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The Best of The People's News 2026...so far! - TPN 3/8/26 · The People's News

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Speaker 1: It's the week of March eighth, twenty twenty six, and
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Speaker 1: this is what's on our special best of edition of
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Speaker 1: The People's News. HID closes schools, bringing fear to the community.
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Speaker 1: Trump bombs Iran to distract from the Epstein files and
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Speaker 1: crashes the US and world economy. Liberal lion Jesse Jackson
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Speaker 1: passed away. EPA rolls back in endangerment findings. All this
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Speaker 1: and more on The People's News. I'm Steve Gallington. This
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Speaker 1: is the People's News, and the People's News starts now.
0:45
Speaker 1: The selected not elected appointed by the Tea Board of
0:51
Speaker 1: Houston Independent School District voted to close twelve schools next year.
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Speaker 1: They have said the schools closed have poor attend and
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Speaker 1: that the students will be moved to other schools in
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Speaker 1: the area. The community came out to the school board
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Speaker 1: meeting to show their feelings of discontent. This comes as
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Speaker 1: long term teachers are leaving. The announcement comes as Superintendent
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Speaker 1: Mike Miles said he would not be closing schools when
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Speaker 1: he was first appointed into the role. There have been
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Speaker 1: some improvements in HID underneath the tea takeover. Ruth Huffman
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Speaker 1: Lack is a school psychologist and a community member.
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Speaker 2: Well, I mean it's twelve communities, right, It's not just one,
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Speaker 2: and each of those is an entity that has a
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Speaker 2: tradition and has history and has meaning for the families
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Speaker 2: and the children and the you know, the staff and
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Speaker 2: teachers and everybody who's involved. And breaking up communities is
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Speaker 2: sort of the modus operandi of this district under Mike Miles,
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Speaker 2: and all of everything we know about what is really
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Speaker 2: best for children and what's best in education is building
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Speaker 2: communities and building community schools and having places where kids
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Speaker 2: feel safe and feel known, and where parents feel that
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Speaker 2: they're connected and that there are resources and that people
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Speaker 2: are there for them. And so you know, this started
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Speaker 2: with putting in policies that drove out good teachers, that
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Speaker 2: you know, required teachers to treat all students as little robots,
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Speaker 2: and that you know, ignore special needs and not allow
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Speaker 2: kids to have time to socialize. And anyway, it's you know,
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Speaker 2: it's started at the beginning, right, and then all the
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Speaker 2: teachers have been leaving and principles have been turned over
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Speaker 2: at that you know, some schools are on their fourth
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Speaker 2: principle and all of that is just completely about disruption,
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Speaker 2: and none of that is good for learning, and none
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Speaker 2: of that is good to the emotional, you know, psychological
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Speaker 2: well being of anybody involved, especially with children. So this
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Speaker 2: is just sort of the next thing to be expected.
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Speaker 2: It's pretty clear that, you know, the intention of this
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Speaker 2: takeover was to destroy the district, and that's what they're doing.
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Speaker 2: So it's just a tragedy, a travity, a tragedy.
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Speaker 3: Also adding also adding to that, the propamvation of the schools.
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Speaker 2: It's horrible and it's interesting you see in the plan
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Speaker 2: for the eighteen eighty two and particularly the presentation last
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Speaker 2: night that they did about the pre k idea for
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Speaker 2: eighteen eighty twos, the idea is to basically be able
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Speaker 2: to get tax dollars into the hands of for profit companies.
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Speaker 2: Right because charters in Texas you only have to have
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Speaker 2: a nonprofit to get a charter, and once you are
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Speaker 2: given a charter, you can open as many schools as
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Speaker 2: you want. You don't have to get each one approved.
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Speaker 2: But the charters end up being pretty much like shell companies,
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Speaker 2: and they hire for profit companies to administer everything. So
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Speaker 2: the nonprofit, you know, the tax dollars go technically to
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Speaker 2: a nonprofit, but the nonprofit that money actually goes to
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Speaker 2: for profits. And and that turns into the same model
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Speaker 2: as what we have with healthcare now, right that everything
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Speaker 2: is driven by for profit insurance companies that are taking
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Speaker 2: this money and then figuring out how they can keep
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Speaker 2: more of it for themselves and provide the least amount
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Speaker 2: of service. And that's that's what this is headed towards.
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Speaker 2: And we've known that from the beginning.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, and the state, the states looking at as a
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Speaker 3: as a as a benefit that the teachers aren't learning
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Speaker 3: and not to teach students aren't learning, and it's a
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Speaker 3: better way to talk to one of the people that's
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Speaker 3: uh proponent of chartered schools and said, the kids are
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Speaker 3: going to be educated now, they're going to be great,
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Speaker 3: and they're gonna it's not going to kill the public
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Speaker 3: school and and and the governor said that more money
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Speaker 3: is going to be put put back into the public schools.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's not going to happen. Money is not going
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Speaker 2: into public schools.
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Speaker 3: I'm just saying what what the governor said. You know,
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Speaker 3: he said he said that this past legislation that they
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Speaker 3: allocated it fast amounts of money to go back to
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Speaker 3: public school.
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Speaker 2: Well, I mean he says a lot of things that
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Speaker 2: aren't true. So I mean, that's that's nothing new. I mean,
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Speaker 2: there's no reason to believe any of the It is
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Speaker 2: not we're not doing this in a vacuum. It's there
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Speaker 2: are plenty of other states that have had where we
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Speaker 2: have plenty of data from other states and from other
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Speaker 2: places where charters have taken over. New Orleans is a
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Speaker 2: great example, you know, and education in New Orleans is
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Speaker 2: a nightmare and it has not gotten better, it's gotten worse.
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Speaker 2: And the thing with charged. The other thing with charters
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Speaker 2: is there's no board, right, there's no it's not a
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Speaker 2: public there's no public accountability. And so you can call
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Speaker 2: charters quote public because they are paid for by public dollars,
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Speaker 2: but they do not operate the way the public school
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Speaker 2: districts do. And it's just a money making scheme. And
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Speaker 2: we know that, we've that's what Mike Miles has been
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Speaker 2: doing forever in Colorado, and that's what he's been trying
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Speaker 2: to do here in Texas. And that's what he's doing.
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Speaker 4: Do you think any other high schools will be affected
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Speaker 4: in a future or is it to say that these
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Speaker 4: cutting of schools based on enrollment, that's what he's saying.
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Speaker 2: Well, the enrollment is the thing. He's a lot that
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Speaker 2: he can you know, that's his So he of course
6:25
Speaker 2: they came in and created a situation where enrollment decreased. Right,
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Speaker 2: Let's just make sure we make that point, Like, the
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Speaker 2: population of Houston is increasing, but the but the enrollment
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Speaker 2: in in if I see, is decreasing. And there are
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Speaker 2: other reasons for that, but you know, there wasn't. I'm
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Speaker 2: not ignoring that there is a there's a lower birth rate,
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Speaker 2: there's all that stuff. But if the population is increasing,
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Speaker 2: then the enrollment in schools should not be decreasing precipitously, right,
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Speaker 2: And it's very clear that that, I mean, that's just
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Speaker 2: we don't even need to verify that that people are
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Speaker 2: leading the district because of him. So he created a
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Speaker 2: situation where enrollment went down on and then he gets
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Speaker 2: to use that as i you know, as a reason
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Speaker 2: to close schools. Then he'll sell off the building and
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Speaker 2: and make money for his buddies. Right, And the high
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Speaker 2: school closures are harder. It's harder to close the high
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Speaker 2: school because it's they're not you know, they have so
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Speaker 2: many schools feed into a high school. His justification is
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Speaker 2: always has to do with how many kids are in
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Speaker 2: the building versus how much, you know, how many kids
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Speaker 2: the building is designed to hold, and and how much
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Speaker 2: what's the word, you know? How much the conditions of
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Speaker 2: the building being good, you know, not good? And we
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Speaker 2: don't have high schools. Most high schools, I don't I'm
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Speaker 2: not aware of one at least that has a significantly
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Speaker 2: lower enrollment enrollment than what the building can hold.
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Speaker 5: Plus if he closed high schools, you.
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Speaker 2: Would have to put those kids somewhere else. And I
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Speaker 2: don't think that there are enough schools.
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Speaker 3: I don't know.
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Speaker 2: I don't know that you could absorb that number, a
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Speaker 2: whole high school worth of kids. I don't know.
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Speaker 3: But you know, that was something that mac Mail said
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Speaker 3: that you know, pretty problems a lot of things when
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Speaker 3: we came in here, and uh sure, one one was
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Speaker 3: that we have better schools. We have better teachers and
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Speaker 3: the teachers aspect. I heard we're losing teachers, but we're
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Speaker 3: dating teachers.
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Speaker 2: Well, we're losing losing teachers that have experience, and we're
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Speaker 2: gaining teachers who are people straight off the street, who
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Speaker 2: have no teaching experience at all and are just reading
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Speaker 2: a script.
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Speaker 3: Right And that's one of the problems we have is
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Speaker 3: that they have to read this to go about the
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Speaker 3: guidelines of HID so the script so to speak.
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Speaker 2: If not, it's not so to speak, script, it is
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Speaker 2: actually a script.
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Speaker 6: Yeah, it's a script. Wow.
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Speaker 5: Wow.
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Speaker 2: So that they alter any of the any of the slides,
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Speaker 2: they have to read exactly straight what's on the slide.
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Speaker 2: They did it all, they get in trouble. Even if
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Speaker 2: there is an error on the slide, they're not allowed
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Speaker 2: to correct it.
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Speaker 3: Is that you know, you just leave it that way?
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Speaker 5: Yeah wow, it's crazy. Yeah yeah.
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Speaker 6: Yeah.
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Speaker 3: Well, at the end of result of all this, right
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Speaker 3: now that the city was one of the.
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Speaker 7: City council members asking for Mike Miles to come to
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Speaker 7: city council and to keep on the closing of the
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Speaker 7: schools because now efects is the area has evolved with
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Speaker 7: that's my kids. So but what the mayor, the mayor
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Speaker 7: is saying that it's not it's not really a concern
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Speaker 7: of the city.
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Speaker 5: Yeah.
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Speaker 2: Well, unfortunately Houston has had a long history of this.
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Speaker 2: There's this weird sort of I don't know if any
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Speaker 2: other major city, grant you, I'm not a scholar on this,
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Speaker 2: but it is weird that Houston being the size of
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Speaker 2: the city it is. There's been this long thing about
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Speaker 2: the city government and the school district never have anything
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Speaker 2: to do with one another.
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Speaker 5: They do not that.
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Speaker 2: That's like they're just two separate totally. So, and I'm
9:50
Speaker 2: sure that has to do with money in politics. But
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Speaker 2: you know, the mayor to say that it has nothing
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Speaker 2: to do with the city is just completely naive. And
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Speaker 2: it's I don't think he really believes that. I think
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Speaker 2: that there you know, there's money behind you know, the
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Speaker 2: Greater Houston Partnership completely supports Mike Miles. And so the governor,
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Speaker 2: the mayor doesn't want to make the Greater Houston Partnership mad, right,
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Speaker 2: And and and Rick Campo, who's the president of the board,
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Speaker 2: is the big you know, he's the He's a very
10:17
Speaker 2: powerful man in Houston, let's put it that way. So
10:20
Speaker 2: you know, the mayor doesn't want to make them look bad, right,
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Speaker 2: because he depends on them for his his position. And
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Speaker 2: but when a school district falls, a part of the
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Speaker 2: city falls apart.
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Speaker 3: We know that.
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Speaker 2: I mean, that's just you can't attract people to come
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Speaker 2: if the schools are horrible. You don't produce people who
10:35
Speaker 2: can do the work that is needed to be hired,
10:37
Speaker 2: you know, for hiring, I mean the whole it's so
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Speaker 2: obvious and it's now rocket science. So it absolutely affects
10:43
Speaker 2: the city and it's a huge impact on the city.
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Speaker 2: But his failure to acknowledge that has to do with
10:47
Speaker 2: that's politics and power. I would I recommend there's a
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Speaker 2: Domingo Morrel wrote a book called Takeover Search and ended
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Speaker 2: up being a book and he's now a professor at
10:58
Speaker 2: n YU and he's on the commiss for the state
11:00
Speaker 2: takeover And basically his his research showed that statistically, if schools,
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Speaker 2: if a school district looks the same on paper, you know,
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Speaker 2: in every other way, a district in which there is
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Speaker 2: a higher percentage of black representation on the city council
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Speaker 2: or in the school board is statistically it is a
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Speaker 2: there's a statistically significant difference that a place, a school
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Speaker 2: district where there is more black power in politics will
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Speaker 2: be taken over versus a white one where there are
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Speaker 2: where there are fewer black people in power. It is
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Speaker 2: absolutely the history of takeovers goes is back to segregation
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Speaker 2: and trying to keep keep brown and black people down,
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Speaker 2: and it is it is that is the history. It
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Speaker 2: is straightforward and obvious and it is that's that's what
11:55
Speaker 2: it is really about. And so you know, don't let
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Speaker 2: anyone tell you about anything else. It's about money for
12:03
Speaker 2: the rich white people and disenfranchising and keeping black and
12:08
Speaker 2: brown communities down. And it's right, that's what it is.
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Speaker 1: That was Ruth Huffman Lack, who is a school psychologist
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Speaker 1: and a community member. She spoke on the closing of
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Speaker 1: twelve schools at HISD starting in the fall to distract
12:25
Speaker 1: from the growing firestorm that is the Trump Epstein files
12:30
Speaker 1: and to lay the groundwork to mess with the midterm
12:34
Speaker 1: elections in which the convicted felon is going to lose
12:39
Speaker 1: his power and have a serious check in the Congress
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Speaker 1: against his illegal, immoral, and corrupt actions. Trump commanded from
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Speaker 1: a pretend situation room in mar A Lago, a major
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Speaker 1: attack on Iran. This is Kareem Zagna with the Iranian
12:56
Speaker 1: American Society of Texas.
12:59
Speaker 8: So, yeah, you know, after after decades of the dictatorship
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Speaker 8: that the Iranian people has been up doing, uprising and
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Speaker 8: trying to overthrow this fascist, religious, fascist regime. You know,
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Speaker 8: obviously they tried so many times and this times is
13:22
Speaker 8: we call it the revolution in making and hopefully they
13:25
Speaker 8: overthrow the regime.
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Speaker 3: What do you think about the proper administration actually calling
13:32
Speaker 3: for regime change and what you so happier Venezuela maybe
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Speaker 3: happening in Iran?
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Speaker 6: Do you think that's possible.
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Speaker 8: I think it's less likely that to happen because the
13:44
Speaker 8: is for good reason. First of all, you know, the
13:47
Speaker 8: Iranian people are ready to overthrow the regime, so there
13:50
Speaker 8: is no there is no need for any intervention from
13:54
Speaker 8: from any other countries. So the Ranian people are boots
13:58
Speaker 8: on the ground, the the resistance.
14:01
Speaker 6: The resistance we.
14:03
Speaker 8: Am following or our community following. We are over forty
14:06
Speaker 8: estates in the United States of America, which is the
14:10
Speaker 8: n cr I and led by Miss Mallian Gragerie as
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Speaker 8: a president elect for the the matter of transferring the
14:19
Speaker 8: power from from the regime to the Iranian people after
14:24
Speaker 8: the overthrown. So this year we are supporting them and
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Speaker 8: they are like she she's been saying many many times
14:31
Speaker 8: that we don't need any foreign money or weapon or
14:35
Speaker 8: any intervention or boots on the grounds are the event
14:38
Speaker 8: and people, so we don't need any war to overthrow
14:41
Speaker 8: the region. We already over through the regime and that's
14:44
Speaker 8: exactly the scenario right now is going on. I don't
14:47
Speaker 8: think that what they did to Venezuela is is needed
14:53
Speaker 8: for Iran.
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Speaker 3: Yeah, but you see what the force is in our
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Speaker 3: the military and the security forces are doing to the people.
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Speaker 5: How do you can you.
15:03
Speaker 3: Say it's not going to be How can you say, uh,
15:07
Speaker 3: that you can take over the all any type of
15:09
Speaker 3: violence or any type of war.
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Speaker 8: Yeah, this is a very legit question and concerned. So
15:17
Speaker 8: you know Iranian people, if we're talking about the millions
15:21
Speaker 8: of people, the regime has no one in their site
15:26
Speaker 8: when it comes to the people. So yes, they do
15:28
Speaker 8: have this suppression forces. But but the Iranian people, especially
15:34
Speaker 8: the m e K which is a majorizy in hal
15:38
Speaker 8: and that they are is A is an also member
15:42
Speaker 8: of the n c R I, which I told you,
15:45
Speaker 8: there are.
15:45
Speaker 2: There are forces on the ground.
15:47
Speaker 8: They are they are, they have many thousands of resistance
15:50
Speaker 8: units all over Iran, and that those are the one
15:54
Speaker 8: that who actually organizing this resistance, organizing this uprising, organizing
15:59
Speaker 8: this revolution that is hopefully soon they overthrow the region.
16:03
Speaker 8: They are they are, they have weapon, they have weapon
16:10
Speaker 8: to protect the people and so hopefully they can.
16:15
Speaker 6: Overthrow the region.
16:19
Speaker 3: What if you do have a regime change, it's always
16:21
Speaker 3: difficult to build a new government.
16:26
Speaker 6: We saw what happened in Afghanistan.
16:28
Speaker 3: We saw what happened and especially the US and taken
16:32
Speaker 3: over countries and try to rebuild a.
16:34
Speaker 6: New a new country, a new government.
16:37
Speaker 3: What's the plan for Iran if you rebuild Iran as
16:43
Speaker 3: far as government, and what's the chances of it coming
16:46
Speaker 3: back to having something like the.
16:47
Speaker 6: Shaw was there?
16:49
Speaker 8: Okay, well, the Shaw never going to come back. People
16:51
Speaker 8: of Iran over throw the Shaw back in nineteen seventy nine.
16:55
Speaker 8: Not because he was so wonderful, They threw him out
16:58
Speaker 8: because he was he was not for Urine and people.
17:00
Speaker 8: Who was a brutalph Croft regime and and a dictator
17:06
Speaker 8: with single party just like this regime that is single
17:09
Speaker 8: party like hisbo law.
17:10
Speaker 6: That one was a single party.
17:13
Speaker 8: They call the Rassaie which which shot said if you
17:16
Speaker 8: take it or you just leave the country, or you're
17:19
Speaker 8: gonna go to in prison. So yeah, back to your question, Yeah,
17:24
Speaker 8: it's not the Elon is not Afghanistan or any other country,
17:28
Speaker 8: because we do have a very strong resistance organized resistance
17:35
Speaker 8: that they are fighting for freedom, democracy and uh and
17:39
Speaker 8: and republic, something secular that is governed by representative of
17:45
Speaker 8: the people, that is elected by people.
17:48
Speaker 6: And that's how they're gonna do.
17:49
Speaker 8: As far as the forces that you're talking about, like
17:52
Speaker 8: I said, the resistance units, they are hopeful, very much
17:57
Speaker 8: hopeful that like in the this year, thirty thousands thirty
18:02
Speaker 8: thousands of those units they shows around the around the country.
18:07
Speaker 5: That they are there.
18:08
Speaker 8: They are organized, they are ready to fight and ahead
18:14
Speaker 8: of these Iranian people and they try to organize them
18:18
Speaker 8: as you see two over through the region. Yeah, the
18:23
Speaker 8: the region forces are Yeah, they have a lot of forces,
18:27
Speaker 8: but they are not able to handle ninety million people.
18:30
Speaker 8: That's why they are so so desperate. They are vulnerable.
18:35
Speaker 6: They are weak.
18:37
Speaker 8: Has ever been because the regime lost all the praxies
18:41
Speaker 8: and all the forces they have around the around the
18:44
Speaker 8: countries or even inside the countries of the for example,
18:49
Speaker 8: I'm sure you know the Syria and not the best
18:52
Speaker 8: best ally in South Africa, South America that they've been
18:56
Speaker 8: captured brought to America. So all those things is signed
18:59
Speaker 8: up regime weakness. That's why they had the only four
19:03
Speaker 8: The only thing they have is suppression and execution, treating
19:08
Speaker 8: people inside Iran and trying to say.
19:13
Speaker 6: Any longer, what.
19:15
Speaker 3: About the what about the different groups you're trying to
19:18
Speaker 3: get You know, it's a Persian country, but you still
19:21
Speaker 3: have different different factions within the country, different different tribes
19:27
Speaker 3: and different different tribes and stuff and such. How are
19:31
Speaker 3: you going to how are you going to bring all
19:33
Speaker 3: those people together?
19:34
Speaker 8: Okay, this is good question. Also your question is very
19:37
Speaker 8: nice and very good, very legit, very to the point.
19:42
Speaker 6: You know.
19:42
Speaker 8: So first of all, back to the first question you did. Yeah,
19:47
Speaker 8: they're they're the resistance. Just recently they have a convention
19:51
Speaker 8: in Washington, d C. That shows that this government in excile,
19:56
Speaker 8: which is n c r I government in exile, already
20:00
Speaker 8: completely ready to take a power inside you run after
20:03
Speaker 8: the overthrow and transfer it to the people. So it's
20:06
Speaker 8: not going to be any chaos like he happened in
20:08
Speaker 8: Afhanistan at all, or anybody else that you see around
20:11
Speaker 8: the Middle East. So we are ready to transfer the
20:15
Speaker 8: power to the Iranian people and Iranian people. The good
20:19
Speaker 8: thing is they are united against this regime.
20:23
Speaker 1: That was Kareem Zagna. He is with the Iranian American
20:27
Speaker 1: Society of Texas. Hi, this is Steve Gallington, co producer
20:34
Speaker 1: and host of the People's News. The first thing I
20:37
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Speaker 1: the week are the ones that get more donations. That
21:12
Speaker 1: makes sense because there are more people who can hear
21:14
Speaker 1: the program. So with The People's News we air for
21:18
Speaker 1: three hours on HD two each week, which I'm very
21:22
Speaker 1: grateful for, but because of that choice by station management,
21:27
Speaker 1: not very many people actually hear the program. I encourage you,
21:31
Speaker 1: when you donate to the show also to reach out
21:33
Speaker 1: to KPFT and ask that The People's News get put
21:36
Speaker 1: on HD one. And I also wanted to announce we
21:40
Speaker 1: are in podcast form. You can go to speaker dot
21:43
Speaker 1: com and there are ways you can support us directly there.
21:47
Speaker 1: Thanks again for listening. I am so grateful to be
21:50
Speaker 1: able to do this for you every week, and I
21:53
Speaker 1: am so grateful for your support. Thanks again. Reverend Jesse
22:03
Speaker 1: Jackson passed away last week at the age of eighty four.
22:07
Speaker 1: He was an important part of the civil rights movement
22:10
Speaker 1: in the United States and across the world. He was
22:13
Speaker 1: a protegee of the Great Martin Luther King Junior and
22:17
Speaker 1: was by his side when he was assassinated in Memphis,
22:21
Speaker 1: Tennessee in nineteen sixty eight. He founded Operation Push and
22:25
Speaker 1: the Rainbow Coalition, an international human and civil rights organization.
22:31
Speaker 1: He was the second black person to run for US president,
22:34
Speaker 1: as the first was Shirley Chisholm in nineteen seventy two.
22:38
Speaker 1: Many forget the places Jackson went to free Americans held
22:42
Speaker 1: in hostile countries. He went to Iraq, Cuba, Syria, just
22:49
Speaker 1: to name a few. He was a part of many
22:52
Speaker 1: peaceful protests right up until the time of his death.
22:57
Speaker 1: He never stopped fighting for those who could not fight.
23:01
Speaker 1: He made numerous stops in Houston over the years. Former
23:04
Speaker 1: City Attorney for the City of Houston and longtime friend
23:07
Speaker 1: of Jackson talked about bringing him to Houston and the
23:10
Speaker 1: last time he was here well.
23:14
Speaker 9: That's a pretty difficult question the answer because it's full
23:17
Speaker 9: of emotion as it relates to my relationship with the
23:21
Speaker 9: Good Reverend. But I can tell you that during the
23:24
Speaker 9: times that we spent together, which we had several meetings
23:28
Speaker 9: here in Houston, Texas between two thousand until last year.
23:33
Speaker 9: In fact, he was at my law office last year
23:36
Speaker 9: and we had a.
23:37
Speaker 6: Reception for him here.
23:39
Speaker 9: He was literally a walking history book, the pictures and
23:44
Speaker 9: stories of the sixties and the fifties. He literally brought
23:51
Speaker 9: those pictures to life because he was there when those
23:55
Speaker 9: pictures were taken. Losing him means that we've lost for
24:01
Speaker 9: a moment, that voice, but we still have the memories
24:05
Speaker 9: that he has shared with us, both when he ran
24:08
Speaker 9: for national office as well as his persistent cry for justice.
24:17
Speaker 9: Seeing him in the latter stages of his life, I
24:19
Speaker 9: have to say, the enemies of his body took a
24:26
Speaker 9: lot from him and it was distressing to see that
24:30
Speaker 9: collapse of help. And I pray to God that where
24:34
Speaker 9: he is now is a more RESTful existence than what
24:38
Speaker 9: he had during the latter part of his life, especially
24:45
Speaker 9: perhaps last year was a pretty difficult year. So while
24:49
Speaker 9: we lose him as a walking book. His memories and
24:53
Speaker 9: his thoughts and his commitment to justice continue, and I
24:58
Speaker 9: take consolation and knowing that that will live beyond his
25:02
Speaker 9: days here as a human being.
25:03
Speaker 3: Yeah, him starting off at an early age, at twenty
25:07
Speaker 3: years old, and a lot of a lot of a
25:09
Speaker 3: lot of people.
25:10
Speaker 7: Came up from the especially the Black College at HBCU
25:13
Speaker 7: schools and getting involved in the civil rights movement. And
25:16
Speaker 7: it took a lot, It took a lot on emotionally,
25:20
Speaker 7: on a lot on a lot of civil rights activists.
25:22
Speaker 7: But he continued on for years in the same vein,
25:26
Speaker 7: not just here in the United States, but internationally with especially.
25:29
Speaker 3: His movements about the Party in South Africa.
25:34
Speaker 6: Well, Jesse was a world figure.
25:38
Speaker 9: He wasn't just closeted in one specific geographic area. Nothing
25:43
Speaker 9: was beyond the pale of his protests against injustice. And
25:48
Speaker 9: I remember, you know he I think your listeners probably
25:52
Speaker 9: know he comes from Greenville, South Carolina, and I'm from
25:57
Speaker 9: green I'm from Columbia, South Carolina, and so we had
26:00
Speaker 9: kindred spirits because we could tell all of the South
26:02
Speaker 9: Carolina stories. But I remember his voice was never confined.
26:07
Speaker 9: And when I say his voice, I mean his protests,
26:10
Speaker 9: his accommodations, his insistence on justice were never confined to
26:17
Speaker 9: the shores of just South Carolina, all of the boundaries
26:20
Speaker 9: of South Carolina. In Chicago, he saw the world as
26:25
Speaker 9: his stage, and that wherever injustice was, he was going
26:29
Speaker 9: to be a voice for justice. And so when I
26:32
Speaker 9: grew up, I remember seeing this little brave brother on television,
26:37
Speaker 9: and I remember my parents really complementing his courage on
26:43
Speaker 9: behalf of others and his self sacrifice. And let it
26:46
Speaker 9: be known that Jesse and his family suffered tremendously financially.
26:54
Speaker 9: He would sacrifice his own finances to stand up for
26:58
Speaker 9: justice when other victims could not pay for him to
27:00
Speaker 9: come someplace or speak on their behalf. He literally would
27:05
Speaker 9: do that out of his pocket. And so I commend
27:08
Speaker 9: the brother, and I hope that we have more sisters
27:11
Speaker 9: and brothers like him that are willing to self sacrifice
27:16
Speaker 9: in order for the cause of justice for all people,
27:19
Speaker 9: not just a few.
27:20
Speaker 1: The president of the NAACP here in Houston, the Reverend
27:24
Speaker 1: James Dixon, added his thoughts on the importance of Jackson.
27:29
Speaker 5: Reverend Jeff Louis Jackson represents for us the continuation of
27:37
Speaker 5: the movement. He was a bridge between got the mother
27:40
Speaker 5: of the King's junior and our generation of civil rights
27:44
Speaker 5: and social justice leaders and fighters. And I think that
27:47
Speaker 5: we have to really honor him as that authentic, legitimate bridge.
27:56
Speaker 5: He's a child of the movement, a mentee, have got
27:59
Speaker 5: the team, and an advisor to SDLC. Remember he started
28:04
Speaker 5: this in his twenties. And but to understand Reverend Jesffics
28:08
Speaker 5: Jackson's depth and wealth of resourcefulness, he's incomprehensible in terms
28:15
Speaker 5: of his genius is brilliant. His understanding of organizing and
28:20
Speaker 5: how to impact public policy from the perspective of the
28:25
Speaker 5: Christian ethos and morality, Reverend Jesfice Jackson, We've lost. We've
28:30
Speaker 5: lost an amazing and amazing soul in Americas. Ad mourn
28:34
Speaker 5: and tried to remember what we learned from him.
28:39
Speaker 3: He for years for you know, people forget he was
28:44
Speaker 3: one of the first black men to run for president,
28:48
Speaker 3: and he took a lot of heat and he always
28:50
Speaker 3: did death threats, et cetera, just because he spoke out.
28:56
Speaker 3: He spoke out in different situations in March and prayed
29:00
Speaker 3: in areas that that was so that was extremely dangerous
29:04
Speaker 3: for him and his family.
29:06
Speaker 5: Well, let's say this. Remember he was with doctor King
29:08
Speaker 5: when he was shot. I mean the blood on his clothes.
29:11
Speaker 5: He's on that Moraine Lorraine Motel's balcony, and so having
29:16
Speaker 5: been there, having hurt the gun shot, it still did
29:20
Speaker 5: not silence Reverend Jackson. That would be enough for most
29:23
Speaker 5: people to be so terrified that they would shrink back,
29:27
Speaker 5: but it pushed him forward. That's an incredible soul, that mindset,
29:32
Speaker 5: that faith and courage, and to Natalie to know that
29:35
Speaker 5: every day you're putting your life on the line for
29:38
Speaker 5: the cause of freedom and justice and equality. His not
29:42
Speaker 5: just his life, but his family's life was on the line.
29:45
Speaker 5: He lived in his family live with death threats, and
29:47
Speaker 5: they knew their cold as a family was if Jesse
29:51
Speaker 5: Jackson does not make it home, if Dad doesn't make
29:54
Speaker 5: it home, if if my my husband doesn't make it home.
29:57
Speaker 5: His instructions were stay in the fight and the INSI
30:01
Speaker 5: Jackson has lived that and lived it with him alive
30:04
Speaker 5: and now. So it's a rare experience for them to
30:07
Speaker 5: have lived that life and continued on behalf of others.
30:10
Speaker 5: But then you also think about the fact that you
30:12
Speaker 5: mentioned Hugh runs for presidency in eighty four and eighty
30:16
Speaker 5: eight and UH, and he changed democratic policy in terms
30:21
Speaker 5: of the party's structure, which paved the way for a
30:24
Speaker 5: Barack Obama to win in two thousand and eight. It's
30:28
Speaker 5: clearly saying, in fact of President Barack Obama himself acknowledge
30:31
Speaker 5: this that had that not been Jesse Jackson's run in
30:35
Speaker 5: eighty eight, there would not have been a successful run
30:38
Speaker 5: of Barack Obama in two thousand and eight. We owe
30:40
Speaker 5: him a treasure. And his impact on policy and government
30:45
Speaker 5: and the social consciousness of America and the world is unparalleled.
30:50
Speaker 3: And let's not forget what he did about South Africa.
30:53
Speaker 3: And he was on he was on the front line
30:55
Speaker 3: of liberalt Nelson Mandela and the Blacks in South Africa.
31:01
Speaker 5: We talked about that much last night in the in
31:03
Speaker 5: the memorial and the individual that reven Jesse Jackson's footprints
31:07
Speaker 5: and fingerprints a on UH the liberation of South Africa
31:11
Speaker 5: from the pier of apartheid uh Majia. But then in
31:15
Speaker 5: the rack in Iraq and friend hostagists in Iran, I mean,
31:19
Speaker 5: think about this, this man UH without an ambassadorship, with
31:24
Speaker 5: no government officialdom, but they're speaking to people I mean,
31:31
Speaker 5: I mean really dictators uh to free hostagists, American hostagists,
31:36
Speaker 5: and was able to negotiate those things without an official
31:39
Speaker 5: title with Philip and Bank government. He understood the prophetic
31:43
Speaker 5: nature of his calling and his anointing, and he stepped
31:47
Speaker 5: into play this of difficulty challenge, putting his life on
31:51
Speaker 5: the line on behalf of others. I think, truthfully, I'm honest,
31:56
Speaker 5: America never honored him as as he should have been honored.
32:00
Speaker 5: In fact, he was a threat to the Empire of
32:05
Speaker 5: America who did not understand his true value. They feared
32:08
Speaker 5: him more than respected him. His brilliance were intimidating for
32:13
Speaker 5: those who could not grasp how this black man, the
32:16
Speaker 5: son of sharecroppers, could have such a depth of brilliance
32:20
Speaker 5: and such a solid face of moral conviction concerning the
32:25
Speaker 5: principles of justice and freedom, and was able to articulate
32:28
Speaker 5: that in such a way that if you listen to him,
32:31
Speaker 5: you couldnt argue against his premises. What is an incredible
32:35
Speaker 5: mind in human being? And I think that it proved
32:38
Speaker 5: again Jesse Jackson was totally prepared to have been president
32:43
Speaker 5: in two thousand and nineteen eighty four, and certainly in
32:45
Speaker 5: eighty eight. But America was not ready for a black
32:48
Speaker 5: man with that level of brilliance, and structures had to
32:51
Speaker 5: be changed in order for Barack Obama's brilliancy, appreciated, respected,
32:56
Speaker 5: and have a fair shot. He did that nationally and
32:59
Speaker 5: internet from this, and we own a great debt of gratitude.
33:04
Speaker 3: A lot of the a lot of our civil rights
33:05
Speaker 3: leaders came from the colleges and college campuses. And I
33:08
Speaker 3: remember him at Texas Southern when he came to Texas
33:11
Speaker 3: Southern University to campaign and he's speaking speaking to the
33:16
Speaker 3: speaking to the students and inspiring a lot of students
33:19
Speaker 3: that were on campus at that time. And he did
33:21
Speaker 3: that around the country.
33:22
Speaker 6: That's something that I remember.
33:25
Speaker 5: Uh. He always resonated with you, and young adults farewell,
33:28
Speaker 5: of course, if he resonated with seniors verywell. But yes,
33:31
Speaker 5: he's spent a great time of a great deliver his
33:34
Speaker 5: time encouraging younger generations to to take their place in history.
33:39
Speaker 5: To understand that you're on the planet, Uh, to do
33:42
Speaker 5: something more than get an education and get a job,
33:44
Speaker 5: pay bills and make money for yourself. He challenged people,
33:48
Speaker 5: young people to understand as doctor King under food, as
33:52
Speaker 5: Jackson himself on the food as you know many others.
33:55
Speaker 5: We talk about young men who were in the movie.
33:58
Speaker 5: Revend Bill Lawson, You're in Houston was a part of that,
34:02
Speaker 5: of course, and you're talking about Reverend Andy Young in
34:05
Speaker 5: Atlanta was a part of it. Say ended the movement
34:07
Speaker 5: as young young men young women were there, and so
34:11
Speaker 5: we want to make sure we understand that he understood
34:13
Speaker 5: that and when he's got a chance to be on
34:15
Speaker 5: those campuses. It ignited hope, it ignited power. It noted
34:20
Speaker 5: a sense of self worth and dignity, but also a
34:23
Speaker 5: sense of purpose, purpose beyond preference, purpose beyond pleasure, and
34:27
Speaker 5: purpose beyond selfish adverandisement. He encouraged him to understand that
34:32
Speaker 5: they had an assignment on earth that was bigger than
34:35
Speaker 5: a car, house, or some clothes. And don't we need
34:38
Speaker 5: that today? Don't we need to ignite that today in
34:41
Speaker 5: our younger people for them to understand that life is
34:44
Speaker 5: bigger than your house, bigger than your car, bigger than
34:48
Speaker 5: your clothes. In the ward role right now, we need
34:51
Speaker 5: a massive army, a massive movement about our young people.
34:55
Speaker 5: As it relates to collective environment, we got to vote,
34:58
Speaker 5: We got to vote. We got to vote and do
35:00
Speaker 5: things that Jesse Jackson encouraged to do because for such
35:03
Speaker 5: a time as this, we need that kind of demonstration. Now,
35:06
Speaker 5: how is it for you and the laws? Yes, he
35:09
Speaker 5: never gave up the fight. He was here for conressm.
35:11
Speaker 5: Jackson leaves Feneral Uh And prior to that, within our church,
35:16
Speaker 5: we honored him with the reception. Uh and uh, I
35:19
Speaker 5: have my god, this vivid pictures in my head of
35:24
Speaker 5: him sitting on the front shie of our church in tears.
35:27
Speaker 5: And then he called me down to pray for me. Uh.
35:30
Speaker 5: In this wee we were trying to pray for him,
35:32
Speaker 5: but he called me down and pray for me. Listen,
35:36
Speaker 5: it's the personal law and it's a public laws. Uh. No,
35:41
Speaker 5: Jesse Jackson mentored me.
35:42
Speaker 2: Uh.
35:43
Speaker 5: He he taught me. I watched him, I observed and
35:46
Speaker 5: learn from him as many others did. But it was
35:48
Speaker 5: Reverend Jackson who gave me legitimacy on the national scene
35:53
Speaker 5: as a as a as a legitimate voice in the
35:56
Speaker 5: conversation about social justice and civil rights. I owe him
35:59
Speaker 5: a great that have gratitude and I've got out on
36:02
Speaker 5: him the rest of my days. But the real way
36:05
Speaker 5: to honor Rev and Jackson is by doing We're doing
36:08
Speaker 5: this coming Sunday, leading the souls to the Pole's efforts,
36:11
Speaker 5: driving the voter trend out and encouraging younger people as
36:15
Speaker 5: have on the Conferents Call the other night with gen Za's,
36:18
Speaker 5: with building another call to Knight with gen Zia's organizing
36:21
Speaker 5: and mobilizing younger generations to understand that it's time for
36:25
Speaker 5: them to step up to be a part of this army.
36:27
Speaker 5: And so we're going to honor his legacy in the
36:29
Speaker 5: way that he would be pleased.
36:30
Speaker 1: Jackson visited the campus of Texas Southern University.
36:34
Speaker 6: Michael O.
36:34
Speaker 1: Adams, PhD, and the director of the Master of Public
36:37
Speaker 1: Affairs graduate program at TSU's Barbara Jordan Mickey Leland's School
36:42
Speaker 1: of Public Affairs, talked about that and his legacy.
36:47
Speaker 10: Yeah, I think the passion of Rev and Jessin Jackson,
36:52
Speaker 10: it's certainly something that we should reflect on as a
36:56
Speaker 10: part of the black diaspora, the community, because he was
37:00
Speaker 10: not only a national figure in the eyes of American
37:07
Speaker 10: politics or the American leadership. If you remember, he played
37:11
Speaker 10: a role internationally. He was often called upon to assist
37:16
Speaker 10: presidential administration to go and.
37:19
Speaker 6: To see if he can get the release of hostagests.
37:21
Speaker 10: And I remember, well, I think that was the marine
37:23
Speaker 10: person who had been captured if it were not for
37:27
Speaker 10: Jessic Jackson intervening.
37:29
Speaker 6: Because Jessic Jackson had some respect.
37:32
Speaker 10: Throughout the world because of his politics, and I think
37:37
Speaker 10: those things are positive. Now I'm of age.
37:43
Speaker 6: In the sense that I can remember back, and so.
37:46
Speaker 10: I don't romanticize about the Civil rights movement. I'm someone
37:51
Speaker 10: who lived through that, who was thrown in the throw desegregation,
37:57
Speaker 10: and I often tell my students and also my friends
38:03
Speaker 10: that only my lived experience in life has centered around
38:09
Speaker 10: Supreme Court decisions, legislation passed by the Congress addressed in
38:14
Speaker 10: civil rights and Supreme Court decisions. I often fall back
38:18
Speaker 10: on the nineteen fifty five Board of Education case I
38:24
Speaker 10: and the subsequent case of Brown Button versus Board of
38:28
Speaker 10: Education two. In the first case, you have to remember
38:31
Speaker 10: they said that the schools were inherently interior, and certainly
38:35
Speaker 10: we no.
38:37
Speaker 6: Not only there was a movement, there was.
38:40
Speaker 10: Also various tests done by psychologists and that looked at
38:48
Speaker 10: the other scars that racism and having such a dual
38:53
Speaker 10: and separate school system would impact upon black people.
38:58
Speaker 6: And I have to say that in order to talk
39:00
Speaker 6: about Jesse.
39:00
Speaker 10: Jackson because after that when during nineteen years, I remember
39:07
Speaker 10: very well Jesse Jackson in Operation Push that he transformed
39:12
Speaker 10: into Operation Bradbasket, and their two salient movements to me
39:17
Speaker 10: as a black man, one would be what the Black
39:20
Speaker 10: Panther started.
39:22
Speaker 6: Basically they would help centered.
39:23
Speaker 10: Around Oakland, California, and they had It was a movement
39:29
Speaker 10: in the sense if you look at the literature and
39:34
Speaker 10: you look at some of the things that were said
39:36
Speaker 10: by both of these organizations, this was a radical organization,
39:40
Speaker 10: but they were doing in the community in terms of
39:42
Speaker 10: breakfasts and whatever.
39:44
Speaker 6: Jeff Jackson brings that to mind.
39:47
Speaker 10: And being from my native Mississippian, I know Jesse Jackson
39:52
Speaker 10: was from one of the Carolina South Carolina.
39:54
Speaker 6: I know he went to North Carolina A and T.
39:57
Speaker 10: So we were both men of the South, and so
40:01
Speaker 10: I think i've let our experiences were very similar in
40:04
Speaker 10: terms of what we went through.
40:06
Speaker 6: But Operation Pushed.
40:07
Speaker 10: My first wife came from the South side of Chicago,
40:10
Speaker 10: and I have the good fortune of spending many summers
40:17
Speaker 10: most of my relatives. In terms of the migratory pattern
40:20
Speaker 10: they went from Mississippi.
40:21
Speaker 6: To Chicago, so I had relatives to this day.
40:25
Speaker 10: But again out of that moment, and I know Jesse Jackson,
40:28
Speaker 10: I'll say some other things. I think he made an
40:30
Speaker 10: indelible impact on the Decratic Party and in the real sense,
40:36
Speaker 10: he laid the foundation for the election of Barack Obama
40:39
Speaker 10: because Jesse Jackson, I think he ran twice for.
40:42
Speaker 6: President of the United States.
40:44
Speaker 10: And there's always been a kind of challenge in terms
40:48
Speaker 10: of where we are placed within the Democratic Party. Although
40:53
Speaker 10: Black Americans have been the staple I will put it
40:57
Speaker 10: of the Democratic Party in terms of turning out to
41:00
Speaker 10: vote even till this day. And I think if we
41:04
Speaker 10: not had the delegate selection process being transform and I
41:10
Speaker 10: will directly suggest that Jesse Jackson.
41:14
Speaker 6: Had a role in doing that.
41:16
Speaker 10: And going back to Fanta lou Payment when back in
41:20
Speaker 10: the nineteen sixty circles sixty four when the Democrats did
41:24
Speaker 10: not want to seat the Mississippi Freedom Democrats and they've
41:29
Speaker 10: been all a continuous struggle within the Democratic Party taking
41:35
Speaker 10: our support and our vote for dragged. Now on the
41:39
Speaker 10: other side of the assassination, there's some things that have
41:42
Speaker 10: been out there coming from Abnath and some of the
41:45
Speaker 10: others who were with doctor King on the day of
41:47
Speaker 10: his assassination in Mepis, Tennessee. In terms of the low
41:51
Speaker 10: Range motel kind of how can I put this in
41:56
Speaker 10: and revision this kind of rewriting of the leadership within
42:02
Speaker 10: the civil rights movement at that time and looking at opportunities.
42:08
Speaker 6: And there are some things and I'm not gonna go.
42:10
Speaker 10: Into that that people said about Jesse Jackson tried to
42:12
Speaker 10: take the advantage of that where he smeared doctor Penny's
42:15
Speaker 10: blood on a sweatshirt or something like that. So I'm
42:18
Speaker 10: gonna pause, and I'm gonna land. It's always good to
42:21
Speaker 10: have an exchange with you.
42:22
Speaker 6: In terms of question to see if I can clean
42:24
Speaker 6: up anything.
42:25
Speaker 3: Yeah, I just what I just was gonna say. His
42:29
Speaker 3: presence on the Texas c University campus was always something
42:33
Speaker 3: that I always remember.
42:34
Speaker 6: Yeahster Jackson certainly.
42:39
Speaker 10: A leader and given the dynamics I've known him for
42:42
Speaker 10: many years. I can go back to my first job
42:46
Speaker 10: at Jackson State University.
42:47
Speaker 6: He was a very close friend of a guy.
42:49
Speaker 10: By the name of Leslie Macklamore who hired me. He
42:53
Speaker 10: chaired Leslie Macklamore chaired the political science department, and Jesster
42:57
Speaker 10: Jackson would awesome visit Jackson State University.
43:00
Speaker 6: And I don't know if you know it of your audience.
43:03
Speaker 10: He was a basketball fan and he played basketball, and
43:06
Speaker 10: so they would always.
43:07
Speaker 6: Play pickup games.
43:09
Speaker 10: And then I got to know Jesse Jackson recently through
43:12
Speaker 10: a good friend of mine, Bed Hall, and I had
43:15
Speaker 10: pictures of Jesse Jackson going back.
43:17
Speaker 6: Two years ago, three years ago.
43:19
Speaker 10: And when he would come into Houston, attorney Benjamin Hall
43:23
Speaker 10: will always invite me over and I would go over
43:25
Speaker 10: to meet with Jesse Jackson.
43:28
Speaker 6: So I know Jesse Jackson.
43:30
Speaker 10: I followed Jesse Jackson in terms of his progeny in
43:35
Speaker 10: terms of being able to get family members involved in
43:37
Speaker 10: politics elected to Congress, and I think he actually he's had.
43:41
Speaker 6: Two sons to serve. One sent the servant servant now.
43:46
Speaker 10: And also on the bdaments of Chicago politics, and certainly
43:50
Speaker 10: Chicago politics can be very tough, and going back to
43:53
Speaker 10: Harold Washington and whatever role, I think Jesse Jackson played
43:57
Speaker 10: a role in terms of voter turnout and making sure
44:01
Speaker 10: that Democrats understood the.
44:04
Speaker 6: Price that we have paid as black people.
44:07
Speaker 10: And I know that there have been fitting starts and
44:10
Speaker 10: even to this day as we move into primary season
44:14
Speaker 10: to talk about the support that black people have given.
44:19
Speaker 10: We have been the most lawyal constituency. And I think
44:23
Speaker 10: Jesse Jackson did a lot in his life and time
44:27
Speaker 10: to bring about changes in the presidential selection process. And
44:32
Speaker 10: again I repeat, if it were not for Jesse Jackson,
44:36
Speaker 10: that would.
44:37
Speaker 6: Not have been a Barack Obama.
44:38
Speaker 1: That was Michael O. Adams. He is the director of
44:41
Speaker 1: the Master of Public Affairs Graduate program at TSU's Barbara
44:45
Speaker 1: Jordan Mickey Leland School of Public Affairs. Jackson will lie
44:49
Speaker 1: in state at Rainbow Push on February twenty sixth and
44:52
Speaker 1: twenty seventh in Chicago. For more information on the funeral,
44:57
Speaker 1: you can go to Jesse Jackson Legacy All put Together
45:01
Speaker 1: dot com. The criminal and corrupt Trump administration has decided
45:06
Speaker 1: to change the direction of the Environmental Protection Agencies policies
45:11
Speaker 1: toward climate change. They revoked its own two thousand and
45:15
Speaker 1: nine Endangerment Finding, a scientific conclusion that for sixteen years
45:19
Speaker 1: has been the central basis for regulating planet warming emissions
45:23
Speaker 1: from power plants, vehicles, and other sources. The Trump administration
45:28
Speaker 1: says that this hurts businesses, mainly the coal business, and
45:32
Speaker 1: should be changed. Environmental groups across the country have stated
45:36
Speaker 1: that this will lead to more warming of the environment,
45:39
Speaker 1: adding to extreme weather conditions. For Houston, the capital of
45:43
Speaker 1: oil and gas in the United States, it will mean
45:48
Speaker 1: less regulation in Houston. We live with the consequences of
45:51
Speaker 1: fossil fuel pollution every day, says doctor Inyang Yuok, research
45:56
Speaker 1: and policy director at air Allines Houston. We talked to
46:01
Speaker 1: her about how this policy will affect Houstonians.
46:05
Speaker 11: The apia's decision to roll back the endangerment finding, which,
46:09
Speaker 11: mind you, is a cornerstone of federal chronic protections that
46:14
Speaker 11: offense that greenhouse gases are pollutants that endanger human health
46:20
Speaker 11: and well being.
46:21
Speaker 5: Right.
46:22
Speaker 11: So, and this this finding has been scientifically proven, not
46:28
Speaker 11: just in the US, across the globe. Like you know,
46:30
Speaker 11: family the global issue. Greenhouse that's the global issue, and
46:35
Speaker 11: scientists and researchers have confirmed that experts to greenhouse gasists
46:43
Speaker 11: is harmful to human health. Now, if we look into
46:46
Speaker 11: the Texas Gulf coast, right, we know that this is
46:50
Speaker 11: a threat to our health and safety. Really because in
46:55
Speaker 11: the Husman area specifically, right, everyone knows ustani As the
46:59
Speaker 11: Pederic coming called capital of the US.
47:01
Speaker 5: Right.
47:02
Speaker 11: And yes, and not only that in terms of all
47:08
Speaker 11: the industry we have. You know, we also have lots
47:13
Speaker 11: of highways and we're continuing to expand these highways, and
47:17
Speaker 11: there are more cars on the road today, right. So
47:20
Speaker 11: transpission emissions are a significant source of our greenhouse emissions.
47:25
Speaker 11: I believe the numbers about forty percent of our greenhouse
47:27
Speaker 11: gas emissions comes from transmission process right. And now, so
47:33
Speaker 11: these vehicle emissions does impact health and well being, right
47:37
Speaker 11: because some of them are greenhouse astes that come out
47:39
Speaker 11: from a sail pipe. So, now that the EPA is
47:42
Speaker 11: rolling back this finding that had that required emission standards,
47:49
Speaker 11: right and rules for com manufacturing companies to adhere to
47:56
Speaker 11: to reduce till pass emissions, right, the major impact of
48:00
Speaker 11: the key impact that we're concerned about is, you know,
48:04
Speaker 11: with that rollback, how will that impact the levels of
48:08
Speaker 11: greenhouse gases in the Houston area, given that you know
48:12
Speaker 11: that they're no longer inhibitions right to those right now,
48:16
Speaker 11: even with the when this role was in place, we
48:22
Speaker 11: already had significant amounts of greenhouse gas emissions in the
48:25
Speaker 11: Houston area right from transportation sources from industrial cuss and
48:29
Speaker 11: now with the showback, we're worried like, okay, what's what
48:32
Speaker 11: what's it going to be like? Right? And not only that,
48:36
Speaker 11: knowing that Houston, the Houston area, we have very lax
48:41
Speaker 11: zoning laws, so you have a lot of pollution from
48:46
Speaker 11: highways that disproportionately affects vulnerable communities because they leave closer
48:52
Speaker 11: to these busy rules and have the theory for also
48:55
Speaker 11: to protect themselves. Right. So those are major consents, right,
49:00
Speaker 11: and research continues to show that Chappie for lateech evolution
49:03
Speaker 11: has been leads to several or worst name of several
49:08
Speaker 11: these conditions ranging from asthma to heart rates to premature
49:15
Speaker 11: effects on the treatis right, and all those things are
49:19
Speaker 11: prevalent in the heating area. So it is a concern,
49:23
Speaker 11: a big consent to us certificate to hisston.
49:27
Speaker 12: I was just gonna say, it's also concerns kids and
49:31
Speaker 12: the children in the easterner, especially people in on the
49:34
Speaker 12: east side where these plants are, and you already saw
49:39
Speaker 12: seeing a spike.
49:41
Speaker 3: In respiratory problems with kids.
49:45
Speaker 12: So this is this is something that's that's gonna gonna
49:49
Speaker 12: hurt especially low income in people in the community.
49:52
Speaker 11: Absolutely, I mean, you're right, the EPs mandates is clear,
49:57
Speaker 11: it's supposed that it's a human health and environment. Unfortunately,
50:00
Speaker 11: it's beginning to seem like they are more concerned with
50:04
Speaker 11: you know, the economy, you know, and and yeah, looking
50:11
Speaker 11: without looking into the long term hands that roll back
50:15
Speaker 11: like this would have on vulnerable communities, right, And and
50:21
Speaker 11: children of course, because you know their lungs are more
50:24
Speaker 11: sensitive to these exposures, right, So not only those that
50:30
Speaker 11: leave near highways and process of greenhouse gases, also those
50:38
Speaker 11: that go to school in those areas. So think about
50:40
Speaker 11: the playground near any of the suffices are near a
50:43
Speaker 11: major highway, All those emissions will impact those children. So yeah,
50:51
Speaker 11: it's it's concerning to say the list that we're having
50:56
Speaker 11: to deal with this at this time when it's been
51:03
Speaker 11: globally known that greenhouse passes impact human health and well
51:08
Speaker 11: being poorly. Right, there's there's no contention to that, so
51:17
Speaker 11: go ahead.
51:18
Speaker 13: I was just curious on the e p A is
51:20
Speaker 13: doing this, did you have did any environmental groups have
51:24
Speaker 13: a hand at the table to discuss this or was
51:27
Speaker 13: this just the e p A just making a blanket
51:30
Speaker 13: a blanket decision?
51:32
Speaker 3: Also, is it that? What do you what is the
51:35
Speaker 3: airlines and other organizations doing to try to counteract this
51:39
Speaker 3: this turn this turnback.
51:43
Speaker 11: So they when when this this was first announced sometime
51:48
Speaker 11: late last year that the USP was planning to roll
51:52
Speaker 11: back these regulations, this and several other regulations. Right, so
51:58
Speaker 11: we're having them come down the peck one of right.
52:01
Speaker 11: And typically when this happens, the EPA would ask for
52:07
Speaker 11: public comments.
52:08
Speaker 4: Right.
52:09
Speaker 11: So the public comments period opened and there was a
52:12
Speaker 11: lot of comment. I believe over five hundred thousand comments
52:16
Speaker 11: the submitter to the Federal register. Now, this comments could
52:20
Speaker 11: have come from I know, several scientifics, several organizations, several
52:25
Speaker 11: environmental organizations submitter comments asking the ep not to roll
52:32
Speaker 11: back the endangermous sciendings. You know, several groups like the
52:35
Speaker 11: National Academies for Science, Engineering, and Medicine, the renowned, well
52:40
Speaker 11: respected nonpactisan organization. Right also wrote wrote for me the
52:45
Speaker 11: comments and the report proving that and encourage me IMPI
52:49
Speaker 11: to see that, you know, rolling back this regulation would
52:55
Speaker 11: impact the lives the health and wellbeing of several Americans.
52:59
Speaker 2: Rights.
53:00
Speaker 11: So even after that comment period, next step would be
53:04
Speaker 11: to have a public meeting, and they did have a
53:07
Speaker 11: public media and believe that public meeting lasted I think
53:09
Speaker 11: three days or so, right, and it was hybrid online
53:13
Speaker 11: until you could call in and share your comments right
53:17
Speaker 11: on why you want the ep not to go back
53:20
Speaker 11: or to roll back to this finding. So of course
53:22
Speaker 11: you had people from both sides, you know, the environmental
53:25
Speaker 11: scientists or calling in to say this is this is
53:29
Speaker 11: a bad decision. And on the other hand, you also
53:32
Speaker 11: had industry lobbists, industry organizations, automobile companies calling in to say, yes,
53:40
Speaker 11: you know, roll back to this finding, right, roll back
53:45
Speaker 11: to this regulation. So now after that, you know, the
53:50
Speaker 11: EPAIS supposed to review all those comments and all that
53:52
Speaker 11: and waiting and make that decision. So apparently, I guess
53:56
Speaker 11: after they deliberated amongst them.
53:58
Speaker 5: So they still.
53:58
Speaker 11: Decided to go ahead and roll back this regulation right
54:04
Speaker 11: in the interest of the economy, because the reasons they
54:07
Speaker 11: gave was basically, all, you know, it's gonna help therebile
54:13
Speaker 11: tomobile industry, right, you know, so they don't have to
54:17
Speaker 11: you know, un reduce easys and allow people to the
54:20
Speaker 11: industry to produce trucks, diesel trucks, diesel engines whatever, and
54:24
Speaker 11: all this contribute to greenhouse gases.
54:27
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, I was gonna say, it seems like we're
54:33
Speaker 3: in an environment now that greenhouse effects or something that's
54:37
Speaker 3: looked upon by this administration as a myth.
54:41
Speaker 11: For the most part. Yeah, they don't appear to believe
54:45
Speaker 11: in climate change, you know, and climate change is real,
54:49
Speaker 11: it's upon us, right. It's why you're saying a lot
54:53
Speaker 11: of you know, extreme weather events more often than not, right,
54:58
Speaker 11: And that's why you think the scenario is still in
55:01
Speaker 11: non attainment of a zone. All zone is a criteria
55:07
Speaker 11: air politan that is regulated by the EPIA. We're also
55:10
Speaker 11: non attainment for a PM standards, right, So we've been
55:14
Speaker 11: we've ben ranked most polluted visions for older them, particularly matters,
55:18
Speaker 11: you know, which are two criteria pollutants that are very
55:21
Speaker 11: ample to help. So it appears that even in the
55:25
Speaker 11: abundance of information and signs proving that climate change is real,
55:32
Speaker 11: that greenhouse staff is hampul to health that you know,
55:36
Speaker 11: for fill for wealth contribute to climate change. Our federal
55:45
Speaker 11: regulatory agency doesn't seem to agree anymore that that is true,
55:51
Speaker 11: which is which is very concerning. I mean, now it's
55:55
Speaker 11: the the I think the end point is really to hope,
55:58
Speaker 11: and I'm an optimistic so it's almost like you can
56:04
Speaker 11: only hope that the cat for example, the automobile manufacturing
56:09
Speaker 11: industry still does its part in ensuring that they're producing
56:14
Speaker 11: cars with all these standards, you know, mechanisms to reduce emissions.
56:22
Speaker 5: You know.
56:23
Speaker 11: But then when the cars are trucks or vehicles are
56:29
Speaker 11: dependent on fossil fil so digital run vehicles and gasoline
56:33
Speaker 11: one vehicles, you know, and it appears that you know,
56:36
Speaker 11: there's going to be a decline and easy, you know,
56:39
Speaker 11: electric vehicles which you know they have the pros and cons,
56:42
Speaker 11: but for the most part have do not produce or
56:45
Speaker 11: do not contribute to just wind health gases. So we
56:49
Speaker 11: can only hope.
56:52
Speaker 1: That was doctor in Yang Yock, research and policy director
56:56
Speaker 1: at Aerolines Houston. The Airlines can be found at air
57:00
Speaker 1: Alliance Houston, all Put Together dot org. The People's News
57:06
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57:56
Speaker 6: Thank you,