What's going on to Mika matter.
Going on Listen Man, Episode two.
Episode two, Season five, now Here, We love y'all. It's gonna be bigger and better every year. We're going. Shout out to the Black Effect Podcast Network, Shout out to iHeart, shout out to everybody who loves us.
Oh God Lord, so sometimes you could be so sentimental. You got it is shout out we got listen and shout out to the team.
Shout out to the team.
I think that because of the fact that we're on the air. Excuse me, I think that, because of us being in public when you're speaking, that you should call her by her correct name.
Her name is Janie, I call it.
So what you should say that behind the.
Scenes, Well, her name Janie, I call it Janie.
So when I said thank you to the team, also, janis like you said, But it's a bunch of folks that work on this show, Armando, we have to give him some season. Season five is going to be good because everybody seems to be focused. Tisha, Toya, Trina's a bunch of people behind the scenes that's working on the TMI show. So I was going to talk about in my team and my thought of the day, which we're gonna skip for today, I was going to talk about the kids in co Op City who now have been
banned from entering the mall. You have to be eighteen years old to go into the mall because they have been running through doing a flash run.
They are not harming anybody.
I haven't seen reports that they stole anything, but they have been running through the mall, lots of them, and then just go. And so what I was gonna say is, yes, absolutely, parents need to know where their kids are and kids need to be more responsible.
These are not babies. They know what they're doing is wrong.
But I was really going to get more into the issue around one that co Op City has a responsibility to help these kids have somewhere they can go run, right, So that's one thing that you know, we could get into at a different time. They have a responsibility to help these kids go to where there's no programs and co Op that really truly address the needs of the youth. So that's why they're in the mall because there's nowhere else for them to go. There's no planned activities, there's
none of that. So that's a problem. But my real point was going to be that. It's so unfortunate that we can't even say that we want the authorities to be in the mall to make sure that they help get them in and out, because kids, it could turn into hell. Right, you already would have young people that
will feel fear. You will have parents that will be afraid that their kids are in there, and god knows what can happen, and you can't trust that the authorities are going to go there and deal with the kids in a way to be like and I don't think that cops should.
Be responsible for being mentors.
But they have a way that they deal with kids that white children that they don't deal with them.
It's supposed to be a process.
And I've watched many of these type of situations where they slamming kids on their neck and beating them up.
Like it's too aggressive.
So yeah, like you said, there definitely should be you know, safety measures inside the mall so people are safe. But unfortunately we can't even you know, hope that we have law enforcement understand you just don't know we got I think that's what we need, like community situation, you know, violence interruptors and those type of organizations should be sent out, you know, to to to the mall to where they see people from their community.
And sometimes it gets a look, we've always done.
That flash running.
No, I don't say flashmen, but we've used to go to the mall and just be a bunch of us running. Sometimes something happened. You might get into argument other kids, y'all running. It might be a little fight, but they break it up. You run off, but they just like go because that's a new thing. It is probably just to make people scared, and you know, and it's not good.
It's stupid kids stupid because you could actually get hurt. And if one of those kids go fall into the ban or something like that, that would be a fall down.
Escalators is just too much.
And those types of things happen, right because it's those types of things that you are like, oh, shoot, I can't believe.
That that happened.
What would they do? Oh, they were running through the mall. So anyway, long story short, that's something you know, we have to deal with because what do we do in the Bronx and other places.
About our nags.
The TMI today you're doing too much or maybe you're not. And you know, I don't really have an opinion either way about this, because I don't know how I feel about what they call it Indian given, you give it and you take it back.
But it's funny that.
One of the French politicians, I think he's from the European Parliament, he said that he believes the Statue of Liberty should be given and back to France. Now it was given to America in eighteen eighty four as a birthday gift. So it was like, you know, I think independence thing exactly, and so he said that people in America have chosen the side of the tyrant, and so they're basically talking about the Statue of Liberty is supposed to be about liberty and justice and now you have
an authoritarian government. He didn't say that, I'm saying it and that's not liberty at all. What we see happening in this nation under Donald Trump's presidency. Not that we didn't always have issues, but they are certainly worse at
this moment, and so he says, give it back. So now, I just I wanted to know for you, and then, of course from our audience, do people feel that he's doing too much, like we're not taking the Statue of liberty down, you don't take it back or do you feel like I actually respect to understand his position?
Well, I know Trump talking about give the Panama Canal that he's talking about all of these things. What else he said? It was the Panama Canal and something else. He's like, you know, we need to rename it and all of these things. So I guess the brother is saying to himself, well, listen, since the situation has changed, like, we gave this as a gift, and you know that's when you was our allies and we felt like we was in partnership, and now you're completely changing the dynamics
of this relationship. So I don't know if it actually stands for what it stood for, you should probably give it back.
The situation has changed. I'm not I'm not mad at him.
I mean, the likelihood of you giving it back is not really a thing.
I don't think so. But in Trump's.
Administer, you never know, he'll go have it and sit back and then he'll have his a statue of him. For sure, for sure he'll have the Trump statue.
Of I don't know, I like you said last week, a change, It's like the job ebody a billion dolls Elan would love.
To have with the New York sound or the river. Yeah, the sound he would love to be.
He would love to do it.
So, you know, I don't know if it's too much, but nothing is off the table.
So maybe it's not to your min but it could be. I don't know from you at all. Right, let's get into our guests.
Well, we've got one of our friends on today, you know, us with our friends.
We're back season five already. With our friends.
You know they're gonna be like, that's why we don't like this show, because y'all only have y'all friends. Why y'all don't have people in there, y'all don't get along with you don't agree with.
Yeah, because I don't want to talk to nobody that I don't like. I don't want to give you no light on my show. If I don't like it, that's it. So I'm bring to people that I reck that I love, that I think it's smart that have the same moral. At least you got to have the same more alcomplishes. If we don't got the same more accomplished, I'm not going to expose my good people to your negative energy demons.
But then that means that y'all ain't talking to all black folks.
Some black folks can't believe in that stuff.
Well guess what, today we do have our friend and I'm very very proud to have our brother on the show. Actually not our friend, our brother Gary Chambers, who is a fighting leader in Louisiana but also across the nation. Gary is an educator. Gary is just a leader all around.
I mean.
And also I like to say he's probably one of the more authentic scholars in our current society, just because you know, when I say authentic, I mean that because sometimes Gary writes some stuff and I'd be like, whoa.
God, my grandmother just saying he don't take no wood Nickels. He ain't taking no wood Nichols Man. That's why I love Gary Man. He gonna tell he shoot from the hip. You like it or you don't, but you know, is real and that's what I love.
And that's what it is. Gary. Thank you so much for joining us. I think you in the state of Louisiana right now.
I am home today. I'm glad to be with my peek. It's good to be with y'all.
Thank you, Thank you, Gary.
We don't want to keep you long because I know if you are anything like us, but certainly me, You and me, we're on at least twenty five thousand chains where we're talking about black liberation with different people and different efforts. And so, you know, before they start getting on us for being for disappearing for a while, let me hurry up and get to what we are doing.
And by the way, I'm so excited about joining with you and being in partnership with you and co organizing with you to put the State of the People Power Tour together, which begins in Atlanta, Georgia at the end of this month, at the end of April, and folks are going to be learning more every day about this incredible tour. But what I do love is that there's a voltron that's happening among us as black folks that
come from different experiences and perspectives. But again to your point, my son, they're all people who at least are leaning on.
The same side.
We can't, you know, we just can't do that are too dangerous.
People told me, you know, I want to hear.
I don't want to hear a perspective that I know is going to be detrimental to my life, like and what happens is we deal with people so who are so misinformed and used to being misinformed that if you have a misinformed narrative that they can utilize to support.
Their misinformedness, then they grab on to it. They don't want to hear the truth.
So if you we bring somebody on our platform and that's misinformed, that that says something, they will take that level and they'll cut it up and make it seem like they said some see that's what I was saying.
You didn't know and they don't know either.
Yah, but people do know.
But so Gary, thank you again for just your leadership and everything else. And I'm looking forward to seeing you on the road.
Absolutely, I think this is a great opportunity for us to build community, for us to begin to really engage with our people.
You know, I think a lot of what we.
See in this country is twisted and tormenting a lot of folks.
Folks are losing hope in certain places.
But when your family comes and sees about you and tells you that there is a path forward, I think that that shall help us out.
Absolutely. Absolutely.
The state of the PPL dot Com, the state OFFTHEPPL dot com if anyone who is listening would like to throw down with us. There's room for volunteers. There's room for money to help support us along the way, small donations all the way up to the big stuff for the big expenses. It's all volunteer. No one has put
a dime in their personal pockets. This is all work that we're doing because we love and care for our people, and because we already in the streets, and so we might as well take our efforts around the country and meet up with our folks who, as I have been saying, some of the people that are on the ground in these local communities, no more than we know, they have solutions that we need to learn, we need to hear. They know how to keep their communities safe in ways
that we're trying to learn how to do. So with that being said, I think what is also extremely important is that we analyze some of the things that are considered to be wins and some of the problematic behavior
surrounding our efforts and our work. And unfortunately sometimes that problematic those problematic behaviors come from our own people, and so recently in the last few weeks, Louisiana had a big victory, which is really good because sometimes Louisiana, I don't know what be going on in your state.
They bugging tripping. But there were.
Four constitutional amendments up for vote, and the people of Louisiana voted it down. I think I saw that twenty one percent of the people in Louisiana turned out. But of that twenty one percent, sixty four percent of the people voted no on all four constitutional amendments that Governor Landry he supported all four. And you know, I saw a whole bunch of things like, you know, criminalizing young people,
and there was stuff about increasing judicial oversight. I mean, there was some real dangerous law enforcement or criminal justice system rather pieces within these constitutional amendments. And you were, you know, or rallied people to say vote no on all, which thankfully folks showed up and they you know, did what the local organizers told them to do in community
one another. But then also, you you know, made another statement that I thought, and I thought you were really kind about how you went about calling in our brother fifty cent who's doing business in Louisiana, and he was supporting the governor and supporting these these amendments, and now I just want to say this one thing because I'm gonna give you the floor and let you go. But I remember a few weeks back where I on this show.
One of the segments we talked about fifty cent who he had put in an I guess application or however, I don't know exactly what it was he was working on, but there was a potential there was a possibility that his proposal to the state would not go through because the electorate whoever the elected officials had voted it down or voted down the Let me just make sure I get it right.
They voted down allowing.
Some outside contractor to come in and do business in the state for a while, right, there was something like that that happened.
You can clear it up when you speak.
But I know he had an issue where he did not think he was going to be able to advance his business with Louisiana to shoot there because of something that was happening with the legislature. And then it went through, so he was able to get it done. So now the question becomes what deal was done and what was said to him in the process about what needed to happen in order for him to be able to do business. I don't know if this is relevant, but it feels
relevant to me. So you take it from me and tell us all about the amendments and what happened and the people's vote and also fifty cents involvement.
Well, first of all, thank y'all for highlighting the wins in Louisiana. Too often we are a part of the conversation for what we don't get right. So we got it right this time, and I'm excited about that. The key component to this is that black voters turned out it thirty seven percent in early voting.
We're still going through the day to see.
What the total black turnout was, but we know that black voters led this effort to kill these constitutional amendments that would have been detrimental to out of state lawyer's.
Amendment Number one I would have given.
The ability to create a new system to penalize out of state lawyers. So when you look at folks like our brother Lee Merrit who's come in to help on different cases from out of state or being crump, it gives them a new way to be targeted by the judiciary and other lawyers who come into Louisiana to do help, and there's already a mechanism to deal with that. Number
two was going to completely change our tax system. They had a piece of that legislation that was set up to kind of trick teachers into voting for it by making them believe that they were getting a raised when it was really just making a stipend that they had permanent. There was also a whole bunch of different things that they were going to do in our tax code. Number three was the most egregious, which got a lot of attention in conversation, which would have allowed the legislature to
penalize juveniles at fourteen for different crimes as adults. So Louisiana already sends juveniles to adult penitentiary for violent offenses. And what I appreciate about the rejection of that amendment is it was black voters and white voters in over fifty parishes out of sixty four that said no to the governor about putting more kids in jail.
Eighty percent of the kids in juvenile incarceration in.
The state of Louisiana are young and black, and so to have a unified effort that the majority of black voters and white voters said no. Ninety percent of black voters said no on all of these constitutional membis, and over fifty percent of white voters in the state of Louisiana said no to these constitutional membis. And number four would have given the ability for them to run a shorter clock on elections for the judiciary. So all four of these policies were bad. All four of these policies
were killed. I want to shout out the Power Coalition, all of the organizations in our state, the grassrooms organizers.
My social media was.
Lit up with people posting all through early voting, posting all through the week, and what I love about this. We went to five different cities doing town halls. We went to Streamport where Fifties got his music, his movie studio that he's working on.
And while we.
Were in Shreveport, I would have loved to have had the opportunity to sit down with my brother before he goes out and talks about these things in a public manner.
But to your point to me, the legislature had a film tax credit.
That was within a limbo state with the new governor trying to make changes around November, and so those changes went through and I think what happened here was when the governor got scared after seeing that early vote numbers were up at thirty seven percent for black voters, he tried to find the only black person he could get to get on the phone and text black.
People to encourage them to support it.
Now, what I understand about fifty is he's somebody who's a capitalist. And I don't have a problem with people advancing themselves. I don't have a problem with people making money. I am welcoming to people coming to Streetforce specifically, which I believe has the bones to be one of the greatest cities in America in Louisiana. However, I do take issue with when you tap in with white people to tell black people what we need to do. I do struggle when you are a person who says that you
won't touch politics and you don't deal with politics. I have no problem if you would have been advocating for yourself to get your taxi center, but your stuff was already approved, sir. They are resigned to inat for you, so you didn't have to go out and advocate for them. You didn't have to take that role, and you didn't
have to not check in with black folk. I think that you know, that is a disingenuous position to say that you're not political and then to get all up into politics, allowing people to send a video to thousands of black voters in the state of Louisiana and then expect those same black people to be supportive with you later when you aren't supportive of the things that they're
supportive of. I think it's a walking contradiction. And so I reached out to different folks that I the relationship with him that to just say, hey, can you tell dude that this is not necessarily the direction. And people shared with me that they felt that he would continue to do so because he was good for his business, and what's good for a black entrepreneur's business is not always good for the people.
So I just want to be clear. So what exactly was he advocating for.
So he advocated for a constitutional amendment number two, I want to be specific.
He did not advocate for one to three or four.
He was advocating for the tax plan that would have restructured Louisiana's tax plan, and he said that he was in agreement with the governor on the effort to bring businesses into Louisiana through this tax plan. The reality, though, is this tax plan would have increased taxes for poor people because we would have had a host of more things that we paid sales taxes for. So there's this illusion that they were going to give people a flat tax of sorts, but it's not a flat tax.
It would have benefited people who made over one hundred and fifty thousand.
Dollars a year, where they'd have more of their money their power, but people who make under one hundred and fifty thousand thousand years would have ended up spending more of their money in sales SAX.
So that seems to be the new theme.
I think America's theme now is that we're just going to give people who have more money, do you know, more tax cuts, and we're just gonna on the back of the poor people. I think that's the new theme.
Well, it's not new, it's not a new thing.
It's actually something that has has really been sort of baked into the existence of the nation.
Uh.
But what we have done as advocates, and it's not, of course just our generation. This has been going on since I am just thinking about speeches I've heard Reverend Jesse Jackson and others make. They forced the conversation one to the forefront where it would even be discussed that the people are not able to take home as much money sometimes as the damn rich people, which makes absolutely
no sense that it's so imbalanced. But what they forced more than that was to ensure that elected officials that are coming to ask for our votes would go back and fight from the federal to the state level to ensure that the tax codes do not underrepresent our people and over protect rather the rich. And so that didn't just happen, you know, by happenstance, it's always what they've wanted,
even and that's whether it's Democrat or Republican. We've had to address this issue multiple times, but right now we're dealing with an administration that they don't give a damn you know, so they're just like, we're gonna we're gonna force it through no matter what. So thank you for the clarification on the exact amendment that fifty supported. And the reason why that's important to me is because, you know, in the beginning, I was trying to remember what was the episode.
It's been so many weeks ago. Months ago.
But now it came back to me, and that's exactly what it was. It was the tax code, and he was concerned about whether or not this tax code would ultimately impact his business in a way that no longer made it beneficial for him to do business in Louisiana. Now I remember what that's exactly.
That's exactly so.
No, no, I was gonna say.
So that that further undergirds my point about why he would come out in support of one of these amendments, which are not good for the community at all, is because this is the exact thing, exact thing that he was working with and concerned about in terms of coming to Louisiana in the first place.
And listen, he's been buying up property in Streetport. People in Streetport are excited about it, But sixty percent of Streetport voted against this. Right, So when you look at the numbers, the raw numbers of what Louisiana's thought about this, the majority of people thought this was a bad idea.
The other thing is this was the first time that voters got to show Jeff Landre at the ballot box what they thought about and since he got sworn in January, of twenty twenty four, there's been no opportunity for voters to tell you, we don't think any of these things that you're attempting to do a good ideas. We don't believe that incarcerating more young people is a good idea. We don't believe that taxing more old people is a
good idea. We don't believe that more taxes for young people who are trying to start a family having to give more than money to sales taxes. And even one of the services that they were going to tax is like takeout services or takeout on food.
Right, you're gonna tax every single thing.
They just added subscriptions like Netflix and all of these other things that they're gonna tax folks on. So basically, every time you spend a dollar, Louisiana wants a piece of it.
Under Jeff Landing, hmm, absolutely, that makes a lot of sense that the people rejected it, And you know, and I think I would love to hear you speak to what is kind of next, right, because once you get people in the posture of resistance, which is exactly what this is, and we keep telling folks that resistance does not have to look like being out of the protest
or on the front lines. Resistance can look like a lot of things, and this particular election was one of those moments when people said, we're resisting this nonsense.
So what do you think is next.
In terms of helping to cultivate this attitude in this posture of the community. The thirty seven percent of black early voters, how do we funnel them or how do you funnel them in Louisiana into action?
So I'm going to continue partner with the different organizations that are doing daily, organized and daily efforts to inform and educate our people. I'm also kicking off some civics for the people around the state in the next few weeks between the work that we're going to do on the tour, because I think that we've got to engage
and inform our people. I think the energy that people have, though it was a twenty two percent turnout, twenty one twenty two percent turnout, it is a ricochet effect as far.
As the energy.
People are excited, and you all know a lot of our people like the follow a winner, and so when things are moving in the right direction, that's going to get more people to see their power. And I think once people can identify through the data that, look, this is real that black voters in this state made a difference, made an impact, and then informed them.
I heard somebody say something the other day recently.
And they said that they asked Jesse Jackson, speaking of rev that why are black folks so good at basketball or sports and things of this nature, and he said, it's the only place where the rules are in.
The lightning don't change.
When we deal with politics, the rules change often, right, The mechanisms at which the plays move are faster.
Than we understand before the rules change again.
And so it's important that we inform our people about the basic fundamentals of government, because if you understand the basics, no matter how much they change the rules, you go back to the constitution, You go back to the governing documents that help you in all of the efforts. And that's why we continue to win in the courts against Donald Trump.
That's why we were able to educate voters around the state.
About bad tax policy and bad policies that would further incarcerate our kids. But more importantly, that's how we educate our people moving forward about all of the efforts that the government is attempting to do against them, and really, once you show them that, I run trust to briariance as black people, but two people can see through the smoke screens of who is for them and who is against them.
And people want more money in their pockets.
They want safe communities, and they want their kids to go to a school that is safe.
And giving them a quality education.
They want to ride on roads that don't bust their tires, and they want to make sure that they can build a family in the community that is striving of sorts. And so that's what we are to be talking about. We should be talking about blue collar issues. Everybody's not going to be a millionaire. Everybody's not gonna be a billionaire, but people are to be able to have some stability in their households and their families.
I definitely agree. You know, I've been dealing, I've been grappling with the Democratic Party and black people and the disenfranchisement because I understand how history works, right, and I realized, like every one hundred years they've seen the disenfranchised black people, and we just find ourselves going from one party in one situation to the next. What do you think is gonna take for us to get on the same page. Is the Democratic Party completely done? Do black people need
to stay there? Do we need to create our own party? Like? What do you think is the next step for us?
I think it has to be multi faceted.
I don't think that Democrats should be comfortable with black folks, but I also think that we have to recognize the tenth that shares the majority of the values that we share today. Collectively, black folks have the ability to be attacked in a way that other folks have not been attacked in this country historically. And every piece of right that any other marginalized group has gotten they got on the backs of black people in our advocacy. And so what we have to remember is we are the moral
compass of this nation, not a political party. That we have moved the Republican Party to do what is right and just, and we have moved the Democratic Party to do what is writing just. What we need to do is decide what is the collective agenda and posture of Black America and demand that whichever party it is, give us what we ask for.
And I think that when we put ourselves into that position where.
We are clear on two, three, five things that we want to see together that whatever entity yields to us the results that the people desire is the entity that we build powered with. I don't think that the Republican Party is currently in a posture that is welcoming to that.
But I also think that the Democratic Party is in the wrong posture because I think the Democratic Party, in the advent of white voters pivoting more towards Trump, they have said, well, we need to figure out how to go fish them out of the pond, instead of saying, if we are looking at an electoral map, how do I shift to the place where the majority of my base where ninety two percent of Black women over eighty percent of black men voting for the Democratic.
Ticket in Kamala Aarris and Tim Wallas.
Why is there not a southern strategy focused on Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, North Carolina, and Georgia as the new Blue Wall, as the battleground states.
And we can begin shaping and determining that today.
And I believe that that's a part of what the black community around this country needs to do. And that's not to diminish the places where black folks are in like you all in New York and New Jersey, in Philly and Detroit. But it is to say that fifty five percent of our people living in Deep South, and if we are strategic about the critical mass that exists there, then we can take this country and run it for the next hundred years.
Absolutely, let me before you go.
I love for you to react to some of the two elections that happened just a few days after the Louisiana positive vote no on the constitutional amendments. In Florida, we saw that Florida did what Florida does, which is in the congressional race the special election, they absolutely, in my judgment, I'm sure you agree, chose the wrong person to lead there.
And then in Wisconsin.
We saw it was the judge ship right Supreme Court, the judgeship election, and we saw that a woman. You know what, I'm gonna be honest with you. So first of all, let me just get this out that the people rejected the Republican candidate who also is a Trump
supporter and was supported by Elon Musk. So it's not just being a Republican, because there's Republican and then there's Republicans that aligned with the oligarchy, right that aligned with the oligarchy, and those individuals are just a complete no for us.
So there's a woman.
Who was elected, and you know, we're glad that we
got this woman in position. Cool, But what I'm really concerned about, and I want to hear your opinion, It's almost like when I was watching her, I watched the whole speech, and I'm glad that the other gentlemen didn't win, But I never heard her say anything that made me feel like this was going to be a judge who would go to the bench and not just be there as a blockade for what we're fighting against in terms of the Trump administration and their oppressive tactics, but also
what are you fighting for, Like you know, and I'm not talking about just women's right to choose. Those things are cool, but I'm talking about the people of Wisconsin, and.
You have black people who are also there.
And I'm not saying that she should have called black people out, but I just never feel like we're getting somebody who is going to be an advocate for the issues of the most vulnerable populations in our states and in our society. And I just want to know, like, do you feel that or you kind of like, we ain't got time to worry about that right now, let's just block these people, which is also a strategy.
I think.
Two things in that one, I'm glad that she won that race is indicative. I saw a Tesla and figure rot post something while where the Republicans spent more, the Democrats spent more money in Florida, and the Republicans spent more money in Wisconsin. So Elon helped the Republican there in Wisconsin, and Democrats were trying to help the Democrat down in Florida, and the Republican won in Florida, and the Democrat won. So money doesn't always win people. Power does,
and so I think that's one thing. Number two, to your point, Wisconsin is black, eight percent Hispanic, over seventy plus percent white. I don't anticipate that white people who represent majority white people will be talking about black issues. And that's as a Deep Southerner who understands how white candidates chase the white electorate, and the fewer of us there are, the less they feel they need to address
our issues. And so I think that that is what we see in Wisconsin and why I am saying that
Wisconsin should no longer be a battle ground state. I don't oppose people advocating for the people that they mostly represent, but that is detrimental to people like us when you especially when you're trying to inspire people in Milwaukee to get out and vote for somebody like that, right, and so I think that that is the give and take that we play in many of these places because some of us are in these communities because this is what
we know, this is what we love. Some of us are there because this is where opportunity resides for us. But the reality is understanding for us as black people, that the smaller the demographics are for us, the less
we are considered. The reason I believe that black people are easier to get elected state wide in a Illinois or a Wisconsin, even in New York, is because black people are less of the population than they are in the Deep South, where we are over thirty percent of the population in Mississippi, over thirty percent of the population in Louisiana, over twenty eight percent, twenty something percent of
the population in North Carolina. The higher that percentage goes of the black population in the state, the fewer opportunities exist for black people to be able to get a state wide position because once your demographics are higher.
The belief by some within the white community.
And I want to be very clear that I'm saying some, because sometime when black folks say certain thing, they act like we all races.
In April, but were tell the truth.
But some white people believe that if you let these black people take this, they gonna take it all.
And the proof of that is this picture behind me.
The last time black people took all state a bunch of state positions in Louisiana was eighteen seventy two. Ister Done was elected as a lieutenant governor of Louisiana. Around that time, we had a black lieutenant governor. We had a black governor for about thirty days. We had a black secretary of Education and a black secretary of the treasurer in the eighteen hundreds. You know, So when you process that, that is what many in white America are
trying to prevent. They don't want to see a makeup in this country where black people take the mechanisms of power, because that's how you ended up with Southern University in Granma State University, right. Those institutions came because when our ancestors got these positions.
Of power, they created avenues.
And institutions for us to be educated, They created pathways and pipeways for us to be on industry, and those folks saw that as an attack on them because they have always seen us as less.
Than in privut And you think that that has something to do with why they overwhelmingly supported the voter ID law.
Absolutely. Absolutely.
I think that when you look at white voters, don't they think that these things make sense?
Right?
That why are we as black people saying that this is a problem. Just don't get tried d right.
They don't recognize all the hurdles that exist within our community, and quite frankly, they don't.
Care, right, Yeah, And that's what I was trying to articulate. Thank you, Gary, but that's what I was trying to articulate. Like I listened to her speaking the new Judge, but I just felt like, Okay, but you also know that this other thing is happening where black folks and brown folks will be disenfranchised with the voter ID law. And I didn't hear anything that made me feel like she was going to be an advocate against or for whichever way we want to position it that as well. But
I think it makes sense. I mean, the percentage is what it is. The you know, when we don't have a critical mass, we absolutely cannot expect that they are going to pay attention to us, because they don't even want to pay attention to us when we do have critical mass, and so we would be you know, fooling ourselves to believe otherwise. But I don't know, I was
just watching. I was I'm you know, I'm beyond you know, obviously, we're all beyond party politics, and I'm definitely beyond the symbolism, and I'm beyond the coalition of white women and black women because I'm not you know, that has not done us well at all in many respects. And I'm not asking y'all, I'm telling you, you know, what I have experienced as a black woman. It's actually been quite plain painful. That does not mean, to your point that they always
try to, you know, say that we're being hateful. It doesn't mean that there are not some important coalitions and that they are not white women who are doing great work and standing with us, walking with us, funding our movements and you know, doing the best that they can, but I'm talking about overall, it's actually pretty dangerous when we as women of color link up with white women who haven't done the work and the processing of their own bias and the pain that is caused to us
with their tears. And so when I was listening to her, I just wanted to be a little bit more inspired, and I kind of fell back in my seat and said, damn. But I know if I say that, but which it
is going to be said publicly. But if I would have said that at the night when she was elected, people would have been like, you being negative, Betty, when right now, what we need is to ensure that these folks do not advance their agenda any more than they already have with Project twenty twenty five and all the diabolical things that they're attempting to do. So with that being said, I do understand that we have to have strategies. Not all we're not gonna get everything that we want.
But it just felt like to me, like damn, Okay, I guess thank you, thank you, thank you.
That's how I f I think the way we get to look at that is that we don't get an advocate, but we do get a vote good, Right, we don't get somebody who's gonna be voting for us, but we do hope that the votes that she cast on there as a justice on that court will be on the
side of just sub equity and fairness. I believe that there are white people in positions of power in the Democratic Party that have displayed that, uh, that that are holding the line on some of the key issues for us on the bench, and it is my hope that she will do those things.
What I have learned is I don't desire to spend my time.
Trying to get folks to do things that I believe they don't really want to do.
When it comes to people like that, right.
But I'm focused more on trying to get those that do think the same to mobilize in a way that when we are on one accord, it forces them to do what is just. It forces them uh to become advocates in this moment, and I think we are at the impetus of seeing that for our generation, that there's a point where the temperature will get rised enough and the strategy will meet enough that we will be able
to create the environment. I think uh that makes more of them join us in the courus that says enough is enough on these issues.
Speaking of that, I want to end with this Corey Booker in his historical Full of Buster. Do you believe that it's motivational, it's going to aspire? Do you think it's going to give some energy to the people to the resistance?
What do you think about it?
You know.
It inspired me in the way that I know what strom Thurman was. And strom Thurman was a hate for racist segregationist from South Carolina.
Who hated black people, and he stood in the well.
Of the US Senate for twenty four hours to stand in the way of civil rights.
Now, my only pushback is I wish.
That there would have been some piece of legislation attached to what the senator was standing for. However, him being willing to stand for twenty five hours to break the record of strong theurnment, to say that in this hour, what we are dealing with in this country, it's so egregious, so immoral, so unjust, so unequitable and wrong, I think
will inspire people. I think for people who are disconnected from the process, And that's why I think that some of us that are in this work don't realize that for somebody who's disconnected from the process, tapped out, not paying attention. Because we always talk about the people who do vote, but there's a whole lot of folks who have not voted. But when they saw that brother staying there with his moral conviction and talk for twenty five hours.
You don't get to three hundred million people liking something without people from all backgrounds, all walks of life, people who did vote, people who didn't vote, deciding that this was something that got my attention, made me feel something of value and may inspire more people to move.
I don't know.
The total impact that will come from it, but I hope that it is something that inspires more people to stand up and do something in the critical moments where that's standing up will yield us a lockage or the passage of something that advances all people.
Within this touch.
Yeah, no, I agree, one hundred percent. I give a lot of credit to Corey Booker for what he did. It's not easy for those of us who have to talk for a living. It's not you even we run out of words to say in thoughts and you get tired. And you could tell in his eyes when he announced that he was going to do the filibuster, which you know, philibuster is supposed to be more so about blocking votes. But he did block the business of the Senate, and you know, you could see in his.
Eyes that he had that fire.
First of all, he is from New Jersey and so he had that look like I gotta do something because I know to do nothing is morally unjust and I must step up.
I have to, I have to step up. And so I'm very proud of what he did.
And if for the naysayers out there, if it wasn't important what he did, then strong Thurman would not have used the same mechanism to try to fight against our rights. So people know that what he did was impactful, it was important, and the people who do nothing have a lot to say, as you said, my son, have a lot to say about people who are actually doing something, and it's our job to push him and others in the Senate and in the entire federal government to do
more to protect us in the stand up. So I just want to say thank you to you, Gary for being a very critical voice and a partner in the work, and thank you for being so brilliant because every time I talk to you, I feel like I learned something. I sharpen my skills, and that's what we're supposed to do, you know, for one another. So God bless you and thank you so much for coming on the TMI show today.
We appreciate you, my brother, Thank you both.
I really appreciate you both to me and my Sign and all of the work that you do.
My Sign has been a brother that I have looked at from the distance.
You know, to Meeka, you and I have been back and forth for years, but I never had the opportunity to tell my son how much I appreciate the way you say up as a black man, uh and the way that you are confident in your position as a black man.
Brother. We need you. I appreciate you, and I look forward to all of the.
Work to making masign that we're gonna do together to make this world a more just and equitable place for all our children.
Feeling his mutual king, man, I appreciate you. Shout out to our brother Gary Chambers. He's always educating and speaking truth to power. I remember the first time I saw him. He was at a community meeting calling out one of the elected officials, and he was reading this lady to the point she had to walk out, you know, and it was just amazing and just watching his trajectory continue to grow, continue to educate. You know, I know he's going to be one of the figures in Louisiana very soon.
We're gonna vote him, and we're gonna make sure he gets voted in.
Yeah, he got going that he can't never stop because he's supposed to be.
Like when you listen to him, you know, he loves people. He's for just yeah, he knows what.
He's talking about.
He wants what's right and equitable, and anybody who wants that is on the side of my side anyway, you know. So that brings me to a completely different subject, you know, for my I don't get them today now. It comes from just a lot of just different things, you know, just being a black man in America, you know, and you see so many different accusations you hear, you know,
people being charged with sexual assault and assault. Just even last week, you know, with the young Scooter situation, right, and I don't know the whole situation, but I know a woman called the police on him and he ended up losing his life, right, and the accusations that she made at that time just weren't true.
For Yeah, they weren't true.
Lady called the police and said that he had drug a woman out, beating from her kids. He was doing all this stuff. She constantly called and they came over. He ran, ended up trying to climb over a gate, end up cutting his legs to the point where he died trying to run away from the police.
That he dragged her.
Yeah, she was saying no, she didn't say it was even herbody. She said it was another woman, and then she came back.
They found out it wasn't.
So they found out because this situation that never happened. So when they went to try to find there was no person at the house saying this happened. Yeah, they found out this lady she said she made calls because he had done this to her in the past.
Wow.
I was wondering about the leg because I saw that they said his leg turned. Then you know that he died, and I thought maybe he had like gang green or something like that. I was thinking about trying to figure it out, but you know, moving on to the next day, it never occurred to me. I never read the story.
Yeah, my God, it was, you know.
So they're still going to the lady has been arrested since you know, she's been arrested for false accusations leading to the death.
So it's it's a situation, you know.
And in this situation, it's actually been recourse in consequences for making course because he lost his life.
Right, But there's gonna be some fool that's gonna say, why did he run?
Yeah, I mean black men gonna run from the police, because.
Not all black men are gonna run.
There's a lot, not all. I'm not saying all.
But when you come from where we come from, most of us do not want to have any police contact. So we're trying to get the word all never came on my mouth. I said, black men. They're all black men. There are a strong, you know, constituency of black men that are going to get out the way of the police. They do not want any police contact. And you don't never know.
What he was doing.
He pbably has drugs whatever, nobody I'm not saying anything. He probably anything, probably had a warrant, you know, he know, he.
Didn't phase one.
Probably he may have.
He may have had you know, there's a possib Well, he just didn't want to deal with the police.
You know what I'm saying.
That's I mean, that's that's also that is also a deafening reminder of what I was talking about earlier, Like, yes, absolutely, we all have responsibility, the kids that I'm you know, the whole story called O City. Yes, everybody has responsibility, but the system also has to be accountable for how people feel about interacting with police and law enforcement in
the criminal justice system. That also has to be a part of the conversation, because otherwise there's no reason why he should not have been able.
Man, I gotta go read not even give.
My But that brings me back to my original point was what I don't get is how black men are criminalized, accused of sexual assault, accused of rape, accused of all these things, and in a lot of instances, when these accusations are found to be false, there's no recourse, there's no apology, there's no public stating the hey, this has been false.
Right after you taken especially for a.
Sexual assault, after you taking a man's livelihood, you taken his deals, especially when it did you are a celebrity, and they come, you get fired, You don't lost this contract. You can't get hired there, you can't did this. All of this stuff is taken from you. And then if the situation is found to be false and the charges will be dropped and all of this, they don't give you none of this back, right, you still stay and
they don't even publicly. No, there's no loud admittance this was wrong, right, all of those the tmzs and all of the main blog sites and all of the main shows you want news after they do a little post in the newspaper to say, hey, you know he's fine, not good, you didn't this one was dropped, this and that.
But there's never as loud as the accusations, right, So, and there's never really anything that gives you back the time you lost, you know, give you back the money you lost, give you back the opportunity as they loss.
So I really don't get why.
I don't get why people don't think it's important to to, you know, set the record straight and redirect the negativity from someone who you have focused the negativity.
Right you, You.
Was very adamant about making sure that you had the first news and you want to report it breaking news and such has been, you know, accused of assault and sexual assault.
And rape and all these things.
But then it's a two second, Oh, charges have been dropped and next we're on to this.
No, not just sexual assault.
But it's mainly sexual I've lived because listen to me, let me, let me, let me say, let me just finish this, right. I have been paying attention to Diddy's case. Now once again, I cannot confirm or to not any accusations or not. But I know in the last few weeks I've heard many of the cases that was against him dropped silently, right because I just happened to do research and I know, but I know they already had surviving diddies.
They got all type of.
Shit to where you're completely throwing this man through the dirt. But nobody is saying that twenty one cases have been dropped or they found that this didn't have any significance. When they was talking about the guy who Little whatever his name was, to produce a guy and they said he did all of this, and they put this man name and accusations and the shootings and all this. He had a whole thing that they put all over the world. And people saw this, right, and these things were, these
things were instrumental in that man going to jail. Because I don't know all of the things, but I know I've been telling people very just very intently now that cases are built.
On the internet.
They're not no longer built from evidence and this and that they have Internet task force that look into these kids, that look and when you make an accusation, these people start building a case and doing an investigation based on what people are seeing online.
This is a fact. This ain't something I'm thinking.
Like in the last few weeks I've watched I've seen cases be built online with people just making accusations about people.
There has been no connection.
Even when you look at the guy Kivy D Keith D went online and talked about shit that they have no literal physical evidence about nothing he said other than what he said and it tied him to Tupac's murder. He's locked up right now with no physical evidence to cooperate anything he said, but just the words that he said because he was online just talking about.
The words that you say should be no.
But that's not true because people go online and cap all day.
These people do things for content.
But that's ignorant but that's what.
But that's the world we in now.
So if you sit here and if the thing is this, if I have a big enough following and I sit on this platform and say, yo, such and such shots somebody and I know he's involved, but I'm saying, I'm telling I did it.
No.
But what I'm trying to he said, I know who did this, and I was there when.
This happened, right, So that's not saying dating.
But that's just here. That's like anything. But that's the internet. The Internet. People want they want cloud but understand that.
But it should have been evidence right before things were evidence based. If you said something we did, we did this is a fact. Well, because I should not be able to take you off the street and have you sitting in the cell without being able to get bailed out any that.
That's just not I think that you are what I hear. Let me be careful.
We ain't starting out our new season with you know, not being able to hear one another. But I do sense of conflating of a lot of different things. And one well I was I was giving you an instant and I was instances.
Well you said it.
I mean, if you want to say more about your original point that there's no recourse oftentimes you said that you say, most of the times these things are not true. You said most of the time when these things are not true isact there's no real recourse to address the harm that has been done to an individual, particularly a black man, who has suffered as a you know, as a as a result of it. So I think that point I support one hundred percent. I think as it relates to particular issues.
And cases and what have you, that.
You know, and the whole When you said that most of these cases sexual assault and other things like that, you said they, you know, most of them when they're getting a lot of them get dismissed and nothing is done about it. And what I want to say is that the stats are otherwise that most of the time when someone says that they were sexually assaulted, it is true.
No, that's not you just you changed.
With So maybe I did miss it.
I said when those cases are dismissed, if they are dismissed, I didn't say that most of the time they're dismissed.
That's that's said. A lot of the times when they're dismissed. Okay, Well, I just because I wanted to make sure that we say the stats are that the majority of the time people don't even say they were they don't even tell the truth about being sex and a lot of and a lot of times, a lot of times cases can also be dismissed. Now, I'm not so that there's nobody that's gonna go and say, oh, Tamika Mallory is saying it's this, that, and the third, because I am not
speaking to any particular person's case, including puff right. But what I will say is that there are times when cases are dismissed that it does not mean that the person is not guilty of the action. It just means, like you said, to your point, and we get it, we have to in many ways depend on the criminal justice system to do the right thing in which we
already know to deal with that. But that a lot of times a person is either unwilling to go but so far because your life can be ruined and or the evidence might be older, or you know, you might not be able to find the people or get them to speak up for you about what happened. And there's a whole lot of factors that go into that. So does that mean that the person who has been harmed
deserves the repair. Ok So maybe, but then no, I'm just saying it makes it it's hard to have that conversation because it's kind of like, what about the people who just lost even though they were right?
Well, but that's just like saying, what about somebody who was proven innocent that trial and goes home, Like do we still the consequences? Do we still say, hey, they should be in jail? Do we still sing all nout?
Okay?
So if we talk about due process, and we talking about the law and due process their individuals, both of our lives are.
Being impacted, right, And if you accuse me.
Of something, you should be able to And because at the end of the case.
Because at the end of the day, once there is a case and we can't prove it, then we can't assume that somebody is lying or didn't like we We we have to go by the merit of what.
The case is.
So I agree with that. So I agree with that.
So I agree with that, And I think that I was saying that it's conflated because it's some parts of what you're saying that I'm like, Okay, I completely get that there's some other parts that I get concerned about, just because I understand the dynamics of when people come
forward with their stories and what have you. But if we focus on the overall premise of what you're saying, and it is true that I also saw that, you know, the charges were dismissed against puff, I think for a little somebody like you said, I don't know the man's name, but I saw on one place in a blink and I little something anyway something, but anyway, little Rod, little Rod,
I did see that. And you're right, just using that as an example, everything in that lawsuit was everywhere, every single page of it, and I mean, it's so horrific to read that. If any of it is true, it's like, oh my god, Like this is crazy, right, And so yeah, it's everywhere, and then a judge dismisses it, and it's kind of like we might have it may have been
in one place. So using a high profile case like that to make the point that it's louder when you are accused or when it's something negative or when it's in the red. But on the other side, when something has been done that is more so in your favor, you don't really hear from people because when folks have decided, no matter right, wrong of indifferent, that you are what you are and they just decided it, they don't even care to process any other information.
And that's not just in his situation, that's for me.
You know, that has been the case multiple times in my life when I've been slandered and told I said, you know, they label me as all kinds of things, and when a good thing happens, or when I do something to attempt to, you know, address.
Whatever this looming.
Narrative, you don't really even you You hardly can even find us responding on me responding. So, for instance, the whole situation with Samiria Rights, when she just you know, said that whatever, that we was taking advantage. She didn't even know your name, so whoever told her on your name?
She said missy or.
Something whatever, Sonnie, Sonni whatever, And you know, in saying that, you know, we were taking advantage of families and you using her child and all of that and benefiting from uh, the loss of life of our of our people. You know, when we responded to it by saying, because there were so many people were like nah, you know, y'all must've excuse me, y'all must have been working with her and
you use her child. I'm like, bro, we never made a T shirt, never even met the lady, And I only said maybe we met her one time because it's possible, like we could have been at a conference or something and I don't remember, so I didn't want to say absolutely never, but I'm pretty sure that I never even met her before, just you know, after that happened, I met her, but that you would you could hardly find that if you google my name, you will hardly find
where I am responding to the statements that she made against the person she never met, ever had no conversation with. So it's true. I mean that I get. I just want to make sure. It just triggers me. And you know, I think about so many things that happened to me where I didn't even feel comfortable saying it because I didn't I never even believe that there would be due process for me, let alone, when you speak about due process for us.
So it's it's just it's a tough conversation.
It is a tough conversation because I just the thing is, I've just like, even when we look at the situation with jay Z. Right, a lady admitted to lying, like literally admitted to lying. She did, and there's no recourse, there's nothing. This man they ran this man named through the mother about.
A teenage girl.
Kid, Yeah, you understand something like So he he has to and this is a billionaire, so he had to forcefully say I'm going to suit everybody.
It's just not gonna go away.
I know he's probably going to the press and making sure that because he realizes how this stains his life and his career. He realizes that the average person doesn't come back from even accusations of this. So if somebody admits to lying about something, if you find somebody and it's not just that, okay, it wasn't the evidence. This person was still steadfast when somebody admits to lying, when you find out a person is lying, when you find out they made something up, there should have to be
some level of record. This should have to be the same people who publish that. There should be some type of media etiquette or media something that demands that if you are somebody who is on the front page posting somebody's name for twenty days straight, you need to post the recourse if you find out that there's a lot the same amount of days.
Yeah, well, I think there's definitely a need to balance out some of what we see happening, because there's even you know, stuff where I don't know, I've been having conversations with different people who feel like celebrities also, celebrities are human people. And yes, do they have more privilege, They have more resources, which therefore makes them more susceptible
to a whole bunch of things. Absolutely, But I don't think that it means that they should just be harassed into, you know, the harassment that we see some people going through and that so that's that's also another conversation.
But you know, we can stay here all.
Day because it's it's it's a sensitive topic, but it's a good topic to discuss because there has to be a way that people feel comfortable that right that if I do do something or if i'm if my name is clear, that it's not like it doesn't matter.
Mm hm.
That that's true. I should be.
I mean it should be, especially when rape and sexual assault is the most egregious thing that a man could be accused of.
Yeah, well it's and I just I just I'm asking you, just listening to you. I just hope that you are able to expand your argument beyond set sexual violence in general. I think I just want to expand that because I think when you when you start and kind of end, even though you did bring up some other incidents, but when you start and end with sexual violence, it's hard for people to hear. And so sometimes when we want to educate folks on issues what you're.
Saying, but you don't think it's hard for men.
And I'm not.
I understand that That's not what I'm talking about, because the job here is to be able to bring people with you so that other folks can start to get and see the parallels, so they could be like, Okay, now I see what you're saying. But I hear what you're saying, so I just want to let me just finish it.
I'm saying.
So all I'm saying is sexual violence is not the only thing. And in fact, that's what I was trying to get to earlier. The number of people accused of sexual violence, especially those where it is determined to be false, it's lower than some of the other things that black
men are accused of. Right, So I'm just saying that it's helpful to a person who might be triggered that they can hear it from different perspectives, so that when you are talking about sexual violence, they get it because the concept has already been cemented.
And I understand what you're saying, but I want you to understand this. If a man goes on a Snoop Dogg was on trial for murder, right when he beat the murder case, he still was America's darling.
You can beat a murder.
Case and still go back to doing anything you want in this world. Right, people act like it never even happened. Right, you can go back. If Samiraa Wright said what you want about me, I don't really care. Right, is not gonna affect my everyday life, Like people are not gonna look at sol Samia Race.
Some people might. It really doesn't affect me.
But when you put that on my name, right, it's going to affect my life for the rest of my life. So if there's not no recourse to change the course of that, then that's what I'm trying to tell you.
That is the most egregious thing that you put on a man.
Yeah, and.
This is pretty much I mean you probably I'm.
Not saying that that's not terrible, and I'm not saying that it should happen, And I'm saying it absolutely needs to be addressed and it's wrong and it should not happen, and no one should be accusing a man of something like that that becomes a scarlet letter or whatever on his back.
But I'm but I we have to stop.
But what I'm saying is that in order for people to be able to understand it, it's very similar to how you tell me sometimes I have to educate people over here in order to get them to understand this. And so the concept, in my judgment, should not just be rooted in sexual violence, because black men have been accused of a lot of things that also have been damaging, maybe not quite as damaging as sexual violence, but there
are other things that happen. So I'm just hoping that when you speak about this and I'm not here, that you can broaden the conversation to include some other things that can be very damage into a black man or a black person that is not corrected.
Well, I mean, other than pedophilia. I don't really see what it is, but I'll do some research on it, you know, and see what I could come up with. But you know, on that note, that brings us to the end of another episode, very powerful conversation. Shout out to our brother Gary Chambers for his insight and his knowledge and he's just love of justice and what we
need to be doing at this time. And shout out to you Tamika for always giving, you know, a good conversation even though we might not agree on the particulars, but you always give me a perspective that I have to go back to the drawing board and just listen to because sometimes you know, I'm very strong on my convasion when I leave some and came to the table with it.
But you know, we've on to the point where we don't.
Fight, we don't disagree as much as we used to. Actually we get a little better, but we're gonna give a little pushback. We give a little push because that's how the show used is. The show started with I don't agree, I don't agree. That used to be season five.
Not that we agree, but we know how to be disagreeable.
We know how to how to have different perspectives without being disagreeable.
So there you go.
And with that said, we love you. I'm not gonna always be right, Tamika. The marriage and I can always be wrong, but we will both always and I mean always, be authentic peace. That's how we own it.