Knitting Community Back Together

my home bunker, folks. I am always very excited when I have the opportunity to welcome candidates for office on woke F. Christy Smith is running for the US House of Representatives in California's twenty seventh congressional district, and she joins us today to one share a bit about herself and her campaign and why she's running, but also to engage in a conversation about how good people who want to be of service, who want to lift up their commune unities, who have a desire to and a vision

to shape the future, are being pushed out of engaging in politics. Not just because of money, because we know that money is a major factor and who has the ability to run for office and it shouldn't be, but also Christy and I will talk about the fact that the rise in political violence is even pushing those good people that would volunteer for candidates, that would volunteer at the polls to sit this one out and maybe the next one and the next one after that. And this

is what the far right wants. This is what the Republican Party wants. They want people to be scared out of their minds. They want everybody to be living in fear, uncertain of what hit will be coming next, placing neighbor against neighbor, community against community, desperate to scroungeohn to whatever little piece of the pie that we're able to get our hands on. Because they operate from a place of

scarcity rather than the knowing place of abundance. We can't both talk about America being the wealthiest country in the world and then say that we don't have enough. No, we should just tell the truth. We have more than enough.

We're just deciding who is deserving and who isn't. And so when good people like Christy Smith want to take up that baton and say that I have a message to share that I want to be of service, we need to support them in any which way that we can, whether it is with our talent, our time, or our treasure. Wonderful if you have all three, Okay, if you just got one. But folks, this democracy ain't going to save itself.

That's the thing that I really want to drive home as we are making we just have a handful of weeks left until midterm elections. Democracy ain't gonna save itself. The constitution cannot protect itself. It is up to we the people to decide how we are going to move, how we are going to engage, and whether or not we plan on showing the fuck up, because I'll tell you what the far right is hoping on is that

we won't show up. And I'll tell you what else is that they hope that if we do show up, that they'll have their little militia boys and their white supremacist clans out there at the polls like this is nineteen fifty, fully in their military cosplay, fucking garb to scare the ship out of regular, well meaning, hard working Americans that just want to exercise their voice in their

own goddamn democracy. So Christy Smith will share with us today her vision for her future district and her constituents and why she decided to get into this race and run. She'll also really share a terrifying story about what happened to some of her campaign workers. Two women in an office, not even late at night, just a regular evening, and what they came face to face with. We are living

in dangerous time, perilous times. Folks, all of us have a responsibility to take our heads out of the sand and roll up our sleeves and figure out what we're made of and what we're willing to work for and what we're willing to fight for. Because let me tell you something, the right is ready to fight for their fucking lie. They're ready to come claim their power. And once they get power, dear friends, they ain't giving it up.

I've said and I'll say it again. This midterm elections is going to be our last free and fair election. Don't be troubling yourself about who's running for president in twenty twenty four if you have no plans to vote in twenty twenty two. We got a lot of work ahead of us and a lot of danger that is coming our way because they bring in this fight to our doorsteps. Whether we choose to wake the fuck up or not, they're common a knock in, and the question

is are we going to be ready? So coming up next, friends, my conversation with candidate for Congress Christie Smith. The Damage Report with John Idarola is one of the most popular shows on the TYT network that serves as your daily breakdown of the genuine threats and challenges facing our country and world. These days, we're confronted with an overwhelming sea

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be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. Folks, I am very happy to welcome to will Gate APPI daily for the first time, Christy Smith, who is a candidate for the House of Representatives out of California's twenty seventh district running as a Democrat. And you know, Christy,

I want to give you as you know. As as often candidates are given an opportunity to introduce yourself to the woke af audience, particularly those folks that are that are going to be able to vote inside of your district, and tell us a little bit about yourself and why you're running right now. Oh thanks, I appreciate it. I think that's probably a top of mind question for a lot of us in the field right now in a cycle like this where a lot in the political world

seems to be kind of on fire. But I wouldn't have gotten into this race this cycle if I didn't have a really hard infirm why. And my why is the fact that I'm a mom. I'm the mother of two young adult women, but as someone who's been in education in my community, kind of a mom figure to a lot of folks here. And you know, the next generation of Americans will be the most diverse in her history, with the greatest number of challenges ahead of them, and right now, given the state of things, we are not

given them a toolkit to be successful. We are at risk of not leaving them a functioning democracy. We are not opening channels of communication that help us move forward in a really diverse society. And what that means and how we're going to build community, build equity, build opportunity under those circumstances and keep the country moving forward after some of us retired to the sidelines in public service work.

So I am in it to build that better future and then to hand off the reins to the next generation. I see gen Z as kind of the answer to many of our problems with the way that they're thinking about the role of government and the challenges that have to be tackled and addressed. But I want to be in this fight right now to help get us there. Christie, you know you are a woman in this country who, like the majority of the population, now finds themselves under attack.

We in the summer as the Supreme Court closed out it's session, reversed a damn near fifty year precedent in terms of Rov. Wade. Can you talk to us about the importance of women and young women and young girls who are a voting age to get out to the polls and what you are hearing from, you know, from folks on the ground about how this reversal of Roe v. Wade is affecting them and potentially their decisions to show

up in November. Sure, it's so important and it's such a generational conversation, I think we're realizing, like our conversations around civil rights, these are issues that we have to pass on to each generation and sadly in some cases

relitigate them. So it's incredibly personal for me. I mean, I'm the daughter of a mother who had friends who was in pre row circumstances to be sent to their aunt's house for whatever amount of time to deliver an unexpected child, or unfortunately, to have to access abortion services from a provider in unsafe circumstances. And so for me personally, as someone who survived a miscarriage and too high risk

pregnancies and literally had to make this decision myself. You know, if my miscarriage had been criminalized at the time that I had it in the state of Virginia, if I had the law enforcement had come in the emergency room and started asking me questions about my cycle or you know, what caused the miscarriage, my life would have had a

very different trajectory. That could be true for hundreds of thousands of women across this country on simply on the issue of miscarriage alone, not to mention high risk pregnancies like I underwent, where I had the clampsy is so severe my daughter had to be delivered to save my life, to keep me from having a stroke or cardiac arrest. So if my doctors at that point had had to call their lawyers or make a decision based on what state law was at that time, I may not even

be here running from converse right now. So, yeah, I am a woman who has spent my entire lifetime with the privileges and protections of ROW and now my daughters aren't. So it's critically important. But you know, you raise another important point about where we are in this moment for women. You can't extract what's happening in the MAGA movement issues

of marginalized communities right. Our LGBTQ communities are communities of color and women as a group who are being singled out by that movement right and really particularly around the issue of reproductive rights and freedoms. Sadly, last week I had two female staffers working alone in the office and the evening it wasn't late in the evening, about seven o'clock, and a group of drunk men came in and started really berating them, harassing them about my politics, about the campaign.

Couldn't be forced out of the office for about forty minutes, and through the duration of all of that, neither of these women felt safe enough to turn their backs to grab their phone because of conversation Asian kept escalating. And I couldn't help but think if those have been two men working in the office alone, would that ever even

have happened? Right? And so this mentality, this this power shift, in this really important moment, put so many people on their guard, and women in particular have a lot to lose, you know, God, that's that story is kind of sitting

with me, um. You know, because good people who believe in democracy and believe in candidates like yourself volunteer their time to be active participants in our democracy and now or being faced with situations like you just you know, gave gave voice to that will deter people from wanting, particularly women, you know, particularly people of color, who are often targets of violence, right to want to, um, to

be a service, right to to help. And so you know, Christie, I guess, how how have you been able I guess to to use that story and and and talk about the climate that you are running in, talk about this climate of escalated political violence, and violence against women, and violence against black people and people of color. You know, how have you been messaging that that that kind of

sense of urgency in where we are? Yeah? You know, so like people just know right, I've had a couple of town halls and people you don't even have to describe the circumstances or even individual events. People know how divided we are. And so I preface this conversation with how are we going to knit our communities back together?

And without fail, every public appearance that I've made where I start to talk about this issue and I say, you know, people are at a point where they want to talk to their neighbor again at the mailbox without cutporian, what kind of flag they're flying outside their health or what their political signage is on their car in their yard. It's the biggest applause line of every public appearance I've done. So I know that within our communities, within our small towns,

people are ready to make that shift back. It's just providing that roadmap and open safe spaces for people to have these conversations where we can do it. Indisputable with doctor Rashid Ricci is one of the latest shows on the TYT Network and also the fastest growing news show

in America. On his show, Doctor Ricci plays no games regarding policy, delivering a heavy dose of fact based truth and penetrating analysis on all the top news stories focusing on racism, criminal and social justice, politics, police brutality, parents, and much more. Listeners can also expect interviews with fascinating guests, political leaders, commentators, and even fiery debates with conservatives on

a wide range of policy topics. In the Bullpen, it is an indisputable fact that you will love this show. Listen to Indisputable with Doctor Rashad Ricci on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you like what you hear, be sure to subscribe so you never miss a new episode. You know people, Hi, God your state right. California has been dealing with a lot as it pertains to climate change, much in the same way that Florida has been in the headlines now because of Hurricane Ian

and the aftermath of that devastation. California all throughout the summer the spring of this year had been in the news because of the long time drought. Because of these unpredictable fire seasons that are burning much hotter and farther, losing acreage in ways that hasn't happened before. What is how do are you talking to your potential constituents about climate change? And how do you think that Democrats in

general should be messaging on this issue. It's an excellent question, but I will tell you, in my district and districts across California, it's a bipartisan issue. When people aren't able to get their homeowners fire insurance renewed, when people are cutting back on water consumption, changing out you know what kind of landscaping they have at their house, worried about whether there's going to continue to be housing growth even

because of the water shortage. People are experiencing climate in real time right just unfortunately, as Florida just did with Hurricane Ian, and people understand that there are significant multi billion dollar costs associated with the damage that's being done by the changes in our climate. It doesn't require convincing anymore now. I think what people have wanted to hear in the community is who's the candidate who actually has solutions and who's going to step into that policy space

to deliver on the issue. But if people here know it, they feel it day in day out. How do you think then that for those you know, because you'll be entering in god willing, uh, you know, entering into Congress with a really rapid group of Republicans who continue even as they are wading through waters, even as they are you know, picking up after these fire these these fire seasons, who don't believe in climate change? Right? Who are who

are telling people no, this is this is normal? So how you know, how do you first see being able to combat that rhetoric which is going to be ever present upon your arrival. Yeah, I think very much like what has happened here in California, the more people directly experience the impacts of climate the more likely they are to buy into the need to address it immediately as a bipartisan issue. Right man, The Republicans definitely crossover in

my district. I can't imagine that all of these people whose lives have now been devastated in Florida don't demand of their leadership that something be done, especially if they refuse investment in aid. And the fact that there were some elected representatives who were voting against relief packages to go in to rescue people, to clean up to rebuild, to try to redesign to be a little bit more

climate resilient along the Florida coasts. It is kind of insane, and it will get harder and harder for the other side to justify continuing taking contributions from people who want the climate crisis to continue, those in the fossil fuel industry versus people who have actually had their entire lives destroyed by climate reality. Right, that will come to a head when people can no longer access their insurance to rebuild their lives. Then it's a life or death choice

for people, and then the choice is clear. Unfortunately, I want to switch gears to talking about the pandemic and that we are still in because there are four hundred people dying a day still in the United States, which

roughly turns out to three thousand people a week. How are you talking about this the current way in which we are continuing to deal with the effects of COVID nineteen, but also preparation for the next virus, which many doctors and scientists tell us will come as in part because of climate change, in part because of what is floating around in our atmosphere, what is being released via the melting of the glaciers. Bacteria that's being released that hasn't

been in the air for a billion years. So how are you talking with your you know, with your constituents about you know, about these pandemics and about public health in general. Sure, I mean sadly, what COVID has laid bare is the significant fissures in the delivery of health

across the United States. You know, as it was spreading like wildfire in the early days prior to the vaccine, and we were hearing these horror stories about counties across the country that didn't have an intensive care bed, that didn't have a ventilator, communities where people wouldn't have had easy access even to go get the vaccine once it

was available. What it points out to me is a need to really do a significant investment in shoring up the structure where people can reach care across the country, and whether that begins by telehealth in our more rural and remote areas at least that is something. But doing a nationwide study and survey on where are these care deserts and how do we change that? And then the hospitals that communities rely on, do they have everything that

they need? It is not cheap to build and maintain a hospital these days, but we know now we need them, and we need them equipped and ready to go in the case of a moment like this. And then further to just you know, shore up the faith and the credibility of our public health institutions and really make sure we are completely transparent about the development of pharmaceuticals, about the development of vaccines, and the health and the safety

versus the potential risks. I think, you know, trying to have that the front and center and present in media that folks trust becomes increasingly important. But then again back to that concept of rebuilding community and knitting us back together and recognizing that, especially in the midst of a public health crisis, we have to sometimes take steps to protect ourselves, but more importantly the people around us who

are a valuable part of our community, whose lives. I gotta tell you, I love the imagery of knitting the community back together, of knitting community back together, because you know, I like the idea of their being patches right and like and wanting to be a part of you know, a part of this, a part of this quilt, a part of of community, and the idea is that most people do they want you know, they they they want to know who who lives next to them and across

the street, and who is going to school with their kids and you know, um and and and who is packing up your groceries and and all of these things. And so I love your term because it provides such you know, comforting imagery um and and you know, to the point around around COVID, I think that a lot of what did happen was the purposeful fracturing of community,

of this idea that like, we're in it together. And so you know, how do you Christie, like as as this candidate for Congress, rebuild this idea right that we are all in this together, that we're not going to make it with this kind of individualistic you know, each person got to pull themselves up from the boots drops when we know some don't have boots, some don't have laces, you know, and and some need more care than others. And so you know, your what is your core message

of community that you're sharing with the voters? Well, I really appreciate this question because this resonates with me. This is where I have spent my life's work in building partnerships and elevating those who are out there on the front lines doing the really important nonprofit work and supporting the most vulnerable areas and people in our communities. And so for me, it's two things. One it's showing up. It's being present. It's being present to serve the meals

to our unhoused neighbors with the Dolores Quartok Foundation. It's showing up as I did last weekend for the young activist mom who had founded a nonprofit for mental health help and support in the community because her own son had taken his life. And it's about as I'm meeting these people in these groups, making sure that I connect them to one another as they need each other, as they might be able to benefit from each other's experiences

or the work that they do. And then for people interested and wanting to be involved in public service, what I always say to young people is bloom where you're planted. If there is some aspect of this kind of work in the community that really lights you up and makes you want to get up every day, then start there and the opportunities for further leadership will present themselves as you are doing this work. But find that one thing. You know, we don't all have to show up for

everything every day. But if each one of us finds that one piece of work, schools, a community garden, whatever it is, show up, be present. And that's part of that active process. Though. And I appreciate that you like knitting because it's deliberate, right, it's action driven to bring our communities back together. It doesn't take a whole lot of lift, but it just takes everybody doing their one little part that really inspires them. Yeah, I truly do

love it. My last question for you is what I say every day and what I will continue to say until election day. This is this midterm is the most consequential election of our time. It is not the twenty twenty four presidential It is right now. This midterm election will shape who America is moving forward. It will be America, but possibly only in name only, and not the values, the traditions and the understanding of trying to perfect our union.

So for those people, Christie, who are currently you know, they are frustrated, they are angry, they are tired of the system. They are tired of voting for politicians who don't care about them, who turn around and you know, vote with their best interests, which is usually to align their pockets and not the best interests of their constituents. What message do you have to voters as we make this final sprint to midterm elections. Yeah, I would say

a couple of things. First of all, if your vote didn't matter, there wouldn't be people spending millions and millions of dollars trying to either discourage you from using it or try to encourage you to use it in their favor. Your vote matters, and that's why people spend all of this money to get at it. If you are an eighteen to thirty year old voter, you need to know this that in my district and districts like mine across this country, that vote demographic, the young voter, determines the

outcome of the race. Your power in this moment is your vote. Use it make this country look like the future you want to see. And if you are a voter who already has a family, if you have children, if you have grandchildren, look at those kids and make your vote based on what you want the future to look like for them. And we have said it over and over again for the last several cycles. This is

the single most important election of our lifetimes. This time, it really is because we are on that slope of taking away people's fundamental freedoms, the power to vote, the righteousness, and the support for our liberal democratic institutions that has withstood the test of time and continued to evolve. We need to keep moving forward, and now is the time

to just make that valued statement with your vote. Christy Smith, candidate for California's twenty seventh congressional district, Thank you so much for making the time to join will Gate F but more importantly, thank you for being willing to throw your hat in the ring to represent constituents at a time when our politics have turned so toxic, when good people are being you know, deterred from wanting to run

in the first place. So I really want to thank you and appreciate you and wish you all of the luck and folks that are in California, that are in District twenty seven, give your vote, Give your vote to Christie and like minded Democrats who need it. Thank you, Thank you, thank you so much. That is it for me today, Dear friends on woke a f as always power to the people and to all the people. Power get woke and stay woke as fuck.