Welcome to another episode of Civic Cipher. I am your host Ramsay's job. Big shout out to my co host q Ward, who has the day off to be incredible.
But that is okay, have no fear. We have a special.
Guest in the building and sometimes contributor to this national dialogue that we've been having here. She goes by the name of Liza Sun.
Welcome back, Thank you.
I'm so glad to be back, and.
We're glad to have you.
And I know that that is not the introduction that you deserve, but I.
Never do your introduction justice.
So how about you let the folks know exactly who you are and what you do.
I am a community activist here in Phoenix, Arizona. I'm also a politician. I did run for the State House of Representative in the twenty twenty cycle with very powerful incumbents, and you know, as a result, I've really learn about the political process within the Democrat Party. So moving forward, I've decided to run again. So as of today, I am officially announcing my candidacy for our new lines of districts here in Arizona, as well as across the United
States of America. Is now the LD twenty two and again I'll be running for the State House of Representative.
Excellent, very good.
Well, I'm glad you made the announcement here on Zivic Cipher and I look forward to having today's conversation with you. In addition to that conversation, be sure to stick around because we will be checking in for our Ebony Excellent segment, which is coming up next also to become a better ally, We're going to take a look at Judge Timothy Walmsey who presided over the Amad Aubrey case. And we're going to hear something from doctor Martin Luther King Junior for our way Black History facts.
So a lot to stick around for.
But as I mentioned, first and foremost, let's celebrate a little bit of Ebony excellence. So today's story comes from the Atlanta Black Star. That is a favorite around here because they cover a lot of stuff that we'd like to talk about, and so we'll just share it with you. In the midst of the pandemic, an entrepreneur by the name of Robert Thomas made a serious one hundred and eighty degree turn In early twenty twenty. Thomas was operating
District nineteen sixty nightclub. But when COVID nineteen hit, it's shut down his business. He knew the end of his five year run as the club owner was over. It's a quote from him. He says, this was a club before I renovated it. They shut me down when there was a pandemic. And now Thomas, who was passionate about food and wellness, decided to do something different. He shut down the club, renovated the inside, and then opened a grocery store.
I'm going to read this to you.
An estimated forty one percent in a black owned businesses shut their doors between February and April of twenty twenty, according to New York Federal Reserve. A New York Federal Reserve study that looked at COVID nineteen's impact on entrepreneurs across the US and the CULPRA was a lack of savings and access to capital. But Thomas came out of the shutdown with a vision not only to save his business, but also to help the black community maintain its health.
On November twenty six, Thomas opened the District Market Green Grocer, which he claims is Houston's first black owned grocery store and juice bar in the space that had previously been his nightclub. Customers come to the store and are able to find fresh fruit, vegetables and other products from black owned vendors. Another quote, right now, I have over thirty black vendors and quote said Thomas, fruit vegetables, eggs, vegan
mills for the vegan community. Thomas told Fox twenty six Houston, quote, we have a black owned washing powder, herbs and spices as well as sauces. I want to be in the running with the Whole Foods and the Trader Joe's. I want to get to that level and making the black vendors with me. As a fellow nightclub owner, I salute you. You are an example of ebony excellence. Once again, shout out to Robert Thomas of Houston, Texas. Moving on the
topic of the day, my good friend Liza's son. Now, before you came up here today, you mentioned that there were a lot of goings on within the Democratic Party. Our might not have been our last episode, but a couple episodes ago, Q and I discussed this question that is posed by the right very often, which is why do black people overwhelmingly vote Democratic? It's like a lot of these folks can't see what the reality is for many black people, because not all black people vote Democrat.
But we understand the point, most of us do, and in that discussion we had to be very critical of both parties. But you know, there's this point that you hear time and again that it's effectively the lesser of two evils, you know, and if you have to choose something, yeah, I do want the lesser of two evils.
Yeah.
But this conversation took on a whole new meaning off air when you and I had a discussion because there were some goings on within the Democratic Party itself that even I was not made aware of until that conversation with you. I am not a politician myself. I'm a broadcaster and a person who's very passionate about making sure that black voices and black thoughts are shared with the country, and you are someone who works in that arena.
So let's talk about it. First question.
Is okay, So let me ask you this, because I realized that we didn't give a proper background for you. We had We initially met at the vigil for.
The Atlantic shooting back in March at the State Capitol, right, and then we did a march rally at the Margaret Hens Park and that's where you participated in was one of our speakers. And then moving forward, I think we did a show here on Civic Cyper on race relations, which I believe was the very first time that our audience here in Arizona is hearing anything along that line. We've definitely took that from the national level and brought
here at the state level with you. So I was really excited about that, And moving forward, I think there's a lot of work that we can, you know, work on as far as race relations, because that's actually a taboo subject matter, to be honest with you, and I know a lot of people are not comfortable talking about it, So kudos to you.
Oh yeah, we're reading that.
Actually, we have an upcoming episode where we're going to talk about the instances of violence we have seen on this show where it's black people attacking Asian people and we have to use this space to publicly and nationally condemn those acts and stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters of Asian descent and you know from the Asian community, which you are one, correct, yes, okay, yeah, And so that I believe was approximately the time when
you were starting to really engage in the political process. If I'm wrong, you can correct me.
Well, by then I already ran in the twenty twenty Okay election cycle, and after I ran for public office, I realize that there's a huge void within our community of information that is skewed by the Democrat Party from certain elected officials, my incumbents, and you know, not too label. I don't really like to call it the moderate Democrats versus the Progressive Democrats, which is the two side within
the Democrat Party. The way I'm currently seeing it, and I'm just calling it out just based on my anecdotal experiences and viewpoint. These are my views only, is that the moderate Democrats I usually call them corporate Democrats, and then the progressive Democrats I would say they lean more towards the we the people Democrats because they are the
lesser of too evil. Unfortunately, even within the Progressive Democrats, we've seen and experience them running on that title label, but then after a cycle or two, once they are elected, they convert to the corporate Democrats.
I could see that.
We're gonna definitely talk about how that happens.
Yeah, I mean, there are so many issues that we can segue from the statements I just made, but obviously I just want to move forward by sharing my anecdotal experiences being a politician within the Democrat Party. We've heard these statements time and time again that the Republicans are racist, right, but we also know that the Democrat Party have time at times shown that they are also racist, but with politeness, and that evils.
I know it, but it doesn't make it right, So please continue to minute throw you off.
No, that's fine. I mean what you just said is correct, is that we know this, we know this, and then we're not addressing it. We're not attacking it, We're not holding our elected officials feet to the fire. And why is that not occurring? So when I was running for public office, I was running against incumbents. Encompass mean that you're on the ballot with the same party members, meaning that this can happen with the Republicans, this can happen
with the Independence, it can happen with the Democrats. So happens the district that I will run again is predominantly Democratic voters. Their constituents are largely Democrats, so the chance of a Republican. Ever win our district is zero, it will always be a Democrat. It's a safe blue zone. And when that happens, a lot of the officials elected officials get into public office and they're not being checked,
their feet are not held to the fire. They're going to look at the lobbyists and the packs and their influence to favor laws for corporations, where corporations hands are untied, so they can tie our hands and strip our civil rights.
So you kind of alluded to it.
I'm glad that we took the time to do a proper introduction because the question that I was originally going to ask is why is it important for people to engage in the political process? But I think you alluded to some of those points just now by illustrating the fact that if you're not as engaged, it can really get away from me, if you're not holding your elected representatives feet to the fire, so to speak, that other interests can creep in when you're not paying attention to it.
Is that about right?
Oh? No, that's absolutely right. The question now is that how does that look like? How do we get engaged? And a lot of people feel like, well, you know, I'm not political savvy, and I'm registered to vote for the very first time twenty and eighteen. Was I political then?
No.
I didn't even know that there was a state capital that has a Senate and a House versus one at the federal level. So these are the things that I was not aware of. But I did grow up being very philosophical and a deep thinker for humanities. If you have a heart, and you care about your family, and you care about your communities and your neighbors, then you are the right person to run for public office, believe it or not, because you can learn on your way there.
And that's what happened to me. In twenty eighteen. I registered to vote for the very first time and voted, and then in twenty nineteen, I threw my hat in the ring and ran for public office. Going through that process was a whirlwind. There was great sacrifices personally, and I don't regret every minute of it because at the end of the day, that's how I was woked. We hear that a lot be woked. You can't be woked
if you don't know what's going on. So the process I'm still learning, and what I found out is that there were so many gatekeeping and this happens on both sides of the aisle, for the Republicans and for the Democrats. The only difference I see from my perspective is that the Republicans tend to have more candidates in every race at every level. It's like almost like they have a free for all, Like they just sign up and they start running. And what I've noticed is the gap in
their funding. They tend to come from more of a middle class and up, and then we don't have that selection as much, so the money isn't as large. Therefore, the money doesn't stretch as much to support a candidate that is at the state or the federal level. If that makes sense, sure, sure, And then what that creates is a scarcity. And whenever there's a sense of scarcity, it gives us a false sense of accountability to do
the right thing because it becomes competitive. Where we eat our own now, we eat our own young almost.
So I can see from where I'm sitting right now how corporate interests can creep into that equation, because if a Democratic is less funded than a Republican candidate, the Democrat has to seek some funding in order to create awareness for his or her campaign and might need corporate
donors to do so. But corporations don't tend to donate money unless they feel as though this candidate will protect them, and a candidate seeking re election may need to lean on that corporate donor again and therefore perhaps might vow to that corporation's entrance in interests.
Right, it's not just bowing to that interest. I mean we hear about backdoor dealings, and that backdoor dealings. Yeah, it's where things are occurring behind the scenes. It doesn't necessarily have to be with a bill. You know, you could just staying quiet. So if you have elected officials that ran on a campaign against vouchers, you know that siphons money out of our public district schools that is tax funded to a privatized institution like a private school
or a charter school. Even that is you know, privatized. They don't need to have a bill to be bought out. They can be bought out just by staying quiet or not even standing up at the floor of their chamber to speak up against Oh wow. So those are the things that I've noticed, and that goes across all levels of our elected officials. That's at the municipal level, state level, and federal level.
So one of the things that I commend Republican voters on is the level of engagement that they have. They really really work to create the communities in which they.
Want to live.
The reason why my understanding based on the numbers, the reason why elections, it's certainly the presidential election is even competitive, is because of the turnout rate of Republican voters. Otherwise, democratic ideals within human beings overwhelmingly outnumber those of conservative people with conservative values. But there are more people in this country with values that align with what we would consider to be democratic democratic, but the engagement on that
side is so heavy. As you stated, there are lots of people interested in engaging in the political process on that side of the aisle. But hopefully this conversation and by kind of demystifying the political process and the ways that folks can use to get involved, hopefully we can do our part at least to turn that tide.
Yes, I mean you just mentioned the visual level of that noise and creating and generating people to come out and speak on behalf of their party. We also have to be very careful that that sound doesn't drown out the state level's interests, because at the state level, that's where our livelihood is being affected directly by like the officials. We have predatory hias here in Arizona. I know, other
states they haven't been touched by that. Arizona as a state has been used as a petri dish for so many private tizes, you know, dark money, including vouchers, mass incarceration, predatory hias. I mean, we are run under those systems
and it's not democracy is authoritarian, you know, society. And when we just focus on federal initiatives when it comes to election, that puts a blindfold for the state levels issues, and that in itself is also another form of gatekeeping to hold our communities, particularly people of color or those that are marginalized or disenfranchised. I mean, we have huge, huge, white communities out in the rule that are being marginalized just as badly as those that live in the suburb
or the rural. The urban you know mostly usually yeah they are, but they're also out in the rural area where there's agriculture. They are are farmers, and these farmers are kept in debt on purpose by corporate laws. You know,
you saw the documentary Big Chicken. It also happens for the beef poor anything even now, the hemp, the yes, their agriculture is already being course into a large pack that we're going to support a corporation and then the farmers are be the ones, just like it was for the for the poultry industry, where they're literally being kept in debt to produce the outcome.
Huh.
I don't know if you're aware of that is just a system that's been in place for decades.
Well, I think that what it does is again, it illuminates the fact that voting at the state level, voting for change in your immediate community as opposed to change at the national level, which, to be honest, lots of working folks and pretty much all poor folks don't really feel doesn't matter who sits in the chair, and this is part of the reason why a lot of those folks don't really involve themselves into the political process in the first place, because it doesn't make a difference in
their day to day. But voting at the state level, you know, voting for who's going to represent your district and how your schools are going to be run and you know how many fire stations are in proximity to your house, and that sort of thing where your neighborshoods are policed even.
Right preparatory lending practices from the banks. The ability for communities to rise, you know, for their neighbors and their own families by not having too many corporations, businesses franchise, you know, stores in a community that are marginalized, because that doesn't stay in our communities, it leaves. And then if you go to a more well off communities, you won't see a fast food chain restaurant within a mile radius.
Yeah, there are walmarts there either.
Because their resources is being protected and everywhere else is fair game. So who who made that decision for us? It was already like.
The official sure and one of the things that now that you mention it, it occurs.
So I've been to forty nine of the fifty states.
So far, which one is missing.
I'm going to Alaska in February, so that'll be all fifty. Anyway, One thing that I've noticed overwhelmingly is that when you see like billboards and advertisements and things like that, they tend to be in they tend not to be where they're wealthy folks, you know what I mean. They are, and that's a result of Yeah, that's a result of them being engaged in the political process. I'd imagine. I never put that together, but it's just something I picked
up on. Every time we go to a rich part of town or place where there's money, you don't see billboards. And that's not every time, every everywhere, but you know, usually it's something like that. So you you mentioned political You mentioned a lot of terms, and I do want to cover them all, but this political party gatekeeping, what exactly does that mean?
Gatekeeping is where democracy is unpracticed within the party. Democracy based on the constitution allows any individual to run for public office as long as if they fit the criteria in citizenship and age and so forth. And what I've noticed is that if you look at all the presidential elections, like Barack Obama or even George Bush, they had to be the darling of their party. And how do you become a darling within their party is through that process
within their party. So I'm not just talking about the Democratic Party. This happens with the Republicans. And when you look at the election in the primary between Hillary and Bernie, that's when you saw firsthand how gatekeeping looks like. When the party literally was sabotaged their own in the humiliating public way that it hurts our, It just hurt everyone. But at the end of the day, that hurt that hurt democracy. So when democracy is being attacked, we are
all being attacked. So I have too in good conscious to say that gatekeeping is based on access and funding. So if you are a candidate that has an accent and you you don't speak with perfect you know, English or accent, whatever the case may be, you have a lesser chance to be the darling of the party.
Okay, I could see that happening.
So there's a lot of.
Gatekeeping that goes on. Well, I understand how that can be problematic, absolutely, but this is good enough time for us to take a pause for the cause.
So stick around with coming back with more civics for right after this