Speaker 0 00:00:00 Burn a whole thing down. Couldn't care about a another zone. You can burn a whole thing down. Burn down, down. Y'all don't really care about a brother until we burn our whole thing down. Burn down, down. Yeah. We about to go to work. Yeah, we about to let it burn.
Speaker 1 00:00:16 No, come on. The Youngs what I'm focused on. I'm so old then go then. I ain't know you was talking about Pokemon, but I'm more like me and nerdy next to a burndown system with a candle of gas and a handful of matches and know we ain't miss some famous. Now my mission be so complicity watching all the leaders leading banking Nona Minions. But we torture enough to take us and we give into survivors city. Elis making black people compliant. Coon Rapids. Who are you asking? I'm proof. Survive the boomba trick, bro. Ethics got me laughing at your message. And in Black Lives Matter, you would not get so defensive. We got cops and deeds and robberies and gas light us. We are not the same. We on the scene, we passed typing cuz y'all care about us and we ain't come to ask. We just mind a business and then people be so sucking mad. So pass the gun and mask and pass the athe. Nu Y'all can really kill us for anything. Y'all just bend the laws the same performance art, the same performative, saving the racist head of normative. You can burn the
Speaker 0 00:01:14 Whole
Speaker 1 00:01:15 Thing
Speaker 0 00:01:15 Down. Burn all. I don't care if y'all uncomfortable, we can burn the whole thing down. You can burn it, burn it, burn it down. Couldn't care about it. Zone. You can burn a whole down. Y'all don't really care about it, brother. Until we burn down.
Speaker 2 00:01:34 Burn
Speaker 0 00:01:34 Down. Yeah. We about to go to work. Yeah, we about to let it burn.
Speaker 3 00:02:03 Views from the ground view, views from the damn ground, views from the ground views from the damn ground views from the ground views from views from the damn ground. And that's on that, on that on that. All right. This is, uh, dj, your agender host uses day, them pronouns.
Speaker 4 00:02:22 My name is Jalen. I use she her pronouns.
Speaker 3 00:02:25 And it's Brandon. I use he him pronouns. All right, so we're gonna get right in.
Speaker 4 00:02:31 Um, so yes, we are going to continue talking, um, about black August. Well, um, a little different this week, but if you did not catch our episode last week, you should check us out. I think we're on Spotify now. Um, yeah. Or, you know, find us where you can. Um, and so just as a recap, uh, black August is a month long dedication to study, focus and honor black radical traditions in the ongoing fight against the prison industrial complex and criminal justice or injustice, depending on how you call it, uh, systems. Um, it is also a time for intentional celebration, um, uplifting of black life, black art, uh, and the tenacity of our continued existence, um, in this world of white supremacy. Um, and so black August was, uh, started with, uh, when George Jackson, uh, who was a, um, black Panther party member, um, who was in prison for about 11 years, was, uh, did a lot of organizing out of the prison.
Speaker 4 00:03:32 And there's a lot of other events that, um, you know, happened in August around, uh, black liberation, a lot of different birthdays and events, actually rest in peace. Mike Brown yesterday, uh, was the day he was the ninth, correct? Yes. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, and just a day to get together. I mean, not a day a month to, you know, reflect on our struggle and get serious about how we can build, um, our community, uh, for a better tomorrow. So this week I wanted to, um, read something called the Liberal Disingenuousness of Trump's America. Uh, this article was published in, uh, 2020, uh, before the election, and I think in, uh, Minnesota. Yesterday was our primary election. It was some pretty big races. Um, and they're through their first round, so to speak, and so they'll duke it out in November. But I thought this article was really important, um, to kind of talk about the, you know, both the parties, um, and the intersection and, um, how we as black people can't just, um, fall for it, so to speak.
Speaker 4 00:04:36 Um, but the article is by Erica Kanes, uh, who is a poet, a writer and organizer in Baltimore. Uh, she is an organizing member of an an of the anti-war coalition, uh, the Black Alliance for Peace, um, as well as the, um, an outreach member of the Black centered, uh, Ujima People's Progress Party. Uh, she founded, uh, the Liberation through Reading in 2017 as a way to provide black children with books that represent them and created the extension, um, a book club called, uh, liberation through reading BC to strengthen political education online, uh, and throughout our communities. Um, so again, this is called the Liberal Disingenuous disingenuous Disingenuousness of Trump's America. Uh, and another reminder, this was published in 2020, uh, before the election. So just to put a little context, but are you guys ready? Listen to me the whole time and not say anything <laugh> super kind of nervous about it.
Speaker 4 00:05:35 So here we go. After weeks of a panic driven insistence that we can vote out fascism by self-proclaimed leftists, mainstream media has taken it up a notch with terminology like Trump's America in using that term, what both leftists and liberals are engaging in. Besides fear mongering is a misguided in a historical approach to electoral politics and US politics in general. By attributing fascism and the conditions of an overzealous militarized police force solely to Donald Trump, we ignore the traject the trajectory of how we have arrived at a Trump presidency. Furthermore, in obsessive asphyxiation on Trump, and not the system at large, makes us complicit in the work of encouraging Fas fascism. The intent. Yeah. The intentional falsehoods around the actual power of the black vote pushed by organized black leadership class have upheld a vote blue, no matter who narrative that has distorted the politics of the who because they are blue.
Speaker 4 00:06:43 The false dichotomy of Republican bad Democrat good has strangled US politics. The focus on self-interest voting has discouraged in educated vote individualism is capitalism's best defense. Many have fallen behind the bad D n C strategy of individualizing Trump's presidency as unique in American president's history, just as they did in 2016, singling him out as deplorable in this stage of socioeconomic development of capitalism in a state of crisis. Fascism is the logical next step when both parties share the unwavering politics of neoliberalism. Joe Biden's career long hyperfocus on the white middle class has defined his politics, whether through his alignment with rapid racist Republicans against school busing systems, or his doubling down on law and order, um, he has, he has crafted a very intentional political career in devotion to American exceptionalism and neoliberalism running as a fiscal conservative Biden rose the political ranks as one of the leading Democrats for Reagan esque approaches to budgetary policy and stayed on that path.
Speaker 4 00:07:59 He pushed for NAFTA in, for the trans-specific partnership, deliberately undercutting labor to side with corporations and Wall Street. And through it all, Biden has become more hawkish. Undoubtedly, there is a precedent for Trump's actions, a precedent that includes his opponent. Biden leftists are pointing to Trump as an example of full-blown fascism. While disregarding as the ever expanding police state in prison industrial complex shows, fascism has always been the American way as Margaret Kimberly states in her book, black America, in the Presidents Donald Tr. Um, as she states in the book, she says Donald Trump is, uh, vilified is vilified because he, because his open racism tarnishes the brand. The system depends upon its capacity to make people feel good in about their country and themselves. Trump makes that difficult by instead, embarrassing people who want to have positive feelings about their government. What was once a dark underbelly is now the very face of the US government.
Speaker 4 00:09:04 Kimberly's above point is made when analyzing the hysteria around voter suppression. A nation that has interfered in countless elections, funded opposition parties and backed COOs worldwide, has spent four years in a fuss about Russia gate alleged election interference, which has been nothing but a reiteration of the old Cold War This election year. China has been thrown in the voter suppression boogeyman mix as well. While the hypocrisy is apparent, the motivation behind it for many isn't. There is a geopolitical motivation to address voter suppression than an actual desire for people to engage in civic duties. If the latter were concerned, we would not find ourselves in 2020 unable to create accessible ways to cast a vote. The prioritization of voter suppression under the covert notion of election interference by outside nations has become a way to continue proxy and trade wars. Voter suppression has been a tried and true presidential campaign strategy for the Democratic Party, which has spent the last 20 years since Al Gore last lost Florida actively doing nothing about it.
Speaker 4 00:10:18 This election year saving the United States Postal system has been the vehicle f uh, the vehicle for the strategy to oust Trump For more than a decade, the postal service has faced financial pro, uh, troubles, giving lawmakers many opportunities to debate its future. The, the United States Postal Service constant financial problems have made conservative conversations about structural changes in the agency, a renewed focus. There's been a bipartisan push for the United States Postal System to function more like a corporation. The postal service often acts as a vendor for many companies like Amazon, uh, us, p uh, ups, excuse me, FedEx, and, um, other businesses. The constant threat of defunding opens up the perfect opportunity to privatize the United States Postal System. A long time goal for the Democratic Party. The previous attempts to privatize is of course, no reason to save the United States Postal System. Instead, Trump's open refusal to fund the United States Postal System has become a tactic for the D N C to exploit, amend, um, amid a pandemic and restrict people from gathering in long lines for hours unsafely pushing for mail-in voting, despite domestic cause.
Speaker 4 00:11:39 During the summer of Georgia, Wisconsin, and New York has allowed the Democratic Party to hyper asphyxiate on saving the United States Postal System intentionally conflating it with saving democracy. Liberal white right wing Democrats like Nancy Pelosi made a show of calling Congress back in session to save the post office because it's part of the al Ultra bourgeois struggle for power that they are involved in. The same right wing Democrats have have been less quick to call to Congress back into session to push for financial relief in canceling rents during this pandemic. Although many have signaled the suppression of voting as the rise of fascism, those same people have seemingly turned a blind eye to the intentional suppression of voters who are members of the Green Party. The Green Party runs a platform that is everything Bernie Sanders supporters advocated for and more including a black woman, vice president running mate.
Speaker 4 00:12:41 The Democratic Party, which has been made, which has made it a point, um, made it a point to stigmatize the more radical voters it is currently suing, um, to remove green party candidates from the ballot. In many states in Texas, Pennsylvania, and Montana, the Democratic Party has successfully targeted and removed green party candidates by using discrepancies in the filing, like paying filing fees. A new third party requirement law passed last year, but not for major parties. Uh, these discrepancies are currently being argued against by the Green Party as unconstitutional burdens. The DNC has also contended that Green party candidates on ballots are the results of a G O P plot. Nonetheless, the removal of third party candidates, candidates, which has, which has been, which has not been addressed in mainstream in a mainstream way, is a direct form of voter suppression. Somehow this deliberate s silencing of a third party in a democracy is not seen as fascists only in solely Trump's actions.
Speaker 4 00:13:47 Perhaps this is why Democrats are confidently promising law and order polic policies that have not received the same level of pushback as when Trump overtly states strong support of law and order. In 1963, Fannie Lou Hamer said, black people know what white people mean when they say law and order. Um, and but the vote blue, no matter who, black liberals who seem to conveniently ignore that white tr that white, that while Trump is praising and calling for expanding the police state, Biden is as well. In a Washington Post article, Bayard Woods, uh, mentions former Attorney General William Barr's recent remarks to Congress where he consistently referred to pro to Portland protestors as violent rioters in anarchists Woods correctly notes Woods correctly notes that hammering on this word bar like Trump is not only justifying continued federal law enforcement action around the country, he's also setting the stage for federal rioted rioting related charges.
Speaker 4 00:14:53 The Trump administration's pressure claiming that Biden is too soft on protestors, has strong armed Biden to make the same promises to prosecute protestors using the same criminalizing language to Gardner, the white vote referring to protestors as violent and lawless as he attributes the looting to Trump's America has allowed Biden to escape the same level of tongue lashing for focusing on the rioting and not the system that created the conditions. Biden's latest 45 million ad campaign is a pushback to presidents, Trump's attacks with images of burned out cars and buildings and violent confrontations with the police. In the ad, Biden says, I want to make it absolutely clear, rioting is not protesting, looting is not protesting, and those who do it should be prosecuted. Biden is not only the man who pinned the crime bill, but also the former vice president of an administration that has protestors in prison from the Ferguson and Baltimore uprisings.
Speaker 4 00:15:57 Yet somehow he is seen as less of less of a threat than Trump regarding law and order viewing Biden as less threatening is made possible by Trump exploiting the damages caused by the uprisings happening across the country. Since June, Biden is considered less of a threat, um, despite wanting to put 300 million more into policing, directly opposing the mass calls to de to defund police. Um, as Wendy, um, muse of left pocket suggests, Democrats are reminding the population as it fights to breathe beneath the boot of policing, job loss deadly disease, with no healthcare and environmental disaster, that there is no relief on the horizon. On the contrary, the Democrats are now working as hard as they can in spending as much money as possible to remind us that we have literally nowhere to turn. Democrats are relying on Trump's threat in office to not only single him out as a fascist, but to move the party further to the right.
Speaker 4 00:17:00 They are not only inviting racists into the fold, but leaning into anti-black, anti-black, black, excuse me, anti-black policies to prove to the white voters that they are a, a safer bet lesser ableism has resulted in the Democratic party choosing to show a candidate cozy up to Israel, uh, of the Bush administration to show a Biden Harris ticket can unify the country post Trump's America. Hence, the excitement around Biden Republicans understanding imperialism is not merely a global issue, but a domestic one also, which also allows people to know how frightening it is that the Democratic National Convention was nothing more than a convention of right wing liberals and former George W. Bush, Nat National Security Advisors. The absurd theatrics of the Republican National Convention has overshadowed much of the troubling, highly troubling in suggestive instances of the future the Democrats see for this country, which stands as a neo-colonial empire.
Speaker 4 00:18:05 The foreign policy offered by the Biden campaign is no different from the existing foreign policy, except with promises to be tougher. In fact, in most instances, biden's foreign policy is, is to the Trump's administration's right, promising to still ins to still interfere in Iran and Cuba. With no mention of Afro like the Trump administration, Biden also intends to maintain a strong relationship with Israel to the detriment of the Palestinian people facing mass genocide. The Biden Harris ticket is offering Trump's America liberal progressive imperialism where nothing changes, including the police state Here, liberals, and, um, as we are now witnessing some leftists are necessary factors in enabling fascism in real time. Democrats are vowing are vowing more funding to police compromising policy in favor of the ruling class, alienating and criminalizing radicals and radical organizations, and promising to change nothing except the leader of the nation. As Ajo Bakar has stated morally, why does the US deserve to avoid fascism with Trump? While it's bipartisan, anti-democratic anti-people policies supporting brutal elites of the global south bring misery, premature death in war from the perspective of the global south, what party is more dangerous? So that was the article and I thought I would read it after the primaries instead of before. Yeah,
Speaker 3 00:19:39 Yeah. And go ahead and tell us why you wanted to read this after the
Speaker 4 00:19:43 Primaries. Um, because I, I want folks, well, I didn't want the smoke before the primaries, um, and <laugh> and I wanted folks like, I did vote yesterday and it was, it's always just a very like, difficult day because it's like, I know these two things, um, are happening at the same time. I know that neither party is going to save, and like on primary day I have to vote for one party, and it's very conflicting, um, because I know that neither party has my people's, you know, liberation in their, in their interest at all. Um, I think KRS One has a song, uh, called Don't Fall for It. And that just really summarizes it all for me of like, I don't want folks to think that a party is going to save them. Um, but it's also part of that critical thinking when we do vote in these local elections because we can have the most influence in local elections that, um, you know, know, you know, what you're voting for, who you're voting for, but also understand that more work needs to be done outside of voting. Um, and that's why, why I wanted to read this today. Um, I, the voting results, uh, will only inform my organizing strategy is how I try to sum it up. So does it exactly matter who wins? I just know I'll just know how to step next depending on who wins.
Speaker 3 00:21:02 Yep. Well, thank you for reading that lovely piece off and coming out here and educating the masses. I extremely appreciate it.
Speaker 4 00:21:10 It is my black August. I don't know, tradition, <laugh>
Speaker 3 00:21:14 <laugh>. Well, with that, we're gonna move on to the, uh, words of freedom segment.
Speaker 5 00:21:21 So again, welcome to Words of Freedom, a segment here on views from the ground, views from
Speaker 3 00:21:25 The the
Speaker 5 00:21:26 Damn ground. We give local poets the freedom to liberate themselves with their expression. And again, this week we have Miss Ma, who is a Minneapolis poet and multidisciplinary artist who works, whose work spans a diverse array of topics such as womanhood, blackness, heartbreak, and hope. So we have a couple pieces from her today. The first one we will listen to is titled Forest Fires.
Speaker 7 00:21:57 He only called himself passionate when he was angry, yearning for warmth. I put my hands up to the fire in his eyes, cozied up to the heat, radiating off his body, and convinced myself that love was something like a wildfire beautiful, even if it destroyed everything, something to light the way, even if it torched the night sky. Nowadays I see burning branches watch the pulsating red emit from their scorched embers and clasped my own throat. Remembering the last time I became a fire eater for that man with vocal cords left smoldering and a flame, my lips singed from the acid and vitriol my lungs blackened the way ash blocks out the sun. He blocked out my light a little candle. I was engulfed by the flames of a fire that was too hungry to keep to itself. So there I was putting out fires just to pull in his good graces, jumping out of windows and off edges, rock bottom. Now the safest of places. All the water I had in me couldn't drown out his firestorm. And all the softness I had of me couldn't soothe the jagged edges of his anger and scorn. He walked me to the stake with matches in his pocket and reassured me that this was nothing more than a bonfire.
Speaker 7 00:23:26 I remember gritting my teeth when the warmth started to hurt. What good are red flags when everything is on fire? And what good is a fire if it doesn't burn something to the ground?
Speaker 5 00:23:49 And the next, uh, piece we'll listen to is titled Laugh Sister.
Speaker 7 00:24:06 Laugh sister. Those fools are throbbing with secrets that never air out and make homes out of dirt and cracked porcelain. Their mornings like fevers are harsher when they drink less and the nights like fog surround them with worry and concern. There is nothing of my brothers I care to want and nothing of my forefathers that a matron hasn't earned. Here we have a life to embrace warmly brilliant visions to give color to the deliverance and sovereignty of destinies that once needed to be rescued. Emancipated from the expectations of strangers who don't know what it means to salvage and celebrate what little salvation is left here. I'm unbound and unhooked from the traps that made me question if I had any salvation at all. I look at those who are captured by their own conspiracy sons, who sub do no armies knights who slay no dragons priests who sooth no souls. And I laugh, sister, at how much more freedom I get to hold onto and the power that never leaves my grip.
Speaker 5 00:25:37 All right, and the last piece we'll listen to today is titled Black. Don't Crack
Speaker 7 00:25:43 Black, don't Crack Black, don't Bend Black knows how to begin Again. We know what the mourning is like after the world ends. We know what mourning is like when grief spans generations. How the fruits of our labor always tasted quite bitter, knowing that our blood fertilized the soil, knowing how tears, sweat, and water don't differ. They call our prayers a hex. Our miracles black magic, how we've been thrown into the deepest graves the world has ever known. While our spirits remain galactic. Black embraces me when my skin is scorched from white lights that try to cook me alive. Black soothes me back to sleep when I'm too afraid to close my own eyes, black points to a home I've never been before. And shows me how my fingerprints are part of the blueprint. The lines in my hand drawn in the sand black reminds me that it was here before anything began. And it will stay here when it all ends. That's why black does not crack and black does not bend.
Speaker 5 00:26:54 So that was Ms. Ma. Uh, quick apology. We had some te technical difficulties, uh, so that the, the audio was a little pitched a little differently than we had wanted. Um, someone was shaking their head at me, but I just wanted to, to apologize to the artist. We are, you know, figuring things out as we go. Uh, but no, again, the words are still as beautiful as they are. Ms. Ma does amazing work. Um, and again, we will have more of her work coming up in the future, um, next couple weeks. So make sure you stay tuned. And then we will have a interview with her, uh, at the end of the month. And again, to follow her on Instagram. Uh, that is how she writes, uh, just the words at how she writes.
Speaker 3 00:27:43 All right, well, thank you so much. Really appreciate it. So with that going on, coming up next is gonna be the DJ Spotlight this month. So, um, I'm gonna give it over to Kenny Gray so he can introduce this week's song.
Speaker 8 00:28:02 Hey, it's Kenny Gray. In this next song you're going to hear is one that I wrote. It's a pop r and b love song ball thing if you're into that. But what makes this song special to me is actually the music video that we shot for featuring deaf actors. I grew up with deaf family using American Sign Language in the household. So I thought, what better way to honor that than to tell a love story through a deaf couple. Um, this song is called Love Me and I hope you enjoy it.
Speaker 9 00:29:17 If you is a promise, take my soul. We'll take you
Speaker 10 00:31:11 K ffa. I is proud to present Word, sound, power, music and Arts Festival at 56 Brewing on Saturday, August 13th. Word, sound Power Arts and Music Festival, a first of its kind festival, celebrating sound system culture featuring international and local legends and reggae and beyond. Headliners include Michael Rose and Subatomic Sound System, Charlie Tuna and Cut Chemist Turbulence Scientists with Johnny Osborne and Junior Drag. And many more tickets for Word Sound Power Festival can be found at the ticketing company website. Visit the ticketing.co for more details.
Speaker 11 00:31:48 Support for K ffa. I comes from C B T Minneapolis St. Paul, a local clinic specializing in online cognitive behavioral therapy for adults and teens. CBT teaches people to challenge negative thoughts and to change unhelpful behaviors and has been shown in research to improve anxiety, depression, and a host of other conditions. Learn more at book online
[email protected] or cbt st paul.com.
Speaker 12 00:32:19 The internet geeks at IP House are proud supporters of Fresh Air Community Radio. IP House provides internet hosting and access for your community. Large or small, more information is
[email protected].
Speaker 13 00:32:33 Programming is supported by North Point Health and Wellness Center, located at Penn and and Plymouth in North Minneapolis this summer. NorthPoint reminds you that if you feel sick, check for Covid symptoms, start wearing your mask, get tested and stay home if you test positive. And remember to get your COVID vaccine. NorthPoint Health and Wellness Center is now vaccinating Children's six months and older against Covid 19. For more information, please visit NorthPoint health.org.
Speaker 3 00:33:05 All right, welcome back to Views From the Ground.
Speaker 4 00:33:09 Views from the Damn Ground. Hey, thanks for add it in there. Would it be a good participant?
Speaker 3 00:33:14 <laugh> <laugh>? Uh, so this week we're actually going to be doing an interview with, um, my friend Francisco Chan Sanchez, and we're gonna be talking about, um, his short film screening coming up this week called Gathering of the Warrior. So I wanna welcome Francisco to the show.
Speaker 14 00:33:33 What's up? What's up y'all? Thanks for having me. Uh, big shout out to East Side. Um, yeah, shout out to all the homies on the west side too. Shout out to to St. Paul in general, um, over here in Minneapolis. You know, it's cool and not
Speaker 3 00:33:45 Whatever <laugh>,
Speaker 14 00:33:46 But yeah, thanks for having me where
Speaker 3 00:33:48 You are. <laugh>. You've been on a radio show before
Speaker 14 00:33:50 Francisco, have you? No, this is the, this is the first time you, oh, this is the first time in English actually. I've been on, uh, day shout out West Side.
Speaker 3 00:33:58 Got all these shot. It sound like you've been here before. All right. So I, I really want to talk about like, how did you become an artist?
Speaker 14 00:34:08 Um, yeah, I, I, I think that's a good way to start. Um, I, I grew up around art. Um, there's a lot of arts in my family. You know, we come from, um, out of the, out of the, out of the Chicano movement in West Texas. Um, there's been a lot of art that's coming out of it, including like big murals, um, low riders, you know, pinstriping, stuff like that. Um, and then my dad was an artist, or is an artist still. So just grew up with him, you know, painting all the time, painting murals, um, and stuff. He actually painted the first, um, and Budk sign that they had, which is like a, a big staple to the West side community. Um, so anybody that knows, knows that, uh, that Mercado knows, knows what's up with that. Um, but yeah, just always growing up around art and then, um, you know, always just like trying little things here and there. And then, yeah, filmmaking really was the one that, um, I've really stuck with the longest so far, um, that I've stuck with the longest. And, and that has been able to be seen and, um, has impacted I think, the most people out of, out of any art that I've done. But, um, you know, I feel like it's in my, I feel like it's in my blood. Um, um, yeah, so that's how I became an artist.
Speaker 3 00:35:25 Yeah. So you mentioned a lot of these different art forms that you were exposed to growing up. W when did you really start doing filmmaking? And, and, and why is, is that one sticked a little bit more than the other one? Do you feel like,
Speaker 14 00:35:40 Um, filmmaking started out as just like any other, any other little art project that I was doing. Um, so growing up, you know, in St. Paul, and it's the same here in Minneapolis, like all the little kids are trying to be homie, uh, trying to be like, um, rappers, right? So like, all the homies are trying to be rappers. And I sucked at rapping, so I knew it wasn't for me.
Speaker 3 00:36:02 You knew join the crew, man, man.
Speaker 14 00:36:06 Um, but, you know, some of my, some of my friends were like, I was like, yeah, y'all are pretty good, but we didn't know anybody who could make a music video or like, we didn't really know anybody who made videos at all. Um, so I was like, you know, uh, I could probably learn how to do this. So just started like borrowing cameras from folks, uh, borrowing computers and stuff. Um, just started making music videos for the homies, just like, it was like little stuff here and there. Um, and yeah, that's, that's kind of how it, how it all started for me.
Speaker 3 00:36:37 All right. Um, tell us about some of the films that you've made in the past.
Speaker 14 00:36:41 Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So it started with music videos, and it was just like, you know, make a music video here and there. Um, you know, never charged too much. It was just like more for fun. And then, um, you know, when George Floyd was lynched here in Minneapolis, um, everyone was just trying to figure out how they could get, um, involved in the movement, right? And, and how they could contribute. And I, I, I found that my way was to, you know, start documenting. Um, and it was, it was really frustrating to see, um, like mass, how the way that Mass Media was portraying protestors and portraying people that had been murdered by the police, um, portraying people who had been murdered, murdered by police, as if they deserved to be murdered, and really justifying, um, them and dehumanizing them. Um, so I thought it was a good idea just to, just to show what was really going on and, and try to tell stories from the front lines, um, and really show what was up. So, I, I actually got my first camera in 2020 through unemployment checks, <laugh>, uh, I saved them up
Speaker 3 00:37:48 <laugh>, as you should, as you should.
Speaker 14 00:37:50 Yeah. So that was a big, uh, it was a huge deal for me. And then, you know, I, I have the same camera, you know, I mean, I'm using until it breaks <laugh>. Um, but yeah, I just started bringing it out to the streets and kind of mastered this niche of, of covering protests and, and like trying to make videos that made people feel like they were there, um, and really humanizing it and, um, for people who maybe didn't understand, but then also people for people who couldn't be there physically, um, to, so that they could feel like they were, they were a part of it too, even if they were just, you know, tuning in online or whatever.
Speaker 3 00:38:31 Yeah. You know, you better, um, use that camera to the lens fall off, right?
Speaker 14 00:38:35 <laugh> it. Ha it has before though.
Speaker 3 00:38:38 <laugh>. Oh, <laugh>. Alright. I don't know nothing about cameras, but I don't think they supposed to be doing that. Uh, but yeah, so, so I just wanted to say, um, you know, so you show up to a lot of like Black Lives Matter protests, and like you said, you've done a lot of films of covering a lot of the protests, and anyone who talks to you knows that, like, you're really big on solidarity, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, like, you talk about that a lot and how important it is. And so tell us, um, why do you think it's important to be creating a lot of solidarity, especially as someone who's like non-black that covers a lot of Black Lives Matter protests?
Speaker 14 00:39:20 Yeah, I think Sol Solidarity is the, is the biggest thing. Um, it's the biggest thing for, for me at least, you know, because, you know, I'll never know what, what, um, the black experience is really like. Um, but it, it is important for anyone who's not not black to acknowledge that the racism and the discrimination that we face is really based on, um, racism that was created to oppress black people. So showing up in solidarity is, is is not only the right thing to do, but it's, it's really the only way that we can move forward, um, as people of color as a whole. We need to, you know, attack oppression at the core. And the core of racism and, and, uh, um, colonization is, is the, uh, entrenched racism, systemic racism that started with, um, you know, the enslavement, enslavement of black people. So showing up in solidarity is just, um, honestly, the smart thing to do if we're really gonna tackle this, that tackle this thing.
Speaker 3 00:40:28 Yes. Um, so, uh, the next question I'm gonna ask you about is, uh, so you are mixed mm-hmm. <affirmative>, and so I would like to know how you felt like being mixed has affected your artwork.
Speaker 14 00:40:43 Yeah. Um, I think it's, I think, um, that's a really important question because I have to show up every day as someone who's half white and half Chicano indigenous. So, um, just recognizing that, um, privilege is, is extremely important, especially when I'm showing up a lot of the times, documenting, um, with the history of exploitation experience by both indigenous and the black community, and in people trying to document, you know, what's, what's going on. Um, so just like reminding myself every day, like, even though, um, maybe someone wouldn't see me in the street and think like, oh, that's a white dude, like, um, or like a white passing Latino, or something like that. Like, um, I do have that privilege and I've had that, you know, that privilege has, that white privilege has channeled over into, you know, stable housing my whole life. You know, um, not experiencing, um, things like, uh, like food instability. Um, and, and yeah, it's, I think that's really, like, I, I had stable housing during the pandemic, and that's why I was able to save my money to get, to get my camera. Um, so just being, you know, um, aware of it and ev every, every day and every place I show up in, uh, was important.
Speaker 3 00:42:04 Yeah. And, and what was that connection that you were hinting at between the Latino community and the indigenous community?
Speaker 14 00:42:10 Yeah, so, um, kind of a touchy subject, um, because Speak, speak Spanish, a lot of people don't think that, um, there's a difference between white, um, there. People don't think that Latinos can be white. Um, and they can, because Spain colonized <laugh> the Americas, um, just like, just like in, uh, England did. So, and to this day, white people in Latin America are the ones who control it. Um, the majority of the capital. Um, there continues to be exploitation of both black and indigenous communities in Latin America the same way. Um, there continues to be dis uh, disenfranchisement of black and indigenous communities here in the United States and in Canada. Um, so there is such thing as a white Latino. Um, so, so yeah, if you're white, you can still be Latino. Um, don't forget it. Hmm.
Speaker 3 00:43:14 Yeah. Uh, all right. So next I want, I, I want to, so I've seen a couple of your films, um, and, and I feel like a lot of them have to do with like, the land and the role that Mother Nature plays in our lives. Um, and I feel like that's expressed a lot through your, um, artwork. So can you, uh, like elaborate why you feel like that's an important thing to highlight?
Speaker 14 00:43:41 Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Yeah. And, um, I think that's a good segue into, um, just mentioning like where my filmmaking went, um, from covering protests here in the cities. Um, like I said, I kind of, I kind of got a good, I got really comfortable covering the niche of like, direct actions and protests. So then I started going up north, um, into ancestral Lakota and now Ojibwe land, um, to, to document the struggle against the Line three pipeline. Um, and, and then throughout this whole time, you know, trying to like uncover my own in indigeneity, cuz you know, my dad has always told us we're native. Um, but then growing outside, growing up outside of a settlement or outside of a reservation, not being enrolled in a tribe, um, there are, there are all these barriers, constructed barriers by the United States and by imperialist imperialism as a whole to try to, you know, get people to forget, um, their indigen to not think about it.
Speaker 14 00:44:51 Um, and it's all a ploy to, to get us to lose our connection with the earth because once we do start realizing our connection with the earth, we realize that, um, we are part of nature and we need to, you know, fight back and defend nature at all costs, um, really to defend ourselves, to defend our culture. Um, and that goes, that goes for everybody. Um, so, so yeah, that's, that's why, you know, um, our first mother, mother Earth is always a really, um, important, um, theme and, and just like in, in life and, and in art and in the art that I, that I do.
Speaker 3 00:45:34 Yeah, I, I agree. I think we definitely need to focus a lot more about that on with climate change. And, you know, we wanna definitely keep our fights for liberation going on, but, you know, like we, we wanna make sure that when we win that we have something left to live on. So, mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, the next question I would like to talk about is, um, tell us about what people can expect when they come to gathering of the Warriors if they come.
Speaker 14 00:46:03 Yeah. So, um, gathering of the Warriors came out of, um, actually an intertribal graffiti, um, experience, I guess. Um, so it's, it's been a few years running where, uh, indigenous people from, you know, around will come over to, to see us in East Side and paint some of our walls, um, and leave murals up for their, for the rest of the year. And then some of those murals will stay, and then some of them will be covered up, um, by new murals the next year. So this is kind of, uh, building upon that. So there's gonna be live art, live murals being painted, you know, starting Saturday morning, um, and then going on, you know, throughout the night. A lot of, a lot of graffiti artists actually don't start until it gets dark, so, uh, it's gonna be going on all night too. And then, um, at Sunset or prior to Sunset, uh, at around seven where there's gonna be a Lan ceremony, because the 13th is a really important day.
Speaker 14 00:47:04 Um, August 13th, 501 years ago was the last day that the walls of LAN were still standing. Um, and now Lan <affirmative> Umk is known as Mexico City. Um, and it was really the last day that the mightiest, well, one of the mightiest empires, uh, in me, in, in, in Mexico was Indigenous Empires in Mexico was still standing. So, um, August 13th is just a, a, a really big day for, um, indigenous resistance. And that's kind of the, the importance of the day. And then, um, so the ceremony will start at seven and then it'll take us into sunset, and then that's when the film screening will begin. And, um, it's, it's a selection of short films, um, the first and separated into four blocks. And the first block is really honoring, um, indigenous roots. It's honoring the East Side and just the community that, that we're, that we're building over there. So, um, this is gonna be like 50 minutes of short films honoring them. And then, um, Maryanne Kudos, who was the co-founder of Indigenous Roots, will be facilitating a conversation about what, um, community space really looks like, cuz that's something that they have successfully cultivated over on the east side, um, and we're all better for it. And then that will lead into, um, a performance by Brandon who's right here with this. I, I appreciate Brandon. Mm.
Speaker 5 00:48:32 Really, I'm just now finding out the order, you know, so <laugh>
Speaker 14 00:48:36 <laugh>, I guess I'm after that <laugh>. And then Brandon's poem will lead us into the first Solidarity block, which is gonna be, um, short films that both cover the movement here for Justice for George Floyd, and then also, um, land and Water Sovereign Sovereignty, you know, in, in the Fight, um, against Line three and just, um, the fight for water in general. And, and then, um, DJ and an Indigenous Brother will help, uh, facilitate a conversation around, you know, how those two struggles are really one. And then they'll be followed by another poem, and then there'll be a second solidarity block, which will, you know, show films from, with the same topics followed by, you know, another short 15 minute conversation. Um, and these, these conversations, I, I want us to be really intentional about, you know, DJ's not getting up there to like, present. Um, you know, I'm not getting up there to like, present and like, and like preach to y'all.
Speaker 14 00:49:36 Like, y'all come and y'all be ready to talk. Y'all be ready to discuss, um, stuff like how systemic racism has played a role in your life. Like how, um, you feel disconnected or you feel connected to the earth, and how that plays a role in your life. Um, so I, I think these are just conversations that are, um, I'm excited to have and that's really one of the main reasons that I'm doing this, just cuz I wanna have these conversations with like, the people that I care about. Um, and I hope that my artwork can cultivate that. And then the fourth and final block will, um, help us, I think ease and ease into the rest of the night and, and, um, bring us down a bit. And it's just gonna, it's the independent filmmaking block. So I'm gonna show a short film that I made with, um, some other East Siders and a couple folks from Minneapolis, but mostly Eastsiders <laugh>. Um, thanks
Speaker 4 00:50:32 For letting us know <laugh>
Speaker 3 00:50:35 Personal
Speaker 14 00:50:35 <laugh>, uh, I'm gonna show that, you know, I'm really excited for people to see it. Um, you know, it's just like five folks and, um, we just yeah. Both together and we're like, yeah, let's make a film. So, so we did it and then, you know, it's gonna be performance by a dude who, um, I made a music video with, I, I used to make music videos all the time, but now I, I limit myself to one a year. So this year's music video, we're gonna show that. And then, um, a Baja the person who's whose video is, is gonna, is gonna, is gonna close us off with a performance and yeah, that's how, that's how the night will go.
Speaker 3 00:51:11 Yeah. So we are here discussing the event gathering of the Warriors, which is gonna be this Saturday, August 13th, approximately around eight 30, um, at 7 0 5 East seventh Street and St. Paul at the East Sculpture Park. Um, tell us about the location you chose, the East Side sculpture Park. Tell us more about
Speaker 14 00:51:32 That. Yeah, I'm really excited about the location cuz it's brand new. Um, we, we've really been setting up this, this sculpture park for the past couple weeks. Um, it's funny cuz like a bunch of people have reached out to me and been like, I, I know there's a sculpture park on the east side, like people who live on the east side and they're like, I'm like, yeah, like
Speaker 4 00:51:50 Now there is <laugh>,
Speaker 14 00:51:52 We didn't have it before like three weeks ago. Um, so it's right on seventh Street. Cool. Um, we, we installed it. It's, it's a bunch of sculptures, likek, um, a Catrina, a Catrina, and then in the, in the same space, um, you're gonna, you're gonna see people painting live art. Um, so we prime some like, makeshift walls, just like some plywood up there too. And then you'll, you'll know you're there because you'll see a big, um, a big sign that says Welcome to Zaka, which I'm super, super stoked about. Um, and that's that cuz that's the ancestral name of, you know, the Danes Bluff area. The St Paul area really, but named after, you know, the Bluffs, um, in Danes Bluff that overlook the Mississippi River.
Speaker 4 00:52:44 Oh, I had a question, um, kind of around like, uh, future projects and kind of, I, I don't know, I feel like when I, when I think you're in Minnesota, it's always like, oh, you're somewhere else filming. I mean, I assume you're filming other places, but where have your travels taken you with your work in filmmaking? And just to speak to that
Speaker 14 00:53:03 Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. Um, yeah, thanks for asking. Um, Mr. Worldwide,
Speaker 4 00:53:09 For real, for real though. Like Francisco, where
Speaker 3 00:53:12 <laugh> <laugh>,
Speaker 14 00:53:14 Um, yeah, covering, when I was covering line three, uh, a delegation from Latin America came, um, just to stand in solidarity with us called the Black Indigenous Liberation Movement. And then, you know, making connections there. I actually went with some of them to the United Nations Climate Conference, um, and was part of the largest indigenous delegation to be a part of a climate conference. And I did not know what to expect at all. Cause I was like, you win, like, like y'all don't really do nothing, but we are all on the same page about it. Cuz like our delegates would go into the conference and we'll be like, yeah, we know y'all ain't gonna do nothing like <laugh>. So, uh, we were part of a group called Minga and we literally hosted our own events outside of the, of the conference walls. Um, just talking about like the, what, what we really need to do to, to solve the climate, to solve the climate contra uh, um, the climate emergency.
Speaker 14 00:54:15 Um, and to really, you know, live in, live in unity with the, with the, with the earth. Um, and, and currently I am, I'm traveling down to to, um, Los Puentes, which is a, a Mexican is a, is a Nawa community in, um, eastern, um, Hidalgo, Northern Hidalgo. But Igo is on the east coast of, uh, Mexico. And then, um, just covering and supporting, um, this community as they struggle to hold onto their language and their culture, um, which aren't intertwined. And there's a lot of outward pressures for, for NAA communities and indigenous communities in general in Mexico to abandon, um, their language and their customs in the name of quote unquote progress. So Los lies between different, um, communities, some where people only speak nawa and some where you'll go and the people will have, the people have all forgotten nawa and only speak Spanish somewhere Nawa is, is even like, if you speak it, you get fined.
Speaker 14 00:55:24 Um, so as this really a really important, um, like pivotal moment for the community, especially since, um, the, the, the cultural like knowledge lies in the language. And right now basically only the elders, um, who are in the community know the language because all the middle-aged people have to go to work outside of the community and all of the, you know, children and adolescence, um, only get taught in in Spanish. So there's like this huge gap already between, um, so it's kind of the story of, of a man who who had left, um, the community and now is coming back and, and starting cultural programming and, and, um, starting, trying to, yeah, make sure that, that his language isn't lost along with his customs.
Speaker 3 00:56:12 Well, thank you for coming in once again. We're talking about the event gathering of the Warriors, which is gonna be a short films screenings by Francisco Sanchez, which is gonna be this Saturday on August 13th, around eight 30. It's gonna be at the East Side Sculpture Park. Once again, that's 7 0 5 East seventh Street, the East side sculpture Park. I just wanna thank you once again, Francisco, for coming in and, uh, letting us know about this event that's, that's happening and just doing the amazing organizing that you've been doing in the community. So
Speaker 14 00:56:49 Thanks so much for having me. I, I really appreciate it. And y'all's studio is, is is very nice.
Speaker 3 00:56:54 <laugh> <laugh>. Thank you. Um, with that, I also want to thank, um, Brandon and Jaylen for coming in once again, um, and helping out and I appreciate it. And with that, we are going to actually be out
Speaker 15 00:57:08 Cause we see and we all at war.
Speaker 3 00:57:10 Yeah. Have a great weekend
Speaker 15 00:57:11 And we shooting in these stores. You may not agree, but you see they changing these laws. The only thing they understand now is her city burning. They acting like they shot with these cops. They just learning. See Mr. Floyd on the ground and got 'em squirming. Now we can see they are the Nazis. We the German blacks, organize, organize, organize away with all the lies. All the lies. All the lies they call me with the Mac and the black and the 45 in between the protests we protest and yes, we have to organize, organize away with all the lies. All the lights, all the lights. They coming in with the tickets and Glock in the 45 in between the protests, we protest every your lies here. We always wake up, but then we go back to sleep again. In between the protest is when we begin and weak again.
Speaker 15 00:57:55 We hear about the loop. Another shoot. In this week again, this gets the police another excuse to hit the streets again. White police, black population can never be your friend. Our mothers and our fathers and our families, they be season them. They to overseers. We the ss to them. We gotta rise to the level where we ain't needing them. Everybody organize, organize, organize. Do away with all the lies. All the lies. All the lies. They come with the, the black and the 45. In between the protests, we protest and realize, yes, we have to organize, organize, organize with the lights. All the lies. All the lies. They come in with the tickets. And in the 45 in between the protests, we protest every your lives. Yes, you have to follow me, follow me, follow me. It's my philosophy. The white law monopoly makes democracy, hypo and a capitalist economy.
Speaker 15 00:58:43 It's no democracy. I demand the return to my sovereignty. No apology, independence, autonomy. No need to mommy me. I could run my own country. If you could just stop bombing me, give my lamb back, give my gold back my heritage, my birthright. You outright stole that. Organize, organize, organize, do wait. With all the lies. All the lies. All the lies. They come in with the act of the clock in the 45 in between the protests we protest and r yes, we are the organized, organized, organized to what we would all lies. All lies. All the lies. They come in with the tear blocks and 45 in between the protests we protest and R lies
Speaker 16 00:59:41 Dominican chef, Italian Ma chef Chinese Mexican chef America to the the back. A French bistro, Dominican chef, Italian Mexican chef.
