00:00:08.510 --> 00:00:14.940
(soft orchestral music)

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- How's it going, everyone?

00:00:15.930 --> 00:00:16.760
It's Mr. Laird.

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Hopefully everyone is okay right now.

00:00:19.590 --> 00:00:21.250
Everyone's staying safe.

00:00:21.250 --> 00:00:23.190
Everyone is healthy,

00:00:23.190 --> 00:00:26.010
because I know these aren't ideal times.

00:00:27.360 --> 00:00:29.670
None of us want to be in this reality.

00:00:29.670 --> 00:00:33.120
None of us want to have
our lives like this,

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but it's what we have to do

00:00:35.280 --> 00:00:36.420
for the greater good of the country,

00:00:36.420 --> 00:00:39.090
for the greater good of one another.

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I know we're all struggling.

00:00:40.260 --> 00:00:41.090
I'm struggling.

00:00:44.370 --> 00:00:46.120
But in the history of this country,

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we have always had, at some point,

00:00:52.020 --> 00:00:54.870
a time where we've all had to dig deep,

00:00:57.090 --> 00:01:00.570
come together, and work hard and grow.

00:01:03.150 --> 00:01:06.120
So what I need from you
all is to keep working,

00:01:06.120 --> 00:01:11.120
keep digging deep, keep plowing
ahead, because if you do,

00:01:12.990 --> 00:01:16.770
or rather when you do, you're
gonna be better because of it.

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And I want you all to
know that I'm here for you

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and that I miss you.

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I want to leave you
with this last thought.

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I see you,

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I hear you,

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and I love you,

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and I'm here for you no matter what.

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Have a great day.

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And remember, it's always
great to be a Lancer.

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Stay tuned.

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I got a little treat after this.

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(soft orchestral music)

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- COVID has been a rollercoaster.

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I taught from the hospital.

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Good morning.

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How do you feel today?

00:02:04.410 --> 00:02:07.710
I never wanted to let my health

00:02:07.710 --> 00:02:09.240
get in the way of my teaching.

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So I would bring my
computer to the hospital

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and I would sit in my hospital
bed and I would teach.

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And the great thing about Zoom

00:02:17.220 --> 00:02:18.740
is that you could put
different backgrounds on.

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So my kids never knew that
I was in the hospital.

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You know, I would move my
wires or take off my oxygen

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or hide my IVs and change my background

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so that my kids never knew.

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So I teach moderate to severe
special ed middle school

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and a lot of my kids have
really struggled with anxiety

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and they really, really need consistency.

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You feel angry or do you feel sad?

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- [Student] I feel sad.

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- I don't want you to feel sad.

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It's a happy day.

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I get to go home today.

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My principal at the time
called me and she was like,

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"Are you fucking crazy?"

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She was like, "You do not need
to be on Zoom with the kids.

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"Other people can handle it."

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And it didn't just sit right with me.

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I needed to be that constant for my kids

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in such a scary time.

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Sorry, I'm just recording.

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- [Nurse] Oh.

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- It's okay, you could go through.

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It's okay.

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You're totally fine.

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You know, Teacher Appreciation
Week rolled around

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and I was like, yes,
Teacher Appreciation Week.

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Somebody's gonna say thank you.

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Thank you so much for all of my pictures.

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I have them hung up in
my room at the hospital

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and it really didn't happen.

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Last year, we were the heroes.

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Parents were like, "Please
take these kids back.

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"We need you."

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And then this year it's
been, "Stop complaining.

00:03:52.410 --> 00:03:54.390
"You have a job to do.

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"We all need to go back to work,

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"so you need to watch our kids."

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But what people forget is
that we're professionals.

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I'm not a babysitter.

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I have two master's degrees,
but I'm treated like daycare.

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We're treated like daycare
and that's really tough.

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- [President Trump] Today,
the CDC will provide

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additional guidance for how
schools can reopen safely.

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- [Betsy] It's not a matter of

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if schools should reopen,
it's simply a matter of how.

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- Somebody comes to you
and they say, "Hey Shelby,

00:04:36.060 --> 00:04:39.420
"I would like to bring
an 800 pound tiger in

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"for show and tell to
a kindergarten class.

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"So how can we do that safely?"

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Hmm, how can we do this safely?

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That's what we're
looking at with COVID-19.

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There's nothing about this
that is healthy or safe for us.

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We're just all trying to
figure out how it can be safer.

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- [Betsy] They must fully open

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and they must be fully operational.

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And how that happens is best left

00:05:03.660 --> 00:05:06.780
to education and community leaders.

00:05:06.780 --> 00:05:09.210
- I feel like we're all disposable

00:05:09.210 --> 00:05:12.180
because school districts and
colleges are coming out saying,

00:05:12.180 --> 00:05:15.390
"well, if a teacher dies,
we're not shutting down.

00:05:15.390 --> 00:05:17.250
"It'll only be if a kid dies."

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I'm sorry. What?

00:05:19.860 --> 00:05:22.200
- [President Trump] Reopening
our schools is also critical

00:05:22.200 --> 00:05:24.450
to ensuring that parents can go to work

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and provide for their families.

00:05:26.400 --> 00:05:28.530
This is not about politics.

00:05:28.530 --> 00:05:29.850
- You don't wanna put your child at risk,

00:05:29.850 --> 00:05:32.550
but you're willing to
put all of the children

00:05:32.550 --> 00:05:35.220
and teachers of America at risk.

00:05:35.220 --> 00:05:36.920
Who the fuck do you think you are?

00:05:37.950 --> 00:05:39.330
- [President Biden] All
you teachers out there,

00:05:39.330 --> 00:05:42.180
not that many of you're gonna
die, so don't worry about it.

00:05:42.180 --> 00:05:43.010
Come on.

00:05:44.520 --> 00:05:46.860
- You know I've got
stage four endometriosis.

00:05:46.860 --> 00:05:48.540
I had ovarian cancer.

00:05:48.540 --> 00:05:51.360
The ovarian cancer caused fibromyalgia.

00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:54.570
I have really, really
horrific chronic pain.

00:05:54.570 --> 00:05:56.850
Now I've got colonized
E. coli in my system

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and I'm an asthmatic and
I've got blood clots.

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I'm like a walking medical mystery.

00:06:05.090 --> 00:06:07.350
- [Commentator] Uh oh, she froze.

00:06:07.350 --> 00:06:08.850
- The teachers are scared.

00:06:08.850 --> 00:06:11.340
We are very, very scared.

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So I don't know really
what I'm going to do,

00:06:15.480 --> 00:06:18.630
but I always figure it out.

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(suspenseful music)

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- COVID, it's a different ballgame.

00:06:25.800 --> 00:06:27.030
It hurts.

00:06:27.030 --> 00:06:28.620
I wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy.

00:06:28.620 --> 00:06:29.670
It's not a joke.

00:06:29.670 --> 00:06:30.780
You don't want it.

00:06:30.780 --> 00:06:33.750
- With COVID, I was running
104 fevers every day

00:06:33.750 --> 00:06:35.580
for 30 days.

00:06:35.580 --> 00:06:40.580
I was so incredibly
sick that I didn't think

00:06:41.160 --> 00:06:43.290
that I was going to make it through COVID.

00:06:43.290 --> 00:06:45.080
- I got pneumonia in like middle school

00:06:45.080 --> 00:06:48.120
and this felt way weirder than that.

00:06:48.120 --> 00:06:50.490
- I couldn't decide if I
was too hot or too cold.

00:06:50.490 --> 00:06:52.890
- Being really hot, being really cold.

00:06:52.890 --> 00:06:54.930
- Standing up and sitting down was hard

00:06:54.930 --> 00:06:57.300
because like the shift, I don't know,

00:06:57.300 --> 00:06:59.190
like in my center of gravity
just made me feel like

00:06:59.190 --> 00:07:00.300
I was gonna throw up.

00:07:00.300 --> 00:07:03.210
- So much fatigue, like very sore.

00:07:03.210 --> 00:07:04.470
It was hard to even get up

00:07:04.470 --> 00:07:06.420
and like use the bathroom sometimes.

00:07:06.420 --> 00:07:08.670
- There were days that I
thought that if I fell asleep

00:07:08.670 --> 00:07:10.620
that I wasn't going to wake back up.

00:07:10.620 --> 00:07:11.850
That's how sick I was.

00:07:11.850 --> 00:07:13.530
- Everything tastes like ketchup.

00:07:14.580 --> 00:07:17.610
Still, anything with ginger
in it tastes like ketchup.

00:07:17.610 --> 00:07:19.530
It's really nasty.

00:07:19.530 --> 00:07:21.690
Toothpaste tastes awful.

00:07:21.690 --> 00:07:23.250
It's so awful.

00:07:23.250 --> 00:07:25.590
Like I dread brushing my teeth.

00:07:25.590 --> 00:07:27.540
- COVID is running rampant
through our schools

00:07:27.540 --> 00:07:29.880
and our schools aren't telling the truth.

00:07:29.880 --> 00:07:33.900
We get daily or weekly bulletins
about how many COVID cases

00:07:33.900 --> 00:07:38.900
we have in each building and
then it always says, always,

00:07:38.940 --> 00:07:41.160
that they either got it
from an outside relative

00:07:41.160 --> 00:07:43.860
or they got it from an
outside sporting event.

00:07:43.860 --> 00:07:46.260
Not one notice that has gone out

00:07:46.260 --> 00:07:50.070
has been an in-school
spreading situation, not one.

00:07:50.070 --> 00:07:53.100
As educators in the building,
we know that that's not true.

00:07:53.100 --> 00:07:55.740
- I know some people at their university,

00:07:55.740 --> 00:07:57.600
they're being encouraged not to test

00:07:57.600 --> 00:07:58.930
if they're exposed to COVID.

00:07:58.930 --> 00:08:01.650
I have a friend at
Mizzou who basically said

00:08:01.650 --> 00:08:05.460
that their sorority was like
told like don't say anything.

00:08:05.460 --> 00:08:09.060
Just like be sick, get
through it, go home,

00:08:09.060 --> 00:08:10.890
but get tested at home.

00:08:10.890 --> 00:08:12.720
Don't get tested at school.

00:08:12.720 --> 00:08:14.730
- They haven't been
talking about it freely,

00:08:14.730 --> 00:08:16.920
like they've been keeping
everything hidden.

00:08:16.920 --> 00:08:18.960
If you want your students to feel safe,

00:08:18.960 --> 00:08:22.110
then you need to be honest
and open with everything.

00:08:22.110 --> 00:08:25.230
- You have to go about
things on a day-by-day basis

00:08:25.230 --> 00:08:27.360
because you know that things are changing

00:08:27.360 --> 00:08:28.800
every single day,

00:08:28.800 --> 00:08:30.480
that there's gonna be new information,

00:08:30.480 --> 00:08:32.160
there's gonna be new cases.

00:08:32.160 --> 00:08:34.500
- We don't know what's
gonna happen in the future.

00:08:34.500 --> 00:08:38.430
Like what if this like depletes
my lifespan by five years?

00:08:38.430 --> 00:08:40.860
What if this for some reason like harms

00:08:40.860 --> 00:08:43.470
like my lung capacity when I'm older?

00:08:43.470 --> 00:08:45.510
- Everywhere students
were just talking about

00:08:45.510 --> 00:08:47.070
what if we get sent home?

00:08:47.070 --> 00:08:48.750
We just need to make it to this point

00:08:48.750 --> 00:08:49.800
and then we'll be safe.

00:08:49.800 --> 00:08:51.300
Okay, we gotta make it to this week.

00:08:51.300 --> 00:08:53.100
We have to make it to the next week.

00:08:53.100 --> 00:08:55.260
What if these new
friendships that I've made

00:08:55.260 --> 00:08:59.220
end so suddenly and what
if they can't be revived

00:08:59.220 --> 00:09:00.510
even after we come back?

00:09:00.510 --> 00:09:01.830
- But what about us?

00:09:01.830 --> 00:09:03.600
What about the teachers
that aren't invincible?

00:09:03.600 --> 00:09:05.520
What about the teachers who are pregnant?

00:09:05.520 --> 00:09:08.160
What about the teachers who
have medical conditions?

00:09:08.160 --> 00:09:09.810
We're not thought of.

00:09:09.810 --> 00:09:11.970
- What if this is going
to become the norm?

00:09:11.970 --> 00:09:14.520
It's scary when we can't
answer our own questions.

00:09:14.520 --> 00:09:16.110
When we have this fear of the unknown,

00:09:16.110 --> 00:09:18.360
it is just terrifying.

00:09:18.360 --> 00:09:20.790
- I think it's ridiculous
that a university

00:09:20.790 --> 00:09:23.340
is sending us here to make money

00:09:23.340 --> 00:09:25.470
claiming that like it's my responsibility

00:09:25.470 --> 00:09:27.390
as a college student
to keep everyone safe.

00:09:27.390 --> 00:09:29.850
It's my responsibility
to keep myself safe.

00:09:29.850 --> 00:09:31.860
If the university isn't handing out masks,

00:09:31.860 --> 00:09:33.840
if the university isn't
having a health center

00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:35.880
that is giving out free testing,

00:09:35.880 --> 00:09:38.070
if the university isn't
giving out incentives

00:09:38.070 --> 00:09:40.380
for people to go get testing

00:09:40.380 --> 00:09:43.290
or the accessibility to get tested,

00:09:43.290 --> 00:09:45.930
then that shouldn't be my fault.

00:09:45.930 --> 00:09:48.270
In my frank opinion, it's bullshit.

00:09:48.270 --> 00:09:49.350
- Everybody's mental health

00:09:49.350 --> 00:09:51.240
has been so significantly affected

00:09:51.240 --> 00:09:53.460
and I think that we are going to see

00:09:53.460 --> 00:09:57.930
a massive generation with
such significant trauma

00:09:57.930 --> 00:10:00.750
and unless it's addressed,

00:10:00.750 --> 00:10:04.770
I think we're going to see a
very big rise in mental illness

00:10:04.770 --> 00:10:06.660
that debilitates people.

00:10:06.660 --> 00:10:10.530
We are already seeing a rise in anxiety.

00:10:10.530 --> 00:10:11.550
This is scary.

00:10:15.780 --> 00:10:17.310
- Mental health is something

00:10:17.310 --> 00:10:21.180
that I really prioritize in a lot of ways.

00:10:21.180 --> 00:10:23.070
You can easily neglect it

00:10:23.070 --> 00:10:26.160
and then things just fester and
grow and before you know it,

00:10:26.160 --> 00:10:28.700
you have more issues than
you have like fingers,

00:10:28.700 --> 00:10:31.920
which is hard to imagine.

00:10:31.920 --> 00:10:33.920
- A lot of my friends as well as myself

00:10:33.920 --> 00:10:38.280
have struggled or were
struggling with mental health

00:10:38.280 --> 00:10:40.410
way before this.

00:10:40.410 --> 00:10:43.740
COVID offered this weird,

00:10:44.670 --> 00:10:47.110
it wasn't comforting but it was like

00:10:48.180 --> 00:10:52.170
it was able to offer people,
specifically adults in my case,

00:10:52.170 --> 00:10:54.720
reason for why I was feeling this way.

00:10:54.720 --> 00:10:57.570
Just being like, man, I'm
just so tired all the time

00:10:57.570 --> 00:11:00.000
or I don't have any motivation to do work.

00:11:00.930 --> 00:11:02.700
Or like I don't wanna leave the house.

00:11:02.700 --> 00:11:05.250
Hey, it's been kind of hard to
keep up with like my hygiene

00:11:05.250 --> 00:11:07.350
or it's been hard for me to just

00:11:07.350 --> 00:11:10.200
be able to reciprocate
love, things like that.

00:11:10.200 --> 00:11:11.370
Oh well, you know,

00:11:11.370 --> 00:11:13.220
we're all going through
a rough time right now.

00:11:13.220 --> 00:11:15.570
I know you're tired, we're all tired,

00:11:15.570 --> 00:11:17.310
we're all going through this pandemic.

00:11:17.310 --> 00:11:19.800
Personally, that's not what I need to hear

00:11:19.800 --> 00:11:22.830
when I'm expressing how I'm feeling

00:11:22.830 --> 00:11:25.410
'cause that's already kind of hard for me.

00:11:25.410 --> 00:11:27.030
- This year was hard.

00:11:27.030 --> 00:11:31.830
It was hard on everybody,
but for me it was hard.

00:11:31.830 --> 00:11:32.970
Goodbye dorm.

00:11:34.140 --> 00:11:36.920
I will not miss you because it is,

00:11:38.040 --> 00:11:40.680
it reminds me of the pandemic so.

00:11:40.680 --> 00:11:44.610
This last semester, I'd
go home every other week

00:11:44.610 --> 00:11:49.110
because I just needed
the break from everything

00:11:49.110 --> 00:11:52.320
and I wanted to make sure
that I finished out the year.

00:11:52.320 --> 00:11:55.410
Like I didn't wanna give
up and it was super hard.

00:11:55.410 --> 00:11:58.890
Like I just have some days
where I'm just like, man,

00:11:58.890 --> 00:12:02.040
I really just don't wanna
move out of bed and,

00:12:02.910 --> 00:12:06.600
oh my goodness, didn't wanna cry,

00:12:07.860 --> 00:12:10.860
but the pandemic didn't help at all.

00:12:12.270 --> 00:12:14.420
People have mental health
issues and they hide it

00:12:14.420 --> 00:12:16.560
and I didn't want to hide it anymore

00:12:16.560 --> 00:12:20.700
so I showed the camera that
I was having a hard time.

00:12:21.660 --> 00:12:24.630
My roommate decided to do
summer college and I was like,

00:12:24.630 --> 00:12:29.630
"Girl, you are better than
me because I need a break."

00:12:32.280 --> 00:12:36.450
- Contemplation by yourself
for such a long period of time

00:12:36.450 --> 00:12:39.120
can really make you start

00:12:39.120 --> 00:12:41.550
thinking critically about yourself.

00:12:41.550 --> 00:12:43.920
Through quarantine and being isolated

00:12:43.920 --> 00:12:46.500
and sitting in your room for two weeks

00:12:46.500 --> 00:12:49.770
makes you reflect a lot
about what you have done,

00:12:49.770 --> 00:12:54.360
what you haven't done, and
the guilt and shame you have

00:12:54.360 --> 00:12:56.790
with possibly being a
person who's passed it on

00:12:56.790 --> 00:13:00.090
to another individual is horrifying

00:13:00.090 --> 00:13:02.700
when in reality it's not my fault.

00:13:02.700 --> 00:13:04.470
I had to go to therapy for it

00:13:04.470 --> 00:13:08.610
and I knew that if I was sharing
the thoughts I was having

00:13:08.610 --> 00:13:10.740
with a close friend or family member,

00:13:10.740 --> 00:13:13.500
that they would want me to go see somebody

00:13:13.500 --> 00:13:14.790
and talk about it.

00:13:14.790 --> 00:13:16.530
And if someone was sharing with me

00:13:16.530 --> 00:13:18.210
that they were struggling
with these issues,

00:13:18.210 --> 00:13:19.830
I would encourage them to seek help.

00:13:19.830 --> 00:13:22.800
So why shouldn't I go seek help?

00:13:22.800 --> 00:13:24.120
- We need social interaction,

00:13:24.120 --> 00:13:26.640
we need to be able to step outside.

00:13:26.640 --> 00:13:30.960
Having those really important
aspects of life taken from us,

00:13:30.960 --> 00:13:31.890
especially at the beginning,

00:13:31.890 --> 00:13:34.380
not knowing when this was gonna be okay,

00:13:34.380 --> 00:13:36.150
like specifically the
point when they're like,

00:13:36.150 --> 00:13:38.700
it'll only be like two
weeks and then we'll be good

00:13:38.700 --> 00:13:41.370
and then that two weeks
is up and they're like,

00:13:41.370 --> 00:13:43.350
it's not gonna be two weeks anymore.

00:13:43.350 --> 00:13:46.170
That was like so terrifying.

00:13:46.170 --> 00:13:49.560
It all adds on to the mental aspect

00:13:49.560 --> 00:13:52.080
of how COVID affected people, I think.

00:13:52.080 --> 00:13:53.220
- When people are struggling,

00:13:53.220 --> 00:13:55.530
it's really hard to ask for help.

00:13:55.530 --> 00:13:57.990
We talk about self-care all the time.

00:13:57.990 --> 00:14:01.050
You see it all over social
media and the internet.

00:14:01.050 --> 00:14:03.150
Love yourself, take care of yourself.

00:14:03.150 --> 00:14:07.530
But what does that mean to
say I am great, I am perfect,

00:14:07.530 --> 00:14:09.360
I am fantastic.

00:14:09.360 --> 00:14:10.530
We can say that,

00:14:10.530 --> 00:14:14.850
but if it doesn't mean anything
then it, then that's it.

00:14:14.850 --> 00:14:17.190
That's where I see reflection coming in

00:14:17.190 --> 00:14:20.430
as such a crucial point of
self-service and self-care

00:14:20.430 --> 00:14:24.990
is because you have to be able
to reflect on who you are,

00:14:24.990 --> 00:14:26.700
where you are, where you've come from,

00:14:26.700 --> 00:14:28.860
looking back at your experiences

00:14:28.860 --> 00:14:32.130
because every experience
that we go through shapes us

00:14:32.130 --> 00:14:33.930
as the person we are today.

00:14:33.930 --> 00:14:36.510
And so reflecting on those moments,

00:14:36.510 --> 00:14:38.880
understanding the person you are today

00:14:38.880 --> 00:14:41.130
and really appreciating

00:14:41.130 --> 00:14:43.980
how you've gotten to
this place that you are,

00:14:43.980 --> 00:14:45.570
that is self-service.

00:14:45.570 --> 00:14:48.450
And when you're able to
learn, you're able to grow

00:14:48.450 --> 00:14:49.920
and then you can progress forward

00:14:49.920 --> 00:14:52.470
to be the best version of yourself,

00:14:52.470 --> 00:14:54.420
to be the self that you wanna be.

00:14:54.420 --> 00:14:58.710
So then you can help others be
that self that they wanna be.

00:14:58.710 --> 00:15:00.000
- I'm always afraid that people

00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:03.000
are gonna look back at the
time of quarantine or COVID

00:15:03.000 --> 00:15:05.910
and romanticize it in a way.

00:15:05.910 --> 00:15:08.430
Like you had two months where
you could have done anything.

00:15:08.430 --> 00:15:09.780
I couldn't have done jack shit.

00:15:09.780 --> 00:15:11.570
I was trapped at my house.

00:15:11.570 --> 00:15:12.720
People are like,

00:15:12.720 --> 00:15:15.120
"You could have spent those
two months losing weight."

00:15:15.120 --> 00:15:16.140
How could I lose weight?

00:15:16.140 --> 00:15:17.250
I was so depressed

00:15:17.250 --> 00:15:19.650
and worried that my
friends were gonna die.

00:15:19.650 --> 00:15:22.650
You could have spent that
time developing a new skill.

00:15:22.650 --> 00:15:24.990
How could I have developed a skill

00:15:24.990 --> 00:15:28.560
when I was watching numbers
tick up and up and up

00:15:28.560 --> 00:15:31.650
of so many people dying
on the television screen

00:15:31.650 --> 00:15:33.660
and not knowing what was gonna happen.

00:15:34.560 --> 00:15:36.840
My friends and I are so burnt out.

00:15:36.840 --> 00:15:39.360
I will come home and
start crying for no reason

00:15:39.360 --> 00:15:41.280
and then feel numb for like days.

00:15:41.280 --> 00:15:44.160
I have no motivation to do anything.

00:15:44.160 --> 00:15:45.660
I feel worn out.

00:15:45.660 --> 00:15:47.310
I want to retire.

00:15:47.310 --> 00:15:49.740
Like genuinely, I don't
want to work anymore.

00:15:49.740 --> 00:15:53.370
I fantasize about going
to a lake house, sleeping,

00:15:53.370 --> 00:15:55.080
and not doing anything.

00:15:55.080 --> 00:15:57.630
I'm 21 years old, that's disappointing.

00:15:57.630 --> 00:15:58.980
I shouldn't feel like that.

00:15:58.980 --> 00:16:02.880
I should be working on polishing my craft,

00:16:02.880 --> 00:16:04.680
not being already burnt out

00:16:04.680 --> 00:16:07.170
from what I want to do with my life.

00:16:07.170 --> 00:16:09.880
And you have to sacrifice
either your mental health

00:16:09.880 --> 00:16:13.080
or your academic credibility
in a lot of ways.

00:16:13.080 --> 00:16:15.600
- Kids did struggle and frankly,

00:16:15.600 --> 00:16:17.220
I don't know how they got through it.

00:16:17.220 --> 00:16:19.080
I don't know how I got through.

00:16:19.080 --> 00:16:20.250
I don't know if I can ever do it again.

00:16:20.250 --> 00:16:21.840
You know, you barely see your family,

00:16:21.840 --> 00:16:24.000
you don't see your friends
except on a screen.

00:16:24.000 --> 00:16:26.040
I struggle with it as someone in my 30s,

00:16:26.040 --> 00:16:28.680
I don't know how a kid
could struggle with that.

00:16:28.680 --> 00:16:29.510
- And quite honestly,

00:16:29.510 --> 00:16:31.080
it's the hardest year of
teaching I've ever done.

00:16:31.080 --> 00:16:33.570
Having to take education, rip it open,

00:16:33.570 --> 00:16:35.280
toss its guts on the table,

00:16:35.280 --> 00:16:37.020
figure out what's
important and what's not,

00:16:37.020 --> 00:16:41.130
and then try to find a way to
get kids to connect with you

00:16:41.130 --> 00:16:42.060
through a screen.

00:16:43.350 --> 00:16:44.790
It's been heavy.

00:16:44.790 --> 00:16:46.980
So yeah, it's a tough year.

00:16:49.320 --> 00:16:50.150
- At the end of the year,

00:16:50.150 --> 00:16:51.270
I was talking with a couple of teachers.

00:16:51.270 --> 00:16:52.790
They all said, without doubt,

00:16:52.790 --> 00:16:56.160
this was the hardest year
they have ever had teaching.

00:16:56.160 --> 00:16:57.960
They said, "The only
thing that comes close

00:16:57.960 --> 00:17:01.170
"is my first year of
teaching, but this is harder."

00:17:01.170 --> 00:17:06.170
- In my 30+ years of nursing
here in the Kansas City area,

00:17:06.180 --> 00:17:10.410
never ever had I had more
resignations in a year

00:17:10.410 --> 00:17:11.700
than I did this year.

00:17:11.700 --> 00:17:14.910
- I had a number of
teachers who confided in me.

00:17:14.910 --> 00:17:17.580
They felt as though they were being asked

00:17:17.580 --> 00:17:21.120
to put their life on the line
by coming into the classroom

00:17:21.120 --> 00:17:25.170
and they said, "How can you justify this?"

00:17:25.170 --> 00:17:27.150
That was one of the
hardest questions to answer

00:17:27.150 --> 00:17:31.250
because the humanitarian
in me would like to say,

00:17:31.250 --> 00:17:33.420
"Man, we can't justify it.

00:17:33.420 --> 00:17:36.990
"I understand entirely, stay at home."

00:17:36.990 --> 00:17:38.730
And so it becomes really
hard to tell a teacher,

00:17:38.730 --> 00:17:40.350
"Look, we've done everything we can.

00:17:40.350 --> 00:17:44.790
"I can't tell you 100%
guaranteed you are safe,

00:17:44.790 --> 00:17:46.160
"nothing's gonna happen."

00:17:47.190 --> 00:17:50.250
And then tell him, "You
need to go to work anyway."

00:17:50.250 --> 00:17:54.630
- We are on a field trip at an
aquarium and, unfortunately,

00:17:54.630 --> 00:17:57.630
not everybody is wearing masks.

00:17:57.630 --> 00:18:00.390
My class is, but the
general public is unmasked.

00:18:02.850 --> 00:18:06.690
- We are kind of worked
to the bone this year.

00:18:06.690 --> 00:18:09.660
You know, it's been coming
early to prep, stay late,

00:18:09.660 --> 00:18:14.220
teach in person, teach online,
have meetings with parents,

00:18:14.220 --> 00:18:17.490
make sure you're cleaning the
classroom in between classes.

00:18:17.490 --> 00:18:20.460
You need to be happy, you
need to reassure the kids.

00:18:20.460 --> 00:18:22.410
You need to keep their
mental health in mind.

00:18:22.410 --> 00:18:24.720
You need to reassure the parents.

00:18:24.720 --> 00:18:26.820
Keep yourself safe because
we can't have you go out

00:18:26.820 --> 00:18:29.040
because we don't have any subs.

00:18:29.040 --> 00:18:33.490
It's been such a year of pressure

00:18:34.500 --> 00:18:35.970
for everybody in the schools,

00:18:35.970 --> 00:18:38.800
especially teachers and para-educators.

00:18:38.800 --> 00:18:42.000
Para-educators, I feel like,
are always the forgotten heroes

00:18:42.000 --> 00:18:43.530
of the school.

00:18:43.530 --> 00:18:44.550
It's a lot.

00:18:44.550 --> 00:18:46.080
- We said a number of times

00:18:46.080 --> 00:18:48.000
in some of our administrative meetings

00:18:48.000 --> 00:18:50.360
we are breaking our people

00:18:50.360 --> 00:18:52.260
and so I had to really figure out

00:18:52.260 --> 00:18:55.710
who were my people who were
breaking, how do I support them?

00:18:55.710 --> 00:18:58.620
The Mental Health Department director

00:18:58.620 --> 00:19:02.910
had shared with one of the
epidemiologists at Johnson County

00:19:02.910 --> 00:19:06.330
and it was this analogy
of like a speedboat

00:19:06.330 --> 00:19:08.220
going 100 miles an hour over the water,

00:19:08.220 --> 00:19:09.180
'cause that's us, right?

00:19:09.180 --> 00:19:12.020
I mean we were just, just
so much to do every day,

00:19:12.020 --> 00:19:15.600
but here comes summer here in two weeks

00:19:15.600 --> 00:19:17.670
and that kind of just stopped.

00:19:17.670 --> 00:19:20.100
You know, you just kind
of drop in the water

00:19:20.100 --> 00:19:22.650
and that back rush of all the water

00:19:22.650 --> 00:19:26.400
that just comes over you,
it's just all of that trauma

00:19:26.400 --> 00:19:28.680
and all of the things
that you haven't been able

00:19:28.680 --> 00:19:30.000
to stop to think about

00:19:30.000 --> 00:19:32.520
because you've been
going 100 miles an hour.

00:19:32.520 --> 00:19:34.800
Now all of a sudden it
just washes over you.

00:19:34.800 --> 00:19:39.800
And they said to really be
prepared for the depression,

00:19:40.080 --> 00:19:43.200
anxiety, 'cause you know you
had a million things to do

00:19:43.200 --> 00:19:44.910
and now it's summertime.

00:19:44.910 --> 00:19:46.140
So there's gonna be,

00:19:46.140 --> 00:19:48.720
and especially for my nurses
who don't work in the summer,

00:19:48.720 --> 00:19:52.950
there's gonna be a lot of
processing that they do.

00:19:54.360 --> 00:19:56.520
- I am very, very surprised

00:19:56.520 --> 00:20:00.690
that we didn't have teachers
cracking right and left.

00:20:00.690 --> 00:20:03.690
What I am not so surprised
at is the number of teachers

00:20:03.690 --> 00:20:06.840
that are retiring because of this year.

00:20:06.840 --> 00:20:11.840
- Everybody kind of from
early on was telling me,

00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:14.370
"Well, these kids are
suffering mental health-wise

00:20:14.370 --> 00:20:17.070
"because they're not full in-person

00:20:17.070 --> 00:20:18.390
"because they're just hybrid."

00:20:18.390 --> 00:20:20.280
But then it turned out

00:20:20.280 --> 00:20:23.460
that there was more suffering going on

00:20:23.460 --> 00:20:26.460
when we did come all back in persons.

00:20:26.460 --> 00:20:28.440
All these people were saying for so long,

00:20:28.440 --> 00:20:31.950
"Oh suicide rates are,
you know, astronomical."

00:20:31.950 --> 00:20:34.170
But when we got the data,
that wasn't the case.

00:20:34.170 --> 00:20:38.370
Johnson County had had a
steady number of suicides

00:20:38.370 --> 00:20:40.980
and then it actually dropped during COVID,

00:20:40.980 --> 00:20:45.980
but the calls to our crisis
hotline went up significantly.

00:20:46.530 --> 00:20:48.840
- What I take from that is all of our work

00:20:48.840 --> 00:20:52.230
over the past few years to
raise awareness in the community

00:20:52.230 --> 00:20:55.410
of the availability of resources that,

00:20:55.410 --> 00:20:57.780
and getting rid of the stigma

00:20:57.780 --> 00:21:02.130
of accessing those
resources, had an impact.

00:21:02.130 --> 00:21:04.200
I would much rather see more people

00:21:04.200 --> 00:21:05.790
calling the crisis line

00:21:05.790 --> 00:21:10.350
than being on that list
of completed suicides.

00:21:10.350 --> 00:21:13.290
- I think the one thing that
gets people the most depressed

00:21:13.290 --> 00:21:15.930
is thinking that they're
alone in something.

00:21:15.930 --> 00:21:19.290
And with TikTok, nobody's alone.

00:21:19.290 --> 00:21:20.610
Okay, I think I figured out

00:21:20.610 --> 00:21:22.460
how to make the trumpet sound pretty.

00:21:23.310 --> 00:21:25.980
(humming music)

00:21:28.090 --> 00:21:30.510
TikTok is your time to shine.

00:21:31.950 --> 00:21:34.080
You get to put all your
insecurities out there

00:21:34.080 --> 00:21:37.250
and everybody will be
like, "That's me, too."

00:21:37.250 --> 00:21:40.650
(hiphop music)

00:21:40.650 --> 00:21:42.300
- Coping through humor

00:21:42.300 --> 00:21:44.940
has been something I think subconsciously

00:21:44.940 --> 00:21:46.590
a lot of people have been doing

00:21:46.590 --> 00:21:50.340
and while that may not be the
healthiest approach at all,

00:21:50.340 --> 00:21:52.710
it's a way to go through it.

00:21:52.710 --> 00:21:53.730
- TikTok is a place where

00:21:53.730 --> 00:21:55.770
you can just say everything you wanna say

00:21:55.770 --> 00:21:56.700
and nobody will care.

00:21:56.700 --> 00:22:00.390
Good morning all my Trump supporters.

00:22:00.390 --> 00:22:02.750
Your time is up, yat!

00:22:02.750 --> 00:22:03.980
(laughing)

00:22:03.980 --> 00:22:07.290
There's this whole
thing where Black people

00:22:07.290 --> 00:22:10.890
are scared to take their masks
off if they're vaccinated

00:22:10.890 --> 00:22:14.280
because they don't wanna be
called like Black Republican.

00:22:14.280 --> 00:22:18.000
Hmm, should I keep my mask
on even if I'm vaccinated?

00:22:18.000 --> 00:22:19.080
I don't know.

00:22:24.810 --> 00:22:26.130
- How's it going, Lancers?

00:22:27.030 --> 00:22:30.210
Welcome to my Canvas classroom.

00:22:30.210 --> 00:22:32.380
If a kid got on my Google classroom

00:22:32.380 --> 00:22:34.770
and learned something
about the Vietnam War

00:22:34.770 --> 00:22:37.530
and made these connections, fantastic.

00:22:37.530 --> 00:22:41.550
But if I got a student to
smile for one time that day

00:22:41.550 --> 00:22:43.860
because, "Oh, Mr. Laird, look
at how silly Mr. Laird is.

00:22:43.860 --> 00:22:45.900
"He's putting on a
costume and he's dancing

00:22:45.900 --> 00:22:47.370
"and he's doing karaoke."

00:22:47.370 --> 00:22:51.060
♪ I am a real American ♪

00:22:51.060 --> 00:22:52.990
♪ Fight for what's right ♪

00:22:52.990 --> 00:22:55.070
♪ Fight for your life ♪

00:22:55.070 --> 00:22:58.070
(upbeat rock music)

00:22:59.700 --> 00:23:00.980
♪ It's time brother ♪

00:23:00.980 --> 00:23:03.390
If I got a kid to smile,
if I made their day,

00:23:03.390 --> 00:23:05.400
then that's all worth it.

00:23:05.400 --> 00:23:07.170
It's not just about taking the note,

00:23:07.170 --> 00:23:10.110
it's about learning and
experiencing and growing

00:23:10.110 --> 00:23:11.420
and having fun.

00:23:11.420 --> 00:23:15.840
("I'm Still Standing" by Elton John)

00:23:20.490 --> 00:23:22.600
♪ You could never know what it's like ♪

00:23:22.600 --> 00:23:27.600
♪ Your blood, like winter,
freezes just like ice ♪

00:23:28.100 --> 00:23:33.100
♪ Amazing grace ♪

00:23:34.250 --> 00:23:37.260
♪ How sweet ♪

00:23:37.260 --> 00:23:39.030
When the transition between the pandemic

00:23:39.030 --> 00:23:41.250
and the Black Lives Matter
movement was happening,

00:23:41.250 --> 00:23:46.250
it was just such like a
immediate switch that for me,

00:23:46.470 --> 00:23:47.880
I didn't even realize it.

00:23:47.880 --> 00:23:50.550
I was like, oh yeah,
there's still a pandemic,

00:23:50.550 --> 00:23:53.250
but like I gotta fight
for what I believe in.

00:23:53.250 --> 00:23:55.770
While I was there and
after I finished singing,

00:23:55.770 --> 00:23:58.980
I was like there are so many people here

00:23:58.980 --> 00:24:01.380
and we're still in a pandemic.

00:24:01.380 --> 00:24:05.790
There are two big old
problems just mushed together.

00:24:09.360 --> 00:24:13.020
- The main focus of the
world being coronavirus

00:24:13.020 --> 00:24:17.940
to being Black Lives is
like completely unexpected.

00:24:17.940 --> 00:24:20.340
It was at a time when we literally thought

00:24:20.340 --> 00:24:24.270
it couldn't get any worse
at all and then it did.

00:24:25.590 --> 00:24:27.510
Everyone in the country right now

00:24:27.510 --> 00:24:29.490
is chasing this problem head on

00:24:29.490 --> 00:24:32.700
and putting corona not behind us

00:24:32.700 --> 00:24:34.770
but it's just not in the spotlight anymore

00:24:34.770 --> 00:24:36.510
and it happened so quickly.

00:24:36.510 --> 00:24:38.790
This is something that needs to stop

00:24:38.790 --> 00:24:41.160
and it needs to stop immediately.

00:24:41.160 --> 00:24:44.520
We don't get an opportunity
to come together like this

00:24:44.520 --> 00:24:45.930
every day.

00:24:45.930 --> 00:24:48.360
- My name is Kolbi Washington.

00:24:48.360 --> 00:24:49.950
I graduated this year.

00:24:50.820 --> 00:24:51.860
Class of 2020.

00:24:51.860 --> 00:24:54.860
(audience cheering)

00:24:56.100 --> 00:24:59.220
Black Lives Matter
protests started popping up

00:24:59.220 --> 00:25:04.220
because of George Floyd's
death and, personally,

00:25:04.620 --> 00:25:06.270
I took it really hard.

00:25:06.270 --> 00:25:09.570
I have lived in Johnson
County my whole life.

00:25:09.570 --> 00:25:12.600
In Johnson County, the
African American community

00:25:12.600 --> 00:25:16.260
is only 5% of the population.

00:25:16.260 --> 00:25:18.090
With that being said,

00:25:18.090 --> 00:25:22.200
I was almost always the only
Black person in my classes.

00:25:22.200 --> 00:25:23.760
Staff included.

00:25:24.900 --> 00:25:29.900
I was called like an Oreo,
like whitest Black person,

00:25:30.360 --> 00:25:32.760
and I didn't know what that meant

00:25:32.760 --> 00:25:34.320
until I was in middle school.

00:25:34.320 --> 00:25:36.780
I was called it all of my life.

00:25:36.780 --> 00:25:38.790
Some people come up to
me and they're like,

00:25:38.790 --> 00:25:41.250
"Your natural hair, it
doesn't look as good

00:25:41.250 --> 00:25:44.340
"as when it's straight,"
or "Can I touch it?"

00:25:44.340 --> 00:25:46.860
And I'm like, "I am not a zoo animal."

00:25:46.860 --> 00:25:51.060
I don't wanna be touched
or anything like that.

00:25:51.060 --> 00:25:52.920
Why do you act so white?

00:25:52.920 --> 00:25:55.380
Why are you so well-spoken?

00:25:55.380 --> 00:25:59.250
It doesn't make any sense that
I have to act a certain way

00:25:59.250 --> 00:26:02.880
for people to see my color of skin.

00:26:02.880 --> 00:26:05.370
I never thought I was different.

00:26:05.370 --> 00:26:10.370
I was told I was different by
teachers, students, parents,

00:26:11.910 --> 00:26:15.090
that I was different from
my white counterparts.

00:26:15.090 --> 00:26:18.780
I've dealt with having a
friend and they're just like,

00:26:18.780 --> 00:26:20.400
"Oh, you can't sleep over

00:26:20.400 --> 00:26:21.630
"because you're Black

00:26:21.630 --> 00:26:24.060
"and my parents don't like Black people."

00:26:24.060 --> 00:26:27.330
I was told I'm not Black enough.

00:26:27.330 --> 00:26:29.410
I was told I'm too Black.

00:26:30.270 --> 00:26:33.990
When people say I don't see
color, then you don't see me.

00:26:33.990 --> 00:26:37.260
And having to deal with questions

00:26:37.260 --> 00:26:40.860
like can I get the N word
past, that doesn't exist.

00:26:40.860 --> 00:26:43.530
I don't understand why
you wanna say it so bad.

00:26:43.530 --> 00:26:45.780
It's not your word to say.

00:26:45.780 --> 00:26:49.590
People are like, "I can't
breathe now with my mask on."

00:26:49.590 --> 00:26:53.130
But when we've been trying to communicate

00:26:53.130 --> 00:26:57.240
that we can't breathe
when you are on our neck

00:26:57.240 --> 00:27:00.840
and on our back that it wasn't a problem.

00:27:00.840 --> 00:27:04.410
But as soon as it's
taken away from somebody

00:27:04.410 --> 00:27:08.190
who is the majority, then it's a problem.

00:27:08.190 --> 00:27:10.620
People like us risk our life every day

00:27:10.620 --> 00:27:12.600
by walking out the door.

00:27:12.600 --> 00:27:15.470
Oh my god, this person
is very much tailing me.

00:27:15.470 --> 00:27:19.680
There's a statistic that red
cars get pulled over most often

00:27:19.680 --> 00:27:23.070
and I'm in a red car so
I get even more shaky.

00:27:23.070 --> 00:27:26.250
Like every cop car that
I drive by, I'm like,

00:27:26.250 --> 00:27:28.290
are they gonna pull me over?

00:27:28.290 --> 00:27:31.230
Others told me what I was.

00:27:31.230 --> 00:27:34.290
It was never up to me to
decide what I wanted to be.

00:27:35.220 --> 00:27:36.360
Not anymore.

00:27:36.360 --> 00:27:39.360
(audience cheering)

00:27:42.750 --> 00:27:44.370
If I hadn't said anything

00:27:44.370 --> 00:27:46.500
then everybody would've
been quiet about it.

00:27:46.500 --> 00:27:48.600
That's what the mindset that I have.

00:27:48.600 --> 00:27:50.220
So if I say something,

00:27:50.220 --> 00:27:53.550
then someone else will be
inspired to do something as well.

00:27:58.440 --> 00:28:01.530
- After George Floyd it
was hard to interpret

00:28:01.530 --> 00:28:03.720
what was performative
and what was authentic

00:28:03.720 --> 00:28:05.610
coming from anyone.

00:28:05.610 --> 00:28:08.280
Everyone I know is constantly battling

00:28:08.280 --> 00:28:11.070
with like I feel like I
have to stand up for this,

00:28:11.070 --> 00:28:14.400
but I feel like what if I
don't genuinely believe it

00:28:14.400 --> 00:28:16.290
or what if I don't understand it?

00:28:16.290 --> 00:28:17.900
Like should I still
say something about it?

00:28:17.900 --> 00:28:20.550
It was just a huge debate

00:28:20.550 --> 00:28:22.770
that all of my friends
were having, I was having,

00:28:22.770 --> 00:28:25.920
and I also was somebody who was trying

00:28:25.920 --> 00:28:29.220
to push a lot of people to
specifically be active about it

00:28:29.220 --> 00:28:30.960
on social media.

00:28:30.960 --> 00:28:32.700
I find myself in the position

00:28:32.700 --> 00:28:35.280
of like educating my friends a lot.

00:28:35.280 --> 00:28:38.820
Like oh man, the eyes on me and
everyone who's looking at me

00:28:38.820 --> 00:28:40.920
and thinking like "Man,
all she can ever do

00:28:40.920 --> 00:28:43.230
"is yell at people about what they're,

00:28:43.230 --> 00:28:45.240
"what they're doing wrong
or what they're doing right

00:28:45.240 --> 00:28:46.080
"or blah.

00:28:46.080 --> 00:28:48.300
"All she ever does is like
police people on their beliefs,

00:28:48.300 --> 00:28:49.140
"blah, blah, blah."

00:28:49.140 --> 00:28:51.120
Okay, well, it's not really my fault

00:28:51.120 --> 00:28:55.530
when I was born into a position
as well as many Black people

00:28:55.530 --> 00:28:56.850
as just minorities,

00:28:56.850 --> 00:28:59.180
anyone who's a minority
is put in a position

00:28:59.180 --> 00:29:02.430
by (A) the patriarchy
and, (B) white people.

00:29:02.430 --> 00:29:05.820
So, like we're just trying
to fight out of this box

00:29:05.820 --> 00:29:09.300
that you put us in and
now trying to do that

00:29:09.300 --> 00:29:11.100
and bring community together.

00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:14.160
It was fall 2019

00:29:14.160 --> 00:29:16.950
in the middle of our
varsity volleyball season

00:29:16.950 --> 00:29:19.050
and I was a junior in high school.

00:29:19.050 --> 00:29:22.890
We were at another school,
a very Republican school.

00:29:22.890 --> 00:29:24.780
The music was about to start

00:29:24.780 --> 00:29:26.820
and I heard like the first note of it

00:29:26.820 --> 00:29:29.280
and I don't even remember
thinking about it twice,

00:29:29.280 --> 00:29:30.840
like I just dropped to my knee.

00:29:31.770 --> 00:29:33.780
This was at a point in my life

00:29:33.780 --> 00:29:37.050
and where I was still
developing a lot of my beliefs

00:29:37.050 --> 00:29:39.330
and I remember when I
was down on the floor,

00:29:39.330 --> 00:29:40.620
I was kind of like shaking.

00:29:40.620 --> 00:29:43.680
I was pretty nervous about
it just because of like,

00:29:43.680 --> 00:29:45.630
this is definitely gonna cause something,

00:29:45.630 --> 00:29:47.100
like I'm not gonna come out of this

00:29:47.100 --> 00:29:49.410
and no one's gonna say anything to me.

00:29:49.410 --> 00:29:50.640
I knelt through it.

00:29:50.640 --> 00:29:52.410
My teammates were all
really supportive of me.

00:29:52.410 --> 00:29:54.360
They were like, "Cool."

00:29:54.360 --> 00:29:55.980
Like they weren't really sure what to say

00:29:55.980 --> 00:29:58.920
but they said what I knew they thought

00:29:58.920 --> 00:30:00.780
was the right thing to say.

00:30:00.780 --> 00:30:03.990
And coming out of that it was
pretty quiet for a little bit.

00:30:03.990 --> 00:30:08.160
We played the game and the
next day I go into school,

00:30:08.160 --> 00:30:09.600
we're going to practice
and my coach is like,

00:30:09.600 --> 00:30:10.710
"Hey, come here for a second."

00:30:10.710 --> 00:30:12.630
And I was like, "Hey, what's up?"

00:30:12.630 --> 00:30:14.640
And she just told me like, "You can't,

00:30:14.640 --> 00:30:16.200
"you can't do that again."

00:30:16.200 --> 00:30:17.610
She was like, "Honestly I was scared

00:30:17.610 --> 00:30:20.250
"like you were gonna get
hurt or something after it."

00:30:20.250 --> 00:30:22.400
Which was like expected,

00:30:22.400 --> 00:30:25.230
being told that I'm in
a position of danger

00:30:25.230 --> 00:30:28.530
because of that kind of
thing isn't ever new to me.

00:30:28.530 --> 00:30:29.850
My coach then telling me,

00:30:29.850 --> 00:30:31.800
"I'm in support of what you're doing,

00:30:31.800 --> 00:30:33.480
"I understand why you're doing it,

00:30:33.480 --> 00:30:36.450
"but technically if you do
that again before a game,

00:30:36.450 --> 00:30:39.060
"you cannot play in that game."

00:30:39.060 --> 00:30:41.520
Going home and having to
talk to my mom about it

00:30:41.520 --> 00:30:43.050
and my brother and being like,

00:30:43.050 --> 00:30:45.000
I just wanna be able to be a kid, too,

00:30:45.000 --> 00:30:48.150
and like enjoy high
school and play my sport.

00:30:48.150 --> 00:30:50.910
I don't wanna have to go anywhere

00:30:50.910 --> 00:30:52.320
and have to like be the person

00:30:52.320 --> 00:30:54.510
who's advocating for
something all the time.

00:30:54.510 --> 00:30:55.530
It's exhausting.

00:30:55.530 --> 00:30:57.960
It's, I've been doing it
since like middle school

00:30:57.960 --> 00:31:00.690
in micro forms and macro forms

00:31:00.690 --> 00:31:02.820
and it's become a big
part of me that I love,

00:31:02.820 --> 00:31:05.220
but also almost resent myself

00:31:05.220 --> 00:31:09.000
for like taking that huge burden.

00:31:09.000 --> 00:31:11.460
Sometimes I feel like I
don't really know who I am

00:31:11.460 --> 00:31:13.680
or maybe even other
people don't know who I am

00:31:13.680 --> 00:31:16.290
outside of just being the Black girl

00:31:16.290 --> 00:31:19.260
who has to talk about
everything all the time.

00:31:19.260 --> 00:31:21.210
People are like coming up to me

00:31:21.210 --> 00:31:22.800
asking me the same kind of questions

00:31:22.800 --> 00:31:26.400
like about my hair or
about what they can say or.

00:31:26.400 --> 00:31:27.810
That's not my job.

00:31:27.810 --> 00:31:29.880
I'm not a teach, I
don't get paid for this.

00:31:29.880 --> 00:31:31.380
I don't have to educate you

00:31:31.380 --> 00:31:33.270
so I'm not always gonna
be that person for you

00:31:33.270 --> 00:31:35.190
and I don't have to give
you a reason for that.

00:31:35.190 --> 00:31:37.020
Like I'm just not gonna do it.

00:31:37.020 --> 00:31:40.620
- I think the pandemic woke
us up to a lot of issues

00:31:40.620 --> 00:31:44.880
and it's really unfortunate
that it took a global pandemic

00:31:44.880 --> 00:31:48.210
for so many people to
realize how systematic racism

00:31:48.210 --> 00:31:50.640
still plays out into daily people's lives

00:31:50.640 --> 00:31:52.830
and how they're impacted and treated

00:31:52.830 --> 00:31:56.700
not only by friends and
family, but by schools.

00:31:56.700 --> 00:31:59.520
I think it made me
realize more than anything

00:31:59.520 --> 00:32:02.370
that I'll never stop
being educated on that

00:32:02.370 --> 00:32:04.500
and the best thing I can do is listen.

00:32:04.500 --> 00:32:06.270
My voice being a little bit louder

00:32:06.270 --> 00:32:08.550
prevents someone else from being heard.

00:32:08.550 --> 00:32:11.740
And I think that this past
year has made me realize

00:32:11.740 --> 00:32:16.290
that sitting there and being
a good ally to so many people

00:32:16.290 --> 00:32:19.050
means sitting there and being
willing to listen and learn

00:32:19.050 --> 00:32:23.430
and I'm really trying to like
embody that in a lot of ways.

00:32:23.430 --> 00:32:25.290
- I think our whole generation as a whole

00:32:25.290 --> 00:32:28.110
became more socially conscious
during that time period

00:32:28.110 --> 00:32:29.580
and we are the future.

00:32:29.580 --> 00:32:31.830
So a lot of what we say now

00:32:31.830 --> 00:32:33.660
will be very important in the future

00:32:33.660 --> 00:32:35.780
when it comes to what's
gonna happen with our kids

00:32:35.780 --> 00:32:37.500
and the generations after us.

00:32:37.500 --> 00:32:39.780
We're gonna be the ones
in Congress, in office,

00:32:39.780 --> 00:32:40.610
all these things,

00:32:40.610 --> 00:32:42.970
so they need to know what
we have to say about it.

00:32:43.830 --> 00:32:47.070
- People can really just understand

00:32:47.070 --> 00:32:48.240
what's right and wrong now

00:32:48.240 --> 00:32:50.820
and understand how to respect people

00:32:50.820 --> 00:32:53.340
and understand that people
don't deserve to be hated

00:32:53.340 --> 00:32:56.070
and people don't deserve
to be treated differently

00:32:56.070 --> 00:32:57.870
because of the color of their skin.

00:32:57.870 --> 00:33:00.090
Like that is so stupid.

00:33:00.090 --> 00:33:02.700
I think that through this
Black Lives Matter movement

00:33:02.700 --> 00:33:04.170
people have moved people

00:33:04.170 --> 00:33:06.420
and people have really made people

00:33:06.420 --> 00:33:10.230
see the other side of the door
and the other side of life

00:33:10.230 --> 00:33:13.430
just through like a song.

00:33:13.430 --> 00:33:17.010
♪ I once was lost ♪

00:33:17.010 --> 00:33:20.790
I don't think racism will end per se,

00:33:20.790 --> 00:33:23.850
but I do think where people will realize

00:33:23.850 --> 00:33:25.740
that racism is a thing

00:33:25.740 --> 00:33:27.790
and that it's a thing we need to work on.

00:33:29.010 --> 00:33:30.630
♪ But now ♪

00:33:30.630 --> 00:33:32.130
I think that it's definitely looking up

00:33:32.130 --> 00:33:33.650
but we've got a long way to go.

00:33:33.650 --> 00:33:35.650
♪ I see ♪

00:33:40.780 --> 00:33:43.950
(contemplative music)

00:33:44.850 --> 00:33:47.730
- My house didn't have wifi

00:33:47.730 --> 00:33:49.680
at the beginning of the school year.

00:33:49.680 --> 00:33:51.070
- I happened to look
out the window and said,

00:33:51.070 --> 00:33:53.550
"Why do we have a kid
sitting out on the curb?"

00:33:53.550 --> 00:33:55.200
And at this time it was
the height of COVID,

00:33:55.200 --> 00:33:58.020
the numbers were just
ticking up in the community.

00:33:58.020 --> 00:34:01.820
- We were struggling getting
all six kids in the household

00:34:01.820 --> 00:34:03.660
in the Zoom classes.

00:34:03.660 --> 00:34:07.980
- One hotspot can't
hold all those devices.

00:34:07.980 --> 00:34:10.050
It can only go so far.

00:34:10.050 --> 00:34:12.600
- And my stepfather is
taking care of my mom

00:34:12.600 --> 00:34:14.760
'cause she was currently
in a car accident.

00:34:14.760 --> 00:34:17.520
With trying to scramble
between trying to find a job,

00:34:17.520 --> 00:34:19.410
that's a lot of stress on both of them

00:34:19.410 --> 00:34:22.410
and with little wifi that
we had using hotspot boxes,

00:34:22.410 --> 00:34:23.790
I gave 'em to my younger siblings

00:34:23.790 --> 00:34:26.550
so they wouldn't have to get
out in the cold or in the rain.

00:34:26.550 --> 00:34:29.570
So I just came up here and sat
on the curb or on the bench

00:34:29.570 --> 00:34:32.580
trying to siphon off some
of the school's wifi.

00:34:32.580 --> 00:34:35.070
- He made the sacrifice.

00:34:35.070 --> 00:34:38.730
He gave his hotspot to
his younger siblings

00:34:38.730 --> 00:34:40.650
and then he got on his bike and rode

00:34:40.650 --> 00:34:44.370
and sat in front of the
building to get the wifi.

00:34:45.420 --> 00:34:47.640
- Coming up here, then going
home, grabbing a snack,

00:34:47.640 --> 00:34:49.260
it was a little bit of a workout

00:34:49.260 --> 00:34:51.860
but I honestly didn't
think anything of it.

00:34:51.860 --> 00:34:53.820
It almost felt like a normal school day

00:34:53.820 --> 00:34:56.550
actually trying to be up
and close to the school.

00:34:56.550 --> 00:34:58.710
I enjoyed it, especially
since it was quarantine

00:34:58.710 --> 00:35:00.420
and I was locked up in the house all day.

00:35:00.420 --> 00:35:02.280
It was a bit of fresh air.

00:35:02.280 --> 00:35:04.650
- He's outside and he is telling me that,

00:35:04.650 --> 00:35:07.290
"I'm in front of the
school stealing wifi."

00:35:07.290 --> 00:35:08.190
Get in the building.

00:35:08.190 --> 00:35:09.510
"They won't let me in."

00:35:09.510 --> 00:35:12.690
Give me a second, you know,
and I'm talking to my Zoom kids

00:35:12.690 --> 00:35:13.860
while emailing Thompson,

00:35:13.860 --> 00:35:16.380
telling her to get the kid
back in the building now.

00:35:16.380 --> 00:35:20.370
- At that time I had two new
assistant principals to the job

00:35:20.370 --> 00:35:23.700
and they go running
out, find out who he is,

00:35:23.700 --> 00:35:25.950
we get him in 'cause it
was chilly that morning.

00:35:25.950 --> 00:35:27.660
Made sure he was okay.

00:35:27.660 --> 00:35:31.440
He told us what was going
on and we put him in a place

00:35:31.440 --> 00:35:32.580
and kept him there and said,

00:35:32.580 --> 00:35:35.700
"This is your space, you do
not have to go outdoors."

00:35:35.700 --> 00:35:38.220
And he stayed there all day.

00:35:38.220 --> 00:35:39.570
And I still hear him say,

00:35:39.570 --> 00:35:42.600
"I have to graduate, I've come too far."

00:35:42.600 --> 00:35:44.490
And I said, "We're gonna
make sure that happens."

00:35:44.490 --> 00:35:48.330
- From 3:00 to 10:30, I
would go work at Chick-fil-A

00:35:48.330 --> 00:35:51.060
and then by 11 o'clock,
I was coming back home

00:35:51.060 --> 00:35:54.630
and then restarting the day
over at seven o'clock again.

00:35:54.630 --> 00:35:57.810
- That's a kid working double
time to get his education.

00:35:57.810 --> 00:35:59.220
He could have easily just rolled over,

00:35:59.220 --> 00:36:01.410
watched Netflix, and not done a thing.

00:36:01.410 --> 00:36:03.810
But he hops on a bike and
comes down here and works.

00:36:03.810 --> 00:36:04.860
He's a hard worker.

00:36:04.860 --> 00:36:07.620
That kid probably works
harder than anybody I know

00:36:07.620 --> 00:36:09.600
to get the job done.

00:36:09.600 --> 00:36:11.430
- I work in the kitchen at Chick-fil-A

00:36:11.430 --> 00:36:15.180
so I was bringing boxes in,
taking trash out, cooking,

00:36:15.180 --> 00:36:18.090
doing different things, and
I'm still trying to learn stuff

00:36:18.090 --> 00:36:19.830
so I have to be wide awake,

00:36:19.830 --> 00:36:21.990
focused and paying
attention to my team leaders

00:36:21.990 --> 00:36:24.330
and other members of the kitchen.

00:36:24.330 --> 00:36:27.570
It took a toll on me a bit
going to work and closing.

00:36:27.570 --> 00:36:30.030
- The kid is like, "Okay, well
I get off work at midnight,

00:36:30.030 --> 00:36:33.240
"try to sack out for a couple
hours, jump up, grab a shower,

00:36:33.240 --> 00:36:34.350
"come here.

00:36:34.350 --> 00:36:35.820
"Third hour, I know I can sleep

00:36:35.820 --> 00:36:37.830
"because the teacher only
talks for 10 minutes.

00:36:37.830 --> 00:36:39.060
"So I can get the lecture,

00:36:39.060 --> 00:36:41.490
"sack out in third hour
for a little bit, hop up,

00:36:41.490 --> 00:36:43.680
"get to my next hour, finish my workday,

00:36:43.680 --> 00:36:47.700
"grab a nap after school,
go back to work at 5:00 PM,

00:36:47.700 --> 00:36:50.310
"work until midnight and
then do it all over again

00:36:50.310 --> 00:36:52.380
"and cycle that through."

00:36:52.380 --> 00:36:53.490
They kept the country alive

00:36:53.490 --> 00:36:55.740
while everybody else
was shut down, honestly.

00:36:57.540 --> 00:36:59.550
- This particular pandemic,

00:36:59.550 --> 00:37:03.330
whether it be the social
impacts, the economic impacts,

00:37:03.330 --> 00:37:04.740
the political impacts,

00:37:04.740 --> 00:37:07.380
and certainly the health care impacts,

00:37:07.380 --> 00:37:10.520
have hit our fellow citizens of color

00:37:10.520 --> 00:37:14.910
with an unbelievably hard smack.

00:37:14.910 --> 00:37:19.290
It's impossible to be an
alert citizen in America today

00:37:19.290 --> 00:37:21.270
and not understand that the pandemic

00:37:21.270 --> 00:37:24.900
has had an unequal impact
throughout the country.

00:37:24.900 --> 00:37:26.760
- The things that we needed,

00:37:27.780 --> 00:37:31.020
we became glaring when COVID hit.

00:37:31.020 --> 00:37:34.320
Even before COVID, my students
would go to other schools,

00:37:34.320 --> 00:37:36.210
they'd come back and they'd
say, "We're in a dump."

00:37:36.210 --> 00:37:37.980
No you're not.

00:37:37.980 --> 00:37:39.540
- It's been a really rough year

00:37:39.540 --> 00:37:42.750
and I think it has shown
some significant weaknesses

00:37:42.750 --> 00:37:45.840
that we have within our culture at large

00:37:45.840 --> 00:37:47.730
because we don't support public education

00:37:47.730 --> 00:37:49.020
the way we should.

00:37:49.020 --> 00:37:51.960
As someone who works in
an independent school,

00:37:51.960 --> 00:37:54.660
we have actually benefited
from this past year

00:37:54.660 --> 00:37:56.910
because the public schools
have not been able to respond

00:37:56.910 --> 00:37:58.830
as quickly as we have.

00:37:58.830 --> 00:38:02.550
Our school was able to
get the federal funding

00:38:02.550 --> 00:38:05.640
that saved small businesses.

00:38:05.640 --> 00:38:06.870
We were able to take advantage

00:38:06.870 --> 00:38:09.810
of the members of our community
that had medical expertise

00:38:09.810 --> 00:38:11.130
that could volunteer their time

00:38:11.130 --> 00:38:14.010
to serve as an advisory committee.

00:38:14.010 --> 00:38:16.680
We invested in these UV lamps

00:38:16.680 --> 00:38:19.950
and we turned those on all the time.

00:38:19.950 --> 00:38:22.140
And the financing that we were able to get

00:38:22.140 --> 00:38:26.280
was financing that was not
available to public schools.

00:38:26.280 --> 00:38:27.990
And public schools really had to scramble.

00:38:27.990 --> 00:38:30.420
- I'm gonna sound like
a kid, it's not fair.

00:38:30.420 --> 00:38:32.730
Yes we have a low tax base,

00:38:32.730 --> 00:38:36.870
but that does not mean
we don't have the brains,

00:38:36.870 --> 00:38:39.960
the minds, and the dreams for
our children in this community

00:38:39.960 --> 00:38:41.400
like everyone else does.

00:38:41.400 --> 00:38:43.020
- I always feel like I've
got this divided loyalty

00:38:43.020 --> 00:38:45.110
because I'm a product
of the public schools

00:38:45.110 --> 00:38:47.010
and I worked in the public schools

00:38:47.010 --> 00:38:50.310
until I could no longer
afford the insurance

00:38:50.310 --> 00:38:52.870
and ended up working for
an independent school.

00:38:52.870 --> 00:38:55.830
But in this past year when
we've had this pandemic,

00:38:55.830 --> 00:38:57.990
we've been able to respond so quickly

00:38:57.990 --> 00:38:59.820
with the necessary resources.

00:38:59.820 --> 00:39:02.730
And to be able to
respond to those problems

00:39:02.730 --> 00:39:06.990
and to be able to solve those
problems is really enjoyable.

00:39:06.990 --> 00:39:09.120
The difficulty that I have personally

00:39:09.120 --> 00:39:14.120
is that this model under our
current system of funding

00:39:14.310 --> 00:39:17.580
for public schools is
simply not sustainable.

00:39:17.580 --> 00:39:20.570
And to me I find that
very, very disturbing.

00:39:20.570 --> 00:39:23.280
- And so the inequities now in COVID,

00:39:23.280 --> 00:39:26.850
it is glaring, but we've worked so long

00:39:26.850 --> 00:39:28.650
with so little and nothing

00:39:28.650 --> 00:39:31.320
that we found a way to make it work.

00:39:31.320 --> 00:39:33.660
I will say the one thing that
we are teaching our students

00:39:33.660 --> 00:39:36.570
is it doesn't matter what you
have and what you don't have.

00:39:36.570 --> 00:39:38.640
You have a brain, figure it out.

00:39:38.640 --> 00:39:40.620
You're going to make it work.

00:39:40.620 --> 00:39:41.970
You can't tell me just because

00:39:41.970 --> 00:39:46.410
you don't have A, B, C,
and D, you cannot achieve.

00:39:46.410 --> 00:39:47.940
And if you don't make it work,

00:39:47.940 --> 00:39:50.640
I am going to help you make it work

00:39:50.640 --> 00:39:52.650
or we're both going to make the news.

00:39:53.910 --> 00:39:57.090
- So we know that our Latinx population

00:39:57.090 --> 00:39:59.010
and our African American population,

00:39:59.010 --> 00:40:02.310
COVID has hit those
populations much differently

00:40:02.310 --> 00:40:03.420
than it has hit,

00:40:03.420 --> 00:40:05.340
you know, the sort of
their white colleagues,

00:40:05.340 --> 00:40:07.800
their white neighbors,
their white fellow citizens.

00:40:07.800 --> 00:40:12.800
But it also has put in stark
relief how economically exposed

00:40:13.710 --> 00:40:15.810
those populations are in our country.

00:40:15.810 --> 00:40:18.150
So if you're living paycheck-to-paycheck,

00:40:18.150 --> 00:40:21.150
if you are struggling
with housing insecurity,

00:40:21.150 --> 00:40:23.820
if you're struggling with
childcare responsibilities,

00:40:24.660 --> 00:40:28.200
the pandemic has just peeled
all those layers back.

00:40:28.200 --> 00:40:30.360
- We've got wealthy neighborhoods,

00:40:30.360 --> 00:40:31.740
we've got poor neighborhoods.

00:40:31.740 --> 00:40:34.520
We currently fund schools
based on property taxes,

00:40:34.520 --> 00:40:39.520
which in itself right there
sets up an unequal system.

00:40:40.170 --> 00:40:42.750
- It wasn't the pandemic
that brought it out

00:40:42.750 --> 00:40:47.490
as much as it was the way
in which people have been

00:40:47.490 --> 00:40:51.600
systemically put into buckets and classes.

00:40:51.600 --> 00:40:55.770
And you have all of these
folks that now all of a sudden

00:40:55.770 --> 00:40:59.310
we think that a rescue plan
is going to get us out of this

00:40:59.310 --> 00:41:03.510
or a $1,500 stimulus check was
going to get us out of this.

00:41:03.510 --> 00:41:05.070
What's gonna get us out of this

00:41:05.070 --> 00:41:08.760
is a very intentional change of heart.

00:41:08.760 --> 00:41:12.360
It's gonna take very
intentional, good-hearted people

00:41:12.360 --> 00:41:16.350
to want to implement changes
within internal systems

00:41:16.350 --> 00:41:19.080
and internal organizations to move it

00:41:19.080 --> 00:41:21.150
to the larger, broader system

00:41:21.150 --> 00:41:24.000
and to change things for
the better for everybody.

00:41:24.000 --> 00:41:28.380
But for some reason we're fixated
on getting back to normal.

00:41:28.380 --> 00:41:31.410
Well, why would we want
to get back to normal

00:41:31.410 --> 00:41:34.710
in something that wasn't working
for everyone to begin with?

00:41:34.710 --> 00:41:39.060
So we've gotta move
beyond this idea of normal

00:41:39.060 --> 00:41:41.760
and say normal was no good.

00:41:41.760 --> 00:41:43.740
We don't want to go back to normal.

00:41:43.740 --> 00:41:46.560
We want to fix the systems for everyone

00:41:46.560 --> 00:41:49.020
to make equity the centerpiece

00:41:49.020 --> 00:41:52.080
of making sure that we are fully embracing

00:41:52.080 --> 00:41:55.620
and wrapping our arms
around this entire community

00:41:55.620 --> 00:41:58.650
regardless of race,
color, creed, ethnicity,

00:41:58.650 --> 00:42:00.360
social economic status.

00:42:00.360 --> 00:42:03.120
Everyone deserves to be lifted up

00:42:03.120 --> 00:42:05.070
and placed on the same playing field.

00:42:05.070 --> 00:42:06.660
That's how we move beyond.

00:42:06.660 --> 00:42:09.390
- The federal government
has to play a role

00:42:09.390 --> 00:42:11.340
in establishing equity

00:42:11.340 --> 00:42:15.030
and that has to be a part of the solution

00:42:15.030 --> 00:42:18.360
if we are to fix our education
system and make it better.

00:42:18.360 --> 00:42:20.580
- Every parent wants their
child to have a better life

00:42:20.580 --> 00:42:21.410
than they do.

00:42:21.410 --> 00:42:22.860
Part of the American dream.

00:42:22.860 --> 00:42:24.720
Well, what happens when
that doesn't happen?

00:42:24.720 --> 00:42:28.920
It's not because we think about
reconceptualizing that myth.

00:42:28.920 --> 00:42:33.420
It's because there's
something rotten in the mix

00:42:33.420 --> 00:42:35.340
and when that happens it's easy to say,

00:42:35.340 --> 00:42:37.530
"Well, it's because of that brown person

00:42:37.530 --> 00:42:39.210
"who's taking my job."

00:42:39.210 --> 00:42:40.350
Or, "It's that Black person

00:42:40.350 --> 00:42:41.700
"who's getting more than his share

00:42:41.700 --> 00:42:43.020
"from the federal government."

00:42:43.020 --> 00:42:45.140
Or it's the corporate structure

00:42:45.140 --> 00:42:48.080
who's out to hurt the little guy

00:42:48.080 --> 00:42:51.360
or the corporate media that's
not telling me the true story.

00:42:51.360 --> 00:42:54.660
It's not that Americans are are ignorant,

00:42:54.660 --> 00:42:58.200
it's just that we want to be reassured.

00:42:58.200 --> 00:43:00.450
And when you're not,

00:43:00.450 --> 00:43:03.300
it's easier to find somebody
to blame than to think,

00:43:03.300 --> 00:43:07.410
"Okay, let's think about the
system and how it operates."

00:43:07.410 --> 00:43:08.360
'Cause that's hard.

00:43:09.330 --> 00:43:12.420
- Well, when you think about
what my kids are inundated with

00:43:12.420 --> 00:43:16.830
day in and day out, they're
told they're little hood rats.

00:43:16.830 --> 00:43:19.050
They're told their little ghetto kids.

00:43:19.050 --> 00:43:21.180
They're never told they're people.

00:43:22.050 --> 00:43:23.940
You're gonna go work the
back line at Chick-fil-A

00:43:23.940 --> 00:43:24.870
for the rest of your life.

00:43:24.870 --> 00:43:26.880
That'll be the best job you'll ever have.

00:43:26.880 --> 00:43:29.100
If you go to college, you'll
flunk out in the first semester

00:43:29.100 --> 00:43:30.750
and be back.

00:43:30.750 --> 00:43:33.780
These kids never hear they're good kids.

00:43:33.780 --> 00:43:35.640
- With working at Chick-fil-A,

00:43:35.640 --> 00:43:38.670
it helped out a lot so I
could get wifi into the house

00:43:38.670 --> 00:43:40.890
and so I was just helping pay for it,

00:43:40.890 --> 00:43:43.650
doing other little things
around the house if need be,

00:43:43.650 --> 00:43:45.450
trying to make sure it's stayed clean

00:43:45.450 --> 00:43:48.570
and everyone was not trying
to stress out the parents

00:43:48.570 --> 00:43:50.220
as much as we usually did.

00:43:51.600 --> 00:43:54.330
- These kids just sailed
through this pandemic

00:43:54.330 --> 00:43:56.100
like it was nothing.

00:43:56.100 --> 00:43:58.650
It was just another step in the road

00:43:58.650 --> 00:44:01.290
'cause they're used to
everything being a struggle,

00:44:01.290 --> 00:44:04.410
being a hustle, having to
beg, borrow, steal, and hustle

00:44:04.410 --> 00:44:06.660
for that very next cookie they get.

00:44:06.660 --> 00:44:08.290
Make 'em out to be the enemy of the state,

00:44:08.290 --> 00:44:09.810
ain't gonna phase them.

00:44:11.130 --> 00:44:14.370
So you better be ready 'cause
they're gonna take over

00:44:14.370 --> 00:44:17.070
and make the world a far
better place than we got now.

00:44:21.090 --> 00:44:23.160
- [Commentator] It started
at the greeting door,

00:44:23.160 --> 00:44:26.220
an employee urging a
customer to wear a mask,

00:44:26.220 --> 00:44:28.650
a request that ended in violence.

00:44:28.650 --> 00:44:30.480
- This little like piece of fabric

00:44:30.480 --> 00:44:33.930
created this massive
divide between people,

00:44:33.930 --> 00:44:35.580
unlike anything I've ever seen before.

00:44:35.580 --> 00:44:37.560
Like it's literally a piece of fabric.

00:44:37.560 --> 00:44:40.290
- Your children and
your children's children

00:44:40.290 --> 00:44:41.240
will be suffocated.

00:44:43.170 --> 00:44:46.610
They will be asked how
many vaccines have you had?

00:44:46.610 --> 00:44:48.780
Have you been a good little Nazi?

00:44:48.780 --> 00:44:49.610
Hail, Fauci!

00:44:51.030 --> 00:44:54.750
- That whole perspective of
seeing adults act like children

00:44:54.750 --> 00:44:59.190
for months, that's also just
takes a toll on me as a child.

00:44:59.190 --> 00:45:00.020
- [Newscaster] Also tonight,

00:45:00.020 --> 00:45:02.670
new video of a fight
aboard a valley flight.

00:45:02.670 --> 00:45:05.940
An Allegiant passenger
refusing to wear his mask

00:45:05.940 --> 00:45:08.010
leading to this scuffle.

00:45:08.010 --> 00:45:09.630
- Who's gonna be the adult?

00:45:09.630 --> 00:45:11.760
Who do we look at to help us then?

00:45:11.760 --> 00:45:14.940
It's terrifying as a
child to just understand

00:45:14.940 --> 00:45:16.050
that there's really adults

00:45:16.050 --> 00:45:18.600
and really people who
work in medical fields

00:45:18.600 --> 00:45:19.650
who think like that.

00:45:19.650 --> 00:45:22.380
Like people who help
keep the country going,

00:45:22.380 --> 00:45:25.110
unfortunately, have
perspectives like that.

00:45:25.110 --> 00:45:26.460
- I don't wear masks like him.

00:45:26.460 --> 00:45:27.870
Every time you see him, he's got a mask.

00:45:27.870 --> 00:45:30.450
He could be speaking
200 feet away from it.

00:45:30.450 --> 00:45:33.030
He shows up with the
biggest mask I've ever seen.

00:45:33.030 --> 00:45:35.220
- Oh, he came out holding
a mask, I don't need this,

00:45:35.220 --> 00:45:36.090
blah, blah, blah.

00:45:36.090 --> 00:45:37.590
He got COVID 19.

00:45:37.590 --> 00:45:40.050
- The president and
first lady have announced

00:45:40.050 --> 00:45:42.930
that they have both tested
positive for the coronavirus.

00:45:42.930 --> 00:45:44.490
- It was a dizzying few hours.

00:45:44.490 --> 00:45:48.000
- He definitely had the world's
like best doctors in there

00:45:48.000 --> 00:45:49.410
helping him recover through that.

00:45:49.410 --> 00:45:51.460
Otherwise, if he was in the position

00:45:51.460 --> 00:45:54.540
of any middle- to low-class American

00:45:54.540 --> 00:45:57.270
and didn't have access to the
incredible doctors we have,

00:45:57.270 --> 00:45:59.820
who he doesn't even listen to,

00:46:01.080 --> 00:46:02.100
I think he would've died.

00:46:02.100 --> 00:46:05.820
And honestly I would've been
like, all right, what's next?

00:46:05.820 --> 00:46:08.100
And then I remember a few weeks later

00:46:08.100 --> 00:46:10.920
Trump coming out and putting a mask on

00:46:10.920 --> 00:46:13.140
and then all the Republicans
were like, "Oh, okay."

00:46:13.140 --> 00:46:13.980
And I was like.

00:46:16.080 --> 00:46:20.100
- There is zero evidence that
COVID-19 exists in the world.

00:46:20.100 --> 00:46:22.140
PCR tests are recalled.

00:46:22.140 --> 00:46:27.140
This is a plandemic, fake
virus, bioweapon jab,

00:46:28.110 --> 00:46:29.370
fake president.

00:46:30.450 --> 00:46:31.890
- It's really frustrating

00:46:31.890 --> 00:46:35.370
when you can't even reason with people.

00:46:35.370 --> 00:46:37.830
- You will not experiment on my children.

00:46:37.830 --> 00:46:40.020
Human trafficking is the real pandemic.

00:46:40.020 --> 00:46:42.120
The mainstream media doesn't cover it.

00:46:43.140 --> 00:46:45.300
Trump won.

00:46:45.300 --> 00:46:49.590
- Usually Board of County
Commissioners is boring.

00:46:49.590 --> 00:46:52.890
You know we deal with planning
issues and zoning issues

00:46:52.890 --> 00:46:57.120
and, you know, how much money
to put into the public works

00:46:57.120 --> 00:46:59.190
or mental health services.

00:46:59.190 --> 00:47:02.670
- Just yesterday I ate my eggs over easy.

00:47:02.670 --> 00:47:05.220
I ate oysters at lunch.

00:47:05.220 --> 00:47:09.900
I had a Caesar salad and a
steak and I ordered it rare.

00:47:09.900 --> 00:47:13.500
All those violate CDC guidelines, too.

00:47:13.500 --> 00:47:17.280
Choose freedom for my face
and let me eat rare steak.

00:47:19.200 --> 00:47:22.140
- I always say I pretend I'm on Star Trek,

00:47:22.140 --> 00:47:26.610
put up my reflector shields
and stare into space.

00:47:28.020 --> 00:47:28.850
Oh, are they done?

00:47:28.850 --> 00:47:31.320
Okay, let's get down to our business now.

00:47:31.320 --> 00:47:34.830
- This is no longer about
health, this is about control.

00:47:34.830 --> 00:47:37.860
We're done with the masks
and we're done with the fear.

00:47:37.860 --> 00:47:40.140
As for me and my house, we serve God,

00:47:40.140 --> 00:47:42.270
and you should serve the public

00:47:42.270 --> 00:47:44.040
by rejecting more mask mandates,

00:47:44.040 --> 00:47:48.600
rejecting experimental
jabs on our children.

00:47:48.600 --> 00:47:52.740
We got a 99.9% survivability
rate with this Delta variant.

00:47:52.740 --> 00:47:54.060
Take your masks off.

00:47:54.060 --> 00:47:55.380
You'll be okay, Ed.

00:47:55.380 --> 00:47:56.910
You'll be okay, Jeff.

00:47:56.910 --> 00:47:58.200
You'll be okay, Becky.

00:47:58.200 --> 00:48:00.000
- Your time is up, I'm sorry.

00:48:00.000 --> 00:48:00.930
Thank you.

00:48:00.930 --> 00:48:01.800
Your time is up.

00:48:02.720 --> 00:48:05.010
- To get hundreds of emails every day

00:48:05.010 --> 00:48:08.160
that just tell you what
a horrible person you are

00:48:08.160 --> 00:48:11.640
and how you shouldn't care
about anybody but them

00:48:11.640 --> 00:48:14.460
and that their rights mean
more than anyone else.

00:48:14.460 --> 00:48:17.790
And you know, well so what
if older people get COVID,

00:48:17.790 --> 00:48:20.250
they're gonna die anyway, you know, just.

00:48:21.090 --> 00:48:25.650
- We have seen the gamut
of humanity, the hatred,

00:48:25.650 --> 00:48:29.940
the incivility that our
nurses, in particular, faced

00:48:29.940 --> 00:48:32.160
as they would call people to say,

00:48:32.160 --> 00:48:35.070
"Hey, you know, your
test came back positive.

00:48:35.070 --> 00:48:38.010
"You're gonna need to
isolate for 10 days."

00:48:38.010 --> 00:48:40.320
Or, "Hey, you've been exposed to someone

00:48:40.320 --> 00:48:43.120
"in a classroom setting or sports,

00:48:43.120 --> 00:48:44.940
"that they've tested positive,

00:48:44.940 --> 00:48:47.070
"now you're gonna have to quarantine."

00:48:47.070 --> 00:48:52.020
The parental and sometimes
even staff reactions to that.

00:48:52.020 --> 00:48:52.920
And I get it.

00:48:52.920 --> 00:48:54.570
Missing work is hard,

00:48:54.570 --> 00:48:56.850
especially if you're
the primary breadwinner

00:48:56.850 --> 00:48:58.260
or if you're a factory worker

00:48:58.260 --> 00:49:00.750
and you only get three days a year to miss

00:49:00.750 --> 00:49:02.510
and you're gonna be fired.

00:49:02.510 --> 00:49:07.510
But to take it out on our
nurses, it's been hard.

00:49:09.420 --> 00:49:11.160
- I'm calling on the
sheriff in Johnson County

00:49:11.160 --> 00:49:12.510
to immediately arrest any one

00:49:12.510 --> 00:49:14.310
of the county or school
board members who votes

00:49:14.310 --> 00:49:16.050
to mask our children again.

00:49:16.050 --> 00:49:17.790
We will not acquiesce to tyranny.

00:49:17.790 --> 00:49:19.170
Enough is enough.

00:49:20.100 --> 00:49:24.510
- This is a way for people to have a stage

00:49:24.510 --> 00:49:27.570
and a platform for speaking.

00:49:27.570 --> 00:49:31.020
And I believe there's some
people that just like that.

00:49:31.020 --> 00:49:33.240
- We need to stop trying
to brainwash our children

00:49:33.240 --> 00:49:35.520
into obedient servants of the state.

00:49:35.520 --> 00:49:37.680
This is becoming much
more like East Germany

00:49:37.680 --> 00:49:40.560
where everybody was a state
informant on their family.

00:49:40.560 --> 00:49:43.920
- I think it comes down to,
as many things do in life,

00:49:43.920 --> 00:49:45.990
a desire for power and control

00:49:45.990 --> 00:49:48.120
and this is a way to get that.

00:49:48.120 --> 00:49:50.880
But yet by asking people to wear masks,

00:49:50.880 --> 00:49:52.930
we're the ones controlling people, right?

00:49:54.060 --> 00:49:55.110
I've often said, you know,

00:49:55.110 --> 00:49:58.080
if I really wanted to control
people, wearing a mask,

00:49:58.080 --> 00:50:01.530
I would have thought of
something much better than that.

00:50:01.530 --> 00:50:03.570
- [Newscaster] Tonight
Republicans facing new pressure

00:50:03.570 --> 00:50:04.650
to deal with a House member

00:50:04.650 --> 00:50:08.220
comparing mask wearing and
vaccinations to the Holocaust.

00:50:08.220 --> 00:50:10.030
- We can look back in a time in history

00:50:10.030 --> 00:50:13.140
where people were told to wear a gold star

00:50:13.140 --> 00:50:14.730
and they were definitely treated

00:50:14.730 --> 00:50:16.710
like second class citizens.

00:50:16.710 --> 00:50:19.170
So much so that they were put in trains

00:50:19.170 --> 00:50:22.320
and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany.

00:50:22.320 --> 00:50:25.380
- This is really about power and place.

00:50:25.380 --> 00:50:27.510
- When you do testing to that extent,

00:50:27.510 --> 00:50:28.620
you're gonna find more people,

00:50:28.620 --> 00:50:30.480
you're gonna find more cases.

00:50:30.480 --> 00:50:34.320
So I said to my people, "Slow
the testing down, please."

00:50:34.320 --> 00:50:37.020
- People want to keep their seats

00:50:37.020 --> 00:50:42.020
and they're willing to say
anything and do anything

00:50:42.540 --> 00:50:45.390
to keep their seats because guess what?

00:50:45.390 --> 00:50:48.240
They're having conversations
in their offices

00:50:48.240 --> 00:50:50.670
and in their back rooms
with their staffers

00:50:50.670 --> 00:50:51.900
and their researchers

00:50:51.900 --> 00:50:55.470
and they're saying that 65% of the people

00:50:55.470 --> 00:50:59.070
that live in your
district do not want this

00:50:59.070 --> 00:51:01.020
or they do not want that.

00:51:01.020 --> 00:51:03.510
And if you happen to swing that way,

00:51:03.510 --> 00:51:05.560
no matter what your heart is telling you,

00:51:06.810 --> 00:51:08.610
no matter what you know to be right,

00:51:09.900 --> 00:51:13.650
you better not do it if you
want to serve another term

00:51:13.650 --> 00:51:15.150
in this seat.

00:51:15.150 --> 00:51:19.490
So when I see someone like
Marjorie Taylor Green or others

00:51:20.610 --> 00:51:24.570
that are kind of putting
this narrative forward,

00:51:24.570 --> 00:51:27.120
(A) I feel really sad for them

00:51:27.120 --> 00:51:29.430
because you feel like that's the only way

00:51:29.430 --> 00:51:30.260
you can have a voice.

00:51:30.260 --> 00:51:31.770
Because it's literally like a person

00:51:31.770 --> 00:51:33.900
that can only cuss all the
time because people cuss

00:51:33.900 --> 00:51:35.280
'cause they ain't got nothing else to say.

00:51:35.280 --> 00:51:37.440
So you're gonna stick
to this talking point.

00:51:37.440 --> 00:51:39.150
You're going to do whatever you have to do

00:51:39.150 --> 00:51:42.670
by any means necessary to hold
onto your lotus of control

00:51:42.670 --> 00:51:44.220
and your power.

00:51:44.220 --> 00:51:48.300
You're going to make certain
that you do all you can do

00:51:48.300 --> 00:51:50.220
to stand up your constituents

00:51:50.220 --> 00:51:53.070
and people that look like
you and think like you

00:51:53.070 --> 00:51:54.990
because that's really what
we deal with, I think,

00:51:54.990 --> 00:51:59.070
a lot in our society is
we deal with hurt people.

00:51:59.070 --> 00:52:02.010
And when hurt people get
in positions of power,

00:52:02.010 --> 00:52:03.930
they tend to hurt people.

00:52:03.930 --> 00:52:08.220
They tend to only think
about what benefits them.

00:52:08.220 --> 00:52:12.180
And so I think that's why
we haven't seen the response

00:52:12.180 --> 00:52:15.600
that we needed to see around COVID

00:52:15.600 --> 00:52:17.400
and on many different areas

00:52:17.400 --> 00:52:22.400
because people don't
care about other people

00:52:23.550 --> 00:52:25.500
as much as they should.

00:52:25.500 --> 00:52:26.850
You know, they say they do,

00:52:27.720 --> 00:52:30.990
but I'm not so much drawn by what you say

00:52:30.990 --> 00:52:32.850
as I am by what you do.

00:52:32.850 --> 00:52:36.600
Your actions speak much louder
to me than your words do.

00:52:36.600 --> 00:52:41.600
- It's really frightening how
people are able to be deceived

00:52:42.000 --> 00:52:45.930
so easily by misinformation.

00:52:45.930 --> 00:52:49.680
And unfortunately, it
can mean life or death

00:52:49.680 --> 00:52:51.600
and that's really scary.

00:52:51.600 --> 00:52:52.920
- [Newscaster] Social media platforms

00:52:52.920 --> 00:52:55.500
have faced criticism for
months for letting users

00:52:55.500 --> 00:52:58.380
publish a lot of misinformation
on the COVID pandemic.

00:52:58.380 --> 00:53:00.330
- When pundits wring
their hands and complain

00:53:00.330 --> 00:53:02.220
that it's social media's the problem,

00:53:02.220 --> 00:53:04.020
there's more issues at stake.

00:53:04.020 --> 00:53:05.130
That's true.

00:53:05.130 --> 00:53:07.680
The fact that you can reach millions,

00:53:07.680 --> 00:53:11.340
hundreds of millions, with your viewpoint

00:53:11.340 --> 00:53:14.160
and that we are to a
position that we accept that

00:53:14.160 --> 00:53:15.690
as fact or truth.

00:53:15.690 --> 00:53:18.420
It's not just shame on them,
but shame on us as well.

00:53:18.420 --> 00:53:20.640
- [Journalist] On COVID misinformation.

00:53:20.640 --> 00:53:22.020
- [Interviewer] Any comment on Cuba?

00:53:22.020 --> 00:53:22.860
- [Journalist] On COVID misinformation,

00:53:22.860 --> 00:53:24.930
what's your message to
platforms like Facebook?

00:53:27.620 --> 00:53:28.870
- They're killing people.

00:53:29.760 --> 00:53:31.700
I mean it really, they, look,

00:53:31.700 --> 00:53:34.510
the only pandemic we have
is among the unvaccinated

00:53:35.610 --> 00:53:38.130
and that's, and they're killing people.

00:53:38.130 --> 00:53:40.290
- When people can see

00:53:40.290 --> 00:53:43.830
the ineffectiveness of poor leadership,

00:53:43.830 --> 00:53:45.960
especially in the political realm,

00:53:45.960 --> 00:53:46.860
because there are a lot of people who say,

00:53:46.860 --> 00:53:48.470
"Oh, politics doesn't matter."

00:53:48.470 --> 00:53:51.600
Bullshit, it matters a lot.

00:53:51.600 --> 00:53:56.010
And if we are serious
about prising a democracy,

00:53:56.010 --> 00:53:58.770
it means that we all have to participate.

00:53:58.770 --> 00:54:00.180
I've been a teacher in our public schools

00:54:00.180 --> 00:54:01.710
for nearly 25 years,

00:54:01.710 --> 00:54:04.230
but I'm tired of seeing
our family shortchanged.

00:54:04.230 --> 00:54:06.720
I'm running for Congress to
make education a priority

00:54:06.720 --> 00:54:08.730
and to fully fund our public schools.

00:54:08.730 --> 00:54:09.840
I'll stand up to Trump

00:54:09.840 --> 00:54:12.210
and put Brownback's
embarrassing legacy behind us.

00:54:12.210 --> 00:54:14.130
I'll fight for the Kansas we deserve.

00:54:14.130 --> 00:54:16.710
I'm Tom Niermann and I
approve this message.

00:54:16.710 --> 00:54:20.730
I ran for Congress and I had
a bunch of former students

00:54:20.730 --> 00:54:23.850
who run campaigns and who are in politics

00:54:23.850 --> 00:54:25.740
who came to me and said,

00:54:25.740 --> 00:54:28.170
"Man, Dr. Niermann, I think
we can make this work.

00:54:28.170 --> 00:54:29.850
"I think this would be a great time

00:54:29.850 --> 00:54:30.930
"for you to run for office."

00:54:30.930 --> 00:54:31.800
So and I remember telling him,

00:54:31.800 --> 00:54:34.620
"I have no political experience."

00:54:34.620 --> 00:54:36.160
And they said, "That doesn't matter.

00:54:36.160 --> 00:54:40.020
"What you do have is this great knowledge

00:54:40.020 --> 00:54:41.070
"of American history.

00:54:41.070 --> 00:54:43.650
"You've got this ability to convey ideas

00:54:43.650 --> 00:54:47.190
"and education is an issue
that everybody cares about

00:54:47.190 --> 00:54:50.160
"and we think this is an
issue that will really work

00:54:50.160 --> 00:54:51.450
"in this district."

00:54:51.450 --> 00:54:54.450
They thought the idea
of working on a campaign

00:54:54.450 --> 00:54:57.620
with their teacher was the coolest thing

00:54:57.620 --> 00:54:59.880
that they'd ever done.

00:54:59.880 --> 00:55:01.470
Now you all know that I'm a teacher

00:55:01.470 --> 00:55:04.110
and one of the things that
I always teach in class

00:55:04.110 --> 00:55:06.750
is that wonderful opening
line of the Constitution.

00:55:06.750 --> 00:55:10.710
"We the people, in an effort
to form a more perfect union."

00:55:10.710 --> 00:55:12.090
This government is ours.

00:55:12.090 --> 00:55:13.770
It doesn't belong to a political party,

00:55:13.770 --> 00:55:16.530
it doesn't belong to
corporations, it belongs to us.

00:55:16.530 --> 00:55:20.730
It was probably the stupidest
thing I could have done

00:55:20.730 --> 00:55:24.060
because I lost.

00:55:24.060 --> 00:55:26.460
And so then I didn't have my job,

00:55:26.460 --> 00:55:28.620
I didn't win elected office,

00:55:28.620 --> 00:55:32.280
still had a mortgage, a family to feed,

00:55:32.280 --> 00:55:35.010
all because I deeply believe

00:55:35.010 --> 00:55:37.350
that we have an obligation to participate.

00:55:37.350 --> 00:55:41.550
And it ended up being this
great experience for all of us.

00:55:42.540 --> 00:55:44.920
On those congressional
signs, the yard signs,

00:55:44.920 --> 00:55:48.800
it said, "Niermann, teacher for Congress."

00:55:48.800 --> 00:55:50.670
And I remember my campaign manager said,

00:55:50.670 --> 00:55:53.610
"If you win, you will be the only teacher

00:55:53.610 --> 00:55:56.040
"ever directly elected to Congress."

00:55:56.040 --> 00:55:57.060
'Cause there are some former teachers

00:55:57.060 --> 00:55:58.170
that are in Congress now,

00:55:58.170 --> 00:56:01.230
but no one has ever been a teacher

00:56:01.230 --> 00:56:03.150
and got elected to Congress.

00:56:04.050 --> 00:56:05.400
And that still is the case.

00:56:06.720 --> 00:56:11.130
- Good afternoon, class
of 2020, Mr. Laird here.

00:56:11.130 --> 00:56:13.410
And I just wanted to take some time

00:56:13.410 --> 00:56:15.300
to congratulate all of you.

00:56:16.290 --> 00:56:18.510
To congratulate you for the great things

00:56:18.510 --> 00:56:19.650
that all of you accomplished.

00:56:19.650 --> 00:56:23.100
And yes, all of you have
accomplished great things,

00:56:23.100 --> 00:56:27.190
but even more so to
congratulate all of you

00:56:28.200 --> 00:56:33.200
on what great things you will
accomplish in the future.

00:56:33.420 --> 00:56:37.290
Because you see, this
is not the high point,

00:56:37.290 --> 00:56:38.580
this is not the mountaintop,

00:56:38.580 --> 00:56:42.000
this is not the pinnacle of
what you will do in your lives.

00:56:42.000 --> 00:56:43.890
In fact, this is just the beginning

00:56:43.890 --> 00:56:47.280
because it is you all
who define yourselves.

00:56:47.280 --> 00:56:52.280
It is you all who set your
paths from here on out.

00:56:55.590 --> 00:56:58.800
And it is you all who will take the reins

00:56:58.800 --> 00:57:00.370
when I am long and retired

00:57:02.070 --> 00:57:03.920
and will be in control of this world.

00:57:04.860 --> 00:57:06.210
And that's exciting to me.

00:57:07.080 --> 00:57:08.460
- Knowing that you're only in class

00:57:08.460 --> 00:57:09.720
so you could walk for graduation,

00:57:09.720 --> 00:57:11.730
you didn't need any of my credits,

00:57:11.730 --> 00:57:13.230
you could have easily
shut down and disappeared

00:57:13.230 --> 00:57:14.850
and I would've never seen you.

00:57:14.850 --> 00:57:16.590
Happens all the time, right?

00:57:16.590 --> 00:57:18.840
But you showed up, you went to work,

00:57:18.840 --> 00:57:21.000
and you took advantage of an
opportunity to learn something

00:57:21.000 --> 00:57:23.040
that you're gonna go become a baker.

00:57:23.040 --> 00:57:25.410
What do you need to know
about computer graphics?

00:57:25.410 --> 00:57:26.240
You didn't care.

00:57:26.240 --> 00:57:27.480
You learned it anyway, right?

00:57:27.480 --> 00:57:32.480
- I'm 17 now and I've been
baking ever since I was nine.

00:57:33.540 --> 00:57:35.790
And I realized that's what
I want to do with my life.

00:57:35.790 --> 00:57:40.110
I want to bake and show my
creativity through that art.

00:57:40.110 --> 00:57:41.700
- Yeah, I can't wait to see
what it does in college.

00:57:41.700 --> 00:57:44.160
When he told me was going
to UMKC to do culinary arts

00:57:44.160 --> 00:57:47.940
and business and I'm like,
"Kid, man, that's the bomb."

00:57:47.940 --> 00:57:50.370
Whatever you end up doing in the future,

00:57:50.370 --> 00:57:54.180
president of the world,
whatever you do, fabulous baker,

00:57:54.180 --> 00:57:55.410
send me a donut.

00:57:55.410 --> 00:57:58.290
But never stop learning random stuff

00:57:58.290 --> 00:58:00.780
just for the sake of
learning random stuff, right?

00:58:00.780 --> 00:58:01.610
- Right.

00:58:01.610 --> 00:58:03.180
- So that's, you know,
that's the best thing ever.

00:58:03.180 --> 00:58:04.710
And any kid that wants to learn stuff

00:58:04.710 --> 00:58:06.150
for the sake of learning stuff

00:58:07.020 --> 00:58:10.440
and multiply that child by 1000, please.

00:58:10.440 --> 00:58:11.490
Fill the building with them.

00:58:11.490 --> 00:58:12.320
I'm in.

00:58:18.030 --> 00:58:20.790
- It say's, "On behalf of the president of

00:58:20.790 --> 00:58:23.140
"and the board of trustees,

00:58:23.140 --> 00:58:24.710
"I am enlightened to
announce your acceptance

00:58:24.710 --> 00:58:26.570
"to the Berkeley College of Music."

00:58:26.570 --> 00:58:27.860
I got in!

00:58:27.860 --> 00:58:31.190
(soft orchestral music)

00:58:33.620 --> 00:58:36.430
♪ I am bigger than ♪

00:58:36.430 --> 00:58:40.680
♪ The things that try overwhelm me ♪

00:58:41.670 --> 00:58:46.440
- Berkeley is so much more
diverse than East ever could be.

00:58:46.440 --> 00:58:50.850
The transition from that was
something I did not expect.

00:58:50.850 --> 00:58:52.770
Coming from East, I was like,

00:58:52.770 --> 00:58:55.800
"Okay, I can deal with white
people, I can do this."

00:58:56.940 --> 00:58:59.220
And then I got here and I was like,

00:58:59.220 --> 00:59:02.300
"Oh my gosh, am I Black?"

00:59:03.510 --> 00:59:06.630
Ah, did you cherish or did you design?

00:59:06.630 --> 00:59:09.570
I was asking myself all of
these questions of like,

00:59:09.570 --> 00:59:11.340
who am I as a Black person?

00:59:11.340 --> 00:59:13.290
I've always seen you as a hero.

00:59:13.290 --> 00:59:15.900
Because I had never really had
to ask myself those questions

00:59:15.900 --> 00:59:17.910
'cause nobody was questioning them

00:59:17.910 --> 00:59:19.740
and nobody was making you question them

00:59:19.740 --> 00:59:22.590
because I was just so used
to seeing a sea of white

00:59:22.590 --> 00:59:24.910
and now I'm seeing the ocean.

00:59:24.910 --> 00:59:27.300
Without you viewing me through your eyes.

00:59:27.300 --> 00:59:30.030
♪ You know I wish I shoulda ♪

00:59:30.030 --> 00:59:30.860
The younger generation,

00:59:30.860 --> 00:59:34.500
we know how to navigate
the world as it's moving.

00:59:34.500 --> 00:59:36.420
That's something that you
need in this world now

00:59:36.420 --> 00:59:38.790
because things are always changing.

00:59:38.790 --> 00:59:42.750
The thing that's happening
now is the self-aware moment

00:59:42.750 --> 00:59:45.870
where everybody is just
really looking into themselves

00:59:45.870 --> 00:59:49.920
and realizing how they can,
as a person, be better.

00:59:50.890 --> 00:59:53.340
♪ Could I ♪

00:59:53.340 --> 00:59:54.600
- If you went through COVID

00:59:54.600 --> 00:59:56.280
and you are not a different person

00:59:56.280 --> 00:59:59.160
than you were at the beginning
of COVID, something's wrong.

00:59:59.160 --> 01:00:02.340
This situation should have
had you thinking about things

01:00:02.340 --> 01:00:04.350
that we weren't thinking about before

01:00:04.350 --> 01:00:05.520
and had you come out of it

01:00:05.520 --> 01:00:08.190
with maybe different perspective
on literally anything.

01:00:08.190 --> 01:00:09.360
- One of the things to remember

01:00:09.360 --> 01:00:13.830
in every difficult circumstance
is that you learn something

01:00:13.830 --> 01:00:16.320
that will help you for
that next difficult thing.

01:00:16.320 --> 01:00:19.360
And I have no idea what that
next difficult thing is.

01:00:19.360 --> 01:00:20.830
None of us do.

01:00:20.830 --> 01:00:23.370
But I do know that there
were a couple of things

01:00:23.370 --> 01:00:26.490
that did help us make it
through this difficult year.

01:00:26.490 --> 01:00:29.970
And if our students can
recognize what those things were

01:00:29.970 --> 01:00:33.990
and we then use those as tools
for the next difficult thing

01:00:33.990 --> 01:00:35.340
that comes along,

01:00:35.340 --> 01:00:36.990
then I think we might actually be okay.

01:00:36.990 --> 01:00:38.100
There might be some benefit

01:00:38.100 --> 01:00:40.650
that comes from this
really difficult year.

01:00:40.650 --> 01:00:42.780
So let's hope 50 years from now,

01:00:42.780 --> 01:00:44.700
those tools are something that kids

01:00:44.700 --> 01:00:47.250
just have in their toolbox ready to go.

01:00:47.250 --> 01:00:49.400
So I hope that's what
we take away from it.

01:00:50.410 --> 01:00:51.810
- I really hope so.

01:00:51.810 --> 01:00:55.170
But this isn't gonna be what
makes us come back together,

01:00:55.170 --> 01:00:56.000
I don't think.

01:00:56.000 --> 01:00:59.700
I unfortunately think
something really bad,

01:00:59.700 --> 01:01:03.120
like just almost end of the worldesque

01:01:03.120 --> 01:01:06.780
would have to happen for
me to have a chance of hope

01:01:06.780 --> 01:01:10.290
of seeing people drop
their political beliefs,

01:01:10.290 --> 01:01:12.750
people drop their egos,

01:01:12.750 --> 01:01:14.610
people drop whatever's holding them back

01:01:14.610 --> 01:01:17.400
from trying to take care of other people

01:01:17.400 --> 01:01:19.440
or just cooperate, whatever it is,

01:01:19.440 --> 01:01:20.850
it's gonna take something big

01:01:20.850 --> 01:01:23.550
because we've already
seen big things happen

01:01:23.550 --> 01:01:25.530
and we've seen them happen
back to back to back.

01:01:25.530 --> 01:01:27.420
We've seen them happen overlapped

01:01:27.420 --> 01:01:31.050
and just nothing seems to be
enough, which is what's scary.

01:01:32.070 --> 01:01:34.020
- It hasn't just been COVID,

01:01:34.020 --> 01:01:36.450
but it's been the Black
Lives Matter movement.

01:01:36.450 --> 01:01:38.790
It's been the police
brutality that we've seen.

01:01:38.790 --> 01:01:42.450
It's been the hate crimes against Asians

01:01:42.450 --> 01:01:46.710
and against our transgender community

01:01:46.710 --> 01:01:50.400
that has just really shaken me to my core

01:01:50.400 --> 01:01:55.050
of we were already in this
horrendous situation with COVID

01:01:56.130 --> 01:02:00.150
that people couldn't put
their differences aside

01:02:00.150 --> 01:02:03.210
and come from a place of love and empathy.

01:02:03.210 --> 01:02:05.550
They had to come from a place of hate

01:02:05.550 --> 01:02:08.580
during such a terrifying time.

01:02:09.720 --> 01:02:13.850
Now I know that trauma makes
people react in different ways,

01:02:13.850 --> 01:02:17.820
but it's not an excuse
to ever hate somebody

01:02:17.820 --> 01:02:19.830
because they're different from you.

01:02:19.830 --> 01:02:23.430
It's not an excuse to
take it out on people

01:02:23.430 --> 01:02:27.030
because you're afraid, because
you're having a tough time.

01:02:27.030 --> 01:02:29.730
And I think that it's something

01:02:29.730 --> 01:02:33.030
that our country
desperately needs to work on

01:02:33.030 --> 01:02:37.350
of how we handle ourselves
during these tough situations

01:02:37.350 --> 01:02:39.870
because this isn't over

01:02:39.870 --> 01:02:42.030
and there will be other
tough situations that arrive

01:02:42.030 --> 01:02:43.530
throughout our lifetime

01:02:43.530 --> 01:02:46.380
and what are we gonna do,
run around hurting everybody

01:02:46.380 --> 01:02:49.980
who's different from us
because we're afraid?

01:02:49.980 --> 01:02:50.970
It's not okay.

01:02:52.380 --> 01:02:55.260
- If we are only here
to tear each other down,

01:02:55.260 --> 01:02:57.810
to destroy each other to
the ends of the Earth,

01:02:57.810 --> 01:03:01.210
then what is the point of any of this?

01:03:01.210 --> 01:03:05.640
And so I think this past year
has kind of given us that time

01:03:05.640 --> 01:03:09.420
to pause and to actually listen to people.

01:03:09.420 --> 01:03:12.900
As motivated people who wanna see change,

01:03:12.900 --> 01:03:16.140
we have to be comfortable
with the uncomfortable.

01:03:16.140 --> 01:03:18.270
It might be a difficult conversation,

01:03:18.270 --> 01:03:22.770
but just by talking with
somebody, that's the first step.

01:03:22.770 --> 01:03:26.400
And I can just only hope
that that listening continues

01:03:26.400 --> 01:03:28.770
because I think that's how
we're gonna progress forward

01:03:28.770 --> 01:03:30.840
as humans.

01:03:30.840 --> 01:03:33.420
- It just makes me wanna
weep when I hear from parents

01:03:33.420 --> 01:03:37.650
who are blaming everyone
else for this situation

01:03:37.650 --> 01:03:39.720
and they're teaching their children

01:03:39.720 --> 01:03:42.090
to blame everyone else also.

01:03:42.090 --> 01:03:44.070
People wanna blame the government.

01:03:44.070 --> 01:03:47.250
They wanna blame the head
of the Health Department.

01:03:47.250 --> 01:03:50.520
They wanna blame the governor,
they wanna blame everybody.

01:03:50.520 --> 01:03:53.370
And the pandemic happened.

01:03:53.370 --> 01:03:57.870
And I always tell people the
blame is on the pandemic,

01:03:57.870 --> 01:04:00.750
not on these other entities.

01:04:00.750 --> 01:04:03.100
So if you can teach your children

01:04:03.960 --> 01:04:07.790
how to deal with their
disappointment and anger,

01:04:07.790 --> 01:04:10.050
what a gift you've given them.

01:04:10.050 --> 01:04:13.020
And that can be the greatest
outcome of the pandemic

01:04:13.020 --> 01:04:15.000
is that children learn resilience

01:04:15.000 --> 01:04:19.290
and gain tools to deal with other losses

01:04:19.290 --> 01:04:21.750
and disappointments in their life.

01:04:21.750 --> 01:04:23.790
- The world would be a better place

01:04:23.790 --> 01:04:26.340
with just a little more empathy.

01:04:27.300 --> 01:04:29.580
I think one of the
consequences of the pandemic

01:04:29.580 --> 01:04:34.410
was a lack or a loss or
a decline in empathy.

01:04:34.410 --> 01:04:38.910
I don't really know how that was lost

01:04:38.910 --> 01:04:41.820
or why it was lost is
probably a better question.

01:04:41.820 --> 01:04:44.460
Just as if you're rushing home from work

01:04:44.460 --> 01:04:47.820
and somebody's trying
to cut in to your lane

01:04:47.820 --> 01:04:52.560
and you return home one car length later,

01:04:52.560 --> 01:04:54.990
I'm not exactly sure what the big deal is.

01:04:54.990 --> 01:04:59.220
Like why you wouldn't just
say, "Sure, come on in."

01:04:59.220 --> 01:05:02.760
If you can expand that
out on a national scale,

01:05:02.760 --> 01:05:05.040
like why are you harmed

01:05:05.040 --> 01:05:08.610
if someone's asking for
fair representation?

01:05:08.610 --> 01:05:10.980
What makes the institutions
that you believe in

01:05:10.980 --> 01:05:12.930
any less valuable

01:05:12.930 --> 01:05:15.990
if someone wants to get access
to those same institutions?

01:05:16.860 --> 01:05:20.700
I think you run the danger
of being painted as weak

01:05:20.700 --> 01:05:21.930
or ineffective

01:05:21.930 --> 01:05:24.240
or it's probably got a gender connotation

01:05:24.240 --> 01:05:26.160
where you're overly feminized

01:05:26.160 --> 01:05:29.670
if you express or care about empathy.

01:05:29.670 --> 01:05:31.410
But it's a very simple equation

01:05:31.410 --> 01:05:35.250
to make our public
existences so much better off

01:05:35.250 --> 01:05:36.900
if we just sort of looked around

01:05:36.900 --> 01:05:40.160
and just paused for half a
beat before we, you know,

01:05:40.160 --> 01:05:41.640
prepped for a fight.

01:05:43.140 --> 01:05:44.940
- It starts with our kids,

01:05:44.940 --> 01:05:46.380
it starts in our classrooms.

01:05:46.380 --> 01:05:48.840
You know, we teach love,
we teach inclusion,

01:05:48.840 --> 01:05:53.070
we teach kids that we see your differences

01:05:53.070 --> 01:05:54.650
and we celebrate your differences.

01:05:54.650 --> 01:05:57.320
(toy squeaking)

01:05:59.580 --> 01:06:02.820
You know, being locked
inside for a year and a half,

01:06:02.820 --> 01:06:04.980
I've been incredibly blessed
to have Biggie with me

01:06:04.980 --> 01:06:08.280
the last five months, six months now,

01:06:08.280 --> 01:06:11.490
because my mental health suffered

01:06:11.490 --> 01:06:15.450
and I needed somebody to come home to.

01:06:15.450 --> 01:06:18.250
I needed somebody to be
locked in the house with

01:06:18.250 --> 01:06:20.710
and some days somebody
to make me get out of bed

01:06:22.050 --> 01:06:27.050
because it's been that
rough of a time with COVID,

01:06:27.150 --> 01:06:31.890
with teaching in such a horrific pandemic

01:06:31.890 --> 01:06:35.850
that the unconditional love
that this one has given me

01:06:35.850 --> 01:06:39.510
has been so incredibly necessary.

01:06:39.510 --> 01:06:44.040
And that's why he is going
through service dog training

01:06:44.040 --> 01:06:48.120
so that he can give this
love to more than just me

01:06:48.120 --> 01:06:49.950
and he can come to the classroom with me

01:06:49.950 --> 01:06:51.930
because like I said,

01:06:51.930 --> 01:06:54.090
we're gonna have a very
serious generation of kids

01:06:54.090 --> 01:06:55.960
with significant trauma.

01:06:55.960 --> 01:06:58.740
Can you say, "Hi, Biggie?"

01:06:58.740 --> 01:07:00.200
- Hi.

01:07:00.200 --> 01:07:02.040
- [Nicole] Hi, Biggie.

01:07:04.320 --> 01:07:07.380
Legend, sometimes biggie's a bad boy.

01:07:07.380 --> 01:07:08.460
- Yeah.

01:07:08.460 --> 01:07:09.660
- [Nicole] What do we have to tell Biggie?

01:07:09.660 --> 01:07:11.760
Should we tell him be nice?

01:07:11.760 --> 01:07:12.630
- Yeah.

01:07:12.630 --> 01:07:15.450
- [Nicole] What else should we tell him?

01:07:15.450 --> 01:07:16.290
- Be nice.

01:07:16.290 --> 01:07:18.230
- [Nicole] Be nice, ha ha ha ha ha ha.

01:07:19.890 --> 01:07:23.040
- I just really, really hope
that a year, five years,

01:07:23.040 --> 01:07:26.940
10 years from now, we look
back on all of this and say,

01:07:26.940 --> 01:07:29.340
"You know, that was a really
critical learning point

01:07:29.340 --> 01:07:30.840
"that we went through."

01:07:30.840 --> 01:07:32.430
We learned a lot about ourselves,

01:07:32.430 --> 01:07:34.320
we learned a lot about other people,

01:07:34.320 --> 01:07:37.500
we learned a lot about
how we function together

01:07:37.500 --> 01:07:40.050
and I just hope that we can take this

01:07:40.050 --> 01:07:43.860
as a learning growth moment.

01:07:43.860 --> 01:07:44.970
- I think the biggest thing

01:07:44.970 --> 01:07:48.570
that I can take from this
pandemic is while it is awful,

01:07:48.570 --> 01:07:51.720
there is beauty to be
had in horrible things.

01:07:51.720 --> 01:07:54.960
I never would've been
as close to my family.

01:07:54.960 --> 01:07:57.960
I would've never reconnected
with so many of my friends

01:07:57.960 --> 01:08:01.980
if we didn't have the time
to like Zoom with each other

01:08:01.980 --> 01:08:06.000
and spend that quarantine
period with one another.

01:08:06.000 --> 01:08:10.380
I think a lot of people are
going to question any vaccine

01:08:10.380 --> 01:08:13.500
that's put out again
and just really be like,

01:08:13.500 --> 01:08:16.800
is this gonna give me the microchip?

01:08:16.800 --> 01:08:17.700
I don't know.

01:08:17.700 --> 01:08:20.670
I personally think that there
will never be an election

01:08:20.670 --> 01:08:23.880
where someone doesn't
call voter fraud out.

01:08:23.880 --> 01:08:25.800
Every single election from now on

01:08:25.800 --> 01:08:27.260
is just gonna be on the basis like,

01:08:27.260 --> 01:08:31.740
this is like not right, somebody cheated,

01:08:31.740 --> 01:08:33.810
blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

01:08:33.810 --> 01:08:34.740
Every single one.

01:08:34.740 --> 01:08:36.480
I'll be shocked if there isn't,

01:08:36.480 --> 01:08:38.730
but ask me again in four years.

01:08:43.940 --> 01:08:45.610
- It's been a while.

01:08:47.280 --> 01:08:50.010
Next week is finals.

01:08:50.010 --> 01:08:51.390
I, we did it.

01:08:51.390 --> 01:08:52.470
I did it.

01:08:52.470 --> 01:08:54.420
We, as in graduates

01:08:54.420 --> 01:08:56.790
or like people going
through school right now.

01:08:56.790 --> 01:08:59.070
That's crazy that we did
it through a pandemic.

01:08:59.070 --> 01:09:04.070
Like fully vaccinated now,
no more braids at the moment.

01:09:06.120 --> 01:09:08.670
Those are probably coming
back next semester but.

01:09:08.670 --> 01:09:09.810
You grow a lot as a person

01:09:09.810 --> 01:09:13.290
when you go through a pandemic
and like social injustice.

01:09:15.150 --> 01:09:18.810
I just wanted to say like
this year was very hard.

01:09:18.810 --> 01:09:23.130
Like don't think that I was
having a a grand old time

01:09:23.130 --> 01:09:26.250
of working and having the best social life

01:09:26.250 --> 01:09:30.970
and going to whatever I
can because it was great.

01:09:30.970 --> 01:09:33.000
No, it was very hard.

01:09:33.000 --> 01:09:38.000
We've got a feast for a
Queen, an apple, hot sauce,

01:09:39.240 --> 01:09:43.710
quesadilla, and Cheez-Its with coffee.

01:09:43.710 --> 01:09:46.830
The Cheez-Its, because I wanted to.

01:09:46.830 --> 01:09:49.140
- Something I feel like
can never be said enough

01:09:49.140 --> 01:09:51.650
and we constantly need
to be reminded of it

01:09:51.650 --> 01:09:54.360
is we have to be kind to each other.

01:09:54.360 --> 01:09:55.800
No matter what you look like,

01:09:55.800 --> 01:09:59.280
no matter who you associate
with, no matter what,

01:09:59.280 --> 01:10:00.840
you don't know what
people are going through.

01:10:00.840 --> 01:10:03.330
You don't know anything about anyone

01:10:03.330 --> 01:10:05.100
until they tell you about it.

01:10:05.100 --> 01:10:07.590
Anybody who looks like me, who's younger,

01:10:07.590 --> 01:10:10.080
like little Black girls
and little Black boys,

01:10:10.080 --> 01:10:13.410
just understand you're not born
into like a role necessarily

01:10:13.410 --> 01:10:16.860
as a Black person, you're born
into a role as a human being.

01:10:16.860 --> 01:10:20.850
You don't have to hold
up certain standards

01:10:20.850 --> 01:10:22.980
because this is what
Black people should do,

01:10:22.980 --> 01:10:24.750
this is how Black people should act.

01:10:24.750 --> 01:10:27.240
No matter what that looks
like in your own head,

01:10:27.240 --> 01:10:28.620
you're just a person

01:10:28.620 --> 01:10:30.660
and people aren't always
gonna treat you like that.

01:10:30.660 --> 01:10:32.790
And people aren't always
gonna understand that.

01:10:32.790 --> 01:10:35.100
And you're not always
gonna understand that.

01:10:35.100 --> 01:10:37.110
But you are, you're just a person

01:10:37.110 --> 01:10:40.260
and you're the same as anyone
else going through life.

01:10:40.260 --> 01:10:42.030
- Going through all of high school

01:10:42.030 --> 01:10:44.610
and not talking about anything,

01:10:44.610 --> 01:10:48.300
it was very toxic and not okay.

01:10:48.300 --> 01:10:52.410
But figuring myself out,
going through this pandemic,

01:10:52.410 --> 01:10:53.730
talking to everybody,

01:10:53.730 --> 01:10:57.720
and I really encourage
everybody to do the same.

01:10:57.720 --> 01:10:59.940
Even though it might not
be in like the documentary

01:10:59.940 --> 01:11:00.770
or anything,

01:11:00.770 --> 01:11:02.820
but like just taking a video of yourself,

01:11:02.820 --> 01:11:05.610
just like sitting down
and like taking it in,

01:11:05.610 --> 01:11:08.520
sitting in silence, no
distractions and everything.

01:11:08.520 --> 01:11:11.040
That was good for me.

01:11:11.040 --> 01:11:14.070
And it's okay to admit that you need help.

01:11:15.650 --> 01:11:20.340
It doesn't matter what help
it is or what help you need.

01:11:20.340 --> 01:11:21.990
Everybody just needs help sometimes.

01:11:21.990 --> 01:11:24.480
So ask somebody

01:11:24.480 --> 01:11:26.790
'cause there's somebody
out there that cares.

01:11:26.790 --> 01:11:28.450
There's always somebody.

01:11:28.450 --> 01:11:30.210
This documentary brought out

01:11:30.210 --> 01:11:33.390
like a little different side
of me that I didn't know.

01:11:33.390 --> 01:11:35.820
I know I'm a lot stronger

01:11:35.820 --> 01:11:37.740
and like everybody's a lot stronger

01:11:37.740 --> 01:11:39.240
than they think they are.

01:11:39.240 --> 01:11:43.570
Sometimes we just have hard
days or hard years or hard lives

01:11:45.120 --> 01:11:48.080
and it's okay to want
to give up or give up

01:11:48.080 --> 01:11:49.650
and come back to it.

01:11:54.120 --> 01:11:55.890
And yeah.

01:11:57.030 --> 01:12:01.590
Now back to me struggling
to move heavy, big stuff

01:12:01.590 --> 01:12:04.020
because I thought it was a
good idea to have a carpet

01:12:04.020 --> 01:12:08.130
and now I regret it and
I don't wanna move it.

01:12:11.640 --> 01:12:15.580
("High Hopes" by Panic! At The Disco)

01:12:15.580 --> 01:12:18.520
♪ Had to have high, high
hopes for a living ♪

01:12:18.520 --> 01:12:21.120
♪ Shooting for the stars when
I couldn't make a killing ♪

01:12:21.120 --> 01:12:22.680
- And I want to leave you with one thing

01:12:22.680 --> 01:12:24.690
is don't let anyone define you.

01:12:24.690 --> 01:12:26.430
That has been something that has driven me

01:12:26.430 --> 01:12:27.870
for my entire life.

01:12:27.870 --> 01:12:29.520
I grew up with a disability.

01:12:29.520 --> 01:12:31.590
From birth, I've been legally blind

01:12:31.590 --> 01:12:34.500
and I have had extra
roadblocks in my life.

01:12:34.500 --> 01:12:37.050
There are some things I cannot do,

01:12:37.050 --> 01:12:39.150
but I didn't let that define me.

01:12:39.150 --> 01:12:40.830
You see, when I was in high school,

01:12:40.830 --> 01:12:42.300
I wanted to become a chef

01:12:42.300 --> 01:12:44.460
and a lot of people
thought that was ludicrous.

01:12:44.460 --> 01:12:46.050
They didn't tell me to
my face, but I could,

01:12:46.050 --> 01:12:48.390
I could tell the way they felt about it.

01:12:48.390 --> 01:12:50.700
How could this person
who has trouble seeing

01:12:50.700 --> 01:12:55.700
do this very in depth and
difficult work in a kitchen?

01:12:56.280 --> 01:12:57.450
But I proved them all wrong.

01:12:57.450 --> 01:12:58.440
How's it going everyone?

01:12:58.440 --> 01:13:00.240
Welcome to "Cooking with Laird."

01:13:00.240 --> 01:13:03.330
I am gonna walk you guys through
a quick little recipe today

01:13:03.330 --> 01:13:06.270
to kind of mix things up and
show you my cooking skill

01:13:06.270 --> 01:13:07.100
a little bit.

01:13:07.100 --> 01:13:09.330
I went to culinary school for two years.

01:13:09.330 --> 01:13:11.100
I worked in restaurants,

01:13:11.100 --> 01:13:13.620
I worked on a competitive cooking team.

01:13:13.620 --> 01:13:15.960
When people said, "I don't
know if you can do that,"

01:13:15.960 --> 01:13:18.180
I brushed them off and did it anyways.

01:13:19.080 --> 01:13:20.670
And when I made the decision

01:13:20.670 --> 01:13:24.780
to answer my true calling in
life, which was education,

01:13:24.780 --> 01:13:27.120
and I transitioned from culinary school

01:13:27.120 --> 01:13:31.140
into teaching school, I
didn't let people define me.

01:13:31.140 --> 01:13:32.220
I didn't let people say that

01:13:32.220 --> 01:13:34.320
that would be too difficult for me.

01:13:34.320 --> 01:13:36.300
Instead, I plowed through it.

01:13:36.300 --> 01:13:38.130
And even though I graduated in a recession

01:13:38.130 --> 01:13:41.010
where no school districts were
hiring and jobs were scarce,

01:13:41.010 --> 01:13:42.060
I still subbed.

01:13:42.060 --> 01:13:45.300
I still made it work because
I wanted to achieve my dream.

01:13:46.590 --> 01:13:48.600
Now this may be small things

01:13:48.600 --> 01:13:50.490
compared to some of the
greatness you will do,

01:13:50.490 --> 01:13:52.440
but it's still greatness

01:13:52.440 --> 01:13:54.360
because whatever we do in our lives,

01:13:54.360 --> 01:13:57.300
whatever paths we go on are great.

01:13:57.300 --> 01:14:01.200
And it is those paths
that you yourself define,

01:14:01.200 --> 01:14:05.790
no one else, because it is you
who create your own destiny.

01:14:05.790 --> 01:14:07.530
Congratulations to all of you.

01:14:07.530 --> 01:14:10.650
Set the bar high and always strive

01:14:10.650 --> 01:14:15.570
with high hopes for greatness
because my story was good,

01:14:16.800 --> 01:14:19.380
but your story is gonna be better.

01:14:19.380 --> 01:14:21.600
Congratulations class of 2020.

01:14:21.600 --> 01:14:23.190
I'm so proud of you.

01:14:23.190 --> 01:14:27.210
Now go out and show the
world what you're made of.

01:14:27.210 --> 01:14:28.380
Have a great day.

01:14:28.380 --> 01:14:31.440
And remember, it's always
great to be a Lancer.

01:14:31.440 --> 01:14:32.710
I love all of you.

01:14:35.090 --> 01:14:38.420
(soft orchestral music)