Latest / The People's News / Unions Strike for Safety; Texas Curricula Whitewashes History; GOP Attack Trans Athletes - TPN 7/5/26

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Unions Strike for Safety; Texas Curricula Whitewashes History; GOP Attack Trans Athletes - TPN 7/5/26 · The People's News

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  Speaker 1: It's the week of July fifth, twenty twenty six, and
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  Speaker 1: this is what's on the People's news. Local chemical workers
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  Speaker 1: strike over safety issues, the barrier between church and state
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  Speaker 1: broken in Texas, LGBTQ under attack, and a killer of
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: a trans woman is caught. La Mumba remembered at the
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: World Cup, felons given a second chance. All that and
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  Speaker 1: more on the People's News. I'm Steve Gallington. This is
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  Speaker 1: the People's News, and the People's News start snapped. Workers
• 0:46
  Speaker 1: at Ashley Chemical Plant, which is a pharmaceutical grade chemical
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  Speaker 1: manufacturing plant in Texas City, Texas, have been on strike
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  Speaker 1: for over nine days now. About seventy of them machinists, operators,
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  Speaker 1: and pipe fitters, represented by four unions at the plant,
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  Speaker 1: have been asking the company for safety concerns to be met.
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  Speaker 1: The union says the company has been trying to cross
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  Speaker 1: utilize workers as a way of saving money. This means
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  Speaker 1: workers doing work they're not trained to do. This is
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  Speaker 1: important as there have been numerous fires and chemical plant
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  Speaker 1: emergency incidents in the area. Lewis Crawford, lead negotiator for
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  Speaker 1: the Texas City Metal Trades Council, and a business agent
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  Speaker 1: with the International Union of Operating Engineers Local five six
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  Speaker 1: y four commented on the strike.
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  Speaker 2: Well, Aceland presented a last bets and condlawfare on our
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  Speaker 2: contract renewal in Junior twenty second, and the membership of
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  Speaker 2: overwhelmingly rejected it and the company didn't want to go
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  Speaker 2: back to the table.
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  Speaker 1: So long strike.
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  Speaker 3: What still are some of the issues that's going on?
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  Speaker 2: Many it's a safety issue. They want operators and maintenance
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  Speaker 2: does cross crafts and to do each other's work. We
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  Speaker 2: don't feel that safe in the chemical pas. It's not
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  Speaker 2: especially in Texas City. We all know the dangers in
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  Speaker 2: Texas City when chemical tilities cut corners on safety.
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  Speaker 3: What do you?
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  Speaker 4: What do you?
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  Speaker 3: How long you guys have been out here.
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  Speaker 2: We've been out here nine days, yes, sir, And this
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  Speaker 2: is an unfair labor practice strike.
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  Speaker 3: The company broke the law at the.
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  Speaker 2: Bargaining table and we filed charge of the n RB
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  Speaker 2: to prove.
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  Speaker 3: That's that going.
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  Speaker 2: Well, it's a process, you know, it takes a while.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, you start filing grievouses, takes a long time. Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: that's a whole weather story, that's right.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, But it protects our workers too, you know, having
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  Speaker 2: an uncare labor practice.
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  Speaker 3: What's the mood? What's that? What's the what's the what's
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  Speaker 3: the mood of the guys.
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  Speaker 2: They're great, man, everybody's showing up. Uh, you know, no
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  Speaker 2: one's laying out. It's it's been great. Solidarity is good.
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  Speaker 2: Unions them all around the area are coming to help
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  Speaker 2: the South.
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  Speaker 3: So it's been wonderful.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: How many members on strike?
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  Speaker 1: Seventy members?
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  Speaker 3: Seventy members, seventy members with Uh.
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  Speaker 2: They're spread out through the operating engineers I b W
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  Speaker 2: H U A two eleven and I and the machine
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  Speaker 2: is hearing yet?
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  Speaker 3: And how is it? How is it that you guys
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  Speaker 3: decided to walk away from the table.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we didn't.
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  Speaker 2: We rejected their offer and the company didn't want to
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  Speaker 2: go back to the table, said they were prepared for
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  Speaker 2: a try.
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  Speaker 3: So we're on strike, so the company was prepared for this.
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  Speaker 3: I don't know.
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  Speaker 6: Yes, yeah, but people don't understand, you know, when you
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  Speaker 6: got somebody working working your work, doing your work, or
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  Speaker 6: getting kind of contracted out.
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  Speaker 3: That's the whole other story.
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  Speaker 1: That's right.
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  Speaker 2: These guys are hotty skilled and they know their crafts
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  Speaker 2: and that's.
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  Speaker 3: What they should be doing.
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  Speaker 5: Are they talking about trying to do that and trying
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  Speaker 5: to contract out, which would be against the contract.
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  Speaker 2: I they did try their negotiation to contact out the
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  Speaker 2: storeroom and that would displace at least two employees and
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  Speaker 2: replace them with contractors.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, and that didn't work out for them.
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  Speaker 2: Well, no, they rejected the members rejected their offer.
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  Speaker 5: Yes, sir, are they trying to do trying to try
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  Speaker 5: to come in and say, hey, can we come in
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  Speaker 5: and get contract workers to come and do this type
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  Speaker 5: of work.
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  Speaker 2: They probably will do that later, but the only contract
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  Speaker 2: there that they tried to do so far.
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  Speaker 3: Was the store room and use negotiations.
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  Speaker 2: But yeah, you know something you always got to be on.
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  Speaker 3: Large for and you got lost employets too, right.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we got a couple of rounds of layoffs this
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  Speaker 2: year so far because productions down in the facility.
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  Speaker 1: The plan manager told.
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  Speaker 2: Us that much during negotiations that production was down sixty
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  Speaker 2: seven percent at this facility.
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  Speaker 3: And you guys, you guys are told them against and
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  Speaker 3: needs any more any more? Guys, that's correct.
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  Speaker 2: Well, we don't want to, you know, and we're not
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  Speaker 2: asking for money or anything. We're just happening to asking
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  Speaker 2: the people we had benefit wise and the cross training
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  Speaker 2: and the doing the crosscraft.
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  Speaker 3: Work for against for safety, and why don't you explain?
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  Speaker 3: I know it is, but why don'd you explain what
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  Speaker 3: that is?
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  Speaker 1: The crosscraft?
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  Speaker 2: Well, they want operators process operators to change valves and gaskets,
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  Speaker 2: and they want the machinists to do high fitter work,
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  Speaker 2: the pipe fitters to do machinis work and so forth,
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  Speaker 2: you know, work they're not trained to do.
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  Speaker 7: Right.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and it was in Texas City. You know, we
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  Speaker 3: just had we just had a fire like a month ago.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, We've had some bad accidents here and you know,
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  Speaker 2: that's why we're so careful about this, and that's why
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  Speaker 2: we have to stand up.
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  Speaker 1: In a statement, Ashland spokeswoman Carol Marie Brown said the
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  Speaker 1: chemical manufacturing company is dedicated to the safety, health and
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  Speaker 1: security of our employees, their families, and the communities where
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  Speaker 1: we work and live. She said Ashland has taken steps
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  Speaker 1: to minimize disruption to its customers and that the company
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  Speaker 1: would not comment on the status of its negotiations with
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  Speaker 1: union representatives. Once every ten years, the Texas Education Agency
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  Speaker 1: goes about rewriting curriculum in Texas. This year, social studies
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  Speaker 1: is the target of their changes and they're making changes
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  Speaker 1: to the TEAKS or the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills,
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  Speaker 1: which is the standard all teachers must use in Texas
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  Speaker 1: in order to teach students' social studies. The State Board
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  Speaker 1: of Education has inserted Bible stories in social studies and
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  Speaker 1: using that as historical references and historical figures. Also, diversity
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  Speaker 1: and race will be taken out, as well as anything
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  Speaker 1: outside of European traditional history. The Houston Independent School District
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  Speaker 1: passed their own version of the curriculum change, which comes
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  Speaker 1: close to mirroring the state's plan. We talked to Levi Seidler,
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  Speaker 1: political coordinator with the Texas Freedom Network.
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  Speaker 8: Yeah, so every ten years, the State Board of Education
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  Speaker 8: works with the Texas Education Agency to rewrite the teaks
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  Speaker 8: for public school subjects. This year they're rewriting the Social
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  Speaker 8: Studies teak, which means that they are going line by
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  Speaker 8: line every bullet point of what every single public school
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  Speaker 8: and charter school in Texas needs to teach kids at
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  Speaker 8: social studies from kindergarten all the way up till graduation.
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  Speaker 9: One of the things that heard that there they're eliminating
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  Speaker 9: talking about things like the minorities.
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  Speaker 8: These teaks do not actually reflect the diversity of Texas
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  Speaker 8: or the roles that various groups have played in Texas history.
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  Speaker 8: This is a very whitewashed curriculum that overemphasizes the contributions
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  Speaker 8: of white people and certain kinds of Christianity, and it
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  Speaker 8: undervalues different cultures and groups that are here present in Texas.
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  Speaker 9: They're doing this or are they? Or are they being
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  Speaker 9: what are they put in this place?
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  Speaker 8: We're seeing a lot of misinformation or active twisting of
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  Speaker 8: history to reflect certain world views, certain perspectives that don't act. Yes,
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  Speaker 8: the peaks that they've written, for the large part, eliminate
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  Speaker 8: the contributions of minorities in other groups in Texas and
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  Speaker 8: replaces them with politically motivated misinformation and twisted facts that
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  Speaker 8: push their political agenda rather than teaching the truth.
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  Speaker 5: Who knits away with this? Because I heard some of that.
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  Speaker 5: I heard they were going to try to talk about
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  Speaker 5: roganomics and and such and talk about the Industrial Revolution
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  Speaker 5: and not really include all the details of that as
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  Speaker 5: far as the depression and et cetera.
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  Speaker 8: Yeah, I'm not familiar with the specifics on those policies,
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  Speaker 8: especially because part of this process requires them to or
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  Speaker 8: it doesn't require them. Part of the process involves elected
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  Speaker 8: officials making line by line edits on the curriculum rather
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  Speaker 8: than allowing teachers or historians or experts to determine the curriculum.
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  Speaker 8: And some of these amendments are made as late as
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  Speaker 8: two am in the morning. Unfortunately, I don't know the
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  Speaker 8: specifics on those, but I do know that this is
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  Speaker 8: a very rushed process that didn't evolve enough input from parents, teachers,
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  Speaker 8: or experts.
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  Speaker 5: So is this a dune deal or is it time
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  Speaker 5: to try to fix this situation.
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  Speaker 8: Kindergarten through eighth grade, those peaks are solidified and there
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  Speaker 8: are finally approved this week. However, all the high school courses,
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  Speaker 8: which is where you get things like economics, government, US history,
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  Speaker 8: world history, those still have another period for public input
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  Speaker 8: and for debate that'll end in this upcoming September, so
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  Speaker 8: people can still get involved and have their voices heard
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  Speaker 8: on the high school curriculum by September.
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  Speaker 5: A lot of people don't know, but this curriculum goes
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  Speaker 5: into the books that are that are made for it
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  Speaker 5: to be brought into the schools, and when they go
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  Speaker 5: out to get publishers for those books, that information has
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  Speaker 5: to be in there, and so this is something that
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  Speaker 5: people should know. It's as far as it's trying to
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  Speaker 5: fix this curriculum of how dangerous this might be for education.
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  Speaker 5: Did they get teachers or who do they get to
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  Speaker 5: try to help them out? As far as as far
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  Speaker 5: as trying to make this curriculum stick.
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  Speaker 8: Yeah, So first, what you're saying about the textbooks, you're
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  Speaker 8: absolutely correct. Texas is the largest textbook market in the country,
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  Speaker 8: which means that when textbook publishers have to shape their
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  Speaker 8: books to fit our curriculum, students across the country will
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  Speaker 8: be learning from the same curriculum we're passing. It's not
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  Speaker 8: just limited Texas students. In terms of who was helping
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  Speaker 8: write these peaks. The way that the process worked is
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  Speaker 8: they had a panel of content advisors appointed by elected officials,
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  Speaker 8: with no particular credentials or expertise required. They wrote the curriculum,
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  Speaker 8: and then a small group of teachers was allowed to
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  Speaker 8: look at it, but they weren't given full control to
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  Speaker 8: add or make suggestions the way that traditionally there In
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  Speaker 8: this process, it has been very rushed this year, and
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  Speaker 8: teachers have been cut out of the process far more
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  Speaker 8: than they ever have been before. After the teach small
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  Speaker 8: group of teachers is able to make minor reviews of
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  Speaker 8: this curriculum. Then the elected officials were able to go
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  Speaker 8: and make line by line, word by word changes with
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  Speaker 8: the curriculum without consulting experts or educators.
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  Speaker 5: And I've heard that HSD has already pass their own.
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  Speaker 1: Version of this.
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  Speaker 8: So HISD recently voted to start using what's called the
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  Speaker 8: Bluebonnet Reading Curriculum, which is actually a kindergarten through fifth
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  Speaker 8: grade reading program, but it does include a lot of
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  Speaker 8: Bible stories, including presenting the Bible stories as fact rather
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  Speaker 8: than as religious beliefs.
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  Speaker 5: What about separation of church and state when you're using Bible,
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  Speaker 5: especially if you're putting one religion over the other.
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  Speaker 8: That's absolutely what we believe. We firmly believe that the
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  Speaker 8: Blubonnet curriculum, the Bible reading list, and lost the ways
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  Speaker 8: the New Social Studies teaks discussed Christianity and other religions
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  Speaker 8: violates the First Amendment, separates the church and state and
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  Speaker 8: involves the government during public schools into Sunday schools rather
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  Speaker 8: than allowing families and local religious communities to educate their
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  Speaker 8: own children.
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  Speaker 3: I would guess this would go to the Court.
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  Speaker 8: It's certainly our hope that someone will challenge this.
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  Speaker 1: Yes, that was Levi Seidler, political coordinator with the Texas
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  Speaker 1: Freedom Network. You can find out more information about the
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: changes going on to the teaks at their website TFN
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: dot org. First, an update on the death of a
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: trans woman, Persia Amara Conway. A suspect, Daniel Sarran, has
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: been caught and has confessed to the crime. Trans girls
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  Speaker 1: and women are banned from sports, says the United States
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: Supreme Court. In a six to three ruling. The court's
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  Speaker 1: majority states that they agree with the states of West
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  Speaker 1: Virginia and Idaho that trans women and girls cannot participate
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  Speaker 1: in girl team sports. The Court earlier unanimously agreed that
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  Speaker 1: barring transgender girls and women does not run afoul of
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  Speaker 1: the federal law known as Title nine, which prohibits sex
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  Speaker 1: discrimination in education. This affects more than a dozen states
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  Speaker 1: across the country, including Texas, that have passed laws specifically
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  Speaker 1: restricting or banning women and girls from participating in men
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  Speaker 1: only sports. In reality, this affects less than one percent
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  Speaker 1: of the population, but true to form four Conservatives and Republicans,
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  Speaker 1: it's a hot button issue. Attack those who are too
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  Speaker 1: weak to defend themselves. Republicans say they're just protecting the girls.
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  Speaker 1: This is just the latest setback in LGBTQ rights. As
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  Speaker 1: Pride Month ended, Avery bell U is CEO of the
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: Mantrose Center, she spoke on the local case and what
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: effect politicians speaking out against trans people has on the community.
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  Speaker 10: Yeah, so, thank you so much for kind of describing
• 13:41
  Speaker 10: a connection right about the ecosystem of what's happening around
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  Speaker 10: trans people. Right now. There's a word on that particular
• 13:48
  Speaker 10: ruling from the Supreme.
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  Speaker 11: Court, right.
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  Speaker 10: It's always important when we get a ruling from the
• 13:51
  Speaker 10: Supreme Court because they're complicated to understand what does the
• 13:54
  Speaker 10: ruling mean and what does it not mean. So obviously
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  Speaker 10: it's a very disappointing ruling for trans folks, particularly trans
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  Speaker 10: youth who are athletes and desire to participate in sports.
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  Speaker 10: The ruling is, however, narrow. It only applies to trans
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  Speaker 10: youth participating in sport, and the Supreme Court essentially said
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  Speaker 10: that it is appropriate for states to exclude them on
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  Speaker 10: the basis of their gender identity. There are currently twenty
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  Speaker 10: seven states that have laws that ban trans youth participation
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  Speaker 10: in sport. This is obviously including Texas where we live.
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  Speaker 10: Obviously a very disappointing outcome. However, what the court did
• 14:29
  Speaker 10: not do that a lot of opponents of trans people
• 14:31
  Speaker 10: wanted the court to do was to say that state
• 14:35
  Speaker 10: had a carte blanche right to discriminate against trans people
• 14:39
  Speaker 10: in a variety of settings, including bathrooms or participation in
• 14:42
  Speaker 10: other types of spaces. And the Court did not go
• 14:46
  Speaker 10: to that extent in their ruling, and so it was
• 14:48
  Speaker 10: a narrow ruling. And I think it's really important to
• 14:50
  Speaker 10: stress that, and it's really important to follow civil rights
• 14:53
  Speaker 10: organizations to see their analysis, because again, Supreme Court cases
• 14:57
  Speaker 10: are complicated. That being said, I think you're is a
• 15:00
  Speaker 10: really strong one, which is this court case happens, and
• 15:03
  Speaker 10: it was released on the last day of Pride months.
• 15:05
  Speaker 10: So I think we should let that sit for a moment. Right,
• 15:07
  Speaker 10: We've got this negative ruling on the last day of
• 15:09
  Speaker 10: Pride months. But it does happen within a context of
• 15:12
  Speaker 10: the humanity and the rights, the civil rights of transgender
• 15:15
  Speaker 10: people being attacked. There's been over two thousand anti transcender
• 15:19
  Speaker 10: builds filed and state legislatures in states across this country
• 15:23
  Speaker 10: in recent years. Two thousand bills, all of them addressing
• 15:27
  Speaker 10: what is around one percent of the US population, So
• 15:30
  Speaker 10: a lot of energy and a lot of effort put
• 15:32
  Speaker 10: into a small group of people. What that's done is
• 15:35
  Speaker 10: that there's been a kind of corresponding social narrative, right
• 15:38
  Speaker 10: that has been about, you know, kind of being derogatory
• 15:41
  Speaker 10: about transgender people, that has been negative about our existence
• 15:45
  Speaker 10: and our function in public life, and all of that
• 15:48
  Speaker 10: absolutely has consequences, and so your right to build a
• 15:51
  Speaker 10: link because words have consequences. Discrimination has consequences, and so
• 15:57
  Speaker 10: when we see individuals who murder transgender people, we absolutely
• 16:02
  Speaker 10: can understand that there's a link between that violence and
• 16:05
  Speaker 10: between the broader rhetoric that is happening in our political
• 16:08
  Speaker 10: realms around transcender people and our humanity.
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  Speaker 5: And we've seen brought up in the montreals. We've seen
• 16:16
  Speaker 5: how attacks can be either ruled on as a hate
• 16:21
  Speaker 5: crime or just kind of let go. And it seems
• 16:23
  Speaker 5: like right now that when these incidents happen, it's not
• 16:26
  Speaker 5: taken as seriously as it used to be.
• 16:30
  Speaker 10: It's so true that very oftentimes victims of violence who
• 16:33
  Speaker 10: are transgender, particularly and particularly black and brown trans women.
• 16:36
  Speaker 10: I think It's important to think intersectionally here, right, because
• 16:39
  Speaker 10: the women most impacted by this are really black and
• 16:41
  Speaker 10: brown trans women, and that black and brown trans women
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  Speaker 10: very often do.
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  Speaker 11: Not get justice.
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  Speaker 10: And you're absolutely right about that.
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  Speaker 3: There are murders of.
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  Speaker 10: Transom that have happened in the city where their murders
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  Speaker 10: still have not been brought to justice. What I'm pleased
• 16:53
  Speaker 10: about in this instance with Persia, right, is that she
• 16:55
  Speaker 10: had a very strong family who advocated for her very loudly,
• 16:59
  Speaker 10: brought a lot of public contention and public pressure to
• 17:02
  Speaker 10: identifying the individual who committed this terrible crime and to
• 17:06
  Speaker 10: making sure that he gets prosecuted appropriately. And I do
• 17:09
  Speaker 10: have every confidence in the DA's office, our RDA's office
• 17:12
  Speaker 10: here in Houston. It really does understand the issues. They
• 17:15
  Speaker 10: understand that these these crimes have been under prosecuted, and
• 17:19
  Speaker 10: they understand that that's a problem. So I feel good
• 17:21
  Speaker 10: about that. But I should say it shouldn't take public pressure.
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  Speaker 10: It shouldn't take a family that is good in front
• 17:28
  Speaker 10: of a camera. It shouldn't take community advocates coming together
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  Speaker 10: and loudly sounding the alarm that oftentimes these crimes are
• 17:35
  Speaker 10: not punished in the way they should be and that
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  Speaker 10: the perpetrators are not located. It shouldn't take us doing
• 17:40
  Speaker 10: that for everyone to take these things seriously, right, This
• 17:43
  Speaker 10: should be everyone's issue across levels of government here in
• 17:47
  Speaker 10: the city and the county and across HPD. And I
• 17:49
  Speaker 10: think the community has felt like that that that level
• 17:52
  Speaker 10: of seriances has not been felt in all instances, but
• 17:54
  Speaker 10: we are heartened that we solve progress as that related
• 17:57
  Speaker 10: to this one burner.
• 17:58
  Speaker 5: And this is happening on the on the tests of
• 18:01
  Speaker 5: a lot of politicians, especially in texts, are running on
• 18:04
  Speaker 5: the platform of yeah, we're on a platform of not hate,
• 18:09
  Speaker 5: but on a platform of yeah, we're going after.
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: These trans people.
• 18:14
  Speaker 5: And there's and there's still there's they're they're they're hurting
• 18:16
  Speaker 5: our kids, and they're they're going to like trans people
• 18:19
  Speaker 5: are going to affect kids and and and as such
• 18:24
  Speaker 5: in politicians and politicians are saying these in as ads
• 18:27
  Speaker 5: and telling them to their their constituents, which means they
• 18:30
  Speaker 5: feel the same way.
• 18:33
  Speaker 10: And I think so, so, you know, this is what
• 18:35
  Speaker 10: I would say in this instances, whether it's the issue
• 18:37
  Speaker 10: of transuc sport, which we just had a rolling on,
• 18:40
  Speaker 10: or whether it's you know, whatever the issue may be,
• 18:44
  Speaker 10: what are the issues that Americans care about most? Right now?
• 18:47
  Speaker 10: All of us across the board and transcender folks like myself,
• 18:50
  Speaker 10: I'm transcender, right We're just we're Americans, so it's like
• 18:53
  Speaker 10: everyone else. And right now, the things we care about
• 18:55
  Speaker 10: is the rising cost of living. We care about installation.
• 18:58
  Speaker 10: We care about the fact that rents, especially here in Houston,
• 19:01
  Speaker 10: are becoming egregiously expensive. We care about the high cost
• 19:04
  Speaker 10: of healthcare in the fact that many of us lost
• 19:06
  Speaker 10: access to healthcare recently right with the loss of the
• 19:10
  Speaker 10: tax credits.
• 19:10
  Speaker 11: With the ACA.
• 19:11
  Speaker 10: We care about being able to thrive, to survive right
• 19:15
  Speaker 10: and to have what we need to take care of
• 19:18
  Speaker 10: ourselves and our families. And what is true is that
• 19:21
  Speaker 10: when certain people in political power are not succeeding in
• 19:24
  Speaker 10: all of those areas, it is convenient to find a
• 19:26
  Speaker 10: scapegoat to get people angry at and transcender people have
• 19:30
  Speaker 10: become that convenient scapegoat, and all of us need to
• 19:32
  Speaker 10: say enough is enough. What we actually need to do
• 19:35
  Speaker 10: is talk about the issues that are impacting all Americans.
• 19:38
  Speaker 10: The rights of transcender people are impacting a small amount
• 19:40
  Speaker 10: of the population, so we need viduals to stop attacking
• 19:43
  Speaker 10: the transgender population and get to work helping to do
• 19:46
  Speaker 10: the things that actually matter to Houstonians, to Texans, and
• 19:50
  Speaker 10: to United States citizens, which are all those issues that
• 19:52
  Speaker 10: I just outlined about all the issues that impact all
• 19:54
  Speaker 10: of us. That we have a lot of problems and
• 19:56
  Speaker 10: we need to solve them.
• 19:57
  Speaker 5: And that's one thing that broad Well actually taught, actually
• 20:01
  Speaker 5: did was just actually highlight someone to think some of
• 20:04
  Speaker 5: the issues and politically that are going on in this country,
• 20:06
  Speaker 5: and that comes from the top. That comes from the top,
• 20:09
  Speaker 5: from an administration on down to our governor, which they rule.
• 20:14
  Speaker 5: In our state legislatives are still ruling on bathrooms. That's
• 20:17
  Speaker 5: the most important thing is to give.
• 20:20
  Speaker 3: Right.
• 20:20
  Speaker 10: So unfortunately, you know, kind of flating that of the
• 20:23
  Speaker 10: priority once again really shows kind of misdirection from the
• 20:26
  Speaker 10: things that that are most you know, I'm the few
• 20:28
  Speaker 10: of the Mantra Center. We are Houston's LGBTQ plus community
• 20:31
  Speaker 10: center for community and for care. We're here to provide
• 20:34
  Speaker 10: resources and support, and people come through our doors every
• 20:36
  Speaker 10: single day in crisis, oftentimes exacerbated by the fact that
• 20:40
  Speaker 10: they don't have basic necessities, they don't have access, they
• 20:43
  Speaker 10: need to food, to clothing, and to shelter. We have
• 20:46
  Speaker 10: such a high percentage of our population in this country
• 20:49
  Speaker 10: that we have not cared for in the most basic level.
• 20:51
  Speaker 10: All of us need to be talking about that. We
• 20:53
  Speaker 10: need to be linking arms to say that we've got
• 20:56
  Speaker 10: to solve that problem together. In the wealthiest nation on earth,
• 20:59
  Speaker 10: we have what it takes to solve that problem, all
• 21:01
  Speaker 10: of us across THATX orientation, gender identity. Those are the
• 21:04
  Speaker 10: issues we need to work together to solve to make
• 21:06
  Speaker 10: sure our neighbors are taken care of, that they're taking
• 21:08
  Speaker 10: care of compassionately, and that all of us are empowered
• 21:11
  Speaker 10: to have the resources we need to thrive. And that's
• 21:14
  Speaker 10: what we need to focus on collectively and together rather
• 21:17
  Speaker 10: than these you know, attacks on a small segment of
• 21:20
  Speaker 10: the population.
• 21:21
  Speaker 5: And this quick note talking to listening audience about the
• 21:26
  Speaker 5: fact that the black and brown people are highly targeted
• 21:31
  Speaker 5: in some of these attacks because a lot of people
• 21:35
  Speaker 5: don't know that black and brown people have a harder
• 21:40
  Speaker 5: time than the constituents so that the white plans people.
• 21:45
  Speaker 10: Yeah, absolutely, and so I think you know the role
• 21:48
  Speaker 10: of social service organizations like the Montra Center and our
• 21:50
  Speaker 10: kind of coalision of community partners, right, is to make
• 21:54
  Speaker 10: sure that we are elevating these facts for knowledge, right,
• 21:57
  Speaker 10: that we're elevating these facts to elected representatives, that we're
• 22:00
  Speaker 10: elevating these backs to offices right like HPD, that they
• 22:04
  Speaker 10: understand what the statistics show around who is most impacted,
• 22:08
  Speaker 10: and more importantly than they understand the why, what's going
• 22:11
  Speaker 10: on behind the scenes that causes black and brown trans
• 22:14
  Speaker 10: people to be vulnerable? And then how do we collectively
• 22:16
  Speaker 10: wrap our arms together around those problems and solve for them?
• 22:20
  Speaker 11: Right?
• 22:20
  Speaker 10: How do we show and demonstrate a commitment to things
• 22:22
  Speaker 10: like economic empowerment, to things like making sure there is
• 22:26
  Speaker 10: a solid safety net, a social safety net, particularly for
• 22:30
  Speaker 10: trans folks who are black and brown, and making sure
• 22:32
  Speaker 10: they have access to discrimination free, competent healthcare and resources. Right,
• 22:38
  Speaker 10: those are the things we need to focus on that
• 22:40
  Speaker 10: will help move the needle and solve the problems.
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: The Supreme Court decisions have been a setback nationally against
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: the kids who just want to participate. Kathy Renna is
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: the communication director with the National LGBTQ Task Force.
• 22:55
  Speaker 7: It's really important that people understand the impact of this right.
• 23:00
  Speaker 7: I mean, they's a devastating decision. It was not a
• 23:02
  Speaker 7: huge surprise, to be honest, but it's not a national
• 23:06
  Speaker 7: band on trans participation in sports. Basically, what the court
• 23:10
  Speaker 7: did was they are allowing discrimination against trans individuals in
• 23:16
  Speaker 7: sports in states that pass laws that say that they can.
• 23:21
  Speaker 11: Right.
• 23:22
  Speaker 7: So, I live in New Jersey, and in New Jersey,
• 23:25
  Speaker 7: our laws protect trans people, so this does not actually
• 23:28
  Speaker 7: affect us. But if you're in a different state where
• 23:31
  Speaker 7: there is a band like the folks who sued here, right,
• 23:34
  Speaker 7: and other states, that's where you're going to see the
• 23:38
  Speaker 7: impact on folks. They're saying it is okay to discriminate
• 23:42
  Speaker 7: against young athletes who just want to play and participate
• 23:46
  Speaker 7: with their peers and get all of the benefits of
• 23:49
  Speaker 7: being involved in sports that every kid does, which you know,
• 23:53
  Speaker 7: again we're talking about you know, children and youth and
• 23:56
  Speaker 7: young people.
• 23:57
  Speaker 11: And it's also.
• 23:58
  Speaker 5: Effects a transgender person here that was effect that that
• 24:03
  Speaker 5: was killed, and it seems like this might be an
• 24:06
  Speaker 5: open door for extremists out there to you know attack
• 24:11
  Speaker 5: I mean.
• 24:13
  Speaker 7: Right, there's so much that's been happening for the past
• 24:16
  Speaker 7: you know, between five ten and even longer, but like
• 24:19
  Speaker 7: especially with the accelerated attacks on trans and non binary
• 24:23
  Speaker 7: folks that we've been seeing from all areas, whether local, state,
• 24:27
  Speaker 7: or federal right. I mean, the first day of his inauguration,
• 24:29
  Speaker 7: day after his inauguration, Trump was putting out executive orders
• 24:33
  Speaker 7: that were attacking trans people and attempting to marginalize and
• 24:36
  Speaker 7: erase trans people. So you know, that just contributes to
• 24:39
  Speaker 7: the larger climate of discrimination and hate and violence. You're
• 24:42
  Speaker 7: absolutely right, But you know, I think that's the concern
• 24:46
  Speaker 7: here is that this decision is really setting a really
• 24:50
  Speaker 7: bad precedent, and what it does is it's going to
• 24:52
  Speaker 7: open the door to a larger scope of discrimination against
• 24:57
  Speaker 7: trans people. This is all part of a much more
• 25:00
  Speaker 7: more expansive campaign to attack and exclude and erase trans
• 25:06
  Speaker 7: adults as well from public life. I mean, look at
• 25:09
  Speaker 7: the number of hospitals that are now denying gender firming care.
• 25:14
  Speaker 7: Like again, as I said, I live in New Jersey
• 25:16
  Speaker 7: this afternoon, ironically, actually we're about to pass a shield
• 25:20
  Speaker 7: law to protect gender firming care and protect reproductive rights,
• 25:23
  Speaker 7: which are both under attack by you know, far right
• 25:27
  Speaker 7: white nationalist extremists. So yes, absolutely that this contributes and
• 25:33
  Speaker 7: you know adds to the climate of hate and violence,
• 25:37
  Speaker 7: potential and discrimination against trans people and also opens the
• 25:41
  Speaker 7: door to you know, it's a victory for them, so
• 25:43
  Speaker 7: they're going to feel emboldened. Then they're going to try
• 25:45
  Speaker 7: and push even further. And you know, I think the
• 25:48
  Speaker 7: challenge is, are they going to now go after trans
• 25:51
  Speaker 7: adults and affirming care, which they kind of in many
• 25:54
  Speaker 7: places already are right, So we're going to start to
• 25:57
  Speaker 7: see valid initiative for sports bands, We're going to start
• 26:00
  Speaker 7: to see more overt pieces of legislation being promoted to
• 26:05
  Speaker 7: discriminate against trans people of all ages.
• 26:09
  Speaker 5: But the argument they made was that this offense, this
• 26:13
  Speaker 5: young women are being are being denied the opportunity to
• 26:17
  Speaker 5: participate in sports, and they're getting hurt by trance people
• 26:23
  Speaker 5: that wants to participate in these sports and women are
• 26:27
  Speaker 5: young girls are getting hurt. Young girls are being denied
• 26:30
  Speaker 5: access to participating in the doors because it's taken away.
• 26:33
  Speaker 5: I'm just saying it's what they're saying. It takes away,
• 26:36
  Speaker 5: it takes away a spot for other other girls.
• 26:41
  Speaker 7: I'll say two things to that. One is there's absolutely
• 26:43
  Speaker 7: no evidence of that. First of all, like that's let's
• 26:46
  Speaker 7: be clear about that. We are talking about a handful
• 26:48
  Speaker 7: of kids here. I know some of them, like they
• 26:51
  Speaker 7: are not stealing a spot from assist gender girl for
• 26:54
  Speaker 7: goodness sakes. I mean, this is about fear mongering, and
• 26:57
  Speaker 7: it's about attacking a very tiny minority of people who
• 27:01
  Speaker 7: are easy targets. And the other piece of this that
• 27:04
  Speaker 7: I think is really important for folks to understand is
• 27:07
  Speaker 7: that this is really rooted in sexism and misogyny. You know,
• 27:11
  Speaker 7: you can look at sort of sports stereotypes, right, and
• 27:15
  Speaker 7: so you know, and this is true not just for
• 27:18
  Speaker 7: trans women, but also for lesbian and bisexual women, Like
• 27:22
  Speaker 7: all of the supposed quote unquote you can't see my
• 27:25
  Speaker 7: fingers making air quotes positive, you know, attributes for athletes
• 27:29
  Speaker 7: like being aggressive, being competitive, being leaders. You know, those
• 27:33
  Speaker 7: are all seen as positives for men, and somehow they're
• 27:36
  Speaker 7: being twisted into a negative if a trans woman is
• 27:39
  Speaker 7: perceived as aggressive, right, Like you know, if you're playing
• 27:43
  Speaker 7: field packy, I'm playing field packing for seven years in junior,
• 27:46
  Speaker 7: high school and high school and got to be aggressive, right.
• 27:48
  Speaker 7: I Mean, it's really the sad thing is that this
• 27:52
  Speaker 7: will affect a lot of girls and women, not just
• 27:56
  Speaker 7: trans girls and women, because it is rooted in misogyny,
• 28:02
  Speaker 7: and a bias and discrimination and stereotyping of what it
• 28:06
  Speaker 7: means to be a woman and what it means to
• 28:08
  Speaker 7: be quote unquote feminine. So again, like I think people
• 28:13
  Speaker 7: should really be concerned that this is not just about
• 28:17
  Speaker 7: a tiny percentage, a one percent part of our population
• 28:21
  Speaker 7: that is being scapegoaded and fear mongered about to score
• 28:25
  Speaker 7: political points.
• 28:27
  Speaker 5: And they also I'm just saying, but they also are
• 28:31
  Speaker 5: saying that he's you know, the president actually has been
• 28:34
  Speaker 5: saying it also that you know, this is something that's
• 28:38
  Speaker 5: been happening for a long time, and that women are
• 28:40
  Speaker 5: women are out participating in women girls are out participating
• 28:44
  Speaker 5: in sports, that they are getting hurt because they put
• 28:47
  Speaker 5: commercials out.
• 28:48
  Speaker 7: Again, there is absolutely no proof of that. I mean,
• 28:53
  Speaker 7: he might he might be able to find one poor child,
• 28:56
  Speaker 7: damaged child that he brought to the State of the
• 28:58
  Speaker 7: Union with their parents who was forced to de transition,
• 29:03
  Speaker 7: and my heart broke for that kid when I saw
• 29:06
  Speaker 7: them at the State of the Union. I have worked
• 29:09
  Speaker 7: with trans youth and their families for decades. It is
• 29:12
  Speaker 7: absolutely ridiculous. There is absolutely no evidence of this. And
• 29:16
  Speaker 7: again they are clearly they're not afraid to lie. We've
• 29:19
  Speaker 7: seen that for the last you know, since the day
• 29:21
  Speaker 7: one of this administration. But the reality is they're doing
• 29:26
  Speaker 7: it about a group of people that a lot of
• 29:29
  Speaker 7: folks don't know about it. I mean, I would hope
• 29:31
  Speaker 7: that folks who are hearing about this trying to understand
• 29:36
  Speaker 7: the issue better, Like if they could just see if
• 29:40
  Speaker 7: they could just see a young trans girl participating in
• 29:44
  Speaker 7: a sport, let's say field hockey, because that's a really
• 29:47
  Speaker 7: good example who is now being excluded, excluded from learning
• 29:52
  Speaker 7: about team play, excluded from learning about leadership, excluded from
• 29:55
  Speaker 7: all the health benefits both mental health and physical health
• 29:58
  Speaker 7: of being engaged in sports, and missing out on the
• 30:01
  Speaker 7: affirmation of family and friends and and students, you know,
• 30:05
  Speaker 7: other students cheering them on from the sideline. I mean,
• 30:08
  Speaker 7: they're they're doing this. They're not doing this because for
• 30:11
  Speaker 7: any other reason that they just want to participate. They
• 30:13
  Speaker 7: just want to be part of It's part of their
• 30:16
  Speaker 7: academic experience, it's part of their childhood.
• 30:19
  Speaker 11: And that's what that's what.
• 30:20
  Speaker 7: This court is feeling away from young people who are
• 30:23
  Speaker 7: living in these states where there are bands on trans
• 30:27
  Speaker 7: youth and sports. So that's really the bottom line here.
• 30:32
  Speaker 3: How is that gonna affit. I'm in Texas right now.
• 30:36
  Speaker 5: Uh, I guess it's just uh if confirms are gives
• 30:40
  Speaker 5: the courts, gives the courts the right to ban women,
• 30:46
  Speaker 5: banned girls in sports here in Texas. What else does it?
• 30:50
  Speaker 5: What else is it? How else does it fit?
• 30:52
  Speaker 7: I mean what it does right now is, you know,
• 30:57
  Speaker 7: it gives space for you to as a statewide ballot
• 31:02
  Speaker 7: initiative or you know, local city and municipality bans on
• 31:08
  Speaker 7: trans youth and sports. It opens up the door to
• 31:11
  Speaker 7: make that okay. And that's where you know, we partner
• 31:14
  Speaker 7: with groups like Kent and other trans organizations in Texas,
• 31:19
  Speaker 7: you know, I mean, Texas is a place where we
• 31:21
  Speaker 7: know the state law is pretty clear. It mandates that
• 31:24
  Speaker 7: you know, athletes compete on sports teams that align to
• 31:27
  Speaker 7: the sex they were assigned at birth. In other words,
• 31:30
  Speaker 7: a trans person cannot participate. So it doesn't affect you
• 31:36
  Speaker 7: in the sense that you already have a terrible law.
• 31:38
  Speaker 7: But what it does affect you is that, you know,
• 31:40
  Speaker 7: again it opens up the door to you know, other
• 31:43
  Speaker 7: states around you, to the rest of the country, and
• 31:45
  Speaker 7: of course, like I said before, to this horrific climate
• 31:48
  Speaker 7: for trans people you know, all over the United States
• 31:51
  Speaker 7: and frankly around the world, as they continue to be
• 31:54
  Speaker 7: scapegoaded for you know, for cheap political points and to
• 31:58
  Speaker 7: distract us from the very serious issues that we're dealing with,
• 32:02
  Speaker 7: right I mean, whether it's the economy, or whether it's
• 32:04
  Speaker 7: the war in Iran, or whether it's you know, election fraud.
• 32:07
  Speaker 7: I mean, you know, they need some other decisions today
• 32:10
  Speaker 7: that people should really really care about around you know,
• 32:13
  Speaker 7: campaign financing for elections. I mean, I'm glad that we
• 32:17
  Speaker 7: had one good decision that actually upheld our constitution as
• 32:21
  Speaker 7: we are about to celebrate the two and fiftieth anniversary
• 32:25
  Speaker 7: of this country, which is that birthright citizenship.
• 32:28
  Speaker 11: Has been upheld. I mean, that's the reality is.
• 32:31
  Speaker 7: You need to connect the dots here.
• 32:33
  Speaker 5: I was going to say, can you explain to listeners
• 32:36
  Speaker 5: about trans and and and.
• 32:41
  Speaker 3: Getting medical medical care?
• 32:43
  Speaker 5: I guess I guess I'm talking about when they're changing gender.
• 32:50
  Speaker 7: So the word that the word we use this transition.
• 32:53
  Speaker 7: So I mean, this is again there.
• 32:55
  Speaker 3: Is a lot people will people need. Sure, that's what they're.
• 33:00
  Speaker 7: Saying because it they're saying that because it demeans and
• 33:04
  Speaker 7: minimizes the deep personal medical decisions that a child and
• 33:10
  Speaker 7: their family make when they decide that they want to transition.
• 33:14
  Speaker 7: This is not First of all, this doesn't happen like overnight.
• 33:18
  Speaker 7: This is not a further rowan thing. This is a
• 33:21
  Speaker 7: well researched, medically approved process that includes everyone from an
• 33:26
  Speaker 7: endocrinologist to a therapist, a family therapist to a therapist
• 33:30
  Speaker 7: for the child, so that they go through the process
• 33:33
  Speaker 7: to really understand where this child is and what is
• 33:38
  Speaker 7: the best course.
• 33:38
  Speaker 11: Of action for them.
• 33:40
  Speaker 7: This is about young kids, and I'm talking you know,
• 33:43
  Speaker 7: they start at two and three years old where they
• 33:46
  Speaker 7: are insistent, persistent, and consistent, that's the phrase of Jews
• 33:52
  Speaker 7: around there in their in their brain and in their heart,
• 33:57
  Speaker 7: knowing that they are not in alliance with they're not
• 34:02
  Speaker 7: aligned with the gender that they were assigned at birth.
• 34:06
  Speaker 11: And this is science.
• 34:08
  Speaker 7: This is gender is a spectrum, just the same way
• 34:11
  Speaker 7: sexual orientation is, just the same way eye color and
• 34:14
  Speaker 7: handedness are. It's a complex biological human trait, right that
• 34:19
  Speaker 7: we really need to better understand and learn about before
• 34:23
  Speaker 7: we start making decisions. Willing nearly that you know you can't,
• 34:27
  Speaker 7: you know, you can't allow young people to have gender
• 34:30
  Speaker 7: affirming care or you know, reproductive care. I mean, the
• 34:33
  Speaker 7: reality is, a gender firming care can mean be a
• 34:35
  Speaker 7: lot of things, like I mean, let's put it straight
• 34:38
  Speaker 7: people and assist people get gender firming care all the time.
• 34:40
  Speaker 7: It's called facelifts and facelifts and botox and you know
• 34:44
  Speaker 7: all the other things we do to be more feminine
• 34:47
  Speaker 7: or more masculine or look younger. I mean, that's all,
• 34:50
  Speaker 7: it's all that's cosmetic. But like the reality is, these
• 34:55
  Speaker 7: young people are very clear about who they are and
• 34:58
  Speaker 7: we can.
• 34:58
  Speaker 11: Decide whether or not we want to help them and help.
• 35:01
  Speaker 7: Them live healthy lives or not. Because when you deny
• 35:04
  Speaker 7: this kind of care to young people, then you see
• 35:07
  Speaker 7: the negative outcomes. The negative outcomes that can include self
• 35:12
  Speaker 7: harm and suicide and you know, and all the other
• 35:16
  Speaker 7: lists of you know, horrible things that can happen when
• 35:18
  Speaker 7: someone is dealing with that level of rejection and dysphoria
• 35:22
  Speaker 7: and pain and stress and depression from you know, being forced,
• 35:28
  Speaker 7: you know, to live a life that is not who
• 35:30
  Speaker 7: they really are.
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: The suspect in the Conway murder has confessed, and there
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: was evidence found at the scene that points to him.
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: He waits in Harris County jail for his court date. Hi,
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: this is Steve Gallington, producer and host of The People's News.
• 35:48
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• 35:51
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• 36:01
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• 36:06
  Speaker 1: by spreaker dot com and linked to my website Gallington
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: dot com. Patrece La Mumba was the first Prime Minister
• 36:16
  Speaker 1: of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and a symbol
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: of African independence and resistance. He was overthrown and killed
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: in nineteen sixty two by the army with the help
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  Speaker 1: for his Pan Africanism and his fight against colonization by Belgium.
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: The echoes of La Mumba's influence is showing in Africa's
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: representation at this year's Men's World Cup. Tuscheppo Masanga Cherry
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: is an associate professor of history at the University of Houston.
• 36:52
  Speaker 1: She is South African and we had her on to
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: talk about the history of the Congo and La Mumba
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: So commented on the June thirtieth deadline where non South
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: Africans were told to leave the US or else.
• 37:08
  Speaker 12: The date of June thirtieth, twenty twenty six was an
• 37:12
  Speaker 12: unofficial deadline that basically demanded that undocumented foreign nationals leave
• 37:20
  Speaker 12: the country. This comes attached to the movement named March
• 37:25
  Speaker 12: and March, which is a group that's led by the
• 37:30
  Speaker 12: former president Jacob Zuma's daughter, Jacinda Zuma, and she's led
• 37:36
  Speaker 12: these nationwide demonstrations that are calling for not only just
• 37:42
  Speaker 12: tougher laws on illegal undocumented I would say, but she's
• 37:48
  Speaker 12: calling them illegal legal immigrants, but undocumented largely African migrants
• 37:59
  Speaker 12: who are coming from nations such as Malawi, as Zimbabwe,
• 38:03
  Speaker 12: as Nigeria and Somalia and Ethiopia. There of course Pakistani
• 38:11
  Speaker 12: as well, so they're there, I would say, specific groups
• 38:15
  Speaker 12: of people that are that are the that's the focus
• 38:20
  Speaker 12: of this March on March movement. That's not to say
• 38:24
  Speaker 12: that there aren't other foreign nationals living in South Africa
• 38:28
  Speaker 12: and concentrated groups and that there aren't other foreign nationals
• 38:33
  Speaker 12: who are undocumented living in South Africa. So, for instance,
• 38:38
  Speaker 12: some of the pushback against this has been that the
• 38:42
  Speaker 12: focus has been largely on African immigrants. Of course, with
• 38:45
  Speaker 12: that exception of the pakistanis that would include but she's
• 38:49
  Speaker 12: gotten some critique and criticism about not paying attention to
• 38:55
  Speaker 12: for instance, Chinese immigrants as well as a European immigrants
• 39:01
  Speaker 12: who are coming into South Africa.
• 39:05
  Speaker 11: Part of the I would say.
• 39:06
  Speaker 12: The ground swell around this movement is and is multifaceted,
• 39:12
  Speaker 12: but the focus has been on the fact that South
• 39:16
  Speaker 12: Africa's unemployment rate continues to rise. At this point, it's
• 39:21
  Speaker 12: about thirty two percent and might even be more with
• 39:26
  Speaker 12: the majority of that thirty two percent hovering around you know, younger.
• 39:32
  Speaker 11: South Africans, but of course.
• 39:34
  Speaker 12: Extending into sort of midlife South Africans. So this this
• 39:40
  Speaker 12: rise in unemployment, of course, the economy that has been
• 39:45
  Speaker 12: fairly unstable. Considering let's just say if we move back
• 39:49
  Speaker 12: several years to the beginning of COVID.
• 39:54
  Speaker 11: And that that that.
• 39:55
  Speaker 12: Heavy the heavy impact it had on South africa economy
• 40:01
  Speaker 12: has kind of spurred a lot of South Africans around
• 40:06
  Speaker 12: this issue. Additionally, she has really kind of capitalized on
• 40:12
  Speaker 12: the use of resources that foreign nationals have access to,
• 40:18
  Speaker 12: and so we're talking about education, healthcare, and I would
• 40:26
  Speaker 12: also add the taking over and that's kind of her language,
• 40:31
  Speaker 12: the taking over certain segments of the economy, a largely
• 40:37
  Speaker 12: kind of informal segments, such as those informal shops in
• 40:44
  Speaker 12: highly black concentrated areas like formerly known as townships.
• 40:49
  Speaker 11: Those have been part of her focus.
• 40:52
  Speaker 5: What would be the difference between I know a lot
• 40:56
  Speaker 5: of people would say that, you know, the South like
• 40:58
  Speaker 5: the same thing that's going on in Nigeria and the
• 41:01
  Speaker 5: United States.
• 41:02
  Speaker 12: Yeah, I think there are some there's some marked differences
• 41:07
  Speaker 12: that we have to pay attention to. And let me
• 41:10
  Speaker 12: just start by saying that, you know, the the deadline
• 41:16
  Speaker 12: was was the thirtieth of June, and what it brought
• 41:22
  Speaker 12: on was thousands of South Africans going through the streets
• 41:28
  Speaker 12: throughout the nation. And they in the beginning of the
• 41:34
  Speaker 12: reporting around.
• 41:35
  Speaker 11: This, they said that it was largely peaceful. People took over.
• 41:41
  Speaker 12: Large, you know, large parts of cities and that there
• 41:47
  Speaker 12: was a large police presence as well as a military
• 41:50
  Speaker 12: presence throughout the country. I would say later on in
• 41:55
  Speaker 12: the late afternoon and evening there there were as kind
• 42:01
  Speaker 12: of expected bouts of not just chaos but also of violence.
• 42:07
  Speaker 12: In Hillbro, a kind of a suburb of Johannesburg or
• 42:12
  Speaker 12: part of Johannesburg.
• 42:13
  Speaker 11: There was a shooting.
• 42:14
  Speaker 12: It's still some of the details of that are not
• 42:17
  Speaker 12: fully unpacked, but of course in social media there are
• 42:22
  Speaker 12: all kinds of accounts that are coming out as to
• 42:25
  Speaker 12: whether UH Nigerian national shot South Africans and their questionings
• 42:32
  Speaker 12: about that. There's also an incident in Germans germanstn Uh
• 42:39
  Speaker 12: where UH there were all kinds of South Africans going
• 42:46
  Speaker 12: literally door to door considering smoking out people, so essentially
• 42:52
  Speaker 12: pulling foreign nationals out of their homes. And I mean
• 42:56
  Speaker 12: we saw things like this happening in Ireland earlier, so
• 43:01
  Speaker 12: pulling out foreign nationals from their home, whether they were
• 43:05
  Speaker 12: documented or undocumented. Right, So this is another kind of
• 43:10
  Speaker 12: breach in the discussion or the calls that Justinus is
• 43:16
  Speaker 12: citing that she's you know, she's calling for, but the
• 43:20
  Speaker 12: kind of mobilization that she's pulling from is also the
• 43:24
  Speaker 12: kind of mobilization uh, you know that you might attached
• 43:29
  Speaker 12: to a figure like her father, and the call for
• 43:36
  Speaker 12: a kind of of of getting white South Africans not
• 43:43
  Speaker 12: necessarily out, that's not necessarily the language specifically, but the
• 43:50
  Speaker 12: recalling of some of those struggle songs that attach violence
• 43:57
  Speaker 12: to white South Africans. So this is a very pre
• 43:59
  Speaker 12: care various situations in terms of the rhetoric that's coming
• 44:03
  Speaker 12: out of it. In Germisten, unfortunately, what I've seen reported
• 44:09
  Speaker 12: there is that you even had young children who of
• 44:14
  Speaker 12: of foreign nationals being hurt by by groups of marauders,
• 44:22
  Speaker 12: I would suggest, And so they are all of these
• 44:26
  Speaker 12: ways in which the lead up to this has led
• 44:31
  Speaker 12: other African countries to help evacuate there foreign nationals, to
• 44:37
  Speaker 12: help bring them back, whether by bus by plane. You
• 44:43
  Speaker 12: also had major chaos as far as concerns about safety.
• 44:49
  Speaker 11: So for for.
• 44:51
  Speaker 12: Days on end, you saw Malaalans sleeping at the border,
• 44:56
  Speaker 12: Ghanaians sleeping at embassies or outside of embassy. So it's
• 45:01
  Speaker 12: it's really, i would say, a very untenable situation. What
• 45:07
  Speaker 12: I would say is the very important difference in the
• 45:11
  Speaker 12: South African case is that South Africa's immigration laws passed
• 45:17
  Speaker 12: apart or post apartheid, were really considered the kind of
• 45:25
  Speaker 12: solidarity and support that other African nations gave the country
• 45:30
  Speaker 12: as they battle apartheid.
• 45:33
  Speaker 5: Before we leave, I wanted to just go in and
• 45:36
  Speaker 5: talk about you know, talk about the World Cup and
• 45:40
  Speaker 5: South South Africa is involvement with that. But how ironic
• 45:44
  Speaker 5: is it that we have African countries that the US
• 45:48
  Speaker 5: and some of the colonial countries are responsible for a
• 45:51
  Speaker 5: lot of the problems a lot of those.
• 45:53
  Speaker 13: Countries have, especially dealing with the Congo and now they're
• 45:59
  Speaker 13: now they're playing in the United States where you know
• 46:03
  Speaker 13: that was which the United States was was implicited in
• 46:08
  Speaker 13: the the overthrows of a lot of governments in Africa.
• 46:13
  Speaker 12: Yes, so the World Cup I think has uh maybe I.
• 46:20
  Speaker 11: Can say.
• 46:22
  Speaker 12: Part of my own thinking about the World Cup, of
• 46:25
  Speaker 12: course is influenced by being here, uh in the United States,
• 46:29
  Speaker 12: and of course being in Houston. But I think it's
• 46:34
  Speaker 12: sort of captured, uh as.
• 46:36
  Speaker 11: It always does, really the global attention.
• 46:39
  Speaker 12: But now I think, of course it's it's had a
• 46:42
  Speaker 12: mighty swing on on the West and here in the US.
• 46:46
  Speaker 12: And I think what has been interesting about watching the
• 46:49
  Speaker 12: World Cup, and we started to talk about this previously,
• 46:54
  Speaker 12: that you have this dynamic where you have a lot
• 46:59
  Speaker 12: of really players of color, African players who are representing
• 47:05
  Speaker 12: or of African descent, representing different countries, also representing their
• 47:09
  Speaker 12: own countries.
• 47:11
  Speaker 11: And this moment where you have.
• 47:15
  Speaker 12: I'm trying to keep myself from talking about so many games,
• 47:18
  Speaker 12: but this moment where you have this opportunity for countries
• 47:22
  Speaker 12: who are not necessarily seen as world players on the
• 47:26
  Speaker 12: global stage. And if you'll just let me sort of
• 47:29
  Speaker 12: deviate for one second, one thing that was really interesting
• 47:32
  Speaker 12: and powerful was watching kind of these two countries that
• 47:37
  Speaker 12: have concentrated players of African descent. You have Brazil and
• 47:44
  Speaker 12: you have Haiti playing together on the world stage on juneteenth,
• 47:51
  Speaker 12: and so kind of the symbolism and the thinking around
• 47:54
  Speaker 12: freedom and sovereignty, and I think it was a and
• 47:59
  Speaker 12: also saw arity because I would think that the Haitian
• 48:02
  Speaker 12: players would probably support the Brazilian players, just at least
• 48:06
  Speaker 12: in jest, if they weren't necessarily playing each other. But
• 48:10
  Speaker 12: as far as Congo, and maybe a less beautiful story
• 48:15
  Speaker 12: or history is that we are watching, if we're keeping
• 48:19
  Speaker 12: abreast of what's happening.
• 48:21
  Speaker 11: Around the world, a total.
• 48:25
  Speaker 12: State failure, are ways of state failure throughout Congo over time.
• 48:33
  Speaker 12: In the last few months, I think we've even we've
• 48:37
  Speaker 12: even spoken about the falling of various cities through these
• 48:42
  Speaker 12: uh this armed conflict that's happening through the d r C.
• 48:46
  Speaker 12: We've talked about Goma, but when it comes to, for instance,
• 48:51
  Speaker 12: the World Cup, what we saw are some really dignified
• 48:55
  Speaker 12: and and not to mention.
• 48:57
  Speaker 11: Also Ebola, that is.
• 49:01
  Speaker 12: That is affecting many nations, not just Congo but also Uganda.
• 49:07
  Speaker 12: But we saw these Congolese players come through through customs
• 49:16
  Speaker 12: I would say cumbersomely and be able to come and
• 49:20
  Speaker 12: play in the United States. Some of the things that
• 49:23
  Speaker 12: people mentioned just kind of that strong Congolese pride, and
• 49:27
  Speaker 12: they have been known for a particular kind of display
• 49:32
  Speaker 12: of fashion, et cetera. But I think part of what
• 49:36
  Speaker 12: you saw and why you saw that kind of self
• 49:39
  Speaker 12: fashioning even before the game, was because of the ways
• 49:43
  Speaker 12: in which Congo has been portrayed unstable economically, politically. They
• 49:50
  Speaker 12: are in many ways kind of the epitome of maybe
• 49:55
  Speaker 12: what people would point at, see what's wrong with Africa,
• 49:58
  Speaker 12: This is broken Africa. But Congo has always had an
• 50:03
  Speaker 12: incredible wealth of minerals of I mean, I think the
• 50:07
  Speaker 12: thing that we most know it for diamonds and the
• 50:10
  Speaker 12: conflict around the diamonds itself, but it has a larger
• 50:14
  Speaker 12: history that's attached to this where you have not just
• 50:18
  Speaker 12: the US but Western intelligence that was constantly targeting Congolese leaders.
• 50:25
  Speaker 12: One of the most well known, I think to mention
• 50:28
  Speaker 12: here is Patrice Lamumba, who.
• 50:32
  Speaker 5: Was a.
• 50:35
  Speaker 11: I would say he was really a political genius.
• 50:38
  Speaker 12: In a lot of different ways, trying to set Congo
• 50:41
  Speaker 12: up for full sovereignty, economic viability. But was his time here,
• 50:49
  Speaker 12: I think was was quite short and sort of taken
• 50:53
  Speaker 12: down by eventually his best friend with the help of
• 50:59
  Speaker 12: intelligence work. As we've found out in the last We've
• 51:02
  Speaker 12: known for quite some time, but the evidence of that
• 51:05
  Speaker 12: has continued to be revealed in the last ten years
• 51:09
  Speaker 12: or so. Patrisa Mumba was the first Prime Minister of
• 51:13
  Speaker 12: the First Congolese Republic from June until about September of
• 51:20
  Speaker 12: nineteen sixty following that election in May nineteen sixty And
• 51:25
  Speaker 12: I mentioned kind of the time period because of course
• 51:28
  Speaker 12: it was short, right, So he was the first democratically
• 51:33
  Speaker 12: elected prime minister. He's really celebrated for trying to unify
• 51:39
  Speaker 12: the country's diverse ethnic groups under this sort of a
• 51:42
  Speaker 12: single nationalistic party. He was trying to lead the nation
• 51:47
  Speaker 12: fully to independence from Belgium. Belgium in June nineteenth. June
• 51:54
  Speaker 12: thirty is actually nineteen sixty, so I can see why
• 51:56
  Speaker 12: it's appropriate that we're even talking about Congo right now
• 52:01
  Speaker 12: in this moment.
• 52:02
  Speaker 11: But he had a number of.
• 52:05
  Speaker 12: Key things that he was pushing forth, and I do
• 52:08
  Speaker 12: think that if some of these things came into fruition,
• 52:12
  Speaker 12: there would have been much more stability and also control
• 52:15
  Speaker 12: over the.
• 52:16
  Speaker 11: Immense wealth that Congo has. And if we were to
• 52:20
  Speaker 11: sort of.
• 52:20
  Speaker 12: Follow from nineteen sixty of until now, you'll just see
• 52:24
  Speaker 12: that almost each decade our waves of instability and what
• 52:29
  Speaker 12: appears to be which I'm not suggesting it wasn't just that,
• 52:33
  Speaker 12: but appears to be infighting among African leaders and therefore
• 52:37
  Speaker 12: the inability to govern itself. But there's this kind of
• 52:41
  Speaker 12: underhanded way in which underhanded way in which the intelligence
• 52:47
  Speaker 12: made sure that someone like La Mumba would not be.
• 52:52
  Speaker 11: Would not be able to govern under his party that.
• 52:55
  Speaker 12: He co found as a movement, the National Congolese move
• 53:01
  Speaker 12: So so just to even have them show up, I
• 53:06
  Speaker 12: think is big. And then I think maybe what we'll
• 53:09
  Speaker 12: even talk about in the future is just a Congolese
• 53:12
  Speaker 12: community here in the United States in Houston and they're.
• 53:17
  Speaker 11: Kind of vying for.
• 53:21
  Speaker 12: Trying to clarify I think the history but also kind
• 53:24
  Speaker 12: of the the contributions of the Congo on the whole.
• 53:32
  Speaker 12: And I think we saw that throughout or we've been
• 53:34
  Speaker 12: seeing it throughout the World Cup, where in a lot
• 53:37
  Speaker 12: of ways, certain countries in particular become kind of political
• 53:42
  Speaker 12: ambassadors if you will, or have the opportunity to do
• 53:46
  Speaker 12: that for their country, sometimes fairly and sometimes otherwise. We
• 53:51
  Speaker 12: saw that in the case of the Iranian players, who
• 53:54
  Speaker 12: are constantly asked questions around issues political issues and had
• 53:59
  Speaker 12: to of course fly in for each of their games
• 54:02
  Speaker 12: due to restrictions being being in the US.
• 54:08
  Speaker 11: But I think.
• 54:10
  Speaker 12: If you if there are a couple of things that
• 54:13
  Speaker 12: you wanted us to speak about more specifically, I could
• 54:17
  Speaker 12: I could kind of speak to that. But of course
• 54:21
  Speaker 12: we'll be seeing the Congolese players play England, I think
• 54:28
  Speaker 12: later on today.
• 54:29
  Speaker 11: If I actually in another hour.
• 54:33
  Speaker 12: Okay, yeah, I was like, I think we're coming up
• 54:35
  Speaker 12: on I mean, it's hard to keep up with all
• 54:37
  Speaker 12: of them. There's so many, and there are so many
• 54:39
  Speaker 12: we want to watch and keep up with. But yeah,
• 54:42
  Speaker 12: that they'll be uh playing today to really quickly for
• 54:46
  Speaker 12: those who don't know the reference to that Conglese super
• 54:49
  Speaker 12: fan and you should definitely look it up if you
• 54:52
  Speaker 12: are if you don't know him, but represent it goes
• 54:56
  Speaker 12: to the games represents Actually Patrese La Mumba has these
• 55:02
  Speaker 12: fantastic representations in terms of you know, his self fashioning,
• 55:06
  Speaker 12: but it's also statuesque in these uh in these games,
• 55:12
  Speaker 12: just a beautiful I would say, salute to the nation's
• 55:18
  Speaker 12: history and also his politics.
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: This interview was recorded the same day as England played
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: the Democratic Republic of Congo. England came back for a
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: two to one win. The Congolese were still proud of
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: the country and the team.
• 55:36
  Speaker 4: So this World Cup is not only so good for us,
• 55:40
  Speaker 4: it's also reburned of a country of a leopath. So
• 55:46
  Speaker 4: after fifty two years our country historically went through it
• 55:51
  Speaker 4: loox and right now we're whoa. So we need fully two.
• 55:55
  Speaker 4: So that's why those guys fighting to try to build
• 55:59
  Speaker 4: up you here. So it's not only scar but it's
• 56:04
  Speaker 4: culture and also is united of the culture.
• 56:09
  Speaker 3: What's what's up?
• 56:10
  Speaker 5: It's so well because we know the United States and
• 56:13
  Speaker 5: Belgium's involvement with the Mumba being overthrown.
• 56:16
  Speaker 3: In actually sixty two. Yeah, so what's the significance of
• 56:20
  Speaker 3: that being in the United.
• 56:21
  Speaker 6: States the same country there, So.
• 56:23
  Speaker 4: It wasn't really the United States that was involved in
• 56:26
  Speaker 4: the Mumba then it was Belgium more likely. So being
• 56:31
  Speaker 4: here for two years after and then with all those
• 56:34
  Speaker 4: new agreement of peace that's signing here in United States
• 56:38
  Speaker 4: of December, it is not a true president. It's also
• 56:41
  Speaker 4: kind of us to show us now he's a new
• 56:43
  Speaker 4: part and then we like to show our resilience to DC.
• 56:47
  Speaker 13: OK.
• 56:48
  Speaker 12: Thank yourself.
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: That was a local Congolese supporter speaking on how much
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: the presence of the Democratic Republic of Congo's team at
• 56:57
  Speaker 1: the World Cup has done for his country. The People's
• 57:02
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• 57:05
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