In this episode, on this special post-Juneteenth edition, the amplified and authentic Lisa Durden, media commentator and producer extraordinaire, talks about her hometown, as well as pertinent issues in the news.
00:00:00 --> 00:00:06 Welcome. I'm Erik Fleming, host of A Moment with Erik Fleming, the podcast of our time.
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00:01:11 --> 00:01:16 The following program is hosted by the NVG Podcast Network.
00:01:20 --> 00:01:55 Music.
00:01:56 --> 00:02:01 Hello, welcome to another moment. With Erik Fleming. I am your host, Erik Fleming.
00:02:02 --> 00:02:10 And today I've got a special guest coming on and she is a very dynamic person,
00:02:11 --> 00:02:18 very, very outspoken and a voice that we need in the community.
00:02:19 --> 00:02:24 And she's been doing it for a while. She's also very talented as far as media
00:02:24 --> 00:02:31 is concerned. She's been a successful producer of documentaries and television specials.
00:02:32 --> 00:02:37 And I'm really, really honored that she took the time to come on the podcast.
00:02:37 --> 00:02:43 So she's going to be my only guest on this episode because as you know,
00:02:44 --> 00:02:46 the week that we're recording that it was Juneteenth.
00:02:47 --> 00:02:54 So, yeah, I took a minute to enjoy the festivities in Atlanta.
00:02:54 --> 00:03:00 I hope that those of y'all listening, you had a good week because Father's Day
00:03:00 --> 00:03:04 was that Sunday and then leading up to Juneteenth.
00:03:04 --> 00:03:11 So I hope that everybody that listens had a good and productive week and had
00:03:11 --> 00:03:13 some fun, had some special moments.
00:03:14 --> 00:03:18 You know despite what's going on in this nation we still have to live our lives
00:03:18 --> 00:03:24 right and we still have to find joy and if there's anything black people can do,
00:03:25 --> 00:03:32 is that we can find joy right so and i hope that part of your joy is listening to this podcast,
00:03:33 --> 00:03:39 we're still on our mission to get 20 000 subscribers so please go to patreon.com
00:03:39 --> 00:03:43 slash Momentary Fleming and sign up for a subscription.
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00:03:57 --> 00:03:58 We're going to keep doing what we're doing.
00:04:00 --> 00:04:03 So let's go ahead and get this show on the road. And as always,
00:04:03 --> 00:04:06 we kick it off with a moment of news with Grace G.
00:04:08 --> 00:04:13 Music.
00:04:13 --> 00:04:19 Thanks, Erik. Nationwide protests organized by No Kings drew millions opposing
00:04:19 --> 00:04:23 Trump's policies on immigration and federal cuts, marking the largest demonstration
00:04:23 --> 00:04:25 since his return to office.
00:04:25 --> 00:04:31 President Trump celebrated the U.S. Army's 250th anniversary and his 79th birthday
00:04:31 --> 00:04:34 with a military parade in Washington featuring tanks and troops.
00:04:34 --> 00:04:39 A gunman posing as an officer killed a Minnesota Democratic lawmaker and her
00:04:39 --> 00:04:44 husband, wounded another legislator's family, and eluded authorities for two
00:04:44 --> 00:04:45 days before being captured.
00:04:46 --> 00:04:50 Escalating attacks between Israel and Iran, including strikes on nuclear sites
00:04:50 --> 00:04:54 and civilian areas, triggered casualties and fears of a broader conflict.
00:04:54 --> 00:04:57 The U.S. Supreme Court upheld Tennessee's
00:04:57 --> 00:05:01 ban on gender-affirming care for transgender minors in a 6-3 ruling.
00:05:01 --> 00:05:06 The Trump administration temporarily paused immigration raids targeting industries
00:05:06 --> 00:05:12 reliant on migrant labor, but reversed the decision to maintain its daily arrest quota. The U.S.
00:05:12 --> 00:05:16 Senate Republicans proposed amendments to Trump's tax bill, including making
00:05:16 --> 00:05:20 some business tax breaks permanent and capping state and local tax deductions,
00:05:20 --> 00:05:22 leading to criticism from House Republicans.
00:05:23 --> 00:05:27 Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass lifted a downtown curfew that was enacted after
00:05:27 --> 00:05:31 protests related to raids on undocumented migrants began.
00:05:31 --> 00:05:36 The Senate confirmed Olivia Trusty as an FCC commissioner following the resignation
00:05:36 --> 00:05:39 of two members, with her term lasting until June 30.
00:05:40 --> 00:05:44 A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from denying passports to transgender
00:05:44 --> 00:05:46 and non-binary Americans.
00:05:47 --> 00:05:51 New York City Comptroller Brad Lander was detained but later released after
00:05:51 --> 00:05:53 being arrested at an immigration court.
00:05:54 --> 00:05:59 McDonald's settled a $10 billion lawsuit with Byron Allen's companies over claims
00:05:59 --> 00:06:05 of racial stereotyping and ad spending, agreeing to buy more ads on black-owned media in the future.
00:06:05 --> 00:06:11 And a baby born prematurely to Adriana Smith, a brain-dead woman in Georgia,
00:06:11 --> 00:06:16 was delivered via emergency C-section and is currently in the neonatal ICU.
00:06:16 --> 00:06:20 I am Grace Gee, and this has been a Moment of News.
00:06:21 --> 00:06:26 Music.
00:06:27 --> 00:06:34 All right. Thank you, Grace, for that moment of news. And now it is time for my guest, Lisa Durden.
00:06:35 --> 00:06:38 Lisa Durden is not your ordinary voice in the media landscape.
00:06:39 --> 00:06:43 She's a provocateur and a truth teller, wielding the power of storytelling to
00:06:43 --> 00:06:45 redefine our collective narrative.
00:06:46 --> 00:06:52 Lisa's voice is her activism, resonating as a brilliantly outspoken ABC News
00:06:52 --> 00:06:59 contributor, social justice journalist, content curator, multi-hyphenate media
00:06:59 --> 00:07:01 maker, and thought leader.
00:07:01 --> 00:07:06 She's a recognized national media personality gracing such esteemed platforms
00:07:06 --> 00:07:09 as ABC News 2020, News Nation,
00:07:10 --> 00:07:17 Revolt TV's Revolt Black News, Fox Souls, Being Black with Tammy Mack, CBS News, The Dr.
00:07:17 --> 00:07:22 Oz Show, and the former My9 Network Chasing News series.
00:07:23 --> 00:07:28 Ms. Durden frequently serves as a panelist for the African American Leadership Forum, among others.
00:07:29 --> 00:07:35 Her portfolio is as diverse as the community she represents by producing award-winning
00:07:35 --> 00:07:37 films and critically acclaimed unscripted
00:07:37 --> 00:07:41 series that delve into issues of significance to the Black community,
00:07:41 --> 00:07:47 including ABC 2020's two-hour documentary special Diary of a Killer,
00:07:47 --> 00:07:51 Hulu series The Conversations Project.
00:07:52 --> 00:07:58 A&E Network series Neighborhood Wars 2, The Griot's HBCU First Look Let's Talk
00:07:58 --> 00:08:00 series, Girls Matter Documentary.
00:08:01 --> 00:08:07 PBS Paris Blues and Harlem film, Verizon PSA Conversations with Mom,
00:08:07 --> 00:08:11 and the Star-Studded Revolution Awards, to name a few.
00:08:11 --> 00:08:16 In September 2024, she launched the limited series Vice President Kamala Harris,
00:08:17 --> 00:08:21 She Readied the Podcast, where she served as host and executive producer.
00:08:21 --> 00:08:26 Lisa's work has garnered widespread recognition, including being featured in
00:08:26 --> 00:08:32 the 2024 Rolling Out Presents Entertainment Innovators Shaping Visual Storytelling
00:08:32 --> 00:08:34 and Cultural Narrative Series.
00:08:34 --> 00:08:41 Names Swag Her Magazine's Wednesday Wonder Woman and Glambitious Magazine's
00:08:41 --> 00:08:44 Making Black History Month highlight in 2021.
00:08:44 --> 00:08:47 In 2015, Rolling Out magazine featured
00:08:47 --> 00:08:51 her as a Black intellectual for her trailblazing work in news and media.
00:08:51 --> 00:08:58 Her numerous accolades include the Community Service Award for Women in Media Network, Newark,
00:08:58 --> 00:09:02 the Vanguard Award for Excellence in Communications from Seton Hall University,
00:09:02 --> 00:09:07 and the Phenomenal Businesswoman Award alongside Newark Mayor Ras J.
00:09:07 --> 00:09:11 Baraka. She has also received the Outstanding Journalism and Community Service
00:09:11 --> 00:09:14 Award from Project Redirect,
00:09:14 --> 00:09:19 the Woman on Fire Award from the Newark Circle of Sisters, and the Leadership
00:09:19 --> 00:09:24 and Communication Award from Progressive Achievers, among many others.
00:09:24 --> 00:09:30 In 2021, Lisa earned her Master of Fine Arts in Social Documentary Film from
00:09:30 --> 00:09:37 New York School of Visual Arts, further solidifying her role as a mentor and leader in the industry.
00:09:38 --> 00:09:42 Unapologetically single and child-free because she wants to be,
00:09:43 --> 00:09:45 Lisa proudly embraces her journey.
00:09:46 --> 00:09:50 Ladies and gentlemen, it is my distinct honor and privilege to have as a guest
00:09:50 --> 00:09:53 on this podcast, Lisa Durden.
00:09:54 --> 00:10:04 Music.
00:10:04 --> 00:10:08 All right, Lisa Durden. How you doing, sister? You doing good?
00:10:09 --> 00:10:14 Well, I'm doing as good or as well as one could expect with this climate,
00:10:15 --> 00:10:18 you know, personally and professionally, both is always hanging in the balance.
00:10:19 --> 00:10:21 You know, if you're Black, it's hanging in the balance either way,
00:10:21 --> 00:10:27 but when you're Black, during a Trump administration, who knows what's going to happen?
00:10:27 --> 00:10:30 So yes, as much as one could expect.
00:10:30 --> 00:10:37 Well, I definitely echo that sentiment. I definitely feel where you're coming from. Yeah.
00:10:38 --> 00:10:45 Well, I'm really honored to have you on. You have been somebody I've watched on occasion.
00:10:46 --> 00:10:52 You know, and, you know, it's like, it's always good to have people that are
00:10:52 --> 00:10:54 willing to go on different shows.
00:10:54 --> 00:11:00 I don't really watch Fox News much, but the few times that I have watched Fox
00:11:00 --> 00:11:02 News, I have seen you on there.
00:11:03 --> 00:11:04 And, yeah.
00:11:06 --> 00:11:10 It's interesting that you say you watch Fox News because I don't watch Fox News.
00:11:10 --> 00:11:16 Since I'm a news, a social justice journalist and a news professional or a media
00:11:16 --> 00:11:18 professional, I get asked to go on lots of platforms.
00:11:18 --> 00:11:22 So if I was never on that platform, I would not have known those shows existed
00:11:22 --> 00:11:24 because I don't watch Fox News for anything.
00:11:24 --> 00:11:28 So it's interesting that you said you watch Fox News. I'm going to be interested
00:11:28 --> 00:11:31 to see this conversation because nobody I know who's black watches Fox News.
00:11:32 --> 00:11:34 Yeah, well, I know who's black.
00:11:34 --> 00:11:38 I understand. Well, I don't watch it like as a fan. And, you know,
00:11:38 --> 00:11:43 every now and then I'll pull in the most, the person I would watch the most
00:11:43 --> 00:11:46 on there would be Harris Faulkner because he's black.
00:11:46 --> 00:11:52 Other than that, I don't really watch it. I pretty much stay out of the ecosystem.
00:11:52 --> 00:11:56 But every now and then I might turn it on to kind of see what spin they're putting
00:11:56 --> 00:11:58 on a particular issue. Yeah.
00:11:59 --> 00:12:02 I'm just saying, yeah. But yeah. And I go on other platforms too.
00:12:02 --> 00:12:05 But yes, that's always the most infamous one. Yes. Yes. Yes, ma'am.
00:12:06 --> 00:12:11 All right. So icebreakers. I usually start off with a couple of icebreakers.
00:12:11 --> 00:12:14 So the first icebreaker is a quote.
00:12:15 --> 00:12:21 Free speech doesn't matter if you're a professor. Make people mad and you're
00:12:21 --> 00:12:23 in trouble. What does that quote mean to you?
00:12:24 --> 00:12:29 Well, I think at this point, it means the same. I mean, I don't think the free
00:12:29 --> 00:12:35 speech thing has anything to do with being a professor, because as we see, before the words,
00:12:36 --> 00:12:41 the phrase cancel culture became a phrase, I've experienced it myself.
00:12:41 --> 00:12:45 But now we have been coining the phrase in recent years.
00:12:45 --> 00:12:51 So I think free speech is supposed to be free, but they charge you for it,
00:12:51 --> 00:12:53 whether you're a professor or not.
00:12:54 --> 00:12:58 So I believe in free speech, even when I don't agree with the speech.
00:12:58 --> 00:13:05 But unfortunately, people like to deal with things when it's convenient.
00:13:06 --> 00:13:08 So either we have free speech or we don't.
00:13:09 --> 00:13:12 There's an old song that I grew up listening to.
00:13:12 --> 00:13:16 My parents played all the time. And the title of the song was,
00:13:16 --> 00:13:19 Is You Is or Is You Ain't My Baby?
00:13:20 --> 00:13:25 So either you are or you're not. So I stand by that. And listen, I'm a tough cookie.
00:13:25 --> 00:13:29 I don't have a problem with the fact that you don't agree with me or if you don't.
00:13:29 --> 00:13:33 Even on my own social media platforms, when I post things on my platforms,
00:13:33 --> 00:13:39 I do a kitschy thing as a way to invite folks to come in and feel comfortable having discourse.
00:13:39 --> 00:13:46 So every time I post something, I end with something that I say, OMG, is it only me?
00:13:46 --> 00:13:50 Now that I have been saying that thing for years, people know that I mean,
00:13:50 --> 00:13:52 do you agree or disagree?
00:13:52 --> 00:13:56 People come on there, they battle me, and some agree. And the ones who battle,
00:13:56 --> 00:14:00 I don't get mad if it gets tied and people get, you can't curse me out and call
00:14:00 --> 00:14:04 me names, but people get sarcastic and tell me off. I tell them back off.
00:14:04 --> 00:14:09 I feel like if you invite people to something, then don't get mad when they don't agree.
00:14:09 --> 00:14:13 So social media is social. Or if you're putting comments out there in any way,
00:14:14 --> 00:14:18 not just social media, it's social. So I don't cancel people on my page.
00:14:18 --> 00:14:19 You can go on my page and see all kinds of stuff.
00:14:19 --> 00:14:23 People go, oh, you always say it. They say it. And some people go, I like it, Lisa. Yeah.
00:14:23 --> 00:14:27 So, you know, I'm not the kind of person that kind of stands by something.
00:14:27 --> 00:14:32 But yet, you know, then you start to smell a little hypocrisy, right?
00:14:32 --> 00:14:36 I don't like that aroma. So I believe in free speech for anybody.
00:14:36 --> 00:14:41 You shouldn't charge for it. I shouldn't get an invoice after I use it. It's a problem.
00:14:42 --> 00:14:46 Yeah. And it's funny. I'm glad you brought up your tag, your hashtag,
00:14:46 --> 00:14:48 because I was thinking about using that as a quote.
00:14:48 --> 00:14:50 And I said, no, that might be too corny.
00:14:50 --> 00:14:54 Let me let me do a little more research and pull some out.
00:14:55 --> 00:14:59 Yes. All right. All right. So now this is the other one, which I call 20 questions.
00:15:00 --> 00:15:03 So give me a number between one and 20.
00:15:04 --> 00:15:08 Uh, 19. Okay.
00:15:09 --> 00:15:16 What are some values you think most people share, even if they express them differently?
00:15:16 --> 00:15:24 I think most people share the values of respect, be kind.
00:15:25 --> 00:15:28 They may have different meanings to people, but everybody wants respect.
00:15:28 --> 00:15:33 People feel like we should all be kind, although we're not. But when we verbally
00:15:33 --> 00:15:37 say it, people say those things. So it's very common no matter where you live in the world.
00:15:37 --> 00:15:42 Respect is kind of a huge thing. So respect, be kind, be nice,
00:15:42 --> 00:15:49 help others, you know, give these kinds of, you know, niceties or,
00:15:49 --> 00:15:51 you know, social mores, if you will.
00:15:52 --> 00:15:56 Now, I don't know the definition from person to person, but I don't see a whole lot of it on some people.
00:15:56 --> 00:16:00 But if you ask somebody, we would all say the same thing, whether you're in
00:16:00 --> 00:16:03 Japan, whether you're in America, whether you're in Africa,
00:16:03 --> 00:16:08 whether you're in Asia, whether you're in the North or the South or Newark or
00:16:08 --> 00:16:13 New York, ask a five-year-old, or you can ask a 45-year-old or somebody 80.
00:16:13 --> 00:16:15 They would say the same thing. So those are some of the things.
00:16:15 --> 00:16:23 But now practicing those things, well, I'm hearing Jeopardy music. Ding, ding, ding.
00:16:24 --> 00:16:28 That's another story. Yes. Yeah, I understand that too.
00:16:29 --> 00:16:34 All right. So recently, Newark was one of the cities that hosted the State of
00:16:34 --> 00:16:35 the People Power Tour. Yes.
00:16:36 --> 00:16:40 When asked how did Newark become one of the cities you stated,
00:16:40 --> 00:16:45 when we started talking about the State of the People Power Tour,
00:16:45 --> 00:16:47 a lot of folks said, why Newark?
00:16:47 --> 00:16:51 I said, why not Newark? Because Newark has been leading movements forever.
00:16:52 --> 00:16:55 We are the Renaissance City. We are Brick City.
00:16:56 --> 00:17:03 What makes Newark a special place for you? Well, you did your homework, boo. Clap for that. Yes.
00:17:04 --> 00:17:07 So I'm glad we did this interview in June because now you have a few updated things I've done.
00:17:07 --> 00:17:13 Yes, I said that because I was one of the people that was a part of the development
00:17:13 --> 00:17:14 team for State of the People Power Tour.
00:17:14 --> 00:17:18 I was on the comms team and I was on the production team for panels.
00:17:19 --> 00:17:22 I was one of the moderators of a panel called Art is Activism.
00:17:22 --> 00:17:26 But once I became a part of the project and I started kind of posting things,
00:17:26 --> 00:17:30 people started getting in my DMs because the State of the People Power Tour
00:17:30 --> 00:17:33 went to, I think they still have a couple more CDs left to go.
00:17:33 --> 00:17:35 But they were doing a 10-city tour around the country.
00:17:35 --> 00:17:39 The main headliners or the people who kind of put this together,
00:17:39 --> 00:17:45 Angela Rye, Tamika Mowry, and the usual suspects in the Black Power world.
00:17:45 --> 00:17:46 So they couldn't go everywhere.
00:17:47 --> 00:17:51 It's a new initiative. It's a movement, but it's new. They don't have enough money to go everywhere.
00:17:51 --> 00:17:55 So they had to be selective in terms of how many cities and where.
00:17:55 --> 00:17:59 So when they decided, okay, where are we going to go on this side of the country?
00:17:59 --> 00:18:03 Are we going to go to New York or Philadelphia? They came to Newark, New Jersey, baby.
00:18:04 --> 00:18:08 Brick City in the house. Yes, I have my peace sign up.
00:18:09 --> 00:18:12 Because they know that Newark is the renaissance city.
00:18:13 --> 00:18:16 First of all, it's a renaissance city. Newark has been in transition for many
00:18:16 --> 00:18:22 years, growing from the time we had the riots here in the 1960s all the way
00:18:22 --> 00:18:25 till now. because we realized that some of the bigger cities that had to deal
00:18:25 --> 00:18:27 with the riots from the 1960s, we had to rebuild.
00:18:28 --> 00:18:31 And Newark is one of the ones that has been rebuilding slower a little bit than
00:18:31 --> 00:18:35 New York, a little slower than Chicago in terms of like, you know,
00:18:35 --> 00:18:37 the economy and things like that.
00:18:37 --> 00:18:42 But we have been now since about the early 2000s or so, we've been the renaissance
00:18:42 --> 00:18:45 city, growing a lot quicker from about the early 2000s till now,
00:18:45 --> 00:18:50 you know, from construction to education to, our crime is down,
00:18:50 --> 00:18:52 innovation, all those things.
00:18:52 --> 00:18:54 So they thought, okay, let's land in Newark.
00:18:55 --> 00:18:58 And so I got a lot of pushback on my social media, you know,
00:18:58 --> 00:19:00 a little jealousy, a little hateration.
00:19:00 --> 00:19:04 So I said, let me just send this message. Why not Newark?
00:19:04 --> 00:19:07 So if you wanted to come to the State of the People Power Tour,
00:19:07 --> 00:19:09 you had to come to Newark if you were in Connecticut,
00:19:09 --> 00:19:14 Long Island, New York, Philadelphia, and all the local surrounding states and
00:19:14 --> 00:19:20 cities near Newark, because Newark is the birthplace of film. People don't know that.
00:19:20 --> 00:19:26 Newark is the birthplace of the movements. We had Amiri Baraka.
00:19:27 --> 00:19:32 If you don't know him, look him up. He was huge in the 60s and 70s in terms
00:19:32 --> 00:19:36 of pushing these kinds of narratives and talking about black power, power to the people.
00:19:36 --> 00:19:41 Newark is known for that. Not Chicago, not Atlanta, not Philadelphia,
00:19:41 --> 00:19:43 not even New York. Newark is known for that.
00:19:44 --> 00:19:48 Newark has a really big Muslim population. So around the time of Malcolm X,
00:19:48 --> 00:19:50 they had a lot of meetings here in Newark.
00:19:50 --> 00:19:54 So during the Malcolm X years, Newark was the landing place for those kinds
00:19:54 --> 00:19:58 of meetings and that energy. So Newark has had that energy for a long time.
00:19:58 --> 00:20:03 So really, for State of the People Power Tour to come to Newark,
00:20:03 --> 00:20:07 to me, that was, in essence, giving Newark its flowers. We deserve our flowers.
00:20:08 --> 00:20:11 Not because I was born and raised here and still live here. I just happened
00:20:11 --> 00:20:12 to be born and raised here and live here.
00:20:12 --> 00:20:16 But if I lived in New York, which I have for a short time, I would still know
00:20:16 --> 00:20:18 why because I know my history.
00:20:18 --> 00:20:21 So when you know your history, you don't ask why Newark. You would know that
00:20:21 --> 00:20:23 already. So I just had to kind of put some respect on our name.
00:20:23 --> 00:20:24 You know what I'm saying? him.
00:20:24 --> 00:20:29 Yeah, I understand. It was like Newark came to my attention when I was young,
00:20:29 --> 00:20:31 because when James Sharp was the mayor.
00:20:31 --> 00:20:34 Sharp James, yes. Oh, Sharp James, I'm sorry.
00:20:35 --> 00:20:39 And yeah, so I mean, it was like when, that's when, you know,
00:20:39 --> 00:20:42 because he was like, I think the first black mayor there.
00:20:42 --> 00:20:45 The second black mayor, but I think he had the longest, well,
00:20:45 --> 00:20:48 we don't have, yeah, longest serving mayor.
00:20:48 --> 00:20:50 We don't have term limits. I think New York has term limits,
00:20:50 --> 00:20:54 but we don't have term limits here in New Jersey or Newark. Well, New Jersey in general.
00:20:54 --> 00:20:57 So he was the longest. Kenneth Gibson was the first. Yes.
00:20:57 --> 00:21:00 That's right. Kenneth Gibson. I remember that name now. Yeah. Yeah. Okay.
00:21:01 --> 00:21:06 All right. So, but it was, you know, Newark has always been in the radar and it was like,
00:21:06 --> 00:21:10 you know, when I did a lot of traveling when I was younger, it was like,
00:21:10 --> 00:21:14 it was cheaper to fly into Newark than it was to fly into New York City,
00:21:14 --> 00:21:16 any one of those airports. So.
00:21:17 --> 00:21:21 Kind of familiar with it. Didn't really get to learn a lot about the city.
00:21:21 --> 00:21:25 So I'm glad that one of his great ambassadors is on my program.
00:21:26 --> 00:21:30 Well, thank you. Yes. So I was proud to be a part of the State of the People
00:21:30 --> 00:21:32 Power Tour. I was proud that it was here in Newark.
00:21:33 --> 00:21:35 And we had a huge crowd.
00:21:36 --> 00:21:40 And I think that for those who were not familiar with Newark,
00:21:40 --> 00:21:43 although that's kind of rare now, because I think when Cory Booker was the mayor
00:21:43 --> 00:21:46 here, you know, he put Newark on the map in terms of like, you know,
00:21:46 --> 00:21:48 the media, because he was like a media darling.
00:21:49 --> 00:21:52 We had a documentary that I was a producer on called Brick City,
00:21:52 --> 00:21:54 the docuseries, and he was one of the main characters.
00:21:54 --> 00:21:58 And once that blew up on the Sundance channel when it was once in existence,
00:21:58 --> 00:22:02 I think it has since shut down, then people have heard about Newark in that way.
00:22:02 --> 00:22:05 So whenever I would go around, oh, you're from Newark, Cory Booker.
00:22:05 --> 00:22:06 Oh, Newark, Cory Booker.
00:22:06 --> 00:22:09 So that was when people started to hear about Newark a lot at that time.
00:22:09 --> 00:22:11 And he's still a pretty popular person.
00:22:11 --> 00:22:17 But so we became newsworthy, if you will, outside of, you know.
00:22:18 --> 00:22:23 Guns and stolen cars, you know, for other things like politics and other kinds
00:22:23 --> 00:22:24 of positive things that we do.
00:22:25 --> 00:22:30 So I want to also, as a person, I want to make sure we're building on that and expanding past that.
00:22:30 --> 00:22:37 So I felt like this is kind of like what was another element that just complemented
00:22:37 --> 00:22:38 Newark altogether as well.
00:22:39 --> 00:22:42 Yeah and when i the first one time
00:22:42 --> 00:22:45 i met gail king that was the first thing she asked me do you know cory
00:22:45 --> 00:22:49 booker and i was like no ma'am i haven't met him yet yeah and
00:22:49 --> 00:22:54 the only the only grief grievance i would say about the tour was that we got
00:22:54 --> 00:23:00 you got two of my favorite cities in there but you missed the third one so you
00:23:00 --> 00:23:04 got you got jackson mississippi in there that was That's where I went to school
00:23:04 --> 00:23:07 and actually did all my political stuff there.
00:23:08 --> 00:23:10 I currently live in Atlanta. Okay.
00:23:11 --> 00:23:16 Which, you know, just about everybody. It seems like they're coming out of here.
00:23:16 --> 00:23:21 But you missed out on Chicago. And I was like, oh, I would have loved to have
00:23:21 --> 00:23:26 seen Brandon Johnson on there and the mayor talking about, you know,
00:23:26 --> 00:23:29 what he's been doing and all that kind of stuff. But that's like two out of three.
00:23:30 --> 00:23:34 He got Jackson, Mississippi in the mix. It's like Jackson gets ignored a lot.
00:23:34 --> 00:23:38 And so, yeah, so I was glad that the tour came there.
00:23:39 --> 00:23:43 Yeah, and my family's from Atlanta originally. So actually, I have family and friends there.
00:23:43 --> 00:23:48 So when I travel down there, I always stay in Atlanta with my family and friends.
00:23:48 --> 00:23:50 I've got an uncle that has a restaurant down there.
00:23:50 --> 00:23:52 It's a takeout place. Why it's barbecued, you know.
00:23:53 --> 00:23:55 So you have that. So I'm very familiar.
00:23:56 --> 00:23:59 But yeah, so it would have been nice. But, you know, maybe the next tour,
00:23:59 --> 00:24:02 they'll spread to more cities, of course. Once these are successful,
00:24:03 --> 00:24:06 which they have been, I'm sure they'll do more during the next tour each year.
00:24:06 --> 00:24:09 I'm sure it's going to be a tour each year, I'm sure.
00:24:10 --> 00:24:13 Yeah. All right. So let's let's stay on Newark for a minute.
00:24:13 --> 00:24:17 Yeah. Because Newark has been in the news a lot recently.
00:24:17 --> 00:24:21 So let's start with the airport. What do you know about the airport?
00:24:22 --> 00:24:26 Can you shed some light on that? What's going on? I don't know.
00:24:26 --> 00:24:29 I'm just like everybody else. I've been hearing a lot about all the flights
00:24:29 --> 00:24:34 and, you know, all of the troubles with the staffing there and what's going
00:24:34 --> 00:24:39 on with the airlines. And, you know, and it's going to go into August or beyond.
00:24:40 --> 00:24:44 You know, I'm not for sure exactly what's going. I mean, I know what they're
00:24:44 --> 00:24:46 saying is going on. I'll say I don't know what's causing it.
00:24:46 --> 00:24:49 I don't know if they're able to fix it.
00:24:49 --> 00:24:52 I still hear a few things about flights.
00:24:53 --> 00:24:57 Is it like, you know, air traffic controllers? Are people losing their jobs?
00:24:57 --> 00:25:02 Are they having, are folks losing their jobs and they have one person doing 14 people's jobs?
00:25:02 --> 00:25:05 I'm sure that's happening now because of Doge and all the, you know,
00:25:06 --> 00:25:09 departments they got rid of, Department of Transportation and all kinds of different
00:25:09 --> 00:25:11 departments that affect all
00:25:11 --> 00:25:14 of our transportation in the air and on the ground and across the board.
00:25:14 --> 00:25:17 And maybe they, you know, decentralize.
00:25:18 --> 00:25:22 I just don't, it's like a moving target, this Doge thing and all the, I don't, I can't.
00:25:22 --> 00:25:27 I can't even keep up with all the departments that have been defunct and people have been laid off.
00:25:27 --> 00:25:30 So I think a lot of that has a lot to do with what's going on.
00:25:31 --> 00:25:34 I don't know when it's going to be fixed. I don't know what's happening,
00:25:34 --> 00:25:36 but I find it to be very scary, obviously.
00:25:36 --> 00:25:40 I've got to travel in August and September from Newark Airport.
00:25:40 --> 00:25:42 I'm entertaining not flying out of Newark Airport.
00:25:43 --> 00:25:45 I don't mind flying back because if my flight gets delayed, I don't care.
00:25:46 --> 00:25:48 But going to where I need to go, I want to get there on time.
00:25:48 --> 00:25:51 So I'm wondering, should I drive to Philly and go out of Philly?
00:25:51 --> 00:25:54 Who wants to drive to Philly from Newark? It's an hour and a half, two hours.
00:25:54 --> 00:25:57 Damn sure I'm going to drive to New York to fly to, you know,
00:25:57 --> 00:26:02 I've got to fly to Detroit for the National Association of Black Journalists Convention.
00:26:02 --> 00:26:06 And then I've got to fly to Michigan. I'm going to be doing a conversation with
00:26:06 --> 00:26:10 Clarissa Shields at a conference. That'll be in September.
00:26:10 --> 00:26:14 So I don't know. I think what I'm going to do is I'm going to probably just
00:26:14 --> 00:26:16 do one of those flights where, like, let's hope.
00:26:16 --> 00:26:22 I mean, the airport's still functioning and there's flights happening. So I think to To.
00:26:23 --> 00:26:29 Diminish the potential of flights being canceled or delayed, I think if I go on a 7 a.m.
00:26:29 --> 00:26:33 Or 6 a.m. flight, I might stand a better chance. I'm going to take flights a
00:26:33 --> 00:26:34 little earlier than normal.
00:26:35 --> 00:26:37 I'm not doing no 11 o'clock flight because I'm probably never going to get over there.
00:26:38 --> 00:26:42 But yeah, so is it disheartening and disappointing? Yes, because I think that
00:26:42 --> 00:26:45 when you're talking about a major city like the city of Newark,
00:26:45 --> 00:26:48 people don't realize the city of Newark is the biggest city in the state of New Jersey.
00:26:49 --> 00:26:52 People don't understand, who are not familiar with Newark in that way,
00:26:52 --> 00:26:55 that we have the Newark International Airport.
00:26:56 --> 00:26:59 So a lot of people fly into Newark, even who are going into New York,
00:27:00 --> 00:27:01 because New York is a nightmare.
00:27:01 --> 00:27:06 So a lot of folks, celebrities, you know, sports figures, entertainers,
00:27:07 --> 00:27:12 professionals, a lot of conventions and conferences go on here in Newark.
00:27:12 --> 00:27:14 And if not in Newark, in New York, where they'll drive over,
00:27:14 --> 00:27:18 but they'll land in Newark because we have a hotel right there at the airport.
00:27:18 --> 00:27:20 You get off the plane, and you're right there at the Marriott.
00:27:20 --> 00:27:21 It's literally right there at the airport.
00:27:21 --> 00:27:25 You can just take a car and you're right there. So a lot of activity happens
00:27:25 --> 00:27:28 and we have rebuilt a lot of the sections of the Newark Airport.
00:27:28 --> 00:27:31 The Newark International Airport is gorgeous and things like that.
00:27:31 --> 00:27:37 So people, we have a lot of hope to have more travel coming here because we
00:27:37 --> 00:27:38 want Newark to be a destination city.
00:27:39 --> 00:27:42 And people, when they come here, they eat here, they sleep here,
00:27:42 --> 00:27:44 they buy here, they travel here and it helps the economy.
00:27:44 --> 00:27:49 So I hated to hear all of the trouble with the airport because now it starts
00:27:49 --> 00:27:51 to make me go, oh, well, I'm flying to Newark.
00:27:51 --> 00:27:54 Now it's going to affect the economy a little bit. It's all interconnected, you know?
00:27:55 --> 00:27:59 Yeah. Yeah. And I'm hoping that it's not a situation.
00:27:59 --> 00:28:03 I don't think it will be because there was, you know, in Jackson and in Charlotte.
00:28:04 --> 00:28:08 There's been a situation where the state's been trying to take over control
00:28:08 --> 00:28:12 of the airports. Oh, really? And that's been, but that's been a black-white thing.
00:28:12 --> 00:28:18 The Republicans in the legislature are trying to take control of airports in
00:28:18 --> 00:28:19 majority black-run cities.
00:28:21 --> 00:28:23 I can try to do it here because Newark is a black city too, yeah.
00:28:24 --> 00:28:27 Yeah, so I don't think the New Jersey legislature is going to do that.
00:28:27 --> 00:28:31 But, you know, that's just something to watch whenever. Yeah,
00:28:31 --> 00:28:37 because Jersey, luckily, for what it's worth, Jersey, well, most of Jersey is
00:28:37 --> 00:28:41 for the most part, not most, a large portion of Jersey is Democratic.
00:28:41 --> 00:28:48 But, yes, we have a large portion of, obviously, Republican cities in New Jersey, too.
00:28:48 --> 00:28:51 But Newark, being the biggest city in New Jersey, it's mostly Democratic.
00:28:51 --> 00:28:55 So that's a nice lion's share of the Democratic population.
00:28:56 --> 00:29:01 Yeah. All right. Right. So next is the indictment of Congresswoman LaMonica
00:29:01 --> 00:29:07 McIver, which was predicated on the attempt to arrest and indict Mayor Ras Baraka,
00:29:07 --> 00:29:11 who you mentioned his dad when you were talking about Newark.
00:29:12 --> 00:29:17 So how's the community been responding to that? Well, the community has been responding very well.
00:29:18 --> 00:29:22 And we stand by Congresswoman LaMonica McIver because she had every right
00:29:22 --> 00:29:24 to be in the detention center.
00:29:25 --> 00:29:30 And she didn't break in. They let them go in. And when they told them to exit, they left.
00:29:31 --> 00:29:34 When they were outside of that gate, we saw they were on public property.
00:29:34 --> 00:29:37 I have the right to walk down any street in the state of New Jersey,
00:29:37 --> 00:29:41 any street in the city of Newark, any street. The sidewalk is public property.
00:29:41 --> 00:29:45 They were not inside the gate at that point. when I guess somewhere along the
00:29:45 --> 00:29:47 way a call was dropped and said, get their asses out of there.
00:29:48 --> 00:29:52 I don't know because all of the ICE workers were fine initially.
00:29:52 --> 00:29:56 They opened the doors and let them in. So maybe when the news jumped into it
00:29:56 --> 00:29:59 saying, oh, they're in there, maybe they got the bat phone and said,
00:29:59 --> 00:30:02 you let them in there, and they might have said, get the hell out of there.
00:30:02 --> 00:30:08 That's all, you know, remained to be seen as to why they invited them in, then invited them out.
00:30:08 --> 00:30:13 But once they got out, all of that war zone mess that they had going on,
00:30:13 --> 00:30:19 pushing that narrative of negativity was all done for clicks, was all done for,
00:30:20 --> 00:30:24 you know, to hopefully be able to stir up the algorithm because,
00:30:24 --> 00:30:27 you know, phones are going to be popping to make it seem like there's a war
00:30:27 --> 00:30:31 going on and we get a chance to shoot them and choke them and kill them and
00:30:31 --> 00:30:33 all that. So luckily that didn't happen.
00:30:33 --> 00:30:39 But I feel like when you are serving the people in your position as a congresswoman,
00:30:39 --> 00:30:43 that is your job to make sure everybody's safe, even those in the detention center.
00:30:43 --> 00:30:48 And also your fellow politicians.
00:30:48 --> 00:30:54 So even though she's a congresswoman now, people forget she was also the Central Ward councilwoman.
00:30:54 --> 00:30:58 She worked under the Barack administration when he was the mayor.
00:30:58 --> 00:31:02 She's just recently a councilwoman. So that's somebody she's had a longstanding
00:31:02 --> 00:31:06 relationship with professionally and that this woman wants to make sure that
00:31:06 --> 00:31:10 all of the individuals who are there to protect the people are also protected.
00:31:11 --> 00:31:14 And also, people don't realize, I think, don't quote me on this,
00:31:14 --> 00:31:17 but I think that how she knew Ras Baraka way before she became a politician,
00:31:17 --> 00:31:19 she went to Central High School.
00:31:19 --> 00:31:22 And I think that was her teacher or either a principal, whichever one.
00:31:22 --> 00:31:23 She's known him since she was a child, a teenager.
00:31:24 --> 00:31:28 So she's always looked up to him. And then because she saw this man as somebody
00:31:28 --> 00:31:31 that she could look up to, she became a person that wanted to be in politics like him.
00:31:32 --> 00:31:34 That's the point. When you see yourself, you may want to be yourself.
00:31:34 --> 00:31:37 So I feel like she did the right thing.
00:31:38 --> 00:31:44 And I feel like they're trying to, you know, weaponize what she did and want
00:31:44 --> 00:31:48 to make an example of her and show her and those kind of things.
00:31:48 --> 00:31:52 And I hate to jump in and say black woman, but you see how they dropped the
00:31:52 --> 00:31:54 charges against Ras Baraka as they should?
00:31:54 --> 00:31:57 They're not going to drop the charges against her. She's a black woman.
00:31:57 --> 00:31:59 How dare you, black woman?
00:31:59 --> 00:32:03 How dare you? How dare you, black man? But how double dare you,
00:32:03 --> 00:32:05 black woman? we're not letting you go.
00:32:06 --> 00:32:09 We want to make sure you don't even think about that again if you even entertain
00:32:09 --> 00:32:11 the fact that you can be a man.
00:32:11 --> 00:32:14 You know, man? Who you think you are, man?
00:32:15 --> 00:32:17 Because even a black man has black male privileges.
00:32:18 --> 00:32:22 Up against his black female counterpart, not up against his white male counterpart
00:32:23 --> 00:32:26 So male privilege, he still gets a percentage of that.
00:32:26 --> 00:32:30 It's like what happened to, what's her name, when she got found out she was
00:32:30 --> 00:32:32 insider trading, Martha Stewart.
00:32:33 --> 00:32:37 Men had been being busted for insider trading for years, Microsoft,
00:32:37 --> 00:32:38 Enron, all kinds of people.
00:32:39 --> 00:32:43 But how dare a woman, although she's white, it's still a woman up against her
00:32:43 --> 00:32:45 white male counterpart.
00:32:45 --> 00:32:48 They wanted to make an example of her. I think it was only $50 that she
00:32:48 --> 00:32:52 decided to pull out, whatever, and they put her ass in jail.
00:32:52 --> 00:32:57 They wanted to make her know, don't you, all women watching, don't let this be you.
00:32:57 --> 00:33:00 So that's what they're doing with LaMonica. They're making an example of her.
00:33:00 --> 00:33:05 And secondly, my sister is very politically astute, sort of smart,
00:33:05 --> 00:33:07 but not as astute as my sister. She loves politics.
00:33:07 --> 00:33:12 They feel like they want to have another situation where they can get rid of
00:33:12 --> 00:33:17 people who are Democrats in the Senate. so you can have another person there that's a Republican.
00:33:17 --> 00:33:20 If you get rid of her and you censure her and things like that and you lock
00:33:20 --> 00:33:23 her up and she's out of the position, you can just slide your other person up
00:33:23 --> 00:33:27 in there and make it even stronger for you to get all your mess through all the legislation.
00:33:28 --> 00:33:34 So that's still like, oh, this is an easy way to get some more MAGA monsters
00:33:34 --> 00:33:36 in there. So I think all of those things are at play.
00:33:37 --> 00:33:40 But I hope that she doesn't get convicted.
00:33:40 --> 00:33:44 And I feel like if she does get convicted, I hope they don't give her jail time
00:33:44 --> 00:33:46 because if they give her jail time, it's going to be a problem.
00:33:46 --> 00:33:49 I think there's going to be some marching.
00:33:49 --> 00:33:54 Yeah, I think you're on the right track as far as getting her out,
00:33:54 --> 00:33:59 but I don't think it's whoever replaces her is going to be a Democrat in that district.
00:33:59 --> 00:34:04 But the deal is, you know, they're trying to get, like you said,
00:34:04 --> 00:34:05 some legislation passed.
00:34:05 --> 00:34:09 So if there's one less Democrat on the floor when they're trying to push something through,
00:34:09 --> 00:34:12 because they've been very fortunate that the
00:34:12 --> 00:34:16 the the bill that they keep pushing the appropriations
00:34:16 --> 00:34:19 bill they're pushing they were able to push it because we had
00:34:19 --> 00:34:22 several democrats die and so their margin
00:34:22 --> 00:34:25 of of that they needed to get passed was
00:34:25 --> 00:34:28 lower and so that you know so that
00:34:28 --> 00:34:31 that was kind of i think more the mindset for a
00:34:31 --> 00:34:34 temporary situation more so than you know
00:34:34 --> 00:34:38 trying to replace somebody because she didn't women democratic state
00:34:38 --> 00:34:41 yeah yeah there's no way republicans win that
00:34:41 --> 00:34:44 and then what they what they've done is they've activated
00:34:44 --> 00:34:47 bonnie coleman that's what they've done now that
00:34:47 --> 00:34:51 you know miss coleman i know she yeah she's been a fighter for a while but i
00:34:51 --> 00:34:56 think you didn't you reinvigorated her if you watch her on tiktok she's been
00:34:56 --> 00:34:59 killing him and committing bonnie wasson i met before i've interviewed her before
00:34:59 --> 00:35:03 bonnie wasson coleman ain't playing she ain't no jokes don't don't wake up don't
00:35:03 --> 00:35:05 wake up auntie they don't play like that And I'm auntie now,
00:35:05 --> 00:35:09 although she's much younger than me, much older than I am, but she's still auntie.
00:35:09 --> 00:35:13 So for all those reasons, I feel like once again, you know, as a black woman,
00:35:13 --> 00:35:15 it's a little bit of a different relationship.
00:35:15 --> 00:35:22 The coming in hot is always a little hotter for a black woman.
00:35:22 --> 00:35:26 Yeah. Yeah. So let me, let me, let me, this is going to be my last,
00:35:27 --> 00:35:30 well, no, it's not going to be my last, well, it could be my last question on
00:35:30 --> 00:35:31 your work. I got the thing, you got time.
00:35:32 --> 00:35:36 So what's your thoughts on Mikey Sherrill? I don't even know if I'm saying her
00:35:36 --> 00:35:40 name right. Yep, that's correct. You know, I voted for Razz Baraka.
00:35:41 --> 00:35:43 I wouldn't say obviously because it doesn't mean it's obvious,
00:35:43 --> 00:35:48 but I did. But I'm the kind of person like this, even if I don't vote for you,
00:35:48 --> 00:35:51 because there have been many people I voted for since I was 18,
00:35:51 --> 00:35:55 I'm 61, that didn't win. I still expect you to do your fucking job.
00:35:56 --> 00:35:59 Right? So I don't know who's going to win because that was the primary.
00:35:59 --> 00:36:04 And so Mikey Sherrill won the Democratic nomination. So she's going to run against the Republican.
00:36:05 --> 00:36:07 I don't know who's going to win. I don't know much about her.
00:36:08 --> 00:36:13 I'm going to watch because I still, you know, I'm a Democrat just on paper,
00:36:13 --> 00:36:15 but I try to vote person, not party.
00:36:15 --> 00:36:18 I very rarely vote for a Republican, so I'm probably not going to vote for the Republican.
00:36:19 --> 00:36:22 But I have voted for somebody just on the ballot who I didn't know I've written names in.
00:36:23 --> 00:36:26 So I'm not going to just run over there and go, oh, since Mikey Sherrill's the
00:36:26 --> 00:36:28 Democratic nominee, I'm going to vote for her.
00:36:28 --> 00:36:31 I might write a person's name in if she doesn't convince me to vote for her.
00:36:32 --> 00:36:34 Or I might vote for somebody that's a random, you know, independent there
00:36:34 --> 00:36:38 if she doesn't convince me so right now she's from
00:36:38 --> 00:36:42 what I've been seeing on her promos and
00:36:42 --> 00:36:45 things like that it seems like she's you know interested in doing the right
00:36:45 --> 00:36:48 thing but I haven't seen any real debates or anything so I don't know what's
00:36:48 --> 00:36:53 going to happen I'll be watching if she is a person that I feel appears to be
00:36:53 --> 00:36:58 appears to be about her business and about the people I vote for her yeah.
00:36:59 --> 00:37:03 Yeah, well, she's running against Citarelli again. So, I mean,
00:37:03 --> 00:37:05 well, Citarelli's running again, let me put it that way.
00:37:06 --> 00:37:10 So he was the Trump guy that they put up last time.
00:37:10 --> 00:37:16 So that leads me to the follow-up is, why didn't you run? You ran for lieutenant governor before.
00:37:16 --> 00:37:19 Why didn't you run for governor at this go-round? Well, here's the thing.
00:37:20 --> 00:37:24 I was not interested in ever running for politics for political position.
00:37:24 --> 00:37:28 I was approached by the press of money for governor because I had been popular
00:37:28 --> 00:37:30 because of what happened with the whole Fox News thing.
00:37:30 --> 00:37:34 And all the media was covering why I got fired from Massachusetts County College
00:37:34 --> 00:37:36 after the Fox News thing. And I told Tucker Carlson off.
00:37:36 --> 00:37:40 Now I was ahead of the curve. They see what he got fired. So they see what happened
00:37:40 --> 00:37:41 many years later. He was a jerk.
00:37:41 --> 00:37:45 But nevertheless, so they thought this is the right person to,
00:37:45 --> 00:37:50 you know, put on my ticket. So I said, okay, give it a try, because I do believe in doing something.
00:37:50 --> 00:37:54 So that particular thing, I said, okay, I'll do the something because I was
00:37:54 --> 00:37:55 approached by that particular something.
00:37:56 --> 00:38:03 What was disgusting to me is people complain, the faction of folks who complain
00:38:03 --> 00:38:07 about, oh, the Democrats and Republicans, they're all the same.
00:38:07 --> 00:38:12 Nobody cares about us, and we need another party. There are other parties.
00:38:12 --> 00:38:14 I ran on the Green Party ticket.
00:38:14 --> 00:38:18 There have always been other parties. There's still other parties now, right?
00:38:19 --> 00:38:24 Not just Green Party, the Working Families Party, there's other parties.
00:38:24 --> 00:38:30 So I thought, well, all the millions of folks who complain they'll vote for us, they did not.
00:38:30 --> 00:38:33 So I learned that people are sheep.
00:38:34 --> 00:38:39 They're sheep. Because no matter how many times you see a commercial on television
00:38:39 --> 00:38:44 about the two leading parties, no matter how many mailings you get and door
00:38:44 --> 00:38:47 knockers and people come to your door,
00:38:47 --> 00:38:51 coffee clashes and all of that, if you really were sick of it,
00:38:52 --> 00:38:55 no one can make you go in that booth.
00:38:55 --> 00:38:57 And we used to push the button, then that would just bubble in.
00:38:57 --> 00:39:00 Bubble in a name you don't want to. You have the power.
00:39:00 --> 00:39:06 So all you had to do was bubble it at the time, just push the button for our team.
00:39:07 --> 00:39:13 Seth Coperdale and Lisa Durden. So people just, they talk more than they do. That was the sad part.
00:39:13 --> 00:39:16 So people really don't want other parties because they're there.
00:39:17 --> 00:39:18 They don't vote for them.
00:39:18 --> 00:39:21 People don't understand that they can just simply bullet vote.
00:39:22 --> 00:39:25 I bullet vote. I don't do line A all the way, although they took out lines recently.
00:39:26 --> 00:39:29 But you know, why are you doing line A all the way or any line?
00:39:29 --> 00:39:33 Why don't you just go and pick the person you want and then pick around the
00:39:33 --> 00:39:35 way you want. So people don't bullet vote.
00:39:35 --> 00:39:39 They like lines. People want turkeys and toys and they vote for them.
00:39:40 --> 00:39:45 If the pastor said vote for them, Pastor Jones said do it, you're going to do it. Amen. Amen. Amen.
00:39:46 --> 00:39:49 So it's just people are, and I don't want to say they're not astute.
00:39:49 --> 00:39:54 People say, no, they're not dumb. They don't need any more education.
00:39:54 --> 00:39:56 They know that they can vote for the person.
00:39:56 --> 00:40:02 People can read the basic names, they just don't want, they start thinking,
00:40:02 --> 00:40:05 well, nobody's going to vote for them, so they're not going to win.
00:40:05 --> 00:40:08 But you just said, by saying that, that just means you're not going to vote for them.
00:40:09 --> 00:40:11 If everybody who said, well, nobody's going to vote for them,
00:40:11 --> 00:40:14 voted for them, they'd win. Because people forgot.
00:40:14 --> 00:40:19 There was a time where nobody voted for Black people. When we started to be
00:40:19 --> 00:40:21 in politics, we lost the races.
00:40:21 --> 00:40:24 We lost because the world was very racist.
00:40:25 --> 00:40:29 But if we didn't keep voting for the Black person, we wouldn't have had the
00:40:29 --> 00:40:31 first Black mayor, the first Black whatever.
00:40:31 --> 00:40:37 It took time. So if you don't want the so-called usual suspects,
00:40:37 --> 00:40:40 then voting for the Lisa Durden's may not win the first time,
00:40:40 --> 00:40:47 but we got 9 votes in the state of New Jersey, and we have 300 people
00:40:47 --> 00:40:50 just in the city of Newark alone? Really, y'all?
00:40:51 --> 00:40:54 Bye. So I'm not running again. People ain't ready. They're not ready for this
00:40:54 --> 00:40:57 jelly. Ain't nobody ready for this jelly.
00:41:00 --> 00:41:04 Well, speaking about jelly, because I want to come back to the party point.
00:41:05 --> 00:41:09 Cory Booker in the 25-hour filibuster. How did you feel about that?
00:41:10 --> 00:41:13 I know that's your homeboy and all that stuff. How did you feel?
00:41:15 --> 00:41:21 I don't have a problem with it. However, I felt to some degree it was performative.
00:41:23 --> 00:41:28 If you were trying to pass something or block something, then okay.
00:41:28 --> 00:41:31 What was he trying to block specifically?
00:41:31 --> 00:41:32 What was he trying to pass?
00:41:34 --> 00:41:41 OK, so my belief is we know that, you know, the elections coming up midterms.
00:41:41 --> 00:41:46 I feel like, you know, you want to get your name out in the atmosphere like,
00:41:46 --> 00:41:48 you know, Jasmine Crockett.
00:41:48 --> 00:41:51 And that was something that you felt would be the thing.
00:41:52 --> 00:41:56 And it worked just for him to turn around and screw us in the behind when he
00:41:56 --> 00:42:01 allowed this other man to come in there to support this this this Republican. So.
00:42:01 --> 00:42:07 Yeah, Jared Kushner's dad, I think. Whatever. I think he got appointed to an
00:42:07 --> 00:42:09 ambassadorship. The dude. The dude.
00:42:09 --> 00:42:12 I'm like, whoopee, I don't even want to call your name. The dude.
00:42:14 --> 00:42:16 Whoopee doesn't like to call, whoopee doesn't like to say the president.
00:42:16 --> 00:42:20 She is, you know, him. She doesn't, she hasn't called him president.
00:42:20 --> 00:42:24 She won't say this man's name. So, the dude. So, that was very disappointing.
00:42:25 --> 00:42:29 So, like, in other words, that feeds into what most people feel is that Republicans
00:42:29 --> 00:42:30 and Democrats are the same.
00:42:30 --> 00:42:33 Yeah. And they are. I don't mean MAGA. I mean, Republicans, Democrats.
00:42:34 --> 00:42:35 So we can't tell the difference.
00:42:36 --> 00:42:39 There are nuances you can tell, but we can't tell the difference.
00:42:39 --> 00:42:40 That's exactly what we're saying.
00:42:40 --> 00:42:45 The move he made when he voted for the dude to be the ambassador. No.
00:42:47 --> 00:42:52 All right. So that also ties in with my next question. So Corrine Jean-Pierre.
00:42:52 --> 00:42:57 Yes. Said that she has left the Democratic Party to become an independent. Yeah, girl.
00:42:58 --> 00:43:04 Leave these fools. So the question was, should African-Americans follow an example?
00:43:04 --> 00:43:07 And I take it you say yes. Yes.
00:43:08 --> 00:43:14 Leave these fools in the dust. I happen to love her. I happen to respect her.
00:43:14 --> 00:43:16 I happen to think she's uber smart.
00:43:17 --> 00:43:22 I don't think she's a person that just, you know, jumps out and does things all nilly-willy.
00:43:22 --> 00:43:27 She's a very measured individual. I'm not measured, but, you know, I'm Lisa.
00:43:28 --> 00:43:34 But hell yeah, get the hell out, because I'm thinking about the Working Families
00:43:34 --> 00:43:36 Party myself. I'm so sick of it all.
00:43:36 --> 00:43:40 I'm so sick of the performance of everything. I'm so sick of people doing nothing.
00:43:40 --> 00:43:46 Honestly, the Trump administration, both the first time and now.
00:43:47 --> 00:43:53 Shined a light on a lot of the stuff the Democrats are not doing. You're busted.
00:43:53 --> 00:43:57 It shined a light on it. It's just the worst light now. But I saw it from the
00:43:57 --> 00:44:00 first time. And I don't mean all the Republicans in office.
00:44:00 --> 00:44:03 There are some that do a good job. I'm saying, generally speaking,
00:44:03 --> 00:44:04 Democrats. I'm sorry, Democrats.
00:44:05 --> 00:44:10 So when he came in office the first time, I'm like, oh, there's little holes in some stuff. Okay.
00:44:10 --> 00:44:15 This time it's like, oh, you're caught. A lot of the ones up there,
00:44:15 --> 00:44:17 a lot of the Democrats up there that have been sitting up there chilling,
00:44:17 --> 00:44:21 drinking gin and juice, you've been exposed. Yeah.
00:44:21 --> 00:44:26 You've been exposed. So now we know. So I'm with her. I'm out of here too.
00:44:26 --> 00:44:30 I'm just looking around. I'm fishing. You know that song by Usher?
00:44:31 --> 00:44:35 You make me want to leave the one I'm with to start a new relationship.
00:44:35 --> 00:44:42 Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh. You make me want to... Democrats, you made Lisa Durden want
00:44:42 --> 00:44:45 to leave the one I'm with to start a new relationship.
00:44:45 --> 00:44:50 I'm out of here. I'm with her. Black people need to exit us out of here.
00:44:50 --> 00:44:56 To show, just like we showed Parjay that we don't play today,
00:44:56 --> 00:45:00 we need to show the Democrats that you need to earn our vote.
00:45:00 --> 00:45:04 And whenever Blacks say that they feel like they want to, Charlemagne said it,
00:45:04 --> 00:45:06 although I don't love everything about Charlemagne, but Charlemagne said it,
00:45:06 --> 00:45:10 Amanda Seale said it, make them, when you give your vote, you make them earn it.
00:45:10 --> 00:45:13 And they accuse them of trying to throw the election.
00:45:13 --> 00:45:19 You can't ever be a person that can question a Democrat or make them stand up
00:45:19 --> 00:45:23 to what they're saying, or you can't ever challenge them, or all of a sudden you're a Trumper.
00:45:24 --> 00:45:26 No, I'm not buying that narrative.
00:45:26 --> 00:45:30 Work. Your ass has got to work. You got to work.
00:45:31 --> 00:45:35 Yeah. And they can't say that about you because you had a podcast all about
00:45:35 --> 00:45:37 Vice President Harris during the election.
00:45:37 --> 00:45:39 So Vice President Kyla Harris, she made the podcast.
00:45:40 --> 00:45:44 Oh, by the way, on Newsflash, I was nominated for a New York Association of
00:45:44 --> 00:45:47 Black Journalists award that just went off yesterday.
00:45:48 --> 00:45:52 I was one of the nominees for the podcast. I didn't win, but I was in good company.
00:45:52 --> 00:45:56 Clap for that. It was nominated for a podcast award. Ooh, yes.
00:45:56 --> 00:45:59 Yeah, yeah. Well, I'm not surprised that you were nominated for an award,
00:46:00 --> 00:46:02 but congratulations on the nomination.
00:46:03 --> 00:46:08 So on Instagram, you said, DNC Vice Chair David Hogg ain't playing.
00:46:08 --> 00:46:14 He finna invest millions of dollars to launch efforts to primary out-of-touch dusty Democrats.
00:46:14 --> 00:46:18 I absolutely love this. Why do you love it?
00:46:18 --> 00:46:23 For the same reason why I love, some people, you know, people try to get out.
00:46:23 --> 00:46:31 Listen, people should not feel like they are in their job. You're in our job.
00:46:31 --> 00:46:34 So when he said, because he got sick of people, I'm guessing,
00:46:34 --> 00:46:40 I don't know the man, but people got, when Kamala Harris didn't win and,
00:46:40 --> 00:46:42 you know, the Joe Biden mess. And they say, get out of there.
00:46:42 --> 00:46:43 And then Trump went again.
00:46:44 --> 00:46:47 He's, and then all the Democrats saying, oh, we can't do nothing.
00:46:48 --> 00:46:52 You know, some of them that did that. I guess he was just sitting back getting
00:46:52 --> 00:46:55 disgusted. And he just came out with this. It's called do something.
00:46:55 --> 00:46:59 So when somebody's challenged me to do something, I ran for office. I've made a podcast.
00:47:00 --> 00:47:05 His do something is, I'm going to primary your asses. So now understand you
00:47:05 --> 00:47:09 got to earn your job. So I'm watching some of the people that he stands by, too.
00:47:11 --> 00:47:13 Who is he going to be primary? Who is he going to put up there to run?
00:47:13 --> 00:47:16 Who is he into? And I'm going to vote for them. If he says they're good,
00:47:16 --> 00:47:17 I'm voting for them. Yep.
00:47:18 --> 00:47:21 I don't care about the legacy person who's been there. I don't care if you've
00:47:21 --> 00:47:24 been there for 25 years. If he says vote for this person, I'm voting for them.
00:47:25 --> 00:47:28 Yep. Because you've shown me what you're not doing.
00:47:28 --> 00:47:33 So I was glad because it's shaking things up. You should not assume you're going
00:47:33 --> 00:47:36 to be in that seat. You should not assume that you deserve the job.
00:47:36 --> 00:47:38 You should not assume that people shouldn't run against you,
00:47:39 --> 00:47:42 you know, get it on the next time, kiss the ring, all that insanity.
00:47:42 --> 00:47:44 We ain't doing none of that. This is 2025.
00:47:45 --> 00:47:48 We are done. You're done.
00:47:48 --> 00:47:51 I love him oh i didn't even know who the guy was i'm like
00:47:51 --> 00:47:54 who's this what i did my little tiktok i love
00:47:54 --> 00:47:57 it yeah i i met him
00:47:57 --> 00:48:02 yeah i met him at the convention and i've been i'm trying to i'm trying to get
00:48:02 --> 00:48:07 him on the podcast so hopefully i'm awesome but you know i i made a decision
00:48:07 --> 00:48:13 like that too you know i i grew up in chicago yeah and you know i tell people
00:48:13 --> 00:48:16 all the time chicago politics is so organized.
00:48:17 --> 00:48:20 It was like my precinct captain was also my little league coach, right?
00:48:20 --> 00:48:24 So it's like, you know, when I got to Jackson, you know, I initially thought
00:48:24 --> 00:48:30 about going back to help Roland Burris when he ran for governor, but it didn't work out.
00:48:30 --> 00:48:32 And I'm kind of glad because I stayed in Jackson.
00:48:32 --> 00:48:39 Had I gone to Chicago, it was, you know, my contemporaries, they ended up getting elected in Chicago.
00:48:39 --> 00:48:42 It was like years. I had been, you know.
00:48:42 --> 00:48:46 Involved in politics and all that stuff and got elected before
00:48:46 --> 00:48:49 any of them got elected staying in Mississippi and it
00:48:49 --> 00:48:52 was just like in Chicago just like you wait your turn and all
00:48:52 --> 00:48:55 that kind of stuff exactly and so I I
00:48:55 --> 00:48:59 definitely understand where David's coming from I don't condemn him for it and
00:48:59 --> 00:49:03 I'm glad that he decided instead of staying in the leadership of the party that
00:49:03 --> 00:49:07 he just follows his heart and it's like this is what I'm going to do to contribute
00:49:07 --> 00:49:12 instead of being restricted of what I can do. This is what I think needs to happen.
00:49:13 --> 00:49:15 Well, he's not only not staying in the leadership of the party,
00:49:15 --> 00:49:19 but he is a leader in the party. See, that's the thing. Leadership based on who?
00:49:20 --> 00:49:24 Leadership is whoever's leading. I ain't got to lick you behind.
00:49:24 --> 00:49:29 Who? So he's a leader in the party and decided to show you, wait,
00:49:29 --> 00:49:31 wait, hold on. Let me lead this.
00:49:31 --> 00:49:34 And boom. Yeah. Yeah.
00:49:35 --> 00:49:39 I admire him for taking that stand. And anybody that can shut James Carville
00:49:39 --> 00:49:42 up, I'm down with that, too. But that's a whole nother still.
00:49:42 --> 00:49:45 Got a couple more questions I want to ask. All right.
00:49:45 --> 00:49:50 So it is estimated that five million people participated in a No Kings nationwide protest.
00:49:51 --> 00:49:55 And it was noted that black participation was sparse in the majority of them.
00:49:55 --> 00:50:01 Should we continue the strategy of keeping a low profile in protesting President Trump and his actions?
00:50:02 --> 00:50:05 I'm thinking a little bit differently now than I was back in January.
00:50:05 --> 00:50:09 So I'm still of the mind, if you feel like minding your black business,
00:50:10 --> 00:50:11 you mind your black business.
00:50:12 --> 00:50:15 I know that people don't like that because now we said that in the beginning.
00:50:15 --> 00:50:20 And then, you know, the blackity black blacks and the usual suspects and the
00:50:20 --> 00:50:25 typical, you know, political pundits and those, they're trying to now change
00:50:25 --> 00:50:27 the messaging. I know that people are on, you got to be on message.
00:50:27 --> 00:50:30 So now they're trying to make us think differently. Well, y'all,
00:50:31 --> 00:50:32 you know, their issues are our issues.
00:50:32 --> 00:50:36 I get all of that because I do agree that if something's happening to one of
00:50:36 --> 00:50:39 us, it's going to eventually happen to all of us. So I totally agree with that 100%.
00:50:39 --> 00:50:43 But you can't reel me back in. You can't reel me back in. I'm minding my black business.
00:50:44 --> 00:50:46 I'm going to mind my black business, right?
00:50:47 --> 00:50:55 Now, I'm going to maintain a measure of knowledge and stay updated on what's going on.
00:50:55 --> 00:50:59 I'm not going to do anything to harm others. but I'm going to mind my black
00:50:59 --> 00:51:00 business because I'm exhausted.
00:51:00 --> 00:51:05 There is a thing called exhaustion. And for those who want to now start judging
00:51:05 --> 00:51:06 us, then you can just judge us.
00:51:06 --> 00:51:09 But I'm also of the mindset that if you feel like, okay, let me give,
00:51:09 --> 00:51:13 if you now feel that you're rested enough and you go, let me just dust it off
00:51:13 --> 00:51:18 and get yourself, you know, if you're first adult to see, take yourself and
00:51:18 --> 00:51:21 dust yourself off and try again. You know the song.
00:51:21 --> 00:51:24 If you're ready to dust yourself off and try again, I'm going to clap for you,
00:51:24 --> 00:51:28 give you a brown paper bag with some boiled
00:51:28 --> 00:51:32 egg and some fried chicken like we did when we couldn't stop in hotels and you
00:51:32 --> 00:51:35 go on ahead and do that march but Lisa's gonna go ahead and mind her black business
00:51:35 --> 00:51:40 yeah so I'm not not I'm not gonna encourage you to do or not to do I'm gonna
00:51:40 --> 00:51:44 say what you feel comfortable doing then you go ahead and do it and don't let
00:51:44 --> 00:51:47 nobody convince you of otherwise. Yeah.
00:51:48 --> 00:51:54 Yeah. So my last question for you, as I was doing my research and all that and,
00:51:54 --> 00:51:58 and listening to some of your previous interviews and watching some of the work you've done,
00:51:59 --> 00:52:02 there were two words that came to mind when I think about you,
00:52:02 --> 00:52:05 that's amplified and authentic. Yeah.
00:52:05 --> 00:52:09 Do you agree with that? Absolutely. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding.
00:52:11 --> 00:52:15 Those definitions apply. I think so because it's intentional, right?
00:52:16 --> 00:52:19 Well, the authentic part, I just, over time, when you get older,
00:52:19 --> 00:52:21 you don't care anymore. So I don't think I was intending to do that.
00:52:21 --> 00:52:28 But I do intend to amplify whatever message I have, whatever narrative I need
00:52:28 --> 00:52:34 to push, whatever underserved group I want to introduce you to by storytelling.
00:52:35 --> 00:52:38 That's what that's with intention so whatever whatever
00:52:38 --> 00:52:41 I'm I consider myself a multi-hyphenate of course
00:52:41 --> 00:52:44 I write I'm a published essayist and and I
00:52:44 --> 00:52:46 write op-eds I'm also of course in front of the camera as
00:52:46 --> 00:52:49 a national television contributor and I use my voice as my
00:52:49 --> 00:52:54 activism and I'm also a documentary filmmaker and producer so all of the stories
00:52:54 --> 00:52:59 I produce are produced about women people of color underserved individuals like
00:52:59 --> 00:53:03 blind divas so I'm always not just talking about it I'm writing about it and
00:53:03 --> 00:53:07 I'm creating about it. So I mean to amplify.
00:53:07 --> 00:53:09 It wasn't something I planned on doing.
00:53:09 --> 00:53:14 It was something that I saw a need very, very, you know, early in my career.
00:53:14 --> 00:53:18 I said, why, you know, kind of like when you complain, how come they showed the show like this?
00:53:18 --> 00:53:23 Or why didn't they interview that person? Or how come when they did this movie, it was from that angle?
00:53:23 --> 00:53:26 I'd been that person too. And then once I was in front of the camera for the
00:53:26 --> 00:53:33 first time as the host of Brick You know,
00:53:33 --> 00:53:41 he tried to make it seem like he was calling an episode about this thing called Renaissance Golf Inc.
00:53:41 --> 00:53:45 When Tiger Woods was big, so this man in Newark had an organization called Renaissance Golf Inc.
00:53:46 --> 00:53:49 So they had some kids that were teaching golf. We interviewed them for a segment
00:53:49 --> 00:53:53 on Brick City, not the documentary, the Brick City, the entertainment show. I was the host.
00:53:54 --> 00:53:57 And when I started to sit in front of the camera reading the teleprompter.
00:53:58 --> 00:54:01 Hi, my name is Lisa Durden, and welcome to the show Brick City.
00:54:01 --> 00:54:05 On today's show and I saw Urban Golf I'm like well it's called Renaissance Golf
00:54:05 --> 00:54:10 that's an example of I didn't control the narrative and I said to the director well Al Clark.
00:54:11 --> 00:54:14 The organization's called Renaissance Golf Inc. He said, what does it matter?
00:54:15 --> 00:54:21 He had the words Urban Golf. You literally changed the name in the writing to
00:54:21 --> 00:54:22 call it what it's not to what?
00:54:23 --> 00:54:26 Maybe urban Negroes are coming on TV. Well, yeah, it's a black city.
00:54:27 --> 00:54:31 You're going to see them anyway, but you literally felt the need to change the
00:54:31 --> 00:54:33 name to like tease up to that.
00:54:33 --> 00:54:37 I had to stand by that. And that's when I turned into a filmmaker because I
00:54:37 --> 00:54:40 said, you know, being in front of the camera has no power. You need to be able
00:54:40 --> 00:54:41 to control the narrative.
00:54:42 --> 00:54:46 So that was what made me actually start to think about things with intention.
00:54:47 --> 00:54:49 I wasn't, I wanted to be in front of the camera and go home.
00:54:49 --> 00:54:52 So that's kind of how I got into that. So fast forward many years later,
00:54:52 --> 00:54:56 I'm here now. So that was the defining moment, if you will.
00:54:56 --> 00:54:59 So it's with intention because if they don't do it, then who will?
00:54:59 --> 00:55:05 And let's be honest with you, Ava DuVernay, Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry,
00:55:05 --> 00:55:10 or any other storyteller, or any other, Robin Roberts or anybody who's of color.
00:55:11 --> 00:55:14 Black, they can't do it all.
00:55:14 --> 00:55:17 The Lisa Durden's have some power where she's at, too.
00:55:17 --> 00:55:22 So then I feel like, again, do something. I'm doing my part.
00:55:23 --> 00:55:28 Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's cool. So Lisa Durden, let me thank you for taking time
00:55:28 --> 00:55:31 out and coming on the show.
00:55:31 --> 00:55:41 Again, I'm honored that you did that. And I can say honestly that you are somebody
00:55:41 --> 00:55:43 that we need in this time.
00:55:44 --> 00:55:49 It's like we don't need to rely on one person, but we do need a lot of people
00:55:49 --> 00:55:56 that are out here that are pushing things and being amplified and being authentic.
00:55:56 --> 00:56:01 So I want to thank you for being true to yourself. Now, if people want to get
00:56:01 --> 00:56:06 in touch with you, people want to follow stuff that you do and all that, how can they do that?
00:56:06 --> 00:56:12 Well, as you know, I'm on social media and I read all my DMs because you hit
00:56:12 --> 00:56:15 me up on social media. I read all of my messenger.
00:56:15 --> 00:56:19 I read the messenger. I read my LinkedIn. I'm on Facebook. I'm on LinkedIn.
00:56:19 --> 00:56:22 I'm on Twitter. I'm on Instagram.
00:56:22 --> 00:56:27 I'm on all the platforms. So if you want to reach me, I'm on all the platforms, Lisa R. Durden.
00:56:27 --> 00:56:32 And I think on LinkedIn, it's Lisa Durden. So Lisa R. Durden on Twitter, Instagram.
00:56:33 --> 00:56:36 I think I have a fan page, Lisa Durden fan page on Facebook.
00:56:36 --> 00:56:39 If you're old and you're still on Facebook, blah, blah, blah.
00:56:39 --> 00:56:40 So I'm reachable. Not a problem.
00:56:41 --> 00:56:43 All right. Well, Lisa, thank you so much, sister, for coming.
00:56:44 --> 00:56:47 I loved this. I loved it. Thank you. No, thank you for reaching out to me.
00:56:47 --> 00:56:48 I was like, oh, yes, I'll do the show. Absolutely.
00:56:49 --> 00:56:50 All right. It was so good. Yes,
00:56:51 --> 00:56:53 ma'am. All right, guys. And we're going to catch y'all on the other side.
00:56:54 --> 00:57:13 Music.
00:57:12 --> 00:57:24 All right. And we are back. So let me thank Lisa Durden for coming on and being authentic.
00:57:26 --> 00:57:30 You know, when I invited her, you know, when I invite guests,
00:57:30 --> 00:57:34 I have a certain expectation of what they bring to the table.
00:57:35 --> 00:57:38 And I haven't had a bad guest.
00:57:39 --> 00:57:46 You know, everybody is, you know, they're their true selves and,
00:57:46 --> 00:57:52 you know, they're the expert that I thought they were on particular issues.
00:57:54 --> 00:57:58 And there's been a couple of guests that I've had meetings prior to to kind
00:57:58 --> 00:57:59 of get a feel for what's going on.
00:58:00 --> 00:58:05 But for the most part, you know, it's like I offer the invite and they come
00:58:05 --> 00:58:09 on and they don't disappoint. and Lisa, you did not disappoint.
00:58:10 --> 00:58:17 It was an honor to have you on and thank you for just being your true self.
00:58:18 --> 00:58:23 And, you know, it got me thinking about where we are,
00:58:24 --> 00:58:31 As a people when it comes to this political discourse, right?
00:58:31 --> 00:58:36 And you've heard me say it on this show several times, and people that know
00:58:36 --> 00:58:41 me, when we've had these discussions, I'm 60 years old.
00:58:41 --> 00:58:47 And basically, that's how long Black people all over the country,
00:58:48 --> 00:58:51 not just in certain parts, but all over the country, have been able to vote.
00:58:51 --> 00:58:56 And we're just now getting to the point of political sophistication where,
00:58:56 --> 00:59:00 you know, we're having dynasties, right?
00:59:00 --> 00:59:07 We're having offspring of elected officials running and seeking public office, you know.
00:59:07 --> 00:59:17 And we're learning how to leverage our votes, you know,
00:59:17 --> 00:59:22 to make sure that particular candidates get elected or make sure that certain
00:59:22 --> 00:59:25 positions have black voices and faces in them.
00:59:26 --> 00:59:30 You know, I think about 1989 in Mississippi when black people made a decision
00:59:30 --> 00:59:32 that we're going to have black chance for judges.
00:59:33 --> 00:59:35 Right. You know.
00:59:36 --> 00:59:41 And, you know, even if we don't win, like, you know, what Lisa and I were talking
00:59:41 --> 00:59:44 about with Vice President Harris, right?
00:59:44 --> 00:59:49 We made a commitment that we're going to get behind the system,
00:59:49 --> 00:59:57 right? And so, you know, it wasn't a matter necessarily of political party.
00:59:58 --> 01:00:04 It was more or less what direction do we want to go in?
01:00:04 --> 01:00:12 What direction do we want the country to go in that's favorable to us? Right.
01:00:13 --> 01:00:15 Because, you know.
01:00:16 --> 01:00:20 That's basically what we should be voting on. We should be voting for the person
01:00:20 --> 01:00:26 or persons that are going to advance black citizenship.
01:00:27 --> 01:00:33 And black citizenship is not just civil rights, but economic rights as well.
01:00:34 --> 01:00:36 Because, you know, black folks can get a job.
01:00:39 --> 01:00:42 Now, getting a house, that's a different conversation.
01:00:43 --> 01:00:49 We can get a job, you know, but, you know, now our focus needs to be more on
01:00:49 --> 01:00:57 building our wealth base and and solidifying our citizenship even more.
01:00:57 --> 01:01:02 We we've been allowed and some people don't like it when I use the term allowed,
01:01:02 --> 01:01:05 but we we've we've been able to get political positions.
01:01:06 --> 01:01:09 We've had a black president. We've had a black vice president.
01:01:09 --> 01:01:12 Right. We've had black governors, U.S.
01:01:13 --> 01:01:17 Senators, congressmen, state representatives, state senators.
01:01:18 --> 01:01:20 Mayors, county positions.
01:01:20 --> 01:01:23 We've been able to get those, right?
01:01:23 --> 01:01:27 In some places, we never thought we would get one.
01:01:27 --> 01:01:32 Can we say Omaha, Nebraska? Can we say Helena, Montana, right?
01:01:33 --> 01:01:37 But there's, you know, once you get into the political realm,
01:01:37 --> 01:01:41 then you realize there's a whole nother universe called economics,
01:01:42 --> 01:01:47 called wealth, that we need to fortify and build.
01:01:48 --> 01:01:54 We need to make sure that, you know, our numbers are better than for every hundred
01:01:54 --> 01:01:57 dollars a white person has, a black person only has five.
01:01:57 --> 01:02:00 We've got to do better than that. In the richest country in the world,
01:02:00 --> 01:02:01 we've got to do better than that.
01:02:02 --> 01:02:06 Or the wealthiest country, however you want to say it, right? We've got to do better.
01:02:07 --> 01:02:13 And so, you know, but there's still some things that we have to still address.
01:02:13 --> 01:02:15 We still have to address racism.
01:02:16 --> 01:02:20 We still have to address violence, perpetuated amongst ourselves,
01:02:21 --> 01:02:24 as well as perpetuated on us, right?
01:02:24 --> 01:02:31 And there's still some other issues that other communities are dealing with, that we deal with too.
01:02:32 --> 01:02:34 And we have to have a mindset that,
01:02:35 --> 01:02:39 The only way that we can have true justice in America, the only way we can have
01:02:39 --> 01:02:44 true prosperity in America is that everybody has a piece of the pie.
01:02:45 --> 01:02:49 That everybody is sitting at the adult table. Right.
01:02:49 --> 01:02:57 So, you know, most of the people that I have on address some aspect of that.
01:02:59 --> 01:03:03 And, you know, they're all interconnected.
01:03:03 --> 01:03:08 So if we're still having problems in this area, that's going to stop us from
01:03:08 --> 01:03:09 achieving in another area, right?
01:03:10 --> 01:03:16 So not everything's going to be perfect, but we've got to continue having an
01:03:16 --> 01:03:24 honest discussion about how to be more politically sophisticated, how to be more of a block.
01:03:24 --> 01:03:32 Not monolithic, but a block where the only thing we should be monolithic about
01:03:32 --> 01:03:35 is the advancement of black people.
01:03:36 --> 01:03:39 There will be some folks that will make intelligent arguments to say,
01:03:39 --> 01:03:42 look, we might need to look at the Republican Party.
01:03:42 --> 01:03:46 There are others that will make intelligent arguments and say we need to stay
01:03:46 --> 01:03:52 with the Democratic Party and get something out of this investment we've had for all these years.
01:03:53 --> 01:03:57 And there's others that say, you know what, we might need to create or get involved
01:03:57 --> 01:04:02 with another party, right, to build that block.
01:04:04 --> 01:04:12 Whatever we decide to do, we just need to continue to become more politically,
01:04:12 --> 01:04:14 have more political efficacy.
01:04:15 --> 01:04:18 In order to achieve that.
01:04:18 --> 01:04:22 We need to have more candidates that are politically available.
01:04:22 --> 01:04:25 That was a term I was trying to remember a few episodes ago,
01:04:26 --> 01:04:32 you know, that are appealing, not just to us, but to the masses of folks so
01:04:32 --> 01:04:36 that they can get elected in positions to help us. Right.
01:04:36 --> 01:04:39 It's one thing for black folks to run in districts that are majority black.
01:04:40 --> 01:04:45 It's another one to, it's another thing to get black folks elected to positions
01:04:45 --> 01:04:48 in areas that are not majority black, right?
01:04:48 --> 01:04:54 And there are some individuals that have managed to do it, but we got to get
01:04:54 --> 01:04:56 more strategic with it, right? Right.
01:04:57 --> 01:05:06 So, you know, over the holidays, you know, Father's Day and Juneteenth and,
01:05:06 --> 01:05:12 you know, we got Fourth of July coming up and we had Flag Day and all this stuff.
01:05:12 --> 01:05:15 So, you know, you get to thinking about all these things.
01:05:15 --> 01:05:21 And as I'm talking to people, you know, it's more than just the subject matter we talk about.
01:05:21 --> 01:05:25 It's like, you know, on the air. It's like some of the conversations we have
01:05:25 --> 01:05:29 off the air is just like, you know, just stirring up stuff.
01:05:29 --> 01:05:34 And that's, you know, I've been trying to promote this American leadership model, right?
01:05:34 --> 01:05:39 You know, a person that really gives a damn about what's going on as opposed
01:05:39 --> 01:05:45 to how many clicks they get on social media or how many news interviews they do, right?
01:05:46 --> 01:05:51 Somebody is actually using the position with the power that's given to them
01:05:51 --> 01:05:56 to make a positive impact and addressing the issues that need to be addressed
01:05:56 --> 01:06:00 as opposed to what would be popular at Starbucks.
01:06:02 --> 01:06:07 Or the neighborhood diner, right? So anyway,
01:06:07 --> 01:06:17 I just wanted to say that, but I do want to say one other thing before I get out of here.
01:06:18 --> 01:06:24 And I've addressed this before, but it seems like folks are not getting the
01:06:24 --> 01:06:25 memo, so I'll address it again.
01:06:27 --> 01:06:31 When people run for office, they're running to serve their community.
01:06:33 --> 01:06:40 We may not agree on everything that person stands for, right?
01:06:41 --> 01:06:46 Again, we have to vote for the person that's in our best interest when I'm talking
01:06:46 --> 01:06:48 about black folks in the best interest of the nation.
01:06:48 --> 01:06:50 And usually those two things go hand in hand.
01:06:51 --> 01:06:57 I'm just speaking on behalf of Black folks. I can't speak on Latino or Asian,
01:06:57 --> 01:07:01 you know, Pacific Islander viewpoints.
01:07:02 --> 01:07:05 But from a Black perspective, most of the stuff that we push for,
01:07:06 --> 01:07:11 you know, has a common thread with advancing the nation.
01:07:11 --> 01:07:23 And the history of this nation shows that our rise and our struggles are intertwined, right?
01:07:24 --> 01:07:32 But people run for these positions to, for the most part, to do something to serve their community.
01:07:32 --> 01:07:39 That doesn't make them a target for violence ever, right?
01:07:40 --> 01:07:45 In some states, you can go to jail for assaulting an elected official.
01:07:46 --> 01:07:52 That's like a state charge. I think Mississippi is one of those states, right?
01:07:53 --> 01:07:59 Mississippi is one of those states where it's like if a police officer detains
01:07:59 --> 01:08:05 you during a legislative session or 15 days before or 15 days after, they have to let you go.
01:08:05 --> 01:08:09 Not unless you have committed a major felony.
01:08:10 --> 01:08:14 They can't put you in jail. They can't keep you in jail, right?
01:08:14 --> 01:08:19 15 days before the session, 15 days after or during the session, they have to let you go.
01:08:20 --> 01:08:24 There was a situation where I was a witness at a trial.
01:08:28 --> 01:08:34 And, you know, it was like usually witnesses have to stay in the courthouse
01:08:34 --> 01:08:36 until they get called, right?
01:08:37 --> 01:08:43 So first day I did that. The second day the judge was like, is the representative still there?
01:08:43 --> 01:08:45 He said, yes. He said, you need to let him go.
01:08:46 --> 01:08:50 He needs to do his job. The Constitution says he cannot be detained.
01:08:51 --> 01:08:55 We'll call him when we need him. I didn't ask for that.
01:08:55 --> 01:09:00 The judge said, you know, that law applies.
01:09:01 --> 01:09:06 So what I'm saying is there's protections for people.
01:09:07 --> 01:09:13 And the need for that is because, you know, that people ain't quite wrapped too tight.
01:09:13 --> 01:09:19 You know, people take things to the extreme. People can't control their emotions.
01:09:21 --> 01:09:25 So sometimes the law has to step in to offer that protection.
01:09:26 --> 01:09:29 But as a, you know, a lot of times, well, I shouldn't say a lot.
01:09:30 --> 01:09:34 In some tragic circumstances, even that's not enough.
01:09:35 --> 01:09:38 And we found that out in Minnesota, right?
01:09:38 --> 01:09:44 You know, there's been numerous incidents here in Georgia, and it's happened
01:09:44 --> 01:09:50 in Mississippi. It's happened in Illinois. It's happened in Arizona, you know, at all levels.
01:09:51 --> 01:09:57 I mean, people have tried to assassinate presidents or presidential candidates, right?
01:09:57 --> 01:10:02 And it never should get to that point, ever.
01:10:03 --> 01:10:07 It should never get to that point. You can disagree with people.
01:10:07 --> 01:10:12 You can argue, debate, whatever.
01:10:12 --> 01:10:16 But it should never, ever reach the point of violence.
01:10:16 --> 01:10:20 Because that's not what these people signed up for.
01:10:20 --> 01:10:27 Yeah, they signed up for some battles within the parameters of whatever office
01:10:27 --> 01:10:30 they seek or get elected to.
01:10:31 --> 01:10:33 They're going to be challenged on TV. They're going to be challenged on the
01:10:33 --> 01:10:39 radio. They're going to be challenged in the newspaper. But nobody should ever fear for their life.
01:10:40 --> 01:10:45 And no matter how crazy it is out there now, that's still not acceptable.
01:10:46 --> 01:10:51 That's a line that should never be crossed. So to me, it doesn't matter what
01:10:51 --> 01:10:55 political party you're affiliated with.
01:10:55 --> 01:11:00 It doesn't matter what political ideology you espouse.
01:11:01 --> 01:11:07 Nobody has the right to take your life because they disagree with a position
01:11:07 --> 01:11:12 you took or a party you run under as an elected official.
01:11:13 --> 01:11:14 Nobody has that right.
01:11:15 --> 01:11:17 And I just...
01:11:18 --> 01:11:23 You know, I never felt that way when I was elected.
01:11:23 --> 01:11:27 I never felt threatened that way. You know, and it was like,
01:11:28 --> 01:11:33 again, I have to remind people that I was in office 25 years ago.
01:11:34 --> 01:11:40 So the Internet was not as sophisticated as it is now.
01:11:40 --> 01:11:51 Right. I mean, you know, people would say things and do all that stuff, but I never,
01:11:51 --> 01:11:57 if I had a state trooper escort me to something, it was because I needed to
01:11:57 --> 01:12:00 get somewhere faster than I could drive, right?
01:12:01 --> 01:12:04 And I had to get back at a certain time, right?
01:12:04 --> 01:12:11 That's to another event. That's the only reason why I had any kind of state trooper protection.
01:12:12 --> 01:12:18 It was a service that was given to us, you know, to help us do our job.
01:12:20 --> 01:12:26 But, yeah, most of the time I went places on my own, even when I was campaigning
01:12:26 --> 01:12:31 for the statewide office. It was like, yeah, I didn't have all that.
01:12:31 --> 01:12:32 I never felt threatened.
01:12:33 --> 01:12:37 You know, I've been places where I was the only black person in the room.
01:12:38 --> 01:12:41 Never felt threatened. Right.
01:12:42 --> 01:12:48 You know, maybe those folks weren't going to vote for me, but I never felt like my life was in danger.
01:12:49 --> 01:12:54 And no elected official should ever feel that way. Not especially at their home.
01:12:55 --> 01:12:57 Right. Nobody should feel like you can
01:12:57 --> 01:13:01 come to a legislator or any elected official's home and do harm to them.
01:13:02 --> 01:13:06 You know, I had people approach me in a grocery store or whatever.
01:13:08 --> 01:13:16 Cookouts, whatever. Church, you know, it's like you're supposed to be accessible.
01:13:16 --> 01:13:21 But how could I feel accessible if I felt like some random person was just going
01:13:21 --> 01:13:24 to come up and do harm to me?
01:13:25 --> 01:13:30 That's something that should not be on the mind of people running for public
01:13:30 --> 01:13:35 office because we have to interact with people. We have to interact with the citizens.
01:13:36 --> 01:13:38 We need people to vote for us.
01:13:38 --> 01:13:42 You know, we do that for the president and all that stuff because of the value
01:13:42 --> 01:13:47 of that position and, you know, violence has happened.
01:13:48 --> 01:13:53 But for those of us that are in smaller positions, and I don't mean smaller
01:13:53 --> 01:13:58 as far as being insignificant and all that, but, you know, you know what I'm saying?
01:13:59 --> 01:14:03 You know, it's just, it should never get to that point.
01:14:05 --> 01:14:09 And, you know, to me, it doesn't matter what race the person is or whatever.
01:14:09 --> 01:14:16 It's just violence is not the answer to solve our political differences.
01:14:17 --> 01:14:21 Now, people, you know, I've always been an advocate about toning down to rhetoric
01:14:21 --> 01:14:23 and all that kind of stuff.
01:14:24 --> 01:14:29 You know, I think that in the day and age that we're in, if people don't show
01:14:29 --> 01:14:33 respect for you, then you're not obligated to show respect for them.
01:14:33 --> 01:14:37 You could take the high route, high road if you want to.
01:14:38 --> 01:14:43 You're not going to get condemned for that. But I'm not going to condemn you
01:14:43 --> 01:14:48 if, you know, somebody's in your face being disrespectful or disrespectful,
01:14:48 --> 01:14:50 your position or your time or whatever.
01:14:51 --> 01:14:56 I'm not going to say you're not of caliber if you tell them where they could go and how to get there.
01:14:58 --> 01:15:01 I literally had somebody tell me, it's like, as long as I'm living,
01:15:02 --> 01:15:03 I'll never vote for you again.
01:15:03 --> 01:15:06 And at that time, I wasn't elected or anything. I told them,
01:15:06 --> 01:15:09 well, I'll wait till you die to run.
01:15:10 --> 01:15:15 That may sound cruel, but it's like, in the context of what was going on,
01:15:15 --> 01:15:18 it was like, that's a crazy thing to say to somebody.
01:15:18 --> 01:15:24 You know what I'm saying? It's like, we have to be respectful of each other.
01:15:24 --> 01:15:28 We have to. We don't really have to like each other.
01:15:31 --> 01:15:36 I don't know if I was listening to somebody or I read some.
01:15:37 --> 01:15:45 It was like somebody asked a famous person, do you like this other famous person?
01:15:45 --> 01:15:51 And that person said, no, we are not cool. We never have been cool. And I'm okay with that.
01:15:52 --> 01:15:59 You know, we've never been in a situation where we've been friends and that's okay.
01:15:59 --> 01:16:02 I don't have to be their friend. They don't have to be mine.
01:16:04 --> 01:16:08 But it's never to the point where we're like disrespectful to each other or
01:16:08 --> 01:16:10 we're always in some kind of combative position.
01:16:10 --> 01:16:12 You ain't got to like everybody.
01:16:13 --> 01:16:18 You do have to love people, right? You do have to have some love for people
01:16:18 --> 01:16:20 to have empathy for them and all that.
01:16:20 --> 01:16:25 But just because you love them in your spiritual sense doesn't mean that you
01:16:25 --> 01:16:31 have to like them, but that love allows you to help them if they need some help.
01:16:32 --> 01:16:36 You know, if you're in a situation to help somebody that you're not cool with,
01:16:37 --> 01:16:41 you know, if they haven't done actual harm to you, you help them.
01:16:42 --> 01:16:47 That's just, I don't know, maybe I'm wrong with that. But we ain't got to be friends.
01:16:48 --> 01:16:52 There's a lot of people, you know, in politics, you know, you help people even
01:16:52 --> 01:16:53 if they didn't vote for you.
01:16:54 --> 01:16:59 If they're your constituent, if they're somebody that reaches out to you,
01:16:59 --> 01:17:03 you help them if you can. Right.
01:17:04 --> 01:17:09 That's that's just the mindset we need to be in. We can't be angered to the
01:17:09 --> 01:17:11 point where it's like we want to take them out.
01:17:12 --> 01:17:15 I hear people say that a lot about the president.
01:17:16 --> 01:17:21 And I tell them, I don't want anything to happen to him. I don't.
01:17:22 --> 01:17:27 The only thing I wish would happen would be what we call in the Christian church,
01:17:27 --> 01:17:28 the Damascus Road experience.
01:17:28 --> 01:17:31 And you've heard me use that phrase interviewing some people.
01:17:31 --> 01:17:38 Because if you understand the story about Paul, you know, the Damascus Road
01:17:38 --> 01:17:41 is where he encountered Jesus, right?
01:17:41 --> 01:17:48 And changed his life from being a persecutor of Christians to being one of the apostles, right?
01:17:49 --> 01:17:50 And so...
01:17:51 --> 01:17:55 Would be the only thing I wish could happen. But I mean, he's almost 80,
01:17:55 --> 01:17:57 so I don't think that's going to happen.
01:17:57 --> 01:18:00 I think he is who he is, right?
01:18:01 --> 01:18:06 Maybe in his politics, but personality-wise, yeah, that's not going to happen.
01:18:07 --> 01:18:10 And in his mindset, why should he change? He's been president of the United
01:18:10 --> 01:18:12 States twice, so why should he change, right?
01:18:14 --> 01:18:18 But as far as physical violence, No.
01:18:19 --> 01:18:23 What is that going to solve? All that's going to do is cause more confusion
01:18:23 --> 01:18:28 and more anarchy and most definitely more violence.
01:18:29 --> 01:18:32 Right? So I don't want that to happen.
01:18:34 --> 01:18:41 And even though I can't turn back time and save the lives of those lawmakers,
01:18:41 --> 01:18:51 but that lawmaker in Minnesota, the former Speaker of the House, or fix, you know,
01:18:52 --> 01:18:56 the Congresswoman out of Arizona, her injuries that she's had to fight through,
01:18:56 --> 01:18:59 or people that have been,
01:18:59 --> 01:19:03 you know, We had a guy who got elected sheriff here in Georgia,
01:19:03 --> 01:19:09 and before he got sworn in, he got killed in his driveway by his opponent, right?
01:19:09 --> 01:19:12 So it's just all that is crazy.
01:19:12 --> 01:19:17 And I can't turn back time to fix that. But what I can do is try to encourage
01:19:17 --> 01:19:21 people to stop and don't do it anymore.
01:19:22 --> 01:19:28 And I hope that other people, not just the listeners, but other people that
01:19:28 --> 01:19:35 have a microphone like me, do the same thing and encourage people not to do that.
01:19:37 --> 01:19:43 You know, it's irregardless of what the dispute was about or what the political
01:19:43 --> 01:19:47 motivation of the person that committed the violence, it does not matter.
01:19:47 --> 01:19:53 The issue is we do not support violence toward elected officials.
01:19:54 --> 01:20:00 We don't support violence against anybody, but we're focusing in on elected
01:20:00 --> 01:20:02 officials. We don't endorse that.
01:20:02 --> 01:20:07 We condemn that. We do not want to see that happen ever again.
01:20:07 --> 01:20:14 We settle our differences in our respective arenas, whether that's city hall,
01:20:14 --> 01:20:19 county courthouse, state capitol, U.S. capitol.
01:20:19 --> 01:20:26 That's where we fight our battles, whether it's on a debate stage or at a county fair.
01:20:27 --> 01:20:31 That's where we fight our battles. We don't go to people's houses.
01:20:31 --> 01:20:35 We don't use guns. We don't use weapons.
01:20:36 --> 01:20:39 We just don't do that. That's not what this is about.
01:20:41 --> 01:20:45 Politics is a battle of the mind. It's a battle of the heart.
01:20:46 --> 01:20:50 When we ask, when the pastor used to ask the question, are all hearts and minds
01:20:50 --> 01:20:54 clear? Right? Do you have an understanding?
01:20:54 --> 01:20:59 So we should have an understanding. All hearts and minds should be clear that
01:20:59 --> 01:21:04 violence in a political sense is unacceptable.
01:21:05 --> 01:21:10 Nobody that takes an oath to serve office should ever feel threatened.
01:21:11 --> 01:21:17 By taking that oath. Now, people are going to have fears about whether they're not reelected or not.
01:21:17 --> 01:21:20 That's a whole other conversation, right?
01:21:21 --> 01:21:28 But nobody should be in jeopardy of losing their life for being an elected official.
01:21:29 --> 01:21:34 Or even aspiring to be an elected official. Because we've had incidences where
01:21:34 --> 01:21:37 people have been killed because they were running for something. Right?
01:21:39 --> 01:21:43 So let's do better. let's do better.
01:21:44 --> 01:21:50 Let's focus in on using the power of the vote, using the power of protest,
01:21:51 --> 01:21:54 using the power of activism to make difference.
01:21:56 --> 01:22:02 Don't resort to the power of violence. That's not an option.
01:22:02 --> 01:22:06 All right, guys. Thank you for listening. Until next time.
01:22:10 --> 01:22:54 Music.
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