The Cost of Dehumanization with Garrison Hayes

0:00Welcome to Karen Hunter's Awesome and who you calling a bitch? Yeah, Queen Latif is getting a lot of play lately since some errant, miscreant, knuckle dragging the end of the doll has been using their platform to call black women in particular out of their names in some very horrific ways. I have had, I have a visceral reaction personally, but publicly, I'm like, man, you're not worth the breath, the energy to even utter your name. You are a non-mother effing factor that said though, there are young people who need some instruction. And I asked a question on my radio show about how we should respond to this. And I led off this discussion playing a clip of Angie Nixon, the candidate for the US Senate from the great state of Florida, who was a target of this racist rhetoric.

1:05I'll call it what it is, very racist, very, very pointed though, very purposeful. There's a purpose behind this rhetoric, which we talk about. And I invited Garrison Hayes, the amazing award-winning journalist who has a new podcast out, you should check out Garrison Hayes, to have a discussion about it. I opened with the clip from Angie Nixon giving her response to being called out of her name. And then I would love for you to let me know how you think and what you feel by reaching out to me at Karen Hunter Show dot com, leaving me an email. All right, take a listen. I'm just tired now. It's become so normalized for people to continue to attack us. And all we simply want to do is just fight for the soul and the humanity of our country want to fight to make sure that people have access to quality health care, to good, fully funded public schools. I was told myself I was not going to do this. You know, I'm not going to see me cry on camera. This wasn't the first time that something like this happened, right?

2:07Like my primary opponent's wife says some really hurtful things in regards to what I wore and his auntie talked about how I talked and I'm from the south. I use y'all a lot. And I've been getting messages in my inbox. It's say you all and if you want to have a leak with one specific woman told me if I want to have rich people and well educated people vote for me that I need to change how I speak. First of all, I am a college educated person. I graduated from the University of Florida, graduated from staying college, preparatory high school at the top of my class, but that doesn't matter. Even if I did not, it doesn't matter. People are very deserving of respect and people should be able to run for office even if they are not college educated. Hail, even if they didn't graduate with the high school diploma. If they want to do something better for their communities, they should have the opportunity to do that.

3:08And I'm literally under the rule of law of a adjudicated rapeist, right? It is ridiculous. But I know it's a distraction, right? Because I feel as though Laura Lumer is doing the bidding of Ashley Moody because we found out that basically she allowed the theft, the stealing of $10 million from medically needy and low income keys to be diverted to defeat two citizen lay ballot initiatives that people place on the ballot. And so that's what this is all about. They're trying to distract us from these Republicans and powers failed, you know, failed legislation and just the fact that they have been cruel and they just want to use it as a distraction. But I am going to keep going because I know I'm on the right side of history, all these attacks. I just know I'm on the right side of history. This actually broke my heart. Gams and Hays is here.

4:09What are your thoughts listening to this? Angie Nixon, by the way, she's sent it candidate from the state of Florida, US and candidate for the Democratic Party being labeled, you know, some horrific terms that you know what it is. But she says she's tired. We're tired. We're all, I think we're all tired. What are your thoughts? I'm tired as well. The thing that the first thing I want to give, you know, Angie Nixon, representative Nixon, credit for is keeping the main thing, the main thing. You know what I mean? The her ability to take all that in to say, I just want healthcare for people in my state. I just want affordability and needs to be met is powerful. It's so easy to make it about yourself, but as she continued to even talk about, as she went on, she talked about the people that she was, that she desired to serve. And I think that's powerful. But it's, but she's spot on that a lot of this stuff is designed to distract, you know,

5:14you, you, you Google Angie Nixon and Laura Lumer comes up. That's by design, that's by design because her message works. And so now it's, of course, Angie Nixon's job to continue to put her message out there in the face of all this, but black people are tired. I think a lot of people, even beyond black, but black people specifically are tired of this. We're tired of the bigots being comfortable using language that they use in acting the policies that they're, and we just saw a young black man. You know, I don't know if you talked about this today, but there's a young black Haitian man who, who ended his own life yesterday. I have that story today. I was actually juxtaposing it to the number of Cubans being deported to Africa to, to countries that they're not familiar with. And then I was going to use his story. But please tell us because that shook me. It shook me too. It shook me to give the details, you know, just an overview, you know, a young, a young

6:14man, a college aged. Unfortunately, it took his life in a very tragic and just, just awful way. And he did so. It's being reported that he did so because he was forced to wear an ankle monitor. He was just, as a Haitian, who was here on temporary protected status, the Trump administration has been fitting ankle monitors to people in this community. And it's debasing. It's humiliating. It's a real drag on a person's mental health to know that you came here legally, that you did it the right way that you are, you're not undocumented. You're here under a very specific status. And then overnight, that status can be ripped away from you. And then you are treated like a criminal, no criminal history, no record. And you're being treated like a criminal suddenly. And this is the thing. I know what it was like to see people with ankle monitors. You look. So, so people, so you're walking around and now you have this scarlet letter on you.

7:19And whether people are being rude or not, it's real. It's a part of it. And so this person, frankly, just, it sounds as though he collapsed under the weight of that profound indignity. And it breaks my heart. And I'll say this is well-caring. It's hard for me not to see the irony in all of this. The way that the United States of America is treating black people brought more broadly, but Haitians specifically in 2026, in our 250th year, when you know that Haitians, if we talk about history, Haitians fought in the American Revolutionary War, the largest black regiment of soldiers in the American Revolutionary War, were black men from Haiti who volunteered to come over here to help America fight it to presser. And this is the way this country treats Haitians. It's shameful. It's disgusting. And it's the same kind of disgusting activity that Laura Loomer and all of the people who enable a person like Laura Loomer, including the president of the United States of America, the way that they talk

8:23about black women, particularly Angie Nixon, specifically, it's disgusting. And it's tiresome. And my hope is that as a society, we will become intolerant of this kind of behavior. His name is Pierre Demas Bell. He came to America to build a future. At 20, he graduated with honors, joined the ROTC, dreamed of becoming a doctor, and then he lost his temporary protective status. And to your point, had to wear an ankle monitor. Yesterday, he died after being struck by a tractor trailer on Interstate 70 in Clark County, Ohio, according to the Ohio State Patrol. He parked his car on the shoulder, got out, and walked onto the Westbound lane, and a truck driver struck him a truck, a truck. He said, my truck, the truck driver was not injured. The family says his death was suicide. According to the Washington Post, they believed the loss of his immigration protection,

9:24his desire to be a doctor, all of that. He came to Ohio in 2024 to reunite with his parents. He was here legally. Over night, he was made illegal. And to your point, Garrison, far too many of us are okay with this. And that's the hard part for me. I don't know what we do about that. Yeah, I don't know what we do about it either. Other than to do what we're doing here, and to take these conversations to the people that you love, there is a force at play in our culture right now that is absolutely trying to do the divide and conquer thing. And they're succeeding, frankly. They are actively winning people over to give them scapegoats and people to blame. I mean, we thought it was ridiculous when they said the people, the Haitians in Ohio are eating the cats and the dogs.

10:25We thought it was ridiculous. It was like almost a joke. It turned into a TikTok trend. And this is the result. You know, I said this a few years ago at the NAACP convention that we have to be careful what we laugh at. You know, I hear people say all the time, he's so funny. Oh, Donald Trump is a funny guy. He's not funny because this is the outcome. This is the outcome. And I think we have to really reckon with that in this time. And so my heart is with the family and the community that's mourning this young man's death. And I pray that we're able to do something about this. Well, we're doing it. We're talking and we're not compromising our integrity and our humanity because we happen to be living in this particular under this regime because this is the way forward. Us saying no to it and pushing back and also being in community and lifting up the people that need to be lifted up like Garrison Hayes. Thank you for being here. About that life, the podcast, new episode out tomorrow.

11:28It is rooted in history. It is well researched. And this man has the heart for delivering knowledge. And I love him. And thank you for being here today. Karen, I love you too. Thank you so much for having me. We'll see y'all next time. Thank you for listening and share. Like this. Make it your favorite. Give it a thumbs up. The hearts wherever you're listening. I so appreciate the support. And I do love you. That's an actual word. See you next time.