Navigating The Climate Featuring Senator Lydia Edwards

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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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The following program is hosted by the NBG Podcast Network.

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Hello, and welcome to Another Moment with Erik Fleming. I am your host, Erik Fleming.

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So today, I have one guest who is somebody that I have admired from afar for

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the work that she has been doing over the last 12 years.

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And I'm really, really honored that she was able to come on,

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Senator Lydia Edwards. She is a member of the Massachusetts state senate.

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But she and others, she comes from a city council group that several of the

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members that she served with, including herself, have moved on to higher office.

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And so we'll talk a little bit about that as well as, you know,

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some issues that she's dealing with and even ask her some questions about what

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she wants her legacy to be.

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So it was it was very, very short, but very informative conversation.

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And I really appreciate her taking the time to do it.

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And as you can, when you hear the interview, there were some challenges we had

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to deal with. But I think you'll enjoy the conversation I was able to have with her. Grace is back.

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So we'll get to her in a moment. But as always, I want to encourage people to

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support the podcast any way possible.

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You know, go to www.momenterik.com and you can see all the various ways that you can support it.

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Just going to the website shows support, let alone, you know,

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if you want to donate, subscribe, listen to past episodes, all that stuff, right?

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So I really want to encourage you all to visit the site and tell others about what we're doing.

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Because in this moment in time, as we were just watching.

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This administration go after anybody in the press that's actually doing good

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work and actually trying to expose people to the truth,

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we see how this administration is going after them.

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And so if we continue to support independent podcasters like myself,

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we'll outnumber and we'll keep them on the defensive, right,

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instead of us being on the defensive.

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So do what you can to continue to support the podcast. And as always,

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I appreciate y'all listening.

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All right, let's go ahead and kick this program off. And as always,

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we kick it off with a moment of news with Grace G.

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Thanks, Erik. An ICE agent's fatal shooting of a Mexican national,

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Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, in Houston has sparked local demands for independent

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investigations and potential legal action from the Mexican government.

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Authorities discovered the body of 18-year-old Nolan Wells on Horn Island,

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off the Mississippi Gulf Coast,

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days after he went missing during a 4th of July outing with friends.

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An independent autopsy commissioned by the family of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley,

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has ruled his fatal shooting by a Mississippi police officer a homicide.

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President Trump dismantled the Bipartisan Election Assistance Commission by

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forcing out its three remaining commissioners.

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A recent Middle East ceasefire deteriorated as U.S. and Iranian forces exchanged

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strikes amid the burial of slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

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A federal judge ordered the release of nearly $5.8 million to E.

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Jean Carroll to fulfill a civil verdict against President Trump following a

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failed Supreme Court appeal.

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Main Democratic Senate nominee Graham Plattner withdrew from the race amid sexual

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assault allegations, forcing the state party to replace him by July 27.

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Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow suspended her U.S. Senate campaign,

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narrowing the Democratic primary to a two-person race.

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Former Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan was fined $5,000 and spared prison time

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for obstructing a federal immigration arrest at her courthouse.

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President Trump notified Congress of his intention to remove Syria from the

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list of state sponsors of terrorism.

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President Trump pardoned 11 people, primarily those convicted of Clean Air Act violations.

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Treasury Secretary Scott Besant announced the U.S. government is abandoning

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plans to feature Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill.

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And George E. Johnson, the entrepreneur who revolutionized the black hair care

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industry, died at the age of 99 I am Grace Gee, and this has been a Moment of News.

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All right. Thank you, Grace, for that moment of news, and it's good to have you back.

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All right. Now it is time for my guest, Senator Lydia Edwards.

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Senator Lydia Edwards is a career advocate, activist, and voice on behalf of

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the society's most vulnerable.

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Prior to being elected to the state Senate and the Boston City Council,

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Lydia worked extensively in the legal field,

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working as a public interest attorney with Greater Boston Legal Services,

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focusing on labor issues such as fighting for access to unemployment insurance,

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back wages, fair treatment for domestic workers, and combating human trafficking.

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She has led several legislative priorities during her time as state senator,

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including eliminating forced broker fees, protecting federal workers and service

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members during government shutdowns, and passing the Affordable Homes Act.

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In March 2025, she was appointed chair of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary,

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overseeing matters related to crimes, penalties, sentencing,

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court records, judicial appointments, and court administration.

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In addition to her role as a state senator, she serves as first lieutenant officer

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in the Massachusetts National Guard, working as a judge advocate general where

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she addresses military legal matters.

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Ladies and gentlemen, it is my distinct honor and privilege to have as a guest,

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on this podcast, Senator Lydia Edwards.

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All right. Senator Lydia Edwards, how are you doing, sister? You doing good?

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I'm doing good. It's a beautiful weather today. We're celebrating the 250th

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of the country in Boston. And it's actually, it's a nice kind of beautiful energy out there.

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And I understand that you are on a boat as we are doing this interview.

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So we're going to get this done so they'll let you off the boat and you won't

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get stuck out in the water.

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But again, I really appreciate you doing this.

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So normally what I do to start off the interviews is I do a couple of icebreakers.

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So the first icebreaker I want you to respond to is a quote.

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Okay. And the quote is, I tried to lead with the same convictions that I saw

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in Dr. King and with the belief that we are more connected than we are not?

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My first reaction is I try to believe that second part every single day,

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that we are more connected than we are apart.

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And sometimes can be very taxing and very difficult and very hard if you live

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on social media or in a society.

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I do fundamentally believe that Dr. King is the example of leadership,

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imperfect leadership, but I think the modern example of leadership.

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He should be, those of us in public service should be aspiring to be like his

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ability to galvanize, his ability to speak to all audiences.

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He never spoke above the average person, but he could also battle and go back

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and forth with the intellectuals and his irreverent and constant belief in faith.

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So that's my reaction. Yeah, that's good. That's good. Good.

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All right. So now the next icebreaker is what I call 20 questions.

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So I need you to give me a number between 1 and 20.

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17. What's something about people who see the world differently than you that

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you've come to appreciate?

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I really appreciate, I really appreciate when they see the world differently

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from me, their ability to communicate and back up and explain how their vision is formed.

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I appreciate that because I do understand that if you understand why someone

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thinks the way that they do, then you can connect with them.

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It doesn't mean you're going to agree with them, but you can speak to them if

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it's faith that brought them there.

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If it's military that brought them there if it's education that brought them

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there whatever brought them there to that opinion,

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And you can determine that based on the receipts that they give you Is then

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for me an opportunity to connect with them through faith through military through

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whatever it is all right, so,

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I'm going to combine this question. It was two separate questions,

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but I'm going to combine it.

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One, what led you to pursue a career in politics?

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And was what happened in 2014 kind of the fuel to really commit yourself to

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be in the public service?

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So or why I mean I like the way you phrased the question to what made you have

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a career in politics because I want everyone to understand,

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if you are dealing with power dynamics anywhere in your life you are politicking.

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So politics is everywhere at your job at school with your neighbors all that

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stuff so I appreciate that what made me choose to make it kind of my full-time gig,

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was, it came from advocating for poor people, nannies and house cleaners.

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And we would hit a brick wall with a certain amount of rights indignity we could

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have unless we should change the law. And that.

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Go ahead. In 2014, I was there when I started the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights or.

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That's correct. How do you. OK.

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So 2014 was a year where we knew that we had hit the ceiling.

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And so as a result, we were going,

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to have to change the law and organize multiracial, multi-class movement.

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And we won doing it that way, meeting people where they are,

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meeting employers, meeting people with disabilities and talking with them and

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understanding that they fundamentally,

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had something connected with us, which is that they needed their workers to

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be cared for and we did too.

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And so in 2014, we passed the domestic labor of rights. It was quite amazing.

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Yeah. Yeah. And that, that, that, that was some awesome work,

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but you caught my attention when I saw what you were doing with the protect act.

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So why did you feel that legislation was necessary?

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And why is it not the law yet?

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So it's necessary because right now immigrants are fundamentally under attack

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and it's because of the very same original sin of this country which is racism,

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and the original sin that we must other people in this case in all in most cases

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people of color immigrants of color,

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to make a a nation that i think that they would prefer which is all white and,

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this is part of the same conversation.

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To me, it is othering of people. And we do not have a functional federal government.

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We do not have a government that is dedicated to civil rights or to the dignity and humanity of all.

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So it relies then and pushes then on the states. States must come up with whatever

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protections they can for immigrants, people of color.

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And it's unfortunate, but it took two white people getting shot in the head

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for a lot of states to get that sense you know if you talk about Pretti and

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that Good over in Minnesota,

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now the good thing is it is in the process of becoming law we have passed a

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version in the senate the house has passed a version in the house and so what

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they're doing is coming up with a conference version,

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of combining the two which will then be laid before the governor's desk so i'm

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very confident we're going to have one of the most expansive i'm very excited,

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so yeah okay well i mean you know.

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I i i was a legislator for nine years in Mississippi so i understand conferences

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and all that but we we didn't have the window that y'all had or y'all have we

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had to get everything done in like four months.

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And then go home so,

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You also were involved with the legislation, the Federal Worker and Service Member Relief Act.

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You worked on that because you were trying to get some people some help during

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the shutdown. Is that correct?

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Again, another example of meeting people where they are, understanding the need

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and the acute pain that is being caused by a shutdown.

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I am in the National Guard, the Massachusetts Army National Guard.

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I'm a captain, and I work extremely hard to represent soldiers as a JAG officer, an attorney for them.

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And soldiers were coming in to me while I have legal hours and saying, I don't have the money.

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I don't have the rent. I don't have the mortgage because I'm being furloughed

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in my full-time federal job, required to work but not getting paid.

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And then I am having, in some cases, to do duty, but I'm not sure we're going

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to get paid this weekend, ma'am.

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I don't know what I'm going to do. And I remember thinking when it came to a

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moment of crisis that impacted all of us, this state of Massachusetts, like many other states,

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moved immediately to have eviction moratoriums during COVID.

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And we said, you will not evict anybody in this moment of crisis.

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And I felt this is a man-made moment of crisis, but it's still impacting people in the worst way.

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And I said, we will do the same. For federal workers and service members,

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you will not evict them during a shutdown if they're furloughed.

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They don't have the money.

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Moreover, what we also provide is if you are a homeowner and have a mortgage,

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you can take six months of that mortgage and.

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Put it to the end of your mortgage line. No fees, no penalties.

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And it lasts as long as the shutdown is plus another 30 days.

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And in some cases, the governor can get another 45 on top of that.

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Because, you know, I was hearing from the president, maybe I will give you pain,

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maybe I won't. That's a cruel thing to do, and it ended, as you recall, in November.

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And in November, that's right before Thanksgiving.

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And then you have the first of the month, November, and then you have Christmas,

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and then you have the first of the month, January.

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No one could get back from that.

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That's why we did it. I met people were there. I saw their acute pains.

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I believe that was more in common with a lot of military folks.

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We don't agree politically at all it didn't matter just what's happening wasn't right.

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Yeah. Now, I do have a National Guard question, but I did want to get your thoughts

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about the judge in Wisconsin.

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She got convicted for obstructing an ICE arrest outside of a courtroom,

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but she wasn't sentenced in jail time. She was just fined $5,000.

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How do you feel about that? Do you feel that was fair? Do you feel that was not fair?

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I know that's not your state, but.

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It's not my state, but we did have a similar situation where we ended up to

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judge for supposedly intervening in federal work.

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And I want to say I felt there was an overreach from the federal government.

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And that's why we're passing the Protect Act, to be right, Frank,

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saying our courts are a special place.

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You need to get out. And as long as they are under our purview,

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the state courts, we will let you know when you are welcome to come in.

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And I believe that about the independence of the courts. If at the end of the

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day, all I have to do is wait outside to get your judge or come inside and grab

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them from the bench, as to me, that's a real problem with the separation, of course.

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I don't like a lot of decisions that these Trump judges are making.

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I would never think to go in and arrest them.

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Yeah. All right. Since you mentioned that you're with the National Guard,

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what are your thoughts about the units being deployed to deal with immigration and urban crime issues?

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I think, well, we have to remember National Guard serves two levels.

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The state level, where in many cases, when it comes to emergencies,

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when it comes to fires, when it comes to floods, when it comes to earthquakes

00:19:38.938 --> 00:19:44.996
and snow removal and things like that, the National Guard are often used to help assist.

00:19:45.264 --> 00:19:50.528
So being involved in local moments is not a problem, but being weaponized to

00:19:50.528 --> 00:19:54.329
be a second version of police, that to me is unconstitutional.

00:19:55.318 --> 00:20:00.153
I'm not. I didn't. No, I don't care if you do put me on federal orders for them

00:20:00.153 --> 00:20:02.817
to follow what the federal government says.

00:20:03.304 --> 00:20:07.635
I you cannot just get a second version of the police.

00:20:09.123 --> 00:20:12.173
I think that's impossible. Yes, ma'am. All right.

00:20:12.173 --> 00:20:16.173
So you have had the privilege of serving in both the Boston City Council and

00:20:16.173 --> 00:20:20.423
the Massachusetts State Senate, which I found out I learned today that they

00:20:20.423 --> 00:20:25.400
call your legislative session the general court. I think that's interesting.

00:20:26.207 --> 00:20:29.806
What has been the most rewarding and which has been the most challenging for you?

00:20:30.548 --> 00:20:35.513
I mean, when you serve in the city council, if you are an organizer,

00:20:35.513 --> 00:20:41.943
if you are a people person and you like grassroots, city council and local offices are where it's at.

00:20:42.639 --> 00:20:46.793
You know being able to meet people at church being able to say let's get together

00:20:46.793 --> 00:20:50.443
right now We're going to talk about this curb cut or this Crossing station the

00:20:50.443 --> 00:20:51.733
kids aren't safe and being able

00:20:51.733 --> 00:20:56.030
to do all those things that's city council And I miss that at the state

00:20:56.436 --> 00:21:01.063
level because now I as a state center of cities in my district And I can't get

00:21:01.063 --> 00:21:02.595
as hyper local as I used to,

00:21:03.456 --> 00:21:08.523
And I miss that that being said when you pass a law at the state level it's

00:21:08.523 --> 00:21:10.921
for all 7 million people in Massachusetts,

00:21:11.606 --> 00:21:18.843
And so, like, I could never do the Federal Workers Civil Rights Act as a city counselor, right?

00:21:20.943 --> 00:21:24.621
So that's why I think that that's one of the benefits, but one of the,

00:21:25.231 --> 00:21:27.651
what I miss a lot from being a city counselor.

00:21:28.741 --> 00:21:33.362
Now, several of your fellow council members have, like, you ascended to higher office.

00:21:33.954 --> 00:21:39.027
So my question to you is, how does it feel to be part of this particular era in Boston politics?

00:21:40.488 --> 00:21:46.458
I feel like I'm part of the Voltron of, like, VIPs, you know,

00:21:46.458 --> 00:21:49.668
that Michelle, I got to serve with Michelle Wu, the current mayor.

00:21:49.668 --> 00:21:53.108
I got to serve with Ayanna Pressley, the congresswoman. I got to serve with

00:21:53.108 --> 00:21:55.330
Andrea Campbell, the attorney general.

00:21:55.631 --> 00:22:02.398
I mean, I mean, you know, so when you think of all of these women who you've

00:22:02.398 --> 00:22:07.845
known and worked with, I, men and women, but those, which happen to be all women,

00:22:08.466 --> 00:22:11.270
I'm, I'm beyond proud. I feel like I'm part of a legacy.

00:22:11.965 --> 00:22:18.438
Yeah, yeah. In sports analogy, I like the 1983 or the, I guess,

00:22:18.438 --> 00:22:22.026
80, 84 or 93 NBA draft classes.

00:22:22.805 --> 00:22:26.172
How many Hall of Famers and all that that came out of there.

00:22:27.112 --> 00:22:32.834
So how do you navigate in this current political climate?

00:22:33.172 --> 00:22:37.268
I know that in Massachusetts, y'all have the majority in both houses and all

00:22:37.268 --> 00:22:41.536
that, and you've got the trifecta because you've got the governor's office too,

00:22:42.137 --> 00:22:47.973
but you're still in this current political environment. How does that impact what y'all are doing?

00:22:48.924 --> 00:22:53.493
I think sometimes it's a blessing sometimes if you are of the political.

00:22:53.847 --> 00:22:56.831
Thank you, guys. Absolutely. Thank you. Goodbye.

00:22:57.446 --> 00:23:00.645
I think it's a blessing when you are part of the majority.

00:23:00.977 --> 00:23:04.544
I'm sure it's very tough to be a Republican in Massachusetts.

00:23:04.834 --> 00:23:09.429
But at the same time, sometimes we take for granted, right? When you're a hyper

00:23:09.789 --> 00:23:12.649
supermajority like us, sometimes you can move slow because you know,

00:23:12.649 --> 00:23:14.754
okay, if we didn't do it now, we'll do it another time.

00:23:15.502 --> 00:23:19.629
Because you feel that your colleagues' politics haven't changed much,

00:23:19.629 --> 00:23:22.217
and so therefore you'll be able to hit it on another time.

00:23:22.693 --> 00:23:28.269
And sometimes I think we can fail to meet the sense of urgency that we need

00:23:28.269 --> 00:23:34.388
to because, well, it's going to happen is the headspace. Right.

00:23:35.225 --> 00:23:41.529
I think sometimes having a Republican governor has pushed us to actually be

00:23:41.691 --> 00:23:44.118
more aggressive and more urgent.

00:23:44.507 --> 00:23:48.709
And so I think sometimes it's almost a little bit, you know,

00:23:48.837 --> 00:23:50.451
you can get a little too comfortable.

00:23:51.274 --> 00:23:55.529
So your advice to your colleagues, either in a similar situation,

00:23:55.529 --> 00:24:00.717
well, in a similar situation would be don't take it for granted, right?

00:24:03.309 --> 00:24:10.241
What would you say to your colleagues like, you know, in Mississippi or in Georgia or Alabama?

00:24:10.624 --> 00:24:15.606
How would you advise them in navigating the climate?

00:24:16.668 --> 00:24:19.836
My colleagues in Mississippi, first of all, I say, stay strong,

00:24:20.871 --> 00:24:22.524
stay strong, stay focused.

00:24:22.943 --> 00:24:28.956
And also, don't be, know that, I mean, a lot of us, you know,

00:24:29.276 --> 00:24:32.387
I'm sitting here patting myself on the back for what I can get done.

00:24:32.921 --> 00:24:37.376
And I know that for a fact, I don't have any of the headwinds that my colleagues

00:24:37.376 --> 00:24:40.060
in Mississippi do, my Democratic colleagues, for example.

00:24:40.716 --> 00:24:49.246
And so a lot of times what is a win for Mississippi is preventing harm and preventing cruelty.

00:24:49.919 --> 00:24:53.721
That is a constant conversation in other places that, again,

00:24:53.930 --> 00:24:59.136
we don't really have that sense, right? It's how much better we choose to make

00:24:59.136 --> 00:25:01.932
ourselves in many cases or how lazy we're going to be.

00:25:02.176 --> 00:25:08.399
But I don't think we have the same sense of cruelty prevention, right?

00:25:08.770 --> 00:25:11.986
And I'm not going to sit there and say that we don't have racism and issues

00:25:11.986 --> 00:25:13.596
here. I'm just saying it's different.

00:25:14.570 --> 00:25:19.926
I think in many cases, it is important for us to still learn.

00:25:19.926 --> 00:25:27.444
I have stuff to learn from Mississippi because when you do win and when you do get things done,

00:25:27.949 --> 00:25:31.082
you've done it under such levels of,

00:25:31.587 --> 00:25:35.912
machinations and so many different things that that i don't even have to consider

00:25:36.023 --> 00:25:37.106
i should sit down and listen i

00:25:37.106 --> 00:25:41.137
mean everybody thinks about what was the convention that Mississippi dems,

00:25:41.618 --> 00:25:46.006
went to go take or the black Mississippi dem in the 60s i think it was and i'm

00:25:46.006 --> 00:25:49.936
going to the democratic convention we look at was that Fannie Lou that was correct,

00:25:50.676 --> 00:25:54.896
okay miss Hamer she's man i don't know her like that i'll be calling her by her first name.

00:25:56.616 --> 00:26:02.806
So that kind of organizing headspace and understanding with all that she and

00:26:02.806 --> 00:26:06.928
that party was up against to move, that's where the genius is.

00:26:07.996 --> 00:26:11.386
And us in the Northeast and around the country oftentimes think we're where

00:26:11.386 --> 00:26:13.603
the genius is because we're doing things.

00:26:14.605 --> 00:26:20.120
It ain't smart when you're surrounded by Harvard, right? And people who want

00:26:20.265 --> 00:26:23.384
to be cool and the hard part.

00:26:24.152 --> 00:26:27.926
And so I would say to my colleagues, keep up the fight.

00:26:28.407 --> 00:26:34.433
We are watching you. We are seeing you. I've read books about cooperative ownership.

00:26:35.150 --> 00:26:38.987
And we're looking at, I think, the mayor of Jackson, Mississippi,

00:26:39.649 --> 00:26:44.073
and understanding how and what to do with Black ownership.

00:26:44.415 --> 00:26:51.811
And black brilliance, black joy, and all of those things exist in abundance in Mississippi.

00:26:52.537 --> 00:26:54.811
We don't have that much here in the Northeast.

00:26:55.550 --> 00:26:57.738
Something to be seen and learned.

00:26:58.563 --> 00:27:01.583
And also I would like to say thank you to the folks of Gulfport.

00:27:03.382 --> 00:27:09.323
During Hurricane Katrina, I came down from law school and I went to Gulfport,

00:27:09.323 --> 00:27:13.283
Mississippi, and I got assigned there. We were helping people fill out forms for

00:27:13.283 --> 00:27:17.615
insurance at the time. I was very young. So this, we're talking 20 years ago.

00:27:18.243 --> 00:27:23.201
And there was this whole kind of equal justice works movement to go down from different law schools.

00:27:23.775 --> 00:27:29.897
And so I had a great time in Gulfport, Mississippi, and I felt welcomed. I felt loved.

00:27:30.332 --> 00:27:34.538
I felt cared for from people who are dealing with all sorts of things.

00:27:34.898 --> 00:27:37.665
They still made me feel at home.

00:27:38.100 --> 00:27:42.523
So long answer, but that's what I would say. That's cool, because,

00:27:42.523 --> 00:27:46.183
you know, that was when I was I was in the legislature during that time.

00:27:46.183 --> 00:27:50.393
And so I want to say thank you for you and the other law students that came

00:27:50.393 --> 00:27:52.293
down to help our folks at that point.

00:27:52.985 --> 00:27:58.693
Yeah. So why are Democrats and Republicans scared of progressive public officials?

00:28:00.659 --> 00:28:01.663
I would say.

00:28:04.556 --> 00:28:12.049
Let's not have too big of a lump sum of both. I would say there's more old guard, Dems.

00:28:12.432 --> 00:28:15.433
Not all Dems are scared of progressives. The old guard is.

00:28:16.013 --> 00:28:19.433
Okay? Or mistrusting of them, or they don't believe.

00:28:20.016 --> 00:28:25.116
And when I'm talking about them, those old guard Dems, what I would say is they become cynical.

00:28:25.750 --> 00:28:30.986
They become hardened. And I think in many cases, the progressives remind them

00:28:30.986 --> 00:28:35.406
of themselves, a younger version of themselves or an idealistic version of themselves,

00:28:35.406 --> 00:28:39.590
whatever age they are, where they truly believe that you can change the world.

00:28:41.064 --> 00:28:45.847
And I think they resent that. Or the world has really dated them.

00:28:46.552 --> 00:28:51.496
And I believe that if you get to the point in your political career where some

00:28:51.496 --> 00:28:56.205
young person saying we should have Medicare for all, or some young person saying,

00:28:56.827 --> 00:29:01.099
I want to have immigration reform, I don't want to have ICE,

00:29:01.285 --> 00:29:04.431
that bothers you. That irks your spirit.

00:29:05.284 --> 00:29:06.492
You need to retire.

00:29:07.516 --> 00:29:11.799
Okay, it sounds like you're too jaded. You're too cynical And you know,

00:29:12.159 --> 00:29:15.469
I don't need politicians that lack vision. That means you lack vision.

00:29:15.469 --> 00:29:19.136
You lack hope I'm not doing it for the money.

00:29:19.542 --> 00:29:24.157
I'm a lawyer. I'm not making that much for New England and for this area Right.

00:29:24.382 --> 00:29:26.584
If I wanted to just go make money, I'd go to a law firm.

00:29:26.984 --> 00:29:31.919
I chose public service. Okay. I chose to be a public defender I'm choosing this

00:29:32.337 --> 00:29:35.349
Okay, so it's because I have vision.

00:29:35.349 --> 00:29:39.399
I have hope I have faith And so when I meet a young person is I don't want to

00:29:39.399 --> 00:29:43.279
help you Because my vision and my hope and my faith aligns with yours.

00:29:43.279 --> 00:29:48.349
I'm like come aboard Come on, please So that's what I would say about dems in

00:29:48.349 --> 00:29:49.505
terms of the republicans,

00:29:50.224 --> 00:29:53.819
They don't want big government and they don't want necessarily equality and

00:29:53.819 --> 00:29:57.692
they don't necessarily want everybody to have Everything,

00:29:58.337 --> 00:30:03.419
I think it's a matter of being cheap and a scarcity mindset I mean they've hated,

00:30:03.919 --> 00:30:07.985
they've hated the new deal minimum wage over time,

00:30:08.672 --> 00:30:14.083
right for workers to organize they were against that then they believe naively,

00:30:14.794 --> 00:30:19.869
or almost intentionally ignorantly in a market that somehow is going to fix

00:30:19.869 --> 00:30:24.221
everything and when you have that headspace I truly believe you see,

00:30:25.339 --> 00:30:29.140
money as your god and making it as your religion I don't.

00:30:31.263 --> 00:30:39.407
Alright so two more questions when all is said and done what issue would you like to look back and say,

00:30:40.063 --> 00:30:46.649
I made a difference this is I can say this is something that I've put my heart

00:30:46.649 --> 00:30:50.828
and soul in and you're seeing the fruits of the harvest,

00:30:51.779 --> 00:30:54.060
I mean that was the hardest question you've asked so far,

00:30:55.066 --> 00:31:00.511
I have no idea. I think there's so many areas. I mean, I would like to think

00:31:00.511 --> 00:31:04.336
there's one issue that would fix everything else.

00:31:04.911 --> 00:31:10.323
And I've kind of always said there's two areas where fundamentally big government,

00:31:10.944 --> 00:31:16.371
almost communist about equality, about ensuring that everyone has their fair

00:31:16.371 --> 00:31:20.520
amount and assured, and that's education and health, healthcare.

00:31:21.095 --> 00:31:27.431
So maybe a fundamental thing that I would love to be able to say when I go meet

00:31:27.431 --> 00:31:30.142
my maker or when I say I'm done with politics is.

00:31:31.900 --> 00:31:37.264
Every child born gets a quality education no matter where they're born.

00:31:38.601 --> 00:31:43.381
And I've been able to make sure that I don't know if that's possible and that

00:31:43.761 --> 00:31:46.571
nobody is scared of being sick in this country.

00:31:46.571 --> 00:31:51.401
And we take our sick care health system and actually turn it into a health care

00:31:51.401 --> 00:31:59.119
system where we are investing heavily in people being healthy and not heavily in people being sick.

00:32:00.210 --> 00:32:03.821
And the sick care system is what we have. We will invest after the fact,

00:32:04.373 --> 00:32:07.908
once the disease has spread, once you're in the emergency room.

00:32:08.471 --> 00:32:11.491
You know, that's when we're forced to invest. We're not actually even investing.

00:32:11.491 --> 00:32:13.312
We're forced to spend because you're right there.

00:32:13.915 --> 00:32:17.281
And when a health care system is what I, in some cases, had growing up.

00:32:17.281 --> 00:32:18.982
I don't know if you had it when you were growing up.

00:32:19.395 --> 00:32:23.950
And you went to school and the dentist came in and taught you how to brush your teeth.

00:32:24.584 --> 00:32:28.763
And they would show and examine your teeth. They also examined your vision.

00:32:29.076 --> 00:32:31.287
I remember that we were taught about how to eat.

00:32:32.120 --> 00:32:33.437
And there was a school nurse.

00:32:34.501 --> 00:32:40.191
I went to department public, defense schools, DOD schools, military schools.

00:32:40.191 --> 00:32:42.730
So we had school nurses, everything.

00:32:44.139 --> 00:32:47.640
That one, that's, that's, right.

00:32:48.311 --> 00:32:54.119
So schools could be, quite frankly, the equalizing place and the civic engaging

00:32:54.119 --> 00:32:55.498
place that they should be.

00:32:56.157 --> 00:32:58.444
So those are the two issues I'd love to be able to say.

00:32:59.975 --> 00:33:06.493
There are many more, but those would be the two. So finish this sentence. I have hope because.

00:33:07.617 --> 00:33:12.979
I have hope because too many of my ancestors that came before me never got to

00:33:12.979 --> 00:33:16.226
have the life that I have. I have hope because I'm grateful.

00:33:17.270 --> 00:33:22.829
That's why. That's cool. All right. Senator Lydia Edwards, we can safely say

00:33:22.829 --> 00:33:26.661
to the listeners that you have made it off the boat and you are on your way to the house.

00:33:27.067 --> 00:33:32.304
Yes. How can, how can people reach out to you and keep track of what you're doing?

00:33:33.102 --> 00:33:36.759
Well, we just started a sub stack so I can talk a little bit more about some

00:33:36.759 --> 00:33:40.654
of the policies I'm doing. And that's my name, Senator Lydia Edwards.

00:33:41.211 --> 00:33:45.909
Were on Blue Sky. And also, we were doing virtual office hours.

00:33:45.909 --> 00:33:47.250
We're going to start those again.

00:33:47.778 --> 00:33:51.069
Not everyone has the access to the statehouse, but many people do have a cell

00:33:51.069 --> 00:33:55.749
phone and can meet me during my virtual office hours. So I'd love to do that.

00:33:55.749 --> 00:33:59.288
You just go to LydiaEdwards.org. We'll be putting up our times there.

00:33:59.648 --> 00:34:04.289
So we'd love that. All right. Well, Senator Lydia Edwards, thank you so much

00:34:04.289 --> 00:34:05.845
for taking the time out to do this.

00:34:06.316 --> 00:34:10.031
I greatly appreciate it. Keep fighting a good fight. You're one of the good ones.

00:34:10.519 --> 00:34:16.148
And I'm glad that I'm glad that I was able to get this political hall of famer,

00:34:17.039 --> 00:34:19.969
on my podcast. But thank you so much.

00:34:20.890 --> 00:34:24.689
Thank you so much. Thank you. I appreciate your patience and everything.

00:34:24.689 --> 00:34:27.919
Questions were excellent. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. All right,

00:34:27.919 --> 00:34:28.861
guys, and we're going to catch you on the other side.

00:34:51.602 --> 00:34:57.241
All right, and we are back. And so, again, I want to thank Senator Lydia Edwards,

00:34:57.585 --> 00:35:06.063
one of the many superstars that are out there in the political realm in the United States.

00:35:06.063 --> 00:35:08.173
Yeah, she's not in the United States

00:35:08.173 --> 00:35:14.579
Congress, but she is a force in the Massachusetts General Court. Yeah.

00:35:16.775 --> 00:35:20.055
In Mississippi, we call it the state legislature, but in Massachusetts,

00:35:20.375 --> 00:35:23.572
for almost 400 years, they have called it the general court.

00:35:24.272 --> 00:35:30.845
And so she is a leader in the Senate. And again, glad that we were able to navigate

00:35:30.845 --> 00:35:37.406
some time, literally, because she was on a boat to get the interview done.

00:35:38.004 --> 00:35:40.612
I really, really appreciate her taking the time to do that.

00:35:41.428 --> 00:35:46.735
I understand. And, you know, I have I've literally done interviews.

00:35:46.735 --> 00:35:49.534
I've done live shows driving on the highway.

00:35:50.231 --> 00:35:57.053
So I understand the demands of being a legislator and or even running for office,

00:35:57.631 --> 00:36:03.329
and just being able to carve out some time to accommodate requests.

00:36:03.876 --> 00:36:07.775
And again, I'm really, really honored that she she accepted my invitation.

00:36:07.775 --> 00:36:13.155
And through the help of her assistant, Caroline, we were able to get this done.

00:36:14.118 --> 00:36:18.375
And so this is the last episode of season 13.

00:36:19.744 --> 00:36:26.475
Next week, we will start season 14. And as you know, my episodes are not based on chronology.

00:36:26.475 --> 00:36:34.154
It's based on volume. And so if you go to the website, www.momenterik.com,

00:36:34.736 --> 00:36:44.109
you will see that most of the episodes, most of the seasons have 25 episodes per season.

00:36:44.659 --> 00:36:49.655
And so that's easy for people if they want to go and track down.

00:36:49.655 --> 00:36:55.056
If they say, okay, they think they did in season 10 and you can go there and,

00:36:55.888 --> 00:36:57.800
find the episode that way.

00:36:58.625 --> 00:37:00.842
You know, you remember the date or whatever.

00:37:02.044 --> 00:37:06.911
But, yeah, it's broken down on the website by seasons.

00:37:07.375 --> 00:37:11.376
So if you remember what season that person was on, you can go directly at season.

00:37:11.376 --> 00:37:15.461
So you won't have to go through every episode to find out when that person was.

00:37:15.984 --> 00:37:23.774
Or you can go to the guest page, right, and find the person that you're looking for.

00:37:24.297 --> 00:37:27.502
And there's some that have been on multiple times.

00:37:28.048 --> 00:37:33.176
Most of my guests have only been on once. But the rule is that once you've been

00:37:33.176 --> 00:37:35.178
on, you have an open invitation to come back.

00:37:36.254 --> 00:37:39.746
So, you know, but if you're looking for a particular person,

00:37:39.746 --> 00:37:44.936
you can do it that way. You can go to the guest page and find that the episode

00:37:44.936 --> 00:37:48.499
or episodes that they were on and do it that way.

00:37:49.418 --> 00:37:54.849
So now I can add the Honorable Lydia Edwards to that guest list.

00:37:56.107 --> 00:38:01.156
So a lot of stuff to cover. One of the things I did want to do is give a summary

00:38:01.156 --> 00:38:04.180
of the Martyrs Day celebration that we had in Atlanta.

00:38:04.828 --> 00:38:08.856
All of us that were part of the organizing showed up.

00:38:10.376 --> 00:38:14.156
And, you know, we knew that we weren't going to get a big crowd,

00:38:14.156 --> 00:38:18.893
if any crowd, because, you know, of the time constraints, trying to put it together.

00:38:19.238 --> 00:38:24.306
But we wanted to say that we did something in Atlanta.

00:38:24.306 --> 00:38:29.106
I think Atlanta is one of those cities, and I'm hoping that next year people

00:38:29.106 --> 00:38:35.396
will have time to do it in Birmingham, to do it in Jackson, you know, really every city.

00:38:35.396 --> 00:38:39.935
But, you know, in those cities where the civil rights movement was,

00:38:40.630 --> 00:38:45.223
you know, Montgomery, Selma, those cities where it was the bloodiest.

00:38:46.143 --> 00:38:49.863
And some of the major battles were fought where actually some of the martyrs,

00:38:50.506 --> 00:38:54.945
died, we want them to have commemorations.

00:38:55.616 --> 00:38:58.919
And so now we'll have a whole year to really put it out.

00:38:59.395 --> 00:39:03.669
I commend Gloria J. Brown Marshall for what she was able to do.

00:39:04.001 --> 00:39:09.482
Of course, it was her idea, so she had time, and they had a real nice national

00:39:09.732 --> 00:39:11.775
celebration at Riverside Church.

00:39:12.463 --> 00:39:17.917
And I think that, you know, I don't know if she's gonna always do it at Riverside

00:39:17.917 --> 00:39:20.673
as far as the national event,

00:39:21.297 --> 00:39:26.324
but it was really, really cool to see that live stream, and we were able to

00:39:26.655 --> 00:39:30.399
do ours, you know, early enough in the day because it was hot,

00:39:31.286 --> 00:39:35.071
so that we did our commemoration, and then we were able to watch it.

00:39:35.945 --> 00:39:39.039
One of the organizers, Dontaye Carter, did a video of it.

00:39:39.632 --> 00:39:43.219
You go to, you find him on Instagram. It's posted up there.

00:39:43.567 --> 00:39:50.791
It was very, very cool what he did to show that we had our celebration or commemoration in Atlanta.

00:39:51.384 --> 00:39:56.727
And I'm just really honored that the committee showed up. We had one committee

00:39:57.147 --> 00:40:01.917
member that could not attend, but she will be involved. Sia Henry,

00:40:01.917 --> 00:40:04.916
who's been a guest on the podcast. Dontaye has been a guest.

00:40:05.491 --> 00:40:09.217
Dehjah Vaughn has been a guest, and she was on.

00:40:10.359 --> 00:40:15.584
And so I've got to get Ms. Essence Johnson on the podcast and Gerald Griggs.

00:40:15.904 --> 00:40:21.335
Got to get him on the podcast. But those were the people that comprised of the initial committee.

00:40:21.951 --> 00:40:29.144
And, you know, all of them have committed to at least putting together something for next year.

00:40:29.710 --> 00:40:33.464
And we'll do it bigger, better.

00:40:33.464 --> 00:40:36.879
And since we're going to do it actually on the 5th every year,

00:40:37.331 --> 00:40:41.324
so that means it will be a Monday. So it'll probably be an evening event to

00:40:41.324 --> 00:40:47.174
accommodate people's work schedules. And, you know, we'll have a place that'll

00:40:47.174 --> 00:40:48.114
have some air conditioning.

00:40:49.564 --> 00:40:53.896
And that's about all I'll commit to at this point.

00:40:54.465 --> 00:40:59.264
You know, we may do it outdoors. I don't know. But it's summertime in Atlanta,

00:40:59.264 --> 00:41:05.084
even when the sun will not be down, so it'll still be hot. But, you know, and then rain.

00:41:05.444 --> 00:41:09.171
We were very blessed no rain happened. But, you know, we'll figure it out.

00:41:09.561 --> 00:41:17.621
We've got a year and this is something that I want to continue on every year,

00:41:18.176 --> 00:41:22.232
you know, and I don't want it to fade out with Ms. Browne-Marshall.

00:41:22.690 --> 00:41:26.324
I don't want it to fade out with those of us here in Atlanta that started it.

00:41:26.324 --> 00:41:31.724
We want this to be a perpetual thing and keep it going. So I just want to thank

00:41:31.724 --> 00:41:36.323
everybody who participated here in Atlanta and everybody that participated throughout the country.

00:41:37.037 --> 00:41:40.927
And, you know, we're going to keep this thing going. So, again,

00:41:41.514 --> 00:41:44.069
thanks to everybody who participated in that.

00:41:45.101 --> 00:41:49.491
So, real quick, there's a couple of sad things that have happened.

00:41:50.530 --> 00:41:54.666
We lost two young men. And when I say young, I mean young.

00:41:54.904 --> 00:42:00.031
Kohen Wiley was a one-year-old in Senatobia, Mississippi.

00:42:01.057 --> 00:42:06.351
And even though the tragedy happened in June,

00:42:07.134 --> 00:42:10.839
I think it was on Flag Day, I think it was on the 14th,

00:42:11.591 --> 00:42:19.843
The preliminary findings from an independent investigator, an independent autopsy,

00:42:20.504 --> 00:42:26.838
came out this week, this past week, and it showed that it was a homicide.

00:42:27.867 --> 00:42:33.170
And, you know, it was limited information that the independent,

00:42:33.865 --> 00:42:39.710
examiner had because he didn't have full access to any video cameras the police

00:42:39.710 --> 00:42:43.710
had or, you know, the actual vehicle.

00:42:43.710 --> 00:42:50.757
He had to go off just the autopsy and, you know, the young man's body and some pictures.

00:42:51.463 --> 00:42:57.140
But based on what he was able to determine, that it was a homicide,

00:42:57.140 --> 00:43:03.130
that he was shot from the side instead of like full on.

00:43:03.130 --> 00:43:10.457
Because, again, just like what's happened in Houston and what happened in Minneapolis,

00:43:11.051 --> 00:43:15.656
the officer was trying to say that the woman was using the vehicle as a weapon,

00:43:16.267 --> 00:43:19.797
and in order to defend himself.

00:43:20.189 --> 00:43:22.809
He decided to shoot into the vehicle.

00:43:23.319 --> 00:43:27.145
And from what it looks like, that wasn't the case.

00:43:27.855 --> 00:43:34.300
And why are you pulling a gun on somebody that the crime that was alleged to

00:43:34.300 --> 00:43:37.911
be being committed was shoplifting?

00:43:40.136 --> 00:43:44.900
You know, Mississippi has a history of being a little excessive when it comes to shoplifting.

00:43:45.515 --> 00:43:49.241
I remember when I was telling Jackson, there was this huge police chase.

00:43:49.804 --> 00:43:53.936
And you thought this guy had robbed, like, the Trustmark Bank there.

00:43:54.436 --> 00:44:00.556
And, you know, he crossed county lines and ended up in the inner city of Jackson.

00:44:00.556 --> 00:44:05.036
And, you know, it was a crash and all this stuff. And the Jackson Police Department

00:44:05.036 --> 00:44:08.736
had no idea that these other law enforcement officials were coming into their

00:44:08.736 --> 00:44:10.585
city until after the crash happened.

00:44:11.051 --> 00:44:16.206
And it turned out that the young man that was in that crash was being chased

00:44:16.206 --> 00:44:17.951
because of shoplifting.

00:44:19.138 --> 00:44:24.965
So that's unfortunately not uncommon in Mississippi.

00:44:25.736 --> 00:44:31.510
What is tragic is that, you know, the mother of the child was not even the suspect.

00:44:32.388 --> 00:44:39.579
It was supposedly a friend of hers that went to the store with her, and allegedly she died.

00:44:40.785 --> 00:44:44.210
Tried to steal something or they are accusing him of trying to steal something.

00:44:44.831 --> 00:44:54.017
And in the pursuit, the officer pulled out his weapon and shot into the car and killed Cohen.

00:44:55.008 --> 00:45:00.439
So, you know, as far as we know, and this is in Senatobia.

00:45:00.439 --> 00:45:07.089
So if you remember, I had the sister on Christina Carrega, who had done a story

00:45:07.089 --> 00:45:11.822
about a young man who was waiting for his mom outside of a law firm.

00:45:12.939 --> 00:45:17.499
And he read in the sign, you know, since his mom was already in there,

00:45:17.499 --> 00:45:21.447
he didn't make the correlation that he could go in with her.

00:45:22.048 --> 00:45:25.717
And she had told him to wait in the car. And so he saw a sign saying only,

00:45:26.205 --> 00:45:30.251
you know, potential clients could come into the building or whatever.

00:45:30.916 --> 00:45:34.079
So he was being obedient. So he decided he was going to pee on the side of the

00:45:34.079 --> 00:45:40.566
car. and it was a Senatobia officer that came and got him and arrested him at 10 years old.

00:45:41.294 --> 00:45:44.899
So this is not the first time Senatobia, I believe it was Senatobia,

00:45:44.899 --> 00:45:48.521
if I remember correctly. I'm getting old, but I ain't getting that old.

00:45:49.259 --> 00:45:54.739
And so they had to go through all these hoops to bail this 10-year-old out for,

00:45:55.259 --> 00:45:59.083
I guess, I think they were a public lewdness or whatever.

00:45:59.731 --> 00:46:02.523
Will Boer was peeing by his car.

00:46:03.647 --> 00:46:10.229
So it's not uncommon at Senatobia it would be in the news or something like

00:46:10.229 --> 00:46:16.778
that and you know so you know especially with young black boys.

00:46:18.069 --> 00:46:26.309
So I'm praying that the right thing is done with that and that all law enforcement

00:46:26.309 --> 00:46:31.187
agencies in light of what has been going on really really stress,

00:46:32.104 --> 00:46:35.703
how to deal with situations with vehicles.

00:46:37.151 --> 00:46:42.511
You know, I know before I left Fulton County, that was one of the things that

00:46:42.511 --> 00:46:45.732
they wanted to incorporate into the training.

00:46:46.626 --> 00:46:51.001
Not necessarily like during the academy level, but something that you would

00:46:51.001 --> 00:46:59.743
be required to report and do is dealing with shooting into or at moving vehicles.

00:47:00.967 --> 00:47:05.731
Because people do use vehicles as weapons. They do try to run over police officers.

00:47:05.731 --> 00:47:07.880
That's not exaggerating.

00:47:08.762 --> 00:47:12.099
But what we're seeing a pattern is, is that,

00:47:12.749 --> 00:47:16.671
if there's no cameras right away, the person, either the officer's not wearing

00:47:16.671 --> 00:47:20.351
the camera or whatever, they tend to write in the report, well,

00:47:20.351 --> 00:47:27.051
they were using the vehicles coming toward me and I was matching lethal force with lethal force.

00:47:27.792 --> 00:47:34.584
And what we are finding out, as further investigations go, is that that was not the case.

00:47:35.219 --> 00:47:42.783
They were trying to CYA with the paperwork to justify shooting anybody or at anybody.

00:47:43.451 --> 00:47:46.881
So that's something that Kohen

00:47:46.881 --> 00:47:51.704
Wiley has the case that we need as a community to continue to follow.

00:47:53.274 --> 00:47:57.124
The other tragedy also happened in Mississippi, and this happened on the 4th

00:47:57.124 --> 00:48:00.896
of July, a young man named Nolan Wells.

00:48:01.602 --> 00:48:06.310
Nolan was a freshman, I believe, at Southwest Community College,

00:48:06.536 --> 00:48:09.462
Southwest Mississippi Community College. He was a football player there.

00:48:09.806 --> 00:48:12.974
He had played at Ocean Springs High School.

00:48:13.687 --> 00:48:21.942
And so there's like a little island that's more like a forest preserve or nature preserve, if you will.

00:48:22.470 --> 00:48:26.214
It's off the Gulf Coast called Horn Island. And so, you know,

00:48:26.214 --> 00:48:28.743
there's a spot, it's kind of like a park.

00:48:29.603 --> 00:48:34.174
Nobody lives there, but it's maintained by, I think it's a combination between,

00:48:34.959 --> 00:48:40.900
the National Park Service and the state of Mississippi wildlife fishery and parks.

00:48:41.927 --> 00:48:45.024
And, you know, so people can go there and fish or, you know,

00:48:45.024 --> 00:48:47.074
just picnic or wherever the case may be.

00:48:47.374 --> 00:48:52.363
So Mr. Wells was in the company of three other young white men.

00:48:53.723 --> 00:48:59.116
They all went to the island and the three white men came back and Nolan did not.

00:48:59.913 --> 00:49:07.946
And so one of the young men, from what I understand now, his mom is a judge in Mississippi.

00:49:08.635 --> 00:49:13.022
And so, you know, these were privileged children.

00:49:13.737 --> 00:49:18.029
And the question is, why didn't Nolan come back with him?

00:49:18.850 --> 00:49:22.914
And why did it take days to find his body?

00:49:24.575 --> 00:49:27.812
Why did the boys leave without him, right?

00:49:28.482 --> 00:49:31.383
So I know they're all trying to get their story straight right now,

00:49:32.484 --> 00:49:35.088
but that investigation is underway.

00:49:35.661 --> 00:49:39.481
Of course, you know, on social media, some of the black folks are already accusing,

00:49:40.102 --> 00:49:44.844
young white men of killing him or having something to do with his death.

00:49:45.386 --> 00:49:50.015
And, you know, but we don't know. All we know is that a young black man went

00:49:50.015 --> 00:49:54.328
to Horn Island for 4th of July and he didn't come back alive.

00:49:55.121 --> 00:49:59.765
And so his family, his parents, his grandparents, you know, everybody's just

00:49:59.765 --> 00:50:03.543
devastated and they're trying to find out what's going on. Ben Crump is involved.

00:50:03.991 --> 00:50:07.158
I saw Al Sharpton at the press conference.

00:50:07.869 --> 00:50:13.925
So that's another one. And if you are on social media and you've seen this young

00:50:13.925 --> 00:50:16.960
black man and everybody's paying tribute, that's who it is.

00:50:17.595 --> 00:50:23.185
And so we're hoping that, I'm praying that those young men did not have anything

00:50:23.185 --> 00:50:26.360
to do with it, that it was just an unfortunate accident that happened.

00:50:27.492 --> 00:50:33.665
And they, you know, instead of, you know, trying to do something more responsible,

00:50:33.665 --> 00:50:37.376
they panicked and came on back and told everybody. But yeah.

00:50:39.924 --> 00:50:43.212
I don't know. Only the investigation will figure that out.

00:50:44.118 --> 00:50:50.764
And I just, for Mr. Wells, and even though he was only one year old,

00:50:50.764 --> 00:50:53.344
Mr. Wiley, the truth will come out.

00:50:54.124 --> 00:51:01.224
And, you know, at least with Kohen Wiley, we kind of understand what happened.

00:51:01.224 --> 00:51:07.725
And now it's just a matter of was the officer using excessive force, you know, or not.

00:51:08.343 --> 00:51:10.822
With Northern Wells, we have no idea what happened.

00:51:11.549 --> 00:51:15.984
And until those boys come forward, whatever story they're going to coordinate

00:51:15.984 --> 00:51:18.384
and tell, we need to hear it.

00:51:18.864 --> 00:51:23.927
And we definitely need the authorities in Mississippi, especially Jackson County,

00:51:24.655 --> 00:51:27.422
to be diligent and thorough with it.

00:51:27.964 --> 00:51:32.825
Like I said, politics is involved because one of the young men, his mom is a judge.

00:51:33.915 --> 00:51:40.914
And they're white. So, you know, the guy who is over Mississippi Public Service,

00:51:41.158 --> 00:51:46.346
I mean, public service, public safety, is a former state legislator and former judge.

00:51:46.672 --> 00:51:50.362
I did not serve with him, but I had to lobby him.

00:51:50.815 --> 00:51:57.642
So we had a relationship. And he's a conservative, but he's from that area.

00:51:58.427 --> 00:52:05.392
So we'll see. You know, but both of those cases, not just the people in Mississippi,

00:52:05.940 --> 00:52:09.220
but the people around the nation, especially in the black diaspora.

00:52:10.910 --> 00:52:14.884
Need to continue to put pressure on, whether it's through social media,

00:52:14.884 --> 00:52:21.957
direct contact, whatever, to keep those stories out there so that we can find out the truth.

00:52:22.705 --> 00:52:28.294
Right? And I'm sure Christina and other reporters like her are already digging

00:52:28.294 --> 00:52:33.345
in and trying to get as much information as they can to let us know what's going on.

00:52:33.496 --> 00:52:37.525
And if Ben is involved, we're going to know stuff.

00:52:38.189 --> 00:52:41.434
You know, I know a lot of people might say that he's.

00:52:42.697 --> 00:52:47.837
Chasing or whatever, but it's like, I'm sure Ben would like to have a law practice

00:52:47.837 --> 00:52:50.652
where he wasn't dealing with the deaths of young black men.

00:52:51.757 --> 00:52:55.454
I don't think he signed up to go to law school for that.

00:52:56.344 --> 00:53:05.677
But because he has, you know, built that practice and he has the competent attorneys

00:53:05.677 --> 00:53:09.782
and investigators to do the work, people reach out to him.

00:53:10.729 --> 00:53:15.969
And, you know, I don't think he's just sitting on the internet waiting to see

00:53:16.271 --> 00:53:20.485
where the next tragedy is going to be. People reach out to him because he gets results.

00:53:21.439 --> 00:53:28.741
And, you know, not only do we find out the truth, but he gets the families taken care of.

00:53:29.294 --> 00:53:33.410
And so that's why he shows up at these things, because people reach out to him.

00:53:34.268 --> 00:53:38.357
And I know there's always, you know, people, I remember when Reverend Jackson

00:53:38.357 --> 00:53:40.747
was alive and people used to say,

00:53:40.747 --> 00:53:43.649
oh, he just showed up whenever there's something going on and all that.

00:53:45.137 --> 00:53:49.409
People like that have, just like elected officials have staff,

00:53:50.065 --> 00:53:52.967
like CEOs have staff, they have staff.

00:53:52.967 --> 00:53:58.216
They have people that do the preliminary work. I remember there was a situation,

00:53:59.278 --> 00:54:02.247
when Derrick Johnson, who's now the national NAACP president,

00:54:02.247 --> 00:54:03.551
he was the state president.

00:54:04.190 --> 00:54:08.747
And we had a situation where a church was burned in Greenville and there was

00:54:08.747 --> 00:54:11.081
some stuff spray painted on the church.

00:54:11.713 --> 00:54:15.297
And of course, the media was like saying, oh, this looks like this is racial,

00:54:15.297 --> 00:54:16.630
blah, blah, this, that, other.

00:54:17.495 --> 00:54:21.797
And Derek didn't really respond right away. And then, I don't even think it

00:54:21.797 --> 00:54:23.683
was a week later, but it was several days.

00:54:24.340 --> 00:54:27.823
It was Derek's organization. It was the state NAACP that said,

00:54:27.997 --> 00:54:29.275
yeah, this wasn't racial.

00:54:29.941 --> 00:54:33.470
No, this was some disgruntled church member.

00:54:34.294 --> 00:54:40.102
And because it just didn't add up. Nobody saw anything out of the ordinary.

00:54:40.694 --> 00:54:43.567
It was a black church in a predominantly black neighborhood.

00:54:45.173 --> 00:54:49.023
And nobody saw anybody white coming through there. You know what I'm saying?

00:54:49.023 --> 00:54:50.243
That was like the first clue.

00:54:50.846 --> 00:54:56.413
So these people have folks that do the work, that investigate,

00:54:56.413 --> 00:55:02.083
that try to determine, is this something that we need to get involved with,

00:55:02.083 --> 00:55:03.538
put our weight behind it?

00:55:04.406 --> 00:55:07.471
And when they make that calculation, then it's when they show up.

00:55:08.391 --> 00:55:12.053
This is not some kind of emotional thing. It's not some kind of publicity thing,

00:55:12.053 --> 00:55:20.410
but because these people have platforms, they use their platform to elevate the situation.

00:55:21.055 --> 00:55:26.103
And so I just, I just, you know, it's not just for white folks here.

00:55:26.103 --> 00:55:30.393
Some black folks need to hear that, too, you know, because, you know,

00:55:30.393 --> 00:55:34.400
there were situations that happened when I was in the legislature and people,

00:55:35.033 --> 00:55:38.695
would come and meet with the caucus and try to explain what was going on.

00:55:39.422 --> 00:55:42.957
And since all of us were political, it's like, hey, who do you know?

00:55:43.149 --> 00:55:48.413
Hey, well, I served on the committee with this guy and he's the DA.

00:55:48.413 --> 00:55:50.386
Let me call him and see what's going on.

00:55:51.164 --> 00:55:57.322
You know, stuff like that. So, you know, people do their due diligence before

00:55:57.595 --> 00:56:02.587
it gets to the point where it's like the national media sees these folks. I just wanted to.

00:56:04.141 --> 00:56:09.061
Make sure I spell that out. But please, please, please stay informed about what's

00:56:09.061 --> 00:56:13.055
happening with Corn Wiley and Nolan Wells, whatever information I get,

00:56:13.316 --> 00:56:16.741
because most of the time I'll get it the same time you will.

00:56:16.979 --> 00:56:21.886
And, you know, if there's something that comes through that I have not seen,

00:56:22.585 --> 00:56:27.491
on national news or whatever, then I'll put it out there. But I just,

00:56:28.180 --> 00:56:31.607
you know, if we keep lifting their names up.

00:56:32.867 --> 00:56:34.731
The national press has to respond

00:56:34.731 --> 00:56:38.504
to that. And the authorities investigating have to respond to that.

00:56:39.108 --> 00:56:45.043
So I just wanted to uplift those young brothers' names.

00:56:45.735 --> 00:56:53.722
Now, I want to close out with this political firestorm that's happening in Maine.

00:56:54.262 --> 00:57:00.218
And I didn't ask the good senator about that. But, you know,

00:57:00.579 --> 00:57:07.486
one of the questions did kind of touch on it, and that was this fear of progressive politicians, right?

00:57:08.020 --> 00:57:12.401
Now, Graham Platner is officially out of the race in Maine.

00:57:13.000 --> 00:57:17.631
So now the state party, by, and I think they're going to do it on the 25th,

00:57:17.631 --> 00:57:23.879
but they have to, by the 27th, decide who's going to replace him on the ticket.

00:57:24.776 --> 00:57:32.282
And the way they're going to do it is that because of the support this man had,

00:57:32.646 --> 00:57:34.159
they're going to have a convention,

00:57:34.807 --> 00:57:38.035
and they're going to, right now, there's six people running,

00:57:38.468 --> 00:57:39.851
one who actually, I think,

00:57:40.658 --> 00:57:43.770
was going to run in the primary and dropped out.

00:57:44.338 --> 00:57:48.926
There's a couple of people that ran for governor and didn't win the primary,

00:57:49.441 --> 00:57:51.698
against, I want to say, Angus King.

00:57:53.185 --> 00:57:59.516
Son. And so we'll see, you know, they're including, I think, the secretary of state.

00:58:00.787 --> 00:58:05.257
And there's a couple others that's out there. Guy that owns a beer company.

00:58:05.803 --> 00:58:11.355
And before you say anything, the young man has like a bachelor's in political

00:58:11.355 --> 00:58:14.150
science. He's got a master's in political science.

00:58:14.766 --> 00:58:18.051
I want to say it's from Ivy League school. Don't quote me on that.

00:58:18.516 --> 00:58:22.715
I was just kind of glancing through it, but he's, he, yeah, he's,

00:58:22.715 --> 00:58:25.965
he owns a beer company, but he is very politically astute.

00:58:26.505 --> 00:58:29.967
So he's not just some rando out there running.

00:58:30.537 --> 00:58:35.865
And I think he either ran for governor or something. He ran for something and didn't make it.

00:58:35.865 --> 00:58:42.685
So he's in the running for this as well. So, you know, this is something really,

00:58:42.685 --> 00:58:48.125
really serious that Maine has to do because they have a real shot of beating

00:58:48.125 --> 00:58:49.745
Susan Collins for the first time.

00:58:49.745 --> 00:58:53.730
And if you look at all the people, even the Secretary of State,

00:58:54.270 --> 00:58:59.585
she ran against Susan Collins, a lady who's one of the Congress people in Maine.

00:58:59.905 --> 00:59:03.135
She cut her political teeth running against Susan Collins. So Susan Collins

00:59:03.135 --> 00:59:05.010
has been around for a long time.

00:59:05.980 --> 00:59:12.010
And a lot of Maine Democrats have built their careers, challenging Susan Collins,

00:59:12.787 --> 00:59:16.880
and have gone on to do incredible things in their own right.

00:59:17.048 --> 00:59:23.294
And so now in this political climate and this air of change is out there,

00:59:23.660 --> 00:59:27.714
they do not want to lose the opportunity to beat her.

00:59:28.604 --> 00:59:32.743
So from what I understand, they're going to have a convention July the 25th,

00:59:33.439 --> 00:59:37.485
so that they can have a name on the ballot for July 27th because Mr.

00:59:37.485 --> 00:59:41.690
Platner had to get out by the 13th.

00:59:42.289 --> 00:59:43.648
So he's out. He's done.

00:59:45.264 --> 00:59:50.016
So let me address that for a minute, right? Because we just went through that in California.

00:59:50.894 --> 00:59:57.574
Eric Swalwell, who, you know, had become a national figure because of his vocal

00:59:57.574 --> 01:00:05.130
and creative opposition to President Trump, got caught up in an allegation of sexual assault.

01:00:06.130 --> 01:00:10.384
And there had been some things in his past that came up because the Republicans

01:00:10.384 --> 01:00:13.085
kept saying he was having an affair with a Chinese spy.

01:00:13.805 --> 01:00:17.612
The lady was Asian. and she was not a spy. But nonetheless, you know,

01:00:18.414 --> 01:00:21.636
there was a little history back there. And so when that came out,

01:00:21.804 --> 01:00:24.667
it was like, right, you got to drop out.

01:00:25.286 --> 01:00:28.421
And he did. He denied the allegations, but he dropped out.

01:00:29.061 --> 01:00:35.884
And right now, Xavier Becerra is now looking like he's going to be the next

01:00:35.884 --> 01:00:36.901
governor of California.

01:00:37.731 --> 01:00:43.847
But Becerra was way down in the polls. And so, So, you know,

01:00:44.051 --> 01:00:48.334
it was just like when Swalwell was gone, it was just kind of like,

01:00:48.334 --> 01:00:51.162
who are the folks in California going to rally behind?

01:00:52.163 --> 01:00:55.184
You know, because at that point, it looked like the billionaire guy,

01:00:55.184 --> 01:00:56.790
Tom Steyer, was going to get it.

01:00:57.575 --> 01:01:01.824
Or it was going to be because it was a jungle primary. So there was a real possibility

01:01:01.824 --> 01:01:05.524
that the two Republicans running were going to get the votes.

01:01:05.901 --> 01:01:09.053
And California had no choice but have a Republican governor.

01:01:09.821 --> 01:01:16.524
So the Democrats rallied behind Becerra, and now it's him and I think the guy

01:01:16.524 --> 01:01:20.251
that used to be on Fox, Hilton or Hinton or whoever his name is,

01:01:20.832 --> 01:01:22.984
there in the general in November.

01:01:22.984 --> 01:01:28.484
And in California, if you've got a Democrat running, pretty much that's who's

01:01:28.484 --> 01:01:30.015
going to win the statewide election.

01:01:31.554 --> 01:01:36.314
Never know. You know, we just have to see how everything plays out.

01:01:36.314 --> 01:01:38.861
But that's how California dealt with it.

01:01:39.296 --> 01:01:44.492
And Swalwell, you know, gave like about a three-minute video speech.

01:01:45.263 --> 01:01:49.844
You know, he apologized to anybody he might have hurt. He denied the allegations.

01:01:50.456 --> 01:01:56.354
And, you know, he said he didn't endorse anybody. He just said, I'm out.

01:01:56.948 --> 01:02:01.069
You know, we got to win this. We got to keep this seat.

01:02:02.119 --> 01:02:05.509
Got to keep the governor's mansion. Graham Platner didn't do that.

01:02:05.688 --> 01:02:09.616
Well, he did the denial part and he did say he was dropping out,

01:02:10.224 --> 01:02:12.963
but it took him 11 minutes to do that.

01:02:13.775 --> 01:02:16.860
And he said a lot of things, right?

01:02:17.558 --> 01:02:23.134
He was really, really angry. And so, you know, the way the national press handled

01:02:23.134 --> 01:02:26.110
it was really, really interesting.

01:02:26.750 --> 01:02:31.198
So, you know, it was like everybody was like critiquing how he did it.

01:02:31.835 --> 01:02:35.874
Well, Eric Swalwell, for example, had been in Congress and he'd been,

01:02:36.314 --> 01:02:39.713
I think, a DA. He's been in politics for a long time.

01:02:40.610 --> 01:02:46.408
So he had the right advisors and he knew how to buy as gracefully as he could.

01:02:47.175 --> 01:02:51.574
Platner was unconventional from day one. So if he was running an unconventional

01:02:51.574 --> 01:02:56.418
campaign, why would you think that him bowing out would be conventional, right?

01:02:57.131 --> 01:02:58.814
This was a dude that was a Marine.

01:02:59.530 --> 01:03:02.887
You know, he told you he had PTSD issues.

01:03:04.619 --> 01:03:09.079
Told you that he didn't know. Now, you know, people are bringing up his background

01:03:09.079 --> 01:03:15.195
because he was coming across as an average working guy, you know, oyster farmer.

01:03:15.765 --> 01:03:19.459
But now it was coming out, well, you know, his main customer is his mom and

01:03:19.459 --> 01:03:24.791
his dad was, you know, they had money and blah, blah. You know what? Okay.

01:03:25.792 --> 01:03:30.839
John F. Kennedy's grandson was running. He wasn't running on the fact that he was a Kennedy.

01:03:30.839 --> 01:03:36.369
He was running on the fact that he was a Gen Z-er and could relate to the people

01:03:36.369 --> 01:03:39.809
and was trying to push the things. Everybody, you know, you do his background,

01:03:39.809 --> 01:03:43.333
you knew he was a Kennedy by DNA.

01:03:43.972 --> 01:03:47.350
Even though he didn't have the Kennedy name, you knew he was a Kennedy.

01:03:48.474 --> 01:03:49.408
And so it was like.

01:03:52.699 --> 01:03:57.444
Ever. And the Kennedys tried to come across as average everyday people.

01:03:58.083 --> 01:04:01.547
The Bushes tried to come across as average everyday people.

01:04:02.545 --> 01:04:06.283
If Chelsea Clinton decides to run for office, she's going to try to come across

01:04:06.283 --> 01:04:07.769
as an average everyday person.

01:04:08.400 --> 01:04:11.906
If Amy Carter decided to run for office, she would try to come across it.

01:04:12.278 --> 01:04:14.501
And their parents were president.

01:04:15.213 --> 01:04:18.745
In Chelsea's case, both her parents ran for prison, right?

01:04:20.184 --> 01:04:26.203
So we know, you know, but the whole thing about running for office,

01:04:26.848 --> 01:04:32.343
one of the great tactics in American politics is that you've got these people

01:04:32.343 --> 01:04:36.162
who have financial means because the way the system is set up,

01:04:36.657 --> 01:04:38.944
you have to have some financial means to run,

01:04:39.703 --> 01:04:42.463
but can you relate to the people that you're going to represent?

01:04:42.463 --> 01:04:45.173
Because the majority of the people in America are not blue bloods.

01:04:45.173 --> 01:04:47.581
Majority of the people in America are not rich.

01:04:48.527 --> 01:04:52.592
And they're the ones who vote. So you got to relate to them. They know,

01:04:53.247 --> 01:04:57.822
you know, if you're from Maine and you've known Platner for a long time,

01:04:58.048 --> 01:05:00.057
you know that his family was not,

01:05:00.686 --> 01:05:05.557
living in some shack on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. You knew that.

01:05:06.235 --> 01:05:08.171
But, you know.

01:05:10.409 --> 01:05:14.446
He grew up there, and he was able to relate to those people.

01:05:15.673 --> 01:05:19.975
So, you know, that's why he was able to build a following.

01:05:20.786 --> 01:05:28.960
That's the reason why he was able to make a sitting governor of the state of Maine drop out.

01:05:29.588 --> 01:05:33.322
He didn't beat her in the primary. He beat her before he even got to the primary.

01:05:33.951 --> 01:05:36.325
She just dropped out so late, her name stayed on the ballot.

01:05:36.864 --> 01:05:43.457
And even then, when some allegations came up then about sexting staff members,

01:05:44.600 --> 01:05:47.799
he still got 71% of the vote then, and her name was still on the ballot.

01:05:48.106 --> 01:05:51.206
She said, you can vote for me. If you really don't like what he's doing,

01:05:51.543 --> 01:05:53.819
you can vote for me. It'll be official.

01:05:54.625 --> 01:05:59.314
And 70 to 75% of the people said, oh, we're going to go with this guy,

01:06:00.037 --> 01:06:01.326
right? Because you dropped out.

01:06:03.287 --> 01:06:07.079
Regardless of what you say now, you dropped out. Could have just stuck with

01:06:07.079 --> 01:06:08.134
it and saw what happened.

01:06:08.616 --> 01:06:12.930
You know, a lot of us have run for statewide offices with no money toward the end.

01:06:13.798 --> 01:06:17.449
Just see what happened. Nine times out of 10, we're not going to win because

01:06:17.449 --> 01:06:20.685
we don't have the money to make the final push, but we stuck it out.

01:06:23.889 --> 01:06:31.011
Anyway, so, you know, now, and this again, this was somebody that he was dating.

01:06:31.726 --> 01:06:35.706
This wasn't just some random person like President Trump.

01:06:36.969 --> 01:06:43.099
Somebody that he was dating and she said no and he proceeded to have sex with

01:06:43.099 --> 01:06:47.402
anyway right because even at that point,

01:06:48.359 --> 01:06:53.797
the New York Times has been very credible when it comes to him,

01:06:54.346 --> 01:06:58.539
because any I've heard you heard me commend them on the podcast it was like

01:06:58.539 --> 01:07:04.596
yeah they found the women that he sent this the sexting message to but they also found women.

01:07:06.042 --> 01:07:10.662
He dated, they thought he was a gentleman. And they printed that.

01:07:10.969 --> 01:07:13.674
They didn't slant the story. They told the story.

01:07:14.446 --> 01:07:21.148
Well, the same thing with this woman. This woman voted for Platner after what had happened.

01:07:21.810 --> 01:07:26.012
She supported his ideas. She did not, she does not want Susan Collins to be

01:07:26.012 --> 01:07:30.418
the senator, but she felt she had to tell the truth.

01:07:31.238 --> 01:07:37.338
Now, whoever pressured her or whoever convinced her to go ahead and do it,

01:07:38.188 --> 01:07:41.341
that's a whole nother chapter in a book that needs to be written.

01:07:41.682 --> 01:07:43.609
But she told it.

01:07:44.612 --> 01:07:48.438
And she told it in a way where it was like, I'm not trying to hurt him.

01:07:49.234 --> 01:07:52.634
But since you asked, this did happen. Right.

01:07:53.400 --> 01:07:57.869
Now, the wife of Platner came out with the sexting stuff.

01:07:58.037 --> 01:08:01.468
She didn't come out for this one because that was before her time.

01:08:02.194 --> 01:08:08.772
Right. This is before they even dated. So she couldn't stand with him on that

01:08:08.772 --> 01:08:11.612
one. I mean, she's standing with him, but she didn't make a press statement

01:08:11.612 --> 01:08:15.218
like she did before the primary.

01:08:16.019 --> 01:08:22.092
So the reality is, is that he probably did do that because he admitted he's

01:08:22.092 --> 01:08:30.284
made a lot of bad decisions in his life. If you put him, if we were investigating a rape charge.

01:08:31.680 --> 01:08:36.906
And, you know, in a list of suspects, he would be in the lineup wall.

01:08:37.964 --> 01:08:41.498
I mean, that's just real talk. Doesn't necessarily mean that he did it,

01:08:42.147 --> 01:08:45.002
because you still have to go through due process and all that.

01:08:45.616 --> 01:08:51.826
But he would be on the list because of stuff that he admitted to, right?

01:08:52.406 --> 01:08:54.781
So that's why it wasn't a shock.

01:08:56.320 --> 01:08:59.530
And what to tell was is that the Republicans already knew.

01:09:00.059 --> 01:09:06.059
Because it was a young lady that was on one of the talk shows the weekend before all this dropped.

01:09:06.821 --> 01:09:11.370
And she's like a Republican strategist. And they said something about Maine.

01:09:11.370 --> 01:09:15.182
And she said, there's some stuff that's getting ready to come out.

01:09:15.965 --> 01:09:19.670
We think Susan Collins will survive because there's some stuff that's getting

01:09:19.670 --> 01:09:21.879
ready to come out about her opponent.

01:09:22.234 --> 01:09:27.964
She said that on live television the weekend before the allegations dropped.

01:09:28.590 --> 01:09:32.733
So they already knew. Now, how they knew, don't know.

01:09:33.445 --> 01:09:36.856
But they knew that the story was about to drop.

01:09:37.721 --> 01:09:40.550
And of course, you know, they have opposition research. They've done all their

01:09:40.550 --> 01:09:44.991
due diligence and all that. And maybe they were getting ready to expose it.

01:09:45.932 --> 01:09:48.729
And the New York Times beat them to it, right?

01:09:49.722 --> 01:09:58.035
That's politics in the 21st century. And that's American politics from a historical perspective.

01:09:58.308 --> 01:10:05.595
I mean, Grover Cleveland, my God, they had drawings about a baby yelling out, I want my paw.

01:10:06.234 --> 01:10:10.308
And the baby was yelling at Grover Cleveland. So this has been going on forever

01:10:10.598 --> 01:10:13.258
in American politics. This ain't new, right?

01:10:15.783 --> 01:10:23.287
So, you know, I was really surprised that the national media harped on how he bowed out of the race.

01:10:24.125 --> 01:10:28.148
It wasn't conventional from Jump Street, so why would you think he would be conventional now?

01:10:29.171 --> 01:10:33.083
Then the other thing that really bothered me was, you know.

01:10:35.083 --> 01:10:41.819
What people are trying to condition us to do is to say, believe women.

01:10:42.689 --> 01:10:49.520
And I think the most important thing is to say is to give women the benefit of the doubt.

01:10:50.335 --> 01:10:56.565
But as a black man, I cannot believe women, especially white women.

01:10:57.395 --> 01:11:02.008
And I'll give you two words. A name, Carolyn Bryant.

01:11:03.067 --> 01:11:09.913
For half a century, this woman said that a black man, a young black boy,

01:11:09.913 --> 01:11:14.146
came into the general store and made a lewd advance to her.

01:11:14.812 --> 01:11:19.073
And that young black boy was Emmett Till. And it wasn't until her deathbed confession,

01:11:19.914 --> 01:11:21.539
that she admitted that she lied.

01:11:22.403 --> 01:11:24.215
Emmett had been dead for half a century.

01:11:25.132 --> 01:11:29.260
All the people that killed Emmett was dead. And she's still alive.

01:11:29.974 --> 01:11:35.843
When you finally got a DA to prosecute her for lying, I mean,

01:11:36.803 --> 01:11:41.286
he dropped the case because he said she'll be dead before the trial.

01:11:41.454 --> 01:11:44.537
And sure enough, a week after he made that decision, she died.

01:11:45.474 --> 01:11:46.827
But that white woman lied.

01:11:48.325 --> 01:11:52.619
Don't put us in a bind where we got to believe every white woman,

01:11:53.400 --> 01:11:56.030
because that's really kind of the undertone. We're not going to do that.

01:11:57.097 --> 01:12:04.075
We're sensitive enough where we want to give the benefit of the doubt to a woman

01:12:04.458 --> 01:12:10.435
because we know in the system how hard it is for a woman to admit or tell the

01:12:10.435 --> 01:12:11.745
story that they were assaulted.

01:12:11.745 --> 01:12:16.210
Look at all the military women that went through stuff in Afghanistan. Right.

01:12:17.102 --> 01:12:21.435
We know how hard it is to prosecute a rape case because a lot of times women

01:12:21.435 --> 01:12:24.337
don't want to come forward. We are sensitive to that.

01:12:25.026 --> 01:12:29.892
But don't demand of us that we believe them wholeheartedly.

01:12:30.553 --> 01:12:33.473
Because as long as I'm black and as long as I have a memory,

01:12:34.105 --> 01:12:37.286
Carolyn Bryant will always be like, hold up.

01:12:38.120 --> 01:12:42.089
If you got the facts, everything is the story is credible.

01:12:42.992 --> 01:12:48.465
You as a press are obligated to run it. And if that's presented to a DA and

01:12:48.465 --> 01:12:53.283
a grand jury, you're obligated to have a trial and to press charges.

01:12:54.091 --> 01:12:59.435
Right. But don't just ask the general public to just believe white women because

01:12:59.435 --> 01:13:05.492
they say something happened to them. There's too many Karens out here for you to even play that game.

01:13:06.237 --> 01:13:10.885
Right. So I want to be clear on that. I don't want people to say,

01:13:10.885 --> 01:13:13.354
oh, he's anti-women. You're going to say it anyway.

01:13:14.062 --> 01:13:17.325
But the reality is, is that you can give people the benefit of the doubt.

01:13:17.325 --> 01:13:21.765
And once you verified facts, once you've put the timeline together,

01:13:22.283 --> 01:13:24.181
then you can say, I believe her.

01:13:25.105 --> 01:13:32.945
But don't demand that of us, because history has shown that white women have

01:13:32.945 --> 01:13:38.832
the propensity to lie, just like any other human being, right? So there's that.

01:13:40.997 --> 01:13:49.502
You know, the final thing I'll say about this is that this goes back to my personal gripe,

01:13:50.103 --> 01:13:55.502
other people that have run for the United States Senate in this lifetime that

01:13:55.502 --> 01:14:01.604
Chuck Schumer has been either over the DSCC or the majority or minority leader.

01:14:02.543 --> 01:14:09.352
He has done more. Chuck Schumer has done more to make it hard for any Democrat

01:14:09.352 --> 01:14:13.556
to get into the United States Senate than any Republican ever could,

01:14:14.113 --> 01:14:19.728
especially if he considers the Republican as being challenged a friend.

01:14:20.436 --> 01:14:28.094
Right? When I ran, Trent Lott was his friend. Doug Cochran was his friend. He said that out loud.

01:14:28.976 --> 01:14:34.785
And the hoops that I had to go through to get the National Party to get behind my campaign.

01:14:35.458 --> 01:14:37.154
And it was always at the last minute.

01:14:37.888 --> 01:14:42.172
Right? I mean, Schumer tried to take me out in the 06 primary.

01:14:43.259 --> 01:14:48.478
So, oh, well, you got a personal beef? I do. Because I was one of those people.

01:14:49.181 --> 01:14:55.361
You know, when friends of mine were working for campaigns and,

01:14:56.024 --> 01:15:03.208
you know, they would move them from campaigns that needed their expertise, they would move them.

01:15:04.041 --> 01:15:06.538
Now, in some cases, you know.

01:15:08.964 --> 01:15:14.452
The candidate won anyway. But it's like if you're a candidate and you're used

01:15:14.452 --> 01:15:19.532
to seeing this person in the office, it then is like ready to go all the national

01:15:19.532 --> 01:15:23.234
folks and send them to Idaho and Nebraska or somewhere like that.

01:15:24.161 --> 01:15:27.290
You as a candidate, it's like, well, does the party think I'm going to lose now? Yeah.

01:15:29.304 --> 01:15:34.771
Those are things that Chuck Schumer has done in that leadership in those leadership positions.

01:15:35.668 --> 01:15:41.792
And when it comes to Maine, Susan Collins is his friend now over the years,

01:15:41.792 --> 01:15:47.760
over time, and maybe the current political climate has basically taught him.

01:15:48.033 --> 01:15:53.012
Don't say that she's my friend, at least out loud where a microphone is,

01:15:53.834 --> 01:15:57.077
but his actions and his history speak louder.

01:15:57.866 --> 01:16:02.742
And so while Graham Plattner was out there building his base and people like

01:16:02.742 --> 01:16:06.444
Bernie Sanders and AOC was with him, he was like, yeah, he can win the primary.

01:16:07.249 --> 01:16:08.472
But Susan, you're going to be OK.

01:16:09.552 --> 01:16:14.698
I like you. So, yeah, we're going to run somebody against you, but you'll be all right.

01:16:15.672 --> 01:16:21.343
And then when it was like, hey, this Plattner boy might not be our best option,

01:16:22.124 --> 01:16:27.542
then you convince the governor of Maine, who would be at the end of the term,

01:16:27.542 --> 01:16:31.649
just one term, at the end of the term would be 81 years old.

01:16:32.269 --> 01:16:35.236
You asked her to step up and challenge this guy.

01:16:36.125 --> 01:16:38.940
And she was term limited out, so she couldn't run for governor again.

01:16:39.811 --> 01:16:44.721
But you asked her to tilt the party water, and the people were not buying that.

01:16:45.610 --> 01:16:49.582
Now, if you had gotten somebody younger, like if you had convinced the Secretary

01:16:49.582 --> 01:16:53.012
of State to say, hey, get out of the governor's race and run for the Senate

01:16:53.012 --> 01:16:57.232
seat, might have had a chance to defeat Plattner in the primary because she

01:16:57.232 --> 01:16:59.582
was younger and she had a track record.

01:17:00.447 --> 01:17:05.795
And the way the convention goes, she may end up being a nominee anyway, right?

01:17:06.318 --> 01:17:11.832
But you put the stress and you could tell that the national folks that was putting

01:17:11.832 --> 01:17:13.912
pressure on the young lady who

01:17:13.912 --> 01:17:18.382
was a chair because she went on Lawrence O'Donnell and she was terrified.

01:17:18.382 --> 01:17:23.732
She she couldn't she couldn't give an answer when Lawrence O'Donnell asked her,

01:17:23.732 --> 01:17:26.549
like, well, did you support Plattner in the primary?

01:17:27.349 --> 01:17:30.664
I am not comfortable to say that. Woman, you're not on trial.

01:17:32.104 --> 01:17:38.520
Seventy five percent of the Democrats, it made her to say, vote you here. They voted for him.

01:17:39.576 --> 01:17:42.792
So it's not an indictment on your character if you supported him.

01:17:43.410 --> 01:17:48.125
But she was uncomfortable even acknowledging the fact that she may have voted for this guy.

01:17:49.217 --> 01:17:53.104
And that's because of national pressure. Don't don't say that you supported

01:17:53.104 --> 01:17:56.049
him, blah, blah. I mean, she's like she's not even 40.

01:17:57.015 --> 01:18:01.144
She's a believer. She wanted to do something, so instead of running for office,

01:18:01.144 --> 01:18:04.010
she's the chair of the party. She's an activist.

01:18:05.042 --> 01:18:08.084
She should be free to say what she needs to say. It's just like she could have

01:18:08.084 --> 01:18:10.437
said, look, we're past that now.

01:18:10.855 --> 01:18:17.015
You know, we had a nominee. The nominee was flawed. It's my job to move it forward.

01:18:18.520 --> 01:18:22.056
But just asking the question, did she support the guy who won the nomination,

01:18:22.780 --> 01:18:23.726
made her uncomfortable?

01:18:24.293 --> 01:18:27.718
That's that's where you can tell the Washington influence was there.

01:18:27.916 --> 01:18:30.899
The Chuck Schumer influence was there. Right.

01:18:31.624 --> 01:18:35.937
Because of his screw up, he's going to put the pressure on you to fix it.

01:18:36.908 --> 01:18:41.192
If they were serious about Susan Collins, Graham Plattner would have had a legitimate,

01:18:41.796 --> 01:18:46.182
challenger in the primary that met the moment.

01:18:47.151 --> 01:18:54.057
That could have stopped his momentum and let it be a fight like it's happening in Michigan right now.

01:18:54.307 --> 01:18:58.551
Again, another example of Chuck Schumer missing.

01:18:59.096 --> 01:19:01.670
I have nothing against Haley Stevens. I don't know this woman.

01:19:01.670 --> 01:19:03.642
Barack Obama seems to like her. That's fine.

01:19:04.549 --> 01:19:10.537
I don't know her. But you're telling me she was a better candidate to pick than McMurray?

01:19:11.596 --> 01:19:17.343
The lady who actually spoke at the Democratic Convention in Chicago about Project 2025,

01:19:17.970 --> 01:19:24.117
who stood on the floor in the Michigan legislature when they were trying to,

01:19:24.747 --> 01:19:28.396
take away the rights of women and she shut it down?

01:19:29.223 --> 01:19:34.496
You thought that this congresswoman that nobody heard of outside of Michigan,

01:19:35.217 --> 01:19:37.914
was better than her and she had a national platform?

01:19:38.991 --> 01:19:42.990
I'm just saying. You put your horses behind the Washington Insider.

01:19:43.655 --> 01:19:47.221
And now she's going to lose to probably the only...

01:19:48.813 --> 01:19:53.951
Muslim activist in Michigan that supported Kabbalah Harris, the good doctor.

01:19:54.942 --> 01:19:59.973
I mean, that's my criticism. It's more than just me personally.

01:19:59.973 --> 01:20:04.868
It's just like, you know, and you heard the senator say it, the old guard.

01:20:05.558 --> 01:20:11.659
So it's like they're, you know, they're too cynical. They're too entrenched.

01:20:12.165 --> 01:20:14.904
They've crossed the Potomac River too many times.

01:20:15.910 --> 01:20:19.022
And they're in that Washington bubble and they don't have a clue.

01:20:19.417 --> 01:20:22.702
We know that Republicans have no clue and they don't care.

01:20:23.427 --> 01:20:27.913
They're tapped into a little segment of America that shows up when they need

01:20:27.913 --> 01:20:32.233
them to show up to make it seem like the majority of white folks are down with that.

01:20:33.002 --> 01:20:34.678
And they play on the theatrics.

01:20:35.651 --> 01:20:39.807
But the Democrats, the most representative of the two political parties,

01:20:40.643 --> 01:20:42.263
you can't afford to be in a bubble.

01:20:42.837 --> 01:20:48.253
You need all the new ideas and new energy you have to combat this evil that's

01:20:48.253 --> 01:20:50.784
in Washington right now, that's in the administration.

01:20:51.321 --> 01:20:55.173
You've got to have some fighters and you've got to build a movement.

01:20:55.173 --> 01:20:57.789
It's not just a movement per race.

01:20:57.915 --> 01:21:00.992
It's supposed to be a national movement, right?

01:21:01.660 --> 01:21:06.095
You can't clone John Ossoff. John Ossoff is great for Georgia.

01:21:07.114 --> 01:21:12.373
What has to happen in Maine and what has to happen in Iowa and all these other

01:21:12.373 --> 01:21:21.798
places is that you've got to tie in all of these major Senate races to a movement.

01:21:22.746 --> 01:21:28.127
A movement that's like, this bullshit that's going on now has to end,

01:21:28.866 --> 01:21:31.507
period, full stop, end of discussion.

01:21:32.395 --> 01:21:36.443
The ways of the old Washington that

01:21:36.443 --> 01:21:41.972
I grew up in is about as dead as Mitch McConnell on that bed right now.

01:21:43.520 --> 01:21:49.260
New day. And we, as Democrats, have to understand the moment.

01:21:49.977 --> 01:21:51.810
And Chuck Schumer is not that guy.

01:21:52.559 --> 01:21:57.630
If the Democrats get the majority of the Senate, I pray that the first order

01:21:57.630 --> 01:22:01.653
of business when they organize is that Chuck Schumer is sent out to pasture.

01:22:02.400 --> 01:22:07.049
He can serve just like Mitch McConnell served, but it's time for new leadership.

01:22:07.669 --> 01:22:11.910
The Hakeem Jeffries thing is still up in the air. I would love to see a black

01:22:11.910 --> 01:22:14.678
man be the Speaker of the House. I really, really would.

01:22:15.467 --> 01:22:21.930
But the way he handled that Mamdani election, the way that he's handled the

01:22:21.930 --> 01:22:27.170
situation with voting for Israeli military aid, when we know that Netanyahu

01:22:27.170 --> 01:22:28.917
has lost his goddamn mind.

01:22:29.930 --> 01:22:31.016
You've put it in jeopardy.

01:22:32.022 --> 01:22:35.430
You've put it in jeopardy. And it should have been. It should have been a slam

01:22:35.430 --> 01:22:39.508
dunk because you knew you were going to be the Speaker of the House.

01:22:40.040 --> 01:22:44.023
Even as just by one vote, the House is going to be Democratic.

01:22:44.811 --> 01:22:49.520
And if I'm Chuck Schumer, instead of putting pressure on the main Democratic

01:22:49.520 --> 01:22:52.347
Party, I'd be kissing their butt every day.

01:22:52.800 --> 01:22:55.366
What do you need? How can I help?

01:22:56.250 --> 01:22:59.200
We should have gotten more involved. We should have paid more attention.

01:22:59.200 --> 01:23:02.886
We should have done better vetting. We should have done better recruiting.

01:23:03.853 --> 01:23:08.910
We're past that now. From July 25th to November, what do you need to make this

01:23:08.910 --> 01:23:11.436
happen? That's what Chuck Schumer should be doing.

01:23:12.170 --> 01:23:15.973
Instead of just reassuring his friend, you're going to be okay.

01:23:18.208 --> 01:23:21.455
You know, when Graham Plattner says, well, you know, they were trying to get

01:23:21.455 --> 01:23:22.701
me out and all that stuff.

01:23:23.498 --> 01:23:30.185
I think they conceded that to you, brother. You got 75% in the primary, 70 to 75, whatever.

01:23:31.125 --> 01:23:35.365
You got the support. You got the nomination. At that point, they had to deal

01:23:35.365 --> 01:23:37.447
with you. You know what I'm saying?

01:23:38.456 --> 01:23:42.265
Could there have been some people trying to say, man, we can get him out before

01:23:42.265 --> 01:23:45.675
July 13th? Let's see if we can do that. Probably.

01:23:46.532 --> 01:23:47.792
There's probably some folks like that.

01:23:48.854 --> 01:23:51.815
But the reality is, you did that to yourself, brother partner.

01:23:51.815 --> 01:23:54.131
You did it to yourself. And that's okay.

01:23:54.630 --> 01:23:59.465
Because all of us have made mistakes where we've had to end our political moments.

01:24:00.453 --> 01:24:04.627
Right? Thankful for what we got. Thankful for what we were able to achieve.

01:24:05.120 --> 01:24:07.453
But to take it to the next level, it's not going to happen.

01:24:08.364 --> 01:24:12.295
And you have to deal with that. What I don't want to see Platinum do is run

01:24:12.295 --> 01:24:17.065
his butt over there to Fox News and start playing the aggrieved Democrat.

01:24:17.065 --> 01:24:19.585
Oh, the party left me and all that stuff. Yeah, don't do that,

01:24:19.585 --> 01:24:21.916
brother. This is too serious.

01:24:23.265 --> 01:24:26.715
I want you to treat this just like any other wars. Like you may not like the

01:24:26.715 --> 01:24:31.605
orders that your commanding officers are giving, but you got to remember the

01:24:31.605 --> 01:24:33.720
objective is we got to defeat the enemy.

01:24:34.626 --> 01:24:40.175
And then once we've won the battle or won the war, then we can come back and reassess.

01:24:40.943 --> 01:24:44.531
What could we do better? How can we better respond to situations?

01:24:45.013 --> 01:24:48.960
How can we better, how can we be more tactical in what we do?

01:24:49.755 --> 01:24:55.439
But right now, it's all hands on deck. All the guns need to be pointed at that one direction.

01:24:56.297 --> 01:25:01.125
So as much as I don't like Chuck Schumer, as much as I think he has screwed

01:25:01.125 --> 01:25:03.761
this up, as much as he can, I don't.

01:25:05.333 --> 01:25:10.608
History to say that he was the minority leader when the Democrats took back the Senate.

01:25:11.597 --> 01:25:15.523
I do want him to say it. Although I will never personally give him the credit

01:25:15.523 --> 01:25:20.503
for making it happen, I want the books to say that in 2026, when the Democrats

01:25:20.503 --> 01:25:23.334
took back the Senate, he was the minority leader.

01:25:24.375 --> 01:25:29.681
If I wrote it, I'd say in spite of, but nonetheless, because it's bigger than him.

01:25:30.296 --> 01:25:34.523
It's bigger than Plattner. It's bigger than Swalwell. is bigger than anybody.

01:25:34.523 --> 01:25:36.548
It's bigger than me. It's bigger than anybody.

01:25:37.404 --> 01:25:43.963
The focus is to get us back on track to establish a foundation where this bullshit

01:25:43.963 --> 01:25:48.758
that's going on in Washington right now will never, ever happen again.

01:25:49.224 --> 01:25:53.473
Not in the next 250 years, not in the next 500 years, not ever,

01:25:53.473 --> 01:25:56.219
as long as the United States of America exists.

01:25:57.009 --> 01:26:05.505
This crap is eradicated. This mindset, Like I've said, I think I said in a podcast years ago.

01:26:07.664 --> 01:26:14.461
Vaccine. We need to be working on the vaccine to eradicate racism in the United States.

01:26:15.566 --> 01:26:20.254
It was either me or a guest. I think it might have been a guest. We need to eradicate it.

01:26:20.963 --> 01:26:26.444
And this election could be the foundation to do that, to send the message that

01:26:26.444 --> 01:26:30.247
the generations henceforth are not going to do that anymore.

01:26:31.124 --> 01:26:35.982
It'll be a question of, do we have the resources to do everything we need,

01:26:36.326 --> 01:26:40.266
if we don't have the resources, what do we do to get them?

01:26:41.266 --> 01:26:46.284
We want everybody to have a quality of life where we still want to be the light

01:26:46.284 --> 01:26:50.495
on the hill and people from around the world look at the United States of America.

01:26:51.397 --> 01:26:57.724
People that understand the history know that we are good and we are constantly

01:26:57.724 --> 01:27:06.031
striving to be a more perfect union each and every day in spite of our racism are historical,

01:27:06.910 --> 01:27:07.630
mishaps,

01:27:08.668 --> 01:27:09.607
are cruelty.

01:27:10.508 --> 01:27:13.941
But now we got to take it to another level.

01:27:14.872 --> 01:27:17.608
And this election is that moment.

01:27:18.927 --> 01:27:22.773
All right. That's all I got. I didn't talk to you long enough. Thank you.