Host Erik Fleming interviews Massachusetts State Senator Lydia Edwards about her journey from public-interest attorney to state senator and National Guard JAG officer, highlighting her work on the Domestic Workers Bill of Rights, the Protect Act, and relief for federal workers during shutdowns.
The conversation also touches on Boston’s rising political cohort, the role of the National Guard, national political strategy ahead of 2026, and recent community tragedies and commemorations that underscore the urgency of justice and accountability.
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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00:01:15 --> 00:01:20 The following program is hosted by the NBG Podcast Network.
00:02:00 --> 00:02:05 Hello, and welcome to Another Moment with Erik Fleming. I am your host, Erik Fleming.
00:02:06 --> 00:02:14 So today, I have one guest who is somebody that I have admired from afar for
00:02:14 --> 00:02:18 the work that she has been doing over the last 12 years.
00:02:19 --> 00:02:24 And I'm really, really honored that she was able to come on,
00:02:24 --> 00:02:29 Senator Lydia Edwards. She is a member of the Massachusetts state senate.
00:02:30 --> 00:02:38 But she and others, she comes from a city council group that several of the
00:02:38 --> 00:02:43 members that she served with, including herself, have moved on to higher office.
00:02:44 --> 00:02:47 And so we'll talk a little bit about that as well as, you know,
00:02:47 --> 00:02:52 some issues that she's dealing with and even ask her some questions about what
00:02:52 --> 00:02:54 she wants her legacy to be.
00:02:54 --> 00:02:59 So it was it was very, very short, but very informative conversation.
00:02:59 --> 00:03:02 And I really appreciate her taking the time to do it.
00:03:02 --> 00:03:07 And as you can, when you hear the interview, there were some challenges we had
00:03:07 --> 00:03:14 to deal with. But I think you'll enjoy the conversation I was able to have with her. Grace is back.
00:03:15 --> 00:03:20 So we'll get to her in a moment. But as always, I want to encourage people to
00:03:21 --> 00:03:23 support the podcast any way possible.
00:03:23 --> 00:03:31 You know, go to www.momenterik.com and you can see all the various ways that you can support it.
00:03:31 --> 00:03:35 Just going to the website shows support, let alone, you know,
00:03:35 --> 00:03:40 if you want to donate, subscribe, listen to past episodes, all that stuff, right?
00:03:41 --> 00:03:48 So I really want to encourage you all to visit the site and tell others about what we're doing.
00:03:50 --> 00:03:54 Because in this moment in time, as we were just watching.
00:03:55 --> 00:04:01 This administration go after anybody in the press that's actually doing good
00:04:01 --> 00:04:05 work and actually trying to expose people to the truth,
00:04:06 --> 00:04:08 we see how this administration is going after them.
00:04:09 --> 00:04:14 And so if we continue to support independent podcasters like myself,
00:04:14 --> 00:04:19 we'll outnumber and we'll keep them on the defensive, right,
00:04:19 --> 00:04:21 instead of us being on the defensive.
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00:04:26 --> 00:04:27 I appreciate y'all listening.
00:04:28 --> 00:04:32 All right, let's go ahead and kick this program off. And as always,
00:04:33 --> 00:04:36 we kick it off with a moment of news with Grace G.
00:04:43 --> 00:04:47 Thanks, Erik. An ICE agent's fatal shooting of a Mexican national,
00:04:47 --> 00:04:52 Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, in Houston has sparked local demands for independent
00:04:52 --> 00:04:56 investigations and potential legal action from the Mexican government.
00:04:56 --> 00:05:01 Authorities discovered the body of 18-year-old Nolan Wells on Horn Island,
00:05:01 --> 00:05:03 off the Mississippi Gulf Coast,
00:05:03 --> 00:05:06 days after he went missing during a 4th of July outing with friends.
00:05:07 --> 00:05:11 An independent autopsy commissioned by the family of 1-year-old Kohen Wiley,
00:05:11 --> 00:05:15 has ruled his fatal shooting by a Mississippi police officer a homicide.
00:05:16 --> 00:05:20 President Trump dismantled the Bipartisan Election Assistance Commission by
00:05:20 --> 00:05:23 forcing out its three remaining commissioners.
00:05:23 --> 00:05:28 A recent Middle East ceasefire deteriorated as U.S. and Iranian forces exchanged
00:05:28 --> 00:05:33 strikes amid the burial of slain Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
00:05:33 --> 00:05:38 A federal judge ordered the release of nearly $5.8 million to E.
00:05:38 --> 00:05:42 Jean Carroll to fulfill a civil verdict against President Trump following a
00:05:42 --> 00:05:43 failed Supreme Court appeal.
00:05:44 --> 00:05:49 Main Democratic Senate nominee Graham Plattner withdrew from the race amid sexual
00:05:49 --> 00:05:54 assault allegations, forcing the state party to replace him by July 27.
00:05:54 --> 00:05:59 Michigan State Senator Mallory McMorrow suspended her U.S. Senate campaign,
00:05:59 --> 00:06:02 narrowing the Democratic primary to a two-person race.
00:06:02 --> 00:06:08 Former Wisconsin Judge Hannah Dugan was fined $5 and spared prison time
00:06:08 --> 00:06:11 for obstructing a federal immigration arrest at her courthouse.
00:06:11 --> 00:06:16 President Trump notified Congress of his intention to remove Syria from the
00:06:16 --> 00:06:18 list of state sponsors of terrorism.
00:06:18 --> 00:06:24 President Trump pardoned 11 people, primarily those convicted of Clean Air Act violations.
00:06:24 --> 00:06:29 Treasury Secretary Scott Besant announced the U.S. government is abandoning
00:06:29 --> 00:06:32 plans to feature Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill.
00:06:33 --> 00:06:38 And George E. Johnson, the entrepreneur who revolutionized the black hair care
00:06:38 --> 00:06:45 industry, died at the age of 99 I am Grace Gee, and this has been a Moment of News.
00:06:52 --> 00:06:56 All right. Thank you, Grace, for that moment of news, and it's good to have you back.
00:06:57 --> 00:07:03 All right. Now it is time for my guest, Senator Lydia Edwards.
00:07:03 --> 00:07:08 Senator Lydia Edwards is a career advocate, activist, and voice on behalf of
00:07:08 --> 00:07:09 the society's most vulnerable.
00:07:10 --> 00:07:14 Prior to being elected to the state Senate and the Boston City Council,
00:07:14 --> 00:07:17 Lydia worked extensively in the legal field,
00:07:18 --> 00:07:21 working as a public interest attorney with Greater Boston Legal Services,
00:07:22 --> 00:07:26 focusing on labor issues such as fighting for access to unemployment insurance,
00:07:27 --> 00:07:32 back wages, fair treatment for domestic workers, and combating human trafficking.
00:07:32 --> 00:07:36 She has led several legislative priorities during her time as state senator,
00:07:36 --> 00:07:41 including eliminating forced broker fees, protecting federal workers and service
00:07:41 --> 00:07:45 members during government shutdowns, and passing the Affordable Homes Act.
00:07:46 --> 00:07:51 In March 2025, she was appointed chair of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary,
00:07:51 --> 00:07:55 overseeing matters related to crimes, penalties, sentencing,
00:07:55 --> 00:07:58 court records, judicial appointments, and court administration.
00:07:59 --> 00:08:04 In addition to her role as a state senator, she serves as first lieutenant officer
00:08:04 --> 00:08:09 in the Massachusetts National Guard, working as a judge advocate general where
00:08:09 --> 00:08:12 she addresses military legal matters.
00:08:12 --> 00:08:16 Ladies and gentlemen, it is my distinct honor and privilege to have as a guest,
00:08:17 --> 00:08:21 on this podcast, Senator Lydia Edwards.
00:08:32 --> 00:08:37 All right. Senator Lydia Edwards, how are you doing, sister? You doing good?
00:08:38 --> 00:08:43 I'm doing good. It's a beautiful weather today. We're celebrating the 250th
00:08:43 --> 00:08:49 of the country in Boston. And it's actually, it's a nice kind of beautiful energy out there.
00:08:50 --> 00:08:53 And I understand that you are on a boat as we are doing this interview.
00:08:53 --> 00:08:58 So we're going to get this done so they'll let you off the boat and you won't
00:08:58 --> 00:08:59 get stuck out in the water.
00:09:00 --> 00:09:03 But again, I really appreciate you doing this.
00:09:04 --> 00:09:09 So normally what I do to start off the interviews is I do a couple of icebreakers.
00:09:10 --> 00:09:13 So the first icebreaker I want you to respond to is a quote.
00:09:14 --> 00:09:20 Okay. And the quote is, I tried to lead with the same convictions that I saw
00:09:20 --> 00:09:25 in Dr. King and with the belief that we are more connected than we are not?
00:09:26 --> 00:09:33 My first reaction is I try to believe that second part every single day,
00:09:33 --> 00:09:37 that we are more connected than we are apart.
00:09:37 --> 00:09:44 And sometimes can be very taxing and very difficult and very hard if you live
00:09:44 --> 00:09:48 on social media or in a society.
00:09:49 --> 00:09:56 I do fundamentally believe that Dr. King is the example of leadership,
00:09:57 --> 00:10:02 imperfect leadership, but I think the modern example of leadership.
00:10:03 --> 00:10:09 He should be, those of us in public service should be aspiring to be like his
00:10:09 --> 00:10:14 ability to galvanize, his ability to speak to all audiences.
00:10:14 --> 00:10:20 He never spoke above the average person, but he could also battle and go back
00:10:20 --> 00:10:26 and forth with the intellectuals and his irreverent and constant belief in faith.
00:10:29 --> 00:10:33 So that's my reaction. Yeah, that's good. That's good. Good.
00:10:33 --> 00:10:37 All right. So now the next icebreaker is what I call 20 questions.
00:10:37 --> 00:10:41 So I need you to give me a number between 1 and 20.
00:10:42 --> 00:10:48 17. What's something about people who see the world differently than you that
00:10:48 --> 00:10:49 you've come to appreciate?
00:10:51 --> 00:10:55 I really appreciate, I really appreciate when they see the world differently
00:10:55 --> 00:11:03 from me, their ability to communicate and back up and explain how their vision is formed.
00:11:04 --> 00:11:10 I appreciate that because I do understand that if you understand why someone
00:11:10 --> 00:11:13 thinks the way that they do, then you can connect with them.
00:11:14 --> 00:11:17 It doesn't mean you're going to agree with them, but you can speak to them if
00:11:17 --> 00:11:18 it's faith that brought them there.
00:11:18 --> 00:11:22 If it's military that brought them there if it's education that brought them
00:11:22 --> 00:11:25 there whatever brought them there to that opinion,
00:11:25 --> 00:11:29 And you can determine that based on the receipts that they give you Is then
00:11:29 --> 00:11:34 for me an opportunity to connect with them through faith through military through
00:11:34 --> 00:11:36 whatever it is all right, so,
00:11:38 --> 00:11:41 I'm going to combine this question. It was two separate questions,
00:11:41 --> 00:11:42 but I'm going to combine it.
00:11:43 --> 00:11:46 One, what led you to pursue a career in politics?
00:11:47 --> 00:11:55 And was what happened in 2014 kind of the fuel to really commit yourself to
00:11:55 --> 00:11:56 be in the public service?
00:11:57 --> 00:12:05 So or why I mean I like the way you phrased the question to what made you have
00:12:05 --> 00:12:09 a career in politics because I want everyone to understand,
00:12:10 --> 00:12:15 if you are dealing with power dynamics anywhere in your life you are politicking.
00:12:16 --> 00:12:22 So politics is everywhere at your job at school with your neighbors all that
00:12:22 --> 00:12:27 stuff so I appreciate that what made me choose to make it kind of my full-time gig,
00:12:27 --> 00:12:32 was, it came from advocating for poor people, nannies and house cleaners.
00:12:33 --> 00:12:37 And we would hit a brick wall with a certain amount of rights indignity we could
00:12:37 --> 00:12:41 have unless we should change the law. And that.
00:12:42 --> 00:12:50 Go ahead. In 2014, I was there when I started the Domestic Worker Bill of Rights or.
00:12:50 --> 00:12:52 That's correct. How do you. OK.
00:12:53 --> 00:13:01 So 2014 was a year where we knew that we had hit the ceiling.
00:13:01 --> 00:13:03 And so as a result, we were going,
00:13:04 --> 00:13:10 to have to change the law and organize multiracial, multi-class movement.
00:13:10 --> 00:13:15 And we won doing it that way, meeting people where they are,
00:13:15 --> 00:13:20 meeting employers, meeting people with disabilities and talking with them and
00:13:20 --> 00:13:23 understanding that they fundamentally,
00:13:24 --> 00:13:29 had something connected with us, which is that they needed their workers to
00:13:29 --> 00:13:31 be cared for and we did too.
00:13:32 --> 00:13:37 And so in 2014, we passed the domestic labor of rights. It was quite amazing.
00:13:38 --> 00:13:41 Yeah. Yeah. And that, that, that, that was some awesome work,
00:13:41 --> 00:13:49 but you caught my attention when I saw what you were doing with the protect act.
00:13:49 --> 00:13:55 So why did you feel that legislation was necessary?
00:13:56 --> 00:13:58 And why is it not the law yet?
00:14:00 --> 00:14:06 So it's necessary because right now immigrants are fundamentally under attack
00:14:06 --> 00:14:11 and it's because of the very same original sin of this country which is racism,
00:14:11 --> 00:14:16 and the original sin that we must other people in this case in all in most cases
00:14:16 --> 00:14:18 people of color immigrants of color,
00:14:19 --> 00:14:26 to make a a nation that i think that they would prefer which is all white and,
00:14:26 --> 00:14:28 this is part of the same conversation.
00:14:28 --> 00:14:33 To me, it is othering of people. And we do not have a functional federal government.
00:14:33 --> 00:14:40 We do not have a government that is dedicated to civil rights or to the dignity and humanity of all.
00:14:40 --> 00:14:45 So it relies then and pushes then on the states. States must come up with whatever
00:14:45 --> 00:14:48 protections they can for immigrants, people of color.
00:14:49 --> 00:14:53 And it's unfortunate, but it took two white people getting shot in the head
00:14:53 --> 00:14:58 for a lot of states to get that sense you know if you talk about Pretti and
00:14:58 --> 00:14:59 that Good over in Minnesota,
00:15:00 --> 00:15:04 now the good thing is it is in the process of becoming law we have passed a
00:15:04 --> 00:15:08 version in the senate the house has passed a version in the house and so what
00:15:08 --> 00:15:10 they're doing is coming up with a conference version,
00:15:11 --> 00:15:16 of combining the two which will then be laid before the governor's desk so i'm
00:15:16 --> 00:15:19 very confident we're going to have one of the most expansive i'm very excited,
00:15:19 --> 00:15:22 so yeah okay well i mean you know.
00:15:24 --> 00:15:27 I i i was a legislator for nine years in Mississippi so i understand conferences
00:15:27 --> 00:15:32 and all that but we we didn't have the window that y'all had or y'all have we
00:15:32 --> 00:15:34 had to get everything done in like four months.
00:15:36 --> 00:15:37 And then go home so,
00:15:38 --> 00:15:45 You also were involved with the legislation, the Federal Worker and Service Member Relief Act.
00:15:46 --> 00:15:49 You worked on that because you were trying to get some people some help during
00:15:49 --> 00:15:50 the shutdown. Is that correct?
00:15:51 --> 00:15:56 Again, another example of meeting people where they are, understanding the need
00:15:56 --> 00:15:59 and the acute pain that is being caused by a shutdown.
00:15:59 --> 00:16:03 I am in the National Guard, the Massachusetts Army National Guard.
00:16:03 --> 00:16:10 I'm a captain, and I work extremely hard to represent soldiers as a JAG officer, an attorney for them.
00:16:10 --> 00:16:17 And soldiers were coming in to me while I have legal hours and saying, I don't have the money.
00:16:18 --> 00:16:21 I don't have the rent. I don't have the mortgage because I'm being furloughed
00:16:21 --> 00:16:25 in my full-time federal job, required to work but not getting paid.
00:16:26 --> 00:16:30 And then I am having, in some cases, to do duty, but I'm not sure we're going
00:16:30 --> 00:16:32 to get paid this weekend, ma'am.
00:16:33 --> 00:16:38 I don't know what I'm going to do. And I remember thinking when it came to a
00:16:38 --> 00:16:43 moment of crisis that impacted all of us, this state of Massachusetts, like many other states,
00:16:44 --> 00:16:48 moved immediately to have eviction moratoriums during COVID.
00:16:49 --> 00:16:52 And we said, you will not evict anybody in this moment of crisis.
00:16:53 --> 00:16:58 And I felt this is a man-made moment of crisis, but it's still impacting people in the worst way.
00:16:59 --> 00:17:02 And I said, we will do the same. For federal workers and service members,
00:17:03 --> 00:17:06 you will not evict them during a shutdown if they're furloughed.
00:17:06 --> 00:17:07 They don't have the money.
00:17:08 --> 00:17:11 Moreover, what we also provide is if you are a homeowner and have a mortgage,
00:17:11 --> 00:17:14 you can take six months of that mortgage and.
00:17:16 --> 00:17:20 Put it to the end of your mortgage line. No fees, no penalties.
00:17:21 --> 00:17:25 And it lasts as long as the shutdown is plus another 30 days.
00:17:26 --> 00:17:30 And in some cases, the governor can get another 45 on top of that.
00:17:31 --> 00:17:34 Because, you know, I was hearing from the president, maybe I will give you pain,
00:17:34 --> 00:17:39 maybe I won't. That's a cruel thing to do, and it ended, as you recall, in November.
00:17:39 --> 00:17:42 And in November, that's right before Thanksgiving.
00:17:43 --> 00:17:46 And then you have the first of the month, November, and then you have Christmas,
00:17:47 --> 00:17:49 and then you have the first of the month, January.
00:17:50 --> 00:17:51 No one could get back from that.
00:17:52 --> 00:17:57 That's why we did it. I met people were there. I saw their acute pains.
00:17:57 --> 00:17:59 I believe that was more in common with a lot of military folks.
00:17:59 --> 00:18:05 We don't agree politically at all it didn't matter just what's happening wasn't right.
00:18:07 --> 00:18:11 Yeah. Now, I do have a National Guard question, but I did want to get your thoughts
00:18:11 --> 00:18:13 about the judge in Wisconsin.
00:18:13 --> 00:18:19 She got convicted for obstructing an ICE arrest outside of a courtroom,
00:18:19 --> 00:18:23 but she wasn't sentenced in jail time. She was just fined $5.
00:18:23 --> 00:18:27 How do you feel about that? Do you feel that was fair? Do you feel that was not fair?
00:18:28 --> 00:18:29 I know that's not your state, but.
00:18:30 --> 00:18:34 It's not my state, but we did have a similar situation where we ended up to
00:18:34 --> 00:18:36 judge for supposedly intervening in federal work.
00:18:37 --> 00:18:40 And I want to say I felt there was an overreach from the federal government.
00:18:40 --> 00:18:43 And that's why we're passing the Protect Act, to be right, Frank,
00:18:43 --> 00:18:45 saying our courts are a special place.
00:18:45 --> 00:18:49 You need to get out. And as long as they are under our purview,
00:18:49 --> 00:18:53 the state courts, we will let you know when you are welcome to come in.
00:18:54 --> 00:18:57 And I believe that about the independence of the courts. If at the end of the
00:18:57 --> 00:19:03 day, all I have to do is wait outside to get your judge or come inside and grab
00:19:03 --> 00:19:07 them from the bench, as to me, that's a real problem with the separation, of course.
00:19:08 --> 00:19:12 I don't like a lot of decisions that these Trump judges are making.
00:19:13 --> 00:19:16 I would never think to go in and arrest them.
00:19:17 --> 00:19:21 Yeah. All right. Since you mentioned that you're with the National Guard,
00:19:21 --> 00:19:27 what are your thoughts about the units being deployed to deal with immigration and urban crime issues?
00:19:27 --> 00:19:31 I think, well, we have to remember National Guard serves two levels.
00:19:32 --> 00:19:35 The state level, where in many cases, when it comes to emergencies,
00:19:35 --> 00:19:38 when it comes to fires, when it comes to floods, when it comes to earthquakes
00:19:38 --> 00:19:44 and snow removal and things like that, the National Guard are often used to help assist.
00:19:45 --> 00:19:50 So being involved in local moments is not a problem, but being weaponized to
00:19:50 --> 00:19:54 be a second version of police, that to me is unconstitutional.
00:19:55 --> 00:20:00 I'm not. I didn't. No, I don't care if you do put me on federal orders for them
00:20:00 --> 00:20:02 to follow what the federal government says.
00:20:03 --> 00:20:07 I you cannot just get a second version of the police.
00:20:09 --> 00:20:12 I think that's impossible. Yes, ma'am. All right.
00:20:12 --> 00:20:16 So you have had the privilege of serving in both the Boston City Council and
00:20:16 --> 00:20:20 the Massachusetts State Senate, which I found out I learned today that they
00:20:20 --> 00:20:25 call your legislative session the general court. I think that's interesting.
00:20:26 --> 00:20:29 What has been the most rewarding and which has been the most challenging for you?
00:20:30 --> 00:20:35 I mean, when you serve in the city council, if you are an organizer,
00:20:35 --> 00:20:41 if you are a people person and you like grassroots, city council and local offices are where it's at.
00:20:42 --> 00:20:46 You know being able to meet people at church being able to say let's get together
00:20:46 --> 00:20:50 right now We're going to talk about this curb cut or this Crossing station the
00:20:50 --> 00:20:51 kids aren't safe and being able
00:20:51 --> 00:20:56 to do all those things that's city council And I miss that at the state
00:20:56 --> 00:21:01 level because now I as a state center of cities in my district And I can't get
00:21:01 --> 00:21:02 as hyper local as I used to,
00:21:03 --> 00:21:08 And I miss that that being said when you pass a law at the state level it's
00:21:08 --> 00:21:10 for all 7 million people in Massachusetts,
00:21:11 --> 00:21:18 And so, like, I could never do the Federal Workers Civil Rights Act as a city counselor, right?
00:21:20 --> 00:21:24 So that's why I think that that's one of the benefits, but one of the,
00:21:25 --> 00:21:27 what I miss a lot from being a city counselor.
00:21:28 --> 00:21:33 Now, several of your fellow council members have, like, you ascended to higher office.
00:21:33 --> 00:21:39 So my question to you is, how does it feel to be part of this particular era in Boston politics?
00:21:40 --> 00:21:46 I feel like I'm part of the Voltron of, like, VIPs, you know,
00:21:46 --> 00:21:49 that Michelle, I got to serve with Michelle Wu, the current mayor.
00:21:49 --> 00:21:53 I got to serve with Ayanna Pressley, the congresswoman. I got to serve with
00:21:53 --> 00:21:55 Andrea Campbell, the attorney general.
00:21:55 --> 00:22:02 I mean, I mean, you know, so when you think of all of these women who you've
00:22:02 --> 00:22:07 known and worked with, I, men and women, but those, which happen to be all women,
00:22:08 --> 00:22:11 I'm, I'm beyond proud. I feel like I'm part of a legacy.
00:22:11 --> 00:22:18 Yeah, yeah. In sports analogy, I like the 1983 or the, I guess,
00:22:18 --> 00:22:22 80, 84 or 93 NBA draft classes.
00:22:22 --> 00:22:26 How many Hall of Famers and all that that came out of there.
00:22:27 --> 00:22:32 So how do you navigate in this current political climate?
00:22:33 --> 00:22:37 I know that in Massachusetts, y'all have the majority in both houses and all
00:22:37 --> 00:22:41 that, and you've got the trifecta because you've got the governor's office too,
00:22:42 --> 00:22:47 but you're still in this current political environment. How does that impact what y'all are doing?
00:22:48 --> 00:22:53 I think sometimes it's a blessing sometimes if you are of the political.
00:22:53 --> 00:22:56 Thank you, guys. Absolutely. Thank you. Goodbye.
00:22:57 --> 00:23:00 I think it's a blessing when you are part of the majority.
00:23:00 --> 00:23:04 I'm sure it's very tough to be a Republican in Massachusetts.
00:23:04 --> 00:23:09 But at the same time, sometimes we take for granted, right? When you're a hyper
00:23:09 --> 00:23:12 supermajority like us, sometimes you can move slow because you know,
00:23:12 --> 00:23:14 okay, if we didn't do it now, we'll do it another time.
00:23:15 --> 00:23:19 Because you feel that your colleagues' politics haven't changed much,
00:23:19 --> 00:23:22 and so therefore you'll be able to hit it on another time.
00:23:22 --> 00:23:28 And sometimes I think we can fail to meet the sense of urgency that we need
00:23:28 --> 00:23:34 to because, well, it's going to happen is the headspace. Right.
00:23:35 --> 00:23:41 I think sometimes having a Republican governor has pushed us to actually be
00:23:41 --> 00:23:44 more aggressive and more urgent.
00:23:44 --> 00:23:48 And so I think sometimes it's almost a little bit, you know,
00:23:48 --> 00:23:50 you can get a little too comfortable.
00:23:51 --> 00:23:55 So your advice to your colleagues, either in a similar situation,
00:23:55 --> 00:24:00 well, in a similar situation would be don't take it for granted, right?
00:24:03 --> 00:24:10 What would you say to your colleagues like, you know, in Mississippi or in Georgia or Alabama?
00:24:10 --> 00:24:15 How would you advise them in navigating the climate?
00:24:16 --> 00:24:19 My colleagues in Mississippi, first of all, I say, stay strong,
00:24:20 --> 00:24:22 stay strong, stay focused.
00:24:22 --> 00:24:28 And also, don't be, know that, I mean, a lot of us, you know,
00:24:29 --> 00:24:32 I'm sitting here patting myself on the back for what I can get done.
00:24:32 --> 00:24:37 And I know that for a fact, I don't have any of the headwinds that my colleagues
00:24:37 --> 00:24:40 in Mississippi do, my Democratic colleagues, for example.
00:24:40 --> 00:24:49 And so a lot of times what is a win for Mississippi is preventing harm and preventing cruelty.
00:24:49 --> 00:24:53 That is a constant conversation in other places that, again,
00:24:53 --> 00:24:59 we don't really have that sense, right? It's how much better we choose to make
00:24:59 --> 00:25:01 ourselves in many cases or how lazy we're going to be.
00:25:02 --> 00:25:08 But I don't think we have the same sense of cruelty prevention, right?
00:25:08 --> 00:25:11 And I'm not going to sit there and say that we don't have racism and issues
00:25:11 --> 00:25:13 here. I'm just saying it's different.
00:25:14 --> 00:25:19 I think in many cases, it is important for us to still learn.
00:25:19 --> 00:25:27 I have stuff to learn from Mississippi because when you do win and when you do get things done,
00:25:27 --> 00:25:31 you've done it under such levels of,
00:25:31 --> 00:25:35 machinations and so many different things that that i don't even have to consider
00:25:36 --> 00:25:37 i should sit down and listen i
00:25:37 --> 00:25:41 mean everybody thinks about what was the convention that Mississippi dems,
00:25:41 --> 00:25:46 went to go take or the black Mississippi dem in the 60s i think it was and i'm
00:25:46 --> 00:25:49 going to the democratic convention we look at was that Fannie Lou that was correct,
00:25:50 --> 00:25:54 okay miss Hamer she's man i don't know her like that i'll be calling her by her first name.
00:25:56 --> 00:26:02 So that kind of organizing headspace and understanding with all that she and
00:26:02 --> 00:26:06 that party was up against to move, that's where the genius is.
00:26:07 --> 00:26:11 And us in the Northeast and around the country oftentimes think we're where
00:26:11 --> 00:26:13 the genius is because we're doing things.
00:26:14 --> 00:26:20 It ain't smart when you're surrounded by Harvard, right? And people who want
00:26:20 --> 00:26:23 to be cool and the hard part.
00:26:24 --> 00:26:27 And so I would say to my colleagues, keep up the fight.
00:26:28 --> 00:26:34 We are watching you. We are seeing you. I've read books about cooperative ownership.
00:26:35 --> 00:26:38 And we're looking at, I think, the mayor of Jackson, Mississippi,
00:26:39 --> 00:26:44 and understanding how and what to do with Black ownership.
00:26:44 --> 00:26:51 And black brilliance, black joy, and all of those things exist in abundance in Mississippi.
00:26:52 --> 00:26:54 We don't have that much here in the Northeast.
00:26:55 --> 00:26:57 Something to be seen and learned.
00:26:58 --> 00:27:01 And also I would like to say thank you to the folks of Gulfport.
00:27:03 --> 00:27:09 During Hurricane Katrina, I came down from law school and I went to Gulfport,
00:27:09 --> 00:27:13 Mississippi, and I got assigned there. We were helping people fill out forms for
00:27:13 --> 00:27:17 insurance at the time. I was very young. So this, we're talking 20 years ago.
00:27:18 --> 00:27:23 And there was this whole kind of equal justice works movement to go down from different law schools.
00:27:23 --> 00:27:29 And so I had a great time in Gulfport, Mississippi, and I felt welcomed. I felt loved.
00:27:30 --> 00:27:34 I felt cared for from people who are dealing with all sorts of things.
00:27:34 --> 00:27:37 They still made me feel at home.
00:27:38 --> 00:27:42 So long answer, but that's what I would say. That's cool, because,
00:27:42 --> 00:27:46 you know, that was when I was I was in the legislature during that time.
00:27:46 --> 00:27:50 And so I want to say thank you for you and the other law students that came
00:27:50 --> 00:27:52 down to help our folks at that point.
00:27:52 --> 00:27:58 Yeah. So why are Democrats and Republicans scared of progressive public officials?
00:28:00 --> 00:28:01 I would say.
00:28:04 --> 00:28:12 Let's not have too big of a lump sum of both. I would say there's more old guard, Dems.
00:28:12 --> 00:28:15 Not all Dems are scared of progressives. The old guard is.
00:28:16 --> 00:28:19 Okay? Or mistrusting of them, or they don't believe.
00:28:20 --> 00:28:25 And when I'm talking about them, those old guard Dems, what I would say is they become cynical.
00:28:25 --> 00:28:30 They become hardened. And I think in many cases, the progressives remind them
00:28:30 --> 00:28:35 of themselves, a younger version of themselves or an idealistic version of themselves,
00:28:35 --> 00:28:39 whatever age they are, where they truly believe that you can change the world.
00:28:41 --> 00:28:45 And I think they resent that. Or the world has really dated them.
00:28:46 --> 00:28:51 And I believe that if you get to the point in your political career where some
00:28:51 --> 00:28:56 young person saying we should have Medicare for all, or some young person saying,
00:28:56 --> 00:29:01 I want to have immigration reform, I don't want to have ICE,
00:29:01 --> 00:29:04 that bothers you. That irks your spirit.
00:29:05 --> 00:29:06 You need to retire.
00:29:07 --> 00:29:11 Okay, it sounds like you're too jaded. You're too cynical And you know,
00:29:12 --> 00:29:15 I don't need politicians that lack vision. That means you lack vision.
00:29:15 --> 00:29:19 You lack hope I'm not doing it for the money.
00:29:19 --> 00:29:24 I'm a lawyer. I'm not making that much for New England and for this area Right.
00:29:24 --> 00:29:26 If I wanted to just go make money, I'd go to a law firm.
00:29:26 --> 00:29:31 I chose public service. Okay. I chose to be a public defender I'm choosing this
00:29:32 --> 00:29:35 Okay, so it's because I have vision.
00:29:35 --> 00:29:39 I have hope I have faith And so when I meet a young person is I don't want to
00:29:39 --> 00:29:43 help you Because my vision and my hope and my faith aligns with yours.
00:29:43 --> 00:29:48 I'm like come aboard Come on, please So that's what I would say about dems in
00:29:48 --> 00:29:49 terms of the republicans,
00:29:50 --> 00:29:53 They don't want big government and they don't want necessarily equality and
00:29:53 --> 00:29:57 they don't necessarily want everybody to have Everything,
00:29:58 --> 00:30:03 I think it's a matter of being cheap and a scarcity mindset I mean they've hated,
00:30:03 --> 00:30:07 they've hated the new deal minimum wage over time,
00:30:08 --> 00:30:14 right for workers to organize they were against that then they believe naively,
00:30:14 --> 00:30:19 or almost intentionally ignorantly in a market that somehow is going to fix
00:30:19 --> 00:30:24 everything and when you have that headspace I truly believe you see,
00:30:25 --> 00:30:29 money as your god and making it as your religion I don't.
00:30:31 --> 00:30:39 Alright so two more questions when all is said and done what issue would you like to look back and say,
00:30:40 --> 00:30:46 I made a difference this is I can say this is something that I've put my heart
00:30:46 --> 00:30:50 and soul in and you're seeing the fruits of the harvest,
00:30:51 --> 00:30:54 I mean that was the hardest question you've asked so far,
00:30:55 --> 00:31:00 I have no idea. I think there's so many areas. I mean, I would like to think
00:31:00 --> 00:31:04 there's one issue that would fix everything else.
00:31:04 --> 00:31:10 And I've kind of always said there's two areas where fundamentally big government,
00:31:10 --> 00:31:16 almost communist about equality, about ensuring that everyone has their fair
00:31:16 --> 00:31:20 amount and assured, and that's education and health, healthcare.
00:31:21 --> 00:31:27 So maybe a fundamental thing that I would love to be able to say when I go meet
00:31:27 --> 00:31:30 my maker or when I say I'm done with politics is.
00:31:31 --> 00:31:37 Every child born gets a quality education no matter where they're born.
00:31:38 --> 00:31:43 And I've been able to make sure that I don't know if that's possible and that
00:31:43 --> 00:31:46 nobody is scared of being sick in this country.
00:31:46 --> 00:31:51 And we take our sick care health system and actually turn it into a health care
00:31:51 --> 00:31:59 system where we are investing heavily in people being healthy and not heavily in people being sick.
00:32:00 --> 00:32:03 And the sick care system is what we have. We will invest after the fact,
00:32:04 --> 00:32:07 once the disease has spread, once you're in the emergency room.
00:32:08 --> 00:32:11 You know, that's when we're forced to invest. We're not actually even investing.
00:32:11 --> 00:32:13 We're forced to spend because you're right there.
00:32:13 --> 00:32:17 And when a health care system is what I, in some cases, had growing up.
00:32:17 --> 00:32:18 I don't know if you had it when you were growing up.
00:32:19 --> 00:32:23 And you went to school and the dentist came in and taught you how to brush your teeth.
00:32:24 --> 00:32:28 And they would show and examine your teeth. They also examined your vision.
00:32:29 --> 00:32:31 I remember that we were taught about how to eat.
00:32:32 --> 00:32:33 And there was a school nurse.
00:32:34 --> 00:32:40 I went to department public, defense schools, DOD schools, military schools.
00:32:40 --> 00:32:42 So we had school nurses, everything.
00:32:44 --> 00:32:47 That one, that's, that's, right.
00:32:48 --> 00:32:54 So schools could be, quite frankly, the equalizing place and the civic engaging
00:32:54 --> 00:32:55 place that they should be.
00:32:56 --> 00:32:58 So those are the two issues I'd love to be able to say.
00:32:59 --> 00:33:06 There are many more, but those would be the two. So finish this sentence. I have hope because.
00:33:07 --> 00:33:12 I have hope because too many of my ancestors that came before me never got to
00:33:12 --> 00:33:16 have the life that I have. I have hope because I'm grateful.
00:33:17 --> 00:33:22 That's why. That's cool. All right. Senator Lydia Edwards, we can safely say
00:33:22 --> 00:33:26 to the listeners that you have made it off the boat and you are on your way to the house.
00:33:27 --> 00:33:32 Yes. How can, how can people reach out to you and keep track of what you're doing?
00:33:33 --> 00:33:36 Well, we just started a sub stack so I can talk a little bit more about some
00:33:36 --> 00:33:40 of the policies I'm doing. And that's my name, Senator Lydia Edwards.
00:33:41 --> 00:33:45 Were on Blue Sky. And also, we were doing virtual office hours.
00:33:45 --> 00:33:47 We're going to start those again.
00:33:47 --> 00:33:51 Not everyone has the access to the statehouse, but many people do have a cell
00:33:51 --> 00:33:55 phone and can meet me during my virtual office hours. So I'd love to do that.
00:33:55 --> 00:33:59 You just go to LydiaEdwards.org. We'll be putting up our times there.
00:33:59 --> 00:34:04 So we'd love that. All right. Well, Senator Lydia Edwards, thank you so much
00:34:04 --> 00:34:05 for taking the time out to do this.
00:34:06 --> 00:34:10 I greatly appreciate it. Keep fighting a good fight. You're one of the good ones.
00:34:10 --> 00:34:16 And I'm glad that I'm glad that I was able to get this political hall of famer,
00:34:17 --> 00:34:19 on my podcast. But thank you so much.
00:34:20 --> 00:34:24 Thank you so much. Thank you. I appreciate your patience and everything.
00:34:24 --> 00:34:27 Questions were excellent. Thank you. Thank you, ma'am. All right,
00:34:27 --> 00:34:28 guys, and we're going to catch you on the other side.
00:34:51 --> 00:34:57 All right, and we are back. And so, again, I want to thank Senator Lydia Edwards,
00:34:57 --> 00:35:06 one of the many superstars that are out there in the political realm in the United States.
00:35:06 --> 00:35:08 Yeah, she's not in the United States
00:35:08 --> 00:35:14 Congress, but she is a force in the Massachusetts General Court. Yeah.
00:35:16 --> 00:35:20 In Mississippi, we call it the state legislature, but in Massachusetts,
00:35:20 --> 00:35:23 for almost 400 years, they have called it the general court.
00:35:24 --> 00:35:30 And so she is a leader in the Senate. And again, glad that we were able to navigate
00:35:30 --> 00:35:37 some time, literally, because she was on a boat to get the interview done.
00:35:38 --> 00:35:40 I really, really appreciate her taking the time to do that.
00:35:41 --> 00:35:46 I understand. And, you know, I have I've literally done interviews.
00:35:46 --> 00:35:49 I've done live shows driving on the highway.
00:35:50 --> 00:35:57 So I understand the demands of being a legislator and or even running for office,
00:35:57 --> 00:36:03 and just being able to carve out some time to accommodate requests.
00:36:03 --> 00:36:07 And again, I'm really, really honored that she she accepted my invitation.
00:36:07 --> 00:36:13 And through the help of her assistant, Caroline, we were able to get this done.
00:36:14 --> 00:36:18 And so this is the last episode of season 13.
00:36:19 --> 00:36:26 Next week, we will start season 14. And as you know, my episodes are not based on chronology.
00:36:26 --> 00:36:34 It's based on volume. And so if you go to the website, www.momenterik.com,
00:36:34 --> 00:36:44 you will see that most of the episodes, most of the seasons have 25 episodes per season.
00:36:44 --> 00:36:49 And so that's easy for people if they want to go and track down.
00:36:49 --> 00:36:55 If they say, okay, they think they did in season 10 and you can go there and,
00:36:55 --> 00:36:57 find the episode that way.
00:36:58 --> 00:37:00 You know, you remember the date or whatever.
00:37:02 --> 00:37:06 But, yeah, it's broken down on the website by seasons.
00:37:07 --> 00:37:11 So if you remember what season that person was on, you can go directly at season.
00:37:11 --> 00:37:15 So you won't have to go through every episode to find out when that person was.
00:37:15 --> 00:37:23 Or you can go to the guest page, right, and find the person that you're looking for.
00:37:24 --> 00:37:27 And there's some that have been on multiple times.
00:37:28 --> 00:37:33 Most of my guests have only been on once. But the rule is that once you've been
00:37:33 --> 00:37:35 on, you have an open invitation to come back.
00:37:36 --> 00:37:39 So, you know, but if you're looking for a particular person,
00:37:39 --> 00:37:44 you can do it that way. You can go to the guest page and find that the episode
00:37:44 --> 00:37:48 or episodes that they were on and do it that way.
00:37:49 --> 00:37:54 So now I can add the Honorable Lydia Edwards to that guest list.
00:37:56 --> 00:38:01 So a lot of stuff to cover. One of the things I did want to do is give a summary
00:38:01 --> 00:38:04 of the Martyrs Day celebration that we had in Atlanta.
00:38:04 --> 00:38:08 All of us that were part of the organizing showed up.
00:38:10 --> 00:38:14 And, you know, we knew that we weren't going to get a big crowd,
00:38:14 --> 00:38:18 if any crowd, because, you know, of the time constraints, trying to put it together.
00:38:19 --> 00:38:24 But we wanted to say that we did something in Atlanta.
00:38:24 --> 00:38:29 I think Atlanta is one of those cities, and I'm hoping that next year people
00:38:29 --> 00:38:35 will have time to do it in Birmingham, to do it in Jackson, you know, really every city.
00:38:35 --> 00:38:39 But, you know, in those cities where the civil rights movement was,
00:38:40 --> 00:38:45 you know, Montgomery, Selma, those cities where it was the bloodiest.
00:38:46 --> 00:38:49 And some of the major battles were fought where actually some of the martyrs,
00:38:50 --> 00:38:54 died, we want them to have commemorations.
00:38:55 --> 00:38:58 And so now we'll have a whole year to really put it out.
00:38:59 --> 00:39:03 I commend Gloria J. Brown Marshall for what she was able to do.
00:39:04 --> 00:39:09 Of course, it was her idea, so she had time, and they had a real nice national
00:39:09 --> 00:39:11 celebration at Riverside Church.
00:39:12 --> 00:39:17 And I think that, you know, I don't know if she's gonna always do it at Riverside
00:39:17 --> 00:39:20 as far as the national event,
00:39:21 --> 00:39:26 but it was really, really cool to see that live stream, and we were able to
00:39:26 --> 00:39:30 do ours, you know, early enough in the day because it was hot,
00:39:31 --> 00:39:35 so that we did our commemoration, and then we were able to watch it.
00:39:35 --> 00:39:39 One of the organizers, Dontaye Carter, did a video of it.
00:39:39 --> 00:39:43 You go to, you find him on Instagram. It's posted up there.
00:39:43 --> 00:39:50 It was very, very cool what he did to show that we had our celebration or commemoration in Atlanta.
00:39:51 --> 00:39:56 And I'm just really honored that the committee showed up. We had one committee
00:39:57 --> 00:40:01 member that could not attend, but she will be involved. Sia Henry,
00:40:01 --> 00:40:04 who's been a guest on the podcast. Dontaye has been a guest.
00:40:05 --> 00:40:09 Dehjah Vaughn has been a guest, and she was on.
00:40:10 --> 00:40:15 And so I've got to get Ms. Essence Johnson on the podcast and Gerald Griggs.
00:40:15 --> 00:40:21 Got to get him on the podcast. But those were the people that comprised of the initial committee.
00:40:21 --> 00:40:29 And, you know, all of them have committed to at least putting together something for next year.
00:40:29 --> 00:40:33 And we'll do it bigger, better.
00:40:33 --> 00:40:36 And since we're going to do it actually on the 5th every year,
00:40:37 --> 00:40:41 so that means it will be a Monday. So it'll probably be an evening event to
00:40:41 --> 00:40:47 accommodate people's work schedules. And, you know, we'll have a place that'll
00:40:47 --> 00:40:48 have some air conditioning.
00:40:49 --> 00:40:53 And that's about all I'll commit to at this point.
00:40:54 --> 00:40:59 You know, we may do it outdoors. I don't know. But it's summertime in Atlanta,
00:40:59 --> 00:41:05 even when the sun will not be down, so it'll still be hot. But, you know, and then rain.
00:41:05 --> 00:41:09 We were very blessed no rain happened. But, you know, we'll figure it out.
00:41:09 --> 00:41:17 We've got a year and this is something that I want to continue on every year,
00:41:18 --> 00:41:22 you know, and I don't want it to fade out with Ms. Browne-Marshall.
00:41:22 --> 00:41:26 I don't want it to fade out with those of us here in Atlanta that started it.
00:41:26 --> 00:41:31 We want this to be a perpetual thing and keep it going. So I just want to thank
00:41:31 --> 00:41:36 everybody who participated here in Atlanta and everybody that participated throughout the country.
00:41:37 --> 00:41:40 And, you know, we're going to keep this thing going. So, again,
00:41:41 --> 00:41:44 thanks to everybody who participated in that.
00:41:45 --> 00:41:49 So, real quick, there's a couple of sad things that have happened.
00:41:50 --> 00:41:54 We lost two young men. And when I say young, I mean young.
00:41:54 --> 00:42:00 Kohen Wiley was a one-year-old in Senatobia, Mississippi.
00:42:01 --> 00:42:06 And even though the tragedy happened in June,
00:42:07 --> 00:42:10 I think it was on Flag Day, I think it was on the 14th,
00:42:11 --> 00:42:19 The preliminary findings from an independent investigator, an independent autopsy,
00:42:20 --> 00:42:26 came out this week, this past week, and it showed that it was a homicide.
00:42:27 --> 00:42:33 And, you know, it was limited information that the independent,
00:42:33 --> 00:42:39 examiner had because he didn't have full access to any video cameras the police
00:42:39 --> 00:42:43 had or, you know, the actual vehicle.
00:42:43 --> 00:42:50 He had to go off just the autopsy and, you know, the young man's body and some pictures.
00:42:51 --> 00:42:57 But based on what he was able to determine, that it was a homicide,
00:42:57 --> 00:43:03 that he was shot from the side instead of like full on.
00:43:03 --> 00:43:10 Because, again, just like what's happened in Houston and what happened in Minneapolis,
00:43:11 --> 00:43:15 the officer was trying to say that the woman was using the vehicle as a weapon,
00:43:16 --> 00:43:19 and in order to defend himself.
00:43:20 --> 00:43:22 He decided to shoot into the vehicle.
00:43:23 --> 00:43:27 And from what it looks like, that wasn't the case.
00:43:27 --> 00:43:34 And why are you pulling a gun on somebody that the crime that was alleged to
00:43:34 --> 00:43:37 be being committed was shoplifting?
00:43:40 --> 00:43:44 You know, Mississippi has a history of being a little excessive when it comes to shoplifting.
00:43:45 --> 00:43:49 I remember when I was telling Jackson, there was this huge police chase.
00:43:49 --> 00:43:53 And you thought this guy had robbed, like, the Trustmark Bank there.
00:43:54 --> 00:44:00 And, you know, he crossed county lines and ended up in the inner city of Jackson.
00:44:00 --> 00:44:05 And, you know, it was a crash and all this stuff. And the Jackson Police Department
00:44:05 --> 00:44:08 had no idea that these other law enforcement officials were coming into their
00:44:08 --> 00:44:10 city until after the crash happened.
00:44:11 --> 00:44:16 And it turned out that the young man that was in that crash was being chased
00:44:16 --> 00:44:17 because of shoplifting.
00:44:19 --> 00:44:24 So that's unfortunately not uncommon in Mississippi.
00:44:25 --> 00:44:31 What is tragic is that, you know, the mother of the child was not even the suspect.
00:44:32 --> 00:44:39 It was supposedly a friend of hers that went to the store with her, and allegedly she died.
00:44:40 --> 00:44:44 Tried to steal something or they are accusing him of trying to steal something.
00:44:44 --> 00:44:54 And in the pursuit, the officer pulled out his weapon and shot into the car and killed Cohen.
00:44:55 --> 00:45:00 So, you know, as far as we know, and this is in Senatobia.
00:45:00 --> 00:45:07 So if you remember, I had the sister on Christina Carrega, who had done a story
00:45:07 --> 00:45:11 about a young man who was waiting for his mom outside of a law firm.
00:45:12 --> 00:45:17 And he read in the sign, you know, since his mom was already in there,
00:45:17 --> 00:45:21 he didn't make the correlation that he could go in with her.
00:45:22 --> 00:45:25 And she had told him to wait in the car. And so he saw a sign saying only,
00:45:26 --> 00:45:30 you know, potential clients could come into the building or whatever.
00:45:30 --> 00:45:34 So he was being obedient. So he decided he was going to pee on the side of the
00:45:34 --> 00:45:40 car. and it was a Senatobia officer that came and got him and arrested him at 10 years old.
00:45:41 --> 00:45:44 So this is not the first time Senatobia, I believe it was Senatobia,
00:45:44 --> 00:45:48 if I remember correctly. I'm getting old, but I ain't getting that old.
00:45:49 --> 00:45:54 And so they had to go through all these hoops to bail this 10-year-old out for,
00:45:55 --> 00:45:59 I guess, I think they were a public lewdness or whatever.
00:45:59 --> 00:46:02 Will Boer was peeing by his car.
00:46:03 --> 00:46:10 So it's not uncommon at Senatobia it would be in the news or something like
00:46:10 --> 00:46:16 that and you know so you know especially with young black boys.
00:46:18 --> 00:46:26 So I'm praying that the right thing is done with that and that all law enforcement
00:46:26 --> 00:46:31 agencies in light of what has been going on really really stress,
00:46:32 --> 00:46:35 how to deal with situations with vehicles.
00:46:37 --> 00:46:42 You know, I know before I left Fulton County, that was one of the things that
00:46:42 --> 00:46:45 they wanted to incorporate into the training.
00:46:46 --> 00:46:51 Not necessarily like during the academy level, but something that you would
00:46:51 --> 00:46:59 be required to report and do is dealing with shooting into or at moving vehicles.
00:47:00 --> 00:47:05 Because people do use vehicles as weapons. They do try to run over police officers.
00:47:05 --> 00:47:07 That's not exaggerating.
00:47:08 --> 00:47:12 But what we're seeing a pattern is, is that,
00:47:12 --> 00:47:16 if there's no cameras right away, the person, either the officer's not wearing
00:47:16 --> 00:47:20 the camera or whatever, they tend to write in the report, well,
00:47:20 --> 00:47:27 they were using the vehicles coming toward me and I was matching lethal force with lethal force.
00:47:27 --> 00:47:34 And what we are finding out, as further investigations go, is that that was not the case.
00:47:35 --> 00:47:42 They were trying to CYA with the paperwork to justify shooting anybody or at anybody.
00:47:43 --> 00:47:46 So that's something that Kohen
00:47:46 --> 00:47:51 Wiley has the case that we need as a community to continue to follow.
00:47:53 --> 00:47:57 The other tragedy also happened in Mississippi, and this happened on the 4th
00:47:57 --> 00:48:00 of July, a young man named Nolan Wells.
00:48:01 --> 00:48:06 Nolan was a freshman, I believe, at Southwest Community College,
00:48:06 --> 00:48:09 Southwest Mississippi Community College. He was a football player there.
00:48:09 --> 00:48:12 He had played at Ocean Springs High School.
00:48:13 --> 00:48:21 And so there's like a little island that's more like a forest preserve or nature preserve, if you will.
00:48:22 --> 00:48:26 It's off the Gulf Coast called Horn Island. And so, you know,
00:48:26 --> 00:48:28 there's a spot, it's kind of like a park.
00:48:29 --> 00:48:34 Nobody lives there, but it's maintained by, I think it's a combination between,
00:48:34 --> 00:48:40 the National Park Service and the state of Mississippi wildlife fishery and parks.
00:48:41 --> 00:48:45 And, you know, so people can go there and fish or, you know,
00:48:45 --> 00:48:47 just picnic or wherever the case may be.
00:48:47 --> 00:48:52 So Mr. Wells was in the company of three other young white men.
00:48:53 --> 00:48:59 They all went to the island and the three white men came back and Nolan did not.
00:48:59 --> 00:49:07 And so one of the young men, from what I understand now, his mom is a judge in Mississippi.
00:49:08 --> 00:49:13 And so, you know, these were privileged children.
00:49:13 --> 00:49:18 And the question is, why didn't Nolan come back with him?
00:49:18 --> 00:49:22 And why did it take days to find his body?
00:49:24 --> 00:49:27 Why did the boys leave without him, right?
00:49:28 --> 00:49:31 So I know they're all trying to get their story straight right now,
00:49:32 --> 00:49:35 but that investigation is underway.
00:49:35 --> 00:49:39 Of course, you know, on social media, some of the black folks are already accusing,
00:49:40 --> 00:49:44 young white men of killing him or having something to do with his death.
00:49:45 --> 00:49:50 And, you know, but we don't know. All we know is that a young black man went
00:49:50 --> 00:49:54 to Horn Island for 4th of July and he didn't come back alive.
00:49:55 --> 00:49:59 And so his family, his parents, his grandparents, you know, everybody's just
00:49:59 --> 00:50:03 devastated and they're trying to find out what's going on. Ben Crump is involved.
00:50:03 --> 00:50:07 I saw Al Sharpton at the press conference.
00:50:07 --> 00:50:13 So that's another one. And if you are on social media and you've seen this young
00:50:13 --> 00:50:16 black man and everybody's paying tribute, that's who it is.
00:50:17 --> 00:50:23 And so we're hoping that, I'm praying that those young men did not have anything
00:50:23 --> 00:50:26 to do with it, that it was just an unfortunate accident that happened.
00:50:27 --> 00:50:33 And they, you know, instead of, you know, trying to do something more responsible,
00:50:33 --> 00:50:37 they panicked and came on back and told everybody. But yeah.
00:50:39 --> 00:50:43 I don't know. Only the investigation will figure that out.
00:50:44 --> 00:50:50 And I just, for Mr. Wells, and even though he was only one year old,
00:50:50 --> 00:50:53 Mr. Wiley, the truth will come out.
00:50:54 --> 00:51:01 And, you know, at least with Kohen Wiley, we kind of understand what happened.
00:51:01 --> 00:51:07 And now it's just a matter of was the officer using excessive force, you know, or not.
00:51:08 --> 00:51:10 With Northern Wells, we have no idea what happened.
00:51:11 --> 00:51:15 And until those boys come forward, whatever story they're going to coordinate
00:51:15 --> 00:51:18 and tell, we need to hear it.
00:51:18 --> 00:51:23 And we definitely need the authorities in Mississippi, especially Jackson County,
00:51:24 --> 00:51:27 to be diligent and thorough with it.
00:51:27 --> 00:51:32 Like I said, politics is involved because one of the young men, his mom is a judge.
00:51:33 --> 00:51:40 And they're white. So, you know, the guy who is over Mississippi Public Service,
00:51:41 --> 00:51:46 I mean, public service, public safety, is a former state legislator and former judge.
00:51:46 --> 00:51:50 I did not serve with him, but I had to lobby him.
00:51:50 --> 00:51:57 So we had a relationship. And he's a conservative, but he's from that area.
00:51:58 --> 00:52:05 So we'll see. You know, but both of those cases, not just the people in Mississippi,
00:52:05 --> 00:52:09 but the people around the nation, especially in the black diaspora.
00:52:10 --> 00:52:14 Need to continue to put pressure on, whether it's through social media,
00:52:14 --> 00:52:21 direct contact, whatever, to keep those stories out there so that we can find out the truth.
00:52:22 --> 00:52:28 Right? And I'm sure Christina and other reporters like her are already digging
00:52:28 --> 00:52:33 in and trying to get as much information as they can to let us know what's going on.
00:52:33 --> 00:52:37 And if Ben is involved, we're going to know stuff.
00:52:38 --> 00:52:41 You know, I know a lot of people might say that he's.
00:52:42 --> 00:52:47 Chasing or whatever, but it's like, I'm sure Ben would like to have a law practice
00:52:47 --> 00:52:50 where he wasn't dealing with the deaths of young black men.
00:52:51 --> 00:52:55 I don't think he signed up to go to law school for that.
00:52:56 --> 00:53:05 But because he has, you know, built that practice and he has the competent attorneys
00:53:05 --> 00:53:09 and investigators to do the work, people reach out to him.
00:53:10 --> 00:53:15 And, you know, I don't think he's just sitting on the internet waiting to see
00:53:16 --> 00:53:20 where the next tragedy is going to be. People reach out to him because he gets results.
00:53:21 --> 00:53:28 And, you know, not only do we find out the truth, but he gets the families taken care of.
00:53:29 --> 00:53:33 And so that's why he shows up at these things, because people reach out to him.
00:53:34 --> 00:53:38 And I know there's always, you know, people, I remember when Reverend Jackson
00:53:38 --> 00:53:40 was alive and people used to say,
00:53:40 --> 00:53:43 oh, he just showed up whenever there's something going on and all that.
00:53:45 --> 00:53:49 People like that have, just like elected officials have staff,
00:53:50 --> 00:53:52 like CEOs have staff, they have staff.
00:53:52 --> 00:53:58 They have people that do the preliminary work. I remember there was a situation,
00:53:59 --> 00:54:02 when Derrick Johnson, who's now the national NAACP president,
00:54:02 --> 00:54:03 he was the state president.
00:54:04 --> 00:54:08 And we had a situation where a church was burned in Greenville and there was
00:54:08 --> 00:54:11 some stuff spray painted on the church.
00:54:11 --> 00:54:15 And of course, the media was like saying, oh, this looks like this is racial,
00:54:15 --> 00:54:16 blah, blah, this, that, other.
00:54:17 --> 00:54:21 And Derek didn't really respond right away. And then, I don't even think it
00:54:21 --> 00:54:23 was a week later, but it was several days.
00:54:24 --> 00:54:27 It was Derek's organization. It was the state NAACP that said,
00:54:27 --> 00:54:29 yeah, this wasn't racial.
00:54:29 --> 00:54:33 No, this was some disgruntled church member.
00:54:34 --> 00:54:40 And because it just didn't add up. Nobody saw anything out of the ordinary.
00:54:40 --> 00:54:43 It was a black church in a predominantly black neighborhood.
00:54:45 --> 00:54:49 And nobody saw anybody white coming through there. You know what I'm saying?
00:54:49 --> 00:54:50 That was like the first clue.
00:54:50 --> 00:54:56 So these people have folks that do the work, that investigate,
00:54:56 --> 00:55:02 that try to determine, is this something that we need to get involved with,
00:55:02 --> 00:55:03 put our weight behind it?
00:55:04 --> 00:55:07 And when they make that calculation, then it's when they show up.
00:55:08 --> 00:55:12 This is not some kind of emotional thing. It's not some kind of publicity thing,
00:55:12 --> 00:55:20 but because these people have platforms, they use their platform to elevate the situation.
00:55:21 --> 00:55:26 And so I just, I just, you know, it's not just for white folks here.
00:55:26 --> 00:55:30 Some black folks need to hear that, too, you know, because, you know,
00:55:30 --> 00:55:34 there were situations that happened when I was in the legislature and people,
00:55:35 --> 00:55:38 would come and meet with the caucus and try to explain what was going on.
00:55:39 --> 00:55:42 And since all of us were political, it's like, hey, who do you know?
00:55:43 --> 00:55:48 Hey, well, I served on the committee with this guy and he's the DA.
00:55:48 --> 00:55:50 Let me call him and see what's going on.
00:55:51 --> 00:55:57 You know, stuff like that. So, you know, people do their due diligence before
00:55:57 --> 00:56:02 it gets to the point where it's like the national media sees these folks. I just wanted to.
00:56:04 --> 00:56:09 Make sure I spell that out. But please, please, please stay informed about what's
00:56:09 --> 00:56:13 happening with Corn Wiley and Nolan Wells, whatever information I get,
00:56:13 --> 00:56:16 because most of the time I'll get it the same time you will.
00:56:16 --> 00:56:21 And, you know, if there's something that comes through that I have not seen,
00:56:22 --> 00:56:27 on national news or whatever, then I'll put it out there. But I just,
00:56:28 --> 00:56:31 you know, if we keep lifting their names up.
00:56:32 --> 00:56:34 The national press has to respond
00:56:34 --> 00:56:38 to that. And the authorities investigating have to respond to that.
00:56:39 --> 00:56:45 So I just wanted to uplift those young brothers' names.
00:56:45 --> 00:56:53 Now, I want to close out with this political firestorm that's happening in Maine.
00:56:54 --> 00:57:00 And I didn't ask the good senator about that. But, you know,
00:57:00 --> 00:57:07 one of the questions did kind of touch on it, and that was this fear of progressive politicians, right?
00:57:08 --> 00:57:12 Now, Graham Platner is officially out of the race in Maine.
00:57:13 --> 00:57:17 So now the state party, by, and I think they're going to do it on the 25th,
00:57:17 --> 00:57:23 but they have to, by the 27th, decide who's going to replace him on the ticket.
00:57:24 --> 00:57:32 And the way they're going to do it is that because of the support this man had,
00:57:32 --> 00:57:34 they're going to have a convention,
00:57:34 --> 00:57:38 and they're going to, right now, there's six people running,
00:57:38 --> 00:57:39 one who actually, I think,
00:57:40 --> 00:57:43 was going to run in the primary and dropped out.
00:57:44 --> 00:57:48 There's a couple of people that ran for governor and didn't win the primary,
00:57:49 --> 00:57:51 against, I want to say, Angus King.
00:57:53 --> 00:57:59 Son. And so we'll see, you know, they're including, I think, the secretary of state.
00:58:00 --> 00:58:05 And there's a couple others that's out there. Guy that owns a beer company.
00:58:05 --> 00:58:11 And before you say anything, the young man has like a bachelor's in political
00:58:11 --> 00:58:14 science. He's got a master's in political science.
00:58:14 --> 00:58:18 I want to say it's from Ivy League school. Don't quote me on that.
00:58:18 --> 00:58:22 I was just kind of glancing through it, but he's, he, yeah, he's,
00:58:22 --> 00:58:25 he owns a beer company, but he is very politically astute.
00:58:26 --> 00:58:29 So he's not just some rando out there running.
00:58:30 --> 00:58:35 And I think he either ran for governor or something. He ran for something and didn't make it.
00:58:35 --> 00:58:42 So he's in the running for this as well. So, you know, this is something really,
00:58:42 --> 00:58:48 really serious that Maine has to do because they have a real shot of beating
00:58:48 --> 00:58:49 Susan Collins for the first time.
00:58:49 --> 00:58:53 And if you look at all the people, even the Secretary of State,
00:58:54 --> 00:58:59 she ran against Susan Collins, a lady who's one of the Congress people in Maine.
00:58:59 --> 00:59:03 She cut her political teeth running against Susan Collins. So Susan Collins
00:59:03 --> 00:59:05 has been around for a long time.
00:59:05 --> 00:59:12 And a lot of Maine Democrats have built their careers, challenging Susan Collins,
00:59:12 --> 00:59:16 and have gone on to do incredible things in their own right.
00:59:17 --> 00:59:23 And so now in this political climate and this air of change is out there,
00:59:23 --> 00:59:27 they do not want to lose the opportunity to beat her.
00:59:28 --> 00:59:32 So from what I understand, they're going to have a convention July the 25th,
00:59:33 --> 00:59:37 so that they can have a name on the ballot for July 27th because Mr.
00:59:37 --> 00:59:41 Platner had to get out by the 13th.
00:59:42 --> 00:59:43 So he's out. He's done.
00:59:45 --> 00:59:50 So let me address that for a minute, right? Because we just went through that in California.
00:59:50 --> 00:59:57 Eric Swalwell, who, you know, had become a national figure because of his vocal
00:59:57 --> 01:00:05 and creative opposition to President Trump, got caught up in an allegation of sexual assault.
01:00:06 --> 01:00:10 And there had been some things in his past that came up because the Republicans
01:00:10 --> 01:00:13 kept saying he was having an affair with a Chinese spy.
01:00:13 --> 01:00:17 The lady was Asian. and she was not a spy. But nonetheless, you know,
01:00:18 --> 01:00:21 there was a little history back there. And so when that came out,
01:00:21 --> 01:00:24 it was like, right, you got to drop out.
01:00:25 --> 01:00:28 And he did. He denied the allegations, but he dropped out.
01:00:29 --> 01:00:35 And right now, Xavier Becerra is now looking like he's going to be the next
01:00:35 --> 01:00:36 governor of California.
01:00:37 --> 01:00:43 But Becerra was way down in the polls. And so, So, you know,
01:00:44 --> 01:00:48 it was just like when Swalwell was gone, it was just kind of like,
01:00:48 --> 01:00:51 who are the folks in California going to rally behind?
01:00:52 --> 01:00:55 You know, because at that point, it looked like the billionaire guy,
01:00:55 --> 01:00:56 Tom Steyer, was going to get it.
01:00:57 --> 01:01:01 Or it was going to be because it was a jungle primary. So there was a real possibility
01:01:01 --> 01:01:05 that the two Republicans running were going to get the votes.
01:01:05 --> 01:01:09 And California had no choice but have a Republican governor.
01:01:09 --> 01:01:16 So the Democrats rallied behind Becerra, and now it's him and I think the guy
01:01:16 --> 01:01:20 that used to be on Fox, Hilton or Hinton or whoever his name is,
01:01:20 --> 01:01:22 there in the general in November.
01:01:22 --> 01:01:28 And in California, if you've got a Democrat running, pretty much that's who's
01:01:28 --> 01:01:30 going to win the statewide election.
01:01:31 --> 01:01:36 Never know. You know, we just have to see how everything plays out.
01:01:36 --> 01:01:38 But that's how California dealt with it.
01:01:39 --> 01:01:44 And Swalwell, you know, gave like about a three-minute video speech.
01:01:45 --> 01:01:49 You know, he apologized to anybody he might have hurt. He denied the allegations.
01:01:50 --> 01:01:56 And, you know, he said he didn't endorse anybody. He just said, I'm out.
01:01:56 --> 01:02:01 You know, we got to win this. We got to keep this seat.
01:02:02 --> 01:02:05 Got to keep the governor's mansion. Graham Platner didn't do that.
01:02:05 --> 01:02:09 Well, he did the denial part and he did say he was dropping out,
01:02:10 --> 01:02:12 but it took him 11 minutes to do that.
01:02:13 --> 01:02:16 And he said a lot of things, right?
01:02:17 --> 01:02:23 He was really, really angry. And so, you know, the way the national press handled
01:02:23 --> 01:02:26 it was really, really interesting.
01:02:26 --> 01:02:31 So, you know, it was like everybody was like critiquing how he did it.
01:02:31 --> 01:02:35 Well, Eric Swalwell, for example, had been in Congress and he'd been,
01:02:36 --> 01:02:39 I think, a DA. He's been in politics for a long time.
01:02:40 --> 01:02:46 So he had the right advisors and he knew how to buy as gracefully as he could.
01:02:47 --> 01:02:51 Platner was unconventional from day one. So if he was running an unconventional
01:02:51 --> 01:02:56 campaign, why would you think that him bowing out would be conventional, right?
01:02:57 --> 01:02:58 This was a dude that was a Marine.
01:02:59 --> 01:03:02 You know, he told you he had PTSD issues.
01:03:04 --> 01:03:09 Told you that he didn't know. Now, you know, people are bringing up his background
01:03:09 --> 01:03:15 because he was coming across as an average working guy, you know, oyster farmer.
01:03:15 --> 01:03:19 But now it was coming out, well, you know, his main customer is his mom and
01:03:19 --> 01:03:24 his dad was, you know, they had money and blah, blah. You know what? Okay.
01:03:25 --> 01:03:30 John F. Kennedy's grandson was running. He wasn't running on the fact that he was a Kennedy.
01:03:30 --> 01:03:36 He was running on the fact that he was a Gen Z-er and could relate to the people
01:03:36 --> 01:03:39 and was trying to push the things. Everybody, you know, you do his background,
01:03:39 --> 01:03:43 you knew he was a Kennedy by DNA.
01:03:43 --> 01:03:47 Even though he didn't have the Kennedy name, you knew he was a Kennedy.
01:03:48 --> 01:03:49 And so it was like.
01:03:52 --> 01:03:57 Ever. And the Kennedys tried to come across as average everyday people.
01:03:58 --> 01:04:01 The Bushes tried to come across as average everyday people.
01:04:02 --> 01:04:06 If Chelsea Clinton decides to run for office, she's going to try to come across
01:04:06 --> 01:04:07 as an average everyday person.
01:04:08 --> 01:04:11 If Amy Carter decided to run for office, she would try to come across it.
01:04:12 --> 01:04:14 And their parents were president.
01:04:15 --> 01:04:18 In Chelsea's case, both her parents ran for prison, right?
01:04:20 --> 01:04:26 So we know, you know, but the whole thing about running for office,
01:04:26 --> 01:04:32 one of the great tactics in American politics is that you've got these people
01:04:32 --> 01:04:36 who have financial means because the way the system is set up,
01:04:36 --> 01:04:38 you have to have some financial means to run,
01:04:39 --> 01:04:42 but can you relate to the people that you're going to represent?
01:04:42 --> 01:04:45 Because the majority of the people in America are not blue bloods.
01:04:45 --> 01:04:47 Majority of the people in America are not rich.
01:04:48 --> 01:04:52 And they're the ones who vote. So you got to relate to them. They know,
01:04:53 --> 01:04:57 you know, if you're from Maine and you've known Platner for a long time,
01:04:58 --> 01:05:00 you know that his family was not,
01:05:00 --> 01:05:05 living in some shack on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. You knew that.
01:05:06 --> 01:05:08 But, you know.
01:05:10 --> 01:05:14 He grew up there, and he was able to relate to those people.
01:05:15 --> 01:05:19 So, you know, that's why he was able to build a following.
01:05:20 --> 01:05:28 That's the reason why he was able to make a sitting governor of the state of Maine drop out.
01:05:29 --> 01:05:33 He didn't beat her in the primary. He beat her before he even got to the primary.
01:05:33 --> 01:05:36 She just dropped out so late, her name stayed on the ballot.
01:05:36 --> 01:05:43 And even then, when some allegations came up then about sexting staff members,
01:05:44 --> 01:05:47 he still got 71% of the vote then, and her name was still on the ballot.
01:05:48 --> 01:05:51 She said, you can vote for me. If you really don't like what he's doing,
01:05:51 --> 01:05:53 you can vote for me. It'll be official.
01:05:54 --> 01:05:59 And 70 to 75% of the people said, oh, we're going to go with this guy,
01:06:00 --> 01:06:01 right? Because you dropped out.
01:06:03 --> 01:06:07 Regardless of what you say now, you dropped out. Could have just stuck with
01:06:07 --> 01:06:08 it and saw what happened.
01:06:08 --> 01:06:12 You know, a lot of us have run for statewide offices with no money toward the end.
01:06:13 --> 01:06:17 Just see what happened. Nine times out of 10, we're not going to win because
01:06:17 --> 01:06:20 we don't have the money to make the final push, but we stuck it out.
01:06:23 --> 01:06:31 Anyway, so, you know, now, and this again, this was somebody that he was dating.
01:06:31 --> 01:06:35 This wasn't just some random person like President Trump.
01:06:36 --> 01:06:43 Somebody that he was dating and she said no and he proceeded to have sex with
01:06:43 --> 01:06:47 anyway right because even at that point,
01:06:48 --> 01:06:53 the New York Times has been very credible when it comes to him,
01:06:54 --> 01:06:58 because any I've heard you heard me commend them on the podcast it was like
01:06:58 --> 01:07:04 yeah they found the women that he sent this the sexting message to but they also found women.
01:07:06 --> 01:07:10 He dated, they thought he was a gentleman. And they printed that.
01:07:10 --> 01:07:13 They didn't slant the story. They told the story.
01:07:14 --> 01:07:21 Well, the same thing with this woman. This woman voted for Platner after what had happened.
01:07:21 --> 01:07:26 She supported his ideas. She did not, she does not want Susan Collins to be
01:07:26 --> 01:07:30 the senator, but she felt she had to tell the truth.
01:07:31 --> 01:07:37 Now, whoever pressured her or whoever convinced her to go ahead and do it,
01:07:38 --> 01:07:41 that's a whole nother chapter in a book that needs to be written.
01:07:41 --> 01:07:43 But she told it.
01:07:44 --> 01:07:48 And she told it in a way where it was like, I'm not trying to hurt him.
01:07:49 --> 01:07:52 But since you asked, this did happen. Right.
01:07:53 --> 01:07:57 Now, the wife of Platner came out with the sexting stuff.
01:07:58 --> 01:08:01 She didn't come out for this one because that was before her time.
01:08:02 --> 01:08:08 Right. This is before they even dated. So she couldn't stand with him on that
01:08:08 --> 01:08:11 one. I mean, she's standing with him, but she didn't make a press statement
01:08:11 --> 01:08:15 like she did before the primary.
01:08:16 --> 01:08:22 So the reality is, is that he probably did do that because he admitted he's
01:08:22 --> 01:08:30 made a lot of bad decisions in his life. If you put him, if we were investigating a rape charge.
01:08:31 --> 01:08:36 And, you know, in a list of suspects, he would be in the lineup wall.
01:08:37 --> 01:08:41 I mean, that's just real talk. Doesn't necessarily mean that he did it,
01:08:42 --> 01:08:45 because you still have to go through due process and all that.
01:08:45 --> 01:08:51 But he would be on the list because of stuff that he admitted to, right?
01:08:52 --> 01:08:54 So that's why it wasn't a shock.
01:08:56 --> 01:08:59 And what to tell was is that the Republicans already knew.
01:09:00 --> 01:09:06 Because it was a young lady that was on one of the talk shows the weekend before all this dropped.
01:09:06 --> 01:09:11 And she's like a Republican strategist. And they said something about Maine.
01:09:11 --> 01:09:15 And she said, there's some stuff that's getting ready to come out.
01:09:15 --> 01:09:19 We think Susan Collins will survive because there's some stuff that's getting
01:09:19 --> 01:09:21 ready to come out about her opponent.
01:09:22 --> 01:09:27 She said that on live television the weekend before the allegations dropped.
01:09:28 --> 01:09:32 So they already knew. Now, how they knew, don't know.
01:09:33 --> 01:09:36 But they knew that the story was about to drop.
01:09:37 --> 01:09:40 And of course, you know, they have opposition research. They've done all their
01:09:40 --> 01:09:44 due diligence and all that. And maybe they were getting ready to expose it.
01:09:45 --> 01:09:48 And the New York Times beat them to it, right?
01:09:49 --> 01:09:58 That's politics in the 21st century. And that's American politics from a historical perspective.
01:09:58 --> 01:10:05 I mean, Grover Cleveland, my God, they had drawings about a baby yelling out, I want my paw.
01:10:06 --> 01:10:10 And the baby was yelling at Grover Cleveland. So this has been going on forever
01:10:10 --> 01:10:13 in American politics. This ain't new, right?
01:10:15 --> 01:10:23 So, you know, I was really surprised that the national media harped on how he bowed out of the race.
01:10:24 --> 01:10:28 It wasn't conventional from Jump Street, so why would you think he would be conventional now?
01:10:29 --> 01:10:33 Then the other thing that really bothered me was, you know.
01:10:35 --> 01:10:41 What people are trying to condition us to do is to say, believe women.
01:10:42 --> 01:10:49 And I think the most important thing is to say is to give women the benefit of the doubt.
01:10:50 --> 01:10:56 But as a black man, I cannot believe women, especially white women.
01:10:57 --> 01:11:02 And I'll give you two words. A name, Carolyn Bryant.
01:11:03 --> 01:11:09 For half a century, this woman said that a black man, a young black boy,
01:11:09 --> 01:11:14 came into the general store and made a lewd advance to her.
01:11:14 --> 01:11:19 And that young black boy was Emmett Till. And it wasn't until her deathbed confession,
01:11:19 --> 01:11:21 that she admitted that she lied.
01:11:22 --> 01:11:24 Emmett had been dead for half a century.
01:11:25 --> 01:11:29 All the people that killed Emmett was dead. And she's still alive.
01:11:29 --> 01:11:35 When you finally got a DA to prosecute her for lying, I mean,
01:11:36 --> 01:11:41 he dropped the case because he said she'll be dead before the trial.
01:11:41 --> 01:11:44 And sure enough, a week after he made that decision, she died.
01:11:45 --> 01:11:46 But that white woman lied.
01:11:48 --> 01:11:52 Don't put us in a bind where we got to believe every white woman,
01:11:53 --> 01:11:56 because that's really kind of the undertone. We're not going to do that.
01:11:57 --> 01:12:04 We're sensitive enough where we want to give the benefit of the doubt to a woman
01:12:04 --> 01:12:10 because we know in the system how hard it is for a woman to admit or tell the
01:12:10 --> 01:12:11 story that they were assaulted.
01:12:11 --> 01:12:16 Look at all the military women that went through stuff in Afghanistan. Right.
01:12:17 --> 01:12:21 We know how hard it is to prosecute a rape case because a lot of times women
01:12:21 --> 01:12:24 don't want to come forward. We are sensitive to that.
01:12:25 --> 01:12:29 But don't demand of us that we believe them wholeheartedly.
01:12:30 --> 01:12:33 Because as long as I'm black and as long as I have a memory,
01:12:34 --> 01:12:37 Carolyn Bryant will always be like, hold up.
01:12:38 --> 01:12:42 If you got the facts, everything is the story is credible.
01:12:42 --> 01:12:48 You as a press are obligated to run it. And if that's presented to a DA and
01:12:48 --> 01:12:53 a grand jury, you're obligated to have a trial and to press charges.
01:12:54 --> 01:12:59 Right. But don't just ask the general public to just believe white women because
01:12:59 --> 01:13:05 they say something happened to them. There's too many Karens out here for you to even play that game.
01:13:06 --> 01:13:10 Right. So I want to be clear on that. I don't want people to say,
01:13:10 --> 01:13:13 oh, he's anti-women. You're going to say it anyway.
01:13:14 --> 01:13:17 But the reality is, is that you can give people the benefit of the doubt.
01:13:17 --> 01:13:21 And once you verified facts, once you've put the timeline together,
01:13:22 --> 01:13:24 then you can say, I believe her.
01:13:25 --> 01:13:32 But don't demand that of us, because history has shown that white women have
01:13:32 --> 01:13:38 the propensity to lie, just like any other human being, right? So there's that.
01:13:40 --> 01:13:49 You know, the final thing I'll say about this is that this goes back to my personal gripe,
01:13:50 --> 01:13:55 other people that have run for the United States Senate in this lifetime that
01:13:55 --> 01:14:01 Chuck Schumer has been either over the DSCC or the majority or minority leader.
01:14:02 --> 01:14:09 He has done more. Chuck Schumer has done more to make it hard for any Democrat
01:14:09 --> 01:14:13 to get into the United States Senate than any Republican ever could,
01:14:14 --> 01:14:19 especially if he considers the Republican as being challenged a friend.
01:14:20 --> 01:14:28 Right? When I ran, Trent Lott was his friend. Doug Cochran was his friend. He said that out loud.
01:14:28 --> 01:14:34 And the hoops that I had to go through to get the National Party to get behind my campaign.
01:14:35 --> 01:14:37 And it was always at the last minute.
01:14:37 --> 01:14:42 Right? I mean, Schumer tried to take me out in the 06 primary.
01:14:43 --> 01:14:48 So, oh, well, you got a personal beef? I do. Because I was one of those people.
01:14:49 --> 01:14:55 You know, when friends of mine were working for campaigns and,
01:14:56 --> 01:15:03 you know, they would move them from campaigns that needed their expertise, they would move them.
01:15:04 --> 01:15:06 Now, in some cases, you know.
01:15:08 --> 01:15:14 The candidate won anyway. But it's like if you're a candidate and you're used
01:15:14 --> 01:15:19 to seeing this person in the office, it then is like ready to go all the national
01:15:19 --> 01:15:23 folks and send them to Idaho and Nebraska or somewhere like that.
01:15:24 --> 01:15:27 You as a candidate, it's like, well, does the party think I'm going to lose now? Yeah.
01:15:29 --> 01:15:34 Those are things that Chuck Schumer has done in that leadership in those leadership positions.
01:15:35 --> 01:15:41 And when it comes to Maine, Susan Collins is his friend now over the years,
01:15:41 --> 01:15:47 over time, and maybe the current political climate has basically taught him.
01:15:48 --> 01:15:53 Don't say that she's my friend, at least out loud where a microphone is,
01:15:53 --> 01:15:57 but his actions and his history speak louder.
01:15:57 --> 01:16:02 And so while Graham Plattner was out there building his base and people like
01:16:02 --> 01:16:06 Bernie Sanders and AOC was with him, he was like, yeah, he can win the primary.
01:16:07 --> 01:16:08 But Susan, you're going to be OK.
01:16:09 --> 01:16:14 I like you. So, yeah, we're going to run somebody against you, but you'll be all right.
01:16:15 --> 01:16:21 And then when it was like, hey, this Plattner boy might not be our best option,
01:16:22 --> 01:16:27 then you convince the governor of Maine, who would be at the end of the term,
01:16:27 --> 01:16:31 just one term, at the end of the term would be 81 years old.
01:16:32 --> 01:16:35 You asked her to step up and challenge this guy.
01:16:36 --> 01:16:38 And she was term limited out, so she couldn't run for governor again.
01:16:39 --> 01:16:44 But you asked her to tilt the party water, and the people were not buying that.
01:16:45 --> 01:16:49 Now, if you had gotten somebody younger, like if you had convinced the Secretary
01:16:49 --> 01:16:53 of State to say, hey, get out of the governor's race and run for the Senate
01:16:53 --> 01:16:57 seat, might have had a chance to defeat Plattner in the primary because she
01:16:57 --> 01:16:59 was younger and she had a track record.
01:17:00 --> 01:17:05 And the way the convention goes, she may end up being a nominee anyway, right?
01:17:06 --> 01:17:11 But you put the stress and you could tell that the national folks that was putting
01:17:11 --> 01:17:13 pressure on the young lady who
01:17:13 --> 01:17:18 was a chair because she went on Lawrence O'Donnell and she was terrified.
01:17:18 --> 01:17:23 She she couldn't she couldn't give an answer when Lawrence O'Donnell asked her,
01:17:23 --> 01:17:26 like, well, did you support Plattner in the primary?
01:17:27 --> 01:17:30 I am not comfortable to say that. Woman, you're not on trial.
01:17:32 --> 01:17:38 Seventy five percent of the Democrats, it made her to say, vote you here. They voted for him.
01:17:39 --> 01:17:42 So it's not an indictment on your character if you supported him.
01:17:43 --> 01:17:48 But she was uncomfortable even acknowledging the fact that she may have voted for this guy.
01:17:49 --> 01:17:53 And that's because of national pressure. Don't don't say that you supported
01:17:53 --> 01:17:56 him, blah, blah. I mean, she's like she's not even 40.
01:17:57 --> 01:18:01 She's a believer. She wanted to do something, so instead of running for office,
01:18:01 --> 01:18:04 she's the chair of the party. She's an activist.
01:18:05 --> 01:18:08 She should be free to say what she needs to say. It's just like she could have
01:18:08 --> 01:18:10 said, look, we're past that now.
01:18:10 --> 01:18:17 You know, we had a nominee. The nominee was flawed. It's my job to move it forward.
01:18:18 --> 01:18:22 But just asking the question, did she support the guy who won the nomination,
01:18:22 --> 01:18:23 made her uncomfortable?
01:18:24 --> 01:18:27 That's that's where you can tell the Washington influence was there.
01:18:27 --> 01:18:30 The Chuck Schumer influence was there. Right.
01:18:31 --> 01:18:35 Because of his screw up, he's going to put the pressure on you to fix it.
01:18:36 --> 01:18:41 If they were serious about Susan Collins, Graham Plattner would have had a legitimate,
01:18:41 --> 01:18:46 challenger in the primary that met the moment.
01:18:47 --> 01:18:54 That could have stopped his momentum and let it be a fight like it's happening in Michigan right now.
01:18:54 --> 01:18:58 Again, another example of Chuck Schumer missing.
01:18:59 --> 01:19:01 I have nothing against Haley Stevens. I don't know this woman.
01:19:01 --> 01:19:03 Barack Obama seems to like her. That's fine.
01:19:04 --> 01:19:10 I don't know her. But you're telling me she was a better candidate to pick than McMurray?
01:19:11 --> 01:19:17 The lady who actually spoke at the Democratic Convention in Chicago about Project 2025,
01:19:17 --> 01:19:24 who stood on the floor in the Michigan legislature when they were trying to,
01:19:24 --> 01:19:28 take away the rights of women and she shut it down?
01:19:29 --> 01:19:34 You thought that this congresswoman that nobody heard of outside of Michigan,
01:19:35 --> 01:19:37 was better than her and she had a national platform?
01:19:38 --> 01:19:42 I'm just saying. You put your horses behind the Washington Insider.
01:19:43 --> 01:19:47 And now she's going to lose to probably the only...
01:19:48 --> 01:19:53 Muslim activist in Michigan that supported Kabbalah Harris, the good doctor.
01:19:54 --> 01:19:59 I mean, that's my criticism. It's more than just me personally.
01:19:59 --> 01:20:04 It's just like, you know, and you heard the senator say it, the old guard.
01:20:05 --> 01:20:11 So it's like they're, you know, they're too cynical. They're too entrenched.
01:20:12 --> 01:20:14 They've crossed the Potomac River too many times.
01:20:15 --> 01:20:19 And they're in that Washington bubble and they don't have a clue.
01:20:19 --> 01:20:22 We know that Republicans have no clue and they don't care.
01:20:23 --> 01:20:27 They're tapped into a little segment of America that shows up when they need
01:20:27 --> 01:20:32 them to show up to make it seem like the majority of white folks are down with that.
01:20:33 --> 01:20:34 And they play on the theatrics.
01:20:35 --> 01:20:39 But the Democrats, the most representative of the two political parties,
01:20:40 --> 01:20:42 you can't afford to be in a bubble.
01:20:42 --> 01:20:48 You need all the new ideas and new energy you have to combat this evil that's
01:20:48 --> 01:20:50 in Washington right now, that's in the administration.
01:20:51 --> 01:20:55 You've got to have some fighters and you've got to build a movement.
01:20:55 --> 01:20:57 It's not just a movement per race.
01:20:57 --> 01:21:00 It's supposed to be a national movement, right?
01:21:01 --> 01:21:06 You can't clone John Ossoff. John Ossoff is great for Georgia.
01:21:07 --> 01:21:12 What has to happen in Maine and what has to happen in Iowa and all these other
01:21:12 --> 01:21:21 places is that you've got to tie in all of these major Senate races to a movement.
01:21:22 --> 01:21:28 A movement that's like, this bullshit that's going on now has to end,
01:21:28 --> 01:21:31 period, full stop, end of discussion.
01:21:32 --> 01:21:36 The ways of the old Washington that
01:21:36 --> 01:21:41 I grew up in is about as dead as Mitch McConnell on that bed right now.
01:21:43 --> 01:21:49 New day. And we, as Democrats, have to understand the moment.
01:21:49 --> 01:21:51 And Chuck Schumer is not that guy.
01:21:52 --> 01:21:57 If the Democrats get the majority of the Senate, I pray that the first order
01:21:57 --> 01:22:01 of business when they organize is that Chuck Schumer is sent out to pasture.
01:22:02 --> 01:22:07 He can serve just like Mitch McConnell served, but it's time for new leadership.
01:22:07 --> 01:22:11 The Hakeem Jeffries thing is still up in the air. I would love to see a black
01:22:11 --> 01:22:14 man be the Speaker of the House. I really, really would.
01:22:15 --> 01:22:21 But the way he handled that Mamdani election, the way that he's handled the
01:22:21 --> 01:22:27 situation with voting for Israeli military aid, when we know that Netanyahu
01:22:27 --> 01:22:28 has lost his goddamn mind.
01:22:29 --> 01:22:31 You've put it in jeopardy.
01:22:32 --> 01:22:35 You've put it in jeopardy. And it should have been. It should have been a slam
01:22:35 --> 01:22:39 dunk because you knew you were going to be the Speaker of the House.
01:22:40 --> 01:22:44 Even as just by one vote, the House is going to be Democratic.
01:22:44 --> 01:22:49 And if I'm Chuck Schumer, instead of putting pressure on the main Democratic
01:22:49 --> 01:22:52 Party, I'd be kissing their butt every day.
01:22:52 --> 01:22:55 What do you need? How can I help?
01:22:56 --> 01:22:59 We should have gotten more involved. We should have paid more attention.
01:22:59 --> 01:23:02 We should have done better vetting. We should have done better recruiting.
01:23:03 --> 01:23:08 We're past that now. From July 25th to November, what do you need to make this
01:23:08 --> 01:23:11 happen? That's what Chuck Schumer should be doing.
01:23:12 --> 01:23:15 Instead of just reassuring his friend, you're going to be okay.
01:23:18 --> 01:23:21 You know, when Graham Plattner says, well, you know, they were trying to get
01:23:21 --> 01:23:22 me out and all that stuff.
01:23:23 --> 01:23:30 I think they conceded that to you, brother. You got 75% in the primary, 70 to 75, whatever.
01:23:31 --> 01:23:35 You got the support. You got the nomination. At that point, they had to deal
01:23:35 --> 01:23:37 with you. You know what I'm saying?
01:23:38 --> 01:23:42 Could there have been some people trying to say, man, we can get him out before
01:23:42 --> 01:23:45 July 13th? Let's see if we can do that. Probably.
01:23:46 --> 01:23:47 There's probably some folks like that.
01:23:48 --> 01:23:51 But the reality is, you did that to yourself, brother partner.
01:23:51 --> 01:23:54 You did it to yourself. And that's okay.
01:23:54 --> 01:23:59 Because all of us have made mistakes where we've had to end our political moments.
01:24:00 --> 01:24:04 Right? Thankful for what we got. Thankful for what we were able to achieve.
01:24:05 --> 01:24:07 But to take it to the next level, it's not going to happen.
01:24:08 --> 01:24:12 And you have to deal with that. What I don't want to see Platinum do is run
01:24:12 --> 01:24:17 his butt over there to Fox News and start playing the aggrieved Democrat.
01:24:17 --> 01:24:19 Oh, the party left me and all that stuff. Yeah, don't do that,
01:24:19 --> 01:24:21 brother. This is too serious.
01:24:23 --> 01:24:26 I want you to treat this just like any other wars. Like you may not like the
01:24:26 --> 01:24:31 orders that your commanding officers are giving, but you got to remember the
01:24:31 --> 01:24:33 objective is we got to defeat the enemy.
01:24:34 --> 01:24:40 And then once we've won the battle or won the war, then we can come back and reassess.
01:24:40 --> 01:24:44 What could we do better? How can we better respond to situations?
01:24:45 --> 01:24:48 How can we better, how can we be more tactical in what we do?
01:24:49 --> 01:24:55 But right now, it's all hands on deck. All the guns need to be pointed at that one direction.
01:24:56 --> 01:25:01 So as much as I don't like Chuck Schumer, as much as I think he has screwed
01:25:01 --> 01:25:03 this up, as much as he can, I don't.
01:25:05 --> 01:25:10 History to say that he was the minority leader when the Democrats took back the Senate.
01:25:11 --> 01:25:15 I do want him to say it. Although I will never personally give him the credit
01:25:15 --> 01:25:20 for making it happen, I want the books to say that in 2026, when the Democrats
01:25:20 --> 01:25:23 took back the Senate, he was the minority leader.
01:25:24 --> 01:25:29 If I wrote it, I'd say in spite of, but nonetheless, because it's bigger than him.
01:25:30 --> 01:25:34 It's bigger than Plattner. It's bigger than Swalwell. is bigger than anybody.
01:25:34 --> 01:25:36 It's bigger than me. It's bigger than anybody.
01:25:37 --> 01:25:43 The focus is to get us back on track to establish a foundation where this bullshit
01:25:43 --> 01:25:48 that's going on in Washington right now will never, ever happen again.
01:25:49 --> 01:25:53 Not in the next 250 years, not in the next 500 years, not ever,
01:25:53 --> 01:25:56 as long as the United States of America exists.
01:25:57 --> 01:26:05 This crap is eradicated. This mindset, Like I've said, I think I said in a podcast years ago.
01:26:07 --> 01:26:14 Vaccine. We need to be working on the vaccine to eradicate racism in the United States.
01:26:15 --> 01:26:20 It was either me or a guest. I think it might have been a guest. We need to eradicate it.
01:26:20 --> 01:26:26 And this election could be the foundation to do that, to send the message that
01:26:26 --> 01:26:30 the generations henceforth are not going to do that anymore.
01:26:31 --> 01:26:35 It'll be a question of, do we have the resources to do everything we need,
01:26:36 --> 01:26:40 if we don't have the resources, what do we do to get them?
01:26:41 --> 01:26:46 We want everybody to have a quality of life where we still want to be the light
01:26:46 --> 01:26:50 on the hill and people from around the world look at the United States of America.
01:26:51 --> 01:26:57 People that understand the history know that we are good and we are constantly
01:26:57 --> 01:27:06 striving to be a more perfect union each and every day in spite of our racism are historical,
01:27:06 --> 01:27:07 mishaps,
01:27:08 --> 01:27:09 are cruelty.
01:27:10 --> 01:27:13 But now we got to take it to another level.
01:27:14 --> 01:27:17 And this election is that moment.
01:27:18 --> 01:27:22 All right. That's all I got. I didn't talk to you long enough. Thank you.