Black Rights Matter

Welcome to today's conversation... Black Voting Rights dies! Cheyanne Bryant lies! Death of the comedians! Feds erase Black workforce! The ❤️❤️ The Worthy Women's Collective is BACK! Worthy Women's Entrepreneurship Mini Seminar  -- 4 Steps To Move from Point A to Point B.  Judge Norma Holloway Johnson Honored. 

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Transcript

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Welcome to Latia in the Lead Podcast, a podcast where we lead meaningful conversations that intersect the block and the border. From pop culture to politics through ethical entrepreneurship. We are laying the groundwork for unity in our community. We're glad you're here. Enjoy the conversation. Good evening. Welcome to Latia in the Lead Podcast. My name is Latia, and I'm your host. Thank y'all so much for checking back in with your girl. This is episode 17, and y'all, I hope y'all are okay because it is a lot going on. I know it's a lot going on in your ecosystem, it's a lot going on in mine. Never mind what's going on in the country, what's going on in the world. The community is upset, they're stripping us of our voting rights. They're mad with Cheyenne Bryant. We're on the verge of another outbreak. Like all the things are happening. But we're going to talk about it all. But first, y'all, is this shirt giving y'all what I plan for it to give y'all? I love this little shirt. It is too cute. And I've been dying to wear it. Y'all don't know how hard it is to wear a black shirt every episode, but I am committed to the brand markers. I am committed to this thing. So y'all get black shirt, okay? Now that we got that out the way, y'all, without further ado, we have a lot of show to cover. So let's get into it. We're talking current events. There's been an outbreak on a cruise ship, y'all. Now, the people are saying, don't worry about it. It's really not going to affect us in any way. It is the Hansa virus, and it's known to be spread through rodent feces and close human contact. Apparently, someone got aboard the cruise ship that was infected, and it affected a bunch of people on a cruise ship. That ship was in the middle of the sea for a while, and apparently they knew this virus was rumbling up. Yet the Trump administration cut funding for the Andes hansa virus, the exact strain of the virus that we have an outbreak in now. They cut funding for this virus last year. They fired the CDC cruise ship outbreak team. And now we have 16 Americans who are in Omaha, Nebraska at some quarantine facility needing to be held up because they need to be quarantined. One of them has already tested positive. Another one started showing symptoms, so they were rushed to a hospital in Atlanta. And I just pray that I mean they're saying that it's not another COVID-19 situation. But again, when we can't trust what they're telling us, we don't know what to believe. My suggestion is to mask up because we can't trust what we're hearing. We don't really know what's going on. It's being reported that it's low level, and because it's so low level, we don't have anything to worry about. But we don't know that. That's like literally the biggest concern. And we don't know what to believe. So my advice to you is to mask up, wash your hands, wash, make sure the kids wash their hands when they come in the house. All of them, even the baby, everybody should be washing their hands. And I'm, you know, I'm I'm still a little skeptical in in crowded places. So I tend to wear masks anyway when it's crowded. I think, in light of this new virus, in light of the fact that we can't believe anything that the government is telling us, I think you should take every precaution and mask up. Moving right along now, obviously, by now you know what they have done to the Voting Rights Act. And I am going to let this story marinate. I'm going to take some time with this story because it's complicated and there are a lot of levels. And so I'm going to take my time with this because it is important. It is important. I think that my take on this, though, is going to differ than that of a lot of other people. So when you think about democracy, right? And I'm going to do my best not to be cynical, but I mean, we have known what they've presented to us as democracy. This democracy in this country is very young. It's really only been since like 1973. So to understand the magnitude of where we are, I'm going to take us back just a little bit. In the 2013 Shelby versus Holder decision, the Supreme Court gutted Section 5 pre-clearance. Pre-clearance was the Voting Rights Act core protection, stripping the federal government's power to prevent discriminatory voting laws before they take effect. That was major. Section 5 also requires that certain states and governments have pre-clearance before they make any changes to the voting process. Now, another important part to this is Section 4B, because Section 4B contains the coverage formula that determines which jurisdictions are subject to pre-clearance, and that is based on their histories of racial discrimination in voting. So this legislation, y'all, is considered the most effective civil rights laws ever enacted. It fundamentally altered the relationship between the state and federal government around voting. And this is why they want to dismantle it. Now, in 2026, Louisiana versus Calais has effectively dismantled the Voting Rights Act. Majority Black districts can now be eliminated nationwide, as is what's happening in Tennessee. What this means is that essentially Congress is going to choose the representative for majority black districts. By gerrymandering and redrawing the congressional maps, they get to sprinkle black people in other communities where it's majority white. So that that small population that gets put into another district, their vote doesn't matter. It's when their votes are consolidated in largely black districts that they are able to elect a black congressperson. This is no more. And you have to ask yourself the question: whenever they are fighting something so hard, it must be something that's good for us. That is the only reason they go this hard. That's how you know when we should be, when we should be doing a thing is because of the effort they put to dismantle it. Justice John Roberts has literally been working on this last pillar of the Voting Rights Act for 50 years. And this move, in all honesty, was a layup for the Trump administration because now they get to redraw the congressional maps in their favor. And the reason why they need to do that is because they're going to get slaughtered if they don't cheat in the midterm elections leading up to the presidential elections if they occur. I'll just leave that there. But that is the reason for this. They know that they are unpopular, they know that their numbers are polling lower than any president in history. They know that the American people are upset. Even those who did vote for him, people did not anticipate what we are experiencing. And so people are upset, and they are likely going to take it out at the ballot. And so they had to rig the system, they had to rig it. That's the only way that they are going to get any leverage. So what does this mean? What does this actually mean? Well, it has a couple of different meanings. Number one, majority black districts are going to be eliminated and they're not going to have any representation. States are going to redraw the map in the favor of their political party. This essentially manufactures more Republican districts and dilutes black districts. Secondly, it means that discriminatory maps can't be challenged in the same way. And this part is really, this part is beyond me because basically they can use race to redraw the maps because they're saying that they're being biased against white voters. But now it's illegal to use the same logic when it's disenfranchising black voters. Make that make sense. They change them all the time, at will, whenever they want. Thirdly, now Congress and not your community will choose your representative. Good luck with that. Good luck with that. In terms of black districts having real representation. And this is what I mean about the United States as it continues to try to tout democracy, democracy, democracy. The fundamental promise of democracy is broken when the people cannot elect their own representatives. When the state chooses a representative, that representative is imposed on you. That is not democratic. That is not democratic. The people are supposed to have the right to vote in their elected officials. The only possible legislative solution I see is passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act. But how? As of right now, the Congressional Black Caucus has called for an immediate vote to restore federal congressional oversight over voting practices for what it's worth. I mean, if if they can even get a vote for it. But the key component in the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act is the restoration of pre-clearance, right? Because the pre-clearance was really the meat of the Voting Rights Act. Restoring that federal oversight before the states just start changing all the laws is very important. However, I mean it's more than important. It's crucial, but how are you going to get that through in a Congress and Senate that is Republican type? The John Lewis Voting Rights Act targets discrimination like poll taxes, closing polls, purging voters, all those types of things that they are known for. It increases transparency, requiring that any voting changes are publicly announced 180 days before an election. It also expands federal oversight, authorizing the federal government to send observers to polling sites where they have a history of discriminatory practices. In theory, it does sound great. However, the reality is that under this administration, they're never going to pass this. That's just what it is. They're not going to pass this in this Republican administration because if they wanted to stand up for voting rights, if they actually wanted black Americans to be able to vote, there wouldn't be this big push to dismantle the ability for black Americans to vote. So I'm not hopeful that this is going to be passed. You know who's really going to be mostly affected by the Republican gerrymandering? It's going to be those states like Tennessee, Louisiana. For example, Tennessee General Assembly just passed a congressional map that eliminates their only majority black district. That is, I believe, is District 9, Memphis. Majority Black District, no representation. Here's my take on this. I am well aware of the sacrifices made by our ancestors for us to be able to vote. And I have voted. I have voted since I was able to vote. However, I believe that what our ancestors were really trying to obtain was what the vote actually represented. The vote for them in those times represented having a voice. They represented the possibility of a better life. That's what the vote represented. However, I feel like it has become more of a ritual than what they were fighting for. Now it's just something we do because we know that they sacrifice for us to be able to do it, so we do it. We do it to we do it blindly at this point. Even though neither party is really serving us, even though progression, progression, actual progression, is not happening under either party. Yet the majority of black people are die-hard Democrats. Even though Democrats have shown us election after election after election, and even more now, that they are going to do the bare minimum if that they're not going to do anything progressive, and they both parties operate on the same premise. They both have corporate interests, and those corporate interests trump our personal needs. And despite that, despite the fact that they let us down all the time, we line up in droves to vote for that. Now, I'm never gonna be the one to tell you not to vote. What I'm going to say is I think that the votes are most important in the local elections, what's going on in your local community. If you're going to cast a vote, make sure that you are getting something for it. And I think the only way for us to do that, the only way that we are to hold people accountable, especially in this two-party system, is for us to create some sort of block vote to represent the black vote. That's what I think. I know we're far from it. But in order for us to really try to work our way to some type of political power, we're going to have to come together at some point. And I think that having demands for your vote, I think that's smart. Because I don't think that they should just get to come around to our communities and make a bunch of promises, we give them our vote and then we don't hear from them again. I don't think they should just say, oh, we're going to forgive all student loans and then you leave office without doing that. I don't think they should be able to do that. As black people, we need to re-evaluate our relationship with this two-party system. We do. And we need to, as a collective, start seeking alternatives. And I don't mean necessarily alternative political power. I mean alternative systems to this current power structure. Our ancestors did it. They operated a system of care when they had no government to support. Now, just to demonstrate the targeted visceral attack on black existence, let's continue. So Trump is getting sued for removing 75% of black workers across federal agencies. Alvin Brown, a Democratic member of the National Transportation and Safety Board, alleges that his termination was racially motivated. You think? Yeah, Alvin Brown comes with some credentials. He was the first black mayor of Florida from 2011 to 2015. He was appointed by Biden and he is supposed to be in term through 2026. His lawsuit alleges that there has been a pattern of the Trump administration just firing black people, right? And replacing them with lower-qualified white people. Obviously, these actions constitute racial discrimination and are in violation of the Fifth Amendment. However, when you look at the process by which this case has to take up, once it gets to the Supreme Court, if it goes that far, that court is owned by Donald Trump. This is where I mean I just go back to community because they have rigged this system up. He did it. He did it. He did a good job rigging up this system. He did. He did a good job of rigging up this system and putting all his people in to move how he wants to move. It's going to be extremely hard to do anything outside of this Republican stronghold. Keep in mind, Trump fired 300,000 black women back in January. Black women lost their jobs. Nobody lost more jobs than black women. And to think how hard we worked to get those jobs, because I'm a generation Xer, and in my generation, it was like if you could get you, you needed to number one, go to college, and number two, get you a federal job. If you could complete college and get you a federal job, you essentially stapled yourself in the middle class. And to have people have literally had that be their trajectory, and they work hard to get those positions and get fired like that was disheartening. I feel for those sisters having to figure that thing out again after being in the workforce for 15, 20 years, some of them on their way to retiring. So, I mean, we we wish this brother luck with his with his case, but I'm just not hopeful. I'm not hopeful in anything that has to do with this administration doing the right thing. If whatever it is requires these people to actually be decent, be human, be fair, to me, it's a lost cause. They're just not that. So moving right along, well, in my neck of the woods, there is a data center going up two towns over from me that I'm just hearing about because I absolutely would have been at the city council meeting. like hell to the no but apparently this thing this was a this was a slow creep because apparently a um tech company bought this land back in 2025 it had already closed they had one public hearing that was a couple of weeks ago and nobody knew about it these data centers are going up all over and despite whatever what despite those communities that's been able to stop the data centers y'all they're going up the data centers are imperative to this feudalistic system that we are now in they need the data centers and so although there were people picketing at in Kenilworth with regards to this data center the they basically said oh we hear y'all but this deal was done last year so I don't know you know I don't know any more about that per se I started this podcast by telling y'all that I was on an evolution and I'm still on that evolution but that evolution some things are becoming absolutely crystal clear for me the world is changing the West is losing power the global south is gaining power AI is taking over specifically designed to replace humans BRICS is developing an alternate payment system American dollar isn't that girl anymore so in the words of Malcolm and this country's tyranny is coming home to roost we are living in our civil rights moment and so I say to you so whatever you're doing now is how you would have been moving in the civil rights movement because what we're experiencing right now they're going to study in 10 years and I just hope that we're all on the right side of history can we move on y'all that's what's happening in the world but you know my favorite part of the show we're talking culture okay y'all the community is mad at your girl Cheyenne Bryan why y'all mad tell me I need to understand why y'all are mad at this woman because y'all are upset so is it that her credentials can't be verified what is it exactly because from my upset from my assessment y'all made her Cheyenne Bryan is an influencer and y'all actually made that a job and she is moving in her influencer role so why y'all mad at her because she took the role of influencer with all the cultural capital that social media provided her and she is now moving in spaces and giving talks and having opinions and presenting herself as a doctor giving people advice on their lives but this is the kind of thing that social media embraces all of the all all all of the fake stuff all of the it looks like this but is that people like me come along who are credential who are experienced who are successful I have a master's degree I've been teaching women entrepreneurs for over 10 years and we have a hard time getting a thousand followers because we're authentic to who we are and we're not jumping out there trying to be somebody we're not for you to like us to gain popularity we're coming with truth we're coming with evidence we're coming with information that is fact findable we're coming with knowledge if you're me you're coming with that swag you're bringing all of it but you all gravitate to what's not real so y'all created a monster why y'all mad at her y'all created her y'all created her now I don't know that sister I'm not trying to say that she didn't go to school where she said she went to school my universal take on college degrees and higher education I am old school and I will be the first to tell you I don't look at the degrees the same if you got your degree online I don't look at it the same I'm sorry because when I was getting my master's degree my field study was in Jersey City I had to take classes in New Brunswick I had to take classes in Norway and all of that was in the same week. Trying to find parking lining up my babysitters doing all of that to get the class on time getting across campus turning in those papers doing all of those things presentations like that is the college experience I hold those degrees to a much higher standard than your little online degree I'm sorry that's just me there's a hustle and a grind that comes with having to maneuver that college life especially when you are a mother if you are in a relationship if you are working and trying to do all of that at the same time that is a different kind of grind. So I was already looking at her doctoral degree like something from we who because everybody now has a DR in front of their names because you can go to online this online that take a couple of credits and they give you a DR I don't look at it the same. So whether she is officially credentialed whether she has a license I don't think any of that matters really because in my perspective she's an influencer and you all have determined that an influencer just needs to be popular and you all decide who gets popular so why y'all mad at her because she taking her 15 and she on all the stages and then she has an aesthetic so she's getting the look she's getting the drop she's getting the interviews she she is articulate she she has all the things she has the bells and whistles so why y'all mad at her? I guess an argument can be made for presenting yourself a certain way because if you're not a doctor if you know you don't have a PhD or if your degree can't be verified if the school no longer exists if those if those credits can't be transferred if you don't have no you know if there's no no evidence of a graduation a degree no nothing and your academics can't be verified I mean yeah that that that's manipulating people in a way that I can see why people would be upset with that but I'm not mad at all y'all make a lot of them so it is what it is moving right along so y'all last weekend I went to the we them ones comedy tour in Atlantic City it was Carlos and basically his gang and Mike Epps was headlining. I don't know but I didn't find it all that funny the lack of creativity in the joke writing for me for everyone that was a part of that lineup was laughable. They all told the same type of jokes dick sucking jokes that's all you heard dick sucking jokes like everybody set was dick sucking jokes like no creativity nobody spoke to the times nobody spoke to anything real even in a comedic way Mike Epps told jokes that I've heard before so he washing and rinsing it was just I mean you can go and see for yourself but I feel like what the comedians are supposed to be doing and I and y'all hear me say this all the time not only the comedians the artists period are supposed to be speaking to these times that we're in and they're just not doing that. Now I haven't watched the Kevin Rose the Kevin Hart Roast yet I will watch that over this weekend I haven't watched that yet I'm definitely going to watch that and in the next part I will definitely be talking about that but this weed them ones tour y'all it wasn't them ones they they were not them ones not not that set not that set I mean I chuckle here and there but it was just the lack of creativity the same theme throughout all of the comics and it was like nine different comics it was no substance no nuance no originality no progression it was just dry I mean you got a couple chuckles but when I go to a comedy show I need to bust the gut because for me there's nothing worse than a comic that's not funny. And there's but so many ways you can tell a dick sucking joke. A woman sucking dick only gets but so many laughs after you've heard it 10 times. So I don't know I think that I'm just kind of apathetic to art period right now just because so many of our artists really are not seizing the moment and they're not using their voices for anything and I don't know I I guess I'm still hopeful and hoping that somebody will but I mean check out the tour if you want to I know TK Kirkland he wasn't at that one but he is on some of the flyers for other stops check it out I mean for me I could have passed on that so it's over the love and hip hop run is over VH1 and Paramount will not be creating any more love and hip hop shows that run is over and it's about time because while I try to support it by the time they got to Miami like I didn't know what the heck was going on and so I lost interest in it um I wasn't really following it since New York like it had lost its essence it had lost its essence the love and hip hop factor was just gone. They was on some whatever it was it was something so far from what we started watching with Jim and Chrissy and um Joe Buddh and that initial regime love and hip hop gave us some moments they get especially love and hip hop New York so they're gone moving right along so y'all books are back in my life right because I cannot I have to turn off and disconnect from everything that's going on because it's it's too much. And so I have gone back to my book reading and in doing so I have also relaunched my worthy women's collective and if you don't know about worthy women if you were in New Jersey I'm pretty sure that you have heard of worthy women because we were before the pandemic and my worthy women's network has been operational since 2012. We were known for producing expos and women's events and entrepreneurial events and all of that well I am restarting her because we need community again and we need it in the worst way particularly right now however the key difference though this version of the worthy women's collective is specifically for black women because we need a safe space we need a safe place we need a refuge and the worthy women's collective is it please do look up the Facebook group and um read the description if you're about what we're about please do consider being part of our community with that being said I have reintroduced books back into my life because I need them I need to quiet my mind and just separate from all the chaos so join me in the worthy women's collective this month I am reading um where do we go from here community of chaos Dr. King's last book because this book and I'm still reading it and it is the book where he really had a revelation and because of that revelation unfortunately they assassinated him he was starting to see this country for what it was and he had in fact said that he feared that he led his people into a burning bush because what he had been praying for and what he had hoped would be our route to the mountaintop wasn't gonna be that route. And so I am in the middle of the book and I encourage you to join me in this month's reading. Again please do look us up on Facebook. The Facebook group is the worthy women's collective last but not least I want to say happy Haitian heritage month y'all know why the United States got a heart on for Haiti right because in 1791 Haiti revolted. It was the Haitian War of Independence one of the only known slave rebellions ever in the world where enslaved Africans actually incited an insurrection against the French colonial rule in Saint Dominic which is now Haiti because of that revolution they were shunned by the rest of the world because that revolution caused white landowners to lose so much money and Haiti is still paying for that right now because guess what in retaliation and in recognition of their sovereignty France made Haiti pay reparations and that's why Haiti is an impoverished country because they have a forever debt. Between 2009 and 2010 the United States of America forgave Haiti its debt so they don't owe the United States of America but they're still paying France to this day and they have been paying France since 1825. So don't believe the lies you're being told about Haiti Haiti was the only ones to say yeah go get somebody else to do it and for that happy Haitian Revolution Month along y'all we're talking ethical entrepreneurship and anti-capitalism let's go just a reminder for those of you who are here for the first time these mini trainings that I do in this segment are parts of larger trainings that I do in my worthy women's entrepreneurial seminar series. So if you want to experience a full training do look that up at misslateia.com for today I'm going to give you four steps to move any entrepreneur from point A to point B, no matter where you are in the process are you ready? Let's go step one get used to being uncomfortable there is absolutely no way to progress in your entrepreneurial endeavors if you don't get used to being uncomfortable there is nothing about this process that should not be uncomfortable if you are doing something new you're doing something exciting you have all of the odds stacked against you you don't have all you need to do all of the things you're being the chief cook and bottle washer all of that should make you feel a little bit uneasy it is in that feeling of being uneasy where your success is waiting. Get used to being uncomfortable because moments of uncomfortability produces opportunities for learning. Step number two forget the conventional I know as new entrepreneurs sometimes you can get locked into what you think the business is supposed to look like you've been researching the conventional way of doing things. Well I'm here to tell you that your growth and development is going to come with thinking outside of the box. Color outside of the lines you don't have to do things the way they have traditionally been done we are living in different times you have different resources you have things available to you that even when I started my business in 2010 I didn't have available to me you have different ways of going about doing things and you have more information than we've ever had. So think about doing things the unconventional way I promise you if you take the risk in doing things in an unconventional way you're going to reap a reward that's going to give you conventional success. Step number three forge an unlikely partnership when you look at your business in totality and you've looked at all the different ways that your business can operate, can perform a service can sell a product what are some unlikely partnerships that you haven't thought of those unlikely partnerships, those are the partnerships that require a little more creativity and a little more out of the box thinking but they also open your products and services to an audience that you never even thought about. So as you're thinking about growth and scaling think about the unlikely partnerships that you can forge and figure out how they would make sense for your business because through the process of forging unlikely partnerships you'll probably also gain some partnerships that opens up your business footprint. Remember think outside the box unlikely partnerships. Step number four don't marry the original plan. Date it in the process of becoming a successful business owner you're going to have to alter that plan a million times it is not going to be what you thought it was going to be. It has a potential to being something that you never even dreamed of however in order to get to that point you can't be married to the plan to the point where you are rigid and you're not looking for ways outside of where you thought your business could go and what you thought your business could do. All of the previous steps bring you back to this step this means that you should embrace continually going back to the drawing board. As an entrepreneur this is part of the process it is required because there are going to be things that come up in your entrepreneurial journey that you never accounted for and those things are going to require you to change some things around you can't be befuddled when those times come and you need to pivot. Embrace the pivot the pivot is part of the process and you don't get to the end goal without the pivot and those are some quick tips brought to you by the Worthy Women's Entrepreneurial seminar series. If you want to experience a worthy women's entrepreneurial seminar series please do go to my website misslate.com and look up the schedule for the next session near you. That is it that is all y'all we are moving on. It's time for black facts in today's segment of black facts we're honoring Norma Holloway Johnson federal judge Norma Holloway was born in Lake Charles Louisiana on July 28 1932 sent to Washington DC at age 14 to care for her great aunt she attended Dunbar High School the first public high school ever for blacks in America she graduated from Teachers College now University of D.C. 1955 Magnum Cum Laudi. However, it was the historical 1954 Brown versus Board of Education decision that diverted her career from teaching to law. Enrolling in the prestigious Georgetown University Law Center in 1962, she became the first black woman ever to earn a jurisdoctorate degree from the school. Her career began in 1963 as a trial lawyer with the U.S. Department of Justice and later included an appointment by President Richard Nixon in 1970 to the Court of General Sessions, which later became the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. President Jimmy Carter nominated Holloway on February 28, 1980, to a seat on the United States District Court for the District of Columbia. She was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on May 9, 1980. Three days after, on this day, May 12, 1980, Norma Holloway Johnson received her commission, thereby becoming the first black woman ever to serve as Chief Justice of a United States District Court. Remember the grand jury investigation of President Bill Clinton and his relationship with Monica Lewinsky? Judge Johnson presided over the proceedings. On September 18th, 2011, Judge Norma Holloway Johnson tapped her eternal gavel. Our Black Facts are brought to you by the Black Heritage App. While this is not an ad, we support the Black Heritage app because the Black Heritage app provides black facts for every day of the year. It's a free app, and I encourage you to download it on your phone. That's it, y'all. Last but not least, tease take. My take for today is this. This is our civil rights moment. What you are doing right now will mark your place in history. Make sure you're showing up in the way that you want to be remembered. That's it. That's all. I love y'all. Thank y'all for joining me. Thank y'all for listening. Thank y'all for downloading, sharing, subscribing. Y'all be safe out there. Do something good for a brother or a sister. We need each other. And we need each other more now than we ever did because we don't even know the times that we're in. So I encourage y'all to seek community and find your tribe. Because we are all one of the same tribe. I love y'all. Good night.