Native Land Pod is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership with Reason Choice Media. Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.
We're already a non white country. Get a grip, Get real, bro, this is already. We already live in Mogadishu. We already live in Islamabad.
Have you been.
Outside La Chicago.
New York?
We live in nigger hell. And that's just what and you know what it is. I got my James fishback. I shouldn't have said, shouldn't have said nigger hell with the.
With the quarter.
I told myself before the show. I was like, don't say anything out of pocket. You're repping the campaign. Now. I'm not on the campaign. I'm not involved, but I was like, don't say anything too crazy.
I'm sorry.
Out of my apologies, oologies to the campaign. I was literally like, don't don't say anything too crazy. And then it's like, shouldn't have shouldn't have said that with the quarter zip on, but you know what, whatever, it's fine.
Welcome y'all. This is a mini pod. And that was Angela.
A dumb ho named Nick flintis a dumb hoe named Nick flintis, and it's not because he got the quarter zip on. It's because he got a quarter mouth, and I wish she would run up on somebody black talking that crazy. I'm outside though, Yeah he don't, and he better hope you don't.
When he said as Lumbabad, I was just thinking the issue have you ever left? Have you? I don't know where you live, but I see he's got the Florida state flag on his shoulder. Y'all. Before we hop into this, this is this is us having not finished a topic we wanted to get into in this week's main episode around being built for the moment that all of us find ourselves encountering. And it was with sort of the
met galle as the background. There's folks, are you know, looking great and fantastic and rich and wealthy with the billionaires who are paying for all the shit, and we got people who can't find hope in most corners of
their day. And it did raise the question, I think for a couple of us of like, all right, like the same normal times and Angela, you've been saying the same normal time since we left the campus of Howard University, probably before, but I don't think I think you said it most aggressively after that but speaking of not miss, you know, not being with the times, there are no
more whispers about racism. This dude is a bullhorn. But he also if he was regretting any of it, the mother could have not posted it, right, I mean, I guess, but I don't want to talk about him anymore, Angela.
No, back cut, back up, back up, real quick. He has he has tens of thousands of donors, and he has one point three million followers on X So this isn't some random individual that we just got off. And he, for a long period of time, helped dictate policy, creates a whole group of they call gropers or whatever they're called. He's in the in cell culture and he's a huge MAGA supporter make America great again. And you know, I don't he is a part of the fabric of who
this country is. To discount that I think is not a true different.
Yeah, absolutely don't discount it. And also recognize when a person is not in my league exactly.
But I'm sorry, now, Angela, I just wanted to give him context.
I am concerned about our continual response that somebody is beneath us.
Or not in our not even not even on the same page.
But the reason why I'm concerned about it is because it is very clear that the people that hold the key is to power in this country are of the same mindset as Nick Finch.
Totally right, and so I want us to be yes.
I want us to be hyper aware of what they are telling each other on their podcast, on their platforms, in their private conversations, because we're not going to be equipped for a fight when we don't know what's going on.
And let me get let me get everybody straight real quick, because I read the long form piece about who Nick quintess is to be over an hour to make it through this exhaustive piece of work, and he spends eight hours a day talking to people similarly situated across the internet.
He has millions of followers and retweets and downloads and says a lot of hateful, angry shit, and made a break with Donald Trump a couple of weeks ago on his podcast, led by his listeners firstly following them down the road that he doesn't want a Trumper, he wants more of him, he wants his name centerfold. And there are plenty of creatures walking, breathing, speaking, likely thought to be intellectual amongst themselves who are giving him lots of
time of day. But I think we should recognize that he is playing an old hand, that vitriol, racism, hatred has been in form has been in vogue for white people just like him to listen, breathe upon contemplate on shit. I used to listen to it when I was in middle in high school, listening to right wing radio on AM in FM radio, So very familiar with these voices Laura Ingram before folks who pronounced her name was listening to her. And so he isn't new, he is not shiny,
he's not even very good at it. He just happens to be tapping on with Donald Trump tapped into it first, which is exactly the white racist folks that are out there that have been in vogue since the forming of this country and are still in volgue today and are still in power. And he's giving them basically right back what they already know, think and believe.
I guess my thing is, you know, you've asked this really important question, Andrew, about what it takes, what it will take for us to meet the moment. And I think that we have to be clear about who the enemy is. You know, we have to know that. It's a fundamental of the art of war. And I think we also have to know the terms of their fight. I don't think that that means we have to fight on their terms, but we should be aware of the terms of their fight. You know, America First is an
ideology that excludes the people who built it. Make America Great Again presumes that America has ever been great in its history. The things that they tell each other are rooted in fear and hatred for people who they don't want to have to share space or more importantly, power with. And so I think that we've got to be informed about what their pathway forward is. And their pathway forward is on our next, on our backs, and fully behind us.
They want to return to the past when you know, remember when they first asked people when was America its greatest? When they were championing this make America Great Again line, It was in the fifties, before things were integrated for us, right, And so I think we just have to be mind before.
Women worked out of the home, before women could you know, exercise themselves in this free America or free Floyd. If you live where I live, I agree with that one thousand percent. And I fully believe in researching and reading about what the opposition is doing and how they're doing it, and so on and so forth. That isn't that's not my beef with the guy. It's much it's it's it's much more about as my grandmother would say, there ain't nothing new under the sun, nothing new under the sun.
And what he is, what he is treading in is a most base level of human condition. It's not smart, it's not sophisticated, it's not savvy. It is the most base level. That's how he can be on the radio or whatever. He's on internet for eight hours a day.
That's how the president became the president. But I think the question that we have is the question.
Based, and we should understand that it's part of the main strategy that maybe some of our strategies need to get back to just being based.
That's going to be my question, Like, okay, all right, cool, I agree with both you. But the question that people have is where do we go from here? It's even more so plistic base the base.
What does that mean? I think describe it communication it is. There are a lot of reasons we can give for why we should win elections, platforms, all these other vicissitudes. But people are really selfish, and base means not aspiring people to our country's high as great as good as a message. It isn't about democracy, you know. I care about it as an individual amongst the lists and pantheonic things that consume my attention at any point in the day.
But there are things that are more base than that that really decide how almost been the next couple of moments of the next uh week ahead. And I think, I think the I think the opp position, and in this case the opposition to Donald Trump, which is largely symbolically represented in the Democratic Party, is attempting to catapult over our base level concerns to get us aspirational about a collective we that too many of us at the base level have never far fell part of the collective we.
They don't now, and they haven't because they don't see that collective we putting their shoulder to the will to get the things done that we need done at a very base level. If I have to say base more, I would say what keeps you up at night? What is the thing that you spend most time on during the course of a day. What are the things that are putting more demands on you that you have to meet,
not would like to meet, but have to meet. And then what are the set of solutions out there, the things that are being done to help me on that path.
You know.
One thing that's come up recently, I think, given everything that's going on right now, is how like entertainers are responding to the moment. So there was a critique about the met Gala that Taraji Henson Tji p Henson raised. She's asking what are we even doing? There are some
really large protests surrounding this year's met Gala. Jeff Bezos was a primary funder of this met galan so Amazon employees engaged in several activations, one where an elderly black woman was put up on the wall a video played right outside of the met Gala. And of course Chris I can't think of Chris's last name, but Chris was a protester that fought for Amazon.
Amazon employees union unionizing.
I'm gonna pull his name quickly, but he he was.
Arrested outside of the met Gala. I think it's is it Chris.
Malls, you organizer in New York.
Yeah, Chris Malls, yes, and so he was the president of Amazon's labor union. So I think we were going to play footage of some of the outfits at the met Gala as well. But I think in these moments, what I think is required of us is like where we draw the line in our own hypocrisies, Like, you know, how do we meet the moment? Do we meet the moment by shedding hypocrisy or by acknowledging hypocrisy. Before we started recording, I was asking the guys that said, okay,
so would you have gone to the met gala? Andrew objected to cost Bacari's response was, hell, yeah, And so I wonder if you go to the met Gala, given all that's going on, do you go and your outfit is a protest? Do you not go because of the price point because people can't afford gas or eggs or what's what?
And how do you square that circle?
I mean, I don't. I just find there to be I mean, Chris Mall's is his name, by the way, And oh you said that, Okay, I missed it. Yeah, you know, I just find there to be some damn headphones, so many different ways you know, I was gonna compliment you today too, Angela, cause you look really good. I don't know, you look well arrested, like your exercises, like
your your sauna in and everything. But I ain't gonna say none of that shit allowed because hell so anyway, anyway, you know, I just think that the met Gala, and you know what, I love taragips because she got me rethinking it. Because you know, the original reason I said I didn't go this year is because they only sent me one ticket and I couldn't take Ellen. So I didn't go this year.
But I would have gone. But but but.
Taragi actually makes you, makes you shake your consciousness and think. And so I wish that we had more individuals who utilize their platform in this particular way. You juxtaposed that against somebody like Stephen A. Smith this week, who was going back down the path of non righteousness, and you look at Taraji p Henson and I think there's a role for all of us to play. And I say all that to say that kind of the base level that Andrew was talking about, no matter your field, right,
you can always be an agent of change. My dad would always say that if you're a doctor. If you're a lawyer, if it doesn't matter if you get the if you're a sanitation worker, you can always be a change agent. And we have to go back to that mind frame that we're going to be change agents for our community because the way that Taraji p Henson was able to shake the consciousness just around the met galap I did see one dress that I really really liked. It was a woman who had like all the sovil
rights heroes on her gown. I don't know her name. I don't know her name. I was just looking at it on I was scrolling through reels. But and Beyonce is was awful. But it was not blue kilt Beyonce.
I think they both looked really nice. No, no, did you see Rihanna was a oyster?
Did you see Rihanna get out stunned by her husband?
I will give you a samples fly with his pink Tridon. You know we're not playing that of these clips. I thought we had.
It feels a little. Yeah, we can't show the office about amazing. In fact, you can plaster over my fids just so so dressing.
No, I just I just thought because we were drawing that contra I agree.
I agree with your point, and I guess I'm struggling with this. You know why Taraji p Henson is so Almost every time, I really every time I hear her, I feel like on the mark is she is a person who clearly has done the work and is doing the work that no matter where she is, she seemingly at home. And when you're at home, the things that come out of your mouth are expressions of who you are feel very much so sympotical with, like who am
I whose shoulders? And I mean, my goodness, the ancestors dreams, you know, And so when you're really clear about that, it don't take nothing to call out the wealthiest people in the world for the real trouble around why that night is so troubling for her and for many of us. And I think I say this during the elections when we were talking about fifty cent and like why would
he be for it? And I kept saying, this man got so many more zeros than I can count in his bank account, And we really, really really are reducing the power of what money does. It puts you in a different class, it puts you at a different viewpoint in life. And by the way, it changes some allegiances. So maybe before the tax code didn't matter you a whole bunch, and now the tax cold matters a whole
bunch to you. And I think the met Gala and what we saw Monday was really that I saw Bezos and his wife and all that she could anyway that she possesses with their wealth, and him too, at an event that used to require more than just your money to get in. There had to be some demonstrated contribution to humanity, largely in the space of arts and creatives, and they were reduced to their most base level, which is wealthy. Filthy. Wealthy people socialized together and they have
a good time together. And while the rest of us may view that congregation as being political or trying to send a message or a point, they consider it very differently than we do. Right Chris Jenner was at the damn a dinner at his house the night before. Oprah
was at the wedding when they shut down Italy. You know what I'm saying, It's like, I like these people at this level, but I like them for reasons, and they like each other for reasons, and it just happens to be that they all share a lot of zeros, and I just think common cause shifts based off of where you stand in life. And I think that they have some areas of common cause that unite them on that night to look as filthy, wealthy and glamorous as
they do. And so I guess thank you Taraji for maybe getting a lot of you know, some folks to open their house and say, man, this is more than just that. But it is the Gilded Age on steroids right now.
And I think Taragi was right. So I'm never going by myself. The only way I go is if they send me two tickets so I can take ellen.
So I think that we've concluded that we are very ready for the moment evidenced by all obviously for a moment.
I think that we are.
Close, but I think we have some You just talked about healing work, Andrew like in what you've recognized in Taraji, even from doing your own work. But I think so much of this is about our willingness to lay aside ego. There's also an article with President Obama talking about he's not like a commentator, and he talked about also Michelle Obama taking issue with how much he's been called upon to respond to the times and how a lot of
other presidents haven't been called upon in that way. Well, this is a unique set of circumstances, and so we're all being called to do things that we hadn't anticipated, you know. I believe Andrew you referenced twenty twenty four being at Howard. I was looking forward to just you know, being closer to home, supporting my parents, you know, working doing well because we knew who was in the oval, you know, And that's not the story that we're here to tell.
We are in the fight for our lives. I think, I don't know.
I dare say, this is the most difficult two years that I have experienced in my life politically, you know, like from a sociological standpoint, historically, like emotionally, all the ways, on a micro level and a macro level. And so then I just wonder, like, how do we show up for ourselves, our families, our community, and the culture in this hour? And I dare say, it is not the way we're used.
To doing it. It's just not. We have to show up differently.
We have to point out the gray areas, we have to recognize our hypocrisies, we have to be able to receive criticism hopefully that it's constructive.
Stop with all the freaking canceling behavior too.
You got eighty five reasons why you are going to cancel this black person or that black person in Bakari. Honestly, that was the beef I had with the conversation we were having the other day. It's just pointless. People made dumb decisions. People said dumb things in twenty sixteen about who to vote for and who not to vote for. I am not excusing that, but we are in twenty twenty four in the fight for our lives, and I'm not about to tell you six oh yeah, you're right
twenty twenty six. I'm trying to go back to twenty twenty four. Maybe you can get a do over in my defense twenty of y'all. Negro said twenty twenty two. In the last podcast, I was Ellie. But I don't know what year it is. All I know is the time is now for us to figure out a different path forward.
This is way too late.
We're talking about ten years since somebody made a major mistake saying who not to vote for? Want I want to sign them up to do the right thing right now that's what type of time I'm on and I would want if I made a grave mistake, I would want somebody to offer me the grace to say, you know what, you made a mistake. You can't do no dumb stuff like that. But you are welcome in this fight right now. We are all hands on deck. It's not enough of us. I'm tired of saying that.
Okay, I just think we should be clear on what we're enlisting people to do when the ask is made, because I don't. I ain't signing anybody up to be leading me down. Nothing right, I think.
But we worry about leadership without knowing what our objectives are, and the mission is no.
What I'm saying is I think we absolutely have to lower the bar here. Yeah, when it's when it comes to an election. This really sucks, because an election in the most powerful nation in all the world should actually be able to consider something more than who I want to have a beer with choice when considering the leader of the free world. It is it is not that it ain't. We we have graduated past that level of baseness.
And I don't say this as a word to say, oh, and I'm evolved I'm based too, and and how I approach my day and what we all hope for. And we talked about this before angel Angelo with Tiffany some over years back. Now that it's a luxury to be able to push back from the table, stand up and take a look and survey the land. That most people don't have the luxury of pushing back and thinking. Theoretically not because it doesn't help and it doesn't make sense.
It makes all the sense in the world, makes all the sense in the world. That's why I ain't nobody trying to give us the room to do it. But I don't need everybody to do that part. But when it comes to these elections, there are some things that we kind of just need folks to be able to do, and I'm not trusted.
That's why we mess up. I think we mess up by focusing our organizing.
And I'm also one thing. I didn't say the things I needed them to do. I just said there are some things that we need you to do in an election. That's why I said I didn't I want, I don't need the right wingers to be my friends.
But I guess I'm not suggesting that either.
I'm saying, I think that where we mess up as a people as we formulate our organizing and mobilizing strategy around elections, and I think, yes.
If we're talking about organizing, we should That's a whole another pod.
Yeah.
No, I just am saying, I'm not even on what do we do for the midterms.
I'm with you, Angela about this about just the cultural personality and how we've gotten to this culture where we are subtracting unnecessarily from when you talk about this path of canceling, when you talk about this path.
Oh, he responded to three comments ago, Okay, uh huh oh.
I thought they were I thought there was a through line.
There are we trying, were trying real hard, but please please connects.
No, I was just saying, and I think that as we talk about mobilization, what we'll realize is that at the end of the day, as much as it's kind of hurts my heart to say a little bit, you know you're going to have to have those individuals like the Eddie Glaus of the world be a part of the same ministry that the Jamal Bryants of the world are, that the Andrew Gilliams of the world are that the Tiffany crosses of the world are, and all of us are going to have to lift each other up as
a collective. A baldfitst is much stronger than a spread hand.
I agree, and I y'all, I have to tell you, I don't think. I don't even look at this as a hierarchy of contribution, right. I know what the power of the presidency is. I know what the power of commentary is. I know what the power of organizing is. I also know what the power of being a single individual voter is. Going into a ballot box, I get it.
I'm saying, drop whatever whatever value proposition we want to put on what everybody does in this work, and just tighten up into the thing that you can do.
I agree with that. That takes self awareness, though we got a whole generation without that.
All I'm saying is we keep pushing people towards the ballot box. And I think we need to be formulating around an agenda. Did you take the Black Census. We need to be formulating around an agenda. Did you read the Black papers that will be published in October but have been up on our site. We need to formulate around an agenda. Who are we running for office? Who are we preparing to do other things to be activists and advocates in other ways we are fighting.
I don't think everybody. I don't think everybody wants to be in that conversation.
I think that I'm not asking for everybody, but I.
Know I don't. I don't mean. I'm just saying and if we're staying on this on this line of sort of what are we are we expecting too little too much of people? Where you know, we got to go
beyond just show up and vote. And I agree with you there, Angela, But and I really am trying to have a conversation here on this one, which is to say, is do we accept that in this greater movement work and to get us to the more beloved community, that everybody's going to have different things to do, and that if we take the value proposition off of just voting is not the thing to do, but organizing in this way is a thing to do in addition to doing that.
And all I'm saying is is I think there's some people who are going to say the thing I'm willing able to do where I am now is this thing. Yeah, it may be a time where there's some other things I can consider, but this is the thing, and that it's not a bad thing if you and I acknowledge that everybody, we all play parts, and some people's parts are going to be this thing I am.
I think the issue today has been that we are talking past each other.
I completely agree with that.
I'm saying where we run a foul of even getting a critical mass is pushing people just to go vote. Like now, we've been pushing people just to go vote, and that thing has also been eliminated. Now there's not even people in some instances who represent their interests or represent them to And I'm not saying don't vote.
I'm saying we pushed people.
We made it seem as if the entirety of our political power was the thing that we could exercise on election day. And you do not see any other powerful group of people, no matter how small or large, doing that. We are the only group of people they do that with. That is the reason why the Democratic Party feels comfortable showing up to our churches and our community events two months and sometimes two weeks or.
Two days before an election. That is the problem.
And I'm saying that we have the ability, the power, the voice, the ingenuity, the innovation to do much more than that. I'm not saying each individual person. I'm saying as a community, and I'm also suggesting that it is high time for us to stop saying if you don't do this thing on this day in my way, then your efforts are futile. I think that's also dumb, and it hasn't served us well. We have to mobilize on multiple means towards the same end goal and saying I'm going to keep saying that.
I hate that we have talked a past each other, because what I'm submitting is that I think that there are sophisticated enough black voters in our community who actually know that there's an ecosystem of things getting that they may even call it ecosystem, but they can say such and such over there working on that, who know that there's a greater ecosystem at work, and have resigned themselves to this vote thing. Is going to be my contribution to that while everybody else in their places are doing
the parts that they are good at. I'm simply saying that there are people who are sophisticated consumers of the world. We live in who say I'm just the voter.
I get it. And that's the damn shame, because I hope they can do it.
Out to the point of the last podcast and today, I hope they're at least able to exercise their franchise, and if not, I hope they are willing and able to do whatever the thing must be so that they can continue to just do that one thing. But we have poorly served ourselves and our people by focusing all of our efforts into that.
I completely agree that shit, if that's the game plan for us, that's there. Ain't no plan at all.
Ain't no plan.
That's that's all I'm That's all I'm saying. I'm like, and I'm not saying we should not do it. I oh my god, I understand now more than ever. When Reverend Jackson said, and I played a clip from him on the podcast on Tuesday, that the right to vote is sacred. John Lewis would say that I would get so frustrated when Reverend would spend all this time talking about the right to vote. I'm like, we have that, we have that we have that he wanted the Constitutional Amendment.
I'm like, that's cool, but we don't really need that. God damn it, we needed that. He knew because in his lifetime he saw what it could be like, and we didn't preserve that.
And it's just like we got.
To do all the things with none of the resources and none of the time and none of the unity.
So I hope that we can come together.
I think that's right. And you kind of close us out with a good I think a good charge there, And I hope you all on the listening side you were rolling with us. Hopefully, if you're still here, you were rolling with us because we have figured this out on spot, which is started at the MET and now we're talking about how we build a beloved community and all of the things that are required to help get
us there. So I hope you have been made uncomfortable in the conversation and that it moves you to something I know I have been and I think I like where it is leading me, but stay tuned for where that actually is. We just want to welcome you home and thank you for listening, and go get Tiffany's book.
And it is twenty twenty six. Sorry guys, Welcome home, y'all.
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