Speaker 1: Good morning, peepson. Welcome to okay F Daily with Meet
Speaker 1: your Girl Danielle Moody, recording from the Home Bunker. Folks,
Speaker 1: you know, there has been a lot of negative conversations
Speaker 1: recently about our government, about our elected officials, thanks to
Speaker 1: George Santos, the likes of Marjorie Taylor Green and others.
Speaker 1: But the only way to actually get those people out
Speaker 1: of office is for the courageous ones to decide that
Speaker 1: they have something to say and that instead of yelling
Speaker 1: from the peanut gallery, that they will take up the
Speaker 1: call to run for office themselves. So I'm excited with
Speaker 1: this episode to welcome back to the show Ashanti Gooehler,
Speaker 1: who is the president of Emerge America and the founder
Speaker 1: of Black Girl's Guide to Politics. And I've joined a
Speaker 1: shanty show to talk about politics and talk about expressly
Speaker 1: what is facing black women in politics. And so in
Speaker 1: this conversation we talk about the ways that essentially training candidates,
Speaker 1: particularly women, women of color, queer women, has changed and
Speaker 1: not necessarily for the better. I open up the conversation,
Speaker 1: you know, talking about this political climate and getting her thoughts.
Speaker 1: But then also it is the norm that you need
Speaker 1: to ask a woman multiple times to run for office
Speaker 1: because oftentimes women feel unqualified, even though in a lot
Speaker 1: of cases they are overqualified. So how can we use
Speaker 1: this current media storm around the liar grifter George Santos
Speaker 1: slash guitar slash. We don't know what the fuck his
Speaker 1: name is or who he really is, and now we
Speaker 1: know that his finances are, you know, as funny as
Speaker 1: every story that he's told, and that funny ha ha.
Speaker 1: But how do we one convince women that you are
Speaker 1: more than ready and capable to run for office, but
Speaker 1: then two train in a time of heightened political violence. Look,
Speaker 1: it is not normal to even blurt out those words
Speaker 1: and to say that, but the reality is is that
Speaker 1: violence has become part and parcel of what it means
Speaker 1: to be in politics, particularly if you are a Democrat.
Speaker 1: And so when you are a woman, we know that
Speaker 1: the attacks on social media are absolutely disgusting. We know
Speaker 1: that if you are a woman of color and you
Speaker 1: are a queer woman, it is just astonishing the lengths
Speaker 1: that people will go to try and get you to
Speaker 1: back down, to use media as a way to terrorize, right,
Speaker 1: And so how do you train people who want to
Speaker 1: serve their community who want to be public servants to
Speaker 1: be able to deal with the energy right and the
Speaker 1: very real physical violence that could come along with running
Speaker 1: for office. So Ashanti and I will get into so
Speaker 1: many conversations, including our shared love of astrology and what
Speaker 1: we see in the stars about our political year to come.
Speaker 1: Coming up next, my conversation with a Shanty Goler, Folks,
Speaker 1: I am very excited to welcome back to wok f
Speaker 1: Ashanti Goler, who is the founder of the Brown Girls
Speaker 1: Guide to Politics and the president of Emerge America. It
Speaker 1: is twenty twenty three, yes, and when we change the calendar,
Speaker 1: we like to believe that we are also somehow changing,
Speaker 1: you know, everything, We started new resolutions, everything is starting fresh,
Speaker 1: except with our politics it doesn't seem that way. So
Speaker 1: I wanted to get you know, your sense of how
Speaker 1: you think that the year ended in twenty twenty two,
Speaker 1: a Shanty and then where you see that we are
Speaker 1: but you know, almost a month into twenty twenty three. Yes,
Speaker 1: and it's so good to be talking to you again.
Speaker 1: I just always love when we can chat it up.
Speaker 1: And I know we've talked about how much I love
Speaker 1: astrology and given how this year has started off. I
Speaker 1: think I'm officially going to start my new year with
Speaker 1: airy season, because oh mine god. Twenty twenty two. I
Speaker 1: actually ended the year very excited because it was not
Speaker 1: the red wave that people thought that it was going
Speaker 1: to be, and that had to really do with again
Speaker 1: women voters and black and brown voters yet again knowing
Speaker 1: how much was at stake. So I was really excited
Speaker 1: about everything that was going to happen, being able to
Speaker 1: keep the Senate. We know that we lost the House,
Speaker 1: but we picked up some great governorships, We were able
Speaker 1: to create new democratic trifect us. We were going into
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three really strong. But of course Congress and
Speaker 1: their foolishness. It's just insane that this has been the
Speaker 1: first time we have seen that with the Speaker of
Speaker 1: the House. Elections in decades and online tureity years. So
Speaker 1: ten decades, ten decades, and the first thing that came
Speaker 1: to mind for me is, y'all always wanted to give
Speaker 1: Nancy Pelosi crap, but she had no problem getting elected speaker,
Speaker 1: and you had Kevin McCarthy. Now the speaker cut deals
Speaker 1: like they were like about to fight on the House
Speaker 1: floor over things, and it's just ridiculous. It continues to
Speaker 1: show how, especially for Republicans, conservatives, the Maga crew, our
Speaker 1: democracy is just a plaything for them, where for us,
Speaker 1: we know that this is our life, this is something
Speaker 1: we need to get intact. So I'm going to start
Speaker 1: my new year with airy season because they wiled them
Speaker 1: out here already. And you know, like, you're totally right,
Speaker 1: because we ended the year and began the year with
Speaker 1: mercury retrograde and retrograde, right, yeah, And that is the
Speaker 1: like I think it was kind of the first time
Speaker 1: that that has also happened, and or the last time
Speaker 1: that that happened. It was I want to say that
Speaker 1: it was like the early two thousands, and so it
Speaker 1: was we were with an economic meltdown and the changing
Speaker 1: of the guards and foreclosure crisis and all of these things.
Speaker 1: It was a crisis, um. And so it makes sense
Speaker 1: then fast forward, you know, ten plus years that we
Speaker 1: are in this space because I like, you look, you know,
Speaker 1: people I have gotten pooh pooed on on Twitter for
Speaker 1: saying that, like I subscribe to astrology and I said,
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, Like it's you know, thousands of years old,
Speaker 1: and what is to say that, like all of these things,
Speaker 1: like I look at everything to try and understand this current,
Speaker 1: Like I am looking everywhere with like the with a
Speaker 1: magnifying glass. So you know that being said, what we
Speaker 1: did see, like you had you had mentioned, was on
Speaker 1: the good side. We saw our first gen Z candidate
Speaker 1: get elected to office. We saw more black and brown
Speaker 1: people get elected to office. We have our first out
Speaker 1: lesbian governor. Or. I should say, I guess second um
Speaker 1: the elected to office, you have representation that looks more
Speaker 1: like America. But I also say that then there is
Speaker 1: incredible violence that we've seen, the shootings that were happening
Speaker 1: in New Mexico at the targeted towards Democratic leaders, you know,
Speaker 1: and you know other attacks that we have seen on
Speaker 1: Nancy Pelosi, on her on her husband. So with your
Speaker 1: work with Emerge America, which is about recruiting Democratic women
Speaker 1: to run for office, which you know, when Emerge America started,
Speaker 1: it didn't seem like a dangerous prospect, right, So how
Speaker 1: do you with this? With this work talk to people
Speaker 1: who want to be public servants, that want to serve
Speaker 1: their communities, but also address the realities of the climate
Speaker 1: that we're in. And it is very real Emerge started
Speaker 1: in two thousand and two with our first affiliate in California.
Speaker 1: The national organization was created in two thousand and five
Speaker 1: to replicate the program because it was so successful. So
Speaker 1: now we're in twenty seven states. We've trained women in
Speaker 1: forty five states. We have over a thousand women in
Speaker 1: elected office, and this is something that we've had to
Speaker 1: add to our training program is just the reality of
Speaker 1: how unfortunately horrible it can be for a woman, for
Speaker 1: a black and brown woman writing for office during this time,
Speaker 1: but also for me. This is part of the plan
Speaker 1: to keep us out of office. This is a part
Speaker 1: of the plan the racism, the sexism, the misogyny, the
Speaker 1: threats of violence, because even though we are seeing horrible
Speaker 1: things happening, there are good things that are happening. Change
Speaker 1: is happening, and they know when they threaten us, when
Speaker 1: they scare us from running, that change isn't going to
Speaker 1: happen and things will stay the status quo with the
Speaker 1: white male patriarchy running things. And we're just very fortunate
Speaker 1: that we still see women stepping up wanting to run
Speaker 1: because they know that they have to do it. But
Speaker 1: we talk about all the ways that they can keep
Speaker 1: themselves safe. What they can do online to deal with
Speaker 1: the hate. What our women have to do if they're
Speaker 1: a Latina canvassing and someone says they're going to call
Speaker 1: ice on them. You're a black woman and you're at
Speaker 1: a campaign event and people will want to call the
Speaker 1: police on you, saying it's an illegal gathering. For our
Speaker 1: trans alarms, who will get mis gendered when they're doing press.
Speaker 1: These are things that we have had to add and
Speaker 1: we have had to address, and for us, this is
Speaker 1: part of the evolution of our merge, but it's also
Speaker 1: an unfortunate part of the evolution of politics. But we
Speaker 1: still want women and to know that they do not
Speaker 1: have to face this alone, that there are groups like
Speaker 1: ours that will support them. With our training program, you're
Speaker 1: inner room of like minded women who are going to
Speaker 1: be going through the same thing, so giving them that
Speaker 1: support system. But the reality is, despite it all, we
Speaker 1: still need women, especially stepping up to run for office
Speaker 1: because if we don't, things won't change, and then they
Speaker 1: will win. And I know none of us want for
Speaker 1: them to win, because so much better can continue to
Speaker 1: happen in our country if we have the right representation,
Speaker 1: and that is Unfortunately, a fight that we're always going
Speaker 1: to have to be in, especially as black and brown people,
Speaker 1: is not going to stop for us. You know, I
Speaker 1: think that that's right, which is the reminder that this
Speaker 1: is just the fight, plain and simple. You know, I
Speaker 1: think that you know, with the overturning of Ruvie Wade,
Speaker 1: we saw signs and memes that's that I can't believe
Speaker 1: I still have to protest this shit right and things
Speaker 1: to that nature, which kind of gave us the feeling that, oh,
Speaker 1: these rights are one and done right and what we
Speaker 1: and what we know is that it's not and that
Speaker 1: we actually may never see full equity for women, people
Speaker 1: of color, LGBTQ folks, folks that live at the intersections
Speaker 1: of multiple identities in our lifetime. But the fight continues
Speaker 1: with each generation. So how do you how does Emerge
Speaker 1: America talk to candidates about ashanti the emotional stamina that
Speaker 1: is required in order to run a campaign right, in
Speaker 1: order to keep going and even if you do lose, right,
Speaker 1: that that's just the beginning. You have name recognition and
Speaker 1: you keep going. So what does that what is the
Speaker 1: training around emotional stamina? Look like, we are very real
Speaker 1: from the first day that women enter our Signature program,
Speaker 1: which is the longer program seventy hours over six months,
Speaker 1: to our boot camps, where we take the Signature program
Speaker 1: condensit down to two and a half intensive days that's
Speaker 1: for active candidates, to our Step Forward, which is the
Speaker 1: one on one for the women who are thinking about
Speaker 1: running for office. We say, you have to prepare yourself physically, mentally,
Speaker 1: and emotionally to run for office. That is the first
Speaker 1: part of the game because it is a journey from
Speaker 1: your campaign to elected office. And the thing that really
Speaker 1: you have to center is your why why are you
Speaker 1: doing this? Because that's what you're gonna have to go
Speaker 1: to when you're having the hard days where you had
Speaker 1: called time and no one wanted to give you money,
Speaker 1: where you're going to on doors and people slam it
Speaker 1: in your face, where your opponents putting out just all
Speaker 1: of these lies about you and you know it's not true.
Speaker 1: You have to be mentally, emotionally, and physically prepared for
Speaker 1: it because this is the game. So we talk about
Speaker 1: what that looks like, who is your family support system,
Speaker 1: But most importantly we talk about having the kitchen cabinet.
Speaker 1: You're going to have your campaign staff. That's great, but
Speaker 1: you're paying them. We need the people in your life
Speaker 1: who are going to say, all right, yeah, maybe you
Speaker 1: shouldn't have said it that way, you should have said
Speaker 1: it this way. Well, this person is just a straight
Speaker 1: up prick. I need for you to ignore them. All right,
Speaker 1: you got your debate, what are you going to wear?
Speaker 1: You need the people who are going to be on
Speaker 1: your side, the good, the bad, and the ugly. I
Speaker 1: think it's the same for your friend's circle. You need
Speaker 1: to have those people who are always going to get
Speaker 1: to you. And when you're running for office, that kitchen
Speaker 1: cabinet is who you're going to rely on. So we say,
Speaker 1: get those people in your life. Get a therapist in
Speaker 1: your life. I just think therapy is amazing. I'm going
Speaker 1: to say it, especially because we still have the stigma
Speaker 1: in the black community around therapy. No, get you a therapist,
Speaker 1: even if you're not running for elected office. Have that
Speaker 1: person you can talk it out with. Make sure you
Speaker 1: have a good doctor. Get yourself a mentor, get yourself
Speaker 1: a coach. That is the key part of having that
Speaker 1: mental strength is before you even start having all the
Speaker 1: things in place that you can go to that you
Speaker 1: can fall back on, so you're not in the middle
Speaker 1: of your race and just wanting to give up. So
Speaker 1: that's really what we talk about, and it's crucial why
Speaker 1: at Emerge we have the network of support, something that
Speaker 1: our alums say they love and they value because it's
Speaker 1: not just in their state, it's across the country that
Speaker 1: they're able to call and reach upon women who are
Speaker 1: going through the exact same things. So that's really when
Speaker 1: the mental part starts. Is you've got to prepare yourself
Speaker 1: before you even file that paperwork and put your name
Speaker 1: on the ballot. You know, I just think that it's
Speaker 1: really important, just as you said in life as in politics,
Speaker 1: to build your kitchen cabinet, to build your team, your
Speaker 1: support system that is going to help you. You know,
Speaker 1: I just did a video, a TikTok video where I'm
Speaker 1: talking about the fact that you know, we just saw
Speaker 1: the announcement about the doomsday clock, and you know the
Speaker 1: fact that we are like ninety seconds to midnight, and
Speaker 1: you know that this has been being tracked by the
Speaker 1: atomic bulletin since nineteen forty seven, and never have we
Speaker 1: been closer to what they have been tracking as just
Speaker 1: self made human catastrophe. Then right now when they're looking
Speaker 1: at you know, the compacted crises that we're in, that
Speaker 1: wears on me like it is wearing on our country.
Speaker 1: It is wearing on the world, this feeling of helplessness
Speaker 1: and anxiety. And I think that you know, running for
Speaker 1: elected office, whether that is at the state, local, or
Speaker 1: national level, is kind of the way that one way
Speaker 1: that people channel that frustration and channel that anger into
Speaker 1: wanting to actively do something. What recommendation do you have
Speaker 1: for people though, who are feeling this angst, this anxiety
Speaker 1: that is very real, that is very existential, who want
Speaker 1: to do something, but running for office is not the
Speaker 1: thing that they want to do. And what you said
Speaker 1: about the doomsday o'clock, where we are still dealing with
Speaker 1: the pandemic and long COVID and variants, it has to
Speaker 1: be us, y'all. No one is coming to save us.
Speaker 1: It's us. We have to be the ones to do it.
Speaker 1: I know we're really tired, but we cannot just think
Speaker 1: that someone's going to swoop in and solve all the
Speaker 1: problems and make a planet Earth go back to what
Speaker 1: it was like. It's on us to save ourselves. So
Speaker 1: there are those candidates that are going to step up
Speaker 1: to run for office and support them. You can support
Speaker 1: them financially, especially if they're women candidates, women of color candidates.
Speaker 1: Small dollar donations are huge. It's one of the reasons
Speaker 1: why I love Act Blue. It makes it so easy
Speaker 1: to donate. They also have a new CEO who's a
Speaker 1: black woman who I'm really looking forward to working with
Speaker 1: and seeing what she's going to do. Course of getting
Speaker 1: out and vote. How can you volunteer even if you
Speaker 1: don't live in a state but there's a super important
Speaker 1: rate going on. How can you phone bank in Do
Speaker 1: you know any people in that state that you can
Speaker 1: be talking to? Even on social media? Talking about the
Speaker 1: importance in our training program, we tell everyone that when
Speaker 1: you're running for office, the first people you're going to
Speaker 1: go to for support is your network, either the financial,
Speaker 1: the volunteering, all of that. And people will say, oh,
Speaker 1: I don't have a network, and we all have a network.
Speaker 1: Your network is in your phone. Your network is your
Speaker 1: Facebook list, who's on your Instagram, your Twitter, it's your colleagues,
Speaker 1: it's your church list, it's your sorrows, it's all of that.
Speaker 1: We all have a network. And for a lot of
Speaker 1: these people, they're in the same boat and they're waiting
Speaker 1: for that person who's going to come and say, all right,
Speaker 1: this is what we need to do. Be that person
Speaker 1: for your network because you really never know who's looking,
Speaker 1: who's waiting, So we all need to just be channeling
Speaker 1: that energy. And again, I know it's exhausting. I took
Speaker 1: over a Merge right before the pandemic hit. A LOWO
Speaker 1: pandemic was not a part of my ninety eight plan.
Speaker 1: But but we have to push through it. And I'm
Speaker 1: going into my fourth year as president of a Merge.
Speaker 1: We're still strong and we're still seeing changes, and it
Speaker 1: is why I'm still in the fight because it has
Speaker 1: to be upon us, and there's just so many opportunities
Speaker 1: for us to get involved running for office. There's also
Speaker 1: different groups that you can become a part of in
Speaker 1: channel that energy by finding your why, what is driving
Speaker 1: you to want to do it, and find that group
Speaker 1: and channel your energy that way. And when you're around
Speaker 1: other people who are hype like you, who are like,
Speaker 1: we're gonna get this done, We're going to fight back,
Speaker 1: That's what gives me the energy to keep going. This
Speaker 1: amazing network people like you we just gotta keep fighting.
Speaker 1: You know, I'll be remiss if I don't ask you
Speaker 1: this question before we wrap today, which is, you know,
Speaker 1: women oftentimes need to be asked, right, what is it
Speaker 1: five times to run for all five seven? That woman
Speaker 1: was like people had to ask me seventy times. I
Speaker 1: was like seventy times. I was like, now, now keep
Speaker 1: that one to yourself, right. And yet we see that
Speaker 1: men like a George Santos do you know who have
Speaker 1: these super inflated views of themselves and their ego and
Speaker 1: these things like is there a way you think Ashanti
Speaker 1: to use George Santo's just absolutely spectacularly disastrous self to
Speaker 1: say if this man, liar person can do this, like
Speaker 1: you absolutely can too. Yes, it's him. I've said the
Speaker 1: same thing about Trump. I talk about the stantist like
Speaker 1: literally he's banning black history, yes, in the state of Florida.
Speaker 1: And we see all of these men across the country,
Speaker 1: all levels of government, and I still get upset when
Speaker 1: women are like, oh, I just I don't think I
Speaker 1: have what it takes. Yes, I don't have the education,
Speaker 1: I don't have the background, you know, I just this
Speaker 1: is my job, and all of these people you know
Speaker 1: they've been fancy lawyers and this and that, and it's
Speaker 1: still part of the conditioning of politics and who politics
Speaker 1: is for. And I see that in women all the time.
Speaker 1: And the reality is like politics is for all of us.
Speaker 1: As women were just not here just to vote these
Speaker 1: people into office. We are also here to put our
Speaker 1: name on the bat, to have our seats at the table.
Speaker 1: And we have to remember, if you don't run, they
Speaker 1: are going to run. That is the biggest thing. And
Speaker 1: if you don't want to run, you got to talk
Speaker 1: to the people who you think should be running. That
Speaker 1: is so important. So many women who I've talked to
Speaker 1: and I just say, hey, I just saw you speaking
Speaker 1: on this panel. Have you consider it running for office?
Speaker 1: And just like I have it, no one's really asked me.
Speaker 1: So there's that too, the multiple times and not even
Speaker 1: asking them, and they just needed that validation. So we
Speaker 1: just gotta we already have it in us. So Cardi B.
Speaker 1: I love Cardi B. I remember she did a tweet
Speaker 1: where she was like, y'all just wait until I go
Speaker 1: to college and get my degree and I'm going to
Speaker 1: run for office and this and that. I was like, Cardie,
Speaker 1: you already have it in you. I watch how you
Speaker 1: talk about politics that woman is smart and people have
Speaker 1: to just discount her as like the rapper and all
Speaker 1: of this. So I'm like, jeez, even Cartie B wants
Speaker 1: to run for office, but she wants to make sure
Speaker 1: she has a master's degree before she does it. I mean,
Speaker 1: have we gotten there with Santos or any of his
Speaker 1: degree is real? No, they're not. I mean I saw
Speaker 1: the stuff that came out today for the finance reports,
Speaker 1: like everything's one hundred and ninety nine dollars. I want
Speaker 1: that one hundred and nine nine dollars Delta flight that's
Speaker 1: all I know. I was like, where you finding those that?
Speaker 1: Because I even come up when I searched Delta, so
Speaker 1: it does not So I want, and it's a fraudulent
Speaker 1: like everything else, you know, I do. I think that
Speaker 1: it's important and that the Carti B example is a
Speaker 1: really good one because again, women in particular always feel
Speaker 1: like what it is that they have and who it
Speaker 1: is that they are is not enough, and that they
Speaker 1: need to check every single box. Where you have woefully
Speaker 1: unqualified men who don't think twice about what it is
Speaker 1: that they're going to do, and they're like, I'm going
Speaker 1: to I'm running for president, I'm running for Congress, but
Speaker 1: without ever held any office, done any public service at all.
Speaker 1: At late Danielle, it gets even worse, y'all, there are
Speaker 1: men out there who are running for office not even
Speaker 1: knowing what the office does. There was a man who
Speaker 1: didn't know that when he ran for the state House
Speaker 1: that he was going to have to go up to
Speaker 1: the Capitol for half the year, and then won the election,
Speaker 1: it had to resign because he said, oh, I can't
Speaker 1: do that with my job. That is the level a
Speaker 1: mediocrity that is on the ballot. They're not even paying
Speaker 1: attention to what these offices do and what these offices require.
Speaker 1: Like we're at the PTA meetings running the PTA, run
Speaker 1: for the school board, We're always volunteering for the other candidates.
Speaker 1: We know how to run these campaigns. Put your name
Speaker 1: on the ballot, run yourself. We're at the city council meetings.
Speaker 1: We know the issues like the back of our hand,
Speaker 1: and we're in the audience yelling at them. Stop yelling.
Speaker 1: Let's move you to the dais. Yeah, we are already there.
Speaker 1: We are already doing the work. And I feel that
Speaker 1: we continue to short change ourselves as women by not
Speaker 1: saying that we can be the one who is implementing
Speaker 1: the legislation, signing the legislation like breaking it down five
Speaker 1: her doing twenty thousand elected offices in this country, five
Speaker 1: hunding twenty thousand people who get to shape our lives
Speaker 1: with the stroke of a pen, and the majority of
Speaker 1: them don't even know what they're doing. We need us there.
Speaker 1: We got to run shade. Tell people how one they
Speaker 1: can listen to your show, and then two how they
Speaker 1: can get involved with Emerge America. Yes, so the Brown
Speaker 1: Girls Guide to Politics you can find it wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to your podcasts. We're also at www. Dot Thebegguide
Speaker 1: dot com, and we are also on our social media Facebook, Instagram,
Speaker 1: and Twitter at the BG Guide, And we also do
Speaker 1: some Instagram live conversations, you know, to keep the energy
Speaker 1: and conversation going because something's always going on. And with
Speaker 1: our merge, we're at Emerge America dot org. You can
Speaker 1: go to the training site or the training portion of
Speaker 1: our website to find all of our trainings and the
Speaker 1: state nationally, and you find us on social media all
Speaker 1: of them because merges on all of them at Emerge America.
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for making the time for WOKA after.
Speaker 1: It's always such a pleasure to have you on. Oh.
Speaker 1: I always have so much fun with you. I feel
Speaker 1: like I just talked to you forever and forever. And
Speaker 1: it's also the show I can come on and talk
Speaker 1: astrology and politicans, so it's like my favorite come back
Speaker 1: anytime to talk about all the things. We appreciate you. Oh,
Speaker 1: thank you, says appreciate you. That is it for me
Speaker 1: to day, dear friends, an woke app as always Power
Speaker 1: to the people and to all the people. Power, get
Speaker 1: woke and stay woke as fuck.