Unapologetically Black: Why We’re Done Asking for Permission

BEP Narrator: 00:00:02

A Black Executive Perspective.

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Now presents need to know with

the award-winning hyphenated Dr.

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Nsenga Burton.

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Dr.

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Burton, what do we need to know?

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Dr. Nsenga Burton:

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Good morning and welcome

to Need To Know with Dr.

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Nsenga Burton.

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I am she.

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Today, I'm here to talk to you about

the information on the web or I

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would say there is some discussion

on the web about where black folks.

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Right.

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We know that you all are upset

about Kamala Harris not winning

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the election, and you should be

participating in these protests.

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You should be organizing the

protests, all the things.

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And, um, I would like to address the fact

that we are not your property anymore.

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I would like to address that.

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So, um, there was a time for fairly

recent history when black people

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collectively, that would be the

advocates, the activists, those who

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are on the right side of history.

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Not all of us, but many.

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Um, we're marching and being

beaten down by the police.

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Um, there was a time when we were, and

actually it's been the last 20 years,

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it's been longer than recent history,

but whatever, um, where we were like,

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Hey, listen, you know, our voting rights.

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Uh, which means your voting

rights are gonna be in trouble.

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Um, our civil rights, which means your

civil rights are gonna be in trouble.

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Our reproductive rights, which mean

your reproductive rights are gonna be in

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trouble, um, have been, I mean, we've been

screaming it, you know, from the top of

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the mountains to the lowest hills and, um.

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You know, received very little, um,

support, collaboration, collective

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action from other groups that benefited

from all of the work that was done

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primarily by African Americans, but

certainly I would say multicultural.

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Um, um.

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Uh, groups, um, that are on the right

side of history as well, but historically

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have been, you know, the, the torch has

been, uh, carried by black Americans.

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Um, so that we have all of these

rights that everyone gets to enjoy.

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You know, like we're not like other

groups, um, that you can look up at around

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the country where it's like, oh yeah,

we want civil rights, but just for us.

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Oh yeah, we want voting

rights, but just for us.

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Yeah.

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Y'all gotta get your own.

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No, no, no.

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We're gonna form 'em in a whole

nother party and we're gonna have

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like 25 different parties and we just

going each, you know, try to figure

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out we're, we're not doing that.

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You know, we don't want

reproductive rights just for us.

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We want everything for everybody.

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We are humanists, we live, uplift

everyone with our activism.

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So when all of those things went away.

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Um, and, uh, you know, in some shape

or way, shape or form when millions

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of us were disenfranchised by, um, at

best racist voting laws and at worst,

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uh, just very persnickety voting

laws that targeted, um, very specific

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demographics, especially us based

on how we historically have voted.

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Um, at least in recent history.

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Um, there was very little fanfare

outside of the black world, um, when

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those reproductive rights were hit.

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Very little fanfare.

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I mean, there's a black woman now on, um.

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She's brain dead and she's

being forced to carry a baby.

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Um, 'cause she was nine weeks pre

pregnant when she, uh, developed

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blood clots in her brain.

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She's a registered nurse, she's

in the hospital where she works.

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She's brain dead.

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Um, and there has been little fanfare

around the fact that she has been made

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to carry, uh, to continue on in this

world even though she's effectively

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dead, uh, because of a nine week fetus.

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That is in her, um, a nine week, uh,

old baby that is in her, uh, her body.

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The baby's older now, obviously

'cause she's been on life

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support for three months.

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Um, very little fanfare.

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Um, but we warned you

about maternal mortality.

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We warned because what's happening

to us in ridiculous rates like

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an rn, she's a registered nurse

and is now on life support, okay.

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In the hospital in which, and

guess whose family's on the hook?

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Her family's on the hook for the cost.

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State is not covering it,

the family is covering it.

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They have to pay for it.

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All right?

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So anyway, we've been telling you

all, all these things for so many

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years and we are tired of telling you.

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We have organized protests and done

protests and some of them have been

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ridiculously effective and others

have, um, not, they've really just

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resulted in our incarceration abuse.

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And just more punitive laws, um, and

measures being passed, um, for us.

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So I say all of that to say when you're

like, where are the black people?

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I feel very safe saying,

well, where were you?

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Um, and we have fought historically

for everyone's rights, um, because

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we've been fighting for us as you

know, we're fighting for you too.

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Um, so we have the right

to not participate.

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In these protests because we

know what will happen to us now.

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They, they deported a black

man born, um, to a father.

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His father was Jamaican, served

in service for 20 something years.

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He's born on a military base, um, has

lived in the United States his whole life.

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They deported him to Jamaica.

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Why was, was his crime?

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Uh, he couldn't pay his rent.

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Was put out of his house, went

back to get some of his things,

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was reported for trespassing.

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Put him in jail.

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Initially they were going,

uh, and, uh, sent him to ice.

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Even though he's, uh, an American,

um, they're like, oh, you were

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born on the na uh, military base.

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You're not an American.

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So now we just gonna

change the constitution.

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We change the rules.

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We're just doing whatever

the hell we wanna do.

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Right.

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Um.

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And first they were trying to put

him, they put him on a plane in

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Nicaragua and he was like, I'm

the only English speaking person.

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I don't speak Spanish.

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So he said, Hey, hey, hey,

I'm an American citizen.

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Took him out now then they

put him on a plane to Jamaica.

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He's in Jamaica, has never been there.

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His, his entire life, whole family

has immigrated to the us so he

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doesn't even have family there.

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Um, and uh, I'm just,

have you heard about this?

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Okay.

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Probably not.

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Yeah.

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No.

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Okay.

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So we have other shit we're dealing with.

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Sorry, just trying not to cuss Tony.

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Um, but we have other stuff that

we are actually dealing with that's

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happening in real time that we are

actively organizing around, um, and

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being part of protest for people.

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Um, many of whom, and we know it's not

everybody we know, it's not everybody,

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but many of whom voted for 47 and

knew exactly what was going to happen.

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And now that it's happening, you just

didn't think it was gonna happen to you.

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And now you see that they just

don't care about the constitution.

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They don't care about law and order,

the rule of law, none of that stuff.

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They don't care.

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Well, we knew they didn't care

about police officers at the,

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the, uh, the insurrection, right?

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So we already knew that.

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But you all don't care about that.

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You just interested in law and order.

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And when this president sent, um,

the Marines in and not to be, uh,

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stereotype Marines, but I always

call 'em the fifth dimension.

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Because I don't know if you

met the Marines, and again, I

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come from a military family.

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I'm just gonna say the Marines

are different and they are

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sent in to seek and destroy.

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That is their mission.

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They, I call 'em the killers.

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I, I know.

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Uh, one of my cousins hates that.

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Hates it.

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I don't care.

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They're the killers.

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If you want something done right the

first time you send in the Marines,

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if you want somebody eliminated the

first time you send in the Marines,

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that is who 47 is sending to people

who are protesting ice in Los Angeles.

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I.

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That is who he's sending.

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So I say all that to say, we

are not gonna be a part of that.

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Y'all not gonna put us in jail.

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We got real shit we're working on.

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We're trying to get our rights back

so that you can have some again.

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Um, and we are trying to mobilize

and work around some of these

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issues that are happening in our

community that need our attention.

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Um, and so we are putting us

first, uh, for the first time ever.

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We're putting us first.

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Not the whole humanity, the whole

country, you know, other folk

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we're not, we're putting us first.

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Um, and so we're not gonna do that.

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And you don't get to tell us that.

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And rooted in you thinking you

can tell us what to do is white

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supremacy, um, is sexism, is

racism, is misogyny, all the things.

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Uh, we're not going to

cater to your paternalism.

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And the idea that you think that you

can tell us what to do, who to vote for,

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and that we're on the wrong side because

we're not, you know, we may or may not

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be 'cause many people are pro-Israel in

our community, but you know, we're not,

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uh, with what's happening in Gaza or

we are not, you know, a hundred percent

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behind certain things that are happening.

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Black people know as Professor Cru, and

if you know who she is, look her up.

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Um, says we know the difference

between bad and worse.

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Which is why we were trying to warn

you and why many of us voted, including

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some people who have historically been

Republican, voted for Kamala Harris.

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All right, now y'all, you

learning a hard lesson.

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You just gonna learn what we've already

been dealing with for almost 400 years.

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So that's all I got.

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I got the Kanye Shrug.

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Don't know what to tell you, but

you don't get to tell us what to

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do, when to do it, and how to do it.

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We will.

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We are in possession, complete possession

of our minds, our moral compass.

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Our moral compass, our moral

compass, and, uh, we get to decide

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when and how we want to protest.

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Stand up for, um, or fight for

the rights of all Americans as

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we have done throughout history.

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And with that in mind, I want

you to have a wonderful day.

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Make sure you tune in next

week to the need to know with

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Dr.

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Nsenga Burton

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and of course to A Black Executive

Perspective podcast and award-winning

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podcast that gives you many

sides of all of the issues.

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All right, so I will see you soon.

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Thank you for tuning in.

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Bye.

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BEP Narrator: A Black

Executive Perspective.