Civic Cipher 102922 What is Voter Suppression? (Part 2)

back against it, all of those things. These are things that are very very important in our community. This is a long standing fight that if I'm honest, I was unaware of until way too late. And now that I'm aware of it, I can see it in more areas then I'm completely comfortable with. So stick around. We're definitely going to talk about that, but first and foremost, we are going to discuss Ba Ba Baba, how to become a better ally. Today's Baba is sponsored by Hip Hop

Weekly magazine. You can find out more at hip hopwekly dot com for today's Baba. You can become a better ally once again by checking out NAACP dot org slash take dash action. There you can find petitions, fundraisers, handpaigns the like. If you want to get active, that's where you can go. If you're interested in protecting reproductive rights.

If you want to pass the Equality Act, which prohibits discrimination based on sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity, and areas including public accommodations and facilities, education, federal funding, employment, housing credit, and the jury system, that's where you're going to find that information. You can support theaacp's position calling for President Biden to take executive action to cancel federal

student loans at a minimum of fifty thousand dollars. Again, where you want to go is n DOUBLEACP dot org slash take h action. If you want uniform police reform, that's something that we talk about a lot on this show. If that's what you want, you can support that. Climate justice is another thing we mentioned on the show. It's very important, obviously, but you may not be doing it

for yourself. You may not notice the effects in your life, but if you have children or if you plan on having children, or you plan on leaving the world a little bit nicer a place than you found it. Again, the NAACP has initiatives that are dealing with climate justice, and today we're going to be talking about combating voter suppression initiatives. So again you can find all this and more if you want to get active, if you want to become a better ally, visit NAACP dot org slash

take dash action and do just that. Take action now. Voter suppression, Doctor Westerberg, this is another thing that you and I have talked about quite a bit. I'd say we've talked about it for on and off, maybe eight years now, because I became acutely aware of it from having conversations with you. This has always been a very big concern of yours. And now I'm noticing a very conservative facet of this country becoming more aggressive in their tactics.

And I see them, rather than allowing it to look like what it is, which is absolutely voter suppression. There's a thin veneer of patriotism, this idea that they're protecting some sort of voting integrity, or there's this idea that they somehow are keeping everyone honest or something like that when the truth is there, just making it more difficult for the most where for the people where it's most that's already the most difficult for them to get out

there and vote. So, how do we take this idea and turn it into real things like how do we identify voter suppression in it? Or how about this a better question, what do you see as voter suppression initiatives around the country?

pole workers and pole observers. Right now, we just had our brands just had two workshops equipping people to become voter pole workers and pole observers to make sure that all of the guidelines where it here too at the

time of election. And what is happening is that people are being threatened and so you have a number of people who are not assuming those positions any longer, and there is the suspicion that there are going to be people on November eighth who will be around those locations that will make you feel as though your life is jeopardized or that you're doing something wrong, and so voter

suppression is for real. I know during the last presidential election, even the postage system was interrupted as it relates to mailien ballots, the sorting systems were taken out, and there has been a limited number of drop off boxes where you can leave your ballot. The business of committing a ballot for someone else is problematic. You cannot do that any longer. For example, if you have your neighbors and you said, well, I'll take all of them and drop

them in, you can't do that. That's against the law. They're just any number of things that can be used for voter suppression, looking at the ballot and how you respond on your ballot, looking at your signature as to whether it is correct or the date. Just recently, my goodness, in Florida, there were there were individuals arrested because of

an infraction related to voting. Consequently, that is suppression because anyone who wants to vote now in this election is going to have a second thought and say, you know, am I really eligible to vote? And so they are just a number of ways in which voter suppression can take place.

I believe that's what happened. And what we noticed once upon a time is that polling places that typically served black and brown communities, primarily black communities in the South, the amount of polling places places diminished sometimes you know, by an order of magnitude, and or they were moved to you know, white parts of town right and the

locations right right. And the result of that was that, well, you know, if black folks can't get up, get out, moved to the point and now they have to drive twice as far. You know. The idea behind that would be that it would lessen the impact of the black vote in those parts of the country and bolster you know, the white voat make it easier for white folks to vote and then of course they don't say that, but

that's what it looks like. And you know, when we look back historically these sorts of tactics, this is the most creative group of people I've ever seen in my life. These people are I mean, I don't mean it as a compliment, but you know, brilliant in terms of how they can come up with spend you know, a story where they're it's the wildest thing. In fact, you know, I was reading something recently and it was basically rules that black people had to abide by to vote in

certain states. And if you were if you were a land owner and you had a piece of land that was worth more than three hundred dollars, you could vote. If you if your grandfather didn't vote, then you couldn't vote, or something like that. If you had to pay a poll tax, if you were under a certain age, you know, all these things. And the idea was that you know, in theory would be like apply to everyone, but it would only apply to certain districts or certain parts of town.

And they would say it's to provide additional polling places or whatever. But the fact is is that these were all voter suppression initiatives, and nowadays we see sort of the same tactics, just modern version of it. But the truth is, the end result is that black people vote less as a result of it. And there's another thing I wanted to mention while you were talking. You know, one of the things that I learned. You know, I'm from Los Angeles, That's where I was born, and then

i grew up in Phoenix, Arizona. So I've lived in big cities my whole life. What happens is I think, well, you know, that can't be so bad. You know, voters, Okay, they put a couple of rules in place. It's fine, we'll get to it. But I think that your point when you mentioned, okay, there's a black neighborhood, there's one person that's going to drop off his or her ballot, and we'll just go around to the community and say, hey,

I'm dropping off my ballot. If you guys want to give me your grow friends, give me your ballots, I'll take them all up there. You know, there are people who are live in rural parts of the country. There are people who are not as mobile, people who are dealing with health issues, people who have to go to work, work, you know, and they can't get the time off. You know, they're not in cities. Cities tend to be very liberal,

very progressive. You know, these are rural folks and in the South and places that really matter for black people, in the black voice. You know, these little rules can have a profound impact on election outcomes, and so it's very important to know this. I learned it late, so I'm not mad at you listening. You're late to the party as well.

to do it. But you have a common interest already, and so by going collectively, you're not intimidated by what you might find there. And one of the things that I that came across my desk actually from my sorority yesterday, and I wanted to share this. I thought it was just very very important for bullets to know your rights when going to the pole, and they are if you are in line when polls are scheduled to close, stay

in line, you have a right to vote. So if you're already there and the polls are going to close at a certain time. As long as you are in line, don't get out. Stay there however long that line is. You have the right to vote. Make a mistake on your ballot, you should ask for a new one. Don't mark on it, just ask for another ballot. If the machines are down at your polling place, ask for a paper ballot. Don't just let it go okay, because they may go down in certain locations. Mind you don't make

sure that you do vote. And if you're citizenship, criminal record, other qualifications are questioned, immediately call the Election Protection hotline, where trained volunteers are available to help. If you experience any issues, have any questions while you vote, the Election Protection Hotline is there to help you. You can call our text eight six six our Vote to speak with the trained election protection volunteer. So you don't just give up on that.

just on Sundays. So what did the uh, the powers that be do in response to the Souls to the Polls initiative. They close polling places on Sundays, right, And so this is textbook, you know, voter suppression. It's like a way to combat It's such a strange like you would think that we would all want everyone's voice heard accounted for. You know, let's let's you know, let's put all the ideas in the pot and see what we

end up with. But no, there is a not insignificant facet of this country that absolutely does not want you to vote because if you vote, they will be outnumbered, vastly outnumbered. In fact, the party would have would cease to exist. They would have to abandon all of their platforms to even continue as the party, they would have to move so far left.

I'll just say twenty years. Maybe maybe it was thirty years, the average median income for the average American family was like write it around, like fifty thousand dollars or something like that. And it is still there. The average minimum wage is still exactly where it was. But the average or the wealthiest person in the country back when was you know, eighty billion dollars and now it's like two hundred and fifty billion dollars, right, And that's true of

most all the one percent. So this money is not trickling down. You know. The standard of living is not increasing, it's not improving, minimum wage is not going up, and people that live normal lives are being robbed and left behind. And for folks to complain about gas prices without looking at that long that long view of it, you know, just sort of having a bit more perspective on things.

international problem. They're not just local. So it's a big game that we're playing. It's a really big game. It's larger than even just what's happening within the United States because those the individuals that are making decisions are sometimes in cohoops with people of other countries who control our oil and our gas and our opportunities. So it's.

so that they disenfranchise certain segments of the population. For example, you may have a community where there's a historically black college, and they'll split that historically black college in half to dilute the strength that you would have coming out of that particular community. So it's really a matter of controlling the voting power of select communities and making sure that the voting power is design in structured in a fashion that will work well for you and your policies.

to really make any impact. Right, and so Jerry mannering is another thing to be on the lookout for. But the point here is that there are many ways that voting power could be weakened. There's so much at stake if our communities' votes continue to be disenfranchised. So far, we've been able to fight back a good fight, but as you mentioned this time around, there are people coming after our vote full strength. They have every type of

voter suppression initiatives. Are some creative folks, And if you want to fight back, I will let you know once again NAACP dot org. You can donate, you can organize, You can not just sit around and wait for it to happen. And you need to do that in addition to casting your vote and getting everybody you know to do the same thing. Put it on social media. I'm going to vote. Are you anyway that you can get folks to those polls? Do it and again. Go to NAACP dot org to find out how you can help

spread the word. Moving on, It's time for the Way Black History Fact. Today's Way Black History Fact is sponsored by the Black Information Network Daily Podcast. Check out more at vinnews dot com stories and interviews that are curtinent to black culture, and that show, of course, is hosted by Yours Truly Rams's Job. Today's Way Black History Fact. We're going to be talking about the origins of the NAACP, so we'll start at the beginning. In nineteen o eight,

a deadly race riot rock the city of Springfield. Eruptions of anti black violence, particularly lynching, were horrifically commonplace, but the Springfield riot was the final tipping point that led to the creation of the NAACP. Appalled at this rampant violence, a group of white liberals that included Mary White Ovington and Oswald Garrison, both the descendants of famous abolitionists William English Whaling, and doctor Henry Muskowitz, issued a call for

a meeting to discuss racial justice. Some sixty people, seven of whom were African American, including W. E. B. Dubois I, to B. Wells Barnett, and Mary Church Terrell signed the call,

which was released on the centennial of Lincoln's birth. Echoing the focus of dubois Niagara movement for civil rights, which began in nineteen oh five, the NAACP aimed to secure for all people the rights guaranteed in the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, which promised an end to slavery, provide equal protection under the law,

and the right for all men to vote respectively. Accordingly, the NAACP's mission is to ensure the political educational equality of minority group citizens of states and eliminate race prejudice. The NAACP works to remove all barriers of racial discrimination through the democratic process. The national office was established in New York City in nineteen ten, as well as a board of directors and President Moorefield Story, a white constitutional

lawyer and former president of the American Bar Association. Despite a foundational commitment to multi racial membership, Dubois was the only African American among the organization's original executives. He was made director of Publications and Research, and in nineteen ten established The Crisis, The acclaimed publication of the NAACP by

nineteen thirteen. With a strong emphasis on local organizing, the NAACP had established branch offices in such cities as Boston, Massachusetts, Baltimore, Maryland, Kansas City, Missouri, Saint Louis, Missouri, Washington, d C. And Detroit, Michigan. NAACP membership grew rapidly from around nine thousand, nineteen seventeen to around ninety thousand and nineteen nineteen, with more than

three hundred local branches. And we'll skip forward here. While much of the NAACP's history is chronicled in books, articles, pamphlets, and magazines, the true movement lies in the faces of the multiracial, multi generational army of ordinary people who united to awaken the consciousness of the people. And a nation with such a powerful membership base, all twenty two hundred chapters of the association continued to persevere. And that is

the origin story of the NAACP. It's an organization that responded to kind of what was going on, race, riots, lynchings, that sort of stuff, you know, very black stuff. But it also stood to make sure that everybody was treated equally as well. And this is something that I feel is kind of important. We do this on Civic Sipher.

We recognize that having a platform like this, having a show like this, you know, in spaces where hip hop music is consumed, where you know, it's a popular facet of the culture that we can tell our black stories.

But you know, at a time when our Asian American and Pacific Islander brothers and sisters were feeling, you know, very traumatized and very attacked, you know, they may not have the same sort of outlet, the same sort of infrastructure or strength in terms of like a space like this, and so you know, we obviously would share our space with our brothers and sisters in need.

And then when you get into the hood and you have a cipher where you have your dj coming together, and in Africa you have your drummer pulling the people. When they hear the drum, they as symbol. When you're in the city and the hood, you hear the dja, you hear the people begin to as symbol. And then you have your rappers who are the voice. They are the greats of the commusic community. They tell the story and the history of the community and the needs of

the community. And so Circle to the CSIPHA embraces that concept of history of how we come together from Africa to a symbol to dialogue with each other and in hip hop culture as well. And the thought is that we will take your more seasoned elders such as I and young people who are rappers, are graph artists, be boys and be girls, or you're a spoken word artist, and come together and dialogue with each other about the issues of today and to work collectively together and to

allow them to do it in their voice. I can't spit. But there are some people that I know out there who can take the message and deliver it in a way that I never could, and they can deliver it to a population that I never could. And so that's what the Circle to the Cipher is about.