 This is Steak Tech Hawaii, Community Matters here. Happy Yellow Hat Friday and welcome to Perspectives on Global Justice Steak Tech Hawaii program. This is your host Beatrice Cantelmo. In our last episode of 2017, we are talking about a very extremely challenging year for human rights all over the globe. In 2018, there's a lot of things that each one of us can and should be doing to create the changes we need to see in the world, in our nation, in our state. Favorite people on earth as our guest today. Her name is Masha Joyner and she's a beautiful advocate, woman, mother, wife, daughter, and grandmother, and also a host at Steak Tech Hawaii program. So we're going to cover a lot of things and on that note welcome back to our program darling. Aloha, thank you for thinking about me on this wonderful, beautiful Friday afternoon. Oh absolutely, I cannot think of someone that I wanted to have this conversation with more than with you in this, you know, almost end of the year because you have been around for at least, you know, 40 years. I'll be 80 in May. You don't look at day past 42. It is not only the wisdom of all the years that you have been here on earth as an advocate, as a beautiful human being that you are, and as a woman. Where's your floor manager? Would you get the lady a check please? But it is true, you know, I think we are always highlighting our experts and, you know, people who study things, but we also have to honor in the same manner those who have lived through so many changes and to have the conversation that we are going to have today. We need to talk to people with someone who have historical context who have been around the block a few times because 2018 is going to be an amazing year of unity, a call for unity, and a call for co-creation and changes we want to see, but there's a lot to be done. Oh yes, one of the, now I know that every Democrat is going to roast me when I say what I'm going to say, but one of the good things about the Trump election is that people came out of the woodwork, young people, old people, black people, white people, men, women. I have not seen this kind of organization, the kind of drive, the kind of willingness to take a stand. And it's wonderful, it's marvelous, and like I said, I hate to thank him for anything, but the truth is it has galvanized people in a way I haven't seen since the 60s, and that's a good thing. Absolutely, and that really, it came from the bad and the ugly of what we have witnessed in almost a year over new administration, and I think it's also been a mirror of how fragmented our society was, and that that was not going to work anymore, it's not going to work if we continue in the path that we're at. So I think that call for unity in the people who are mobilized, who otherwise would have been complacent or feel disempowered or hopeless, that is shifting, and that's exactly what we need. It is shifting and I'm excited to be able to sit here and look at it. I was born into Jim Crow and came of age in the civil rights movement, and it's always, all of my life has been always moving, moving forward, being an activist, campaigning for something, for someone, being out there. It feels so good to sit here and watch. It is marvelous. I am just thrilled with looking at all of the young people, the millennials, the women, and especially the women that are running for every office that you can imagine. It is just marvelous to feel like a tutu, to watch the young. For me, it's been also a very interesting process because I was raised in a different country in Brazil, and so until the age of 12, we didn't have a democracy. It was really a military dictatorship, so when my country became a democracy, I think a big part of what I've learned from not having freedom for the first 12 years of my existence was to be civically engaged, and in the almost 25 years that I live in the United States now, I see that perhaps the lack of engagement, civic engagement that we see or have seen up to this year from so many people came from that place of feeling so relaxed that we had everything in order and in place. People just get off guard, and the truth of the matter is we can't, because when we do, this is what happens. This is what happens. Exactly. And you know, so many people that I remember growing up with couldn't vote or didn't have something to vote for, and so that whole push that I went through was as a youngster to get the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act. It was from that point of view that we have people that can't vote and then people that don't have something to vote for. So once we reach that point of something to vote for and then the part of the Civil Rights, the Civil Rights Movement, make no mistake about it, had its ups and downs and its own separation. Everything I learned, I learned in the basement of the church. Ah, you say in the basement of the church. All of the churches, the Protestant churches in cities on the mainland, had basements. And so all their operation was done in the basement of the church. So they gave us office space, the Civil Rights Movement, the church did. So guess what the women did? We did all the office work. The men walked the picket line, of course. But it has served me well that I learned to type, to file, to write a press release, to do the program for the church. All of these things. And one of the things we used to do, we knew that there was going to be a demonstration at the White Tower, right? So, and then in those days you couldn't trace a call. So I would get on the phone and I would call the Baltimore Sun and say, you know, those black kids are going to be demonstrating over there at the White Tower. Really? Okay, we'll get them a reporter over there. Thank you. We got my page back. They just set it up so they would be sure to cover the demonstration. It's like, how do you know if a tree fell in the forest if you didn't hear it, right? Yeah. So we had to make sure that the press covered every demonstration. And so it's less part of learning how you operate and about organization. And yes, that's what the women did in every city across the country. And even to organizing the march on Washington, you look at it now and you think, oh, but can you imagine moving people all across the country with no cell phones, no internet, the unions of course hired the buses, but there was no drinking water like bottles we have now. Right. Because all of the things we take for granted had to be organized to make that move. And so much of it was the women in the basement of the church was doing it. And now women, you know, are taking, they are the candidates now and are the candidates. Yes. And they are the educators, the lawyers, the doctors, the teachers, the people who do the administration. So I think as more women take positions of leadership in various facets of society, have more economics and power that we will naturally, I think, very organically shift to that place of gender equality. That is so much needed. You know, it's 2017, women still own less than men. We still have to be subjected to misogenic behavior from men from all over, walks of our lives, from family members to neighbors to colleagues professionally, you know, from strangers. And I also think that, you know, I'm really excited about 2018, but I wasn't as fast. I've been tired, you know, of all of the organizing, all of the rallies, all of the, you know, speaking out and having people feeling like they don't have a voice. But Alabama was an amazing, you know, example for me to say, do not despair, keep following that light. But also, as you see women in power, women are still mothers. And the more women are in power, the better image they are to their sons. Because regardless of what we say, they are the teachers of their sons. And the better she is empowered, the stronger she is, the better image she has to her sons. And he knows how to treat a real woman. That is the best model. And I think it's not even about so much power, it's about equity. Well, the reason I say power is that she is not demeaned by a man. And so her sons get to see this woman. It's a real woman. And that's the way they need to treat their wives. That's the way they need to treat their employees, the way that they have seen their mother as an example. And that's where I'm going with that. And because basic, that's where we are. That we are the mothers. We are the teachers. We are the example. And as we grow, we get better men. Yes. And I think a part of this process has a lot of room for peacemaking. Because I think for so long, I think across the globe, I think as long as we know humanity, unless you belong to a society that was matrilineal in nature and structure, I think there's a lot of wounds that women carry. And deep historical wounds that have not been recognized, tended to and notched and healed. And so it's not just getting into power and equity. It is about healing as well. So that we do have new generations where it's not agenda competition. It's really about coexisting, co-creating, and shining together also. And I feel a little bit concerned when I see all of the anger, which is absolutely justified by the, from so many women who feel outraged about the way that they are treated, especially under this administration, you know, like so many farms that will cut, that will impact women and children directly. But I think that the way to really overcome and to co-create a new space is equity. Yes, having women respected. Yes. But the healing between genders that also will have to occur. Well, that was where I was going with this, raising a better man, raising a better generation of boys that grow into better men. That has to happen. They cannot grow into the men that abuse women. They have to learn from a child that this is the way you treat a woman. Right. The reverence, right? Because I think so much of what we have now of the disconnect is because men have been highlighted as being better, stronger, in positions of power, but without really regarding and elevating their counterparts. Anyone else. Anyone else. And so that has to be a big call for change. And as a woman, you know, I'm very excited to continue to do this groundwork, not only for healing and peacemaking and peacekeeping, but also empower all the women of all ages, but especially young women and indigenous women since I live in Hawaii and rural women, you know, to be more educated, because I think that is one element that makes a big difference for, you know, climbing any ladder. Well, okay, let's talk about education. And we know that the elementary schools and secondary schools are all populated with women, but men control the budget, right? The legislature controls the budget. They don't pay these women and treat them with the honor and respect that they deserve because those women are creating the next generation. They are molding minds and hearts and peace. So these establishment doesn't respect what they do. That job is the most important job of all jobs because they are creating the next generation. They are molding hearts and minds. That's who these teachers are. And most of the time, they're women. Yes. Now, when I was in school, they were not only women, they had to be single. So it advanced just a little bit. So we're the dancers. But if you look at the university, most of them are men, the professors, right? Yes. That's still, I don't know who created that, but the point is that it's there. And so we, this gender inequality is built into the system. Absolutely. We need to take a break. We'll be right back. Okay. Aloha. Foundation for a better life. I'm Ethan Allen, host of Likeable Science on Think Tech Hawaii. Every Friday afternoon at 2 p.m., I hope you'll join me for Likeable Science, where we'll dig into science, dig into the meat of science, dig into the joy and delight of science. We'll discover why science is indeed fun, why science is interesting, why people should care about science and care about the research that's being done out there. It's all great. It's all entertaining. It's all educational. So I hope you'll join me for Likeable Science. Welcome back to Perspectives on Global Justice, Think Tech Hawaii program. This is your host, Beatrice Contello, and we're here with Marsha Joyner. So Marsha, we were talking about when it boils down, when we talk about so many of the inequities that we see, whether it's through education, gender, criminal justice system, indigenous peoples rights, you name it, it boils down to a couple of things, budget, public policy. So I think one of the biggest things, one of the biggest hopes, one of the biggest inspirations that I have as an empowered woman and as an advocate is to support others to feel inspired and engage civically. So for you who have worked at the legislature instead of a wife from city counting to the state, what would be tips that you would give to our viewers, whether she's starting years old or 80, so that they can be more civically engaged? I think it's finding an issue that burns, that you know. If you say I agree with you Marsha, my children's teacher needs better pay, then that's your issue. Then that's the one, that's the hot button issue that you need to push. If it means writing to your legislature and trust me, in Hawaii, unlike any place else, every elected official from the governor on down, every state, I mean all the state, every county, they're all listed in the book, all their telephone numbers are there, all their doors are open. If you say I agree, my teacher needs better pay, then you call your legislator, you write to him or her, you get to know them. Like I claim, Mark Hashem is my own, I own you, I've worked for you to get you elected, you are mine and make no mistake about it. Only then do they return your phone calls, do they know you're watching, do they hear from you. You have to take a stand and it is not comfortable, taking a stand is not comfortable. But if it's, you want to be engaged, if it's your issue, yeah, it's nice to have other people with that issue. But there's nothing that's going to take, drive you like your own passion. Exactly. And you know, the part of feeling uncomfortable is very real. Even for me, when I started this, I would sometimes drop off like later, I was in person, they would just run into the office and are like, please, not the representative being there. Because I felt so insecure. And there was such a disconnect between, you know, a public official and me as, you know, a constituent. But the point that you were saying exactly, we have elected them to represent us. No, we're paying their salary. You have to remind them, you, I didn't ask you to run. You asked me to vote for you. You asked me to go knock on doors for you. I didn't ask you, okay, so I did that. And you're elected. Now you are mine. Remind them you belong to me. And when I come calling, I expect you to respond. Now that is, that is the whole issue very small. And it only takes because you only have a representative, a senator and a city council person. That's three. You can do three. Oh, absolutely. Anybody can do three. If you think of it, that's mine. Find out, you know how many people don't know who their representative is, or who their city council person is. Yeah, just think about that. It's yours. There's one. One legislate. It's all you need is one that you, they know your hot button issue. And if you bring your next door neighbor, or if we're talking about teachers, the other kids in the schools have parents, let's go get a pay raise for this teacher. Exactly. And that's the ripple effect. And that's how it's done through grassroots. Very simple. Exactly. It's not rocket science. And a couple of things I've learned along the ways that helped me a lot in becoming a better, civically engaged, you know, constituent is politeness. Oh, even if you agree to disagree on a certain issue, I think they always show reverence to your representatives. Basically, this is important to me. Thank you for listening. Following up is also very important. I think a lot of people think you write once or you call it's done. No, no, no. They have to know you. They have to know your office manager. When you call, they know, oh God, there she is again. That's the way it works. There she is. Oh, do we? What do we have to do? Can we pretend like she's not there? And so my invitation for everybody who is viewing this program today is to do that at a personal level. But I also invite today, Vars, and your co-workers to do the same. Co-collectively to a capital or to your city county meetings, you know. And you can do that on your day off too. You can provide your testimony in writing electronically. So that's a very important thing for people to know because it's like, oh, I don't have time. I kind of get off work to do this. That's by design. The hearings are done at a time when most people are at work, when you can't get there. So, but by doing it electronically, by doing it on the phone, writing letters, whatnot, just do it. Do it. Don't worry about. You're reading that. Somebody's agreeing. Somebody's telling me to shut up. I'm so good. So, Martha, I want to cover something very important with you, which I'm really excited, which is January 15th, Martin Luther King in Hawaii. So tell us the scoop. What's going on this year? Believe it or not, this is year 29. Celebrating Martin Luther King in Hawaii in Hawaii. How did you start it? Yeah. Were you a part of the study? Yeah. A friend of mine, Alice Talbot, called me one day. It was a day in October. I'll never forget it because I had just moved house so I was exhausted. She said, we need to have a Martin Luther King holiday in Hawaii. We got to do it. I said, fine. I'll tell you what to do, but I can't do it for you. I was just like, you know, when you move, how is your time? So I called Bay Kennedy. I told her, Alice had just called and this is what Alice said. They said, okay, let's do it. Here we are. But it took a lot of work. It didn't happen overnight. And Bay came up with this marvelous idea that we would create the friends of the holiday. And she said, we need at least one person of every ethnic group to sign the petition so that it is not a black holiday. This is everybody's holiday. Everybody participated. And that is the call that Martin Luther King had, the vision that he had of unity. Yes. All races, all religions. So that was the whole issue at the beginning was to go out and make sure we had people of every ethnic group. Again, we're back to one person at a time. Just all you have to do is ask one. But that's how we start. Yeah. And by the time we got to the hearing, people came from everywhere. It was absolutely amazing to see the community of every color, unions, corporate, everybody show up to participate. Right. It was wonderful. But it did take a couple of years of getting through the legislature, yeah. There are a couple of things, I think, when Martin Luther King holiday started, that still in 2018, we have not been able to bridge the poverty. Well, poverty was, came to the forefront in 1967, the year before Martin Luther King was assassinated, when he created the Poor People's March. And he said that this was bigger than a civil rights movement. This is a human right. And we need to look at poverty, not as a single issue or a single group of people, but people all over the world. We need to, this needs to be bigger and broader. So he created the Poor People's March, which was exactly almost to the day a year before he was assassinated. So therefore, in light of what Martin Luther King said, we, the Martin Luther King Coalition, this year, it will join with the Amnesty International, Hawaii and other organizations, even the city and county, is going to donate to our sister city, sister city, which is San Juan, Puerto Rico, to honor them, to look at and donate to this horrible man-made devastation of Puerto Rico. Yes, the hurricane came, but the fact that the Congress and the president have treated them like unwanted stepchildren has dragged this out. Do you know it's going to be made? The Corps of, all right, civil engineer said that it'll be made before they get the power. Can you imagine the thousands of people that will die? It's a big humanitarian call. And I think we are in a position in every state, every community to support Puerto Rico, but also put pressure to our government elected officials to look at policy, to protect people, to look at climate change, and to look at human rights, really, not as a handout or an option, but actually a primary right that each one of us on earth have. It's a part of coexisting. Of course it is, but the overriding racism from this Republican administration toward the people of Puerto Rico is unbelievable. It is, you can feel it, you can see it, you can taste it, I know firsthand, and there's nothing else you can say about what they've done if you look at the way they treated Houston after the hurricane. And then you look at what they've done to these people, or not done, if the case may be. It is pure racism, and that is what these people are going through. Yes, we can talk about all the other issues, and that's great, but when the basic human right, and the president doesn't even know that they belong to the United States, it is sinful to treat human beings the way they have done it. And the Trump people are across the board, it's not just Puerto Rico, it's not just the way they talk about the Muslims, the way they talk about the Mexicans. It is just sinful, and bad to know what I want. You could not have said it better in the way it is, no sugar coating. So I can't believe we're way over time. But thank you so much. And tell us, very quickly, in 10 seconds, where should people get up on October 14th and 15th? January 14th, at Unity Church at 9 o'clock a.m., and if you'll remember that Martin Luther King said from the letter from the Birmingham jail where he asked all the ministers of all faiths to come together to make this happen. So we have invited ministers from all faiths to join us at Unity Church on Diamond Head at 9 o'clock on the 14th, and then join us on the 15th with the Martin Luther King Parade. Starting at Magic Island. And the Unity Rally will have Beatrice's Brazilians dancing and doing what they do. All kinds of things. On that note, this concludes our last episode of 2004 and 17. It's always incredible tonight. But thank you so much for watching us, and happy new year, and see you again next Friday.