Community action to you with an interview of sorts and the heart and we will have an opportunity for question and answer some say you are particularly interested in to follow up you will have that opportunity. And the privilege to be a part of the 50th the anniversary event. A great way to get things started. Without further ahead do we go get into my introduction of our guest. Known as Sister Simone campbell is part of the National Catholic Justice Group of religious leader and attorney and poet with expense assyrians of advocacy for systemic change and in washington she lobbies on Immigration Reform and health care and economic justice. She is a noted speaker of Public Policy issues and since the 70s she has founded or served as lead attorney for serving or protecting Public Policy needs. She has traveled to the middle east and with Health Care Reform she authored the famous and none better than supported the reform bill persuading 59 other leaders to sign on it was considered critic
The general assembly. She is the first woman to lead. She is in her 30s. Derek johnson is the president of the naacp. The ed of the new orleans workers at center for. Mayor steve benjamin, the first black mayor of columbia, South Carolina since reconstruction. The president of voto latino. When you read through what you will see is changes here in the south. We are transforming very rapidly and if more people paid more attention we could transform faster still. The region these days is typified in many ways by Voter Suppression, attempts to put in latino exclusion acts a guild chinese exclusion act that we saw after the civil war. Very targeted bills are put in place to make it more difficult for immigrants of color to remain in the south. The south as an organizer in my opinion, it is a light switch. Use on or is off. You can see it in North Carolina in the last 10 years. Major progressive changes. Huge ultraconservatives pushed back. We say in this country that there are two cliches
If we can start that conversation today and start thinking about it today, we sent a signal that ben talked about. Investing in the south makes sense. If you want a longterm return on your investment, this is the year to pay attention. If elections get done well this year and we see the real strong trend, democracy is not destiny. Demography is not destiny. It is a really good guess of what destiny can look like. Get them registered this year and send a signal about how it can be done not just in georgia could be exported to other states. What you are mentioning is the 2020 census, incredibly important for our future. One of the things i encourage part of this work to be is how do we change how things happen when it comes to redistricting. One of the main things, you see the beauty of it in california. They appointed a public commission. It was individual citizens voted in and they got to create a map that reflected california. That impacted across party lines, republican or democrat.
This is going to be fine. This is a really going to be fun. I have some powerhouses that do macklemore said that had one general but i think we have generals that have on the platform today. David j. Dennis junior is a Senior Writer at an escape known as the undefeated. His work has been featured in Atlanta Magazine the atlantic, Washington Post and the huffington post, among other publications. Dennis is a recipient of the 2021 American Mosaic journalism prize, is a National Association of black journalists salute to excellence award, and was named one of the routes 100 most influential africanamericans of 2020. He lives in georgia with his wife and two children and is a graduate of davidson college. His dad, david. Dennis senior, is a civil veteran. He attended Dillard University and earned his law degree, the university of michigan in 72. He codirected the challenge at the louisiana democrat structure that resulted in an africanamerican chairman and majority African American delegat
Atlanta magazine the atlantic, Washington Post and the huffington post, among other publications. Dennis is a recipient of the 2021 American Mosaic journalism prize, is a National Association of black journalists salute to excellence award, and was named one of the routes 100 most influential africanamericans of 2020. He lives in georgia with his wife and two children and is a graduate of davidson college. His dad, david. Dennis senior, is a civil veteran. He attended Dillard University and earned his law degree, the university of michigan in 72. He codirected the challenge at the louisiana democrat structure that resulted in an africanamerican chairman and majority African American delegation being sent to the national convention. The time since reconstruction. He is executive director of the southern algebra project in cooperative and nonprofit organized that works to ensure quality for all children, especially children of color and the chronically underserved. This book, the movemen