Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to book af Daily with
Speaker 1: Meet your Girl Daniel Moody recording from the Home Bunker. Folks,
Speaker 1: you know, what we have come to realize with each
Speaker 1: and every passing day is that elections do, in fact
Speaker 1: have consequences, and elections are important not just for our
Speaker 1: day to day but for the health and well being
Speaker 1: and preservation of our democracy, which is crumbling with each
Speaker 1: and every passing day. Case in point, let's look at
Speaker 1: what the absolute fuck was happening in the Senate Help
Speaker 1: Committee this week. My god, I swear to you folks.
Speaker 1: You know, when I come back out into the world
Speaker 1: to engage in the new after taking some much needed
Speaker 1: time to celebrate my birthday, recenter and ground, it's like
Speaker 1: I just want to go back, build a tiny home
Speaker 1: in the woods and be done with this place. Honestly
Speaker 1: so GOP Senator Mark Wayne Mullen, which also Mark Wayne
Speaker 1: give me a break anyway, he decided in the midst
Speaker 1: of the Senate Help Committee where they were discussing labor
Speaker 1: unions and the Teamster's President Sean O'Brien was there to
Speaker 1: testify before the committee. Mark Wayne Mullen must have had
Speaker 1: some type of flashback to high school, where he thought
Speaker 1: that it was appropriate for a sitting senator to challenge
Speaker 1: the teamster president to a fight. Yes, folks, let me
Speaker 1: just say that again, that a sitting United States Senator
Speaker 1: thought that it was appropriate for him to challenge someone
Speaker 1: who sent a mean tweet about him to a fight.
Speaker 1: I want to express that this man, Senator Mullen, is
Speaker 1: not even the least bit embarrassed. He goes on Fox
Speaker 1: News later that day, because of course, all of this
Speaker 1: is a performance. All of this is the performance of
Speaker 1: toxic masculinity for his toxic constituency that put this kind
Speaker 1: of person in office to represent them. Then you look
Speaker 1: around at these states that have these kind of representatives
Speaker 1: and you look at where they are in education, You
Speaker 1: look at where they are in jobs, You look at
Speaker 1: where they are in health and wellness. You look at
Speaker 1: all of these things, and you wonder why their demographics
Speaker 1: look the way that they do. So Bernie Sanders tried
Speaker 1: to get the committee hearing back on the rails after
Speaker 1: Mullen throws it off the rails by saying, you're a
Speaker 1: United States senator, But this motherfucker goes on Fox and
Speaker 1: says that that is Oklahoma values to be an ignorant bully,
Speaker 1: that's the values of that state. Like I just I
Speaker 1: don't understand, folks, who the people are that vote and
Speaker 1: send this kind of trash to Congress. I just, I honestly,
Speaker 1: I genuinely don't understand it. I used to have such
Speaker 1: esteem hold Congress, hold representatives, hold senators in such esteem.
Speaker 1: I tell you all the time about working on Capitol Hill,
Speaker 1: about the first time that I stepped foot on Capitol Hill,
Speaker 1: and the pride and the history as you're walking through
Speaker 1: those hallways, and this is the fucking sewer rats that
Speaker 1: are there now. It's despicable and so unbecoming, but just
Speaker 1: so on fucking brand for the disaster that America has
Speaker 1: become because of Donald Trump. I'm telling you, I really
Speaker 1: hope that people are heeding the warning that Hillary Clinton
Speaker 1: offered on the View a week or so ago, where
Speaker 1: she said, if Donald Trump is reelected, America is done.
Speaker 1: She tried to warn us in twenty sixteen. But America
Speaker 1: hates listening to women, right, particularly those that are smart
Speaker 1: and powerful. So I pray to God that people are
Speaker 1: paying attention and not just shrugging off the shit that
Speaker 1: Donald Trump has been saying at his rallies and on
Speaker 1: the campaign trail, where he's talking about the fact that
Speaker 1: if he is re elected, he is going to what
Speaker 1: detain the people who don't like him, right, yes, That
Speaker 1: he is going to throw those people in jail, That
Speaker 1: he's going to deport them, that he's going to build
Speaker 1: tents for migrants, that he's going to persecute and indict
Speaker 1: all the people that he doesn't like. That he's going
Speaker 1: to gut to the Department of Justice. He's saying all
Speaker 1: of these things, taking all of these authoritarian actions. And
Speaker 1: just in case you think that this is all a joke,
Speaker 1: I want you to understand that there is a billion
Speaker 1: dollars that has been invested in the Heritage Foundation. You
Speaker 1: can go look it up Heritagefoundation dot org and see
Speaker 1: their twenty twenty five plan where they have already in
Speaker 1: place all of the people that they're going to fill
Speaker 1: up our departments with so that they can dismantle them
Speaker 1: from the inside out. That in the first one hundred
Speaker 1: days of a Trump administration, we are done. Democracy is finished,
Speaker 1: and the Constitution is toilet paper. He is saying all
Speaker 1: of these things out loud and just a reminder. This
Speaker 1: week in The New York Times, Jamel Bowie wrote a
Speaker 1: piece where he says very clearly that everything that Donald
Speaker 1: Trump said that he was going to do when he
Speaker 1: was elected in twenty sixteen, he did. So when people
Speaker 1: tell you who they are, fucking, believe them the first time.
Speaker 1: We do not need a repeat because again, this will
Speaker 1: be the last time Donald Trump gets in. He's not leaving.
Speaker 1: And just so, like we learned from testimony from Jenna Ellis,
Speaker 1: he had no plans to leave the last time. So
Speaker 1: folks understand that elections, dear friends, have consequences. You don't
Speaker 1: get multiple bites at the apple. Coming up next on
Speaker 1: the show today is the executive director of the Power
Speaker 1: Coalition for Equity and Justice, Ashley Shelton, who will talk
Speaker 1: about what is happening in Louisiana politics, why we should
Speaker 1: be paying attention, and why it matters that we invest
Speaker 1: in the Democratic Party not just in the areas that
Speaker 1: are blue, but that we build a pipeline in the
Speaker 1: areas that are red as well. Folks, I am very
Speaker 1: excited to welcome to wok F Daily Ashley Shelton, who
Speaker 1: is the executive director of Power Coalition for equity and
Speaker 1: justice and has been mobilizing black communities across Louisiana parishes
Speaker 1: for years. You know, let's just jump right in Ashley.
Speaker 1: Before we started recording, I was telling you that I
Speaker 1: have visited now your state twice this fall after having
Speaker 1: never visited, and you know, as a person from the
Speaker 1: East Coast, I think that there are a lot of
Speaker 1: generalizations that are made about the South, right, like that
Speaker 1: when folks see right wing governors and mayors elected, they say, well,
Speaker 1: the people get what they vote for, right, And there
Speaker 1: is this natural blame game that happens largely put on
Speaker 1: the shoulders in the backs of black people, right, they
Speaker 1: should have showed up, put on young people. We can't
Speaker 1: count on their vote. So tell us what it is
Speaker 1: that you think that folks get wrong when they're making
Speaker 1: those blanket assertions.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think, you know, there's so many things that
Speaker 2: are wrong about those you know, those you know, those
Speaker 2: thoughts and the way that people kind of try to
Speaker 2: unpack it and figure out who's that fault. I mean,
Speaker 2: the reality is is that we had, you know, one
Speaker 2: of the lowest voter turnout rates for this state in
Speaker 2: a very long time, and it was black and white voters.
Speaker 2: Black folks make a third of the state, you know,
Speaker 2: but there were plenty of folks that stayed home across
Speaker 2: the board. And I think one, you know, black voters,
Speaker 2: you know, like we also want to don't want to
Speaker 2: talk about poverty and the power of power already, you know,
Speaker 2: because folks are like, well, what happened, I was like
Speaker 2: racism and crushing poverty, you know, apathy led by crushing poverty,
Speaker 2: and we have to be real about like what that
Speaker 2: looks like. In some southern states, especially as Louisiana and Mississippi,
Speaker 2: you know, are on a consistent race to the bottom,
Speaker 2: and we're the second poorest state in the country. And
Speaker 2: so when you start and so it doesn't it doesn't,
Speaker 2: you know, make it okay that folks didn't turn out.
Speaker 3: But what I do think is important.
Speaker 2: Is that what it does say that is that people
Speaker 2: are experiencing a lot of pain in their lives. And
Speaker 2: even though we have had so many successes with voters
Speaker 2: in the state of Louisiana, you know, working with our
Speaker 2: partner Voice of the Experience, we have ended nine unanimous
Speaker 2: juries with the sixty four percent vote of voters across
Speaker 2: the state and in this practice that only Louisiana and
Speaker 2: Oregon had had in place. We have reinfranchised, formally incarcerated people,
Speaker 2: you know, like we have expanded voting rights for the
Speaker 2: last five years. You know, like all of these things
Speaker 2: that are uncommon in the South. We've been able to
Speaker 2: have the wins. But even in the face of those winds,
Speaker 2: I think that, you know, they're incremental right for the
Speaker 2: people that are living in a poor state, trying to
Speaker 2: access jobs, outcomes, you know, and better you know, better salaries,
Speaker 2: and the reality is that the jobs just are not there.
Speaker 2: And the reality is that their experience again, it's just
Speaker 2: a lot of pain, and so you can't look past
Speaker 2: that and just say, oh, it's their fault. Well, the
Speaker 2: reality is that, you know, again, people are going through
Speaker 2: a lot, and I don't you know, I don't believe
Speaker 2: in shaming voters and blaming them, you know. I think
Speaker 2: at the end of the day, it's like we've got
Speaker 2: to go continue to do the work we've been doing,
Speaker 2: which is listening, Like we've got to go back into
Speaker 2: community and do that deep listening so that we understand
Speaker 2: where people where people are. Because I think that again,
Speaker 2: I know, you know, because I haven't done this job
Speaker 2: since twenty fifteen, and very proudly have worked with voters
Speaker 2: in black voters in particular across this state, and we
Speaker 2: have done some really powerful things, including about to realize
Speaker 2: the second minority majority congressional seat and so and of
Speaker 2: course lots of folks have called in a question, well,
Speaker 2: if you can't turn people out for governor's race, how
Speaker 2: are you going to do it for these congressional seats?
Speaker 2: And you know, I think at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: powers power the people. The voters, Black voters in this
Speaker 2: state fought for that seat, and they're going.
Speaker 3: To show up for this scene.
Speaker 2: And so I think, you know, like I think it's
Speaker 2: about all the journey and the process that people go through.
Speaker 2: And I think that we've got work to do. I mean,
Speaker 2: that's the bottom line. We've got to do some more listening.
Speaker 2: We've got to you know, do like our friends in Georgia,
Speaker 2: start to really understand, like what what is going to
Speaker 2: get someone to come out of the out of their
Speaker 2: house and go vote on election day?
Speaker 1: And that's what I was going to say, is that
Speaker 1: you know, what we've seen over the past couple of cycles, right,
Speaker 1: is that in you know, Georgia. We've seen that Georgia
Speaker 1: did not turn blue overnight, right, that there has been
Speaker 1: a lot of elbow grease and work over decades to
Speaker 1: get Georgia to where it has been a lynch pin
Speaker 1: in holding on to the Senate right for Democrats, where
Speaker 1: it has been a place that we have seen, well,
Speaker 1: wait a minute, why haven't we been investing in these places?
Speaker 1: Why hasn't the National Democratic Party been investing in these
Speaker 1: places that you've just allowed the Republican Party to run
Speaker 1: rough shot in? And so when you talk about the
Speaker 1: pains and the trauma, can you speak to when you
Speaker 1: are listening to folks, what are they offering? Right that
Speaker 1: the larger mechanism of party is essentially trying to blow
Speaker 1: pass and just shuffle them into a voting booth.
Speaker 2: I think that what they're what they're missing is is
Speaker 2: that you know, when we're you know, the power collition
Speaker 2: for equity and Justice is RC three. We do have
Speaker 2: a C four power collition for electoral justice. But in
Speaker 2: our C three work, and when we're doing that deep
Speaker 2: listening in communities, you know, what they what we're hearing
Speaker 2: is is that there's so much low hanging fruit that
Speaker 2: nobody's addressing, right, whether it's fines and fees that keep
Speaker 2: people in a never ending cycle of poverty and criminalisation,
Speaker 2: or addressing the you know, you know, the zero to
Speaker 2: three childcare you know, pipeline and access to seats and
Speaker 2: making things accessible to the focus in community so that
Speaker 2: they can attain better jobs and actually have safe, you know,
Speaker 2: thoughtful you know child ed, you know, curriculum based education
Speaker 2: for their children. You know, like, these are all of
Speaker 2: the things that we don't want to talk about, but
Speaker 2: these are the things that we have been winning and
Speaker 2: bringing home on a consistent basis over the last several years.
Speaker 2: And it has mattered to those voters in a way
Speaker 2: that we have been able to consistently be able to
Speaker 2: have a decent turnout. But they do think that there
Speaker 2: are a couple of other you know things that you know,
Speaker 2: the machine kind of collapsed around us. I mean, we
Speaker 2: are a c three person organization, you know, focused on
Speaker 2: black and brown voters in the state of Louisiana in
Speaker 2: particular infrequent and so we're talking to the voters nobody's
Speaker 2: talking to. And so if the campaigns aren't talking to voters,
Speaker 2: if the party isn't talking to voters and the only
Speaker 2: one of the few groups is Power Coalition, that all
Speaker 2: of our partners are the only peopeople knocking doors, you know,
Speaker 2: making phone calls, sending the text messages, doing events, in
Speaker 2: trying to engage folks in early voting, regranting. You know,
Speaker 2: we've regranted over half a million, and we'll do way
Speaker 2: more than that before before November eighteenth. And so again,
Speaker 2: if we're the only it just shows that we can't
Speaker 2: do this by ourselves and we need more, you know,
Speaker 2: like there has to be there was no energy for
Speaker 2: this election. Yeah, I mean, nobody even knew anything was happening,
Speaker 2: and that was intentional. And also too, like there's the
Speaker 2: part the citizen in me is also really frustrated that, like,
Speaker 2: you know, they didn't even spend any money, and they
Speaker 2: did it on purpose, and not that I need them
Speaker 2: to spend money, but like that money is a part
Speaker 2: of how people know or what the.
Speaker 3: Signs are that there's an election coming up.
Speaker 2: There's a there's a drum beat to it, and that
Speaker 2: drum beat just never you know, and you know, it
Speaker 2: never came to be. And even when we put the
Speaker 2: resources we've done radio, billboards, digital ads, streaming apps. I mean,
Speaker 2: we've done all the things to trying to engage folks
Speaker 2: as much as possible.
Speaker 3: And what we know is.
Speaker 2: Is that at the end of the day, like there
Speaker 2: just wasn't enough momentum energy that we could create on
Speaker 2: our own. And so, you know, I do think that
Speaker 2: one of the things that we know is that when
Speaker 2: we listen, people move right like, they get more engaged,
Speaker 2: and that in a typical and one of the reasons
Speaker 2: we've been able to be successful in the past is
Speaker 2: that nobody's talking to black and brown voters. Nobody and
Speaker 2: especially if you're an a frequent voter. And so we've
Speaker 2: had those successes of changing infrequent voters to chronic voters
Speaker 2: and being able to do this work in a way
Speaker 2: that is really you know, made significant change in the South.
Speaker 2: But I do feel like, you know, in Louisiana in particular,
Speaker 2: like black and brown voters need a political home and
Speaker 2: we've tried to be that political home because they're not
Speaker 2: being served. It doesn't feel like they're being served in
Speaker 2: any way in the traditional political infrastructure, and so how
Speaker 2: are we making sure that their voices are heard? Like
Speaker 2: why are we one of the most you know, one
Speaker 2: of the richest places and natural resources, but the poorest
Speaker 2: places and the whole you know, in the whole country,
Speaker 2: the most incarcerated place in the whole country actually per
Speaker 2: capita of the world, right Like, so all.
Speaker 3: Of these things that don't make sense in the midst.
Speaker 2: Of such a you know, such a rich state with
Speaker 2: so many assets, and then constantly putting industry before people.
Speaker 3: And so that's the work that has to happen, is.
Speaker 2: That, you know, we have to keep bringing people forward,
Speaker 2: you know, through a process of helping them to see like,
Speaker 2: you know, because I think nobody talks about the fact
Speaker 2: that things, you know, like things were better, but they
Speaker 2: weren't better, and you know, like they hadn't gotten you know,
Speaker 2: better enough for it to really matter to people in
Speaker 2: the ways that they wanted. And then I think nobody
Speaker 2: talks about the real ugly part of this, which is
Speaker 2: that things can get worse. And I don't think we
Speaker 2: ever talk about what worse looks like, and nor do
Speaker 2: we want to dwell on that either, Right, Like, I
Speaker 2: don't want to give it, you know, give it life,
Speaker 2: but I do feel like that's also a part of
Speaker 2: this conversation and also talking about leadership. I you know,
Speaker 2: I've been frustrated. You know, I tell folks all the time,
Speaker 2: we want leadership to be a positive value, and leadership
Speaker 2: it can also be negative. It can also be there
Speaker 2: to hold the status quo. And at some point we
Speaker 2: have to look at how we got here and and
Speaker 2: and that all the folks that are in unbelievable positions
Speaker 2: to be able to get things done. I mean, this
Speaker 2: is an off year. I don't understand how, you know,
Speaker 2: when almost forty five other states to have absolutely going
Speaker 2: nothing going on this year and it's you know, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Virginia. Like,
Speaker 2: I mean, it's a handful of us that have racism.
Speaker 2: You need to tell me you can't raise money, you can't.
Speaker 2: You know, that does That doesn't fly. That doesn't fly.
Speaker 3: You know.
Speaker 1: It's interesting. The other day, actually, I interviewed an investigative
Speaker 1: reporter UH who was covering the Louisiana Fifth Circuit and
Speaker 1: the disturbing case that came out of there about how
Speaker 1: these judges who were elected decided for thirteen years to
Speaker 1: ignore the pleas of people that said that they were
Speaker 1: wrongfully convicted at the Central part of their job. And
Speaker 1: what I realize is that when we see stories like this, right,
Speaker 1: both people inside the state and outside the states say, well,
Speaker 1: that's Louisiana. And I'm wondering how that narrative shifts if
Speaker 1: it is something that is internalized by the people of
Speaker 1: your state that are just like, well, they've never shown
Speaker 1: up for us, right, they lock us up, they throw
Speaker 1: away the key, right, never to be seen or heard
Speaker 1: from again. They've destroyed families. There's a reason why Louisiana
Speaker 1: is one of the poorest states, right, and it has
Speaker 1: largely everything to do with racism and Jim Crow and
Speaker 1: the way that land ownership has happened right or not
Speaker 1: happened or has been stolen right over centuries. And so
Speaker 1: I wonder about how important it is to not only
Speaker 1: like to be able to tell the truth right, to
Speaker 1: be able to shift the narrative that it isn't just
Speaker 1: the lies of racism that says that there is something
Speaker 1: that is wrong or deficient in black people, but there
Speaker 1: is something that is wrong and deficient and white supremacy
Speaker 1: that has fed a larger monster right that has taken
Speaker 1: over your state.
Speaker 2: No, absolutely, and I think that you know one of
Speaker 2: the things that's also frustrating is that, you know, out
Speaker 2: of the Deep South states, right Louisiana has been able
Speaker 2: to do some really hard things that we're now starting
Speaker 2: to see Mississippi addressing, you know, reenfranchisement. We're starting to
Speaker 2: see the courts, you know, kind of helping us move
Speaker 2: the needle on things. But I do think that what
Speaker 2: was such a missed opportunity in this moment is that,
Speaker 2: you know, there's no pipeline for leadership development. There is
Speaker 2: no you know, like there are all these things that
Speaker 2: you know that have to be reaped, that just have
Speaker 2: to be built. And I think for Power Coalition, we're
Speaker 2: going to we I can't live one more year where
Speaker 2: two percent of every elected official goes unchallenged at the
Speaker 2: state level because there's no one challenging them, right, Like,
Speaker 2: I can't continue to live in a space where we're
Speaker 2: not developing a bench and a field strategy, you know,
Speaker 2: like and field that is that you can touch, see
Speaker 2: and feel, that is really connected to folks and there's real,
Speaker 2: you know, deep connective tissue. And again we've been building
Speaker 2: that and we have so much of it, which is
Speaker 2: why again we've been able to do really hard things
Speaker 2: in Louisiana. But again, now we're looking at four years
Speaker 2: of you know, a really difficult uh leadership style that
Speaker 2: does not prioritize the needs of anybody, much less black people,
Speaker 2: black and brown people.
Speaker 3: And then, you know, and then also to no one
Speaker 3: talking about the.
Speaker 2: Economic realities of what this kind of leadership is going
Speaker 2: to do to a state like Louisiana. You know, the
Speaker 2: majority of our you know, our state, our state tax
Speaker 2: base comes from Baton roof South, so Baton Rouge in
Speaker 2: New Orleans being the largest of the cities in the
Speaker 2: deep in the in the southern part of the state.
Speaker 2: A good whatever's not industry is hospitality and so. And
Speaker 2: you have a partner that is don't say gay, We're
Speaker 2: banning books, We're doing all of these things. And it's like,
Speaker 2: all of a sudden, the super Bowl is not happening
Speaker 2: in New Orleans anymore in twenty twenty four, twenty five,
Speaker 2: whenever it's supposed to happen in New Orleans. All of
Speaker 2: a sudden, tourism is taking a hit. And we saw
Speaker 2: that in Florida. But the difference is is that Louisiana
Speaker 2: can't Florida and Louisiana are not in anything. And also
Speaker 2: Florida isn't not nearly as poor as us, and I
Speaker 2: think that there's still going to be some backlash that
Speaker 2: we see from all of those businesses that were destroyed
Speaker 2: or decimated by I mean, you could see it on
Speaker 2: TV that Florida was suffering, right, And also as someone that.
Speaker 3: Goes to Florida a lot for the beaches and to.
Speaker 2: Spend time with my family, I haven't gone in two years,
Speaker 2: and I don't want to go. I don't feel safe there,
Speaker 2: and I don't want people to feel that same way
Speaker 2: about Louisiana.
Speaker 3: Which is why we have to still fight. That's why
Speaker 3: there's still work to do.
Speaker 2: We've got a you know, we've got a runoff on
Speaker 2: November eighteenth, and we are you know, I just left
Speaker 2: Southern University where there was a second line, had about
Speaker 2: three hundred students, you know, in the street, you know,
Speaker 2: walking to vote what vote coming, which is like the
Speaker 2: fiftieth you know, anniversary of vote coming for so the university,
Speaker 2: and so really proud to be with these young people
Speaker 2: and just.
Speaker 3: Reminded that we've got a lot of work to do.
Speaker 2: But you know, there are young people that are with us,
Speaker 2: that are fighting, that are you know, that are understanding
Speaker 2: what what work has to be done, and you know,
Speaker 2: and even talking to folks like Lieutenant General Honore, who
Speaker 2: you know is the Louisiana loved Louisiana native.
Speaker 3: And who now lives here.
Speaker 2: But he, you know, he just talks about democracy is
Speaker 2: fragile and if you lose democracy, we'll never.
Speaker 3: Get it back.
Speaker 2: And he said, and he said, and yes, there's lots
Speaker 2: of stuff that's broken, but democracy is not broken. The
Speaker 2: only way that it works is if you vote. And
Speaker 2: I you know, and I was, you know, just sharing
Speaker 2: with him. I was like, I think that's the most profound,
Speaker 2: simple breakdown of what we're you know, like, what's you know, necessary,
Speaker 2: and that what gets in the way of democracy is
Speaker 2: the fact that people are hurting. We're not creating the
Speaker 2: kind of policies and opportunities that you know, make people
Speaker 2: feel like they're part of something bigger than themselves.
Speaker 3: And so we've got work to do. And I do,
Speaker 3: you know, feel like.
Speaker 2: Again, we've seen so many successes. We saw the election
Speaker 2: of Devonte Lewis, who is the one of the youngest
Speaker 2: in the first openly gay you know, black man to
Speaker 2: actually win a Public Service Commission seat, which is which
Speaker 2: makes him the highest ranking black elected official in the state.
Speaker 2: And so you know, like so yeah, you know, and
Speaker 2: so it is to say that, like, we know that
Speaker 2: our work works, right, and we know that we're getting
Speaker 2: things done. But when you talk about a state wide
Speaker 2: election with every House seat, every Senate seat, and multiple
Speaker 2: municipal races, shariffs, et cetera.
Speaker 3: It takes.
Speaker 2: It takes more than you know, It takes more than
Speaker 2: just one vehicle being the voice out there trying to
Speaker 2: move people and trying to help people believe in what
Speaker 2: I know we've won and what what we've made better,
Speaker 2: and that like we had you know, we had we
Speaker 2: had medicaid expansion when no one else had medicaid expansion
Speaker 2: in the Deep South. Now we you know, like I said,
Speaker 2: we've expanded voting rights instead of you know, you know, uh,
Speaker 2: destroying voting rights.
Speaker 3: Right.
Speaker 2: And so even even as those suppression bills did happen
Speaker 2: and moved through our legislature, we had a governor that
Speaker 2: could veto those bills. And so now we're moving into
Speaker 2: whatever this new administration will be and we've you know,
Speaker 2: we've got work to do. We know we'll be playing
Speaker 2: some defense.
Speaker 1: Tell us, tell us with the with the with the
Speaker 1: few minutes that we have left For those folks that
Speaker 1: are listening that are not in your state, but are
Speaker 1: like they want something to do. Do you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, Like, how can they be of support, be
Speaker 1: of service to aid your organization in you know, in
Speaker 1: in in sounding the alarm on why people need to participate,
Speaker 1: on on you know, unpacking folks as stories and and
Speaker 1: and getting you know, to this place of feeling heard
Speaker 1: and seen and then choosing to vote. What what can outside
Speaker 1: folks do?
Speaker 3: Well?
Speaker 2: What you know, the biggest thing I always tell folks
Speaker 2: is don't give up on the South right, because I
Speaker 2: truly believe if you can't do if you can't figure
Speaker 2: it out here, you won't figure it out anywhere. If
Speaker 2: you know, if if all the bad things in this
Speaker 2: country were seeded by a like another institutions in the
Speaker 2: Deep South on yep, and then brought whole skill to
Speaker 2: the rest of the country in a very short period
Speaker 2: of time, then all the good things also can be
Speaker 2: seated here and brought wholesale to the rest of the country.
Speaker 2: And so we're you know, like, so we need everyone
Speaker 2: to not act like we're a non factor, right, because
Speaker 2: we're actually not a non factor because in fact, the
Speaker 2: folks with some of the most money and power, you know,
Speaker 2: are using us to you know, see these ridiculous policies
Speaker 2: that are hurting, you know, hurting our communities. The other
Speaker 2: thing I would say is also support organizations like Power
Speaker 2: Coalition and other states of e engagement tables and folks
Speaker 2: that are actually working on the ground. I think that
Speaker 2: people misunderstand how hard it is to actually knock doors
Speaker 2: and you know, make those phone calls. You know, I
Speaker 2: think we've had almost forty two events, you know, this
Speaker 2: election season, all across the state. Like that is the
Speaker 2: hardest part of the work to do. And so, you know, one,
Speaker 2: you know, definitely support us Power Coalition dot org.
Speaker 3: You can volunteer the phone bank.
Speaker 2: Your phone number gets cloaked, we you can phone back
Speaker 2: anybody in Louisiana you want to. But also to to
Speaker 2: support our efforts, you know, more broadly through financial support
Speaker 2: and and also talking to your family members. We know
Speaker 2: that you know, so many of our stories start in
Speaker 2: the South, and so you know, it's it's on all
Speaker 2: of us. We've been asking everyone like call a friend,
Speaker 2: bring a friend, you know, like commit to take to
Speaker 2: people through the voting process, right so that we can
Speaker 2: make sure that you know, we're going back to those
Speaker 2: old school tactics of you know, mom.
Speaker 1: Work then you know they were so.
Speaker 3: You need mama used to call Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: They absolutely work. Well, Ashley Shelton, thank you so much
Speaker 1: for the work that you were doing, for the work
Speaker 1: that Power Coalition is doing, for my reminding people that
Speaker 1: are listening to this show not to give up on
Speaker 1: the South, not to just chalk it up because Republican
Speaker 1: Insurance hell have not, so really really really appreciate you.
Speaker 1: That is it for me today on wok F Daily,
Speaker 1: as always, Power to the people and to all the people. Power,
Speaker 1: get woke and stay woke as fuck.