- 20 hours ago
Following the Supreme Courts' gutting of the Voting Rights Act, Black political power has been under attack. Although this has been most noticeable in the South, our history has shown what happens in the South affects all of us.
The South has been a blueprint for resilience, creativity, community, and power. As the country finishes its first 250 years, Black communities are radically reimagining the nation we are building for the next 250.
Structure
Promo Clip
VOG — Latosha, Cliff and April
Opening — overview & prompt audience questions
VOG — Ashley, Gary, Justin & Rashanda
Panel Discussion
VOG — Latosha, Cliff and April — address audience Q & A and Interaction
Closing
Clip for Organizing
The South has been a blueprint for resilience, creativity, community, and power. As the country finishes its first 250 years, Black communities are radically reimagining the nation we are building for the next 250.
Structure
Promo Clip
VOG — Latosha, Cliff and April
Opening — overview & prompt audience questions
VOG — Ashley, Gary, Justin & Rashanda
Panel Discussion
VOG — Latosha, Cliff and April — address audience Q & A and Interaction
Closing
Clip for Organizing
Category
🎈
FunTranscript
00:02The bus is here! The bus is here!
00:09I'm back and I'm down!
00:12In spite of coronavirus, in spite of economic challenges,
00:15in spite of racism and police violence,
00:18in spite of everything that we are facing,
00:20here you are! Still standing!
00:23If you don't know nothing else, know this.
00:25You matter, you are love, and you got power.
00:32Well, members of the Black Voters Matter Fund
00:35are making stops in 14 states.
00:37It's a national outreach initiative
00:39all about encouraging people to get out and vote.
00:42You can't miss it. The blackest bus in America.
00:45Spread the word.
00:46When we say the blackest bus in America,
00:48we wanted it to be the bus that affirmed black people.
00:52We want it to be the bus that got black folks excited, right?
00:55How y'all doing, Montgomery?
00:57We gonna vote in rockin' numbers!
01:02Spread it off!
01:03I'm gonna go!
01:05Now, we the man's a chance!
01:07People break down in song and dance.
01:09People break down crying because of just the imagery
01:12that's on the bus.
01:14Their goal? To bring a message of power and hope
01:17to minority communities in smaller cities and towns,
01:20which can many times be ignored by political parties.
01:24They also work to fight what organizers call voter suppression.
01:28We have the kind of power that is merged with love.
01:31We're talking about righteous power.
01:33We need that kind of power.
01:35We deserve that kind of power.
01:37And I'm gonna tell you one other thing.
01:38We got that kind of power.
01:40Darkness cannot survive if light comes in the room.
01:43And so we got to be a light unto the world.
01:47We're traveling through the states that are essentially the former Confederacy,
01:51what arguably still is hostile territory.
01:54We've been through a lot.
01:56People are tired.
01:57People are sick.
01:57People are literally dying.
01:59We got attacks on the postal service,
02:00the moving of polling places,
02:02the restrictions and the photo ID.
02:14There is no reason, in the middle of this rain,
02:17for that house to catch fire.
02:23No, no, they need to come get us.
02:24We're not staying there.
02:26So that's what we're gonna have to do.
02:28We're gonna have to save them high-level hotels.
02:30They're used to seeing high-level folks that they got security.
02:33So that's what we're gonna have to go to.
02:35Because a bus can be secured.
02:37Any number of people throwing the blackest bus in America
02:40pull up and drop a couple of people off at this house.
02:43What we do is not a joke.
02:45It's just not a joke.
02:50You know, they put the fire out.
02:52They sent the arson team.
02:53They're still investigating.
02:55You know, the primary purpose was intimidation and fear.
02:58They were trying to send a message.
03:01Racism is damn traumatic.
03:03I mean, just damn traumatic.
03:05Like, why the hell we gotta go through this, right?
03:07I'm mad.
03:10I'm scared.
03:12You know, I feel determined, too.
03:15I mean, we ain't about to go nowhere.
03:16Can't stop, won't stop.
03:17So we ain't about to stop.
03:26Following the Supreme Court's gunning of the Voting Rights Act,
03:30black political power has faced sustained challenges across the country,
03:34especially in the South.
03:36But history makes clear what happens in the South shapes what happens in America.
03:42And while the South has been the site of struggle,
03:45it's also been a blueprint of resilience, creativity, community, and power.
03:51And as the nation moves through its first 250 years,
03:55black communities are actively reimagining what the next 250 will look like.
04:00Joining the Global Black Economic Forum stage,
04:04LaTosha Brown,
04:06Cliff Albright,
04:07April England Albright,
04:09co-founder and national legal director of the Black Voters Matter Fund.
04:16Hey, y'all!
04:17What's up?
04:18What's up?
04:19What's up, Essence?
04:20When I say black voters, you say matter.
04:22Black voters!
04:23Matter!
04:23Black voters!
04:24Matter!
04:25Black Voters Matter is a power-building organization.
04:28Not just a voting organization, but a power-building organization.
04:32But what we know is that voting is a critical tool for us to build power in our communities.
04:38Our work is rooted very much in the South.
04:41Not just the South, but it is rooted in the South.
04:43Southern movement, Southern history, Southern culture.
04:47And what we know is the South got something to say.
04:50That's right.
04:50Somebody say the South!
04:52The South!
04:52The South got something to say.
04:54The South got something to say.
04:55And the South, because what happens in the South affects the entire country.
04:59That's right.
04:59Stuff that happens in the South, voter suppression, housing issues, whatever it is,
05:05it doesn't just stay in the South, it impacts the entire country.
05:08But the flip side is that the organizing, the power-building, the movement-building
05:13that happens in the South also affects the entire country.
05:16That's right.
05:17And so we came here for so many reasons.
05:19We came here first to say that.
05:22That the South has something to say.
05:24That it's important.
05:25But we also came here to talk about what's happening in this country.
05:29We were in Galveston, Texas, celebrating Juneteenth just over a week ago.
05:33And we were in the Reedy, Historical Reedy Chapel Church, AME Church.
05:38And we asked people in the community, have you heard of Louisiana versus Calais?
05:43And out of the 70 people that were present, only three people raised their hand.
05:47And so we immediately knew that we've got to spread the word.
05:52Because right now, this white supremacist Supreme Court, along with these white supremacist state legislatures,
05:58are trying to draw us out of power.
06:01That's right.
06:02And so we've got to talk about it, right?
06:04And we wanted to make sure that you got information from the folks who have been going back and forth
06:09to state houses and to state courts to learn about what we need to do this summer in preparation for
06:16November.
06:17But that's not the only thing we came to talk about, right, Latasha?
06:19That's right.
06:21Well, the first thing I did right was the day I started to fight.
06:26Keep your eyes on the prize and hold on, hold on.
06:31Anybody ever heard that song?
06:33Yes.
06:34That's a freedom song.
06:35That is a song that our people sang to make us to remember.
06:40It also is helping us to stay grounded in this moment that we've got to keep our eyes on the
06:46prize.
06:46But what that means is we cannot continue just to be in a space of thinking of ourselves just as
06:52citizens of a nation
06:54that somebody else envisioned that didn't even envision us, y'all.
06:57That what we've got to do is see ourselves as the light bearers and the architects of the America that
07:05we desire and that we deserve.
07:07That's right.
07:07So we're not just citizens.
07:09We got to see ourselves as founders of the new America.
07:13Say founders.
07:14Founders.
07:15We are what?
07:17Founders.
07:17We are what?
07:18Founders.
07:19And we're going to create an America.
07:21We're going to create a nation that there's space for all of us.
07:24That we won't be saying that it's the wealthiest in the world.
07:27We will say it's the healthiest in the world.
07:29That we will say that every single child will have everything that they need, that our communities will thrive.
07:35But we've got to actually create that and envision it.
07:38Y'all with me?
07:39Yes.
07:40So what we know is black voters, what Cliff said?
07:43So I'm turning back over to you, Cliff.
07:45We've got a panel that's coming up of some bad Southerners that's going to talk to us that are part
07:52of the architects of the next iteration of where we're going.
07:55That's right.
07:56And after that panel, we want the conversation to continue.
07:59But we want y'all, we don't just want y'all asking questions.
08:02We want y'all to give us some strategy, to give us some examples.
08:06Because part of this whole discussion is about how do we talk to each other about these issues.
08:11About the voting rights attacks.
08:13About being the new founders, right?
08:15What are some things that you all have done?
08:16And so the question that we're going to ask, and I'm going to ask them to put up the QR
08:20code so that you can put in your answer.
08:23There it is.
08:23So if you can scan that, you're going to have an opportunity to answer this question.
08:28And the question is, give us some examples of some conversations or some tactics that you all have done in
08:35order to get more people involved in talking about these issues.
08:39To get more people involved in talking about our voting rights.
08:42To get more people involved in talking about power in our communities.
08:45Because I know somebody out here, because everybody out here is an organizer.
08:48And so y'all got some good examples.
08:50So scan that code, put in your examples.
08:53And after our panel discussion, we're going to come back and we're going to call on you, right?
08:58Who have some of the most creative, some of the most exciting examples.
09:01We're going to call on you.
09:03We'll give you the mic so that you can tell us and tell everybody what those examples are.
09:07Does that sound cool?
09:07That's right.
09:08All right.
09:09So stick around.
09:10And we'll get on out the way, because we've got an amazing panel coming up, y'all.
09:14All right.
09:14Black Voters Matter!
09:17Please welcome our moderator, Ashley Allison, CNN commentator, owner of The Root, and CEO of Watering Hole Media.
09:26Along with Gary Chambers, entrepreneur and advocate, signature consulting group, and civics for the people.
09:34And state representative Justin J. Pearson of Tennessee's 86th district.
09:42And Raishonda Leas, digital mobilizer, RL Entertainment, as we begin our final conversation of the day on the GBEV stage.
09:57What's up, everybody?
09:59Hey, y'all!
10:07Hello!
10:08Hello!
10:08Hello!
10:08Hello!
10:10He's such a gentleman waiting for the lady to come.
10:13Aw!
10:14That's how we love you.
10:16Hi, everyone!
10:18Yeah, come on!
10:19How you doing?
10:20Welcome to Essence Fest.
10:21We're going to jump right in because, as you heard, the co-founders of Black Voters Matter, who are literally
10:27the freedom fighters of our generation, the South has something to say.
10:32That's right.
10:33And after the Calais decision this spring, it was very clear that the power of Black voters, the Supreme Court
10:40gutted it, and people went straight to work to try and destruct Black power.
10:44So, Representative Pearson, I'm going to just start with you because let me tell you something.
10:49I saw that video, boy!
10:51Sorry!
10:53I said, woo!
10:56What happened in Tennessee, and why did it happen?
11:00I mean, Tennessee has, for a long time, been the laboratory for autocracy.
11:05And we saw that when I got expelled three years ago, standing up against gun violence.
11:09We see that now.
11:10Three days after the Calais decision, we're called into a special session to take away the only Black majority district
11:17in the state of Tennessee.
11:18Like, these folks aren't wasting any time because the neo-Confederacy is rising.
11:23And they're not trying to separate from our country.
11:25They're trying to use the institutions to dilute and take away Black political power.
11:30And so Donald Trump called the governor.
11:32The governor called a special session.
11:33And just like they do, the white supremacists in the State House and in the Tennessee State Senate decided that
11:39our Black community in Memphis and Shelby County didn't deserve to have a congressional seat.
11:44And so they thought also that was going to stop me from running for Congress.
11:48And they thought wrong.
11:49Right.
11:49Because we can still win, because we can out-organize, and we can out-work anybody.
11:54And that's what's required in this moment in time, which is why I'm so grateful to be here and so
11:58grateful to Black voters matter for the work.
12:00Because we organize people beat organized money, beats white supremacy, any and every single time.
12:06And that's what's required right now.
12:07All right.
12:08I'm going to come back to you to the organizing y'all did in Tennessee because it was powerful.
12:11Gary, I'm going to come to you next.
12:13I love watching you ride your bike.
12:15I love it.
12:18But I really appreciated you before you started doing the bike riding and whatnot when you were running for office
12:23and really mobilizing Black voters in Louisiana.
12:27Because, look, I'm from the political space, and we always hear, we heard in 2020, oh, you can't win Georgia.
12:34And we won Georgia.
12:35Oh, you can't win in Alabama when Doug Jones ran for Senate and won.
12:41You are organizing in Louisiana.
12:44The Calais decision was Calais versus Louisiana.
12:47Talk to me about the organizing you're doing on the ground to activate Black voters in the face of what
12:55feels like this most aggressive attack on voting rights in our generation.
13:00I think for me, I don't know anything else but being in community with Black folks.
13:05So it's ground zero for me always.
13:08And I think that the answer to all of our problems that we see right now is mobilizing Black power
13:15in the Deep South.
13:16I have been long on the argument that we need a new Black South.
13:20Louisiana is 33% Black.
13:22Mississippi is 38% Black.
13:23Georgia is 33% Black.
13:25Alabama is 28% Black.
13:27When you look at the numbers of those states, and then you add in the fact that 20 to 30
13:32% of white people in those states will do the right thing,
13:35that in every one of those states you have the opportunity to make wholesale change.
13:40That is also why they fight the hardest in those states to disenfranchise voters, to make sure that we don't
13:47have the resources that are necessary.
13:48The thing that I think we have to do as Black folks right now is challenge the Democratic Party to
13:54see the same value in investing in Black people in the South the way that you do in Wisconsin.
13:58If you can spend $300 million in Wisconsin, but we got Scott Colon running for Senate in Mississippi, I want
14:05to know how much money Scott going to get this year.
14:07And if you don't give him the resources to be successful, you can't tell us what's not possible.
14:12John Bell Edwards was the governor of Louisiana for two terms in this century, okay, as a Democrat, elected by
14:19a majority Black vote.
14:20He got 700,000 votes when he won.
14:22450,000 of them was Black.
14:24There are 925,000 registered Black voters in Louisiana.
14:28The only reason Jeff Landry is the governor is because 500,000 bigots decided that he should be.
14:33Now, if you have 925,000 registered Black voters, and you have a governor elected by 500,000 votes, and
14:39it's cheaper to move the vote in Louisiana than it is to do it in Pennsylvania.
14:42It's cheaper to move the vote in Tennessee than it is in Texas.
14:46It's cheaper to move the vote in Alabama than it is in California.
14:49I just want to know where my money is.
14:52Run me my money.
14:55Now, goodness, whenever that whiteboard gets pulled out, my notebook comes too, because you can teach a lesson.
15:04You have a skill at, a lot of people, if you're sitting in this audience, you are our evangelist.
15:11You are learning, but you probably know a lot of this information, and you go back in your community.
15:15You get filled up at an essence, and then you go activate your community.
15:19When these good people go back to wherever they came from, or maybe it is here in Louisiana,
15:25talk to me about what you think about when you're communicating to your audience to convey really, really important information
15:34in such a comical, engaging, shady-at-times way.
15:43Well, for me, my cousin is here from Mississippi, so shout out to April and my wife is here.
15:50But me and April grew up in a huge family.
15:53My mom is number 13.
15:54Her mom is number 14, right?
15:57Our grandfather had us out there knocking on doors, putting up signs.
16:03We are from Fayette, Mississippi, where Charles Evers was elected, which was Mega Evers' brother, first black mayor.
16:11And at the time, it was a black and white town.
16:15When I was born, it was an all-black town.
16:18So I grew up seeing all-black store owners, all-black teachers, all-black bus drivers.
16:24We're 15 minutes from Alcorn State.
16:25So my bubble, our bubble was all black, just different shades of black.
16:30So I know, even though we are a poor town, I know that we are great people and we come
16:37from greatness, right?
16:38So I walk in there every day.
16:40When I am teaching people and talking to people, I'm talking to them about our history and what I saw
16:45and what I know can be possible, right?
16:48What I want people to understand when I'm teaching them, a lot of people are exhausted, right?
16:54If they have not seen change in their block, in their apartment complex, or anywhere, and you knock on their
17:00door for a vote, they're not trying to hear you.
17:03They're trying to make it.
17:05So my job in my little corner of the world is to break it down, right?
17:10Because they don't have time, right?
17:12If you don't know that you don't have to call, the president's not responsible for your pothole, but you got
17:17city council, and this is how the funding goes, and this is where this goes.
17:21If they know the information, then they know they can show up at those school boards.
17:25They can show up at those city council meetings.
17:27They can state their problems.
17:28But the problem is, by the time you get to my door, especially me, I was a single, divorced mother
17:34of four, I'm exhausted, right?
17:36So if my grandmama grew up here, my mama grew up here, and I'm here, and I haven't seen change,
17:42and you're asking me to vote, you got to explain to me what's going to change.
17:47Because I haven't seen change, right?
17:49I'm a poor black man or woman from a certain place, and I ain't seen nothing change.
17:55But also, in the other side, I want my white brothers and sisters to know that I'm also poor, because
18:02I'm in Louisville, Kentucky now, and we can see it's a segregated city, and we see both.
18:07See, the problem is that if you don't know that they used to give overseers a horse and a badge,
18:14and that's all to make you an overseer and nothing changed, you still went back to a one-room shack?
18:21The only thing is they gave you a little power and nothing changed, then you understand we're not against each
18:26other.
18:27We're on the same side.
18:28But while we're bickering, we're being robbed blind, and that's the problem.
18:32So when I get up there, I'm thinking about all of that, and I'm also understanding that if you have
18:39the knowledge, you can make the change.
18:41So I don't look down upon people that are not aware of the process.
18:45I need them to get the process so we can get to change.
18:49All right.
18:50I know that's right.
18:51Yeah.
18:51That's awesome.
18:54Representative Person, I want to come back to you.
18:56So the Kalei decision happens, and like a week, less than a week, they took a generation of work away
19:10from our people.
19:12And in that time period, we saw Tennessee activated again.
19:17And then after that, we saw it happening in other states, and the founders and other coalition of 200 people
19:23galvanized people to come to Montgomery to say, not on our watch.
19:30Tell me about the organizing it took place.
19:32Because a lot of people watching on TV or on their screen, and they think it happens like that.
19:37And sometimes it does, but sometimes it takes a lot of work.
19:40So tell me about the organizing you all had to do from the moment the Kalei decision comes down to
19:47them saying they're going to redraw these maps to get the nation to wake up to your fight.
19:53That's a great question.
19:54First, God bless black women organizers.
19:57Come on, give a round of applause.
19:59If it were not for black women organizers, there would be no resistance to the oppression that we are experiencing,
20:04that we are seeing.
20:05And I know one, Amber Sherman, who's here, but so many folks with the Equity Alliance.
20:09Amber, shout out to Amber.
20:12Truly, black women organizers helped us because we've already been building trust over years.
20:18This isn't our first fight.
20:19We had our expulsion.
20:20That was a fight.
20:21We had to fight multi-billion dollar corporations who were trying to pollute our water, crude oil pipeline.
20:26We've been fighting Elon Musk.
20:27And so the fact that we've been in fights helped us to build trust across our organizations.
20:31But what also is really important that we kind of shared with our brothers, sisters, and siblings in other states
20:37was elected officials were a part of the fight.
20:40You can't have elected officials who view themselves as separate from the movement work.
20:45And you can't have movement folk who say it's not an elected official's role.
20:48We have to have a symbiotic relationship recognizing an external and an internal strategy.
20:56That it is important for us to have black elected officials who are inside the institution who are able to
21:00push for the things that we want to see happen.
21:02And simultaneously, it's really important to have outside organizations who are in communication who are continuing to hold the line
21:09about what is necessary and possible in our communities.
21:11And so it's not that one is better than the other.
21:14It's the reality that we need both.
21:16And in Tennessee, literally in less than seven days when all this happened, folks were getting, you know, four or
21:22five hours of sleep at max because it was making sure we had buses and vans to bring people from
21:28Memphis to Nashville and people from Chattanooga and Knoxville to Nashville to show up in committee meetings and committee hearings
21:34and to testify.
21:35It was it is a lot of work.
21:37And I think we really have to honestly celebrate ourselves because a headline won't ever do it because what happened
21:45in Tennessee helped to spark the fight that happened in Georgia that happened in South Carolina.
21:50And though they took our district, Georgia's all right for a little bit longer.
21:53South Carolina's all right for a little bit longer.
21:55Right.
21:56That is what our organizing should do.
21:58It should create solidarity across borders.
22:01And I think we've gotten to preach, but I think that's what we got to break.
22:06Right.
22:06Just because you're in a different state don't mean you're not connected, which is why I'm watching stuff that's happening
22:10in Louisiana.
22:11Why you should be cared about what's happening in Tennessee, because it's actually the same systems oppressing you that's oppressing
22:17us.
22:18But if we start rising up together in our different cities, in our different towns, in our different communities, collectively
22:24building power, donating a dollar or two to other campaigns, volunteering across borders, that helps us to increase our impact
22:32substantially.
22:33And it's not just national.
22:34It also needs to be international, particularly when we think about data centers and data mining that's happening on the
22:39continent of Africa.
22:40Like, this moment requires more connectivity from us than we probably have seen in a generation or two.
22:48Yeah.
22:49Also, I just want to say thank you.
22:52I do.
22:56Because it took courage to do what you did.
23:01And you have a family.
23:02And we know the world we live in.
23:04And thank you for living by example.
23:09I mean it.
23:10I mean it.
23:11Gary?
23:13Yeah, let's wrap it up.
23:15Because, you know, I was scared for him.
23:17I was like, oh, who we got to call to protect you?
23:23Gary, when you answered your last question, you talked about how it's just all you've ever done is be in
23:29community.
23:30And I think black people we have, we are uniquely positioned to be in community as a collective.
23:36But there are people in our community, to your point, they just don't, they're exhausted or they're like, I don't
23:43have any power, it doesn't matter.
23:45And I don't fault them for saying that.
23:47I get frustrated.
23:48But I don't fault them for saying that.
23:50What do you want those individuals to know?
23:53How do you find it inside of yourself to motivate a young brother, a young sister in Louisiana who are
23:59like, see, it don't matter.
24:01And they trying to take it away, so I'm just, I'm done.
24:03I'm just going to go kick it or whatever.
24:05Or just go to work and just provide for my family as best.
24:08What do you say to them?
24:09Because you're a great communicator.
24:11I argue with Negroes.
24:12I know you do.
24:13In the comments and everything.
24:15I'm like, dang, Gary.
24:16I'm at your door arguing with you.
24:18I'm having a long form conversation.
24:20I'm actually, my homeboy Ryan Thompson is running for district attorney at East Baton Rouge Parish.
24:25And we're knocking doors for him right now.
24:26Come on, shout out.
24:28And we're knocking doors for him right now.
24:30And while we were knocking doors last week, a sister opened the door.
24:33And I want to make a comment when I say this.
24:35When we are in wealthier communities, I am never greeted by somebody who tells me they're not voting.
24:41Okay?
24:41The closer I get to more poverty is when I end up with people telling me they ain't voting.
24:47And what I have to process first before through my anger is you don't realize that's your money too.
24:55That's right.
24:55And so we start having a conversation.
24:57If somebody's taking 30% of your money from you and you letting somebody else decide who's elected, that's like
25:03letting your ex-girlfriend determine when your light bill get paid.
25:06Your light's going to be off, baby.
25:07Yeah.
25:07Nobody's coming to save you if you don't show up for yourself.
25:10And so I have an economic conversation with people because everybody's not concerned about racism.
25:16Everybody's not concerned about bigotry.
25:19Everybody's not impacted by that the same way.
25:21Even black people.
25:21I'm talking about black folks specifically, okay?
25:23Because I, in Louisiana, for instance, we are where all of the unraveling of this has started.
25:32And you still have black folk here that will tell you because we second line together or because we was
25:37at, you was jigging that you know culturally that we cool.
25:42That we on the same page.
25:43Because you show up at an LSU tailgate and dance with black folk does not mean you give a damn
25:48about black people.
25:49And what we have to do is care enough about our own resources.
25:53And so the conversations that I'm having at the door is, do you pay taxes?
25:56Do you pay sales taxes?
25:58Are they taking 9%, 10% of every dollar that you spend at the store?
26:01So if they're taking 9%, 10% off your dollar every time you go to the store, let me ask
26:06you another question.
26:06Do you care about your roads?
26:07Are you satisfied with the road on your street?
26:09Are you satisfied with the school around the corner from your house?
26:12If you ain't satisfied with the school around the corner from your house, then ask yourself about the gas tax
26:16you pay, the light tax you pay, the technology tax you pay, the phone tax you pay, the property tax
26:23you pay, the sales tax you pay.
26:25At some point, you ought to care when somebody's taking that much of your resources, what happens with those resources.
26:32I find that that conversation is more fruitful with a lot of people than debating about things that they may
26:39not be able to connect their everyday life to.
26:42I think that we spend a lot of time at the door trying to convince people about candidates, about issues,
26:48when we haven't even got the basic understanding of, are you okay?
26:51That's right.
26:52Right?
26:52Are you okay with the way the money's being spent?
26:55And if you're not, you can do something about it.
26:57Yeah.
26:58That's good.
26:58Yeah, that is good.
27:00Rishonda, I just want to know, so we're in this creator world, right?
27:04Like, everybody's got their phone and, like, everybody's famous.
27:07You're real famous, but, like, everybody famous.
27:11And talk to folks about how they can work with creators to get their message out.
27:15Because it is, sometimes it feels intimidating sometimes, and we do work together with our, and, you know, everyone has
27:23their own audience and the internet works.
27:24It's, like, not a real place, but, yeah, it's, like, where so many people get information.
27:28So how can people work with someone like you or your colleagues and friends to get their message out?
27:34Oh, actually, it's just reaching out.
27:37So most of us, especially me and my friends, I have always been a nerd, right?
27:42I come from the Encyclopedia Britannica era that came with the thesaurus and the dictionary and the atlas, okay, and
27:49the almanac.
27:50I need all the information.
27:51And that's what I-
27:52Not an almanac.
27:53I know all of it.
27:54All of it.
27:54Because you can't, that's why I tell people all the time, you can't just tell me something and I believe
27:59it.
27:59I'm going to go look it up and bring back the Dewey Decimal system.
28:03Does anybody know how to find a book?
28:05Right?
28:06Find a book, right?
28:08Because that's, that's what LeVar said.
28:11It's in a book.
28:12Take a look, okay?
28:14So for me, yes, don't make me start singing Read the Rainbow.
28:18So if you have the information, because I'm a facts person, and I want, I really do want to know
28:24what you're going to do, what you're going to change.
28:25And also, like you said, look around.
28:28I'm a numbers person.
28:29My mom was an accountant.
28:30Add it up.
28:31Make it make sense.
28:32And if something is missing, answer it.
28:34So for me, when, when those that are running and those that are already in office reach out to me,
28:40I just need to know the facts.
28:41I want to know, because here's the thing.
28:43A lot of people are confused, especially around this time if they see creators talking about politics.
28:48Or I tell people all the time, because you think that it's something new.
28:52If you're not into politics, it's into you.
28:55It's, it's your rent.
28:57It's your mortgage.
28:58It's your schools.
28:59It's everything.
29:00Everything is political.
29:02So it's not me just talking about politics, because again, I'll break it down for you and give you facts.
29:09But also, it matters.
29:11When you realize where we are, like if you span out and you're like, Rishonda, we're just, you know, on
29:18a floating rock, floating through space, got to pay bills.
29:23Yes.
29:24Right.
29:24Exactly.
29:25And none of that is going to change whether you sit it out or not.
29:29Right.
29:29What you are doing is giving that power to somebody else to make that decision.
29:34Right.
29:35Which is why we are where we are now.
29:37So when you reach out to a creator, if there's something that aligns, because I'm going to say it anyway.
29:44Whether you reach out to me or not, the things that really matter to me, I'm going to post about
29:50it.
29:50I'm going to say it anyway.
29:51If you have a positive message, if you want people to know what you're about and what's happening in your
29:57area.
29:57And I pay attention, like you said, to all states, because all of them matter.
30:01But being born in Chicago, raised in Mississippi, living in Kentucky, because people act like Kentucky is not the South.
30:07Let me tell you something.
30:09South.
30:10We just did an ancestry.
30:12And our great, great, great grandmother was sold in Lexington, Kentucky.
30:17So even though I had never knew that, I found that out.
30:22So all of it matters.
30:24And everywhere we are and everything we do matters.
30:27So when you reach out to a creator, first of all, make sure they are aligned with you, because I'm
30:31not on no shenanigans and tomfoolery.
30:33Don't reach out to me and you out here.
30:37Millie mouth.
30:38If I find out that you doing something, I'll snatch it down quick.
30:42I won't be associated with foolishness.
30:44So when you reach out to a creator, just make sure that you're aligned and you're here to do the
30:49work.
30:49Right?
30:50Because a lot of people, like you said, a lot of people are pushed back against politicians or don't want
30:55to be in the system.
30:58If you want to tear it down, fine.
31:00If you want to be third party, fine.
31:02The problem is you don't have a plan to rebuild.
31:07You don't have a plan five months before an election.
31:11Now you want to push something.
31:14Listen, we don't have time.
31:15We need to get to the other side and then we can fix because there is things that are broken.
31:20There are things we need to get done.
31:22But right now in this moment, the contrarism, the sitting it out, the not wanting to be involved, we don't
31:30have time right now.
31:32And people are dying.
31:34Like for real.
31:35And I always tell people also the infighting has to stop.
31:38But also there are people waiting on us to help them.
31:42Just imagine you're on your way to help a drowning person.
31:45But along the way, you keep stopping to explain yourself to people that's not even trying to go help.
31:50And ain't even drowning.
31:52Ain't even drowning.
31:54And now look, look, somebody else has perished.
31:56So we got to get on one accord and we got to go forward.
31:59Right?
32:00But also, please do it ethically.
32:02Because if I find out you're on some shading, I'm just going to have to talk about you real bad.
32:06I know.
32:07And we don't, well, don't talk about me, please.
32:09I'm on the up and up.
32:12Because you can take a person out with that whiteboard.
32:15Okay.
32:16We're running out of time.
32:17So I actually want each of you to answer this question.
32:19We wanted people to leave understanding what is at stake, what is happening, but also what can they do.
32:25So I'm going to just say voting.
32:27Yes.
32:28Register your family to vote.
32:30Yes.
32:31That's baseline.
32:32In addition to that, if you could like, if you had all the power in the world to get someone
32:38to do one thing to engage in this moment, what would it be?
32:45I'm going to break the rule and say two.
32:46Run for office or help somebody who's running for office.
32:51All right.
32:51Because we need better people in politics who care about our issues, who are going to fight to increase the
32:57minimum wage, who's going to fight to get Medicare for all, who's going to stop these endless wars from happening
33:02across the world, who's going to stand up to billionaires who are destroying our communities with their data centers.
33:06We need better people in elected office.
33:09So run for office or help somebody who is running for office.
33:13Volunteer with your time, your money, your resources so that we can save this Constitutional Democratic Republic experiment.
33:19Happy 250th.
33:21I love it.
33:23That's exactly what I was going to say.
33:25Well, you can't say it.
33:27Say something else.
33:28So if I had all the money or power, not even the money because power to do.
33:33To give people to do something in this moment we find ourselves.
33:38Because I think people need help.
33:40Sometimes they don't know what to do.
33:42Right.
33:43So I actually, I call myself a digital mobilizer.
33:48I would actually need everybody active in every state everywhere.
33:53I want everybody to do something.
33:56Right.
33:57And when we think about the civil rights movement, we always think about those that are out there.
34:00But there was also those that were cooking meals and also that were meeting offline.
34:05That's another thing.
34:06We got to meet offline.
34:07Okay.
34:08We're being surveilled and watched.
34:10They all in our business.
34:11We need to be off somewhere to get this thing done.
34:14Because again, if we don't have the good people in place and there are good people.
34:18I know when you meet people, they're hopeless.
34:22And that's what I'm trying to do.
34:23My job, Roshund Elias' job, is to get to people before hope leaves their eyes.
34:29If you've ever seen somebody with no hope, that's how you end up in the situations we are in with
34:35segregated communities and crime running rapid.
34:39And because they're trying to live.
34:40They're trying to feed their family.
34:42And if you don't give me any options, then my options aren't going to be good.
34:47Right.
34:47So that's what my job is.
34:49I really want to get to people before hope leaves their eyes.
34:52I love that.
34:52Hope is a discipline.
34:54Hope is a discipline.
34:55Close us out, Brother Gary.
34:57For me, it would be to get every person to knock their neighborhood.
35:01If you can knock your own neighborhood, your own community.
35:05Most of us don't live in massive subdivisions.
35:07If you knock your own community, that's a group of people that are going to get engaged.
35:11And they're going to get engaged because they trust you.
35:13They may follow Rishanda.
35:15They may follow Justin.
35:16They may follow me.
35:16But when they see their neighbor at their door, they trust you far more than they trust us.
35:22Because you have the same material conditions within your community.
35:25And so if I could get every person just to engage in their own local community in their own neighborhood,
35:30that would transform and really build community for us.
35:33Gary, Rishanda, Representative Pearson, Justin, my friend.
35:38Thank you so much.
35:39Give it up for our panel.
35:41Thank you for being here today.
35:43Happy Essence and enjoy the rest of your day.
35:45We'll see you back here tomorrow.
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