Full Transcript for Does Representation Give Black Americans Real Power? | Cite Your Source

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00:00:00 Speaker 1: Welcome home, NLP fam. This is Angela Rye. You're about to hear an episode of Cite Your Source, a show produced and presented by Native Lamb Pod. On Cite Your Source, we fact-check the headlines and debunk viral news. We say we are your two-step verification on all the BS. New episodes drop Wednesday at 9 p.m. Eastern on Cite Your Source's YouTube channel. If you're listening and wondering what our sources are, I encourage you to check out the video where we cite our sources in real time and we have our sources in show notes. Thank you. Enjoy the episode. Welcome to Psych Your Source. I'm your host, Angela Rye. We are your two-step verification on all the BS. The power of the people shaped this nation. From fighting for abolition to boycotts for integration, we marched across bridges, challenged segregation, registered voters, and today we have more Black representation in Congress and in governors' mansions than in any time in history. But here's the question. How does political power translate into people power? To help us answer that question and more, we have 2026 Democratic nominee for the United States Senate who garnered nearly 4 million votes in last week's election. Former Florida State Representative Angie Nixon. Angie, I want to say on behalf of Black America, progressive America, in between America, folks on the other side of this land, across the pond, thank you. 00:01:48 Speaker 2: For sure. 00:01:50 Speaker 1: And I'm saying thank you because you showed us that when the people are behind you, there is a pathway. 00:01:56 Speaker 3: Yeah. 00:01:56 Speaker 1: I know it probably doesn't feel like that right now. And I want to get to something that I think is quite Clearly, the elephant in the room, Ashley Moody raised a little over $ 14 million in her Senate race. You raised a little over $ 11 million. Do you believe right now that people power can beat monetary power, the financial impacts that money has in politics? 00:02:20 Speaker 4: Yeah, I absolutely do. I mean, we did it in the primary. We would have done it in the general if we were able. 00:02:29 Speaker 2: You know, I started a little late. I started in January officially. 00:02:34 Speaker 4: And I mean, I just could not get over the hump though, because that money, yes, she raised that amount of money in her direct campaign, but there was over, I want to say about $ 25 million spent on me in attack ads. 00:02:51 Speaker 1: And that's through something that we know as independent expenditures. Those are those outsized huge packs. 00:02:56 Speaker 2: And things like that. 00:02:57 Speaker 5: Yes. 00:02:57 Speaker 4: And so it was tough. It was a tough, hill to climb. There were a few things that we could have done differently, but I'm really proud of the race that we ran. I mean, when we looked at the numbers, Democratic turnout was higher than Republican turnout as far as the percentages, but there is a 1.5 million gap between Republicans and Democrats. 00:03:21 Speaker 2: And so there was really no making up for that. 00:03:26 Speaker 4: And so we have to really work to decrease that number and get our voter registration numbers up and then we'll be more. 00:03:33 Speaker 2: Viable for statewide races. 00:03:35 Speaker 4: But I'm proud that we were able to help drive turnout and flips. some state house seats. We got out of the super minority, which is, I'm excited because the incoming speaker of the Florida House formerly reprimanded me for, you know, taking out a pink bullhorn when they were illegally and unconstitutionally drawing maps. And so now I broke up his super majority. And so I'm happy about that. 00:04:01 Speaker 1: The audience is too, sounds right. 00:04:04 Speaker 4: And we were also able to hold on to the four seats that they tried to take for congressional seats in addition to helping to flip one. And I know that it's because we saw an increase in turnout for young people as well as black people. And before I ran, I stated to quite a few people that it was my goal to win this race, but it would also be a win if I was able to drive up turnout and to flip some seats. 00:04:35 Speaker 2: And I accomplished that. And so I'm happy about that. 00:04:37 Speaker 6: Yeah. 00:04:38 Speaker 1: And that is a win. And you also had another major feat in the primary. I remember all the rhetoric that there was no way you could win against Alex Vindman. You beat a candidate who raised, to this point, about money in politics. He raised 16 times. more than you in the primary, you still beat him significantly. And so I want to just park there for a moment because on one hand, there's this voter turnout gap in Florida. There's a voter registration gap in Florida to the tune of over a million, as you said, with Republican voters versus Democrats. You didn't see that same reality in the primary. What do you think has to shift in general elections beyond that? turnout and beyond money and politics? Are those the two largest hurdles? 00:05:24 Speaker 2: I mean, those are the two largest hurdles. 00:05:27 Speaker 4: And I would say that we cannot allow leadership to squander this opportunity to deliver for working families across the country. They have to go hardcore in regards to you know, healthcare. 00:05:43 Speaker 1: And you say leadership, though, who are you talking? 00:05:45 Speaker 4: I would say, you know, whoever becomes the leader of the House and the Senate. And they have to have an aggressive agenda to help working families. This was, people turned out because they were really upset at Trump and just the. 00:06:06 Speaker 2: Failure of what happened. 00:06:07 Speaker 4: But then also, They turned out because they were motivated by some some candidates as well. And so I just don't want in this soon to be post era of Trump, because I mean, I feel like this is his lame duck session. These last two years are kind of going to be just kind of lame duck for him since he does not have the House or

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the Senate. We need to have, you know, some accountability in place like that. I know there were some folks who said, no, we shouldn't go after him for all the things that he's done. 00:06:39 Speaker 2: And people want accountability and they want relief. And so I am. 00:06:44 Speaker 4: Hoping that leadership walks and chews gum at the same time in regards to that. 00:06:52 Speaker 1: You brought up leadership, and this is, I'm just going to be honest, it may be my sticking point more than yours. But when I think about the journey that you had, specifically with Chuck Schumer and the DSCC, which is run by Kirsten Gillibrand, my question is, what do you think they need to change to get races like yours right in the future? 00:07:13 Speaker 2: They need to invest in the South. They need to invest in Black people. 00:07:16 Speaker 4: There were absolutely no Black candidates on the flip list, like none. 00:07:23 Speaker 2: And they invested in our races a little too late. 00:07:28 Speaker 1: When did you see investment come to your race? 00:07:30 Speaker 2: More so in October. 00:07:32 Speaker 4: And it would have been great to see that in September. If Scott Colon, if he would have gotten a million dollars earlier on, this wouldn't have been an issue. 00:07:45 Speaker 2: If Jamie Davis in Louisiana. 00:07:48 Speaker 1: would. 00:07:48 Speaker 2: Have gotten a million dollars, period. He probably would have won. 00:07:53 Speaker 4: If I would have gotten like five million early on, that would have been super helpful. 00:07:57 Speaker 1: How much did they end up investing in your room? 00:08:00 Speaker 4: I'm not totally sure. I know like hard money that moved over that I saw, I think it was around Like from the DSCC, I think it was around like $ 50, 000 or $ 60, 000. 00:08:12 Speaker 2: Do not quote me on that. 00:08:14 Speaker 1: $ 50, 000 or $ 60, 000. Do not quote me on that. 00:08:16 Speaker 4: But I think that's what it was, like the hard money that we saw moved. And that was towards the end, the last week or so. 00:08:24 Speaker 1: Angie, I'm sorry, that's criminal. 00:08:26 Speaker 4: But let me let me make sure because, you know, I was just running the race. But it's not what we needed. 00:08:33 Speaker 2: We needed way more. 00:08:34 Speaker 4: And I know, you know, Chuck Schumer and Senator Senator Schumer and Senator Senator. 00:08:38 Speaker 2: Gillibrand, they were working to try to raise money. 00:08:41 Speaker 4: But it would have been great if we would have gotten like some real major investments early on. But, yeah, I just if they would invest in the South, in the black South. 00:08:55 Speaker 2: Early on, like we would have we would have flipped seats. 00:08:58 Speaker 4: And I know I spoke with Representative Pearson yesterday and, you know, he had to get he had to go to D.C. 00:09:07 Speaker 2: To be put on the list. 00:09:08 Speaker 7: Yeah. 00:09:09 Speaker 4: And he came close too. And I mean, we could have won these seats. 00:09:14 Speaker 2: And that's what's just frustrating about it. Yeah. 00:09:16 Speaker 1: I just want to check because. 00:09:17 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me text my team. 00:09:20 Speaker 1: Yeah. Let me see if I can check too. 00:09:23 Speaker 2: This is hard dollars that moved over. 00:09:27 Speaker 8: I know. 00:09:28 Speaker 2: How much money was given to me from the DSCC? 00:09:30 Speaker 1: Quick question for you. Do you know how much was raised or given to Angie Nixon, hard dollars from DSCC? OK, thank you. 00:09:40 Speaker 4: So, yeah, this is what I got from my it was it was 62 from DS around 14, five from the virtual fundraiser Schumer hosted and five from his pact. 00:09:51 Speaker 9: So, yeah. 00:09:55 Speaker 1: I want to go to the audience because they were growling and grumbling as loud as I was. when we heard this number. And I'm just curious, what was the response? Was it the amount or was there something else? 00:10:07 Speaker 7: For me, it's the amount, Auntie, because every day I can't tell you how many texts we'd get from the DSCC and phone calls asking for money. And it the donations that keep going. And I would sometimes talk to the people on the phone and said, I just gave money. Like you don't have any record of this. And there's so much money that I know people are giving because we talk about it. And then for you to get so little of it, I would have rather sent that money directly to you as opposed to sending it to the DSCC if you weren't getting it. 00:10:38 Speaker 1: Well, I want you to reserve comment on that. I will do all the commenting there. But what I do want to do is go to what some would call your concession speech. But really, I think it was a kind of a victory speech. So there's a particular line I want to play. Let's roll that clip. 00:10:57 Speaker 4: The war is not over. 00:10:59 Speaker 2: 2028 is around the corner. 00:11:14 Speaker 10: So Ashley Moody, you better get it right. Because we're coming for you. 00:11:31 Speaker 1: OK, so you know the million. You need to take this audience with you. They love you way more than they've ever loved me. I love it for you. 00:11:41 Speaker 2: I appreciate y'all. 00:11:42 Speaker 1: Here's my question. Does that? an announcement for 2028. 00:11:47 Speaker 4: That is an announcement that I am organizing like I've never organized before, that I started a PAC called the Never Scared PAC. Folks should go visit it, never scared.org. And that we are going to work to, you know, build, uh, infrastructure and build power, political power all across the state of Florida and also just the Deep South in general. But I am not making any plans right now to run or to not run. I really want to focus our efforts on you know, engaging, keeping those folks engaged that came out to volunteer on our campaigns and who donated on our campaigns. 00:12:27 Speaker 1: I'm going to push back on you. You said that you waited too late to announce last time. Why not announce right

now? I think this whole audience wants to go with you to Florida so that they can vote for you. 00:12:38 Speaker 2: You know, running for office is a lot. 00:12:42 Speaker 1: It is. 00:12:43 Speaker 2: It is a lot. 00:12:44 Speaker 4: And though I ran... I ran four times before that. I actually lost my first race when I ran for city council. But I missed my six-year-old's birthday. And I missed tons of birthdays for my first baby, who's now 19. And, you know, it takes a toll. And so I just need some time to. 00:13:06 Speaker 2: Process, to grieve this loss, to. 00:13:11 Speaker 4: Have conversations with the community. At the end of the day, it's always what the community wants for me. I don't make the decision myself. They were the reason that I decided to run in this race in the first place. They told me what they wanted to do. I actually went on a statewide listening tour. And so I'll go on another one to see what they want me to do. But I'm not making any decisions right now. I'm just going to organize the hell out of my state. 00:13:33 Speaker 1: Well, let me just do a quick focus group poll because it might be slightly biased, but let me just ask, is anybody in the audience think Angie should run in 2028 against Ashley? And they're yelling. But I think it's important for you to hear because when you come out on the other side of a race like that, you know, the power of the people clearly behind you, but the power of campaign finance, not so much. people within your own party doubting if you can do it. You know, a label assigned to you, which I want to get to next, around socialism, particularly in Cuban Miami, parts of Florida that are super opposed to socialism and what it means to their governments where they come from. Do you have any regrets being attached to DSA so much that some folks couldn't get past that? 00:14:26 Speaker 4: You know, I have no regrets whatsoever. I just wish that I would have... just ran a little harder. And like I said, come out a little earlier. Look, people wondered why I joined the organization. And as I told a few folks, during the government shutdown, when I was collecting donations as far as food and that type of stuff to provide to folks who are furloughed or who lost their SNAP benefits, the people that were on the ground helping me were. 00:14:55 Speaker 1: Members of DSA. 00:14:56 Speaker 9: Yeah. 00:14:57 Speaker 4: When the Black Lives Matter protests and everything that were happening was happening, the people that were on the front lines as well with us and the Black organizations like J-CAC and others or DSA. And so these are the organizations that have been putting in the work, fighting to increase access to quality health care, fighting to ensure people had a roof over their head, pushing back against ICE. It's been those organizations. And, you know, I joined WFP. I joined DSA. I became a lifetime member of the Working Families Party. Yes, I became a lifetime member of the NAACP. And I believe right now in this moment, as we are continually being attacked, that we need to form... massive coalitions of people to push back because, you know, the other side has massive amounts of money and we don't have that, that massive amount of money, but we do have people. And so I believe organized people will be big money each and every day, but we just have to get our people organized. 00:16:05 Speaker 1: Do you think that the big tent is, within the Democratic Party is too big? Should there be a third party, a fourth party, a fifth party? Is part of the issue we're trying to put all of these people with different ideologies under one umbrella? 00:16:20 Speaker 2: I'm not sure. Yes and no. 00:16:24 Speaker 4: I just know that the Democratic Party has to support the leadership of Black people and not just want the labor of Black people. 00:16:38 Speaker 1: I believe... The audience agrees. As a church, deep from the ancestors. 00:16:44 Speaker 4: I believe also that a lot of people benefited from me not. 00:16:51 Speaker 1: Will. 00:16:51 Speaker 4: Benefit from me not being in the Senate. Even folks who were in the party. 00:16:57 Speaker 2: Like, you know. 00:16:58 Speaker 1: Tell me what you mean by that they'll benefit. 00:17:00 Speaker 2: There are. 00:17:02 Speaker 9: There are some. 00:17:04 Speaker 4: There was a donor who talked to one of my political directors when I was at a fundraiser and was like, he still donated, but he was just like, oh my gosh, I never felt, you know, I never had someone talk about me in front of my face like that. I was talking about just, you know, the ultra wealthy needing to pay what they owe and to pay people living wages and all the things. 00:17:27 Speaker 2: I didn't miss my words. 00:17:28 Speaker 1: I don't care who it is. Conviction set in. 00:17:31 Speaker 9: Right. It did. 00:17:32 Speaker 4: And so there's a lot of people that, you know, they're a part of the party, but they benefit with the lack of money. just hardcore going after the ultra wealthy that. 00:17:51 Speaker 2: Are exploiting people, right? 00:17:54 Speaker 4: They don't want someone super vocal about ensuring we have access to Medicare for all because they may have stocks in these health insurance companies, right? Or they may be where they got their money or they got their money from you know, gentrifying neighborhoods, like just when you think about it. 00:18:14 Speaker 2: And so I'm calling it all out. 00:18:17 Speaker 4: And, you know, that makes people uncomfortable and they have to talk about an answer to why they're showing up in that way. And so I think there's a lot of people that are happy that I didn't, that I didn't win. 00:18:30 Speaker 1: Have you talked to Chuck Schumer since Tuesday? 00:18:34 Speaker 4: Have I spoken with him? No, but I've spoken with some other folks. And so I just want to say, you know, like Senator Sanders, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, Rep. AOC, Rep. Frost, who else? Senator Murphy, Rep. Conner, and Senator

Osselbrooks and Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester. 00:18:58 Speaker 5: Oh, my gosh. 00:18:59 Speaker 2: She's amazing. Like, she's amazing. Folks should look at her for that. some positions. 00:19:06 Speaker 1: Maybe for a leader. 00:19:07 Speaker 2: I mean, you know, you said that. 00:19:09 Speaker 1: Okay, I did. 00:19:10 Speaker 2: But she's great. 00:19:13 Speaker 1: I am so grateful that you would be here with us. And Angie, I really do want you to know, I will say this because I've heard it from our brother Andrew before too, but you feeling at all like you let the people down is the exact opposite of how the people feel. And if anybody disagrees with me, they on an island by themselves. But I really want you to know, like, we saw ourselves reflected in your race. Your grit is... The exact type of thing, the courage that you demonstrated up against all odds is what we need for this moment. And I'm saying need. because I don't think your moment. 00:19:52 Speaker 5: Is over, ma'am. 00:19:53 Speaker 1: So from one Angela to another, our name means bringer of truth. I know you're going to keep bringing the truth and the action for the people. Thank you for being here. 00:20:01 Speaker 2: Thank you for having me. Thank y'all. 00:20:08 Speaker 4: Now, We have a responsibility to take everything we built and make it stronger. 00:20:17 Speaker 1: While voters can change who's in office, that doesn't always change who's calling the shots. So tonight we're asking, who really holds power in America? Is it the people who cast the votes, the politicians who make the laws, or the wealthy interests financing the entire process? And most importantly, what would it take for our communities to move beyond political representation and exercise real, lasting power? Please welcome our panelists, Pastor Lorenzo Sewell, Senior Pastor of 180 Church in Detroit, Maurice Moe Mitchell, the National Director of the Working Families Party, Dr. David Jermaine Johns, Sociologist, CEO and Executive Director of the National Black Justice Collective, editor of the Black Papers as well, More on that to come. Relax, David. It's not your turn just yet. And Representative Justin Jones, Tennessee State Representative of District 52 of Nashville, where he just killed last week with more than 78% of the vote. Today, y'all, we will be addressing three claims. First, electing black leaders is not the same as giving black communities power. Two, money wins elections, not people. Three, People power can win a moment, but it takes enforceable institutions to make the victory last. Thank you to our partners at Onyx Impact for this incredible research. We're ready to fact check today. And let me just say, today and always, fact checking belongs in the hands of the people. So you heard me right. Today, I'm not your fact checker. Anybody can be a fact checker on this illustrious panel. And they can be fact checked by any panelists. So if any panelists... Stretch is closer to me, y'all. If any panelist stretches the truth or shares some data that sounds a little bit fishy, somebody will hit the buzzer and you will hear this sound and they will have to cite their source. So y'all, claim one, electing black leaders is not the same as giving black communities power. 00:22:18 Speaker 6: Absolutely. A hundred percent. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Amen. 00:22:22 Speaker 1: Okay. 00:22:23 Speaker 5: Not a hallelujah too. 00:22:24 Speaker 6: No, I mean, and amen. Tell me about that. No, I mean, it's just, it's just, it is demonstrably true, right? So Justice Kentucky Jackson and Clarence Thomas are both black and nobody in this country believe that because they both happen to be black, that they are equally serving black people. We just had an election in Florida. We have a black governor in Florida. 00:22:50 Speaker 3: Do we? I don't know. 00:22:53 Speaker 6: It's a good question. 00:22:54 Speaker 9: No, I mean. 00:22:59 Speaker 6: No, we do need to fact check that. 00:23:02 Speaker 3: But a FAMU. 00:23:04 Speaker 6: Look. 00:23:04 Speaker 9: A FAMU attendee. 00:23:06 Speaker 1: We're not going to get through the show. Right, right? We are not going to get through this show. 00:23:12 Speaker 5: At this rate. Go on. 00:23:14 Speaker 9: Listen, no. 00:23:15 Speaker 6: Blackness in question. However... However. 00:23:19 Speaker 1: Who graduated from Florida State University. 00:23:21 Speaker 6: However, the state of Florida has a debt to pay FAMU. 00:23:24 Speaker 3: Absolutely. 00:23:25 Speaker 6: Two billion dollars. 00:23:25 Speaker 7: Right. 00:23:26 Speaker 6: Two billion dollars. And in the campaign, he refused to commit to support the institution, the black institution that he at least spent a little bit of time. 00:23:36 Speaker 9: Right. 00:23:37 Speaker 6: So representation and representational politics, just simply being black, is insufficient. 00:23:44 Speaker 7: Right. 00:23:45 Speaker 6: Look at South Carolina. 00:23:46 Speaker 9: Right. 00:23:46 Speaker 6: Right. There's two there's two senators in South Carolina. Tim Scott. Nobody wants to. 00:23:53 Speaker 1: This audience is taking me out with this. 00:23:56 Speaker 3: They want to be consistent. Right. 00:23:59 Speaker 6: And he's the senior. He'll be the senior senator. The junior senator is a white woman. And just I mean, look, look at the data. Most black voters voted for her because of the policies that she represents. And I think black people and black voters are sophisticated enough to be discerning about what the black agenda is, not necessarily what the complexion of the political representative. 00:24:27 Speaker 1: Yeah. On this point on agenda, DJ, David, I want to come to you. We are in a really unique moment. There were a lot of people celebrating last week. We all saw some of us participated in celebrations. But a lot of more folks are talking about it's time to get to work. I've been saying for some time we're behind the eight ball. There was Project 2025 that didn't

necessarily represent our interests. You have edited a comprehensive volume with several people. political experts, policy experts on different subject matters ranging from police reform to education to health care, veterans benefits and veterans rights. Talk about the importance of the black papers and the history that you're standing upon, whether we're looking at Gary, Indiana in 1972 or all of the convenings around emancipation that black people have historically had. Why this? Why now? 00:25:22 Speaker 11: Well, why this, why now, is because I was voluntold by Angela to take on this project. And this is also about us being obedient. This is a two-year effort. It is powered by State of the People. 00:25:34 Speaker 1: DJ, hold that up one more time. It kind of looks like a hymnal, y'all. 00:25:37 Speaker 6: Yeah. 00:25:37 Speaker 1: For everybody that grew up in black churches, it's going to start with amazing grace. 00:25:42 Speaker 3: It could be our policy Bible. 00:25:44 Speaker 11: But we were really working in anticipation of the misinformation and disinformation that is designed to have us all in chaos. 00:25:50 Speaker 9: Mm-hmm. 00:25:51 Speaker 11: And we're speaking truth to power. We organized a 13-city tour. We started in Atlanta, Georgia. We ended in Los Angeles, where I'm from, and out to Dena the weekend, where ICE was nationalized there. And at each of these tour stops, we focus on mutual aid, doing things that we always know are important for our community, things that are consistent with how our leaders are showing up. We also had opportunities to workshop these papers to ensure that they were accessible, digestible, that they're not murky by the jargon that we use to talk to each other and keep people outside of these conversations. The data also informed this. So we started with the policy priorities that we know matter to most black people, health care, the economy, the cost of everything is too damn high. Ending state sanction on stochastic violence, addressing the needs of our community. And so there are more than 100 contributors to 26 policy papers that are published. This is available Friday at Routledge.com. And then there are more than 30 policy papers available for free right now. at stateoftheppl.com, acknowledging that policy is not a language everybody is used to engaging in. We have user guides. There's one for every chapter in the book. There's also one for faith leaders, acknowledging that we know as descendants of African people that faith can be used as a tool for liberation or a tool for our oppression. And so to the conversation that you were having earlier with my senator, Angie Nixon, we should know that money is always moving. And it was present before November 3rd. And on November 4th, money went to work lobbying. And so we've seen when we think about Project 2025, what happens when a few people construct policy to benefit them. This is designed to be in the legacy of policy working for the plurality

of people that make this country what it is. 00:27:23 Speaker 1: For elected officials who will be sworn in January 3rd in the United States House, United States Senate, what is your requirement of them as it relates to implementing the Black Papers? 00:27:34 Speaker 3: Yeah, absolutely. So on today, we have launched a five-point plan. 00:27:38 Speaker 11: There are five policy asks and then five votes that we expect Congress to take when they take office on the 120th Congress. And so the five demands are to build political power. That includes passing a modern Voting Rights Act, banning mid-decade redistricting, stopping polling places closures and role purges. The second is to create and sustain economic opportunity. reversing the black job cuts, more than 100,000 jobs in a year, most of them affecting black women, not to mention the corporate ladder being pulled up behind that. Fully funding the child tax credit, what we know is that half of all black children get less than half of the child care tax credit at present. It also includes keeping the federal count of hiring and paid by race and sex, things connected to the census. We should all be focused on that in 2030. The third is protecting health care as a right, reversing the Medicaid cuts, things that were spoken about earlier, extending the premium tax credit and passing a momnibus bill acknowledging the ways in which pregnant and birthing people are being suffocated by the policy decisions that people have made. Strengthening community safety and justice is number four. That includes funding violence intervention at no less than the $ 900 million in grants cut since 2025. It includes ending National Guard deployment throughout cities and D.C., and 24-hour community crisis responses in every county, especially those that are disproportionately occupied. 00:28:54 Speaker 3: By Black folks. 00:28:55 Speaker 11: And then the last one is to transform systems in the wake of us acknowledging that things have been destroyed. A lot of those things were working for us in the first place. We should be transforming systems. This includes ending war funding that Congress never authorized, ending data center giveaways and passing a digital civil rights act. The last thing that I will add that's not on here, I'm acknowledging my husband is from D.C. When you talk about the Gary Political Convention of 72, when we had this first conversation about this possibility, you and I went through their plan. The same things they were asking for next year to be 55 years are the same things we are still asking for, including D.C. 00:29:29 Speaker 3: Statehood. 00:29:30 Speaker 11: There are more than 700,000 residents of D.C. They pay more in federal taxes per person than any other state, and they have no representation in Congress. So while we're talking about the importance of acknowledging all my skinfolk and my kinfolk, that representation symbolically is not enough. It's the vote. The representation starts the conversation. It's the vote and the action they take that actually ends it. 00:29:51 Speaker 1: Yeah. I'm curious here, Lorenzo, I really want to come to you on in particular the violence intervention point on David's agenda he just laid out. Given where you come from, you are a reformed gang member, right? Like you've been in the streets, you know what that's like. Are there some points in addition to, because I hope that we are aligned on the violence intervention piece on number four. Are there other pieces where you're like, you know what, I could get behind that? 00:30:21 Speaker 12: Look, every city has a budget and they make sure that the police get a budget. The only reason we have violence in our communities, it's because of poverty. The reason why we have poverty, it's because the Democrats who lead our communities, for example, let me just, let me just give. 00:30:39 Speaker 11: You, let me just say, let's do it. 00:30:43 Speaker 9: Let's do it. 00:30:44 Speaker 1: Let's do it. 00:30:44 Speaker 5: I got my, I got my agenda. I got the agenda from my city council from today. 00:30:48 Speaker 9: Wait a minute. 00:30:48 Speaker 5: Can I, can I, can I, can I get my, I want to. 00:30:51 Speaker 1: But let me just back out for a second. If we can lay down, Partisanship aside. 00:30:56 Speaker 3: But it's the truth. 00:30:56 Speaker 1: I understand. I understand that's your truth. 00:30:58 Speaker 5: No, it's the truth because they vote on money every single week. 00:31:01 Speaker 1: Just one moment, friend. I backed you into this agenda to figure out where there were points of agreement. I promise you for the next 28 minutes, we can disagree. But I'm trying to start with points of agreement. So if we take partisanship out of it and we just say for black people. These are some things that we need. You heard his list. Can you agree before you disagree on any of the points on the list? 00:31:24 Speaker 5: See, here's the thing. 00:31:27 Speaker 1: How can two walk together unless they touch and agree? 00:31:29 Speaker 5: My God. 00:31:30 Speaker 1: Here's the thing. 00:31:31 Speaker 3: I know. 00:31:32 Speaker 1: I'm trying to help him where we started. 00:31:36 Speaker 5: No, I just got to say it. Let me just say this. 00:31:37 Speaker 1: Yes. Let me know if we need to touch and agree first. 00:31:40 Speaker 12: I'm in a situation where 80% of the young people in my community can't read today. I'm in a majority black city. I'm the largest voting block. I live in a majority black city. My children go to school with black people. That's what I've done. And I see the violence. Well, that's what I'm living every day. The violence that I see, the violence that I see is not connected to anything but a lack of resources. 00:32:08 Speaker 1: What I'm asking you is, from the points that David raised on the agenda, are there any things where you're like, you know what, I agree. 00:32:14 Speaker 12: That agenda doesn't mean anything unless you work

with the president. The president still has to sign it into law. 00:32:18 Speaker 1: Well, it depends on what level of government we're asking for policy. 00:32:22 Speaker 5: This is congressional. 00:32:22 Speaker 1: No, it's not. It actually is not. This is the first five years. 00:32:26 Speaker 5: Of Congress, right? 00:32:28 Speaker 1: Because I asked him a specific question around Congress. What I'm asking you is, are there any points on that agenda? Party aside, that you can say for black people, I agree with these things. OK, well, you read. And while you're reading. 00:32:43 Speaker 6: And can I say why I push that? Because I didn't look. 00:32:46 Speaker 1: And next time when y'all push it, you say cite your source and also try not to fight over who gets the button first. 00:32:51 Speaker 6: I want to be clear. I am not a Democrat. I am not a registered Democrat. 00:32:57 Speaker 1: Right. 00:32:58 Speaker 6: I didn't push that. because you were critiquing the Democratic Party. I think it's healthy for us to critique the political establishment, the Republicans and the Democrats. My agenda is not the Democratic agenda or the Republican agenda. My agenda is the black agenda, right? But what you said was the source of poverty was the Democratic Party. 00:33:19 Speaker 3: Responsibility. 00:33:20 Speaker 6: That's what I heard. And that, I mean, and that I require somebody to cite some sources because that is news to me that the source Because I understand the source of poverty as being systemic, right? Not being the source of a single party. Being elected Democratic representatives in a city. 00:33:41 Speaker 5: Can I give you my source? May I? 00:33:43 Speaker 1: Before you give him your source. 00:33:45 Speaker 3: In 30 seconds. 00:33:45 Speaker 1: Okay, right after that, find me one thing on that agenda you can agree with. Okay, go ahead. 00:33:50 Speaker 12: Today, my daughter, my beautiful 19-year-old daughter is going to be moving here to New York. She went to our city council meeting. There were hundreds of millions of dollars, Moe. that were distributed to white organizations by black city council members. And it's been happening since they took That's the source? 00:34:08 Speaker 5: The same thing. Wait, hold on. My source is the city council. It's the agenda. 00:34:12 Speaker 3: In a single city. It happens every week, sir. 00:34:14 Speaker 11: You drew a broad brush to talk about poverty being an issue, education being problematic, connected to poverty, and that all being the responsibility of the Democratic Party. 00:34:23 Speaker 5: Look at Philly. 00:34:24 Speaker 3: Look at Baltimore. You're saying, yes, that's your city. 00:34:27 Speaker 2: Yes. 00:34:27 Speaker 6: No, let's talk about Philly. Let's talk about Philly because Philly is a two-party city, the Democrats and the Working Families Party. 00:34:33 Speaker 9: Okay. 00:34:33 Speaker 6: And what I could tell you is that the black elected officials- Mm-hmm. that are citywide elected officials with the Working Families Party. 00:34:41 Speaker 9: I wanna agree, I wanna read it. 00:34:42 Speaker 1: He gonna read it, he gonna read it. 00:34:46 Speaker 6: Are legislating every day for working class black people and building consensus with some of their Democratic colleagues. 00:34:51 Speaker 5: Give me one example. 00:34:53 Speaker 6: So for example, I'll give you an example that made a huge difference, two examples. During the pandemic, during the pandemic, people were in this just untenable situation where they were sheltering in place. So they couldn't derive an income because they're sheltering in place, but they had to pay rent. And there were people being kicked out of their homes, right? Kendra Brooks, thank God that Kendra Brooks was sitting on the city council. A black woman was sitting on the city council and was able to pass legislation that said, look, you can't just kick folks out in the streets during a pandemic when we're asking them to shelter in place. If if you're having issues, you need to come up with some solution, right? And what happened was there was a spike in every major city in the amount of tenants that couldn't stay in their homes. But in Philly, that trend line was solid because of that intervention. That kept working class people, specifically in a city like Philly, working class black people in their homes. Number two, the algorithmic increases of rents. where they're using AI now to artificially increase rent. Because we had independent Black elected officials from working class Black communities in Philly working with their Democratic colleagues, we were able to pass legislation to stop the artificial algorithmic increases in rent that kept people in their homes. That is concrete deliverables for working class Black people. That happens all the time. You know, the thing is, right, like confirmation bias, if you believe your prior is that the source of all poverty for black people is the Democratic Party, there's plenty of evidence to see But if you have a different frame, because listen, I. 00:36:51 Speaker 5: I said facts. 00:36:52 Speaker 3: I have the budget. Listen, I critique Philly. 00:36:55 Speaker 5: Philly's budget has a $ 6 billion budget. 00:36:57 Speaker 1: And I love our family, our brothers and sisters, siblings in Philly. 00:37:01 Speaker 6: Talk about rent. 00:37:02 Speaker 1: But I, I mean, rent matters. And speaking of rent, I need you to. 00:37:06 Speaker 6: Oh yeah, you haven't done your homework yet. 00:37:07 Speaker 1: I need you to tell me... Which of the five demands. 00:37:10 Speaker 11: While he's reading, I just want to clear up, again, the conversation about education. 00:37:13 Speaker 1: No, but read it, Pastor, because we're taking a long time to get to one point of agreement. 00:37:17 Speaker 11: Systems work as designed, and public education in the system was designed by wealthy white men to sort. 00:37:22 Speaker 3: and to hoard wealth. 00:37:23

Speaker 5: Who's over the school board? 00:37:25 Speaker 1: I don't know, but who's over which of the five demands do you agree with? 00:37:28 Speaker 5: He's making comments that hurt us as a people. 00:37:30 Speaker 11: I'm making comments that are based on facts. 00:37:32 Speaker 1: That are true. 00:37:32 Speaker 5: Okay, so the school board is white men running the school board. 00:37:35 Speaker 11: The public education system in this country was built by wealthy white men, so they had to. 00:37:40 Speaker 3: Place us in there wealthy children. 00:37:42 Speaker 5: Okay. 00:37:42 Speaker 3: All right. 00:37:43 Speaker 1: Guess what, guys? 00:37:44 Speaker 3: Guess what, guys? 00:37:46 Speaker 5: I'm talking about systems working as design. 00:37:49 Speaker 3: Actual facts, brother. Excuse me. 00:37:51 Speaker 1: Pastor. Yes, he does. 00:37:52 Speaker 4: I do. 00:37:52 Speaker 9: Where? 00:37:52 Speaker 1: We don't need to get into all that makeup. 00:37:54 Speaker 3: Exactly. 00:37:56 Speaker 5: So you don't know what you're talking about. I don't know where I live. 00:37:58 Speaker 4: Wait a minute. 00:37:59 Speaker 9: Wait a minute. 00:37:59 Speaker 5: You don't live in a majority black city? 00:38:01 Speaker 1: He does live in a majority black city. 00:38:02 Speaker 3: Name it. 00:38:03 Speaker 1: For security reasons on this show, we're not going to talk about it. 00:38:05 Speaker 9: I'm not doing it. 00:38:06 Speaker 5: Come to Detroit, they got a billion dollar budget, man. 00:38:08 Speaker 3: I have come to Detroit. We had to stop it. 00:38:09 Speaker 1: Shout out to Mary Sheffield. She's horrible. 00:38:12 Speaker 3: She's the worst. 00:38:12 Speaker 1: Okay, we're not doing that on here. We're not going to engage in ad hominem attacks on my show. Excuse me. I've already started. 00:38:18 Speaker 3: Excuse me. 00:38:19 Speaker 9: This is what I'm telling you. Usually I'm the one who wrote out an order. 00:38:24 Speaker 5: I'm trying to tell you. 00:38:26 Speaker 1: We're not just talking because what we're not going to do on this show is disrespect any black woman, particularly one that's my friend. So you can disagree, Pastor, but I'm going to need you to deepen into your faith reality and be kind and not engage in ad hominem attacks on this show. We're not doing that. Nobody's personally attacked you. We're not going to attack Mary. You might not like her politics, but she is not horrible, nor is she a horrible person. What is horrible, though, is what you had to say about the election last week. Let's roll that clip. 00:38:54 Speaker 5: How is it that they take every single step? 00:38:58 Speaker 13: Important seat. They literally did the midterm massacre. 00:39:02 Speaker 5: That's what happened last night. 00:39:04 Speaker 13: And I have a spiritual suspicion, Gene. I got a Holy Ghost hunch that we need another January 6th. I'm telling you, I'm gearing up for it. I'm ready to go to the Capitol. I'm ready to present my evidence because I won't let them steal my nation. That's where I'm at. I'm not taking this lightly. I've already talked to a few of my friends and we're ready to go and literally present our evidence because the president doesn't have a presidency anymore. 00:39:23 Speaker 5: We got to understand this. 00:39:26 Speaker 1: Pastor, there is an Old Testament I used to go to Bible study a lot more. But I'm curious to understand when you called for another January 6th, were you calling for insurrection, terrorist-based violence? Or were you calling for a particular... procedural move. 00:39:47 Speaker 12: Yeah, crimes are being committed against black people. Election crimes are being committed against black people. For example, you're an attorney. This is an affidavit. Melissa Love. Right now, she's living. She goes in my church. She's living in a car. Her children are living in a car. 00:40:01 Speaker 5: She's homeless. 00:40:02 Speaker 12: She went to city council in front of Mary. And I'm the one trying to offend you, but in front of Mary. 00:40:07 Speaker 1: Mary, the mayor. 00:40:08 Speaker 12: Well, that's when she was the city council president. And she pleaded with her. And she said, I'm living in my car, my children, homeless. 00:40:15 Speaker 9: I need help. 00:40:16 Speaker 12: Knowing that they have a budget to be able to help people who are homeless. 00:40:21 Speaker 1: Pastor, I'm curious to know if you're able to deepen out of the city council budget out of Detroit to address your comments that partially, to address your comments about getting to another January 6th based on last week's election results, not an affidavit that was signed February 24th, 2025, more than a year ago. What I'm asking you to do is to explain if you're calling for violence- on January 6th, 2027, as there was violence on January. 00:40:50 Speaker 9: 6th, 2021. 00:40:51 Speaker 5: Why did the violence happen? 00:40:53 Speaker 1: What do you mean, why did the violence happen? I'm just saying. 00:40:54 Speaker 5: Do you know somebody that was there? 00:40:56 Speaker 1: I do know several. I know several Capitol Hill police officers who were there. I know my friends who were hunched down, praying on the House floor for their lives. So I'm asking, were you calling for violence or were you accounting for something procedural to happen on January 6th? 00:41:11 Speaker 12: I want to bring the people in my church and in my community that are being voted for illegally, black people, that are having election crimes done to them according to 52 U.S. Code 20511, and I want to present my proof. 00:41:23 Speaker 1: It's the black show about black people. It is the black show about black people. So you're not calling for violence on January 6th? 00:41:29 Speaker 12: I'm calling for the evidence of election fraud to be presented. 00:41:32 Speaker 1: Okay, so tell me when you said, I want another January 6th, what were. 00:41:35 Speaker 9: You asking for? 00:41:35 Speaker 5: That's what

January 6th was about. 00:41:36 Speaker 1: No, no, no, no, no. January 6th. 00:41:39 Speaker 9: Oh, my God. 00:41:40 Speaker 1: I'm going to let Representative Justin Jones get in here because you've not even spoken yet. Hi, brother. I'd love to hear from you. 00:41:48 Speaker 8: I'm used to being in an environment like this in the Capitol, so I'm glad to be the one who hasn't been rolled out of order yet. But, you know, I'm a representative, brother, but also a pastor. I went to Divinity School, and I'm deeply troubled by it. what I'm hearing because you are a leader of a flock and you are trying to equate a violent resurrection of white angst and anger. 00:42:14 Speaker 5: That's in your opinion. 00:42:18 Speaker 12: I'm just saying that's not, you just said that about me, I'm telling you. 00:42:22 Speaker 8: Brother, I've seen you, I've seen you prayed and attack Muslim people in Dearborn. 00:42:27 Speaker 9: I've seen you go to the president and pray. 00:42:28 Speaker 5: I've been attacked by Muslim people too. 00:42:29 Speaker 9: So when I think of you, brother, I. 00:42:31 Speaker 8: Think of, you know, my faith, we P-R-A-Y, pray. But what I see you doing, my brother, is P-R-E-Y, praying on the vulnerable. You're exploiting religious language to put a mask on violence. You just said that violence is an issue in your community, yet you are the chief defender of a man who advocated, brought a noose outside the Capitol building, and they're saying. 00:42:50 Speaker 9: Well, we need to do that again. And I think it's very dangerous. 00:42:54 Speaker 3: That's not what I meant. 00:42:54 Speaker 9: That's what happened on January 6th. 00:42:55 Speaker 1: Well, I offered you the opportunity. 00:42:57 Speaker 8: That's January 6th. There was a noose erected outside the Capitol building. 00:43:02 Speaker 1: For Mike Pence. 00:43:03 Speaker 8: The thing is, historically, this type of behavior has happened before. Look at Wilmington in North Carolina. We've seen white anger rise up any time you saw multiracial democracy rise. And so what you're advocating for is very historical in America, actually. We've seen black power in my state. People like Ida B. 00:43:18 Speaker 9: Wells, Tennessee. Tennessee, driven from her newspaper office, from her home. 00:43:24 Speaker 1: Pushed out for lynching. 00:43:26 Speaker 9: I'm the state where the Klan was founded. I know what white terror looks like. 00:43:30 Speaker 8: And so I'm just deeply troubled that someone who is a Christian, that this is not what Christ is advocating. But I think more importantly than that, I think what we're trying to do is that you're doing things that I see my Republican colleagues do all the time. It's the tactics of deflection, deception, and look over there. Because we ask very clearly... What is the black agenda? And yet you are willing to defend a man who has defunded programs that benefit the black community. You're willing to pray for a man who has gutted healthcare and who blocked living wages. 00:43:59 Speaker 9: What have you done? 00:43:59 Speaker 12: What have you done in your state to advocate for black businesses, contracts, grants, and loans? 00:44:04 Speaker 5: What have you done? Name a black business. 00:44:06 Speaker 12: Because you want to make this about me being with January 6th. 00:44:10 Speaker 5: I just want to just say. You made it about me and January 6th. 00:44:13 Speaker 3: Nobody invited you. 00:44:13 Speaker 4: Nobody invited you to make that video. 00:44:18 Speaker 5: Committing against black people. You don't care about that. 00:44:20 Speaker 3: I am following lawsuits. 00:44:22 Speaker 5: You don't care about black people. 00:44:24 Speaker 3: You and your assumptions are bound. Your assumptions are bound. 00:44:28 Speaker 13: You know everybody and everything about everybody but can't answer yes or no questions. 00:44:32 Speaker 1: I just told you. 00:44:35 Speaker 5: Because election crimes are being committed against black people. 00:44:38 Speaker 1: Justin is going to finish his point and I'm the one that asked the question about January 6th that you still not answered. 00:44:43 Speaker 6: Justin. 00:44:44 Speaker 8: I think election crimes are being committed against black folks in the South. In my state, one in five black Tennesseans can vote because of felonies and enfranchisement. Laws passed by the Republicans. In my state, the last remaining black district was dismantled by the Republican supermajority. In my state, we pass voter ID where you can use a gun permit to vote, but you can't use a student ID card to vote. In my state, they've done every tactic to suppress the voter turnout of black people, but yet we still came out. 00:45:06 Speaker 5: You're a state legislator, right? 00:45:07 Speaker 1: Excuse me. 00:45:08 Speaker 3: You are so disrespectful. 00:45:10 Speaker 6: I thought you was cool in the green room. 00:45:12 Speaker 1: It's okay. 00:45:13 Speaker 6: And now it's cute. 00:45:15 Speaker 3: It's irrelevant. 00:45:16 Speaker 1: But excuse me. 00:45:17 Speaker 5: It's a state representative. 00:45:18 Speaker 1: Excuse me. Excuse me. Let me make sure that we all understand the point of this show today. There was an election last week. 00:45:24 Speaker 9: It was stolen. 00:45:26 Speaker 5: It wasn't stolen. 00:45:27 Speaker 1: Whether you, whether you- Sight the source. 00:45:29 Speaker 9: Sight the source. 00:45:30 Speaker 5: Sight the source. 00:45:31 Speaker 9: You ready? Sight the source. 00:45:32 Speaker 1: Sight the source. No, we're not ready because this is my show. So I'm going to have the floor and you're going to wait. And if you can't wait, the mic is going to go off. What I said was there was an election last week. The election, whether you like the results or not, is over. What we have to do as black people, regardless of partisan affiliation, regardless of what party we serve, some of us serve more than others. We have to figure out what our agenda is

going forward. Brother, I asked you to look at the five demands that he had listed. Instead of doing that, you have engaged in attacks of people on this panel and you have engaged in attacking somebody who's not even here to defend herself. If you cannot put party aside, the bitterness of whatever you think happened last week aside to figure out where we need to go from here, this isn't the panel for you. I hope that you can deepen into the integrity that it takes to run a flock, probably with a good number of black folks, to figure out what we need to do to work together. If you can't do that, that's fine, but I'm going to ask you to leave. So hopefully we can now all act civilly and abide by the word that you live by. May our steps be ordered. May you finish your point. 00:46:44 Speaker 9: I mean, that's it. 00:46:45 Speaker 8: I think what we're seeing is that, you know, in Mississippi, we're seeing the Confederacy still refuse to allow an election to go forward and the result to be determined. When Trump won, we weren't out in the streets trying to incite violence. But what January 6th was, it was an act of violence against the American people. And I think I think we cannot lessen the impact of that. In 2020, I was arrested 18 times. I went to jail to go to court. for nonviolent protests. And then I saw, just a few months later, I saw these white men storming the Capitol actually engaging in violence, breaking windows, peeing. 00:47:15 Speaker 9: And hardly any of them got arrested that day. 00:47:17 Speaker 8: And I was thinking to myself how many days I sat in jail. And it's what led me to run for office, because we have two systems of justice in this country. And so I just think that we cannot lessen the impact of January 6. And there are, like I said, in my state, one in five black Tennesseans who said you were in a gang. formally in a gang, one in five black Tennesseans cannot vote because of felony disenfranchisement. I mean, 20% of black men cannot vote in this election. We have some of the strictest voter suppression laws in my state. And so there are crimes happening. And I don't think it's an issue of left or right, but some of the issues are moral issues of right and wrong. And I hope we can agree that if we are here for black people, let's transcend. I don't think the Democrats, I said on the news the other night, when people voted D at the ballot box, it wasn't for. 00:47:55 Speaker 9: Democrats, it was for disruption. 00:47:56 Speaker 8: They want to disrupt the status quo where they can't afford their gasoline. They want to disrupt the status quo where you're paying for foreign wars, but you can't afford your groceries. 00:48:03 Speaker 9: They want to disrupt the status quo. of corporate corruption. 00:48:06 Speaker 8: And I think that's why you had Republicans in my district, some of whom voted for Trump and said, we're going to vote for you too. 00:48:11 Speaker 9: I sat at the polls. 00:48:11 Speaker 8: They said, we're going to vote for you because you're willing to talk to us and be authentic. And I think I want to find some agreement. I serve on the Agriculture Committee, the ranking member, and I work a lot with Republicans who voted for Trump, who are now getting screwed over by these terrorists, but we're still willing to work with them and say, how can we work together, black farmers and white farmers? And so you asked me, what did I do for black people in my state? I'm happy to present my policy agenda to you, happy to show you the bipartisan legislation we pushed through, because I do believe that these issues are bigger than left or right. And I think that's a distraction. And I think that some shows, they want that. They want us to just feed into this partisanship because it gets clicks. But let's be realistic about what's going to help our people. And it's going to be deeper than this back and forth about tit for tat and celebrating. Because I'm not celebrating Chuck Schumer. And I hope you're not here celebrating Donald Trump because that's not my leader. If you're a pastor, my leader is a brown-skinned Palestinian carpenter named Jesus. 00:48:58 Speaker 9: And that's who we should follow. 00:48:59 Speaker 6: Amen. 00:49:00 Speaker 9: Amen. 00:49:01 Speaker 1: So I know this first claim was heated. 00:49:04 Speaker 5: Why are you citing sources? 00:49:04 Speaker 3: I just want to cite a source. 00:49:06 Speaker 11: Up underneath this, none of us should be surprised by the theatrics. Clay Kane wrote a book called The Grift, The Downward Spiral of Black Republicans from the party of Lincoln to the cult of Trump. We know that there's a platform for people that engage in all of the tactics that have been described. 00:49:18 Speaker 3: We should not be surprised. 00:49:19 Speaker 9: We just. me. 00:49:22 Speaker 1: We just reset, DJ. I know that you were offended, but let's reset. No, but we just got rounded in brown skin playing Palestinian Jesus. Let's just stay there. We didn't claim two. Claim two is money wins elections, not people. And there's, you know, there's some yes and buts here because Elon Musk spent about $ 500 million and he didn't get the results that he wanted. So I'm curious to know here when we talk about money winning elections, not people. What do we think about that? 00:49:54 Speaker 6: Well, if I may, right. Money power in our elections is problematic. 00:50:02 Speaker 1: Yeah. 00:50:02 Speaker 6: You know, you just had, you know, everybody's everybody's senator, working families champion Angie Nixon on here. And we talked about the reality of how close she got. And the thing is, you know, independent candidates like Angie are are up against all these obstacles. It's like an American Ninja Warrior obstacle, right? So from, you know, redistricting to lack of access to resources to, you know, dark money coming in in the tens of millions of dollars to sometimes their own party abandoning them or maybe even sabotaging them, right? And

they still get to the finish line. Justin J. Pearson, one point away. Angie Nixon, three points away. So you can't tell me looking at those results that money doesn't matter. But what's also true is that people power matters. That's why Angie was able to defeat her opponent in the primary. What was it? 20 to 1? 16 to 1? So money does matter, but there's a diminishing return on it, which is why Elon got mollywhopped. He burnt his money on fire with those mainly anti-trans appeals that didn't work, mainly in Texas. But the amount of money that one man could spend in an American election is problematic, right? And so we need to structurally change that. We need to get corporate money and dark money out of our politics. 00:51:24 Speaker 1: Do you all believe that money in politics is a problem regardless of party? 00:51:32 Speaker 7: Yes. 00:51:33 Speaker 6: It is a problem. 00:51:34 Speaker 1: Let me pull this. And I'll go to you, Pastor. But I want to pull this CNBC poll that came out right before the election on where people see are the largest issues. So it says that government corruption was the top number here. And I think it's in part because people were like, there's this vast difference between what it looks like government officials are earning versus what I'm taking home every day. Of course, right underneath that, just 2% less is the cost of food and groceries. And then a distant third is protecting democracy and buying gas. But I just wanted to park there for a moment because I do think there's some overlap between money being in politics and government corruption, which people wanted to root out. And you saw that overwhelmingly with the results last week. 00:52:19 Speaker 9: Yeah. 00:52:20 Speaker 6: And my brother in Christ, I hope this is something that we could all agree on, that corruption and money in politics, it's not good for democracy. And when I was knocking on doors, I came across independents, people who are not party affiliated, and people who identify as being conservative. And they agreed there's too much corruption, there's too much corporate money in politics, and we need to root it out. I'm sure we could agree on that, right? 00:52:43 Speaker 12: Well, I mean, listen, the bottom line is this. Elon Musk, it doesn't matter who we're talking about. They don't have the resources that the American budget has. We have a $ 7. 2 trillion budget that gets rebooted every year over year. When you look at what's happening in a city like mine, $ 3 billion, Philly, $ 6 billion budget, Baltimore, $ 4. 6 billion budget every year over year. That's the power of the people. The people will always be more than any. If Elon Musk right now writes a check for whatever number it is, guess what? He's got to sell a widget to get that money back. But when it comes to black America specifically, pardon me? 00:53:23 Speaker 3: Or Stella. 00:53:24 Speaker 5: Or whatever. 00:53:25 Speaker 12: When you look at our about 760 majority black cities that we have in this country, many of them are the largest voting blocs. Places like Milwaukee, places like Detroit, Philadelphia, St. 00:53:37 Speaker 5: Louis, Baltimore, New Orleans. 00:53:40 Speaker 12: This is a massive amount of money that we already have control over right now as the people, as the taxpayer. So it doesn't matter a check that an Elon Musk could write or anybody could write. We, the people, really have the power because we are the tax power. 00:53:54 Speaker 1: We want to cite your source, DJ. 00:53:56 Speaker 11: I'll cite some sources. So Open Secrets projected about $ 11. 9 billion in federal spending, the most expensive midterm on record, with dark money being over $ 1. 5 billion of that, also a record. Republican-aligned outside groups outspent Democratic-aligned groups by nearly $ 400 million. 00:54:13 Speaker 3: I am speaking. 00:54:16 Speaker 11: Elon Musk sent $ 445 million to Republican PACs, and Democrats still won both chambers. 00:54:21 Speaker 3: We talked about Angie. 00:54:23 Speaker 11: She won her primary by 12 points against an opponent who outspent her by roughly $ 15 million. We should be clear, the point that Maurice made, organized people beat organized money on November 3rd, and that's not always the case. 00:54:35 Speaker 1: And I think that's it. Justin, I'll come to you. I think that's it. What I'm really trying to see here is there are places where money in politics, so long as it's here, because it is here right now, money in politics does make a difference. It would have made the difference in Mississippi. Scott Colon's race will be certified by Friday. By the time this show airs, maybe he will have already been declared the first black senator since Reconstruction. Hopefully we can both celebrate that. And then you also have an Angie Nixon who, you know, One is sitting here and we can also go to her. But we know Angie said herself earlier today that the larger amounts of money sooner would have helped her. So I think we can't escape the fact that as the system is right now, money is in politics. So money is winning. People can't out. Pace money. But what do we got to. 00:55:24 Speaker 9: Do, Justin? I just wanted to say a few names. 00:55:27 Speaker 8: Lakeisha Womack from North Carolina raised less than $ 60, 000. 00:55:29 Speaker 9: A black woman in the Congress. 00:55:32 Speaker 8: Victoria Broderick, despite all the gerrymandering in Tennessee, she raised less than $ 100, 000 and flipped Tennessee's fourth congressional district despite the gerrymander. Kenneth Mejia, who won reelection to the L.A. city controller despite being outspent by over $ 8 million. So there are glimmers of hope. And I do think that we have to have. a bipartisan conversation about getting money out of politics. But I do think that there are people who are showing us glimmers that when you organize, you can still win against these systems. And so I also want to celebrate the hope because these people defied all the

odds. And there's so many more city council members, how many first came. But I do think that we have to have a real conversation because it's not only money in politics, but in my state, what we see from a Republican supermajority is that campaign donors like CoreCivic will contribute to the Republicans' campaign coffers. And then they get state contracts to then run our state prisons. So it's this circle of corruption going on. And so many industries are like this. And we have to call that out. And I found legislation going after that because it erodes trust in our government. And then it makes people not want to participate because they say, oh, this is all rigged against us. And so I think that one of the things I hope that Democrats see this election as a Democrat is that I hope when our leadership gets in there that they recognize that the American people sent them with a mandate to not just go back to the status quo. And I hope that they don't make the mistake. Because if we get in there and we do the same thing that we did during COVID when we took power and said, we're going to go back to normal, have unity, and not address the root, let's speak scripturally, the wrong spirit's going to come in that house. And people are going to say, you know, I did the thing, I voted, and now nothing changed. 00:56:59 Speaker 9: Why would I come out in 2020? 00:57:01 Speaker 8: And so we cannot allow the wrong spirit to get back in the house because it's going to bring. 00:57:05 Speaker 9: Destruction for all of our communities. 00:57:08 Speaker 5: I just believe. 00:57:09 Speaker 12: That when we have these type of conversations about money out of politics, What does that practically look like, right? So in my state, DTE, they're the biggest electoral. They just sued because a proposal too passed, right? So they're like, this is against First Amendment speech. Because if I work for DTE and you're my sister and you donate to a super PAC, then they can say what? The money that I had from that contract came and circled back another way. I don't see a political pathway to be able to do something like this Unless you, unless every person that has a government contract, they're not allowed to vote. 00:57:47 Speaker 5: I mean, how would you, how would you be able to vote? They wouldn't be, how would they be allowed to? Because if I have a government contract. 00:57:52 Speaker 9: To vote or to contribute. 00:57:53 Speaker 3: I mean, that's what I meant. 00:57:54 Speaker 5: That's what I meant. 00:57:55 Speaker 3: That's what I meant. 00:57:56 Speaker 6: I meant to contribute. 00:57:57 Speaker 3: I'm sorry. 00:57:57 Speaker 5: I meant to contribute. But, but, but how would you be able to determine? 00:58:02 Speaker 6: There's so many different. So number one, you know, Congress could legislate a, a, rebuke to the Citizens United law, which basically just said that money is speech and you can spend as much money as you want in super PACs, right? 00:58:16 Speaker 9: Sure. 00:58:16 Speaker 6: There could be campaign, there could be tighter limits on campaign contributions and public funding of elections. 00:58:24 Speaker 9: That's right. 00:58:24 Speaker 6: We're sitting here in New York City, working family champions, Armand Dhani is the mayor, partially because there was an 8-to-1 matching public funding system here in New York City, which meant small dollar donations, $ 1 turns into $ 8, right? 00:58:37 Speaker 9: So this. 00:58:39 Speaker 6: A lot of legislation that is actually working in order to challenge the impact of corporate money. And I think there's alignment here because you talked about budgets. 00:58:48 Speaker 3: Sure. Right? 00:58:49 Speaker 6: And you care about budgets, right? 00:58:50 Speaker 9: Absolutely. 00:58:51 Speaker 6: And the reality is, like, if you're a politician and you're getting checks from DTE, and then you need to legislate and decide, right? 00:59:01 Speaker 2: Right. 00:59:01 Speaker 6: That money is going to have an impact on how you legislate. 00:59:04 Speaker 3: Absolutely. 00:59:04 Speaker 10: Right? 00:59:05 Speaker 6: So it sounds like we have agreement here. 00:59:07 Speaker 1: Thank God. 00:59:08 Speaker 6: Amen. 00:59:09 Speaker 1: So here's the thing. 00:59:09 Speaker 3: You're just going to sue it. 00:59:10 Speaker 1: The other thing. 00:59:11 Speaker 3: Yes. 00:59:12 Speaker 1: The other thing is there is the Citizens United decision, which was very detrimental, essentially treating corporations as people. And I think that's the other part of it. I think now, hopefully, especially after this Maliwap, I've been saying it too much. Republicans can agree that there probably is a cause to get it out of politics. We still have Angie Nixon here. I want to go to her quickly on this topic about money in politics. Angie, in part because there was such this groundswell support of people getting behind you despite the resources not being there, especially in the primary. What do you think is the first step for Congress to take to get money out of politics when they come in? January 3rd, they're sworn in. 00:59:55 Speaker 2: I mean, they should definitely overturn Citizens United. 00:59:59 Speaker 4: And I don't like preemption. However, there needs to be a cap on the amount of campaign donations anyone can receive. I feel like a billionaire should have the same amount of financial say in they shouldn't have any more than what a janitor could have. I really feel like $ 500 should. 01:00:22 Speaker 2: Be the max all around the board. 01:00:24 Speaker 4: Can you imagine how many regular everyday people would start running for office if that was a thing? And, you know, like no money can come in anywhere else. But I'm just, I'm flabbergasted at the way in which the direction of this conversation has gone. And brother, like, I just feel like you came in here and the cameras came on and you just kind of put on a show like that is so, but that is so detrimental to

our people and, you know, increasing their quality of life. Like it's, I'm, I am interested to know where you get your money from. Is it just church or are you being funded by like Republicans and that type of thing? 01:01:09 Speaker 12: That's a very good question. First of all, I don't take a salary from the church because after COVID I decided to adopt Detroit, Pontiac, Flint, and Saginaw, which is the worst schools in Michigan. My wife and I, my wife has a catering business. I have my separate business that I've been doing way before President Trump ever came to my church. 01:01:28 Speaker 5: I right now, I'm talking about receipts. 01:01:30 Speaker 12: I right now, more than anybody, have given more young people in my community full-ride scholarships out of my own pocket, and they get to those universities and they cannot read. So when I'm up here, I'm up here thinking about them. I'm not up here thinking about anybody else. I'm thinking about them. Now, may I ask you a question? You come from Florida. You're over a $ 117 billion budget. What black entities have you helped as it relates to contracts, grants, and loans? 01:01:58 Speaker 4: So we come from, I live in a state where we have to argue and have to protest to try to get money to black districts because of folks like Rhonda Sanchez and things like that. 01:02:11 Speaker 2: Why are you shaking your head? 01:02:12 Speaker 5: That's not what Rick Scott told me when I went. So that doesn't make it untrue. 01:02:15 Speaker 1: That don't make what she said untrue. 01:02:17 Speaker 5: Hold on. Hold on. Let me say something. Let me say something that's very important. 01:02:28 Speaker 1: On this show, we allow people to make their claims. You asked her a question, which is technically not in order, but I'm going to let you go off. 01:02:35 Speaker 3: Thank you. 01:02:35 Speaker 1: Let her answer. 01:02:36 Speaker 5: I did, but she asked me to watch. 01:02:37 Speaker 1: No, no, no, no, no. Just let her finish the point. Thank you. 01:02:41 Speaker 4: The amount of money that we try to get allocated to nonprofits that are actually doing the work. And then you have folks like Rhonda Sanders who decides to veto our appropriations and veto our projects. He vetoed infrastructure projects because they were in Democratic-held districts. Do you know how we have to fight and beg a governor to make sure that we are getting a piece of the pie? 01:03:10 Speaker 1: It's disrespectful. It's disrespectful. 01:03:13 Speaker 4: And for you to sit up here like that as though I just, like, I really cite your source on where you're getting your money from, seriously, because it seems as though you are a plant, and you're here to really just cause us harm. 01:03:29 Speaker 6: And I just can't. 01:03:30 Speaker 4: Believe that you're up here saying that you're a pastor, and you're leading people to destruction. 01:03:36 Speaker 5: Now, can I respond? May I respond? Because she just said I'm a pastor leading people

to destruction. 01:03:40 Speaker 3: May I respond? 01:03:41 Speaker 12: So I took 20 pastors from your state. 01:03:44 Speaker 5: From Florida, 20 of them. 01:03:46 Speaker 12: To get resources for stuff that you don't have to pass in the legislature. So I see what you're doing. You're trying to, I'm not talking about going to the legislature. 01:03:54 Speaker 1: You asked her what she was doing. Hold on, hold on, hold on. 01:03:56 Speaker 5: I know, but. 01:03:57 Speaker 1: I wanted to make sure that you're clear. I don't know if you know, because maybe you don't, because I know you follow more Republicans than probably Democrats. Angie didn't just come out of nowhere and run for the Senate. 01:04:07 Speaker 5: I understand, that's why I'm asking the question. 01:04:08 Speaker 1: One moment, one moment. Angie didn't just run for the Senate out of nowhere. She was a state representative. So what she was doing in your question was answering your question from the purview of a state representative. Now you're saying, I'm not talking about what happens in the legislature. I don't know if you realize, but state representatives sit in the legislature. 01:04:26 Speaker 5: That's my point. That's the point that I'm making. 01:04:27 Speaker 1: Your point is very foggy. 01:04:28 Speaker 5: Please make it clear. 01:04:29 Speaker 12: Let me make it clear. 01:04:31 Speaker 1: By all means. 01:04:32 Speaker 12: So as you know, since you were in the state legislature, this is the reason why I'm bringing up the point. There are housing dollars that are already there. I have 20 pastors from Florida that went to Rick Scott asking for federal funding. He said, you need to go to the state legislature. And what I'm asking is a simple question. I wasn't trying to do anything but ask you a simple question. What have you done to make sure that those resources that are already there, meaning housing, meaning HUD money that's already there, that go typically to... That goes typically to... Unlike you, she answered the question. 01:05:05 Speaker 1: She did. 01:05:06 Speaker 5: What companies have you helped? Hold on, time out, time out. 01:05:09 Speaker 1: Hold on, hold on, hold on, hold on. Y'all, just a minute, just a minute, just a minute. 01:05:13 Speaker 5: She can't... It's like he couldn't name one. 01:05:15 Speaker 1: Excuse me, excuse me. One moment, one moment, one moment. 01:05:17 Speaker 3: Name one. 01:05:18 Speaker 1: Pastor, I know that you have a company that has received benefits. When you're in the legislature, and I'm telling you this now as a former executive director and general counsel of the Congressional Black Caucus, if you help one company, hold on, as a sitting elected official, do you know what happens? You go to jail. 01:05:35 Speaker 5: I'm not talking about that. 01:05:36 Speaker 1: Or you get an ethics complaint. That's literally what you're saying. 01:05:38 Speaker 5: I'm talking about contracts, grants. 01:05:39 Speaker 1: Contracts. 01:05:40 Speaker 5: Every day of the week that happens. 01:05:41 Speaker 9: Hold on. 01:05:41 Speaker 1: Let me make sure you're clear. When you help one company... Get a contract. On the federal or state level, you run into an ethics issue, or worse, you run into a crime. That is what happens. I don't know if you're working with legislators that are directly helping you, but if they are, they're breaking the law. 01:05:59 Speaker 12: So, I'm not talking about anything unethical. I'm talking about contracts like landscaping. Contracts like- I. 01:06:06 Speaker 1: Don't think, I think we're missing each other. 01:06:09 Speaker 12: How many black people do you help with that bidding process? 01:06:12 Speaker 5: That's what I'm asking. 01:06:13 Speaker 1: Angie doesn't have a mic. 01:06:15 Speaker 3: Hold on, Angie. 01:06:15 Speaker 1: That's what I'm asking. 01:06:16 Speaker 4: Thank you. 01:06:16 Speaker 1: I own a black bookstore. 01:06:20 Speaker 4: And I hold first time home buyer workshops. I host small business workshops. I founded an organization called the Melanin Market nearly a decade ago so that we can expose people to resources that they needed to help uplift them. Don't sit here and. 01:06:35 Speaker 5: Play on my top. I'm asking whoever else. 01:06:37 Speaker 1: And I'm telling you. 01:06:38 Speaker 4: But I'm also telling you, I'm also telling you from the purview of a state lawmaker in a place where the Republicans have held control for over 30 years, where we have to fight and argue to bring funding to our districts simply because we're Democrats or because we want to push back on some of the. 01:06:59 Speaker 1: Laws that they have. Like, and you are, like, I. 01:07:03 Speaker 2: Just don't, you're dead wrong. 01:07:05 Speaker 4: You're dead wrong. 01:07:06 Speaker 5: Okay, you still didn't name anybody. 01:07:09 Speaker 9: No. 01:07:09 Speaker 1: What we're doing now, what we're doing now, what we're doing now. 01:07:12 Speaker 9: Just a point of clarification for the pastor. 01:07:13 Speaker 1: Okay, go for it. 01:07:14 Speaker 8: Because I think the pastor, he's thinking that we're like Trump. So what he's saying is, which of your friends have you given contracts to? 01:07:20 Speaker 1: That's right. 01:07:21 Speaker 9: We can't do that because that's considered, hold on, let me finish pastor. I tried to explain it. 01:07:23 Speaker 8: Let's explain it to you because you said, who have you steered contracts toward? 01:07:27 Speaker 9: That is corrupt. Illegal. It's literally the thing everybody goes for. 01:07:31 Speaker 5: That's not what I'm talking about. 01:07:33 Speaker 9: You can finish, but let me finish because you've been cutting everybody off here. 01:07:36 Speaker 5: But I'm telling you, that's not what I'm talking about. 01:07:37 Speaker 9: So let's reclaim our time and let's have decency and order. I like church. 01:07:40 Speaker 3: I don't think that's going to happen. 01:07:41 Speaker 9: Let's just try it.

01:07:42 Speaker 8: So we cannot steer contracts. People, what happens in a republic state, whether it's Tennessee or Florida. is that in my state we have a $ 52. 8 billion budget. 01:07:50 Speaker 9: You file appropriations amendments. 01:07:52 Speaker 8: If you do not bow down to the Republican supermajority, I filed an amendment for $ 2 million for black farmers in my state and even some white farmers who have been hurt by these tariffs. They blocked it because they said, we don't like who you are. Not that we don't care about the people, but we don't like who you are. And so in a state like Tennessee and Florida, Louisiana, we do everything we can to fight for appropriations budget amendments. And we're not able to get it. So we're not able to steer contracts. But my question for you, since I answered your question, can I ask you a question? Because you didn't answer my colleague's question. Where is your funding coming from? You said you have all this money to give out. Can you just give us a source of what company or individual has given any. 01:08:26 Speaker 6: Of this money? 01:08:27 Speaker 3: What do you mean what company, what individual? 01:08:28 Speaker 8: Where is the source of your money coming from? If you're not getting a salary from the church, just for the sake of clarification, because I'll tell you what. 01:08:33 Speaker 3: Businesses. 01:08:34 Speaker 8: Okay, what are your businesses? And can you give us some examples of what your businesses are? 01:08:38 Speaker 1: I hope. 01:08:39 Speaker 3: I help people. 01:08:39 Speaker 5: Hold on, hold on. I help people. I help people. I get paid to do things like this. 01:08:48 Speaker 1: We're going to claim three. I love y'all, but this show ain't three days, so we're going to go on to claim three. 01:08:53 Speaker 6: Yes, let's do that. 01:08:54 Speaker 1: That's what I do. 01:08:56 Speaker 9: So you get paid to help people. 01:08:57 Speaker 3: He said he gets paid to do stuff like this. He gets paid to troll. 01:09:01 Speaker 1: We're on claim three. I need all of my brothers at the table to hush so we can get to claim three because we're actually over time, but I'm gonna let y'all go off. People power can win a moment. It takes enforceable institutions to make the victory last. Now, This is one that I think is personal to all of us black people at this table. We've seen our folks move mountains around integration, around the civil rights movement, which began in the church. Hopefully we can agree on that, Pastor. We know all of these things that have moved the needle, moved social consciousness, and that was to move the law. So even if the systems have to change, we do know that structural change has to happen beyond the protest. Do we agree with that? Not with the church fan. 01:09:45 Speaker 6: Okay, go. 01:09:46 Speaker 1: What y'all think? Where do we fall on claim three? 01:09:49 Speaker 3: True or false? 01:09:50 Speaker 9: I'm still stuck on the helping people. 01:09:52 Speaker 6: I'm stuck on that. 01:09:54 Speaker 1: Well, help me with claim three. 01:09:55 Speaker 6: That's clippable. 01:09:57 Speaker 9: Helping people. 01:09:57 Speaker 5: I mean. 01:09:59 Speaker 3: What was the point? 01:10:01 Speaker 6: Your point is still do. 01:10:02 Speaker 1: You agree with any of them five demands? 01:10:05 Speaker 6: We don't have to address claim three if y'all feel complete and done. 01:10:11 Speaker 1: We don't have to. 01:10:12 Speaker 9: Dear God, please help our brother over here. Help him to find the spirit of God. Remove the scale from his eyes, God. Touch his heart, God. Touch his head hard. Touch his feet hard. 01:10:21 Speaker 5: And help him know that Trump is. 01:10:22 Speaker 9: Not his savior. 01:10:23 Speaker 8: Help him know that white supremacy is not God. 01:10:26 Speaker 1: I'm going to cut everybody's mic. 01:10:27 Speaker 12: Answer my question. 01:10:30 Speaker 1: People power can win a moment. It takes enforceable institutions to make the victory. 01:10:35 Speaker 6: Yes, I agree. We need all the tools in our arsenal. So absolutely, we... Brother. 01:10:42 Speaker 3: Finish this. Don't be distracted. 01:10:45 Speaker 1: Lorenzo, I really wish you would stop breathing on hard. It ain't nothing to be breathing. Unless you have asthma, there's no reason to be breathing that hard. 01:10:51 Speaker 5: I'm serious. 01:10:52 Speaker 3: I'm just saying. 01:10:53 Speaker 6: Brother, like you are a. 01:10:55 Speaker 5: Everyone can say everything else is. 01:10:56 Speaker 6: You are an infinite side. 01:10:57 Speaker 1: You didn't hear me when David brought something up and I said we were going back? It was one time? 01:11:02 Speaker 9: Okay. 01:11:02 Speaker 1: Well, Lorenzo, here's the thing. I grew up as the baby and almost like an only child because my brother's 14 years older than me. I can throw a tantrum with the best of them. 01:11:10 Speaker 7: Totally. 01:11:11 Speaker 1: And what I feel you doing, are you the baby or the only child? 01:11:14 Speaker 7: No? 01:11:14 Speaker 9: Middle. 01:11:15 Speaker 1: You are? Well, you throw a tantrum like the baby. So here's the thing. I just want you to try to deepen into what it might look like to stand with black people who you don't necessarily agree with politically. We're just trying to move black people forward. 01:11:28 Speaker 5: I've been doing it my whole life. 01:11:29 Speaker 1: Okay, well, I need you to try on this particular panel. 01:11:32 Speaker 11: So to your question about moments and movement, I want us all to be clear that the pendulum swings both ways. 01:11:38 Speaker 1: Yeah. 01:11:38 Speaker 9: Yeah. 01:11:38 Speaker 11: And I personally would like for us as a community to tamper down the focus on the celebration connected to feelings like a tsunami. 01:11:45 Speaker 3: Or a wave. 01:11:45 Speaker 1: Oh, from the election results. 01:11:47 Speaker 3: From the election. If only for two reasons. 01:11:48 Speaker 11: One, we are

missing that what facilitated what we are experiencing now, including hopefully accounting for Mississippi, is the result of mostly Black women-led organizing that has been happening for decades, often without any of the resources that we were just talking about, having a conversation about money and politics. And so Again, acknowledging that what happened in 1905 with Du Bois and the Niagara Movement, what happened in 72, that political convention was for Democrats, Republicans, Independents. It was for everybody. They didn't endorse anybody and neither have we as State of the People. This is about us having an agenda that we can hold people accountable to because after the midterm, we are squarely in election season. 01:12:29 Speaker 2: That's right. 01:12:30 Speaker 6: That's it. 01:12:31 Speaker 1: Going into our presidential election. 01:12:32 Speaker 8: And if we don't have an agenda, again, I'm a member of the Democratic Party, but we cannot expect folks to get in there if we don't have an agenda to hold them accountable to. And I think we saw this during Reconstruction, that when black elected got elected, they didn't just get elected for the sake of saying, oh, I'm the first black representative. They had some of the biggest investment in trying to get franchisement, creating HBCUs, creating these land-grant institutions. They had an agenda. And so I think that we have to push. I don't want to just see the first black speaker. I want to see the first black speaker who signs voting protections into legislation. I want to see the first black speaker who finally universal healthcare, things like that. We don't want just symbolic change, but we want meaningful change for our communities. And so I think that's what our people are looking for. And so I'm hopeful that we have this diverse Congress and all these things, but I hope that we don't stop there. And I think most importantly, I'm so glad our brother here has his book because the thing that we don't do enough of, I'm glad we have this. I'm glad we have different opinions because everyone's welcome, and we're fighting for you and your children too. But the Republicans are in rooms like this right now, reassessing the election, trying to figure out how are they going to suppress this county from voting, how are they going to disempower this community, what are they going to do to get power back, and yet we're here just celebrating. They think 10 years, 20 years in advance. We think the next few weeks. So what is our agenda going to be? So I hope we have more conversations like this, and I hope that all voices are welcome. And I think that it's going to be key because 2020 is going to be around the corner. And I just hope we see the same turnout that we've seen this past election. And I hope that my sister's running. 01:14:00 Speaker 1: Is there an opportunity? Angie, you've been summoned. I want to ask you all, since we couldn't come up with a point of agreement to begin around demands, I

don't want to force anyone into this document, none of y'all. But what is the thing that you want for black people going into January for like for our advancement in our liberation? Of course, this country just celebrated its 250th anniversary. If you ascribe to starting in 1776, what is the thing we want for ourselves the next 250 years? 01:14:31 Speaker 12: It's just very difficult when a political party automatically assumes your vote. 01:14:35 Speaker 1: Is there any way that you can. Think about what you want for black people and leave party aside as a pastor. 01:14:41 Speaker 12: I just want us to understand that we're the second largest voting bloc. We have the second largest workforce. We are the second largest taxpayers. 01:14:50 Speaker 1: I don't think that any of those things are true. 01:14:53 Speaker 5: They are true. 01:14:54 Speaker 6: No. 01:14:54 Speaker 5: What do you mean? 01:14:56 Speaker 1: I think that. What do you mean? I think that we're missing it on where we're the second largest or the first largest reliable voting bloc for a particular party. But numerically, we're not the largest. It's white men, white women. 01:15:10 Speaker 5: We're the second largest voting bloc. 01:15:13 Speaker 9: Okay. 01:15:14 Speaker 1: Let me ask you this. Let me repeat this because I think there's been a lot happening today. 01:15:17 Speaker 5: Can I get my point, though? 01:15:19 Speaker 1: I want your point to address and answer my question. I am going to be allowing you to finish. My question is, Is there something that you want for black people's liberation going into January? What is the thing that you would have on your agenda? What's your agenda item? 01:15:34 Speaker 12: We need to understand that we are the second largest shareholders in the largest company in human history. We should be the second wealthiest. We should have the second amount of businesses. We should be just, just how you mentioned you have 108,000 cities. You got about 760 majority black cities. Because of who we are as a people, we should get the fair share. We're not saying the lion's share because we're not the majority. 01:16:04 Speaker 5: I'm saying we. 01:16:05 Speaker 8: Should get the fair share. 01:16:07 Speaker 5: We all believe in reparations. 01:16:10 Speaker 6: He's spitting now. 01:16:11 Speaker 9: Reparations. 01:16:13 Speaker 12: What I'm talking about is the redistribution of our wealth, which is our tax dollars in each city. 01:16:17 Speaker 4: Reparations. 01:16:18 Speaker 5: Reparations. 01:16:19 Speaker 9: Reparations. I don't believe. 01:16:23 Speaker 1: In this reparations thing. 01:16:25 Speaker 6: Yeah, it's called reparations. 01:16:27 Speaker 1: No, you just said the truth. 01:16:29 Speaker 3: Reparations. 01:16:30 Speaker 5: That's it. HR 40 is a game. That's a game. They're putting that in my mouth. 01:16:33 Speaker 6: No, you just said it. 01:16:34 Speaker 5: That's not what I'm talking about. 01:16:35 Speaker 1: And audience, nobody

said HR 40. In fact, if you read the book. 01:16:40 Speaker 5: I know what reparations is about. 01:16:43 Speaker 1: I'm not telling you you don't know what reparations is about. HR 40 is the baseline. That's a threshold matter. That's a study. That's not what this book calls for. So maybe... I just. 01:16:52 Speaker 5: Want to cite a source, Dr. 01:16:54 Speaker 3: Marcus Anthony Hunter. 01:16:55 Speaker 4: Dr. 01:16:55 Speaker 11: Marcus Anthony Hunter wrote a book called Radical Reparations of Truth and Healing for America that talks about reparations per the UN, which goes way beyond H.R. 01:17:03 Speaker 3: 40, which again is a foundation and is encompassing. So I just want to. 01:17:07 Speaker 2: Offer a source since we should be on facts. 01:17:10 Speaker 5: Six years trying to get it passed. 01:17:11 Speaker 1: It actually wasn't six years. He started in 1980. It was John Collins. 01:17:18 Speaker 9: 1989. 01:17:18 Speaker 1: Yes, 1980. 01:17:19 Speaker 5: Which they redistricted and they gave it to Rashida to leave. 01:17:22 Speaker 1: Yes, that was H.R. 01:17:24 Speaker 9: 40. 01:17:24 Speaker 1: They did not give it to Rashida to leave. 01:17:26 Speaker 5: That's not how that works. 01:17:27 Speaker 1: That's not how that works. Either way, what I heard you saying, Lorenzo, if I could repeat back, what I hear you saying is you were interested in the fair redistribution of wealth. 01:17:41 Speaker 5: And that was my point to my sister. 01:17:43 Speaker 1: No, but you were asking what companies they helped. 01:17:45 Speaker 9: Go ahead. 01:17:46 Speaker 6: So we all agree. We all agree that we should have an economy. We all agree. And I'm so excited to hear that my brother in Christ, Lorenzo, also agrees that we should have an economy. that the basis of the economy is the fair redistribution of wealth. Let the church say amen. 01:18:07 Speaker 3: Amen. 01:18:08 Speaker 7: Amen. 01:18:10 Speaker 6: And then the second point I want to make is that, look, we need to use all the tools. And I've been in arguments all my life. I've been organizing all my life. And protest, absolutely. But not just protest. Voting, absolutely. Absolutely. but not just voting. So after Kalei, we saw people protest. We saw Black people specifically protest. But then on Tuesday, not because of the Democratic Party, like I agree, it's not a blue wave, it's a working class wave. We saw Black people step up and vote in numbers unlike anything we saw in recent memory. As a rebuke to Kalei, as a rebuke to Elon, as a rebuke to AI tech, as a rebuke to all of that. And absolutely, all those people that voted didn't just vote for Democrats. They voted for change, right? 01:19:00 Speaker 9: 100%. 01:19:00 Speaker 6: And then now we're pivoting to a moment where we're going to be governing. 01:19:05 Speaker 9: Right. 01:19:06 Speaker 6: And so we need to keep that same energy. I couldn't agree with you. We need to keep that same energy. And when they gavel in in Congress and

when they gavel in in state houses, we need to stay involved and use all the tools. We need to go to city councils. We need to be involved in supporting our righteous representatives like this brother. 01:19:24 Speaker 9: Right. 01:19:25 Speaker 6: When they're fighting the good fight. So it's all the tools. One hundred percent. It's not one tool. And I'm so happy that at the end of this conversation, we were able to agree that we should have a democratic, small d, democratic economic order in this country. 01:19:40 Speaker 1: That's good. 01:19:41 Speaker 11: Yeah, I will begin where you ended, which is to offer up another resource. This is available at stateoftheppl.com right now. In January 1967, A. Philip Randolph and Bayard Rustin, the architect of what we know so much of in terms of nonviolent civil protests, In this country, they published a freedom budget for all Americans. So it affirms the place that we've at least been able to find some common ground on economic opportunities for all. And then again, I'm going to cite from the Black Papers, available this Friday via Routledge. And there are two papers around foundational people power. 01:20:11 Speaker 3: And so Dr. 01:20:12 Speaker 11: James Peterson writes that constitutions must be defended by political parties and organized citizens, but also by democratic norms. Democracies work best and survive longer when unwritten democratic norms reinforce constitutions. He goes on to say, two basic norms have preserved America's checks and balances in ways that we've come to take for granted. One is mutual toleration, or the understanding that competing parties accept one another as legitimate rivals and forbearance, or the idea that politicians should exercise restraint in deploying their institutional prerogatives. The very last thing is to Maurice's point about us appreciating that bell hooks teaches us that democracies have to be defended by each generation. She would also go on to say that education is its midwife, which is why I am, of course, an educator. But she reminds us that while studying, she is Latasha Brown, Black Voters Matter, responsible for so much of what we're talking about. 01:21:04 Speaker 3: She writes that while studying Dr. 01:21:06 Speaker 11: Martin Luther King's letter from a Birmingham jail, I was struck by his response to a white minister who suggested that segregation would naturally end given time. 01:21:14 Speaker 3: Dr. 01:21:14 Speaker 11: King wrote, we must come to see that human progress never rolls in on wills of inevitability. 01:21:19 Speaker 3: It comes through the tireless efforts. 01:21:21 Speaker 11: Of men and women, I would add, and people willing to be coworkers with God. And without this hard work, time itself becomes an ally to the forces of social stagnation. There are no lay people in the work of defending democracy, regardless of whatever party you are associated with. My hope is that we all can do work to get collectively closer to freedom

and the key of Fannie Lou Hamer. 01:21:44 Speaker 1: State Representative Justin Jones. 01:21:46 Speaker 8: You know, we started this conversation talking about how can we all get behind the idea of eliminating violence. And, you know, I just want to paraphrase Curtis Scott King that poverty is violence, that starving a child is violence, that denying health care is violence. And I hope that we have a Congress who acts against the violence we've seen these past few years. We have a lot of celebration, but something that's been heavy on my heart, and I was just with some congregants this weekend, was that I don't want to erase the amount of violence that took to get us to this point. When I was at the polls on the election day, I helped people who were crying because they were terrified and said they didn't know what else to do but vote. They're afraid of their families being torn apart. They're afraid of the violence that they've seen in these streets. And I don't want us to erase that in our celebration to neglect what took to get us to this point. Because there is no resurrection without a crucifixion. Too many people have been crucified by this administration. And so I hope that, most importantly, that this government this new government will not neglect the most important region that really sent this victory, which is the South. I hope, you know, we're here in New York, but I think the South has been key and it's been treated as a stepchild of this country by both parties for far too long. 01:22:51 Speaker 6: That's right. 01:22:51 Speaker 8: And I think that now is the time to invest and that if you actually believe in the South, don't just go during election time, but invest in year-round organizing and infrastructure building. There's so many organizations, even in Mississippi right now, we were just talking, I want to shout out my sister Rika, who we were in Mississippi with together, who registered 100,000 voters on a shoestring budget. And that's why Mississippi's flipping. You know, Haria with the Mississippi Justice Center. You know, this is America 250. And the real founding mothers and fathers of this country are not on Mount Rushmore, but these are the people who we see right now who are counting votes, who are sitting in polling places, making sure that every vote is cast. And so I just want to end with this to my friend here. We've been willing to criticize, and I've been willing to speak out against my party. 01:23:31 Speaker 9: And our leadership. 01:23:32 Speaker 8: Is there anything that you... And you don't have to answer on this show, but it's in your heart that you're willing to... not agree with Trump on and say that there was a mistake made and maybe that's why people turned out the way they did. Is there anything in your heart when you go to bed at night? Because I hope that we can agree that when future generations look at this moment, we can say that we did everything that we could to make a better world for them, not just to profit for ourselves, but what are we going to bequeath to the next generation? So I just hope that you think about that because we're not meant to follow man and to follow these folks off the cliff, but we're meant to redirect people and in convenient spaces like this. So you're always welcome to Tennessee. and not on a grift though but on truth telling and you can come and I would like to have a real conversation. It means helping. 01:24:13 Speaker 9: Helping, helping. 01:24:14 Speaker 5: I do good at it. 01:24:18 Speaker 6: I do good at it. 01:24:20 Speaker 1: Please join me in thanking today's panelist Dr. David Johns, Maurice Mitchell, State Representative Justin Jones and Pastor Lorenzo I need the floor and of course my girl former Florida State Representative, our hopefully 2028 Senate candidate, Angie Nixon from the great state of Florida. Today, y'all, we discussed three very important claims. One, electing black leaders is not the same as giving black communities power. This is true. As it turns out, our work is not over after we cast our ballots. We have to hold elected officials accountable to lasting change, regardless of party, That work begins with asks, demands, and agendas, like the State of the People's Black Papers edited by Dr. David Jermaine Johns. Partially true, but it's changeable. While it is true that campaign financing has an outsized influence, we can look no further than the outcome in Representative Angie Nixon's race. What we also can see from the outcome is if we show up for the people who show up for us, we may very well snatch our power back from the money too. Number three, people power can win a moment. It takes enforceable institutions to make the victory last. This is true. Whether these systems and institutions need to change, whether the Electoral College needs to finally go away for good, what we know is that we need systems in place for education, health and wellness, retirement, food. At some point, we hope. The protest win is in lasting systemic change. Remember, knowledge is power, and on Cite Your Source, we put that power back into the hands of the people. Please subscribe to Cite Your Source on YouTube, engage with us on social media, and share with somebody. Make sure you touch your neighbor. Make sure you pray for them, too. Until next time, I am your host, Amber Wright. 01:26:14 Speaker 3: This was Cite Your Source.

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