Racism is a Distraction

Jonathan Metzl returns to Woke AF Daily to discuss the heinous tactics being used by Donald Trump and JD Vance, backed by the entire Republican party.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:11):
Good morning, peeps, and welcome to wok F Daily with
me your girl, Daniel Moody, recording from the Home Bunker, Folks,
I can't help but continue to think about the ways
that Republicans are using racism as a distraction. For the
last couple of days, we've been going back and forth
on social media about hard ends and ers, as I

(00:33):
posted in a video on my YouTube channel, and I
got to tell you that Toni Morrison, I continue to
say was a prophet, was right when she said that
racism is a distraction. Because if I'm too busy explaining
my humanity to you, then I don't have the energy
and the ability to actually do the work to move
this country forward. And that is the goal of the

(00:56):
Republican Party. It is to exhaust us. It is to
distract us, to get us out of ourselves right and
into the muck with them. And what I am deciding
to do is not right. It should just say no.
Because you know what happened while we were busy talking
about Megan Kelly and Richard Lowry, which I am talking

(01:19):
about myself, the Senate Republicans once again blocked legislation that
would allow IVF to be protected in this country. So
while they're lying to your face about, oh, we just
moved abortion from a federal issue into a states rights issue,
mind you, this is the same shit that they said
about slavery. Oh, it's states rights and it's an economic issue.

(01:42):
No the fuck it is not. You have created a
patchwork of protections for women and people with uteruses in
this country that are killing women, most recently two black
women in the state of Georgia. There is a pro
publica article out now on the ways in which those
two women, those two mothers deaths could have been prevented

(02:05):
if abortion was legal in the state of Georgia. Now,
while they say, oh, you won't be persecuted and treated
like a criminal for seeking an abortion, guess what they
have done successfully, which is scare women into dying alone
at home or in parking lots. So again, while I

(02:26):
say that we are in arms right over the fact
that an entire town in Springfield, Ohio has been basically
under a terror watch because of Donald Trump and JD. Vance,
the question that I ask is what is it that
we're missing while they're throwing our attention over there, What

(02:50):
is it that they are doing? Because there is always
something underhanded going on. So while our focus is on Springfield, Ohio,
and I'm not saying that it's shouldn't be, we should
also be asking the question of what else are Republicans doing,
because right now they are in session mandating how when

(03:11):
and if a woman has a child and how when
and if she is going to die because she takes
on that awesome responsibility. Right now, we are living inside
of the handmaid's tail. It is not something that is
forthcoming after November, if in fact, enough people in swing

(03:31):
states don't decide to vote for common fucking sense and
not a common criminal like Donald Trump. But the reality
is is that their dystopian wet dreams are manifesting every
day and they are costing women their lives. We have
got to keep our eyes on the prize, on the

(03:56):
ball because these motherfuckers are shifty, they are shady, and
as JD. Vance said, the quiet part out loud again,
they are ruthless about their pursuit of power by any
means necessary. Coming up next, my conversation with our friend,
our in house doctor, doctor Jonathan Metzel. Folks. I am

(04:21):
always very happy when our world traveler, doctor Jonathan Metzel
returns to WOKF to discuss all of the happenings. Jonathan,
you've been gone a spell. It's good to have you back.

Speaker 2 (04:35):
It was an incredibleship. I was in Copenhagen talking about
American gun violence and they looked at me like, oh
my god, what is wrong with you guys? Like it
was really interesting. Everybody should have the experience of talking
about America somewhere else and just seeing how we are
just kicked in the McNuggets here in terms of like

(04:58):
in terms of just our what we get used to
every day. They looked at me like, oh my god,
please go back, leave us alone.

Speaker 1 (05:06):
Yeah, I uh fair funny. I will be in London
over the weekend through next Tuesday doing an event with
Mehdi Hassan where we will talk about American democracy in London,
and I'm just like, I'm excited about it because I
really do international discussions. Oh cool, I like, outside of

(05:29):
outside of Canada.

Speaker 2 (05:31):
Where's it going to be. Let's pump that up. Where's
it going to be?

Speaker 1 (05:33):
I will find out. I will find out. Well, I
will let people know.

Speaker 2 (05:37):
People are just going to be wandering around London looking for.

Speaker 1 (05:40):
Right, looking for me, but you know, so I want
to talk about this with you today. Over the last
couple of weeks, Donald Trump and Jade Vance have been
ratcheting up their stochastic terrorism attacks on the Haitian immigrant
population of Springfield, Ohio. Folks have been listening to this show.

(06:00):
They know that I've talked about this. It's been all
over the news. You've had two city commissioners, police chiefs
come out to discredit the lies that have been told
about the Haitian immigrant population and how it is damaging
the community, how it's damaging businesses. Just recently, as of
this recording, they have canceled a cultural arts event that

(06:22):
was supposed to happen in Springfield this coming week or
weekend because they fear violence. Because over the last week,
schools were closed two days in a row because bomb threats.
There have been municipality buildings were shut down because of
bomb threats, all coming after Donald Trump was at the
debate a week ago recounting the lies of Haitian immigrants.

(06:46):
And I want to talk to you about this because
what I realized, Jonathan, is one we use too many
euphemisms when we talk about the rhetoric that Donald Trump,
Jade vance and the Republican Party has been using over
the last eight to ten years, right like, it has
escalated in its violence, it is escalated in its cruelty,

(07:09):
and it's been causing harm to people, from Judge Marshan
and his court staff that have had to get security,
to Shay Moss and Miss Ruby down in Georgia that
sued both Donald Trump and Rudy Giuliani for the lives
that they spread, their lives who were ruined. So I
want to get a sense from you, like talk to
us about how these insinuations, these derogatory statements, they begin,

(07:34):
but then they metastasize and they become a part of
our lexicon, They become a part of what we believe
to be the norm of political rhetoric, and how that
is harming us.

Speaker 2 (07:47):
Well, I mean right now, obviously it's a very heightened
moment where the stakes could not be higher, and we
are seeing Willie Horton on steroids, basically playing to people's
deepest replacement fears, anxieties, biases, racisms, stereotypes, and so this
idea that basically other people are out for your stuff.

(08:11):
I'm the only person who's going to protect you. We're
going to be taken over. It's so deep, and it's
just at this moment where basically you're trying to elicit
an automatic response, which is fear vote, and I'm going
to protect you and the other person's not going to
protect you, and all these kind of things. In fact,
the other person looks like those other people. And so

(08:32):
in a way, it's just hard because it's such a
tried and true method in American politics, which we've never
seen it on this level before, I don't think. But
the stakes are also higher than really the tricks are
incredibly I and so I think part of the story
is just it's hard because it's so obvious, right, and

(08:53):
so how do you refute it? We're on a constant
like treadmill of having to refute all this crazy stuff.
And you know, what I've been thinking about recently is
actually the time when the CRT thing came out initially
because it was just so idiotic, right, it was like
twenty twenty twenty twenty one, they started saying, oh, we're
going against critical race theory, and we were just constantly

(09:17):
people like me and you and other people were constantly
going on television having to refute, oh, critical race theory
is arcane legal theory that's taught in law schools, and
blah blah blah, Like we were all of a sudden
on their turf all the time, and so this idea
of kind of always being on the defensive, it's great
for Trump to be in the middle of the new cycle.

(09:39):
He's going to keep ratcheting this up. And I guess
for me, the question which I would ask you in return,
is are we going to be continually it's like nine
hundred tennis balls are coming at us at one time
and we have just one tennis racket, Or is there
a way that we can actually change the channel right now?
Because it is of course racism and xenophobia, but it's
also in the stakes of the election, and so I

(10:02):
wish we could change the channel on this in some way. Yeah,
that them on the defensive not have to respond to
their points all the time, because the awfulness is just
going to get worse and worse. It's so clear. I mean,
even Vance was on TV one day saying this whole
thing was bs and the next day he's like, oh wait,
I stand corrected. So it's obviously a strategy.

Speaker 1 (10:23):
And that's the thing is that it is a strategy,
and I think that the American people are exhausted, and
I think that that is one of the many reasons
why the Harris Walls ticket is palling in the way
that it is right now. And I mean like a
series a series of polls have all come out and
shown that they are up. And while I tell people

(10:44):
not to give too much stock to the polls, you're
also looking at the amount of people that are showing
up for their rallies and their events, and I think
it's largely because America is exhausted. Donald Trump has exhausted
us to the point where it's just like, can we
have normal time? And I just want to bring this

(11:05):
up again that the Springfield, Ohio officials are canceling their
annual celebration of Diversity, Arts and Culture due to safety concerns.
You mentioned the fact that Jade Vance was on with
the Dana Bash over the weekend and said, sometimes we
have to quote create stories. And I think that there

(11:25):
is something to the fact that this is a strategy.
The strategy is that Donald Trump and Jade Vans are
down in the polls, so we need to find a
scapegoat for that, and that looks like pointing the finger
at black people, this time Haitian immigrants and saying they're
the reason why your lives are so bad. Right aside

(11:46):
from all of the truth that we know about Springfield,
Ohio that I've continued to say here, I continue to
say on my YouTube channel about the fact that Springfield
was in economic dire straits and up until four years
ago when this population of immigrants came to that area
as the renewed labor force that was needed. They came

(12:11):
to set up new home and in turn, Springfield, Ohio
is seeing economic booms that they have not seen in decades.
But that's not the narrative that's being told. And I
think though, Jonathan, that this time around, people are not
falling for Donald Trump and JD. Vance's bullshit in the

(12:33):
way that they were falling for Trump a couple of
years ago. Because even the stories and I critique corporate
mainstream media all the time, are reinstating that this is
a lie that they have been caught up in and
are being forced to admit.

Speaker 2 (12:53):
I agree with you. I mean, it's on one hand,
it's laughable rate, but I mean that's the whole point.
The absurdity is kind of the point. And so you know,
I just keep thinking, like, what's the best answer, because
the minute we're talking about eating dogs, you know, we're
not talking about all this other stuff. And so how
do you know when you say people are not responding

(13:13):
to it? I mean, these poles are seem to me
incredibly close, right.

Speaker 1 (13:17):
They're always But here's the thing, Jonathan, They're always going
to be close. We're never going to see blowouts. But
when we're talking about three to five point difference, three
to five points of Harris being up, which was the
latest Morning poll, the latest CNN poll, the latest National poll,
those numbers are within the margin of error, and she's
still up. You're never going to see ten points up.

(13:39):
But when we're seeing three and five, that's considerable.

Speaker 2 (13:42):
No, And so I guess for me, it's just from
devoice on down. There is such a predictable way of
generating outrage in this country, which is to poke the
color line or poke different groups of people come to
this country in different ways a different times. I mean,
you know, my dad's an immigrant and he came because

(14:04):
they needed educated people, and that's true for many people.
So you can kind of poke this division line and
the question is I think our strategy before was this
is so preposterous. But again, I do think that that
CRT moment was a textbook example of what not to do,
which is we were on their playing field all the
time and not making fun of them, not arguing with them,

(14:27):
not doing anything else. But it was like we didn't
talk about anything else except I mean, I don't know,
you probably the same thing. I did twenty interviews defending CRT,
which now nobody's really thinking about, and so in a way,
it's just got their points on the news thing. So
the question is how do you regenerate your being the
front of the news cycle. And I think that you know,

(14:50):
obviously everybody knows this right now. It's it's so predictable.
But I just think that's going to be the point.
I don't know about you. I'm I'm nervous about this election.
It really feels like it'd go an anyway, and so
the fact that this is happening in a swing state
and things like that are important. But I hope you're right.
I hope people are not falling for it. I hope
that's right.

Speaker 1 (15:10):
I say this like it is happening in a swing state,
and people are seeing, particularly in this state of Ohio,
how their town, their city is being used as a
political football. So for people for the first time being like, oh,
I didn't have a problem with Donald Trump, but now
those chickens have actually come home to roost in your
front yard and you're just like, wait a minute, there

(15:32):
was nothing wrong with Springfield, Like we were fine. They're like,
I have no idea what this man is talking about,
and now they're seeing front and center the way in
which you can easily be used. And what I keep
saying to people is anywhere can be Springfield, Ohio. Anywhere
can become a target and a subject of Donald Trump

(15:54):
and the Maga Republicans if in fact they so choose.
And that's what makes their rhetoric so dangerous and needs
to be referred to as terrorism, because that's what they're doing.
It's to terrorize this area and to make these people
fearful of their neighbors. And even the businesses are saying,

(16:14):
what are you doing. Our businesses are flourishing because we
have a labor force. Yeah, and now this labor force
is going to pack up and go because now they
don't feel safe. So then what and I think that
the question that Dana Bash pointed out jd Vance was like,
you're acting as if you're somebody's political bystander. You're the

(16:35):
senator from the state. You can actually do something if
in fact you cared, but you're not doing anything other
than spreading lies.

Speaker 2 (16:44):
I hope you're right. I hope it's like remember that
movie Dave, where like in the end of the movie
everybody came out and supported the gay music teacher, stuff
like that. I hope this is a moment where we say,
I hope it's a moment of joy. I really do.
I'm Jada because I wrote a book called Dying of Whiteness,
where people were turning away their free healthcare based on

(17:06):
exactly the same logic, which is somebody's coming to take
away your stuff. So I hope this is not dying
of whiteness. I hope this is the future of American
multi racial democracy and all of its potential. I really
hope that. And we got a lot of work to
do in a lot of places to make sure that happens.

Speaker 1 (17:25):
So let me switch gears with a couple of minutes
that we have left, which is I want to bring
a story to your attention. You haven't watched the video,
and you don't really need to watch the video. I
will tell you. Rich Lowry, who is the editor in
chief of the National Review, goes on a show with
Megan Kelly, and we know that Megan Kelly, from her

(17:47):
firing of NBC News, is nothing more than a racist
and a race vader. And the things that she has said,
from saying that Santa Claus, a fictional character, is white,
to saying that they're nothing wrong with blackface, which is
what got her fired from NBC in the first place,
to all of the lies and things that she has

(18:07):
said on Fox and on her own podcast and what
have you. She's interviewing Riche Lowry about the lies that
are being told in Springfield that they are echoing, and
when talking about Haitian immigrants, he uses the N word
and then gets on social media, as does Begg and Kelly,
who by the way, did not flinch. It was not

(18:28):
like a oh, you know, like you know anything. It
was just like a nod and smile and just like
keep it going. Then gets on social media says that
it was just a slip. I meant to say immigrant
or migrant. I think that we all know the difference
between M and a hard N and the er and
all of these things like don't gaslight me into your bullshita.

Speaker 2 (18:49):
Wait he said, like I said, like minor or something.

Speaker 1 (18:51):
Yeah, just trying to tell us that, like we don't
know what we heard, and that it was a slip up. No,
it was a slip up. You said the quiet part
out loud, like it was a slip up, absolutely, but
it was not misplaced words and letters. And so now
you know, there's this uproar on social media with like,
oh my god, this guy uses the N word like

(19:11):
blah blah blah blah, and I'm just like, we think
that this is like like the N word is somehow
become has become like the punctuation, right, Like, if you
use this word, then that's what makes you a racist.
Not the policies that you put out, not the articles
that you allow to run in your paper that target
particular communities, none of that. It's just this one word.

(19:34):
So so long as you avoid that one word in public,
then you're not a racist. And I just want to
get your thoughts on like the outrage around it and
how we've turned or I should say that white supremacists
or racist have turned this one word into like their
lynch pin. So long as they don't say it, nothing

(19:55):
else that they do can be judged as racist.

Speaker 2 (19:58):
Well, I mean, you know, I think as a societ
we've deemed that word and some other words none really
with this charge to be unacceptable. So I don't think
it's just white supremacists that have done this. But it's
interesting like Megan Kelly, right, I mean, she've got fired.
And then I'll admit I read the New York Posts
every once in a while because they have a great

(20:18):
sports page, and every time something would happen, there'd be
a front page article Megan Kelly throws shade on Beyonce
or something like that. So every single thing, and I'm like,
who cares of Megan Kelly throwing shade whatever? But it's like,
the way you get back into the public eye. The
whole economy we've created is by controversy outrage. If Megan

(20:41):
Kelly said, gosh, I like some of Beyonce's songs, it
wouldn't be newsworthy in a way. And so it's kind
of like these outrage moments that are almost always tied
to race of racism, are kind of how you kind
of get on the map and then everybody's talking about you,
and then you generate clicks in a way, it's like
this whole economy of relevance. It's kind of an economy

(21:03):
economy where there's no market for centrism or getting along
or fixing any of the problems that we're talking about.
And it's so so clear, and these examples, I mean,
it does sound like he said the quiet part out loud.
It was a slip. And we're in a moment right
now where like these issues I don't know, I'm having

(21:25):
like dying of whiteness PTSD honestly, because like your answers,
what you're saying now is so rational, and I just
this white anxiety is so irrational. Honestly. If they said
people are coming to take your pants and don't wear
pants like that would have it. It's just it's it's
like that level.

Speaker 1 (21:45):
But it's the movie don't look up like that. It
was a spoof, but it was a documentary like this
on this, Yeah, I need to watch it again too.
On like the pure stupidity of things, like yeah, what
I'm saying is rational, what you wrote is rational, and
yet like, I don't call it white anxiety. I call
it white fear and ignorance or what have you. Is like,

(22:07):
it isn't rational because it's based in stereotypes, fear mongering, lies,
and hatred and distrust of the other that you refuse
to actually accept as like a neighbor or human or
any of these things. And it puts the burden on
the victims of your racism and your prejudice to now

(22:30):
defend our humanity and get you to see it, which
is why Tony Morrison said about racism that it's nothing
more than a distraction.

Speaker 2 (22:39):
That's such a beautiful way to put it. I mean,
I could not agree more. But the other part is
it's also a reflection of our zero sum political system.
In other words, it's not surprising that this is happening
now because we are in a winner take all political
system where you either win or you lose. And that's
how kind of this kind of tribalization works. Is I'm

(23:00):
in my tribe against other tribe, which plays out along
the fault lines of the history of inequality in our
country and all these things. It's not surprising that this
is happening now because they're just very big stakes about
winning or losing for the future of this Yeah.

Speaker 1 (23:16):
One hundred percent. Well, we will leave it there today
my friend doctor Jonathan Maxil, who literally wrote the book
on dying of white myth, and we'll pick this back
up next week. My friends, appreciate you as always friends.
As I have been saying, I have started a YouTube channel,

(23:38):
Daniel Moody Underscore. You can go over to YouTube and
type right into the search button Diniel Moody channel, and
while there I will appear. I am creating fresh content
every single day that I think all of you will enjoy.
We are getting to the place where I have now
a little over three thousand subscribers after about three weeks

(24:00):
of being on YouTube. I'm trying to grow this space.
It's going to be a space where we can gather,
where I can build community and memberships and all of
these things. And I'm super excited. So if you have
yet to subscribe, if you're like I'm not really into YouTube,
trust me, you are not going to want to miss
my content there as always, dear friends, Power to the

(24:22):
people and to all the people. Power get woke and
stay woke as fuck.