0:00

We're talking at Cheers. And keeping it real. Small

0:02

doses. With me and N. Steelz. So funky.

0:05

Welcome to Small Doses, Side Effects of Deconstructed Karen.

0:07

We're not even going to do a whole, we're

0:09

already in it. So I am here with Syra

0:11

Rao and Regina Jackson and like many folks, I

0:14

became into the tune

0:24

with you all during this pandemic when

0:26

you started doing

0:28

these deconstructing Karen dinners.

0:39

And everybody like saw this clip

0:41

that was floating around where this

0:43

white lady found out in real

0:45

time that just because she

0:48

was sleeping with black men, that

0:50

that didn't mean she couldn't

0:53

be racist against black men. And it was

0:55

like seeing the horror come across her face

0:57

of, I think it was like a

0:59

very palpable and

1:06

like just enjoyable thing for I think a

1:08

lot of us to witness during a very

1:10

dark time. But I wanted to

1:12

just from jump get into like what

1:14

made you all even start this?

1:17

Because to my understanding these were in Canada, right? These

1:19

were not in the States or were they in the

1:22

States? No, they're in the US. Okay.

1:24

They were in the States. Someone told me it

1:26

was Toronto and I was like, I don't know.

1:29

They feel real American white. Yeah. That's

1:32

where the documentary premiered was Canada.

1:35

But we started this because

1:37

Syra ran for office in

1:39

2018 way before George Floyd and white people

1:43

discovered racism. So Syra

1:45

ran against a

1:47

long time democratic Congresswoman and

1:50

her whole platform was anti-racism.

1:53

So every time she would give a

1:55

speech or talk, white women would line

1:58

up around the corner They

2:00

wanted to talk to Syra and what

2:02

they wanted to say was not me.

2:05

I'm not racist. So

2:08

I had a white woman friend in

2:10

the neighborhood who says I'm done with

2:12

Syra. Where is this in America? Denver,

2:14

Colorado. Denver, Colorado. So I go

2:16

to Syra and I said so and so wants to

2:18

meet with you. Syra goes,

2:20

Regina, I'm not doing that anymore. She said,

2:23

I'm paying for breakfast, lunch, dinner, cocktails. I'm

2:25

paying for a babysitter. I'm meeting with all

2:27

these white ladies and they're not going to

2:29

vote for me anyway. She said, but I'll

2:32

tell you what, if your friend wants to

2:34

have a dinner and invite some

2:36

of her white lady friends and you do

2:38

it with me, she said we can do

2:40

that. So we had a couple of those

2:42

and take it from there. I

2:46

mean, her friend, her friend who

2:48

said that Syra hates white people.

2:51

The straw that broke that Karen's

2:53

back was by saying

2:55

that Beto O'Rourke is a white

2:57

savior and if you

3:00

live in Texas, vote for him and

3:02

donate money to him because I

3:04

just did. And so white

3:06

supremacy depends on false binaries. Like it's

3:08

got to be either or. Multiple

3:11

things can be and are true. And

3:14

that was it. So yeah, we, I posted about it

3:16

on Facebook and it went

3:18

viral. The next thing you know, we have hundreds of

3:20

Karens raising their hand. I want to do a dinner.

3:22

I want to do a dinner. Oh wow. Regina came

3:25

up with the title, Race to Dinner. This is in

3:27

February of 2019. And

3:30

Patty Ivanspecht, who is the director of

3:32

Deconstructing Karen reaches out to me over

3:34

DMs and she's like, I've been following

3:36

your congressional race and I've been wanting

3:38

to do a movie about the

3:40

work, but I couldn't figure out a way to ground it.

3:42

And now there are these dinners and Regina and I were

3:44

like, yeah, this white lady in LA is going to actually

3:47

come out to Denver and do a

3:49

movie. There she shows up in the summer

3:51

of 2019 with her whole film

3:53

crew and we shoot the dinner. And

3:55

that's what you see in Deconstructing Karen. And

3:57

the reason it world premiered in Toronto. Is

4:01

that all the American film festivals ran

4:03

for the hills they thought and they're

4:05

like this is too toxic So

4:07

the CBC bought it After

4:10

seeing it hot docks in Toronto aired

4:12

it two days later Jesse Waters on

4:14

Fox News does a full five minute

4:16

Story hit piece of course he's saying

4:18

that running it in Canada is

4:20

the equivalent of Canada declaring war on

4:22

the United States And compared it to

4:24

Pearl Harbor So talk about

4:26

the dummification of people and

4:28

that's like the most watched media outlet

4:30

show in the world And so this is how people

4:33

become this is why we are where we are is

4:35

because of people like Jesse Waters, so My

4:38

question when these people leave these dinners

4:40

is like have you seen any of

4:43

them behave differently after the dinner or?

4:46

Do they just leave in a huff? Well

4:48

that dinner that was on but that

4:50

was videoed a lot of people left

4:52

in a huff Let

4:54

me say that but what we have

4:57

now is we have created a community

4:59

where these women can stay connected to

5:03

Women around the world who have

5:05

done race to dinners, so we

5:08

have a community where they stay

5:10

connected You know we can

5:12

talk about doing the work they can

5:14

bring up issues that they're having they

5:17

can have events in different places and Get

5:20

invitations out to people so we maintain

5:22

a community for those women What

5:25

do they say that oh go ahead? Yeah?

5:28

I would just say though that back

5:30

to what's happening right now and like with guns

5:33

So like the rubber hits the road with

5:35

it's they go on these unlearning journeys or

5:37

these learning journeys for years like when does

5:39

your Journey end when does the bus stop

5:42

on your journey, and you take a pit

5:44

stop to do some shit, right? And that's

5:46

my question Yeah, and so

5:48

I would say honestly like I'm done trying

5:50

to even sugarcoat this in my own mind

5:53

I would say maybe five percent of the people

5:56

Five percent of these white women have gone above and beyond

5:58

because you can talk and you can talk and you can

6:00

talk and you can stay in touch. But like, are

6:03

you showing up for children? And I

6:05

can say no, you're not even showing up for your own

6:07

white children because we had an action in Denver on June

6:09

5th. Thousands of them said they were gonna

6:11

be there. Maybe a thousand

6:13

actually showed up. These women, like

6:15

RSVPs for weddings and go, they,

6:18

I mean, they'll knife fight each other to

6:20

go to a Taylor Swift concert. I

6:22

mean, they'll walk, moonwalk across the Atlantic

6:24

Ocean to go see Taylor Swift, but

6:26

they RSVP to show up for one

6:28

day and sit on a beautiful lawn

6:30

in Denver, Colorado on a beautiful day. And

6:32

they're too crazy busy. They got really caught

6:34

up with their peloton or their

6:36

hike that day. And so in

6:39

the end, honestly, I think that

6:41

white supremacy, capitalism, patriarchy, colonialism, all of

6:43

it has snatched their souls and they don't even

6:45

care about their own kids. They don't even care

6:47

about their own kids. So if you don't care

6:49

about your own kids, how are you gonna care

6:51

about you, Amanda? How are you gonna care about

6:53

you, Regina? How are you gonna care about me,

6:55

Cyra? They don't. I mean, I guess

6:57

my other question becomes, if people don't

7:00

care about kids, like, cause kids has always

7:02

been kind of like the ground like barometer

7:04

thing for everybody, right? Like everybody seems to

7:06

be able to be like kids and dogs.

7:08

We can all get on board about caring

7:10

about the kids and the dogs. And like,

7:12

when we see a man just like shoot

7:14

a dog in Tennessee because the dog came

7:16

too close to him and the cops are

7:18

like, yeah, that's fine. That even

7:20

was like, oh, now we've gone to another level.

7:23

Cause honestly, I feel like they care more about

7:25

the dogs and the kids. And

7:27

once Sandy Hook happened and no

7:29

one like really made enough

7:32

of, like when I say no one, I

7:34

mean not enough of us, right? Because ultimately

7:36

it should have been everybody being

7:38

like, all right, that's it. And it

7:41

was, it really wasn't. I mean, people

7:43

were able to make entire fortunes, Alex

7:45

Jones, off of just

7:47

creating falsehoods about this. And so many

7:49

people were willing to go along with

7:51

it. And now I'm trying to understand

7:53

in this phase that America's moving into,

7:57

you know, you said something just now about like, when do you move

7:59

from learning? to action, right? And

8:01

I feel like I spend so

8:04

much time just trying to educate

8:06

people with the mindset that like,

8:09

if you know enough, it

8:11

will drive you to do. But

8:13

it seems like that's just not necessarily

8:15

the math. And so

8:17

when we are trying to deconstruct

8:20

these Karens, how can we? I

8:22

mean, I don't know that we even at this

8:24

point, I don't

8:26

want to sound defeatist, but like these white

8:28

people are out of their minds who subscribe

8:30

to this type of rhetoric. And

8:33

I feel like they are the kind of

8:35

folks that are there's more

8:37

folks now than ever that feel really

8:39

bold about just saying like,

8:41

yeah, I learned that, but I don't care.

8:43

How do we manage that? You

8:46

know, that's a real loaded question. I

8:49

just feel like I can only

8:51

be responsible for what I do,

8:54

what I believe, what I

8:56

share and what I bring to

8:59

the table. So you don't

9:01

stop. You don't stop. You know,

9:03

as black people, we can't stop.

9:05

We don't have the privilege of saying,

9:07

oh, I'm done. I'm done talking about

9:09

racism. And I love it when white

9:12

people say, you guys

9:14

make everything about race. No, you all

9:16

made everything about race. Yes.

9:18

I mean, I feel like I'm

9:20

seeing more black people than ever

9:22

say, yeah, I'm just, I'm done.

9:25

I'm stopping. And I'm like, you, where did that,

9:27

where did you get this luxury? Yeah. Well,

9:30

those people are going to

9:32

find out that they can't

9:35

stop that you are standing

9:37

up for yourself against

9:39

races. So when do you

9:41

stop standing up for yourself?

9:43

You don't back or,

9:45

or if we're going to be, you

9:48

know, sort of more, at least me, I'm

9:50

just talking for myself, being realistic

9:52

about this moment. In

9:54

some ways, I think we're fighting to be on the right

9:56

side of history at this point. I

9:58

mean, it's watching. All the

10:00

parties, all the politicians, I'm not just talking

10:02

in about the United States. I had a friend

10:05

yesterday text me and she works in human

10:07

rights and she's in Washington right now. And

10:09

she said the thing that is really gutting is

10:12

that it's not just the US. It's country after

10:14

country after country. You've got Rishi

10:16

Sunak, you know, who is

10:18

South Asian. It

10:21

hasn't been awesome for us, you know,

10:23

and now you've got Rishi Sunak out

10:25

there being a whole ass fascist, you

10:28

know. And you've got Nikki Haley here

10:30

and you've got the big Ramaswami and you've got the whole thing.

10:34

Nimorata. I would feel for her Nikki. I'm

10:36

like, your name is Nimrata? Yeah. Yeah.

10:39

Cut it out. And she's a Sikh, you

10:42

know, she's a Sikh. Like the Sikhs have

10:44

been really subjugated. They've been very persecuted. And

10:46

a person she's not. Yeah, she's not talking

10:48

about slavery. There are benefits to slavery. Like

10:50

it is, this is the whole full

10:52

circle. This is the full circle. This

10:54

is white supremacy eating itself. And

10:57

so for me to maintain whatever semblance of mental

10:59

health that I have, and some people argue that

11:01

I don't have much at this point, is

11:04

that we have to pass the

11:06

time. We have to pass the time. We have to get

11:08

through the day. And how are

11:10

we going to pass the time? And for me,

11:13

I can't not speak up. So I will continue

11:15

to speak up because it's the only thing I

11:17

can do. But to be fair to

11:19

the black folks that you're talking about saying that they're done, I

11:22

don't blame them. Yeah. Like

11:24

I don't blame them. I really don't.

11:26

I blame them. It's like I blame

11:28

them. And I'm going to say as

11:30

a black person, an elder who, you

11:32

know, this is our life. When do

11:34

you give up on your life? When

11:36

do you say I'm done? And

11:39

done fighting for the rights

11:41

that everybody has? You don't.

11:44

When we talk about fighting, right? At this

11:46

point, what do you guys feel like are

11:48

the tools that we have to fight with?

11:51

I feel like it's honest

11:53

conversations. You know, keep having

11:55

honest conversations. I believe it's

11:59

like the event. we did, I

12:01

was so excited about the New

12:04

York City Bar Association event

12:06

because there we're starting to

12:08

get into the systems that

12:10

oppress us. The legal

12:12

system is a huge, huge

12:16

oppressor of black people. As a matter

12:18

of fact, you know this Amanda, we talk

12:20

about just us. We say

12:23

justice, just us. So

12:25

that's huge. We just did a

12:27

thing at a public school in Denver,

12:29

getting into the education system. That's

12:32

huge. I would say

12:34

also truly even watching what you're doing,

12:36

watching what a bunch of us are

12:38

doing on, I've never been a big

12:40

proponent of social media, social

12:43

media, but I will say at least right now

12:46

with the massive disinformation happening

12:48

from mainstream media outlets, it

12:51

is quite interesting to be able to

12:53

trust some people to actually speak the

12:55

truth. The disinformation videos that

12:58

you just did earlier today, Amanda,

13:00

I do think that social media

13:02

is serving a purpose now that

13:04

in some ways it matters more than

13:06

ever. So I think that that's an, I really

13:08

believe social media is a tool in many respects

13:10

for good in this moment. Which

13:12

I got to tell you, I never thought I'd say

13:14

that, right? Me neither. Me

13:17

neither. So many times for so many years

13:19

has just been, oh my God,

13:22

I want to get off of this. I want to get off of this.

13:29

I don't even think I realized

13:31

that social media

13:33

or that I was using social media

13:35

as a tool to fight, right?

13:38

Because honestly it started for me as just

13:40

like keeping my sanity by just not keeping

13:43

it in my mind, right? Like, okay, I'm

13:45

going to make a video where I'm instead

13:47

of me like yelling into the ether of

13:49

the black hole of my brain, like, and

13:51

ruminating, I'm just putting it out there. And

13:54

then you start to see people agree,

13:57

right? Or you start to see people say like, I felt

13:59

affirmed. And what you

14:01

realize is that when you start affirming folks,

14:04

they start then getting empowered. And when you start

14:06

empowering folks, you start building community. And when you

14:08

have community, you start building an army. Like it's

14:10

a force, right? So like that's how that works.

14:14

And we've seen that work, you know, in, in, in, we've

14:17

seen that exploited in a bad way, right?

14:19

Like we've seen that with the MAGA, right? Like

14:21

it's the same process. It's

14:23

just in a negative way. Like

14:26

we've seen that with Zionists that support genocide. Like

14:28

that it's the same mindset of like,

14:31

okay, we're going to do this, this, this, this, this, and

14:33

you will feel empowered, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

14:35

And so I feel like, you know, sometimes

14:38

I feel very just kind of defeated. I

14:40

mean, hearing you Cyrus say that, um, really

14:43

right now we're just trying to be on the right side of history. Like it's

14:45

like, is that even enough? You know, but it's like,

14:47

I don't know what else there is. I think it's great

14:49

that you guys are getting into the system. I

14:52

feel like that's where I'm starting to go.

14:54

And I got to tell you, it's gross. Like

14:59

when you start really understanding

15:04

the politics of things. And

15:07

I know, Syra, you and I, we do see eye

15:09

to eye on this, even if you think we don't.

15:13

These folks are within

15:16

government. Republicans and Democrats are

15:18

all cut from the same cloth in

15:20

the sense that majority of them are

15:22

cut from a politician cloth. Right.

15:26

And so you have to be a certain kind of

15:28

person to come into this thing as like, I'm a

15:30

politician, but then there's like layers on it. Right. Cause

15:33

then then you have people who it's like, I

15:35

just an opportunist and that's its own type of

15:37

whackness. But then it's like, not only I'm an

15:39

opportunist, I'm an opportunist white nationalist.

15:41

And you're like, Oh, you added some,

15:43

you sprinkled some mayonnaise on that. Look

15:45

at that. Then you add on top

15:47

of it, like I'm also a misogynist.

15:49

And this is like, Oh my gosh.

15:51

Like, so even the ground floor was

15:53

trash, which is a lot of folks, both

15:55

Democrats and Republican. And then it just gets layered and

15:57

layered and layered and layered. And

16:00

I'm rambling now because

16:02

I have monopolized this interview. But

16:05

I know I'm going to tell like

16:08

screaming in frustration at how

16:11

do I encourage, how do

16:13

I keep us encouraged? How do you all

16:15

say, let me, let me say something. And

16:17

I think this is important. I pulled some

16:19

stats from the Pew report the other day,

16:21

and it was about

16:23

how people voted by

16:26

race, by age

16:28

group, by different

16:30

categories. I'll tell you,

16:32

not 1% of

16:35

black women voted for Donald Trump.

16:38

Not 1%. Okay. So

16:41

the Cape is all in line. No, we

16:43

know. And

16:45

people need to, you hear all the

16:48

time, listen to black women. As

16:50

Trevor Noah said, they

16:53

don't have the

16:55

capacity to fuck around and

16:57

find out. Right. Right.

17:00

That's right. And you know, what's interesting about that Pew thing,

17:02

because you sent it to me, Regina, is

17:05

you know, who never gets included in

17:07

those stats is Asians.

17:10

And so I'm why is that? Because

17:13

we're a race. I mean, like, I'm having a

17:15

whole new awareness around

17:17

and we have enough numbers now that we should not

17:20

we are not statistically insignificant

17:22

anymore. Right. And which

17:25

I mean, this is in the movie, I talked about it in our

17:27

book, Amanda, if you don't have a copy of our book, we'll send

17:29

you one. It's this, it's white women,

17:31

everything you already know about your I have

17:33

that how to do better. Okay.

17:36

Okay. And I talked about art,

17:38

my anti blackness as an Indian woman, because

17:41

all all everybody's

17:43

anti black, all non black people

17:45

of color are anti

17:47

black. And my family came here after

17:49

the Civil Rights Act. So on the

17:51

backs of black people, due

17:53

to the Immigration Act, and when they came

17:55

here, they were trained to be

17:57

anti black before that there's British

18:00

colonialism right so they had to leave the

18:02

South Asian diaspora exists because of British colonialism

18:05

which was British genocide and

18:07

and now we have Hindu nationalists over there

18:10

on the backs of British colonialism murdering Muslims

18:12

and Catholics right it's all it's all doing

18:14

this but we come

18:16

here my parents I was I was indoctrinated

18:18

to assimilate and my parents never used racial

18:21

slurs against black people but it was very

18:23

obvious that we were to assimilate towards whiteness

18:25

and not blackness right and and that was

18:27

and that's how we've been trained and to

18:30

our own detriment to erase ourselves

18:32

you know don't smell like Indian

18:34

food don't wear Indian clothes don't

18:36

speak native language I no longer

18:38

speak be small and

18:41

I went to Alabama last weekend it was

18:43

my second time there to the legacy museum

18:46

and I walked through and I'm

18:48

like I'm not here I'm

18:51

not in this museum that should not even

18:53

be called the legacy museum it should call

18:55

the be be the American history museum every

18:57

person in this country should go there and

18:59

the only place Asians show up

19:02

in that museum two places one

19:04

the Supreme Court case that made

19:06

it okay for Japanese internment camps

19:08

it's okay to have Japanese internment

19:10

camps and also laws anti-miscegenation

19:12

laws where whites and Asians were not

19:14

allowed to get married so I truly

19:16

I walked out of that and

19:19

I'm like this is who we are in

19:21

this country we are fucking pawns

19:23

we are soldiers to harm

19:25

ourselves and to harm black people and to

19:27

prop up white people and I'm not doing

19:30

it anymore I'm not doing it anymore and

19:32

I'm also I understand the

19:34

big Ramaswami I understand number stuff

19:36

I do it's actually it's not

19:38

even number after it's number stuff

19:41

like it's not really bad for her you know no

19:44

no stop and um and

19:47

all the reasons like we are erased we

19:49

don't exist we're always a side chick you

19:51

know it's it's so I'm

19:53

just really sitting with why am I here I'm told every

19:55

day to go back to my country and I I'm back

19:57

to my country I moved to my hometown of Richmond

20:01

And I go to India and I'm told

20:03

like I'm not Indian. There's no place right

20:05

for us and There's

20:07

just no analysis. There's no conversation. I try to

20:09

talk to family members about this I try to

20:11

talk to other members of the South Asian community

20:14

and people don't want to have the conversation They

20:16

don't want to have the fucking conversation. So if

20:18

my own people don't want to have it How

20:20

can we even expect white people to be able

20:23

to deconstruct it? It it does I'm you're catching

20:25

me on a day that I'm feeling slightly Hopeless,

20:28

but I'm still here. So obviously

20:30

I'm not super hopeless, but I'm feeling

20:32

a little bit more realistic about it

20:34

Why all day from a time? So

20:37

I remember when everything was black and

20:39

white, you know, it just was I Live

20:43

in Denver, Colorado, which I call

20:45

white conda. It is so white And

20:54

what I know is that Black

20:59

people again, we don't have the

21:01

luxury We've never

21:03

had the luxury of saying I'm not

21:05

gonna be in this fight And I

21:07

tell mothers all the time if you

21:09

are not up there in that school

21:11

and you have a black boy Trust

21:13

me. Your black son is being mistreated.

21:17

I know I've got children I've got

21:20

grandchildren because 80% of

21:22

the educators are white women and

21:24

they are afraid of these little

21:26

black kids They're so afraid of

21:28

them that they have no expectations.

21:30

They let them do whatever they

21:32

want And

21:34

you know what though Amanda because Regina and

21:36

I just did this workshop with a bunch

21:38

of teachers mostly white in Denver And

21:41

I was talking about what I'm calling violent

21:43

indifference I think all of this is like

21:46

this is not late stage capitalism. This is

21:48

not late stage white supremacy This is end

21:50

stage capitalism. This is end stage

21:53

white supremacy And I and I and like you

21:55

there's violent indifference and at the end remember Regina

21:57

this one white woman raised her hand She

22:00

said I want to say this out loud so people

22:02

can bear witness and she goes I see you Talking

22:05

about Israel and Palestine and you care. I see

22:08

you talking about guns and you care and she

22:10

goes I'll be honest I

22:12

don't care. I don't care. I used

22:14

to care. She goes I don't care about even

22:16

I knew about June 5th And she goes

22:19

I don't even care about the environment and

22:21

I don't care about Anything that I should

22:23

care about and she said it she admitted

22:25

it and I'm like and you're not a

22:27

bad person This is what fascism is. This

22:29

is fascism over decades centuries,

22:32

right? I also love how we're pretending like democracy

22:35

is gonna fall off a cliff This

22:37

fucking country is genocide of

22:39

indigenous people genocide of an enslavement

22:41

of African people Chinese exclusion act

22:43

Japanese internment cat camp operation wetback

22:46

Muslim ban Tell me when we

22:48

had a democracy. I would like

22:51

to know when we've had a

22:53

democracy What are we trying to save

22:56

but we can't have these conversations because everything

22:58

you I again I see you Amanda trying

23:00

to have these conversations with people online and

23:03

it's what about what about what about I

23:05

can only imagine What your DMS look

23:07

like honestly, like I can only imagine

23:10

Like RIP your DMS because

23:13

the what about isms and

23:15

that's where we are people can't even can't

23:17

even have a fucking Conversation about it, you

23:19

know Well, I think when

23:21

you need to know when to go ahead Amanda Well, I

23:23

was gonna ask like no glass the Regina because I'm sorry.

23:25

I'm asking another question What

23:27

I was gonna say is I believe it's

23:30

important to know when to cut people off,

23:32

you know I'll just say I'm gonna need

23:34

you to go sit down or I said

23:36

what I said and I'm done Cuz

23:39

yeah, yeah Yeah, but the new

23:41

one that I learned was the new statement

23:44

I learned that has been very effective to

23:46

use is listen, I can explain it, but

23:48

I can't make you understand it That's

23:51

right. Oh, that's good. That's right. Can I

23:53

can I quote can I please it is

23:55

for the community It is in the community

23:57

pie. I can't explain it. I can't make

23:59

you understand You know when

24:02

you say that the reason why she doesn't

24:04

care is because of fascism Why

24:06

why is that like what is

24:08

it about fascism that makes people

24:10

not care? I think

24:13

it rocks. So there's a have you seen

24:15

this show on Disney the mysterious

24:18

Benedict Society? No, it's

24:21

so good watch it. Okay

24:23

in some ways. I think it's the most interesting Depiction

24:26

of fascism and it's like family-friendly television series

24:29

But how it's meant to confuse you like

24:31

like so that's what it's sort of the

24:33

stage is at least I'm 49 So

24:36

sort of in my in my lifetime

24:38

is this confusion like I'm overwhelmed you

24:41

hear this language. I'm overwhelmed I'm confused.

24:43

I'm crazy busy all this stuff, right?

24:45

It's like all this stuff and then

24:49

You move into I can't

24:51

watch the news. I can't watch the

24:53

news to Numbness, so if

24:55

you've got and also it's look we've

24:57

had systemic we act like oh

25:00

my god the public education system This is

25:02

by design our government

25:04

does like decided to like

25:06

yank funding from from education

25:09

We by design are under educated

25:11

and uneducated and it falls like everything

25:13

else In a shitty system the

25:15

white kids get a much better education than the black

25:17

kids But everybody is getting

25:19

a shitty education, right? Like it's

25:22

to under educate and uneducated right

25:24

and then you add you bombard you bombard

25:26

you bombard and so now yours is too

25:28

much It's too much. So we've now moved

25:31

into the stage of numbness It

25:33

really is numbness and

25:35

I don't the more interesting

25:38

thing my question actually is how

25:40

are the three of us and

25:42

a Statistically insignificant amount

25:44

of other people and I'm including brown. Oh,

25:47

you're about to ask the question I was

25:49

literally just about to ask you god. How

25:51

did we escape it? I Well,

25:56

I hope you have an answer I'm

26:00

asking you. You know what? I

26:02

don't know. I mean, I don't remember if

26:04

I'm honest and this may sound very like

26:07

woo woo, but I

26:09

think there's something supernatural that

26:11

happens and I'm in

26:13

for woo woo. I

26:16

do. And

26:18

I say that because I didn't

26:22

start being like this. I've

26:25

always been like this, right? I've

26:29

been wired with magic. You understand what I'm saying? I don't

26:31

feel like I came to, I didn't have to have a

26:34

near-death experience or I didn't have

26:40

to go work with

26:43

the Peace Corps and live in a

26:45

hut for two years to awaken

26:48

my senses. You know what I'm saying? I

26:50

didn't have to do that. I've

26:54

seen people have to do that, right? Like

26:57

I didn't have to, I don't

27:00

feel like I ever had to find something

27:02

to believe in. I feel like I was

27:04

always here in this way. And my mom

27:06

has said that she knew when she was

27:08

pregnant with me that I was going to

27:11

be a problem. Like she knew

27:13

it. She was like, I knew when

27:15

I was pregnant with you, this person

27:17

chose me and they're coming here to

27:19

be here. And

27:22

I was like, but, cause I think

27:24

if someone says that you might feel like they're kind of

27:26

like, there's like some type of

27:28

egoism in it, but my mom has never said it in that

27:30

way. Like it was always very matter of

27:32

fact that it was like, there's a

27:34

soul up there that like tapped me

27:36

and was like, I'm about to come

27:38

through. Do you have siblings? Yes,

27:41

but listen, my siblings are just

27:43

with my father, right? So my

27:45

father has four kids and my,

27:47

the eldest of his kids, Neda,

27:49

we are the same spirit. Like

27:52

she and his wife is

27:55

Palestinian. So my

27:57

brothers and sisters are black. And

28:03

let me tell you, if you go on

28:05

Netta's page, she's got on a smart funny

28:07

and black hoodie and it's like, all right,

28:09

let's get down to brass tacks. And

28:12

my mom is like, what

28:14

are the, like, my mom is just like,

28:16

how are the odds, like, how

28:18

is this the way that this is? Like he made

28:20

two of the same person in

28:23

different forms. Like I'm the artsy

28:25

version, you know, like, but Netta

28:27

is also like, Netta can cook

28:29

anything, right? So it's like,

28:31

I feel like we were just wired

28:33

in this way. And I think that

28:35

that's the same with y'all. I think

28:37

there's just like a, a, uh, here's

28:39

what I think. I think

28:42

as human beings, we all know

28:44

right from wrong. And I'm,

28:46

when I say all, I mean, assuming

28:48

you're in a good mental health and all,

28:51

we know what we

28:53

choose is to not

28:55

acknowledge it because if we don't acknowledge

28:57

it, then we don't have to act

28:59

on it. But why are people like,

29:01

that was never an option for me. Why

29:04

is that an option for folks? Cause

29:06

it's not a, I don't know. I

29:09

don't know. That's the question. That's the

29:11

question. That's the question. You don't have

29:13

any. It

29:21

really is. And I think that, you know,

29:23

back to white women. Yeah.

29:25

Yeah. And they're really

29:27

diluted because of their

29:29

centuries long privilege. They

29:31

are really diluted into believing that if

29:34

they don't do anything, they will be

29:36

protected. And what I think

29:38

is bananas is that every, every bit

29:40

of data happening right now, your

29:43

kids are not being protected from guns. You're

29:46

not being protected from guns. You are

29:48

not being protected from climate catastrophe that

29:50

we are doing, you know, a white

29:52

American and a white American is

29:54

like the biggest climate villain on the planet

29:57

and causing birds to fall out of the

29:59

sky. India, Bangladesh to be wiped off the

30:01

map, many places in Africa about to be wiped

30:04

off the map. And I'm

30:06

sorry, Maui's gone, Miami is like a

30:08

hot tub, you know, New York City

30:10

flooded. And there's this real hubris.

30:13

There's this real hubris that

30:15

white people have, white women

30:17

have, that they will be untouchable.

30:19

And there's all the data proving

30:21

otherwise, and they still can't get

30:23

off the peloton to do shit.

30:26

They can't, they won't, they won't do it. And

30:29

I think that that's, this is like the full circle

30:31

of white, this is the end stage

30:33

of white supremacy. We are actually seeing

30:35

it right now. We're actually seeing it

30:37

right now when white supremacy is killing

30:39

white people. And they're like, I'm going

30:41

to go shopping. I'm crazy busy planning

30:44

Christmas right now. And it's October, you

30:46

know, it's very, it's cognitive

30:48

dissonance is a

30:50

euphemism for batshit fucking denial,

30:53

white denial. So if

30:55

this is the end stage of white supremacy, what comes

30:57

after that? I mean,

30:59

the end, like we're

31:01

watching the demise of humanity. Nobody

31:03

survives that catastrophe. Nobody, nobody

31:06

survives climate catastrophe. We know

31:08

that we know, I mean,

31:10

this is science. This is science.

31:13

And science is not burning. So do

31:15

they have it? So do they have

31:17

the right idea? Like if no one's

31:19

surviving climate catastrophe, should we be at

31:21

the mall? No,

31:24

or we should ban fossil fuels in

31:26

fast fashion. Like there's things that

31:28

we can do to stop this.

31:30

That's why I want to react. We

31:33

are, we are purposefully pretending, oh my

31:35

God, it's so complicated. No, it's like, we

31:38

know how to stop. They're literally calling climate

31:41

change the seasons. Like

31:43

they're literally like, this is just

31:45

autumn. And it's like, ah,

31:49

so now the season and summer

31:51

is Maui gets wiped off and

31:53

white people were snorkeling in that

31:56

water the next day, amongst dead

31:58

bodies. Why I paid for

32:00

this Hawaiian vacation. So I'm going

32:02

to take this fucking Hawaiian vacation.

32:04

They're dead. They're dead inside. Their

32:06

souls have been snatched. They're gone.

32:09

And while you have the magic that your

32:11

mom was talking about, you know what the

32:13

magic is? Poof, their soul is gone. Magic.

32:16

And so now we're stuck with this shit forever. I

32:20

just want you all to know, Syra said the other

32:22

day on Instagram that somebody told her that she was

32:24

intense, that she was too intense. And

32:26

you were like, I am intense.

32:30

That's fucking right. That's our Syra.

32:33

And that is the story of

32:35

my life. Like I, I can't even

32:42

date at this point because I'm like, check

32:44

this out. I'm intense. I'm

32:47

very serious. They'll come and even know

32:49

fuck shit. This is going to be pointless for

32:51

most of us. They're like, well,

32:55

uh, right. My husband

32:57

says to me, he

33:00

says, Regina, people,

33:02

not me. People think you're

33:04

crazy. I

33:07

don't care. He goes, that's why

33:09

they think you're crazy. Right. Right.

33:11

Because at this point, I'm like

33:13

me. I'm just like, yeah.

33:15

Uh, y'all already think I'm crazy. So I

33:17

mean, what do we, what do we even really trying to

33:19

pretend for? Like, I

33:22

think Amanda, Amanda, you are too smart

33:24

for 99.9% of the people. Same. Same.

33:26

I think that's

33:30

the, that's the problem. I don't think,

33:32

I think, I think for, for all

33:34

women who are listening that are suffering

33:36

from that, it's like, if we could

33:38

just find partners who are like, I

33:41

love that you're smarter than me, but patriarchy

33:44

doesn't create those kinds of people. So that's

33:46

the other problem. Yeah. You know,

33:48

like that's the other problem. It's not like there

33:50

aren't enough people out here. It's just that there

33:52

aren't enough people challenging what patriarchy has taught them.

33:54

I always tell the story that my homeboy had

33:56

called me one day and he had just come

33:58

home from like a two weeks silent

34:01

meditation in India and then he like

34:03

went to Brazil and did ayahuasca and

34:05

he came home and he was like he

34:08

was like uh hey

34:11

did you know that niggas

34:13

ain't shit and I was like yes I

34:16

actually did know that no no that

34:18

yes I actually am quite

34:20

aware that he was like

34:23

I had no idea

34:26

and now I have to like re-examine

34:29

my entire existence and I think

34:32

when we talk about like this

34:34

idea of deconstructing Karen right what

34:36

you're presenting to people is this

34:38

concept of like you're

34:40

only lost because you're abandoning yourself

34:43

like we're gonna give you the information

34:47

to save yourself and

34:50

if you choose to abandon that

34:52

information then you have abandoned yourself

34:54

your children this society this world

34:58

because it's here and it's

35:00

not esoteric it's not like

35:02

confusing or confounding it's just

35:04

fact and fact is like

35:06

so frightening for people because

35:09

they built everything up on things that

35:11

are just not really like real

35:14

but they believe in it and so

35:16

like my homeboy was a study because

35:19

he is a black man in America

35:21

and he has been built up on a

35:23

whole bunch of stuff that wasn't real

35:25

and he had to deconstruct the

35:28

hotel he had to deconstruct and

35:30

it was difficult you know

35:32

like he had to really kind of grapple

35:35

with like oh shit I

35:37

was doing that damn

35:39

that wasn't okay

35:41

and then you have guilt and now you

35:43

gotta deal with the discomfort of the guilt

35:45

right it's like that's what therapy is and

35:49

we are in a mass

35:51

state of PTSD and mania

35:54

and delusion like everybody needs you

35:56

know how they have them like giant weddings like

35:58

those group weddings like that's what they do. So

36:00

we need a giant group therapy.

36:02

Yes. Like that's what, and

36:04

I think, you know, I

36:07

could be crazy, but I think

36:10

social media in some shape or form

36:12

is performing that for a lot of

36:15

people, kind of like mass therapy.

36:17

Like when I see you guys's videos and

36:19

like there's so much of your stuff that

36:21

I share because I know you post it,

36:23

cause you're like, I saw this and it

36:25

made me feel like I'm not fucking losing

36:27

it. And then I see it and I'm

36:30

like, let

36:32

me post this shit that Regina just

36:34

posted because the people need to see

36:36

this right now, you know? And so

36:38

we ended up passing along like these

36:40

jewels, you know, that

36:42

make us feel valuable again. And

36:44

not like we're just like out

36:46

here losing our minds. But

36:49

I relate when you said today

36:51

that like, you're like, you know, right

36:53

now I'm just feeling very real. Like it's

36:55

like, it's not even defeat it. My

36:59

realism is realisming because

37:01

I feel like people

37:03

call that pessimism. And

37:07

that for me is frustrating. Like if you're sitting in

37:10

a room with Karen and you tell them about yourself,

37:12

you know, they're gonna call you a pessimist. And it's like, well,

37:15

no, no, no. I agree. And I

37:17

think it's really interesting. I mean, oh,

37:19

sorry. I just go ahead. We do this work. We

37:21

all three of us are doing this work around the

37:23

clock. And anytime

37:26

I even mention I'm losing hope or this

37:28

or that the first thing I get is

37:30

like a smack in the face. Like, you

37:33

know, you're a pessimistic, your glasses have empty. I

37:35

choose to have hope. And I'm like, it's

37:38

such like, I'm not even allowed to have one

37:40

moment of reflection. I'm not

37:42

allowed to have one moment of wondering if

37:44

all of this is for not. And

37:47

that's also white supremacy culture. That is the magical

37:49

black and brown women are supposed to

37:52

always keep our head up, always lead

37:54

the way. We're not allowed to have

37:56

a bad day. We're not allowed to

37:58

have a moment of. Doubt and

38:00

I don't have self-doubt. I have doubt

38:03

about y'all. I don't have about I'm

38:05

not having self-doubt I have white women

38:07

down and so the minute

38:10

that happens. It's like oh my god if

38:12

you lose hope How about this you

38:14

get yourself some hope? Yeah worry

38:16

about my hope you go get yourself

38:18

some hope You worry about you

38:20

and we had a white woman who worked with

38:22

us who went full-blown Karen We're not gonna name her

38:25

name, but she did say something poignant Which

38:27

was we hate black and

38:30

brown women because you don't hate

38:32

yourself and That

38:35

is true. Why do they themselves did they

38:37

teach y'all anything about why I'm nothing dinner

38:40

They don't have anything Amanda. They literally

38:42

all their entire world is consumption. They

38:44

don't have community They don't like each

38:46

other they don't you know so different

38:49

than us and I would say to

38:51

sire really really That's

38:53

how they feel that way. You know what? I'm

38:56

worried about right now. You guys are gonna

38:58

laugh at me But I'm very concerned so we

39:01

are of course supporting Ukraine We're

39:03

gonna be supporting Israel what

39:06

the hell's gonna happen in the US

39:08

where the Republicans try and steal the

39:10

election next November but that's what I'm

39:13

really genuinely I don't I'm I'm not

39:15

even joking like I Look

39:18

when we talk about like democracy falling off a

39:20

cliff I'm like I Completely

39:22

agree with you that it's been a shit show

39:24

up until this point But I'm like I'll even

39:27

take this little pretend little democracy We got right

39:29

now more than then what they offering up on

39:31

the other side Yeah But it becomes harder and

39:33

harder and harder to tell people we

39:35

just need to vote for a path forward When

39:37

you see the path forward out here like well,

39:39

we need to use your money for a genocide,

39:41

right? so it's like it becomes

39:44

incredibly very difficult because we know that

39:46

even though the point of even

39:48

though the Role of the president is

39:50

you know, kind of Well

39:53

for the most part for the past few years

39:55

It's been very figurehead ish versus like let me

39:57

sign these actual executive orders to create legitimate force

40:00

it. But for the most part, I just

40:02

feel like people don't

40:04

realize that the local elections, like

40:07

Louisiana, like at the time of

40:09

us recording this, y'all, Louisiana just

40:11

voted in a Republican governor and

40:13

90 and then like, like

40:15

apparently all of the sheriffs were up for reelection and

40:17

90% of them won and

40:19

they were all white Republicans. Okay. And

40:22

when they looked at the poll numbers, like black people just didn't

40:24

vote. Like there's gerrymandering. I was

40:26

getting ready to say that. Black people didn't

40:28

vote. There is voter suppression, but like black

40:30

people didn't vote. Then you have just the

40:32

realities around the

40:35

fact that people don't know how the system works. Right?

40:37

So like I created in Amanda, we trust because I

40:39

want to like to try and help teach people how

40:41

the system works because I'm even learning how the system

40:43

works. And I'm like, damn, I'm really fucking smart. If

40:45

this is difficult for me, like

40:47

imagine for folks who aren't

40:50

even accessing information and intellect

40:52

on a daily basis. Right? So then you're

40:54

like, okay, okay. How

40:56

do we, like, I feel

40:58

like when you all do these dinners, there's

41:00

a certain level of reality that it was

41:03

white women who sent us down this path

41:05

in 2016. Like they are the

41:07

ones who voted Donald Trump in office. So it's

41:09

like, but it is wildly distressing to me to

41:11

think that like my future in this company is

41:13

on the backs of white women. Yeah.

41:16

Well, we all ought to be concerned

41:18

because it's scary. And also, I mean,

41:20

it's also on brand, you

41:22

know, like lynchings, lynchings were

41:25

made possible by white women.

41:27

Like this is what they've always been. And

41:30

I think the thing about it for us

41:32

is now the mask has come off and

41:34

they get really mad, Amanda.

41:37

Like they get really mad. Like, why

41:39

are you coming? It's like, it feels like it's like

41:41

the witches. Remember that movie, The Witches when like they

41:44

take off their wigs and it's like, yes.

41:48

And this, and this notion that like

41:50

white women didn't have anything to do

41:52

with slavery. I mean, there's that amazing book.

41:54

They were her property, you know,

41:56

and, and, and if you go to the lynching memorial,

41:58

it's like stone. stone after stone

42:01

saying this black man was lynched because

42:03

he looked at a white woman the

42:05

wrong way. This black family was lynched

42:07

because he annoyed a white woman. It's

42:09

literally white woman, white woman, white woman. This

42:12

is less than 100 years ago.

42:14

This is not ancient history, you

42:16

know? And this purposely

42:19

pretending like none of

42:21

this happened. Look at the pictures. Look

42:23

at the pictures of these white women

42:25

screaming at those black kids during desegregation.

42:27

Those women are still alive. Those women

42:30

are... Well, and more white women, more

42:33

white women inherited slaves than they

42:35

did land. So we

42:37

had lots of white women slave owners.

42:40

And this is not like when Regina and

42:42

I did our deconstructing care and screening

42:45

in Richmond, which is capital of the Confederacy.

42:47

And you know, I was born 110 years

42:50

after slavery ended in Richmond and we're sitting in

42:52

this room and it was amazing. It was sold

42:54

out 550 people and there are people in the

42:57

audience. And you know, I said,

42:59

I'm like, this is really wild to me that

43:01

like we get to have this conversation. And I'm

43:03

like, you all literally are sitting on land

43:05

and it's all generational wealth. These homes

43:08

have been passed down over generations. Your

43:10

ancestors like three generations ago were

43:13

slave owners. This is the, this is

43:15

Philip Morris land. This is tobacco and cotton land.

43:17

And they looked at us like my husband was

43:19

like, that was amazing. Like people got up and

43:22

left. People were looking down like, you know, really,

43:25

really intense. And the fallout since

43:27

then has been really like, I'm

43:29

a lunatic, I'm a terrorist, all

43:31

this stuff. Like, I went from

43:33

being a model minority, model minority

43:35

to a terrorist in 10 seconds.

43:37

A minute ago from being a

43:40

doctor to a terrorist. I'm

43:43

the fourth generation in my

43:45

family out of slavery, fourth

43:47

generation. That means me,

43:50

my mom, her

43:52

mom and her grandmother. That's

43:54

fourth generations. Yeah.

43:56

I mean, this is recent history. So here

43:59

we are. And we can't

44:01

actually get them to decolonize or do

44:03

anything because we haven't had any truth

44:05

You can't have reconciliation without truth. We

44:07

haven't had reparations. There has to

44:09

be reparations for black people until we've done

44:12

that What's that like it?

44:14

You know, this is a black square.

44:16

They put the black squares in their Instagram and they're

44:18

like worn out

44:21

I'm so Exalted

44:23

by my anti-racism work and like the in

44:25

my god They lifted a BLM sign and

44:27

put it up there until Halloween and then

44:30

took it down and put up those like

44:32

Hanging up ghosts from their trees, you know,

44:35

I don't know I've had it Amanda I've

44:37

had I had a man and I have

44:40

truly had it there bullshit. They are liars

44:42

They hate themselves and their hatred for themselves

44:44

is killing us all and I don't know

44:46

how to change that You cannot get people

44:48

to care about themselves. You can't What

44:52

do you do to care for yourself? Talk

44:54

a lot. I have heard myself

44:56

on on a daily basis. I

44:59

actually do affirmations That's

45:01

how I start my day and at the end

45:03

of my day. I give thanks I Show

45:06

gratitude for all the wonderful things that

45:08

I have in my life and that's

45:10

how I maintain myself Yeah,

45:13

I walk a lot. I like I'm

45:15

like the Indian Forrest Gump. I swear Like

45:19

all over the place on foot listening

45:21

to shitty 80s music just

45:23

walking I walk a lot

45:31

What do you do Amanda I would love to what do

45:33

you do what do you do? What do I do? Um, You

45:37

know, first of all, I lie to myself. So

45:40

we'll start there. I lie to myself and I'm

45:42

like perfect I

45:48

have an endless capacity for

45:50

all of this I can manage

45:52

everything and then I'm like,

45:54

but boy my lower back really hurt

46:00

It's because yes, fool,

46:02

you're holding all of

46:04

it in your lower

46:06

back. Then it'll be

46:08

like, okay, why can't

46:11

I sleep? Why?

46:16

So like I'm managing all

46:18

day long, but I

46:20

can't sleep. Oh,

46:23

that's because you're not managing. Are

46:26

you in LA? Yes, okay.

46:29

So you're not managing. You got some dummies.

46:32

So I will lie to myself about all of that,

46:35

and then I will get

46:37

real with myself and get back on

46:39

regimen. And I found that regimen is

46:41

very helpful for me. Like Regina said,

46:43

like waking up in the morning and

46:45

having like a regimen for like some part of my

46:48

day, having a regimen, like, cause the rest of my

46:50

days for y'all it's like whatever, like I might be

46:52

doing the podcast and then the radio show and then

46:54

I have to do another thing and another thing. But

46:57

like being able to know like I'm gonna

46:59

wake up, I'm gonna stretch. Okay,

47:01

I'm gonna stretch. I'm gonna stand on my head for

47:03

three minutes, three and a half minutes I'm gonna stand

47:05

on my head. And I'm not gonna

47:07

think- Can you do that? Can you do that? Can you do that?

47:11

Yeah, damn. Oh, that's

47:13

awesome. Damn. So I'm

47:15

gonna stand on my head for three and a half minutes. Cause

47:18

like they said that there's something about

47:20

like turning your body upside down for

47:22

that amount of time every day, like

47:24

kind of like helps like the equalizing

47:26

element. So I started

47:28

doing that. Then like, if I

47:31

can, I will try and go for

47:33

a walk today. I got up and

47:35

was focused enough to go to

47:38

the beach. I

47:40

drove to the water.

47:44

I drove to the water and I sat-

47:46

That's awesome. And looked at the water and

47:48

then my dog barked and I looked to

47:50

the right and a man had stripped down

47:52

naked and was sitting. I'm like,

47:55

when the man had walked- up

48:00

like he was fully clothed in like,

48:02

like business attire.

48:05

And then when I looked back, he was

48:07

naked and sitting on a towel minding

48:09

his business. So I minded my business

48:12

and but it was like creeping up

48:14

on you. He wasn't creeping up and

48:16

Jordi was not having that. Anyway, Jordi was like,

48:19

look at that man. Oh my God. But

48:21

I say all that to say that the

48:24

affirming the affirmations like sounds dumb

48:26

when you first learn about them

48:28

and then it becomes like a

48:30

real thing. And like, it's

48:33

wild how you can go through so many emotions

48:35

by just repeating an affirmation. Like I'll start and

48:37

it's like, I'm just saying the thing. Next thing

48:39

I know I'm crying. Next thing I know I'm

48:41

like, that's right. No, I'm that bitch. Like,

48:47

so that's, that's kind of working for

48:49

me. But the other

48:51

part of it too, y'all is just being able

48:53

to have conversations like this, like being able to

48:55

have exchange. Like I know that's the first thing

48:57

you said was like, I just, you know, bitch

48:59

to Regina because you know,

49:01

so much of this feels

49:03

lonely. And it really does a problem.

49:05

But lonely is another feeling

49:08

right? Like I don't have a problem

49:10

alone, but like lonely is just a,

49:12

it's a, it's a another feeling. And

49:14

when you feel like you're watching humanity,

49:17

just disintegrate in front of you. It's

49:21

lonely. It's lonely. It

49:23

is. It is. It is. I,

49:25

I, I totally agree with that. And

49:28

that's the killer. You know, the loneliness is

49:30

the killer. And can I just

49:32

ask you, when you stand on your head, do you have

49:35

your arms out or do you actually,

49:37

it's head on the ground? Head

49:39

on the ground, babe. Fuck. Where did

49:41

you learn how to do that? I

49:43

was a gymnast. Really? I

49:45

was a gymnast. So like, I mean, what I really

49:47

want is to get another trampoline, but I just don't

49:49

have the room for it. But

49:53

my mom in a

49:55

fit of adult tantrum

49:57

gave away my trampoline

50:00

she was mad at me and I

50:02

don't know if I'll ever get over

50:04

it. I generally don't know if I'll

50:06

ever get over it. But like,

50:08

I mean, that was something I would look forward

50:10

to when I would go visit her. But like,

50:12

at this point, I'm just like, are

50:15

you about to just put a trampoline in this backyard

50:17

just for like your own just

50:20

joy? Like, because I love

50:22

just jumping up and

50:26

down on a trampoline. Get

50:29

you a trampoline. Do y'all

50:31

think I should do it? Yes, you should

50:33

absolutely get a trampoline. Yes, absolutely do what's

50:35

going to make you happy. Can I can

50:37

I ask you one question? Please ask me

50:39

whatever you want to ask me. Your

50:42

profession holds the

50:44

single most power in the world.

50:47

Because Hollywood is I mean, I go to

50:49

India to visit my family. And

50:52

everyone's watching American TV and American movies.

50:54

This is how white supremacy is exported,

50:56

right? Yes. Where are

51:00

your people? Not your people,

51:02

obviously, but where are your

51:05

fellow celebrities who have gigantic

51:07

platforms, and who are

51:09

literally posting pictures of like,

51:11

you know, pumpkin spice, bullshit?

51:15

Like, what's I learned, I learned in

51:17

2019 that these were not

51:19

my people. So I don't have an answer

51:22

for you. People. Those aren't your

51:24

where your people. Yeah, we are your

51:26

people. Yes. I learned when I like

51:28

was being escorted out of a club

51:30

in front of like, black Hollywood, because

51:32

someone who is a member of

51:35

the PR of black Hollywood, like didn't like

51:37

me and thought it to see fit to

51:39

have security, escort me out of a club

51:41

and put hands on me just because she

51:43

didn't like me. Like when I when I

51:45

saw that happen, and no body

51:48

said anything. No, like

51:51

and I had a billboard the size of

51:53

a whole building like a block

51:56

away. When I saw that I

51:58

was like, Oh, these ain't your people. Wow.

52:01

Like my people are like, are

52:03

y'all you know, my people are like, Kimberly

52:05

Crenshaw, if she'll have me, you know, like,

52:07

these are my people, you know,

52:09

like, Sheryl and I feel if she'll have

52:12

me like, these are my people. And you

52:14

know, Dr. Mark, Lamont Hill, that's my people.

52:17

Like, that's my family. Like we, you know,

52:19

like we are we are love where they

52:21

have the black Republican on.

52:24

And when he talked about going to

52:26

Cheesecake Factory, they all right. Listen, when

52:28

he when they went

52:34

when when wasn't named Don was like, what's

52:36

funny, Mark, what's funny? Like, I'm trying to

52:39

figure out why he's going to cheesecake back.

52:41

Look at look at what happened. What happened

52:43

to him when he stood up for Palestinians?

52:45

Look at what happened to him. Exactly. That's

52:48

my people. Yeah. You

52:50

know, and and well, it's a shame. It's a

52:52

shame. And to even come back around

52:55

now, though, and to see him now be

52:59

regarded as a beacon of

53:02

truth and as an expert, and now

53:04

like people are lauding him for, you

53:06

know, being someone who stood in the

53:08

gap long before, is really

53:11

great to see just as like his friend and his

53:13

sister, you know, but I

53:15

don't know where they're at. You know, the

53:17

reality is that what you named earlier about

53:19

just the truth about capitalism and opportunism and

53:22

all those things, they are alive and well

53:24

here. I mean, this is not a town

53:26

of integrity. Like, that's not what we

53:29

know that you know, saying like, that's

53:31

not what this is built on. I

53:33

mean, I have had to really learn

53:35

like, oh, you're

53:38

gonna have to build your own space. Because

53:40

they're not really trying to like, give you

53:43

room. Like, they're not trying to make room

53:45

for you and help you to be able

53:47

to tell the truth. Like, that's not really

53:49

a goal in this town. For some people

53:52

it is. Don't get me wrong for some

53:54

people. But it has

53:56

been very illuminating and revelatory

53:59

to just see how alone

54:01

I have been in speaking. Like

54:03

literally nobody else though. Like literally.

54:05

Literally nobody else. First of all,

54:07

I'm really sorry that that happened

54:09

to you in 2019. I'm sure

54:12

you've had time to metabolize that, but like

54:15

that really sucks to have your own. No,

54:17

the people listening are like, did she just

54:19

bring that up again? Yes. Because even though

54:21

I have had time to metabolize it, it

54:23

still bothers me. Of course

54:26

it should. It should come bringing up

54:28

again if you feel like that's right.

54:30

Regina. I'm

54:32

going to take, I'm going to take a photograph.

54:34

Hold on. Amanda, look up, please. This

54:37

is fun. I hope we can

54:39

do it again. Well, I

54:41

would love to present to y'all some

54:43

questions that people have asked because we

54:45

have our Patreon only segment. So we

54:47

can head on over to the SEAL

54:49

squad y'all. So come and check out

54:52

this little conversation that is expanding as

54:54

you all ask your questions to Cyra

54:56

Ralph and Regina Jackson of Deconstructing Karen.

55:00

The last day. Well,

55:04

I'm so glad to be able to

55:06

share space with y'all and talk and

55:08

vent. And I know that

55:10

you all are continuing to do your work.

55:13

And even though there are so

55:15

many efforts to

55:18

keep fascism growing and to keep the ignorance

55:20

and the system growing, you

55:22

know, we have to believe that

55:25

at the very least the drop

55:28

of oil that we're putting in the ocean is

55:30

going to reverberate. And I know that what you

55:32

all are doing is reverberating because it reached me.

55:35

Right. And that's the

55:37

thing. If you had done nothing, I

55:39

would not know y'all. You know, that's

55:42

the thing. Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you

55:44

all so much. Keep up the fight.

55:46

It was such a pleasure to meet

55:48

you. I feel like I know who

55:50

you are. Thank you. Amanda

55:53

and I am. I don't fan girl over

55:55

most people, but you really like I have

55:57

to thank you truly. You're giving.

56:00

Giving people a lot of hope right now.

56:02

You truly are and you're so clear

56:04

and you're so smart and

56:06

it's incredible what you're doing. You've always been awesome,

56:09

but I thank you tremendously for the stuff that

56:11

you've been putting out in the past eight, nine

56:13

days. Thank you so much. I

56:15

really, that means a lot. I really appreciate it,

56:17

particularly coming from y'all because y'all do not play

56:19

the fuck around.