Welcome to another episode of Civic Cipher. I am your host Ramsay's job. Big shout out to my man q Ward, who has the week off. But it is okay because we have a special guest who is going to talk to us today about some very important things. If you've been paying attention to the news, it's or to really anything. It's really hard to miss what's going on politically these days.
And so we will be taking some time to discuss midterm elections, and we will also take some time to discuss the voter suppression initiatives that we need to be mindful for that have been enacted at different places around the country. And we have a very special guest in the building today to talk to us about both of those things, doctor Camilla Westenberg. And I've given you the introduction many times, but please just a brief rundown of your akala aids for our listeners.
Oh my goodness. Well, I'm a professor emeritus of Phoenix College. I taught there for approximately thirty years in the English department.
I advised the NAACP the Issue Club. While I was there, I taught developmental English African American literature in a class that I created rap literature of the oral tradition, and I'm involved in a number of organizations within the community beyond the Meericle, Maccunti Branch of the NAACP, AKA Top Ladies of Distinction, the Links, and the National Council.
Of Necro Women wonderful and so we are definitely going to enjoy today's conversation again. A lot to stick around for and hopefully we will give you all the tools you need not only to vote yourself, but to get your community out and voting as well. But first and foremost around here, we like to start off with q's favorite segment. We call it Ebony Excellence, and today's ebny Excellence is brought to you by Major Threads Athletic Menswear.
You can find out more at majorthreads dot com. Today we are shouting out doctor Karen Harding, who is the president of the Americopa County Branch of the NAACP, so I will read. The Americopa County Branch of the NAACP has continued to incorporate a segment of its get Out the Vote outreach to be specifically designed to continue to work with the hip hop and spoken word communities of
the population. Through the incorporation of the Circle to the Cipher projects, this provides an expertise in terms of reaching young artists and these specific genres and to encourage and mentor them to utilize their skills to spread they get out the vote message in their artistic formats. Dominant focus of the outreach is to highlight issues that may be directly impacting the next generation as well as the critical
issues that will restore democracy. It is felt that it is imperative that the country not turned to an aristocracy, as is the current momentum. And again, doctor Karen Harding is spearheading this effort and among others at the Americopa County Branch of the NAACP, and they're really making an impact, really getting people excited about sharing information and really getting the community galvanized and mobilized in terms of voting. And
we love to see that. We love to see more of it, and this is why we've taken today to highlight what we believe is a shining example of Ebony excellence. So once again shout out to doctor Karen Harding, the President of the Americopa County Branch of the NAACP, and all of her supporters at the Americopa County branch of
the NAACP. Now, midterm elections, Doctor Westenberg, you and I have had quite a few conversations about the midterm elections, the upcoming midterm elections, will say it that way, and there's a lot to account for, a lot to take into, you know, consideration as we approach election day, if I'm honest. So before we start, you know, you you have so much more perspective than me and a lot of our listeners,
and I love to hear you talk about it. So can you share a little bit about how important voting was to your elders.
It was extremely important. It was a privilege, and it was something that was not taken lightly by any stress of the imagination. But I think in terms of the restrictions that were placed on me growing up, and then I consider the restrictions that were placed on my elders, you can do a comparison and understand what my elders went through. Now, I was not born too many moons ago. I just had my seventy fifth birthday. But in my growing up, oh thank you, but am I growing up?
As you have heard, I living here amongst you was not able to drink from a water fountain, So you can imagine what it was like for my mother and my father. I could not use the rest room, I could not eat at a restaurant. I would have to sit in the balcony of the movie theater if we were even able to go in, I had to sit at the back of the bus. I could not try on shoes or hats. There were just so many restrictions
that were placed on me as an individual. So for my mother and my father, it was much much worse. They were very fortunate. My mother taught, so she had some things that worked for her a little bit better than others in the community. But we were poor. We were poor people. We did not have a lot of money. We did not have privileges to enjoy life the way young people or even I enjoy life today. It's completely different.
So we recognized that, you know, voting, as you say, a privilege, and most of the time when people think of voting, we think of voting for the president of the United States. This happens every four years, right Well, this upcoming election is what's known as a midterm election. So again for folks who are just being becoming acquainted with the political process. Explain what midterm elections are.
Well, it is during the midterm elections that you have the opportunity to vote on a lot many of the local public officials and those of the individuals with whom you have to be very concerned because they are making some the decisions that are germane to your current life right in your community. Whether it is the school board, which is one that really advocate that people look at and make a determination as to who are you electing
for your school board, for your city council. Each of those individuals make a determination as to what is happening in your personal environment, whether it's in school, whether it's in the streets when I say streets lights, whether it has to do with the police system, whether it is the water system. May may have said that all of those factors are germane to your everyday life and what is taking place, and so one should be very very
concerned about midterm elections. Yes, the presidential election is important, and then the next thing is during the midterm elections, you're making a determination about who you're going to send to Washington, d c. For the to be a part of the Senate and the House to make some of those larger decisions. Deal with it at two levels, at the local for your city, for your county, as well as who is going to represent you at the national
level as well. And so you need to look at that ballot, and you need to look at it up and down all the way through and not go to the governor at the top, but you need to look at all aspects of it and do as much research and investigation as you can, and also find some reliable sources within your community that will have done the research that you can trust to give you information about those individuals or those propositions for which you should vote. So it's really quite crucial.
You know. It's something that I learned recently. If I'm honest, you know, I'm well aware of our history. And obviously I've been voting in every election since I was eighteen, and and I've been tapped in certainly with our history. You know, you are partially to blame for that, being my teacher and mentor when I was in college. So it's sort of strange to admit this on the radio, But I don't think that I became intimately familiar with
much of the political process until President Obama was elected. I, like many folks, thought that well, once President Obama gets into office, with the perspective that he has, you know, he can you know, change everything, just you know, by waiving a magic presidential wand and you know, everything will be better on the other side out of this presidency.
And I realized as I paid attention to the news, because he was a very celebrated individual in our circles, I realized that a lot of what I was reading was, you know, how there was so much opposition to him. And then I started to dig a little bit deeper, and I realized the source of that opposition was found in Congress and in the Senate, you know, primarily in the Senate. And you know, there's another branch of the government as well, the judiciary branch, which is the Supreme Court.
And that isn't a branch that has too much to do with our electoral process, because those folks are nominated by the president him or herself. However, for President Obama to realize that he had encountered opposition at almost every turn, it let me know, Okay, there's more going on here
than I understood anticipated. And so because of that, I recognized that, you know, there's a little bit more as I mentioned, and what that was was the people that were elected in the midterms helped keep a much of I guess Obama's power in check, right, and yeah, yeah, and that's very problematic. And what we've seen is that there was a backlash to the election of President Obama by conservative podcasts of this country saying, Okay, well, if he made it to office, we are going to do
our best to block his agenda at every turn. So let's electors who are who are not along party lines. List if he's Obama's Democrat, let's elect Republican senators, let's elect Republican congress people, and they will represent our interests
in DC and hopefully stall or block Obama's agenda. And so, in that time in my life, I realized exactly what Obama was up against, and I realized that for a lot of our listeners, a lot of people who might be casually engaged in the political process, it may feel like, you know, politics don't speak for you. It doesn't affect your day to day life. They're not speaking your language. You know, you voted once twice whatever, and you felt no change in your day to day, So why bother?
And I think you said it best doctor Westernberg when you said you have to bear in mind that there's two battles. There's there's a battle on two fronts. I'm not sure exactly how you set it, but basically you
illustrated that it's twofold. It's not just voting for the president, it's also making sure that you bolster the president by mid term elections by getting representatives, congress folks and senators to d C and as well as local folks in your in your immediate vicinity, people that, as you mentioned,
are responsible for municipal operations and so forth. So you know, to everyone that has felt that those feelings of like being disconnected from outcomes, being disconnected from whatever it was that you were hopeful for, whatever it is you thought, you know, this happened me too. So I'm not mad at you. Just know that there's another card to play, and it's midterm elections. So let's lean into this a
bit more. Let's discuss how the let's discuss what's at stake if we don't participate fully in midterm elections.
Well, this year, probably more than any other year, not probably, it's for real, there is a possibility of losing our democracy. Now, mind you, as a representative of the NAACP and the second right Vice president for Political Action, I must say that the NAACP is a non partisan organization. Sure, and so I cannot support any particular political candidate according to political affiliations. But I certainly can do it or address policy. And what is at risk is, above all things, this
notion of democracy. Whenever you have a cohort of people, and I tell all listeners that you need to do your research. You need to listen to what the positions are of individuals and make sure you understand what the
positions are of those candidates. But any time you have a candidate or an individual who is willing to overturn, overturn the votes of the masses are to put in position a policy that would allow them to look at how the masses voted and if they did not like it, to simply overturn it, or to identify electors who are
not elected electors, then it becomes problematic. Sure, then you have individuals who are anti democratic, and it no longer this country no longer becomes a country by the people for the people, the voice of the people, and so above all, losing our democracy in this mid term election is the most paramount concern that we have. Now, there are another number of other factors that we need to
look at. Women's rights, abortion is one. You need to look at those candidates and see what their their positions are. As it relates to abortion. You need to look at them and see what their positions are. As it relates to gun rights, you need to look and see what their positions are. As far as the freedom of LGBTQ
and choice and marriage is concerned. It's a host of things that are right at the core of what this particular election is going to impact, absolutely absolutely everything about who we are, what we have, what we stand for. Our freedoms are at risk, truly, truly at risk. I don't know that the masses understand that. And to be complacent it's problematic. As I've always said, you better get in the game because they are playing the game, and
this year they're playing at hard. They're playing it very hard with some serious hardcore differences from the values and the thoughts that the Constitution was built on. And so we need to get our act together and look at it very very closely, make some decisions and get there and vote. That is what is at risk. Your education is at risk, your jobs or at risk, your transportation is at risk, your health is at risk, your taxes are at risk, absolutely everything everything.
So you know, there's a lot of people who you know, I mentioned earlier that you know, there are people who feel disconnected from the political process and the only thing that anyone can really point to is inflation or gas prices or you know, things along that along those lines, right, And I realized that you can't you know, delve into this to any great degree because of your position with
the NAACP having to be a formal capacity nonpartisan. But I will do my best to kind of articulate what I believe is the case in folks because they feel disconnected from many of the outcomes, They feel disconnected from
their vote, meaning something in their lives. And when the only thing that's measurable that is, for lack of a better term, tactile they can see touch field taste, et cetera, is gas prices, you know, or you know, things like along those lines, they may feel like, well, the current administration, under the current administration, prices are higher and under the previous administration, prices were lower, and they may not consider the move to you know, release you know, simple possession
crimes for marijuana on the federal level. They may not consider the move to attempt to cancel twenty thousand dollars in student loan debt. They may not take into account that the current administration may perhaps be playing the long game for everyone's benefit, and they may be hyper focused on this short term uncomfortability in terms of the gas prices, and so that may cause a lot of folks to sway away from you know whatever without dealing with all
of the realities. And so I love what you said about being fully informed, kind of immersing yourself in the political process, because for folks that don't know, it's very easy to say, well, you know, as bad as it was, it didn't affect me, you know, you know, twenty sixteen to twenty twenty, as bad as it was, as scary as it was, I can't point to anything too expensive.
So you know that that may be just the path that we have to take versus you know, bearing in mind, okay, we have a planet to say, we have you know, there's a lot of things, as you mentioned women's right. There's a lot of things that are on this midterm ballot. And I think that the point I'm making is that I really appreciate you articulating that folks need to inform themselves, folks need to really understand sort of that stake. So let me ask you this.
And one of the things. And remember I said, because politics can be overwhelming and confusing, but you are not alone in the process of trying to lead through everything. So you need to find some resources but in your community that you know have the same values and concerns that you have to help you in leading through all of the information and all of the decisions that have to be made. And I think sometimes that's what the
problem is is it's just overwhelming for people. So don't just carry the burden yourself, but look for resources, and look for resources that you value as an entity within your community. And I guarantee you that there is some messaging there that will help you in your decision making process.
And while we're there, just because I can do this now, if you want these resources, if you want to motivate the people around you, Let's say you know exactly where you stand. Okay, if you want resources to motivate those around you, go to NAACP dot org. You can get organized, you can organize within your community, you can get folks out to the polls to vote. And if you are under informed, you can also go to NAACP dot org
and start there. In terms of your learning process, and there's lots of resources, you can't.
Go wrong exactly. And I would also say you need to check out your black press too.
Absolutely