Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to Okay F Daily with
Speaker 1: Meet your Girl Danielle Moody. Pre recording from the Home Bunker. Folks,
Speaker 1: as you know, we are making the sprint, the final
Speaker 1: sprint to midterm elections, and like I have said previously
Speaker 1: this week, I need folks to take care of themselves,
Speaker 1: their level of anxiety, their level of stress. No one
Speaker 1: knows what's going to happen until it does, so I
Speaker 1: want to be really clear about that. And I have
Speaker 1: always said on this show that poles are poles are poles,
Speaker 1: and you know, had the polls been accurate, we would
Speaker 1: be in a completely different America than the one that
Speaker 1: we are living through right now. And so what I
Speaker 1: continue to say is is dive into some news, take
Speaker 1: yourself out of it, focus on your self care, focus
Speaker 1: on your rituals and practices of restoration and rest because
Speaker 1: I'm telling you that what we are in for, what
Speaker 1: is before us is the very rapidly shifting political and
Speaker 1: cultural climate in these United States. And I will tell
Speaker 1: you that regardless of whether or not Democrats are able
Speaker 1: to hold on to both the House and the Senate,
Speaker 1: breaking with history, breaking with patterns that we know all
Speaker 1: too well that the work to rebuild this country and
Speaker 1: new is generations. It's generations of work that is going
Speaker 1: to go into this. If we lose the upcoming midterm elections,
Speaker 1: if we lose the House and the Senate or one
Speaker 1: of them again, the political climate and the culture in
Speaker 1: this country is going to continue to be tested beyond
Speaker 1: anything that we have seen before. So I say all
Speaker 1: of this to say, folks that it is incredibly important
Speaker 1: to know your limitations, right, to not tap out completely,
Speaker 1: but to understand and to know your limitations. And also
Speaker 1: what's important. What's important right now is not what's being
Speaker 1: said on your television, on any of your screens. What's
Speaker 1: important is the actions that are being taken in real
Speaker 1: life to either vote early, either vote on election day,
Speaker 1: mail in your ballots, and then ensure that the people
Speaker 1: around you. Do not take this for granted. Do not
Speaker 1: take for granted what a phone call can do. Do
Speaker 1: not take for granted what a text message can do.
Speaker 1: Do not take for granted what a face book post
Speaker 1: and an Instagram post and a tweet can do to
Speaker 1: your own community, and for that community to activate them,
Speaker 1: Tell them what is at risk and what is on
Speaker 1: the ballot right, You don't need to tell them that
Speaker 1: the only reason they need to vote is to vote
Speaker 1: against the Republican Party, which is fascist. That is not
Speaker 1: what's going to sell them. Tell them that they are
Speaker 1: voting for medicare, they are voting for social security, they
Speaker 1: are voting for bodily autonomy, they are voting for public
Speaker 1: school systems that are going to teach their children the
Speaker 1: truth and how to be global citizens and be competitive. Right,
Speaker 1: they are voting for stabilized economy. Tell them the things
Speaker 1: that they are voting for when in fact they are
Speaker 1: going to vote for Democrats. Coming up on the show today,
Speaker 1: we have Delia Coleman, who is the deputy director of
Speaker 1: Equal Rights Advocates. We get into a conversation about the
Speaker 1: importance of black women and BIPOC, black Indigenous people of
Speaker 1: color BIPOC people being uplifted during this midterm but in
Speaker 1: every election, because what we oftentimes forget, and by we,
Speaker 1: I mean the Democratic establishment forgets, is who the base
Speaker 1: of our party actually is. While Republicans are held bends
Speaker 1: on feeding their rabid base any type of red meat
Speaker 1: that they can, whether it be homophobia, transphobia, islamophobia, misogyny,
Speaker 1: anti blackness. They're all about giving their base what it
Speaker 1: is that they need. The Democrats do not do the same. They,
Speaker 1: as a matter of fact, take for granted that their
Speaker 1: base has nowhere else to go. Well, I'll tell you
Speaker 1: where else the fuck they have to go, which is
Speaker 1: to stay home. And we cannot afford that. Everybody has
Speaker 1: said that we need the historic numbers that turned out
Speaker 1: in twenty eighteen and that turned out in twenty twenty
Speaker 1: to turn out this time. Right now, the early voting
Speaker 1: is showing that we are on pace for that. And
Speaker 1: so with the time, the less than two weeks that
Speaker 1: we have, folks, I am urging each and every one
Speaker 1: of you to utilize your own platforms to gather your
Speaker 1: own people to get to the polls. As I've said
Speaker 1: previously on election Day, if you're not doing any physical
Speaker 1: labor in order to bring people to the polls, volunteering
Speaker 1: at the polls, and doing things of that nature, then
Speaker 1: I need you not to be sitting in front of
Speaker 1: your television screen driving yourself absolutely mad. As they say,
Speaker 1: three percent of the vote is in and it looks
Speaker 1: like a Republican is running away with the race. That
Speaker 1: is the quickest way to a heart attack, a migraine,
Speaker 1: and to a broken television. I'm telling you to do
Speaker 1: what you can in the space that you occupy, and
Speaker 1: then leave the rest. Just leave the rest, because worrying
Speaker 1: about it, stressing about things that you can't physically change,
Speaker 1: do not change them. But what it does do is
Speaker 1: change you internally, and that's what we do not want.
Speaker 1: So coming up next today is my conversation with Delia Coleman,
Speaker 1: and we are going to talk about Equal Rights advocates
Speaker 1: study and research that they've done on Family Voices, a
Speaker 1: mixed method survey of family breadwinners that captures the economic
Speaker 1: reality of black and LATINEX women after two years of
Speaker 1: pandemic uncertainty. What their research has found is that nearly
Speaker 1: half of the women's surveyed could not afford all of
Speaker 1: their basic needs and cited issues like childcare costs, debt,
Speaker 1: and workplace discrimination. So we'll get into the findings of
Speaker 1: this research that they have done, and then also Delia
Speaker 1: will offer up other narratives that we need to be
Speaker 1: paying attention to. That and much much more is coming
Speaker 1: up next. Hey, there, I want to tell you about
Speaker 1: another podcast. I think you'll love The Brown Girl's Guide
Speaker 1: to Politics, hosted by a Shanty Gooler, the president of Emerge. BGG,
Speaker 1: is the one stop shop for women of color who
Speaker 1: want to hear and talk about the world of politics.
Speaker 1: Join a Shanty this season as she talks to incredible
Speaker 1: women of color who are changing the face of politics
Speaker 1: and tackling some of the most important issues basing the
Speaker 1: United States, from reproductive justice to voting rights, to climate
Speaker 1: change and more. Tune in every Tuesday wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcasts, Folks. I am happy to welcome to woke
Speaker 1: f for the first time, Dlia Coleman, who is a
Speaker 1: Deputy director of Equal Rights Advocate and wanting to discuss
Speaker 1: the voices of black and brown women as we head
Speaker 1: into mid term elections. You know what's funny is that
Speaker 1: I find that in general, well Republicans, in my humble opinion,
Speaker 1: don't reach out to women of color at all, But
Speaker 1: when it comes to Democrats, it only seems that we
Speaker 1: are important when it's right about that time to vote.
Speaker 1: So talk to us about what you have been noticing
Speaker 1: and hearing and why it's important that we need to
Speaker 1: tap in as we're just a few weeks out from
Speaker 1: election day, Thank you so much, Danielle. I'm happy to
Speaker 1: be here. You know, when midterm season runs comes around,
Speaker 1: it's always like, oh, we're all on a track, and
Speaker 1: we have to get ready, ready, ready, And I think
Speaker 1: other black and brown women, particularly black women, have been
Speaker 1: getting ready for the past two years, particularly because of
Speaker 1: the pandemic. The pandemic was a major disruption in all
Speaker 1: of our lives, and it of course hit black women
Speaker 1: the hardest. And so what I've been noticing in the
Speaker 1: work that I do day to day with equal rights advocates,
Speaker 1: but also just as a black woman myself. Yes, one
Speaker 1: of the things, some of the things that I've been
Speaker 1: noticing is how precarious our position is economically right now.
Speaker 1: And so those kitchen table issues which normally come up
Speaker 1: during mid term season. You know, what are those kitchen
Speaker 1: tab able economic issues that is at the front of
Speaker 1: black women's minds right now. How are they going to
Speaker 1: make it? How are they going to provide for their families?
Speaker 1: What do their kids need? What do their families need?
Speaker 1: And one of the things that some of the things
Speaker 1: that we've been hearing childcare as well as elder care
Speaker 1: as a concern. You know, how can they continue to
Speaker 1: provide care for their families. How can they do that
Speaker 1: and keep a job. How can they keep a job
Speaker 1: or grow in that job. How can they make more money?
Speaker 1: Because right now the math is not math in income
Speaker 1: is not covering all of the needs. There are so
Speaker 1: many external pressures like debt, credit card debt, student loan debt, mortgage, debt, rent,
Speaker 1: all of these things combine to put a vice like
Speaker 1: grip on black family breadwinners. And it's just one of
Speaker 1: the things that is, you know, at top of mind.
Speaker 1: In addition to things like the ongoing the ongoing crisis
Speaker 1: in our criminal justice system and the ongoing crisis around
Speaker 1: reproductive health. You know, black women are also disproportionately affected
Speaker 1: when things like the job decision happen, and so cutting
Speaker 1: off that critical access to reproductive healthcare is an issue
Speaker 1: for a great many of us. And so that's that's
Speaker 1: what's circling around my brain right now about what black
Speaker 1: women are concerned about. Do you think that when the
Speaker 1: media for in stance and then propped up by politicians,
Speaker 1: are talking about quote unquote kitchen table issues, that they're
Speaker 1: doing so in a way that delineates the distinctions between
Speaker 1: what kitchen table issues mean for white women and what
Speaker 1: it is that they mean for black Indigenous people of
Speaker 1: color right, because I will tell you that I hate
Speaker 1: the term kitchen table politics, you know, kitchen table issues,
Speaker 1: because I think that everything is a kitchen table issue,
Speaker 1: particularly for those people that can't afford a kitchen table.
Speaker 1: So how how are things different? How do you see
Speaker 1: them differently? And how has your reports that you have
Speaker 1: done the research that EARA has done with family voices,
Speaker 1: What are some of the things that were signified. So
Speaker 1: our Family Voices research, which just came out over the
Speaker 1: summer earlier this fall, was the brainchild of equal rights
Speaker 1: advocates because at that time, during the pandemic, people were
Speaker 1: talking about black and Latin X family breadwinners, but they
Speaker 1: weren't talking to black and Latin X family breadwinners. And
Speaker 1: that's what we wanted to do. We wanted to talk
Speaker 1: to them, we wanted to listen to them, and we
Speaker 1: wanted to understand. We have an educated guess, you know, like, Okay,
Speaker 1: we think that these issues are important. We think that
Speaker 1: pay is important, we think that equity in the workplace
Speaker 1: is important. Those were assumptions that we had going in
Speaker 1: when we dug into this project with this national survey
Speaker 1: talking to Black and Latin family breadwinners across the country.
Speaker 1: Those were certainly important, But what was different was the
Speaker 1: intensity around some of these issues, and the intensity that
Speaker 1: we saw around childcare, the intent city that we saw
Speaker 1: around debt, the intensity that we saw around generational wealth building.
Speaker 1: This was an eye opener for us because what that
Speaker 1: showed us was that there is a context this kitchen
Speaker 1: table and your question about you know, are people aware
Speaker 1: of different kitchen tables that exist? No, I don't think
Speaker 1: that people are aware of different kitchen tables that exist.
Speaker 1: I think the learning curve, of the learning curve of
Speaker 1: America broadly is sadly lacking, especially when it comes to
Speaker 1: thinking about how different decisions affect different communities disproportionately. And
Speaker 1: so when I think about the Black community in particular,
Speaker 1: and even within the Black community, there are different kinds
Speaker 1: of kitchen tables, right. So, how people understand these issues,
Speaker 1: how people hear these issues, how they affect the women
Speaker 1: in these communities is a matter of are you willing
Speaker 1: to listen because what you here might not be what
Speaker 1: you expect, and it might not be what you're prepared
Speaker 1: for Luckily, some of the things that we heard, like
Speaker 1: fifty percent of the women that we surveyed said that
Speaker 1: they were struggling to make ends. Me Now, intellectually, we
Speaker 1: understand that wages have been depressed for the past forty
Speaker 1: years or more, but what we weren't aware of was
Speaker 1: the depth of that intensity they've been The women that
Speaker 1: we spoke with were so, we're so, how can I
Speaker 1: put the word the pressure of that struggle what that
Speaker 1: meant for them? We heard a woman say I can't
Speaker 1: die because I have nothing to pass on to my kids.
Speaker 1: When we heard that in our and we had focus
Speaker 1: groups that we called kitchen table conversations because we wanted
Speaker 1: to build a table where our survey participants could gather
Speaker 1: and we were doing this all on zoom, so that
Speaker 1: they could share with one another and see that they
Speaker 1: weren't alone and have a conversation about their common experiences.
Speaker 1: And it was a deeply rich conversation. And we heard
Speaker 1: stories like this continually. And so what does it mean
Speaker 1: to not just advocate for a policy that says, yes,
Speaker 1: black and brown women need equal pay, but to know
Speaker 1: that if they don't get equal pay, it is creating
Speaker 1: mental and economic pressure so large that they feel that
Speaker 1: they have to stay alive in order for their families
Speaker 1: to make it, rather than you know, having enough so
Speaker 1: that they can go through healthcare crisis, um, job crisis,
Speaker 1: any kind of crisis, confident that their families are taken
Speaker 1: care of. We also heard I just I want to
Speaker 1: interrupt for a second, because you know that sentiment from
Speaker 1: from from one of your participants just hits so deeply, right, um,
Speaker 1: And I think you know, one of the things that
Speaker 1: I find really troubling is that in American society, we
Speaker 1: have mainstream has become comfortable with black suffering and pain.
Speaker 1: So while we know these things to be true, while
Speaker 1: we know that these you know, economic gaps and gaps
Speaker 1: in um, in instability and wealth um persist and we're
Speaker 1: created on purpose, how do you utilize the information that
Speaker 1: you have gathered to not say, oh and so here's
Speaker 1: another way, right that that that that black and brown
Speaker 1: women are down trodden. But how do you how do
Speaker 1: you make the case that their plight is a plight
Speaker 1: on our overall success? You know, because I think that
Speaker 1: that to me is where is where the problem is.
Speaker 1: We know that black and brown lives in this country
Speaker 1: don't matter right like that is that we are. We
Speaker 1: are showcased that every single day. And so how do
Speaker 1: you connect you know, the reality of what this participant
Speaker 1: is saying, which I'm sure millions of black and brown
Speaker 1: women can relate to and relate it to the whole,
Speaker 1: so that the mainstream that dismisses us in general realizes
Speaker 1: that their struggle is a shared struggle. I love that, Um,
Speaker 1: I love that question. Um. Shared struggle is uh something
Speaker 1: that we talk a lot about here at r A.
Speaker 1: And when we were having these kitchen table talks with
Speaker 1: the survey participants, one of the questions I asked was,
Speaker 1: what does the story you want to change about you
Speaker 1: and your community in the media, in public perception. And
Speaker 1: by and large, the main story that they wanted to
Speaker 1: change about themselves was We're doing everything right. We are
Speaker 1: doing exactly what has been asked of us. We're going
Speaker 1: to school, we are working. The majority of the people
Speaker 1: that we surveyed had jobs. The majority of the people
Speaker 1: that we surveyed were married or partnered. The overwhelming majority
Speaker 1: of the people that we surveyed had kids. Those are
Speaker 1: literally the marker of the American dream. Get married, have kids,
Speaker 1: have a home, get an education, do good. These people
Speaker 1: are doing good. Black and brown women are doing good.
Speaker 1: We believe the dream, and I think what is important
Speaker 1: is to not concentrate on the trauma or the poverty,
Speaker 1: porn of Oh, here's another community that is oppressed what
Speaker 1: we want. I believe that in order to change what
Speaker 1: needs to be changed, everyone needs to agree on that
Speaker 1: shared vision of what it means to be here. All
Speaker 1: of us deserve a chance to thrive. All of us
Speaker 1: deserve an opportunity, and I think that is what the
Speaker 1: crisis is facing us right now. We all need to
Speaker 1: agree that we all deserve a chance to thrive and
Speaker 1: take care of our families, or we don't. That's the
Speaker 1: choice that's in front of us. And the way we
Speaker 1: come at it as an organization is presenting that future
Speaker 1: to the people who have the ability to help us
Speaker 1: reach that future. They need to know this is what
Speaker 1: our communities are experiencing and if we believe that there
Speaker 1: is a path forward, these moms are just as important
Speaker 1: as the top one percent. We cannot have a great
Speaker 1: society if we are only thinking about what the top
Speaker 1: one percent need. Indisputable with doctor Rashie Ricci, is one
Speaker 1: of the latest shows on the TYT network and also
Speaker 1: the fastest growing news show in America. On his show,
Speaker 1: Doctor Ricci plays no games regarding policy, delivering a heavy
Speaker 1: dose of fact based truth and penetrating analysis on all
Speaker 1: the top news stories focusing on racism, criminal and social justice, politics,
Speaker 1: police brutality, karents, and much more. Listeners can also expect
Speaker 1: interviews with fascinating guests, political leaders, commentators, and even fiery
Speaker 1: debates with conservatives on a wide range of policy topics.
Speaker 1: In the Bullpen, it is an indisputable fact that you
Speaker 1: will love this show. Listen to Indisputable with Doctor Rashad
Speaker 1: Ricci on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Speaker 1: If you like what you hear, be sure to subscribe
Speaker 1: so you never miss a new episode. Do you think, Delia,
Speaker 1: that there are more people that are invested in the
Speaker 1: oppression then there are people invested in the idea of
Speaker 1: shared struggle. And what I mean by that is I
Speaker 1: want people to have deeper empathy, right, like to have
Speaker 1: empathy outside of how things affect them. But what we've
Speaker 1: seen over the last three years is that a majority
Speaker 1: of people are maybe half fifty percent are in it
Speaker 1: for themselves, right, Like we couldn't get people to wear
Speaker 1: a mask, a thin paper cloth right to protect themselves
Speaker 1: and also by virtue, protect people around them. They didn't care. Right,
Speaker 1: this is a this is a community societal issue. And
Speaker 1: so I'm just wondering, like, is there more people who
Speaker 1: don't care and are invested in the continued oppression of
Speaker 1: said group because they're part of the one percent? Right?
Speaker 1: The one percent only functions if you have a permanent
Speaker 1: working class that is desperate, right, that will accept your
Speaker 1: low wages, that will accept your lack of healthcare, that
Speaker 1: will accept your dangerous work environments because they are treading water.
Speaker 1: Or do you believe that there is there are more
Speaker 1: people who are invested in this significant societal shift, but
Speaker 1: we just need to message to them better. So I
Speaker 1: am an idealist, and I also read national polls, and
Speaker 1: so both of these things together show me that the
Speaker 1: average American person actually believes in equality when they are
Speaker 1: presented with questions about economic fairness. Yes, they do believe
Speaker 1: that people need to earn more than a minimum wage.
Speaker 1: They believe that the sub minimum wage is not enough
Speaker 1: to get by. They believe that women should be paid
Speaker 1: should be paid as much as their male counterparts get paid.
Speaker 1: They believe that reproductive healthcare should be available to pregnant people.
Speaker 1: So the majority of the American voters out there actually
Speaker 1: believe in the same things that we believe in. So
Speaker 1: what's the issue. The issue is that the other side
Speaker 1: has a really big and really well funded megaphone, and
Speaker 1: that megaphone has been loud, constant, and super disruptive over
Speaker 1: the past five to six years, and that is a
Speaker 1: lot of noise to get through. Now. Is messaging the
Speaker 1: only way to get through that noise? No, But I
Speaker 1: do think that messaging does help, and I'm really happy
Speaker 1: to see that there have been some significant changes in
Speaker 1: the past couple of years. When I think about the
Speaker 1: me invigorated worker justice movement that's going on right now,
Speaker 1: and reinvigorated worker justice movement is being led by women,
Speaker 1: young people, and people of color. That is not your
Speaker 1: granddad's union, are, you know? And that gives me so
Speaker 1: much hope, so much fire and the rest of us
Speaker 1: normal everyday people need to take inspiration from that and
Speaker 1: help that along. And so how do we do that
Speaker 1: on a community to community person or person level. I
Speaker 1: think about what I think about when I have a
Speaker 1: conversation with a grocery store worker, I have to become
Speaker 1: empathetic to their situation. I am not going to lose
Speaker 1: my issue because someone is having a bad day at work,
Speaker 1: because I know, but they're getting paid. They are getting
Speaker 1: paid minimum wage. They have probably been passed up for
Speaker 1: promotion multiple times, and so our system it is hard
Speaker 1: to change the system, and there are many, many people
Speaker 1: lined up to prevent us from changing the system. And
Speaker 1: you can't just change a system with one vote. You
Speaker 1: need multiple votes. You also need some community and people
Speaker 1: power to go with that, and we need to start
Speaker 1: telling different stories in the public square about why this matters.
Speaker 1: There are some fantastic activists out there. When I think
Speaker 1: about the people that we work with who are working
Speaker 1: to change the mind parts and minds around the care economy.
Speaker 1: Why are caregivers important to our society because without caregivers,
Speaker 1: women drop out of the workforce. Why is a thriving,
Speaker 1: more robust minimum wage important because without it, women who
Speaker 1: work in certain industries get sexually harassed because they're held
Speaker 1: hostage to their economic situation. And so the vision of
Speaker 1: this world needs to be one based on liberation, freedom, autonomy,
Speaker 1: and opportunity, and everyone deserves that, particularly the communities that
Speaker 1: have been shut out of that. So long, Dahlia, last
Speaker 1: question for you, what is your singular message to voters
Speaker 1: right now who say things like both parties aren't doing anything,
Speaker 1: I'm not going to vote, nothing's really going to change.
Speaker 1: Nothing has ever changed, plenty has changed, plenty has changed.
Speaker 1: I personally, which that I could snap a finger and
Speaker 1: incremental change could go by the wayside. But I know
Speaker 1: that that is not how things work right now. Things
Speaker 1: haven't changed because the numbers aren't working in our favor.
Speaker 1: The margin that we have is too small to actually
Speaker 1: mitigate the barriers that are in front of us. So
Speaker 1: first we need to change the numbers voting in order
Speaker 1: to change the numbers. I never look at my voting
Speaker 1: practice as a one shot, a one shot deal that
Speaker 1: solves everything. It is one tool in many tools that
Speaker 1: I have available in front of me, and so one
Speaker 1: tool is voting. Change the numbers, get rid of the barriers.
Speaker 1: Second tool, hold the new numbers accountable. Most people don't
Speaker 1: even talk to their elected officials, and so if you
Speaker 1: don't talk to your elected officials, how do they know
Speaker 1: what you care about. I think another thing is for
Speaker 1: elected officials, and this was something that we heard from
Speaker 1: our survey participants. Black and brown people know what they need.
Speaker 1: They know exactly what they need, and they're not electorally
Speaker 1: ignorant either. They know who's up for office, they know
Speaker 1: who represents them, and they are looking at those offices
Speaker 1: going I don't see in my community. I don't see
Speaker 1: in my community. I don't see you helping us out
Speaker 1: with what we need. And we remember, and certainly, I
Speaker 1: think when I hear people say that both sides are
Speaker 1: the same, that's just inaccurate. Both sides are not the
Speaker 1: same as what is in front of us and what
Speaker 1: is going to be affecting us going forward. We have
Speaker 1: already seen how precarious our precious system of democratic process is,
Speaker 1: and we need to protect that. We need to make
Speaker 1: it more robust, and we need to make it more
Speaker 1: accessible for everyone, because right now, the less people that participate,
Speaker 1: the easier it is for authoritarian forces to do what
Speaker 1: they want to our system of government, and so at
Speaker 1: the very least, there needs to be a firewall against that.
Speaker 1: Delia Coleman, thank you so much for making the time
Speaker 1: to join Willkate F and thank you for the work
Speaker 1: that Equal Rights Advocates is doing to lift up these
Speaker 1: themes and these messages that people need to care about
Speaker 1: get fired up about. We appreciate you, We appreciate you.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for letting me get on my
Speaker 1: soapbox and rant and ray for a few minutes. Absolutely, okay,
Speaker 1: take care. That is it for me today. Dear friends
Speaker 1: on Woke a f as always, Power to the people
Speaker 1: and to all the people power, get woke and stay
Speaker 1: woke as fuck.