Native Lampod is a production of iHeart Radio in partnership with Reason Choice Media.
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.
Welcome, Welcome home. Everybody, this is tipping a crous No, it's not got a right.
You don't want to start with yourself.
And I'm Andrew Gellham and you're tuned into this week's mini pod, which we have decided off the fly to make this week's quick mini pod. Uh. Some answers to the questions that y'all posed that we didn't get you in the show, So forgive us, but also direct your friends over here to see your debut on Native Lampod. So how y'all doing?
How we have we have decided off we have on the fly, off the fly. We have decided on the fly. So didn't that means it's not on the fly, weirdo?
It is on the fly. We just decided on the fly, just a couple of minutes to do this said importantly, however, more important than y'all doing all right? Yes, if it was, if it is good, can we get to the first question? Please?
Yeah, what you were talking about?
Welcome home, y'all.
I'm April McFadden from Chicago by the way of Atlanta, and two things. DNC coverage loved it. Second thing, Angela, listen to last week's episode, Andrew out cooolled you, I didn't think that day would happen, but you.
Should let him have the if you feel in froggy.
Jump moment all to himself because it was great and you had to bring the flower into it. We love you though, anyway. But my question that I want y'all to choose. There's a lot of talk about Kamala Harris, Vice president, Kamala Harris energizing the base.
But is it her energizing the base or is the base energizing her?
H What's I like that?
What's the name? Differently, what was her name?
Do we remember?
Her name was? Okay?
What is you talking about? I don't even know she said about froggy jump, I.
Said last week she said, when I said if you feeling froggy jump, you said what you thought? It was, Tiffany. No, I didn't say I'm telling you feeling froggy jump. Well that may be true. However, I said froggy jump. You then pulled over your uh potted plant. Oh the lid that ain't a lily pad and she was like, you should have let and you have that cool moment moments.
Ever, I see, but is it cool if you said the quote wrong?
Well, it's was to her, so maybe it was.
But I thought she was talking about something else. I was I'm glad that.
We we will let his.
April that I'm not cool. He does not need to be little.
She's saying you cool. She's saying you cool. But I love her question about is I think it's both. I think it's both. That's my answer.
I think it doesn't make a difference.
I am curious.
No, it doesn't make a difference, but I like it as a question and a topic to discuss.
No, I mean I I do wonder is seriously, does it make a difference if she's giving us energy or if we're the ones giving her energy.
I would say it does only because after the campaign she she has to govern. And if you know, if you need like people around you cheering all the time for you to lead with the courage of your convictions and go out there and deliver for the people, you know, you don't always have that. As president, approval ratings go up and down. So I would say she is energizing the people. But she's being.
Fed a lot of energy.
It's like if we our energy is different when we're in front of a live audience, you know, and then people are you know, responding and talking to us, then we have more energy.
Energy is contagious.
Our energy when we're together is different versus being on a zoom. So yeah, I think it makes a difference. And I think the people are feeding her energy and I think she is feeding back.
Energy to us. I think it's both and I.
Like it, you know, and I think it's not just both.
I think there's like a where's that from Lionking somewhere? Circle of life, Like there's a whole linking. Yeah, there's a whole like ecosystem that is happening. And I think, you know, people were excited to see a shift on the Democratic ticket.
I think that it energized the party.
I think that it energized some young folks who were like, Okay, maybe there's an opportunity to have a conversation with someone who's as stuck in their ways. I think Kamala Harrison demonstrated that she listens even to opposing views, and I think that you can see a complete shift in her demeanor, and that is coming from the love that she gets.
Like you know, when she was on the stage of her speech that Thursday night at the DNC, I wonder how many times Kamala said thank you, And I think it was genuine gratitude because when she was you know, VP, or she still is VP, but as the VP, she was in such obscurity whether you know, I'm not saying that she wasn't working hard, but she wasn't getting the coverage and the attention that the work she was doing, the boldness of the work she was doing really deserves.
So now to kind ofly be to kind of be seen, I think it does do something to her and for her, and I think that she's now reciprocating that seminergy.
So basically I agree with Tip.
I think she's electric. I think she's electorate, electrical by
the audience. But I've also been in spaces where there's been great anticipation for someone and the people didn't get let down, like it's almost as if you can't reach the level at which folks have put yeah, and so it was just yeah, which is why I'm glad that the way this thing started was her impressing everyone because we were so refreshed to hear her voice, see her disposition, see the snap you know, the snap back, the the you know what she was like, as the saying goes,
if you got something to say, say that didn't come out of nowhere, right, she she played on on on all the things that felt very familiar to her. And I think, like you both said, she was in She was in her body. She was fully encompassing Kamala Harris or whatever they call her. When you know everybody ain't in listening here, right, whatever that name is, she was fully embodying that. And I would just say the beauty
is that it can work both ways. The fact that she met us above our expectations, performed at a level get certainly given the circumstances, the unforeseen circumstances of it all that you would have thought she had been preparing and you know sort of you know, teed up on this a long, long, long, long long time ago. And in fact, I think the Kamala Harris that we are seeing now was different than the one that we saw
when she was running for president. I feel like she is fully yeah in the sense that yeah, yeah, I was not as compelled by her then I didn't think that her positions on issues were as solid as they are I think, as they are now. She learned some things, Yeah, she learned some things, Yes, sure, And that's what I
mean about flip flopping. This whole thing that people can't evolve if you aren't every single day learning something new, adding to the repertoire, maybe even contradicting some things you knew before. Then what are you doing? Are you really living, are you really experiencing? Are you open to whatever the universe is putting? You know?
Your way?
And I'm not blaming anybody for an evolution so long as it's hard come by. Like you, you know, you've done some thinking and some some some doing here, So anyway, I don't know that it makes a total difference, but I do think there's something different in the fact that we thought of her at some level and she came out in the stratosphere and has really, you know, bodied this this race up to this point, and I think she'll do it, you know beyond guys.
One one other question on this question, how much of that that energizing do you think is coming from this inherent desire to protect Kamala Harris, Like, we think about what we've had to do to ensure they know her name, to ensure they understand just how qualified she is. I wonder if some of what is feeling energizing is this innate desire and need we know it, like, uh, you know,
secondhand to protect not only what is ours. Like remember when Congressoman Budget got on the podcast of the DNC when Leonard asked her what was the difference between Hillary Clinton running and Kamala Harris running for her? And she says she is mine, and yeah, it was like that. When she said that, I had goosebumps. I was like, oh my god, there was.
Something that was very diferent.
I think that, like, we are part of the largest sorority of the globe as Black women. It is a magical space, a magical thing to be a part of. We don't hold hands, we chain a soul. We don't have the privilege to even dislike each other. There are people who I don't, you know, amongst us and family talk, it's like, yeah, I don't really rock with her, I don't like her, you know, But when we get out here in the world, you know, and somebody's attacking her.
I have to stand with my sister. I'm not going to turn you over to them, because I know the cruelty of them too well. So I think as black women we are a coalition, and black women are the base, the strongest, most enthusiastic part of the base of the Democratic Party, and even outside the party, just a base of voters who stand on the side of goodness and righteousness and does what's right. So yeah, I think this is a part of protecting her, but also investing in
ourselves and our future and trusting. If I got to choose between her and this unhinged ass white man, I'm going with somebody who looks like me.
Every time there.
Was a really quickly there was a father. I man told this on the podcast before. There was a father who was letting his young black daughter fly by herself for the first time, and he told her, if you get in any trouble, if you get lost, if you have any problems, find the closest sister you can and tell her you're lost and you need help. That says so much, because if I had to unleash my child in the world, I would offer her the same thing. Find any black woman and tell her you need help
because we so try. I don't have to know you, but.
I know you.
You are me and I am you. So I think there is something some of that with Kamala Harris. We got less than ten minutes. I don't want to take that much time.
We've got to.
Question this next question. But I will say that I think respecting the bond of obviously amongst black women and women of color, it's all real, is that black men and I think other communities also feel this ownership and protection piece because once someone sets their aspirations at this level, whatever level it is, you have the courage to put
yourself out there. It's like, Nah, you can't let every Tom Dick Harry run along Trump or you know, run along and strike that person down, because you're now going at the best of us. You're now going at what's represent what I feel is part representation of me. So I think a lot of us got are back for sure. What's that next question?
High Native Lampod family, how are you?
This is Jennifer.
I live just outside of Washington, DC, in a suburb of DC in northern Virginia. I'm sure you're familiar with that area and My question revolves around how can we motivate, mobilize, and centivize Black Americans who live in upper middle class communities to participate in holding elected officials accountable in between election cycles. So I live in a community in which a lot of black people seem to me to be very comfortable. They don't want to upset the apple gart
they don't want to upset the status quoth. They don't want to upset and jeopardize their own comfort. And so it seems as though black people are taking and tolerating a lot of behavior by elected officials instead of holding these officials accountable. Do you guys think that there is something that we can do as a group as black people in order to motivate and sentivize these people or these the people that Harriet just would have left behind. So much answer to answer my question.
And Tiffany, it was meeting you the other way.
So much for being so gracious with your time and generous with your spirit.
Take care.
I love you guys. Bye.
And I'm like I know her? Like, where do I know her from? Can I tell you, guys? I met her? Michael Harriet was in town and he was doing a book talk for Black a f history, amazing book.
Please read it.
He was doing a book talk at Sankofa and she Uh, they gave me a shout out from the stage, and she came up to me and was saying how much she loves NLP. She said, she listens going in the car in the morning with her kids. But I told you all about her.
And anyway, Yes, that was the woman who I met.
She was so sweet. She loves y'all, like she loves the whole podcast. So I'm like, where do I know her from? She's I literally was showing her how to send a question.
I'm like, oh, you can send it.
On this She said it.
Thank you so much. Who want to take that question?
I love this question so much, in part because it's something that I've wrestled with for for a long time. Still wrestle with it, wrestle with it in a book that I'm going to write and publish at some point. But I think that black folks have had to be very strategic and calculating, and in some instances to our
own detriment. There are a number of elected officials on the local, state, and federal level who have decided that incremental progress is better than no progress at all, and I understand it, but it is immensely frustrating to be talking about incrementalism four hundred and fifty plus years after our arrival here we know the first documented arrival, but I'm just saying four under fifty plus years after arrivals period.
So when we're talking about a people who built this, of people who are challenged on ownership, of people who when they have when we have created areas there were our own, just to be out of your way and to not coexist, and you burn that down to the ground. It is very frustrating to deal with folks who are like, Okay, well I've arrived. The rest of y'all haven't arrived, but y'all will figure it out, like we should at the
very least have a united front. So that incremental progress is never bold, it is never radical, and it never really results in our true liberation. It is something that we have to I think, probably wrestle with in a maybe not a public forum, but in a large forum
where we address the needs of a black agenda. I will give a shout out here to Black Features Lab that developed the Black Census and did one in twenty twenty two and has used that census to formulate a Black Economic agenda, But that Black Economic agenda does not necessarily coincide with.
UH. What is the name of that organization?
Black Economic Alliance and and b e A does not talk to necessarily UH Black to the Future Action Fund. To ensure that our collective and widespread and disparate interests are all coming together, we need those spaces. We got to work together to see our collective advancement, Like if we're honest, yes to these things.
And when you name those two groups that kept thinking when I was a candidate having to go and try and recruit dollars and the very different interest Yeah, I mean we're talking about the poohbas versus the popular, you know, the the proletariat NOE. Not to be disparaging to any
particular group, I would just say Angela and Tiff. In my experience, I have come across cush or cushy or comfortable black folks in my own community and around the state when campaigning who have frankly come by their They've earned their spot wherever that spot may be for them. But in many ways that spot always feels tenuous. That spot always feels like it could be taken from us. That it could be, you know, whether it's something I said, or I didn't pay how much to the right person,
or whatever that is. And so folks haven't lost I guess the revolutionary in them. They still have a dream, they still have an aspiration. They still know what it feels like to be kicked, and they know when they're being kicked, even if they don't give voice to it. But their perch doesn't allow them the flexibility to be to act it out in the way that we might think.
I was always shocked that so many of the white folks who wrote me checks to run for office and that kind of thing never hesitated to come by the office visit state what their issue was, whether it was zoning or their support for something or another. And oftentimes our community didn't want to put upon me. It was good enough for them for me to show up, be able to get my words out. And if there was a thing I was passionate about to see that thing crossed over the three to two finish line and we
win victory. That it was like, we know that it's hard enough just getting up every day and doing this thing, and so we don't want to add to it, and I would just encourage us. I appreciate that, and I'm sure the elected officials in your community appreciate not being put upon. But in truth, that's what we're there for. If you can't hold us accountable, encourage and applaud us, but also admonish us when it is necessary, then what is this all for. Then we're not moving our agenda.
And as good of an elected official may be and as on point around the issues you care about, they may be, know that there is another interest out there who's pulling them in a different direction. So it matters that your voice is in the room. It matters that you say what you believe deserves being addressed, and that you be dogmatic about it. You don't have to be disrespectful, but you can absolutely ride that horse, you know, uh,
you know, through the finish line. So I just I don't think it's a lack of interest in wanting to hold people accountable, or lack of interest, or even an absence of desire, but rather that the world has whipped us into a place, and the reality of the world has whipped us into a place where we do hedge when it comes to our positionality because our movement from that place impacts our household, my children, my children's future, my family, my you know, dot dot dot, you put in,
you know, fill in the blood line. But but but I don't think it's a I don't think it's there's anything sinister there. It's probably just the need for for for for frankly, updating our outlook on what accountability looks like for each other.
All Right, I love it.
Well, I think that's close. Our mini pod, Guys.
Native Lampard, is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership with reisent Choice Media. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.