74. Get Somebody Else to Do It: Post Election Reflections

Black women showed up and showed out this election (per usual), but now it’s time for some real talk: How do we move forward?

In our latest episode, we’re diving into the toll political activism takes, the need for more balance, and whether it’s time to step back or keep pushing. Tune in for a powerful conversation on taking care of ourselves while shaping the future. 

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 0:52 Reflections on the Election Results
• 6:05 The Role of Black Women in Politics
• 9:16 Women Voter Stats
• 13:03 The Emotional Impact of the Election
• 19:11 Strength and Resilience of Black Women
• 24:47 New Chapter
• 25:37 Hope and Action
• 31:04 Stepping Back and Self-Care
• 33:46 The Role of Allies and Community
• 41:23 The Importance of Community
• 49:19 Protecting Your Peace

Transcript

Sonia (00:16)
Welcome back to the grown and growing podcast. I'm Sonia. so I have been actually dreading this conversation. going to, I know it's been a long time coming, not dreading, but I'm glad that we took some time to

Roberta (00:19)
And I am Roberta.

Dreading.

Sonia (00:34)
between the election and when we're about to record it. So we are close to Trump being inaugurated, very close. And we wanted to have this conversation about how Black women plan to move forward, right? How are we moving forward? What lessons have we learned from this election?

that we are taking forward in our own lives, like me and you, what did we learn and how are we changing how we move? And then just a conversation about how black women as a whole have responded to the election results. So.

Roberta (01:08)
Right.

Or just the state of affairs now, now that we are like on the other side.

Sonia (01:11)
the state of affairs.

I feel like we haven't, in our lifetime, we have not been in a moment like this before. Can you, can you think of a moment where you're like, oh, this is going to be bad?

Roberta (01:24)
It's always been on the edge of bad, but not quite this bad. It's getting progressively worse, yes.

Sonia (01:26)
Yes!

Yeah, it seems worse. Yeah,

I remember when George Bush got elected and we were like, this is it, he's the worst. But really he was just a goofball. And he really did do some terrible things. But back then he was the worst it could get, but clearly.

Roberta (01:34)
Right? Yeah.

We bottomed out as a country. just, yeah. Right.

Sonia (01:46)
Exactly. They were like, hold my beer.

We can show you how bad it can get. I want to start off by talking about, we've never talked about this. I want to know what your reaction was to the election results back in November.

Roberta (01:59)
I mean, I was disappointed, right? I can't say I was fully, fully surprised. Yeah, it was just like, all right, it's just nothing that this country does within the political realm, or just in general, to be honest with you, surprises me anymore. think for me, we're getting to the pandemic and see how we all, just as people in the government and policy reacted to that, I was just like, nothing can surprise me after that.

I mean, didn't... Yeah, I think the biggest thing was disappointment.

Sonia (02:25)
Right. I think for me, I feel like I went through it in phases. I feel like it really hit me harder than what I thought because I actually felt hopeful. And I know, you know, some people out there are like, I can't believe you felt hopeful. You should have known. But it's like I did. I felt hopeful. I felt like.

Roberta (02:38)
Hmm.

Sonia (02:48)
Ain't no way. Ain't no way y'all gonna do this again. And it's funny, and it's funny because I think it's because of how I've curated my social media, the podcast that I listen to. I just surround myself with like-minded people. And I was in my bubble and I would talk to Derrick and he'd be like, I don't know. I think Kamala is gonna lose. And I think it's gonna be black women. I said, what? Yeah, I know.

Roberta (03:03)
You in your little bubble. You in your little bubble.

Sonia (03:14)
First of all, his social media feed is trash. I'd be like, what is this? It's a lot of yelling and fighting on his feed. But yeah, he was saying, he was like, I don't know, it's not looking good. And I'd be like, no, it's fine, it's gonna be close, but I think she's gonna pull it out. I actually felt hope. And I'm sorry, I'm not gonna feel bad about that because I'm not a jaded person and I don't think there's anything wrong with having hope.

Roberta (03:19)
yeah, yeah, yeah.

Hmm.

Sonia (03:37)
Right? Um, but I did, I was, I was like, it to me was like a slap in the face. It was like, you know, that people don't think as a race that black people ain't, ain't hot. We think we're hot. We think we the, we the best. I don't know. I don't know how people think any differently about us, but they do. And it was a reminder just how much people do not care about black people or black women or people of color for that matter. Anybody who's not a white male.

Roberta (03:42)
Mm.

Sonia (04:07)
you know, heterosexual male, people do not care. This country does not care about it. And it was never more evident. Like we, we got, you know, not glimpses, but we've been told like in a like whisper, but to me it was like very clear, like girl, you don't matter. And I actually felt my first feeling was, all right, I just got to protect my family. That's it. F everybody else, what do I got to do to make sure my family is good?

And that was my first reaction. Like, don't ask me for, don't ask me for nothing. It's just, how do I protect the people in this house to make sure that they're good? And then I, then it was like, you know what? I don't want to watch nothing, no, nothing news, nothing about the election. I didn't want to dissect the results with anybody. just, and I'm a news junkie. So I do like that kind, that, that kind of information, that kind of news is in my.

Feed every day. I, I, you know, listen to podcasts. I, you know, read stuff. I just like it. Couldn't do it. It was all, I was like, show me, where are all the Netflix shows? Where are all the mysteries, the series? What did I not watch? Yeah.

Roberta (05:08)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, getting out of reality a little bit. So this

interesting, mean, do you, what I'm hearing and maybe, I don't know, this is like also through my own lens of whatever, but like, it seems like you more so were taking it personal. Like the fact that this country did not see the credibility and the validity of having a black woman in this role as president.

and having the country reject her also was rejecting black women and you in particular as a black woman. Like was any of that in there? I mean, yeah.

Sonia (05:44)
For sure. Yeah,

I do. I do take it personally because to me, it couldn't have been more clear. It couldn't have been more clear if you were a good person. And you, it's kind of like what you see every day, but magnified times 10. Like Trump can't do enough, be terrible enough. Like he was the worst. We all know he's the worst. He said bad things about everybody.

Roberta (06:04)
Well, yeah.

Sonia (06:08)
all of these things that he's demonstrated with his behavior. And we knew the first time, we know, we suspected, we kind of knew, but.

Roberta (06:09)
Right.

We kind of knew, well, yeah. But so

it was a confluence of many things. It was that over.

Sonia (06:21)
Wait, yeah, it's that, you chose this criminal over

a educated, smart woman. Now, you may not have liked Kamala, like you may have thought like, she probably wasn't the best thing since, you know, slice bread Maybe she wasn't your ideal candidate, but she was certainly better than Donald Trump, certainly. And they chose Donald Trump over her and that offended me and my homegirls, apparently.

Roberta (06:46)
Right, right. Let's...

Sonia (06:48)
It offended us.

Roberta (06:49)
Because we came out. We came out and we voted. We voted a certain way. So let's get into that a little bit.

Sonia (06:52)
We did,

yeah, black women road for Kamala. We were 10 toes down. We are already considered to be a very reliant voting block for the Democratic Party. So I don't think that people were surprised that black women would go for her like we did. But 92%, which is the number that's going around, let me just go ahead.

Roberta (07:14)
Right, I've seen this

number everywhere.

Sonia (07:16)
It's like being a club. It's like another sorority. It's like another sorority. The 92 percenters. Except I can't really find where the 92 percent came from.

Roberta (07:21)
Right, the 92%, right.

Not a nary part of the internet have I found

any stat backing up 92%.

Sonia (07:32)
I don't know what it, first of all, like if you're listening, you know where the 92 % number came from, send us a link. Like we need a link, cause I couldn't find it.

Roberta (07:38)
We need a link. need

some sort of like reputable source of saying 92 % of what? Of black women voted for her?

Sonia (07:47)
The closest thing I

found was 92 % of black women in exit polls said that they voted for Kamala. The number that I found of people who actually black women who actually voted for Kamala was 89 % and that was Associated Press. That was other news sources put the number at 89. So I don't really know, but look, it's neither here.

Roberta (08:07)
Mm-hmm. I mean, 89 is

not that far from 92. However, I'm like, we are wearing this 92 % like a badge of honor, but it's not actually, I haven't found it to be statistically sound. But anyway, I mean, we can, let's take the 92%, sure.

Sonia (08:18)
I don't care. If Donald Trump could be president, we could have a 92 % child. Please. I

don't care. I'm part of the 92%, you part of the 92 % except it. If you have the data, send it to me, because I actually do want to see it. I also looked at the breakdown of women voters overall, right? They break down voters.

Roberta (08:27)
got 92 % right.

Right. Right.

Sonia (08:43)
every which way. But I was curious to see what the women electorate looked like in the United States. So I looked up white women. White women make up 40 % of eligible voters. Black women make up 6 % of eligible voters. And Latina women make up 5 % of eligible voters. So.

Roberta (09:05)
That's a small number when you're at all the who votes in this country.

Sonia (09:07)
Yeah, it's so small.

Yeah, and even when you add us together, we still don't quite... We're not even half of what the white women electorate is or voters are.

Roberta (09:16)
Right.

But again, we have all this hope and all this like, you know, we rally and we go so hard thinking that we're going to make a change when if we're only looking at like our, the fruits of our own labor or the potential fruits, it's still really small.

Sonia (09:35)
Yeah, yeah, it's definitely clear that if we're to get people in the office who favor, actually, I don't even want to say favor us, as in favor black people. I'm just saying, just common sense, just favor equity, fairness, who don't put rich people over, you know, middle-class people or poor people. Like, if you just want that, you're gonna need more than black women. You're gonna need more than Latino women.

Roberta (09:46)
Right.

Sonia (10:01)
Right? You need men. You need a little bit of everybody to make a difference. Now, Asian women, they ain't even in here. Are they with the white women? Where do they put the Asians? I guess they less.

Roberta (10:11)
That is a good point. I don't know, where are the Asian women?

Sonia (10:14)
Right, not in here. Sorry, y'all. You didn't make the cut for AP. But white women voted for Trump, 53%, child. 53 % of white women voted for Trump.

Roberta (10:16)
Sorry, mwah mwah.

Yo,

I remember, so right after the election, I'm sure you saw this, about the virtue signaling, the women who they started making the bracelets or something, those blue bracelets to signify to other people, women, black women, that they were part of the, what is that, 45 % who voted for Harris. Girl, that was short lived, thankfully, because I'm like, you didn't see that?

Sonia (10:38)
Uh-uh.

my God. That must have been when I was on my break, because I did not see that,

Roberta (10:52)
They were

Sonia (10:52)
no.

Roberta (10:53)
selling them on Etsy. I can't, I cannot. Anyway. Right, show me. Like show me. Right.

Sonia (10:56)
No, I don't want no blue bracelets. Show me in the freaking booth. That's what I care about. I always want to do this performative stuff. Don't nobody

care. anyway, I think there are a lot of reasons why black women wrote for Kamala. For one, common freaking sense. To me, it's very clear. And I know people will say, was the economy. It was the economy. It was immigration. I feel like that's bull crap.

I think that's an excuse.

Roberta (11:19)
Well, I mean, people's

comments that well, we all know, know, comments, something that comment, but it's all going to be relevant, like to your particular situation.

Sonia (11:25)
It's not.

Roberta (11:30)
Like if the economy and your money and your pockets and financial situation, if that's like what is takes up the majority of your mind space, then the common sense thing to do is to vote in ways that support that. So like I can't necessarily say that if I had to say, you know, play devil's advocate, like what's common sense to us should be common sense to everybody. I will say that I think that like the issues and the things that we fight for and I say we as women, as black women.

Sonia (11:57)
Yeah.

Roberta (11:58)
would benefit everybody. Right.

Sonia (12:00)
It would, it totally would. But

But I mean, I do feel like that people use the economy as an excuse because what did Trump do that made the economy so great back when he was president? mean, it wasn't that great. These STEMI checks, right?

Roberta (12:14)
Girl, if I hear one more thing about these STEMI checks.

Sonia (12:19)
Anyway, back to why black women rallied for, for Kamala.

There was so much excitement around her. There was the win with black women. Then it was win with comedians and win with white women and win with, win, win, win. Now where was all these people to actually help her win? Like it's so frustrating. But we did all this organizing around her. And again, right, even though she was not

Roberta (12:27)
Mm-hmm.

Right. Yeah.

Sonia (12:44)
to me, like everybody's ideal candidate, think she was highly qualified to take the job, highly qualified, not just over Trump, but over previous presidents. She has more experience than a lot of presidents that we voted for, you know, in my lifetime. And she was qualified. And so to me, that's all that mattered. But

Because of all that rallying, because I think we had all allowed ourselves to hope that in 2024, that we would somehow get it right. We didn't get it right with Hillary Clinton. And we're like, maybe we learned a lesson. We didn't learn the lesson. We didn't. Because her not getting elected was the straw that broke the camel's back. That was it.

Roberta (13:29)
For Kamala or for Hillary?

Sonia (13:31)
for black women, that was the straw that broke the camel's back in terms of us showing, of us being this involved and this committed to the electoral process in the United States, I guess. Just believing in it. think, in my, I had never experienced where black women was like, that's it, taking a break.

Roberta (13:47)
Mm-hmm.

Well, I think it's to your earlier point about like, we saw so much of ourselves and our struggles and everything that's important to us from policy to issues and everything. We saw and projected a lot of that onto Kamala and

Sonia (14:09)
Right.

Roberta (14:12)
Yeah, we kind of set ourselves up for disappointment there a little bit. I think if I'm honest, I think it's but it's it's a perfect storm of a lot of things. It's going through everything we did in the last election with Hillary and backing a woman because I feel like black women then even went hard for this is a woman and she has our best interests and like all the things and so we did that and we we've done all the things in between and

Sonia (14:16)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Roberta (14:37)
We just got to a point with this where I think, yeah, the disappointment comes in more personally because we take it more as a personal rejection.

Sonia (14:40)
Mm-hmm.

Right. And I also think people lied about who they were, about who they were voting for. So there was this hope, there was this hope. We'll never know, but I feel like people were like, I don't know, like undecided. How? How are you undecided?

Roberta (14:47)
About what?

Mmm, yeah. I mean, we'll never know, but yeah, I'm sure.

I also think a lot of didn't vote.

Sonia (15:03)
Yes, actually you, you're right about that. You right about that. Trump didn't win because there was an overwhelming amount of support for him. He actually won because I think it was like 10 million voters didn't vote this election. 10 million Voters who voted for Biden in the last election didn't vote in this election. You can look, we not a news, we not a news podcast. So.

Roberta (15:05)
Yeah.

I know

we don't want to be.

Sonia (15:26)
You know, may fact check that for yourself,

but that's about right.

Roberta (15:31)
Right.

So, okay, so considering all of that, right, and looking at like this for a lot of people, for a lot of black women, that this election, that this happening, this event has been the limit. We've been pushed to our limit. We are done. And why is that? Like, why was this thing the thing that triggered that?

Sonia (15:35)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Roberta (15:51)
And of course, since November, there's been a whole bunch of different clips going around, think pieces, like all of that. The one thing that actually resonated with me, there's this one clip of Trevor Noah, who he actually recorded, think like two, three years ago, where he was talking about black women. And the reason why we go so hard is because we know what's at stake. We know what's at risk if things don't.

Sonia (16:04)
Mm.

Roberta (16:17)
go the right way, right? And we can't afford for things to not go in that direction. And actually, I kind of want to play that clip. just everybody has that context and that reference. Yeah.

Sonia (16:18)
Mm-hmm.

Right.

Okay, let's play that clip.

Roberta (17:25)
So in that, the huge takeaway is that we cannot afford to go the wrong way. We cannot afford to go down the wrong path. And so as a country, because all of that's going to trickle down and hit us as a community, as our families. It's going to be like from the smallest to the biggest levels.

Sonia (17:39)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Roberta (17:45)
We all kind of know that. And I think that is the underlying piece of that other underlying sentiment is that like we as black women are the workhorse of this country. For generations, present day.

Sonia (17:55)
Hmm.

Roberta (17:57)
We have, we are the people that will come in and take care of everything. We'll clean everything up. We'll make everything, you know, good again. We'll make, you know, put everything back together. You know, we are the people that would be like, you know what, fine, I'll do it. We are the, well.

Sonia (18:15)
Right. We'll hold things, we'll hold it

together. We will not just put it back together. We will single-handedly hold the family down. Yeah.

Roberta (18:21)
We will hold it together from the community,

the family, the community. I see this in corporate all the time, in government, in policy. I mean, yes. And I think that constant being disappointed.

with this because we saw ourselves so personally that we just like, can't, it's too much. But I really wanna dig into that notion of a workhorse and explore like, how do we get that reputation? And I'm sure we can take most things back to slavery in this country.

Sonia (18:44)
Mm-hmm.

Right.

Mm-hmm.

I mean, honestly,

how could you not? The country was started that way. The country that we know and the path that we're on today as a, quote unquote, superpower, it started with slavery. So I feel like it's only fair to go back to that.

Roberta (19:11)
mean, yeah, we're the mammies and the, you know, we took care of the kids and the land and the thing and the cooking and the cleaning and all of the things. And so, and we're not that far off generationally from all of that. And yeah, it's both internally and externally.

put on us. I say externally, yes, because we just have this expectation that we're going to take care of everything. But I also feel like it's also culturally, internally, that we have to be strong. We have to be the person that steps up and do the thing. And when nobody else is going to do it, we have to step in.

Sonia (19:27)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah, and I think that role in society, the ones who have to hold it together, I think the ones who have to be there for ourselves, because I think what we experience more than any other group at least is that...

no one is coming to save us, right? We are at the intersection between, you know, being a woman and being black. We have both of those things. And it's just, people put us, not that we see ourselves that way, but people put us at the bottom of the totem pole. And so we have become a group to rely on ourselves, right? And I know me personally, I know...

for myself and I know I have the support of my friends and my husband and my family, but ultimately I know if I want something changed, I gotta do it. I gotta change it. And I think that, you know, it's a persona that was, that we adopted kind of out of desperation, out of survival, but we keep now it's like a badge of honor. I know we talk about that in another podcast, but that's coming out, but yeah.

Roberta (20:45)
Yeah.

Why do we do that? that because that's the only way we feel validated? Is that the only way that we feel seen? Is if we, you know, seen for our strength? Is that our only redeeming quality?

Sonia (20:59)
Yeah, I think to me, it's like making lemons out of lemonade. You know, I think number one is first and foremost, it's survival. And then it's thriving. Like, how do you just thrive despite what you've been through, despite what is hoisted upon you? How do you still find a way to thrive? And I also think that it is, you know, taking...

you know, things that can be seen as a negative and turning it into a positive, right? Your strength. Your strength is what is admirable about black women, right? But the more that we evolve as women, the more that we learn, the more that we know that we're, we're multi-dimensional, right? We're not just strong women. We are fragile.

we do break, right? We do have a breaking point. So while I think part of the reason Black women are saying we're taking a step back is because we realize we're multidimensional. We don't have to be this one thing, not even to the United States, not even to other people of color who don't want that for themselves. We know what we want. And I think because of that realization about the power we have,

to be both hard and soft and intellectual. Like I think that's the reason we stand, all right, enough is enough. We are, you know, we're taking a step back from that. And I don't necessarily, I wouldn't call us the workhorses. Like I don't know if that's the word I would use for it.

Roberta (22:12)
Right.

Hmm. Okay.

What word would you use? Or what description? For us as a whole, black women in this country.

Sonia (22:29)
I would say...

I would say that we are either the backbone.

or the, I was gonna say the heart, but I'm like, what else? Actually, I think, no. Backbone, well, that's how I see us. I mean, I also see us as the brain. I'm like, what's better than the heart? I think it's the brain. I think it's the conscience. I think we are the conscience of America, that America be.

Roberta (22:44)
Heart implies, and also backbone implies respect and reverence. Really?

Sonia (23:05)
Don't pay attention to. I think we are because think about it. Think about Trevor Noah's clip. Because of the position we're in, we are uniquely able to experience the country in ways that other people can't. We experience it similar in a way similar to what Latino people experience in a way that white women experience. Like we can relate to.

Roberta (23:07)
That part, don't pay attention to.

Sonia (23:29)
every other racial and ethnic group out there, we can relate to them because we've been there. We've been in their shoes and I think that gives us lot of empathy. I think that gives us a lot of perspective and I think it gives us a lot of, like we're able to see the bigger picture where other people can't. And I think it's because we are uniquely positioned in this way, in this country. It's like, I was gonna say woke, but it's like we have this awareness.

that we can tap into and that we've been able to tap into that, you know, as a collective, would say, most of us. Now, I'm just saying, speaking for everybody, you know, there was 8 % that didn't vote.

Roberta (24:07)
Right, like,

this is by no means speaking for everyone and not for nothing. Like this, the lens that I have, and I think that you have too, is that black women over 40, you know what mean? Like we have been experiencing this country, experiencing corporate America. We have been building communities and families, like personally, for over 20 years, like directly, like as an adult. We are very grown.

Sonia (24:19)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm. We sound grown. You sound like we grown. We the grown.

OK.

Roberta (24:35)
And I think that perspective also is a part of like, all right, why this particular event, like this election was triggering it to the point of like tapping out, like I'm tired boss, like I'm going to sit down and y'all can have it.

Sonia (24:47)
Mm-hmm. Yes.

Mm-hmm.

Roberta (24:52)
for now,

you know, I do think and what I've observed over the last couple of months is that like, I do think there's a certain level of that sentiment across most black women. I have noticed that like for younger, I would say like black women in their 20s, they're approaching it more from the perspective of, okay, we took a took a hit here, you know, things are going to be rough, we just need to, you know, do some self care before we get back at it.

Sonia (25:06)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Roberta (25:17)
versus

women who have been around this block multiple times in this country are just like, get somebody else to do it. Get somebody else to do it, because it's too much. But that's not a good place to be either because first of all, we still gotta live in this country. We still gotta move around and exist. yeah.

Sonia (25:25)
Get somebody else to do it.

And that's exactly, that's exactly it. That's exactly what I was going to say. Cause I,

I actually feel conflicted about the taking a step back. I do not, I agree that women that, you know, we, we owe ourselves a time to step back, recharge. I don't think that it is practical. I don't think that it is smart to say we ain't doing nothing. Don't call me. Don't write. Don't we just going to be over here? Yeah.

Roberta (26:03)
Take me off the list, take me off the list

serve.

Sonia (26:06)
It actually reminds me of

that picture that was going around by that black artist where the black women were on the roof and the world was burning. Wow. Okay. First of all, exactly. Posted up with drinks, watching the fire. Now this is a terrible, given where we are with the fires in LA, it's a terrible picture in hindsight. It didn't age well.

Roberta (26:13)
Yes. They posted it with drinks or something.

That didn't age well, but...

Sonia (26:27)
But

as it relates to how we feel about the role that we're playing going forward after this election, I just never jived with that picture. I didn't. I thought, I'm like, now how does this make sense? How does, like, yeah, you got your group up here, but what about everybody else down there? Because the thing is, they're gonna get burned.

Your family down there, your friends are down there, your community is there. There is no stepping back. To me, there is no stepping back. Now, regroup.

figure out something else, I actually don't have an answer for what the way is forward, right? Looking at the numbers, looking at how our allies, our quote unquote allies have betrayed us. To me, it is hard to figure out like, what is the path forward? I have no idea. But I, in no means, feel like taking a step back in that way.

Like I think we need to define exactly what that is because I think it's a slippery slope into apathy. And I don't think that we need to be apathetic. We don't. Do you?

Roberta (27:30)
Yeah, I mean, I agree.

In theory, yes. Yeah, at the same time, like I, I can for myself, there is a difference, a market difference between I'll just.

Sonia (27:37)
Okay.

Roberta (27:46)
in the context of the election, right? So in 2017, I was here in DC, I was living here and for the inauguration, there was a protest organized. I was like on the front lines. was making the signs, doing that. I was there early. I stayed all day protesting, doing all the things. This time, I honestly don't know if there's a protest. First of all, I'm not even going to stop. I'm trying to get far away from DC on inauguration weekend. I will not.

Sonia (27:50)
Mm-hmm.

hell no. Now...

Roberta (28:13)
be here, but like, but just even that kind of like small example of

Sonia (28:17)
Why you march like,

no, no, no, ain't gonna be no marching. Who's marching? The bracelet people? Is it them?

Roberta (28:21)
You

You sound like an old black lady and I love it. Who's marching? Who these people? What are they doing? Where they going?

Sonia (28:30)
Is this the bracelet brigade

you're talking about? I, look, I think we need to talk about what's, what does step back, what does it mean to you to step back? Like when you, when you say you're tired and you say, so no, you ain't gonna march. I agree. Cause what the hell we marching for? What y'all marching for now? We needed y'all to march back. And also do marches work still? Do they? Do protests work?

Roberta (28:38)
Yes.

Yes.

You

Well, that's whole nother conversation. don't think so.

Protests are good for bringing awareness. I don't think anybody's unaware of the fuckery that's going around, like that's going on in this country. know what saying. Like, I don't think there's a lack of awareness is the problem. Like, I think protests do do go a long way for like bringing awareness to issues, but I don't honestly I don't think that's necessarily needed.

Sonia (29:02)
Actually, I think they are aware.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, I mean,

I don't, I don't know. I mean, I would go if, if there was a protest, like I think back in 2020, I think those protests were, I mean, you know, I think it, guess it depends, but protesting at the, like, no, no, ma'am, no. Um, I was.

Roberta (29:32)
When the new issue arises, you know, I may be out there and there will be. That's why I said when, not if. Like whenever the new issue that we decide as a collective, and I'm not even talking about just black women, but just people who care about people and humanity.

Sonia (29:35)
And there will be. I think there'll be plenty...

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Roberta (29:48)
whenever that issue comes up, then yes, there will be protests and all of the things to bring awareness to that thing. Now, I think also what contributes to this disappointment and just overall like being tired in this country is that we constantly do these things and we bring our energy to bring awareness to these things and then nothing happens. Or something small and performative will happen and it will last for a few months, you know, maybe a year and then things go right back to normal. And so, yeah.

Sonia (30:06)
Yeah.

Yeah. And I think that it's,

yeah. And I think for Trump, look, you got to get your sleep, drink your water, eat your vegetables because they're going to be, he's going to be taking things left and right. It's going to be tons of things to protest about. But I think to me stepping back, I think this is a prime example. Like this is, you know, our forever first lady, FLOTUS, showed us exactly what that looks like. And we all know she said,

Roberta (30:22)
Y'all buckle up because ooh, it's gonna be...

Yes. Yes.

Sonia (30:41)
I ain't gonna be there. Get somebody else to do it, okay? Sorry, Carter. Hell no. If anybody questions her, and I saw some clip where somebody was calling her, I think it was Kid Rock, like come on, calling her an angry black woman. Really? She literally said, I'm not coming, and you called her angry. just, angry is not the right word. I think you're fed up over it and not going so co-sign for your BS. So I think for me,

Roberta (30:42)
I somebody else would do it. Yes. And I'm not mad at it.

First of all.

right?

Sonia (31:08)
not overextending yourselves to help, right? All right, you gotta show me a little bit of something. Are you serious?

seriously, like what are you doing? I'm not, you know, going to overextend myself like anymore. I think, you know, limiting access to your knowledge, your ideas, right? Ensuring, I know black women will step in a lot of times and, you know, help plan and organize and call it like, when would black women, prime example, we, that group was...

Roberta (31:32)
Right. Shout out to Jataka.

I love her. Like she's a soror and I know her. Like I love the fact that she put that campaign together. And again, I do think it was very like pertinent to that particular thing that needed to happen. But yeah, I don't I don't know how much of that that we need to step up and do.

Sonia (31:52)
I think, well, Win With Black Women was started before the election, before Kamala was...

Roberta (31:56)
Yeah, it was started in

2020 by her.

Sonia (31:58)
Yeah,

it was starting to, and it's still going on actually today. So I think there's still room for it, but it's just like access to it. You know, the sharing of ideas and what we're doing. think there's a focus on what is going to help our community. How can we help our community more? Obviously, and we were, I feel like I was, you know, the performative part of it. Michelle Obama is a perfect example. The Women's March is a perfect, not saying that the Women's March gotta be performative,

but you know.

Roberta (32:27)
But it's like all those

things you do it to get attention, which is fine, but then what's gonna happen after you garner that attention? And that's like one of the most frustrating things I think for me is that when I step up and put all the energy and effort out there to like rally, because again, what was it like? We're 6 % of the voting population and we yell and scream and get on our soapbox and then nobody else wants to do anything. And so that's the frustrating part because nothing can happen with just the 6 % rallying over here and like jumping up and down.

Sonia (32:33)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Roberta (32:56)
agreement. And this again, this may be clear to that this everything that I'm saying is we're talking about specifically around the election and like politics in this country, but this applies just as equally to corporate situations, just as equally to local community, you know, gathering fundraising, like all the things like this is the same kind of trope and the same kind of sentiment throughout from big to small.

Sonia (32:57)
Right.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah, yeah, you're right about the allies. are only 6 % of the electorate so far and we can't do it. And I think, right, if we want to act, it's like, how do you even trust the...

the coalitions, the people who say they're your allies, right? How do you know which one of them that you can trust? Like we had allies before and it just doesn't, it just doesn't seem to work. And I think that there is a, a, when you, when you think about the people who set out, right? When you think about black people who set out the election, it's like, to me, there is a distrust, a deep distrust.

in the system. I actually get it when I hear that Black people sit out of the election because there's a misunderstanding about how the system works and how government works and how it works for you. We have been disenfranchised. So when Black people sit out, I kind of understand why, right? I mean, there are ways that you can educate yourself, but if you're not seeing it in your community and even...

And even some white people, like poorer white people who sit out and who don't believe, I get it. College educated, middle class people who I heard a lot of, people who could vote but don't vote for dumb reasons, I don't get it. Like that's a privilege that none of us can afford. Like everybody's like, they about to fuck around and find out. Give me my popcorn. I actually think that's sad.

Roberta (34:51)
Right, I might have been one of those people.

Sonia (34:53)
Look, yes, everybody is about to fuck around and find out, for sure. Everybody

Roberta (34:57)
I kind of got my popcorn waiting a little bit.

Sonia (34:59)
about to fuck around and find out, but I don't think it's gonna be funny, because I also gonna find out.

Roberta (35:06)
We're still, we're going to, right,

I will be in that find out like group, like we all gonna find out. Exactly. But here's the petty part of me and I will admit this that like for this, for this kind of context specifically, because I feel like I'm gonna take the hit anyway as far as like policy or whatever.

Sonia (35:09)
Yeah, I don't wanna find out. I didn't even fuck around. Why I gotta find out? I wish there was exemptions. I do.

Roberta (35:28)
I'm okay with like taking the hit if y'all take the hit too. Like the people who were so righteous and they were so high and mighty and were just like, no, this is the right thing to do. This is the right direction to go. Economy, economy, The economy is not gonna, it's gonna actually get worse for you. And I would kind of like be okay with taking a little bit of a hit if those people, I say a little bit, like whatever.

Sonia (35:44)
Hit me!

What's a little bit from, from tariffs

to handmaid's tail? Where are you on the spectrum?

Roberta (35:58)
You know why honestly,

I would if it meant that people would be less ignorant and less selfish, I would take all the hits in the world. Like I said this to someone like recently, it was just like I would take the because like, for all intents and purposes, like where I fall in the spectrum of like where I land in the tax bracket, like I would probably

benefit with some of the more moderate Democrat or like even Republican policies. But like, I would take a hit financially. If it meant that these people who think they were making the right decision for themselves financially, if they find out actually no, they were not acting, moving, voting in their own best interest. I would take that hit. Now I don't keep doing it. Well, right.

Sonia (36:32)
Mm-hmm.

You ain't going to have a choice, Roberta. Trump said we don't

ever have to vote again if he got elected. But this is my thing. is, here's my, when you were explaining all that, my question was, will perceived economic struggle ever trump racism?

Will it? Because I do believe people voted for Trump because they're racist and Trump allows them to be racist and he is somehow, their racism clouds their judgment to see that their enemy is not me.

The enemy are the rich folks you put in and they're the ones suppressing you. But somehow it's my fault, it's undocumented, know, immigrants' fault. It's, you know, it's everybody else's fault. I don't know if racism will ever overcome that because I've, white people cut off the nose to spike their face since Reconstruction. Like, dude, like, that's what they do.

Roberta (37:21)
Right.

Right.

Yeah, think, I think

there's certain and again, I'm careful not to just lump all white people into that or non-black. But I will say like those two things, they're not mutually exclusive. Like I think that financial security, however that's defined for yourself in this country and racism, they're very much closely tied because I feel like any, any

Sonia (37:47)
You don't gotta say not all white people, I know. They were abolitionist. get it.

Roberta (38:08)
person, whether that be race or gender or whatever that you perceive will keep you from being financially secure is a problem, is a threat. And so I think what, you know, Trump and his folks and that kind of air, like, you know, what they do a good job of is making sure that those things are like closely tied and saying because this person is this color, because this person is an immigrant, they're going to jeopardize your financial security. I think that is the best.

Sonia (38:17)
Mm-hmm.

I don't think people care about their

financial security that much. No.

Roberta (38:37)
What? Really?

What? I think that is what this country is built on.

Sonia (38:42)
the country definitely built on capitalism.

Roberta (38:44)
But built, that is comprised of like individuals who that's what they want for themselves. They want to have all of their, like they want to be financially secure.

Sonia (38:53)
They wanna be superior. They don't wanna be financially secure. So okay, there is a group. Okay, fine. For your sake, I will, and for the sake of people who, no, I don't want people to think, look, I know that there are, I was about to say I have white friends. That's not the point. I think that at some point,

Roberta (38:58)
That means the same thing.

Don't try to, mm-mm, appease me.

Sonia (39:21)
it will become rich, poor. I do think some people, a lot of people will wake up to say, my God, the fight is really not about that. I'm still poor, you still poor. But we've been trying to do that for decades and it's...

Roberta (39:30)
Right, exactly.

Maybe

that's what we need to the slant we need to take and not, you know, maybe all the the po folks rally together and we all be like, you know what?

Sonia (39:41)
Because the poor folks want to be superior, right? They vote in there against their best interest because they think that they're better than the people who are not like them. And that's not just black people, that's anybody who's different than them. To me, it's a superiority thing and not solely an economic thing. Because I feel like if it was an economic thing, you could reason with people. You see how these billionaires actin'?

Cause they, they care about money. They care, they like, kiss the ring. don't, don't buy this newspaper. So we won't have to endorse, whatever. They care about money.

I don't know. I don't know, I could be wrong. I could be wrong. This is just...

Roberta (40:22)
Yeah, I don't...

It's an interesting dynamic. don't think... I think they're a lot more closely tied than your perspective, and that's fine.

Sonia (40:31)
Yeah, they are. I think

when you think about how this country operates, racism, capitalism, like this, for sure. Like we have been brainwashed to think that capitalism is the way. It is the way. But to me, the only reason capitalism works, quote unquote works, is you can't have capitalism without racism. You can't have capitalism without sexism.

Roberta (40:38)
Yeah, I mean it was built on that honestly.

No, true. mean, that's why we

still have the discrepancies between what the average white man makes per their dollars versus all the different races and everything else and genders. Yeah, mean, yeah, that exists.

Sonia (41:06)
All

right. Well, Gen Z, y'all need to save us. I know y'all kumbaya. I know y'all have y'all, right, y'all have y'all emotional support animals. I need y'all to come by, come together, kumbaya and fix this.

Roberta (41:09)
Get somebody else to do it. Gen Z.

Yo, I just

read something the other day that Gen Z is stressed the fuck out and I get it. I get it. Gen Alpha? Woof. yeah, okay, all right. Yes, so, okay, so we talked about, like kind of we talked about a little bit like the consequences of not acting like.

Sonia (41:23)
What's after them? What's my kids? What are they? don't know. Gen alpha, gen alpha, please. And honestly, save us. Save yourselves actually,

So let's, we gotta wrap this up, but.

Roberta (41:41)
what that means and like everything's gonna fall apart if we just, if we, as a collective, as a 92 % saying, you know what, y'all are on your own. You know, so we can't necessarily do that, but like, okay, well, when, what's the other side of that? Like what's the consequences of action? You know, how do we hold on to hope and still like keep up the fight, but then like protect ourselves and our own mental and emotional healths and financial healths and all other things.

Sonia (41:48)
Right.

Yeah.

Roberta (42:08)
Yeah, so, okay.

Sonia (42:08)
I'm going to take the, go ahead. I'm sorry.

I'm going to take the, I thought the outgoing surgeon general had a really, really good point. I know nobody really pay attention to the surgeon general. I don't even know what they do for real. Like, I mean, they're a figurehead. They put, you know what? They put the warnings on the cigarettes. Yep. Anyway, the outgoing surgeon general, his,

Roberta (42:22)
Tell us what not to eat and drink and that way. Ain't he the one that told us that wine is bad?

Yeah.

Sonia (42:32)
So first of all, during his tenure as Surgeon General, I his name, I should Google it real quick, but the Surgeon General, during his tenure, he really focused on loneliness in our country. He called it an epidemic, how about say a pandemic, an epidemic in the country. And he really talked about the importance of connection and you have social media, you have AI now coming on. And he really talked about how

Roberta (42:44)
Hmm.

Mm-hmm.

Hmm.

Sonia (43:00)
we

need to really foster human connection. And his outgoing message or his outgoing prescription for Americans was to find community and was to foster community and how community is going to be how we save ourselves and the importance of it. And I, you know, I

Roberta (43:11)
Mm-hmm.

Sonia (43:23)
Really, first of all, I really liked that. I really appreciated that, even though I can't remember his name. But I really appreciate that sentiment. And I've been thinking about the idea of community a lot. Like, what does it mean? You're right, we're only 6 % of the electorate. Black women are only 6 % of the electorate. And so what do we do until everybody else is able to see the big picture like we can?

until they come over to our side, at least become reasonable again, right? Reasonable people.

Roberta (43:52)
Reasonable and I think that and I want to be clear in that what that means right because that's very relative I I think if you say Come like come over to the right side or like it the enemy like what is right is that is so subjective I think Yes, absolutely I have had too many conversations with people with differing beliefs than I do and like

Sonia (43:58)
What's relative?

It's rice objective.

differing beliefs, I think when you,

okay. I think it's, I think when you talk about the humanity of a, people, that's not objective. Okay.

Roberta (44:23)
Yes. That's where I was going. It's like it's focusing

the humanity and empathy.

Sonia (44:29)
Yeah.

Roberta (44:30)
and doing and making decisions and moving from a place that's not solely about what's going to benefit you, but also like what's going to benefit your neighbor. like that until we're able to do that as a people, as a country, I don't know, it's gonna be real tough for community to build like, and honestly, I see why the surgeon general is saying that this is a endemic, like it's because we are not as a people, as a country, empathetic people.

Sonia (44:40)
Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

You we're not empathetic and we have been taught that it is ingrained, it is a value of this country that you have to be individualistic. Pick yourself up by your bootstraps, make it happen. You have to make it, you have to do it. I mean, it's a lot of, you know, what got black women into this, you know, what we deal with every day. Like you gotta do it. But I think community has to start with where you are.

Like, think that's how it, like, look, that's all I got right now. Community starts with you. Community starts with your building your community and hoping that, you know, spreads out because honestly, I, I don't know. can't, I'm reading a book called Let Them by Mel Robbins.

Roberta (45:39)
Hmm. Mm-hmm.

Sonia (45:39)
Another story.

But one of the things she says, the premise of the book is you can't control other people, right? As much as we try to get people as much information, right? That was out here about Donald Trump and Kamala Harris and people still made the decision that they did. Yes, there was a lot of information. There was a lot of misinformation, but all you have to do is look at Donald Trump, a video, listen to him, watch him, listen to him talk. That's not misinformation.

Roberta (45:44)
Yes.

That

does not, when I tell you that does not make a difference, like that is when people, and again, this is from me talking, because I was really curious, I still am curious, but I'm very curious about like, how do you reconcile the things that you see, you know, the things that you hear him say, and him acting as like the leader of this country? And a lot of the responses I got was, that's just him, you know, that's just entertainment, that's just him whatever, saying whatever he's gonna say.

Sonia (46:30)
Mm-hmm.

Roberta (46:32)
policies and him being more conservative like all the things like those are the things that really matter I don't care what he says you know and so it's like that that I mean there's there's him like Trump is not the problem with this country and that's going to be like for the next four years where it's going to go back and forth and people gonna blame Trump for this and that and third like honestly he's not the problem it's again

Sonia (46:44)
Right.

I mean, he is the problem

now because he's the president, I see what you mean. He is not the only problem. He is the personification of the real problem. Yeah.

Roberta (46:56)
I mean, he's gonna cause problems, but like, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's going to, he's not that, but honestly, I, yes, which is

a lack of humanity, a lack of care and empathy for your fellow neighbor and other people around you. And until we can figure out a way to like solve that, I mean, maybe yes, maybe the going and the direction is going in the community, but I think that is the very reason why we don't have community.

And I think bringing it back to us and bringing it back to like black women and just like, all right, retire, we want to set it out. Maybe that's where the rebuilding starts. Maybe that's where we focus. We focus on closer to home and we focus on, you know, building that community or rebuilding. Because I don't think we necessarily I forget I didn't read that particular article that you are citing, but I do remember.

Sonia (47:27)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Roberta (47:43)
some talk about that and also focus was like really on like male loneliness, which I'm like, well, why are you focusing on that? But anyway, we don't lack community as a people, a women, as black women. I think taking solace in that and like getting back down to like.

Sonia (47:49)
Mm-hmm.

Thank

Roberta (48:00)
getting back down to like the things that are most that are safe, that we know to be safe, that we know, you know, that we can put our energy and effort into and we won't be so disappointed. I think that will help us as all the people, all the black women who are saying, we're tired, somebody else to do it. I'm done. This country doesn't care. I think if we kind of focus more on community and our own immediate kind of people and feeling safe, I think that...

Sonia (48:04)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Roberta (48:27)
maybe enough to restore some of that hope as far as like a political or even again I bring this

Sonia (48:28)
Yeah.

Well, the hope is

in you. The hope then gets turned this way instead of this way. I just think, and I do think there's more opportunities for community. I feel like we could never bring enough people in because even though, you know, I think...

women have community, there are a lot of people who don't have community, which this is a different podcast, but like how it's so hard to make friends as an adult, how to find community as an adult. I mean, we can talk about it. Next podcast. So, okay. So how are you personally moving forward? Go, quick. Not quick, I'm sorry, just go.

Roberta (48:52)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Next podcast.

Yes. All right. Okay. All right.

Yeah, just what I just said. I'm going to start focusing on my immediate surroundings. I'm going to focus on the people and spaces that I feel safe and comfortable in, where I don't have to carry a torch, where I don't have to, you know, feel a sense of urgency or fight.

Sonia (49:18)
Mm-hmm.

Right?

Roberta (49:29)
and put my energy and efforts there. And I'm hoping, I'm very optimistically hopeful that that will give me the motivation to continue pushing forward. Because again, don't, honestly long-term, I don't know if I have the fight, quote unquote fight in me anymore, but I do, I still have motivation to see this country do well and to see our people as a whole do well. So yeah, that's what I'm going to do. I'm going to focus on my immediate community.

Sonia (49:44)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Mm-hmm. I think that's fair. think, you know, for me, I think there's a difference. Like, you need to rest, right? You need to rest. You need to recharge. And I think we need to make sure that we don't become apathetic. I, you know, don't know what this man is gonna do. I don't know what the future's gonna hold. Maybe it's a bunch of hype. I don't know. Maybe he gonna burn it down. But I feel like there are more fights ahead. And bigger fights, important fights.

Roberta (50:20)
Yeah.

Sonia (50:23)
And I feel like we need to rest and recharge and figure out how we're going to make it through. Me, myself personally, my focus is on my kids because I feel like they will, they're going to.

Roberta (50:30)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

Sonia (50:37)
are the ones who are going to have to grow up in this world and grow up in this environment. And so for me, it is important. It's always been important for me. I think grades are important and school is important and achievement is important. But for me, I just want my kids to be good people, be empathetic people, know how to critically think and are financially and understand finances. Like to me, those are important.

Roberta (50:41)
Oof. Alright.

Right.

Yeah.

Sonia (51:03)
I don't know if they're pillars, but they're important things that I need to instill in the closeness of them too. Like, y'all are like this. This is who you have. This is who is going to be with you through this world. So that's my first focus. I mean, that's where my thought went to immediately after the election. That's where a lot of my focus is. So how do I prepare for my kids for a world that I don't even know what it looks like? I have no idea. know, me and Derrick have these conversations.

Roberta (51:05)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Right.

Sonia (51:29)
about what they're gonna be when they grow up and he's like, we should teach them coding. I said coding? Yeah, he's like coding and STEM and I'm all for STEM but I'm like coding dude, they got AI to code for us. Like what is after coding? But there, so my kids, my peace, right? I was already doing that before the election, finding more ways to be peaceful, to be joyful on my own.

Roberta (51:35)
That's very specific, okay? I get what he's saying, like tech and like that stuff. Right.

Right.

Yeah.

Sonia (51:57)
on my own, right? And I think that's even more so in this election. Something that's always important to me is staying informed. When Donald Trump first got elected, the thing I had to give up was NPR, because I couldn't. I feel like they gave him, they normalized him so much, it was just disturbing to my ears. So I had to give up NPR, so I stopped listening to them. But I do think it's important for us to stay informed.

Roberta (52:13)
Interesting.

Sonia (52:18)
It is important for us to know what the hell this man's going to do so we can protect as many rights as we can. So stay informed, but at the same time, no one to limit. No one is too much. Donald Trump. my God. It's like whiplash when he's in office. He did this. He banned people. ate, drink bleach. The dogs are, eat your dogs and cat. Like every day it's a new headline and you gotta, you gotta pace yourself. You gotta pace yourself.

So that's it. And the last thing, be intentional about what gets my attention, where I go, the spaces I'm in, where my mind is. Just be more intentional about things. That's how I plan to move forward through these Trump years and beyond. Because what the hell is coming after him? I don't know.

Roberta (53:10)
Who knows?

That's interesting, I think that's good. I think that's a very good approach. Yeah, I don't have that whole facet of kids and thinking about their specific futures. I do think about the younger generations and what they're dealing with now, what they're gonna have to deal with. And so that gives me a little bit of algebra. It's interesting that you say that about protecting your peace.

Sonia (53:14)
Thank you.

Mm-hmm.

Roberta (53:33)
I don't know where I get this from, maybe just being an only child, but like when I tell you, even though I have like fight in me and I've put, I put out energy and effort, the way I protect my peace, I literally over this, makes me think of this one conversation I had last summer. is, I was out with some girlfriends. We were having like a heated, really good conversation. This guy walked up, he overheard, like we were talking about and he decided to share his opinion. When I tell you.

Sonia (53:42)
Yeah.

Roberta (53:55)
It was so quick and so natural for me to protect my peace. I walked away. He was mid sentence. I looked at him. I was just like, and I was like out of my like, whatever. was like, I'm gonna get another beer. Goodbye. Like.

Sonia (54:00)
You

Goodbye.

Yes. You are.

Roberta (54:08)
have zero tolerance for anything that's going to raise my blood pressure. Like I already

got to deal with the fact that I'm getting older and my blood pressure is gonna raise naturally. I'm not gonna let anything. yes, protecting my peace, I'm going to continue to do that. Yeah, do we have a prompt for everyone? I know when we get to the time ready for prompt because I'm out of wine. So we're ready for a prompt.

Sonia (54:17)
Yeah, that's good.

Yeah, just in time. You really pace yourself

well, because this is one of longer ones.

Roberta (54:31)
I do. We should actually talk about

what I drink every time. Tonight I had a Pinot Gris by OPP, Maison Noir. That's a white wine.

Sonia (54:38)
Was it, that means nothing to me. Was it red or white?

I didn't see it, I don't know.

Roberta (54:45)
Yes.

So this is how I gauge, you know, when we're to wrap it up. I'm out of wine. Okay, let's wrap it up.

Sonia (54:50)
Let's wrap it up.

Roberta (54:52)
So I mean, guess the prompt for this week is, you know, to really sit with protecting your peace and like how has this this moment in time, right, of the election or just like this what's going on? There's a lot of stuff going on right now in this country and outside of the country. Has this stuff impacted you internally? You know, has this shifted anything for you? And, you know, do you kind of do you feel differently as a result of everything that's going on around you? And if so,

Sonia (55:05)
Right. Yeah.

Roberta (55:19)
how are you both protecting your peace? And also think about like, how are you going to, if at all, move differently through the world? So that is like my prompt for everyone who's listening to just kind of, yeah, just take a moment and be mindful about like where you sit with all of this.

Sonia (55:27)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's never

built your reserves. What are your defense mechanisms for this world that we're entering? So we're gonna wrap it up there. Make sure we can actually continue the conversation on social media guys. When you watch this, please let us know.

Roberta (55:47)
Yes, I actually really want to hear

from people because we just been here talking, but I really want to hear from people. I really want someone to find that stat about the 92 percent. Like, please.

Sonia (55:56)
Please guys,

our research skills that terrible, isn't that?

Roberta (56:01)
No, but no,

that is like the point. Like we have actively been looking and we have not found anything. So I'm just like, okay, yeah, exit polls. But like, who, who did that? Who rounded up all the exits? send it to us. Let's have a conversation.

Sonia (56:13)
Send it to us. us on IG,

Facebook at Grown and Growing Podcast. Please leave your comments. You can actually watch this episode on YouTube at Grown and Growing Podcast. Please share the podcast. Leave us a positive review, please. I think this is a really good conversation. I wanna know what you think.

Roberta (56:30)
Yes.

I mean, I always want to know what you guys

think, like with this specifically, and not even just like, yes, we've been talking a lot about the perspective of like black women, because that's who we are, but I am very curious and interested in hearing like different perspectives from men, from people who are non-black, like everybody. I'm really curious of like how all of this is sitting with you all, because this impacts us all.

Sonia (56:53)
It does, it really does. And that's ultimately what we want people to understand. We are all impacted. So thanks for listening guys and we will see you next time.