 welcome welcome to all of you coming to the room I'm Reggie Harris co-president of Living Legacy and singer-songwriter musical education director and I'm here to sing with you. Sing this. Well I'm gonna see at the welcome table. At the welcome table. I'm gonna see at the welcome table. I'm gonna see at the welcome table. One of these days. Say that again for me. I'm gonna see at the welcome table. I'm gonna see at the welcome table. I'm going to sit at the welcome table, I'm going to sit at the welcome table one of these days. There will be food for all at the welcome table. One of these days, hallelujah, food for all at the welcome table Food for all at the welcome table, one of these days You probably recognize this song as one that was part of the modern civil rights movement Some during those mass meetings, when night after night people gathered to sing together and then kept the news of what the next protest was gonna be But when they were gonna make the next mark, voting drive I'm gonna sit at the welcome table I'm gonna sit at the welcome table, one of these days, hallelujah I'm gonna sit at the welcome table I'm gonna sit at the welcome table, one of these days You know that we're gonna sit and eat together Now we're gonna sit and eat together One of these days, hallelujah, we're gonna sit and eat together You're gonna sit and eat together, one of these days Take out your hands, gonna sit at the welcome table I'm gonna sit at the welcome table, one of these days, hallelujah I'm gonna sit at the welcome table I'm gonna sit at the welcome table, one of these days We are gonna sit at the welcome table, one of these days And part of the reasons we are here tonight Is to celebrate the gains that have been made in voting and in civil rights But we know just from what we see around us that we are seriously not there So join me if you will We are gonna have an amazing, amazing program for you tonight We have three dynamic speakers And we have a moderator who's gonna just lead us through an evening of conversation and sharing And the word hallelujah in that last song is a very important word in the African-American community In the African diaspora, it has risen to a place where we celebrate the things that we have accomplished We celebrate where we're going and we celebrate the very here and now as we are working together Well, I've never been to heaven, but I think I'm right Been down into the South Folks up there both black and white Been down into the South Sing hallelujah freedom hallelujah freedom hallelujah freedom Been down into the South Well, I've never been to heaven, but I think I'm right Been down into the South Don't wanna go with the merciful rights Been down into the South Sing hallelujah freedom hallelujah freedom hallelujah freedom Been down into the South You can sing that chorus with me hallelujah freedom hallelujah freedom hallelujah freedom Been down into the South And as a friend of mine always says This song was one song in the Civil Rights Movement by those who were going into Mississippi on Mississippi Freedom Summer And we're working with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee But we all know that the South is not just a geographic location It is a state of mind that extends all over this land Well, I've never been to heaven, but I think I'm right Been down into the South Folks up there both black and white Been down into the South Sing hallelujah freedom hallelujah freedom hallelujah freedom Been down into the South Been walking around to spread the news Been down into the South Now I've got holes in all my shoes Been down into the South Sing hallelujah freedom hallelujah freedom hallelujah freedom Been down into the South Now the only thing that we did wrong Been down into the South Stay in the window this is way too long Been down into the South Sing hallelujah freedom hallelujah freedom hallelujah freedom Been down into the South Yeah but the only thing that we did right been down into the south. Oh and I didn't took up the fight. Been down into the south. Sing Hallelujah Freedom. Hallelujah Freedom. Hallelujah Freedom. Been down into the south. Well I've never been to heaven but I think I'm right. Been down into the south. Don't want to go with number voting rights. Been down into the south. Sing Hallelujah Freedom. Hallelujah Freedom. Hallelujah Freedom. Been down into the south. We are here tonight to think about ways that we can let our light shine. So I'm gonna do my last song and we're gonna begin this program. It's a song that is one that was probably the most sung during those masked meetings. Time of slavery. Well there's lili. I'm gonna let it shine. Well there's lili. I'm gonna let it shine. Well there's lili. Don't mind. I'm gonna let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine, let it shine around the world I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine Well, I'm working to make my boat count Let it shine, I'm working to make my boat count I'm gonna let it shine, we are working to make those boats count We're gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine Oh, help me man, this little light of mine This light there, this little light of mine I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine, let it shine. Thanks so much for singing along tonight. And it's time to begin our program. Our special guests tonight are Michelle Duster, Shavara Oren, and the Honorable Andrea Jenkins. And our host and moderator this evening is a member of our own board of directors, the Reverend Carlton E. Smith. I know this is going to be an incredible conversation, so let's get it started. Carlton, it's all yours. It's my privilege to welcome you all to the Living Legacy Projects program with our very powerful guest this evening on the eve of Women's Suffrage Day. In this month in which we celebrate the centennial, the 100th anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment, securing the right to vote for some women, but not all women. I know each of our three guests as friends and colleagues and fellow writers, and it is my delight to welcome them into the Living Legacy Project community. Shavara Oren's work and passion is informed by her lived experience as the daughter of two human rights activists, a white Jewish mother who is an anti-apartheid and anti-racist activist, and a black father who is a driving force behind many civil rights campaigns of the 1960s. She is the co-creator of the We Are Straight Allies National Campaign in support of LGBTQ communities, and the founder of the White and Wilt Campaign, which creates actions to dismantle institutional racism. Welcome to Shavara Oren. Also with us is the Honorable Andrea Jenkins, Vice President of the Minneapolis City Council elected in 2018. She is a policy aide, poet, performance artist, and activist, and is the first black openly transgender woman to be elected to public office in the United States. She was among the City Council members advocating for defunding the police following the killing of George Floyd. Welcome to Andrea Jenkins. And Michelle Duster is an educator and the author or editor of several books, including Shifts, An Anthology of Women's Growth Through Change, Michelle Obama's impact on African-American women and girls, and the upcoming Ida B. The Queen, The Extraordinary Life and Legacy of Ida B. Wells. She is also the great-granddaughter of Ida B. Wells Barnett, the celebrated journalist known for her anti-lynching activism. Her co-founding of the NAACP and her significant role in the struggle for women's suffrage. Welcome also to Michelle Duster. Now friends, imagine, if you will, being on a tour bus as part of the Living Legacy Project pilgrimage. You're all masked and physically distant, as is appropriate. Leaving Memphis International Airport and heading southwest, you arrive here in my hometown of Holly Springs, Mississippi, the birthplace of Ida B. Wells Barnett, the internationally known anti-lynching activist and woman suffragist whose life straddled the 19th and 20th centuries. It's mid-July and you are just in time for the town's annual Ida B. Wells Barnett birthday celebration. You visit the house that is now the Ida B. Wells Barnett Museum, which her father helped to build as a master carpenter. There is continuity from Ida B. Wells Barnett to today's celebrations of women's right to vote. Michelle, it's safe to say that as long as there are struggles for equal rights and justice under the law, your great grandmother, Ida B. Wells, is always going to be relevant. She's known largely for her anti-lynching work, which was foundational in the field of investigative journalism, but she's not as well known for her contributions to women's suffrage. Please share with us about that and how you've been raising awareness of her over many years now. Hi, Carlton. Thank you for having me. So yeah, this is the centennial of the 19th Amendment and so there has been a lot of enthusiasm to celebrate this landmark kind of occasion. And what I've seen is white women have been sort of in a frenzy of like, well, look what we did. We have so much to celebrate and a lot of black women are like, well, this is an opportunity for us to force the narrative to become more inclusive than it has been in the past. And so my great grandmother is involved in that and her story is involved in that. And so she was involved in the suffrage movement. One way that was slightly different for black women and white women as far as the suffrage movement was that black women, including my great grandmother, she was one of the founders of the National Association of Colored Women, which was very common for black women to be involved in clubs, in the club movement, which included suffrage, but was not the only focus for their work. And then in 1913, she founded the Alpha Suffrage Club in Chicago, which was the first all-black suffrage club in the state of Illinois. And then she famously participated in the suffrage parade in Washington, D.C., in March. And famously refused to march in the back of the parade as was requested for black women and inserted herself defiantly and proudly into the Illinois delegation, which she had traveled to Washington, D.C. with them. So on multiple levels, she was kind of in the key points when it came to black women, all women being included in the suffrage movement, and she did not allow herself to be marginalized in that, in those efforts. Thank you for that, Michelle. And as we continue, our imaginary pilgrimage, as we're on this living legacy project tour, we're going to go from Holly Springs, and the bus is going to travel south on Highway 7 past Oxford and Water Valley, Coffeeville and Grenada. It takes a few other roads, and before long, you find yourself standing in front of the relic of Bryant's grocery and meat market. It's overgrown with brush and volunteer trees, fenced in with a private property sign posted. It was at this crossroads that 14-year-old Emmett Till was alleged to have whistled at the white wife of the white owner of that store 65 years ago in August of 1955. That accusation by Carol and Bryant set in motion a change of choices and actions by her husband and his half-brother that brutally ended Emmett's life. Emmett's mother, Mamie Till, became a passionate activist and speaker as she sought justice for her one son. Again, with us this evening is the Honorable Andrea Jenkins, Vice President of the Minneapolis City Council. As is known around the globe now, a police officer there killed George Floyd on the street in broad daylight while he begged for his life and with cameras documenting its end. The cruelty and senselessness of these deaths and the callousness of the officer with his knee on Floyd's neck resulted in national and international outrage and an uprising that continues to this day. The call for reforms has been strong, including the Minneapolis City Council's vote to defund its police department. It is a choice that has been well-received among activists, but staunchly opposed by others, some of whom have threatened the lives of city council members. There is a line of continuity between the outrage at the murder of Emmett Till and the outrage of the murder of George Floyd. Andrea, it's been literally 65 years since the murder of Emmett Till in Money, Mississippi. We have had the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1965 that so many sacrificed for and believed in. We have a more diverse representation among elected officials, more than ever, including your becoming the first openly, first black openly transgender woman to be voted into office, and yet the struggle continues. What do you see as missing, and what will it take to have the equal value of black lives upheld in the courts? Wow. Carlton, I'm so honored to be here on this panel this evening with these esteemed leaders that you've assembled. Our careers have collided in the literary space, and so I'm just really grateful for this opportunity to really talk about this important topic. When you mentioned the word Emmett Till, you stirred emotions inside of me. I grew up in Chicago as a child, and Emmett Till did what almost every child in Chicago would do in the summertime. Their parents would send us to Alabama, which is where I was spent in my summers in a little town called Union Springs, which is just outside of Tuskegee, or Arkansas, or Mississippi, because if you read, if you read Isabelle Wilkerson's book, The Warmth of Other Sons, that's pretty much where all the black people in Chicago came from, Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi. So I had this image, and I remember seeing the Jet magazine that Emmett Till's body, and I've met Mamie Till before she passed away, her courage to say to the world, look what racism has done to my child. She showed the entire world. And as a member of the city council here in Minneapolis, as the city council member that represents the area where George Floyd was murdered, so literally he was murdered one and a half blocks from my home, and I am the council member for this area. So I first saw the video about 1.30 a.m. after he was murdered. The mayor called me and asked me had I seen it, or he called me to tell me that the police had been involved in a killing, but he assured me that no guns were used. There were no guns, and I'm just like, but it was an officer involved killing, right? So he said, you know, you got to look at the video. The thing that I think is the through line is that, you know, Emmett Till, that image of him in Jet Magazine went all over this country and all over the world. And maybe it did not have the global impact that the George Floyd murder had simply because, you know, social media, 24 hour news cycle, you know, all the things. But it had the same impact, Carlton, you know, before Emmett Till, you know, people like Ida B. Wells were telling the world that we were being lynched at numbers, just astronomical numbers, that it was an epidemic of killing black men. So the issue, you know, Billie Holiday sang about it, you know, strange fruit. It was not, you know, it wasn't that we weren't aware, that we weren't fighting, that we weren't resisting, but nobody believed it. And it felt like the same way now, up until this point, white people just didn't believe that, you know, black men were being murdered at disproportional rates, unarmed without any kind of resistance to the police. And we just witnessed it again yesterday in Kenosha, Wisconsin. And so the through line, the similarity between, and I'm so glad you brought this up, Emmett Till. And, you know, as a poet, I've written poems about Emmett Till in, you know, growing up in Chicago. I mean, there's an Emmett Till avenue. But we really embraced that story. But it transformed the civil rights movement. It turned it up another notch, if you will. And, you know, we saw the same signs that we see now, enough is enough. We can't take it anymore. And so right now, we are in the midst of what I hope is going to be transformational change in this country. The protesters are breaking it down. You know, I've been involved in a number of really big 19th Amendment commemorations, and I call it a commemoration, not really a celebration, because they left out black women. You know? So the last trip that I was on was to New York City in February to commemorate the 19th Amendment. And there's an art exhibition that is called 100 Years, 100 Women. And so they have 100 women responding to the 19th Amendment. And most of them are black women or women of color, which is pretty fascinating. And I encourage people to check out the exhibition that lives online. It's the Park Avenue Armory. It's called 100 Years, 100 Women. But again, I'm glad to be here with you all tonight. And I'm looking forward to hearing from Shabera. So thanks for inviting me. Oh, absolutely, Andrea. Thank you so much for being here. So we're going to climb back onto the bus and the Living Legacy Pilgrim. It is now heading a half an hour west of Money, Mississippi, to the town of Ruleville, where you visit the Memorial Garden where Fannie Lou Hamer and her husband, Pap, are buried. She grew up and raised her family there with very little education and very little money. It was at a civil rights rally at a church there that she heard the Reverend James Bevel speak. Until that time, she didn't even know she had the right to vote. She would go on to be arrested and beaten for her voting activism and to speak prominently at the Democratic National Convention in 1964. Mrs. Hamer ran for state senate in Mississippi. And while she and the other delegates of the Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party were unsuccessful in unseating the all white Mississippi Democratic Party delegates, they were successful in changing the shape of American electoral politics forever. There's a line of continuity from Fannie Lou Hamer to Kamala Harris. Shavara, your father, the Reverend James Bevel, played a pivotal role in U.S. history by inspiring Mrs. Hamer's activism. What can you share with us about his influence on her and her influence on him? Thank you for that thoughtful question, Carlton, and I am just honored to be in this room with these queens. Andrea, I'm thinking we have got to talk later. There were so many threads of connection and what you just said. One of the things I'm thinking about from something Michelle said earlier, I'm thinking about a quote from Audrey Lord. Audrey Lord says, I am not free while any woman is unfree, even when her shackles are very different from my own. And I'm thinking about that in the context of what Andrea just said too about white women and how problematic it has been. I want to clarify because I know you shared a little bit about my background and I know that we are in the midst of racial unrest and how we are racialized can show up differently. So for everyone listening, I identify as a black woman. I want to make that clear who just happens to have a white Jewish mama. And I want to preface it with that because being a black woman in America certainly has informed my journey and also my politics. My blackness is deeply political. And I'm thinking about you sharing a bit about Fannie Lou Hamer, you know what's remarkable, she was 44 when she realized she had the right to vote. She had no idea prior to then. She did not know that was something that was accessible to her. And this church in Rueville, Williams Chapel Missionary Baptist Church, my father and James Foreman were there and I was reading an excerpt from a book written by this Harvard professor and he talks about Jim and James Foreman firing up the crowd and that Fannie Lou Hamer was hooked and she was the first to sign up that night. And she and 17 other people who were wanting to vote, they traveled by a rented bus from Rueville to Indianola. And they knew that they were going to encounter roadblocks. They knew the dangers of defying white supremacy in the very same way that that same narrative is showing up today. And we know as black people, as you just mentioned Andrea, what just happened over the weekend, seven bullets in the back of a black man in front of his children. So these dangers of defying white supremacy are still with us. And when they got to the courthouse in Indianola, they were informed that they had to pass a literacy test in order to register to vote. And for folks who are in the space with us who may not know what those were, they were anything that white people decided it was going to be. It could be count jelly beans, tell me all of the presidents, list all of the constitutional order of a particular state. It was anything to simply keep black people from voting very similar to the voter suppression that we see currently across our nation. When she returned home, and I think this is what's so critically important, because when we think about the powers that be that are right now, whether it's mailboxes missing in neighborhoods, whether it's other methods of voter suppression that's happening in various parts of the nation, when she got back to the plantation, the plantation owner, she was working as a sharecropper, confronted her and gave her an ultimatum. He said, if you don't go down there and withdraw your registration, you'll have to leave. We are not ready for that in Mississippi. And I think as a diversity, equity and inclusion practitioner, I work with global corporations and I hear that often, leadership isn't quite ready yet. Can you bring in a softer message? And we are at the intersection of diversity, equity and inclusion and social justice. And so there is no softer message. So she left. Fannie Lou Hamer left. She left and my father helped on a place to stay. She left her family behind because the sharecropper said to her, if your husband leaves, you will be penalized because he still owes me work. I mean, this extended voter suppression, right? It was permeating even the lives of her family. And then a few days later, her home was riddled with bullets, meant for her, fortunately she was not there. The parallel is my father was the first to call for the march from Selma to Montgomery. That journey across the Edmund Pettus Bridge that they made three times and it was also in a church after the murder of Jimmy Lee Jackson where he helped swell another crowd. He was reading from the Bible again and said that we have to go and march on the King and he meant we need to march on the governor's home and we have to get the right to vote. So I think the irony of Jim having this, I don't know, call from God, I suppose, or call from deep in his soul about the conviction to ensure that black people had the right to vote happening after Jimmy Lee Jackson and then being the catalyst for Fannie Lou Hamer and then Fannie Lou Hamer inspiring the work that he did. And I just think about these connections and that then is now and somehow we have got to figure out and I do agree that this time feels different and that we are at a pivotal moment where perhaps we can move beyond simply symbolism and move towards structural change. Shavara, thank you so much for that. And in that spirit, Michelle, I'll bounce it back to you. One of the questions that we've been doing the series now, this is our fourth one, fourth in a series of six or seven that we're doing. One of the questions that continually emerges is what can I do? What can I, how can I use my life to make a difference? How would you answer that question for our listeners this evening from our various places of disenfranchisement and privilege? Oh, wow. I feel like probably everybody on the entire Zoom can chime in on that. Yeah, we'll bounce it around, but I thought it would be interesting. I mean, I'm just thinking off the top of my head. I'm in Chicago. So I think that one thing that we're dealing with in our country is regional differences. I mean, in Chicago, if they remove a mailbox, then that's an inconvenience, but there are other places that maybe people can go, which would be different than a rural community where it might be more difficult for transportation. But I mean, Chicago is a hotbed for activism and has been for probably over 150 years. I mean, there's just a long tradition of organizing in this city. And so what I'm seeing are just a lot of grassroots kind of efforts to, I mean, people are literally going door to door registering voters. There's a lot of emphasis on, I mean, it's just, it's kind of pervasive as far as even when you go grocery shopping or different, you know, right now it's kind of difficult because of COVID and all the social distancing. And so a lot of things that people normally would be doing as far as registering voters is not as pervasive as it usually is. But I mean, in this city, there are a lot of ministers who are very strong leaders that are being extremely vocal about, you know, how people can get engaged and the importance of being engaged. So there's, I just think that education is very important and sort of encouragement because I think some people do really feel that there are such strong forces in this country that silence their voices, even if they feel they have the right to make their voices heard, they feel that the people who are hearing their voices sort of say they care but then they'll get into office and not do what they say they're going to do. So I think what we really need to work on is more, not necessarily education when it comes to how to register or the importance of voting as far as a right, but more that your vote counts and that you can make a difference, that your vote can make some kind of an impact on policy. I don't know if that answers your question, but... That very much, so I appreciate that. And yeah, we can bounce this one around. Andrew, did you have anything to add to that or Shavara? Right ahead. Did you want to go, Shavara? Oh, yeah, sure. Thanks so much. I appreciate it. You know, one of the things I was thinking about and I really appreciate Michelle bringing up regionalism, geography matters. I lived in South Florida and we passed amendment four to restore the voting rights of those humans convicted of felons. And the dilemma of that is that they must also complete terms of parole and probation, which oftentimes involve hefty fees that they do not have. And our governor was holding up implementation of this policy. There's a wonderful documentary. It's free. It used to go around to communities, but now you can watch it online. It's called Rigged the Voter Suppression Book. And I encourage every single person that's in the room today to go online. You can download it for your community. And the filmmakers will actually be in conversation with you. It is probably one of the most powerful and informative documentaries I'd ever seen. And I don't know everything, but I knew a little something. And I was absolutely surprised when I watched this documentary that one of the playbook rules is, and I had no idea that this was even possible in our nation, I could decide Carlton that I want you purged. So I go down to the local office and I tell them that I think you're lying about your address. They send you a letter in the mail, which you may or may not receive. And the only way for you to get back home rolls is to come and challenge me, Shavara, who has no business in your address. And in the documentary, they actually show this happening. And it blew my mind. I had no idea. And I've been marching and protesting since I was three years old. And I'd never heard of this. And I think that, you know, in our own local communities, Florida is deeply problematic. I wasn't living here when hanging chads were a thing. But now I understand how that could have happened in the state that I am in. You're also leading number two for COVID cases because we don't believe in science in this state. And so I think that, you know, this thinking globally acting locally, it might sound kind of tongue in cheek, but I do believe that that's where the power lies. And so if you're not involved in your local politics, if you are not, for example, one of the initiatives I'm working on here in my state, and this has to do with the judiciary, because yes, the presidential elections are critically important and all of these other elected officials, but the judiciary, the policy and practice, the laws of our land, and how it is muted out the injustice, the inequity is critically important as well. And so one of the things that I've been working on here is a civic engagement initiative to educate and empower citizens to focus on the appropriate scrutiny of the judiciary, to ensure that the electorate even has sufficient information to elect judges who oftentimes go under the radar because people don't know who they are. So I think that that's one of the ways. And because we're in Zoom right now, and this is true across the nation, you have the right to go into any courtroom for the most part. There are a couple of times when you can't, something might be sealed, but to go in and observe, now everything Zoom court. So think about the power of millions of Americans sitting in Zoom court oversight of what's happening in our judiciary, and then posting that information publicly so that the electorate has information that's solid and sound before they make a decision about who's going to be creating policy for all of us across the nation. So I think that's one way that people can be intentional and actively engaged in local politics. I hadn't even thought about that, but that is powerful. And in the midst of this pandemic, there are in fact things that are coming forth that are real opportunities like the one that you described, Shavara. Thank you. And Anvia, what were you going to say? You know, I was just going to add, you know, I smiled a little bit when Michelle said, you know, sometimes we elect people and they don't do what they say they're going to do. And I know that is a very real reality. But when I will say as an elected official, and this is, you know, just recently, I authored and we passed a resolution naming racism as a public health crisis. But, you know, and I only mentioned that to say that the racism is so systemic, Michelle. It's not in the water. It is the water, right? So we are literally continuously being just met with obstacle after obstacle for making the types of systemic changes that are necessary to transform our society. So one thing that we need to do is, yes, make a plan to vote, go vote, support, you know, candidates who you think are going to be in line with your thought process. But it can't just stop at voting. Like you have to continuously show up and put the pressure on, you know, like, like you mentioned, we are in this Zoom world. So all of my city council meetings are on Zoom now. So people can come to the meetings. You know, you don't have to get in your car and come downtown anymore. Stay involved after the, after November 3rd, you know, we're going to have to push Joe Biden and Kamala Harris to make the kinds of changes that we want to see in our society. And I'm projecting that those two are going to be the 46th president and vice president of the United States of America. But it's going to take a lot of effort. You know, we don't even have, we don't have just mailboxes, Missa and Shavara. They burned down three of our post offices here in Minneapolis. And that was not protesters. I want to be real clear. That was not protesters. I live in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Minnesota is a swing state. We have some of the most liberal voting rights. You know, you can register on the same day. You can get your neighbor to vouch for you, just like somebody can say, Oh, that person doesn't live there. You can bring somebody to say that person does live there and your vote will count. And you know, we vote by mail all the time. It's a common part of our practice. So what happened when George Floyd was murdered and the riots broke out or the protests broke out, but then riots ensued and they burned, they specifically went to three post offices in communities of color, black and brown communities and burned down the post office. That is not coincidental. Yeah, that is not in my mind, protesters. It's something much more in the areas. Voter suppression on steroids. Yeah, you know, it's interesting. A couple of things you made me think about. One, the last thing you said, I was thinking about the difference between, and this comes up a lot in the work that I'm doing, particularly in corporate spaces with white people who are curious about why black people are looting and rioting and burning down their entire own neighborhoods. That's the language that's being used. And I often point out that there is difference in the language of riot and rebellion. Riot is random active violence and rebellion is political response to historic oppression and structural inequity. So that's the first thing. And the second thing I was thinking about when you were talking about the pivot, Andrea, that it's not just about whether we are voting. And I will say this, I am the daughter of the man who's considered the father of voting rights. And I also hold space for people who choose not to vote, who have decided that the system does not work for them. And I know that that's incredibly controversial, particularly in our black community. And I have always voted since I've been able to vote. I also know that the people who died from my right to vote, they died for my right to choose and to have choice and to have freedom that extended beyond the vote. And if I chose to use it, I had choice to use it. And if I chose to withhold it, because that was stated in two. And so, and again, that is, that's my own particular perspective. I also believe that now that we are at this intersection of the pandemic and racial unrest, we have not just opportunity, but obligation to disrupt these systems that have not been serving us all along. And so for example, all of a sudden, now this is in every child, because we certainly know we have wide disparity in education. But if we are able to give broadband access and put tablets in homes, we could have been doing that all along. If we are able to, I have a very dear friend of mine, a brilliant black woman who was released from prison just a few weeks ago because of COVID, she was released almost a year early. If we are able to do that, and she was in for a very low level crime, she shouldn't have been there anyway. There was some other way to be thinking about what restorative justice looks like in our community. So I also think that in addition to us focusing on why it's important to vote, why we need to hold white women accountable of 53% of them that voted for Trump this last time, and then came crying to us the next day, wondering what happened. And we said, what do you mean what happened? I wasn't surprised. I mean, I wasn't shocked at all. I was frustrated, but not shocked. I do think that this is an opportunity for us to say some of these systems that have been inequitable for 400 years, let's shatter and dismantle them. Let us not try to get back to the way that it was or the day of yesterday. But what does it look like to really reimagine radical future for ourselves here in America? Thank you so much for that. Carlton, you just say you had a preacher on this panel. I have nothing but preachers on this panel tonight. What are you talking about? It's so awesome. I appreciate you all so much. Michelle, I wanted to check in with you on this point. This question of apathy and whether or not we have Black people, those of us who are Black or Black identified, have the obligation to vote for those of us who are African descendants of people who were enslaved. The imperative to vote is strong. We remind ourselves in each other of the bodies that were beaten, the blood that was shed, and the lives that were lost so that we could cast a ballot, which is what Shavara was just pointing to, as well as Andrea. And when I was a candidate for office twice, both times I heard over and over again from Black people, I don't vote. They're going to do what they want to do anyway. In other words, the political system is rigged by the people with the most money and influence that the whole voting process is a sham. Given our history as well as the known corruption of our election process, what responsibility do you think Black people have to vote this year or any year, whether we like the candidates presented or not? I think one of the points that you made I think is very important when it comes to money in politics. I mean, I've heard it a lot and I really personally believe that the Citizens United decision was catastrophic when it comes to our political system, which made corporations people. So opening up a floodgate of possibility for corporations to give as much money as they possibly want to do with no barriers whatsoever. And I think that I think the influx of money has had a detrimental effect on our political system. And just the fact that they're, and it's well known that there are corporations that will give money to both candidates. They'll give money to the Republican and the Democrat candidates almost equally. And it's public information so you can actually look this up and see, just say for instance, how much money does Microsoft or give to the candidate as an example. And if they give almost the same amount of money to both just say in this situation, Trump and Biden, so they're sort of hedging their bets. It doesn't matter to them, to the corporate leaders who wins because they're supporting both candidates. And so the bottom line is whoever wins still is beholden to the people who are giving them the money because it's very expensive to run for candidates. I mean, like here in the state of Illinois, the last gubernatorial race, I don't know the numbers, but we had two billionaires running for Governor Pritzker and Rounder, both billionaires. And it was, I know it was one of the most expensive. It was double digit millions. Yeah. It was just extremely ridiculous how much money was spent on a gubernatorial race. We're just talking statewide, not even national. So just the amount of money that's involved, there does seem to be this perception by the general public that basically whoever has the most money can win. And people are buying their office instead of actually winning the vote because the money allows people to run advertisements. And so if people can buy media space to the point where they drown out their opponent and their people who are voting don't even get the message from the other candidate because they're just buried in this type of advertising, then that's kind of the perception that I think a lot of people have. It's like, what does it matter what I personally as an individual citizen think when the people who are donor, the donor class are the ones who are influencing the election so much? So I just, I don't know. I think until we solve this problem of money being connected to power, it'll be difficult to solve, to create a situation where people without money feel like they have any power. Carlson, may I add something? Michelle made a really great point about the public access we have to how corporations are divvying up their money for candidates. And so when you were posing the question before, what can we do? One of the things we've seen in corporate DEI work, a couple of things. One, employee activism at a level we've never seen before with employees holding organizations accountable. And then also stakeholder consumer activism. And so one of the things that I've been talking to, probably to the chagrin of the leaders of these large corporations I'm working with, but I'm asking them, do you have any idea who your corporations are supporting? When you are even going in for an interview, that should be part of the way you interview the company that's interviewing you. And you pull that data and you walk in and you ask them, you know, I need to understand this. All of that information absolutely is public. And so I think that the more educated and aware we are and the way we are able to will the power that perhaps we haven't known we've had is a way to also shift the consciousness, because we've got both, right? You've got rhetoric happening. You've got policy and then you have practice. And oftentimes all three are not aligned. There is no congruency. So I do think there's a way as citizens on multiple levels to hold large corporations organizations led by billionaires, multi-millionaires, more accountable because we do have access to that information. Thank you for sharing that. Yes. And I think it's so important to bring up the point that no matter where we find ourselves, there's always a way that we can leverage our ability in our agency as people as citizens who care about this country. I think this last question is going to be for you, Andrea. And I want to touch on it briefly. We've got about maybe about five minutes remaining. So Senator Kamala Harris was actually one of my classmates at Howard as an undergrad, accepted the Democratic Party's nomination as the next vice president of the United States. As has been the case with every other woman who's run for president, it's hard to miss the double standard that women are held to that men are not. It's as if just by running for office instantly makes a woman unlikable. Meanwhile, men are excused for transgressions that would destroy a woman's political career. What, if anything, can be done to make it safer and fairer for women to run for office? Boy, in the patriarchy? Oh, that, right. I forget. Thank you. That would do it. You know, I just, can I just step back to the first question or the question, right, previous to that? And I wasn't trying to be flipped at all. The patriarchy is a problem. But you know, when people say they don't vote or, you know, nobody would spend billions of dollars on something that didn't matter. No one would try to, they kept black people from voting until 1965. And still, they try to stop us from voting to this day. So if it didn't matter, they wouldn't care. You could vote all you wanted to, you know, you could vote eight times. But, but voting does matter. And that's power and this political power, just like Savarin said, like, that is our agency, if we use it, if we know how powerful it is. We need more women to step up and run for office. It's just, and it's happening. It's happening. Every, every election cycle we see more and more women in Minnesota, just this past election cycle we had after George, this was after George Floyd got murdered. 40 black women stepped up to run for office throughout the entire state. Not all of them won their primaries, but many of them did. You know, we, we have to normalize women candidates. And it's such a, I mean, you know, I hear now I got into a kind of a big fight with my mom and I'm not trying to throw her under the bus. But, you know, she was relating what she had heard about Kamala Harris, you know, from, from some of her friends. And, you know, and it was just sexes. And, you know, I mean, those 53% of white women, you know, they didn't vote for Donald Trump because they love him. They voted for him because they hated Hillary Clinton. Like the, you know, the self-loathing is real. And so, you know, how do we answer that question? I, you know, I don't know, we got, we got to love ourselves. We got to respect ourselves. One other thing I did want to mention on this call, Carlton, is that, you know, transgender women always have a really challenging time at the polls because the ID does not always match up to the person in the ballot box. And so, you know, getting rid of voter ID laws is really important, but also helping to make sure that our communities have proper ID is really important. And we have to include trans and gender nonconforming voices in that conversation so that we can make sure that everyone is empowered Mark. Andrea, thank you so much. And I just want to say thank you again to all of you. Andrea, Shavara, Michelle for making this just such an exceptional panel discussion. I hope you, all three of you can stay for the conversation that we're going to have afterwards. I'm just going to be led by my board colleague, Julian Sharp, that we'll be starting shortly after we're done. And as we close out and before I pitch it back over to Reggie, I just want to say this that we recognize that with regards to voting rights and specifically women's rights to vote, the struggle still continues. Some women are incarcerated and on parole. Some, as you just mentioned, Andrea, don't have ID that will match what's on the rolls in the voting offices. Some are barred because they haven't paid their fines associated with their convictions. Women who are essential workers and have an hour lunch break can't afford to take time off to vote. Some are caregivers in their families who can't take time away from their children or sick family members. Some have legal names that don't match their identity documents. Voter suppression is terrible for anyone, but there's an additional burden on women. And May, through this conversation we've had this evening, may we all be inspired to work even that much harder to ensure that all women and all people have their given, their legally given right to cast a vote without fear and without having it suppressed. Thanks again to you all. I'm going to turn it back over to Reggie. And I think we're going to put in that we have in the chat the link to go to the conversation is going to be happening afterwards. And Reggie, now it's on you. Thank you all. Much love. Thank you. I'm taking a very deep breath because this was an hour of extreme power and practical knowledge and inspiration. We will not rest until the storm is over and we are in the midst of the storm, but the storm has been going on for a long, long time. And so it is up to us to take what we've heard tonight and to spin it into our own filters and then decide to take a side to make a difference. So I'll leave you tonight with this song. It's one that I wrote just a few weeks ago. We will not rest until the storm is over. We will not lay this burden down. We will keep each other strong. We will love and carry on till we stand all together on solid ground. We are marching. We are working. We are enduring. We will not rest until the storm is over. We will not lay this burden down. We will keep each other strong. We will love and carry on till we stand all together on solid ground. We will not rest until the storm is over. Hey, we will not lay this burden down. We will keep each other strong. We will love and carry on till we stand all together on solid ground. It's been a long, hard journey on a winding road. So many have gone before us. They carried a heavy load, but they went there singing as they made their way. Now it's in their footsteps we follow as we work. Today, we will not rest until the storm is over. Hey, we will not lay this burden down. We will keep each other strong. We will love and carry on till we stand all together on solid ground. I know that you're weary. We all feel the pain. Sometimes the actions of the world will try your soul again, but I believe there's a better day and it's coming our way. That's why we're raising our voices as we work today. We will not rest until the storm is over. Yeah, we will not lay this burden down. Well, we will keep each other strong. We will love and carry on till we stand all together on solid ground. All around us there's hatred. All around us there's fear. Violence touches our lives and the message is clear. We mourn our martyrs. In our hearts, they'll stay. Then we'll sing. We shall overcome and go on our way. We will not rest until the storm is over. Hey, we will not lay this burden down. Well, we will keep each other strong. We will love and carry on till we stand all together on solid ground. Till we stand all together on solid ground. Till we stand all together on solid ground. Thank you again for joining us. Join us in the conversation. It's in your chat and be sure to stay tuned and stay on the website to join us for our next presentation in September. Keep on keeping on. Thank you and good night.