WEBVTT - Why's It Always Gotta Be Georgia 0:00:00.880 --> 0:00:03.560 You're listening to Waiting on Reparations, the production of I 0:00:03.680 --> 0:00:14.840 Heart Radio. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we wait in a reparations Yeah, 0:00:15.840 --> 0:00:17.439 ye know, how are you supposed to rock the boat 0:00:17.520 --> 0:00:19.520 when they're trying to stop you up? Got the polls 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:21.279 looking like the place that you don't want to go, 0:00:21.560 --> 0:00:23.840 standing in these long lines wrapped around this block and 0:00:23.920 --> 0:00:26.799 moth if somebody give you water, then the tops to show. 0:00:27.000 --> 0:00:29.080 I think about the ship while going through a box 0:00:29.080 --> 0:00:31.600 of smoke, knowing that they slopped the most spit flames, 0:00:31.640 --> 0:00:34.760 dropping rope, Rick James cows approach, big brain, dropping clothes, 0:00:34.840 --> 0:00:36.880 flip the table because we need that swift change, not 0:00:37.040 --> 0:00:39.520 the post going through the concert pros. But I'm keeping 0:00:39.560 --> 0:00:43.160 honest though Dope Knife rap phenomeno. While playing dominoes linga 0:00:43.200 --> 0:00:46.600 Frank's Revolution, I'm saying vominos, looking down the barrel of 0:00:46.720 --> 0:00:59.560 a gun, yelling geronomo, goo, hey, this is dope knife, 0:00:59.720 --> 0:01:04.840 and are waiting on reparations, hurry up? All right? So 0:01:05.000 --> 0:01:08.319 we are here with Devin Barrington Ward, a founding member 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:12.959 I believe of the Black Futurist Group. Yes, absolutely, all right, 0:01:13.440 --> 0:01:17.280 Well you know I am a new UH City council 0:01:17.360 --> 0:01:30.280 candidate UM here. I was so exciting, Like I heard 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:32.040 that you were maybe going to run. I didn't know 0:01:32.080 --> 0:01:35.640 that you were like in, yeah, that's all my paperwork, 0:01:35.720 --> 0:01:41.200 it's official. Congratulations, Thank you, thank you, so thank you 0:01:41.240 --> 0:01:43.200 so much for joining us today to talk a little 0:01:43.200 --> 0:01:45.600 bit about just everything that's been going on in Georgia lately. 0:01:46.280 --> 0:01:48.080 UM And we talked about this a little bit before 0:01:48.160 --> 0:01:50.640 we started recording, but I think you said something very insightful, 0:01:50.680 --> 0:01:53.600 and we love the listeners also sharing this discussion of 0:01:53.680 --> 0:01:56.840 like why is so much crazy shit happening in Georgia 0:01:57.040 --> 0:02:03.520 right now? Georgia is is ground zero for what is 0:02:03.880 --> 0:02:06.440 the past. We're at the intersection of what's the past 0:02:06.480 --> 0:02:10.040 and what is possible for the future. UM And when 0:02:10.120 --> 0:02:13.880 I say that, UM, we are a jurisdiction of state, 0:02:14.040 --> 0:02:17.360 particularly in metro Atlanta, but across Georgia where there are 0:02:17.480 --> 0:02:21.840 lots of black people like yourself that are in UM leadership, 0:02:22.080 --> 0:02:25.959 that are decision makers, that are you know, trying to 0:02:26.040 --> 0:02:28.760 blaze the path forward for something that is different, that 0:02:28.880 --> 0:02:32.519 are an extension of the vision and the dream that 0:02:32.680 --> 0:02:36.320 Maynard Jackson had when he first ran for office in Atlanta. 0:02:36.919 --> 0:02:40.760 UM And we are also still in a state that 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:45.600 very much is plagued by history that has not been resolved, 0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:48.239 the history that has not been atoned for, in a 0:02:48.400 --> 0:02:52.239 history that's still celebrated. UM. And so there is a 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:55.519 battle when you have a county like the Cab County 0:02:55.600 --> 0:02:58.959 that has had black leadership for so long. UM. But 0:02:59.160 --> 0:03:01.040 in the Cab County, I mean there is also the 0:03:01.120 --> 0:03:05.519 world's largest monument to the Confederacy. The symbolism is is 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:10.680 quite powerful. And so it is UH symbolism that illustrates 0:03:10.720 --> 0:03:14.320 why Georgia is in the situation that it's in. Of course, 0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:16.519 this would be happening in the cradle of the civil 0:03:16.639 --> 0:03:20.880 rights movement. This is truly white supremacies last stand. Then 0:03:20.960 --> 0:03:24.119 the battle lines in the battle UM. The battlefield most 0:03:24.160 --> 0:03:26.519 certainly runs through Atlanta, just like it did during the 0:03:26.560 --> 0:03:31.600 Civil War. UM. And so while the methods UM at 0:03:31.680 --> 0:03:35.680 this point, UM have you know been a battle that 0:03:35.800 --> 0:03:38.920 has been waged in the political process, UM, we also 0:03:39.040 --> 0:03:42.480 know that it has real consequences as far as UM 0:03:42.800 --> 0:03:46.120 life and death. UM. We saw an insurrection that was 0:03:46.240 --> 0:03:50.720 connected to the fact that black people UM and a 0:03:50.880 --> 0:03:54.840 part of a broader coalition UM of people of color 0:03:55.320 --> 0:03:59.560 and white people would sense sent John ass Off and 0:04:00.040 --> 0:04:05.400 m um Don alsof and Reverend Warnock Um a Jewish 0:04:05.480 --> 0:04:08.720 man and a black pastor that used to uh that 0:04:08.920 --> 0:04:14.000 is still the pastor of Dr King's Church, even eizer Um. 0:04:14.080 --> 0:04:19.200 The response was to try and uh stage and insurrection 0:04:19.720 --> 0:04:23.159 to overthrow an election. And what it really was about 0:04:23.240 --> 0:04:27.520 saying was, um, you know, we don't believe in democracy 0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:31.840 because democracy allows black people and people who don't look 0:04:31.880 --> 0:04:35.120 like me to have a voice. And I heard something 0:04:35.160 --> 0:04:39.240 on NPR today that was really um thought provoking, is 0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:42.839 that democracy only works if we care for one another. 0:04:43.720 --> 0:04:48.800 The poor fundamental belief of democracy is that people outside 0:04:48.839 --> 0:04:54.560 of yourself map um. And so democracy in America will 0:04:54.640 --> 0:04:58.400 never truly function so long as we continue to collude 0:04:59.040 --> 0:05:04.440 and make bedfellows with by supremacy. And so in Atlanta 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:10.440 uh and in Georgia uh Stacy Abrams and her candidacy 0:05:11.160 --> 0:05:16.640 UM was a indication that the tide is changing. And 0:05:16.760 --> 0:05:19.200 so of course we would see in the legislature that 0:05:19.360 --> 0:05:25.240 respond with egregious odor suppression legislation because it is a 0:05:25.360 --> 0:05:28.080 response to what is the inevitable, which is that the 0:05:28.160 --> 0:05:31.480 me equal inherent Yeah, exactly, And so I love for 0:05:31.560 --> 0:05:33.800 you to talk as well a little bit about UM, 0:05:34.520 --> 0:05:37.520 your background and organizing and particularly uh you're organizing that 0:05:37.560 --> 0:05:40.039 you've done with the Black Futurist Group and even more 0:05:40.320 --> 0:05:44.080 granular than that, y'all's effort that's still ongoing to close 0:05:44.200 --> 0:05:49.320 the the Atlanta jail. M hm. Well, you know, I 0:05:49.400 --> 0:05:52.520 can tell you all of the great things and organizing 0:05:52.640 --> 0:05:55.280 that I've done as far as like being a co 0:05:55.520 --> 0:05:59.400 movement builder, helping start um b y P one hundred 0:06:00.120 --> 0:06:04.240 and it's in in in its exception UM and more 0:06:04.320 --> 0:06:07.960 broadly than movie for Black Lives UM and for b 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:12.440 l UM. But my advocacy and my activism and my 0:06:12.680 --> 0:06:16.280 organizing is shaped by my lived experiences as a black 0:06:16.360 --> 0:06:20.240 weird men's grown up here in the South. UM. I 0:06:20.360 --> 0:06:23.360 have parents who are Caribbean. I have parents who had 0:06:23.440 --> 0:06:26.880 me who we're young. I've seen all of the things 0:06:27.000 --> 0:06:32.239 that I fight for daily, like affordable housing and fighting 0:06:32.320 --> 0:06:35.560 to reimagine public safety and reduce the scope of the 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:40.159 criminal legal system UM and to reform how we build 0:06:40.240 --> 0:06:44.240 wealth in black communities. Is a direct result of having 0:06:44.320 --> 0:06:47.160 the background that I have. I saw my dad get 0:06:47.240 --> 0:06:51.279 beat up by the Cab County police UM, and nothing 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:54.200 happened to them, UM, and I was five years old. 0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:59.320 Those are the type of experiences that shape the experiences, 0:06:59.520 --> 0:07:04.640 excuse me, that shape the advocacy that myself and other 0:07:05.240 --> 0:07:09.160 frontline organizers engaging on a daily basis. And so it's 0:07:09.200 --> 0:07:13.360 why the Black Futures Group UM I founded it. Co 0:07:13.600 --> 0:07:18.440 founded it to really reimagine the ways in which we 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:21.360 use the systems that we have, the systems that we 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:25.080 have dreamed up through creativity and black excellence and the 0:07:25.200 --> 0:07:29.480 brilliance and of of our collective community. UM. How do 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:34.520 we UM reimagine our pathways towards liberation in our in 0:07:34.600 --> 0:07:40.080 our lifetime. UM. A future where we are no longer UM, 0:07:40.720 --> 0:07:43.960 you know, engaging with voter suppression, the future where we 0:07:44.040 --> 0:07:47.600 are no longer engaging with police brutality and an expansion 0:07:47.640 --> 0:07:51.520 of the police state. UM. A truly reimagined future that's 0:07:51.560 --> 0:07:55.240 grounded in the perspective that black lives do matter, and 0:07:55.360 --> 0:07:57.080 that in order for the world to be said, we 0:07:57.240 --> 0:08:01.880 have to um UH and our our greatest atrocity, which 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:07.200 is the ongoing UM hatred and death in genocide against 0:08:07.240 --> 0:08:12.400 black people across the world, and so UM more granular 0:08:12.720 --> 0:08:15.720 UM that means doing the hard work of like uh 0:08:16.520 --> 0:08:19.200 you know, being on the campaign to close the Atlanta 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:22.880 City Detention Center, a campaign that was dreamed up by 0:08:23.520 --> 0:08:28.840 Maryland Win, a formally incarcerated woman who helped ban the 0:08:28.920 --> 0:08:33.120 Box under Nathan Deal UM and said that, you know, 0:08:33.400 --> 0:08:36.360 her last work would not be finished until she saw 0:08:36.440 --> 0:08:40.200 the Atlanta City Detention Center closed. And so she worked 0:08:40.320 --> 0:08:44.880 in partnership with immigrant right communities UM, with people from 0:08:45.000 --> 0:08:48.680 the queer and trans community like Solutions Not Punishment Collaborative 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:52.599 and Racial Justice Action Center and Project South and Southerners 0:08:52.640 --> 0:08:56.600 on New Ground to formulate this alliance that has successfully 0:08:57.320 --> 0:08:59.960 UM introduced the end of cash fail of the City 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:02.760 in Atlanta help end the contract of the City of 0:09:02.760 --> 0:09:09.599 Atlanta had with UM the federal Immigration Customer Enforcement authority 0:09:09.720 --> 0:09:14.719 to hold undocumented people UM and uh you know, to 0:09:14.960 --> 0:09:19.440 decriminalize cannabis after the killing of DeAndre Phillips, a black 0:09:19.520 --> 0:09:23.000 father who was murdered by an Atlanta police officer who 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:26.679 was on undercover, who was in UM playing clothes and 0:09:27.480 --> 0:09:32.240 only engaged with DeAndre because he smelled cannabis coming from 0:09:32.280 --> 0:09:35.400 the car UM and that was probable cause for him 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:40.679 to UM open fire and UM you know, send another 0:09:40.760 --> 0:09:45.160 black father to a graveyard and sent a home um 0:09:45.360 --> 0:09:48.880 and so all of these things, these reforms again birthed 0:09:48.880 --> 0:09:51.480 out of the experiences in the trauma of our people, 0:09:52.520 --> 0:09:56.199 help inform the public policy that we use um to 0:09:56.880 --> 0:10:00.319 what we call dismantle and starve the beast. And so 0:10:00.520 --> 0:10:03.880 we because of these reforms, we were able to drastically 0:10:03.960 --> 0:10:07.439 reduce the population of the Atlanta City Detention Center and 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:10.440 put it on a pathway where now we went from 0:10:10.679 --> 0:10:13.559 seven hundred people on any given day at the City 0:10:13.600 --> 0:10:17.520 Detention Center to less than thirty and so that and 0:10:17.760 --> 0:10:21.040 and and that is the testament of of a broad 0:10:21.160 --> 0:10:24.800 coalition of people focused on justice now and taking really 0:10:24.880 --> 0:10:29.719 actionable steps towards liberation through something as granular as a 0:10:30.120 --> 0:10:33.319 city detention center, but a city detention center that was 0:10:33.400 --> 0:10:37.640 built one of the first Olympic facilities because Atlanta at 0:10:37.679 --> 0:10:40.600 the time did not want to acknowledge that it had 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:43.680 a problem as far as people um, you know, suffering 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:46.920 from substance abuse and mental illness and homelessness. And we 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:49.679 decided to try and lock away our problems instead of 0:10:49.760 --> 0:10:53.400 owning our our our community members, instead of owning people 0:10:54.040 --> 0:10:58.000 um and and recognizing that these are our this is 0:10:58.080 --> 0:11:01.680 our constituency, this is our community need, these are our neighbors, 0:11:02.280 --> 0:11:06.760 and it's imperative that we provide solutions and oppunchments. Um 0:11:06.880 --> 0:11:09.600 and So now we're moving in that direction, there's still 0:11:09.640 --> 0:11:13.199 work to be done. The mayor um has introduced a 0:11:13.280 --> 0:11:17.240 plan to close the City Detention Center. We are in 0:11:17.760 --> 0:11:20.400 negotiations with her to bump up that date of the 0:11:20.480 --> 0:11:25.480 City Detention Center closure because unfortunately, our newly elected sheriff, 0:11:25.720 --> 0:11:28.120 who ran on a platform that he was going to 0:11:29.120 --> 0:11:32.520 engage in criminal justice reform, has doubled down on trying 0:11:32.600 --> 0:11:36.079 to expand the Pulton County Jail, instead of working with 0:11:36.200 --> 0:11:40.559 the court system, working with community, the district attorney to 0:11:40.760 --> 0:11:45.240 ensure that we can appropriately decarcerrate the facility because there 0:11:45.240 --> 0:11:47.960 are people there who are not thrust the public safety, 0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:51.040 who can be at home while their cases being adjudicated. 0:11:51.360 --> 0:11:53.160 There are people there who don't even need to go 0:11:53.280 --> 0:11:56.120 to court. They just need to have some services. They 0:11:56.200 --> 0:11:59.280 need some housing, they need some food, they need some healthcare. 0:11:59.800 --> 0:12:03.560 Um and So instead of moving in that direction, he's 0:12:03.600 --> 0:12:07.320 trying to um reneg on the reforms that he initially 0:12:07.400 --> 0:12:10.000 supported as a member of the task force to close 0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:12.319 the Atlanta City Detention Center, a task force that I 0:12:12.440 --> 0:12:14.400 was proud to be a member of. And so we're 0:12:14.440 --> 0:12:16.520 holding everyone accountable to what they said they were going 0:12:16.600 --> 0:12:18.600 to do, including the mayor who says that she wants 0:12:18.640 --> 0:12:21.600 to get Atlanta out of the jailing business. I agree 0:12:21.640 --> 0:12:24.439 with that as well, um, But also the sheriff who 0:12:24.480 --> 0:12:27.320 says that he wants to engage in criminal justice reform. 0:12:27.360 --> 0:12:30.599 And we know that criminal justice reform or um, you know, 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:33.400 things that are rooted in the abolitionist lens doesn't start 0:12:33.440 --> 0:12:35.920 with jailing more people. It starts as figuring out how 0:12:35.960 --> 0:12:39.120 we get when people home, um, and recognizing that bringing 0:12:39.160 --> 0:12:41.240 people home doesn't mean that they have to be a 0:12:41.280 --> 0:12:44.520 threat to public safety if we are truly intentional about 0:12:44.559 --> 0:12:47.480 to wrap around services that our community and that our 0:12:47.559 --> 0:12:52.440 government provides, because um, it's actually a cost benefit. Because 0:12:52.520 --> 0:12:55.760 you know, as a county commissioner UM in Athens Cark County, 0:12:55.840 --> 0:12:58.800 that it is cheaper to provide someone services than to 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:03.120 jail them. It is cheaper to build mental health facilities 0:13:03.360 --> 0:13:06.800 than to build prisons and jails, um. And so we've 0:13:06.840 --> 0:13:10.120 got to hold local government accountable. And so that's the 0:13:10.200 --> 0:13:12.400 work that the Black Teachers Group allows me to do 0:13:12.520 --> 0:13:16.439 along with advocating for UM the end of HIV with 0:13:16.559 --> 0:13:21.439 our clients, the Black Aids Institute UM, and reimagining the 0:13:21.559 --> 0:13:25.480 cannabis industry UM through our grant with the Drug Policy 0:13:25.520 --> 0:13:28.600 Alliance UM. And so the Black Features Group has allowed 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:34.800 me to UH think, use my imagination UM to dream 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:37.840 of a future uh that is greater than the one 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:43.040 that we're currently in. Today we talked a lot about 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:47.080 local efforts around reimagining public safety and trying to enact 0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:51.200 abolitionist future. Let's move to the state legislature and talk 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:54.319 about some attempts at that level to style me that 0:13:54.440 --> 0:13:59.800 word we have. I don't want to go there either, 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:02.360 but you know, people people want to know and people 0:14:02.400 --> 0:14:06.480 don't understand, Like especially with the marquee like voter suppression 0:14:06.480 --> 0:14:07.760 bill that was passed last a week, a lot of 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:11.520 people are missing some of these, like you know, also 0:14:11.760 --> 0:14:15.240 very critical pieces of legislation that respond to other issues 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:18.000 of racial justice. I we've been fighting for for over 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:19.880 a year and maybe people might not even pay paying 0:14:19.920 --> 0:14:24.360 attention to. Unfortunately. Yeah, I think, UM, it's really important 0:14:24.400 --> 0:14:26.920 that we give people a timeline, Like I mean, voter 0:14:27.000 --> 0:14:30.000 suppression in Georgia has been happening since you know, black 0:14:30.040 --> 0:14:33.000 people got the right to them. And so let's just 0:14:33.120 --> 0:14:35.080 be clear, none of this is new. It is just 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:39.520 remix itself and you know, come up with and in 0:14:39.600 --> 0:14:42.920 another form. But it is the same Jim Crow beats 0:14:43.040 --> 0:14:45.920 that we continue to track to slay in our communities. 0:14:45.960 --> 0:14:49.080 And the end of the State Capital is where Jim 0:14:49.160 --> 0:14:53.680 Crow lives in Georgia. Because it is codified into our laws. 0:14:53.760 --> 0:14:57.720 That means that Jim Crow is oftentimes seen throughout our laws. 0:14:57.760 --> 0:15:00.720 And this voter law that was just passes is another 0:15:00.800 --> 0:15:03.880 example of that. More recently. It is a history that 0:15:04.120 --> 0:15:08.160 is in response to what happened in when Brian Camp 0:15:08.280 --> 0:15:13.040 as Secretary of State oversaw his own election and urge 0:15:13.120 --> 0:15:16.640 people from the voter rolls. I personally was impacted when 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:19.760 I received a wrong voter registration card that had my 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:22.720 name spelled wrong. Now I'm a business owner, I've been 0:15:22.720 --> 0:15:25.560 a registered lobbyists, I've worked at the state capitol, i 0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:29.040 have a driver's license in Georgia. There's no way that 0:15:29.200 --> 0:15:32.040 they couldn't match my name up with public databases and 0:15:32.080 --> 0:15:34.920 address to make sure that they sent me the right 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:39.000 voter registration car. Luckily, I was still registered to vote 0:15:39.040 --> 0:15:41.000 at another address and I was able to go and 0:15:41.160 --> 0:15:44.200 vote there so that I could participate in that historic election. 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:47.560 In what happened to me happened to so many other 0:15:47.640 --> 0:15:50.320 Georgians who were either furge from the voter rolls or 0:15:50.440 --> 0:15:54.480 sent wrong voter registration cards, forced to vote provisional goal 0:15:54.680 --> 0:15:56.840 to jump through a bunch of different groups, and we 0:15:56.920 --> 0:15:59.560 saw the ramifications of that cheating, and it led to 0:16:00.120 --> 0:16:03.280 theacy Abram's being cheated out of the election. But just 0:16:03.480 --> 0:16:06.160 like black women always do, he said all right that 0:16:06.520 --> 0:16:09.040 I got you, I got you, hold on, I'll be back, 0:16:09.480 --> 0:16:13.800 starts fair fight and engages in lawsuits against the state 0:16:13.880 --> 0:16:18.200 of Georgia and holding the Secretary of State accountable to 0:16:18.640 --> 0:16:21.600 what our current what what our previous election laws were. 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:28.720 That's forward what happens uh black people, A black woman 0:16:29.080 --> 0:16:32.960 based the nation right because Georgia turns blue, something that 0:16:33.080 --> 0:16:38.440 doesn't happen since Georgia isn't blue. I love that Reverend 0:16:38.560 --> 0:16:41.000 James would all the a c P President made it 0:16:41.080 --> 0:16:44.040 really clear Georgia's black, okay, And that doesn't mean that 0:16:44.120 --> 0:16:46.640 nobody else doesn't live here, but it means that we're 0:16:46.720 --> 0:16:49.720 grounded in the black politics that is grounded in the 0:16:49.880 --> 0:16:53.280 needs of everyone, right, Um, And so we did this 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:55.480 because not just because it was good for black people, 0:16:55.520 --> 0:16:57.880 but it was for good of the country, which is 0:16:57.920 --> 0:17:01.120 good for black people and everybody who lives here, even 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:03.640 the folks who can't come to the conclusion that this 0:17:03.800 --> 0:17:06.440 is the right thing. So then we do that. Then 0:17:06.600 --> 0:17:09.240 we also we not only send Biden and Kamala Harris, 0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:13.160 first black woman to the White House, we also send 0:17:13.520 --> 0:17:15.760 dot ofs of and Reverend Warnock to the U. S. 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:20.119 Senate to make sure that Joe Biden has a Senate 0:17:20.160 --> 0:17:23.640 where he can get something done like the COVID relief package, 0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:27.240 which I as a progressive, as an unabassed progressive, wanted 0:17:27.280 --> 0:17:30.520 to see much more done. But I recognized that, Um, 0:17:30.840 --> 0:17:33.000 until we get rid of the filibuster. This is what 0:17:33.160 --> 0:17:35.440 we were able to get done. And that would have 0:17:35.480 --> 0:17:38.560 been impossible had it not been for the leadership of 0:17:38.640 --> 0:17:42.680 Stacy Abrams and so many other black organizers across the 0:17:42.760 --> 0:17:46.920 state of Georgia like ourselves. And so the response to 0:17:47.000 --> 0:17:49.560 that was, Wow, we lost an election for the first 0:17:49.600 --> 0:17:52.320 time in thirty years in Georgia. What are we gonna do. 0:17:52.920 --> 0:17:55.960 We're gonna say you can't hand out water in long lines, 0:17:55.960 --> 0:17:57.960 because we know we love to have long lines at 0:17:58.040 --> 0:18:02.240 voting precincts. We're going to saying that the Republicans can 0:18:02.359 --> 0:18:07.400 take over county elections, um as they see fit, as 0:18:07.440 --> 0:18:12.320 a direct response to Fulton County. We're going to outlaw 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:18.320 mobile voting precincts as a direct response to Fulton County, which, uh, 0:18:18.520 --> 0:18:21.360 you know not only always goes blue, but this time 0:18:21.440 --> 0:18:24.320 went blue at a higher level than it had previously 0:18:24.400 --> 0:18:28.119 done before. Um. And so the response to all of that, 0:18:29.080 --> 0:18:32.520 um uh is uh in Senate Bill two oh two 0:18:33.240 --> 0:18:39.400 is really a reflection of how Republicans and folks who 0:18:39.640 --> 0:18:43.880 are grounded and a white supremacist Jim Crawl narrative see 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:49.439 how really went down? Um And instead of just losing 0:18:50.040 --> 0:18:54.000 and figuring out how to retool their party, figuring out 0:18:54.040 --> 0:18:59.159 how they shed some of these really archaic beliefs so 0:18:59.320 --> 0:19:02.680 that they could increase their chances at you know, winning 0:19:02.760 --> 0:19:06.399 political office in the future, they recognize, no, actually, we 0:19:06.560 --> 0:19:13.280 don't want to um let go of these racist, m patriarchal, homophobic, 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:16.600 and transphobic policies. No, we want to embrace that we 0:19:16.720 --> 0:19:18.720 want to double down on that. We want to double 0:19:18.760 --> 0:19:22.119 down on our support for the rich and how we 0:19:22.520 --> 0:19:25.440 don't care about poor people. And so in order for 0:19:25.560 --> 0:19:27.840 us to double down on that, because we recognize that 0:19:27.960 --> 0:19:30.960 that is not a winning message across the state, so 0:19:31.080 --> 0:19:33.320 in order to increase our chances to win, we have 0:19:33.480 --> 0:19:36.720 to cheat. And so that is what these voter suppression 0:19:36.760 --> 0:19:40.240 laws are about. I hope that was as good as 0:19:40.320 --> 0:19:45.880 an explanation as I can give right there. Just yeah, 0:19:46.040 --> 0:19:48.240 cover to cover. So what so where do we go 0:19:48.480 --> 0:19:54.480 from here as organizers around this law that has to pass. Yeah, 0:19:54.640 --> 0:19:58.359 so we organize. You know, I love a good false 0:19:58.440 --> 0:20:01.760 and fail safe. And and I think it's very clear 0:20:02.440 --> 0:20:06.440 that we didn't just send John ass Off and Reverend 0:20:06.480 --> 0:20:09.800 Warnock to d C because there and to men. We 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:12.280 sent them there to get a job done. And the 0:20:12.440 --> 0:20:16.240 job that they have to get done is to lobby 0:20:16.480 --> 0:20:20.320 to their colleagues and lobby to the administration. And it's 0:20:20.359 --> 0:20:23.840 time to stop the collusion with the filibuster because it 0:20:24.040 --> 0:20:28.359 is a old practice of of an era that we 0:20:28.560 --> 0:20:33.680 say we want to end. Right um, The filibuster is 0:20:33.760 --> 0:20:38.360 grounded in racism and a white supremacist history about essentially 0:20:38.440 --> 0:20:41.960 trying to protect the minority party but not protect minority folks, 0:20:42.480 --> 0:20:46.600 and that's unacceptable. UM. And so we need to get 0:20:46.720 --> 0:20:49.880 rid of the filibuster so that we can pass HR one, 0:20:50.400 --> 0:20:54.680 so that way it would nullify UM anything that the 0:20:54.800 --> 0:20:57.760 Republicans here in Georgia can cook up to try and 0:20:58.680 --> 0:21:02.800 UM impress Trump voters. And let's also be clear, like 0:21:02.920 --> 0:21:05.800 Brian Kemp, if you're listening, you might be listening and 0:21:06.200 --> 0:21:08.359 your people are listening. I want you to be really clear, 0:21:08.440 --> 0:21:11.600 like it's over for you, bro, Like you know you're 0:21:11.640 --> 0:21:15.000 getting primary. Trump is going to primary somebody against you, 0:21:15.359 --> 0:21:17.359 and you probably won't make it out your primary, and 0:21:17.440 --> 0:21:20.440 if you do, you will be so battered and so bruised. 0:21:20.960 --> 0:21:23.399 And you see that the momentum is on our side, 0:21:23.560 --> 0:21:25.800 the numbers is on our side, and you've done nothing 0:21:26.240 --> 0:21:29.040 other than fire people up and get and getting people 0:21:29.200 --> 0:21:32.840 really excited about making sure you're a one term governor. UM. 0:21:33.040 --> 0:21:37.120 I personally am excited about it because he was involved 0:21:37.600 --> 0:21:42.000 with allowing our state representative part Cannon to be arrested. 0:21:42.800 --> 0:21:46.280 I was arrested in eighteen in response to the election, 0:21:46.520 --> 0:21:51.040 along with then state senator now congresswoman to Kimi Williams. 0:21:51.119 --> 0:21:53.240 So one thing I want to say is we see 0:21:53.320 --> 0:21:56.600 the last black woman that you arrested went to Congress, 0:21:56.760 --> 0:22:00.520 So be careful what you do here, because where's Park 0:22:00.560 --> 0:22:05.040 going to go after this? UM, you know, funk around 0:22:05.040 --> 0:22:09.240 and find out absolutely. And you know what is also 0:22:09.359 --> 0:22:12.840 really clear is is that UM, you know, Brian is 0:22:13.080 --> 0:22:18.960 making policy decisions out of desperation because he knows that. UM. 0:22:19.960 --> 0:22:23.080 While them there is a wing of the Republican Party 0:22:23.160 --> 0:22:26.240 that has been taken over by Trump that's not palatable 0:22:26.320 --> 0:22:29.400 for a general election. Nobody wants to deal with that nonsense. 0:22:29.480 --> 0:22:33.639 People are not going for a governor who campaigns with 0:22:33.760 --> 0:22:36.840 a shotgun on TV anymore. If you know, we're not 0:22:37.160 --> 0:22:40.639 We're not going for that. UM. And I think people 0:22:40.760 --> 0:22:45.879 recognize where UM, the mistake of being apathetic let us 0:22:45.960 --> 0:22:50.440 for four years, and UM, we're realizing that we can't 0:22:50.840 --> 0:22:54.640 make that mistake again because people like Donald Trump, people 0:22:54.720 --> 0:23:00.159 like Brian Kemp are essential threat to humanity now just 0:23:00.280 --> 0:23:03.240 the black people. UM. In that UM we're talking about, 0:23:03.240 --> 0:23:06.240 it's like organizing more, getting more people out seeing that 0:23:06.440 --> 0:23:09.200 Brian kempt us defeated. You know, in some conversations I've 0:23:09.200 --> 0:23:11.920 had with organizers, we've been thinking about how to respond 0:23:12.000 --> 0:23:16.040 to the specific contours of the law. So like if 0:23:16.080 --> 0:23:19.360 you have to have a picture I D in order 0:23:19.400 --> 0:23:22.160 to vote absentee going to door to make sure people 0:23:22.200 --> 0:23:24.000 have what they need to get that in in addition 0:23:24.080 --> 0:23:26.520 to the other forms of canvasing the picture. So have 0:23:26.640 --> 0:23:29.080 you thought it all about the ways that are organizing 0:23:29.160 --> 0:23:33.600 might shift around, Um, the particular contours of the laws 0:23:33.680 --> 0:23:36.200 that has been passed. Absolutely, I already know that. You 0:23:36.280 --> 0:23:39.480 know for me like, um, you know how you walk 0:23:39.560 --> 0:23:42.320 up work around making sure that you aren't giving people 0:23:42.400 --> 0:23:44.800 water inline. You give them water when they drive into 0:23:44.840 --> 0:23:48.040 the parking lot boom. You make sure you make sure 0:23:48.080 --> 0:23:50.119 that they have a lunch box when they before they 0:23:50.200 --> 0:23:52.080 get in line and they've got a lunch block at 0:23:52.119 --> 0:23:55.159 the parking lot. You know, it doesn't matter. We'll get 0:23:55.200 --> 0:23:57.959 our people what we need. So whether we figure out 0:23:58.000 --> 0:24:01.399 workarounds like that for you know, not allowing folks to 0:24:01.480 --> 0:24:05.480 get water INLINE will go to the courts if we 0:24:05.600 --> 0:24:09.720 have to about the GOP takeovers of local election boards. Um. 0:24:09.920 --> 0:24:12.040 And then the ultimate thing that we can do is 0:24:12.080 --> 0:24:13.879 Brian camp is not the only one who's on the 0:24:13.920 --> 0:24:17.000 ballot and we need to make sure that we get 0:24:17.200 --> 0:24:19.840 these um do you know, we need to make sure 0:24:19.880 --> 0:24:21.920 that we get do nothing democrats out of there and 0:24:22.160 --> 0:24:25.320 and primaries, UM, so that way we have real fighters 0:24:25.400 --> 0:24:28.120 down there at the General Assembly, people can actually join 0:24:28.320 --> 0:24:32.480 Park and Renita Shannon and Erica Thomas and some many 0:24:32.480 --> 0:24:35.439 of the other black women and progressive legislators that are 0:24:35.520 --> 0:24:38.000 down there, so that we have a fighting chance. And 0:24:38.119 --> 0:24:42.040 then we also have districts that are primarily flipped. Um 0:24:42.280 --> 0:24:46.199 you know them quite well, um the one seven Tea 0:24:46.240 --> 0:24:49.359 with Melthel Johnson, the camp close you know absolutely, and 0:24:49.520 --> 0:24:52.560 so we we know what we have to do, uh, 0:24:52.640 --> 0:24:54.840