Mustard Seed of Hope

you've definitely heard doctor Greer. And I adore my conversations with her so much because she is working to inspire, teach, and uplift the next generation of political scientists and next generation of you know, young people who are God willing, going to be global citizens, going to be active participants

in our democracy. And I laugh, I laugh because you will hear in the conversation with Christina about whether or not she thinks that we are going to have a democracy, whether or not it matters what happens during midterm elections, if in fact, the backsliding has been so detrimental that she doesn't see a path forward. I asked a series of questions, because you know, you guys know me. While I joke a lot of the times and say that I am always holding on to that mustard seed of hope,

there is no bun. I truly believe that is more hopeful than me, because otherwise, why the thought would I wake up every day and turn on a microphone and turn on my computer, and turn on my phone, and try and wake as many people up as possible, whether it's one or one hundred. You know, I believe that my responsibility on this planet is to weigh people up to their power and to make them conscious of the ways in which our society, systemic powers that be work

to take advantage of people. Right that work to take advantage of whether it is people's ignorance, whether it is people's lack of time, because they work multiple jobs to be able to just afford the bare minimum right, which is shelter, clothing, and food. There are systems at play that are not put in place to uplift the most marginalized. As a matter of fact, it is to make sure that they stay that way. Then, to make sure that people are in such a desperate situation that they'll take

whatever shit job is put in front of them. And then, of course we create laws that allow for those people that run those businesses to not provide healthcare, to not provide safe working conditions, and people have to show up. Why because they're desperate, right, and we've squeezed them of their power, of their will, and all they can do

is keep their head above water. And so I feel, in the position of privilege that I have to be able to digest and analyze all that is going on and deliver it to people in a digestible way, so that people are reminded that they do have power, that they do have a voice, and that when we link up with like minded people. And I don't mean like minded as in they love the same way, they look the same way, they pray the same way, or so

on and so forth. I mean like minded in the idea of equity, right, in the idea of understanding what justice means right, and that it shouldn't be a designation of your level of melanin that we have a shared understanding that everyone, everyone in this country, everyone frankly on this planet, should be able to live free from violence, to live free from fear of oppression and subjugation and sexual violence. And you know, and race and all of these things. And so when I say like minded, that's

what I'm talking about. I'm talking about people who believe that they are citizens on this planet right, that we are, you know, all human. And you know, I know that for some people in saying that, you know, it can

sound you know, polyannaish, but it isn't right. Like, the whole purpose of the language that republicans and fascist regimes and authoritarians and dictators use is about dehumanization, because when you detach people from their humanity, then you can mistreat them any which way that you want, because they're not like you. They're animals, right, they belong in cages, they warrant death. Right. When you dehumanize people and you devalue them,

then you can treat them any type of way. So I believe that my work here on this planet is to wake as many people up to their power, to their purpose, and to their path as possible. And I think that if there is one of you that is out there that is listening that says, oh now, I

get it right. In an alarm bell, a light lightning bulb hits, a light bulb flashes, then it is your responsibility to then wake up the next person, and so on and so forth until we are all conscious, right, because we can't fight this war asleep, and that is what they are hoping, is that we will remain in a slumber, that we will think that things will just be okay, and that we don't need to take any

action therefore right. But we do. And so in this conversation with my good good friend doctor Christina Greer, we dig into the ways in which we need to keep hope, that we need to educate, and that we need, more importantly than ever in this midterm election to vote. That conversation is coming up next. It's no secret that the news is horsepill hard to swallow. Thankfully, there's The Bituation Room podcast hosted by comedian and commentator Francesca Freer and

Tini for a lighter take on the heavy stuff. Each week, the Bituation Room brings you progressive comedians, experts, and activists to break down the issues in a way that won't just leave you crying under a weighted blanket. Get The Bituation Room on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and streaming on YouTube and Twitch. Folks, you know, I am always so excited when I get to Welcome back to woke EPP Daily.

My friend and colleague in the Twitter sphere and world of politics, doctor Christina Greer, who you know as an associate professor at Fordham University. She is also the author of Black Ethnics, co host of FAQ NYC, and host of the Blackest Questions um at the Grio Black Pods. Doctor Greer, good, good, good, the good doctor day. No sus right now and this fuckery diagnose America right now in where we are because if if if I'm a doctor, I'm saying, we gotta pull the plug because the surgery

don't look like it's worked. Um so what is yours? So we should have had my sister on this episode because she's the real doctor, right right. She always teases me. She's like, you know what happens if there's an emergency, You're gonna read somebody a book. Oh damn. She's my best friend, but she's she's a harsh one. Um So here's what I would say if I'm diagnosing America. We have We've got a disease to the bones, right and the question is do we amputate? Do we not do anything?

What is the medicine and the good thing is, you know, sometimes miracles do happen. I'm not saying that we have one, but you know, I'm always cautiously optimistic, and I'm pragmatic in my optimism. I do think that there are some people who are waking up, those like sleeper cells that are the good guy. Do I think that white men and white women who are completely supporting herschel Walker and his nonsense, and Ron Johnson Wisconsin and his nonsense, and

doctor Oz and his nonsense. Do I really think that those people who are oathkeepers in January sixth, sympathizers and apologist, are they gonna make up? No, We're moving on without them.

But there are some people who, you know, kept telling themselves like, oh, it's about the tax breaks and the rhetorics not that bad, and they're slowly seeing just as every sort of civil rights icon and leader has always told us Malcolm X Audrey, Lord, Frederick Douglas a journal truth like one day it will be you come on

that they come for. And so I think some white women are waking up and realizing that, you know, this Dab's decision is going to affect them and their families, not just that they have daughters, if they have sons. Come on, let's not ten that only Democrats are having sex, because Republicans do love some unprotected and rerebarrittal sex as well. So stop putting it all on the Democrats. Stop putting

all in women of color. So I do think that Republicans have a great chance of overplaying their hands in the sense that you've got Republicans constantly voting against hurricane relief and refusing to work with the federal government. Are you going to turn down Joe Biden's assistance in this moment of need. Some of them are crazy enough and ideological enough to be like, yeah, we will. So you know, you and I have both been on TV with John to the Metico, and he has dying of whiteness. He

comes on the show every week. This is our good in house doctor. Yeah, this is where we are. It's like we're literally seeing white people. They would rather die yep, literally yep, then offer assistance to someone, to lend a hand to someone, to lend a hand to themselves, which is wild. So when I'm optimistic, though, I think that there are a lot of people who are like, listen, this direction is just too much. We can't have swastikas

and Confederate flags as as okay symbols. We can't take away a woman's right to choose because it's not about pro life, because these are the same people who believe in the death penalty. Come on, these are the same people who will starve children just because their parents are my rents or undocumented or homeless. Right, so we can't. We Democrats have to be better at the rhetoric too. You know, I refuse to say the phrase pro life. There's no such thing as pro life. Not with these people.

It's choice and anti choice. Are you literally saying that a grown ass woman cannot have autonomy over her body? That is what you're saying, that's what you're voting for. Say that a woman of sound mind cannot have autonomy over her own body, even if she's raped or insect to say nothing of Maybe I have a full time job and I just don't want to have a baby right now for whatever reason. It's my business, it's my choice.

So I'm hoping that the Democrats can organize themselves and organize a message and stop leaning into Republican talking points as a weak defense, and really articulate a vision to say, like pay attention, people, stop, Like if it sounds crazy, it's because it's crazy. Right. Your gas is down, your job prospects are better than they have been. You know, you look at the governors that didn't take COVID seriously, those people are dead or have long COVID and will

be on the doles for a really really long time. Like, let's have some real conversations about what the two parties are doing. Neither are perfect, we get it, but like they are definitely this is not a boom boo through you know, booth sides or a mess that is absolutely not true. That's a lazy argument, and I think Democrats need to walk voters through why that absolutely isn't true and why they're literally trying to keep this country alive

and keep the people in it alive as well. So, you know, me as being the person who does not who doesn't mince words and comes in hot, and I think I need to come in hot all the time

because I feel like most motherfuckers are asleep. And you know, I say that because I still am uncertain whether a majority of white women who voted for Donald Trump in twenty sixteen and twenty twenty have woken up to the reality that they're no longer free right, and they have always predicated their decision making on that of their proximity

to their white fathers and their white husbands. And so I am not convinced right that enough white women are shook in a way that still requires the Democratic Party to try and pander two folks that have never voted Democrat, I mean not in the last at least fifty years. So my question to you is, you know, as I continue to yell from the rooftop, that I do believe, Christina,

that this is our last midterm elections. I believe that if we the people, if we the people do not pull off this midterm elections for Democrats, I believe that this is it. I don't care what happens in twenty twenty four because Congress, maybe not the Senate, but the erosion right and the coup will continue and now have even more legs because there'll be more Republican members who are election deniers in the House of Representatives than not.

And so I am wondering do people get it, like and you know, like do they understand because look, I'm looking I like to consider myself a global citizen, and I'm looking around the world and I see an new aligning, a new world order coming in to play. That should be foreshadowing, that should be alarm, you know, raising And yet the media doesn't talk about it in that way. And so do you think that the people are getting it? And particularly the students that you engage with every single

day at Fortnum? You know, what, where are their minds at as young people right now? Where what are they thinking about this? This this make or break moment for our democracy? Yeah, so you've given me a lot. Let me just I'll start from your last question and work my way back. So I have, you know, an incomplete sample, because I have students who are interested in politics, so I don't know what some of the non politics students

are interested in. The reason though, why I do teach Intro to Politics every semester, even though I'm a show associate chair and like a senior faculty member, where it's very rare that someone of my stature, if you would say, would teach an intro that's kind of beneath a lot of older professors, if you will, I think it's the

most important class. It's the introductory class. So instead of having adjuncts or you know, folks that don't have the same foundation, instead of having them teach it, I want to teach it because it's like that's how I steal all the smart kids from other majors too, and get them interested in politics and take it really seriously. The students I have now are really frustrated. You know, I'm throwing a lot at them because it's do you forget?

I have to explain to them what this country was from the beginning times, how we used to do things, then the Trump era, and now where we are at the fallout and kind of the precipice. So my historical foundation is like multifold now, so I've got to cut through a lot of information gave. It's sort of like

before times. Then it's kind of like nineteen fifty two to the present, but now it's like nineteen fifty two to twenty sixteen, sixteen to twenty twenty, and then it's like twenty twenty to the to the president, and then it's like, okay, so where do you all see yourselves? You know? I really try and have them imagine, you know, some of these questions, and I'm like, you will be called on to answer these questions, either because you're an elected or you work for an elected I'm also always

having them think about different jobs. So not everybody wants to be an elected official. I don't you know, people ask us this all the time, right because we're on TV. I don't want to be elected inficial. But you know, I was like, if you're artsy, you know you can design posters and fonts like all that stuff. You know, if you want to go to law, like election law is real preventing people from going to prison with campaign finance violations, like, there are a lot of different things.

Now to your question, where are my students? They are very frustrated that it seems as though on a weekly basis, we can find billions of dollars for other countries and we can't seem to find it for the student debt. That is a question because they're they're first or second years, but they're already looking down the barrel of thousands of dollars, as are their parents, and mind, you know, this is gen Z. So they're like, we know we ain't got stuff.

Our parents barely have anything, like the good old days are done. And they know if they want to go to graduate school, it's gonna be even more dead. So they know the death that they're already in and the death that they're going to accumulate. They are thirtain there and it's not like they're cold hearted snakes, like they're just like, we stand with the people of Ukraine, right, we stand with Afghanistan, we stand with you know, Pakistan,

whatever the crisis may be in the news. But when we talk about Ukraine, what's really fascinating is they always preface it's like, we stand with Ukraine. I'm not saying that I don't. But it was thirty billion this week, billion last week we got another twenty five billion. So it's just like, where's this money coming from? And how can we can find it so quickly? And where's my money? And then knowing, you know, we talk about paying taxes and the importance of paying taxes and how they probably

won't have some security and all these things. So there's there's that piece where we're sort of seeing ourselves as global citizens, but also what does it mean to be a domestic citizen because some of them are like, well, I have relatives in Florida and it doesn't look like they're going to get relieve anytime soon. Or I have relatives in Puerto Rico. They're still reeling from Hurricane Maria.

Oh and by the way, Biden just gave them sixty million dollars M to Puerto Rico, not be gave three billion last week to Ukraine, right, sixty million M to Puerto Rico, because I mean, like realistically, like come on, and if you've seen the damage in her in in Puerto Rico and we know that they're still reeling from Maria, sixty million dollars is like me, Danielle, sorry, your house is flooded. I got twenty one twenty US dollars. That's the equivalent of it. Yeah, like carl I gave you

twenty dollars, like is flooded? Like and don't you still have those paper towels from Trump? Exactly? So you know, and which also lends to really interesting conversations about like Puerto Rican statehood in dcidood and what that would mean to have a whole bunch of black and Latino people probably in the Democratic Party, and why it is that we're not going to have a hundred four senators and then we'd have to redistribute the four thirty five across

these two new states. I mean, so having them see politics in real time and how it really works is really important for me, because this isn't a theory that we can read on the page all the time. Oh well, why is the Puerto Rico a state? It's like, well, right now we know they're in crisis. So the US would actually be responsible, right and would really need to take her report Rico as opposed to this sixty million

dollars insult. So backing into it to other parts of your question, No, I don't think white women are going to have a great moment of agnorisis like, oh my gosh, like I've been upholding patriarchy and I'm also a victim. Like, No, I don't think that that will happen, But I do have faith that there's going to be a small percentage that have a little bit of movement in wiggle room.

And I do think that quietly some Republican women not enough to you know, change the tide, but I do think some of them might quietly vote or abstain from certain races and certain individuals, just because I do think that in certain places these people are really overplaying their hands,

you know, the primate. Think about it this way. We've got those six states that have those election deniers that are at the top of the ticket, But who votes in a primary except for like your die hards, and so there are a lot of kind of middle of

the road quasi middle of the road. I mean, listen, if you're still a Republican, you're in for opinion for a pound, Like you were saying, the misogyny and the racism and the anti immigrant sentiments and anti Muslim, anti Jewish, anti black, anti anti anti you're basically saying, that's okay. But for whatever at tax break reason you say, I'm a Republican. Still sure, whatever helps you sleep at night.

But I do think that some of those people who didn't necessarily participate in a primary are going to come into a general and be like this person seems a little crazy. Now. I don't know if that's going to work in all six states, but I do think that there's enough wiggle room, and I think that there are going to be some Democrats, hopefully who are galvanized, to be like, yo, this could be our last free and

fair election if I don't step up. But that also goes to the larger Democratic Party, where it's like, you have to give people a reason to come out and vote. The cost of voting time money, you know, some people have to drive, they have to pay for gas, they got to get a sitter, whatever. So my question is this, Jamie Harrison, where are you and what are you doing? Sir? Wake up? Because I would think that I would see you on the news every day walking me through this

fifty stage strategy. I would think that I would see you articulating this vision about what are we all supposed to be doing. I live in New York. We're pretty We're pretty good to go, I mean, and I'm not going to take it for granted. Kathy Hokel is facing a Trump fist. Lee Zelden, who you know, is an

election denier, like he is crazy. New York has our own wing of It's called Upstate and Long Island and Loki half of Brooklyn, Moses Staten Island, a significant portion of Queens, a quiet section of Manhattan, and a sprinkling in the Bronx. Like, let's all be clear, there are a lot of people who were into this Trump. January sixth, quasi fascist fascist Lee Zeldon train. So I'm not going

to take that for granted. But we're not Pennsylvania. We're not Wisconsin right now, we're not Florida, we're not Arizona. Jamie Harrison, why aren't you telling me what my marching orders are? Okay, don't know. Besides, okay, fine, give some money if I know who the races are. But like, what are our marching orders? Should I be making phone calls? Like what should we be doing? Who are the surrogates, what's the message, what's the mobilization, what's the motivation? Because

some people don't understand. When you and I say this could be our last real election, these people get ahold of it. They already said they're going to impeach Biden for what. I don't know. I'm impeach them just because you impeach my president twice when Trump and his egregious nonsense. But they just said they're going to start impeach everybody. So Kamala, Harris, Biden, you name it, though, impeach members of the Supreme Court, Johns, Brown, Jackson, who cares? So

we know that that's what they're gonna do. We know the time is of the essence, and we know that we can barely get stuff with unified government that's the House, Senate, and President all being of the same party. So if we have divided government, which means even one of them of the different parties, so if the Republicans get even the Senate or the House, nothing will get done. Hardly

anything got done anyway because of mansion in cinema. So we know that if Democrats don't gain seats, if they lose anything, it's a complete and total gridlock slash deadlock. So Jamie Harrison, Joe Biden, what are we to do? Tell us because right now we have all these diffew

strategies but no central messaging. And I think that's also part of the frustration of a lot of Democrats, where it's like this is a mass, we could win it, and we could be mobilizing, you know, like they're parts of what's going on in Florida, where you could be linking this to the fascist governments that many of these Latinos have fled and tying that directly around to Santis's neck. You could make some real clear, crisp connections. But then

you left this country. But Christine, and this is this is what they will say now is not the time. Let's not let's not politicize this right because you can make so many links to the fact that here comes Ron de Santis out of Florida, hat in hand, wanting to collect his welfare for his state for um federal

relief for this hurricane. Meanwhile, when he was in Congress, voted against hurricane relief funding for Sandy and then also used leftover COVID relief funds to pull a political, a cruel political stunt in order to get his name across

Fox News. And so here's the thing I said, you know, let me be the petty president of the United States and go tell the Santists, why don't you go collect that twelve million dollars that you were using on charter planes to go drop off migrants in Martha's vineyard and go see if that works for you. Get a behind the scenes look at Comedy Central's The Daily Show. Beyond the Scenes, an original podcast from The Daily Show with

Trevor Noah. Every week, host Roy Wood Junior goes deeper with the notable guests and experts from the Emmy Award winning series. Together, they use comedy to tackle current topics from gentrification to gun laws and take a closer look at how and why these topics matter. Listen to Beyond the Scenes from the Daily Show with Trevor Noah on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast or wherever you get your podcast. New episodes every Tuesday at the end of the day.

The problem that I believe that Democrats have is the fact that they are not petty enough, that they are not angry enough, because there is no better time than the time than the moment of a disaster storm that all of a sudden, these people who want to be anti federal government, anti Biden, all of a sudden standing in front of they're blown off Ruth House talking about, Oh my god, can somebody come help me? Help yourself? Dude?

What I want to say, What I want to say to you, what you have said to black and brown people since the beginning of time with your votes, It's go help yourself. Right. Here's here's the thing that Democrats still don't understand. It's like, you'll give the money because you know, they're like, we're all Americans at the time of crisis. But then they also won't do say what Trump did. Trump was like, I'll give you the stimulus

check but I'm put my name on it, sir. Not only is that ridiculous and illegal, but he's like, but I want everybody to know I gave it to you. So it's like Biden's not gonna make you know because even Obama. You remember with Chris Christie, it's like, you want this money, You're gonna go on a tour with me. Yep, two of us are gonna being out a little police vests and lands and jackets, and we're gonna be walking around New Jersey. So everyone knows that I gave you

this money. It's like, Biden, make de Santists show up with you with his tin can yeah, make right, and then in the time with you, right, and then if all of a sudden he wants to sing a different tune, right, then you pull like pull the money, act like you have the power that the people actually gave you, and star and start to describe and point out who the villain is, Like you don't get to have Disantists come in and take federal money and then go on Fox

News and turn around and want and want to demonize Democrats and the Biden administration. Right, and then he didn't take the money. I mean like and will say he didn't take the money, so he's just miraculous to got money. But I think that's the thing. It's, you know, and I don't even call it being petty. I think it's Democrats don't know how to play like street ball. They're just sitting here. We're like, well, you know, it's the right thing to do, and it'say, yeah, you can also

do the right thing. But put some base in your voice. Come on, you want this money, tap dance a little bit because I'm still gonna give it to you, because we're all American people, and people are in crisis. So let's not play politics and partisanship right now. But let's

be abundantly clear. You will go in front of the citizens of the state of Florida and you will tell them that you are standing here in front of them with this check only because of my largesse, only because I gave you this money, like you all are living because the federal government came in and saved you in your time of need. Again, because guess what, you all don't believe in climate change. You better talk about climate

change if I give you this money. Because we can't keep dolling out this kind of money every season for hurricanes, but we're going to happen. Let's just which is happening, Which is happening, because every season is another once in a century storm. Every guy damn year is a once in a century tornado, one to a century fire, one to the century hurricane. And I'm like, so how many once in a century things need to happen in five years for you to realize that it ain't once in

a century. And also again being able to connect the dots for the people and talk about COVID and talk about these viruses. Do you think that this is going to be the last time that we have a global health pandemic? No, it is not. Why because we have glaciers that are melting in the Arctic that have bacteria that's been trapped inside of them for a billion years. Fucking National Geographic comes out and says they're melting. Now,

we don't know what's going to happen. No, thinker's crossed. Heysten, I love the fact that the way was articulated to me was these glaciers are the world's air conditioner, and once they're gone, we don't have a c And I was like, that's a real clear way to explain to people, because listen, I grew up in a big old house in Philly that was designed in a way where you can open up the big old windows and put a fan in it, and you were fine. But then again, I was also a kid and we didn't have a C,

so I was fine with no AC. Now that I'm an adult and I live in an apartment building and I recognize that, you know, I'm like, oh, fans are fine, and people come over, like, hey girl, I can't come to your house because unless you get I got a C just so I could actually have people come over. If you don't have a C as a globe, we're done because that means we also don't have fans either, because hot air is hot air, like you know those days in July where it's like it doesn't matter that

you have ten fans. All is doing is move around hot hot air, and so yeah, and I'm like, and when it's over a hundred degrees outside for straight days and weeks, having AC is not a nice to have, it is an actual need to have for survival. Right. Well, I mean we're also seeing it, just as you said, a once in a generation storm it's like, well, I don't understand how these cities are having, you know, triple digit days, multiple days in a row. It's like, we

haven't seen that ever. And it's like, well, guess what. Sadly, this is the new normal because we've got half of a country that doesn't believe in climate chary. It's like, I don't understand how you can live in the path of a tornado, in the path of the hurricane, or have these extreme winters and extreme summers and still not believe. But that's the thing. I mean, I think, you know, so many of these racists in this country are so intent on owning the libs and making sure, you know,

colored people don't get anything. They're literally driving themselves and us, but driving themselves also off a cliff, and I think they're fine. I mean that goes to the whole Trump thing. Trump will burned down this country with himself in it, family and friends too. He doesn't care. As long as you know, he gets to say that he's right, and as long as he gets to say that he's the one who who drove the train off the tracks, I

think that that's fine with him. Last question for you and real talk, right, because we're only a couple of weeks away from this midterm election. Everybody, including myself and you and so many others are saying vote, vote, vote, organized, get people to the polls. We need to vote. We need to vote. Doctor Christina Grier of political science. Are we too late? Is our democracy irreparable at this point? Is there a way for us to claw back from

where we are? Yes? Absolutely, I have in fair inherent faith in this country, just because we have evolved a lot as a nation, right, I mean, we're not enslaved being raped right now, so like, hey, that is some evolution, and that was not too long ago that our country

had a really I mean, that's the problem. Our history of this nation has been sort of whitewashed and glossed over, and it's like, oh, it's like no, no, this is a brutal, bloodthirsty nation that is built on free labor from enslaved us, chattel, slavery, genocide of Native people's rape, you know, just some of the most horrific conditions you could imagine. That's who we are. And we've moved relatively far from from that brutal, brutal history in like fifty

to seven five years, right. I mean, like, let's be clear, my grandparents and your grandparents were alive when lynchings were like sure, and you know our parents may or may not have gone to segregated schools depending on where they lived in the United States. So now we have a different type of segregation. But you see what I'm saying, it's sanctioned in the same way. But I do have

faith in this country. I do have faith in a lot of people to step up, because you know what helps when you start talking to like these grassroots organizers who've been doing the work for a really long time, like they actually have like a vision, a long term vision. And I think we give a lot of credit to these kind of right wing lunatics who have had a

long term vision. Right they got to work right after nineteen seventy three with Ruby Wade, and they worked and worked and worked for fifty years and they overturned it. And it's like, and that's what the work does, and

we see it. But I'm also really motivated because on the other side of the coin, you start asking around, it's like there are a lot of these grassroots organizations who've been doing this work for a fifty and sixty years as well, smaller scale, but like training a new generation of people to organize, training young people to see this three hundred and sixty degree vision, you know, making sure that, like you know, certain systems and institutions are

in place even as they're being eroded. So I definitely think that we get discouraged that we lose elections. Sure, don't forget. We just had major wins in twenty twenty, followed immediately by January sixth, but we did have some series wins. We had unified government, so it's like, oh, okay, so folks did what they were supposed to do. We might have some losses and that's real. But I think part of being black in this country is not giving up on her. This is kind of what Baldwin, you know,

that tension that Baldwin always explained to us. And as I finish up this book on fanwell Hammer and Barbara Jordan and Stacy Abrams and I had a working title and some called it was like, I mean using that title for my book. So I was like, okay, I have to change my title. But I ended up changing

the title to like the working title. Right now, it is like Black Patriots because like, when I think about these three women, it's like they, to me encapsulate what real patriotism is, and it's like it's not some hoity tweety belief. It's like, oh, this country is so great and she can be beautiful. It's like, no, no, no, no no. She is a flawed, angry, violent, violent, vicious, cruel, deceptive, line, cheating, stealing, you name it. But also there's some really wonderful, hardworking,

honest people in this country. And the beauty of it is sometimes we team up and we get to know each other, whether it's we're TV friends or podcast friends or organizer friends, or we're neighbors, or it's something where we're finding each other and we're connecting and we're putting ourselves on the line. You and I both know this is not easy work. We get to see some of the worst of America in our dms and you know,

on Twitter and people who attack us. But the level of appreciation though, we also get from people who were like, hey, I didn't know that, Or it's like listening to you, Danielle, it's like I've realized I should be angrier than I am, and now I'm motivated or it's like listening to your podcast, Danielle, I like learned something and now I'm connecting my own dots in my own small community. I don't live in

New York City, but I get it, you know. So it's like as an educator, and you know, I always bringing the teaching piece because I love I love what I do. But I think the best part about being an educator is you have to be patient, and so I think that's where you know, whenever I come on the podcast, and you know, I'm a little bit of a hippie, but like still, it's like, there are going to be students where I meet them in September. By the time they leave me in December, I have seen

market growth. Like wow, they got it. Literally roots sprouts out the ground. And then you realize though that their job is an educator or a podcast host or someone who goes on television like yourself. You're literally just throwing out seeds and you're watering them every day, throwing out That's what I do when I go in the classroom. So for some in December I see it, I'm like,

oh wow, that's a big sprout. There are others Danielle, where I don't see it for years m and to like get a random email that was like, hey, finally got what you were saying. Finally see it. And it's like I taught you five years ago, I taught you ten years ago, but hey, dormant. Some seeds lay dormant. That's the point. And like you know, yes, sharecroppers know this, some seeds you need to lay dormant because when the other ones have sprouted and gone on, you need something

else to come up to regenerate. Come on. So it's like, I think that it's great that some people right now are waking up because they actually have a different kind of energy than you and I yeah, like, girl, I've been waked for decades. Others are like, oh my goodness, this is all brand new and I'm super jazzed and

I can't wait to work on it. And it's like, and you know what, now, get to work because your level of energy is going to be different than ours, because we've been in this struggle for quite some time with women who have been in this struggle for quite some time, and so our energy is a little different.

And so I do think that like we can appreciate the different pace that we're in as a nation for people who work towards making this country a better place, in a more equab place, and a more just place. I think it's okay that some folks are just like I'm starting to get it, or I do get it now, or I want to get it, so like, keep working with me, doctor Christina Greer. This is why you are a professor, This is why you are an author, This is why your intellect is sought after all over the place.

Because you just left me inspired and that is a tough task. So well, I for you, you know, like there is a role for everyone, but I adore you because there is a righteous, righteous, legitimate indignation and fire that you have that I think is really important where it's like someone sometimes has to be the jockey that spanks the horse on the bottom, you know, like it can't all just be pt cruisers down the boardwalk, you know, like we're in an episode of Three's Company. It's not

that all the time. But I do think that, like this is why we all need to be in conversation with one another, because I leave your show and I'm like, oh, I need to do something, whether it's donate to somebody whether it's called some friends, Like what do I need to do? My hands might be a little soft this election season, so it's time for me to get my hands dirty, Like what do I need to do? Like who's in Georgia that I know? Who's in Wisconsin? That I know, who's in Philly that I know? So I

can like all hands on deck. But and I think that that's important. But you know, as I always tell you, we can't be a war all the time. That's right, that's all right. There is something to be said about rest, and you know I know how to rest. There's one saying Chrissy Grier knows how to do is to take a break, because we didn't create this problem and it's not going to be solved overnight, and we are of no use to people if the two of us are

bedraggled and beaten down and exhausted. And we know what this country does love to do is kill black women by exhaustion. M I know that's right. I don't want to do that. I won't do that because it's not fair to people who look up to us to do that. AmAm doctor Grier. As always, thank you so much for making the time to join wok af We appreciate you, we are inspired by you, we are in awe of you, and we thank you. That is it for me today, Dear friends on woke f as always, Power to the

people and to all the people. Power, get woke and stay woke as fuck. Get a behind the scenes look at Comedy Central's The Daily Show on Beyond the Scenes, an original podcast from The Daily Show with Trevor Noah. Every week, host Roy Wood Junior goes deeper with the notable guests and experts from the Emmy Award winning series. Together, they use comedy to tackle current topics from gentrification to gun laws and take a closer look at how and

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