Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Election SZN
24 Plays5 years ago
Whew, America we did it. In this episode, we discuss our election night stress, the goals of the newly elected administration, and how we need to apply pressure for the health of our nation. Also, throw in the towel, boss!
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Purpose
00:00:00
Speaker
Welcome to this episode of The Lounge. Please be advised, the views expressed are not the views of the SNMA.
00:00:22
Speaker
What up, everybody? Welcome to SNMA Presents The Lounge. Whether you're in the student lounge, doctor's lounge, or lounging around at home, get ready to join SNMA for meaningful conversations on topics affecting minorities in medicine and groups that often sit at the margins of health care.
Host Introductions
00:00:42
Speaker
This is your boy, student Dr. Aldrin, straight from the Bronx. Flies doc out here.
00:00:50
Speaker
Hey y'all, I'm student Dr. Isabella. You know, the one who comes with the facts when she can. And yeah, hoping that y'all enjoy this episode.
00:01:00
Speaker
What's up everybody? This is student Dr. Erica Dingle. So happy to be with you today again in the lounge and we are about to get into it.
Election Impact on Communities
00:01:11
Speaker
So for our preclinical students, running the patient list on the wards allows the team to address pressing matters of the day. In this segment of the show, we'll be discussing some recent events in medicine affecting our communities and the populations we serve.
00:01:27
Speaker
This is our election episode. My loves, let's get into it. It's been a crazy couple of days. I'm waiting on this. Y'all go hear what I have to say because it's the weight of my heart.
00:01:44
Speaker
I'm so glad to be talking about this with you guys. Honestly, you know, and I was just talking to our wonderful boss earlier about this, but like, I felt just so weird this week, like, for like during this election time, I don't know, like,
00:02:01
Speaker
I think that there was a lot of uncertainty, you know, going around what's going to happen, right? Like, this is, this is the first time we've ever done elections in the sense that not everybody's going to the polls because of this current pandemic. A lot of people did mail-in voting. We don't even know if we're going to get the results the same day. It's just a lot of new things that this country wasn't used to when it came to the voting process. And I think that we were all, I think, feeling super nervous, super anxious about, like, what's about to happen. We was to, and
00:02:29
Speaker
you know, hopefully this is going to enter the episode, but we even like did a live reaction of like what was going on while it was happening on election day and hopefully our illustrator will see that. But, you know, we we didn't know what was happening. I know because we were stressed. We were definitely stressed. We were looking at the screen like what is going on? Like fighting was losing like crazy. It was like, yo, what?
00:02:51
Speaker
Wow, that's not happening. We didn't know what states was gonna be blue, what states was gonna be red. And I think at the time, I don't think we could have imagined how the results ended up turning out. Honestly, I was shocked. I was surprised because the day of the election when they were counting things up, it wasn't looking super, super favorable on his side.
00:03:09
Speaker
And so, like, now when they came up with, oh, Biden's flipping this state and that state, I'm like, oh, like, OK, people turned up like people actually came out to vote. And I think that just goes to show that our democracy process is just it's real and it really does make a difference.
00:03:25
Speaker
Yeah, it is definitely legitimate. Shout out to the people that did the mail-in ballots and did not give up the privilege to vote, especially in
Minority Voter Influence and Kamala Harris
00:03:32
Speaker
urban areas. You see Philadelphia, Atlanta, where initially you look at Pennsylvania and Georgia and it was like, damn, Biden, you getting killed right now. And then when the mail-in ballots came in from these urban areas, whoop.
00:03:45
Speaker
It was it was like turning all the way up. We all the way up. You know, right. So it's been such it's so beautiful to see like the fact that we really came out in droves and really respected the integrity of the democracy, as you mentioned, Isabella, is so important to the process of being in America. And I'm so glad even though over 70 million people voted for the other individual, I'm glad that on our side, we had enough like we had a whole army of people rallying behind Biden and
00:04:13
Speaker
I just look forward to seeing what's going to happen for all of us, you know, in the near next couple of years. And on January 20th, 2020 at 12 p.m., better get your butt out there. I'm telling you. That's right. Shout out to every listen to our our listeners, loungers and the black people that came out and voted it like I think in the most
00:04:38
Speaker
It seemed to be the biggest turnout of voters in a long time. I mean, in multiple states.
00:04:46
Speaker
So it just kind of shows how integral we really are to shifting
Accountability for Biden-Harris Promises
00:04:53
Speaker
things. Like Black people, we get it done. Make no mistakes. We get it done. And I didn't make it clear. He said it in his speech. And I just want to make a very quick disclaimer. I want to make a very quick disclaimer. This is not the views of SNMA, OK? Like, this is the views of Aldwyn and Erica that is on an SMA podcast, but we're not doing it. And it's a relative. You're not free from that either, OK? Oh, yeah.
00:05:26
Speaker
Like the point of this is that we just kind of want to make this a platform where we can all kind of say our views and hopefully, whether it resonates with you, if it doesn't resonate with you, you guys can feel like you have a voice to speak on it and hopefully given your own responses, email the podcast and kind of talk about
00:05:42
Speaker
how you felt about it. But once again, this is not the views of SNMA as a whole because everybody has their own views, right? So just making that quick disclaimer. But yeah, I want to say that Biden noted that the Black Beauty put themselves on their backs. Like we carried this man to
00:06:00
Speaker
being the president-elect, let's just call a spade a spade. He said it. He said that since his time in government, it's always been Black people who have been advocating for him and giving him the opportunities that he has. And that just goes to show you how we always show up, right? And he said, is his time now? Is his time now to show up for us? I'm going to hold him to it. I'm going to hold him accountable.
00:06:22
Speaker
because it's time for us to start holding what these politicians say accountable. No matter how much we want change from the current administration, we also have to look at the people that we're supporting and making sure that they stick to their word, right? Because essentially, it's our lives on the line at the end of the day, you know? Like, that's what it comes down to.
00:06:38
Speaker
Yeah. And when you vote, you vote for an individual to represent your ideals, your ideation, your thoughts and perceptions of the world. And also for the opportunity. America is a place for opportunity. And I think we deserve an opportunity, especially in the black community, to excel, to have opportunities to be better individuals each and every day. And so we should hold them accountable. And I'm hoping, you know, oftentimes you see
00:07:00
Speaker
politicians come into office and they have this glamorous dream of helping people and they have these plans. But it really is about initiating those plans and putting them into place. So I hope that they really come to fruition. So I have very high standards. Hopefully he doesn't fail us.
00:07:17
Speaker
Yeah. Speaking of those plans, so just so you guys know, we had conversation and decided amongst ourselves what concerns and what topics would, I guess, benefit us or what we were most concerned about. So the topics that you'll hear today were deliberated on.
00:07:38
Speaker
from these hosts, my lovely co-hosts, and that's what y'all are going to get. But before that, I must acknowledge the first Black, y'all know I got to do it. And Indian, my soror. Yes, ma'am. I love it. I love it. I'm sorry. Okay. Listen, BP,
00:08:04
Speaker
Kamala Harris, give it up one time. Okay, let's not let me add, let me add Howard alumna Okay, forget that. So it's all my HBCU grads as well as all my Howard alum bison. Okay, she's here for us. Okay, but
00:08:25
Speaker
like, let's make this clear, right? Let's make this clear. She going headed to in this in this episode, she's not exempt. We're also holding her accountable, right? Because at the end of the day, we know that both of them have had a past that possibly is controversial. They've done some positive things. They've also done some things that are probably
00:08:41
Speaker
seen as negative. And we know that initially when they were kind of getting their foot into running, we were a little bit hesitant about some of their policies that they had in the past. And so we're going to address that too. And I want to make that clear to the audience, like we are going to address that. And yeah, and make sure that everyone is being held accountable to what they've said and what they're claiming to do moving forward in this administration. So yeah, like Erica said, Oh, sorry, I mean, go ahead.
00:09:11
Speaker
Oh no, no, I was gonna say just another shout out to the Caribbean people, especially the Jamaicans, you know, Kamala Harris is Jamaican. So you know what I'm saying? You know, shout out to that, the energy and the people out there too, because she representing that too.
00:09:31
Speaker
So we definitely, oh, sorry. We came up with these concerns from a, specifically from like a determinants of health point of view. So why don't we start with
00:09:43
Speaker
the Affordable Care Act and what might happen with that? Health care? Yeah, that's actually been something that's like, everyone has kind of been concerned about, I think one of the main things people have been concerned about, which was the Affordable Care Act. We know that since the previous administration, and I'm gonna say previous administration, because in my, based on the current acts, this is the previous administration, we're dealing with the current administration.
00:10:07
Speaker
the administration, you know, he has always been kind of against the Affordable Care Act. And honestly, anything that had to do with Obama, he's just been against. And we know that he was kind of putting that under attack. However, of course, with the new administration being
00:10:23
Speaker
a previous VP of the Obama administration, he is still with that. He still wants to bring that back into, I guess, our current society. And so Biden has definitely said that he, of course, wants to continue the Affordable Care Act, that he has voted yes on many things involving that, including negotiating medicine prices for people who have Medicare, even making sure that
00:10:48
Speaker
children have something called the State Children's Health Insurance Program that they're eligible for that. He's even also worked with the Kaiser Family Foundation and making sure that African-Americans can decrease their uninsured rate. And he's done that where it's gone down from 19% to 11% for African-Americans, and even for non-elderly Hispanics from 40% to 25%. So we know he's been working hard with that. And even Kamala Harris has
00:11:16
Speaker
we know that she was pretty close with Bernie Sanders at some point. And she also was with
Georgia Runoff's Impact on Senate Control
00:11:22
Speaker
him when it came to some of the things regarding health insurance. She signed on to the single payer bill that Bernie Sanders had, which would essentially get rid of insurance industry and health insurance provided by employers and try I think to make like, was it like a Medicare for all thing that I think he was trying to do. And so
00:11:38
Speaker
And so essentially with that, we know that they have this plan of making sure that everyone essentially is covered by a health insurance system, right? And that greatly differs from the previous administration who was kind of concerned about, okay, like, well, we're still going to stick to this plan of whether you have a job or whether you're able to afford it versus everyone is deserving of this health care. And I think that's an important distinction to make.
00:12:03
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, for me, I think it's beautiful to see that Kamala Harris and Biden, especially Biden in the previous when he was with Obama, they've done such tremendous work, particularly for communities that we come from. And I think for me, like, health care is not a privilege for the privilege. It is should be a universal right. And
00:12:21
Speaker
When you talk about those statistics, when you talk about decreasing from 19% to 11% non-elderly African-Americans, that is huge. And even for myself, being in medical school, I ain't going to lie, I talked about this before. I have no health care insurance during medical school, still kind of working on that right now, now to have that as an available option moving forward with Biden and having that persist possibly for the next several years. I think it's incredibly important for us to take note of that and take advantage of this to put
00:12:51
Speaker
that information out into the world and say, Hey, like, yo, we have this opportunity in the black community to take care of our health, to have these opportunities to take care of us as individuals and promote health and wellness. So I'm curious a little bit into like why you didn't have health insurance. Was it like that during was too expensive. I'm not paying $3,500 for insurance from my school.
00:13:14
Speaker
You know what I mean? I'm just going to be honest. It was just frustrating. I already got enough loans and then my loans that I'm paying for insurance is going to get interest and it's going to build already. I'm already at $300K in debt. And I know a lot of medical students. My boy, same thing in med school. He don't got health insurance. And I'm over the age of 26, so I can't really rely on my mom.
00:13:34
Speaker
And it's crazy like recently and I'm also part of the osteopathic committee affairs committee. I'm one of the chairs for SMA and we had one of our guests who's a physician, a DO. And he was talking about when he was in medical school, his mom actually worked the second job to get to allow him to get health insurance during medical school. And you hear it's like, wow, like,
00:13:55
Speaker
We gonna be future doctors. How can we not have access to, you know, like health care, at least cheap health care. I'm not paying $400 for health insurance, bro. You know what I'm saying? And you bring up, you bring up a good point with regards to just the amount of loans we accumulate over time. Listen, from undergrad, some people do master's programs in medical school. So one of the good things that I think the Biden Harris
00:14:24
Speaker
administration will bring, hopefully they'll actually stick to it. Have y'all seen the memes where it's like, listen, January 21st, we looking for this.
Trump's Concession Concerns
00:14:32
Speaker
Right. Super looking for this. Universal student loan forgiveness. So
00:14:39
Speaker
According to Forbes.com, Biden has, or President-elect Biden, let me put some respect on his name, has adopted Senator Elizabeth Warren's plan to provide $10,000 in student debt cancellation for every student borrower, specifically as coronavirus relief and stimulus. But there are so many other ways that they are looking to help students out, including working to reduce
00:15:09
Speaker
the debt that students have to take on in the first place. This campaign has said that they will make public colleges and universities tuition-free for students coming from families earning less than $125,000. When you consider the median household income of US citizens, excuse me, it's just under 62,000.
00:15:34
Speaker
A good percentage of, I always want to say patience, Laura, a good percentage of Americans would actually benefit from this. And that's just one of the things that kind of sticks out that would really help improve where we stand as students and for students that want to move forward and
00:15:59
Speaker
Yeah. Lord knows I'm waiting for my check. Period. I'm waiting for my check. Listen. And I'm still asking. Go ahead, go ahead. No, I was going to also talk about the fact that another part is that for students in HBCU private institutions, they're also going to rid loans from there as well. So I'm like, yo, take this 100K off of me from being at Morehouse School of Medicine. I'll take that. I need that energy.
00:16:26
Speaker
Yeah, because we just got to play with this runoff in Georgia between the Senate, John Ossoff, and then Raphael Warhol that they win. Because the problem is that we need a majority-known Senate to have a lot of these initiatives in place. And shout out to Stacey Abrams, though, for pushing endeavors out in Georgia and making sure that the voters are out there and making sure that we will represent it as well because
00:16:55
Speaker
It's going to be crazy now to the minute. She's single-handedly registered.
Reversing Trump's Policies
00:17:00
Speaker
I want to say she's single-handedly registered at least 80,000 voters. And we could fact check that, but she registered a lot of voters because Georgia has not flipped or been blue in how many years, and that's not normal. So like that, I just want to give
00:17:18
Speaker
credit to her and just kind of remind everyone that once again, black people have been the bane of this election process for this cycle. And Biden has to owe a lot of his success to these black people who have gone out, who have sweated, who have sacrificed and really tried to push people who probably usually haven't voted to vote. And it's clearly it's made results. It's shown that
00:17:37
Speaker
It really is about coming out and doing your part and doing the work. So, yeah, shout out to Stacey Abrams. Shout out to other people who also did their part, too. I think there was a congressman who was on CNN who was talking with Don Lemon, who, you know, also said all the things that he because I know he kind of has like a relationship with Biden and he's also been a huge supporter of him since like day one. And he played a huge role in, you know, his success. So all these black people out here who have just been doing the work. Thank you for that, because, you know,
00:18:05
Speaker
uh, change only comes when you are able to bring other people with you to create that change. So you bring up, you bring up, um, as far as black people in this election, right? Can we just stay there for one second? Because I want us to kind of take in and really, really understand or try to understand like, what was at play during this election? Um,
00:18:34
Speaker
even now, what are the votes that are getting counted, right? Think about it. The ones in Georgia, these heavily populated areas with our people. In Philly, like Aldwin mentioned earlier, there has been voter suppression. There was definitely gerrymandering at play.
00:19:00
Speaker
And honestly, I think we've been suppressed for so long.
00:19:07
Speaker
We had no choice but
Gun Control and Law Enforcement Reform
00:19:10
Speaker
to come out and do what we did in this election. We had to do it for ourselves. I don't know. To your point earlier, Isabella, how you kind of felt off and just weird and stressed after. And girl, I still feel off. I still feel off. That's the problem. Exactly, go ahead.
00:19:33
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I just kind of want to take note, like, y'all know he still hasn't conceded, right? This man is still talking about lawsuits and suing and like, what is going on? Is this a democracy or is this a dictatorship? I'm so confused. Like, never in my how many years of life I've been existing, over 20 years of life I've been existing, has it been a point where someone loses and we haven't heard from the person.
00:19:56
Speaker
as to how they're going to move forward with the new administration coming in. It doesn't make any sense. It makes me fearful of what's going to go on. Is there about to be a war? What's going on? It's either you walk out or you don't, and he hasn't made that clear, and that's giving me anxiety.
00:20:14
Speaker
like, it's giving me anxiety. But I do know that as many lawsuits as he's given so far, you know, they've been dismissed, thankfully, because he doesn't have any fruitful evidence to have that come up, come to play. And I know at the end of the day, it's like America's democracy has to prevail over one person, like that's, I know that's a thing. And
00:20:31
Speaker
Um, that's the only, that's kind of keeping me a little bit saying like, okay, like no matter what happens, he can't just bend the rules because he's Trump. He, he has to follow America's governing system no matter what. And so I'm hoping with that, um, you know, that we can move forward as a nation that we can finally feel like, okay, we're about to safely transition. Like, but you know, y'all sometimes I'd be having this bad feeling that pit in my stomach and I just don't know what it is. I'm just trying to shake it off.
00:20:59
Speaker
Just going back real quick. I just want to say my bad on potential senator Warnock said his name incorrectly So just wanted to say that and shout out to him I know he's the Reverend at Ebenezer Baptist Church Which is formerly where Martin Luther King was a deacon and I had the opportunity to
00:21:14
Speaker
to listen to him so I really hope he wins but going back to what you guys were saying yes he needs to concede certainly it'll happen and I was watching news today and many of his advisors have been telling him like yo like you got to figure out a way out this like we know that it's not looking right for you and but you still want to prevail you want to push through but he already has like the thought in line but he's not putting out there publicly that
00:21:39
Speaker
he knows that he lost, essentially. So it's very interesting to see the psychological dynamic behind this. But we do know January 20th, 2020, that he must be out. It is written in the Constitution at 12 p.m. So whether there's going to be FBI or whatever, but he's going to be kicked out the White House.
00:21:56
Speaker
Right. And to your, oh, I'm sorry, about anxiety, because I'm feeling it too. If y'all can, maybe y'all can even sense it. Um, imagine the, the immigrants,
Environmental Policies and Accountability
00:22:09
Speaker
like how they must feel or must have felt and probably still feel, um, just kind of sitting around as we weigh in the balance and just, we're just sitting waiting right now. Um,
00:22:25
Speaker
But good news, the Biden Harris administration does have plans to end immediately the Muslim travel ban since, you know, the ban was, I think it was a result of the presidential proclamation not passed by Congress, but this could immediately end the ban upon taking office and some other things. I'm not, I don't remember off the top, but
00:22:53
Speaker
right? And those are important things to consider, especially like with ice, we know the we know the role that ice has played in America. Look at our own 21 Savage, who I had never known that he really is not like he's from London. And he had his own dealings with ice, you know, and mind you, 21 had like a substantial
00:23:13
Speaker
like platform, a substantial career in America. He's been here for a minute and he still was vulnerable to what ICE could have done to him. So I know that we've kind of had an unhealthy relationship in America with how we deal with immigration. And so it is time for us to, you know, to give some ownership back to immigrants. Listen, immigrants built this country and that's on period.
00:23:32
Speaker
I don't care how you stand. I don't care whether you're Republican or Democrat. Everyone here, majority of people here are immigrants and that's on period. So based on that, we need to stop trying to demonize immigration because that is why America is successful to this day. And I believe that.
00:23:48
Speaker
Yes, interesting. When we talk about ICE and the history behind ICE and, you know, I was watching a documentary on Netflix and it just showed the Trump's administration enforcement of ICE and how it really separated so many families and made unfortunate circumstances for so many people. And even recently, within the last month, there was a gynecologist at an ICE facility in Georgia that was doing hysterectomies on women without their consent, you know, women from, you know, various countries, including Nigeria.
00:24:17
Speaker
and his Spanish speaking countries as well. And he found out that once they got out that, hey, I can't have children anymore, what happened? So you just hear these atrocious stories and it's like, what is going on? And the federal administration is not saying anything about it. It's like they're putting it under the rug. You cannot do that. That is a disservice to the citizens and the immigrants in America. And it just makes me so pissed off.
00:24:42
Speaker
Right. Right. And you mentioned like the
Biden's Tax Policies
00:24:45
Speaker
hysterectomy is being done unwillingly to these people. And let's talk about, you know, reproductive health and like how that's also been under constant attack, you know, in America with people trying to restrict abortion laws, people trying to restrict, you know, birth
00:24:57
Speaker
care access and Planned Parenthood and all of these things. Like, it's just been really, really, I think, just a constant attack over women's bodies in general, which is kind of like one has one has ever come to a point where you can control how a person uses their body and what they do with it. I think that's weird. Just
00:25:15
Speaker
just lack of a better term. It's weird. So that's an important thing that we also hope that the Biden Harris administration can, you know, cover and make sure that we take that into accord because it's been under a constant attack.
00:25:29
Speaker
And you know what's funny? They can try to control our bodies, but they won't control gun laws. Right. Right. There's so many other things that actually matter on a grand scale versus what I choose to do as a woman with my body. Right. And thankfully,
00:25:56
Speaker
Thankfully we have a new administration coming in and I'm, I'm hoping that, that they will take into consideration, um, the need for reform with, uh, firearm laws. And I mean, I don't know, how do y'all feel about it?
00:26:19
Speaker
Well, you know, I think that gun control has been an issue for as long as I can remember, especially when it comes to school shootings and all of these things, right? And what we deem as people, someone being mentally ill versus not mentally ill and all of those things into consideration. However, it always seems to me that people who are Republican or identify as Republican
00:26:44
Speaker
Um, kind of see it as, Oh, you're taking away my guns. You're taking away my, my right to protect myself, which is like, okay, I do agree that we need to protect ourselves to a certain extent. However, when it comes to a point that guns are just being freely given. And I, you know, and I know that.
00:27:01
Speaker
the previous administration just kind of, they weren't with the gun control, but with the current administration, they are voting no to prohibiting lawsuits against gun manufacturers. So like, I don't know why it wouldn't be possible to put a lawsuit against a gun manufacturer if anyone is just able to get a gun and as well as they voted no to like having more penalties for gun and drug violations. So essentially that would increase mandatory penalties for the illegal transfer or use of firearms.
00:27:30
Speaker
Um fund additional drug case prosecutors and require background checks on purchasing a gun purchasers at gun shows So i'm just a little bit confused why that wasn't happening before i'm very confused But yeah, these are things that they voted no for which I think is kind of obvious because if you don't have that control, right you have
00:27:46
Speaker
people who shouldn't have guns, having guns and using them wildly. You also just have, and I think too, we even need to talk about gun control regards to law enforcement because they to me need a training again on gun control because they're not getting it clearly. We've had a lot of cases of black people just being shot.
00:28:08
Speaker
criminally and violently for no reason because they haven't been able to know or practice what they've been taught about the useful way to use a gun, you know.
00:28:19
Speaker
Yeah, before we go on to more firearm policy, let's circle back to the ACA and also some reproductive health things. So according to Biden, he plans to build on the ACA, free preventative care and contraception. The public option will cover contraception and women's constitutional rights under Roe v. Wade.
00:28:40
Speaker
to restore ACA contraception's mandate from before Hobby Lobby's decision. It's also going to have accommodation allowing women to access contraceptive coverage from providers outside of employer-provided plans, supports the repealing of the Hyde Amendment. He will also do everything in his power to stop state laws violating Roe v. Wade, restore federal funding for Planned Parenthood,
00:29:03
Speaker
And he's also eliminating the global gag rule, which bars US federal government from supporting organizations who offer information on abortion services. So I want to know what you guys thought of that. I think that's for me personally, I think that's incredible that he, as you guys mentioned,
00:29:21
Speaker
Women should have the right and freedom and liberty to choose what they want to do with their bodies. I personally believe in that. And upholding the integrity of that, I think is part of moving forward toward a progressive America that's needed today. And I respect the woman's right to do that. It's unfortunate in the past that a lot of the support for that has waned, but now we're moving toward a brighter future in regard to this. And every woman has that decision, has that power to take in place when
00:29:50
Speaker
the time is appropriate for them to do that. So I think that's a beautiful thing. Right. And yeah, like, yeah, it's very much appreciated. And I do think that, yeah, it goes without saying that it's important for people to feel like they have ownership over their lives. Once again, going back to law enforcement, because that's been a constant threat because of that.
00:30:10
Speaker
Y'all know how I feel about just black people just just being attacked right for being black. I just I don't vibe with it. I don't rock with it. It's just it's not my and I know we don't vibe with it. We don't rock with it. But I do know with the Biden Harris administration, it's a little bit complicated right when it comes to law enforcement, just because Kamala was
00:30:30
Speaker
in herself known as the top cop, right? She's very much involved with law enforcement. Biden has a lot of buddies, I believe, who are also in law enforcement. So it's a little bit complicated in regards to how they felt about in the past. I do know that there was a point in time when Biden had supported something called the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act in 1994,
00:30:51
Speaker
which essentially it enacted during a surge in violent crime in the late 80s and 90s that basically has been the rise of mass incarceration during those years, especially for Black Americans. But on the other turn, though, he did also support an act called the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, which essentially helped to provide funding for victim services, especially people who had rape cases and stuff like that and giving them that platform.
00:31:19
Speaker
as well. So this is, you know, before he's been running for vice president or when he was vice president during his time in government. But now during his current administration, he does I know he doesn't specifically or specifically support the what's it called defunding the police. However, he does believe that there should be more money allocated towards community policing programs.
00:31:47
Speaker
and ways that we can also be able to have alternatives for incarceration, expanding funding for mental health and substance abuse treatment, limiting the death penalty, which Kamala Harris also is not, wasn't a supporter of the death penalty, and even ending the use of, or ending the federal government's use of private prisons. So he has been on the wave of trying to make law enforcement more inclusive of other options versus just killing someone or just locking somebody up, right? Because those are not the only ways you can effectively do law enforcement.
00:32:15
Speaker
Right. And speaking about law enforcement, like every time I see videos of, you know, my black brothers and sisters getting killed or shot or whatnot, I'm like, yo, why can't we just pull out a taser? Like, why you got to pull out a whole full weapon? You know, this individual may be suffering from mental health issues or maybe going through a bad day. And not to not to say that law enforcement officials shouldn't protect themselves. But I think that there should be some moderation in terms of shooting to kill rather than shooting to kind of
00:32:44
Speaker
you know, warn one individual and also shooting to kind of, you know, decapitate them in terms of like restricting them from movement and not allowing them to attack you. You know what I'm saying? So it's just it's just so frustrating, you know, like every time I walk out the street, walk out on the street and I see a NYPD car and I'm, you know, my blood pressure start rising, anxiety start, you know, rushing over. And sometimes I cross the street, you know,
00:33:06
Speaker
Sometimes I'll just like walk like fast, you know, without even, you know, coming to a realization of that in that moment. But afterward, I just think about it like, damn, like I could have really, like really been killed right now. And I mean, it's just crazy to have that thought, you know, and it's really scary.
00:33:21
Speaker
You know what, Alwyn, it's so sad that you feel that way. You're not the only black person that feels that way. Like when you see a cop, you cross the street and you just don't want to be seen by them at all. And I was reading the article on ABC, I think it was ABC News, and it was talking about how as far as people or black people with mental illness, it's like one quarter of
00:33:45
Speaker
fatal police shootings involve people with mental illness. So in New York, I don't know if you've seen, but Mayor de Blasio has started this initiative to start sending mental health responders instead of police when 911 calls are received. And I mean, it kind of makes sense, right? Because if you have this amount of black people
00:34:14
Speaker
being gunned down with mental health disorders, it does make sense to put something like this in place. So maybe the administration can actually look into this on a grand scale.
00:34:26
Speaker
And I want to quickly plug in too, like with Walter Wallace, you know, who was just recently killed in West Philly, which I live, you know, going being at Penn and not too far from where I live. Like, it's just crazy how, you know, he, it's just a perfect example of what you're talking about, Erica, which is people who have mental health issues who aren't being
00:34:47
Speaker
I guess, received in the way they should be received instead of being in a facility that could help nurture them, they're being attacked by police in front of their mother, you know, it's very sad to see. And it just goes to show that we have a long way to go when it comes to effectively helping those who have mental health issues and how to treat them versus just sending cops who honestly are not the people that are in the position to help someone like that. And so I do think that the term
00:35:13
Speaker
You don't have a doctor title. You didn't train for this and that's not your job. And we need to stick to our jobs. And I think that also goes into just like talking about our environmental space and how it's being, I guess, taken care of. Like where are these people coming from? How are they living, right? Especially in places like West Philly, you know, environment. Like we're not even talking about how
00:35:34
Speaker
People are breathing in harmful pollutants. People are not having access to clean water in some areas, right? Like these are things that all are kind of interconnected in terms of just like not being supported in terms of where you live and your community, right? And so I do want to kind of plug in quickly about, you know, the Green New Deal.
00:35:52
Speaker
which Biden is a huge proponent of. The Green New Deal essentially is this framework of helping to meet climate changes that we faced. We know that when it came to the previous administration, they didn't really believe in science. Clearly, they wasn't following the scientists who know how we can move forward with everything in regards to climate change and even this pandemic and how we're going to move forward from that as well.
00:36:15
Speaker
So hopefully we're going to be seeing a little bit more science. But with the Green New Deal, you know, essentially they want to one, make sure that the US is able to embrace greater ambition on an epic scale to meet the scope of this challenge of climate change and pollutants and environmental toxins, and to make sure that our environment and our economy are complete and totally connected, which I do think that
00:36:36
Speaker
The economy and environment are very much interchanged. Like they're very much connected to each other. You can't really separate one from the other. And so it's important that we take that head on and really focus our energy on that.
00:36:47
Speaker
Yeah, I saw I read an environmental consulting agency gave the Trump administration an F and then Vice President, Vice President Biden, when he was with Obama, they got a B from that same agency. So it's gonna be interesting to see how to change an environment, whether that's, you know, clean emissions, you know,
00:37:07
Speaker
I always believe in the fact that we have to be very efficient with our energy. Me personally, I believe I'm a love of earth, you know, and everything we do each and every day, it affects the earth, whether it's the animals, whether the air we breathe. And so, you know, going into the Green New Deal will provide opportunity for me and I believe will be jobs and opportunity to promote awareness about what are ways that we can create a safe environment for
00:37:29
Speaker
our future, not only for us, but we have to also think about our descendants, right? Like our great grandkids, our great, great, great grandkids. We want them to live on an earth that is cherished, that is loved, that creates, you know, just enriching resources in an environment, not just for humans, but for animals as well and the like. So I'm very proud to see where this thing goes and hopefully
00:37:50
Speaker
things will change, you know, whether it's, you know, energy efficient cars, whether, you know, we start having solar panels on all the buildings in Manhattan, right? Instead of using a standard electricity, now we get an energy from the sun that gives us the direct energy we need, the vitamin D that we need. Combat osteoporosis, by the way. So it's going to be beautiful.
00:38:11
Speaker
And I want to plug in, of course, that my girl AOC, I, anyone who knows me, I have a huge AOC fan. She is, of course, the one who pretty much brought the Green New Deal into fruition. Right. Like that was essentially her platform. However, Biden is a supporter of that. And he's made that he's made that clear that he's a supporter of that and also trying to bring light to how our country desperately needs it. But, you know, AOC and Biden like their AOC is the one who brought that into fruition. But Biden is just kind of like he's for it and he wants to see it come in, too.
00:38:40
Speaker
into existence. We have lots to look forward to, I guess, with this new administration.
00:38:52
Speaker
But remember, let's hold them accountable, like we said. So whatever they say, we're going to look straight down their policies and what they want to initiate. And we got to make sure we hold them, give them responsibility to do that. You know, ensuring we call the offices, ensuring that, hey, Biden, you need to step up. And that's why, you know, we need also people like celebrities, people that are in the political arena to really advocate for these things that they talked about. You know what I mean? Right.
00:39:17
Speaker
And stop worrying about these tax cuts if you're not making a whole lot of money. I'm sorry. I'm saying he made what I think was almost a million dollars and they took out like three hundred thousand dollars of taxes. You know what I'm saying? My man is not complaining. And I respect that. Trump is not even paying taxes, apparently. Like I found out.
00:39:45
Speaker
I don't know if y'all listened to that speech that Obama said in Philly. My guy was angry. I ain't never seen Obama talk out. Notice how Obama's been chilling in Martha's Vineyard pool. He doesn't involve himself in the nonsense, right? Ever since he was done with his two terms, he said, okay, I'm not with this. However, we've come to a point in our country where Obama had to speak up. He had to come out of his little shell and start trying to talk to the masses to get some things rolling. And he did just state how essentially this is
00:40:15
Speaker
sorry, I don't know why I completely forgot. Yeah, taxes, right. So, like, essentially, he was just talking about how, like, you know, Trump himself was not even paying taxes with all the money that this man makes. He was, like, I think paying the same amount of taxes that, like, maybe someone would make in just one salary, like, and know that everyone knows how much Trump makes, like, as an individual. And the fact that he was just dodging taxes to me is, like, why do y'all think that
00:40:39
Speaker
someone who's not even responsible with this taxes is going to help you out. Like, let's make that distinction clear. So, I don't know. Please just forget it. Like, please just stop complaining about this tax thing because it's really a figment of your imagination. Everybody has to pay taxes and based on your salary, you will pay your appropriate taxes and that's on period. No one's going to make you pay more than what you can't afford. Like, I don't know what's clicking but
00:41:02
Speaker
I started my research job at Yale a couple of weeks ago. And I'm like, by my second check, I'm like, yo, I paid more taxes than Trump. Like, bro, there's freaking two checks. Like, yo, what's going on? This is not right. You know what I mean? So it's crazy. He owes $400 million in taxes. And I don't understand how people could vote for an individual that does not pay taxes as a standard American, right? That's typically middle class or around that area. That's a hardworking American. Right.
00:41:29
Speaker
That is not compute. So it's just confusing how you could support someone that is kind of a antithesis to what you're trying to accomplish. You know what I mean? So. Right. There's a lot.
00:41:41
Speaker
And for those of us who are still single and might be looking to get with somebody know that couples filing jointly could earn or who could earn up to roughly, I think like 80,000 would benefit from the tax changes that would come with the Biden Harris administration. So, you know, next month we might get into talking about how to get with somebody.
00:42:07
Speaker
Okay. Okay. Money up. No, but just a joke to throw in there because people really have been going left with this tax thing and it's annoying. So stop. Right. I'm saying y'all need to calm down. We all gonna pay tax at the end of the day. Please let it go. Right. Well, thank you all for listening. Being our loungers. This this episode was
00:42:35
Speaker
Much needed. We wanted to talk to you all about what is to come with the new administration. I think we're all still praying. What y'all think, Izzy? Yeah, girl. I have a little feeling in the pit of my stomach, but you know what? It's the voice that's telling me that things gotta get better. That's a little bit louder. So hopefully I'm gonna just stick with that because can't let the negativity drown us, right? We gotta move forward, stay positive.
00:43:02
Speaker
That's it. I agree. You know, we, there's only one direction you can go and it's up. But, you know, during that, that, that first week when it was election week, you know, I was nervous and all that, you know, I'm still studying for my complex level two. And I'm like worried about that. And I'm worried about the election and my future, whether I'm going to have crazy interest rates, whether, you know, I'm gonna have opportunity, you know what I'm saying?
00:43:20
Speaker
still live and provide for my future family, potentially all these kinds of things. So it's really phenomenal how things have progressed and they've changed despite what we thought or perceived of initially. So I'm really excited and happy and looking forward to what the future holds for us. Thank y'all for tuning in and we will see you for our next episode, December wrapping up the year. And that's about it.
00:43:45
Speaker
Let us know your thoughts about the discussions we had today by emailing us at podcast at snma.org. Check it out. Be sure to follow the SNMA on social media to stay up to date on upcoming events like SNMA's elections. We are so excited, y'all. SNMA is a nonprofit org ran by medical students at the local, regional, and national level. That's impossible, baby.
00:44:07
Speaker
The theme for elections is fulfilling our mission as pioneers of impact, and believe me when I tell you, the SNMA is the safe space you want to be in as you grow as a physician leader. Whether you have interest in finances, health policy, international affairs, community service, and pipeline work or media, there is room for you.
00:44:26
Speaker
So please think about applying so you can have a seat at the table. Visit snma.org slash elections committee to learn about the positions available. We're all we got and we are waiting with you with open arms for you to join the team.