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Need to know with Dr. Nsenga Burton-Political Leaders and Their Immigrant Wives
Episode 157 • 25th July 2024 • TonyTidbit: A Black Executive Perspective • TonyTidbit ™
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Episode Audio Link: https://podcast.ablackexec.com/episode/Need to know with Dr. Nsenga Burton-Political Leaders and Their Immigrant Wives

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In this episode of 'Need to Know with Dr. Nsenga Burton,' the focus is on the recent political developments surrounding the U.S. presidential race, particularly former President Donald Trump's selection of JD Vance as his Vice-Presidential candidate. Dr. Burton delves into the paradox of anti-immigrant sentiments within the GOP, noting that many of its leaders are married to immigrants, including Vance's wife, Usha, who has an impressive educational and professional background. The conversation extends to Vance's book 'Hillbilly Elegy,' exploring the cultural and socio-economic factors that shape the ideologies of disenfranchised white Americans. Dr. Burton encourages viewers to critically assess issues of class, education, and the pervasive nature of anti-Black racism and questions the pursuit of power by those aligned with white supremacist ideologies while being intimately connected with immigrant communities. The episode underscores the importance of understanding these complexities in the broader context of U.S. politics and civil rights.

▶︎ In This Episode

  1. 00:00: Introduction to Need to Know with Dr. Nsenga Burton
  2. 00:21: Political Drama: Trump's VP Pick JD Vance
  3. 01:56: Insight into JD Vance's Background
  4. 03:40: The Role of Class and Race in Politics
  5. 05:10: Supreme Court Diversity and Education
  6. 06:51: Anti-Black Racism and Global Perspectives
  7. 08:03: The Pursuit of Power and Proximity to Whiteness
  8. 11:13: Concluding Thoughts and KeyTakeaways

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Transcripts

BEP Narrator:

A Black Executive Perspective now presents Need to Know

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with the award winning hyphenated Dr.

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Nsenga Burton.

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Dr.

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Burton.

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What do we need to know?

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Dr. Nsenga Burton: Hello and

welcome to Need to Know with Dr.

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Nsenga Burton.

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I am happy to be here today to give you

some facts that you may need to know.

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Unless you've been living under

a rock, you have been following

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the political drama that has

played out as it relates to the U.

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S.

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presidential race.

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One of the important stories that

came out over the weekend, uh, is

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our former President, Donald Trump's

Selection for Vice President.

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And that is JD Vance.

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He's an author.

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He's a Senator from Ohio.

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Uh, and he's married to a very dynamic

woman, uh, an immigrant in fact.

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So, um, I find it interesting that

we have so much anti immigrant, uh,

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legislation being proposed from the GOP

when many of their leaders are actually

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married to immigrants, uh, including

our former President, Donald Trump.

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But, um, I just want to tell

you a little bit about her

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because she is quite dynamic.

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Um, she is.

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Uh, the daughter of Indian immigrants.

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Um, she was, uh, she

attended Yale for law school.

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She went to undergrad at Cambridge,

so she's very well educated.

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Um, she previously served as a law clerk

for chief justice, John Roberts Jr.

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of the U.

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S.

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Supreme court, uh, judge Brett

Kavanaugh, then of the U.

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S.

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court of appeals for the

district of Columbia circuit.

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As you know, he is also a Supreme

court justice and an, uh, And judge

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Amul Thapar, um, then of the U.

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S.

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district court for the

Eastern district of Kentucky.

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Um, that is what she has

been doing with her career.

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And then she became a partner

in a very important law firm as

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well, which she resigned from.

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Once the announcement was made, she grew

up in San Diego, California, uh, and again

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is the daughter of Indian immigrants.

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So what's interesting about this pick, JD

Vance, I think more people know more about

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him based on his book, Hillbilly Elegy.

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And I will say this, you

should read Hillbilly Elegy.

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I've read it.

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Um, it's an important book because it

gives you insight into where he comes

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from and what, uh, His life experiences

and how they have informed his ideology,

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which, of course, informs his policies.

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Um, he'll really elegy

is good in terms of.

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looking at the type of culture that

emerges from disenfranchised whites.

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These are whites who are mostly

impoverished, have been impoverished and

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have not been able to capitalize on white

privilege that exists in this country.

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Um, and so class is widely discussed in

here, but what's really interesting and

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why people should read the book, um, if

you haven't already, it's Is because it

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really, um, speaks to the behaviors, the

belief system and the practices of those

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who grew up in these regions, um, like

JD Vance who grew up in, uh, between,

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uh, Dayton and Cincinnati, um, which is

a very impoverished place and also, uh,

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home of the Ku Klux Klan in Ohio as well.

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Um, so you get a lot of insight into what

drives people, um, particularly white.

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Uh, men, um, who are angry and, uh,

disillusioned and feel that they have

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not, um, been given, uh, their rightful

place in American history, in American

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present and in the American future.

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Um, and so, you know, some people might

say, well, not sure why if in fact you,

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um, you know, have been in this country.

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But if, you know historically,

uh, the issue of class.

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Is very important here and, um, whites

have often been able poor whites have

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often scapegoated, uh, people of color,

black people, uh, native indigenous

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populations, um, and now immigrant

populations, uh, for the lack of,

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um, for their inability to capitalize

on what has really been a place that

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had very little competition for them.

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Um, in the, in the workplace

based on, uh, discriminatory laws

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that privileged other groups, um,

particularly white men over all others.

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So it's a really important read to

get into the psyche of if you care,

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some people don't, but if you care

and you want to know what is driving,

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um, you know, these supporters of

Trump, these supporters of, uh, kind

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of white supremacist ideology, these

supporters of, um, You know, what I

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would call a neo form of segregation,

um, the supporters of policies that

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erode civil rights protections and

that even erase, uh, people of color,

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immigrant communities from history

books and the many contributions that

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they've made, uh, to our country,

um, over the past, um, I would say

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over hundreds of years, if you're

talking about black folks, for sure.

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Um, so I think it's

interesting to think about how.

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This type of networking works, right?

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You've seen a lot of people

from Yale School of Law

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represented on the Supreme Court.

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When we think about diversity, a lot

of people think immediately gender

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diversity, racial diversity, sexual

identity, things of that nature, but

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they very rarely think geographically.

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They very rarely think about education.

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Um, is the Supreme Court really diverse?

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If most of the people on the Supreme

Court hold degrees, law degrees

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from the same schools, that's a

question you should ask yourself.

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Um, is it diverse?

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If you are getting people from a

particular law school that has, uh,

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that seems to have, um, it seems

to be producing people who are in

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support of, uh, disenfranchising.

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Populations of people historically and

otherwise, um, you know, it's interesting

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to look at the graduates of particular

schools, uh, and to see what they do.

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So, you know, to see that, um, J.

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D.

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Vance's wife, Usha and I think

I'm pronouncing it right.

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I think it's, Usha um.

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You know, is brilliant, uh, extremely

well educated, uh, is the child of

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immigrants, uh, is from California

and is partnered with someone like J.

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D.

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Vance.

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Um, I think you have to ask

those questions as well.

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Right?

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What does it mean?

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Um, in that way?

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One of the things I also wanted to

pose for you is also think about

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why Usha would be a more desirable.

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Indian, um, or person of Indian

descent, uh, then our current

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Vice President, Kamala Harris,

um, and Kamala kept her name.

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She did not change it.

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Uh, which is interesting when you

think about Nikki Haley and you think

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about other people who are of Asian

or East Indian descent, um, but,

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uh, you know, something that is,

Not talked about enough is the fact

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that anti black racism is worldwide.

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It's not something that just happens here.

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You know, I've met people who didn't know

that slavery happened all over the world.

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They think it just happened

in the United States.

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I've met people who think that Jim Crow

just happened in the United States.

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Um, you know, if you know anything

about apartheid, which is actually

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based on Jim Crow, if you know

anything about, um, Uh, the Holocaust.

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I mean, like, you know, it's happened all

over the world for long periods of time

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and to lots of different groups of people.

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Um, and so when you think about

anti black racism, um, which is

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pervasive, uh, in many cultures

around the globe, especially, uh,

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in India, uh, it is not unusual to

me that you would meet some people.

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Um, and of course, it's not all people.

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It's not all people, but some

people who are from that, those

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parts of the world, uh, who hold

those beliefs and those ideas.

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I don't know that to be

the case, um, with Usha.

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Um, I hope it isn't the case with Usha um,

but when you think about the pursuit of

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power, In the United States, and what it

looks like, um, when you see so much power

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residing and white men still in 2024, even

though people panic about, oh, they're

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not going to school in the same numbers.

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They're not getting the CEO jobs

in the same numbers, although they

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still hold, like, 90 percent of them.

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They're not getting, you

know, it's like, oh, so it's

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supposed to 100 percent in 2024.

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Right.

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Um, You know, oh, whoa, is the,

uh, and what about these poor white

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men, which are important, right?

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We need to think about poor white people.

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They are the majority of the

impoverished in this country,

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which nobody wants to talk about.

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Um, they use most of the serVices

that are going to be cut off.

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Um, if the GOP or when the GOP

is back in the white house, uh,

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they actually make use of those

serVices, uh, including disability.

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Uh, and it definitely, um, when

we talk about, uh, food stamps and

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things of that nature, the majority

of people who get those, uh, kinds

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of serVices are white Americans.

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Um, and so when you make your

most vulnerable and visible,

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you know, that's when you get

books like the Hillbilly Elegy.

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From J.

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D.

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Vance, who tries to elevate the struggle

of these folks and their thoughts and

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their culture so that we can better

understand this population of America.

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But it's also interesting

that while doing so.

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You will also be pursuing power by

partnering with someone who is part of

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literally the upper echelon, the 1%.

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Um, and has been for generations,

um, in order to do so.

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Right?

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So what does it mean?

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Um, when we think about whiteness

and these are questions you should

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ask yourself, what does it look like?

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Um, why are people so ready and willing

to scapegoat particular populations,

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whether it's black Americans in this

country, whether it's immigrants in

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this country, uh, while partnering,

like, building lives with, having

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children with, creating multiple

generations with those very same people.

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Um, so these are the questions

that you want to ask, um, and you

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also want to ask those folks who

are the children of immigrants.

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What is it about this pursuit of power?

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Um, or this proximity to whiteness that

allows you potentially, um, because

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I don't think that anybody's a dupe.

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I think this people make decisions.

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Um, but that allows you to.

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Partner with someone or to partner

with people and be in those kinds of

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communities that are anti you, who

you are, where you came from your

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lived experiences the experiences of

many people who have made significant

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contributions to this country and

continue to do so including our

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You know, uh, Vance's, uh, wife.

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Yeah, she's, she's pretty

dynamic and interesting.

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Um, so I just wanted to give you that for

a need to know, um, what you need to know.

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Anti black racism is pervasive.

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It's all over the world is not just

happening here in the United States.

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Be what you need to know is.

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You know, one of the drivers for

why people want to, um, get rid of

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Joe Biden is because there is a real

possibility that if he is elected, that

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Kamala Harris will become president.

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Um, and she is an immigrant.

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She's a children of immigrants.

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Um, she is Jamaican, black.

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Uh, she is Indian, right?

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East Indian, um, Asian.

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So, um, that's a real possibility

that you need to think about, right?

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What is this big push to get Biden out

and to replace him and her, which we

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talked about a little bit in last week's

episode, if you want to revisit that.

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Um, something else you need to know

is that, um, JD Vance, um, and the

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GOP, they talk a very specific game

about immigration, but then they marry

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these dynamic immigrant women, um,

you know, like his current wife, Usha.

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Um, which I hope I'm pronouncing her

name correctly, if I'm not, I'm sorry.

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Um, so I want you to know that too, as

they push this anti, uh, immigration,

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anti affirmative action, anti all these

anti DEI, you know, uh, SHRM just got

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rid of equity in, in, um, their policies.

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Um, but while they're pushing these

initiatives, they're also partnered with

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people who benefit from these initiatives.

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Um, so these are things

that you need to know.

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So when we are talking about.

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These issues.

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We're not only talking about black people.

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We're not only talking

about black Americans.

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Um, and so you need to know that too.

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So thank you for tuning in

to need to know with Dr.

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Nsenga Burton.

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I will see you next week on the

Black Executive Perspective Podcast

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and tune in to all of our podcasts,

not just me, Tony Franklin's

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amazing and all the other folks.

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Um, but learn something, um,

think about things critically.

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and stay engaged.

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I'll see you next week.

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BEP Narrator: A black

executive perspective.

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