Staying Energized Under Trump with Journalist Jarrett Hill + Staying Encouraged with Atty Virgil Roberts

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La fifteen eighty. That's your walk on music. Jared Hill,
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Jared Hill, Award winning journalist, Fine Artists, the Elogian any more.
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I love the ALOGI that's always a little too heavy.
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That's got a little too much.
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I did some religious study, I'll put it that way.
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Yes, and your walk on music is not at all religious.
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Not at all religious. I was like, give me some
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D smoke. I want to come into D smoke. I listen.
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I'm already light skin. I can't come into Drake yet.
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I haven't heard the album. I'm not beating the allegations.
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So I was like, give me some D smoke. I
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love me some smoke.
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Yes, we love D smoke around here too, and we
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love Peak Drake.
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Yes, I don't. I don't.
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We're not going to talk about Iceman because you haven't
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heard it yet.
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I haven't heard it yet. I've been I saw him
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drop three albums and I said, it's giving over compensation.
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I don't know what we're doing over here, but I
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will listen to it. I'm I'm excited to see what
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it is. But like, I do love me some like
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Classic Drake. Give me some nice for what take care?
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You know the era.
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Yeah, Peaked Drake. I you know, yeah, I'm I'm through
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two of the three and you.
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Know, okay, wait, so what's your vote though, I'll take
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your opinion.
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It's not Peaked Drake.
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It's not peak that's that's.
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My I'm not comparing him to anybody on the West
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Coast that you may be thinking.
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You're not talking about Hendrick Yeah, okay.
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Not really, No, no, no, no, I mean, you know, I'm I'm
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I'm a very West Coast centric girly. I live here
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Bay Area, Los Angeles. But I'm not even talking about that.
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I'm talking about Peak Drake because I like Drake. Drake
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to me is like workout music. Yeah, key key, as
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I'm doing my abs or whatever. It's all good. But yeah,
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I mean, there's a couple of songs on there, but
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I didn't it wasn't. Yeah, anyway, have you heard Isaiah.
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Shots do What Well? So I watch a Rap Life
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review every most weeks and they've been talking about Isaiah
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SHOT's album for a couple of weeks now, and I'm saying, like,
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I need to this out, I need to check out Iceman.
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But like, my media consumption over the last few months
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has been really different than it normally is where I
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can normally put on an album and play it and
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listen to it, or my media consumption with politics in
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the way that I'm used to watching cable news. It's
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it's just feeling different for me right now. I feel
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like I'm like really protective of myself since.
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You're protecting your piece.
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Yes. Absolutely. Since Donald Trump got reelected, I was like, oh, Okay,
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We're gonna have to do some different things. I'm gonna
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have to consume in a different kind of way because
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I know with a fire hose that is coming, yeah, and.
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It is a fire hose, it's a zone is officially flooded.
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Yeah, absolutely, And like, I mean, you know this better
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than anyone, Like as a journalist, you feel like you're
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supposed to know everything, and especially for you where you're
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on the air every day for three hours. I've come
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from like doing daily radio or doing cable news, or
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doing digital media and podcasts and all that kind of stuff,
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and having a state tapped in has had such a
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such an impact on my mental health, and I'm like,
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I cannot stay hooked into cable news all day in
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the way that I used to. I used to put
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on CNN or AMSNBC and leave it on all day. Yeah, right,
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and like and then wonder why I felt the way
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that I felt.
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Well, Plus, they tend to be very repetitive. They have
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the same guests and the same topic show after show.
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But I get your point. I I usually try to
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give myself Saturdays as a little vacation from the news
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because the rest of the days I have to read
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it and watch it. But I do a lot of reading,
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partly because I just don't want to hear Trump's voice
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all day and all.
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I mean, yeah, yeah, And to that point, though, reading
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Trump in text as opposed to listening to him deliver
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the words that he's saying can sound really especially if
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you're reading like a speech. Donald Trump sounds like a
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maniac when you're just reading the words. And then you
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listen to him, and sometimes he can make he can
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sell something with inflection. But to your point, like, reading
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him is definitely easier than watching him all the time.
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Can I can I ask you a question? Of course,
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so I podcast The Jerry Hill Show, and I'm always
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asking people how are you taking care of yourself in
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the midst of all this? And you said you take
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your saturdays, But like, how else does that look for you?
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Really? Not skipping my workouts really like and I, you know,
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sometimes I do, but for the most part, I really
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you know, I've taken up yoga. That was something that
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came in with this new administration. Okay, because I'm a weightlifter.
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I like to lift weights. I like to run or walk.
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But I really felt like, Okay, we're gonna have to
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do some stress management now starting January twentieth. Okay, and
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I did. I started yoga and I do about, you know,
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thirty minutes. I'm not some great yoga, but it helps.
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Okay. I like that. I love that. It was Oh,
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I see exactly what this is, and I need to
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respond in that kind of way, like, Yeah, I've been
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trying to figure out the things for me because when
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the change happened, I was in grad school and then
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being abroad kind of watching things happen after for on sabbatical,
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and then being back here in Angeles. It's been it's
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been really really challenging. And I'll tell you being in Washington, DC,
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we do a game show based on our book Historically
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Black Phrases Live will be in Boston. If there's people
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in Boston listening. But I was in DC and I
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saw National Guards people walking down the street information and
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to me, that hit something for me that was like, Oh,
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this is where we're going, right, right, right, this is
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the direction that we're moving in. We're gonna have National
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Guards people walking down our streets sooner than later.
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Right.
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I think it's important for people to get that. And
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when when you and I were talking, I was like,
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I'm feeling energized. I think it's yesterday hearing James Cliburn
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with Tavis Yes on the show and seeing the various
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different things that are happening. We have to recognize, like
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it's time to get active because things are moving quickly
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and they're not going to it's not going to be easy,
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but like it's time for people to get up and
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start paying attention and moving And I'm wondering about what
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those things are and how we take care of ourselves
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in the midst of that.
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Now, I think that's right. The thing that I was
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stressed out about yesterday is that Trump's approval ratings are
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in the toilet, but he keeps winning these primaries, right,
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he keeps being able to primary people that oppose him,
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the Thomas Massey's of it all. And what I realized
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doing a slightly deeper dive is that they are spending
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massive amounts of money. So it's not just the incredible
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Trump magnetism, it's tens of millions of dollars that they
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are putting into races to take out people who defy Trump.
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Absolutely, And I mean, I think we have to, like
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sometimes I appreciate a documentary for putting all of the
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things about a story in one place so you can
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see them all together.
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Yeah.
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Right, And I'm always thinking about, like, what is the
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story that we're going to be telling about this moment
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in the future as we look back at it, right
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and saying like, oh, all of these things were happening
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at the same time, right, I think about how if
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we just take a few of them. Before this administration started,
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the Supreme Court comes in and says Trump can do
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what the president can do whatever he wants without without
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without being prosecuted. We then also have a president who
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just now and this week right is cannot be cannot
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be audited by the Irs. His family has forever and
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ever and ever his crime family. To be clear, right,
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his crime family cannot be audited and dieted. They can't
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be investigated none of that. Right. We also have ICE,
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which is getting the biggest budget that they've ever had,
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that is hiring people on mass right, not not taking
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them through processes, not onboarding them, not doing all the
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background checks that they should be. And he's they are
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the president's military exactly, who just show up at your
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house and not and kick your door in and come
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get you for whatever reason. We also have like a congress,
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a government and administration that does whatever they tell him
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to do, whatever he tells them to do, excuse me,
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whatever he says to do, they're gonna do, right, And
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we see that time and time again. And then we
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see these redistricting moments that are happening down in the south, right,
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and we see California getting ready to possibly have two
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Republican gubernatorial candidates, and we see what the mayor's race
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here in Los Angeles is looking like. All of these
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things are happening at the same time. Yeah, this is
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a lot, right, and when we look back at this moment,
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when we get past this, if we get to this election, right,
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if they let this election happen, because you know, they
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don't want to we're going to look back and say like, oh, wow,
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all of those things happened at one time, right, and
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things changed, And I think it's important for people to
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see that in this context.
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Well, that is one of the reasons why Jarret Hill
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that I am saying this is a moment to vote strategically.
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I'm not saying vote your fear. I just don't think
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it's a good time for a protest vote in the
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mayor's race or the governor's race period full stop.
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Yeah, I've been having a really difficult time trying to
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figure out, like between candidates. I mean, I feel pretty confident.
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I feel pretty clear on how it field out. Spenter
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Pratt right, Like, I feel clear about that. Not mysterious, yes,
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but like when I'm looking at the wide range of
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candidates for governor, I was watching the debate that we
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just saw here from CBS California. I was looking at
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I've called my one of my family members who used
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to work with Matt Mayhan, or works and used to
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work in the city of San Jose, and I was like,
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what do you think about Matt Mayhan. I was like,
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I saw him in the ads, I've seen him in
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the debate what do you think? You know? And like
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I'm trying to ask people what they think to get
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a sense of how I'm going to vote. But I
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agree with you that it is a moment to be
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really thoughtful about how we're voting because of the times
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that we're in. It's not just like, oh, skip the primary.
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Oh I'm not right, And.
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We have some great candidates. I mean, Tony Thurman, Antonio
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Villa Rugosa, you know Mayhan. I know is you know
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from my Bay Area connections is funded by the same
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tech bros that are funding our current president. So that
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for me is a red flag.
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Well, and Matt Mayhan also, like I was asking, like
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the person I was talking to was saying to me,
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like the dynamics in the city of San Jose are
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unique and specific, right, and like the way that he
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would apply some of the ideas that he's doing to
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you know, various other kinds of cities that don't look
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like San Jose, right, that don't have the same kinds
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of resources that you're talking about with the tech bros
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and that kind of money. Like how with the things
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that he wants to do work in other places? And
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so we were talking about that and I'm like, I
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don't feel like I'm leaning in that direction toward Matt Mayhon.
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I'm just getting information. I don't feel like i'm even
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we saw I saw I came in the mail. Maxine
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Waters is my congresswoman, and I saw her her sample
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ballot that came in the mail, and I saw Sarah
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is the person that she's that she's endorsing, and I
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was like, I feel like that probably puts him at
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least up to number three or two for me, right.
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It him up there, the bumps, it bumps him up,
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but it don't make him number one for me, right,
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because I'm like, I'm probably gonna be left of of
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of our our good Maxim Waters, right, our representative that way, Okay.
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I try to compare all those sample ballots. That's why
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I say you look at Courage California, look at Knachel
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several lawmakers.
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I'm looking at Stonewall Democrats, I'm looking at the at
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the party. I'm looking at various different places to see
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like what are the different people saying, And I'm like,
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too much of the democratic establishment is supporting this candidate.
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They're probably not gonna be left enough for the things
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that I want to see done.
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So I'm well and to that then you know, butch
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where I mean, he's probably the furthest stuff there, But
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again he's not. He's a write in. Yeah, you know
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what I mean. And the question is, do you want
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to give any ground to an oath keeper? Uh, you
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know a current sheriff who's running. Do you want to
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give any ground to the Trump endorsed.
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You know Steve Fields.
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Yeah, he's a he's a Fox host and and you know,
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Trump is officially endorsed him. Trump has unofficially endorsed Spencer Pratt.
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Yesterday he said he he hopes he does well.
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Yeah. I when I was watching the debate, it was
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the first time I'd heard some of these people talking
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right outside of like you know, seeing them in ads
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and things like that, because there are plenty of ads.
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And I was looking at the Republicans and he was
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talking about being shared for thirty years, and the way
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that he was talking, I was like, I already know
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this is enough for me, right, like the way that
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he was talking about it. But I thought that they
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were effective at messaging, right. They always are effective at
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messaging and being able to talk to the problems that
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people are experiencing and always being able to speak to
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change in this country and the way that we want
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to see things move. And I was like, I know
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this is going to be effective for some people, and
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that's scary to me because I know that it's going
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to connect with people in a way that it's going
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to shift them to say like, oh, maybe I should
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listen to this guy because yeah, and then you find
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out he's an oathkeeper, right, or then you find out
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more things about their backgrounds and the things that they
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support or the ways that they show up. Because if
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you watch the whole debate, like maybe two thirds into
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the debate, things start to really fracture a little bit
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and you're like, oh, see, that's what I was expecting
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from you. And so it's an interesting dynamic being in
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California where we've had so many of these elections with
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such crowded fields.
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Yeah, Brendon Murray, she got a letter from the voter
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registration the registrar's office saying she had moved to New
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Mexico and wouldn't be able to vote here. She says
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she's never been to New Mexico and she had to reregister.
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She said she thinks Trump pat Elon Musk do things
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to our records, ain't no telling, but it is a
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good idea to check. Here in California, you can even
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register on the day of, so there's that's not a
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good reason not to vote.
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I that is actually disturbing to hear. I mean, it
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makes me think immediately when she says Elon Musk. I
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think about Doze and the way that Doze went and
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got all of Americans data and information and addresses and
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phone numbers and Social Security numbers and all those things,
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And I'm like, what did they do with that information?
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They still have it. I call it the department. I
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called it the Department of grifters for Elon.
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Oh my gosh, yes, because.
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You know, now he's got a huge competitive advantage over
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everybody because he has all the data. Yeah, now he's out.
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He's got all the data. He's got all our all
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of our information in ways that like one is not
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being that has no oversight, right, but also is not
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protected by anything. I think one of the things I
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often think about with my generation, particularly as millennials, is
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we have let go of any illusion of privacy. Yeah, right,
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I have. We have we have clicked agree, So many
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times to things that we do not read right, like
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and when I say we, I don't mean millennials, I
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mean all of us, right, But like this generation saw
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that transition happen and this agree agree, agree, except cookies
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reject cookies like all the time. Yeah, And I don't
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think we have any illusion that we have privacy. But
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when something like doge happens and they take all of
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our data and all of our information and just do
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what with it, it makes a lot of sense that
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a person comes and when they see that their their
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registration has been changed to a place they've never even visited. Right,
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it makes you ask a question of like, well, hmmm,
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what are they doing with that information? Like I get
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why she would ask that question.
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Jared Hill is my guess. He is a journalist, he
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is an artist, and he's a podcaster. Now listening to
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KBLA talk fifteen to eighty dedicated to to all the politicians.
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Jared Hills with me, Jered, When and how can we
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find your podcast?
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Yes, my podcast is on YouTube if you go to
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at Jared Hill on YouTube. We're doing live every every
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Wednesday at five o'clock. We're having a live conversation. If
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coming through this brand that I have called Troublemaking, which
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is t rb l mkng at. Trouble Making is on
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YouTube as well. But like, we do these conversations because
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we are interested in having talks about the revolution and
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like how we can see things differently, and we're taking
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that from a pop culture and a politics perspective. We're
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looking at like one of the episodes that we just
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did was around gender and sexuality. Right this week, we
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talked with black queer men about relationships with black queer men.
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A couple of weeks ago, we were talking about the
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straight relationships that we were seeing. But then we're also
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having conversations around labor. We're having conversations around this administration
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and the ways that we see and how resistance looks
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in this moment. You've been on to talk about that.
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So the jar Hill Show, we're doing twelve episodes in
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the spring and twelve episodes in the fall. That is
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what works for my mental health to be able to
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give you guys half of the year. We're doing, you know,
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twenty four episodes each year now, and I'm excited to
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be able to have a space to bring in the
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voices that I want to be talking to about the
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different kinds of issues that we're saying it, whether they
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be really serious, heavy issues that we've got to deal
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with and sometimes the light things that are part of
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our everyday lives and part of how we're getting through
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this moment.
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Okay, we don't have too much time. It's crazy time
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around here. But you know, I've been really upset about
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this Department of Justice fund. They're calling it, you know,
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weaponization fund. Ellie Mstahl called it White Grievance reparations. What
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do you make of this? I mean, the president the
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Department of Justice basically handing a one point eight million
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dollar check to the president.
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Yeah. I think about this as one of the moments
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that they are showing us they can do whatever they
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want to do right. They're showing us that they can
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do whatever it is that they want to do, however
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they want to do it right. And what you're gonna do,
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it's a very sure ray wit Phil who gonna check me?
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Yeah?
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Right? The Supreme Court? No, the irs? No, the people
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maybe right. I was talking with doctor Charles Davis about this,
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and I was like, I feel like we've heard people
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say like revolution is going to require people to break
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the law, right, And I'm like, and I'm not here
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to tell people to break the law. Like, we're not
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in that moment. We're not in that moment. We're not
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in that moment. I'm not saying that. But this is
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one of those moments that as I'm reading and listening
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to people, I'm hearing this phrase about becoming ungovernable, right,
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and like, I don't even know that I'm telling you
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that right now, but I'm not not telling you that either, right, right, Like,
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this is a moment when we've got to start thinking about,
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like how do we respond to this because things are
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moving quickly, as we talk about in the last segment,
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like all of these things are happening in concert with
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one another, and it is not by accident. It is intentional,
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and it is not something that is kind of I
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think it's it's not useful. And I do this a lot,
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like calling them.
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Stupid, right, No, that's not useful at all.
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It's not useful because it makes the things that they're
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doing seem random or erratic. It may be erratic, right,
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but random and non directional maybe right, unmoored, but like
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they are doing a thing, right, and that thing that
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they are doing is making this a white supremacist nation
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that is focused on whiteness, right, and to be clear,
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to make it a more white supremacist.
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Nation, right. I mean, we're importing another ten thousand white
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South Africans while not letting anyone else have refuge, even
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though the first couple thousand, a lot of them want
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to go home already because they realize it's not the
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wonderland they thought it was over here.
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I I didn't plan on saying this, but I'm often
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thinking about what we're fighting for. And when I say we,
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I mean we us black folks, I mean brown folks,
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I mean all of the different groups of folks that
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are marginalized in this country. And I'm really really struggling
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with the image of our ancestors at the lunch counters
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and the boycotts and the protests and the let us in,
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let us in, and then like they finally got in
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and ate the food and they were like this is trash,
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Like what is this turkey sandwich? Like whatever? It is?
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Right and like and I feel like it's such a
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metaphor for America. Like I was abroad and having that
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feeling like why am I going back like I and
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thinking to myself like, oh, I want to go back
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and fight for my country and fight for my people,
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and fight for the communities that are really important to me,
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and like the fight fight, fight. Part of me is
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like looking at that picture of them at the lunch
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counter and thinking, like, the thing that we're fighting for
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in many ways is wonderful and in many ways is
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try sometimes. And so I'm like, I'm having that push
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and pull with myself all the time.
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Right, are we fighting for potato salad with raisins?
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Let me go. I can't even do it.
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Yet, but yet you're energized. So it's thirty seconds.
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Yeah, give us.
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I mean, we'll give me your energy. Where's your energized
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viewpoint coming from?
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To be honest with you, I find myself frustrated that
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we are letting it go to this guy. We are
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letting this country the things that we have fought for,
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the things that we have built, the things that our
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ancestors have have fought and bled and dyed and strategized
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and organized and cooked dinners and stood up for. Like,
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we are letting it go to this man for this
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Like I would cuss if I was on the podcast right,
439
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but we are letting it go to to these folks
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like to do this, Like I'm I'm energized about that.
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Like what is the if it was gonna go to somebody, right,
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Like if we want to let somebody take it, the
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idea that it's going to these people is actually what's
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really been pissing me off lately is like they are
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so whack right. They don't bring anything to the table
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that is really useful or interesting or new or creative
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or generative or any of that. And so that's where
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I am. I'm like, I'm frustrated about that.
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Jared Hill Ja R r Ett Hill on YouTube. We
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gotta go news, traffic in sports, and then we will
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be hearing from one of our civil rights commissioners. That's
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next on KBLA Talk fifteen to eighty. Okay, okay, okay.
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Then so much is going on around here today, and
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buckle your seat belt. Iss about to be like this
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until at least June third. Okay, I'll make it June fifth,
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because I'm about to have a birthday. It's Gemini season. Okay.
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We got Sherry on the phone. I'm squeeze Sherry in
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really quick here because she's been so patient. Hi, Sherry, Hi,
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how you doing. I'm good. What's on your mind? Is fine?
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Day?
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Well, I just wanted to say, between the governor's race,
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Barsera and Stire, they're both Barsera is polling ahead of Stider.
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But because I think that they were calling and asking
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people who they're going to vote for, a lot of
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the Hispanics aren't going to be able to vote, and
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I think they're even going to be scared to go
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to vote. So of course they said Barsera, but I
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really think we should go with Stier.
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Okay, Sherry, I got your opinion. I appreciate it. I
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hope you'll call me another time when we have more
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time to talk, because I would love to explore your
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thinking on some of these things. I assume you're saying
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that some Latinos won't want to vote because of the
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Ice presence, and they're talking about how many Ice people
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at the polls. They could always mail in their ballots.
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So but yeah, I got you. I appreciate your thoughts
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on that. At least somebody has made up their mind
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about this governor's race, and certainly that's a good thing.
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00:22:55.440 --> 00:22:57.559
Is we got to vote, that's the most important thing.
480
00:22:58.599 --> 00:22:59.920
All right, and I will be calling.
481
00:23:00.519 --> 00:23:02.799
Thank you, please do surey, I would welcome you. I
482
00:23:02.839 --> 00:23:06.720
would welcome you back right now though we're welcoming welcoming
483
00:23:06.880 --> 00:23:12.039
in an LA City civil rights commissioner, He's spent decades
484
00:23:12.079 --> 00:23:17.400
helping shape LA across entertainment, education, civil rights, and philanthropy.
485
00:23:18.279 --> 00:23:21.880
But one of the big big things that he does
486
00:23:22.640 --> 00:23:29.559
is get people ready to serve as well, similar to
487
00:23:29.640 --> 00:23:34.319
how he has served. Virgil Roberts welcome.
488
00:23:35.240 --> 00:23:38.720
Well, good morning to you, and thank you for having
489
00:23:38.759 --> 00:23:39.400
me on your show.
490
00:23:40.400 --> 00:23:44.519
Thanks for coming on. Certainly, congratulations are in order. I
491
00:23:44.559 --> 00:23:49.440
know you are being honored at the African American Board
492
00:23:49.519 --> 00:23:55.279
Leadership Institute's Dinner Tonight Tribute Dinner tonight. It's the fifteenth
493
00:23:55.319 --> 00:23:58.759
annual and you are one of their honorees. So congratulations
494
00:23:58.759 --> 00:23:59.480
on that honor.
495
00:24:00.599 --> 00:24:03.880
Well, thank you very much, and you know it's I'm
496
00:24:04.000 --> 00:24:07.799
humbled and excited about being honored.
497
00:24:09.160 --> 00:24:13.319
You know, you have a seemingly glamorous job. I mean,
498
00:24:13.319 --> 00:24:16.559
you're an entertainment attorney with a big firm. You got
499
00:24:16.599 --> 00:24:21.720
glamorous clients like Yay and Usher and Chaka Khan and
500
00:24:21.759 --> 00:24:26.480
people like that MTV. So why would you say let
501
00:24:26.559 --> 00:24:31.759
me spend some time with the Civil Rights Commission. Let
502
00:24:31.759 --> 00:24:37.640
me spend some time with the African American Board Leadership Institute.
503
00:24:37.640 --> 00:24:39.839
You know what I could be, I could be, you know,
504
00:24:39.960 --> 00:24:42.519
backstage with Usher, but I think I'll do this instead.
505
00:24:44.559 --> 00:24:49.200
Well, it's really a simple, a simple answer. It's the converse.
506
00:24:50.039 --> 00:24:53.039
I think the most important thing for all of us
507
00:24:53.039 --> 00:24:57.119
to do, especially those of us who are Black Americans,
508
00:24:57.960 --> 00:25:04.039
is really to keep pressing for full involvement in society
509
00:25:04.079 --> 00:25:08.200
at all levels. And the work I do helps pay
510
00:25:08.240 --> 00:25:11.319
the bills and pay my rent so I can pursue
511
00:25:11.319 --> 00:25:16.759
my passion. But my passion really is to work in
512
00:25:16.799 --> 00:25:21.119
the community. So it's the other way around. I don't
513
00:25:21.160 --> 00:25:25.640
look at missing the opportunity to hang out with my friend,
514
00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:29.240
you know, Usher and stuff. What I look at is
515
00:25:29.279 --> 00:25:32.359
the work that I do in the entertainment business, which
516
00:25:32.960 --> 00:25:36.920
full of progressive people, allows me to make money to
517
00:25:37.000 --> 00:25:39.480
pay the bills so I can spend my time and
518
00:25:39.599 --> 00:25:43.559
my passion, which is to try and improve the quality
519
00:25:43.599 --> 00:25:46.319
of life for black folks in America.
520
00:25:46.880 --> 00:25:51.440
That's amazing. It's wild though. Graduated from UCLA, graduated from
521
00:25:51.440 --> 00:25:57.880
Harvard Law School, you know, representing people like Babyface and Usher,
522
00:25:57.960 --> 00:26:02.240
but and is you know, for fun he does civil rights.
523
00:26:03.400 --> 00:26:06.319
Got to love that. So explain to me what is
524
00:26:06.400 --> 00:26:10.079
the African American Board Leadership Institute, because I do think
525
00:26:10.480 --> 00:26:14.000
they call it ably that many of us don't track
526
00:26:14.079 --> 00:26:15.079
that organization.
527
00:26:16.440 --> 00:26:23.440
Well, the African American Board Leadership Institute I co founded
528
00:26:23.640 --> 00:26:32.960
with a woman who's a dear friend, Yvette Chappelle, fifteen
529
00:26:33.039 --> 00:26:35.799
years ago, and it grew out of my own personal experience.
530
00:26:35.880 --> 00:26:38.920
What I began to realize is I did more and
531
00:26:38.920 --> 00:26:42.200
more work in the community and I started to focus
532
00:26:42.279 --> 00:26:49.920
on nonprofit organizations because the social but the venture capital
533
00:26:49.960 --> 00:26:54.079
money for social change is in philanthropy. If you want
534
00:26:54.119 --> 00:26:57.319
to do things, you have an idea about how to
535
00:26:57.359 --> 00:27:01.160
do education differently, do you go get the money to
536
00:27:01.200 --> 00:27:02.799
do it? Where you're not going to get the money
537
00:27:03.079 --> 00:27:08.000
from existing institutions. If you have the idea about doing
538
00:27:08.079 --> 00:27:10.960
childcare differently, where do you get the money, Well, you
539
00:27:11.000 --> 00:27:14.279
get the money from philanthropists. You don't You don't have
540
00:27:14.319 --> 00:27:16.079
to go to Congress, you don't have to go to
541
00:27:16.160 --> 00:27:20.039
state legislature. You just have a group of people who
542
00:27:20.119 --> 00:27:22.799
are sitting around in a room and maybe seven and
543
00:27:22.880 --> 00:27:27.160
maybe eight and maybe eighteen, and you just convinced that group, Hey,
544
00:27:27.160 --> 00:27:30.160
I have an idea for doing things differently, and if
545
00:27:30.160 --> 00:27:32.759
you get an agreement, then all of a sudden, you
546
00:27:32.960 --> 00:27:37.720
have the capital to do something differently. So what I
547
00:27:37.920 --> 00:27:42.319
discovered years ago is that there were not nearly enough
548
00:27:43.000 --> 00:27:47.359
of folks that lived the black experience in the rooms
549
00:27:47.359 --> 00:27:51.559
for those decisions are made, the decisions about who funds
550
00:27:52.599 --> 00:27:59.079
Brotherhood Crusade, who funds Community Bill, who funds the organizations
551
00:27:59.480 --> 00:28:04.039
that do work in our community. The boardrooms are not
552
00:28:04.160 --> 00:28:08.559
full of Black people, They're full of people of other persuasions.
553
00:28:08.599 --> 00:28:14.519
So the African American Board Leadership Institute was created to
554
00:28:14.720 --> 00:28:21.200
try and identify talented Black executives, talented Black folks who
555
00:28:21.240 --> 00:28:23.599
wanted to give back in their community, give back to
556
00:28:23.599 --> 00:28:27.720
the community, equip them with the skills and knowledge they
557
00:28:27.799 --> 00:28:32.880
need to be effective in boardrooms, and then to work
558
00:28:32.920 --> 00:28:39.680
with commissions and nonprofit organizations and for profit organizations to
559
00:28:39.839 --> 00:28:45.160
try and get more Black voices in the room where
560
00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:49.440
decisions are made. That's the sole goal or able. So
561
00:28:50.079 --> 00:28:54.160
it's not there was not designed to be a mass
562
00:28:54.200 --> 00:29:00.440
marketed organization like it was designed to be more of
563
00:29:00.480 --> 00:29:05.759
a strategic organization that would really teach leadership to folks
564
00:29:05.839 --> 00:29:08.640
and then hopefully what they would do is use those
565
00:29:08.680 --> 00:29:12.359
skills they've gained to go out and get involved in
566
00:29:12.960 --> 00:29:17.400
boards and commissions. And over the last fifteen years, we
567
00:29:17.559 --> 00:29:21.960
probably have trained over one thousand black folks and I
568
00:29:21.960 --> 00:29:24.759
think currently about four hundred of them are serving on
569
00:29:24.880 --> 00:29:29.839
various governing boards across the country. We've got people from
570
00:29:29.880 --> 00:29:34.039
our programs and as far away as Kenya and Canada
571
00:29:35.039 --> 00:29:38.519
of the South and stuff seeking to get that training
572
00:29:38.960 --> 00:29:40.839
to make them affective board members.
573
00:29:41.240 --> 00:29:43.720
Yeah, that's powerful. I mean, if you're not in the room,
574
00:29:44.359 --> 00:29:49.559
you who's going to represent us? We are. We're talking
575
00:29:49.559 --> 00:29:54.880
with Attorney Virgil Roberts, Commissioner Virgil Roberts, and the organization.
576
00:29:54.920 --> 00:29:56.960
If you want to check it out yourself, it's AaB
577
00:29:57.200 --> 00:30:00.680
li dot org aa b l i able dot org.
578
00:30:00.880 --> 00:30:04.519
We'll continue the conversation when we come forward on KBLA talk.
579
00:30:04.599 --> 00:30:09.599
Fifteen eighty were forming his entertainment law firm, Bobbitt and Roberts.
580
00:30:09.640 --> 00:30:13.799
He was President General Council of Solar Records. He's been
581
00:30:13.839 --> 00:30:17.200
involved with community and legal professionist whole career. Right now,
582
00:30:17.240 --> 00:30:21.279
he's chairman of the board of Broadway Federal Bank, trustee
583
00:30:21.400 --> 00:30:24.960
or director of the Board of Directors of the James
584
00:30:25.039 --> 00:30:28.960
Irvine Foundation, Families and Schools, Southern California Public Radio, the
585
00:30:28.960 --> 00:30:33.000
FEDCO Foundation, Community Build, and the Alliance for College Ready
586
00:30:33.079 --> 00:30:37.359
Public Schools. He's also an LA Civil Rights Commissioner, and
587
00:30:37.519 --> 00:30:41.640
he pretty much embodies the concept if you want something done,
588
00:30:42.119 --> 00:30:48.920
ask a busy person. Commissioner Virgil Roberts. I left out
589
00:30:49.240 --> 00:30:52.440
that you helped u c l A build their African
590
00:30:52.440 --> 00:30:55.799
American Studies program, which was one of the first ever.
591
00:30:56.480 --> 00:31:01.960
And you know, I imagine all of these different arenas
592
00:31:01.960 --> 00:31:03.480
that you've worked, and you've been on board, you've had
593
00:31:03.480 --> 00:31:06.480
your own law firm, you've you know, done civil rights work.
594
00:31:07.799 --> 00:31:10.720
Must it must be a strange moment for you to
595
00:31:10.920 --> 00:31:15.279
watch the not it's not illegal, it's not that, I
596
00:31:15.319 --> 00:31:19.119
don't want to say the outlawing, but the executive orders
597
00:31:19.160 --> 00:31:24.680
frowning on DEI, the sort of attacks on anything that
598
00:31:24.799 --> 00:31:29.720
seems designed to help black people, to help African Americans
599
00:31:29.759 --> 00:31:34.000
in fact ably, which you know, you you've co founded
600
00:31:34.079 --> 00:31:38.440
African American Board Leadership Institute, appears to be exactly the
601
00:31:38.440 --> 00:31:41.880
type of organization that could come under fire in this
602
00:31:42.039 --> 00:31:45.519
current administration. How do you see where we are now.
603
00:31:47.039 --> 00:31:51.720
Well, the way where the way I look at current
604
00:31:51.839 --> 00:31:56.720
things is to look at history. We're really in sort
605
00:31:56.759 --> 00:32:01.519
of a post reconstruction era. You know, I'm one that
606
00:32:01.680 --> 00:32:08.000
believes history doesn't repeat itself, but it doesn't rhyme. And
607
00:32:07.640 --> 00:32:14.039
there has always been in this country a fundamental core
608
00:32:14.160 --> 00:32:18.400
of people who are basically white supremacists. That's why we
609
00:32:18.440 --> 00:32:22.519
had we had the Civil rights I mean, the Civil War,
610
00:32:24.160 --> 00:32:29.880
and so there's a constant struggle between those of us
611
00:32:29.880 --> 00:32:34.160
who believe in a multi racial democracy and those people
612
00:32:34.160 --> 00:32:40.440
who believe that there should be white rulers of the world.
613
00:32:40.640 --> 00:32:44.200
You know, Now that's not unique for black folks. We
614
00:32:44.319 --> 00:32:48.640
lived through Jim Crow. You know, we got to America
615
00:32:49.079 --> 00:32:53.640
four centuries ago in sixteen nineteen, and we didn't get
616
00:32:53.680 --> 00:32:57.880
the full right to participate and vote until the Voume
617
00:32:57.960 --> 00:33:02.480
Rights Act was passed in nineteen six. So from sixteen
618
00:33:02.720 --> 00:33:09.799
nineteen until nineteen sixty five we live under an oppressive
619
00:33:09.839 --> 00:33:14.039
system of apartheid. And there always have been peaks and valleys.
620
00:33:14.119 --> 00:33:18.440
You know, if you study history, it right after the
621
00:33:18.440 --> 00:33:21.400
Civil War for the first time there were a number
622
00:33:21.839 --> 00:33:25.839
excise me, a black who elected to the Senate. They
623
00:33:25.880 --> 00:33:30.000
were able to create schools, re slaves, created over one
624
00:33:30.119 --> 00:33:35.240
hundred HBCUs. It still exists today. And yet there was
625
00:33:35.319 --> 00:33:39.079
the reaction of the ku Klux Klan, the black codes,
626
00:33:40.440 --> 00:33:43.640
the denial of voting rights, and we had to continue
627
00:33:43.640 --> 00:33:47.759
to fight even after the Civil Rights movement until we
628
00:33:47.880 --> 00:33:53.039
got the voting rights. What we're seeing now is kind
629
00:33:53.119 --> 00:33:58.200
of that cyclical reaction of conservative white nationalists to the
630
00:33:58.200 --> 00:34:02.440
progress of colored people in America. And so I think
631
00:34:03.119 --> 00:34:07.640
that now is a time when more than ever, we
632
00:34:07.799 --> 00:34:12.880
need to be vigilant. We need to be active. Everybody
633
00:34:12.960 --> 00:34:17.719
that is a person of color needs to vote. They
634
00:34:17.760 --> 00:34:22.440
need to understand that we have to strengthen the organizations
635
00:34:22.440 --> 00:34:27.440
in our communities that really are the bedrock democracy. It's
636
00:34:27.559 --> 00:34:35.199
local it's local organizations, it's local nonprofits, it's local churches.
637
00:34:35.679 --> 00:34:40.159
All of those organizations need to be strengthened because they
638
00:34:40.239 --> 00:34:45.519
really are the bulwark against hypocrisy. And we're in a fight,
639
00:34:46.199 --> 00:34:50.840
and it's a very serious fight. I was listening to
640
00:34:50.880 --> 00:34:54.440
somebody a few weeks ago who were saying, well, you know,
641
00:34:55.239 --> 00:34:59.440
in the nineteen sixties, over eighty percent of the people
642
00:34:59.599 --> 00:35:05.760
in a America we're white. Today, that percentage of people
643
00:35:05.800 --> 00:35:08.440
who are white is down to about fifty seven percent,
644
00:35:09.159 --> 00:35:14.599
and so there is a reaction that's taking place in
645
00:35:14.639 --> 00:35:18.559
the most conservative parts of white America to say, we
646
00:35:18.599 --> 00:35:22.039
need to stop this because in another twenty years, the
647
00:35:22.119 --> 00:35:24.639
majority of people in America will be people of color.
648
00:35:25.360 --> 00:35:28.159
And that's what's led to this idea of we need
649
00:35:28.159 --> 00:35:34.400
to deport one hundred million people. And the things that
650
00:35:34.559 --> 00:35:38.039
are happening are designed to try and turn the clock back.
651
00:35:38.800 --> 00:35:41.639
I think you can't turn the clock back. I hope
652
00:35:41.679 --> 00:35:47.320
that we're able to resist and overthrow the forces of
653
00:35:47.360 --> 00:35:53.320
white nationalism without there being another civil war. But I've
654
00:35:53.360 --> 00:35:58.440
often said that this time is the time when we
655
00:35:58.480 --> 00:36:02.480
need to look back and our history. I think Abraham
656
00:36:02.519 --> 00:36:06.840
Lincoln and his Gettysburg address said it perfectly when he said,
657
00:36:07.960 --> 00:36:10.960
you know, our forefathers brought forth upon this continent a
658
00:36:10.960 --> 00:36:15.719
new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition
659
00:36:15.840 --> 00:36:19.800
that all men are created equal, and that they are
660
00:36:20.679 --> 00:36:25.360
endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights, among those
661
00:36:25.400 --> 00:36:29.280
being the right to the pursuit of life, liberty, and happiness.
662
00:36:29.760 --> 00:36:32.960
Now we are engaged in this great civil war to
663
00:36:33.079 --> 00:36:38.159
determine whether this nation, or any nation so conceived can
664
00:36:38.199 --> 00:36:44.119
long endure. This is the oldest multi racial democracy in
665
00:36:44.199 --> 00:36:47.360
the history of the world. We're coming up on our
666
00:36:47.400 --> 00:36:51.199
two hundred and fifty year anniversary as a country, and
667
00:36:51.239 --> 00:36:54.239
when we look at the history, there's been a steady
668
00:36:54.280 --> 00:37:00.559
progress of expanding rights, expanding the ability of people to
669
00:37:00.599 --> 00:37:05.880
participate in society. And we now have in the head
670
00:37:05.880 --> 00:37:09.320
of our administration a group of people who are trying
671
00:37:09.320 --> 00:37:12.880
to reverse what has been the moral arc of the
672
00:37:13.000 --> 00:37:16.280
universe in America for twenty fifty years. We have to
673
00:37:16.480 --> 00:37:19.800
oppose it in every battlefield.
674
00:37:19.159 --> 00:37:22.280
That we can, I mean and just I mean. We
675
00:37:22.280 --> 00:37:24.840
could talk about this for now, but just a quick
676
00:37:24.880 --> 00:37:28.239
snapshot with your attorney hat on. With the gutting of
677
00:37:28.280 --> 00:37:32.679
the Voting Rights Act? Is that possible? Is it? It
678
00:37:32.800 --> 00:37:34.480
kind of feels insurmountable.
679
00:37:36.000 --> 00:37:40.880
Well, the answer is to things one, the gutting of
680
00:37:40.880 --> 00:37:47.000
the Voting Rights Act, it may in some respects create opportunity.
681
00:37:47.119 --> 00:37:49.800
You know, always think that you have to look at
682
00:37:50.000 --> 00:37:52.880
both sides of the problems. One of the things that
683
00:37:52.960 --> 00:37:58.800
the Southerners had done over the years to jerrymander districts
684
00:37:58.880 --> 00:38:01.440
is able to round up all the black folks, let's say,
685
00:38:01.480 --> 00:38:05.239
like in South Carolina. South Carolina is thirty percent black.
686
00:38:05.519 --> 00:38:08.559
They put all the black folks in one district, basically
687
00:38:08.920 --> 00:38:14.440
that Jim Clymer represents. If you break up the black
688
00:38:14.480 --> 00:38:18.679
folks and spread them around in other districts, the people
689
00:38:18.679 --> 00:38:20.599
who are doing it may not get what they want
690
00:38:20.760 --> 00:38:24.639
because all of a sudden, you may have enough black
691
00:38:24.679 --> 00:38:28.800
folks in different districts so that somebody can come along
692
00:38:29.159 --> 00:38:33.360
who is not a right wing Republican and win. Because
693
00:38:33.440 --> 00:38:36.280
let's say, all of a sudden, the district that used
694
00:38:36.280 --> 00:38:38.800
to be one hundred percent white is now going to
695
00:38:38.800 --> 00:38:41.519
be twenty percent black. Well, if you get the twenty
696
00:38:41.559 --> 00:38:45.960
percent blacks voting for another candidate, you only need to
697
00:38:46.000 --> 00:38:51.239
get thirty percent of the whites, whereas in a current situation,
698
00:38:51.719 --> 00:38:54.599
you'd have to have at least fifty percent plus one
699
00:38:54.639 --> 00:38:58.239
of the whites vote against the conservative candidates. But there
700
00:38:58.239 --> 00:39:01.320
may be twenty five or thirty percent of whites who
701
00:39:01.360 --> 00:39:04.760
don't like that candidate, but they can't win because there's
702
00:39:04.760 --> 00:39:07.960
nobody else for them to lie with. So you know,
703
00:39:08.079 --> 00:39:10.280
one of the things I would say is people should
704
00:39:10.320 --> 00:39:16.360
be careful for what they wish for, because the chickens
705
00:39:16.360 --> 00:39:19.000
may come home to roofs. You may say we're going
706
00:39:19.079 --> 00:39:22.079
to break up black districts, but what you're also doing
707
00:39:22.159 --> 00:39:26.079
is you just spraying around black folks who can still vote,
708
00:39:26.559 --> 00:39:28.800
and they may vote for candidates that are not the
709
00:39:28.880 --> 00:39:32.079
Republican candidate. And that's why I say it is so
710
00:39:32.159 --> 00:39:35.679
important for us to be informed and not to give
711
00:39:35.760 --> 00:39:39.119
up on voting, but to look at the opportunities that
712
00:39:39.239 --> 00:39:42.719
may exist to sort of turn the worm, if you will.
713
00:39:43.239 --> 00:39:46.320
So yeah, so well said, so well said. We have
714
00:39:46.360 --> 00:39:50.199
to leave it there. Attorney Virgil Roberts, Congratulations to you
715
00:39:50.320 --> 00:39:52.880
on your able award. If you guys want to go,
716
00:39:53.199 --> 00:39:54.880
then there might be some tickets left. You can go
717
00:39:54.920 --> 00:39:57.719
to aa b l I dot org. It's at the
718
00:39:57.719 --> 00:40:00.960
Skirball Cultural Center. It is tonight. You may be able
719
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to purchase a ticket. Congratulations and thank you once again
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for joining us.
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Well Dominic, thank you and thank you for the work
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that you do in our community. You really help keep
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people unformed and I appreciate you.
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Oh thanks, that's much appreciated. Tavis Smiley does the same.
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He's up next, and guess who he's got on today.
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He's got Javier Bessetta, who's running for governor. So you
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do not want to miss that. All y'all confused ones
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out there, put myself in that category. Two. Like my father,
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the Late Great Amir Baraka used to say, a person
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is either free or they are not free. There can
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be no apprenticeship for freedom. And I shall see you
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on social media at KBLA fifteen eighty or find me
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at Duprema Radio d I p R I m A
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and then radio until tomorrow. One love,