Krystal Kyle & Friends

This week we’ll talk to Justin Jackson, L.A. Chargers running back and Movement for a People’s Party advisory council member, during a time when the betrayal of the Democratic Party is clearer than ever. The $2000 stimulus checks Biden promised would be “immediate” have possibly become $1400 checks, possibly means-tested, possibly months away from landing in the bank accounts of struggling people. The $15 minimum wage has been limited to government workers and pushed out for years. Given these immediate reversals on policy positions that helped Biden and other Democrats clinch victory in their campaigns, what are working Americans to do about the lack of politicians representing our interests?

Reflecting upon his political journey, his experiences in professional athletics, and his advocacy for the People’s Party, Justin lays out the urgency of building power beyond the Democratic Party, the pitfalls of working within the party that progressives face, and the strategies that will help the left make the most of the Biden presidency in this week’s pre-interview conversation. Read that conversation below before joining us on Friday for the interview as a paid subscriber, or listening to the audio when it drops for everyone on Saturday. To get access to the Friday video, click the Subscribe button below.

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Krystal Kyle & Friends: Tell me about your political journey.

Justin Jackson: Growing up, I was pretty apolitical. My parents were the liberals who never talked about politics, which was understandable, considering that our politics have never really done anything for anybody. Once I got to Northwestern, we had a lot of conversations in our locker room that most college football teams wouldn't have. We would be standing there for hours, taking two sides of a debate. It was kind of fun, actually.

We talked mostly about social issues as opposed to political issues, because not a lot of us were very knowledgeable on politics. Politics did come up a few times, and I didn't know shit — so I realized, "I need to start doing more research." That was right around 2016, my first election voting. Obviously, Trump was the Republican nominee; I was like, "You shouldn't vote for Trump, because he's a racist." That was what everyone said, and looking at Twitter, you saw that he was saying horrible things. But then I was like, "You should vote for . . . Clinton? Wait, I shouldn't just say that. I don't really know what she believes." 

That was when I started looking into independent media. I tried mainstream news, but they just weren't talking about anything that could actually inform me. So I found TYT, funnily enough. TYT had long segments about Clinton's record, and about deep-dives into politics. Listening to the stuff that they were saying, that everyone should have healthcare, I thought, Wait, that makes a lot of sense. I agree with that. So I started getting involved with independent left media, like Jimmy Dore, like Kyle Kulinski, and like The Rational National. That was how I got into the left space.

KK&F: You're getting involved with the Movement for a People's Party. Among the left, there is massive understanding that the Democrats are not interested in being a party that works for the American people. Why do you think we need a new third party in the United States, and how are we going to make it successful?

JJ: I really didn't believe in a third party for a while; I bought into the idea that they wouldn't win, that it was too hard to get on the ballot, that the party would be a spoiler — all of that propaganda against third parties. But in reality, it's your right as an American citizen to vote for whoever the hell you want to. And if neither of the parties are representing what you believe in, then there should be a party that does represent you.

I love the Movement for a People's Party because we're seeing that there's a need for a party that is unapologetically left, and that is willing to call out the Democratic Party in order to move the Democratic Party left. Do I think, at least on a national level, that MPP can win any time in the next five to ten years? I doubt it. One option is getting progressives in the Democratic Party and pulling the party left, but in reality, the party is pulling those progressives to the right, even if slightly. It doesn't seem like those progressives are willing to call out the people who have the power to make people's lives better right now. They just want to yell about the Republicans, and the Republicans have no institutional power in the government right now.

It's not that I'm only for [the MPP]. If I could vote for Nina Turner, I'd vote for Nina Turner. But I think we need to keep pressuring on all fronts. 

KK&F: In the world of professional sports, which you’re part of, there have been recent pushes for athletes to understand their role as workers, and to understand that they provide labor. What kind of labor organizing needs to happen in the professional sports world?

JJ: The stuff we were doing with Black Lives Matter was awesome. A lot of us didn't participate in the scrimmages that a lot of people were doing in the preseason because of what was going on with the protests for George Floyd. The most upsetting thing is that when the NBA players tried to strike, Obama was telling them not to, even though NBA players have way more security. 

It comes down to security. In the NFL, there is a very small percentage of players that have job security, real security where they can say what they want as long as it's not horrible and they won't lose their job. It's a little bit different in the NFL because there's so much attrition, so much movement in and out. Our team last year was completely different by the end of the year. You don't see that in basketball; the players have huge voices and there are fewer of them, so individually they have more of an impact. If we could get them to strike for two weeks and not play any games . . . When you're actually disrupting capital, that's what strikes are about. These players have platforms, and that could change things in a heartbeat. That would be massive. 

I think that this needs to be a part of the future of organizing, and the NBA and the NFL particularly are majority Black sports. A lot of these issues disproportionately affect the communities that we, the players, come from. The biggest thing we have to do is to untether Black athletes from the Democratic Party. The problem is that a lot of us think we're doing the right thing by supporting people like Biden over people like Trump, just because Trump is so bad. It's the "lesser of two evils" argument. 

A lot of people accept everything that is told to us about the Democratic Party, that they are fighting for workers or minorities. We have to untether ourselves from that, and we have to tether ourselves to movements and policies instead of politicians if we are going to get any type of progress.

KK&F: How can the left maintain its commitment to fight for these leftist policies under a Biden presidency, and how should it work with President Biden?

JJ: This is the place where we have the most room for growth. We were told that Biden could be pushed left. That's fine and dandy, and if you're actually looking at the scenario of Biden versus Trump, Biden getting into office and being pushed to act as a progressive president was obviously the best choice. It's funny, because now that he's in office, we're hearing, "Well, no, we have to be nice to Biden, so that he's going to come through on the commitments that we got in our little taskforces." That's the biggest mistake progressives are making in Congress right now.

The biggest mistake these progressives are making is that they're not using their base or the left media infrastructure and the millions of people that follow them on Twitter. They're not using those people to put pressure on Biden to come through on what he said he would do. So when Biden says he's going to do a public option, and then he actually puts out a massive giveaway to corporations in his COVID relief plan and you say nothing about it, that looks a little suspect! He's already starting to back off of the commitments and the promises that he gave you when you were telling people to go out and vote for him, saying that you would push him left. If you're not willing to speak up, use your platform, create a ruckus, and make him pay a political price for not doing the things he said he was going to do, then there's no lever of accountability for him. 

Biden's going to have the mainstream media behind him anyway. No matter what he ends up doing, even if it's not a left priority, the mainstream media is going to give him cover. If you're also going to give him cover, then there's nobody to hold him accountable, and at the end of the day, he can do whatever he wants. I think that's the biggest place where lefties on the ground, and especially lefties in halls of power, need to start speaking out. Biden has the power and the ability to choose Bernie's plan to expand Medicare or the insurance lobby's plan to give massive amounts of money to corporations that end up increasing premiums. If you're not going to hold his feet to the fire to choose the correct option now, in the first piece of legislation in his administration, then when are you going to start doing it? It feels like that time is never really going to come. I'll hold out judgment, but that's what it feels like right now.

KK&F: This struggle to "hold Biden's feet to the fire," as you're saying, can be discouraging. Amid all of this, what gives you hope? What are the forms of organizing, or examples of the left building power, that reveal the possibility that the left can win and change people's lives for the better?

JJ: Strikes are very important; strikes disrupt capital. But the hardest part about strikes is that the labor movement lacks coordination. This is purposeful within legislation; there have been decades on decades of beating labor unions down to the point that around ten percent of workers are in a union. That's the toughest part. 

People were protesting all summer with BLM; there were massive protests around the country. Now, in the White House, we've got the guy who wrote the 1994 crime bill, who says he's going to increase police funding, and we've got the top cop of California. And there were really no legislative changes after the protests. I don't think I heard any rumblings of them passing the George Floyd Policing Act. Protests are great, and I think they help a lot. But there's no guarantees.

Now take the example of Joe Manchin. Initially he came out against $2000 stimulus checks, and within a day, because of all the flak he was getting for that, he had to change his tune. When you threaten a politician's position of power, that's when you actually get them to move left. That's why I have such a huge problem with people on the left in general, and more specifically leftist members of Congress, when they're not willing to speak out. 

A lot of people on the ground don't pay attention to politics. They believe that Biden, Pelosi, and Schumer are their friends. But they only believe that because there has not been a stark contrast presented between those people and the policies we need. Talking to them, I would say, "Look, you can either have this policy that Biden is supporting, or this policy that we are supporting. Our policy is going to help more Americans immediately, and in a more massive way. We're pushing him to do this policy, and we need you to push with us, just like they did with Joe Manchin on those $2000 checks." 

That's going to have to be the theme of the entire administration, because if you leave it be, Joe Biden will do what Joe Biden has done for his entire career, and that is legislate for corporations and wealthy people. There's this whole idea that you can talk behind the scenes and not utilize the only power that you have, the power of the people and of the bully pulpit, the power of an enraged base of workers. If you're not willing to leverage any of those things, then you're not going to get anywhere, and we're going to get more liberalism for the next two to four years, which is going to put this country in a bad, bad place.

If people aren't willing to put all of their cards on the table now, then when are they going to do it? Do we really want another repeat of 2008 and 2010? It took a whole other decade and a massively unpopular president just for the Democrats to squeak out a supermajority, to control all levels of Congress. Who knows when that could happen again? We could have a President Mike Pence next; think of how far-right the Republicans are now. This is a hugely important time in the history of the United States. We should be going all in during these next few years. Every single point of leverage we can use needs to be used, because the state of this country could be dependent upon it. I hope that people in Congress are matching the energy that some of us on the ground are feeling.