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Hey everybody, it's Native Lampod and before we get started today, we just want to tell you to do something very very important. Help us make history this Black History Month. We are nominated for an n DOUBLEACP Image Award in the Podcast and Information category. Please go to n DOUBLEACP Image Awards dot net and vote for us your favorite podcast because you know this is where we welcome you home. The last day to vote is Friday, so just going
ahead and do it today. Right after that, car your member of Congress and tell them to get their lives together.
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.
Welcome home.
Y'all.
This is episode sixty five of Native Lamp Pod. I just got on my louting gear because somebody's losing the government.
Y'all want to guess who I am?
Hello, Elon musk.
Ding Ding ding ding Ding or maybe on one of his programs that gave it away. Wow, Andrew.
I'm not doing racial anything you, especially in Black History Month.
This is our This is our first Black History Month.
Episode blackeded Black Black.
If you don't count my live pod from yesterday.
But happy Black History Month while the white people is looting and stealing things out the federal government.
So, speaking of which, what are you talking about today, y'all?
Wydeed, we got to talk about the federal government. We heard a lot of y'all's comments asking us the thievery and the federal government and the proposal to a lot of federal workers that they take these early buyouts and what the implication for that is, not only for the workers themselves, but society writ large.
That's right and exclamation mark the black middle class that has been born into the DMV thanks to early careers at the government doing excellent work in an excellent way.
Because why they earned it?
How about that they did earn it?
And speaking of did earn it, what we did earn is a huge fight on our hands because of the folks who chose to let the couch win in twenty twenty four and also for the folks who chose to vote for the other side despite everybody telling you exactly what it was gonna be. We didn't need a crystal ball. We had twenty sixteen to go through twenty twenty to
look into what Donald Trump was going to do. So we are going to talk about what this fight means, how we bring the fight to the feds, and what role we all play, what does it mean to play our position in this day and age while they are looting treasury, trying to get rid of leases at GSA, etcetera, etcetera. So so that is our rundown for today, and it's a very very special episode. We don't have cost to action, but we have a special tribute for someone very special.
Welcome home, y'all. Let's get into it.
All right, Andrew, So this was yours that we were going to talk about these What was happening? What's happening with the federal government employees they're being offered to, you know, please go home, resign because Elon Musk wants to treat the federal government like X formerly known as Twitter.
So what's up with this?
Yeah?
Yeah, no, it's wild.
Angela and Tiffany, and Tiffany, you and I can can co do this one because I know DC is resident home for you. So you know when you go out, everywhere you go, you're running into federal employees. I can I can not, but I could barely imagine what it is like, right, now working within this federal government. If you're at USAA AID USAID and you were called out by the richest man in the world as a criminal organization, the president then doubles.
Down on that.
I could imagine you feeling in some ways devastated, But I just want to let you know what I was told alone time ago. Check the source. Elon Musk is the source on this thing. And I think it's important, in recognition of Black History Month and in recognition of who it is that we're dealing with, to remind us
that Elon Musk grew up and apartheid South Africa. When the United States finally determined its position against apartheid, thanks to the great lobbying work of members of the Congressional Black Caucus, it was USAID that went in really representing the United States government and began to create grant programs and set up institutions that could move people from this posts mid enslavement system where black folks were treated as the underclass and whites. In South Africa, the minority were
obviously treated as those who were privileged. So Elon Musk grew up in an environment apartheid did not end until I think three years after he had graduated high school. So his exposure to us is through that lens, and unfortunately for him and all of his privilege, he's actually never had to really compete against us. And now he's in DC and he's seeing black folks scaling all kinds of walls, against all kinds of obstacles. And you shouldn't be surprised, none of us, that they want to now
pull the rug from underneath us. But to get that to the details of this package, because we are right now approaching the closing days for federal employees' ability to accept the offer that's been made by Elon Musk, supported by his vice president Donald Trump, and it essentially said that we encourage you to leave the government. And this email, by the way, we sent to two million federal employees
never done. They can't recall a time where one individual email two million employees of the federal government offering them the opportunity to depart from the government. And by the way, if you choose this option, you can go and you can work from home, and you can take leave, and we'll pay you all the way to September. Now, y'all, there are lots of reasons to raise an eyebrow to
this kind of an offer. One, if the man is offering you this, know that on the back end he's getting triple, double, quadruple, you name it, benefits from it. But more importantly, y'all, we got to see this for what it is. This is their attempt to hollow out the government and the government employees who in DC they oftentimes kind of conflate with.
People of color, black folk very specifically, who.
Have gotten out of their place, have somehow been able to navigate this government work committed years, decades in some cases for folks to get where you are, only to be told by the least qualified people in the room that you didn't earn it. I want you to hear from one of the lawmakers at our federal level, who
is speaking as a whole state representative. Let's hear from Senator Tim Kaine and hear his advice to federal employees, and then me and my colleagues will pick up on the other side of this and I have a conversation on our own.
My advice to you today is simple, even if it's not easy. Don't give up. Don't give up. Keep serving every day folks. You are here because of your expertise. You are here because of your patriotism. You are here because you know the value in dedicating your life to serving your fellow Americans.
America needs you.
Donald Trump and cronies are determined to do anything they can to knock you off. Course, they've even dangled a phony buyout in your face. But make no mistake, that buyout is a trap. Donald Trump has no authority to offer you a resignation buyout. Don't trust a guy with a long history of stiffing contractors by taking him up on a sham deal that he won't follow through on.
Yeah, just so that was again.
Senator Tim came from the state of Virginia, United States Senator and one of the distinction I want to point out here real quick is that this offer that Elon Musk made to federal government employees is almost a replica of the offer that he's sent to Twitter employees when it came under his ownership. I mean, they had to change a few lines, but by and large, it's pretty much the same communication that was sent to clear out
that organization. But the reason why the present of the senator is warning you that this may be a sham deal is because the federal government is really just getting into the business of buyouts. The Clinton administration had to go to court to get signed off to offer folks up to twenty five thousand dollars for a buyout. Obviously, if you work till September that you would exceed that amount. And it is right now contestable and there will be lawsuits on this as to whether or not the government
could actually legally offer this at all. Angela, Tiff, y'all have worked around and in your case, Angela, within the government, how are y'all how do you processing this? And then also I'd be interested to hear what advice would you give to our friends folks. We don't know people who are holding it down at the federal level around how they ought to see this deal.
I just really quick and tif, I don't won't talk long. I want you to be able to weigh in. I want to point out some facts here that are really important. So senators him came represents Virginia. As Andrew said, Virginia has the largest share only second to Maryland, of oh no, not even seconds to Maryland. Actually the largest share of federal government employees overall. There are four thousand more than four million federal government employees throughout the country. In Virginia specifically,
there are one hundred and forty four thousand. That's not counting the folks who still benefit from federal retirement federal pension funds, which would all be compromised under this deal. So if they agreed to separate from the government, they will disqualify themselves from receiving their federal retirement. Most of the people that I know who are still in the federal government, if they didn't rotate on and off.
The hill, they just stayed.
And even for the folks who went back to Capitol Hill, they did it because of the federal government retirement plan, And so you forfeit that opportunity by doing this.
The other thing that we.
Should I want to throw into the mix here for your consideration is the folks that weren't offered the ability to retire but were summarily fired, some of them five months away from retirement, and they also are no longer eligible for that retirement because of a partisan firing. And I think all of this is horrible, it's not fair. People aren't necessarily thinking about consulting with their attorneys because They're like, I just want to get far away from
what is to come. This doesn't look like the government that I signed up to work for, to defend, to protect, and to even have my name affiliated with this, my legacy affiliated with this. So they're trying to get away from it, not realizing all they're compromising to run away from it.
Yeah.
There, well, I think Angela can attest to this. It's interesting in Washington, DC, it's one of the only cities that takes on the personality of the administration in charge. And so when I first moved here, George W. Bush was coming in office, and the city took on that personality. When President Obama was in office, I mean, DC to
me was one of the most amazing cities. You know, you had all these chefs from different embassies opening restaurants, and it was a thriving metropolis of young, innovative talent. You know, that was one of the things he did. Empowered a lot of young people and you know, different thinkers to be in these leadership positions. And then when Trump got in office, it felt very pose to apocalyptic.
I don't know if you guys remember when Malanya decorated the White House for Christmas, and it was the red trees, I mean, just looked very strange and weird, and we had of course COVID and since then it's been a really interesting dynamic in DC. It feels like one I can understand what Angel's saying that you want to flee, and so what this is to me, there's the issue of the personality of DC that I think having the only thing that keeps the blood flowing in Washington, d C.
It is the home of the federal government. So oftentimes d C is a city that does not feel impacted by or as impacted by unemployment numbers or you know, the job market because the home of the federal government.
The other thing that why we should all be concerned is because essentially Elon Musk is firing people who would be in charge of regulating his multiple tentacles of business that he wants to do within the federal government, and so he will have free reign essentially over instituting policy bypassing any kind of congressional oversight, as we have already seen walking into buildings demanding without any security clearance, demanding to see things that are well above his intellectual level,
well above his pay grade. And so that is the main thing I'm concerned about. I really hope people listen to what Angela said, what they would be giving up, what they'd be leaving on the table. I understand it's not the government that they chose uh to serve. And I think another thing that we have to be concerned about is how the federal government is being weaponized to
serve Donald Trump. And so there, according to the reporting, there were people who were advised they said, listen, if you see somebody trying to cover up DEI, any initiatives that are focused on diverse city, equity, inclusion, disability, any of it by calling it another name or sneak it into the budget, please report that person. We are expecting
you to report that person. And I just wonder, like we talked about, how long before that gets to outside the federal government, how long before it's you know, report your neighbors who are not MAGA. And I just I think the complacency that we're seeing in society, I don't know what it's going to take for people to hear the sound of the alarm. Just this morning there was a recall, or just this week, I should say, there was a recall on broccoli that it was like an urgent.
It was urgently recalled. What'd you say?
And I was just saying it was it was marked as deadly. It's a dead like a deadly recall at Walmart by one of the stores that decided to get rid of DEI if they would have kept us in broccoli, recalled exactly.
But also this is a function of the f DA, you know, So without government instant tuitions, there are there are tangible consequences that we will be confronted with. And I don't think people, I think a lot of us who are engaged realize that. I don't think the masses are going to realize that until something devastating happens, which is is frightening to me.
Uh, Tiff, It's interesting you talked about the the sort of culture shift, the mood shift, the vibe shift, if you will, that happens, do these transitions, and then you landed here on the oligarchs, right, the Trumps, in the in the in the Musks, attempting to turn employee co worker against coworker, making you read out each other and presumably to even get into their graces, right, so you
be protected while you throw others under the bus. I already know that federal employees are smart enough to resist this most obvious play. Why because you all have served diligently on waiverly through democratic and Republican administrations. Y'all have survived presidents, in fact, many presidents and administrations. This one is different, obviously, because they want to burn the house down.
This one is different because the enemy is within. To borrow a phrase from Donald Trump, the enemy is exactly the phrase the fox guarding the hen house. Can't be more apropos than this moment that we see right now with Donald Trump and Elon Musk. They don't have respect for the jobs that we do because they don't respect government.
Why because government regulates, Government holds them accountable. Government says, hey, if you produce something that hasn't been created and engineered with the safety of the American people in mind, nah, we're pulling that off the shelf.
They don't want that.
It costs them money, and they are They are fine with treating our lives as expendable so long as their profit margin continues to grow.
And I I just I'll in here.
And simply say I know it is not easy. I know it's hard. It's hard waking up each day looking at the news to see what new controversy has arrived. But y'all, you swore an oath to the Constitution, to this country of ours that we're still in the pursuit of making more perfect. You survive other days, and you know what, We're gonna survive this one too. But we need you to hang in there because their greatest hope
is that you take this offer. You leave the government, and you get replaced with a loyalist and acolyte of Donald Trump who takes a loyalty oath to watch out for.
Him and have his back.
And what we need are people like y'all who have the American people's back. So good luck, and we're here for you. I know, all right, y'all, we just heard the problem and there are many and when we get back.
On the other side of this break, we'll talk some solutions.
Stay with us.
We have a question that we want to get to from the audience. We got a lot of audience feedback today, and so we want to make sure we get to as much NLP fam as we can because you know this is your safe space too.
So let's roll that question. Hello there, Native Lampard.
I love you guys.
This is Charlene here.
I just have a question.
I wonder, and I apologize if you've already answered it, but what do you think is the plan for Democrats?
Of what should be the plan?
I find it very concerning that there isn't some organized effort to combat Trump at every turn, someone that speaks out in real time against what he's saying, what he's doing, and presenting the alternative. He was questioned about the economy, and this man, the President of the United States, actually shrugged his shoulders and looks like, you know, people will understand and people will not understand. People are afraid, people are anxious, people are distracted, which is I'm sure part
of the plan, and you know, it's just craziness. I don't know if.
This duty will be rotated since a true and definitive leader doesn't seem to have emerged as is yet, So I don't know, just wondering what's the plan? What do you guys think it should be? Thank you, Welcome.
Home, Welcome home. That well, she did ask about a leader, and I just want to say I know that we ask you guys about leaders. We are going to get to your top five. Angela had a great idea to ask that question about your top five leaders. We're going to drop that on our mini pod, So we're not gonna get into that now, but be sure to check out mini pod that drops on Monday, talking about top five leaders who you would send to go to the
White House. But Angela, I love her question. Curious your thoughts on the fight because of all the people I know, I think everybody's been engaged a lot, but you've been passionately engaged across a lot of efforts. So curious your thoughts.
You know, I was thinking back even to our conversation last week about a boycott around Target, and my frustration with that boycott is no different than what it is here. You know, I even I shuddered even say the term resistance now, but I feel like that's what it is. And so when I think about resistance, I have to think about what are we resisting?
Right?
And you could say Donald Trump? But what about Donald Trump? Are you resisting?
You know, when I think about all of the fights, when you know, when you're in fight modes, sometimes you forget who your actual enemy is and you can sometimes turn your fire towards the people you love, and now it becomes a friendly fire dynamic. You kill off the very person, the very ally that you need because you agree with them seventy five percent at the time and not one hundred percent of the time. So I'm thinking about what's happening right now and where the fight should
be mounted. So to me, it is there are nominations before the United States Senate. Those nominations are of people who truly didn't earn it, who truly and for the most part, are unqualified. And being very careful with my language because this is a very litigious administration, and so they don't appear to be qualified. They appear to have positions that will end up being harmful to the American people.
Tip just talked about the role of the FDA.
So that's a Senate fight. When you think about the House, the House is responsible for the purse strings of this cunta constitutionally visa v appropriations measures. Also in concert with the Senate, there's a fight to mount in terms of how money is being spent and not spent by the federal government. That is a fight that's in the House. When you think about for the fight for the people.
You always have to remember that the people who are elected to serve you in the House and the Senate, really at every level of government, but right now we're talking about the federal level. Those folks have an obligation to answer your call, to be responsive to your needs and to meet your demands. The role of the people is to make calls, to send emails, to show up and let people know, like Ayanala did in that gift not on my watch.
That wasn't as loud as I wanted it to be.
But y'all understand when I think about the other things that are happening, the distractions, the distractions that we see on social media, the distractions are misinformation. The distractions are the ways in which we are divided because we I don't agree on every single issue. The distractions are on how to fight. I don't like the way that you're fighting, you know, or your fight isn't the way that I
would fight. Those are the distractions. And so if we can peel back all the layers of the onion and say what is the fight, what are our demands, and now what is my role to play? I think that's what we have to do in this moment. And we clearly got to take a step back now, y'all. I know we did a whole podcast on what is Project twenty twenty five thanks to Andrew Tip.
I'll tell you this.
I've been trying to make sure that on the solo pods on Tuesday, I am going back to like, this is what it said in Project twenty twenty five. Here is the page number. I found my nine hundred page binder, y'all, because I wasn't about to pay for that book. So I spend two hundred dollars on the binder because I wasn't gonna give him the money.
Right, Like, I literally am trying to go back to it.
So if we can constantly reset and refocus on our what I think we can get to a better how So that's where I am right now. I hate to be that granular, but I think it's important for us to understand it as a matter of strategy. We can't talk about a strategy if we don't even agree on what the fight is.
So yeah, well, I loved your framing their angela around, just sort of taking this. The beauty of going back and looking at Project twenty twenty five is not.
Anything other than to reduce the.
Shock value of their actions because right now, every day they get on TV, every day they wake up, every time Trump must tweet. Whatever they do, their intention is to overwhelm us by their sheer force and will that they don't give us about any of the rules of the game. And the truth is, y'all, my frustration has so much been about the fact that the system seems
not to be able to reinforce its own rules. So, for instance, if it's illegal for Elon Must to go in and occupy the treasuries back in system to have access to information about every single American in this country, our most private, our most protected information, if he can do that, and the only thing we can hear from members of Congress.
Is that's flatly illegal.
But he still got access to the system, and it's still doing whatever he wants to do. It seems that the systems fail safe, ain't catching nothing. The feil safe is not a fel safe at all. And if I were to, I think all of us have been in a bit of a malaise after the election. Some of it disbelief, a lot of it disappointment and hurt, some of it blame around who's responsible for what and why
we lost. Some of it is denial that we even lost, and something is still amiss in the system, and all of that is fine, but I think we've had a really hard time pivoting off of that devastation to believing what they actually said to us when they ran. And now my question is did any of the Democrats who went out and caped for the Democratic ticket believe what
we were telling the voters. Did we believe that this man was a threat to democracy, that we believed Project twenty twenty five was their blueprint and they intended to implement it. Because if we believed it, it seems to me the time between the transitions should have been on how it is that we have a game plan that catches them at every single step of the way. And I got to admit Angela and Tiffany this week was the first time I feel like I saw Democrats stiffen
a spine a little bit. The protests over at three of our departments in Washington, DC, led by members of Congress and attended by hundreds thousands of people, And then I saw Senator Brian Schatz say I am going to shut down all confirmations for any appointments at the United States Department of State until the money for USAA is reinforced.
He can do that.
I gave you an example last week of the Republican example, Tommy Tuberville, of holding up all military appointments, and he did it for months on end.
So shacks on the Democratic side.
You know what, this is not business as usual.
We're not confirming people to the State Department until the State Department relinquishes its control over an agency that was established by the United States Congress and appropriated their budget by the US Congress. Your job is to push send on the check. That's it at this stage, because it's been signed and passed into law. So the resistance can't just be However, at congressional levels, we need mayors, we
need community leaders, we need school board members. There are over a half a dozen, maybe two dozen Republican congressional seats that are in compromised districts that can go Democratic. There are to be strategies the Democratic Party locally in each one of those congressional districts, be holding town hall meetings and activating every time that Republican member votes against their district's interests. Those are just some examples of ways
that we can engage. But it's not just one level of engagement.
We got to.
Drill down if we're trying to have the kind of impact that we know we need.
Yeah, Andrew, first of all, I just think it's really helpful insight to have both you guys, because Angela your work in government mostly I know you've worked across several sectors, but it's mostly been on the federal side. And Andrew, your expertise, even though you've obviously dealt with federal government as well, has been on the local side. So I think this is really insightful information for not only our
audience but elected officials. I will tell you, guys, I am a bit concern because it is how do you fight this? You brought up Elon Musk. We talked about him at the beginning of the show, and I'm thinking about his multiple, multiple tentacles and across business, and I do I feel like Congress is a bit feckless. Must Rocket companies they effectively dictate the NASA schedule, now, the DoD the Department of Defense, they depend on Musk technologies
to get most of its satellites in orbit. His companies have three billion dollars across nearly one hundred different contracts with seventeen different federal agencies, some of them that he's trying to dismantle. His companies have been targeted and at least twenty recent investigations, including the safety over his Tesla cars. Anytime I call for a car and it's a Tesla, I cancel. And in this new role, he'll have the power to recommend wide ranging cuts, which he has been doing.
And it's we're essentially giving the world's richest man, a government contractor, the ability to regulate the regulators who would hold him accountable for any of these things. It is overwhelming to combat. It's overwhelming to combat that. And so when you guys, when I hear you guys, That's why I wanted to start by saying, it's so effective to hear you talk about it, I have to tell you.
For me, when people start talking to me about mid terms, they start talking about Congress, they start talking about the Democrats gonna do. I don't. I'm not even in it. The we I'm talking about is our community. And I think a lot of people want to know what do lay people do if I'm not you know, a politician. If I'm sitting here watching this happen, what do we do?
My thought has always been, we have to give people something to believe in again, because so many people are checked out, and I don't know how we get people to pay attention before it's too late, because we're going to see tangible, palpable things happen that are going to devastate all Americans, but us first. It's gonna devastate Black folks first, and it's gonna hurt us the hardest. And so I think if we, you know, we try to do the best we can here at Native lampod with
informing people. We had a call and you know, we were all complaining and Michael Harriet, who you know is a writer and is a great journalist, he had a really good point that made me so outraged, and I want to share it. I wanted to share it like it was my own original thought, but it's not. It
was Michael Harriet's. But he was basically talking about after white folks have stolen so much from Black people, including our labor, our culture, our ideas across the board, they're stealing your money right now, they are taking money from U HBCUs they taking money from you. Alphas omegas aka Dela, They taking money from you to give it to Delta Delta Kai or whatever. They shutting y'all down, Black folks
who depend on a range of services. They taking money from you to fill the pockets of people who don't even need it. They are enriching themselves. And to me, even that simple enough message is enough to outrage people from the bottom up. I think when Democrats start talking about policy, and you know, it gets when you start incorporating complicated government language. People in the two now and
they're already pissed off. We have amazing leaders like Congressmen Ayana Presley who we know and love, congress Woman Jasmine Crockett, who have the ability to speak very plainly and make it digestible. But I just think a lot of people feel outraged or they feel despondent, and they want to know what to do with it. And I'm just am curious you all's perspective. What do you say to those people?
The people who might not they might not have capacity to call Congress eight hundred times, maybe once or twice a week, but like, they are pissed now and they want to take it to the streets. I don't know if marches is the thing. I don't know if blocking traffic on the four or five is the thing. Maybe I don't know. But do y'all have any thoughts about that.
I think that you brought up Congressman and Pressle. I think we should go to her.
But what I will say is everybody's role isn't the same, and so you play your position. So here is Congressmoman and Pressley playing her position at a rally. And I do want to give credit where credit is due. These rallies and convenience have been organized by move On and Indivisible, and the members of Congress showed up to play their position in front of the Department of Treasury yesterday.
Let's go ahead roll there.
As a pod member of the Committee on Overside, I'm here for some real.
Time congressional oversight. This is an unprecedented moment, a constitutional crisis.
But we will match their energy.
With unprecedented organizing, marbiligy, mobilizing, agitating. We will see you in the courts and Congress and the streets.
Elon Musk is a not seen not BA baby, a godless, lawless billionaire hello, would elected any law. This is the American people.
This is not your trashy.
Cyber truck that you can just dismantle.
The part and so up.
And I want to say to Republican colleagues.
At senship.
Will here to say in the hopes that you will.
See the light, but if you do not see the light, we will bring the fire.
I got goose bumps.
Yeah, I thought it was so powerful.
And I think that as frustrating as it is to have to stop pause for a moment to figure out the approach, it's clear that there has not been a consistent, cohesive approach. We know that there has been a lot of internal within the Democratic Party. Hell even just this past weekend with these elections, many people don't even know who Ken Martin is, the new DNC chair.
What is his strategy?
Is he working with Democratic leadership in the House or the Senate to come up with an approach. Why aren't they sitting in on the House floor saying it won't be another damn bill that passes until you get this dude under control. The Senate side, it won't be another nomination that nobody will get confirmed until you do right by your taxpayers. There is a clear to me approach that is about putting your body on the line in ways where most of our members have already had to
do that. We have some brand new elected senators. Every time I think about Lisa Lisa Blunt Rochester, the first image I have of her is her praying feverishly on January sixth, and now she's got to do this all over again. The insurrection looks different, but it is an insurrection no less. And so we have to be clear about what is our collective call call.
Our first call is to unify. It is to get on the same page.
Whether you are a Republican, Democrat, independent, a libertarian, whatever, you should want to protect your hard earned money.
You should want to protect your taxpayer dollars.
Did you sign up to pay for Elon Musk six coders to come in and have full, unfettered access to the Treasury payment systems?
Probably not, regardless of your party.
And so I think at the end of the day, we have to look at the fact we don't have the executive branch. The executive branch is now run by an oligarchy. It's a monarchy, it's all type of it's a problem We don't have the legislative branch, but we have places.
Andrew rays such a good point. We have places where we can lean in those Republican members who just barely won in mostly blue districts. Who are those people? We should be putting them up on our social media.
Blow them up, let them know you're going to be right there at every town hall meeting, at every public appearance in their district, letting them know that if they.
Don't sign up to protect democracy, this is gonna be their last term.
Hell, it might be all of our last term. But you know what I'm saying. We do have the judicial brands, use it. There are a number, there are even Ronald Reagan appointed judges, confirmed judges who are stopping Donald Trump because it's too far. So we have got to utilize every single tool because guess what, y'all, Just like democracy is fragile, so are the tools. So if we don't immediately use what we have at our disposal, we're gonna be in trouble.
Well, we talked a bit about Andrews actually kicking you.
I just, I just I would say a man, and then give it back.
Okay, Well I'm giving it back to you. I'm passing the mike to you because we were talking about this a little bit before we record on our conversation, and we talked about the buyers remorse that some people are having. Now Angela just made I think a really good point, a challenging point for us to accept, but a point about friendly fire, you know, because you don't like twenty five percent of what somebody said, like you, you know, we're cut off, or you think, well, your community voted
overwhelmingly for this. So I'm not gonna help and I'm not gonna share in your outrage. I'm a wait till it comes to me. And I do think we have to set that aside on some level. You know, we this week Donald Trump and and Prime Minister Netanyah who wasn't was in town and just what they have planned for Gaza. It's basically an intention to displace one point eight million people Palestinians who call Gaza home, and Trump has described it as turning it into the Riviera of
the Middle East. There's no solid plan on what this looks like. There's no he said, you know, well, we have to go to other countries with humanitarian efforts and see if the Palatinians can live there. There's no plan on how to do that. But also it's not even your place to do that. It's just so awful. And so we talked, Okay, well let's let's play the clip and then I'll pick up on the other side.
It is illegal, yeah, illegal.
I would like to see Jordan, I'd like to see Egypt take some look. The Gaza thing has not worked. It's never worked. And I feel very differently about Gaza than a lot of people. I think they should get a good, fresh, beautiful piece of land and we get some people to put up the money to build it and make it nice and make it habitable. And I don't know how they could want to stay. It's it's it's a demolition side.
Not amounts of forcibly displacing those people from Godzas.
I don't think so.
I think if they had the opportunity, they'd love it, if they had an alternative together. They have no alternative right now. I mean they're there because they have no alternative.
What do they have?
It is a big pile of rubble right now. I mean, have you seen the pictures of it? Have you been there? It's to live? Who can live like that and very dangerous. A shooting all over the place is bombing all over the place on both sides. No, I would think if they had an option of moving to an either in a large group or various smaller groups and take care of the close to two million people, I would think that they would be thrilled.
This is exhibit A listeners of why you do not want to take history out of public education. But also the ridiculous man's comments were completely void of the fact that the Palestinian people who he's talking about redeveloping and making the riviera, have been occupied in my brisk land. And the greater is the greater. What we now know
today is Israel for centuries. This is their land, and people who don't understand have no appreciation for history, and a people's who could say something that's flagrant as we'll put them away, you know, cinem elsewhere.
No, da da dah.
This is not going to work. Who the hell are you let.
Me say this Palestine, the Gaza is sovereign territory. Sovereign you If anybody across the country, across the world listened to Trump, Yet at that press conference, they could only conclude one thing, and that is that the United States of America is now a rogue nation, a rogue nation who does not conform to international norms, treaties, and laws.
We stand alone on the global stage.
As a well.
No, we got good company going down there with Maduro, right, hang out over there with Poop Kim Jung Ouh's got a place for you, right.
Those are the kinds of.
People who we are now lining up side by side with holding hands because they are also despots, just like the despot that we have as president of the United States. What is what, Tiffany, to your question around what do we do with those folks who we know, communities who we know could have performed differently in the life.
Like some of the Palestinians and their protest vote.
It could all look different, right, I would have to say, not only, we're not burying the hatchet here. What we're saying is is that divided, none of us will be able to stand divided, none of us. We're all fodder. We're all food on the plate for them to devour. So in this moment we got to come together. But but but but know this, I need you to remember
that I'm coming to have your back right now. And I need this to inform you and the folks who you have influence over the next cycle, because we've got congressional races and this and that and go down the list. But this is not a carte blanche live and let live. This is I'm with you on this. But let me tell you this much. I need you to remember this moment.
Sketch it in your brain, on your heart, and in your hand so that the next cycle you're not sitting out here post selection with your regrets and stay homes and all that kind of stuff. Why because you saw the bigger picture and recognized that this is a formula that we just have to work to our advantage and we will creep along and make progress as we can.
You got, Angela.
I just have to so I'm I'm for you know. I was on the pre production call. I'm for unity. I just got to get something off my chest. And I've been doing really good and not cussing on this podcast, but I'm telling you now I'm about to cuss.
So please bleep it. Where the fuck is Jill Stein's bitch ass? Where is Jill Stein? Because my question is you had all of this.
Iire and fire for what was happening with the Palestinian people, as you should have. Your dumb ass got on a podcast and called me a a black face in a high place.
You had all of.
This smoke for Kamala Harris, and you still ain't said a goddamn thing about Donald Trump or this administration. Meanwhile, he's done exactly what Jared Kushner said he was going to do, which is to have a plan to develop this area so it's beachfront property. And these people are still suffering, and you are silent. You are complicit with this man.
Now, I'm not even trying.
To come at all of the people who voted for her, who stayed at home, which also I'm very, very frustrated by. But I want to be so clear about the fact that this is the problem. If a motherfucker comes around every four years, well all kinds of shit, but they can't protest when your money is getting hijacked, Federal dollars are being frozen. American people still can't afford these damn eggs, and you're silent. Be clear about who they are. Don't you ever come at me again. My work's be for itself.
Whether we're in cycle or out of cycle. Don't you ever, God damn come for me again now to unity you and it why I just got to get ahead. I just am saying you, guys, I know now we have to move forward. We cannot sit and I told you so, because that I told you so puts us in the very harm tip that you talked about.
We, our people can't afford.
To sit on the sidelines and be harmed, because to your point, our people will be harmed first. So my question is, if the other side strategy is to steal, to kill, to destroy, just like the devil, what is our strategy to counter that?
What is our.
Strategy not only to respond, but to prepare so that we're not on our heels the next time this is coming. We've got to figure out how to not let the perfect be the enemy of the good. We just got to and I hate to continue to talk about harm mitigation and harm reduction and our votes. We should get abundance and winover re vote because of all that we've given to this country.
That's exhausting. But also here we are.
I definitely don't want to be coming from going from trauma to trauma. Yeah, you know, like this ain't it either, So we gotta figure it out.
I appreciate the question. I say this because I think this is something you were hitting on Andrew about, you know, unity. And I think Black women in particular have been great organizers because when we organize, we do it for the greater good of community. And I understand black women that y'all are tired, because I'm tired. We tied. You know, we a is tired of the bullshit like we are tired.
But the country benefits from us saving ourselves. We're not out here trying to die as sickophants for our country who still causes us harm. We are out here saving ourselves. We're saving our husbands, our sons, our daughters, our families, our parents, our grandchildren, the future generations of us who have yet to be born. And sometimes that is going to cause us to dip into a cause because we are trying to stop the train from running us over.
And if it's fifteen people in front of me, I need to stop the train from running you over, because after that train knocked you down, it's coming for me. And I think we have to change. I get it. We pissed off, We pissed off. After the election, we looking at everybody like we ninety two percent, what the fuck were y'all doing? You know, we get that you showed up. Did you get into your group chat and bring your mama, your cousins, your auntie? Did y'all do
it like we've been doing this forever? Like how many times did we have to do it for y'all to get the message. Kim Blackwell made the point we got to talk to white women now. And when I say we got to talk to white women, that does not include Yeah, that is not my ministry in it. I'm not good for that. That's not Angela's ministry. That's not good for that. It might not be Andrew's ministry. And we don't know.
Look, I ain't talking.
All I'm saying is when you do show up at the meeting, and now we're all in emergency mode because you're coming down your street or your.
Block on your way, I'm gonna we're gonna be there.
Let me tell you, We're gonna be there for the fight that impacts us collectively. We will be there for the fights that impact us collectively, but you will be called to the carpet. We're going to remember in this moment that remember how you feel right now?
Right, Well, I just I just want to I just want to finish the other point about it's not just white women, because there's also the Latino community, you know, and that we don't talk a lot about because white run newsrooms still center white folks, but the Latino community is very disaggregated, you know, different countries of origin, different philosophies, but they splintered heavily towards Republicans. Somebody got to talk
to that ain't my my ministry either. I'm quicker to do that before I could could with white women, but I don't know enough. I'm a guest of the community, not a member of it. So y'all need to talk amongst yourselves and we will do what Weekend Palestinians with their protest vote. Somebody got to talk to Palestinian people like we really do have to take on the Fred Hampton approach. Poor white folks. Somebody got to talk the
poor white folks. That ain't my ministry, you know. I'll echo Dave Chappelle when he said, of all the whites, the poors are the worst because they really don't us right, and they are the like obviously their exceptions to this rule, but a lot of them feel like I'm in this situation because of you. When when the wealthiest white man laughing at all of us, they don't have no community for you, that you think Elon give a shit about you. It was Virginia, he don't care great exactly exactly. So
I don't know how we do those conversations. Something that Angela you said when we were at Kim Blackwell's conference in Miami and we were talking about being tired, and this is before the election. We were talking about being tired, and you made a good point and said, well, maybe everybody's not tired in the same way. So I know, if it's not my ministry to talk to white women, if you got the patients and tolerance for it, then that's that's your ministry, like right now. But we have
to give people something to believe in. And something has to uh to outrage us before before it's massive loss of life, before it's acts of violence. Something has to bring us to outrage for us to bring this country to unity and for us to unite and fight. And I don't know what that is, but I know every week on this podcast, we will have these discussions, try to figure it out, and if y'all got ideas, we want to hear from you two about it.
I want somebody to start a petition and make sure just signed on run over never again.
That's what I want. That's a good starter.
Yeah, And more importantly to people who actually went and sacrificed their vote that direction, see what you got for it?
All?
Right? Where they at now? You look into the left, right behind you, side front.
They ain't know where to be treated you like a load dollar.
Hello, or useful tool right because we don't know what's there there around her and.
What always there.
But let me one thing I just want to say. Everyone does have a question about where it is, we need to what it is. My simple response is it is not rocket science, y'all. There is no We don't have to conclude some chemistry formula that we don't remember since high school.
It is nothing like that.
It is you feel this in the heart and the nerve and in the sinew that something ain't right, and you take that righteous indignation and you spread it to your family, friends and neighbors. And then while y'all sitting there chatting about how unbelievable. The moment is you start putting out ideas around how we stand in the gap, what we do, it is it is just that visceral that it happens. And yes, I'm with Angelin and Tip about a plan and hopefully we folks gonna get there.
But in the meantime between time, everything that has been forecast is happening right right. You don't have to wait, it is happening right now. Get in touch with your heart, nerve, and your spine, your sinew, and get to work. I don't need you telling me. I know what I gotta do now. I see the threat. It is staring me in my face every day.
Andrew, can you answer that though? What are you like for some people who literally do Congress members? Yeah?
I was Locally, we'll publish the list of the seats that are targeted seats, and if you live in those areas, you start making noise in those areas.
And it don't take much.
If you went to a congress person's office and you bought fifteen of your friends, I guarantee you that's fifteen more people than they've seen all year.
At that office.
It is just as simple as going to have been saying in the grocery store, because sometimes it gets this way. You see, your politician. People never hesitated when I was mayor may. I love your managor Da da dad, but you need to get them street lights on earlier on block. Bloh blah blah blah blah. They let their demands be known, and they didn't make apology for making those demands be known.
You do the very same thing here. And I know it will be exhausting to have to call your Republican members of Congress because you live.
In a red state or in a red district.
But you call them anyway. Why Because they are no longer candidates for office. They are now the congress member for all of us, and all our tax dollars are being aggregated to pay for this here system. So so you're accountable to me, So Angela's That's what I'm saying around them. It is touchable, it's tangible, it's feelable, and you don't need a rocket scientist to solve this problem.
We are the solve.
And they are the minority. Correct me if I'm wrong, Andrew, they are the minority. Like when you in population. That's what I mean, because people get caught up and like, oh it's split, you know, like, oh, it's so close in the Senate because it's you know, they got this much of a majority. But no, right, when you zoom out across the country, MAGA Republicans Conservatives, they are the minority in this country. A majority of people support most
of the Democratic policies. The challenge is, this is how we got confused, and Angela corrected, that's what the popular vote last time because it was such a narrow margin and the voting population was so small, So people think there are these two equal forces when they are not this when it was the count. Right, But there is this small amount of people with power over this amount of people, and we have to make people real happen, right, right.
That's the same way slavery was. There were more folks enslave than there were slave holders. And I think that we have to remember that we are the people. We the people have power in our hands. And to that point, we have Robert, who's a regular who has sent in his own CTA and he's talking about what he's doing.
Let's roll that.
Hey, this is Robert from les in South Carolina. Welcome home, y'all, call your congressional members. Make your voice heard, make the issues heard. I don't care if you've got a Democrat Republican. I got all Republicans. I'm giving him hell right now. Call them most have ever called in the last seven or eight days. Call your congressional members. They need to know you exist. They need to know these issues are important. They need to feel the pressure.
Let's go. Welcome home.
That's right, Welcome home, Robert. I wonder if what has a dog? He looked like he has a dog.
It sounds like, but you know the the what.
I just gonna tell you one thing, Andrew, because Andrew is our resident Rainbow Rainbow coalition builder. I wanted to play Robert because I think it's important we put people in boxes based on where they are geographically. This is Robert from South Carolina, y'all. Robert is about that life. He's always, you know, reaching out to the show and letting us know when he likes something, when he doesn't what he's doing. I think it's so important to understand
that one person can make a huge difference. And that's what all we're saying. Do not forfeit your power in this moment. Do not forfeit the fight. You might not want to call it resistance anymore than I do. I get it, But we have so much to do in so little time. Andrew's right, we do need to figure out what our demands are in a line quickly, but we don't have a lot of time. As time goes on, the more tools that we continue to lose.
That's sir, Oh, that's it.
Well.
I love Robert's comment in this since Angela and Tiff.
That he has figured out the big secret that politicians don't want you to know, and that is simply that it don't take a lot of people to move them. And when they don't hear from us, they think that we're okay with what they're doing. They take silence as complicity and in many cases approval for what they're doing. And if you know you not approving, let them know you're not. And I promise you they are soft in
the sense that they don't like to be unpopular. They don't like to be on the opposite side of the people who put them in office because them same people got the they empowered to take them out of office.
That's what you have, that's what you should stand on. I put you here.
I ain't vote for you, but you got here, well we sure as hell going organize and take you out.
Yeah, all right, thank you again, Robert. Don't go anywhere though, because we'll be right back on the other side of the break.
Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, welcome, welcome, welcome.
You know what we should do the next couple of shows, Maybe we can eat semi relate a call with a member of Congress and like, what what we do?
What we would say.
My person that I would want to call is Kirsten Cinema because I just don't understand what's happening. Why she's whipping votes for Tulca Gabbert. That's the story for another day. But I think it's really important for people to see it's really not that hard.
They have to simulate. I think we should do it in real time. Uh D.
But that's what I meant, like actually, not a role play, but I actually called OK.
Yeah, I was gonna say, sorry, a one party territory so we can record.
Except they're responsible to all of us.
Yes, I mean the law, but I mean no, no, I mean the law where you can't there's a two party state or a one party state and then two parties.
But that's to record the call. We wouldn't be I guess we are technical, so I'll tell them. I'll be like I'm calling from.
Native lamp pis exactly, but my listeners can hear you.
But I believe d C is one one party. Only one party has to know a call is being recorded. In some states is both parties have to know. So anyway, what we were recording in DC when we do yeah, yeah, yeah, but I really like that idea to call members. I'm not gonna say who, but somebody daddy be calling members.
Eddie Rye Junior all day, ain't no secret. Everybody on PAPA right probably on the phone with a member right now.
He has a listenership. Sorry, I'm so on in tangent, but I got to tell you all this.
So there's a reparations bill that's up in the Washington State legislature. When I tell you, Eddie ride Junior is raising holy hell about this book bill. He not even letting this. This man is telling him he wants to make sure the build on die. Eddie Ryde is like, let me tell you why you're wrong. This bill is in the House of Representatives is here's here He's like, you're gonna pass this bill, and I'm like, Dadd's gonna take a legislator legislature.
But we're gonna talk to Papa Ride about strategy after this.
Right now, his role is agitation, Mine might be advocacy.
We all have a role to play.
Let the agitators agitate, let the advocates advocate, and let the legislators legislate.
And I don't got knowing more Reverend Jackson ryme but them. So we're gonna go to this thank you, very special tribute. Shout out to Reverend Jackson. We love you.
Let's go to this very special tribute. When this podcast airs, it will be a special day. And so here we are.
We have something to share with youll stame recording, h I hope.
So anyway, what they want me.
To say here, oh tiff Man, happy birthday, they are this is crazy.
Happy birthday friend. Listen.
They want me to say here, Oh you is kind, you are smart, you is important. That's a good message, but it's Tiffany. I can make my own message.
What's up, big beautiful friend of mine.
I just wanted to wish you another happy three sixty five and to say that this last year was made all the more rich for me because of the time we had deepening into our friendship. You are brilliant, you are hilarious, you are direct, you crazy as hell, and you'll get a brother in a fight in a minute just saying do better. Happy birthday, girl.
I stand before this thing to show you the type of queen you are.
Happy birthday, says, I love you so much.
Thank you for sharing time, space, your brilliant your beauty, your encouragement with the world.
I pray that this year, you know.
It, pulls off a miracle for you, because right now, the way this thing is set up, America is the ghetto, but you deserve so much more. So let's pray for divine favor and that you get all the things that you ask and hope for because you are worthy, My sister.
I love you, Bee Birthday, Birthday, Happy birthday, tiff. I just want you to know, sister, how much I love you, how much I adore you, that I am absolutely clear that in a moment like this, we need truth speakers like you. I cannot wait until this new book comes out. I cannot wait to see all the wonderful, wonderful, powerful things that I know you will do that you are doing, but most importantly, just thank you for being you. You have been such a blessing in my life. Your spirit,
your courage, your truthfulness, your jokes, like your time. Just spending time with you has been one of the greatest, greatest blessings in my life. So I just want to say, happy birthday.
Yeah, happy birthdays, happy LB Right when we sound like happy birthday, Tiffany, you are creating your own way, which I love.
You've always done, so.
I salute you the cocktail, Happy birthday.
Enjoy Hey, Tiffany cross.
Dime piece.
As we all know, I just wanted to push you a happy happy birthday. You are the sweetheart of the machetes, always making sure that you're taking care of everybody else and hoping that this birthday you take care of you because you deserve all the good things. Love you so much, baby says, And anybody asked me, yes, we are related, love you girl.
Oh my Tiffy, and I wanted to wish you a happy birthday.
Well, he would actually like to say, come give me a belly rub. That Happy birthday to the best dog Auntie and the guest sister machete that anybody can ask having a great birthday. Hopefully clearly he's he's given you his best, he's getting you all because.
He's very excited for you on your special day. So hey, it was up, Tip.
I just wanted to wish you a happy birthday, and I also wanted to thank you. You know, you're such a sports expert and you're such a gifted broadcaster. I just want to thank you for never fully taking the dive into sports broadcasting.
Because I might be out of a dove.
I mean, if you're kind of astute on point analysis, and with your breath of knowledge about sports, you really made sure that my career was able to stay on track.
So thank you for never jumping into sports.
Happy welcome, You're welcome.
Kid, Happy birthday.
I just hope that this is the most abundant and beautiful year for you, because you absolutely deserve it. Your heart is massive, You are generous, you are thoughtful, you are brilliant, and you are always, always, always looking out for the people. So I hope that this is the year that all the people look out for you, That people watch out for you because the heights are going higher and higher, and then you have the happiest birthday.
I love you.
As happy birthday, sending you the warmest, biggest, bestest birthday wishes on another trip around the sun. My wish for you is that your voice becomes even stronger. My wish for you is that you attract all of the goodness in the world from top to bottom, left to right. My wish for you is that you finish your book and that we get the blessing of learning from one of the sharpest minds.
In the game.
And my other wish for you, Tiffany, is that you get loved on from near and far in all of the ways. And may it be equal to or bigger than all of the love that you put in the world. That's a lot of love, girl, that's a lot of love. I love you a lot. I'm wishing you the happiest birthday. And I know times are weird, but you are a bright light. Oh you are a bright light in the darkest of times. Love you, says.
Beautiful, beautiful, Happy Birthday, Happy Birthday.
I get ready to a show, but girl, I have to say something. My producer says, Happy birthday too, Happy Birthday. Have a great day and another wonderful year around.
Them to come to New York act.
What's up? How are you doing, tiff what's your favorite aquarian? Plus love wishing my other favorite quary in a happy birthday. Keep fighting a good fight, Glarily.
Oh that's now we all know how I feel about p d A podcast The Splays of Affection. But I got an assignment from our chief of staff, and of course I'm going to hop on to say Happy birthday to you, Tiffany, my dear friend. You are a force of nature, someone we love, trust, listen to, and just value so deeply. I hope you have an amazing birthday and can't wait to celebrate with you in person.
Happy birthday and you're wrapping the.
Book in the bed, Tiffany, Happy birthday. Sorry just for the podcast. This is roy Wood or Machine, Tiffany Cross a very esteem and professional birthday, and I hope that's your birthday is as spectacular as you are and you get to drink a lot of wine and eat a lot.
Of drugs I mean food.
Happy birthday to our.
Harmed beautiful friends.
Words from the birthday Queen.
I will tell y'all off off camera, what has been going on this week with that is the best birthday celebration. If if no nothing else happened, that is the best birthday celebration. I'm gonna watch that about twenty more times. Thank you guys for pulling that together. And I just feel so full and grateful. I'm grateful. I'm broadcasting a day from Roland Martin Studio. Yes, a Blackyard Network roller
Martin Unfiltered. I'll be broadcasting here from now on. And it just I feel so grateful to be uh, to be able to have this platform, to share it with you guys, to share this space with you guys.
Uh.
And if I could do anything, if I had like one wish, it would be that we all the people in that video, all of the machetes, all of us would be together in person. I couldn't think of anything material that I'd want. I couldn't think of I was talking about this the other day. If I had all the money in the world, I don't know that it would solve any other problems I'm having right now, and maybe a few, but not not really. But it really
the older I get. It's the intangible things. It's the it's the laughter, it's the jokes, it's the feel good moments and most of those have been shared with the folks you saw in that video with you guys, and so I'm just so abundantly grateful and this year and there was a lot of inside messages from the Machete, So Alicia, I heard you, I hear everything you're saying and every everybody else. I'm just so grateful and my cup run is over. So what a blessing. So thank you guys, so so fun.
Happy birthday, Yeah, birthday.
Make sure y'all send all the love to Tip today. It is her birthday, the day our podcast drops. And she's a Black History Month queen, so you can tell her Happy Black History Month too. If you don't, make sure you also follow her other podcast, which is called Across Generations. There are six hundred and thirty five days until the midterm elections, and most importantly, it's Tiffany's birthday.
Welcome home, y'all, Welcome home, Welcome home.
Please, thank you for joining the Natives intentional with the info and 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 cleared. So grateful it took the OA to execute roads. Thank you for serve, defend, and protect the truth, even in pain. For walking home to all of the natives wait.
Thank you.
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