In this episode we speak with Ted Burnett
Ted is the VP of the Poor People's Campaign in California and a retired Deputy Director of SEIU 1000. He talks to us about how his road to activism started at an early age. He also talks to us about forming the Ontario Future Alliance, the impact of the Child Tax Credit Law, Voting Rights and much more.
GUEST
tedmail2@yahoo.com
HOST
https://instagram.com/yeahthatishim?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
PODCAST:
https://instagram.com/thee_empire_podcast?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
ANTONIO'S BOOK:
10 Things Your Parents Should Have Taught You...But Didn't
https://www.amazon.com/Things-Parents-Should-Taught-Didnt/dp/B0BB5CL3MF
PODCAST MERCH:
https://thee-empire.myspreadshop.com/
To Support The Podcast
CASHAPP
https://cash.app/$TheeEmpirePodcast
VENMO
https://venmo.com/u/TheeEmpirePodcast
PAYPAL:
https://paypal.me/theeempirepodcast?country.x=US&locale.x=en_US
PATREON:
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________Content______
00:38 - Intro
02:04 - Who is Ted
06:56 - Ted's Background/Early School Years/Start of Activism
24:09 - Poor People's Campaign/Minimum Wage
32:14 - 3rd Reconstruction Breakdown/Child Tax Credit/Class & Racism
50:45 - NAACP Work/Environmental Justice/Reparations
1:08:50 - Current Projects/Being An Ordained Minister/SEIU 1000 Dep. Director
1:21:21 - Ted's Empire
In this episode we speak with Ted Burnett
Ted is the VP of the Poor People's Campaign in California and a retired Deputy Director of SEIU 1000. He talks to us about how his road to activism started at an early age. He also talks to us about forming the Ontario Future Alliance, the impact of the Child Tax Credit Law, Voting Rights and much more.
GUEST
tedmail2@yahoo.com
HOST
https://instagram.com/yeahthatishim?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
PODCAST:
https://instagram.com/thee_empire_podcast?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
ANTONIO'S BOOK:
10 Things Your Parents Should Have Taught You...But Didn't
https://www.amazon.com/Things-Parents-Should-Taught-Didnt/dp/B0BB5CL3MF
PODCAST MERCH:
https://thee-empire.myspreadshop.com/
To Support The Podcast
CASHAPP
https://cash.app/$TheeEmpirePodcast
VENMO
https://venmo.com/u/TheeEmpirePodcast
PAYPAL:
https://paypal.me/theeempirepodcast?country.x=US&locale.x=en_US
PATREON:
https://www.patreon.com/theeempirepodcast?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=join_link
________Content______
00:38 - Intro
02:04 - Who is Ted
06:56 - Ted's Background/Early School Years/Start of Activism
24:09 - Poor People's Campaign/Minimum Wage
32:14 - 3rd Reconstruction Breakdown/Child Tax Credit/Class & Racism
50:45 - NAACP Work/Environmental Justice/Reparations
1:08:50 - Current Projects/Being An Ordained Minister/SEIU 1000 Dep. Director
1:21:21 - Ted's Empire
00:00:23.765 --> 00:00:26.067 Hey, you guys, we got another great one. 00:00:26.486 --> 00:00:35.448 Stay tuned. 00:00:36.868 --> 00:00:39.229 Everyone, welcome to The Empire, 00:00:39.250 --> 00:00:40.250 where we like to engage 00:00:40.270 --> 00:00:41.890 with everyone from pastors to actors, 00:00:41.950 --> 00:00:42.771 rappers to trappers, 00:00:42.811 --> 00:00:44.771 and everyone in between. 00:00:45.290 --> 00:00:46.692 My name is Antonio Thee. Miles. 00:00:46.712 --> 00:00:48.572 I am your host for today. 00:00:48.591 --> 00:00:51.573 And yes, we have another great guest. 00:00:52.292 --> 00:00:53.012 And this gentleman who's 00:00:53.033 --> 00:00:53.853 going to be joining us 00:00:53.914 --> 00:00:55.673 today is Ted Burnett. 00:00:56.033 --> 00:00:59.256 He is the VP of the NAACP 00:00:59.276 --> 00:01:02.116 Pomona Valley version district. 00:01:02.476 --> 00:01:03.796 And he is also on the board 00:01:03.817 --> 00:01:06.218 of directors of the Poor 00:01:06.237 --> 00:01:07.259 People's Campaign that does 00:01:07.278 --> 00:01:08.118 the Inland Empire. 00:01:08.599 --> 00:01:10.359 And let's get right into this gentleman. 00:01:10.700 --> 00:01:12.680 And his name again is Ted Burnett. 00:01:12.980 --> 00:01:15.102 Welcome to the Empire, Ted. 00:01:15.861 --> 00:01:16.942 Thank you for having me. 00:01:17.584 --> 00:01:18.805 Man, so glad to have you, sir. 00:01:18.844 --> 00:01:19.284 How you been? 00:01:20.426 --> 00:01:21.346 I can't complain. 00:01:21.527 --> 00:01:24.168 If you don't complain about nothing, 00:01:24.188 --> 00:01:25.129 then it's all good. 00:01:25.750 --> 00:01:26.191 Got you. 00:01:26.230 --> 00:01:26.751 You got you. 00:01:26.990 --> 00:01:27.811 So you stub your toe, 00:01:27.831 --> 00:01:28.753 you just keep it to yourself? 00:01:29.072 --> 00:01:29.894 Keep it to myself. 00:01:29.993 --> 00:01:31.435 Unless if it hurt more, 00:01:31.474 --> 00:01:32.555 then I go to the doctor. 00:01:32.796 --> 00:01:34.496 Thank God for health care. 00:01:35.418 --> 00:01:35.737 Got you. 00:01:35.757 --> 00:01:37.920 So you complain to someone 00:01:37.939 --> 00:01:39.361 who gets paid to listen to you complain. 00:01:40.421 --> 00:01:41.022 Exactly. 00:01:41.283 --> 00:01:43.105 As long as I pay that co-pay, right? 00:01:43.484 --> 00:01:44.465 That pay, that part. 00:01:44.506 --> 00:01:44.706 Hey. 00:01:45.549 --> 00:01:46.248 I'm going, doctor, 00:01:46.269 --> 00:01:47.310 you're going to hear my complaint, 00:01:47.349 --> 00:01:48.069 but you're going to get paid. 00:01:48.109 --> 00:01:49.310 So my toe hurt. 00:01:49.709 --> 00:01:50.030 Listen. 00:01:52.230 --> 00:01:52.691 Got you. 00:01:53.350 --> 00:01:54.212 Well, you know, Ted, 00:01:54.272 --> 00:01:55.391 let's get right into it, man. 00:01:55.412 --> 00:01:55.712 You know, 00:01:55.852 --> 00:01:58.052 for people who don't know who you 00:01:58.192 --> 00:01:59.132 are and the things that you do, 00:01:59.173 --> 00:02:00.132 can you please tell all of 00:02:00.233 --> 00:02:01.754 us who you are and the 00:02:01.774 --> 00:02:02.274 things that you do? 00:02:03.647 --> 00:02:06.067 um uh good afternoon my name 00:02:06.128 --> 00:02:08.610 is uh ted burnett and I am 00:02:08.909 --> 00:02:10.751 the uh second vice 00:02:10.811 --> 00:02:12.131 president of the pomona 00:02:12.151 --> 00:02:14.711 valley naacp which is the 00:02:15.312 --> 00:02:17.033 uh oldest civil rights uh 00:02:17.133 --> 00:02:18.974 group in the united states 00:02:19.655 --> 00:02:21.895 um we at pomona valley we 00:02:22.596 --> 00:02:25.138 uh service five cities in uh 00:02:26.457 --> 00:02:27.758 San Bernardino County, 00:02:28.359 --> 00:02:30.240 and five cities in LA County, 00:02:30.340 --> 00:02:34.162 including Pomona, Ontario, Diamond Bar, 00:02:34.222 --> 00:02:35.943 Claremont, and et cetera. 00:02:36.263 --> 00:02:37.742 And I'm also on the board of 00:02:37.782 --> 00:02:40.144 directors of the Poor People's Campaign, 00:02:41.745 --> 00:02:43.966 in the Empire. 00:02:44.366 --> 00:02:46.568 And also we have a statewide 00:02:46.627 --> 00:02:48.408 chapter where I serve as on 00:02:48.429 --> 00:02:49.788 the board of directors. 00:02:50.310 --> 00:02:52.169 And then we also have the 00:02:52.311 --> 00:02:53.911 Ontario Futures Alliance, 00:02:54.372 --> 00:02:56.051 which is a great organization. 00:02:57.592 --> 00:03:01.395 that we have that includes LULAC, 00:03:01.435 --> 00:03:03.235 which is the Latino Civil Rights Group, 00:03:03.656 --> 00:03:04.116 MALO, 00:03:04.175 --> 00:03:07.078 which is the Tongan Civil Rights Group, 00:03:07.198 --> 00:03:08.919 and Pitzer College. 00:03:09.699 --> 00:03:14.662 LULAC includes other organizations that 00:03:15.322 --> 00:03:16.643 I had mentioned along with 00:03:17.263 --> 00:03:18.302 Poor People's Campaign. 00:03:18.603 --> 00:03:19.883 And we are a collaboration 00:03:20.024 --> 00:03:21.745 of people that comes 00:03:21.784 --> 00:03:25.006 together to fight social justice. 00:03:25.325 --> 00:03:26.846 And instead of us separating 00:03:27.486 --> 00:03:29.967 and fighting over peanuts, 00:03:30.228 --> 00:03:31.907 we get together and make peanut butter. 00:03:34.868 --> 00:03:35.430 I love that. 00:03:35.949 --> 00:03:37.229 We all know who invented peanut butter, 00:03:37.270 --> 00:03:37.509 right? 00:03:37.850 --> 00:03:38.371 Exactly. 00:03:39.229 --> 00:03:39.669 Gotcha. 00:03:39.709 --> 00:03:40.849 You know, it's so awesome. 00:03:40.909 --> 00:03:43.551 And for those who are watching, you know, 00:03:44.312 --> 00:03:45.013 please type a one in the 00:03:45.073 --> 00:03:46.014 chat if you guys can hear 00:03:46.153 --> 00:03:47.835 us and we sound clear, we look good. 00:03:48.195 --> 00:03:49.116 Just make sure that we just 00:03:49.135 --> 00:03:49.477 want to make sure 00:03:49.497 --> 00:03:50.657 everything looks good and sounds good. 00:03:51.098 --> 00:03:52.038 And if you're just joining us, 00:03:52.158 --> 00:03:53.340 we're talking with Ted Burnett, 00:03:53.759 --> 00:03:56.981 who is VP of the NAACP and 00:03:57.021 --> 00:03:58.824 also on the board of directors of 00:03:59.860 --> 00:04:01.965 excuse me, the Poor People's Alliance. 00:04:02.044 --> 00:04:02.966 And he's also with the 00:04:03.067 --> 00:04:05.030 Ontario Future Alliance. 00:04:05.631 --> 00:04:06.612 So we're so great to have 00:04:06.652 --> 00:04:07.693 and have everybody here with us. 00:04:08.275 --> 00:04:09.497 And so Ted, you know, 00:04:11.775 --> 00:04:12.975 Have you noticed a difference? 00:04:12.996 --> 00:04:15.057 Because you mentioned people 00:04:15.078 --> 00:04:16.678 would be fighting over peanuts, right? 00:04:16.759 --> 00:04:18.360 Like we want this, we want that. 00:04:18.660 --> 00:04:19.740 Have you seen a difference 00:04:20.382 --> 00:04:22.702 in the community as opposed 00:04:22.723 --> 00:04:23.564 to everybody fighting for 00:04:23.603 --> 00:04:25.204 different things as opposed 00:04:25.245 --> 00:04:26.545 to fighting for the same thing together? 00:04:26.565 --> 00:04:27.387 Have you seen a difference 00:04:27.786 --> 00:04:29.569 in what the outcome is? 00:04:29.949 --> 00:04:31.709 I've seen over the years 00:04:34.192 --> 00:04:35.213 people starting to 00:04:35.312 --> 00:04:38.074 understand that the system 00:04:39.757 --> 00:04:41.117 pits us against each other. 00:04:42.303 --> 00:04:46.750 And while 1% of the 00:04:47.312 --> 00:04:49.274 population in the world 00:04:50.255 --> 00:04:51.458 owns most of the wealth 00:04:52.778 --> 00:04:54.918 We as people of color and 00:04:54.978 --> 00:04:56.560 the poor and the working 00:04:56.600 --> 00:04:58.899 poor fight over the scraps. 00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:01.420 And so when you come 00:05:01.480 --> 00:05:03.600 together in a fusion movement, 00:05:04.161 --> 00:05:05.002 one of the things that you 00:05:05.041 --> 00:05:05.802 have to understand, 00:05:06.161 --> 00:05:06.502 there's an 00:05:06.641 --> 00:05:08.622 intersectionality that exists 00:05:09.382 --> 00:05:10.843 from all of us that we have 00:05:10.903 --> 00:05:12.603 common needs and common 00:05:12.642 --> 00:05:14.704 goals and common goals. 00:05:16.120 --> 00:05:18.982 ideology on what we want to do. 00:05:19.401 --> 00:05:21.963 And so when you come 00:05:22.023 --> 00:05:24.264 together as a group and you 00:05:24.603 --> 00:05:25.805 are not pointing fingers at 00:05:25.845 --> 00:05:26.944 that other group that you 00:05:26.964 --> 00:05:30.245 tried to oppress, then people say, 00:05:30.286 --> 00:05:30.927 oh my God, 00:05:31.826 --> 00:05:33.807 they have the same values that I have. 00:05:33.887 --> 00:05:36.189 They have the same outlook that I have. 00:05:36.548 --> 00:05:37.728 They want to send their kids 00:05:37.769 --> 00:05:39.490 to college like I do. 00:05:39.910 --> 00:05:42.630 And so once we realize that 00:05:43.411 --> 00:05:44.552 and then come together, 00:05:45.528 --> 00:05:47.930 then we have a better 00:05:48.029 --> 00:05:49.550 understanding that our 00:05:49.730 --> 00:05:51.992 enemy is not one another 00:05:52.612 --> 00:05:53.613 because that person don't 00:05:53.634 --> 00:05:55.595 look like me or share the 00:05:55.634 --> 00:05:56.596 same faith that me, 00:05:57.136 --> 00:05:59.197 but the fact that the 00:05:59.276 --> 00:06:01.879 system perpetuates that. 00:06:02.718 --> 00:06:03.899 And if we come together, 00:06:03.980 --> 00:06:05.380 which I've seen in the 00:06:05.440 --> 00:06:06.701 fusion movement of people 00:06:06.761 --> 00:06:07.461 coming together, 00:06:08.452 --> 00:06:10.355 We have common goals so that 00:06:10.394 --> 00:06:12.156 we put all of our resources 00:06:12.836 --> 00:06:14.639 in to try to be successful 00:06:15.019 --> 00:06:16.500 and make sure that everyone 00:06:17.682 --> 00:06:18.562 benefits from it. 00:06:20.024 --> 00:06:25.809 So when you start that fusion movement, 00:06:26.629 --> 00:06:28.971 then everybody benefits that. 00:06:30.413 --> 00:06:30.973 I love that. 00:06:30.994 --> 00:06:31.113 Yeah. 00:06:33.047 --> 00:06:34.208 And I love that because, you know, 00:06:34.327 --> 00:06:35.528 it's so true because the 00:06:35.548 --> 00:06:36.709 whole tactic of divide and 00:06:36.750 --> 00:06:39.110 conquer has always worked, will always, 00:06:39.130 --> 00:06:39.932 can always work. 00:06:40.031 --> 00:06:41.612 But when people get together 00:06:41.673 --> 00:06:42.413 and are together, 00:06:42.432 --> 00:06:44.415 they're so much more powerful to get. 00:06:44.454 --> 00:06:45.596 They're so much more powerful, right? 00:06:46.495 --> 00:06:46.755 What is it? 00:06:46.795 --> 00:06:48.016 Power in numbers, as they say? 00:06:48.096 --> 00:06:48.418 Yeah. 00:06:49.298 --> 00:06:51.959 You know, Ted, can you give us all, 00:06:52.639 --> 00:06:53.661 as brief as you can, 00:06:53.680 --> 00:06:56.442 a story of where you grew up, 00:06:56.642 --> 00:06:57.303 how you grew up, 00:06:57.824 --> 00:06:58.704 all the way up to the man 00:06:58.725 --> 00:06:59.404 that you are today? 00:06:59.584 --> 00:07:00.505 If you can give us a brief 00:07:00.545 --> 00:07:02.007 story about all that for us. 00:07:03.048 --> 00:07:03.389 Well, 00:07:04.589 --> 00:07:08.851 I grew up outside of Chicago in a 00:07:08.971 --> 00:07:10.913 town called Urbana-Champaign. 00:07:11.613 --> 00:07:12.793 And I grew up in Urbana. 00:07:13.875 --> 00:07:21.459 And my relatives came from 00:07:21.499 --> 00:07:23.600 the south in Mississippi 00:07:24.440 --> 00:07:25.841 because they wanted to get 00:07:25.882 --> 00:07:27.161 away from the oppression. 00:07:27.562 --> 00:07:30.303 And a lot of people who was 00:07:30.343 --> 00:07:31.644 from Mississippi actually 00:07:33.153 --> 00:07:36.334 came from the South to the 00:07:36.394 --> 00:07:37.576 big cities because there 00:07:37.615 --> 00:07:39.557 was jobs and opportunities, 00:07:39.877 --> 00:07:41.499 and it was part of the new 00:07:41.619 --> 00:07:44.180 industrial revolution and mechanism. 00:07:44.521 --> 00:07:47.002 And so my people came, I'm sure, 00:07:47.103 --> 00:07:49.223 from the cause of it. 00:07:49.244 --> 00:07:50.324 People remember the great 00:07:50.644 --> 00:07:52.266 Mississippi flood of 1927, 00:07:52.266 --> 00:07:54.348 where they flooded, 00:07:54.507 --> 00:07:55.988 opened up the government, 00:07:56.108 --> 00:07:57.449 opened up the levees, 00:07:57.509 --> 00:07:58.990 and it flooded the black lands, 00:07:59.350 --> 00:08:01.593 and they were all kept in camps 00:08:04.214 --> 00:08:05.656 while their land was flooded. 00:08:06.375 --> 00:08:07.137 And so people said, 00:08:07.216 --> 00:08:09.398 why should I stay here and 00:08:09.519 --> 00:08:12.401 deal with no job? 00:08:12.761 --> 00:08:13.742 My land is flooded. 00:08:13.822 --> 00:08:14.682 Everything is gone. 00:08:15.083 --> 00:08:17.163 We're going to go and migrate. 00:08:17.244 --> 00:08:18.185 And so there was a great 00:08:18.245 --> 00:08:20.065 migration of blacks from 00:08:20.127 --> 00:08:22.447 Mississippi to places like 00:08:22.747 --> 00:08:25.110 Detroit and Chicago and Miami. 00:08:27.843 --> 00:08:29.084 parents and grandparents 00:08:29.144 --> 00:08:30.245 migrated that way. 00:08:30.605 --> 00:08:32.404 And, you know, they actually, you know, 00:08:32.845 --> 00:08:33.946 when they found a job, 00:08:34.025 --> 00:08:35.905 when somebody in the family found a job, 00:08:36.446 --> 00:08:41.128 they said, okay, Joe, 00:08:41.807 --> 00:08:44.168 you come here and then we can, 00:08:44.508 --> 00:08:45.548 you can get a job and we 00:08:45.568 --> 00:08:46.629 can all live together. 00:08:46.729 --> 00:08:48.490 And then you bring your family on. 00:08:49.009 --> 00:08:52.671 And so I come from a background of, of, 00:08:53.650 --> 00:08:53.691 of, 00:08:54.726 --> 00:08:56.687 people who my 00:08:56.788 --> 00:08:58.469 great-great-grandmother was 00:08:58.548 --> 00:09:00.551 educated on the plantation 00:09:01.071 --> 00:09:02.192 so that she can teach the 00:09:02.231 --> 00:09:04.092 Black kids and the white 00:09:04.133 --> 00:09:05.453 kids on the plantation. 00:09:05.774 --> 00:09:07.414 So she went to teacher's college. 00:09:07.936 --> 00:09:09.216 But when she came to the North, 00:09:09.255 --> 00:09:10.336 they wouldn't let her use 00:09:10.397 --> 00:09:12.018 that education there. 00:09:12.357 --> 00:09:13.818 And so education has always 00:09:13.859 --> 00:09:15.679 been a part of my family. 00:09:16.000 --> 00:09:18.863 And so my family on my mother's side, 00:09:18.903 --> 00:09:20.082 which was a Townsend, 00:09:20.624 --> 00:09:22.945 was relatives of Fannie Lou 00:09:23.004 --> 00:09:24.066 Hamer Townsend. 00:09:24.628 --> 00:09:25.788 So there's always been 00:09:26.009 --> 00:09:29.070 activism and education in my family. 00:09:29.451 --> 00:09:32.692 And so when we move with our uncle, 00:09:33.913 --> 00:09:36.754 great uncle from the North, you know, 00:09:36.794 --> 00:09:38.235 we settled in, 00:09:38.355 --> 00:09:39.515 he settled in Chicago and 00:09:39.556 --> 00:09:42.357 we moved down to Urbana. 00:09:42.677 --> 00:09:48.120 And so my parents was married and they had, 00:09:49.400 --> 00:09:50.402 they was working for 00:09:51.643 --> 00:09:53.163 the laundry and everything else. 00:09:53.224 --> 00:09:54.845 And then when the great 00:09:55.826 --> 00:09:58.187 change came of civil rights and stuff, 00:09:58.589 --> 00:10:00.309 then they got better jobs 00:10:00.470 --> 00:10:01.730 in working for the 00:10:01.831 --> 00:10:04.293 university and also General Motors, 00:10:04.312 --> 00:10:05.573 which was a union job. 00:10:06.174 --> 00:10:09.697 And so at that time when I was growing up, 00:10:11.418 --> 00:10:13.058 you know, they have projects. 00:10:13.139 --> 00:10:13.999 If people don't all 00:10:14.038 --> 00:10:15.538 California know about projects, 00:10:15.899 --> 00:10:17.000 they have projects there. 00:10:17.399 --> 00:10:19.240 And so we all started living 00:10:19.279 --> 00:10:19.860 in the project, 00:10:19.899 --> 00:10:21.020 but eventually because of 00:10:21.541 --> 00:10:24.260 the changes in the civil rights movement, 00:10:24.902 --> 00:10:26.802 we were able to purchase a 00:10:26.881 --> 00:10:29.482 home in the first black 00:10:29.602 --> 00:10:31.722 subdivision in Urbana, 00:10:32.143 --> 00:10:33.543 which they never offered 00:10:33.583 --> 00:10:34.384 before because of 00:10:34.443 --> 00:10:36.484 discrimination and redlining. 00:10:37.085 --> 00:10:38.585 And so my mother, 00:10:39.365 --> 00:10:43.168 was always a spirited activist for change, 00:10:43.509 --> 00:10:44.791 even at a young age and 00:10:44.831 --> 00:10:45.792 everything else when she 00:10:46.231 --> 00:10:48.573 migrated from Mississippi. 00:10:49.355 --> 00:10:53.099 And so she and the people 00:10:53.158 --> 00:10:58.043 from Ellis Drive knew that 00:10:58.840 --> 00:10:59.880 there was something wrong 00:11:00.600 --> 00:11:04.962 when kids couldn't go to 00:11:05.222 --> 00:11:06.443 other kids' schools of 00:11:06.484 --> 00:11:07.903 different races and everything else. 00:11:08.264 --> 00:11:11.326 So they fought, the Ellis Drive Six, 00:11:11.686 --> 00:11:12.326 I think it was, 00:11:12.366 --> 00:11:15.427 they fought to desegregate 00:11:15.467 --> 00:11:16.349 the school districts. 00:11:16.828 --> 00:11:18.068 There was no other school 00:11:18.129 --> 00:11:18.909 district that was 00:11:20.490 --> 00:11:22.731 desegregated in the state of Illinois, 00:11:23.152 --> 00:11:24.692 and they fought together 00:11:25.491 --> 00:11:28.192 to desegregate the school district, 00:11:28.653 --> 00:11:30.854 which was unheard of then. 00:11:31.173 --> 00:11:33.653 So that was the first school 00:11:33.693 --> 00:11:35.095 district in the state of 00:11:35.174 --> 00:11:38.655 Illinois that was desegregated in 1966. 00:11:38.655 --> 00:11:40.076 And later on, two years later, 00:11:40.456 --> 00:11:41.817 my mother ran for the 00:11:41.856 --> 00:11:42.756 school board and was the 00:11:42.797 --> 00:11:44.197 first Black lady elected to 00:11:44.217 --> 00:11:47.119 the school board in Urbana. 00:11:47.639 --> 00:11:49.359 And that's where I get my 00:11:49.538 --> 00:11:51.779 activism from because of the fact 00:11:52.562 --> 00:11:55.124 yeah okay and um uh just for 00:11:55.163 --> 00:11:56.224 all you guys who are just 00:11:56.264 --> 00:11:58.245 coming in uh we are here 00:11:58.465 --> 00:12:00.164 today with ted burnett who 00:12:00.264 --> 00:12:03.265 is uh vp of the naacp 00:12:03.306 --> 00:12:06.226 pomona uh valley area and 00:12:06.246 --> 00:12:08.447 uh board directors excuse 00:12:08.486 --> 00:12:09.427 me of the poor people's 00:12:09.447 --> 00:12:10.748 campaign for the england 00:12:10.768 --> 00:12:11.868 empire and he's telling us 00:12:11.888 --> 00:12:14.089 a little bit about his life story and 00:12:16.044 --> 00:12:16.326 Ted, 00:12:16.385 --> 00:12:18.788 did you always know that you wanted to 00:12:19.067 --> 00:12:20.289 be into activism? 00:12:20.909 --> 00:12:22.312 Or do you remember when you're like, 00:12:22.351 --> 00:12:22.772 you know what, 00:12:22.831 --> 00:12:24.573 I really want to get into activism? 00:12:24.594 --> 00:12:25.575 Do you know when that hit you? 00:12:26.254 --> 00:12:26.495 Well, 00:12:26.916 --> 00:12:30.278 it hit me when they start busing us 00:12:30.320 --> 00:12:31.421 to the white schools. 00:12:32.381 --> 00:12:34.583 And when we got to the schools, 00:12:36.251 --> 00:12:38.773 it was angry white parents 00:12:38.874 --> 00:12:39.714 outside the school 00:12:39.793 --> 00:12:42.014 protesting and everything else like that. 00:12:42.075 --> 00:12:43.696 And I was always wondering 00:12:43.775 --> 00:12:45.277 why are they so mean and 00:12:45.317 --> 00:12:50.100 why are they so forceful in 00:12:51.120 --> 00:12:52.360 not wanting us there? 00:12:53.302 --> 00:12:58.485 And so my mom always talked 00:12:58.504 --> 00:13:00.905 to us about the Civil Rights Movement. 00:13:00.985 --> 00:13:02.586 And growing up when 00:13:03.708 --> 00:13:07.191 Bobby Kennedy, John F. Kennedy, Malcolm X, 00:13:07.591 --> 00:13:09.932 Martin Luther King, H. Rap Brown. 00:13:10.292 --> 00:13:12.734 I grew up in that era that I 00:13:12.874 --> 00:13:15.634 saw them on TV and heard of them. 00:13:16.115 --> 00:13:17.635 So it wasn't something that 00:13:17.676 --> 00:13:19.057 I read out of history books. 00:13:19.376 --> 00:13:20.837 It was something that I lived. 00:13:21.477 --> 00:13:23.458 And so what year was it when 00:13:23.499 --> 00:13:24.580 you were being bused to 00:13:24.620 --> 00:13:25.419 these white schools? 00:13:25.460 --> 00:13:27.541 What year is this? 00:13:27.561 --> 00:13:27.541 1966. 00:13:28.020 --> 00:13:30.261 I know I look young and 00:13:30.562 --> 00:13:31.962 everything else like that, but yes, 00:13:31.982 --> 00:13:34.571 it was 1966. 00:13:34.571 --> 00:13:35.152 Got you. 00:13:35.172 --> 00:13:35.451 Okay. 00:13:35.731 --> 00:13:36.011 Okay. 00:13:36.393 --> 00:13:38.875 You know, I found out recently, 00:13:38.914 --> 00:13:40.015 and I think it's probably 00:13:40.035 --> 00:13:41.096 the way that history books was, 00:13:41.136 --> 00:13:44.320 but like integration was 00:13:44.559 --> 00:13:45.881 kind of like mandatory. 00:13:45.902 --> 00:13:46.883 It wasn't a choice. 00:13:47.243 --> 00:13:47.822 Am I correct? 00:13:48.344 --> 00:13:48.703 Right. 00:13:49.105 --> 00:13:52.687 Once the Brown versus Board 00:13:52.727 --> 00:13:54.529 of Education of Topeka, Kansas... 00:13:55.169 --> 00:13:56.892 and got passed in Thurgood 00:13:56.932 --> 00:13:58.513 Marshall and on the Supreme Court. 00:13:59.133 --> 00:14:00.134 He was the one who worked 00:14:00.153 --> 00:14:02.056 for the NAACP that helped 00:14:02.096 --> 00:14:03.996 put who was the leading 00:14:04.357 --> 00:14:05.999 lawyer on that case. 00:14:06.318 --> 00:14:07.340 And once that happened, 00:14:07.720 --> 00:14:10.121 then the attorney general 00:14:10.142 --> 00:14:10.942 of the United States 00:14:11.423 --> 00:14:12.744 started rolling over saying 00:14:13.105 --> 00:14:14.466 people need to start 00:14:14.586 --> 00:14:15.386 integrating the schools, 00:14:15.447 --> 00:14:17.269 but people fought it and said, 00:14:17.889 --> 00:14:18.529 we don't care. 00:14:18.909 --> 00:14:21.572 We're going to stay with what we are. 00:14:21.932 --> 00:14:24.155 So when my mother and a 00:14:24.475 --> 00:14:26.817 group of other parents fought it, 00:14:28.019 --> 00:14:29.019 fought it because there was 00:14:29.059 --> 00:14:29.961 a study done at the 00:14:30.041 --> 00:14:31.142 University of Illinois that 00:14:31.182 --> 00:14:33.443 said that kids, people of color, 00:14:33.764 --> 00:14:35.066 kids do better when they're 00:14:35.086 --> 00:14:36.447 around a different environment. 00:14:37.067 --> 00:14:40.149 And so that's when they went 00:14:40.350 --> 00:14:41.331 and took it to the school 00:14:41.370 --> 00:14:42.572 board and got it passed. 00:14:42.852 --> 00:14:45.294 But it was a lot of opposition to it. 00:14:46.513 --> 00:14:46.852 Got you. 00:14:46.952 --> 00:14:49.114 And what grade were you in in 66? 00:14:49.974 --> 00:14:51.894 I think I was six years old. 00:14:52.333 --> 00:14:54.695 And then once they figured 00:14:54.774 --> 00:14:56.554 out where the kids were 00:14:56.615 --> 00:14:58.095 going to go and everything else, 00:14:58.434 --> 00:15:01.615 that next year in 67 is 00:15:01.676 --> 00:15:05.476 when I got bused to Yankee Ridge School, 00:15:05.557 --> 00:15:06.976 which was a magnet school 00:15:07.376 --> 00:15:11.398 for all the professors and rich people. 00:15:11.957 --> 00:15:14.320 So I'm thankful that they 00:15:14.399 --> 00:15:17.322 picked me to go to that 00:15:17.361 --> 00:15:18.643 school district because I 00:15:18.663 --> 00:15:21.524 learned so much about many 00:15:21.585 --> 00:15:23.726 cultures because my friends was like, 00:15:24.187 --> 00:15:25.528 and this is how I remember it. 00:15:25.927 --> 00:15:26.989 I had a friend named 00:15:27.028 --> 00:15:28.909 Fernando Gonzalez who was 00:15:28.929 --> 00:15:30.051 from South America. 00:15:30.071 --> 00:15:32.472 I had Kaya and Kenny connect 00:15:32.793 --> 00:15:34.774 who was from Russia. 00:15:35.274 --> 00:15:36.196 I had, um, 00:15:36.975 --> 00:15:37.876 Darren Ewellen, 00:15:37.957 --> 00:15:40.440 who his father was a Jesuit priest. 00:15:40.841 --> 00:15:42.462 I had Charles Goodloe, 00:15:42.763 --> 00:15:44.544 whose father was a diplomat 00:15:44.565 --> 00:15:45.765 from South Africa. 00:15:46.167 --> 00:15:48.068 And so all these people that 00:15:48.129 --> 00:15:48.889 I grew up with 00:15:50.022 --> 00:15:54.384 opened up to me and I spent 00:15:54.423 --> 00:15:56.485 a lot of time on my weekends. 00:15:56.565 --> 00:15:57.946 I never stayed home because 00:15:58.285 --> 00:15:59.245 it was some of them, 00:15:59.667 --> 00:16:01.106 their first experiences 00:16:01.427 --> 00:16:02.567 having a Black friend. 00:16:02.607 --> 00:16:04.308 So I stayed over their house 00:16:04.548 --> 00:16:05.849 every weekend. 00:16:06.789 --> 00:16:07.750 For the first year, 00:16:07.929 --> 00:16:09.150 I was always in their 00:16:09.191 --> 00:16:09.990 neighborhood at their 00:16:10.030 --> 00:16:11.072 friend's house and 00:16:11.131 --> 00:16:12.172 everything else like that. 00:16:12.631 --> 00:16:13.773 So it was a 00:16:14.332 --> 00:16:15.533 It was an experience for me 00:16:15.614 --> 00:16:17.134 to see people from all 00:16:17.195 --> 00:16:18.134 different cultures and 00:16:18.274 --> 00:16:19.916 walks of life and not to be 00:16:20.035 --> 00:16:22.297 intimidated by anyone 00:16:22.736 --> 00:16:23.638 because I was on the... I 00:16:23.658 --> 00:16:26.058 had to understand that my 00:16:26.099 --> 00:16:27.259 mother instilled in me that 00:16:27.600 --> 00:16:30.780 I was from the same background as them. 00:16:30.801 --> 00:16:33.342 It's just their education was different. 00:16:33.602 --> 00:16:36.384 And so I excelled in the 00:16:36.504 --> 00:16:37.924 accelerated classes and 00:16:38.284 --> 00:16:39.265 everything else like that. 00:16:39.346 --> 00:16:40.505 And so it was... 00:16:41.826 --> 00:16:44.932 It was quite an experience, you know, 00:16:45.231 --> 00:16:48.378 considering during the 60s, 00:16:48.398 --> 00:16:51.462 not everybody was cool with 00:16:51.523 --> 00:16:52.465 it or kosher with it. 00:16:53.120 --> 00:16:53.379 Yeah, 00:16:53.500 --> 00:16:55.640 and so I guess there was a benefit to 00:16:55.660 --> 00:16:57.880 the integration going to school. 00:16:57.961 --> 00:16:58.802 You met more people, 00:16:58.841 --> 00:17:01.743 you got more culturally involved, right? 00:17:01.802 --> 00:17:03.923 And I wasn't intimidated by 00:17:04.403 --> 00:17:05.624 white people or anything 00:17:05.683 --> 00:17:06.784 else because there were 00:17:06.804 --> 00:17:09.025 some people at that time who thought, oh, 00:17:09.085 --> 00:17:10.625 well, you know, back then, 00:17:12.625 --> 00:17:13.605 If in the South, 00:17:13.906 --> 00:17:15.606 you didn't look a white person in the eye, 00:17:15.646 --> 00:17:16.847 you had a separate drinking 00:17:16.907 --> 00:17:18.847 fountain and everything else like that. 00:17:18.948 --> 00:17:21.949 And so it was like a 00:17:22.069 --> 00:17:24.269 separate but equal type of situation. 00:17:24.329 --> 00:17:25.070 Yeah, yeah. 00:17:26.250 --> 00:17:27.531 But the good thing, like you were saying, 00:17:27.551 --> 00:17:29.192 was that you were able to 00:17:29.231 --> 00:17:30.393 learn more about cultures 00:17:30.432 --> 00:17:31.712 and other people by doing it. 00:17:32.272 --> 00:17:33.673 You know, so what... 00:17:34.554 --> 00:17:35.915 So you said your first 00:17:36.557 --> 00:17:37.898 influence of being an 00:17:37.999 --> 00:17:39.862 activist was during 66, 67. 00:17:39.862 --> 00:17:41.944 So what was your first move 00:17:42.085 --> 00:17:43.446 actually towards activism, 00:17:44.067 --> 00:17:44.888 like physical move? 00:17:44.909 --> 00:17:46.351 Do you remember that era, that year, 00:17:46.550 --> 00:17:47.011 what you did? 00:17:47.593 --> 00:17:47.913 Yes. 00:17:47.952 --> 00:17:49.095 So my mother 00:17:51.885 --> 00:17:53.586 decided to run for school board. 00:17:54.127 --> 00:17:56.209 And we got a lot of threats 00:17:56.229 --> 00:17:57.130 and everything else. 00:17:57.269 --> 00:17:58.550 And she sat down and 00:17:58.590 --> 00:17:59.771 explained to us that we 00:18:00.332 --> 00:18:01.553 need to do activism. 00:18:01.952 --> 00:18:05.175 And so my first level 00:18:05.316 --> 00:18:06.696 activism is that my parents 00:18:06.737 --> 00:18:08.458 had an organization where 00:18:08.478 --> 00:18:09.558 they brought people from 00:18:09.638 --> 00:18:12.641 different left leaning 00:18:13.080 --> 00:18:15.422 liberals and Jewish 00:18:15.461 --> 00:18:16.622 community groups and the 00:18:16.682 --> 00:18:17.863 blacks all got together. 00:18:18.583 --> 00:18:23.064 We started working with 00:18:23.104 --> 00:18:24.944 their programs to try to 00:18:25.005 --> 00:18:26.005 let everybody else 00:18:26.105 --> 00:18:27.385 understand that integration 00:18:27.425 --> 00:18:29.246 was good and desegregation 00:18:29.286 --> 00:18:31.826 was good and that if we work together, 00:18:33.527 --> 00:18:36.367 we would be able to accomplish more. 00:18:36.667 --> 00:18:39.669 So that was my first taste 00:18:39.729 --> 00:18:41.229 of that picketing and 00:18:41.308 --> 00:18:42.410 everything else like that. 00:18:42.450 --> 00:18:45.609 Because when I was with my parents, 00:18:45.990 --> 00:18:46.891 they was out there picking 00:18:46.931 --> 00:18:48.111 and they brought us along. 00:18:48.471 --> 00:18:49.411 So it's something that we 00:18:49.451 --> 00:18:51.211 learned at a very young age. 00:18:51.271 --> 00:18:53.152 And then in 1968, 00:18:53.152 --> 00:18:54.813 when my mother ran for school board, 00:18:55.633 --> 00:18:56.212 And one, 00:18:56.972 --> 00:19:00.673 we did all her campaign and 00:19:00.733 --> 00:19:01.954 passing out flyers, 00:19:02.394 --> 00:19:03.595 going to meetings and 00:19:03.654 --> 00:19:04.355 everything else and 00:19:04.414 --> 00:19:06.256 educating the community so 00:19:06.296 --> 00:19:07.915 that she could win. 00:19:08.457 --> 00:19:10.416 And she was first black lady 00:19:10.797 --> 00:19:13.018 elected to the school board at that time. 00:19:13.637 --> 00:19:15.380 And so it was at a very 00:19:15.420 --> 00:19:18.282 young age that I was involved with that. 00:19:18.423 --> 00:19:19.182 And then at, 00:19:20.163 --> 00:19:21.965 I think she won like four terms. 00:19:22.386 --> 00:19:25.209 So at age, I think 15, 00:19:25.209 --> 00:19:26.871 I was helped running their 00:19:26.911 --> 00:19:28.833 campaign to run for office. 00:19:30.798 --> 00:19:31.058 You know, 00:19:31.078 --> 00:19:32.319 and that's so cool that she had 00:19:32.339 --> 00:19:33.660 you active and moving. 00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:37.682 I can tell your mother was a 00:19:37.843 --> 00:19:39.022 really big influence on 00:19:39.063 --> 00:19:40.443 your life and things like that. 00:19:41.023 --> 00:19:41.223 You know, 00:19:41.243 --> 00:19:42.785 and I wanted to mention something because, 00:19:43.665 --> 00:19:43.965 you know, 00:19:44.445 --> 00:19:45.886 I wasn't born in that era of the 00:19:45.926 --> 00:19:46.807 civil rights movement and 00:19:46.846 --> 00:19:47.587 stuff like that. 00:19:47.667 --> 00:19:49.028 But I remember talking to a 00:19:49.067 --> 00:19:50.249 friend's mom of mine who 00:19:50.269 --> 00:19:51.430 was from the South, Memphis. 00:19:52.089 --> 00:19:53.990 And she said that at the time, 00:19:54.111 --> 00:19:55.592 Martin Luther King seemed 00:19:55.612 --> 00:19:57.393 like a troublemaker because he was, 00:19:57.913 --> 00:19:59.294 you know, trying to change things. 00:20:00.301 --> 00:20:01.262 And it was just a whole 00:20:01.282 --> 00:20:02.203 different perspective that 00:20:02.223 --> 00:20:04.125 I never realized that some 00:20:04.164 --> 00:20:04.786 people were just like 00:20:04.965 --> 00:20:06.227 comfortable how life was 00:20:06.567 --> 00:20:08.788 and Martin Luther King among, you know, 00:20:09.309 --> 00:20:10.590 but he was saying like Martin Luther King, 00:20:11.231 --> 00:20:12.071 we didn't like him because 00:20:12.112 --> 00:20:13.333 he was trying to change things. 00:20:14.855 --> 00:20:17.277 Was that like a common thought process? 00:20:18.077 --> 00:20:19.518 There was a common theme 00:20:19.597 --> 00:20:21.499 around people because they 00:20:21.519 --> 00:20:22.459 were comfortable in the 00:20:22.499 --> 00:20:23.778 situation that they're in. 00:20:23.838 --> 00:20:24.479 And they said, hey, 00:20:24.798 --> 00:20:26.298 the white folks treat us good. 00:20:26.338 --> 00:20:28.299 Let's not rock the boat. 00:20:28.599 --> 00:20:30.279 But understand that his 00:20:31.240 --> 00:20:32.681 people should read letters 00:20:32.740 --> 00:20:34.740 from a Birmingham jail that he wrote. 00:20:35.480 --> 00:20:38.662 And he wrote that in saying that, hold on, 00:20:39.541 --> 00:20:40.862 the preachers and the 00:20:40.902 --> 00:20:42.882 community invited me here. 00:20:43.682 --> 00:20:47.123 Now you fighting to want me to leave. 00:20:47.855 --> 00:20:49.537 That's not the concept of 00:20:50.218 --> 00:20:52.259 being able to bring people together. 00:20:52.939 --> 00:20:55.121 And so there was a lot of 00:20:55.161 --> 00:20:57.721 resistance for him to go 00:20:57.761 --> 00:20:59.604 into some black communities 00:21:00.983 --> 00:21:02.125 and be able to fight it, 00:21:02.184 --> 00:21:03.566 because then that means 00:21:03.885 --> 00:21:04.626 they thought that the 00:21:04.686 --> 00:21:06.208 oppression would get worse 00:21:06.567 --> 00:21:07.769 because he's there when 00:21:08.578 --> 00:21:10.101 revolution that he was 00:21:10.161 --> 00:21:12.963 bringing and change actually helped it. 00:21:13.003 --> 00:21:14.365 So I understand what you 00:21:14.385 --> 00:21:15.166 mean about Memphis. 00:21:15.186 --> 00:21:16.228 Cause my grandparents from 00:21:16.307 --> 00:21:18.130 Memphis and they didn't play that down, 00:21:18.711 --> 00:21:19.391 down South. 00:21:19.852 --> 00:21:21.133 It was really bad down there. 00:21:21.433 --> 00:21:24.978 Even when he came to in the early sixties, 00:21:25.057 --> 00:21:26.759 came to Chicago and, 00:21:27.566 --> 00:21:30.707 And they pelted him with 00:21:30.787 --> 00:21:32.748 rocks and everything else 00:21:32.788 --> 00:21:34.669 when he went to the park in 00:21:34.709 --> 00:21:35.548 a Jewish neighborhood. 00:21:35.930 --> 00:21:38.810 But he said that he actually 00:21:38.830 --> 00:21:41.612 made a quote that the 00:21:41.731 --> 00:21:45.353 sweltering racism is worse 00:21:46.034 --> 00:21:48.295 in Chicago than it was down south. 00:21:50.193 --> 00:21:52.156 So that was a movement where 00:21:52.196 --> 00:21:53.198 people were scared and 00:21:53.238 --> 00:21:54.859 wanted to keep things going 00:21:54.900 --> 00:21:56.201 the same way and said, hey, 00:21:56.241 --> 00:21:57.042 don't come here. 00:21:59.509 --> 00:22:01.750 So that's correct that that 00:22:01.770 --> 00:22:03.231 was some parts of movement. 00:22:03.251 --> 00:22:06.154 But for the people who wanted real change, 00:22:06.714 --> 00:22:08.997 they welcomed Dr. King and 00:22:09.037 --> 00:22:10.417 his message and Ralph 00:22:10.498 --> 00:22:12.420 Abernathy and the Southern 00:22:12.460 --> 00:22:13.320 Christian Leadership 00:22:13.381 --> 00:22:14.721 Council and many other 00:22:14.761 --> 00:22:17.544 groups to be able to form a 00:22:17.683 --> 00:22:18.865 movement to be able to 00:22:18.944 --> 00:22:20.326 bring it for everybody. 00:22:20.386 --> 00:22:21.468 And see, when people... 00:22:22.268 --> 00:22:24.109 need to understand that not 00:22:24.230 --> 00:22:25.692 only did Blacks benefit 00:22:25.731 --> 00:22:26.792 from the civil rights, 00:22:27.253 --> 00:22:29.557 if it wasn't for Dr. King 00:22:30.096 --> 00:22:33.340 and the civil rights movement, 00:22:33.681 --> 00:22:36.443 there would never been the 00:22:36.984 --> 00:22:38.086 Immigration Act of 1965, 00:22:38.086 --> 00:22:38.886 where they brought 00:22:41.986 --> 00:22:43.906 they were able to bring more 00:22:44.826 --> 00:22:46.327 people from South America 00:22:46.347 --> 00:22:48.009 and Central America and 00:22:48.209 --> 00:22:50.028 Arab people and gays and 00:22:50.068 --> 00:22:51.730 lesbians into this country. 00:22:52.130 --> 00:22:53.310 Because previously, 00:22:53.750 --> 00:22:57.772 the immigration system was 00:22:58.192 --> 00:23:00.173 so racist and bigoted with 00:23:00.193 --> 00:23:01.673 structural systemic racism, 00:23:01.953 --> 00:23:02.894 they didn't allow those 00:23:02.954 --> 00:23:04.194 people of color to come in. 00:23:04.474 --> 00:23:05.715 But once he worked with 00:23:06.508 --> 00:23:08.632 to bring that in and pass that, 00:23:08.992 --> 00:23:10.295 that's when a lot of people 00:23:10.355 --> 00:23:11.616 were able to come into the 00:23:11.676 --> 00:23:13.039 country from different 00:23:13.079 --> 00:23:14.342 races and different colors 00:23:14.702 --> 00:23:16.967 and across Europe and the Middle East. 00:23:18.682 --> 00:23:18.982 Wow. 00:23:19.363 --> 00:23:19.542 Wow. 00:23:19.563 --> 00:23:20.284 And it's so true. 00:23:21.084 --> 00:23:23.404 And folks, if you guys are just tuning in, 00:23:23.505 --> 00:23:24.565 we're sitting down talking 00:23:24.605 --> 00:23:25.464 with Ted Burnett, 00:23:25.984 --> 00:23:28.766 who is VP of the Poor People's Campaign. 00:23:28.786 --> 00:23:30.487 I'm sorry, 00:23:30.527 --> 00:23:34.028 VP of the NAACP version division 00:23:34.167 --> 00:23:35.548 in Pomona and on the board 00:23:35.568 --> 00:23:36.368 of directors for 00:23:37.309 --> 00:23:38.631 the Poor People's Campaign, 00:23:38.692 --> 00:23:39.592 and many other things. 00:23:40.053 --> 00:23:41.634 And if you guys are watching the video, 00:23:41.714 --> 00:23:42.535 please like the video. 00:23:42.596 --> 00:23:43.355 It helps us a lot. 00:23:43.537 --> 00:23:44.798 Subscribe to the channel if you haven't. 00:23:45.438 --> 00:23:46.799 We do a lot of great work out here, 00:23:46.900 --> 00:23:48.121 so we appreciate everybody here. 00:23:48.141 --> 00:23:49.342 If you guys can hear us, 00:23:49.403 --> 00:23:50.564 type a one in the chat, 00:23:50.683 --> 00:23:51.464 anything like that. 00:23:52.806 --> 00:23:53.487 But yeah, Ted, 00:23:54.027 --> 00:23:55.288 I love for you sharing that with us. 00:23:55.769 --> 00:23:58.172 And I kind of want to move forward with... 00:23:58.771 --> 00:24:00.792 you being on the board of 00:24:00.833 --> 00:24:02.633 directors of the Poor People's Campaign. 00:24:02.673 --> 00:24:05.034 Can you tell us what is the 00:24:05.074 --> 00:24:06.074 Poor People's Campaign for 00:24:06.094 --> 00:24:07.414 people who might not know what that is? 00:24:08.674 --> 00:24:09.934 The Poor People's Campaign 00:24:09.994 --> 00:24:11.976 first started out of ideas 00:24:12.076 --> 00:24:14.016 of mobilizing people across 00:24:14.036 --> 00:24:16.517 the United States to fight 00:24:16.636 --> 00:24:19.837 for poor and low-income people. 00:24:19.857 --> 00:24:21.419 That actually started in 00:24:21.419 --> 00:24:23.199 1967 and they had a march on Washington. 00:24:26.938 --> 00:24:30.000 And so all the different 00:24:30.099 --> 00:24:31.539 organizations was making up 00:24:31.660 --> 00:24:34.102 pilgrimages to make a march 00:24:34.201 --> 00:24:34.922 on Washington. 00:24:35.402 --> 00:24:36.343 And Dr. King, 00:24:36.942 --> 00:24:38.983 weeks before the Poor People 00:24:39.023 --> 00:24:45.688 Campaign that started in 1967 and 68, 00:24:45.688 --> 00:24:47.607 he went and made a stopover 00:24:47.709 --> 00:24:48.788 in Memphis because of the 00:24:48.828 --> 00:24:50.509 garbage workers strike. 00:24:50.890 --> 00:24:53.832 And so they were dealing 00:24:53.872 --> 00:24:56.333 with the unions there in the city. 00:24:58.101 --> 00:25:01.801 And so some garbage workers 00:25:01.842 --> 00:25:05.223 had got crushed in garbage. 00:25:05.243 --> 00:25:06.003 If you know about the 00:25:06.064 --> 00:25:08.404 hydraulics from the old garbage trucks, 00:25:09.404 --> 00:25:11.185 they had malfunctioned and 00:25:11.685 --> 00:25:16.007 a couple of black union 00:25:16.047 --> 00:25:18.488 members got killed and crushed. 00:25:18.867 --> 00:25:21.568 And so he went to Memphis to try to fight 00:25:22.332 --> 00:25:25.693 for not only for safety, economic justice, 00:25:25.973 --> 00:25:26.934 and independence, 00:25:27.355 --> 00:25:29.076 but he wanted to help them out. 00:25:29.676 --> 00:25:31.817 And that's when he got assassinated. 00:25:32.518 --> 00:25:36.381 And so instead of letting the movement die 00:25:37.090 --> 00:25:40.792 with Dr. King, Reverend Abernathy, 00:25:41.634 --> 00:25:42.994 and the pilgrimage of 00:25:43.414 --> 00:25:44.596 different people around the 00:25:44.935 --> 00:25:46.797 United States still had the 00:25:46.876 --> 00:25:48.979 march on Washington. 00:25:49.138 --> 00:25:51.621 And they spent six weeks in 00:25:52.500 --> 00:25:55.041 Washington to protest the 00:25:55.102 --> 00:25:58.183 plight of the poor, demilitarization, 00:25:58.263 --> 00:25:59.865 health care, poverty, 00:25:59.944 --> 00:26:01.026 and everything else like that. 00:26:01.346 --> 00:26:02.766 And they spent six weeks there. 00:26:03.207 --> 00:26:04.406 They were there so long and 00:26:04.446 --> 00:26:05.708 so many people wanted to 00:26:06.307 --> 00:26:09.130 help them out that the post 00:26:09.309 --> 00:26:13.011 office gave them their own zip code, 00:26:13.011 --> 00:26:16.058 20013. 00:26:16.058 --> 00:26:19.942 And so after they spent six 00:26:20.021 --> 00:26:25.066 weeks at the Capitol, 00:26:27.247 --> 00:26:30.169 things dissipated with the 00:26:30.229 --> 00:26:31.309 Poor People Campaign. 00:26:31.710 --> 00:26:33.451 And so it was revitalized 00:26:34.491 --> 00:26:36.093 almost like in 2016, 2017 by Dr. 00:26:41.815 --> 00:26:43.935 William Barber, Bishop Barber, 00:26:44.195 --> 00:26:46.597 and Pastor Liz Theoharis. 00:26:47.137 --> 00:26:49.499 And the same concepts that 00:26:50.880 --> 00:26:53.300 Dr. King did with the Poor 00:26:53.340 --> 00:26:55.883 People's Campaign are now 00:26:55.942 --> 00:26:57.584 the pillars of what 00:26:59.807 --> 00:27:00.827 is going on today. 00:27:01.268 --> 00:27:02.669 And the thing is, 00:27:03.009 --> 00:27:05.951 the same characteristics of poverty, 00:27:06.730 --> 00:27:10.712 demilitarization, health care, wages, 00:27:11.032 --> 00:27:15.115 affordable wages, homophobic, xenophobia, 00:27:15.635 --> 00:27:16.836 dog whistle politics, 00:27:17.237 --> 00:27:18.297 the same thing that they 00:27:18.336 --> 00:27:19.478 were fighting for then 00:27:19.478 --> 00:27:22.977 56 years later, 00:27:23.436 --> 00:27:25.137 we're fighting for the same thing. 00:27:25.337 --> 00:27:25.919 And that was the 00:27:25.959 --> 00:27:27.759 revitalization of the Poor 00:27:27.799 --> 00:27:29.641 People's Campaign that got 00:27:29.701 --> 00:27:31.142 us where we are today. 00:27:31.261 --> 00:27:32.803 And actually, 00:27:32.863 --> 00:27:35.384 I think we started the 00:27:35.484 --> 00:27:37.415 California movement like in 2017, 00:27:37.415 --> 00:27:38.047 2018 out of LA. 00:27:42.289 --> 00:27:43.511 Okay. 00:27:43.832 --> 00:27:45.513 So basically still fighting 00:27:45.534 --> 00:27:47.237 for the same thing over 50 years ago. 00:27:48.137 --> 00:27:48.959 That's unfortunate. 00:27:49.400 --> 00:27:50.361 What's some of the biggest 00:27:50.461 --> 00:27:51.762 things that are on the 00:27:51.823 --> 00:27:53.265 agenda for the Poor 00:27:53.285 --> 00:27:54.507 People's Campaign to attack? 00:27:55.567 --> 00:27:55.728 There's 140 00:28:00.378 --> 00:28:03.819 Poor people and low-income 00:28:03.859 --> 00:28:05.681 people in the United States 00:28:05.740 --> 00:28:07.281 for every walk of life and 00:28:07.321 --> 00:28:10.843 for every faith, religion, Black, white, 00:28:11.143 --> 00:28:11.883 Latino, 00:28:13.344 --> 00:28:15.444 poor whites in the Appalachian Mountains, 00:28:16.345 --> 00:28:17.625 Lookout Mountain, Tennessee, 00:28:17.986 --> 00:28:20.606 poverty is the main course 00:28:21.207 --> 00:28:22.387 and that we're one of the 00:28:22.468 --> 00:28:23.650 richest nations in the 00:28:23.710 --> 00:28:25.811 world and we have 140 00:28:25.811 --> 00:28:27.413 million poor and low-income 00:28:27.472 --> 00:28:30.395 people who live there. 00:28:30.695 --> 00:28:33.578 We demand that the politics 00:28:33.638 --> 00:28:35.740 and the policies that oppress people, 00:28:36.553 --> 00:28:38.114 through laws and legislation, 00:28:38.654 --> 00:28:39.935 prioritize the poor. 00:28:40.655 --> 00:28:44.558 And we're also pushing for a minimum wage. 00:28:45.140 --> 00:28:48.781 And so in other states, minimum wages, 00:28:48.801 --> 00:28:51.964 we're pushing for at least $15 an hour. 00:28:52.244 --> 00:28:53.306 But a lot of the southern 00:28:53.365 --> 00:28:55.887 states that have slaves 00:28:56.347 --> 00:29:00.030 still only make $7.25 an hour, 00:29:00.490 --> 00:29:02.492 which is the federal minimum wage. 00:29:03.217 --> 00:29:04.417 And in 2008 and 2009, 00:29:04.417 --> 00:29:08.442 the federal minimum wage was $6.55. 00:29:08.442 --> 00:29:10.663 So it only went up from $6.55 to $7.25. 00:29:12.085 --> 00:29:13.567 So it's hard for people to 00:29:13.606 --> 00:29:14.827 be able to pay their rent, 00:29:15.648 --> 00:29:16.710 take care of their children, 00:29:17.309 --> 00:29:18.371 provide and have health 00:29:18.431 --> 00:29:21.054 care without working two and a half jobs. 00:29:21.727 --> 00:29:23.528 Yeah, I actually think the minimum wage, 00:29:23.568 --> 00:29:23.909 I think, 00:29:23.929 --> 00:29:25.349 in the state of California is now 00:29:25.349 --> 00:29:26.290 $20 an hour. 00:29:26.730 --> 00:29:27.872 Yes. 00:29:28.311 --> 00:29:31.595 If you have 60 or more fast 00:29:31.654 --> 00:29:32.496 food restaurants, 00:29:32.556 --> 00:29:33.936 then it goes to the effect. 00:29:33.997 --> 00:29:35.377 But if it's less than that, 00:29:35.438 --> 00:29:38.580 then it merges up after a 00:29:38.740 --> 00:29:40.342 couple of years to reach 00:29:40.382 --> 00:29:41.262 that $20 an hour. 00:29:41.282 --> 00:29:41.723 Got you. 00:29:42.263 --> 00:29:43.464 So what's your idea? 00:29:43.545 --> 00:29:45.346 Because what happened is that 00:29:46.146 --> 00:29:46.807 A lot of people have been 00:29:46.847 --> 00:29:48.127 complaining about low wages, 00:29:48.288 --> 00:29:51.190 but they've recently risen the wage, 00:29:51.871 --> 00:29:53.132 but then people are getting 00:29:53.192 --> 00:29:54.353 laid off and getting 00:29:54.393 --> 00:29:57.134 replaced by AI and robotics. 00:29:57.654 --> 00:29:59.195 So what's your thoughts on that? 00:30:00.396 --> 00:30:03.598 I think that if technology has always been 00:30:05.726 --> 00:30:08.128 issue in America, 00:30:08.569 --> 00:30:11.993 once you went from picking 00:30:12.034 --> 00:30:13.875 cotton to the cotton gin to 00:30:14.696 --> 00:30:15.999 industrial revolution, 00:30:16.038 --> 00:30:17.661 there's always been technology. 00:30:18.371 --> 00:30:20.251 But the main part is that if 00:30:20.311 --> 00:30:24.134 you are looking for robotics and AI, 00:30:24.194 --> 00:30:25.675 then there needs to be a 00:30:25.756 --> 00:30:28.258 direct transition from the 00:30:28.337 --> 00:30:30.499 mechanism part of it to be 00:30:30.578 --> 00:30:33.300 able to retrain people into 00:30:33.361 --> 00:30:35.883 different walks of life and 00:30:35.942 --> 00:30:37.604 jobs and everything else like that. 00:30:37.683 --> 00:30:44.147 So we can't stop AI and mechanism, 00:30:44.608 --> 00:30:46.410 but we can retrain the people 00:30:47.170 --> 00:30:51.073 to be able to go into a 00:30:51.153 --> 00:30:52.753 different course of work. 00:30:53.814 --> 00:30:56.215 Because when you do that, 00:30:56.736 --> 00:30:59.417 you not only invest in the community, 00:30:59.478 --> 00:31:00.818 you invest in the people, 00:31:01.138 --> 00:31:02.500 and you invest in families 00:31:02.559 --> 00:31:04.101 so that they'll be able to make it. 00:31:04.540 --> 00:31:08.104 So people can put their heads in the sand 00:31:08.723 --> 00:31:10.464 But there are ways in job 00:31:10.525 --> 00:31:13.527 training and vocational education, 00:31:13.846 --> 00:31:17.749 healthcare communication 00:31:17.788 --> 00:31:19.970 that people can be able to make it there. 00:31:20.009 --> 00:31:22.371 So it's just being able to 00:31:22.432 --> 00:31:24.873 invest in those communities. 00:31:25.868 --> 00:31:27.109 I completely agree, you know, 00:31:27.910 --> 00:31:28.750 with the change, 00:31:28.790 --> 00:31:30.530 you need to invest in being 00:31:30.631 --> 00:31:32.672 educated to move with the change, right? 00:31:32.711 --> 00:31:34.472 Like, we're a horse and buggy, 00:31:34.792 --> 00:31:35.453 we went to cars. 00:31:35.493 --> 00:31:36.433 So we had to train people on 00:31:36.453 --> 00:31:38.295 how to work on cars and stuff like that. 00:31:38.434 --> 00:31:40.375 I completely agree at the train, 00:31:40.395 --> 00:31:41.876 the training needs to be evolved, 00:31:42.436 --> 00:31:42.717 you know, 00:31:42.997 --> 00:31:43.817 and when it goes back to the 00:31:43.856 --> 00:31:44.837 poor people's campaign, 00:31:45.317 --> 00:31:47.499 can you explain what third 00:31:47.818 --> 00:31:49.119 reconstruction agenda is? 00:31:50.828 --> 00:31:51.609 I'm glad you asked. 00:31:51.670 --> 00:31:53.269 Keep on going. 00:31:54.630 --> 00:31:55.931 Can you give us a plan on 00:31:55.971 --> 00:31:56.971 how to end poverty? 00:31:57.590 --> 00:31:59.112 It's a two-part question. 00:31:59.832 --> 00:32:00.892 Can you explain what third 00:32:00.932 --> 00:32:02.093 reconstruction agenda is? 00:32:02.893 --> 00:32:04.093 Can you give us a good plan 00:32:04.133 --> 00:32:05.213 on how to end poverty, 00:32:05.473 --> 00:32:06.614 if that's even a possibility? 00:32:07.842 --> 00:32:09.703 Okay, the Third Reconstruction. 00:32:09.743 --> 00:32:12.165 So in order to understand 00:32:12.226 --> 00:32:13.826 about the Third Reconstruction, 00:32:14.188 --> 00:32:14.988 and give me a minute 00:32:15.008 --> 00:32:16.410 because I'm going to give 00:32:16.450 --> 00:32:18.191 you some background on history on it. 00:32:18.530 --> 00:32:19.451 Instead, in order... 00:32:20.924 --> 00:32:23.486 to go for a third reconstruction, 00:32:24.046 --> 00:32:25.286 you have to understand what 00:32:25.346 --> 00:32:26.526 the second reconstruction 00:32:26.566 --> 00:32:28.126 and the first reconstruction was. 00:32:29.606 --> 00:32:30.906 And the first reconstruction 00:32:30.987 --> 00:32:36.407 came out of slavery when people, 00:32:38.148 --> 00:32:40.269 they had the Emancipation 00:32:40.308 --> 00:32:43.210 Proclamation and the 00:32:43.529 --> 00:32:44.690 freedom of the slaves. 00:32:45.349 --> 00:32:46.789 And in order to understand 00:32:46.849 --> 00:32:48.211 about the first reconstruction, 00:32:48.230 --> 00:32:49.330 you have to understand that 00:32:50.019 --> 00:32:52.383 That wasn't a choice to do 00:32:52.423 --> 00:32:53.664 the right thing by the 00:32:53.704 --> 00:32:54.806 United States government. 00:32:55.306 --> 00:32:56.768 It was an economic choice 00:32:56.847 --> 00:32:57.809 because when you have, 00:32:59.090 --> 00:33:00.271 they did a census of 1860 00:33:00.271 --> 00:33:03.195 and they found out that 00:33:06.163 --> 00:33:08.204 in the next 15 to 20 years, 00:33:08.746 --> 00:33:10.166 the way that they breeded 00:33:10.267 --> 00:33:11.586 slaves for business, 00:33:12.087 --> 00:33:14.308 that the black slaves would 00:33:14.429 --> 00:33:15.470 outnumber the whites. 00:33:16.490 --> 00:33:17.770 And so you have places like 00:33:18.191 --> 00:33:20.712 Alabama that had like 00:33:20.712 --> 00:33:23.894 500,000 whites and 420,000 slaves. 00:33:23.914 --> 00:33:26.316 You have Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, 00:33:26.396 --> 00:33:29.097 Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, 00:33:29.397 --> 00:33:31.579 Mississippi, especially Mississippi. 00:33:31.799 --> 00:33:33.040 In Mississippi, they had 425,000 00:33:35.382 --> 00:33:38.844 slaves and 375,000 whites. 00:33:39.484 --> 00:33:41.865 So they looked at that census and said, 00:33:41.925 --> 00:33:44.627 oh my God, if we don't do that, 00:33:45.347 --> 00:33:47.288 even though they counted one third people, 00:33:47.709 --> 00:33:49.289 then they going to be able to take over. 00:33:49.730 --> 00:33:51.211 So they said, instead of 00:33:52.133 --> 00:33:53.673 doing the right thing, they said, 00:33:54.134 --> 00:33:55.615 what can we do to stop? 00:33:55.675 --> 00:33:57.116 Because we have to breed the 00:33:57.176 --> 00:34:00.039 slaves in order to conduct our business, 00:34:00.319 --> 00:34:01.560 and whites are not having 00:34:01.840 --> 00:34:02.801 kids like they did. 00:34:03.163 --> 00:34:04.624 So they started with the 00:34:04.703 --> 00:34:05.664 Immigration Act of 1855 to 1955, 00:34:05.664 --> 00:34:06.685 where they brought in 23 00:34:06.685 --> 00:34:07.665 million white European 00:34:07.926 --> 00:34:08.487 peasants from Europe 00:34:14.291 --> 00:34:15.692 to balance out the 00:34:15.731 --> 00:34:17.592 population and not only did 00:34:17.632 --> 00:34:18.972 they bring them into this 00:34:19.032 --> 00:34:20.054 country through ellis 00:34:20.173 --> 00:34:21.173 island which everybody can 00:34:21.213 --> 00:34:22.713 read the history they 00:34:22.753 --> 00:34:24.215 brought them in and gave 00:34:24.235 --> 00:34:26.715 them land under the 00:34:26.795 --> 00:34:28.416 homestead act that they had 00:34:28.456 --> 00:34:29.516 stolen from the native 00:34:29.576 --> 00:34:31.556 americans and the 40 acres 00:34:31.576 --> 00:34:33.016 of mule and a mule that 00:34:33.056 --> 00:34:33.996 they didn't get from the 00:34:34.036 --> 00:34:35.677 blacks not only did they 00:34:35.717 --> 00:34:37.438 give them land they helped 00:34:37.998 --> 00:34:39.679 them mechanize and gave 00:34:39.699 --> 00:34:41.179 them low interest loans 00:34:42.039 --> 00:34:44.699 And to be able to mechanize their farming. 00:34:44.940 --> 00:34:46.601 So they got an advantage 00:34:46.900 --> 00:34:48.240 over the people who was 00:34:48.340 --> 00:34:50.121 always already here with 00:34:50.161 --> 00:34:52.123 the Native Americans and the blacks. 00:34:52.523 --> 00:34:54.422 And so when people talk about, well, 00:34:54.463 --> 00:34:56.123 my parents came on Ellis 00:34:56.284 --> 00:34:57.965 Island and they pulled 00:34:58.005 --> 00:34:59.764 themselves up by the bootstraps. 00:35:00.204 --> 00:35:01.545 And I tell people, hold on. 00:35:02.166 --> 00:35:04.086 The blacks, the one who invented the boot. 00:35:04.507 --> 00:35:05.726 If it wasn't for the blacks, 00:35:05.766 --> 00:35:06.567 there wouldn't be no, 00:35:07.748 --> 00:35:08.748 our country wouldn't be a 00:35:08.807 --> 00:35:09.867 wealthy country because 00:35:09.907 --> 00:35:11.889 they operated under free labor. 00:35:12.309 --> 00:35:13.949 So when you talk about the 00:35:14.009 --> 00:35:15.128 first reconstruction, 00:35:15.409 --> 00:35:17.550 you talk about a systematic 00:35:17.630 --> 00:35:19.811 point of trying to continue 00:35:19.851 --> 00:35:20.911 to oppress the blacks, 00:35:21.431 --> 00:35:22.550 even when they were out of 00:35:22.610 --> 00:35:24.871 slavery after 1865, 00:35:24.871 --> 00:35:26.012 because then they said, oh, 00:35:26.371 --> 00:35:28.773 there's a complete advantage for us 00:35:29.757 --> 00:35:31.960 to have them be able to vote. 00:35:32.280 --> 00:35:34.543 So in 1870, 00:35:34.543 --> 00:35:37.807 they passed where black men could vote, 00:35:38.829 --> 00:35:40.050 but not black women. 00:35:40.873 --> 00:35:44.135 And so in that course, 00:35:44.936 --> 00:35:46.175 the Black men who voted, 00:35:46.456 --> 00:35:49.177 over 600,000 Black men 00:35:49.237 --> 00:35:50.777 voted in that election. 00:35:51.539 --> 00:35:53.278 And that election helped 00:35:53.400 --> 00:35:55.480 elect Hiram Rose Revel, 00:35:55.721 --> 00:35:56.740 who was the first Black 00:35:56.820 --> 00:35:59.362 senator from Mississippi who was elected, 00:35:59.722 --> 00:36:01.362 even though they didn't 00:36:01.443 --> 00:36:03.164 seat him because he was Black. 00:36:04.186 --> 00:36:06.869 So you have the first reconstruction, 00:36:07.369 --> 00:36:08.309 and with the Freedmen's 00:36:08.349 --> 00:36:10.952 Bureau to set up to help Black assimilate, 00:36:11.353 --> 00:36:12.552 but that was short lived 00:36:12.632 --> 00:36:17.916 because once 1877 passed, 00:36:18.157 --> 00:36:20.298 they removed the troops out of the South. 00:36:21.380 --> 00:36:22.820 They got rid of the 00:36:22.900 --> 00:36:24.822 Freedmen's Bureau and defunded it. 00:36:25.242 --> 00:36:26.724 And then Jim Crow came. 00:36:27.023 --> 00:36:28.304 So that's the first part of 00:36:28.565 --> 00:36:29.666 the first Reconstruction. 00:36:29.885 --> 00:36:31.367 The second Reconstruction 00:36:31.467 --> 00:36:33.068 came out of the Civil 00:36:33.128 --> 00:36:34.248 Rights Movement with Martin 00:36:34.268 --> 00:36:36.389 Luther King and then wanted 00:36:36.409 --> 00:36:38.351 to spend money on schooling 00:36:38.672 --> 00:36:39.952 and the Brown versus Board 00:36:39.972 --> 00:36:41.673 of Education and the Voting 00:36:41.713 --> 00:36:42.733 Rights Act of 1965 and the 00:36:42.793 --> 00:36:51.400 Civil Rights Act of 1965. 00:36:51.400 --> 00:36:54.061 People talk race, 00:36:54.400 --> 00:36:56.161 but they use code language 00:36:56.521 --> 00:37:00.963 to be able to deal with the Black. 00:37:01.202 --> 00:37:02.483 And so once that happened, 00:37:02.943 --> 00:37:05.003 you had a fusion movement 00:37:05.043 --> 00:37:08.264 that took place where poor whites, Black, 00:37:08.344 --> 00:37:08.965 Latinos, 00:37:09.065 --> 00:37:11.005 and Jewish people all came 00:37:11.065 --> 00:37:12.706 together to fight for that. 00:37:12.927 --> 00:37:14.126 Because when people talk 00:37:14.146 --> 00:37:16.068 about the civil rights movement, 00:37:16.387 --> 00:37:17.867 there wasn't just Black people. 00:37:18.068 --> 00:37:19.469 There were people from all countries. 00:37:19.489 --> 00:37:20.289 There was abolitionists. 00:37:20.628 --> 00:37:22.070 The abolitionists of the 00:37:22.130 --> 00:37:23.110 first Reconstruction, 00:37:23.150 --> 00:37:24.871 there was Viola La Russa 00:37:24.911 --> 00:37:31.434 who died on her way to 00:37:31.554 --> 00:37:33.014 Alabama by the Klan. 00:37:33.034 --> 00:37:34.715 There was Reverend James 00:37:34.934 --> 00:37:37.237 Reeve from the Universalist Church. 00:37:37.516 --> 00:37:38.737 There was all many different 00:37:38.777 --> 00:37:40.137 people who was involved 00:37:40.157 --> 00:37:42.179 that who wanted to do the right thing. 00:37:42.518 --> 00:37:43.719 And so when we talk about 00:37:44.019 --> 00:37:45.159 the second Reconstruction, 00:37:45.179 --> 00:37:46.260 the third Reconstruction 00:37:46.581 --> 00:37:49.121 need to be a blueprint of 00:37:49.661 --> 00:37:51.643 What happened first with us 00:37:51.943 --> 00:37:52.583 all with an 00:37:52.684 --> 00:37:54.485 intersectionality and the 00:37:54.545 --> 00:37:55.827 third reconstruction have 00:37:55.847 --> 00:37:57.228 to involve people coming 00:37:57.268 --> 00:37:59.228 together in fusion politics 00:37:59.489 --> 00:38:00.951 and willing to change and 00:38:00.990 --> 00:38:02.152 to challenge the system. 00:38:02.492 --> 00:38:03.833 So we need a third 00:38:03.853 --> 00:38:04.914 reconstruction where we 00:38:04.954 --> 00:38:06.195 bring everybody together. 00:38:06.474 --> 00:38:07.615 And that's my whole concept 00:38:07.655 --> 00:38:09.577 with the Ontario Futures Alliance. 00:38:09.637 --> 00:38:10.878 We're saying instead of us 00:38:10.938 --> 00:38:12.820 fighting over peanuts, 00:38:14.068 --> 00:38:15.009 Shout out to George Watson 00:38:15.028 --> 00:38:15.929 and Carl Carver. 00:38:16.289 --> 00:38:17.771 There we go. 00:38:18.090 --> 00:38:18.510 Peanuts. 00:38:18.811 --> 00:38:19.972 We need to come together and 00:38:20.012 --> 00:38:20.833 make peanut butter. 00:38:21.072 --> 00:38:22.193 So that's what it is. 00:38:22.514 --> 00:38:24.275 Taking what we learned in 00:38:24.715 --> 00:38:26.597 the South in the first 00:38:26.637 --> 00:38:27.757 reconstruction and the 00:38:27.818 --> 00:38:28.878 second reconstruction, 00:38:29.458 --> 00:38:32.101 maneuver it and pivot and 00:38:32.141 --> 00:38:33.442 being able to bring up the 00:38:33.501 --> 00:38:35.342 concepts that has always 00:38:35.422 --> 00:38:37.505 kept us back in the past. 00:38:38.632 --> 00:38:40.335 That's the third reconstruction. 00:38:40.715 --> 00:38:42.757 And then I'm going to talk about poverty, 00:38:42.838 --> 00:38:43.059 right? 00:38:43.458 --> 00:38:43.619 Yeah, 00:38:43.778 --> 00:38:45.041 I want to say something really quick. 00:38:45.400 --> 00:38:46.983 Wow, it's super amazing. 00:38:47.844 --> 00:38:49.045 And we'll definitely get 00:38:49.085 --> 00:38:51.369 into the Ontario Future Alliance. 00:38:52.009 --> 00:38:53.490 But you said they use code language. 00:38:53.570 --> 00:38:54.592 Can you explain some code 00:38:54.632 --> 00:38:55.454 language that they use? 00:38:56.534 --> 00:39:01.739 Instead of, it's camouflage, 00:39:02.199 --> 00:39:04.541 dog whistle politics. 00:39:04.581 --> 00:39:05.862 When they said that Obama 00:39:05.882 --> 00:39:09.206 was a food stamp president, you know, 00:39:09.905 --> 00:39:12.528 Black people are aggressive. 00:39:12.909 --> 00:39:14.110 They're loud. 00:39:14.490 --> 00:39:15.672 They're lazy. 00:39:16.913 --> 00:39:18.574 They only like watermelon. 00:39:18.594 --> 00:39:19.914 Those are cold language. 00:39:20.155 --> 00:39:20.936 And what people don't 00:39:20.956 --> 00:39:22.518 understand is about watermelon, 00:39:24.398 --> 00:39:26.920 Blacks really didn't like watermelon. 00:39:27.400 --> 00:39:30.081 But when the Emancipation 00:39:30.181 --> 00:39:33.141 Proclamation came and the 00:39:33.661 --> 00:39:36.422 Freedmen Bureau gave them, you know, 00:39:36.443 --> 00:39:38.043 that was a keeper of all 00:39:38.083 --> 00:39:39.224 their birth records and 00:39:39.284 --> 00:39:40.204 everything else like that. 00:39:40.525 --> 00:39:43.005 The Freedmen Bureau gave them seeds, 00:39:43.365 --> 00:39:43.925 the plant, 00:39:44.206 --> 00:39:46.206 so that they can become self-sufficient. 00:39:46.527 --> 00:39:48.867 And so watermelon was a good plant. 00:39:49.108 --> 00:39:50.369 thing that they can sell on 00:39:50.389 --> 00:39:51.829 the open market and it 00:39:51.889 --> 00:39:52.831 didn't take that much 00:39:52.911 --> 00:39:54.931 farming so the freeman 00:39:54.952 --> 00:39:56.472 brewer gave them watermelon 00:39:56.713 --> 00:39:58.353 and so when they grew the 00:39:58.414 --> 00:40:00.675 crops on their own instead 00:40:00.715 --> 00:40:02.336 of share cropping they were 00:40:02.476 --> 00:40:05.318 able to take the watermelon 00:40:05.639 --> 00:40:07.039 sell it get money and then 00:40:07.099 --> 00:40:08.340 buy more seeds from other 00:40:08.380 --> 00:40:09.601 things so it wasn't the 00:40:09.661 --> 00:40:10.822 concept of black like 00:40:10.862 --> 00:40:12.304 watermelon it was just a 00:40:12.403 --> 00:40:14.244 good business decision to 00:40:14.284 --> 00:40:15.505 be able to sell it that you 00:40:15.545 --> 00:40:16.987 can have something to sell 00:40:17.047 --> 00:40:17.967 on the marketplace 00:40:18.547 --> 00:40:19.771 So you see how these cold 00:40:19.811 --> 00:40:22.014 languages got people thinking that, oh, 00:40:22.074 --> 00:40:23.097 this is the way it is. 00:40:23.197 --> 00:40:24.278 But when it is, 00:40:24.358 --> 00:40:26.963 it's just another way of being racist. 00:40:28.043 --> 00:40:29.204 I got you, I got you. 00:40:29.704 --> 00:40:31.726 And for those of you guys just turning in, 00:40:31.967 --> 00:40:32.427 tuning in, 00:40:32.467 --> 00:40:34.108 we're talking to Ted Burnett here. 00:40:34.128 --> 00:40:35.128 We're getting really deep. 00:40:35.688 --> 00:40:36.548 We just got talking about 00:40:36.588 --> 00:40:37.829 the third reconstruction era. 00:40:38.190 --> 00:40:39.070 And if you're just jumping in, 00:40:39.150 --> 00:40:40.311 please like the video, 00:40:40.931 --> 00:40:41.873 subscribe to the channel. 00:40:41.952 --> 00:40:43.454 We got some more great things happening. 00:40:43.914 --> 00:40:46.335 And so Ted, you wanted to kind of explain, 00:40:46.856 --> 00:40:47.956 just give us like one idea 00:40:47.976 --> 00:40:50.157 of a plan on how to end poverty, 00:40:50.237 --> 00:40:51.559 if that's even possible to 00:40:51.599 --> 00:40:52.840 possibly end poverty. 00:40:53.079 --> 00:40:54.440 Let me give you an example. 00:40:55.559 --> 00:40:57.201 The child tax credit. 00:40:57.942 --> 00:40:58.442 What is that? 00:40:59.003 --> 00:41:00.423 The child tax credit was 00:41:01.784 --> 00:41:04.847 introduced by the Biden 00:41:04.907 --> 00:41:07.208 administration during COVID 00:41:07.829 --> 00:41:11.170 to offset poverty for the 00:41:11.251 --> 00:41:13.092 poor and poor mothers. 00:41:13.373 --> 00:41:15.835 So not only did you get a 00:41:16.454 --> 00:41:18.137 tax credit at the end of the year, 00:41:18.456 --> 00:41:21.278 they gave you a stipend every month 00:41:22.000 --> 00:41:23.641 to be able to spend on your 00:41:23.681 --> 00:41:25.302 bills and take care of your bills. 00:41:26.222 --> 00:41:28.744 And the child tax credit was successful. 00:41:29.385 --> 00:41:31.827 It actually lifted people out of poverty. 00:41:33.929 --> 00:41:37.972 But then when it was set to expire, 00:41:38.373 --> 00:41:40.974 none of the Democrats had 00:41:41.034 --> 00:41:43.235 enough kahunas to push for 00:41:43.275 --> 00:41:44.456 it to continue. 00:41:44.918 --> 00:41:45.757 And I know they just 00:41:45.797 --> 00:41:47.059 revisited a couple of 00:41:47.119 --> 00:41:48.239 months ago and everything else, 00:41:48.539 --> 00:41:50.101 but the child tax credit 00:41:50.918 --> 00:41:53.639 The statistics prove that it 00:41:53.719 --> 00:41:55.019 lifted people out of 00:41:55.099 --> 00:41:56.380 poverty and that people 00:41:56.400 --> 00:41:57.701 didn't just spend their 00:41:57.760 --> 00:41:59.481 money on malt liquor and 00:41:59.561 --> 00:42:01.460 menthol cigarettes like the 00:42:01.601 --> 00:42:03.081 dog whistle politics say. 00:42:03.402 --> 00:42:04.862 They use it to pay their rent. 00:42:04.922 --> 00:42:06.682 They use it to provide food 00:42:06.722 --> 00:42:08.302 for their kids and everything else. 00:42:08.563 --> 00:42:09.943 And it was a great success. 00:42:10.262 --> 00:42:11.903 And they looked at the numbers and said, 00:42:12.003 --> 00:42:12.643 oh, my God. 00:42:13.775 --> 00:42:15.416 It lifted people out of poverty. 00:42:15.916 --> 00:42:16.956 We can't have this. 00:42:17.836 --> 00:42:19.257 And then they did away with it. 00:42:20.237 --> 00:42:23.059 That's the number one way in 00:42:23.079 --> 00:42:24.780 the short term and the long 00:42:24.860 --> 00:42:26.882 term that you can lift 00:42:27.322 --> 00:42:29.682 people out of poverty by 00:42:29.882 --> 00:42:31.123 supporting the child tax 00:42:31.143 --> 00:42:34.304 credit because black women get a bad rap. 00:42:34.766 --> 00:42:36.565 Not only are they oppressed 00:42:36.987 --> 00:42:39.547 by the system through 00:42:39.608 --> 00:42:41.748 history for black women, 00:42:42.750 --> 00:42:43.510 for black women, 00:42:44.231 --> 00:42:45.952 they were oppressed by black men. 00:42:46.454 --> 00:42:47.393 I mean, white women, 00:42:48.614 --> 00:42:51.458 white men and black men have 00:42:52.304 --> 00:42:54.025 control over that whole 00:42:54.085 --> 00:42:55.925 sister waiting with the gender equity. 00:42:56.344 --> 00:42:57.965 And so when you have a 00:42:58.045 --> 00:42:59.726 single mother with four kids, 00:43:00.166 --> 00:43:01.146 all she's trying to do is 00:43:01.206 --> 00:43:02.807 provide a roof over her 00:43:02.867 --> 00:43:04.347 head and she's working two 00:43:04.387 --> 00:43:05.349 and a half jobs, 00:43:05.748 --> 00:43:07.108 not being able to be home 00:43:07.168 --> 00:43:08.369 with the kids and 00:43:08.409 --> 00:43:09.170 everything else because 00:43:09.190 --> 00:43:11.291 she's working to take care of the family. 00:43:11.731 --> 00:43:13.751 And so when you have the tax credit, 00:43:14.431 --> 00:43:18.132 It lifted people out of poverty, blacks, 00:43:18.452 --> 00:43:19.793 whites, poor whites, 00:43:20.034 --> 00:43:21.353 Latinos and everything else. 00:43:21.614 --> 00:43:23.514 And that would be the first 00:43:23.554 --> 00:43:24.494 thing that they need to 00:43:24.554 --> 00:43:26.096 revisit in doing it with 00:43:26.135 --> 00:43:27.135 the richest world in the 00:43:27.215 --> 00:43:28.376 nation in the world. 00:43:30.019 --> 00:43:32.360 We should reintroduce the 00:43:32.422 --> 00:43:34.902 child tax credit so that 00:43:34.983 --> 00:43:36.784 people will be able to 00:43:37.184 --> 00:43:38.085 start with poverty. 00:43:38.105 --> 00:43:39.806 Because when you live from the bottom, 00:43:40.385 --> 00:43:41.447 everybody rises. 00:43:41.847 --> 00:43:42.228 Got you. 00:43:42.248 --> 00:43:43.869 So we don't believe in Reaganomics here? 00:43:44.409 --> 00:43:44.608 No. 00:43:46.769 --> 00:43:47.471 Reaganomics, folks, 00:43:47.530 --> 00:43:48.871 is basically the top-down principle, 00:43:48.931 --> 00:43:49.572 if you didn't know. 00:43:50.112 --> 00:43:51.293 I also wanted to ask you, 00:43:51.452 --> 00:43:53.574 so why do you think they took it back? 00:43:53.735 --> 00:43:54.434 And why don't you think 00:43:54.454 --> 00:43:56.135 they'll... Why haven't they 00:43:56.155 --> 00:43:56.615 brought it back? 00:43:56.695 --> 00:43:57.356 What's your opinion? 00:43:57.396 --> 00:43:58.036 Why'd they take it away? 00:43:58.878 --> 00:43:59.117 Well... 00:44:02.213 --> 00:44:02.833 from your opinion? 00:44:03.414 --> 00:44:05.614 My opinion is they saw the 00:44:05.675 --> 00:44:09.257 numbers and the structural 00:44:09.317 --> 00:44:11.818 systemic racism part of it 00:44:12.278 --> 00:44:16.601 is that if I give the 00:44:16.702 --> 00:44:17.702 people of color and the 00:44:17.762 --> 00:44:20.804 poor a chance to lift 00:44:20.864 --> 00:44:22.164 themselves out of poverty, 00:44:22.684 --> 00:44:23.626 then they're going to start 00:44:23.686 --> 00:44:25.927 wanting to get an education. 00:44:26.266 --> 00:44:28.027 And then if they want to get an education, 00:44:28.369 --> 00:44:29.009 then they want to 00:44:29.713 --> 00:44:31.594 to live in better neighborhoods. 00:44:31.893 --> 00:44:32.855 And if they want to live in 00:44:32.894 --> 00:44:33.755 better neighborhoods, 00:44:34.054 --> 00:44:34.916 then we don't have a 00:44:34.996 --> 00:44:36.856 working class to be able to 00:44:36.916 --> 00:44:38.478 do our dirty work and to 00:44:38.498 --> 00:44:40.739 send people to the military 00:44:41.378 --> 00:44:42.679 and they won't have options. 00:44:42.719 --> 00:44:44.521 So it's a point of control 00:44:44.541 --> 00:44:46.442 because the numbers, 00:44:46.762 --> 00:44:48.503 the numbers don't lie. 00:44:49.733 --> 00:44:52.235 they know about how much the 00:44:52.514 --> 00:44:53.976 child tax credit has lifted 00:44:53.996 --> 00:44:55.016 people out of poverty. 00:44:55.335 --> 00:44:59.099 And also, along with the child tax credit, 00:44:59.679 --> 00:45:04.402 they also supplemented people's medical. 00:45:04.961 --> 00:45:09.164 And so people have access to health care 00:45:10.163 --> 00:45:11.864 And was insured because we 00:45:11.903 --> 00:45:14.545 have like 87 million people 00:45:14.606 --> 00:45:16.786 in this country who are 00:45:17.507 --> 00:45:19.487 uninsured and underinsured. 00:45:20.369 --> 00:45:23.010 And with just the pandemic funding left, 00:45:24.451 --> 00:45:25.871 people are going to lose 00:45:25.952 --> 00:45:27.893 over 15 million people are 00:45:28.253 --> 00:45:29.514 in the process of losing 00:45:29.574 --> 00:45:31.574 their access to affordable health. 00:45:32.605 --> 00:45:33.706 Because they had the federal 00:45:33.786 --> 00:45:36.509 pandemic emergency where they gave funds. 00:45:36.829 --> 00:45:38.951 So you can see that if you 00:45:39.550 --> 00:45:40.932 give people hope, 00:45:41.914 --> 00:45:43.375 then they will move to the 00:45:43.474 --> 00:45:45.556 next step to want to do better. 00:45:46.237 --> 00:45:48.820 And the system don't want that to happen. 00:45:49.820 --> 00:45:50.581 Gotcha. 00:45:51.262 --> 00:45:52.684 And I guess I'll be a little 00:45:52.704 --> 00:45:53.784 bit of devil's advocate here. 00:45:55.646 --> 00:45:56.447 Some people say that 00:45:56.606 --> 00:45:58.188 systematic racism doesn't exist. 00:45:59.387 --> 00:46:00.967 Do you think it really 00:46:01.027 --> 00:46:01.847 exists or you think it's 00:46:01.907 --> 00:46:04.007 all a bunch of fairy tales 00:46:04.047 --> 00:46:05.309 and it's just in people's minds? 00:46:06.969 --> 00:46:08.309 If it didn't exist, 00:46:08.429 --> 00:46:10.150 why do they fight so hard 00:46:10.449 --> 00:46:12.510 to stop learning? 00:46:12.530 --> 00:46:14.130 Because learning is it. 00:46:14.371 --> 00:46:15.132 When they say, oh, 00:46:15.211 --> 00:46:17.931 critical race theory and da, da, da, da, 00:46:18.333 --> 00:46:18.592 and DEI. 00:46:18.913 --> 00:46:19.873 And I'm like, hold on. 00:46:20.313 --> 00:46:21.873 They don't teach critical 00:46:21.934 --> 00:46:22.914 race theory in schools. 00:46:24.130 --> 00:46:25.911 grade school or middle 00:46:25.951 --> 00:46:27.052 school or high school. 00:46:27.112 --> 00:46:28.693 It's a college curriculum. 00:46:29.753 --> 00:46:31.393 It is a college curriculum. 00:46:31.914 --> 00:46:34.155 And so they want to be able 00:46:34.255 --> 00:46:36.737 to stop people from 00:46:36.836 --> 00:46:38.818 learning because then they 00:46:38.838 --> 00:46:40.599 can put their heads in the 00:46:40.639 --> 00:46:41.679 sand and then they don't 00:46:41.719 --> 00:46:43.900 have to deal with the guilt because 00:46:45.030 --> 00:46:47.911 poverty is a moral issue. 00:46:47.992 --> 00:46:49.592 It's not about left versus right. 00:46:49.911 --> 00:46:51.552 It's about right versus wrong. 00:46:52.112 --> 00:46:56.494 And in my faith tradition, Jesus said, 00:46:56.954 --> 00:46:59.054 if you do it unto the least of me, 00:46:59.094 --> 00:47:00.635 you also do it unto me. 00:47:00.934 --> 00:47:01.755 The poor you're going to 00:47:01.775 --> 00:47:03.036 have with you always. 00:47:03.456 --> 00:47:05.775 So if you don't educate 00:47:05.815 --> 00:47:08.336 people on their history, then 00:47:09.648 --> 00:47:11.449 they won't be able to 00:47:12.030 --> 00:47:13.811 understand what power the 00:47:13.851 --> 00:47:15.512 power dynamics were before 00:47:15.552 --> 00:47:17.414 because it is not about 00:47:18.510 --> 00:47:21.552 it's about race and class. 00:47:22.213 --> 00:47:23.393 People always forget the 00:47:23.434 --> 00:47:25.534 point that this is a class structure. 00:47:26.175 --> 00:47:28.637 And so when you talk about 00:47:28.697 --> 00:47:30.619 that and you talk about history, 00:47:30.938 --> 00:47:33.681 you talk about the Chinese 00:47:33.800 --> 00:47:36.043 Exclusion Act of 1882, 00:47:36.043 --> 00:47:37.384 where they kicked the 00:47:37.423 --> 00:47:39.864 Chinese out of the country, 00:47:40.326 --> 00:47:41.907 but they did bring them in 00:47:43.894 --> 00:47:45.655 after the Emancipation 00:47:45.695 --> 00:47:48.155 Proclamation to replace the 00:47:48.215 --> 00:47:49.856 slaves because those 00:47:49.936 --> 00:47:51.797 Chinese people came from 00:47:51.896 --> 00:47:54.878 Cuba where they was doing sugar cane. 00:47:55.217 --> 00:47:56.998 So they needed a replacement 00:47:57.097 --> 00:48:00.478 for the Black slaves who got free, 00:48:00.699 --> 00:48:02.119 so they brought the Chinese in. 00:48:02.380 --> 00:48:03.400 And then once the Chinese 00:48:03.420 --> 00:48:04.260 started taking over, 00:48:04.500 --> 00:48:05.460 they came up with the 00:48:05.760 --> 00:48:08.001 Exclusion Act of 1882 to 00:48:08.340 --> 00:48:09.561 kick them out of the country. 00:48:09.942 --> 00:48:11.762 Then they talked about 00:48:12.762 --> 00:48:13.021 OK, 00:48:13.061 --> 00:48:16.204 let's bring in the Mexican people into 00:48:16.264 --> 00:48:17.545 this country so that they 00:48:17.565 --> 00:48:18.246 can do the work. 00:48:18.505 --> 00:48:20.106 And then they say, oh, my God, 00:48:20.126 --> 00:48:21.106 the Depression hit. 00:48:21.608 --> 00:48:23.329 And we they started the 00:48:24.028 --> 00:48:25.530 repatriation of 1929 where they kicked. 00:48:29.411 --> 00:48:30.693 Mexican immigrants out of 00:48:30.733 --> 00:48:34.195 this country and deported 00:48:34.195 --> 00:48:35.617 100,000 Mexican Americans 00:48:35.876 --> 00:48:37.737 who were citizens out with them. 00:48:38.077 --> 00:48:39.039 Then we talk about the 00:48:39.079 --> 00:48:40.500 Bracero Program in the 00:48:41.360 --> 00:48:42.681 1950s when they did the same thing, 00:48:43.282 --> 00:48:45.242 on and on and on and on. 00:48:45.704 --> 00:48:46.963 So when they talk about 00:48:47.003 --> 00:48:49.025 structural systemic racism, 00:48:49.405 --> 00:48:50.766 people of color and the 00:48:50.806 --> 00:48:52.688 poor has always suffered from it. 00:48:52.987 --> 00:48:54.849 But if you don't teach the history 00:48:55.489 --> 00:48:57.010 about what happened in the past, 00:48:57.271 --> 00:48:59.811 then you revisited the 00:48:59.911 --> 00:49:01.172 knowledge of people not 00:49:01.233 --> 00:49:02.594 knowing what's going on. 00:49:02.614 --> 00:49:04.934 Because history don't repeat itself. 00:49:05.934 --> 00:49:07.815 People repeat history. 00:49:09.637 --> 00:49:10.197 I love that. 00:49:10.358 --> 00:49:14.599 And so it's not only a race thing, 00:49:14.639 --> 00:49:15.900 but it's also a class thing. 00:49:15.980 --> 00:49:16.360 Class. 00:49:16.721 --> 00:49:19.842 And your eyes went up then 00:49:20.061 --> 00:49:21.282 when you said a class thing, 00:49:21.302 --> 00:49:22.523 because it is about class. 00:49:22.784 --> 00:49:23.764 Because here's the thing. 00:49:24.184 --> 00:49:24.885 If you're rich, 00:49:26.112 --> 00:49:30.641 and you black or Mexican or 00:49:30.882 --> 00:49:31.985 Asian and everything else, 00:49:32.385 --> 00:49:34.070 you get the benefits of running. 00:49:34.786 --> 00:49:37.748 being able to pay for a good education, 00:49:37.809 --> 00:49:38.708 a good housing, 00:49:38.728 --> 00:49:40.510 to get yourself out of jail 00:49:40.771 --> 00:49:41.851 and everything else like that. 00:49:41.871 --> 00:49:43.592 That's why all those rappers 00:49:43.893 --> 00:49:47.114 love Trump with his tax 00:49:47.195 --> 00:49:51.036 credit that he gave to people in 2017, 00:49:51.036 --> 00:49:51.876 which is the biggest 00:49:51.956 --> 00:49:53.878 transfer of wealth in this 00:49:53.958 --> 00:49:55.940 country when they gave those tax credits. 00:49:56.219 --> 00:49:57.981 Now the tax credit for us, 00:49:58.481 --> 00:50:00.762 a common American, they expired. 00:50:01.422 --> 00:50:02.643 and was never renewed, 00:50:02.922 --> 00:50:05.123 but the businesses were kept on. 00:50:05.344 --> 00:50:07.364 So if you rich, you benefit from it. 00:50:07.603 --> 00:50:09.525 So it is race and class. 00:50:10.025 --> 00:50:11.605 Yeah, and sometimes they interchange. 00:50:11.625 --> 00:50:12.744 They're inseparably driven 00:50:13.144 --> 00:50:14.326 and woven together. 00:50:14.346 --> 00:50:16.166 Yeah, and they interchange, 00:50:16.206 --> 00:50:17.186 interlock between the two, 00:50:17.206 --> 00:50:19.327 between race and class. 00:50:19.646 --> 00:50:20.447 And if you guys are just 00:50:20.507 --> 00:50:21.967 joining the live today, 00:50:22.067 --> 00:50:25.367 we are here talking with Ted Burnett. 00:50:25.728 --> 00:50:26.927 And please like the video if 00:50:26.967 --> 00:50:27.527 you haven't already. 00:50:27.568 --> 00:50:28.509 Subscribe to our channel. 00:50:28.548 --> 00:50:29.309 Share this video out if 00:50:29.329 --> 00:50:30.148 you've been enjoying it. 00:50:31.009 --> 00:50:31.309 So Ted, 00:50:31.329 --> 00:50:33.630 since we've been talking about race 00:50:33.690 --> 00:50:34.311 and class, 00:50:35.150 --> 00:50:36.452 what is your role and 00:50:36.492 --> 00:50:38.432 responsibility as being VP 00:50:38.532 --> 00:50:41.954 of the NAACP Pomona Division? 00:50:44.594 --> 00:50:47.777 And see the National 00:50:47.797 --> 00:50:48.436 Association for the 00:50:48.456 --> 00:50:50.137 Advancement of Colored People. 00:50:50.737 --> 00:50:50.918 Yep. 00:50:51.318 --> 00:50:54.280 And so we represent all 00:50:54.380 --> 00:50:57.041 people of color and 00:50:57.807 --> 00:50:58.909 anyone who's been 00:50:58.949 --> 00:51:00.271 discriminated against 00:51:00.951 --> 00:51:02.353 whatever color they are, 00:51:02.492 --> 00:51:03.813 because discrimination 00:51:04.434 --> 00:51:05.896 knows no boundaries when 00:51:06.577 --> 00:51:07.617 people are oppressed. 00:51:07.978 --> 00:51:10.581 And so we not only are the 00:51:10.681 --> 00:51:12.182 watchdogs of discrimination, 00:51:13.909 --> 00:51:18.030 of the people of color, but we stand up, 00:51:18.291 --> 00:51:21.132 file lawsuits, file complaints, 00:51:21.472 --> 00:51:23.632 go to school boards meetings, 00:51:24.052 --> 00:51:25.333 city council meetings, 00:51:25.693 --> 00:51:26.753 and every type of 00:51:26.813 --> 00:51:28.153 governmental meetings so 00:51:28.193 --> 00:51:29.474 that we can keep an eye on 00:51:29.514 --> 00:51:30.894 making sure that people are 00:51:30.954 --> 00:51:33.815 doing the right things for social, 00:51:33.976 --> 00:51:35.856 economic, and environmental justice. 00:51:36.617 --> 00:51:39.958 And people talk about, hold on, Ted, 00:51:40.039 --> 00:51:42.059 you just said environmental justice. 00:51:42.338 --> 00:51:43.619 And environmental justice is 00:51:43.739 --> 00:51:44.880 actually one of the pillars 00:51:45.280 --> 00:51:46.181 of the Poor People's 00:51:46.201 --> 00:51:47.121 Campaign because 00:51:47.481 --> 00:51:49.141 environmental justice and 00:51:49.202 --> 00:51:51.983 pollution and putting oil 00:51:52.023 --> 00:51:53.923 wells pumps in the 00:51:54.003 --> 00:51:56.425 neighborhoods and power 00:51:56.465 --> 00:51:59.746 lines by the neighborhoods, all of those 00:52:00.507 --> 00:52:02.126 affect people of color and 00:52:02.186 --> 00:52:03.367 minorities and the poor 00:52:03.648 --> 00:52:04.708 because they're always 00:52:04.788 --> 00:52:07.088 putting them in those neighborhoods. 00:52:07.389 --> 00:52:08.528 And so when you have 00:52:08.588 --> 00:52:09.768 pollution and you build 00:52:09.789 --> 00:52:11.909 more warehouses in the poor neighborhoods, 00:52:12.269 --> 00:52:13.710 that pollution gets and 00:52:13.750 --> 00:52:15.570 causes health problems and 00:52:15.710 --> 00:52:17.690 it perpetuates the 00:52:21.371 --> 00:52:23.552 denigration of the people of 00:52:23.592 --> 00:52:25.014 color and especially Black, 00:52:25.094 --> 00:52:26.777 because if you already 00:52:26.856 --> 00:52:29.039 don't have access to proper 00:52:29.099 --> 00:52:30.561 health care and you don't 00:52:30.601 --> 00:52:33.884 have your basic needs to be 00:52:33.943 --> 00:52:34.644 able to do that, 00:52:34.985 --> 00:52:36.385 and then you have pollution 00:52:36.447 --> 00:52:37.728 and trucks going through 00:52:37.748 --> 00:52:38.588 your neighborhood, 00:52:38.969 --> 00:52:40.530 oil pumps and the residue 00:52:41.010 --> 00:52:44.414 of the pumping and power lines, 00:52:44.974 --> 00:52:47.416 That adds to you not being 00:52:47.536 --> 00:52:50.458 able to have a mortality 00:52:50.538 --> 00:52:52.938 rate that's low because of 00:52:53.019 --> 00:52:54.019 the health problems, 00:52:54.360 --> 00:52:56.782 along with high blood pressures, diabetes, 00:52:57.141 --> 00:52:58.121 heart problems and 00:52:58.161 --> 00:52:59.302 everything else that are 00:52:59.342 --> 00:53:01.704 caused by these environments. 00:53:01.943 --> 00:53:03.184 So we have to be able to 00:53:03.505 --> 00:53:04.365 make sure that our 00:53:04.425 --> 00:53:06.606 environment is also healthy. 00:53:06.847 --> 00:53:08.608 good for our children and 00:53:08.750 --> 00:53:11.532 our elderly and middle-aged 00:53:11.572 --> 00:53:13.034 people so that they can be 00:53:13.094 --> 00:53:14.456 able to continue to live 00:53:14.817 --> 00:53:16.259 and be a part of society. 00:53:16.559 --> 00:53:20.643 So it's all about doing the right thing. 00:53:20.724 --> 00:53:21.605 Like I keep saying, 00:53:22.346 --> 00:53:24.668 it is not about left versus right. 00:53:26.128 --> 00:53:28.090 It's about right versus wrong, 00:53:28.510 --> 00:53:29.811 and it's a moral issue. 00:53:30.233 --> 00:53:31.373 Because you can't be concerned. 00:53:31.574 --> 00:53:31.853 You see, 00:53:31.873 --> 00:53:34.275 a lot of people on the right are 00:53:34.315 --> 00:53:38.099 concerned about three things, anti-gay, 00:53:38.480 --> 00:53:39.360 anti-abortion, 00:53:39.400 --> 00:53:41.682 and pro-prayer in the schools. 00:53:42.103 --> 00:53:44.065 They embrace that with their 00:53:44.125 --> 00:53:47.246 Christian nationalism, and they say, oh, 00:53:47.608 --> 00:53:48.728 we need to make sure we 00:53:48.768 --> 00:53:50.070 support candidates through that. 00:53:50.652 --> 00:53:51.572 But then when you tell them, 00:53:51.913 --> 00:53:53.074 what about the other 00:53:53.213 --> 00:53:54.936 teachings of Jesus that he 00:53:54.976 --> 00:53:56.536 says about the poor and the 00:53:56.597 --> 00:53:58.137 downtrodden and the widows 00:53:58.398 --> 00:53:59.298 and the orphans and 00:53:59.338 --> 00:54:00.280 everything else like that? 00:54:00.400 --> 00:54:02.161 What about those scriptures? 00:54:02.521 --> 00:54:03.202 But they don't want to 00:54:03.262 --> 00:54:04.844 remember about those scriptures. 00:54:05.443 --> 00:54:06.304 They don't want to remember 00:54:06.344 --> 00:54:08.186 the scriptures about people, 00:54:08.527 --> 00:54:10.347 about race and racism and 00:54:10.608 --> 00:54:11.869 treating people different. 00:54:12.650 --> 00:54:15.452 You love your neighbor as 00:54:15.492 --> 00:54:16.353 you love yourself. 00:54:16.902 --> 00:54:17.202 Yeah, 00:54:17.262 --> 00:54:19.184 but that's kind of a lot of how 00:54:19.523 --> 00:54:20.244 religious people are. 00:54:20.264 --> 00:54:21.005 They pick and choose what 00:54:21.045 --> 00:54:22.344 they want to choose. 00:54:22.405 --> 00:54:24.266 People pick and choose what works for them, 00:54:24.286 --> 00:54:24.686 right? 00:54:25.186 --> 00:54:26.086 And it seems like when I 00:54:26.166 --> 00:54:27.447 asked about being a vice 00:54:27.507 --> 00:54:30.429 president of the NAACP, 00:54:30.989 --> 00:54:31.989 you kind of went back to 00:54:32.009 --> 00:54:33.090 poor people's campaigns. 00:54:33.130 --> 00:54:34.090 So I'm assuming a lot of the 00:54:34.190 --> 00:54:36.291 issues kind of cross and 00:54:36.311 --> 00:54:37.612 the things kind of cross a lot. 00:54:38.271 --> 00:54:40.472 So going back to the NAACP, 00:54:41.353 --> 00:54:43.094 is reparations on the table? 00:54:43.614 --> 00:54:45.894 And why, if it is or is not? 00:54:47.769 --> 00:54:49.190 If you study through history 00:54:50.670 --> 00:54:53.072 and study about the United 00:54:53.132 --> 00:54:56.635 States benefiting from free 00:54:56.675 --> 00:55:01.318 labor and wealth and being 00:55:01.418 --> 00:55:04.840 able to purchase land from 00:55:06.061 --> 00:55:08.021 France and England and the 00:55:08.061 --> 00:55:10.403 United States and Spain, 00:55:11.684 --> 00:55:13.425 the Louisiana Purchase and all of that, 00:55:14.340 --> 00:55:15.280 they wouldn't have been able 00:55:15.322 --> 00:55:17.001 to purchase that land if 00:55:17.041 --> 00:55:20.443 they had to pay wages to those people. 00:55:21.905 --> 00:55:24.385 And so we became the richest 00:55:24.465 --> 00:55:25.925 nation in the world off the 00:55:26.047 --> 00:55:30.889 backs of the slaves, off of slavery. 00:55:32.028 --> 00:55:33.329 So if you look at all the 00:55:33.389 --> 00:55:34.731 money that was accumulated 00:55:35.050 --> 00:55:36.992 then to purchase and to do 00:55:37.092 --> 00:55:38.092 everything and the 00:55:38.132 --> 00:55:39.913 Industrial Revolution and everything, 00:55:40.472 --> 00:55:41.693 and they never got paid, 00:55:43.333 --> 00:55:44.755 Where is the point of you 00:55:46.076 --> 00:55:48.538 reimbursing people for the 00:55:48.597 --> 00:55:49.639 work that they've done? 00:55:51.141 --> 00:55:53.081 Where is the work that's 00:55:53.121 --> 00:55:54.563 being done in the 00:55:54.623 --> 00:55:56.684 reparations for Native 00:55:56.724 --> 00:55:57.925 Americans when you stole 00:55:57.945 --> 00:55:58.947 their land and killed the 00:55:58.987 --> 00:56:01.668 buffalo and slaughtered in genocide? 00:56:03.230 --> 00:56:04.271 Where is that? 00:56:04.952 --> 00:56:06.954 And so there has to be a way 00:56:08.215 --> 00:56:10.456 to reward people for the 00:56:10.496 --> 00:56:12.157 work that their ancestors done. 00:56:13.896 --> 00:56:17.077 And so California has done a 00:56:17.137 --> 00:56:18.358 good job with the 00:56:18.418 --> 00:56:21.239 reparations committee and going on. 00:56:21.500 --> 00:56:22.820 But they got to go to the next step. 00:56:24.201 --> 00:56:26.101 The next step is how do you pay for that? 00:56:26.922 --> 00:56:28.702 And does it have to be money? 00:56:29.262 --> 00:56:32.242 I know Evanston, Illinois, 00:56:32.304 --> 00:56:38.846 they implemented part of reparations. 00:56:39.246 --> 00:56:41.887 It can go into anything from 00:56:42.702 --> 00:56:44.382 Down payments on homes, 00:56:44.902 --> 00:56:46.764 children's education, 00:56:48.184 --> 00:56:49.284 paying for schooling, 00:56:50.144 --> 00:56:51.664 free community college 00:56:51.945 --> 00:56:53.626 program need to be expanded. 00:56:55.706 --> 00:56:57.068 It can go through many ways, 00:56:57.947 --> 00:57:02.369 but America has a lot of good angels, 00:57:04.170 --> 00:57:05.650 but a lot of bad demons. 00:57:06.831 --> 00:57:07.572 In some way, 00:57:08.692 --> 00:57:10.193 if we're the godly nation that 00:57:10.233 --> 00:57:11.193 we say we are, 00:57:13.074 --> 00:57:17.577 We need to take care and 00:57:18.137 --> 00:57:19.938 right the wrongs that has 00:57:19.978 --> 00:57:21.739 happened over the years. 00:57:21.938 --> 00:57:24.320 Because no one can say that 00:57:24.481 --> 00:57:30.322 America has not benefited from slavery. 00:57:31.503 --> 00:57:33.364 And that's going to revisit history. 00:57:33.864 --> 00:57:36.445 Yeah, and I like how you mentioned, 00:57:36.465 --> 00:57:37.367 I think a lot of people 00:57:38.233 --> 00:57:39.315 It's a big debate obviously 00:57:39.375 --> 00:57:40.335 happening right now between 00:57:40.376 --> 00:57:41.356 giving people reparations. 00:57:41.976 --> 00:57:43.317 And I like how you mentioned 00:57:43.518 --> 00:57:44.697 thinking about there's 00:57:44.757 --> 00:57:45.818 other ways to give it. 00:57:45.878 --> 00:57:46.739 Some people talk about, hey, 00:57:46.760 --> 00:57:48.340 just no longer making 00:57:48.420 --> 00:57:50.161 Afro-Americans get taxed or 00:57:50.382 --> 00:57:51.922 go to school for free or whatever. 00:57:52.103 --> 00:57:56.846 Those are cool opportunities and changes. 00:57:58.106 --> 00:57:59.889 As you being co-founder of 00:57:59.929 --> 00:58:01.449 the Ontario Future Alliance, 00:58:02.110 --> 00:58:03.630 can you tell us what is the 00:58:03.710 --> 00:58:05.052 Ontario Future Alliance and 00:58:05.112 --> 00:58:06.432 how you became co-founder of it? 00:58:07.673 --> 00:58:14.157 so um when we a lot of uh uh 00:58:14.277 --> 00:58:16.958 cities around uh california 00:58:17.398 --> 00:58:18.878 have districts where they 00:58:18.938 --> 00:58:20.820 vote in the mayor city 00:58:20.860 --> 00:58:22.161 council race and everything 00:58:22.260 --> 00:58:26.382 else and we didn't have any 00:58:26.443 --> 00:58:27.242 districts here so um 00:58:29.878 --> 00:58:34.344 Chris Robles got together 00:58:34.905 --> 00:58:36.246 with a lot of community 00:58:36.286 --> 00:58:38.349 groups and fought that and 00:58:38.409 --> 00:58:39.590 threatened a lawsuit with 00:58:39.630 --> 00:58:41.213 the Attorney General that 00:58:41.753 --> 00:58:43.635 it wasn't representing 00:58:43.795 --> 00:58:45.237 underrepresented people. 00:58:46.039 --> 00:58:46.920 And so in... 00:58:48.400 --> 00:58:50.760 getting together all those 00:58:50.800 --> 00:58:53.262 community groups, we had to review. 00:58:53.382 --> 00:58:54.682 Once the city decided that 00:58:54.702 --> 00:58:57.204 they weren't going to fight us on it, 00:58:57.625 --> 00:58:59.106 we had to come together and 00:58:59.445 --> 00:59:01.586 help redraw maps on how the 00:59:01.666 --> 00:59:02.666 districts are going to be 00:59:02.947 --> 00:59:04.007 so that we wouldn't leave 00:59:04.108 --> 00:59:06.349 out the people who was underrepresented. 00:59:06.889 --> 00:59:11.231 And so we got together with NAACP, 00:59:11.251 --> 00:59:13.233 the Poor People's Campaign, LULAC, 00:59:13.632 --> 00:59:16.353 the Civil Rights Latino Organization, 00:59:20.896 --> 00:59:23.699 which is the Tongan group 00:59:24.219 --> 00:59:25.940 and different other organizations. 00:59:26.061 --> 00:59:28.402 And we worked on maps to 00:59:28.443 --> 00:59:31.525 redraw the districts. 00:59:31.965 --> 00:59:33.246 And so once we, 00:59:33.987 --> 00:59:38.190 the map that we push for got approved, 00:59:38.871 --> 00:59:41.574 this is the first year, this year, 2024, 00:59:41.574 --> 00:59:42.313 that we have districts now. 00:59:45.239 --> 00:59:47.480 And so all those groups that 00:59:47.519 --> 00:59:50.922 was working together on the redistricting, 00:59:51.481 --> 00:59:51.902 we said, 00:59:52.003 --> 00:59:55.123 why should we disband or dissipate? 00:59:55.864 --> 00:59:57.385 We need to stay together 00:59:57.405 --> 01:00:00.987 because we have so many things in common. 01:00:01.447 --> 01:00:03.168 We need to come together to 01:00:03.248 --> 01:00:05.170 fight for other injustices 01:00:05.750 --> 01:00:08.411 that come up around our area. 01:00:08.952 --> 01:00:13.434 And so myself and Melissa May, who's 01:00:15.775 --> 01:00:17.775 officer in LULAC came 01:00:17.815 --> 01:00:18.916 together and formed the 01:00:19.016 --> 01:00:20.456 Ontario Futures Alliance. 01:00:20.876 --> 01:00:23.577 So any injustice that goes on, 01:00:23.637 --> 01:00:24.418 we fight for it. 01:00:24.478 --> 01:00:26.117 Anything that's not right, 01:00:26.177 --> 01:00:26.998 we fight for it. 01:00:27.057 --> 01:00:30.659 We provide healthcare 01:00:30.739 --> 01:00:33.079 pop-ups in different areas 01:00:33.139 --> 01:00:35.800 of Ontario to have free mammograms. 01:00:35.860 --> 01:00:38.460 We give away free food, backpacks. 01:00:39.121 --> 01:00:41.742 We gave away free toys to 01:00:42.804 --> 01:00:44.666 children and we continue to 01:00:44.766 --> 01:00:47.349 fight for the community 01:00:47.668 --> 01:00:49.931 because people used to look 01:00:49.971 --> 01:00:52.273 for government to take care 01:00:52.293 --> 01:00:54.094 of standing the gap in the 01:00:54.175 --> 01:00:55.436 social services gap. 01:00:55.795 --> 01:00:57.777 But now community groups 01:00:57.858 --> 01:00:59.820 have to do it because our 01:01:00.019 --> 01:01:02.302 vested interest is not to 01:01:02.842 --> 01:01:04.344 influence people by votes 01:01:04.443 --> 01:01:07.606 or anything else is to help people 01:01:08.521 --> 01:01:10.222 be able to understand that 01:01:10.262 --> 01:01:12.684 there's a right way of doing things. 01:01:13.005 --> 01:01:15.126 And if everybody pitches in 01:01:15.567 --> 01:01:16.768 to take care of those 01:01:17.168 --> 01:01:18.608 social services type of 01:01:18.648 --> 01:01:19.949 things and to make sure 01:01:19.969 --> 01:01:21.170 that people are healthy and 01:01:21.210 --> 01:01:21.831 everything else, 01:01:22.211 --> 01:01:23.652 then they will have a voice. 01:01:24.173 --> 01:01:25.373 And we are the voice for the 01:01:25.434 --> 01:01:27.275 people who don't have voices. 01:01:28.317 --> 01:01:28.896 I love that. 01:01:29.137 --> 01:01:30.038 Voice for the voiceless. 01:01:30.097 --> 01:01:31.518 You know, it's always good to have that. 01:01:32.159 --> 01:01:32.760 It's so great. 01:01:32.800 --> 01:01:35.202 You know, I was going to ask about 01:01:36.172 --> 01:01:36.293 uh, 01:01:36.353 --> 01:01:38.815 your former experience as deputy director, 01:01:38.855 --> 01:01:41.936 but I, uh, I would rather, 01:01:41.956 --> 01:01:43.498 I rather would ask this, which is, 01:01:44.318 --> 01:01:46.278 you know, we got a lot into, you know, 01:01:46.699 --> 01:01:47.820 what you do for the community, 01:01:47.840 --> 01:01:49.061 how you got into activism 01:01:49.121 --> 01:01:49.981 and things like that. 01:01:50.641 --> 01:01:51.922 But Ted, 01:01:52.003 --> 01:01:53.983 what is something that most people, 01:01:54.123 --> 01:01:56.385 even close friends don't know about you? 01:01:59.166 --> 01:02:03.250 Um, I'm an ordained minister. 01:02:07.083 --> 01:02:09.324 And I'm the acting pastor at my church, 01:02:10.927 --> 01:02:14.630 but I don't really like 01:02:14.831 --> 01:02:15.992 organized religion. 01:02:17.693 --> 01:02:18.295 Can you explain? 01:02:18.315 --> 01:02:21.958 I think it's a personal 01:02:22.018 --> 01:02:24.041 relationship with Jesus 01:02:24.081 --> 01:02:25.302 Christ that you should have, 01:02:25.342 --> 01:02:27.043 and that's between you and him. 01:02:27.940 --> 01:02:29.981 And when you get into organized religion, 01:02:30.262 --> 01:02:31.682 then you have this religion 01:02:31.782 --> 01:02:33.244 telling you that you can do 01:02:33.284 --> 01:02:35.445 this and you and then this 01:02:35.505 --> 01:02:36.525 religion can do that. 01:02:36.965 --> 01:02:38.146 And that's what has led to 01:02:38.226 --> 01:02:40.027 Christian nationalism, 01:02:40.449 --> 01:02:42.869 where people are saying, oh, 01:02:42.949 --> 01:02:44.351 I believe in these three things, 01:02:44.471 --> 01:02:45.210 anti-abortion, 01:02:45.251 --> 01:02:47.972 anti-gay and preparing in the schools. 01:02:48.333 --> 01:02:49.614 And so when you get to those 01:02:49.673 --> 01:02:51.574 things and you start formulating, 01:02:51.855 --> 01:02:53.115 then you only want people 01:02:53.175 --> 01:02:54.137 who look like you. 01:02:55.646 --> 01:02:56.547 to worship with you, 01:02:56.608 --> 01:02:58.009 and that's how Jesus don't 01:02:58.048 --> 01:02:58.909 get down like that. 01:02:59.590 --> 01:03:00.949 You know that Sunday morning 01:03:01.030 --> 01:03:02.710 is the most segregated time 01:03:04.873 --> 01:03:10.536 out of the seven weeks in the week, 01:03:11.237 --> 01:03:12.016 out of the days, 01:03:12.717 --> 01:03:13.898 because that's when people 01:03:14.358 --> 01:03:17.239 who look the same, believe the same, 01:03:17.840 --> 01:03:19.961 all come together to worship the same, 01:03:20.342 --> 01:03:21.543 when there should be 01:03:22.445 --> 01:03:25.327 Blacks, white, Latinos, Asians, Jews, 01:03:25.407 --> 01:03:26.027 Gentiles, 01:03:26.387 --> 01:03:28.987 all in the congregation of what 01:03:29.068 --> 01:03:30.188 Jesus fought for. 01:03:30.927 --> 01:03:34.068 And so I don't get into 01:03:34.429 --> 01:03:36.168 formal religion where you 01:03:36.248 --> 01:03:38.210 are going to point fingers at people. 01:03:38.230 --> 01:03:39.309 Because that's why people 01:03:39.409 --> 01:03:41.451 are turned off to religion these days, 01:03:41.530 --> 01:03:42.490 because people are always 01:03:42.530 --> 01:03:43.530 trying to preach to them 01:03:43.891 --> 01:03:44.931 and tell them that if you're not, 01:03:44.952 --> 01:03:46.012 you're going to burn in hell. 01:03:46.331 --> 01:03:48.092 I'm not saying there's no hell, 01:03:48.132 --> 01:03:50.112 because there is in my belief system. 01:03:50.552 --> 01:03:52.594 But there is a way to love 01:03:52.695 --> 01:03:55.056 your neighbor as you love their self. 01:03:55.336 --> 01:03:56.577 And if you go and do 01:03:56.657 --> 01:03:59.000 something for someone and 01:03:59.079 --> 01:04:00.501 it added and your motives 01:04:00.521 --> 01:04:02.181 and intentions are pure and 01:04:02.222 --> 01:04:03.043 you do it out of the 01:04:03.103 --> 01:04:04.123 goodness of your heart, 01:04:04.483 --> 01:04:06.505 you have already supplanted 01:04:06.646 --> 01:04:08.206 what Jesus wanted us to do. 01:04:09.324 --> 01:04:10.204 Yeah, I love that. 01:04:10.264 --> 01:04:11.385 I think it's very crucial to 01:04:11.425 --> 01:04:12.844 love thy neighbor as you love thyself. 01:04:12.905 --> 01:04:14.706 I think that's a very great 01:04:14.746 --> 01:04:17.126 message left by Yeshua. 01:04:17.947 --> 01:04:19.186 You know, and I guess I have to ask, 01:04:19.226 --> 01:04:19.487 you know, 01:04:19.768 --> 01:04:22.427 since you are a retired deputy 01:04:22.447 --> 01:04:23.768 director of the SIU, 01:04:23.809 --> 01:04:24.688 can you tell us a little 01:04:24.708 --> 01:04:26.429 bit about how it was and 01:04:26.590 --> 01:04:28.030 maybe an interesting story 01:04:28.070 --> 01:04:29.530 or two when you're in network? 01:04:31.371 --> 01:04:33.351 Being the deputy director of 01:04:33.431 --> 01:04:35.653 the SEIU Local 1000, 01:04:35.653 --> 01:04:37.335 which is the largest public 01:04:37.394 --> 01:04:40.476 sector union in California, 01:04:40.836 --> 01:04:42.257 over 100,000 members, 01:04:42.757 --> 01:04:44.117 we represented and 01:04:44.177 --> 01:04:47.219 bargained contracts for EDD, DMV, 01:04:47.300 --> 01:04:49.742 Highway Patrol, prison, food and ag, 01:04:49.802 --> 01:04:50.661 fish and game, 01:04:50.722 --> 01:04:52.922 and all type of prisons and 01:04:53.003 --> 01:04:53.543 parole agencies. 01:04:54.364 --> 01:04:56.706 And we represented people 01:04:56.766 --> 01:04:58.347 from the Oregon border to 01:04:58.367 --> 01:04:59.349 the Mexican border. 01:04:59.389 --> 01:05:00.971 That's how big we were. 01:05:01.492 --> 01:05:03.713 And so we made sure that 01:05:03.773 --> 01:05:06.056 people rights under the 01:05:06.135 --> 01:05:07.157 contract to have a 01:05:07.197 --> 01:05:08.077 collective bargaining 01:05:08.097 --> 01:05:10.280 agreement was upheld and 01:05:10.440 --> 01:05:12.103 enforced and to make sure 01:05:12.143 --> 01:05:13.664 we teach people to know 01:05:13.704 --> 01:05:15.246 their rights in the workplaces. 01:05:15.606 --> 01:05:17.688 Because there are rules and 01:05:17.750 --> 01:05:20.273 regulations against despair 01:05:20.353 --> 01:05:20.914 treatment and 01:05:20.974 --> 01:05:22.135 discrimination and 01:05:22.195 --> 01:05:23.197 everything else like that. 01:05:23.478 --> 01:05:24.320 And there are rules that 01:05:24.380 --> 01:05:25.420 have to follow through the 01:05:25.981 --> 01:05:27.043 civil service rules. 01:05:27.485 --> 01:05:29.467 And so when we... 01:05:31.556 --> 01:05:33.336 continue to fight and I 01:05:33.376 --> 01:05:34.778 worked for 27 years for 01:05:34.798 --> 01:05:36.300 them we continue to fight 01:05:36.320 --> 01:05:37.460 to make sure that people 01:05:37.501 --> 01:05:39.081 had a job that they can 01:05:39.121 --> 01:05:40.182 take care of their family 01:05:40.543 --> 01:05:41.443 and take care of everything 01:05:41.483 --> 01:05:43.204 and one of my great stories 01:05:43.284 --> 01:05:45.907 was when we had budgetary 01:05:46.027 --> 01:05:48.289 problems in 2007 2008 and 01:05:48.289 --> 01:05:52.032 2009 in the state of 01:05:52.052 --> 01:05:53.773 california and during that 01:05:53.833 --> 01:05:55.155 time governor 01:05:55.195 --> 01:05:57.275 schwarzenegger was the 01:05:57.416 --> 01:06:00.579 governor and he was going to um 01:06:03.331 --> 01:06:05.634 get rid of our workers' jobs. 01:06:05.773 --> 01:06:07.534 And because of the budget, 01:06:07.574 --> 01:06:09.536 he was going to pay the 01:06:09.597 --> 01:06:12.898 workers federal minimum wage at that time, 01:06:12.938 --> 01:06:14.719 which is $6.55 an hour. 01:06:15.201 --> 01:06:16.041 And it was an outrage 01:06:16.061 --> 01:06:17.782 because nobody could go 01:06:17.822 --> 01:06:20.744 from making a good wage to 01:06:20.744 --> 01:06:23.706 $6.55 just because the 01:06:23.726 --> 01:06:24.726 state government couldn't 01:06:26.148 --> 01:06:27.528 balance their budget. 01:06:27.909 --> 01:06:29.811 So we went around picketing 01:06:30.525 --> 01:06:35.929 The governor at every viewpoint he was at, 01:06:35.969 --> 01:06:37.889 we picketed his house in LA. 01:06:38.269 --> 01:06:40.251 When his movie came out, 01:06:40.331 --> 01:06:42.172 we picketed his movie at 01:06:42.211 --> 01:06:43.253 the movie theaters. 01:06:43.353 --> 01:06:44.793 And we got him at the 01:06:44.853 --> 01:06:46.414 Capitol and everything else like that. 01:06:46.474 --> 01:06:48.356 And one of my greatest glory 01:06:48.416 --> 01:06:50.677 is when we got kicked out 01:06:50.737 --> 01:06:53.418 of the Capitol by Schwarzenegger. 01:06:53.798 --> 01:06:55.099 And I had something said, 01:06:55.119 --> 01:06:55.920 something smart like, 01:06:56.539 --> 01:06:57.641 How's Maria doing? 01:06:57.661 --> 01:06:59.601 He said, get out, get out, get out. 01:07:00.081 --> 01:07:01.121 And he kicked us out of the 01:07:01.161 --> 01:07:02.782 Capitol with everything else like that. 01:07:02.842 --> 01:07:03.724 And I yelled to him, 01:07:04.143 --> 01:07:05.985 why are your why are all 01:07:06.025 --> 01:07:09.005 your security guards look like Aryan? 01:07:09.085 --> 01:07:10.126 Why are they blue eyes, 01:07:10.806 --> 01:07:12.088 blonde hair and blue eyes? 01:07:12.148 --> 01:07:13.248 And I and, you know, 01:07:13.768 --> 01:07:14.708 I was just getting under 01:07:14.768 --> 01:07:19.050 his under his skin with that. 01:07:19.592 --> 01:07:20.891 And but that was one of the 01:07:20.931 --> 01:07:21.952 greatest things when we got 01:07:22.012 --> 01:07:23.514 kicked out the Capitol and 01:07:23.554 --> 01:07:24.793 stuff for protesting and 01:07:24.853 --> 01:07:25.775 everything else like that. 01:07:26.641 --> 01:07:27.442 That is awesome. 01:07:27.521 --> 01:07:28.282 That is awesome. 01:07:28.963 --> 01:07:29.302 Wow. 01:07:29.903 --> 01:07:30.324 And you guys, 01:07:30.384 --> 01:07:31.485 how are you guys able to get 01:07:31.525 --> 01:07:32.224 his home address? 01:07:32.385 --> 01:07:33.126 That's so wild. 01:07:33.246 --> 01:07:33.545 Oh yeah. 01:07:33.585 --> 01:07:37.369 But you know, people, listen, 01:07:38.070 --> 01:07:39.170 SEIU 1000 is just one of 01:07:39.210 --> 01:07:43.193 the sister locals of SEIU. 01:07:43.673 --> 01:07:45.554 We have locals that 01:07:45.936 --> 01:07:49.217 represents United Healthcare Workers, 01:07:50.278 --> 01:07:50.998 County of 01:07:52.059 --> 01:07:53.360 la workers county of 01:07:53.420 --> 01:07:55.440 riverside workers county of 01:07:55.481 --> 01:07:56.742 stanislaw workers so we 01:07:56.762 --> 01:07:59.083 have like 12 or 13 01:07:59.083 --> 01:07:59.983 different locals that 01:08:00.063 --> 01:08:02.204 represent city municipal 01:08:02.284 --> 01:08:03.523 state workers and 01:08:03.583 --> 01:08:06.125 everything else so we we we 01:08:06.204 --> 01:08:07.505 always stand together and 01:08:07.545 --> 01:08:09.385 if we need a fight against 01:08:09.525 --> 01:08:10.827 one is a fight against all 01:08:11.246 --> 01:08:13.788 so when when he's cutting the budget 01:08:14.610 --> 01:08:17.594 He not only is affecting state workers, 01:08:17.895 --> 01:08:19.657 it's always also affecting 01:08:19.997 --> 01:08:21.738 other workers in other sectors, 01:08:22.038 --> 01:08:23.240 public sectors of the 01:08:23.720 --> 01:08:24.921 county and municipal. 01:08:24.983 --> 01:08:27.826 So we we used our research 01:08:27.945 --> 01:08:29.847 and and found everything 01:08:29.927 --> 01:08:31.590 and found out where he was going to be. 01:08:31.890 --> 01:08:33.412 And we was there at every moment. 01:08:33.872 --> 01:08:35.993 Probably one of his maids were like, nope, 01:08:36.734 --> 01:08:37.375 you got a hold of one of 01:08:37.414 --> 01:08:38.595 his maids and came in and 01:08:38.636 --> 01:08:39.337 got it that way. 01:08:39.356 --> 01:08:41.198 That's probably what happened. 01:08:41.298 --> 01:08:41.998 Super cool. 01:08:42.279 --> 01:08:43.701 You know, Ted, 01:08:43.720 --> 01:08:44.902 I want to thank you so much 01:08:45.462 --> 01:08:46.462 for being on The Empire. 01:08:46.523 --> 01:08:46.802 You know, 01:08:46.823 --> 01:08:47.684 what are some of the current 01:08:47.724 --> 01:08:48.664 projects that you're working on? 01:08:51.835 --> 01:08:54.938 We are working on a lot of 01:08:55.078 --> 01:08:57.119 environmental justice stuff 01:08:57.239 --> 01:08:58.560 with different 01:08:58.680 --> 01:09:00.242 organizations to educate 01:09:00.301 --> 01:09:02.604 the public about pollution 01:09:02.684 --> 01:09:04.786 and how pollution works and how 01:09:05.287 --> 01:09:08.349 pollution is not only air pollution, 01:09:08.748 --> 01:09:11.890 but it's built pollution also. 01:09:11.909 --> 01:09:12.369 I mean, 01:09:12.409 --> 01:09:14.131 built pollution is they're building 01:09:14.171 --> 01:09:16.091 warehouses around areas 01:09:16.131 --> 01:09:17.512 that used to be farmland 01:09:17.792 --> 01:09:18.573 and people don't have 01:09:18.673 --> 01:09:20.314 access to that anymore. 01:09:20.594 --> 01:09:21.734 And then another pollution 01:09:21.795 --> 01:09:23.615 is social pollution on how 01:09:23.716 --> 01:09:25.617 it affects people of color 01:09:25.837 --> 01:09:27.637 and poor people to be able 01:09:27.717 --> 01:09:29.599 to live in a good 01:09:29.658 --> 01:09:31.760 environment and to have clean water. 01:09:32.079 --> 01:09:33.341 you you surprise how many 01:09:33.421 --> 01:09:35.122 people flint is not the 01:09:35.261 --> 01:09:36.743 only place that don't have 01:09:36.842 --> 01:09:38.664 clean water and that's a 01:09:39.145 --> 01:09:40.265 constitutional right 01:09:40.838 --> 01:09:41.078 You know, 01:09:41.118 --> 01:09:42.199 we hold these truths to be 01:09:42.239 --> 01:09:43.761 self-evident that all men 01:09:43.801 --> 01:09:44.863 are created equal and 01:09:44.922 --> 01:09:46.144 endowed by their creator 01:09:46.423 --> 01:09:47.865 with certain unalienable rights. 01:09:48.105 --> 01:09:48.725 And that's life, 01:09:48.826 --> 01:09:50.768 liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 01:09:50.807 --> 01:09:52.009 And the pursuit of happiness 01:09:52.310 --> 01:09:53.451 is having health care, 01:09:53.751 --> 01:09:55.953 having access to clean 01:09:56.432 --> 01:09:58.435 water in this country. 01:09:58.815 --> 01:09:59.716 They're one of the richest 01:09:59.796 --> 01:10:01.337 countries in the world and 01:10:01.358 --> 01:10:02.458 people don't have access. 01:10:02.738 --> 01:10:05.100 So we're educating people on that. 01:10:05.161 --> 01:10:06.622 We're going to do some pop ups. 01:10:07.363 --> 01:10:09.985 for health care and dental 01:10:10.046 --> 01:10:11.046 for the community. 01:10:11.547 --> 01:10:13.909 And we're still working on 01:10:14.250 --> 01:10:16.832 making sure that people who 01:10:17.033 --> 01:10:18.194 are elected officials, 01:10:18.274 --> 01:10:22.037 that they still want to do 01:10:22.078 --> 01:10:23.319 the right thing and elected 01:10:23.340 --> 01:10:24.020 to do the right thing. 01:10:24.341 --> 01:10:25.521 And one of the main things 01:10:25.561 --> 01:10:26.483 that we're working on 01:10:26.943 --> 01:10:29.203 has to do with the John 01:10:29.243 --> 01:10:30.425 Lewis Voting Rights Act. 01:10:30.505 --> 01:10:32.826 We need to be able to put 01:10:32.865 --> 01:10:34.747 some teeth back into the 01:10:34.806 --> 01:10:36.408 Voting Rights Act because 01:10:42.270 --> 01:10:43.612 it was gutted by the 5-4 01:10:44.051 --> 01:10:47.273 Shelby decision that took 01:10:47.292 --> 01:10:48.894 the teeth out of our voting rights. 01:10:49.194 --> 01:10:51.114 And voter suppression is real. 01:10:51.876 --> 01:10:53.657 And if people don't understand that, 01:10:53.837 --> 01:10:54.796 it's a real thing. 01:10:55.337 --> 01:10:55.757 And so... 01:10:56.559 --> 01:10:58.801 Being able to be born in the 01:10:58.841 --> 01:10:59.740 year that I was born, 01:11:00.121 --> 01:11:00.921 a lot of people in the 01:11:00.942 --> 01:11:01.983 United States didn't even 01:11:02.023 --> 01:11:03.524 have access to be able to vote. 01:11:04.003 --> 01:11:05.104 And after the Voting Rights 01:11:05.164 --> 01:11:06.865 Act of 1965 passed, 01:11:07.466 --> 01:11:09.448 it was gutted all through the years. 01:11:10.127 --> 01:11:12.088 And so we need better and 01:11:12.128 --> 01:11:13.289 stronger language. 01:11:13.329 --> 01:11:16.112 And we asked Congress and 01:11:16.171 --> 01:11:17.813 the Biden administration to 01:11:17.872 --> 01:11:19.634 push forth the John Lewis 01:11:19.654 --> 01:11:21.034 Voting Rights Act so that 01:11:21.074 --> 01:11:22.256 we can have protections, 01:11:22.515 --> 01:11:24.478 so we can practice our 01:11:24.557 --> 01:11:26.099 constitutional rights of voting. 01:11:26.559 --> 01:11:27.639 Can you explain a little bit 01:11:27.658 --> 01:11:28.420 for people who may not know 01:11:28.439 --> 01:11:30.340 what the John Lewis Voting Rights Act is? 01:11:30.380 --> 01:11:31.000 Can you explain that a 01:11:31.020 --> 01:11:31.820 little bit more for us? 01:11:32.881 --> 01:11:34.421 And not going into the weeds, 01:11:35.202 --> 01:11:37.202 the 5-4 Shelby decision 01:11:37.662 --> 01:11:40.283 took the enforcement of the 01:11:40.342 --> 01:11:43.064 Voting Rights Act from the 01:11:43.663 --> 01:11:46.225 federal government and put 01:11:46.265 --> 01:11:47.104 it to the states. 01:11:48.265 --> 01:11:50.305 And then the states, which are 01:11:51.811 --> 01:11:54.832 Southern states like Alabama, Arkansas, 01:11:54.953 --> 01:11:57.293 Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, 01:11:57.913 --> 01:11:59.954 Mississippi, North Carolina, 01:11:59.994 --> 01:12:02.076 South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, 01:12:02.416 --> 01:12:02.996 and Virginia, 01:12:03.676 --> 01:12:08.878 they practice using the old 01:12:08.939 --> 01:12:10.998 Jim Crow act of if you 01:12:11.019 --> 01:12:12.300 don't have an ID card, 01:12:12.963 --> 01:12:13.864 you can't vote. 01:12:14.444 --> 01:12:17.867 If you limit in the amount 01:12:18.226 --> 01:12:21.109 of voting areas in the 01:12:21.208 --> 01:12:22.270 minority neighborhoods, 01:12:22.569 --> 01:12:24.051 like four years ago there 01:12:24.091 --> 01:12:28.033 might have been 160, now there's only 40. 01:12:28.033 --> 01:12:29.253 Limiting in those votes, 01:12:29.613 --> 01:12:32.855 voter intimidation, voter misinformation. 01:12:33.376 --> 01:12:34.216 What's intimidation? 01:12:34.893 --> 01:12:36.034 Intimidation standing 01:12:36.115 --> 01:12:38.881 outside the voting rights 01:12:38.961 --> 01:12:40.182 and if you vote in it, 01:12:40.222 --> 01:12:41.405 we're going to beat you up. 01:12:41.966 --> 01:12:43.328 Some people in some states, 01:12:43.389 --> 01:12:45.554 they have open carry 01:12:46.314 --> 01:12:48.536 and they intimidate people that way. 01:12:48.935 --> 01:12:54.238 They send people the wrong addresses, 01:12:54.859 --> 01:12:57.859 all types of camouflage so 01:12:57.899 --> 01:12:59.381 that people won't be able to vote. 01:12:59.680 --> 01:13:01.582 And the John Lewis vote put 01:13:01.662 --> 01:13:03.221 some of those things that 01:13:03.283 --> 01:13:05.243 was taken out with the 5-4 01:13:05.302 --> 01:13:06.144 Shelby decision 01:13:07.425 --> 01:13:09.146 versus Shelby versus Holder 01:13:09.967 --> 01:13:11.989 and put some teeth in the 01:13:12.050 --> 01:13:13.332 enforcement that everybody 01:13:13.372 --> 01:13:14.712 has a right to vote. 01:13:14.993 --> 01:13:17.395 It is easier to get a gun 01:13:17.475 --> 01:13:19.257 card than it is to get an 01:13:19.457 --> 01:13:21.140 ID to vote in some areas. 01:13:22.301 --> 01:13:23.643 And then the point about if 01:13:23.722 --> 01:13:27.126 you have been in trouble with the law, 01:13:27.405 --> 01:13:29.068 you don't have rights to vote. 01:13:29.608 --> 01:13:30.748 And it's just a lot of 01:13:30.810 --> 01:13:33.471 things that they are reintroducing. 01:13:33.851 --> 01:13:36.654 But it's the same as we say, same grocery, 01:13:36.715 --> 01:13:38.837 different bag from Jim Crow in the 1800s. 01:13:39.978 --> 01:13:40.278 Gotcha. 01:13:40.297 --> 01:13:41.519 I was going to mention that same shit, 01:13:41.538 --> 01:13:42.500 different day, as they say. 01:13:42.520 --> 01:13:42.900 Yeah. 01:13:43.100 --> 01:13:43.801 Yeah. 01:13:43.900 --> 01:13:44.841 I was going to mention like- 01:13:45.502 --> 01:13:46.182 I didn't want to say that 01:13:46.203 --> 01:13:47.404 because my mother's listening. 01:13:47.725 --> 01:13:48.604 Oh, mama. 01:13:48.625 --> 01:13:50.027 You've heard the word before. 01:13:50.106 --> 01:13:50.646 You've heard it before. 01:13:52.448 --> 01:13:53.248 Thanks for being here, mama. 01:13:54.990 --> 01:13:55.992 I was going to ask you too 01:13:56.072 --> 01:13:59.253 about the thing about felons, right? 01:13:59.274 --> 01:14:00.574 If you're a felon, if you have a felony, 01:14:00.615 --> 01:14:01.576 you can't vote either, right? 01:14:01.655 --> 01:14:02.356 That's correct, right? 01:14:02.516 --> 01:14:02.777 Right. 01:14:02.896 --> 01:14:03.238 And so- 01:14:04.224 --> 01:14:06.786 There are through the 01:14:07.565 --> 01:14:08.987 attorney general's office 01:14:09.386 --> 01:14:10.988 and the district attorneys 01:14:11.068 --> 01:14:12.628 in many different cities, 01:14:13.488 --> 01:14:15.390 California expungement law 01:14:16.110 --> 01:14:19.493 and that you can find ways 01:14:19.893 --> 01:14:21.073 to say that you want to 01:14:21.154 --> 01:14:22.954 vote and then they would 01:14:22.975 --> 01:14:24.076 help you expunge your 01:14:24.176 --> 01:14:26.197 record so that you're able to vote. 01:14:27.154 --> 01:14:28.876 And there are some also 01:14:28.956 --> 01:14:30.938 things that they're working 01:14:30.997 --> 01:14:33.020 on in California that they 01:14:33.199 --> 01:14:34.521 are going to allow people 01:14:34.582 --> 01:14:36.363 who are incarcerated to 01:14:36.404 --> 01:14:38.064 vote because some people 01:14:38.185 --> 01:14:39.466 are under misdemeanors. 01:14:39.527 --> 01:14:40.587 But if they're locked up, 01:14:40.988 --> 01:14:42.630 they don't have access to voting. 01:14:43.230 --> 01:14:44.532 So there's a lot of programs 01:14:44.572 --> 01:14:45.752 that people are working on 01:14:46.113 --> 01:14:49.457 so that people have a right to vote. 01:14:52.061 --> 01:14:52.841 Well, 01:14:53.783 --> 01:14:55.523 when it comes to the voter suppression, 01:14:55.542 --> 01:14:56.962 the voter intimidation, 01:14:57.444 --> 01:14:59.804 sometimes the box is too 01:14:59.844 --> 01:15:01.625 far for people to drive in rural areas. 01:15:02.404 --> 01:15:04.685 Isn't mail-in ballots a way 01:15:04.765 --> 01:15:05.945 to fix that problem? 01:15:06.685 --> 01:15:09.567 That's a way as a symptom 01:15:10.627 --> 01:15:12.247 that gives people access, 01:15:13.587 --> 01:15:15.929 but some people only 01:15:15.988 --> 01:15:17.628 believe in voting in person. 01:15:18.710 --> 01:15:19.390 And, you know, 01:15:20.305 --> 01:15:22.265 Like somebody in my generation, 01:15:22.947 --> 01:15:24.306 I'm going to vote on my 01:15:24.408 --> 01:15:26.548 deathbed because I've seen 01:15:26.609 --> 01:15:28.930 and lived when my parents 01:15:28.989 --> 01:15:29.890 didn't have the right to 01:15:29.970 --> 01:15:33.113 vote and had to fight to be able to vote. 01:15:33.853 --> 01:15:37.956 So if we want to have equal 01:15:38.036 --> 01:15:39.777 representation under the 01:15:39.856 --> 01:15:41.578 law and everybody have a 01:15:41.637 --> 01:15:43.618 right to be able to vote, 01:15:43.979 --> 01:15:45.199 then there should be 01:15:46.400 --> 01:15:47.282 mail-in ballots. 01:15:47.603 --> 01:15:49.765 There should be access to voting. 01:15:50.104 --> 01:15:51.987 There should be more polling places. 01:15:52.306 --> 01:15:53.748 There should be mobile voting. 01:15:54.009 --> 01:15:54.890 There should be all 01:15:54.949 --> 01:15:56.452 different ways to be able 01:15:56.492 --> 01:15:58.274 to feed in so that people can vote. 01:15:59.234 --> 01:16:01.117 I want to push that voting 01:16:01.176 --> 01:16:03.099 day is a national holiday. 01:16:04.106 --> 01:16:05.648 Then you don't have to worry about that. 01:16:05.707 --> 01:16:07.268 If it's a national holiday, 01:16:07.649 --> 01:16:08.969 then everybody's off work. 01:16:09.029 --> 01:16:10.430 And then the vote, 01:16:10.510 --> 01:16:13.530 the momentum goes up of 01:16:13.591 --> 01:16:16.072 people having access to the voting. 01:16:16.112 --> 01:16:16.493 But, you know, 01:16:16.512 --> 01:16:18.533 the system don't want that because then, 01:16:18.854 --> 01:16:20.054 you know, there are much more. 01:16:20.694 --> 01:16:23.275 When the people of color, black, white, 01:16:23.555 --> 01:16:24.136 poor whites, 01:16:24.256 --> 01:16:26.356 Latinos and everything else come together, 01:16:26.377 --> 01:16:27.478 we can we can. 01:16:28.957 --> 01:16:30.179 outvote everybody. 01:16:30.519 --> 01:16:31.560 So they don't want people to 01:16:32.500 --> 01:16:33.640 be able to vote or have 01:16:33.820 --> 01:16:35.242 access to voting because 01:16:35.261 --> 01:16:36.481 they know they will lose. 01:16:36.502 --> 01:16:37.542 Yeah. 01:16:37.703 --> 01:16:40.164 And also the youth aren't voting. 01:16:40.385 --> 01:16:40.965 I remember talking about 01:16:41.005 --> 01:16:42.685 Melissa May about that is 01:16:42.725 --> 01:16:43.806 that the youth aren't voting. 01:16:43.827 --> 01:16:44.707 So they're also having that 01:16:44.747 --> 01:16:46.268 whole demographic that's 01:16:46.328 --> 01:16:48.128 missing from making a 01:16:48.429 --> 01:16:49.489 political change as well. 01:16:50.069 --> 01:16:50.369 Right. 01:16:50.409 --> 01:16:50.990 But that's when the 01:16:51.110 --> 01:16:52.390 education piece where 01:16:52.492 --> 01:16:53.952 people like my generation 01:16:54.032 --> 01:16:55.592 or the next generation need 01:16:55.613 --> 01:16:56.654 to educate them on 01:16:57.014 --> 01:16:58.034 where we came from, 01:16:58.055 --> 01:16:58.835 because they don't teach 01:16:58.935 --> 01:17:00.336 all of that in the schools 01:17:00.376 --> 01:17:02.297 like they normally do. 01:17:02.677 --> 01:17:04.139 If you watch the video of 01:17:04.238 --> 01:17:06.180 Fannie Lou Hamer and Emmett 01:17:06.260 --> 01:17:09.903 Till and Viola Louisa and 01:17:10.283 --> 01:17:11.743 the four little girls in 01:17:11.783 --> 01:17:14.565 the Birmingham church who got killed, 01:17:14.905 --> 01:17:16.386 if you watch those videos 01:17:16.466 --> 01:17:17.768 and learn about history, 01:17:18.167 --> 01:17:19.708 then you know your voting 01:17:20.409 --> 01:17:22.051 is not only for you, 01:17:22.470 --> 01:17:23.851 but for the shoulders that 01:17:23.891 --> 01:17:26.573 you stood on for the past generations. 01:17:27.529 --> 01:17:28.849 And if it's not about you, 01:17:29.529 --> 01:17:31.250 it's about serving the 01:17:31.310 --> 01:17:32.850 people who came before you 01:17:33.430 --> 01:17:34.730 so that they can understand 01:17:35.091 --> 01:17:36.572 how important it is. 01:17:36.591 --> 01:17:37.351 Yeah, 01:17:37.471 --> 01:17:38.712 and paving a way for the people in 01:17:38.733 --> 01:17:39.113 front of you. 01:17:39.613 --> 01:17:40.372 Exactly. 01:17:40.773 --> 01:17:42.554 And so I guess a good question is, 01:17:42.613 --> 01:17:45.015 is that the school 01:17:45.095 --> 01:17:46.694 government educational process? 01:17:46.835 --> 01:17:47.136 I mean, 01:17:47.615 --> 01:17:48.895 is that the school educational's 01:17:48.956 --> 01:17:51.077 role to teach about Black history, 01:17:51.157 --> 01:17:52.377 or is that Black Americans' 01:17:52.777 --> 01:17:53.717 responsibility to teach 01:17:53.738 --> 01:17:54.497 about Black history? 01:17:56.226 --> 01:17:58.207 I think the curriculum needs 01:17:58.247 --> 01:17:59.668 to be upgraded because they 01:17:59.689 --> 01:18:01.069 don't go far enough with 01:18:01.210 --> 01:18:02.990 black history because black 01:18:03.030 --> 01:18:04.511 history is not black history. 01:18:05.012 --> 01:18:06.332 This American history. 01:18:06.594 --> 01:18:07.793 There would be no America 01:18:07.833 --> 01:18:09.715 without the blacks. 01:18:09.836 --> 01:18:10.775 I think that they should 01:18:10.815 --> 01:18:12.636 change the curriculum and upgrade it. 01:18:12.938 --> 01:18:14.398 So it tells more of the truth. 01:18:14.819 --> 01:18:17.220 A good book is called Lies 01:18:17.300 --> 01:18:19.962 My Teacher Taught Me is a great book. 01:18:20.523 --> 01:18:22.304 Because you have to refocus 01:18:22.384 --> 01:18:23.963 what they taught you and 01:18:24.024 --> 01:18:25.744 reprogram it and unlearn 01:18:25.784 --> 01:18:27.085 what you've learned to be 01:18:27.145 --> 01:18:28.845 able to put the truth back in your mind. 01:18:29.305 --> 01:18:31.926 And so I think it's inherent 01:18:31.987 --> 01:18:33.506 upon the educational system, 01:18:33.827 --> 01:18:35.427 but it's also inherent upon 01:18:35.608 --> 01:18:38.009 every family to teach 01:18:38.208 --> 01:18:44.110 history as a mandatory thing 01:18:44.869 --> 01:18:47.773 so that your next generation can learn. 01:18:47.792 --> 01:18:48.894 That's how I got taught. 01:18:49.154 --> 01:18:51.275 It wasn't taught in my, when I was young, 01:18:51.376 --> 01:18:52.596 it was a bunch of lies. 01:18:53.158 --> 01:18:54.198 We all thought that the 01:18:54.658 --> 01:18:56.341 Indians scalped the cowboys 01:18:56.400 --> 01:18:57.261 and they were bad. 01:18:57.280 --> 01:18:59.063 That's what I got taught in school. 01:18:59.103 --> 01:18:59.804 But my mother, 01:19:00.264 --> 01:19:02.185 through the community and 01:19:02.206 --> 01:19:04.368 through all the people who got help 01:19:06.377 --> 01:19:07.498 who helped get teachers, 01:19:07.519 --> 01:19:08.458 because I had Black 01:19:08.498 --> 01:19:09.838 instructors in my school 01:19:10.099 --> 01:19:11.139 that my mother worked on 01:19:11.158 --> 01:19:13.260 the school board to help get elected. 01:19:13.739 --> 01:19:15.539 And, you know, Miss Dorothy Shelley, 01:19:15.579 --> 01:19:16.900 who was a librarian who 01:19:17.220 --> 01:19:18.201 spent time with me. 01:19:18.520 --> 01:19:21.322 In junior high, I had a Black principal, 01:19:22.162 --> 01:19:26.162 Dr. Young, and a Black vice principal, 01:19:27.783 --> 01:19:29.382 Mr. Mears, Henry Mears. 01:19:30.104 --> 01:19:31.304 I would have never had 01:19:32.319 --> 01:19:33.520 if I didn't have that 01:19:33.579 --> 01:19:34.921 guidance and instruction 01:19:34.980 --> 01:19:36.301 because of my mother 01:19:36.322 --> 01:19:39.664 working for the Get Black instructors in, 01:19:40.005 --> 01:19:40.926 I wouldn't have ever had 01:19:40.966 --> 01:19:42.306 the foundation to know what 01:19:42.386 --> 01:19:43.728 I can do or not do. 01:19:44.167 --> 01:19:44.408 Yeah. 01:19:45.128 --> 01:19:45.828 You want to give a shout out 01:19:45.849 --> 01:19:47.791 to your mom since she's listening? 01:19:48.110 --> 01:19:48.810 Hey, 01:19:49.311 --> 01:19:51.353 shout out to Dr. Evelyn Burnett 01:19:51.472 --> 01:19:53.475 Underwood and shout out to 01:19:53.854 --> 01:19:55.456 Bishop King James Underwood, 01:19:55.475 --> 01:19:58.298 who's the foundation of who 01:19:58.399 --> 01:19:59.699 made me who I am today. 01:20:00.460 --> 01:20:00.859 Amen. 01:20:00.921 --> 01:20:01.421 You know, and 01:20:02.729 --> 01:20:05.610 I think it's definitely important for any, 01:20:05.711 --> 01:20:07.511 because I think other ethnicities do this, 01:20:07.572 --> 01:20:08.592 but I think it's about, 01:20:08.752 --> 01:20:10.413 they teach themselves their culture. 01:20:10.493 --> 01:20:11.215 They make sure they do. 01:20:11.234 --> 01:20:12.956 And so I think it's important to, 01:20:13.896 --> 01:20:14.556 I think that's where, 01:20:14.577 --> 01:20:16.078 if we're talking about Black Americans, 01:20:16.097 --> 01:20:16.618 I think that's where they 01:20:16.679 --> 01:20:18.180 lack a lot is they don't know how to, 01:20:18.199 --> 01:20:19.199 they don't teach their history. 01:20:19.239 --> 01:20:19.740 Like if I say, 01:20:20.140 --> 01:20:22.141 if I talk to someone who's 14 right now, 01:20:22.181 --> 01:20:22.483 like, hey, 01:20:22.502 --> 01:20:23.662 do you know what Thelonious Monk is? 01:20:23.682 --> 01:20:24.644 They'd be like, 01:20:24.663 --> 01:20:25.524 what are you talking about? 01:20:26.404 --> 01:20:26.706 You know, 01:20:27.185 --> 01:20:28.707 and do you know who James Earl Jones is? 01:20:29.466 --> 01:20:30.948 And these are celebrities, you know, from, 01:20:32.011 --> 01:20:32.591 the past, 01:20:32.650 --> 01:20:33.810 but they wouldn't know the history. 01:20:35.051 --> 01:20:37.572 But that's another day. 01:20:37.631 --> 01:20:39.551 And what I think a lot of 01:20:39.591 --> 01:20:41.672 Mexicanos are very lucky 01:20:41.752 --> 01:20:43.332 about is that Mexico is 01:20:43.353 --> 01:20:44.012 right down the street. 01:20:44.533 --> 01:20:45.514 So if you wanted to get some 01:20:45.554 --> 01:20:46.833 Mexican history or anything like that, 01:20:46.854 --> 01:20:47.913 you can just go down the 01:20:47.953 --> 01:20:49.113 street and you can 01:20:49.154 --> 01:20:50.375 literally be in Mexico and 01:20:50.395 --> 01:20:51.715 get some history and stuff like that. 01:20:51.734 --> 01:20:52.875 So I think that's a lot of 01:20:52.914 --> 01:20:55.195 benefit for los Mexicanos. 01:20:55.256 --> 01:20:57.256 They can experience that type of benefit. 01:20:58.556 --> 01:20:58.936 But Ted, 01:20:58.957 --> 01:21:00.238 I want to thank you so much for 01:21:00.278 --> 01:21:01.439 being on The Empire, man. 01:21:01.918 --> 01:21:03.940 Let's say that 100 years pass by, 01:21:03.940 --> 01:21:05.402 250 years pass by, 01:21:05.462 --> 01:21:06.682 half a millennia passes by. 01:21:07.423 --> 01:21:08.064 What would you like your 01:21:08.203 --> 01:21:10.926 empire to look like a half 01:21:10.945 --> 01:21:11.766 a millennia from now, 01:21:11.867 --> 01:21:14.168 whether it's community work, activism, 01:21:14.929 --> 01:21:15.930 speaking the word of God? 01:21:16.570 --> 01:21:17.150 What would you like your 01:21:17.211 --> 01:21:19.052 empire to look like 500 years from now? 01:21:21.373 --> 01:21:25.917 That everyone love one another. 01:21:26.845 --> 01:21:29.327 And a kind word goes a long way. 01:21:30.506 --> 01:21:32.367 And if we start one person 01:21:32.426 --> 01:21:35.608 by one person caring about other people, 01:21:36.368 --> 01:21:39.029 then it'll be practice and 01:21:39.088 --> 01:21:40.368 it'd be muscle memory. 01:21:41.788 --> 01:21:42.889 Because we got too much 01:21:42.929 --> 01:21:44.449 division and hate in this 01:21:44.529 --> 01:21:45.409 country right now. 01:21:45.810 --> 01:21:47.090 And it's driving people to 01:21:47.109 --> 01:21:48.711 be out of their minds and 01:21:48.751 --> 01:21:50.110 not making good decisions. 01:21:50.490 --> 01:21:52.551 So if we start by just being 01:21:52.610 --> 01:21:54.152 nice to another human being, 01:21:54.532 --> 01:21:55.412 we can start there. 01:21:57.853 --> 01:21:59.252 I love that, and it's so true. 01:21:59.634 --> 01:22:01.293 Kindness goes so far. 01:22:02.154 --> 01:22:03.114 Kindness goes a lot farther 01:22:03.135 --> 01:22:05.095 than being rude and being an a-hole, 01:22:05.175 --> 01:22:05.774 as they say. 01:22:08.315 --> 01:22:08.536 Ted, 01:22:08.555 --> 01:22:09.856 I want to thank you so much for being 01:22:09.896 --> 01:22:10.657 on The Empire. 01:22:11.436 --> 01:22:12.356 For people who want to 01:22:12.436 --> 01:22:13.997 support the work that you're doing, 01:22:14.018 --> 01:22:15.778 they want to be involved in 01:22:15.938 --> 01:22:17.059 any of these organizations, 01:22:17.158 --> 01:22:17.979 can you please tell 01:22:18.139 --> 01:22:19.840 everybody how they can find you, 01:22:20.140 --> 01:22:21.239 contact you, and work with you? 01:22:23.461 --> 01:22:23.701 Yes. 01:22:25.529 --> 01:22:28.095 You can contact me through 01:22:28.115 --> 01:22:29.819 my mini organization at 01:22:29.920 --> 01:22:32.465 tedmail2atyahoo.com. 01:22:34.085 --> 01:22:36.086 Ted mail to T.E.D. 01:22:36.846 --> 01:22:37.966 M.A.I.L. 01:22:38.408 --> 01:22:40.229 The number two at Yahoo dot 01:22:40.248 --> 01:22:41.670 com is the best way to get into me. 01:22:41.930 --> 01:22:42.970 And let me say a shout out 01:22:43.010 --> 01:22:46.592 to someone who's always by 01:22:46.653 --> 01:22:49.054 my side and puts up with me 01:22:49.113 --> 01:22:50.715 and the many hours that I put in. 01:22:51.215 --> 01:22:53.197 My wonderful wife, Terry, 01:22:53.256 --> 01:22:55.318 who puts up with me and 01:22:55.358 --> 01:22:56.599 just encourages me every 01:22:56.639 --> 01:22:58.659 day to be able to do the right thing. 01:23:01.802 --> 01:23:02.563 That's so beautiful. 01:23:02.603 --> 01:23:03.323 Shout out to her. 01:23:03.363 --> 01:23:03.623 You know, 01:23:03.663 --> 01:23:05.725 it's good to have a what do they say? 01:23:05.765 --> 01:23:08.166 A man is as strong as his 01:23:08.206 --> 01:23:09.447 wife that's next to him type of thing. 01:23:10.106 --> 01:23:12.688 You know, it's a man's world. 01:23:12.988 --> 01:23:14.149 Yeah, nothing. 01:23:14.748 --> 01:23:14.868 See, 01:23:14.908 --> 01:23:16.229 if I said if I sing that song to a 14 01:23:16.229 --> 01:23:16.930 year old, they're like, 01:23:16.970 --> 01:23:17.730 what are you singing? 01:23:18.990 --> 01:23:20.192 But James Brown shot the 01:23:20.212 --> 01:23:22.033 James Brown shot off the James Brown. 01:23:22.273 --> 01:23:23.353 James Brown did a lot for 01:23:23.372 --> 01:23:24.314 the community as well. 01:23:25.460 --> 01:23:26.301 But ladies and gentlemen, 01:23:26.320 --> 01:23:27.621 I'll also have that 01:23:28.480 --> 01:23:29.782 information in the description. 01:23:30.242 --> 01:23:31.242 So if you want to reach out 01:23:31.282 --> 01:23:32.762 to Ted to support any of 01:23:32.802 --> 01:23:34.063 his organizations or be a 01:23:34.103 --> 01:23:35.203 part of it to know more, 01:23:35.524 --> 01:23:36.783 that also be in the description, 01:23:37.404 --> 01:23:37.704 you know. 01:23:38.604 --> 01:23:41.865 And so I want to thank Ted for being on. 01:23:41.905 --> 01:23:42.707 I want to thank all of you 01:23:42.747 --> 01:23:44.667 guys for for tuning in and listening. 01:23:44.707 --> 01:23:46.047 We learned so much about Ted, 01:23:46.108 --> 01:23:47.408 about how his mother 01:23:47.768 --> 01:23:48.509 started off his life. 01:23:49.579 --> 01:23:52.082 activism campaign and his activism route. 01:23:52.603 --> 01:23:54.945 We learned about how there's 01:23:55.046 --> 01:23:55.867 voter suppression, 01:23:55.907 --> 01:23:57.408 voter intimidation that goes on, 01:23:57.429 --> 01:23:59.090 about the Poor People's Campaign, 01:23:59.130 --> 01:24:00.452 about over 150 million 01:24:00.471 --> 01:24:02.094 people who live in poverty 01:24:02.154 --> 01:24:03.595 and how the Poor People's 01:24:03.614 --> 01:24:06.297 Campaign are working on ways to fix that. 01:24:07.158 --> 01:24:08.579 And things are not just racism, 01:24:08.600 --> 01:24:09.541 they're classism and how 01:24:09.581 --> 01:24:11.122 they collide and calamity 01:24:11.162 --> 01:24:12.064 and things like that. 01:24:12.463 --> 01:24:14.305 So we learned so much today. 01:24:14.845 --> 01:24:15.306 And again, 01:24:15.346 --> 01:24:16.988 I want to thank Ted Burnett for being on. 01:24:17.028 --> 01:24:18.229 I want to thank all you guys 01:24:18.670 --> 01:24:20.091 for listening and tuning in. 01:24:20.811 --> 01:24:22.292 Please like the video if you haven't. 01:24:22.474 --> 01:24:23.394 Comment down below. 01:24:23.774 --> 01:24:24.735 Subscribe to the channel. 01:24:24.775 --> 01:24:26.216 We have more great guests 01:24:26.356 --> 01:24:27.377 and things to talk about. 01:24:27.899 --> 01:24:28.779 If you guys didn't know. 01:24:29.460 --> 01:24:31.381 My name is Antonio D. Miles. 01:24:31.841 --> 01:24:32.461 I am the host. 01:24:32.900 --> 01:24:34.641 And so we do this as much as we can. 01:24:35.042 --> 01:24:36.203 And we appreciate everybody. 01:24:36.243 --> 01:24:37.103 We're trying to grow. 01:24:37.122 --> 01:24:39.184 If you guys want to support the channel, 01:24:39.203 --> 01:24:41.484 support the work, there's a Cash App, 01:24:41.524 --> 01:24:43.744 Dollar Sign, T-H-E-E Empire podcast, 01:24:44.104 --> 01:24:44.886 and a bunch of other stuff 01:24:44.926 --> 01:24:45.365 in the link in the 01:24:45.405 --> 01:24:46.086 description if you guys 01:24:46.105 --> 01:24:47.487 want to help support the podcast. 01:24:48.087 --> 01:24:48.487 And again, 01:24:48.506 --> 01:24:50.507 I want to thank all of you guys 01:24:50.528 --> 01:24:51.967 for listening, for having Ted on. 01:24:52.609 --> 01:24:52.708 And... 01:24:54.009 --> 01:24:54.649 Other than that, 01:24:55.090 --> 01:24:56.271 we will catch all of you 01:24:56.292 --> 01:24:58.033 guys in the next episode. 01:24:58.613 --> 01:24:58.975 All right? 01:24:59.935 --> 01:25:00.256 Peace.