Power in the Ballot

the entire fucking island. Okay, some of the pictures that are coming out look like full streets have turned into like the Grand Rapids. Think about what it's like when the power goes out in your home for a few hours. You're worried about food. There's no way to heat anything up. There's no way to keep cool or to keep warm, depending on what season we're in. Now, I want you to think about that and know that it isn't just

a few hours. It could be a few days. I want you to think about now all of the equipment that hospitals need, that emergency services require in order to aid people. Now, I want you to remember Hurricane Maria and when Donald Trump found himself tossing paper towel that people whose entire homes, schools, communities had been devastated. Well, President Biden isn't Trump, thank god, and he immediately activated FEMA. He immediately is sending as much emergency aid as he can.

But guess who isn't telling us these things? Guess where I found out most news about what is happening in Puerto Rico. Twitter. That's where I'm finding my news out. That's where I heard about what the President had done. That is where I saw the videos of what is happening in Puerto Rico. And now that the hurricane it's a Category one, has moved on to the Dominican Republic,

I'm pretty sure we won't hear anything at all. I want us to think about how the mainstream media has showed its higher ass since the death of Britain's queen. There has been NonStop wall to wall fucking coverage for weeks now. Thankfully the funeral has occurred, so maybe the newsrooms can go back to, I don't know, reporting on

real fucking news for a change. But I gotta tell you that not only do we not provide the people of Puerto Rico with like a real voice in our democracy, it just makes me think about the fact that once again, how you know, white supremacy and colonization reigned supreme on

our planet. That as we are boohooing over the death of a ninety sixty year old woman who received her wealth and that of her family through generational theft, we're also seeing our mainstream media completely ignore one of the territories of the United States because it's filled with Spanish speaking individuals who we refuse to actually give real sovereignty too.

And then I'm looking as I'm watching their streets turn into you know, the rapids, and I'm saying to myself as I'm in a conversation with my mother, She's like, yeah, their infrastructure is just not made for this. Like I'm watching some of these bridges and some of these buildings that look like they're basically made out of sticks and paper. Again, Puerto Rico is part of the United States of America, and I'm saying to myself, so, where the fuck is

the infrastructure where they included in Biden's infrastructure plan. We know that they were devastated during the Trump administration, and again, he didn't want to send over a FEMA. He didn't

want to give them a fucking thing. And why is that Because in twenty sixteen they went to Hillary Clinton, right, And so I'm just like, if we're going to continue to have these territories, if we're going to continue the fucking, you know, spate of colonization at the hands of this country, then maybe we actually want to provide the people with the infrastructures and the dollars to build the infrastructure that's going to stop their communities from becoming devastated every time

hurricane season comes around. Because again, let me stay Hurricane Fiona was a category one, right, a Category one. So if this island has the entire entire power grid wiped out by a category one storm, what the fuck do you think is going to happen to Puerto Rico as things intensify due to climate change? Are we going to

help out our brothers and sisters there? Are we going to give them any type of media attention so that those are empathetic and have the resources in order to be charitable can actually you know, help out their brethren, because you see, we can't invoke empathy when they don't even get any fucking coverage. I need these things to be called out, and I will continually call them out because I'm like, we have just all but resigned ourselves to white supremacy. Oh, it is what it is, and

I'm like, what it is is bullshit. What it is is that it needs to fucking stop. What it is is that the people like the woke F audience need to use their platforms in their voices in order to educate the folks around y'all who don't even know what's happening. But I know that you all do because you stay

tapped in. We got to start building out our own you know, like Game of Telephone and our own, you know, many networks because mainstream media can't be relied upon to do a fucking thing other than celebrate condone and uplift white supremacy. Switching gears, folks, I'm really excited to welcome to Woke a F for the very first time, my friend Melanie Campbell, who is the president and CEO of the National Coalition for Black Civic Participation, which is a

partner of the Black Women's round Table. Now, Melanie has been in the fight to raise civic engagement within the

black community, but within our democratic community. The National Coalition of Civic Engagement is a nonpartisan organization, but it has always been about increasing the civics understanding of people of color, particularly black people, and helping them to better engage in our democracy, particularly when we know that there is another party whose whole life's mission is to make sure that the only people that have a say in government are white.

Our siths are straight and are Christian. So coming up next to my conversation with Melanie as she reflects on her time last week with the Vice President and their talks with regard to abortion and how civil rights organizations and historic reproductive health organizations are uniting and recognizing their shared desire for equity and for justice. So that conversation is coming to you next. Indisputable with Doctor Rashid Ricci is one of the latest shows on the TYT network

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be sure to subscribe so you never miss an episode. Folks, I am very excited to welcome to Woke a f daily for the first time, the President and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation and the national

convener of the Black Women's Roundtable, Melanie Campbell. Melanie, you had you were a part of an esteemed group of civil rights activists, abortion rights activists who sat down recently with Vice President Kamala Harris um where I believe that the Vice President was explaining a rededication of efforts in sorts um to di Biden administration's commitment um to protecting a woman's right to choose. So I wanted to give you an opportunity would love to hear your reflections from

that meeting. What stood out to you most well? First of all, great creat creates and be in in this conversation with you, my sister, and it's been a whole but I do follow you, I trow you, and we had we hadn't visited in spaces together a lot of times. So it's first and foremost thank you all you do, uh and speaking truths to power. You know, you do it with uh style and pizzazz. That's my Julian. So

I want to first say that. But the meeting um when someone was an historic in the sense because what what what what it was about was we had gotten together with some of us in the civil rights community, along with folks and report rights repot justice community back in the summer. Even before that, we had been organizing to try to connect our um as, our movements us A. Bishops Um says, a fusion movements right to refusing these

movements together. So understanding that our rights and freedoms are very interconnected, uh, and that the attack on reproductive rights was preceded by attack on voting rights and the real possibility and real time in some places on state level happening when it comes to LGBTQ right. So our rights and freedoms broadly is on the line. And so the idea of having a conversation with the administration had to do with bringing our movements together, understanding that we're all in.

All of these things are interrelated, and to fight them, we need to maximize our collective power together. Yeah, that was kind of like Dipitus for having and we did a joint letter several of our organizations asking for this meeting and so our administration and so here for how we ended up meeting on on Monday this past we feel like two weeks ago, right the Monday, UM. But

the meeting and so what what? What? The whole thing was a couple of ways one UH Vice president by ship hair excuse me, shared kind of what the administration has been doing and what it continued to do with executive actions, and the way you should try to utilize the different department Department of Justice, of course, of Health and Human Services and other areas for access to our reproductive health UH, inclusive of the abortion, but also to

protect women who would be over criminalized and through this movement for states rights to control our lives UM, and in all of those areas that I talked about, that's also what's happening UM. And then how important it was us for her to hear from organizations to share, UH, what's happening, their concerns. They didn't have a conversation around recommendations where where that made sense. So that was kind of a big, big, big picture And I think what

what um? So what was I think most important for me with UH. With what UH best President Harris brought was the level of enthusiasm and to understand she had a map which she was showing how they're looking at these things UH. And and in looking at the states where you have UH those saying rights under attack and where you see through lines UM and being able to say we're really paying attention to that, UM. And and

then her listening that makes a big difference. And then and by the language speaks a lot of to me UM. And she was all in. And the meeting was supposed to be an hour, went over over that over then hour and a half. But then you had UH sisters who were there, UM and brothers because we had Mark, Marial and Derek and and and and you ever Sharpton, but you had Alexis, you know, you had Urged there, You had Ppfa there, you had sister Song UH with

my sister. So we were all there together and and us and and really shared our various perspectives in some cases even sharing for me when I talked about it, I talked about the connectedness to how we have to fight the vote rights to right along with reproductive rights, to hold our rights for the future UM and then UM and so you had play a parent who who had it laid out a lot of the data UM.

And then we in some of the strategies for for instance, UH with sister sol uh solutions, how do we message this utilizing cultural UM strategies, storytelling because that matters, and how UM sharing UH some of the ways it sister songs UH is utilizing cultural expressions to to to really get the message out for people because we gotta because the fight UH has to be from really from the

ground up, as well as fighting for systemic protections. Understanding that we couldn't talk to we really couldn't get into the politics of the election because we at the White House different kind of meetings standing there is an election. I mean it's right in front of us, understanding that the election will make a difference or whether or not we can have another opportunity to fight for federal intervention and federal change when it comes to protecting our rights

and freedom. So that was kind of the big bucket, you know, it sounds one. I'm always so grateful when when movements, overlapping movements with shared desire and pathways to equity come together, because I think that that's really how we are able to showcase our power, you know, as it pertains because because you are a convener or the Black Women's Roundtable, and we know right that Black women are the backbone, the base, the foundation of the Democratic Party.

A lot of the conversation since the since the overturning of Robie Wade, has been about this ignite ignition of women women registering. But when they're talking about women in the mainstream media, they're talking about white women. And so I want you, um, the question that I have for you is how it has there been a change in in um, in ignition um for black women because Black women are always at the forefront. Black women are always

getting things done. And so how have you seen the Dobbs decision uh engage black women maybe differently or just in a in a broader sense uh than before. Um, I would say, when we look at it, uh the reproductive justice Liz right now just rights, but justice equity, and how we're impacted. I think that's where because we just a call last night, uh where it hits up rategies, laid out some data and they're constantly looking at the black vote from younger voters millennial generation ze goos uh.

This issue is high on the list now. But so it's voting rights, right, so it's criminal justice and police and reform. So racism is racism still number two? Right. So, so the things over the course of the last two years and especially the last year with attempts to with the rollback of of our reproductive rights, but also continues to roll back on a state level where things would impact us on a state level where you feel it

quicker than you do a decision. And so so I think the issues there, but it had its interesting intersectional if you will. It is looking at the whole of what we're talking about. So we're talking about rights and freedoms and safety and even understanding strategically about democracy and why strategically, as black women specifically, we see the fight to protect the democracy as a component to protecting our

rights and freedoms. They're intertwined. It is not about you know, just waving a flag and getting jumping behind a flag and say, oh, you know, God bless America. It's no, it's it's we're strategic to understand that the erosion of the democracy is right along tied to white supremacy in this country and really white patriarchy right right, white men wanting to stay at the top of the food chains

against all arts. Or you go after you know, the women's rights, you go after all these things that have to do with inclusive democracy, right and the changing and the other piece of it. Um and and and and I'm blinking on my sister's name. Um that was there even um representing the LGBTQ plus community because that's also it's all of that, you know, it's it's really marginalized us from a racial perspective, from a gender perspective, and really from a poor perspective to moving it down right

um um um those who are living in poverty. So but but if we're if we're at odds where I'm over here and you're over there, and you know you're more oppressed than I'm o breast, then we never get anywhere. And we're in this moment where we have to pull our movements together and demand and you know, we try to tell some of our white sisters, they're coming for us, They're gonna come for you, right, but probles, when they

come for you, they're gonna over criminalize us. When they come for you, you're gonna have more access to be able to get abortion, you can travel quickly, you have more financially, not that everybody's everybody's we're not saying that, but just the reality of wealth gap, UH in this country. The reality of income jet gap is real, so and so.

And then living in states where you have all of these UH laws being passed UM and trigger laws that were sitting on the books waiting for Roby Way to be overturned, and UH, the reality of how that's going to impact black women, brown women, women in color specifically. So there's a lot UH, and we tried to put as much in as we could. There's a lot of our organizations, so there's a lot of people to talk.

But but what I liked was that's called Vice President Harris stayed the entire time so she could hear from everybody in the room and the couple who were on the phone. Melanie, how do you think that because you talked You talked earlier too about about creating um a narrative, creating the messaging right that is needed to pull to get to people's heartstrings, to change hearts and minds. What narrative do you think that we need to have in

order for white women. And maybe it doesn't come it doesn't come from us, but just in general, what narrative do you think needs to happen in order for white women to actually understand that our fates are inextricably land right that like you're saying, they're going like now you're you're waking up and you're saying, oh my goodness, these white men don't even care about incest or rape. Right.

They don't care about their daughters or their granddaughders or their wives right in terms of bodily autonomy, and they're waking up to that reality. What do you think the narrative needs to be as we're continuing to make this march to midterms for them to understand the intertwined fates. Oh my god, I'd be a millionaire if I could figure that. WHOA Uh, how do I answer that? Um?

And what I mean by that is all you get to go back to twenty sixteen, UM, and historically white and this is just I'm not a part of something. I'm just ye analysts. UM. For the Democrats specifically majority when you talk about national elections, UM, white women wote vote right with white white men. Has never been other than nineteen ninety two, in the last thirty years plus white women voting for Democrats who have women's rights on

the on the on the platform. So I'm not quite sure. Um, I think Robe Wade, uh, the impact of that, I say, the jury's out. I mean Kansas showed that. Whether it transcended party, so there's something that happened. And whether we'll see that, you know, you're hearing a lot of things.

Whether we'll see what that looks like at the ballot box on the rate will be will tell the story whether that because I think the narrative mum messaging wise other message was sent by the by the Supreme Court, and the message being sent in some of these states.

So the question is, um, And I said, remember this dates how long I've been doing this, right, But in twenty ten the election, I mean out for twenty ten elections, and being at the Legal Women Voters conference and in Tampa forwarder room full of white women mostly, and I just said, I decided that I'm gonna stop saying why the white women not vote? Your interests? Obviously your interest is different than what I think it is. M hmm.

And so and so that's why I say that we'll see what happens on November eighth, because you can't get more personal than someone trying to control your body. So will yet your gender Trump no pun intended, your your your your racial identity. Which one will win? And that's a question because at the end of the day, when Donald Trump was elected, he didn't It was obvious to the world. But he wasn't for women, right, But that's and twice yep, majority of white women voted for him.

So I don't know the narrative, but the impact, a real world impact of what's happening, what people are having to not just black women, but girls and young girls are being told you have to you know, carry a baby when you bought it that radio or you walk around the sister happening to go fifteen hun. I think I saw it on a new fourteen hundred miles to aboard a baby, that this has no skull. What are we talking about? Right? So I think it will it will.

That will tell us where we are because we should have had And I was watching and they were to watching told thing over there in the UK, you know, and kind of singing everything, and um just looking at okay, So how will how all this play out? Because they've had three women to to leave you know that country, right, m h, we've yet to have one. Yeah, So the United States is really such a contradiction. Um. And so here we have a sister, you right, who's last president.

Broker got us one step closer. But you know, whether we like somebody or not, there's no excuse to that we would. I could tell you if if if Healing Clint have been a black woman, what we would have done even more? Yeah? Yep, So so I I you know, I I say to my my white sisters. You know, you guys got to figure that out. We can't what what black women can't because then you have to be is carried the load. I know that's right. I know that's right, And so I don't want to you know.

So that's so that's I'm gonna stop fucking. Yeah. No, you you told, you told the line, You told the right line. Last question for you, elany You know we are, like we're saying fifty some odd days from this consequential. We've been saying this though with each and every election over the past couple of years. This is the most consequential election of our time. This is the most consequential midterm of our time. Everything is on the ballot. Democracy is on the ballot right Um, what where is your

on the scale? Where is your hope right now? Where is your hope that that Democrat that that we will prevail when by we I mean the people will prevail against those that are trying to roll back everything, roll back women's autonomy, roll back black and brown people's participation in our government, roll back democracy? Where where where does

your hope lie right now? As as we are fifty some odd days away, My hope is that, Yeah, young people own their power, millennials gener Jason Z. You got the numbers right, and there's a lot of frustration and disappointment, But I'm holding out hope. I think it's black women overall. We're going to do what we do, but but in midterms elections, and not to get into the you know, the weeds other In midterms, it's always harder to get people to vote. But in twenty eighteen, we had young

people turn out in record numbers because they saw the threat. Now, in twenty twenty, it was in the midst of a threat of a pandemic. We saw hope and a threat, right, hope and a threat and so a lot of disappointments.

But Hit Strategies did some research tarancy, and one of the things that was really telling was when you have them people who feel frustrated, disappointed a lot of things right, but then when you point out some of the things that actually have been accomplished because of their vote, then you there's a sense to the field of Okay, my vote does have some power. But if you feel dis empowered and then it really didn't matter, then you're not gonna vote Ryan. And so we're in this moment where

we're gonna fix something black. As you said, for it's seven days to get people, get folks to and I'm I'm putting a lot of energy in to yes, black women because that's what you know, but also just trying to encourage young people to own it and know that it's unfinished business and you you have moved and need them, you really do. There's power in the ballot. Don't don't don't don't buy into there's not power in that ballot,

and you drive that. And so even the people who've disappointed you, who have not done everything that you want, you got two more years and to disremind folks, pay attention to that governor, pay attention to that state legislature because the damage is right in front of you where they're passing laws. So, yeah, Rovie Wade happened here. You feel like, you know, the Congress should have done We should all if we had the numbers, should have taken

care of that. It's like they should have taken care of voting, right, But the governor in your state or state legislators in your state is in Florida, for instance, and now they have a voter fraud police locking up black and brown people formally and conserrated people, you know, returning citizens who tried to vote. So it's right in front of you. So the hard part is just like really get people to see but to own that power

to say you can't. You got another buye at the Apple to push for those federal changes you want, but you also have to protect your own lines in your community. Right where we are. States rights has never been good for black people in this country. Right, let's our check it. You gotta have a sense of hope. People don't tend

to vote on a sense of fear alone. You gotta find a way for they're to be um uh some some some sense of we have the power, so the power to ballot right, So that's part of what we're doing and deal with people where they are right. We gotta uh this um, We're doing a power to ballot, get out to vote comedy tour, mhm. I loved about five states to pour into folks, make we pioble enjoy too.

Who just it's been stress stressful for years and in the to the enemy that doesn't want want for this nation to be for uh for all of us yep uh wants us to feel defeated. And that's and it doesn't say that all our problems will be solved on overmber age. But what's very different is in my lifetime, I've never seen a moment where that the whole structure itself can crumble and we're on the bottom of that

in a way that we we you know, we read about. Yeah, it's modern day real about the very level of suppression that will make us be as a collective, multi racial, multiethnic, multi gender right of society to be marginalized to a few people controlling our life. And the hell with that. We gotta fight it. We gotta fight it, we gotta fight it, and if we come together, which is the symbolism of the meeting, what's coming together with our movements,

that we have to do more of that in different ways. Well, Melanie, I you know, I tell you that I I too troll you on social media and and just continually impressed, proud and the work that you do, UM gives me hope, right, gives me hope that we can continue to give them hell that those that want to turn America into a healthscape, for people who look like us, for people who are outside of their perception of what America is and what they wanted to be, that we're going to continue to

give them hell. That we will not just sit back, um and allow this to happen. And it is your energy and your work and your coalition building that continues to give me hope. So continue the fight, my friend, uh sister, and you know, and I appreciate you for making the time to join us on walkaf Thank you,

and I appreciate you. And we get so this now we connected again so that we're gonna stay yes, yes, absolutely, okay, all right that is it for me to day, dear friends, Aunt woke app as always power to the people and to all the people power. Get woke and stay woke as fuck.