The Daily Signal - Black Ex-Liberal Former Cop ’Woke Up’ to ‘Reality’: America Isn’t So Racist After All

Episode Date: August 3, 2021

Brandon Tatum, a black former police officer in Tucson, Arizona, says he started out as a liberal, but through a personal evolution over time, he became a conservative. "I started out like most young, black men in the country, where default is being liberal. Default is being a Democrat," he explains. "All of the Democrat positions that you see most African-American men believing today is what I believed before, even though I wasn't politically involved as much as I am today. But over time, I began to wake up and be more involved, and I woke up to what the reality was," Tatum said. "A lot of that happened when I was in college. I started to see that the country isn't as racist as I thought it was." We also cover these stories: The Senate is moving forward with a 2,700-page, $1 trillion infrastructure bill. A report from Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee asserts that COVID-19 was accidentally released from a lab at China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology. Former President Barack Obama turns 60 on Wednesday and plans to celebrate with a huge birthday bash at his mansion on Martha’s Vineyard, a Massachusetts island, this coming weekend. But concerns about COVID-19 and the delta variant are prompting some to question whether the party plans, with 475 invited guests, including A-list celebrities, should proceed.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Tuesday, August 3rd. I'm Virginia Allen. And I'm Rachel Del Judas. Brandon Tatum is a former Tucson police officer. He started off as a liberal, but through an evolving journey, part of which was time spent in college became a conservative. He joins me today on the Daily Signal podcast to share his story and also talk about why he does not believe America is a racist country. Today's interview was recorded at the Turning Point USA Student Action Summit. So please excuse any background music.

and noise. And don't forget, if you are enjoying this podcast, please be sure to leave us a review and a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and encourage others to subscribe. Now onto our top news. The Senate is moving forward with a $1 trillion infrastructure bill, which the House passed last week. Senate negotiators worked through the weekend to complete a draft of the more than 2,700-page bill. The next step is for senators to debate amendments. As of Monday morning, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said there were already three amendments being considered. Schumer said Sunday evening that in the end, the bipartisan group of senators have produced a bill that will dedicate substantial resources to repair, maintain, and upgrade our nation's physical infrastructure. The bill allots $550 billion for infrastructure, such as roads, rail, electric vehicle charging stations, and replacement of lead water.

pipes. The money is on top of the $450 billion already approved for such projects. Schumer is encouraging his Senate colleagues to act quickly on the legislation ahead of the August recess, which is scheduled to begin next week. A report from Republicans on the House Foreign Affairs Committee has found that COVID-19 was accidentally released from a lab at China's Wuhan Institute of Rology. The report says that the preponderance of evidence suggests that SARS-Cove 2 was accidentally released from the Wuhan Institute of Virology Laboratory sometime prior to September 12, 2019, and that the virus or viral sequence that was genetically manipulated was likely collected in a cave in Yunnan province, People's Republic of China, between 2012 and 2015.

The report from the House Republicans also found that Chinese Republican Party officials, Wuhan lab researchers, and potentially American citizens all directly engaged in efforts to obfuscate information related to the origins of the virus and to suppress public debate of a possible lab leak. Former President Barack Obama is about to turn 60 and plans to celebrate with a big party at his home on Martha's Vineyard this coming weekend. But concerns about COVID-19 and the Delta variant are prompting some to question whether the birthday party plans should proceed. Axios reports that someone familiar with the party for Obama said all guests will be required to be tested for COVID-19. The party will be held outside and reportedly a COVID-covid coordinator,

will be present to make sure all protocols are followed. Axios also reports that more than 450 guests are expected to attend the party, and another 200 persons will staff the event. Hollywood director Stephen Spielberg is among those expected to attend. A White House spokesperson told Axios, while President Biden is unable to attend this weekend, he looks forward to catching up with former President Obama soon and properly welcoming him in to the over-60 club.

Governor Andrew Cuomo is saying he is asking and suggesting that private businesses, such as stadiums and restaurants, serve customers only if they are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Here's what Cuomo had to say Monday at a press conference via CBS News. Private businesses, I am asking them and suggesting to them go to vaccine-only admission. Go to vaccine-only admission. We did this. Radio City Music Hall months ago reopened

vaccine only sold out all the shows sports arenas they went up to about 90% vaccine only private businesses bars

restaurants go to a vaccine only admission I believe it's in your best business interest. You know, if I go to a bar and I want to have a drink and I want to talk to the person next to me, I want to know that that person is vaccinated. If I go to a restaurant and I'm sitting at a table and the table right next to me, I want to know that they're vaccinated.

I believe it's in your business interest to run a vaccine-only establishment. We're the first thing in the nation to have something called the exception. Celsius pass. Rob Mejica made it a reality. We have passes. They're on apps. They're on phones. It's very simple. You can operate a restaurant and just say, you have to show that you were vaccinated when you walk in the door. It's going to help your business not hurt it. Call Madison Square Garden. Call radio city music call. Call the Nets. Call the Islanders. Call the Mets. call the businesses that have done it. Call the theaters that have done it.

If you say to people, well, if you don't have a vaccine, you can't get into these establishments, then you'll see a real incentive to get vaccinated. And again, with our Excelsior Pass, you can do it. You can do it easily. Now stay tuned for my conversation with Brandon Tatum. Americans use firearms to defend themselves between 500,000 and 2 million times every year.

But God forbid that my mother has ever faced with a scenario where she has to stop a threat to her life. But if she is, I hope politicians, protected by professional armed security, didn't strip her of the right to use the firearms she can handle most competently. To watch the rest of Heritage expert Amy Swearer's testimony on assault weapons before the House Judiciary Committee head to the Heritage Foundation YouTube channel. There you'll find talks, events, and documentaries, backed with the reputation of the nation's most broadly Public Policy Research Institute. Start watching now at heritage.org slash YouTube.

And don't forget to subscribe and share. We're joined on the Daily Signal podcast by Brandon Tatum. He's a former Tucson police officer, Brandon. Thank you so much for being with us on the Daily Signal. It's an honor. Thank you. Well, can you start off by telling us first about, so we're here talking at a conservative conference,

and I want to talk about your career in law enforcement and some of the things you did. But I first want to talk about yourself and your journey in the conservative movement Were you always a conservative? Was that something that you gradually learned about? How did you get to where you are when it comes to what you believe in terms of conservatism? Well, you know, I started out just like most, you know, young black men in the country

where default is being liberal. Default is being a Democrat. And so all of the Democrat positions that you see most African-American men believe in today is what I believed before, even though I wasn't politically involved as much as I am today. But over time, I begin to wake up and be more involved than I was. I woke up to what the reality was. A lot of that happened when I was in college. I started to see that the country isn't as racist as I thought it was.

You know, I'm in a majority white university, and I was seeing things that was perpetuated to me as a young man that was just becoming unrable. I got saved in 2008. I found Christ, and that really helped me as well, start to look at people, not by their race, per se, but by the fact that we're all guys' children. And I judge you based on your character.

The Martin Luther King mantra, is something that I internalized more when I got saved. And then when I became a police officer, I was still a liberal. I voted for Barack Obama. Thank you, Barack Obama, because Barack Obama is what really made me leave the Democrat plantation in what I call the plantation. And so I paid taxes for the first time, a significant amount of taxes when I was a cop. And I said, I need to be more politically involved because I don't like these taxes.

What is happening here? You know, I thought I was going to get an apartment, a car. And with these taxes, I ain't going to bid about nothing. And so it made me feel like I need to know what's going on. So then Barack Obama started talking real bad about police, and that really turned me off. And I opened my eyes and understanding to the other side. I was totally inspired by Ben Carson and Donald Trump. And so Donald Trump emerged.

I loved the fact that he was keeping it real and being himself authentic. Wasn't a politician, big money man. I like him. And so that kind of pushed me more to realizing that I'm more on the conservative side than I would ever be. be on the liberal side. Well, you had mentioned that it was President Obama that made you a conservative. Can you tell us more about that and how that happened and what specifically made you start thinking and make that switch? Yeah, you know, it's funny because I think a lot of people become conservative, not because of conservatives, but because of liberals, you know,

so it was, it was policing because I was a police officer at the time. I was on duty in the streets, patrolling every day, and he was really making negative statements about police regarding police shootings and he was never correcting the record. Like he was saying the Cambridge police, I think they were Cambridge police. They were acting stupidly, right? And he made that statement and they weren't wrong.

We came to find out they were incredibly accurate in them detaining a person that they thought was breaking into a house and he never corrected it. And then he talks about, you know, Trayvon Martin would have been like his son. And it's like, what are you talking about? Your son would never be like Trayvon Martin.

He'd be in the hood buying skittles and running down the street and getting the altercations with people. And he kept talking about police in a negative way and it just really turned me off to the point where I said, I would never respect anybody who wouldn't support the men and women who wear the uniform. I don't care who it is. It could be my mama. You know, I lose respect for people that don't respect police. And that was the genesis of the downfall for me being what I would call a Democrat or a liberal. We've had quite a career in law enforcement. You were Tucson police officer for six years.

You became a SWAT operator, field training officer, general instructor, public information officer. Can you tell us about first how you became interested in law enforcement and then maybe some of your memories or something that stood out to you from your time in your career in law enforcement? Yeah, so I started out when I was younger. I didn't like police officers, you know, growing up, they were racist white people. That's what I heard. You know, that's what I was taught and what I thought. I actually got arrested when I was eight years old for smoking marijuana in a vacant house. Me and seven, six of my other cousins and my brother, we all got arrested for smoking.

We, I mean, we were doing some nefarious things at the time. It was a pretty traumatic experience to a certain degree. You know, they pulled guns on us and stuff like that because we were in a vacant house. And they put us all in a patrol car. We got put in handcuffs. We went to the substation. And the most traumatic thing wasn't really the police. It was the fact that my dad showed up and I thought he was going to kill us.

So that was the most trauma that I had. That experience, you know, kind of scared me when it comes to law enforcement. But I needed a job. I mean, I was in the NFL draft in 2010. I didn't get drafted. My mentor told me that I need to turn the page. You know, hey, if it's not working out for you need to do something, you've got a child, you've got responsibilities. And so I said, you know, I'm going to apply for everything in the city of Tucson.

And the policing was one of them. And I didn't think they would call me back. You know, I knew nothing about being a police officer. And the funny thing is I had an argument with my, at the time, my fiancee. And I remember the next morning, the police department called me, Tucson police called me. And I didn't think nothing about that. I thought that she called a police on me. And I'm like, I can't believe she caught a cops on me.

She won't get me arrested over an argument over the phone. And then they were like, you apply for the job, right? And I'm like, oh, oh, okay, yeah, well, now we could talk. I almost hung up on them. So then I, then I said, well, I need to figure out what the heck is going on because I know nothing about policing. I did a ride along and I was blown away.

Officer Champagne blew me away. I saw a hero in Champagne that I've never seen in another person. And I said, you know what, I want to be like, I want to be a hero. And that's why I joined the police department. Working in law enforcement, what have you learned about what general people, the general public, think of police. Also with the added issue of racism where people think police are racist, what's your perspective on that? And how should that be addressed?

Well, people have no idea what police officers do. Even people that support police officers have almost no idea what they actually do. Policing is a very different monster. It's a very different profession that most people understand. And if they do ride-along or they were actually a police officer like I was, then you realize that it's so much. much more going on here than what people may understand. Also, the majority of the people who are anti-police, they're completely wrong. You know, when you talk about policing being a racist institution,

that is the biggest lie that I've heard in a very long time. Police officers and policing in America is probably the least racist institution in America. Why do you say that, Mr. Tatum? What person can be a racist and put your life on the line for the people that you hate that you racist against? It's almost an impossibility. Every day you go out, you don't get to pick what people you serve on a call. You have to go and serve people with your life.

I'm talking about your, like, this is not a video game. You don't die and hit the reset button and come back. Like when you die, it's final. When you get injured, you get critically injured, it's final. Your friends die in the line of duty is final. You have to kill somebody is final. You wouldn't do all that stuff in a black community if you was a racist white Ku Klux Klan police officer.

Because most of it is not arrested people and put them in prison. Most of it is serving and protecting people. And then there's occasions where you have to put people with a little. way. But, you know, it's the least racist organization that I've ever been a part of. And I think it's a very heroic profession. That's something that I've learned. And I have an incredible respect for people that put on the badge. It's hard to explain how difficult it is to be a police officer, especially now. I mean, the stress of being a cop, the things that you see that you can never unsee. You don't get a chance to put a filter and a blur over a person that is going 80 miles per hour,

down a public road hit a light pole so you know what that's going to end up looking like. A guy getting run over by three cars on a freeway. You don't get to unsee that. A man beating his wife to the point where her eyes are swollen and blood is coming out of eyes. You don't get a chance to unsee those things.

And so being a police officer is incredibly difficult. It's incredibly inspiring at the same time. So that's one of the biggest things that I took away from when I actually became a cop. Thank you for sharing that. You had mentioned something earlier about how your dad stepped in when you all were in that vacant house.

Oh, yeah. And how he was that, he was the person that showed up and, you know, called you on the carpet. How important are dads in today's society and what would you, what do you have to say about the crisis of fatherhood? I think we see this in so many different communities, the black community, but other communities as well. What would your advice and why our dad's so important today for society? Yeah, great, great question. Men are incredibly, you know, men are incredibly an incredible asset. to our community, men in general, and then fathers are even more incredible to the family.

You know, I think that young men, if I didn't have a dad, I wouldn't be here. If I had some, because my mama, I'm going to be honest, I love my mama. She wasn't going to come to the little holding cell and do what my daddy did. My daddy came in there like he was in the W.E or something. I thought it was Huck Hogan in there. He said he'd be going to kill us and everything. That healthy fear of my father kept me out of a lot of things. Also, people don't understand how invaluable a man is to a young man.

When you see an example of who you can become, you don't have to imagine it. You don't have to rely on an outside source to determine who you are, what your legacy is. Seeing your father, he don't even have to talk to you. Just seeing the man that created you is something that's so inspiring subconsciously to a lot of young men. The walls of our society are on the backs of men, not women. Men are responsible for the fallout. Men are responsible for the recovery.

Men need to be in their proper position if we want to do great things in this country. And if we want to see a change in, you know, young people in the inner city, we want to see a change in marriages, all this stuff. The man is responsible. And that's why I think it's so incredibly, you know, important for us to talk about these things. When you look at the Bible, for all the Christians out there, you know, Christ is the head of the church, the man is the head of the household. There is a order that we need to do.

be in order for us to reach success. But the ultimate thing in successful young men is having a father. Well, you went viral in 2016 for some videos that you made on politics and society. Can you tell us about the story behind that and what happened and how that was sort of a rise to where you're at today? Yeah, I mean, I always been a person to keep it 100. You know, I keep it real. I just say what I feel. You know, I'm just me, you know, and so I never made videos before. I never thought about making the videos. But I went to a Donald Trump rally because I wanted to see it. Is this guy racist, white supremacists like they say he is? Do black people get kicked out of his rallies?

Or are these people making up something? I want to see for myself. He kicked me out of here, then I'm going to know. And I win. I was blown away. I was like, this is the coolest dude ever. He's probably my favorite politician. And these leftists are nut jobs.

They're out of control. They're outside screaming. And one of them called me a white supremacists. And I was like, you guys are completely lost. And so with that inspired me to just say, I'm going to document this on a video because the 100 followers that I have we'll see what they think about this. I had no idea.

I didn't even know what Fox. I didn't know what Fox and Friends was. I didn't know nothing, but I'd never watch Fox. And so when I made that video and it went viral, I remember waking up and thinking, oh, I'm going to get fired. They're going to fire me. You know, because I did talk some trash about the guy that got beat up at the rally. I said he deserved it.

And I'm like, oh, no, I'm going to get fired. And I had Hannity and all these things. And it kind of blew up. And I just realized that I had a voice. So I said, you know what? I'm going to keep speaking the truth and saying what I feel. And that's just it. And then it turned into this big thing.

But initially it was just me telling the truth. Well, Bernie, you did another video talking about what happened with Colin Kaepernick. Oh, yeah. You felt it was important to speak out about that. Can you tell us why? Let me tell you the backstory to that because most people don't understand this. So I was getting into it. I had already mentioned Colin Kaepernick the year before in 2016.

It was viral. Colin Kaepernick was an idiot in 2016 and 17. However, I was arguing with one of my friends who I played football with who was in the NFL. and he did a low blow, man. He messaged me and said, you're just mad because you're not in the NFL. Oh, you know, that got to me. So I said, you guys are playing a game.

You're not in real life. You lose the game. You go home. As a police officer, if you lose the game, you never go home. So that really got me fired up. I'll say this. One of my friends had already made a video, had 14 million views.

I was like, I don't need to make a video. I had a friend in Australia. call me on the phone and say, hey, man, you need to make a video about this. You have a unique perspective. And I was like, no, man, I don't need to beat a dead horse. And then that argument with my friend happened, the football player, and then that just made me go off. I was like, oh, I'm going to say it off. Screw Colin Kaepernick.

Screw all these people who are out here pushing this false agenda, who hate this country for no reason. And that kind of what my inspiration was. I made that video and it had 70 million views. It was crazy. Big picture, Brandon. What is your perspective on the conservative movement as a whole right now? We need to improve. I think we're doing good.

I mean, I'm in a conservative movement, Candace, and a lot of people who weren't in a conservative movement in 2016. So obviously, there are conservatives that are paving the way for young people to come up and be inspirational in the movement. We need to improve. Like, we need to really be conservative. Sometimes we're lackluster a little bit. You know, like I hear some conservatives talking about abortion is a viable choice, like a woman's choice. That's the dumbest thing I ever heard in my life.

You know, so we need to stand on that. You know, Bruce gender, I mean, Bruce gender or Caitlin Jenner, gender, whatever his name is, I don't, we shouldn't support people like that. And not just because the person is a trans person, but the person is not conservative. The person is not upholding conservative values. And as conservatives, the more we give, they're going to end up overtaking our party. So our movement. So I think that conservatives need to be a little more strict on those things.

Not saying that you've got to cast people out, but speak up. Keep it 100. Tell the truth. Are you a believer or are you not a believer? Are you, do you believe in the sanctity of marriage or do you not? Do you believe that, you know, abortion is murder or do you not? It's fundamental things that I see us creeping away from that eventually, just like the liberals, we're going to go far to a point where conservatives are not going to be recognizable. And so, you know, I'm not trying to be mean to people, but we have to be more strict than our conservatism. You mentioned how some conservatives say abortion is available choice.

When it comes to the black community, in particular, there are abortion clinics disproportionately in these black communities. What do you want to tell people about that situation and how Planned Parenthood and other abortion organizations, they are racist? Well, I want to tell people that you have choices, right? I mean, the manipulation of people in poverty, which is where it starts, because if you look at communities in general, the Planned Parenthood are in poor communities.

They're not in a nice, wealthy community. They're not. And so poor communities and happen to, you know, a lot of African Americans happen to live in some of these poor communities. So they fall victim to it. Without the lack of knowledge and the exposure, they fall victim to it. I think that obviously the origin of Planned Parenthood, if you look at Margaret Sanger and them, is a eugenicist perspective. And to exterminate people that they didn't want to be around, which are black people. Now, let me tell you how that has come to fruition.

African American people in this country still are hovering around 13% of the population, while Hispanic people are soaring. Eventually, they say people of color are going to run a country. No, it's going to be Hispanic people. It's not going to be black people. And if we keep having abortions with black people have the most abortions per capita out of any race, and it's consistent in some states they have more abortions than get birth. We are hurting ourselves with political leverage. Because now 13% of the population, what is that?

You know, you want to be 40, 50% of the population. So when you go out and vote, it makes an incredible difference, local level and federal level. But if our numbers are diminishing and we become 10% of the population, of the population, 8% of the population, our votes are going to be somewhat irrelevant. When people have fought so hard for us to have a stake in this country. So those things are hurting our communities. Also, a perspective is that it's allowing men to not be accountable for their creation, and it's allowing women to not be accountable for their actions.

If you could just go out and have an abortion on a whim, why would you protect yourself? Why would you not wait to marriage to have sex or whatever it can be, or at least protect yourself? Why would you do that when you could just go have an abortion? Why would a man value a woman enough to, if he creates something, that he stays around and have responsibility, if he believe, well, I'm going to walk away because she can just go to the clinic? These things have a residual effect that are really harming communities in this country. And I really wish people will wake up and realize they have other options. Well, Brandon, as someone who mentors youth, I'm sure, in your capacity in law enforcement and even now working in the conservative movement, what advice, what message do you have for young conservatives? but just young people in general who have critical race theory being talked about in their classrooms.

So many college campuses are talking to young people about communism and elevating that as an acceptable solution. What would you say to them is they're fielding through all these different barrages of information that they have being thrown at them? Well, understand one thing is that you've got to stand firm on what you believe. And what you believe should be firm on evidence and facts, right? It's not emotions. So if you have evidence of facts that support what you believe, which is, that critical race theory is trash and that communism don't work.

And even the secretary of, I mean, not secretary of state, but the press secretary said it, is delusional as she is. She said that communism is a failed mechanism. So if you are confident in doing your research and understanding that what you believe is based on reality and facts,

then stand on that. If you don't, we lose. If you do, we win. We'll be victorious. It will ebb and flow. Right now, it seems like they're winning. but just like any other sporting event you can be losing but the game

ain't over to the fat lady singing is what they say now that's probably not politically correct but until the fat lady seeing the game is not over and to the clock is over you better keep fighting you better keep playing in the game because all you need is a hell merry and you're going to win the game right into way kick that field go you win the game

don't give up too early so conservatives stay strong believing what you believe don't let these people punk you and cower you into feeling like you're racist Screw these people. If you know you're not a racist, screw them.

And tell them to their face, screw you, I'm not a racist. You're racist. That's what you should say to them. Be strong, be firm, and you'll win in the end. Well, Brandon, thank you for joining us on The Daily Signal.

It's great having you with us. Thank you. And that'll do it for today's episode. Thanks for listening to the Daily Signal podcast. You can find the Daily Signal podcast on Google Play, Apple Podcast, Spotify, and IHeartRadio. Please be sure to leave us a review and a five-star rating

Apple Podcasts and encourage others to subscribe. Thanks again for listening and we'll be back with you all tomorrow. The Daily Signal podcast is brought to you by more than half a million members of the Heritage Foundation. It is executive produced by Kate Trinko and Rachel Del Judas, sound design by Lauren Evans, Mark Geinney, and John Pop. For more information, visitdailySignal.com.