Carmen Talk: Conviction With a Backbone: Why We Must Choose Courage Over Cowardice

Courage is the backbone of conviction - and both are in short supply in today's political landscape. This raw, unfiltered episode tackles the defining struggle of our time: the battle between cowardice masquerading as strength versus genuine courage that stands up for humanity.

What makes someone a coward? It's not just fear—it's the weaponization of fear against the vulnerable. From immigration enforcement agencies terrorizing communities to politicians redrawing voting maps mid-decade to cling to power, we're witnessing cowardice dressed up as policy and leadership. When officials target farmworkers and day laborers while giving a pass to the corporations that exploit them, that's not enforcement—that's fear in a suit.

The counterbalance to this spreading cowardice is courage with conviction. We spotlight the Texas legislators who fled to Illinois to block unjust redistricting, the governors fighting for immigrant rights in court, and the community organizations forming rapid response networks to protect their neighbors. These aren't just feel-good stories—they're blueprints for resistance.

You don't need to be a hero to make a difference. The most powerful act may be simply refusing to look away, choosing compassion when the crowd chooses cruelty, and speaking up when silence feels safer. Because courage, like cowardice, is contagious. When you stand firm in your convictions, you create space for others to find their voice too. This is how we move mountains—together, with conviction and a whole lot of courage. Are you ready to be part of that movement?

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Music By Geovane Bruno, Moments, 3481
Editing by Team A-J
Host, Carmen Lezeth


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Chapters

• 0:00 Defining Modern Cowardice
• 1:30 ICE and Immigration Enforcement Critiqued
• 4:30 Political Cowardice and Gerrymandering
• 5:40 Courage in Action and Resistance
• 8:20 Choosing Conviction with Courage
• 10:15 Call to Stand Up Together

Transcript

Carmen Lezeth: 0:00

Hey everyone, welcome to All About the Joy. This is Carmen Talk and I'm your host, carmen Lissette. Today I want to talk about cowards, and I'm not talking about the ones in the movies. I'm talking about the kind who run from truth, who hide behind cruelty, who weaponize their fear and then somehow call it policy. If you don't have compassion for other people I'm just going to say it this way you're a coward. It's so simple to me. If your hatred blinds you to the suffering of the Palestinians, for example, I'm calling you a coward If you can't hold two truths at once, if you can't care deeply for the hostages held by Hamas and still grieve for the Palestinian lives lost, you are absolutely a coward. If you think it's okay to rip people from our streets, people who came here for a better life because they don't look like you, pray like you or speak your language, I'm sorry, but I'm calling you a coward. And yeah, let's name names.

Carmen Lezeth: 1:10

Ice is cowardice in uniform. An agency that terrorizes communities, detains children are you kidding me? And calls it enforcement. They're raiding home depots and farms Okay, they're separating families, like that's nothing new with this stupid administration. But pretending that that's justice Okay, that's being a coward. Real men don't wear masks, by the way, they just don't.

Carmen Lezeth: 1:41

Ice isn't protecting American citizens. They're just punishing people for doing hard work. Oh, for being brown? That's the other thing. It's just racism on fire. And look, all of these workers are hired by American companies that pay them under the table. Why aren't corporations being held accountable for not assisting people with their paperwork or getting the right people, who are actually citizens of this country, to work here? They do it because they want cheap labor. But do you see how cowards will go after people who are leaving other countries, fearing for their lives, coming to a place where they think they have a better chance of raising their families? But instead we call them criminals, people who are doing all the hard work that no other American is willing to do, and we don't even give corporations or farm owners or anybody who actually is employing people under the table. We don't even give them a slap on the wrist. Instead, we go after poor, hardworking brown and black people, people of color, who are just here trying to have a better life for their children and are also doing all the right things to get their paperwork in order. Another way, you know, ice is and will continue to be considered cowards is because they're going to actual places where people are going to get their paperwork in order. Right, they're at the courts and ICE is sitting waiting there, for it's just ridiculous. And the people who cheer them on, who think that every brown body is a threat cowards.

Carmen Lezeth: 3:32

And yeah, I'm talking about you, stupid Dean Cain D-list actor, Texas Governor Greg Abbott. You're also a coward trying to redraw maps like mid-decade because the GOP's afraid of losing power. Really, my God, I have never, ever, ever in all my life seen so many losers in political office. Real men would fight fair, mr Abbott. Real men would not use gerrymandering to get their state's votes to stay in power. That's simply called cheating, you coward. And for those of you who don't know what gerrymandering is, it's basically when states draw borderlines right to make voting maps. They actually outline districts with borders in a sneaky way to help their team win, and that's what they're trying to do. And don't get me wrong, both sides do this, but this time I mean, gerrymandering is wrong on so many levels, but this time they're doing it when nobody ever does it. They're doing it mid-season basically. Usually it's done after the census, but they're doing it now specifically because the biggest coward in office, donald Trump, is afraid of losing because he won't win enough seats, so he's going to lose the House of Representatives. It's fascinating. It's fascinating to watch these quote-unquote real men do things right in the American people's face Total cowards. And Greg Abbott is ordering the arrest of lawmakers who dare resist them. Fascinating, fascinating them, fascinating, fascinating. That's not leadership, greg, that's fear in a suit.

Carmen Lezeth: 5:26

So what's the definition of being a coward? I think you can already get it by my voice, but a coward is someone who lacks the courage to do or endure dangerous or unpleasant things. But let me add this A coward is someone who refuses to feel, who chooses power over empathy, who mistakes cruelty for strength but, more importantly, chooses cruelty for strength. Yeah, I'm talking about you, donald Trump. Donald Trump, biggest coward of them all. Now do you want to talk about courage? Because I've got some of that, because I always want to be about the positivity, I always want to try to see the good. So courage is not performative. It's not loud for the sake of being loud. It's the quiet, it's the refusal to betray your values, not make them up as you go along, not pretending you have values by saying you're Christian but actually not behaving as if.

Carmen Lezeth: 6:20

Courage is the Texas state legislature, the Democrats who fled to Illinois to block a racist redistricting plan in Texas. It's Governor JB Pritzker I'm sorry if I'm saying his name wrong saying we got you. It's standing up to Trump and Abbott and saying things like no, not on our watch. Courage is Governor Gavin Newsom fighting the Trump administration in court again and again and again and protecting billions in federal funding, defending immigrant rights and refusing to back down. Courage is local citizens forming rapid response networks to push ICE out of their neighborhoods, and you may not know this, but it's organizations like ICE out of California. It's another organization like Immigrant Defense Project, and we Are Casa. They say we will not be silent, we will not be complicit. Courage is knowing the risks and showing up anyways.

Carmen Lezeth: 7:20

So if you're listening to this and thinking I don't know what to do and I don't mean that in a mean way, but everyone seems to be throwing up their hands in frustration, in sadness, in defeat Don't be in defeat. Find courage within you, find the want, la gana, the want to want to do something, and you can start here. Ask yourself what you're afraid of, ask yourself what you're protecting, ask yourself what kind of world you want to live in. What kind of America do you want to live in? Because let me tell you something about being a coward. It is absolutely contagious. You can see it with the Trump ridiculousness. You can see it Like everyone is just a coward to stand up to him, because it's easier to be a coward, to keep your mouth shut, to say nothing. And every day, we walk towards losing more of our democracy. But here's the thing you're forgetting Courage is also contagious. Courage is something that, when you see it, you also feel like you need to be a part of it. So I choose courage, I choose courage and I will always choose courage every day of the week and twice on Sundays.

Carmen Lezeth: 8:41

So what do we do with all this? We name the cowards out loud and we honor courage. We stand in conviction. Conviction isn't just belief. It's belief with a backbone. With a backbone, it's the refusal to betray what you know is right. You know what is right and you know what is wrong, and you stop believing the BS that is being told to you, even though you can see it with your own eyes. You refuse to betray what you know is right. Refuse to betray what you know, is right, even if it's unpopular, even and especially when it's inconvenient. That is conviction. Conviction is also what lets you say I can care about the Palestinian lives and Israeli hostages, I can want safety and reject cruelty. I can love my country and demand that it do better.

Carmen Lezeth: 9:44

Because courage without conviction, that's just noise Okay, people, that's just mother effing noise. And conviction without courage, it's just a theory. But together it moves mountains and we can move mountains. So I'm not asking you to be a hero. I'm asking you to be brave enough to feel something, to stay in the game, to see clearly, to speak when it's easier to stay silent, to choose compassion when the crowd chooses cruelty. Being a coward is super loud right now. But courage with conviction that's how we change the world. That's how we do it together with conviction and a whole lot of courage. Thanks for stopping by. All About the Joy. Be better and stay beautiful. Folks, have a sweet day.