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KBLA Talk 1580. Good morning, good morning, and God bless.
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I'm Dominique DiPrima. This show is called First Things First.
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You knew that in my very first thing. Prayer. Prayer, prayer, prayer.
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Giving thanks, giving praises, and asking for blessings from God.
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Asking for the blessings of the ancestors and the elders,
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and let's go. Man, we got a lot to do
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and a lot to talk about. It's, uh... It's just amazing.
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I can't even leave town for five seconds without some
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crazy stuff jumping off. I feel like I need to
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stay here, keep you all safe. But look, you are
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invited in every hour at 800-920-1580. 800-920-1580 if you want
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to say something about something. Of course, I'm talking about
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the rumblings around the.
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The merger, the Paramount merger is getting rather perilous. But
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if you're interested in that or something else, 809-20-1580, 809-20-1580
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is the number from anywhere you are. Hopefully you have
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the app. You can listen on the app too. You
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can listen on YouTube where the conversation continues in the comments.
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It's youtube.com, KBLA 1580. And you can also find me
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everywhere at Duprema Radio. D-I-P-R-I-M-A and then radio. Half of
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y'all like to call me Dupre. It's fine. Just call me.
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But when you're trying to find me on the internets,
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it's good if you have the actual address. Duprema Radio
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is the place to be. Right around the corner now
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is our forum. And I'm I'm really glad we have
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this because I'm hearing all kinds of crazy things about
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this election and people really not having a clear picture
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of what is going on. And I'm not going to lie.
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I don't have it all figured out yet, but trust
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and believe I will. You know, I always find a
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way to figure out these propositions and things. Thing is
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on October 3rd, we get to group source our greatness
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and and go through all the propositions, meet candidates in person,
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and see who's worthy of our precious vote. It's Saturday,
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October 3rd. It's History in the Making, the California Voices
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Town Hall and Ballot Forum, live from L.A., 8 a.m.
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to 5 p.m. That should be enough time to get
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to all of these candidates. Our stage turning every 20 minutes,
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plus the propositions, of which there are many, 13, I believe.
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All the candidates will be there. You should be there too.
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If you can, it's free, but you have to register.
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Go to KBLA1580. com. The sooner, the better to save your spot.
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California Voices, Saturday, October 3rd. Come be part of history.
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That's brought to you by KBLA Talk 1580 and the
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Community Voter Education Project. And I would love to see
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you there. It's If you're not clear on why our
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vote is super important right now, then I don't know
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what to tell you. But I'll think of something because
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we got about five weeks, a little less, for the
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very last day of voting to start. Spent the weekend
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at the Congressional Black Caucus and just seeing all of
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the networking, horse trading, preparation, going on behind the scenes
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with these lawmakers, journalists, and activists, people from community-based organizations.
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In a way, it was inspiring because I was happy
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to see black people moving in the ways that I
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always think about, you know, these ops moving, right? The
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anti-black peeps, the conservatives, the anti-justice people. And so that's encouraging.
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It means, okay, it's not just Trump trying to shut
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down our votes at the Supreme Court and at the
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state level, battling the state of California, trying to get
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our voter rolls, our information, so they can kick people off.
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For one thing, their pretext is that there are people
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on the voter rolls in California who aren't citizens. which
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is ridiculous. They want to complain about how long it
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takes us to count the votes. Why are we taking
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so long? Because we're verifying that every person is who
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they say they are and who they say they are
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is eligible to vote. On the other side of their mouths,
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they want to say, oh, we need your ID. Let
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me see your ID. Okay, Mr. Apartheid. So it's good
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to see that there's organizing happening on the other end
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of the spectrum. Speaking of organizing on the other end
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of the spectrum, this day is a messy Monday. I'm
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feeling kind of messy, so that should be fun. We'll
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be joined in hour three by my friend McCoy Zeno,
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who's going to share his rules of dating. And of course,
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you are invited to share yours as well. We will
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not let go of our interpersonal stuff in the middle
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of political season. We start off hour two with Mindful Monday,
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guided meditation and affirmation with Sahara Ali, along with an
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astrological outlook and right now um we are joined by
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my friend and colleague she is mother of three a
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professor at cal state la a scholar and the director
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of black lives matter grassroots organizer lead organizer with blm
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la dr melina abdullah good morning.
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Good morning dominique how are.
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You Yeah, I'm good. I'm here processing everything we saw
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and heard over the weekend. You, of course, were also
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at the CBC. How are you?
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Still tired. I'm tired. Yeah, but it was good. I
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felt good.
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Yeah, power networking, walking, a little tiny bit of partying,
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and it's quite a weekend. I was talking about how
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You know, we hear so much about Project 2025 and
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the way that the right is actually rescinding our liberties
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as we speak and all the ways they're doing voter
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suppression and undermining this election. So for me, it was
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encouraging and it was refreshing to spend time with some
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black people, albeit not all. Some of them are corporate Dems.
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I get it. but to see people organizing and moving
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around policy and the election on the other side of
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the ledger.
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Yeah, it was good. And I think I was most excited.
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There were a few really, really progressive folks who've been
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elected or who are kind of newer to Congress. And
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of course, Ayanna Pressley is there. Ilhan Omar is there.
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They're very progressive and very visionary, but I think I
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was also really excited to see so many folks who
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were not in elected posts there talking about how to
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utilize power and how power from the outside is really,
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really important.
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Yeah, I guess hearing about this new wave of Democratic
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socialists being elected, not only members of the DSA, but
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people who just are philosophically Democratic socialists. It's one thing
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on paper. It's another thing to hear people speak and
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see them in action and how I believe they're also
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influencing other lawmakers that are already there.
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Yeah, and people were challenged by that. It pushes things.
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What we've seen with MAGA, what we've seen with, you know,
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kind of this right-wing rise is people in the middle
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being pushed to the right. And now what we're seeing,
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one of the things that we're seeing is people on
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the left pushing the middle to the left. And we
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have to have more of that. For Black people, we
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can't just kind of go with you know, the political tides.
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We have to remember to maintain our own agenda and
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really build Black power no matter what space we find ourselves,
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no matter what space, and maybe especially when there's a
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rise of the right. We have to push for our
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own agenda rather than saying, how do we just kind
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of cower in a corner until this is over?
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Yeah, it's a powerful point because I feel like some
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of us have been trying to push the middle and
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the so-called left, which is, you know, the TV left,
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which is really the middle, over to the left, which
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to me is really to the people, you know, to
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things that actually help people like universal health care, universal
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child care, free college for all, you know, the basics,
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voting rights. But to see it happening with So it's
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not just, you know, us, the protesters and us, the
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talk radio people yelling from outside the building. It's nice
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to see some folks pushing from inside the building.
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That's right. To even see like there's a debate even
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within the Congressional Black Caucus about do we just want
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black faces? in high places? Is it enough? Do we
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all have to line up behind Hakeem Jeffries, Apex Shakur, right?
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Or do we really build a Black agenda and build
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for the Black people who need us. Nolan Wells' family
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was there, right? So Hakeem Jeffries becoming speaker does not
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really make a difference when your child has been lynched, right?
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What are you doing about the black people who are
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hanging from trees? And I really appreciate that that was raised.
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People like Kendrick Sampson were there, you know, who's one
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of my favorite people in the whole world.
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Right, the actor. You saw him as Quincy Jones in
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the Michael Jackson movie, if you don't know who he is.
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That's right. And he was raising it from the stage that,
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you know, spaces like this should not be spaces where
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we just dress up and talk and say black faces
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in high places are good things that we have to push.
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And CBC can be as much of a problem as
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it is a help. Yeah. If it just says, you know,
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we don't go with politics as usual. And he said
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it from the stage. And I think that's really, really important. Yeah.
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Yeah. Good thing. And you had a lot of things
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going on. We'll get into that. Least of all, your birthday.
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Happy birthday, Malina Abdul.
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Thank you.
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Your birthday was Friday. It's Virgo season. All the Virgos
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are Virgo-ing. Well, actually, today's the last day. Happy Yom
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Kippur to those who are celebrating. Thank you. You know,
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just a coincidence that it is a Mindful Monday and
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also a Messy Monday. All of that is happening. But
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we do have a lot to talk about. We did
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a screening and you did a special event there, which
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was quite, well, quite powerful, actually, the folks in the room.
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And really interesting for me, because I've never been to
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the Congressional Black Caucus weekend before, to see The levels from,
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you know, the street level to the gala, the Phoenix gala,
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fancy level to all of the ways that people networking
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and hanging out moves policy. Dr. Melina Abdullah is my guest.
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You're welcome in at 809-20-1580, 809-20-1580. I'm Dominique DiPrima for
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Unapologetically Progressive, KBLA Talk 1580. Right now, Dr. Melina Abdullah
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is in the house, and you're welcome to call us
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at 800-920-1580. Do not forget to jump on the YouTube
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and join the conversation there as well. A couple things
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I just want to touch on, so I've got to
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once again ask you to put on your political scientist hat, Dr.
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Melina Abdullah. This Paramount-Warner Brothers merger is potentially... very, very damaging.
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It's $ 111 billion. It's Paramount trying to take on Warner Brothers.
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The Attorney General and other state attorneys general are trying
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to either stop the deal or make some kind of
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settlement with provisions that would keep them from having so
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much power. I don't, you know, I'm not sure, but
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now I'm not sure if any of those things can
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actually be effective like they're talking about. a bipartisan editorial
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board to monitor CNN. That sounds like something like some
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BS that won't work. But having Larry Ellison and David Ellison, these,
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you know, Netanyahu supporting Trump, supporting very conservative family, owning
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both CBS News and CNN, seems very problematic. I connect
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the dots between that and President, the resident president, banning
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from the White House, MSNOW, CNN, and Politico, rescinding their
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press passes are not allowed on the White House grounds.
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So it's like this chokehold on the press. And it's
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not like our press is wildly, you know, progressive anyway, right?
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So this to me, I hope that somebody sitting at
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that table is connecting these two sort of trend lines, right?
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The suppression of the press, the Pentagon has already kicked
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folks out of offices and moved in right-wing podcasters, and
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they've limited what reporters can even talk about. These are connected.
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Absolutely, and what it does is it, you know, media
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is not free, right? There's a spin on all corporate media.
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has corporate interests in mind. And when you couple that
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with kind of a fascist agenda, it's the reason that
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we don't hear the stories that we need to be hearing.
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We're not hearing anything else about Nolan Wells. That's not
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on mainstream media. We're not hearing about the lynchings. That's
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not on mainstream media. We're not hearing about the fact
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that ICE just shot and killed somebody again yesterday in Texas.
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We're not hearing anything else about Keith Porter or about
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what's happening here even in Los Angeles we're not hearing
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these things and LA is supposed to be you know
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the home of progressivism but it's also the home of
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these kind of corporate media conglomerates and so it's really
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important that when we think about how big business how
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corporate America how capitalism takes over media how that impacts
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the information that we're receiving and is intended to program
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us about what to think. And so we have to be,
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you always talk about media literacy. We have to be really,
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really good at monitoring what we take in and saying, well,
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where am I going to intentionally go for news? And
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so I'm going to listen to KBLA. I'm going to
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look for mainstream media. Black media is really, really important
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because if you were to look at even, MS now,
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you know, there's no blackness on media other than the
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corporate gems who kind of are propped up sometimes.
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Right, and occasionally we get to hear Dr. Cornel West.
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But I do want to just add that I think
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that the man in Texas and Austin is still alive.
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He's in serious condition, Wilbur Rafael Garces Perez, who was
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shot yesterday by ICE. Was it yesterday or the day before?
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Yesterday, the 20th.
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Okay, so yeah, he's still living, but he's in serious condition.
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But your point is taken. I think that, you know,
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I just also think we can't forget about the jobs. Meanwhile,
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Paramount is threatening to take Paramount Pictures out of Hollywood.
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I don't know where they will take it. Maybe Texas.
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Maybe Mar-a-Lago. I don't know. But they're threatening... to take
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their jobs and go home, which puts politicians in a
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tough position because no one wants to lose that many jobs.
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Right, right. And we have to, you know, figure out
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what our agenda is, right? You don't want to lose
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the jobs at the same time. You don't want to
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let big business have everything that they want.
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Right, and tell whatever story or whatever narrative they want, right? Because...
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CNN and CBS News, that's crazy for one family, one
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Trump-supporting family, especially when he just banished them from the
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White House. I just learned that Dolly Parton Day is
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going to be September 25th. That's California Governor Newsom finally
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signed something. No, I shouldn't say that. He just signed
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a couple other things. But he signed Dolly Parton Day.
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into law on Sunday. So that'll be, I don't know
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how you celebrate Dolly Parton day, maybe going on strike
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or something. I'm not sure, but, um, right.
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Yeah. Yeah.
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And speaking of, uh, strikes and unions, uh, you are
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a leader in your union. I should have said that
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in the intro, the California faculty association. And in that capacity,
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you led an event at the California, at the congressional
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black caucus weekend. Talk to me about that.
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That was great. So, uh, California Faculty Association is just
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starting to get into national politics. We're very, very active
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in California politics. We're the California Faculty Association. But the
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work that we're engaged in right now, our primary campaign,
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along with fighting for a fair contract, we may be
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going on strikes, speaking of strikes. But the work that
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we're leading politically is really around hands-off students and protecting
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campus free speech. So all over the country, students are
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being disciplined, being disenrolled, having their degrees taken, and even
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being criminalized for speaking out on everything from a free
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Palestine to maintaining ethnic studies and advancing ethnic studies. And
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so we were there. talking with people, especially political leaders,
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about the importance of maintaining campuses as spaces of free
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speech and how we do that politically. So Angel Marie Taylor,
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who's our youth vanguard organizer for Black Lives Matter grassroots,
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but also a student at Cal State Channel Islands, we
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had a huge event, well, hugely impactful event around how
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to protect campus free speech and our right to protest.
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I mean, in our Congresswoman, I know we only have
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30 seconds here. We'll squeeze it in. Our Congresswoman, Sydney Komlager.
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Dove was there. The elected representative out of Pennsylvania, Chris Rabb,
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was there. There were a bunch of movers and shakers there.
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They're who, you know, prayerfully will become the senator out
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of Florida, which is a crazy thing to say.
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Angie Nixon was there, yes.
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Yeah. But also organizers like Rashad Robinson, right? Union members,
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union leaders like former UTLA president, now National Education Association
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executive board member, Cecily Meyer Cruz was there. And so
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it's really important to remember that it takes people in office,
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but also organizations a momentum on the ground to push
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for the kinds of things that we need as black people, especially.
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Yes, indeed. News, traffic, and sports, and then more, only
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right here. We do appreciate you, Dr. Melina Abdulla is here.
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Thanks to Paul Lee in the YouTube chat pointing out
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that the San Francisco security guards went on strike for
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one day on Friday, several hundred, many, that protect the
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big tech spaces, and now they're back at the negotiating table.
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They say if they don't make some progress, they will
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be back out on strike. So to your point, Dr. Abdullah,
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people think of California as sunshine and beaches, but it's
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also very much a union state.
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That's right. That's right. We're looking at a bunch of
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union states. potentially going on strike. USWW is the security workers.
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So the one-day strikes tend to be kind of the
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shot in the air, the warning shot, right? But we
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have to remember that they lead to longer strikes and
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they can impact, those strikes can impact all of us.
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Our strike, what's happening with the California Faculty Association, you know,
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the timing of it could be really disruptive. And some
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people will say, well, why would you be disruptive? Well,
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that's the point of a strike, right? Is that you
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don't get to have our labor and think things are
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just going to go smoothly when you're in the CSU,
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the managers, the presidents of some of these universities are
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making well into the six figures. I'm talking half a
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million dollars a year. I'm talking the chancellor of the
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system is making a million dollars a year. And you
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have folks who are fighting for 3%, 5% raises, and
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we all see what's happening with gas prices. And so
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labor power, union power is really, really important. And I believe,
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now I'm getting on my soapbox, but you know, I'm
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an organizer on the streets, but I'm also an organizer
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as workers. And I think that what unions represent when,
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and what we do when we, you know, pool resources,
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union dues are taken out of our checks every month.
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It gives us something to fight back against fascism with,
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that we're all connecting ourselves. I always talk with my
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students about this. You as a worker by yourself, have
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to kind of go in and negotiate and hope that
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the boss will be reasonable. But when we're unified as
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a union, we have power to all walk off a
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job and we have resources because we've pulled our dues
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so that we can say, you know, we're going to
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fight politically, we're going to fight on the streets, and
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we're going to fight with our feet on picket lines
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if necessary.
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Yeah, you mentioned Nolan Wells, and thanks to Fahima, who
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sent this story that I wasn't tracking. A man was
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found yesterday morning hanging from a tree in Maryland, Upper Marlboro, Maryland.
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He's a black man, of course. Found dead, hanging from
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a tree. Of course, investigators are saying he died by suicide.
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And that they didn't find any evidence of foul play,
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but that's becoming almost a stereotypical trope. They say it
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before any real investigation has taken place.
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They say it before any real investigation. And again, I
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want to emphasize the power of the people, right? Tasia Fortune,
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nobody ever believed that this black mother hung herself from
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a tree. And lo and behold, she did not hang
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herself from a tree, right? When we talk about Trey
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Reed on campus of Delta State University in Mississippi, they
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said he hung himself from a tree. But the autopsy
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shows he had blunt force trauma to the back of
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his head and his back. Did he do that to himself, too?
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Did he beat himself, too? Right. And so I think
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our intuition is absolutely right that black people don't hang
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themselves from trees. And that requires that we force these
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folks to back it up. So grateful to, again, Ayanna
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Pressley and those who are courageous enough to use their
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positions in Congress as political leaders to push for what
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we need, which is, you know, the truth to be exposed.
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There are still lynchings happening in this country in 2026.
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I mean, yeah, a lot of people do not believe
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the man, the apparently homeless man that they've arrested, is
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the one that murdered Tasia Fortune. Certainly would be interesting.
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I hope that there's a... I don't know why I'm
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saying this. I hope there's a thorough investigation, even though
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I'm not hopeful in a way that there will be one.
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Yeah, yeah. I mean, either way, and of course, you know,
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In our heads, we think of something else when we
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think of lynchings. But it does demonstrate the point that
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black people don't hang ourselves from trees. That is not
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a thing. That is not a thing. And so the
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rush to say that it's suicide is absolutely part of
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the issue. And if we think about the history of lynchings,
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all of these systems were broiled in the process of
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lynching and they still are. Yeah.
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It's well said. Um, congratulations going out to you. And
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I guess I'll pat myself on the back too. Congratulations
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going out to me. I sound like Snoop Dogg. I'd
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like to thank me. Um, but we did, uh, have
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a screening at the, um, at the Congressional Black Caucus
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at the Martin Luther King Public Library of the documentary,
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the Black Lives Matter story documentary that we first... It's
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a first cut. It still needs work, but it's a
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film that we premiered at the Pan-African Film Festival.
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Yeah, it's only our second time ever showing the film,
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and we showed it at Congressional Black Caucus. I thought
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it was... You and I, it was also our second
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time seeing it with an audience. And it is much,
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every single person who walked out of the Martin Luther
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King Library, which is a beautiful library, just steps away
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from the convention center.
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With the whole auditorium. I mean, it's not like we're
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sitting with the books. Like, they have a screening room, right?
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It's a theater, really.
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There are hundreds of people.
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Right.
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It's a beautiful state-of-the-art screening room, again, just outside of
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the Congressional Black Caucus. And, you know, we spent days
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talking with people about coming. And many of them came.
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And every single person who walked out of there, without
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exception that I spoke with, said, oh, now I get it.
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that they got, well, this is what happened. Black Lives
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Matter was born in Los Angeles as this righteous movement,
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and we moved righteously in the name of Trayvon Martin,
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in the name of Mike Brown, in the name of
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Andrew Joseph III, whose mother was on the panel, right?
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And then in 2020, the resources were stolen, and we
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named names who stole the money and what they've been
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doing with it. And have receipts, we have photos of
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what's happening. Lawyers spoke to the fact, but I think
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they were also really encouraged and inspired. And one of
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the librarians said, oh, now I can join the movement, right?
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Because we continue to move righteously as Black Lives Matter
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grassroots and continue to be powered by the people, despite
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what's happened to our resources. And so that we were
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able to encapsulate that. And Dominique, you wrote the film
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so beautifully and clearly and powerfully that people understood the story, right?
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Yeah, well, it was definitely a group effort. And yeah,
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it was lovely to see it. And it was Really
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wild to see how people were moved, you know, by it.
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Some people were crying and that, that to me means
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that folks really, you know, got it. If you're sitting
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there weeping, that means something moved you and it connected
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with you. And that's really, really important. So I'm looking
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forward to us, you know, being able to take it
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to festivals and releasing it more widely. People have been
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asking me where they could see it. Just hold on.
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We got you. But, you know, it's going to take
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a minute. And I want to thank or shout out
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the Coalition of Concerned Mothers. You know, justice mothers, mothers
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whose children were killed by police who came out as
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a group to see the screening and hang out with us.
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And it was really an honor to meet you. And
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I'm really glad that they followed me on Instagram. I
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follow them back. It's really... it was great to have
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them there as well.
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It was great to have them there and have them
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also understand that we are there to do work, to
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amplify their work. And again, gratitude to Deanna Joseph for
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sitting on the panel, for serving in the film. I
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had to kind of get up from my seat because
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it's the first time she's seen her husband on the
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screen like that. since his passing in May. And the
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two of them together have really just been the heartbeat
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of the movement and making sure that those of us
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who have boots on the ground remember that there's also
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spilled blood and real people, real mothers' children that were
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children that we're fighting for. Yeah.
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Absolutely. So that was a beautiful thing. And I'm looking
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forward to more. The film is called Stolen Lives Money Movement.
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And we'll talk more about that in the days and
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weeks ahead. Dr. Melina Abdullah is here. You're welcome in
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at 800-920-1580.
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800-920-1580.
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I'm Dominique DiPrima, and you know where you are. Dr.
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Melina Abdullah is here, and you can follow her at DocMellyMel.
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You can follow her organization at BLM Grassroots, the real
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00:32:22.500 --> 00:32:27.150
Black Lives Matter, BLM Grassroots. BLMgrassroots.org. You can go to
470
00:32:29.369 --> 00:32:32.910
Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, right? You have to spell
471
00:32:32.970 --> 00:32:33.359
it all out.
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00:32:33.369 --> 00:32:34.450
BLM Los Angeles.
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00:32:34.470 --> 00:32:37.670
BLM Los Angeles. I always get confused about that one.
474
00:32:38.170 --> 00:32:41.720
BLM Los Angeles on, even though I follow y'all. on
475
00:32:42.019 --> 00:32:45.000
social media. One of the things that, yeah, I want
476
00:32:45.039 --> 00:32:48.480
to circle back a little bit here because that party
477
00:32:48.519 --> 00:32:50.819
with a purpose and, you know, there was really yummy
478
00:32:50.859 --> 00:32:53.539
food and stuff and you might, I might or might
479
00:32:53.619 --> 00:32:59.730
not have had a margarita, but the reason for it
480
00:32:59.849 --> 00:33:06.569
was about students' rights and the recent victory of you know,
481
00:33:07.009 --> 00:33:11.279
moving this bill forward here in Cali that would, if,
482
00:33:11.650 --> 00:33:16.019
you know, if signed by the governor would at least
483
00:33:16.079 --> 00:33:19.559
make a study of how the so-called time, place and
484
00:33:19.599 --> 00:33:25.240
manner restrictions for campus protests are disproportionately impacting black students. And,
485
00:33:25.579 --> 00:33:28.200
you know, if it wasn't for the case of Angel
486
00:33:28.220 --> 00:33:31.819
Marie Taylor, who you mentioned, who was targeted by her
487
00:33:31.900 --> 00:33:38.210
school and, you know, just put through hell, threatened with expulsion,
488
00:33:38.700 --> 00:33:42.339
her degree held. I wouldn't know about time, place, and manner,
489
00:33:42.359 --> 00:33:47.420
which is crazy because they're actually unconstitutional restrictions on students'
490
00:33:47.460 --> 00:33:54.690
right to protest that universities all over the nation have adopted. So,
491
00:33:55.369 --> 00:33:58.869
you know, California is moving a little bit, obviously, with
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00:33:59.309 --> 00:34:04.349
the help of the Faculty Association and also California Faculty Association,
493
00:34:04.369 --> 00:34:09.599
but also Black Lives Matter grassroots, do you think this
494
00:34:09.699 --> 00:34:14.820
can become a national drive to restore free speech to campus?
495
00:34:15.059 --> 00:34:17.320
We would have had time, place, and manner when I
496
00:34:17.360 --> 00:34:19.280
was in school. I never would have graduated. They would
497
00:34:19.300 --> 00:34:20.679
have definitely taken my degree.
498
00:34:21.980 --> 00:34:25.570
Right, right. And so just to briefly define it, time, place,
499
00:34:25.610 --> 00:34:28.449
and manner is a set of restrictions that says you
500
00:34:28.469 --> 00:34:31.550
can only speak out, you can only protest in a
501
00:34:31.630 --> 00:34:38.079
certain time, certain place in certain manner. And it's required now. It's,
502
00:34:38.239 --> 00:34:41.159
it a couple of years ago became the law on
503
00:34:41.760 --> 00:34:47.340
all public California campuses. So we have what happened to
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00:34:47.420 --> 00:34:50.639
angel Marie Taylor and continues to happen to her. I
505
00:34:50.679 --> 00:34:53.820
just found out she was dropped from her classes or
506
00:34:53.880 --> 00:34:59.480
disenrolled from her classes again. Right. Or, um, you know,
507
00:34:59.519 --> 00:35:02.030
so this was happening to her Her degree has now
508
00:35:02.090 --> 00:35:05.239
been held for two years, right? But what's happened to
509
00:35:05.260 --> 00:35:09.420
her is commonplace throughout California in these last few years
510
00:35:09.780 --> 00:35:13.139
since this has been the kind of rules of the campuses.
511
00:35:13.219 --> 00:35:15.940
And what it did is just kind of unify it
512
00:35:15.980 --> 00:35:20.550
so all campuses have this. But, you know, this has happened.
513
00:35:20.590 --> 00:35:23.670
We have a young brother who was going to school
514
00:35:23.730 --> 00:35:26.210
and he was handing out a flyer. And because he
515
00:35:26.269 --> 00:35:29.929
handed it out on the grass instead of the paved area,
516
00:35:30.699 --> 00:35:35.980
he was pulled in and threatened with disenrollment and had
517
00:35:36.019 --> 00:35:39.420
to have attorneys and everything come in and say, no,
518
00:35:41.260 --> 00:35:46.539
this is unconstitutional. So this is happening throughout California and
519
00:35:46.719 --> 00:35:52.179
increasingly all across the country. All those students at Columbia
520
00:35:52.300 --> 00:35:56.800
University that were rising up around Gaza, many of them
521
00:35:56.860 --> 00:36:00.119
have had their degrees held. One of them is a
522
00:36:00.730 --> 00:36:03.909
niece of mine, she's been told, okay, the deal is
523
00:36:03.949 --> 00:36:07.989
we won't send you to prison, but you know, you
524
00:36:08.030 --> 00:36:11.050
don't actually get your degree for two years, even though
525
00:36:12.110 --> 00:36:16.489
you had a 4.0, you technically graduated with a 4.0,
526
00:36:16.489 --> 00:36:18.880
but you don't get your degree for two years. You
527
00:36:18.909 --> 00:36:21.800
have to hold your life for two years. You have
528
00:36:21.840 --> 00:36:24.679
to work as a barista instead of what you've been
529
00:36:24.760 --> 00:36:27.619
trained and educated to do for two years. So all
530
00:36:27.659 --> 00:36:30.639
across the country, we see this happening. And so I'm
531
00:36:30.699 --> 00:36:35.110
really encouraged that labor is stepping up and saying, no,
532
00:36:35.139 --> 00:36:37.610
this is a free speech issue. When you say, what
533
00:36:37.630 --> 00:36:40.369
would have happened to you if this had been the rule?
534
00:36:40.869 --> 00:36:43.690
I want to think about, as we talk about voting rights,
535
00:36:44.090 --> 00:36:47.579
had students not engaged in Freedom Summer and done the
536
00:36:47.619 --> 00:36:50.650
Freedom Rides, Right. If time, place and manner had been
537
00:36:50.670 --> 00:36:53.510
the rule, then we wouldn't have the voting rights. We
538
00:36:53.550 --> 00:36:59.389
have desegregation with students on front lines. When we talk
539
00:36:59.409 --> 00:37:04.309
about the development of ethnic studies and black studies, that
540
00:37:04.349 --> 00:37:08.110
was all student protests, the fall of apartheid. And so
541
00:37:08.280 --> 00:37:12.659
it's hugely important that campus free speech rights are protected
542
00:37:13.119 --> 00:37:17.500
because these become campuses become the place where we think.
543
00:37:18.079 --> 00:37:22.780
intellectually about movement development and often become the nucleus of
544
00:37:22.860 --> 00:37:26.659
movement development. And so it's hugely important that we all
545
00:37:26.719 --> 00:37:29.900
invest ourselves. And we're talking about students, but we see
546
00:37:29.940 --> 00:37:34.679
that also befalling the harms, also befalling faculty. I'm thinking
547
00:37:34.820 --> 00:37:40.369
Tiffany Willoughby-Harrard at UC Irvine, who is still suffering repercussions,
548
00:37:40.829 --> 00:37:44.449
as well as community members who are often arrested on campuses.
549
00:37:44.869 --> 00:37:49.030
And so We're pushing for this, for the protection of
550
00:37:49.110 --> 00:37:53.610
campus free speech rights. And then, of course, that spills
551
00:37:53.719 --> 00:37:56.539
out to the larger world that we all have to
552
00:37:56.579 --> 00:37:59.219
have the right to free speech and the right to protest,
553
00:37:59.599 --> 00:38:01.480
especially in the face of fascism.
554
00:38:02.260 --> 00:38:05.800
Yeah, I mean, just the idea that the person you're
555
00:38:06.750 --> 00:38:08.909
you know, the, the place that's supposed to be educating
556
00:38:08.949 --> 00:38:11.949
you gets to decide or that anybody gets to decide
557
00:38:12.429 --> 00:38:16.809
the time when you protest, the way that you protest and,
558
00:38:16.969 --> 00:38:21.150
you know, the, the place that you protest is the
559
00:38:21.309 --> 00:38:25.360
opposite of a protest. That's, that goes, that's the definition
560
00:38:25.380 --> 00:38:27.820
of a protest is you're, like you said, you're disrupting,
561
00:38:28.360 --> 00:38:32.280
you're calling attention to something, you're, um, you know, making,
562
00:38:32.500 --> 00:38:35.730
forcing people to deal with something and, And so for
563
00:38:35.809 --> 00:38:41.690
universities to say that they get to dictate where, how,
564
00:38:42.389 --> 00:38:48.110
and when you protest, there's no way that's constitutional. And
565
00:38:48.150 --> 00:38:52.440
so I'm glad that the California Faculty Association is standing
566
00:38:52.480 --> 00:38:55.300
behind the students. I was really moved to hear how
567
00:38:55.380 --> 00:38:59.099
the CFA, how you guys really stood with Angel Marie
568
00:38:59.139 --> 00:39:05.320
and other students who were being actually harmed just for protesting.
569
00:39:06.940 --> 00:39:09.300
Time flies when you're on the radio. We've got a
570
00:39:09.360 --> 00:39:11.739
minute here. What do you want to leave us with
571
00:39:11.760 --> 00:39:13.360
this morning, Dr. Malina Abdullah?
572
00:39:14.889 --> 00:39:18.730
I think that being at CBC has reminded me of
573
00:39:18.809 --> 00:39:22.530
something we already know, which is that we all are
574
00:39:22.570 --> 00:39:27.489
responsible for shifting the world, that we can't just rely
575
00:39:27.610 --> 00:39:32.099
on elected officials, especially mainstream elected officials. I'm glad it
576
00:39:32.139 --> 00:39:35.710
looked beautiful to watch people in their fancy outfits, but
577
00:39:35.750 --> 00:39:39.650
that should not be the point, right? The point is
578
00:39:39.769 --> 00:39:43.789
making sure black people have power, making sure that we
579
00:39:43.949 --> 00:39:47.079
build a free world that's fit for our children. I
580
00:39:47.280 --> 00:39:50.360
was so encouraged to be there with so many young people,
581
00:39:50.909 --> 00:39:55.769
Angel Marie, Jaden, Shiraz, all of these youth Vanguard members
582
00:39:55.829 --> 00:40:00.329
who were there. It was really important that we understand
583
00:40:00.369 --> 00:40:02.849
that we have to take power into our own hands.
584
00:40:03.449 --> 00:40:07.570
And I'll be talking about Black Power tonight on my
585
00:40:07.630 --> 00:40:11.159
Freedom Campus class. People are welcome to tune in. or
586
00:40:11.280 --> 00:40:15.460
DM me at DocMellyMel about Freedom Campus as we talk
587
00:40:15.519 --> 00:40:20.000
about Black Power, Kwame Ture's Black Power. We're still reading that,
588
00:40:20.900 --> 00:40:24.219
and I think it's really appropriate in this moment, and
589
00:40:24.239 --> 00:40:27.190
that we exercise Black Power by being on front lines
590
00:40:27.269 --> 00:40:31.010
and joining organizations like Black Lives Matter Los Angeles and
591
00:40:31.030 --> 00:40:35.869
Black Lives Matter grassroots. We'll be protesting on Wednesday, as
592
00:40:35.929 --> 00:40:39.510
we do every Wednesday, and we'll be at Police commission
593
00:40:39.570 --> 00:40:44.250
tomorrow challenging them, challenging LAPD. Thank you so much, Dominique,
594
00:40:44.289 --> 00:40:44.980
for having us.
595
00:40:45.550 --> 00:40:48.449
Thank you, Dr. Malina Abdullah. And I just realized it's
596
00:40:48.489 --> 00:40:55.980
Kwame Nkrumah's birthday. Happy birthday. Happy heavenly birthday to Kwame Nkrumah. Thanks, Doc. News, traffic,
597
00:40:56.000 --> 00:40:58.989
and sports. Then time for Mindful Monday. KBLA Talk 1580.
1
00:00:00.690 --> 00:00:05.200
KBLA Talk 1580. Good morning, good morning, and God bless.
2
00:00:05.919 --> 00:00:08.820
I'm Dominique DiPrima. This show is called First Things First.
3
00:00:08.859 --> 00:00:13.320
You knew that in my very first thing. Prayer. Prayer, prayer, prayer.
4
00:00:13.359 --> 00:00:17.000
Giving thanks, giving praises, and asking for blessings from God.
5
00:00:17.559 --> 00:00:20.760
Asking for the blessings of the ancestors and the elders,
6
00:00:20.839 --> 00:00:22.839
and let's go. Man, we got a lot to do
7
00:00:23.160 --> 00:00:29.230
and a lot to talk about. It's, uh... It's just amazing.
8
00:00:29.370 --> 00:00:32.369
I can't even leave town for five seconds without some
9
00:00:32.409 --> 00:00:35.840
crazy stuff jumping off. I feel like I need to
10
00:00:35.880 --> 00:00:39.140
stay here, keep you all safe. But look, you are
11
00:00:39.179 --> 00:00:40.859
invited in every hour at 800-920-1580. 800-920-1580 if you want
12
00:00:40.899 --> 00:00:43.000
to say something about something. Of course, I'm talking about
13
00:00:43.020 --> 00:00:43.880
the rumblings around the.
14
00:00:53.340 --> 00:00:58.329
The merger, the Paramount merger is getting rather perilous. But
15
00:00:58.390 --> 00:01:01.469
if you're interested in that or something else, 809-20-1580, 809-20-1580
16
00:01:01.729 --> 00:01:09.310
is the number from anywhere you are. Hopefully you have
17
00:01:09.359 --> 00:01:12.140
the app. You can listen on the app too. You
18
00:01:12.159 --> 00:01:16.480
can listen on YouTube where the conversation continues in the comments.
19
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It's youtube.com, KBLA 1580. And you can also find me
20
00:01:22.879 --> 00:01:29.920
everywhere at Duprema Radio. D-I-P-R-I-M-A and then radio. Half of
21
00:01:29.939 --> 00:01:32.799
y'all like to call me Dupre. It's fine. Just call me.
22
00:01:32.859 --> 00:01:35.700
But when you're trying to find me on the internets,
23
00:01:36.599 --> 00:01:40.819
it's good if you have the actual address. Duprema Radio
24
00:01:40.980 --> 00:01:45.090
is the place to be. Right around the corner now
25
00:01:45.409 --> 00:01:49.500
is our forum. And I'm I'm really glad we have
26
00:01:49.560 --> 00:01:53.180
this because I'm hearing all kinds of crazy things about
27
00:01:53.200 --> 00:01:58.299
this election and people really not having a clear picture
28
00:01:58.379 --> 00:02:00.560
of what is going on. And I'm not going to lie.
29
00:02:00.599 --> 00:02:03.079
I don't have it all figured out yet, but trust
30
00:02:03.140 --> 00:02:05.519
and believe I will. You know, I always find a
31
00:02:05.780 --> 00:02:09.460
way to figure out these propositions and things. Thing is
32
00:02:09.979 --> 00:02:14.710
on October 3rd, we get to group source our greatness
33
00:02:14.719 --> 00:02:19.780
and and go through all the propositions, meet candidates in person,
34
00:02:20.699 --> 00:02:25.810
and see who's worthy of our precious vote. It's Saturday,
35
00:02:25.879 --> 00:02:29.430
October 3rd. It's History in the Making, the California Voices
36
00:02:29.530 --> 00:02:33.349
Town Hall and Ballot Forum, live from L.A., 8 a.m.
37
00:02:33.389 --> 00:02:36.050
to 5 p.m. That should be enough time to get
38
00:02:36.110 --> 00:02:39.210
to all of these candidates. Our stage turning every 20 minutes,
39
00:02:39.270 --> 00:02:42.960
plus the propositions, of which there are many, 13, I believe.
40
00:02:43.469 --> 00:02:46.240
All the candidates will be there. You should be there too.
41
00:02:46.479 --> 00:02:49.259
If you can, it's free, but you have to register.
42
00:02:49.319 --> 00:02:54.240
Go to KBLA1580. com. The sooner, the better to save your spot.
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00:02:54.300 --> 00:02:58.460
California Voices, Saturday, October 3rd. Come be part of history.
44
00:02:58.819 --> 00:03:01.900
That's brought to you by KBLA Talk 1580 and the
45
00:03:01.960 --> 00:03:07.780
Community Voter Education Project. And I would love to see
46
00:03:07.800 --> 00:03:11.370
you there. It's If you're not clear on why our
47
00:03:11.409 --> 00:03:14.560
vote is super important right now, then I don't know
48
00:03:14.590 --> 00:03:17.250
what to tell you. But I'll think of something because
49
00:03:17.310 --> 00:03:23.740
we got about five weeks, a little less, for the
50
00:03:23.780 --> 00:03:27.340
very last day of voting to start. Spent the weekend
51
00:03:27.659 --> 00:03:33.379
at the Congressional Black Caucus and just seeing all of
52
00:03:33.580 --> 00:03:39.870
the networking, horse trading, preparation, going on behind the scenes
53
00:03:40.669 --> 00:03:46.550
with these lawmakers, journalists, and activists, people from community-based organizations.
54
00:03:46.990 --> 00:03:48.830
In a way, it was inspiring because I was happy
55
00:03:48.849 --> 00:03:52.750
to see black people moving in the ways that I
56
00:03:52.789 --> 00:03:58.860
always think about, you know, these ops moving, right? The
57
00:03:58.979 --> 00:04:08.539
anti-black peeps, the conservatives, the anti-justice people. And so that's encouraging.
58
00:04:08.599 --> 00:04:12.909
It means, okay, it's not just Trump trying to shut
59
00:04:12.969 --> 00:04:15.669
down our votes at the Supreme Court and at the
60
00:04:15.729 --> 00:04:19.290
state level, battling the state of California, trying to get
61
00:04:19.430 --> 00:04:24.089
our voter rolls, our information, so they can kick people off.
62
00:04:25.709 --> 00:04:30.899
For one thing, their pretext is that there are people
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on the voter rolls in California who aren't citizens. which
64
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is ridiculous. They want to complain about how long it
65
00:04:37.500 --> 00:04:39.810
takes us to count the votes. Why are we taking
66
00:04:39.870 --> 00:04:43.009
so long? Because we're verifying that every person is who
67
00:04:43.050 --> 00:04:46.290
they say they are and who they say they are
68
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is eligible to vote. On the other side of their mouths,
69
00:04:50.129 --> 00:04:53.230
they want to say, oh, we need your ID. Let
70
00:04:53.269 --> 00:04:58.660
me see your ID. Okay, Mr. Apartheid. So it's good
71
00:04:58.699 --> 00:05:02.120
to see that there's organizing happening on the other end
72
00:05:02.220 --> 00:05:05.439
of the spectrum. Speaking of organizing on the other end
73
00:05:05.480 --> 00:05:09.839
of the spectrum, this day is a messy Monday. I'm
74
00:05:09.860 --> 00:05:11.899
feeling kind of messy, so that should be fun. We'll
75
00:05:11.920 --> 00:05:14.360
be joined in hour three by my friend McCoy Zeno,
76
00:05:14.399 --> 00:05:17.399
who's going to share his rules of dating. And of course,
77
00:05:17.459 --> 00:05:20.000
you are invited to share yours as well. We will
78
00:05:20.019 --> 00:05:22.300
not let go of our interpersonal stuff in the middle
79
00:05:22.319 --> 00:05:26.160
of political season. We start off hour two with Mindful Monday,
80
00:05:26.220 --> 00:05:31.120
guided meditation and affirmation with Sahara Ali, along with an
81
00:05:31.199 --> 00:05:36.329
astrological outlook and right now um we are joined by
82
00:05:36.370 --> 00:05:40.720
my friend and colleague she is mother of three a
83
00:05:41.699 --> 00:05:47.240
professor at cal state la a scholar and the director
84
00:05:47.300 --> 00:05:51.500
of black lives matter grassroots organizer lead organizer with blm
85
00:05:51.730 --> 00:05:55.149
la dr melina abdullah good morning.
86
00:05:54.790 --> 00:05:57.850
Good morning dominique how are.
87
00:05:57.769 --> 00:06:02.180
You Yeah, I'm good. I'm here processing everything we saw
88
00:06:02.259 --> 00:06:04.759
and heard over the weekend. You, of course, were also
89
00:06:05.279 --> 00:06:06.819
at the CBC. How are you?
90
00:06:06.839 --> 00:06:12.209
Still tired. I'm tired. Yeah, but it was good. I
91
00:06:12.269 --> 00:06:12.930
felt good.
92
00:06:13.329 --> 00:06:17.769
Yeah, power networking, walking, a little tiny bit of partying,
93
00:06:17.790 --> 00:06:23.439
and it's quite a weekend. I was talking about how
94
00:06:24.259 --> 00:06:27.319
You know, we hear so much about Project 2025 and
95
00:06:27.360 --> 00:06:32.589
the way that the right is actually rescinding our liberties
96
00:06:32.850 --> 00:06:36.370
as we speak and all the ways they're doing voter
97
00:06:36.389 --> 00:06:40.689
suppression and undermining this election. So for me, it was
98
00:06:41.250 --> 00:06:45.620
encouraging and it was refreshing to spend time with some
99
00:06:46.060 --> 00:06:49.579
black people, albeit not all. Some of them are corporate Dems.
100
00:06:49.639 --> 00:06:53.069
I get it. but to see people organizing and moving
101
00:06:53.100 --> 00:06:57.399
around policy and the election on the other side of
102
00:06:57.420 --> 00:06:57.959
the ledger.
103
00:06:59.639 --> 00:07:03.259
Yeah, it was good. And I think I was most excited.
104
00:07:04.019 --> 00:07:08.019
There were a few really, really progressive folks who've been
105
00:07:08.060 --> 00:07:11.399
elected or who are kind of newer to Congress. And
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of course, Ayanna Pressley is there. Ilhan Omar is there.
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They're very progressive and very visionary, but I think I
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was also really excited to see so many folks who
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were not in elected posts there talking about how to
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utilize power and how power from the outside is really,
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really important.
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Yeah, I guess hearing about this new wave of Democratic
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socialists being elected, not only members of the DSA, but
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people who just are philosophically Democratic socialists. It's one thing
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on paper. It's another thing to hear people speak and
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see them in action and how I believe they're also
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influencing other lawmakers that are already there.
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Yeah, and people were challenged by that. It pushes things.
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What we've seen with MAGA, what we've seen with, you know,
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kind of this right-wing rise is people in the middle
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being pushed to the right. And now what we're seeing,
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one of the things that we're seeing is people on
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the left pushing the middle to the left. And we
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have to have more of that. For Black people, we
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can't just kind of go with you know, the political tides.
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We have to remember to maintain our own agenda and
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really build Black power no matter what space we find ourselves,
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no matter what space, and maybe especially when there's a
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rise of the right. We have to push for our
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own agenda rather than saying, how do we just kind
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of cower in a corner until this is over?
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Yeah, it's a powerful point because I feel like some
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of us have been trying to push the middle and
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the so-called left, which is, you know, the TV left,
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which is really the middle, over to the left, which
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to me is really to the people, you know, to
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things that actually help people like universal health care, universal
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child care, free college for all, you know, the basics,
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voting rights. But to see it happening with So it's
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not just, you know, us, the protesters and us, the
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talk radio people yelling from outside the building. It's nice
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to see some folks pushing from inside the building.
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That's right. To even see like there's a debate even
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within the Congressional Black Caucus about do we just want
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black faces? in high places? Is it enough? Do we
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all have to line up behind Hakeem Jeffries, Apex Shakur, right?
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Or do we really build a Black agenda and build
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for the Black people who need us. Nolan Wells' family
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was there, right? So Hakeem Jeffries becoming speaker does not
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really make a difference when your child has been lynched, right?
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What are you doing about the black people who are
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hanging from trees? And I really appreciate that that was raised.
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People like Kendrick Sampson were there, you know, who's one
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of my favorite people in the whole world.
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Right, the actor. You saw him as Quincy Jones in
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the Michael Jackson movie, if you don't know who he is.
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That's right. And he was raising it from the stage that,
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you know, spaces like this should not be spaces where
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we just dress up and talk and say black faces
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in high places are good things that we have to push.
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And CBC can be as much of a problem as
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it is a help. Yeah. If it just says, you know,
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we don't go with politics as usual. And he said
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it from the stage. And I think that's really, really important. Yeah.
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Yeah. Good thing. And you had a lot of things
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going on. We'll get into that. Least of all, your birthday.
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Happy birthday, Malina Abdul.
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Thank you.
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Your birthday was Friday. It's Virgo season. All the Virgos
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are Virgo-ing. Well, actually, today's the last day. Happy Yom
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Kippur to those who are celebrating. Thank you. You know,
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just a coincidence that it is a Mindful Monday and
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also a Messy Monday. All of that is happening. But
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we do have a lot to talk about. We did
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a screening and you did a special event there, which
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was quite, well, quite powerful, actually, the folks in the room.
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And really interesting for me, because I've never been to
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the Congressional Black Caucus weekend before, to see The levels from,
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you know, the street level to the gala, the Phoenix gala,
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fancy level to all of the ways that people networking
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and hanging out moves policy. Dr. Melina Abdullah is my guest.
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You're welcome in at 809-20-1580, 809-20-1580. I'm Dominique DiPrima for
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Unapologetically Progressive, KBLA Talk 1580. Right now, Dr. Melina Abdullah
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is in the house, and you're welcome to call us
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at 800-920-1580. Do not forget to jump on the YouTube
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and join the conversation there as well. A couple things
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I just want to touch on, so I've got to
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once again ask you to put on your political scientist hat, Dr.
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Melina Abdullah. This Paramount-Warner Brothers merger is potentially... very, very damaging.
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It's $ 111 billion. It's Paramount trying to take on Warner Brothers.
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The Attorney General and other state attorneys general are trying
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to either stop the deal or make some kind of
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settlement with provisions that would keep them from having so
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much power. I don't, you know, I'm not sure, but
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now I'm not sure if any of those things can
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actually be effective like they're talking about. a bipartisan editorial
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board to monitor CNN. That sounds like something like some
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BS that won't work. But having Larry Ellison and David Ellison, these,
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you know, Netanyahu supporting Trump, supporting very conservative family, owning
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both CBS News and CNN, seems very problematic. I connect
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the dots between that and President, the resident president, banning
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from the White House, MSNOW, CNN, and Politico, rescinding their
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press passes are not allowed on the White House grounds.
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So it's like this chokehold on the press. And it's
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not like our press is wildly, you know, progressive anyway, right?
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So this to me, I hope that somebody sitting at
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that table is connecting these two sort of trend lines, right?
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The suppression of the press, the Pentagon has already kicked
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folks out of offices and moved in right-wing podcasters, and
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they've limited what reporters can even talk about. These are connected.
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Absolutely, and what it does is it, you know, media
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is not free, right? There's a spin on all corporate media.
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has corporate interests in mind. And when you couple that
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with kind of a fascist agenda, it's the reason that
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we don't hear the stories that we need to be hearing.
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We're not hearing anything else about Nolan Wells. That's not
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on mainstream media. We're not hearing about the lynchings. That's
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not on mainstream media. We're not hearing about the fact
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that ICE just shot and killed somebody again yesterday in Texas.
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We're not hearing anything else about Keith Porter or about
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what's happening here even in Los Angeles we're not hearing
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these things and LA is supposed to be you know
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the home of progressivism but it's also the home of
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these kind of corporate media conglomerates and so it's really
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important that when we think about how big business how
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corporate America how capitalism takes over media how that impacts
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the information that we're receiving and is intended to program
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us about what to think. And so we have to be,
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you always talk about media literacy. We have to be really,
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really good at monitoring what we take in and saying, well,
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where am I going to intentionally go for news? And
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so I'm going to listen to KBLA. I'm going to
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look for mainstream media. Black media is really, really important
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because if you were to look at even, MS now,
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you know, there's no blackness on media other than the
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corporate gems who kind of are propped up sometimes.
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Right, and occasionally we get to hear Dr. Cornel West.
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But I do want to just add that I think
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that the man in Texas and Austin is still alive.
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He's in serious condition, Wilbur Rafael Garces Perez, who was
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shot yesterday by ICE. Was it yesterday or the day before?
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Yesterday, the 20th.
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Okay, so yeah, he's still living, but he's in serious condition.
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But your point is taken. I think that, you know,
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I just also think we can't forget about the jobs. Meanwhile,
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Paramount is threatening to take Paramount Pictures out of Hollywood.
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I don't know where they will take it. Maybe Texas.
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Maybe Mar-a-Lago. I don't know. But they're threatening... to take
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their jobs and go home, which puts politicians in a
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tough position because no one wants to lose that many jobs.
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Right, right. And we have to, you know, figure out
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what our agenda is, right? You don't want to lose
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the jobs at the same time. You don't want to
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let big business have everything that they want.
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Right, and tell whatever story or whatever narrative they want, right? Because...
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CNN and CBS News, that's crazy for one family, one
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Trump-supporting family, especially when he just banished them from the
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White House. I just learned that Dolly Parton Day is
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going to be September 25th. That's California Governor Newsom finally
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signed something. No, I shouldn't say that. He just signed
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a couple other things. But he signed Dolly Parton Day.
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into law on Sunday. So that'll be, I don't know
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how you celebrate Dolly Parton day, maybe going on strike
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or something. I'm not sure, but, um, right.
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Yeah. Yeah.
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And speaking of, uh, strikes and unions, uh, you are
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a leader in your union. I should have said that
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in the intro, the California faculty association. And in that capacity,
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you led an event at the California, at the congressional
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black caucus weekend. Talk to me about that.
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That was great. So, uh, California Faculty Association is just
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starting to get into national politics. We're very, very active
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in California politics. We're the California Faculty Association. But the
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work that we're engaged in right now, our primary campaign,
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along with fighting for a fair contract, we may be
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going on strikes, speaking of strikes. But the work that
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we're leading politically is really around hands-off students and protecting
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campus free speech. So all over the country, students are
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being disciplined, being disenrolled, having their degrees taken, and even
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being criminalized for speaking out on everything from a free
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Palestine to maintaining ethnic studies and advancing ethnic studies. And
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so we were there. talking with people, especially political leaders,
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about the importance of maintaining campuses as spaces of free
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speech and how we do that politically. So Angel Marie Taylor,
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who's our youth vanguard organizer for Black Lives Matter grassroots,
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but also a student at Cal State Channel Islands, we
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had a huge event, well, hugely impactful event around how
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to protect campus free speech and our right to protest.
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I mean, in our Congresswoman, I know we only have
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30 seconds here. We'll squeeze it in. Our Congresswoman, Sydney Komlager.
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Dove was there. The elected representative out of Pennsylvania, Chris Rabb,
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was there. There were a bunch of movers and shakers there.
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They're who, you know, prayerfully will become the senator out
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of Florida, which is a crazy thing to say.
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Angie Nixon was there, yes.
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Yeah. But also organizers like Rashad Robinson, right? Union members,
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union leaders like former UTLA president, now National Education Association
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executive board member, Cecily Meyer Cruz was there. And so
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it's really important to remember that it takes people in office,
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but also organizations a momentum on the ground to push
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for the kinds of things that we need as black people, especially.
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Yes, indeed. News, traffic, and sports, and then more, only
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right here. We do appreciate you, Dr. Melina Abdulla is here.
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Thanks to Paul Lee in the YouTube chat pointing out
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that the San Francisco security guards went on strike for
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one day on Friday, several hundred, many, that protect the
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big tech spaces, and now they're back at the negotiating table.
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They say if they don't make some progress, they will
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be back out on strike. So to your point, Dr. Abdullah,
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people think of California as sunshine and beaches, but it's
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also very much a union state.
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That's right. That's right. We're looking at a bunch of
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union states. potentially going on strike. USWW is the security workers.
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So the one-day strikes tend to be kind of the
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shot in the air, the warning shot, right? But we
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have to remember that they lead to longer strikes and
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they can impact, those strikes can impact all of us.
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Our strike, what's happening with the California Faculty Association, you know,
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the timing of it could be really disruptive. And some
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people will say, well, why would you be disruptive? Well,
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that's the point of a strike, right? Is that you
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don't get to have our labor and think things are
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just going to go smoothly when you're in the CSU,
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the managers, the presidents of some of these universities are
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making well into the six figures. I'm talking half a
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million dollars a year. I'm talking the chancellor of the
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system is making a million dollars a year. And you
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have folks who are fighting for 3%, 5% raises, and
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we all see what's happening with gas prices. And so
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labor power, union power is really, really important. And I believe,
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now I'm getting on my soapbox, but you know, I'm
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an organizer on the streets, but I'm also an organizer
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as workers. And I think that what unions represent when,
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and what we do when we, you know, pool resources,
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union dues are taken out of our checks every month.
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It gives us something to fight back against fascism with,
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that we're all connecting ourselves. I always talk with my
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students about this. You as a worker by yourself, have
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to kind of go in and negotiate and hope that
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00:23:51.990 --> 00:23:55.490
the boss will be reasonable. But when we're unified as
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00:23:55.549 --> 00:23:58.539
a union, we have power to all walk off a
342
00:23:58.579 --> 00:24:02.059
job and we have resources because we've pulled our dues
343
00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:05.000
so that we can say, you know, we're going to
344
00:24:05.059 --> 00:24:08.049
fight politically, we're going to fight on the streets, and
345
00:24:08.069 --> 00:24:11.849
we're going to fight with our feet on picket lines
346
00:24:11.950 --> 00:24:12.730
if necessary.
347
00:24:14.200 --> 00:24:20.559
Yeah, you mentioned Nolan Wells, and thanks to Fahima, who
348
00:24:20.619 --> 00:24:24.109
sent this story that I wasn't tracking. A man was
349
00:24:24.240 --> 00:24:31.750
found yesterday morning hanging from a tree in Maryland, Upper Marlboro, Maryland.
350
00:24:31.769 --> 00:24:37.390
He's a black man, of course. Found dead, hanging from
351
00:24:37.450 --> 00:24:41.240
a tree. Of course, investigators are saying he died by suicide.
352
00:24:41.740 --> 00:24:44.079
And that they didn't find any evidence of foul play,
353
00:24:44.099 --> 00:24:49.099
but that's becoming almost a stereotypical trope. They say it
354
00:24:49.220 --> 00:24:53.299
before any real investigation has taken place.
355
00:24:54.920 --> 00:24:58.099
They say it before any real investigation. And again, I
356
00:24:58.140 --> 00:25:02.900
want to emphasize the power of the people, right? Tasia Fortune,
357
00:25:02.960 --> 00:25:07.009
nobody ever believed that this black mother hung herself from
358
00:25:07.069 --> 00:25:10.009
a tree. And lo and behold, she did not hang
359
00:25:10.029 --> 00:25:13.670
herself from a tree, right? When we talk about Trey
360
00:25:13.730 --> 00:25:20.109
Reed on campus of Delta State University in Mississippi, they
361
00:25:20.190 --> 00:25:24.390
said he hung himself from a tree. But the autopsy
362
00:25:24.450 --> 00:25:27.339
shows he had blunt force trauma to the back of
363
00:25:27.400 --> 00:25:30.720
his head and his back. Did he do that to himself, too?
364
00:25:31.180 --> 00:25:34.819
Did he beat himself, too? Right. And so I think
365
00:25:34.880 --> 00:25:38.099
our intuition is absolutely right that black people don't hang
366
00:25:38.140 --> 00:25:43.559
themselves from trees. And that requires that we force these
367
00:25:43.660 --> 00:25:47.160
folks to back it up. So grateful to, again, Ayanna
368
00:25:47.240 --> 00:25:50.700
Pressley and those who are courageous enough to use their
369
00:25:51.220 --> 00:25:56.779
positions in Congress as political leaders to push for what
370
00:25:56.839 --> 00:26:00.359
we need, which is, you know, the truth to be exposed.
371
00:26:00.400 --> 00:26:06.619
There are still lynchings happening in this country in 2026.
372
00:26:06.920 --> 00:26:09.960
I mean, yeah, a lot of people do not believe
373
00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:14.440
the man, the apparently homeless man that they've arrested, is
374
00:26:14.460 --> 00:26:18.309
the one that murdered Tasia Fortune. Certainly would be interesting.
375
00:26:18.329 --> 00:26:22.430
I hope that there's a... I don't know why I'm
376
00:26:22.450 --> 00:26:25.130
saying this. I hope there's a thorough investigation, even though
377
00:26:25.150 --> 00:26:27.869
I'm not hopeful in a way that there will be one.
378
00:26:29.710 --> 00:26:34.279
Yeah, yeah. I mean, either way, and of course, you know,
379
00:26:34.789 --> 00:26:37.369
In our heads, we think of something else when we
380
00:26:37.390 --> 00:26:42.210
think of lynchings. But it does demonstrate the point that
381
00:26:42.269 --> 00:26:46.569
black people don't hang ourselves from trees. That is not
382
00:26:46.630 --> 00:26:50.269
a thing. That is not a thing. And so the
383
00:26:50.410 --> 00:26:56.279
rush to say that it's suicide is absolutely part of
384
00:26:56.339 --> 00:26:59.779
the issue. And if we think about the history of lynchings,
385
00:27:00.619 --> 00:27:04.319
all of these systems were broiled in the process of
386
00:27:04.420 --> 00:27:06.799
lynching and they still are. Yeah.
387
00:27:08.009 --> 00:27:12.369
It's well said. Um, congratulations going out to you. And
388
00:27:12.470 --> 00:27:15.589
I guess I'll pat myself on the back too. Congratulations
389
00:27:15.630 --> 00:27:17.869
going out to me. I sound like Snoop Dogg. I'd
390
00:27:17.910 --> 00:27:22.720
like to thank me. Um, but we did, uh, have
391
00:27:22.740 --> 00:27:26.930
a screening at the, um, at the Congressional Black Caucus
392
00:27:26.970 --> 00:27:31.789
at the Martin Luther King Public Library of the documentary,
393
00:27:31.809 --> 00:27:37.849
the Black Lives Matter story documentary that we first... It's
394
00:27:37.890 --> 00:27:40.930
a first cut. It still needs work, but it's a
395
00:27:40.970 --> 00:27:44.950
film that we premiered at the Pan-African Film Festival.
396
00:27:46.430 --> 00:27:50.079
Yeah, it's only our second time ever showing the film,
397
00:27:50.859 --> 00:27:53.440
and we showed it at Congressional Black Caucus. I thought
398
00:27:53.500 --> 00:27:57.990
it was... You and I, it was also our second
399
00:27:58.059 --> 00:28:04.380
time seeing it with an audience. And it is much,
400
00:28:04.980 --> 00:28:08.000
every single person who walked out of the Martin Luther
401
00:28:08.039 --> 00:28:12.099
King Library, which is a beautiful library, just steps away
402
00:28:12.140 --> 00:28:13.339
from the convention center.
403
00:28:13.359 --> 00:28:15.740
With the whole auditorium. I mean, it's not like we're
404
00:28:15.759 --> 00:28:18.640
sitting with the books. Like, they have a screening room, right?
405
00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:20.420
It's a theater, really.
406
00:28:21.079 --> 00:28:23.019
There are hundreds of people.
407
00:28:23.140 --> 00:28:24.640
Right.
408
00:28:24.839 --> 00:28:29.289
It's a beautiful state-of-the-art screening room, again, just outside of
409
00:28:29.349 --> 00:28:33.509
the Congressional Black Caucus. And, you know, we spent days
410
00:28:33.589 --> 00:28:38.509
talking with people about coming. And many of them came.
411
00:28:38.529 --> 00:28:43.140
And every single person who walked out of there, without
412
00:28:43.200 --> 00:28:46.539
exception that I spoke with, said, oh, now I get it.
413
00:28:47.190 --> 00:28:51.349
that they got, well, this is what happened. Black Lives
414
00:28:51.410 --> 00:28:55.380
Matter was born in Los Angeles as this righteous movement,
415
00:28:55.539 --> 00:28:59.200
and we moved righteously in the name of Trayvon Martin,
416
00:28:59.319 --> 00:29:01.140
in the name of Mike Brown, in the name of
417
00:29:01.279 --> 00:29:04.900
Andrew Joseph III, whose mother was on the panel, right?
418
00:29:06.200 --> 00:29:11.029
And then in 2020, the resources were stolen, and we
419
00:29:11.089 --> 00:29:14.490
named names who stole the money and what they've been
420
00:29:14.549 --> 00:29:18.069
doing with it. And have receipts, we have photos of
421
00:29:18.710 --> 00:29:21.849
what's happening. Lawyers spoke to the fact, but I think
422
00:29:21.869 --> 00:29:26.720
they were also really encouraged and inspired. And one of
423
00:29:26.799 --> 00:29:30.440
the librarians said, oh, now I can join the movement, right?
424
00:29:30.880 --> 00:29:34.390
Because we continue to move righteously as Black Lives Matter
425
00:29:34.410 --> 00:29:39.150
grassroots and continue to be powered by the people, despite
426
00:29:39.210 --> 00:29:42.410
what's happened to our resources. And so that we were
427
00:29:42.470 --> 00:29:45.640
able to encapsulate that. And Dominique, you wrote the film
428
00:29:46.500 --> 00:29:52.839
so beautifully and clearly and powerfully that people understood the story, right?
429
00:29:53.539 --> 00:29:56.579
Yeah, well, it was definitely a group effort. And yeah,
430
00:29:56.660 --> 00:30:01.509
it was lovely to see it. And it was Really
431
00:30:01.690 --> 00:30:06.230
wild to see how people were moved, you know, by it.
432
00:30:06.910 --> 00:30:11.700
Some people were crying and that, that to me means
433
00:30:11.779 --> 00:30:15.299
that folks really, you know, got it. If you're sitting
434
00:30:15.339 --> 00:30:19.000
there weeping, that means something moved you and it connected
435
00:30:19.079 --> 00:30:23.059
with you. And that's really, really important. So I'm looking
436
00:30:23.099 --> 00:30:25.180
forward to us, you know, being able to take it
437
00:30:25.220 --> 00:30:29.289
to festivals and releasing it more widely. People have been
438
00:30:29.369 --> 00:30:32.140
asking me where they could see it. Just hold on.
439
00:30:32.220 --> 00:30:35.440
We got you. But, you know, it's going to take
440
00:30:35.480 --> 00:30:38.869
a minute. And I want to thank or shout out
441
00:30:38.910 --> 00:30:43.950
the Coalition of Concerned Mothers. You know, justice mothers, mothers
442
00:30:44.029 --> 00:30:48.920
whose children were killed by police who came out as
443
00:30:48.960 --> 00:30:52.380
a group to see the screening and hang out with us.
444
00:30:52.640 --> 00:30:54.680
And it was really an honor to meet you. And
445
00:30:54.700 --> 00:30:58.140
I'm really glad that they followed me on Instagram. I
446
00:30:58.180 --> 00:31:01.910
follow them back. It's really... it was great to have
447
00:31:01.950 --> 00:31:02.759
them there as well.
448
00:31:04.019 --> 00:31:06.579
It was great to have them there and have them
449
00:31:07.140 --> 00:31:11.099
also understand that we are there to do work, to
450
00:31:11.299 --> 00:31:15.960
amplify their work. And again, gratitude to Deanna Joseph for
451
00:31:16.019 --> 00:31:18.920
sitting on the panel, for serving in the film. I
452
00:31:18.960 --> 00:31:21.259
had to kind of get up from my seat because
453
00:31:21.299 --> 00:31:25.000
it's the first time she's seen her husband on the
454
00:31:25.079 --> 00:31:30.059
screen like that. since his passing in May. And the
455
00:31:30.160 --> 00:31:34.369
two of them together have really just been the heartbeat
456
00:31:34.589 --> 00:31:38.730
of the movement and making sure that those of us
457
00:31:38.769 --> 00:31:42.109
who have boots on the ground remember that there's also
458
00:31:42.210 --> 00:31:48.250
spilled blood and real people, real mothers' children that were
459
00:31:48.609 --> 00:31:50.829
children that we're fighting for. Yeah.
460
00:31:51.349 --> 00:31:55.289
Absolutely. So that was a beautiful thing. And I'm looking
461
00:31:55.349 --> 00:32:00.099
forward to more. The film is called Stolen Lives Money Movement.
462
00:32:00.200 --> 00:32:03.079
And we'll talk more about that in the days and
463
00:32:03.119 --> 00:32:06.019
weeks ahead. Dr. Melina Abdullah is here. You're welcome in
464
00:32:06.059 --> 00:32:06.180
at 800-920-1580.
465
00:32:06.180 --> 00:32:06.240
800-920-1580.
466
00:32:06.240 --> 00:32:13.619
I'm Dominique DiPrima, and you know where you are. Dr.
467
00:32:13.640 --> 00:32:18.960
Melina Abdullah is here, and you can follow her at DocMellyMel.
468
00:32:19.000 --> 00:32:22.200
You can follow her organization at BLM Grassroots, the real
469
00:32:22.500 --> 00:32:27.150
Black Lives Matter, BLM Grassroots. BLMgrassroots.org. You can go to
470
00:32:29.369 --> 00:32:32.910
Black Lives Matter Los Angeles, right? You have to spell
471
00:32:32.970 --> 00:32:33.359
it all out.
472
00:32:33.369 --> 00:32:34.450
BLM Los Angeles.
473
00:32:34.470 --> 00:32:37.670
BLM Los Angeles. I always get confused about that one.
474
00:32:38.170 --> 00:32:41.720
BLM Los Angeles on, even though I follow y'all. on
475
00:32:42.019 --> 00:32:45.000
social media. One of the things that, yeah, I want
476
00:32:45.039 --> 00:32:48.480
to circle back a little bit here because that party
477
00:32:48.519 --> 00:32:50.819
with a purpose and, you know, there was really yummy
478
00:32:50.859 --> 00:32:53.539
food and stuff and you might, I might or might
479
00:32:53.619 --> 00:32:59.730
not have had a margarita, but the reason for it
480
00:32:59.849 --> 00:33:06.569
was about students' rights and the recent victory of you know,
481
00:33:07.009 --> 00:33:11.279
moving this bill forward here in Cali that would, if,
482
00:33:11.650 --> 00:33:16.019
you know, if signed by the governor would at least
483
00:33:16.079 --> 00:33:19.559
make a study of how the so-called time, place and
484
00:33:19.599 --> 00:33:25.240
manner restrictions for campus protests are disproportionately impacting black students. And,
485
00:33:25.579 --> 00:33:28.200
you know, if it wasn't for the case of Angel
486
00:33:28.220 --> 00:33:31.819
Marie Taylor, who you mentioned, who was targeted by her
487
00:33:31.900 --> 00:33:38.210
school and, you know, just put through hell, threatened with expulsion,
488
00:33:38.700 --> 00:33:42.339
her degree held. I wouldn't know about time, place, and manner,
489
00:33:42.359 --> 00:33:47.420
which is crazy because they're actually unconstitutional restrictions on students'
490
00:33:47.460 --> 00:33:54.690
right to protest that universities all over the nation have adopted. So,
491
00:33:55.369 --> 00:33:58.869
you know, California is moving a little bit, obviously, with
492
00:33:59.309 --> 00:34:04.349
the help of the Faculty Association and also California Faculty Association,
493
00:34:04.369 --> 00:34:09.599
but also Black Lives Matter grassroots, do you think this
494
00:34:09.699 --> 00:34:14.820
can become a national drive to restore free speech to campus?
495
00:34:15.059 --> 00:34:17.320
We would have had time, place, and manner when I
496
00:34:17.360 --> 00:34:19.280
was in school. I never would have graduated. They would
497
00:34:19.300 --> 00:34:20.679
have definitely taken my degree.
498
00:34:21.980 --> 00:34:25.570
Right, right. And so just to briefly define it, time, place,
499
00:34:25.610 --> 00:34:28.449
and manner is a set of restrictions that says you
500
00:34:28.469 --> 00:34:31.550
can only speak out, you can only protest in a
501
00:34:31.630 --> 00:34:38.079
certain time, certain place in certain manner. And it's required now. It's,
502
00:34:38.239 --> 00:34:41.159
it a couple of years ago became the law on
503
00:34:41.760 --> 00:34:47.340
all public California campuses. So we have what happened to
504
00:34:47.420 --> 00:34:50.639
angel Marie Taylor and continues to happen to her. I
505
00:34:50.679 --> 00:34:53.820
just found out she was dropped from her classes or
506
00:34:53.880 --> 00:34:59.480
disenrolled from her classes again. Right. Or, um, you know,
507
00:34:59.519 --> 00:35:02.030
so this was happening to her Her degree has now
508
00:35:02.090 --> 00:35:05.239
been held for two years, right? But what's happened to
509
00:35:05.260 --> 00:35:09.420
her is commonplace throughout California in these last few years
510
00:35:09.780 --> 00:35:13.139
since this has been the kind of rules of the campuses.
511
00:35:13.219 --> 00:35:15.940
And what it did is just kind of unify it
512
00:35:15.980 --> 00:35:20.550
so all campuses have this. But, you know, this has happened.
513
00:35:20.590 --> 00:35:23.670
We have a young brother who was going to school
514
00:35:23.730 --> 00:35:26.210
and he was handing out a flyer. And because he
515
00:35:26.269 --> 00:35:29.929
handed it out on the grass instead of the paved area,
516
00:35:30.699 --> 00:35:35.980
he was pulled in and threatened with disenrollment and had
517
00:35:36.019 --> 00:35:39.420
to have attorneys and everything come in and say, no,
518
00:35:41.260 --> 00:35:46.539
this is unconstitutional. So this is happening throughout California and
519
00:35:46.719 --> 00:35:52.179
increasingly all across the country. All those students at Columbia
520
00:35:52.300 --> 00:35:56.800
University that were rising up around Gaza, many of them
521
00:35:56.860 --> 00:36:00.119
have had their degrees held. One of them is a
522
00:36:00.730 --> 00:36:03.909
niece of mine, she's been told, okay, the deal is
523
00:36:03.949 --> 00:36:07.989
we won't send you to prison, but you know, you
524
00:36:08.030 --> 00:36:11.050
don't actually get your degree for two years, even though
525
00:36:12.110 --> 00:36:16.489
you had a 4.0, you technically graduated with a 4.0,
526
00:36:16.489 --> 00:36:18.880
but you don't get your degree for two years. You
527
00:36:18.909 --> 00:36:21.800
have to hold your life for two years. You have
528
00:36:21.840 --> 00:36:24.679
to work as a barista instead of what you've been
529
00:36:24.760 --> 00:36:27.619
trained and educated to do for two years. So all
530
00:36:27.659 --> 00:36:30.639
across the country, we see this happening. And so I'm
531
00:36:30.699 --> 00:36:35.110
really encouraged that labor is stepping up and saying, no,
532
00:36:35.139 --> 00:36:37.610
this is a free speech issue. When you say, what
533
00:36:37.630 --> 00:36:40.369
would have happened to you if this had been the rule?
534
00:36:40.869 --> 00:36:43.690
I want to think about, as we talk about voting rights,
535
00:36:44.090 --> 00:36:47.579
had students not engaged in Freedom Summer and done the
536
00:36:47.619 --> 00:36:50.650
Freedom Rides, Right. If time, place and manner had been
537
00:36:50.670 --> 00:36:53.510
the rule, then we wouldn't have the voting rights. We
538
00:36:53.550 --> 00:36:59.389
have desegregation with students on front lines. When we talk
539
00:36:59.409 --> 00:37:04.309
about the development of ethnic studies and black studies, that
540
00:37:04.349 --> 00:37:08.110
was all student protests, the fall of apartheid. And so
541
00:37:08.280 --> 00:37:12.659
it's hugely important that campus free speech rights are protected
542
00:37:13.119 --> 00:37:17.500
because these become campuses become the place where we think.
543
00:37:18.079 --> 00:37:22.780
intellectually about movement development and often become the nucleus of
544
00:37:22.860 --> 00:37:26.659
movement development. And so it's hugely important that we all
545
00:37:26.719 --> 00:37:29.900
invest ourselves. And we're talking about students, but we see
546
00:37:29.940 --> 00:37:34.679
that also befalling the harms, also befalling faculty. I'm thinking
547
00:37:34.820 --> 00:37:40.369
Tiffany Willoughby-Harrard at UC Irvine, who is still suffering repercussions,
548
00:37:40.829 --> 00:37:44.449
as well as community members who are often arrested on campuses.
549
00:37:44.869 --> 00:37:49.030
And so We're pushing for this, for the protection of
550
00:37:49.110 --> 00:37:53.610
campus free speech rights. And then, of course, that spills
551
00:37:53.719 --> 00:37:56.539
out to the larger world that we all have to
552
00:37:56.579 --> 00:37:59.219
have the right to free speech and the right to protest,
553
00:37:59.599 --> 00:38:01.480
especially in the face of fascism.
554
00:38:02.260 --> 00:38:05.800
Yeah, I mean, just the idea that the person you're
555
00:38:06.750 --> 00:38:08.909
you know, the, the place that's supposed to be educating
556
00:38:08.949 --> 00:38:11.949
you gets to decide or that anybody gets to decide
557
00:38:12.429 --> 00:38:16.809
the time when you protest, the way that you protest and,
558
00:38:16.969 --> 00:38:21.150
you know, the, the place that you protest is the
559
00:38:21.309 --> 00:38:25.360
opposite of a protest. That's, that goes, that's the definition
560
00:38:25.380 --> 00:38:27.820
of a protest is you're, like you said, you're disrupting,
561
00:38:28.360 --> 00:38:32.280
you're calling attention to something, you're, um, you know, making,
562
00:38:32.500 --> 00:38:35.730
forcing people to deal with something and, And so for
563
00:38:35.809 --> 00:38:41.690
universities to say that they get to dictate where, how,
564
00:38:42.389 --> 00:38:48.110
and when you protest, there's no way that's constitutional. And
565
00:38:48.150 --> 00:38:52.440
so I'm glad that the California Faculty Association is standing
566
00:38:52.480 --> 00:38:55.300
behind the students. I was really moved to hear how
567
00:38:55.380 --> 00:38:59.099
the CFA, how you guys really stood with Angel Marie
568
00:38:59.139 --> 00:39:05.320
and other students who were being actually harmed just for protesting.
569
00:39:06.940 --> 00:39:09.300
Time flies when you're on the radio. We've got a
570
00:39:09.360 --> 00:39:11.739
minute here. What do you want to leave us with
571
00:39:11.760 --> 00:39:13.360
this morning, Dr. Malina Abdullah?
572
00:39:14.889 --> 00:39:18.730
I think that being at CBC has reminded me of
573
00:39:18.809 --> 00:39:22.530
something we already know, which is that we all are
574
00:39:22.570 --> 00:39:27.489
responsible for shifting the world, that we can't just rely
575
00:39:27.610 --> 00:39:32.099
on elected officials, especially mainstream elected officials. I'm glad it
576
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looked beautiful to watch people in their fancy outfits, but
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that should not be the point, right? The point is
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making sure black people have power, making sure that we
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build a free world that's fit for our children. I
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was so encouraged to be there with so many young people,
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Angel Marie, Jaden, Shiraz, all of these youth Vanguard members
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who were there. It was really important that we understand
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that we have to take power into our own hands.
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And I'll be talking about Black Power tonight on my
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Freedom Campus class. People are welcome to tune in. or
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DM me at DocMellyMel about Freedom Campus as we talk
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about Black Power, Kwame Ture's Black Power. We're still reading that,
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and I think it's really appropriate in this moment, and
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that we exercise Black Power by being on front lines
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and joining organizations like Black Lives Matter Los Angeles and
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Black Lives Matter grassroots. We'll be protesting on Wednesday, as
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we do every Wednesday, and we'll be at Police commission
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tomorrow challenging them, challenging LAPD. Thank you so much, Dominique,
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for having us.
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Thank you, Dr. Malina Abdullah. And I just realized it's
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Kwame Nkrumah's birthday. Happy birthday. Happy heavenly birthday to Kwame Nkrumah. Thanks, Doc. News, traffic,
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and sports. Then time for Mindful Monday. KBLA Talk 1580.
