Speaker 1: You're listening to Waiting on Reparations, the production of I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we wait in a reparations Yeah,
Speaker 1: ye know, how are you supposed to rock the boat
Speaker 1: when they're trying to stop you up? Got the polls
Speaker 1: looking like the place that you don't want to go,
Speaker 1: standing in these long lines wrapped around this block and
Speaker 1: moth if somebody give you water, then the tops to show.
Speaker 1: I think about the ship while going through a box
Speaker 1: of smoke, knowing that they slopped the most spit flames,
Speaker 1: dropping rope, Rick James cows approach, big brain, dropping clothes,
Speaker 1: flip the table because we need that swift change, not
Speaker 1: the post going through the concert pros. But I'm keeping
Speaker 1: honest though Dope Knife rap phenomeno. While playing dominoes linga
Speaker 1: Frank's Revolution, I'm saying vominos, looking down the barrel of
Speaker 1: a gun, yelling geronomo, goo, hey, this is dope knife,
Speaker 1: and are waiting on reparations, hurry up? All right? So
Speaker 1: we are here with Devin Barrington Ward, a founding member
Speaker 1: I believe of the Black Futurist Group. Yes, absolutely, all right,
Speaker 1: Well you know I am a new UH City council
Speaker 1: candidate UM here. I was so exciting, Like I heard
Speaker 1: that you were maybe going to run. I didn't know
Speaker 1: that you were like in, yeah, that's all my paperwork,
Speaker 1: it's official. Congratulations, Thank you, thank you, so thank you
Speaker 1: so much for joining us today to talk a little
Speaker 1: bit about just everything that's been going on in Georgia lately.
Speaker 1: UM And we talked about this a little bit before
Speaker 1: we started recording, but I think you said something very insightful,
Speaker 1: and we love the listeners also sharing this discussion of
Speaker 1: like why is so much crazy shit happening in Georgia
Speaker 1: right now? Georgia is is ground zero for what is
Speaker 1: the past. We're at the intersection of what's the past
Speaker 1: and what is possible for the future. UM And when
Speaker 1: I say that, UM, we are a jurisdiction of state,
Speaker 1: particularly in metro Atlanta, but across Georgia where there are
Speaker 1: lots of black people like yourself that are in UM leadership,
Speaker 1: that are decision makers, that are you know, trying to
Speaker 1: blaze the path forward for something that is different, that
Speaker 1: are an extension of the vision and the dream that
Speaker 1: Maynard Jackson had when he first ran for office in Atlanta.
Speaker 1: UM And we are also still in a state that
Speaker 1: very much is plagued by history that has not been resolved,
Speaker 1: the history that has not been atoned for, in a
Speaker 1: history that's still celebrated. UM. And so there is a
Speaker 1: battle when you have a county like the Cab County
Speaker 1: that has had black leadership for so long. UM. But
Speaker 1: in the Cab County, I mean there is also the
Speaker 1: world's largest monument to the Confederacy. The symbolism is is
Speaker 1: quite powerful. And so it is UH symbolism that illustrates
Speaker 1: why Georgia is in the situation that it's in. Of course,
Speaker 1: this would be happening in the cradle of the civil
Speaker 1: rights movement. This is truly white supremacies last stand. Then
Speaker 1: the battle lines in the battle UM. The battlefield most
Speaker 1: certainly runs through Atlanta, just like it did during the
Speaker 1: Civil War. UM. And so while the methods UM at
Speaker 1: this point, UM have you know been a battle that
Speaker 1: has been waged in the political process, UM, we also
Speaker 1: know that it has real consequences as far as UM
Speaker 1: life and death. UM. We saw an insurrection that was
Speaker 1: connected to the fact that black people UM and a
Speaker 1: part of a broader coalition UM of people of color
Speaker 1: and white people would sense sent John ass Off and
Speaker 1: m um Don alsof and Reverend Warnock Um a Jewish
Speaker 1: man and a black pastor that used to uh that
Speaker 1: is still the pastor of Dr King's Church, even eizer Um.
Speaker 1: The response was to try and uh stage and insurrection
Speaker 1: to overthrow an election. And what it really was about
Speaker 1: saying was, um, you know, we don't believe in democracy
Speaker 1: because democracy allows black people and people who don't look
Speaker 1: like me to have a voice. And I heard something
Speaker 1: on NPR today that was really um thought provoking, is
Speaker 1: that democracy only works if we care for one another.
Speaker 1: The poor fundamental belief of democracy is that people outside
Speaker 1: of yourself map um. And so democracy in America will
Speaker 1: never truly function so long as we continue to collude
Speaker 1: and make bedfellows with by supremacy. And so in Atlanta
Speaker 1: uh and in Georgia uh Stacy Abrams and her candidacy
Speaker 1: UM was a indication that the tide is changing. And
Speaker 1: so of course we would see in the legislature that
Speaker 1: respond with egregious odor suppression legislation because it is a
Speaker 1: response to what is the inevitable, which is that the
Speaker 1: me equal inherent Yeah, exactly, And so I love for
Speaker 1: you to talk as well a little bit about UM,
Speaker 1: your background and organizing and particularly uh you're organizing that
Speaker 1: you've done with the Black Futurist Group and even more
Speaker 1: granular than that, y'all's effort that's still ongoing to close
Speaker 1: the the Atlanta jail. M hm. Well, you know, I
Speaker 1: can tell you all of the great things and organizing
Speaker 1: that I've done as far as like being a co
Speaker 1: movement builder, helping start um b y P one hundred
Speaker 1: and it's in in in its exception UM and more
Speaker 1: broadly than movie for Black Lives UM and for b
Speaker 1: l UM. But my advocacy and my activism and my
Speaker 1: organizing is shaped by my lived experiences as a black
Speaker 1: weird men's grown up here in the South. UM. I
Speaker 1: have parents who are Caribbean. I have parents who had
Speaker 1: me who we're young. I've seen all of the things
Speaker 1: that I fight for daily, like affordable housing and fighting
Speaker 1: to reimagine public safety and reduce the scope of the
Speaker 1: criminal legal system UM and to reform how we build
Speaker 1: wealth in black communities. Is a direct result of having
Speaker 1: the background that I have. I saw my dad get
Speaker 1: beat up by the Cab County police UM, and nothing
Speaker 1: happened to them, UM, and I was five years old.
Speaker 1: Those are the type of experiences that shape the experiences,
Speaker 1: excuse me, that shape the advocacy that myself and other
Speaker 1: frontline organizers engaging on a daily basis. And so it's
Speaker 1: why the Black Futures Group UM I founded it. Co
Speaker 1: founded it to really reimagine the ways in which we
Speaker 1: use the systems that we have, the systems that we
Speaker 1: have dreamed up through creativity and black excellence and the
Speaker 1: brilliance and of of our collective community. UM. How do
Speaker 1: we UM reimagine our pathways towards liberation in our in
Speaker 1: our lifetime. UM. A future where we are no longer UM,
Speaker 1: you know, engaging with voter suppression, the future where we
Speaker 1: are no longer engaging with police brutality and an expansion
Speaker 1: of the police state. UM. A truly reimagined future that's
Speaker 1: grounded in the perspective that black lives do matter, and
Speaker 1: that in order for the world to be said, we
Speaker 1: have to um UH and our our greatest atrocity, which
Speaker 1: is the ongoing UM hatred and death in genocide against
Speaker 1: black people across the world, and so UM more granular
Speaker 1: UM that means doing the hard work of like uh
Speaker 1: you know, being on the campaign to close the Atlanta
Speaker 1: City Detention Center, a campaign that was dreamed up by
Speaker 1: Maryland Win, a formally incarcerated woman who helped ban the
Speaker 1: Box under Nathan Deal UM and said that, you know,
Speaker 1: her last work would not be finished until she saw
Speaker 1: the Atlanta City Detention Center closed. And so she worked
Speaker 1: in partnership with immigrant right communities UM, with people from
Speaker 1: the queer and trans community like Solutions Not Punishment Collaborative
Speaker 1: and Racial Justice Action Center and Project South and Southerners
Speaker 1: on New Ground to formulate this alliance that has successfully
Speaker 1: UM introduced the end of cash fail of the City
Speaker 1: in Atlanta help end the contract of the City of
Speaker 1: Atlanta had with UM the federal Immigration Customer Enforcement authority
Speaker 1: to hold undocumented people UM and uh you know, to
Speaker 1: decriminalize cannabis after the killing of DeAndre Phillips, a black
Speaker 1: father who was murdered by an Atlanta police officer who
Speaker 1: was on undercover, who was in UM playing clothes and
Speaker 1: only engaged with DeAndre because he smelled cannabis coming from
Speaker 1: the car UM and that was probable cause for him
Speaker 1: to UM open fire and UM you know, send another
Speaker 1: black father to a graveyard and sent a home um
Speaker 1: and so all of these things, these reforms again birthed
Speaker 1: out of the experiences in the trauma of our people,
Speaker 1: help inform the public policy that we use um to
Speaker 1: what we call dismantle and starve the beast. And so
Speaker 1: we because of these reforms, we were able to drastically
Speaker 1: reduce the population of the Atlanta City Detention Center and
Speaker 1: put it on a pathway where now we went from
Speaker 1: seven hundred people on any given day at the City
Speaker 1: Detention Center to less than thirty and so that and
Speaker 1: and and that is the testament of of a broad
Speaker 1: coalition of people focused on justice now and taking really
Speaker 1: actionable steps towards liberation through something as granular as a
Speaker 1: city detention center, but a city detention center that was
Speaker 1: built one of the first Olympic facilities because Atlanta at
Speaker 1: the time did not want to acknowledge that it had
Speaker 1: a problem as far as people um, you know, suffering
Speaker 1: from substance abuse and mental illness and homelessness. And we
Speaker 1: decided to try and lock away our problems instead of
Speaker 1: owning our our our community members, instead of owning people
Speaker 1: um and and recognizing that these are our this is
Speaker 1: our constituency, this is our community need, these are our neighbors,
Speaker 1: and it's imperative that we provide solutions and oppunchments. Um
Speaker 1: and So now we're moving in that direction, there's still
Speaker 1: work to be done. The mayor um has introduced a
Speaker 1: plan to close the City Detention Center. We are in
Speaker 1: negotiations with her to bump up that date of the
Speaker 1: City Detention Center closure because unfortunately, our newly elected sheriff,
Speaker 1: who ran on a platform that he was going to
Speaker 1: engage in criminal justice reform, has doubled down on trying
Speaker 1: to expand the Pulton County Jail, instead of working with
Speaker 1: the court system, working with community, the district attorney to
Speaker 1: ensure that we can appropriately decarcerrate the facility because there
Speaker 1: are people there who are not thrust the public safety,
Speaker 1: who can be at home while their cases being adjudicated.
Speaker 1: There are people there who don't even need to go
Speaker 1: to court. They just need to have some services. They
Speaker 1: need some housing, they need some food, they need some healthcare.
Speaker 1: Um and So instead of moving in that direction, he's
Speaker 1: trying to um reneg on the reforms that he initially
Speaker 1: supported as a member of the task force to close
Speaker 1: the Atlanta City Detention Center, a task force that I
Speaker 1: was proud to be a member of. And so we're
Speaker 1: holding everyone accountable to what they said they were going
Speaker 1: to do, including the mayor who says that she wants
Speaker 1: to get Atlanta out of the jailing business. I agree
Speaker 1: with that as well, um, But also the sheriff who
Speaker 1: says that he wants to engage in criminal justice reform.
Speaker 1: And we know that criminal justice reform or um, you know,
Speaker 1: things that are rooted in the abolitionist lens doesn't start
Speaker 1: with jailing more people. It starts as figuring out how
Speaker 1: we get when people home, um, and recognizing that bringing
Speaker 1: people home doesn't mean that they have to be a
Speaker 1: threat to public safety if we are truly intentional about
Speaker 1: to wrap around services that our community and that our
Speaker 1: government provides, because um, it's actually a cost benefit. Because
Speaker 1: you know, as a county commissioner UM in Athens Cark County,
Speaker 1: that it is cheaper to provide someone services than to
Speaker 1: jail them. It is cheaper to build mental health facilities
Speaker 1: than to build prisons and jails, um. And so we've
Speaker 1: got to hold local government accountable. And so that's the
Speaker 1: work that the Black Teachers Group allows me to do
Speaker 1: along with advocating for UM the end of HIV with
Speaker 1: our clients, the Black Aids Institute UM, and reimagining the
Speaker 1: cannabis industry UM through our grant with the Drug Policy
Speaker 1: Alliance UM. And so the Black Features Group has allowed
Speaker 1: me to UH think, use my imagination UM to dream
Speaker 1: of a future uh that is greater than the one
Speaker 1: that we're currently in. Today we talked a lot about
Speaker 1: local efforts around reimagining public safety and trying to enact
Speaker 1: abolitionist future. Let's move to the state legislature and talk
Speaker 1: about some attempts at that level to style me that
Speaker 1: word we have. I don't want to go there either,
Speaker 1: but you know, people people want to know and people
Speaker 1: don't understand, Like especially with the marquee like voter suppression
Speaker 1: bill that was passed last a week, a lot of
Speaker 1: people are missing some of these, like you know, also
Speaker 1: very critical pieces of legislation that respond to other issues
Speaker 1: of racial justice. I we've been fighting for for over
Speaker 1: a year and maybe people might not even pay paying
Speaker 1: attention to. Unfortunately. Yeah, I think, UM, it's really important
Speaker 1: that we give people a timeline, Like I mean, voter
Speaker 1: suppression in Georgia has been happening since you know, black
Speaker 1: people got the right to them. And so let's just
Speaker 1: be clear, none of this is new. It is just
Speaker 1: remix itself and you know, come up with and in
Speaker 1: another form. But it is the same Jim Crow beats
Speaker 1: that we continue to track to slay in our communities.
Speaker 1: And the end of the State Capital is where Jim
Speaker 1: Crow lives in Georgia. Because it is codified into our laws.
Speaker 1: That means that Jim Crow is oftentimes seen throughout our laws.
Speaker 1: And this voter law that was just passes is another
Speaker 1: example of that. More recently. It is a history that
Speaker 1: is in response to what happened in when Brian Camp
Speaker 1: as Secretary of State oversaw his own election and urge
Speaker 1: people from the voter rolls. I personally was impacted when
Speaker 1: I received a wrong voter registration card that had my
Speaker 1: name spelled wrong. Now I'm a business owner, I've been
Speaker 1: a registered lobbyists, I've worked at the state capitol, i
Speaker 1: have a driver's license in Georgia. There's no way that
Speaker 1: they couldn't match my name up with public databases and
Speaker 1: address to make sure that they sent me the right
Speaker 1: voter registration car. Luckily, I was still registered to vote
Speaker 1: at another address and I was able to go and
Speaker 1: vote there so that I could participate in that historic election.
Speaker 1: In what happened to me happened to so many other
Speaker 1: Georgians who were either furge from the voter rolls or
Speaker 1: sent wrong voter registration cards, forced to vote provisional goal
Speaker 1: to jump through a bunch of different groups, and we
Speaker 1: saw the ramifications of that cheating, and it led to
Speaker 1: theacy Abram's being cheated out of the election. But just
Speaker 1: like black women always do, he said all right that
Speaker 1: I got you, I got you, hold on, I'll be back,
Speaker 1: starts fair fight and engages in lawsuits against the state
Speaker 1: of Georgia and holding the Secretary of State accountable to
Speaker 1: what our current what what our previous election laws were.
Speaker 1: That's forward what happens uh black people, A black woman
Speaker 1: based the nation right because Georgia turns blue, something that
Speaker 1: doesn't happen since Georgia isn't blue. I love that Reverend
Speaker 1: James would all the a c P President made it
Speaker 1: really clear Georgia's black, okay, And that doesn't mean that
Speaker 1: nobody else doesn't live here, but it means that we're
Speaker 1: grounded in the black politics that is grounded in the
Speaker 1: needs of everyone, right, Um, And so we did this
Speaker 1: because not just because it was good for black people,
Speaker 1: but it was for good of the country, which is
Speaker 1: good for black people and everybody who lives here, even
Speaker 1: the folks who can't come to the conclusion that this
Speaker 1: is the right thing. So then we do that. Then
Speaker 1: we also we not only send Biden and Kamala Harris,
Speaker 1: first black woman to the White House, we also send
Speaker 1: dot ofs of and Reverend Warnock to the U. S.
Speaker 1: Senate to make sure that Joe Biden has a Senate
Speaker 1: where he can get something done like the COVID relief package,
Speaker 1: which I as a progressive, as an unabassed progressive, wanted
Speaker 1: to see much more done. But I recognized that, Um,
Speaker 1: until we get rid of the filibuster. This is what
Speaker 1: we were able to get done. And that would have
Speaker 1: been impossible had it not been for the leadership of
Speaker 1: Stacy Abrams and so many other black organizers across the
Speaker 1: state of Georgia like ourselves. And so the response to
Speaker 1: that was, Wow, we lost an election for the first
Speaker 1: time in thirty years in Georgia. What are we gonna do.
Speaker 1: We're gonna say you can't hand out water in long lines,
Speaker 1: because we know we love to have long lines at
Speaker 1: voting precincts. We're going to saying that the Republicans can
Speaker 1: take over county elections, um as they see fit, as
Speaker 1: a direct response to Fulton County. We're going to outlaw
Speaker 1: mobile voting precincts as a direct response to Fulton County, which, uh,
Speaker 1: you know not only always goes blue, but this time
Speaker 1: went blue at a higher level than it had previously
Speaker 1: done before. Um. And so the response to all of that,
Speaker 1: um uh is uh in Senate Bill two oh two
Speaker 1: is really a reflection of how Republicans and folks who
Speaker 1: are grounded and a white supremacist Jim Crawl narrative see
Speaker 1: how really went down? Um And instead of just losing
Speaker 1: and figuring out how to retool their party, figuring out
Speaker 1: how they shed some of these really archaic beliefs so
Speaker 1: that they could increase their chances at you know, winning
Speaker 1: political office in the future, they recognize, no, actually, we
Speaker 1: don't want to um let go of these racist, m patriarchal, homophobic,
Speaker 1: and transphobic policies. No, we want to embrace that we
Speaker 1: want to double down on that. We want to double
Speaker 1: down on our support for the rich and how we
Speaker 1: don't care about poor people. And so in order for
Speaker 1: us to double down on that, because we recognize that
Speaker 1: that is not a winning message across the state, so
Speaker 1: in order to increase our chances to win, we have
Speaker 1: to cheat. And so that is what these voter suppression
Speaker 1: laws are about. I hope that was as good as
Speaker 1: an explanation as I can give right there. Just yeah,
Speaker 1: cover to cover. So what so where do we go
Speaker 1: from here as organizers around this law that has to pass. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so we organize. You know, I love a good false
Speaker 1: and fail safe. And and I think it's very clear
Speaker 1: that we didn't just send John ass Off and Reverend
Speaker 1: Warnock to d C because there and to men. We
Speaker 1: sent them there to get a job done. And the
Speaker 1: job that they have to get done is to lobby
Speaker 1: to their colleagues and lobby to the administration. And it's
Speaker 1: time to stop the collusion with the filibuster because it
Speaker 1: is a old practice of of an era that we
Speaker 1: say we want to end. Right um, The filibuster is
Speaker 1: grounded in racism and a white supremacist history about essentially
Speaker 1: trying to protect the minority party but not protect minority folks,
Speaker 1: and that's unacceptable. UM. And so we need to get
Speaker 1: rid of the filibuster so that we can pass HR one,
Speaker 1: so that way it would nullify UM anything that the
Speaker 1: Republicans here in Georgia can cook up to try and
Speaker 1: UM impress Trump voters. And let's also be clear, like
Speaker 1: Brian Kemp, if you're listening, you might be listening and
Speaker 1: your people are listening. I want you to be really clear,
Speaker 1: like it's over for you, bro, Like you know you're
Speaker 1: getting primary. Trump is going to primary somebody against you,
Speaker 1: and you probably won't make it out your primary, and
Speaker 1: if you do, you will be so battered and so bruised.
Speaker 1: And you see that the momentum is on our side,
Speaker 1: the numbers is on our side, and you've done nothing
Speaker 1: other than fire people up and get and getting people
Speaker 1: really excited about making sure you're a one term governor. UM.
Speaker 1: I personally am excited about it because he was involved
Speaker 1: with allowing our state representative part Cannon to be arrested.
Speaker 1: I was arrested in eighteen in response to the election,
Speaker 1: along with then state senator now congresswoman to Kimi Williams.
Speaker 1: So one thing I want to say is we see
Speaker 1: the last black woman that you arrested went to Congress,
Speaker 1: So be careful what you do here, because where's Park
Speaker 1: going to go after this? UM, you know, funk around
Speaker 1: and find out absolutely. And you know what is also
Speaker 1: really clear is is that UM, you know, Brian is
Speaker 1: making policy decisions out of desperation because he knows that. UM.
Speaker 1: While them there is a wing of the Republican Party
Speaker 1: that has been taken over by Trump that's not palatable
Speaker 1: for a general election. Nobody wants to deal with that nonsense.
Speaker 1: People are not going for a governor who campaigns with
Speaker 1: a shotgun on TV anymore. If you know, we're not
Speaker 1: We're not going for that. UM. And I think people
Speaker 1: recognize where UM, the mistake of being apathetic let us
Speaker 1: for four years, and UM, we're realizing that we can't
Speaker 1: make that mistake again because people like Donald Trump, people
Speaker 1: like Brian Kemp are essential threat to humanity now just
Speaker 1: the black people. UM. In that UM we're talking about,
Speaker 1: it's like organizing more, getting more people out seeing that
Speaker 1: Brian kempt us defeated. You know, in some conversations I've
Speaker 1: had with organizers, we've been thinking about how to respond
Speaker 1: to the specific contours of the law. So like if
Speaker 1: you have to have a picture I D in order
Speaker 1: to vote absentee going to door to make sure people
Speaker 1: have what they need to get that in in addition
Speaker 1: to the other forms of canvasing the picture. So have
Speaker 1: you thought it all about the ways that are organizing
Speaker 1: might shift around, Um, the particular contours of the laws
Speaker 1: that has been passed. Absolutely, I already know that. You
Speaker 1: know for me like, um, you know how you walk
Speaker 1: up work around making sure that you aren't giving people
Speaker 1: water inline. You give them water when they drive into
Speaker 1: the parking lot boom. You make sure you make sure
Speaker 1: that they have a lunch box when they before they
Speaker 1: get in line and they've got a lunch block at
Speaker 1: the parking lot. You know, it doesn't matter. We'll get
Speaker 1: our people what we need. So whether we figure out
Speaker 1: workarounds like that for you know, not allowing folks to
Speaker 1: get water INLINE will go to the courts if we
Speaker 1: have to about the GOP takeovers of local election boards. Um.
Speaker 1: And then the ultimate thing that we can do is
Speaker 1: Brian camp is not the only one who's on the
Speaker 1: ballot and we need to make sure that we get
Speaker 1: these um do you know, we need to make sure
Speaker 1: that we get do nothing democrats out of there and
Speaker 1: and primaries, UM, so that way we have real fighters
Speaker 1: down there at the General Assembly, people can actually join
Speaker 1: Park and Renita Shannon and Erica Thomas and some many
Speaker 1: of the other black women and progressive legislators that are
Speaker 1: down there, so that we have a fighting chance. And
Speaker 1: then we also have districts that are primarily flipped. Um
Speaker 1: you know them quite well, um the one seven Tea
Speaker 1: with Melthel Johnson, the camp close you know absolutely, and
Speaker 1: so we we know what we have to do, uh,
Speaker 1: and so we'll do the workarounds. I think knocking on
Speaker 1: doors to make sure that people have what they need
Speaker 1: so that they can go absolutee is amazing. I think
Speaker 1: making sure that we can provide our people with lunch
Speaker 1: boxes and water before they even hit the line, so
Speaker 1: that way that's not an issue either. But we'll work
Speaker 1: around whatever issues um um this law presents. And I'm
Speaker 1: also confident about our court battles as well. UM. And
Speaker 1: I think the lawsuits that the nb A C P
Speaker 1: file UM and uh A C l U and fair
Speaker 1: Fight I think will UM yield good results in court.
Speaker 1: I love that there's so many levels to it, and
Speaker 1: ei there always are. It's like being in the streets
Speaker 1: in the courtroom, being on the ballot, like and we gotta,
Speaker 1: we gotta do use the multiplicity of tactics in order
Speaker 1: to win a FLA. There is no one tactic forwards
Speaker 1: liberation for our people. There's no tactic, one tactic for justice.
Speaker 1: There's a multitude of tactics and the multitude of pathways
Speaker 1: that we have to pay. And some of them include
Speaker 1: a lot of them run through the political system and
Speaker 1: also a lot of them involved dreaming up and building
Speaker 1: our own systems as well. Absolutely absolutely one tactic that
Speaker 1: I've been seeing a lot, particularly from folks out of state,
Speaker 1: is hashtag boycott Georgia. And I wanted to ask your
Speaker 1: opinion on calls, particularly among folks in Hollywood, to boycott
Speaker 1: our state as a response to UM the legislation that
Speaker 1: was just passed before our weigh in with how I
Speaker 1: feel about it. I don't want to color the conversation
Speaker 1: without how I feel. I would love to hear your
Speaker 1: thoughts on this big of hashtag and called action. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I feel like you should be taking direction from on
Speaker 1: the ground organizers. You should not be taking direction from
Speaker 1: people in Hollywood because I know, um, everyday working black
Speaker 1: people who work for Delta and who work for some
Speaker 1: of these other corporations that we are disappointed with, and
Speaker 1: we have to be nuanced with how we approach these things. UM.
Speaker 1: And I think whatever boycott strategy that we cook up
Speaker 1: has to be cooked up with workers. It needs to
Speaker 1: be a boycott strategy that doesn't just attack uh, you know,
Speaker 1: voting rights issues, but it's an opportunity to expand issues
Speaker 1: around labor rights and worker rights. UM. And so we
Speaker 1: gotta be smart about how we move things, you know,
Speaker 1: as a community organized. I believe in strategy. I don't
Speaker 1: believe in, you know, just pop up activism. What's the
Speaker 1: strategy behind it, what's the end goal? You know, what's
Speaker 1: the long what's the long game, what's the short game?
Speaker 1: And so I went supposed to say that I have
Speaker 1: the strategy for what a boycott strategy could look like. UM.
Speaker 1: Folks have to remember that when you know, people were
Speaker 1: doing boycotts, UM, particularly in the sixties. Yeah, it had
Speaker 1: a different economic impact because most of the black people
Speaker 1: were locked out of those economies in the first place,
Speaker 1: we have to right, Yeah, we're at a different time.
Speaker 1: We're you know, for better or for worse, we are
Speaker 1: tied up in this economy to some extent, and so
Speaker 1: to boycott and not you know, take into account the
Speaker 1: impact that would have Black businesses that are serving as
Speaker 1: contractors too larger companies. Right. Um. I don't feel like
Speaker 1: they should have to suffer because you know, Coca Cola
Speaker 1: didn't do what they were supposed to do, which was
Speaker 1: to turn the FOCEL off and stop giving money to
Speaker 1: these reckless Republicans. Right. Um. But with that being said,
Speaker 1: I do think that there are some taxes that we
Speaker 1: can use, um that are direct action tactics. Um. And
Speaker 1: I do think that boycott strategies are things that can work.
Speaker 1: But it has to be a strategy and just be
Speaker 1: something nature. And we have to figure out how will
Speaker 1: keep black people who are tied up in these economies
Speaker 1: for absolutely, I mean I can't agree more to try
Speaker 1: to encourage people, you know, listen to people who are
Speaker 1: doing the work. You'll want to stay in, stay save
Speaker 1: rooms all day, great, listen to what you have to say. Actually,
Speaker 1: don't be following like Mark Hamill or whatever like producer
Speaker 1: or whatever Marvel thing you like on Twitter because because
Speaker 1: they said it, but like, who is out here going
Speaker 1: to be impacted first and foremost? Because I'm sus that
Speaker 1: you brought up like the labor struggle, like you know,
Speaker 1: the folks that keep this economy running. It's it's not
Speaker 1: the CEO of Coca Cola. It's right, the gig work,
Speaker 1: the gig workers, the people who are doing do you
Speaker 1: know how many like that's like, that is such a
Speaker 1: reckless statement, you know what I mean? Black people provide
Speaker 1: adrian services to these film crews that come to Georgia,
Speaker 1: that provide transportation service to these film crews that come
Speaker 1: to Georgia. Like all of these things are important aspects
Speaker 1: of the local economy, not just for you know, the community,
Speaker 1: but particularly black people, right, And we have to recognize
Speaker 1: how we use, how we wield and use our economic power.
Speaker 1: And it's got to be done in a way that
Speaker 1: can't just be done in a way that is emotional. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and it has to be done with people who are
Speaker 1: impacted and who are doing the work upon them. I
Speaker 1: want to hear boycott strategies from working class people. I
Speaker 1: want to hear boycott strategies from what what the opinions
Speaker 1: are of poor black people on boycott strategies, because you know,
Speaker 1: how are they going to be impacted? And that doesn't
Speaker 1: mean that we you know, don't use it as attacked it.
Speaker 1: But it doesn't. What it means is that we don't
Speaker 1: cook it up in the vacuum by ourselves. And it's
Speaker 1: not just you know, people with privilege and access who
Speaker 1: are dictating for the rest of us how we are
Speaker 1: supposed to respond. I feel that, I feel that for sure.
Speaker 1: Um to pivot back to public safety and closing. There's
Speaker 1: another bill that's been going through the state legislature this session,
Speaker 1: HB two eighty six, and it's I believe, not alone
Speaker 1: among the anti it's not. There's House Skill to eighty
Speaker 1: nine as well. But I know to eighty six is
Speaker 1: is is your neck of the woods. That's Houston Games, right.
Speaker 1: I don't blame him. I don't know. I think I
Speaker 1: think you live out there by you you know not
Speaker 1: he does not for long. So we're gonna right, okay, exactly,
Speaker 1: let it okay, let it be down right. We will
Speaker 1: send we will send you home, m Houston Games. So, um,
Speaker 1: so what do these bills do. And I know you
Speaker 1: you testified in front of the Senate House set, a
Speaker 1: Senate House committee, a Senate committee in one of their
Speaker 1: hearings on some of these bills recently to give voice
Speaker 1: to some of what makes some problematic. So if you
Speaker 1: can explain to the listeners what's going on at the
Speaker 1: state legislature level as well stripping the local control UM
Speaker 1: in the realm of public safety in addition to our
Speaker 1: elections decrity. Yeah, so let me give you I think
Speaker 1: history lessons are important. Right last year, this is recent history.
Speaker 1: Last year, uh, George Floyd, Brianna Taylor from od Oarbor,
Speaker 1: he was killed by a former police officer. UM. All
Speaker 1: of those things culminate into the uprisings over the summer.
Speaker 1: And the uprisings over the summer are not just uprisings.
Speaker 1: There are uprisings that are anchored with a policy demand.
Speaker 1: Policy demand that was formulated by years of abolitionist work,
Speaker 1: years of reimagining public safety led by the Movement for
Speaker 1: Black Lives and for b l UM and other like
Speaker 1: minded organizations and institutions that are coming very clearly with
Speaker 1: this demand that we must remove funding UM. The ways
Speaker 1: in which that we fund at the levels in which
Speaker 1: that we fund um to police in the criminal legal
Speaker 1: system because it's not working. Black people aren't safe, and
Speaker 1: the broader community keeps saying that they don't feel safe.
Speaker 1: And so there was a very clear demand, particularly in
Speaker 1: the City of Atlanta and in Athens Park County, around
Speaker 1: repurposing and reallocating resources in the police department budget. In
Speaker 1: the City of Atlanta, our budget is two hundred and
Speaker 1: fifteen million dollars a year. Two hundred and fifteen million
Speaker 1: dollars a year. The police department is one of the highest,
Speaker 1: if not the highest, outside of the Aviation Division UM
Speaker 1: as far as our costs for our city budget, and
Speaker 1: it is insane because what we haven't seen is as
Speaker 1: that budget continues to fluctuate, people in my community continue
Speaker 1: to say we don't feel safe. We don't feel safe,
Speaker 1: not just from people who could do us harm in
Speaker 1: the community, we don't feel safe from the people who
Speaker 1: are supposed to make us feel safe, for which of
Speaker 1: the police. But we have to recognize that that's a
Speaker 1: false dichotomy because policing in this country was grounded out
Speaker 1: of slave control, and so it has never been about
Speaker 1: public safety, not particularly the the safety of all citizens.
Speaker 1: It's been about oftentimes protecting white property, protecting white people,
Speaker 1: and anything that has an extension or tentacles from that
Speaker 1: um and it's never been about protecting black and brown people.
Speaker 1: And so because of that um, we in Atlanta, via
Speaker 1: council Member Antonio Brown, introduced the Rayciard Brooksville which seeks
Speaker 1: to lock box a portion of APGS budget to serve
Speaker 1: as a negotiation and bargaining chip to make sure that
Speaker 1: we're actually going into negotiations with the police department about
Speaker 1: how we're going to reimagine public safety with an actual
Speaker 1: bargaining chip, which is your budget, a portion of your budget.
Speaker 1: There were so many lives that were shared about that
Speaker 1: that bill, that it was gonna fire police officers. There
Speaker 1: was that was not what's what's gonna happen. That we
Speaker 1: were going to cut sixty sixty seven million dollars from
Speaker 1: the police department budget. That was not what the final
Speaker 1: number was. That was what was going to be with
Speaker 1: hell until the police Department in the City of Atlanta
Speaker 1: went through a reimagining public safety period for approximately six months,
Speaker 1: and then the rest of the money would be relinquished
Speaker 1: to support whatever recommendations and legislation moving forward on how
Speaker 1: the police department would be reorganized under this new structure.
Speaker 1: So I think it's important that people understand what the
Speaker 1: Ray Show Brooks Bielle was supposed to do and what
Speaker 1: it wasn't supposed to. Because of that, that bill almost passed.
Speaker 1: It only lost by one vote. One of those votes
Speaker 1: against the Ray Show Brooks Bielle was Dustin hillis the
Speaker 1: council member that I am challenging in council. Just not
Speaker 1: hallelujah to see it. We love to see it. Um.
Speaker 1: And so because of that, Houston gains besides representative for
Speaker 1: the listeners. You know, um, if you could hold two
Speaker 1: political officers, girl, why that's what we need to change.
Speaker 1: And you can be the commissioner and the state rep.
Speaker 1: I know you could do both. I can well, I
Speaker 1: can put on like a mustache and some glasses like
Speaker 1: I'm feared of, like runners, like I don't know richmth
Speaker 1: white guy, and it's like, oh, I'm here down, yeah, yeah, right.
Speaker 1: We could do the opposite of what Rachel Bills are doing.
Speaker 1: It's okay, that would be funny, wouldn't it be funny?
Speaker 1: A bunch of black people going around and saying I'm
Speaker 1: going I'm just I'm trying to UM. I guess we
Speaker 1: do have those people. They're called campus owns. But anyway,
Speaker 1: so you know that bill UM, you know, prompt Houston
Speaker 1: Games to introduce his bill at the State House UM,
Speaker 1: which is preemptively uh, deciding that counties and cities cannot
Speaker 1: cut any funding from their police to propping budget. Which
Speaker 1: let's let's us get into the particulars about that one.
Speaker 1: All of the counties, the county's lobbying agency, the organization,
Speaker 1: the Georgia Municipal Association, is adamantly opposed against because guess
Speaker 1: what happened as your budgets. If you decide not to
Speaker 1: cut anything as your budgets go up, if there's a recession,
Speaker 1: if anything happens, you can never under that legislation, you
Speaker 1: can never cut your budget. No one wants to be
Speaker 1: handcuffed like that. But from a movement perspective, we don't
Speaker 1: want to be handcuffed to broken public safety policies. The
Speaker 1: definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and
Speaker 1: over and over, and what we have been doing as
Speaker 1: far as public safety in Atlanta and across the state
Speaker 1: of Georgia is insanity because people are saying they don't
Speaker 1: feel safe. And so if Georgia spends eight point three
Speaker 1: billion dollars collectively between its local governments and state government
Speaker 1: on police, prisons and jails and people aren't feeling safe,
Speaker 1: then that means we're doing something fundamentally wrong. And so
Speaker 1: Houston gains to introduce this legislation is handcuffing the rest
Speaker 1: of the state to a broken public safety policies because
Speaker 1: there is no correlation between an increase and police funding
Speaker 1: and an increase in public safety or a decrease in
Speaker 1: crime in our community. And so we just have to
Speaker 1: be honest about that. The data doesn't shake it out.
Speaker 1: It's just none of nothing supports that, and so we
Speaker 1: gotta be real about it. And so I expect for uh,
Speaker 1: the Georgia Municipal Association or some county or some entity
Speaker 1: to suit because it's also a question around constitutionality because
Speaker 1: the state, and it's interesting we and so is the
Speaker 1: state gonna start mandating and saying that counties have to
Speaker 1: spend this much on education? Are they gonna start mandating
Speaker 1: and saying absolutely not on parks and rex and environmental justice?
Speaker 1: You know, Republicans out there, I would be really wise
Speaker 1: about what you all support right now, because this is
Speaker 1: under the assumption that you all are always going to
Speaker 1: be the decision makers. And as a progressive, I love
Speaker 1: that when the numbers finally shake out in our favor,
Speaker 1: I would love the opportunity to dictate to all counties
Speaker 1: across the state that they fund fully fund public education.
Speaker 1: You all are setting the president. So because for appreciate
Speaker 1: y'all be careful what you support, because they are progressives
Speaker 1: like myself and Maria and others who are in office
Speaker 1: who are going to be in office that are waiting
Speaker 1: in the wings to take your seats. And we will
Speaker 1: take what you built for us to build our communities
Speaker 1: in the ways that are equitable and liberation and freedom
Speaker 1: and scene within our lifetime, and we stop the oppression
Speaker 1: in the disenfranchisement um. And so that is where that
Speaker 1: bill is right now. It did get passed by both
Speaker 1: the House and the Senate. It will be interesting to
Speaker 1: see if Bryan Kemp signs it. I think he will
Speaker 1: because he's trying to double down to a Trumpian basis
Speaker 1: not going to support him. Um. And then there's also
Speaker 1: House bill to eighty nine, which is a really scary
Speaker 1: piece of legislation because it would then increase some of
Speaker 1: the penalties for protesting, the felony charges. And so we
Speaker 1: already see the ramifications that Representative Cannon was charged to
Speaker 1: felony stating legislator. And so what chance does the average
Speaker 1: citizen have as far as what they could potentially be
Speaker 1: charged with when often times we see that many of
Speaker 1: the times when these protests are escalated, it happens on
Speaker 1: the side of the police um with equipment that they've
Speaker 1: gotten from the U. S. Military decommissioned tanks and riot
Speaker 1: gear um and machines of war that shouldn't be used
Speaker 1: to police a citizen trick um. And so we've got
Speaker 1: real challenges that we have to address here in Georgia.
Speaker 1: But again, um, I think people, you know, Charles Blows
Speaker 1: book The Devil, you know, Black Power political manifesto is
Speaker 1: such a powerful uh narrative. And what is potentially possible
Speaker 1: because more and more people, even with all these bad bills,
Speaker 1: continue to move down to Georgia, More and more people
Speaker 1: continue to make Georgia home and there's a homecoming and
Speaker 1: there's a recognition that these bills will only have a
Speaker 1: very short term impact, UM, and and that UM, the
Speaker 1: momentum and victory is really on our side. So it's
Speaker 1: all right, this is white supremacy in the death spiral.
Speaker 1: It's okay, and it doesn't take it else lightly, but
Speaker 1: it's gonna take its final l any day now. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: oh yeah, Because you know, when I saw white supremacist
Speaker 1: storm in the US capital, I, oh my gosh, y'all, really,
Speaker 1: you're really are concerned about losing power because normally you're
Speaker 1: just sitting in an office and make decisions that impact
Speaker 1: black people horribly. Normally you just run for office and
Speaker 1: be a Republican and do horrible and introduce horrible public
Speaker 1: policy on behalf of your constituency, or you in some
Speaker 1: places are a Democrat and do those things. And I said,
Speaker 1: at the point where you know, people are storming the capital,
Speaker 1: Marsha in the streets saying you won't replace us, this
Speaker 1: must be white supremacy is really last date. And so
Speaker 1: it's it's a it's a beautiful thing to see, UM,
Speaker 1: but because the way that they're acting out, because it
Speaker 1: means that um, the ways in which they used to
Speaker 1: and that white supremacy power isn't working it UM and
Speaker 1: and recognition that the powers that the scales are really
Speaker 1: tipping towards the people who have been impressed for so
Speaker 1: long by your BS. Well, Devin, thank you so much
Speaker 1: for your time. Where can people follow you, donate your campaign,
Speaker 1: find out more about what you work? Yes, so please
Speaker 1: visit devon for Atlanta dot com. My website will be
Speaker 1: up at the end of this week beginning of next
Speaker 1: week UM, and you can also find me on at
Speaker 1: blue Devin Barrington Ward devon for Atlanta UM. If you
Speaker 1: want to connect with the Black Futurist group, it's Black
Speaker 1: Futurist Group dot com. UM. And then you can always
Speaker 1: find me on Instagram and Facebook just typing Devin Barrington
Speaker 1: Ward or depping for Atlanta and I will pop up
Speaker 1: same thing on Twitter. UM. And I hide in public,
Speaker 1: oh um. You know, come out to any of the rallies,
Speaker 1: UM protests, advocacy days. You know, I don't have a clone.
Speaker 1: It is actually me every picture of every protest going
Speaker 1: on in Atlanta. And it don't be on purpose. I'll
Speaker 1: just be out there doing my thing. I don't even
Speaker 1: be knowing that the campers be out there. I'll just
Speaker 1: be like, but um, you know, I thank God that
Speaker 1: I got my grandmother's photo jetness, thank God for granted,
Speaker 1: thank God for grad. One thing I will end with
Speaker 1: is what UM, my lived experiences is what informs my advocacy.
Speaker 1: But it's also something that's in my DNA. My great grandmother,
Speaker 1: Aga Cassandra Bogel is a descendant of Paul Bogel. Paul
Speaker 1: Bogel is one of Jamaica's national heroes. He led a
Speaker 1: rebellion in eighteen sixty five against the British government. UM.
Speaker 1: Even though he was a freeman who owned land and
Speaker 1: could vote, he led that rebellion because his neighbors could not.
Speaker 1: His labors weren't entitled. His neighbors weren't entitled to do process.
Speaker 1: His parishioners weren't entitled to the same safety and freedom
Speaker 1: he was able to experience just because he had wealth.
Speaker 1: Um and Uh it cost him him in his brother's life,
Speaker 1: but it also changed the course of Jamaican led to
Speaker 1: greater self determination. And so UM, you know, my advocacy
Speaker 1: and my activism is a extension of that UM inheritance
Speaker 1: of fighting for freedom and and and justice UM for
Speaker 1: black people. On liberation in our lifetime. Um, and I
Speaker 1: fully believe that I will see it in my lifetime.
Speaker 1: You will too. I believe we will want. Yes, I
Speaker 1: believe we will win. Thank you so much again, Devon,
Speaker 1: Thank you there. This one goes out to Delta, the
Speaker 1: Coca Cola always other corporations, the bank or Republicans election
Speaker 1: cycle after election cycle. Who didn't say ship And this
Speaker 1: is mother Fucus rushing votus depression laws to our state
Speaker 1: legislation for fuck you hey, here we go, here we
Speaker 1: go now that like the corporations want to come and
Speaker 1: say they just to prove sp twenty two when the
Speaker 1: Republicans and some episodes of the sound just feel like
Speaker 1: I'm spelling some funnel take especially considered friend, the thousands
Speaker 1: of the stuck is fake every time Republicans and nothing
Speaker 1: mon complains and nothing things us in the power. And
Speaker 1: suddenly a mistake jump up the schools and office, making
Speaker 1: him and any harm and they intected a lot of
Speaker 1: make a democracy hart, Oh my god, where were y'all
Speaker 1: there in the legislative session, And what y'all gonna be
Speaker 1: nowt like votus depression cold look if the voters wanted
Speaker 1: next elections. The rest of us don't have to get
Speaker 1: arrested without the sub right and checks to ben all
Speaker 1: all all of these justice and start cutting some checks,
Speaker 1: but to lay it went for depressions by also make
Speaker 1: conclusion of this these corporations, ain't you say, it's a
Speaker 1: matter of fact, corporations they ship the power. Would that
Speaker 1: we need to be the power with people to get
Speaker 1: your feet in the street the rest of the braces
Speaker 1: to win. Um, that's it. Have a good week. Hey,
Speaker 1: im lingua franca, dope knife. If we are waiting on reparations,
Speaker 1: dope waiting on reparations as a production of iHeart Radio,
Speaker 1: Listen to Waiting on Reparations on the I Heart Radio app,
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