Breaking Down the State of the Union Address

I'll give you that next week. But for this week, because our guests are already here, I think we gotta we gotta bring them on. I wanted a chat sise you. I was just gonna bring up something that I thought. But anyway, we're gonna have our guests to come on and let's talk about the state. And we watched it yesterday and I figured that it would be best to uh have some other folks come and give us a

balanced approach to our opinions of what President Biden said. Uh, you know, I thought, you know, overall, there were some good things in the speech, but there's still a fundamental issue with policing. And you know, I'm pretty sure all of us agree on that, So let's bring the guests in and get this show started. So friends, you know, we all how many of us have them friends, We have many our street politicians family. Uh. These two individuals though,

these are like friend friend friends. These our brothers. We we we talk and debating, um, you know, and deal with issues all the time. And I thought, after watching as I just said, you know, after watching the State of the Union last evening, that you know, it helps have other people so we can talk about different respect this, you know, and there's there there's you know, I can't sit here and say that I thought the whole thing

was just awful. No, I can't say that. You know, I thought there was some really really good points, but as we just said, there's some fundamental issues still that need to be addressed, and I'm not sure how we get there. So I figured these two know how we get there. So let's let's just introduce him real quick. And again, I mean, most people who knows, if you've

been following us, you know them. But Reverend Stephen Green, he is really he doesn't probably want to admit that he's one of my mentees, but he kind of kind of me and Linda Uh. He's the past of St. Luke aam E Church in Harlem, Okay in Harlem, and also the founder of Faith for Black Lives, which is a major partner of Until Freedom. We do a lot of work together, so thank you for being on here. Our good friend. It's a running joke that most of

our guests to our friends. People might not like that, but we got a lot of friends doing a lot of incredible things. And our other friends and then brother we just traveled with to Tyree Nichols service, Um funeral service. I hate to even say that, and just have been, you know, spending a lot of time with lately is a former assembly member from New York State, Michael Blake. But he is so much more than that. He just got a letter from President Obama. Appreciate celebrating there. When

the first caucus was in Iowa. Before that, people did not think a black man named Obama could win and become president. And because Blake went to Iowa to live with folks, I always say he's a white people whisperer because he went to Iowa to live among the white people. And somehow or another Obama one that President Obama won that Caucus, which started him on the trajectory to it's becoming the first black president of the United States. And now Blake is CEO of Atlas Strategy Group, which has

been strategized in my life. Lord help us all. So thank you for being on Michael Blake and rapping Stephen Green. Hey, good to see you up though. Was good. So my brothers, you know how much I love you, and I know I know y'all got some definitely have some thoughts. I want you to both give what was your overall opinion of the State of the Union. So sure, I um, I like you all. I watched the State of the Union and I was, you know, every year I am

just drawn into the pageantry of the American Empire. Is sort of like routine of having the president once a year to deliver a State of the Union address to the UH Congress, and UH President Biden walked in, you know, strong, like he had eating his wheaties like camp David was good to him this past weekend, and he delivered, I think, for about an hour and a half, a very powerful address sort of acknowledging where this nation is has come

over this past year, recognizing that you know, how we have, um you know, moving past in November election and really

charting a pathway forward. Um I was. I was. I was excited to hear how he articulated a vision of ideas that we would have probably never heard talked about from the President of United States of America, as the churches to UH expanding education to pre k too early to two years of community college, and like having that fund and talking about insulent being that thirty five dollars of being captured thirty five dollars, talking about how we're

gonna rebuild this nation as relates to infrastructure, so all these things which which are to his credit as as a as a negotiator in chief, if you will, And someone who has served thirty years in the Senate, someone who's been in Washington for decades and eons, he knows how to maneuver Washington, even to the point where when he was being heckled and being chastised by the GOP for talking about not cutting Medicare or Social Security, he

backed them into a corner and tell them, so, okay, back, well, then you I know you all are not gonna do that then, So you know, I thought he was masterful. He was skillful UH and his approach, his methodology and starting with the economy and then moving to UH the social issues, if you will, was his strategy. But I think that's always been that strategy as it relates to like starting with the economy and working their way through society.

But I would have started with social issues because I think what's most important right now is the fact that this nation is so socially divided that we find ourselves in this sort of chasm. And so I would have started with Tyree Nichols. The fact that he made Tyree nichols mother and father sit through an hour and a half of him going back and forth Republicans until he decided to talk about that every black child should be able to return home like his children, and the talk.

I think it should have been at the forefront of his conversation because that would have signaled to the nation how important it was. Although I'm grateful he brought it into the conversation, I'm glad it was there, But I was waiting until I was looking at the clock, like, Okay, so when is he gonna talk about the reason why we're here? You know, the reason why this nation is still grappling with this original sin of racistem and how we move beyond that. So overall, I give him a

great grade for effort. I give him and his administration a a a high regard for what they have done. The most significant legislation has been passed in Congress. He's done more in two years and some people have done in two terms. So I do want to give him credit for that, but also recognizing that there are some gaps and there are some holes that I hope that we will be able to get begin to hold him

accountable and hold others accountable as well. First, I just want to show on and and give y'all the roles y'all deserve, So to Tamaka and Mice for creating the space for us to have a space. So let's let's just start there. Uh. And obviously, anytime I'm around Reverend Green, your heart feels good because he's doing the work. Uh and showing the ministry goes beyond just what happens on

a Sunday. Uh. You know, I look, I can't. I want to give quick context, like I was a part of a team that had to State of the Unions when we're President Obama. And then of course you know, we had the joint speech, because the first time a president does the address, it's not a state of you and in that manner. H And I've said this a lot over the last few months. I think it is hard to argue a president that has been more effective in their first two years then Joe Biden, arguably than

any president in the history of this country. I think you could really make that argument when you look at what he's done in the face of blatant racism, foolishness, obstruction is in every level, all the things that he said. He's like, I'm gonna knock this out, and he did. Then when you look at the speech to your question, mins, I can't remember a president ever talking about the talk in a state of the ar And it would have been easy for us to have that under President Obama.

But when you have let's call it as an older white man getting up there saying like, let's this is what's going down in these commune munties, it sends a message and to say, not only are we gotta go further than the George Foy Policing Act, but how do you have is Sheila Jackson Lee is now talking about the Amendment around how do you protect and provide the actual care to someone needs, but holding people accountable. But I think look and and all of us do a

lot of speeches. Here itself, the mastery of negotiating and calling out foolishness in real time can't be ignored. A sitting president fact checked opposition about Social Security and medicare in real time on the most important speech you give in politics. This is effectively your super Bowl, right, It's an hour where the country is watching. You called them to the carpet, and now you got the video there.

And I always think it's important for fact checks when you have cats like Senator Mike Lee, who was like shaking his head and saying, no, this is ridiculous. Again check the tapes. These are the same cats that we're going back literally saying we need to get rid of social Security, we need to get rid of make all these things in this dynamics. So I think factually it was an incredible speech. I think that there was obviously

there's always room for growth, you know. I think we gotta start leaning in to how do you put more pressure on the cities and states to start implementing parts of the George Floyd Policing Act. As we're waiting for Congress, I think we've got to lean in more around how do you go further and closing the racial wealth gap and being real practical about that. Now, yes, unemployment is a historic rates, but we still got black folks that are heard it right, Uh, And how do we lean

in there? And I think the third piece is how do we start giving guidance and education about what's coming around education? Uh? And that was an area where I didn't think there was enough that occurred. June for the Supreme Court could be one of the darkest months in the history of this country because I think a lot of people are anticipating in the forevunit of action and

student loans are gonna go down. And I thought there was an opportunit monity for the President to really lean in about how he wants to see not just Congress, but his administration go go all in. So I think tying it all together to making Mice it was an incredible speech, but I think more important to me was

the mastery of the moment. Right. You know, Steve and I do we preach a lot, right and exceptional preacher can read the room and a sitting president who people will say is too old, not agile, can't flex literally, was able to fact check his opponents in real time. M So before I go, I wouldn't, I just want to say one more thing. First of all, I will say that this was probably one of the strongest speeches

that I've seen by it. I've that I've seen him in his his presidency and just just speaking, you know what I'm saying. Um, But what I want to know is, there's so many of our people who are jaded. All right, they thought it's another speech. Somebody cares about that, damn

he owe everybody talking. What do you think is gonna tell to reinvigorate just the common folks in our community, especially our young folks, who just don't believe anything that comes out of anybody's mouth, especially because there's this there's this real strategy to discredit this the Democratic Party overall, you know, and a lot of people point at Joe

Biden's past and they pointed all these things. What do you think it's gonna take to reinvigorate our youth and our people to really have faith in this being more than just words practical wins on the block that get message better, right, And I was step back, I'll just say this piece and then go to see right, like the state of the unit, the framing and just even the name of it is him laying out how are we doing as a country? Period? Like that's really the

frame of it. But I think in terms of the success of this, we just got to get better of of making it plain. Here's what's here are winds that happened to you and for you on the block and being very direct around messaging around that. And we equally have to call out what this person is doing that is hurting you right now, not some theoretical taxes down the line x percentages. This person is hurting you right now, period,

point blank. This is why you got to vote them out and or this person is helping you right now. This is why we got to protect them. But obviously we're green has more. No, I want to echo that same sentiment. I mean, it's taking what happens in Washington

and putting it in Washington heights. Right. It's just like taking the message as it relates to the child tax current and said you remember when you had that three dollars per child, right, and that is no longer, and when people felt that, you know, in their bank accounts, when they felt that that impact of that policy and in their in their own local experiences and their own personal experience, I think we see in effect and bringing

the message. And I think that's what this administration has focused on for the next two years, especially with a

divided Congress. It's getting out of Washington, like taking it to the streets, engaging in conversations they should be holding community town halls and and in states that they know that are in play in four and talking about the Supreme Court not only will it be around affirmative action and around UH student loans, but also as relates to the state legislators being able to decide around the electoral college or or around UM you know, as relates to

determinating the votes for presidential election. So, like the democracy piece, he mentioned a little bit about that as relates towards his end of his messages relates to January six, did not talk about how the fact that we have that Marrit Garland, who sitting right in front of him, has failed to hold those who are responsible for organizing the

attack on our democracy accountable. And I think that is where like there needs to be some emphasis, like we're gonna have to apply some people pressure to the places where that the president, you know, gave grace in ways that we as as citizens of this country cannot afford to give grace because of the reality of what is still taking place to cur an insurrection that is still taking place with Margie Taylor Green was whether George Santels of New York it was in the middle of the

a shaking hands with people and has ethics investigations occurring right now, like we got our democracy is at state and but for black folks, democracy has been a translucent word has been it's it's been trying. We've been trying to figure out for four hundred years what that word

democracy really means, right, Like what does it mean? I guess I'll say for the last two hundred and fifty years, because American democracy started around seventeen seventy six, one with alleged but one would even suggested start in eighteen sixty three, you know what I mean, or eighteen sixty five, So we're still trying to figure out what the hell democracy means, you know, and some some would just someone would suggest that we've never realized democracy, um, and that they're still

very very long way to go. Let me be the one to push us here, right, and you know, and and again I just I want to be clear because one of the challenges that some people have with me is that they want me to be just like super radical will just throw the baby out with the bath water. It was terrible, He's horrible and every tyree Nichols just happened. And so therefore damn everything they say. Right. And some days I wake up like that, and I have to

call certain people like you, Blake and others. Sometimes Stephen don't help me. He gets well be together saying hell with everything you know, um. And but you know, we we've been able to. I have matured in my understanding of what not even just politics, of what um a president has to negotiate, right. It is a big job, right, And when you're in certain spaces, in certain rooms. And this is the thing that I found out, not not so much that I found out, but that I came

to understand better recently. How we are always at we are always at state. Wait, we are always in danger. Excuse me of losing local c eats when there are

different things happening federally that impact congressional members and others. So, for instance, the President starts talking about George boy Justice and police and Act, and then you have local senator or local congressional member who lives in some town that starts having issues because if you if you support that, then you're not with your police department, your fire department, and your unions or whatever, and it starts to create issues.

So you're trying to constantly negotiate as the president all of these different things. Most people don't know, nor do they care. What they want to see is how do you stop Tyree Nichols from being shot? And or it's not shot, beat to death, right and all the other cases. That's what they that's what they're interested in. They're not interested.

It's like you and me telling our parents, well, and I know both of your mama's so y'all and y'all know mine, trying to explain the reasons why you failed. It's not it just don't. It doesn't work, you know, because I already know Mama Hillary Michael Blake can't explain to her. Well, then I was trying to sleep and then, you know, but then while I was sleeping, there was some loud music, and then this happened, and I tried to get the music off, and then I couldn't get

back to sleep, and I drunk the tea. I drunk the wrong tea and this tea had the caffeine, and so it kept me up later. Like I get your story, I hear you. But the bottom line is Tyree Nichols is still dead and he is not alone. The camera footage is the only thing that allows us to see what happened to him and understand it clearly. But there's Ray Ray and Pooky and t T and Kesha and others who are in hospital rooms right now that have

been beating the same way. And a Vice President Harris will never be at their funeral, their bedside or any of that, and people are trying to understand it. So I'm put that out there and then we're gonna talk about this piece. What I appreciated was that he used the word accountability. You said that. I think earlier, Michael,

he used the word accountability. I think that is a point that has to be drilled down on every time we hear from the president on this issue, and even at times when they're just bringing it up accountability, because that's all we've been talking about. We have been talking

about hating police. We haven't been talking about abolition, although some of us do believe that one day we could get to a space where we don't need policing as it currently stands, and we do need true public safety that includes the people, right we all we we but we're not talking about that right now. We're talking about swift, strong accountability in these instances. So he did say that, but he said one thing that I am tired of hearing, and I think this It is a and this is

what I want you guys to lean in on. This is a in my judgment, it has almost become a trope for black folks to hear you say we need better training. Training. To me, sounds like what you're saying is this is the route that we're gonna use to give more money to police. How this is my question. I want both of you out of answer this. How can you fund the police? And I said all of that stuff, I went through negotiation and all of that so people will know that we're not ignorant, we understand,

but how do you fund the police? The CBC most of them voted to get more funding to police just a few months ago. They do not have the proper accountability measures in the new bills, so money is going with sometimes the same policies in place. And then stand up and say, we've got to end the issue of police seeing of of of corrupt policing and abusive policing and the violation of civil rights. How do people reconcile that.

I'm gonna ask you, Blake, you go first, tell me what you what are you telling Miss Laura who's asking this question in Alabama somewhere where her where her chief police chief is literally engaged in like sexual misconduct and they know about it and nobody's doing anything. So today, uh, being the day after State of the Union, my my

afternoon was spent. I do a weekly conversation called Cairos Conversations, and the speaker was Pam Walker, the mother of Jalen Walker, who has been known acron Ohio uh more than sixty shots out more than but forty six. We actually hit

him right itself. Right, So in that manner um, the and and and I'm going to answer your question, I want to give this quick context here, right, so you have that dynamic to the other families who were there yesterday, um as she sat in the box and the meetings that happened not just with the Congressional Black Caucus, but

also a Department of Justice, because it's going awesome. To your question, tied to that is, we also had Derek Albert, who chairs the National Organization of Black County Officials, in which an element they've been leaning in on has been Let's be clear, if it wasn't for that pole camera in Memphis, that accountability doesn't happen as quickly because we know they would have lied to say, well, they reached for my gun in the tussle, right, but we didn't

go a step deeper to a final piece around the element in the facade of training. To your point, because the Scorpion Unit is just the next and latest generation of what came out of Atlanta with the Red Dogs, which is another entity that if you look at the story of Katherine Johnson, a ninety two year old woman that they busted in her door because of that she's shot back at them and then they planted drugs in

the house afterwards. Right. So to the question of what has to happen, there are several specific things number one, we have to attack the pensions, the insurance, and the financial protections of the officers and these units, because if someone knows that their money will be impacted, they're gonna active a lot differently, very quickly. Number two, the conversation around qualified immunity is not just a conversation around police officers,

but the government employees. And too too often folks are reluctant to really lean in on that. And I would just say to you, why should someone have the protection when they have done wrong? On the training. I care less about the scenario that keeps being communicated, which I think is the miss scenario of let's just train other officers. Know. What I want to know from training is what is being trained to the officers, written and oral around how

to cover up this nonsense. Because again, when you watch these videos officers that are saying these comments that quickly up, he reached, etcetera, etcetera. That didn't just happened instinctively. Someone trained you to do that. And I do think we have to look at that element. So that to your question to Mika, you can then go to the Department of Justice and say number one for civil rights and fractions,

if you want justice to occur. It is very hard to prove intent, so it should be lowered to recklessness and negligence. You know. Number two, you should not continue to give funding to city and state entities and give them cops grants if they have hired, suspended, or fired officers who had infractions of police brutality. That is something that is literally in control that does not have to

be changed by Congress. That can be something DLJ implements right now and then equally and finally, as part of this, when we talk about the justice that has to happen every day on the block, it is the deeper recognition that we have to stop talking about reimagining policing but reimagining public safety. Right, folks have to appreciate the context. I always think context is important. This all started as

slave patrols. This is just a new name. And until people are willing to acknowledge that within communities that police forces are having entities such as the Scorpion Unit or Red Dogs and getting billions of dollars, that is then not coming back to our community. The final piece of this is a conversation that a lot of us are now having with mayors. The two point one billion dollars

that was just spent out in settlements. The amount of money that could be going to schools and housing and health care because you're not addressing on the front end.

Is a way you can actually shift the conversation and say, you know what, hold these casts accountable, fire them, remove their financial benefits, and therefore you'll have cities and police departments and police chiefs actually moving his manner tying this together before Reverend Green is, I do think for read Nichols case specifically, while they moved swiftly, I am definitely still of the mindset and approach that there is a substantial cover up that is happening from that police chief

and why they move that fast, because there is no way someone can rationalize to me how five people, five black vote get fired that fast when you knew there was a sixth person who made the call saying he should be stomped out, when you knew there were others that were there in that manner, when you knew that the police statement that came out immediately actually had lies in it, and that you had a police officer go to Tyree Nichols house and say to his mother he

is involved in an incident, you don't have to come everything is fine. And so to me, the final element on this has to also be around the d a's. We have to have a mandatory element that if there is not a actual conviction that occurs in these cases, that the transcripts are released of the instructions. That is something we did in New York. Why because too often d as are over charging intentionally to try to avoid

what's happening. And so all these pieces are practical things that can happen on the ground that we do not have to wait on Congress to move on, and that we can say that it's not just the president saying it. It has to be people on the block. Until that you have people that they only care about the survival of them winning an election rather the survival of your life.

That's when things will finally change. Green Sure, I mean I think that you know, just as as a preamble that I wonder sometimes if Frederick Douglas and Harriet Tubman would laugh at us and in our attempts to try to provide accountability to a slave patrol system, like to find accountability for those who were enslaving Africans in this country, would be laughable to ancestral tradition of love warriors and

truth tellers who believed in the vision of emancipation. And I think that's also a part of the work that we have them to do, is to provide the mancipatory vision that would and it is because it's not gonna be overnight. It's not an easy thing that you do, because you know, America has had years and centuries of

becoming who she is. But even the word of accountability being invoked in a State of the Union address, even the idea of a talk being discussed under the State of the Union addressed, is because we had the imagination in two thousand and thirteen and two thousand and twelve to start the conversation around the Black Lives Matter, police reform, police accountability, defunding the police, so that we even inherit conversations around the President saying last night, what are some

of the prevention measures that we can do community violence preventions, so that before people even engage in police before we even and maybe there are other numbers or other people or other institutions or other avenues that people can call, like calling mental health therapist or social workers, all that's because we start to the conversation and push this nation

to imagine what life is lugged beyond policing. And I think that's also an integral to what we are called to do, what we must do in order to truly UH enact the manstatory vision and the abolitionist future that the ancestors UH led us to that they we have inherited, UH, particularly in Black History Month as we think about the

legacy in which we walk in. But also it relates to the accountability and and UH formers simileman Blake who was a former d n C Vice chance so he knows the policy is articulated so eloquently for us and so very true like the justice and policing practice, the policy legislation that can be enacted, and things that can be done right now to hold people accountable, like even to the point of expanding consent decrees right and to ensure that uh more cities are held under accountability of

their policing. We see that happen in Louisville, Kentucky. But not only doesn't need to happen UH, not only did

it need to happen in Louisville. Let's have been Kansas City, things that happen in cities across this country where we go in with the Department of Justice going into a pattern and practice investigation to uncover some of these harms and to hold people accountable, and also to stop the transfer of these federal militarized equipment and this militarized weaponry that we use over it to expand our imperial nature

that we then send to Main Street. When we were marching in Louisville, Kentucky, we're marching next to tanks right like we were in the middle of war zone in Afghanistan. All because when they when they finished using their equipment, or they make too much of it, they send it to local police departments. All of these things create a culture in which we we are we are we are living in that does not seem to honor and affirm

the dignity of all human personality. And I think that is what is so problematic when it comes to policing, and I think that is what we're going to continue to have to press is that as soon as you say, um, we need accountability, in the same breath you honoritary goals, is the same breath he's using to say we need more training, which, as you said, also needs more money, more resources. Continue because you can train, uh, you can

train whomever in the police department. But if you are stopping African American history to be trained in schools, then you are creating a cycle where whatever you're trying, you're not gonna close the gap and providing African American history in your training. You're gonna trigger your Your training is about how do I shoot the kill? How do I maybe shoot and ask questions after or maybe shoot or tasing.

So we find out that the training mechanisms, the body cameras, the tasers, none of that proves to ensure that black people live. All it does right now is to make sure that if you do die, we can hold somebody accountable or at least have a march in regards to your death. That is not necessarily justice, That is not necessarily an abolition this future, and that is not the vision in which we are are hoping to build in

this country of the world we want to live in. Yeah, you know, and I'm just sitting here thinking that we have to make sure we acknowledge our sister Kristen Clark, who is the head of the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, because I know that you know and and and I'm also I also have to acknowledge President Biden and Attorney General Garland for putting her in that position, understanding her history, where she comes from, and what she was going to the Department of Justice, to

the Civil Rights Division to do, and it is to weed out bad actors, to uh really do serious and deep review of police departments across this country and other entities. Because under the Department of Justice, we automatically since this is our work and most people are most are they are uh directly impacted by policing. That's their first encounter, if you will, with something that they connect to government. Right,

although it's all around us, it's in everything. It's in you know, banking and what's happening with you know, black folks or what do they say, banking while black. That's one of Attorney Crump's titles that he's been using for

these lawsuits against banks. Uh, it's in situations happening with Johnson and Johnson and Malcolm Powder and and and how we you know, over many many years, black women were literally being poisoned by the powder and now here we have a situation where so many women have died, and what does that look like in terms of accountability. So there's a lot of things, but policing is one thing

that we immediately look at. And we know that Kristin Clark has been near trying to do a job that I'm sure is not easy, and yet under her, as you said, this department has done some incredible work, ahmad are Very. We have to acknowledge, right, we have to acknowledge that the mc michael's under this Department of Justice. And this is where I get so frustrating when people

say to me, I can't believe you voted for Joe Biden. Well, if I'm looking at two choices in front of me, what I know is that during the time, and maybe you all will tell me if I'm wrong. Under Donald Trump's presidency, was there one major case that there was a conviction, like in a moder are Very situation? Does anybody know of one? I couldn't immediately think of one. There might have been by can't immediately think of one. I can't think of one. I'm not in the department.

He cut the department, and the department went in and and and and shut down the dissent decrees and other things that was was in place because of the twenty one century what was it called the task force that that that President Biden, i mean President Obama could in place and in fact, instead of the Attorney General at that time focusing on continuing the work, he created the

the the Black Identity Extremist List. Of those of us, probably all three of us are on that list because we too black and we love black people too much, right, So, so this is what they were doing. So what I'm I'm meaning this up because they are doing. Kansas City, Kansas is on the list you said it needs to happen in Kansas City in terms of the descent decrees that is actually in progress. The Department of Justice is investigating what has happened in Kansas City, Kansas around sexual assault.

I have to keep saying this because this is the other piece. We're very concerned with the shoot him up, bang bang part of the gangs ganging within police departments, but there are literally women and men. There was a story that came out a few months ago about officers pulling over black men and assaulting them by touching on their body parts in ways that a questionable ways. Right, This is a real thing that that's also a problem that doesn't get addressed. And so the Department of Justice

is looking at that. We have all of those things happening, and yet still and yet still we are not at a place where any of us can get comfortable. Voting is a part of it. I think the economic strategy that Michael is talking about is something that we have not explored properly and thoroughly. We've been unable because of labor unions, because some of our own people waiver around with anytime you start talking about taking people's money away,

it becomes an issue. And qualified immunity is clearly a major nonstarter, even for some of the black leadership that we would expect to understand why it's necessary. So I'm, you know, giving my rant today that leads nowhere but goes everywhere to say that we're in a time, in a space where we've got to be super strategic, but we also have to understand that our the next level

is needed. Right because all the things they're doing accountability Department of Justice out here, you know, indicted Brianna Taylor, the officers for killing Brianna Taylor, all of these things are happening, and yet tire me Nickels is still dead. So there's a missing component. We have to go to the next level. And I agree with you a hundred percent, Steven.

I don't know where in the speech the president should talk about accountability and policing and social issues, but I know that the prominence of this particular issue has to be at the forefront, right And because if it is not.

If it is not, what continues to happen is that people do not think that we're taking black death, murder, lynching seriously to where we are willing to put political capital on the line and potentially lose if we have to, but lose fighting as you know what, what do they say? I'd rather die on my feet then down on my knees, right, So I know you know the quote because Stephen is the historian that knows every quote better than me. But

I'd rather be standing up straight. And I hope that that is what we see come out of this administration for the next two years, and you know the work that we have to do together. I want to say this last thing and then I'm gonna let you all close out and go. And I have to say this because you know, I know, people don't want to talk about a black woman who they they see, Chief Davis, she quickly, quickly, you know, terminates these officers in the

d A quickly charges them. But you said something, Blake that we gotta lean in on, right, something else is going on here, Chief Davis. It started the Scorpion Unit. That's something that has to be put out there as truth. So we're holding two things at the same time. This woman was she was not there when Katherine Johnson was killed in in in for the Red Dog Unit, but she therefore came in and was and she had oversight

over this unit. That again we know about Katherine Johnson, but imagine what that unit did and the type of destruction that was caused over the time that it was in place. She didn't dismantle it. She actually moved to a new police department in Memphis and started one called the Scorpion Unit. So this is a there. This is this is not about black and white, except when the

victim is involved. For the most part, it is not about us sitting there saying black girl magic and hey, this is about a system that has to be overhauled that can't even at this point, just be reformed. You guys, give us your last point. Stephen, you can start, and then Michael, yes, I didn't have a question because you know, I get real who about this issue. Go ahead, Stephen. I want to thank you again to me getting mice were giving us his opportunity and the work that you

all do daily. Right to pour out yourself, right to literally empty yourself, that is a part of canosis. That more, the emptying of ourself for the work and for the common good is truly indicative of your love that you share for our people, and the love that you are willing to to to sacrifice your own time and your commitments for I want to appreciate you for that, and also just recognized that in this moment, the call the state of the Union is also like a call to action.

It is indicular the fact that the President is signaling to his big signal to those who are listening, because I can't do this without you, like I don't have the votes in the Senate or the House to be able to do police reform, a police accountability unless stay in the filibuster right and the Democrats do it with fifty one votes, or or because or or or the

lack there off. We have to be a bipartisan piece of legislation that we already know where represented a Senator Scott and Senator Lindsay Graham are starting that we already can only imagine with Marjorie Taylor Green and Kevin McCarthy

are starting within the House. So we already realize that this may not be a dream we see realize in the next two years and in this congressional session, but it's something that we can mobilize and organize and fight for so that as we go back to the ballot, we gotta fight like hell between now and to get it done. But even if we die trying, we will renew ourselves or our commitment to see this through. You know, is that people forget that the Montgomery bus boycott lasted

over three and eighty one days. It was not an overnight success that Rosa Parks sat down and Martin King had a dream. It took a whole lot of work, a whole lot of tenacity and ferociousness and vitality of love warriors and truth tells who are willing to do what it takes and even willing to die for and freedom and start want us to be reminded of that that President Biden did his part. But now we have to take the torch and have our own state of

the Union. What is the state of Black America? And not just state of Black America and how many black billionaires we have or how many black businesses we can start, but what is the state of the black psyche? Our minds have been traumatized by this nation by watching Tyree Nichols die to death. What does that mean for us? And so how do we begin to move beyond that horrific moment to begin to imagine again what society and

this democracy can look like. And so I thank you for giving us the space, and I look forward to building with you and and working with you and doing all that we can together until freedom, freedom fighters to build the world and build this democracy that we hope

to one day to be able to live in. Reverend Green made it made it clear throughout his his conversation, this conversation about how do we imagine a better space and think to your question to make uh, that's what has to fuel us right now while we hold people accountable and demand changes in the immediate The situation in Memphis is not Memphis isolated, where you have leadership that are in positions who should not be in these roles where there is no clarity why they're there, even in

the midst of where they came from. And again we just gotta be real clear about it. She was fired from her previous post. Uh. And and so like in a scenario of all that there, So when it comes to tie read Brianna and George and and Eric and Jalen, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera.

What we have to focus in on right now, in my opinion, is what is happening around the financial accountability on the local level, because this country continues to remind us that until you hold people accountable financially and until you build up people financially, we are playing behind the game, right and so in that spirit, Uh, that's where I think our next two years and beyond has to be. You know that there is a reason that reparations is

tied to finances. It's not just about hugs and handshakes, right, Uh, it is about the shift in the dynamic of it all. When we talk about home ownership, you know, forty eight years and what are we talk about? How do you have land and property in that manner. In that same man I think this is existing for police accountability, bringing

it back wholesale on where we're at. I still believe, as someone who has been preaching, has been in politics, who has been an entrepreneur, there is no greater way to have impact at scale, in my opinion, than through policy. I've still asked folks, tell me one thing in your life that's not impacted by policy, and I still have not had someone to be able to give me an

answer to that question. And so when we're talking about what has to happen, this is a scenario where I think we gotta make it real plain and say to people three words, find your why, and the why it is going to drive the policy and the efforts and the marching and the initiatives on where we're going. Because the camera's gonna leave, you know, the attention will leave, the press conferences will leave, but the policies can be

institutionalized to stay. And that's why I believe that until freedom has to be at the cornerstone of all of this, because it is a reminder of the time that we have to pursue this. You cannot stop until listen, I love. Both of you are brothers, and as I said on Street Politicians, you too are our friends, uh that come on the show and bring us so much insight and just you know, being able to ground ourselves right as a community, our Street Politicians, listeners and all of us

in the the complexities of what we're facing. I know we all want to quick fix, we want, we should it wouldn't have even been quick. We're talking about almost five hundred years, you know that we've been experiencing this extreme trauma um and we want to fix for it. But it didn't get here overnight, and it's not going to be shifted just because some of us are so smart and read some books or had some experiences or you know, you have you put two or three people

in place. It's actually gonna take some real hard work and some sacrifice that we've seen in the past to get to where we stand today. And I think that for me is the cherry on the top, is all that Michaels said, all that revend Green has said, and then how do we get there? And what are we willing to give up to make it happen? And that's the question that I think all of us have to ask ourselves is what how uncomfortable are we willing to be?

Because everything you all have said in terms of reimagining, there are people who are reimagining um and really daydreaming about a previous time that they would like to return this nation to uh And in order for us to keep that from happening, our eyes have to stay really, really focused. Our pins have got to be writing, our bank accounts have has to show that we are sustaining our communities, supporting our own. Our churches need to be strong.

We've got to educate ourselves, our kids and and other people's children and families who want to understand the history of this nation. There's a lot that has to be done on every level. And I tell everybody and I'll end it here, not one of us, and not one role is can be diminished or dismissed. Every single person that's on this highway towards justice is needed. If you're in the economic space, you're needed. If you're a pastor, you're needed. If you're an educated educator, you're needed. If

your babysitting children, you're needed. If you make chicken at night for the protesters, you are needed. And more for me, What will be my legacy, hopefully, is that I want the person who is dancing in the nightclub or the guy who's trying to get off a corner to know that they are needed as well. There is a role

for every single one of us in this movement. God bless you all, my brothers, and I'll see you all again because we've got to keep talking about this a lot more as we continue throwing during and bless you. Love y'all. Appreciate you so today for my I don't get it. I know we've all seen the Grammys, but now and if you have whever you have it, did you should probably look at it. Um. I really, you know, I don't like the way this whole jay Z and

Beyonce his relationship is portrayed. I just it just bothers me. It's just, you know, these are two extremely successful, probably two of the most famous people in this world, successful people in this world. In their couple and they're married couple, and and and they love each other, you know, and you and you know that you can see that there's there, there's a respect, there's an admiration, is a love, there's a union there and and in the media, somehow tries

to portray it in a way that really bothers. You know, there was this whole scene where you see jay Z tried to offer her something to drink, and you know, she didn't want to drink um, and they blew it out of proportion or that she's mad. There's an attitude, there's something going on. And then but right prior to her winning the award that made her the winning is the who the woman the person who had the most

Grammy wins in history. You know, she went to kiss jay Z. You know, after she you know, acknowledged she took a deep breath, she looked at him. They're looking at each other. She goes to kiss him, and the camera goes away from this. Now, it was very weird. I wouldn't have noticed it hadn't every other person who won and their significant other embraces you showed they show that. That's one of the major things that they showed for

every artist who wins the Grammy. They showed a significant other hug and the family member, especially if they have a wife or a husband or whatever. They showed that. And it showed a del A Dele had one, and they showed that and it was it was you know, it was there's a that's like a climax in winning the award. But it seemed very intentional that as Beyonce went to kids jay Z that the camera just went off and then it came back as soon as she

finished doing it. And I really just don't get what is this infatuation with trying to, you know, the fame, their relationship or try to show some level of you know, I don't it's intentional. It's intentional. It's also the media and the way in which, you know, it's like they can't find anything wrong with them, so they got to find something wrong with them, you know what I mean.

It's like they're gonna make They're gonna manufacture a problem or manufactor some type of emotions just because they don't. They don't they don't know their business, and whatever little bit they do find out, it's usually somebody that's telling something they shouldn't be telling, or an incident that's beyond near control. But for the most part, their environment, it is very control and they don't like it and it pisses them off. So therefore they do certain things that

I didn't know. I I didn't watch the Grammys. I wasn't able to. But what I do, what I can say is that um I did. I didn't notice from social media that she when she went to kiss him, the camera went away, and I was mad because I was like, oh, I wanted to see, you know, the love and I wanted to see be kissed her husband and the whole thing. I didn't know anything about the

other parts. I did not know anything about the you know issue with earlier in the in the night when he tried to offer her a drink and she didn't want to drink. And I also didn't know about Adele. But while I was getting my hair braided by my homegirl, Delaysia, she started talking about it, you know, barbershop beauty Paula talk, and that's where you get most of your your real like understanding of what's going on and what black people think.

And she was like, yo, I don't understand why had to see Adele and her husband in a beautiful moment but couldn't see being Jay and that. But yet I see all of this, you know, back and forth about her not wanting to drink. She might not have. She might have been that who the funk cares? People have the right to do, to have issues and and not be feeling each other. So I think it's intentional. Like sometimes it just is what it is. Sometimes at that moment,

it is what it is. Sometimes. Don't be trying to give me a drink now when I just had to cuss you out five minutes ago because you wasn't helping me put my shoe on. Now you want to try to give me a drink, get out of my face. But then after a minute, I have the right to come to my senses because it's this is bigger than me. And you got into an argument in the car while we was in traffic and we was late, and you was pissed because you've been told me to start getting dressed.

This is like, this is real, Like you've been told me to put my clothes on. I'm messing around, not doing what I'm supposed to be doing. You get an attitude about it. Now we arrived, we're huffing and puffing, we hustling trying to get in here. Then okay, now I'm getting ready to get my award and my husband. What's the problem. Maybe there was nothing, you know what

I'm I'm saying, like it's it's just too much. It's too much for me, you know, and I applaud them because you know, they very rarely even feed in to the negativity. You know, you might hear J throw a line in a rap about it here, or be in the song saying something, but for the most part, you know, you're very rarely tear them talk about it. So continue to be great. B is the wittinest person. Jay Z got the highest nominations Apple. I mean, they like, they're

just great. That's a Grammy family, So why they keep winning? That's it. That's it. So that brings me to another end, to the end of another episode Street Politicians. We appreciate you all for always supporting us. You know, let us know what topics you want to hear about, who you want us to have his guests. You know, we love y'all. Thank you for making us the number one podcast. Will continue to make you a happy. Shout out to he said you hustle, my boy, Harry. He finally gave me

a hoodie. Lord have mercy. You know I've been asking about that. Lord have mercy. This is this is my friend from the b D since we was babies, and I'm the last one with the hoodie. We ain't gonna we' gonna we ain't gonna put him on blast, but shout out to the central hustler and keep doing your thing. We love y'all. I'm not gonna always be right, TDM is not gonna always be wrong, but we're gonna both

always that I mean, always be authentic. Looked. Listen to Street Politicians on the Black Effect Network on I Heart Radio and catch us every single Wednesday for the video version of Street Politicians, or I Women dot Tv