For women, and why . Find it where you get your podcasts. Host we are back with Latasha Brown to talk about the black voter and the 2020 election. It morning. Guest good morning. Host tell us what the black Voters Matter Fund is. Organization an that was started in 2016 to shift the dynamics around. We wanted to build power and our communities so we could have influence on impact on policies. Because whate fund we felt is that in order to really have a robust democracy, you have to have an engaged electorate. We would engage voters on the local level to shift the policies for the communities. Host what did your organizing approach look like this year . What did you do on the ground to get more black voters to register and to show up and vote . Guest we did not start this year. We started in 2016. We think that what happens is oftentimes in the black community you see people come around election time. Its like if you have a friend that only calls when they want something, youre not excited to see them. For us, the way to build power is to build a base and continue to engage communities to the first thing we learned is that all politics are local. We started working with communities including georgia and the other 11 states, to support them around the local elections. So we have been building relationships over time for the last four years. We actually show up and support they are working around the School Board Races or really being able to educate people around the process of voting, we support them and provide grant dollars to groups this election, over 600 grassroots organizations. We were able to give resources to them for their programs. And we were able to give them campaigns, messaging and we were able to create a campaign to Work Together all across the region. I think the things that we have done, i think that has made the difference. We recognize all politics are local and being able to build the groups where they exist. And the way we talk about boating, we talk about voting beyond the idea that it is about participation. Able about power and being to educate and connect the community. It is certainly a leverage of power and we want people to use their agency to have more influence to select the representation for our. Ommunities we really want to be able to shape policy. And we thought it was really important for us to influence. What i mean by that is i know i was extremely frustrated that even in the National Media platforms, you would hear the south talked about if we were a football team, a red team and a blue team. I am part of the Humanity Team raided it is not who i am as a label, but who i am as a human being. Schools, more access to resources. We want what all other americans want. It was important that we are shifting the narrative of who we are in the south and that there is a new coalition of people in the south to be able to shape andcountry and are bait puour fate. Consider your organization to be a partisan organization . Everybody totering vote . Organization, our matter that lack voters , to is our entire goal provide education and engagement. We do not ask what party you belong to. Ist we are interested in talking to black people around their process, their agency and understanding the political process good we have other , for we are able candidates,on the because the community that we are working with is the best candidate for our agenda. Our focus is on building independent black political power to leverage and make changes in the community. Host were you able to see any specific results from your strategy that you said you have been working on since 2016 . Can you point to any specific results from this election . Guest i think we got many results. Were manyhile there people who did a lot of work there, we are so proud that we were one of the organizations that made a difference. Georgia has always been seen as saw,tate that what you when you look at who participated in the election, there were more lack voters that participated in this election that voted for president elect biden men who voted for president trump. Oftentimes there is a lot of areas, bute urban ,hen you look at the numbers there has been a lion share of the votes, but you also saw an increase in savanna and other places in the black belt of georgia that are more rural prewe look at how a lot of the messaging, when you look at young people, their percentage of voting, this election was 70 . In georgia, it was 21 . The bottom line is part of our work is to get people to get engaged and part of what we believe is that america currently, almost half of the country do not bother to participate in the cycle. We do not believe it is because people do not care but they feel disconnected from the process. They do not really understand how boating will help advance or change your lives. A lot of the work we are doing is to be able to engage in those are often notat talk to or even sought to for support. We think that what the outcome in georgia, to have such a high turnout, of more young people voting, or people of color voting, that that that resulted from our work and others that have been created in the space to be able to increase our Voter Education and engagement strategy centered around people and their power, not necessarily candidates and parties. Will open up our regular lines again. Democrats at 202 7488000. Republicans at 202 7488001. Independents can call 202 7488002. You can always text us at 202 7488003. We are always reading on social media on twitter and on facebook. I know part of your story starts 1998your run for office in for the Alabama State board of education. What happened in that race and tell us about how it affects what you do now. Amazing that that was 20 years ago. I knew about Voter Suppression but i actually experienced it then. I was a young woman, running for the state board of education. I had done a lot of Youth Leadership work so i wanted to impact the state and really lift up policy issues. I ran for office. I was the underdog. I ran against a 12 year incumbent who was a favorite. Never ranung woman, for office in my life. I did not know what i was doing other than i knew the cause that i was supporting. I ran my campaign out of kinkos. That was my campaign office. Was able to do the organizing, i learned a lesson, that organizing works. I went all around the state and talked to people in all the areas i was working in, and probably about two weeks before the election i got a call to come and see someone who is powerful, only to discover that the poll had us running an. That wasremarkable given that i running against such a strong incumbent. The race was so tight that they could not call it on election night. It took them seven days. Processesnd how these work. On the seventh day, they called the election and the results 117 that my opponent had more votes than i had. I accepted that. I was prepared to move on for the next seat. Alabama, i think the state certifies the election , so the state certified the results at noon. I got a phone call at 12 05 from to brace myself, that the head of the Democratic Party was going to call me. Said ialled me, and he just wanted to let you know that i am so sorry to make this call, but there is a sheriff in one of , a counties that you ran county that i actually carried the sheriff said that he found 800 votes that he had placed in a safe that he forgot. I guess he remembered three minutes after the race was certified. So i said that is great. So count them. In my mind, that is another chance. 800 votes, legitimate votes, sure. He said it is not that simple. I said what you mean . He said the race has already been certified so we cannot count them. Then i felt completely powerless. I said there is nothing you can do . So here was a person who had that, and remembered he was interested by the people to be able to protect them. Rememberedeniently seven days after and three minutes after the race was after the race was certified. That is when i first came facetoface with Voter Suppression and nothing ever happened. It was,as given advice, you can seek legal remedy. We know often times that those cases are very hard to be overturned. At the time, i did. Not have a lot of money. The first thing i learned was how common Voter Suppression was. As i Start Talking to other candidates and other people, particularly in rural areas, recognizing Voter Suppression was an issue i was going to fight. If people voted, they should have their vote counted. I became a major proponent for the rest of my life around making sure people vote peoples vote counts. The second thing i learned was how, if we have to create more accountability measures, that those would have been bad actors in this process, we have to hold them accountable and lift those stories up and let people know. The third thing i learned was that organizing works. I, as a young woman who did not know what i was doing, had never run for public office, running against an incumbent, but what i did know how to do was organize. I knew that if you go to the people and talk to folks, be able to listen to them, connect to their issues, in fact, you can make a difference. All of those things of actually being part of the shaping of my work, im still doing work that is informed by that moma and experience and has fueled my commitment of why i fight so hard for Voting Rights and fight so hard to make sure every person has their voice and vote count. Host lets let some of our viewers join this conversation. We will start with atlanta, georgia on the independent line. Good morning. Caller good morning. Im an africanamerican. Im neither a republican or democrat, i can think on my own. Most blackarty people vote democrat. Biden is. Joe biden is the biggest racist there is. He had friends that were kkk, segregationists. He said of a group of black kids, you are not black unless you vote for him. He said we all think alike. How can you call donald trump are racist when joe biden is . Even if you look up his racial he is in early alzheimers. Host go ahead and respond. Guest a couple of things. I think when i talk about comparison, even what you are raising around by then, you are talking about 20 years ago. I can give you examples around donald trump a couple of weeks ago for aligning himself with the proud boys, who he said to stand down and stand back, which is known by even the fbi as a white supremacist group. Being a woman who has done work social groups, it is a problem. Donald trump has a consistent long history around discrimination, including in his own properties. Donald trump is gone, so im not going to talk spend a lot of time talking about him. Aside from that, what i would like to raise is that part of what black people have voted for is an assumption we are voting for something other than what we are voting for. We make a tactical strategy and book black folks voted for black people. The majority of us made a decision despite a lot of the misinformation, because some of the information the caller is raising, im not familiar with. Ive seen some of that online and some of that cannot be substantiated. What i do know is there is an africanamerican woman on the ticket that will be the Vice President elect. That makes me happy as a black woman who i have dented dedicated my life that we expand representation. When i look at some of the policy issues, things i want when i look into the biden platform, that resonated with me. Hen i looked at who surrounded himself with, i saw black women on his campaign, black people on his campaign, black women i respect and admire, folks i know are committed to our community. That makes a difference to me. Work, when we are doing our work is not necessarily around just the candidate or party. Our work is about us. That we are making a tactical decision of who can we represent, support that is going to help reduce the harm happening to our community, will be more accountable to our community, and have at least a track record of engagement in our Community Around the things that we care about. The fact of the matter is, i think that we are going to keep going back and forth between two candidates that are distinctly different. I understand that what we know in america is way more than one racist in this country. There are quite a few of them. I also know, as someone who dealt with the issue, there is a distinction between even racism and white supremacy. We have to be able to draw that line. It creates a very dangerous environment for me, my community and the people i love and care about. There is an unraveling of democracy. One of the pieces i think that was very dangerous and around donald trump is to unravel democracy. As a person who is a native of selma, alabama, where people were beaten on the bridge 55 years ago because we understood that our protection and safety of having a democratic government was far more safe for us. Fundamentally, he had done everything he has done everything to unravel democracy, which creates another danger for our community. I am certainly happy with the results we have and i am certainly happy that most black folks are sophisticated enough to know the difference between racism and white supremacy. We are also sophisticated enough to know there are many people who seek to exploit lack pain, will come up black pain, will come up with misinformation, not because they really care about racism. We see actions every day. He would also use it as an opportunity to exploit black pain. The third thing, i think there in been a movement of folks a Racial Coalition that has been building ourselves, growing together and organizing so that we literally can shape whoever is in office, that we can actually put pressure on whoever is elected in office to make sure that our gender and issues are also considered and a part of the gender going forward. Agenda going forward. Host we have a lot of calls waiting. Lets go to robert in utah. Thing, you are the sharpest dresser they have got. You are looking good. Hearing and im dont know, but i am hearing are not asmen enthusiastic about voting democrat as they may have once been. Would understand black men more than a black woman. Is there an effort to focus on that and get the guys back into camp because we are going to need everybody . You are looking at the numbers, the overall numbers of the cant afford to lose anybody. I was wondering if you are making an effort to do that, and thank you, and i will take that off the air. Guest thank you for the question. What i will say is i think there is an issue around not just men in general. Black men voted for biden at a higher percentage than any other Constituency Group in this country, white men, white women, latinos, native americans. Black men voted at a higher Percentage Rate for biden than any other Constituency Group in this country with the exception , togoal provide education and engagement. , toire goal provide education and engagement. 80 of support for any party is extraordinary. We dont see that with any other Constituency Group. I think that even while there is a focus around how did that come about, i think we need to acknowledge that. This victory, while it was led by black women and black black men were not far behind us. The second thing i would say is there is a frustration in the political process across the board in this country. There has been a frustration with black men and black people consistently around even when we have been talking to folks around will our issues be centered. Will the Democratic Party be responsive to us. Will any of the parties be responsible to us . Seen how the criminal Justice System has devastated our community and exploited our community, there is discontent and it is discontent that is rooted in Something Real and real experiences. Part of what i often say is that i do think there has been an effort, a concerted effort that has been documented by the Republican Party to exploit black pain. There has always been a white power structure that has been willing to go through whatever it needed to go through to exploit black pain because it does exist. These same people who have been creating commercials to really be able to tap into the frustrations and the anger and disappointment of black men, are the same people who are literally leading efforts. I can take trump, in particular. 80 have not received any constituent dollars. The second is around the discontent. The third piece is, often times, the reason we are doing the work we are doing is because people dont talk to. Oftentimes, folks are not going to listen to what are the concerns in the communities. I remember we were talking to young men in detroit who said they were not going to vote. We asked them, what is that you care about. I did not even have the opportunity to ask them to vote. They said, give me the paper and let me register. There is a constituency base. I do think we got caught up in the super voters. There is a group of folks not being spoken to. Their issues are not being engaged in. Alongt to bring everybody and really create a nation that is going to work for all of us, but we have to talk to those folks and address their core issues. We cant just write off them being with another party or whatever. We have to really understand what is that saying to us right now. What it is saying is that we have got to do more. Host lets go to dave calling from clarksville, tennessee on the republican line. Caller hello. Your guess was just talking about racism. Did you know the late supreme hired 160 lawrgb clerks and only one was black. Enough said. Im glad he said that because out of all of the judges. Donald trump selected, he did not select not a single black person. Not one. Host lets go to pollock calling from washington, d. C. Paula. Caller i would like to thank you for your work, your hard ink and being diligent getting us through this election. The one thing i would like to say is that it in hindsight we are still looking at it, but i feel like it is disheartening votedthat so many people for a man like donald trump the second time around. The first time, you kind of accepted that because even though most people knew who he want to give anyone a fresh start in any endeavor, especially if you are loyal to your country. Time, im not understanding how people, especially people of color, could vote for a candidate such as donald trump. I just wanted to hear your thoughts on that. On how youto speak the youngerto voters because they were disengaged in 2016 obviously. Just to speak on that. I will take the comment offline. Thank you. Guest thank you so much for that question. Part of the problem we are going to have to overcome is we are going to have to get out of boxes and labels even when people try to label me. When i say i want my Voting Rights, that is not a liberal issue. I want my Voting Rights. Youhere is a white male, wanting your Voting Rights is not considered liberal. If i want quality education, that is not a liberal agenda. I work in this country and pay my taxes, i should have access to the same thing everybody else has. I am raising that because i think what often happens is we have this political paradigm we are looking at politics and peoples lives as either the red team or blue team. The bottom line is, i am on the Humanity Team and all human beings should have quality education. If they go to work, they should be able to get paid a fair wage for the work. They should really be able to benefit from the fruits of their labor. I am raising this because i think all of us have been held hostage within this context of what is partisan. If you are on this team, you have to find what is wrong with the other team instead of being honest about what is right and wrong. That is something that has been done that is just wrong. It does not matter whether you are democrat or republican. I am saying this because i love humanity. I am a human being, and any time someone is putting little children in cages, something is fundamentally wrong with that. I dont care what label you put on me, i will never be ok with that. Im not ok with standing by someone that there are women who came over here seeking asylum and were given hysterectomies because they had a different color passport. That is a humanity issue. I say we have to ship this whole shift this whole paradigm to what if the what if we voted for this phrase for the love of humanity. Supportingi was policy for the love of humanity. What would that look like . We have to be courageous. Fundamentally, what i think is happening in this country and where we are right now, is we all have been complicit. The republicans can blame the democrats all day and the democrats can blame republicans is day, but the bottom line if covid19 didnt show us anything else, it is that we are interconnected. On some level, what i do will impact you and what you do will impact me. Im hoping we will rise above where we are now and get to the place where we can move beyond these boxes of partisanship and really focus on making decisions and supporting policies that are literally going to advance humanity, not just a limited agenda for a limited amount of people. What is so wrong with everybody having health care . What is so bad about people having access to quality education . I am raising this because i think sometimes we get caught up in these boxes that we are responding to what is liberal or what is conservative, what is read and what is blue. I am human. That is i make what i make all of my decisions on. I love humanity. When im voting for people, im voting based on who i think is actually going to give humanity a chance, the most people, the opportunity to really be able to live life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. As we were talking to young folks, what i think happened this time is that we had young people on our team. We were supporting young people. , andork in pennsylvania pennsylvania was a key election this cycle, was led by a young woman who was actually under the age of 30. The women who ran our work in alabama, under the age of 30. The woman who ran our work in louisiana, under the age of 30. Host unfortunately, we are out of time. I really appreciate you coming on. We would like to thank Latosha Brown for being with us today. Every day we are taking your calls live on the air on the news of the day. We discussed policy issues that impact you. , a discussion of the u. S. Response to the coronavirus. Then, the partnership for Public Services talks about president ial transitions. Watch live at 7 00 eastern on sunday morning. Join the discussion with your phone calls, facebook comments, text messages, and tweets. Night, a university of texas professor talks about the use of big data and new Surveillance Technology by law enforcement. They are collecting their own data and information. Happening now in the digital age is the police are increasingly collecting information on people who do not have any direct criminal justice contact. Purchasingcreasingly information from privately private companies. You dont have to get pulled over by the police in order for your data to be put into the system. Eastern. Night at 8 00 the white house did not release a weekly address this weekend