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Good afternoon, my people.
It's DJ Jus T. Ice.
Welcome back to BWTA Radio,
where Gen Z keeps it 100.
Today's topic is sure to ruffle some feathers
and snatch some wigs,
but Gen Z and Millennials
will lead America one day.
Mm-hmm, yeah. I said it.
Lead America one day.
No, I'm not talking about leading us
to the nearest Apple store to purchase the iPhone 25,
even though... that sounds nice.
That's not what we have in mind at all.
Did you realize-- yes, did you realize
that Millennials and Gen Z are climbing
the ranks of powerful institutions.
We will try to solve the problems that,
I hate to say it, Boomers just couldn't figure out.
We will at last have the power to guide America
in her relationship with the Constitution.
Bottom line,
we need change in this country.
We can't continue to try to fix today's problems
with yesterday's approach.
The Constitution was supposed to continuously strengthen
our union by expanding the rights of the disenfranchised
to participate in our democracy.
But what happened?
What happened to the fundamental rights of so many people
that were supposed to be included in the statement
"we the people of the United States"?
Although it may have helped build this nation,
we have to stop looking at out-of-date documents.
So what must we do, you ask?
Now, here comes the snatch wigs, y'all.
Burn it.
Okay. Okay, okay. Maybe that was a little extreme.
We must demand policy change.
We must reimagine justice.
Now, while y'all are readjusting y'all's wigs,
let's talk about how we can reimagine justice together.
There's just some stuff the Founding Fathers didn't get right.
Like the voting age to be exact.
Just 50 years ago,
people under the age of 21 could not vote.
But then it was changed to 18.
But I feel like they should change it to 17.
Why not?
I mean, we pay taxes.
We can get recruited into the military.
But we can't vote.
Gen Z makes up a enormous amount of people in society,
and we are affected by local and national problems,
just like adults.
But we can't vote.
And I think it needs to be changed.
Next, I wanna talk about the Electoral College.
I think we need to change the electoral vote
to the popular vote.
And I'm not the only one who feels like this.
We have elections to represent the people.
Not the states.
The Electoral College is biased.
It's racist. It's old-fashioned.
Call me crazy, but I feel like the person
with the most votes should be able to win.
Lastly, I would like to talk about
the equal opportunity to govern.
The Constitution says that no person
except a natural born citizen should be eligible
for office of the President.
I think this language is highly disrespectful,
and I think an excellent resolution
would be allowing
anyone who has been in this country for 20 years or more
to run for the highest office.
So why can't, and why shouldn't we eliminate
language that basically neglects
the aspirations of its citizens?
Naturalized should never mean being second class.
Ever.
Now, y'all know my favorite thing about keeping it 100 with Gen Z
is when I get to talk to my homies
about what they're doing in their communities,
in their work, to inspire us.
Today's Gen Z caller is somebody that we all know and all love.
He is best known for his role in the miniseries "When They see Us,"
directed by the incomparable Ava DuVernay.
He is Asante Blackk.
Let's get him on the phone right now
so we can ask him what he thinks about reimagining justice.
Yo, Asante.
What's up, sis? I'm good.
I'm happy to be here.
Blessed, you know? So I can't complain.
All right, all right. Okay, so today we have been talking about some heavy topics
like the Constitution and reimagining justice,
so we wanted to call you and ask you
if you could reimagine justice, how would you?
Ooh, um, reimagining justice?
That is a good question.
Kinda brings to mind a Common lyric, actually,
where in his song "Glory," he says, you know,
"justice for all just ain't specific enough."
And I think that that rings very, very true
because it really isn't, you know?
Who is the "all" that they're talking about?
That's what's gotta be investigated.
But for me, personally, I think that reimagining justice
really just starts with, you know,
the restoration of communities that have had so much taken from them.
The rehabilitation of communities that have had so much taken from them, you know?
It's like that famous Malcolm X quote, you know?
Hey, stick a knife in my back, pull it out three, say that's progress.
You can't take a second knife in my back,
pull it out all the way, say you made progress.
You know, you have to heal that wound.
So I think there's a lot of healing that needs to go on.
There's a lot of community that needs to go on.
And I think that that's also within our own communities, within ourselves.
There needs to be a lot of loving, a lot of unity, a lot of healing.
I mean, Asante. Asante, Asante, Asante.
I tell you this every time, but you are the future.
You inspire me and so many others.
Thank you for joining BWTA
to talk about reimagining justice.
And I'll holler at you soon.
- All right, Storm. Peace. - All right. Peace.
All right, y'all, I've broke down some things
and gave y'all a lot to think about, I know.
A lot, but before I get off air,
I want to amplify some of my peers and my homies' voices.
You have Taylor Richardson, who is a STEM advocate for youth,
specifically black youth.
We have Kayla Austin, who is an all around amazing human and activist
and cares deeply about gun reform.
And we have the big sis Yara Shahidi,
who has Eighteen x 18, a voter initiative,
so make sure y'all go check them out.
And I have a few more calls to action for y'all.
Support the Breathe Act.
This fantastic proposal divests our taxpayer dollars
from unmerciful and discriminatory policing
and invests that money in the new image of public safety.
You can find them at breatheact.org.
I want y'all to follow PushBlack on social media.
@PushBlack is a nonprofit
dedicated to amplifying black voices.
And most importantly,
I want you to continue to magnify your voice
by voting in local elections.
Local elections matter, too, y'all.
All right, I'm done here.
You talk. DJ Jus T. Ice out.
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