This week hosts Tiffany Cross, Angela Rye, and Andrew Gillum define our democracy (what’s left of it).

Nowadays it’s popular to say that the USA is a “democracy in decline.” But what does that actually mean when for many of us the system has been failing! Our hosts identify specific areas where our democracy has crumbled and begin to answer the question: exactly HOW and WHY has our democracy failed? This will be an ongoing conversation, and we’d love your input, send us a video!

Speaking of ongoing conversations, we hear your pushback to this idea that we ought to stand in solidarity with migrants. In a video we received, one of y’all was also questioning the idea that there could ever be self-sufficient communities for Black and Brown folks. We’ll play that video so the hosts can respond to your criticism. We love being in conversation with y’all, even when we disagree!

We invite you to think radically, consult your local communities, and imagine how our democracy can be salvaged–or completely reconstructed??

If you’d like to submit a question or statement, check out our tutorial video: http://www.instagram.com/reel/C5j_oBXLIg0/ and send to @nativelandpod.

Check out the research paper Angela mentioned on the Trump admin’s immigration policies and their impact on Black migrants: https://baji.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/BAJI-First-100-Days-2025.pdf

Find out more about the State of the People tour: https://stateoftheppl.com/

We are 523 days away from the midterm elections. Welcome home y’all!

—---------

We want to hear from you! Send us a video @nativelandpod and we may feature you on the podcast.

Instagram

X/Twitter

Facebook

NativeLandPod.com

Watch full episodes of Native Land Pod here on YouTube.

Native Land Pod is brought to you by Reasoned Choice Media.

Thank you to the Native Land Pod team:

Angela Rye as host, executive producer and cofounder of Reasoned Choice Media; Tiffany Cross as host and producer, Andrew Gillum as host and producer, and Lauren Hansen as executive producer; Loren Mychael is our research producer, and Nikolas Harter is our editor and producer. Special thanks to Chris Morrow and Lenard McKelvey, co-founders of Reasoned Choice Media.

Theme music created by Daniel Laurent.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Trump’s justice department has drastically scaled back its support for anti-crime initiatives. They’ve cut $500 million in grants from 200+ organizations focused on violence prevention. Angela Rye went LIVE to talk about the impact of these cuts on violence prevention in the Black community with two folks doing the work:

Rev. Michael McBride (Pastor Mike) is the executive director for LIVE FREE USA, a national organizing and social change network committed to ending the criminalization of people of color, reducing gun violence and transforming the policing and the criminal justice system. He is a national leader in the movement to implement community violence intervention and he serves as the Lead Pastor of The Way Church in Berkeley, CA. Support Pastor Mike’s work at https://livefreeusa.org/ and follow him @impastormike_

Wesley Moore created the mentoring and youth leadership program, Our Brothers Keeper (OBK) in 2016. OBK has provided temporary housing, employment, and skill training workshops for youth and young adults ages 14-25. Before OBK, he started a construction company that focuses on providing temporary housing for youth transitioning out of foster care and families transitioning out of shelters. Support Mr. Moore’s work at https://oursbrotherskeepers.org/.

Want to ask Angela a question? Subscribe to our YouTube channel to participate in the chat.

Welcome home y’all!

—---------

We want to hear from you! Send us a video @nativelandpod and we may feature you on the podcast.

Instagram

X/Twitter

Facebook

NativeLandPod.com

Watch full episodes of Native Land Pod here on YouTube.

Native Land Pod is brought to you by Reasoned Choice Media.

Thank you to the Native Land Pod team:

Angela Rye as host, executive producer and cofounder of Reasoned Choice Media; Tiffany Cross as host and producer, Andrew Gillum as host and producer, and Lauren Hansen as executive producer; Loren Mychael is our research producer, and Nikolas Harter is our editor and producer. Special thanks to Chris Morrow and Lenard McKelvey, co-founders of Reasoned Choice Media.

Theme music created by Daniel Laurent.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you feel like giving up and tuning out in this political moment–that is by design. Hosts Angela Rye, Tiffany Cross, and Andrew Gillum discuss how to stay motivated under a relentless Trump 2.0 and the nonstop news cycle.

Our hosts have laid eyes on some Black communities working to become more self-sufficient during these dark times and they want to tell you about them.

If you’d like to submit a question, check out our tutorial video: www.instagram.com/reel/C5j_oBXLIg0/

Welcome home y’all!

—---------

We want to hear from you! Send us a video @nativelandpod and we may feature you on the podcast.

Instagram

X/Twitter

Facebook

NativeLandPod.com

Watch full episodes of Native Land Pod here on YouTube.

Native Land Pod is brought to you by Reasoned Choice Media.

Thank you to the Native Land Pod team:

Angela Rye as host, executive producer and cofounder of Reasoned Choice Media; Tiffany Cross as host and producer, Andrew Gillum as host and producer, and Lauren Hansen as executive producer; Loren Mychael is our research producer, and Nikolas Harter is our editor and producer. Special thanks to Chris Morrow and Lenard McKelvey, co-founders of Reasoned Choice Media.

Theme music created by Daniel Laurent.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.