Feb. 3, 2025

60 Years of Democracy

60 Years of Democracy
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60 Years of Democracy
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In this, the first episode of Season 11, I commemorate 60 years of life in the United States of America and why I will continue to fight for our freedom and progress, in spite of the challenges. I will also present a special surprise for the listeners.

00:06 - Podcast Introduction

05:32 - Moment of News with Grace G

07:58 - Birthday Reflections

10:41 - Meet Grace G

12:56 - Transition to Voiceover

15:12 - Importance of Perspective in News

17:09 - The Challenge of Objectivity

20:24 - Political Dynamics and Media

24:40 - Eric's Rant Begins

53:49 - Unity vs. Harmony

57:36 - The Need for Real Unity

01:19:58 - Call for American Leaders

WEBVTT

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Welcome. I'm Eric Fleming, host of A Moment with Eric Fleming, the podcast of our time.

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I want to personally thank you for listening to the podcast.

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If you like what you're hearing, then I need you to do a few things.

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First, I need subscribers. I'm on Patreon at patreon.com slash A Moment with Eric Fleming.

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Your subscription allows an independent podcaster like me the freedom to speak

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truth to power and to expand and improve the show.

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Second, leave a five-star review for the podcast on the streaming service you

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listen to it. That will help the podcast tremendously.

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Third, go to the website, momenteric.com. There you can subscribe to the podcast,

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leave reviews and comments, listen to past episodes, and even learn a little bit about your host.

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Lastly, don't keep this a secret like it's your own personal guilty pleasure.

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Tell someone else about the podcast. encourage others to listen to the podcast

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and share the podcast on your social media platforms, because it is time to

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make this moment of movement.

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Thanks in advance for supporting the podcast of our time. I hope you enjoy this episode as well.

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The following program is hosted by the NBG podcast network.

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Music.

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Hello, and welcome to another moment where Eric Fleming, I am your host, Eric Fleming.

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And today is special.

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This is a hot mic episode, first of all, so I always like to have those every

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now and then, just so I could have the time to just say what I want to say about certain things.

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But it's also special because this is my first episode being a 60-year-old. That's right.

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As this drops, my 60th birthday would have passed.

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And to be 60 years old as a black man in America is something that people should not take for granted.

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But a lot of the people that I've admired in my life, I didn't get a chance

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to meet because they died young.

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Fred Hampton, Martin Luther King Jr., Malcolm X, Maker Evers.

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Those guys didn't even get to be in their 40s. And here I am at 60. So it's a blessing.

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And it's a privilege and an honor. And, you know, a lot of my high school and

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college classmates, some have already started their 60th journey.

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The rest of them are on their way. And I hope that all of them have fun,

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are as grateful, and that they're in good health to enjoy it.

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This is important.

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And we're also in a very unique time.

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And, you know, all my life I have been in the United States.

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I just did something on Lemonade.

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And, you know, I've been to 32 states in my life, including Alaska.

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And, you know, most of them were business related in some way,

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shape or form, but a few of them, I got to be a tourist.

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And, you know, it's just this is a great country.

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Are there problems? Yes. Are there challenges? Most definitely.

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Are there some bad people out there?

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Yes.

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But the whole concept of this country, what we as black people have done to

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shape it and to move it forward, it's something to be proud of and it's something

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we're fighting to maintain.

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And so that's something I want to continue to do.

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And so this episode, I'm going to get back to my old fighting ways and just

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riff or rant or whatever you want to call it,

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because I've got some things on my mind and the person who inspired me to do this is back in office.

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So, yeah, these first few days,

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the 10% of the first 100 days of this new administration has taken place.

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And, yeah, we got a lot to talk about.

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But before we do that, as always, it's time to have a moment of news with Grace G.

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Music.

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Thanks, Eric, and happy birthday. An American Airlines passenger plane carrying 64 people and a U.S.

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Army Blackhawk helicopter, manned by three soldiers, collided near Reagan National

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Airport with no survivors.

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Pete Hegseth was confirmed as U.S. Defense Secretary after a historic tie-breaking

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vote by Vice President J.D. Vance.

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Trump's immigration crackdown has led to thousands of arrests in several U.S.

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Cities, averaging 791 arrests daily since January 22.

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The U.S. avoided a trade war with Colombia after it agreed to accept deportees,

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averting threatened sanctions.

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A federal judge blocked Trump's executive order limiting birthright citizenship,

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deeming it unconstitutional.

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Quaker groups sued to stop immigration raids in places of worship after Trump

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rescinded guidelines protecting these areas.

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A Trump administration policy pausing federal financial assistance was rescinded after a U.S.

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Judge temporarily halted implementation.

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The Trump administration plans to reduce the federal workforce by offering financial

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incentives for 2 million civilian workers to resign.

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Senate Republicans defended Trump's firing of inspectors general from multiple

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agencies, despite legal requirements for prior notification to Congress.

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The Trump administration fired over a dozen Justice Department lawyers involved

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in criminal cases against him to strengthen control over the department.

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The U.S. Air Force will resume training with a video about the Tuskegee Airmen

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after ensuring compliance with Trump's DEI ban.

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The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a challenge to Mississippi's lifetime voting ban for felons.

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A transgender woman sued over Trump's executive order requiring her to be housed

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in a men's prison, citing constitutional violations And former U.S.

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Senator Bob Menendez was sentenced

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to 11 years in prison for bribery I am Grace Gee, and this has been a.

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Music.

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All right. Thank you, Grace, for that moment of news. Hi, Eric.

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How are you? Happy birthday.

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Grace, Grace, you're here.

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Well, thank you for the birthday wishes. I greatly appreciate that.

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And I greatly appreciate you being live because I'm going to tell you something.

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I've had a couple of folks like saying, Eric, did you hire one of these?

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Are you doing the AI thing? I said, no, no, no. Grace is real.

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She's a real person. We've interacted and all that stuff.

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And so, and thank you for having me on. This is a real treat.

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I really appreciate that.

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Well, you know, I was trying to figure out how we could make this happen.

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And since this is my birthday episode, even though I'm not going to be talking

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about a whole lot of happy things in my birthday.

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So I wanted to have a good moment. So I'm glad that you decided to do this.

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And, you know, and and I just wanted to say from the jump, I greatly appreciate

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your professionalism and the support that you've given, because a lot of times we as black folks,

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you know, we just do our thing and we we kind of let everybody be in their own

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space in their own orbit.

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But it's very rare that you could have a professional relationship for somebody

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and then they're supportive of what you do.

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And so, you know, you know, and helping trying to raise money for me to go to

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Chicago last summer and just, you know, giving me advice.

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I mean, that's been invaluable because you've been doing this for a while.

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So I take that take that very seriously. So I thank you for that.

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Thank you. And I thank you. It's been wonderful working with you.

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I think it's been over a year now that I've been doing the newscast for the podcast.

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And it's been really wonderful. I mean, I have to say, you're amazing to work with.

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There's that. And I really enjoy your podcast. And I really enjoy your passion

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for news and especially news that affects people of color, which is so important

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to have Black voices in the journalistic world.

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And so I thank you for your passion and your enthusiasm, because I know this is not easy.

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This is work. And you've dedicated so much of your time and personal resources.

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And that is so commendable. And I really feel that.

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And I'm so honored to be part of this.

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So tell me the truth. Now, when I first approached you with this,

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what was the first thought that kind of went to your mind?

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It was like, well, you know, I don't know.

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Or did you did you go into it like this should be interesting?

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You mean this particular interview or working with the podcast?

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Working with the podcast.

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When we first met, I didn't know you. So I kind of just approached it as a professional thing.

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But I noticed that the news was really for us, by us.

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And for that reason, I was very into it.

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And as I got to know you and your mission and your purpose and your heart,

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I knew that this is something that I want to be a part of as long as you'll

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have me. Well, and just we just keep praying.

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And, you know, that's why I'd be trying to make these pitches for folks to subscribe

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and all this stuff so we can continue doing what we're doing.

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But as long as I'm able to, we're going to keep this going. So tell the audience

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a little bit about Grace G.

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How long have you been doing this? And I mean, just broadcasting in general,

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is this something you've always wanted to do?

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Tell the audience a little bit

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about you. Well, I've been doing this for a minute, more than 20 years.

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I came up through the worlds of traditional broadcast news and television news,

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worked my way up from cable news to local news and eventually to the network level.

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But right now I'm basically focusing on voiceover and putting my talents out

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that way because I can do it from the comfort of my own home.

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And ever since the pandemic, I knew that I needed to live this life right now.

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And my passion is to travel. And so I travel the world and do my voiceovers

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for this podcast and for some other clients. And I'm basically following my passion as you are.

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And it's been a beautiful thing so far, the transition of that.

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Well, it definitely shows in the way that you handled your business.

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And I think the listeners really appreciate, you know, how you how you bring

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the news, even though it's only a couple of minutes per episode.

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I think it's raised the quality of the show.

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You know, I mean, we got nominated again for another award. So,

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you know, it just seems like everything was, you know, just kept going on and on and stuff.

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And hopefully that part of it will continue, too.

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So you mentioned that you travel a lot. And I understand that you're a black belt in karate.

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You got all this stuff going on. What was it when you decided to do just the voiceover work?

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Was it more of a self-care move? Was it more of a, you know,

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just going in a different direction with your talents?

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Why did you decide to do this as opposed to staying in the grind of network news?

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Everything you mentioned is part of it. But as you said, it's a grind.

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And at that point, I had been doing it more than 20 years on a very high level

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as well on the network level.

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And as a Black woman in that space, it's not easy.

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It really isn't. And so I think at that point, I was experiencing a significant

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amount of burnout and the pandemic came along and it really brought us face

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to face with our mortality and to know that this life is for the living.

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And that's the primary reason I decided to embark on voiceover.

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And of course, a lot of the skills are transferable.

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I'm still talking on the mic and that's what I do best.

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That's what I went to school for. That's what all my experience is in.

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So I knew that I could do this. but voiceover allows me to do it remotely in

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my own space and in my own time.

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And that is very healing for me. And of course it provides so much flexibility

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and to be in control of my own time and of myself,

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because being a voiceover artist is essentially having your own business and

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managing your own clients and delivering.

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And I like running my own business and I like showing out when I'm ready.

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And if I'm not, then I have that option as well.

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And to have that kind of agency over my own life as a Black woman in America

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in these times is amazing.

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Yeah. And, you know, we've had

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to go through a couple of journeys together where you needed that time.

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And, you know, and that's really cool that you could do that.

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And of course, the quality of news broadcast goes down when I try to do it.

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But... Oh, no, don't say that.

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But, you know, but but look, we're all human and I understand that.

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So one of the things you kind of touched on when you were saying news for us

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by us, why is that important?

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You know, a lot of people are just like, well, the news is the news.

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But why do you think that our perspective is important in conveying news?

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Because we know us and we deliver it with that native knowledge and the sensitivity that it requires.

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And I saw that very clearly when I worked with the networks.

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And I think on a network level, they recognize that as well because they will

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often put the Black reporters on the Black stories because there is a racial

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sensitivity there and a knowing that someone who doesn't participate in the

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culture simply won't have.

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And there's nuances and subtleties that other folks are just not going to get,

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you know, and also we know what's important to us.

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And and that and setting the agenda is critical.

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And that's what black journalists do. That's what you do. And that is so important.

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Well, you know, and I appreciate that. I'm not really a journalist.

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I don't think because, you know, I do interviews and all that.

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But, I mean, I tell people up front that my thing is it's my show. It's my opinion.

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And, you know, it's like I try to base it on facts.

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But, you know, I don't have that rigid obligation to be non-unbiased, right?

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But how much of a challenge is it for you or anybody else in the profession

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to try to take your emotions out and just cover the story as is?

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And do you think that we've basically not succeeded in that over the last few years?

00:17:09.268 --> 00:17:12.608
That's a good question. But first, I'd like to say you definitely are a journalist.

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You're a citizen journalist.

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And there are journalists who give their opinions all the time.

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They call them op-ed, and you do it very well. So I definitely would put you

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in the class of journalists for sure.

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But as far as the news is concerned, I'm sorry, Eric, I lost my train of thought.

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Tell me that last question again. So how hard is it to be unbiased?

00:17:33.908 --> 00:17:40.668
And are we, is it, is people, are journalists, as I defined it,

00:17:41.248 --> 00:17:43.808
kind of failing in that over the last few years or so?

00:17:45.208 --> 00:17:48.828
Well, as I mentioned, I think there are different types of journalists.

00:17:49.208 --> 00:17:53.468
And those who give their opinion, I think are still very valuable because as

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we mentioned before, the opinion that is native to Black people is so important

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to put out in the world and to make room for that voice.

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But as a journalist myself, working for the networks, I was trained in a certain way.

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And it's probably the more old school kind of way because, you know,

00:18:11.868 --> 00:18:13.248
I have some experience on me.

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And the way I deliver news is to research the heck out of it, talk to all the players,

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get the sound bites and the right information and present it as factually and

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as neutrally as possible and let the public make their own decision.

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That is my style of journalist because that's the way I was raised in news.

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But I think in this day and age, there's room for so many voices.

00:18:39.368 --> 00:18:45.288
And as the news really niches down, as we're seeing all these podcasts and news

00:18:45.288 --> 00:18:50.148
outlets that exist purely on social media or online, we're getting more of the

00:18:50.148 --> 00:18:51.568
diverse voices out there.

00:18:51.828 --> 00:18:54.548
And I think that is good and bad in that.

00:18:55.459 --> 00:18:59.839
Not all journalists are like us and fully vet the facts before they give their opinion.

00:19:00.019 --> 00:19:05.239
And that's something to be careful of and to know and take everything with a grain of salt.

00:19:05.599 --> 00:19:11.059
But by and large, I welcome all Black voices and all voices of color because

00:19:11.059 --> 00:19:16.979
I think they have value in the space so long as they pay attention to the facts

00:19:16.979 --> 00:19:20.019
because the facts are important. It's the foundation of what we do.

00:19:20.579 --> 00:19:29.019
Yeah. And I echo that welcome because, you know, we're not a monolithic people.

00:19:29.619 --> 00:19:32.859
So, you know, there are people to the left of me.

00:19:33.039 --> 00:19:35.459
There are people definitely to the center and the right of me.

00:19:35.459 --> 00:19:41.979
But we all need to be heard because, you know, one of my one of my favorite

00:19:41.979 --> 00:19:45.639
people in the world was Charles Evers, Megard Evers' brother.

00:19:46.119 --> 00:19:51.199
And Charles, even though he was a big Robert F.

00:19:51.299 --> 00:19:57.199
Kennedy senior supporter, I mean, he he was there in California when when Robert got killed.

00:19:57.999 --> 00:20:03.959
And but he was a Republican up until the end when he died.

00:20:04.499 --> 00:20:09.099
And now he would support some of us that were Democrat, you know, that were black.

00:20:09.519 --> 00:20:13.819
And that's what he told me. He said, he said, Eric, I may be a Republican,

00:20:14.119 --> 00:20:15.559
but I'm a black man first.

00:20:16.519 --> 00:20:19.379
And I think that's important for

00:20:19.379 --> 00:20:23.319
us to know that it's like, regardless of where you are in the spectrum.

00:20:24.959 --> 00:20:30.519
You got to look out for whatever you're doing should be looking out for your folks.

00:20:31.479 --> 00:20:36.619
One last thing I want to want to want to mention and kind of get your your take

00:20:36.619 --> 00:20:42.159
on it, because it kind of relates to how politicians are doing stuff now.

00:20:42.559 --> 00:20:45.879
So when I was in college, I wrote for the school newspaper.

00:20:46.419 --> 00:20:53.299
I literally did do real news reporting when I was with the two black newspapers

00:20:53.299 --> 00:20:54.419
in Jackson, Mississippi.

00:20:56.019 --> 00:20:59.659
And so after that, I got elected.

00:21:01.059 --> 00:21:04.439
So a lot of those people, of course, were still around.

00:21:04.779 --> 00:21:09.119
So especially a lot of the black journalists, we all used to hang out.

00:21:09.299 --> 00:21:12.579
Now, you know, I'm an elected official and they're still with the press,

00:21:12.599 --> 00:21:15.199
but we all used to hang out, have drinks and all that stuff.

00:21:15.959 --> 00:21:21.179
And what that related, how that worked out was that if they needed something,

00:21:21.199 --> 00:21:23.419
I wouldn't necessarily be in the story.

00:21:23.419 --> 00:21:26.719
But if they needed some background or something like that, they would find me

00:21:26.719 --> 00:21:27.959
at the Capitol or somewhere and

00:21:27.959 --> 00:21:32.319
say, hey, Eric, so explain what exactly is this? Why is this happening?

00:21:32.939 --> 00:21:37.619
Why should people be concerned? You know, like that. It just like it's a technical advice.

00:21:38.459 --> 00:21:43.019
And the way I look at the news now, the way I look at politicians now,

00:21:43.199 --> 00:21:44.979
it's like they're using social media.

00:21:46.139 --> 00:21:52.639
You know, it's like there was one congressperson who had like a three page job

00:21:52.639 --> 00:21:57.659
description for their communications director and like two paragraphs for the legislative director.

00:21:59.379 --> 00:22:03.099
You know what I'm saying? It's just it's just it's a different vibe now.

00:22:03.099 --> 00:22:10.179
And so what what did you what do you think about my approach as opposed to what's

00:22:10.179 --> 00:22:15.959
going on now in trying to be a politician and put your name out there?

00:22:16.839 --> 00:22:22.959
Well, I think social media is a very necessary part of any business in this day and age.

00:22:23.099 --> 00:22:27.979
You're almost weird if you don't have a social media presence as a public figure

00:22:27.979 --> 00:22:31.899
or as a business. So I feel like it's extremely necessary.

00:22:32.259 --> 00:22:36.919
And for a large demographic of people, that is the best way to reach them.

00:22:36.919 --> 00:22:41.819
So I think for a politician to utilize social media, I think is extremely smart.

00:22:42.059 --> 00:22:47.039
And also it provides an informal way of getting to know someone.

00:22:47.039 --> 00:22:53.099
So I feel like those moments that social media can provide like a behind the

00:22:53.099 --> 00:22:57.119
scenes or just a snapshot of somebody's day as they're in transit,

00:22:57.119 --> 00:23:04.379
I think is so useful to allow the public to get to know a person or as it were,

00:23:04.539 --> 00:23:05.559
in this case, a politician.

00:23:05.559 --> 00:23:10.979
So I actually welcome the use of social media in terms of politicians and marketing,

00:23:10.979 --> 00:23:16.619
and you can't get anywhere without it in this day and age. So I think to embrace it is good.

00:23:17.199 --> 00:23:23.419
Okay. So I'm a dinosaur, or you're saying I ain't got to get drunk no more to

00:23:23.419 --> 00:23:26.439
hang out with the press. Okay, that's fine. If I decide to get back in.

00:23:26.799 --> 00:23:31.099
But there's always space for that. I mean, that face-to-face is invaluable.

00:23:31.119 --> 00:23:34.799
And as a journalist, that's how you get your sources, both official and unofficial.

00:23:34.799 --> 00:23:36.359
So don't stop doing that.

00:23:36.599 --> 00:23:39.339
But but social media is a must, I believe.

00:23:40.359 --> 00:23:46.939
All right. Well, Grace, look, I know you've got other clients and and and all this kind of stuff.

00:23:47.179 --> 00:23:50.679
And, you know, I greatly appreciate you taking the time out.

00:23:50.679 --> 00:23:57.199
I think, you know, the listeners should appreciate the fact that you're a real

00:23:57.199 --> 00:24:02.159
human being and that, you know,

00:24:02.239 --> 00:24:06.119
that you are an incredibly talented professional person.

00:24:06.659 --> 00:24:11.219
And I'm honored that I'm in your circle. I'm honored that I'm in your presence.

00:24:11.299 --> 00:24:14.379
And we're going to keep this going.

00:24:14.519 --> 00:24:17.199
So I appreciate you. Thank you so much for doing this.

00:24:17.699 --> 00:24:22.539
Thank you. I appreciate you, Eric, and I appreciate your support because you

00:24:22.539 --> 00:24:28.779
are like the most encouraging, positive client that I've ever had, to be honest with you.

00:24:29.019 --> 00:24:32.339
So I really appreciate your presence. If I ever need to pick me up,

00:24:32.519 --> 00:24:36.659
all I need to do is look at your text messages or emails and that'll do it.

00:24:36.779 --> 00:24:40.299
So I appreciate your spirit and your support. Thank you for having me.

00:24:40.999 --> 00:24:45.019
All right, guys. Thank you. Thank you so much, Grace. And all right,

00:24:45.119 --> 00:24:48.859
guys, it's time for my rant. So you're catching on the other side of this music.

00:24:48.880 --> 00:24:59.280
Music.

00:24:59.348 --> 00:25:06.628
All right. So how cool was that? Y'all got to hear Grace G outside of just giving us the news.

00:25:07.968 --> 00:25:12.108
I'm so glad, Grace. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you again for doing that.

00:25:12.248 --> 00:25:16.268
I greatly appreciate that. And that's probably the best present I'm going to

00:25:16.268 --> 00:25:18.268
get for my 60th birthday.

00:25:19.588 --> 00:25:25.448
So I greatly appreciate you coming on and just, you know, kind of talking a

00:25:25.448 --> 00:25:28.308
little more than just giving the newscast and stuff.

00:25:28.988 --> 00:25:35.068
So, guys, she is real. But those of you who doubted that, she is real.

00:25:35.228 --> 00:25:40.748
She's a sister, and she is an incredible, beautiful, enlightening human being.

00:25:41.168 --> 00:25:46.348
And it is my honor and privilege to work with her each and every podcast.

00:25:47.748 --> 00:25:53.288
All right. So let me start off my rant with a poll.

00:25:53.288 --> 00:25:59.888
So the one poll that I pay attention to that seems to be the most accurate,

00:26:00.068 --> 00:26:04.108
and I am trying to get those people on because I respect them.

00:26:04.288 --> 00:26:08.308
And, you know, there are other good pollsters out there.

00:26:08.428 --> 00:26:16.668
But as far as news outlets go, the Reuters Ipso poll is probably the most spot on out there.

00:26:16.668 --> 00:26:23.068
And, you know, no disrespect to Samadhi Thomas,

00:26:23.648 --> 00:26:31.928
my pollster and resident, you know, and Samadhi, I need to get you back on the

00:26:31.928 --> 00:26:33.648
show, too, at some point.

00:26:34.948 --> 00:26:41.908
But, you know, the Reuters-Ipsos poll was really, really plugged in this election

00:26:41.908 --> 00:26:47.668
year, and they were really on it as far as how close this election was.

00:26:49.668 --> 00:26:52.388
You know, I think they kind of looked at it.

00:26:53.389 --> 00:26:57.669
When you look at the numbers that Harris was winning or was going to win,

00:26:57.849 --> 00:27:03.889
but not really because it was like, as far as popular vote, I think, you know,

00:27:04.229 --> 00:27:10.369
they kind of had her winning, but in the swing states, it was looking a little shaky.

00:27:11.249 --> 00:27:18.189
And they were one of the few ones that did it without any editorialization or anything like that.

00:27:18.389 --> 00:27:22.689
They were, you know, They would interview political scientists and try to get

00:27:22.689 --> 00:27:27.269
their viewpoints as, why do you think these polls are reflecting that?

00:27:29.409 --> 00:27:37.469
So this first rant is going to be based off of a poll that they did after the

00:27:37.469 --> 00:27:41.589
first week with the new Trump administration.

00:27:42.789 --> 00:27:50.129
So let's go through that. All right. So ending requirements that government

00:27:50.129 --> 00:27:52.549
employees report gifts or investments.

00:27:53.089 --> 00:28:01.109
Now, that was that's a story that has not really been covered on the national news.

00:28:01.369 --> 00:28:03.949
You know, everybody's been focused on the immigration raids.

00:28:04.349 --> 00:28:11.189
And, you know, we just had this recent tragedy with the plane crash.

00:28:12.529 --> 00:28:16.109
And so many beautiful people died, you know.

00:28:17.549 --> 00:28:23.289
So condolences to all their families. Howard University lost an up-and-coming law professor.

00:28:24.209 --> 00:28:29.309
You know, the U.S. figure skating team lost, you know, some up-and-coming young people.

00:28:29.589 --> 00:28:32.309
I think one of them was like 12 or 13.

00:28:33.569 --> 00:28:37.309
And I haven't looked at all the names yet and all that stuff.

00:28:37.389 --> 00:28:40.989
These are just from the early stories. I think they just started releasing the

00:28:40.989 --> 00:28:43.449
names as I'm recording this.

00:28:43.789 --> 00:28:48.769
So, but yeah, you know, just terrible.

00:28:50.609 --> 00:28:54.289
And, you know, and then the president gets up there. Well, I'll get into that.

00:28:54.449 --> 00:29:03.089
I'll get into it. But anyway, but this, that executive order about the government

00:29:03.089 --> 00:29:08.969
employees not having to report gifts, That's that's Clarence Thomas's birthday present, I guess,

00:29:09.369 --> 00:29:14.189
whenever his birthday and all these other folks to do the griff.

00:29:14.329 --> 00:29:18.509
So I'm surprised that story hasn't had a lot of traction, but there's only so

00:29:18.509 --> 00:29:21.349
much time to deal with all this confusion.

00:29:22.309 --> 00:29:28.969
However, Reuters, Ipso asked people about it and 77 percent of the people said

00:29:28.969 --> 00:29:32.169
they're not in favor of that at all. Right.

00:29:33.409 --> 00:29:39.089
On renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, 70 percent of the people

00:29:39.089 --> 00:29:42.289
said that's stupid. They've been out in favor of that.

00:29:43.829 --> 00:29:48.909
Hardening the January six protesters, pardoning all of them,

00:29:50.069 --> 00:29:52.929
62 percent said they didn't appreciate that.

00:29:54.612 --> 00:29:59.952
New tariffs or taxes imposed on imported goods from Canada.

00:30:00.592 --> 00:30:03.232
60% of the people said they didn't like that.

00:30:04.512 --> 00:30:08.572
Ending birthright citizenship, which is unconstitutional.

00:30:08.872 --> 00:30:14.812
It was like, you know, when a judge says, uses words like blatantly and stuff

00:30:14.812 --> 00:30:18.372
like that, they're pissed off that they even had to entertain them.

00:30:18.672 --> 00:30:22.092
Just so you know, if you're planning on going to law school or.

00:30:22.092 --> 00:30:24.732
Or, you know, if you're in a court

00:30:24.732 --> 00:30:31.532
case and the judge uses terms like blatantly, he or she is not happy.

00:30:32.372 --> 00:30:37.612
Fifty-nine percent of the people said that they're not in favor of that.

00:30:38.212 --> 00:30:39.892
Fifty-nine percent also are

00:30:39.892 --> 00:30:44.612
not in favor of ending federal efforts to hire women or racial minorities.

00:30:44.912 --> 00:30:47.512
That DEI stuff, right?

00:30:48.132 --> 00:30:52.312
59% of Americans said they're not in favor of ending that.

00:30:53.112 --> 00:30:57.792
56% of Americans are not in favor of withdrawing the U.S.

00:30:57.832 --> 00:31:04.732
For the Paris Climate Accords, which is, I guess, every time this joker gets

00:31:04.732 --> 00:31:06.992
in office, it's like, boom.

00:31:07.132 --> 00:31:13.872
So once he's out this time, then maybe we'll be in the Paris Accords for the

00:31:13.872 --> 00:31:19.592
remainder of time because the next Democratic president will put us back in.

00:31:20.032 --> 00:31:23.312
But again, 56% of Americans are not in favor of that.

00:31:23.512 --> 00:31:30.032
55% of Americans are not in favor of new tariffs or taxes on imported goods from Mexico.

00:31:31.232 --> 00:31:39.512
So you're looking at about 58% of the people are not in favor of tariffs with

00:31:39.512 --> 00:31:41.532
our two biggest trading partners.

00:31:43.848 --> 00:31:48.508
And then new tariffs or taxes on imported goods from other countries,

00:31:48.948 --> 00:31:51.008
54% said they're not down with that.

00:31:52.208 --> 00:31:56.748
So the majority of Americans, even though he said that's what he wanted to do

00:31:56.748 --> 00:32:02.268
and he got elected, so he's trying to figure out how he's going to do it.

00:32:03.228 --> 00:32:07.108
The majority of Americans are not in favor of that. And I think the message

00:32:07.108 --> 00:32:12.508
is getting out that people don't want to pay more money.

00:32:13.268 --> 00:32:16.488
They basically elected this guy because they said they didn't want to pay more

00:32:16.488 --> 00:32:17.408
money than what they're paying.

00:32:18.488 --> 00:32:22.428
So they're not there. And I think they're starting to get educated that if we

00:32:22.428 --> 00:32:26.888
impose tariffs, that they're going to be the ones the consumers are going to

00:32:26.888 --> 00:32:29.228
be the ones that's going to bear the brunt of the cost.

00:32:29.548 --> 00:32:32.368
So at least that message is getting out there.

00:32:33.188 --> 00:32:37.948
Here's one that kind of surprised me. Fifty two percent of Americans were opposed

00:32:37.948 --> 00:32:41.348
to delaying the ban of tick tock in the U.S.

00:32:42.208 --> 00:32:45.188
And I didn't look at the generational breakdown on that.

00:32:45.348 --> 00:32:50.848
But it's interesting that the majority of Americans were not in favor of delaying the ban.

00:32:51.028 --> 00:32:55.588
If the ban was going to happen, the law was passed, then let it happen.

00:32:56.288 --> 00:33:02.348
If the Supreme Court or somebody else determines it's not the case, then so be it.

00:33:03.808 --> 00:33:09.728
Closing all federal government DEI offices and firing all federal employees

00:33:09.728 --> 00:33:12.568
working in DEI initiatives.

00:33:13.168 --> 00:33:18.928
It's pretty evenly divided, but 51% of Americans said they're not in favor of that.

00:33:19.910 --> 00:33:23.870
So the majority of Americans are not in favor of ending DUI,

00:33:24.050 --> 00:33:35.010
Lord have mercy, DEI, and ending federal efforts to hire women and racial minorities.

00:33:35.210 --> 00:33:42.570
The majority of Americans polled as of this poll seem to think it's a good thing

00:33:42.570 --> 00:33:45.710
to have diversity, equity, and inclusion.

00:33:47.170 --> 00:33:52.630
Now, where he does get some support is requiring all federal employees to work

00:33:52.630 --> 00:33:54.850
from an office rather than allowing remote work.

00:33:55.050 --> 00:33:59.470
Forty nine percent of Americans felt, yeah, it's about time to go to work.

00:34:00.370 --> 00:34:01.770
Right. So.

00:34:02.690 --> 00:34:08.190
It didn't get 50 percent, but. You know, it's a plurality.

00:34:08.790 --> 00:34:12.610
It thinks it's forty nine forty sevens. So it's pretty close, right?

00:34:13.530 --> 00:34:22.330
Also, 49-47 in favor was imposing a hiring freeze on all federal government agencies.

00:34:23.930 --> 00:34:30.750
So there is a sentiment that people think that government is maybe too big.

00:34:33.050 --> 00:34:36.550
So, you know, but again, that was 49-47.

00:34:38.670 --> 00:34:42.210
Easing restrictions on fossil fuel drilling and production.

00:34:43.250 --> 00:34:47.690
That's even more even. It was 48-47 in favor, right?

00:34:48.790 --> 00:34:54.190
Because the truth of the matter is, if you just went wild, and,

00:34:54.310 --> 00:35:00.390
you know, this is an issue that I've been dealing with since the 90s.

00:35:00.390 --> 00:35:08.690
We were in Alaska for a meeting, and, you know, there were people talking about

00:35:08.690 --> 00:35:14.230
drilling into ANWR, which is the American, what the Arctic National Institute.

00:35:16.679 --> 00:35:19.999
Wildlife Refuge, so A-N-W-R.

00:35:22.519 --> 00:35:26.459
And, you know, we know there's oil there because Proudhon Bay,

00:35:26.599 --> 00:35:28.659
I think, is north of the refuge, I think.

00:35:29.959 --> 00:35:33.559
I had an option to either go on a cruise or go to the oil refinery.

00:35:33.559 --> 00:35:37.839
I went on the cruise, so I can really accurately tell you, but I think Proudhon

00:35:37.839 --> 00:35:39.039
Bay is north of the refuge.

00:35:41.159 --> 00:35:47.599
And, you know, so you got some drilling there. And part of the deal was that

00:35:47.599 --> 00:35:52.579
all Alaskans get a check out of that, right?

00:35:52.719 --> 00:35:57.839
Whatever money that drilling company, I think it was ARCO at the time,

00:35:58.179 --> 00:36:05.939
whatever money they made off of that, then the citizens of Alaska got a dividend.

00:36:06.159 --> 00:36:07.579
That's the only way they allowed them to do it.

00:36:08.699 --> 00:36:12.379
And, you know, and then, of course, we had the Keystone Pipeline controversy

00:36:12.379 --> 00:36:15.099
going through Native American land, all that stuff.

00:36:16.199 --> 00:36:23.879
So, you know, the reality is if people get what they want, you will see a reduction

00:36:23.879 --> 00:36:25.479
in your gas of five cents.

00:36:27.019 --> 00:36:31.979
But the trick is you won't feel it for about three or four years because they

00:36:31.979 --> 00:36:36.139
got to drill it and they got to refine it and they got to sell it.

00:36:36.759 --> 00:36:42.559
So, you know, it's going to take time. And we're already the biggest oil-producing

00:36:42.559 --> 00:36:44.419
country in the world again.

00:36:45.979 --> 00:36:49.859
So, yeah. So most Americans are kind of like, meh, meh, not so much.

00:36:50.319 --> 00:36:52.639
They are in favor of it, but barely.

00:36:53.159 --> 00:36:54.639
Again, 48, 47.

00:36:56.319 --> 00:37:00.639
Now, here's the one that kind of correlates with the other one about the hiring

00:37:00.639 --> 00:37:06.659
freeze. 61% of Americans do believe that the federal government needs to be downsized.

00:37:07.668 --> 00:37:15.088
So that's one thing that President Trump is going to get or has support for.

00:37:16.148 --> 00:37:22.468
Now, I don't know if they didn't ask if they felt that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy

00:37:22.468 --> 00:37:29.368
were probably trustworthy enough to make that happen in an unofficial government agency.

00:37:30.548 --> 00:37:35.128
Yeah, we're talking about government efficiency and you got two people running

00:37:35.128 --> 00:37:41.528
one group, which is basically those two guys because they've got a caucus,

00:37:42.248 --> 00:37:47.508
I guess, in the Senate of the House now or committee, whatever they want to call themselves.

00:37:48.148 --> 00:37:52.588
But it's an unofficial agency. And these these folks are not going to give you

00:37:52.588 --> 00:37:56.228
a report till the 4th of July, 2026.

00:37:57.948 --> 00:38:03.048
So, you know, but but there is a sentiment that the federal government is too big.

00:38:04.268 --> 00:38:12.348
And I've had some ideas in the past about how to go about downsizing federal government.

00:38:12.968 --> 00:38:21.568
But I'm always kind of tepid about that because of what we just went through where.

00:38:21.568 --> 00:38:26.928
And it's very clear that Elon Musk and some other corporate folks got in Trump's

00:38:26.928 --> 00:38:32.488
head and proposed this idea to buy out two million government employees.

00:38:33.548 --> 00:38:39.548
You heard that mentioned in the news, two million. They want to say,

00:38:39.708 --> 00:38:45.748
OK, guys, we're going to you're going to go home.

00:38:46.408 --> 00:38:52.028
You're going to take early leave, early retirement, however they want to phrase it.

00:38:54.048 --> 00:38:58.208
And by the end of September, that'll be your last check.

00:38:58.848 --> 00:39:02.568
You'll be in employment until September the 30th of this year.

00:39:03.828 --> 00:39:05.248
But you ain't got to report.

00:39:06.435 --> 00:39:12.035
You know, so basically you want to pay people not to work, even though you've

00:39:12.035 --> 00:39:16.435
passed an executive order to mandate everybody to show backup at work.

00:39:16.895 --> 00:39:22.315
But you want two million federal employees not to come to work and to get paid.

00:39:22.315 --> 00:39:26.335
And then you want to replace them with all of your folks that you've been interviewing

00:39:26.335 --> 00:39:29.435
under this project 2025 deal.

00:39:30.015 --> 00:39:35.295
So you're going to be paying two people for the same job until the end of September.

00:39:35.295 --> 00:39:42.035
But you want to cut government, the lengths that these people will go through,

00:39:42.975 --> 00:39:49.955
the knots that they will tie themselves up in just to get what they want is

00:39:49.955 --> 00:40:00.955
frustrating and agonizing and infuriating and just hypocritical.

00:40:01.675 --> 00:40:11.955
But they will do that, right? just to continue to fight this lost cause of maintaining

00:40:11.955 --> 00:40:13.655
white supremacy in America.

00:40:16.395 --> 00:40:20.875
And, you know, it's just sad, really.

00:40:21.695 --> 00:40:30.135
I don't know why they think they have to do that. I don't know why they continue to pursue that.

00:40:30.495 --> 00:40:37.035
When it's been shown, right, independent people Studies in the corporate world

00:40:37.035 --> 00:40:44.475
have shown that the more diverse a workplace is, the more profitable it is for that business.

00:40:45.275 --> 00:40:53.735
Let me say that again. The more diverse a workplace is, the more profitable it is for that business.

00:40:54.855 --> 00:41:00.735
And as I always stress, the United States is the only country in the world where

00:41:00.735 --> 00:41:06.495
every country that exists in the world is represented within its citizenry.

00:41:07.975 --> 00:41:13.015
So this is the land of opportunity. This is the fertile ground to show that

00:41:13.015 --> 00:41:16.055
diversity, equity, and inclusion works.

00:41:18.495 --> 00:41:25.055
Because affirmative action was about quotas. you had 100 white employees,

00:41:25.815 --> 00:41:29.595
no black, no women, 100 white men, right?

00:41:29.875 --> 00:41:38.535
No black, no women, no Asian, no Latino, just 100% white men.

00:41:39.455 --> 00:41:44.915
So affirmative action, which started as just government and government contractors,

00:41:45.815 --> 00:41:50.795
kind of became the, you know, the practice practice.

00:41:52.373 --> 00:41:57.533
And, you know, people are like saying, oh, well, they've taken my job.

00:41:57.533 --> 00:42:01.033
If it was your job, then you would be working it, right?

00:42:01.673 --> 00:42:09.173
So what companies did was they just started hiring folks, and they were trying to get X number.

00:42:09.373 --> 00:42:15.173
So we'll say 25% of our workforce will be minority, right?

00:42:15.273 --> 00:42:19.713
We'll be either another ethnic group or a woman, right?

00:42:20.813 --> 00:42:26.713
Some said 10, some said 15. When you had government contracts going out, it's like, OK, well,

00:42:27.513 --> 00:42:31.253
you know, we'll be the main contractor and we'll subcontract out at least 10

00:42:31.253 --> 00:42:35.813
percent of the award that we get to do a government project,

00:42:35.813 --> 00:42:40.233
because that's what they call the money that they get awards. Right.

00:42:41.673 --> 00:42:45.833
You know, and different state legislatures pass laws saying,

00:42:45.993 --> 00:42:48.173
well, you've got to meet at least this minimum threshold.

00:42:48.453 --> 00:42:52.033
You can more than welcome go over that. If we set it at five,

00:42:52.213 --> 00:42:54.933
there's nothing saying that you can't have six percent.

00:42:56.353 --> 00:42:59.553
Right. If you're at three percent, now we got a problem.

00:42:59.573 --> 00:43:04.113
But if you're over the five percent minimum, more power to you.

00:43:04.233 --> 00:43:05.373
We appreciate the effort.

00:43:05.793 --> 00:43:09.033
Right. And there were tax incentives tied into that and all that.

00:43:09.033 --> 00:43:11.233
So people started doing it. Right.

00:43:11.653 --> 00:43:15.953
And so people started getting opportunities to do stuff.

00:43:16.533 --> 00:43:20.433
Right. That's the equity part. That's the inclusion part.

00:43:20.913 --> 00:43:25.153
You know, they had the same rules, same contract.

00:43:27.013 --> 00:43:31.773
And some had simple jobs, right? Like in a construction, they build in a highway,

00:43:31.973 --> 00:43:34.073
but they got to do some infrastructure work on the side.

00:43:34.253 --> 00:43:40.053
Okay, well, we'll subcontract out for this black company to do the pipes.

00:43:40.953 --> 00:43:42.993
Okay, lay the pipe down. Okay.

00:43:44.493 --> 00:43:53.073
We might get somebody else to, you know, we might pick a Latino company that sells us the asphalt.

00:43:53.513 --> 00:43:56.993
You know what I'm saying? And it was like they were just trying to meet that threshold.

00:43:57.753 --> 00:44:01.433
Even the banks were involved. That was the whole point about the Community Reinvestment

00:44:01.433 --> 00:44:08.793
Act, that if you have branches in the black community that, you know.

00:44:10.853 --> 00:44:15.553
5% of our assets will go to making sure that black folks have loans for housing

00:44:15.553 --> 00:44:17.753
and business, primarily business.

00:44:18.553 --> 00:44:24.573
Now, they limited that to funeral homes and restaurants and liquor stores and churches.

00:44:25.833 --> 00:44:34.753
So eat well, pray about it, you know, get drunk and then die.

00:44:35.113 --> 00:44:37.133
That's basically what black people need to do.

00:44:38.789 --> 00:44:42.809
But nonetheless, there was a law that had a set aside.

00:44:44.049 --> 00:44:49.309
And so people of Donald Trump's ilk and circle don't even want that.

00:44:49.869 --> 00:44:52.409
They say they want merit.

00:44:53.489 --> 00:44:59.009
And all merit means in dog whistle terms, which was the word I couldn't think

00:44:59.009 --> 00:45:02.609
of last week, is white folk.

00:45:03.589 --> 00:45:11.409
So when you hear the term DEI, that's the replacement for the N-word now, right?

00:45:12.929 --> 00:45:19.769
That's the new N-word. With DEI higher, flip back the country a few years,

00:45:20.029 --> 00:45:23.069
a few decades, that's an N-word higher.

00:45:23.289 --> 00:45:29.529
It's the same thing. So when they talk about merit, merit means white.

00:45:30.109 --> 00:45:34.849
If they could get away with saying an honorable hire, that's what they will

00:45:34.849 --> 00:45:38.149
do because that's what they're good at is the word salad.

00:45:38.949 --> 00:45:43.569
Taking words that are positive and making them negative, taking negative words

00:45:43.569 --> 00:45:50.309
or neutral words and making them great because all of us are supposed to have merit, right?

00:45:51.969 --> 00:45:55.849
All people that are hired are supposed to have a certain level of merit.

00:45:56.569 --> 00:46:00.489
You want them to have a certain level of honor. You want to have a certain level

00:46:00.489 --> 00:46:05.049
of expertise. You want them to have a certain level of competency, right?

00:46:05.409 --> 00:46:11.269
It doesn't matter what the job is, whether it's being an air traffic controller

00:46:11.269 --> 00:46:18.749
or a neurosurgeon or a landscaper or a painter.

00:46:20.020 --> 00:46:26.720
These are skill sets that people have to have. Some may require more mental

00:46:26.720 --> 00:46:30.140
and physical coordination, but they're all skill sets.

00:46:30.680 --> 00:46:34.960
No different than the athletes that we watch in our leisure time.

00:46:35.260 --> 00:46:36.700
Those are all skill sets.

00:46:37.200 --> 00:46:44.020
The people that we listen to on our records. Well, I'm dating myself on our streaming services.

00:46:45.660 --> 00:46:53.120
Right. That's a skill set. So you want people to have merit, all people.

00:46:54.020 --> 00:47:00.740
But the way that these folks want to define merit is merit means white,

00:47:01.380 --> 00:47:04.600
DEI means black or inward.

00:47:06.200 --> 00:47:09.440
And, of course, there will be people saying, oh, that's not true.

00:47:09.700 --> 00:47:12.860
That's a lie, blah, blah, blah. Actions speak louder than words.

00:47:12.860 --> 00:47:20.800
And the machinations that you go through to create the word salads indicate

00:47:20.800 --> 00:47:23.220
that that's not a lie. That's true.

00:47:25.040 --> 00:47:31.560
Because if merit was about merit, then you wouldn't have senators asking,

00:47:32.380 --> 00:47:40.080
hey, Pete Hexhef, are you going to get rid of the black man who's the Joint Chiefs of Staff? Right?

00:47:41.280 --> 00:47:44.700
Now, he has that luxury as the new Secretary of Defense.

00:47:45.140 --> 00:47:50.720
If he wants to do that, if he said, look, I just I want the people that I'm

00:47:50.720 --> 00:47:54.860
comfortable with in that position. It's no reflection on General Brown.

00:47:55.260 --> 00:47:57.500
That's just what I want.

00:47:58.080 --> 00:48:01.940
Couldn't really argue with that. But the fact that they were playing word silent

00:48:01.940 --> 00:48:06.000
with it and being evasive is like, yeah, he's going to let him go.

00:48:06.080 --> 00:48:07.660
And he's not mad enough to say he will.

00:48:08.080 --> 00:48:11.360
And he's not man enough to say that he's going to do it because he's a black guy.

00:48:12.080 --> 00:48:16.420
Because they said during the campaign that General Brown was a DEI hire,

00:48:16.540 --> 00:48:19.200
just like they said the vice president of the United States who literally had

00:48:19.200 --> 00:48:23.040
to get elected to the position was a DEI hire.

00:48:23.180 --> 00:48:27.280
That when she was the attorney general of California, that was a DEI hire.

00:48:27.440 --> 00:48:30.420
When she was a U.S. senator, that was a DEI hire.

00:48:31.380 --> 00:48:36.440
So the American people are into DEI. According to this poll, it sounds like they are.

00:48:37.140 --> 00:48:44.260
So they will elect people or try to elect people on merit, on trust.

00:48:44.840 --> 00:48:50.640
I believe this person can do the job. Now, we go all the way back to my favorite

00:48:50.640 --> 00:48:52.060
slaveholder, Thomas Jefferson.

00:48:52.520 --> 00:48:58.040
And I say that sarcastically because he was a brilliant man who was a man of

00:48:58.040 --> 00:49:03.660
his time who shouldn't have owned slaves. LeLon had sex with him, but it is what it is.

00:49:04.740 --> 00:49:10.320
He was a very, very profound thinker, and he understood the precariousness of

00:49:10.320 --> 00:49:15.380
democracy, even though he was against this federal system that we have.

00:49:16.300 --> 00:49:17.540
That's on the record, too.

00:49:19.327 --> 00:49:22.547
That if we're going to have this democracy, then the people have to be educated.

00:49:23.707 --> 00:49:29.927
And so what do people do that want to be in power and take advantage of ignorance?

00:49:30.107 --> 00:49:31.947
Then they make sure that people ain't educated.

00:49:32.467 --> 00:49:38.147
I mean, there's no way in my mind I would have thought that somebody would get

00:49:38.147 --> 00:49:41.727
77 million votes and say that they want to get rid of the Department of Education,

00:49:42.507 --> 00:49:45.407
when the man who created the department was on his deathbed.

00:49:46.527 --> 00:49:50.727
Absolutely amazing. 77 million people voted for a man that said,

00:49:50.827 --> 00:49:57.347
I want to get rid of the department of education and didn't offer a reason why other than wokeness.

00:49:58.727 --> 00:50:04.627
And again, that's that word salad stuff like the opposite of woke is sleep.

00:50:05.527 --> 00:50:11.487
Either you are woke, meaning that you are conscious, meaning that you are functioning

00:50:11.487 --> 00:50:15.367
during the day or you are asleep in your bed, on your couch,

00:50:15.487 --> 00:50:16.767
on the floor, wherever you sleep.

00:50:17.767 --> 00:50:25.507
And you're not functioning. You're resting. So the opposite of woke is rest.

00:50:26.467 --> 00:50:26.907
Sleep.

00:50:28.307 --> 00:50:32.527
So 77 million people voted for somebody that wants the nation to be asleep.

00:50:33.547 --> 00:50:36.167
They don't want them to be woke. They don't want them to be conscious.

00:50:36.347 --> 00:50:39.867
They don't want to be them to care. They don't want them to make an effort.

00:50:40.607 --> 00:50:45.127
That's why you got these billionaire people like Peter Thiel.

00:50:45.447 --> 00:50:48.787
And I don't even know this Curtis Yarvin dude's a billionaire,

00:50:49.007 --> 00:50:52.527
but he's kind of the guru of that thought. Right.

00:50:53.847 --> 00:50:59.787
Saying that we don't need a democracy. Why? Because people that look like me.

00:51:00.567 --> 00:51:01.727
Have been getting elected.

00:51:02.547 --> 00:51:07.267
People that come from my community have been getting CEO positions.

00:51:08.327 --> 00:51:13.247
People that look like me are giving you the news. They've replaced Walter Cronkite.

00:51:14.227 --> 00:51:16.407
Some of y'all don't know who Walter Cronkite is. That's okay.

00:51:17.287 --> 00:51:20.607
Most of the people that listen to this podcast kind of know at least the name

00:51:20.607 --> 00:51:23.727
or remember, oh, yeah, that was the guy that used to do the news.

00:51:23.907 --> 00:51:25.787
Yeah, the most trusted man in America at one point.

00:51:26.027 --> 00:51:30.447
I don't think there's any journalist that will fit that category now,

00:51:30.467 --> 00:51:36.267
because there's so many people out here. But, I mean, CNN used to tout themselves

00:51:36.267 --> 00:51:39.247
as the most trusted news network and all that. That's fine.

00:51:41.887 --> 00:51:47.227
But as far as sentiment goes, it's not the same as when Walter Cronkite was doing the news.

00:51:47.367 --> 00:51:53.647
Anyway, democracy doesn't work for these people because it's not white Christian

00:51:53.647 --> 00:51:56.487
males that have access to it anymore.

00:51:57.367 --> 00:52:03.147
Like when the country was actually founded 248 years ago.

00:52:03.907 --> 00:52:10.027
Only white men that had property, there was no religious attachment to it, could vote.

00:52:11.504 --> 00:52:18.104
Most of those white men were Christian of the Protestant denomination, right?

00:52:18.284 --> 00:52:25.124
They were either Calvinist or Methodist or whatever, Episcopalian, Presbyterian. Yeah.

00:52:26.024 --> 00:52:30.724
Again, you know, the two oldest schools in America, Harvard and Yale,

00:52:30.944 --> 00:52:34.224
were theological seminaries when they started.

00:52:35.144 --> 00:52:40.864
And the leadership of America has been derived from those two schools.

00:52:41.504 --> 00:52:44.864
Harvard being liberal, Yale being conservative.

00:52:46.524 --> 00:52:56.284
So anyway, yeah, it's, you know, and that's the crazy thing.

00:52:57.224 --> 00:53:03.884
The majority of Americans don't want a country divided.

00:53:05.044 --> 00:53:12.324
Now, they want people on the other side to think their way, to come on over

00:53:12.324 --> 00:53:16.064
to their side, but they don't want the country to be divided.

00:53:16.464 --> 00:53:19.524
There are people that already are having buyer's remorse.

00:53:20.284 --> 00:53:24.364
Basically two weeks in, just off of the executive orders.

00:53:24.964 --> 00:53:30.924
We ain't even got to the meat of governing yet, right? To see these raids that are happening.

00:53:31.724 --> 00:53:36.424
And people, even comedians, were trying to warn you about this, right?

00:53:37.244 --> 00:53:41.764
I don't want these illegal aliens in America All right, well,

00:53:41.844 --> 00:53:42.884
go pick your own strawberries.

00:53:43.764 --> 00:53:48.344
Go pick your own oranges. Go pick your own tomatoes. Grow your own tomatoes.

00:53:49.484 --> 00:53:52.824
I'm not great at it, but it's fairly simple to do for most people.

00:53:56.944 --> 00:54:04.024
Why do we not make that correlation? Because we are trying to, the powers that be,

00:54:04.784 --> 00:54:15.564
are trying to dumb down America enough where we don't like people that don't look like us, right?

00:54:15.824 --> 00:54:21.624
It's one thing to be cultural and support your culture, whether you're Irish

00:54:21.624 --> 00:54:26.484
or Italian or Anglo-Saxon or Croatian or whatever.

00:54:26.804 --> 00:54:32.244
Just like if you're Dominican or Cuban or Puerto Rican, Colombian.

00:54:32.244 --> 00:54:42.704
If you're from Nigeria, Chad, or from, as my boy said, Detroit or Chicago or

00:54:42.704 --> 00:54:44.064
Jackson, Mississippi, right?

00:54:45.824 --> 00:54:50.384
Everybody's got their own cultural niche, their own tribe, their own connection.

00:54:50.824 --> 00:54:58.064
Sorry to intermingle with community, but we've got to do better.

00:54:59.724 --> 00:55:06.164
And so let me put a pin on that and pick that back up on the other side.

00:55:06.320 --> 00:55:24.400
Music.

00:55:25.243 --> 00:55:33.163
All right, and so we are back. So where I left off was we got to do better.

00:55:33.803 --> 00:55:40.303
So me and some coworkers were having a conversation, and his one brother said

00:55:40.303 --> 00:55:44.323
that we were talking about marriage,

00:55:45.323 --> 00:55:52.743
and he said, you want to be in unity instead of just harmony, right? Right.

00:55:53.663 --> 00:56:00.023
So what does that mean? That means that when you're in harmony, you coexist.

00:56:00.943 --> 00:56:08.743
Right. When you're in harmony, it's like you do stuff within your own space, within your own vibe.

00:56:08.903 --> 00:56:12.703
You don't try to impose anything on anybody else.

00:56:15.043 --> 00:56:22.483
And, you know, you don't try to do anything to get your better half mad because

00:56:22.483 --> 00:56:26.803
you don't want to deal with conflict, right? But then there's unity.

00:56:28.203 --> 00:56:34.283
And the best analogy was like if you have a best friend, I mean a real best

00:56:34.283 --> 00:56:40.843
friend, especially guys, you know, you and your best friend are going to have

00:56:40.843 --> 00:56:42.163
an argument. You're going to have a fight.

00:56:42.843 --> 00:56:49.183
You might actually have a physical fight, you know, but at the end of the day,

00:56:49.523 --> 00:56:53.023
you're going to make up and you're going to be friends.

00:56:53.623 --> 00:56:59.443
Even if you're mad with your friend, if somebody else tries to come in and do

00:56:59.443 --> 00:57:02.643
harm to your friend, you're going to come through for.

00:57:03.763 --> 00:57:08.503
You're going to defend your friend and you may bring some other folks with you

00:57:08.503 --> 00:57:09.763
to make sure that happens.

00:57:10.283 --> 00:57:12.183
Right. And vice versa.

00:57:13.043 --> 00:57:19.763
That's unity. Because even if we're angry with each other, even if we disagree

00:57:19.763 --> 00:57:25.703
on something, we're going to have each other's back when stuff gets hard.

00:57:25.863 --> 00:57:27.463
We're going to take care of each other.

00:57:28.443 --> 00:57:31.343
We're going to lift each other up when we need to be lifted.

00:57:32.043 --> 00:57:35.963
And we're going to push anybody that tries to do us harm away.

00:57:36.843 --> 00:57:39.863
That's unity. That's real unity.

00:57:41.423 --> 00:57:45.823
Now, what we try to do in a political society, in a nation-state,

00:57:46.043 --> 00:57:47.843
is to at least have harmony.

00:57:48.443 --> 00:57:52.543
Right? You know, we try to give each other space.

00:57:53.283 --> 00:58:01.123
We try to coexist with other folks without infringing on their rights or making them uncomfortable.

00:58:02.980 --> 00:58:08.940
We're not comfortable, we try to accommodate people just so we can just kind

00:58:08.940 --> 00:58:10.260
of keep this thing moving.

00:58:10.500 --> 00:58:17.580
That's the bare minimum of a nation state, of a community, is harmony, right?

00:58:18.140 --> 00:58:21.560
We just coexist. That's what Booker T. Washington pushed.

00:58:22.480 --> 00:58:29.860
He said we can be diverse as the fingers in the hand, but united as a fist, right?

00:58:30.660 --> 00:58:38.240
When the hand is open, that's harmony. Each finger functions on its own, does its own thing.

00:58:38.560 --> 00:58:41.180
Some have more function than others. Okay.

00:58:41.880 --> 00:58:47.980
You use the index finger more than your thumb. You really can't do a whole lot without the thumb.

00:58:48.160 --> 00:58:52.360
You do more with your ring finger than your pinky finger. You know what I'm saying?

00:58:54.860 --> 00:58:59.600
Again, that's why typing is a great exercise because you utilize all your fingers,

00:58:59.600 --> 00:59:02.740
but they're not all closed together. They're separate.

00:59:03.560 --> 00:59:06.120
That's diversity, right?

00:59:06.960 --> 00:59:11.140
Each finger has its own function, but it accomplishes one goal,

00:59:11.180 --> 00:59:13.540
which is to get this document typed.

00:59:15.295 --> 00:59:19.035
Booker T. goes to unity like a fist.

00:59:19.835 --> 00:59:26.355
That fist symbolizes strength. That fist symbolizes power. That fist symbolizes resistance.

00:59:27.615 --> 00:59:30.635
That's what we've got to get to. We've got to get to the fist.

00:59:31.335 --> 00:59:37.195
That's why the symbolism of the raised fist in the African-American freedom

00:59:37.195 --> 00:59:41.335
movement, you can call it the civil rights movement, you can call it the black revolution, whatever.

00:59:42.755 --> 00:59:49.595
But the African-American resistance movement, the symbol was the fist because

00:59:49.595 --> 00:59:55.535
we had to show unity and we had to show strength to go against forces that wanted

00:59:55.535 --> 00:59:58.095
to deny us just our mere existence.

00:59:59.115 --> 01:00:00.675
And that's where we are now.

01:00:02.075 --> 01:00:07.415
I would love to live in America. I've lived in America now 60 years, officially.

01:00:09.415 --> 01:00:14.875
Never lived anywhere else. Literally have never set foot out of the continent

01:00:14.875 --> 01:00:16.095
that we call North America.

01:00:16.355 --> 01:00:19.555
I've been to Canada, I've been to Mexico, the only two foreign countries I've ever been to.

01:00:20.535 --> 01:00:23.575
I haven't even been to Hawaii. I haven't even been to Puerto Rico.

01:00:23.795 --> 01:00:28.375
I have been on this rock, this piece of rock that we call North America,

01:00:28.375 --> 01:00:32.935
on this big rock that's spinning around in space called Earth.

01:00:33.475 --> 01:00:39.795
It's only I've been there. But, thank goodness, America is diverse.

01:00:39.795 --> 01:00:46.415
So I've experienced different Latin cultures I've experienced Native American

01:00:46.415 --> 01:00:52.275
cultures I've experienced black cultures different Asian cultures right,

01:00:52.995 --> 01:00:55.035
I've experienced white cultures,

01:00:55.875 --> 01:00:59.635
to me you grew up in Chicago if you don't know any white group you're going

01:00:59.635 --> 01:01:03.735
to know the Irish folks you're going to know Polish people you're going to know

01:01:03.735 --> 01:01:08.715
the European Jews if you grew up in Chicago you're going to run into these people.

01:01:11.073 --> 01:01:15.433
Because if you grew up in Chicago, New York, you pretty much are going to run

01:01:15.433 --> 01:01:21.693
into every ethnic group that you could possibly imagine, right?

01:01:22.293 --> 01:01:24.433
And most urban areas are like that.

01:01:25.493 --> 01:01:30.453
So you learn to coexist. Now, I tell stories all the time. When I grew up in

01:01:30.453 --> 01:01:32.353
Chicago, I grew up on the South Side.

01:01:33.133 --> 01:01:35.853
I didn't have to interact with white people if I didn't want to.

01:01:36.813 --> 01:01:40.873
When I went to the store, black folks were running the store.

01:01:41.073 --> 01:01:43.873
When I went to the bank, black folks were running the bank. Now,

01:01:43.933 --> 01:01:48.733
it may be a white corporation, but in my neighborhood, black folks were running it.

01:01:49.473 --> 01:01:53.713
Most of the police officers I dealt with were black. Most of the firefighters I dealt with were black.

01:01:55.433 --> 01:01:58.433
Teachers, everything. Now, I had white teachers.

01:01:59.353 --> 01:02:04.293
I had Latino teachers, right? It got more diverse when I got to high school

01:02:04.293 --> 01:02:06.293
than it was in elementary school.

01:02:06.453 --> 01:02:09.273
But, you know, we've had some interaction.

01:02:10.193 --> 01:02:17.033
But it wasn't forced upon us, you know, and we weren't forced to be separate.

01:02:18.353 --> 01:02:23.433
But we could unite when the Bears did something good, when the Cubs did something

01:02:23.433 --> 01:02:26.253
good, when the White Sox did something good, when the Bulls did something good,

01:02:26.373 --> 01:02:27.473
when the Blackhawks did something good.

01:02:27.573 --> 01:02:33.513
We could unite on those things because those guys were representing the city

01:02:33.513 --> 01:02:40.813
of Chicago and the city exhibited pride and unity. behind those teams.

01:02:41.793 --> 01:02:43.693
It's the beauty of sports, right?

01:02:44.753 --> 01:02:48.653
And we like to say that politics is a game, is a sport, but we don't.

01:02:50.701 --> 01:02:55.801
Like that. Kind of stay in our little tribes, even in politics,

01:02:56.021 --> 01:03:03.701
when that should be our main rallying cry as far as unity,

01:03:04.261 --> 01:03:05.821
as far as showing strength.

01:03:06.001 --> 01:03:08.921
But we got people that don't want that to happen.

01:03:09.621 --> 01:03:16.201
We got people that, in some twisted, control-free kind of way,

01:03:16.381 --> 01:03:18.741
they just want white people to be in charge.

01:03:19.881 --> 01:03:22.281
White Christian men, to be specific.

01:03:23.501 --> 01:03:28.101
If you're white and you're male, but you're Muslim, no. Now they've thrown in

01:03:28.101 --> 01:03:33.201
heterosexual and biological, whatever.

01:03:34.121 --> 01:03:37.241
But if you're a white Christian male, that's pretty much the thing.

01:03:37.361 --> 01:03:41.521
So if you're a Christian male, but you're not white, then you're not part of the club.

01:03:41.961 --> 01:03:45.321
If you're white and you're Christian, but you're a female, you're not part of the club.

01:03:46.301 --> 01:03:49.341
Your rights are not to be as respected.

01:03:49.481 --> 01:03:55.061
It goes all the way back to the Dred Scott decision where Chief Justice Taney,

01:03:55.121 --> 01:04:00.661
I think his name was, Taney, Taney, whatever, said that a black man has no rights

01:04:00.661 --> 01:04:01.961
that a white man should respect.

01:04:02.981 --> 01:04:07.601
That's the mindset these people are in. So when they can just casually say,

01:04:07.901 --> 01:04:10.561
oh, well, it's a DEI hire. When you have the President of the United States.

01:04:12.883 --> 01:04:21.843
Catastrophe like the fires in California or the terrible plane crash in D.C.

01:04:22.703 --> 01:04:30.783
He doesn't talk about trying to enact policies that will make that situation

01:04:30.783 --> 01:04:35.063
go away, make it safer for people.

01:04:35.263 --> 01:04:41.083
He wants to place blame. And so in both of those instances that have happened

01:04:41.083 --> 01:04:47.903
on his watch already, he has thrown out DEI, right?

01:04:49.303 --> 01:04:52.843
And we're trying to figure out why are you doing that?

01:04:53.183 --> 01:05:01.903
Why are you even mentioning DEI when it has nothing to do with planes and helicopters

01:05:01.903 --> 01:05:04.203
colliding or trees catching on fire?

01:05:04.863 --> 01:05:08.823
What does race have to do with disasters?

01:05:09.703 --> 01:05:15.203
And he said, well, it's all about competency and standards.

01:05:16.183 --> 01:05:24.043
So you think if this world was all white, that a helicopter and a plane would not collide.

01:05:25.243 --> 01:05:29.403
If this world or this nation was all white, the trees wouldn't catch on fire.

01:05:29.643 --> 01:05:32.723
Is that the argument you are making to the American people?

01:05:33.663 --> 01:05:39.403
And there are people in America that are buying that. That's what you're trying to convey to me.

01:05:40.523 --> 01:05:45.083
And then you get offended when people use the term insane or insensitive or mean.

01:05:46.163 --> 01:05:50.243
That's so out of touch. That's so deranged.

01:05:51.343 --> 01:05:59.563
That you think that the world would be a better place if just white Christian men ruled it.

01:06:00.023 --> 01:06:02.523
That the United States would be great again.

01:06:03.943 --> 01:06:10.563
If white Christian men ruled it. Yeah, that's not what any of us signed up for.

01:06:11.503 --> 01:06:16.843
Those of us who have taken an oath for office or taken an oath for the military

01:06:16.843 --> 01:06:21.063
or taken an oath for the police department, that's not what we signed up for.

01:06:21.803 --> 01:06:27.083
The United States Constitution doesn't say these are the rights for white Christian

01:06:27.083 --> 01:06:30.583
men and these are the rights for everybody else. It's not how that works.

01:06:31.623 --> 01:06:35.423
There are some people that wanted it to work that way, and very fortunately

01:06:35.423 --> 01:06:39.803
there were smart people, smart legal scholars.

01:06:42.150 --> 01:06:47.810
Able to successfully challenge that concept and win, which goes back to what

01:06:47.810 --> 01:06:49.330
I said in the first half of the show.

01:06:49.690 --> 01:06:53.410
There are people who are saying, well, the only way we can stop that is that

01:06:53.410 --> 01:06:58.470
we got to stop democracy altogether, that we got to have an authoritarian rule.

01:06:59.710 --> 01:07:03.170
And those people are right when they say, well, you know, corporations are like that.

01:07:03.610 --> 01:07:07.150
They are authoritarian. It's like everybody's going to wear this suit.

01:07:07.310 --> 01:07:08.890
You remember the joke about IBM?

01:07:09.190 --> 01:07:13.510
Those of us old enough remember, you know, Everybody at IBM had to wear the

01:07:13.510 --> 01:07:15.550
same suit, same tie, all that kind of stuff.

01:07:16.450 --> 01:07:19.730
You know, the dress codes, all that kind of thing.

01:07:20.530 --> 01:07:25.830
You know, well, you've got billionaires now who have built cultures where people

01:07:25.830 --> 01:07:29.810
can dress how they want, work from home, work at the place, whatever they want to do.

01:07:30.050 --> 01:07:32.650
As long as they do the work, right?

01:07:35.010 --> 01:07:39.850
And, you know, but that's all part of diversity, too, right?

01:07:39.850 --> 01:07:47.670
Because diversity is not just color of skin, level of melanin in skin. It's about thought.

01:07:48.190 --> 01:07:52.310
There are some people who think maybe you should only work four days a week instead of five.

01:07:53.170 --> 01:07:58.550
There are people who think, well, I just need you to come to the office two

01:07:58.550 --> 01:08:01.930
or three times a week instead of being here all week.

01:08:02.670 --> 01:08:07.770
That's diversity of thought, of how to get stuff done, of how to be productive.

01:08:08.670 --> 01:08:16.350
But these folks don't want that. These folks want you on the plantation as long

01:08:16.350 --> 01:08:20.030
as we can legally have you here. We want you in our sight.

01:08:20.890 --> 01:08:26.310
Now, they're not too stupid to realize that you probably need to go home so

01:08:26.310 --> 01:08:29.150
you can buy products so these companies can exist.

01:08:31.338 --> 01:08:37.198
Go to the bank. You got to go to the grocery store. You may even have to go to the doctor.

01:08:38.258 --> 01:08:41.598
So you got to be out of the office for something.

01:08:43.098 --> 01:08:47.378
And they're hoping that you can accomplish all that stuff on the two days that

01:08:47.378 --> 01:08:50.678
you have off, which is Saturday and Sunday, which is when everybody else is

01:08:50.678 --> 01:08:52.698
off. So good luck with that.

01:08:54.478 --> 01:08:59.078
The poor service industry, that's why they have to be open 24-7 almost,

01:08:59.378 --> 01:09:02.258
because that's the only time, you know,

01:09:02.738 --> 01:09:06.798
they have to accommodate all those folks that have to work and need stuff,

01:09:06.998 --> 01:09:12.478
because they would like to leave at 5 o'clock too, but since most of everybody

01:09:12.478 --> 01:09:15.138
else is leaving at 5 o'clock, they got to shop at some point,

01:09:15.158 --> 01:09:19.238
so they stay open to 9, 10, 11, some 24 hours.

01:09:20.498 --> 01:09:24.798
Not so much 24 hours now after COVID, but you get what I'm saying,

01:09:25.318 --> 01:09:29.378
right? So these folks are not, I guess, that evil.

01:09:30.218 --> 01:09:34.138
They don't want to give you a day off to vote, though. Definitely don't want to do that.

01:09:34.878 --> 01:09:38.938
If there's any holiday that should exist, election day should be a holiday.

01:09:40.758 --> 01:09:46.438
Because it's supposed to be a celebration of democracy in the truest sense of the form.

01:09:46.858 --> 01:09:50.358
It's a day where the people decide who their leadership is going to be.

01:09:51.298 --> 01:09:55.938
Why do you need to work on that day? It'll be there that Wednesday.

01:09:58.198 --> 01:10:02.678
That first Wednesday in November. I promise you the work that you didn't do

01:10:02.678 --> 01:10:03.898
on Tuesday would be waiting for you.

01:10:04.358 --> 01:10:08.058
If you couldn't get it done that first Monday. Right?

01:10:10.246 --> 01:10:14.426
Juneteenth, you got Martin Luther King Day. What do you mean we got that?

01:10:14.966 --> 01:10:19.426
We didn't even ask for Juneteenth. Y'all gave that to us, thinking that might

01:10:19.426 --> 01:10:22.886
stop us from protesting police brutality.

01:10:23.626 --> 01:10:30.226
We appreciate it, because that's the day we remind you that slavery existed.

01:10:30.866 --> 01:10:35.866
So we appreciate that. We appreciate you recognizing a man who was so great

01:10:35.866 --> 01:10:39.706
that he didn't even have to be president to have a holiday. We appreciate that.

01:10:41.766 --> 01:10:47.266
But, I mean, the other days of the year, you want us to all celebrate July the

01:10:47.266 --> 01:10:52.326
4th, and then you get mad when brothers like Reverend Thompson get on his podcast

01:10:52.326 --> 01:10:54.046
and recite the Frederick Douglass speech.

01:10:55.086 --> 01:11:01.246
Because Frederick was right. We weren't free on July 4th, 1776.

01:11:01.846 --> 01:11:07.326
We weren't freed. We didn't get to be free until January 1st,

01:11:07.386 --> 01:11:09.426
1863, and then Juneteenth.

01:11:10.246 --> 01:11:13.166
Two years later, when everybody finally got the word, right?

01:11:13.546 --> 01:11:16.846
Two years later. You know, a whole war had been fought by then.

01:11:17.566 --> 01:11:23.246
Like I said on a previous podcast, you know, this is just, this is like a bad relationship.

01:11:24.106 --> 01:11:28.406
Brothers like Marcus Garvey said, well, let's leave. Let's just leave.

01:11:29.226 --> 01:11:33.046
Y'all put him in jail. Y'all found a reason to shut him down.

01:11:33.186 --> 01:11:37.586
He was one of the most influential Americans in history.

01:11:40.188 --> 01:11:43.228
Company, had the largest circulating newspaper in the country,

01:11:44.248 --> 01:11:47.488
one of the biggest African-American organizations in history.

01:11:48.128 --> 01:11:50.728
And all he was trying to do was convince us to leave.

01:11:52.488 --> 01:11:56.068
He was, just get up out of here. Let's start our own nation.

01:11:56.928 --> 01:12:00.748
And y'all put him in jail right here in Atlanta, Georgia.

01:12:01.448 --> 01:12:05.328
Then Atlanta became the black Mecca. Isn't that ironic?

01:12:06.188 --> 01:12:10.208
But I digress. It's a bad a relationship. You don't want us to leave.

01:12:11.208 --> 01:12:15.848
You want to tell us everything. You don't want us to have good jobs,

01:12:15.988 --> 01:12:17.728
but you want us to pay taxes.

01:12:18.888 --> 01:12:22.168
You need us to work at certain jobs, but you don't want us to go to school to

01:12:22.168 --> 01:12:24.508
learn them. You want to cut off our money.

01:12:25.268 --> 01:12:29.808
You want us to pull ourselves, buy our own bootstraps, but you don't want us

01:12:29.808 --> 01:12:37.708
to start a business even to make boots, let alone have them or afford to get them. I'm just saying.

01:12:38.528 --> 01:12:42.068
The NRA supported gun control when the Black Panthers showed up.

01:12:43.008 --> 01:12:47.648
But now the Proud Boys are here. I know we need to have guns everywhere.

01:12:48.788 --> 01:12:58.028
I mean, when you break it down like that, it's kind of hard not to see or not to feel some kind of way.

01:12:59.108 --> 01:13:03.768
So when Donald Trump gets up there and says, DEI, he was trying to blame somebody

01:13:03.768 --> 01:13:10.248
black for the fires, which is just as ludicrous as Marius Reeteller Green talking

01:13:10.248 --> 01:13:13.728
about space lasers funded by Jewish financers.

01:13:13.728 --> 01:13:19.468
I guess I don't know where the Jewish part came from, but the Jewish space lasers. Remember that?

01:13:20.248 --> 01:13:21.748
And she's still getting elected.

01:13:22.588 --> 01:13:23.968
She's still getting elected.

01:13:25.028 --> 01:13:27.128
She literally introduced the bill.

01:13:29.853 --> 01:13:35.493
Came from the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. But her people are struggling,

01:13:35.673 --> 01:13:39.613
just like everybody else, to pay bills and to buy groceries.

01:13:40.493 --> 01:13:46.873
She ain't introduced NAMM bill for that. That's the Southern coming out of me, NAMM, nada, nothing.

01:13:47.393 --> 01:13:49.093
She ain't introduced nothing to do that.

01:13:50.313 --> 01:13:53.953
Georgia's not even touching the Gulf, whatever you want to call it.

01:13:55.193 --> 01:14:01.353
But we're hung up. And so as long as we're divided, as long as we're fighting

01:14:01.353 --> 01:14:05.093
each other over stuff that should be simple and make sense,

01:14:05.913 --> 01:14:11.413
Madison Avenue is trying to get you to think right because they want you to

01:14:11.413 --> 01:14:12.453
buy their clients products.

01:14:12.453 --> 01:14:16.893
But they really are trying to get you in a mindset because it's like it used

01:14:16.893 --> 01:14:22.393
to be, well, we got to have this particular couple and all this stuff.

01:14:22.393 --> 01:14:25.173
So now it's just like, hey, you, I need you to be that male.

01:14:25.373 --> 01:14:26.453
I need you to be the female.

01:14:26.693 --> 01:14:30.233
And, you know, y'all either dating and married, whatever. But we need you to

01:14:30.233 --> 01:14:33.013
both be riding this Lexus, right? It don't matter if they're black,

01:14:33.153 --> 01:14:34.173
Latino, Asian, whatever.

01:14:34.293 --> 01:14:37.233
It's just like, look, y'all two good looking folks, jump in the car.

01:14:37.693 --> 01:14:38.993
That's how they do it now.

01:14:39.733 --> 01:14:45.093
Because they understand that America is diverse. The money tells them that America is diverse.

01:14:46.033 --> 01:14:49.353
And it's not the traditional leave it to beaver family.

01:14:50.333 --> 01:14:54.073
Because two men, fine, get in the car. Two women, get in the car.

01:14:54.313 --> 01:15:00.413
That's how they work now because they understand that money is green and it's

01:15:00.413 --> 01:15:06.633
coming from everywhere, not just white Christian males.

01:15:07.393 --> 01:15:14.133
But these people that now are in the position of leadership in this country don't get that.

01:15:16.278 --> 01:15:21.818
And it's like how aggravating it is for them that they have white women that are elected.

01:15:23.878 --> 01:15:28.398
As much as, I mean, Marjorie Taylor Greene and Laura Loomer were fighting each

01:15:28.398 --> 01:15:34.098
other because one point Marjorie was riding in the plane with Trump and then

01:15:34.098 --> 01:15:37.558
Laura replaced her and they got into it on X.

01:15:39.058 --> 01:15:43.338
And I don't like neither one of y'all because y'all are white and Christian,

01:15:43.518 --> 01:15:48.218
but you're not male. so you'll never be higher.

01:15:49.238 --> 01:15:55.638
Phyllis Schlafly was an anomaly, but strategically, they needed to have a white

01:15:55.638 --> 01:15:59.418
woman to try to stop women from getting equal rights.

01:16:00.338 --> 01:16:07.858
You know, Byron Donalds, Christian, male, not white. So he's only going to ascend so far.

01:16:08.618 --> 01:16:12.338
You're in a good spot right there. This is where we need you to be.

01:16:12.978 --> 01:16:17.218
But if he runs for president, bro, nothing.

01:16:17.938 --> 01:16:19.478
Tim Scott showed you that.

01:16:20.298 --> 01:16:26.258
Christian Mayo made him get engaged. I assume, I think he did get married to this woman.

01:16:27.418 --> 01:16:32.078
Made him do that. But he ain't quite. So he couldn't be president.

01:16:33.118 --> 01:16:37.898
And as much criticism as you say you have for the Democratic Party,

01:16:38.238 --> 01:16:41.198
at least options are being thrown out there.

01:16:41.758 --> 01:16:46.378
And they make it out of the primaries. Can we say Barack Obama and Kamala Harris?

01:16:47.538 --> 01:16:52.298
And look at the names. Who would have thought that the first black president

01:16:52.298 --> 01:16:58.618
would be named Barack Obama, that the first black vice president's first name would be Kamala?

01:16:59.278 --> 01:17:01.958
You figure it'd be like Susan or Richard.

01:17:03.518 --> 01:17:08.398
That's why some white folks will call him Barack Barry, just so they could feel comfortable.

01:17:08.398 --> 01:17:14.958
So, ladies and gentlemen, I'm not a psychologist, took a psychology course,

01:17:15.038 --> 01:17:19.998
took a sociology course because it was required, but I'm not licensed in that.

01:17:20.698 --> 01:17:31.218
But I do know, being a black man in America for 60 years, that this white male Christian mindset.

01:17:34.521 --> 01:17:40.881
And the only way we can cure that is that we got to stop electing people that suffer from it.

01:17:41.581 --> 01:17:46.401
I don't care if they're Democrat, Republican, white, black, Latino,

01:17:46.701 --> 01:17:53.641
Asian, male, female, LGBTQIA+, doesn't matter.

01:17:54.461 --> 01:18:00.101
If they have a mindset that only white male Christians need to run this nation,

01:18:00.661 --> 01:18:05.041
need to have a say-so, They're the only ones that exhibit merit.

01:18:05.501 --> 01:18:10.801
Then those people need to get their sickness cured and they don't need to be

01:18:10.801 --> 01:18:13.901
given positions of power. Not anymore.

01:18:14.741 --> 01:18:19.101
I have been saying ever since I started this podcast in 2019,

01:18:20.041 --> 01:18:24.961
which, by the way, welcome to the 11th season. I forgot to do that.

01:18:26.981 --> 01:18:35.241
That they don't they don't need to be they don't need to be in these spots I've

01:18:35.241 --> 01:18:41.261
been saying it I've always said that this is like the last gasp of white supremacy,

01:18:42.281 --> 01:18:43.461
well bro,

01:18:45.021 --> 01:18:49.121
we're going to have to pull the plug doesn't look like it's going to die naturally

01:18:49.121 --> 01:18:54.181
so we're just going to have to cut the respirator off can't keep it going.

01:18:54.781 --> 01:18:58.741
It's not benefiting us in any way, shape, or form.

01:18:59.221 --> 01:19:04.921
It's only causing division, only causing strife, only causing grief,

01:19:05.481 --> 01:19:08.941
only causing anger, pain, and suffering.

01:19:09.341 --> 01:19:14.261
The one objective that you're supposed to have in leadership,

01:19:14.661 --> 01:19:19.061
especially political leadership, is when you are given that responsibility to do no harm.

01:19:19.841 --> 01:19:26.101
But if you only believe that white Christian males, white male Christians, Christians,

01:19:26.973 --> 01:19:31.213
whatever, however you want to phrase it, should be the ones in charge,

01:19:31.393 --> 01:19:35.353
the only ones that have merit, the only ones that have honor and distinction.

01:19:36.233 --> 01:19:40.113
You can't lead anymore. You can't elect you anymore.

01:19:41.073 --> 01:19:45.553
We've got to get somebody that understands that DEI is not the N-word,

01:19:46.313 --> 01:19:51.573
that DEI is the objective, and not the DEI that they're projecting,

01:19:51.573 --> 01:19:57.493
which is didn't earn it, but diversity, equity, and inclusion.

01:19:58.033 --> 01:20:04.913
We were saying equality, but no, it's time for equity now, which means if you've

01:20:04.913 --> 01:20:08.793
got to go above and beyond to create the playing field, make it happen.

01:20:09.533 --> 01:20:15.093
That the world that you live in is not one shade, deal with it.

01:20:15.733 --> 01:20:20.013
That you're going to have to gather your comfort zone to interact with other

01:20:20.013 --> 01:20:22.333
human beings, make it happen.

01:20:23.133 --> 01:20:28.473
Those are the leaders. From the last episode, I said we got to elect American leaders.

01:20:28.893 --> 01:20:31.873
America is diversity.

01:20:32.833 --> 01:20:39.133
America is equity. America is inclusion. Period. Full stop.

01:20:39.853 --> 01:20:41.613
That's the whole concept.

01:20:42.513 --> 01:20:43.893
For the majority.

01:20:45.953 --> 01:20:49.753
All right, just say the whole 248 years, going on 249.

01:20:50.893 --> 01:20:56.673
We've given deferential treatment to white male Christians. I think that's long enough.

01:20:57.633 --> 01:21:04.233
I think it's time for us to pick people of merit, regardless of what they look like.

01:21:04.913 --> 01:21:11.713
I think it's time to pick people of honor, regardless of what they look like. Period.

01:21:12.633 --> 01:21:23.413
We have got to go into the voting booth from every election henceforth and pick American leaders.

01:21:24.393 --> 01:21:30.333
Doesn't matter if you're a first generation American or a 10th generation American,

01:21:30.473 --> 01:21:33.453
if that's possible. I think it is.

01:21:34.073 --> 01:21:37.253
You got to pick American leaders from this point forward.

01:21:37.473 --> 01:21:44.353
You got to pick people who understand the basic concept of diversity,

01:21:44.693 --> 01:21:49.153
equity, and inclusion because that's what America is.

01:21:49.873 --> 01:21:55.613
No matter how they spin it on Newsmax or OAN or Fox News or whatever,

01:21:56.333 --> 01:22:00.473
if they didn't believe in diversity, equity, and inclusion, Harrison Faulkner wouldn't have a job.

01:22:01.193 --> 01:22:04.253
And some of them other brothers and sisters they got over there at Fox,

01:22:04.413 --> 01:22:07.053
and I don't even know who's over at OAN or Newsmax.

01:22:07.973 --> 01:22:11.313
I don't watch it. But I,

01:22:12.246 --> 01:22:17.066
that they hire people who are not white male Christians.

01:22:17.746 --> 01:22:24.826
So why promote a political agenda that doesn't support diversity,

01:22:24.826 --> 01:22:25.866
equity, and conclusion?

01:22:26.586 --> 01:22:32.166
Right? It just makes sense. You could be an American leader and be liberal.

01:22:32.326 --> 01:22:34.306
You can be an American leader and be conservative.

01:22:34.626 --> 01:22:39.666
You can be an American leader and be radical. We can debate those ideas as Americans.

01:22:40.746 --> 01:22:45.306
We're in that tight fist mode where we're all trying to be unified and make this happen.

01:22:45.546 --> 01:22:52.546
We can come up with the right solution if we work together and we respect our diversity.

01:22:53.086 --> 01:23:00.186
We think with a mindset of equity and we're inclusive to make sure that everybody's got to say so.

01:23:00.486 --> 01:23:03.626
We can do that. It's not hard.

01:23:04.686 --> 01:23:11.326
We've seen pockets of it, but now it's time to, as Dr. King would say, live up to our creed.

01:23:11.486 --> 01:23:14.766
And Dr. King was very eloquent in saying that,

01:23:15.386 --> 01:23:20.246
and I can't find the exact quote now, but I remember he said something that

01:23:20.246 --> 01:23:24.046
we have to understand that not everybody, and he used the term Negro because

01:23:24.046 --> 01:23:30.146
of his time, but he understood that not every black person thought the same way.

01:23:31.066 --> 01:23:35.486
And there were some black people that actually were going to work to hurt other black people.

01:23:36.166 --> 01:23:40.806
Our job is not to judge. Our job is to love them anyway and keep it moving.

01:23:41.646 --> 01:23:45.026
In the National Football League, brothers play against each other.

01:23:45.766 --> 01:23:47.066
Literal blood brothers.

01:23:48.346 --> 01:23:51.566
But you're not going to stop me from trying to score that touchdown.

01:23:52.586 --> 01:23:56.806
I'm not going to let that, because you're on the other side.

01:23:57.666 --> 01:24:01.286
Well, after the battle, we'll get together.

01:24:02.146 --> 01:24:06.546
But if my objective is to get to this point, you're not going to stop me.

01:24:07.146 --> 01:24:10.846
So we have to accept that, that there's going to be some black folks that are not on our side.

01:24:11.526 --> 01:24:16.686
You ain't got to call them names. You just got to work around them. Do what you got to do.

01:24:17.766 --> 01:24:22.866
Force the gatekeepers to open the gate. Just like there's women that are gatekeepers.

01:24:24.126 --> 01:24:26.986
53% of white women prove that they're gatekeepers. Right.

01:24:27.866 --> 01:24:36.146
Here's what it is. But we as a collective have to make a commitment and focus

01:24:36.146 --> 01:24:39.926
on electing American leaders,

01:24:40.506 --> 01:24:45.326
leaders that understand that diversity, equity and inclusion is our strength.

01:24:45.326 --> 01:24:51.166
Is what makes us the most unique nation on the planet, the most blessed nation

01:24:51.166 --> 01:24:57.286
on the planet, the most powerful nation on the planet. It's not a weakness.

01:24:58.046 --> 01:25:01.146
It's not a fault. It's our strength.

01:25:02.006 --> 01:25:04.506
Thank you for listening. Until next time.

01:25:05.680 --> 01:25:52.211
Music.