 Good evening, everyone! I'm Felicia Fitzpatrick, your host for tonight's production of Virginia Taylor's vote, presented by the Oaks Collective in collaboration with Virginia Taylor. Now y'all, we are just a few weeks away from what might be one of the most important elections in this nation's history. I mean the outcome of this election will affect every American, but particularly for young people and the black community. So tonight we will be hearing original works from three promising young playwrights, Chrissy Black, Jasmine Matthews and Bonnie Scott, as well as from a claim to playwright Regina Taylor. Through the artistry of these playwrights and the actors who embody their characters, vote is a call to action to our community and seeks to open up dialogue about why voting in this election and every election is imperative. And after the performances, please stick around for the live panel discussion. Our panelists will have a frank conversation about the black community and our history and our relationship to voting in this country. And of course it's not done so already. Please take a moment to register to vote. In fact, I'll wait right now. I'm just kidding, but please make time to do that tonight. It's super important. And with that, please enjoy the Oaks Collective and Regina Taylor's presentation of vote. Folks on the front lines putting their lives on the line talking about I am not my grandma. Don't come for me like you coming for Jesus. I ain't about turning the other cheek. I am not your peaceful protest and Martin Luther, peaceful kumbaya sitting protest Martin Auntie. Not today. No. We're the new Negroes. We're gonna pillage and loot and burn everything down to the ground because we not taking it no more is what you have on your hands today. If your question is why I won't vote, we ain't no Cosby show Negroes up in here. You know what I'm talking about? Like before Cosby went to jail, you know what I'm talking about. What he represented in terms of black family excellence, upper middle class, doctor, lawyer, parents and their kids should have been going to private school and then Harvard but the cool one went to an HBCU and thus the spinoff that Cosby that one before I grew up with the Cosby reruns. Child of a single mother who went and got her life together after running the streets running games and she was 15 and then when it got her GED and worked as a social worker put three nappy headed children through college type woman and never had a moment of complaint. Strong black woman. That's my mama who said I could be your mama and your daddy but I don't think she thought she was trans and I'm not talking about Caitlyn Jenner who back in the day was just some white guy on the back of a Wheaties box. A good start to every morning. I'm talking about the Negro in my neighborhood who would sashay on the Boulevard but try them. Better not try them because I think one of the strongest people in the world today got to be black and trans and at the same time my mama was just as strong. She taught me you got to be in a system that sets us against each other us and them. I mean why else would you put up statues of traitors of the states your civil wars and then drag them down to incite those being indoctrinated in the graven images of Robert E. Lee and John Wayne and blue-eyed messiahs. My question why a white boy can kill protesters on the street and just walk away with a gun in hand and be lifted up as a hero but don't get caught with a bag of skittles and an Arizona iced tea with a certain melanin. So if your question is if the choice is between the Donald Biden or Kanye. Now we do know that the Kardashians have broken the mind of every man they've ever given I'm trying to their back came so let's just pretend I am in denial and ask who do you think I roll with is this a multiple choice or trick question they say I got choices like I can choose to live or die they give you this illusion that this is the land of the free and the home of a totally ignored the Choctaw the Cherokee nations you see where I'm heading they say choose behind what's behind door number one two or three or do you want to take the cash and then they flash $500 and you take the cash because it's a short thing you know you be going home with something pay bill or two and still have enough for a three-piece fries and coke and still have some leftover you ain't no dope you think you've outreasoned the system so so you're telling me you're today you're offering me a check with how many owes in it to say let's forget the whole thing here's your reparations now we're even hoping I'll take it passage back to you buying my furs my car my bling passing down a legacy of poverty rather than invest into the sons and daughters and the ones that come after me what I need to do is buy some land that'll appreciate at the same rate as yours how to access those doors or make doors of my own that might be safe from Black Wall Street catastrophes because every time we get a little something something here they come with a bombs and they stealth laws American terrorists and white hoods are in the highest echelons of government who's running things but but behind the doors and the club and the in the dollars that curtains and behind the curtains are stars and moons that you've never seen hidden behind the screen we're blind to the entrance made from the blood sweat and tears of our ancestors whose names were never written names forgotten them ones are the real oh geez see that's why I got to do something even if I do believe that the system is rigged because by doing nothing enough let it whatever happened happened that's in my head they've already won resistance is a multi-sided problem you got to do battle from every direction the answer is I got to resist each and every way let me roll with the system in this moment working what exists learning it and tearing it down by infiltration with whatever I can get my hands on resistances it's a sling shot and I am David against the life I'll cast my stone I'm gonna vote sorry mama lost track how was job search when nobody want to hide that's not true no no I'm convinced one of them down every road for miles and only person the only person showed a lick of interest was a factory well was it good what the factory was it a good job yeah it was a good job but that's not the point but what is the point I don't spend the rest of my life in the line lifting scrubbing around to the day I die like daddy did your daddy was a hard work worked himself to death I don't want to go out like that I don't want to be in constant pain missing out on an important moments with my kids with my wife all because I got souls on my feet that's bigger than my hands not fair what is I was an athlete then I was a soldier I could have died for this country I almost did first thing I saw when I got back in town wrote dangling from a tree just waiting I'm supposed to sit here and accept it work my jolly factory job and not talk about how how I deserve more I deserve bigger I know what you deserve I'm your mother I think you deserve the world if you don't want to sit then come with me I just got home well that's fine there's food in the kitchen leftovers no ways I've left them anyway there is a demonstration at the town hall me and some of the ladies from the church are going down there why because the colored women are going to vote yes sir we are not gonna sit and wait for somebody to let us in we're fighting for it there's a very important election coming up and we are going to be have our voices heard and our people be able to participate in it just like everybody else to put women long enough to get the vote in general and little miss Susan D Anthony she didn't even water the women who will talk about the women who are on the front line of the fights I'm a mother I watched you walk out of that door every morning to go to school for years and I would have the biggest smile on my face as soon as you were out and as soon as I was back in the house I felt myself suffocating my heart would drop my breath died because I didn't know if I'd sit my own child off to his own feeling mama you don't have to worry I am tired you want sunshine and bright futures you want us to feel at home and we ain't never had a home the house ain't a home this is not my home the country ain't a home I don't know home I barely know sanity and that's why I need to go out there and do something because our lives are on the line everything I want a better future for you for your children the only way I can change the future is if I'm able to vote for my future your daddy wanted to do it but you're right he never had the energy to do anything but wake up at four in the morning and go to work until four in the afternoon he was a good man he was afraid to but he still fought every mayor every governor every senator he knew they didn't want nothing for him but to be their nigga and they wanted him to stay their nigga nothing about time that changes call me a man show whip a man in front of his children leaving scars in his back and in his heart how can you call me a person lock me in cages and underneath ships refuse my rights causing me to march down streets named after presidents who own my family screaming at the top of my damaged lungs just to be halfway heard just for you to allow me to send in my ballot which I can't even do without you dragging me off and throwing me in a sale sometimes I get tired of being black every day for me is is walking out to the unknown I want change but then I turn on the radio and all I hear reports change makers being shot in the back makes it feel impossible you sitting down now in that same spot just like your daddy did that same tired face you want to sit there and wait until the world changes and moves in the opposite direction or do you want to get up and go with your mom and take her arm and step out there and put your foot down and leave your print in the dirt I'm gonna change clothes I'll meet you there don't you be lying to me boy I'm not mama I'll be there what if that's what I'm supposed to do in my life what you mean what if first we get to vote and then I become the one we vote for and we can earn the change and then I can be the change but surely by 1980 1990 2000 2020 things have to be better they have to be I think we need to focus on today I want to be alive long enough to make my vote that's all I want and I want you right there with me when I do my mom I'll be there good they're gonna get changed I'll see you don't know I can wait we can show up together in style sounds good to me now I understand the need in keeping order here for people to cast their vote calmly but these are not calmly times we're in the fight of our lives never could I have imagined this country in the state that it's in but it is and yeah I was one of those people who once said that voting was a waste of time and my vote didn't matter anyway I'm saying that made me lose sight of my mother's struggle and her mother before her to rightfully vote in the first place I can no longer just stand idly by watching things happen I've got to act the way that they would want me to by casting my vote proudly my community is hurting and this is the only solution that I can see in playing my part to alleviate our pain this opportunity that we have to turn the times the times of this country with this election is all or nothing I know I know we're all set up with the constant bickering in the back and forth on both sides being forced to distance ourselves from family friends neighbors and still not be able to return to a fully functioning society as we've grown accustomed devastates me but hearing about the thousands of lives that were lost to COVID-19 and the millions more infected with it devastates me even more as Americans we have a duty to ourselves and to this country to take part in what happens and as Delawareans we have a duty to show more decorum in our hands we can't wonder equally as passionate about the choices that we came to make and keeping sound because we please be equally passionate about forming single-final law here for the last several hours can finally get the chance to vote be gentle I like that dress where'd you get it down the street I like those shoes yeah never thought I see another pair of heels again you're lucky I was trying to get my hands on a pair of black pumps but I like to come up with with these big men's church shoes and least they go with the dress yeah sure we're making the right decision what are the choice do we have and we can become more people we can just live underground me and you underneath the in the world we can be together forever Jesse neither one of us knows anything about living underground that'll just be a slow painful death having to wake up to darkness every day but we'd be together we discussed this Jesse I love you sweetie but the decision has been made all done I found a piece of glass and newspaper November 6 2020 what does it say as President Trump takes his second term it is clear that major changes will be implemented by the multitudes whether or not these changes are good or bad has yet to be determined what they meant to say is it is clear that 45 has no clue what the fuck he's doing and it's going to ruin us all it is clear 45 will ignore black lives matter protest correction 45 will do everything he possibly can to obliterate protesters Trump vows to show no mercy Trump makes it illegal to make customers wear a mask Trump plans to send thousands of troops all over the world and he's supposed to be the leader of free work people saw and heard how evil he was and felt comfortable voting him in or just not voting at all and that is why we have to end it all today it's not gonna get any easier especially not for people of color we could be in together start our own country how half of these countries won't even let us in because that embassy took zero precautions with COVID just kept telling us go outside keep the economy running you know how many people I lost because they had to keep going to their jobs we need to calm down you know we're just getting worked up and I don't see that it's gonna help so what let me get worked up if I want to who do I have to be all cute and calm for look around ain't nobody here but us if I want to jump on top of that car out there and get naked I will because civilization is not a thing just a bunch of savages her and anybody in they packed come on go crazy for once try it you'll love it as a black woman honey it up feel good not having to act all prim and proper and and and not be too aggressive for the white folks for once would be a nice change huh and even if they weren't here fuck them we tried to save them once again black women showed up and showed out at the polls and here we are the but of the joke how many times do we have to try to save the people of this world from themselves we told them get up and go vote get him out of here but we just black women huh that I understand why so many people just wouldn't care about you screwed if you do screwed if you don't yeah you're ready all in silence bound to jail had no money for to go that bear so keep your eyes on the prize and hold on hold on hold on the prize and hold on hold on all in silence begin to shout jail doors open and they walked out so keep your eyes on the prize and hold on hold on hold on got my hand on the gospel flower ain't packing nothing for my journey now so keep your eyes on the proud yes only thing that we've done wrong stay in the wilderness for so long so keep your eyes on the prize only thing that we've done right is the day that we began the fight so keep your eyes hold on oh yes art is powerful using Peter for social change I just love this idea right to start dialogue and have conversations and take action and push things forward so thank you thank you thank you to tonight's playwrights Chris Eli black Jasmine Matthews Bonnie scott and of course Regina Taylor I'm for for sharing your words with us and thank you to the cast for sharing your work with us it was beautiful I'm grateful I know our audience is grateful and if that doesn't make you want to go out and vote don't worry we have more coming because it's time for the live panel it's time to talk about this let's let's dive in and debrief without further ado it's my pleasure to introduce the moderator of tonight's post-show panel discussion please join me in welcoming Eddie Francis thank you Felicia and good evening everyone I'm Eddie Francis I'm the director of communications and marketing at Dillard University Louisiana's oldest HBCU and I'm also the moderator for tonight's discussion it's my pleasure to be here this evening and to introduce you to this esteemed panel and let me start with Alana Bell Alana is the Georgia program manager for care in action it's a nonprofit dedicated to the dignity and fairness of domestic workers around the country there's also Napoleon Bracey joining us he's a member of the Alabama House of Representatives former chairman of the Alabama legislative Black Caucus and also current chairman of the Mobile County legislative delegation next to someone I've known for quite some time J. Swarobo Inavacari junior he is the chairman of the Dallas community police oversight board and founder of J. Swarobo's thoughts a blog that covers politics social injustices and current events also there is Jocelyn Prince she is a theater artist and activist and she is the principal at ALJP consulting now someone who's a various theme panelists who could not join us tonight Regina Taylor she does send regrets but let me just tell you about her she is a Golden Globe award winning actress and director in a claim playwright she is currently the Andrew Mellon Foundation playwright in residence for the Repertory Theater of St. Louis in addition to writing a piece for tonight vote was curated and directed by Miss Taylor she's a co-preserve tonight's events along with the Oaks Collective and speaking of the Oaks Collective there is D. Wambui he is one-fifth of that collective co-producer tonight's events and he is also the artistic director for Jubilee Theater in Dallas and a graduate of Dillard University's theater department along with the other members of the Oaks Collective by the way I had the opportunity to do a couple of plays at Dillard back in a day I was so good they did not invite me back so let's go ahead and jump right in and let's talk about the topic of the night the topic of the season let's talk about voting and D. Wambui I'm gonna start with you I mean tonight's work was presented by the Oaks Collective in collaboration with Miss Taylor tell us tell us a story of how this came about. It came about a mutual conversation Miss Regina Taylor was very interested in telling these stories of reaching out and wanting to inspire everyone to get out and vote at the same time the Oaks Collective was thinking of what should our next project be and we also walk on that same wave length of looking at what's happening in the world right now where we are and what's coming up how can we encourage that next generation to take a step forward and to think about not what's coming but what they can do about it to ask that question not what my country can do for me but what what can I do for my country and the best thing we can do right now is to make our voices heard by voting and so we wanted to come together by creating that story and hence we got Miss Regina Taylor who was excited about this project and together we reached out to all of the HBCUs and other universities looking for students to submit their work for us to share with one another we have got a nice group and then we settled on this number of shows I'm going to make sure that we respect the pool of everybody's time but also presented a series of angles regarding the topic of vote and the best part about it is we got Miss Regina Taylor not only to submit a piece but also to direct and curate this piece so we were able to the Oaks Collector was able to focus on the producing aspects of it and really give that the mantle of directing the show over to Miss Regina Taylor so that voice can be come through nice and clean let me follow that up with a really with a really quick question about the energy of the cast I mean everybody really seems to put so much energy into the project tonight why is everyone so passionate though I mean about voting it may seem like an obvious question but what energized everyone so much to perform the way that they performed when it comes to talking about this topic of voting I think a lot of it has to do with the previous election and that notion of who showed up and who did not show up and it's all of the post conversations and discoveries of post conversations after the election hearing about so many people say what I thought I was gonna vote but I didn't think my vote mattered or this is a red state so they he would win anyway or what I did wasn't really interested in either one of them so I didn't bother to vote at all and so hearing those arguments from so many other people it became important for us to really create a message about not just today but making sure our motions are heard throughout as a reminder folks one of the things that we do want to let you know is that the proceeds from tonight event will go to the UNCF United Negro College Fund and also benefit the NAACP legal defense fund so please don't be shy about giving please support and one of the things I'm really curious about also D1 Buoy is that you have these three young playwrights that you referenced a little earlier Jasmine Matthews Chris Eli black also Bonnie Scott and you reached out to them and so why do you feel it was important to prioritize young people when it comes to this project say the best way to reach a young person is by getting another young person that's the best way to answer that question and by hearing what they're going through listening to their perspective because they're not the only ones feeling it thinking it or experiencing it so by reaching out to that next generation one that's part of our mission over here as you believe as well as our mission with the collectives it's about how do we foster that next generation of talent giving them a voice to be heard so that we can move them forward. Jocelyn Prince I want to come to you next and let's talk about arts let's talk about the artists and the role that arts and the arts and artists play in activism of course we hear it all the time from some folks who are shall we say they can get they can get a little salty and so they start saying things like stick to what you know to the artists to the athletes the entertainers but what role do you think that arts have and then the artists have and why do you think that role is so important. Yeah I think this involvement in activism and political organizing is very important there's been so many examples throughout history about how the work of artists have supported social change you can look at the black arts movement for example and how that was pushing for social change in the 60s and 70s. If you look at the work of Ethel Fugard in the working theater in the anti apartheid movement in South Africa you know storytelling is an essential part of of organizing it's about bringing people together sharing stories from your own life so that other people can relate to you inspiring people. Some of the best organizers historically have been incredible storytellers and artists are particularly adept at creating stories and creating narratives and creating worlds that are beyond our imaginations worlds that are more trust that are more fair for all people and that creativity is an important part of activist movements. I think that artists theater artists performing artists are essential to to you know inspiring people to create social change. Representative Napoleon Bracey I'm going to come to you because I know you're chomping at the bit as we're talking about voting and so we hear a lot about apathy among black voters among young voters however there are numbers out there that tell us a little bit different black people are we are active voters young people get really involved in voting especially when you have someone like an Obama who came along when you think about the late 60s but the people who kind of sit out of the political process what's the deal with them and and also how do you engage them. Okay first off I'd like to thank those collected for having this tonight and everyone involved I know it took a lot of hard working effort to put this on so first off thank you and thank you for giving me a platform and a voice to speak from Alabama about some of the issues that we're all facing. I think we have a responsibility to educate our people as much as possible. A lot of people will go around and say well you know you have to vote because people died for your right to vote and they'll kind of try to beat that into people or preach it into people but that's just not working. We have a responsibility of exciting our base. We have a responsibility of making sure that we recruit candidates that speak to the issues that we have in our community and people that speak to the type of change in need that many people are facing in our community. I know a lot of people talk about numbers and they talk about the Obama numbers. Well if people look up numbers in my election I put up Obama type numbers in my election. We have a responsibility as candidates and people that's running for office to listen to the people and give the people what they want you know a lot of times as elected officials will go out and tell the people what we think they need to hear but we need to listen to them and deliver to them what they need and I think that'll get people a little bit excited and you also have to be a voice for the young people. There's so many people in the african-american community that feels overlooked. You have a younger generation that feels overlooked. You have the people that some people will talk about that may not be as desirable type people but those people have voices and have votes and they count in matter as well and and there's issues that are important to them as well. So you have to make sure that you can reach across the board and meet people where they are and come down to to put it where the hey put the hey where the horse can get it or whatever. So you have to make sure that you do your part to because you have to represent everybody. You know we don't run for political office and only represent the middle class or only represent the older people that traditionally vote. We represent everybody so we have to make sure that we try to be that voice and that ear for everybody. One thing I'm really wondering about though is because you hear folks talk about this all the time and you hear a lot of elected officials say we have to be responsive to the people. How do the people know when an elected official is actually listening to them? Okay it's we have a very simple simple way that we put it in my account. You you tell the people what you're gonna do you do it and then you tell them that you did it. You know you you have to in in every aspect of it you have to be responsive to the people. They have to know that they can reach out and they can touch you. When I was first elected to the House of Representatives one of the things that I did that was a strong point for me was I put my cell phone number on the mail outs and that way I wanted every person in my district to have my personal cell phone number and believe it or not people just don't call me for random things and blow my phone up but if it was important enough to that person to pick up the phone and call me about it it was important to them so I need to check on that and deal with that situation. So people need to know that they can reach out and touch you. You shop at the same grocery stores they do. Your kids go to the same schools theirs go to. You go to the same church that them and many of their family members those things are very very important. J.Sarobo you have a very interesting role in Dallas dealing with the police oversight board and being the chair of it. Obviously police brutality is the is an issue that is very much on the black community's minds however there are other issues on the table right. I mean we are talking about voter suppression equal pay agenda equality if you had to look at all those issues and put them all on the table which ones do you really tend to hear folks talk about the most maybe. First of all I want to thank the Oaks Collective for giving me the opportunity to participate in this all specialist event also want to thank the panelists and all of the knowledge that you're going to be dropping. So yeah so let's get down to it. One of the misconceptions about the black community is that we're monolithic we're not. Some of us we have concerns about criminal justice reform. Some of us have concerns about marijuana legalization. A lot of us have concerns about student loan debt and so I think you know we have we are microcosm of the United States and we have a lot of the same issues that everyone else does and the thing about it is that media tends to only shine a light on certain issues criminal justice reform which is something that affects all of us but it does affect African Americans in a greater number because of the fact that for every one white person that's arrested there's probably about 20 more black people arrested for the same offense. I mean when you look at especially when you talk about drug use drug use is equal amongst all races however with African Americans the incarceration rate is much higher. So I think the thing that we are more focused on is not necessarily those issues that you identify but the lack of equity and how those issues are resolved within the community. There is no economic equity. There is no educational equity. There isn't even a there is no healthcare equity and we know that when it comes to black women and their health issues especially when they're dealing with pain they may not be prescribed the same type of medications that their white counterparts are because of the fear that the black woman will become addicted to it and we all know that when it comes to opioid addiction who are the ones that are addicted. So I think when we look at all of these issues we're looking at a equity component and a justice component that is lacking for us. Alana Bell you know just this past week there were reports on MSN that black voter ballots were being rejected and nearly four times the rate of white voters. We all know that voter suppression is very real. It's a roadblock for our community. We hear reports like this and then you have folks who say my vote doesn't matter this just proves it. So as someone who really advocates what do you say to those folks who believe that their votes don't matter? I would reference something that's been echoed you know for the past few decades is our votes wouldn't be suppressed if they didn't matter so much. Right so for myself moving from Ohio which is a red leaning purple state to Georgia which is a red state with some purple in it. Watching voter suppression in the way it looks has been just like completely baffling to me that legally things have been allowed to go unchallenged and yeah go unchallenged basically when folks say that their vote doesn't count try again and that sounds kind of defeating for some people. It doesn't sound incredibly productive for a lot of folks because like I just went through this process already. I don't want to have to go through this again and I don't want to have to call the voter protection hotline and do all of these things to cast a ballot that someone who lives two zip codes away did with ease. But I would say I would lean in statistics a little bit a lot of times especially with state and local elections the amount of people who did invoke very much changed the course of an election it could change like what your legislature looks like and it is really really important that we realize that it's all the tactics right so a lot of people who aren't voting aren't voting either because they have experienced voter suppression and they feel like their vote doesn't count that way or they don't see freedom in their vote or they don't see their freedom in this election which is understandable or whatever the situation may be but it's all the tactics working in tandem right we have to protest and we have to vote and we have to take to the streets and we have to challenge our legislators and we have to do all of these things at the same time because it's the collective that's going to make the difference. Yeah I want to come back to you representative Bracey because there are obviously people who are very concerned that their votes are being suppressed so if people believe that that's happening or for the people who know that is happening what records do they have what can they do? Well the the first thing like young lady mentioned just before they can call the voter protection hotline at 1-866-HOUR-VOTE 1-866-HOUR-VOTE and that's one of the the main things that they can do and she's exactly right if if our vote was not important people wouldn't try to suppress it one of the issues that we have here is we have to vote even if you feel that your vote is being suppressed you have to vote you know things as simple as the person that's going to be the district attorney that will hold role police officers accountable in your community you have to vote you know you have to vote in this presidential election because you will be picking the person that will be selecting supreme court justices that will be able to hold people accountable they'll have an administration that will be the attorney general's office the United States Department of Justice will be either a Trump abiding United States Department of Justice which one of those will be more friendly towards the needs of the african-american community this is very very important very important under the Obama administration at least we had Eric Holder as our attorney general we had a Shelby versus Holder case where one of the whitest counties in the state of Alabama sued Eric Holder and that's why we don't have the protection that we had under section five of the voting rights act right now because you had a supreme court that overruled it you know it was a time that just not long ago just a few years ago that any changes to polling places any changes that could be made with the electoral process anywhere in the united states in this country had to be approved through section five of the voting rights act we don't have these protections anymore they are suppressing us they don't want us to vote but we have to vote by any means necessary because it's so important that we put people in place that are sensitive to the needs of our community because clearly we don't have that right now and really quick I'm so sorry thank you for saying that I also just want to uplift the importance of voting in every election right so it's not just every four years that you need to take a trip to the ballot it is every other year for Georgia there are runoff elections which is another form of voter suppression making people go out to the polls to do the same to cast the same ballot that they just cast weeks before it is important to vote in every election for every position that is on the ballot your day-to-day experience is going to be shaped more by the people that you go in your city council than it is going to be by folks that I'm just going to leave with there your day-to-day experience is more shaped by your city council and your local officials than it is playing the other election and if I can't come right after you because I got one more thing here we go okay so all right let's get to let's get to Jay Swarobo if I can chime I just want to just piggyback because the fact there's so there's so much media coverage of the presidential election the entire house of representatives is up for election and about 30 senators also up for election as well so we're talking about the voting rights act we're talking about you know police brutality all of that stuff from a national perspective our congress could address those issues if we have the right people in congress in every seat in the house of representatives up for election and a good portion of senate seats are up so we're looking at the fact that right now because of the fact that there's a Republican majority of the Senate that they are going to confirm a Senate they're going to confirm a Supreme Court justice for anything that anyone on this panel believes in and that's because of the fact that many people slip on those elections and and and one of the things I will will say is this African-Americans vote at their population percentage meaning that there is never an election national election where we have not voted at our population percentage now if the turnout is 10 percent we're still at our population percentage so let's put that in a context because of the fact that especially in Texas and Louisiana to a certain degree in the other states voter turnout is low in Texas voter turnout barely hits the 50 percentile so just imagine if within that 50 percentile 70 to 80 percent of black folks voted we would get candidates in office all at every level of the ballot that will support our issues now we can talk about engagement but i'm i'm gonna let i'm gonna let my man talk and then we can come back to that because i want to talk about when we need to get engaged in regards to elections all right we do have about eight minutes left but representative bracey i'll come back to you thank you i appreciate it and and i this this topic is so valuable that i mean we could probably talk about this all night long um i was just thinking about um the single most important issue on the ballot for me um as a black man is it's my life um this this election to me is so different than so many other elections where people look at and say well um this is a life or death situation or this is the most important election in my lifetime we we've never in my lifetime had a country so divided the way it is right now and the most important thing to me even though these issues are are so important raising the minimum wage is important pay quality for women is important all these things are important um none of it is important if i'm not here we have to get to the point that we have to hold people accountable that unjustly kill black people black people are killed so too often by the hands of police officers and nobody's holding them accountable that's why this election is so important to me i want to make it home to my family every day when i leave home in the morning i have little girls i need to come back to see at night i don't need to be afraid that if blue lights come on behind me that i may not be may not make it home that's an issue for me that's the most important issue on the ballot because right now you have an attorney general of the united states that's not prosecuting these people and not holding them accountable and then you have attorney generals like in kentucky that are letting people slide because they want to be on the shortlist for different appointees and things like that from the sitting president and they're not doing their job and they're not holding people accountable my black life matters and it matters to my family and i need to make it home that is that's why this election is so important to me because at any moment things could change and i may not make it home and my family deserves to have justice and we need somebody in the white house we need somebody in the attorney general's office these district attorney's office these police chiefs sheriffs these mayors we need people that's going to hold people accountable for hurting and taking the lives of these innocent black people we only have a couple of minutes left i want to get a couple of people back in really quickly before we do wrap up jocelyn prince i want to come back to you really quickly because there are a lot of artists right now who have been i know just burning to get back out and to do stuff and i know there are a lot of artists who are very passionate about making social statements but they may feel a bit discouraged right now what would you say to encourage artists to get out there and to make their social statements by any means necessary um i would say to all my fellow theater artists like now is the time to be creative um you know there's lots to be done online there's lots of virtual ways to make theater there are site specific performances you could do outside um in the same way that this country is trying to suppress our vote we shouldn't also let them or let the country suppress our artistic expression and our creative voice um i think it's really important that we keep our voices up about this voting plays a role into the arts industry and the arts economy and the the the entertainment ecosystem and we know that republicans want to continuously cut that funding cut arts education funding um cut individual funding for artists attacking the national endowment for the arts and so we have a voice and we have a stake in who's in power to as artists um in addition to just the power that we have as artists to tell stories to help inspire people um towards social change so we got to stay involved we got to stay creative we got to stay motivated and just a reminder that proceeds for this event proceeds for this event do go to the united negro college fund the uncf and as well as the nwa cp legal defense fund um d1 bui uh we definitely want to find out what's going on next with the oaks collective i know that we all wish that we could talk a lot more about this thing um but d1 bui i really do want to find out what's going on with you next what's going on with the oaks collective next a very special shout out to this regime of tele um you'll hope you feel like your presence is here and all of two and also to all of the oaks collective members uh jamal sterling nina domain clifton harley and myself i call it la at uh the mastermind as well as um a good associate with gavelford llc um together we work at pulling this thing together and what we're looking at coming up down python x is our family series a series of stories told by aspen grill and uh just phenomenal story teller nina domain so we're working on getting those out right now um here at jubilee theater we're working on i don't know does she she'll tell a story uh right now we're working on the story in um by adrian pinder it is the story of charles s get the gilpin he is the first african-american broadway superstar um and it is the specific word the n word and its youth on stage uh and in his generation that needs not to say that word and how it uh interfered with his ability to maintain employment so uh we have those projects coming down the line please look us up at the oaks collective dot com as well as jubilee theater dot org you'll be able to follow us and what we have coming down the pipe uh but most importantly all of us let's get ourselves out there and make our voices be heard one whisper cannot be heard but a thousand whispers can make a mountain move so let us work together and making that mountain move many thanks to you many thanks to all of our panelists who are here with us tonight and make sure that if you have the social media handles of these panelists make sure you follow them a lot of they have a lot of things to say a lot of great things to say and i know that they will love to expand on some thoughts that they had additionally tonight also to our audience you've heard us say it once you've heard us say it a hundred times you're going to hear us say it a hundred more times a thousand more times a million more times and that is if you have not taken the opportunity to register to vote please take that opportunity to register to vote it's only going to take you a few minutes go to registered dot vote dot org and you can be registered in less than five minutes now after you get that precious right to vote exercise the right to vote and uh don't forget to go to the polls and vote on november 3rd and as you heard the panelists mentioned is not just the presidential election you're talking about congressional elections you're talking about your local elections even your local amendments take a look at all of that stuff and exercise your right and exercise your voice or raise your voice i should say again uh proceeds for from tonight's event go to uncf eagle nwcp nwcp uh legal defense fund easy for me to say again get out there and vote and i'm sure brother uh brother bracey and brother enabukare would agree with me when i say a voteless people is a hopeless people it's been a pleasure hanging out with you tonight and i will go ahead and throw back on over to felicia okay yes thank you eddie frances and all of our panelists for being with us tonight and sharing your thoughts about the importance of voting as you heard tonight y'all your vote is your voice and it matters so please please make sure you are registered to vote in your state and that you go out to the polls to vote on november third on behalf of the oaks collective virginia taylor and all of our amazing guests tonight thank you for joining us for the presentation of regina taylor's vote and have a good night