Join us in processing the election while things are still so uncertain. Shit's wild and we are FEELING IT y'all.
Join us in processing the election while things are still so uncertain. Shit's wild and we are FEELING IT y'all.
Follow us on instagram @wethepeoplepresent
Resources and action items on our Linktree
Cover artwork by Be Boggs
Music by Malaventura
Full transcript available HERE
Lyonel: We're We the People
Tina: And we're recording from the occupied territory of the Odawa, Ojibwe, Potawatomi people,
Dana: Or what you probably know to be Chicago,
Aja: And the Chumash, Kizh, Tataviam people-
Lyonel: or Los Angeles.
Dana: Guess what. We're all on stolen land. Take a second to learn whose land you occupy
Tina: And take meaningful direct action to decolonize and restore these lands to their rightful stewards.
Aja: Action Items and resources can be found in the link tree on our Instagram @wethepeoplepresent
(music)
Aja: Well here we are.
Tina: Yep we're here.
Aja: Welcome to We the People.
Dana: What's up everybody!
Tina: Heyyyyy.
Dana: Hope you're not in a ball of anxiety in the corner somewhere but if you are you're in good company.
Tina: We are right there with you.
Lyonel: We are We the People I am Lyonel.
Tina: I'm Tina.
Dana: I'm Dana.
Aja: I'm Aja.
Tina: We're recording this, just so everyone knows, we're recording this on Wednesday November 4th, the day after the general election. So this will probably be coming out when we have hopefully more information. But right now it's a...it's a lot.
(Dana makes a gagging noise)
Aja: It is what it is.
Tina: Yup. How are y'all feeling?
(silence)
(group laughing)
Dana: Ultimate pause.
Aja: Yeah.
Tina: Yeah, feel like that says it all.
Dana: I'll go. I feel lots of things. I am mostly feeling anxiety, but then I get optimistic and then I kind of- it's like, it's, so we're all four of us are actors so I apologize for this but it's relatable for us, it's like when you really, really want a job you really, really want this audition, and you're so close- you get called back, and then you get called back again. The feelings that I'm feeling right now are that type of anxiety and hope, but then like you start to hope and then you like shoot the hope down because you don't want to jinx it it.
Tina: Mm hm.
Aja: Like it's not real until it's in writing.
Dana: Yes exactly. It's that, plus you know the general, terrible disappointment with the rampant white supremacy bullshit that I was not surprised by but I was certainly fucking disappointed. So that's me. That's where I'm at. .
Tina: It's hard to even like articulate.
I don't know, I feel like I don't know if y'all feel this too: I feel like 2016 really fucked me up in terms of like, I just like, having expectations and like, now I've kind of gone the other route of not wanting to have any expectations until things are like, absolutely certain because the blow of that was so bad that I like, want to avoid that at all costs.
So like, even having hope until like things are for sure is scary to me right now.
Dana: Yeah.
Tina: Which I don't love. I also, God I mean the biggest bummer today for me is the Illinois Fair Tax Amendment. That really fucking pissed me off, that that didn't pass.
Aja: Ugh
Dana: Yep
Tina: Yeah I'm just like really, really bummed about that right now. But also like, a lot of- I literally wrote on a, we'll post it, all of the good things that happened during the election.
Dana: Holy crap. There there are so many good things.
Tina: Yeah, yeah.
Dana: Our first Transgender Senator.
Aja: Yeahhhh.
Dana: Cori Bush was elected.
Lyonel: Yesssss.
Dana: There are things to ce-le-brate. For sure.
Tina: Yeah.
Dana: And I think we should do that. We should hold space in our hearts for celebration for them because it's incredible.
Tina: Yeah it's tough. It's tough to celebrate and also like these so anxious.
Dana: "I'm so excited. I'm so...scared.".
(group laughing to hard and also groaning)
Dana: How you feeling, Aja?
Aja: I am working very hard to stay neutral. And just taking it one hour at a time.
Tina: Yeah.
Aja: I feel very cautiously optimistic. And also a little bit sick .
Dana: Mmmmm!
Aja: What a great day.
Tina: What a delightful cocktail.
Aja: The heartburn kicked in a couple hours ago.
Dana: Love it! Yum yum yum yum!
Aja: My whole body is like...llllllllladoifau;a.
Dana: Yeah, I didn't sleep yesterday. So that was cool.
Aja: Great.
Dana What about you Lyonel?
Lyonel: I don't know. I'm purposely quiet right now because I actually don't have the same anxiety because...how do I word it. I'm just not shocked. I'm not surprised.
Four years can't erase 400 years of oppression in my mind. I'm not shocked that the race is so close because- I'm so glad there's so many people marched this year I'm so glad that everything was brought to the forefront.
But. A black square? Six months of like, Instagram posts being like, how can we read better, doesn't erase 400 years of how this country is built. And so being shocked at how close this race is and people still voting for Trump on the principles that I know me and a lot of my friends just harp on this morality conversation.
I just think that this country has a morality issue that isn't shocking for me. So nothing right now just feels shocking. It's an overwhelming amount of disappointment, but disappointment again where you like you're kind of rooting for a person but then they let you down, and you're like, Ok I knew you were gonna be flaky.
Like I feel more like America's flaky right now than shock, but that's because I've always felt Trump's reality my entire life. Like it's always felt like that, even if I go to college, I went to- growing up in a lot of spaces with people who weren't black. So like making offhanded comments or offhanded remarks, I just think that the morality of why Donald Trump winning again feels so poignant in my social circles.
But I just know so many people who speak the way he speaks and see life the way he sees life. And it's not that shocking, and that's what's the terrible part of it. I think a lot of- I won't even say people of color, I know a lot of black people feel that- like just aren't shocked by what's happening because white people don't don't impress me in the way of like, I wait for them to be amazing.
I'm just kind of like, "OK let's see what cards are going to be dealt. And I'm going to adjust accordingly." And even though the reality of him winning again could be you know another four years of him making rules, it's kind of like, if it's not him it's gonna be his Supreme Court. If it's not his Supreme Court it's gonna be his Senate. And frankly if it's not his Senate it might be the police officer. I don't. I don't know. So I think it's a weird like...
There's so many great things that came out of this election that like, it feels a little communal chaos for me to lean into just Joe Biden and Donald Trump, because I have a lot of opinions about that. But some really dope awesome people won some great positions and that is so amazing.
There's like a whole trans community who get to see themselves in power. That's so amazing. That is getting- it's getting overlooked because of these two people running. But like that is huge. Like that's a hero for a community to like be like, "I'm not a trope! I am I exist and I make things happen," and I just think there's so many little steps happening. Yeah this election feels very 2020 on brand very 2020 on brand. .
Dana: Yeah.
Lyonel: If you're too overwhelmed by the big balloon, you'll miss the little steps in the middle. And like for me, it's kind of what it is.
Dana: Yeah.
Tina: Totally.
Dana: I felt that this morning, I felt like the- cause I'm feeling a lot of disappointment as well and I feel like the shock- it's almost just like deja vu over and over again. Like the amount of people that are just like, "oh my god how could we? How can this...?" And it's like, not only have we seen that in our lifetime but historically we keep seeing that just people being shocked at how the how a predominant amount of the white population could continue to do this over and over again.
And at what point are we going to stop being shocked by that? At what point are we going to try and fucking fix it?
Do you feel like you all have those friends that always blame these offset votes on their uncle or their aunt, or like the hillbillies in the middle of America. It's what I like to hear all the time, but if these polls are showing anything, it's actually like- it's not them.
It's actually your neighbor two doors down that's just not telling your. It's the person in the coffee shop that you might have came with that's just not telling you. I think that's also part of the conversation like we actually need to own up to the fact the people voting for these things are not someone's far off aunt and uncle. It's literally people that you're entering spaces with.
Dana: Absolutely.
Lyonel: The numbers are there, you know, the receipts are there and I just...that's more fascinating to me. I'm pissed, but like that's that is the conversation that I feel like is being this right now.
Dana: Because Tina you brought up, to speak to that, Lyonel, Tina wrote a statistic think that you saw on Instagram, possibly of like, white- I think white women in college?
Tina: Yeah yeah yeah. So apparently- I don't remember the numbers in 2016 but white college educated women voted like, I think it was like maybe 9%, or 9 points more for Clinton in the 2016 election. And in this election Trump was up by one point. Like they voted more for Trump than they did for Biden.
Dana: Right.
Tina: So like the percentage went from 53% to 55% of white women who voted for Trump between 2016 and this election. So yeah it's totally like, it's people who aren't owning up to it.
Aja: Yeah. Josh and I were just talking about earlier today like his... someone he knew in high school who he has had many a political conversation with- which is just the other guy being a jerk and him actually trying to like have a conversation- but this person that Josh knows was talking about you know like, we're here at the silent majority.
And I feel like that's the people who we're interacting with on a regular basis.
Tina: I also feel like I'm seeing a lot of like, people- because you know I mean I'm in Chicago. I live in the Midwest. I'm from D.C. which is like technically the south but not. I mean no one would classify D.C. and Maryland as the South- but I'm seeing a lot of people around me like, go in on the south for like putting us in this situation.
And I'm like, it's not Southerners fault that like, America is like this. It's also like- voter suppression is the most prevalent in southern states.
So like, it's not Southern voters, you know, I'm sure some are not great but like, it's also the fact that voter suppression and gerrymandering and all of the problems that we have in this country with making it harder for certain people to vote, run rampant in those states too.
So getting all like, sanctimonious about who it is that's throwing us under the bus- like, that energy I feel like, is misplaced and misdirected at at individuals where it's like, it's the whole system that is responsible for this being a problem. It's not just the fact that people are voting a certain way, it's the fact that the system is set up for a certain population to be platformed and favored and for a certain entity to win.
Dana: Yeah
Lyonel: It's also tribalism though y'all like, I don't- I think that a big portion of all this is like, when in doubt we become so animalistic, right? When we're in the trenches like, that's when Karen comes out, right? Like that's what that is. That is instinctually animalistic, where you're like, "I know what I'm about to do to get out here, bitch. I'm a Imma call, that's my thing.".
And right now it is like we are seeing the parties being tribalism, and there is a deep sense of like, no no no, we've got to preserve this- our foundation you know, our thing that holds us together. I guess, like, to open up the conversation, I'm curious what y'alls thoughts are on like that, because I think that's- or maybe there's no thoughts on it, but like that's where we are as a country which is like... pushing it back to like who looks like me and who's speaking for me? Almost as if diversity and inclusion and things being progressive or too overbearing for the majority of our culture, and half of our culture really just is overwhelmed by how fast life around them is changing.
Dana: Yeah I think I- that's an interesting point because I feel like... I mean there is a cult aspect to this too. And what the Trump administration has done is played on these people's emotions. And I'm not giving them an out, but they have been played like for real. .
Lyonel: Yes. Hardcore.
Dana: Absolutely they are part of a cult. It's obsessive to a point where it's like there's nothing other than you being a part of a cult right now.
Lyonel: Yeah.
Dana: I think like, that play on their emotions leads them to this kind of animalistic defensive state like, I absolutely- I totally agree.
Lyonel: Because it's you know, it's that whole Ronald Reagan thing, right? Where it's like the "law and order" idea- if you can like- this isn't even political anymore. He has framed it to where it's their life. He's not framing conversations on like, "What's your opinion of this? What's your opinion of this policy.".
He's framing it to get us to being like, "your well being is destructed by this." And so that's what people are voting on as their well-being and their sense of pride, and their tribe, their actual communal American tribe.
Dana: Yeah. And they took things that were not political. And they made them political. They made science political. They made health care political. Things that are like without a doubt true.
Lyonel: Yep.
Tina: It's also like so this feels like conservatism and, to a large extent, like republicanism to me in a nutshell of like, making everything about the individual and about like the one person's advancement or like, the way things affect individuals, as opposed to- I feel like I'm used to operating in spaces where like we're thinking about the collective, we're thinking about what is good for people beyond just ourselves and beyond our own experiences.
Like I feel like, I'm used to having conversations in that realm. So it always kind of like, you know takes me a second to adjust to like, this notion that people are really just voting for their own interests and not thinking about other- like, that's what it feels like conservatism has always kind of been that.
But it feels like it's extra visible right now because of I think this tribalism that Lyonel, that you brought up- it feels like people are so ready to fight to preserve their own image of their own reality that they will ignore everything around them.
But like that in and of itself, that individualism has become like a cult. It's become like a group think.
Dana: Yeah, which is ironic.
Tina: I know.
Lyonel: Yeah. Yikes. Like do you remember when you just voted for President because you want to put them in position, not because you wanted to like give them a carnation on Valentine's Day?
(group laughing.
Lyonel: It's like...the fucking president! And you have other institutions to check their asses. Like you don't have to fucking walk down the aisle with them.
It's like so polarizing- that's what's like crazy. “I hate Biden! Did you see what-” like, DAMN. Can the man just be put in office and then we check his ass later if it's wrong? Like there's such a difference, and it's like so greedy.
Like there's this little part of America that's just so fucking greedy.
Tina: Yeah. It's also like, some people have literally never had the option of voting for someone who like had all of their best interests at heart. You know like, there are entire populations in this country who have always known that whoever is elected will not necessarily serve them in the way that they feel they need, or deserve.
You're voting for the collective good of a country and like your- I mean especially in this election. I don't know how you'll feel. I feel like I've already been pretty vocal about like, I'm not thrilled about the prospect of a Biden presidency but like that... I mean. I don't know.
Lyonel: I don't hate it!
Tina: Yeah, like it's better than the alternative. It's like, at least provides us with a solid foundation to continue doing work to actually change things. .
Lyonel: If this election was a natural disaster, which one is it?
Tina: All of them at once?
Lyonel: No!! Come on, pick one!
Dana: I'm hoping that it is one of those things where it's like there's gonna be a tornado here tonight. And then the tornado just doesn't show.
Lyonel: OOOOOh. OK. It's a no show tornado. No a no call, no show tornado night.
(group laughing).
Dana: "No call, no show".
(group laughing)
Lyonel: Oh that's good. See I feel like this is, yeah, I was going to say our hurricane. I feel like this is a flash flood warning right now, natural disaster, because it doesn't feel like fire for me, so it's not- well that might be someone else's disaster.
I'm going to say it's a flash flood and it's because they're watching the tides pull back almost like when tsunami is about to like, but it's like the tides just slow they pull them back and everyone's pulling up there there's six feet walls. So I'm not sure how much farther the water's gonna pull back. And then you left for no reason. So that's where I'm at in my disaster world.
Tina: I mean, I don't know if I'd call this a disaster, but to me it feels like the fucking like ice caps melting, like it feels like a slow arduous horrifying process that we can not- that we could stop if we wanted to, but enough people are being fucking idiots about it that like it's not stopping.
Dana: Maybe maybe we just like work together and and maybe you know lessen the pollution that the ice caps would stop melting. It's like literally the same fucking thing- "if we all voted for the person that wouldn't keep us in danger." .
Lyonel: Aja, you had brought up a good point that I think is super "inched".
(group laughing)
Lyonel: ...tresting. About...I tried to abbreviate interesting, and I guess what it--.
Dana: Intrest-- interest--.
Tina: I love that so much.
Lyonel: The only thing I take off was "ing".
(group laughing)
So I think the key thing that’s interest...
Dana: Inty! Inty?
Aja: ...ing
Lyonel: Ting? About things being boarded up.
Aja: Oh yeah. I was talking to a friend about how I mean, I'm sure there are more cities but specifically we were talking about how Dallas and Pasadena have started boarding up their storefronts and their shops, and I'm sure homes. That were in such a divisive place in this country that the immediate response to election results is to board up you're fucking business.
(group laughing)
Aja: It's not funny, but like, that's where we are! And then I wasn't like, "whaaat??" I was like oh ok.
Dana: Oh, yeah.
Aja: That makes sense.
Dana: Yeah, that makes sense!
Lyonel: It's also like the places that have to board up are also, not comical but like it's like CVS pharmacy. It's like we have to lock away the m&ms, the toilet paper, and the wet wipes.
Aja: And also that it's like, it wouldn't have mattered who- it doesn't matter who wins, businesses are still going to board up. Like there's not like a one- it's not like "if this person wins that no one will board up" no. If Trump wins or Biden wins, people are afraid of riots.
Dana: They're already- I mean they're already in Detroit. You see that video in Detroit? How they were outside the polling place and they were demanding that they stopped counting and it was like, "Are you... do y'all not understand how America works?".
Lyonel: Not "stop it" not stop counting!
Tina: Yeah.
Dana: They wanted- because he said to stop counting.
Lyonel: Yeah.
Tina: Yeah. He like tried to- it was a lawsuit from the Trump campaign.
Lyonel: Yeah.
Aja: Oh my God.
Tina: This mentality is backed by like a seemingly legitimate- I mean, oh God- it's a fucking nightmare.
Dana: Nightmare.
Aja: Something I never thought I would ever say was, did y'all see Mitch McConnell?
Lyonel: And them black hands?
(group laughing)
Dana: Yeah I saw him transforming into his new body. Is that what you mean?
(group laughing)
Aja: Nooo. That he was one of the Republican senators that was kind of speaking out against Trump and his bullshit with vote voting. He was like, No every vote should be counted.
Dana: I think they're starting to turn.
Lyonel: It's a trap!
Aja: That's what I thought!
Dana: No, I think you're actually starting to turn like-.
Lyonel: Turn where?
Dana: Turn against him.
Tina: Too late now that they won. Oh I don't know.
Aja: Or it's a trap.
Dana: I mean like I think it's so they don't get jail time. It's a trap. Do you think that they're like now that I won I can now be honest and be like that's fucked up because they earned before they they won. He might not have gotten re-elected like you know he was up for the Kentucky ballot.
Aja: Yeah I mean it could be that! I also wonder if maybe they actually have a line in the sand? And this is like no we can't. No. People get to vote.
Dana: This is their line.
Aja: This is their line or it's a trap. I'm not kidding. I was like What are they planning.
Tina: Or they're just trying to align themselves like, for what they think is gonna be the next administration which is the Biden administration, like they're trying to align themselves in a favorable position.
Dana: Yeah that's what I think.
Aja: Which is kind of like a trap. .
Dana: Think they're turning on him because they can see that it's not going his way.
Lyonel: I just hate how redeemable these fuckers get to be.
Tina: Yeah, no truly.
Lyonel: To be actual trash humans, and then were like, "oh but like, maybe they're trying to turn over a good leaf".
Aja: No they're not.
Lyonel: And then if they do we as a culture, we as a country would be like, "OK. Cool."
Dana: I'm never and ever- you can mark my fucking words, I'm never ever going to trust Mitch McConnell and now the majority of the Republican Party. .
Lyonel: Nah sis, put that on paper.
Aja: Sign it in blood.
Tina: No. It's like how we all like people will like giving Mitt Romney a cookie for like saying
Black Lives Matter. I was like, you don't...
Lyonel: For doing the bare minimum.
Tina: You've done so much damage you're like, This is not- you're not getting any props from me.
Dana: And then he turned around and he voted and what's her face into the supreme court.
Lyonel: Bare minimum.
Tina: Yeah. No cookies.
Lyonel: No cookies.
Aja: But I just wanted to quickly say that in regards to the whole Mitch McConnell and other Republicans speaking out against, suppressing the vote to Tina's point of - to align themselves with what they think is going to happen with this next administration.
Our last episode where we talked about (sings) not being able to trust politicians because they are after their own game.
(group laughing)
Dana: I like your song.
Tina: Also like Mitch McConnell saying like, "no everyone gets to vote," like voter suppression in Kentucky is so bad.
Dana: Yeah, so bad.
Tina: Like but it's bad. It's like you take care of your own fucking state if you actually believe this.
Lyonel: Like it's just like, it does not- he says things all the time that do not actually compute. Like saying that everyone deserves a vote but you have a complete voter suppression is literally like taking away opportunities for people being like, "it's there for you". But I'm going to write a law that says you can't do it.
Y'all. I'm calling it here. Joe Biden's going to win. Nobody has said it. We've sat in here for this whole time. Joe Biden is gonna win. And if you keep saying he's not gonna win then he's not gonna win. He's gonna win.
Dana: Okay.
Lyonel: He's gonna win!
Dana: Throwing it into existence. Yeah yeah.
Lyonel: Aren't you tired of saying he's going to lose?
Dana: We gotta say it.
Aja: I didn't say he was gonna lose-
Dana: Yeah we didn't say that!
Aja: I didn't say if it was one or the other, I just am staying neutral.
Lyonel: Oh no we- OK. Fine.
Tina: I'm just like not willing to like...believe it fully until it's like, written down in front of me because I'm scared you know like I'm just like.
Lyonel: Yeah.
Tina: I'm trying not to get my hopes up. I mean they're already up, but I'm trying not to get them up further. So the crash is less terrible in the event I don't know.
Lyonel: Because I just want our listeners to know that like, we are all scared. Like this is so communal, and like, the thing is though, we as people we will figure it out.
And we will also like... That's just what we do. Like that's just what we do- and specifically like us as a podcast, the people that we're having conversations for and about, like we just figure it out and it does suck and it is heavy but there's also the other side of it that there is a fire and a power and people who want change that don't stop.
Tina: We can't.
Lyonel: And I just think that that's important to know.
Dana: Yeah.
Tina: Yeah.
Dana: I agree.
Lyonel: Hey everybody thank you for checking out We the People where we like to keep it fresh, unfiltered, and always here for you. Till next time tunin' out.
(music)
Lyonel: There is a power inside of you. I look like Sailor Moon.
Tina: You look like Sailor Moon!
Dana: You look like Iron Man!
Lyonel: Oh that's even better. I look like Sailor Iron Man. (sings) Fighting evil by moonlight,
winning love by daylight. Never running from area real fight, he is the one name Iron Man.
Lyonel: Oh my god, with our powers can. Oh man. Look at us, we're so good.
Dana: I love how this is on a podcast and nobody can see us.
(group laughing)
Tina: On this audio medium. We are all holding lights up to our chests. Like we're Iron Man. And it's great and we look great.
Aja: We do look great.