September 21, 2023 • 49 mins
Dramos dives into trending stories from this last week including a police shooting on a Latino man, all that's happening with DACA, a cartel threatening Peso Pluma, an inspiring movie and more!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Alright, let me talk about talk. Here we go. He
said he live in life as a gringo, where you
question where you fit in. Every time you mingle, they
say you do this with not that my rap is
really made. Yes, Hello, and welcome to another episode of
Life as Igringo. I am dramas of course. I mean
(00:27):
it's Thursdays. It means time fact with Thursday trends episode
and I'm flying solo today. Not by by design. This
wasn't the plan. I was supposed to have a guest.
Unfortunately they canceled the day of our recording. So you know,
those things happen, uh, and and you kind of just
gotta roll with the damn punches, right. So here we
(00:49):
are solo, and I got some some stuff to get
into this week. Man. So we're gonna talk about police
officers not being found liable for shooting a Latino man
who was just literally living in his own house. The
cop showed with the wrong place and he ended up dead.
So we'll talk a bit about that, a tragic story.
(01:14):
We'll also talk about Dhaka and what this means as
a judge has declared it illegal again. We will also
talk about Besso Pluma who is dealing with some threats
from cartels and is actually postponing a few concerts as
a result. And then the positive side of things. Man,
(01:35):
we gotta talk about this movie a million miles away.
It is a beautiful story. Like halfway through it just
really inspirational stuff. So we'll talk all about that. But first,
as we always do, man, let's just start with the nonsense,
the bs. We'll do a deep dive and a segment.
Call for the people in the back, say a lot
for the people in the say a lot of the
(02:01):
people in the say a lot of the people who's back?
All right, So let's start with this. This is really
just tragic story. Man. You have a man who was
shot and killed in his own home. Police officers are
being found not liable for this a Latino man. Now,
(02:23):
a jury found two Mississippi police officers not liable for
the twenty seventeen death of Eastmayel Lopez, who was forty
one years old at the time. East Mayel was married
to Claudia Alenaids, and they were at home when police
officers unexpectedly knocked on their doors. Lie twenty fourth, twenty seventeen.
The terrible shooting man. The I almost hate reporting on
(02:49):
these stories at this point, and not because they are not,
you know, viable and deserve to be getting our attention,
but because it just feels like the same thing over
and over and over again, and it's incredibly depressing because
(03:10):
it feels like nothing changes. Now. Obviously, this happened in
twenty seventeen, so this is pre George Floyd and all
those different things. But even in the post George Floyd era,
the fact that, as we'll continue reading on, they're being
found not liable via a lawsuit, it's just kind of
crazy as well. Right, So you have the shooting happening,
and so many different twist and turns happening over the years.
(03:33):
This includes the city of South Haven, Mississippi's twenty twenty
motion to dismiss the case on account of Lopez being
an undocumented immigrant. They claimed that his immigration status meant
he had no constitutional rights. The family's attorney, Murray Wells
response at the time saying, quote, we're stunned that someone
(03:53):
put this in writing, and I think we all share
in those those same feelings. I mean, the fact that
at somebody's status as a citizen sort of makes them
less human. I mean, I mean, that's kind of the
way that America works, right. If you are undocumented, you're
an immigrant, you are viewed as lesser than the United
States of America. But the fact they would put this
(04:14):
in writing, and the fact that they don't want the
proper people to be held accountable and they're finding loopholes
or trying to and using his status as undocumented as
one of those to sort of let these murderers off
the hook is really sad or legend murderers, right, and
thankfully a federal judge dismissed that motion. Now, as described
(04:36):
by the Magnolia Tribune, Lopez and Minadas were asleep at
home in the early morning of July twenty four to
twenty seventeen, they heard a knock on their trailer. At
the time, officers Zachary Durden and Samuel Mays were searching
for a man named Samuel Pierman after a woman filed
a domestic assault complaint against him. As fate would have it,
(04:57):
Perlman lived across the street from Lopez. The officers mistakenly
went to Lopez's home instead. And this is just like,
like murder or not, these guys should not have a
fucking job where they get to hold a gun and
a badge if they literally are are unable to fact
check addresses, right, it's like measure twice cut one. Type
(05:19):
of thing like this is not the type of job
for people who are are not good at details, you know,
and obviously at least the tragedies like this one. Now,
sometime after police knocked on on their trailer, officer dirt
and shot three bullets through the door. One of those
bullets shot Lopez in the head as he was possibly
turned around or running away. Lopez died from the gunshot
(05:42):
wound at home and authorities found his body handcuffed in
the living room. So gunshot wound to the head and
he's handcuffed in the living room and that's where authorities
found his body. Just disgusting, disgusting stuff. Now, aside from
the evidence, the officers and the Lopez family's legal team
have different recollections of what happened. Surprise, surprise, the police
report says something different than would actually happen. And by
(06:05):
the way, the original police report for George Floyd said
something different than what happened, thank got it was called
on camera now as per ap News, officers admitted that
they knocked on Lopez's door without identifying themselves, like shouldn't
this be policing? One oh one? They said, the door opened,
Lopez pointed a rifle at them. At that point, they say,
a pitbull ran out of the house and May's shot
the dog. A third unidentified officer says Dirdan told Lopez
(06:27):
to drop the rifle. Later, the officer shot Lopez and
killed him. Okay, let's just pretend that this version of
the story of the events is true. Early in the morning,
aka in the middle of the night, you're woken up
from a dead sleep by somebody knocking on your door.
It's not beyond the realm of sort of not possibility,
but just like normalcy, that if you are a gun owner,
(06:50):
you're going to greet whoever's knocking on your door in
the middle of the night unannounced, with the weapon that
you have gotten to protect yourself, as well as the
dog that you've I'm sure gotten to protect yourself as well.
Like all of this sounds incredibly fathomable and not an
excuse a for anybody to open fire, but also be
with that knowledge in mind that people are going to
(07:12):
be startled when woken up out of a dead fucking
sleep in the middle of the night, you would think
you would announce yourself for both your own safety and
the safety of those inside it. Just again, it's measured twice,
cut once, And anybody who is incapable of thinking things
rationally through like this and thinking of the possibilities in
what I just explained should not be holding a gun
(07:35):
and a badge now. Lopez's legal team says that the
experts did not find his fingerprints and DNA on the
rifle that he was allegedly holding. Plus authorities found the
rifle more than six feet away from Lopez at the
time of his death. How can being yin a rifle
just shows up and the evidence even showed no fingerprints,
(07:58):
no DNA on it. It's not even anywhere near his
dead body. Like, what are we fucking talking about right now?
Like this, it's the world that we live in, man,
where it's like we don't genuinely care about justice. We
care about the world that we live in. It cares
about justice when it's convenient for those in power. Right, So,
(08:21):
if you are committing in a legal activity and the
police catch you and are wanting to arrestue and then
hold you accountable. They are all about justice in that case.
But when the people in power are the ones who
are fucking up, of course they are not concerned with
actual justice because it goes against their best interest in
the moment. And that literally in a nutshup is our
(08:44):
country when it comes to people of authority, be it
the police, be it politicians, or people who are of privilege,
those who are have an exceptional amount of wealth or
or just born privilege because of their whiteness and the
white supremacy that still exist in our society. Right, So,
of course justice is only cared for when it is
(09:06):
convenient for those in power. That is our society in
a nutshell. Now proving this even further, South Haven Mayor
Darren mussel White defended the officers and on July eighteenth,
a grand jury chose not to indict them. Right. So
this again our country in a nutshell, the powers that be,
(09:27):
those that are in charge, right tipping the scale in
their favor. You have the mayor, a prominent political figure
in what seems like a small town, going on public
record and essentially interfering with an investigation and trial by
announcing what side that he falls on when it comes
(09:49):
to this, who he's going to be supporting. You think
that that doesn't have some sort of influence on the jurors, who,
again are local and regardless of how we try to
hide evidence from them, have probably seen this on TV
or in the newspaper or whatever it might be, the
fact that the mayors is going and supporting the police officer.
So surprise, surprise, they end up getting acquitted. Right, they
(10:12):
end up not getting indicted, I should say, right, the
jury didn't even think that this was worthy of bringing
it to a criminal trial. Now. In response, Lopez's widow,
Claudia Leonidas, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city
of South Haven, Mississippi, in June of twenty nineteen. The
city at the time claimed Lopez did not have constitutional
rights because he was an undocumented worker. Specifically, they said
(10:34):
this meant that Lopez did not have Fourth Amendment protection,
which ensures people against unreasonable searches. Okay, so I guess
there are no rules, you know, when it comes to
decency or what's morally correct when you're wearing a badge
and holding a gun. Now, As reported by the AP News,
(10:54):
a Mississippi jury just cleared the officer this week, officers
Dirden and Maze of any wrongdoing. Right, so that's that's
what happened with this whole trial that they now last
suit I should say they brought up. They've been cleared
of any wrongdoing. They jury deliberated for four days in
federal Corps over Lenatas's twenty million dollar lawsuit against the
(11:15):
city police chief and officers. While Leonatis's legal team argued
that the city violated his civil rights, the jury found
that the officers were not liable. This means that Lenatas
will not receive any compensation for the tragedy. And let's
just like humanize this for a second. Let's take the
lawyers out of it. Let's let's just take the big
(11:37):
long history of police abuse out of this. Think about
it as a human being. Put yourself in in her shoes, right,
put yourself in the shoes of this woman who now
has has lost her the love of her life, Claudia Lenatus,
lost her her husband, right, he smile, Lopez. Think about this.
(11:58):
The two of you go to bed like any other,
you know, you say your good night, you give your
spouse a kiss, good night, whatever it might be you
go through your night labroutine, you fall asleep, all of
a sudden, abruptly woken up out of a dead sleep,
and very quickly your life has completely flipped upside down
as the person that you've spent your life with and
(12:20):
have been creating a life with is now dead. Because
these people were so inept at their job that they
literally knocked on the wrong door. It literally couldn't do
the job of an uber, each driver successfully dropping off
(12:41):
a meal at the correct house. These police officers went
to the house across the street, and the result of
them being idiots and god off at their job is
the death of a man and a family that's never
going to be the same. That's what things like this
(13:07):
are on a human level, tragedies, senseless tragedies, all because
we don't have a system in place that is concerned
with quality right because I think yet you have people
who have malice in their hearts in certain positions of power.
(13:29):
I don't disagree with that, but I also think at
a larger scale, you have a system that is not
designed to bring in the best of the best. Even
though this is a career path and a job that
holds an immense amount of responsibility and potential danger and
(13:49):
should be held to the highest possible standard of education
and training and vetting at the end of the day.
But that's not the country that we live and as
a result, senseless strategies like this one happen. And then
what makes it even worse is that you have people
of influence choosing what's most convenient for them, and in
(14:13):
this case, somebody like the mayor backing these officers, and
then a grand jury deciding they're not going to indict.
It's just this like perfect storm of horrific events that
really speak to like the zeitgeist that we live in
when it comes to our time here as American citizens, right,
(14:34):
like a combination of idiocrity, a combination of an abuse
of power, and a combination of those in power always
choosing their best interests or what's in their best interests
before the people that they have been either elected or
(14:58):
hired to look over and serve. It's a lack of
morality that we have and it's really just awful to see.
And yeah, I don't really have words for it when
it plays out on such a tragic level like this one.
It's just really awful. Really scary, and my heart goes
(15:20):
out to this family and all of the other families,
the countless families that over the decades have had to
deal with similar, avoidable and senseless tragedies like this one.
Because we don't have a real checks and balanced the
(15:42):
system in this country, and we lack an immense amount
of morality in this country. It's just awful. There's no
way around it. Now. With that said, I'm going to
take a pause here. I think now it's a good
time to take a quick break, and then we'll be
right back. All right, we are back, and let's dive
(16:04):
back into some of these stories in our for the people.
In the back segment, let's talk about DACA as it's
been declared illegal again by a federal judge. So you
had a Texas federal judge striking down the revised policy
this last week, citing that it was illegal. United States
District Judge Andrew Haynen sided with nine states that had
(16:25):
sued to stop the program. The first time Haynen declared
the program illegal was a twenty twenty one per PBS.
In his ruling, the Texan federal judge asserts that DOACA
doesn't meet the necessary requirements dictated by the Federal Administration
Procedures Act. According to Axios that the Biden administration reworked
the program to adhere to the ruling. The publication cites
(16:47):
that the new version of DACA went into effect in
October twenty twenty two. PBS reports that this decision over
the fate of DOACA was likely to speed now brought
in front of the US Supreme Court for the third time. Now,
the judge's ruling maintains that current DOCA recipients are still
(17:08):
safe for the time being. Now, anybody who is not
completely sure what DOCA is. It was originally established via
executive action in June twenty twelve to protect certain undocumented
immigrants who were brought to the US as children from
removal proceedings and receive authorization to work for renewable two
(17:29):
year periods. Right, so, those are the people who are
protected under DACA. Now, what does this ruling mean for
those who are DOCA recipients. Ap News reports that Haines's
federal mandate over the program keeps the government from accepting
any new applications from anyone. The protection extends for the
duration of the legal review that is currently happening. Axios
(17:50):
cites that this will cover the quote more than half
a million beneficiaries under the DOCA protections. Now, the states
that are petitioning for the removal of DACA are techs. Surprise, surprise, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska,
South Carolina, West Virginia, Kansas, and Mississippi. Now, majority of
these states, not for nothing, probably have more, you know,
(18:14):
larger concerns than undocumented immigrants. At the end of day,
you know, I'm gonna do it right here, right here,
as we're on the podcast, I'm going to let's just
google state rankings for poverty. Okay, let's just look this up,
because I can almost guarantee I'm gonna easily find majority
(18:37):
of those states on this list here. So let's see. Okay,
what do we have. Louisiana actually ranks number two of
the poorest state in America. Let's see West Virginia's that
on that list of people petitioning for the removal of DAKA.
West Virginia actually ranks fourth on the poorest state in
(18:58):
this country. Obama on that list, yep, they are lucky
number seven on the poorest states in America. Let's see
what else we got here. Let's see if anybody else
made it in the top ten from from that list. Arkansas, yep,
coming in at number five on the poor states in America,
and they are worried about DACA recipients right now. Okay,
(19:21):
let's see Mississippi. Oh yeah, Mississippi is petitioning for the
removal of DACA. They're number one, the poorest state in
the United States of America. Interesting, Okay, And let's see
if I missed anybody here, because I know we had
Kansas and South Carolina, Texas. You know, it seems you're
doing alright with itself, right, Okay, So yep, those are ones.
(19:44):
So looks like the majority of that list finds itself
as one of the top ten poor states in this country.
And this is the type of shit that I'm talking about, right.
A lot of people have misconstrued sub statements I've I
kind of been making or had when we talk about
rights for trans people or the LGBTQ plus community, and
(20:09):
when I talk about how these are cultural issues that
don't actually affect the majority of Americans, I'm not saying
that these aren't things we have to be concerned with
and fight for. What I'm saying is we're only having
to fight for the rights of these people because the
other side, the right, has fooled their base into thinking
(20:35):
that these are the most prominent issues affecting their quality
of life. That's the problem right there. Right, So now
we have to play defense if you find yourself in
support of those communities and their rights and wasting time
playing defense rather than actually taking offense against issues that
(20:56):
actually matter. Like the fact, and by the way, I'm
not say those issues don't matter by worrying I have
to make sure here, but issues that are actually more prominent,
I should say, right for the everyday American person, right,
because if we weren't having these culture wars, that again,
the average person who's fighting against the rights of the
(21:19):
LGBTQ plus community, that person generally speaking, is probably not
affected in their daily life, but they're so passionate about
it because they've been fooled into think it's a bigger
issue than it actually is, or that it's an issue
that is going to affect their children because they've been
live to that. You know, it's that drag queens are
grooming children for pedophilia, like nonsense, like that, This is
(21:41):
what I'm talking about, or the reality is, look at
the poverty rates in these states that I'm talking about.
Yet their elected officials are worried about undocumented immigrants and
even more specifically DOCA recipients. Right, they're wasting tax dollars
(22:03):
fighting these cases and their time because they know it's
going to rile up their base, who again is looking
for somebody to call the enemy. And even though the
politicians are truthfully the enemy, they know obviously they hold
the power, they have the TV time, they can spind
it create a false enemy that their base believes. And
(22:25):
that's what they've done with the immigrant community, that's what
they've done with the LGBTQ plus community. Meanwhile not doing
shit to address the larger issues in their communities, like
the fact that they have an unacceptable poverty rate in
the states and areas that they represent. Like this, it
(22:51):
drives me insane that that's not the topic of conversation
and we aren't calling that out every single day every
chance we get right and and liberal media is just
as bad in misdirection as conservative media. Now, conservative media
(23:12):
is blatantly lying and leading people to throwing their lives
away in the name of misinformation. But liberal media is
also not helping us because they're not there. They're they're sensationalizing.
When Donald Trump gets indicted, they're sensationalizing. Lauren Bobert getting
felt up in a random, uh, you know, a theater
(23:35):
somewhere watching Beetlejuice on live on on stage or whatever
the fuck she was doing. That leads their headlines and
they become TMZ and the gossip column and it's a joke,
in joke, let's make fun of her, and yeah, it's
fucking funny. But that that's what TikTok is for. That's
what social media is for. If I wanted to look
at memes and to look at funny reactions, I would
(23:56):
go on social media. I would go on YouTube, I
would go on Instagram. I'd got TikTok, and I enjoy
it there. When I tune into the news to what's
supposed to be credible news sources, I want you to
give me the fucking issues that matter that I need
to be educated on and that are affecting my life
and millions of other people around this country. The whole
system is fucked from the top down, essentially, right like
(24:19):
we you know, you talk about draining the swamp, Like
the swamp is out of control at this point, and yeah,
it's up frustrated. I'm not giving up on democracy or
voting or any of these things. But everybody is contributing
to the problem. Like that's that's that's what we all
(24:41):
need to recognize. It doesn't matter what side of the
aisle you fall on. Both media outlets on either side
are not doing justice to the people that watch them
on a daily basis. The politicians are more interested in
TV time and constantly running a silent re election campaign
(25:07):
via whatever they have to do to get their base excited.
You have some politicians creating culture wars that then the
other side has to react to and waste precious time
fighting against when we're ignoring the real issues of this country.
(25:28):
Like that is the major problem in this country is
that nobody is focused on the right things. We're all
just following the next shiny object, and the powers that be,
from media to the politicians themselves to the elite wealthy,
(25:49):
are just pulling the puppet strings and we're all just
fucking dancing along thinking that we're we're actually you know,
focused on anything that matters, and we're all just being
reactive and looking to argue with the person next door
to us and view them as the enemy rather than
the people who are sitting on their ass collecting checks
(26:10):
and you know, enjoying the spoils of the power that
comes from setting the everyday person into chaos. That's the
current state of our country where we live, and we
are all just pawns in a bigger game because we
refuse to hold them accountable. We don't hold people accountable
(26:32):
with our vote. We're so fucking loyal to people who
are not loyal to us. We don't hold people accountable
with our attention. We watch news outlets quote unquote news
outlets right, and give them our viewership. We watch their commercials,
we help them make money while they just sensationalize and
(26:57):
create more drama rather than actually education us on the
issues that we need to hear about. And we've also
fallen into the societal norm of not giving a damn
about what's actually important. We're falling victim to a culture
(27:23):
that prioritizes fast food beyond just meals, but in the
information it gives us, in the entertainment, in the quality
of life. In every single way, this microwavable culture. We're
all just feeding into it and buying into it. Happily,
none of us are standing up and asking, wait, why
(27:44):
are things this way? What's the bigger answer here? Why
are people only talking about the sickness or the wound
but not actually trying to find a cure for the disease? Right,
And that's both in the literal sense when it comes
(28:06):
to our modern medical system, but in the figurative sense,
where we are fighting these superficial battles without ever actually
addressing the war itself. Right, we're sitting here putting out
trying to put out these small fires and getting into
these little culture wars. Right, I'm religious, so I believe this.
(28:28):
I don't believe religion should have be a part of this.
So now we hate each other and we're arguing back
and forth. Right. Meanwhile, the bigger issues that are affecting
millions of Americans as poverty and lack of affordability, lack
of housing, a quality of life that is lacking in
comparison to other large countries and rich countries. Right, we've
(28:55):
been fooled into thinking that capitalism and and capitalism by
any means is good. Right, We're defending a billionaire's ability
to take advantage of the everyday person, right, because they've
fooled us into thinking that that as long as we
back these crazy ideas, maybe one day we can have
(29:16):
a piece of that pie. Right. We are like the
horse chasing a carrot on a string. They've designed it
that way. Right. Meanwhile, they're making it far easier for
themselves to get rich and far harder for us to survive,
while fooling you and telling you that it's available for
anybody who wants it. We need a wake up call
(29:40):
as a society, as a culture, as a people, we
need a wake up call. This propaganda of American excellence
that has been shoved down our throats. It's not serving us.
We are not excellent in education, in healthcare, in quality
of life. Where is the American excellence? Of course it's
worse somewhere else. But I don't judge my life based
(30:04):
upon the fact that I'm not doing as bad as
somebody else. If I can't afford to pay my rent
and I'm getting evicted, it's not going to bring me
comfort to say, hey, but you know what, someone else
is sleeping on the street. So at least for the
next week, I have a roof over my head. How
does that help me? Right? And that's the same thing
as somebody saying, well, it's worse than other countries. How
(30:28):
does that help us? Just because somebody else is more
down and out than us, does it mean that we
should just ignore the problems and pretend that they don't exist.
That is not a way to produce a happy quality
of life, nor a healthy country where it's citizens are
getting what they need. That's my two cents on this.
(30:50):
Moving on, let's move to the world of entertainment and
some some scary stuff here right. Beso Pluma taking the
world by storm right now now bringing Mexican culture to
the mainstream. We talked about him on the VMA's Now
he has to postpone concerts amid cartel threats, right, so,
Besto Blooma has just postponed several upcoming concerts amid alleged
(31:13):
death threats from Jalisco's CJNG cartel. Now. The CJNG Cartel,
also referred to as the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, allegedly
hung three Naco Montha banners around Kijuana, Mexico this week.
The batter's placed at different areas of the cities made
threatening threats directed at Basol Blooma. One banner read this
(31:35):
is for you, Beso Blooma abstained from performing October fourteenth
because it will be your last show and scary shit.
Tijuana's mayor, Manteca Gabalero has said that they were determining
whether to cancel the concert. Still seems like Bestlo Bloma
isn't taking any chances and just postponed several upcoming shows. Now.
The batters that Jalisco CJ and g Cartel allegedly placed
(31:58):
around Kijuana made medicine threats towards best So blow up
another one read well for being disrespectful and having a
loose tugue. If you perform, we will kick your ass.
Scary stuff. Now, this is all thanks to we are
metwo dot com. Man, what a scary a scary world.
And this I mean, listen, it's like you know, you
(32:22):
we were just talking about the States and how it's like, okay,
it's it's worse than other places. And that's not the
answer for you know, complacency or that's not the reason
why you're allowed to be complacent in your fighting for
what's right. But man, when I think about stuff like this,
it definitely puts it into perspective right where. You know,
(32:43):
I'm Puerto Rican, so I have a level of privilege there.
But thinking about, you know, the Mexican community, of my
Mexican brothers and sisters, and man, the impact and the
fear that comes along with the power that narticles have
in their country, and the influence. And man, even somebody
like best of Blooma, who you're looking at, is extremely
(33:04):
successful and I'm sure is making a great living right now.
Even him feeling the pressure of canceling a concert, I'm
sure not only for his safety, but the safety of
the fans who are potentially going there as well. Just
put to the perspective how scary this world can be.
And and man, just how powerful these cartels are. You know,
(33:28):
I've heard a lot of really horrific stories about even
just media people from Mexico talking about these things and
the cartels going after them, and you know, it's just
it's a tragedy, you know, and my heart goes out
to it. And this is sort of a great example
of of why people need to learn how to have
(33:51):
empathy for those who immigrate and come to this country.
Because they're dealing with circumstances that are far beyond the
realm of of myself or anyone, uh you know, in
the the the average American living their life. Right, these
are not circumstances that we have to be concerned with. Again,
even something like him best of Blom, who is successful
globally now is a star, having to feel the pressure
(34:15):
and fear of something like this, man, it's it definitely
puts a lot of things in perspective, and my heart
goes out to anybody who's ever been affected by something
like this, and I'm sure even him, you know, having
to deal with this is really fucking scary. So just uh,
you know, a lot of a lot of sad stories
here on today's show. We'll get bright enough though, a
(34:35):
story of inspiration with the segment. So we'll get to that,
but first let's take a quick break and then we'll
be right back, all right, So some much needed positive Timothy.
(35:00):
I started watching this movie over this last weekend. I
didn't get a chance to finish it. I was just
as gausted, but a million miles away and premiered on
Amazon Prime Video. It follows the story of NASA astronaut
Jose Hernandez, played by Mexican actor Michael Banyan. It takes
the role of Hernandez as he journeys from migrant farm
worker to nabbing a seat on the Discovery Shuttle mission
(35:22):
in two thousand and nine. The movie also highlights his
tenacity as he applied for NASA's space program twelve times,
which is absolutely insane. I want to pull up the
name of the of the director as well, because it's
a Latin woman who directed. You got to give credit
(35:44):
where credit is due at the end of the day.
I mean, I think it's just a beautiful story. I
love that that it was directed by Alejandra Morquez Abeya
and just such great reports. It reminds me of the
Flaming Hot movie, which I fucking cried at the end
(36:04):
of because I was just so moved by somebody doing
whatever they had to do, going through the hard times,
the trials and tribulations and making their dream come true.
And I think, obviously for someone like myself, this hits
close to home. I mean, I will never say that
I had a situation like where I was working in
(36:26):
a farm as a migrant farm worker since I was
a kid and having to go through all of the
difficulties that come along with everything associated with that. But
you know, for me, I think when I watch these stories,
it touches something inside me because it just solidifies the hope, right,
(36:48):
and it solidifies the faith that anything is possible as
long as you put in the time and effort, and
even through all the true and tribulations and the nose
and the doors being slammed in your face, if you
don't give up, something is bound to happen for you.
(37:09):
And I love stories like this one, you know, And
obviously for me, I'm not trying to think it's all
about me, but you know, it just touches me on
a deep level because I know for me, so many
people have told me coming up or still make me
feel like it now that my dreams and my goals
(37:31):
are not possible or silly or unobtainable, And it happens
less and less now these days, cause I think at
this point, you know, the proof is in the pudding.
I've created a life from nothing, but I know it
made my journey so incredibly lonely, and stories like this
(37:52):
one make you feel seen, and I think that's what
comes up for me as I get emotional talking about
it or even watching these things, even like little clips
of like stuff like this, They just have such a
profound effect on me because because that's the thing, like
a lot of people don't talk about or or they
talk about it after the fact, or you just don't
see it as out front. But some of the hardest
(38:15):
points of your journey towards having a bigger dream or
a bigger goal, like for me, the lowest points are
like the lonely ass road associated with it, where it's
like you're the only one who can truly see the vision.
And when you have those moments of self doubt, as
(38:39):
are inevitable, you also bear the burden of having to
pull yourself out of that dark hole. And it's really
fucking hard, right, And you go so long without validation,
without anybody confirming that you're on the right path or
that you're talented. Right, those validations and pats in the back,
they come very in consider stilly on that path, right,
(39:02):
and it's like you just have to have this utmost
belief in yourself and your capability to make something out
of nothing, right, and that belief is literally all you
have when you're coming up and it's so hard to
like protect that belief, to maintain it when you're constantly
(39:26):
like it's it's like you're carrying this precious stone, right
and you're walking down the street, and as you're walking
down the street, people are constantly trying to slap it
out of your hand. They are jabbing at it with
sharp objects, they're they're they're chipping it away at it, right,
They're they're breaking off pieces of it, you know, they're
they're they're really just making this walk with this stone
(39:49):
so unbearable. And you know that if you just drop
the stone, you wouldn't be having all of these negative
eyeballs and all of this negative attention brought upon you.
But you have to maintain the faith and the love
for that stone, and even in the face of, you know,
(40:10):
the constant shit storm that it brings, maintaining the faith
that as long as you keep walking, you're eventually going
to get to a clear path where you're at peace
with this stone that you love. Right. I'm using the
stone obviously as an analogy, but that's what it feels like.
And again, in the back of your mind's very easy
to be like, I could just fucking put this stone down,
and everybody would just leave me alone and stop torturing me.
(40:33):
But you know then that means leaving something you love behind,
And that's like the difficult choice, and the difficult journey
is being okay and developing the tolerance needed to keep
getting beaten on every single day, with every single step
(40:55):
you take, knowing that more than likely whatever it is
you're trying to do may not happen, right, that like
the odds are not in your favor, right, and that
the easier route would be to just put the damn
stone down and you would be feeling no more abuse, right.
And that's what's amazing about these stories is that somebody
(41:18):
literally could have stopped putting themselves through the emotional abuse
that it takes of trying to do something like going
into space or working for NASA, and he could have easily,
far easier gave up on that and just led an
average life, but instead took the mental abuse years and years,
twelve times applying, and maintained his love for that thing
(41:40):
and his vision and that purpose because he loved it
so much, even though he knew that route is going
to be fifty times harder, and he could just put
himself out of his misery right now by forgetting about it.
That's what's so beautiful about stories like this and people
who are able to push to the bullshit and make
their dreams come true. Is that right there. It's like
knowing that there's a very easy route that you could
(42:04):
take that you don't get any more abuse. But even
with that easy out in mind, you still choose to
take the difficult path that is constantly going to be
testing you and abusing you along the way, all because
this deep love you have for whatever your thing is.
(42:26):
I think that's what's beautiful about stories like this one,
and I think just following your dream in general. I'm glad.
I feel like relieve, like I got that off my chest.
But thank y'all so much. Joe's not even over them.
I don't even know where I'm I'm throwing off right
now by just like I want to. I'm going to
float away in happiness of what I just talked about there,
(42:48):
because it's just a reminder of how proud to be
of yourself if you're still fighting for your dreams, if
you fought for them and achieve some of them, Like,
there's so much to be proud of right there if
you think about it from the analogy that just gave you.
Now we've talked about everything, We're going to tie all
that we've talked about today in a neat little boat
in a segment call conclusion. Still time, all right, So
(43:16):
just quickly touching on these stories that we talked about today,
the police officers not being found liable for shooting this
Latino man in his home after knocking on the wrong address.
I think again, it just speaks to the powers that
be are never going to go against their own best interest.
And that's the problem in this country. It's designed so
(43:39):
that very few people hold power, and of course those
few people are going to protect themselves and those that
they associate with who are at a similar level or
are loyal to them, they're going to protect them because
it's in their best interest, even though they've been elected
or hired to protect the everyday person. Right So it's
(44:03):
the powers that be are always going to protect the
powerful few rather than the majority that they are supposed
to be taken care of. That's kind of the microcosm
of this country and the vantage point of where we
stand in politics and everything else. Policing all this stuff
(44:23):
that's said, DAKA being declared illegal again by a federal judge.
I mean, we're not shocked by this, right, I don't
think anybody is shocked by this at this point. They've
constantly trying to fight these things again though the irony
of the states that are bringing up these lawsuits, half
(44:43):
of them are the poorest states in the entire country.
That's what they should probably be focusing on and spending
their tax dollars on. But instead they're fighting this culture
war because they've fooled their base into thinking these are
the issues that are affecting your everyday life. This is
your villain, not us are doing absolutely nothing to actually
help you and just pocketing this money and enjoying the
(45:04):
fruits of this power. No, we're not the villains. It's
the immigrants who are coming here and working some of
the most difficult jobs known to man. They're the ones
that are affecting your quality of life. And these people
who are living in the poorest states in this entire
country continue the cycle of electing officials who have done
(45:27):
nothing to address their poverty and their actual concerns, but
talk a good game and give them somebody to be
mad at. In this case brown people. That's the world
we live in. That's our America, I should say now
best so bluemot canceling these tour dates out of fears
and threats from the cartel in Mexico just scary stuff.
(45:48):
I can imagine he's what he's feeling. And big disappointment
obviously for the fans. And again I think it just
speaks to this like global or a nationwide empathy that
we should have for the people who have to actually
deal with this type of stuff on a regular basis
and are trying to get away from it and trying
(46:08):
to create an honest and better life for themselves and
their families. This is you know, it's a tragedy that
people have to live under these types of conditions and
positive side things. Man, the A Million Miles Away movie
just inspiring stuff. And it's a tale of somebody coming
from the lowest of the low as far as societal
standards go. And you know, a migrant farm worker who
(46:30):
had to work as a kid on the farm to
help his family to then rising to the ranks of
NASA actually go into space and making his dream come true.
It's just beautiful, incredibly inspiring and I love that this
story is being told. Stories like Flame and Hot are
being told. You have a Latina director, you know, a
Mexican actor, and Michael Beena playing the lead on this.
(46:53):
It's just amazing like that, that is amazing that our
stories are being told in this way. It gives me
so much hope and it's so fucking inspiring. I'm going
to finish this movie over the weekend, but like even
just being halfway through it, like I was moved and
I just I just love it. And anybody who is
in your struggle right now, you're grinding, you're building something,
you have a dream like you only lose when you
(47:15):
give up. And that's that's really the truth. It may
not pan out exactly as you were hoping, but you
will stumble into something if you're putting in the work
each and every day. I think it's impossible for you
not to find success in something that may not be
the obvious thing you thought, but it's something that you'd
(47:36):
be incredibly happy doing, so you only lose when you quit.
That would be my words of encourage, man, my lesson
from these stories that we're talking about, and if you
want to hear more words of encouragement or more personal
one on one coaching to Just Be Social Club. We
just opened up the offer for our new group. It
combines one on one coaching as well as lifelong a
(47:57):
group mentorship via our mastermind that we do Just be
that NYC clickly just Be Social tab the Social Club tab,
I should say, on the just b website and you
just click apply now, and there's a couple of questions
you fill out. It'll book a free one on one
consultation with myself and my business partner Brenda. We'll talk,
(48:17):
we will see what's going on in your life if
it's a good fit, and go on from there. Only
four spots available, so four people are gonna be a
part of this and they'll we close it off for
probably till the end of the year. Actually won't be
launching the next one till twenty twenty four and speaking
of September twenty ninth, so next Friday we're closing the doors.
Nobody else is gonna be able to sign up for this,
(48:37):
So get in there now, don't wait. If you're thinking
about it, at least just apply and book the free
one on one call, because if you're thinking about it,
I mean something's missing in your life and you might
just need that extra little push, so you owe it
to yourself. Like if you're on the fence about it,
that means there's something calling you to it and you
should follow that intuition rather than the fear that holds
(48:58):
you back from actually acting on things that you want. Right,
So just be dot NYC Social Club tab fill it out,
click apply now and we'll sit down and see what
you got going on in your life. And with that said,
thank you so much for checking out our show today. Man,
I appreciate y'all. Have an amazing weekend. I will catch
you on Tuesday with a brand new episode. Until then,
(49:18):
Happy Latin Heritage Month and I will catch you on
the other side of the weekend. Stay safe, peace. Life
as a Good Indo is a production of the Micro
through That Podcast Network and iHeartRadio.
Alright, let me talk about talk. Here we go. He
said he live in life as a gringo, where you
question where you fit in. Every time you mingle, they
say you do this with not that my rap is
really made. Yes, Hello, and welcome to another episode of
Life as Igringo. I am dramas of course. I mean
(00:27):
it's Thursdays. It means time fact with Thursday trends episode
and I'm flying solo today. Not by by design. This
wasn't the plan. I was supposed to have a guest.
Unfortunately they canceled the day of our recording. So you know,
those things happen, uh, and and you kind of just
gotta roll with the damn punches, right. So here we
(00:49):
are solo, and I got some some stuff to get
into this week. Man. So we're gonna talk about police
officers not being found liable for shooting a Latino man
who was just literally living in his own house. The
cop showed with the wrong place and he ended up dead.
So we'll talk a bit about that, a tragic story.
(01:14):
We'll also talk about Dhaka and what this means as
a judge has declared it illegal again. We will also
talk about Besso Pluma who is dealing with some threats
from cartels and is actually postponing a few concerts as
a result. And then the positive side of things. Man,
(01:35):
we gotta talk about this movie a million miles away.
It is a beautiful story. Like halfway through it just
really inspirational stuff. So we'll talk all about that. But first,
as we always do, man, let's just start with the nonsense,
the bs. We'll do a deep dive and a segment.
Call for the people in the back, say a lot
for the people in the say a lot of the
(02:01):
people in the say a lot of the people who's back?
All right, So let's start with this. This is really
just tragic story. Man. You have a man who was
shot and killed in his own home. Police officers are
being found not liable for this a Latino man. Now,
(02:23):
a jury found two Mississippi police officers not liable for
the twenty seventeen death of Eastmayel Lopez, who was forty
one years old at the time. East Mayel was married
to Claudia Alenaids, and they were at home when police
officers unexpectedly knocked on their doors. Lie twenty fourth, twenty seventeen.
The terrible shooting man. The I almost hate reporting on
(02:49):
these stories at this point, and not because they are not,
you know, viable and deserve to be getting our attention,
but because it just feels like the same thing over
and over and over again, and it's incredibly depressing because
(03:10):
it feels like nothing changes. Now. Obviously, this happened in
twenty seventeen, so this is pre George Floyd and all
those different things. But even in the post George Floyd era,
the fact that, as we'll continue reading on, they're being
found not liable via a lawsuit, it's just kind of
crazy as well. Right, So you have the shooting happening,
and so many different twist and turns happening over the years.
(03:33):
This includes the city of South Haven, Mississippi's twenty twenty
motion to dismiss the case on account of Lopez being
an undocumented immigrant. They claimed that his immigration status meant
he had no constitutional rights. The family's attorney, Murray Wells
response at the time saying, quote, we're stunned that someone
(03:53):
put this in writing, and I think we all share
in those those same feelings. I mean, the fact that
at somebody's status as a citizen sort of makes them
less human. I mean, I mean, that's kind of the
way that America works, right. If you are undocumented, you're
an immigrant, you are viewed as lesser than the United
States of America. But the fact they would put this
(04:14):
in writing, and the fact that they don't want the
proper people to be held accountable and they're finding loopholes
or trying to and using his status as undocumented as
one of those to sort of let these murderers off
the hook is really sad or legend murderers, right, and
thankfully a federal judge dismissed that motion. Now, as described
(04:36):
by the Magnolia Tribune, Lopez and Minadas were asleep at
home in the early morning of July twenty four to
twenty seventeen, they heard a knock on their trailer. At
the time, officers Zachary Durden and Samuel Mays were searching
for a man named Samuel Pierman after a woman filed
a domestic assault complaint against him. As fate would have it,
(04:57):
Perlman lived across the street from Lopez. The officers mistakenly
went to Lopez's home instead. And this is just like,
like murder or not, these guys should not have a
fucking job where they get to hold a gun and
a badge if they literally are are unable to fact
check addresses, right, it's like measure twice cut one. Type
(05:19):
of thing like this is not the type of job
for people who are are not good at details, you know,
and obviously at least the tragedies like this one. Now,
sometime after police knocked on on their trailer, officer dirt
and shot three bullets through the door. One of those
bullets shot Lopez in the head as he was possibly
turned around or running away. Lopez died from the gunshot
(05:42):
wound at home and authorities found his body handcuffed in
the living room. So gunshot wound to the head and
he's handcuffed in the living room and that's where authorities
found his body. Just disgusting, disgusting stuff. Now, aside from
the evidence, the officers and the Lopez family's legal team
have different recollections of what happened. Surprise, surprise, the police
report says something different than would actually happen. And by
(06:05):
the way, the original police report for George Floyd said
something different than what happened, thank got it was called
on camera now as per ap News, officers admitted that
they knocked on Lopez's door without identifying themselves, like shouldn't
this be policing? One oh one? They said, the door opened,
Lopez pointed a rifle at them. At that point, they say,
a pitbull ran out of the house and May's shot
the dog. A third unidentified officer says Dirdan told Lopez
(06:27):
to drop the rifle. Later, the officer shot Lopez and
killed him. Okay, let's just pretend that this version of
the story of the events is true. Early in the morning,
aka in the middle of the night, you're woken up
from a dead sleep by somebody knocking on your door.
It's not beyond the realm of sort of not possibility,
but just like normalcy, that if you are a gun owner,
(06:50):
you're going to greet whoever's knocking on your door in
the middle of the night unannounced, with the weapon that
you have gotten to protect yourself, as well as the
dog that you've I'm sure gotten to protect yourself as well.
Like all of this sounds incredibly fathomable and not an
excuse a for anybody to open fire, but also be
with that knowledge in mind that people are going to
(07:12):
be startled when woken up out of a dead fucking
sleep in the middle of the night, you would think
you would announce yourself for both your own safety and
the safety of those inside it. Just again, it's measured twice,
cut once, And anybody who is incapable of thinking things
rationally through like this and thinking of the possibilities in
what I just explained should not be holding a gun
(07:35):
and a badge now. Lopez's legal team says that the
experts did not find his fingerprints and DNA on the
rifle that he was allegedly holding. Plus authorities found the
rifle more than six feet away from Lopez at the
time of his death. How can being yin a rifle
just shows up and the evidence even showed no fingerprints,
(07:58):
no DNA on it. It's not even anywhere near his
dead body. Like, what are we fucking talking about right now?
Like this, it's the world that we live in, man,
where it's like we don't genuinely care about justice. We
care about the world that we live in. It cares
about justice when it's convenient for those in power. Right, So,
(08:21):
if you are committing in a legal activity and the
police catch you and are wanting to arrestue and then
hold you accountable. They are all about justice in that case.
But when the people in power are the ones who
are fucking up, of course they are not concerned with
actual justice because it goes against their best interest in
the moment. And that literally in a nutshup is our
(08:44):
country when it comes to people of authority, be it
the police, be it politicians, or people who are of privilege,
those who are have an exceptional amount of wealth or
or just born privilege because of their whiteness and the
white supremacy that still exist in our society. Right, So,
of course justice is only cared for when it is
(09:06):
convenient for those in power. That is our society in
a nutshell. Now proving this even further, South Haven Mayor
Darren mussel White defended the officers and on July eighteenth,
a grand jury chose not to indict them. Right. So
this again our country in a nutshell, the powers that be,
(09:27):
those that are in charge, right tipping the scale in
their favor. You have the mayor, a prominent political figure
in what seems like a small town, going on public
record and essentially interfering with an investigation and trial by
announcing what side that he falls on when it comes
(09:49):
to this, who he's going to be supporting. You think
that that doesn't have some sort of influence on the jurors, who,
again are local and regardless of how we try to
hide evidence from them, have probably seen this on TV
or in the newspaper or whatever it might be, the
fact that the mayors is going and supporting the police officer.
So surprise, surprise, they end up getting acquitted. Right, they
(10:12):
end up not getting indicted, I should say, right, the
jury didn't even think that this was worthy of bringing
it to a criminal trial. Now. In response, Lopez's widow,
Claudia Leonidas, filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the city
of South Haven, Mississippi, in June of twenty nineteen. The
city at the time claimed Lopez did not have constitutional
rights because he was an undocumented worker. Specifically, they said
(10:34):
this meant that Lopez did not have Fourth Amendment protection,
which ensures people against unreasonable searches. Okay, so I guess
there are no rules, you know, when it comes to
decency or what's morally correct when you're wearing a badge
and holding a gun. Now, As reported by the AP News,
(10:54):
a Mississippi jury just cleared the officer this week, officers
Dirden and Maze of any wrongdoing. Right, so that's that's
what happened with this whole trial that they now last
suit I should say they brought up. They've been cleared
of any wrongdoing. They jury deliberated for four days in
federal Corps over Lenatas's twenty million dollar lawsuit against the
(11:15):
city police chief and officers. While Leonatis's legal team argued
that the city violated his civil rights, the jury found
that the officers were not liable. This means that Lenatas
will not receive any compensation for the tragedy. And let's
just like humanize this for a second. Let's take the
lawyers out of it. Let's let's just take the big
(11:37):
long history of police abuse out of this. Think about
it as a human being. Put yourself in in her shoes, right,
put yourself in the shoes of this woman who now
has has lost her the love of her life, Claudia Lenatus,
lost her her husband, right, he smile, Lopez. Think about this.
(11:58):
The two of you go to bed like any other,
you know, you say your good night, you give your
spouse a kiss, good night, whatever it might be you
go through your night labroutine, you fall asleep, all of
a sudden, abruptly woken up out of a dead sleep,
and very quickly your life has completely flipped upside down
as the person that you've spent your life with and
(12:20):
have been creating a life with is now dead. Because
these people were so inept at their job that they
literally knocked on the wrong door. It literally couldn't do
the job of an uber, each driver successfully dropping off
(12:41):
a meal at the correct house. These police officers went
to the house across the street, and the result of
them being idiots and god off at their job is
the death of a man and a family that's never
going to be the same. That's what things like this
(13:07):
are on a human level, tragedies, senseless tragedies, all because
we don't have a system in place that is concerned
with quality right because I think yet you have people
who have malice in their hearts in certain positions of power.
(13:29):
I don't disagree with that, but I also think at
a larger scale, you have a system that is not
designed to bring in the best of the best. Even
though this is a career path and a job that
holds an immense amount of responsibility and potential danger and
(13:49):
should be held to the highest possible standard of education
and training and vetting at the end of the day.
But that's not the country that we live and as
a result, senseless strategies like this one happen. And then
what makes it even worse is that you have people
of influence choosing what's most convenient for them, and in
(14:13):
this case, somebody like the mayor backing these officers, and
then a grand jury deciding they're not going to indict.
It's just this like perfect storm of horrific events that
really speak to like the zeitgeist that we live in
when it comes to our time here as American citizens, right,
(14:34):
like a combination of idiocrity, a combination of an abuse
of power, and a combination of those in power always
choosing their best interests or what's in their best interests
before the people that they have been either elected or
(14:58):
hired to look over and serve. It's a lack of
morality that we have and it's really just awful to see.
And yeah, I don't really have words for it when
it plays out on such a tragic level like this one.
It's just really awful. Really scary, and my heart goes
(15:20):
out to this family and all of the other families,
the countless families that over the decades have had to
deal with similar, avoidable and senseless tragedies like this one.
Because we don't have a real checks and balanced the
(15:42):
system in this country, and we lack an immense amount
of morality in this country. It's just awful. There's no
way around it. Now. With that said, I'm going to
take a pause here. I think now it's a good
time to take a quick break, and then we'll be
right back. All right, we are back, and let's dive
(16:04):
back into some of these stories in our for the people.
In the back segment, let's talk about DACA as it's
been declared illegal again by a federal judge. So you
had a Texas federal judge striking down the revised policy
this last week, citing that it was illegal. United States
District Judge Andrew Haynen sided with nine states that had
(16:25):
sued to stop the program. The first time Haynen declared
the program illegal was a twenty twenty one per PBS.
In his ruling, the Texan federal judge asserts that DOACA
doesn't meet the necessary requirements dictated by the Federal Administration
Procedures Act. According to Axios that the Biden administration reworked
the program to adhere to the ruling. The publication cites
(16:47):
that the new version of DACA went into effect in
October twenty twenty two. PBS reports that this decision over
the fate of DOACA was likely to speed now brought
in front of the US Supreme Court for the third time. Now,
the judge's ruling maintains that current DOCA recipients are still
(17:08):
safe for the time being. Now, anybody who is not
completely sure what DOCA is. It was originally established via
executive action in June twenty twelve to protect certain undocumented
immigrants who were brought to the US as children from
removal proceedings and receive authorization to work for renewable two
(17:29):
year periods. Right, so, those are the people who are
protected under DACA. Now, what does this ruling mean for
those who are DOCA recipients. Ap News reports that Haines's
federal mandate over the program keeps the government from accepting
any new applications from anyone. The protection extends for the
duration of the legal review that is currently happening. Axios
(17:50):
cites that this will cover the quote more than half
a million beneficiaries under the DOCA protections. Now, the states
that are petitioning for the removal of DACA are techs. Surprise, surprise, Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Nebraska,
South Carolina, West Virginia, Kansas, and Mississippi. Now, majority of
these states, not for nothing, probably have more, you know,
(18:14):
larger concerns than undocumented immigrants. At the end of day,
you know, I'm gonna do it right here, right here,
as we're on the podcast, I'm going to let's just
google state rankings for poverty. Okay, let's just look this up,
because I can almost guarantee I'm gonna easily find majority
(18:37):
of those states on this list here. So let's see. Okay,
what do we have. Louisiana actually ranks number two of
the poorest state in America. Let's see West Virginia's that
on that list of people petitioning for the removal of DAKA.
West Virginia actually ranks fourth on the poorest state in
(18:58):
this country. Obama on that list, yep, they are lucky
number seven on the poorest states in America. Let's see
what else we got here. Let's see if anybody else
made it in the top ten from from that list. Arkansas, yep,
coming in at number five on the poor states in America,
and they are worried about DACA recipients right now. Okay,
(19:21):
let's see Mississippi. Oh yeah, Mississippi is petitioning for the
removal of DACA. They're number one, the poorest state in
the United States of America. Interesting, Okay, And let's see
if I missed anybody here, because I know we had
Kansas and South Carolina, Texas. You know, it seems you're
doing alright with itself, right, Okay, So yep, those are ones.
(19:44):
So looks like the majority of that list finds itself
as one of the top ten poor states in this country.
And this is the type of shit that I'm talking about, right.
A lot of people have misconstrued sub statements I've I
kind of been making or had when we talk about
rights for trans people or the LGBTQ plus community, and
(20:09):
when I talk about how these are cultural issues that
don't actually affect the majority of Americans, I'm not saying
that these aren't things we have to be concerned with
and fight for. What I'm saying is we're only having
to fight for the rights of these people because the
other side, the right, has fooled their base into thinking
(20:35):
that these are the most prominent issues affecting their quality
of life. That's the problem right there. Right, So now
we have to play defense if you find yourself in
support of those communities and their rights and wasting time
playing defense rather than actually taking offense against issues that
(20:56):
actually matter. Like the fact, and by the way, I'm
not say those issues don't matter by worrying I have
to make sure here, but issues that are actually more prominent,
I should say, right for the everyday American person, right,
because if we weren't having these culture wars, that again,
the average person who's fighting against the rights of the
(21:19):
LGBTQ plus community, that person generally speaking, is probably not
affected in their daily life, but they're so passionate about
it because they've been fooled into think it's a bigger
issue than it actually is, or that it's an issue
that is going to affect their children because they've been
live to that. You know, it's that drag queens are
grooming children for pedophilia, like nonsense, like that, This is
(21:41):
what I'm talking about, or the reality is, look at
the poverty rates in these states that I'm talking about.
Yet their elected officials are worried about undocumented immigrants and
even more specifically DOCA recipients. Right, they're wasting tax dollars
(22:03):
fighting these cases and their time because they know it's
going to rile up their base, who again is looking
for somebody to call the enemy. And even though the
politicians are truthfully the enemy, they know obviously they hold
the power, they have the TV time, they can spind
it create a false enemy that their base believes. And
(22:25):
that's what they've done with the immigrant community, that's what
they've done with the LGBTQ plus community. Meanwhile not doing
shit to address the larger issues in their communities, like
the fact that they have an unacceptable poverty rate in
the states and areas that they represent. Like this, it
(22:51):
drives me insane that that's not the topic of conversation
and we aren't calling that out every single day every
chance we get right and and liberal media is just
as bad in misdirection as conservative media. Now, conservative media
(23:12):
is blatantly lying and leading people to throwing their lives
away in the name of misinformation. But liberal media is
also not helping us because they're not there. They're they're sensationalizing.
When Donald Trump gets indicted, they're sensationalizing. Lauren Bobert getting
felt up in a random, uh, you know, a theater
(23:35):
somewhere watching Beetlejuice on live on on stage or whatever
the fuck she was doing. That leads their headlines and
they become TMZ and the gossip column and it's a joke,
in joke, let's make fun of her, and yeah, it's
fucking funny. But that that's what TikTok is for. That's
what social media is for. If I wanted to look
at memes and to look at funny reactions, I would
(23:56):
go on social media. I would go on YouTube, I
would go on Instagram. I'd got TikTok, and I enjoy
it there. When I tune into the news to what's
supposed to be credible news sources, I want you to
give me the fucking issues that matter that I need
to be educated on and that are affecting my life
and millions of other people around this country. The whole
system is fucked from the top down, essentially, right like
(24:19):
we you know, you talk about draining the swamp, Like
the swamp is out of control at this point, and yeah,
it's up frustrated. I'm not giving up on democracy or
voting or any of these things. But everybody is contributing
to the problem. Like that's that's that's what we all
(24:41):
need to recognize. It doesn't matter what side of the
aisle you fall on. Both media outlets on either side
are not doing justice to the people that watch them
on a daily basis. The politicians are more interested in
TV time and constantly running a silent re election campaign
(25:07):
via whatever they have to do to get their base excited.
You have some politicians creating culture wars that then the
other side has to react to and waste precious time
fighting against when we're ignoring the real issues of this country.
(25:28):
Like that is the major problem in this country is
that nobody is focused on the right things. We're all
just following the next shiny object, and the powers that be,
from media to the politicians themselves to the elite wealthy,
(25:49):
are just pulling the puppet strings and we're all just
fucking dancing along thinking that we're we're actually you know,
focused on anything that matters, and we're all just being
reactive and looking to argue with the person next door
to us and view them as the enemy rather than
the people who are sitting on their ass collecting checks
(26:10):
and you know, enjoying the spoils of the power that
comes from setting the everyday person into chaos. That's the
current state of our country where we live, and we
are all just pawns in a bigger game because we
refuse to hold them accountable. We don't hold people accountable
(26:32):
with our vote. We're so fucking loyal to people who
are not loyal to us. We don't hold people accountable
with our attention. We watch news outlets quote unquote news
outlets right, and give them our viewership. We watch their commercials,
we help them make money while they just sensationalize and
(26:57):
create more drama rather than actually education us on the
issues that we need to hear about. And we've also
fallen into the societal norm of not giving a damn
about what's actually important. We're falling victim to a culture
(27:23):
that prioritizes fast food beyond just meals, but in the
information it gives us, in the entertainment, in the quality
of life. In every single way, this microwavable culture. We're
all just feeding into it and buying into it. Happily,
none of us are standing up and asking, wait, why
(27:44):
are things this way? What's the bigger answer here? Why
are people only talking about the sickness or the wound
but not actually trying to find a cure for the disease? Right,
And that's both in the literal sense when it comes
(28:06):
to our modern medical system, but in the figurative sense,
where we are fighting these superficial battles without ever actually
addressing the war itself. Right, we're sitting here putting out
trying to put out these small fires and getting into
these little culture wars. Right, I'm religious, so I believe this.
(28:28):
I don't believe religion should have be a part of this.
So now we hate each other and we're arguing back
and forth. Right. Meanwhile, the bigger issues that are affecting
millions of Americans as poverty and lack of affordability, lack
of housing, a quality of life that is lacking in
comparison to other large countries and rich countries. Right, we've
(28:55):
been fooled into thinking that capitalism and and capitalism by
any means is good. Right, We're defending a billionaire's ability
to take advantage of the everyday person, right, because they've
fooled us into thinking that that as long as we
back these crazy ideas, maybe one day we can have
(29:16):
a piece of that pie. Right. We are like the
horse chasing a carrot on a string. They've designed it
that way. Right. Meanwhile, they're making it far easier for
themselves to get rich and far harder for us to survive,
while fooling you and telling you that it's available for
anybody who wants it. We need a wake up call
(29:40):
as a society, as a culture, as a people, we
need a wake up call. This propaganda of American excellence
that has been shoved down our throats. It's not serving us.
We are not excellent in education, in healthcare, in quality
of life. Where is the American excellence? Of course it's
worse somewhere else. But I don't judge my life based
(30:04):
upon the fact that I'm not doing as bad as
somebody else. If I can't afford to pay my rent
and I'm getting evicted, it's not going to bring me
comfort to say, hey, but you know what, someone else
is sleeping on the street. So at least for the
next week, I have a roof over my head. How
does that help me? Right? And that's the same thing
as somebody saying, well, it's worse than other countries. How
(30:28):
does that help us? Just because somebody else is more
down and out than us, does it mean that we
should just ignore the problems and pretend that they don't exist.
That is not a way to produce a happy quality
of life, nor a healthy country where it's citizens are
getting what they need. That's my two cents on this.
(30:50):
Moving on, let's move to the world of entertainment and
some some scary stuff here right. Beso Pluma taking the
world by storm right now now bringing Mexican culture to
the mainstream. We talked about him on the VMA's Now
he has to postpone concerts amid cartel threats, right, so,
Besto Blooma has just postponed several upcoming concerts amid alleged
(31:13):
death threats from Jalisco's CJNG cartel. Now. The CJNG Cartel,
also referred to as the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, allegedly
hung three Naco Montha banners around Kijuana, Mexico this week.
The batter's placed at different areas of the cities made
threatening threats directed at Basol Blooma. One banner read this
(31:35):
is for you, Beso Blooma abstained from performing October fourteenth
because it will be your last show and scary shit.
Tijuana's mayor, Manteca Gabalero has said that they were determining
whether to cancel the concert. Still seems like Bestlo Bloma
isn't taking any chances and just postponed several upcoming shows. Now.
The batters that Jalisco CJ and g Cartel allegedly placed
(31:58):
around Kijuana made medicine threats towards best So blow up
another one read well for being disrespectful and having a
loose tugue. If you perform, we will kick your ass.
Scary stuff. Now, this is all thanks to we are
metwo dot com. Man, what a scary a scary world.
And this I mean, listen, it's like you know, you
(32:22):
we were just talking about the States and how it's like, okay,
it's it's worse than other places. And that's not the
answer for you know, complacency or that's not the reason
why you're allowed to be complacent in your fighting for
what's right. But man, when I think about stuff like this,
it definitely puts it into perspective right where. You know,
(32:43):
I'm Puerto Rican, so I have a level of privilege there.
But thinking about, you know, the Mexican community, of my
Mexican brothers and sisters, and man, the impact and the
fear that comes along with the power that narticles have
in their country, and the influence. And man, even somebody
like best of Blooma, who you're looking at, is extremely
(33:04):
successful and I'm sure is making a great living right now.
Even him feeling the pressure of canceling a concert, I'm
sure not only for his safety, but the safety of
the fans who are potentially going there as well. Just
put to the perspective how scary this world can be.
And and man, just how powerful these cartels are. You know,
(33:28):
I've heard a lot of really horrific stories about even
just media people from Mexico talking about these things and
the cartels going after them, and you know, it's just
it's a tragedy, you know, and my heart goes out
to it. And this is sort of a great example
of of why people need to learn how to have
(33:51):
empathy for those who immigrate and come to this country.
Because they're dealing with circumstances that are far beyond the
realm of of myself or anyone, uh you know, in
the the the average American living their life. Right, these
are not circumstances that we have to be concerned with. Again,
even something like him best of Blom, who is successful
globally now is a star, having to feel the pressure
(34:15):
and fear of something like this, man, it's it definitely
puts a lot of things in perspective, and my heart
goes out to anybody who's ever been affected by something
like this, and I'm sure even him, you know, having
to deal with this is really fucking scary. So just uh,
you know, a lot of a lot of sad stories
here on today's show. We'll get bright enough though, a
(34:35):
story of inspiration with the segment. So we'll get to that,
but first let's take a quick break and then we'll
be right back, all right, So some much needed positive Timothy.
(35:00):
I started watching this movie over this last weekend. I
didn't get a chance to finish it. I was just
as gausted, but a million miles away and premiered on
Amazon Prime Video. It follows the story of NASA astronaut
Jose Hernandez, played by Mexican actor Michael Banyan. It takes
the role of Hernandez as he journeys from migrant farm
worker to nabbing a seat on the Discovery Shuttle mission
(35:22):
in two thousand and nine. The movie also highlights his
tenacity as he applied for NASA's space program twelve times,
which is absolutely insane. I want to pull up the
name of the of the director as well, because it's
a Latin woman who directed. You got to give credit
(35:44):
where credit is due at the end of the day.
I mean, I think it's just a beautiful story. I
love that that it was directed by Alejandra Morquez Abeya
and just such great reports. It reminds me of the
Flaming Hot movie, which I fucking cried at the end
(36:04):
of because I was just so moved by somebody doing
whatever they had to do, going through the hard times,
the trials and tribulations and making their dream come true.
And I think, obviously for someone like myself, this hits
close to home. I mean, I will never say that
I had a situation like where I was working in
(36:26):
a farm as a migrant farm worker since I was
a kid and having to go through all of the
difficulties that come along with everything associated with that. But
you know, for me, I think when I watch these stories,
it touches something inside me because it just solidifies the hope, right,
(36:48):
and it solidifies the faith that anything is possible as
long as you put in the time and effort, and
even through all the true and tribulations and the nose
and the doors being slammed in your face, if you
don't give up, something is bound to happen for you.
(37:09):
And I love stories like this one, you know, And
obviously for me, I'm not trying to think it's all
about me, but you know, it just touches me on
a deep level because I know for me, so many
people have told me coming up or still make me
feel like it now that my dreams and my goals
(37:31):
are not possible or silly or unobtainable, And it happens
less and less now these days, cause I think at
this point, you know, the proof is in the pudding.
I've created a life from nothing, but I know it
made my journey so incredibly lonely, and stories like this
(37:52):
one make you feel seen, and I think that's what
comes up for me as I get emotional talking about
it or even watching these things, even like little clips
of like stuff like this, They just have such a
profound effect on me because because that's the thing, like
a lot of people don't talk about or or they
talk about it after the fact, or you just don't
see it as out front. But some of the hardest
(38:15):
points of your journey towards having a bigger dream or
a bigger goal, like for me, the lowest points are
like the lonely ass road associated with it, where it's
like you're the only one who can truly see the vision.
And when you have those moments of self doubt, as
(38:39):
are inevitable, you also bear the burden of having to
pull yourself out of that dark hole. And it's really
fucking hard, right, And you go so long without validation,
without anybody confirming that you're on the right path or
that you're talented. Right, those validations and pats in the back,
they come very in consider stilly on that path, right,
(39:02):
and it's like you just have to have this utmost
belief in yourself and your capability to make something out
of nothing, right, and that belief is literally all you
have when you're coming up and it's so hard to
like protect that belief, to maintain it when you're constantly
(39:26):
like it's it's like you're carrying this precious stone, right
and you're walking down the street, and as you're walking
down the street, people are constantly trying to slap it
out of your hand. They are jabbing at it with
sharp objects, they're they're they're chipping it away at it, right,
They're they're breaking off pieces of it, you know, they're
they're they're really just making this walk with this stone
(39:49):
so unbearable. And you know that if you just drop
the stone, you wouldn't be having all of these negative
eyeballs and all of this negative attention brought upon you.
But you have to maintain the faith and the love
for that stone, and even in the face of, you know,
(40:10):
the constant shit storm that it brings, maintaining the faith
that as long as you keep walking, you're eventually going
to get to a clear path where you're at peace
with this stone that you love. Right. I'm using the
stone obviously as an analogy, but that's what it feels like.
And again, in the back of your mind's very easy
to be like, I could just fucking put this stone down,
and everybody would just leave me alone and stop torturing me.
(40:33):
But you know then that means leaving something you love behind,
And that's like the difficult choice, and the difficult journey
is being okay and developing the tolerance needed to keep
getting beaten on every single day, with every single step
(40:55):
you take, knowing that more than likely whatever it is
you're trying to do may not happen, right, that like
the odds are not in your favor, right, and that
the easier route would be to just put the damn
stone down and you would be feeling no more abuse, right.
And that's what's amazing about these stories is that somebody
(41:18):
literally could have stopped putting themselves through the emotional abuse
that it takes of trying to do something like going
into space or working for NASA, and he could have easily,
far easier gave up on that and just led an
average life, but instead took the mental abuse years and years,
twelve times applying, and maintained his love for that thing
(41:40):
and his vision and that purpose because he loved it
so much, even though he knew that route is going
to be fifty times harder, and he could just put
himself out of his misery right now by forgetting about it.
That's what's so beautiful about stories like this and people
who are able to push to the bullshit and make
their dreams come true. Is that right there. It's like
knowing that there's a very easy route that you could
(42:04):
take that you don't get any more abuse. But even
with that easy out in mind, you still choose to
take the difficult path that is constantly going to be
testing you and abusing you along the way, all because
this deep love you have for whatever your thing is.
(42:26):
I think that's what's beautiful about stories like this one,
and I think just following your dream in general. I'm glad.
I feel like relieve, like I got that off my chest.
But thank y'all so much. Joe's not even over them.
I don't even know where I'm I'm throwing off right
now by just like I want to. I'm going to
float away in happiness of what I just talked about there,
(42:48):
because it's just a reminder of how proud to be
of yourself if you're still fighting for your dreams, if
you fought for them and achieve some of them, Like,
there's so much to be proud of right there if
you think about it from the analogy that just gave you.
Now we've talked about everything, We're going to tie all
that we've talked about today in a neat little boat
in a segment call conclusion. Still time, all right, So
(43:16):
just quickly touching on these stories that we talked about today,
the police officers not being found liable for shooting this
Latino man in his home after knocking on the wrong address.
I think again, it just speaks to the powers that
be are never going to go against their own best interest.
And that's the problem in this country. It's designed so
(43:39):
that very few people hold power, and of course those
few people are going to protect themselves and those that
they associate with who are at a similar level or
are loyal to them, they're going to protect them because
it's in their best interest, even though they've been elected
or hired to protect the everyday person. Right So it's
(44:03):
the powers that be are always going to protect the
powerful few rather than the majority that they are supposed
to be taken care of. That's kind of the microcosm
of this country and the vantage point of where we
stand in politics and everything else. Policing all this stuff
(44:23):
that's said, DAKA being declared illegal again by a federal judge.
I mean, we're not shocked by this, right, I don't
think anybody is shocked by this at this point. They've
constantly trying to fight these things again though the irony
of the states that are bringing up these lawsuits, half
(44:43):
of them are the poorest states in the entire country.
That's what they should probably be focusing on and spending
their tax dollars on. But instead they're fighting this culture
war because they've fooled their base into thinking these are
the issues that are affecting your everyday life. This is
your villain, not us are doing absolutely nothing to actually
help you and just pocketing this money and enjoying the
(45:04):
fruits of this power. No, we're not the villains. It's
the immigrants who are coming here and working some of
the most difficult jobs known to man. They're the ones
that are affecting your quality of life. And these people
who are living in the poorest states in this entire
country continue the cycle of electing officials who have done
(45:27):
nothing to address their poverty and their actual concerns, but
talk a good game and give them somebody to be
mad at. In this case brown people. That's the world
we live in. That's our America, I should say now
best so bluemot canceling these tour dates out of fears
and threats from the cartel in Mexico just scary stuff.
(45:48):
I can imagine he's what he's feeling. And big disappointment
obviously for the fans. And again I think it just
speaks to this like global or a nationwide empathy that
we should have for the people who have to actually
deal with this type of stuff on a regular basis
and are trying to get away from it and trying
(46:08):
to create an honest and better life for themselves and
their families. This is you know, it's a tragedy that
people have to live under these types of conditions and
positive side things. Man, the A Million Miles Away movie
just inspiring stuff. And it's a tale of somebody coming
from the lowest of the low as far as societal
standards go. And you know, a migrant farm worker who
(46:30):
had to work as a kid on the farm to
help his family to then rising to the ranks of
NASA actually go into space and making his dream come true.
It's just beautiful, incredibly inspiring and I love that this
story is being told. Stories like Flame and Hot are
being told. You have a Latina director, you know, a
Mexican actor, and Michael Beena playing the lead on this.
(46:53):
It's just amazing like that, that is amazing that our
stories are being told in this way. It gives me
so much hope and it's so fucking inspiring. I'm going
to finish this movie over the weekend, but like even
just being halfway through it, like I was moved and
I just I just love it. And anybody who is
in your struggle right now, you're grinding, you're building something,
you have a dream like you only lose when you
(47:15):
give up. And that's that's really the truth. It may
not pan out exactly as you were hoping, but you
will stumble into something if you're putting in the work
each and every day. I think it's impossible for you
not to find success in something that may not be
the obvious thing you thought, but it's something that you'd
(47:36):
be incredibly happy doing, so you only lose when you quit.
That would be my words of encourage, man, my lesson
from these stories that we're talking about, and if you
want to hear more words of encouragement or more personal
one on one coaching to Just Be Social Club. We
just opened up the offer for our new group. It
combines one on one coaching as well as lifelong a
(47:57):
group mentorship via our mastermind that we do Just be
that NYC clickly just Be Social tab the Social Club tab,
I should say, on the just b website and you
just click apply now, and there's a couple of questions
you fill out. It'll book a free one on one
consultation with myself and my business partner Brenda. We'll talk,
(48:17):
we will see what's going on in your life if
it's a good fit, and go on from there. Only
four spots available, so four people are gonna be a
part of this and they'll we close it off for
probably till the end of the year. Actually won't be
launching the next one till twenty twenty four and speaking
of September twenty ninth, so next Friday we're closing the doors.
Nobody else is gonna be able to sign up for this,
(48:37):
So get in there now, don't wait. If you're thinking
about it, at least just apply and book the free
one on one call, because if you're thinking about it,
I mean something's missing in your life and you might
just need that extra little push, so you owe it
to yourself. Like if you're on the fence about it,
that means there's something calling you to it and you
should follow that intuition rather than the fear that holds
(48:58):
you back from actually acting on things that you want. Right,
So just be dot NYC Social Club tab fill it out,
click apply now and we'll sit down and see what
you got going on in your life. And with that said,
thank you so much for checking out our show today. Man,
I appreciate y'all. Have an amazing weekend. I will catch
you on Tuesday with a brand new episode. Until then,
(49:18):
Happy Latin Heritage Month and I will catch you on
the other side of the weekend. Stay safe, peace. Life
as a Good Indo is a production of the Micro
through That Podcast Network and iHeartRadio.
Host
DJ Dramos
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