Please note: This transcript has been automatically generated.

This is deeper than just one president to be sure, than one person to be sure. Uh, but Donald Trump is clearly the litmus test for how awful things can go, and I think right now we’re specifically seeing it around this slush fund.

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: Hey, y’all. So we’ve known for a while that we are living in an authoritarian moment in this country, but this past week has shown us that we are accelerating further down that path as the normal way society used to operate start breaking down dramatically. And let’s be clear, those normal ways weren’t serving us very well in the first place.

So we have to make sure first, that this authoritarian moment is just that, a moment. Speaking up and telling the truth, and using every single tool we have at our disposal to do so, that’s what we have to be about right now. Use media, culture, literature, social media, athletics, journalism, every single thing we have at our disposal to push back and tell the truth.

And then, then we gotta get about architecting a new world, ’cause I don’t know about you, but I don’t wanna go back to the way things were just because it was more comfortable than this. I wanna go forward to the way things ought to be, and the perfect time to build something new is when everything else is breaking down.

Welcome to Undistracted. If you’re watching us on YouTube, be sure to subscribe. If you’re listening, rate and review us, and share with your friends ’cause now is the time that we all gotta stay undistracted.

On the show today we have our group chat bestie and regular, Dr. Brittney Cooper, as well as our new friend, Preston Mitchum. All right, y’all, I’m joined today for Untrending News, uh, by a, a group chat regular who you all know and love, author and gender and women’s studies professor, Dr. Brittney Cooper, as well as not new to us, but new to y’all perhaps, a new group chat bestie, attorney, activist, writer, and senior director of legislative affairs at Common Cause, and you also might know him from, I don’t know, Martha’s Vineyard Summer House, our friend Preston Mitchum.

Welcome, y’all. Thanks for being on the group chat today.

What’s up? Thank you. I’m excited to be here. Thank you.

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: First off, let’s dive into Trump’s explosive Meet the Press interview with journalist Kristen Welker, which aired yesterday as of our recording of this. Trump was challenged about his false accusations that California’s gubernatorial election was rigged, and he said that Kristen was either, quote, “Crooked or stupid.”

That’s a direct quote. And then he dramatically walked off set like the drama queen that he is. You know what, Doug? Actually, play the clip

N/A: Mr. President- You’re a one-sided, crooked network. So let’s call it quits ’cause I’ve had enough. Thank you, darling. Have a good time. Mr. President, let’s please… I traveled all the way to Wisconsin

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: All the way to Wisconsin, ’cause Wisconsin is not close to New York City or Washington DC, let’s be clear.

And then, you know, like the stunt queen that he is, he said, “I don’t like what I’m being asked. I’m leaving.” Uh, he took off his microphone as you saw, and then had the nerve to say, “Thank you, darling. Have a good time.” Ugh. Trump has obviously been hostile to the press for a really, really long time. He calls them the enemy of the people.

He repeatedly, he repeatedly sues outlets, and his suit against 60 Minutes resulted in the network choosing to pay, get this, $16 million, and then going on to install more Trump-friendly leadership, but we’ll get to that in a minute. But even this interview, to me, really stood out in the scheme of his explosive moments with the press because for the last few months, frankly, we’ve gotten so used to the press bending the knee that it was rare in a lot of ways to actually see someone pressing back against him.

It’s not surprising to me that it was a Black woman. Preston, what do you make of his rage here? Is it more of the usual, or is this something actually different?

You know, a, a mixture of both, if that’s possible. I mean, I think, I mean, the reality is Trump is always combative with journalists. There is something that he does specifically do when it comes to Black women journalists, though.

Like, right, we watch in real time an escalation from criticizing media coverage, how everything is fake news. Obviously, there’s warning signs of, like, authoritarianism even here. Like, when leaders- Mm-hmm … seek to undermine the credibility writ large of anyone who asks difficult questions, on top of it being a racialized and a gendered attack, um, and dynamic, I mean, that’s who Trump has always been.

But I do think we’re seeing something a little bit more hostile, um, in his interactions with women journalists, partic- specifically when they’re Black

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: Yeah. Uh, Coop, you have talked about eloquent rage, right? That is one of the titles of your book, and it is, um, something that marginalized people show so often.

This was not eloquent or elegant at all.

Dr. Brittney Cooper: Mm-mm. No. This is… There’s a distinction between eloquent rage and white grievance, right? Mm. Mm. And what Trump is engaged in is illegitimate white grievance pro- politics, right? Mm. Which has an outsized, um, it has an outsized influence in our politics. Um, and in fact, that’s a term that really comes from, um, Juliet Hooker, who’s a political scientist at Brown.

Um, and she talked- Mm … about the ways that so much of American politics is built on, on white m- on white male grievance, right? On white male- Yeah … faux outrage or what have you. The other thing that I think is interesting is we should not miss that Trump is always doing it for the plot. He’s always doing it for the soundbite.

He’s always doing it for the clip, right? Um- Right … for the sort of dramatic walkout. And the fact that women of color, that Black women are the casualties of that kind of showmanship- Yeah … one-upsmanship, uh, is, is a, is a price that he thinks is perfectly reasonable. Um, what I think is more concerning is the way that this is part and parcel of his entire attempt to dismantle the media apparatus of the United States, uh, to make it impossible- That’s right

for people to hold politicians accountable. This is the biggest assault that we’ve ever seen on the First Amendment, um, and Black women are at the heart of it because he does not want a country where freedom of speech, freedom of expression is actually, uh, freely available to all of us. What they want is for white men to be able to assault the rest of us and say whatever the hell they wanna say to us- Ooh

while the rest of us have to lie down and take it. And so I think Kristen Welker, uh, is really a shero in this moment for continuing to stand toe to toe with him. It takes real courage to do that

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: Listen, there’s so much that I wanna say. I, I did, um, a few months ago an episode of a PBS show called Breaking the Deadlock, and you come into this show and it’s a round table with people of different, um, different ideologies and backgrounds and jobs, and you don’t know what the topic is, but they throw you into a hypothetical situation based on, uh, an issue of great import to the American people.

The last time I did this show it was all about bodily autonomy, so we were talking about abortion, we were talking about end-of-life care. This time, uh, like, a, like, a couple weeks ago, I just did another episode that is around America’s 250. Now, I can’t give it away. Oof. Contractually I can’t give it away.

But what I will tell you is that the memes that people made of me last time- … are g- about to be at least doubled. Perhaps go up by a factor of 10.

Self

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: included. Because there was one white man in particular who did exactly what you’re talking about, Coop. Mm-hmm. Who, to be clear, lost his congressional election because he wasn’t endorsed by Trump because Trump felt like he didn’t go far enough, but I’ma tell you, on that day it felt very much like he was doing it for the plot and just expected me to take whatever he wanted to say laying down, like I didn’t have to have a response or wasn’t allowed to have a response.

They go after Black women like this. They go after women like this. I’m thinking of Trump calling out Kaitlan Collins, telling Catherine, uh, Lucey, uh, to “quiet, piggy,” right? Yeah. And now Kristen Welker. Thinking of his time on stage at the NABJ conference last year, uh, or two years ago during the election campaign, and just being so- Wildly out of his depth.

Mm. Like, let’s be really clear. Yeah. And so deeply insecure- Yeah … that he lashed out in ways that were profoundly racist, profoundly sexist against Kamala Harris, against the journalists in the room. Um, and he just keeps on doing this thing. But like you said, Coop, this is something that we need to understand as part of the authoritarian project.

But, uh, there’s a few groups in particular, Preston- Mm … that have been pushing back on some of that financial consolidation- Mm … um, around- Mm … Trump’s initiative to create a fund to repay, give reparations to, ’cause apparently we know how to do that in this country for everybody but Black people. Mm. Give reparations to the January 6th rioters for what he claims was unfair treatment to the tune of a fund of $1.7 billion that he was trying to pay out.

Now, it’s already been shot down by federal courts. Mm. And Senate Republicans, even acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, told Congress members that the fund was reportedly dead, but Trump keeps ad- advocating for it. And Preston- Yep … I know that you’ve had a little something to do with why the Court said, “Nah, bro.

They ain’t getting them coins.” Yeah. You helped work on the case that stopped this fund in the courts originally. Tell us about what you learned working on that, and whether or not you really think it’s dead in the water. Mm. ‘Cause standing up to this is part of fighting authoritarianism.

Yeah. I appreciate that.

I mean, like, so Common Cause was represented by Democracy Forward in pushing back against this. Uh, we first filed a temporary injunction specifically saying, like, “We actually need our day in court before any of this money is sent out to anyone, if you decide to send it out at all.” Uh, the court actually came back to us, agreed with us, um, so we got our temporary injunction.

Few days after that, Trump just said, “You know what? Not gonna touch it,” which- Hmm … should make everyone raise their eyebrows.

N/A: Hmm.

Because the way we received this was, uh, via a tweet from the Department of Justice that said that this was not gonna go forward. Uh, I think any time the Trump administration says anything, we always need to question it.

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: Yeah. And

so what we pushed forward with was attestations specifically saying, “Bring us all the records and say, ‘We are not moving this forward.'” Yeah. We need it documented. We need it notarized. We need to see it, that you’re not gonna move it forward. So- Come on, now … a- and that’s the thing This is authoritarianism at its finest.

This is a lack of oversight at its finest. Uh, at Common Cause, what we’ve also been doing is trying to convince both Senate and, uh, Republicans and Democrats to actually say, during the reconciliation process, if you are serious about this, you’ll make sure to actually put something in there that says that this fund is null and void, and one cannot ever be created again by any president, right?

This is deeper than just one president, to be sure, than one person, to be sure. Uh, but Donald Trump is clearly the litmus test for how awful things can go, and we know how awful things can go in this country. And I think right now we’re specifically seeing it around this slush fund. So right now, at least, money is not moving forward.

But we do think Congress can do more. There are a couple actual pending legislation, um, right now that actually can push this forward. But I wanna be clear, this is not over anyway, because what we’re discussing- Mm … is just the slush fund. Mm-hmm. There’s also a tax immunity provision in there that would apply to Trump, his friends and families, and his affiliates.

Mm. So this is- Mm … not just about the slush fund. This is pretty nuanced in what else can be covered. So for us, this is not done yet. This is not done at all.

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: I don’t think it can be done for any of us, Coop, because what the research shows us is that- In the early days of authoritarianism, it takes a consistent, long-term, intentional, and disciplined effort from 3.5% of a country’s population- Mm

to push authoritarian back and stop it from taking hold. We do that by litigation, we do that by legislation, we do that through voting and elections, and putting certain people in place, and making sure that people like, I don’t know, Spencer Pratt can’t be mayor of Los Angeles. Oh, my God. And we do that by showing up in the streets.

We do it with every single tool we have in our toolbox, Coop. And I, I know that people are tired in this moment, right? And are feeling like it’s only been a little over a year, how much more can we take? How much more can we stand up? But we, we have to.

Dr. Brittney Cooper: Listen, one of the things I think we gotta remember is that we are actually capable of fighting on multiple fronts while being tired.

Part of the way I know that, I’m talking to a mom of two bustling baby boys, and so I know that all of the ways- Girl … that you balance all of the various pieces of your life are evidence- Yes … of our ability to multitask. Um, and, and, and I think that we really have to go back to what are the quotidian ways that our people survived histories of racial terror, survived histories- Mm

of living in a world that were not hospitable to them. We have actually grown up in a unicorn era of American politics where we haven’t had to deal with this stuff, and so now we’re having to really build up the disciplines to stay clear, to stay focused, to stay undistracted, right? Uh, which is the- Yes

word of the hour. Uh, and so part of what I think that means is everybody’s gotta figure out what their battleground will be. And so if this is the place that you wanna focus your attention, then this is your issue. Then you call your congressman, then you keep it top of mind, then you support organizations like Preston’s that are in the fight for this, right?

Or if your issue is what’s happening on school boards, or if your issue is voting rights, or if your issue is what’s happening to trans kids, pick your issue and then park your pin and work it out there rather than figuring- Mm … like your issue is everything. My issue, for example, is what’s hap- what’s happening in higher education.

That’s because that’s where my job is, and that’s where the kids that I help are. We all have a place to fight. The other thing we have to do more than anything, the battle Trump wants to win is he wants us to believe the lies he’s telling. Mm. Our job is to keep on saying, “It was a coup. You tried to steal the election.

You tried to not certify the election. Just like the Confederacy was a, was a traitor government, the, what happened- Mm … on January the 6th was a coup against the United States government. Y’all are all criminals. You’re thugs. You’re trying to use the money of the US government to fund your terrorist organization, to fund- Yes

the apparatus of white terrorism.” We have to have our own narrative, strategy, and control of this moment, and we have to hold on to it with everything that we have. Because what they- Mm. Look, the way they crucified Jesus was the moment, the moment Pilate said, “Well, what is truth?” Right? Mm-hmm. I come back to that verse all the time because before- Preach

they took him to the cross, they dismantled the truth apparatus and said that the truth didn’t matter. This is the reason why- Mm … if Trump didn’t think the truth mattered, he wouldn’t keep contending to have control of facts. So every time- That’s right … we say, “I don’t agree with you. This was a coup. It was illegitimate.

You didn’t win.” They have all the money and all the political power, and they still want control of the truth. It’s the one thing- My God … that we actually have the power. It really does do something to their insides, and that, for me, is part of the resistance, is not conceding their cynicism, uh, and their, you know, “I gotta g- uh, you gotta get yours, and I gotta get mine” mentality.

We don’t have to give in to that. They are wrong. They have stolen all of this, you know, all of this labor, all of this taxpayer money. Um, and the more that we say that, the, we at least have the moral ground, and eventually that is ground that we can fight from.

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: Mm-hmm.

Yes.

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: Trying to have a UFC fight- Right

instead of get ranked

Dr. Brittney Cooper: up. In the White House.

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: And if you

Dr. Brittney Cooper: talk

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: to

Dr. Brittney Cooper: Nick’s-

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: In the bunker. Wild …

to Nick’s

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: generational run-

But, but, but that also- In the city … but, but this is important too because that fight actually pushed back years of the Capital Pride weekend that happens in DC. Yep. So literally- Yep

Capital Pride Alliance had to find an entirely new weekend just because the policing institution had to prioritize Trump. So, like, it’s even, like, it’s even nuanced to that ’cause I’m like, yeah, crazy we know it’s happening, but you pushed back the gays during gay month. Yeah.

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: During, during the one month That you can’t be who you are-

Dr. Brittney Cooper: Exactly.

That’s right …

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: or you’ll cry.

That’s right. But that’s the- Make you- But that’s the arrogance of this administration.

Dr. Brittney Cooper: Yeah.

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: It is. That is the arrogance of this administration, but this is why they take on the culture wars, right? Yeah. That’s right. One of the ways that they’ve been doing that is, uh, perpetually by banning books.

And I spent the week last week in Knoxville and Clinton, Tennessee. So let me back up here. Like you said, Coop, uh, I am the mama to two bustling boys, the wife to an amazing artist and husband and father, uh, a podcast host and, uh, EP, who won a Webby, by the way. I just want y’all to know- Yeah … little Webiana, Webby Allen.

Webby Turner is in the house. That’s

Dr. Brittney Cooper: right.

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: Turn up. So I’m sweet. Okay. Yeah. She’s, she’s here in the group chat. Yes. Okay. Um, and I have, like, a real actual full-time job, just like y’all do. Mm-hmm. And I’ve had the distinct privilege of working with the team at the Children’s Defense Fund, of course, started by the legendary, uh, Marian Wright Edelman, currently run by the equally iconic Reverend Dr.

Starsky Wilson. Um, and one of the biggest things that we do that people somehow thought were over are freedom schools, baby. Freedom schools are still alive and well. Everybody been on the internet like, “It’s… We need to bring back the freedom schools. It’s time to teach the kids their history. They need to read some literature that look like that.”

And I’m like, “I heard y’all was looking for freedom schools.” Here we go. That’s

Dr. Brittney Cooper: right.

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: We right here. We trained 1,300 freedom school staff, leaders, and teachers in Knoxville and in Clinton at the Alex Haley Farm, which is currently under the ownership of Children’s Defense Fund, um, to serve 12,000 students in freedom schools this summer.

So that’s the background. Um, it is the Alex Haley Farm. It was very literally- Mm … a place that he owned and he settled after he wrote Roots, and he spent his final days on that farm. Um- And the Knox County Schools decided to ban Roots from libraries. I wanna be real clear, one of the most famous Knox County residents in history wrote one of the most famous texts that became one of the most famous miniseries in history.

It turned 50 years old this year, and on the 50th anniversary of a seminal book like Roots where Alex Haley told the truth about this country, nah, y’all can’t read that. Mm. There was, of course, huge backlash Mm … and now the superintendent was like, “Oh, I don’t wanna get in trouble. I’ll reinstate it.” Just a few short weeks later, he took it off of the banned list, and it seems to me like these banned books, which we read a lot of at Freedom Schools, by the way, are really having the opposite effect of getting more people to read them and to champion these books.

This desire to tightly control the narrative is not working out well for them. Preston, what do you think about the way the book bans and the responses are impacting this country?

I always think back to my best friend, George M. Johnson, and the book, We love George … All Boys Aren’t Blue because- George was

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: on season two- Yes

talking about this.

Well, they and I talk about this often because, you know, their book was not on the New York Times bestsellers list until people kept banning it.

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: Ban, ban away.

And I… Yeah. And it’s, it’s, it’s the wildest thing to me. It’s like, we don’t want y’all to ban our books, but actually, you know what?

If that’s gonna help people read it, maybe that’s what y’all gotta do. But it’s really just- Mm … a way of attacking truth. It’s a way- Yeah … of really trying to create one narrative, one message, one group of people who they want to see. I’m in the middle of writing a book now, and all I can think about, and I shouldn’t be thinking about this, maybe I shouldn’t, but all I can think about is why I’m writing all of this, and I know people are gonna try to ban this.

Mm-hmm. Like, I, I’m, I’m fundamentally sure people are gonna try to ban this, which I think is the point, right? The point I think a lot of these folks want us, the racists- Yeah … a lot of the conservatives, they want us to say, “Actually, stop writing. Stop-” Yeah … “using your voice. Stop sharing your stories.” And a lot of it is based on things, obviously race, gender, sexuality, et cetera, based on things that we’re actually really not even saying.

There’s been a lot of pushback- Mm-hmm … in the children’s lit space because people are talking about their own understanding of their sexuality and sexual desires. Mm-hmm. And they’re saying, “Well, children shouldn’t read this.” And I’m like, “Well, funny enough, you all are the predators. You all are actually the perverts.”

Oh, my God. You are the ones who are actually the rapists. My God. That’s it. So much, absolutely. Yeah, so it’s like these are you, so you’re projecting things that we’re not even saying in what we’re writing, and it’s done very intentionally. Yeah. Sadly, they are very strategic. They’re very good about controlling the narrative, and it’s…

I mean, to, to Coop’s point earlier, which is what I loved, we should not relinquish that. Mm-hmm. They don’t have access or control over what families are, who they are, what race is. We know all of that.

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: Yeah.

But that nonetheless, that is their point, and that is what they’re trying to do. They’re trying to get us to stop writing, and we have seen a chilling effect.

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: Calling it the Gestapo. They compare it to Nazi Germany, and those comparisons are accurate. Yeah. But they’re also too distant, and we act like what is happening right now has not already been a part of the American playbook. Mm-hmm. And one of the things we’ve been really trying to help people understand historically in Freedom Summer is exactly how much Black America, and therefore all of America, lost with the dawn of Jim Crow.

Oh, yeah. The 12 years of Reconstruction- Were incredibly productive in Black America. Black Wall Streets were built, Black banks were opened. Um, 2,000 Black people were elected to office across the country. Black people built the very first public school systems across the South that now the entire country, um, uh, can, uh, can, um, take a- has been taking advantage of, right?

So it was productive for Black America, and it was beneficial to all of America, but the power, uh, and self-sufficiency that Black America was gaining was obviously not something that those in power wanted to see. Yes. So Jim Crow became that s- that system and series of laws, practices, traditions, and institutions that terrorized Black people for nearly 90 years, right?

And what that terror did was it burned those Black Wall Streets to the ground, it made it so that our, our fathers and foremothers fought in those wars, and they couldn’t come home to a GI Bill. It created, uh, you know, um, con- uh, a restrictive covenant such that people could not access generational- Mm

wealth for their families. And then now y’all are over here looking at people, “Well, why can’t you pull up yourself by your bootstraps?” Well, your, uh, uncle paid for his boots with the money that was supposed to go to my granddaddy. Mm. So let’s talk about it, right? Like, and, and the, the schools were segregated and intentionally, um, rendered to be unequal, um, such that the books that were being written, the truth that was being told was only being shared with one group of students, if at all.

And the gerrymandering that we’re seeing, the redistricting that we’re seeing is so that at least one-third of federal representation for Black people is eliminated in Congress, just like in Jim Crow when they went from several folks in Congress to zero in no time, and it took the South 70 years to elect anybody Black again.

It took the country 20 years to elect anybody Black again. When there’s nobody Black in Congress, there’s no Black agenda on the table. When there’s no Black agenda, guess what? People aren’t talking about housing for anybody. People aren’t talking about healthcare for anybody. People aren’t talking about veterans care for anybody.

People aren’t talking about education for anybody because what is good for Black America is good for all of America. This is the exact same place that they’re trying to drag us back to. So if you can ban the books and make sure that that history is unknown, then people won’t know how to resist it.

Mm-hmm. And then, Coop, these young people get to you not having read the books, not knowing the history, trying to sort through what is truth, trying to separate fact from fiction, and they get into your classroom at Rutgers, and they don’t know what the hell is going on, and they’re not prepared to be critically thinking citizens.

And preserve the democracy that they are owed and promised.

Dr. Brittney Cooper: Yeah.

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: What the

Dr. Brittney Cooper: hell are we gonna do? So many things to say, so many problems. My God. Tennessee.

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: Like, I just, I’m like, I want us to understand exactly what’s going

Dr. Brittney Cooper: on because we got a lot of fights. Okay, let me… You guys, like I need a soundbite, like Arrested Development.

A lot of fights. Tennessee, Tennessee, Tennessee. Anyway, like, listen, Tennessee is trying to go back to its roots. Nathan Bedford Forrest, founder of the Ku Klux Klan- My God … son of Tennessee. This is what they are trying to do. Roots. Let me, let me, let me offer to people. The Barbara Bush Foundation reports that 54% of Americans read at a sixth-grade level or below, and it’s-

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: And that’s Barbara Bush.

Dr. Brittney Cooper: That’s- She one of

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: y’all,

Dr. Brittney Cooper: not us … that’s the, the Barbara Bush Foundation. Just want to be clear. Mama of- Y’all can do whatever the hell you want … mama of Mr. Strategic Read and Fuzzy Math and, and all, and all of that foolishness. Come on. Right? And I’m the decider. His mama is like, “We have a literacy problem in the country.”

54%. There you go. Yeah. So that means that, one, it has helped me to stop arguing with people on the internet ’cause I realize that most people- Mm-hmm … cannot read, right? Um- And that, that has helped me a lot. People do not actually have a functional literal, level of literacy that allows them to think at- Ugh

levels of complexity. And so we are in a full-on literacy crisis in this country, and this is the way that it is showing up, and we are responding to that- Mm … by keeping people from having access to books. Here’s the thing I know, though. One of the places that the United States pioneered book bans was in Black communities.

In the 1830s, a brother from, uh, from Boston, David Walker, wrote a book, and basically he was like, “You, you raggedy Christians, uh, the Lord need to take all you whites out,” or whatever. And that pamphlet, it circulated, and sailors that were going back and forth to the Caribbean and the United States were passing that book around.

And so, um- Mm-hmm … planters in the South began to ban the book because they were worried that we were gonna have more Nat Turners because folks- Mm … were getting access to this book, and it was en- Not anymore … fueling a notion of Black dignity, and people were rising up. The thing that I know is that where there’s a will, you cannot keep our people from reading.

The way that Frederick Douglass- Yeah … learned to read- No … was that he tricked the little white boy that was learning how to read it on the plantation, and that little white boy was like, “You can’t read.” And he was like, “I bet you I can.” And so the little white boy would say, “Well, you know, how was… You know, I bet you don’t know what an A is.”

And Frederick Douglass was like, “I do know what an A is.” And the little boy would be like, “Is this an A? Is it…” So look, our people are brilliant. Whatever way we gotta get access- I’ma turn him into a reader … to literacy- Uh-huh … to language, we are smarter. Our smartness has never been reduced to our literacy, but literacy is a critical tool to help us to navigate the world.

Yes. The last thing that- Yeah … the last thing that, that I wanna say about this is the… I, I went to the city this week, uh, this weekend to read, uh, from my new storybook, and I got to read to a group of little tykes at the, at the, at the, uh, children’s bookstore there in Manhattan. The most revolutionary thing that our communities can do, mamas and daddies and uncles and guncles and aunties, everybody need to sit down and read to a kid.

My mother- Mm. Mm-hmm … read a storybook to me every night And then when she didn’t have a lot of childcare, she just would drop me off at the library for the summer. Yeah. Libraries still exist. I have a library card- I know … be- because they got all kinds of cool stuff going on at the library.

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: All

Dr. Brittney Cooper: over. So when we are thinking about how to respond to the moment, there are pragmatic things we can do, and part of that is instilling a culture of reading.

One of the things the research tells us is that even when Black families are economically stable, our children still often arrive at school with a significant vocabulary gap, and that has to do with- Mm … the fact that our economic stability sometimes comes from, like, trade jobs rather than, like, college jobs.

Yeah. So that means that our kids- Mm-hmm … routinely are not exposed to the same breadth of vocabulary that white children are exposed to. The more vocabulary you expose your children to, the broader, uh, understanding of the environment, a broader emotional vocabulary they’re gonna have. So when you’re trying to help your kid- Yeah

to process their language, give them more, “Do you feel mad? Do you feel sad? Do you feel whimsical? Do you feel funny?” Yeah. “Does it feel hila-” Like, what i- You know, “Well, how funny do you feel? Do you feel funny? Do you feel hilarious?” “Do you feel jocular? Do you feel…” You know, like, like you laid out. There are all kinds of- Yeah

ways that we can create a language of literacy and imagination that aren’t about money, that aren’t about having to play- Mm-hmm … the government’s games, and we have the ingenuity- Yeah … to be able to do it. And I need folks to do it because the kids that are arriving in our college classrooms are disengaged.

They are addicted to technology. Mm. They are trying- Have mercy … to use AI as a shortcut to get their assignments done. And I don’t want us to turn out a generation of young people who are dumber than their degrees suggest that they are, not because they don’t have the capacity to get it, but because we haven’t created the discipline.

And in order for these kids to be okay, we’ve gotta reinstill in them that when you wanna know what that word mean, go get the big dictionary off the shelf and look it up.

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: The big one.

Dr. Brittney Cooper: Learn

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: the- Somebody buy the volume of

Dr. Brittney Cooper: Encyclopedia- Buy some encyclopedias … even if all

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: the cousins got to come over. Yeah.

You got K at your house, and I got P at mine.

Dr. Brittney Cooper: Put your hands on the knowledge. We learn our

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: research.

Dr. Brittney Cooper: And we just have to do that. Put your hands- That’s right … put your hands on the knowledge. That’s right. Write it down- Yeah … in a notebook. I’m not trying to make us go back to the 20th century. I am trying to just encourage us to remember that learning means that we have to last through the process of uncertainty and friction.

And if you don’t think- Mm … that our ability to last through uncertainty and friction is important for freedom struggle, it is the most important- Mm … tool we have. We are in a moment of deep uncertainty about what the future will hold, but the future is not yet determined. And if we keep on raising kids who think that everything is supposed to be easy and right at their fingertips- Girl, yeah

they will not have the discipline to last- Mm … to, through what it’s gonna take for us to struggle for a new definition- Yeah … and new generation of freedom

Can I- That’s right … can I add too? Mm-hmm. This is actually why, it reminds me, it was sometime last year, I wanna say, I forget which gamer it was or blogger, um, Kai, maybe Kai Cenat, but when he was- Mm-hmm

actually, he was reading something. Yes. And was going back- I remember this … to look it up. There were so many comments shaming him, and I’m like, “Y’all, what, what else is he supposed to do, just not know the word?”

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: Listen, if the acquiring of knowledge- Right … is not going to be cool and sexy, then we

got some work to do

Yeah. So I was glad to see a lot of people pushing back because I’m like, y’all, he, he should be looking up this word. Like, we should- Yeah. That’s right … actually be encouraging this.

Dr. Brittney Cooper: That’s right.

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: That’s right. Listen, if you all have children in your lives and you’re watching or listening right now, look at the link in our show notes.

Find a Freedom Schools near you- Mm … because Freedom Schools is a place where reading is cool. Every single morning- … Harambee, the young people gather to- Oh, yeah … sing, to affirm themselves, um, and to get excited to read. Yeah. And then they open up books where they see themselves. They open up books that affirm who they are, that confirm that they are deserving and worthy and beautiful and can absolutely go out there and change the world.

And guess what? Them Freedom School kids, they absolutely do. And something so strong- One day I’m gonna be able to tell the story of all the people who’ve been in Freedom Schools who are out there changing the world right now.

Dr. Brittney Cooper: And Something So Strong Inside is my jam, because we sang that at my church.

Baby, let it loose.

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: That

Dr. Brittney Cooper: is a bop. Something inside so strong. In every period, just singing something inside so strong. So strong. Something inside so strong.

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: I know that I can make it. Though you’re doing me wrong. Listen, there’s dances, there’s motions, there… It’s a, it’s a thing. Harambee- Mm.

Harambee was everything

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: will change your life. Yes.

Yes.

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: Yes. Send your child to Freedom Schools today. Yep. Okay? While they’re there at Freedom Schools this summer, we need to talk about Summer House. Now, the last time- You ate that. … we talked about this, you know I love a little shading. The last time we talked about Summer House, I was a new recruitee.

And I told you all, Preston helped me get clear. He helped bring me up to speed on exactly where we were, because I only got in it because I heard a Black girl was being messed with, and I took my earrings off. That’s what I do. Preston had to be here for this conversation because now the summer reunion, the Summer House Reunion is out.

Mm-hmm. Did I watch the rest of the season? No. Have I been clocked in for the reunion? Absolutely. Okay? So the reunion has been giving me life. Mm-hmm. And for those who don’t know, this season of Summer House, uh, has been all about le scandal because the show’s first Black cast member, Ciara Miller, who is stunning by the way, got dogged by her friend Amanda Batula.

I might not be saying her name right. Mm-hmm. I don’t really care. But she confided in Amanda throughout this tumultuous, traumatic breakup with this guy named Wes Wilson, who I’m ashamed to say is also from Missouri, only for Amanda to turn around and start dating Ciara’s ex. Now mind you, Ciara was real clear.

She said, “It’s not just that he dogged me out. It’s not just that I said I didn’t wanna sleep with that man, and then he took me home to meet his mama, and then I finally slept with him, and then he broke me up, a- and broke up with me. It’s not just that. It’s that I have to take all this heat for being a Black woman on a show full of white people and dating a white man.”

She was… She said to them this season, “Y’all don’t see the racist stuff that, that comes into my inbox.” So I tuned into the reunion ’cause I needed to see what Amanda and her varsity volleyball bun were going to get coming for her. She got every bit of it. Ciara gave it to her. Lizzie gave it to her. Mm-hmm.

Mia gave it to her. KJ gave it to her. Kyle, her current soon-to-be ex-husband gave it to her. And there were so many moments that Ciara fans like myself have been holding onto. But Doug, let’s look at this one together.

N/A: If I’m having white friends in this day and age, like, we’re talking about race. How can we not?

Politically speaking, it’s turmoil outside. Like I actually don’t wanna be friends if we’re not talking about the political climate of this world, because there’s a whole other layer that we experience it in. So y- the conversations are vital.

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: Now listen, Preston, you are not only my Summer House sage, you yourself are a Bravolebrity.

You were on Summer House: Martha’s Vineyard for a few seasons, and we hope for seasons to come. Help us understand this in relationship to the broader conversation on race, ’cause I, it, people wanted to make this, like, Scandoval, and it wasn’t- No … just about lying to your friend. It wasn’t just about cheating.

Mm-hmm. This is so much deeper.

Yeah, I, um, so what, Bravo just has a lot of work to do generally speaking about race, about who they cast, who they don’t cast, um, and the shows broadly, right? Like, I’ve written a article last year, in Essence- Mm-hmm … um, around how Black people, Black Bravolebrities, Black reality TV stars kinda set the cultural dynamic for reality TV to be what it is, but there’s minimal- Listen

but there’s very minimal investment, um, in, in salary, in making sure that actually there’s longevity- Mm … um, in our marketing and advertising, et cetera. Um, but- ‘

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: Cause let’s talk about it … yeah. There is no Bravo universe to this extent- None … without NeNe.

None.

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: Without Shereé. Without, like, like- None … let’s keep it a buck.

Right. I mean, we, I still walk around saying joggers.

Yeah, right. Like, we, we-

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: Spring, summer, hello

Yeah, like this, and that was my point too. I’m like, what I’m not suggesting is that Black people started reality TV in that specific way. What I am saying is that Black people made reality TV what it is and what it continues to be today.

Right. And that will be the case for the foreseeable future. Summer House is interesting because Summer House went for seasons without Black people, without people of color, really. Mm. Ciara was a great addition to the show, but I was worried pretty earlier on when Ciara got on the show, um, right? Like, Ciara admits to, like, most of her community is, is white people, is white friends, and I think- Mm-hmm

you know, and I’ll be, I’ll keep it a buck, those are usually not the people I fight for, because I’m like, that- Mm … that is a choice in many way, especially in New York City. Mm. Um, and at the same time, acknowledge that that doesn’t mean you still shouldn’t experience racism, right?

N/A: Mm-hmm.

And so, like, this was a, this was a unique moment because I think a lot of people did not understand what Ciara was talking about.

Mm. And Ciara, over the seasons, did get more clear that she was experiencing a lot of racism, um, sometimes from castmates, even though I think she didn’t frame it that way, but a lot of times from viewers. Bravo has a huge racist fan base-

N/A: Yeah …

where people believe that there’s nothing about race, but as Black folks, we know everything is about race, and it doesn’t change because you’re on TV

And a lot of people think that, or they say like, “This is not really about race.” And I’m like, “Well, white person, you’re not gonna dictate and determine to me what racism is and what it’s not.” And so, and that’s just what it is. And so- Mm-hmm … you know, I knew she was gonna have a challenging time, especially given the men who she’s tended to date, ’cause Ciara’s stunning, and love her dearly, but most of the white men she’s dated look like thumbs.

And so- I, ‘

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: cause West- Nothing … I keep looking at that

slow-motion of him snapping

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: his thumbs. ‘Cause I’m like, “You didn’t deserve none

of that.” I

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: was like- Also, he didn’t deserve you.

What are we talking about? Well, and real talk, and this is not, I, I, it actually bothers me a lot, West has, I’m gonna just call it a Black aesthetic, that if there were a Black man on Bravo would never get away with the way- Mm

they dress, they act, all the deals they get. Mm-hmm. And so, and that, and that is a very specific way to look. And so I’m just like, I’m not saying it’s not real. Yeah. I’m just saying like that, that, that-

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: It’s a, it’s a little Travis Kelce.

It, it- Old Travis Kelce … mm-hmm, exactly. Yeah. And shout out to Taylor Crumpton, who in one of her articles she wrote- Yes

Bravo thought they got the Travis Kelce when they casted West Wilson, and that is not a compliment And so- Boy,

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: boy, boy, boy, boy …

so, and there’s just a lot there. Yeah. So Ciara, like I, I’ve been so incredibly proud to see how much she’s been speaking up for herself, talking about it- Yeah … getting all of her bags.

She just did like a, an advertisement with Shaboozey. Baby,

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: every brand. I want her to have it all. Her and Olandria, I want them to be- Yes … all the summer. I don’t wanna look up and not see them.

Yeah. I’m just grateful that Ciara’s really pulling back the layers of like what is seen, what y’all don’t see.

Because- Mm-hmm … I have a lot of Black folks and Black friends who are now watching Summer House. Mm. And they didn’t really understand the dynamic. Because again, the dynamic did not play out this season.

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: Yeah.

We only know about it because it was off-season stuff that happened. Networks and producers, production companies, are moving in a direction where it feels like everyone is a mixed race friend group.

But that is not- Mm … the truth- Mm-hmm … for a lot of us.

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: A lot

of people- I, I live in DC, and no matter how gentrified DC becomes, my friend group will be 99.9% Black at all times. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. That’s just, that’s just who I believe in, the people I see, the people I trust, my culture, right? All the things. And so those are people’s real life too, just like conversely, people have white- Yeah.

I mean, blame segregation. Don’t blame us. Right. Like-

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: Blame, that, those cons- those restrictive covenants we were talking about-

Right … that’s why you

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: only ever fuck around other white people.

Dr. Brittney Cooper: Look, I think structurally what we can say is that we are in a moment now where in particular ba- Black content creators after really enjoying, um, more…

Like a decade of, of, of amazing and explosive growth in tr- te- traditional television and streamers are now being- Yeah … actively pushed back out of the public sphere again, uh, in the aftermath- Mm … of 2024. So opportunities in entertainment are drying up, and one of the ways that the industry deals with that is by pushing their funding into more reality television spaces, right?

This is why- Right. Yeah … our young adulthood was really shaped by reality television, ’cause we were on a writer’s strike for much of the early aughts, and there weren’t- That’s right … actually Black- That’s why Girlfriends never got to end properly. Come on. This is- Yes. Oh my God … this is the reason, right?

And so un- this is also why when Scandal came out, and then there was an explosion after Kerry Washington became- Yes … the lead. Mm-hmm. Black content creators were like, “Let’s d- let’s get first look deals. Let’s pick, you know, figure out- Yeah … studio deals. Let’s have some decision-making power.” Yeah. Yeah.

Because we understood the relationship between reality television and actually having decision-making power in Hollywood, and now we’re in a moment- That’s right … again where that’s another area of retrenchment that we’re seeing. Um, I think that- For me, s- you know, Ciara’s reality reflects like, at the very beginning of my career, I think the first piece that I wrote for a major national publication was called The Politics of Having White Friends.

And in it I confessed the fact that I don’t have no white friends. Mm. I don’t have no white homegirls. And that the statistics show that actually Black people are more likely to have white friends than white people are. White people- Yeah … are something like two-thirds to three-fourths likely to not have any interracial friends, so the idea that they are, like, in these super diverse friend groups is actually crazy.

Mm. Yeah. That’s just not the reality. That’s so real. And so I’m glad the sister is finally getting, getting the kind of racial, um, tutoring that is necessary for her to actually be well in the world and have a good grasp on reality. Yeah. Because there is a way that that desire from some Black folks to really move in and be seen in white spaces is unhealthy.

And again, it’s why we need freedom schools. It’s why we need- Right That’s right … spaces to embrace young folks and help them to understand your Blackness is not the problem. White supremacy is always the problem. That’s right. Capitalism is always the problem. Patriarchy is always the problem. And so-

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: Sometimes you just need to open up a bottle of IBest wine, shout out to Ingrid Best.

And you need to, ’cause that’s what I did last night. And in times of real retrenchment, we know that there are artistic, athletic, cultural renaissances and revolutions that happen. And speaking of that, lastly, I really wanna shout out Serena Williams. Mm-hmm. Who has announced that she’s coming out of her four-year retirement at 44 years old.

My knees just creaked saying that. 44 years old, to rejoin the HSBC Championships as a double player. She said that she wanted her daughters to be able, uh, to see her play, and that she really just missed the atmosphere. I’m also though thinking about, um, 40-year-old mother and equal pay advocate and track star Allyson Felix, who’s also decided to come out of retirement.

She says she’s getting ready for the next Olympics. And I’m loving that these women are representing for those who wanna keep their athletic careers after giving birth, um, and not letting themselves be sidelined by society, especially since, let’s be clear, LeBron James- Come

Dr. Brittney Cooper: on …

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: Tom Brady, they can stick around for as long as they want.

Mm-hmm. And use their age as an asset in sports. They can say, “I’m on the court with my son,” right? Meanwhile, Allyson Felix has to lobby for childcare at the Olympics because don’t nobody want her children around. Mm. She just needs to go run and be quiet, right? In this time of artistic renaissance, athletic renaissance, especially as it’s being led by marginalized people, queer folks, women, Black women, indigenous people, disabled people, what are you hoping comes out of this moment?

And what are you hoping that this moment says to the powers that be?

Dr. Brittney Cooper: Listen, Serena Williams and Venus Williams are the reason that tennis went mainstream in America and that people tuned in to watch tennis matches in primetime. So talk about- 100%. Any ti- so look, and even with the new-

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: And they made us proud of our beads,

Dr. Brittney Cooper: okay?

Great … I mean, e- come on, come on. Any world, even the new girls, I mean, and the new girls are super dope, right? Um, and, you know- Yeah … and so watching Coco Gauff, watching Naomi Osaka, right, watching all these girls- Yeah … they’re amazing. They, they still aren’t the Williams sisters, and they don’t have to be, and so I’m glad for Serena.

Yeah. Let me also just be a little messy, though, and say that some part of me, as an Ozempic girl myself, I sort of feel like that GLP-1 thing, like, that has her looking super thin- … which I kinda, which I’m kinda sad about, ’cause I was like, “But you’re kind of a thick ’em Serena and you real fine,” and like I really like that you have- Talking up on thick Serena.

I mean, I’m like, come on. No. Thick. Be thick. We are a culture that like Big Luther and thick Serena or whatever. Listen, you, it’s all good. It’s like the thing is I think that those GLP-1s also have her having a different relationship to her body, and one of, and I’m like- Mm … if Serena Williams, who is that athletic, couldn’t lose real weight until she got on GLP-1- Mm.

Mm … the thing that I hope as a fat person who often gets maligned in culture, and has been maligned by our people for talking about- Yeah … metabolic responses and stress with relationship to body, I hope that it can galvanize- Yeah … another conversation about how all of the stuff that we put on Black women around stress and poor health choices actually- Yeah

is cr- is, is really a str- like the structures that we’re facing inducing health concerns. So I feel like Serena- Yeah … basically coming back and saying, like she w- she has learned that the level of like, um, confidence she has is not always embraced, but some part of me believes that she’s like, “Oh, I got my body back now, baby, and I’m a problem.”

Mm. “And so I’m bound to be out here being a problem.” What’s up? Girl. And there’s a part of me that fucks with that- Peep the pressure … because people be trying to sunset Black women right when we hit our stride. Mm. And, and I’m here for not- For real … for not playing with that

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: Okay? Because 40, 41-year-old me is so much more confident- Mm

will take so much less mess, is much more beautiful, has a fi- fine ass bone structure way more- … than 25-year-old me. Yep, that’s right. Okay? What it really is is that when women reach f- round about 40, we stop putting up with people’s bullshit. It’s true. Mm. So somebody had to invent a narrative to make us feel less confident because we were calling them out on they stuff.

I’m convinced- Oh … that this is the conspiracy, Preston. Like, I, I’m curious to know what you wanna see come out of this topic. Right. ‘Cause I wanna see all the 40 and up women start to influence the 30 and up women- All the women, right … and the 20 and up women so that all of us can stop putting up with this stuff.

Listen, I’m not a woman, but I do agree about when you turn 40, ’cause I look in the mirror and I’m like, “Damn, I look good today.”

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: You do.

And I don’t know how much confidence I had in my 20s and 30s- The skin is skinning, okay? … good, like, like, good- Mm-hmm.

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: Correct. I see

it … pulled back. It is. It is, brother. Mm-hmm.

Um, I… Listen, let me tell you, I, Allyson Felix is my favorite athlete of all time. Mm. She’s so incredible. And so when I saw the announcement of her in particular, especially ’cause I know how much work she’s done in the track and field space- Yeah … but just in pay equity and women’s sports generally- Yeah

like I, I just got excited. Even Allyson Felix said, “I’m not doing this to win. Like, I’m, I’m probably not going to.” Mm-hmm. “I don’t know.” She was like, “But I missed it, and I wanted to reengage.” And to me, that is enough. Like- Yeah … they don’t owe anyone any explanation for even why they’re doing it- Yeah … in the first place.

Just like when Venus came back after… Obviously, you know, s- so Venus, she will say this- I said

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: I needed this good healthcare to continue, so let me go ahead and play a match or two.

I will say this as well. Yeah. I love them both. Come on. I know people may push back. Venus is actually my favorite track s- my favorite tennis player of all time.

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: Yeah.

Mm. Same. But it’s because- Lowkey same, Preston. Because, yeah, there’s just, there’s no s- I’m lowkey a Venus girl There, there’s, there… And this is not to shade Serena, but there’s just no Serena without Venus.

Dr. Brittney Cooper: That’s right.

That’s right. And, and I really hate that people push back- That’s right … on Venus and her career when it was all, like, around, like, health conditions.

Like, Venus could not play as much as she wanted to play because of Crohn’s and other things. And so I’m like- Yeah … I’ve, I’ve seen people push back on her career more.

Dr. Brittney Cooper: Yeah.

But again, Venus person. But love Serena down, and I am- Yeah … grateful that she’s coming back, and I can’t wait to see her play. ‘Cause Serena’s incredibly skilled in doubles.

Like-

Dr. Brittney Cooper: Yeah …

incredibly skilled in doubles. Yeah.

Dr. Brittney Cooper: Incredibly.

So I can’t wait.

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: Incredibly. But

Allyson Felix- I

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: can’t wait …

all

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: day. Allyson Felix is one of the nicest people I’ve ever met in my entire life. Wow. She deserves every good thing on the planet. Yeah. Mm-hmm. And I’m so grateful that we get to continue to see her compete- Mm-hmm

to see Serena compete. I’m excited that A’ja Wilson is the real face of the league. When Jay-Z got on stage at The Roots picnic, he had the biggest grin on his face, and he was like, “I missed this.” Mm. And I just feel like that kind of joy that marginalized people often do not get to experience as they age, doing not just what they’re dominant at- Mm

not just what they’re good at, but what they love, what makes their heart smile, what makes their soul sing, it was so beau- Like, I got chills up my spine when I saw him do it because it was beautiful to see somebody aging gracefully and with care for themselves say, “I’m doing what I wanna do, and I’m doing what makes me feel good.”

Mm-hmm. And I think that there are so many of us in marginalized communities, Black folks, queer folks, who don’t get to see our people age, let alone see our people age happily. Yeah. Right? They’re aging and surviving. They’re aging and scraping it together, right? They’re aging and barely holding on. But to see people aging and thriving, to see people aging and be- have full agency and autonomy over what they want this chapter to look like- Yeah

I hope that that inspires all of us, and I hope that this tells these people in charge who keep trying to subvert the truth and pervert democracy-

N/A: Mm …

Brittany Packnett Cunningham: I hope that that tells them we ain’t going nowhere. Mm. And you ain’t finna tire us out or nothing. Yes. Preston, Coop, always fantastic to talk to you all.

Thank you for bringing the group chat alive once again here on Undistracted. We’ll see you soon, and we’ll be right back. That probably felt a whole lot like your group chat, where you can talk about anything and everything under the sun, go from a Meet the Press interview to talking about the Summer House reunion, and a whole lot of things in between.

And I love that that’s my group chat. I love that that’s our group chat. I love that that’s what we can do at Undistracted. Because quite, quite frankly, being fully human is resistance, resistance in a moment that wants to reduce all of us to labels and how we can fight with one another. Resistance means being fully human and joyful and happy and giddy and curious and sad and frustrated and angry and rageful all at the same time, giving ourselves permission to do so, and loving each other while we do it.

So I’m glad that that’s the kind of space we’ve built at Undistracted. I’m glad that you’ve been joining us in that space. I’m glad that you’ve loved it so much that you’ve allowed Lil Webiana to come home with us for season, uh, three, and I’m so grateful that you’re here for season four. Stick with us, ’cause we’ll always stay undistracted.

Thanks for listening, thanks for being, and thanks for doing. I’m Brittany Packnett Cunningham. Let’s go get free