No to demure. Have a Red Bull. We ride at dawn. (Ep.33)

Show notes and sneak peek

2025 is no joke y’all, and community is CRITICAL to survival. You know one way to build community? Share this episode with a like-minded friend from our website (pushingpastpolitepodcast.com) and talk about it! Give us a review on your podcast app, engage with our posts on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube so other folks can find us.

On Episode 33, we start by talking about all the things the new administration doesn’t want you to hear about, like bird flu, a raging tuberculosis outbreak, how firing the FAA director and freezing hiring of air traffic controllers likely contributed to a deadly plane crash, the operation of a concentration camp at Guantanamo Bay that will likely include the internment of our own citizens (WWII history repeating itself), challenging the citizenship for indigenous people. This is how hate works. You think that the “others” are fine to direct hate towards, but it’ll eventually be your turn. There is no protection from it.

People are stunned by the flurry of activity - timed perfectly to make us stay home, be compliant, and then they can even blame things on the previous administration. Don’t be so quick to be compliant!

Keith shared about his challenging work in communications on federally-funded projects and the real impact a funding freeze has and might continue to have on his colleagues. Gutting federal departments is a way to make his homies rich, awarding federal contracts to them instead. Can you imagine the impact on a cohort of Americans - if they lose access to education? If they lose their jobs? Because the president is hellbent on creating such huge shitstorms - and because the federal government exists to support people - it’s only a matter of time before everyone is impacted. And when it’s their job, their loved one, their costs, they’ll start to get it.

Kori, Keith, and Laura plot their hopefulness on a continuum. Keith is most despairing, Laura is in the middle, and Kori is most hopeful. Probably b/c her entire 42 years of lived experience as a Black woman in America have prepared her for injustice. Kori points out that white folks are socialized to be nice, be polite, don’t talk about that here or now - or ever. And that’s a big part of what got us here - our unwillingness to confront harmful thinking and behaviors.

Being on the receiving end of harmful policy is pretty new for most white folks, so while they may feel stunned, scared, and hopeless, Kori gives us all the pep talk we need. This isn’t the time to be tired. Take a lesson from our Black, trans, differently-abled brothers and sisters and keep moving. Drink that Red Bull if you need it, but get out there and fight - and live in spite of injustice. Channel your inner Brave Heart. Paint that face. Let’s effing go! Look for the helpers and BE one of them! Listen to your patriotic songs and know that this is YOUR time.

If the events of the past few weeks have opened your eyes in new ways, you are welcome here. Check out our catalog of 32 other podcast episodes and join us in Pushing Past Polite in your communities.

P.S. And can we say how ahead of our time our fangirling of Costco was? I mean damn. Love you, COSTCO. Now more than ever. And three cheers for the Bravo Cinematic Universe sweatshirt Laura wore for this recording. Takes us way back to our friendship origin story and the conversation where we debate Bravo v. Marvel.

Resources

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Laura: How about the bird flu raging that we're not allowed to hear about anymore? How about tuberculosis is raging? Tuberculosis in Kansas, biggest outbreak in recorded history, but also think about food implications for the bird flu, right? Right. We're slaughtered. We're having to slaughter all these birds, all this poultry and eggs.

[00:00:18] to keep the bird flu from spreading, but guess what? They won't even let us hear about that. The communication from CDC, not allowed to do it anymore, right? 

[00:00:27] Kori: They did in a press briefing just two days ago. They were like, glad you brought that up. Well, if the Biden administration didn't order the murder of all of these birds, these chickens, then we wouldn't be having egg prices wouldn't be so high.

[00:00:40] Like, just skip over the bird flu part that they're Killing very sick birds, that could also make people very sick. Skip that part. Just talk about the fact that they're being killed, which is creating the shortage and the number of birds that are available to produce meat and eggs. And that's the reason why.

[00:00:59] But no implication of like the health safety part. 

[00:01:03] Laura: Because we don't care about your health and safety. Right? Like, I mean, the quiet, say the quiet part out loud. We don't care about your health and safety. 

[00:01:12] Kori: I feel like they've said that quite a bit. If you haven't heard that yet, then you're not listening.

[00:01:19] Kori's like, have you not been listening? You're not listening! If you have not heard that part yet, then you're not listening.

[00:01:39] And like, the whole country is in turmoil. Like, everybody has been impacted in some way, right? By all of these executive orders that have come down. Literally everybody. There is no person who is exempt. And whether you've been impacted positively or negatively, you have been impacted by these executive orders.

[00:02:00] And the thing that they are actively, actively trying to do is instill a sense of fear, urgency, and despair. And that is what we have to fight against. So, welcome to Pushing Past Polite, where we talk about what matters and make the world more just. I'm Kori. I'm Laura. And? 

[00:02:23]Keith: I'm Keith. 

[00:02:24] Kori: And we are fighting exhaustion over here.

[00:02:27] Laura: It's time to be pushing. We are actively, yeah, it is time to talk. It's time to talk for sure. What a fucking week. What ten days? What a, what, this is bizarre. But we knew it was coming. I mean, we knew this, right? 

[00:02:42] Kori: But it's like, it's, it's having real life catastrophic, catastrophic impacts on people. There are 60 people dead because of a plane crash that was 100 percent preventable, right?

[00:02:57] There are people's families who are completely disrupted. Because of fear of being picked up by immigration, right? There are people who are now, who were already struggling to pay their rent and buy food. And now don't have any extra assistance from the government so that they can purchase food for themselves and their children.

[00:03:23] Laura: There's a hospital system where I live sending out emails saying they're putting pauses on all gender affirming Surgery, care, et cetera, because they need to make sure we can understand better how to comply. That's real lives. 

[00:03:36] Kori: Because it's rapid. It's real lives. And it's like our culture is a culture of ass covering.

[00:03:45] Right? It's like, we're always in, we want to do what's going to keep us protected legally. 

[00:03:54] Laura: Sure. Compliance matters. I get that. Nobody wants to expose themselves unnecessarily, but this is the time for leadership. 

[00:04:01] Kori: Even in the face of the kinds of executive orders, because I'm not even gonna call them like policies, but it is like policies are coming out of there.

[00:04:11] It's like, this is not the time. This is not the time. This is how things are taken over. Because so, people are so willing to just comply. They see people standing in line, so they just get in line. No idea what the fucking line is for. But standing in line. Somebody's standing at the door, patting you down.

[00:04:29] You have no idea. They don't work there. They're robbing you. But you're so used to being compliant, that you allow them to rob you so that you can enter into the space. 

[00:04:40] Laura: Yeah, there's been a lot of talk in circles that I'm in about how schools should respond to ICE raids, right? Like, without a, without a warrant, there's no reason why this stranger should be entering your school.

[00:04:50] Uh huh. Right? But, you see, an armed man with a badge. You know, and like, I can appreciate the confusion that that causes, and to your point, know your job, know what you can do. But then it's like, when the shooters are 

[00:05:02] Kori: out here shooting up our children, where is that same energy? 

[00:05:07] Laura: Mm hmm. 

[00:05:08] Kori: Oh, so we can come in and raid a school with all kinds of enthusiasm to snatch kids out of their classrooms, but we can't enter the building to protect them and save their lives?

[00:05:18] Laura: Mm hmm. 

[00:05:18] Kori: Where's that same energy? 

[00:05:20] Laura: Could be using resources a little differently. Not that I want armed guards at my kids school every day, but No, but 

[00:05:24] Kori: I'm just saying the enthusiasm in which people are willing to allow law enforcement to enter a school to snatch children out. I would like that same enthusiasm from law enforcement to enter schools to save children's lives.

[00:05:39] Mm hmm. Mm hmm. Anyway, there's a lot going on. 

[00:05:44] Laura: Yeah. We've got our first concentration camp now in Guantanamo Bay for 300, 000 detainees. We've got new conflicts with Columbia. Wait, let's just pause. What do you want to talk about? 

[00:05:57] Kori: I was just going to say, that's not our first concentration camp. We have concentration camps all over our country that are called prisons.

[00:06:02] Laura: Prisons. 

Kori: Right? Okay. So we have many, many for profit prisons that are concentration camps in our country. Now we have, again, the quiet part out loud. Are people not listening? It's like now we're We are saying out loud, hey, we're going to take these people and camp them. Do you remember World War II? We did this to our own citizens.

[00:06:24] We were snatching up Japanese folks, people from Japanese descent, who were American citizens and we put them in camps. 

[00:06:33] Laura: And now the challenge of birthright citizenship, right? Like these things are all connected too. 

[00:06:39] Kori: And who did birthright citizenship? Why was birthright citizenship established? Who was that established for?

[00:06:46] Hands up. The Blacks. People, the descendants of enslaved people, they could be citizens because they were born here. So if birthright citizenship goes away, that also, that impacts everybody. Everyone. Because nobody fucking owns this place. Everybody came from somewhere else. Aside from Native people.

[00:07:14] Everybody came from somewhere else. 

[00:07:19] Laura: But they're challenging even the citizenship of Native folks, which is just wild. It's just wild. But how 

[00:07:24] Kori: are you not challenging your own citizenship when you and your descendants didn't come from here? The reason that you believe this is your land is because you were born here.

[00:07:35] And you were born into a system that told you that this was your land. So it's like, then we, let, yes, let's all go home and I will come, I will come with you because we're probably cousins and I don't think that's what you had in mind when you told me to go back to where I came from. Sorry for my rant.

[00:07:57]Laura: No, bring it on. Bring it on. Okay. So we're watching all of this happen in real time and trying our best to keep our peace and our sanity amidst us. But like, what, I mean, Keith, I know this has impacted your week, do you feel comfortable sharing that? 

[00:08:19] Keith: Uh, yeah. I won't go into specifics. 

[00:08:21] Laura: Right. 

[00:08:22] Keith: But, um, like both of you in differing capacities, I work in communications, um, and lost in sort of all this shuffle, there have been communications freezes, for lack of a better term, across.

[00:08:35] Tons of different federal agencies and operations. So 

[00:08:39] Laura: it's called a gag order. Shall we? 

[00:08:40] Keith: Sure. 

[00:08:41] Laura: That's basically what it is. 

[00:08:43] Keith: Health, science, education, um, from the top down, basically, if you're receiving federal funding in any way, you've been instructed with vague, vague information, like no details at all, just sort of these.

[00:08:58] Refrain from posting to websites, refrain from tweeting, refrain from, from communicating with the outside world in any way. Which 

[00:09:07] Kori: And the government employees are getting the same thing. Like they can't communicate with clients. They can't communicate, like they can't have that. That return conversation either. Sorry, continue. I just wanted to add that. 

[00:09:18] Keith: This is a huge, massive disruption, not just in terms of, like you said, getting vital information like, I don't know, bird flu cases or new sweeping epidemics, God forbid. Like, it's not just preventing vital information from getting to the public, but it's preventing people from doing their jobs.

[00:09:35] Right. situations, that means that people can't bill for their work and they're, they're literally losing out on income. And the point of this is, is anybody's guess, right? There's no clear direction. The, the stated goal is that they want to like get their messaging in line. And for a lot of these things, they want to like give agencies time to look at all of the projects that are being funded and see if there's any DEI aspects in them and make sure that.

[00:10:07] They're in line with the president's executive orders. But at the end of the day, it's this massive, huge disruption with real impacts on people's lives. And it's what, because they're afraid that somebody might use the word equity on a website somewhere. Like that's it. Like that's what it really comes down to.

[00:10:25] We want to make sure that you didn't use the word inclusion in a tweet. We have real problems in this country that we're dealing with. And this is like the priority number one for this administration, for all our federal agencies that are responsible for like cancer research that are responsible for keeping planes in the air, which, you know, we haven't talked about yet, but we're disrupting so many vital services and again, impacting people's livelihoods.

[00:10:58] And their safety, 

[00:10:59] Kori: their imminent safety. 

[00:11:01] Keith: Because they're afraid of some words. And I don't even know if it's they're afraid of them. This is In my opinion, it's just theater. This is, he's not doing anything to help people, right? He's not like lowering anybody's taxes. Groceries are more expensive than they used to be.

[00:11:18] He's not doing any of the And they're going to get 

[00:11:19] Kori: more expensive. Yeah. With, with the theatrics of, um No migrant workers. Migrant workers. No farm workers. Right. 

[00:11:25] Laura: Bird flu. 

[00:11:26] Keith: Right. So I think he's aware that a lot of the people who voted for him are going to be like, what are you actually doing for me? So this is what he gives to me.

[00:11:34] He signs these executive orders and pieces of paper. And he's going to war with the woke people. This is, it's just theater so that he can say, Hey, you know, we're doing it. We're going after those bad lefties that we were complaining about for so long. That's it. That's really, that's the only reason that they're doing this.

[00:11:55] Laura: And then they can also create the problem, right? The lefties are the problem. The woke masses, all of this own the libs. And then look, I fixed it. Right? Like he creates a problem that doesn't exist and then solves it and is somehow this great savior. When in reality, real issues are either being ignored or exacerbated.

[00:12:18] Keith: So yeah. People who work in communications have not had a good couple weeks. Um, just add to the list of the people whose lives are 

[00:12:25] Little Man: Mm hmm. Brought to a standstill. Mm. 

[00:12:32] Kori: I saw a clip of Senator Chris Murphy. Talking about, um, what he believes is why Trump is doing this, because he needs to stockpile money to pay off all his homies.

[00:12:50] And so if, because they don't have the money for the tax breaks and all of that. So if we freeze the government's, all government spending. We strongly encourage, I'm going to use that language, um, lifers to leave, right, federal employees who have been federal employees over many years, administrations, all of that.

[00:13:20] Um, but we encourage those people to leave by buying them out. We get rid of the younger top talent through fear and intimidation, which is, we basically gut our government, right? And now we hire contractors to do that work, and those contractors are staffed by the homies. 

[00:13:48] Laura: Well, it, it makes perfect sense. I mean, think about public education.

[00:13:52] I, I hear people even that have been in the field for a really long time that are like, why, why, why is, why are there all these, this talk about, you know, making it more challenging to become a teacher and lowering quality, all these things. And it's like, everything is to privatize. That is the, that is the goal here, right?

[00:14:10] Let's give an impossible task. To these teachers who are doing the best they can and bleeding, sweating, and crying every day, let's continue to undercut them at every turn, raise the bar, change the metric, you know, make the formula different. Suddenly up, you've got a letter F on your head for the school.

[00:14:28] And we have reason now to pull your funding and have a contract with a private organization. To deny 

[00:14:35] Kori: access because the big, one of the biggest things that the Department of Education funds is grants and scholarships and loans, which is how people who can't afford college can pay for fucking college.

[00:14:50] So if we gut the Department of Education, you are removing huge amounts of access to Black folks, brown folks, first generation college students. People at different socioeconomic statuses. It's like, college costs 500, 000 a year for, I mean, 500, 000, like. It's like, what? Oh, God. I 

[00:15:13] Laura: got three 

[00:15:13] Kori: kids. I'm screwed.

[00:15:15] Like, we're expecting to have to pay 500, 000 for our kids, our two kids to go to college. It's like a quarter of a million dollars per kid to go to college, looking at tuitions, right now even, so who knows what it's going to be by the time my kids are in college. That's a lot of freaking money. 

[00:15:34] Laura: Mm hmm. 

[00:15:35] Kori: So we're seeing the price of everything go up, housing, food, all of our basic things that we need.

[00:15:43] We are not seeing increases in salaries. and wages. If we gut the Department of Education, we eliminate research around education. So all the research. One, institutions that exist are getting a lot of their money from the Department of Education to do their research. And then a large percentage of their population is getting money from the Department of Education to attend the school.

[00:16:07] To attend. So that's what you're doing. You're eliminating access. And so what you are being able to provide is the legacy space, more and more space for legacy folks to participate in the college experience. 

[00:16:24] Laura: For the self funded wealthy. It's like going back to what education was pre public ed, pre compulsory ed, right?

[00:16:31] Those who can afford can go and have spaces, and those who can't, or can afford the private institutions, the upper echelon, if you will, and everybody else is screwed. The masses are screwed. 

[00:16:45] Kori: Yes, it has. I think it has way less to do with the K 12 system as it has to do with that because you're, you're choking out the development of new information with the research money and you're choking out access to education 

[00:17:02] Laura: with, for future, for future generations.

[00:17:05] And it, and I think too, like how these moments have. Whatever happens to a, to a, at a point in time has an effect for a cohort moving forward, right? Like I think about the pandemic and the impact that that had on kids in schools. depending on what age they were, right? Teenagers really struggled, missed their milestones.

[00:17:23] Middle schoolers really struggled to connect socially. Little ones really struggled with important readings, literacy skills. We're 

[00:17:29] Kori: seeing all of that play out now. Like socialization development, right? 

[00:17:33] Laura: Five years late. Yeah. So many other pieces just to oversimplify, right? But we're seeing that, those effects in a cohort over time, right?

[00:17:42] And now I'm just thinking about like, okay, if you cut access, if you cut, you know, affordability, if you cut, Quote unquote DEI initiatives. So we can just take the white kids we want to take. And I'm not saying that that's what institutions are actually thinking. I'm just saying that's the, that's the intention of the policies, right?

[00:17:58] What does that do for a generation of kids that only have one shot at age 18 or age 19? What does that do when your Pell Grant suddenly doesn't, isn't there for you? And now you have debt from those first two, three years you've just incurred and you have no degree to show for it because you can't see.

[00:18:17] sustained, staying there. That, that impact of this moment for, you know, heck, the plane crash, right? This decision, remove, you know, freezing, hiring freeze for all the air traffic controllers, removing the FAA lead. This happens. Those families from this point forward are never the same, ever the same. Right.

[00:18:39] Kori: And then you just make up an excuse, whatever. You make up an excuse. It's DEI. It's like, you just make no

[00:18:52] Laura: And then what did they come back with? 

[00:18:54] Keith: Keith, what did you say? Disability inclusion. I'm not kidding. This just happened. We're recording on Friday. And I'm in shock at the moment to hear the President of the United States insinuate that that plane crash happened because maybe we've been hiring people with epilepsy or we're hiring amputees.

[00:19:18] Kori: Amputees. But it couldn't, it couldn't possibly have to do with his own actions. Couldn't possibly. It could, it could not possibly be directly tied to his actions. It has to be part of some weird, made up possibility, because that's all the other thing he says. You know, I don't know. It's possible. It's possible.

[00:19:40] It's like he's constantly like, you know, it's possible. I don't mean, I don't know. Yeah. Maybe 

[00:19:45] Laura: if you, maybe if you gargle bleach, you'll kill COVID. I don't know. Maybe it's possible. No, but this is 

[00:19:48] Keith: how stupid it is. Fucking idiot. He literally had, had just enacted a hiring freeze for air traffic controllers.

[00:19:55] Laura: Yeah. Days earlier. Yeah. That, 

[00:19:57] Keith: that. Air traffic control system was understaffed. Was that like 85 percent of what it should have been? And it's very clear, at least from the outside, that this seems to be an air traffic control related incident. It's the most, it's the clearest possible connection that you could make.

[00:20:17] And he comes out and he said, he talks about little people and amputees and that becomes the story. And yeah, 

Laura: literally using the word dwarf, 

[00:20:26] Kori: the Black, the browns and that becomes whoever is a marginalized identity. It had to have been somebody else. Because it could not be me and my choices 

[00:20:38] Keith: that that's what gives me my sense of hopelessness and this and I know Kori hates hopelessness and she wants us to fight against it.

[00:20:45] You can yell at me if you want. 

[00:20:47] Laura: I mean, look how fucking perky and beautiful she looks today. 

[00:20:50] Keith: But my sense is just when you have 

[00:20:53] Kori: been living this 42 years. I 

[00:20:56] Keith: just, for me, when you have half of the country of this many millions of people who. are willing to just look past that obvious connection, disregard the truth and move on.

[00:21:07] Like that's where my sense of, of apathy or nihilism or whatever comes from because Is there an honest, like, realistic path toward getting people to see the light or change their minds? 

[00:21:22] Kori: Well, yeah, it is. The path is really like them being directly, directly impacted by something and that, and who knows how long that might take.

[00:21:33] Right. But. It's, you know, not 

[00:21:35] Laura: long. We're seven days. We're 10 days. Yeah, it's gonna happen. 

[00:21:39] Kori: It's gonna happen. And so I think that just like people vote on single issues. It's like people's minds begin shifting based on single issues or single experiences, right? And so it's like someone needs to have that experience.

[00:21:55] You know, you, you meet people who at one point in their life were so homophobic and then their grandchild comes out to them and it was the per, that's the person who has been the apple of their eye forever. And they have, they have. to shift their heart because that person occupies so much space in their heart, right?

[00:22:15] And that's what it takes for that shift to begin. Or your daughter gets assaulted and, um, is pregnant and is going to try to take it through, but she might, something may happen to her. And, and the only choice that will save her life is to have an abortion. And that was never anything that you believed in until it was, it was choosing her.

[00:22:41] Laura: or your ideology. 

[00:22:43] Kori: For your ideology. Right? Mm hmm. It's often those kinds of things that begin to shift people, their minds and their hearts. Is it has to touch their heart. Something has to touch their heart. And we have been systematically desensitized to empathy and compassion that it's harder for some people's hearts.

[00:23:07] Like, I go back to this all the time. Dr. Joy DeGruy said something that. Many years ago, but she talked about how during Jim Crow and before, lynching was a very common thing, right? And it was so common that people showed up with picnics, 

[00:23:29] Laura: packed lunches to 

[00:23:31] Kori: go observe that inhumanity take place. Children were present and joyfully participating in some of the dehumanizing and malicious and just horrible activity.

[00:23:51] Those children are now adults making decisions in our country. All of that lives in their bodies, right? And if you don't deal with that, it just keeps showing back up. If you don't allow space as a culture, To engage in healing conversations and take accountability for what happened in the past that you may not have directly been involved in, but you benefit greatly from, then you find yourself in a place where you don't have compassion or empathy.

[00:24:30] Because if you can watch somebody hang until they're dead. Then it's, it's the idea of people walking, uh, in wristbands or handcuffs and being escorted onto the back of a cargo plane is not going to move you, right? And so it has to be something that really connects to your heart. That's where people start to shift.

[00:24:56] And I just have to personally believe that there is something like that for everyone and that this current president is going to unveil it for most people because he is moving with such lack of regard for all people, for anyone that he is going to help facilitate that shift, and I think that that's the part that's going to surprise him.

[00:25:26] That there's going to be a larger shift than he's expecting from his sheep and the wolves will be under attack because he's doing so much so quickly that it's going to hurt. It's going to hurt you. You're going to feel it. And it's like, it won't be blamable. But the other reason he's doing so much at this point is because it's so close to the transition that it's easy to point the finger back to their previous administration.

[00:25:58] Right? And so if you do all of this rapid movement within the first 30 days, and you end up pausing any of it 

[00:26:06] Laura: Blame the shitstorm on the cloud before, right? There you go. Mm hmm. 

[00:26:10] Kori: There you go. 

[00:26:11] Keith: I think that the flurry of activity is calculated and we're starting to see other projects. 

[00:26:16] Kori: It's all written. Yeah.

[00:26:17] Keith: But I mean, it's not just federal activity. We're starting to see other, other areas, other policymakers try to capitalize on this flurry of activity. I don't know if you saw the Tennessee state Senate just passed legislation that essentially makes it a felony to vote against. 

[00:26:33] Kori: Not essentially, that's what the language is.

[00:26:35] Keith: If you vote against Donald Trump, it's a felony. You get kicked out of your job and possibly thrown in prison. 

[00:26:42] Kori: Nineteen, uh, attorney generals, state attorney generals are suing Costco for maintaining their DEI initiatives. 

[00:26:51] Laura: Mmhmm. 

[00:26:52] Kori: Nineteen states. 

[00:26:54] Keith: Can we just say Costco, damn. 

[00:26:58] Laura: Were we ahead of our time knowing that we loved our Costcos?

[00:27:01] Episode three. We talked to Costco, friend. We're at episode 33. Just saying. They just proposed raising 

[00:27:08] Keith: their, their pay to like 30 an hour or two. 

[00:27:12] Laura: Guess where I'm going this weekend? Costco. 

[00:27:13] Keith: Yeah. You can feel good about shopping at Costco at least. 

[00:27:17] Kori: Mm hmm. 

[00:27:19] Laura: Yeah. Um, so let's talk about what you just said.

[00:27:23] Keith and I are like, right? I think Keith is more than I am. I'm a little less, huh? If we had a continuum of like, Keith on one end of like, holy shit, this is banana pants. And I also believe it's banana pants, but I'm like, nah, we knew it was coming, banana pants. And Kori's like, oh, absolute banana pants. And I've been living it for 42 years, right?

[00:27:43] In different forms. I think this is much more shocking and unmooring for white folks who, like, again, educate, like, well meaning, in touch with their humanity, white folks, right? People who are not, to your point, they're not, they're not moved by this at all. But for those of us who are, Wanting to be better humans and watching this shit and suddenly seeing it potentially turn on us for maybe one of the first times in our lives, right?

[00:28:16] This is much more shocking for us than it is probably, I'm assuming, for a person of color or someone who's been marginalized, maybe has multiple identities that marginalized them in our community, in our society, who are like, yeah, this is my whole lived experience. 

[00:28:32] Kori: Yeah. I would agree. I'm going to say this too. What is the title of our podcast? 

[00:28:36] Laura: Pushing Past Polite, my friend. Okay. One of the challenges that I have observed in the white community, which y'all don't call it that, but that's what it is. Is that politeness and declare politeness instead of having the hard conversations that you need to have in your family time?

[00:28:59] You're polite. I don't want to talk. I don't want to talk politics at the dinner table. I don't want to talk salaries at the dinner table. I don't want to talk about whatever and that politeness. That is why we are here because the conversations that really needed to be had years ago, eight years ago, 10 years ago, two years ago, whenever - were, were socialized to be taboo to talk about. Who does that serve? 

[00:29:36] Laura: people in power.

[00:29:38] Kori: And so it is excruciatingly uncomfortable to talk about some of these things in y'all's community, because you have been acculturated into that being non dinner discussion. 

[00:29:55] Laura: Mm hmm. Yeah, this isn't the time. This isn't the place. This 

[00:29:58] Kori: isn't the, yeah. Do you have to talk about this, Laura, every time we get together? Yes, bitch, I do. 

[00:30:04] Laura: Actually, yes. Which is why we don't have a relationship anymore. But I could give you a list of people for whom that's true. 

[00:30:13] Kori: But that, that, and it's like we are talking about this stuff with each other. Right? I'm having this conversation with my mom and with my sister and we're talking about and with, uh, my friends who come over here and with the nanny who's from El Salvador and with the, uh, like the, like we're having these conversations because we, we, we have to, and I'm having them with my husband who I, who is identifies as a white male.

[00:30:43] I'm having that conversation with him so that he understands why, uh, I want to get a, okay license to carry permit, because I'm a Black lady walking around and as lovely and warm and kind and gracious as I am to people, I'm still a Black person walking around in this America. And so the likelihood that I don't come home is significantly higher than the likelihood that one of you two wouldn't come home from a traffic stop, from giving birth, from going to the grocery store, from anything.

[00:31:21] From ICE showing up at the school. 

[00:31:23] Laura: Mm hmm. Mm hmm. 

[00:31:26] Kori: It's just a different experience. But it's like, we have to talk about it, and you all don't, and now you do. 

[00:31:32] Laura: We haven't had to. That's right. That's right. And it is rea So, I think So, think of this episode as like, normalizing therapy for white people who are just coming into this space, right?

[00:31:44] Again, to greater and lesser degrees, me and Keith too, right? Like, this is not something that's foreign to us. We have been invested in these kinds of conversations for a while and shit got real in a whole new way. Right? And so if you are a person, particularly a less marginalized person, again, you might be a white woman.

[00:32:03] So you've got proximity. It's a whole thing. But anyway, if you have, if you have enjoyed more proximity to power than others, and this is new, this feeling is new to you. Welcome. You are welcome here. It is, it is okay that you are a few minutes late to the party. Like, You're welcome. This is a place, come on, pull up a chair.

[00:32:25] Um, we do talk about this stuff here. And, uh, talking about this stuff is where the power lies. 

[00:32:32] Kori: Which is why I'm not, I don't, I'm not, that's why I'm hopeful. I don't know. That's part of why I'm hopeful. It's like, we have these conversations and that, and us talking about it here, leads to, uh, other people talking about it in their spaces.

[00:32:48] I, like, we're doing it. And helping other people to normalize this kind of dialogue. And I'm going to also just need you to catch up. We don't have time to catch you up. Okay. Like this just been going on for hundreds of years. Okay. Like. 

[00:33:07] Laura: I just, our best effort at catching you up is a back catalog of 32 other podcasts.

[00:33:11] Exactly! Let's just 

[00:33:13] Kori: do that and, but I can't, we can't catch you up, but you, you don't have to be caught up to, to, to recognize what you're experiencing and feeling, right? That's right. This is not too complicated to talk about. We see what's happening and you feel what's 

[00:33:28] Laura: happening. You 10 more books. Please read 10 more books.

[00:33:35] Please. Go for it if you want. But just know that there is no. Yeah, there's no entry fee to this conversation. Come on. Yeah, there's no entry fee for you being able to call your legislators. There's no. Uh, experience resume you have to have to be able to write a letter to the editor in your paper. There's none of that.

[00:33:54] Just do it. Jump in. Yeah. Jump in. Jump 

[00:33:58] Kori: in. And if you feel compelled to do it, then it's like, and you don't know what to say, Google it. GPT. Seriously. No. Because people are producing these things, like people are producing standard texts that you can send to your legislature and to, you know, like calling scripts.

[00:34:20] Those exist. People have that. So you don't have to try to feel stuck and overwhelmed in what am I, what should I say? How, like, no, Google it. Someone has already done it. Done the work 

[00:34:32] Laura: and you don't need to have like a Patrick Henry, give me liberty or to give me death quality speech here either. Like just say I'm a voter, I'm a constituent.

[00:34:40] I feel really strongly about this. You've, I voted for you or maybe I didn't, but you represent me and here is my concern. I want to hear. And I always say, I want to hear back from your office. I called my governor's office. I called my, um, my Republican Senator, congressperson's office. This week and said, and left messages and said at the end, I expect to hear from you.

[00:35:04] Make them do the work. Call me back. Tell me to my face why you're not going to do this. I want you to know you're registering what I'm saying. Yes. And I will call you again. You will hear from me again, and I will ask you to call me back. Yes. Yeah. So, I'm probably a little less hopeful than you, Kori, if I'm honest.

[00:35:21] Like, again, this like, we're on a continuum here. Because I'm still skeptical. Because I'm, I'm in this community. I'm skeptical of people getting it. And seeing it, I am hopeful that to your point, once it touches your lives, once it touches your grandbaby, your spouse, your health, your fill in the blank, that it does become an illuminating thing for you.

[00:35:47] And I know that the, the machines that are cranking out misinformation, um, Are really intense and that's where I, I can see he's concerned too, right? Like what does it take to make you get that this was not a Biden thing or an Obama thing or a Dem thing or a Lib thing or a woke thing? This is a humanity thing, um, so, I'm straddling somewhere in between the two.

[00:36:10] Kori: Here's the other part, is like, a lot of people won't. Like, Jim Crow was a thing, here. Enslavement was a thing, here. And they both lasted entirely too long. And many people were quite comfortable with it, right? So it's like, on one hand, I I hear what you're saying, and on the other hand, it's like, it doesn't matter if they get it or not, because you need to get it.

[00:36:34] And if, if you get it, then that makes me more hopeful because you didn't get it 20 years ago. Right? So it's like, you can't get caught up in whether or not people are going to get it. You just have to continue to move. It's like, if we Black people who have been literally persecuted in this country since we were dragged here in chains can still move with joy and hope and excellence, so can you, white people. 

[00:37:04] Laura: Thank you. 

Kori:

Laura: So can you. That's the pep talk I needed today, goddammit. You can persevere. Give me a smack on the tush. 

[00:37:10] Kori: Yeah, you can persevere. Like, we have had laws that stood firmly in place. Enslavement is still legal here in these United States of America, okay?

[00:37:21] Like, we have had laws in place that intentionally separated us, segregated us, didn't give full access, all of those things. Killing us was fine. 

Laura: And yet I rise. Look at you. 

Kori: So, so yes, you can too. Don't get dragged down in the despair because you have been so comfortable in your privilege. Keep fucking pushing. And leverage your privilege to make impact. 

[00:37:46] Laura: That's the coach's talk I needed to hear today. Honest to God! Sports got chest bump. I mean, like, I'm feeling that. Boom. Ready? Boom. That's it. It's that, it's new to us, and so the shock and all, I think, is particularly powerful. But the truth is That, for all of human history, people have persisted.

[00:38:07] Humanity has persisted.

[00:38:09] Kori:  People with disabilities, people of color, trans folks, like, you know, keep moving. And we have to. And we need to stop moving separately. That's the other piece. I think we talked about this. Well, a couple of episodes ago where it's like this singular mindset of like, this is the one thing.

[00:38:28] So this is the hill that I'm going to die on. I saw this, um, clip that was talking about, um, what is her name, Greta? Um. 

[00:38:37] Laura: Uh, yeah, yeah, yeah. The climate activist? Yes. The teenager? Yes. Yes. Thornburg? Yes. Thornburg, maybe? Cute Greta. Sweet Greta. Yes. But. Sail around the world, 

[00:38:46] Kori: Greta. She was getting so much attention when her primary focus was just about climate change.

[00:38:52] But when she started talking about the relationship between climate change, capitalism, genocide, all of these things, this like broader picture, it's like, where did she go? She didn't not, she's not quiet, but she's being muted, right? And so it's like, as people start drawing these connections, we need to draw the connections that my, my struggle and your struggle are tied up in each other.

[00:39:23] Right? Right. That, that. All of the liberties that you want were here because people were willing to allow other people to not experience liberties. 

[00:39:35] Laura: And that's how hate works. Yes. Right. It's okay, as 

[00:39:39] Kori: long as it's happening to you 

[00:39:41] Laura: other, and then no one's left for you. Yeah. Where you go down to and it's terrifying.

[00:39:45] And 

[00:39:45] Kori: so now we're in that fuck around and find out. Right. It's like , 

[00:39:49] Laura: find out phase by the face. We're in 

[00:39:51] Kori: the find out phase of that. Mm-hmm . Where it's like the piece, the truth is. This administration doesn't care about anyone and so that thing that you thought that you thought made you special 

[00:40:05] Laura: Or connected to them, or liked them, 

[00:40:07] Kori: or buddies he loves to be.

[00:40:08] Or protected, right? The thing that you thought had you protected, or covered, or special, or liked, or whatever. You're finding out, it's like he gave everybody the same talk. Right? And everyone felt so warm and special. And this is the person who's talking about family values that has six kids and baby mamas and paid off hush money and has been divorced multiple times.

[00:40:35] But this is the person you're taking advice from about family values. 

[00:40:41] Laura: Mm hmm. 

[00:40:42] Kori: Right? It's like, you're in the find out phase, because he doesn't care about you. The same laws that brought his wives, all of his wives, families, except for that one. The, the, right? 

[00:40:56] Laura: Maples. Marla Maples. She sounds pretty white bread.

[00:41:00] That's midwest. But I, I, 

[00:41:01] Kori: I feel like she may have been Canadian. Um. 

[00:41:03] Laura: Oh, dang it. The Maple Leafs. Mm hmm. Look at that. Still. Yeah. Anyway. Go ahead. You were making a point. 

[00:41:08] Kori: The point is, it's like, the same laws that he used to get those. partners, their citizenship are the laws that he wants to get rid of. 

[00:41:19] Laura: For you.

[00:41:19] For you. For your people. For you. 

[00:41:24] Kori: And he was able to expedite it because he has money and the same people who have money will be able to continue to use it, right? Will still have access because that's the way that it's always been. So that's the quiet part out loud. That's the quiet part out loud. It's like, I'm gonna get rid of abortions, but I'm rich.

[00:41:41] So if I need one, I'm gonna get one. It's no big 

[00:41:43] Laura: deal. I can still 

[00:41:44] Kori: get one. And if that means I have to fly privately or do whatever, have a private doctor come to my home, that's whatever. It's fine, because I have the access to it. Because I have the means to access it. You, poor white lady, or you, uh, lawyer, attorney, Black lady, you might die.

[00:42:08] Keith: I think that's the point that we need to start making. Is that you're sitting there comfortably thinking that I'm, I'm wealthy. I'll have the means to be able to get an abortion if I need one. And this administration is so chaotic and filled with nefarious influences from all sides. That at some point, somebody who is extremely religious and wants to like, make everybody a born again, evangelical, hardcore Christian is going to have his finger on the button of public policy and will somehow be able to push through a law that makes all abortion illegal across the country and now you can go to prison for life.

[00:42:47] So whether you're wealthy or not, you can't get an abortion anymore and it's too late. Because 

[00:42:53] Laura: it's not about the abortion now, it's about the penalty. Yeah, how about South Carolina? It's now, death penalty. Women can get the death penalty for having the, for having an abortion. 

[00:43:01] Kori: But the, uh, if so, if she, okay, but let's just back up.

[00:43:05] Let's just back up for a second. So first, I want to go back to saying what you, reiterate something you said, Laura. That it's not about the Republicans and the Dems or the Libs or the Conserves or Wokes. The Wokes or the who's, whoever. Why was Roe v. Wade never codified? Why does he, is he able to do some of these things?

[00:43:32] Because they were never codified. Why weren't they codified? There have been plenty of years and Democratic administrations and Republican administrations that could have done that. Why didn't they do that? Why EEOC regulations? Why was that not something that we thought should be permanent in our, um, legislation forever?

[00:44:02] So, it's like, he's doing the thing that was allowed to be left open for him to do. Because people assumed, over generations, the oligarch again, that like, they're all gonna be safe anyway. So, we don't have to make sure that everybody else is 

[00:44:22] Laura: safe. So, it's like, it's We don't need to rile up the other base, and we don't need to make this work against us politically.

[00:44:28] We can just kinda let it ride. 

[00:44:30] Kori: He is a A mouthpiece figure, like he is the face, the cuckoo, the, the white supremacist hero that is showing up to do the things that no one else had the will or courage to do. Because if you didn't want these things to be able to happen, you would have done something to make sure that they couldn't.

[00:44:55] Or if you weren't willing to allow them to happen, then you would have done what was necessary to ensure that it couldn't. 

[00:45:02] Laura: So, I will say, building off of that, to make sure that we don't mistakenly make the Democratic Party our savior either, right? I think that's what you're getting at here. Is there a huge, massive difference and, you know, are they, is it false equivalencies to say they're exactly the same?

[00:45:19] I don't think so, at this point in history. And that is not to say that we shouldn't use the vehicle of the Democratic Party, potentially, to regain power and do the right thing. But to assume that that is the only thing we need to fix, is just change the way we vote next time without the change in pressure, uh, for the, for demanding the things that should have been done a long time ago, right?

[00:45:44] That's not what I'm saying. 

[00:45:45] Kori: Right. 

[00:45:46] Laura: I think, I think it's thinking about, given our two party system, here is our best vehicle. For making some serious changes, so I don't want to discourage involvement there, but I also don't want to give false hope that it's just that simple. 

[00:46:00] Kori: Yeah, and it's like, I want people to remember when the, the squad first got into their positions in Congress.

[00:46:09] Laura: You want to just tell people who that is? AOC, Rashida Tlaib. Um. It was Corey. Ilhan Omar. Ilhan Omar. And one other woman. 

[00:46:17] Kori: Wasn't it Cori Bush? 

[00:46:19] Laura: Maybe. Maybe. I thought it was someone else. I thought it was, um, a Muslim woman that I'm thinking of. But anyway. Regardless. A group of four minority, liberal, progressive women.

[00:46:29] And then I feel like 

[00:46:29] Kori: the squad grew. Like, but, but you get what I'm saying. Yes. They, they were young ish in compared to, like, the average age of the members of Congress. And progressive. And, But they were treated like they were coming. And women of color. And women of color, all of them. And they were treated like they needed to know their place by their own party, right?

[00:46:54] They were treated like you haven't earned the right to advocate for your constituents. You need to sit down and wait your turn. 

[00:47:06] Laura: Wait your turn. That's 

[00:47:07] Kori: how they were treated by their own party. Right. They weren't, they weren't invited in for new energy and embrace and embraced. So this is what I'm talking about.

[00:47:17] These people who treated them like that are the same people who have been in these offices and these positions for all this time and have plenty of opportunity to ensure the rights of all people. 

[00:47:27] Laura: I'll tell you though, there's a lot of, I think there's a lot of upcoming talent. AOC is one who I follow and I just feel so hopeful every time she talks.

[00:47:37] And Kori's like, yeah, maybe I hear her talking about the working class. I hear her talking about saying the things that people are not courageous enough to say. She's willing to get gritty. She's willing to put in the work. She doesn't take lobbyist dollars, things like that that really give me hope. Um, and I think we see that with the two Justins in Tennessee, right?

[00:47:55] Like I see these glimmers of hope of leaders who are willing to speak truth to power and not cower to the establishment. But where 

[00:48:02] Kori: are those? I mean, I'm seeing in these Senate hearings, the white men, Dems, and the, you know, they're not just, they're not backing down, which I appreciate, but again, where has that energy been?

[00:48:16] You know what I'm saying? Like, where has that energy been? Because there are things that they can do that can prohibit and slow walk the confirmation of all of these people. 

[00:48:28] Laura: Yes. Yes. 

[00:48:30] Kori: If they have the will and courage to do it. 

[00:48:32] Laura: Well, that's where, that's where, and you know, I'm actually reflecting as you're saying this too, is I have not called my two senators because they are both Democrats and I know that they tend to be pretty outspoken.

[00:48:42] But like, I need to encourage that. I need to demand that. I need to say, not only do I want you to give a nice speech that's going to be clipped on YouTube, I want I want you to, uh, what's the word? What's the word? The talking until you filibuster. I want you to filibuster the shit out of these hearings. I want you like, you know what I mean?

[00:49:00] Like I want you to take it up a notch. There is no reason to play by rules. And be sweet and polite and, you know, take our turn and yes, I yield back my time bullshit. We don't have time for that. 

[00:49:13] Kori: We don't have time for decorum and demure. Okay. We don't have time for that. 

[00:49:17] Laura: No, no, no.

[00:49:18] Yes. Yes. It is savage right now. We need, yeah. What is it? We need hot girl summer, not, not demure and mindful. No. We need go full blast, please. Full blast. That feels like a good time to take a breath. 

[00:49:32] Kori: Yeah, the energy shifted in here, so that's good. You're like, full blast! Let's go! 

[00:49:41] Laura: We ride at dawn! Freedom! Paint my face with 

[00:49:47] Mel Gibson isn’t not great either, but you know. Um, I also have been Just checking on people and let's have conversations and let's have lunch and let's have coffee. I don't know if I can afford all this lunch and coffee that I'm planning. Samesies, girl. I need to be watching myself. Samesies. Damn. Damn. I mean, like, multiple times this week.

[00:50:05] Multiple, through four times this week I've gotten together  with people. And that's really, and Keith, to your point about, like, how do you withstand all of this? I don't think I have all the answers, but, like, for me, it's gonna be really being intentional about community. What do you need? How can I connect you?

[00:50:20] You know, fuck this noise, but like, how can we zoom in on what you need? What your baby needs? What, you know, what your business needs? How can I support you and help? That's a big part of how I'm going to get through this. And also too, like I think of Black women having a great time together and that makes me smile.

[00:50:36] Like, just like when I think about joyful Black women, I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm doing more of that. I want to be the fun auntie right now. Like that is my era. I'm going to paint my nails, have someone read a book, do my thing. Like. Absolutely. I'm going to do my piece and then I'm going to take care of me.

[00:50:56] That's all I can do. Thanks for teaching me that, Blank Ladies. Why did I say that word? Black Ladies. Black Ladies. Black Ladies. Thank you. Kori's laughing, but she's muted, so she doesn't sound like she's laughing, so I'm all out here in an island saying Black Ladies, and you guys are worried that she's quiet and canceling me.

[00:51:13] Right. 

[00:51:15] Keith: Oh, man. I think Kori so she's trying to block out the background. 

[00:51:20] Laura: Okay, Daniel. Daniel, I need her. It's my time. I'm reclaiming my time, Daniel. I was trying to 

[00:51:26] Kori: think about how we could create, re repurpose FAFO, like fuck around, find out to fun auntie something else. That's what I was also thinking about.

[00:51:34] Laura: Fun auntie. Oh, shoot. I'll, I'll come back with, I'll come with one. Uh, I was like funding around, so I thought, uh, I don't know, she'll, I got unmute. I'd rather hear Daniel than no laughter from you. I'm sorry. I am holding all the back noise like he's moving and stuff. It's cool. Just pushing past polite with me.

[00:51:57] Just I'm just going to lift it all up by myself right now. It's fine. Lord help us. Um, all right. Anything else we want to talk about before we wrap? 

[00:52:06] Kori: No, not. 

[00:52:07] Laura: What are you doing for fun? What? No, no, 

[00:52:09] Kori: no. I think that this is okay. I think that I want to leave people with the idea of like, yes, there's a shit storm happening all around us.

[00:52:18] And that doesn't mean that you have to run out there with your mouth open and catch it all. Take a fucking umbrella, bitch. Okay. 

[00:52:26] Laura: Umbrella, wellies. Yeah. Like 

[00:52:27] Kori: put your, put your rain boots on and take an umbrella and like, but you have to keep moving. You can't just stay in the house. Right? You have to keep moving, you have to keep going, and um, it, and, and do not let despair be the thing that breaks you, because if we can be persevering I'm doing a hard blink, right?

[00:52:47] Blink, blink, blink, blink. You mean the blink ladies? Cause we tired, okay? We are tired. We are tired and still, it's like, you know, as much shit as I talk about this country, I still love it here. And like, if I don't have to leave, I won't. But if I do and I need to take my baby somewhere that they can grow up and thrive, then I will do that too.

[00:53:12] But, you know, it's like, we're just, We're tired, and this is not the time for y'all to be tired, okay? We need you to have 

[00:53:19] Laura: Y'all been napping. Y'all have been taking your nap. 

[00:53:21] Kori: Have a Red Bull. Take an energy pill, energy drink, whatever you need to do, okay? And, and like, we, we don't have the energy for y'all to be tired.

[00:53:31] So you, we, we need you all to step it up. For real. We, yeah, like 

[00:53:38] Keith: Or let's say, keep your eye on the helpers too, what's that old Fred Rogers quote? Um, it was really nice to see when, um, the, the funding, the grant loan ban came down. The people who were fighting it and the people you see on TV who are like legitimately hiring lawyers and going out there and trying to stop it are like meals on wheels, you know, like real honest to God, good people who are just trying to fight and do the right thing.

[00:54:04] Um, and over the course of the next four years. It's going to be those kinds of people who, who keep us from the worst of this. So if, 

[00:54:12] Kori: and then become those kinds of people, 

[00:54:15] Keith: exactly. So like become those 

[00:54:18] Kori: helpers and the people who are the helpers need more help. So become those people. Yeah. 

[00:54:26] Laura: Yeah. Quick, beautiful shout out from this week for my social feed was a superintendent Jason Kamras from Richmond city, Richmond public schools where I live.

[00:54:34] Who said, we, children, we love you here, families, we will protect you. Safety and your kids coming here and feeling like they are cared for and fed and will come home to you safe in the evenings is my priority. You know, big smile on his face. We love you. We love your children. You know, that. That energy.

[00:54:52] That helper energy. Yes. Um, is exactly 

[00:54:55] Kori: what 

[00:54:55] Laura: we need. 

[00:54:56] Kori: And just keep talking to each other. Have the hard conversations. This is not the time for the politeness. It's like you have to really press. This is the space that you have to, you need to know where people stand, right? You need to know who the people are that are willing to advocate for the rights of you and others.

[00:55:15] You need to know who your real allies and accomplices are. Mm hmm. And the only And 

[00:55:21] Laura: maybe who's working against you, so it's not a bad idea to know. But it's like the 

[00:55:24] Kori: same. That's what I mean. It's like you need to know who they are and who they aren't. Right? Both sides. And Yeah. 

[00:55:29] Laura: So when something happens, even in your lo Forgive me, Kori, for interrupting you.

[00:55:33] Even in your local community, shit starts happening, you know who to call. Don't wait and just hope that somebody's gonna, you know, don't hope Nobody's coming to save you. You've got to build this. 

[00:55:42] Kori: Yeah. We have to save each other and save ourselves. This is like, community is everything. And the community is all of us, right?

[00:55:51] It's not just like the neighborhood that you live in. It's all of us. And we have way more power than we give ourselves credit for. And I'm saying that because when my, when one line of my ancestors got here, it was because they were in chains. And now I have a podcast and degrees and there, there were laws that were changed to allow that to happen.

[00:56:18] And those laws changed because people fought to change those laws. Right? Like it didn't just happen out of the goodness of anybody's fucking heart. Wars were fought, people have died, and given everything for us to have what we have. So we cannot just like fall into despair because some lunatic is writing all of these executive orders.

[00:56:46] Get your shit together people. We have power to do this. 

[00:56:51] Laura: I think about how people get all emotional, Star Spangled Banner, America the Beautiful. I'm proud, you know, proud to be an American. They get all, I'm not, I'm not margin, like minimizing that. If you have a really strong emotional response to those kinds of things, this is your moment.

[00:57:05] This is, you know, you talk freedom isn't free. Guess what? Not just for soldiers. This is our moment. This is our moment. Take that same energy and fight for freedom for people right here. Right here. Okay. 

[00:57:23] Laura: All right, friends. Everybody went on mute. Excellent. Everybody went on mute again because they've got other people in their rooms.

[00:57:27] Meanwhile, I'm all up in this space alone. I can't handle the silence. I got to go 

[00:57:33] Keith: before we wrap. Um, for our listeners who can't see the video. Um, and especially for our listeners who have been here for the whole ride, who were listening from the very beginning. I just want to mention that Laura is wearing a Bravo.

[00:57:46] Cinematic Universe. Sweatshirt, universe, sweatshirt. That's a, that's a shout out to the early days of the podcast. Um, 

[00:57:53] Laura: it is for the very first episode, right? Bravo Versus Marvel, 

[00:57:57] Kori: she came in to the, to the recording space, like she was on the show. It was like big energy. She was like, Ooh, it gotta get my headphones on.

[00:58:04] It's time for the podcast

[00:58:09] Laura: I. Honestly, it was more than I had to fix my hair and I was scrambling and I got caught. Nothing with me is Bluetooth. Unlike you with all your Apple devices. I have Apple devices. It was 

[00:58:17] Kori: so funny. 

[00:58:17] Laura: And you could see her whole Bravo. She was 

[00:58:19] Kori: like, Bravo! 

[00:58:22] Laura: Right there, baby. Shout out Bravo Historian for making this shirt.

[00:58:26] I love it. I wear it with smiles every time. All right, y'all. Love you. Thanks for fighting the good fight. Thanks for listening. Everybody at home to Pushing Past Polite, where we talk about what matters and make the world more just for, and we were, we were, we were created for a time like this till next time.

[00:58:42] I'm Laura. 

[00:58:43] Kori: I'm Kori. I'm Keith. 

[00:58:45] Laura: Talk to your people. 

[00:58:47]Kori: Push Past Polite. Take care. Take care.

Kori: Thanks for listening to Pushing Past Polite. We encourage you to go deeper in your trusted spaces and find new space for good conversation. 

Laura: You'll find episodes, transcripts, and lots of other goodies at our website, pushingpastpolitepodcast.com. You can also connect with us on Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok at Pushing Past Polite.

Kori: Pushing Past Polite is an independent podcast with Kori and Laura from Just Educators.

Laura: Our cover art was designed by Rachel Welsh De Iga of De Iga Design, and our audio is produced by Keith at Headset Media. Until next time, don't get stuck talking about the weather. Push past polite.

Kori: See you next time. 

Little Dude: Bye bye.

Laura: Jay, you did perfect!