- 1 week ago
Angela Rye and Maxine Waters urge us to use our social platforms and show up for what we care about.
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00:00How are you doing, Congresswoman?
00:02I am doing wonderfully well.
00:05Very good.
00:06And I am so pleased to be here at Essence, and I'm so pleased to be with you, and I'm
00:11delighted for your leadership and everything that you're doing, more podcasts we're going
00:16to do together.
00:17Yes, ma'am.
00:18Okay?
00:19All right, Angela.
00:20Okay.
00:20So, you guys, we had a talk backstage, and we don't know how to do anything else but
00:24keep it real, right, Congresswoman?
00:25That's all we do.
00:26That's right.
00:27So, we're just going to have a real, raw conversation with you all today, and I'm
00:30just going to deal with the elephant in the room first.
00:34You know, we were backstage admiring Stacey's keynote, and she was just bringing it with
00:40no notes, you guys.
00:42That's y'all, that's the next governor of Georgia.
00:44She's going to be the first black woman governor in the history of the United States.
00:50Now, it's late for that, so don't let us down.
00:52We got to get her.
00:53But we were watching her give this keynote.
00:55Yes.
00:55And I was thinking about, you know, why I started calling, I call her Black Stacey.
01:02And the reason why I call her Black Stacey is because we know the Democratic Party in
01:06Georgia ran a white woman named Stacey Evans against Stacey Abrams in the primary.
01:12Now, Stacey beat the pants off of her.
01:14Congresswoman Waters is too classy to say this, but she beat the pants off of her.
01:17She beat the pants off of her.
01:18She beat the pants off of her.
01:19She beat the pants off of her.
01:20She beat the pants off of her.
01:21But sometimes Democrats can be really tone deaf, right, about what our real needs are.
01:27And it's the elephant in the room because at some point we've got to deal with this.
01:30We've seen it happen to you just from taking on Trump about these kids being separated from
01:35their parents, how can Democrats going into this very important midterm election get the tone right?
01:42And why aren't they listening to you more?
01:43Well, let me just try and put it together.
01:50First of all, black women are emerging as leaders in this country, and not only do we see Stacey
01:59Abrams running for governor, but all over the country we see black women running for offices,
02:05about 63 of them now running for state-type offices, and of course about five other women
02:11running for statewide offices, such as lieutenant governor, et cetera, et cetera.
02:17And so the party has to get used to this.
02:20They have not had to deal with the fact that African-American women were absolutely powerful,
02:27smart, engaged, intelligent, and that now we have come to the point where we really understand
02:34our power and we're starting to use it.
02:37And so in getting used to that, they're making some mistakes.
02:41They're making some mistakes because just as you described what was happening in Georgia
02:46with them getting another woman with the same name to run against Stacey, that meant that
02:54they thought that she was not deserving, that Stacey Abrams, black Stacey Abrams was not deserving,
03:00and if they just duplicate the name, somehow they would be able to overcome and they would be able to win.
03:07So we're teaching them.
03:09We're teaching them about our power.
03:12And the more we speak up, the more they're going to understand.
03:16And if they don't understand, they're jeopardizing the whole party because we can and will make the significant difference.
03:25But if, in fact, they keep making mistakes, it's going to cause the party to lose.
03:30Ms. So this is a really good point.
03:32Ms. Yes.
03:33Ms. Oftentimes, when we try to take on issues within the party, it's just like if you have family,
03:40there's like family business and you got to clean up the family mess sometimes, it doesn't mean that we're saying,
03:45oh, go support Trump and Republicans by holding Democrats accountable, right?
03:50We're just saying, we're going to teach you how to serve us better.
03:53Ms. Absolutely.
03:54Ms. And I think that we cannot be thought of as people who are, you know, disturbing, disrupting the party,
04:03and we don't understand that we've got to continue to operate in the way that we've operated in the past,
04:09or we are going to be a detriment to the party.
04:12No, the party depends on us.
04:15We make the significant difference.
04:18And if we don't go to the polls, if we don't vote, again, the party is going to be in trouble.
04:24So, no, I think you're absolutely right.
04:27At this point in time, in our history, we don't have to think about being detrimental to the party.
04:34Think about the power that we have and how we've helped the party all these years
04:39and how we will continue to do that because we know that they're significantly better than this Trump party,
04:45and we will do that if they began to appreciate us and they understand our power, embrace us, and work with us.
04:52All right.
04:53So, I love what you say.
04:55You touched on voting.
04:56I think these folks in this room know the importance of voting.
05:00They're here this morning.
05:02They're engaged.
05:03The question we hear so often is, what else can we do besides voting?
05:08Well, first of all, we've got to emphasize voting.
05:11Getting registered to vote is extremely important.
05:15We are not voting our numbers yet in most of the states, cities, the counties, what have you.
05:21At one time, we had a lot of folks saying, well, it doesn't make a difference.
05:25These parties are all the same.
05:27But I think now they can see clearly that Trump is detrimental.
05:32It has become the Trump party.
05:33It's not even the Republican party.
05:35And so we have to get registered and we have to vote so that we can make sure that our voices are heard and we can have more influence.
05:44In addition to that, I want us to use the social media.
05:49It is extremely important.
05:51I know that a lot of young people and millennials are tweeting and retweeting.
05:56They're on Facebook.
05:58You have it.
05:59But a lot of our mature people who are very capable of getting on the social media, not doing it because they think, oh, that's for them.
06:08That's for the younger people.
06:09I am 79 years old and I tweet.
06:13I tweet.
06:14I tweet.
06:15I tweet.
06:16I want to read your last tweet.
06:18Let's see.
06:19But while I'm looking up this last tweet, tell me what else folks need to be doing in addition to voting, social media, when you say one of the best ways to get involved is, what do you think that is?
06:30To show up.
06:31A lot of young people in particular think that, oh, we don't need to march.
06:38We don't need to rally.
06:39That's old time.
06:40But I want to tell you, when you show up, it makes a significant difference.
06:46We have to put a face on what we care about.
06:49We have to be at our school boards.
06:52We have to be in our city councils.
06:54We have to rally.
06:55We have to organize.
06:57And when the word goes out, don't wait for somebody to come and beg you to show up.
07:02Just get up and go.
07:03And we have started to do that as we have been dealing with this Trump administration.
07:08Don't forget when he put on the travel ban.
07:11We all just showed up at the airport.
07:13Nobody really called us.
07:15They got on the social media.
07:17They put the word out.
07:18And the numbers were fantastic.
07:20When the Women's Mark took place in Washington, D.C. with over 750,000 women, it was because women just got up and decided that they were going to go.
07:30That's the kind of attitude that you need.
07:33An attitude that says, I'm in this.
07:36And I'm a part of this.
07:37And I'm going to be a voice in what is going on.
07:40So show up.
07:41Rally.
07:42Get on the social media.
07:44Call your radio stations.
07:46Call the television stations.
07:48Tell them that you want to be on.
07:50You've got something to say.
07:51Get with the young people on the podcast and all of these avenues now that we have to communicate and we have to talk.
07:58Be active.
08:00Don't look for someone else to do it.
08:02Take the responsibility yourself and say, I'm in this fight.
08:06I'm in this struggle.
08:08Those are the things I think we can do.
08:10Stacy in her keynote talked about politics is just people getting what they want.
08:21And when I think about how our community has traditionally used politics, it hasn't been in that way.
08:28What type of shift has to occur for us to understand that this is a system that works for us?
08:34Once they're elected, whether we voted for folks or not, they're public servants.
08:39They're there to serve our needs and our interests.
08:42What do you think has to shift in our minds mentally to really understand?
08:46We didn't owe anyone that vote.
08:47We did it because that was our responsibility because this system is supposed to be working for us.
08:52Absolutely.
08:53And one of the unfortunate things is this.
08:56After we vote so often and over the years, we then don't demand anything of our politicians.
09:03We don't write to them.
09:06We don't show up at their offices.
09:08We don't invite them to come into our neighborhoods and sit down with us and answer to us about their votes.
09:15Most of the time we don't know what they're voting for and what they're voting against.
09:19We have too many elected officials, for example, who support payday loans.
09:23Payday loans are ripping off our community.
09:25And our people don't even get to these elected officials and tell them don't vote to support these payday lenders with these 300, 400 percent interest rates.
09:36We'll never get out of debt.
09:38But that's why I think it's so important for us to focus on what's going on in this administration.
09:44It's about public policy.
09:46It's about that vote.
09:47It's about the issues that are of concern to us in our community.
09:53We know that we did not have health insurance, that we could not get it because too much, because of preexisting conditions.
10:01And so with Obamacare, the ACA, finally we got it into public policy, got it voted on, got it supported, and now the Trump administration is trying to undo that.
10:14And the first thing they attacked was getting rid of making sure that all of the insurance companies would cover preexisting conditions.
10:23Who have preexisting conditions?
10:25Ladies and gentlemen, we have died too long from preventable diseases.
10:31Whether you're talking about heart problems, whether you're talking about AIDS, whether you're talking about diabetes,
10:39all of these issues that we have because we didn't have access to health care.
10:44We got it covered by saying you must insure people and you can't get rid of insuring them because of preexisting conditions.
10:52Now the Trump people are wiping that out.
10:54They want to wipe out all of Obamacare, not only health care, but let's take a look at housing.
10:59We have a housing crisis in this country.
11:02We need more affordable housing for people who simply want a decent place for them and their families to live.
11:09And you know what Ben Carson just did in HUD?
11:13He just raised the rents on the most vulnerable people, people in public housing and with Section 8s that can't even find a place to live.
11:21People have been standing in line with Section 8 certificates for affordable housing for years.
11:27And this Trump administration is doing away with all of that.
11:31So whether you're talking about housing or health care or affirmative action, he has sent a message that they're going with Jeff Sessions,
11:39they're going to do everything they can to get rid of affirmative action.
11:43And one of the things that we must keep our eye on is this president now has the ability to appoint the next Supreme Court justice.
11:52And he's going to demand of them that they make sure that they kill efforts for women to control their own bodies and going to make sure that they are against affirmative action.
12:03And so it's not simply about the fact that we don't like this president.
12:08It's not simply about the fact that he has mimicked and mocked a disabled man, talked about grabbing women by their private parts, all of those dishonorable things.
12:18It's about public policy also.
12:20It's about what they stand for and who they're going to be against and who's going to suffer under this administration.
12:28And Congresswoman, I think that's the part of this that is probably the most maddening to all of us, which is we're watching people who are trying to make this a Maxine Waters versus Donald Trump thing.
12:41And it's not personal.
12:42He makes it personal about you, right?
12:44There are personal attacks he engages in.
12:46So to see people who are supposed to be like-minded and support similar policies to also criticize your approach, it's a little frustrating.
12:56Can you talk to us about what types of consequences are on the table for you just for speaking truth to power and for helping us remember why you are engaged in the fight that you're in?
13:09What are they talking about in Congress?
13:11Well, first of all, let us be sure that we don't continue to allow this President to divert our attention away from these public policy issues.
13:24This President is an expert at diverting attention, at lying, at causing you to believe it's somebody else's problem.
13:36Let's not allow him to do that.
13:38Let's force him to stay on the issues and keep talking about the issues.
13:43Yes, he attacks me, says all kinds of things, but hell, I've been attacked all my life.
13:49And so that doesn't bother me.
13:51You know what I'm saying?
13:52That doesn't frighten me.
13:54I'm nobody's victim, and I'm not afraid of him.
13:57I'm not intimidated by him.
13:58And so I'm going to keep on doing what I'm doing.
14:01I'm going to keep on doing that.
14:03Yes.
14:04And just so the people in this room remember, because our attention was diverted.
14:08Like, for me, I'm personally, I'm like, where is he at?
14:10You know, I'm ready to fight a little bit.
14:12But when you, for real, don't mess with her.
14:15But when you, you're out here talking about children being separated from their families.
14:21Yes.
14:22And he's talking about your IQ, which is, which will run circles around his, and that's the problem.
14:26That's right.
14:27That's right.
14:28But that's the issue.
14:29And there are folks who are upset with you, who sit in the same Congress as you.
14:36They know what you fight for every day.
14:38They know that you, we call you our auntie and our queen and everything else, but they're
14:42still missing the mark.
14:43And you're saying, I don't care what consequences you bring my way, I'm still going to speak truth to power.
14:48Yes, first of all, I think people now have seen how this President defines himself.
14:54They've seen how he does not care about anything.
14:57He has no respect for the Constitution.
14:59And so anybody that can't spell their own wife's name and.
15:04Hey, Melanie.
15:06That was a good one.
15:15And claims to be patriotic and don't even know the words to the Star Spangled Banner.
15:21Uh oh.
15:24Boom.
15:25Give us one more, one more, one more.
15:30Tries to tweet and can't get through a good tweet because he doesn't know how to spell.
15:35Oh.
15:36Run till that.
15:38So, first of all, he's defined himself in that way so we can just dismiss him and stay focused on the issues and deal with this cabinet and the fact that they're attacking the ACA, that is Obamacare, will not support affordable housing and trying to do away with public education under Betsy DeVos.
16:01And so let's stay on those issues now.
16:04They don't like it because I stay on those issues and I'm dealing with this immigration problem.
16:10Not thinking about all of comprehensive immigration now.
16:14We can deal with that after we take back the House, after we take back the Senate, but we must focus on the children.
16:21We must focus on the fact that they have separated these children from their parents.
16:27I don't believe that they really know where all of them are and even though the courts have demanded that they get these children, you know, back to their parents, they're now asking for an extension because they can't get it together.
16:40They have not had systems where they can track the children and know where they are, track the parents, even suggested that some parents may want to just leave the country without their children.
16:51This is horrible.
16:53This is unacceptable.
16:54And I want to tell you why it's so meaningful for me to be an advocate for the children.
17:00We are the descendants of slaves that were sold on the auction block.
17:06They separated our families.
17:09They took the fathers and sent them one way, the mothers over to the big house, the boys to work in the plantation and in the fields.
17:17Some of those families, most of them never, ever got back together again.
17:21So we know what it is to separate children from their parents.
17:26And no matter who they're doing this to, we should be on the front lines to say, no, this is destructive.
17:32We know the consequences of all of this.
17:35And I'm going to stay on that along with all of the other issues.
17:38So what are they doing?
17:40Now they want to censure me.
17:42They want me to shut up.
17:44And they have introduced resolutions and something called Judicial Watch.
17:48Not only is supporting me being censured, they want to expel me from Congress.
17:53And Congresswoman, can you just for a moment for the people who may not know,
17:57can you just describe what is just define censure so people understand?
18:02What they would like me to do is to step in what is known as the well that's at the front of the House of Representatives,
18:10with everybody convened, all of the members convened.
18:13And then they want the Speaker to get up and basically denounce me and talk about what's wrong with me
18:20and why I am not a credible member of the Congress of the United States.
18:24And I'm supposed to stand there and take it.
18:27I'm never going to step into anybody's well.
18:33I'm never going to accept being denounced by the Speaker or anybody else.
18:39And so that's what censure is all about.
18:42And they think that what they will do is embarrass you so much, demean you so much,
18:48undermine you so much that you will come crawling back saying,
18:51I'm sorry, I will not do that.
18:54And we won't let her do that, will we?
18:58Somebody tell them.
19:02So, Congresswoman, I have to ask you this.
19:06Death threats, I know you received them for years.
19:11Are you ever afraid?
19:14I cannot be.
19:16I cannot be afraid.
19:18I must be sensible.
19:20And I know how to take care of myself and what I need to do to have security.
19:25But I cannot stop my work because of fear.
19:29I cannot allow fear to interfere with my strong belief in justice and equality.
19:35I believe so strongly that people deserve to be respected, that we deserve to be, you know,
19:44protected by the Constitution of the United States of America.
19:47And I wake up every day really believing that we can do that if we work hard to accomplish it.
19:55I am the eternal optimist.
19:57And even if I go to bed at night thinking, oh, my God, what a terrible day.
20:02I don't believe what they said today.
20:04I don't believe what they did today.
20:06One good night's sleep, I get up the next morning, I'm optimistic about the future.
20:11And so I want the young people to feel a part of what we're doing and be involved in it.
20:18And really have, you know, thoughts about what they would like to see this country be about.
20:24I don't want any of our young people to give up on the fact that we deserve to be accepted, respected,
20:32and dealt with in incredible ways.
20:36I want the young people to know that this is their country.
20:39And this is, they have a right to be at the table.
20:42They have a right to have a voice.
20:44And so this is what I work for every day.
20:46And I cannot allow fear to stop me.
20:49Well, thank you.
20:51I am sitting here listening to you and tearing up because I know what your work has meant to me.
20:57You gave me my first internship in politics.
21:01Sorry.
21:02Angela, I want you guys to know that when Angela came to work with us,
21:17before she was ever, you know, the major director for the Congressional Black Caucus, all of that,
21:26she came to a part of the district that I had at the time that I don't have anymore.
21:30And it was in the Watts area.
21:32And we had to go into the public housing projects and deal with some issues with what was going on with gangs, etc.
21:40She never skipped a beat.
21:42She came in.
21:44She hit the ground running.
21:46She worked with us.
21:49She had no fear.
21:50And she was pleased to do the work that oftentimes people are afraid to do or don't think they know how to do.
21:57And it's because of that that she has evolved into one of the most significant young people in this country.
22:05In this country.
22:07Congressional Black Caucus, someone that we are proud of, who can go on television and speak for us.
22:12And debate for us.
22:14And argue the case for us.
22:16And do it with all of the facts.
22:18And the understanding and the appreciation for who we are.
22:21appreciation for who we are and from whence we came.
22:24You give Angela Rye a big round of applause.
22:26Stand up, Angela.
22:31Angela Rye We're not done, though.
22:32I know we're not.
22:33Angela Rye I'm done crying.
22:34I'm sorry, y'all.
22:35But what I was trying to say, thank you for feeling for me,
22:38too.
22:40She always has her back, y'all.
22:42But what I was trying to say was I've never seen you be afraid.
22:47And it's one of the things that I admire the most about you
22:50because in your strength, you still can demonstrate
22:54vulnerability.
22:55You still demonstrate compassion that this country is just
22:58lacking right now.
22:59Angela Rye Yes, absolutely.
23:00Angela Rye And so I want you to continue to be our leader.
23:03And so to see folks who will criticize you, I take it very,
23:08very personally because I know everything you stand for.
23:11And I think that I can speak for this room.
23:13We're like, what are you doing?
23:14You're just on the wrong side of history.
23:16Not you, which we're talking about the people who are
23:20criticizing you.
23:21But I also look at people like Stacy who preceded us on the
23:24stage, people like Andrew Gillum running in Florida,
23:27Malin Marshall running in Wisconsin for governorships.
23:31What advice can you give them?
23:34Because when you're in those roles, people expect you to
23:36compromise so much you can lose yourself.
23:38How do you not lose yourself?
23:41Ms. First of all, I think we should be supportive of them
23:44running for office.
23:46Thank them for their courage and do everything that we can to
23:50show them that we support them and we believe that they have
23:55a right to run for office and to hold these important seats.
23:59And ladies and gentlemen, I want to tell you this.
24:02Oftentimes they talk about the big money in politics and it is
24:05absolutely nasty.
24:07It is just too much time that is given to raising money.
24:11But guess what?
24:13If all of us send one dollar, two dollars, three dollars to the
24:18elected officials that you believe in and that you want to
24:22support because you think they'll be good for the community,
24:26for our neighborhoods, for our cities, et cetera, we would not have
24:30to rely on going and begging people for big dollars in these
24:36parties and in these events that we don't really want to be in.
24:41So think about your power.
24:43Your power may lie in sending one dollar to an elected official.
24:48And now it's easy to do.
24:49You can go on the Internet and you can get on ActBlue and you can
24:54send your elected official a dollar or two dollars.
24:57And guess what?
24:58That could amount up to, you know, three, four hundred thousand,
25:01a million dollars in a short period of time.
25:04And most people think, oh, I don't have any money to contribute.
25:07Yes, you do.
25:08And remember, a lot of one dollars can add up to millions of dollars.
25:13So think about how you can use the power of your dollar to help
25:17support elected officials.
25:19Ms. When we were in the back, we had a moment to chat with
25:21Stephanie Brown James, who started Collective PAC, an entity that
25:25is helping elected officials run all over the country who look like
25:28us and represent our values.
25:30There are also entities like Black PAC and Higher Heights,
25:33which supports black women candidates.
25:35What else can people do?
25:36You talked about giving directly to these candidates.
25:39They can support these PACs.
25:40They can volunteer for the candidates that they support,
25:44for the PACs they support.
25:45We have to start engaging in the PAC game, too, because...
25:48Ms. We've got to organize more PACs.
25:50Organize more PACs.
25:51Ms. I just talked to Ed Lewis, who was one of the founders of Essence,
25:55and he has started working with a group that's coming together to form a PAC,
26:01so that they can give more support to black elected officials or
26:06candidates who are running for office.
26:08And so we have people who are involved in groups.
26:11It may be a group around a group of people who went to school together,
26:16and maybe they're all working in the same kind of industry.
26:19But if they get together and form a PAC, then they can raise money in some
26:23very specific ways, and they can disperse that money out to candidates.
26:27So look up political action committees and get some help in how you can form
26:31one in your neighborhood, in your group, and see how that can be helpful
26:36to you in supporting the candidates that you think will do well for the community.
26:41Ms. And earlier you touched on the number of people who are running for
26:44governorships, running for the United States Congress.
26:47There was quite an upset recently.
26:49Joe Crowley, who was the chair of the, or is still the chair of the Democratic
26:52caucus, lost to a young woman in the Bronx.
26:57Ms. That's right, and the interesting thing about that is not only had that
27:02district began to change, as many districts are changing, and, you know,
27:07sometimes the party does not see that change.
27:10They don't recognize that change.
27:12And in not recognizing that change, they continue to think that the people
27:16who have held the district for a long time are automatically going to win.
27:20Crowley had $3 million, and she had only $200,000, and she beat him.
27:28And, of course, that's a real upset.
27:30Ms. Yeah.
27:30Ms. That's an upset, and you're going to hear a lot from her about what
27:33she did, how she did it, and how it came about.
27:36Ms. So even that figure, I remember seeing the figure,
27:39I think she spent a little over $100,000 in her race.
27:43How can you match that up then, right?
27:46Like, we say often the only way to win is with money, but she did some
27:50substantial door-knocking, too.
27:52She showed the bottoms of the soles of her shoes.
27:55Why have people given up on, like, old-fashioned,
27:57grassroots organizing, which is something that you know very well?
28:01Why are people pretending like that's not a thing when that's
28:03definitely how she won her race?
28:04Ms. No, you're absolutely correct.
28:06And I think a lot of it has to do with consultants who have come into
28:10this business, and they have advised that the only way you can win is
28:14by the purchase of, you know, television time.
28:17The only way you can win is by spending huge sums of money in
28:21direct mail, and they have basically eliminated the door-to-door
28:26and the old lawn signs, which held us in good stead for so many years.
28:30And so we encourage particularly young people who have the strength
28:35and the ability to get with the elected officials and walk.
28:39It's good for you.
28:40Not only is it good for the candidate, but it's good for you
28:43to get reconnected in your own neighborhoods and know who's there
28:47and what it's all about and what their concerns are and what they're
28:51talking about and what they'd like to see elected officials do.
28:54So I encourage walking door-to-door.
28:58We call it precinct walking in the greater Los Angeles area in California.
29:03But if you have an opportunity and you can do nothing else but go
29:06to your candidate's office, the campaign office,
29:10and let them know that you're willing to walk,
29:13that you're willing to knock on doors,
29:14and you're willing to put up some lawn signs to show support
29:18for your candidate, that would be a great contribution.
29:22And I advocate doing that.
29:24Okay, well, they're telling us to wrap up.
29:26So I definitely want to just give you the opportunity.
29:29I know, you guys.
29:31But I want to give you the opportunity to just end
29:33with some parting thoughts.
29:34We have to be encouraged.
29:36We have a lot of work to do.
29:37We have a big fight ahead of us.
29:39We have a great fighter.
29:40I told you all she's seven feet on the inside.
29:43But just let us know what else you think we need to be doing,
29:46how we can stay engaged in the fight,
29:48even when every day we see there's another issue.
29:50Remy talked about that on the panel yesterday.
29:52Every single day there's something new.
29:54How do we stay encouraged and motivated for the fight,
29:57even though some of us are more tired than you,
29:59and you're about to be 80 in August?
30:02Well, let me just say this.
30:03I want to thank Essence.
30:05I want to thank Essence for putting on this festival every year
30:09and bringing us together.
30:11It gives us an opportunity to talk to each other,
30:15to engage each other, to, you know, get some new ideas.
30:19And it also gives support to some of us who are doing what we
30:23think you want us to do when you show up and you let us know that.
30:27And so thank you, Essence.
30:29Let's give Essence a big round of applause.
30:32Thank them for bringing us together.
30:35And this is a little something that I want to share with you.
30:39When you're feeling down and you're feeling disgusted,
30:43and you're thinking this is for naught,
30:46I want you to stop and take a deep breath and say,
30:49oh, no, you can't stop now.
30:51You can't let them intimidate you.
30:54You can't shut your mouth.
30:56You can't allow yourself to get out of the struggle.
30:59Take that deep breath and come back up with it and start going again.
31:03And this is everything in life.
31:05It's not just about politics.
31:07It's about your personal life.
31:09It's about when things are not going right at home with your mate.
31:12It's when your children are giving you problems,
31:14and you think it's just too much to bear.
31:17It may seem like it's too much to bear,
31:19but really you can deal with it.
31:22Take that deep breath and get up and just keep on going.
31:25That's what I advise you to do.
31:27Be encouraged.
31:28Understand that you are deserving.
31:30You are deserving to have a decent quality of life.
31:33You deserve to have happiness.
31:35You deserve to have peace.
31:36And if you know that and you feel that and you internalize that,
31:40act it out and go and get it, okay?
31:43Thank you very much.
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