Dialogue about the most Critical Issues of our time. Were gathered tonight albeit virtually at a time when so much feels uncertain. But over the past two weeks it has become abundantly clear there is no more urgent time to 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 lives matter and our protest in support of freedom for all will be unrelenting in bringing about equitable and long overdue change. We feel incredibly fortunate that you tonight suggest this f the most foremost expert on Voting Rights. Leader abrams is a bestselling author, entrepreneur, nonprofit ceo and political leader. She was the first black woman to become the gubernatorial nominee for a major part in the United States. In the race for governor of georgia 2018 she won more votes than any other democrat in the states history. Stacey abrams again made history as the first black woman to deliver a response to the state of the union in 2019, and there is no doubt that her history making endeavors are far from over. In her new book our time is now power, purpose, and the fight for a fair america she draws on Extensive Research to offer concrete solutions to in Voter Suppression and empower citizens. Former u. S. Secretary of state Madeline Albright called the book and extensional cool toolbook. Tonight Stacey Abrams will be in conversation with errin haines, awardwinning journalist and editor at large at the 19th. She was present the National Writer on race with associate press, focus on the intersection of race, politics and culture. We are so grateful for her participation deceiving. Later in the program will take some of your questions. You can submit them using a q a button at the bottom of your zoom window. Where including a link in the chat box where you would definitely want to purchase an autographed copy of the United States. I am so to listen to and learn from these extraordinary women. Thanks again for joining us and please welcome Stacey Abrams and errin haines into your homes. Thank you so much, heather, and thank you so much to sixth and i for what i hope is going to be a robust conversation with somebody who ive covered for a long time and who could somebody i would want to hear more from in this moment in our democracy, and facing what i feel like is the most consequential election of our time. So welcome, leader abrams. We have got to stop beating like this. Its good to be with you again. Good to see you as well. Absolutely. So i feel like two georgians, and i am a native of atlanta, and not start this conversation without pocket what happened yesterday in our own state. Of course a talk about the primary which was delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic but nonetheless turned out to be i think what we can agree was a debacle of democracy regardless of who you feel was responsible for that. You and others addicted this it yesterday, not lastly, not last month, you know, that two to yo go and maybe even earlier than that. I want to start by asking you what your assessment is of what happened in georgia yesterday. First of all, thank you so much for agreeing to do this and thank you to heather and sixth and i and their entire team. Thank you everyone whos tuning in. We know that yesterday was the result of a combination of incompetence and malfeasance. Lets start with the malfeasance. This is a state that has for the last decade practice Voter Suppression as an art form. In the 2018 election we sought put into sharp relief but we have to go back for the the 200 when the newly inaugurated secretary of state brian kip arrested 12 people for having the audacity to use absentee ballots to win an election. That began at the most recent efforts about her suppression. You fastforward to 2018, at that time brian camp has been secretary of state for eight years. Hayes persia 1. 4 million voters. Has overseen the closure of 214 precincts. He has been the architect of exact match which is ace egregious system that held five and 53 Voter Registration hostage those are people of color who is responsible for multiple infractions. He then use that power to run for governor and was three placed by brad ratzenberger. Brad came into play, sued the state and said what we saw happen will never be undone. I will never be the governor in 2018. But the process was wrong. The democracy didnt work. So one of their solutions was by new machines because we also had an issue with flipping. People would put in their votes and the person they picked to be brian camp and i was not brian camp brady went to frame of this for a reason. This doesnt disappear that action doesnt disappear simply because it goes underground. And what happened in part is the same structure sentiment deeply problematic in the state of georgia for at least the last decade reared their ugly heads again yesterday. You layer on top of that incompetence. That incompetence began with what brian camp has said when he was secretary of state on despite the constitutional obligation they hold to be the superintendent of elections mean they are responsible for directing, training, and investing in those elections they basically deprived any obligation they said its all on the county paid the constitution does not say that. The law gives the county certain responsibilities but what brad ratzenberger did was refuse to do his job so counties, not just the large ones like fulton and the two largest but smaller counties, republican counties all experienced terrible results from these new machines that brad purchase at the cost of 107 million, bringing this to a close 107 million spent on brandnew machines he was warned by everyone. In fact my organization, fair fight action a Progressive Group work with freedom work and hyper conservative group to say this was a bad idea. When i can agree with charles coke on an issue to deeply problematic. And yes purchase these machines and failed to do the most basic responsible behavior which is making sure everyone in charge of administering this machines to how to do it, make sure enough machines to be available, and so what we saw happen were three things. One, absentee balloting increased dramatically because we are in the midst of a pandemic he did one good thing of saying application should be made available to every voter who is active. That was good. He then vented out the program to accompany an arizona that was woefully behind in sending out those ballots including thousands of people who never received them. Number two he failed to manage and to train appropriately for counties to give them the investment they needed. For example fulton county, on saturday said we need 250 extra people just to meet the basic needs of our increased turnout. The state did nothing. In fact the state said it was not their fault it was not their issue. Him instead he spent 400,000. The secretary of state spent 400,000 during an advertisement thanking himself or buying these machines. That 400,000 could have paid for 1600 poll workers yesterday that could help reduce the five to seven hour line people stood in. The third issue is this. We have fewer polling places, fewer workers, and not only with those resources provided for that, he did nothing to ensure communities that desperately needed to be able to vote were going to be able to do so safely. Incompetence and malfeasance comes together and make Voter Suppression not only a disaster, it makes it a solvable problem. You remove the people with bad parts for you cant change a lot to make them do good you have to demand those who are elected to hold these 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 because you saw what was coming. You are not surprised by so much of what we saw yesterday. Although i i think and it did and should alarm the rest of the country. Right . But a thing to your point, you are somebody that pushes back. You are somebody that says it is not normal for voters to be in line for hours waiting to cast a ballot. But 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 have is a bottled water, extra phone charger, stadium chair, snacks. They were ready to be a night and expected to be in line for a long time. They did not expect casting the ballot to be an in and out process. What does that tell you about how much those hours long waits have been normalized . Particularly in black communities. Absolutely. The Brennan Center just did a fantastic study if anybody wants to go to their website, its a really good analysis of the poll tax thats 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 country at an average of four hours. What happened yesterday was that people have gotten used to it because theyve gotten used to being under resourced. Theyve gotten used to having a secretary of state who points fingers at the counties in the counties that point the fingers back. The constitution did not mention the counties. The constitution gives a responsibility to the secretary of states. But 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 that is the one bright spot it wont hold onto. We sought new voters showing up yesterday. Showing up over the process of this election. And those new voters they strained the system. But the point of having leadership is that you look at whats happening and you scale to meet the moment. For africanamerican voters who comprise more than 32 of the voting population in the state, they knew that they were going to be voting in communities where they would be least likely to be resourced. The most likely to be pushed out of the system because of faults we found existed in the databases. My father for instance, is trying to track his ballot. He didnt exist that turns out they put in the wrong birthdate for him. I had to get a lawyer to help me figure it out. My absentee ballot arrived, but the return envelope was sealed shut and i couldnt open it so had to vote in person. We have normalized us africanamerican communities of color. Import communities have normalized the maltreatment we receive in casting a vote. That should not happen in a democracy but we often forget access to that democracy did not become real until 68 or 1970. Or having a much shorter period of axis the maid had of malfeasance. The living memory of that mouthpieces continues to have a spur paired its lowered our expectations of what we deserve. Absolutely. Absolutely. And so i guess in thinking about that im wondering what your messages for what the georgia primary revealed about what Voter Suppression could look like across the country in 2020 and voter depression. So Voter Suppression is three things. The bottom line is is an eligible voter denied access to the right to vote. The three ways it happens as you register pursuant my dog is joining us. Stomach he is ask upset about as well. The United States is one that has delegated to 50 different states. The authority to create their own version of democracy. The rules differ from state to state. Thats one reason Voter Suppression is so insidious and pervasive. It looks different depending on where you are. We know for example the challenges i spoke of with secretaries of state yesterday at the same time having our election in georgia South Carolina had their election as did nevada and they both experienced challenges we know that around the country Voter Suppression is live and well. Verify action create a second i have a Second Organization fair fight 2020 which is a political organizations this targeted 18 battleground states in the 2020 election were we know so vote on trend some version of Voter Suppression will come to fruition pretty sought in wisconsin with the Republican Legislature in the midst of the pandemic forced voters to go and stand in line, and long lines for the shut down hundreds of precincts and refused to allow the normal use of absentee about balance. But this critics for 2020 for the november election to scale up the resources more people are energized, more people are terrified of more people to show up. We also have to put guardrails on the system so that no bad actor like a bad secretary of state has the authority to deny access to the right to vote to anybody whos eligible the reality is we want people to be aware there is a way through this i also wonder, speaking directly to voters, what do you say to somebody who is concerned may be doesnt have confidence that their vote will count in november. When the reading headlines that the kind of headlines coming out of georgia today. Voter suppression is the most effective in blocking access to right to vote its the most minutes worth trying. But i decided to focus my my vision on Voter Suppression i spent 11 years in the legislature watching people tell me that their votes did not count. It did not matter if they participated. They were denied thats one of the states that refuses to band medicaid. Theyre losing access to reproductive choice because they outlaw abortion after certain period of time. They are facing environmental challenges that are being completely ignored by those in charge. Happening across the country with the twoyear we saw glimpses of whats possible and what we have to hold two was more important to me as we saw in 2018. I did not become governor but we tripled the turnout of latino voters and american voters. We increase participation by one had a 39 . We increase black participation by 40 . The increased white participation by the First Time Since bill clinton ran in georgia. And those metrics, those number numbers, they prove that people still have hope. People still once more. It is uncommon upon those of us who stand for office or those who care about democracy. We have the affirmative obligation to go to those it will work. We should say if you try it and all will be well for that is the unfortunate message people took from the 2008 election which is why in 2010 we were shellacked in setback by a decade. Our responsibility is to say its going to work its going to take time its going to take our affirmative engagement every single time theyre willing to break the machinery of democracy to do so. And our responsibility, those who are in elected office or those who just want to believe in america, our affirmative obligation is to acknowledge those who are depressed, suppressed and legitimately being pushed out of the system to tell them how they can get back in and carve a path as often as we can. So yeah. Yeah. I think obviously adding to that the remarkable expansion you were able to accomplish in 2018 even though you said you did not become i didnt say you lost you did not concede. Expanding an electorate, balancing that with the fact we are in the midst of a pandemic. There being disproportionately what do you say to americans about how they can participate safely in our democracy this fall . Particularly vulnerable population like the elderly and africanamerican voter . I would add to this and i know you mean this parade the native American Population we watch without him to the Navajo Nation which now has the highest rates of covid and death despite the population is the percentages as a nation. We know it is happening in communities of color. Especially those that have the coexisting, and only their people of color their impoverished. Or they are working poor. The challenge is that the only way we get through recover from the pandemic and its effect is a devastating Public Health crisis, the economic collapse, and the lack of faith in our systems because we watched our leaders lie to us about what is happening. The fact we had to illini a man for telling us the truth and dr. Fauci at emblematic of how broken our country is at this moment. But we are still here. And particularly for communities that are the most vulnerable in the least resilient, the only way through his through voting is to elect new leadership and new representation. Representation sees us and listens to us. It is of the responsibility each of us hold to not give in to the press of evil. And that is Strong Language to use but there is nothing that is less evil than watching people die when you know you can do something about it. In fact when you accelerate because of your deliberate in action. That is what were watching happen. I believe the solution is twofold. Number one, winning the u. S. Senate to pass the heroes act. Heroes act will allocate 3. 6 billion to our elections across the country. That 3. 6 billion will pay for vote by mail. We are going to hear all the stories wife vote by mail is fraudulent, with fraud. The only fraud weve heard recently with mailin ballots is the fact that donald trumps, his press secretary, the two of them have been using false addresses and that may be an issue of fraud. But other than that it is a not an issue. We know the Heritage Institute has said they have been able to have 1300 cases of been really generous thats 2000 of voter fraud of any kind. That is out of 625 million votes cast. And so we know voter fraud is not real we know Voter Suppression is. Being able to vote by mail can be made real if we have the heroes act in those dollars. Thirtyfour states already have no excuse absentee ballot. But as we saw in georgia yesterday having the right to do something doesnt mean it actually works out. The resources necessary to scale up the volume of voters for going to likely heavenly pandemic requires early investment. Thats why the heroes act needs to pass but we also have to remember that as many of us should vote from home as possible often we dont have a choice. They do not have regular dresses, they do not have regular mail pickup. Thats why the sometimes 80 ballot selection which is allowing those tribes to gather ballots and turn them in. But we also need inperson voting. We need inperson voting for those who are disabled, those who have language barriers those who have been homeless or display spike we need those who attempted to vote by mail in could not get it done like myself. People to add to the line because they simply could not use any other process. But what we can do to the heroes act with the money the senate needs to put in place before july please that will allow us to scale it up across the country. But for the 16 states that do not allow vote by mail by excuse, so states would be held to a standard that for this pandemic would be a standard that everyone who thanks you might contract covid19, which is anyone, thats a legitimate excuse for not standing and aligned to be coughed on by someone who might infect you. Absolutely. Absolutely. Want to ask about that, my mom who lives in georgia because shes older definitely able to vote early she wanted to cast her ballot in person was able to do that. Thankfully without having to be in line for very long she tried to vote absentee but had an issue with the envelope. So she had to vote in person. Tell me about your voting experience. So ive had two interesting in georgia i attempted to vote myself or governor i was told they already turned in an absentee ballot and then nearly denied me the right to vote. I was able to negotiate quietly with the manager because i had cameras with me. So we were able to resolve the issue. This time when i tried to vote absentee my ballot was delayed in arriving. When it finally arrives i filled it out, reach for the return envelope it was sealed shut. I washed a lot of mystery shows in my life so i tried to steam it open that did not work so i reached out trying to get another envelope. And it never arrived. And so i had to go and vote in person. I was lucky i live in a community where the lines are not that long its about a 45 minute process from beginning to end. I know in union city, georgia, you know the community airport. They were in line until 12 36 a. M. This morning. That does not have to happen in a democratized industrialized nation. But does not happen on wealthy communities. It does happen however everywhere because what happened in georgia we are going to hear a lot of conversation about the largest counties that happen where the counties represented by the speaker of the house, a republican. It happened in jasper county, coffee county, lest you studied the map or from their most evil cannot pick those counties off the 159 counties we have in the state. But we have to think about is even though they target Voter Suppression is largely communities of color mainly africanamericans in the south if you are in the west it tends to target latinos and native americans. But no matter where you are, we know if you are targeted that means you are messing with the machinery. Part of what attack about in the book is the history this is not new. This is not new. We have seen this before the poll tax of the 1800s in the 1900s as the long wait times of the 21st century. Because when you have to stand in line for 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 in order to cast a single ballot. If you have to wait in line for five hours and then youve got to the front of the line only to find out that your name has disappeared from the roll, or your precinct was on the other side of town, it is too late to get there, its too late to participate in that is not right. So is and i want to talk about the book a little bit and on to ask if your psychic because the title, our time is now could not be more catchy i feel like it almost seems like a rallying cry its institutional racism and feels more urgent in this environment. I also wonder how have the lives weaves told ourselves as a country about our democracy undermined our efforts for this epic . So our organizing document, we got to the declaration of independence was is a beautiful clarion call for humanity, equality, injustice. And then you have the constitution which says that belongs to a certain class of people, namely whites. If you are africanamerican you are not human if you are native american you are invisible. And if you are a woman you should be silent. From our inception we built a system that was designed to aggregate and hold power to a very narrow community. The beauty of america is that we have over time done our best to expand that initial construction and meet our real obligation. It took the 13, 14, 15th amendment to not only free slaves but to grant us citizenship. But lets be clear granted the right to vote to black men. I was the 19th amendment that granted the right to vote to women but was only two white women. It was not until 1965 that black and brown women got the right to vote and it was the 26h amendment that acknowledged young people who could be sent up to die for their country should be able to live in votes and their country. So that tenure has given us both the tension of knowing that we have been considered less than its inception it also the promise of what we could be i wrote this book in the wake of the 2018 election because i was mad you can kind of hear it i was angry not not because i did become governor about the tens of thousands of people i spoke to them promise if they did their part and showed up and participated in our democracy, they have the opportunity to change the things they needed to change. Because of Voter Suppression, there being stripped to the right to vote or have it count they were denied healthcare. And then the pandemic can ravage the state of georgia were one point the city of albany had the fourth highest infection rate in the world, when we now africanamericans hire than anyone else in the state were told not that you have the right to healthcare. Ahmaud r bree was murdered in the streets of glenn county of brunswick, just outside of savannah. That young man, his body was shot down. There was no conversation for 74 days his murderers were sent home to celebrate. They are performed to dehumanize blacks from the original sin of our nation with dehumanization and its denial despite with the paper said. And the structures we are looking at today. The system is working exactly the way it was designed. But our time is the title because what i wanted to write this book was not just a litany of all the terrible things that happen. But a prescription for how we can make it better. The first few chapters i lay out all of the challenges of Voter Suppression. But the back half of the book is about how we take our power. Because 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 it now because the Democrat Point but the moral Inflection Point of georgia floyd and Breonna Taylor and reed and Ahmaud Arbery and every name that we could no longer called by memory because there are too many. That is what we are called to do right now. That is why this book fits into this moment. I absolutely agree. The book does help so well with this moment. I think so many of these things youve seen take to the streets day after day for more than two weeks now, are really talking about who in america is going to have power. And your book had me thinking about something that i have thought about for years actuall actually. Which is the idea of voting is a form of protest. In particular we been marginalized america. Do you feel like voting . On your talk about how voting is about power. You also think voting is protest . So protest is a power. Our discussed our disagreement of those not doing to their jobs as we have asked them to do. Voicing protest as power when i was in college i let a protest after the rodney king decision. When they tear gassed the University Center we sat with the housing developer with poor young people could not imagine they were going to be able to attend spelman and morehouse. stacey the protest was powerful. And especially for me it was the most that i was able to cast in the next election to replace City Council Members who i didnt think to their jobs. And to help lift up those who i thought didnt do a good job. Voting is an extraordinary form of protest. It is how we tell people who and how they were to cs and and value us. That they did not do their jobs. Also we call attention to the issues that we need especially if we are looking at the Citizen Initiative such as the one we saw past in florida and importantly get the governor. But luckily 70 sefton for those to vote. That was a protest. Have a system the citizens took power in a going to have to keep fighting. Because of it works the way they should, there will be people or very angry because their power will be diminished. Errin in the book a personal hero of mine. I love this quote. And for you all watching, since we will stand up for what belongs to us as american citizens. Because they cant say that we have been here. And i want to talk about black americans is black women. Is been going on for so long in this country. In this mess election cycle particularly. In many ways, and i wonder what you think the answer to that question is. Errin equality. And i think it sounds so mundane as an answer but the reality is thats all weve never demanded. Weve asked to be included in the nation that we helped build. Nation we helped birth. A nation we have clean and served combination that we have nurtured. We ask simply that we get equal access to opportunity. Equal access to justice, equal access to power. That is not a lot to ask. That is what every citizen should be able to enjoy by virtue of citizenship. And for black women in recovery that citizen ship has been constantly undermined the means and denied. That is what i am pushing for. I get a bit of a reputation for being too candid and my responses in conversations about power but when you grow up a black girl in mississippi and then moved to georgia. You know the power matters. And if you have it, and who doesnt and needs and wants it. My entire life has been an investigation of how do we get it for those who have been disadvantaged and denied their godgiven right as a citizen of this country. Errin you certainly are a black woman who does not have any problem standing up for herself our democracy. I have to say that caught the attention of a certain democratic president ial nominee who you could be joining as taken as Vice President. And people who are watching this conversation right now. I think a lot of people have heard you have a very convincing case that joe biden is running but i want to ask you a question again in light of the pandemic of the coronavirus and racism. I think it really shifted the criteria. And who is best positioned for the role. If ursula want to ask if you blake Vice President biden at this point given everything that were seeing in the country right now. Does he have to have a black woman on this ticket with him. And how do you see yourself as uniquely bona fide respond to these pandemic which i have to say that is taken on a new urgency. Stacey i think the Vice President has demonstrated in the last few weeks a moral core that is very brightl that the ct leader is a coward who refuses accountability and refuses responsibility joe biden has taken responsibility for his past actions but also future responsibility. As a pathway to plan and more importantly hes been falling speak with and not at communities that are suffering. So im absolutely complete faith joe biden is never going to take the community for granted. There may be disagreements about how we get there but the concerted goal is going to be progress and addressing systemic inequities and i believe to my car. I believe in his commitment. I think he will pick the right person for him. He will pick a running mate that complements him. He will pick someone who i think will help challenge him also more importantly of deliver on the promises he is making sure country. I trust you will pick the right running mate. I dont know if its going to be me. And while i think i have been mischaracterized is having before that ive always ever done is answer the question. Would you want to serve in are you qualified. Those are two questions i cant let go and answer because my silence before me and people will assume that no she doesnt want or think shes qualified and as a black woman and a woman of color and a woman who has been under estimated quite often come i learned early on that i have to speak for myself. I shouldnt presume the people will look at my resume and express a know it william. And so i try to provide the shorthand and answers question. But ultimately it will be up to the Vice President. I will say that my experience as a legislator and a someone who is committed to justice, i am very proud of the work that ive done on Police Accountability and helping pass laws in georgia to make that more transparent in the process and to make it work better. Im proud of the work that ive done criminal Justice Reform to ensure that our Justice Works on both sides of the conversation. Ive been able to build in this marginalized community that i know that i stand in solidarity and i dont have to be tutored on what we need to talk about. Then i can go and sit in a black lives matter meeting. I can call and do the work because i have the record. And regardless of the position im in and in the administration my responsibility is to never have to apologize for who i am and what i have done. Im very proud that ive always stood and community with those who are marginalized in disadvantaged and that it will continue to do that work. Errin for the last time that you and i talked. I georgia was on the verge of reopening. After weeks of being shut down with this coronavirus. Many residents who were dissatisfied to say the least about the Current Governor reopening. But you were not the governor at that time. So i think given what we saw last night, my home state have to ask you again. This a job but i know you wanted read very much in 2018. And assuming that youre not art new Vice President , are you interested in running for governor again possibly. Stacey that is absolutely a consideration read. Errin while there you go. Next question. Because i was love this part of your book. You say that those who are most vulnerable for suppression become the most acceptable for passing on their reluctance to others. That line really struck me because we are in the midst of a Global Health crisis. Is it like a virus. And if it is. Stacey absolutely it is a virus and in part if you think about the way you learn. You learn from those around us. We learn the active washing iphones these it teaches us to do it. We learn about whether we should stick her fingers into light sockets. We also learned and financial habits for Core Financial habits. We learn our behaviors young. And we learned by what we see. I was affected early with democracy. My parents took us to vote with them. I described in the book as we look like little ducklings and we trail out of the voting booth. But they wanted us to see them in the act of voting. It would also take us with them to volunteer. Even though we were poor we would point that out. Why are we going to serve four people because that is us. My parents would say, having nothing is not an excuse for not doing nothing. They would take this mess with them because they wanted us to see the service was an act of part of who we are. That obligation that transcended our physical and financial wellbeing. That we were responsible for the world we were part of. But the corollary to that is that if you dont see someone vote or worse, if you hear of the negative. If you care about those politicians somehow show up and never show up. And maybe never show up again. And worse they never even bothered to come. When you live in communities when nothing changes and consistent poverty is a given. When you hear about yourself talked about in the third person. When you hear your community describe and such dehumanizing terms. Then you start to internalize that. And why would you engage in a system that hires people to say those things about you. I would you engage in a system to pay people do not believe your life is valuable rated in the punching a knee on the neck is a legitimate form of service. And as a disease of underestimation. Its a disease of distance. That distance is reinforced every time we have elections and people who promise more, failed to deliver and more importantly failed to explain why not. Ive been a politician long enough to know that there is no way youre going to get what you cant predict i was minority leader that used to joke that was latin for liz welford because i would never going to end simply because of my charm is would have to work and often my job was to minimize harm. To stop stupid but at least slow it down and to block the bad thats going to harm our Community Read so my job was to have a conversation. I would be chastised by some of my colleagues for being too honest about what we could or could not do. And when i remind them of his i grew up in those communities. So the worst thing you can do the most pervasive way tos for the disease, the voter depression this life to person about what you can accomplish. You should be aspirational but you also have to be pragmatic and clear that yes we can do this but its going to take time and are the things we have to do obstacles not going to be a straight line. And is much as we want good, evil will push back harder pain is much as we want progress, was a party that call themselves conservative. Conservation me to hold steady not move. If you want to maintain the power structure that is rated there is no incentive for them to change. They have an equal say. Unless we overwhelmed the systems with the numbers and or tensions. So voter depression is a disease but theres an inoculation that comes with honesty and engagement. Some of those things that i talk about. What we saw happen with baraka obama was a fluke. Even though i didnt become the governor, people this gusset is an example. Im a good candidate. There are other good candidates and if you look at the outcome of nunnally the 2018 election the number of black women mayors and latinos and muslims. In communities of color disadvantage communities that have been able to access power. Then what we should be telling ourselves is that the antidote to this disease of voter discretion his engagement the trees people like they have and does the work of asking them to help instead of expecting them to simply because their life is so hard. People get used to hard. This much harder to get used to hope. Speech of democracy in dictionary pretty going to get the definition. Under is because of the work in his room and was named for the 19th amendment. An amendment which we are celebrate the hundredth anniversary this year. So i ask you just little bit more about what youre thinking about. But this can centennial and milestone. And you would like to see added to our constitution. Stacey i think we have to celebrate the 100th year of the 19th of admit because i did move the franchise forwarded. And black women were instrument mental in its passage even if we didnt benefit immediately from it. What it was approved for america is that the voices of our population, that they should be heard. In their simplicity and diversity. Thats a glorious thing in the democracy. But too many restrictions on who the loud to be heard read is a fear that if we refuse the power among too many, it wont work anymore. The reality is that shared power actually is more effective because it is more likely to resist the corrosive effects and more likely to stand up and push back against harm and danger. As of the 19th the memo for me and is, a call for what is possible. Especially in terms of interracial, intergenerational opportunity. Because it took a lot of women, multiple years at various stages of their lives to get this done. It wasnt simply the schoolhouse rock song that we hear. It took lives. In the pressure proves it can be so. When i look forward to what is happening today, people to remember that theres nothing easy about any of these amendments. Possibly 26th amendment is doing the easiest pass. But think about the reports to take for him die in those wars. All the women were there and positions. How many of people at the parish in order for us to method franchise to 18 yearolds. And certainly the civil war and the inhumanity of our constitution to create the 16th minute. So i think it is important for us to remember how hard it was to get what we got. And how much work it will take to keep what we have. I believe the solution to making this less hard is to fix the problems of the constitution. Number one the delegation to the state of complete authority over the administration of elections has a fundamental flaw. Most days you dont want people to vote have the right. It means you allowing the personal broke it to fix it after they told you we dont want to fix it. The second part of the challenge as it should be in our constitution that the right to vote for citizens shall not be abridged. We created too many exceptions and allowed too many clauses and opportunities front to be in her mind. And then maybe clear. The Voting Rights act made the act that made it the hardest to interfere with right to vote. The conservatives came after section five. And they dismantled it successfully. And now they are after section two. Now want to understand had preclearance in section five. With section two, what it says is that you are prohibited from casting laws than wrench the right to vote based on race, nationality and language barriers. What that means is the rules they are trying to put into place, if you can prove that it has original intent, they can stop it. It happened to be racist, unless we wrote it down, they cant be accountable. That would remove the last protection that we have the Voting Rights act to stop these laws of Voter Suppression. In his last few weeks, republicans find a multipronged to attempt attack on the second amendment. Section two of the Voting Rights act rated and we can not respond to that. Because they have told us what they are going to do. Theyve committed to spending up to 60 million to suppress the right to vote in 2020. And they have agreed to put 50000 volunteers into communities to intent intimidate voters to stop them from voting. And just in case things dont work, they want to dismantle the remaining pillar of the Voting Rights act which means that at the moment our nation is becoming the most diverse ever. The protections for that diversity become true engagement is voters despair. Errin will a lot of you out there watching have cemented a ton of great questions. I want to get to a couple of those. I want to start with the question from justin who asked and explain racism to someone who is conservative and welleducated but does not believe systemic racism exists in america today. Stacey i think the challenge that is being offered and describing it. You have to begin with people who sees a problem reading and if they dont understand and cant articulate it. The fundamental idea and heard it said the slick and recent panel i was on. Thou art theres who are put in the water there swimming with the current rated the card is the friends pushing them along toward success and opportunity and it gives them an extra boost as they moved to towards their goals. Its when you put in the water in your pool is on the other side against the current rated in your entire life is about going against the current being from on the rocks and having absolutely no opportunity to do not require that you have to go upstream against the current. That is systemic racism. This is a that the reason he got into the water and got to go in one direction versus the other is because of who you are. But it does say that you benefit from the fact that some people in the winter going downstream and others into the water going upstream against current and they never have a choice. Errin is actually the very good analogy. So i will start using that one as well. We have another question asking what is the responsibility of white allies in regards to Voter Suppression. How can we help. It. Stacey yet understand that Voter Suppression makes target communities of color and target young people but it affects us all. In part of what i layout is those who not only of the solutions for the problems because the first opportunity the first moment of fighting back the Voter Suppression is knowing what it looks like. Our conception of Voter Suppression until a sign for a lot of people is that somebody stood in front of the voting booth or in front of the doors with a shotgun and a growling dog and take it you shall enter or pass. But its much more insidious and much more administrative. And so one thing that alex can do is talk about it. Understand what it looks like. Understand the problems are. And then articulate its greatest because one of the reasons that suppression works in people get convince is user error. You know was my fault that a misstep who was your fault that you must separate so we first have to articulate what suppression is. In this way it uses three things can you register, can you act at the ballot and does rebel account. Make sure you understand the suppression what it was like in your Community Number two. Interfere. Make it easier pretty help people get registered. Help volunteer as a poll watcher. These the antidote to the situation. Errin how to get more question and hear from melindas says that she is volunteering as an organizer. And she says is there any advice that you can get for volunteers and organizers to help us reach as many voters through this time when a lot of our efforts must be done digitally. Stacey dont forget the analog sprayed phone calls work. For a lot of folks, especially Rural Communities that have people more people color than folks realize. And they are susceptible to change. Make sure that youre having conversations. And whether you doing it digitally or through the phone. The tendency of organizers is to preach. You treat them as though there are parishioners who come to your church. They are not parishioners right your church. And i say this become a daughter of two ministers. They are people that you have to meet where they are. That means that they comfortably theres a reason to come with you. So i start people what they want. What you need. What is broken. What is not working and what is your dream for your community. And get people to talk about what you want, you are offering them a solution to the problem but if you begin by articulate the problems worse by preaching at them, you have no reason to engage. Conversation works when people feel heard and they feel like there is access. Some take the time to engage at no that is going to be multistage. If youre not going to get somebody on the first try. Be prepared to build longterm friendships with a lot of folks. And being a bit facetious about it but what i mean is going to take more than one conversation when engagement. But the more you do it more likely you are instead of writing someone who creates for your creating a voucher for a community and that is your goal. Errin i would and by hearing from you about some people who you included the dedication debug. I know how dear she was to you and what a powerful figure she was an how she shipped you. I know that she passed away a few months after he did not become governor. In the book you tell a story. It was an profile about you and so this is story you tell about your visit of your grandmother. If you can share our your story with an audience now. Leaking grandmother would make. The libby message to voters is a super butter herself. On encourage the readers to read the book. Then i will say the truncated version is my grandmother who had been part of the Civil Rights Movement primarily through her children on the day that she first had the right to vote. She did not want to vote. She was afraid. It was that she was afraid that 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 that in a democracy, people have power but sometimes our is so overwhelming and frightened this frightens us have using it. She believed in me and supported me. Joyce told me i needed to get more sleep. And i believe that she would look at what happened yesterday and what is happening across our country and tell us if you locate any classy estes, there is nothing new under the sun. We also have the time to rise and this is our time. To take our country and make it better than it has been created that is what she would call for that is what i am trying to do. Errin think that is a perfect way to end this conversation. Thank you so much for sharing your thousand writing this book which i thought was phenomenal and i hope people will recognize that the time is now pretty thank you to everyone listening and thank you aaron. I really appreciate it is been a delight. Errin thank you for such an important and meaningful conversation. I hope youll buy a copy of this if you havent already. In the chat box and we will Virtual Events afters coming please check out our website. And the time time comes i look forward to welcoming you back here. Take care and good night. Tonight a book tv in prime time, democratic rep. Melia of Washington State tax about her life and political career. Several authors discuss the biographies of George Washingtons mother, mary ball washington. Howard bloom recounts the failed plot that killed fdr, churchill and stalin in 1943. Brian walsh of discusses the various threats humanity faces such as global warming, a nuclear floor. Find more information booktv. Org or Ticket Program guide. During a Virtual Program hosted by the library of congress, she reflected on her time participating in a simulation of living on mars. As a portion of that conversation. You really want to practice as well as possibly can here on earth before recent astronauts out into space. From her mercury, gemini missions, nasa was looking for ways to train restaurants or how to do things here and just prepare them. Thats where we get that lab. If youve ever seen the astronauts and a giant pool. Thats an assimilation of training astronauts. So the idea is going through the moon for a long time. And some people are talking about it and then going to mars. It is not just about figuring out how to fix something on the exterior of the space station. It has all sorts of challenges. Largely psychological. If youre in a mission to ours, you two and half years away from earth. And that sort of isolation something that has never occurred in human history. So far away for that long. The simulations looks at the ways that groups of people, as to not like subjects come together and how they work as a team and the challenges they encounter as they are isolated from essentially worth. To watch the last of this Program Visit our website. Use the search box at the top of the page. Once upon a time, i lived on mars. Put it in the search box. Now in both tvs afterwards, wired Magazine Editor at large, steven levy looks at the future of facebook. Hes interviewed by a columnist. Afterwards his weekly interview program. Annies interviewing top nonfiction authors about the latest work. All the programs are also available as podcasts. Welcome mr. Nice to see you. I think the lesson we are here is when we are both working at newsweek in the company canteen