OPEN TRANSCRIPT

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i mean there's an issue in the culture
00:01
of policing and again i come from a
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family of of law enforcement
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so you know i'm i'm pro-law enforcement
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but i'm also pro-justice
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and justice demands that if you break
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the law whether you're law enforcement
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or citizen you should be held
00:14
accountable
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if you believe we can change the
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narrative if you believe we can change
00:18
our communities
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if you believe we can change the
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outcomes then we can change the world
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i'm rob richardson welcome to disruption
00:26
now
00:28
welcome to disruption now streaming live
00:30
i'm your host the moderator rob
00:31
richardson it's
00:32
an honor for me to have uh my friend
00:35
former classmate from the university of
00:37
cincinnati gerald griggs who is now
00:39
a freedom fighter and uh an advocate for
00:42
civil rights for all gerald how you
00:43
doing brother i'm doing pretty good man
00:45
it's good to see you
00:46
good to be back with a fellow bearcat
00:48
yeah man yeah man you're
00:50
you you're down there in georgia and
00:52
georgia is the center of the
00:54
political universe in the united states
00:56
right now you have two
00:57
republican senators that are currently
00:59
in office right now david perdue and
01:00
kelly loughner who are running against
01:02
john ossoff and reverend reverend
01:04
warnock who are challenging them
01:07
uh who will hopefully win but a whole
01:09
lot
01:10
really remains in the balance because if
01:12
you can't we all know if you don't have
01:13
the senate
01:14
uh barack obama was the president and
01:16
should have had the the pick of the
01:18
supreme court
01:18
but because he didn't have this because
01:21
he didn't have the senate
01:22
the senate for the first time in history
01:25
didn't even allow
01:26
consideration so we know we know what's
01:28
going to happen we know that
01:30
even even though you have joe biden and
01:33
president joe biden vice president
01:35
kamala harris who may want to do some
01:38
things that will help black people that
01:39
will be more progressive they can do
01:41
nothing
01:42
zero zilch unless they have the senate
01:44
and we know right now
01:46
right is that and so we're talking about
01:48
for the senate it's about if black lives
01:49
are going to matter
01:50
it's about if we're going to get access
01:51
to health care it's about if there's a
01:53
chance to have
01:55
meaningful police accountability reform
01:57
all those things
01:58
are a non-starter with the republican
02:01
senate they've made that clear
02:02
they made that clear with their agenda
02:04
so all of that is on the line and that's
02:06
why georgia is so
02:07
important but i want to get to all that
02:09
and i want to get to some career
02:11
background so you can know more about
02:12
gerald if you don't he's
02:14
pretty well known really across the
02:15
country at this point uh an influencer
02:18
and activist
02:18
and he's been he's been on the ground
02:20
doing a whole lot but gerard i want to
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start you know you've
02:23
you've spent time here in cincinnati
02:25
ohio when you went to law school here
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and when you were here uh ohio was
02:30
considered a swing state
02:32
and the election was all the elections
02:34
were very close here in ohio
02:36
uh now not so much and all of a sudden
02:38
georgia
02:39
is the swing state of swing states right
02:42
now which
02:43
a lot of people nationwide didn't see
02:45
but i know you've been on the ground
02:47
and you've seen this coming for a while
02:49
tell us how
02:50
we got here to this point where georgia
02:52
is now
02:53
a swing state and really the really the
02:55
center point of
02:56
the political spectrum in the united
02:58
states yeah i think that uh
03:00
one thank you for having me on the
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platform it's great to be with you um
03:03
but i think that
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we've done a lot of organizing in
03:06
georgia over the last 16 years
03:08
since i was up in cincinnati and i think
03:10
that because of the work of uh
03:12
of black people particularly black women
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organizing the folks on the ground
03:16
getting people registered to vote
03:18
making sure that people understood uh
03:20
the political
03:22
uh conversation that's happening
03:24
nationwide but particularly in georgia
03:26
we were able to change
03:28
the conversation and i think that many
03:30
states around
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the country can take this model and use
03:33
this model
03:34
we created new organizations that
03:36
engaged uh the voters
03:38
we re uh reinvigorated older uh legacy
03:41
organizations to be
03:43
more younger and progressive and
03:44
forward-looking so it was a combination
03:47
of things
03:48
and then it helped that we are the
03:49
birthplace of civil rights uh
03:51
so all of those things uh convened uh
03:54
back in
03:54
actually 2018 uh with the first
03:57
gubernatorial race
03:58
by stacey abrams and then of course in
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2020 we were prepared but we've been
04:03
doing this work for 16 years
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it's nothing novel it's nothing magical
04:07
it's getting
04:08
on the ground knocking doors talking to
04:10
people addressing issues and making sure
04:13
people
04:13
understand the importance of the
04:15
electoral process so i think
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it may have shocked the world but it
04:19
didn't shock george's one bit
04:20
and we're going to get people back out
04:23
for this race on january
04:25
the fifth we're already knocking doors
04:26
we're doing contactless
04:28
canvassing we're doing texting we're
04:30
doing phone banking
04:32
we're going to get people back out i
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mean so many organizations on the ground
04:35
and now
04:36
with these national spotlight we have
04:38
more national organizations coming in
04:41
but they need to remember uh that
04:42
georgia knows how to turn people
04:44
out in this election they need to listen
04:46
to georgia organizers
04:48
starting with the naacp the urban league
04:51
black voters matter of course uh new
04:53
georgia project
04:54
fair fight and fair count and so many
04:57
others countless other
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uh groups that are doing this work and
05:00
have been doing it for
05:01
for a long time yeah definitely so you
05:04
you guys are to be definitely commended
05:06
and and the fact you said it's not it's
05:09
not novel
05:10
i like to say this with with politics
05:12
and in in life
05:13
things are simple but not easy so it's
05:15
simple in terms of what needs to be done
05:18
and and the and the playbook is there
05:21
it's just not easy in terms of making it
05:23
happen a lot of times people say they
05:24
want to do this
05:25
but then they don't put the resources
05:27
into actually doing it they say they
05:29
want to make sure
05:30
voters are more engaged and specifically
05:32
we're talking about black voters right
05:33
now
05:34
but then they put nothing into the
05:35
infrastructure of actually uh
05:37
investing in those voters except for
05:39
just trying to
05:40
two months before an election four weeks
05:42
before an election
05:43
come out vote with no type of
05:45
infrastructure built in terms of
05:47
uh engaging them in the process in the
05:49
long run i want i want you to speak to
05:50
that specifically
05:52
about why that's important and what you
05:54
guys are doing to do
05:56
that to build a relational type of uh
05:59
foundation versus you vote for us a
06:02
transaction we see you
06:04
here when we come to an election we're
06:05
going to come and speak and then we're
06:06
going to go away like
06:07
how do you guy how did you guys get to
06:10
building that and getting getting past
06:11
that kind of just the transaction point
06:14
versus actually a long-term investment
06:16
well what we did you know 2015 2016 when
06:20
we started
06:20
seeing the reinvigoration of black lives
06:23
matter we held
06:24
numerous protests numerous marches and
06:26
we started educating people
06:28
on how all politics is local so they
06:30
started showing up
06:32
city council meetings county commission
06:33
meetings and we just continued that
06:36
that organizing whether it was black
06:38
black lives matter organizing whether
06:40
it's naacp
06:41
organizing we were touching other people
06:43
where they are and they were asking well
06:44
how do we fix these things how do we fix
06:46
infrastructure how do we fix uh the
06:49
issues that are going on in our
06:50
community we showed them
06:51
you got to be engaged and so it just
06:53
carried over uh from a regional
06:55
conversation
06:56
to a state level conversation and we
06:58
started going into communities where
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politicians simply did not
07:02
go there were many times we were
07:03
knocking doors and communities and they
07:05
were like you're the first person to
07:06
ever come down here and have a
07:07
conversation with us
07:08
we want to have a conversation and you
07:10
build that conversation
07:11
and then it builds on platforms like
07:13
this where they know
07:14
your work they know what you are doing
07:17
they know that you feed people they know
07:20
that you make sure that people's rights
07:21
are protected they know that you make
07:23
sure
07:23
people have access to the franchise not
07:25
just in
07:26
you know presidential elections or or
07:29
senatorial elections but in local
07:31
elections and then they see you holding
07:33
local elected officials accountable i
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think in our community
07:36
the biggest uh pushback we have is okay
07:39
people show up every two or four years
07:41
telling us oh we need to vote and then
07:44
when we go vote we see nothing changes
07:46
and so we have to be on the forefront of
07:48
saying okay
07:49
see you know you want to close the city
07:51
jail well this is how you close city
07:52
jail you want to decriminalize marijuana
07:54
well this is how you declin
07:55
criminalize marijuana oh you want to
07:57
close the ice detention centers here's
07:59
how you close the ice attention center
08:01
and they
08:01
start building um this political capital
08:04
with them
08:05
um this this trust and then they start
08:08
showing up
08:08
consistently and so i think that's what
08:10
we did we engaged people where they are
08:13
we told them the truth we said you know
08:14
some of the politicians are lying to you
08:16
we're going to hold that person
08:17
accountable we're going to vote them out
08:19
like we did
08:19
in glenn county uh after our dear
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brother mark was gunned down and then we
08:23
come back down and say we're going to
08:24
continue to gate
08:25
engage with you we're gonna share our
08:27
our phone numbers we're gonna be
08:29
available on social media whenever you
08:30
need us we're down in there
08:32
i think that's what needs to happen yeah
08:34
you made a lot of good happen in georgia
08:35
you made a lot of good points i really
08:37
want to touch on um
08:39
you said this earlier the fact that
08:40
there were new organizations but you
08:42
also built upon the foundation of
08:44
traditional organizations you're the
08:46
vice president
08:46
of the naacp in atlanta right that's
08:49
right correct
08:50
and so you know you know my background
08:52
there i started the first college
08:53
chapter at the university of cincinnati
08:54
my father just exited
08:56
as a local president here in cincinnati
08:58
but i think when you hear folks when
09:00
they talk about what they need to do
09:02
the frustration it can be frustrating it
09:03
can be very to some of the
09:05
older organizations are slower to evolve
09:07
including the naacp and others but
09:09
having involvement tell people listen
09:11
you get in there and you work to make
09:13
that change you work to make that change
09:14
you work
09:15
you have done that and you've responded
09:17
in a way that's helped
09:18
uh move the organization in terms of
09:21
using the
09:22
assets that we have now to communicate
09:24
with people the foundation is the same
09:25
you gotta reach out to people you gotta
09:27
touch people
09:28
social media doesn't replace that but it
09:30
is another avenue
09:31
to extend your communication to extend
09:33
those lines
09:34
and knowing how to do that and being and
09:36
being receptive is really really
09:37
important so
09:38
i do think you can you could be a model
09:40
for other naacp's as well
09:42
to make sure that that they're more
09:44
responsive and more innovative to the
09:45
times
09:46
um not just in the naacp urban league
09:48
everybody else i mean we have to be
09:50
responsive for the moment um but then
09:53
you talk about the fact that
09:55
you were reaching out to people engaging
09:58
them
09:58
for the long term and letting them know
10:00
like you said all politicians
10:02
all politics is local we we focus and i
10:04
think i'm saying we the democratic party
10:06
in general
10:07
and i'm not talking for the democratic
10:08
party i'm talking about what's best for
10:09
people
10:10
and particularly for black folks i'm
10:11
talking right now uh long term we have
10:14
to be engaged in the long term of the
10:16
process
10:16
all the way because locally is more
10:19
important
10:20
i've said it often who's your pro your
10:22
prosecutor is more important than who
10:23
your president is
10:24
your prosecutor has tremendous amounts
10:27
of power
10:28
to bring a case to hold somebody to send
10:31
in the jail to not send them to jail
10:33
to hold police accountable when they get
10:34
out of line uh
10:36
and we know that prosecutors are often
10:38
gone unchecked there's all
10:40
there's all types of races where they
10:41
don't even they're not even challenged
10:43
so when people talk about the system
10:45
being unfair one avenue is voting it's
10:47
and it's the entry point
10:49
but like that's one accountability and
10:51
follow-up is another
10:52
and really walking people through this
10:54
process is so key
10:56
so let's actually talk about some i want
10:57
to talk about some key issues going on
10:59
right now as we
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really i want to talk about police
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accountability as i'm sure you know
11:03
casey uh
11:04
casey a good son here was uh uh
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walking into his house and he was shot
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and killed
11:10
uh by police here in in columbus
11:14
he was uh a law-abiding citizen he had a
11:17
concealed carry
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from what i understand he was teaching
11:20
other uh
11:22
black folks the importance of having
11:23
concealed carry which i agree with
11:25
having by the way in a state and we
11:26
should
11:27
but but it seems like that this the
11:30
right uh the right of the second
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amendment
11:32
doesn't always usually doesn't extend in
11:34
practice to
11:35
black people it's a different it's a
11:37
different level of import we we get
11:38
enforced and assume that we're criminals
11:40
and i know in your area
11:41
vincent truitt who if i'm correct uh
11:44
you're on that case
11:46
and um he was killed 149 days ago
11:50
and the family uh is still waiting on
11:53
seeing the tape and and and getting
11:55
feedback on what's happening
11:57
talk talk about what's happening on the
11:59
ground and then i want to have a
12:00
conversation about connecting to why
12:01
that matters
12:03
about what's going on in the senate but
12:04
talk to us about the vincent case
12:07
about what's going on in the ground and
12:09
why people need to
12:11
know about this and what we need to do
12:12
about it and how we can help frankly
12:14
okay yeah vincent
12:15
was 17 years old he was riding in a car
12:18
that was reported stolen the car
12:20
was stopped by law enforcement the
12:22
driver exited the vehicle
12:24
and ran and vincent got out of the
12:26
vehicle and took two three steps
12:28
uh and while exiting the vehicle was
12:30
shot and moved back uh
12:31
twice by a cobb county police officer
12:34
this happened
12:35
uh back on july the 13th of 2020 and
12:38
we've been trying to get justice ever
12:40
since then like you said 149 days
12:42
and the family still has no justice they
12:44
have seen the video the video has not
12:46
been released
12:47
the video is very damaging to law
12:49
enforcement it clearly shows that
12:50
vincent was not a threat vincent didn't
12:52
brandish a gun
12:54
vincent didn't do anything threatening
12:55
to the police officer and so he was
12:57
killed
12:58
and the family wants the officer named
13:01
the officer terminated
13:02
and the officer charged but currently
13:04
cobb county has refused to do
13:06
any of those three things and have
13:07
issued three conflicting statements
13:10
uh that go against the evidence that
13:12
we've seen in this case so
13:13
we want people to lift up the name of
13:15
vincent truitt share his story on all
13:17
social platforms and demand justice from
13:19
the cobb county district attorney
13:21
because it's past time for justice in
13:23
this case the officer needs to be
13:24
charged
13:25
uh he needs to be terminated uh and
13:27
clark county needs to be held
13:28
accountable for these actions and you
13:29
know my heart
13:30
goes out to the goodson family up in
13:32
columbus ohio or if you remember when i
13:34
was in cincinnati we had
13:36
the racial unrest because of police
13:38
involved shootings and that was in 2001
13:41
and it appears that nothing has changed
13:43
around the country
13:44
and i think the main issue is that
13:46
lawyers need to step up to the forefront
13:48
and we need to change some laws
13:50
you know i have the pleasure of now
13:51
working with one of the architects of
13:54
the civil rights movement
13:55
civil rights legislation that's fred
13:56
gray and you know fred
13:59
uh was influential in changing
14:02
many many uh supreme court precedents
14:05
and that's what needs to happen in this
14:06
case
14:07
uh graham versus connor is a seminal
14:09
case 1989 case
14:11
that gives the police officers the
14:12
reasonable objective standard
14:14
it needs to be changed we need to
14:15
litigate this all the way up we also
14:17
need to pass and this goes into why
14:20
the senate race is important we need to
14:22
pass the george floyd police reform bill
14:24
uh because policing has not been
14:27
reformed since the 40s
14:29
the rules and laws around policing and
14:31
policy and gerald before you go there i
14:33
just want to make one
14:34
one quick point about uh casey goodson
14:36
in the family
14:38
and his case it seems to be uh when you
14:41
when you compare it to your case
14:42
people like to get into this oh well uh
14:45
did he break the law
14:46
that's not relevant you know rather
14:48
whether casey goodson
14:50
and it doesn't look like he broke the
14:51
law at all he did nothing wrong but walk
14:52
into his house
14:53
but let's take the vincent case even if
14:55
the car was stolen
14:57
even if he did something criminally
14:58
wrong he doesn't deserve to die and get
15:00
shot in the back
15:01
you know police can always find ways to
15:03
de-escalate
15:04
but it seems like it's nearly impossible
15:06
when it comes to black men
15:08
black women sometimes latino men and
15:09
latino women i should say as well
15:11
so we have an issue here that it's about
15:14
a culture
15:14
i think of policing i'm not we need to
15:17
change the culture of policing
15:19
there's plenty of good officers there's
15:20
not an argument i'm making here's the
15:22
problem
15:22
the bad officers aren't held accountable
15:24
and the culture is as such
15:26
that they're allowed to move forward
15:28
keep their job move to another job
15:30
that is what we are trying to change and
15:32
that is what has to change
15:34
and the only way to do that is through
15:37
the courts
15:37
and also through political pressure now
15:39
go ahead go forward yeah and so that's
15:41
why it's important
15:42
these the senate raids uh because they
15:44
have several bills that are sitting
15:46
on mitch mcconnell's desk that will
15:47
address these issues uh but they won't
15:50
get a vote
15:50
if we don't change uh the senate so
15:53
that's why it's important
15:54
uh the race for john ossoff and rafael
15:56
warnock and in my capacity just as a
15:59
regular citizen uh and an attorney i
16:01
support both of them
16:02
uh because if we are successful uh in
16:06
um flipping uh those two seats we will
16:08
have a majority in the senate
16:10
and now be able to pass legislation that
16:12
will fix this problem
16:13
you know as rob just said i mean there's
16:16
an issue in the culture of policing
16:18
and again i come from a family of of law
16:20
enforcement so you know i'm
16:22
i'm pro-law enforcement but i'm also
16:24
pro-justice
16:25
and justice demands that if you break
16:27
the law whether you're law enforcement
16:28
or citizen you should be held
16:30
accountable
16:30
and that's all we're talking about we're
16:32
not talking about the you know the
16:34
thousands of good police officers we
16:35
talk about the bad officers
16:37
uh they give a bad name to those police
16:39
officers as well as
16:40
to justice and to society so you know
16:43
whether it's vincent truitt or
16:44
or mr goodson or or or mike brown or
16:48
or or um eric garner or laquan mcdonald
16:52
or jimmy atchison or
16:53
oscar kane these families deserve
16:55
justice and so
16:56
just like what happened in brianna
16:57
taylor's case they deserve justice i
17:00
mean
17:00
it's atrocious for a woman to be in her
17:02
house
17:03
doing nothing wrong and be uh
17:06
assassinated
17:07
and nobody held accountable except for
17:10
the stray bullets that hit her
17:11
neighbor's house
17:12
i mean this is the type of ludicrous
17:15
actions that are happening across this
17:16
country
17:17
and the reason why is because we have
17:18
not changed the law it's time to change
17:21
the law
17:21
that's why it's important to have icons
17:23
like fred great
17:24
teach the next generation of lawyers how
17:27
exactly you go
17:28
from a supreme court precedent that
17:30
needs to be changed to actually changing
17:32
it
17:32
um so the senate race is important we
17:34
need legislation on that end
17:36
uh we need litigation to get all the way
17:38
up to the supreme court to change the
17:39
president
17:40
and we need politicians to have the
17:42
courage and temerity to call out law
17:44
enforcement yeah because
17:45
unless brother it's hard it's hard to do
17:48
right it's hard to do
17:49
it's again simple but not easy because
17:51
you know the
17:52
you know the machine that's on the
17:53
ground but um
17:55
people are more responsive than money in
17:57
any machine but people have to be
17:59
engaged and it's more work
18:00
this is why we have to have people there
18:02
for the long run because no matter what
18:03
you know the lobbyists on the ground are
18:04
going to be there
18:05
and they're going to set the narrative
18:07
which i which i really want to talk
18:08
about but before we get to the narrative
18:09
i want to just really connect
18:11
this point about judges and why it's so
18:14
important for the long term
18:16
for justice you look at the 13th 14th
18:19
and 15th amendment i'm just going to go
18:21
really a brief really brief brief
18:23
history here 13th 14th and 15th
18:26
amendment were all designed
18:27
essentially to help to make sure african
18:29
americans were in power they were
18:30
enfranchised they were they would be
18:32
part
18:32
of the united states as citizens that
18:35
was designed that was the original
18:37
design it took a constitutional
18:38
amendment which is extraordinary
18:40
all the states at the basket so on and
18:41
so forth when the it went through the
18:43
house the senate
18:44
and the president every single level of
18:46
government had to approve it
18:48
however who the judge the supreme court
18:50
because there was a supreme court
18:52
that decided the laws to apply the laws
18:55
in such a way
18:56
where they essentially didn't give us
18:57
any rights that was all reversed and we
19:00
had 100 years of oppressive jim crow
19:02
so when people talk about why judges are
19:04
so important this is what i know you got
19:05
a judge that was just appointed amy
19:07
amy comey barrett and she decided a case
19:11
uh that actually reversed money going to
19:14
a family
19:15
who who had uh who which a police
19:17
officer killed a man
19:18
it was a horrible fax and she decided
19:21
that uh well she
19:22
that that the family who suffered from
19:24
that injustice
19:25
didn't deserve to get that money uh when
19:28
you have judges that don't have that
19:30
perspective don't understand
19:31
uh they can make tremendous changes in
19:34
the law and and gerald i really think
19:37
there hasn't been enough emphasis by
19:40
progressives or democrats or whatever
19:42
people call themselves that are trying
19:44
to make sure we get good judges there
19:46
on why judges are so important and it's
19:50
something that
19:50
we really take for granted so and if we
19:52
don't win the senate
19:54
uh the senate approves judges going
19:56
through and those judges stayed for life
19:58
we know
19:59
that uh mitch mcconnell will will allow
20:01
as few as judges as possible
20:03
if any so that matters and we have to
20:05
make sure people understand the
20:06
connection
20:07
the connection to the type of judges
20:09
that republicans want to do
20:10
right now the type of judges they want
20:12
is judges that don't don't care about
20:14
civil rights don't care about the fourth
20:15
amendment don't care about when you're
20:17
right to violate it i love to be proven
20:19
otherwise i would love to have a party
20:20
that uh
20:21
i love to have republicans get judges
20:23
that were
20:24
fairer and more representative but
20:26
that's not what we have right now
20:28
yeah and so i think people people need
20:30
to understand the process
20:31
political process the the the president
20:35
uh he selects the judges and then he has
20:37
to get the approval and consent
20:39
of the senate uh to confirm a judge and
20:41
a federal judge is appointed for life
20:43
and so whether that's uh the trial level
20:46
judges
20:47
uh the court of appeals level judges or
20:49
the supreme court and so that's why it's
20:51
so important it's so vastly important
20:53
that we make sure uh that we have uh
20:56
control of the senate because again
20:58
mitch mcconnell would not even bring to
21:00
the floor uh
21:02
obama uh uh consented judges uh to to
21:05
see if they would be
21:06
uh nominated merrick garland was
21:08
nominated to be uh
21:09
replace a supreme court justice and he
21:11
never got a vote
21:12
but yet you have uh kavanaugh and you
21:15
have of course amy comey barry
21:17
and and one other that were upon it by
21:19
this president
21:20
and so you know we have to make sure
21:22
that we are uh
21:23
understanding what that means judges
21:26
uh interpret the law and so in being
21:30
able to interpret the law
21:31
they can read the law whichever way they
21:34
believe that it's
21:35
it's written um and you know many
21:37
conservatives say well
21:38
you know we don't need any activist
21:40
judges well i think amy comey barrett
21:42
was being an activist judge when she
21:43
overturned
21:44
um that that that decision so i think we
21:47
need to be real
21:48
concerned and focused on this senate
21:51
race because
21:52
it will determine the balance of power
21:55
for the next
21:56
six years and whether or not who are the
21:59
next two because they're gonna be at
22:00
least two more
22:01
supreme court justices uh in this
22:04
particular term
22:05
uh of this president i believe that
22:06
clarence thomas is almost to that point
22:09
uh where he may ride off into the sunset
22:11
by
22:12
you know retiring or you know but
22:14
hopefully he's in good health but he's
22:15
getting old
22:16
and you know justice breyer i believe
22:19
would be probably be next so we have to
22:21
keep an eye on that right now
22:23
there's a conservative leaning bench
22:26
at the supreme court level and so we
22:28
have to keep an eye on that that's why
22:29
this this election is so important
22:31
if the two senate seats in georgia
22:34
turn and flip to democrat you would have
22:37
a 50
22:38
50 split and kamala harris would be able
22:40
to
22:41
uh cast the deciding vote and thus the
22:43
democrats would have control
22:45
of the senate and be able to get through
22:47
the george floyd
22:48
uh policing bill they'd be able to get
22:50
through the john lewis civil rights act
22:53
uh um i'm sorry the john lewis voting
22:55
rights act which would re-empower
22:57
the voting rights act which was gutted
22:59
by a supreme court decision
23:01
uh shelby county versus holder which
23:04
gutted the
23:04
the voting rights act so i mean these
23:06
are all important things that are
23:07
happening
23:08
politically that we have to be aware of
23:10
let me say this and then i want to talk
23:12
about
23:13
the current environment on the ground
23:14
and and the messaging you're hearing
23:16
from both sides
23:17
i believe it's fundamentally important
23:20
that if
23:21
uh they're able to win these two senate
23:22
seats and and i believe people
23:24
understand the importance in georgia
23:26
nationwide i think we have a great shot
23:28
i think it's likely to happen
23:29
assuming we can keep the same amount of
23:30
energy people don't take anything for
23:32
granted
23:33
if that happens i think the next part is
23:35
that there is accountability
23:37
from us on the ground in terms of what
23:39
what needs to happen
23:40
uh from the administration is that there
23:42
has to be a push to do some things that
23:44
are
23:45
that are forward thinking uh and i
23:47
understand that
23:48
you're not going to get cooperation out
23:50
of the republican party like we they
23:51
don't even acknowledge that
23:53
joe biden is the president even though
23:56
it's
23:56
clear he's the president he's been he's
23:58
won georgia 10 times he's won
24:00
michigan 20 times i mean no matter how
24:03
you shape it you can take away one state
24:04
you could take away two
24:06
joe biden has been the president-elect
24:08
is the president-elect
24:10
but there's still a lot of people in the
24:12
in
24:13
the republican party and some of the
24:14
voters that do not accept reality now we
24:17
know the supreme court
24:18
just said no we got nothing for you but
24:20
that's not being run on
24:22
on the news media on the right on the
24:24
media that a lot of people
24:25
who want to believe that listen to so
24:28
they're not going out they're not going
24:29
to acknowledge that so i don't expect
24:30
them to be cooperative i hope they will
24:32
be
24:32
but i'm not but i also i'm like my i'm
24:35
like maya angelou when you show me who
24:36
you are i believe you the first time it
24:38
doesn't take me 50 times so i do think
24:40
that they're going to have to do
24:41
something like get rid of the filibuster
24:43
in order to do
24:44
some of these things to do something
24:45
real to do something really impactful
24:47
because
24:48
i don't expect to get 60 votes in the
24:50
senate to do
24:51
anything i just don't ma i hope i'm
24:54
wrong but i think we need to put the
24:55
pressure
24:56
that we don't expect we don't think
24:57
there can be a uh
24:59
reset i don't think a reset is possible
25:02
in this current environment
25:03
uh i would like to be wrong but given
25:06
what i've seen
25:06
i mean i don't think i am what's your
25:08
thoughts on that i just think we have to
25:10
remember that 81 million people voted
25:12
and you know 81 is more than 74.
25:15
and even though in this toxic political
25:17
environment where you have
25:19
you know conservative media outlets
25:20
spinning uh the truth
25:22
into some type of fairy tale the supreme
25:25
court was alternative universe
25:26
man yeah they were quite clear in
25:29
dismissing the president's argument
25:31
on reversing uh pennsylvania i mean they
25:35
issued a one sentence
25:36
opinion one sentence by uh justice alito
25:40
and an officer
25:44
and so you know even with this ludicrous
25:46
lawsuit that's been filed
25:47
uh by the texas attorney general against
25:49
the four swing states which will be
25:51
summarily dismissed as well
25:53
we have to realize as the majority
25:57
the majority of the people the majority
25:59
people voted for joe biden
26:00
and so it's time for us to flex our
26:04
muscle you know listen we went through
26:07
four years of
26:08
everything being rammed down our throats
26:10
and being told that
26:11
elections have consequences well it's
26:14
time for them to learn
26:15
that elections have consequences and so
26:18
if they don't want to play
26:19
um by the rules that they set
26:22
um then maybe we need to you know get a
26:25
little stronger and do some things that
26:27
will protect
26:28
the majority of americans because the
26:30
majority of americans
26:31
want freedom for everybody the majority
26:33
of americans want everybody to have
26:35
access to the franchise and everybody's
26:37
voice to be heard
26:38
it's a small very loud minority
26:42
that seems to believe that by giving
26:44
minorities
26:46
and women and and people that love a
26:48
little different and people with
26:49
disabilities
26:51
access to power is going to threaten
26:53
their
26:54
way of life which is absolutely not true
26:56
i think what black people are saying is
26:57
this
26:58
we want y'all to stop killing us we want
27:00
you to stop poisoning us we want you
27:02
all to stop uh taking funding away from
27:04
us we just want to live
27:06
why is that such a hard thing to realize
27:09
why you have to suppress our vote
27:11
because you can't get us to get on board
27:14
with your regressive policies
27:16
it's been the same struggle for a long
27:18
time though right this has been the
27:19
issue
27:20
every time there's been progression by
27:22
black people and other people of color
27:24
there's also backlight against that
27:26
they're right there's been regression
27:27
and we
27:28
you know and so we have to keep we to
27:30
your point gerald we have to stay
27:32
vigilant in the process
27:33
because there will always be people that
27:34
that see the advancement
27:36
of others as a threat to them that's not
27:38
true but that's how people sometimes see
27:41
it they see it as a finite amount of
27:43
resources a finite game and a and if you
27:47
advance that means there's something
27:48
being taken
27:49
away from me instead of actually growing
27:50
the pie so when you look at the the
27:52
rhetoric this is what i want to get to
27:54
which i think is really important
27:56
the right wing rhetoric right now is is
28:00
propaganda more like it is more like
28:01
russian propaganda
28:03
in that is it doesn't matter if it's
28:04
tied to anything that's consistent
28:06
it's rapid it's repetitive it's
28:08
overwhelming people and people believe
28:10
it people believe it so much that they
28:11
were willing like there are people that
28:12
are protesting
28:14
in michigan for people voting they are
28:16
angry
28:17
about the results of they're angry about
28:19
reality and voters
28:20
because and the part i have the problem
28:22
with gerald is that you have
28:24
mainstream leaders and politicians
28:26
embracing these wow
28:28
crazy theories based in nothingness
28:31
they're not even they're not they're not
28:32
even rooted in any type of fact it's not
28:34
spin
28:35
it's complete propaganda and why this is
28:38
dangerous
28:38
and why we need to understand it is that
28:41
they are being told
28:42
they are being programmed that anybody
28:45
that thinks differently from them
28:46
is evil anybody that is not for
28:50
these policies is evil or you know or
28:53
they sometimes try to couch it in
28:54
better language and i'm going to talk
28:56
about what what the what the talking
28:57
points there are all the time right
28:59
everybody that's a democrat is a liberal
29:02
radical socialist that's everybody right
29:04
yeah as everybody and they're coming to
29:06
change they take they're they're coming
29:07
to change your
29:08
change the way america yeah
29:13
yeah and so i think what people need to
29:14
understand you got to study history you
29:16
got to understand that this has been
29:17
done before they call
29:18
dr king a radical socialist so i mean i
29:22
don't really care what you call me
29:24
what i care about is the fact that there
29:26
are good people
29:27
who are sitting back allowing this to
29:29
happen and so we have to
29:32
remember the silence of our friends
29:35
speaks louder
29:37
than the noise of our opponents if you
29:40
are a good person
29:42
and you believe that you know
29:44
individuals in the civil rights movement
29:46
were right to to make sure they protest
29:49
to get
29:49
rights we're in the same movement right
29:51
now so if you said you were to march
29:52
with dr king you're not marching with us
29:54
you wouldn't know march with dr king
29:55
it's just
29:56
quite simple you know they called him a
29:58
communist
29:59
a socialist and he was the most hated
30:01
person in america
30:03
when he was alive now we've we have
30:05
deified him but the same things he was
30:08
fighting for then we are fighting for
30:09
now so how all of a sudden
30:12
these most fundamental of american
30:13
rights are now
30:15
radical liberal socialism i don't know
30:18
maybe having health care that's radical
30:20
maybe having voting rights that's
30:21
radical maybe the police not being
30:23
brutal that's radical well then i guess
30:25
we might be radical
30:26
uh and so i really don't care what you
30:29
say
30:30
i want you to understand that we're not
30:33
going backwards because we have
30:37
a great cloud of of witnesses before us
30:40
that said okay when they start doing
30:42
this
30:43
you do that yeah so we're prepared for
30:46
this
30:47
and what they don't understand is this
30:49
there are more young people
30:51
than there are old people this is the
30:53
same rhetoric from the same people who
30:55
are alive
30:56
in the 50s and the 60s and i look at
30:59
the the political maturation of one
31:02
person as an example what's going to
31:04
happen to these people
31:05
george wallace in alabama segregation
31:08
today
31:09
segregation tomorrow segregation forever
31:11
remember that yeah i do by the way
31:13
george wallace is tied to my family he
31:15
he my cousin was one of the first to go
31:17
to alabama university he was the one
31:19
blocking her
31:20
and you know exactly vivian malone and
31:22
of course the
31:23
order was reversed on him so yeah
31:24
exactly i appreciate that george wallace
31:26
reference
31:26
yeah so during that period became the
31:29
most progressive time in alabama
31:32
history why because people were fighting
31:33
against george wallace and
31:35
at the end george wallace had to realize
31:38
i was wrong
31:39
so if you still spewing the same talking
31:41
points as george wallace
31:43
you are going to lose so it's only a
31:45
matter of time so whether you listen to
31:47
rush limbaugh
31:48
or you're listening to uh bannon or you
31:51
listening to i don't know stephen miller
31:54
you're going to lose so you might as
31:56
well get on the right side of history
31:59
so let's get on the right side of
32:00
history let's make sure that we give
32:02
rights to the people that deserve to
32:04
have rights
32:05
you know the oppressed people and let's
32:07
stop with this propaganda
32:09
tucker carlson you need to stop with the
32:12
propaganda that's why
32:14
your ratings are starting to fail and
32:16
again you
32:17
lost the election the election is over
32:19
we've actually moved on to the next
32:20
election we're focused on
32:22
january the 5th you can let you can
32:25
litigate
32:26
uh the november election all you want
32:28
you're gonna continue to lose
32:29
but i'm gonna focus you made a great
32:31
point on that if i can with you gerald
32:33
cause you made a really good point that
32:34
i want to
32:35
make sure the listeners in the audience
32:37
understand and see
32:40
uh fox news in particular has been
32:42
guilty of setting up these false
32:44
narratives they've been doing it for a
32:45
long time
32:46
making up stuff about obama that he was
32:47
from another country
32:49
just putting up these wild crazy
32:51
theories that
32:52
initially they actually rejected but
32:54
then when their audience started
32:55
liking it and seeing it they just let it
32:57
kind of flow and the propaganda has
32:59
grown now it's grown at such a point
33:00
that they can't control it
33:02
they've created an alternate universe
33:04
and they're losing ratings
33:05
because there's only they got to have i
33:07
mean there's people that are willing to
33:09
go crazier than you are so now there's
33:10
other networks
33:11
other other social medias that are
33:13
willing to entertain
33:14
this this frankenstein that this
33:16
frankenstein that they have helped
33:17
create
33:18
and you know and this is the issue and
33:20
so now we have people that are
33:21
alternating
33:22
in an alternative universe where they
33:24
can be fed perceptions that
33:26
look like realities to them and so we
33:29
have to understand what's that threat so
33:31
you're right they're going to lose i
33:32
will put it if
33:33
and as long as we continue to remain
33:35
vigilant because we know
33:37
we got to we got to remember to remain
33:38
vigilant because you know racism and
33:40
this rhetoric
33:41
keeps finding a way to make its way back
33:43
and our goal is yes they're going to
33:44
lose we're going to throw all this into
33:45
abyss and put it away
33:47
and yeah you could have look have a
33:48
conservative party but your conservative
33:50
identity should not be
33:52
tied to uh my to to to my
33:55
to to to my uh to me not being a human
33:58
yeah to you
33:59
that's the problem you know i mean
34:01
here's the thing you guys
34:02
were about free market and you were
34:05
about less government
34:07
and now that you've lost the government
34:09
you're about overturning an election
34:11
because you thought it was treasonous
34:13
isn't it treasonous to try to overthrow
34:15
a
34:16
duly elected president that's what i
34:18
thought it just makes sense to me
34:20
we listen we didn't try to overthrow
34:22
donald trump
34:23
no we didn't but people believed we
34:25
didn't go ahead
34:26
people tried to impeach him it didn't
34:28
work nobody got their guns and
34:30
ran in the capitals and went outside of
34:33
people's houses and threatened them now
34:34
y'all may say oh
34:36
well black lives matter we're doing this
34:38
and doing that i was at most of the
34:39
black lives matter protest in atlanta
34:41
nobody had big guns going to people's
34:44
houses and threaten them
34:46
at their house that was not happening
34:47
now we would have a sit-in
34:49
yes we would march down the middle of
34:50
the street and block the highway dr king
34:52
did that too
34:53
but we were not threatening people you
34:55
guys are threatening people that is not
34:58
american it's american to protest it's
35:01
not american to try to overthrow
35:03
something which is why
35:04
your confederate monuments are coming
35:06
down because that was treason
35:08
that was really treason that really was
35:10
treason that's what it is
35:11
i mean it's honored to something else
35:12
but it's treason yeah if you look at
35:15
the history of this country they have
35:17
always been patriots
35:19
who were on the right side of history
35:21
that made sure
35:22
this country lived up to what it says on
35:26
paper and that's what we're doing right
35:27
now we're making this country
35:28
live up to what it says on paper for
35:30
every american
35:32
and the millions of people that want to
35:34
become americans
35:35
yeah we're talking to the freedom
35:36
fighter gerald griggs who's also a
35:38
fellow law school a classmate of mine
35:41
from the university of cincinnati he's
35:42
now in atlanta and he's uh he's in the
35:45
middle of the the epicenter of
35:47
really the politics and and the social
35:49
movement in the united states
35:51
uh and i'm proud of all the work he's
35:52
doing as we get ready to conclude
35:54
can you just kind of summarize for
35:56
people why
35:58
this election is so important in georgia
36:01
and then we're going to get to how they
36:02
can help
36:04
this america this this election is
36:06
important in georgia because it's it's
36:08
for the soul of this country
36:09
it is to make this country realize
36:12
that the minorities have a voice
36:16
and they want to be heard on policy and
36:19
change
36:20
and the implementation of freedoms in
36:22
this country and so that's why you see
36:24
african-american women and
36:26
african-american men and
36:27
asian pacific islanders and native
36:30
americans and
36:32
hispanic americans going to the polls in
36:34
record numbers this last election in
36:36
georgia five
36:36
million people voted there are only
36:38
seven million people registered
36:40
five million people wow and so if
36:43
georgia stands up the way i know georgia
36:46
can
36:47
the country will fundamentally change
36:51
and that's important and for the people
36:53
that are afraid
36:54
of that fundamental change means rights
36:57
for
36:58
everybody so that means all ships and
37:01
boats rise
37:02
you should be for that that's important
37:04
that's what a patriot is about
37:06
and you know i think that at the end of
37:09
all of this
37:10
when we win you will notice that america
37:14
will be in a better place
37:15
it will not be this toxic environment
37:18
where everybody's afraid to be
37:19
to go out of their house because of
37:21
either one the virus
37:23
or two racism and so we got to get to a
37:26
better place
37:26
we can bring people back together as
37:29
americans but the only way we're gonna
37:30
do that
37:30
is to have true justice and so this
37:32
election is about
37:34
justice we have two candidates that
37:36
speak to justice
37:38
we have one that is in the mode
37:42
of the reverend dr martin luther king he
37:44
is the pastor of ebenezer
37:46
yeah we have another uh candidate who
37:49
grew up
37:51
yeah reverend warnock and who grew up
37:53
right at the knee
37:55
of a legendary freedom fighter in john
37:57
lewis so
37:58
we are at the crossroads of the new
38:01
movement
38:01
and trust me like the old movement this
38:03
new movement will win
38:05
and that will be a new america so you
38:07
can help us
38:08
by donating to the organizations that
38:11
are on the ground
38:12
uh doing this work whether that's naca
38:14
uh whether that's new georgia project
38:17
uh of course in a bipartisan effort and
38:19
this is me talking in my individual
38:21
capacities not me talking for the naacp
38:23
because they are bipartisan the only
38:25
focus they have is getting out
38:27
uh black voters you can give to the
38:29
naacp you can give the black voters
38:31
matter you can give to a whole
38:32
host of organizations that are doing the
38:34
work on the ground
38:35
don't listen to the commercials don't
38:37
listen to the radio ads
38:39
listen to the people that are actually
38:41
coming and knocking on your door
38:42
to tell you we want a new georgia and
38:44
we're going to mobilize
38:46
on early voting which is december the
38:48
14th all the way up to january the 5th
38:51
and on january the 6th we're going to
38:52
have another party
38:53
where the whole world is going to watch
38:55
us like they did uh on was that november
38:57
the
38:58
4th when we were right out there in
38:59
freedom uh freedom park dancing and
39:01
having a good time because we mobilized
39:03
the vote
39:03
and they're gonna be a whole lot of news
39:05
outlets to say oh my god
39:07
how did this happen again we tried to
39:08
tell you the whole time
39:10
we're telling you right now people are
39:12
gonna mobilize to vote
39:13
there's going to be a new georgia yeah i
39:15
hear you brother hey look
39:17
um to summarize your point and
39:20
if you want to know what you would have
39:21
done during slavery if you want to know
39:24
what you would have done
39:25
during jim crow what you're doing now is
39:27
what you would have done
39:29
that's what you would have done and
39:30
there's always time to do something
39:32
uh this is one of those clear moments
39:34
there's elections are not always clear
39:36
like there's sometimes
39:37
like okay just a little bit difference
39:38
here there
39:40
these are one of those times where these
39:42
are defining moments uh
39:43
the past administration we don't have to
39:45
say that person's name
39:47
the the prior occupant of the white
39:49
house who will no longer occupy that
39:51
white house
39:52
thank god thank the lord uh did set an
39:55
environment
39:56
where racism was openly accepted racism
39:58
has always been here but
40:00
it usually got to a point where when a
40:02
leader said it
40:04
and they said something so overt so
40:06
hateful so direct
40:08
usually they would they just wouldn't be
40:10
in power anymore they would lose
40:11
if you look at what happened in 1968 uh
40:14
between
40:15
uh lyndon johnson and barry goldwater
40:17
who was who was similar
40:19
who said very direct racist statements
40:20
he got blown out people
40:22
expected that to happen with the prior
40:24
occupant of the white house that didn't
40:26
happen
40:27
and instead he has i hope i hope what he
40:30
did wasn't was an anomaly was isolated
40:33
but we have to be vigilant and we know
40:35
that this rhetoric is here
40:37
that there is a there there is something
40:40
growing there but there's something
40:41
growing stronger
40:42
on the other side and we are better when
40:43
we're more inclusive we are more
40:45
innovative when we're when more people
40:47
get opportunities and that's and that's
40:48
the message that i believe
40:50
uh that those who believe in justice
40:52
have to move forward
40:53
we're not we're not just about what
40:54
they're against we're also for
40:56
a better future for all and to be a more
40:59
inclusive society that makes us a better
41:02
america and that helps us
41:03
i believe live up to our ideals so
41:06
gerald i want to thank you for the work
41:07
you're doing on the ground
41:08
uh from the political work from the uh
41:10
nonpartisan work with the naacp
41:13
uh you could have chose just to be a
41:14
private attorney and just kind of live
41:16
your life and
41:17
and just uh you know hit the payment
41:19
that way and just keep to yourself but
41:21
you put yourself out there
41:22
and i know that's not always easy you
41:24
can learn more about some of the cases
41:26
uh
41:26
geraldgriggs.com we'll also make sure we
41:28
put that all in the notes and
41:30
i appreciate what you do and i hope we
41:31
can stay in touch we definitely can
41:33
thank you for the platform and everybody
41:36
you have to be a part of the change we
41:38
are stronger together
41:39
as rob just said in order to make a
41:42
better america we have to be inclusive
41:44
and that's what this whole thing is
41:45
about
41:45
and so let's make a better america make
41:48
sure that you
41:49
if you are registered to vote that you
41:50
vote in the upcoming senate um
41:52
race if you live in another state please
41:55
keep talking about the senate race
41:56
and talk to somebody in georgia about
41:58
the importance of getting out and vote
42:00
thank you so much thank you brother