JN Podcast final episode 3

The speaker is discussing their final podcast for their Black Politics class. They mention the various topics covered in the class, such as black political thought, ideologies, and political actions for black liberation. They talk about the importance of hearing diverse voices, including contemporary figures like Angela Davis and Brittany Beckman Cunningham. They also discuss their personal journey of learning about the history of black Americans, including the Ferguson protests and visiting historical sites in the South. They reflect on the impact of George Floyd's murder and the protests that followed. They mention the changing dynamics of black voters in the presidential election, with younger black men showing support for Trump. They discuss emerging trends in black politics and their own left-leaning views. They draw parallels between the experiences of decolonized countries like Indonesia and Trinidad and the racism present in the USA. They express a desire for freedom and libera Hello hello hi Dr. Gamble so this is Jess and I'm here with my third and final podcast which I just wanted to do because I feared I didn't do enough in our last office conversation which my I think my group members is submitting for their podcast submission and I know that your critique of the first podcast was that you wanted to hear more from the other members of the group so I wanted to make sure we have this. I know you mentioned that the direction of this episode should be how reflective of the entire semester in this Black Politics class so going back to the beginning we did a David Walker's appeal, Jones essay, Michael Dawson's framework, the 1619 project, stand from the beginning. I loved learning in this class the larger expanse of black political thought like the range of ideologies that we discussed in class like nationalism, feminism, liberalism, futurism, Marxism and then what kinds of political actions will facilitate black liberation and freedom. It's definitely a complex a large web of belief systems right political thoughts ideological differences and they are as diverse as their people although for many years of course what is brought forward are mainly male voices so for example from stand from the beginning from the beginning I'd heard about Adam Wells before but I love learning hearing more about the poet and thinker Phyllis Wheatley and Harriet Jack Jacobs and looking up you know seeing more of the contemporary names the people who are interviewed not only Angela Davis who's a legend but also new names who are living in the now like Brittany Beckman Cunningham that you mentioned several times who also works in the Obama team and then the after this for me the names I am being and then for example honoring Jeffers it's oh this is something I have to wrap my head around when I first came to the USA how different the black American experiences are I thought I understood or had learned the history coming from my earlier experience growing up in Trinidad and Tobago and our larger lessons on the region you know that's Central and South America and the Caribbean in Trinidad black Afro descendants and South Asian primarily East Indian descendants are the majority and that was my first exposure to a lot of African and South Asian people and their culture but of course the little legacies of slavery and colonial past have parallels but also very different challenges especially here once I learn more about USA history I think the first threads of deeper history I got was doing the Ferguson protests that was really a for Michael Brown I thought learning from outside these borders that lynchings happened in the 20th century but here's another child and nothing happened seeing the lack of justice the lack of indictment and charges the grand jury that did nothing and the injustice that's so widespread and compounded over 400 years is still continuing I think so during during COVID in 2020 I took a road trip during the holidays at the end of the year from DC all the way down the East Coast it was a purposeful visit to get into nature for isolation camping it's also cheaper and it's also for mental health where I was in depression but also to see more of history because I felt like I hadn't done enough to peel back the layers and learn more about the racial history in the USA and a lot of that history so much of it is in the South even though I felt like I knew major events in history and have visited places around DC Virginia Baltimore it's different from seeing it with my own eyes so I went down through Virginia like Richmond checked out about you know historical plaques and statues along the way that were in the news some places in North Carolina South Carolina Charleston passed by the Harris neck wildlife refuge in Georgia that we saw in the 1619 segment went to Florida to the first free black settlement in North America Fort Mose Eatonville the first and oldest black municipality to then go across to Montgomery Alabama with all the museums the Freedom Riders the memorials civil rights movement the National Memorial for Peace and Justice no one was very impactful to then Birmingham Alabama before so I synthesis historical churches National Monument and then when George Floyd was murdered the protests that came out of them I get it I've seen protests before I've seen I've also seen that just in this building like Congress overrun by protesters before in my country but it was by the people the student protesters crying out from pain and oppression and rising from under dictatorship and generally nothing like that I've seen the unrest that bring about the fall of the dictatorship you know lessons that challenged the traditional narratives about the foundations of this country that I think a lot of people are still regurgitating the people in the Trump campaign but yes race and identity have been present that this country's history is filled with affirmative actions for white people from the beginning and that whiteness is power and we're going back to the lessons when I listen to the podcast you find us recently we were discussing how has the Harris campaign changed the presidential elections the 538 politics podcast has Harris changed the election for black voters I believe I think the discussion highlighted the different breakdowns of groups that are supporting Trump versus Harris and there's the question you know well they talked about support for Trump tends to be higher among men than women consequently it's not surprising to observe that a slightly larger percentage of younger black men that support Trump compared to the black women or the older black men I think I would say you know today discrimination is particularly overt racism against black people I think has in general been declining in the USA we compared to the compared to the history that we see you know representation is up not to say not to say that systemic and more covert forms of racism and implicit biases and prejudices are gone but I expect that as overt discrimination diminishes the behaviors of these marginalized groups will increasingly align with those of a broader population and that's the reason why you know more younger black men are supporting Trump you know younger individuals have not experienced the more overt racism or civil rights struggles that and then there's the question what are the emerging trends in black politics what's what's next what's things to look what will things look culturally politically socially globally I think you already know from our class discussions that my views stand more on the left more on the revolutionary side anti-capitalism and imperialism but that's a lot of what my growing up has led me to Indonesia was one of the biggest hit countries during the 1997 global financial crisis when the value of our national currency fell by 70% you know we saw the pulling out the departure of a lot of foreign investments there's just such a huge crash of the economy and we really haven't gotten back to the same point since and I'm learning economics in high school in Trinidad I see the very real and valid critique of financial imperialism by British Canadian banks in the English-speaking Caribbean and then draw many parallels between those two decolonized countries and of course this applies to not only the English-speaking Caribbean we talk about the French-speaking side of the Caribbean you know the Dutch the Spanish there are so many racist arguments here and here in the USA where economists would ignore the history the corner colonialism present-day occupation of lands rich with natural resources and hypocritical extolling of democratic ideals but it's democracy only in their own terms not real democracy with self-determination and agency like take Cuba Haiti just this week Martini people are protesting against rising prices in their island and you know their food costs are 40% higher than those in France imposed colonial control you know yet they export so many things bananas rum sugar pharmaceuticals plastics rubber all these products to France worth hundreds of millions right Guadeloupe Haiti protests are rising in all of these places in last year's and whenever there is disobedience quote-unquote in these territories you also see a response from the West you know USA UK France Canada the response is calling for a heavy police response I'm trying to tie this back to our lesson sorry I went on the tangent I would like to see freedom and liberation for all indigenous peoples and not for them to be only to fall into another neo-colonialism financial imperialism and puppet governments under Western powers who only wish to extract the natural resources of women so there's a 400 year history here in the USA and there's so much parallel to the 300 year history of Indonesia and Trinidad and the larger decolonized developing world now many of these global systems if not all are fundamentally built to support and maintain white supremacy so that is disadvantage of press people and therefore I believe as many of them should be fundamentally rebuilt now how that's the question we all have to work together towards we all need the willingness to participate in this transformation of our basic systems and finally that will distribute power differently to a more equitable world when I was in primary school in Indonesia I learned about the Bandung conference Bandung is in Indonesia in West Java and I think back often about it throughout my years it's the first large formal Afro-Asia Asia Africa conference in the world in 1955 when the leaders of the developing nations came together to this conference it was built upon the idea of solidarity between people with struggles against imperialism and I think that's the framework that I also go back on the main thread of this conference was political and economic independence to build groundwork of movement and cooperation between neutral countries that's independent from both the Western and Eastern bloc at the time of the eve of the Cold War but also put emphasis on exchanging and learning from each other's histories and experiences while celebrating the importance of each of our own cultural heritage and identity for for many of the things we struggle with at the same it's economic justice it's land rights or here it's land back no legislative reform reclamation reparation acknowledgement self-sufficiency and autonomy self-determination there's always been this call of unity and solidarity among oppressed people because the many parallels between these social are social justice movements and today I think there's been a shift in global politics and influence on discussions surrounding racial justice where we're now there's a highlighting and more access to voices from the global South even Jewish people you can tell since the you know black lives matter and ongoing Palestinian protests better access to history and resources it's not something we have to do on our own we should remember that it's a continuation from our ancestors long work across many generations to assert our own place within within global politics that's dominated by imperialist powers so yes moving forward I mean I'm excited to explore more beyond the today beyond the beyond the Salon Dubois James Baldwin post civil rights beyond black vision to the Obama neoliberalism and the chauvinism of male voices but instead going deeper into influence and role of black feminism clear political thought and it's in the political discourse today you know the really interesting and probably also frustrating to have these discussions while watching the Harris and Trump elections in real time and see the results and see how far we go I'm excited to learn more about not just the thinkers were more well-known like like Angela Davis before but also activists like including Lawrence Ella Baker and others perhaps like Claudia Jones and Mida Kemp who didn't publish much works but so crucial in community organizing how and what exactly made them so successful at organizing for for the thinkers there's of course Francis Harper Ida B Wells Lewis Thompson Audre Lorde Angela Davis the Combahee River Collective whose works and numbers I didn't know much before I think I think the River Collective statement was my favorite work that semester time oh yes I think that's my reflection on the semester Thank You professor Campbell