Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to wokee F Daily with
Speaker 1: Meet your Girl Danielle Moody. Recording from the Brooklyn Bunker. Folks,
Speaker 1: I'm very excited about the show that we have in
Speaker 1: store for you today. Today we have had a conversation
Speaker 1: with the executive director of Michelle Obama's initiative when we
Speaker 1: all vote, Stephanie Young. And then later in the show,
Speaker 1: we have our one on one with Principal Deputy White
Speaker 1: House Press Secretary Karine Jean Pierre. You know, in thinking
Speaker 1: about right this past three hundred and sixty five days
Speaker 1: with the Biden administration, I provided you all with my grades,
Speaker 1: some of you provided yours back in the comment section,
Speaker 1: and again I say keep them coming. You hit me
Speaker 1: up on social media using the hashtag woke and tell
Speaker 1: me what you think about the last three hundred and
Speaker 1: sixty five days under this administration. But what I will
Speaker 1: say right now, as today officially starts day two, not
Speaker 1: day two, excuse me, year or two of this administration,
Speaker 1: is that it cannot be understated the consequences that we
Speaker 1: are being faced with. Twenty twenty two, which is twenty
Speaker 1: twenty two, has significant crises that we are seeing each
Speaker 1: and every day. For instance, run death Santis in Florida
Speaker 1: has just passed legislation that would bar the teaching conversation
Speaker 1: whether in private business or in public spaces, whether in
Speaker 1: school or not. And when I say public or spaces,
Speaker 1: I mean public schools right, or colleges, I mean private
Speaker 1: businesses to be able to have conversations that make white
Speaker 1: people uncomfortable. Yes, yes, that is actually a fucking thing.
Speaker 1: And what is so detestable about that is it is foreshadowing. Right. First,
Speaker 1: the battle was with the fake outrage around critical race theory.
Speaker 1: And on top of that, you were seeing five hundred
Speaker 1: plus voting restriction bills, voter suppression bills that are operational
Speaker 1: in forty nine states. You are seeing book banning, right,
Speaker 1: banning of authors of color, and all of this brings
Speaker 1: me to one place. The other day, I was watching
Speaker 1: a documentary and it was wild because it was following
Speaker 1: this provocative Chinese artist who is now banned from China.
Speaker 1: And I might have mentioned this in the show before.
Speaker 1: After I watched the documentary, which please excuse me, the
Speaker 1: title of it fails me right now. But oh no,
Speaker 1: it wasn't a documentary. No, it was sixty minutes, and
Speaker 1: we did have a conversation about this. It was sixty
Speaker 1: minutes because what this artist learned and what spurred him
Speaker 1: into his art, which was battling against and continues to
Speaker 1: battle against the Chinese government, which is very dangerous, very
Speaker 1: very dangerous. It is not like what I do on
Speaker 1: ookay Ap daily. It is not like, you know, what
Speaker 1: any of us who sit comfortably in the United States
Speaker 1: to do when we are railing against government as of
Speaker 1: right now. But what struck me is that there is
Speaker 1: nowhere written in their public education system, in museums, in
Speaker 1: any artifacts, anything that has to do with Tianamen Square. Now,
Speaker 1: for those of you who either may be too young
Speaker 1: or too old or somewhere in the middle, and just forget,
Speaker 1: Tianneman Square was students in China protesting right against the government,
Speaker 1: and the government, in the face of opposition, rolled out
Speaker 1: tanks that would kill at least twenty plus students. After
Speaker 1: the government killed its own citizens, they would then pass
Speaker 1: a law that would make it illegal for the families
Speaker 1: of those that were slain to mourn publicly, to speak
Speaker 1: at all about the child that they had lost. Now
Speaker 1: you may think, holy shit, nothing like that could ever happen.
Speaker 1: But the fact is is that Tianamen Square is something
Speaker 1: that we are taught about in the United States and
Speaker 1: many other nations are taught about right when you're learning
Speaker 1: about government and comparative governments and protests in all of
Speaker 1: these things. But the Chinese have completely wiped it out
Speaker 1: of any teaching. It is more so rumor, right that
Speaker 1: spreads from person to person by word of mouth, But
Speaker 1: no one has ever heard of it, right, No one
Speaker 1: has ever read about it, no one has ever been
Speaker 1: taught about it. And so generation after generation that has
Speaker 1: been born since and less their families were to tell them,
Speaker 1: would not know because there is no documentation. Why do
Speaker 1: I bring that up Because every single act that is
Speaker 1: happening right now that Republicans are doing, whether it is
Speaker 1: DeSantis's fiefdom in Florida, if it's Abbot's kingdom in Texas, right,
Speaker 1: these people are passing legislation to ensure that generations of
Speaker 1: white Americans and black and brown Americans, even though Mitch
Speaker 1: McConnell does not believe African Americans are Americans. In his
Speaker 1: latest quote unquote slip up, I don't think it was
Speaker 1: a slip up. This is what they want. They want
Speaker 1: our history obliterated, whitewashed. Only tell them the good stuff, right,
Speaker 1: Only tell them the stuff that makes white people feel
Speaker 1: good and look good. Maybe we'll hold up a Martin
Speaker 1: Luther King. But when they're done right with public school curriculum,
Speaker 1: when they're done passing all of their legislation, we could
Speaker 1: get to a place where we're not able to murmur
Speaker 1: these things out in public. The truth I can recall,
Speaker 1: and I've shared this with you before, when I went
Speaker 1: to Israel and Palestine back in twenty fifteen, you were
Speaker 1: not allowed to publicly talk about the quote unquote conflict. Right,
Speaker 1: These are things that could get you targeted. That they
Speaker 1: the Israeli government has listening ears right and eyes everywhere,
Speaker 1: so people would whisper in public. This is our future.
Speaker 1: We want to believe that what we have seen, the
Speaker 1: extreme versions of things that we have seen take place
Speaker 1: in other countries. We have been kidding ourselves and believing
Speaker 1: that it could never happen here. But it can. It
Speaker 1: is happening. It's happening every single moment of every single
Speaker 1: passing day. That we do nothing about voting rights, that
Speaker 1: we do nothing about stopping the culture war that Republicans
Speaker 1: have renewed and backed with their white supremacist desires and
Speaker 1: ambitions for what they believe America should look like. So
Speaker 1: here we are, folks, this is where we are going,
Speaker 1: and it's not great. It's actually really bad. And so
Speaker 1: we'll talk to Stephanie Young about what her organization is
Speaker 1: going to be doing in the coming year and the
Speaker 1: coming months. We'll talk to Karin Jean Pierre about what
Speaker 1: is on the agenda for year two, given that there
Speaker 1: is more wind in their face then at their back.
Speaker 1: That is coming up next, Folks. I'm so excited to
Speaker 1: welcome to woke F for the very first time Stephanie Young,
Speaker 1: who is the executive director of When We All Vote,
Speaker 1: an organization that is dedicated and was launched, i believe,
Speaker 1: by the former First Lady, my forever first Lady, Michelle Obama,
Speaker 1: working right against Republican obstructionism with regard to voting restrictions.
Speaker 1: Since the twenty twenty election, Stephanie, we have seen five
Speaker 1: hundred plus right voter suppression policies that have been instituted
Speaker 1: across forty nine states. Just this week, we witnessed voting
Speaker 1: rights die right. Martin Martin Luther King week. Right, we
Speaker 1: start off the week with his birthday, watching the same
Speaker 1: republic look ins, same Democrats quote Martin Luther King, and
Speaker 1: yet fail fail on behalf of all Americans. How are
Speaker 1: you feeling? Let me ask you at this moment about
Speaker 1: the work that you are doing. Yeah, well, first, thanks
Speaker 1: for having me. You know, there's always there's never a
Speaker 1: bad time to talk about voting rights, and now it's
Speaker 1: like become the popular thing. And I think a part
Speaker 1: of the problem and the reason why we're even here
Speaker 1: is because we don't talk about voting enough consistently. You know,
Speaker 1: today I would just say, yes, of course, we're somewhat discouraged.
Speaker 1: But being a Hill staffer work in the federal government
Speaker 1: for many years, I understand that it's cyclical and we'll
Speaker 1: be right back here at some other point soon. But
Speaker 1: it's going to be a push from us the people.
Speaker 1: And I think that sometimes we forget that we actually
Speaker 1: have the power in these moments because it feels so
Speaker 1: overwhelming and so frustrating. And I don't want to create
Speaker 1: false hope for people, but I do want to remind
Speaker 1: people that we do have an opportunity to pick up
Speaker 1: the phone and call care cin Cinema and call Mansion
Speaker 1: and call our senators and call other senators and tell
Speaker 1: them how we feel. And they count every tweet, they
Speaker 1: count every voicemail, they count every letter, every email that
Speaker 1: they get. I think right now, as a community of
Speaker 1: folks who care about democracy in this country, that we
Speaker 1: have to rest over the next week and get our
Speaker 1: strength back, because we are headed for a fight for
Speaker 1: our democracy in a way in which we have never been.
Speaker 1: And I know that when we were faced with Donald
Speaker 1: Trump and you know that very problematic administration, people were
Speaker 1: motivated for many, many, many different reasons why to go
Speaker 1: out and vote. And as a non partisan organization, you know,
Speaker 1: we felt like it was it was an easier kind
Speaker 1: of message probably in twenty twenty that you know, let's
Speaker 1: take your focus on your future. You can take your
Speaker 1: future back by making sure you make your voices heard.
Speaker 1: And now our messaging is going to have to shift
Speaker 1: a little bit because you know, as we go into
Speaker 1: the midterms, this is going to determine the next couple
Speaker 1: of years of this Biden administration, whether or not it's
Speaker 1: going to be taken over. And you know, none of
Speaker 1: the things that we want to see done from criminal
Speaker 1: justice reform, you know, to climate change and all these
Speaker 1: different issue areas that we all care about as Americans,
Speaker 1: or we're just going to be stalled continuously. So we're discouraged,
Speaker 1: but yet we know that now is the time to
Speaker 1: rest so that we're ready for the fight ahead. And
Speaker 1: if you hadn't seen it, we did release the New
Speaker 1: York Times a pledge with thirty other voting rights on
Speaker 1: voter protection organizations saying what we're prepared to do. We
Speaker 1: kind of knew this was coming, so we said, we're
Speaker 1: prepared to register a million voters. We're prepared to get
Speaker 1: one hundred thousand people to push Congress to do the
Speaker 1: right thing. We're prepared to recruit one hundred thousand volunteers.
Speaker 1: We're prepared to recruit lawyers all over this country to
Speaker 1: help those voters who will face voter suppression in their cities,
Speaker 1: in their states, to help them navigate this new, unfortunate normal.
Speaker 1: And one thing I just want to say before turning
Speaker 1: it right back to you is that people might have
Speaker 1: missed it. But the other day Mitch McConnell said, maybe
Speaker 1: he was last night or today. He literally said, yeah,
Speaker 1: there's a missmotion that I'm sorry for that day, but
Speaker 1: I'll say that again. Mitch McConnell said, there's notion that
Speaker 1: African Americans can't vote, but they've voted at the highest
Speaker 1: levels like other Americans or as Americans. As American Americans
Speaker 1: are not Americans in twenty twenty two. So we're dealing
Speaker 1: with an old devil that we have always dealt with.
Speaker 1: Um I think right now it's just more blatant than
Speaker 1: ever before. And if you think in this moment, let
Speaker 1: me just rest it back, it doesn't matter, doesn't count.
Speaker 1: Why would they be going through these great links if
Speaker 1: you didn't matter and if your vote didn't count. They're
Speaker 1: afraid of you. They're afraid of the American people. They're
Speaker 1: afraid of the American voter because they know that we
Speaker 1: are not on their side. So we have to show
Speaker 1: them that we're ready for the fight. And I encourage
Speaker 1: people to rest, but let's get ready. We gotta go.
Speaker 1: You know, Stephanie, a couple of things that you've said,
Speaker 1: you know, prompt so many different questions, But the first
Speaker 1: one that I want to ask you here is do
Speaker 1: you think that Democrats right recognize the urgency of this
Speaker 1: moment because even when you mentioned the fact that you know,
Speaker 1: longtime Hill staffer, right, like we we initially cross paths
Speaker 1: many many moons ago when when I was a fellow
Speaker 1: with the Congressional Black Caucus, and you know, I didn't
Speaker 1: realize that at the time that those are the glory days.
Speaker 1: Yet I would have had I would under siege, I
Speaker 1: would I would add no idea. But you know, do
Speaker 1: you think you know? And you said, like, we've been
Speaker 1: here before, we'll be here again. I think that this
Speaker 1: moment is different though, because I don't believe that once
Speaker 1: Republicans gain power, that whereover going to go back to
Speaker 1: what it was before. So do you think that the
Speaker 1: urgency of this, of the need for voting rights to
Speaker 1: secure our democracy, do you think it's being seen? Yeah?
Speaker 1: So two things. And I want to clarify when I
Speaker 1: when I met, we're going to be here again, meaning
Speaker 1: we're not going to not see the voting rights legislation
Speaker 1: come up again, right, Okay, so we'll see, Well, well
Speaker 1: we'll have another opportunity, I believe, right, and that is
Speaker 1: when and how hard we push um, you know, conquerors
Speaker 1: to the right thing. Yep, you're right, like we haven't
Speaker 1: been in this moment, and I think that we definitely
Speaker 1: if Republicans are um, you know, in the majority, they
Speaker 1: have shown this is only a fact, and again if
Speaker 1: they were Nonharts organizations, not only a fact that they
Speaker 1: have shown that they have no interest in ensuring that
Speaker 1: the American people have equal access to the ballot box
Speaker 1: and that we have freem fair elections. Instead, they care
Speaker 1: more about how are they going to make sure that
Speaker 1: the electoral call process is to their liking in order
Speaker 1: to potentially try to legitimate the or make legitimate the
Speaker 1: argument that the twenty twenty election was raped or was wrong.
Speaker 1: So they've already shown where they stand when it comes
Speaker 1: to voting rights. And I don't want to get I
Speaker 1: don't want us to get confused about that, but I
Speaker 1: will say this. I think a problem is that voting
Speaker 1: rights has been painted as like a black issue. Yes rights,
Speaker 1: it's not a black issue. It is an American democracy issue.
Speaker 1: And as long as any politician, Democrat or Republican still
Speaker 1: believes this is a black people issue or a brown
Speaker 1: people issue, it won't get addressed in the way that
Speaker 1: it needs to be. And I can say that speaking
Speaker 1: as a formal federal government employee, that our issues are
Speaker 1: seen as sometimes like I don't want to say a
Speaker 1: pet project, but like a specialty project that you check
Speaker 1: in on a national holiday. Yeah, it's opposed to like
Speaker 1: being a part of Like it's an elective. If you're
Speaker 1: if you're if you're thinking about, if you're thinking about,
Speaker 1: you know, high school, you think about it's an elective.
Speaker 1: It's not part of the court. It's not you know.
Speaker 1: Voting rights has never been one of the core tenants.
Speaker 1: And I say this as a staunch Democrat, even of
Speaker 1: the Democratic Party. It is it has always been the
Speaker 1: thing that those a loud and complaining black and brown
Speaker 1: people over there with their signs, it's what they need.
Speaker 1: And I'm saying to myself, I'm like, this is this
Speaker 1: and it isn't you. I mean, I know that you
Speaker 1: said your organization is nonpartisan. Voting rights is supposed to
Speaker 1: be a nonpartisan issue because in order to elect one
Speaker 1: party or the other, everyone needs to be able to vote.
Speaker 1: Everyone needs to be able to vote. And at the
Speaker 1: end of the day, like I think, the reason why
Speaker 1: it does not get the amount of attention that it
Speaker 1: deserves consistently, and the reason why we're in this moment
Speaker 1: is because it has been paint as a black issue,
Speaker 1: and I think that both Democrats and Republicans have couched
Speaker 1: in that way. I mean even when I go on
Speaker 1: television to talk about this, It was on MSMC the
Speaker 1: day and they're like, well, black, black people really want
Speaker 1: voting rights. That's what we all want, voting rights. And
Speaker 1: if you think that these five hundred voter suppression bilts
Speaker 1: to not unpact white people, working class people, people disabilities,
Speaker 1: then you're mistaken. It impacts all of us. And until
Speaker 1: politicians recognize that in both parties, then yeah, I think
Speaker 1: it always will be relegated to like the back of
Speaker 1: the line, a check, you know, a box checked right
Speaker 1: before election, another kind of pet project or an elective
Speaker 1: as you said, And I think it's a comment upon
Speaker 1: every American of goodwill, every American who believes in true democracy.
Speaker 1: They all need to stand up. We all have to
Speaker 1: stand up with our collective voices about voting rights and
Speaker 1: take this out of like the black and brown you
Speaker 1: know column, Let's do some good and give them a
Speaker 1: right to vote. Like what are we even talking about.
Speaker 1: It's twenty twenty two, So I think that's that's one
Speaker 1: of the things that has bothered me in this conversation consistently.
Speaker 1: And I think that that's why the administration frankly approached
Speaker 1: it in this way, because they catch it as a
Speaker 1: minority issue as opposed to a real problem, an issue
Speaker 1: for our democracy, Like are you kidding me? We're talking
Speaker 1: about over five hundred bills and they've passed in places
Speaker 1: like Texas and Georgia. We know this, um. And and
Speaker 1: in Florida right now, the governor is literally talking about
Speaker 1: having police like election police were not intimidation, um. And
Speaker 1: that is the trauma in which we've experienced generation after
Speaker 1: generation after generation as black people in this country. But
Speaker 1: now others will be subjected to it because again, this
Speaker 1: is not just a black issue, you know. Um. There
Speaker 1: is so much that is wrong right now. And I
Speaker 1: believe that, like myself, people who were holding onto this
Speaker 1: mustard seat of hope in the twenty twenty election, believe
Speaker 1: that a majority of our problems would go away if,
Speaker 1: in fact, we could come out in the midst of
Speaker 1: a health pandemic, stand out in line and do our
Speaker 1: part to vote out Donald Trump, right, a man that
Speaker 1: had become a cancer on this country and still continues
Speaker 1: to be and bring in a new administration, put adults
Speaker 1: back in charge and at the table. How do you,
Speaker 1: as an executive director of an organization that is about
Speaker 1: getting people to vote, what do you say now to
Speaker 1: the disenchanted right to the And I don't even want
Speaker 1: to say disenchanted, because I honestly believe you know, and
Speaker 1: my mother and my family members who are staunch Democrats
Speaker 1: watching MSNBC every single day, like voting and all of
Speaker 1: the things, are saying to me, what does it matter?
Speaker 1: And I think that there is a deep grief Stephanie,
Speaker 1: that is there right, Like there is a deep sadness
Speaker 1: that I don't even think that we talk about enough
Speaker 1: that people have about not being heard or seen or counted. Right,
Speaker 1: and that quote unquot nothing has changed. So what do
Speaker 1: you say to that aggrieved voter who said, I stood
Speaker 1: in line, I did my part, I've registered people, I donated.
Speaker 1: How are you telling me that we can't get voting
Speaker 1: rights passed, that we can't get police reform passed, and
Speaker 1: Democrats are uncharged. Yeah, look, I think that you know,
Speaker 1: I think about this every day because I have to
Speaker 1: motivate a team and there's a lot of young people
Speaker 1: in my team who've never worked in politics, who've never
Speaker 1: been through presidential cycles, who don't kind of know what
Speaker 1: this world is like. And let's be clear, we're an
Speaker 1: impresident at times, so it is different. And I have
Speaker 1: to talk to myself and give myself pep talks every
Speaker 1: single day. But I do know that this work is righteous,
Speaker 1: and I do know that this work is good. And
Speaker 1: I do know that your votes and your time, your
Speaker 1: effort are not in vade. And I think that a
Speaker 1: component of voter suppression is to depress you, is to
Speaker 1: make you feel like you know, there's no light at
Speaker 1: the end of the tunnel, it's never going to work,
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter. And that psychological suppression, you know, creates
Speaker 1: your athlete And I think that we have to guard
Speaker 1: ourselves and be careful by tutoring too close to the edge.
Speaker 1: And look, we're in a global pandemic still. My sister
Speaker 1: is fighting COVID right now, like we are in a
Speaker 1: situation where we're just we're being hit on by every direction.
Speaker 1: And first I want to say to the people who
Speaker 1: did show up, to the people who did vote, donate, volunteer,
Speaker 1: did all those things, We thank you, we appreciate you,
Speaker 1: and we hope that right now that you're getting your
Speaker 1: rest and know that your work was not in vain.
Speaker 1: And you know, I think that like one other thing
Speaker 1: to to kind of think through besides the fact that
Speaker 1: this is a psychological like warfare as well. It really is.
Speaker 1: So it's not just like physical manifestation of Okay, we're
Speaker 1: going to take away your early voting hours, but it
Speaker 1: is that psychological warfare as well. Is that, you know,
Speaker 1: a part of our duty as as American citizens citizens
Speaker 1: is to fully be a part of our government, and
Speaker 1: voting is only that one piece, It is not all
Speaker 1: of it. And I think that sometimes we put a
Speaker 1: lot of emphasis in just voting, But when I look
Speaker 1: at the stairstep of like engagement, that's just the first step.
Speaker 1: And what we have to do is that we have
Speaker 1: to keep and hold our elected officials accountable. And how
Speaker 1: do we do that. We do that in a multitude
Speaker 1: of different ways. You do that by picking up the
Speaker 1: phone and calling them and tell them how displeased or
Speaker 1: pleased that you are with them, and just as downtrive
Speaker 1: that you might be. Trust me, the Congress and those
Speaker 1: senators they're failing the same way too, and they sometimes
Speaker 1: see that motivation know that they're doing the right thing.
Speaker 1: I also encourage people to make sure that you're you're
Speaker 1: feeding yourself with a community of people who believe in
Speaker 1: the dream of what this country is supposed to be. Right,
Speaker 1: I think our democracy, I think I think we're mourning
Speaker 1: because we thought that we had a true democracy and
Speaker 1: everything was intact. And I think that we are just
Speaker 1: finally realizing that this is a work that we haven't
Speaker 1: yet realized, and that it's going to take all of
Speaker 1: our collective efforts consistently from advocating for the issues that
Speaker 1: we care about, by staying unfortunately in the streets and
Speaker 1: voices in that way, you know, by joining organizations like ours.
Speaker 1: We try to make it as easy as possible to
Speaker 1: build community within your own community of people who want
Speaker 1: to do this work, and by staying with it and
Speaker 1: staying at it. I also say this, like, and it's
Speaker 1: not to scare people, but you know what, right now,
Speaker 1: there's something that's going on and I don't think people
Speaker 1: are paying attention to it. Is that there are these
Speaker 1: characters of people around the country who are running for
Speaker 1: secretaries of state and most people that control the election
Speaker 1: in that state, and they have all said, all of
Speaker 1: these different characters, its cast of characters, that they would
Speaker 1: not have certified the twenty twenty election. I kid you not.
Speaker 1: They are preparing to hopefully elect these people to not
Speaker 1: certify the twenty twenty four election. So we just don't
Speaker 1: have a We don't have to choice to get dis
Speaker 1: urage and back down in this moment. And I'm torn
Speaker 1: to because it is it is the responsibility of the
Speaker 1: people that we elected to take care of our to
Speaker 1: take care of Yep, they owe that to us. That
Speaker 1: is why they are in office. But that is why
Speaker 1: it's so important that we have to hold those people
Speaker 1: accountable and primary those who do not reflect our values
Speaker 1: and our interests. And if you feel like you know
Speaker 1: you're ready yourself, you run for office. I mean I
Speaker 1: wish could that your state. Yeah, that people that people
Speaker 1: would take up that mantle. I don't know how many
Speaker 1: times I get tweets that are like you should run
Speaker 1: for office, and I'm like, no, you should run for office. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm doing I'm doing my part by lifting up, you know,
Speaker 1: the issues and bringing people to the table for conversation
Speaker 1: that I don't think happens in mainstream that. I'm like,
Speaker 1: if you are angry, turn that anger into action, right,
Speaker 1: do something? So I know we only have you for
Speaker 1: another minute, but tell folks how they can get involved
Speaker 1: with when we all vote. What can they do in
Speaker 1: this moment that they're feeling powerless with your organization? Yeah,
Speaker 1: so look, we try to make this easy because you know,
Speaker 1: we're all busy people, we're all living in a global pandemic.
Speaker 1: My goal is how do we make the barrier of
Speaker 1: injury so low that you feel like I can tap
Speaker 1: in and I can tap out when I have the
Speaker 1: strength and energy to do so. So you can do
Speaker 1: everything from sign up to volunteer, and our volunteer activities
Speaker 1: range from either making phone calls, sending text messages, or
Speaker 1: showing up and helping early voting events, you know during
Speaker 1: early voting season which is in the fall, or showing
Speaker 1: up during National Vote or Registration Week of Action which
Speaker 1: is also in the fall. It's like it's these light
Speaker 1: touches here and there, but with big numbers we make
Speaker 1: a really big impact. You can take it a step
Speaker 1: further and become a voting squad captain and what that
Speaker 1: means is that you are building a community of organizers
Speaker 1: or rather volunteers in your community that will go out
Speaker 1: and help to register voters and recruit even more volunteers boots.
Speaker 1: So that's a little bit of a leadership with and
Speaker 1: then if you're feeling like you know what I really
Speaker 1: want to dedicate for this year to doing this work,
Speaker 1: then sign up to be a chapter leader. And we're
Speaker 1: creating chapter programs clearly on like went to a black
Speaker 1: college and pledge of blacks, I love it. We need chapters.
Speaker 1: So we're just starting our Chapter leader program. And if
Speaker 1: you're a mother or a parent of a high school
Speaker 1: or we have a high school program called My School
Speaker 1: Votes because we're trying to never be in this place,
Speaker 1: this space again, and what that means is making sure
Speaker 1: that our young people know not just how to register
Speaker 1: their communities, but the undertain health campaigns. They understand how
Speaker 1: to act, yes, they care about they understand how to
Speaker 1: organize their communities. So we have this whole program that
Speaker 1: we have in schools all across the country. Our goal
Speaker 1: is to have five hundred new schools this year for
Speaker 1: our My School Votes program as an after school program.
Speaker 1: So if you're an educator. Please sign up for that.
Speaker 1: And if you're like, you know what, I don't really
Speaker 1: want to do much but give you twenty dollars, just
Speaker 1: give us, give us some support that way, and that
Speaker 1: absolutely will go a really, really long way. But I
Speaker 1: just really don't want you to get discouraged. And one
Speaker 1: thing that we try to do, if we make it fun.
Speaker 1: Missus Obama is still you know, leading this organization. She's
Speaker 1: you know, our co chair, but she's joined with a
Speaker 1: lot of fun people like Carrie Washington and Chris Paul
Speaker 1: Alma and Tom Hanks. And we try to have fun
Speaker 1: virtual events for you all, and hopefully we'll do stuff
Speaker 1: in person too to bring us the energy that we
Speaker 1: need so that we're not getting too tired in this
Speaker 1: fight because we have we have a long slot ahead. Stephanie,
Speaker 1: I cannot thank you enough one for the work that
Speaker 1: you are doing, the work you've always done to be
Speaker 1: you know, to be Frank, but the work particularly that
Speaker 1: you are doing with when we all vote, I mean,
Speaker 1: we need it. We need the energy, We need the encouragement,
Speaker 1: we need the positivity and the hopefulness that each of
Speaker 1: the programs that you just laid out, each of the
Speaker 1: initiatives can bring us, particularly in this moment. So I
Speaker 1: hope that you will come back to woke a F
Speaker 1: as we as we trudge our way through these mid
Speaker 1: term elections and give us some news about what is
Speaker 1: happening around with your local chapters and the organization. Absolutely,
Speaker 1: please sign up at when we all vote dit org,
Speaker 1: we will have like a little bit of a town
Speaker 1: hall and a couple of days that we'll talk about
Speaker 1: where we are and how we go forward. So we
Speaker 1: hope to get as many people on that call. It's
Speaker 1: possible to motivate them but also to get them involved.
Speaker 1: So when we all vote dot org, sign up today.
Speaker 1: But thank you so much, appreciate you. I appreciate you.
Speaker 1: Thank you, folks. I am so excited to welcome back
Speaker 1: to woke F for the second time our wonderful principal
Speaker 1: Deputy White House Press Secretary Kourn Jam Pierre. How are you?
Speaker 1: How are you doing on this year anniversary? It's one
Speaker 1: year anniversary. I can't believe three hundred and sixty five
Speaker 1: days flew by. So much has happened. It's so good
Speaker 1: to see you, my friend. You know, one day we'll
Speaker 1: do it in person. One day, But thanks for having me.
Speaker 1: I'm really looking forward to our conversation absolutely, you know, Karen,
Speaker 1: three hundred and sixty five days. On one hand, it
Speaker 1: feels like it has flown by. On the other hand,
Speaker 1: in this wormhole of COVID pandemic life that we're living in,
Speaker 1: it feels like it has been two years in one
Speaker 1: What are you in the Biden administration? What are you
Speaker 1: most proud of right now? Over this year? Because you
Speaker 1: know you've you've taken lots of hits, right, lots of hits.
Speaker 1: You inherited a lot of stuff as well, and so
Speaker 1: what are you what are you all most proud of
Speaker 1: right now? It's such a good question. I think we
Speaker 1: come out of this first year with some his big,
Speaker 1: historic accomplishments that thank you so much for allowing me
Speaker 1: to talk about it. But I do want to say
Speaker 1: this first before I go into that, which is a
Speaker 1: year ago when the President walked into the White House
Speaker 1: and the Vice president, they dealt with multiple crises, which
Speaker 1: is what you are alluding to, Danielle, which is you
Speaker 1: think about COVID right, you think about the economy, you
Speaker 1: think about racial injustice, you think about climate change, all
Speaker 1: of these things, which is something that the President. All
Speaker 1: those four things that I just listed was something that
Speaker 1: the President called out as crises in our country. And
Speaker 1: twenty million people were out of work. Businesses were closed,
Speaker 1: schools were closed. The economy was essentially locked down. And
Speaker 1: what this president did, along with the Vice President, is
Speaker 1: they passed the American Rescue Legislation, which helped change that
Speaker 1: to a different trajectory. And what I mean by that
Speaker 1: is now we see an economy that's historic. We see
Speaker 1: six point four million jobs created. We see three point
Speaker 1: nine percent in unemployment rate, which is a number that
Speaker 1: experts had said would take us two years too extra
Speaker 1: years to get that. We got that in our first year.
Speaker 1: And that American Rescue Plan gave Americans some breathing room, right,
Speaker 1: so it's an opportunity to kind of breathe a little
Speaker 1: money in their pockets. There was a child tax credit
Speaker 1: that put extra money in folks pockets. You know, parents
Speaker 1: are thinking about how are they going to put food
Speaker 1: on the table, how are they going to buy uniforms
Speaker 1: or school supplies, all of those things just to feed
Speaker 1: their kids. And we were able to help in that way.
Speaker 1: And what the American Rescue Plan did as well, is
Speaker 1: that it didn't leave anybody behind. And that's so important
Speaker 1: because the President had talked about that when we talk
Speaker 1: about economic policy, we forget about our communities, We forget
Speaker 1: about disadvantaged communities, poor communities, and they don't come with us.
Speaker 1: And so this American Rescue Plan did just that, and
Speaker 1: and it provided funding to make sure that we had
Speaker 1: a comprehensive vaccination strategy. And now what we see is
Speaker 1: seventy five percent of the American public is fully vaccinated
Speaker 1: and a year ago we were at one percent than
Speaker 1: one percent. While we're still dealing with COVID, and we
Speaker 1: understand that. We understand like the anxiety and the stress
Speaker 1: that Americans are feeling, and we're not out of it yet.
Speaker 1: But what we have taken such big strides to get
Speaker 1: us to a place where we can help start controlling COVID.
Speaker 1: And this will not be forever, folks, it will not
Speaker 1: be forever. But people got to get vaccinated, they got
Speaker 1: to get their booster shot, you know, they got to
Speaker 1: wear those masks. And that's so important. You know, I
Speaker 1: think that it's always very hard because the American people,
Speaker 1: as I have said, and I'm not putting words in
Speaker 1: your mouth, but have a very short memory, right, And
Speaker 1: so we start out with this American rescue plan we have.
Speaker 1: You've been able to secure the building part of the
Speaker 1: infrastructure bill, right, and you can hail that as being bipartisan,
Speaker 1: But we're looking at blockades with voting rights that we
Speaker 1: just saw happen. We're looking at blockades with build back better,
Speaker 1: which the President just announced that he believes that we
Speaker 1: can move forward with chunks, we can move forward with
Speaker 1: big pieces as opposed to the becomposite. How do you
Speaker 1: think that the messaging around the other big pieces of
Speaker 1: the agenda should be handled. In terms of how people
Speaker 1: are seeing this administration being able to fight for the
Speaker 1: things that they came out for and stood in line
Speaker 1: for for hours in twenty twenty, it's so important and
Speaker 1: so critical. In particular what we're seeing with voting rights.
Speaker 1: We're seeing an assault on the right to vote, and
Speaker 1: the Bay and Harris administration has been very clear that
Speaker 1: they are going to continue to fight. We are going
Speaker 1: to continue to fight to make sure that the heart
Speaker 1: and soul of our democracy, which is the right to vote,
Speaker 1: is protected. That is not going to stop with what
Speaker 1: we saw last night, We are disappointed, but we are
Speaker 1: not deterred, and so we're going to continue to fight.
Speaker 1: And that's real, right, because that is our democracy, and
Speaker 1: that is something that the President and the Vice President
Speaker 1: has talked about. The thing that the President said yesterday,
Speaker 1: which I think is really critical and important to your
Speaker 1: point about messaging, and you know, he had his press
Speaker 1: conference yesterday and he talked about getting out there himself.
Speaker 1: He talked about connecting with everyday people and them hearing
Speaker 1: from him directly. And so I think that's an important
Speaker 1: thing because I think they want to hear from their president. Right.
Speaker 1: We need to get out of this zip code that
Speaker 1: we're currently in and go out there into Middle America
Speaker 1: or in the West coast, you know, East coast where
Speaker 1: we're in the South, and hear from the President directly
Speaker 1: about those issues that you just laid out, whether it's
Speaker 1: voting rights, whether it's billback better and how we're going
Speaker 1: to lower cost for the American people, which is so
Speaker 1: critical and important, and so he wants to make sure
Speaker 1: that they hear directly from him as we move forward
Speaker 1: into our second year. You know, one of the things
Speaker 1: that I've been hearing and I actually agreed with You know,
Speaker 1: we're folks saying, why doesn't this administration bring back kind
Speaker 1: of the FDR style fireside chats, but make it but
Speaker 1: make it social media right where you know, let's just
Speaker 1: say the former president, right was all he did was Twitter.
Speaker 1: All he did was social media, which was exhausting for
Speaker 1: the public. But what would it look like like you're saying,
Speaker 1: these physical visits are really important, but what would you
Speaker 1: think about these kind of fireside chats, these kind of
Speaker 1: salon ideas of just figuring out how to connect, how
Speaker 1: to talk because a lot gets lost in translation. Now,
Speaker 1: I think that's very important. Look, one of the things
Speaker 1: that we try to do and we will continue to
Speaker 1: do and elevate that as well as we go into
Speaker 1: this next phase of this administration, is that so using
Speaker 1: social media in that way. And you're right, and you know,
Speaker 1: with your show, we really do connect. That's why I'm
Speaker 1: on here with you because I know I'm going to
Speaker 1: connect with the people who watch you, uh in this
Speaker 1: very important show as you're informing of folks. And so, yeah,
Speaker 1: that's something that we need to do more of. We
Speaker 1: understand that, and I think that's a very very smart idea.
Speaker 1: And you know, we'll we'll continue to do that and
Speaker 1: make sure that we communicate with the American public in
Speaker 1: different ways, not just in person, but through social media,
Speaker 1: which is key to your point too. It's a very
Speaker 1: very good point in name. Year two begins tomorrow, right, officially, right,
Speaker 1: I guess officially right, It's like, but year two begins tomorrow,
Speaker 1: and it's a consequential year. It's mid term elections. It
Speaker 1: is um it's consequential you know, for the country in
Speaker 1: terms of our democracy, for this administration facing an aggressive
Speaker 1: right and aggressive Congress that could turn the gavels back
Speaker 1: to Republicans. What is the top priority as you head
Speaker 1: into this second year and knowing that there's a lot
Speaker 1: of wind, that headwind that you all are going to
Speaker 1: be facing, and not a lot out your backs, you know,
Speaker 1: And that's just such a question, you know. Clearly from
Speaker 1: this perch, I cannot talk about about politics, but I'll
Speaker 1: say this is and this is just me reiterating what
Speaker 1: the President said yesterday, which is, you know, I think
Speaker 1: our message is going to be very clear, which is,
Speaker 1: you know, what are Republicans for? Right? We are talking
Speaker 1: about lowering cost on prescription drugs? Right, We're talking about
Speaker 1: lowering cost for the American family. When you think about
Speaker 1: elder care, when you think about childcare and all of
Speaker 1: those things. By the way, when I when we started,
Speaker 1: I talked about the twenty million people who were out
Speaker 1: of work, where we stepped in two million, more than
Speaker 1: two million. We're women. So if you think about childcare
Speaker 1: at eldercare, we're going to we want to bring women
Speaker 1: back into the workforce, which is so important and critical
Speaker 1: as well. But all of those things are so key,
Speaker 1: and that's what Democrats are for, right and the presence,
Speaker 1: this is what democrats are for. I talked about the
Speaker 1: American Rescue Plant, all of the things that it was
Speaker 1: able to do to invest in the economy so that
Speaker 1: the economy can get back going, and making sure that
Speaker 1: we try and control COVID. Republicans didn't vote for that.
Speaker 1: They are standing on the sideline. What are they for?
Speaker 1: What are they for? And that is the thing that
Speaker 1: we're going to continue to ask and put that out
Speaker 1: there to them. You think about voting rights, we're talking
Speaker 1: about voting rights back. It used to be a bipartisan issue.
Speaker 1: Now used to be something that not just Democrats were
Speaker 1: fighting for, but Republicans and what has happened, Why are
Speaker 1: we in the situation, and why are we allowing it?
Speaker 1: And we shouldn't and we should call them out as well.
Speaker 1: And so you'll be hearing that from us. You heard
Speaker 1: that from the President as well, and making clear what
Speaker 1: Democrats are for and what we're going to continue to
Speaker 1: do it to do and fight for and making that
Speaker 1: message very very clear. Last question for you, Karen. You know,
Speaker 1: there are a lot of people who feel aggrieved right now,
Speaker 1: particularly those people that I mentioned at the top, that
Speaker 1: stood out for hours in places like Georgia, places like
Speaker 1: Texas to ensure that a Biden Harris administration would happen.
Speaker 1: Right We're faced with a insurrection right before inauguration, so
Speaker 1: we couldn't even really celebrate this historic win that we
Speaker 1: had done. And now with everything with the how we
Speaker 1: are so divided as a nation right ideologically about science,
Speaker 1: about health, public health, what do you say to those
Speaker 1: people that say that are right now, as we're heading
Speaker 1: nine months away from midterms, are saying to themselves, I
Speaker 1: don't I don't think I'm going to vote. It doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: Look at them trying to steal my vote. It doesn't matter.
Speaker 1: You know, we're heading backwards, not forward. What do you
Speaker 1: offer to them? You know, and you know it's tough.
Speaker 1: I get it. It's tough. You know, we all went
Speaker 1: through the last four years together and we saw what
Speaker 1: we got with that. And I want to say to people,
Speaker 1: do not give up. While things are still very hard,
Speaker 1: while we're I understand how people were feeling about the
Speaker 1: right to vote, and we're going to continue to fight.
Speaker 1: We're not going to stop fighting after the results of
Speaker 1: this week, but we have we have made some progress.
Speaker 1: Right as I'm talking about the American Rescue Plan, the
Speaker 1: Buy Person Infrastructure Bill, you know, COVID like we did
Speaker 1: that all on equity with equity lens. We made sure
Speaker 1: that we did not leave anybody behind. One of the
Speaker 1: first things that the President did, the first executive orders
Speaker 1: if he signed when he walked into the minute into
Speaker 1: the White House on this day a year ago, was
Speaker 1: he made sure that he signed an executive order to
Speaker 1: make sure that we saw inclusion and diversity and across
Speaker 1: the federal government, to make sure that we did not
Speaker 1: leave anybody behind, and that we were hiring in a
Speaker 1: way that we saw some diversity. That was one thing,
Speaker 1: and then he made sure that areas and communities that
Speaker 1: we were that have been left behind when it came
Speaker 1: to contracts that disproportionate way that contracts right and lifting
Speaker 1: that up by fifty percent. So there are things that
Speaker 1: we have done to deal with that racial inequity, which
Speaker 1: he called a crisis, and we still see this as
Speaker 1: a crisis that we're going to continue to fight. But
Speaker 1: I get it. I get that people are trying to
Speaker 1: figure out, well, how is our vote going to count.
Speaker 1: We're going to keep fighting. We're not going to stop fighting. Again.
Speaker 1: This is the president that this as a senator for
Speaker 1: voting rights as a senator, and he will not be deterred,
Speaker 1: and so that's very important. Well, you know, Krin, I
Speaker 1: really hope that that this administration continues to fight because I,
Speaker 1: like so many people, feel like we are living in
Speaker 1: the most urgent times of our life and this is
Speaker 1: really the fight for our life. I've heard the President
Speaker 1: say that many many times, and so I thank you.
Speaker 1: I thank you for the work that you're doing. It's
Speaker 1: always so wonderful to see your friend, and I continue
Speaker 1: to send you all strength, energy and ivot to continue
Speaker 1: continue doing what you're doing. Thank you. My friend. Thank you,
Speaker 1: says I appreciate that and we feel an energy and
Speaker 1: thank you for giving me this time to talk to
Speaker 1: your audience. Really appreciate it. Absolutely. We'll have you back soon.
Speaker 1: Thank you. That is it for me today. Folks on
Speaker 1: woke app as always, Power to the people and to
Speaker 1: all the people. Power, get woke and stay woke as fuck.