Speaker 1: Native Lampard is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership with
Speaker 1: Reason Choice Media.
Speaker 2: Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome.
Speaker 3: Mister speaker, I rise today to oppose this rule and
Speaker 3: to support the previous question and the democracy. The right
Speaker 3: to vote is the most powerful non voluntary we have.
Speaker 3: Many people march and protested for the right to vote.
Speaker 3: Some gave a little blood, and others lost their lives.
Speaker 3: Some of you have heard me say that the right
Speaker 3: to vote is precious, almost sacred. In my hearts of hearts,
Speaker 3: I believe that we should make it simple and convenient
Speaker 3: for all of our citizens to be part of the
Speaker 3: democratic process. It should not matter well you're black or white, Latino, Asian, American,
Speaker 3: a Native Americans. We should be able to participate in
Speaker 3: the democratic process. On March seventh, nineteen sixty five, I
Speaker 3: gave a little blood on the Ethnic Pitters Bridge for
Speaker 3: the right to vote before the Voting Rights Act of
Speaker 3: nineteen sixty five. Is pious. Some people had to count
Speaker 3: the number above us and the bar of soap, the
Speaker 3: number of jellybeans in a jar, and all across from America. Today,
Speaker 3: when people go out to attempt to vote. They're standing
Speaker 3: long in movable lines. That's not right, it's not fair,
Speaker 3: and it's not just. We can do better, and we
Speaker 3: must do better. We have a mall abigation, a mission,
Speaker 3: and a mandate to empower all of the American people,
Speaker 3: not just a select few. We must do what is right,
Speaker 3: what's fair, and what is just. Today democracy is on attack.
Speaker 3: I force it within and forces abroad. We need to
Speaker 3: fix it, and fix it now. For these reasons, I'm
Speaker 3: proud to insponse to Hr twelve, the Voter Empowerment Act,
Speaker 3: with my friends and my colleagues. It is a good deal,
Speaker 3: a necessary deal, and a patriotic deal to protect and
Speaker 3: to preserve our voting system. I urge each and every
Speaker 3: one of you to support the previous question and I
Speaker 3: yeel back. Thank you, missing mc governor.
Speaker 1: Welcome home, y'all. I'm Angela Rai. I'm hosting today's solo
Speaker 1: pod on voting rights. Voting rights where So. Just last
Speaker 1: week the Supreme Court issued and a decision we talked
Speaker 1: about on the podcast last week in Louisiana versus Calais,
Speaker 1: a decision that single handedly eliminated the Voting Rights Act
Speaker 1: of nineteen sixty five. This just on the other side
Speaker 1: of its sixtieth anniversary last year, sixty years later, sixty
Speaker 1: one years later. John Roberts, not John Lewis, has been
Speaker 1: in our lifelong quest since he was a young man
Speaker 1: in the Department of Justice to end and eliminate the
Speaker 1: Voting Rights Act.
Speaker 4: The Saint John Roberts, by the way that.
Speaker 1: In the Shelby Versus Holder decision in twenty thirteen, says,
Speaker 1: don't worry about Section five that were taken away from
Speaker 1: you here everybody. Section five was a section in the
Speaker 1: bill that ensured that states who had a pattern in
Speaker 1: practice of discriminating against voters they had to send in
Speaker 1: their plans right to be pre cleared by the Justice Department,
Speaker 1: by the Civil Rights Division and the Justice Department, they
Speaker 1: would have to send in their max They would have
Speaker 1: to send in their plans to say we're ensuring that
Speaker 1: people have unfettered access to the ballot box. Well, John Roberts,
Speaker 1: along with his colleagues in twenty thirteen and Shelby Versus Holders, say,
Speaker 1: you know, we're really beyond that. Racism no longer exists
Speaker 1: in this country and people can vote fairly. And the
Speaker 1: evidence of that they didn't say this, but this is
Speaker 1: the subtext. The evidence of that is, y'all had your
Speaker 1: first black president in two thousand and eight.
Speaker 4: Right, So instead of.
Speaker 1: Protecting people's right to vote, especially in the South, we're
Speaker 1: gonna eliminate this provision. And we're actually gonna ask Congress
Speaker 1: to go back to the drawing board, reauthorize a Voting
Speaker 1: Rights Act, and ensure that this is now modernized, that
Speaker 1: it's no longer reflecting on the United States history that
Speaker 1: existed in nineteen sixty five.
Speaker 4: It's time to modernize that.
Speaker 1: Never mind the fact that this was just reauthorized in
Speaker 1: two thousand and six, two years before Barack Obama went
Speaker 1: his election, and he said, and if all else fails,
Speaker 1: you still have section two of the Voting Rights Act,
Speaker 1: where there's some elements of a preclearance section. It's not
Speaker 1: specific to the South, but states can still submit their
Speaker 1: plans there. Well, let me just stop for just a
Speaker 1: moment and say, I want us to look at what
Speaker 1: happened in two thousand and six.
Speaker 4: In two thousand and six.
Speaker 1: There was a Republican member of Congress named John I'm sorry,
Speaker 1: James Sinson Brenner. James Sinson Brenner or Jim Sinson Brenner,
Speaker 1: was the chairman of the Judiciary Committee at the time.
Speaker 1: James Sinson Brenner was a Republican from Wisconsin, and yet
Speaker 1: James Sinson Brenner in two thousand and six introduced HR nine.
Speaker 1: It was the Fanny Lou Hamer Rosa, Parks and Coreta
Speaker 1: Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of
Speaker 1: two thousand and six. Let me tell you all something.
Speaker 1: In two thousand and six, this vote passed the Senate.
Speaker 1: This bill passed the Senate by a ninety eight to
Speaker 1: zero vote, a unanimous vote for the Voting Rights Act Reauthorization.
Speaker 1: In two thousand and six, in the House where James
Speaker 1: Cinson Rinner was again the chairman of the Judiciary Committee,
Speaker 1: this vote, this vote was three ninety to thirty three.
Speaker 1: Three hundred and ninety members of Congress voted for the
Speaker 1: Fannie Louhamer Rosa, Parks and Correta Scott King Voting Rights
Speaker 1: Excuse me, Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act. Two
Speaker 1: years goes by, and there's a major change in this country.
Speaker 1: Two years goes by, and there's a black man who
Speaker 1: runs for president who says, yes, we can and hope
Speaker 1: and change we can believe in. And two more years
Speaker 1: goes by. In twenty ten, there is the rise of
Speaker 1: the Tea Party. In twenty ten, there is a mass
Speaker 1: movement by an organization called ALEC, the American Legislative Exchange Council,
Speaker 1: to push for voter ID bills and to push for
Speaker 1: the short of early voting and.
Speaker 4: To make it hard for people, harder for people.
Speaker 1: To vote absentee because in the minds of some of
Speaker 1: the people in this country, they decided that there was
Speaker 1: no way that a black man could win for president
Speaker 1: unless they cheated. So now all of a sudden, voter
Speaker 1: fraud became an issue. And you heard advocates, civil rights
Speaker 1: advocates that want to protect voting rights say that these bills,
Speaker 1: the voter ID bills in particular, particular in which more
Speaker 1: than a hundred of these bills were introduced in state
Speaker 1: legislatures across the country. You heard voting rights advocates say,
Speaker 1: this is a solution in search of a problem.
Speaker 4: Right.
Speaker 1: So, in twenty thirteen, the Supreme Court, here's the Shelby
Speaker 1: versus Holder case, where I just told you what John
Speaker 1: Roberts says, don't worry about section five because we still
Speaker 1: have section two. And there were other advocates that stood
Speaker 1: up to say, you know, this is going to become
Speaker 1: a problem. And around this time Reverend Jackson, God rest
Speaker 1: his soul, lifted up his voice to say something he'd
Speaker 1: been saying for some time. But Reverend Jackson really went
Speaker 1: on a tour to cities to enforce just how important
Speaker 1: and how necessary a constitutional amendment for the right to
Speaker 1: vote is, because he knew that this Voting Rights Act
Speaker 1: energy would soon shift, that the bipartisan way in which
Speaker 1: the Voting Rights Act had been passed since nineteen sixty
Speaker 1: sixty five would shift right. So this is what Reverend
Speaker 1: Jackson said when he visited Ohio today.
Speaker 2: August six, nineteen to five, Wilder Rights Act was signed
Speaker 2: a full film of muhammad Yah commitment. Prior to nineteen five,
Speaker 2: because states controlled the process and suppressed the vote, blue
Speaker 2: blacks could not vote, Men about from South, White women
Speaker 2: couldnot serve in jurors. Eighteen year olds could not vote.
Speaker 2: You couldn't vote on college campus, federal absentee, or go
Speaker 2: home to vote. You cannot vote by language. The felleral
Speaker 2: government intervene to assure Americans the right to vote. But
Speaker 2: today we have still the state's rights schemes to suppress
Speaker 2: the vote. It means in Hamilton County they're trying to
Speaker 2: move early vote to the outskirts of town to make
Speaker 2: it more difficult. In North Carolina, it means voting from
Speaker 2: college campuses. In Texas means you can vote with the
Speaker 2: gun registration, another student of registration. We need the amendment
Speaker 2: to the Constitution right we should be a fundamental right
Speaker 2: to vote. We needed amendmit the Constitution. I have one election.
Speaker 2: Now we have fifty elections, fifty state separate and nonepal election.
Speaker 2: We should have one uniform system of voting for federal
Speaker 2: elections for all Americans.
Speaker 1: Reverend Jackson for a long time talked about how this
Speaker 1: fundamental right to vote was key. He talked about this
Speaker 1: constitutional amendment often. But when this happened with Shelby versus Holder,
Speaker 1: when the voting rights, the voter ID bills started popping up,
Speaker 1: he started using his voice even louder. And I remember,
Speaker 1: being a younger professional, thinking, we don't have to spend
Speaker 1: this much time talking.
Speaker 4: About the right to vote anymore. We have it, We
Speaker 4: got it. Locked.
Speaker 1: There are other things we got to focus on, access
Speaker 1: to capital, making sure that black contractors can keep their
Speaker 1: doors open, ensuring that there are all of these other
Speaker 1: things that we focus on. That black people are paid
Speaker 1: the same thing as their white counterparts. That when black
Speaker 1: people go to buy homes, that their interest rates are
Speaker 1: the same as their white counterparts, That they don't reduce
Speaker 1: the value of the home because the black family lives there.
Speaker 4: We can live wherever we want, drive the cars we want.
Speaker 1: To drive, right that we can be admitted to the
Speaker 1: schools we want to be admitted to. Affirmative action is
Speaker 1: really the thing that's hanging in the balance, is what
Speaker 1: I thought. But when you lived through fighting for the
Speaker 1: Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act and the
Speaker 1: Fair Housing Act, certainly you know just how fragile it is.
Speaker 1: And that is what Reverend tried to remind us. That
Speaker 1: that is what John Lewis tried to remind us about.
Speaker 1: And these are the things that we took for granted.
Speaker 1: And now here we are in the throes of a battle,
Speaker 1: not for the soul of America, but we for what
Speaker 1: we know we deserve and is rightfully ours in this country.
Speaker 1: So I just want to sit here just for a second,
Speaker 1: because I think this is important. So we talked about
Speaker 1: Shelby versus Holder, Louisiana versus Calais. We spent a lot
Speaker 1: of time on the podcast just last week. But last
Speaker 1: night something happened. Something happened that really, y'all was.
Speaker 4: Jarring to me.
Speaker 1: Last week there were members of Congress who said that, yeah,
Speaker 1: they made this decision in Louisiana versus Calais, but you know,
Speaker 1: no states are are gonna move, no states are gonna
Speaker 1: do anything this quickly. After all, it takes the Supreme
Speaker 1: Court thirty days at least for this decision really to
Speaker 1: become finalized. So this decision was challenged by the Supreme
Speaker 1: Court or to the Supreme Court about when it would
Speaker 1: take effect. Because right now Louisiana has an election going
Speaker 1: on April first. Folks who are in the military fighting
Speaker 1: overseas or stationed overseas already got their ballots if they're
Speaker 1: registered to vote in Louisiana in the primary, already got
Speaker 1: their ballots. Absentee ballots have already gone out because it's
Speaker 1: May fifth. Well, last night the Supreme Court said, I
Speaker 1: know what we normally do, but this time it's different
Speaker 1: because we don't want people to be voting under an
Speaker 1: unconstitutional map. We think that having two black representatives in
Speaker 1: Congress for a state that is one third black is unconstitutional.
Speaker 1: So we actually think this Supreme Court decision should go
Speaker 1: into effect even sooner. We think it should be immediate.
Speaker 1: We know what we normally say, what we normally do,
Speaker 1: but there is no rhyme or reason for these people
Speaker 1: despite the fact that an election is already happening. You're
Speaker 1: talking about unconstitutional already happening. We want to disenfranchise all
Speaker 1: of those people. Throw out these ballads and agree with
Speaker 1: what Donald Trump said on true Social Let's pull that up.
Speaker 1: We want to go ahead and be superpartisan, highly political.
Speaker 1: We want to side with Donald Trump. Can we pull
Speaker 1: up that truth Social post from Donald Trump. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: read it. He says, we cannot allow there to be
Speaker 1: an election that is conducted on unconstitutionally simply for the
Speaker 1: convenience of state legislatures. He says, if they have to
Speaker 1: vote twice, so be it. He says, if they have
Speaker 1: to vote twice, so be it. The man that complains
Speaker 1: constantly about voter fraud is telling you that if you
Speaker 1: have to vote twice, so be it. He says, we
Speaker 1: should demand that state legislatures do what the Supreme Court
Speaker 1: says must be done. That is more important than administrative convenience.
Speaker 1: Is the right to vote a mere administrative convenience?
Speaker 4: I don't think so.
Speaker 1: The byproduct is that the Republicans will receive more than
Speaker 1: twenty House seats in the upcoming midterms.
Speaker 4: President Donald J.
Speaker 1: Trump, so he's celebrating a victory where he stacked the
Speaker 1: deck against people.
Speaker 4: Let me go personal for y'all for just a moment.
Speaker 5: We can pull that down.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you all have ever been in
Speaker 1: a toxic relationship, And shout out to our good friend
Speaker 1: and sister Tiffany Cross, whose book has dropped today. If
Speaker 1: y'all haven't haven't picked it up, pick it up. And
Speaker 1: she's talking about a toxic relationship with the country, her career,
Speaker 1: and with a man that she loved. So I just
Speaker 1: want to go here for just a second in honor
Speaker 1: a tif today. So, if you've ever been in a
Speaker 1: toxic relationship, one where you didn't feel heard, you say
Speaker 1: the same thing over and over again, and they pretend
Speaker 1: not to hear you, and then you say you know
Speaker 1: what I'm done. I'm finally going to leave this thing. Right,
Speaker 1: you leave, and the person.
Speaker 4: Who never heard you finally heard everything you said. They
Speaker 4: finally get it.
Speaker 1: They understanding, light bulb goes off, They're with you, all
Speaker 1: of a sudden, they get it right. This is what
Speaker 1: America has done to Black people historically. They haven't heard us.
Speaker 1: They treated us like we don't matter. They make it
Speaker 1: hard for us. We are in a toxic, abusive, emotionally psychologically,
Speaker 1: mentally abusive, and sometimes physically abusive relationship with this country.
Speaker 1: They have done everything in their power to make it
Speaker 1: harder for us to vote, all the while telling us
Speaker 1: that our issues don't matter, that our bodies don't matter,
Speaker 1: that our personhood certainly does not matter. And yet Donald
Speaker 1: Trump tells you the quiet part out loud. He says
Speaker 1: the quiet part out loud. He says that if this
Speaker 1: all goes right, there will be twenty new Republican seats
Speaker 1: for the midterms. Because the only way this fool could
Speaker 1: win an election is to stack the deck against us,
Speaker 1: the most powerful people on the planet.
Speaker 4: That's the only way he can win. And so while our.
Speaker 1: Folks are struggling to fight against you know, what frankly
Speaker 1: is an uphill battle. Our folks still haven't given up.
Speaker 1: So the Supreme Court last night said this decision will
Speaker 1: come go into effect immediately. Last week, before the decision
Speaker 1: came out, the Mississippi governor said he was using his
Speaker 1: state constitutional authority to call a special session. Louisiana said
Speaker 1: they would immediately redraw maps. Right now, it's looking like
Speaker 1: Cleo Fields would retain his seat. Why Troy Carter would
Speaker 1: lose his seat? Alabama is speaking up and they went
Speaker 1: into session yesterday. I want to roll the clip of
Speaker 1: the protests that happened outside because I don't want us
Speaker 1: to lose all of our hope we do.
Speaker 5: What do we do? You run in a fun bank?
Speaker 6: Thanks Now, last week the Supreme Court ruled in the
Speaker 6: case of Louisiana versus Klais. And while some may try
Speaker 6: to complicate it, we know what it is.
Speaker 4: It is a strategic attempt to.
Speaker 6: Erase the voting rights at which we know is our
Speaker 6: strongest protection against disenfranchisement, protections that were not given protection
Speaker 6: is that will vote for what here in Alabama.
Speaker 4: And so the people don't tell the.
Speaker 6: Truth that the decision opened the door of our house
Speaker 6: where politicians will try to redraw maps.
Speaker 4: They gonna try, but the people ain't gonna let me.
Speaker 1: So there is a protest outside of Alabama and today
Speaker 1: Tennessee because Tennessee is also called a special session. Tennessee's
Speaker 1: special session would eliminate the sole majority minority district there
Speaker 1: is in the whole state of Tennessee that represents Memphis.
Speaker 1: This is the scene outside of Tennessee State Legislature today.
Speaker 4: He he, I think this.
Speaker 1: Is so important because what this shows is a different
Speaker 1: type of solidarity. I would just want to take a
Speaker 1: moment to shout out all the white people. For everybody
Speaker 1: who's listening to the audio of this podcast, you didn't see,
Speaker 1: but there's lots of white people outside in Alabama and
Speaker 1: in Tennessee. I imagine they'll show up in Mississippi when
Speaker 1: it's time. I believe Louisiana protests for the most part,
Speaker 1: will be held tomorrow.
Speaker 4: This is important, y'all. It is all hands on deck.
Speaker 1: It's not just black people who will be impacted by
Speaker 1: the disenfranchisement of voters. There are brown people, there are
Speaker 1: Asian people, there are white people. Everyone who can't get
Speaker 1: an ID as they continue to change these laws. These
Speaker 1: folks are also impacted. So I want us to be
Speaker 1: mindful of a lot of that. Now, one other place
Speaker 1: that I want to go, and then we're going to
Speaker 1: end today because this is a deep dive type of
Speaker 1: a situation. There's so much here, Project twenty twenty five.
Speaker 1: In Project twenty twenty five, there is an entire chapter
Speaker 1: on the Federal Elections Commission. The man who wrote that section,
Speaker 1: Nicholet's pull up the clip the headline, how Trump's Justice
Speaker 1: Department will achieve more honest elections Hans van Hans vond spacals.
Speaker 4: Listen his name, I can't read it.
Speaker 1: Hans von Spakkovski spec you guys, I should have got
Speaker 1: to phonetics. I'm sorry, I'll not have pronounce his name. Hey,
Speaker 1: how win his name anyway? Because I'm mad at him now.
Speaker 1: This man wrote a whole chapter in Project twenty twenty
Speaker 1: five about the various things that they could do to make.
Speaker 4: It harder for people to vote.
Speaker 1: One thing they talked about, according to a fact sheet
Speaker 1: from the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights, Civil and Human Rights,
Speaker 1: is criminalizing the voting system. Project twenty twenty five would
Speaker 1: shift responsibility for prosecuting election related offenses from the Civil
Speaker 1: Rights Division to the Criminal Division. Nick, we can drop
Speaker 1: that headline if you want. They also talked about allowing
Speaker 1: the proliferation of online misinformation and disinformation relating to elections.
Speaker 1: Project twenty twenty five would end ongoing federal efforts by
Speaker 1: the Department of Homeland Security to combat online disinformation. And
Speaker 1: we've seen that they have said that they are going
Speaker 1: to send ice to polling places, that they are going
Speaker 1: to have DHS working on investigations around voter fraud. That
Speaker 1: is not the purpose of the investigation's division at DHS.
Speaker 1: They also talk about in Project twenty twenty five requiring
Speaker 1: state and local recipients of DHS. Again, that's the Department
Speaker 1: of Homeland Security grant funding to meet certain preconditions for eligibility,
Speaker 1: such as a commitment to total total information sharing, allowing
Speaker 1: access to Department of Motor Vehicle and voter registration databases,
Speaker 1: state run elections being intimidated by the Department of Homeland
Speaker 1: Security for what purpose. Finally, Project twenty twenty five talks
Speaker 1: about federal agencies designated as voter registration agencies as Mission CREEP.
Speaker 1: They said that President Biden signing an executive order to
Speaker 1: provide spaces for voter registration inside agencies overstepped and even
Speaker 1: though it was designed to promote voter registration, they.
Speaker 4: Thought it went too far.
Speaker 1: Why because y'all we talk about this toxic, abusive relationship
Speaker 1: with this country. They want to select few to have
Speaker 1: political power. They want political power to belong in the
Speaker 1: hands of a select few, because they think if you
Speaker 1: lift up your voice, if you cast your vote, that
Speaker 1: they lose power. This is a power graph where racism
Speaker 1: is at the center and the heart of it, just
Speaker 1: like it was during Jim Crow, just like it was
Speaker 1: during the years in which our people were enslaved in
Speaker 1: this country. So on this two hundred and fiftieth anniversary
Speaker 1: of this country, we have to do side what we
Speaker 1: actually stand for. We spend a lot of time and
Speaker 1: I talk about this in speeches all the time in
Speaker 1: the Declaration of Independence talking about life, liberty and the
Speaker 1: pursuit of happiness. But there's another key element of what
Speaker 1: we are required to do based on what it says
Speaker 1: on paper, and that is if when the government no
Speaker 1: longer serves the interests of the people, we have the
Speaker 1: right to alter or to abolish it. And I think
Speaker 1: we're getting pretty damn close to abolition. That is a
Speaker 1: place where my people have always found freedom. And again
Speaker 1: I said, I wasn't going to end with despair. So
Speaker 1: let me tell y'all from my chicken scratch. We had
Speaker 1: a mass meeting last week right on the other side
Speaker 1: of this court decision. The first thing that I'm going
Speaker 1: to suggest, it's happening already. Shout out to the Legal
Speaker 1: Defense Fund that has a model bill for legislators to
Speaker 1: use to protect the civil rights.
Speaker 4: Of our voting rights in states.
Speaker 1: I would encourage state legislators, whether you think you're at
Speaker 1: risk or not, whether you live in a blue state,
Speaker 1: a red state, of purple state, I don't care if
Speaker 1: it's a green state, please introduce this measure as soon
Speaker 1: as you're able to file bills in the state legislature.
Speaker 1: You can go to naacp LDF dot org for more
Speaker 1: infrigantation on that bill.
Speaker 4: Please file that right away.
Speaker 1: Second, I'm encouraging clergy and our churches and our denominations.
Speaker 4: And every other.
Speaker 1: Place of religious worship. Please have a voter registration drive.
Speaker 1: Every single time your people are gathered register to vote.
Speaker 1: I know you're saying, why Angela reregistering the vote. When
Speaker 1: they're taking the right to vote away, I want to
Speaker 1: scare the hell out of them. They're busy scaring us.
Speaker 1: We need to register in mass every time you can.
Speaker 1: If you're in a sorority or fraternity and some other
Speaker 1: secret society, the Masons, whatever you are in, people to vote.
Speaker 1: The next time y'all gather for a parade, a party,
Speaker 1: the club, the strip club, wherever it is, register people
Speaker 1: to vote. I know I started with the clergy and
Speaker 1: ended up at the strip club. I don't know how
Speaker 1: it happens. Blame it on add but register to vote
Speaker 1: anytime we are gathered, okay, where two or three are gathered,
Speaker 1: registered to vote. The third thing that I would suggest
Speaker 1: is that lawyers, you identify the plaintiffs who have been
Speaker 1: disenfranchised by the actions taken by these state legislators.
Speaker 4: Legislators.
Speaker 1: I know the Supreme Court is not on our side
Speaker 1: right now, but consciences can be shifted.
Speaker 4: There's a speech from Reverend Jackson.
Speaker 1: I didn't play that today, but I probably should have,
Speaker 1: where he talks about Rosa Parks was not on the
Speaker 1: right side of the law, but she was morally correct,
Speaker 1: and over times, over time, the politics shifted.
Speaker 4: Fanny lou Hamer.
Speaker 1: Was not on the side of the law, but she
Speaker 1: was morally right, and over time the politics shifted. We
Speaker 1: the people of conscience, have to shift the consciousness of
Speaker 1: this country.
Speaker 4: We have always done that.
Speaker 1: It is heavy labor, it is hard labor, but it's
Speaker 1: labor that we have to engage in.
Speaker 5: No less.
Speaker 1: The fourth thing that I will suggest shout out to
Speaker 1: my brothers, Vince Evans and Rashad Robinson who talked about
Speaker 1: the imperative nature of economic boycotts. Right now, there are
Speaker 1: companies that are headquartered in these states and they are
Speaker 1: turning a blind eye to this immoral activity, this illegal
Speaker 1: this illegal legislation that is being forced down the throats
Speaker 1: of the people. It is time for economic boycott. When
Speaker 1: you look at what reverend when Reverend doctor Martin Luther
Speaker 1: King did as he was in Memphis when he was
Speaker 1: shot and killed. The day before he was shot and killed,
Speaker 1: he delivered a speech I've been to the mountaintop, and
Speaker 1: in that speech he talked about he literally calls out
Speaker 1: Reverend Jackson's name is a name and asked for the
Speaker 1: names of the corporations they are boycotting. At the time
Speaker 1: to stand in solidarity with the sanitation workers. We need
Speaker 1: to do some of that. The fifth thing.
Speaker 4: Labor all, our labor unions.
Speaker 1: Just the other day they changed their actions for May Day,
Speaker 1: which was May first, to focus on voting rights. That
Speaker 1: cannot be the end of the matter, y'all. That was
Speaker 1: the beginning. What is our next action? We need to
Speaker 1: hear from our labor union brothers, sisters, and siblings. The
Speaker 1: sixth thing is this litigation, y'all, is not cheap. Support
Speaker 1: organizations like the NAACP, where I'm a lifetime member. Support
Speaker 1: organizations like NAACPLDA, where I've considered myself an honorary board member.
Speaker 1: They are doing the work. There are several other organizations
Speaker 1: on the ground in Louisiana, in Tennessee, in Alabama.
Speaker 4: Black voters matter, y'all. They are tired.
Speaker 1: They need the support of the people in terms of
Speaker 1: boots on the ground and resources to fund this work.
Speaker 1: We've got to keep it going. In addition to that,
Speaker 1: the seventh thing is structural. We have to ensure structural change.
Speaker 1: I just talked about the right to alter or abolish it.
Speaker 1: Now is the time is my sister Latasha Brown said
Speaker 1: to fight for reparations. Now is the time for us
Speaker 1: to ensure that we expect and the court we see,
Speaker 1: This Supreme Court is not on our side. It needs
Speaker 1: to be expanded to represent the minds in the hearts
Speaker 1: of the people in this country.
Speaker 4: We need to abolish the electoral college.
Speaker 1: You're talking about Louisiana, knowing that a third of the
Speaker 1: population is black, trying to dial us back to the
Speaker 1: three fifth Compromises seventeen eighty seven and say, actually, hold
Speaker 1: my beer, We're gonna take you down to one fifth.
Speaker 1: We don't need that type of representation. We want one person,
Speaker 1: one vote. We do not want you to speak for us.
Speaker 1: And then the final thing is we want to engage
Speaker 1: in a counter action on the fourth of July. Frederick
Speaker 1: Douglass once asked, what to the slave is the fourth
Speaker 1: of July? And we got to ask the same question
Speaker 1: right now, y'all. In twenty twenty six, as we commemorate
Speaker 1: or they commemorate the two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of
Speaker 1: this country, what do we want this country to be
Speaker 1: on the.
Speaker 4: Fourth of July this year?
Speaker 1: I want all of us outside to hit the streets
Speaker 1: to reimagine a country that would actually meet our needs
Speaker 1: that would actually serve our people. That isn't just asking
Speaker 1: and clamoring for a vote, but ensures that people all
Speaker 1: over the country, regardless of their zip code, have clean
Speaker 1: drinking water, are paid a livable wage, live in a
Speaker 1: home where they feel safe, can feed their families, can
Speaker 1: afford healthcare, can afford to see the doctor proactively, not
Speaker 1: just when something is wrong. That is the country we
Speaker 1: need to fight for. That is what we need to
Speaker 1: go and hit the streets for on the fourth of July.
Speaker 1: So let us begin our counter actions right now to
Speaker 1: celebrating this country. I'm not celebrating where we are. It's
Speaker 1: a crying shame where we are. We are living in
Speaker 1: a nightmare. This is not the American dream. So let
Speaker 1: us on the fourth establish the dream that we seek.
Speaker 1: Become the people that we know we have the right
Speaker 1: in every We owe our ancestors to becoming we owe
Speaker 1: future generations to becoming those people. So yes, the right
Speaker 1: to vote is sacred. The right to exist is so
Speaker 1: much more sacred. We've got to fight for both. I
Speaker 1: would say happy birthday to America, but America is not
Speaker 1: showing me it's best life.
Speaker 5: Right now, We'll come home, y'all.
Speaker 7: Mister Chairman, and to the Credentials Committee. My name is
Speaker 7: missus Fanny lou Hamer.
Speaker 5: That was the thirty first of.
Speaker 7: August in nineteen sixty two, that eighteen of us traveled
Speaker 7: twenty six miles to the county courthouse in Indonola to
Speaker 7: try to register to become first class citizens. We was
Speaker 7: met in Indonola by policeman highway patrolums and they only
Speaker 7: allowed two of us in to take the literacy test
Speaker 7: at the time. After we had taken this test and
Speaker 7: started back to Rouseville, we were held up by the
Speaker 7: city police and the state highway patrolers and carried back
Speaker 7: to Indonola while the bus driver was charged that day
Speaker 7: of driving a bus the wrong color. After we paid
Speaker 7: the fine among us, we continued on to Rooseville and
Speaker 7: Reverend Jess Funny carried me four miles in the rural
Speaker 7: area where I had worked as a timekeeper and sharecropper
Speaker 7: for eighteen years. I was met there by my children
Speaker 7: that told me the plantation owner was angry because I
Speaker 7: had gone down tried to register. After they told him,
Speaker 7: my husband came and said the plantation owner was raising
Speaker 7: kane because I had tried to register, and before he
Speaker 7: quit talking, the plantation owner came and said, Fanny Luda,
Speaker 7: you know, did Pap tell you what I said? And
Speaker 7: I said yes, sir. He said, well, I mean that
Speaker 7: said if you don't go down and withdraw your registration,
Speaker 7: you'll have to leave. Said then if you go down
Speaker 7: and withdrawal so you still might have to go to court.
Speaker 3: We are not ready for.
Speaker 7: That in Mississippi. And I addressed him and told him
Speaker 7: that I didn't try to register for you. I tried
Speaker 7: to register for myself. I had to leave that same night.
Speaker 7: On the tenth of September nineteen sixty two, sixteen bullets
Speaker 7: were siding to the home of mister and missus Robert
Speaker 7: Tucker for me. That same night two girls were shot
Speaker 7: in Rouseville, Mississippi. Also, mister Joe mc donald's house was
Speaker 7: shot in and June the ninth, nineteen sixty three, I
Speaker 7: had attendant of voter registration workshop was returning back to
Speaker 7: Mississiptts ten of us was chalned by the conton little
Speaker 7: trailway bus when we got to wine on A, Mississippi,
Speaker 7: which is Montgomery County four. The people got off to
Speaker 7: use the washroom and two of the people to use
Speaker 7: the restaurant. Two of the people wanted to use the washing.
Speaker 7: The fall people that had gone in to use the
Speaker 7: restaurant was all and out during this time.
Speaker 8: Out of the hearing have been hearing testimony by Mississipanni
Speaker 8: ul Kimber, who was a candidate for Congress number in
Speaker 8: the second District of Mississippi and the Democratic Crime where
Speaker 8: she lost. She said to testify for the Mississippi Freedom
Speaker 8: Democratic Party.
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