Today. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. Lets start by talking about how this summer has been. Obviously, as one of the cofounders of the black lives beenr movement, you have centering some of the issues, all of the issues, that have taken even a bigger place front and center stage in national politics, the national conversation, more generally. Lookingou feel today, at the Political Landscape today versus how you felt at the beginning of summer, early june . Like time is not a construct, but ever flowing. Ill say that in the beginning of the summer, we saw unprecedented rebellions spread not just across the country, but across the world. I think it has a lot to do with a few things. Number one, at this point black lives matter is kind of in the muscle memory of this nation. Getn years ago, we couldnt politicians to say black lives matter. We couldnt get a lot of people to say black lives matter. We got a lot of all lives matter, blue lives matter, every life except for black lives matter. So coming into this period, it has been surreal to see the ways in which black lives matter has spread more completely. Said, weith that being have also seen not just widespred embracing of black lives matter, but i think we are still waiting for the kinds of changes this movement has been demanding for a very long time. Imright now on this day, just reflecting that a lot of what we are seeing is that we a re essentially being used as a political football in this election season. And the leader of this country is attacking our organization, our movement, while allowing for vigilantes and white nationalists and White Supremacists to go unchecked. Does say at really lot about where we are as a nation as it relates to racism, as it relates to addressing issues of safety and what it means to be safe in our communities. I think what we found is this movement has progressed in such a way where it is now offering very concrete solutions as to how we address the ongoing epidemic of Police Violence and police brutality, but bigger than that, how we address the systemic dismantling of the kind of infrastructure in our communities that not only keeps us safe, but also allows us to live for and dignified lives. Education, on, and on, what we are finding is there is a need for bold and courageous moves. Not just because there is a contest for who will lead this nation, but because our very lives depend on it. Here we are at the intersection crisisobal pandemic, in our democracy, deepening and climateg crisi crisis, a depression, and also a crisis of racial terror. Those are things that will need to be addressed. Its interesting you make the point of political football. Thatskes me that maybe where some of my weariness comes in about this summer. Even the response. Even sometimes the good response. It is amazing and puts into perspective how a few years ago, aying black lives matter was political death sentence in some communities. Much remarkable to see how so much has changed. Some of if you think the fundamentals and i think this is the political football point that seven years ago it was used as a political football, and it is also still being used as a political e slightly more in a progressive favor, but still ack people,l communities, and leaders to repeatedly assert, not just their dignity, but their good intentions in a way that others dont have to. Absolutely. Ive spent the last week dealing with messages that frankly missed the point. We have seen all kinds of things ais week, including disingenuous call for a ban on nighttime protests. Gusto, thatt with they feel they have to condemn rioting or looting, and are associating that with protests. At the same time, we dont see as quick of action to deal with wentact a 17yearold boy to a protest in kenosha, wisconsin, and shot and ki shot two people who were protesting. Of anynot been the topic conversations as it relates to this president , yet the president is convening taskforces through the department of justice to study allegedly radical extremists. The president has been on television this last week talking about black lives matter and how he believes it is a terrorist organization that he wants to prosecute. So a lot of what we are dealing with in this moment is a reckoning, but i am not quite clear that we have made the choice to actually lean into it. Just threeaders who months ago were being loud and for creating the kinds of conditions in this country where people are facing the realities of systemic racism. Today, we are in a moment where the attorney general of this nation said he doesnt believe systemic racism exists in policing. So thats the moment we are facing right now. Imperative that for those of us who care about what is going to happen in november, but beyond that, those of us who care about the direction this country is headed in, we have to ask if we will be observerservers while we are being ghastly into believing the real issues today, broken windows as opposed to the dozens of black people who have been murdered just this year alone, and some have been murdered on camera. I think we also have to determine we will make black slogan,tter more than a that we will actually make it the governing principle of this nation. Thats the work that is left to do. Its interesting thinking taylor, inna particular, and how we talk about black deaths at the hand of the state, and i think death thingdamentally the worst the state can do to you, they can kill you. They can kill you with impunity, without ever being punished, they can kill you because it is a racist system that believes in responding to black people with racist solutions, including not seeing them enough to be alive. Theres another thing, which is thatreonna taylor lived, she had been previously injured, lets say, she would be locked up for drug dealing. Her boyfriend would be locked up for attempted murder. That night would have ruined her life, regardless, death is obviously much worse than any other thing that could have happened to her, but in the spectrum of what we talk about when we talk about Police Violence and racist Police Violence, people come out of the word work woodwork and say only x amount of people were killed by police, whatever the justification is. But it goes beyond that. I think that is fundamental to what you have always talked about when you talk about black lives matter. I agree. I just read the heartbreaking piece in the New York Times about Breonna Taylor and her life. What i found so fascinating about it was she really was the story of redemption that this country talks about all the time. Familyst person in her to graduate from high school. She took care of her younger sister and her infant godchild. She was an essential worker. An emt who worked at local hospitals. She was somebody who had just fallen in love. Resistedebody who every obstacle placed in front of her. She also is the story of america. She is the story of what our communities are grappling with every single day. Hearingue that were more recently that the police there had offered a deal to her exboyfriend, trying to get him to posthumously implement her in his drug dealing practice, which he refused to do. And i think there is the question of who is left behind. We havent asked the question of what happened to her younger sister, her god child. What has happened to her mother . Watched asburyo anna was murdered right next to as breonna was murdered right next to her. So much of this that is couched as individualized and exceptional kinds of cases. But i think we find pattern and practice. The other thing i want to say about this is so often, people dont survive to tell the story. Ist we found is jacob blake still alive after being shot seven times in the back in front of his three children. Hes still alive to be able to tell the story. As he is recovering from his injuries, up until just a couple of days ago, he was handcuffed to his bed. That changed the course as a result of public outcry. We have to ask ourselves if this is the kind of safety we are driving toward. Do you feel safer knowing he was shot in his back seven times and was lost and has lost his ability his functioning from the waist down . Do you feel safer knowing that . Do you feel safer knowing an essential worker was murdered in her home, in her bed while she was sleeping . Safety, i public think we have to ask ourselves a lot of questions about what about this process, what about this pattern and practice is making us safer . I think the answer to that is nothing. There does have to be a different way of approaching this. Thiss why im so Proud Movement has actually introduced really clear ways to get us closer to the things we purport that we want in our lives. What i was going to ask next bad state factors always want to say what is the solution . I find that a frustrating conversation, anyway, because i dont think you should have figured out the solution to identify the problem. I also think there has been so much work, particularly this around more recent work, what a solution looks like. To just what a solution Police Violence looks like, but if we believe in safety and value Public Safety, what does Public Safety look like . Can you talk about the act . I want to make sure everyone who watches this knows about it, and understands the principles behind it and what it really means. Absolutely. To the movement of black lives, a coalition of more than 150 black led organizations. Hundreds of individual hosts who have come together over the last ave or six years to build movement that can transform the rules that have been rigged against our communities for a very long time. The breathe act is a pivotal milestone in this movements trajectory. Whatks us to reconsider safety, wellness, and dignity looks like. I would say it is this generations version of the civil rights act. It is an identification of where it is we need to divest our resources from, and where we need to invest resources into in order to achieve the goals we have laid out. So one of the things i feel really proud of in relationship to this piece of legislation is for so many years, people would say things like what is the solution . What do we need to do about it . Now here we are. We have proposed this very comprehensive way to address Public Safety, but also, community wellness, which essentially involves divesting from the punishment economy and investing into a caring economy that takes care of all of us. Spent most of the summer talking about the viability of the demand of defunding police. Foruld say as an organizer 20 years, any kind of demand out there that makes you uncomfortable is the right kind of demand. Because it forces you to think about where you stand, and it also forces you to interrogate how you understand what the problem is. It forces you to start to articulate how you might address it differently. In not so caught up language that i dont understand the cord problems core problems we are facing in our communities. And when we want to improve our quality of life, we dont have hospitals, we dont have fullservice grocery stores, we dont have schools where all kids have books, and where the first person they see in the morning isnt a teacher, but a Police Officer. We are one of a few jurisdictions across the country that has its own Police Department for the school district. Ways, our infrastructure in our communities has been intentionally weakened for decades. It has caused a set of conditions that result in what we are fighting today. So a very clear call to reinvest our resources in order to reimagine how our communities calle well is the clarion of this generation. I think it should be the that our Pivotal Point parents talked about when they were marching. Not just for voting rights, not to segregation, but fundamentally the last period of civil rights, which is about rebuilding infrastructure in our communities so we can be powerful in every aspect of our lives. Really the breathe act assets to reconsider what we are prioritizing, in terms of resources and the impacts on our communities. Its such an interesting point, because the phrasing makes people uncomfortable, some people. Even when we see that shifting. Found a document a couple of months ago that said it was talking about defunding the andce, a political goal, had a timeline on what possible. A couple ofare years in, things are shifting. So the timing is moving. It is remarkable how quickly it moves, and how quickly it doesnt. Its important for people to think about the idea that people let me figure out a better way to say this i do think people think in their head i would always be on the right side of history. There is no way the Civil Rights Movement would have made me uncomfortable, because that was correct, they were doing the right thing. And i know what the right thing is inherently. By it takes a lot of work organizers, thinkers, and innovators to really set Fertile Ground for people to have the ability to imagine a different world. What i try to tell people all the time is what a blessing and how great it is to be able to open your mind and imagine something different. How great it is to imagine a world where we dont need onice, where we dont rely state terror to get what we want havepeople, that we provided basic resources to other human beings. I think about that in the context of your work at black futures lab. I think so much of what you are trying to do is not just give black people a voice and make them more of the conversation and consideration around political decisions, but also where blackture people are valued, supported, and have the resources they need in a country that has never once in its history done that adequately. Thats very true. Tell me about your work there. We start from the perspective of what we dream about and what we want to see for our futures. Then we walk ourselves backwards to say what would it take to get there . And thek futures lab black future action fund is all about making black communities powerful in politics so we can be powerful in the rest of our lives. So much of building power for black communities involves listening to and engaging black communities, and trusting black folks can be the heroes in our own stories. That we actually dont need to wait for somebody to come and save us. So much of the story of our liberation struggle is centered weund unique individuals who assume had superhuman qualities, like Martin Luther king and malcolm x. I think what we found is frankly, some of the most profound changes in this country have come from regular people who were sick and tired of being sick and tired. And what we are doing at the black futures lab is organizing of theey lou hamers country to help us lead in the process of changing rules rigged against our communities for generations, of being new nce structures in this country to determine how resources are distributed, how economies and democracy function, and to make sure none of our communities are left behind. So our whole institution really began from a listening project called the black census, where it is now the Largest Survey of black in america in 165 years. We talked to black people in every state in the country, every demographic, across all kinds of social, economic, and other demographic lines. What we found from that process is more often than not, people said nobody has ever asked me what i experience every day, and what i want from my future. And that does not bode well for a political system that is healthy and functioning. What we learned were things keeping the black communities up at night are low wages that are not able to support a family, the lack of Affordable Quality Health care and housing. And when it comes to what we want to see done about it, a lot of us have said we want government to take more responsibility for ensuring all of its citizens are well. So from making sure wealthy individuals are redistributing their wealth, all the way to ensuring everybody who Needs Housing and health care has it. Black communities have an incredible vision for what can make this country well when it has just been very sick for a very long time. For us, the process of listening is what we use to determine the fights we pick. We put together a document called the black agenda 2020, which lays out all of the solutions our survey respondents talked about, from housing, health care, wages, education, the legal system. Interestingly, we talked earlier about defunding the police. In this campaign moment, there is such hesitation to talk about what changes need to happen as it relates to policing and Public Safety. But i can tell you in a survey of black folks that were not radical activists that the number one thing people wanted was to hold Police Accountable when they commit crimes in our communities, and people talk a lot about redistributing resources in such a way that our communities could be safe and whole, and where police would not actually be needed or necessary. So while even our survey respondents werent necessarily using the word defund they are using the principal term, which is divesting from the things punishing us, hurting us, and keeping us from being safe, like everybody deserves to be safe. That dont just put information in a report, we have been using that as an organizing tool and making sure in this critical election cycle, where everything is at stake for our communities, that we are using the correct litmus test to determine who gets our support. To date, we have more than 60,000 black voters across the nation who have taken a pledge to use the black agenda as the way they will determine how to select the people that represent them. Inalso know what happens november, what happens at the federal level, is important, but its not everything. And fundamentally, no matter what happens in november, we still have to keep pushing and plugging to change the rules, but also be the rule makers. So right now, weve got 41 black fellows from across the nation who are currently, as we speak, learning how to write, win, and implement new rules in cities and states across this country. In january, you will see policy campaigns coming out of our shops that are led by the sending lemurs seney lou hamers of this country to change the rules in city halls across this nation. This moment is calling for us to do is to be more act of participants in our present and our future. Our goal at the black futures lab and black future action fund is to