I'm not even a reader of comments, but I can read this room enough to know that there are lots of people still out there saying what am I
supposed to do? What do we have to do about it? And I guess I don't mean to be rude or dismissive with this, but I just want to simply say, at some point you gotta do something, and maybe doing something for those individuals might be sitting in it. I won't judge you, but that's a choice. Another choice could be, you know what, I'm going to get built up on as much information knowledge, gain as much tools as I could wear on my tool belt, and then some, and
then get to work. Now what does get to work look like? Well, one, I want to reference you, and I'm gonna throw to this here in a second some actual skills and knowledge tools that I think can help equip us. But I also want to say, it isn't rocket science. What are you good at? What do you enjoy doing? What's your talent that everybody tells you is your talent? But then you shy away and demure from it. This moment of crisis is requiring more of all of us.
If right now your situation is feeling too comfortable, or perhaps your situation is feeling far too paralyzing for you, I would suggest that you have to get out of the paralyzed feeling, and we got to get out of the positions of comfort, because this isn't a time for comfort right now in America. It just isn't. Democracy requires something of us, It requires an action, a step, or do something. So being paralyzed is a choice in it.
It is something. However, I would suggest our time, our energy, yours and mind is going to be better spent getting to work doing the thing that you have as a skill set that could be leveraged for this moment to I don't know, organize people, make some shirts, some church fans, knock on some doors, send some text messages, host a ramathon yourself, set up your own neighborhood, community, state, local media or takathon where y'all are talking about and breaking
down the issues that are confronting your community right where you live. Democracy doesn't begin an in at Donald Trump. In fact, democracy begins and ends with each and every one of us. And if we see the ground, which you know, looking at this state update given by the President of the Joint Session, all those members of Congress should have held up signs that simply said surrender, because we would not be in a constitutional crisis if the legislative branch were willing to do is job. All I'm
simply saying is the answer isn't that complicated. We can keep asking the question if it makes you feel good, but the answer is coming through clear to me, and that is you have a choice to stay paralyzed or to do some shit.
I mean, that's a word, but let me just say, Andrew, I think a part of the challenge is we have to give some people something to believe in, which takes me back to hope. If people were participating in this conversation or others and you walk away and you felt hopeful, that is is a start. I don't want to discount that ever. But if you're saying, like, you know, organize your own thing, and you feel like organized for what? Like what am I even trying to hold on to or preserve democracy?
But preserve democracy for what? This democracy ain't never served me, you know.
And and there are people who really believe that. That's why there are so many people who didn't even know this thing happened this week.
Well, I just think people vote.
We have if there's another election, and I think that what we have to remember, and I'm so grateful we talked about Joy a lot today, but I am grateful for Joy for saying to me recently, Like, we keep talking about, to Tip's point, preserving democracy, and we have people among us who are like, what is that? What actually is democracy? Well, we should start breaking that down. Democracy ideally is the understanding that there's a system that you're a part of and that every voice and vote matters.
Democracy is a thing that when you pay into it, you get something out of it. There is a return on your investment. When you, as a taxpayer pay for public schools, you get good quality schools. When you, as a taxpayer pay for hospitals, you get good quality health care. When you, as a taxpayer, pay for any service that this government is supposed to offer you, it serves you back for veterans, for kids, for poor people, for people of color who have been disenfranchised. That is the type
of democracy that we hope for. It is also a democracy that we've yet to see. What I know is if we surrender in this moment, we don't surrender to democracy. We surrender to a fascist regime. And that is the point. So when we get to the point where we're like, well what for what? Because when I'm not somebody who can say this hasn't knocked in my front door yet it has. Again. The hospital where my mom is getting chemotherapy right now has had its cancer research funding hit,
so I know. So I'm asking people to tap into the idea of democracy, tap into the idea of your harm. If it's been a harm that you've experienced long before this administration, what is the harm that you need cured? What is the problem that you need solved? That is where you lean in. You may not have all the answers when we started this thing on Friday night, we didn't have all the answers. We still don't. There are people in my text messages right now saying, now what
and you know what. I don't goddamn know what.
But what I do know.
What I do know is it's one foot in front of the other. And I do know right now more than ever ever, that I am not alone, and that to me is enough. That to me is enough to keep moving forward. No, we cannot just keep talking. Yes, we absolutely have to act, and it starts with defending people who had the courage to say something in the face of fascism. When Donald Trump did this joint address,
like Congressman Al Green confronting him on Medicaid. That are the Those are the kinds of things that we need to have happen. We should not let this man lie up us. We should not let this man continue to destroy the programs that we need for our survival in this country. Those are the kinds of things that we've got to do.
Can we see that?
I want to say that I don't think that we will. Absolutely. I just want to say I don't think that we have seen I know we haven't seen the fruits that fall from the tree of democracy in their fullest form. I know we haven't seen it. So your point around, save democracy for what and for whom? Right now? All right? We may not get to that big picture with you. So maybe the big picture in this moment is what do I need to do to stop them from harming me right now? To stop them from doing damage to
me right now? And then the second thing is, and I should have said this previously, you absolutely should not get to work unless you know what the hell it is you are fighting for. So the first thing, and I think we'll learn this through movement building, and I want to quickly throw to Monday every other Monday, starting this upcoming Monday, join me for our lives, because we're about to do a series on organizing. I know that this is boring because it doesn't flash in the pan. Nope,
I want to be clear about it. I know that this is boring because it isn't a flash in the pan. It isn't a little video to throw to. But what this is is the hard work of democracy. And guess what. It ain't sexy all the time, it ain't cute all the way, and everybody won't know what you're doing all the way, every step along the path, But that doesn't make it any less necessary to do those things. So first with organizing is decide what it is that we're fighting for, and then feel a way to plug in
and fight for that thing in a way that's consequential. Angela, you brought up the honorable representative from the Gray State of Texas, Agreen I believe, I don't know his district number, but from the Gray State of Texas, who who took up the armor of resilience stood up to tell a fascist who thinks he's a king, that no kings live here and he has no mandate and y'all, let's take a look at what happened as a result of.
And it's the ninth district. Why are we were for that clip to row?
Likewise small business optimism. So it's single largest one month game ever recorded, a forty one point jump.
Members are directed to uphold and maintain the quorum in the House and to cease any further disruptions. That's your warning. Members are engaging in wilful and continuing breach of the quorum, and the Chair is prepared to direct the Sergeant at arms to restore order to the joint session. Mister Green, take your seat. Take your seat, sir, take your seat.
Finding the members continue to engage in willful and concerted disruption or proper decorum, the Chair now directs a sergeant at arms to restore order.
Remove this gentleman from the chamber. That hurts me. I think that's probably why I wanted to see you stop, because I kept having flashes of the bullies in the schoolhouse doorway. And I'm really angry at that clip because I averted my eyes from it before in real time because of the tempied, shyness, cowardice of the Democrats sitting next to him around him, behind him, along his walk as he is heckled by his other side colleagues and
the US House of Representatives JD. Vance and his small man bullying disposition and attitude.
Right.
We know that guy from high school. We know him from middle school. We played with him in the school yard. We know that character. He is imminently weak, right, attempting to play like he's got strength. I'm mad about that clip because had I been orchestrating a genuine, authentic moment of resistance, he would have exited that chamber locked arms with the other two hundred plus members of the other
side of that house who called themselves the opposition. Instead, he was escorted alone in his full power and strength. I respect it, but shame shame.
I you know, just a lot of seriousness happening, and I just want to offer a brief moment of levity because I don't think he would mind me sharing this. But our good friend Michael Harriet texted us last night and said, man, if I get thrown off the club and y'all stayed behind, it's.
Like, yes, precisely.
I was honestly.
Disgusted watching what happened last night with the Democrats. But I wasn't just discussed with what happened with the Democrats, because I, like I said, I'm not a party person. I was disgusted with what happened across media because the media displayed to you nothing really, you know, they they
treated this in entire address like it was normal. They had, you know, Trump people say this thing, and somebody else, you know, the opposition, say this, and it was they were engaged in debate, when the reality is there were people who walked out, there were members of Congress who left that chamber. There was a movement of resistance. It's just that, for whatever reason, across the board, the media
has capitulated. I would imagine had our sister Joy Reid still had her show, had she been a part of the coverage, that you would have seen that resistance in real time. She would have referenced just FYI, there are people exiting the chamber in real time, which is why journalism matters, which is why actual reporting matters. So if you get your wish, I get my wish. Oh yes, because we have we have a clip of uh of joy. Well let's roll that clip.
Well, no, not a joy, but of the real time let's pay that which.
Is and when we come back from this, I want to reference the censure that's been dropped introduced on the how, of course.
We cannot normalize this. This man has no respect for Congress. He does not respect us as a co equal branch of government. He has contempt for the American people. He pardoned January sixers, who desecrated the very well that we are in today for this joint Address of Congress or State of the Union. So I don't need to be there for a maga pep rally listening to lies and propaganda.
Hateful rhetoric, and even more hateful and harmful policies.
If he has contempt for the American people, I'm going to stand in solidarity with the American people. And that is why I walked out in protest at nine point forty. These boots were definitely made for walking. And again I wanted to bring visibility to the story of the federal worker from my district who was fired unlawfully, unjustly, uh and and not only is disrupting her life and livelihood, but it's a disservice to the people that she serves every day.
Here was the general consensus is that. Number One, this isn't a normal address. This isn't a normal time where you stand up when the president walks in, where you have that kind of decorum, because number one, he's never shown that to us, or the American people or any people. He's never shown that to black people. And so we walked in there, many of us, with a plan of what to do. If you've seen the videos, you've seen people with signs holding up signs. I hold up a
sign that said Musk steals. Elon Musk has been tweeting at me every other week. If I was the richest man on earth, I wouldn't be tweeted at twenty's eight year old Maxwell Frost.
But I'll be doing other things.
But I think there's power in occupying a space and choosing yourself. Went to get up and leave and walk out in the spirit of student protesters from the Civil rights era, and that's why we decided to do it, us in a group of mainly women from the Black Caucus who helped lead us into that action.
You know me very well, and you know that I was not about to put up with that bullshit that he was going to talk about tonight. Angela you know you've been out there in Los Angeles. I've worked with gang members, the Grips, the Blood to everybody, I've never encountered anybody like Trump. Trump is a person without a conscience. He will lie at the drop of a hat, and he knows that you knows that he's lying, but he continues to lie.
Max is an og just like Al Green. I follow their lead.
I thank God for them, I really do, especially in this time. You know, as one of the younger members in the Congress, it is so important to have people that are always going to give us a sobering message about the moment that we're in.
And as y'all just heard, she did not hold back.
She gonna call that.
Motherfucker what he is at all times.
And so and I'm here for you. What y'all don't know is we both from Saint Louis. Listen, we're from the show me state. Okay, this is what you get out of Saint Louis.
To all of you on this line, I want to say I needed to get on here to be refueled, and I think in this moment it is going to require each of us to recognize what can I do in this moment, and so I just want to thank to the.
Collective, to everybody who helped us get to this place.
Now the real work begins, and as was said, they're using words like scrub to scrub our history, to scrub us out of jobs, even that who are one third of the workforce, they don't care.
What I think is so powerful. And again do you guys can call me on my bias here, but I gotta tell you what's so powerful to me about this is there are a lot of folks who who Jasmine leads. Jasmine is my leader. Okay, yeah, but Jasmine got her leadership from watching folks like Maxine Waters not stand for nothing, not take no ish like and she was so clear about it yesterday and I just loved that moment between the two of them. It was longer than that. I hope folks get to go back and watch, but it
was incredible to see them. The thing that I want to point out too, as we talk about mister Green, you guys were mentioning that you felt like it was cowardice on behalf of the other members that let him get walked out. They actually really had a robust strategy. Maxwell goes into all of the considerations that at play when he addressed the state of of the people in the Black Leadership Summit. They talked about whether or not to go because if they didn't go at the beginning,
white staffers would fill their seats. They talked about the importance of him having to face black people. Even when you hear Lisa Blunt Rochester, which I know will be played in this show, all of the rationale that went into that. What I think is important is that there are some people that did something different, because now Dan Neuhouse, who is a representative from my home state in Washington, has taken it upon himself to introduce a censure resolution
against Congressman Green. What it means to be censured in the House Chamber? The walk of shame that mister Green should not have walked yesterday. That should have been Donald Trump's walk of shame because he was lying to the American people for over an hour, but he instead had to be escorted out by law enforcement. Two people who look like him in fact, but mostly white sergeant at arms officials walked out of the chamber. Has to be censured in the will of the Congress. What it means
to be censured. And this is a It's in the constitution, is that the member of Congress has to stand before the body and be reprimanded for taking an action that is contrary to the House rules. So and it could be something else, it could be a crime. There have been twenty seven members of Congress censured in history. Al Green would be censured. And you guys know who wouldn't be because they expect this vote to pass tomorrow when it comes up on the House floor. You know who
wasn't censured. Joe Wilson standing up. If you're the American people before Barack Obama State of the Union address addressing Obamacare, addressing the Affordable Care Act, he points to Barack Obama and yells, you lie, Joe Wilson was merely reprimanded. Congressman Green should not be reprimanded, censured, or expelled for telling the American people the truth. There are eight hundred eight hundred billion dollars in Medicaid that is going to be
cut under the administration. That's what he's pointing out. What do if he refuse it? Refuses, I suspect that this will be escalated and they will want to expel him from the House of Representatives.
It definitely said in the post comments that I'll take whatever the reprimand is because the harm that's coming toward people, the people I care about with this Medicaid cut, they're worth it, by and large, is what he said. My embarrassment was if you looked at the frame of the Democrats who were seated next to him and around him, nearly every one of them averted their eyes, never looked at the congressman. They looked down, they looked around, they
looked up at the speaker's rostrum. They did not look at their colleague who was being escorted forcibly removed because it wasn't by choice from the chamber for a stating effect. I get the korum, but I'm just saying the best laid priens of protests, I understand it, but sometimes a movement so big happens so cataclysmic it shadows everything else around it. And in those movements, it's go time. That's what I mean. What happened with those other members, totally
appreciate it. With the other members who we've just showcased on this forum did by way of actor protests. I think, by and large, the Democrats need a family meeting, and they need to decide if they are serious about what it means to be the opposition party, because disparate, disconnected forms of resistance or counter quite frankly, don't break through to illuminate for the American people that there is a strong enough fist coming together to punch.
Back, honestly, because when you I mean amongst them.
No, I know what you mean.
That's what I'm saying amongst them. I don't know if that's the thing, because them ain't us. And I feel like even if you put the entire party in room, when you have Congresswoman slot Can given the response who it has been an opponent of DEEI, who has not been supportive of progressive policies that support people of color, it sends a message.
And so I don't know if you put.
This quote unquote big tent party in one room, because the message I'm getting from them is, look, we try to mess around with y'all black folks, We try to mess around with the LGBTQ community, and that didn't work for us. So we're gonna go back and try to convince these white folks who we have not gotten since Lyndon Johnson since nineteen sixty five. We going to go back and try to appeal to them and try to seduce them to this party, and they keep getting the
wrong message. So I don't know that a family meeting matters. I don't know that holding up paddles in the air matter. I think if I'm a person who's being crushed by the weight of a maga fascist system, I don't give a damn about your paddles. And then even our legit did not know what is the consequence for refusing censure. But I'm looking at the people who were expelled from Congress in recent history. There's been other people, but in
recent history, we're talking about James Traffiicant. I'm old enough to remember. I was at CNN at the time James Traffiicant was expelled.
He was a.
Tricky Okay, he was serial tricky, like convicted of bribery, conspiracy. And then the other person is this clown George Santos.
Also he's over.
George Santos is a Republican and if you all can google him, but as.
The president, but the president somehow can command the attention of the entire Congress and do a joint address and not have to be censured, expelled and removed and nothing. I'm clear about the contrast. But to Andrew's point, the family meeting is to make let people know what time it is. There were more than twenty members of the Congressional Black Hawkers that were with State of the People yesterday.
They know what time is.
They got to go deliver the message to these white members, including Senators Slack and who you referenced to, if they want to go, be Dixie Kratz. We ain't about to be part of. This has to be the message. It's okay.
I want.
My hope is.
Money. Can we do that?
Because Lord have mercy? I mean, sorry, Andrew, sorry, I'm My.
Hope is that those twenty members will be the tip of the spear or the kind of about face that is required. Your protest cannot be calibrated to what is acceptable to the opposition. Your protests must be calibrated to the scale of the threat that you are confronting. I'm not mad. I understand people are feeling and reaching into the darkness trying to find what is the best way
in which to do this thing. This is a time to check in with your conscience, your heart, your your backbone, and your people, the ones that elected you there will represent them that that that ought to dictate them what it is that you do. But this, this right now, right here, is not gonna get it. It ain't gonna get it.
And that's the thing. I just want us to be clear. Like you, guys, I want to say on this show, Congressman Al Green, you are a champion. You are a hero. I've been mad at you waving that cane. I'm so glad you waved that kne yesterday like it was. It was a necessary prop, especially when the props that have been making their way around the White House are things like I'm gonna say, Congressman Reverend Jamal Harrison Harrison Bryant's head right, like you waving that cane to save medicaid.
You the people's champ, and the people need to recognize it. Your bravery is noted, your courage is seen. And I know that you're having to balance this with the loss of your friend, Congressman Sylvester Turner, who is also the mayor of Houston. Of course, he just passed away hours after the State of the Union address. Yes, he's not been in Congress. But since January, so there's a lot
that people are having to balance their personal lives. What's happening nationally, what's happening internationally, And what we know is that this moment requires all of us to do something different. If it's abnormal, then we've got to use abnormal strength. We've got to find abnormal energy, we've got to create abnormal coalitions, we got to relieve ourselves of abnormal grudges. We've got work to do, and it's going to require all of our hands.
Well example this for us. You talked about this target campaign illuminate for our listeners, what shape is that taken? Because I think a lot of people are probably under the illusion it's just me deciding not to or two. But is it much deeper campaign than that?
Yes, you know. First I want to shout out Nina Turner. I want to shout out to Mika Mallory, Angelo Pinto, all of Untel Freedom, and Reverend Jamal Bryant. The work that is going into this target targetfast dot org campaign is major. I was a skeptic at the beginning. I happen to join a call with faith leaders just this weekend talking to them about our twenty four hour State of the People, and on that call, I learned and you'll also learn by going to targetfast dot org all
of the really strategic pillars around this campaign. One of my favorite is the fact that there are more than seventeen retail shops Target shops on twi's traditionally white institution college campuses throughout the country. Jamal is calling for ten of those stores to be put on HBCU campuses and partnerships with those business schools that would be major. Since this idea of this fast has started, there are a
number of things that have changed for Target. I just want to point out one hundred thousand people have signed on to that petition that this is actually getting it start on Ash Wednesday. Sorry this week, it got it start on Ash Wednesday. It is a forty day fast. But even before that forty day fast, Target stock has dropped more than thirteen percent in a month and the
company is now facing this forty day fast. That is from a Fox five News report, Target's web traffic was down to four point seven million, down from four point eight million, just in a week's time. And you're starting to see this across the board with Walmart and Amazon as well. Everybody has to play their part. It's not
just Donald Trump who's at fault. It is the private sector, everybody that's talking about rolling rolling back DEI initiatives when we know that's actually our civil rights it's actually compromising equal protection under the law, which is the fourteenth Amendment. That has to not just be called out. There need to be economic consequences. Nothing new under the sun here, folks. That's a civil rights movement tactic. We need to adopt it, as we would say back in the day, with the quickness.
I love it. I love it.
Well come, well come, well come, well come, well come welcome.
Okay, So you guys, I, as you know, you're residence sports experts. I'm super excited about our girl. She's a machete So if you follow us, you already know she's our girl, Jamil Hill. And she actually hosts a podcast on Reason Chorics, uh with Reason Choice Media, I should say, on the same network as us.
So she's our audio neighbor.
And she actually has a really good guest on her podcast Politics and you can imagine that is sports and politics for Combo, which is right up her alley. And she has Eton Thomas, who's a former NBA player Andrew and Angeloi may not know that, uh, and he has a book out. He's the author of Police Brutality and White Supremacy, The Fight against American Traditions.
But honestly, this is just one great guest.
All of her conversations, all of her guests are really good, and I just feel I honestly, I feel privileged because I get to have access to her insight, to her brilliance anytime I want as to you guys, and I just think it's awesome that the audience can have access to her as well. I love her podcasts, I love her takes, I love her insight, I love her writing. I love all things Jamail Hill. So you guys be sure to check Outspolitics. Okay, So for my I'll go
first for CTA. Since I just gushed all over Jamil. I know that we talked a lot about the Joint Address this week, but for the many of you who may not have known that was happening, I hope you'll watch State of the People. I do want to give my call to action this week, and just as we talk about the actual state of this Union, the state
of the United States of America. I want us to always remember that there are people who are being punished a very unforgiving criminal justice system happening right now, And this is a microcosm of something happening in New York right now. More than a thousand prison guards have gone on strike. The reason they're strung Viking. They're trying to
petition the Democratic governor, their governor, Kathy Hochel. They're protesting because they want legislators to repeal a law limiting the use of solitary confinement, as well as improving their working conditions. Now I am advocate for them improving their working conditions, but if you want to limit the use of or repeal a law limiting the use of solitary confinement, just imagine being locked in a tiny room with a bright
light on you. You don't know what time of day it is, whether it's day or night, and being locked there for days, weeks, months, or even years at a time. This is something that's happening all over the place since the strike. In some prisons, inmates have been forced to go without hot food and showers, and others they've missed court dates, they have been without needed medicine services for
mental health care. The New York Times interviewed some of these prisoners, staff members and National Guard soldiers who were called in to keep order when the corrections officers walked off the job. At least seven prisoners have died since February seventeenth. There are more than seven thousand National Guard members deployed to these prisons. They are unprepared for the task. They're being forced to work without an understanding of their duties.
They were not provided with pepper spray or means to protect themselves, and they are unable to leave the prisons. During the employment, many have slept on gym floors, eaten the same blow knee sandwiches served to the incarcerated. It is something wrong with this country when we cannot recognize the humanity of people who may have committed a crime, who may have been unfairly and asymmetrically punished, particularly black
and brown people. And I just want to remember those people as society moves on outside, I want you to know that I am thinking of you inside. As people are being deported, people are being detained, they too are subject to being held in detention centers that often mirror prisons. So I just want the folks to know who are behind bars. You have families behind We are thinking of you.
You are not forgotten. And I would ask all of you, if you know someone, go visit them, write them a letter, and be an advocate for people, for the incarcerated, be an advocate for folks who are still behind bars. They deserve some basic humane treatment and they're not getting that.
It's not just in New York. It's happening all over the country. So that's my CTA.
Appreciate that toff Angela what he got.
I think I just want to tell people to go to State of Thepeople dot media. I just I'm feeling exhausted and encouraged at the same damn time, and I want us to just lean into this moment. I think there's something remarkably spiritual about what's happening right now, and so I just want people to tap in where they can, you know, to not give up hope. We need it to survive, not give up faith. We need it. We
don't we can't give up our actions. So I'll just ask you how to tap in there and keep us accountable. We want to get this right for the people. This is the people's move. So thank y'all for joining us in that.
I love love that love that well one. I want to thank the ancestors for you, my dear sister, and what you've been putting on this earth to do and what you are compelling the rest of us to engage in. But my CTA is to end, Angela says spiritual. I want to end with our own spiritual psalmist and this really important and critical time. It's Latasha Brown to carry us out of this episode.
Oh freedom, Freedom, lo freedom, Oh bumby, Oh bumby, And before I say I'll be bad in my gray, I'm going.
Home to my lot and be free.
You know, I wanted to sing that song because this is the week March the sixtieth anniversary of people who sing that song on the Emma Pettit's Bridge and the
Summer Alabama. It is also a song that our ancestors, when they did not have politics on their side, they didn't have resources, they have all any of those things, they knew that there was something inside of them that, no, you're not going to dehumanize me, You're not going to take away the Constitution is not what gives me my right to live.
God has given me my right to live.
Oh, I love God. And the anniversary too, is so important.
I just thought when you mentioned spiritual, that's it right there.
They're reintroducing that John Rights Voting Rights Advancement Act. They're reintroducing that this week and it is to commemorate the sixtieth anniversary of us crossing the Pettis Bridge, getting closer to voting rights, and to be in the sixtieth anniversary of this moment watching them die our rights back. I think she tells us all we need to know about what our next steps must be.
As always, you want to remind everyone to leave us a review and subscribe the Native lamp Pods. We're available on all platforms and YouTube. New episodes drop every Thursday, with special solo pods every Monday and Tuesday. Don't forget to follow us on social media and subscribe to our text or email list on our website Native lamppod dot com. We are They are Angela Rye, mother Sister Tiffany Cross,
and I'm Andrew Gilliam. Welcome home, y'all. There are six hundred and seven days until the midterm elections.
Thank you for joining the Natives attention to what the info and all of the latest ride Gillam and Cross connected to the statements that you leave on our socials. Thank you sincerely for the faces reason for your choices clear, so grateful to execute roads for serve, defend and protect the truth. Human in pace, we walk home to all of the natives wait.
Thank you.
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