Podcasts · Behind The Story Show
“Inside the System”: A Black Federal Worker on Trump, DEI Backlash, Voting & “White Pomposity”
· 1 h 34 min
Episode “Inside the System”: A Black Federal Worker on Trump, DEI Backlash, Voting & “White Pomposity”
What happens when a career federal public servant spends decades working across administrations—and then lives through the Trump era from the inside?
In this episode of Behind the Story, Jelani sits down with Deric A. Gilliard, author of The Longest Four Years of My Life, for a candid, wide-ranging conversation on leadership, courage, and the price of telling the truth inside big institutions.
We unpack:
• Why “Stand Your Ground” is not courage—and how fear + power shape policing and justice • Deric’s concept of “white pomposity,” and what it reveals about hierarchy, entitlement, and social order • The opioid crisis vs. the crack era: who gets empathy, who gets punished, and how narratives get weaponized • Immigration + UACs (unaccompanied children): what the public misses—and what moral injury looks like up close • Voting rights and voter suppression—and why Deric believes civic action starts with the basics: vote, call, write, organize
This conversation lands in the middle of today’s biggest debates—DEI backlash , mail-in voting fights , and new pushes around voter eligibility restrictions —but stays grounded in lived experience, history, and practical leadership.
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Transcript
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