the here in the united states, we've had a long and difficult history of race relations and racism. things are certainly better than they were in the past, but there's still a great deal of work to be done. most of that works around symbols which remain powerful remnants of the past. the remnants are damaged and i'm not speaking just about the confederate battle flag, for example, that many americans, especially in the south still fly. i'm not speaking just about statues that commemorate confederate generals and confederate battle victories. i'm also talking about me what's in a name a lot. as it turns out, i'm drunk to reaku. welcome to the whistle blowers the . 2 2 2 2 2 2 as mentioned in the past that i was born and raised in the northern us state of pennsylvania. like every school child i was taught american history as

well as the history of the state. when we study the us civil war, we were taught that it was a war to free, the slaves who were held in bondage across the south. and that president, abraham lincoln, was the great emancipator and the greatest president in american history. we learned the historical facts and if the war began, when southern rebels attacked the us military's fort sumter in south carolina. it wasn't until i was 18 years old and began attending a university in the south. that i learned that not all americans believed that the confederacy is commanding. general robert e lee was a traitor. it was only then that i learned that many americans, especially across the south, considered the confederacy not as a rebel movement or as men who took up arms against their own government. but as heroes fighting to preserve the south culture, well, that culture in my view was an abomination, and it was rightly destroyed in the bloodiest war in american history. now here we

are 159 years after the civil war ended. and there are still remnants of those bad old days. it has only been in the past 70 years that the confederate flag is no longer flying under the american flag in state capitals across the south. that's a step in the right direction, of course. but what about the sticky situation with names which should be done about those of the in double a, c p, the national association for the advancement of colored people is arguably the most important group in america to advance the causes of civil rights racial equality, an equal opportunity the n w c. p was founded in 19 o 9 as an interracial endeavor to advance justice for african americans by a group of intellectual giants. like w e. b. dubois, and ida b wells. over the years. other giants have loved the organization, like thurgood marshall, who went on to be

a supreme court justice and roy wilkins. but the organizations name is outdated indeed. it's offensive. and our next guest is working hard to change that. delia gray is a texas based community activist. she's waging a one woman campaign to convince the in double a c p to change its name and she joins us today. thanks for being with us. deal. yeah, thank you so much for having me in realizing the importance of this is, let's start at the beginning. you are a community activist and you've been focused on things that i considered to be important issues that most americans probably are not focused on. to tell you the truth, i've often wondered about the end up believe cps name. it's offensive. of course, it wasn't defensive a 115 years ago, but it is now. when did you take up this issue and what has the response been? ok, so thank you for asking me that. so in 2017 i have the rally in my hometown

of tyler texas in east texas in after the rally. i realize that no one from the in double a c p showed up. so i wanted to google and, and i've always known it's for black people. but believe it or not, john, i did not know what the acronym in double a c piece did for as so many other people don't know what it stands for, believe it or not so many other blacks, the black people don't know where to stand for. so i went home and i dale into you know, the organization and everything. and when i did find out what the name stands for national association for the advancement of colored people, i got angry. i was like there's veal calling as colored people. it was being a 2017. i was like, they're still calling us colored people in 2017 so. so that's when i set out

on a mission to get this changed and i knew it would be a long row to hoe, but i am willing to be in here for the long haul because this needs to be changed. it's offensive to still call us colored people, so that that's how i got started on this. mitch, if you've written opinion pieces, you've given interviews and you've appeared on television shows talking about your activism on this issue. you've been very clear about why you would like to see the end up lacy. p either replace the word color or change its name entirely and you've spoken about the dark days of the jim crow era. so tell us about that. your reasons for doing this are actually quite simple and clear. why do you think it's been so hard to actually implement? when i talk to people, i've told people and they're saying, well, at least the history of the name is the history of a. it is a they, they may have faded, either pensive, but is the history of the man and the i,

you know, or they say we got bigger fish to fry or, or you just worried about a name, you know, but my grandfather in my father, which might let me explain a little bit about this. my father was a lot older than my mother. my father was born in 1919. my mother's father was born in 1911, so they went through all this um jim crow error and, and things like that. so i would sit down and my father just died at the end of 2015, so he hasn't been dead long. so i was sick and i would talk to him and he was like, you know, baby we, we used to have to walk on the other side of the road. but during the jim crow air and the color people had one side of the road to walk on and the wife would walk on another side of the road. and then he said basically that same people beaten in

jail being killed because all they want, it was the quality, all they want, it was to go in the front of the restaurant. so he said the, even they feel that the main is offensive, but he thought you'd say better way then to save in where he's the, that's how they came up with the word color to they wanted to find another way to say the n word and that was nicer at the time, but as time went on, it has gotten the rogatories. it is just like john the swastika sample. now what i did my research and this was the simple did not story out as a bad sample. but because of the nazis and then it made it bad, this is also what the word colored has done for us. this is the exact same thing. there is no different. it started out to mean well,

but because of the jim crow error, the word color has become and has been offensive for a long time. and for this organization just still wants to portray us as colored people into very, very, very offense. i know that you actually begin this quest by writing directly to the end up delay c p, and asking them straight out to change the organization's name. what was their response as well? okay, so i did write a letter, but here's the thing in may of 2018. i flew to the national headquarters in baltimore, maryland to, to present that letter to them to get them to change their name. so i, the secretary met me at the door and i told her what i was doing and she said okay, well um she started laughing, you know, i mean, she said, well, i'll pass it on. and i didn't hear anything if nothing at all for 2 months,

i had to call them back and let them know, hey, look, i haven't heard anything. i presented a letter to you all 2 months ago and she's like, oh yeah, i just i, i sent it to the board. they're the ones that handle all that. i've left messages with the board members. no one has returned my call. i've been to my, i went to the local chester here and they were just, it wasn't a warm reception. i didn't get a warm reception because they thought that i was against the in double a c p. they thought i hated the in double a c p, and it just was not a warm reception that i got use me from them. so it has it. like i said, it's been a and it's been a long road. it's been long. i've been getting people just telling me how dare i um, what is my problem if it wasn't for the end of the late fee p,

i wouldn't be where i'm at now and that's not the problem. the problem is the name that they are still calling us color. so john, here, here's the thing. any time, a name of fan somebody, they change the washington redskins. that name of preemptive native americans independent indian. so because red skins as derogatory, you cannot call them that. that is a direct touring and they changed it. we have changed call him a special needs people. there are were, even though it's a medical term, we weren't, we can no longer call them. there are words, even prisoners don't want to be called prisoners anymore. they want to be called inmates. so if everything else can get change, why is it that they can't change their name or even just remove the word color.

okay, here's another thing. we know her as an to mama, but they decided to because the name was offensive and what it represented was offensive. they decided just to have the pro mailing company. now the surface still the same, it tastes the same. there is no different in double a c, p can leave there sir the same, but they just need to re brand change the name to, to uh, so it didn't offend us any more. because john, if somebody walked up to me and said, hey, colored lady, i won't be offensive, i'd be offended, i'd be ready to come to blows. so why can't we be just as angry or just as upset that this organization is still calling us color pete? delia, you wrote something that was very poignant that i hope you'll share with our viewers . you wrote about why the word colored is so hurtful. you compared it to the n word in that there's real hatred behind it. you also write about your father and your

grandfather and the racism that they had to endure and confront. so tell us about that. tell us about what led you to this point today? well, i, i kind of get emotional live when i start talking about these. because like i said, they were born in the early 1900, so they experienced the hate from the beginning. i am experience i've experienced a lot of hate but not is has, is what they experience. they were some of the ones that it really separated my grandfather from the rest of the world. he bought land in the country and he was basically secluded because he didn't trust banks. he didn't trust anything or anybody because of what he had endured because of the color of his skin . he said were not treated the same. he said there is a law for them in

a while for us and it's not the same law. he said, so therefore i just keep everything here that i know that's mine, it's mine, it's here no way to can take it from me. and so it, it caused him to become very secluded from the world because of the hatred. and now my dad, he was, he was born in 1919 and he was at the beginning every to and he, himself, his dad was a doctor. my dad dad was a doctor. but because of the color of his skin and the things that he in ran it or the things that he his dad and printed as a doctor, they took it away from them because of the color of their skin. and it just my dad and them was totally different. they, they, i respected why people because they say i know what they can do to you

know? and then when the jim crow, eric came, came about. he said it really got worse during the jim crow era. the way people could come on the quote colored side of town and harass them, and in and beat them up and, and do stuff they wanted to to them. but the color, it could not go to the white side of town and do anything to them. retaliate, anything, nothing there will be killed, they will be hung, anything would happen. so, and then they told me the water fountains in the restroom that was designated for black people. what didn't work half the time, so they, they really a lot of times they didn't have anywhere to use the bathroom. this is what is connected with this word color. so yeah that's, that's what they would tell me cuz i did ask them and you know, made, let me know and, and, and they're like, you know,

it said that we were judge for something we can't help for us just for the color of scan something we can help we were judged for, we were beating for we were jail for it, and all we want, it was the quality. that's it. nothing more, nothing less used to be equal. they could, delia. we're going to take a short break and when we come back we'll talk about some of the other residents of the fat, old days of racial animus in american society and culture. that also must be changed state to. 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 on the water is part of the visit that the employee would post good. isn't the defense you of us and that in the word part,

is it something deeper, more complex might be present? good. let's stop without cases. let's go products i look forward to talking to you all that technology should work for people. a robot must obey the orders given by human beings except we're so shorter is that conflict with the 1st law show your identification. we should be very careful about our personal intelligence at the point, obviously is to make a truck rather than fit the area. i mean with the artificial intelligence, we have somebody in the payment, the robot must protect this phone. existence was on the

one the next to the whistle, blowers and john curiosity. we were speaking today with delia gray. she's a texas based community activist, and she's waging a one woman campaign to convince the national association for the advancement of colored people, or in double a c p to change its name. thanks again for being here, delia. thank you for having me. you're welcome. juliet, let's go back just a little bit. you are relatively new to activism. i read that you were spar to action because of the far right racist march in 2017. in charlottesville, virginia. i remember that awful day as if it were yesterday. far right extremist recess and neo nazis marched freely through the streets. the instigated violence and one young woman was run over by a car and killed. tell us about the impact that charlottesville had on you. i felt

like, uh, she was uh, running for me like she was saving my life. she risk her life to save my life. john, every day i wake up, i'm fighting for my life. just because i'm, i'm a black female. i am fighting for my life. every single solitary day, and i feel like no one understood but i understand, but i felt like she was saying it was solid. there it is. she was standing with us and say, you know what? i am here with you all, you know, i, i want to stay in with the all, i want to empathize and let you all know that i am here. that's had a profound impact on that. made me want to get up and say, hey, if she can get up and stand up and say this is wrong, i don't want her fight to end. i want to continue. perfect. you know, i it in and i,

i'm how i how i am doing her well by continuing to fight with a long side or i know physically she's not here, but she's in a lot of people's hearts. so i want to continue her 5. i want to bring just this, i want to bring the quality the everybody, that's why is not equal for this company. this is this organization to still call is color john id. like i was telling you early, i did some research. i did, i looked up the in double a, c, p, executive, and demographic. 65 percent of the in a c, p. r women, 35 percent or mean. now 74 percent they, they blew my mind. 74 percent of the management is what? 11 percent of the management is black and 7 percent is latino who spent and when i

got to thinking, well maybe that's why they don't want to change the word color because it's, it's a lot of white people that over this company and they think still calling us color is just fine. you know, maybe they grew up in the air were calling us color was fine. it's no longer acceptable. we will no longer accept this. it is not in 19 o 9 anymore. when the in double a, c p started. so it is, it is no longer acceptable, and they need to change these races. name they have what was the 1st issue that you took on? what did you do? right after charlottesville, i held the rally in my home. that's the rally i was talking about earlier. that no one from the in double a c p showed up. i did a stuff that hate recently and i was telling them that if you come into tyler

heating or, or trying to have one you out, we were not gonna tolerate the hate. here we, we are about love, we're about piece, we're bad quality here. don't come here with the hate. so i did a stop the hey river rally about a 100 people showed up which that was my 1st time ever organizing a rally. ever doing anything. and i was so happy that that many people showed up. so and then after that i was like, there's more that needs to be done. there is more. so i've been doing the work every since then. every since 2017 i have just been consistently now for the last 6 months i have slowed down because in january i was going to head on collision where someone hit me and i broke my neck in my back. but

that hasn't, that hasn't stopped me. all the way from getting on the phone, talking to people saying this is now saying we need this change. also, john, i'm going to go back. i also flew again, this very important, this issue is to me in 2022. so i flew back to the national headquarters again to present them with a another letter because i feel like they didn't answer me the 1st time. you now try again. so i tried, i got there, the office was still closed and the security was there. he took the letter, he said, i'll pass it on, i take letters to the front of the door and everything. nobody says answered. nobody seems to want to talk about this issue. so i gotta keep friday. i've got to keep fighting until this gets change. delia, i want to get back to the idea of symbols. i said in the opening that i was 18

years old when i 1st realized that not every american considers robert e lead to be a trader. many see him as a bona fide hero, which is just a mystery to me, but he's the definition of a traitor. he took up arms against his own government. it's as simple as that. and here we are more than a century and a half later. and we still have things like the stone mountain monument to a confederate carving in the side of a mountain. outside of atlanta, georgia. we still have hundreds, maybe thousands of confederate statutes in monuments all over the country. but mostly in the south. what do you make of all that, why haven't we see more changes even after all these years? they don't want to see our progression as people. i feel like change. it's hard for people. they're like you, they feel like the in double a c p. what is the history of it? is the history is it shouldn't be offensive, is the history? uh, john, there's nothing we can do to change history. history will be there. but going

forward, we can make it equal for every one. and we can remove the statutes in what we can remove the races word color from the in double a c p. so i feel like people feel is the history of robert e. lee of the confederate flags of the mind. me meant you were talking about that's the lucky it was the history here. but they don't understand how that history hurt people. that history really did damage to people just because they didn't look a certain what. and so that's how i feel about delia work and people learn more about your work and perhaps get involved. i am on link in it. um that's have reached out to you also. they can the best way they can see all my work in the get in touch with me thinking google delia grades in double a, c p there. they'll see that i have a petition as well that they can sign so that we can get this

offensive name change. and i'm also on me the instagram i am on um uh x. so yeah, there's a lot of ways to get in touch with. there's also an article on there that i did in the long view news journal, one of our local papers that has my um, they can read that and it has my email address. you can call email me at any time to ask me any questions. um so yes, but the main way is to google delia gray in double a c p. now i do want to say something. so i was saying earlier that i talk to a lot of people in black. people feel that, like i said, it was the history is why the in double a c p shouldn't change and why people feel like it's not their place. it's not

their place to say whether this name is offensive or whether it needs to be changed . it is in every vibe, support. we are the only race john, with 6 different types of we are black. i'm not talking about the rogatories name. we are black. we are efforts in american, we are afro americans. we are colored, we are negro, and now we're in the people of co. and so i just want to be referred to as a black american. i don't want to be called anything else, but a black american. and why can't that be? why do we have to have a different name every 10 years they come up with a different name for us and that too has to stop that goes along with this. they everybody's saying, oh that a lot of the way people are opposed to this organization still does it. so it can't

be offensive if they're still doing well, that's why i'm trying to get a change because it is offensive and they do need to change. that's right. well, very, very best of luck to you. listen, you're on the right side of this. you are on the right side of history. thank you delia. the great 19th century civil rights who wrote frederick douglas, one said power can see nothing without a demand. it never did, and it never will end the end w c, p co founder ida b wells one said the way to right wrong is to turn the light of truth upon them. they were both. absolutely right. remember, post is not a strategy. if you want change, you have to fight for it, and that's what delia raise doing. i would like to say celia, great for being with us today, and thank you to our viewers for joining us for another episode of the whistle blowers. i'm john curiosity. please follow me on subsets at john curiosity and we'll see you next time the.

2 2 2 2 2 the hi, i'm acceptable and i'm here to plan with you whatever you do. do not watch my new show. seriously. why watch something that's so different. whitelisted opinions that he won't get anywhere else. welcome to please or do have the state department c i a weapons makers, multi 1000000000 dollar corporations. choose your fax for you. go ahead. change and whatever you do. don't want my show stay main street because i'm probably going to make you uncomfortable. my show is called stretching time, but again, it's not, we don't want to watch it because it might just change the way

the way it was. well, that is connecting with infinity. we've got more signal supply the issue of the task. ok. do you guys, do you guys love us? is that possible? duddy, a little quick look at the air conditioning. well, that is a total on that i have to go to the 15. yeah. well, the other stuff, and i do see there that there's reason that they don't put him in yet, which is i could i could or the the

of the united states respects and champions freedom expression. but we will not stand by as r, t and other actors carry a corporate activities in support of rushes. various activities are key slot with more sanctions in unprecedented act of censorship. from the u. s. s. of washington . move. this file is voices. but charlotte, the main screen, or you've asked question for matt, for months and months about the global south and why there's not more support for ukraine. it's because of the broad scope and reach of r t the russian foreign minister, where he reacts to the latest measures against this journal, calling them the purest form of persecution.