Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to WOKF Daily with Meet
Speaker 1: your Girl Danielle Moody recording from the Home Bunker. Folks,
Speaker 1: I am very excited to kick off. You can't ban
Speaker 1: queer Joy on WOKAF as you know, if you've been
Speaker 1: listening to the show for a few years now, that
Speaker 1: we do our best to bring you some of the
Speaker 1: most important voices, conversations issues that are affecting the LGBTQ
Speaker 1: plus community during the month of Pride. We take Pride
Speaker 1: very seriously on WOKF and we're working in collaboration with
Speaker 1: our friends at GLAD in order to bring you some
Speaker 1: of the best guests and really dig into the issues
Speaker 1: as well as the joy. Folks. You know, it is
Speaker 1: a really hard balance that we are walking these days
Speaker 1: with trying to remain hopeful and joyful and stand in
Speaker 1: faith about our ability to continue to march forward with
Speaker 1: progress given everything that is being thrown at our democracy,
Speaker 1: at our ability to persevere when there are unrelenting forces
Speaker 1: that want nothing to do then erase us, oppress us,
Speaker 1: and drown us out with hate. And so you know,
Speaker 1: in these conversations, I think that it's really important for
Speaker 1: us to look at what solutions look like, which is
Speaker 1: why I'm really excited to bring you this conversation today
Speaker 1: with Lauren Bear, who is the executive director of Arena,
Speaker 1: an organization that we've brought to you before on WOKF
Speaker 1: whose work is to convene, train, and support the next
Speaker 1: generation of candidates and campaign staff. And what does that
Speaker 1: look like right in this climate? Lauren and I talk
Speaker 1: about the ways in which the challenges I guess, and
Speaker 1: the ways in which the campaign staff and just folks
Speaker 1: in general who want to get involved in politics are
Speaker 1: having to weigh their personal safety, the safety of their family,
Speaker 1: versus their commitment to public service and wanting to do good.
Speaker 1: And what does that look like? What does it look
Speaker 1: like to train people in this climate When we've had
Speaker 1: conversations on WOOKF about democratic offices being shot at or
Speaker 1: staff being beat up, all of which we have covered,
Speaker 1: there is a heightened sense of fear and anxiety and
Speaker 1: arise in political violence, and so all of that right
Speaker 1: is to deter good people from wanting to get involved
Speaker 1: in their communities and for us to all feel like
Speaker 1: we are helpless. But you know the purpose of Arena
Speaker 1: is really to give people the support, the network, and
Speaker 1: the skill set to be able to not only run,
Speaker 1: but to be able to win. And for those people
Speaker 1: who are interested in what it means to run a campaign,
Speaker 1: what it means to be a campaign staffer, Arena is
Speaker 1: a one stop shop for all of that information as well.
Speaker 1: And in my conversation today with Lauren, you know, she
Speaker 1: also comes to it from a queer lens, as a
Speaker 1: queer woman who is married with two children, and will
Speaker 1: share with us the fears that she has for her
Speaker 1: own children and why this work that she is doing
Speaker 1: is so incredibly important and personal, how the politics have
Speaker 1: become personal for her now that she is a mother
Speaker 1: and a wife, And what does it mean right at
Speaker 1: a time when you can't really look at your children
Speaker 1: and think you know your future is going to be bright?
Speaker 1: And so what is the work that each and every
Speaker 1: single one of us are doing to ensure that the
Speaker 1: next generation is better off than the last generation? And
Speaker 1: right now that's not how it looks, folks, not by
Speaker 1: a long shot, and not by the statistics. So I
Speaker 1: really hope that you enjoy this conversation that I get
Speaker 1: into with Lauren Bear from Arena, and that if you
Speaker 1: are interested in connecting with them. We will put that
Speaker 1: in the show notes as well. Coming up next my
Speaker 1: conversation with Lauren bear Folks. I am very excited to
Speaker 1: welcome back to WOKF Daily Lauren Behar, who is the
Speaker 1: managing partner of Arena, a progressive organization that trains and
Speaker 1: supports diverse democratic campaign operatives and helps provide a critical
Speaker 1: staff for competitive races up and down the ballot across
Speaker 1: the country. Lauren, let's jump right in first. You know,
Speaker 1: every election, whether it is state, local, or national, what
Speaker 1: we are seeing outside of the US Senate, of course,
Speaker 1: is a progressive slate of candidates. Is also candidates that
Speaker 1: actually look like the areas that they are serving. We're
Speaker 1: seeing people, women, people of color, queer people, those that
Speaker 1: live at the intersections of multiple identities enter into politics
Speaker 1: because they actually want to make a difference and they
Speaker 1: want they want to stop waiting for other people to
Speaker 1: save them. I want to open, you know, with the
Speaker 1: first question with regard to what are you hearing and
Speaker 1: seeing with regard to what is motivating people, whether it
Speaker 1: is to run for elected office or the trainings that
Speaker 1: you do for operatives, to say, you know, what all
Speaker 1: is not lost, and I want to go all in well.
Speaker 2: First of all, Danielle, thank you so much for having
Speaker 2: me back. Love to be here on looke Af, And
Speaker 2: I think you're right. We are seeing more and more
Speaker 2: diverse individuals running for office and more and more diverse
Speaker 2: people working on campaigns. And in the first instance, I
Speaker 2: think part of why we're seeing that is because we
Speaker 2: realize as progressives and as a party that when we
Speaker 2: run people for office and when we build campaign teams
Speaker 2: that look like the communities they're going to represent, they're
Speaker 2: more effective, they win more often because people want to
Speaker 2: see themselves reflected in their leaders. And there is so
Speaker 2: much that is bringing people into the arena today. You
Speaker 2: just need to look around the country from the federal
Speaker 2: level down to the state level, and this really awful
Speaker 2: space of negative and harmful legislation that's coming from Republicans,
Speaker 2: coming from the GOP, and whether it's limiting the rights
Speaker 2: of the LGBTQ community and particularly trans people, or whether
Speaker 2: it's limiting women's reproductive freedom or standing by idly in
Speaker 2: the face of gun violence, people are pretty frustrated with
Speaker 2: what a grim and bleak future that kind of governing
Speaker 2: presents for America. But while they're frustrated, they haven't given
Speaker 2: up hope. There isn't a lack of optimism. And you know,
Speaker 2: one of the most interesting and hopeful things for me
Speaker 2: is how all of these terrible things that are happening
Speaker 2: are actually driving people in particularly new voices, to enter
Speaker 2: the political arena to say that we can do better.
Speaker 2: In fact, we must do better if we want to
Speaker 2: fulfill the kind of broad promises on which our country
Speaker 2: was found in this notion truly of having liberty, justice,
Speaker 2: equality for all people.
Speaker 1: I feel like you have so many different kinds of
Speaker 1: buckets of people, but there are some that when they
Speaker 1: are faced with a considerable amount of obstacles, that they
Speaker 1: look for the opportunities in them that they say, you
Speaker 1: know what, maybe as things are falling apart, right, that
Speaker 1: there is an opportunity to grow something better because there
Speaker 1: are always going to be those people that we need
Speaker 1: to hold on to that authentic, real, raw hopefulness and faith. Right.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm not a religious person, but I am
Speaker 1: a person that does believe that you have to have
Speaker 1: some type of faith and hopefulness or to enter into
Speaker 1: the arena of politics, particularly now, like there just has
Speaker 1: to be something that is greater than yourself that is
Speaker 1: driving you, because there are so many other things excuse me,
Speaker 1: that are working against you. And so when we see,
Speaker 1: on one hand, you have a political party that is
Speaker 1: hell bent on a rasure, that is hell bent on
Speaker 1: white grievance, that is hell bent on coddling white anxiety,
Speaker 1: and that at the other side of that is to
Speaker 1: make sure that you are punishing as many people that
Speaker 1: you believe is causing the harm. So there is a
Speaker 1: significant push and pull that is happening right now. It's
Speaker 1: not the same as it was before. I'm assuming, but
Speaker 1: you tell me in how you were training operatives to
Speaker 1: deal with how to manage campaigns. Because I don't know
Speaker 1: about you, Lauren, but I keep seeing stories about attacks
Speaker 1: that are happening, whether it be physical attacks, shootings that
Speaker 1: are occurring at political offices, but there is heightened political violence.
Speaker 1: And so how do you train in a way that
Speaker 1: is different now than it was, say seven eight, you know,
Speaker 1: pre Trump time, when our politics hadn't been hijacked by
Speaker 1: you know, domestic terrorists.
Speaker 2: Yeah, human you raise so many good points there, Danielle.
Speaker 2: And first of all, you're right, I think individuals are
Speaker 2: being confronted with this choice right now. Do I stand
Speaker 2: idly by where at a time when I am being attacked,
Speaker 2: when my community is being attacked, when there is this
Speaker 2: active effort at erasure, or do I raise my hand
Speaker 2: and say, very much so, I am, I'm here, I
Speaker 2: am present. I want to be counted and I want
Speaker 2: to make change in my community. And we're seeing so
Speaker 2: many people do that, but it is very much an
Speaker 2: act of bravery to do so. You know, at Arena,
Speaker 2: we give individuals the hard skills that they need to
Speaker 2: run campaigns, to be organizers, but we're also very clear
Speaker 2: eyed about what the risks are in this day and
Speaker 2: age to be involved in politics, and we train individuals
Speaker 2: how to protect themselves online and offline, how to protect
Speaker 2: the communities that they are working in. It's a sad
Speaker 2: fact that this is a feature of politics these days,
Speaker 2: and it's a feature by design, right. The Republican motivation
Speaker 2: and here is to attempt to govern by fear and
Speaker 2: to make the other side, to make progressives feel so
Speaker 2: concerned for their physical and mental well being that they
Speaker 2: stay at home. And what we're trying to do is
Speaker 2: teach individuals that despite these these very real and heavy
Speaker 2: burdens that we bury carry when we enter the political arena,
Speaker 2: that there are ways to do the work to keep
Speaker 2: yourself safe and to better your community. Uh, at the
Speaker 2: same time that you're proving that these Republican tactics are
Speaker 2: ultimately ineffective at creating uh, this kind of bleak, dark
Speaker 2: picture of America that that they want to So it
Speaker 2: does involve new tactics, new new curriculum, but at the
Speaker 2: same time, it's very much a motivator for people who
Speaker 2: want want to see something different.
Speaker 1: Right now, what are some of the biggest concerns that
Speaker 1: that you are hearing that come up in your trainings
Speaker 1: or in conversations, and particularly what are what are the
Speaker 1: areas in which you do train. I want people to
Speaker 1: be reminded of the areas that you do train, because
Speaker 1: campaigns are a behemoth onto themselves, right, and so for
Speaker 1: people to really understand the different apparatus that we're talking
Speaker 1: about here.
Speaker 2: Yeah, So, first of all, I guess, stepping back a minute,
Speaker 2: you know, arena exists to really expand and diversify who
Speaker 2: can enter politics. You know, again, we feel that our
Speaker 2: democracy is more effective when it's more reflective and we
Speaker 2: bring folks in. You don't have to have any campaign
Speaker 2: experience to do one of our trainings, and we train
Speaker 2: folks along all of the different disciplines you might find
Speaker 2: work on in a campaign. So whether you want to
Speaker 2: be a campaign manager, or work on fundraising, or do
Speaker 2: communications or data or digital work, or be out in
Speaker 2: the field knocking doors as an organizing director, we have
Speaker 2: a training for you because we really want to bring
Speaker 2: the whole breadth of people who are interested in entering
Speaker 2: politics to the work. And what's been really interesting to
Speaker 2: me over the past couple of weeks whenever anyone applies
Speaker 2: to one of our training and if you're interested, I
Speaker 2: would say, we have an application open right now. You
Speaker 2: can visit Arena dot run and apply. People have to
Speaker 2: talk about what's motivating them to get involved in campaign work,
Speaker 2: you know, upload a brief video, write a short essay.
Speaker 2: And what's been amazing to me over the past year
Speaker 2: and change is how personal those statements of involvement have
Speaker 2: been individuals who never saw a place for themselves and
Speaker 2: put politics before. But maybe someone is trans and they
Speaker 2: live in a state where an anti trans bill has passed,
Speaker 2: or maybe it's it's a young woman and they're concerned
Speaker 2: about their ability to have access to an abortion, or
Speaker 2: someone who's lived in the suburbs and always felt safe
Speaker 2: and all of a sudden has been directly confronted by
Speaker 2: the scourge of gun violence. These are the stories that
Speaker 2: people are bringing to us, And what we're doing is
Speaker 2: providing really a soft landing place and an entry point
Speaker 2: into politics that they can take that motivation and then
Speaker 2: translated into action. And you know, even better than that.
Speaker 2: We don't just train folks, We then go and help
Speaker 2: them find their first job in politics. So it's not
Speaker 2: just getting the skills, it's actually giving you an open
Speaker 2: door to doing the work.
Speaker 1: You know. I it's it's really interesting because when I
Speaker 1: entered into politics what feels like one hundred years ago,
Speaker 1: it was really out of a desire to want to
Speaker 1: be a part of the vision that would perfect this union.
Speaker 1: It was really about wanting to be in public service.
Speaker 1: And I there, you know, and again I'm not saying
Speaker 1: that all politicians come in to make things better, Clearly
Speaker 1: they do not, and some come in purely as a grift.
Speaker 1: How does ARENA go about? You know, one, you are
Speaker 1: a place where people can come who are already interested.
Speaker 1: But what do you say to those people that are
Speaker 1: kind of skirting around the edges right? Like again, you know,
Speaker 1: folks that listen to wok F I think are very
Speaker 1: politically engaged, very politically active, but they're always looking for
Speaker 1: opportunities to help because they recognize the crisis right that
Speaker 1: our democracy is in, that the country is in in
Speaker 1: so many different ways. And so for those people that
Speaker 1: are kind of sitting on the edges, that are are
Speaker 1: not quite ready to make the dive, what are some
Speaker 1: of the things that you would offer and say to
Speaker 1: them about, you know, fence sitting and deciding to actually
Speaker 1: enter into the arena.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, the first thing I'll say is that
Speaker 2: there's a place for you. I think some of what
Speaker 2: has kept people so afraid of entering the arena is
Speaker 2: the extent to which politics has been an old boys
Speaker 2: club for so long. It's been a place for straight,
Speaker 2: cisgendered white men where you had to know someone to
Speaker 2: know someone to feel like you could could get a
Speaker 2: job and make meaningful change. And so, you know, we're
Speaker 2: cracking that nut open. At the same time, we're building
Speaker 2: a community of like minded people who rely on one
Speaker 2: another as they do work. So you know, it might
Speaker 2: be scary to take that first step. And if you
Speaker 2: attend a training, it doesn't mean you necessarily need to
Speaker 2: change your whole career at once. We have tons of
Speaker 2: wonderful people who come and train with us and then
Speaker 2: use that to become super volunteers in the next election
Speaker 2: cycle or in all of the political battles that frankly,
Speaker 2: we're fighting three hundred and sixty five days a year
Speaker 2: here in our country because democracy is really on the line.
Speaker 2: But you know, if someone's on the fence, what I
Speaker 2: think about is, you know, this is not a time
Speaker 2: historically to sit on the sidelines. If you look at
Speaker 2: the American experiment, and it really is an experiment with democracy,
Speaker 2: it's anomalous in the context of world history. Democracies don't
Speaker 2: normally last this long. They are fragile, they break, and
Speaker 2: once they break, and once they backslide, they're hard to
Speaker 2: get back. And I rarely, rarely talk to an individual
Speaker 2: who has chosen to get engaged who regrets having made
Speaker 2: that choice. Yes, change is difficult, Yes it's hard. Sometimes
Speaker 2: it's incremental. But if we really are going to build
Speaker 2: that more perfect union, that you just reference it's going
Speaker 2: to require all of us rolling up our sleeves, getting
Speaker 2: in doing the work together. And so you know what
Speaker 2: I would say is is brush aside fear for the
Speaker 2: moment and jump in and try to make that change
Speaker 2: because it's a time when our country really needs all
Speaker 2: of us.
Speaker 1: You know, you said that so eloquently, And I think
Speaker 1: honestly that we have been lulled and I've said this
Speaker 1: many times on this show. We've been loved into a
Speaker 1: place of complacency around what it means to hold a democracy.
Speaker 1: The assumption has always been, for the last two hundred
Speaker 1: plus years that this is the way it has been.
Speaker 1: We learn about empires falling, but we've actually never outside
Speaker 1: of discussing it from a fifty thousand foot view, we've
Speaker 1: actually never looked at the human toll of what happens
Speaker 1: when these empires actually fall, what it does look like
Speaker 1: to experience the crumbling in real time. And I say
Speaker 1: to people like I believe that our democracy, as imperfect
Speaker 1: as it is, is worth fighting for. I believe that,
Speaker 1: as imperfect as it is, that more people are conscious
Speaker 1: to the fact that this isn't something like your heartbeat
Speaker 1: that just kind of continues like your breath, that you
Speaker 1: don't really need to think about right Like it is
Speaker 1: something that requires a heightened level of consciousness, vigilance, and
Speaker 1: then action in order for it to continue. So all
Speaker 1: of the things that you said with regard to that
Speaker 1: are truth. Now is not the time to be self
Speaker 1: protective in a way of let me watch from the sidelines.
Speaker 1: I want to shift gears for with a couple of
Speaker 1: minutes that we have left to talk specifically around the
Speaker 1: lgbt Q community, to talk about the policies and the
Speaker 1: attacks that we have seen against elected officials who are out,
Speaker 1: whether they are trans, whether they are lesbian, gay, or bisexual,
Speaker 1: the attacks that we've seen in the weaponization of policy,
Speaker 1: and particularly speaking to the queer community about their political engagement.
Speaker 1: You know, what message do you send in that way
Speaker 1: and about how you know how quality is not something
Speaker 1: that is just given once and then it blossoms and
Speaker 1: it just continues. So just wanted to give you an
Speaker 1: opportunity to kind of speak to that aspect of where
Speaker 1: we are.
Speaker 2: I think what you said is so true there, Danielle,
Speaker 2: And as a member of the queer community and as
Speaker 2: a queer woman who's married and has two young daughters.
Speaker 2: I think about this a lot. My first daughter was
Speaker 2: born two weeks before Donald Trump was elected president, and
Speaker 2: I remember at that time my wife and I thought
Speaker 2: our daughter was being born into this beautiful moment in
Speaker 2: human history where she would know the first female president,
Speaker 2: and where we would be at this time, where her
Speaker 2: rights asn't an individual and our rights as a family
Speaker 2: would be expanding. And instead, much to my surprise and
Speaker 2: many in the country's surprise, instead it has been six
Speaker 2: and a half tumultuous years with quite a bit of contraction.
Speaker 2: And now I look at her and her younger sister.
Speaker 2: I have two daughters now, and I'm confronted with the
Speaker 2: stark reality that they actually have fewer rights than I
Speaker 2: did in some ways as a woman born in nineteen
Speaker 2: eighty certainly when it comes to their reproductive freedom, and
Speaker 2: that when it comes to their ability to fully blossom
Speaker 2: and express themselves whoever they may turn out to be
Speaker 2: in our country right now, that's very much contingent upon
Speaker 2: what state they happen to live in. We are seeing
Speaker 2: unprecedented attacks on the LGBTQ community, particularly the trans community,
Speaker 2: and precisely because they are the most vulnerable among us.
Speaker 2: So you know, this should be a wake up for
Speaker 2: all of us who consider ourselves part of the community
Speaker 2: queer unity and anyone who is an ally that this
Speaker 2: is not time to sit idle LEVI. This is a
Speaker 2: time to stand up, to be counted and to fight.
Speaker 2: And by the way, it's also a time to recognize
Speaker 2: that in some ways, this attack on the LGBTQ community
Speaker 2: is the canary in the coal mine. We have seen
Speaker 2: historically that it is often queer communities who are attacked
Speaker 2: and scapegoaded first before that kind of evil and hatred
Speaker 2: and discrimination is extended to others. And so you know,
Speaker 2: if you're sitting here listening to this and you think, well,
Speaker 2: that's happening to them, but it's not happening to me,
Speaker 2: the response that I have is your next. And so
Speaker 2: it's really time for all of us to have this
Speaker 2: heightened awareness and do something about it. Because I just
Speaker 2: haven't given up hope on the idea that ultimately the
Speaker 2: world can be better for my daughters, but I know
Speaker 2: I've got to put a lot into it to make
Speaker 2: that happen.
Speaker 1: Lauren, what does pride mean to you now? Right? Like
Speaker 1: what it is? And I ask you that because I
Speaker 1: think that you know, my understanding of pride has really
Speaker 1: evolved over time, and I feel like it has changed
Speaker 1: depending on if the community that we're a part of
Speaker 1: is at a place of pure celebration like it was
Speaker 1: in twenty fifteen when when marriage equality became the law
Speaker 1: of the land, or it's in a place of mourning right,
Speaker 1: which is happening in patchwork across the country right now. Right.
Speaker 1: I had a conversation with, you know, with with folks
Speaker 1: from from an LGBTQ organization in Florida, and I got
Speaker 1: off of that interview and I was in tears, Like
Speaker 1: I literally I had to wrap it up so that
Speaker 1: I could get off the phone, could get off of
Speaker 1: the interview before I burst into tears with what they
Speaker 1: are going through. So I'm just curious as to how
Speaker 1: you understand pride now and how it is, how it
Speaker 1: might have shifted.
Speaker 2: So I start understanding pride from a personal perspective, which
Speaker 2: is to say, pride is about living authentically and unafraid
Speaker 2: as who you are, presenting your full self to the world,
Speaker 2: and not only living with that authenticity, but fighting every
Speaker 2: day to secure your own rights and freedoms. But then
Speaker 2: pride also has to go beyond the cells, and I think,
Speaker 2: particularly as members of the LGBTQ community, we need to
Speaker 2: look at all of the letters in that wonderful alphabet
Speaker 2: and recognize that some among us are feeling disproportionate harms
Speaker 2: at this time. And so pride is about showing allyship.
Speaker 2: It's about making sure that if I'm a lesbian, I'm
Speaker 2: out there protesting for my trans brothers and sisters because
Speaker 2: they're feeling the brunt of what is happening in our
Speaker 2: country right now. And then to take an even bigger
Speaker 2: step beyond that, it's about recognizing allyeship with the other
Speaker 2: movements for rights and freedoms in our country. It's about
Speaker 2: recognizing that the fight for LGBTQ equality is inextricably linked
Speaker 2: to the flight for equality for black people and people
Speaker 2: of color and religious minorities, and that while we feel
Speaker 2: the experiences of hate and the impacts of it differently,
Speaker 2: because we all are differently situated, there is a fundamental
Speaker 2: thread that ties what we are experiencing together, and that
Speaker 2: if we're going to preserve all of our rights and
Speaker 2: freedoms and perfect our democracy and make a better future
Speaker 2: for all of us. You know, we have got to
Speaker 2: be linking arms instead of raising our hands, and so
Speaker 2: that that is pride to me. It's authenticity and action
Speaker 2: in a nutshell.
Speaker 1: I love it so much, Lauren, Thank you so much
Speaker 1: for making the time to join us on well k app.
Speaker 1: Please remind people how they can find Arena and how
Speaker 1: they can get involved.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me, Danielle. You can
Speaker 2: find Arena on all of the social media platforms at
Speaker 2: Arena Summit and you can find us online at Arena
Speaker 2: dot Run. Please join us for one of our many
Speaker 2: trainings this year because you have a spot in the
Speaker 2: Arena and where they're to help you claim it.
Speaker 1: Appreciate you. That is it for me today. Dear friends,
Speaker 1: on Woke a f as always Power to the people
Speaker 1: and to all the people. Power, get woke and stay
Speaker 1: woke as fuck.