A State of Great Transition

show over the last several years. It has been at times an uphill battle to stay on top of all of the horrendous news, and at other times, you know, a majority of the time extraordinarily rewarding speaking to so many thoughtful people who, in their different modes and industries, are trying to advance democracy, are trying to offer critical analysis and paths of hope and faith for the listeners

to walk. It is going to be a really difficult time ahead, and you know that I don't ever sugarcoat things or try and pretend that they're not going to be as bad as they are. And the fact is, I have no idea, none of us really know. We have history as our guide, but we don't really know truly what we're in for. But we do know that fundamentally, the America that we have known will not exist anymore. And for the last ten plus years, our country, our

democracy has been creeping towards authoritarianism. Donald Trump proved that he didn't even need to be in the White House for that to continue to creep forward, with the attacks on media, with the attacks on political opponents, with the fact that he was the first former president to actually never go away from the spotlight, to never leave the stage, and to continue to see discourse and distrust, and it has overwhelmed us to the point where millions of people

decided not to vote, or handful of people peeled off and decided that Donald Trump's vision of America and his narrative that he had created was what they believed in. And this show started in twenty seventeen as a response and reaction to Donald Trump's administration because I honestly, I was genuinely, like all of you, gobsmacked that someone like him would be following the historic presidency of Barack Obama.

But then, if you are a student of history and understand whitelash and what happens every time there is significant progress in this country for black people, particularly, there is always always resounding backlash to those advancements, so steep in fact that this Civil War and reconstruction ushered in one

hundred years of Jim Crow. We have only truly had a democracy in this country for the last sixty years, where those who weren't expressly written into the Constitution were provided, after blood, sweat and tears, the opportunity to be full fledged citizens of this country. And now here we are where once again progress is being stopped dead in its tracks, and what comes next may indeed last a century or more.

You know, our friend Jonathan Mepzil, you know, says, you know, sometimes he feels like the guy in the midst of the one hundred Year War three years in saying, oh my god, when is this going to end? And that is kind of how I feel as well. You know, I can't express the deep disappointment, devastation and grief that

I am. I'm still processing from the last three weeks of where this election landed us, but also the last several years of turning on a microphone every single day to try and offer truth and critical thinking and a deeper analysis of where we want this country to go. And I'm proud. I'm proud of the work that I've done. I'm proud of the conversations that we have had. That being said at the end of this year, wokaf will end.

And as you know, I host, as people say, fifty eleven podcasts and shows, but wokapp has been my flagship show. It has been an idea that I was able to turn into a really incredible project over the last several years. And when faced with whether to continue this show or end it, I made the really hard decision that it was time for a new chapter. Don't be confused by me leaving WOKF that I'm leaving the airwaves. That is absolutely not happening until somebody pulls the microphone from me.

But I've been grappling for a long time with what it actually means in this day and age where people made the decision that they didn't want to be folk, that they made the decision that they would rather be led and led by a liar, that they would rather bury their heads in the sand. This elect kind of broke my heart, and I think that that is fair to say that I am heartbroken, and I need to figure out for myself what my resistance is going to

look like moving forward. And for many of you, you've seen that I have launched a new show, a video streaming show, a live show where I can better engage with the audience in real time and have real time conversation, host town halls on Tuesdays of The Danielle Moody Show, provide call to actions on Thursday, and give people an opportunity in real time to be able to create and build community, even if that is just you know, thirty

to forty five minutes a day. But there has been something about podcasting and speaking out into a void that hasn't continued to provide me with the kind of sustenance that I need in this moment, and that I think that audiences need in this moment. As people turn away from cable news, as folks turn away from legacy news, what I hear is that people are so thirsty for connection with one another. And that is why I launched

my YouTube channel. It was because one I needed to actually be engaging with people, engaging with all of you in a different way. I needed to be able to kind of flex creative muscles and learn how to produce my own content and control all levers of my shows in the way that I haven't had the ability to do. And so I make this announcement today that you know the end of the year. December thirty first will be the last Woke af show, and I'm just filled with

a mix of emotions around that. Like I said, I'm filled with deep gratitude for having hosted this show, created this show for years. It started out as, you know, a gig that I was doing on Sundays on Serious XM for three hours live taking calls and just being in conversation with people. And I miss that. I miss that daily interaction and hearing from real people. And that's why I went to YouTube, because I was like, put a question in the chat, comment on something. It just

it feels livelier. I say that to say that I'm so appreciative of all of the support. You have no idea how many times I have felt defeated in this work and just wanted to, you know, give up and let other people do it and do it better. But I think that we are in a state of great transition in this country and in our own lives. Right If you're a person that you know believes in astrology and the way that I do, it's one of the

oldest technologies on the planet. You know, We're ending one cycle of Pluto leaving Capricorn and moving into Aquarius for the first time. I think this was the last time that it'll be in Capricorn in our lifetime. And we're ending a fifteen year cycle, going back to two thousand

and eight until now. And when I think about the last fifteen years, which is an incredibly long stretch of time, and I think about what two thousand and eight symbolized in our politics, of the election of the first black president, and now the probably our last election and the election of a known white supremacist and an Autocrat. We've been

on a wild journey, you know. I started two thousand and eight young and fresh eyed, and so committed to American politics and so excited about the future of this country, and now fifteen years later find myself in deep grief over who I thought America was, who I thought that we had the possibility to be. And I say, and I've been saying as I try and reframe my thoughts around this election, that maybe Donald Trump is actually needed.

Maybe the destruction of systems and of a country that never wanted to reckon with white supremacy, never wanted to reckon with white violence, domestic violence, and terrorism. Maybe people need to see it up close and personal, because we've sanitized all of our history so much so that in Red States you think that the Transatlantic slave trade was

some type of internship. And according to Ron DeSantis, you know, slaves learn skills as opposed to you captured skillful, creative, innovative people, and then they built this country that you were too lazy your ancestors to do themselves. The reality is that sometimes destruction is necessary. Sometimes people have to lose things to recognize how very important things like freedom, bodily, autonomy, creativity,

and innovation were and are. And I think that in a lot of ways America has taken for granted the things that were fought for tooth and nail, that people lost their lives for, shed blood for, shed tears for for generations. And you know, I have said this so many times on the Danielle Moody Show as of late, that all of us are not making it to the

New World. We're not and we have to understand that that millions of lives are going to be lost in this deep, dark transitional state that this country and the world are going to go through. And what comes next, God willing, will be a rebuild that is more inclusive that is in recognition of never allowing an autocrat a dictator to ever take power again. But there is going to be years and years and years of hardship in

order to get to the other side. Now, while I didn't need to be a part of the find out of the fuck around, as I continue to say, none of us did, because we've been doing the right things. Clearly as a collective, this is something that the universe is saying that we need to go through. So as we seek out community, as we wake from this haze of and try and figure out what each of our roles are moving forward, understand that in times of darkness,

there was still light. During the horrific terrorism and practice of slavery and Jim Crow, they were still dancing and jazz and delicious food being created and art being made. And we need to revel in that. We need to find those outlets, create those spaces that make us feel our full humanity, that have us really steeped and wrapped up in the delicious beauty that humanity does offer, even in and especially in times of darkness. I had the ability over the weekend to go to the Whitney to

see the Ali exhibit. This astounding exhibit of the Alvin Ailey Dance Company and Alvin Ailey, the founder and creator, And it was just if you have the opportunity to come to New York to see it, or if you're in New York or close enough, it is worth the

trip to see the inspiration to understand that. As I was looking at the dates of the births and deaths of some of these great artists that inspired and were friends with Alvin Ailey, you're looking at births in the nineteen hundred, nineteen twenty four, nineteen thirty nine, and seeing how long these incredible Black artists and poits, Lorraine Hansbury, Duke Ellington, Jacob Lawrence, how long of a life these people had, what they had seen, some of them born

just at the beginning of what it would mean to be free, born, free and black in this country but not yet seen as a citizen, and what they created during that time. And as I was walking through these just huge rooms and taking in the art and the dance and the music, and the sculpture and the weaving and the quilts, and just it took my breath away and or reminded me that our lives are but like a blip in this long span and existence of the universe.

But what we do with our time to make this space, this planet better is not about the external world being perfect, or being loving, or even being kind. But it is about the joy and the community and the connection and the beauty that we create in spite of it all is the testament of our humanity. And so I am

grateful for those creatives. I'm grateful for to have been just marveling for a few hours in the whitney and just taking in my ancestors, these beautiful black legends who lived at a time where, on its face was pure despair, but what they created was indeed extraordinary, and we were all better off for it. So, as we move out of this hate into this new world, understanding that it is going to be filled with both the darkness and light, be the lantern. Figure out what your resistance looks like.

It could look like gardening. It could look like monthly dinner parties and gatherings with friends and family. It could look like watercolor or poetry. It could look like rest. But now as we enter into this next phase, this next chapter, this next book, this next story, our entire lives do not have to be about how we react to this new regime. It can be about what we

create in spite of it. So I thank you all so very much, and the next couple of weeks we will continue to provide analysis and interviews, and I really do hope that you all will join me over at my YouTube channel to connect with the community that I am building over there, And for those that are on Patreon and continue to support my work there, you will also see your Patreon populated with different work and musings and things that I am working on, and you will

be the first to see. But I appreciate all of you, and I'm grateful for all of you, and I thank you for showing up for me all of these years. I wish you a holiday season filled with love, joy, gratitude, and peace. That is it for me today. Dear friends on Woke af as always, power to the people and to all the people. Power, get woke and stay Augus Fack