May 3, 2026

Leave Us Alone

Leave Us Alone
Leave Us Alone
A Moment with Erik Fleming
Leave Us Alone

In this episode, Host Erik Fleming lights up the Hot Mic with his take on the Louisiana v. Callais ruling.

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Erik Fleming delivers a solo episode responding to the Supreme Court's recent decision that weakens protections under the Voting Rights Act, using the Louisiana case as a springboard to explain historical roots, gerrymandering, and the broader threat to Black political representation.

He mixes legal context, personal reflection, and a call to action—urging listeners to stay engaged, support independent media, and keep fighting for voter protections.

00:05 - Welcome to A Moment with Erik Fleming

01:14 - NBG Podcast Network Introduction

02:00 - Solo Reflections and Etiquette

04:19 - Moment of News with Grace G

06:50 - Hot Mic on Supreme Court Decision

07:19 - Impact of Voting Rights Act

16:54 - The Fight for Representation

20:51 - Gerrymandering and Its Consequences

22:32 - Political Landscape in the South

27:57 - The Role of Black Republicans

30:10 - Historical Context of Race

32:54 - The Assignment of Advocacy

39:13 - Activist Judges and Political Influence

40:58 - The Fight for Rights and Freedom

43:34 - Perseverance in the Face of Adversity

45:12 - The Call for Freedom

48:40 - The Emotional Fight for Justice

50:27 - The Future of Black Representation

56:12 - The Ongoing Struggle for Equality

WEBVTT

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Welcome. I'm Erik Fleming, host of A Moment with Erik 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 amomentwitherikfleming.

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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, momenterik.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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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 a 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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Hello. Welcome to Another Bone with Erik Fleming. I am your host, Erik Fleming.

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So, I don't have any guests this week, so it's not my fault.

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You know, and that's, I guess that's just something I have to deal with.

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But, you know, I think we've gotten to a point where,

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We've forgotten everything about etiquette and rules and consideration.

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And that's going to lead to my commentary later on. But from a personal aspect, I think that,

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you know, if people cannot fulfill obligations, then they should be courteous

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enough to let you know. Some people did.

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Some people do. Some people don't. and then they take umbrage if you reach out

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to them to try to find out what happened.

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You know, I don't know. You know, I was just brought up to be considerate of people's time.

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What you might not think is important is probably greatly important to the person

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that you're disrespecting.

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And, you know, it is what it is.

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I just think, and that's endemic of the political climate that we're in.

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I think people have just lost respect.

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But again, I'll get into that, into the commentary. Right now,

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just want to reach out to folks.

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And for those of you who do listen and those of you who respect this podcast,

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please show some support.

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You know, share with your friends on social media. support the podcast through

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Patreon or directly on www.momenteric.com.

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And, you know, and not just my podcast, but other people who have taken the time,

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and who are putting themselves out there to try to counter what we're seeing on a daily basis.

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Anyway, so please do that. All right, let's go ahead and kick this off.

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And as always, we kick it off with a moment of news for Grace G.

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Thanks, Erik. The U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority weakened a key

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provision of the Voting Rights Act by blocking a second Black majority district in Louisiana.

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Governor Jeff Landry suspended Louisiana's May 16th congressional primary to

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allow the Republican-led legislature to redraw voting boundaries after the U.S.

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Supreme Court ruled the state's map illegal.

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Florida Republicans approved a new congressional map designed by Governor Ron

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DeSantis to significantly bolster the GOP's chances of keeping control of the U.S. House.

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President Trump signed a funding bill ending an 11-week partial shutdown for

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non-immigration-related DHS agencies like the TSA and FEMA, though funding for

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border enforcement remains excluded from the deal.

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President Trump and the First Lady were evacuated from the White House Correspondents

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Association dinner after a gunman opened fire on security personnel at a checkpoint,

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leading to the suspect's arrest and the event's cancellation.

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King Charles addressed the U.S.

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Congress to assert that the U.K. and U.S.

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Remain steadfast allies dedicated to democracy, even amid significant diplomatic

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friction regarding the conflict with Iran. The U.S.

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Justice Department has filed criminal charges against former FBI Director James

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Comey, alleging he threatened President Trump through a social media photo of seashells.

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Federal prosecutors in Chicago have dropped felony conspiracy charges against

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four immigration protesters, though the defendants still face misdemeanor charges

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for their actions at a detention facility.

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The Trump administration has announced plans to introduce firing squads,

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electrocution, and gas asphyxiation as alternative federal execution methods.

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Maine Governor Janet Mills ended her campaign for the United States Senate,

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citing a lack of financial resources.

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And the U.S. Department of Justice is fast-tracking the reclassification of

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marijuana to a less restrictive drug category.

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I am Grace G., and this has been a Moment of News.

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Thank you, Grace, for that moment of news. And now stay tuned for my hot mic

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on the Supreme Court decision.

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All right. So I'm back.

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And so, of course, everybody has been talking about this Supreme Court decision,

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which has basically put the final nail on the coffin with the Voting Rights Act.

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Now, when we say that, people can say that's hyperbole because the act is still law.

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The problem is, is that we have a mindset,

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especially in the court system, that has been building since 1965 when this

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passed to figure out a way to take the teeth out of it.

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And one person in particular is the Chief Justice, John Roberts,

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who it's been his lifelong crusade.

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It's almost like his whole legal journey has been to be put in a place where

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he could defang the Voting Rights Act.

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And he started it in 2013, his first opportunity, and he's been on the court

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long enough now, the chief justice long enough now, to, as we say,

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put the final nail on the coffin.

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What the court did was it basically said that majority-minority congressional

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districts created with the intent of ensuring minority voters could elect candidates

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of their choice was unconstitutional.

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It violated the spirit of the 14th and the 15th Amendment.

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So those were the amendments that gave Black people citizenship and the right to vote, right?

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And this district that they were talking about was a district that was created

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because a judge, a federal judge in Louisiana,

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felt that Black people were not being fairly represented in Congress.

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Her argument over the basis of her ruling was that one-third of the state's

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population in Louisiana is black, and they have six congressional districts,

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and there was only one black congressional district.

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So her instruction was, whatever map that you present from this point forward,

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because I'm throwing this one out.

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Whatever map you present has to have the opportunity for two African-Americans

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to be elected in the state of Louisiana.

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And so Louisiana did that.

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They came up with a map which created two black districts.

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And the 6th District, which is the one that's in question, is almost like a

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straight line right in the cutting diagonal across the state of Louisiana, right?

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And that created enough of a Black voting age population to elect a Black person

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to serve in Congress, and that person is serving right now.

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So the Supreme Court has, over these last few years, figured out a way to,

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under the guise of constitutional law, figured out a way to carry out an insidious

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plan that started in a memo in 1972, right?

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If you don't understand what I'm talking about, look up Powell Memo 1972.

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That's where all this stuff, and by the way, Powell ended up serving on the

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Supreme Court, this guy.

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So from that moment, about a year after he wrote the memo, he got appointed to the Supreme Court.

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So from that moment, that's been the playbook as far as policy,

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judicial appointments, right?

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The voting strategy started in 68 after George Wallace secured a lot of Southern

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whites who were disenfranchised by the Democratic Party because of Lyndon Bain

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Johnson and the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act.

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And those Democrats switched and became Republicans in the South.

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And you already had a division between Northern and Southern Democrats anyway.

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Well, now that division was gone because the Southern Democrats,

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the Dixiecrats, the state's rights folks, they signed up with the Republican Party.

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And by 1980, their plan was complete when Toronto Reagan won.

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The president's, right?

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And in 1984, he had this incredible 49-stake landslide, right?

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So, but the policy part and the legal packing of the courts and all that stuff started in 72.

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So all this was under Richard Nixon, right?

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Nixon won in spite of votes being siphoned away that he thought he could get.

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But since a lot of those votes had traditionally voted Democrat,

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Hubert Humphrey probably thought those votes were being siphoned away from him. Nonetheless.

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So what we are seeing now in 2026 is a culmination of all that stuff.

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So it's been years and years of planning and strategizing and map drawing and

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legislative creating, all that, you know,

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crafting legislation, however you want to put it, all this stuff, right?

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And there's only one root for all of this, and that is white folks wanting to

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maintain control, especially in the South.

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Not frowned upon in the North and not frowned upon in the West,

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but it's definitely because if there wasn't a crusade to protect white power,

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then more black people would be elected to office than they are now.

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The majority of the black population lives in the South, right?

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You take away the urban centers like Chicago, New York, L.A.

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You take away those cities, this is where black people are concentrated.

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And that's the way it was enslavement.

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That's why the compromise in the Constitution was the three-fifths clause.

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So for those arrogant white folks that want to spout to their constitutional

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lawyers or historians and all that,

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and then, like, try to ignore the history and the constitutionality of this

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bullshit that they've been doing,

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then they can miss me with that.

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And they can miss all of us with that.

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Doesn't matter if you're black, white, Asian, Latino. You know,

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there's some folks out here that are saying that this court ruling and everything

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else that's led up to it is legitimate.

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They're just feeding you bullshit, wrapped up in white privilege intellect.

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That's all it is. For...

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You know, I'm not a lawyer. I don't pretend to be a lawyer.

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But having the privilege of, for nine years, being in a position to actually

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make laws, you kind of get someone, and being involved in lawsuits,

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you kind of get a working man's understanding.

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And the thing that kills me about this Louisiana case that challenged the new

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map, because that's how we got this case.

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After that judge forced the legislature to do that, then they had the elections in 24.

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Now, they tried, this group of folks tried to stop the election in 24.

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And Supreme Court said, well, no, we're not going to deal with it now because

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it's too close to the election.

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So they wanted to revisit it, and they had two sets of oral arguments for this in 2025.

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Normally, it's just one day set aside for the oral arguments,

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get that documented, and then the lawyers and the law clerks and the justices make their decisions,

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do their research, allegedly, whatever. Yeah.

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And the issue about standing because

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they said it was a group of non-African-American voters in Louisiana.

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So let's narrow that down. If it was a group of Asian and Latino voters that

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said that there shouldn't be a second black congressional district,

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that'd be an interesting.

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And it'd be an interesting to understand that they feel that they should have

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it or creating a new black district, but deny them the opportunity to even run. I don't know.

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But anybody white that was a party to the lawsuit didn't have standing.

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See, at least the Asians and Latinos would have standing because they are actually

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a minority that covers and falls under the protection of the Voting Rights Act.

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But any white person in Louisiana that filed a lawsuit, they don't have standing

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because the provision was designed for protection of minorities.

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And as of right now, the majority of the population in the state of Louisiana is white.

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So if black people were fighting and saying we don't need this black district, they had standing.

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If Latinos or Asians said they don't want this district, they have standing.

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But white folks do not because they're not a minority in any state,

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not even Hawaii, not anymore.

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Right? They might be still a minority in Hawaii. But in the mainland United

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States, every state, white people are the majority.

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Like you said, in the South, high percentages.

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Mississippi has the highest percentage. It's basically at 40%. Louisiana is a third.

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Alabama is 30%. Georgia is in the 30s. Right? South Carolina.

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If they're not in the 30s, they're in the high 20s.

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Southern states, the descendants of slaves, whether the kids moved north and

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the grandkids came back, pretty

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much the epicenter of black culture in America comes from the south.

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So if, based on the political climate,

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the New York Times projected that if southern leadership,

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which is primarily Republican in the Southern states as far as the governatorial,

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the governorship and the majorities in the legislature,

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Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia,

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South Carolina, Arkansas, Louisiana, all them in Florida, they're all majority

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Republican and have a Republican governor, all of them.

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And so Georgia's the only state that's purple. It used to be Florida,

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now it's Georgia, right?

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Because they have some statewide people or have had within the last decade statewide Democrats.

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Georgia has two U.S. senators. They got seven white men in the state constitution

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offices, but they have two U.S.

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Senators, somebody of Jewish descent, and somebody black.

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So the senators are not impacted by the U.S.

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Senators because they have to run statewide. So there's no district defining them.

00:20:06.087 --> 00:20:08.827
I remember when I ran for the U.S. Senate, people could have asked me,

00:20:08.867 --> 00:20:12.067
are you running for the northern half or the southern half? I had to break it

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down. No, no, it's statewide.

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All the counties vote.

00:20:16.902 --> 00:20:25.202
Congressional district votes for the U.S. senator. So, gerrymandering doesn't impact U.S.

00:20:25.642 --> 00:20:30.982
Senators, but gerrymandering impacts are the House of Representatives and the

00:20:30.982 --> 00:20:33.002
state legislatures, right?

00:20:34.102 --> 00:20:38.702
Some states get around it at the state level by saying they just draw Senate

00:20:38.702 --> 00:20:45.862
districts and then you pick so many representatives out of that Senate district to comprise the House.

00:20:46.902 --> 00:20:51.562
But then the gerrymandering falls into the Senate, right?

00:20:51.822 --> 00:20:58.282
Nebraska, they only have their unicameral. They only have one chamber, and that's the Senate.

00:20:59.382 --> 00:21:05.622
So it is what it is there. But everybody else is what we call bicameral.

00:21:05.822 --> 00:21:07.522
They have a House and a Senate.

00:21:08.182 --> 00:21:14.802
And so most of those states draw the lines for the House districts and the Senate districts.

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And then they draw the lines for the judicial districts, whether it's state

00:21:19.922 --> 00:21:24.122
courts or the state Supreme Court or the appellate court.

00:21:24.562 --> 00:21:27.702
In Mississippi, the appellate and, well,

00:21:27.742 --> 00:21:33.242
it used to be the appellate and Supreme Court had different districts because

00:21:33.242 --> 00:21:39.342
the appellate court still drew their lines based on when Mississippi had five

00:21:39.342 --> 00:21:40.342
congressional districts.

00:21:41.342 --> 00:21:45.562
Supreme Court devised the state up north, south, central.

00:21:45.902 --> 00:21:52.282
And then it's always kind of the game, which counties are determined southern

00:21:52.282 --> 00:21:57.902
and which counties are determined northern and that the rest of the counties

00:21:57.902 --> 00:21:59.482
fall into central. Right.

00:22:01.013 --> 00:22:06.453
Because of those maps, we've managed to get, because Mississippi is the only

00:22:06.453 --> 00:22:08.653
state that has a transportation commission.

00:22:09.073 --> 00:22:12.293
So now there's a black person on the transportation commission.

00:22:12.633 --> 00:22:16.393
There are black people on the appellate court. There are black people on the

00:22:16.393 --> 00:22:20.313
Supreme Court. And we have a black person on the public service commission.

00:22:20.773 --> 00:22:26.013
All of those folks come from the central district, which is the blackest district of the three.

00:22:26.813 --> 00:22:32.293
But now they can play with that based on this Supreme Court ruling.

00:22:33.333 --> 00:22:36.313
And what I was getting ready to say when I went down this rabbit hole was that

00:22:36.313 --> 00:22:38.933
the New York Times came up with a map.

00:22:39.593 --> 00:22:46.653
It said, but based on this ruling, 13 districts that have Democratic representation

00:22:46.653 --> 00:22:53.053
can be wiped out by the state legislators in the South. 13.

00:22:54.233 --> 00:22:57.873
Mississippi would not have one. Alabama would not have one.

00:22:58.373 --> 00:23:03.593
Georgia would have maybe two African-American districts.

00:23:04.153 --> 00:23:09.833
And I think it's either North Carolina or South Carolina would have one.

00:23:10.493 --> 00:23:16.453
That's it. Because as the old saying goes, Katie barred a door because it's

00:23:16.453 --> 00:23:18.793
open. And that's what they wanted.

00:23:19.413 --> 00:23:21.713
This is what they've always wanted.

00:23:22.473 --> 00:23:27.473
They wanted to be able, just like they did after Reconstruction,

00:23:27.833 --> 00:23:30.473
to wipe out black political power.

00:23:32.350 --> 00:23:38.110
Us having any say-so in any political affairs. None.

00:23:38.950 --> 00:23:42.610
I don't care if they tell you they got black friends. I don't care if they try

00:23:42.610 --> 00:23:46.970
to flip it around and say, well, you know, black folks didn't support black

00:23:46.970 --> 00:23:52.350
Republicans that ran, which I responded to one guy when he said that.

00:23:52.470 --> 00:23:55.750
I said, you know, black folks fought for the British in the American Revolution.

00:23:56.190 --> 00:23:59.490
And there were some black folks that fought for the Confederacy and the Civil War.

00:23:59.990 --> 00:24:03.890
So you can miss me with that historical gaslighting.

00:24:04.550 --> 00:24:06.050
Nobody cares about that.

00:24:07.190 --> 00:24:10.950
Because if you're a Black person that supports what Donald Trump wants,

00:24:11.210 --> 00:24:15.290
that's not in the interest of Black people. It doesn't matter if you are my neighbor.

00:24:15.850 --> 00:24:21.230
If you support the policies of Donald Trump, no diversity, equity,

00:24:21.230 --> 00:24:27.550
or inclusion, no safeguards for voter protection, no representation in Congress

00:24:27.550 --> 00:24:29.350
or in the state legislature.

00:24:30.050 --> 00:24:34.910
You support that. I don't care what color you are. I'm not on your side.

00:24:35.330 --> 00:24:36.810
No, I'm not going to support you.

00:24:37.490 --> 00:24:42.190
Now, what you as the listening audience do or what other people do, that's on you.

00:24:42.570 --> 00:24:51.250
But I'm not going to do that because my generation was like all skin folks ain't kin folks. Thank you.

00:24:52.281 --> 00:24:56.801
That. We took pride when people got elected to office.

00:24:57.601 --> 00:25:03.621
We understand that our grandparents voted Republican, so a lot of our pioneering

00:25:03.621 --> 00:25:06.781
Black elected officials were Republican. We get that.

00:25:07.381 --> 00:25:09.321
But that was history, and this is now.

00:25:09.921 --> 00:25:13.661
And in the political climate we're in now, if you're Black and you're Republican,

00:25:14.281 --> 00:25:17.761
then I am not the spokesperson for Black people.

00:25:18.241 --> 00:25:25.041
I can only speak for myself and what I believe is the best interest for black people and you're not it.

00:25:26.601 --> 00:25:30.661
When you're one of four black Republicans and by the way they're all leaving

00:25:30.661 --> 00:25:37.341
because two of them at least two of them ran for higher office one has a chance

00:25:37.341 --> 00:25:39.661
to win the other one did not win in the primary,

00:25:40.701 --> 00:25:43.521
and the other two just said enough of this I'm out.

00:25:45.381 --> 00:25:49.061
As a matter of fact The one in California might have been drawn out when they

00:25:49.061 --> 00:25:54.761
voted to redo the lines there, which I'll get to in a second.

00:25:55.961 --> 00:26:00.921
So the four black Republicans are going to be gone next session.

00:26:01.421 --> 00:26:05.561
Now, if somebody black Republican gets elected in the 26th election,

00:26:05.841 --> 00:26:11.861
which is kind of looking like a long shot at this point based on the dynamics.

00:26:13.061 --> 00:26:20.541
But if nobody gets elected, then there will be no black Republicans in the next session of Congress.

00:26:21.841 --> 00:26:26.561
So the black Republican that ran for U.S. Senate in Texas, Mr.

00:26:26.681 --> 00:26:32.221
Hunt, was asked about this decision.

00:26:32.821 --> 00:26:37.701
And somebody brought up the fact that, well, there's not going to be any black

00:26:37.701 --> 00:26:39.281
Republicans next time around.

00:26:39.881 --> 00:26:41.781
His exact words were, I don't care.

00:26:42.701 --> 00:26:45.521
This is a black man. You don't care.

00:26:47.330 --> 00:26:51.670
A black Republican? I can understand if you don't care about Democrats because

00:26:51.670 --> 00:26:53.610
you don't agree with what we say.

00:26:54.290 --> 00:26:58.610
But you don't care if there's not another person like you carrying the torch?

00:26:59.950 --> 00:27:04.690
See, that's why I say those folks missed the assignment, right?

00:27:05.090 --> 00:27:11.710
Because Maka Evers' brother, who was a big supporter of Robert F. Kennedy Sr.

00:27:12.350 --> 00:27:17.410
When he ran for president in 68, basically became a Republican later on in life.

00:27:18.330 --> 00:27:25.670
But his mantra always was, I'm a black man first, then I'm a Republican.

00:27:26.230 --> 00:27:31.650
And his mission was, if you want black votes in Mississippi,

00:27:32.110 --> 00:27:34.170
you got to address some needs.

00:27:34.750 --> 00:27:39.010
And when we would come on his show, he would ask us as Democrats,

00:27:39.510 --> 00:27:41.250
what are you doing to help black folks?

00:27:41.990 --> 00:27:45.530
Period. and he would support some of us, right?

00:27:46.270 --> 00:27:51.390
Primarily the ones that were invited to come on the show. You know, he liked us.

00:27:51.810 --> 00:27:56.570
He didn't agree with us all the time, but he knew where our heart was.

00:27:58.230 --> 00:28:02.950
And that's the mission. The reason why we're in the Democratic Party is because

00:28:02.950 --> 00:28:06.770
for some reason, especially since 1965,

00:28:08.130 --> 00:28:14.350
seems like we get more of a response from the Democratic Party than we do the Republican Party.

00:28:14.950 --> 00:28:20.050
Now, an ideal situation would be that we would be able to walk in any Oval Office,

00:28:20.930 --> 00:28:26.730
Democrat, Republican, Green, it don't matter, and say, this is what Black folks

00:28:26.730 --> 00:28:29.570
need right now. This is what we need long-term.

00:28:31.343 --> 00:28:35.083
To walk up to any member of Congress and say, this is what we need.

00:28:35.543 --> 00:28:40.743
We need you to vote for that bill, or we need you to kill that bill, right?

00:28:41.523 --> 00:28:46.123
Any state legislature, black folks ought to be able to walk in their Capitol

00:28:46.123 --> 00:28:49.043
building in their respective states and say, hey, look, this is what we need.

00:28:49.723 --> 00:28:54.903
But when you got one party that's not making any effort to even acknowledge,

00:28:55.063 --> 00:28:57.523
let alone listen, it kind of narrows the options.

00:28:58.583 --> 00:29:03.543
But even with that dynamic, we had four. And one of them said,

00:29:03.843 --> 00:29:06.023
I don't care if there's ever another one.

00:29:06.823 --> 00:29:10.363
You missed the assignment, brother. You missed the assignment.

00:29:11.223 --> 00:29:14.803
You should always care about a black presence. As a matter of fact,

00:29:15.083 --> 00:29:19.943
you should want the majority of the black caucus to be like you.

00:29:20.763 --> 00:29:25.043
I get the argument, oh, it's all about merit. It's not about the color of the

00:29:25.043 --> 00:29:26.863
skin. It's the content of the character.

00:29:28.283 --> 00:29:32.903
It's also about life experience and culture and history.

00:29:33.603 --> 00:29:40.083
When you look at the dynamics of what has been happening in America since the

00:29:40.083 --> 00:29:45.103
1660s, when they came up with this concept of race, right?

00:29:46.421 --> 00:29:51.281
All this time, laws have been formulated based off of that concept.

00:29:52.141 --> 00:29:57.501
And if the less pigmentation you had, better off you were going to be,

00:29:57.881 --> 00:30:00.181
the more privilege you were going to have.

00:30:00.341 --> 00:30:04.501
That's where we get this term white privilege from. It's based off of the dynamics

00:30:04.501 --> 00:30:10.241
that started after Bacon's rebellion in the 1660s.

00:30:10.821 --> 00:30:14.041
Look that up, right? I was in Virginia.

00:30:14.041 --> 00:30:20.381
Before we were, before the British and the French, the French Indian War,

00:30:20.501 --> 00:30:27.441
before that happened, race was on the books in what we now call America.

00:30:28.121 --> 00:30:34.461
And everything stems from that, the justification for chattel slavery.

00:30:35.221 --> 00:30:42.381
All that derives from creating this false superiority argument.

00:30:42.381 --> 00:30:47.861
And everything, every ruling that this conservative court makes.

00:30:49.789 --> 00:30:55.629
Terms of voting, you know, as a matter of fact, this is how crazy they are.

00:30:55.989 --> 00:31:03.109
They made a ruling that Alabama should have two congressional districts, right?

00:31:03.489 --> 00:31:10.949
And now based on this ruling, that might overturn that one that they just made a year earlier.

00:31:11.629 --> 00:31:17.549
They said, based on the population Alabama should have two, they agreed with

00:31:17.549 --> 00:31:19.529
the court, the lower court on that.

00:31:20.169 --> 00:31:24.929
And Alabama, their legislature has been openly trying to defy the Supreme Court

00:31:24.929 --> 00:31:28.029
ever since they said, no, they should have to.

00:31:28.669 --> 00:31:34.849
But when Louisiana said it, I know, no. That's going too far.

00:31:35.849 --> 00:31:41.909
Now, Clarence Thomas, a black man, has been consistent because he dissented,

00:31:42.569 --> 00:31:49.129
against the ruling for Alabama. he co-authored the majority opinion.

00:31:51.469 --> 00:31:59.369
In this last case the official name of it is Louisiana versus Calais it's the

00:31:59.369 --> 00:32:01.509
official name of this decision that just happened,

00:32:03.029 --> 00:32:06.709
you know he was down with Shelby versus Holder,

00:32:08.409 --> 00:32:14.569
he didn't even want to have the second oral argument for Louisiana versus Calais,

00:32:15.349 --> 00:32:19.409
They voted on whether they should do it, and he was the lone dissenting vote

00:32:19.409 --> 00:32:22.049
on having a second day of oral argument.

00:32:22.809 --> 00:32:24.929
That's how made up his mind was.

00:32:28.709 --> 00:32:34.209
So, and Ann Clarence just took me off of a track just thinking of that, right?

00:32:34.829 --> 00:32:38.329
But that's another guy who doesn't understand the assignment.

00:32:39.189 --> 00:32:43.689
You know, and they all say, well, what about people like Thomas Sewell and...

00:32:45.720 --> 00:32:51.360
They get the assignment. None of us said that there's not a conservative argument

00:32:51.360 --> 00:32:54.320
for black liberation. None of us said that.

00:32:54.960 --> 00:33:01.640
They try to make it. Whether we agree with that, that's a philosophical difference.

00:33:02.100 --> 00:33:10.840
But they always got the assignment. They knew that black folks have to do better in this nation, period.

00:33:11.200 --> 00:33:15.080
And they felt that a conservative argument was the way to go.

00:33:15.720 --> 00:33:18.820
There's us that believe a liberal argument, just like Booker T.

00:33:18.960 --> 00:33:24.420
Washington believed that there was a need for us to be segregated so we could

00:33:24.420 --> 00:33:26.680
thrive in peace. And W.B.

00:33:26.800 --> 00:33:31.620
Du Bois was like, I know if I want to go to Harvard, I should go.

00:33:32.380 --> 00:33:36.000
If I want to go to Woolworths and eat at the counter, I should.

00:33:36.820 --> 00:33:41.680
But I also have the choice if I just want to support black businesses, I can. man.

00:33:42.740 --> 00:33:47.040
And Booker D was like, nah, brother, just stay at home. Don't even worry about them white folk.

00:33:47.400 --> 00:33:51.840
We can do it. Whatever we need, we can make happen. And they're both right.

00:33:54.640 --> 00:34:00.020
Tuskegee Institute is still open. Fiske University is still open. They're both right.

00:34:00.720 --> 00:34:04.340
Clark Atlanta, still open. They were both right.

00:34:04.960 --> 00:34:11.920
We can do our own thing, but we have the right to choose whatever path we want

00:34:11.920 --> 00:34:18.780
to go, which is why it's okay for Black people to be Republican.

00:34:19.280 --> 00:34:22.580
That's a choice. You have the freedom to do that.

00:34:23.280 --> 00:34:29.280
My challenge to anybody that wants to identify with any political party is that

00:34:29.280 --> 00:34:31.840
keep the main thing the main thing.

00:34:32.400 --> 00:34:36.660
How is this going to help Black folks? How is it going to help my Black family?

00:34:37.540 --> 00:34:41.880
Period. because when I was saying that the Republican Party...

00:34:45.081 --> 00:34:49.601
You can make the case that the Democratic Party takes us for granted because

00:34:49.601 --> 00:34:53.081
we're going to give them 80 to 90% of the vote every election.

00:34:54.381 --> 00:34:57.581
But that's not given willy-nilly.

00:34:59.561 --> 00:35:03.501
Again, if I reach out to a Democratic elected official and say,

00:35:03.601 --> 00:35:07.141
hey, I need you to look at that, it's going to be looked at.

00:35:07.641 --> 00:35:12.301
They might try to tweak it, might try to curry some favor and compromise with

00:35:12.301 --> 00:35:16.041
their Republican friends to get some semblance of what we want done.

00:35:16.681 --> 00:35:19.041
But at least we'll get the audience.

00:35:21.180 --> 00:35:26.080
Gotten so bad that if you're not Republican, period, doesn't matter if you're

00:35:26.080 --> 00:35:29.920
black, white, purple, or green, they're not going to give you the time of day.

00:35:30.280 --> 00:35:36.560
They literally now have it set up where lobbyists only talk to Republicans in

00:35:36.560 --> 00:35:37.880
Republican majority states.

00:35:38.640 --> 00:35:43.520
They don't want 100% vote. They just want something passed.

00:35:44.360 --> 00:35:49.300
When I was in the legislature, they talked to all of us, each and every one of us.

00:35:49.840 --> 00:35:55.660
Now, there's strategies. You've got to get the chairman to bring it up and blah, blah, all that.

00:35:55.840 --> 00:35:58.380
But it's kind of embarrassing.

00:35:58.600 --> 00:36:03.180
You bring something to get the chair to bring it out in committee and you ain't

00:36:03.180 --> 00:36:04.440
talk to none of the Democrats.

00:36:05.140 --> 00:36:11.200
And they all saying horrible things about the bill. And most of those committee meetings are public.

00:36:11.780 --> 00:36:17.260
So now the press and citizens are going to hear that, wait a minute,

00:36:17.420 --> 00:36:21.700
this thing is not what they said it was going to be, and that raises doubt.

00:36:22.120 --> 00:36:28.620
But if you're a good lobbyist, you try to convince folks on both sides, it's really a good idea.

00:36:29.420 --> 00:36:33.600
Not going to get everybody, but you might if you make an effort.

00:36:34.160 --> 00:36:38.320
But that's not the political climate we're in, which is even more reason why

00:36:38.320 --> 00:36:40.720
this judicial decision,

00:36:41.060 --> 00:36:49.220
no matter how my so-called white intellectual conservative friends want to spin it, is dumb as hell.

00:36:49.900 --> 00:36:53.220
Because it goes against the very premise of their argument.

00:36:53.700 --> 00:36:57.820
They want to say that America has evolved in such a way, John Roberts actually

00:36:57.820 --> 00:37:03.960
said that, that America has evolved such a way in race that we don't need these

00:37:03.960 --> 00:37:06.860
protections anymore. You don't need that.

00:37:07.840 --> 00:37:12.520
You, the same court, had to make a decision to,

00:37:13.357 --> 00:37:19.737
a president. Now, I want them to understand, I know they were doing it for Donald

00:37:19.737 --> 00:37:25.977
Trump, but the way it's worded, it's a president, because they couldn't word it any other way.

00:37:26.817 --> 00:37:31.257
So, if a Democratic president comes in after Donald Trump and does exactly the

00:37:31.257 --> 00:37:35.197
same thing that he does, they can't say anything. They'll try.

00:37:36.137 --> 00:37:40.777
People will file lawsuits and all that stuff, but you gave them immunity.

00:37:41.677 --> 00:37:47.517
So if you gave somebody immunity to do whatever they want, and then you weakened

00:37:47.517 --> 00:37:52.777
the laws to protect the people that probably be the targets of his illegal acts,

00:37:53.677 --> 00:37:55.257
has the climate changed?

00:37:56.217 --> 00:38:00.577
No. And if it had changed, you just set it backwards.

00:38:01.517 --> 00:38:06.037
But anyway, like I was saying, these folks that filed a suit didn't even have

00:38:06.037 --> 00:38:09.057
standing to bring it. but it was entertained.

00:38:09.357 --> 00:38:14.617
And once the court entertains it, then the argument is standing, doesn't matter.

00:38:15.597 --> 00:38:21.097
We literally had the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court, make a decision on a

00:38:21.097 --> 00:38:25.877
lawsuit filed based on a hypothetical situation.

00:38:26.597 --> 00:38:31.657
No tort was committed. There was no harm at all.

00:38:32.137 --> 00:38:38.757
What if such and such happened and the Supreme Court made a ruling on that.

00:38:39.377 --> 00:38:42.317
That's how crazy the times that we're in.

00:38:43.037 --> 00:38:48.317
They always used to say when, even with the Warren Court, they would say,

00:38:48.437 --> 00:38:52.537
oh, you know, these are activist judges and we got to get away from them and da-da-da-da.

00:38:53.577 --> 00:38:56.637
The initial GOP stands for.

00:38:58.697 --> 00:39:00.377
Games of Projection.

00:39:02.374 --> 00:39:08.034
Because what they say that they're against, the truth of the matter is,

00:39:08.254 --> 00:39:13.314
is that they actually afford, they're just mad that they're not the ones doing it.

00:39:13.974 --> 00:39:18.874
If you hear Republicans say, oh, I'm tired of these activist judges,

00:39:18.874 --> 00:39:22.914
what they're really saying is, I really wish one of our people was in there

00:39:22.914 --> 00:39:26.674
to do exactly the same thing for our folks. That's it.

00:39:27.334 --> 00:39:32.174
Anytime the president says something, accuses somebody of something, he's done it.

00:39:32.374 --> 00:39:39.914
He's upset because a grown man, for whatever reason, assembled seashells on

00:39:39.914 --> 00:39:43.874
the seashore and spelled out the numbers 8, 6, 4, 7.

00:39:44.514 --> 00:39:47.774
He took that as a threat. Why?

00:39:48.134 --> 00:39:51.814
Because he has said 86 somebody.

00:39:52.074 --> 00:39:57.414
That's what he, when he says it, he means do harm to him.

00:39:58.034 --> 00:40:02.114
That's not what the connotation means.

00:40:03.234 --> 00:40:07.274
It's a restaurant term that's gotten into the lexicon.

00:40:08.374 --> 00:40:12.194
But he said that's what gangsters say. No, no, that's what you say.

00:40:12.834 --> 00:40:17.434
That's your interpretation of it. So when somebody throws it back at you, you get offended.

00:40:17.914 --> 00:40:21.514
Now you're saying he's trying to kill me. That's crazy talk, man.

00:40:22.074 --> 00:40:29.374
And we got folks, people that some of us used to respect, saying,

00:40:29.374 --> 00:40:31.694
that's right, Mr. President, you go get them.

00:40:32.414 --> 00:40:34.814
That's insanity, bro. That's where we are.

00:40:35.814 --> 00:40:39.354
Behavior that wouldn't have been tolerated when I was elected.

00:40:40.334 --> 00:40:44.774
Frowned upon. You couldn't even make it out of the primary. You probably wouldn't

00:40:44.774 --> 00:40:45.974
even be allowed to qualify.

00:40:46.994 --> 00:40:49.334
Now it's like, oh, God.

00:40:50.231 --> 00:40:54.751
Do what you want. And this is the environment where the Supreme Court is making

00:40:54.751 --> 00:40:58.731
an argument and saying, yeah, well, we don't need any protections at all.

00:40:59.411 --> 00:41:04.271
Everything's fine. They're just like the dog sitting at the table when the house is on fire.

00:41:05.011 --> 00:41:06.711
Everything's fine. We're good.

00:41:07.631 --> 00:41:19.571
Craziness, you know? But I just, I just wish that, well, let me say this. I shouldn't say wish.

00:41:20.011 --> 00:41:29.511
I pray that people are paying attention and they will act accordingly, right?

00:41:30.131 --> 00:41:35.711
When the season first came out, I posted a couple of Bible verses,

00:41:36.351 --> 00:41:41.171
one from 2 Corinthians, not 2 Corinthians, Mr.

00:41:41.271 --> 00:41:45.091
President, 2 Corinthians, and from Galatians.

00:41:45.251 --> 00:41:50.311
The one from 2 Corinthians, people are familiar with, the battle is not yours, it's the Lord.

00:41:51.791 --> 00:41:58.231
And from Galatians, it was the verse that says, basically says,

00:41:58.371 --> 00:42:02.031
if we don't get weary, we'll win.

00:42:03.151 --> 00:42:07.831
And so Galatians 6.9 is more relevant,

00:42:07.831 --> 00:42:13.811
even to those who are not spiritual, because what

00:42:13.811 --> 00:42:20.831
this group of people that have spawned out of the 68 Southern Strategy and the

00:42:20.831 --> 00:42:27.891
72 Power Memo have evolved into is a group of folks that want us to get tired

00:42:27.891 --> 00:42:30.151
of fighting and just submit,

00:42:30.151 --> 00:42:35.111
just say we can't win and we'll just do whatever you want,

00:42:35.211 --> 00:42:41.971
man, just so I can watch my ESPN and go to work, drive my.

00:42:43.295 --> 00:42:48.595
Take my kid to a ball game, whatever. Get to eat a Nobu once a year or something,

00:42:49.255 --> 00:42:53.055
you know, or the varsity, whatever your pleasure is, right?

00:42:53.715 --> 00:42:57.595
That's what they want us to do. They want us to just say, oh,

00:42:57.915 --> 00:43:00.595
well, I guess that's that.

00:43:01.255 --> 00:43:02.815
Keep our head down and keep moving.

00:43:03.755 --> 00:43:08.495
But Galatians 6.9 basically reminds us that as long as you keep fighting,

00:43:09.175 --> 00:43:12.075
as long as you don't get tired, as long as you don't get weary,

00:43:12.795 --> 00:43:15.295
The reward is coming. You're going to win.

00:43:15.795 --> 00:43:17.935
Victory is on the way.

00:43:18.575 --> 00:43:25.135
So, you know, I'm a believer, so that's what keeps me going.

00:43:26.815 --> 00:43:31.635
You know, I think, you know, people disappoint us. Yeah.

00:43:34.744 --> 00:43:37.724
Because familiarity breeds contempt among people.

00:43:38.984 --> 00:43:43.704
But you cannot let it stop you from doing what you're doing.

00:43:44.304 --> 00:43:49.004
If they don't buy in the vision, that's their loss. They don't want to get on

00:43:49.004 --> 00:43:50.564
the train, they've missed it.

00:43:51.304 --> 00:43:56.804
So that's something I have to always remember, and I hope that's something that you take to heart.

00:43:57.624 --> 00:44:00.564
But when it comes to fighting for our freedoms and our rights,

00:44:01.184 --> 00:44:06.204
and it's pretty obvious that people that you're around don't respect those freedoms

00:44:06.204 --> 00:44:10.164
and your rights, you have the right to kick them to the curb.

00:44:10.324 --> 00:44:12.044
You have the right to tell them to step off.

00:44:12.204 --> 00:44:18.104
You have the right to tell them don't cross that line. It's time now.

00:44:20.164 --> 00:44:26.704
And I think it's up to individuals whether they want to forgive them afterwards or not.

00:44:26.884 --> 00:44:29.504
I'm not. I'm too old.

00:44:30.344 --> 00:44:33.104
I don't need a whole lot of friends at this particular point.

00:44:33.624 --> 00:44:35.424
I don't know if I'm going to outlive

00:44:35.424 --> 00:44:39.064
people to come to my funeral or if anybody ever is going to show up.

00:44:39.424 --> 00:44:42.244
It's not going to matter because I'm going to be gone and I won't know.

00:44:43.744 --> 00:44:51.024
But too old to worry about friendships and alliances and being popular with

00:44:51.024 --> 00:44:54.224
the next guy, being the cool kid. I'm too old for that.

00:44:55.044 --> 00:44:58.604
But since I'm still alive, I still want to have freedom.

00:44:59.504 --> 00:45:05.964
I still want to be able to make choices, whether that's in my lifestyle or at

00:45:05.964 --> 00:45:08.784
the voting booth. I want to be able, or what I eat.

00:45:09.364 --> 00:45:12.924
I want to have choices. I want to have the freedom to do that.

00:45:13.184 --> 00:45:17.804
I don't want the government. I don't want any obscure white person.

00:45:18.044 --> 00:45:21.444
I don't want anybody telling me what I can or cannot do.

00:45:22.224 --> 00:45:27.284
You can advise me like you probably don't want to go skyjumping,

00:45:27.464 --> 00:45:29.584
Eric. Okay, I'll take that advice. with.

00:45:32.419 --> 00:45:38.079
I can't do it. And there's no restriction other than you saying I can't.

00:45:38.819 --> 00:45:42.219
If I want to sit at this counter and eat, I'm going to sit there.

00:45:43.059 --> 00:45:47.999
Now, unless the Department of Health has shut it down, I'm going to eat there. Right?

00:45:48.839 --> 00:45:53.939
If I want to vote by mail, I'm going to do that. You can't tell me I can't.

00:45:54.739 --> 00:46:01.779
If I want to celebrate Kwanzaa and Hanukkah and Christmas at my house,

00:46:02.099 --> 00:46:05.359
I'm going to do that. You can't tell me I can't.

00:46:05.939 --> 00:46:12.479
And when these people finally get it in their thick skulls, they can't tell people what to do.

00:46:12.639 --> 00:46:15.699
They can't subjugate people. They can't bully folks anymore.

00:46:16.439 --> 00:46:22.739
America will be way better off. We really will be the shining city on the hill.

00:46:23.939 --> 00:46:28.479
But the hill that these people want to die on has many labels.

00:46:29.159 --> 00:46:32.899
Some people call it fascism. Some people call it authoritarianism.

00:46:33.299 --> 00:46:35.159
Some people call it Christian nationalism.

00:46:35.619 --> 00:46:37.159
Some people call it white supremacy.

00:46:38.219 --> 00:46:41.239
They're all interchangeable for me. It's all the same thing.

00:46:42.119 --> 00:46:46.279
Other people can compartmentalize that. That's fine. It's all the same for me.

00:46:47.139 --> 00:46:53.059
If you want to deny me my opportunity to either be a representative elected

00:46:53.059 --> 00:46:57.519
official, or to vote for somebody that looks like me to be one,

00:46:57.879 --> 00:47:00.899
we're not good, and never will be.

00:47:01.679 --> 00:47:04.339
And folks say, well, that sounds like an emotional argument.

00:47:04.559 --> 00:47:12.319
Yeah, it is, because I've had relatives fight for the right for me to be in

00:47:12.319 --> 00:47:13.579
the position that I was in.

00:47:14.659 --> 00:47:18.899
Yeah, it's emotional because, and I've told this story before,

00:47:19.119 --> 00:47:22.459
that when my great-aunt passed, and.

00:47:23.990 --> 00:47:27.650
I presented a proclamation at the funeral. People

00:47:27.650 --> 00:47:30.550
applauded because most of

00:47:30.550 --> 00:47:33.590
them had left Mississippi under the

00:47:33.590 --> 00:47:41.010
cloud of Jim Crow and to see somebody in their family as an elected official

00:47:41.010 --> 00:47:46.550
that looked like them present a resolution from the state that they fled from

00:47:46.550 --> 00:47:51.970
to honor this relative who had passed on. Yeah, it's emotional.

00:47:52.910 --> 00:47:58.290
There's a tie to this. And we can get in the weeds about legality and legislation

00:47:58.290 --> 00:47:59.810
and all that stuff. It's great.

00:48:00.590 --> 00:48:04.130
I'll go toe-to-toe with anybody. I don't have to go to law school to understand

00:48:04.130 --> 00:48:08.310
bullshit when I see it. But, yeah, it's emotional, too.

00:48:09.370 --> 00:48:14.430
People died for this, man. We had a man in the United States Congress that still

00:48:14.430 --> 00:48:18.370
has a scar on his head, fighting for the right to vote.

00:48:19.110 --> 00:48:24.430
And now the very state where he was from and the very state that he represented.

00:48:25.170 --> 00:48:29.950
We got people saying, we got opportunity to take away their vote again.

00:48:31.110 --> 00:48:34.150
That's craziness, man. That's a sickness.

00:48:35.230 --> 00:48:38.270
You can couch it however you want. You can puff up your chest.

00:48:38.410 --> 00:48:40.170
You can be mad. You can be hostile.

00:48:40.510 --> 00:48:44.570
You can, whatever. You can call me everything and anything.

00:48:45.590 --> 00:48:49.470
You the one in the mirror that's looking at the silly person.

00:48:50.290 --> 00:48:53.110
I'm not. And these other black folks are not.

00:48:53.950 --> 00:48:58.630
Some folks are going to keep it close to the vest. Some of us are going to have a podcast.

00:48:58.830 --> 00:49:03.410
Some of us are elected officials and are having press conferences and Zoom calls.

00:49:04.190 --> 00:49:10.630
But you're going to know that we're tired of this mess. We are tired of it.

00:49:11.730 --> 00:49:18.470
My generation is supposed to be the first ones to benefit, and we did. Imagine,

00:49:19.444 --> 00:49:25.824
a black mayor in Chicago. My generation participated in the first black man

00:49:25.824 --> 00:49:26.964
being president of the United States.

00:49:27.244 --> 00:49:32.304
My generation participated in the first black person, black woman being vice

00:49:32.304 --> 00:49:35.024
president of the United States. My generation did that.

00:49:35.404 --> 00:49:40.964
My generation has put two U.S. senators, female senators in at the same time.

00:49:41.684 --> 00:49:46.004
Black women, all six of them have been in my lifetime.

00:49:47.024 --> 00:49:51.224
All the members of the Black Caucus was in my lifetime.

00:49:51.724 --> 00:49:55.044
The Black Caucus was formed in my lifetime.

00:49:55.804 --> 00:50:01.204
So yeah, it's emotional, and we're not giving it up without a fight.

00:50:01.724 --> 00:50:05.404
No matter how you skew it, no matter how you try to divide us,

00:50:05.604 --> 00:50:12.904
you can stick all the faces that look like us out there on Fox News and Newsmax and OAN.

00:50:13.664 --> 00:50:20.184
You can get arrogant people like Scott Jennings and others to smirk their way

00:50:20.184 --> 00:50:24.884
through an argument, but it is not going to get us to end our fight.

00:50:25.364 --> 00:50:27.224
We will not lose our resolve.

00:50:28.464 --> 00:50:31.904
Y'all done overplayed your hand. I told a guy, you've played your hand.

00:50:32.004 --> 00:50:33.504
Now it's time for us to play ours.

00:50:34.464 --> 00:50:40.844
And if you hurt once we play it, If you've been taken down a notch,

00:50:41.104 --> 00:50:43.484
once we play our hand, so be it.

00:50:47.224 --> 00:50:51.284
See, Malcolm X gave you an option. He gave you an option.

00:50:52.604 --> 00:50:55.644
And it seems like you want to choose the latter, right?

00:50:56.124 --> 00:50:58.604
Remember the option, the ballot or the bullet? Y'all remember that?

00:50:59.004 --> 00:51:01.724
He gave you the option. Now,

00:51:02.952 --> 00:51:09.992
Like, you accepted the ballot option. But then, that black man got elected president.

00:51:10.772 --> 00:51:15.592
Y'all tolerated us being in Congress. You tolerated us being in state legislatures.

00:51:15.592 --> 00:51:18.832
You tolerated us getting a few governorships.

00:51:18.852 --> 00:51:21.012
You definitely tolerated us being mayors.

00:51:21.712 --> 00:51:25.952
But that black man got to be president. And then, that black woman came,

00:51:26.152 --> 00:51:29.212
got to be vice president. And y'all lost y'all shit.

00:51:29.852 --> 00:51:34.032
And y'all are willing to tear this whole thing.

00:51:34.112 --> 00:51:41.352
On the 250th anniversary of American independence, y'all ready to tear it all down, destroy it,

00:51:41.952 --> 00:51:49.552
because the descendants of slaves and African immigrants ascended to positions

00:51:49.552 --> 00:51:52.172
of power. That's trifling, man.

00:51:53.592 --> 00:51:57.712
So when people say the American dream is a lie, why do y'all get upset?

00:51:58.412 --> 00:51:59.912
Y'all are the ones that make it a lot.

00:52:00.672 --> 00:52:05.212
If you leave us alone, and I've made this appeal ever since I've had this podcast,

00:52:05.492 --> 00:52:10.852
if you just leave us alone, let us live our lives, let us pursue what we're

00:52:10.852 --> 00:52:15.412
going to pursue, whether we want to be a star in the National Basketball League or an astronaut.

00:52:16.092 --> 00:52:22.392
Leave us alone and let us do our thing. If we can make it, we'll make it. If we can't, we can't.

00:52:23.132 --> 00:52:29.312
If we get accepted to Harvard, cool. If all I want to do is go to Heinz Community College, great.

00:52:29.932 --> 00:52:31.372
Just leave us alone.

00:52:32.592 --> 00:52:37.952
If I could just sum up all of this stuff,

00:52:38.172 --> 00:52:45.272
whether it's dealing with taking away historical landmarks or changing the rules

00:52:45.272 --> 00:52:55.172
about voting or taking away hiring practices or just arresting us while we're driving.

00:52:57.312 --> 00:53:02.072
Or mistakenly using a counterfeit bill instead of a regular bill,

00:53:02.692 --> 00:53:04.872
regular dollar bill, right?

00:53:06.328 --> 00:53:10.448
Would just stop messing with us, if he would just leave us alone.

00:53:11.728 --> 00:53:17.408
See, because Booker T wanted us to just go on and just do our thing.

00:53:18.108 --> 00:53:22.288
But what he didn't realize was that they were still going to mess with us, right?

00:53:22.788 --> 00:53:26.308
Because when he spoke at the Cotton Exposition here in Atlanta,

00:53:26.828 --> 00:53:31.628
he was saying, And if you let black folks do their thing, we can get along.

00:53:33.108 --> 00:53:39.668
And 30 years later, a black business district in Tulsa, Oklahoma, is burnt to the ground.

00:53:40.368 --> 00:53:43.788
We're doing our own thing. But you wouldn't leave us alone.

00:53:44.908 --> 00:53:48.908
Around that time, Marcus Garvey was like, well, look, you know,

00:53:49.048 --> 00:53:53.188
we've seen Liberia happen. We've seen Sierra Leone happen.

00:53:53.988 --> 00:53:58.128
How about we just gather all the black folks up and we just leave.

00:53:58.328 --> 00:54:02.068
We go back to that continent called Africa. That'll be our message.

00:54:03.079 --> 00:54:07.279
We just go on and leave. Let y'all have America.

00:54:08.139 --> 00:54:13.939
You put the brother in jail. Said he was defrauding on stocks.

00:54:14.719 --> 00:54:18.299
Kind of like what they're saying about the SPLC, right? That they're defrauding

00:54:18.299 --> 00:54:20.759
donors. And that's the same kind of argument.

00:54:21.379 --> 00:54:24.519
And you put the brother in jail in Atlanta.

00:54:25.259 --> 00:54:26.919
Because you won't leave us alone.

00:54:27.759 --> 00:54:32.619
If you let Marcus Garvey do his thing, I'd be doing my podcast probably somewhere

00:54:32.619 --> 00:54:38.639
in Ghana, Liberia, I don't know, somewhere. I wouldn't be here.

00:54:39.359 --> 00:54:40.879
But you wouldn't leave us alone.

00:54:41.739 --> 00:54:44.659
If you want power, ask for it.

00:54:45.299 --> 00:54:51.299
Don't take it. Ask. We might vote for it. But we got to get something in return.

00:54:52.339 --> 00:54:55.759
Every black person I know wants to live in a crime free neighborhood.

00:54:56.379 --> 00:54:58.959
They want their kids to go to good schools.

00:54:59.759 --> 00:55:06.079
They want to be able to afford to eat and pay rent and go to the dock?

00:55:07.259 --> 00:55:11.759
I don't know black folks that don't want that. Why is that hard to do?

00:55:12.619 --> 00:55:16.419
Because some of your rich folks says, let them eat cake.

00:55:17.339 --> 00:55:21.579
Got more important things to do, like build a ballroom, right?

00:55:22.299 --> 00:55:26.379
You want to listen to those people instead of listening to us.

00:55:27.259 --> 00:55:32.439
Again, man, when the Supreme Court makes decisions like this,

00:55:32.879 --> 00:55:39.099
when Congress passes laws and then says stupid stuff like we're the grown-ups in the room,

00:55:39.739 --> 00:55:43.819
I guess because you're punishing us, I guess that's why you make us grown-ups,

00:55:44.579 --> 00:55:47.339
make ourselves grown-ups. Just understand.

00:55:49.764 --> 00:55:54.664
And I'm, who was that? Who said that? I can't remember.

00:55:55.284 --> 00:55:59.224
Was it Wesley Snipes? Said always bet on black? Yeah.

00:55:59.964 --> 00:56:04.384
You can put that on Cal Shee, you can put on prize picks or whatever.

00:56:04.884 --> 00:56:07.304
Bet on black. We're going to win.

00:56:07.984 --> 00:56:12.284
I don't know how long the fight's going to be. It's been ongoing.

00:56:13.244 --> 00:56:19.044
We've won some battles, some major battles. Now, y'all trying to negate those,

00:56:19.184 --> 00:56:24.664
force us to retreat, force us to shrink, but we won't.

00:56:25.124 --> 00:56:28.384
We're not going to get tired. We're going to keep coming.

00:56:29.044 --> 00:56:34.164
And the sooner that you understand that, the sooner that you embrace the concept

00:56:34.164 --> 00:56:39.784
that it's best to leave these folks alone, I promise you, America will be a

00:56:39.784 --> 00:56:42.504
much better place. So like I.