Street Politics: Reimagining Power, Reengaging the System with Ray Lewis

This week hosts Tiffany Cross, Angela Rye, and Andrew Gillum host a special guest from the State of the People Tour.    Ray Lewis went viral after delivering a fiery speech during a Q&A session at an SOTP town hall. “The only person who can save the streets is someone who comes from it,” he said. We agree–it’s exactly voices like Ray’s that we should be paying attention to in this political moment–and that’s why we’re having him on.    Ray Lewis is a former street figure turned powerful voice for transformation and empowerment. He’s built a reputation as a fearless advocate for the hood, the communities he came from. Along with the folks at the Offenders Alumni Association, Ray uses his formidable energies to guide people—especially the youth—away from the path he once walked. We felt his energy when he spoke from the audience on the SOTP tour and had to bring him on the show. Follow @Ray_lewis2 on Instagram.   The interview with Ray leads to a larger conversation about empowerment, political engagement, and the need for lived experiences to be at the forefront of driving change. To spark a mass movement, we need to reach the disaffected and forgotten; that’s just the kind of work that Ray does every day.   Ray Lewis speaks from the SOTP tour: https://www.instagram.com/p/DJSHvqGS6lp/?hl=en   Learn more about the Offenders Alumni Association: https://www.offenderalumniassociation.org/ And of course we’ll hear from you! If you’d like to submit a question, check out our tutorial video: http://www.instagram.com/reel/C5j_oBXLIg0/ and send to @nativelandpod.    Find out more about the State of the People tour: https://stateoftheppl.com/   We are 544 days away from the midterm elections. Welcome home y’all!    —--------- We want to hear from you! Send us a video @nativelandpod and we may feature you on the podcast.    Instagram  X/Twitter Facebook NativeLandPod.com   Watch full episodes of Native Land Pod here on YouTube. Native Land Pod is brought to you by Reasoned Choice Media.   Thank you to the Native Land Pod team:    Angela Rye as host, executive producer and cofounder of Reasoned Choice Media; Tiffany Cross as host and producer, Andrew Gillum as host and producer, and Lauren Hansen as executive producer; Loren Mychael is our research producer, and Nikolas Harter is our editor and producer. Special thanks to Chris Morrow and Lenard McKelvey, co-founders of Reasoned Choice Media.  Theme music created by Daniel Laurent.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.