In this Hot Mic episode, host Erik Fleming shares his disappointment in the current state of politics and the challenges facing society today, while making a compelling case for a united Black agenda that transcends political affiliations and regional differences.
00:00:00 --> 00:00:06 Welcome. I'm Eric Fleming, host of A Moment with Eric Fleming, the podcast of our time.
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00:01:20 --> 00:02:00 Music.
00:02:00 --> 00:02:05 Hello, and welcome to another moment, Eric Fleming. I am your host, Eric Fleming.
00:02:06 --> 00:02:11 So this is going to be different. This is not going to be, well,
00:02:11 --> 00:02:12 it's going to be a throwback.
00:02:12 --> 00:02:15 It's a hot mic episode. I don't have any guests.
00:02:16 --> 00:02:24 And I hope that everyone enjoyed as best they could their Thanksgiving holiday.
00:02:26 --> 00:02:33 Because I know there were some households that had some lively discussions,
00:02:33 --> 00:02:35 if not a whole bunch of them.
00:02:36 --> 00:02:41 And, you know, lively discussions around the dinner table, around family and friends is good.
00:02:42 --> 00:02:52 I think that's what makes us unique as human beings in that we all can look
00:02:52 --> 00:02:56 at something and come up with a different perspective,
00:02:58 --> 00:03:02 and based on our exposure, based on our experience,
00:03:02 --> 00:03:07 do the best we can to articulate why we do what we do or why we see what we see.
00:03:09 --> 00:03:14 And in a normal circumstance, again, that's healthy.
00:03:15 --> 00:03:20 But I don't know about where we are now.
00:03:21 --> 00:03:30 I think we have gotten to a point where the way we do politics,
00:03:31 --> 00:03:38 the way we seek to have a just society.
00:03:40 --> 00:03:45 It's not working. And I'm disappointed in that.
00:03:46 --> 00:03:51 Because somehow, someway, I always believed that we could be better.
00:03:51 --> 00:03:57 That we could debate things. And, you know,
00:03:57 --> 00:04:05 those people who skirted around the edges or flat-out cheated or flat-out lied
00:04:05 --> 00:04:11 would always be treated as outliers and extremists.
00:04:12 --> 00:04:21 And the majority of the population would try to deal with things in a much more civil and calm way.
00:04:22 --> 00:04:27 Now, I'm not naive because I've been in the political game and I know about
00:04:27 --> 00:04:30 throwing shots. I know about shots being thrown at me.
00:04:31 --> 00:04:40 I know about rumors and innuendos and, you know, character disparaging and all that kind of stuff.
00:04:40 --> 00:04:43 I mean, it's been around even before I was here.
00:04:45 --> 00:04:51 But it's at a different level because we have too many channels.
00:04:51 --> 00:04:58 I think, you know, a lot of people will always say that the advancement of technology
00:04:58 --> 00:05:00 is a blessing. That's true.
00:05:01 --> 00:05:10 I'm able to sit at a desk with a microphone and an iPad and I can record a podcast, right?
00:05:11 --> 00:05:17 I can put my thoughts out there. But is it too many of us putting our thoughts out there, right?
00:05:19 --> 00:05:28 And is there no way to harness those thoughts into a substantial productive movement,
00:05:30 --> 00:05:36 of progress. You know, with 8 billion people on the planet, there's going to be 8 billion thoughts.
00:05:37 --> 00:05:45 And it would seem that at any given moment, the majority of the people can agree on some basic things.
00:05:45 --> 00:05:50 But when I look at where we're at in politics right now and how people have
00:05:50 --> 00:05:58 access to do damaging things with the technology and say things without any filter.
00:05:59 --> 00:06:07 I don't think this is going to work. I'm really concerned because I'm reading
00:06:07 --> 00:06:12 on one end how elected officials in a particular state were all threatened.
00:06:14 --> 00:06:17 With harm to them and their families.
00:06:17 --> 00:06:23 And then I look on the other side, and I see that people that President-elect
00:06:23 --> 00:06:27 Trump has appointed has been threatened, even swatted.
00:06:28 --> 00:06:34 And for those who don't know what swatting is, that's when somebody calls into
00:06:34 --> 00:06:37 the police and basically says something is happening at your address,
00:06:37 --> 00:06:39 and nothing is happening at your address.
00:06:40 --> 00:06:43 And then the police show up at your house, and you have no idea why they're there.
00:06:45 --> 00:06:50 And in the past, there's been some tragic consequences. Now that law enforcement
00:06:50 --> 00:06:55 is being trained in that, it's less and less likely to happen.
00:06:56 --> 00:07:01 But the threat is always there when you do it. That's why people still do it
00:07:01 --> 00:07:03 to folks they don't like.
00:07:04 --> 00:07:09 And I've had guests come on this show and talk about political violence and
00:07:09 --> 00:07:13 the fact The fact that there was any percentage of Americans,
00:07:13 --> 00:07:21 let alone over 10%, that felt that violence was a feasible way to solve a political conflict.
00:07:23 --> 00:07:31 Now, either that group is very, very loud or might be bigger than what we even imagine.
00:07:32 --> 00:07:37 But I always said that the most violent act in politics is apathy.
00:07:38 --> 00:07:41 When you just don't participate at all.
00:07:42 --> 00:07:47 When you just say nothing because of the frustration you see,
00:07:47 --> 00:07:53 because of the lack of professionalism or decorum or whatever turns you off.
00:07:54 --> 00:07:58 You just don't participate at all. And in everything that you do,
00:07:58 --> 00:08:02 politics has something to do with that.
00:08:03 --> 00:08:06 You say, well, you know, stuff happens in my house. Well, if you're having a
00:08:06 --> 00:08:11 discussion about utility bills, there's politics involved in that.
00:08:12 --> 00:08:17 If you're having a discussion about food or deciding what food you're going
00:08:17 --> 00:08:20 to get, the money that you use is regulated by the government.
00:08:21 --> 00:08:26 The food that you choose to buy is regulated by the government in one way,
00:08:26 --> 00:08:29 shape, or form. How it's even transported.
00:08:30 --> 00:08:36 Who can even qualify as a grocery store? All these things, every nuance of your
00:08:36 --> 00:08:41 life is impacted by politics. So I want you to be engaged in that.
00:08:43 --> 00:08:50 So that one form of violence, apathy, just can't happen, especially if you are
00:08:50 --> 00:08:52 black or African-American.
00:08:53 --> 00:08:58 Really don't have that luxury. You do it. A good number of you do it.
00:08:58 --> 00:09:04 Some of you think that not voting is a form of a protest, a boycott, if you will.
00:09:05 --> 00:09:11 More, if you're going to do that, I'm more in favor of black folks putting up
00:09:11 --> 00:09:14 a candidate and all the black folks vote for that candidate.
00:09:14 --> 00:09:23 That sends a message more so than not voting at all, because voting is putting stake in the game.
00:09:23 --> 00:09:27 And if you don't have any stake in the game, you can't win, right?
00:09:28 --> 00:09:32 So I'll never be a proponent of apathy.
00:09:33 --> 00:09:41 But what I also am not a proponent of is violent rhetoric and violent actions.
00:09:42 --> 00:09:48 You know, at some point in time, we got to stop rewarding people where their
00:09:48 --> 00:09:52 best skill set in politics is playing the dozens.
00:09:53 --> 00:09:57 Oh, did you hear what I said about so-and-so? Oh, yeah, they ain't got no comeback
00:09:57 --> 00:10:01 for that and all that stuff. That's juvenile and childish.
00:10:02 --> 00:10:09 And again, it's entertaining because, like I said before, all of us stop and
00:10:09 --> 00:10:12 look at a car wreck when we should just keep on driving.
00:10:13 --> 00:10:17 And if it comes across our feed, it's like, oh, wow, I can't believe this person
00:10:17 --> 00:10:24 said that. I mean, it comes across on our news as if that is a news story.
00:10:25 --> 00:10:29 And there are some people who have propelled themselves into the national spotlight
00:10:29 --> 00:10:35 because of a great comeback or a great skill set for the dozens.
00:10:36 --> 00:10:43 But of all those people, what legislation have they introduced and passed that
00:10:43 --> 00:10:46 makes your life and my life better? Right? Right.
00:10:47 --> 00:10:53 I think people verbally should defend themselves.
00:10:55 --> 00:11:03 It warrants it, but I just think we miss out on something with all of this hate.
00:11:04 --> 00:11:09 And it's nice to have commercials and saying time out and all this kind of stuff,
00:11:09 --> 00:11:14 but it's time to restrain yourself.
00:11:14 --> 00:11:20 It's time for people to take it down a notch.
00:11:21 --> 00:11:27 What would threatening an elected official or an appointed official do for you
00:11:27 --> 00:11:31 other than bring that back?
00:11:31 --> 00:11:37 Dr. King talked about nonviolence as a strategy, but it was a logical concept.
00:11:39 --> 00:11:45 If you go after an opponent without violence, that that opponent doesn't have
00:11:45 --> 00:11:50 the luxury to be violent towards you, because if they do, then public opinion
00:11:50 --> 00:11:51 will go against them automatically.
00:11:52 --> 00:11:58 But if you come at them with violence and they respond to violence or they come
00:11:58 --> 00:12:03 at you with violence and you respond with violence, then it's like may the best side win.
00:12:04 --> 00:12:10 And we as black people don't really have the luxury of doing that.
00:12:11 --> 00:12:15 We make up anywhere from 12 to 14 percent of the population.
00:12:15 --> 00:12:17 Let's be generous and say 14.
00:12:18 --> 00:12:24 That's not enough. Even if all of us was on one accord, that's not enough.
00:12:25 --> 00:12:31 And all my friends and stuff who say we should have our own nation and do our
00:12:31 --> 00:12:34 own thing. I'm not opposed to that.
00:12:34 --> 00:12:43 But when somebody tells me where there is a black owned company that makes tanks,
00:12:43 --> 00:12:49 where there is a black owned company that makes jet planes, where there is a
00:12:49 --> 00:12:51 black owned company that makes guns.
00:12:52 --> 00:13:00 Heck, where there's a black owned company that makes cars, right, and build ships.
00:13:00 --> 00:13:04 Because as a nation, you're going to have to do that.
00:13:06 --> 00:13:14 Have enough black landowners that have oil and mineral rights so we can produce petroleum?
00:13:15 --> 00:13:19 Do we own a power company but we can generate our own electricity?
00:13:20 --> 00:13:25 Now there's a whole continent of folks that look like us that are doing that.
00:13:26 --> 00:13:31 But there's a movement within our own country where there's some black folks
00:13:31 --> 00:13:32 that don't want to associate with them.
00:13:33 --> 00:13:38 So what are you going to do? Who is your ally going to be?
00:13:38 --> 00:13:46 The historical precedent precedent of what I'm talking about is in 1804.
00:13:47 --> 00:13:52 The slaves in Haiti, and I think it was called St.
00:13:52 --> 00:13:56 Dominique then, but they revolted against the French and won.
00:13:57 --> 00:14:04 Drove the French out. And no nation would recognize them. The United States
00:14:04 --> 00:14:09 definitely didn't want to do it because they didn't want slave rebellions happening here.
00:14:10 --> 00:14:18 It got so bad that somehow, some way, it was deemed appropriate that the Haitians
00:14:18 --> 00:14:22 had to pay France for kicking the French out.
00:14:23 --> 00:14:28 And economically, they've never recovered to this day.
00:14:29 --> 00:14:32 Because, of course, they took out loans with the World Bank and all that stuff,
00:14:32 --> 00:14:35 and they got to pay that back, right?
00:14:37 --> 00:14:43 So, but again, that was in 1804 when all of this technology of weaponry was not there.
00:14:44 --> 00:14:50 Now, you try to do that without the equivalent of what you would need, right?
00:14:52 --> 00:14:57 What country in NATO, what country in the United Nations is going to give you
00:14:57 --> 00:15:01 money to do what we're doing for Ukraine?
00:15:02 --> 00:15:08 I mean, because if you think you can do that peacefully, that's not happening.
00:15:08 --> 00:15:13 The reason why we have southern Sudan is because there's been a civil war there for years.
00:15:13 --> 00:15:19 And as part of a concession, they agreed to let these folks create their own country.
00:15:21 --> 00:15:27 It sounds good It'll get you a lot of clicks on social media It'll get you a lot of,
00:15:29 --> 00:15:31 Followers On YouTube.
00:15:33 --> 00:15:40 Make you some money. But if you don't really have a plan, you just have a concept of a plan.
00:15:41 --> 00:15:43 It's a waste of time.
00:15:44 --> 00:15:53 What has to happen is that black people need to agree to an agenda.
00:15:54 --> 00:15:56 What do we really want?
00:15:57 --> 00:16:03 What can we do on our own? And what do we need assistance from the government for.
00:16:04 --> 00:16:08 And we need to make up our minds relatively quickly.
00:16:09 --> 00:16:17 And when I say quick, I'm not talking about tomorrow. But we need to have a 20-year plan.
00:16:18 --> 00:16:21 We need to start building an idea.
00:16:22 --> 00:16:28 Because we've been in this country since 1619. And we really have only been
00:16:28 --> 00:16:34 full participants since the 1960s.
00:16:34 --> 00:16:39 We have always been part of the discussion in politics. We have contributed
00:16:39 --> 00:16:46 way more than anybody else as far as building this nation up.
00:16:47 --> 00:16:51 It's not saying that other ethnic groups didn't do anything.
00:16:52 --> 00:16:56 But literally, we built this nation.
00:16:57 --> 00:17:03 And, I mean, just all the great inventions that they give credit to white people
00:17:03 --> 00:17:04 for, black people refine them.
00:17:05 --> 00:17:10 Brilliant black people. The very place where the seat of government is,
00:17:10 --> 00:17:17 a French man designed it, but a black man finished the project.
00:17:20 --> 00:17:25 So, we've made a hell of an investment, literally with blood, sweat, and tears.
00:17:26 --> 00:17:32 So we have a right to demand certain things. But I think we've got to get to a point where.
00:17:34 --> 00:17:38 To create and maintain certain things.
00:17:39 --> 00:17:43 Some of them have already been created. They need to be protected,
00:17:43 --> 00:17:47 like our historically black colleges and universities, right?
00:17:48 --> 00:17:58 We have networks of black chamber of commerces that at some point it might be good to unite.
00:17:59 --> 00:18:07 We have organizations that are new and old, that fight for the rights of black
00:18:07 --> 00:18:11 people, that create opportunities for black people to develop business,
00:18:12 --> 00:18:18 and that demands equity in the justice system. We have those organizations.
00:18:19 --> 00:18:24 I'm not talking about the organizations that are allies. I'm talking about within our own culture.
00:18:25 --> 00:18:34 We even have a network of fraternities and sororities where we can utilize to
00:18:34 --> 00:18:36 uplift and fight for things, right?
00:18:37 --> 00:18:41 And we saw a lot of that come into play in the election.
00:18:42 --> 00:18:50 But now, instead of focusing that energy on one person to achieve a historical goal,
00:18:50 --> 00:18:59 Now it's time for us to carve a foundational, solid niche in this country we
00:18:59 --> 00:19:02 call the United States of America, where...
00:19:05 --> 00:19:12 Loyalty doesn't have to depend on one party or the other, are issues who command
00:19:12 --> 00:19:15 the respect of both parties, right?
00:19:16 --> 00:19:20 And, you know, this is somebody that has been a lifelong Democrat,
00:19:20 --> 00:19:28 somebody that cut his teeth and has always been loyal to the Democratic Party.
00:19:28 --> 00:19:36 But what I remind people, and having been exposed to people on both sides of the aisle,
00:19:37 --> 00:19:45 you know, like Henry Kirksey and Charles Evers, my main priority is to help black folk.
00:19:46 --> 00:19:54 And what I learned being a legislator is that there are some times that the
00:19:54 --> 00:19:56 best interests of black folks are aided by Republicans.
00:19:57 --> 00:20:02 And sometimes the best interests of black folks are aided by Democrats.
00:20:03 --> 00:20:08 And a steadfast rule has always been no permanent friends, just permanent interest.
00:20:09 --> 00:20:13 And I think this election, if it taught us black people anything,
00:20:13 --> 00:20:19 is that we need to stop being friends and work on our interests.
00:20:20 --> 00:20:26 Because I don't even know if we really know what our interests are.
00:20:27 --> 00:20:29 And if we do have an agreement on
00:20:29 --> 00:20:33 our interests, then we need to have some consensus of how to achieve it.
00:20:34 --> 00:20:38 And what does success look like?
00:20:39 --> 00:20:42 I guess we'll talk a little bit more about that on the other side.
00:20:43 --> 00:21:03 Music.
00:21:03 --> 00:21:14 So we're back. So one issue that seems to be, and I've talked about it before,
00:21:14 --> 00:21:25 but I'm really, really irritated with people who claim to be in our best interest.
00:21:27 --> 00:21:33 And all they seem to be really good at is trolling other black folks.
00:21:36 --> 00:21:42 Or folks that are African immigrants. And, you know, I've heard some of these
00:21:42 --> 00:21:46 people say, well, you know, I'm for mass deportation.
00:21:47 --> 00:21:55 So they want to see white folks round up Africans and send them back to Africa.
00:21:56 --> 00:21:59 And we're not that free, right?
00:22:00 --> 00:22:09 We're not that free to be that discriminatory and hostile to somebody that looks like us.
00:22:10 --> 00:22:14 Now, I get it. Their culture is different. I get it. There's some African trolls out there.
00:22:15 --> 00:22:24 But and then you're the whole basis of that is not that they're taking a job
00:22:24 --> 00:22:28 from a black man, a woman that was born here.
00:22:28 --> 00:22:34 But that you're afraid they're going to get a check or reparations.
00:22:35 --> 00:22:38 I just think that that is wasteful energy.
00:22:39 --> 00:22:43 One, because if they actually did, if the U.S.
00:22:43 --> 00:22:49 Government actually did decide to pay us for the work that we did.
00:22:53 --> 00:22:56 I think they would have a system to try to weed out as many people as they could
00:22:56 --> 00:23:00 because they're the ones who are going to pay it, and they don't want to pay
00:23:00 --> 00:23:02 every blackface that they see.
00:23:03 --> 00:23:07 So they're going to do the weeding out for you. You don't have to engage in that exercise.
00:23:09 --> 00:23:15 What you have to hope for is that they don't weed you out despite how many generations
00:23:15 --> 00:23:20 your family has been on this part of the earth called the United States.
00:23:21 --> 00:23:26 So you don't have to do their work for them. They're going to weed people out.
00:23:27 --> 00:23:32 They're going to limit what they pay if they did do a check.
00:23:33 --> 00:23:37 But I don't think that's going to be the answer.
00:23:38 --> 00:23:44 I don't think I want a one-time check from the government that they can tax,
00:23:44 --> 00:23:49 and get anywhere from 15% to 36% of it back.
00:23:50 --> 00:23:57 You know, I think there are some other avenues that we can look at it.
00:23:57 --> 00:24:03 And I think if you study the commission's report from the state of California,
00:24:03 --> 00:24:05 what they were recommending, right?
00:24:05 --> 00:24:10 Now, they did ask for some money, too, but the main thing was they were trying
00:24:10 --> 00:24:16 to show up institutional stuff, land, right?
00:24:19 --> 00:24:24 Education, money for entrepreneurship, those kind of things,
00:24:25 --> 00:24:29 especially housing, which would have fallen to land.
00:24:29 --> 00:24:37 But our main issue in this nation is for all the work we put in,
00:24:37 --> 00:24:43 we haven't built enough wealth to show what our investment is.
00:24:43 --> 00:24:51 Some of that is our individual faults because we don't understand the nuances of finance or whatever.
00:24:51 --> 00:24:56 We didn't understand the value of credit until it was too late.
00:24:57 --> 00:25:02 You know, we're some of the biggest consumers on the planet,
00:25:02 --> 00:25:05 so we buy things instead of investing in things.
00:25:06 --> 00:25:09 Those are individual traits that either we can
00:25:09 --> 00:25:16 learn how to work around or learn how to shut it down all together just all
00:25:16 --> 00:25:23 depends on the level of discipline you're willing to take in and not an expert
00:25:23 --> 00:25:27 on that by any stretch of imagination but.
00:25:31 --> 00:25:33 One of the things I was trying to
00:25:33 --> 00:25:39 do when I was elected, I wanted it to be mandatory that every black child.
00:25:40 --> 00:25:45 Now, the way I worded the legislation, there were some white kids and Latino
00:25:45 --> 00:25:48 kids and Asian kids that were going to benefit from it.
00:25:48 --> 00:25:52 But when you looked at the numbers and you saw the overwhelming majority of
00:25:52 --> 00:25:55 the kids in the public school system, especially in Mississippi,
00:25:55 --> 00:25:58 were black kids. This was a tool they needed.
00:25:59 --> 00:26:05 Teach them entrepreneurship. Teach them financial literacy. Make it a requirement for them to graduate.
00:26:06 --> 00:26:12 So even if they choose not to go to college, if they had a skill set and they
00:26:12 --> 00:26:15 wanted to make some money doing that, they would know the basics.
00:26:16 --> 00:26:21 And then they would know how to manage their money. They would know how to build their credit.
00:26:21 --> 00:26:31 And the more black people that own houses, own property, that builds wealth in the community.
00:26:31 --> 00:26:40 Now, because 26% of Americans think that reparations is okay,
00:26:40 --> 00:26:46 then it's not popular to use the term reparations.
00:26:46 --> 00:26:51 So that's why when you see elected officials talking about housing and education
00:26:51 --> 00:26:57 and all that stuff, they're doing it because if you actually said this is reparations.
00:26:58 --> 00:26:59 White folks would be upset.
00:27:00 --> 00:27:04 But yet this whole election was about reparations for them.
00:27:07 --> 00:27:15 Some of us bought into it from other sectors of society, other people of color.
00:27:15 --> 00:27:21 But every election from this point forward is an act of reparations for them.
00:27:21 --> 00:27:24 They want to maintain where they are.
00:27:25 --> 00:27:31 They want to rebuild their dominance for whatever reason.
00:27:31 --> 00:27:37 Because even the white folks are divided on why they should be supreme. Right?
00:27:38 --> 00:27:43 And I know that's not a popular statement to say, but it is what it is.
00:27:43 --> 00:27:47 I mean, just look at the dynamics that have happened after the election and
00:27:47 --> 00:27:49 the rhetoric that is being used.
00:27:50 --> 00:27:56 Those that supported Donald Trump are saying it's a mandate.
00:27:56 --> 00:28:00 He barely got 50% of the population to go with him.
00:28:00 --> 00:28:09 They're saying there's a mandate for discriminating against people and deporting
00:28:09 --> 00:28:17 people and shaping the government where the president has all the power and
00:28:17 --> 00:28:19 everybody just falls in line.
00:28:19 --> 00:28:22 Now, folks don't like to use the word fascism.
00:28:23 --> 00:28:28 They don't like to use the word authoritarianism. Okay. So let's just break it down.
00:28:29 --> 00:28:31 You want the president.
00:28:32 --> 00:28:35 And somebody used the term, and I can't remember exactly what it was,
00:28:35 --> 00:28:37 but you want the president to have all the power.
00:28:38 --> 00:28:44 And you feel that would legitimize the position more and that everybody else
00:28:44 --> 00:28:47 is supposed to just fall in line and agree with the president.
00:28:49 --> 00:28:56 That's not how we were set up. Our whole purpose, which is why I say this is
00:28:56 --> 00:29:02 the division between white people, is that there were some white people that did not want that.
00:29:02 --> 00:29:04 They wanted to do their own thing.
00:29:05 --> 00:29:13 And they didn't want to answer to a monarch or a president with authoritative,
00:29:14 --> 00:29:15 total authoritative power.
00:29:15 --> 00:29:18 They didn't want that. They didn't want a king.
00:29:19 --> 00:29:24 They wanted to govern themselves accordingly. I mean, one state was even founded,
00:29:24 --> 00:29:27 for the most part, to be a religious colony.
00:29:28 --> 00:29:34 One kind of colony was set up to be a prison colony because they wanted to do their own thing.
00:29:35 --> 00:29:40 And so a revolution was fought, and the folks that didn't want the king won.
00:29:41 --> 00:29:46 When the Civil War was fought, it was because some folks wanted to keep slavery
00:29:46 --> 00:29:50 going. Other folks had decided enough is enough.
00:29:50 --> 00:29:53 We want to get some of that labor, and we'll be willing to pay them. But...
00:29:56 --> 00:30:03 So they literally fought each other. And so now the path we are going and the
00:30:03 --> 00:30:12 way the rhetoric is being exposed is that that looks like the solution for where we are now.
00:30:13 --> 00:30:19 And I and other like-minded people trying to convince you not to go down that road.
00:30:20 --> 00:30:28 And especially Black people. So we, somehow, someway, have to try to come together.
00:30:30 --> 00:30:36 Now, I know people say it's hard because you've got some people who feel that
00:30:36 --> 00:30:41 they need to have their proximity to whiteness so they can maintain their lifestyle.
00:30:42 --> 00:30:47 And I've always made the argument that my proximity to whiteness is based on my blackness.
00:30:48 --> 00:30:52 I was able to do what I wanted to do and achieve what I was able to achieve
00:30:52 --> 00:30:56 in politics because I stayed true to my people and myself.
00:30:57 --> 00:31:02 Yeah, I've learned some things from their culture, classical music,
00:31:02 --> 00:31:05 or as my friend would say, European classical music, right?
00:31:06 --> 00:31:08 I speak English fairly well.
00:31:09 --> 00:31:17 You know, I listen to music other than hip-hop or R&B, right?
00:31:17 --> 00:31:21 I watch movies that are not strictly black oriented.
00:31:21 --> 00:31:27 I mean, I've been a part of the culture, but I understood my history and I understood my community.
00:31:27 --> 00:31:30 I understood who I truly am.
00:31:31 --> 00:31:37 Because I was unapologetic about that, I was able to sit at the table with folks
00:31:37 --> 00:31:42 that did not look like me or maybe didn't even want me to succeed.
00:31:42 --> 00:31:47 And was able to articulate what was needed at the time.
00:31:49 --> 00:31:56 And I would argue that there are hundreds of, if not thousands of black people
00:31:56 --> 00:32:03 like me that did that, that are in political positions or in positions in government, right?
00:32:04 --> 00:32:09 Or community leaders or non-profit leaders, religious leaders.
00:32:09 --> 00:32:11 I think there's a number of us that understand that.
00:32:13 --> 00:32:16 So if we line up with the Republican Party, we're not coons.
00:32:16 --> 00:32:19 If we line up with the Democratic Party, we're not chills.
00:32:20 --> 00:32:30 We're free thinkers who embrace a political party that we think helps us get to where we need to go.
00:32:30 --> 00:32:35 The problem is now is that those of us who are Republican and those of us who
00:32:35 --> 00:32:37 are Democrat don't talk to each other anymore.
00:32:38 --> 00:32:44 We've assimilated on the red side or the blue side and forgot about the black
00:32:44 --> 00:32:47 side because that's the reason.
00:32:50 --> 00:32:54 While we engage in the political process. It's about us.
00:32:55 --> 00:32:59 I don't want to see any black man or black woman harassed by the police.
00:33:00 --> 00:33:04 And this is somebody that has been in law enforcement. I don't want that.
00:33:05 --> 00:33:09 Nor do I want somebody from Haiti or from Ghana to be harassed by the police either.
00:33:10 --> 00:33:15 Because my socialization is that we are all African.
00:33:16 --> 00:33:20 Some of us were born here. Some of was born somewhere else, whether it's in
00:33:20 --> 00:33:25 the Caribbean, whether it was in Latin America, whether it was in Africa,
00:33:25 --> 00:33:26 whether it was in Europe.
00:33:27 --> 00:33:28 We all have that connection.
00:33:29 --> 00:33:33 And there are all things that we can bring to the table if we unite.
00:33:34 --> 00:33:43 But if we continue down the road of tribalism, then, excuse me,
00:33:43 --> 00:33:49 whatever dream somebody has about an African or a black nation, it's not going to work.
00:33:50 --> 00:33:52 There has to be a guiding principle.
00:33:54 --> 00:34:04 So if we don't have that shared value, if we don't have shared interests,
00:34:05 --> 00:34:11 then it's going to be hard for us to get to a point that we need to get to.
00:34:11 --> 00:34:16 It's going to be hard for us to progress and move forward.
00:34:17 --> 00:34:26 And even those people who say, well, you know, I'm progressive or I'm ultra-conservative
00:34:26 --> 00:34:27 and I just don't, whatever.
00:34:28 --> 00:34:32 All those terms are terms that other ethnic groups deal with,
00:34:32 --> 00:34:37 other races deal with, however classification you want.
00:34:37 --> 00:34:44 A group of people of a similar culture, they all deal with that because now
00:34:44 --> 00:34:45 everybody is like-minded.
00:34:46 --> 00:34:53 But again, the whole purpose of having debate and discussion is to reach solutions,
00:34:54 --> 00:34:59 is to build a foundation, and then the next generation comes in and improves
00:34:59 --> 00:35:01 on that, and so on and so on.
00:35:01 --> 00:35:08 That's how you perpetuate a race of people, not creating laws to make people have babies.
00:35:09 --> 00:35:19 That's not how that works. It's about building on foundational ideas and improving
00:35:19 --> 00:35:22 them to make sure that society continues to function.
00:35:23 --> 00:35:26 And we act like we don't understand that.
00:35:26 --> 00:35:32 And maybe we don't, because the way education is set up now is that we just
00:35:32 --> 00:35:40 want people to be smart enough to go to work, that industrial revolutionary type mindset.
00:35:40 --> 00:35:48 Instead of teaching people how to tap into their brains and to be creative and to.
00:35:50 --> 00:35:58 That's our fundamental problem with education. And that we don't understand how government works.
00:35:59 --> 00:36:06 We treat government like black college alumni treat their colleges.
00:36:08 --> 00:36:14 Here's what I mean. So, or how black Christians treat the church.
00:36:15 --> 00:36:16 Again, here's what I mean.
00:36:17 --> 00:36:22 When we're young, we want to do any and everything. We want to fulfill our careers.
00:36:22 --> 00:36:23 We want to start a family.
00:36:23 --> 00:36:26 We want to do this. We want to do that. We want to travel, all this stuff.
00:36:26 --> 00:36:30 And then when we get old, oh, yeah, well, if I got some money,
00:36:30 --> 00:36:34 yeah, I'll give to alumni. I might actually get involved in the Alumni Association.
00:36:34 --> 00:36:38 Oh, yeah, well, I'm getting closer to my time. I might need to build,
00:36:38 --> 00:36:41 reestablish my relationship with the Lord, right?
00:36:41 --> 00:36:44 That's how people function.
00:36:44 --> 00:36:52 But the reality is, is that you need to be engaged if you're an alum of HBCU, basically from day one.
00:36:52 --> 00:37:01 That's why at my school, Jackson State, your first year of dues are waived.
00:37:01 --> 00:37:05 So the minute you graduate, you can participate in the alumni association.
00:37:05 --> 00:37:08 Then the next year, you have to pay your dues.
00:37:09 --> 00:37:16 All right. That's why churches started incorporating huge Sundays back in the
00:37:16 --> 00:37:21 70s so that young people can be engaged in the day-to-day activities of their church.
00:37:23 --> 00:37:26 And they don't have to wait till they get gray hair to become an usher or become
00:37:26 --> 00:37:30 part of ladies auxiliary. Right?
00:37:31 --> 00:37:32 The deacon board.
00:37:33 --> 00:37:39 We need people engaged in their best years, not in their later years.
00:37:41 --> 00:37:48 We need wisdom from older people, but we need the activism and the energy of younger people.
00:37:48 --> 00:37:50 It has to be a total collective.
00:37:51 --> 00:37:56 Now, personalities are willing to clash because of age differences,
00:37:56 --> 00:37:57 because of experiences.
00:37:58 --> 00:38:01 But it doesn't mean a clash has to mean a permanent division.
00:38:04 --> 00:38:11 A lot of people, God, well, the point I was trying to make before I go off on
00:38:11 --> 00:38:15 that tangent was, you know, you need to understand government now.
00:38:16 --> 00:38:19 I don't care if you're in elementary school. I don't care if you're in high
00:38:19 --> 00:38:21 school, college, whatever.
00:38:21 --> 00:38:24 You need to understand government now.
00:38:25 --> 00:38:29 When I used to go and talk to young people in high schools, I used to remind
00:38:29 --> 00:38:35 them. And then middle schools, they weren't taxpayers yet in the traditional sense, right?
00:38:35 --> 00:38:41 They weren't paying an income tax necessarily or especially middle school or,
00:38:41 --> 00:38:45 you know, they weren't paying property taxes, but they were buying candy and chips.
00:38:46 --> 00:38:47 So they were paying a sales tax.
00:38:48 --> 00:38:53 And I had to explain, you are taxpayers right now. You just can't vote yet.
00:38:54 --> 00:39:01 But you're paying taxes. If you've got a job, they're taking out Social Security from your check.
00:39:02 --> 00:39:05 They're taking out Medicaid from your check, but you're not able to vote you.
00:39:07 --> 00:39:15 So you need to understand. So when you are 18, and for those men that have to
00:39:15 --> 00:39:22 fill out that form so you can get your financial aid, selective service, right, you need to know.
00:39:23 --> 00:39:26 You need to know why you're filling out the Selective Service Form.
00:39:26 --> 00:39:31 You need to know what government agency handles the financial aid form.
00:39:32 --> 00:39:34 You need to know about government.
00:39:35 --> 00:39:39 Because when you are 18, you can vote for these people.
00:39:40 --> 00:39:44 In some cases, in some positions, you could actually run yourself.
00:39:45 --> 00:39:51 So you need to understand. You need to be educated about this government because
00:39:51 --> 00:39:54 this government controls each and everything that we do.
00:39:58 --> 00:40:04 We agree to set it up. We don't deal with the day-to-day, but we vote for the people.
00:40:04 --> 00:40:11 We trust people to handle the day-to-day business so we can live our lives.
00:40:11 --> 00:40:17 But if we show as though they're not handling the business, then we can vote them out.
00:40:18 --> 00:40:21 Or if we want to go in a different direction, we can vote them out.
00:40:23 --> 00:40:28 That's, you've got to learn that. There's one other point I wanted to make before I close up.
00:40:28 --> 00:40:34 It's that what I'm talking about is not a new idea as far as us getting together.
00:40:35 --> 00:40:40 You know, when I was in college, I wrote this piece for the school newspaper
00:40:40 --> 00:40:43 saying that we needed to have a black convention.
00:40:45 --> 00:40:48 And the president of the university called me into his office.
00:40:49 --> 00:40:55 And, you know, Mike, he said, I want to talk to you about your editorial. Okay.
00:40:56 --> 00:41:01 So he wasn't calling me up to criticize me about it.
00:41:01 --> 00:41:05 He was calling me up to give me an education about it.
00:41:06 --> 00:41:12 He was the one who told me about the black convention in Gary and how all these
00:41:12 --> 00:41:18 different factions from the black community came and their objective was to
00:41:18 --> 00:41:22 create this agenda and all this stuff, and then it ended.
00:41:25 --> 00:41:29 Kind of came out of that, but it was more cultural. Like, I'm black and I'm
00:41:29 --> 00:41:35 proud and the fuck is beautiful and, you know, some lingo we use.
00:41:36 --> 00:41:38 It didn't achieve what it wanted to achieve.
00:41:39 --> 00:41:43 And then I remember Tavis Smiley.
00:41:44 --> 00:41:50 And Tavis Smiley used to have these state of black America forms.
00:41:51 --> 00:41:58 And he would have any and everybody. He had Farrakhan, he had Cornel West, he had Thomas Sowell.
00:41:58 --> 00:42:01 He had all these different leaders of black thought.
00:42:02 --> 00:42:06 Any given moment, as many as he could have on one stage at one time,
00:42:06 --> 00:42:09 and then he would do something else and get other leaders.
00:42:09 --> 00:42:14 Pretty much around in the same vein, progressive, conservative, moderates, whatever.
00:42:16 --> 00:42:20 And nothing happened with that. But the efforts were there.
00:42:20 --> 00:42:25 But even before then, and I had the privilege of interviewing the lady Dr.
00:42:25 --> 00:42:31 Foreman, who talked about these colored conventions that were taking place during
00:42:31 --> 00:42:37 Reconstruction and how in different cities and different communities around the country,
00:42:37 --> 00:42:42 these black leaders would come together and talk about the issues of the day
00:42:42 --> 00:42:44 and what the black agendas should be.
00:42:44 --> 00:42:49 And it was a big event for that town, especially the black community of that town, right?
00:42:50 --> 00:42:54 And then, of course, after Reconstruction ended, that ended.
00:42:54 --> 00:42:58 Although there were some remnants of it, you know, some people tried to keep it going.
00:42:58 --> 00:43:04 And the last really successful, quote-unquote, colored convention was Denier
00:43:04 --> 00:43:10 Revoltment, which led to the NAACP being formed.
00:43:10 --> 00:43:17 But that was only with some white buy-in, how the NAACP got in there. Nonetheless.
00:43:18 --> 00:43:22 So what I'm saying is not something that we haven't tried before.
00:43:23 --> 00:43:32 What I am asking is that if we do this, we stay committed to it.
00:43:33 --> 00:43:35 And we build something from that.
00:43:36 --> 00:43:40 Something so that the next generation and the generation after that and the
00:43:40 --> 00:43:43 generation after that can build upon.
00:43:44 --> 00:43:48 I don't want us just to convene. I want us to commit. Mmh.
00:43:50 --> 00:43:56 Because the threat of violence, which I initially started talking about, is real.
00:43:57 --> 00:44:05 And if we don't close our ranks in our community, and when I say our community,
00:44:05 --> 00:44:07 I'm talking about a pan-African community.
00:44:07 --> 00:44:12 I'm not just talking about black or African-Americans. I'm talking about all
00:44:12 --> 00:44:16 of us dark-skinned folk. Don't matter if you speak Portuguese,
00:44:16 --> 00:44:21 Latin, you know, not Latin, French, Spanish.
00:44:22 --> 00:44:26 If you're here in the United States, you're living here in the United States,
00:44:27 --> 00:44:29 there needs to be a coming together.
00:44:30 --> 00:44:36 Because all of us are going to be impacted by this administration and the administration
00:44:36 --> 00:44:38 after that and the administration after that.
00:44:39 --> 00:44:41 If there is still a democracy.
00:44:42 --> 00:44:45 Obviously, y'all didn't care about that, so we'll just roll the dice and see
00:44:45 --> 00:44:48 what happens after January 20th, 2025.
00:44:50 --> 00:44:55 But before the threat manifests into something where we're going to have to
00:44:55 --> 00:44:59 pick sides and pick up guns or whatever.
00:45:00 --> 00:45:05 Maybe if we coalesce, maybe if we get together, we can avert that.
00:45:06 --> 00:45:10 Because if it gets down to that, we're going to be to blame.
00:45:11 --> 00:45:14 See, I don't think I even finished my thought about the white supremacy because,
00:45:14 --> 00:45:19 you know, on the one side, I talked about the conservative arguments on the liberal arguments.
00:45:19 --> 00:45:24 They're saying, well, we focus too much on, quote unquote, woke issues,
00:45:25 --> 00:45:30 which I think is the dumbest thing ever, because it's like, if you're not woke, you sleep.
00:45:31 --> 00:45:34 And I don't want America sleepwalking anymore.
00:45:35 --> 00:45:44 Right. But there's a threat out there of a violent division of this nation, whether that,
00:45:45 --> 00:45:52 I don't know. I don't want it to happen. But what I do want is before that manifests,
00:45:52 --> 00:45:57 before that blossoms, we need to come together.
00:45:58 --> 00:46:04 If your agenda is to keep us divided and you're black, I'm not talking to you.
00:46:04 --> 00:46:06 I'm talking to the rest of us.
00:46:07 --> 00:46:14 I don't care who gets a reparations check. I don't care who gets a particular job.
00:46:15 --> 00:46:21 What I do care about is building wealth, because if we build wealth,
00:46:22 --> 00:46:26 we dictate who gets what check. We dictate who gets what job.
00:46:27 --> 00:46:29 We dictate politics.
00:46:31 --> 00:46:34 Fifty five percent of the black vote lives in one part of the country.
00:46:34 --> 00:46:38 The rest is scattered through urban centers.
00:46:40 --> 00:46:46 So there's a power base and there's a geographical place where that power base can make an impact.
00:46:47 --> 00:46:57 And that place is desperately needed because that place is probably the poorest
00:46:57 --> 00:46:59 place in this nation of wealth.
00:47:00 --> 00:47:03 If there's some folks in Kansas and Idaho and Montana saying,
00:47:03 --> 00:47:09 oh, I'm struggling and I'm a farmer and all that, your issue is credit because
00:47:09 --> 00:47:13 you are providing a good and a service and you're getting paid for that.
00:47:14 --> 00:47:20 Sometimes the government pays you because for some reason you couldn't sell that product.
00:47:21 --> 00:47:24 I mean, I'm talking about y'all. I'm talking about that reason,
00:47:24 --> 00:47:26 the country where poverty is poverty.
00:47:26 --> 00:47:29 It's not about credit. It's about wealth. It's about money.
00:47:30 --> 00:47:35 And even if you have one or two jewels in that desert of poverty,
00:47:36 --> 00:47:38 it doesn't eliminate the rest of the folks who are broke.
00:47:39 --> 00:47:44 Atlanta is the classic example. Oh, yeah, no way. Atlanta is the black mecca
00:47:44 --> 00:47:45 and blah, blah, this, that, and the other.
00:47:45 --> 00:47:52 The biggest wealth gap between black folks, those that have and those that have not, is in Atlanta.
00:47:53 --> 00:47:55 If it's the black mecca, there shouldn't be a gap.
00:47:57 --> 00:48:06 So we need to stop the trolling, stop playing the dozens, stop the it talking,
00:48:07 --> 00:48:11 and get together and get down to business. Bottom line.
00:48:12 --> 00:48:15 Thank you all for listening. Until next time.
00:48:22 --> 00:49:03 Music.