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Memphis Power Outages Stretch Into Day 3 — Rep. Justin J. Pearson on What Happens Next · The Breakfast Club

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: Joining us now is Tennessee State Representative Justin J. Pearson.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: Thousands of families across Memphis are still without power after
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: a powerful weekend storm, and many do not know when
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: their lights will be back on. Representative Pearson, thank you
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: so much for joining us. How are you today?
• 0:24
  Speaker 2: I'm doing all right. Thank you so much for having me.
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: I appreciate it absolutely so. For people who may not
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: know what happened in Memphis this weekend, walk us through
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: the storm and the damage it caused.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so we had what's called a straight line wind
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: if you think about a tornado going horizontal with some
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: thunderstorms on top of that. That's what happened to our community,
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: and several trees over down, hitting pipe, hitting the power lines,
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: which ultimately is what impacted our electrical grid. Frustratingly, we
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: don't know if some of the industries that are using
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: and on our electric grid as well, including these data centers,
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: if their power is down or if they've reduced their
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: power consumption so that people could be getting access to
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: more electricity. We don't know that, but that is what
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: has happened to us, and it's impacting now. We had
• 1:10
  Speaker 2: up to over one hundred thousand customers and people and impacted.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: And now it's about seventy thousand people who still aren't
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: need of electricity here.
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: And what are you hearing from families who have gone
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: since Saturday now without any electricity?
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: You know, the main frustration that people have now is
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: not having the food because the refrigerator obviously is not working.
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: And so we're working diligently to make sure people can
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: reapply for SNAP benefits. Actually our organization is helping to
• 1:41
  Speaker 2: buy some generators for families. But it's really frustrating time
• 1:45
  Speaker 2: as you can imagine not being able to have one
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: of the basic necessities that you need in order to live,
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: especially for our families with children. And so we're handing
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: out hot meals simultaneously to just help people to survive
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: these days and survive these times. But our community is
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: coming together in the way that we really always have,
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: but now we need it more than ever, and we're
• 2:07
  Speaker 2: going to have to figure out what to do because
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: these extreme weather events are going to likely continue due
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: to climate change and pollution and all these things that
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: are happening. But our community is we're finding back together
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: and stronger.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and I want to ask you about resources. I
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  Speaker 1: know you were mentioning on your social media that you
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: were going to be updating that constantly for people who
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: need some of those resources. Is there something that you
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: can share where people can go. Is it still your
• 2:33
  Speaker 1: social media? What can you tell us?
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, please go to my social media justin J. Pearson
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: to see all the resources that are available today. I'll
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: be posting some ways. Some folks have reached out very
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: lovingly to donate to what we're doing here in Memphis
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: is also to donate to what's happening in Gary, and
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: I talked with the mayor there yesterday. But we want
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: to make sure we're providing immediate assistance, whether it be financial,
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: whether it be food, to make sure that people are
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: taking care of and after this, we want to make
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: sure folks are not charged for these utility bills. We
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: want to make sure that people are protected as well
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: from the harm that is likely to happen and to
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: come from an incident like this that we did not
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: anticipate or expect, but that's going to have some severe
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: consequences for the families, particularly the most vulnerable families in
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: our communities.
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and you brought up AI data centers. I wanted
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: to ask you. You know you've been sounding the alarm
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: about these AI data centers. Can you explain just a
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: little bit more how they've contributed to this power crisis.
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: Yeah, data centers, particularly these hyperscale data centers, are contributing
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: to the power crisis that we're dealing with because they're
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: on our electric grid. They are straining grids, which in
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: essence means they are using so much power that otherwise
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: be going to people's homes. For instance, in Memphis, one
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: of the data centers uses roughly the same amount of
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: power as four hundred thousand homes in a city of
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: six hundred thousand people. That's how much of a strain
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: they're putting on grided on our resources. And we are
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: being told, well, they're going to build their own substations,
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: or they can power themselves. But when they power themselves,
• 4:09
  Speaker 2: oftentimes they're using illegal gas turbines that pollute the air
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: that we breathe. That ultimately leads to more cancer, more asthma,
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  Speaker 2: more COPD, and sort of a ligny of other problems
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: that have to be addressed and that have their own
• 4:22
  Speaker 2: economic consequences, to the tune of hundreds of millions of
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: dollars themselves due to premature deaths that people are dealing with,
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  Speaker 2: which is why we need to have moratorium on these
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  Speaker 2: data centers in our communities. We are not ready for this,
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  Speaker 2: and then when incidents like this happen, there's no guarantee
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  Speaker 2: that they're reducing their load reducing the strain on our
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: electric grid either, which needs to be in law and
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: codified as well.
• 4:47
  Speaker 1: And you've also raised concerns about these data centers being
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: placed in black neighborhoods. Why do you believe these communities
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  Speaker 1: are carrying so much of this burden.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: Yeah, most Black communities are carrying the burden of legacy
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: and hyper skilled data centers because this is what has
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  Speaker 2: always happened. We've been treated as the quote unquote sacrifice
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: zones of industry for generations. It's no coincidence, and there's
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: great research by the Southern Environmental Law Center about this
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  Speaker 2: that the same places that used to be plantations are
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: now where we have plants. The same communities where where
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: we were enslaved on plantations are the places where our
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: lungs and our lives are being destroyed by the pollution
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: from valero or refineries and steel mills and Tennessee Valley
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: Authority and companies like Spacexai, which is run by Elon Musk.
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  Speaker 2: They don't view us and our humanity is worthy of protecting,
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  Speaker 2: and our elected officials have a responsibility of doing that.
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  Speaker 2: And unfortunately, we have Democrats and Republicans, black and white,
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  Speaker 2: who are also participating in our exploitation. And that's what
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  Speaker 2: I've been fighting against for the last two years alongside
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: my community, and we're going to continue to do Yeah,
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  Speaker 2: you know you, and I would just say this last thing,
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  Speaker 2: mad me. In fact, sixty seven percent of plan data
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  Speaker 2: centers are coming to rural America. They're going to rural
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  Speaker 2: areas right, which overwhelmingly are white rural areas. So we've
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: got an opportunity to build solidarity with our white brother
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  Speaker 2: sisters and siblings, our black brother sisters and siblings, our
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  Speaker 2: Native American family, because this isn't an issue about them
• 6:26
  Speaker 2: and us. It's about the billionaire class versus the rest
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  Speaker 2: of us.
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: And I know these are some of the issues that
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: you have been fighting for for the last two years.
• 6:40
  Speaker 1: And really quickly just shifting gears, just really really quickly.
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: I know Republicans read threw that congressional district, splitting up
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: Memphis and weakening that black voting power, but you still
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: won the Democratic primary. What did that victory say to you?
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it says to me that people power
• 6:56
  Speaker 2: always wins. And now we're pushing towards the general here on,
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: and we're building a coalition, like I mentioned, of solidarity
• 7:03
  Speaker 2: of white folks, of black folks, richer folks, and poor folks,
• 7:06
  Speaker 2: and together we're going to win this congressional race. Because
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: maps don't vote. People do.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: And I know you're running, as you just said, you
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: know the people do, but you're running in a district
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: that favors Republican How do you convince the voters outside
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: of your traditional base that you should represent them in Congress.
• 7:24
  Speaker 2: You know, I've had the opportunity to travel all fifteen counties,
• 7:27
  Speaker 2: and I'm going to counties like in Giles County where Pulaski,
• 7:31
  Speaker 2: where the ku Kluk Klan was found at one hundred
• 7:33
  Speaker 2: and sixty one years ago, and it's one hundred and
• 7:35
  Speaker 2: fifty people at the community center when we just thought
• 7:38
  Speaker 2: it was going to be twelve. There's a lot of momentum.
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: People are feeling optimism, people are feeling hope who otherwise haven't.
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: And there are a lot of disaffected MAGA or disaffected
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  Speaker 2: Republicans who viewed themselves differently from the MAGA extremists. They
• 7:51
  Speaker 2: don't want to be viewed as those extremists, radical people
• 7:54
  Speaker 2: who just don't want any progress. They want government to
• 7:57
  Speaker 2: actually work. They want endless wars to stop, they want healthcare,
• 8:01
  Speaker 2: they want good jobs. They want us to make sure
• 8:05
  Speaker 2: that we're doing everything we can to stop these toxic
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: data centers. And that's how we build the coalition, because
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  Speaker 2: they have even told me they've never voted for a
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  Speaker 2: Democrat before in their life, but because I'm against data
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  Speaker 2: centers there for us, that's how we win. We find
• 8:18
  Speaker 2: common ground without compromising our values.
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: Absolutely absolutely now and lastly, I want to ask you,
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: do you know when people can realistically expect the lights
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: to come back on? What are you hearing from the
• 8:30
  Speaker 1: power company? You know?
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: For what we are hearing is it won't be until
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: a Thursday that we'll get one hundred percent power restoration.
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: Between now and then, we're going to be cooking food,
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: delivering food. We're buying generators, and we're doing everything we
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: can to be of service to our community and we'll
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: be setting up mutual aid, which is what we've always done,
• 8:49
  Speaker 2: but these networks will be helping to support them, fund them,
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: grow them, and be prepared as discontinues into the future,
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: especially heading to the Faller in the winter months.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, and just one more time, if you could say
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: your social media so people can make sure that they
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: are plugged into where they can get that help.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, Please go to Justin J. Pearson on Instagram, on Facebook,
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  Speaker 2: Justin J. Pearson and Justin J. Pearson for Congress are
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: the places you can go. We're also on TikTok as
• 9:16
  Speaker 2: well as the real Justin J. Pearson and We're going
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: to continue to share everything that we possibly can as
• 9:22
  Speaker 2: quickly as we can. And I'll be out there today
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  Speaker 2: at a couple of different locations at the Samwich Shop
• 9:28
  Speaker 2: at four point thirty where would be delivering food too wrap.
• 9:31
  Speaker 2: Justin J.
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  Speaker 1: Pearson, thank you so much for your time.
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: Thank you so much. I keep the faith in the fight.
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  Speaker 1: That's your front page. I'm Meanie Brown. This podcast was
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: brought to you by the Black Effect Podcast Network.