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Speaker 1: There Are No Girls on the Internet, as a production

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Speaker 1: of I Heart Radio and Unbust Creative. I'm Bridget Tod

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Speaker 1: and this is there Are No Girls on the Internet. Hello,

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Speaker 1: how have you been? Probably not great because it feels

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Speaker 1: like the whole world is on fire. This week, Texas

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Speaker 1: passed over six hundred new laws, and a good bit

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Speaker 1: of those laws are based on the kind of escalating

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Speaker 1: myths and disinformation, conspiracy theories, social media field culture wars,

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Speaker 1: in scaremongering that we've spent the last year breaking down

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Speaker 1: on this very podcast. There is a lot to be

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Speaker 1: mad about, so let's get into it now. A lot

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Speaker 1: of people are rightfully talking about s B eight, the

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Speaker 1: law limiting abortion access in Texas, which we'll get into

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Speaker 1: in distant moment, but that is not the only legislation

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Speaker 1: in Texas that shows what happens when disinformation becomes codified

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Speaker 1: into law. The Texas legislature also passed h B seventy nine,

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Speaker 1: which banns school teachers from discussing systemic racism and current

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Speaker 1: events in class. It also outright bands the teaching of

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Speaker 1: the sixteen nineteen project. As you will recall, Nicole Hannah

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Speaker 1: Jones is sixteen nineteen project became the target of right

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Speaker 1: wing racists. There's also a new law that allows anyone

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Speaker 1: over the age of twenty one to carry a gun

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Speaker 1: without training or a license, as long as they're not

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Speaker 1: already legally prevented from doing so. So basically, yes to guns,

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Speaker 1: no two abortions. Then there's just a bunch of ridiculous

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Speaker 1: culture war stuff like the so called stars a bangled

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Speaker 1: banner at a law that requires professional sports teams in

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Speaker 1: Texas with state funding to play the national anthem before games,

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Speaker 1: which I'm sure, as the pandemic rages is the most

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Speaker 1: pressing issue in the minds of most Americans right now.

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Speaker 1: So let's get into s B eight. Texas is new

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Speaker 1: law that severely restricts abortion access. This law is bad,

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Speaker 1: and it's what abortion advocates have been warning about for years.

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Speaker 1: The law prevents abortions as early a six weeks into pregnancy. Now,

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Speaker 1: many have been calling this a six week abortion ban,

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Speaker 1: but the way we're talking about it is really imprecise,

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Speaker 1: and that seems like it might be by design. It

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Speaker 1: isn't six weeks after you get a positive pregnancy test.

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Speaker 1: It's actually six weeks after the first day of your

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Speaker 1: last period, So that quote six weeks is actually four

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Speaker 1: weeks after conception, in just two weeks after your missed period.

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Speaker 1: That's right before many pregnancy tests that you'd buy in

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Speaker 1: a store would even be able to tell you that

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Speaker 1: you're pregnant at all. So that would only really leave

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Speaker 1: you with two weeks to suspect that you may be pregnant,

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Speaker 1: get a positive pregnancy test, make an appointment, have an ultrasound,

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Speaker 1: wait twenty four hours, and then have a second appointment

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Speaker 1: with the same provider to comply with Texas law. So

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Speaker 1: basically the window to get a legal abortion is basically

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Speaker 1: so narrow it's close is before most people would even

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Speaker 1: though they're pregnant in the first place. And this is

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Speaker 1: only if your period comes like clockworks each cycle. But

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Speaker 1: we know many people have a regular periods. It's a

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Speaker 1: totally normal thing. But this law ignores that medical reality,

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Speaker 1: and it's based instead on fictions about how our bodies work.

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Speaker 1: Even the way these laws are framed as so called

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Speaker 1: heartbeat bills restricting abortion when there's a fetal heartbeat are

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Speaker 1: distortions about the reality of pregnancy. The quote feel heartbeat

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Speaker 1: talking point is just misinformation intended to deceive and even

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Speaker 1: the press false for it by repeating it at six

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Speaker 1: weeks of fetal development. There is no heart to have

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Speaker 1: a heartbeat. Doctors say the sound that Republican lawmakers are

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Speaker 1: inaccurately calling a heartbeat is actually just the motion of

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Speaker 1: an electrical pulse in a growth known as the fetal poll.

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Speaker 1: But Republican lawmakers know that using this inaccurate language makes

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Speaker 1: an early stage abortion seem like a shameful a moral

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Speaker 1: choice rather than just a commonplace medical procedure, which is

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Speaker 1: why they use this deceptive language in the first place.

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Speaker 1: So this law is definitely based on complete fictions and

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Speaker 1: lies about our bodies and how they work. But ten

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Speaker 1: isn't even the worst part. So just who enforces this law?

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Speaker 1: The state? The government? Oh, no, much worse any private citizen.

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Speaker 1: Let me say that another way, any random asshole. This

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Speaker 1: law allows private individuals to sue abortion providers or anyone

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Speaker 1: who assists in providing an abortion for up to ten

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Speaker 1: thou dollars. It doesn't matter if the person suing as

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Speaker 1: an abuse of X, a rapist, or just some random

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Speaker 1: stranger with no connection to the person getting an abortion whatsoever.

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Speaker 1: It essentially creates a bounty for abortion providers or people

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Speaker 1: who assist in abortions. And yeah, it can even be

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Speaker 1: used to sue an uber driver who drives you to

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Speaker 1: an abortion appointment. There's already a tipline website asking people

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Speaker 1: to turn in people they suspect of aiding an abortions. So, yes,

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Speaker 1: things are pretty bad. But honestly, this is nothing new.

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Speaker 1: The anti choice movement has always used lies and distortions

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Speaker 1: to pass laws restricting abortion access. Now why do they

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Speaker 1: do this, Well, it's because most people actually support abortion access,

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Speaker 1: so anti choice advocates they have to turn to lies

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Speaker 1: in order to sway the public. But y'all, this is

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Speaker 1: not just about Texas. We've seen more laws restricting abortion

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Speaker 1: access this year than in any other previous year. This

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Speaker 1: is according to a study by the Gootmacher Institute. It's

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Speaker 1: just part of a national agenda to end abortion access

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Speaker 1: in this country. This Texas law sets a dangerous legal

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Speaker 1: precedent and could create a path for other states to

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Speaker 1: make abortions unattainable to people who need them. And we

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Speaker 1: expect to see similar bills introducing states across the country.

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Speaker 1: And honestly, it's not even really just about abortion from

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Speaker 1: laws attacking trans youth and immigrants and queer folks. This

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Speaker 1: is yet another in a series of legislation fueled by

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Speaker 1: distortion and lies. The power of lies and disinformation was

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Speaker 1: on full display earlier this year when states were passing

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Speaker 1: laws of rolling back voting rights in response to the

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Speaker 1: complete fiction that election results were rigged because too many

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Speaker 1: black and brown folks voted. Now, we told you about

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Speaker 1: this earlier this year in an interview with a Noah Chanda,

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Speaker 1: a Georgia based journalist, about how these attacks are not

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Speaker 1: just about voting or abortion, but rather a coordinated network

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Speaker 1: of attacks on marginalized people and our democracy. So let's

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Speaker 1: revisit what happens and who gets harmed when disinformation is

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Speaker 1: codified into law. We've talked a lot about disinformation this season,

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Speaker 1: but what happens when lies and distortions actually become law. Well,

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Speaker 1: that's exactly what's happening in Georgia. Trump's big lie that

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Speaker 1: he won the election and it was being stolen from

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Speaker 1: him is being used to fuel a sweeping new law

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Speaker 1: that many advocates say creates barriers to voting that will

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Speaker 1: make it harder for all Georgians to vote. But it

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Speaker 1: doesn't start there. I just want to find uh eleven

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Speaker 1: thousand seven votes, which is one more that we have

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Speaker 1: because we won the state, and flipping the state is

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Speaker 1: a great testament to our country. On January two, Trump

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Speaker 1: had a now infamous phone call with Georgia's Secretary of

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Speaker 1: State Brad Raffensburger, where he falsely maintained that he'd won

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Speaker 1: the election in Georgia and pressured Raefensburger to quote find

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Speaker 1: more votes in an attempt to make that fiction a reality.

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Speaker 1: In the end, Raefensburger certified the election results because there

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Speaker 1: wasn't a reason not to. After a statewide audit of

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Speaker 1: election results, Raefensburger himself said that George's historic first statewide

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Speaker 1: audit reaffirmed that the state's new secure paper ballot voting

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Speaker 1: system accurately counted and reported the results, so, according to him,

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Speaker 1: the election was secure. And yet, the so called should

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Speaker 1: Integrity Act was signed into law by Governor Brian Kemp.

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Speaker 1: This law makes massive changes to how and when folks

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Speaker 1: can vote in Georgia. Now. Kemp said this law was

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Speaker 1: necessary to boost confidence in quote secure, accessible, in fair elections,

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Speaker 1: but if his own secretary of State says the Georgia

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Speaker 1: election results were accurate. The most really going on. Well,

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Speaker 1: this is an example of what happens when disinformation becomes

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Speaker 1: codified into law. Despite what Trump said in that phone call,

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Speaker 1: there was no voter fraud or election fraud in Georgia,

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Speaker 1: but that didn't stop the Georgia legislature from passing this

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Speaker 1: bill that voting rights advocates say will overwhelmingly create barriers

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Speaker 1: that keep black and brown Georgians from voting. And it

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Speaker 1: was all based on a big lie. It's so important

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Speaker 1: that we talk about this law for what it is

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Speaker 1: and the impact it will have on Georgians, which is

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Speaker 1: something a Noah Changa nos firsthand. It was really rooted

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Speaker 1: itself determination for me. In see, Georgia was facing a

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Speaker 1: closely watched Democratic primary for governor, which mean Stacy Abrams,

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Speaker 1: a black woman who if she had won, would have

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Speaker 1: become the country's first black woman governor, and Stacy Evans,

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Speaker 1: a white Georgia state representative. Both candidates were speaking at

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Speaker 1: Netroots Nation, the largest gathering of progressive political organizers in

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Speaker 1: the country, which was being held in Atlanta. Now, something

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Speaker 1: to know about netroots is that there is always a protest.

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Speaker 1: It's basically expected at this point, and speeches always get

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Speaker 1: interrupted by shouting. It's happened to Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden,

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Speaker 1: and Elizabeth Warren and Martin O'Malley. It's a thing. In

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Speaker 1: two seventeen at net Roots, I was a part of

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Speaker 1: group of folks who you know, led a protest to

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Speaker 1: shut down um a speech that was being given by

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Speaker 1: Stacy Evans, who was at the time running against Stacy

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Speaker 1: Abrams for governor. And a lot of people thought it

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Speaker 1: was just a bunch of oh's Stacy Abrams supporters who

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Speaker 1: were shutting down this white woman. But that like, at

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Speaker 1: the time, I wasn't even like a Stacy fan. I

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Speaker 1: wasn't even I was like, I'll probably vote for her.

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Speaker 1: But it wasn't anything, and so many folks what it

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Speaker 1: was was really about Stacy Evans was trying to be

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Speaker 1: positioned as like the more progressive choice, and she had

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Speaker 1: a bunch of votes, including some long education which were

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Speaker 1: extremely problematic when she had was not being held accountable

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Speaker 1: on and that day at net Route, she was speaking

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Speaker 1: before Becky Pringle, who was then the vice president of

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Speaker 1: the n e A in the National Education Association. So

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Speaker 1: you're someone who has been pro charter school UM, pro

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Speaker 1: you know, removing money out of education. You voted against

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Speaker 1: the interests of teachers, students, families, unions. And you're speaking

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Speaker 1: ahead of like this prominent national black woman that has

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Speaker 1: been this advocate for education. That's a Noah alongside a

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Speaker 1: group of black women interrupting Stacy Evans's planned speech. They're

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Speaker 1: chanting trust black women. The incident came up in a

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Speaker 1: tense debate, but between Evans and Abrams, with Evans maintaining

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Speaker 1: that what happened at net Roots was not a peaceful

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Speaker 1: protest and kind of implying that the group was affiliated

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Speaker 1: with the Stacey Abrams campaign. And I support the right

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Speaker 1: of folks to peacefully protest. That wasn't what happened in

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Speaker 1: that roots. And if something like that had happened to

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Speaker 1: my opponent, whether the group was affiliated, unaffiliated, slightly affiliated,

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Speaker 1: not affiliated at all, I would have stood up and

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Speaker 1: said that it was wrong. But remember Noah says she

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Speaker 1: wasn't even a big Abrams supporter at the time. Reporters

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Speaker 1: just didn't really bother to talk to her or the

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Speaker 1: group or find out more about their motivations. Or message

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Speaker 1: and why they interrupted the speech. They just kind of

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Speaker 1: ran with whatever. And this was hugely instructive for Noah.

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Speaker 1: Now that didn't translate the way we thought it would, unfortunately,

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Speaker 1: because no one in the media even cared to talk

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Speaker 1: to us, to ask any of us about what happened.

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Speaker 1: The way media reacted, like, especially local media here Georgia,

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Speaker 1: ran with a particular narrative. I mean you even had

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Speaker 1: like one one article written that just because I knew

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Speaker 1: someone who was on staff senior staff at Stacy's campaign,

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Speaker 1: we had worked together previously, that because of that previous

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Speaker 1: work relationship, they put me up to it without understanding

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Speaker 1: that Also, when you're talking about black progressive political work,

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Speaker 1: there's so few people in these spaces. Whether you're working

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Speaker 1: in black orbs or white lead orgs, it's just not

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Speaker 1: that many of us. We all end up either knowing

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Speaker 1: each other directly or having people in common. So that

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Speaker 1: experience really taught me about the power and necessity for

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Speaker 1: telling our own stories um making sure our voices were

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Speaker 1: being heard. Today. A Noah is a pretty prolific independent

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Speaker 1: journalist who covers elections and local politics in Georgia, but

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Speaker 1: instead of covering them like a horse race between two politicians.

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Speaker 1: She centers the people impacted by the policies, people whose

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Speaker 1: stories are often overlooked in favor of stories about political

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Speaker 1: points scoring and posturing. And when it comes to the

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Speaker 1: new voting legislation in Georgia, this also means pointing out

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Speaker 1: a lot of lies and the story sans when we're

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Speaker 1: looking at what's happening here in this law. Like I

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Speaker 1: was saying, yes, you have the lies from the different

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Speaker 1: state representatives and state senators, you have the lies from

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Speaker 1: the various um election officials you know, in varied capacities.

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Speaker 1: But you have also our our governor, who was the

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Speaker 1: former secretary of State, who is known for his own

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Speaker 1: shegnanigans and foolishness. But I mean he's someone who actually

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Speaker 1: lied ahead of his own election for governor. The weekend

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Speaker 1: ahead of his election for governor, he lied and said

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Speaker 1: that Stacy Abrams campaign and Democrats were trying to hack

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Speaker 1: the state of Georgia, which was not true. An investigation

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Speaker 1: later revealed that it was not true, and he has

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Speaker 1: never been held accountable that. So we know Brian Camp

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Speaker 1: lies on the regular rad Raeferensberger also has fell into

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Speaker 1: this hole. Of trying to appease his party and play

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Speaker 1: cating and and and twisting, you know, rhetoric. It's one

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Speaker 1: thing to deal with and be able to point out

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Speaker 1: a bold faced lie, which we've seen in this testimony

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Speaker 1: from Rudy Julie Annie when he was in these various

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Speaker 1: hearings in Michigan and here in Georgia, which we've seen Unfortunately,

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Speaker 1: even in some of the testimony or some of the

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Speaker 1: conversations happening in chambers in the passage of these bills

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Speaker 1: by Republican elected officials. And I often harp on the

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Speaker 1: Secretary State because everyone has in terms of national media,

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Speaker 1: has like lionized him and made him this very important figure.

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Speaker 1: But at the same time, he gives credence and he

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Speaker 1: finds ways to give legitimacy, even though he has certified

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Speaker 1: the election, even though he has acknowledged there's no widespread fraud,

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Speaker 1: even though he acknowledged that this is the most secure

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Speaker 1: election George has ever had, all these other things, he

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Speaker 1: will still say things that leave opened the door that

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Speaker 1: act like there is legitimate concern. I mean, just even

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Speaker 1: the widespread reporting or fraud that was happening, it was

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Speaker 1: an issue at some point, it's not just simply that

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Speaker 1: people don't know the process, that don't understand what's going on,

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Speaker 1: and people are being willfully up to. As I have

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Speaker 1: for more than twenty five years, I will stand with

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Speaker 1: my fellow Georgians in pursuit of fairness. You see, I

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Speaker 1: did so as a college student, speaking in the shadow

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Speaker 1: of Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King Jr. I did

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Speaker 1: so as Democratic leader of the House of Representatives, and

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Speaker 1: now I will do so as a private citizen. In

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Speaker 1: the ten gubernatorial election in Georgia, Stacy Abrams acknowledged that

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Speaker 1: her opponent, Brian Kemp would be the next governor of Georgia.

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Speaker 1: I watched her speech from Atlanta, where full disclosure, I

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Speaker 1: spent time in the state knocking doors for a campaign.

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Speaker 1: During the election, Brian Kemp was Georgia's Secretary of State,

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Speaker 1: which meant that he was in charge of overseeing his

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Speaker 1: own election. As a Secretary of State, Kemp purged over

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Speaker 1: one point or a million and active voters, with low

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Speaker 1: income and black Georgians being the most likely to have

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Speaker 1: their registrations canceled. He also oversaw fifty three thousand voter

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Speaker 1: registrations being put on hold thanks to Georgia's exact match

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Speaker 1: policy that flags registrations from voters with any kind of

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Speaker 1: named discrepancy in state data basis. So if you registered

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Speaker 1: for your first learners permit with your first and middle

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Speaker 1: name and then registered to vote with just your first name,

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Speaker 1: you would be flagged. According to the Associated Press, nearly

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Speaker 1: seventy of those voter registrations on hold were black voters,

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Speaker 1: despite the state's population only being about black. Now. Because

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Speaker 1: of all this, Abrams has said the teen gubernatorial election

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Speaker 1: was stolen from the Georgia voters. After the race, she

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Speaker 1: formed Fair Fight, an organization aimed at increasing voter turnout

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Speaker 1: and ensuring that all votes are accurately counted. It was

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Speaker 1: hugely successful, and their work is often credited with securing

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Speaker 1: the historic Democratic wins and Georgia this past election. But

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Speaker 1: here's where things get tricky. Current Secretary of State Brad

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Speaker 1: Raffensburger has compared what Abrams did to Trump's refusal to

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Speaker 1: concede and pressuring officials to quote fine votes. In a

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Speaker 1: recent USA Today op ed, he calls Trump's refusal to

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Speaker 1: concede a page out of Stacy Abrams's playbook, writing abrams

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Speaker 1: refusal to concede and her dogmatic conviction that her election

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Speaker 1: was stolen had done significant damage to trust an election

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Speaker 1: of tecrity in Georgia. You have Rappensburger recently writing an

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Speaker 1: op ed in the USA Today, and in part of

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Speaker 1: the rhetoric from him and UM, one of his staffers,

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Speaker 1: Gabe Sterling blamey Stacy Abers, is saying that her fight

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Speaker 1: around this way eighteen election and ongoing lawsuit in the

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Speaker 1: work of fair fight is the same as Donald Trump, right,

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Speaker 1: that false equivalency. And so while that's not like the

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Speaker 1: exactly the same as the outright bold face line like

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Speaker 1: saying like, oh there was massive fraud happening in Fulton

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Speaker 1: County or whatever, at the same time, it still lends credence,

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Speaker 1: it still gives legitimacy. And because they did, you have

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Speaker 1: the one brave stand, which really was a matter of

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Speaker 1: I don't want to go to jail because that's hella illegal,

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Speaker 1: Like I mean, let's just be real, like Brad, Brad

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Speaker 1: did not. Brad did everything else in his power. Brad

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Speaker 1: didn't want to go to jail because that's like telling

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Speaker 1: someone to go find some votes. The same scandal like,

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Speaker 1: that's jail right, let this real life. It's so, But

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Speaker 1: they will they will still craft narratives, they still will

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Speaker 1: shift things that still give support. And then people who

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Speaker 1: are like, oh, well, he's a Secretary of State, he's

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Speaker 1: selected official, he should get some deference, will cover a

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Speaker 1: report what he says and does as if it's legitimate concern,

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Speaker 1: when in fact it's really just also in the furtherance

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Speaker 1: of the Republican agenda, which we have seen very clearly

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Speaker 1: over this past year. But I mean you and I

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Speaker 1: you know, as folks who have been digging in and

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Speaker 1: and focusing and looking at the scourge that is disinformation,

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Speaker 1: have seen how deeply entrenched and widespread it has been,

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Speaker 1: particularly over the past several years, and the very deep

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Speaker 1: uh digital networks and that already exists in like you know,

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Speaker 1: liberals and the left and progressives are way behind the

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Speaker 1: eight ball. We react, unfortunately to things where these people

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Speaker 1: are very strategic. I mean, even I was reading article

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Speaker 1: this morning about one of the lawyers that was representing

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Speaker 1: Trump with all that nonsense. She was actually one of

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Speaker 1: the years on that infamous phone call is now um

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Speaker 1: heading up or at least co leading one of the

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Speaker 1: efforts to attack HR one. And so it's not just Georgia, right,

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Speaker 1: you see this coordinated GOP attack on voting rights and

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Speaker 1: really on democracy at this point when we are having

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Speaker 1: people lie and having those lives and shrined into law,

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Speaker 1: and and I mean folks and say it happens in

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Speaker 1: other capacities, but what's happening right now in terms of

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Speaker 1: elections and election reform and how we are treating false

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Speaker 1: allegations as valid considerations for law passing law. It's a

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Speaker 1: very scary precedent as being set right now. I mean,

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Speaker 1: it's so sad, but that's really been Trump's legacy. You know,

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Speaker 1: after the election, I saw this pull from our Street

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Speaker 1: that said that two thirds of Republicans say presidential election

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Speaker 1: was invalid. And I think that's kind of the point

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Speaker 1: of this kind of disinformation, to make people really distrust

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Speaker 1: our democratic process to the point where they just sort

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Speaker 1: of check out. Even in states where Trump one, right,

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Speaker 1: we're still seeing that happening in unfold right, Like in Iowa.

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Speaker 1: We're still seeing a Republican majority in Iowa even though

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Speaker 1: Trump won that state. Let's take a quick break back.

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Speaker 1: Democrats have their own legislation to expand voting rights called

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Speaker 1: HR one, which should expand access to voting by making

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Speaker 1: election day and national holiday, offering online and automatic registration

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Speaker 1: for anyone who wanted it, and prohibit the kind of

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Speaker 1: voter purchase that we saw before the governor's race in

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Speaker 1: Georgia from taking place less than six months before an election. Now,

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Speaker 1: even though we're talking about voting rights, and Noah says,

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Speaker 1: it's about much more than that. She says, it's about

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Speaker 1: a coordinated right wing attack on democracy, like the waves

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Speaker 1: of anti trans and anti abortion bills we've seen in

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Speaker 1: some states, and any attack on identities is a directed

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Speaker 1: hact on democracies. Like we're still seeing them them push

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Speaker 1: through these types of laws. We're seeing it in Mississippi

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Speaker 1: and Missouri, Like we're still seeing in areas that even

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Speaker 1: like they're seizing, this isn't just about like, oh, we're

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Speaker 1: upset because this happened. This is a real opportunity point

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Speaker 1: for them. And this is like I really do think

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Speaker 1: that we we ignore, we forget, like there's so much

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Speaker 1: with so much focus on Trump and resistance and getting

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Speaker 1: Trump out of office, that these state legislatures, these states,

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Speaker 1: you know, capitals and governor seats. We've ignored the way

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Speaker 1: in which that very in deeply entrenched rhetoric has permeated

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Speaker 1: at the state level, and it's back and funded by

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Speaker 1: some of the usual suspects that we've been talking about

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Speaker 1: over the last you know, however many decades um that

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Speaker 1: that fund and get behind these types of work. And

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Speaker 1: what was really interesting someone semi an article recently they

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Speaker 1: talked about like some of the major anti abortion folks

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Speaker 1: are also getting in the fight behind HR one. Like

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Speaker 1: so we also see I had an article a couple

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Speaker 1: of weeks back in Truth Out just talking about how like,

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Speaker 1: when we're talking about voting rights and we're talking about

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Speaker 1: what's happening in these fights, it literally isn't we're talking

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Speaker 1: about saving democracy. It's not just about voting rights, right, like,

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Speaker 1: it's about all these other opportunities and entry points. And

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Speaker 1: we're seeing some of the worst legislation that is really

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Speaker 1: denying people's humanity and rights to exist. When we see

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Speaker 1: like the trans um sports bills being passed in various places,

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Speaker 1: when we see these various attacks on you know, reproductive

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Speaker 1: rights and freedom, and so we really have this much

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Speaker 1: broader attack happening on democracy, and there are these various

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Speaker 1: levels of lives. I mean, just thinking about the way

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Speaker 1: the anti abortion stuff happens, Like so much of that

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Speaker 1: is based on fear mongering around mistruths and disinformation as well, right,

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Speaker 1: so like it permeates across so much in conversations about

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Speaker 1: this information, it's tempting to focus on foreign bad actors

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Speaker 1: like Russia, but sometimes that can lead us to overlook

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Speaker 1: the massive coordination of domestic bad actors or right here

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Speaker 1: in our own country, and the powerful networks of online

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Speaker 1: distortions they have at their disposal. We spent so much

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Speaker 1: time in seventeen post election focusing on Russian interference, right,

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Speaker 1: and Russian amplification of disinformation, but never looking at the

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Speaker 1: disinformation itself, the domestic different information. And I think now

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Speaker 1: and I really appreciate, like what you've been doing, Like

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Speaker 1: so many people have been like sounding the alarm on

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Speaker 1: the danger of what is happening domestically. I think now

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Speaker 1: maybe folks are starting to understand, but it's still being

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Speaker 1: limited to Trump's big lie, which Trump's big lie is

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Speaker 1: really having a grip on our national politics right now.

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Speaker 1: But part of the reason why it's able to do

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Speaker 1: so is because these networks have been able to thrive

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Speaker 1: and have existed for so long, and they're so deep

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Speaker 1: and intense and so like it's a it takes it's

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Speaker 1: a lot to like peel back those layers. I don't

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Speaker 1: think people understand about like how people get targeted with disinformation,

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Speaker 1: particularly when they come after black Latino and other folks

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Speaker 1: of color um through the various mediums like I know,

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Speaker 1: you know Latino folks have talked to me about like

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Speaker 1: the use of WhatsApp. I think some Asian folks too

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Speaker 1: have talked about the use of what's that groups, which

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Speaker 1: are very common with both communities in terms of how

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Speaker 1: they share disseminate information. So what you end up happening

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Speaker 1: is you might have somebody's auntie or whoever who sees

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Speaker 1: like this post or sees this thing. It's like, oh

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Speaker 1: my god, did you see this? And then it it

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Speaker 1: spreads like wildfire. But like that information is not actually accurate, right,

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Speaker 1: So we there are these other ways that it's very

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Speaker 1: insidious and infiltrating trusted spaces um that somehow we have

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Speaker 1: to figure out how do we help people become you know,

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Speaker 1: better shares of information and really like see through because

431
00:24:56,720 --> 00:24:58,879
Speaker 1: there are some things that might kind of make sense

432
00:24:58,920 --> 00:25:01,680
Speaker 1: that that's like what's really tricky to right. People will

433
00:25:01,760 --> 00:25:05,119
Speaker 1: say things that might make sense, like let's take for

434
00:25:05,119 --> 00:25:07,840
Speaker 1: stuff with the voter I D stuff. Right, So in

435
00:25:07,880 --> 00:25:10,480
Speaker 1: the Georgia law, you know, there's a new voter idea

436
00:25:10,480 --> 00:25:14,440
Speaker 1: requirement for folks who are voting absolutee ballot. And it

437
00:25:14,480 --> 00:25:16,280
Speaker 1: will be like, well, what's wrong you need by I

438
00:25:16,359 --> 00:25:18,119
Speaker 1: D for everything else? You need I D when you

439
00:25:18,160 --> 00:25:20,520
Speaker 1: do this, Yes, you need I D. You need to

440
00:25:20,560 --> 00:25:23,400
Speaker 1: prove who you are when you registered. But once you've registered, like,

441
00:25:23,680 --> 00:25:27,000
Speaker 1: why do I have to keep showing you the picture itself? Right?

442
00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:29,960
Speaker 1: Like you need I D. You need I D when

443
00:25:29,960 --> 00:25:31,880
Speaker 1: you go here, you need I D. Like so people

444
00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:33,760
Speaker 1: will do this thing. They're like, well that makes sense,

445
00:25:34,119 --> 00:25:37,560
Speaker 1: but the rhetoric, the rationalization has to do with fraud

446
00:25:38,080 --> 00:25:40,680
Speaker 1: when the fraud has never been proven to be an

447
00:25:40,680 --> 00:25:45,400
Speaker 1: actual issue, right, Like so they I remember I remember

448
00:25:45,440 --> 00:25:48,280
Speaker 1: doing some research during the election, and like an Alabama

449
00:25:48,280 --> 00:25:51,520
Speaker 1: when Alabam was adapting its voter ID law, the nub

450
00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:54,280
Speaker 1: A CP Legal Defense Fund looked back twelve years prior

451
00:25:54,359 --> 00:25:55,920
Speaker 1: to the year when they're trying to add act the law,

452
00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:58,000
Speaker 1: trying to see how many fraud cases there were. There

453
00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:00,080
Speaker 1: was only like one or two in a twelve of

454
00:26:00,160 --> 00:26:02,960
Speaker 1: your period, right, And so like they will use the

455
00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:06,119
Speaker 1: presence of like one or two and they'll be like,

456
00:26:06,160 --> 00:26:07,760
Speaker 1: we'll see there's an issue because this is one or

457
00:26:07,760 --> 00:26:10,919
Speaker 1: two happened. Or someone made a comment about people changing

458
00:26:11,040 --> 00:26:14,600
Speaker 1: you know, ballots, but it was a Republican postal man

459
00:26:14,680 --> 00:26:18,879
Speaker 1: in West Virginia that was changing people's request ballots. And

460
00:26:18,920 --> 00:26:21,240
Speaker 1: but it was caught. Right. That's the other thing, right,

461
00:26:21,480 --> 00:26:25,560
Speaker 1: the very rare instances where things happen, the people doing

462
00:26:25,600 --> 00:26:29,879
Speaker 1: it are caught like almost right away, right, because of

463
00:26:29,880 --> 00:26:33,679
Speaker 1: the mechanisms already built into the system. So media frustrates

464
00:26:33,720 --> 00:26:36,320
Speaker 1: me too because how they report these things as if

465
00:26:36,359 --> 00:26:39,720
Speaker 1: they're valid considerations on all sides, when really the only

466
00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:42,480
Speaker 1: side we need to be thinking about is like democracy, right,

467
00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:45,800
Speaker 1: And what does it mean to uphold and protect democracy?

468
00:26:46,080 --> 00:26:48,480
Speaker 1: And how could you ever justify in rationals to say

469
00:26:48,480 --> 00:26:52,480
Speaker 1: you're protecting democracy by keeping people out? Yeah, I mean

470
00:26:52,720 --> 00:26:56,080
Speaker 1: you can't. You know, in a democracy, you want to

471
00:26:56,119 --> 00:26:59,119
Speaker 1: expand voting access, you want to make it easier and

472
00:26:59,160 --> 00:27:02,320
Speaker 1: get rid of arrears that people have to vote, not

473
00:27:02,320 --> 00:27:04,600
Speaker 1: not an act more. And it was really disingenuous to

474
00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:07,520
Speaker 1: see a statement today, I think from Kemp, who was like,

475
00:27:07,960 --> 00:27:11,879
Speaker 1: you know, oh, we're widening the like the ability for

476
00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:15,760
Speaker 1: people to vote, We're expanding it. And it's just a lie.

477
00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:18,240
Speaker 1: I mean you you there is just not a way

478
00:27:18,280 --> 00:27:20,480
Speaker 1: that you could look at that and see the see

479
00:27:20,520 --> 00:27:23,119
Speaker 1: the kinds of barriers that this legislation puts in place

480
00:27:23,240 --> 00:27:25,840
Speaker 1: and try with a straight face to say that you're

481
00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:27,920
Speaker 1: actually trying to make it easier for people to vote.

482
00:27:28,040 --> 00:27:29,879
Speaker 1: If that's the case, why are you threatening souls to

483
00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:32,359
Speaker 1: the polls? Why have you made it so to make

484
00:27:32,400 --> 00:27:34,680
Speaker 1: it harder for people to give water to folks standing

485
00:27:34,720 --> 00:27:37,080
Speaker 1: in long lines? Right? Like, if that's it's part of it?

486
00:27:37,119 --> 00:27:41,800
Speaker 1: To me is shocking how they can sees on something

487
00:27:41,840 --> 00:27:44,320
Speaker 1: that might have a nugget of truth to try to

488
00:27:44,359 --> 00:27:47,600
Speaker 1: paint a wider, a wider you know, portrait of what's happening.

489
00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:50,960
Speaker 1: To your point earlier about the networks and how coordinated

490
00:27:51,040 --> 00:27:53,200
Speaker 1: this is. Before you and I got on this call,

491
00:27:53,240 --> 00:27:55,000
Speaker 1: I was just doing a little search about like what's

492
00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:57,040
Speaker 1: the what you know, what am I seeing in like

493
00:27:57,080 --> 00:28:00,640
Speaker 1: republican or right wing spaces, Like what's the converse online

494
00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:04,280
Speaker 1: and what you said about like, oh, you need a

495
00:28:04,359 --> 00:28:07,000
Speaker 1: vote an I D to go by liquor you need

496
00:28:07,000 --> 00:28:09,560
Speaker 1: an ID to do X y z. Why is it

497
00:28:09,600 --> 00:28:11,680
Speaker 1: bad to have to need an idea vote? It was

498
00:28:11,760 --> 00:28:16,879
Speaker 1: interesting to me that in some uh large Facebook groups

499
00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:20,440
Speaker 1: that are not even necessarily like explicitly political, I saw

500
00:28:20,480 --> 00:28:22,680
Speaker 1: a bunch of memes this morning kind of making that point,

501
00:28:22,680 --> 00:28:24,639
Speaker 1: and they make the point in a way that seems

502
00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:27,240
Speaker 1: to make sense. You're like, Okay, you know, I get

503
00:28:27,240 --> 00:28:29,360
Speaker 1: the point that's being made, and it seems it seems

504
00:28:29,600 --> 00:28:31,960
Speaker 1: non controversial, but when you think about it, you're like,

505
00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:35,639
Speaker 1: oh wait, in context, that's actually really messed up. And

506
00:28:35,680 --> 00:28:39,040
Speaker 1: then you know, it's just interesting to me how how

507
00:28:39,400 --> 00:28:42,840
Speaker 1: there are these networks online that are ready to echo

508
00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:47,240
Speaker 1: and amplify the distortions of folks on the right about

509
00:28:47,360 --> 00:28:51,240
Speaker 1: voting and disseminate them into groups of people who might

510
00:28:51,240 --> 00:28:54,160
Speaker 1: not even be necessarily primed to be looking at like

511
00:28:54,200 --> 00:28:57,560
Speaker 1: politically charged content. But this is exactly how we saw

512
00:28:57,600 --> 00:29:00,440
Speaker 1: the stop this field stuff spread right in the j

513
00:29:00,680 --> 00:29:05,040
Speaker 1: racist insurrection, Like we these people have been primed and Rade,

514
00:29:05,080 --> 00:29:07,120
Speaker 1: this is why you have so many quote unquote normal,

515
00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:09,640
Speaker 1: mild mannered folks. They've been all wrapped up in the

516
00:29:09,720 --> 00:29:13,480
Speaker 1: Q and on and whatever, because again, this stuff is overlooked,

517
00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:16,120
Speaker 1: It's not seen as important to engage with. I just

518
00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:19,000
Speaker 1: remember seven years ago, just nonsense that would happen on

519
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:21,040
Speaker 1: Twitter and then people be like, why do you even

520
00:29:21,040 --> 00:29:24,400
Speaker 1: waste time debunking that? Like what's the point? Like I've

521
00:29:24,480 --> 00:29:26,760
Speaker 1: learned there are probably more effective ways to do things

522
00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:29,280
Speaker 1: than having one on one arguments with dumb folks on Twitter.

523
00:29:29,360 --> 00:29:31,760
Speaker 1: But at the same time, like when you have people

524
00:29:31,760 --> 00:29:35,080
Speaker 1: with large platforms who are engaging in some of this

525
00:29:35,440 --> 00:29:38,160
Speaker 1: you know, both sides or these red herrings and stuff,

526
00:29:38,360 --> 00:29:41,720
Speaker 1: it is dangerous because they are then informing and engaging

527
00:29:41,800 --> 00:29:45,400
Speaker 1: so many other people. But like with these various groups,

528
00:29:45,440 --> 00:29:48,120
Speaker 1: I mean, I've seen people talking about like the yoga groups,

529
00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:50,160
Speaker 1: like some of them be the more like just basic

530
00:29:50,280 --> 00:29:54,280
Speaker 1: spiritual type places that unfortunately end up being places where

531
00:29:54,280 --> 00:29:57,640
Speaker 1: there was a lot of widespread COVID nineteen misinformation being

532
00:29:57,680 --> 00:30:00,440
Speaker 1: spread as well, and not necessarily because the people sharing

533
00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:04,320
Speaker 1: it themselves are malicious of trying to fool people, Like

534
00:30:04,600 --> 00:30:07,760
Speaker 1: some of it made sense to people, but like whoever

535
00:30:07,880 --> 00:30:10,480
Speaker 1: is putting it out there and creating it knowing that

536
00:30:10,520 --> 00:30:13,400
Speaker 1: people are going to pick it up, like, um, I

537
00:30:13,440 --> 00:30:16,160
Speaker 1: think it was earlier this year. Uh, there's actually someone

538
00:30:16,200 --> 00:30:18,320
Speaker 1: being charged by the FBI, which I don't really know

539
00:30:18,360 --> 00:30:20,680
Speaker 1: how I feel about this, but at the same time,

540
00:30:20,800 --> 00:30:23,480
Speaker 1: it is a very interesting conversation to have. There's someone

541
00:30:23,520 --> 00:30:25,280
Speaker 1: being charged by the FBI, And part of it was

542
00:30:25,280 --> 00:30:30,240
Speaker 1: because they were disseminating misleading information targeting predominantly UM, black

543
00:30:30,280 --> 00:30:33,240
Speaker 1: and I think voters of color. But they were sending

544
00:30:33,280 --> 00:30:36,040
Speaker 1: out what made it seem like you could vote by

545
00:30:36,160 --> 00:30:38,560
Speaker 1: using a text code if you couldn't get to the

546
00:30:38,560 --> 00:30:41,320
Speaker 1: polls and think about it, right, like, people were doing

547
00:30:41,360 --> 00:30:43,920
Speaker 1: innovative things help people vote in the middle of a pandemic. So,

548
00:30:43,960 --> 00:30:46,880
Speaker 1: if you're someone who's not very politically savvy, who doesn't

549
00:30:46,920 --> 00:30:49,760
Speaker 1: know that you can't vote by texts or by tweeting

550
00:30:49,800 --> 00:30:52,040
Speaker 1: at someone, I mean, like to me and you, that

551
00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:53,960
Speaker 1: might seem like the of course you can't do that.

552
00:30:54,120 --> 00:30:56,640
Speaker 1: But to somebody who doesn't know any better, who actually

553
00:30:56,720 --> 00:30:59,480
Speaker 1: thinks that that could be a real legitimate option and

554
00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:02,240
Speaker 1: their way of also engaging the process in the middle

555
00:31:02,280 --> 00:31:05,000
Speaker 1: of a pandemic, that's kind of sucked up. And so

556
00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:09,080
Speaker 1: like this person, I guess got investigated and the other

557
00:31:09,120 --> 00:31:11,840
Speaker 1: folks in this group chat they were and also got investigated,

558
00:31:12,040 --> 00:31:15,160
Speaker 1: but they literally hadn't had a chat. They were surveilling

559
00:31:15,200 --> 00:31:19,160
Speaker 1: these multiple different groups in different spaces and coordinating releasing

560
00:31:19,200 --> 00:31:23,720
Speaker 1: these memes and stuff, right, and so like, I mean,

561
00:31:23,760 --> 00:31:26,400
Speaker 1: that type of stuff has been happening. And so to

562
00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:29,520
Speaker 1: my point about the Russia stuff, like what was happening

563
00:31:29,520 --> 00:31:32,240
Speaker 1: with the Russia stuff in its place in the conversation,

564
00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:37,920
Speaker 1: it really overshadowed the mass volume of what was happening domestically.

565
00:31:38,240 --> 00:31:42,480
Speaker 1: And so people had years now unchecked to perfect that

566
00:31:42,600 --> 00:31:45,960
Speaker 1: domestic system, and we're really seeing it rear its head

567
00:31:46,360 --> 00:31:50,960
Speaker 1: in coordination with just the regular conservative you know, legislative

568
00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:54,920
Speaker 1: or ichoranizing that already happens, like you know, you used

569
00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:56,480
Speaker 1: to see people used to talk about like you would

570
00:31:56,520 --> 00:31:59,400
Speaker 1: see the ALEC bills that basically was the same boiled

571
00:31:59,440 --> 00:32:02,400
Speaker 1: point lane and multiple states across the country. There are

572
00:32:02,400 --> 00:32:05,120
Speaker 1: a little bit more savvy now because we're seeing similar

573
00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:08,280
Speaker 1: things happening um across the country and it's clearly not

574
00:32:08,400 --> 00:32:10,720
Speaker 1: a coincidence. Can you tell us some of us in

575
00:32:10,720 --> 00:32:13,640
Speaker 1: this law, some of the must and sidious parts of

576
00:32:13,680 --> 00:32:16,920
Speaker 1: the law here in Georgia, UM, it removes the Secretary

577
00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:19,440
Speaker 1: State as the head of the State Board of Elections.

578
00:32:19,680 --> 00:32:23,080
Speaker 1: State Board of Elections is a five person body. The

579
00:32:23,160 --> 00:32:26,440
Speaker 1: General Assembly appoints two of those people. The General Assembly

580
00:32:26,480 --> 00:32:30,000
Speaker 1: will now point a majority three of the five UM

581
00:32:30,000 --> 00:32:32,040
Speaker 1: with the removal of the Secretary State as the chair.

582
00:32:32,120 --> 00:32:35,320
Speaker 1: So a republic our Republican could control legislature will now

583
00:32:35,800 --> 00:32:39,920
Speaker 1: in effect control the state Election Board, which the State

584
00:32:39,960 --> 00:32:42,880
Speaker 1: of Election Board sets down election you know, per view

585
00:32:42,960 --> 00:32:46,040
Speaker 1: regulations for the entire state, which is how we select

586
00:32:46,040 --> 00:32:48,440
Speaker 1: our members of our General Assembly. And you know, there's

587
00:32:48,560 --> 00:32:50,719
Speaker 1: a brilliant lawyer here that I that I follow and

588
00:32:50,760 --> 00:32:53,760
Speaker 1: really looks too forguid and Sarah uh Tendo Ghazal, and

589
00:32:53,800 --> 00:32:55,640
Speaker 1: she was just pointing out in one of the hearings,

590
00:32:55,680 --> 00:32:58,680
Speaker 1: like how ridiculous it is. UM. One of you know,

591
00:32:58,800 --> 00:33:02,200
Speaker 1: the proponent build proponents, Barry Fleming, was like, well, I mean,

592
00:33:02,280 --> 00:33:05,240
Speaker 1: the governor appoints the entire board in the regions. The

593
00:33:05,280 --> 00:33:08,480
Speaker 1: governor appoints the transportation board. And she's just like, Okay,

594
00:33:08,560 --> 00:33:12,480
Speaker 1: I guess I gotta explain this to you, but that's fine.

595
00:33:12,520 --> 00:33:15,800
Speaker 1: The governor point appoints those bodies. But you all appointing

596
00:33:15,880 --> 00:33:18,920
Speaker 1: the people who set the rules for how you all

597
00:33:19,080 --> 00:33:24,160
Speaker 1: hold office. Isn't really like you're appointing your own referees

598
00:33:24,200 --> 00:33:26,480
Speaker 1: and then we're expecting them to hold you accountable. Like

599
00:33:26,480 --> 00:33:31,280
Speaker 1: it's it's just a wild proposition. Here's how one voter

600
00:33:31,400 --> 00:33:34,640
Speaker 1: described her voting experience in Georgia. And I don't feel

601
00:33:34,640 --> 00:33:37,800
Speaker 1: like this is happening at all polls. I'm in a

602
00:33:37,880 --> 00:33:40,520
Speaker 1: three H three three one zip code and I feel

603
00:33:40,560 --> 00:33:42,560
Speaker 1: like most of the problems that occurred and this is

604
00:33:42,600 --> 00:33:46,880
Speaker 1: what we were told that certain polling UM locations have problems,

605
00:33:46,920 --> 00:33:51,000
Speaker 1: and I do believe it's I think it's targeted. Another

606
00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:53,920
Speaker 1: thing they did that directly targets Fulton County in particular

607
00:33:54,400 --> 00:33:58,360
Speaker 1: is forbidding the use of mobile vans for voting mobile voting.

608
00:33:58,480 --> 00:34:00,840
Speaker 1: This is all something that was done in Harris County UM,

609
00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:04,479
Speaker 1: in Texas UM, and so like that helps because you know,

610
00:34:05,080 --> 00:34:08,000
Speaker 1: Fulton County, Gwennette County, the metro Alanta County is in particular,

611
00:34:08,239 --> 00:34:11,680
Speaker 1: are often burdened with the very long lines and so

612
00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:14,200
Speaker 1: mobile voting with something that was implemented to help alleviate

613
00:34:14,320 --> 00:34:16,760
Speaker 1: some of that. So it's basically setting up a mobile

614
00:34:16,760 --> 00:34:20,000
Speaker 1: polling site, So that was that helped alleviate some of that. So,

615
00:34:20,080 --> 00:34:22,440
Speaker 1: like when they're talking about, oh, we're making it easier,

616
00:34:22,480 --> 00:34:25,560
Speaker 1: how are you making easier when you're restricting the time

617
00:34:25,600 --> 00:34:28,560
Speaker 1: period within which people have to request an absentee ballot

618
00:34:28,560 --> 00:34:30,560
Speaker 1: and return it. Because if you really want to make

619
00:34:30,560 --> 00:34:32,960
Speaker 1: it easier, you could have adopted the policy that several

620
00:34:32,960 --> 00:34:36,000
Speaker 1: states have where you return the absentee ballot as long

621
00:34:36,040 --> 00:34:38,959
Speaker 1: as it's postmarked on election day or the day before

622
00:34:38,960 --> 00:34:41,080
Speaker 1: election day. As long as it's received in a particular

623
00:34:41,080 --> 00:34:42,960
Speaker 1: time period, it would still count. They could have went

624
00:34:43,000 --> 00:34:44,960
Speaker 1: that row. So there are things that they could have done,

625
00:34:45,480 --> 00:34:48,440
Speaker 1: but they chose more restrictive means. Now, a lot of

626
00:34:48,440 --> 00:34:50,279
Speaker 1: the headlines about this bill have pointed out that it

627
00:34:50,320 --> 00:34:52,840
Speaker 1: puts new restrictions on how volunteers can do things like

628
00:34:52,880 --> 00:34:55,440
Speaker 1: give water or snacks or chair to people waiting in

629
00:34:55,520 --> 00:34:58,680
Speaker 1: long lines to vote. But it's even more worrisome than

630
00:34:58,760 --> 00:35:01,880
Speaker 1: it sounds, so for folks who might not be familiar,

631
00:35:02,280 --> 00:35:05,440
Speaker 1: Like line warming is what it. You're keeping the line warm,

632
00:35:05,440 --> 00:35:07,560
Speaker 1: you keep people comfortable who are standing in line. I

633
00:35:07,600 --> 00:35:11,840
Speaker 1: remember in UM the New Georgia Project, in some of

634
00:35:11,840 --> 00:35:14,760
Speaker 1: their electric protection folks. They literally sent a mariachi band

635
00:35:15,120 --> 00:35:17,560
Speaker 1: to one line to keep people entertained because they were

636
00:35:17,560 --> 00:35:20,080
Speaker 1: waiting in line so long. Um. And so because we

637
00:35:20,120 --> 00:35:22,279
Speaker 1: have these long lines, because it depending upon the weather,

638
00:35:22,320 --> 00:35:24,840
Speaker 1: if it's in like you know, spring, because we have

639
00:35:25,000 --> 00:35:28,640
Speaker 1: very warren spring time here in Georgia, or if it's

640
00:35:28,719 --> 00:35:31,080
Speaker 1: very cold for whatever reason or raining. You know, people

641
00:35:31,080 --> 00:35:34,520
Speaker 1: have handed out ponchos, people have handed out handwarmers, food

642
00:35:34,760 --> 00:35:37,240
Speaker 1: like snacks. I mean, you have pizzas. To the polls,

643
00:35:37,239 --> 00:35:39,960
Speaker 1: you have the chef for the polls with chef Jose

644
00:35:40,080 --> 00:35:42,879
Speaker 1: Andreas started the chef to the polls um this past

645
00:35:42,880 --> 00:35:44,799
Speaker 1: cycle two. So you have these other things that people

646
00:35:44,800 --> 00:35:47,600
Speaker 1: are doing, and they have tried to compare it to

647
00:35:48,440 --> 00:35:52,239
Speaker 1: partisan electioneering in in the past. And you even had

648
00:35:52,520 --> 00:35:55,840
Speaker 1: Brad Roethlisberger telling media that it was in fact illegal

649
00:35:55,920 --> 00:35:58,720
Speaker 1: and a felony. So before the state actually made it illegal,

650
00:35:58,760 --> 00:36:00,640
Speaker 1: you had the Secretary of State tell people that it

651
00:36:00,680 --> 00:36:04,280
Speaker 1: was illegal, and you had people being harassed accordingly because

652
00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:07,560
Speaker 1: of his misinterpretation and the statements of law. So now

653
00:36:07,600 --> 00:36:09,759
Speaker 1: that it is illegal to be within a hundred and

654
00:36:09,760 --> 00:36:13,200
Speaker 1: fifty defeat, that's the same why that that hundred defeat peak.

655
00:36:13,239 --> 00:36:16,880
Speaker 1: Why I keep HARKing or not is because that is

656
00:36:16,880 --> 00:36:19,800
Speaker 1: the same distance that if you're representing a party or

657
00:36:19,840 --> 00:36:21,759
Speaker 1: a candidate, you have to be away. So they have

658
00:36:21,920 --> 00:36:26,399
Speaker 1: compared nonpartisan activity to partisan activity, and that's a very

659
00:36:26,560 --> 00:36:29,440
Speaker 1: real attack on black and brown and other organizers of

660
00:36:29,520 --> 00:36:33,040
Speaker 1: color who have been trying to help alleviate what we see.

661
00:36:33,440 --> 00:36:35,760
Speaker 1: You know, we don't want people to be discouraged. So

662
00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:39,240
Speaker 1: I will also note that because there's not anything clear

663
00:36:39,320 --> 00:36:43,360
Speaker 1: cut and law and like voting rights law period, the

664
00:36:43,400 --> 00:36:45,720
Speaker 1: way people have tried to kind of just protect themselves

665
00:36:45,719 --> 00:36:48,560
Speaker 1: and make sure they don't end up being accused of

666
00:36:48,680 --> 00:36:53,120
Speaker 1: violating any type of federal laws because it has been

667
00:36:53,160 --> 00:36:55,640
Speaker 1: a law I think since the forties that you cannot

668
00:36:55,680 --> 00:36:59,080
Speaker 1: give anyone of something of value for their vote. And

669
00:36:59,160 --> 00:37:03,960
Speaker 1: so unfortunately, because of the discretion involved and are interpreting,

670
00:37:04,080 --> 00:37:07,239
Speaker 1: you know, a secretary state like Brad robinsbor could interpret

671
00:37:07,480 --> 00:37:11,080
Speaker 1: that as you know, give you something someone of value

672
00:37:11,120 --> 00:37:13,880
Speaker 1: because they're in line to vote, which it's like whatever,

673
00:37:13,920 --> 00:37:16,360
Speaker 1: it's a stretch, but whatever. So how a lot of

674
00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:18,800
Speaker 1: folks have dealt with that is like anyone in the vicinity,

675
00:37:18,840 --> 00:37:21,440
Speaker 1: whether it's the poll workers, if you're at someplace that

676
00:37:21,520 --> 00:37:23,640
Speaker 1: has security. If there are other people passing through the

677
00:37:23,640 --> 00:37:27,319
Speaker 1: general community, anyone can get anything we're giving out, no

678
00:37:27,360 --> 00:37:30,200
Speaker 1: matter what, right, Like it's a service. And you know

679
00:37:30,200 --> 00:37:32,480
Speaker 1: when I when I gotta, I got some quotes when

680
00:37:32,480 --> 00:37:33,799
Speaker 1: I was writing an article, like from the piece of

681
00:37:33,800 --> 00:37:35,480
Speaker 1: the poll folks, one of the things they said was,

682
00:37:35,760 --> 00:37:38,440
Speaker 1: we see this as a way of incentivizing civic engagement

683
00:37:38,480 --> 00:37:41,200
Speaker 1: in the general community, So we'll provide it to anyone,

684
00:37:41,480 --> 00:37:43,840
Speaker 1: right And I know that several lawyers have advised people

685
00:37:43,880 --> 00:37:45,880
Speaker 1: that that was the best way to handle it as well.

686
00:37:46,200 --> 00:37:50,760
Speaker 1: But now it doesn't matter who you're giving it to, regardless,

687
00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:52,680
Speaker 1: just the very act of being close to the poll

688
00:37:52,760 --> 00:37:55,440
Speaker 1: location they have now decided to criminalize. And that is

689
00:37:55,480 --> 00:37:59,040
Speaker 1: a very clear attack, on a very real way at

690
00:37:59,400 --> 00:38:02,239
Speaker 1: something that is very commonly known to be, you know,

691
00:38:02,320 --> 00:38:05,480
Speaker 1: seen as an added value and benefit to communities. And

692
00:38:05,560 --> 00:38:08,440
Speaker 1: so we're seeing this a very real attack not just

693
00:38:08,520 --> 00:38:11,920
Speaker 1: simply on democracy, but on our participation as you know,

694
00:38:11,960 --> 00:38:15,600
Speaker 1: people of color who are exercising leveraging that power. And

695
00:38:15,719 --> 00:38:17,239
Speaker 1: you know a lot of folks are comparing this to

696
00:38:17,320 --> 00:38:20,120
Speaker 1: Jim Crow. And I'd really be interested in talking to

697
00:38:20,160 --> 00:38:23,080
Speaker 1: some historians just to learn more about that post um

698
00:38:23,080 --> 00:38:27,160
Speaker 1: that early the pre you know, fifties sixties civil rights areas,

699
00:38:27,160 --> 00:38:29,120
Speaker 1: so like you know, the late eighteen hundreds to like

700
00:38:29,160 --> 00:38:32,359
Speaker 1: the fifties, because it seems like in some ways we're

701
00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:35,560
Speaker 1: really in that period, like post reconstruction, where we saw

702
00:38:35,920 --> 00:38:40,719
Speaker 1: very blatant, active attempts to strip black political power from communities.

703
00:38:41,160 --> 00:38:44,160
Speaker 1: This attempt to strip black communities of power VIAC curbing

704
00:38:44,200 --> 00:38:47,359
Speaker 1: access to voting is nothing new after the Civil War.

705
00:38:47,480 --> 00:38:50,960
Speaker 1: During Reconstruction, black folks were attacked by racist poll taxes

706
00:38:51,040 --> 00:38:54,200
Speaker 1: and literacy tests and other barriers to make it harder

707
00:38:54,200 --> 00:38:57,040
Speaker 1: for us to vote. According to the Brennan Center, even

708
00:38:57,040 --> 00:38:59,879
Speaker 1: though these laws are over a century old, as recent

709
00:39:01,200 --> 00:39:04,880
Speaker 1: forty six states allowed for voter challenges, laws that allowed

710
00:39:04,880 --> 00:39:08,960
Speaker 1: any private citizen to challenge the eligibility of prospective voters

711
00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:12,000
Speaker 1: on or before election day. Now, these kinds of barriers

712
00:39:12,000 --> 00:39:15,640
Speaker 1: to voting have never gone down without a fight. Organizations

713
00:39:15,640 --> 00:39:19,240
Speaker 1: like Black Voters Matter, led by Cliff Albright, have already

714
00:39:19,320 --> 00:39:22,160
Speaker 1: challenged Georgia's new law on the grounds that will unfairly

715
00:39:22,239 --> 00:39:25,480
Speaker 1: hurt black and brown voters. So it's gonna be interesting

716
00:39:25,480 --> 00:39:28,719
Speaker 1: about like how some of this stuff even stands up

717
00:39:28,760 --> 00:39:31,759
Speaker 1: in court. New Georgia Project Black Voters Matter Fund and

718
00:39:31,920 --> 00:39:35,560
Speaker 1: Rise all filed. They fill the joint suit the same

719
00:39:35,680 --> 00:39:37,440
Speaker 1: night that can't sign the bill. So it's gonna be

720
00:39:37,480 --> 00:39:40,880
Speaker 1: interesting to see how that moves forward and unfolds. Um.

721
00:39:40,960 --> 00:39:44,239
Speaker 1: But but the voter challenges so so basically, and this

722
00:39:44,280 --> 00:39:45,480
Speaker 1: is like something that used to happen in the old

723
00:39:45,560 --> 00:39:48,399
Speaker 1: days too, like you could just go in or really

724
00:39:48,400 --> 00:39:50,120
Speaker 1: white people could just go in and be like, no,

725
00:39:50,520 --> 00:39:53,560
Speaker 1: that person can't vote for whatever reason or whatever, and

726
00:39:53,600 --> 00:39:55,279
Speaker 1: you would literally have to have like a white person

727
00:39:55,360 --> 00:39:57,680
Speaker 1: like someone come vouch for you. And so it's something

728
00:39:57,800 --> 00:40:00,400
Speaker 1: very similar, like they can come in and just challenge

729
00:40:00,520 --> 00:40:05,200
Speaker 1: anyone for any reason, and that is very um intimidating,

730
00:40:05,360 --> 00:40:09,320
Speaker 1: is very stressful. That is something that actually is very insidious.

731
00:40:09,520 --> 00:40:11,879
Speaker 1: It also kind of feels like an attack on some

732
00:40:11,960 --> 00:40:14,960
Speaker 1: aspects of the Black way of life. I know, I

733
00:40:15,000 --> 00:40:17,280
Speaker 1: have older women in my life who I call Auntie

734
00:40:17,280 --> 00:40:20,520
Speaker 1: and drop off mail and groceries and prescriptions for who

735
00:40:20,560 --> 00:40:24,080
Speaker 1: are not actually my blood relatives, and I wouldn't be

736
00:40:24,120 --> 00:40:27,880
Speaker 1: able to touch their ballots. You can't have other people

737
00:40:27,920 --> 00:40:30,959
Speaker 1: collecting your ballots for you, and again, that might even

738
00:40:31,040 --> 00:40:34,160
Speaker 1: sound logical to people, but you have some folks. What

739
00:40:34,239 --> 00:40:37,279
Speaker 1: about people who can't get around and get out right,

740
00:40:37,440 --> 00:40:40,080
Speaker 1: Like we all know folks. So like, if I know

741
00:40:40,160 --> 00:40:45,320
Speaker 1: people in my general like life, unless I'm directly related

742
00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:48,000
Speaker 1: in a household with them, I can't touch their ballot

743
00:40:48,080 --> 00:40:50,759
Speaker 1: for them, right, But if they don't have anyone and

744
00:40:50,800 --> 00:40:53,200
Speaker 1: a lot of us live in families and community like that,

745
00:40:53,320 --> 00:40:55,480
Speaker 1: right where we have missed so and so, who know,

746
00:40:55,600 --> 00:40:58,239
Speaker 1: I'm technically not related to her, but she's still my

747
00:40:58,280 --> 00:41:00,759
Speaker 1: auntie or she's still my grandma her, And it's not

748
00:41:00,800 --> 00:41:04,120
Speaker 1: anything nefarious for no one. The root of this is

749
00:41:04,160 --> 00:41:07,920
Speaker 1: so obvious. It's racist. The root of it all is

750
00:41:08,200 --> 00:41:10,839
Speaker 1: they are afraid that they won't win elections unless they

751
00:41:10,880 --> 00:41:14,520
Speaker 1: do this. It's not like Hi, I should adopt better policies,

752
00:41:14,640 --> 00:41:17,319
Speaker 1: or maybe I need to not be so extremists in

753
00:41:17,360 --> 00:41:19,520
Speaker 1: our positions. It's like, no, we just need to do

754
00:41:19,560 --> 00:41:23,200
Speaker 1: whatever we can to retain and maintain power and make

755
00:41:23,239 --> 00:41:28,520
Speaker 1: sure them darkies don't because that's what it is. It's

756
00:41:28,520 --> 00:41:32,759
Speaker 1: really what it is. Like you know, we talk about it,

757
00:41:32,840 --> 00:41:35,359
Speaker 1: but it's like you and I both know what's up right,

758
00:41:35,800 --> 00:41:38,520
Speaker 1: It's so clear, no, like no one wants to come

759
00:41:38,520 --> 00:41:40,560
Speaker 1: out and say it. They don't say it. They dance

760
00:41:40,600 --> 00:41:44,120
Speaker 1: around it. But it's clear that's what's happening. Anybody, anybody

761
00:41:44,160 --> 00:41:59,080
Speaker 1: can see it. More. After a quick break, let's get

762
00:41:59,160 --> 00:42:02,560
Speaker 1: right back into it. Camp flanked by a bunch of

763
00:42:02,560 --> 00:42:06,480
Speaker 1: white male Georgia state legislators signed the law under a

764
00:42:06,520 --> 00:42:10,759
Speaker 1: painting of a slave plantation. When folks are pointing to

765
00:42:11,360 --> 00:42:16,560
Speaker 1: Camp signing that bill under a picture of not just

766
00:42:16,719 --> 00:42:20,839
Speaker 1: any plantation, right, like what someone several folks have just

767
00:42:21,200 --> 00:42:25,160
Speaker 1: pierced out the history of the plantation that's depicted a

768
00:42:25,320 --> 00:42:30,120
Speaker 1: very brutal, atrocious you know, uh, that held like I

769
00:42:30,120 --> 00:42:33,600
Speaker 1: think upwards of a hundred slaves like that with and

770
00:42:33,600 --> 00:42:35,919
Speaker 1: then I mean also you have him flanked by six

771
00:42:35,960 --> 00:42:39,120
Speaker 1: white men um which I believe just quite take a

772
00:42:39,440 --> 00:42:42,520
Speaker 1: quick glance, and that's like six people who are above

773
00:42:42,880 --> 00:42:46,839
Speaker 1: house incident leadership. I mean, the fact that you know,

774
00:42:47,040 --> 00:42:50,120
Speaker 1: the leadership of our government is all white men in

775
00:42:50,200 --> 00:42:54,239
Speaker 1: a rapidly diversifying state like Georgia is quite telling. I

776
00:42:54,239 --> 00:42:56,359
Speaker 1: mean that's the other thing, right, Like, there's this real

777
00:42:56,600 --> 00:42:59,360
Speaker 1: fear that they are losing power, and that's at the

778
00:42:59,400 --> 00:43:01,320
Speaker 1: heart of it. But you know what happens when white

779
00:43:01,360 --> 00:43:06,600
Speaker 1: fear controls um policy, Right, We've seen it. We've seen

780
00:43:07,040 --> 00:43:09,880
Speaker 1: you know, folks can act like, oh that KKK, or

781
00:43:09,960 --> 00:43:13,120
Speaker 1: white supremacy is just some white as that's some extreme

782
00:43:13,280 --> 00:43:16,760
Speaker 1: outside thing. But unfortunately, a lot of those same tenants,

783
00:43:16,800 --> 00:43:20,080
Speaker 1: a lot of those same attitudes influence when we're looking

784
00:43:20,120 --> 00:43:22,920
Speaker 1: at the way in which people are charged with various crimes,

785
00:43:22,960 --> 00:43:25,000
Speaker 1: where we're looking at the decisions that are being made,

786
00:43:25,160 --> 00:43:27,359
Speaker 1: we're looking at the way in which our children are

787
00:43:27,400 --> 00:43:30,680
Speaker 1: treated in public schools. We see the very deep rooted

788
00:43:31,200 --> 00:43:34,320
Speaker 1: nature of white supremacy across so many fascests of society.

789
00:43:34,360 --> 00:43:36,319
Speaker 1: So we can't just you know, it's it's not enough

790
00:43:36,360 --> 00:43:38,439
Speaker 1: to just say this is Trump's big lie. Like it's

791
00:43:38,560 --> 00:43:42,040
Speaker 1: so much more than that happening. And I'm just really

792
00:43:42,120 --> 00:43:45,040
Speaker 1: like excited for the work that you're doing in the

793
00:43:45,120 --> 00:43:48,800
Speaker 1: conversations you've been having around dis information, because we really

794
00:43:48,840 --> 00:43:54,160
Speaker 1: need to understand how these systems are operating and what

795
00:43:54,400 --> 00:43:56,879
Speaker 1: role do we all have to play, and we really

796
00:43:56,920 --> 00:43:59,400
Speaker 1: should take that role. Seriously, I really do believe that

797
00:43:59,440 --> 00:44:01,440
Speaker 1: we all have a role to play and fight against

798
00:44:01,440 --> 00:44:03,239
Speaker 1: if there's information and it doesn't matter if you are

799
00:44:03,239 --> 00:44:07,360
Speaker 1: aligned ideologically, you're conservative. If you're someone who believes in

800
00:44:07,480 --> 00:44:11,080
Speaker 1: more moderate or conservative value, you should want people telling

801
00:44:11,120 --> 00:44:14,560
Speaker 1: the truth like you just you should want facts. You

802
00:44:14,600 --> 00:44:18,440
Speaker 1: should not want to exist with people distorting information and

803
00:44:18,480 --> 00:44:22,239
Speaker 1: blatantly lying. It's a wild time. We're in bridget like

804
00:44:22,239 --> 00:44:24,960
Speaker 1: this is a wild time. It's a wild time. I

805
00:44:24,960 --> 00:44:27,640
Speaker 1: guess that's one of my last questions for you. What

806
00:44:27,640 --> 00:44:29,440
Speaker 1: what do you think is next for the state of

807
00:44:29,520 --> 00:44:33,600
Speaker 1: voting in Georgia? What's next? Where do we go from here? Uh?

808
00:44:33,920 --> 00:44:37,279
Speaker 1: We keep doing what we've been doing, Like like I

809
00:44:37,360 --> 00:44:40,520
Speaker 1: keep reporting, but I've been reporting. I'm sure organizers like

810
00:44:40,520 --> 00:44:44,520
Speaker 1: I just finished interviewing UM Cliff Albright and UM, some

811
00:44:44,600 --> 00:44:50,000
Speaker 1: other folks Simone Bells, a former state rep. And UM,

812
00:44:50,040 --> 00:44:52,799
Speaker 1: and we were just talking about like what's next. Right

813
00:44:52,840 --> 00:44:54,960
Speaker 1: in conversations with folks are just like, so now what

814
00:44:55,440 --> 00:44:58,239
Speaker 1: and so folks are you know, working through like what

815
00:44:58,320 --> 00:45:01,040
Speaker 1: does it look like? Possibly as e No I'm boycott

816
00:45:01,120 --> 00:45:05,280
Speaker 1: strategy or continuing the corporate accountability strategy as a pressure

817
00:45:05,320 --> 00:45:10,240
Speaker 1: point to paraphrase Cliff, just thinking about like the Georgia

818
00:45:10,320 --> 00:45:13,600
Speaker 1: law has been has been passed, It's now that's up

819
00:45:13,640 --> 00:45:17,040
Speaker 1: now that for that specifically, that's up to the lawsuit. Right,

820
00:45:17,080 --> 00:45:20,000
Speaker 1: the legal strategy, there's always still the organizing strategy and

821
00:45:20,040 --> 00:45:22,880
Speaker 1: working within the confines of the new limitations that exist.

822
00:45:23,160 --> 00:45:25,880
Speaker 1: We see folks continuing to you know, strategize organized and

823
00:45:25,920 --> 00:45:28,320
Speaker 1: just get more people in the process. But that corporate

824
00:45:28,360 --> 00:45:31,040
Speaker 1: accountability strategy. You know, folks are all hyped up about

825
00:45:31,040 --> 00:45:34,799
Speaker 1: boycotting Georgia, and I personally tend to object to boycotts

826
00:45:34,960 --> 00:45:39,200
Speaker 1: unless they are called directly by people themselves. As soon

827
00:45:39,239 --> 00:45:41,760
Speaker 1: as the legislation was signed into law, people on social

828
00:45:41,760 --> 00:45:44,920
Speaker 1: media began calling for boycotts of Georgia based corporations like

829
00:45:44,960 --> 00:45:47,920
Speaker 1: Delta Airlines and Coca Cola until they came out against

830
00:45:47,920 --> 00:45:51,239
Speaker 1: the law. Now, boycotts like these have been effective in

831
00:45:51,239 --> 00:45:54,320
Speaker 1: the past. In the eighties, organizers called for a boycott

832
00:45:54,320 --> 00:45:56,759
Speaker 1: of Coca Cola and other US companies if they didn't

833
00:45:56,800 --> 00:45:59,759
Speaker 1: divest from South Africa to help end apartheid. But the

834
00:46:00,040 --> 00:46:03,320
Speaker 1: princes those boycotts were led by local folks on the ground,

835
00:46:03,440 --> 00:46:06,680
Speaker 1: not outsiders on Twitter, and Noah thinks any calls for

836
00:46:06,680 --> 00:46:09,600
Speaker 1: boycott should be led by organizers in Georgia, not people

837
00:46:09,600 --> 00:46:12,360
Speaker 1: who don't live there. But also like with a boycott,

838
00:46:12,440 --> 00:46:14,600
Speaker 1: and you know I had folks folks like, well, you

839
00:46:14,600 --> 00:46:16,240
Speaker 1: know they did it in the eighties with CoA Cola.

840
00:46:16,480 --> 00:46:19,399
Speaker 1: That's part of a very strategic effort around divestment from

841
00:46:19,400 --> 00:46:22,320
Speaker 1: South Africa, right, Um, And I do remember as a

842
00:46:22,400 --> 00:46:25,120
Speaker 1: kid we did not drink Coca Cola or wear rebox

843
00:46:25,239 --> 00:46:28,160
Speaker 1: because of divestment. That's like the only thing like I

844
00:46:28,440 --> 00:46:31,960
Speaker 1: really remember, you know, being a young child in the eighties. Um.

845
00:46:32,000 --> 00:46:34,760
Speaker 1: That and then by their early nineties a Different World

846
00:46:34,760 --> 00:46:37,239
Speaker 1: episode where one of the characters had to give up

847
00:46:37,520 --> 00:46:40,200
Speaker 1: or chose to give up a scholarship because the company

848
00:46:40,760 --> 00:46:45,360
Speaker 1: had not divested from South Africa. Economic accountability, economic corporate

849
00:46:45,480 --> 00:46:48,200
Speaker 1: you know, boycotts, that stuff can work, but it's strategic.

850
00:46:48,360 --> 00:46:51,440
Speaker 1: It has to be led by impacted people who are

851
00:46:51,640 --> 00:46:55,360
Speaker 1: very clear on what the goals are. I think Senator

852
00:46:55,360 --> 00:46:59,359
Speaker 1: Warnock actually said this really well in an interview recently. Um,

853
00:46:59,400 --> 00:47:02,880
Speaker 1: you know they're busy asking Democrats about why the you know,

854
00:47:02,920 --> 00:47:04,839
Speaker 1: the Filibus and the Philippus or it's like, why aren't

855
00:47:04,880 --> 00:47:07,560
Speaker 1: you asking Republicans about why they're not protective voting rights?

856
00:47:07,760 --> 00:47:09,960
Speaker 1: Like why they don't care? I think that's what But

857
00:47:10,000 --> 00:47:12,120
Speaker 1: where we all go. I think we need to have

858
00:47:12,160 --> 00:47:17,239
Speaker 1: a very clear commitment and understanding that democracy is not

859
00:47:17,360 --> 00:47:20,560
Speaker 1: just some stagnant thing that just exists. It is really

860
00:47:20,600 --> 00:47:23,720
Speaker 1: an active process that requires us to play a very clear,

861
00:47:24,120 --> 00:47:27,960
Speaker 1: consistent role. So whether that's just being involved and you know,

862
00:47:28,200 --> 00:47:30,680
Speaker 1: even if it's being involved and your kids, like if

863
00:47:30,680 --> 00:47:32,719
Speaker 1: there's like a local school council or something for your

864
00:47:32,760 --> 00:47:36,520
Speaker 1: district or your school, or if it's you know, when

865
00:47:36,600 --> 00:47:38,839
Speaker 1: you can and have the time. Because I also, I mean,

866
00:47:39,120 --> 00:47:41,440
Speaker 1: I've been a single mom my entire adult life. I

867
00:47:41,480 --> 00:47:44,280
Speaker 1: had my daughter when I was twenty um when almost

868
00:47:44,320 --> 00:47:46,759
Speaker 1: my entire adult life. Not gonna this count the years

869
00:47:46,760 --> 00:47:49,360
Speaker 1: their dad was around. But like I you know, so

870
00:47:49,400 --> 00:47:52,400
Speaker 1: I get being busy, right, Like I get having multiple

871
00:47:52,400 --> 00:47:54,959
Speaker 1: competing things. You know, I've taken care of other people

872
00:47:55,000 --> 00:47:57,919
Speaker 1: in addition to my kids, So I understand having other

873
00:47:57,960 --> 00:48:00,120
Speaker 1: things pressing on us. But we can still find a

874
00:48:00,200 --> 00:48:03,680
Speaker 1: way to write off that letter to um. You know.

875
00:48:03,840 --> 00:48:06,360
Speaker 1: Now they now with the technology is so easy, you

876
00:48:06,400 --> 00:48:09,560
Speaker 1: can automatically send out the text to do stuff, the

877
00:48:09,600 --> 00:48:14,120
Speaker 1: auto populate the emails. I mean, we we can, we can,

878
00:48:14,200 --> 00:48:17,560
Speaker 1: we can follow and support the work of black and

879
00:48:17,640 --> 00:48:21,040
Speaker 1: other organizers of color, not just here in Georgia, because yes,

880
00:48:21,040 --> 00:48:23,320
Speaker 1: they're amazing people Georgia, but you know what, there are

881
00:48:23,760 --> 00:48:26,319
Speaker 1: awesome folks throwing down all over the South and really

882
00:48:26,320 --> 00:48:29,360
Speaker 1: all over the country. I think between Georgia and the Midwest,

883
00:48:29,520 --> 00:48:32,240
Speaker 1: not to exclude anyone else the South and the Midwest,

884
00:48:32,360 --> 00:48:35,759
Speaker 1: I've met some of the most prolific organizers really grinding

885
00:48:35,840 --> 00:48:39,359
Speaker 1: and working at multiple intersections of crisis right now because

886
00:48:39,400 --> 00:48:41,680
Speaker 1: we still do. We're still in the middle of a pandemic,

887
00:48:42,000 --> 00:48:44,360
Speaker 1: and we have the democracy issues and then just the

888
00:48:44,400 --> 00:48:47,160
Speaker 1: regular issue based you know, work that people are doing.

889
00:48:47,400 --> 00:48:52,120
Speaker 1: So I think about folks like Mississippi Votes who the

890
00:48:52,200 --> 00:48:56,279
Speaker 1: People's UM Advocacy Institute led by Rakia Lamumba and Mississippi

891
00:48:56,320 --> 00:49:02,560
Speaker 1: Votes Recommitted UM. I think about work over in Louisiana UM.

892
00:49:02,600 --> 00:49:06,799
Speaker 1: I mean, and up in Wisconsin you have uh uh

893
00:49:07,360 --> 00:49:12,799
Speaker 1: LIT Leaders igniting transformation and block Black Leaders organizing communities,

894
00:49:12,880 --> 00:49:16,200
Speaker 1: and those are both organizations that have worked UM around

895
00:49:16,280 --> 00:49:19,600
Speaker 1: multiple issues as well as elections specific engagement, while at

896
00:49:19,600 --> 00:49:22,320
Speaker 1: the same time holding space for community in the metal pandemic.

897
00:49:22,560 --> 00:49:25,880
Speaker 1: And so these types of groups exist all over. Some

898
00:49:25,920 --> 00:49:27,839
Speaker 1: of them may be smaller and may not be as

899
00:49:27,840 --> 00:49:30,640
Speaker 1: well funded, and that's definitely where like your support, I mean,

900
00:49:30,719 --> 00:49:33,960
Speaker 1: like we act like you know, donations don't matter, but

901
00:49:34,000 --> 00:49:36,880
Speaker 1: like financial freedom, writers are a thing in my opinion,

902
00:49:37,680 --> 00:49:41,040
Speaker 1: um is definitely necessary. Not all of us can get

903
00:49:41,080 --> 00:49:44,439
Speaker 1: there and be there physically in person. Not everybody has

904
00:49:44,480 --> 00:49:45,920
Speaker 1: to be on the front line. That's one of things

905
00:49:45,960 --> 00:49:48,480
Speaker 1: I appreciate about the pandemic too. I think that folks

906
00:49:48,480 --> 00:49:50,759
Speaker 1: have learned there are different ways that you can contribute,

907
00:49:50,760 --> 00:49:53,480
Speaker 1: and being like literally on the front line is not

908
00:49:53,600 --> 00:49:55,759
Speaker 1: the only thing of value you can do. Can you

909
00:49:55,840 --> 00:49:58,359
Speaker 1: feed some folks every once in a while, That's that's

910
00:49:58,360 --> 00:50:00,759
Speaker 1: also really valuable. So I'm I just think as we're

911
00:50:00,760 --> 00:50:03,000
Speaker 1: wrapping up, like you know, and just thinking about where

912
00:50:03,040 --> 00:50:06,680
Speaker 1: to go next, also sharing good information, sharing podcasts and

913
00:50:06,719 --> 00:50:10,040
Speaker 1: you know, like you're shared articles like the ones I write,

914
00:50:10,040 --> 00:50:12,640
Speaker 1: like that goes a long way because we don't necessarily

915
00:50:12,640 --> 00:50:15,799
Speaker 1: have the same distribution networks that the other side does,

916
00:50:15,960 --> 00:50:18,439
Speaker 1: and so we need to get our information out there.

917
00:50:18,760 --> 00:50:21,200
Speaker 1: I'll just share a real quick personal story, like I've

918
00:50:21,200 --> 00:50:24,279
Speaker 1: had these conversations with my mother about COVID, sharing bad

919
00:50:24,280 --> 00:50:27,680
Speaker 1: information about COVID, whether the vaccine or whatever, and she

920
00:50:27,800 --> 00:50:30,640
Speaker 1: and it's the same thing. They target black folks. It

921
00:50:30,800 --> 00:50:34,440
Speaker 1: sounds kind of right, right, Like, it makes kind of sense.

922
00:50:34,480 --> 00:50:36,520
Speaker 1: They get you hooked in. But I had to walk

923
00:50:36,560 --> 00:50:38,719
Speaker 1: through with my mom. I had to point her two

924
00:50:38,760 --> 00:50:41,680
Speaker 1: black doctors she should be following and one thing she said, Well,

925
00:50:41,680 --> 00:50:43,960
Speaker 1: she goes, well, if they're saying such good information, why

926
00:50:44,040 --> 00:50:47,560
Speaker 1: isn't there information me shared everywhere? I said, unfortunately, because

927
00:50:47,560 --> 00:50:50,120
Speaker 1: of the way these algorithms work, the way the sharing

928
00:50:50,200 --> 00:50:53,880
Speaker 1: systems work. She was like, oh, well, so taking the

929
00:50:53,960 --> 00:50:56,240
Speaker 1: time to just talk to our folks, right, Like, that's

930
00:50:56,360 --> 00:51:00,400
Speaker 1: that's super critical. The bill attacking abortion access in Texas

931
00:51:00,560 --> 00:51:02,880
Speaker 1: is just one more plank of a coordinated attack on

932
00:51:02,920 --> 00:51:06,080
Speaker 1: our democracy and the rights of marginalized people, and it's

933
00:51:06,120 --> 00:51:08,520
Speaker 1: time for all of us to fight back. Go to

934
00:51:08,600 --> 00:51:11,880
Speaker 1: tangodi dot com slash donate to support abortion funds in Texas.

935
00:51:17,600 --> 00:51:19,640
Speaker 1: Got a story about an interesting thing in tech, or

936
00:51:19,680 --> 00:51:21,440
Speaker 1: just want to say hi? You can have me us

937
00:51:21,440 --> 00:51:23,839
Speaker 1: at Hello at tangodi dot com. You can also find

938
00:51:23,840 --> 00:51:26,799
Speaker 1: transcripts today's episode at tangdi dot com. There Are No

939
00:51:26,880 --> 00:51:28,919
Speaker 1: Girls on the Internet was created by me Bridget Todd.

940
00:51:29,280 --> 00:51:32,320
Speaker 1: It's a production of iHeart Radio. And Unboss creative Jonathan

941
00:51:32,360 --> 00:51:35,360
Speaker 1: Strickland as our executive producer. Terry Harrison is our producer

942
00:51:35,400 --> 00:51:38,879
Speaker 1: and sound engineer. Michael Amato is our contributing producer. I'm

943
00:51:38,920 --> 00:51:41,759
Speaker 1: your host, bridget Todd. If you want to help us grow,

944
00:51:42,000 --> 00:51:45,120
Speaker 1: rate and review us on Apple Podcasts. For more podcasts

945
00:51:45,120 --> 00:51:47,200
Speaker 1: from I Heeart Radio, check out the iHeart Radio app,

946
00:51:47,239 --> 00:52:01,359
Speaker 1: Apple podcast or wherever you get your podcasts