WEBVTT - Organizing Playbook Pt.2 | Andrew Gillum SoloPod 0:00:00.560 --> 0:00:04.559 Native Land Pod is a production of iHeartRadio in partnership 0:00:04.600 --> 0:00:06.280 with Reason Choice Media. 0:00:06.920 --> 0:00:09.600 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome, Welcome. 0:00:11.200 --> 0:00:11.600 Was that was? 0:00:11.600 --> 0:00:14.760 That was up everybody. This is Andrew Gillum. Put some 0:00:14.840 --> 0:00:17.439 lotion on my hands because my mama talking to me 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:20.880 about not you know, have lotion hands anyway. Uh, y'all 0:00:20.920 --> 0:00:25.079 listen real quick. This is coincidentally spring break for the kids. 0:00:25.960 --> 0:00:29.000 I am not at home spring break. We try to 0:00:29.040 --> 0:00:32.599 make make our rounds, visit family and uh, you know, 0:00:32.960 --> 0:00:35.480 find other things to distract us and the kids for 0:00:35.600 --> 0:00:37.720 a couple of days. Hats off to teachers who do this. 0:00:38.840 --> 0:00:42.599 You're in, Ye're out a month week, day after day, 0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:44.400 all that good stuff. Anyway, So wherever you are, I 0:00:44.440 --> 0:00:47.320 hope you're doing well. This is uh me coming to 0:00:47.400 --> 0:00:50.800 you talking a little bit about this solo pod that 0:00:50.840 --> 0:00:55.400 I'm doing. We are how do you say? Angela and I. 0:00:55.400 --> 0:00:58.560 I think Tiffany soon will be sort of branching off 0:00:58.560 --> 0:01:01.080 to take various elements of either the news of the 0:01:01.160 --> 0:01:04.280 day or issues we want to you know, brief and 0:01:04.400 --> 0:01:09.080 educate people on, as well as strategies for how we 0:01:09.120 --> 0:01:13.000 make it through. Frankly, the trying days wherein we find ourselves. 0:01:13.640 --> 0:01:16.640 I have made the choice, at least for the first 0:01:17.480 --> 0:01:21.240 many of my solo pods, to try to deepen into 0:01:21.240 --> 0:01:24.600 a question that we keep getting pretty regularly on the 0:01:24.640 --> 0:01:28.160 main show of Native Lampard around what do we do 0:01:28.280 --> 0:01:30.360 the moment that we're in, the fights that we're having, 0:01:31.120 --> 0:01:35.440 the apparent tyranny that goes unchecked at the national level, 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:37.880 what we're dealing with in our states and in our cities. 0:01:38.120 --> 0:01:41.920 And I really I like the question, but I hate 0:01:41.920 --> 0:01:44.160 the question because it puts it just loads up so 0:01:44.280 --> 0:01:46.399 much on you when you think, well, what do I do? 0:01:46.520 --> 0:01:49.800 What is the thing? People get you know, pressured and 0:01:49.920 --> 0:01:52.720 feel really not up to the task, that they're not 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:56.640 the right people to do the thing that it is 0:01:56.680 --> 0:01:59.120 that needs to be done. And I just wanted to 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:05.240 take a hit historical example of people getting together and 0:02:05.360 --> 0:02:09.400 organizing a thing and it becoming something you know, bigger, bigger, 0:02:09.400 --> 0:02:13.640 I think, than their initial ambitions. And the example I'd 0:02:13.639 --> 0:02:17.800 like to use for on the aftermath of this past 0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:23.760 weekend's sixtieth remembrance of Bloody Sunday, the march across the 0:02:23.840 --> 0:02:28.160 Edmond Petties Bridge. I want to use the Montgomery Bus 0:02:28.160 --> 0:02:33.280 boycotts as sort of a background and we know it, 0:02:33.320 --> 0:02:37.680 of course as the big transformational Montgomery bus boycotts today, 0:02:38.360 --> 0:02:40.880 But back then, if we were to trace back to, 0:02:41.520 --> 0:02:45.320 you know, the work of Rosa Parks nineteen fifty five 0:02:45.360 --> 0:02:48.160 when she made her refusal, it's important to note that 0:02:48.200 --> 0:02:51.640 there were those who had been arrested frankly prior to 0:02:52.360 --> 0:02:59.240 Rosa Parks's refusal. Claudette Colving comes to mind, the fifteen 0:02:59.320 --> 0:03:02.079 year old who less than a year prior to to 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:06.760 to Rosa Parks's refusal also refused to get up uh 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:09.320 and give her seat away in the Negro section of 0:03:09.360 --> 0:03:11.280 the bus where she had paid her fare to be 0:03:11.320 --> 0:03:14.560 able to sit. Uh. But we thank all of those 0:03:14.560 --> 0:03:16.840 who came before. But I just wanted to provide a 0:03:16.840 --> 0:03:22.080 little bit of context for how this very local action 0:03:22.240 --> 0:03:25.920 kind of ballooned and when and and relate that to 0:03:27.120 --> 0:03:28.640 this big question of what do we do? What do 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:31.160 we do? What do we do? And it being almost 0:03:31.200 --> 0:03:34.800 paralyzing to think about. Well, some of you may know, 0:03:35.120 --> 0:03:37.560 but there was a little room group at the time 0:03:37.640 --> 0:03:43.440 called the neighborhood uh improved the excuse me, Montgomery Improvement 0:03:43.920 --> 0:03:48.640 Association that doctor King would eventually come to lead, but 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:51.880 prior to uh Doctor King leading it, it had the 0:03:52.720 --> 0:03:58.000 name of the Negro Council, the Local Negro Council, which 0:03:58.840 --> 0:04:01.280 the name was changed because because it was in such 0:04:01.320 --> 0:04:06.160 close assemblance to the White Council, which was a racist organization, 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:09.240 that in order for the framing to go right, they 0:04:09.320 --> 0:04:15.960 made the name change. Nonetheless, the Neighborhood Improvement Association there 0:04:15.960 --> 0:04:21.000 at Montgomery pre existed the work done around the bus boycotts. 0:04:21.560 --> 0:04:26.000 They were formed with the pretty important but singular notion 0:04:26.160 --> 0:04:29.080 of how to improve life for black people in Montgomery 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:34.200 at that time, very focused, very discrete in its orientation 0:04:34.320 --> 0:04:38.680 and its mission, certainly not you know, change American history 0:04:38.680 --> 0:04:41.719 and American law and make separate but equal, you know, 0:04:41.800 --> 0:04:45.400 inherently unequal, even as it relates to accommodations public accommodations. 0:04:45.880 --> 0:04:48.680 It started small. So as you think about things in 0:04:48.720 --> 0:04:52.320 your own community, things you want to see changed, improvements 0:04:52.360 --> 0:04:54.640 you want to see made. I just want you to 0:04:54.680 --> 0:04:58.240 see that this sort of tracks with what happened back then, 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:01.159 that there were things that people in the local community 0:05:01.160 --> 0:05:02.840 came together and said, ah, we got to change this, 0:05:02.880 --> 0:05:05.320 we need some some that it can be better and 0:05:05.360 --> 0:05:08.680 we can do the work to make it better. Montgomery 0:05:08.680 --> 0:05:11.200 Improvement Association m IA as it came to be called, 0:05:11.240 --> 0:05:13.480 not to be confused with missing in an action. It 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:17.680 was anything but. When the bus boycotts began that November fifth, 0:05:18.320 --> 0:05:20.960 with the support of the National Association for the Advancement 0:05:21.000 --> 0:05:25.960 of Colored People and obviously the local community, the empty 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:28.599 buses on that day were shock, such a shock to 0:05:28.640 --> 0:05:31.400 the system, nobody expected it. The white folks in the 0:05:31.400 --> 0:05:33.680 community didn't know what to do. And at the end 0:05:33.800 --> 0:05:38.479 of that day, the community meeting, the gathering which were 0:05:38.480 --> 0:05:41.920 being held nightly in churches, gathered at a local amb church, 0:05:42.040 --> 0:05:44.400 you know, packed with black folks there Montgomery, and at 0:05:44.400 --> 0:05:46.920 the time the Black censites of Montgomery was around seventeen 0:05:47.240 --> 0:05:51.120 five hundred people. They gathered and they took the position 0:05:51.279 --> 0:05:54.320 that they had to continue the bus boycott. So what 0:05:54.440 --> 0:05:58.360 was initially a one day event, these folks make the 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:01.640 decision when they fell the agency and the power of 0:06:01.680 --> 0:06:06.080 their actions that hey, hey we shook something up. This 0:06:06.080 --> 0:06:08.920 thing got to continue. Literally did they know that continuation 0:06:09.160 --> 0:06:15.800 meant three hundred and eighty two days of protests, of resistance, 0:06:15.880 --> 0:06:20.320 of inconvenience so that they could bring the system to heal. 0:06:20.440 --> 0:06:24.279 And I got to imagine that over those many, many days, 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:27.200 over that year's time, there were probably a lot of 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:30.480 people who eventually said, all right, y'all, this system is 0:06:30.520 --> 0:06:33.440 too big. We can't break it. And I'm reminded of 0:06:33.480 --> 0:06:35.960 this poem. That line of the poem is when things 0:06:36.000 --> 0:06:39.920 seem worse, that you mustn't quit. A lot of times 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:44.000 in our fights, things feel dark, they feel tough, they 0:06:44.040 --> 0:06:50.520 feel immovable, and quite frankly, it launches its fiercest attack 0:06:51.360 --> 0:06:55.560 right before it crumbles, right before it falls. And so yes, 0:06:56.520 --> 0:07:00.960 these times of mobilization, we will have high and low days. 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:06.360 But they persisted, and through their persistence and their commitment 0:07:06.440 --> 0:07:09.720 to the goal, we were able to see American history, 0:07:09.800 --> 0:07:11.520 not just you know, not just in Montgomery, but I 0:07:11.520 --> 0:07:14.960 think world history and the self efficacy that black folks 0:07:15.000 --> 0:07:18.320 felt that we could decide to do a thing and 0:07:18.360 --> 0:07:21.240 that thing can be done even when the power on 0:07:21.280 --> 0:07:26.320 the other side seems are all powerful, uh and not 0:07:26.560 --> 0:07:29.440 not able to crumble. Where does this relate back to 0:07:29.440 --> 0:07:31.360 what it is that we're talking about today and what 0:07:31.400 --> 0:07:35.200 we're confronting. I just want to bring down the size 0:07:35.240 --> 0:07:39.200 the civil rights movement takes on such this huge space 0:07:39.280 --> 0:07:44.040 as it should. It was transformational for history and for us. 0:07:44.440 --> 0:07:47.320 A lot of times we refuse to pull back the 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:49.840 layers of Okay, how did we get there? What happened 0:07:49.880 --> 0:07:52.080 to get us to this point? How did they organize it? 0:07:52.120 --> 0:07:54.960 What did we? You know, who knew doctor King? You know, 0:07:55.080 --> 0:07:58.040 if doctor King doesn't exist in our communities anymore, well, 0:07:58.400 --> 0:08:00.840 you know, let the story be told on it. Doctor 0:08:00.880 --> 0:08:05.920 King was selected to lead uh the m I, a 0:08:06.160 --> 0:08:09.880 Montgomery Improvement Association. He was chosen, according to Rosa Parks, 0:08:10.120 --> 0:08:12.920 because he was young, relatively new, and frankly hadn't built 0:08:12.960 --> 0:08:15.520 up a lot of enemies amongst ministers and others in 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:19.480 the Montgomery area. And so he was chosen to lead 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:23.240 this group. And he, after some you know, in trepidation, 0:08:23.360 --> 0:08:25.960 decided that he would he would take on that that mission. 0:08:26.000 --> 0:08:30.400 But the people made that choice, A group of folks 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:33.959 in a community made those choices, and obviously history took 0:08:33.960 --> 0:08:36.520 its course, and diviner dimension being what it is, he 0:08:36.600 --> 0:08:38.040 was the right person, it was the right time, and 0:08:38.080 --> 0:08:42.280 they were the right group. But so too is that 0:08:42.400 --> 0:08:47.160 possibility for all of us. I wanted to give three 0:08:47.480 --> 0:08:50.880 or maybe four pieces of advice as we approach what 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:54.960 is going to be my series in this solo pod, 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:59.520 which will bring to you individuals through interviews and through 0:08:59.559 --> 0:09:04.840 conversation like this movement examples and curricula that I'm going 0:09:04.920 --> 0:09:09.680 to borrow from an effort known as start sca art 0:09:10.360 --> 0:09:12.200 to try to walk us through. Okay, what are some 0:09:12.280 --> 0:09:14.600 of the steps and hopefully it can be useful to you. 0:09:14.880 --> 0:09:16.599 Everything may not be useful to you. This may not 0:09:16.679 --> 0:09:18.360 be useful. You may know this history and it may 0:09:18.360 --> 0:09:21.400 not be important to you, but hopefully you can keep 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:24.120 what is useful and suspend with the rest. All right, 0:09:24.320 --> 0:09:27.880 I'm humble enough to know that everything won't be directly 0:09:27.920 --> 0:09:32.280 applicable to everybody. But we trace these examples back over 0:09:32.400 --> 0:09:36.440 history because they give us the belief that the thing 0:09:36.520 --> 0:09:40.120 we want to do can be done. And in some cases, 0:09:40.280 --> 0:09:42.440 the thing we want to do may not have ever 0:09:42.520 --> 0:09:47.000 been attempted before, or maybe it was attempted and was unsuccessful, 0:09:47.520 --> 0:09:51.280 and then you're birthing something very new. But in the 0:09:51.320 --> 0:09:54.080 time in which you're doing it, you can't be focused 0:09:54.120 --> 0:09:57.719 on making history or even changing history. They weren't in 0:09:57.840 --> 0:10:01.080 the Montgomery Improvement Association. They willocused on changing the lift 0:10:01.120 --> 0:10:04.200 conditions of black people every day in that city, just 0:10:04.360 --> 0:10:08.320 like many of us are challenged to do at a local, 0:10:08.360 --> 0:10:10.280 at a state, or at a national level. At this time, 0:10:10.720 --> 0:10:13.679 three pieces of advice. As we get at this question 0:10:13.760 --> 0:10:16.560 of what do we do and how do we get started? 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:22.199 The start and a number of other organizing movement strategies 0:10:22.720 --> 0:10:24.760 give us a little bit of hint into how we 0:10:24.840 --> 0:10:28.360 do that. And the first thing I want to suggest 0:10:28.400 --> 0:10:32.240 to you is that you began to assemble a group 0:10:32.280 --> 0:10:36.000 of people, small group folks you know, maybe some you 0:10:36.040 --> 0:10:37.920 don't know so well, but you have a sense that 0:10:37.960 --> 0:10:40.640 you share something in common. I don't want to give 0:10:40.679 --> 0:10:42.280 you all the criteria, but certainly there are to be 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:46.400 some like minded concern amongst are gathering small group of folks. 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:49.920 And by the way, your action doesn't always have to 0:10:49.920 --> 0:10:52.160 be with groups. It can also be very individual. And 0:10:52.200 --> 0:10:54.319 we'll talk about that. If not, we're gonna get to 0:10:54.360 --> 0:10:57.839 it this time next time. But get a small group together. 0:10:57.840 --> 0:11:02.040 That's number one. Who are people who share generally your issue, 0:11:02.080 --> 0:11:06.560 your aks, your concern talk amongst each other. Number two? 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:10.000 And a house setting at a coffee shop. However it 0:11:10.040 --> 0:11:12.920 is you decide to organize this group of like minded 0:11:12.920 --> 0:11:16.480 people and allow everyone who's around that space, at that 0:11:16.600 --> 0:11:23.200 table to offer their real, true, heartfelt feelings about what 0:11:23.800 --> 0:11:27.880 is under their crawl, what's concerning them, what has them anxious, nervous, 0:11:28.520 --> 0:11:31.680 troubled by our community, by the country, by the state, 0:11:31.720 --> 0:11:33.880 by the local place where we are on our street, 0:11:33.960 --> 0:11:37.480 in our neighborhood. That's number two. Allow everybody to get 0:11:37.480 --> 0:11:40.360 their voices out and be heard. The buy ind is 0:11:40.440 --> 0:11:43.839 greater when we do that. People feel greater ownership, They 0:11:43.840 --> 0:11:46.720 feel heard and hopefully reflected through the work of the group. 0:11:46.760 --> 0:11:49.840 When everybody gets to pour in their thoughts and feelings, 0:11:49.840 --> 0:11:55.600 that's number two. Number three. Once you all have gathered that, 0:11:55.720 --> 0:12:00.839 you have shared your thoughts, opinions, trepidations about what it 0:12:00.920 --> 0:12:04.000 is you are facing, you all as a group are facing. 0:12:04.559 --> 0:12:06.720 The third thing that we want you to do is 0:12:06.720 --> 0:12:13.720 start to read, study, pull some examples, you know, look 0:12:13.720 --> 0:12:16.600 at some PBS documentaries on some things that may have 0:12:16.679 --> 0:12:19.640 happened that may give you just some advice on how 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:23.679 to start approaching some of the core of the work, 0:12:23.720 --> 0:12:26.520 which will be the development of an action plan. All 0:12:26.600 --> 0:12:30.120 of the kinds of tactics and actions that you want 0:12:30.160 --> 0:12:34.840 to execute on the way to the goal. But the 0:12:34.920 --> 0:12:37.800 resourcing just trying to educate yourselves as a group or 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:42.000 appoint individuals to help bring the group under some common 0:12:42.080 --> 0:12:45.280 shared set of resources. And then the fourth and I 0:12:45.320 --> 0:12:47.880 think most important thing to do in this early phase 0:12:48.679 --> 0:12:51.160 is to decide what is this thing then that we 0:12:51.240 --> 0:12:53.520 want to change, What do we do about it? What 0:12:53.559 --> 0:12:56.400 do we is it that we want to like the 0:12:56.440 --> 0:12:59.480 Montgomer Improvement Association, change the conditions of black folks and 0:12:59.520 --> 0:13:05.200 this community on transportation, public accommodations, bussing, you know, other 0:13:05.280 --> 0:13:08.880 specificities that of course we know history, and we know 0:13:08.920 --> 0:13:11.679 that it ballooned to become something much bigger than it 0:13:11.760 --> 0:13:14.719 originally started. But I got to tell you, I think 0:13:14.720 --> 0:13:16.520 we would admit that those folks did not gather in 0:13:16.520 --> 0:13:19.040 that room necessarily believing they were going to change American 0:13:19.040 --> 0:13:23.120 and world history. In fact, I have paused to anyone 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:27.520 who would begin an effort like this with the goal 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:31.880 of history change, frankly being at the center, and not 0:13:32.400 --> 0:13:35.560 change for the thing, the circumstance, the conditions that have 0:13:35.600 --> 0:13:40.560 gotten you to the point of frustration or action that 0:13:40.679 --> 0:13:44.240 you are but now together in a group of shared 0:13:44.400 --> 0:13:48.200 you know, like minded thinking you can determine, all right, 0:13:49.240 --> 0:13:51.199 what do we want to do? If we had our drothers, 0:13:51.240 --> 0:13:53.520 if we were able to decide for ourselves, if we 0:13:53.520 --> 0:13:56.800 were able to build the outcome, and we are the 0:13:56.800 --> 0:13:59.440 only ones who had input and what that thing was 0:13:59.480 --> 0:14:03.120 going to be, what would it look like? It feels 0:14:03.200 --> 0:14:05.520 daunting and unachievable to day, but you know, we put 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:08.040 some real strategy together, we can make this thing happen. 0:14:08.400 --> 0:14:11.560 So we want that. We want you to we we 0:14:11.559 --> 0:14:16.199 we we want you to begin with the goal in mind, 0:14:16.320 --> 0:14:18.640 the change, the delta, the change that you want to 0:14:18.679 --> 0:14:23.400 have happen in mind. The absence of doing that allows 0:14:23.480 --> 0:14:26.320 for your work to be carried off in directions of 0:14:26.360 --> 0:14:29.880 which you never ever intended and are not consistent with 0:14:29.920 --> 0:14:33.080 the greater change that you want to see. It allows 0:14:33.160 --> 0:14:38.120 for every little thing that happens to pierce this body 0:14:38.320 --> 0:14:42.040 of people and get us distracted and off on different things. 0:14:42.080 --> 0:14:44.560 For those of you who are sort of faith in 0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:47.080 my comment or share faith tradition, you know, it's sort 0:14:47.080 --> 0:14:49.600 of this, this belief that the devil thrives in chaos, 0:14:49.640 --> 0:14:53.400 They create chaos. You know, you want to you want 0:14:53.400 --> 0:14:56.160 to mess some people up and destroy a movement, or 0:14:56.360 --> 0:14:59.320 keep some things from happening amongst a group with with 0:14:59.320 --> 0:15:02.200 with with shared interest, give them different languages so that 0:15:02.240 --> 0:15:04.720 they can't communicate. Some of y'all will know what reference 0:15:04.760 --> 0:15:08.160 that is too, right, So the chaos is something we've 0:15:08.160 --> 0:15:12.680 got to deal with. But the central goal letting folks know, 0:15:12.920 --> 0:15:16.120 like man, this is the thing we want to see 0:15:16.280 --> 0:15:18.680 at the end of the day. And guess what Providence 0:15:18.720 --> 0:15:20.600 will take its course. If it's meant to be something 0:15:20.640 --> 0:15:23.800 different and it aligns with you all in your heart 0:15:23.920 --> 0:15:27.800 and your core, it'll go that direction and consistent keeping 0:15:27.840 --> 0:15:32.240 with what brought you together. So it's crystally important if 0:15:32.280 --> 0:15:35.600 I could make crystal clear the importance of that shared goal, 0:15:35.720 --> 0:15:48.400 that shared outcome, y'all. I want to move quickly to 0:15:48.520 --> 0:15:50.760 questions because my intention is to try to keep these 0:15:50.800 --> 0:15:53.520 within twenty twenty five minutes, not to take too much 0:15:53.520 --> 0:15:54.960 of your time. And by the way, I'm supposed to be 0:15:54.960 --> 0:15:56.880 on spring break with the kids. Oh yeah, there's that, 0:15:57.160 --> 0:15:59.560 so I want to invite my girl lol lol, I 0:15:59.600 --> 0:16:06.720 know you. Yeah, there you go. Well, welcome home, lolo. 0:16:06.800 --> 0:16:09.400 You guess some interesting background, what's up? But I like 0:16:09.440 --> 0:16:11.280 the flowers where you at last time we got a 0:16:11.320 --> 0:16:13.080 race car. 0:16:13.800 --> 0:16:16.960 All right, I am good. I am good. 0:16:17.080 --> 0:16:19.680 I have some interesting things going away. I'm not gonna 0:16:19.680 --> 0:16:20.600 say allow because you're not. 0:16:20.640 --> 0:16:21.040 I'm happy. 0:16:21.400 --> 0:16:23.640 I get it. I get it, I get it, I 0:16:23.680 --> 0:16:25.480 get it, I get it. But it's all good. You're 0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:30.000 gonna be all good. We're counting it, counting it counted. Done, Yes, Lolo. 0:16:30.080 --> 0:16:31.560 I don't know if any of that was helpful to 0:16:32.120 --> 0:16:35.360 you as a as a as a listener. But you know, 0:16:35.400 --> 0:16:36.880 I don't know how you feel on the show because 0:16:36.880 --> 0:16:38.800 you've had a lot of the questions for the main show, 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:41.920 but this is when that often comes up, what do 0:16:42.040 --> 0:16:44.320 we do? How do we get started? And it feels 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:47.120 so ballooning, and I just think it's part our job 0:16:47.320 --> 0:16:49.480 at this time to bring it down the side so 0:16:49.520 --> 0:16:51.280 that people feel like they can they can get a 0:16:51.320 --> 0:16:51.800 go at it. 0:16:52.280 --> 0:16:54.560 Yeah, And I'm taking a look at the questions that 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:57.720 you have gotten up until this point, and I think 0:16:57.720 --> 0:17:00.760 it's very pliant to what it is that you're asking 0:17:00.960 --> 0:17:03.360 or what people have been asking of, like what do 0:17:03.440 --> 0:17:05.600 we do? So I'm gonna go through the questions, and 0:17:05.640 --> 0:17:08.000 then I do want to talk this through because you 0:17:08.280 --> 0:17:13.000 and I have gotten to be activated a lot, you know, 0:17:13.160 --> 0:17:17.879 over this last week. Yes, and seeing the inspiration of 0:17:17.920 --> 0:17:20.040 people being inspired to do. 0:17:19.960 --> 0:17:21.960 Something in that sense, that's right. 0:17:23.000 --> 0:17:25.919 So okay, So one of the first questions that I 0:17:26.000 --> 0:17:30.199 see is somebody said, when we call our senators with 0:17:30.359 --> 0:17:33.600 all of this chaos, is there a few guidelines that 0:17:33.680 --> 0:17:37.080 we should develop to focus on when we call the capital? 0:17:38.080 --> 0:17:39.639 So that's that's a good question. 0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:41.880 It is a good question. And while I'm trying to answer, 0:17:41.920 --> 0:17:44.080 I want you to pull up that link on the 0:17:44.119 --> 0:17:47.960 messaging so for instance, around must doge all that that 0:17:48.080 --> 0:17:50.120 is coming from that other group that that your referenced 0:17:50.160 --> 0:17:53.800 that I'm not saying the name of, because yeah, that 0:17:53.880 --> 0:17:57.160 gives some talking points for folks when they're doing it. 0:17:58.119 --> 0:18:01.640 I'll point to just two quick things. There's so last week, 0:18:01.760 --> 0:18:04.280 if you miss it, there was this twenty four hour 0:18:05.080 --> 0:18:09.680 heavy content field with some really joyous moments but also 0:18:09.880 --> 0:18:13.520 some real, real gifts and talents being shared by a 0:18:13.560 --> 0:18:15.440 lot of the names that you will know and recognize. 0:18:16.280 --> 0:18:18.960 And we were trying to school people just across the 0:18:19.080 --> 0:18:20.960 range of issues and ways in which we've got to 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:23.480 bring this fight right now or certainly respond to the 0:18:23.480 --> 0:18:27.960 fight that we're in and you can visit this was 0:18:28.000 --> 0:18:31.200 the State of the People that I'm referring to, and lolo, 0:18:31.240 --> 0:18:33.720 if I'm not mistaken, we have the link to watch 0:18:34.160 --> 0:18:38.720 it in its entirety or its parts actually. 0:18:38.320 --> 0:18:42.000 All parts of it will be available to watch on Wednesday. 0:18:42.520 --> 0:18:46.520 So if you go to Stateofthepeople dot media, you can 0:18:46.600 --> 0:18:49.560 push your email in and we'll actually start sending out 0:18:49.600 --> 0:18:52.560 a lot of different resources that are available. You'll be 0:18:52.560 --> 0:18:55.480 able to see all of the different lies. And then 0:18:55.640 --> 0:18:59.160 also if you go to Stay of the People so 0:18:59.160 --> 0:19:03.720 as PPL for people on Instagram, follow that. We also 0:19:03.760 --> 0:19:07.560 have some stuff like it inspired so many people to 0:19:07.640 --> 0:19:11.480 come together and they're like, we can't just leave it here, 0:19:11.520 --> 0:19:15.280 so they have like this whole plan and we've been planning. 0:19:15.320 --> 0:19:16.480 We have this whole plan. 0:19:16.359 --> 0:19:19.320 About how to move forward and how to containe this 0:19:19.440 --> 0:19:21.159 collective action of advocating. 0:19:21.280 --> 0:19:24.320 So that's right, that's right, and the collective is really cool, 0:19:24.400 --> 0:19:27.359 y'all because it reminds us that we're not in it alone. 0:19:27.400 --> 0:19:29.400 We got folks that we can lean on when when 0:19:29.400 --> 0:19:32.760 we're not at one hundred percent, you know, we're at fifty. 0:19:32.840 --> 0:19:35.199 Let's just let's just pray that the partner in the 0:19:35.200 --> 0:19:36.920 group is out one hundred and fifty to compensate for 0:19:36.960 --> 0:19:39.280 the fifty that you don't have. But that's what group 0:19:39.520 --> 0:19:42.800 help helps us to do. But but there are very 0:19:43.320 --> 0:19:46.320 clear guidance that we should always have when reach when 0:19:46.320 --> 0:19:48.400 we're reaching out to people in power and an influence 0:19:48.680 --> 0:19:50.959 around the thing that we want them to do. The 0:19:50.960 --> 0:19:53.639 message simply has been around you know, doze and the 0:19:53.680 --> 0:19:56.640 cuts and all of this rabbit, you know, nonsensical action 0:19:56.720 --> 0:19:58.760 that is happening at the federal level is you are 0:19:58.760 --> 0:20:00.800 the Congress of United States. To you, all of the 0:20:00.840 --> 0:20:04.240 first branch of government and a coequal system of three branches, 0:20:04.920 --> 0:20:07.439 stand up and do your job, stop them from what 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:12.040 they're doing, stand in the way, ask questions whatever whatever 0:20:12.320 --> 0:20:16.240 is again the movement's goal at that time, those need 0:20:16.280 --> 0:20:19.320 to be. Those need to be the comments in which 0:20:19.440 --> 0:20:22.360 that we are sharing with our members. Now, I'll tell 0:20:22.359 --> 0:20:24.440 you I've been elected and I've been on the receiving 0:20:24.480 --> 0:20:26.120 end of messages like this, and I got to tell 0:20:26.160 --> 0:20:29.119 you it's not every day that a Congressman's office blows 0:20:29.200 --> 0:20:31.680 up with phone calls. And when it does, it is 0:20:31.720 --> 0:20:34.280 a special thing. And let me tell you this, they 0:20:34.520 --> 0:20:38.119 take notice the reason why Republicans have been instructed to 0:20:38.119 --> 0:20:40.840 stop hosting town hall meetings around the country is because 0:20:40.840 --> 0:20:45.160 they're getting to hear directly from people and they liking 0:20:45.240 --> 0:20:47.520 what they're seeing and they're demanding some change. So their 0:20:47.600 --> 0:20:49.960 leadership say, hey, y'all just stop having the meetings. Well, 0:20:50.040 --> 0:20:51.520 they can stop having them if they want, but they 0:20:51.560 --> 0:20:54.600 won't diminish the sentiment. In fact, the sentiment will likely 0:20:54.640 --> 0:20:58.920 grow stronger, louder, more resilient, and frankly closer to its 0:20:58.960 --> 0:21:02.399 aims achieving its aims. So we want consistent messaging to 0:21:02.400 --> 0:21:04.959 come out as an elected I didn't like the whole 0:21:05.280 --> 0:21:07.920 threat thing, like I put you in, I put you out, 0:21:07.960 --> 0:21:10.760 I google your name in the database, and you ain't 0:21:10.920 --> 0:21:15.399 voted in seven years, So I'm not really terrified that 0:21:15.720 --> 0:21:17.560 you're going to do that, right. This is just thinking 0:21:17.600 --> 0:21:19.960 as a person who's like, it's this threat real. But 0:21:20.040 --> 0:21:22.639 if you are a voter and you do do this consistently, 0:21:22.760 --> 0:21:24.679 let them know I am a voter in your area 0:21:24.720 --> 0:21:28.280 and I don't miss an election. I'm expecting you to 0:21:28.320 --> 0:21:30.439 be there and to represent me. So that kind of thing. 0:21:30.480 --> 0:21:32.120 Be clear about the message, the goal that we're trying 0:21:32.160 --> 0:21:35.320 to achieve and then in your tactics, you know, again 0:21:35.440 --> 0:21:37.600 the threat, make sure if you make it, you backing 0:21:37.640 --> 0:21:37.960 it up. 0:21:38.560 --> 0:21:40.040 I just seen this comment. 0:21:40.160 --> 0:21:42.119 Somebody was like, it would be a great idea for 0:21:42.240 --> 0:21:44.840 the nymps to start having town halls in the Republican 0:21:45.480 --> 0:21:48.000 areas where you know they've been saying that they're not 0:21:48.040 --> 0:21:49.800 going to be doing those town halls anymore. I think 0:21:49.800 --> 0:21:51.960 that is such a great idea. 0:21:52.080 --> 0:21:53.879 I think Dems ought to be doing town halls in 0:21:53.920 --> 0:21:57.320 their own communities, to be very frank about it, because 0:21:57.320 --> 0:22:00.800 that's how you awaken this sleeping giant. The majority of 0:22:00.840 --> 0:22:03.240 people in this country who are eligible and registeredtive vote 0:22:03.440 --> 0:22:06.719 not voting, more than half the country choosing not to participate. 0:22:07.240 --> 0:22:10.840 Yeah, and so there was another question that said, how 0:22:10.840 --> 0:22:13.639 do we begin to get engaged again? I'm in the 0:22:13.760 --> 0:22:18.320 ninety two percent and burned my cape on eleven, six. 0:22:18.200 --> 0:22:20.680 Twenty four. I'm tired and in at rest. 0:22:20.800 --> 0:22:24.040