Native Land Pod is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership with Resent Choice Media.
Welcome, Well Come, well come, well come, well come, welcome, Welcome home.
Y'all. All right, You're gonna have a very brief mini pod today because we had such a rich conversation around black engagement. So we were so excited about that conversation we didn't even decide what to talk about.
On the mini pod. So it's interesting because I actually.
Have something I want to talk about and I want to get you guys opinion on it. No shit, you guys, I am actually legit afraid. This week, the Justice Department order US attorneys to investigate and prosecute law enforcement officials if they refuse to enforce Trump's administration's immigration policies. Now, I'm not trying to have a conversation about immigration, which we should have at some point.
My point is he is.
Instructing the federal government to arrest people for not carrying out his vision. And if it starts there, if we're starting there on week one, where are we going to go?
And I just wonder, are y'all frightened at it? Do you do you think?
Can you envision a future where he might come after us individually. Andrew, you've certainly been targeted by the federal government before. I'm just I'm just getting increasingly nervous invited about it.
I wonder how.
And by the state to be very directed about it. There was a piece written I think last week around you know, Trump's plan is to make America Florida. This is a piece in the national publication and they got it right. I said this on a previous show of ours, that that Florida has been the preemptive example, pre eminent rather example of what it means to slowly chill chisel away at democracy. The governor has sought fit to remove
from office people who disagree with his political positions. He has sent the state police to the doorsteps of of innocent people whose only crime was going and voting because they believe that we have restored their rights and therefore had the legal right to vote. He has gone. And we are in the state of Florida, the number one
book banner of any state in the nation. And we thought Texas had us beat at everything, but oh no, they can't compare to the amount of instruction, the amount of legitimate history that's been extracted from the education system in the state at the hands of this at the hands of this governor, has he has sought to make protesting against law enforcement illegal in the state of Florida. He has appointed a Supreme Court, a majority court that rubber stamps as legal any illogical step that he may
take as governor. And I'll just I'll just say it is we're not even you know, tiptoeing toward autocracy and strong men leaders, We're already there. The president and his executive order is just here at day two, day three, day four, the first week of him being in office, has yes, targeted immigrants, has yes targeted DDI instructed all federal government employees working on DEI to be suspended, to be done away on his way to eliminating it. And
now what we hear is an executive order. Just so that you're clear, this executive order is intended to go after governors, mayors, city council members who stand in the gap on behalf of immigrants and those communities that this administration is going to target. If you determine that your city is a sanctuary city, if you determine that your city does not enforce discrimination policies but rather anti discrimination policies.
This president wants to give license to federal law enforcement to come after you.
It's fright, and he's allowing them to go into churches and schools. I just, you know, I know a lot of you. I've seen a lot of comments like, well, I'm part ninety two percent and I'm mine in my business. And listen, guys, First of all, these are undocumented immigrants. They did not vote in the election. They don't have a right to vote in the election. And please believe
when they come for them, guess what they come before next. Like, I just don't think this is the time to be like f them my mine in my business.
I don't know what to do.
Angela, you're I mean, I know that you're you know, working on Maryland's pardon, and you working on Capitol Hill and all your experience working on Andrew's campaign have seen up close and personal the power of the federal government. Do you have any personal fear for yourself about this administration targeting you in any way or black people in general.
You know, I have to be honest with you all. I don't have time to sit in my fear. I think that I'm really focused on making sure that people are educated about all of the ways that this administration is causing harm, both the deliberate and unintentional, even you know, maybe they don't realize that benefiting some group is it's basically everything for the haves, not a damn thing for the have nots, and and and there are definitely some
things that they are doing that are punitive. I don't have time to worry about me because I need to focus on making sure that folks are educated on what is happening and then how to respond in a protective way. So we're starting something next week where we have solo pods. We contemplating call them side pods, like side pieces.
So I'm going to do a.
Side pod where we do a deeper dive on the executive actions that have already taken place and the harms that it will likely cause two Black communities. So I think for me right now, I'm not resting in the fear. I can't, but yes, my spirit feels a tiff. I don't want to focus on that because my blood pressure is already hat as y'all know, I was on the bike with y'all while we were doing our pre pro call is on.
Yeah, so let's go.
While we were doing our call. I know you say you're not focused on the fear, but you do. You do have fiar. You're just re channeling your energy.
I have to like, I don't I think that. I think that's mean.
Fear is I don't even know if it is, but it is immobilizing. And I think for black people in particular, really everybody, all people of color who have been traumatized in some way by the patriarchy, by colonization, by imperialism. We when we see something that is familiar, even if we didn't have the direct experience, but it is resonant with our ancestral memory, the response is to For some of us it is to it is to freeze.
For some it is to fawn.
Maybe that's what you would say about the inaugural performers, you know. Or it is to take flight. And I I or for fine, and I think for me, that's what I'm saying. For me, I am in fight. And you know, it was so interesting last night our friend Kim Blackwell as a Bible study group for the women who participated in her conference, and I was like, I ain't get to notice. I need to join that and one of the things that the pastor said in this was like, you can be a fighter. This was specific
to me. You can be a fighter, but know which fight is yours. And I needed that because of capacity, because of my nervous system, because of my blood pressure, because of time in the day, and all with all of that, as y'all know, you got to keep the lights on. So there's an obligation to work. There's an obligation to fight, there's an obligation to preserve, and there's an obligation to progress. And I'm committed to all of those.
Andrew, you were asking something, Yeah, if I just wanted to forecast that these executive orders, particularly the ones going after people who defy the word of this president, this quote came, if you will that this is a shot over the bow.
And the folks who are going to fall victim on the other side of that are going to be the black mayor of Chicago, the black mayor of New York if you don't work a deal, the black mayor of Los Angeles, the black mayors in Houston. They are going into cities that are largely led by yes, Democrats, but also black folk.
Yes.
And the reason why this fight is going to, you know, to take Monique Warrell, who we talked about the other week, the prosecutor who is removed here in Florida. They're going to go after those kind of people, and they are going to label us as criminals. They're going to brand us, and then they're going to try to desensitize our community to our pain, the pain of these individuals who are leading and standing because they're going to point out things that they have done wrong or that run a foul
in their opinion of the law. And some of us might just be willing to accept that something has gone on that shouldn't have gone on, and maybe these folks are in some ways deserving of the attention that they're getting.
I want to rebuke that right now. I know that playbook, and I've seen it, and I've been on the other side of it, because before a federal charge came down for me, it was being sued by the NRA in the state of Florida and having the State of Florida come to the backs of the NRA and not me, a democratically elected official in the state of Florida. They're back, and they're lawyers on the opposite side of me as
an elected official. So this I know this playbook so well and I see it coming, and I just want to say part of knowing which fight is yours requires that we also, I believe, protect the people who were putting on the front lines in defense of us. Those mayors, those leaders who are on the front lines. They are going to need our backs, and they won't be humble enough to ask for it, but they're going to need it. Yeah, and we got to be there and have theirs.
Well.
I you know, this is a quick mini pod.
I do just want to say, though, this also puts the media has been such a colossal failure and I really regret that we didn't have time to get into this, but I imagine that we'll have to resurface this topic again.
We're in an administration who is targeting us, who is politicized in the military, who is deputizing people law enforcement to go and arrest folks, and a president or vice president or whatever we want to call Elon Musk, who is giving a Nazi symbol on air and having these networks spit in.
Our face and tell us that we didn't even get to that.
I know, I know but you know what, Angela, the crazy thing is, I imagine we will be able to get to this next week because they will continue to go after people who they deem our anti Semitic while giving Elon Musk a free pass. And I know you, I'm really curious your thoughts on it. I certainly have thoughts on it. But the point I'm making bringing it up is how what a colossal failure the media has been and how little value they have for their viewers to act like that didn't happen.
And I have to give of the several.
Confirmed sources across both networks who were told they got guidance that they could not talk about what happened with Elon mus so they could not show what happened with Elon Musk. So screw these networks and please continue to support independent media like us at Native Land, Pod and and.
Other other places where there where the struth are sides.
Anyway, I know this is a quick way tiff wain tiff, just just a point of factual correction.
We independent that I have.
Another point of privilege, which is simply say Elon mus does not deserved the benefit of the doubt. That man grew up in apartheid South Africa, graduated at high school and it was still apartheid South Africa. He knows what his symbols are and he knows what he meant to communicate. There's a benefit of the doubt. We welcome.
There's more to say on this, So tune in every Thursday to our next podcast, and then remember these minipods drop every Monday. Please tell your friends to check us
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