- 5 weeks ago
Black voters can determine elections across the nation, up and down the ballot. This year, more than 34 million Black Americans, including 5.7 million Black Gen Zers, will be eligible to vote. Join advocates and leaders for a thought provoking conversation on the role we all play in protecting and strengthening our democracies and our communities. This conversation is a part of a partnership between ESSENCE, the Global Black Economic Forum, and When We All Vote to ensure Essence Voting Squad members are ready to use their voices to speak up about the issues motivating them to vote, including economic justice, climate change, and gun violence prevention.
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00:00All right, thank you so much, Mrs. Obama, for those wonderful words of inspiration.
00:11My name is Beth Blink.
00:12As was mentioned, I am the executive director of When We All Vote.
00:16When We All Vote was founded by Mrs. Obama six years ago to change the culture around
00:21voting, to increase participation in each and every election, and to close the race
00:27and age voting gap.
00:28And we're really excited to be doing that alongside Essence as we launch the Essence
00:33voting squad this weekend and in partnership with our myriad of talent ambassadors and partners
00:41across the country to get the word out about getting registered to vote and getting ready
00:48to go.
00:49So with that, I am really excited to be joined by my squad today and our incredible panelists
00:56who I'm going to introduce.
00:58So first, we have Nicole Hannah-Jones, who is the esteemed creator of the 1619 Project
01:07and the Knight Chair in Race and Journalism at Howard University.
01:12Thank you, Nicole.
01:13Our next panelist is Brittany Packnett-Cunningham, the social innovator, activist, founder of
01:22the social impact strategy firm Love and Power Works, and the host and executive producer
01:28of the Undistracted podcast.
01:29Thank you, Brittany, for being here.
01:31Our next panelist is Flaugé Johnson, who is part of the LSU Tiger winning women's basketball
01:42national champion team.
01:43In addition, Flaugé just launched or just released a new album with Lil Wayne about a week ago,
01:51and I think a new podcast this week.
01:53So very busy.
01:54Stays very busy.
01:55Great.
01:56Our last panelist, and we'll round out our squad here, is Raina Roberts, the princess of
02:03Outlaw Country.
02:05Many of you may know Raina from Beyonce's Cowboy Carter album and have fallen in love with her
02:11through her Bad Girl Bible album as well.
02:14So thank you all so, so much for being here.
02:16All right.
02:17Well, I'm just going to kick right into it because what an esteemed group and an incredible assortment
02:24of folks here today.
02:25Nicole, I want to start with you just to kind of contextualize why we're here.
02:30The name of this panel is Our Vote, Our Voice, Our Power.
02:34Some people might question the name of this panel and say, you know, I feel hopeless or I
02:40don't know if my voice has power.
02:43Can you contextualize for us how did we get here today in the state of the world?
02:50And what does history tell us about the power of organizing and voting to change this country?
02:56Sure.
02:57So how much time do I have?
02:59Just playing.
03:00Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for all the work that you do.
03:04So let's just be clear.
03:07Voting is the most fundamental right in any democracy because voting is what determines all other
03:11rights that we have.
03:13I think I can understand people feeling apathy right now, people feeling, you know, really
03:19disenchanted with our political system.
03:22But the fact is, if we didn't have power, they wouldn't be working so hard to take it
03:26from us.
03:27They wouldn't be working so hard to suppress our vote.
03:29And particularly people in this audience, black women who we know in Georgia, who we know
03:35in Philadelphia, who we know in Detroit, who we know in Wisconsin, helped save democracy
03:40in the last election and were being called on to do it again.
03:42And how we got here is we're a country where rooms like this were never supposed to determine
03:48elections, right?
03:49We were founded on ideals of liberty, but that those ideals would only apply to white men.
03:55They were not to apply to black people.
03:57They weren't to apply to women.
03:59And so we're in the middle of really a kind of fundamental battle over whose America is
04:07this going to be?
04:08What will America look like and who will exercise power in our democracy?
04:12So that's how we got here is when we know 60 years ago we finally became as close a democracy
04:19as we had with the passage of the Voting Rights Act, that that put into play this fundamental
04:24fight over whether we would be a multiracial democracy or continue to be a democracy for
04:28one racial group, which are white people.
04:31And that's why it's our duty to really fight to sustain the rights that our ancestors fought
04:37so hard for us to get.
04:38Yeah.
04:40Thank you so much.
04:41Brittany, I'm going to go next to you.
04:44And you're such a leader at the intersection of culture and justice.
04:49You're also often speaking truth about issues of the day in a way that really resonates
04:55with us.
04:56I know I was at a dark place last Friday with some of the Supreme Court rulings and you went
05:03off on your podcast and really spoke truth.
05:06And so I think in this social media environment when folks are feeling maybe less empowered
05:14to be able to talk or fearful maybe to talk about political issues or to engage their community,
05:23what are some advice about how folks should think about really resonating, engaging with
05:28their community about the issues and everything that's going on right now?
05:31Well, hey family, how you doing?
05:34Y'all doing all right?
05:35It's good to see everybody.
05:36Y'all look good.
05:37You smell good.
05:38Melanin is everything.
05:40You know, Nicole really started off the conversation reminding us that if we did not possess so much
05:47power, if our votes weren't game changing, if our organizing did not shift entire worlds and
05:54organizations, then people would not be so committed to stopping us, right?
06:02And if somebody will stop at nothing to block, steal, move, undermine our power, then not only
06:12am I going to say it's important that we know we have that power, I'm going to say how dare we
06:17not use it?
06:19Because how are you going to know something more about me than I know about myself, right?
06:24The beautiful thing though about black power is that it is not the same as the kind of power that
06:30white supremacy culture preaches to the West, to America, right?
06:34They think of that power as extrinsic.
06:37It's coming from the outside as somebody is awarding it to me or I'm earning it some kind
06:41of way.
06:42And that that power is finite.
06:43That there's only so many pieces of pie to go around.
06:46Black folks though, we understand that power is not something that white folks can give to us
06:52and not something that white folks can take away.
06:54That it comes from the inside and everything that we've got.
06:57It's our ancestry.
06:58It's our spirit.
06:59It's our community.
07:01It's our collectivity.
07:02And so the power that we have to exercise in this moment is standing fully in that and
07:09doing so when it is inconvenient, right?
07:13It's easy to choose silence when you are worried about the consequences.
07:20And let's not act like there aren't consequences when we speak up.
07:23I know y'all know exactly what I'm talking about.
07:25There are consequences to when we speak up.
07:27Let me remind you that whatever check, whatever proximity, whatever approval you got is temporary.
07:36Because they will dump black folks as soon as we become inconvenient.
07:39And we're black so we're always going to be inconvenient.
07:42So we might as well go ahead and speak up if you're not going to like what I have to say anyway.
07:47Right?
07:48And in doing so, I think that it's important that when we talk to folks that we don't just say go vote.
07:53I don't know about you all, but nobody ever condescended me into doing anything.
07:57We actually have to talk to people about why.
07:59We have to acknowledge why people are feeling disillusioned.
08:01We have to acknowledge why people are like, yo, this system wasn't built for me, so why participate in it?
08:06Say, baby, I understand how you're feeling.
08:08And let's talk about some of this.
08:10Right?
08:11Condescension doesn't work, but love does.
08:13Sharing with people the why.
08:15Right?
08:16Going and reading the 900 pages of Project 2025 together.
08:19Right?
08:20I know y'all are not partisan, but it's just a thought of something you should do.
08:25And recognizing that when we tell folks why, we have to help them understand the vote in a way that we've not talked about it.
08:34We tell everybody that a single vote, a single election will save and fix everything.
08:38That is a lie.
08:39We have to stop telling it.
08:41The truth is, and Nicole and I were talking about this earlier, your vote is a strategic weapon in setting the conditions for your next battle.
08:50So your vote is you being the coach.
08:52Right?
08:53I hope I don't get none of this wrong.
08:55Your vote is you being the coach.
08:57As the coach, it is your responsibility to build the team that's going to put the W's on the board.
09:02Right?
09:03So I want to make sure that I get a Flaw J.
09:05I want to make sure that I get an Angel Reese.
09:07I want to make sure that I'm getting everybody that I need from the front office all the way to the workers, the fans, the other coaches that are there with me.
09:16I want to make sure that I'm building the entire team, not just a franchise player, but an entire team to keep putting up W's on the board.
09:24That's what an election is.
09:26We need to stand in the coaches seat because there's no reason why they should know we have power and we don't use it.
09:33Thank you, Brittany.
09:37I think with that incredible metaphor, Flaw J., I'm going to turn to you.
09:42And you obviously have a lot of eyes on you all the time, whether it's on the court or in public as you're engaging in music and elsewhere.
09:54When you're talking to your teammates, to your fans, and to your community and family, what are the issues that are resonating most with folks?
10:03And what are really kind of most motivating to your community?
10:08I mean, issues.
10:13I mean, there's countless issues, right, in the black community, right?
10:19In my city, it's a lot of violence.
10:23But it stems from poverty, right, and economic, the downfall of the black community.
10:28And for me, it's deeper, right?
10:32That's why I'm on this panel, right?
10:33Because I do have a lot of young girls and young guys who follow me.
10:36And I have to tell them, and I have to repeat it multiple times, like, your voice matters, right?
10:41And for me, I try to use my voice for the voiceless because I know I'm confident enough to walk on the stage and say what I want and don't care about the consequence.
10:48You know what I mean?
10:49But a lot of people aren't, right?
10:51That's why we have panels like this to talk about it.
10:54I mean, for me, it's the violence.
10:58My father, he was gunned down before I was born in front of his recording studio in Savannah, Georgia, right?
11:05And I finally acquired that building.
11:08I'm going to build a resource center in my city of Savannah.
11:11But, thank you.
11:13But, like, the whole point is that we have to use our resources, right?
11:20We have to use our thoughts.
11:21We have to use our power and our brain in order to make a change.
11:24I feel like I was a real history head, right?
11:27So, like, voting for me, like you said, right, why would we not do something that they tried so hard to take away from us?
11:34Why would we not do it?
11:36I was reading the history books back then.
11:38They were trying to trick us.
11:40They were trying to trick us at the voting ballot.
11:42Am I wrong?
11:43No.
11:44They were trying to trick us out of voting, right?
11:45And so, for me, I mean, as a competitor, that give me an edge.
11:48Like, oh, yeah, I got to go do this.
11:49You know what I'm saying?
11:50That's right.
11:51And, yeah, so, I know you asked me another question.
11:54But, for me, voting is so important, right?
11:56It's going to be my first time that I'm really able to vote, right?
11:58I'm finally, yeah, thank you.
12:00I'm super excited.
12:01I was looking back there, like, I can finally go do it.
12:03But, no, like, it's important for me, right?
12:05And it's important for so many young boys and girls to know that it's not just old people saying it.
12:10Because no offense, y'all.
12:11Like, they ain't really listening to y'all like that.
12:14You know what I'm saying?
12:15They're not really listening to y'all.
12:16But, you know, for somebody like me, they'll be like, dang, like, she think that's cool.
12:19Okay, I'm going to go read into that.
12:21I'm going to go do that.
12:22So, that's why it's so important for me, love y'all so much, to use my platform, you know what I'm saying,
12:26and amplify what y'all saying, because I definitely understand and I see the change that need to be had.
12:30So, I believe that, like, just being, like, a voice for the voiceless is just so important.
12:35I think that's what we missing in our community, just the important information, right?
12:39Yeah.
12:40Thank you so much.
12:41And thank you for being that leader in your community and also reminding us of our power.
12:46All of us might not be able to buy a building, but we can, you know, we can make change, right?
12:50And hopefully we can all buy a building at some point, right?
12:52At some point, but that's just like using social media.
12:54Right.
12:55You ain't got to buy a building, not everybody got the resources, but you can use your phone.
12:58You can use free resources that could tap into other things.
13:00So, you know what I'm saying?
13:01It's just using what you got.
13:02Oh, our voice, our power.
13:04Rayna, I'm going to turn to you.
13:08And, you know, you are one of our newest members of our voting squad.
13:12Thank you so much.
13:13And, you know, one of the things, I know we had a chance to chat a bit at Blavity House Party,
13:19was what inspires you to make your voice heard, to raise your voice on an issue like voting
13:32and to find your voice on this important issue?
13:36Thankfully, my parents have always instilled in me that my voice matters from the beginning.
13:41And so, thankfully, I didn't have to kind of combat like, oh, do I want to vote?
13:45Do I not?
13:46It's always been like, you need to say something.
13:48You believe in something, you got to say it.
13:50And also, it's like the sacrifices that everybody has made up until this point, our ancestors,
13:55all the work that they've done to get us here, it would be, what's the word I'm looking for,
14:00almost disrespectful to not take the advantage.
14:05And they did so much hard work.
14:08What is it?
14:09How could we not do something, I don't want to say as simple as voting, but like, like I'm not trying to.
14:17That's the best way I can articulate it.
14:19And thankfully, my parents have always told me like, you have to make sure that you speak about what you believe in.
14:27And even if it's something that people don't agree with, whatever's in your heart, you have to make sure that it's known.
14:33And to not say something, to not vote, to not do your part is, that ain't right.
14:40No, thank you so much.
14:43I have one more question for, you know, time preventing for this incredible panel.
14:48I will also say, maybe this is a sign that I need to go red, because this amazing red-headed panel, I just, I absolutely adore.
14:54So, you know, one of the things, we talked about some of the issues that motivate us all.
14:59You know, and you think about what is on the ballot this year, abortions on the ballot, reproductive rights more broadly.
15:07We know that climate change is on the ballot, that our ability to care for ourselves and our families and to be able to afford what we need to do so.
15:15And issues of the economy, violence, gun violence, all of that is on the ballot this year.
15:20Sometimes that weight can feel overwhelming, and it can feel disheartening.
15:25So my question to each of you is, what gets you motivated to keep going, to keep fighting, and to keep pushing?
15:34And what keeps you motivated to make sure that you're raising your voice, you're exercising your power in this moment?
15:41Nicole, I'll start with you, and we'll just go right down the line.
15:44Okay, listen, I never struggle for lack of motivation.
15:49My grandmother, Arlena Tillman, was born in 1924 on a sharecropping farm in Apartheid, Mississippi.
15:56She could not vote.
15:57She could not give birth in the public county hospital, because black women were not allowed to give birth in that hospital.
16:02So to me, I have a duty, I have a debt to repay to my direct ancestors and my collective ancestors.
16:10And as you said, everything our ancestors went through, it is easy.
16:15What we're being called to do, it doesn't mean it's not hard, it doesn't mean there's not a struggle, it doesn't mean you don't have your down days.
16:20But what we're being called to do is to protect the rights that our ancestors fought and died for us to have.
16:27And trust me, y'all, listen, these folks are not playing out here.
16:31They have a strategy for all of our lives.
16:34We can either be bystanders or we can be resistors, but we have a choice.
16:38So take your moment.
16:39Sometimes you have to have a day.
16:40You have to take a pause.
16:41You have to say, I'm hard.
16:42I'm struggling right now.
16:43But the next day, we all are obligated to get out there and fight, because they're coming for us.
16:47They're coming for our children.
16:48They're coming for the women in our community.
16:50They're coming for the men in our community.
16:52They are trying to take away the rights that our ancestors died for.
16:55So we should never lack for motivation.
16:57I never do.
16:59I couldn't agree more that my ancestors absolutely motivate me, especially recognizing that we come from a people who freed themselves.
17:10No matter what you read in the book, we freed ourselves.
17:13And if they can do that, then certainly we can punch a ballot.
17:16I also think it's critically important that I'm hype about this election in particular, because there might not be another one, if we're honest about it.
17:25And I want to make sure that I show up to make sure that there is another one and another one and another one.
17:30But the last thing I'll say is that I'm angry.
17:33I have plenty to be angry about.
17:35We know that to be black in America, as James Baldwin reminded us, is to be in a rage all the time.
17:40But I honor that my rage is righteous.
17:42I honor that it is holy and sacred and that people don't get to tell me that I don't get to have it just because it scares you.
17:49Black rage should scare you, because what we're doing to change the world will shift everything for everybody.
17:55So you can either get on board or you can move aside.
17:57But I'm going to honor my rage and I'm going to use it in a disciplined way to always take action.
18:04Yeah, I would say like what motivates me is I have four younger brothers, young black men.
18:12Right.
18:13And I was like, where do I want?
18:16How do I want their lives to be?
18:18Right.
18:19What do I want them to endure?
18:20And what do I want them to see me stand up for?
18:22Right.
18:23If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything.
18:25So for me, my motivation is just being the best example that I could be to them.
18:29Right.
18:30Because I want them to be people that stand up for what they believed in, that speak on what's wrong, that help people, that are kind to other people.
18:36And I want them to grow up in a world that reflects that.
18:38And I feel like if we don't change our circumstances, it won't.
18:41So that's my motivation.
18:43And I know it ain't easy every day.
18:44Like life is hard.
18:45Folks got bills.
18:46Folks got kids.
18:47Folks got real problems.
18:48But like, you know, make this a priority.
18:50It's just about what you make a priority.
18:52And I think just the knowledge.
18:54You know what I'm saying?
18:55That's what should motivate you.
19:01To be honest, when I think about my family and my nephews, exactly what you said, they're like three, they're four.
19:07And I'm like, what kind of world are they going to grow up in?
19:10Because we're going to dictate and shape that by using our voices and making sure we always leave the, we always, I don't want to say it that way, sorry.
19:22Basically, leaving the world in a better place than where it's at now.
19:26And only we have the power to change that.
19:29And then also I think about like what my mom's went through, what her mother's went through, what her mother's went through, especially with gun violence and all the murders in our family.
19:38It's like, how do we stop that cycle by using our voice?
19:42Can I say one more thing?
19:43Yeah.
19:44I ain't going to lie, y'all.
19:45I'm scared.
19:46Like, I ain't going to lie.
19:47Like, I know y'all reading the stuff that I'm reading.
19:49And I really can't believe, like, this is real life.
19:52Like, I can't believe that this is something that is actually happening.
19:57So if that don't motivate you, you know, a little bit of fear, right?
20:00Like, this is not a joke.
20:02Like, it's our livelihood.
20:03Like, you know what I'm saying?
20:04So do your part.
20:05Go out and vote.
20:06And take somebody with you.
20:07I'm bringing my whole friend group.
20:08Yeah.
20:09No, that's exactly right.
20:10And thank you for that.
20:11Because I think, you know, one of the things that inspires me and motivates me is that this year in 2024, 34 million black people are eligible to vote, right?
20:19And so if we make sure that we are registered, we are getting out there and voting, and that if each of us engages three people, so we're partnering with Essence, you can join the Essence voting squad, and it will ask you to reach out to three people in your community.
20:34That's the baseline.
20:35That's the baseline.
20:36You can reach out to many more than that, but bring three people along with you.
20:39Think about your family.
20:40Think about your group chats.
20:41Make sure they're registered.
20:42Make sure that they vote.
20:43Together, we have so much power, and as we heard from our incredible panelists here, our voice is our power, and we have to raise our voice.
20:52We don't have a choice this year, so thank you so, so much.
20:56Thank you, everyone, and thank you again.
20:59Let's hear it again for this amazing group of women.
21:01Thank you, everyone.
21:02Thank you so much.
21:05Yes, it's an amazing group of women.
21:09Thank you, everybody.
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