Talk about Voter Suppression than ahead of the upcoming 2020 election. In this moment, following ongoing, unconscionable tragedies of Racial Injustice in our country i have more hope than ever that our declaration that black livesmeter and our protests in support of freedom for all, will be unrelenting, in bring bought equitable and long overdue change. We feel incredibly fortunate that tonightseest guest is on of the nations for most experts or voting righted. Leader abrams. In the race for for hoe colorado in 2018 she won more votes than any other democrat in the states history. Stacy abrams mad history at the first black woman to deliver a response to state of the union in 2019 and there is no doubt that her historymaking endeavored are far from over. In her new book our time is now. Power, purpose and the fight for anywhere america oshe dow draws on Extensive Research to offer con career acrosses to empower citizen. The former u. S. Secretary secretary of state madeline all bright called the book a seem dollar kit for those who believe that democracy is not a spectator support. Tonight stacy abrams will be in conversation with errin haines. The National Writer on race for the associated press, focused on the intersection of race, politics and culture. Later well take you questions. You knowledge submit them using you can submit them using the q a button and you can purchase a copy of the bomb. Ive excited to listen to and learn from these extraordinary women. Thanks again for join us ands please welcome, stacy abrams and errin hainess into your home. Thank you so much, heather. And thank you so much to sixth and i for what i hope will be a robust conversation with somebody who ive covered for a long time and who could not be somebody that i would want to hear more from in this moment in our democracy, facing what i feel like is the most consequential election of our time. Welcome leader abrams. We have to stop meeting like this. Good to see you. File like two georgians im a nate tv of atlantacannot start this conversation without talk ought about what happened yesterday in our state. Preprimary which was delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic and turn out to by the i think can agree was a debacle of democracy, recordless who you thing i responsibility. We predicted this. Two years ago and maybe even earlier than that. Want to start by asking you what your assessment is of what happened in georgia yesterday. Thank you for agreeing to do this and thank you to heather and sixth and i and their entire team. Thank you to everyone who is tuning in. We know that yesterday was the result of a combination of incompetence and mall fees san. Last stave with the malfeasance. A state that has for the last decade practiced Voter Suppression as an art form. In the 2018 election we saw it put into sharpe relief but have to go back further to 2010 when the newly gnawing rated secretary of state brian kemp arrested 12 people for having the audacity to use absentee ballots to win an election. They followed the rules, they did everything they were supposed to, and because they were africanamerican who beat white men and women who shouldnt they didnt think should lose they were arrested and charged if with 120 felonies. They spent the years with their lives torn apart, they lost their jobs, their seats on the school board and lets be clear, i this is a school board election. Their lives destroyed. One woman nearly committed suicide, and that began at least for my in my window that began the most recent evidence of Voter Suppression. You fast forward to 2018, some at that point brian kemp has been the secretary of state for eight years, purged 1. 4 million voters, has overseep the closure of 214 precincts. He has been the architect of exact match which is the egregious system that held 553,000 peoples applications for Voter Registration hostage, 80 of whom were people of color he was responsible for multiple infractions. He then used that power to run for governor, and was replaced by brad. Brad comes into play. We through fair fight action, the organization if started, sued the state and said that what we saw happen will never be undone ifll never be the governor in 2018 but in proes was wrong. The democracy didnt work and one of their solutions was to buy knew machines because we also had an issue of flipping, where people would put in their votes and the person they selected namely me would suddenly become brian kemp. Im not brian kemp. So i want to frame all of this for these reasons. Malfeasance doesnt disappear. Bad action doesnt disappear because it goes underground. And what happened in part was that the same structures that have been deeply problematic in the state of fda for the last decade, reared their ugly heads again then and then layer on top of it incompetence and that incompetence began with what brian kemp asset saad which brad stayed telling spite the constitutional obligation they hold to he be in superintendent of elects, meaning theyre responsible for directing, training, and investing in elects, they basically decried any obligation. The said its on the county. The constitution doesnt say that. The law gives counties certain responsibilities, but what brad did was refuse to do his job. And so counties not just the large ones like fulton and dekalb, the two largest in the state but small are october idea, republican comes, experiencing terrible results from the new machines that brad purchase at the cost o 170 million. 170 million spent on grand new machines mitchell warned by everybody Mitchell Organization fair fight action, progressive group, worked we Freedom Works a hyperconservative group to tell him this was a bad idea. When i can agree with charles koch on an issue it is deeply probable enemyatic and yet he purchased these machines and failed to do the most basic responsible behaviors which is making sure everyone in charge of administering the machines knew how to do it, make sure enough machines would be available and so what we saw happen were three things one, absentee balloting increased dramatic by because were in the midst of a pandemic and georgia a allows no excuses ballot. He said applications should be made available so every voter vr who was active and then he vend out a contract to arizona, in send us out ballot. Number two he failed to manage and to train appropriately the counties and to give them the investment they needed. For example, fulton county, on saturday said we need 250 extra people just to meet the basic need of our increased turnout. The state did nothing. In fact the state said it wasnt their fault and not their issue. Instead he spent 400,000, the secretary of state spent 400,000 doing an advertisement thanking himself for buying these machines. That 400,000 decide could have paid for 1600 poll workers yesterday who could have reduced the five to seven hour lines people stood. In the third issue is this. We have few are polling places, few are workers, and not only would those resources have provided for that, he did nothing to ensure that communities that desperate hi needed to be able to vote were going to be able to do so safely. Incompetence and malfeasance come together and make Voter Suppression not only a disaster, itself makes it a solvable problem. Remove people who have bad hearts but you can change the threw make them do good and have to demand those who are elected to hold the offices, the secretaries of state, do their jobs and that is what didnt happen yesterday in georgia. Yeah. I think you make so many good points there and because you saw what was coming, you were not surprised by so much of what we saw yesterday, although i think it did and should alarm much of the rest of the country. Right . But i think to your point, you are somebody who pushes back, that says it is not normal for voters to be in line for hours, waiting to cast a ballot. What we saw and what i was struck by were the number of black voters in particular in georgia who showed up with what i basically amed to survival kits. Bottled water, extra phone chargers, stadium chairs, snacks, they were ready to be in line and expected to be in line for a long time. Did not expect casting ball lazy to be an anyone and out process. What does that tell you but the how much those hours long waits have been normalized particularly in black communities. Absolutely. The Brennan Center did a fantastic study if anyone wants to go to their website, really good analysis of the poll tax that is assessed against black and brown communities through long wait times in 2018 georgia had the single largest longest wait time for africanamerican voters in the done, an, of four hours. What happened yesterday was that people have gotten used it to because theyve gotten used to be underresourced, used to having a secretary of state who points a finger at the counties and the county that points the finger back but the constitution does not mention the counties. The constitution gives the responsibility to the secretary of state. But what we also saw yesterday was the fact that people were reacting to the long lines in early voting because we have so many new voters entering the process and thats the one bright spot i want to hold on to. We saw new voters showing up yesterday, showing up over the process of this election, and those new voters strained the system but the point of having leadership is that you look at what is happening and you scale to meet the moment. For africanamerican voter who cry more than 32 of the voting population in the state, they knew they were going to be voting in communes where they we about the least likely to be resourced the most likely to be push out of the system because of fats we faults the wound exist database mitchell father i was trying to track hi absentee ball lit. I put my my voter page and the didnt exist. Theyd put in the wrong birth date for him but i had to get a lawyer to help me figure it out. My absentee bullet arrived but the return envelope was sealed shut, and i couldnt open it so i had to vote in person. He we have normalized as africanamericans of communities of color, and poor communities have normalized the maltreatment that we receive in casting a vote and that should not happen in a democracy but we thought that didnt come real for many people until 68 or 1970 so we have had a much shorter period of access than we haved a of malfeasance and the living merge of that malfeasance continues to galvanized todd show to up prepared and lowered or expectations what we deserve. I wonder, what your message are not what the georgia primary revealed about what vote he suppression can look like across the country in 2020 and voter depression for that matter. Voter suppression is three things. Its the bottom line is an eligible rotor denied access to right to vote. The three weighed it happens the three ways nice, my dog is joining jukes hes upset but malfeasance. Can you register and stay on the rolls, can you access the ballet and does the ballot get counted. The United States it one of the few industrializes academicracies that has dem indicated to 50 different states the authority to create their own versions of democracy. And so the rules differ from state to state and thats one of the reasons that Voter Suppression is so insidious and so pervasive because it looks different depending on where you are. We know that for example the challenge is spoke with sects of state, yesterday at the same time that we were halving our election in georgia, South Carolina halt their elect as did nevada day and both experienced challenges because of republican secretaries of state who made it more difficult for volt towards cast their votes, primarily among communities of color and so we know that around the country, Voter Suppression is alive and well. Fair fight action created a i have a Second Organization called fair fight 2020 which is our Political Organization targeted 18 battleground states in the 2020 election where we know some version of Voter Suppression is going to come to fruition. We saw that play out in wisconsin when the Republican Legislature in the midst of the pandemickers forced voter to go and stand in line in long lines where they shut down hundreds of precincts and refused to allow the normal use of absentee lots so people could stay home and be safe. We what the reflects for 2020 for the november election is the obligation to understand the need no scale up resources. States are not going to be able to do this elone. Moment peer are energized and more people are excited and terrified and so more people are going to show up. But we also have to put grilles grails on the sim so no backed act york like then secretary of state has the authority to deny access to right to vote to anyone who is eligible. Those are things we can accomplish and im happy to talk out there the detailed but the reality is i want people to be aware and be angry but i also want folks to understand that theres a way through this and theres a way to make this right. Yeah. I also wonder i mean, speaking directly to voters, what do you say to somebody who is concerned and maybe doesnt have confidence their vote will count in november or how get folks to vote when they read headlines like the headlines coming out of georgia today. Voter expression is the most effective not simple if by my blocking access to right to vote. The most effect itch when it convinces entire communities its not worth trying. One of the reasons post 2018 that it decided to focus my attention on Voter Protection and amplifying the issue of Voter Suppression, was that i spent 11 years in the legislature, watching people tell me that their votes didnt count, it didnt matter if they participated. They were denied healthcare pause georgia is one over states that refuses to expand medicaid. Theyre losing access preproductive choice because the state passed the forced pregnancy bill. They are facing environmental challenges that are being completely ignored by those in charge and what is happening in georgia is happening across the country. But what also happened is that we had a respite. We had the two year tenure the first two year of the Obama Administration and saw himself ins of what was possible and those glimpses of what we have to hold. To what is even more important to me is what we saginaw 2018 saw in 2018. I didnt become for but we trip they would turnout of lat teen to votes and Asian American voters and increased Youth Participation by 139 . Increased black participation by 40 . We increased white participation for the First Time Since bill clinton ran in georgia, and those metrics, those number all direct voter democratic voters, proves people have hopement and woulder movement its incumbent for those who care but democracy have the affirmative obligation to go to voters and say if you try, it will work. Now what we shouldnt do is lie. And say if you try it will work instantly and all will be well. Thats the unfortunate message that people took from the 2008 election which is why in 2010 we were shell lacked and set back by a decade. Our responsibility is to say its going to work but its going to take time. Its going to be tedious. There will be setback, and its going to require our relentless and affirmative engagement every single time because were pushing against people who whatnot to hold on to power so desperately theyre willing to break the machinery of democracy to do so. And our responsibility, those in the elected office who want to stand for Elective Office or just believe in america, our affirmative obligation is to acknowledge those who feel depressed, who feel suppressed and who are legitimately being pushed out of the system. Its our job to tell them why its happening and tell them how they can get back in and for us to carve a path as often as we can. Yeah. I mean, i think obviously adding to that the remarkable expansion of the electorate you were able to accomplish in 2018, even though as you say you did not become governor and notice i did not say you lost because you did not concede which i acknowledge. What you say to americans were wondering how they can participate safely in our democracy . Particularly vulnerable populations like the elderly. I would add, the native American Population mug we watched what happened to the Navajo Nation that has among the highest rates of Covid Infection and thats despite their population is a percentage of the nation. We know whats happening in communities of color especially those that have the coexisting not only people of color but they are impoverished or working for. The challenge is the only way we get through and recover from the pandemic and its effect, the devastating Public Health crisis, the economic lack and lack of faith in our system because we watched our leaders lie to us about what is happening. The fact we had to have a man simply for telling us the truth and doctor fauci is emblematic how broken our country is at this moment but we are still here. But you clearly for communities that are the most vulnerable and least resilient about the only way through is through voting. To elect new leadership. Elect new representation. Representation sees us and listens to us. Part of the responsibility i think each of us hold, do not give in to the price of people. Thats Strong Language but theres nothing less evil than watching people die when you know you can do something about it and when you accelerate it because of your deliberate an action in fact we are watching happen. I believe the solution is twofold. Number one, need the u. S. Senate to pass the heroes act. It will allocate 3. 6 billion to our elections across the country. That will pay for that. You will hear stories about how its fraudulent, wife with broad. The only fraud weve heard about mailing ballots, the fact that donald trump, his press secretary, the two of them have been using pulse addresses that may be an issue but other than that, it is a minimal issue. We know the Heritage Institute has said amalgamating 1300 cases, im being overly generous. 2000 of voter fraud of any kind, out of 625 million. We know voter fraud is but we know Voter Suppression is. Being able to vote by mail to be made real if we have the heroes act because 34 states already have no excuses absentee ballots but yesterday, having the right to do something doesnt mean it works out. The reeses resources scaling up, it requires the investment and thats why it needs to pass but we have to remember, as many of us should vote as possible, some people have no choice. Native americans often cannot vote from home because they do not have regular addresses or regular mail pickup and thats why sometimes they need ballots election which is allowing them to gather ballots and turn them into we also meet in person voting. For those who are disabled, language barriers, for those who are homeless or displaced by covid. We knew that those who attempted to vote by mail and couldnt get it done like myself. People who add to the line because i couldnt use any other process. What we can do with the money the senate needs to put in place before july is that many will allow us to scale this up across the country. For the 16 states that do not allow vote by mail without excuse, they would be held to a standard for the pandemic would be a standard that everyone who thinks you might contract covid, puts anyone, its a legitimate excuse for not standing in line, possibly being coughed on someone by someone who could infect you. My mom lives in georgia, shes older, able to vote early, wanted to cast a ballot in person. The issue with the envelope so you had to vote in person. Tell me about your boating experience. Ive had two interesting experience in georgia. 2018, 800 to vote the governor, i was told i already turned in absentee ballot. Is able to negotiate rightly with the old manager because i had people with me. We were able to resolve the issue. This time when i tried to vote absentee, my ballot was delayed and when it finally arrived, i reach for the return envelope and it was sealed shut. Ive watched a lot of shows in my life so i tried to get open and it didnt work. I reached out and tried to get another envelope and it never arrived. I had to go and vote in person but i was lucky. I visited a community where it was a 45 minute process beginning to end but i know in union city, georgia, they were in line until 12 36 a. M. This morning. It doesnt have to happen in a democratized industrialized nation. It does not happen in wealthy communities, it does happen everywhere because what happened in georgia, youre going to hear conversation about the larger counties, it happened in a county represented by the secretary, rachel wickham. It happened in jasper county, unless youve studied the map from there, he cant 159 counties we have in the state. What we have to think about this even though target of Voter Suppression is largely communities of color, mainly African Americans in the south, if youre in the west, it tends to target native americans, we know if youre targeted, youre messing with the machinery. Part of what i talk about in the book is the history that this is not new. This isnt new. Weve seen this before. The 1800s and 1900s is the long wait times of the 21st center. When you have to stand in line five to seven hours, georgia is a state where you do not get paid time off to vote which means you have sacrificed a days pay just to cast a single ballot. If you have to wait in line for five hours and you get to the front of the line only to find out your name has disappeared from the role work your precinct was on the other side of town, it is too late to get there and vote. It is too late to participate and does not right. I want to talk about the book a little bit. I want to ask if you are psychic because the time could not be more precise. Racial reckoning is institutional, just as racism. The fight against auto depression more urgent im wondering if you agree. I also wonder, think about how has the lies telling ourselves about our democracy, undermine our efforts. Are organizing documents, we got to come off the declaration of independence which is a beautiful call for humanity, equality and justice. You have the constitution. He said that belongs to a certain class of people namely white. If youre africanamerican, native american, you are invisible. If you are woman, he should be silenced. From our inception, we built a system designed to aggregate and hold power to a narrow community. The beauty of america is that we have, over time, done our best to expand that initial construction and meet our real obligations. It took the 13th, 14th and 15th amendment to not only freeing slaves but grant us citizenship but lets be clear, 15th amendment granted the right to vote to brockman. Nineteenth amendment granted the right to vote to women but it was only to white women. It wasnt until 1965 black women in brownforman actually got the right to vote. That it was the 26th amendment acknowledged young people who could be sent off to die for the country should be allowed to live and vote in the country. That tenure has given us both the tension of knowing weve been considered less than since our inception but also the promise of what we could be if we lived up to our ideal. I wrote this book as an awake of the 2018 election because i was mad. I talked about this a bit in the closing and the beginning and you can kind of hear it. I was angry, not just because i didnt become governance. I was angry because of the tens of thousands of people, i promised if they did their part and showed up and participated in our democracy, they would have the opportunity to change the things they needed to change. Because of Voter Suppression, the restrict access rights and it wasnt just being stripped of the right to vote or having the vote counted, they were denied healthcare in a pandemic that ravaged the state of georgia for the city of albany has the fourth highest infection rate in the world, when we know africanamericans are contracting and dying at a higher rate than anyone else in the state, being told you not only are at risk but the you dont have the right to healthcare, that is voting. Ahmaud arbery was murdered in the street which is just out of savannah and that young man, his body was shot down, there was no conversation about justice for 74 days. His murderers were sent home to celebrate. That happened because of laws on the book that they could perform citizens arrest which were laws put in place to dehumanize box. We have to think about the fact that there is a direct connection between the original sin of our nation, dehumanization and denial of citizenship despite the paper said the structure we are looking at today because the system is working exactly the way it was designed. Our time is now is the title because its not just a litany of all the terrible things that happened but prescriptions to make it better. The first few chapters, we lay out the challenges of Voter Suppression but the back half is about how we take our power. Fundamentally, this is a power conversation. We deserve power because we are here, we get it because we vote and we hold it because we dont let them take it back. We have to start now because the demographic inflection. But also the moral inflections of George Floyd Breonna Taylor and shawn reed and ahmaud are break and every name we can no longer qualify member because there are too many, that is what we are called. The book does so well with this because so many of these are taken to the street day after bank for more than two weeks, who in america is going to have power. Your book has me thinking about something i have thought about for years, the idea of voting is a form of protest. Particularly organized americans. Do you feel like voting . We talked about voting being about power but do you think it is a form of protest . Protest is how we declare aloud and in unison, our discussed disagreement in our defiance of those not doing their job as we have asked them to do. Ive always seen protest is a necessary part of power. When i was in college, i led a protest after the rodney king decision and when they tear cast university center, in part because it was opposed with the Housing Department for young people who could not imagine there would be able to attend more but what i realized was people who were tear gassing didnt see a difference. I was still just another black kid who was disposable. That moment of protest was whether a protest acceptable because it was a quiet march or something loud and more focused, that protest was powerful. So to for me was the boat i was able to cast in the next election, to replace those i didnt think that there job and lift up those who do. Voting is next on a form of protest because its how we tell people who are supposed to see us and value us, they did not do their job and it is how we call attention to the issue we need, especially if we are lucky enough to live in states such as the one we saw past and florida and overturned by the legislature and the governor but luckily, a court stepped in to allow citizens to vote. That was a protest. A broken system with citizens taken power and they are going to have to keep fighting because if it works the way it should, there are going to be people who are very angry because their power will be diminished. In the book, i was pleased to start the book and see you quoting one of the heroes, mississippi, i love this book. I will read it for you all watching, who will stand up for what belongs to us as american citizens because they cant say we havent had patients. I want to talk about the patients of black americans, black women in particular because i think thats been on display for so long in this country and in this election cycle about what america owes black women. I wonder what you think the answer is. It is equality. It sounds so mundane as an answer but the reality is this is always demanded. Asked to be included in the nation we helped build, the nation we helped birth, the nation we have cleaned, the nation we have served, the nation we have nurtured. We ask simply that we get equal access to opportunity, equal access to justice. To power. That is not a lot to ask. Thats what every citizen should be able to enjoy by virtuous citizenship. Black women in particular, its been constantly undermined and denied. That is what i am pushing for. I get a bit of a reputation for doing to candid. When you have a black girl in mississippi who moved to georgia, you learn that power matters. Who needs it, who want to end my entire life has been an investigation of how we get for those been marginalized, disadvantaged and denied their godgiven right and citizenship of this country. Your certainly a black woman who has no problem standing up for yourself for this democracy. I have to say that caught the attention as a president ial nominee who you could be joining on the 2020, i think a lot of people have heard you lay out the convincing case why he should be joe bidens running mate. Thats why i want to ask in light of the coronavirus and racism are much which i think shifted, first of all, or to ask if you believe Vice President biden, given everything we are seeing right now, does he have to have a black woman with him in november to win . How do you see yourself to respond to the pandemic . I think the Vice President has demonstrated a moral core that is rightly opposed against the moral hypocrisy of the current president. The current leader is a coward who refuses responsibility and joe biden has taken responsibility for past actions but also future responsibiliti responsibilities. He has a pathway in a plan and more importantly, been willing to speak with and not act, communities that are suffering. I have absolutely complete faith that joe biden is never going to take a community for granted. There may be disagreements about how we get there but the concerted goal is going to be progress, it is going to be addressing the systemic inequities and i believe in his commitment. I think he will pick the right person for him, he is going to pick a running mate complements him, someone who, i think will challenge them but also more important, help deliver on the promise hes making to our country. I trust is going to pick the right running mate and president. I dont know if its going to be me and while ive been mischaracterized as campaigning for it, but ive only ever done is answer the question, what you want to serve and are you qualified . They are questions i cant let go unanswered because my silence speaks for me and people will say no, she doesnt want it or things shes qualified. As a woman whos been underestimated quite often, i learned early on that i have to speak for myself. I shouldnt presume people will look at my resume right experience and know who i am. I try to provide the shorthand and answer the question but ultimately, it will be up to the Vice President. I will say my experience, as a legislature and someone whos committed to justice, i am proud of the work ive done on accountability, passing laws and georgia to make that process more transparent and make it work better. Im proud of the work ive done on criminal Justice Reform to ensure Justice System works on both sides of the conversation. In part of the reputation ive been able to build with the most marginalized communities no i stand in solidarity and i dont have to be tutored on what we need to talk about. I can go and sit in a black lives matter meeting, i can call the defenders, i can do the work because i have to record and regardless of what position i am in and administration, my responsibility is to never have to apologize for who i am or what ive done and im proud of voice stood in Community Without marginalized and disadvantaged and i will continue to do that work. The last time you and i talked, on the verge of preopening, after weeks of being shut down because of the coronavirus, many were dissatisfied about the current governors handling of the reopening. What we saw last night in my home state, this is a job i know you wanted very much and 2018 and assuming your our next Vice President , are you interested in running for governor . That is absolutely a consideration. They are. Next question. The introduction of your book, those who are most vulnerable, the most effective up to passing on to others, it struck me as we are in the midst of a Global Health crisis. I wonder if you think, is Voter Suppression like a virus . Absolutely, it is up virus. When you think about the way we learn everything from we learn from those around us. We learn the act of washing our hands because they teach us, we learn about whether we should stick our fingers into light sockets and we learn good financial habits. Or poor financial habits. We learned our behaviors young and by what we see. I was infected early with democracy. My parents took us to vote with them. I described the book make way for ducklings because there six of us and we trail out of the voting booth. They would take us with them to volunteer and even though we were poor and why are we going to serve poor people because thats us . My parents would say having nothing is not an excuse for doing nothing, they wanted us to see service was an active part of who we are. Our obligation transcended our physical and financial wellbeing, who were responsible for the world we were a part of but the part of that, if you dont see someone vote or worse if you hear the negative, about the politicians who some who show up whenever show up or show up to vote and never again, or those who never bothered to come. When you live in communities were nothing changes, poverty is given, when you hear about your self talk about in the third person, or your community describe in a dehumanizing term, you start to internalize that. Why would you engage in a system that hired people who say those things about you . Why would you engage in a system that pays people who do not believe your life is valuable putting you in a chokehold or putting a knee on your neck is legitimate form of service . It is a disease of underestimation, of distance and distance is reinforced every time we have elections, people who promise more, failed to deliver and more importantly, failed to explain why not. Ive been a politician long enough to know theres no quake you are going to get what you want. I was minority leader. I was never going to win a vote simply because of my term. I would have to work and often my job was to minimize harm, stop stupid or at least slow it down and block the bad was going to harm our community. My job was to have that conversation, i would be chastised by some of my colleagues for being too honest about week could or could not do. I would remind of them grew up in those communities, the worst thing you can do, the most pervasive way to spread the disease of Voter Suppression is to lie to a person about what you can accomplish. You should be aspirational but also pragmatic and clear. Yes we can do this but it is going to take time here are the things we have to do and the obstacles we have to face and it is not a Straight Line because as much as we want good, evil is going to push back even harder. As much as more progress, theres a party who calls themselves conservative. Hold steady, to not move. If you want to maintain the power structure that is, theres no incentive for their behavior to change. They have an equal say, unless we overwhelm the system with our numbers and attention, yes. But her depression is disease but its one of the things i talk about. What we saw happen with barack obama, we thought it was a fluke. When i was able to do in the i didnt become governor, people dismiss as an example that i could. I am a good candidate but there are other good candidates. If you look at the outcomes, the number of black women, mayors, latinos, muslims, communities of color and disadvantaged and marginalized communities able to access power we should tell ourselves the antidote to this disease of butter suppression is broader engagement to treat people like they have since. Asking them to help instead of expecting them to simply because their rotten life is so hard. Duplicate too hard, much worse to get used to her. Democracy and youre going to get the definition. I do work in the newsroom, which we are celebrating the 100th anniversary did not extend to all women, it was mainly protecting women. Or to ask you more about what you are thinking about as we mark this milestone for also the amendments you mentioned in the book you would like to see added to our constitution. We have to celebrate 100 year of the 19th amendment because it did move the franchise forward. Black women were instrumental. Even if we didnt benefit immediately from its success. We were able to be part of america the voices of our population that they should be heard in the diversity. It is a glorious thing in a democracy. We have put too many restrictions on who is allowed to speak, to be heard because theres a fear if we diffuse the power of too many, it wont work anymore but the reality is, shared power is more effective actually because it is more likely to resist the corrosive effects and more likely to stand up and push back against harm and danger to the 19th amendment for me was and is, hope for what is possible, especially in terms of interracial, intergenerational, opportunity because it took a lot of women, multiple years in various stages of their lives to get this done. It wasnt this rock so we hear about how it marched across, it took lives. Pressure proves it can be so. Look forward to whats happening today, i want people to remember theres nothing easy about any of these amendments. Possibly the 26 amendment is given the easiest but think about the number of wars it took for young men to die, mostly young men to die in those wars even though women were there, how many young people had to perish to franchise 18yearold and the civil war and inhumanity of our constitution to create the 15th a moment so i think it is important for us to remember how hard it was to get what we got and how much work we have to do to keep what we have. Those are things we can accomplish and a solution to making this is hard, to fix the problems in the constitution. Number one, the delegation of complete authority over the administration of election as a fundamental flaw. The states that dont want people to vote have the right to not let people vote which means you are allowing the people who broke it to fix it after they told you we dont want to fix it. The second part is it should be in our constitution that the right to vote for citizens shall not be abridged. We created too many exceptions, weve allowed too many pauses and too many opportunities for it to be undermined. The Voting Rights act, the act that made it hardest to enter the right to vote but the conservatives came after section five successfully dismantled it and now there after section two. Section five required preclearance the site you have to get permission before you make it harder to vote. Section two says youre prohibited from passing laws abridge the right to vote based on race, nationality and language barriers. What that means is the rule they are trying to put in place, if you can prove it has a racial intent, then you can stop it. What they are trying to say it happens to be racist, unless we run it down, we cant be held accountable. I would remove the last protection we had in the Voting Rights act to stop the laws of Voter Suppression. In the last few weeks, republicans find a multipronged attack on the second amendment, on the section two of the Voting Rights act. We cannot sleep on this because they have told us they are going to do. If committed up to 60 million to suppress the right to vote in 2020. The agreed, put 50000 volunteers in the community to intimidate voters and stop them from falling. Just in case they dont work, they want to dismantle the remaining pillar of the Voting Rights act which means in a moment our nation is becoming the most diverse its ever been, the protections that allow that diversity to become true engagement as voters will disappear. Off you watching have submitted a ton of Great Questions and i want to get to a couple of those so i want to start with a question from justin who asked, how do you explain systemic racism to somebody was well educated but does not believe systemic racism exists in America Today . I think the challenge they offered in describing it, you have to begin with people who see there is a problem even if they dont understand and cant articulate it, but the fundamental idea is that, and i heard it said this way in a recent panel i was on, there are those in the water they are swimming with the current. The current is their friend pushing them along toward success and opportunity it gives them an extra boost as they toward their goal. Systemic racism is put in the water and your quote is on the other side against the current in your entire life is about swimming against the current, being thrown upon the rocks and having absolutely no opportunities that do not require that you have to go upstream against the current. That is systemic racism. It doesnt say when you got in the water to go one direction versus the other is because of who you are but it does take you benefit from the fact that some enter the water going downstream with the client and others enter the water upstream against the client and they never have a choice. That is a very good analogy. Ill have to use apartment. We have another question asking, what is the responsibility of allies in regards to Voter Suppression . How can we help . One way to understand what of suppression may target community of color, it affects us all. Part of what i lay out those not only the solutions but the problems. The first opportunity, the first moment of fighting against Voter Suppression is knowing what it looks like. Until last night, for a lot of people, somebody stepped in front of the voting booth in front of the door with a shotgun and a dark and told you shall not enter, you shall not pass but it is much more administrative so one thing i can do is talk about it. Understand what it looks like, what the problems are and articulate it because one of the reasons it works is people get convinced it is user error. Was my fault or your fault you messed up. We have to first start by integrating what it is. Can you stand the role, does your ballot get counted . It looks different depending on the state youre in so as an ally, make sure you understand what suppression looks like in your community. Number two, interfere. Make it easier, make sure they stay on the role, volunteer is a poll watcher and observer. These antidote and intimidation. Fourteen question from melinda, shes volunteering as an organizer shes in north carolina. She says, is there any advice you can give for volunteers and organizers to help us reach as many folders during this time and a lot of our efforts must be done . Dont forget the analogs. A lot of folks, especially with communities who tend to have more people of color and folks realize and more people susceptible to change, make sure youre having conversation whether you it digitally or through the phone, the pendency of organizers reach. Treat them as though their parishioners who come to your church, they are not parishioners at your church. Im a daughter of two ministers. They are people you have to meet where they are. That means they have to believe there is a reason to come with you. What you need . What is broken . You get people to talk about what they want, when you talk about what theyre doing, your offering a solution to the problem. If you articulate problems or worse, preach for not having those problems, have no reason to engage. Conversation works when people feel heard and there is access so take the time to engage know thats its going to be multistage, were not going to get someone on the first try. Longterm friendships with a lot of folks. Its going to take more than one conversation and one engagement but the more he do it, the more likely our instead of creating somebody for the election, your reading of voter for the community and that is your call. I want to end by hearing from you about somebody you have included the book because i know how it was to you and what a powerful figure she wasnt you are and how you feel it and that person is your grandfather. I know she passed away a few months after he did not become government and in the book, he tell a story that i heard about about you so this is the story you talk about your visit with your grandmother, im wondering if you can share that story with our audience now and if you could, what you think your grandfather would think of 2020 and what would he be her message as a voter herself . I will encourage the readers to read the book but i will say, my grandmother, who was part of the Civil Rights Movement primarily through her children and that they she first had the right to vote, did not want to vote. She was afraid, it wasnt that she was afraid it wouldnt work, she was afraid of the power of the vote. My grandfather had to shame her into doing so. She wanted me to understand was in a democracy, people have power that sometimes the power is so overwhelming, it frightens us out of using it. She believed in me, she supported me, she always told me i needed to get more sleep and i believe she would look at what happened yesterday and whats happening across our country and tell us if you look at ecclesiastics, theres nothing under the sun, we also have the time to rise and this is our time. It is our time to take our country and make it better than it has been thats what she would call for and thats what im trying to do. I think that is a perfect way to end this conversation. Thank you so much for sharing and for writing this book which i thought was phenomenal and i hope people will recognize our time is now. So thank you so much. Thank you to everyone listening. It has been a delight. Thank you so much. I encourage you all to buy a copy, if you havent already. We have autographed copies for sale. We will email you that link. We have virtual others coming up to check out our website. We look forward to welcoming you back when the time comes. Take care. Good night. Sunday on book tv, 4 45 p. M. Eastern, Matthew Whitaker in his book about the law, the inside story of how the Justice Department supports President Trump. The deep state, for others to decide. I saw people not only working against the president s agenda as the head of the executive branch but those unwilling to advance the president s agenda. 11 00 p. M. Eastern, anderson talks about her book, one person, no foot. What we know from working class community, which again, demographically, black voters who most often are from brown voters most often are, what we dont have is the conversation of time and money so when you have to stand in line five to seven hours to vote, youve lost a day of pay. Watch book tv sunday 45 00 p. M. And 11 00 p. M. Eastern on cspan2. John boltons new book, its being released tuesday but news organizations have obtained copies and reporting on it contents. According to the wall street journal, the former National Security advisor to President Trump says the president in the white house for obstruction of justice was our way of life and the president was stunningly uninformed. The white house says none of these allegations are true and the book contains classified information which makes publishing it inexcusable. The Justice Department has sued to stop from being released product publishers plan to make it readily available next week. For the author in the near future on book tv and cspan. This summer, every saturday evening at 8 00 p. M. Eastern, settling march several hours of your favorite authors tonight, we are featuring New York Times bestselling author, david, author of a dozen books including once in a great city, a detroit story, barack obama, the story and his most recent, a Great American family. Watch . Having future Pulitzer Prize winning author and historian david, march book tv all summer on cspan2. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. My name is ian, a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise institute and thomas b institute and bertha partly in todays discussion, im the ceo of public press, network a public charter elementary and middle school located in the south bronx and Lower East Side of manhattan. It is my honor to welcome you do what i believe will be a provocative discussion on a compelling new book. How to educate an american, the vision for tomorrows school, published by templeton press. We are joined by a fantastic group of panelists beginning with like tucker fink respectively, the president and