Taking Up Space

I'm excited for the second part of this conversation because it's not often that I leave a conversation feeling more inspired to do the work that I do on a regular basis, and I felt this way with doctor Simmons because, you know, as a black queer woman who has dedicated her life to politics, to wanting to engage those who have been most marginalized and oppressed and then also educate those who act as allies, you know, it is a trying space to be in. It is one that you know,

oftentimes are forced to create and forge yourself. And so in this conversation with doctor Simmons, you know, I felt a kinship which I'm sure that you can hear from our conversation, and felt like there was, you know, an opportunity for us to be able to grow together. Right that community is something that you have to be intentional about So I enjoyed this conversation and I hope you

enjoy the second part as well. But before we dig into that, I, you know, folks, I took a few days to celebrate the marriage of one of my best friends, and it took a few days off in order to travel to her wedding, which means that I was able to give my mind and my soul and my spirit a rest from the time toxicity that is our news cycle, from the reality that is our crumbling democracy, and from being inundated with the rise in hate and violence that

we are seeing both on social media and in real life. So when the alert would come across my phone, as it did with all of you, about the violent assault on Speaker Pelosi's husband, Paul Pelosi, and then to watch just for a few, you know, for a few brief moments, the reaction from the Republican Party and the reaction from Don Trump Junior, which has had him trending this week on social media because he is just so disgusting and repulsive in turning a very violent and scary and lethal,

potentially lethal situation into a joke. Shows you the fact that there is absolutely no bottom with these people or with this party, and that there should be no excuses made or the thought that I'm looking at media outlets that are saying things like he may have suggested, or it may it could be, you know, intended that he was making a joke about Paul Pelosi. Let me tell

you something. I don't know how much more fucking obvious things have to be in order for people in the media to not want to cover their ass and just actually tell the fucking truth. Right. Don Junior puts up a tweet of a disgusting Halloween what he stated was a Halloween costume with a hammer and a pair of men's briefs and says, oh, look, I have my Paul Pelosi costume. This eighty two year old man is still

an intensive air. This eighty two year old man almost lost his life, not for anything that he has done, but because of what the Republican Party has him. Turned his wife into a caricature into the reason why. I don't know, gas prices are high, the earth spins, I have no fucking idea, But what I will say is that there used to be a time when we had

a bottom, when there was a limit to the rhetoric. Now, these are the same motherfuckers that will turn around after a school shooting that claims the life of children teachers and say that now is not the time to talk politics. We should be sending hopes and prayers. But while Paul Pelosi is recovering an intensive care surrounding by his family and friends because of a political assault that he barre the brunt of because thankfully his wife was not home.

But what we know and report since with the investigation is that this quanon hyped up Fox News Guslin piece of shit was looking to send a message to other Democrats by breaking the kneecaps of Nancy Pelosi. And I'm probably sure going further than that, remind you that this comes off of, you know, the heels of a guilty verdict in the case that would have been the disrupted kidnapping of Governor Whitmer right, which the far right also made a joke about that. And I don't even call

them the far right, They're just the right. Their violence, their rhetoric, their disgust, and their disdain for anything other than white, straight Christian and I use Christian with the fucking air quotes, people, isn't just left to the political arena. They are egging these people on. When you have Marjorie Taylor Green getting up on stages and saying that Democrats are trying to kill us, What the fuck do you think is going to happen? But they absolutely know what

is going to happen. They are hopeful for it, they are giddy about it. Other things that I saw while I was supposed to be on vacation celebrating, you know, love and marriage, we're white supremacist in tactical gear standing in front of polling stations so that they could intimidate people the same way that the KKK did during Jim Crow. What do I want folks to remember too, is that

you know Jim Crow, y'all wasn't that long ago. Like there are grandparents who are still alive, your parents possibly who were born on the heels right of major court decisions like Brown versus the Board of Education that would try and create a more equitable United States of America. So right now, as we are watching this country regress,

and we're wondering how how could it possibly be? Oh, because we don't give a shit about teaching anything that has to do with history or civics or your responsibility as a citizen. And we love to couch everything in the idea that you know, all of these bad things that happen were just done by a handful of people, and it was like centuries ago. It wasn't you know. Somebody told me the other day that the last living child of enslaved people died just recently in this country.

Do you know how old they were? They were in their ninety So that just lets you know that America's attention span is real short, and their understanding of history even shorter. Things are repeating themselves because we refuse to teach them. It is just, folks, a handful of days until midterm elections. As I've been clocking back into the news, twenty two million Americans as of the time of this recording have already voted. That bodes well, usually for Democrats.

But we won't know because, just like I tell you every single day on this show, do not believe poles because polls don't mean a fucking thing. They are not science, and you can get them to say whatever it is that you want, depending on how you ask the question and to who you ask the question. So the polls would have us believe that all is lost, right, that we need to pack up our bags and we need

to go away because the far right is coming. Well, if the recent election in Brazil doesn't give you some comfort, it should now. While the winning right by the left in that country was razor thin, meaning the decision to oust the far right Brazilian Trump Bulsonato was a decision made by two million voters. Two million. So for those people that think that midterms is a time for them to sit out, you'll get another bite at this apple.

I'm telling you you won't. So for family and friends and colleagues that you have that are telling you that all is lost, all is hopeless, and there are days,

absolutely there are days when I feel that way. But there's also a reason why I get up every morning and why I continue to record this show, why I continue to write, why I continue to tweet and speak out because it matters, Because our voices, at the end of the day matter, Because if we don't lift them up, if we don't scream from the rooftops, if we allow the Musks and the Trumps of the world to take over and we just go quietly off into the good night,

what the fuck do we think is going to happen? I tell you that I would rather stay and fight then go live peacefully or somewhat peacefully on my knees someplace else. So, folks, with the few days that we have left, if you have not voted already, please do make sure that you have a plan for voting, and that you have a plan to bring other people to the poles with you. Know that if you are in certain states, you will need chairs to sit down, you will need water to drink, you will need snacks, you

will need a phone charger. Right, you may need people to be on tap for you so that you can tap them into line so that you can take a break and then tap others. And this is why mail in voting is so important. But we know that some states have disallowed that, you know, because of the five people that happen to accidentally illegally vote every year. They've created all of these parameters, but nothing for the motherfuckers

that are committing mass murder every day by ar fifteens. Nonetheless, I hope that the second part of my conversation with doctor Dina Simmons inspires you as much as it did me, and I hope that it inspires you all to remember your power and your purpose as citizens of this country. Coming up next the last part, the final part of my conversation with doctor Dina Simmons. It's no secret that

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of the Week, and much more. Listen to The Damage Report on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you here, be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. You know, I am a former educator. I taught first and second grade general

education and special education. Then I went into education policy, all for the reasons that you just stated, all for the desire, because I have always believed that education is key into being able to understand yourself, understand the world around you, but more so understand the value that your ancestors,

your people brought to this world. Right. And it is amazing to me, but not really that you will see now these forces of evil to try and gut curriculum, to try and gut the very presence of queer people like I am, of black, people, of Latin X people, of just anyone who is not white, ciss, straight, and supposedly Christian, right, And I'm wondering you know because you said earlier about what allows you to wake up every day? Right?

But I gotta tell you, Dina, that what is keeping me up every night is the fact that the erasure that is happening right now is rapid and it is real. And I don't know if we are all, all of us, including our white accomplices, embodying the revolutionary spirit that is going to be necessary to push back against these forces that are unrelenting. And so I want to, you know, ask you what do you truly believe will wake people up to the reality that we are facing and that

we are currently living in. Because you know, the title of my show is Woke as Fuck, because I wanted to be an alarm clock, the raising of consciousness for people who have been forced into or have decided to rest in slumber. Put there, bury their heads, as I say, and be political ostriches in the sand. Right, So you know, what do you think will or can wake people up to the revolutionary spirit and warrior spirit that our ancestors had to even get us here? What do we what

do we need? So several things. First of all, the folks who bury their head in the sand, I always say, what a privilege that you get to look away. I got to wake up every single day and live my life in this country as a black woman, and and you know, with a sister who's chronically ill, because I want to also be inclusive of what it means to be chronically ill in this country. I am also newly

chronically ill. And I cannot tell you how much time it takes out of my day to go to doctors appointments, to do everything I need to do just to be well enough in this capitalist society so that I could perform or achieve or produce right, because that's what that's

what the society expects of us. Nonetheless, what we've learned from you know, twenty twenty one is that when white folks, some white folks discovered racism after George Floyd, because I say discovered, because folks act like we weren't saying the same stuff before. Folks discovered racism, or institutions discovered racism because they had no choice but to watch a black man for nearly eight minutes or nine minutes get killed

with a knee to his neck. We saw a bunch of movement around, let's go get training, let's go buy these books, let's go March, and today in twenty twenty, we don't see that same energy. And all I want, folks is to keep that same energy because that was one instance of many instances of black death, and black death does not always end is not always end in like actual death. There are many black deaths that black people experience and come back alive every single day. It's

true for every young people. So I would always say to folks, is control what you can control. If you're a teacher in the classroom and you're a white person, how are you putting yourself on the line for to ensure that that black child could be who they are without repercussion, who who they're not being, and contribute, not contributing to the prison you know, to the school to prison nexus, that you are standing up for that black child, that lay an X child, that queer trial and all

those intersections and that chronically ill child, Asian child, whomever you are doing that work, and that you know your values and that you're living your values. And I think that is something that everyone can do. At the end of the day, folks need to give up something for everyone. Happened, and I will ask folks us to really reflect on what you're willing to give up in order for someone

else to have something. And um, and that's something too that I have to reflect on now new lead middle class. Grew up you know, and you know in poverty, but now in the middle class. And so that's also the tension, right. It was education that got me to where I am. But it's like, so I critique the education system, is like, I'm also broken. I am healing and I'm in therapy because of those years I had to distance myself from myself in my community and my home. But well, how

us can folks wake up? I've also noticed too that after Trump was elected, we saw a lot more people getting involved in activism, and that was because it impacted them. So it says a lot about how self centered people are, Like, Oh, all of a sudden, this is importanting me. Let me go put myself on the line because now it's a personal and I think that's you know, fine, that's a motivated But I think we need to be motivated also

by the saying that there is no liberation. I like, if if we all don't have liberation, that our liberation and our healing and our all of that freedom is connect, is interconnected, and it's connected. So as long as you have your big picket ends and you're a big gate in your community, there will always be someone trying to take something from you because they need it. You know

what I'm saying. I'm saying, as long as you have that picket fence because it's needed, and as long as you have that picket fence and you are where you are, this always going to be. You are always going to have to fear that someone wants to take something from you. If we all had enough come on, that would be okay, that would be okay. And so we work in the spirit of scars here city instead of abundance. And so what I would say is, what are you willing to

give up? I'm not asking people to like sacrifice their lives. I'm asking people to maybe sacrifice some comfort, sacrifice your job, sacrifice your inheritance because anyway, that money ain't yours. That money is some body's black ancestors money. Let's be real think about we also have to have the conversation about reparations. Right where are the reparations? And I don't think we're ready for that conversation because folks think we are not

ready for that conversation. Well, because you and I are like, so, folks are gonna because we complicate it, right, We're like Dina and Danielle. Technically, y'all ain't gonna get any reparations because y'all from the Caribbean, y'all, I'm not American descendants of See for y'all and get your money, but go back and try and get your money from the English whatever they do in Antigua and Jamaican. Right, So, I

think I think we over complicate the reparations conversation. But we do need to have the conversation about reparations because black people are owed what was stolen from us, and that we're starting to see little things Nigeria received back some um, some of their you know, their jewels, or it wasn't their jewels, but it was some sort of ancestral sort of um important artifact. And so so I don't know, I don't know the answers. What I would say is live every day, fighting for a better tomorrow.

Live every day enough for yourself for the collective. And that's hard to do. Live every day and make it count because every single thing we do has a repercussion. There's a story that I like to use um it's it's it's about Ursula when I believe it was her name, and it's it's about this this town, this utopic town.

In order for that utopia, that utopia to happen, there's a child in a basement that is suffering, and everyone knows it in that town and they're just like, well, that's just how it is, and that is actually how we live our life. We know that in other countries in India in like when we were having COVID, even our COVID behavior, like even our or how wasteful we are, impacts people who are dealing with global warming right now. Literally things are burning in other parts of the world.

But as long as we focus only on ourselves, we're not going to get anywhere. And I think we need to think about the collective a little bit more. We need to think about how our acts to trickle down to other people. And so those are just those are things that I think people can do individually. Where are you buying from, how are you buying, are you supporting black businesses? How is what you do contribute to X y Z suffering? Those are all things that we need

to think about. And those are questions I ask myself because I'm always at tension every time I buy something, I'm like, who had to work cheap labor? Now need to get this sale, you know? And so that's a tension that I'm always dealing. Well, I'm not perfect. I fail because I'm trying to save money, but I'm always I have to be like no, Dina, like who's expense? And that's a question that I think many of us

should ask ourselves at who's expense? And then if we're in a room, we have to ask who's not in the room? And how do I make space? And how do I break down this table so that we build a new one where other folks can fit at it? Or are we just to get rid of the table all together and just knock down the wall and have a whole have a more like welcoming space. And so I want to focus on the individual could because of obviously there could be systemic changes, like folks, go vote,

go register to vote. If you ain't voting, go vote, because there's one way to exercise your voice. And so I will say, go vote if you can. And then when when you vote and you know, vote to those meetings and those council meetings and those committees meetings, and advocate for what you care about. Organize and you know, do community organizing to get what you need in your community. If you live in a building, tenant, organizing whatever you need to do. Because there is power in the people.

And I think you forget that they're more of us than there are of them. Whoever that them is the powerful, the supremacist, the white supremacist. There's more. There were more enslaved people than there were enslavers. And I think part of it is liberating our mind to know our work. Yes, that is at the end of the day. Liberate your minds that you know your powers, you could ask for what you want. You can know your worth and you can fight for what we deserve. Doctor Dina Simmons, you

must come back to Woke f Daily. Well, her book comes out, it's very now as White Rules for Black People. But I also know my worth and so I left my publisher and it's back on the marketing. Okay, okay, so we could we could We definitely be down to talk to you because we have actually have so much in common. I looked you up, I was like, we're gonna have to be a friend. I love that. I love that very much. Yes, yes, I am open for dope,

powerful black women friends. The door is open. So doctor Simmons, thank you so much for making the time for Woke f for this very in depth, you know, inspiring conversation. We I don't often get to leave people with inspiration, I leave them with rage, and so this this was, this was really beautiful and needed and I'm very grateful for it. So thank you, Thank you so much, Samiel. I look forward to being in touch and be friends.

Thank you. That is it for me today, Dear friends on woke app as always power to the people and to all the people. Power, get woke and stay woke as fuck.