WEBVTT - Elections Matter 0:00:11.760 --> 0:00:14.480 Good morning, peeps, and welcome to book af Daily with 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:19.200 Meet your Girl Daniel Moody recording from the Home Bunker. Folks, 0:00:19.400 --> 0:00:22.200 you know, what we have come to realize with each 0:00:22.280 --> 0:00:25.960 and every passing day is that elections do, in fact 0:00:26.000 --> 0:00:33.120 have consequences, and elections are important not just for our 0:00:33.680 --> 0:00:37.120 day to day but for the health and well being 0:00:37.280 --> 0:00:41.040 and preservation of our democracy, which is crumbling with each 0:00:41.080 --> 0:00:45.960 and every passing day. Case in point, let's look at 0:00:46.040 --> 0:00:51.319 what the absolute fuck was happening in the Senate Help 0:00:51.360 --> 0:00:56.040 Committee this week. My god, I swear to you folks. 0:00:56.120 --> 0:00:58.760 You know, when I come back out into the world 0:00:58.840 --> 0:01:02.280 to engage in the new after taking some much needed 0:01:02.360 --> 0:01:06.200 time to celebrate my birthday, recenter and ground, it's like 0:01:06.360 --> 0:01:09.360 I just want to go back, build a tiny home 0:01:09.400 --> 0:01:12.000 in the woods and be done with this place. Honestly 0:01:12.920 --> 0:01:19.280 so GOP Senator Mark Wayne Mullen, which also Mark Wayne 0:01:19.360 --> 0:01:23.440 give me a break anyway, he decided in the midst 0:01:23.640 --> 0:01:29.399 of the Senate Help Committee where they were discussing labor 0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:34.680 unions and the Teamster's President Sean O'Brien was there to 0:01:34.959 --> 0:01:38.960 testify before the committee. Mark Wayne Mullen must have had 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:42.880 some type of flashback to high school, where he thought 0:01:42.880 --> 0:01:49.360 that it was appropriate for a sitting senator to challenge 0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:55.880 the teamster president to a fight. Yes, folks, let me 0:01:56.120 --> 0:02:00.880 just say that again, that a sitting United States Senator 0:02:01.840 --> 0:02:08.120 thought that it was appropriate for him to challenge someone 0:02:08.200 --> 0:02:12.600 who sent a mean tweet about him to a fight. 0:02:15.040 --> 0:02:18.600 I want to express that this man, Senator Mullen, is 0:02:18.639 --> 0:02:22.040 not even the least bit embarrassed. He goes on Fox 0:02:22.160 --> 0:02:25.120 News later that day, because of course, all of this 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:27.840 is a performance. All of this is the performance of 0:02:27.919 --> 0:02:32.920 toxic masculinity for his toxic constituency that put this kind 0:02:32.960 --> 0:02:36.839 of person in office to represent them. Then you look 0:02:36.880 --> 0:02:40.320 around at these states that have these kind of representatives 0:02:40.680 --> 0:02:43.480 and you look at where they are in education, You 0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:46.640 look at where they are in jobs, You look at 0:02:46.680 --> 0:02:48.800 where they are in health and wellness. You look at 0:02:48.840 --> 0:02:51.760 all of these things, and you wonder why their demographics 0:02:51.800 --> 0:02:57.120 look the way that they do. So Bernie Sanders tried 0:02:57.480 --> 0:03:01.080 to get the committee hearing back on the rails after 0:03:01.160 --> 0:03:05.120 Mullen throws it off the rails by saying, you're a 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:10.160 United States senator, But this motherfucker goes on Fox and 0:03:10.240 --> 0:03:16.080 says that that is Oklahoma values to be an ignorant bully, 0:03:16.800 --> 0:03:21.560 that's the values of that state. Like I just I 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:26.480 don't understand, folks, who the people are that vote and 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:32.280 send this kind of trash to Congress. I just, I honestly, 0:03:32.600 --> 0:03:36.760 I genuinely don't understand it. I used to have such 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:42.080 esteem hold Congress, hold representatives, hold senators in such esteem. 0:03:42.080 --> 0:03:45.360 I tell you all the time about working on Capitol Hill, 0:03:45.400 --> 0:03:48.720 about the first time that I stepped foot on Capitol Hill, 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:51.760 and the pride and the history as you're walking through 0:03:52.120 --> 0:03:56.160 those hallways, and this is the fucking sewer rats that 0:03:56.280 --> 0:04:03.000 are there now. It's despicable and so unbecoming, but just 0:04:03.160 --> 0:04:06.720 so on fucking brand for the disaster that America has 0:04:06.800 --> 0:04:10.720 become because of Donald Trump. I'm telling you, I really 0:04:10.760 --> 0:04:14.680 hope that people are heeding the warning that Hillary Clinton 0:04:14.760 --> 0:04:19.039 offered on the View a week or so ago, where 0:04:19.080 --> 0:04:23.280 she said, if Donald Trump is reelected, America is done. 0:04:23.640 --> 0:04:26.920 She tried to warn us in twenty sixteen. But America 0:04:26.960 --> 0:04:30.520 hates listening to women, right, particularly those that are smart 0:04:30.600 --> 0:04:34.280 and powerful. So I pray to God that people are 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:37.120 paying attention and not just shrugging off the shit that 0:04:37.160 --> 0:04:40.599 Donald Trump has been saying at his rallies and on 0:04:40.640 --> 0:04:43.840 the campaign trail, where he's talking about the fact that 0:04:44.560 --> 0:04:47.400 if he is re elected, he is going to what 0:04:48.120 --> 0:04:55.880 detain the people who don't like him, right, yes, That 0:04:56.040 --> 0:04:59.479 he is going to throw those people in jail, That 0:04:59.560 --> 0:05:02.000 he's going to deport them, that he's going to build 0:05:02.120 --> 0:05:05.680 tents for migrants, that he's going to persecute and indict 0:05:05.920 --> 0:05:07.800 all the people that he doesn't like. That he's going 0:05:07.839 --> 0:05:12.600 to gut to the Department of Justice. He's saying all 0:05:12.640 --> 0:05:15.919 of these things, taking all of these authoritarian actions. And 0:05:16.160 --> 0:05:18.479 just in case you think that this is all a joke, 0:05:18.800 --> 0:05:21.120 I want you to understand that there is a billion 0:05:21.240 --> 0:05:25.200 dollars that has been invested in the Heritage Foundation. You 0:05:25.320 --> 0:05:29.120 can go look it up Heritagefoundation dot org and see 0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:34.120 their twenty twenty five plan where they have already in 0:05:34.200 --> 0:05:36.880 place all of the people that they're going to fill 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:40.160 up our departments with so that they can dismantle them 0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:43.680 from the inside out. That in the first one hundred 0:05:43.760 --> 0:05:49.680 days of a Trump administration, we are done. Democracy is finished, 0:05:49.720 --> 0:05:54.000 and the Constitution is toilet paper. He is saying all 0:05:54.040 --> 0:05:57.520 of these things out loud and just a reminder. This 0:05:57.600 --> 0:06:01.320 week in The New York Times, Jamel Bowie wrote a 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:06.000 piece where he says very clearly that everything that Donald 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:08.840 Trump said that he was going to do when he 0:06:08.880 --> 0:06:13.279 was elected in twenty sixteen, he did. So when people 0:06:13.320 --> 0:06:17.200 tell you who they are, fucking, believe them the first time. 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:22.479 We do not need a repeat because again, this will 0:06:22.480 --> 0:06:26.520 be the last time Donald Trump gets in. He's not leaving. 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:30.440 And just so, like we learned from testimony from Jenna Ellis, 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:35.360 he had no plans to leave the last time. So 0:06:35.440 --> 0:06:40.800 folks understand that elections, dear friends, have consequences. You don't 0:06:40.800 --> 0:06:45.240 get multiple bites at the apple. Coming up next on 0:06:45.360 --> 0:06:49.680 the show today is the executive director of the Power 0:06:49.720 --> 0:06:54.600 Coalition for Equity and Justice, Ashley Shelton, who will talk 0:06:54.640 --> 0:06:59.000 about what is happening in Louisiana politics, why we should 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:02.560 be paying attention, and why it matters that we invest 0:07:03.160 --> 0:07:07.000 in the Democratic Party not just in the areas that 0:07:07.360 --> 0:07:10.160 are blue, but that we build a pipeline in the 0:07:10.240 --> 0:07:16.520 areas that are red as well. Folks, I am very 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:21.000 excited to welcome to wok F Daily Ashley Shelton, who 0:07:21.040 --> 0:07:24.840 is the executive director of Power Coalition for equity and 0:07:25.040 --> 0:07:29.960 justice and has been mobilizing black communities across Louisiana parishes 0:07:30.120 --> 0:07:35.880 for years. You know, let's just jump right in Ashley. 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:39.120 Before we started recording, I was telling you that I 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:43.320 have visited now your state twice this fall after having 0:07:43.360 --> 0:07:46.760 never visited, and you know, as a person from the 0:07:46.800 --> 0:07:49.760 East Coast, I think that there are a lot of 0:07:49.880 --> 0:07:54.200 generalizations that are made about the South, right, like that 0:07:54.360 --> 0:08:01.360 when folks see right wing governors and mayors elected, they say, well, 0:08:01.440 --> 0:08:05.000 the people get what they vote for, right, And there 0:08:05.200 --> 0:08:11.560 is this natural blame game that happens largely put on 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:14.160 the shoulders in the backs of black people, right, they 0:08:14.160 --> 0:08:18.239 should have showed up, put on young people. We can't 0:08:18.240 --> 0:08:22.120 count on their vote. So tell us what it is 0:08:22.160 --> 0:08:26.320 that you think that folks get wrong when they're making 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:27.840 those blanket assertions. 0:08:28.320 --> 0:08:30.240 Yeah, I think, you know, there's so many things that 0:08:30.280 --> 0:08:32.680 are wrong about those you know, those you know, those 0:08:32.720 --> 0:08:35.400 thoughts and the way that people kind of try to 0:08:35.480 --> 0:08:37.920 unpack it and figure out who's that fault. I mean, 0:08:37.960 --> 0:08:40.520 the reality is is that we had, you know, one 0:08:40.520 --> 0:08:42.720 of the lowest voter turnout rates for this state in 0:08:42.760 --> 0:08:46.040 a very long time, and it was black and white voters. 0:08:46.520 --> 0:08:49.280 Black folks make a third of the state, you know, 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:52.280 but there were plenty of folks that stayed home across 0:08:52.320 --> 0:08:55.959 the board. And I think one, you know, black voters, 0:08:56.080 --> 0:08:57.520 you know, like we also want to don't want to 0:08:57.559 --> 0:09:00.520 talk about poverty and the power of power already, you know, 0:09:00.520 --> 0:09:02.480 because folks are like, well, what happened, I was like 0:09:02.640 --> 0:09:06.680 racism and crushing poverty, you know, apathy led by crushing poverty, 0:09:06.720 --> 0:09:08.959 and we have to be real about like what that 0:09:09.000 --> 0:09:13.079 looks like. In some southern states, especially as Louisiana and Mississippi, 0:09:13.559 --> 0:09:15.520 you know, are on a consistent race to the bottom, 0:09:15.880 --> 0:09:17.760 and we're the second poorest state in the country. And 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:20.440 so when you start and so it doesn't it doesn't, 0:09:20.520 --> 0:09:23.080 you know, make it okay that folks didn't turn out. 0:09:23.840 --> 0:09:25.880 But what I do think is important. 0:09:25.520 --> 0:09:27.679 Is that what it does say that is that people 0:09:27.679 --> 0:09:31.120 are experiencing a lot of pain in their lives. And 0:09:31.200 --> 0:09:34.800 even though we have had so many successes with voters 0:09:34.800 --> 0:09:37.000 in the state of Louisiana, you know, working with our 0:09:37.000 --> 0:09:40.040 partner Voice of the Experience, we have ended nine unanimous 0:09:40.120 --> 0:09:43.600 juries with the sixty four percent vote of voters across 0:09:43.640 --> 0:09:46.599 the state and in this practice that only Louisiana and 0:09:46.679 --> 0:09:51.520 Oregon had had in place. We have reinfranchised, formally incarcerated people, 0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:54.360 you know, like we have expanded voting rights for the 0:09:54.480 --> 0:09:57.200 last five years. You know, like all of these things 0:09:57.240 --> 0:09:59.640 that are uncommon in the South. We've been able to 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:02.040 have the wins. But even in the face of those winds, 0:10:02.120 --> 0:10:04.360 I think that, you know, they're incremental right for the 0:10:04.400 --> 0:10:07.679 people that are living in a poor state, trying to 0:10:07.720 --> 0:10:12.520 access jobs, outcomes, you know, and better you know, better salaries, 0:10:12.640 --> 0:10:15.920 and the reality is that the jobs just are not there. 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:19.480 And the reality is that their experience again, it's just 0:10:19.520 --> 0:10:21.680 a lot of pain, and so you can't look past 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:24.120 that and just say, oh, it's their fault. Well, the 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:27.040 reality is that, you know, again, people are going through 0:10:27.240 --> 0:10:29.120 a lot, and I don't you know, I don't believe 0:10:29.160 --> 0:10:32.640 in shaming voters and blaming them, you know. I think 0:10:32.679 --> 0:10:34.320 at the end of the day, it's like we've got 0:10:34.320 --> 0:10:36.000 to go continue to do the work we've been doing, 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:38.240 which is listening, Like we've got to go back into 0:10:38.280 --> 0:10:40.920 community and do that deep listening so that we understand 0:10:40.920 --> 0:10:43.600 where people where people are. Because I think that again, 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:46.439 I know, you know, because I haven't done this job 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:49.720 since twenty fifteen, and very proudly have worked with voters 0:10:50.040 --> 0:10:52.400 in black voters in particular across this state, and we 0:10:52.440 --> 0:10:56.800 have done some really powerful things, including about to realize 0:10:56.840 --> 0:10:59.520 the second minority majority congressional seat and so and of 0:10:59.559 --> 0:11:01.640 course lots of folks have called in a question, well, 0:11:01.679 --> 0:11:04.120 if you can't turn people out for governor's race, how 0:11:04.160 --> 0:11:05.920 are you going to do it for these congressional seats? 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:07.520 And you know, I think at the end of the day, 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:10.559 powers power the people. The voters, Black voters in this 0:11:10.640 --> 0:11:13.920 state fought for that seat, and they're going. 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:15.000 To show up for this scene. 0:11:15.040 --> 0:11:16.880 And so I think, you know, like I think it's 0:11:16.880 --> 0:11:19.839 about all the journey and the process that people go through. 0:11:20.160 --> 0:11:21.800 And I think that we've got work to do. I mean, 0:11:22.000 --> 0:11:24.040 that's the bottom line. We've got to do some more listening. 0:11:24.080 --> 0:11:25.959 We've got to you know, do like our friends in Georgia, 0:11:26.080 --> 0:11:28.520 start to really understand, like what what is going to 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:29.959 get someone to come out of the out of their 0:11:29.960 --> 0:11:31.520 house and go vote on election day? 0:11:31.679 --> 0:11:33.480 And that's what I was going to say, is that 0:11:33.679 --> 0:11:38.800 you know, what we've seen over the past couple of cycles, right, 0:11:39.040 --> 0:11:43.960 is that in you know, Georgia. We've seen that Georgia 0:11:44.000 --> 0:11:47.880 did not turn blue overnight, right, that there has been 0:11:47.920 --> 0:11:52.080 a lot of elbow grease and work over decades to 0:11:52.160 --> 0:11:56.120 get Georgia to where it has been a lynch pin 0:11:56.440 --> 0:12:01.000 in holding on to the Senate right for Democrats, where 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:04.640 it has been a place that we have seen, well, 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:08.680 wait a minute, why haven't we been investing in these places? 0:12:08.720 --> 0:12:12.280 Why hasn't the National Democratic Party been investing in these 0:12:12.320 --> 0:12:15.760 places that you've just allowed the Republican Party to run 0:12:15.840 --> 0:12:18.840 rough shot in? And so when you talk about the 0:12:18.880 --> 0:12:23.480 pains and the trauma, can you speak to when you 0:12:23.559 --> 0:12:27.400 are listening to folks, what are they offering? Right that 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:31.760 the larger mechanism of party is essentially trying to blow 0:12:31.880 --> 0:12:34.400 pass and just shuffle them into a voting booth. 0:12:35.200 --> 0:12:37.800 I think that what they're what they're missing is is 0:12:37.840 --> 0:12:40.360 that you know, when we're you know, the power collition 0:12:40.400 --> 0:12:42.320 for equity and Justice is RC three. We do have 0:12:42.320 --> 0:12:45.520 a C four power collition for electoral justice. But in 0:12:45.559 --> 0:12:47.440 our C three work, and when we're doing that deep 0:12:47.480 --> 0:12:51.000 listening in communities, you know, what they what we're hearing 0:12:51.200 --> 0:12:53.000 is is that there's so much low hanging fruit that 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:56.680 nobody's addressing, right, whether it's fines and fees that keep 0:12:56.720 --> 0:13:00.319 people in a never ending cycle of poverty and criminalisation, 0:13:00.800 --> 0:13:03.839 or addressing the you know, you know, the zero to 0:13:03.960 --> 0:13:07.720 three childcare you know, pipeline and access to seats and 0:13:07.760 --> 0:13:10.360 making things accessible to the focus in community so that 0:13:10.400 --> 0:13:13.920 they can attain better jobs and actually have safe, you know, 0:13:14.600 --> 0:13:17.800 thoughtful you know child ed, you know, curriculum based education 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:19.880 for their children. You know, like, these are all of 0:13:19.920 --> 0:13:21.440 the things that we don't want to talk about, but 0:13:21.520 --> 0:13:23.680 these are the things that we have been winning and 0:13:23.720 --> 0:13:26.720 bringing home on a consistent basis over the last several years. 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:30.080 And it has mattered to those voters in a way 0:13:30.120 --> 0:13:32.200 that we have been able to consistently be able to 0:13:32.200 --> 0:13:34.840 have a decent turnout. But they do think that there 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:36.920 are a couple of other you know things that you know, 0:13:37.000 --> 0:13:39.240 the machine kind of collapsed around us. I mean, we 0:13:39.360 --> 0:13:43.240 are a c three person organization, you know, focused on 0:13:43.320 --> 0:13:45.560 black and brown voters in the state of Louisiana in 0:13:45.600 --> 0:13:49.000 particular infrequent and so we're talking to the voters nobody's 0:13:49.000 --> 0:13:52.440 talking to. And so if the campaigns aren't talking to voters, 0:13:53.000 --> 0:13:55.880 if the party isn't talking to voters and the only 0:13:56.120 --> 0:13:58.640 one of the few groups is Power Coalition, that all 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:02.120 of our partners are the only peopeople knocking doors, you know, 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:06.440 making phone calls, sending the text messages, doing events, in 0:14:06.480 --> 0:14:09.960 trying to engage folks in early voting, regranting. You know, 0:14:10.040 --> 0:14:13.080 we've regranted over half a million, and we'll do way 0:14:13.080 --> 0:14:16.960 more than that before before November eighteenth. And so again, 0:14:17.000 --> 0:14:19.080 if we're the only it just shows that we can't 0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:22.000 do this by ourselves and we need more, you know, 0:14:22.040 --> 0:14:24.840 like there has to be there was no energy for 0:14:24.880 --> 0:14:27.680 this election. Yeah, I mean, nobody even knew anything was happening, 0:14:27.720 --> 0:14:30.200 and that was intentional. And also too, like there's the 0:14:30.280 --> 0:14:33.520 part the citizen in me is also really frustrated that, like, 0:14:34.080 --> 0:14:36.280 you know, they didn't even spend any money, and they 0:14:36.320 --> 0:14:39.920 did it on purpose, and not that I need them 0:14:39.960 --> 0:14:41.960 to spend money, but like that money is a part 0:14:42.000 --> 0:14:43.480 of how people know or what the. 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:45.920 Signs are that there's an election coming up. 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:48.240 There's a there's a drum beat to it, and that 0:14:48.360 --> 0:14:50.880 drum beat just never you know, and you know, it 0:14:50.920 --> 0:14:53.440 never came to be. And even when we put the 0:14:53.480 --> 0:14:58.480 resources we've done radio, billboards, digital ads, streaming apps. I mean, 0:14:58.520 --> 0:15:00.600 we've done all the things to trying to engage folks 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:01.560 as much as possible. 0:15:01.880 --> 0:15:05.440 And what we know is. 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:05.360 Is that at the end of the day, like there 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:09.040 just wasn't enough momentum energy that we could create on 0:15:09.080 --> 0:15:12.000 our own. And so, you know, I do think that 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:14.120 one of the things that we know is that when 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:17.239 we listen, people move right like, they get more engaged, 0:15:18.200 --> 0:15:20.240 and that in a typical and one of the reasons 0:15:20.240 --> 0:15:22.040 we've been able to be successful in the past is 0:15:22.040 --> 0:15:24.560 that nobody's talking to black and brown voters. Nobody and 0:15:24.720 --> 0:15:27.440 especially if you're an a frequent voter. And so we've 0:15:27.480 --> 0:15:30.520 had those successes of changing infrequent voters to chronic voters 0:15:30.760 --> 0:15:32.440 and being able to do this work in a way 0:15:32.480 --> 0:15:35.720 that is really you know, made significant change in the South. 0:15:36.080 --> 0:15:39.320 But I do feel like, you know, in Louisiana in particular, 0:15:39.480 --> 0:15:42.000 like black and brown voters need a political home and 0:15:42.040 --> 0:15:45.200 we've tried to be that political home because they're not 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:48.520 being served. It doesn't feel like they're being served in 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:52.120 any way in the traditional political infrastructure, and so how 0:15:52.160 --> 0:15:54.080 are we making sure that their voices are heard? Like 0:15:54.120 --> 0:15:56.480 why are we one of the most you know, one 0:15:56.480 --> 0:15:59.080 of the richest places and natural resources, but the poorest 0:15:59.080 --> 0:16:01.200 places and the whole you know, in the whole country, 0:16:01.600 --> 0:16:05.120 the most incarcerated place in the whole country actually per 0:16:05.160 --> 0:16:07.040 capita of the world, right Like, so all. 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:10.000 Of these things that don't make sense in the midst. 0:16:09.680 --> 0:16:12.520 Of such a you know, such a rich state with 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:16.920 so many assets, and then constantly putting industry before people. 0:16:17.000 --> 0:16:19.640 And so that's the work that has to happen, is. 0:16:19.600 --> 0:16:22.080 That, you know, we have to keep bringing people forward, 0:16:22.520 --> 0:16:24.640 you know, through a process of helping them to see like, 0:16:24.800 --> 0:16:26.680 you know, because I think nobody talks about the fact 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:29.880 that things, you know, like things were better, but they 0:16:29.920 --> 0:16:32.480 weren't better, and you know, like they hadn't gotten you know, 0:16:32.520 --> 0:16:35.120 better enough for it to really matter to people in 0:16:35.160 --> 0:16:38.200 the ways that they wanted. And then I think nobody 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:41.200 talks about the real ugly part of this, which is 0:16:41.200 --> 0:16:43.520 that things can get worse. And I don't think we 0:16:43.560 --> 0:16:46.400 ever talk about what worse looks like, and nor do 0:16:46.440 --> 0:16:48.040 we want to dwell on that either, Right, Like, I 0:16:48.040 --> 0:16:51.000 don't want to give it, you know, give it life, 0:16:51.040 --> 0:16:52.680 but I do feel like that's also a part of 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:57.000 this conversation and also talking about leadership. I you know, 0:16:57.000 --> 0:17:00.240 I've been frustrated. You know, I tell folks all the time, 0:17:00.240 --> 0:17:04.320 we want leadership to be a positive value, and leadership 0:17:04.480 --> 0:17:06.720 it can also be negative. It can also be there 0:17:06.720 --> 0:17:09.439 to hold the status quo. And at some point we 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:13.639 have to look at how we got here and and 0:17:13.960 --> 0:17:17.720 and that all the folks that are in unbelievable positions 0:17:17.720 --> 0:17:19.639 to be able to get things done. I mean, this 0:17:19.720 --> 0:17:22.639 is an off year. I don't understand how, you know, 0:17:22.720 --> 0:17:25.640 when almost forty five other states to have absolutely going 0:17:25.760 --> 0:17:31.560 nothing going on this year and it's you know, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Virginia. Like, 0:17:31.640 --> 0:17:33.399 I mean, it's a handful of us that have racism. 0:17:33.480 --> 0:17:36.359 You need to tell me you can't raise money, you can't. 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:39.680 You know, that does That doesn't fly. That doesn't fly. 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:43.199 You know. 0:17:43.359 --> 0:17:47.120 It's interesting. The other day, actually, I interviewed an investigative 0:17:47.160 --> 0:17:53.520 reporter UH who was covering the Louisiana Fifth Circuit and 0:17:53.560 --> 0:17:57.160 the disturbing case that came out of there about how 0:17:57.200 --> 0:18:01.960 these judges who were elected decided for thirteen years to 0:18:02.160 --> 0:18:07.800 ignore the pleas of people that said that they were 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:11.879 wrongfully convicted at the Central part of their job. And 0:18:11.920 --> 0:18:15.240 what I realize is that when we see stories like this, right, 0:18:16.760 --> 0:18:20.200 both people inside the state and outside the states say, well, 0:18:20.359 --> 0:18:26.600 that's Louisiana. And I'm wondering how that narrative shifts if 0:18:26.680 --> 0:18:31.320 it is something that is internalized by the people of 0:18:31.359 --> 0:18:34.280 your state that are just like, well, they've never shown 0:18:34.359 --> 0:18:36.720 up for us, right, they lock us up, they throw 0:18:36.760 --> 0:18:39.560 away the key, right, never to be seen or heard 0:18:39.560 --> 0:18:43.240 from again. They've destroyed families. There's a reason why Louisiana 0:18:43.760 --> 0:18:46.400 is one of the poorest states, right, and it has 0:18:46.520 --> 0:18:49.280 largely everything to do with racism and Jim Crow and 0:18:49.320 --> 0:18:52.639 the way that land ownership has happened right or not 0:18:52.760 --> 0:18:56.280 happened or has been stolen right over centuries. And so 0:18:56.800 --> 0:19:00.399 I wonder about how important it is to not only 0:19:00.800 --> 0:19:02.879 like to be able to tell the truth right, to 0:19:02.880 --> 0:19:05.280 be able to shift the narrative that it isn't just 0:19:06.240 --> 0:19:09.479 the lies of racism that says that there is something 0:19:09.520 --> 0:19:13.240 that is wrong or deficient in black people, but there 0:19:13.280 --> 0:19:16.120 is something that is wrong and deficient and white supremacy 0:19:16.359 --> 0:19:20.399 that has fed a larger monster right that has taken 0:19:20.440 --> 0:19:21.160 over your state. 0:19:21.640 --> 0:19:24.800 No, absolutely, and I think that you know one of 0:19:24.880 --> 0:19:28.200 the things that's also frustrating is that, you know, out 0:19:28.200 --> 0:19:31.040 of the Deep South states, right Louisiana has been able 0:19:31.080 --> 0:19:33.639 to do some really hard things that we're now starting 0:19:33.640 --> 0:19:37.760 to see Mississippi addressing, you know, reenfranchisement. We're starting to 0:19:37.760 --> 0:19:40.160 see the courts, you know, kind of helping us move 0:19:40.200 --> 0:19:43.159 the needle on things. But I do think that what 0:19:44.200 --> 0:19:46.600 was such a missed opportunity in this moment is that, 0:19:47.080 --> 0:19:49.919 you know, there's no pipeline for leadership development. There is 0:19:49.960 --> 0:19:52.120 no you know, like there are all these things that 0:19:52.320 --> 0:19:53.919 you know that have to be reaped, that just have 0:19:54.000 --> 0:19:56.199 to be built. And I think for Power Coalition, we're 0:19:56.240 --> 0:19:59.600 going to we I can't live one more year where 0:20:00.000 --> 0:20:03.119 two percent of every elected official goes unchallenged at the 0:20:03.160 --> 0:20:06.840 state level because there's no one challenging them, right, Like, 0:20:06.880 --> 0:20:08.680 I can't continue to live in a space where we're 0:20:08.720 --> 0:20:12.000 not developing a bench and a field strategy, you know, 0:20:12.040 --> 0:20:14.080 like and field that is that you can touch, see 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:17.040 and feel, that is really connected to folks and there's real, 0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:20.040 you know, deep connective tissue. And again we've been building 0:20:20.040 --> 0:20:21.960 that and we have so much of it, which is 0:20:22.000 --> 0:20:24.200 why again we've been able to do really hard things 0:20:24.280 --> 0:20:28.520 in Louisiana. But again, now we're looking at four years 0:20:28.720 --> 0:20:33.000 of you know, a really difficult uh leadership style that 0:20:33.160 --> 0:20:36.480 does not prioritize the needs of anybody, much less black people, 0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:38.000 black and brown people. 0:20:38.080 --> 0:20:40.160 And then, you know, and then also to no one 0:20:40.200 --> 0:20:40.880 talking about the. 0:20:40.840 --> 0:20:43.600 Economic realities of what this kind of leadership is going 0:20:43.640 --> 0:20:46.040 to do to a state like Louisiana. You know, the 0:20:46.200 --> 0:20:49.359 majority of our you know, our state, our state tax 0:20:49.359 --> 0:20:51.720 base comes from Baton roof South, so Baton Rouge in 0:20:51.760 --> 0:20:54.080 New Orleans being the largest of the cities in the 0:20:54.119 --> 0:20:55.760 deep in the in the southern part of the state. 0:20:56.560 --> 0:21:00.119 A good whatever's not industry is hospitality and so. And 0:21:00.160 --> 0:21:03.040 you have a partner that is don't say gay, We're 0:21:03.080 --> 0:21:05.280 banning books, We're doing all of these things. And it's like, 0:21:05.280 --> 0:21:07.040 all of a sudden, the super Bowl is not happening 0:21:07.040 --> 0:21:09.520 in New Orleans anymore in twenty twenty four, twenty five, 0:21:09.560 --> 0:21:11.399 whenever it's supposed to happen in New Orleans. All of 0:21:11.440 --> 0:21:14.920 a sudden, tourism is taking a hit. And we saw 0:21:14.960 --> 0:21:18.440 that in Florida. But the difference is is that Louisiana 0:21:18.520 --> 0:21:24.159 can't Florida and Louisiana are not in anything. And also 0:21:24.440 --> 0:21:27.320 Florida isn't not nearly as poor as us, and I 0:21:27.320 --> 0:21:29.040 think that there's still going to be some backlash that 0:21:29.080 --> 0:21:31.840 we see from all of those businesses that were destroyed 0:21:31.920 --> 0:21:34.760 or decimated by I mean, you could see it on 0:21:34.800 --> 0:21:37.920 TV that Florida was suffering, right, And also as someone that. 0:21:37.880 --> 0:21:41.040 Goes to Florida a lot for the beaches and to. 0:21:41.000 --> 0:21:43.600 Spend time with my family, I haven't gone in two years, 0:21:43.680 --> 0:21:46.040 and I don't want to go. I don't feel safe there, 0:21:46.119 --> 0:21:48.119 and I don't want people to feel that same way 0:21:48.160 --> 0:21:50.000 about Louisiana. 0:21:49.280 --> 0:21:50.960 Which is why we have to still fight. That's why 0:21:50.960 --> 0:21:51.800 there's still work to do. 0:21:51.920 --> 0:21:53.760 We've got a you know, we've got a runoff on 0:21:54.359 --> 0:21:57.360 November eighteenth, and we are you know, I just left 0:21:57.400 --> 0:22:00.400 Southern University where there was a second line, had about 0:22:00.400 --> 0:22:03.760 three hundred students, you know, in the street, you know, 0:22:03.920 --> 0:22:06.520 walking to vote what vote coming, which is like the 0:22:06.560 --> 0:22:10.600 fiftieth you know, anniversary of vote coming for so the university, 0:22:10.880 --> 0:22:12.840 and so really proud to be with these young people 0:22:12.960 --> 0:22:13.320 and just. 0:22:13.320 --> 0:22:16.160 Reminded that we've got a lot of work to do. 0:22:16.400 --> 0:22:19.000 But you know, there are young people that are with us, 0:22:19.080 --> 0:22:21.800 that are fighting, that are you know, that are understanding 0:22:21.880 --> 0:22:24.639