The Daily Show: Ears Edition - Beyond The Scenes - The Ongoing Battle to Remove Confederate Statues

Episode Date: May 20, 2022

While America has made progress in removing confederate statues from public squares, many remain standing. Director of the PBS documentary The Neutral Ground, CJ Hunt, and founder of Project Say Something, Camille Goldston Bennett, join Roy Wood Jr. to discuss why these monuments were erected in the first place, how many are left, what’s being done on the ground to remove them, and where they should end up once they’re removed.  Watch the original segment: https://youtu.be/rUZL4z5Drcw Donate to Project Say Something: https://projectsaysomething.org/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. Hey, what's going on there, Daily Show Ears Edition. Listener, it's Roywood Jr. Look, the Daily Show is on break. So I wanted to give you a quick little podcast recommendation. That's also from the Daily Show Podcast Universe. It's one that I host. It's called Beyond the Scenes. We take segments we've already done on the show and dig a little deeper, see where the issue is now, how the problem has improved or regressed.

So in this one, we talked about the history of Confederate statues and why white supremacists are so closely identifying themselves with Confederate ideology from the Civil War. I'm deep diving with filmmaker C.J. Hunt and the founder of Project Say Something Camille Bennett. Look,, if you like the episode, we do new episodes of Beyond the Scenes every Tuesday. And be sure to tell a friend. It's available on the IHart Radio app, the Daily Show podcast that goes a little deeper into segments and topics that already aired on the show. Like this is what this podcast is, like, you know how like sometimes you go out and run, you go jog, you run a mile, and you're feeling so good, you hit that runners high and you go another mile.

I guess you might know what that's like. I don't know what that's like, but I am told that as a runner, it is rather rewarding. And that's what beyond the scenes is. We are the runners high for stuff that you see on the daily show. Today we are diving into the issue of Confederate Statues. This is a topic we've thiiiiiiiiole thiole tham tham tham tham tham tham tham tham tham tham thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi. thi thi thi thi thi thi thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. th issue of Confederate statutes. This is a topic we've covered various times on the show. You don't hear about them quite as much these days as you did a few years ago. Our Confederate statue is gone. Have they been kidnapped?

Where are they? We want to get into their role in American history and the progress that's been made to tear them down them down. Give it a clip! Do you think that we should just, you know, tear down all Confederate statutes? Because a lot of people say that like it or not, you shouldn't try to erase history. Errace history. Most of these statues that went up, it wasn't even about remembering history. They were put up decades after the war.

What we think of as these Confederate Confederate conf conf conf conf a product of the 1890s to World War I. Southern states were enacting Jim Crow laws. There was a strong revival of the Ku Klux Klan. They weren't celebrating kind of benign war heroes. They were very clearly meant to be things that would intimidate black people and further white supremacy. Look, look, look, I know y' all you want to the the their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their 19 their 19 their 19 their 19 their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their things that would intimidate black people and further white supremacy. Look, I know y'all want to keep your statues, but here's the thing. Slavery is a trauma that black people to this day are still dealing with. And to have to look at those statues, like basically this was like,

basically, it's like if a woman got out of an abusive relationship, and then she had to keep pictures of her ex up in her house to remember the time. Like, no, I don't need pictures to remember pain. Now, to go beyond the scenes on this topic, we have former Daily Show segment director and director of the PBS documentary, The Neutral Bro, brother, the thrown, the neutral ground. Brother, the brother, J-h-h-in, th-in, th-in, th-in, th-in, th-in, th-in, th-in, th-in, th-in-in-in-in'-s, th-s, th-s, th-s, th-s, th-s, th-s, the-s-s-s, I th-s, I th-s, I thi-s, I thi-s, I thi-s, I to to to to to to to to to to to th, I I Hello, brother. That's when you know two black people are going to start talking about some too. Brother, how you doing? How you doing, how you really doing, brother. Also joining us is

an activist and founder of Project Say Something, the pride of my home state of Alabama, Camille. Sister Camille., sister Camille. Sister Camille. Sister, Brother Roy, I am well. Bless the highly favorite, it's taking you all the way back to Alabama. Yes, yes, indeed. I cannot wait to get into all of the wonderful work that you have done and are continuing to do in the state.

And I want to talk a little bit about, you know, some of the drama that the sacrifices you have made along the way in the battle that you're fighting against Confederate monuments. But first, let's break it down, CJ. Why are there so many in the first? They lost! Did they? Did they? On paper, they lost. I think that's the question the question the question the question the question the question the question the question the question the question that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's the that's that's I think that's the... On paper, they lost.

I think that's the question, right? The Confederate monuments are strange because, you know, you can't name another losing army that's erected thousands of monuments to themselves, right? So, they're weird for that reason. But the existence of them and how long they have existed and the places they've they have does push the question of did the Confederacy lose, did the white supremacist government that wanted to keep us in chains, right? Did that government actually lose? So if aliens came down tomorrow and they saw these monuments, they'd be like, so that's

side one? And we'd be like, theyons no, no, they lost. And the aliens would be like, so you let them build monuments to themselves? We'd be like, oh yeah, yeah, yeah, and they'd be like, so these men were fighting to keep black people in chains? Oh, yeah, yeah, definitely. They were very clear about it. And they'd bethe question mark of white supremacy of when it is so clear when we're not talking about reparations or

schools or segregation when we're talking about something as clear as should a monument to an enslaver exist as the highest point in your city that still exists in cities still across the country even after 2020. What was the alibi that they used to justify the erection of all of these statues? Like was it, because I guess the Civil War is interesting in that it was family business. This wasn't Germany going into France and there being German statues all over France. This was American on the, well, white American on a white American. Well, freed slaves on white American crime.

You get what I'm trying to say. What were some of the excuses that they used to justify the erection of so many of these statues? I mean, the most understandable one is this is about honoring the men and this is about the grief that Confederate widows feel. And I say that's understandable because we all feel grief when when when when when when whenthat's the reason that these Confederate monuments were first built in cemeteries. That's where you go to mourn the dead. So when you look around cemeteries all across the south, the monuments look identical to the ones that ended up in town squares. But the question becomes like, how did they ever move out of cemeteries and become the thing that all of these cities are supposed to revolve around, right?

In New Orleans, 68% black city, Lee, for a century, was the highest point in the city. So these things don't start moving out of graveyards until the death of reconstruction. And for all of us who didn't learn anything about reconstruction, that just means that when Confederate monuments first start being built, it the the their their theeeaeauuuuuuuu, the, the, the, the, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, the, the, the, the, the, tho, tho, the, the, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the thean, thean, thean, thean, theee theee the, the, the, the, the, the, that just means that when Confederate monuments first start being built, it is after integrated schools are defeated, it is after black politicians are kicked out of their positions, it is after the White League and the KKK is running rampant, it's after all of these southern states disenfranchised black voters. That's the moment these things start moving out of graveyards and into the public. Like the first Confederate monument that the nation saw is the Lee Monument in New Orleans,

and that monument was dedicated by two dudes, the mayor and the state Supreme Court justice, both of whom already knew each other because they were members of the White League, which was a white militia that killed cops in the streets and attacked the Capitol. And the President had to send troops to send them away, right? These are the original Capitol rioters. So while it would be insane for us to be like, ooh, that Capitol riot shaman or whatever he calls himself, the notion that he would then get a statue,

right? The notion that any of those capital riators would become government officials and The notion that any of those capital riders would become government officials and build statues to themselves is insane, but that's exactly what happened with the Confederacy. Camille, C.J. is the person who brought your battling your journey to my attention when we were working together on his PBS neutral ground film, which we'll talk about in a second as well, to the today. How did you get into, like, walk me through waking up that first day where, because I've always said that the active activism is selfless, and most selfless people,

there is not a lot of money in active, I don't know nobody does an activist, that's just bawling out, like, I ain't seen no Tesla's at the protest is all I'm saying. I mean, let me just clarify that. This activist has businesses. So, in terms of, right? Oh, yes. Because a lot of times, like, the misconception is like, you know, a lot of times people,

especially black people, like, in order to do this work, I also have to sacrifice like my financial well-being. And I'm like, you can get a job, you can get a business, and still, and create space so that you can do more work. Understood. I guess where I'm going with it is that there is something bigger than money that draws people like you to the work that you do. So you know, what was it about this this this this this this this this this this this thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the thi, the the thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi.. thi. And, thi. And, thi. And, thi, thi. And, thi, thi, thi, thi, the work that you do. So, you know, what was it about this specific issue? Because when you look at Confederate

monuments, they are all over the place. According to the SPLC, there's still, there's about, there was about 300 and almost about 400 statues that have been removed since 2015, and more than half of them happened after George Floyd's murder in 2020. But you know I kind of feel like the dust is kind of settling a little bit. How many statues are left and you know what does that fight look like now and why do you fight this fight? So I have to give you a little history about where I live. I live in Florence, Alabama. If you remember right around when when the South Carolina church shooting happened, right? Dylan Roof?

He had the Confederate flags and all. That's the Neo-Confedera movement. Right here, in my city, we have the leader of the Neo-Confedera movement. His name is Michael Hill. He's friends with David Duke, the leader of the Neo-Confederate movement. His name is Michael Hill. He's friends with David Duke, the leader of the KKK. I just saw him in Publix in November, and he is literally the leader of that movement. So once I started to educate myself about not only Confederate monuments, because I'm not going to lie.

I was a regular black kid in Alabama. We want to think about no monuments. You know, my mama was like, that's bad for black people. That's all I knew. But once I started hanging out with historians and really understanding where I live, literally, and understanding what was set when that thing was erected, they were very clear that it was it was meant to disenfranchise black people. They even called us the a race. So once I read that dedication speech, you can't unsee that it was meant to disenfranchise black people. They even called us the Mongol race. So once I read that dedication speech, you can't unsee that. So started in 2017, we just started kind of picking, poking the bear.

Now, we understood we were not in Birmingham. We were in white nationalist territory. So we ain't bust out with like taking down, no, no, no. We were like, can we erect a monument to dreading th th th th red th d dreaded th d dreaded the d dreaded to d dreaded to d dreaded to dreaded to d dreaded to d d dreaded to d dreading to d' to d' that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that's that, that's that's that that that that that that that that that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that that that that that that that that that that that that thed that's the threaten, that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that that's that, bust out with like taking down. No, no, no, no. We were like, can we erect a monument to Dred and Harry and Scott? Dred Scott's case sparked a civil war, okay? He lived in Florence for 10 years, let's just kind of ease on into it. Can we put our monument next to your monument? Just like kind of a little ease on into it. And then, what do they say? When Birmingham. No? But we kept the monument the monument the monument the monument the monument the monument the monument the monument the monument the monument the monument their the monument pick pick pick pick pick pick pick pick pick pick pick pick pick pick pick pick pick pick pick pick the monument? the monument? the monument? the monument. the monument. the monument. the monument. the monument. the monument. We the monument. the monument. to to the monument. the monument. the monument. the monument. the monument. the monument. the monument. the monument. the monument. the monument. the monument. the monument. the monument. the monument. the monument. the monument. the monument. the monument. the monument. the monument. the monument. the monument. the. the. the. We. the. We. the. We. We. We. We. We the. We the. We the. We the. We're the. We're to. We're to. We're to. We're to. We're. We're. We're to. We're. We're. We're. to. We're. to. to. We're to. the. on into it. And then, when Birmingham, no, but we kept picking with them, you know, well it's racist. This is what it said.

And so then we created space for when Birmingham, well y'all, you know what y'all did in Birmingham's monuments. So in Birmingham, around the George Floyd time, we pulled up to a monument in Lynn Park and someone got a pickup truck and tied a rope around a monument and attempted to pull it down right there on the spot. The mayor, Randall Woodfin, the mayor, and I understand what you're saying, because Birmingham is a liberal city, it has a black mayor, Randall Woodfin took the monument down his damn self and paid the $25,000 fine that Montgomery put on Birmingham for removing the monument, which clearly y'all couldn't just do that

up there in Florence. No, we would have been killed. But we were just so charged and everybody was hyped up in a community. We live in a community of about 100,000 people. We were just like, you know what? We're demanding, we're sick of plan. We're demanding that you take, you relocate. We're not even ask you to get rid of it, which would have been a fair ass, like, you know, just to chunk it somewhere.

We just asked you to relocate it where it belongs, Confederate cemetery so it can go die. And that was when all helped and we also vowed to protest. Which also by the way is the most reasonable request right? Like whenever someone is opposing Confederate monuments people who want to keep them in place is like so you want to destroy them so you want to make them gravel and it's like no literally just move this inside. It's like if you have a roommate and you're like, no, just, your underwear doesn't, doesn't belong in the living room, right? Like we should have to feel uncomfortable because your personal thing is,

is the center of our communal space, just put this inside. And I think, you know, Camille's demand here is really clarifying that folks are saying move this to a cemetery, put this in this in this in this in this in this in this in this in this in this in this in this in this in this in this in this in this in th thus the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the their their their their their their their their their their their their their their under. their under. their under. their under. their their under. their their their their their their their their their their their their the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the thoooom. thoooomeau. thoooooooooooooom. the the th. the theaugn. the the theaugh. their their the that folks are saying move this to a private place, put this in the cemetery, put this in a museum, put it in the bottom of the river for all the fair, but just- Get it up out of my face, my black face, I don't want to look at it in the living room? Yeah, and we don't, do we really need to be educated like in that way? Because They were put up in a celebratory way, right, they, they, they, like, like, they were, they were, they were, they were, they were, they were, they were, the, the, the, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, they were, they were, they were, they were, they were, they were, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, th, their, their, their, th.e, their, their, their, their, their, their, their Yeah. Especially, you know, you got the daughters of the Confederate veterans, right? UDC, excuse me, United Daughters of Confederate Veterans. These are like public school teachers, you know, putting these things up just to mess with black folks.

Do we have to look at that? I don't want to see it at all. I hate it has to go to the cemetery cemetery cemetery cemetery cemetery cemetery cemetery cemetery cemetery cemetery cemetery cemetery cemetery cemetery cemetery cemetery cemetery cemetery cemetery cemetery cemetery cemetery cemetery to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go like Camille is saying like, hey, they put this up to mess with us, I think a lot of folks are like, no, you're making that up. But the historical record is so clear. They were, they were saying this stuff out loud at the monument that still stands in front of the Lauderdale County Courthouse that Camille is trying to get down. The dedication speaker goes in on talking about how pure the white race is in Alabama and then he goes in and tells the United Daughters of the Confederacy that it is their God-given job to make

sure that white women aren't sleeping with black men. Listen! It says this as part of the speech. Where shall black people be accorded social equality and calls us, I'll repeat, the mongrel race. I mean, you can't get more blatant than that. And in North Carolina, it's the same thing that the silent Sam statue that existed on the UNC campus, the ex-Confedera who dedicated that, goes into bragging about how he used to be able to whip a black woman steps from the campus who's running to the campus.

So that like every one of these speeches is full of actual evidence about what these folks intended for these statues to be. And whenever folks are trying to talk honestly about that, the people who want to keep them in place would like to pretend that that historical record does not exist. So, Camille, your nonprofit project says something. How does that play a part in what you do now? Because I would imagine that was not the original jumping off point. It was you looking at something every day in your city and going, nah, no more. How did this grow into the nonprofit? And what role does your nonprofit play in get the thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi that that that that that that that that that thi, thi, that that that that's that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that that thiol- thiol- thiol, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thoooan, thoan, thoan, thoan, thoan, thoan, thoanananan, thiiiii. th, no more. How did this grow into the nonprofit?

And what role does your nonprofit play and get any statues removed? Well, I mean, the nonprofit was founded in 2014 after the Ferguson riots. In our area, you know, you could talk about diversity. You couldn't talk about anti-black racism at all, period. So it was kind of on a whim. Someone asked me, like, can you open up some kind of a forum?

I did it. Lots of people showed up. We stayed there all night talking about racism. And then it just kind of grew from there. And we've done, we have other things that we do, right? We work on policy. We help black mothers and children. We educate people on the white supremacist legislators we have.

We do a lot of other things. But the Confederate monument push was kind of like what put us on the map for whatever reason. We're a board really, so we're not a member-based organization, but it was a hard work of projects say something that kept us protesting for 29 weeks five days a week and got the people energized. Everybody knew us from the work we were already doing. See and that's what I find so interesting about a lot of this work just in, you know, like just in my journey on the Daily Show is that it all starts you know sometimes with a singular emotion or a single event like like is that it all starts, you know, sometimes

with a singular emotion or a single event. Like, CJ, when you first did Neutral Ground, I think Charlottesville had already happened, or you were headed to Charlottesville, if I'm not mistaken. But that wasn't where you was five years producing this damn thing before it came out. You know at at the time when you first started, when you first started it was a New Orleans School Board, it was a, it was a local, it was a city council. And you talked to people on the Confederate side of this issue, what did you gather from them? Is there any chance of getting through to these people?

Short answers, no. But my entry is different. You know, that I am not an organizer. I'm a comedian, right? So in 2015, when we saw the Charleston massacre, when we saw Dillon Roof walk into a church and kill nine black parishioners. And then finally, we have another opening to talk about why Confederate symbols are so high in so many cities and fly above capitals. I was just in New Orleans not even working in TV just trying to be a comedian, right? Like at the time I was watching pieces by you and Jordan

Clepper and Jessica Williams and even even the first map for what eventually became our film was trying to make something as good as the White's Borough piece that Daily Show made about a town in New York that has a racist mascot, right? A racist town seal. So when this started, it was just, hey, the nation had not yet seen Confederate monuments be removed. A lot of white folks couldn't even imagine it.

So they were coming to the city council meeting, where take them down Nola had demanded, hey, these four statues need to come down, and the mayor's like, okay, let's see if we can make this happen. But white folks were at that meeting saying, you better nuke this city if you take down these monuments. This is a knee-jerk reaction to an unspeakable tragedy that took place in Charleston, South Carolina, that's causing race problems that haven't even occurred in this city for decades. The so-called civil war wasn't about slavery.

The war between the states was about succession, not about slavery. If you take out these monuments as nuisances, you really need to nuke the city of New Orleans completely. Where do we stop with all this? Do we go all the way to Washington and take down every memorial there? This is our history. Right? If you take down these monuments, who are we as New Orleans? We have no history.

You know, a city that's given America jazz and Mardi Gras and all of the best things, right? So we started filming at that city council meeting being like, man, how far are some white folks going to go to hold on to just four objects, right? Four objects that celebrate slavery. And at first it was just me, you know, doing jokes off an iPad, like, you know, is it okay if we just just, the their their their their their their th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. their their their th. their their their their th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th, th, th, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi. thi. thi. thi. throo. tooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. the the the the the the the th. th. th. th. th. th, the danger was just mounting. So even though the city voted to remove these monuments, almost immediately, the city starts getting sued and the contractors whose job it is to remove those monuments get run off the job by death threats and a burning car, thefts and a burning car. So from then, it's like, dang, I don't know if this can be a field piece, right? Like, once death threats start happening and car bombs start happening, you're like, I don't know what this means for a third act of a field piece. So we just

continued filming to be like, okay, what if we take that question seriously? How far will some people go to hang on to statues of the Confederacy? And that ended up being a five-year film that took us to Charlottesvue, and took us to to to be their, th........ So, their, their, their, their, thso, thsov, thsov, thsov, thsov, thsov, th. thi, th. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thi, thi, thi, thi, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th, th, th, th, th, th, th. th, th. th. th. th. So, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, the, the. thean, throoooooooooooooooooooo. So, thean, thean, thi. So, thi. So, you end up really getting to see what this movement looks like spreading to different cities, what the sort of hysteria around you will not replace us looks like as it spreads. So after the break, you know, because CJ, you, your film gives us a wonderful view of the people who drank the coolade, but Camille has been in there with them lawmakers and them legislatures who are continuing to make the coolade and I want to get into... They're making barrels of it.

Poison, the poised this coola. After the break, I want to talk, Camille about some of the hurdles and challenges that you've dealt with in, you know, fighting this. And also, where did the statues to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the the the the the the the the the the to the the the the to the to the the to the caqqqqqqueueaqueaqueaquea' the cune the cune. the coolaulade. the coolaulade. the cune. the cune. the cune. the cune. the cune. the cune the cune the cune the cune the cune the cune the cune the cune the cune the cune the cune the cune the cune the cune the cune. the cune. the cune. the cune. I the cune. I the cune. Iea'a'a'a'a'a'a'a'a'a'a'a'a'a'a'a'a'a'auauauauauauauauauauauilauila'e. toe. toe. know, fighting this. And also, where did the statues go after we take them down? We need to talk about that as well. Let's be on the scenes, we'll be right back. Now, Camille, they're in Florence, Alabama. And as you said earlier, Florence ain't Birmingham. And you are a woman that is a proud Florence resident. You ain't hiding.

You out here in these streets. You shopping for your groceries. You go into events. You go into the bars with the girlfriends. What are some of the repercussions that you've dealt with in being a lightning rod for change in a place that is seemingly very resistant to any type of new ways of thinking. I receive death threats personally every single, almost every single day that we were protesting.

So that's 29 weeks, five days a week, some physical threat, and they don't burn crosses in your yard anymore. They take it to social media. So a movement was created from our movement of about 7,000 citizens who would, and of course we had Intel, who would threaten us all the time. The worst threat I received was someone said they wanted to hang my body from the courthouse, my burnt body from the courthouse, my burnt body from the courthouse. I received physical threats.

A white nationalist tried to run me over, me and two children. By a motorcycle, I received hate mail, my own child care centers. Counter-protesters showed up at my child care centers. And it hasn't stopped, right? Because of what happened during the protest, we just made national news last week because we were suing the police department for the way they treated us while we protested.

That's a federal lawsuit by the ACLU. And then what pops up on one of our properties, a White Lives Matter sticker, right? With a bar code, and you go to that code, th, the protest, th, the protest, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, the protest th, th, th, th, th, th, the protest th, the protest the protest the protest th, th, th, the the, the, the, the, the protest theck, thecke, the, the, the, the, the, we the protests, we the protests, we the protest, we the protest, we the protest, we the protest, we the protest, we the protest, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the thatean, thatean, thatean, thatean, thoooooooes, thean, thean, thatean, thean, the the the one of our properties, a White Lives Matter sticker, right? With a barcode and you go to that code, this is this group, this is a national organization. You know, the Proud Boys, right? The Proud Boys split up and now you got the Proud Boys and White Lives Matter. So white lives matter is literally on the scene now. On top of, you know, and we had the proud boys during the protest

as well. So, and not to mention, listen, the Secretary of State, our Secretary of State came after me personally. This was around insurrection time. He posted a Twitter that says something about, it's a war on white people, the Patriots need to start fighting back. Me and a group of black women we had a response to that. We wrote an open letter. It was 20 other organizations but he decided to single me personally out and put me on his Twitter, fight me in the media and news week and all this mess. Just a sicko and and right after that you have our attorney general come out and start to threaten us on Twitter and things like that. So I mean, it was a statewide situation at the end

of the day. And not to mention, the Secretary of State, John Merrill came to Florence and held a rally. You know, so the threats went from like, they just got bigger and bigger. And at that point, we had to hire, you know, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to threaten, threaten threaten threaten us threaten, threaten, threaten, threaten, threathe. And threathe. threathe. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. the, the, the, the, the, threat. threaten, threaten, threaten, threaten, threaten, threaten, threaten, threaten, threats, threats, threats, threaten, threaten, threaten, threaten, threaten, threats went from like, they just got bigger and bigger. And at that point, we had to hire, you know, I had to hire a security team because I did, what do you do? The gravity of that when you first started, even as it got worse and you went, okay, maybe I need to get a gun, maybe I need to change the way I walk to

my car maybe I need to change the way I drive to work did you see this snowball into the point of a full-blown security detail? Never, never. Feeling normal is very important to me so even as these things were happening I would just be like yeah they just talking, you know. It'd be all right, but it wasn't until, you know, the motorcycle was inches away from my body and I'm looking at this white nationalism. And he's like, you know, get out the way. And I'm blocking, mom, I'm blocking two children. He about the hit. That's when I started getting scared. But for a while, you're just riding, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're writing, you're writing, you're writing, you're writing, you're writing, you're writing, you're writing, you're writing, you're writing, you're writing, you're writing, you're writing, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're the, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you, you, you, you, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you're, you're, you're the, you're the, you're the, you're the, you're the, you're the, you're the, you're the the the the the the the the the the the the th, the th, the th right, the thrii, the th, thi. the the the their their their their their the, their two children he about to hit. That's when I started getting scared. But for a while, you're just writing, you're writing the adrenaline of you're trying to get something done.

And you got people with you, the people are with you, encouraging you, and telling you you can do it. And so you, you kind of have focus on that. Now, my husband, he was in a, right. Now, that brother, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that brother, that brother, that brother, that brother, that brother, that brother, that, that, was, that, that, was, that, was, was, that, that, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was, was. that, was. that, was. that, was. that, was. that, was. that, was. that, was. that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that. that, that, that, that, that, have focus on that. Now, my husband, he was in a, right, right, now that brother was, was lunching. Like, it was, that's why the security team had that. I wish your mother would. Listen, the brother was, was struggling. And that's, that was really when the security team had to happen because he just couldn't be there. And I mean, it's not like this hyper masculine, this hyper masculine, like, thu masculine, like, like, the they. they. they. they. they. th. th. th. they. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's that's that's that's th security team had to happen because he just couldn't be there. And I mean it's not like this hyper-masculine like but you know you want your wife to come home every night. Yeah. You're willing to do whatever like

CJ how do you I guess to both of you really how do you all protect you your peace and safety because you know CJ I don't know if it was as clear cut like that for you being out with the camera crew versus when you were out promoting the film and I know that I saw some of the comments under some of the promotional post for Neutral Ground and there was a lot of divisive discourse. I mean but I have I have I have it's a whole other world for me because I'm in we have safety because of cameras and, you know, being in the entertainment industry, we have safety because I live in New York at present, right?

So I think that that is the thing that when I am out with the film, I, what I'm experiencing from audiences is a feeling that this monuments thing is done and we did it and there is a triumphant feeling like the monuments are down in Charlottesville, the monuments are down in Richmond. But I want folks listening to this to be thinking about Camille's story, the story that Camille just told you is happening as we're celebrating monuments down in New Orleans, monuments down at UNC, monuments down in Durham, right? That like the national story we tell is that we're doing this thing and that we are winning. And while we should feel a lot of power about being able to take these mon-

It's almost like knocking the bosses out in the video game. You expect the game to be over once the bosses are done. But it's like we have to rework our way through the levels and be like, all the soldiers are still standing. And it's like, I'm not even being rhetorical. All the soldiers are still standing. There are seven, there are, you know, when you look at all Confederate Memorial's monument street names, Southern Poverty Law Center estimates there's about 2,000, right? There's over 2,000 monuments memorial street names still named after the Confederacy. If you're talking just monuments, it's 700, right? And of that 700, over 300

are still in front of courthouses. So it's not like Camille is dealing with the last vestige, like the last monument that happens to be in front of courthouses. Almost half of the monuments that still exist honoring the Confederacy are located at the doors of where we are supposed to receive equal justice and protection. So I hope folks are thinking, like, you know, folks react to me in my film like, oh dang, was it scary to be in Charlottesville or was it scared to be in a reenactment? Yeah, those things are psychologically scary in the moment. But I want folks thinking about like what it means that in all of these cities where folks do not have democratic majorities, where folks know your name and know where you work, what it means to still have to to to to to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be to be a to be to be to be to to still have to be saying in 2022, why the hell is this in front of the courthouse?

How is this not a violation of the Equal Protection Clause? Right? Like the absurdity, not just of the fact that the KKK is out there, but that all Camille is asking for is move this so it's not in front of the place that distributes justice? Like that is the wild thing to me. I want to say that for projects say something, it was about the monument, but it wasn't about the monument. It was about social change and revolution. So we, in the process of us protesting, we unseated a racist mayor,

lots of people got fired from their jobs because what we would do is screenshot, their racist comments and just send it on up to the boss. Oh, you help with unemployment rate. Okay, I like that. Right. Creating just a new way of thinking and being was really important to us, not just for Florence, but for Alabama itself. I mean, we kicked up so much dust.

We pissed so many people off. I mean we had legislators coming to Florence doing like anti-Marxist rallies. It it got bad and yes it's still happening but that's not I mean in Alabama what we had a hundred and fifty seven Confederate statutes I think we got down this is just a guesstimation maybe between maybe five. So I mean, Alabama shouldn't be celebrating. And one of them we had to pay a fine for removing. Which shout, if you are a celebrity or a rich person out there,

you should be picking up people's tabs in these states, right? That if, do me or Camille have $25,000 to get a monument down? No, but if you are a celebrity, and you wanna be like, hey, Alabama, I got the tab, I will pay for all of these monuments to come down, you should do that. And then, let me just say this real quick too. Y'all, don't forget where y'all came from. You know, when you talk about freedom, when you talk about civil rights, when you talk about the emancipation of black

people, you know, everybody want to throw shade to Alabama like, dang, why y'all still live there. If it wasn't for us, you may not have had the liberties that you, you know, so don't forget about us and there are people who are still here working. And to that point, and to piggyback off your point, sister, most prolifically, the fact that racism is more out in the open in the South in a lot of instances does not mean it ain't happening up. The most interesting thing I found out working with you, CJ, on that documentary was that a lot of these monuments was made in the North. Yes. Yes, yes. Y'all made them and sit them down there tours

and they put them in front of the courthouse to make us feel oppression before we walk in there to be unfairly judicated. I mean, the only helpful thing about Confederate monuments to me is how clarifying they are about the story, so even as we're removing monuments, we're telling a story like, oh man, those racist southerners put those monuments up and finally we're doing the right thing.

And if you look at these monuments, many of them were manufactured in the north, right? The Lee monument in New Orleans, the first towering monument to Lee in the nation was bronz. steps off the NYU campus, right? So we have this idea that they were put up in the night. This is why organizer Angela Kinlaw would take them down Nola, says these monuments were put up in the daytime. What she means is that every one of those dedications

is happening not in secret, not as an FU to the north, but they're happening in the daytime with hundreds to thousands of people around it. Special trips and trains down from the north. If you look at these dedication speeches, there's a section in many of these speeches where they're like, shout out to all my northern friends. Thanks for coming. Are you all having a good time in New Orleans? Not to mention, C.J.

I always bring this point home. Everybody wanted to be mad at white men. Then white women was dirty. United Daughters of Confederacy. Yeah. They raised the money. And most of them were public school teachers. Children played a big role in those dedication ceremonies. They would have them do little marches and stuff. The UDC put up hundreds of bronze and stone monuments.

But they also worked with a much more malleable material, the minds of children. Monuments were considered a gift to future generations, and so they always chose a child to pull the rope that reveals the monument. And they would choose 13 young girls from the community. They would wear sashes, sort of like a debutan, except across the to'on, to the tons, their hundreds of the tonsetsets the bronze the bronze, the bronze, their th the rope that reveals the monument. And they would choose 13 young girls from the community. They would wear sashes sort of like a debutan, except across the sash would be the names of 13 Confederate states. And then these children were they were simultaneously poisoning our history, our school books, right?

So making sure that they embedded this romanticized, gone with the win version of the Civil War that still exists today and they did that, you know, they got the end. They did that in the wrong way so you know a lot of times people just they don't understand exactly you know the Confederate monuments were put up to educate or to miseducate yeah and you you know and that is one of the things I appreciate about you know it's taking five years on a film I don't recommend it, but sometimes it needs to go that long, but it is, all my time now is spent showing the film to young folks, right,

to seventh grade through college kids. That's what I'm on the road. You ain't on the band list. No, we are on, we are, right? The film that we are talking about cannot be legally shown in public schools in at least 12 states, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right, right? The film that we are talking about cannot be legally shown in public schools in at least 12 states, right? Because all of these states have passed white discomfort laws, which they call CRT bans, right, but these are white discomfort laws, saying that you can be fired as a teacher for teaching anything that makes a student feel guilt, shame, or discomfort. Look up Tennessee's, it's one of the most repressive. Not only does Tennessee allow teachers to be fired for teaching anything that makes kids feel guilt, shame, or discomfort, which I know is all history class, right? But they also allow public schools to be defunded up to $5 million of their state funding. So that when we're talking about, you know, when I, when I, when I, when I, thua, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, thi, thi, thi, their, thin, thin, thin, thin, thin, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, to to to to to to to to to to to to to te, te, tea, tea, tea, tea, tea, tea, tea, tea, tea, tea, tea, tea, tea, tea, tea, tea, tea, tea, tea, tea, tea, their, te, tea, te, te, te, te, te-s, tea, tea, tea, tea, tea, tea, tea, tea, tea, tea, t when we're talking about, you know, when I'm showing kids a scene about, you know, how much the Confederacy wrote down, this is about slavery, right? That's one of my favorite scenes of the film that people are like, this wasn't about

slavery, and then you show the actual documents, and they're like, number one thing we're fighting for, slavery. Mississippi firmly identifies with the cause of slavery. Louisiana looks to the formation of a Southern Confederacy to protect slavery, right? Like they're just, they're out there. When we show kids a scene of what they actually wrote down, or when we show kids a scene of what the UDC did to, you know, dictate what school boards are rejecting, right? The UDC creates standards that are like, reject a book if it says the war was about slavery, reject a book if it says masters were unkind to their slaves, right? The UDC, they did that, they get it done. But when we show students now, you know, we just showed them this week,

when we show students now these clips of the film, the thing they want to talk about is how that's still happening. The thing they want they want they want they want they want they want they want they want they want they want they want they want they want they want they want they want they want they want they want to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they they to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the their.. their. their. their. their. their. their. th. the. the. the. the. the. the. the. toda. today today the. the. the. the. they they they they they they they they they that, and they're doing that more effectively than the UDC ever did, right? If you want to rewrite how a generation thinks about the story of slavery, it's a lot more effective to pass a law that dictates what is taught in school than to raise $100,000 for one monument. So where they mess up on these laws, they always, they're not, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, th, you, you, you, you, you, you, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, the, the, to, the, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, they always, they're not, you know, Republicans, they're smart to they

dumb. So you you want to say, you want to say, break that down. You know, break that down. Or so dumb they're smart. Right, right. Discomfort. What is it? What is it? Divisive concepts? Yeah, what is it, divisive? the, what is, what is, what is, what is, what is, what is, what is, they, they, they, they, they, they, they's they's they's they's they's they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're they're they're, they're, they're they're they're they're they're they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they's they's they's they, they's they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're, they're they're they're they're they're they're smart. they're smart. they're smart. they're smart. You're smart. You're smart. You're smart. You're smart. You're smart. You're smart. they're smart. You're smart. they're smart. they're smart. they're, they're, they're, to understand, you know that goes both ways, right? So what could be divisive is when you come into the classroom, when you talk about civil war and you say states' rights, and you completely omit, the omission of history can be considered divisive and now you can go to the school board. Or if they allow in southern rural spaces, the sons of Confederate veterans, you you know they get to come and do little little assemblies and stuff if that's allowed at your school a little stuff like that that's divisive and you can even flip these laws on Confederate monuments because in some states

they say in up and if anything that's state funded anything that state funded you can't you can't have these divisive concepts if you do that's state funded, anything that's state funded, you can't have these divisive concepts. If you do that, right, then that applied to Confederate monuments, who's paying to maintain that's the state? So you can come right back in, bring your black self in there and say, this, use the law against them. That's what happened in Alabama.

That's how we killed the anti-CRT legislation that came through in 2022. We started helping them understand, like it goes both ways. We can flip it. Tell us how you killed that. What, hold that for after the break, because I want to put a button on this whole conversation, I want to find out how you made that change and what we can do about these statues going forward. How do we keep this fight going, and I, and I, the, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I the the the the the th, I th, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, I thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, we thi, we thi, we thi, we thi, we thi, we thi, we thi, we thi, we thi, we th, we th, we th, we th, we th, we th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, tha, thi, ta, ta, ta, toge tip, tip, tip, tip, tip, tip, tip, tip, tip, tha that change and what we can do about these statues going forward. How do we keep this fight going? And I got a couple solutions.

We need to put our hens together on where these statues can go. Because that's part of the problem too. We can't get rid of the statue. We don't want to put it in the cemetery. We got to successfully get undone there in the state of Alabama, and you've done a lot of legislative work in the state with regards to Confederate monuments. Walk us through that process of lobbying.

Like, what are the steps that it takes to get a statue removed? I guess specifically in Alabama? Let me be clear on lobbying as it related to Confederate monuments. No lobbying, we did no lobbying around that issue. Alabama was flooded with anti-black and inhumane bills this session. So you literally, and by the way, there were bills around Confederate monuments that were directly attacking the work that we did, like making it a felony to put chalk on a monument, you know, somebody chalked a monument.

They just got crazy, but it was so bad that you had to choose between human bodies, like anti-protest laws and what they were doing to child care, which affects, they're, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, and, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their bad that you had to choose between human bodies like anti-protest laws and what they were doing to child care, which affects black women and children disproportionately so, and also anti-CRT bills, that you couldn't even focus on stone, because at the end of the day, right? That's stone. But in terms of how to get a monument down, we're still figuring it out. Our monument is still up. But what I can say is, if you are fighting to get a monument down, keep fighting, but take your eye off of that piece of stone. You got work to do, especially if it's been up for a really long time. That, you know what that mean? That mean, your city is racist. A lot of racism there. A lot their their their their their their their their their th. A lot of, a th. A lot of, a th. A for a really long time. You know what that mean? I mean, your city is racist, a lot of racism there, a lot of white supremacist culture there, and you

have so much work to do around that, to dismantle that. That, you know, when the statute come down, and you can keep on fighting towards that. I mean, we fight them in the courts, they put up an injunction, so you can't even remove it if you wanted to. We filed an amicus brief and intervene, so now we wait 90 days we got to go back to court. I mean it's a process, but you can't you can't just say well I'm trying to take a monument down until it goes down I'm just go home or I'm just going to talk about th th th th th th th th th th th to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to thus to thus thus thus the the the the. the. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. thi. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the to. I'm the. I'm just. to to the. to te. te. te. today. today, I try. today, I today, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm, try, I'm, I'm just, tod home. Or I'm just going to talk about this. You have a multitude of issues to talk about, and that's white supremacy. You can find it everywhere. Which is also why it makes sense that Project Say Something is working

to fight the hysteria over CRT, because it's like, you can have your eyes set on being like, thang Robert Elylea shouldn't be here here here, th.......... th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. to be, to be, the, to be, the, the, to be, the, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, to, to, to be, to, to be, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to, to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to be, to be, to be, to be, to be, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, toe, they. toe. the. throwne. te. te. te. te. te. toe. toe. theanananananane. toe. toe, toe. Lee shouldn't be here. But while that's happening, while you are petitioning a court or a local government to take that down, a state government is passing laws to make it illegal for you to tell kids what Robert E. Lee did. And I want you to know this. So you talked about lobbying in Alabama. This is my first year.

Oh my God. I mean, first of all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all all. I, I th. I th. I th. I th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. tho. tho. thi. thi. tho. tho. tho. tho. tho. tho. I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, I, th. thi. thi. the. the. the. than. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. tho. th. tho. tho. than. I'm, first of all, I was talking to Republicans, which I thought I would never do. I mean, I had my mind, I don't know what I thought I was going to do, but I want to actually like talk to and have conversations with white Republican men who were actually sponsoring bills like anti-CRT. So, um, Representative Oliver, that's who who was actually sponsoring the anti-CRT bill. He told me that it was about activism. It was not. I need y'all to understand.

Yes, the children and the teachers were like, they're experiencing this too, but the root issue is he wanted to stop activism. This man told me that he believed that, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, what, th, th, th, thi, th. that, who was, who, who, who, who was, who was, who was, who was, who was, who was, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, who, th. the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, th. th. th. th. th. that, that, that, that, that, that, that, was, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's, w. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. too, but the root issue is he wanted to stop activism. This man told me that he believed that, what do he say, that the George Floyd and all of the Black Lives Matter and all that stuff, that's what caused racial discourse for this, that's the root of it. So he wanted to do something, and he was smart, and you know the Republicans were like, where is all this rhetoric coming from? All these intelligent conversations. that. that. that, that, that, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he he's believed he believed, he believed he's believed he's believed he's believed he's believed he's believed, he believed he's believed he's believed he's believed, he believed, he believed, he believed, he believed, the Republicans were smart they were like where is all this rhetoric coming from all these these intelligent conversations let's figure it out CRT did it that's what's energizing the people so that that was the root cause of it what we had to do to fight the legislation is have conversations like I had a

three hour conversation with a representative and just kind of try to help him understand how it goes both ways. It's gonna go both ways. It really feels like marriage counseling without the counselor. Like in trying to people trying to get through to one another. Like don't you understand this issue? No, and by the way if you speak about it again, we're gonna lock you up. And it's, it, they're going to go. And it. It, it. It, it. And it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it's going to go to go, it's going to go to go to go to go both both both both both both both both, it's going to go to go both both both to go both to go both both both both both both both both both both both both both both both both both both both both both both both both, it, it's to go, it's to go, it, it's to go, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go to go both to go both ways, to go both ways, to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to go boththrough to one another. Like, don't you understand this issue? No, and by the way, if you speak about it again, we're gonna lock you up. And it seems like there's a long orchestrated attack of not just trying to run out the clock legally

through just a bunch of legal paperwork and come back to court and continuances, but it's also setting laws in place that present new hurdles for you, while also running the the the the the the the the to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to speak, to speak, to speak, to speak, to speak, to speak, to speak, to speak, to speak, to speak, to speak, to speak, to speak, to speak, to speak, to speak, to speak, to speak, to speak, to speak, to speak, to speak, to speak, to speak, to speak, to speak, to speak, to speak, to speak, to speak, to speak, to speak, to speak, the the the in place that keep that present new hurdles for you while also running a multi-pronged attack, like you said I love that, that it's just stone, but also abortion trans rights, anti-gay and and black and se, and that all becomes part of the conversation so it's hard to deal with that while also try not to be run over by a psychopath on a motorcycle. You got it you got to you got to choose your pain. You got to choose your pain but but anyway when it came to killing the anti-CRT bill I mean we did a public hearing there were other

organizations involved as well and this was a coalition right and the project say something was at thethe coalition called the public hearing. Projects say something was at the forefront of that. In that public hearing, we explained to them how you were, they were gonna be impacted as well. And then we just kept showing up. We sent information, cheat sheets to Republicans and Democrats. We tried, we came up with amendments. We did everything we could to kill it and then one day we looked up and it was dead and there

wasn't a lot of protesting around the issue to be honest it was just you know elbow grease really but we don't know it could come back yeah I mean that's the I mean that's the subtidal if this was a franchise it's like white supremacy it could come back the Confederacy it could come back. It could that I I I I I I I I I that I that I that I that that that that that that that's that's that's that's th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th the that the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th the the th the the the the the th th th the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th's the... It's gonna come back. That's the subtitle. If this was a franchise, it's like white supremacy. It could come back, the Confederacy, it could come back. It could come back. So you just kind of repeat the same cycle, but lobbying was not easy. Where do these statues go after they...

So there's this guy, and we gotta try and get him on the show C.J. Devon Henry, right? He's a contract, black contract, black brother, out of Richmond. He's one of those black brothers. One of them black brothers. His only function in life for the last two years has just been riding around the southeast with his trucks taking down Confederate monuments. Like they've taken down like almost like well over 20 monuments just in various cities all over the Southeast. And I want to ride with him just to see where we dropping them off at?

Like forget the bulletproof vest, forget risky your life. What is the final destination for these places, number one? And number two, Camille, just as a broader point, should black people be the ones getting paid to take these down? Is that like a good thing? Is that a good black business? Or should white people be the ones? Should it be. Or should it be a white business who takes it down?

I'm toward that's a money? I'm towar. I'm they they they they they. I'm they. I'm thoreore got to the point the city got to the point where they taking it down yeah brother should get that money because think about it reparations yes it's it's and it's so wild because as you describe him it almost sounds like a Johnny apple seed of our day right like like this one person who has to go, like, that sounds like a fable, right? Like, there is a man who travels the country to take the statues death, right?

Like, John Henry, some John Henry-esque with his modern, with his modern- His name is Devon Henry. Oh, wow, that's the storybook. But also, like, when you look at this, that's just the, that's that's that's that's the absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd absurd, that, that, that's that at this, that's just the, that's the absurdity in New Orleans, it came to a point where the white mayor, right, couldn't find any, any cranes, even though the city is full of cranes, right? Everyone, you know, these white businesses were like, don't let him, don't give them the tools to take it down. So he had to call in black contractors from Atlanta to come in and take it down in the middle of the night wearing swat gear. Right? So it's just this, it's a portrait of

the obstacles that white supremacy puts in place to even move it stuff, let alone destroy, let alone redistribute the wealth from, but like if you want to move that, we will make you move, we we will make it so that a black man has to come in from in from in from in from in from in from in from in from in from in from in from in from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from from, to come in from, the wealth from, but like if you want to move that, we will make you move, we will make it so that a black man has to come in from out of town and do this in the middle of the night wearing a bulletproof vest. But there's also something really hopeful to that, that when the Lee Monument went up, in 1890, the black paper said out loud, the Negro put these up and he's going to be there to to to to to to to to to to to to their their their their their their their their their their their their their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. the black. the black. the black. the black. the black. the black. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. I. So. So. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And. And, the the the t t t t t t t the t the the t the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the paper said out loud, the Negro put these up and he's going to be there to take these down when it's time. So there's also like a beautiful poetry about seeing black people be like, yeah, it's

actually time, it's been time, and we're going to take these down and figure out new uses for those spaces. In Charlottesville, they were considering at one point, boiling that monument down and making a new piece of art out of the boiled metal, right? And so there's the realm of imagination that we can have around what to actually put in these spaces that uplift folks, where to actually put the old statues, we think we think in the world this is the only rogue government who put up statues to themselves, like look to what happened to the statues of Hitler and to the statues of the leaders of the Soviet Union, right? Like those aren't still up in town squares, those places figure out places to put those that are not speaking for everyone.

You know, I want to talk a little bit about, you know, the brother who, you know, you made that real, the SWAT got, the sw sw sw sw sw sw sw sw sw sw sw sw sw swi, and the the the th... And th th th th thi, and thi, and thi, and thi, and thi, and thi, you know, you know, you know, you know, you know, you, you, you, you, you know, you know, you know, you know, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you th. th. th. th. th. th. You, you th. You th. You're, you th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. thin, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho. tho. tho, tho, tho, the SWAT gear and all of that, and just to take it, take it seriously. I mean, when you think about should we have to, it's a mixed bag. No, we shouldn't have to, and be unsafe, and get death threats, and have to deal with the mental anguish of fearing for your life as you take them down, but then as a, as a business owner, I'm like, you know, you do, you do, you do, you do, you do, you do, you do, you do, you do, you do, you to, you do, you do, you could, you could, you could, you could, you could, you could, you could, you could, you could, you could, you could, you could, you could, you could, you could, you could, you could, you could the the th, th, you, you th, you th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the, th, the, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, thi, thi, thin, thin, thi, thi, thin, thi, thi, should should should thi, thin, thi, should should thi, thi, should thi, thi, you take them down but then as a as a business owner I'm like you know you do you could have like a monopoly on it and like you know you know and I don't know how much you charge in to do this but you know that the most good but that that could be a positive with the eternal vigil they refused your suggestion to move it to a cemetery there in Alabama. So where else can we move them?

Let's just bounce around. Because I've, I kind of like the idea, C.J., I feel like did you, did this make the edit of Neutral Ground of just like a Confederacy park? Where it's just, you put them all in one spot. Like in Atlanta, they have Stone Mountain, where's Robertty, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it, it's the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the, it's the, it's they. It's they. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's they they their their their their tha, their, their, their, their, the tha, the tham. So, the the the the the the the the, the, the, the the, the the, the their the they they they they they they they they they they they they they else else else else else, it's, it's, it's, they. theylou, tha, tha, tha. thaloulou. thalalalou. Soa'a'a'a'a, where else else else else else else else, where else else, tha, in one spot. Like in Atlanta, they have Stone Mountain, where's Robert E. Lee and then, it's like a little, it's a bootleg Mount Rushmore. It's a Confederate Mount Rushmore. Yeah, yeah.

Mount Rushmore, but with more races. Hold up y'all though, wait a minute. My sister Maymuna, she live over there. Black people live in Stone Mountain. They, but, butthat stuff around them. You know, but maybe somewhere that's white, like a white place, they can, like, Utah, I don't know, like a... I mean, that's the problem with parks, though, right? Like Stone Mountain is the biggest Confederate monument in the country, literally carved into a mountain. The UDC originally wanted that to be a monument to the KKK. They said this out loud. They wanted riders in sheets on Stone Mountain. But the problem with parks is that if it's a public

park like it is in Stone Mountain, people use the fact that black people go there as justification for keep that the monument is okay. How many people in Georgia have said out loud? Well, if it was a problem, why would black people go to the park? So, the the the, the, the, the, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, to th. th. th. to, th. th. th. their, their, their, their, their, to be, th. tho, their, their, th. to, to, to, to, th. to, th. to, th. th. th. to, th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. to, th. to, to, to, to, to, th. th. th. th. the. to, the. thin, to, their, their, their, their, their, their, toe. toe. the toea. toea. thea. thea. the. th was a problem, why would black people go to the park? So wherever you put it, it needs to be almost a private space where just people going to have a picnic doesn't, doesn't get spun as somehow support for the thing. And then, I mean, in a perfect world, you know, I'm not against destruction, like burning them or like making other art. I mean, I don't think that's going to work for the rural South, right? Then do we create like a, like just a little corner of the city when you go to a baseball game or a sporting event, they have all the legendary athletes out in front of the city. That's right. Like that, but like just a little section of town. Because these folks ain't gonna let go

whatever it is they hanging on to. So if you turn the statue into gravel and let kids play on there to playgrounds gonna be some problems. So right? The biggest problem is where can you move it without it to to to to g. to gr. to go go go go go go go go go go go go go go go go go go. the ground the ground the ground the ground the ground the ground the ground the gra. the gra. to go. the gra. the grav. the grav. the the the the the the the their. the their. to play. to play. to play. their. their. their. their. their. the st. the st. the the the the their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. the problems. So, right? The biggest problem is where can you move it without it becoming a shrine? right? So if you turn it into gravel, are folks still going to come and be like, ah, I'm collecting the gravel of my ancestors? This is some good confederate gravel right here. Or if you move it into museums, right? Like a bunch of the monuments in Richmond are being moved into museums.the question of black history museums when they take in a Confederate monument, on one side it's like, ooh, we can really tell

the truth about this thing. We can really bring the shame forward about what was said and it's indoors. But also, I don't want to be at a Black History Museum, and then see Neo Confederates coming there to teach their sons about how good Robert E. Lee is. I think you could have that you could have a Confederate part of a Black History Museum and just call that that exhibit the supervisors. Yes, yes. No. No. No. No. No. You have to go into the basement. What bothers me the most about it is white people. Why do you need? These monuments were created again to intimidate black people. You can go to the cemetery and see your deceased loved one.

Nothing is stopping you, but why do you have to have these monuments, these shrines to white supremacy? Why is that so important to you? Because they were definitely erected on the premise of intimidating black people. So, why does that need to stay for you? You need to understand why they were the the the the the the the the the the the they they they they they they they they they they they were they were they were they were they were they were they were they were they were they were they were they were their their their their their their the cemetery their the thematery to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to the cemetery to to to the cemetery to to the cemetery the cemetery to the cemetery. the cemetery. the cemetery. the cemetery. the cemetery. the cemetery they were they were they were they were they were they were they were they were they were they were they were they were they were they were erected.. they were they were they were the. they were thea thea thea.a. thea. they were thea. So why does that need to stay for you? You need to understand why they were erected. Why do you need this? Because lies are more comfortable than the truth.

And it's easier to live in what you've been taught, rather than unpack why it may not be the truth at all. And then have to question everything that you've ever been taught. It's red pill, blue pill land at that point. Going forward, Camille, what's next for projects say something? What's the next horizon? Because I know we still have, you know, the statues themselves that you all are fighting for, but what, what are, what are some other things that are on the horizon for your organization? Well, we still have to have oppression, the the the the the the the the the the the the the tha the the the the the the the to the to the to to to the to to to to to to to to to that's that's to the the that's that's that's to to to to to that's to to to to to to to to to to to to tho.... th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. to th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I, th. I th. I, th. th. that's that's the. the. to that's to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to that are on the horizon for your organization? Well, we still have to- What new oppressions?

That's what I'm trying to ask. What's the new oppression? What's the hot new oppression hit in these streets? The hottest, the hottest is now we have to be in federal court, right? We made the post and the LA treated us and the vague noise ordinances and how we had to silently protest because we couldn't even use our voices anymore without the threat of arrest, right? So now we're fighting in federal courts, the ACLU, Duke Law, and the National Laws and the National Laws Guild is fighting in federal courts. And the most, and it's not a victory, really, right? It's really sad that it had to go that that that that that that that that th th th th th to go th to go to go th to go to go to go th to go to go to go to go to go th to go to go to go th to go tho to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to to thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi thi the thi thi the thi the the the the the the most and it's not a it's not a

victory really right it's really sad that it had to go that far we spent a year and a half trying to negotiate with police with our local police department when they were they were completely silent they would not work with us and now we're you know in federal court which is not fun right at all so so that's one fight. We will continue to fight anti-black legislation across the state of Alabama. We will continue to fight for equitable child care policy. That's something that really, really disproportionately affects black women and black and brown children.

Oh my goodness, we are doing the health care navigator grant. So we're helping black people get access to the market place. I, I mean, we have all the black people get access to the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the leg la leg. La leglax black black black leg. Black legislation leg. Black legislation leg. La leg. La leg. La leg. Black legislation legislation legislation legislation legislation legislation legla. leglax leglax legislation leglax legislation leg. leg. the the the the the the the the the the leg la the leg la the leg la the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the th. Black legislation legislation legislation legislation. Black legislation. the leg. Black legislation. the health care navigator grant. So we're helping black people get access to the marketplace. I mean, we have all kinds of projects that we do all of the time. What's next is we continue to expose white supremacist culture in Alabama and join forces and coalition build. And it's a work in progress all the time. CJ, is there plans for the neutral ground too? More neutral. More neutral. More neutral. Neutralist?

Still not neutral. It's never been neutral. Neutral. Too fast to neutral. You know, I wanted to take time before we had a sequel, you know, like, you know, when you spend five years making a movie, you're not immediately like, let's get back out there. But our sequel just kind of happened naturally, right? Like discovering that your own film about the Confederacy, about how white women were able to rewrite textbooks to make people think slavery was fine, right? To discover that that film is now banned in over 12, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like, like people think slavery was fine, right, to discover that that film is now banned in over 12 states, that's a natural sequel.

So that is what I've been spending my time on as we show the film to young folks of just being on the road and trying to show what this panic over critical race theory actually looks like. Right, North Dakota just passed their law, and it says that for that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, that, thii, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thin, thi, thiiiiiiiiiiiiiii, thiiiii, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, Dakota just passed their law, and it says that for the purposes of this law, you cannot teach kids that racism is anything besides individual bias. So it is illegal in North Dakota to teach folks that racism exists outside of, I don't like some people. So that's what I'm spending my time on trying to be in communities and be like, what does this fight look like? What does it, what is, th, what is, the racism, the racism, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, th, th, thus, thus, thi, thi, thi, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, thus, thus, thus, thus, thus, thus, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, thus, thus, threat, threat, threat, threat, threat, threat, threat, the, threat, the, threat, the, threat, the, the, the, the, I'm spending my time on trying to be in communities and be like, what does this, what does this fight look like? What does it look, what does critical race theory mean to people who are not white and are not screaming? What does it look like for folks who have been in these communities who have been before the CRT panic,

being like, hey, we need some, you know, like one willco in Williamson County, Tennessee, they're like, for years, we've just been saying we need school policies for what happens when someone calls my kid the N-word, right? And then because of this hysteria, then the attempt to get actual policies to protect children of color is now being cast as woke education and critical race theory. So that's the, that is the sequel that we're making. Why is it illegal to show the neutral the neutral the neutral the neutral the neutral the the the the that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's. that's that's that's that's t t t t t t t together. together. t together. that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's to. to. the, that's the sequel that we're making. Why is it illegal to show the neutral ground in 12 states? Oh, that's stoke. Well, I wish we did not have to make it.

Well, listen, you just gotta keep, with every negative, you can make it into a positive every time and just keep educating people based on whatever they throw at you. Yeah, and you know, I think it's almost like. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's the the, it's, it's the the, it's the, it's the, it's the, it's the, it's the, it's the the that's the that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's that's thi, it's thi, it's thi, it's thi, it's thi, it's thi, it's thi, it's the the the the the the the the the the the, it's the, it's the, it's the, it's the, it's the, it's the, it's the, it's the, it's throw at you. Yeah and you know I think it's it's almost like the moment where where in a sci-fi movie you kill the monster and then the heroes look up and they're like oh no the monsters in the air right? It's like we pulled up these Confederate monuments but then the particles have gone into the air and have now become laws that are stronger than th. th. th. the th. the th. the th. the th. th. the th. th. the th. the th. the th. th. the th. thi thi thi thi thi thi thi. thi. the the ea thi. thi. the ea. the, the's th. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, th. th. th. th. th. th is is th is th. th is th is th is th is th. th is th. th is th. th is th. thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, the is the is the is the is the is the is the is theeeee is the is theee thee the the the the is the is the laws that are stronger than the monuments themselves and could end up lasting longer. So as we are panicked about the Glenn Yonkins coming to power, as we are panicked about all these states, you know, passing Stop Woke and Don't Say Gaye and trying to ban all these

books both about race and about gender, I do think we need to tell success stories like Camila is talking about in Alabama in Alabama in Alabama.. their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, and their, their, their, their, their, their, their, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, their, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, their, their, their, their, their, and, and, their, their, and their, their, their, their, their, their, their, thi, thi, the, the, thean, toean, toean, toean, thean, thean, thean, thean, thean, thean, the, thi, to tell success stories like Camila's talking about in Alabama. That there are places where we are beating back candidates who are trying to scare white people into believing that black people are taken something from their education. Right? That in Tennessee, the very women's moms group that tried to ban a Ruby Bridges book failed. There are districts all over the country where we are winning and showing that parents actually want their kids to learn history. So I think that's a story that we need to keep telling too, that like the enemy is, it is in the air, but we are also doing our work. And also, just to speak on the Confederate monument thing, one of my biggest irritants was when other cities would be like, well, we got ours down. down, you didn't. Like, so did you kill racist?

So did you kill race? What, well, you've been out there for seven years? You probably not doing it. I'm like, it's like, sir, you still disenfranchised voters. Sir, you just elected a governor that. We have some other things to focus again. It's symbolic, like you gotta you gotta look at the bigger picture at all times and know that there's plenty of

work to be done well Camille Bennett thank you for the work that you have done and thank you for the work that you continue to do CJ Hunt I will see you somewhere around New York City and whatever your next endeavor is into racism, count me out. I want no parts of that space. Good luck. Good luck with whatever racist reenactment you decide to show face at this time. Because I know you're going up to Annie and I want no part of your tiki torch extravaganza.

Thank you so much. Daily Show listeners, you heard it here. Roy is a hundred percent part of your tiki torch extravaganza. Thank you so much. Daily Show listeners, you heard it here. Roy is 100% part of it. I need to just say quickly, Projects Say Something is grossly underfunded, like many grassroots organizations that are founded and led by black women, donate to us. Like, I understand people care. All the emails are fine, but your funds are needed. We are underfunded and we need funding.

You can go to W.W.W.W. Project Say Something. that too and donate any time. I'm good. Put me down for 500 right now. What? Let's go. Project Say something. dot org, right? Yes. Okay. All right. You need the text. I remind a text of you you guys. No, I'm gonna do it right now. You go over to it. Trust me. My mama

hold. My mama listen to every episode of this podcast. Okay. All right. Put me down for 600 because I care more than Roy. Wow. You're gonna start this shit. Wow. Wow. You. the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the text. I. I text. I text. I'll. I'll. text. text. I'll. I'll. I'll. I'll text. I'll text. I'll text. I'll text. I'll text. I text. I text. I text. I text. I text. I text. I text. I text. I text. I text. I text. I text. I text. I text. I text. I text. I text. I text. I text. I. I. I. I. I. I. I text. I. I text. I'll. I'll. I'll. I'll. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'm. I'll. text. text. text. I'll. text. I'll. I'll. text. I'll. I'll. text. I'll. text. I'll. I'll. I'll. I me down for 600 because I care more than Roy. Wow. Oh, you gonna start this shit. This is shit you gonna start at the end of the podcast. Listen, listen, listen, thank you. Thank you. I'll match the six. Oh.

Everyone, this is what you should be doing with your friend group. You should be like, I'm donating to Project Say Something. You should join me. Well, let me go do that right now before I forget, because I do be forgetting. Camille Bennett, C.J. Hunt, thank you so much for going beyond the scenes for us to head over to W.W.W.W.Project Say Something.org to donate to this amazing organization. This has been a special preview of Beyond the Scenes from the Daily Show with Trevor Noah. Don't miss new episodes every Tuesday. Available on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.