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Welcome home, y'all.
This is episode twenty three of Native Lampid, where we give you our breakdown of all things politics and culture.
And today we are, of course your.
Hosts, Angela Rae, Tiffany Cross, and Andrew Gillim.
What's going on, everybody?
What's up?
What's up? Why does it feel like forever since I've seen y'all?
Geez, because we had the nerve to record a podcast earlier last week.
That's what happened.
I means you too, maybecause out of the country, I don't know.
Oh yeah, that's true. It's true thing, it's a vibe.
We'll get into that, yes, absolutely well, speaking of hearing more, we want to make sure that you all continue to rate and review our show. We always like to hear from our listeners. We like to hear what we're getting right, when we're getting wrong, which you don't like, what you do like, we might not change it, but we still want to know. So make sure that you are tuning in, that you're asking a friend or five or eleven to also tune in and.
To rate and review the show.
So on today's episode, we want to first start off with Hunter Biden. As you all know, Hunter Biden was convicted of three felony charges related to unlawful possession of a firearm. But today on this episode, we're going to focus on something a little bit different. It is the criminalization of addiction and how we as a country respond to addiction. Should it be criminalized at all? Should this case have ever seen the light of day in a courtroom. We got things to say about that have something to
do with him being a Biden. It might have something to do with him being high profile, and it might also have something to do with somebody nam Leo Wise more on that. Tiffany, I know that you are just returning from an amazing trip.
I am, and I'm so excited to talk about it. And I have to say I am learning from you guys as we talk about these things because I've been completely out of American politics for a week and it has been good to my spirits.
We understand that for sure.
Yeah, we understand that even when we don't get to go overseas, sometimes we need a break.
Yeah.
And on that, folks are asking, you know, if the system is there for us, if it's here to protect us, if it's ever served us. We're going to talk about that, and if we should be trying to get dual citizenship with Tiff to get the hell out of Dodge.
So we'll talk about that as well.
And then Andrew, I know that you are following what's happening with the Supreme Court closely, so you got some things you want to talk about with that.
Of course, as you know, it is the month of June, which could only mean two things. One, if you're Alito or his wife, that you're only about a month away from being back at your insurrection. Is sympathizing Beach House, and if you're any one of the rest of the American people, you probably want to know what's coming at jolt speed from the Supreme Court on a range of decisions. Will dive into that too.
Oh my goodness, Well here we go. We're gonna get into that. And the last thing that we're going to cover today is I didn't know. I don't know if y'all knew, But politics aren't just everywhere.
Did you know racism was too? It's a thing not everywhere all over the world.
Did this happen while I was out of the country? When? When did this.
Happened while you were away?
That?
While you were away?
Hev I can you imagine?
So we're going to talk about this case involving Vnicius Junior's racial abusers in Spain and how they were penalized. If we think that was significant. I don't know how, but somehow today it feels like a very heavy legal episode. So we go to make sure that it's clear. Then we understand it. TIF our news bureau chief is making me also correct the record on some things, but we'll
get into that a little later. And of course you all know it's not Native Lampi without some cause to action, So we'll do.
All of that.
We are so excited to be with y'all. Y'all today, Welcome home.
Welcome home.
While there has been much testimony about the defendant's abuse of drugs and alcohol, ultimately this case was not just about addiction, a disease that haunts families across the United States, including Hunter Biden's family. This case was about the illegal choices defendant made while in the throes of addiction.
His choice to lie.
On a government form when he bought a gun, and the choice to then possess that gun. No one in this country is above the law. Everyone must be accountable for their actions even this to however, Hunter Biden should be no more accountable than any other citizen convicted of this same conduct.
So Hunter Biden is slated to be sentenced. The judgeays within one hundred and twenty days of the verdict. I think what's fascinating here is what he didn't say. I'm gonna tell y'all what he didn't say. They spent your taxpayer dollars because Hunter Biden put on a form that he did not abuse drugs in order to obtain a weapon that he never used.
That he never shot. That is what this case is about.
That he had in his position for eleven days.
He never used the gun, however he had.
I think you must have that wrong, Angelo, because Republicans, are you trying to say that they care about gun control.
I'm ima, no, they care about controlling a narrative.
But but what we do need to tell talk about here is the fact that your taxpayer dollars paid for this case over what he marks on a form. And I'm just saying, if we get to a place where this it's it's interesting because I never thought, tiff and Andrew that I would be arguing that there's partisanship in the application of the law. I normally have sat in the in the seat of just like we know, it's not equally.
Applied to us.
But it is fascinating how much attention has been paid to this Hunter Biden case when just remember Alvin Bragg just closed his case against Donald.
Trump just days before this.
And I mean, if there couldn't be more of a start contrast anyway, full.
Range, they're not, They're not in the same category. I mean, even to co locate what happened and and and Bragg's prosecution of Trump versus what would occurred here? They're they're not in Every day of the week, the Southern District of New York's prosecutors are engaged in some form of record records cases where misinformation, disinformation, false information has been put, which is the lane in which Donald Trump is in.
Never before and the statutory history of the federal system, has a case been bought single handedly on the issue of lying on an application for a weapon.
Right.
Never, right, It just didn't exist before. Now they have existed as co locating that crime with other crimes that then ramp up to a more significant offense, but not stand alone by itself. I think all of us can be honest and concluding that never, ever, ever, would this case have been brought had Hunter Biden been Hunter Bow Junior,
Slovakian or Gillum Maybell. Hell, I've already endured that. But but depending upon the man's last name, really did really did, I think measure the kind of unmitigated quote unquote justice
that was brought to his doorstep. And I have to tell you, I share with you all over tech yesterday how triggering this was for me, because you know, watching not only the addiction side, of the Ledger, but also, you know, just being a person of sort of political note where you feel like the whole thing just happens to be crashing down on you, not because of an action you've taken, as it relates to where the law is or isn't, but because of actions you've probably taken
or how you stood outside of anything to do with the laws that are being used to prosecute you. In my case, I felt like it was, you know, had much more to do with my own political ambitions and aspirational heights than anything certainly not to do with the facts of the matter. And I've seen it played out so many times in my own state, and I think just around the country with black lawmakers. In Hunter's case, though he's not even a lawmaker, he's never held public office.
He happens to be the son of the President of the United States previously the vice president of the United States. And I got to say, had Joe Biden chosen not to run for reelection, I'm not sure that this would have ever seen the light of day. Aside from the fact that he shouldn't have seen the light of day anyway, It just.
It would have because this department of Justice under this Attorney General did not stop Trump era related political prosecutions.
He just didn't.
This didn't begin under this administration. This began under the last one. We have to start acknowledging what happened. TIF You've been trying to.
Okay, I'm listening and catching up.
But I take your point, Angela about the DLJ and Attorney General Merrick Garland's failures.
I think we all agree there.
Andrew. I think you raise a good point. This is all politics and weaponizing the justice system, the same thing the GOP has been falsely claiming. I think this is a more clear example of that.
But I think the.
Bigger issue here I should say bigger issue, but an equally big issue is pointing out the hypocrisy with the Republicans.
And I'll start with gun control.
There have been one hundred and twenty four mass shootings in the first four months of this year alone. Andrew Florida leads in that number. And that's according to the Gun Violence Archives, and they describe a mass shooting as a shooting where someone where four or more people have been shot. So the fact that Republicans are quick to come out and shoot away any policy that impacts gun control, but they are so hell bent and laser focused on Hunter Biden operating a gun while he may have been
using substances. The other hipocracy is In twenty sixteen, Donald Trump, when he was elected president, declared the opioid crisis an emergency and was talking and you saw droves of white people saying how their families had been impacted by drug addictions, specifically the opioid crisis. All that empathy went away when it came to Hunter Biden. I saw Donald Trump talking the family, saying, We're going to fight for you, We're going to protect you. We understand the opioid crisis. This
isn't a partisan issue. This is something that happens to impact a lot of people. We didn't see such empathy under Republican administrations during the crack epidemic, under the Reagan administration. Under the Bush administration, he in fact pursued a harsh, punishing criminal justice system when it came to black people using drugs. There are now more than three hundred thousand people in prison because of drug addictions crimes they committed
while under the influence. That's according to Pew Trust. In nineteen eighty it was less than twenty five thousand, and so I think if this is the game the Republicans want to play, then we ought to use this at a chance to highlight that the First Step Act needs a second, and a third and a fourth instead of centering you know, Hunter Biden. I'm not gonna lie though. I was reading some of the things about Hunter Biden, even when Biden ran during the campaign, and he was
a wild dude. You know, I don't think he deserves to be prosecuted for this. He had an addiction, But the the more salacious yellow journalism part of this, I have to say I was reading some of the things that he participated in was just shock, but also empathy. All of us on your screens have had family members. I grew up in a home with addiction, so I have mostly empathy for the Biden family and what they're going through.
I appreciate you saying that to if you know we are posters. Now, we started our polling company last week. What's the name of our podcast, Native Land post.
I like it.
N l P.
Maybe just n l P.
N l P.
That's cute. Okay, so we're going to do a little poll.
Tiffany already asked our first question or has answered it for us, which is we do all have family members who have been addicted to some substance at some point. My next question is, has your family member who was addicted to anything ever lied to you about set addiction? There's yes. Has the family member ever done something that brought shame or distribute to the family because of set addiction?
Yes?
Yes, for me too, Tiff is nodding yes. So I think that.
What it feels really out of touch is and why I think black folks and people who come from marginalized communities needs to need to sit in prosecutorial seats is because they write these statement of facts, these indictments, so that you almost it sounds so salacious. Yeah, yeah, yeah, but it's clear that they don't have any connection to
what they are talking about. So, for example, Hunter Biden being convicted for lying on an application, the question on the application was do you use any illegal substances or have you ever been addicted? In that moment, Hunter Biden argues and maintains that he was not using. So an addict is generally in denial about their addiction. And also if he was not using at the time and was not addicted in his from that state of mind at the time.
How can you That's subjective.
It's a highly subjective standard, a highly subjective answer. But I want to get beyond this to this part of this piece. I want to know because we talked about pardons last week, that was a part of our post. So continuing on here, how will you see Joe Biden if he chooses not to pardon his son for this?
Well, he's already said he isn't, so he.
Said that, but he says he says things sometimes and then changes his mind.
Every human being does.
If he chooses not to pardon Hunter Biden, what is this? What does this do to his standing, to how people see him? What do you all think?
I think he's being a purist there. I would not be mad if he pardoned his son. I think the challenge with the Democratic Party at times is look at how upstanding we can be, and you know we don't act like the Republican Party, And who are you winning with that? If I were the president and my son were in this situation, of course I would pardon him. I would not sacrifice my son for a political stunt by the Republican Party. Just in the false hope to
gain Nikki Haley voters. You know, it's like, if you know this was a you think Donald Trump is not, would not get in office and abuse that office. He put Jared Kushner in charge of the Middle East. He made Jared Kushner the secretary of all the things, and he didn't care how that looked.
So I wouldn't be mad if Joe Biden.
Has paid off for him, right, I mean, the exact region of the world that he put him in charge of he walked right back into when they left the White House and walked away with the several tens hundreds of millions of dollars deal that they're not profiting from today. I would just say, on the Biden piece, I'm not convinced that it's a stunt for him. I think that he is. I think he's a traditionalist. I think he thinks of himself and probably very realistically, thinks of himself
in the mold of an upstanding and write individual. And if just if the justice process has had its way, which in this case, there were twelve jurors sat they deliberated, even though one of them came out yesterday and said I don't even believe that this should have ever become a case in the first place. The first vote that the jurors took when they went back to to UH begin the the deliberations process six set he was guilty
and six set he wasn't. And when they returned the next day to continue deliberations, that number began to collapse as they then applied the evidence of the case UH to UH the instructions given to the jury by the judge. So I think this was a really complicated thing for
a lot of people. I will say Angela and Tiffany, this this statute in and of itself, to me seems a little bit dubious because, first of all, if any any any person who is an active who is an active addict addiction but may not have yet gotten the help, began to seek the help, has not entered treatment, they're not one readily readily in awareness that they are an addict. And two, the truth is, the saying amongst addiction is
is once an addict, always an addict. So if you've been clean for thirty years, yes, but yet you have in your life experienced addiction. The truth of the matter is is you're you're an addict until you die. And so at what point could somebody have answered yes to that as a as a person who has won at one point admitted being an addiction, an active addiction, could they have been right on this side of the question.
And that's why I think the statute in it of it self deserves, you know, us pulling back the layers and seeing whether or not this really ought to be, you know, a law by which people are you know that that is prosecutable. But in Joe, Joe Biden's case,
I don't think he's acting. I think he believes these things, and I think he is experiencing probably a very very deep level of hurt and pain, having lost one son already in bo and then now his other son, who who he has experienced various levels of loss through addiction. The fact that he flew to see him before he had for the G seven summit, you know, just to hug him on the tarmac and say I love you,
I'm with you. It's probably the most honest effort he is making to make sure that his son doesn't fall back into an active addiction as a result of what's happening here. So my heart goes out to him. My heart goes out to the whole family, And really, this whole process sucks, and I think the Attorney General sucks. And I think his his willingness to appoint all these special prosecutors who were Trump area era appointees as if they're going to have some obeyance to the law is ludicrous.
I just think I just think we suffer from dangers. Ask He's like at the tip of the I just.
Want to be clear.
So are you saying that Joe Biden might not pardon his son because he thinks that's the best course of action for his son?
And do you think he should.
I think he thinks because of their relationship. I think because he said he would surrender judgment onto the jury to the process, it's going to have to work its way ou out through the legal process, which means an appeal and appeal at the appellate level to see what happens there and so on. I don't think he ought to. I think a president who can come behind him should pardon him. This should never have been prosecuted in the first place. I just think the conflict of interest for
him is too great. It is for himself for him to enter into this process and say I'm going to pardon my son after being found guilty by a jury of twelve.
Members of what do you think I didn't I was gonna say I didn't answer this, but I want to be quick because this is gone. I didn't mean for us to go this long on this, But I will say I think that Joe Biden should absolutely use pardon power because this should never should have been prosecuted to
begin with. I don't care if it was his neighbor, his enemy, Like this is so dumb, Like I think that this administration should make a conscientious effort to look at all of the things the DJ is going after where they are wasting taxpayer dollars and pardon all of those people.
Like this is.
Clear political and hopefully it will dissuade They should, but they should also dissuay it. Hopefully it will dissuade folks from continuing to pursue these cases. Because this it really needs to be a congressional hearing. There needs to be oversight on why this continues to happen.
It is ridiculous.
So speaking of it being ridiculous, TIF, I know you're not Colgne, but can you please take us away, yes, or do we need.
To say we have to take a break.
So we're going to take I'm going to take you away to a commercial break, but don't go anywhere because on the other side, we want to hear from you.
And we have a viewer.
Question that ask about my trip to Africa. Not really, but it's gonna be my excuse to talk about it.
So we'll see you on the other side.
Hey, what's going on?
Uh?
Andrew? I if Angela fans, the question that I have for you all, is this.
The true means?
Do y'all have like continual sequence to where like y'all gonna go, Like if y'all decided to leave the United States? Do y'all have places that y'all go, places that you would recommend for black people to, I don't know, become extacts because the way the country going.
Yeah, man, m h, that's.
Love.
But I love the pause for emphasis and I love like our community engagement where he's like yeah, because when you say that, you know what that means. So I actually think this is a really interesting question and timely question. Yes, I think that we should be open to exploring living abroad and becoming expats. In December twenty twenty two, Angela and I with some of our other friends traveled to Acra, Ghana and got to see all parts of a Cra from Treasure Island to the city. And I met so
many expats who lived there who decided to leave. Remember we had that luncheon. We went to that luncheon Antiwa at the church.
Yes, it was hosted by Rosa Whittaker, who is a leg.
The legend Rosa Whittaker. At that luncheon, there were so many people who were American and said they came to Ghana and loved it. So I recently, as in like hours ago, just got back from Morocco and Col Davoir. I was in Abijan, and I had so many thoughts and honestly every day I thought of you guys, because I just wanted you all to experience this with me and us to be able to talk about it every day one the entire point of the trip. It was put together by this gentleman Pierre, and it was made
to show economic opportunity on the continent. And again there were a lot of people who had come and lived to build there. But the thing that Angela I think You'll remember this feeling being in a country that is ours, and everywhere you go people look like you. And so if someone is rude to you, which is rare, if someone is unkind to you, which is rare, you don't immediately have that feeling.
Of oh, okay, I know what this is. I know what it's about.
That level of comfort and security is its indescribable. Also, I was intentional about putting myself on a non American news diet and talking to the people there. They knew all about American policy, They knew secretaries of state from twenty years ago. They were just intellectual people, well informed people, arguably because what happens here politically impacts their country as well. But they all also were well versed on what happened in the UK. They were well versed on what happened
in numerous countries in Africa. They could speak intellectually on the political system of the Democratic Republic of Congo, in Morocco and Algeria. They knew Middle East politics. It was just an intellectually stimulating conversation. But what I took away and the question that I wanted to ask my co hosts and we don't have to answer this now, because this maybe more philosophical, is who are we if not
defined by white people? And I got to meet so many folks there who had a better sense of who they were because so many this I'm stealing from Andrew Andrew said. We were at my house one night with Latasha and some other people. And Andrew said, we make so many decisions every day based on how white people will perceive us, and so it can limit our imagination. And I was sitting there thinking, maybe he does, but
I don't. But the more I thought about it, almost every decision we make is that we think from how we dress, from how we wear our hair, to how we speak, to what we say in public to what we say privately. So I'm curious from you guys when you think about that, who are we if we are free to be? If everything we talk about isn't rooted, and how the system oppresses us and how living here impacts our lives. Who would we get to be if we were not interrupted. I don't know if y'all thought
about that. This might be a mini pod for another day, but I really thought about.
It, right, Okay, so maybe we'll.
Save it for a mini pod.
I did African ancestry and my ancestry traces back to the Akan people, and so when we were in Ghana, it was just lovely seeing all the symbols of the Econ people but his present day Ghana. The Acon people were also in Klodesovar, so they arranged for me to go and connect with the a Con people today. I was so it was so amazing. And I know this isn't president, but Angela, I would if you don't mind,
would love for you to share your experience. When we were in the dungeons, they call them castles, but they were really dungeons and I'll mean a castle.
Yeah, I yeah.
It is a very emotional experience in the castle dungeons, the slave castle dungeons, which is where our ancestors went before they made Uh yes, so they is where our ancestors went before they go through the final door and onto the slave ships and are shackled for many days.
Uh.
You know, next to somebody they don't know, perhaps next to someone who speaks a language they they don't you know, women who may be pregnant or it's that time of the month, or someone who gets sick like you're laying in that for days at a time. The only bath you receive is salt water right being thrown on you.
And I think even before you make that pilgrimage, that force pilgrimage across the Atlantic Ocean, they were experiencing the very same thing, shackled to people they didn't know in the slave castle dungeons, where it's dark, it's muddy, there are layers of human excrement now that are It's almost like a clay on the floors of the slave Castle Dungeons. Yeah,
I think it's deeply spiritual. You can feel the weightiness of the ones that I visited and now I've visited to, But it is it's excruciating to realize that there were people who stayed alive because one day they would hope that we would be here and that we would make something different of ourselves.
So Titiff's question, who would we be?
We would still be the resilient, strong, innovative, talented, amazing beings that we are that we weren't once we're we don't know anything else but to be extraordinary human beings. And I think our contribution to society would always be in service. We always talk about the African proverb that it takes a village to raise a child that is in our DNA.
That is what we know.
And so even if it was to make strong leaders, that would be our contribution, that we would be strong leaders because there were folks who ported in us. So I'm so grateful to for your share and that you were welcomed home on a podcast where we are always welcoming folks home for you to have that very spiritual, important experience in that pilgrimage where so many of our folks, our ancestors and our present day friends and loved ones, and even folks we don't know, never get to make that trip.
So congratulations on doing well.
Just really quickly, what I remember when we were silent in that dungeon that they called a castle, they invited us to just sit in silence and touch the wall and feel the spirit of the ancestors, and we were weeping. I mean, it's just overwhelming. And we got out. I asked Angela, what was your prayer? What did you say?
And I remember you saying to me, well, the first thing I said was thank you, thank you for going through this, thank you for your sacrifice, thank you for your survival and I remembered those words when I was in Cold d'avoir and so anyway, I missed you guys. I thought about you every day, everything that we talked about. I wish you all could have been at the table.
But yeah, and I remember those words that you said, and I thought, Wow, to lead in that moment with gratitude is also very spiritual in who we are.
It's beautiful. I love it.
Thank you so much. Okay, we'll be back after this break.
So, y'all, I mentioned the end of the Supreme Court term is one thing that the month of June represents in early July, and that's because a flurry of decisions, major decisions are expected to be issued in opinions from the Court, and there's a lot we can say about the Court. I know we didn't choose to dive into the comments that were picked up on secret record by Aldo, but I wanted to just take a moment to highlight what some of those how do you say, opinions that
we are still expecting are going to cover. So one decision that we expect an opinion to come pretty quickly either here in June or early July, will be on the question of presidential immunity for Donald Trump. And I know we talked about this quite a bit, but it particularly has impact on two of the remaining cases involving Donald Trump, and that is the document's case that is being brought down in Florida and also in Washington, d C.
The obstruction case. And the obstruction case not only impacts the president's Donald Trump's implication as it relates to what happened on January sixth, but also hundreds of defendants who have already been prosecuted are those who have been awaiting prosecution. Whether certain federal statutes can be applied abortion pill access.
This court has taken on the case of whether or not abortion pills are legal, whether they can continue to be legislated at the state level, in fact, whether or not there is a federal case to be bought against the availability of the profile active. And then I think, in addition to various gun cases that we might see, the next most major case may be around the question of social media. The ban against social certain social media
sites in the First Amendment. Florida, my home state in Texas, currently have laws in place that prohibit large social media companies from removing posts or accounts based on a specific political view. The justices will decide whether or not these laws violate the First Amendment rights of the social media companies. The Court is also going to hear cases around bumpstocks. That's the equipment used to increase the.
They heard arguments issue their opinions.
I'm sorry, I didn't. I didn't mean to say arguments, rather the opinion we're awaiting on the bump stocks. And then there's some other minor might we consider minu but none of the cases are minor. In fact, I would open that the justices decided to take on cases that were really not necessary to take on just so that they can serve a more activist role in shaping what US public policy, both at the state and the federal
level should be. And I guess my question to you all is based off of the bend of this court, what we've been able to see while they've been on the bench, and comments that they have made off the bench.
Do you think we're in line for any surprises? I mean, if our default position is is that conservatives are going to be conservatives, and liberal justices will be more liberal or or at least upholders of the law, are there any expected surprises on any one of these cases that you all might have, anything you might see as a deviation from what a conservative court might might ultimately resolve.
I sadly do not think that.
I think the surprise will be just how far conservative justices are willing to undermine the law for years, even when we were in law school and before in con law classes in undergrad you learned about a term called a strict constructionist, and those are the folks who you know, will uphold the letter of the law, what the constitution?
What did the framers intend?
And you learn that there are justices like Clarence Thomas who argued that he was a strict constructionist, and John Roberts and others who say that they're strict constructionists and they don't want to veer from what the intention of the founders were. Even if the founders didn't mean to include you, Clarence, they never, you know, they never steer clear from that. However, it turns out that Supreme Court
opinions and rulings can be bought. Clarence Thomas is a Hochi and has been selling it and dropping it like it's hot on every turn turns out he's yeah, yeah, he getting fluid out TIF. It turns out that he's not strict about anything but making them dallas dalla, and I think that that is what is really sad, or that he is for sale and we're no longer there's no longer any auction blocks available, but Clearance has managed
to find them. That's a word that is so awful, but it is what I really feel today, uncensored, just completely raw and frustrated by what I anticipate will be some devastating blows by this Supreme Court, and they have just continued to be this way. I think I would use this moment to Andrew a point of personal privilege to say, if y'all don't get y'all asses out to vote, like the Supreme Court is a clear reason why y'all
asses need to vote. Y'all are mad at this administration because they've done some things you don't agree with, I understand, But what I don't want is the Supreme Court that's going to continue to issue ruling after ruling after ruling that will undermine everything our folks have fought for and that we continue to fight for. So please get y'all asses out to vote.
Yeah, I've done that.
I think people also have to remember that there will be justices Elvi vote for retirement. Alito has already intimated that he would not please.
We will hope, we hope.
But I think they hold on because, as you know, Supreme Court appointments are for a lifetime. Most justices of appointments are for a lifetime. There are some jurisdictions where you can get elected. We've talked about that. I think we did a mini pod on that. I think Andrew to your question about what we see surprises, you know, I don't know. I think when it comes to some of these partisan issues, I think we won't.
Justice.
Chief Justice Roberts has surprised us a few times on a few of his dissenting opinions from the more conservative leaning justices. But there are other cases that are not so split down the line. One is homelessness. That they will be issuing an opinion on whether homeless people can sleep outside when shelter is not available. This is just humanity.
And again, I think so much of our media centers Trump and what's Trump related, and what's salacious and what's hot, and but it's when you think about some of these issues. Homelessness that is a pretty big deal. This case originated in San Francisco, but when you think about homelessness in Los Angeles, for Mayor Karen bass is trying her best to deal with that, homelessness in Washington, D C. And Philadelphia and New York and all these municipalities that are
dealing with this, that's a pretty big deal. So we should be watching that. The other is the Sackler family. This we talked about opioid usage. They will decide if they can basically offer the Sackler family a shield from that big settlement. Yes, and listen, the Sackler family. I cannot think of a bigger drug dealer aside from the US government.
They what is that movie? Can we think of the name of this?
There are several There are several documentaries, There are several scripted series, but the Sackler If it were up to me, the Sacklers would have to be given a small amount of heroin every day for the rest of their life. Watch them get addicted, watch them go through withdrawal. Uh, and then let's see how well just say no works
out for you. So those are the two cases that I'm really curious about also the air pollution case where very Republican leaning constituents and companies that control, like steel companies, they want to sideline EPA regulations, regulations from the Enviire Protectional Environmental Protection Agency. They want to basically say like, yeah, just hold off and let us continue polluting. Now, you know who disproportionately lives in areas that are heavily polluted.
They look like us. It's a lot of Latino people, but also a lot of impoverished white people live in these areas who will be impacted. And we don't want anybody impacted by those things.
So I hope you will pay.
You think so, maybe out of luck ause they yeah, only because they pay for so many damn Clarence. These corporations have you know, treated this man to.
Can we please cut that Clarence Thomas clip?
Because I want to share that eighteen times when Angela said there's no auction block Clarence Thomas, I want to share that on all my social mediaciucci.
Yes, we can share it, and and in the meantime we can also move right along.
You guys know, I was so scared about this.
I'm more worried about the presidential immunity case than anything else. I just think that that has taking us straight to Kim joungkun, and I'm stealing that. So the last here we are so before the country is no more, We're going to take.
One more brother.
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, welcome.
Some of you all have been following a case that was new to my radar. I like basketball a lot, I don't follow soccer as much. But there's a case involving Vnicius Junior and some fans, some fans who were
shouting racist slurs at him in twenty twenty three. They were recently sentenced to eight months in prison and a two year ban from all professional soccer stadiums in Spain, and I just was fascinated about the fact that people often don't realize that racism goes far beyond the borders of the United States of America and it is very, very prevalent in soccer. Vnicius had a response on Twitter where he said, sorry, I didn't pull up Oh I can't read that.
We got to translate that. Hold on read it, Andrews.
It says many asked me to ignore it. Many others said that my fight was in vain and that I should just quote play football. But as I've always said, I'm not a victim of racism. I am a tormentor of racist criminal say what your chest always said, I'm not a victim of racism. I am a tormentor of racist The first criminal conviction in the history of Spain is not for me. It's for all black people.
Oh god, wait a minute, pause real quick, because this is why I just wanted to tell my bureau chief I had this right.
Basically, black lives matter.
This, this is this is the real right. Keep going, just to repeat, the first criminal history of Spain is not for me, It is for all black people. May other racists be afraid, ashamed and hide in the shadows. Otherwise I'll be here to collect period. Thank you for La La Linga and Real. Yeah, thank you to LaLiga and Real Madrid for helping with this historic conviction. More to come.
Hey, I'm so glad that y'all pulled the translation for this.
This was so amazing, yo.
He said, you guys, can we get t shirts to say or tormentors or paces?
I love it?
That is so good.
That's bad.
I love it.
He said, it's for all black people. You know, Nicius, I need to meet you now. I'm gonna go get a Vanissius jersey. I'm about to watch a Vanissia's game.
I'm here, I'm watching soccer.
Vanius is my Kaylyn.
Definitely, we gotta get jerseys, y'all. We gotta get jerseys.
We definitely are we wearing order.
But we're gonna find these jerseys.
I'm sure.
I'm sure we need to sell out Vani's jersey. We're about to get love that.
You guys really good.
I think people the fact that you know some people. I'm not a victim of right, I'm a tourment oriented But there are some less informed folks who think it was the Mayflower that travel to America and that was it and as the story of slavery. But there were slave ships that transported the enslaved everywhere. America became a superpower because of the slave labor, so too did the UK. The biggest Somebody fact checked me, but I'm ninety nine
percent sure the biggest slave port was Brazil. I think they got the most number of Africans, right, they got more black people anywhere else in the world. Absolutely the Caribbean and the sugar cane right exactly. The difference though, I think between us and I'll say the UK because France, England, all these folks benefit from slave labor, but they shipped their enslaved off. And the unique thing about America is
the abuse and rape of black women. And so we still live alongside the descendants of the folks who did this. And I don't know if you remember when we were in Ghana, a lot of people that was kind of the the consistent question, like it's so strange you guys choose to live there alongside your impressors and you could come home. You have all this space to come home and cold davoir that was a big thing. Look at the investment opportunity here, your money goes further. There's real
estate for you. It's a completely different system. And we're looking at y'all like, man, y'all were kidnapped, come back home. So that's a full circle moment that the soccer player gave us. We are bookending this show with the first viewer question, there's a lot of homes for us, and shout out, what's the player's name?
Angela Vinicius Junior hed I got our jerseys can come as fast as tomorrow. So we are hey, Rock and these Vansias jerseys next week. You guys text me your addresses so I get it right after the show. But our chat afterward, and I know we were we were lamenting some Supreme Court rulings that we're expecting. We're celebrating a victory in Vnissius Junior's case. But there's also one little footnote that we need to add from the prosecutor.
Let's roll that clipnik Prosecutors Susanta hisb responded to the verdict outside the courthouse.
Lacent people should know that this type of act is punishable. It is punishable as a hate crime because the sentence is for moral integrity with the aggravating factor of hate. And it is also very important that one of the factors taken into account for the suspension of the execution of the sentence is the fact of repentance and a letter of public apology, as well as the fact of not going near not only the stadium, but also stadiums where official matches are held.
So I wanted to roll there because the sentence was mitigated by the fact that they can write letters of apology. So I just think it's you know, important to note. I am a Christian.
I believe that people can restoration.
I believe in restorative justice models have since I to be a tormentary racist.
I think sometimes if you do the crime, you got to do the time.
That's the one time that And what a death sentence if you're one of these avid.
And did you say you want the death sentence?
No, I said, what a death sentence for anyone who's one of these avid followers of soccer football? Soccer in many of these countries where I mean soccer is king to be banned from ever seeing one of these matches live, these professional matches live again, or even as a prosecutor said, even being.
Near eight years is only two years.
All I'm saying is two years of a death sentence for We may not understand the significance of what that is, but in Florida, for instance, we probably have the next largest culture around I think sort of soccer fandom in the US as as as probably anywhere else in the country. I just it's it's it's more than a notion be banned from one of these stadiums, any one of these games that you might otherwise have access to. So I do believe that the punishment is fitting the crime.
So we'll just jump in here to calls to action and let me get I need to get in uniform.
We had a wardrobe change. Oh wait, I'm putting all my glasses. No, no, no, you don't know what I'm doing.
Oh okay, I mean we just want to be in solidarity.
So here, I don't need I don't need solidarity right now. This is my solo walk of shame. I'm here to apologize to the viewers and the listeners of Native lamppod. Last week we recorded a podcast early. How dare we? How dare we record a podcast early? And there be information that comes out later in the week that corrects the record for us. And so last week we spent a lot of time advocating for a man named Corey harris In who's involved in the justice system in Michigan.
Our news bureau chief, Tiffany Cross has told me that I need to come on to let everyone know that I misspoke. It doesn't matter if I misspoke because a woman with the same name as me said one thing one day and said something different four days doesn't matter. She said that I should have checked my sources better.
I did not say yes.
She did. Yes, she did. Don't listen to her. Don't listen her. Just because she says it with a smile doesn't mean that I will.
Said no.
I don't want you to say what you said. I want to say what you said myself. It's more dramatic. So she said that I need to make sure that she said, I thought when you said you checked you looked into this, that you checked your sources.
I did.
I write several articles on this as improv It.
Was kimp R, it was Detroit News, it was USA Today, it was everywhere. This woman issued the same statement. It came from the Michigan Secretary of State's office. The communications director named angel Sectary. I'm in the middle of my repentant. This woman's name now, I gotta tell my glass love. I say, Bananda. Her name is Angela Benander. This woman said that Harris was appearing for driving with a suspended license. She says, she's the director of Communications and meteor Relations
for the Secretary of State. She said, because this was no longer legal to withhole driving privileges for those kinds of violations, that meant there were a lot of people who had those suspensions who were eligible to be reinstated. She goes on to say that for several thousand drivers, additional steps were required for them to have their licenses reinstated, and those drivers were notified with letters at their mailing addresses. Additionally, she says, in some cases it was fines and fees
that needed to be resolved. In some cases they needed to retake their written drivers exams or road tests to be able to get their licenses back.
Furthermore, she said that.
Corey Harris would have had to acquire a form from the Saganaw County Friend of the Court and submitted to the Secretary of State's office because quote, it's not something that we would have that we would receive automatically from the court. Now, she went back because the judge said he never had a license, and Angela had to my earphones is, let me just talk this off. We got all the way down with my repents when my earphone starts like, Angela had to come back and say, actually,
we checked again. The database indicates that our friend Corey did not in fact have a license. However, our news bureau chief also wanted me to let you all know that what we said we stand tintos down in what we said, that sometimes our folks are penalized wrongfully, that we are overly fined, that we are overly incarcerated, that we are overly suspended, we are overly booted, we are
overly everything, as you all know, disproportionately booted. Now here's the thing that also still matters, the call to action. And today my call to action comes from a very special guest.
That's Roll, Hey, Angela, Tip, and Andrew. This is Michigan Lieutenant Governor Garland Gilchris. First off, I want to thank you all for covering this case and the video that's gone viral with Corey Harris and the barriers he faced with his license. What was meant to be funny is
actually bring intention to a greater issue. In Michigan. We had a system for a very long time that is either suspended or taken away people's drivers' licenses because they couldn't afford to pay fines or fees, or because they were behind on their child support, or any number of financial reasons that have nothing to do a hot day drive. Well, in twenty nineteen, I let a task for us on
jail reform to fix that and some other issues. And in twenty twenty, we passed new laws in Michigan, creating, among other things, a program called Road to Restoration that provides support and different services for people to get their licenses back. Now, this video is really a call to action.
It's actually a Road to Restoration clinic happening in my hometown of Detroit on June eighteenth for people who are listening to this podcast and either need help themselves or you know somebody who needs help to get their license restored. So you can go to Michigan dot gov slash road to Restoration in order to find out information and to sign up. You can register by June sixteenth for an appointment, or you can walk in.
Thanks, y'all, awesome.
I love that.
Kudos forgetting permission to get off of my walk of shame.
Now take it off.
But let me say I need to respond. So one second, lord, okay.
So much? Why do you have glasses ready to go?
Because I be ready. You gotta stay ready, see gotta get ready.
Interested.
What is what I was saying.
Is when Angela said she looked into the case, I was saying, like you didn't call them personally. You were going off what this woman said in an article. So I was saying to protect yourself, like according to the Washington Posts, not that you were like making calls to people, because when people were like texting me like y'all got this wrong, and I'm like, no, then somebody gave Angela misinformation.
So I was just saying for all of us, like, it's like, no, according to this person's reporting, this is what they're saying. I'm not hanging my name on it because I don't know, but this person said that. I just wanted to correct it because Angela act like I called her this morning it was like this, and I was.
Yeah, I almost lost my job and I just reported on what ten other outlets said and had to fix some of them.
I'll give y'all a little behind the scenes. We have a research assistant, Lolo. Shout out to Lolo, who does research for us, and I am just paranoid from work the newsrooms forever, Like Lolo works hard to put together this very nice research package for all of us, and I always I because I'm always and they I know, I frustrate my co hosts because I'm like, well, no, let me see for myself, or let me look at this myself, let me who was the source? Where do we get this from? So I can be a bit
of a newsroom purist. So my apologies to my co host, but that's why, just because they can get things wrong. And I also thought that this a lot of the outlets that reported this, it can be a little bit of lazy journalism because it's like, y'all have a whole newsroom at your disposal, like submit a foia, get the records, like look at it. Just how we talked about on the broadcast news when they were just playing the clip and ha ha hi, everybody laughed and we moved on.
So that's all I was saying.
But I just want y'all to know that was super dope that Angela was like, let me get a response from the highest level of government, because that's the kind of thing that happens here at Native Land Pod. So if you're down with NLP, holla back and say you know me, you know that was so.
Odesop Lieutenant Governor for this program, uh l G guil Chris, we expect great things from you, not just now but in the future.
Brother hands right, can I ask a quick question.
Do y'all think Gretchen Whitmer, the governor of Michigan, will ascend beyond that role because it's been talked about forever?
Yeah?
Yes, Okay, we're at time.
Don't y'all have cause to action? Or is that I got a call to action? My do you want to take your sunglasses off?
For you?
I don't give.
It's giving and.
I see my reflection. I like the way it looks, so I'm just gonna keep them on.
Okayious, it's that sun bathed and gold.
I will feel better if y'all put on y'all sunglasses, But that's fine. My call to action is this when I was out of the country and not on an American news diet, and I it's rare that I feel like the most informed person or the least informed person. I usually feel like, oh, okay, I'm learning, I'm informing and learning. Here I felt like I was doing nothing but learning, and so it made me think. I read a lot, not just newspaperstyle. I'd love to read books.
And I've read a lot on American history, on what happens here in this country. And I remember, like ten years ago, I read a book on the Armenian Genocide. I had never heard of such a thing. I didn't
even know this big thing in history had happened. And so spending the last few days with people who were so well read, who had all this information, and they, you know, not only knew about American history, but they had read books on global history and different things that had happened on the continent in the UK, you know,
in Asia. And I just thought, I want to start reading more historical books on things that happened outside of America, just with a more global lens, you know, like the rise you know, the dynamics in the Middle East, or the rise of Saudi Arabia, or you know, the the history on Lamumba, like all these things that are fascinating, and so I'm doing this. So my call the action is to ask other people to do this. Please drop
me your books that you're reading. If you have read a book that you find something interesting or it was something that you learned that happened outside the United States, please loot me in your book club because I would like to start reading some of these books, and I'd like us to discuss it, even if it's just on Instagram. So how aback at your girl nice.
And finally, my CTA is is that this group here at Native Land recorded a special episode that is dropping this Friday of our minipod series, which is different because normally our minipods drop on Monday, but because Father's Day is coming up this Sunday, we wanted to take out some time in a special way acknowledge our dad's the role of fathers, and as a part of that, we make an invitation for you also to share your experiences, those moments, for pieces of advice that you receive from
your own fathers or father figures that you think might be enlightening to others. So I hope that you all will one tune in on Friday check it out, and then also that you'll take the time to answer the call to action and we'll be able to circulate that amongst our social media and you know, feed it back to you those pieces that we think are particularly poignant
and would benefit the rest of our listening audience. So hope you'll check us out on Friday, and Happy Father's Day in advance to all the dads.
One of my favorite mini piles Andrews, that was one of our I mean I just love the conversation. And I don't know when this is gonna air, but we did another one. Can I plug it real quick?
And what was it? Angela? In the Shallow or the deep? It was Angela's idea.
But it was so good.
It was so good.
Yes.
And speaking of being so good, we are so good on time, y'all. We made it to about an hour in this show. Happy Father's Day to our dads out here, the father figures of the world, those who have made such a great difference in our lives and the lives of our listeners. We applied you all. Andrew, we see you. You'd be holding it down. You know how to do a pony tail? Aj you croud, You've busting out all
the myths. You know how to make it happen, how to do but yes, yes, Before we end the show, I want to remind everyone to please leave us a review and subscribe to Native Lamb Pod. We are available on all platforms and YouTube our YouTube channels pretty dope. You will hear from us every single Thursday. We also have mini pod episodes that drop every Monday.
This week it's on Friday.
As Andrew said, you can also follow us on social media. We are Angela Raie, Tiffany Cross, and Andrew Gillim.
Welcome home, y'all.
We are one hundred and forty five short days until election day, Ash.
Welcome on, y'all.
Last thank you for joining the Natives. Attention to what the info on all of the latest rock Gulum and Cross connected to the statements that you leave on our socials. Thank you sincerely for the patients. Reason for your choice is clear. So grateful it took the ow to execute roads, preserve, defend, and protect the true human if pain, Welcome home to all of the Natives, We thank you.
Welcome y'allco.
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