Speaker 1: Welcome to How to Citizen with Baritun Day, a show
Speaker 1: where we reimagine the worst citizen as a verb and
Speaker 1: remind ourselves how to wield our collective power. I'm Baritone Day.
Speaker 1: This year, the name Abrahm x Kendy has become very popular.
Speaker 1: You might remember that period this summer when the top
Speaker 1: selling books in the US went from how to Bake
Speaker 1: sour dough Bread to how to be an Anti Racist.
Speaker 1: Dr Kendy wrote how to be an Anti Racist, But
Speaker 1: before the coronavirus landed in the US way back on
Speaker 1: January seven of this year, I was focused on another
Speaker 1: piece by Dr Kendy, an article in the Atlantic called
Speaker 1: The Other Swing Voter. Here's an excerpt. The common conception
Speaker 1: of the swing voter is one who shifts between voting
Speaker 1: Republican and voting Democrat. The center right or center left.
Speaker 1: Voters are typically white and older. Meanwhile, people of color
Speaker 1: and young people and especially young people of color, are
Speaker 1: more likely than white people and older people to swing
Speaker 1: between voting Democrat and not voting or voting third party.
Speaker 1: These are America's other swing voters. Othered because they are
Speaker 1: typically young and not white, Othered because they are hardly
Speaker 1: recognized at the table of political agency, othered because they
Speaker 1: are primarily recognized at the table of political shame when
Speaker 1: they don't vote, other because Americans refuse to recognize how
Speaker 1: voter suppression and depression affect their agency. I wanted to
Speaker 1: talk about these other swing voters and since new infrastructure
Speaker 1: has allowed grassroots organizations to engage these voters or non
Speaker 1: voters in new ways that include building long term relationships
Speaker 1: and investing in the political education of people we all
Speaker 1: too often ignore. This election could see the largest percentage
Speaker 1: of voter turnout ever, and that's due in large part
Speaker 1: to the work of organizations like Voto Latino, run by
Speaker 1: Maria Terressa Kumar, who we had on this show in
Speaker 1: episode ten. It's also due to the work of smaller groups,
Speaker 1: local groups on the ground, groups like Black Leaders Organizing
Speaker 1: Communities a k A BLOCK in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I got
Speaker 1: a chance to speak with Angela Lang Blocks executive director,
Speaker 1: who's been laying the foundation in Milwaukee since I wanted
Speaker 1: to understand what has changed between and today, why Block
Speaker 1: has had such success in engaging with non voters in
Speaker 1: their community, and how they're preparing for November three and beyond.
Speaker 1: My name is Angela Lang and I am the founder
Speaker 1: and executive director of Black Black Leaders Organizing for Communities
Speaker 1: based in Milwaukee, and we are a year round civic
Speaker 1: engagement organization making sure that people understand the political process
Speaker 1: and how to get involved and understand the agency that
Speaker 1: they have to make a change in their own community.
Speaker 1: Can you tell me the story of why you created
Speaker 1: block and why whatever existed didn't feel like enough to you? Yeah? So,
Speaker 1: in Seen, it was a heartbreak for us one the
Speaker 1: outcome of the election, but then also in the weeks afterwards,
Speaker 1: everyone was pointing the finger at us, specifically black folks,
Speaker 1: and if you know, if those blacks would have just
Speaker 1: shown up, we wouldn't be in the situation. Those were
Speaker 1: exact quotes of what we were hearing, the microaggressions, the
Speaker 1: problematic language, and it was very frustrating to hear when
Speaker 1: you say that you're talking about those blacks in Milwaukee specifically,
Speaker 1: or Wisconsin or Milwaukee specifically. But I think people generally
Speaker 1: we're targeting the black community and the black vote in
Speaker 1: the state of Wisconsin, but a lot of times people
Speaker 1: know that they're they're using code for specifically Milwaukee, which
Speaker 1: is the largest concentration of black folks in the state
Speaker 1: of Wisconsin. And so it was incredibly frustrating and hurtful
Speaker 1: to know that we are some of the most disenfranchised
Speaker 1: and least engaged, but yet we were to blame for
Speaker 1: the outcome of this election, and it was important for
Speaker 1: us to not wait for a candidate, a party, or
Speaker 1: an elected official to engage us. We were going to
Speaker 1: do that work ourselves, and that we were going to
Speaker 1: train folks from the community to have conversations about political process,
Speaker 1: how to get involved, what's the difference between a state
Speaker 1: senator and a U. S Senator, and the difference between
Speaker 1: city government and county government, and how can we actually
Speaker 1: make a change based off of the issues that we
Speaker 1: care about. And so we wanted to really kind of
Speaker 1: build something that I think was missing a little bit
Speaker 1: in twenty sixteen. And so we've been working, you know,
Speaker 1: the last almost three years for this moment. But we're
Speaker 1: so much more than elections. We want to make sure
Speaker 1: that we're engaging people in between election cycles, caring about issues,
Speaker 1: bringing community members together. Last summer, we were able to
Speaker 1: do a lot of cookouts, a lot of barbecues, just
Speaker 1: to bring neighbors together, to talk about their issues, just
Speaker 1: to do something positive in the community. How did you
Speaker 1: get into this work? To Angela, what's your bag? I
Speaker 1: didn't intend to. I will say that my family knew
Speaker 1: long before I did. Always thought I was going to
Speaker 1: be a doctor. I said, I wanted to do doctors
Speaker 1: without borders. That's when I entered college. As in my
Speaker 1: undergrad I was like, I'm gonna be a pre med major.
Speaker 1: And I've always been fond of politics, always been like
Speaker 1: more active. I was the nerd. I was class president
Speaker 1: of middle school, right. I was that like nerdy Parson
Speaker 1: middle school class president's duties. Oh you organized the dance,
Speaker 1: you organized the canned food drive, you do that type
Speaker 1: of stuff. And I was always really interested in it,
Speaker 1: but I didn't think I would make a career out
Speaker 1: of it, and I didn't know what organizing was. And
Speaker 1: then I was doing a lot of nonpartisan work on campus,
Speaker 1: a lot of you know, know your rights, making sure
Speaker 1: that students have the correct idea to vote, a lot
Speaker 1: of just nonpartisan voter registration. And then in when Scott
Speaker 1: Walker was elected governor, that really kind of shifted things.
Speaker 1: Folks remember there are lots of protests in the Capitol.
Speaker 1: We slept over in the Capitol. I was still remember
Speaker 1: that cold linoleum floor in Madison. I remember protesting not
Speaker 1: just for student rights, but for rights of workers and
Speaker 1: collective bargaining, and seeing the student movement kind of really
Speaker 1: converge with the labor movement. And that's really where I
Speaker 1: got a crash course and organizing. My first job out
Speaker 1: of college was for the Service Employees International Union. When
Speaker 1: I was at SCIU of the whole goal was to
Speaker 1: get in the door, have a conversation, and to learn
Speaker 1: how people view themselves politically too, And I learned a
Speaker 1: lot that people were like, oh, I'm not political, but
Speaker 1: yet Yeah, just had a forty five conversation about how
Speaker 1: child care should be free, how yes we should raise
Speaker 1: the minimum ways. I want to talk about black folks
Speaker 1: and assumptions with elections because my observation experience has been,
Speaker 1: you know, a politician rolls through every four years, maybe
Speaker 1: every two in this sort of church plate passing mode,
Speaker 1: and you deposit your votes here please, And you have
Speaker 1: been using this phrase of year round engagement. How is
Speaker 1: blocks model different from the type of voter mobilization we're
Speaker 1: used to seeing, experiencing, or reading about in terms of
Speaker 1: the black community. Yeah, I think in a lot of senses,
Speaker 1: our level of engagement is incredibly different. We're trying to
Speaker 1: swipt this model on its head. I think a lot
Speaker 1: of times candidates, as you mentioned, come in a couple
Speaker 1: of weeks or a couple of months before an election
Speaker 1: and say, hey, vote for me, and we haven't seen
Speaker 1: you since the last time you said hey, vote for me.
Speaker 1: We don't know what you did, we don't know why
Speaker 1: you actually deserve our votes. And so we're trying to
Speaker 1: flip that model and say you want our vote, come
Speaker 1: get our vote. We want to make sure that you're
Speaker 1: talking to us, you have an understanding of our issues,
Speaker 1: and you're engaged and having a deep, meaningful conversation and
Speaker 1: building that trust in our community. And that's not something
Speaker 1: you can do a month or so before an election.
Speaker 1: And so what we try to do is that we
Speaker 1: want to kind of center that community power. And something
Speaker 1: that we also try to note as well is that
Speaker 1: there are people who haven't had their voting rights restored
Speaker 1: yet unfortunately, but they deserve a conversation, They deserve you
Speaker 1: listening to their issues just like anyone else should. And
Speaker 1: so I'm proud to say that in twenty nineteen, we
Speaker 1: had three presidential candidates visit us and knocked doors with us.
Speaker 1: We had folks engaged with us in twenty nineteen because
Speaker 1: they understood that you cannot just come in in October
Speaker 1: of making your first rounds of introductions to us and
Speaker 1: thinking that's going to be enough. What is it like
Speaker 1: for the black Milwaukee resident to have a full year
Speaker 1: before an election or even more, someone knock on their
Speaker 1: door and ask them what their concerns are, what their
Speaker 1: dreams are, what their fears are. I think it's a
Speaker 1: huge difference. There are times that people don't even get
Speaker 1: that door knock, let alone if they do one that
Speaker 1: asked them what they care about, what their hopes are,
Speaker 1: what their dreams are, what it looks like for our
Speaker 1: communities to thrive. There are folks shortly after we've started
Speaker 1: knocking in that said, I've lived in this house five
Speaker 1: ten years, and you're the first person to knock on
Speaker 1: my door. We exclude people so much because they're not
Speaker 1: seen as the regular voter, and they just don't get
Speaker 1: that touch at all. And we want to make sure
Speaker 1: that we're spending our time talking to the folks that
Speaker 1: are being left behind being able to have those conversations
Speaker 1: on a year on basis, And I tell folks that
Speaker 1: we have to have three separate conversations. On one hand,
Speaker 1: we want to turn a non voter into a voter
Speaker 1: after you know, we have that really big conversation that's
Speaker 1: not an easy conversation. Then we want to make sure
Speaker 1: that people understand the political process and where they fit in.
Speaker 1: They understand why they're voting for someone for the State
Speaker 1: Supreme Court because they understand what the state Supreme Court does.
Speaker 1: We want them to understand the broader process. And then lastly,
Speaker 1: we want them to vote for the candidates that we've
Speaker 1: and are advocating the most for our communities. So these
Speaker 1: are three separate conversations that we can't start to have
Speaker 1: around this time. You know, three weeks before an election.
Speaker 1: It takes a lot to move people from being a
Speaker 1: non voter to a voter. There are people that say
Speaker 1: that they are skeptical, they don't think that their voice
Speaker 1: or their vote even matters. Those are big conversations, and
Speaker 1: we don't believe that you should shame people for not voting.
Speaker 1: There is a reason, and we want to get to
Speaker 1: the core of that reason. Let's have the conversation, why
Speaker 1: are you a non voter? Why do you think it's
Speaker 1: important for you to have your voice heard? Are there
Speaker 1: other ways that we can get you to be civically
Speaker 1: engaged so you see how the process works and hopefully
Speaker 1: at some point that process for you does include voting.
Speaker 1: And so we want to meet people where they're at
Speaker 1: and have those honest conversations. And I think that's something
Speaker 1: that a lot of times organizations don't have time to
Speaker 1: do or just don't prioritize how they're having those conversations.
Speaker 1: What have you learned as the main reasons people remain
Speaker 1: in that non voter category and would have been some
Speaker 1: of the more active ways of helping move them into
Speaker 1: the voter category. Yeah. I think the biggest thing that
Speaker 1: I've learned over the last several years, even before I
Speaker 1: joined Block, is that people aren't apathetic. And I think
Speaker 1: there's this idea that if you don't vote, then you
Speaker 1: must not care, you must be apathetic. And there hasn't
Speaker 1: been a person that I talk to you that said
Speaker 1: I'm apathetic. I just don't care. They have issues that
Speaker 1: they care about. They may not see how those issues
Speaker 1: relate in a broader political sense of voting, But everybody
Speaker 1: cares about something and it's on us to make sure
Speaker 1: that we're getting to the heart of what that is.
Speaker 1: And I think, you know, that's something that's very beautiful
Speaker 1: and special, and I tell people all the time this
Speaker 1: is my favorite part of the job, is that I
Speaker 1: get a chance to be able to bear witness and
Speaker 1: play a small role in that light bulb going off
Speaker 1: on people understanding the agency that they have in a
Speaker 1: political system that often tells us that we don't have
Speaker 1: any to have people understand how to make their voice
Speaker 1: heard in the city budget hearing, for example, or to
Speaker 1: you know, sit in front of a presidential candidate and said,
Speaker 1: what are you gonna do for my community? You need
Speaker 1: to listen to me. And they may not even have
Speaker 1: their voting rights restored yet, but they still have that
Speaker 1: power and are able to claim and take up that space.
Speaker 1: And I think that's really what's super important for us.
Speaker 1: And I think that's something also too that I'm very
Speaker 1: proud of as well. What's on the minds of the
Speaker 1: people in the black Milwaukee community. What are the issues.
Speaker 1: What are you learning when you knock doors and engage
Speaker 1: with folks. Yeah, I think what's the most fascinating about
Speaker 1: this particular cycle is that people are experiencing the effects
Speaker 1: of the federal government and know that the federal government
Speaker 1: is to blame for some of the issues that they're
Speaker 1: experiencing right now. If people are having a hard time
Speaker 1: dealing with the effects of COVID, whether that's financially or
Speaker 1: that's due to mental health, they know who to blame.
Speaker 1: And I think a lot of times the federal government
Speaker 1: feels very far removed from our issues. We don't always
Speaker 1: feel the impact right away unless you're paying attention very
Speaker 1: closely and watching c SPAN all day every day. But
Speaker 1: people know now when those benefits ran out, they knew
Speaker 1: it was Congress that was stalled and not able to
Speaker 1: pass another package to extend those unemployment benefits. If there's
Speaker 1: another you know, stimulus and people are able to get
Speaker 1: another check, people know it is their congress person that
Speaker 1: is doing these negotiations. In addition to this current administration,
Speaker 1: so we're actually watching things play out in real time
Speaker 1: in ways that we haven't really seen before. So a
Speaker 1: lot of the issues, whether it's financially or anything that's
Speaker 1: related to COVID, I think is immediately on folks mind.
Speaker 1: And also, you know, people care about things like healthcare.
Speaker 1: You know, I think a lot of times people don't
Speaker 1: think of healthcare as a black issue. And I tell
Speaker 1: folks all the time, like, yes, you know, mass incarceration
Speaker 1: is something that is intimately connected to our community in
Speaker 1: ways that are different from other communities. But we also
Speaker 1: care about education and things like healthcare and those quote
Speaker 1: mainstream issues, We also care about them as well. You
Speaker 1: use this phrase earlier, and I think maybe it's a
Speaker 1: question you ask people what would it mean for your
Speaker 1: community to thrive? Could you tell me about the origin
Speaker 1: of that question. I've done door to door just for
Speaker 1: some context. I've been sent out by campaigns and I
Speaker 1: get a checklist and it's like, what do you think
Speaker 1: about this? How would you rate your feelings. I'm like
Speaker 1: a door to door poster and I've never been asked
Speaker 1: to ask someone what would it take for their community
Speaker 1: to thrive? So what's the origin of that question and
Speaker 1: what are you learning in terms of the answers? Yeah,
Speaker 1: we knew immediately based off of that we wanted to
Speaker 1: do things differently, and one of those things was really
Speaker 1: digging deep in and building trust. And that also means
Speaker 1: getting to know what people care about. I think there's
Speaker 1: a lot of times we run poles, you know, we
Speaker 1: think that we know we're making these assumptions, Oh, we
Speaker 1: know the black community they only care about criminal justice
Speaker 1: because half of them are locked up, right, Like, we
Speaker 1: make these assumptions all the time without actually asking people
Speaker 1: what do they care about. We try to sell them
Speaker 1: on things. We knock on their door and say, hey,
Speaker 1: you know, vote for this person and sign this petition,
Speaker 1: come join me doing acts. But how many times do
Speaker 1: we knock a door and say, hey, what do you
Speaker 1: care about? And so we knew that we needed to
Speaker 1: build trust as a new organization, and we wanted to
Speaker 1: establish those relationships. So we started when we knocked doors
Speaker 1: in November of seventeen and we just opened up with
Speaker 1: that question what does it look like for the black
Speaker 1: community to thrive? And people were looking at us crazy,
Speaker 1: they were skeptical. They were like, what do you really want?
Speaker 1: Why are you really here? And we said, no, we
Speaker 1: want to hear about what are the issues that matter
Speaker 1: to you the most? And people struggle because they weren't
Speaker 1: used to even thinking about thriving, let alone ask that
Speaker 1: question from a stranger. A lot of times in our community,
Speaker 1: we're trying to survive day to day, hoping that interactions
Speaker 1: from the police don't end up in us being murdered.
Speaker 1: That we can you know, like last that extra hundred
Speaker 1: dollars to provide for our family until we get paid
Speaker 1: on Friday. You know, those are those things, and so
Speaker 1: it provides us an opportunity to to say about our dreams,
Speaker 1: to think about the world that we want to live in.
Speaker 1: And there are times people say, well, I think we
Speaker 1: need a speed bump, and we're like, okay, let's get you.
Speaker 1: Let's speed bump. I don't know if that's thriving, but
Speaker 1: let's get you that speed bump, and let's have a
Speaker 1: conversation that you feel that your community isn't being invested
Speaker 1: in the same way that other suburbs are. Maybe that's
Speaker 1: a bigger issue. Let's have that conversation as well, in
Speaker 1: addition to getting you that speed bump. So we've heard
Speaker 1: everything from really micro level issues to really macro level
Speaker 1: issues and how people really want to get involved and
Speaker 1: advocate for their their neighborhoods too, and once you unlock that,
Speaker 1: once you've got people sharing their dreams and their hopes
Speaker 1: and their thrive manifestoes, what happens with all that energy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So one of the big things that translated out of
Speaker 1: that was our our now Block agenda. So we have
Speaker 1: been having these conversations in the field for so long.
Speaker 1: Last year we said we wanted to make sure that
Speaker 1: we're consolidating what we're hearing. So we started to kind
Speaker 1: of hear some different themes around healthcare, around transportation, education,
Speaker 1: and last fall, almost about a year ago, we had
Speaker 1: a series of people's assemblies and there are ten different
Speaker 1: issue areas and themes that we've heard, and we had
Speaker 1: butcher paper everywhere. We had our team facilitate small group
Speaker 1: discussions on the Saturday, and we said, okay, as it
Speaker 1: relates to education, what do we want to keep, what
Speaker 1: do we want to amend, what do we want to
Speaker 1: make better? What do we need to protect? And we
Speaker 1: just captured as much of the conversation as we could.
Speaker 1: Our political director went back compiled it into a draft agenda,
Speaker 1: and then we came back with the same group a
Speaker 1: couple of weeks later and said Hey, it's now on paper.
Speaker 1: What does this look like? What does this feel like?
Speaker 1: Does this feel good? Do we need to make any edits?
Speaker 1: And we ratify it as a community and it's meant
Speaker 1: to be a living document to grow and change as
Speaker 1: the needs of the community change. But that was one step,
Speaker 1: and that's really kind of is how we're centering our
Speaker 1: our policy work. Blocks started knocking on doors in November,
Speaker 1: which is well ahead of the typical timing for a
Speaker 1: election cycle. What position are you in now? How does
Speaker 1: Milwaukee and Black Milwaukee look from a voter engagement perspective
Speaker 1: versus four years ago? I think that we are in
Speaker 1: a better position. There's infrastructure that exists now that didn't
Speaker 1: exist in whether that is you know, groups like ours
Speaker 1: leaders igniting transformation, A lot of other groups are doing
Speaker 1: that work. And we also used the last four years
Speaker 1: as different benchmarks and tests we played in every single election,
Speaker 1: whether it was the state Supreme Court that no one
Speaker 1: really you know, paid attention to in or whether it
Speaker 1: was the Shareff's race that was getting overlooked in the
Speaker 1: midst of a really crowded gubernatorial primary. We wanted to
Speaker 1: make sure that we were talking about the down ballot
Speaker 1: races that seem to be forgotten, and we've had fellowship
Speaker 1: programs who were able to train hundreds of people between
Speaker 1: then and now about the deeper political process and having
Speaker 1: folks turn out in ways that they haven't turned out
Speaker 1: before to see, you know, so many people turn out
Speaker 1: and testify as a city budget hearing that typically are overlooked,
Speaker 1: you know, was a testament that more people are paying
Speaker 1: attention and more people are pushing back and asking questions
Speaker 1: and making sure that their voices are heard. So I
Speaker 1: think a lot has happened in the last four years
Speaker 1: just in our world, in our city. And then I
Speaker 1: also think that there's just a lot of infrastructure that
Speaker 1: has been working very, very hard to connect with our
Speaker 1: community to make sure that people are active. We were
Speaker 1: really excited shameless plug. Last week, MSNBC actually did a
Speaker 1: profile on two of our lead ambassadors who did not
Speaker 1: vote in and not only are voting this year, their
Speaker 1: whole job now is to organize other people to vote.
Speaker 1: You use the word ambassadors to refer to people who
Speaker 1: work with the organization. What is your training model, how
Speaker 1: do you get done, what you get done, and and
Speaker 1: how different is it from the other groups. You've been
Speaker 1: a part of our seen Yeah, we really really value
Speaker 1: leadership development. We want to make sure that we're digging
Speaker 1: deeper having quality type of conversations. And and I've worked
Speaker 1: for organizations where someone will come in, apply for your job,
Speaker 1: fill out an application, get interviewed, do a brief training,
Speaker 1: and we send them out on doors within an hour
Speaker 1: from applying to being out on doors. We're pushing people
Speaker 1: out because we need to hit as many doors as possible.
Speaker 1: I know some folks that wouldn't even pay for chairs
Speaker 1: in their offices because they wanted people to be in
Speaker 1: and out so quickly. We are very different. We wanted
Speaker 1: to make sure our team is fully educated. We wanted
Speaker 1: them to have more meaningful conversations on doors. So instead
Speaker 1: of saying, hey, we vote for the sheriff, we're saying, hey,
Speaker 1: do you know what the sheriff does? Do you know
Speaker 1: their jurisdiction. We're able to do some of that political
Speaker 1: education on training, which means we're constantly role playing. We're
Speaker 1: constantly workshopping any issues that we're having or we're hearing
Speaker 1: in the field. We're constantly educating ourselves. If there is
Speaker 1: an ad that came out we talk about it, we
Speaker 1: analyze it. If there's a poll that comes up, we
Speaker 1: analyze it because we want to raise everyone's consciousness as well.
Speaker 1: And so we put our team through at least thirty
Speaker 1: hours of training before they're even knock a door. Um
Speaker 1: Zo thirty hours three zero. And like I said, I've
Speaker 1: been a part of canvas programs where you're in and
Speaker 1: out within an hour. You know, you're trying to get
Speaker 1: people to vote for your candidate, but we're not talking
Speaker 1: about the issues. We're not talking about the jurisdiction, the
Speaker 1: roles and responsibility of that office. Why should I just
Speaker 1: tell people to vote for a U. S. Senator if
Speaker 1: they don't have any concept of what the U. S.
Speaker 1: Senate does and how it directly impacts their lives. And
Speaker 1: so we want them to be able to have those
Speaker 1: types of conversations because we want to be able to
Speaker 1: build the awareness and the analysis in this culture of
Speaker 1: civic engagement in our community, and that an election is
Speaker 1: a tool to do so. But really it is, it's
Speaker 1: just one pathway. We want to make sure that people
Speaker 1: understand their civic engagement rights and how to be a
Speaker 1: part of it on a year round basis. Whether it's
Speaker 1: the city budget hearings, or it's voting or anything in between,
Speaker 1: and so we take that extra time. I think that's
Speaker 1: something that we are really proud of by digging d
Speaker 1: been having fellowship programs, We've been doing Civics Jeopardy via
Speaker 1: Facebook Live. That's one of the ways we train our folks.
Speaker 1: And there's different categories, you know, legislative, judicial, block history,
Speaker 1: and that's how we kind of keep our stuff fresh
Speaker 1: and keep it fun. So it's not just dry trainings
Speaker 1: who were constantly able to keep each other on our toes.
Speaker 1: I want to know more about Civics Jeopardy. How often
Speaker 1: do you do that? So every Friday in October, but
Speaker 1: we've been Facebook living it. Last week was our first
Speaker 1: week and we're gonna be having some special guests as well,
Speaker 1: some local elected officials to kind of help out and
Speaker 1: to be you know, a guest host and to read
Speaker 1: some of the issues and some of the questions. So
Speaker 1: it's something that we we do want a regular basis
Speaker 1: and it allows us to be able to have fun
Speaker 1: as well as kind of you know, stay fresh on
Speaker 1: some of the dates and everything that keeps changing. Civics
Speaker 1: is not easy to keep up with when they constantly
Speaker 1: keep trying to change the rules. So this is a
Speaker 1: good way to stay on top of it. Is that
Speaker 1: open to the public. Anybody can tune into your Facebook
Speaker 1: page and watch Dame. Yes every Friday, I say, around
Speaker 1: new but we're give us to like twelve fifteen. We're
Speaker 1: running a little bit behind, a little bit on some days.
Speaker 1: But yeah, check out our our Facebook live We had
Speaker 1: the first one just air and you can still check
Speaker 1: out our live video. Oh thank you for that. I
Speaker 1: was reading Milwaukee Magazine the other day, as I do sometimes,
Speaker 1: and I saw a quote from you in there where
Speaker 1: you said, I tell people all the time, Milwaukee breaks
Speaker 1: my heart and inspires me every day. Can you expand
Speaker 1: on that. I've never lived anywhere else. I'm born and
Speaker 1: raised in Milwaukee. I was one of those teenagers I
Speaker 1: wanted to move far away full disclosure. As much as
Speaker 1: I've got Milwaukee, there was a point in time where
Speaker 1: I wanted to leave. I wanted to be that eighteen
Speaker 1: year old that went to the big city, and that
Speaker 1: went and moved to New York and you know, became
Speaker 1: a doctor and went to Columbia, and that did not
Speaker 1: work out. I had a route awakening. I was humbled
Speaker 1: greatly that Columbia, being my dream school, I didn't get
Speaker 1: into and I didn't know what to do. I was
Speaker 1: really devastating because it was really banking on going to
Speaker 1: New York and I stayed in Milwaukee, and it was
Speaker 1: the best decision that I made, And it is now
Speaker 1: a conscious decision of why I stay here. And I
Speaker 1: think it's because there's so many resilient people. And I
Speaker 1: tell folks all the time, like, I could leave, but
Speaker 1: I don't know if I would feel as comfortable organizing
Speaker 1: somewhere else. It's very intimate, it's very personal all the
Speaker 1: the challenges that we're experiencing. It hits different when you're
Speaker 1: born and raised in the same place that you're doing
Speaker 1: your organizing and to see all the challenges you know,
Speaker 1: home to one of the most incarcerated zip codes, Wisconsin
Speaker 1: being the worst place to raise a black child, all
Speaker 1: of those things, I'm like, how do I still live here?
Speaker 1: But at the same time, there's so much work to
Speaker 1: be done. I'm not arrogant enough to think that I'm
Speaker 1: solely the sole person to fix those issues, but I
Speaker 1: want to do what I can because I feel like
Speaker 1: Milwaukee helped raise me, and I feel like there's just
Speaker 1: a lot of resilience and a lot of beautiful people,
Speaker 1: and there's a lot of potential that I think is
Speaker 1: untapped in Milwaukee, and I want to make sure that
Speaker 1: it is the best place that it could possibly be
Speaker 1: for everyone, including a black community. So meanwhile, groups like
Speaker 1: Block based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and others in cities across
Speaker 1: the country have been doing the very hard work to
Speaker 1: turn non voters into voters. They're helping people see how
Speaker 1: the political process connects to things they care about. And
Speaker 1: I loved that they started on this election three years ago,
Speaker 1: going door to door asking people what it looks like
Speaker 1: to thrive, creating a community vision and manifesto. While groups
Speaker 1: like Block invite more people into the political process, others
Speaker 1: are working to make sure they can actually cast those
Speaker 1: votes and have them counted. We have the fortune of
Speaker 1: speaking with Quentin Palfrey about efforts to protect our right
Speaker 1: to vote. He's the chair of Voter Protection Core, a
Speaker 1: grassroots organization that was founded after by data scientists and
Speaker 1: lawyers to help protect and defend people's rights to vote,
Speaker 1: especially communities of color. So the Voter Protection CORES was
Speaker 1: launched last year, and this is my fifth presidential cycle
Speaker 1: working on voter protection issues. And over the last few cycles,
Speaker 1: we've learned some things about some of the problems that
Speaker 1: can come up in elections. And so last year a
Speaker 1: bunch of us who were involved in the Obama campaign
Speaker 1: and the Carry campaign and Clinton campaign got together and said,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe we ought to get out ahead of
Speaker 1: some of these problems. Maybe we ought to try and
Speaker 1: solve the things that can be solved in advance, and
Speaker 1: maybe we ought to combine some of the legal expertise
Speaker 1: that we have in the voter protection community with some
Speaker 1: data expertise. So we formed a partnership with the Carnegie
Speaker 1: Mellon University and tried to look at the places where
Speaker 1: voters faced most obstacles and started to target some of
Speaker 1: our activities towards the places that were most likely to
Speaker 1: be a problem in the elections. So essentially, what the
Speaker 1: Voter Protection Core is is a network of lawyers and
Speaker 1: data scientists who are trying to identify the obstacles that
Speaker 1: voters face to registering, voting and having their votes count,
Speaker 1: and then try to head off those kinds of problems
Speaker 1: you mentioned protecting people's registration, there's sort of voting activity
Speaker 1: and the count. Can you dive into what exactly you're
Speaker 1: trying to protect In our country, we have a shameful
Speaker 1: legacy of racial bias in our elections. Communities of color,
Speaker 1: younger people, people who tend to move around a lot,
Speaker 1: tend to run into problems in our system that aren't
Speaker 1: faced by other people in the system. So think about
Speaker 1: this spring voters waiting for four or five hours in
Speaker 1: a number of African American communities during the primaries. That's
Speaker 1: been endemic to our system for a long period of time.
Speaker 1: Voters of color have faced voter purges for many years,
Speaker 1: face voter suppression, have faced legislation that aims to make
Speaker 1: it harder for them to register and vote. And so
Speaker 1: we've got these really shameful inequalities in our system. Some
Speaker 1: of them are caused by intentional voter suppression. So, unfortunately,
Speaker 1: we now have a president and some allies who have
Speaker 1: weaponized lies about voter fraud in order to make it
Speaker 1: harder for people to vote, and particularly communities that the
Speaker 1: president as allies think will will not vote for them
Speaker 1: in the election. Um, so they're using voter suppression as
Speaker 1: a campaign tactic. So your organization is a network of lawyers,
Speaker 1: of data scientists, it's a nerd network. It's an exactingly
Speaker 1: powerful network of thoughtful people. And you're on the ground
Speaker 1: in a bunch of places. What are you seeing on
Speaker 1: the ground? Where are you seeing it that concerns you
Speaker 1: the most? So I think that you have to understand.
Speaker 1: And the people are voting in a bunch of different ways,
Speaker 1: and so the challenges come up in different context. So
Speaker 1: I'm very interested in making sure that in person voting
Speaker 1: works well because we've seen that African American students, the homeless,
Speaker 1: and Native Americans have a tendency to use in person
Speaker 1: voting options at a higher rate and to be disproportionately
Speaker 1: impacted when there are long lines or when they're polling
Speaker 1: place closures. So one of the things that we've spent
Speaker 1: a lot of time doing is making sure that there
Speaker 1: are enough poll workers, because we know that when their
Speaker 1: poll workers shortages their long lines, we know that when
Speaker 1: their long lines, the vote is suppressed. So making sure
Speaker 1: that there are enough poll workers to avoid the kind
Speaker 1: of debacle we had, for example, in the African American
Speaker 1: communities in Milwaukee during the primaries, or that we've seen
Speaker 1: repeatedly in Georgia, that we saw in the Vada, that
Speaker 1: we saw in Philadelphia. We need to make sure that
Speaker 1: there are enough election officials so that people can wait
Speaker 1: in shorter lines. We need to make sure that they're
Speaker 1: not shutting down polling places. I mentioned Milwaukee in their primary.
Speaker 1: They went from a hundred and eighty polling places in
Speaker 1: the primary to five in this election, and you saw
Speaker 1: people waited in really long lines. Some people may have
Speaker 1: contracted coronavirus as a result of voting. Those are very
Speaker 1: bad outcomes. We need to make sure that we keep
Speaker 1: the polls open. On the vote by mail side, vote
Speaker 1: by mail is an extremely effective way for people to vote.
Speaker 1: Every serious scholar who's looked at this from the Brennan Center,
Speaker 1: the Bipartisan Policy Center, from the Voter Protection Course has
Speaker 1: concluded that this is a safe and effective way to vote.
Speaker 1: But not all of the states that are ramping up
Speaker 1: their vote by mail system know how to do it
Speaker 1: well yet. So the states that have done it well
Speaker 1: historically are really good at it, but some of the
Speaker 1: states that are starting for the first time are rejecting
Speaker 1: a lot of ballots for really stupid reasons, and a
Speaker 1: lot of voters who are casting valid ballots are running
Speaker 1: into rejection rates that are much higher than they ought
Speaker 1: to be. What's a high rejection rate. Well, so, in
Speaker 1: the states that do a good job of administering elections
Speaker 1: vote by mail, the rights rejection can do less than
Speaker 1: one percent. And you know, we have this tradition in
Speaker 1: the voting law community of honoring the intent of the
Speaker 1: voter and not rejecting a validly cast ballot because of
Speaker 1: some minor procedural requirement. In the New York primary, almost
Speaker 1: one in five ballots were rejected. It's almost ballots were rejected.
Speaker 1: We're seeing in Philadelphia and in Pennsylvania rejection of ballots
Speaker 1: because they're called naked ballots. People didn't use the proper envelopes,
Speaker 1: and you know, we were worried that more than a
Speaker 1: thousand people could be disenfranchised because of a really foolish
Speaker 1: question around like which envelope did you use? So I
Speaker 1: think those are the kinds of things we need to
Speaker 1: teach election officials how to do better over time. But
Speaker 1: to your initial point, you know, some of those things
Speaker 1: are no longer fixable, and so what you have to
Speaker 1: focus on now is teaching voters how to do it
Speaker 1: and making sure that we bring down those rejection rates
Speaker 1: just by making through voter education. What has you the
Speaker 1: most excited or hopeful in terms of our ability to
Speaker 1: preserve the legitimacy of our electoral system. I'll say two things.
Speaker 1: The first is the one that I started with, which
Speaker 1: is this notion that we actually are starting to have
Speaker 1: new candidates, new voters, new people involved in our elections.
Speaker 1: It's been really exciting to see an emergence of much
Speaker 1: more diverse voice, of younger voices, more gender balanced candidates,
Speaker 1: new voters. There's a real energy and if you sort
Speaker 1: of think about where our country is going, you know,
Speaker 1: the views of younger people, even in the red est states,
Speaker 1: if you look at the demographics of some of the
Speaker 1: states that have been traditionally I think the future is
Speaker 1: progressive and the future is more diverse and more gender balance,
Speaker 1: and I think that that's really exciting. We are in
Speaker 1: an election period where people are already voting, so the
Speaker 1: idea of election day is more like election season, and
Speaker 1: I think of November three as a voting deadline, not
Speaker 1: a voting day. What is your advice for how we
Speaker 1: can prepare ourselves what we should expect at the end
Speaker 1: of November three. I think you're entirely right that because
Speaker 1: of the pandemic and because of some of the changes
Speaker 1: that we've made to our election system, we should be
Speaker 1: thinking about this as an election period, not in election day.
Speaker 1: And one of the things that I think we ought
Speaker 1: to do is change our view of what election night
Speaker 1: is going to look like. So we have this picture
Speaker 1: that somebody is going to stand up in front of
Speaker 1: these maps on cable TV, and we're gonna watch it,
Speaker 1: and then we're either going to be very happy or
Speaker 1: very sad by the end of the night, but we're
Speaker 1: basically going to know how the election is going to
Speaker 1: turn out. And that's not the way it's going to
Speaker 1: be this year, because there are a lot of states,
Speaker 1: for good reasons, that are going to accept ballots that
Speaker 1: are postmarked on election day but received a couple of
Speaker 1: days afterwards. And I think it's gonna be really important
Speaker 1: for us to shift our view and say, actually, we
Speaker 1: should wait, we should be patient, we should not declare
Speaker 1: victory or defeat until all of those ballots are counted.
Speaker 1: I also think that there's good reason to suggest that
Speaker 1: a lot of the Trump voters are going to vote
Speaker 1: in person, and those votes are going to be counted earlier,
Speaker 1: and that the Biden vote is going to be a
Speaker 1: little bit more spread out, and so some of the
Speaker 1: votes that are going to be counted in the days
Speaker 1: after election day may well be for Biden and harrass,
Speaker 1: and so the narrative across the week may shift a
Speaker 1: little bit. I think that we should be very vigilant
Speaker 1: against Donald Trump and the Turr in general, Barr and
Speaker 1: some of their allies saying, actually, election results are final
Speaker 1: immediately if they look a little bit more pro Trump
Speaker 1: than the polls have looked, because that's actually to be expected.
Speaker 1: And there's been some some talk of this notion of
Speaker 1: a red mirage. But I think that the way to
Speaker 1: think about that is that we ought to be patient
Speaker 1: and count all of the votes. That's important in the democracy,
Speaker 1: and wait until all of the votes are counted before
Speaker 1: we form an assessment as to who won. What can
Speaker 1: someone do who hears this isn't a lawyer or an
Speaker 1: election lawyer or a data scientist to leave it all
Speaker 1: in the field in this area? What does that mean? So?
Speaker 1: First of all, there are lots of ways for you
Speaker 1: to get involved with our organization. It's voter dash Protection
Speaker 1: dot org. We'd love to have your help. But more broadly,
Speaker 1: I think that you should think about using your time
Speaker 1: and your money to make sure that this election reflects
Speaker 1: your values. And using your time, I think means helping
Speaker 1: to get out the vote. It means helping to recruit
Speaker 1: poll workers or to monitor at the polls. There are
Speaker 1: opportunities within both the nonpartisan sector there's the Election Protection
Speaker 1: Coalition and within the campaign, within the Biden Harris campaign
Speaker 1: to to work as a poll monitor. And if you
Speaker 1: have resources, I do think that this is a time
Speaker 1: to dig deep and contribute those resources to organizations or
Speaker 1: campaigns that reflect your values. Oh that is a simple
Speaker 1: and hard to ask, but very important one. Quentin. I
Speaker 1: want to thank you for your time. There's been a
Speaker 1: terrific conversation. I really appreciate you having me on. Many
Speaker 1: of the voter suppression tactics and scenarios that Quentin and
Speaker 1: Voter Protection Corps are fighting exists at just one level
Speaker 1: in the system, but this is and as we know,
Speaker 1: there are many levels, which means Angela and Block have
Speaker 1: found themselves preparing the black community for things she never
Speaker 1: thought she would have to consider. A lot of us
Speaker 1: are seeing headlines and images of what the situation on
Speaker 1: the ground is in Wisconsin and in Milwaukee, long lines.
Speaker 1: You read about various efforts to make it harder to
Speaker 1: vote this time in particular, what are you seeing in
Speaker 1: terms of the challenge of voting in the pandemic especially,
Speaker 1: and and how are you all trying to overcome any
Speaker 1: of those new obstacles. We're anticipating, you know, any potentially
Speaker 1: long lines, so we want to make sure that folks
Speaker 1: are early voting or voting absentee. We also just don't
Speaker 1: know what's going to happen on election day. We've seen
Speaker 1: in presidential elections if there's long lines, people have to
Speaker 1: wait a while. But we're also preparing for any voter
Speaker 1: intimidation that's going to happen at the polls. Realistically speaking,
Speaker 1: we heard the president talking about having his supporters poll watch,
Speaker 1: and pole observed. We also know that his supporters can
Speaker 1: be incredibly violent and incredibly dangerous, so we're preparing for
Speaker 1: those things. But ultimately people were asking, hey, you know
Speaker 1: we have five polling places open in April. Are we
Speaker 1: sure that's not gonna happen no November. People have been
Speaker 1: making plans since our disastrous election in April, and people
Speaker 1: are like, okay, basically, come hell or high water. I
Speaker 1: couldn't vote in April, but I'm going to vote in November.
Speaker 1: And we saw people starting to make plans sense then,
Speaker 1: and I think people are really fired up and people
Speaker 1: will feel very very strongly about making sure that they
Speaker 1: make a plan, they make a backup plan, and they're
Speaker 1: making sure that their voices are heard. It's like disaster prep.
Speaker 1: That's that's really it shouldn't be that way, But to
Speaker 1: deny it is to not be prepared. I want to
Speaker 1: touch on this political violence point with you because you've
Speaker 1: got Kenosha, which the country is very familiar with in
Speaker 1: terms of written house. You've got wad with Toosa and
Speaker 1: and recent incidents with the police killing someone in folks
Speaker 1: you know, going out to protests and being hit with
Speaker 1: more violence from the police. And then you mentioned the
Speaker 1: president and his support is being willing to use violence.
Speaker 1: How do you prepare your communities to protect themselves in
Speaker 1: a political environment that often goes beyond tough talk to
Speaker 1: actual violent action. Yeah, that's a really good question, one
Speaker 1: I didn't anticipate to have to do when I was
Speaker 1: making my New Year's resolutions and preparing for the year.
Speaker 1: You know, the amount of meetings and conversations I've had
Speaker 1: about white militia folks, it's been astounding, It's and I
Speaker 1: didn't expect to be having these types of conversations. We're
Speaker 1: working with our folks from our national affiliate, the Center
Speaker 1: for Popular Democracy, to do what we're calling voter guardian trainings,
Speaker 1: making sure people understand the basic ins and out casting
Speaker 1: a provisional ballot in case there's any you know, logistical
Speaker 1: issues that come up with people casting their ballot, but
Speaker 1: also being prepared to de escalate if any conflict arises,
Speaker 1: making sure that if there is a conflict, the first
Speaker 1: line and defense isn't to call the police. Is there
Speaker 1: a way that we can deescalate, you know, internally, so
Speaker 1: people can stand in line and to make their voice
Speaker 1: heard safely. We're talking about all those things. We have
Speaker 1: those trainings, our team and I know my myself personally
Speaker 1: have gone through easily ten hours of digital security training,
Speaker 1: which can be kind of frightening and kind of triggering
Speaker 1: to think about, how do you keep yourself safe, understanding
Speaker 1: that white militias and the Proud Boys are on standby,
Speaker 1: and to do this work. You know, you don't want
Speaker 1: to freak people out, but you want to be honest
Speaker 1: that this work goes and disrupts the status quo. And
Speaker 1: anytime you go against the status quo, we've seen what
Speaker 1: that looks like in history. So trying to prepare our
Speaker 1: folks and saying, you know, we're on the right side
Speaker 1: of history, but that also means it comes with some challenges,
Speaker 1: and sometimes it feels like there's a target on our back,
Speaker 1: and it's been really tough. You know, honestly, the last
Speaker 1: couple of months and thinking about those things have been
Speaker 1: incredibly difficult. And it's strange to know that there's a
Speaker 1: you know, a threat on your organization or there's a
Speaker 1: threat to you personally, just given the fact that you
Speaker 1: just want to empower people and just make sure that
Speaker 1: their voices are heard. So it's it's been a challenge
Speaker 1: and one that we're trying to navigate, I think in
Speaker 1: real time, and you know, everyone's priority is making sure
Speaker 1: that we're we're keeping everyone safe and we're still you know,
Speaker 1: doing the best that we can to speak true to
Speaker 1: power to just like our ancestors have done in our
Speaker 1: civil rights icons as well. We have a view on
Speaker 1: this show that the word citizen is less useful as
Speaker 1: a legal status than it is as a verb and
Speaker 1: a steat of actions. That we citizen, it is to
Speaker 1: citizens our purpose here. How would you define the word
Speaker 1: citizen if you were to interpret it as a verb? Yeah,
Speaker 1: I would define citizen as a person without boundaries, right.
Speaker 1: I think a lot of times people here citizen and
Speaker 1: they always think of geographical boundaries. But what does it
Speaker 1: mean to be a citizen of the society and as
Speaker 1: a citizen of this world and want to contribute in
Speaker 1: a way that you are able to be liberated and
Speaker 1: free and live your true and full self while also
Speaker 1: being able to participate in a representative, participatory democracy without
Speaker 1: any challenges or barriers. Do you want your voice heard?
Speaker 1: Your voice matters just as much as you know a
Speaker 1: billionaire who builds their wealth off of the backs of
Speaker 1: the working class. At the same time, you are able
Speaker 1: to make your voice heard and live freely and in
Speaker 1: a way where your rights, your body, who you love,
Speaker 1: how you express yourself isn't regulated through the government that
Speaker 1: doesn't look like you, that doesn't represent you, but decides
Speaker 1: to tell you what you should do with your body
Speaker 1: and your expression. To me, that's what it means to
Speaker 1: be a citizen of this world and of the society.
Speaker 1: People want to help Angela. I get asked a lot.
Speaker 1: I live in New York or I live in California.
Speaker 1: What can I do? How can I make sure that
Speaker 1: every vote is kind of How do I support Wisconsin?
Speaker 1: What do you say to people who want to help?
Speaker 1: Do you have specific things you need people to do,
Speaker 1: whether they live in Wisconsin or not. Yeah, so there's
Speaker 1: a couple different ways we tell folks that they could
Speaker 1: be helpful. One, I would be a bad executive director
Speaker 1: if I didn't make a fundraising pitch. There's ways that
Speaker 1: people can support us on our website. We have both
Speaker 1: nonpartisan and partisan capabilities, and we divide up our donations
Speaker 1: appropriately in that way too. You know, are there folks
Speaker 1: that you think that we should get to know? Do
Speaker 1: you have a rich uncle, does your brother make a podcast?
Speaker 1: And do you think that I'd be a great guest?
Speaker 1: Or are there other organizations you know, either locally or
Speaker 1: nationally that you think that we should be collaborating with
Speaker 1: we'd love to be able to get connected to other folks.
Speaker 1: And then lastly, is that in this time where everyone
Speaker 1: is having difficult conversations or I hope everyone is having
Speaker 1: difficult conversations, being able to center and amplify the work
Speaker 1: and lived experiences of our community and so being able
Speaker 1: to amplify and share our content one so more people
Speaker 1: can hear about us. But too, I think we're all
Speaker 1: being collectively gas lit about some of these situations that
Speaker 1: we're in. People think that racism is still not a
Speaker 1: problem in our country, and people respond, but when you
Speaker 1: say black lives matter, and so by being able to
Speaker 1: really center and amplify the lived experiences of our community
Speaker 1: through our social media is also helpful if people want
Speaker 1: to to help out specifically on election day, you know,
Speaker 1: we want to make sure that we have enough voter
Speaker 1: guardians at polling places to de escalate where possible, So
Speaker 1: feel free to send us a message. We're putting all
Speaker 1: those plans together, so people can d m us on Facebook, Twitter,
Speaker 1: and Instagram, or you can send us a note through
Speaker 1: our website at block by block dot org and that's
Speaker 1: Bloc b y Bloc Data Org is there anything else
Speaker 1: you want to make sure to mention or to address
Speaker 1: with this moment. I think the only thing that I
Speaker 1: would mention is that we're living in these really dark, troubled,
Speaker 1: unprecedented times and we just need to show up as
Speaker 1: real people and allow ourselves the grace to feel what
Speaker 1: we're feeling, to know that is not normal. To have
Speaker 1: conversations about white militia are not normal. To have people
Speaker 1: openly killing and shooting protesters at seventeen years old is
Speaker 1: not normal, and we should never get used to this.
Speaker 1: We have a choice to really decide who we want
Speaker 1: to be as a country and how we show up
Speaker 1: in this work. You know. I think shortly after the
Speaker 1: murders of Brianna Taylor and George Floyd, people were buying
Speaker 1: the book White Fragility. People are buying all these books,
Speaker 1: and I hope that people are reading them. They're doing
Speaker 1: the work, and they're not just collecting dust after they
Speaker 1: posted them on Instagram claiming to be woke, but are
Speaker 1: actually doing that tough work. Because this moment that we're
Speaker 1: in is what happens when privilege goes unchecked for years
Speaker 1: and decades, and this is our moment to really create
Speaker 1: a vision of a world that we want to live in,
Speaker 1: and we get to start over. We get to reimagine,
Speaker 1: you know, what safety is, maybe without the police, and
Speaker 1: we get to really kind of dream without any limitations.
Speaker 1: But that means that we have to do that work
Speaker 1: as well internally, all right, in terms of that content,
Speaker 1: I know I'm checking out Civics Jeopardy. First of my
Speaker 1: thank you Angela for the time, thank you for the
Speaker 1: insight um and and thank you for the work that
Speaker 1: you're doing and that you're a part of. Thank you,
Speaker 1: I appreciate it, and thanks for having me on to
Speaker 1: tell our story too. Thank you to Angela Lang and
Speaker 1: Quincon pow Free for joining us. You can follow Angela
Speaker 1: and Block by Block on the social She is Angela
Speaker 1: underscored Lange. The organization is Block by Block m k E.
Speaker 1: That's b l oc b y Bloc m k E.
Speaker 1: That's on Twitter. You can also find them on the
Speaker 1: regular Free and Open Internet at block by Block dot org.
Speaker 1: Again that's bloc b y bloc. Follow Quincon and the
Speaker 1: Voter Protection Core on Twitter, q poal free and Protect
Speaker 1: the Vote or the respective handles, and again you can
Speaker 1: visit that website don't forget about websites, y'all, voter dash
Speaker 1: Detection dot org. As always, we post this episode extra
Speaker 1: notes transcript developed by robots at how to citizen dot com,
Speaker 1: and as always, we ask you to leave a rating
Speaker 1: or review wherever you are listening to this podcast because
Speaker 1: it helps introduce people to us. Here are the actions
Speaker 1: the moment you've been waiting for. What is barrattune they're
Speaker 1: gonna ask us to do? All? Right? First up internal actions,
Speaker 1: and by internal as a refresher, we mean that these
Speaker 1: are actions that help you reflect on yourself, explored your
Speaker 1: emotions and your experiences. Or there are actions that are
Speaker 1: personal and don't necessarily involve other people. Got too up
Speaker 1: for you this time? First answer this question, it's the
Speaker 1: block question. What does it mean for your community to thrive?
Speaker 1: Could be speed bumps, probably more, think about it, write
Speaker 1: it down, think about it and more. The second internal
Speaker 1: action we want to return to June. Remember when we
Speaker 1: were all black Lives Matter and hashtag and turn my
Speaker 1: I G Square black. We bought a lot of books
Speaker 1: on anti racism. Have we read them? Now is a
Speaker 1: good time to check back in doing some of that
Speaker 1: internal work to make this Land, More Free, and more fair.
Speaker 1: Read those books. Support the organizations you said you would
Speaker 1: support the black community in the way you said you would.
Speaker 1: This is a good time to revisit and re engage
Speaker 1: on the external actions. These are public facing for the
Speaker 1: most part, they involved other human beings. Interactive three for
Speaker 1: you here one just support Block in Milwaukee blocked by
Speaker 1: block dot org slash donation. This is the sort of
Speaker 1: group that actually makes change happen, and I, for one,
Speaker 1: am very frustrated and annoyed at certain elements of the
Speaker 1: nonprofit political philanthropic world that just pile money and resources
Speaker 1: on the people who are not in the community, who
Speaker 1: do not know what they're talking about. But because they
Speaker 1: worked on some campaign eight, ten, twelve years ago, they
Speaker 1: still get all the goods. Let's support Angela and her
Speaker 1: team at Block again blocked by blocked out org slash
Speaker 1: donations in Milwaukee. If you are there or no people there,
Speaker 1: encourage them or yourself. Become a voter guardian again. This
Speaker 1: is a Block's website. These are people who are going
Speaker 1: to monitor the polls for intimidation, and they're trained to
Speaker 1: de escalate situations instead of calling the police. So it's
Speaker 1: like a two fer. We know that the President is
Speaker 1: out here encouraging a level of nonsense and tom foolery
Speaker 1: at the polls, and we don't want to encourage conflict
Speaker 1: around that. We want to de escalate. Again. I trust
Speaker 1: Block to do this the right way, so support them
Speaker 1: and their efforts in Milwaukee to do the same. Finally,
Speaker 1: volunteer to be a poll worker. Where we've asked before,
Speaker 1: we will ask again. You literally can't have too many
Speaker 1: in a pandemic. More poll workers means shorter lines and
Speaker 1: also shorter shifts for poll workers, reducing everyone's exposure. Voter
Speaker 1: Protection Corps is running a program to encourage people to
Speaker 1: do this, so check out voter dash Protection dot org
Speaker 1: slash be a poll worker. If you do any of
Speaker 1: these things, let a brother know. Shoot me an email
Speaker 1: action at how to citizen dot com mentioned in the
Speaker 1: subject line voting or making our presence felt, which is
Speaker 1: the title of this episode, And whether you tell me
Speaker 1: personally or not, tell somebody, tell a friend, tell a
Speaker 1: family member, do that old school chain email. Have you
Speaker 1: voted yet? Send it on to ten people and tell
Speaker 1: them what you did. In this particular episode, we encourage
Speaker 1: you to the hashtag how to Citizen if you take
Speaker 1: it to the socials and you can email us broadly
Speaker 1: comments at how to citizen dot com. If there's an organization,
Speaker 1: a person and effort you think fits in this show,
Speaker 1: we want you to let us know. You can visit
Speaker 1: my website, sign up from a newsletter, find out about
Speaker 1: upcoming events. It's all the how do citizen dot com.
Speaker 1: And I'm on Instagram at Barrattune Day. I'm on Patreon
Speaker 1: slash Barrattune Day. You can even text me right now
Speaker 1: two o eight nine four eight eight four four drop
Speaker 1: the worst citizen in I text out that are the
Speaker 1: first people to learn about the upcoming tapings of the show.
Speaker 1: They get the zoom link a little earlier because honestly,
Speaker 1: it's just easier for me to text it out than
Speaker 1: spending up the whole email list thing, which comes, you know,
Speaker 1: a day and a few hours later. All Right, that's it.
Speaker 1: How This Citizen with barrattun Day is a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio Podcasts. Executive produced by Miles Gray, Nick Stump,
Speaker 1: Elizabeth Stewart and Barrattune Day Thursday produced by Joel Smith,
Speaker 1: edited by Justine Smith. Powered by you