(upbeat music) - Hello, this is Walter Rayman, and welcome to the Walt weekly podcast. I am here with Tina Parham, our co-host, and I am here with a new co-host for you guys, especially your guy, the women. We have Sergeant Ernest Robinson, who will be joining us today, and hopefully going forward. And in the days episode, we wanna talk about a few things. We've got a lot of things in the news, and we have kind of pivoted for this episode, first to introduce Sergeant Robinson, and secondly, to talk about things like the debate that occurred, and the poor performance that our cousin at Joe Biden showed. And we're also gonna talk a little bit about the Supreme Court decisions that a couple of them came out, and some are due on Monday. So we do wanna talk about that, and its impact on the black community. I think Trump made a lot of that last night when he talked about, oh, the migrants have taken over the black people's jobs, and he's gonna stop them at the border, and all this kind of stuff. So I'm gonna talk briefly about that, okay? So what I wanna do now is go to Sergeant Robinson, and have him tell us a little bit about himself, and I just wanna thank him. I wanna really thank him. He's a very, very smart guy, and I look at him as our, I just say, a man in Washington, eh, something like that. Yeah, he's a man in Washington, DC, all right? So, honest, thank you. How you doing? - I'm blessed by the best. I'm glad to be here. Walts on your team. Thank you for having me. My name's Walts Anderson. I am the United States Supreme Veteran. I came in 24 years ago. Graduate of HBCU, Virginia University, currently serving here right now in the District of Columbia. As a Veteran Outreach Specialist, so I don't know if the people can see. I'm here in the National Park right now, here in the District of Columbia. So we're all the good, bad, and ugly, happening when it comes down to politics. I'm right here in the thick of it, and glad to be a contributor to your show. Walts, thank you so much. - Ah, you're welcome, man. I mean, hey, I should be thanking you, man, 'cause we want to level up. I mean, I saw something that says up level. That's what I'm gonna use now. Instead of level up, I'm gonna do up level. It won't weekly once they're up level. And that means we're gonna try to expand in the video. And don't hold me to exact time. I don't wanna be, I'm like, maybe Elon Musk, in a sense, said I'm gonna say, you know, next week, like, it'd probably be a couple of months before we can roll that way. All right, so let's get into what we were. I mean, did anybody, did anybody see the debate last night? - I saw, I think all, but the last 15 minutes, this morning. - Well, it's so enough there. - Yeah. - Okay, you saw enough. So what's your take on that, Tina? - Ah, I felt like there's no substance that it was an argument between sometimes elementary students, middle students and high school students. There's a lot of hit for chat. You said this, I said that, but for me, the kind of person that I am, I'm very action oriented. I want to know, what are you going to do? And even at times when they said certain things like, well, we're gonna do this, well, show me the details. Show me the details of, you know, just a very high level, I know you only have two minutes of how it's gonna happen, not just blanket statements. But that's just the kind of person that I am. - So there was nothing material to me that was said that I feel like holds weight on either side. - Okay. Hey, what's your take on this? - Yeah, I mean, I don't think disappointment kind of covers it, despair, disgusting. There's a lot of negative D words that we definitely throw around. It was, I mean, from the jump very, I mean, from, you know, the current president very lethargic, as far as like response, action, very laid back, Trump typical responses and things of that nature. I think Kena hit it on the head, like they get nothing substantive from either side of it. I mean, just, I mean, it's a bad situation. I think for us to be as Americans, I mean, there was no way. I mean, all of us have worked different jobs and things on nature. We would never have someone who is doing, conducting an interview to respond in the way that the president did or the former president did. And that's the people that were gonna hire. Like that makes zero sense, right? And the level of loyalty, again, from either side makes, again, no sense when we're talking about we weren't trying to put our best foot forward. So I'm hoping that over the next couple of weeks there were talks about some conversations of maybe potentially pivoting. And I guess we'll try to touch on that. We'll start talking about a little bit further as far as what's next. But yeah, this just, that was just underwhelming. - Yeah, it was. I mean, my wife was very upset, yeah, because, you know, she likes Biden. And I was sitting right next to her and I was laughing a little bit because, you know, I tried to draw the humor wherever I can find some humor I try to, because I was disappointed in the president's performance. Anybody would have been, you know, I knew he was sick. I mean, he said, you know, excuse himself and say, "Oh, you know, I got the clue. I got the pneumonia or something. They could have gotten to pull them out." Even coming in to the auditorium, the way he, they had to help him down his steps was just, that was unsettling to me. All right, yeah, go ahead, Ken. - You know, it's funny because oftentimes people talk about Joe Biden and, you know, the way he talks in certain things. I guess I'm the kind of person where I don't look at someone's physical disposition as an indication of whether they're intelligent or not. Now, I'm not saying that he is, I'm just saying in general, like, let's just, I can't, I can't think of the guy. Is he the governor of somewhere, the gentleman, I think he had a stroke some years ago, but he was reelected, tall guy, tall white guy. Does that, do you guys know what I'm talking about? - Better, you go to God. - John Federman, John Federman. - Yeah, yeah. - Former lieutenant governor, current senator, yes. - Yeah, so when I think, when I remember when he was being reelected and people like that, I don't think that, like, let's just say, because I know people that stutter, right? I know intelligent people that stutter. So I don't look at it like, just because you stutter across your words doesn't mean that what you have to say holds less value, even though, unfortunately, he didn't speak of any substance. He was just speaking in retaliation. I don't think that if you're in a debate and let's just say, maybe you happen to be a little bit sick, and that means that you're unqualified. That's just me, no matter who the person is there. But I guess, you know, as, in politics, you know, today they want you to have a certain stance, especially with men, they want you to have a certain stance, they want you to stand up there and look strong, and they want you to wear certain color suits, but to me, it's the content. It's not the visual. That's just how I am. - I think you, in the unique category where you say, you know, you take the substance. So with the appearance of the category. - Yeah, I can care what you look like, but if what you're telling me is actionable and it makes sense, you can be standing in a fisherman's hat, you know, and I'll take what you're saying versus the guy that's standing there in a suit looking very polished, if it's, you know, if I don't agree with him. - Okay, well, I agree with you, you know, but, you know, we have to understand that we're very fickle society out of all my years here. You know, you could be in trouble today and tomorrow, you're a hero, you know, we have a very short memory. So I expect this to just subside if Biden can demonstrate that, you know, he's, you know, he's more into it. He's not sick, he can speak authoritatively. You know, that's what we're looking for. I think that I'll give him a passport last night 'cause he was sick, had no business being there. I blame his campaign manager and the people around here for taking him there, all right? So that's my take on it. But I do agree, this does make me remember a situation when I was in Singapore back in 2000 during the Gore Bush election when they had the hanging chair situation. And for your young people that are listening, your guys may have to look that up, right? But anyway, I was in Singapore and the case went through the Supreme Court, all right? And it's got the hanging chair situation and determined, you know, what they gonna count the books and not, and someone sent an email around, I'm in Singapore now, in the office. And someone sent an email to the fact that the Queen of England is now in charge of the United States, until such time that y'all get a president. And I see the same situation. I mean, really, the Queen of England is in charge, all right? That's our titular head, okay? So I mean, it's the same thing, you know? We got a situation where they neck and neck. I personally think my takeaway from that debate was we in bad shape. I woke up three o'clock this morning. You know how you wake up in the middle of the night, you go to bathroom, you come back, go to sleep? I couldn't go back to sleep. I've been up since 3 a.m. Because I love my country, I love my people, I love my country, okay? And I think we in bad shape. We in bad shape right now. - You didn't, you know a lot of-- - Yeah. And this is an opinion from an individual, right from an individual perspective. And I know I'm very interested in what Ernest has to say as well, especially since he served the country. So that's more of a-- - Absolutely. - A holistic view. Over time, I've learned, because I used to think that the decisions that the presidents make have a direct impact on my day-to-day life. And when I really start looking at the things that they're arguing about, I'm sitting here going, but what is that, how is that putting food on my table? How is that, you know, making sure that we have affordable healthcare? How is that making sure that, you know, people can thrive and live and thrive in a comfortable safe environment over just struggling? What are the incentives that's being established so that people can be removed from welfare programs and not just, you know, be taxpayer funded, taxpayer payroll their entire life so that they can feel a level of success in their life and feel like they have opportunities that other people have. Like, I feel like there are conversations about that during the debates or as they're running, but then once people get into power, you're kind of like, hey, what happened? You know, what happened to making sure that people are okay? And it may be, it's just that I don't fully see the picture or I'm misunderstanding or I'm not as educated politically 'cause I'm not very educated, you know, with politics, but I don't expect the president to be able to solve for everything. I really do look at him like he's just a figurehead and the country is run by the other parts of government, but more importantly, depending on where you live, like, you know, we live in New York, what's the local government doing? What kind of decisions are they making? How are they handling our taxes and what have you? So while I do understand the importance of the president-elections from a federal perspective, I don't have a lot of faith in him. No matter who's in the faith, no matter who's in, I just haven't been proven, it just hasn't been proven to me that there's a lot of value in that position. - Okay, okay, all right. - So the value, I think, of any government stems, in my opinion, stems from the people, because the people are who make up the government. So our lack of understanding of how to hold those that we send to Washington or any various state capital or your mayor or whomever, that inherently is our responsibility to being able to do that. We've deferred our autonomy as the governed to those to the elected. The president does have a considerable amount of authority when it comes down specifically to the Marine Corps, where we can go to exercises and stuff like that. And then, but still has to, to your point, has to get Congress approval in order to actually enter into war. There are some things as far as our relations with those other countries that affect our imports, as well as our exports to those particular countries, which does have an effect on our day-to-day abilities to being able to whatever purchases that we may make, our cars that we drive, our phones that we are on, the technologies that we have. So most, a lot of phones, Samsung, or some Android's work is meeting, they're made in Korea. So we need to have good relationships with Korea. A lot of our clothes, plates, this, then a third are made in China. So we do have to have good relationships with China and our trades, our ability to being able to cross the seas and everything else. And so in a sense, on a high level, without any compromising any national security operations and secrets and things of that nature, that's the high level of where our president does work. He or she would work to being able to make those things that we don't know what is that effect our day-to-day actually improve our day-to-day. That makes sense. - So you're saying it's the global relationships? - Yes. - On the part. - Yeah, but-- - Go ahead. - No, go ahead, Walter. - No, I was gonna already say, I was gonna go and pivot over to something else, but no, I wanna stay on this for a little bit. Go ahead, go ahead, Ernest. - So I understand what he's saying 100%, especially when you talk about like macroeconomics, but then we start looking at, let's just say, microeconomists and how the country works as internally. One of the concerns that I have led to say being in corporate America, right? We understand how unemployment works. We understand how GDP works. We understand what happens when there's high unemployment, right? There's less production from the United States perspective. There's less taxes being paid into the government. You know, essentially credit ratings of the country can be reduced and how companies wanna work, how other countries wanna work with you. - Yet today, I definitely wanna think, I noticed is that 20 something years ago when I started my career, you would hear people getting fired, but not really laid off too much. Now about, I wanna say maybe about eight years ago, you hear people getting laid off at the end of the year, companies are furloughed on contractors because they wanna make their numbers match their profit and law statements in the shareholders. Now today, companies are laying off people on a random Tuesday, the following Thursday, and the last Friday of the month. Where is the accountability that companies have, especially while they're giving these huge tax breaks? And I understand that tax breaks are supposed to be used so that the companies can continue to use their money for additional employment. They can use money for additional research and innovation so that we can compete against other countries, but when you lay off tens of thousands of people, you are, there's a downstream effect. You're putting them back in the unemployment line, you're taking taxes from the government again. And so when I look at the president, I'm going, how are you allowing companies to have such huge tax breaks, but also when it comes to being able to perform for their shareholders, they're allowed to, like where's the concern for the families? Because at the end of the day, it does trickle back negatively to our balance sheet. - Yeah, well, you know, this is the capitalistic society, and I mean to cut you off earnest, but to your point, Kina, this is capitalism, pure and simple, right? - Yeah, that's why I'm saying that because it is capitalism. So when you cut off your resources, right, when companies are allowed to lay off 2,000 people and 10,000 people, then you're reducing productivity. And then those people may eventually start relying on welfare systems. So now you're taking money from the government. - Okay, all right, great, all right. - It becomes a little cyclical there. - All right, you're right, but to Walter's point, right, it's okay, I'm gonna make the money. Your point, your thing was like, what is the accountability? They do, they, some of them pay penalties. But the penalties are pennies to the dollars, thousands and hundreds of thousands of dollars that they make. To your point about there is there are certain things like when certain companies have these $10 million contracts or projects within a particular city. When they win those contracts, they have to hire X number of people from that particular city. And so many minorities and so many this and so many that. But again, in the capitalist society, there's pass-throughs, there's, and then the penalty for not meeting that particular threshold may be like $50,000 or $100,000. Why would I care if I pay $100,000 fee at the end of the year when I have a $10 million contract? - Yep. - Right? - Yeah, of course, they do our business. - Yeah, I've worked for companies that were purposely out of compliance because to remain out of compliance, they were able to make more revenue than it was to pay the fee. - Yes, right, and I don't have to pay the assurances. I don't have to worry about you getting hurt. I don't have to worry about paying unemployment. I just sit there and I paid $100,000 and that goes, and now the problem is back to you. And you can't take the contract away from me 'cause I just leave, I was awarded the contract, and although I was out of compliance, I was still in compliance because I met the, I met the threshold of paying the penalty for being out of compliance. And I got the contract for the next five years. So, to that particular point, it's not necessarily on the president. That's a, I mean, one, and then Congress is still the one who's legislating all of that. It's not the president that legislates that. Although the president made talents that they are lobbying for particular tax breaks, they are not the one that's authorizing those tax breaks. Those tax breaks are still being done by the 535 elected officials, 170, 435 respectively, and the House of Representatives that are making those things happen. - Okay, now I'd like to move to another one. I don't want to just, I do want to say this. Let's pivot to immigration. You heard Trump say that the immigrants are, you know, all the crime, you can assure it to the immigrants, they're taking the black people's jobs. Well, how do you all guys feel about that? - I disagree, I disagree. And here's why I disagree. That's kind of like some years ago when they said, even though I think it's the same group of immigrants, but they were saying that, you know, just per se, the Mexicans are taking the jobs. The Mexicans are not taking the jobs. Any job that is willing to pay an immigrant, let's just say, less than a livable wage, that's the decision of the company to pay less. Just as Ernest was saying, you don't have to pay all the additional assurances and yada, yada, yada. It goes full circle, circle. So it's a company's choice. The immigrants are here, right? For whatever the reason is, whether people like it or not, they need money to be able to survive. So if they're gonna take less, then they're gonna take less. Now from a black, from a racial perspective, right? The jobs that they're accepting, and I know I'll probably get some flack for this, there are opportunities today to go to college, there are opportunities today to investigate and find out what skillsets give you. The best opportunity to make a livable wage where you can thrive and kind of remove yourself from what I call the struggle movement, right? For too long, I wanna say black people, and I understand why over the generations where to be able to break even was successful. Because back in the day, our parents or grandparents really couldn't break even. So if you could break even and have that annual trip to Jamaica, you were doing good. I think now we've got to look at it where you have to do more than break even. You have to be not just surviving. You've got to live and you've got to thrive. You have to have money for today, money for tomorrow, money for the future, and also be able to enjoy life at the same time. So if we look at it, it depends, I think it depends on your perspective on what you're trying to strive for. If you're striving for living where you're just breaking even or just under broke, then you could say, "Oh yeah, the jobs are being given to the immigrants." Well, you have an opportunity to get in there too, but that's not where you should be. If you are a natural born citizen and you're black, get out there and get a marketable skill set. And I'm not saying it has to be college driven or trade driven, but there are so many opportunities today to get out there and make the money because so many people of color actually have. I'm a little bit tired of when people say, "Hey, this black person is successful," that they are an exception to the rule. Athletes and entertainers will always look at as exception to the rules because they have skill sets that are selective, but there are a lot of opportunities today for people to get out there and do the work. So are you agreeing with Trump or are you not, which one? - I don't think that the immigrants are taking the jobs of black people because we have opportunities that exist today for us to be able to seize. - Okay, Arnie, what do you think about that? - First of all, there's no immigrant that's taking the job that somebody wants. Nobody is, I don't see nobody standing on the side of the road trying to get onto a farm to pick tomatoes. - Strawberry. - Not the old days. - You're right, so they're not doing that. I think there's also a difference between what people want, what people need, and what people desire and all of those things are not mutually exclusive to one another. Then the last part would be what they're actually capable and what their capacity is and what they're able to do. So no, I do not agree at all about them taking jobs away from black, white, or anyone who is born here in the United States. We don't want them, or no one's looking for those jobs. They're not trying to do it. They don't want to be groundskeepers, and I'm at a job fair right now. I work in workforce development. We have people all the time that have no skills and they want $100,000. Our parents, or my grandparents, and some of our parents, were sharecroppers, or they had farms themselves. Right, they had their own farm. My family had their own farm, and they worked the farms. They left at 18, 19, 20, so I'm winning the military, I'm winning the school board, 'cause they didn't want to work the farms no more. Now, it's back in the 1930s, 40s, 50s, and 60s. So today's immigrants are not taking any job that we have people who are standing outside the line. We have more people sat on the side of the line for unemployment than we do with some of these job fairs. All right, now let me say this, Ernest. I remember in the '60s, when I was growing up in '60s, '70s, kids could work on the farm in the back row. I used to put it in the back row. I started from hand in the back row when I was six. Yeah, let's get some money in my pocket, because if I worked in a store that we own, I didn't get paid. So I wanted some cash, all right? So I think that the immigrants, and I'm gonna get some blowback for this, but those jobs that the kids could have, teenagers and kids to get money in their pocket during the summer, those are the guys. That's why I was working on the farm. It's funny you said that as well, because I just had that conversation recently where I remember during the recession of 2008, my son was about 14 around that, and it was hard for him, he got his working card, it was hard for him to get a job, because of the recession, the adults were doing the jobs at the kids and the young adults had. When you have a lot of people today talking about, 'cause I'm in a lot of conversations with people complaining that, yes, inflation is high, things are expensive, but at the same time, there are a lot of people that are thriving, and I think sometimes it's beneficial to look within and say, hmm, if there are other people that are thriving, what can I be doing differently so that I can join that club? Am I, have I educated myself, and I'm not only saying college, there's so many different ways that you can educate yourself down to what I call the University of YouTube. Have I educated myself to make sure that I have a marketable skill set? You know, have I, am I disciplined? Do I have the commitment that's needed to drive and make change in my life, because I wanna stay out of the struggle movement? But yet we have a lot of adults, I mean grown adults with kids working minimum wage jobs complaining about society. There's gotta be a point where we stop weaponizing empathy towards poverty in certain circumstances, and put the responsibility on the person to say, you could be doing better, why aren't you? Or what are the resources that you need so that you can get out of those jobs that the kids are doing, and into something where you can thrive and be able to live for your family? - Yeah, but there's, so when we get to that part, there's several factors that kind of plays into that, right? You have systemically with social services, right? You have welfare and everything else, where generationally individuals would have taken advantage of that. So some of them, although that there are options that are out there, some of those options are not necessarily presented to everybody. And then by the time you look up, you're now 35, you're now 40 with no skills or low skills, because you adopted a mindset of what it could mean that was not conducive for the life that you needed to live. There was a sense of working hard, I think that it's not necessarily universally shared. People want to do, make the most amount of money for the least amount of work. And no idea how many people I come across, they're all the ones with remote jobs, they want to make $150,000, and they want to work three days a week from home. And even when doing those three days a week, they ain't trying to work. If there's a shift in my, and they're talking about anyone from the age of 14, all the way up to their 60s. That there's a shift in the way that people want to work and what people think that they deserve and everything else. And there's a lot of conflation that's happening. And there's an unfortunate situation. Like I said, I see it all the time in the voice of the unemployment line or in workforce development. - Okay, now let me just interject this real quick. I think that some of our thinking, I'm not pointing out that you are keen up, right? Ernest you're keen up. But a lot of our way of thinking is coming from the mass media. It's coming from the media, how they portray us. And we're falling into a situation where, oh, we think that, you know, we're doing that and this person is doing this, this person not going to school, this person. It's the, I mean, one thing I've learned from doing this and we've been doing this for five years since I was six years for the world we could, is that there are people out there really doing stuff. They said, Bill, I am surprised. I am so elated by the people that I have interviewed. And they are the just, why doesn't the media constable just on them? They're every time you look at the news, crying, they show a black face, okay? Anything, or pantry, or prune pantry. They don't show the white, they show the blacks. I mean, I know the show that, I've seen, I mean, I can really look at it and now since I've been retired. And I can look at it and I can assess it and say, yeah, it's a damn shame, you know? If people on the pool line, a lot of the most of them are white, a lot of them are white. Or they dump it in the black neighborhood, of course. They're in the white people in the black neighborhood. But you know, we have been indoctrinated so much by the mainstream media, all right, that I was thinking about ourselves. I mean, that's bad. We have people that are doing good. I think right now, and I haven't done any empirical studies, I don't know for sure. Well, I'm telling you, the people that I have come in contact with, I think are representative of where we are. Our people work hard, all right, don't get that misconception that we are lazy, no. You got a penis and they'll be there going race, right? Well, they got a lot of the lazy people. So we got lazy people. We got violent people, we got violent people. So I mean, you're going to just encapsulate all of that, you're going to encapsulate all of that and say, oh, well, yeah, well, the black, the African American, they're lazy, they're going to do this. That's the day I go to misconception. That's false. That's misinformation that's being pushed out to us, okay? To keep both down, all right? I'm telling you, I got two go under orders, and I know we're going to be fine, all right? But the clinics go hard work now. Like when they say it will hold the real hard, when there's no exception to the real hard. In fact, we'll call it, all right? But I got this, it's not a mantra that I use this we'll call it play hard, right? And that's what we all should do. And I didn't necessarily agree, Peter, I have to disagree with you on what you see. - Yeah. - All right. And that's a nice meal. - Right, but so what I mean, hey, I understand the sense of me, right? But there is empirical data that does show like what the numbers are saying, right? And there are factors into those numbers. And there's a wide variety of reasons per the individual of why they are in that particular circumstance. But to your point of having two brand orders that are doing wonderful, there's six or eight that are in that particular age range or maybe a little bit older that are getting pregnant, that are out doing, having other adverse juvenile behaviors that are causing them to miss school or do this or do that. So I mean, there's a lot of great people that are out there and to your point, yes, no matter the ethnicity and everything else. But what my point without saying is that there are some factors that generationally have affected the way people are responding today. It's not to take away from the thing that we've been successful for. I mean, we've been successful even during slavery. We have several memories, we have several families, you know? Yes. - Just say this, right? I understand, I appreciate what you're saying. But what is, if you will take and do an analysis of what we call the root cause analysis, all right? King of the word, as a technical term that you use, it's something wrong with the program, right? Then you gotta go back and see what happened. If you think that with us, you can all edit the root causes. I mean, you can name a thousand root causes of why we are, where we are today, and why people are suffering and they're not performing the way they shoot. Because when you go to work, I mean, what do you confront it with from the day you're born, racism, that's tangible to us. We have to deal with that. Then we have to deal with, you know, go on getting educated and competing in the job market in a very real market, all right? So you have to look to your parents. So that's what we gotta get our support from. We can't get it from the outside, we can ask them for anything. I don't mean to jump off of your gut, you know, like all the playing, all right? Is it, you know, I don't wanna, you know, I don't wanna jump off topic here. I digress, but I don't wanna digress. But go ahead. - But even with that, yeah. But even with that, not everyone has parents. And that also too plays into that historical systemic systems that have caused that to actually happen. I talked to a gentleman who sit there and talked about the fact that his mother was on crack, his father was in jail when he was growing up. He became of age and found himself incarcerated as well. He's successful now. And he's been able to take that situation and turn it around, to be able to share his story, open mentorship and everything else. But I'm saying they're saying that it does exist and we can't ignore that. It does happen. And even today, we are still suffering from some of those things that have happened. You know, my bad, I didn't mean to cut you off. - No, no, no, it's all good. It's all good. I think that, so we all know that there are many things that can be opposing and true at the same time, right? What I'm hearing Walter say is that black people aren't lazy. There are many black, there are many thriving black people. And I agree with them 1,000%, which is also why, even though when I was talking, I really wasn't specific to black people. I was just saying in general, because I'm in a lot of conversations where people are talking about the state of the economy and blaming the economy on every situation, but not realizing the level of responsibility that you have for your life as an individual. Because today, there's actually more money that can be made today than ever before. Now, while, yes, it's expensive. And not only just the fact that I tell my 23-year-old, sometimes I'm like, gosh, you guys can open an app called Uber Eats or something and do a trip for $20 and make it to the club. Like back in the 90s, you needed $20 to get in the club. You had to find that $20. You could tell your friends, hold up, I'm gonna do Uber Eats for like three hours and we're not getting bottles, but we're getting in. You know, and you're not on anybody else's timetable. There are so many ways to make money today. It's insane. So that's why I say education, commitment and discipline. If you don't stand a constant state of learning, right? And I'm not saying again, you know, it's not just college. It's, you're learning from random people. Like I love to talk to people while, you know me. I love to talk this, always something to learn from people. Back in the day, I'm not gonna lie. When I used to live in Georgia, a friend of mine who was from Queens, you know, we used to talk down there and we were in our early 20s and we used to talk about expanding your white people network, right? Because a lot of times they had inf performances before Google got big, right? They had access to information, you know, they had an uncle or somebody that was doing something that knew something, even if they weren't doing it, that you could learn from. But today we have Google, like there's no excuse. So now what I heard you saying, Ernest, is that in your experience and just in this area, 'cause I know you do agree that black people aren't lazy, is that what you're seeing is a lot of people are unwilling and a lot of people are lazy. And that I think has a lot to do with one with COVID, which with COVID hit a lot of people in different areas, especially, let's just say if you're in your 40s and you experienced the recession of 2008 and 2009, and people lost their jobs through no fault of their own, in corporate America, right? Now they have fast forward to COVID, people across all industries, no matter what that hit, lost their job, could not work, got fined if they kept the store open through no fault of their own, but were still told, you're still gonna have to pay your bills. We're shutting down America, but you're still gonna have to pay your bills, and by the way, family members are dying. So there was a, something happened. Something happened to people in the way they feel about jobs, and then you had jobs that were still open, you were able to work remotely, and those jobs are making you feel like, "Well, we had to lay off 25%, but you should be appreciative that you're still working." When really, yes, I'm appreciative, but you also need your doors open as well. So you need me to work. So there's a lot of different mindsets that were created as a result of COVID, but then you had the extra unemployment, right? But then you think about the younger generation coming up. They, what they're starting to see, 'cause again, I have a son that's 29, I have a daughter, 23, so I talked to a lot of their different friends and stuff, and I hear their perspective, they see no loyalty, right? Like we grew up, like even your generation of Walter, you guys had pensions and other things, my generation is like, okay, you know, kind of screw pensions unless you go. - Yeah, goin' pension, I didn't get a pension. - I didn't say you, you were in corporate America, but a lot of people in that, you know, there were jobs that had pensions still. You know what I mean? - Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Then the phone came, Eric kind of came in, right? So now you gotta figure out how do I take my money that I make today and use it for today and tomorrow if you're in one of those kind of jobs, but now the kids nowadays, they're looking at it like, wait a minute, we gotta go into debt, getting college degrees, and there's no guarantee that I can get a job. Now, there's never been a guarantee. I don't know who sold them the idea that just because you go to college, soon as you, you know, somebody's gonna knock on your door looking for you to work for them. No, you've gotta go hustle that degree, you've gotta learn how to apply it, you've gotta hustle it. Not only that, let's just say, you gotta be realistic. You can't be living in New York City when an agriculture degree and then don't wanna move. You know, let's just say if you're an FIT and you graduate in fashion, how many kids are graduating out of FIT Parsons in any other fashion, you know, related school, that's gonna actually have an entry level job. Sometimes you've gotta get in as the receptionist and learn the contacts at, you know, Ralph Lauren, and then Brad Shaw. So they don't understand the long game here because we live in a world of instant gratification. But not only that, but not only that, not to keep going, but what I've learned too is that their voices are louder. And what I mean is when we grew up, right, we were influenced by your immediate circle, your friends, your family, your school members, and maybe a little bit of television and music. We have an internet, so now they have this thing where they're complaining and having a hissy fit over adulting when we couldn't wait to get out of our parent's house, you know, but they're like, "Adulting is this and adulting is that." So now one person says that. And now you've got like 5.5 million people in the same age group around the world agreeing. So they're thinking that what they're saying is correct because their thoughts are being amplified. So now they're like, "Oh yeah, we feel, we feel, we feel." And we're like, "We feel you guys need to feel that way, "but you're in your own home, not here." So do what you need to do, go get the job, and then it's like, "Well, we don't want to do this, "we don't want to do that." And you know, and they really think it's true because they think that the majority rules, you know? So as parents, it's our responsibility to keep them grounded. Unfortunately, even in their 20s, you got to keep them grounded and into reality and go on, "Okay, the same way everyone in your DM "is not a potential mate, is the same way "just because people are amplifying your voice "does not make it correct." - I never got a DM. What is that again? ♪ Call, I don't want to walk to walk to walk ♪ ♪ So just leave it alone, you don't even want to be in it ♪ ♪ You don't want to be at it ♪ - But I do want to cover, yeah, okay. But I do want to cover one more thing, and I think Ernest is a guy to do this. The Supreme Court decisions that came out this weekend, this day, could you cover a little bit about that? Especially with the January 6th decision that they made on obstruction, you know? And the prosecutors or the government's charging people, and I was a little surprised about that. Go ahead, Ernest. - Yeah, yeah. - Okay. - No, so, matter of fact, I was trying to pull up some of the decisions that were made. - Okay. - You said specifically about what the changes I tell you. - Oh, yeah, the January 6th, some of the people that were charged or pending, you know, mitigation, they said that they have to be, it's too broad. They have to be more specific in terms of documents, you know, how do they, you know, that's why, you know, it's tough right now because it just came out this morning, that one came out this morning. But let's go to Roe, let's go to Roe B. Wade. There's either or the decision that was made. - Yeah, nothing, I mean, one, all of the decisions, I think, were, are worthy of time. So even, even for the January 6th one, I mean, but I mean, as far as the overturning Roe and the Supreme Court, I think that we're having a conversation about like how we're actually doing the elections in these long-term appointments to this particular bench or maybe even for all federal positions, federal judges moving forward. If it's going to be politicized this particular way. - Oh, yeah. Because the ramifications, I think, are too great. And as well as, I'm not sure if there is mechanisms to keep the balance of that. Like there's supposed to be a checks and balance for all obviously three branches of government, right? The issue here is how do we actually keep the Supreme Court in balance? And not just from an appointment standpoint, but from the standpoint of overruling things that are actually not constitutional or that's actually not in the best interest or that's things that should be left to the states that they are overturning for political expediency. Whereas some of these particular decisions, i.e. the Roe v. Wade, the January 6th, are for political expediency and that violates the terms of the reasons why we actually even have the Supreme Court in the first place. - Okay, okay, good. Now there's one decision that's coming out Monday apparently, that's the one with Donald Trump and the document situation. Yeah, there's a couple of one pending, I understand, there's a couple pending, there's one major one that's coming out whether it has to do with Trump and the documents with Jack Smith, that case, whether Trump and the prosecutor or not. - Yes, the immunity. So, I mean, I think everyone, all your listeners like that, I'm more than certain are aware of the immunity case, whether or not does a president actually have full immunity from any particular prosecution, right? One, the dangerous slope to even propose something like that. - It's a slippery slope, that's what you said, right? - Yeah, a slippery slope to even propose, I mean, the proposal itself is preposterous. I mean, to even suggest that any one person cannot, should not be prosecuted for any reason during a particular protected status is astronaut, police, lawyers, judges, presidents, congressional members all have certain statutes that prevent them from being able to be, in order for them to be held accountable. There are some decisions that they can make, so anyways, digress. I think one, that the fact that the Supreme Court has even kicked it around for as long as they have, I think that that in itself is borderline unethical. And I think may have criminal intent, although there's not necessarily a statute that exists there and suggests that, other than an abuse of power, because there are judges and elected officials all over, whether judges are or otherwise, that are actually held accountable for abuse of power. The only thing that I don't think that has been challenged, and I would have to do the historical look on this particular part, so my apologies for not doing so prior to this conversation. - You don't have to vote that, yeah, I know. But challenging or bringing a criminal case against Supreme Court justice. - Wow. - There's been, I think, one or two removals from the Supreme Court. I mean, we're talking about, like the 1800s. - Yeah, when an MP started, or it wouldn't be a situation where they would have the MP's Supreme Court justice. - Yeah, yeah, yeah, it would be an impeachment, yes. - And I think there's only been one, maybe two, but I think only one that's actually been in Peach from the Supreme Court. - All right, okay, but I'll, yeah, go ahead. All right, what I wanted to say is that, I think that the Supreme Court decisions and the one pending that we didn't get in yet, you know, concerning Donald Trump, and his, you know, his proclamation that he can get on, six Avenue and shoot somebody, and he's the president, and so nobody could, well, he just walked away from it. You know, he can kill people. I think that deserves another show that we need to talk about this. It was a little bit more depth, all right? And these things are coming out. A lot of the stuff we talk about came out this morning in terms of the Supreme Court, all right? And this week, too, Monday, Tuesday, Monday, you had one, too. So we're gonna preserve that for another show, but in the interest of time, we're going to do, like, the clothes out now. You know, you have anything you want to say? - No, no. My familiarity with some of the decisions based on the comments that Ernest was saying, I definitely agree. But I, and I definitely agree that they are, they're kicking the can down, down the hole in a future protection of themselves. - Okay, okay. I agree with that. But, you know, these things are, when the Supreme Court rules, man, that's president. So, you know, the only way you can overturn that, I guess, is through a legislation, if I'm not, if I'm incorrect, let me know, Ernest, if that's true, okay? So Ernie, Sergeant, agrees with me. - Wait, I have one question that I don't understand. One of the things that Biden said last night was that if he became a president, he's gonna overturn that Roe v. Wade decision, right? Does the president have the authority to do that? Because if he did, then why hasn't he done it already? No, he can't. - Like, why is he talking about doing it in the next, you could, you have six months left. Go ahead and do it. Put your money where your mouth's at. - Yeah, well, I think, well, one thing I wanted to say that's not in his platform, his reparations and I think, and look at our debt right now, they owe us that amount of money already. So, that's not gonna go on that. - There was another comment that he made that I couldn't fact check, even though I don't have to worry about it anymore, 'cause my kids are older. But he said that there's, that he's putting more, he's done something to make childcare more affordable for the black community. And not been able to find that. I've been able to find, you know, - This is it. - Joe Biden. I've been able to find articles earlier in the year where he's talking about possibly putting something together, but he literally said he did it. - There have been some programs this year, since I have a child that's two and I paid for childcare. There have been some programs that I haven't out there to kind of offset the cost. It does, but again, none of that necessarily stems from, like the president of the United States does not pin that. You know, that is working with, I mean, so one of the other things that the president does do, they may end up working with some of the governors, right? And have the governors then may push legislation to being able to change some of those things on their own state levels. And then also then lobbying with the members of Congress to be able to get legislation changed to also being able to enact some of those promises that are being made. - Okay. - So sometimes I think they're writing, they're using a blank check, sort of speak, but hey, I'm gonna do X, Y, and Z, but their signature is not necessarily the one that's gonna be on it until they actually reach their desk. And finally, they can't put on there what it's gonna be and what it's gonna cost. They have to wait until that actually goes through. So they have to still ask and request from either Congress or from the governors to being able to enact certain things. So it's, but yeah. But my last thing to close out, one, thank you, Walter, for bringing me on, is a pleasure, Plum Pleas and Pleas and Michu Kena. I will sit there and say to everyone is, although the disappointment is real, and I think there's a, you know, whether people should not take that lightly. However, you're not necessarily voting for the just the one person at the top. There are 4,000 positions in a presidential administration. - Right. - From every cabinet position and in every member of that works from the undersecretaries down to the Glee custodie, right? Is who works within that administration? So the continuity that we currently have, which is one of the proverbial questions is, right, do are you better off now than you were then under this particular presidency, right? Under previous presidency. And then what is being proposed, moving forward, is that something that you want to adopt? So although I am beyond not impressed with what happened on the stages last night, I do want everyone to be vigilant in understanding that what we decide come November, or if you do early election, whatever you decide is what's gonna set the precedent moving forward, what's gonna set our future? And with works in there talking about January 6th, what's in there talking about Supreme Court decisions about Roe v. Wade, we're talking about decisions on gun control and every other pressing issue that is happening in this country, then we should also understand that the previous administration is who set the bar when it came to those justices that are currently sitting on the Supreme Court right now and the federal judges that are across this country. And so that is what you want the risking if you one, decide not to vote all, right? Two, if you decide to vote in opposition of what it is that is most beneficial to the country. So I would just encourage everyone to make sure you go and vote and just make sure you go and vote. I'll die. - And if you're not writing the way it works, but make sure you please go and vote. - You know what the concern that I have is and I know that we're coming, cutting close. I had this conversation this morning with someone. And we were talking about the two opposing sides and lack of a good choice. But I said, at the end of the day, I have to look at as a person of color and a woman. One of the things while I'm still not pleased with the current presidency is that I know that he's put in more women of color than any other. And what that means is that there are opportunities for women of color that have not existed before. Now, and another thing that I do know is that, Ernest, you look like you were gonna say something. - You go, go ahead, first. - Okay, also another thing that I know is that from a safety perspective, if I look at a president who has put people in a Supreme Court that makes decisions that are very biased and that this president has stated that, you know, they don't necessarily disagree with Hitler. They are aligned with Putin. They are aligned with Kim Jong-un. The Charlottesville situation was done by a group of nice people. If I really just look at that in totality and say, do I feel safe under this person as a president? I don't. Like, if you just put finances and everything else aside, I wouldn't feel safe as a person, as a black woman in the United States with him as a president again. - So you're gonna move the New Zealand, too? - No, I didn't say I was moving. I didn't say I didn't walk into anything about me that says I exit. - No, no, no. I've got a lot of people saying they're gonna move. - I take the current situation and I figure out how do I still make the best out of it that I can for me and my family? - The thing is, ignore Trump. I mean, he's always doing something to put himself out there in your pace. I was at a golf course one time. I'm playing with a group of, I was only minority, okay? I will qualify with that. And I think I had to do with the emergency response system, the emergency management system. Honestly, I think you're familiar with that, where they broadcast things. So we get this alert on the golf course and his name was up there. This is Trump, you know, this is Donald Trump and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. On the emergency, you know, a notification system, emergency management system. Why does he have to say that it's him? Even when we got those stimulus checks, he had to put his name on a check. So I don't get that either. So I mean, I wanted, when he got elected back in 2016, I just said, okay, all right, I was disappointed. All right, what did that demand do? It's his four years and that's it. But every time I turned around, he was there. Texting, texting, texting, texting. So yeah, I agree. We in bad shape, this guy getting elected again. He's an indicator. - The one thing I think that we should be looking for is if you don't like something, then there's one thing I've challenged people to do, then you should run. If you're not the person to run, then in your collective group, then you should nominate someone within your group, someone that you trust that is actually going to represent you and have them run. And you support that individual, not just with a check for them to run for office, not just with them voting at the poll, right? - What about a position, Ernest? - No, I mean, one, yes, you could run. You can have a position. Two, you could learn how to make proposals that actually change the laws that you either agree or do not agree with. - That's interesting. - Yes. - The legislation should come from the people. Proposers should come from me. When we go back to Schoolhouse Rock, I'm building a bill sitting here on Capitol Hill, right? (laughing) I mean, a song that we vaguely remember in some cases, right? But that's exactly where these things come from. And we have not taken the opportunities to learn how to actually do that. That doesn't mean that you have to be a guru in absolutely everything. You take one or two issues that you have and you should then say, "Hey, I'll go to your representative. I would like to work with you to make these things changes." This is how this has affected me. This is how it has affected my family. This is how it has affected my community. And I want to be able to see this and you see it through the end. We'll talk about it intellectually. Barbershops, salons, podcasts now, whatever have you. And then the conversation doesn't go any further than that. The effort doesn't go any further than that. So I challenge that, not us, but just everyone that's listening. If you can run, run. If you can't run and find somebody that will run, you support them all the way through. Learn how to make proposals that turns into legislation. And that's how you can be the change that you actually want to be able to see. - Yeah, I love that he said that. 'Cause I remember last year, something came out with housing. And I can't think of the general. Like a Tia's face, it's a black guy that represents the district that I'm in. And it's like sending email in case you want blah, blah, blah. And then you just don't hear anything. You don't hear anything bad, you know. - Okay, all right. - So it's not, I'm not saying that that's the case. It doesn't mean that you keep pushing, but it's definitely, there's definitely ways to get your voice heard. Like I got an, you know, we all got that email from a hokel, Kathy Hokel. And then there was like a link in the last yesterday talking about, you know, all the things that she's done and is trying to do, let's just say. And then there's like a link at the bottom where you can propose something or ask a question, but in the middle of it, it's like, just so you know, this will be public information. You know? - Oh, okay, okay. - So that's gonna deter, this is like just yesterday. It's like, that made deter people 'cause you're like, you know, I've got a concern, but I'm not ready, I mean, I'd be ready for it to be public to share. - Okay. All righty. - Yeah. - Now go ahead, Keena, if you got more to say, go ahead. - No, that's, I'm good, I'm good. You know, something to say, yeah. - I know you do, that's why you're a star. You got, and now I've got two stars, super stars here, you know? You go on, yeah, goats, I've got two goats over here, I think. Or anyway, you know, I digress, you know? But anyway, I would like to thank you all guys. Keena, thank you so much. And Southside Robinson, thank you so much. And great show guys. (upbeat music) [BLANK_AUDIO]
