The Breakfast Club - INTERVIEW: Tiffany Cross, Angela Rye & Andrew Gillum On Truth Liberation, Native Land Podcast + More

Episode Date: January 11, 2024

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Had enough of this country? Ever dreamt about starting your own? I planted the flag. This is mine. I own this. It's surprisingly easy. 55 gallons of water, 500 pounds of concrete. Or maybe not. No country willingly gives up their territory. Oh my God.

What is that? Bullets. Listen to Escape from Zakistan. We need help! That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey guys, I'm Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast

Post Run High is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. As a kid, I really do remember having these dreams and visions, but you just don't know what is going to come for you. Alicia shares her wisdom on growth, gratitude, and the power of love. I forgive myself. It's okay.

Have grace with yourself. You're trying your best. And you're going to figure out the rhythm of this thing. Alicia Keys, like you've never heard her before. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Lauren Smith, Laura Layton, and Daphne Zuniga. On July 8th, 1992, apartment buildings with pools were never quite the same as Melrose Place was introduced to the world. We are going to be reliving every hookup, every scandal, and every single wig removal together. So listen to Still the Place on the iHeartRadio app,

Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Hey y'all. Niminy here. I'm the host of a brand new history podcast for kids and families called Historical Records. Executive produced by Questlove, The Story Pirates, and John Glickman, Historical Records brings history to life through hip-hop.

Flash, slam, another one gone. Bash, bam, another one gone. Historical Records brings history to life through hip-hop. Each episode is about a different inspiring figure from history. Like this one about Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old girl in Alabama who refused to give up her seat on the city bus nine whole months before Rosa Parks did the same thing. Check it. And it began with me. Did you know, did you know?

I wouldn't give up my seat. Nine months before Rosa, it was called a four-month. Get the kids in your life excited about history by tuning in to Historical Records. Because in order to make history, you have to make some noise. Listen to Historical Records on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Wake that ass up. In the morning.

The Breakfast Club. Morning, everybody. It's DJ Envy Charlemagne, the guy. We are The Breakfast Club, and we got some special guests in the building. Yes, indeed. We have Angela Rye. All right. Hello.

Tiffany Cross. Hey. And Andrew Gillum. Welcome. What's up, everybody? Happy New Year. How y'all feeling? The internet calls them Destiny Fulfilled.

Destiny Fulfilled. No, we're Death Row. Did you hear that? No. Death Row. They were like, it's giving Death Row. I was like, I appreciate that. Because of their pictures for uh what they're here to talk about their new podcast native land native land podcast well how did you three get together and decide to do this

podcast long before the podcast actually we've all known each other angela and i've known angela almost my whole adult life i think we met when i was like 23 24 right when we both moved to dc angela and andrew already knew each other and andrew and i met through the years cbc mostly yeah exactly but you were also like in dc a lot um doing things and so it was really organic the way our friendship came together and angela had this vision um of doing the podcast and reached out to both of us and when angela calls when my sister calls i always say yes so what was your vision? Yeah, everybody has

a different perspective of how they met. How did y'all meet, Angela? Me and Angela? Yeah, I'm saying, Angela's story is probably different. I don't remember

how I met Tiff. I can say that there are the two of my oldest and longest friends in D.C. When I moved to D.C., the two people that I associate with D.C. have Ohio connections.

And that's Tiffany Cross and Stephanie Brown James. So I don't remember. With Andrew, I think the funny story is his best friend is my ex-boyfriend. So, but somehow- Several times removed. But somehow, but somehow I kept him and let the other one go.

That's not how it's supposed to be. That's how they break up with everybody. That has to be a little uncomfortable. But I gained family. Him and RJ, his lovely bride, and his kids now are like my niece and nephews. What about you, AJ? I met, well, of course, I heard about Angela through my best friend. Shout out to Chris.

Daddy, rest in peace. And Angela was a person, I mean, honestly, if you asked me then if we would ever be working together, it would have been like a hard stop. No, because both A-type, she really didn't ask what you wanted to, you should have directed everything. Chris needed to be directed. But so that worked for them, but I didn't feel like I needed that very much. Did it work? I don't think that worked. But we had an instant, I mean, it was instant mad love and respect for this sister who was, I mean, leveling.

Your biggest beast in the room. It didn't matter. And to see Angela change the culture for young professionals in D.C. during her time there, her legacy lives on with other young. They ain't as live, but they lives on through those who are continuing her work. And to come to this podcast, I think what is particularly special is not just the longstanding relationship that we have with each other. It is that very few people want to enter your atmosphere when they think you are radioactive. Maybe you're radioactive cooling.

Maybe you've gotten through, but it is very hard to find the first person, the first entity, the first whatever to enter that fray. And what makes Angela's invitation, I think, to me, and I imagine to if you may feel in some ways the same, is that all the hardships had somehow reached alchemy that you could turn what was what you thought was bad, horrific, that you still mourning and grieving and triggered by. You have to be thankful for it all. It got us to this point where I think we can affect lives by helping to change and expand people's perspective about the power they have, how they use it to achieve a meaningful political end, which for me ultimately is our liberation, our true freedom where we get to move how we want to move not how it's been determined we should do in order to reach quote-unquote levels of success with that said who determines if you're radioactive though because i think a lot of times we might care more than other people do like it might just be you know society at large i think social media can be harsh um fuck them i agree i hate that this morning no but she's right because the social media creates the noise yes and sometimes it can

penetrate lazy journalism and drive how newsrooms treat you absolutely and how they speak so and sometimes it like they say be your own people know, sometimes people who you thought were your friend were not at that time in the time of fire. I would say when my show got canceled unexpectedly, Charlamagne, you remember that time period? Of course. We said it was Charlamagne's fault. It was not. It was not Charlamagne's fault at all, for the record. But you could not reach me.

Like you literally had to go through angela to get to me um like angela get on a plane come to atlanta and we were like together um non-stop and you know you notice who's slow to return your phone calls because they're playing the power game and you know would rather align with like feckless leaders who uphold white supremacy instead of people who never came to you in crisis but were always with you in sisterhood and so i think you have three people here who um have been consistent in that way and it takes a special person like andrew said to stand with you in the fire but andrew i want andrew to say the advice he gave because i can be a petty bitch you know and it's like i don't fuck with that person anymore. And Andrew has a really great point that he makes about expecting, like acceptance and expecting.

And it's like you are expecting, I'm going to mess it up, but you are expecting a hyena to act like a lion when they've always been a hyena. So you're just setting yourself up for disappointment. No, I mean, I, so the point about, I think, tried through the fire, you know, the phoenix keeps coming to mind of going through something and then trying to emerge. I think to your earlier question of who decides when you're radioactive, you know, that phoenix rising is much more emblematic and representative of what the everyday lived experiences are of the people whose voices really do matter. They are the majority they're silent in so many ways but this whole flashpoint you know highlight real society we've become and um when inappropriately applied canceling of folks because not of a i mean anything real legitimate is because i disagree with your position.

Yeah. And we have founders who represented people who were on the Boston Tea Party, you know, insurrection against the U.S. government in a real way who were represented by what would become a president of the United States. Right. So you defended those people. And there's something wrong with where we are. Tiffany, I'm so sorry I got off track. But the point I was trying to make was going through these kinds of things, personally, who got their jobs are holding those jobs and those advances because of doors you open, because you refuse to do business with people who did not hire, employ, respect the diversity of our community, whose dollars we're actually spending. And I thought because of my presence for them, forget what it meant to lead and represent as a mayor and run for governor and earn those votes and so on and so forth. But the people who I kept in a commission couldn't.

They were aloof, disappeared, vamoose. You couldn't have thought they were your real friends, though. No, no. I absolutely thought that these were people who were in these were people who I could go into a bunker with and I think all of us would have if you was if you pull back the layers I'm not sure how how wide you go with all your circle and whether you call everybody a friend but these are people I put on a friend list after scrutiny yeah and expect that they're going to be there for me. Not because I read something in the newspaper and I'm just kind of finding his heart. No, it's because the person I know wouldn't do what you're suggesting.

Praise God. And I'm standing with him in the gap until somebody proves me otherwise, proves me different. And even after that, I have grace. Right. When none of that shows up, um, lonely, angry,

mad, and all that stuff, you know, is for the birds. I'm just so thankful. God revealed for me, people in my life who would say and hold me and say, you know,

you were expecting those folks to show up as you would. And I understand how that happens. But their reaction was simply them doing what they knew how to do. Yeah. It was their default. They didn't know to perform differently. They didn't know to organize our friends to hold a press conference and call for this and that.

What they did was they retreated their safety and security. Right. Because if they can take this dude down, then what about me? And that's the intention of it. That is the intention of it. Don't be too bold. Don't be too real. Don't speak too honest of truth.

We have to present, like, if these negruses get too out of hand, we are going to castrate you on some level. I think that happens all the time. Kill you dead. Right. It is important to show, like, hey, I'm still here. I ain't never going nowhere. We are all still here. that happens all the time. You did. Right. It is important to show, like, hey, I'm still here. I ain't never gone nowhere.

We are all still here. We're all still standing. And even if, like, the faces look different, right, but it still represents the same thing. So it is, I would say, Andrew, and for all of us

who have ever found ourselves in the public eye in a negative way, to the mass consumers out there, don't do the conservative white man's bidding for him stop spreading bullshit on the internet stop spreading salacious things on the internet to get likes stop spreading a lot like they expect you to do that they're like we gonna spoon feed this to you because we know that you will be the person to carry this to the community

whether it be right-wing talking points or an effort to take out one of your leaders. But what you said earlier is lazy journalism and the fact that people don't want to actually read. They chase headlines and clicks. And I was going to ask, does it bother you that it's a lot of times in both your situations, in Angela Rye as well, where it's the people that look like you that's attacking you more? It is a problem. That is a problem. Part of it is I think social media, which just erodes intellect in a lot of ways.

Read a paper and stop scrolling through Instagram looking at nonsense. But also even as it impacts lazy journalism, look, the oppressor does not have to look like them. Sometimes the oppressor looks like you. Sometimes they select, I'm going to pick you the overseer because I know you are a weak one who can be bought and sold. And I know I can send you out to the path

to keep all the other Negroes and Negroesses in check. And you have to look at yourself like, what side, if history steps back and judge me, what side am I on? And look, if you look at history, there's always been that. Like Martin Luther king was not celebrated his entire life he was considered a troublemaker like we don't want you around here massive feed us good you know we happy so there's always been those people don't be that person i want to say this and it's coming from a place of love you know i gotta love you andrew but i know

people are watching this and they're going to say well well, Andrew, don't put that on us. Like, you put yourself in a situation. What would you say to those people? Well, I'm not sure. There's been lots of situations for me since 2018. What situation are you talking about, sir? But if we, if

Miami were the example, I would understand how someone could be hurt. Now, you can't be more hurt than me. Sure, absolutely. Right? You can't be more angry, more disappointed, more let down, more whatever than me.

You don't need to evoke my wife or my children as a way to help me get to that emotion. Yeah. It's not an appendage. It runs through my blood what I would say if I were telling the truth about the situation I would compare it to you deciding that you want to go out

to a club for whatever reason for giving your motivation but the main motivation was you wanted to have a good time you wanted to be seen enjoy yourself for whatever opportunity you could. And when you were there, someone slipped you a drink of Quaalude, and everything from the point of you having had that drink to you waking up the next day is a mystery to you. If we were of different genders, we might talk about this

even more differently. But I made a choice to go somewhere at five o'clock in the afternoon with the expectation of leaving in 30 minutes. And after my drink, I don't have a memory for six hours. And every picture, every video, everything we've collected since that was taken of me shows me for the duration of that time, lifeless looking or with no ability to give consent approval or anything else and so put myself in that situation yes we all make choices to i chose this gas station to get gas and i know they sometimes shoot it up um i chose this highway express over this one thinking it would get me there quicker so yes we all make choices but if you get in an accident along the way, I'm not going to say that you want to go to the club, something happened to you, whatever, but it was your fault because you put yourself in the situation.

What you put yourself in the situation to do was to enjoy yourself, to have a good time to dance. And what resulted from that was something that looked very, very different. And I put it that way, Charlemagne, because I think we all have to start to consider the people living, making mistakes, thriving as relatable to our circumstances. You made a choice to go to a club

and I don't blame you for that. And if something happens at that club to our circumstances, you made a choice to go to a club. And I don't blame you for that. And if something happens at that club that did not have your permission, your awareness, your co-creation, no, I'm not going to berate you for having made the decision to go dancing. Between that and your situation with the FBI, did you realize how targeted you were? I had a sense of it, but I knew my actions. I just want to say, we are here to promote this podcast.

This is why it's a great podcast. You got to take all the stuff from the damn podcast. I'm literally ready to leap across this chair at you. And on a positive note. Because the first three episodes of the podcast are all of y'all breaking down y'all. We're talking about our stories. But I want to say this too.

We came in hot on black people being the overseer. But there are a lot of black people and people who don't look like us who are celebrating this, the union, this partnership, this podcast. Who can't wait to hear from you again. Who can't wait to hear from you again, who can't wait to hear from you again. And so I don't want to come in like this isn't going to be something where we're commiserating about the negativity in our experience. We are so honored to have a platform to speak truth to power, to talk about our political circumstances, to talk about what is happening with a crumbling democracy. The fact that Republicans are taking this head on and are are in an all-out war and Democrats are saying the things but not necessarily delivering the things on policy we are eager to talk about these things in our

stories and the intersection of all those things because it's not by accident speaking of targets that folks up here were targeted tried to be silenced but you cannot silence us to to Tiffany's point. We are still here, and we will deliver for our folks. Don't step on our rollout, okay? Yeah, I mean, you are here. Y'all gonna edit some of this out. But the reason I mention that is because a lot of times...

Is your country falling apart? Feeling tired? Depressed? A little bit revolutionary? Consider this. Start your own country. I planted the flag. I just kind of looked out of like, this is mine. I own this. Start your own country. I planted the flag. I just kind of looked out of like, this is mine. I own this. It's surprisingly easy.

There are 55 gallons of water for 500 pounds of concrete. Everybody's doing it. I am King Ernest Emmanuel. I am the Queen of Laudonia. I'm Jackson I, King of Capraburg. I am the Supreme Leader of the Grand Republic of Mentonia. Be part of a great colonial tradition. Why can't I trade my own country?

My forefathers did that themselves. What could go wrong? No country willingly gives up their territory. I was making a rocket with a black powder, you know, with explosive warhead. Oh my God. What is that? Bullets. Bullets.

We need help! We need help! We still have the off-road portion to go. Listen to Escape from Zakistan. And we're losing daylight fast. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey guys, I'm Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show,

where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. You know that rush of endorphins you feel after a great workout? third journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. You know that rush of endorphins you feel after a great workout? Well, that's when the real magic happens. So if you love hearing real, inspiring stories from the people you know, follow,

and admire, join me every week for Post Run High. It's where we take the conversation beyond the run and get into the heart of it all. It's lighthearted, pretty crazy, and very fun. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So y'all, this is Questlove, and I'm here to tell you about a new podcast I've been working on with the Story Pirates and John Glickman called Historical Records. It's a family-friendly podcast. Yeah, you heard that right.

A podcast for all ages. One you can listen to and enjoy with your kids starting on September 27th. I'm going to toss it over to the host of Historical Records, Nimany, to tell you all about it. Make sure you check it out. Hey, y'all. Nimany here. I'm the host of a brand new history podcast for kids and families called Historical Records. Historical Records brings

history to life through hip hop. Each episode is about a different, inspiring figure from history. Like this one about Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old girl in Alabama who refused to give up her seat on the city bus nine whole months before Rosa Parks did the same thing. Check it. And it began with me. Did you know, did you know? I wouldn't give up my seat. Nine months before Rosa, it was called a moment. Get the kids in your life excited about history by tuning in to Historical Records. Because in order to make history, you have to make some noise. Listen to Historical Records on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey there,

my little creeps. It's your favorite ghost host, Teresa. And guess what? Haunting is back, dropping just in time for spooky season. Now I know you've probably been wandering the mortal plane, wondering when I'd be back to fill your ears with deliciously unsettling stories.

Well, wonder no more, because we've got a ghoulishly good lineup ready for you. Let's just say things get a bit extra. We're talking spirits, demons, and the kind of supernatural chaos that'll make your spooky season complete. You know how much I love this time of year. It's the one time I'm actually on trend. So grab your pumpkin spice, dust off that Ouija board, just don't call me unless it's the one time I'm actually on trend. So grab your pumpkin spice, dust off that Ouija board, just don't call me unless it's urgent, and tune in for new episodes every week.

Remember, the veils are thin, the stories are spooky, and your favorite ghost host is back and badder than ever. Listen to Haunting on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On Thanksgiving Day, 1999, a five-year-old boy floated alone in the ocean. He had lost his mother trying to reach Florida from Cuba. He looked like a little angel. I mean, he looked so fresh. And his name, Elian Gonzalez, will make headlines everywhere. Elian Gonzalez. Elian. Elian. Elian. Elian. Elian. Elian Gonzalez. At the heart of the story is a young boy and the question of who he belongs with. His father in Cuba. Mr. Gonzalez wanted to

go home and he wanted to take his son with him. Or his relatives in Miami. Imagine that your mother died trying to get you to freedom. At the heart of it all is still this painful family separation. Something that as a Cuban, I know all too well. Listen to Chess Peace, the Elian Gonzalez story, as part of the My Cultura podcast network available on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Like a lot of times, like you said, a lot of people wouldn't want to stand next to maybe

Andrew or wouldn't stand next to Tiffany. But it's like you guys come together and people see something outside of that. Right. And I love that because I think we need to do that more. Sometimes I think we need to get to the truth and not just what a headline says and not just what lazy journalism that's why I go back to it because sometimes that lazy journalism affects your life and people and people don't understand that that yeah it might be a it might be a joke it might be funny to some it might be ha ha ha ha ha but at the end of the day people believe it and it affects you know what you might do next and affects your lifestyle and how you take care of your kids and how take you can't take

Care your family. That's not funny. It takes out how you you know, take care of your family That's not funny people think it's funny, but it really affects everything that you're doing. But now we can go out of that So it's funny when we joke amongst each other though Yeah See Charlamagne thinks everything's just and Angela knows that so that's how he processes his pain I think the best way to discuss trauma is through the lens of humor but if you said something earlier that I think is a big problem when you talk about lazy journalism, why do people take social media so serious?

Like when you see situations that happen with Bishop T.D. Jakes, or I saw Oprah Winfrey this week responding to things that people said on TikTok. I'm like, why? Since when did we start giving that, you know, credibility? Yeah. I mean, again, it is ill-equipped people running newsrooms. I mean, you see this time and again where, you know, when you look at when you break down the data of who is actually on social media, it is less than 10 percent of society. When you look at who actually uses social media, who's actually the actively active engagers, it's less than 5% of society. So this very small group of people gets a very large megaphone and you can be talentless,

unintellectual, have zero intellectual curiosity about anything, but you can have a viral moment and be considered somebody to listen to. But on the flip side of that, because I do want to say, because the mainstream media has so ignored the rising majority of this country and created these thought processes about who black people are and what we do, social media has also democratized who has a voice in this space. And so for that, I applaud it because as you continually ignore us,

we will build and find our own spaces. That can have a damaging impact on democracy. We saw that in 2016, where if the only time you were outraged about Sandra Bland, you know, being dying in police custody, or you were outraged about Trayvon Martin getting shot, the only time you saw that outrage was in an internet meme, then yes, I am likely to go get my information from there while the rest of the media summarily dismisses me. When Russia looked

at that and they said, oh, I know how we can sow discord in this country it took them 20 seconds to say oh they treat black people fucked up so let that be our entree into their election process and that's where we will drive a divide what the white run news media saw was wait Trump just won guys we didn't pay enough attention to the racist white people let's make them the center of our story. After George Floyd, I think we all understood that is a brief moment in time. That is a marketing campaign. That is a talking point. That is not an active commitment to liberation and equality. And you see it time and again. We see voices getting silenced across mainstream media now. Mehdi Hassan, amazing journalist, just had his voice canceled because he dared to acknowledge the humanity of the Palestinian people. And he had his voice silenced.

Same leaders. When you have somebody, when we look at news all the time, we all watch news all the time. And you look at people, I already know the fact that you have a platform at this time. I'm questioning how real are you? I got to give a shout out to Joy Reid, who holds the line every day. The more that you watch and support, the more unfuckwittable we are we don't always have that um category and i want to say envy i hear you i gotta say the community stood with me the community saw past every kind of ridiculous talking i never felt alone i never felt abandoned not only because of my friends uh

sitting here with me but people i never met before gave a big fuck you to a corporation that was intending to take me down it did not work the community immediately saw they were sophisticated enough to say nah like we know her and we know she you know keeps it a hundred percent straight no chaser on her show we rock with her and it did not work but this big huge corporation still gets to drive so much uh part of the conversation and i think you're going to see that with the decentralization of media voices like ours um coming filling in the gap it's like keep ignoring us and you let me just say real quick the average cable news viewer is between 62 and 65 years old white men that is who they are catering to the news centers

not just white people conservative white people so when they talk about oh how big the iowa caucus is how big the new hampshire caucus is this is a population that is 93 and 94 percent white respectively right like why have we centered this as the most important thing when they talk about voters from the heartland voters from the heartland like why you got to live in east bumblefuck alabama to be a voter from the heartland or real america like to me real america go to the slots in atlanta georgia after a basketball game let out those two are real voters go to a wing stop in east cleveland those two are real voters go to a cracker barrel in birmingham alab after church let out. Those two are real voters. I dare say those are the descendants of the architect of this country.

But yet, when you look at social media, or I'm sorry, when you look at newsrooms and news segments, you will see an audience, a panel of four white folks, one obligatory black person. No dis to Reverend Al, but so often somebody thinks, well, we got Reverend Al. That's the black perspective right there. The devil is a lie. That is not true. And it's definitely not true on Native Land Power. There are three black voices who will be talking about our issues every week.

Where did you get the name Native Land from, Angela? Angela already gave me the look like, motherfucker, steer this back to the podcast. Yeah, we can go in. And I think the main thing for us to know is this is radio. We want people to tune into the podcast. We want them to do that every week. It's dropping every single Thursday. Native Lamb Pod. The name.

Yeah. I'm going to tell you right now. You're going to have a nerve. He just cut you off like that? Like, I've been talking for 15 minutes. Hush, boy. Hush, boy. But no, it was, there's a stanza in James Weldon Johnson's, lift every voice and sing,

true to our God, true to our native land. And I think that the conundrum that many of us find ourselves in is we know that this isn't our original birthplace. This isn't our origin story, so to speak. It is the continent. But a lot of us have never been there. We have been fortunate to go,

but a lot of us haven't been there. But this has become our native land. This has become our home base because our folks built this I say we built this joint for free and then moreover because of the lack of safety that Tiff has referenced and the Andrews reference we wanted a home base for our folks to come to every single week and so when we say native land probably also say welcome home y'all that was an ask with the podcast are you doing a podcast live every week or is it going to be pre-taped so you're going to be talking about

what's going on in the world especially this year because it's election year absolutely and just really quickly um the other point um that angela referenced um when coming up with this name is an homage to the indigenous community yes here absolutely we recognize that this land was stolen um and taken. America wasn't founded on peace and prosperity as the fairy tale would have you believe. It was taken with blood and fury from our indigenous brothers and sisters. So we acknowledge them and pay homage to them as well. Are you going to have guests as well?

No. No guests. This is a talk-based show. As you can see, we can definitely hold our own. The hour will go by very, very fast. What if candidates want to come on the show? I think right now we're a no. I think that we may end up doing some specials, but clearly we got a lot to get off our chest. And a lot to get off our chest, not just politically, because I think we have to draw the distinction between what you get with all the other corporate based, you know, consumer-based news. You heard us talk about our personal stories,

which I think weave back into a larger societal set of questions that we have to reckon with. I want to co-sign that the support that I got from just regular black folks I didn't even know, couldn't call their names, was incredible. So social media also gives us the impression that we're the majority tear you down when, you know, overwhelmingly black folks in lots of times without even knowing a detailed left or right knows that something is amiss here. And they're saying you're $5, you know, put some peppermints in your jacket pocket

when you pat you know what they would do what they can to be there for you and so it's important that we start to trace some of what has political implications back to right our practices in society if we're tearing each other down know that that's because we are under a white hegemonic system that values you performing and showing up in society this way every day, regardless of what you do in the back frame, what everybody don't know. But this is how you're supposed to show up. And when you step out of that blueprint, then something is amiss. Corporate America depends, relies on reliability, predictability. They need to know what you're going to do. That's where their profit lies. And so we are a society that in large part is the matrix.

We perform how large interests expect us to, and they spend billions, trillions making that the outcome. I like where Andrew was going with that too, and Tiff has brought this up as well, that we, um, we believe that politics are everywhere. Like we're impacted by them. We are touched by them, whether folks want to touch it or not. And so we absolutely plan on making those connections for folks on the pot. What would you say to people who will probably look at y'all and say, well, this is just going to be another democratic echo chamber. I don't know why i mean i vote democrat most of the time um but i am not a

talking head for the party at all i think they make horrific um decisions i think they summarily dismiss our community the same way um a lot of the cable news industry does i think they uh fail us at every point i think this is part of um another narrative that some black folks have taken in and believed. And that is and so a lot of white folks believe it, that black people are so loyal to the Democratic Party. That is not true. Black folks are loyal to ourselves and the world benefits from it. Society benefits from from what we do. I understand the person's perspective who says, you know, you want me to participate in this system that has incarcerated my brother, poisoned my mother, keeps my kids in a dilapidated school.

And you're telling me by my participation in this system, I'm going to somehow fix it. When for decades, my life has not changed. I understand that perspective. When we vote, we are not American enthusiasts trying to uphold the white man's democracy. We are voting in favor of harm reduction. That has nothing to do with loyalty to a party. We are loyal to our people. And by our people, I mean us as black folks, but also the rising majority of this country, the Asian American Pacific Islander community, the indigenous community, the Latino community, because this country hasn't been very polite or kind to any of those communities. And so we're trying to be here to advance a cause for the greater good not for any political party would any of y'all

ever vote for a conservative like that that wasn't a trump conservative conservative policies have been overwhelmingly harmful to black folks so i would i don't know i don't necessarily get so caught up um entitled democratic ones too that's what I was about to say. Like they're a conservative Democrat. So I think anybody who falls under the conservative umbrella, those policies are contrary to my survival and to the health of my community. So I don't think so. I think, and you know, we talked about lazy journalism earlier, and this is no insult to you, my dear brother, but I think that what we often do is say we want to break out of boxes

and then we try to break out of boxes and then we try to find a way to put people right back in those boxes. I think here on the show, what we're going to really try to do is break out of those constraints and really talk about what it looks like to have a black agenda. Thank God for Alicia Garza working on the Black Census Project that now gives us permission to imagine what a world could look like that we could live in and thrive in. I think the other thing that's really important is I don't really want to construct another Republican Frankenstein. They tried that experiment and failed. At least it failed us. That's Donald Trump. Right. Like, I don't want to build the ideal conservative for me. I don't I don't know who that is. I think I'm an ideal. No politician. But that's what I'm saying. Two tips point about harm reduction.

So for me, I'm progressive. I don't see myself in the White House. I don't see myself for the most part in Congress. There are several congressional black caucus members who I think don't get the attention and the respect they deserve because they represent my best interests. I wish some of them would run for higher office. And some of them haven't and couldn't get there. I appreciate the point around best interest, because the truth is, is that most of these things benefit everybody. I mean, as one of Heather, the most when we say people are out there advocating and legislating on our behalf, it's largely to close a gap. Yeah, that should never have existed in the first place, that exists in public policy society,

and it plays out every single day again on this hamster wheel, that we're bridging that. But the benefit of that idea, that policy, you can't tell me getting that extra however many hundreds of dollars per child during COVID for childcare didn't mean something to white folks, black folks, brown folks folks and everything in between. The problem is, is that we've got folks who are putting lots of money into making sure that all we know are our differences. Yeah. Right. You can't tell me my state is uber Republican when we had a race in 18 that came down to point four percent difference.

Now, I am nowhere near a conservative title. Joe Biden is much more than that than I am. And yet had a five or six point difference in the last Democratic nominee. You know, love them. But a 20 point gap. And so did Val Demings. Right. So what the hell are white people prepared to hear from us? And in what way do they need to hear it? That doesn't betray our betray our agenda it furthers it but allows them to see themselves in the process because i think that's what we had to do to close that divide and unfortunately black voters are the most sophisticated voters that exist period and we're going to exclamation mark that point on the program well well let's that. Well, let's use Obama as an example. We thought he spoke well.

We thought that he was well-groomed and well-prepared, and everybody was in love with Michelle Obama. But we didn't. That sounded very white, Dwayne. We didn't be. Well-spoken and well-groomed. I'm putting it in a frame that I think most people recognize are societal attributes when you're considering somebody to be president of the United States.

He couldn't be no black brother, brown brother like me or Warnock from the South. That's why I voted for him. I voted for him because he seemed down. I wasn't sophisticated as a voter then. But I will tell you, M.U., you, our age range, we carried him when our grandparents and parents didn't believe. They were skeptical. Now, when black folks saw that white folks in Iowa and New Hampshire were willing to go there for him, then it changed our perception of what was possible. But black folks, unfortunately, but it is created in us a gift, have always had to consider how white people will vote when considering whether we could get behind that candidate, put money there, organize for that person.

Because if it can't, if it ain't real, as pragmatic people, we're not going there, by and large. We support you, hallelujah, da-da-da. But society, by and large, isn't supporting you. So when we saw that, did we rally or did we rally? There was no turning back after New Hampshire. And then South Carolina, there was no, it changed the winds inpshire and then south carolina there was no it changed the winds in south carolina polling was different a week before oprah was with him

in south carolina so i'm saying it was a lot of he won a lot of cultural wars cultural wars i think he changed frames a whole lot of black folks were silently in the clinton camp if you remember oh silently y'all talking about y'all inside political people i'm talking about people just i'm talking about my grandmother and my mother who were committed to voting for hillary clinton the first time i ever voted was brock obama period and you join millions of others that's what i'm trying to tell you is that president obama energized a whole group of people who never even considered that's literally what i think andrew's point was there was young people first who carried him and made it feel like that was even possible.

Older black folks were like, this cannot happen. And the church pews and it wasn't happening. Not just political folks. And it wasn't because they were hating. That's right. They love us and want the best for us, but they are. They were scared. They didn't think it was going to be able to make it.

To your point of sophisticated, why are we? Because we consider the performance of everyone else. Bake it into the formula before we go in and make decisions uh about ourselves we don't have the privilege that's why we're going to talk about liberation because liberation is that i get to decide regardless of how it impacts i am going in here and i've got a frame and my freedom requires that i vote for this thing that's going to lead to more of that. That's what I want. They take it from your podcast. All the stuff you told me on the podcast. No, we got a lot more.

I don't know if you noticed, but we not at a loss for words around here. Is your country falling apart? Feeling tired, depressed, a little bit revolutionary? Consider this. Start your own country. I planted the flag. I just kind of looked out of like, this is mine. I own this.

It's surprisingly easy. There are 55 gallons of water for 500 pounds of concrete. Everybody's doing it. I am King Ernest Emmanuel. I am the Queen of Laudonia. I'm Jackson I, King of Capraburg. I am the Supreme Leader of the Grand Republic of Mentonia. Be part of a great colonial tradition.

Why can't I create my own country? My forefathers did that themselves. What could go wrong? No country willingly gives up their territory. I was making a rocket with a black powder, you know, with explosive warhead. Oh my God. What is that? Bullets.

Bullets. We need help! We still have the off-road portion to go. Listen to Escape from Zakistan. And we're losing daylight fast. That's Escape from Z-A-Q-istan on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey guys, I'm Kate Max.

You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more. After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together.

You know that rush of endorphins you feel after a great workout? Well, that's when the real magic happens. So if you love hearing real, inspiring stories from the people you know, follow, and admire, join me every week for Post Run High. It's where we take the conversation beyond the run and get into the heart of it all. It's lighthearted, pretty crazy, and very fun. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

So y'all, this is Questlove, and I'm here to tell you about a new podcast I've been working on with the Story Pirates and John Glickman called Historical Records. It's a family-friendly podcast. Yeah, you heard that right. A podcast for all ages. One you can listen to and enjoy with your kids starting on September 27th. I'm going to toss it over to the host of Historical Records, Nimany, to tell you all about it. Make sure you check it out.

Hey, y'all. Nimany here. I'm the host of a brand-new history podcast for kids and families called Historical Records. Historical Records brings history to life through hip-hop. Smash, slam, another one gone. Bash, bam, another one gone. The crack of the bat and another one gone. The tip of the cap, there's another one gone. Each episode is about a different inspiring figure from history, like this one about Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old girl in Alabama who refused to give up her seat on the city bus nine whole months before Rosa Parks did the same thing. Check it. And it began with me. Did you know, did you know? I wouldn't give up my seat. Nine months before Rosa. It was Claudette Goldman. Get the kids in your life excited about history by tuning in to Historical Records. Because in order to make history, you have to make some noise.

Listen to Historical Records on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey there, my little creeps. It's your favorite ghost host, Teresa. And guess what? Haunting is back, dropping just in time for spooky season. Now I know you've probably been wandering the mortal plane, wondering when I'd be

back to fill your ears with deliciously unsettling stories. Well, wonder no more, because we've got a ghoulishly good lineup ready for you. let's just say things get a bit extra we're talking spirits demons and the kind of supernatural chaos that'll make your spooky season complete you know how much i love this time of year it's the one time i'm actually on trend so grab your pumpkin spice dust off that ouija board just don't call me unless it's urgent. And tune in for new episodes every week.

Remember, the veils are thin, the stories are spooky, and your favorite ghost host is back and badder than ever. Listen to Haunting on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On Thanksgiving Day, 1999, a five-year-old boy floated alone in the ocean. He had lost his mother trying to reach Florida from Cuba. He looked like a little angel. I mean, he looked so fresh. And his name, Elian Gonzalez, will make headlines everywhere.

Elian Gonzalez. Elian. Elian Gonzalez. Elian. Elian. Elian. Elian Gonzalez. Elian Gonzalez. Elian. Elian. Elian Gonzalez. At the heart of the story is a young boy and the question of who he belongs with.

His father in Cuba. Mr. Gonzalez wanted to go home and he wanted to take his son with him. Or his relatives in Miami. Imagine that your mother died trying to get you to freedom. At the heart of it all is still this painful family separation. Something that as a Cuban, I know all too well. Listen to Chess Peace, the Elian Gonzalez story, as part of the My Cultura podcast network, available on the

iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. There was a lot of people who would say, no, I don't want Obama to run because he'll get killed. I remember when he won the election, people thought he was going to get shot on stage. I remember when they had the parade after he got sworn in and he got out the car, people were like, no. I was one of them. You know why? Because we have lived alongside these homicidal maniacs for 400 plus years and we have seen firsthand what white violence can do in this country. And I think Andrew's point was we are sophisticated because we don't have the privilege to say to cherry pick values and political standpoints and say, until I find this specific person, I'm going to reserve my vote. I hear so many white women with that attitude. A lot of the Bernie folks, I think, had that attitude where it's like this specific set

of things I'm waiting for. And if I don't, I have the privilege to sit it out. I have the privilege to criticize. I have the privilege to cross a political divide and vote Republican. We don't have that. We don't have that. We have to consider all these other things. And that's why I say we're not sophisticated. I don't feel we're sophisticated because we know

where our vote is going. Everybody knows where black people's vote is going. I don't think that's true because you know why? Because black people just like everybody else, every other constituency, black folks have the option to abstain. I hope people don't choose that. But the conversation, I think this is where the news media gets it wrong as well. The conversation is not, there's a lot of focus on black voters when it comes to how we fail when we don't show up. So now the conversation is, oh, Biden and all his trouble with black voters. No, talk about white folks who are actively supporting and excited to support an insurrectionist president. Talk about white folks

who are happy to celebrate a man who has umpteenth indictments and three baby mamas. Talk about white folks' excitement about somebody who put over 200 white conservative judges to lifetime appointments who were completely inept in law. Some of these people had never been judges before. Those are the folks who are a danger to democracy, not black folks after being frustrated in this process for so long. And I don't hear us being called dangerous. I do hear the point about

sophistication. I think it goes back to pigeonholing us into believing that we are not capable of having a nuanced conversation, right? I think that we don't have a nuanced vote. We have a nuanced vote every time we vote. Because what black people are doing are deciding, and I'll stop you-

Yep, because I need to finish my sentence. We can't say that simply because the majority of a vote goes one way that is in lockstep. Couldn't it be that we liked the sum of those checks too, and we knew that the other party is against them? And so even though I can't get everything I want, this gets me marginally closer to the things that meet my need. And that's not my point.

I support that. But I think what I'm saying is it is unfortunate. When you go to the ballot box, you are literally in a box, right? You have to make a decision. There's no nuance between checking between this person and that person. It doesn't mean that the road you traveled to get there was not difficult was not was not excruciating the things that i'm hearing my dad say about what it's going to mean

for him to vote for joe biden this time it's hard you know like there are people who i love dearly who have said not and they didn't say this in 2020 but like this one is going to be tough because i don't feel represented why like why would i get out and vote and not sit on the couch right that's what a lot of people are saying why why would i go vote for body or or they're saying i haven't heard i'm why wouldn't i sit on the couch i have heard i wish somebody else was running i have heard that i've heard it a lot more it It is scaring me. Right. And what I hope comes out of this, not just for us, for the conversations we'll have on Native Land Pod, but I hope what comes out of this is a push from the administration to do some things to meet people where they are, meet them in their sacrifice. People showed up through a pandemic for this administration. Show up for these folks.

You know, I'm tired of having the conversation about the Democratic Party takes black voters for granted. We know. What are you going to do about it, Chairman Jamie Harrison? I know you. I know that you know the sacrifice. I know what you're up against with all those white consultants that ain't moved over there. We got your back, so have ours, right?

I think that it's time for us to really have that conversation more publicly. We've had it quietly because a lot of our friends work in there. We want to give our we want to embolden our friends, empower our friends. But now we're at a point where our family members, our friends are talking about this more publicly and they deserve to be held to account. And they attack y'all when y'all speak out against their president Biden. Well, look, I do. This is some real plantation. Don't you talk about massive like that.

That's the best we got. He good to us. But, Lennard, it might not just be plantation mentality. Some of it is fear. I was so, I watched him in Johnson.

And I don't want to minimize that fear. I got a check this time. There was legislation. You can't be mad at people who feel like that about Trump when they got these stimmies. Oh, you're talking about

stimulus check. I thought he was talking about Trump when they got these stimmies. Oh, you're talking about stimulus checks. I thought you were talking about checks and balances. Not just the stimulus. I'm saying the agenda. If you have kids and you were paying for daycare and you saw that that subsidy doubled on your taxes, that it went to a three-month, every every three month disbursement. Things have happened as a result of this man being in office that has improved our quality of life. How do you message? What? What? Well, you got to remind people and they have to stand the fight for it. What happened? Manchin and Sinema said, we're not going back there.

And that was all she wrote. Two Democrats said we're stepping back in the Senate. And that was all she wrote. But I will tell you this much. If Biden were running off of his agenda. And by the way, I firmly believe these things ought to exist in society anyway, because we don't we don't pay people enough to deal with the hell we deal with to to to catch our breath from day to day. We are. Native Land Podcast is going to be transformational because I think it's going to remind us of our power. And yes, elections have names on the ballot of people we don't like, think too old, might die, da, da, da, da, da. But it is, unfortunately, the system that we

are operating within. And until we can coerce that system to looking more like the one that we believe we deserve, you don't walk off the field. You stay on the field because there are consequences to walking off the field. Trump said, I know who's getting most impacted by this coronavirus and it's mostly older, sicker and people of color. I knew right then in that press conference that he didn't care a lick about the coronavirus because the people who were at the intersection of the greatest he didn't care a lick about the coronavirus because the

people who were at the intersection of the greatest impact didn't look like him he didn't care about him so on and so forth so if we if we if we just check out because we're not getting everything at least tell me you're checking out from joe biden because on the other side of the agenda you're getting more than what you're getting on this side not one promise not almost in a check to your business but i am going to produce public policy that leads to your greater freedom your ability to move the way you want to move because those rights are inalienable i may have an unpopular take here so i may lose my a man corner. But there is a saying in politics that you can never blame the voter. I am going to blame the voter a little bit because I

feel like society at large is so caught up again in bullshit. And so there are many things that the Biden administration has done that people benefit from. I think, one, there's a lack of understanding in civics in this country across every socioeconomic status, across every racial divide. People don't understand the difference between state, federal, and local government. And so sometimes people ascribe blame where there should be none to the federal government. Two, we have to take responsibility as citizens of this country. It is our job to know when elections are happening, what's on the ballot, who's on the ballot, why these things matter.

So maybe, just maybe, instead of scrolling through Instagram looking at nonsense for three fucking hours, maybe pick up a paper or maybe Google, maybe say, what has Biden done for black America? That's a question you have asked that that's a fair question. You should be asking it. I encourage that kind of curiosity. Ask it. Maybe you will be surprised.

You can call up your member of Congress and say, hey, I got 50 friends at my house and we want to hear what you're doing for us. That member of Congress just might show up. Maybe show up to the school board meeting where your kids are in school, where they're taking, they're rewriting history. They're banning books in this country right now. Maybe participate in that. At the bare minimum, you can read something. At most, you can go up and show and show up someplace and ask a question. You can host something. You can be a voice. You can write a check to a candidate. You can run for office. But these things do require some participation from us, not us sitting around whining about, well, I don't know what he did. When you have this in your hand every five minutes and it's full of information, you can find a reliable source from the White House website itself to newspapers etc and be informed I agree with you I just think we're intellectually dishonest about a lot of stuff based on what party we like because we'll say things like oh people

don't know civics but then if you mention Barack Obama you'll say Obama gave you health care right but if you say Trump gave stemmes you like no Trump didn't give the stemmes Congress voted for it you say Trump did the first step, Trump didn't give the STEMIs. Congress voted for it. Or you say Trump did the first step back. Trump didn't do the first step back. Congress did it for it. See, a little intellectually dishonest everybody is based on what party you deal with. On all sides of it, right?

Yeah, he said based on your party. You're absolutely right. You said Google what Biden did. So whatever he did pass. Oh, you said Google what Trump did? She was saying to the question, because people, it does come up. I mean, even in some of the questions in the comments where I was like, what do you guys want us to address on the podcast?

One of them was, what did Biden do for black people versus the GOP? Now, they got a shortcut because they can look at that speech from yesterday. No, from the Charleston speech, because he had a whole list of stuff in the pulpit at Mother Emanuel of what he believes he did for black people. But the things he didn't get done, the first thing we'll say is was because congress wouldn't allow him to yeah he had gotten them done y'all i'm like look what biden did that's why i say it's a little well i think be careful about y'all right we have this fight all the time even on our phone calls like i don't like to be you saying y'all you say y'all to me like that's not how you say that's it shut up that's true it depends on what y'all were on and we on the fourth y'all to me? No, that's not how you say it. Shut up.

That's true. It depends on what y'all were on. If we on the fourth y'all, that's definitely where I'm at. But I guess the point is. Say y'all again. Yeah. That's what she said. How about that? Say y'all again.

Say y'all again. I bet you don't say it. I bet you don't say it. But no, I think at the end of the day, it is true that we will assign blame to people that sometimes don't deserve it when there is a whole process to tiff's point on civics and we will reward someone who we need them to win you know and i think that again going back to the reason we're here today native land pod every thursday we're going to be honest about processes we want our folks to be smarter we want folks to

hold us to account if we say something wrong tell us we want to get it right and it's not to be smarter. We want folks to hold us to account. If we say something wrong, tell us. We want to get it right. And it's not to be right. It's because we want to be better. We want to be free. We want to walk in our true liberation. If we can get our folks one step closer to that, that's what we want to do every single day. As long as we give them a shout out right now, because black people, ever since we've been able to participate in elections and before, have been holding this country and pushing this country closer to its true vision of an american dream and its principles upon which it's built enshrined in the declaration of independence and and the constitution and reiterated throughout it's been black voters who have consistently showed up to hold america to the fire of the promise that we weren't even designed in

from its beginning. The words were there, the actions weren't, and black folks would be the reinforcers and the accountability agents to make the words mean something. That's right. Native Land podcast starts January 11th. And I think it's very important to note that this is the first flagship podcast from reason choice media which is a political podcast network with I heart that Angela rise the founder of with you and Chris mile and it is my honor yes so it'll be a lot more shows coming down the pipeline that's right we appreciate you guys for joining us. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you all for the time.

Andrew Gillum. Subscribe to Native Land Podcast right now. Do it. That's right. First episode drops Thursday. Wake that ass up. Early in the morning.

The Breakfast Club. Had enough of this country? Ever dreamt about starting your own? I planted the flag. This is mine. I own this. It's surprisingly easy.

55 gallons of water, 500 pounds of concrete. Or maybe not. No country willingly gives up their territory. Oh my God. What is that? Bullets. Listen to Escape from Zakistan. We need help!

That's Escape from Z-A-Q-a-stan on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey guys, I'm Kate Max. You might know me from my popular online series, The Running Interview Show, where I run with celebrities, athletes, entrepreneurs, and more.

After those runs, the conversations keep going. That's what my podcast, Post Run High, is all about. It's a chance to sit down with my guests and dive even deeper into their stories, their journeys, and the thoughts that arise once we've hit the pavement together. Listen to Post Run High on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

As a kid, I really do remember having these dreams and visions, but you just don't know what is going to come for you. Alicia shares her wisdom on growth, gratitude, and the power of love. I forgive myself. It's okay. Have grace with yourself. You're trying your best. And you're going to figure out the rhythm of this thing. Alicia Keys, like you've never heard her before. Listen to On Purpose with Jay Shetty on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Courtney Thorne-Smith, Laura Layton, and Daphne Zuniga. On July 8th, 1992, apartment buildings with pools were never quite the same as Melrose Place was introduced to the world.

We are going to be reliving every hookup, every scandal, and every single wig removal together. So listen to Still the Place on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Hey, y'all. Niminy here. I'm the host of a brand new history podcast for kids and families called Historical Records. Executive produced by Questlove, The Story Pirates, and John Glickman, Historical Records brings history to life through hip-hop. Each episode is about a different inspiring figure from history,

like this one about Claudette Colvin, a 15-year-old girl in Alabama who refused to give up her seat on the city bus nine whole months before Rosa Parks did the same thing. Check it. And it began with me. Did you know, did you know? I wouldn't give up my seat. Nine months before Rosa, it was called a moment. Get the kids in your life excited about history by tuning in to Historical Records because in order to make history, you have to make some noise. Listen to Historical Records on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.