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In this conversation, Led Black and Octavio Blanco discuss a recent horrific murder by ICE in Minneapolis, reflecting on the community's reaction and the historical context of such events. They emphasize the need for accountability from government agencies, the importance of peaceful civil disobedience, and the necessity for new leadership within the Democratic Party. The discussion highlights the myths surrounding American democracy and the urgent need for community unity and activism to address the ongoing attacks faced by marginalized groups in the United States.
Takeaways:
The recent ICE incident in Minneapolis is a pivotal moment.
Community reactions reveal deep divisions and justifications for violence.
Historical context is crucial in understanding current events.
ICE is viewed as an oppressive force similar to historical regimes.
Accountability for government actions is essential for justice.
Civil disobedience is necessary to effect change peacefully.
The Democratic Party needs new leadership and accountability.
Myths about American democracy hinder progress.
Community unity is vital in the face of oppression.
Activism must be sustained to protect human rights.
Chapters:
00:00 Tragic Incident Sparks Outrage
02:38 Community Reactions and Historical Context
05:15 Legal Implications and Government Accountability
08:10 The Role of Protest and Civil Disobedience
10:54 The Bigger Picture: Systemic Issues and Power Dynamics
13:35 The Call for Unity and Action
16:48 The Future of American Democracy
19:32 Conclusion: A Call to Arms for Justice
26:30 The Democratic Party's Struggles
29:04 Identifying New Leadership
32:13 The Need for Accountability
35:36 Challenging Myths and Establishment Politics
37:44 The Call for New Blood
41:24 Civil Disobedience and Activism
Creators and Guests
What is Uptown Voices?
A podcast focused on the Uptown neighborhoods of Inwood, Washington Heights and Harlem. Our neighborhoods have a voice and we want to be heard and felt. We love Uptown.
Each episode will elevate the people here who are making a difference in the life of this community. We’re also committed to “real talk” that seeks solutions that improve the quality of life in our beautiful Uptown neighborhoods.
Led Black (00:06)
What up everyone, it's Led Black and my brother Octavio Blanco just jumping on here really quick. to talk about what's going on right now. I think as people have just seen, I was this earlier today, you know, we saw the video coming out of Minneapolis. It actually occurred today. There was an immigration enforcement operation by ICE in suburban Minneapolis of all places.
And, you know, and basically one of these ice thugs shot a woman in her face and killed her. When he shot her, she was in her car. She was trying to get away. She was fearful. could, I could feel that fear through the video. And he just killed her in cold blood. And then her car went to another parked car and you see the blood streaming. and, and I think anyone with a heart, anyone with a conscious saw that, felt ill. I felt ill.
You know, I got right away, I call my wife whenever I have, know, these kind of, called her right away, she couldn't talk. I was, shaking to my core watching this. And also, you know, I want to say that I think I'm also, you know, to be honest, be fully honest, I'm a little bit, you know, kind of, kind of a...
I was really hurt by the community. Some people in our community, right? Like how they just justify this and then they'll say something, ⁓ she was trying to interfere or she tried to run over the cops. That's not the case. know, within minutes Ice Barbie gave a press conference where she's wearing a cowboy hat and purely for optics. And she's there blaming on this poor woman that just got killed in cold blood.
I think we need to really start talking about what's happening in our cities. I also want to, know, when you read history, a lot of times Octavio, know, and I know, you know, there's a lot, lot of times the problems are people don't have a sense of history. People don't understand what's happening right before us. But, but if you know, you know, Hitler, you know, use brown shirts, the brown shirts were just thugs. You know what I mean? Just people that didn't have the acumen, but they were just there to, for, to be enforcers. And what, ICE is is that ICE is
is a Gestapo black brown shirts kind of operation. it's really just, they're just grabbing people off the street. And it just seems like a lot of those people are January Sixers or Proud Boys, but they out to kill. And I think we need to really get serious in terms of how this affects us. I saw the Minneapolis mayor, told ICE to get the fuck out of the city. And I think that's a type of energy we need because
You know, this, this, this didn't happen to have to happen. You know, a times these things are pre-planned where they're, where they'll call the right wing news station to be on site so they could do for optics. And, know, everything about this administration is optics and how it looks. And I think, I think we need to really get to really like start looking at what's happening to our country. This is, this is not, this is not a joke. This is, this is real. Like this is happening and it's happening now. And you know, ⁓
I was, we had to just jump on here talk about Octavia. Tell me, tell me how you feeling, brother.
Octavio Blanco (03:14)
I mean, I'm horrified by what I've been seeing on the social media. I was waiting to see how this was all going to pan out. And now we know, now we see that it's just...
Again, people have their own eyes. People have their own views. You can look at how things worked out in that situation. You can see and make a decision for yourself. The lies are out there. The lies are that she was weaponizing her vehicle. From my personal opinion, from what I've seen, I've seen it from various angles, that was not the case. She was not... ⁓
weaponizing her vehicle at all. She was just trying to get away, you know, and this person just, this thug, this brown shirt just, you know, murdered her in cold blood on the street. Look, we're in a really, really dire situation.
We are in a really, really, really dire situation about our rights as Americans and our rights as our human rights are, and are really, really in danger. We can talk about Venezuela and how, and the drug boats and how those things don't impact us. Or we can talk about how undocumented immigrants
are getting picked up and we can other that and say, oh, well, that doesn't affect me. But the fact of the matter is it really does affect you. When we lose our rights as people living in the United States for due process, we're done, we're screwed. When our authorities
can murder us on the streets with impunity, we're done, we're failed, we're over, you know? And I don't know how this is gonna pan out. This is just hours after, we're live today with our reaction, our gut reaction, and we don't know how it's going to pan out. We don't know what kind of...
legal mechanisms are going to swing into place to make sure that this individual is brought to justice, the ICE agent, or not. What we've been seeing from the administration is pure lies about what went down. And, you know, we have to stay aware.
⁓ And stay on this. This is going to take time. I understand that there's some Minneapolis from the Minnesota state legal side of things are looking into it. But then again, you're also going to have the federal side looking into it. So this is going to just play out in a very, very, very interesting way. Who's going to have the authority? Who's going to have the power? Is it going to be the federal government?
Or is that who's going to have ultimate jurisdiction as to whether or not this ICE agent is going to be brought to justice? Or is the state of Minnesota going to have the final say in prosecuting this ⁓ federal agent? It's a ball of wax that's about to get unwound. And not to mention the anger that Americans all over the country are feeling. This goes way beyond
Minneapolis way beyond Minnesota. And for all those so-called patriots, this is exactly what that right wing faction has always been afraid of, that its own government was going to be turned against it. Well, guess what? You voted for this and this is what's happening. Your own government is now attacking
its own citizens. It's disgusting. And I'm terrified about what this means for America.
Led, I think you might be on mute right now.
Led Black (07:45)
My apologies. I agree, I concur. You know, it's one of these things that like, feel, you know, that this is a pivotal moment, you know, in the history of this country. think, I'm hoping that this changes the tenor of it, that people finally wake up, that this is not a joke. We are losing this country, you know, right before our eyes. And the tyrant in chief, you know, the usurper in chief,
the biggest megalomaniac the world has ever seen, the tyrant is destroying this country. And I also think that they're pushing, they don't have much left in a sense like, we can neuter somewhat this thing if we can remove them somewhat from power in November with the midterms. But I think they know that, I think they're gonna do their best. And I think,
this year has started off completely in the wrong direction. And I also feel that like the revulsion is real. It's funny because like I posted that on my page earlier today and I felt sick to my stomach. And to be honest, I was bothered as much almost by the act as also by how so many people in our community were like.
You know, again, I think the overall comments were againstive, you know, but there's always those people that are loud and vocal and they want to say she was in the way, you know, and again, it's like, you have to check yourself. If you feel, if you could see that video and blame that woman and then, you know, put no blame on ICE and Trump and not see that this is about optics, this is about really her and our community, then I think you've lost your humanity, you know, and I'm to be real honest about that and I'm kind of disgusted with that behavior from my own community.
from anybody really, right? This is woman just died today for no reason, for gunned down and cold blood.
Octavio Blanco (09:30)
But
let me just say this. I don't mean to interrupt you. I'm sorry, but I think it's very important because this is the kind of thing that we are all getting activated, right? We're all getting activated by this horrible event. Our emotions are super high right now. a lot of the... And so when we see responses in our social media, we need to be very cautious because...
Those could not even, those may not even be human responses. That might be, that might be, okay, okay. No, but I'm just saying, I'm just saying, here's what I'm saying is that, all I'm saying is that there are outside forces that would love nothing more than for this country to fail. And those outside forces are gonna, my assumption are gonna pounce on this.
Led Black (10:02)
Not in this case, not in this case, no, no, no, not in this case. It's a lot of the same. Yeah, no, but.
Yeah.
I mean, yeah, that's, that's, that's, you know, but I mean, that's one thing, right? But it's people like that, you know, that I know that I know and social, like this is real. Like, again, this is not manufactured. Of course it's manufactured, you know, but a lot of people that are just, they have, they are, they are part of the cult. You know, they, they've, they've, they've, they've bought it. Hook, line and sinker and, and they don't care. They've lost, they've lost that touch. And again, you're right. There are, there is people that are going to pounce.
But what I'm saying like on my page, these are real people. Some of them may be fake, these are real people. And again, to not show that humanity for another human being, to find an excuse. And it was interesting, right? That even some people on my page that are usually haters, one was like, wow, this is too much. So I think even for some people that are usually on the other side, I think this is one of those moments where people are finally saying, wait a minute, because I don't know.
If the woman, you know, this was suburban Minnesota, right? This wasn't the hood where you get away with whatever. This was a suburban street. This woman was trying to get away, right? She was trying to be a legal observer. And my man just gunned her down like a dog in the street, right? That was dangerous. He could have shot one of his other people. That's what saying. Like what I've noticed with these eyes here, there's no protocol. There's no professionalism, right? It's whatever the fuck I want. Like that's what saying.
These people are just proud boys, January sixers. They're the dragons of humanity and they've been empowered and been given a sheriff badge. And again, I don't think people, the people that are commenting for this, right? They just don't realize what's happening. This is history happening before our eyes, right? This is Trump's personal police force that is just, you know, just really just marauding and just, this is not a good development. And I think it is tied to everything, right? In terms of like,
When Trump talks about the Monroe, the Monroe doctrine, he's talking about the whole hemisphere. He wants to subjugate everybody, the people in this country included, right? So like, I just feel that we need to wake up. We need to start looking at what this is. And a lot of our people need to look what's happening. Like what you're supporting is only gonna, you're on the wrong side of history. And that might not mean nothing to some people, but when we look back at the time,
We're gonna know who was on what side. And if you're on the tyrant side, you know what mean? Like I feel bad for your soul. You know, I'm not a religious person, but people have lost their morality if you support this. You've gone the wrong way and you've lost the plot. And again, this is really, really an important moment, you know, in the history of this country. Like this is what they're doing. There's no more lies. Like you could just, you could keep lying to yourself.
But we have crossed the Rubicon, for sure.
Octavio Blanco (13:09)
Yeah,
we definitely have and people are continuing to lie to themselves. That's really what's happening. I would want to just say for sure that like as awful as this was right as terrible and as horrific as this is, I still implore that people will remain peaceful protest. There's a protest right now downtown Manhattan.
So as far as I can tell, it's been peaceful. I haven't seen any news reports lately, recently that there's been anything but a peaceful process protest. If you're protesting in your, in your town, try to be peaceful because the government has more weapons than you do. And your, your, your fight, if, if you get into it in a violent way right now is going to do
Nobody any good. It's only gonna make things worse in Minneapolis and I think this is part of the problem in Minneapolis Just like this week or I don't know when exactly but I think it was this week It may have been even like today or yesterday the Trump administration like more than doubled the ice presence there because they're gonna be Doing many many more of these raids and so, you know This is a doubling of a police force that is not trained
These are just guys who, you know, wanna hurt people. That's all it is, is people that they're out there trying to hurt people. I don't believe that they care about this country. I really don't believe. I think that they care about themselves and people that look like them. I do not believe that they care about this nation. This nation has been for the last, hundreds of years, this nation has been...
a multicultural place. We've had issues. We've had worse issues than we're going through today in terms of multiculturalism, hate, racism, and things like that. But the issue of what's happening today is the regression, right? We're going back in time. We're giving up the hard fought rights that people have. know, we had our folks, our people have fought hard to get the meager crumbs.
of rights that that they've been that they've been given that they've fought for. I'm not going to say that they've been given that they fought for and that they've earned. One of the things that I would say about this administration, right, and what's happening in this administration. And this is like a optimistic way of looking at it is that demographics don't lie no matter what, no matter how many undocumented you want to get out every month, every week or whatever.
The demographics are there. There is more of us people of color, multicultural people than there are of them, which frankly, like they're also, nobody's like purely American unless you're a native American. And so what I believe is happening is that that cohort of people who have been in power for so long is cornered, is feeling cornered.
and they're seeing sort of the end coming. And what happens when you corner a wild animal? That's when that animal becomes its most vicious. But it's also the last gasp, hopefully, for those wild animals. So I hope that this is the wild animal that's been cornered, that doesn't see the end of the tunnel, that feels threatened by multiculturalism.
that feels threatened by what America really stands for, and is doing everything that it can to ⁓ attack us and fight back. What do you think about my theory about the cornered animal?
Led Black (17:07)
I mean, I think I agree, you know, to a degree, and I agree with you what you're saying about violence, because I think violence, Chris Hedges talks about this, right, about like a lot of times when you turn to violence, you know, it just helps the state discredit you and it helps the state, you know, come down hard on you. So I think it needs to be, but I think we do need some civil, massive civil disobedience in this country. I think we need to bring that back.
Octavio Blanco (17:35)
Yeah.
Led Black (17:35)
We need
to exert our power on the streets, exert our power with our finances and who we spend our money with, who we patronize. I think that needs to happen. Like I said before, need to lock arms, you know what I'm saying? Close ranks, right? And I think it's super important to also acknowledge though, by the same token, that this kind of behavior in the wrong place,
could end up burning everything down. And what I mean by that, if they had gone to Dyckman with this, right, and killed someone in the street like this, and it could have been a beloved member of our community, Washington Heights, uptown Harlem, the Bronx could have gone up in flames. And that's real, I lived through it. You know, when I was a kid in 92, you know, they killed Kiko and the neighborhood lost it, right? And if you have this on camera, right, that's the thing, it's on camera. They kill someone in cold blood. If this happens uptown,
Octavio Blanco (18:24)
Yeah.
Led Black (18:33)
you, while we want to say no violence, you are not, you're not going to be able to control that spontaneous combustion and things are going get really bad really fast. And I think you're right about also how, you know, we're living in a world that Trump is recreating. We're recreating Trump's youth, you know what mean? And the world that he live in and we're living it, we're recreating it. You know, I think it's, it's, it goes, almost, this, this fucking man every day is a different outrage. So we tend to, to kind of miss things or forget things.
But you he kept a copy of Monk F in his bed. You know what mean? Like he's been, he's wanted this power his whole life and now he has it. And to be honest, think he's demented and dying. You know what I mean? So this is the last gasp of that man. But, but, these last gasps are important. I think that, you know, he's taken everything down with him. Um, I, I, I really do feel that like, you know, all we have is each other at this point. You know what I mean? And we need to look out for each other. But I do think it's times of calling.
for massive civil disobedience, not violence. know what mean? Violence is not gonna help us, gonna hurt the cause. But I think we need to cause pain on the other side, not violence. We need to cause financial pain. We need to shut shit down because this is really one of those things. Like lot of the normal people on my post were like, yo, this is giving me a stomach ache. I feel really upset. That's how you should feel. If you're saying, hey, cause a lot of times on my page, people say,
Obama deported more people. First of all, if the first thing you see is a kid in a cage and you bring up Obama, Obama's fucked up too. He shouldn't have done what he fucking did if that's the problem. But this is new. This is something else. This is an occupying force going to our communities for the sense of, everything about the Trump administration is optics. That's why Ice Barbie rocks the hat. That's why she's there. There was an arrest.
And she was telling the guy, we got you in the rest for the, it's just all pure optics, Hex F, all these people. I don't if you saw Stephen Miller the other day with Jake Tapper, you know, and he was, it's just pure white racism. You know, we're the best, we do what the fuck we want. You know what mean? And I think, I just don't think enough of us are awake. think we keep waiting for the old world to return. The old world ain't coming back. You know what mean? We in this new paradigm.
Octavio Blanco (20:34)
Yeah, yeah.
Led Black (20:52)
And I think we need to realize that if we don't fight for the little that we lose in every day, we're going back decades every day, every day, every day we're going back. And I think it tends to feel like you're sinking in quicksand. But again, this is when we need to lock arms and close ranks and realize, and you know, again, like this is happening. It's happening now. It's happening here and it can happen here. And also I think, you know, in a sense, this is a natural culmination, right? America, you know, regardless of party,
you know, regardless of whose president has been fomenting unrest across the world, know, Dominican Republic got invaded twice, right? Every country in Latin America almost has gotten invaded once or twice and they've imposed dictators on us. And now with all that happened across the world is coming back here and we now we have been imposed upon by Donald Trump and the business elite. don't, they don't have morals. They don't care that you want money. And you know,
This whole thing like again, I think it's one the same what happening in Venezuela What's happening is the same thing is happening here and also want to take over Greenland also talking about Colombia Mexico Like the thing is that this machine? Like for example with the Venezuela operation, we still don't know we talked about this on Sunday We still don't know what happened there, right? It seems like now they're basically deal the regime is still in power Right, but it's just been kind of they just took the way my main guy because you really can't occupy
Octavio Blanco (22:16)
Yeah.
Led Black (22:17)
Venezuela, right? You can't occupy all these countries at once, but you can hurt things. You can impose things. But I just think that the blowback is going to be crazy and we're going to be paying for this for decades. And I want to say this right now, you know, to the Democratic Party, right? You motherfuckers need to step up to your game. Fuck Chuck Strumer, his fucking letter writing campaign. And this makes me so upset. You motherfuckers need to get on your fucking game and start leading. And also telling me I don't want to hear nothing.
Octavio Blanco (22:31)
Yes.
Led Black (22:46)
If you come in, if you want to run for president in 2028, you need to be talking about how we're going to persecute these motherfuckers. The guy that shot that woman should go to jail. Trump should be under the jail. Stephen Miller, all those motherfuckers need to be in jail. Right. And if that person is not talking that way, if the Democrat is not talking, they don't just don't even talk to me. Don't ask me to donate. Don't ask me none of that, because we need we need accountability because this happens because the country continues.
to not have accountability, right? The South lost the war, but they didn't. And we never dealt with the racism of that. We've never dealt with that. So when you don't deal with it, it just keeps coming back. And right now, this is dire straits for this country and people need to wake up.
Octavio Blanco (23:28)
Absolutely. Yeah, the accountability is key. We have midterms coming up. And I just hope that the rest of this country is going to pick up the baton that New York City has been handing in terms of electing people in the vein that you're describing. The time for being a
gentle and writing a strongly worded letter are over. Those times are done. We need accountability and we need to really stand up for what we believe as a nation. We can't let this, I believe, small but vocal minority of people who unfortunately get out and vote control us.
There's more people out there who believe in equality and justice, but we're not getting out there to vote. We're not getting out there to vote. Why? Because we say, well, the democratic or the options are not good for me. some people say, I wanted to send a message. I didn't want to vote for.
for Biden. So I wanted so I voted for Trump. Well, you had the chance to vote for Kamala, not a perfect choice. But you didn't have to vote for Trump like it was. So all I'm saying is, you're right, midterms are coming up. Let's have our we need to make sure that the people that we believe in are are getting elected into into these positions. And if it's, you know, and the people that are in there now that are doing nothing.
They better watch their bucks because they're gonna be out. They're gonna be out. And I wanna say this other thing. We talk a lot about community on this program. that the essence of this program had been and always will be to uplift the community. That's what we wanna do. But one thing that we need to do as a community is to come together on this, right? I don't care about what local issues are dividing you at this point. Yes, we have.
you know, districts and local people fighting for resources. And that's all important. And we need to keep that going and make sure that everybody who deserves what they need gets what they need. But we also need to put aside some of the local issues maybe that we have and come together as a community and make sure that
we as a people and that our elected officials, whether they be the local officials, the state officials, but especially the ones that we're sending to Congress are the kind of folks who are going to stand up for us and really make a ruckus.
Led Black (26:23)
Yeah, I mean, that's where it's at. I have to slightly disagree again. I think it can't just be like, I'm not Trump. I think, no, no, no. And I know you weren't saying that, but I'm saying Kamala didn't do enough. She really didn't do enough. And again, it's like, we live in a country of people that are not informed well.
Octavio Blanco (26:31)
no, no, no, no. I wasn't saying that. I wasn't saying that, but-
Absolutely.
Led Black (26:44)
Right. And that's part of the problem. And I think that, you know, the Democratic Party sold its soul. And I think that's part of the reason that they lost. Right. And I think it's hard to tell people, hey, you you have to be really smart, you know, and yet Biden's decrepit and looks horrible. And it's been pretty bad in a lot of things. But he's ultimately the Democrat. Like what I'm saying, it's a hard argument to make. You have to make that to an educated electorate. Hey, this is a question of democracy. People don't understand that. They just don't.
Octavio Blanco (26:44)
Yes.
Led Black (27:15)
You know what saying? They see, you know, a lot of undocumented people from the city because Biden wouldn't stand up for New York City until until fucking Abbey. Hey, stop fucking doing that. I'm the president of the United States. He allowed it. He allowed it. And he stepped up. He stepped down seven 70 days before. So Kamala didn't have a chance. But even if she would have had a chance, she would have just she never stepped away from Biden. She never changed her tone on, you know, on on Palestine when she did the Democratic convention in a city that's full of Palestinians.
Octavio Blanco (27:25)
Yeah.
See you in advertising.
Led Black (27:44)
You don't let one Palestinian speak. You know what saying?
Octavio Blanco (27:45)
And so and so
what I think is so important though, and because like, what what frustrates me a little bit about your argument sometimes is that we go back and we and we sort of re prosecute the the election, right. And I think that it's fair to say and it's true that the democrats blew it, they had no they had no sense for what this country or what the electorate
really wants to hear from them. We cannot and we will not allow that to happen again. And what I fear is that the Democrats haven't learned from their mistake. That's what I really, and I get it. That's why you want to go back and re-prosecute that. But at the same time, it's time to start to, it's time to identify, but it's time to identify who's next.
Led Black (28:36)
No, but it's not repr- no, but it's not repr- no. But hold on, but hold on.
No, but it's not repro- but but it's not but it's but it's it's it's not repro- it's not it's not it's not but but but it's it's it's not repro- it's it's it's repro- repro- but not not repro- it's not it's
Octavio Blanco (28:47)
Right, but.
Yeah.
Led Black (29:04)
Right? Because they
didn't do so. It's not about repro-secuting. It's about acknowledging where we're really at. We don't have an opposition party in this country. We don't. One might be coming up, but it's not about repro-secuting. It's about looking squarely in the eye of the situation that we're in and not blinking, not saying, if you were to just pick Kamala, things would be... Someone put, if we had picked Kamala, we'd be at brunch now. No, we wouldn't. No, we wouldn't. We wouldn't. We would still be in...
Octavio Blanco (29:29)
No we wouldn't.
Led Black (29:31)
working on the genocide in Gaza still, right? Still, right? So what I'm saying is this kind of, I just think that all the myths need to go away. The Democratic party is a good institution. No, it's not. It might have been at one point and it might be again, but right now it isn't. So it's not repro-secuting because Chuck Schumer's still in power, right? Apex Shakur's still in power. Hillary Clinton's talking every 30 days on some bullshit. Like what I'm saying, these people are still in power. So it's not repro-secuting. ⁓
Octavio Blanco (29:56)
Right, no, no, okay,
okay, but here's what I wanna say. And I get your gist there, but what I'm saying is that we, you and me, we're gonna start to, we need to identify the people who are in opposition to this, the people who need to step up, the people that the community needs to be aware of, right? Those are the folks that we need to,
be looking out for and making sure that we hear about them because the mainstream is not going to go that way. The mainstream media wants to keep everything just how it is because they have the same, they're servants to the same masters as the mainstream, if you want to call it that, democratic machine, right?
So it's up to you and me and people like us to make sure that we're highlighting and bringing forth those individuals that are fighting to get to Washington, that are fighting to do the right thing and really, you know, making sure that they aren't going to just like turn over once they get there, right? Because that's the other thing you may you, you, you, you, you, talk a good game and then you get there and you're like,
Oh, I can't do anything. I can't really do it. I don't have any power. I'm just junior. You know what, I was down and you know what, I'll say this, know, thank you to our congressman Espadilla. He invited me down to go to the joint session of Congress when Trump was addressing Congress. And it was, felt, you know, I thought I was really grateful to be there to represent, because I was representing federal workers.
who had been doged, because I was working at the IRS and I got doged from the IRS. And so I was able to be there and I was able to make my voice heard. did interviews in English and in Spanish on different media, but I was also in the room when Trump was speaking. one of the things that, one of the instances that happened was Al Green, the Texas Congressman. I don't know if you remember that. He stood up.
Led Black (32:09)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, I remember that.
Octavio Blanco (32:13)
he shouted at Trump and he waved that cane with that golden handle and he wouldn't sit down and he got kicked out, you know? And more people need to be doing that in Congress. More people need to be making that kind of ruckus and blocking whatever is going on that this government is trying to do and showing that where things are. And we need to
start passing laws. The Congress needs to do stump. So we need to, if the Democrats take over, we need to impeach and remove this president. Like that has to happen. So, yeah, I think that accountability is key and it's gonna start with the accountability of this ICE agent. What's gonna happen to him? I still don't know what his name is.
I still don't know where he comes from. I still don't have a background on him. I want to know all that stuff. You know, how did he get in there?
Led Black (33:14)
Yeah,
for sure. The thing is that like, just, and again, not to be the dead horse, right? But I just think that we're not gonna get to what we want by using the same people that got us here, right? And again, it's like, think that, you know, I thinking about this today earlier that like, we all need to let go of a lot of these myths. These myths are holding us back, right? And I'll give you an example. I remember saying something about white privilege in the other example.
Octavio Blanco (33:25)
Absolutely.
Led Black (33:42)
In the episode, someone was like, oh, it was like, well, it's not white privilege, you know? And again, that's a white person, with all due respect, that's believing in myths, right? They're believing in this myth that it's nothing about race. Race is, what? Why we want to talk about race? But we have to. We have to. America is a profoundly racist country. That doesn't mean that every person is racist, but racism is baked into the cake, right? Race is America's elevator music.
And like I said before, it's always playing. Sometimes it's blaring, sometimes it's quiet. Right now it's blaring. But again, it's these myths about America's superiority, the oldest democracy, all these, you know, someone's coming, no one is coming to save us. And again, this Democratic Party is squarely to blame for the situation we find ourselves in now. Right? And I think that when I say clean house, we really need to clean house. if if when Daniel Cain,
both sides of the aisles were clapping for him, right? That's both sides for a war criminal, right? That's a fucking problem. And if you're one of those people, no matter who you are, if you clap, you there yucking it up, you have a problem and you should not be a Democrat and you should not be running for office, right? And I think that's where we're headed to, enough already. Someone was enough, like we're really, you know, like if we we're in the cusp of losing it all.
And we're still pretending like it's the old days. And I think that's like, to me, it's not enough for Democrats to win. It's not enough. It's not enough. Right. Not Trump is not enough. We need some new, new blood. A lot of these people are way too fucking old and way too tied into the system. Way too calcified. Right. They're getting paid by AIPAC. So if you get AIPAC money in the Democratic side, I'm sorry, you should not be running for office.
And that goes across the boards, right? And again, that's the kind of, I mean, it has to be scorcher if it can't be like, you either, it's like you with us or you not. You with us or you not. And that's all I'm saying. And it's not about relegating the past. It's about really looking squarely at the problem. Again, we're here now because we keep playing games, right? We keep playing games about race. We keep playing great games about what's the real history of this country.
Octavio Blanco (35:45)
Yeah.
Led Black (36:02)
And again, we like we got to look at squarely because we've we're already decades behind. I remember someone saying like the Democrats couldn't protect fucking abortion. Right. The Democrats couldn't protect shit. Shit. Right. How is it that Hillary Clinton lost to this bozo? You know what mean? How? Why is she even running when she lost already? That's what saying. We keep putting out these losers and then expect a different outcome. This is this is Biden's fault. We're here now because Biden.
And again, I know it's not about relitigating, but it's like the people that made the decision are still making the decisions in this party. And that's a fucking problem. Like that's a real fucking problem. And I think we ignore that at our peril. as long as we can, so what, know, we'll be happy Trump is gone, but we don't want just Trump gone. If that motherfucker don't die, he should be in jail. Same thing for his sons. Same thing for every single ICE agent that's committed atrocities on the streets.
Everyone needs Kristi Noem. We need to clean house. And again, when Obama came in, none of the bankers that put us in the problem got, you know, were punished. Obama did nothing to those people. was just keeping nothing to see here. Let's move on. No war crime. He, you know, I thought George Bush was a war criminal, but then your wife is yucking it up, giving him mints, right? Like this bullshit is not going to count anymore. Like I think, I think most people are fed up with the bullshit. And again, I'm fed up with Biden, I'm fed up with Kamala. I don't want to see none of them anymore. We need new blood in this party or this party is going to be gone.
Like, again, and I think that someone that comes with that message, I think it's gonna really resonate with people. You know what mean? Because again, I'm tired of carrying water for these politicians. I'm done with that. I'm done with them. Doesn't matter who you are. If you're not on the right side of history, I'm not fucking with you. I'm done, done.
Octavio Blanco (37:44)
Well, look, you I think you can use me as a barometer for where this country might be going. I think because I remember, you know, we've talked a lot about sort of like where we are on the spectrum, right? Where we are on the spectrum of of whether or not, you know, who's more to the left, who's more to the right, who's more centric. I I came from I was I always consider myself pretty centered, pretty center of.
center left, you know, but, but the more the more that I witness what's happening around around me, the more that I see what's going on in this administration, the more left I tend to go. And the more left I tend to go, the less radical it seems, you know, I had a hard time admitting that
the Israel was conducting a genocide in the in the beginning. And I if you asked me that today, without hesitation, I'll tell you that it is a genocide. And so I wonder if a lot more Americans are feeling activated in the way that I am, and are feeling fed up with that sort of centrist, but not really centrist. It's like, really, you're like,
Republican light, you know, and I don't want to do that. I don't want to I don't want to be in that category ever again. I want to stand up for what's right and I'm seeing it in my face every day. What is wrong with this world? You know, what is what is going on? So, you know, if you had asked me a year ago or maybe even two years ago what I thought about a pack. I might have just shrugged right.
I might've just shrugged. I might've just been like, ⁓ APAC, that's the, you know, they're, they're supporting Israel. And, that's the, and so, you know, I support, I think Israel is a good idea. So I support Israel, but ever since the aftermath of October 7th, which I, which I will say October 7th was horrible, but what Israel is doing in the aftermath of that.
is like magnitudes more horrible than, than, than, than, than what happened. And, and, and APAC has shown its true colors by just supporting that kind of activity. And so for me, it's just like a, a non, a non-starter. If you're being supported by APAC, I don't have anything to do with you because that means you're supporting genocide. And so if, if that's who you are, if that's, if you're okay with that,
because you know, money soothes your soul. Well, you know, that's too bad for you and too bad for me if you end up getting in Congress. I do really, so what I'm saying is my hope is that more people are seeing the world for what it is and seeing this government for what it is and not gonna settle.
for like the standard run of the mill type of Democrat that we've seen in the past. I think it's like, I agree with you. I think it's time to clean house. I think folks who are in power right now are doing a disservice to our nation. Let's see what happens at the midterm. Let's see who gets in there. And then, and then let's see what happens in Congress. We'll
Will they actually do anything to put an end to this nightmare that we're experiencing?
Led Black (41:24)
Yeah.
You know, and you're right. And one thing I want to underscore again is like, you know, I think a lot of times it's a failure of imagination, of negative imagination. Like, you know, no one would have thought, right, that, you know, you could just kidnap the leader of a country like this. And now they're talking about Greenland, right? Like, who would have thought?
You know what mean? That we'll be going after Greenland, like, which is an ally, right? And now talking about Colombia, you know, and Mexico and all these countries, like, I think, you know, even to think that there might be a midterm sometime, I think might be almost fantastical at this point, right? There is no guarantee that there'll be a midterms. Like, I got the sinking suspicion that he might cancel midterms, you know, because of, you know, I think that like, what I'm trying to say, I think is that
Octavio Blanco (42:12)
about
how does that happen? How do you cancel midterms? What do you mean by
Led Black (42:15)
How
do you do, I mean, that's what I'm saying. That's exactly what I mean. Like you do what the, he does what the fuck he wants. He does what the fuck he wants. There's no guiding principles. He does what he wants, right? He does whatever he wants. I think that, you know, I think that might be, you know, again, like they know they're gonna lose in the midterms. They know that's coming.
Regardless of what, think people are just overall disgusted because things are very expensive. Everything is just worse than it was. But again, I just feel like we may not have midterms. He may cancel them just too. You know what mean? And again, that's why I think it's very important right now.
You know, he begins a year in anger. Let's begin the year, year in anger too, and say like enough is enough. We've lost enough already. You know what I mean? And we're headed this slippery slope. And again, I just think we need to stop thinking like what he won't do. Like I think he, there's nothing he won't do, nothing he won't try and nothing that he can't really get away with. The guardrails are gone. What we realized, we didn't have rules. We had like guidelines for like, you know, for civil people to abide by and listen to.
We're not there no more though. We have a madman in power, a straight crazy person who's I think dying and who also has dementia and who has no qualms. He does not give a fuck. And again, part of the problem, like there's a guy on Instagram who talks about, like, he says, I'm dealing with people with frontal temporal dementia, you know, and he's like, they believe the shit. You know, they believe, he believes the shit that he's coming out his mouth. Like again, the good example was like, yeah, we're to run Venezuela. You can't run Venezuela.
You can't, it's just not possible. We don't have the manpower. You know, I don't believe you, we need more people. Like that's not, you can't do that. But he did what he wanted. Right, you can't run America, how you gonna run some other country? So that's what I'm saying. But the ramifications are gonna be what they are. And I just think that like, need to start really looking through the world through new lenses. And the myths that we believe in are now killing us.
Octavio Blanco (43:58)
We can't even run our own country!
Led Black (44:18)
Right? And if we don't fight and not violently, I'm not talking about violence, but if we don't use massive civil disobedience, if we don't really get really smart and hurt these people in their pockets, we're going to lose this. Right? Because there's enough people on that side. There might be less, but they're determined, they're organized and they're agitated and they are fighting like, you know, their lives depend on it. We need to do the same. Right? The bad guys never take days off. We can't either.
Octavio Blanco (44:45)
And Diana Pichardo just commented in the chat here that, you know, she doesn't think that we're angry, that we, I think she meant, she means we, the royal we, the royal we are not angry enough. And I think you're right, Diana. I think you're absolutely right because the fact of the matter is that this can't go.
Led Black (44:56)
Yeah, yeah, the royal way, the royal way,
Octavio Blanco (45:10)
this this this can't go on this way. We have to get out on the streets and we have to make our voices heard. And we need to we need to really flex that we're angry and I think civil disobedience is the right way to go about it. Peaceful, right? Peaceful. Don't be don't be punching people hurting people. But but I do think that like getting out there is super important. And ⁓
Led Black (45:13)
I agree.
Yeah.
Octavio Blanco (45:39)
You know, I don't know. I don't know. I'm just.
Led Black (45:41)
Yeah,
shout out to my sister, Ayanna. You know, I agree. I think people are not mad enough. And to be honest, like, as mad as we are, for everyone that's messed about, another five people that don't even know what's happening. They're not clued in. They're not tied in because I think this country, this society is about distractions, right? And non-focus. And again, it ain't happening to me. I'm good. I'm good. I'm I'm making money. I got this. I got that. But we're losing.
Octavio Blanco (46:01)
Yeah, yeah.
Led Black (46:07)
everything right now. And again, it's crazy because we fought so much to get where we're at. And every single achievement, every success was hard fought and it was a slog. But we're losing things so quick and people are so distracted. So many of our own people just like, what are you talking about? know, and again, that's what we need to, we need to stay. can't stop fighting. We need to educate our own people. You know, when there's one dumb ass in the group that's talking about Trump is good.
You shut them down right there. A lot of times we don't want to have the argument because you don't want to be rude. You don't want to. You don't have to be rude. You don't have to be nasty. But you could point out the differences in things. Right. Like what are we doing here? And I think we need to start speaking straight and looking at everything very, very clear. But Octavia, brother, thank you so much, man, for thinking this through with me, man. I really appreciate it. Shout out to the people on the live. And, you know, we'll be back next Tuesday and we might do another live before then because I think it's important. Who knows what's going to happen tomorrow. But, you know,
Octavio Blanco (46:50)
Yeah, thank you. Thank you too.
Yeah.
Led Black (47:00)
I always say in the future, I think we might be doing this podcast from Guantanamo. You know what mean? until then, we're going to keep rocking out, brothers. Spread love and stuff, Ta-Wei.
Octavio Blanco (47:04)
Yeah. Exactly. just, you just, you just hear
us yelling to the ocean. Spread love. Thank you. Thank you so much. All right. Bye.
Led Black (47:13)
Yeah, exactly. All right, brother. We'll talk soon,
Octavio Blanco (47:21)
I'm going to post this up too. I'm just going to.