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Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie an Samantha and welcome to Steph.

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Speaker 1: I've never told your production of I Heart Radio. Okay,

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Speaker 1: so I have just start with a question again, don't

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Speaker 1: I I mean you don't have to. I mean I

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Speaker 1: feel like it's tradition now, um, so let me ask.

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Speaker 1: Oh god, I have to hide where I'm like really struggling.

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Speaker 1: You know what, I have a good I have a

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Speaker 1: good one. Yesterday. What was your birthday? Today? Is even

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Speaker 1: though yes it's not that time frame as you're listening

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Speaker 1: whenever you listen, but yesterday was Andy's birthday? So Annie,

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Speaker 1: can you tell me what was the best thing you

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Speaker 1: did on your birthday during quarantine? Because we're still quarantine. Oh,

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Speaker 1: I actually turned out to be a lovely birthday. And

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Speaker 1: I think, um, I would say that the relief of

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Speaker 1: not having to plan a party, as much as I

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Speaker 1: love a party, was wonderful. And also I have an

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Speaker 1: insecurity that people just sort of forget about me and quarantine,

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Speaker 1: and they didn't. They really showed up. I didn't ask,

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Speaker 1: but people brought me beer, they brought me food, like

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Speaker 1: socially distanced, but it was really steeve. It was I'm

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Speaker 1: lucky to have a really good group of friends you included, Samantha. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: our celebration is coming a little later. Yeah. See, now

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Speaker 1: your question is so specific to me. Can't really answer

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Speaker 1: what was you did yesterday? This is why I did

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Speaker 1: this because I'm like, I don't I don't really want

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Speaker 1: to ask answer a question. The bust thing I did

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Speaker 1: yesterday I found a new game on my phone which

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Speaker 1: has all these different puzzles, and I'm like, you know what,

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Speaker 1: this is how I'm going to combat eld age dementia

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Speaker 1: because I'm struggling with the words. So that's the bust

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Speaker 1: thing I did yesterday. So yeah, anyway, I'm glad to

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Speaker 1: know that you had a good birthday and today because

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Speaker 1: I love when my friends come on. We have back

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Speaker 1: Melody Bray, who was with us earlier this season. I

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Speaker 1: guess every day, what is this the year earlier this year?

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Speaker 1: The timeframe, Oh my god, uh to talk to us

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Speaker 1: about the discrimination in housing and women and how it's

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Speaker 1: affecting us today and in the pandemic. And she is back. Welcome.

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Speaker 1: So I have this plot um of making sure that

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Speaker 1: Melody is always going to be kind of our extra

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Speaker 1: special friend who comes around every month or so every

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Speaker 1: few months or so to give us, give us a

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Speaker 1: friend that Melody. We you and I've known each other

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Speaker 1: for a long time, so of course it's gonna be

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Speaker 1: a little creepy because that's what I do. Come on,

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Speaker 1: you know me now, But yes, um, we are bringing

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Speaker 1: Melody back because we wanted to talk to you about

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Speaker 1: what it looks like to be an activist during this

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Speaker 1: political season without necessarily running within any elections, and what

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Speaker 1: it looks like and why it's important to do it

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Speaker 1: on a very local front um. And also because I

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Speaker 1: love you have nothing has slowed you down. This has

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Speaker 1: been a ridiculous time where everybody just kind of quit everything,

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Speaker 1: including me. I'm like, yeah, I'm done, I'm done being

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Speaker 1: all the things. But you have pushed forward and continue

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Speaker 1: to drive and push and be a voice during our

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Speaker 1: electoral season in Georgia, and you have created a new project,

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Speaker 1: a nonprofit. Can you talk to us about that a

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Speaker 1: little bit? Yeah? Well, for first I just have to

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Speaker 1: stop you. You referred to me as an activist, which

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Speaker 1: I have I to my knowledge, have not been called

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Speaker 1: an activist before, and just strikes me as like, I

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Speaker 1: don't know, it's it seems like such a like big

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Speaker 1: and weighty word like I just being myself as like

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Speaker 1: a person who sees gaps and fills them if possible,

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Speaker 1: or like gets a friend to fill them if I

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Speaker 1: can't do it. So, um, thank you for speaking so

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Speaker 1: highly of me. It just sounds weird coming out of

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Speaker 1: your mouth. For current projects is uh called the Georgia

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Speaker 1: Project And um, we are just a group of women

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Speaker 1: here in Atlanta who we've kind of been motivated by.

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Speaker 1: I'd say the hands down the best thing to come

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Speaker 1: out of Donald Trump's presidency in my view, is an

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Speaker 1: increased awareness and motivation and you know, people are actually

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Speaker 1: paying attention to what's going on around them more. Um So,

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Speaker 1: a couple of friends, um, Abbie Green, Katie White, they

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Speaker 1: decided they wanted to go hand out pizza and water

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Speaker 1: during the mid terms in light of the press cut

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Speaker 1: bridge that was coming out about then Secretary of State

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Speaker 1: Brian Kemp running against Stacy Abrams for governor UM and

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Speaker 1: then this past June with the primaries going on, and

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Speaker 1: everybody with eyes had the ability to see that we

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Speaker 1: had this convergence of events that we're going to turn

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Speaker 1: into some sort of debacle. On the day of the

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Speaker 1: primary um, Abby and Katie, along with another gown named

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Speaker 1: Adelaide Taylor, decided they were going to do their line

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Speaker 1: warming efforts again. And then meantime, I on another side,

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Speaker 1: was planning on doing my own little line warming effort,

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Speaker 1: and we kind of all like virtually met up. Like

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Speaker 1: some folks were like, hey, you you're doing this over here,

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Speaker 1: and another groups doing this over here. Why don't you

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Speaker 1: guys combine your superpowers and um, see what you can

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Speaker 1: do to provide food, water, COVID supplies two folks who

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Speaker 1: were standing in line, And in a matter of a

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Speaker 1: few days, we were able to raise eleven thousand dollars

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Speaker 1: to support our efforts to buy all those provisions for

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Speaker 1: folks in line. We hit sixty precincts around the metro

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Speaker 1: Atlanta area to support voters, and most importantly, I felt

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Speaker 1: like we brought like joy and encouragement to people standing

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Speaker 1: in line. It was hot. It was so hot that day.

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Speaker 1: If it wasn't hot, it was a deluge of rain.

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Speaker 1: It was one or the other, there's no in between.

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Speaker 1: We did that, and knowing that November three was coming up,

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Speaker 1: we decided we were going to pivot from election day

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Speaker 1: to a focus on election month, and so Georgia Project

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Speaker 1: feels like every person who votes early is a person

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Speaker 1: who is not in line on November three, And we

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Speaker 1: are raising money to be able to provide early voter

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Speaker 1: incentives to folks and then support those who are actually

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Speaker 1: comeing out on November three and providing resources to underrepresented

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Speaker 1: communities on absentee ballot packets. UM. Instructions on how to

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Speaker 1: do that where you're early voting locations are, um, what

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Speaker 1: some of these roles are on the ballot, how do

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Speaker 1: they affect your daily life? That kind of thing, um.

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Speaker 1: And we're doing it all through kind of food centric things,

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Speaker 1: So putting those packets in food bank boxes um to

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Speaker 1: go to underrepresented communities, or we'll be at the Marta,

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Speaker 1: which is our public transit system here, the Marta Farmers

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Speaker 1: markets targeting those communities being able to get absentee ballot

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Speaker 1: requests packets into their hands and then follow up the

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Speaker 1: next week when we're there again when they have a

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Speaker 1: question about the ballot, come back to us, talk to us,

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Speaker 1: you know, just being that kind of resource. I love

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Speaker 1: that so much, um, And just kind of go back

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Speaker 1: and talk a little bit about what happened in Georgia

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Speaker 1: because you have done a nice job on making it

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Speaker 1: a positive spin when all I saw was a disaster.

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Speaker 1: So in my pessimistic spin. So much like UM a

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Speaker 1: lot of other states, Georgia had a lot of confusion,

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Speaker 1: UM wasn't the UM, and a lot of problems in

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Speaker 1: the whole voting, the fact that they had closed down

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Speaker 1: locations and didn't give people enough time to uh really

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Speaker 1: prepare or nowhere to go one two. They also had

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Speaker 1: the long ass lines that took forever because either the

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Speaker 1: machines were faulty or the place was not did not

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Speaker 1: have enough machines. All these big, huge problems which like

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Speaker 1: ended up being an eight hour weight if not longer

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Speaker 1: for a lot of people. That the thought was they

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Speaker 1: were going to start to leave, which by the way,

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Speaker 1: that didn't happen. People were pissed and they wanted to vote,

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Speaker 1: and they were more determined, And I loved that UM

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Speaker 1: and it was it was a huge delay within in

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Speaker 1: a lot. Actually it opened up a big conversation about

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Speaker 1: the controversy of what is happening in these areas? Why

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Speaker 1: are these places being closed, why are they being neglected,

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Speaker 1: and why are people not being made aware of the

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Speaker 1: changes that are happening until the day of when it's

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Speaker 1: almost too late or more frustrating and making people turn away,

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Speaker 1: and you and these group of ladies came together to

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Speaker 1: make it a more positive experience, which was phenomenal, and

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Speaker 1: I love, love, loved hearing of that and then coming

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Speaker 1: in behind that and making it a preventative measure within November,

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Speaker 1: because we don't really have any solutions. There's no conversations

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Speaker 1: of real solutions right now outside of the fact that

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Speaker 1: yet the State Farm Arena, which opened up a lot

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Speaker 1: of space and a lot of opportunity, and we were

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Speaker 1: very grateful to have that. I know around the country

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Speaker 1: other arenas are starting to do the same UM trying

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Speaker 1: to give more opportunities for people to vote. But it

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Speaker 1: did open up this conversation of what is happening and

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Speaker 1: why are these specific areas being targeted, because it seemed

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Speaker 1: like when you started looking at UM people's complaints and

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Speaker 1: where do the complaints were coming from, it was were

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Speaker 1: populated urban areas which had a lot of complicated questions

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Speaker 1: coming out of it. And I didn't want to talk

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Speaker 1: to you about a little bit about what you saw

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Speaker 1: because you're also a lawyer who if I said, like

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Speaker 1: I have referred to your services before you have and

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Speaker 1: you've been very, very helpful. And you've also worked within

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Speaker 1: county government as well as have high UM, and you

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Speaker 1: have seen a lot of the small local stuff and

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Speaker 1: how it can be effective as well as how it

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Speaker 1: could be harmful if people don't understand what's happening within

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Speaker 1: those types of elections. So I want to talk about

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Speaker 1: all these things, including the fact, as we were talking

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Speaker 1: about a little bit part of the conversation about this

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Speaker 1: complicated process in order to vote in person, is it

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Speaker 1: a part of the bigger conversation of voter suppression. I

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Speaker 1: know you're working on anti suppression activism, and can you

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Speaker 1: kind of talk about what is happening what you see

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Speaker 1: as a problem. Yeah. Absolutely, I mean I think the

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Speaker 1: fact that the Georgia Project exists, I will be glad

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Speaker 1: when we shut down, when we no longer exist, that

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Speaker 1: you've got just four regular people who um see this

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Speaker 1: massive systemic issue and are having to like, at this point,

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Speaker 1: we're having a stamp drive where we collect stamps to

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Speaker 1: give to folks to mail things in. And there was

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Speaker 1: a moment when we were planning it, and we all

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Speaker 1: just started laughing at how ridiculous it is that we're

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Speaker 1: asking our parents and grandparents to cough up their stamps

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Speaker 1: in order to give it to other people to vote.

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Speaker 1: Like it. It just it kind of it just blows

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Speaker 1: my mind. Um, it blows my mind. So, getting to

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Speaker 1: what you're saying of of whether voter suppression is an

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Speaker 1: issue or not, it is a partisan This is a

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Speaker 1: partisan topic, and you largely fall on one part of

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Speaker 1: the line or the other depending on what party are

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Speaker 1: in in general, which I think is unfortunate because the

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Speaker 1: facts say something different. It's it's clear. So if you're

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Speaker 1: going to talk about voter suppression, you have to talk

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Speaker 1: about the more relatively recent Supreme Court ruling in Shelby

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Speaker 1: versus Holder that struck down Section five of the Voting

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Speaker 1: Rights Act. And that section was put in the Act

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Speaker 1: originally in order to force or mandate states anytime they

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Speaker 1: were going to make some sort of process change to elections,

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Speaker 1: they had to get some sort of federal approval of oversight.

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Speaker 1: And the ruling of the court essentially was that we've

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Speaker 1: made such strides since uh this Act was enacted in

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Speaker 1: nine that we don't really need that oversight anymore, ignoring

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Speaker 1: the logic that perhaps the fact that this act exists

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Speaker 1: is the reason we've made such great strides. And so

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Speaker 1: when evaluating weather so ppression exists, you have to really

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Speaker 1: focus on kind of the years leading up to Shelby

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Speaker 1: versus Holder, which was and compare from let's say ish

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Speaker 1: to present versus pre levels. And so for instance, in Georgia,

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Speaker 1: two fourteen polling places were closed in Georgia since and

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Speaker 1: of those places were in black counties or predominantly black counties.

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Speaker 1: Kemp In our current governor, but at the time with

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Speaker 1: Secretary of State, he uh had fifty four thousand voter

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Speaker 1: registrations that he put into quote pending status, which essentially

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Speaker 1: is like a voter purgatory where you you can neither

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Speaker 1: you're not denied that you can't vote, but you can't

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Speaker 1: also actually affirmatively vote. Eighty percent of those were people

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Speaker 1: of color. And as a side note, Stay Abrams lost

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Speaker 1: by five thousand votes, and fifty four thousand of those

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Speaker 1: were pening. Like you have fifty four thousand pending registrations

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Speaker 1: um provisional ballots that were cast of those were cast.

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Speaker 1: Of those where people of color and half of provisional

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Speaker 1: ballots were thrown out. So it's a crazy thing to

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Speaker 1: me to say that when looking at numbers like that,

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Speaker 1: that seventy of closures in my state we're closed in

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Speaker 1: predominantly black counties, and say that there's not some level

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Speaker 1: that's is well above flipping a coin and having some

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Speaker 1: sort of chance. Right, we're talking about math, right, Okay,

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Speaker 1: it's not you can't skew and I wasn't ready for

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Speaker 1: a math lesson. Listen, I suck at math. But if

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Speaker 1: even I can do a math equation, you know, it's

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Speaker 1: the most like basic of math problems that you could

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Speaker 1: I'm up. It's one of those common sense huh, this

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Speaker 1: does not match what is wrong here? Right? And so

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Speaker 1: even if you were to say, let's say, for arguments,

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Speaker 1: say it's not some nefarious, smoke filled room situation where

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Speaker 1: people are coming up with this plan, because arguably the

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Speaker 1: idea that any governmental entity is able to come up

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Speaker 1: with a comprehensive, incompetent plan about anything is a bit

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Speaker 1: of a stretch of imagination. Right at the very least,

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Speaker 1: you are seeing an issue and refusing to actually take

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Speaker 1: steps to help the issue, which to me is just

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Speaker 1: as bad, right, right. And I think that's a big

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Speaker 1: conversation of Okay, so we see something's wrong, only a

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Speaker 1: small people amount of people are really willing to talk

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Speaker 1: about why this is wrong? How do we make this

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Speaker 1: a change? And I know there's been a back and forth,

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Speaker 1: especially UM after John Lewis represented John Lewis passed away. UM,

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Speaker 1: one of the big conversations is if you really want

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Speaker 1: to honor him, you would talk about the voting rights

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Speaker 1: and how to fix it and vote on it, which

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Speaker 1: has been in a stalemate from what I understand a

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Speaker 1: long long time because of the majority leader who has

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Speaker 1: decided to table it as a whole other conversation in itself.

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Speaker 1: And obviously this is such a broad subject, uh, that

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Speaker 1: goes beyond just when we're talking about feminism in itself,

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Speaker 1: just how it breaks down all the system. But I

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Speaker 1: did want to talk about how who it is expecting, UM,

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Speaker 1: and when we talk about targeting and who is being suppressed,

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Speaker 1: one of the loudest voices as well as most fearful

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Speaker 1: like people are afraid of it seems like it's black women, UM,

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Speaker 1: and specifically women of color, but black women specifically because

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Speaker 1: you see things as we've talked about with Kepp and

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Speaker 1: I'm not gonna lie. There's a lot of things that's happening.

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Speaker 1: But whether it's going after a specific mayor who happens

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Speaker 1: to be a black woman when it comes to mask

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Speaker 1: mandates instead of everybody else who has the mask mandates UM,

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Speaker 1: as well as going after Stacy Abrams and her her

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Speaker 1: fight and her trying to find equal rights and fairness

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Speaker 1: in voting. That's a whole other conversation. But in itself,

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Speaker 1: we have a history and we actually had guests on

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Speaker 1: previous host Bridget came on talking about the fact that

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Speaker 1: within Twitter, black women were actually targeted to discourage in

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Speaker 1: voting at by whether it's they had fake accounts of

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Speaker 1: a black woman going after other black women, all these

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Speaker 1: things and and and it being said, the reason it

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Speaker 1: was allowed to happen is because people don't want to

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Speaker 1: believe that, or people refuse to believe that it's happening,

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Speaker 1: and because black women are so silenced that it is

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Speaker 1: accepted it is accepted. UM. So I didn't want to

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Speaker 1: talk about if you if you've known or seen or

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Speaker 1: have you had this conversation of why does it seem

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Speaker 1: that black women are a feared and trying to be silenced. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean the first thing that came to my and

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Speaker 1: when you were talking about it, and feared is the right,

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Speaker 1: right term, Like there's a history of power and ability

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Speaker 1: to get things done behind black women particularly. It's almost

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Speaker 1: like we've been refined by fire um throughout centuries, and

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Speaker 1: those of us who are still here are a certain brand,

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Speaker 1: right um that survived to this date. And so the

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Speaker 1: first thing that I thought of was the Doug Jones

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Speaker 1: election in Alabama that has been largely attributed that you

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Speaker 1: have Doug Jones being elected to a traditionally Republican seat,

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Speaker 1: largely attributed to black women mobilizing, getting in their cars,

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Speaker 1: bringing people to polls, um telling their friends, motivating people,

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Speaker 1: was able to change something that everybody thought was just

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Speaker 1: never going to happen. So, if I am in a

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Speaker 1: seat of majority, and that that's any seat of majority,

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Speaker 1: We're not just talking about Republicans here, any position of power,

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Speaker 1: and I'm holding that seat or that position with my

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Speaker 1: bare knuckles, it's of course in my best interest to

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Speaker 1: figure out how to remove power from the hands of

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Speaker 1: those who are inherently, in their guts powerful people. If

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Speaker 1: they would just do something when they decide to do something.

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Speaker 1: And so I agree with you a that there are

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Speaker 1: you know, that Brian Kemp issue of him coming down

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Speaker 1: on Keisha Land's bottoms on mass mandates when there were

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Speaker 1: I believe five at that point five other mayors who

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Speaker 1: had done the same. Um. And of course Atlanta is

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Speaker 1: the largest city and more predominant city in Georgia, so

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Speaker 1: perhaps there was some level of virtue signaling of making her,

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Speaker 1: you know, an example for the rest of them. But

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Speaker 1: I just can't. Are we always supposed to believe in coincidences? Right?

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Speaker 1: I mean, that's kind of how it's been swept under

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Speaker 1: the rugby, like no, no, no no, no, no, it's not

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Speaker 1: a big deal. It's not because it's not what you think, um,

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Speaker 1: which is hilarious in itself. And it's really interesting because

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Speaker 1: when we're talking about going after a powerful women and

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Speaker 1: then women being especially black women, going out and telling

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Speaker 1: people you need to vote, we need to go out,

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Speaker 1: we need to do things, and actually doing things such

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Speaker 1: as driving people to the polls. UM. There's one case

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Speaker 1: that I didn't want to talk about, Crystal Mason, who

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Speaker 1: was a woman who voted as she was on parole

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Speaker 1: or community service parole, and she wasn't planning to vote

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Speaker 1: until her mom encouraged her to do so, so she did.

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Speaker 1: That ended up costing her her freedom because she was

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Speaker 1: not allowed to vote. They charged her with voter fraud.

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Speaker 1: And then, as I'm looking through all of the cases,

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Speaker 1: even if it was uh, there was another case with

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Speaker 1: Rosa Maria Ortega who was in Texas, who also a

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Speaker 1: green card, and she thought she was able to vote

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Speaker 1: and did and then did it again, not realizing that

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Speaker 1: she could do it twice. Was her like, I didn't

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Speaker 1: what I didn't understand? I could she was voting for

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Speaker 1: the Republican as in fact, the judge that charged her

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Speaker 1: and actually convicted her of voter fraud was when she

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Speaker 1: voted for which made me laugh at something that it's

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Speaker 1: not funny, I'm sorry, which made me have this conversation

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Speaker 1: like what the hell? And now she's being threatened to

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Speaker 1: being deported because she violated that even though she did

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Speaker 1: make it on a green card. So this whole conversation

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Speaker 1: of either side, it seems like women are either targeted

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Speaker 1: or at least somehow caught every damn time. This kind

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Speaker 1: of that question of how is it that women are

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Speaker 1: so easily convicted of these charges in order to be

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Speaker 1: made an example of. And have you seen that or

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Speaker 1: is that just me finding cases somehow? Yeah? I mean

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Speaker 1: I would say that if you're looking for cases that

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Speaker 1: are like that, you're going to find them. But I

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Speaker 1: do think that they are there for males as well.

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Speaker 1: Any minority group m is going to be taxed in

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Speaker 1: some way in this area, right in my right simply

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Speaker 1: because it goes back to what I was saying previously

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Speaker 1: of a power dining issue. Um, you know, as long

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Speaker 1: as the minorities voice is suppressed, and that minority women

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Speaker 1: definitely fall into that, but there's so many other categories

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Speaker 1: as well, So you know, I think that women, unfortunately

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Speaker 1: are just under this larger umbrella of wanting to allow

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Speaker 1: majority voices to take over spaces. We have some more

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Speaker 1: of our conversation with Melody, but first we have a

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Speaker 1: quick break for word from responsor. Yeah, we're back, thank you, sponsor.

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Speaker 1: Let's get back into it. And I didn't want to

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Speaker 1: kind of come back into because it's a back and

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Speaker 1: forth about is it is voting a right or is

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Speaker 1: it that same level of Hey, no taxation without representation

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Speaker 1: so when you have that back and forth, when we

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Speaker 1: look at those who have had charges, whether it is

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Speaker 1: a felony charge and are no longer allowed to vote,

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Speaker 1: and we saw in Florida, we're seeing in Florida the

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Speaker 1: back and forth and back and forth about who has

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Speaker 1: the right. Do you what do you see as is

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Speaker 1: this an issue that is about violating someone's rights or

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Speaker 1: do you think it's something bigger than that. I mean,

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Speaker 1: it is called the voting rights, a right right we

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Speaker 1: can we can start there that. You know, people with

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Speaker 1: bigger brains and more degrees than myself have come to

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Speaker 1: the conclusion that there is a right there. With Florida

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Speaker 1: in particular, I just found that entire scenario to be

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Speaker 1: it was almost like a double suppression right. So you've

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Speaker 1: got for those who aren't familiar with what happened, there

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Speaker 1: was an old law in Florida's like a hundred fifty

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Speaker 1: years old that prohibited any individuals who had been convicted

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Speaker 1: of a felony but it fully served their sentence, including

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Speaker 1: probation and parole, prohibited from voting. It was put on

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Speaker 1: the ballot for a vote, and Floridians overwhelmingly said, we

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Speaker 1: want to get rid of this law. Governor to Santis

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Speaker 1: then decides in response to that that he wants to

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Speaker 1: create a rule that you have to live. That's fine, Okay,

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Speaker 1: that's cool, but you have to have paid all of

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Speaker 1: your court fines and fees in order to vote. And

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Speaker 1: recently that was struck down by a federal judge as

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Speaker 1: essentially an old school poll tax. HM. So you've got

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Speaker 1: not just the fact that voters, people who have already

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Speaker 1: served time and already quote unquote repaid their debt to

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Speaker 1: society are not able to vote, but you also had

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Speaker 1: a vote that was put on the ballot that an

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Speaker 1: individual executive decided to overturn because he didn't like it.

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Speaker 1: So it's like, it's like some sort of inception suppression

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Speaker 1: that they're creating in Florida. I'm from Florida. We're creative much,

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Speaker 1: we come up with ways. So yeah, that and in

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Speaker 1: Florida's you know, they're not They're not the only ones

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Speaker 1: who have various rules on what the rights of folks

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Speaker 1: who have felony convictions are able to do. But the

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Speaker 1: idea that simply because you committed whatever level of crime

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Speaker 1: it was, if we have already determined that X amount

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Speaker 1: of years is the amount of time that we we

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Speaker 1: decide is worth you spending in jail or prison for this,

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Speaker 1: I don't understand why this residual thing has to carry

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Speaker 1: afterwards other than there's a lot of black people in jail, right,

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Speaker 1: And that was the other other conversation is when you

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Speaker 1: look statistically at who is being charged on felony level crimes,

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Speaker 1: whether it's they took a plea deal or is it

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Speaker 1: non violent, the numbers are that it is going to

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Speaker 1: be a person of color, that the higher percentage of

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Speaker 1: those who are convicted on those levels, not necessarily because

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Speaker 1: there doing more crimes, but because who is being convicted, right,

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Speaker 1: And that's and that's that conversation is this is a

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Speaker 1: larger scale of what is happening and why it is

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Speaker 1: coming to a conversation and coming to a head, even

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Speaker 1: why Kamala Harris is her nomination is being questioned in

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Speaker 1: general by the black population. And it makes sense, It

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Speaker 1: makes sense in conversations of who is being who is

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Speaker 1: being convicted, who is being arrested, who is being actually

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Speaker 1: seen as criminals versus you know, what is just being

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Speaker 1: done because it looks good, right, I guess it's a

433
00:27:13,760 --> 00:27:16,320
Speaker 1: better way to say it, the worst way to say that, maybe,

434
00:27:16,720 --> 00:27:19,879
Speaker 1: But yeah, that's kind of that large scale conversation of

435
00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:22,800
Speaker 1: who is coming after that, And we've seen many times

436
00:27:22,880 --> 00:27:26,680
Speaker 1: because drug charges can be felony charges and that that's

437
00:27:26,720 --> 00:27:29,600
Speaker 1: the end, and it's it's according to who has the

438
00:27:29,600 --> 00:27:34,120
Speaker 1: better representation, who has a better reputation. Even so, it's

439
00:27:34,200 --> 00:27:37,439
Speaker 1: kind of the all, right, who is being affected and

440
00:27:37,440 --> 00:27:40,280
Speaker 1: why do people seem to not care as much as

441
00:27:40,320 --> 00:27:43,600
Speaker 1: some others and why? That is an actual conversation that

442
00:27:43,720 --> 00:27:47,320
Speaker 1: needs to be had on an everyday level and not

443
00:27:47,440 --> 00:27:50,960
Speaker 1: just when it comes to voting. Yeah, I mean, I

444
00:27:51,320 --> 00:27:55,720
Speaker 1: feel like the prominence of that Florida issue just brought

445
00:27:55,840 --> 00:27:59,240
Speaker 1: to light the idea of all the downstream effects of

446
00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:02,560
Speaker 1: a felony can action, many of which are not tied

447
00:28:02,680 --> 00:28:06,959
Speaker 1: at all to the crime itself. So whether it's voting

448
00:28:07,640 --> 00:28:11,600
Speaker 1: or education and that that kind of access that you have,

449
00:28:11,680 --> 00:28:14,160
Speaker 1: our ability to get a job, all of those types

450
00:28:14,200 --> 00:28:17,359
Speaker 1: of things. Making sure that convicted felons are able to

451
00:28:17,400 --> 00:28:21,360
Speaker 1: get jobs afterwards, that's the hard stuff, right, reinstating their

452
00:28:21,440 --> 00:28:27,840
Speaker 1: voting right, like, that's that's low hanging free, that's easy

453
00:28:28,320 --> 00:28:32,280
Speaker 1: peasy stuff. But that's a signature in the story, the

454
00:28:32,359 --> 00:28:36,480
Speaker 1: signature an update of your where you live. Um yeah,

455
00:28:36,560 --> 00:28:39,880
Speaker 1: and again this is I know, Annie, we know we

456
00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:41,840
Speaker 1: talk about the fact that we bring up things that's

457
00:28:41,880 --> 00:28:43,720
Speaker 1: go like, it's a whole lot of those podcasts, a

458
00:28:43,720 --> 00:28:46,800
Speaker 1: whole other episode, and and that definitely is one of

459
00:28:46,800 --> 00:28:49,240
Speaker 1: those bigger episodes, especially when it comes to women who

460
00:28:49,240 --> 00:28:52,240
Speaker 1: are imprisoned and who are being affective because we also

461
00:28:52,600 --> 00:28:54,640
Speaker 1: can talk about the women who are being being imprisoned

462
00:28:54,640 --> 00:28:56,760
Speaker 1: for self defense I guess, but domestic violence and who

463
00:28:56,760 --> 00:29:01,280
Speaker 1: are called hard hardened criminals. And that's a whole other day.

464
00:29:01,360 --> 00:29:05,320
Speaker 1: But I'm not gonna go into it just today today, UM,

465
00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:08,160
Speaker 1: but I did with all of those things that we

466
00:29:08,160 --> 00:29:11,520
Speaker 1: were talking about. Obviously, you and your ladies have found

467
00:29:11,720 --> 00:29:15,800
Speaker 1: one way of fighting against voter suppression and through the

468
00:29:15,800 --> 00:29:18,680
Speaker 1: Georgia Project. What are some other ways that you would

469
00:29:18,680 --> 00:29:22,480
Speaker 1: advise everyone around the country in the US, UM to

470
00:29:22,520 --> 00:29:25,800
Speaker 1: continue to fight. What would be some of your recommendations

471
00:29:26,040 --> 00:29:32,000
Speaker 1: or resources. I don't know, I'm a professional. UM yeah,

472
00:29:32,040 --> 00:29:36,480
Speaker 1: I would recommend first and foremost, do you know who

473
00:29:36,520 --> 00:29:42,800
Speaker 1: your election officials aren't Like your your state oversees the election, UM,

474
00:29:42,840 --> 00:29:47,480
Speaker 1: but your county administers the elections and stuff like when

475
00:29:47,520 --> 00:29:49,720
Speaker 1: you don't get your ballot when you're standing on a

476
00:29:49,760 --> 00:29:54,440
Speaker 1: long line. That's the county official at the best of

477
00:29:54,480 --> 00:29:56,600
Speaker 1: the state, so the state's not off the hook. But

478
00:29:57,120 --> 00:30:00,800
Speaker 1: do you know your election commissioner is do you remember

479
00:30:00,880 --> 00:30:05,280
Speaker 1: voting for them at some point? Perhaps you know? Um,

480
00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:07,560
Speaker 1: do they have public meetings? What have they been doing

481
00:30:07,600 --> 00:30:10,480
Speaker 1: between now and November three? Are they having those meetings?

482
00:30:10,560 --> 00:30:13,280
Speaker 1: Can are their public comments? Just listen in you know.

483
00:30:14,200 --> 00:30:16,959
Speaker 1: I feel like that on a on a very small

484
00:30:17,000 --> 00:30:21,720
Speaker 1: scale level, is a pretty easy one to hit. UM.

485
00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:25,920
Speaker 1: Check your voter registration status. There's plenty of purging a

486
00:30:26,040 --> 00:30:28,960
Speaker 1: voter rules, and you want to make sure that whether

487
00:30:28,960 --> 00:30:32,560
Speaker 1: it's just showing up on an early voting day or

488
00:30:32,600 --> 00:30:35,320
Speaker 1: the day of or submitting your absentee ballot, you want

489
00:30:35,320 --> 00:30:37,320
Speaker 1: to be sure that you're on those rules. So check

490
00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:41,320
Speaker 1: your status today. Coming up with a voting plan today,

491
00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:44,120
Speaker 1: Are you doing it by absentee ballot? If you are,

492
00:30:44,280 --> 00:30:47,719
Speaker 1: have you requested it? If you have, is it coming,

493
00:30:48,120 --> 00:30:51,720
Speaker 1: has it arrived? When it gets your vote, then don't

494
00:30:51,800 --> 00:30:55,880
Speaker 1: wait until you know. I think in Georgia, November three,

495
00:30:55,880 --> 00:31:01,320
Speaker 1: of course is general election. Absentee ballot request deadline is

496
00:31:01,360 --> 00:31:06,040
Speaker 1: November two, Like, no need to wait till November two,

497
00:31:06,480 --> 00:31:10,320
Speaker 1: Let's just do it today. Let's do it today, right, Um.

498
00:31:10,360 --> 00:31:15,240
Speaker 1: And then there's if you're not in a battleground state, UM,

499
00:31:15,440 --> 00:31:18,120
Speaker 1: votes Save of America is doing. You can adopt a

500
00:31:18,120 --> 00:31:22,000
Speaker 1: battleground state. You can text bank, um if you order

501
00:31:22,120 --> 00:31:24,360
Speaker 1: phone bank if you're good on the phone. But if

502
00:31:24,360 --> 00:31:26,440
Speaker 1: you feel a little awkward about that, you can text

503
00:31:26,440 --> 00:31:29,360
Speaker 1: bank to battleground states to get out the vote. To

504
00:31:29,480 --> 00:31:31,920
Speaker 1: encourage people to do exactly what I'm saying right now.

505
00:31:32,640 --> 00:31:34,840
Speaker 1: That's the kind of stuff that you can do literally

506
00:31:34,880 --> 00:31:38,920
Speaker 1: sitting on your couch from your own um, in the

507
00:31:38,920 --> 00:31:43,200
Speaker 1: midst of quarantine, to be able to encourage people to

508
00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:47,000
Speaker 1: just use their voice. Um. John Lewis again he was

509
00:31:47,040 --> 00:31:51,640
Speaker 1: in just such a hero to me, and he had

510
00:31:51,720 --> 00:31:55,080
Speaker 1: said that voting is one of our most precious gifts

511
00:31:56,000 --> 00:31:59,960
Speaker 1: and the idea that folks who came before me, who

512
00:32:00,080 --> 00:32:04,520
Speaker 1: look just like me, they laid down, they were willing

513
00:32:04,560 --> 00:32:09,680
Speaker 1: to lay down their lives. They risked so much for

514
00:32:09,720 --> 00:32:13,400
Speaker 1: this one thing. The least that I can do is

515
00:32:13,520 --> 00:32:18,600
Speaker 1: go take advantage of that thing. So vote. I miss

516
00:32:18,640 --> 00:32:24,920
Speaker 1: him now, I kind of want to go back because

517
00:32:24,920 --> 00:32:27,360
Speaker 1: you did talk about um absentee voting, and I just

518
00:32:27,440 --> 00:32:30,920
Speaker 1: kind of wanted to have a quick conversation because I

519
00:32:30,960 --> 00:32:34,000
Speaker 1: know our representatives have been letting us know that the

520
00:32:34,040 --> 00:32:37,440
Speaker 1: Center for Voting Information has been sending out absentee ballots

521
00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:40,880
Speaker 1: to people and it actually is a real thing. So

522
00:32:41,080 --> 00:32:45,800
Speaker 1: for those who are getting those, I got, But can

523
00:32:45,840 --> 00:32:48,560
Speaker 1: you kind of talk to people about again why it

524
00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:51,240
Speaker 1: is important that if you need to, and also check

525
00:32:51,280 --> 00:32:54,160
Speaker 1: and see if your state isn't allowing it, because it

526
00:32:54,280 --> 00:32:58,880
Speaker 1: is a conversation about absentee voting. Yeah, so in the

527
00:32:58,880 --> 00:33:01,360
Speaker 1: midst of this pandemic, a lot of people just don't

528
00:33:01,480 --> 00:33:06,040
Speaker 1: have the ability to go into a voting booth um

529
00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:09,800
Speaker 1: or even before this pandemic, some people can't stand in

530
00:33:09,880 --> 00:33:12,760
Speaker 1: line outside for long periods of time in order to

531
00:33:12,800 --> 00:33:17,280
Speaker 1: go into a voting vote. So absentee voting, make sure

532
00:33:17,520 --> 00:33:22,120
Speaker 1: that UM, you read the instructions that are provided with

533
00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:25,720
Speaker 1: them and follow them to a t UH to make

534
00:33:25,760 --> 00:33:28,920
Speaker 1: sure that your vote is counted. Most Secretaries of State

535
00:33:29,040 --> 00:33:31,400
Speaker 1: have a website where you can then log on and

536
00:33:31,520 --> 00:33:35,600
Speaker 1: track your absentee ballot so you can put it in

537
00:33:35,640 --> 00:33:39,120
Speaker 1: the United States Postal Service box and just mail it normally.

538
00:33:39,280 --> 00:33:42,200
Speaker 1: What I would say is a better step is to

539
00:33:42,720 --> 00:33:47,240
Speaker 1: locate where absentee ballot boxes have been placed in your city,

540
00:33:47,360 --> 00:33:50,680
Speaker 1: and those boxes are secure boxes, at least in Georgia,

541
00:33:50,720 --> 00:33:55,680
Speaker 1: they're required to have seven video monitoring. They have to

542
00:33:55,720 --> 00:33:58,760
Speaker 1: be in well let areas, so there's no like tampering

543
00:33:58,800 --> 00:34:01,800
Speaker 1: with the box. Putting it in that box means it

544
00:34:01,840 --> 00:34:05,400
Speaker 1: goes directly to your elections office, as opposed to going

545
00:34:05,440 --> 00:34:09,320
Speaker 1: through the post office to the elections office. When it's received,

546
00:34:09,360 --> 00:34:11,520
Speaker 1: you're able to go on the website and see it's

547
00:34:11,560 --> 00:34:16,080
Speaker 1: been received, it's been actually counted toward you. Just tracking it,

548
00:34:16,440 --> 00:34:19,759
Speaker 1: I think is is very important. Um. And if it

549
00:34:19,840 --> 00:34:22,680
Speaker 1: comes to November two and you've tracked it and it

550
00:34:22,680 --> 00:34:26,400
Speaker 1: hasn't been logged, take your butt down to the polling

551
00:34:26,440 --> 00:34:29,439
Speaker 1: place pat Like Michelle said, pack yourself a brown bag

552
00:34:29,520 --> 00:34:33,040
Speaker 1: lunch and hop into line. If you're in Georgia, Georgia

553
00:34:33,040 --> 00:34:36,759
Speaker 1: fifty project, we'll see you in line with some food. Um.

554
00:34:36,800 --> 00:34:40,080
Speaker 1: But go go down there and actually vote in person

555
00:34:40,160 --> 00:34:45,000
Speaker 1: to make sure that just because you miss the absentee ballot,

556
00:34:45,080 --> 00:34:48,120
Speaker 1: you're not missing out on the opportunity to speak up

557
00:34:48,120 --> 00:34:52,240
Speaker 1: on your own behalf. Um, and speaking of the ballot,

558
00:34:52,719 --> 00:34:55,560
Speaker 1: can you, because you've already kind of jumped into about

559
00:34:55,600 --> 00:34:58,440
Speaker 1: a local elections and why that is really important and

560
00:34:58,520 --> 00:35:00,680
Speaker 1: local issues, can you talk on that a little bit

561
00:35:00,680 --> 00:35:06,479
Speaker 1: as well. Yeah, So, as I said previously, election your

562
00:35:06,600 --> 00:35:12,200
Speaker 1: elections are administered locally. Um. All those cute little old

563
00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:16,640
Speaker 1: lady poll workers, they run through the election board, they

564
00:35:16,640 --> 00:35:20,640
Speaker 1: get their training through the election board. Um. The machines

565
00:35:20,960 --> 00:35:24,879
Speaker 1: that are being utilized at polling locations, Uh, they are

566
00:35:25,600 --> 00:35:29,200
Speaker 1: provided by the state. But who's setting those things up?

567
00:35:29,760 --> 00:35:32,120
Speaker 1: Who's actually making sure Like in our case, some of

568
00:35:32,160 --> 00:35:35,120
Speaker 1: those lines were really long because there weren't wasn't paper

569
00:35:35,600 --> 00:35:38,920
Speaker 1: for the election machines. All of that is administered on

570
00:35:38,960 --> 00:35:42,680
Speaker 1: the local level. And so the more that we pay

571
00:35:42,719 --> 00:35:45,959
Speaker 1: attention to what is going on at the local level,

572
00:35:46,440 --> 00:35:50,520
Speaker 1: the more that we're able to see perhaps the people

573
00:35:50,600 --> 00:35:54,920
Speaker 1: that were putting in positions that oversee these things, maybe

574
00:35:54,960 --> 00:35:58,560
Speaker 1: they're not the right people. And just because it's lowered

575
00:35:58,560 --> 00:36:02,280
Speaker 1: down on the ballot, we think it's a less important job.

576
00:36:02,560 --> 00:36:05,760
Speaker 1: And I feel like what you're talking about what effects

577
00:36:05,760 --> 00:36:10,640
Speaker 1: our day to day lives. Oftentimes it's those really you know,

578
00:36:10,800 --> 00:36:14,919
Speaker 1: down ballot races that are going to affect your day

579
00:36:14,960 --> 00:36:19,279
Speaker 1: to day life, Like how long is this line that

580
00:36:19,320 --> 00:36:22,799
Speaker 1: I'm waiting in? We do have a little bit more

581
00:36:22,880 --> 00:36:24,799
Speaker 1: for your listeners, but wait, we have one more quick

582
00:36:24,800 --> 00:36:41,239
Speaker 1: break for word from our sponsor and we're back. Thank

583
00:36:41,239 --> 00:36:46,240
Speaker 1: you sponsor. We had just our official runoff in Georgia

584
00:36:46,320 --> 00:36:49,600
Speaker 1: and it included Sirisova as it included the Superior Court

585
00:36:50,120 --> 00:36:52,879
Speaker 1: in Fulton County, Atlanta, Georgia, which is a big hub.

586
00:36:52,920 --> 00:36:56,560
Speaker 1: And as we know, there's a big conversation about defunding

587
00:36:56,600 --> 00:36:59,320
Speaker 1: police and what that looks like and or not defunding

588
00:36:59,400 --> 00:37:02,560
Speaker 1: and or rehabilitating whatever it may be. But it comes

589
00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:03,920
Speaker 1: to the fact that we need to look at our

590
00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:08,080
Speaker 1: leaderships and we have voice when it comes to making

591
00:37:08,120 --> 00:37:10,920
Speaker 1: sure we have the right leadership for whatever that is,

592
00:37:10,920 --> 00:37:13,399
Speaker 1: whether it's also the council, all of that, and it's

593
00:37:13,600 --> 00:37:15,520
Speaker 1: a big bunch of stuff, like they are the ones

594
00:37:15,560 --> 00:37:18,960
Speaker 1: that use our money. And I would say, like, we

595
00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:22,040
Speaker 1: can definitely blame the government for a lot of things,

596
00:37:22,120 --> 00:37:24,480
Speaker 1: but you can't blame them for our own lack of

597
00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:29,560
Speaker 1: education on what those rules are, how important they are,

598
00:37:30,120 --> 00:37:32,319
Speaker 1: and how to vote in light of that thing. So

599
00:37:32,800 --> 00:37:35,120
Speaker 1: you know, be sure to pull up your ballots before

600
00:37:35,280 --> 00:37:38,400
Speaker 1: you get there, um on November three, or whenever you

601
00:37:38,440 --> 00:37:41,759
Speaker 1: early vote, have your ballots open when you're doing your

602
00:37:41,760 --> 00:37:45,480
Speaker 1: absentee filling out your absentee ballot, and start researching. Go

603
00:37:45,480 --> 00:37:48,920
Speaker 1: go on Google, Google echo his names. See see what

604
00:37:49,080 --> 00:37:53,040
Speaker 1: comes up. You know, it's not hard to find, uh,

605
00:37:53,239 --> 00:37:57,000
Speaker 1: scandals and shenanigans and all the back room stuff like

606
00:37:57,080 --> 00:37:59,360
Speaker 1: it's it's on there, it's on. We have the benefit

607
00:37:59,360 --> 00:38:03,560
Speaker 1: of the internet, use it right. Hopefully we'll have correct information.

608
00:38:03,640 --> 00:38:07,040
Speaker 1: That's the other part, so reading out the false verses truth.

609
00:38:07,239 --> 00:38:09,640
Speaker 1: But yeah, it's important that we do take the time

610
00:38:09,880 --> 00:38:12,880
Speaker 1: to study it and look at it, UM. And I

611
00:38:13,480 --> 00:38:16,080
Speaker 1: love also, as I was getting ready to have this

612
00:38:16,160 --> 00:38:18,759
Speaker 1: interview in this conversation, because it is such a big

613
00:38:18,800 --> 00:38:22,760
Speaker 1: topic right now, it's so important, UM, that I found

614
00:38:22,760 --> 00:38:27,680
Speaker 1: an organization called the Higher Heights Leadership Fund who specifically

615
00:38:27,680 --> 00:38:30,319
Speaker 1: work with black women in black leadership and trying to

616
00:38:30,360 --> 00:38:34,520
Speaker 1: bring as many strong black women into a leadership position,

617
00:38:34,560 --> 00:38:37,319
Speaker 1: whether it's political or elected officials. And I love that.

618
00:38:37,600 --> 00:38:40,319
Speaker 1: And they kind of created a movement called hashtag black

619
00:38:40,360 --> 00:38:44,200
Speaker 1: women Vote, And it is the bigger conversation of this

620
00:38:44,280 --> 00:38:47,799
Speaker 1: is a powerful group of women who can change the

621
00:38:47,840 --> 00:38:50,920
Speaker 1: results of an election and have been ignored or have

622
00:38:51,040 --> 00:38:53,839
Speaker 1: been suppressed and trying to come together in one way

623
00:38:53,920 --> 00:38:57,719
Speaker 1: or another. It is not necessarily trying to sway you think,

624
00:38:57,760 --> 00:39:00,719
Speaker 1: it's just trying to get people out to vote. And

625
00:39:00,760 --> 00:39:07,360
Speaker 1: how important that is for our our nation. Yeah, yeah, absolutely,

626
00:39:07,360 --> 00:39:09,759
Speaker 1: And when you just think about the things that are important.

627
00:39:11,200 --> 00:39:13,399
Speaker 1: I'm not going to say that, you know, black women

628
00:39:13,400 --> 00:39:16,600
Speaker 1: are a monolith and we all think the same way.

629
00:39:16,640 --> 00:39:21,080
Speaker 1: But I can say, at least myself, my mother, you

630
00:39:21,120 --> 00:39:24,520
Speaker 1: know black women in my life, that we have these conversations.

631
00:39:25,000 --> 00:39:32,320
Speaker 1: The topics that consistently come up are ones like safety, schooling,

632
00:39:33,120 --> 00:39:38,000
Speaker 1: access to education, access to food, good healthy food near

633
00:39:38,080 --> 00:39:43,040
Speaker 1: your homes, and those things are important for everybody, right,

634
00:39:43,320 --> 00:39:48,160
Speaker 1: But it comes up consistently when I'm talking to my people.

635
00:39:48,920 --> 00:39:53,680
Speaker 1: And so if you know, something like hashtag black women vote,

636
00:39:54,600 --> 00:39:58,560
Speaker 1: If black women are able to use their voice in

637
00:39:58,600 --> 00:40:01,640
Speaker 1: those ways, we all benefit because we all should be

638
00:40:01,680 --> 00:40:06,600
Speaker 1: caring about education and safety and healthy food near near

639
00:40:06,640 --> 00:40:10,239
Speaker 1: our homes, like those are the things that lead to

640
00:40:10,600 --> 00:40:15,120
Speaker 1: a thriving a thriving city, a thriving citizen, right right.

641
00:40:16,040 --> 00:40:19,360
Speaker 1: And and in issues like that, specifically, you know, I

642
00:40:19,440 --> 00:40:21,799
Speaker 1: keep coming back because this is so, this is what

643
00:40:21,840 --> 00:40:24,160
Speaker 1: I did. I did state in county government for the

644
00:40:24,239 --> 00:40:26,719
Speaker 1: longest time, and the fact of the matter is our

645
00:40:26,800 --> 00:40:31,440
Speaker 1: state is one of the highest for Black women dying

646
00:40:31,680 --> 00:40:35,239
Speaker 1: from childbirth, infant mortality. Thank you in for mortality here

647
00:40:35,239 --> 00:40:36,920
Speaker 1: and all all of those things. It's just kind of

648
00:40:37,880 --> 00:40:40,120
Speaker 1: a bigger conversation of what we need to look at

649
00:40:40,200 --> 00:40:43,600
Speaker 1: why it is important that we see this as a

650
00:40:43,640 --> 00:40:46,560
Speaker 1: representation of what is needed, in the change that is needed,

651
00:40:46,560 --> 00:40:50,200
Speaker 1: in the representation that is needed, because for so long

652
00:40:50,239 --> 00:40:53,960
Speaker 1: we ignored it, too long, and in some areas are

653
00:40:53,960 --> 00:40:56,160
Speaker 1: still ignoring it and still not willing to talk about

654
00:40:56,160 --> 00:40:58,960
Speaker 1: the fact that this is an underlying social issue, This

655
00:40:59,080 --> 00:41:03,160
Speaker 1: is an underlying poitical issue that needs to be talked about,

656
00:41:03,200 --> 00:41:06,480
Speaker 1: that needs to be uncovered, that needs to be dissected

657
00:41:06,600 --> 00:41:09,759
Speaker 1: to see why it's happening in the first place. So

658
00:41:09,800 --> 00:41:12,040
Speaker 1: one of the things I would say, which this might

659
00:41:12,080 --> 00:41:15,799
Speaker 1: be this might be a controversial position, but I think

660
00:41:15,840 --> 00:41:18,200
Speaker 1: that one of the reasons why it's difficult for us

661
00:41:18,200 --> 00:41:22,640
Speaker 1: to get below the surface is because there's naturally going

662
00:41:22,680 --> 00:41:27,040
Speaker 1: to be a defensiveness that comes up when having that

663
00:41:27,080 --> 00:41:31,520
Speaker 1: discussion because essentially, like going back to what we're saying

664
00:41:31,520 --> 00:41:34,839
Speaker 1: about voter suppression, if I come to you with those

665
00:41:34,880 --> 00:41:39,960
Speaker 1: stats and I say, this is a race based issue

666
00:41:40,680 --> 00:41:44,120
Speaker 1: and if you don't see that, um, that means you

667
00:41:44,160 --> 00:41:48,520
Speaker 1: are a racist. We no longer are having a conversation

668
00:41:48,520 --> 00:41:50,959
Speaker 1: about voter suppression. Now we're having a conversation about whether

669
00:41:50,960 --> 00:41:54,719
Speaker 1: I'm a racist. Um. And same thing, like you're just

670
00:41:54,760 --> 00:41:57,799
Speaker 1: talking about like if we're not going to talk about

671
00:41:57,880 --> 00:42:02,680
Speaker 1: what maternal mortality and its relation to race, and that's

672
00:42:02,680 --> 00:42:05,560
Speaker 1: a health care issue, and if you don't want to

673
00:42:05,600 --> 00:42:10,440
Speaker 1: address that, you are now anti woman. Um, We're now

674
00:42:10,480 --> 00:42:12,839
Speaker 1: talking about that as opposed to what can we do

675
00:42:13,560 --> 00:42:16,920
Speaker 1: to solve this health care issue? And so I feel

676
00:42:16,920 --> 00:42:22,320
Speaker 1: like there's a need to pivot the conversation away from

677
00:42:22,360 --> 00:42:28,839
Speaker 1: trying to assign some level of internal motivation to the

678
00:42:28,880 --> 00:42:32,920
Speaker 1: person and more like can we just talk about the facts,

679
00:42:33,320 --> 00:42:36,040
Speaker 1: Like can we just talk about this is an issue?

680
00:42:36,080 --> 00:42:38,120
Speaker 1: Can we just agree that this is something we should

681
00:42:38,120 --> 00:42:41,600
Speaker 1: be tackling. And I don't have to make that the

682
00:42:41,800 --> 00:42:46,640
Speaker 1: a judgment on you as a human being. And I

683
00:42:46,760 --> 00:42:49,239
Speaker 1: know that you know, I'm sure there are folks that

684
00:42:49,280 --> 00:42:52,600
Speaker 1: are like, well, that's just some mealy mouth garbage way

685
00:42:52,640 --> 00:42:54,759
Speaker 1: of going about doing this, because you're not calling a

686
00:42:54,800 --> 00:42:58,120
Speaker 1: spade a spade for me in particular. You could call

687
00:42:58,160 --> 00:43:00,799
Speaker 1: it whatever you want. The point is I want less

688
00:43:00,800 --> 00:43:04,600
Speaker 1: black women dying in childbirth and if we can achieve that,

689
00:43:04,760 --> 00:43:08,520
Speaker 1: then whatever right right. And the thing that's one of

690
00:43:08,520 --> 00:43:11,799
Speaker 1: the big conversations my Coworkercordey, and I had who she

691
00:43:12,280 --> 00:43:14,440
Speaker 1: is a black woman who worked in the same field

692
00:43:14,440 --> 00:43:18,160
Speaker 1: as I, and we had to have this whole conversation

693
00:43:18,239 --> 00:43:21,040
Speaker 1: of what does it look like when we reframe a

694
00:43:21,120 --> 00:43:24,799
Speaker 1: conversation and that's what she kept saying, rebranded so that

695
00:43:24,920 --> 00:43:27,440
Speaker 1: it seems nicer. But the fact of the matter is

696
00:43:27,520 --> 00:43:30,360
Speaker 1: when it comes to people being defensive, sometimes that is

697
00:43:30,400 --> 00:43:32,960
Speaker 1: what has to happen. Unfortunately, when all you really want

698
00:43:33,000 --> 00:43:34,640
Speaker 1: to do is shake and be like, stop being a dick.

699
00:43:36,560 --> 00:43:40,520
Speaker 1: That's what I want to say, but you know that

700
00:43:40,560 --> 00:43:43,160
Speaker 1: doesn't work. Um, and it is it's kind of that

701
00:43:43,280 --> 00:43:46,840
Speaker 1: fine line of who compromises to what conversation and but

702
00:43:47,000 --> 00:43:50,160
Speaker 1: what is the outcome of that conversation? And it just

703
00:43:50,680 --> 00:43:53,360
Speaker 1: and it's it's it's interesting to me that the people

704
00:43:53,400 --> 00:43:55,880
Speaker 1: who are the ones who are most likely to compromise

705
00:43:55,920 --> 00:43:58,719
Speaker 1: are those who are the most affected because they just

706
00:43:58,760 --> 00:44:02,160
Speaker 1: want to change. I get that. I definitely get the

707
00:44:02,160 --> 00:44:05,040
Speaker 1: counter argument. It's like, well, why am I always the

708
00:44:05,080 --> 00:44:08,440
Speaker 1: one who has to contort myself into all these ways

709
00:44:08,480 --> 00:44:12,200
Speaker 1: in order to maneuver through these spaces? Listen, That's just

710
00:44:12,280 --> 00:44:15,680
Speaker 1: how it is, right, Like, if we want to get

711
00:44:15,719 --> 00:44:17,960
Speaker 1: things done, if we want to actually move the needle,

712
00:44:18,040 --> 00:44:21,080
Speaker 1: then sometimes you're going to have to do extra work.

713
00:44:21,120 --> 00:44:23,239
Speaker 1: My mom told me that from the very beginning, just

714
00:44:23,320 --> 00:44:27,000
Speaker 1: like you're gonna have to work harder for longer than

715
00:44:27,080 --> 00:44:29,719
Speaker 1: other people, just getting used to it and keep doing it,

716
00:44:29,960 --> 00:44:34,120
Speaker 1: and hopefully by myself and people like me doing that,

717
00:44:34,200 --> 00:44:36,560
Speaker 1: the people coming up behind me work a little less

718
00:44:36,600 --> 00:44:40,920
Speaker 1: hard the next time around. I love that exactly, and

719
00:44:40,960 --> 00:44:43,880
Speaker 1: it's unfortunate that that's where we have to be. But yeah,

720
00:44:44,080 --> 00:44:51,920
Speaker 1: I absolutely hear that, but it's frustrating. Yeah, I'm just

721
00:44:51,920 --> 00:44:54,840
Speaker 1: saying it. Uh, Andy, I've taken over the conversation again,

722
00:44:55,000 --> 00:44:59,799
Speaker 1: So do you so why let me there? Why do

723
00:44:59,840 --> 00:45:02,920
Speaker 1: you keep letting me do this? You know what I

724
00:45:03,000 --> 00:45:05,799
Speaker 1: really need to work on, And this is true. I

725
00:45:05,880 --> 00:45:09,480
Speaker 1: cannot interrupt people. I can't do it. So I'm just

726
00:45:09,520 --> 00:45:13,200
Speaker 1: like just do it. It's like online to do list,

727
00:45:13,239 --> 00:45:17,399
Speaker 1: I promise Jamaican like Jamaican culture. If you don't, if

728
00:45:17,440 --> 00:45:21,200
Speaker 1: you don't learn the art of interruption, you will never

729
00:45:21,280 --> 00:45:24,600
Speaker 1: speak in a family the entire time, your entire life,

730
00:45:25,160 --> 00:45:31,040
Speaker 1: never get a word in rambles at the corner and

731
00:45:31,080 --> 00:45:34,520
Speaker 1: never said a thing, and I will ramble. I will

732
00:45:34,640 --> 00:45:37,160
Speaker 1: keep going on my little tirade. You know this, so

733
00:45:37,200 --> 00:45:41,600
Speaker 1: you have I like your tirades though, UM, I guess

734
00:45:41,719 --> 00:45:44,480
Speaker 1: going off of that. Um, First of all, I had

735
00:45:44,520 --> 00:45:47,360
Speaker 1: many many friends who sent me very happy text messages

736
00:45:47,640 --> 00:45:50,440
Speaker 1: on voting day with the pizza, so it was a

737
00:45:50,520 --> 00:45:56,320
Speaker 1: big hit. Um. If you for someone listening who maybe

738
00:45:56,520 --> 00:46:01,080
Speaker 1: wants to get involved, as we've been saying, in politics,

739
00:46:01,080 --> 00:46:03,080
Speaker 1: but not necessarily by running and you we've talked about

740
00:46:03,120 --> 00:46:07,960
Speaker 1: text banking and phone banking, and um, I love food

741
00:46:08,040 --> 00:46:11,840
Speaker 1: is the way to people's hearts, of course. UM I

742
00:46:11,840 --> 00:46:14,200
Speaker 1: guess what do you have any advice for people who

743
00:46:14,200 --> 00:46:17,200
Speaker 1: are may be intimidated about how to do something like

744
00:46:17,239 --> 00:46:20,120
Speaker 1: what you did, like logistics, or it could be the

745
00:46:20,200 --> 00:46:24,319
Speaker 1: most basic of things. Yeah, what I'd say is that

746
00:46:25,320 --> 00:46:31,000
Speaker 1: there's something like Georgia Project in most cities, like we're

747
00:46:31,000 --> 00:46:33,799
Speaker 1: not We're not special. Were we just happen to be

748
00:46:33,880 --> 00:46:37,920
Speaker 1: here in Atlanta doing it. UM find that, find that group,

749
00:46:38,000 --> 00:46:40,359
Speaker 1: and we are always looking for people to help us.

750
00:46:41,640 --> 00:46:44,600
Speaker 1: Speaking on behalf of all of those groups. So we

751
00:46:44,680 --> 00:46:48,640
Speaker 1: have folks who their videographers and they they raise their

752
00:46:48,680 --> 00:46:51,279
Speaker 1: hand and said, like we can do promo videos for

753
00:46:51,400 --> 00:46:54,400
Speaker 1: you and sizzle reels. Like they're not they're used to

754
00:46:54,680 --> 00:46:58,480
Speaker 1: not being seen or have to be out, but they've

755
00:46:58,480 --> 00:47:01,200
Speaker 1: been able to use their particular fular gift and skill

756
00:47:01,800 --> 00:47:04,960
Speaker 1: to help us. So think about what is that thing

757
00:47:05,040 --> 00:47:07,800
Speaker 1: that you like doing, Like, what's that thing that gets

758
00:47:07,800 --> 00:47:13,839
Speaker 1: you geeked? And proactively approach that organization with like, hey,

759
00:47:13,960 --> 00:47:16,879
Speaker 1: here's something I'm good at. Can I help you with

760
00:47:16,960 --> 00:47:22,880
Speaker 1: that thing? And for the most part, the smaller groups

761
00:47:22,920 --> 00:47:24,560
Speaker 1: are going to take you up on that. If you're

762
00:47:24,600 --> 00:47:26,640
Speaker 1: going to some large like I'm going to go to

763
00:47:26,680 --> 00:47:29,920
Speaker 1: the Democratic Party of my state, you might get a

764
00:47:29,960 --> 00:47:34,359
Speaker 1: responsive email saying thanks for emailing us UM. But for

765
00:47:34,440 --> 00:47:38,560
Speaker 1: these smaller grassroots organizations, if one of the things that

766
00:47:39,120 --> 00:47:41,000
Speaker 1: it's difficult for all of us to do is just

767
00:47:41,200 --> 00:47:44,480
Speaker 1: fielding all of these emails when it's just a general

768
00:47:44,560 --> 00:47:47,040
Speaker 1: like hey, I'd like to help. If you come in

769
00:47:47,080 --> 00:47:50,359
Speaker 1: with i'd like to help, and I do this. Do

770
00:47:50,400 --> 00:47:54,480
Speaker 1: you have a need for this? They will say, uh, yeah, no,

771
00:47:54,640 --> 00:47:58,919
Speaker 1: we yes, yes, give us that so that that would

772
00:47:58,920 --> 00:48:02,879
Speaker 1: be my encouragement. Awesome, Yeah, I think that's that's great.

773
00:48:02,920 --> 00:48:06,479
Speaker 1: I think people are really fired up about it, which

774
00:48:06,480 --> 00:48:08,799
Speaker 1: makes sense. So I know our listeners are got some

775
00:48:08,800 --> 00:48:12,839
Speaker 1: pretty awesome listeners. Uh, and I'm excited to see what

776
00:48:12,880 --> 00:48:16,480
Speaker 1: they'll do. I know they're very skilled listeners too. I'm

777
00:48:16,520 --> 00:48:20,160
Speaker 1: sure use those skills for good and not evil folks. Yes,

778
00:48:24,320 --> 00:48:28,160
Speaker 1: that's a really good advice. Um. So is there anything

779
00:48:28,239 --> 00:48:30,320
Speaker 1: else that you want to talk to us about or

780
00:48:30,320 --> 00:48:35,719
Speaker 1: anything we missed a melody? I think that Um. I

781
00:48:35,760 --> 00:48:37,960
Speaker 1: mean it's a very like we kind of went all

782
00:48:38,000 --> 00:48:39,680
Speaker 1: over the place there a little bit, but you know

783
00:48:39,680 --> 00:48:44,239
Speaker 1: that's how I do, how you do do? Yeah, Um,

784
00:48:44,239 --> 00:48:46,640
Speaker 1: I hope that you know, I can come back on

785
00:48:46,840 --> 00:48:50,239
Speaker 1: after November three, perhaps in some time in December, and

786
00:48:50,320 --> 00:48:54,240
Speaker 1: we have like a lofty conversation about how all these

787
00:48:54,360 --> 00:49:00,520
Speaker 1: all these efforts actually turned out to benefit voters. Voter

788
00:49:00,600 --> 00:49:05,360
Speaker 1: turnout absolutely definitely, will um. And you had mentioned a

789
00:49:05,400 --> 00:49:08,200
Speaker 1: little bit earlier about having your own podcast. Can you

790
00:49:08,320 --> 00:49:11,360
Speaker 1: kind of tell us about that. Yeah, I am starting

791
00:49:11,360 --> 00:49:13,879
Speaker 1: a rolling out of podcast. We come out next month.

792
00:49:13,880 --> 00:49:17,279
Speaker 1: It's called Civic s I V I K. And it's

793
00:49:17,320 --> 00:49:22,160
Speaker 1: focusing on local Atlanta politics. Again going back to how

794
00:49:22,200 --> 00:49:27,400
Speaker 1: important that is. Um. What I found during this last

795
00:49:27,520 --> 00:49:32,319
Speaker 1: primary was that folks just didn't know what they didn't know.

796
00:49:32,719 --> 00:49:35,520
Speaker 1: But once I let them know I had issued a

797
00:49:35,600 --> 00:49:39,320
Speaker 1: voter guide. UM. Once I let folks know, like, hey,

798
00:49:39,360 --> 00:49:41,840
Speaker 1: this is what a what a d A does, This

799
00:49:41,920 --> 00:49:44,160
Speaker 1: is what a sheriff does. By the way, this is

800
00:49:44,200 --> 00:49:47,960
Speaker 1: what our d A did, this is what our shaiff

801
00:49:48,040 --> 00:49:51,960
Speaker 1: has done. That all of a sudden that people empowered

802
00:49:52,000 --> 00:49:55,399
Speaker 1: with that knowledge were more motivated to go out and vote.

803
00:49:55,440 --> 00:49:59,200
Speaker 1: So I started this podcast wanting to talk myself and

804
00:49:59,280 --> 00:50:04,719
Speaker 1: my friend Coleman would just talking normally about politics, not

805
00:50:04,840 --> 00:50:09,960
Speaker 1: talking heads and you know, big words. And we're all

806
00:50:10,040 --> 00:50:18,400
Speaker 1: consultants for various parties, just regular people talking about political shenanigans. Um.

807
00:50:18,440 --> 00:50:21,120
Speaker 1: And it's been fun. It's been fun. I'm excited about it.

808
00:50:21,239 --> 00:50:27,000
Speaker 1: Who doesn't love Yeah, it depends on the shenanigan. I

809
00:50:27,040 --> 00:50:29,040
Speaker 1: think that's great. I'll never forget the first time I

810
00:50:29,160 --> 00:50:32,359
Speaker 1: voted and it was something was on the ballot. That

811
00:50:32,480 --> 00:50:36,200
Speaker 1: was like, I mean, so many paragraph song and I

812
00:50:36,280 --> 00:50:38,320
Speaker 1: must have stood there and read it like five times

813
00:50:38,320 --> 00:50:40,840
Speaker 1: and I still didn't know. Like the legal ease was

814
00:50:40,920 --> 00:50:45,800
Speaker 1: just so intense. I was like, I'm not even sure

815
00:50:45,840 --> 00:50:51,919
Speaker 1: that's good? Right, Yes, yes, yes, those voter questions yes,

816
00:50:52,200 --> 00:50:56,239
Speaker 1: oh man um and yeah to inform people of that

817
00:50:56,280 --> 00:51:00,880
Speaker 1: beforehand too. Yeah, it's some of these are written in

818
00:51:00,960 --> 00:51:06,480
Speaker 1: such a way that there's no way for a regular

819
00:51:06,560 --> 00:51:10,399
Speaker 1: person to discern what the property answer is supposed to be.

820
00:51:11,160 --> 00:51:15,200
Speaker 1: It's ridiculous. So yeah, civical cover stuff like that. Awesome,

821
00:51:16,800 --> 00:51:20,680
Speaker 1: look out for that. Yeah, thanks for the shout out.

822
00:51:23,360 --> 00:51:26,960
Speaker 1: So where can people find you? Melody all upon the interwebs?

823
00:51:27,640 --> 00:51:31,239
Speaker 1: Oh that sounds so broad. Are you talking to me personally? Yeah,

824
00:51:31,360 --> 00:51:34,440
Speaker 1: you personally whatever you want to working in the quarters

825
00:51:34,480 --> 00:51:37,680
Speaker 1: of the interwebs. I would encourage folks, if you want

826
00:51:37,680 --> 00:51:40,160
Speaker 1: to support what we're doing here in Georgia, go to

827
00:51:40,200 --> 00:51:45,719
Speaker 1: Georgia dot org um. You can donate there. Um, you

828
00:51:45,760 --> 00:51:49,080
Speaker 1: can send us stamps for our stamp campaign, or you

829
00:51:49,080 --> 00:51:52,640
Speaker 1: can donate monetarily one of the you know, sponsor a

830
00:51:52,719 --> 00:51:56,960
Speaker 1: restaurant um that is helping us in our early voter push.

831
00:51:57,239 --> 00:52:01,640
Speaker 1: And that supports local business while also supporting voters. Um

832
00:52:01,680 --> 00:52:06,040
Speaker 1: So Georgia dot org. Sweet, thank you so much for

833
00:52:06,080 --> 00:52:08,560
Speaker 1: being with us, Melody. Yeah, thanks for having me. It's

834
00:52:08,560 --> 00:52:10,960
Speaker 1: always a fun time. And I'm gonna have our as

835
00:52:11,000 --> 00:52:16,520
Speaker 1: a constant correspondence for US constant correspondent. She's a correspondent

836
00:52:16,560 --> 00:52:20,840
Speaker 1: for our our network. I don't know. I have no

837
00:52:20,880 --> 00:52:24,200
Speaker 1: idea what any of the things I saidment, I have

838
00:52:24,239 --> 00:52:32,319
Speaker 1: no idea what the things correspondent from London wherever. So

839
00:52:32,360 --> 00:52:35,440
Speaker 1: that brings us to the end of this interview. I

840
00:52:35,880 --> 00:52:38,439
Speaker 1: one day I'm going to eat Melody in person. One day.

841
00:52:38,960 --> 00:52:41,520
Speaker 1: I feel like I think we've had this conversation before.

842
00:52:41,520 --> 00:52:44,400
Speaker 1: You guys missed each other the last time. But one day,

843
00:52:44,440 --> 00:52:47,239
Speaker 1: when we're out of pandemic, it will happen. We will

844
00:52:47,280 --> 00:52:49,799
Speaker 1: all come together. Because my I think she's just such

845
00:52:49,840 --> 00:52:54,279
Speaker 1: a great uh. It's just full of information that is fantastic.

846
00:52:54,320 --> 00:52:56,359
Speaker 1: And as as a person who's been in law, who's

847
00:52:56,480 --> 00:52:58,440
Speaker 1: been around the back when it comes to buy laws

848
00:52:58,520 --> 00:53:03,640
Speaker 1: and conversations and voting and understanding that language, there than me,

849
00:53:04,280 --> 00:53:07,239
Speaker 1: uh who I have to follow people like her and

850
00:53:07,280 --> 00:53:10,880
Speaker 1: other people who are specialized in this type of conversations

851
00:53:11,200 --> 00:53:13,839
Speaker 1: that I think she's just a wealth knowledge that I

852
00:53:13,880 --> 00:53:16,400
Speaker 1: love that we have on tap because she is fantastic.

853
00:53:17,200 --> 00:53:22,160
Speaker 1: Thank you Melody, Yes, and um all great advice everything

854
00:53:22,200 --> 00:53:24,080
Speaker 1: she said. Like I said, I got my absentee ballot

855
00:53:24,160 --> 00:53:27,320
Speaker 1: yesterday and it came with a cool graph that showed

856
00:53:27,560 --> 00:53:30,480
Speaker 1: my voting record, like and he said I was above average,

857
00:53:30,520 --> 00:53:35,920
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh, how I'm easily a piece. Now.

858
00:53:35,920 --> 00:53:38,040
Speaker 1: It just means I vote more than average in my

859
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Speaker 1: count game. It means it's nothing special at all. But yeah,

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Speaker 1: I would love to hear what everybody else is doing

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Speaker 1: out there. I know we talk a lot about our

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00:53:46,840 --> 00:53:49,719
Speaker 1: local stuff because if I find it fascinating just to

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Speaker 1: see what's happening. And George's kind of slowly turning into

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Speaker 1: a swing state, hopefully more and more. And um, I

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Speaker 1: know the senator race in Georgia has gotten pretty heated

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Speaker 1: it and pretty close, so it's kind of interesting to

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Speaker 1: see it. I want to hear what's going on around

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Speaker 1: the country as well, So please let us know what's

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Speaker 1: happening with you all. Yes, yes, and you can send

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Speaker 1: that information to our email, which is stefinitely a mom

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00:54:12,960 --> 00:54:14,560
Speaker 1: stuff at I heart me you dot com. You can

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Speaker 1: also find us on Twitter at mom Stuff Podcast or

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00:54:16,880 --> 00:54:19,000
Speaker 1: on Instagram at Stuff I've Never Told You. Thanks It's

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00:54:19,000 --> 00:54:22,480
Speaker 1: always to our super producer Andrew Howard, Thanks Hamburger Guy.

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00:54:23,680 --> 00:54:26,160
Speaker 1: Thanks to you for listening Stuff I've Never Told You.

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00:54:26,200 --> 00:54:28,600
Speaker 1: Protection of iHeart Radio for more podcast from iHeart Radio,

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00:54:28,640 --> 00:54:31,080
Speaker 1: but it's the iHeartRadio app Apple podcast where you listen

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Speaker 1: to your favorite shows