 Hello everyone. I am here with 2020 congressional candidate Anthony Clark running against Danny K. Davis in Illinois 7th congressional district And he's here to talk about his campaign Anthony. Thank you so much for coming on the program No, no, hello everyone. How you doing? Hello. Thank you for having me. I truly appreciate the opportunity Yeah, I've been following your campaign now because this is the second time that you're running and I wanted to have you on the first time didn't get you on but now I'm writing that wrong and We're letting everyone know that you are a phenomenal candidate you're one of the original justice Democrats members of brand-new Congress and I always ask this to candidates because there's a number of people running for Congress for a second time You're one of several so Corey Bush is another one who's running for Congress had around the show last time So what made you want to run for Congress because you're incredibly busy you run a nonprofit You have a lot going on you're a teacher So you're dedicating so much of your time and energy just running for Congress once like I could imagine would be exhausting What made you want to do it a second time? Why why put yourself through this when you already are doing so much for your community? Yeah, definitely wonderful question, you know, thanks for asking it You know to understand why I ran the first time or I'm running again You know it ties directly into my parents Ryan and Blanche Clark shout out to them love them to death my best friends to this day You know just the sacrifices they made throughout their lives to an effort to provide me with greater opportunity, right? Access to opportunity That's a key theme throughout our campaign and has been throughout my life And then when you combine that with the fact that you know, I obsess over Muhammad Ali like I'm a huge Muhammad Ali fan You know watch his fight still to this day followed his fights You know followed his career inside and outside of the ring and he was someone like my father who I believe to be a true Hero, you know to have true courage and to not always go with status quo and one of his best quotes You know that I continue to take with me and I actually have it Tatted on my forearm here. I don't think you if you can see it or not But it says the rent I pay because the Ali quote is service to others is the rent you pay for room here on this earth So throughout my life, you know, I served in the military that was not necessarily by choice You know, I did find myself in some trouble as a youth like many of us do and trying to get myself out of that You know, the military happened to be an option So serving in the military and seeing firsthand the military industrial complex Seeing firsthand how one person's Patriot could be another person's terrorist getting that exposure Coming home becoming a high school teacher Seeing how our educational system is essentially broken how so many families and students are failing within a public school system That's inequitable because of the public funding model that exists how property taxes essentially fund our schools You know founding a nonprofit, you know prior to this new administration in 2016 focused on equity work You know being the co-founder of a small business employing at risk youth everything I've been doing You know inside and outside of employment, you know in the community has been an effort to pay rent You know because even as a black man in America, you know, I recognize the privilege I've had throughout my life particularly having such a strong parental base You know, so that's what led me essentially to accept the nomination in the first place Because when the community nominated me, you know, I was village of the year in 2017 whatever the hell that means You know, I'm really not big on personal accolades You know, I think the community for that because we truly work together But when I was nominated I was hesitant at first, you know, because I never saw myself as a politician I was jaded, you know by a current representative representation How our current policies were going and so on and so forth, but when I sat down I Started thinking to myself as a teacher as a nonprofit director, you know as a small business co-owner You know as a community activist and organizer. I was essentially treating symptoms I was never I never had the ability to truly target the root cause So for example running a nonprofit, we would constantly do food food drives clothing drives You know for the homeless populations that exist But we never got to the root cause of why homelessness exists and the fact that homeless housing should be a human Right, correct? So we weren't treating the root cause housing should be a human right But at my level I was essentially treating a symptom the same people we were helping on Monday They would still need help on Friday. So how could we change things on a systemic level? So when again when I was nominated I finally figured out that running for office accepting that nomination becoming one of the OGS which we are now what some of the originals Was the ability to truly get within congress and change policy We have to change policy. We have to change legislation But legislation is even enough. We have to change the hearts and the minds of the american people If we truly want to address what I believe is a society built upon the genocide of natives and the enslavement of africans and african descendants To perpetuate capitalism and to promote and maintain white supremacy If we're going to truly change that we have to address root causes and that's why I accepted the nomination And anybody knows hopefully that anybody out there if you run once Please run again because the way the machine and the establishment the way some of the ways they maintain power is by Building name recognition and counting on corporate dollars, you know They're going to have more money than a grassroots candidate And if they've been in office for 10 to 20 years because of course They like to maintain power They have larger name recognition, you know, so you have to run to lay a foundation You know congresswoman alexandra casio-cortez congresswoman ilha omar. I mean, they're superstars, you know, I look up to them They're idols, you know, I know aoc personally. I thank her for everything. She's done and inspiring me and others But not every race is going to be like that. You can be awesome yourself But it may take more than once it may take more than two times But the fight is that important So for me running once was never going to be an option you run once of course we were in it to win We came up short But we learned so much from that race and now we're back building at a momentum. We're better prepared and we're going to take it this time And that's kind of what i'm hearing and it's really inspiring like amy valela is another individual who ran for congress And she didn't win she came up short, but she kind of said the same thing like, you know I learned so much now. I know what I need to do to win I have the tools needed and you brought up your representative. Um, so his name is dany k davis He's been in that seat Since 1997 and when you compare someone like him who's entrenched within the political establishment to someone like you I mean, I really feel like it's no contest It really is a matter of People knowing who you are and you're already so involved with your community So you you're you're doing things to help people on a daily basis Like you're not suspending the work that you're doing to help out your peers Just because you're running for congress like before we came on For viewers anthony was telling me about a program that he's doing to get people to donate fans To people in the heat and whatnot Do you want to talk a little bit about that and some of the things that you're doing? Like to help feed members who are less fortunate in your community because I think that it can't be you know It can't be overstated How important this is because you're doing it one because you genuinely care But I think that this is a true representative like you're already representing people in the 7th district So talk a little bit about your nonprofit work and what you're doing because I find it just absolutely fascinating Yeah, yeah, definitely first of all most I want to give a shout out to Amy. It's her birthday today. So happy birthday. Happy birthday, Amy That is the homegirl for life. You know, thank you for everything that you do love you and your family And thank you for believing in us. Uh, so yeah, so in 2016, you know prior to ever being a candidate prior to ever being nominated Again being in the community and just seeing so many of my young students and families struggling Within a system that by design was not created To empower them. I felt like I had to do more, you know, it wasn't enough to you know Get inside the classroom. It wasn't enough to just organize and simply show up I wanted to go further and actually create an organization that again Try to try to because we haven't yet but try to attack more of the root causes that exist Uh, so suburban unity alliance suburban unity.org is my nonprofit organization. We're 501 c3 Uh, you know, we're 100% volunteer base. I make no money from this nonprofit because let's be honest Some nonprofits are part of the issue as well. I think we saw in the news today A particular nonprofit that let go of some employees that have disabilities Because again, it was hurting their bottom line. Uh, so again, we are 100% grassroots 100% volunteer base And it's just about getting out and building bridges between communities Because we truly believe the health of one community Directly impacts the health of other communities like the health of the individual Impacts the health of other individuals. So we've done a lot of work on building empathy Building bridges between communities that you could literally cross the street And everything changes from the access to opportunity to the level of gun violence to food deserts that exist Uh, so based upon that work based upon building extremely strong Coalitions with other organizations like best the proviso township, uh, like opa call to action Like passo west suburban action project We've been involved and had our hands and so many different things Some things that I could throw out there. Uh, we had two young women who were attending my high school They were victims, but I like to call them survivors and warriors of sex trafficking And they were under the salvation army, uh, and they were living in a organized at a home called ann's house Well, the salvation army cut funding Uh, so these young women these two young women were essentially going to be left on the street They had nowhere to go. Uh, they were going to have to leave the school that they were currently in at the time Uh, so we put it out to the community. We organized and in one day we raised over 13 thousand dollars We found these two young women a new placement and they were able to, you know, continue their educational careers And and finish high school, you know, they're able to graduate now. Was it perfect again? Did we treat the root cause? No, but at least we were getting out trying to get behind and empower These wonderful students these wonderful young ladies other things we've done, you know There was a rape that had occurred in on the school district, you know, young women came to us We got behind them empowered them. We created a petition Actually got out into the community and literally changed the sexual assault policy collaborating with other organizations Within the community. We've changed the racial equity policy within the community as well And actually had a racial equity coordinator position created through collaboration Uh, we've helped to support passo in passing welcoming village ordinances, uh within the local community Uh, so I mean we could go on and on, you know But it's powerful because it taps in and it builds empathy because I feel like throughout history Ignorance has also led to so many individuals being complicit and the dehumanization and oppression of others Uh, you know, similar to what we're seeing with our immigrant populations currently You dehumanize so then up people on the outside that it's not directly impacting. Oh, you know, it doesn't they don't care You know, this is not impacting me, you know, like oh the current president said these are rapists. These are drug dealers Who cares? But we should all care because again, it should impact us as human beings Uh, so we've engaged in that work, you know, one of the biggest things and I'll leave it here because we could go on and on There was a local church. Uh, that was being harassed by white supremacist organizations They reached out to our organization. We were able to fundraise We purchased this local church a state-of-the-art security system to surround the church and we took it further than that We actually went to the church, uh, you know got trained on filling out DACA renewal applications So we would go there almost every week and sit with dreamers and learn more about their lives You know learn more about their journeys and their truths and help them fill out these forms To fight, you know to fight to remain in this country that they've given so much to And it was interesting that so many people didn't even realize that many of our undocumented population They actually pay taxes, you know, they're working. They're paying taxes. They're giving to a community does not get back to them Uh, you know, so things like that help to break down those ignorances, hopefully and help to break down those barriers Uh, so that's what we've engaged in at SUA, you know, we're fighters. We rock the boat Uh, you know, I've been in trouble often for rocking the boat, you know through my organization suspended several times My life has been threatened. I've been attacked But the community has always stepped up in support and protest and sit-ins You know, I really have our backs because they believe in again, it's bigger than just legislation Like we're actually fighting, you know, our ideological war and you know, that's what we engage in And this is why like you're already a representative or the representative is just a matter of now You know, you can get elected and gain the power to really treat these root causes Which you talked about and it's remarkable like few people do this because you know It requires a lot of time It requires a lot of dedication and it can be demoralizing, you know Seeing all of these things that are going on all these issues in your community But it's just it's a dedication that I see with congressional candidates That you don't see like when you when you juxtapose the work that you're doing with any member of congress You just see that detachment like they're not in their communities. They don't even hold town halls often, you know So no it's so it the difference is night and day between candidates like you progressive grassroots funded candidates And basically anyone from the establishment So what I usually do on the show is Whenever I get a candidate on we'll do like these rapid fire questions while I ask you something and you know, see if you Check all the boxes the progressive boxes just so people know how progressive you are But I've realized that that's pointless because you these candidates running everyone including you you check all the boxes And you are phenomenal and all these ideas that you're proposing are are absolutely They'd be life-changing basically So let me just go through a couple of them medicare for all reparations for american descendants of slavery Canceling student loan debt like these are things that you lay out in your ad and when I looked at your website one thing that really stood out to me, which is kind of I wouldn't say new but it's talked about less often is You mentioned animal rights and anti cruelty legislation. So I mean these are things that we're not hearing being discussed in congress So with that being said along those lines of policy, let's say you're elected to congress And there's all these issues like you have a 100 point plan as to what you want to do I think you have a more robust policy platform than most people running for president So what do you do when you're elected? Like how do you focus like what would be your main priorities because I don't know where I would begin just personally if I were elected I don't know where I would start. So what do you think you would do as an elected member of congress? Within the first year, what would you fight for? You know initially so to answer that question first and foremost I think you know many of us understand that the issues are interconnected So they require interconnected solutions and for me it starts at a micro and a macro level when I become the next representative of Illinois 7th congressional district because within our district. It's extremely gerrymandered I mean we have communities within our district where the median household income is around 110 thousand dollars And then you could go literally across the street and the median household income drops down to 34 thousand dollars I mean that's vast disparity that exists and often these communities have operated with Metaphorical and physical walls between them where they're not collaborating. They're not working together to truly push for improvements So at a micro level when I become the next representative, I'm going to take the work We've already been doing you know as a nonprofit leader as a teacher You know as a community activist and organizer to knock down these metaphorical and physical walls And to get our communities to work stronger together, you know to come together because again in the Austin community We have food deserts within the 7th congressional district So where do individuals have to shop? You know either a cornish store eating processed foods or they have to go into a community like oak park bring their money So their money doesn't even remain in their community Uh to invest in other communities because they need to eat proper food and proper produce So let's work together. Let's talk about the importance of building co-ops Cooperatives empowering people within our communities on the ground So using that influence to further educate because honestly the democratic party benefits just like the republican party I think from you know lack of voter education low voter turnout You know the jadedness of many voters like I had I had been before in my lifetime So we have to address those issues on a micro level, you know Truly build coalitions on the ground Truly use our influence to strengthen all communities and have communities work together and empower each other And at a macro level, of course, we have I mean for wonderful Congress persons right now with strong representation, you know truly speaking truth to power truly rocking the boat So I think once I win this seat and once I get into office One of my roles is to get behind them back them and help to empower them use whatever privilege I have to further strengthen their messages Because again, we see how the establishment is responding We see how the republican party is responding when you rock the boat When you don't accept status quo like our incumbent in the 7th has been doing for decades You are identified as a problem and again We need support, you know, we really do so I want to support them and all their efforts and all their work And I think for everything that we're fighting for Uh, the climate is the most important issue honestly because we don't have an earth to live on right now We have what 11 years left to address this existential crisis So the green new deal has to be at the top of the list We have to truly fight for and support the green new deal We're building support on the ground, you know shout out to sunrise movement sunrise movement chicago We've been doing a lot of collaborative work with them So many wonderful young leaders out there again, not waiting not being patient not patiently knocking on the door They're kicking the door down because they know how important these issues are And again, you know climbing chains extremely important the green new deal I think is first and foremost The main issue that I would like to fight for give behind and help support and then after that, of course You name many of them, you know, we have to address the military industrial complex Because education is a huge issue within our community I think we could take the billions of dollars that we're spending on our military and our warp sense of what patriotism is And we direct that to community infrastructure to our educational systems that are inequitably funded by property taxes Uh, so we have to address those issues the war on drugs has to end no question You know, we were the only campaign in 2018 to push for the legalization of cannabis with a focus on racial justice You know, we weren't waiting on the wave We weren't waiting on the community to step up We were being bowed in taking that stand, of course single payer healthcare is extremely important All these things lead to, you know, greater job opportunity Greater infrastructure investment and overall empowerment for the people that exist And like you mentioned, we're fighting for both issues as well like reparations You know, if you understand if you understand that again throughout history, the government has played a direct role In oppressing individuals locally and at a federal level The determining that black and brown communities primarily do not build Generational social and economic wealth. You will understand the importance of reparations. It cannot just be one check It cannot just be one check because many of our white families and our white allies they built their wealth through what? Home ownership Passing that value down that property down through generations. You're able to build up generational wealth Through redlining through gym crow through slavery many individuals have not been able to do that So we have to address those issues So we could go on and on but the most important thing again at the end of the day is to understand that We have to build stronger coalitions and we have to recognize that yes We have to fight for and push vote legislation Like the decrim of sex work. We didn't mention that yeah for a hundred percent the decriminalization of sex work That's extremely important But also we have to fight this ideological war and we cannot be afraid to face down white supremacy Stare it in the eyes and let it know we're not stopping and call it what it is Like I think a lot of people are conditioned by republicans to like not call tucker carlson For example a white supremacist or not call racism racism But you see people who in congress are not backing down now Like the way that progressives and democratic socialists have moved this conversation It really is remarkable like I still think that the overton window is shifted too far to the right But just to see how far we've moved dialogue It's amazing and this is kind of and you can correct me if i'm wrong here The way that I feel and what i'm learning as we see more and more congressional races Is that it's a matter of getting your name out like I truly believe that if enough people know you Uh, and they don't just go off of name recognition of your opponent You win like 10 times out of 10 you'd win So talk a little bit about your opponent because you're running against Danny k davis Um, what is it about him that you think needs to be challenged? Why is he inadequate in representing your community? Yeah, I mean for me, you know great question I think it's impossible to call yourself a progressive if the district that you represent is not progressing Or if you're not actively fighting for progress I think too often you know within our political scope and realm Yes, we have like republican candidates that a democrat make challenge They get a lot of attention right because of course you want to flip a district We want to flip an area or we have an unpopular democratic representative that maybe oftentimes votes republican or you know just You know is against you know progressive issues such as lgbtqi plus rights women's rights so on and so forth So it's easy to get the community up You know it's easy to get the community to pay attention and support You know a uprising grassroots candidate But somebody like Danny k davis who's been in office for decades and decades to me You know I thank him for his service. I'm not a negative individual But he's just essentially maintained status quo Individuals like him survive on voting the right way But you also also fight you have to also be bold Don't wait till someone else comes forward and pushes the legalization of cannabis which he was against in 2018 But then now you feel the pressure and now you see the wave so now okay You know I'll sponsor it. I'll co-sponsor it. I'll jump on the wave We have to create the wave and he hasn't created any progressive ways in this district for decades and decades I mean our unemployment rate used to be at four times the national average It's still at 2.5 percent the national average Individuals in our community are moving out by droves. Illinois is either one two or three Across the nation and individuals moving out of the state and our district leads Illinois and in regards to individuals moving out of the city You know communities like the austin community They're dealing with gun violence on a daily and weekly basis I have lost 11 students to gun violence in my 10 years of teaching I'm wearing one of my wrists right now. Eliza Sims was murdered shot in the head a day before his 17th birthday And we go out into the community constantly fighting for justice for him Fighting to address the root cause issues that led to gun violence that took his life in others lives It's a serious issue that exists. We have food deserts. I mean there's a video online I challenge people to look it up. You could type in dany davis and arnie duncan I know if you're familiar with arnie duncan mr. Privatization I'm a hundred percent against privatization of our prison industries of our educational systems Of course of our healthcare because again any privatization puts profit before the people We have multiple school closures that exist in our district multiple mental health facility closures that exist Lack of infrastructure investment in our communities. We could go on and on I mean how we're impacted by your environment to let in our water to let in our paint the high levels of asthma that exists The heroin highway that exists. I mean, there's so many different connections So at the end of the day, I thank him for his service But he's been someone that's been focused on individual power Maintaining status quo not rocking the boat. Meanwhile, we're coming along at being extremely bold building bold coalitions And pushing for progressive issues and for change and we're not waiting. We're setting the trends We're not waiting for the trend to set itself and then jumping on We're setting it and moving forward and trying to help educate the community on why it's important to be progressive in bold Why it's important to empower people and recognize that the government has played a role The government is part of the problem, which includes the democratic party Uh, so, I mean, it's no question to me. It's time for change And if you look at our website as you stated, I think we have what 24 policy positions Fully articulated policy positions. I'm leaving no room for any loopholes. No loop. No room for pandering No room for backing off. You know exactly where we stand and exactly what we're fighting for because it's that important Thank you for saying that because it's really important Especially in these types of races, like you're not running against someone who is a democratic superstar Like you're not challenging someone with a lot of name recognition or has particularly been a target to progressives and social democrats So it is important for you to really lay out. I think these key distinctions Like you can't just ride the wave of change You have to be a leader and if anybody in your community has been a leader It's been you so I don't think anyone who's watching this who's a regular viewer of the human support is not going to be convinced So now we go to what do we do to guarantee your victory because I think this time you're going to win Um, so how do we guarantee that win? What can we do to help you? Can we phone bank if we don't live in Illinois? Right? Can we donate what where can we go? Give us give us what we can do Yeah, I mean and I'll tell a quick story when we ran in 2018 The incumbent and his team spent an ordnant amount of hours stealing our yard signs You know harassing us He told me to my face the reason he was going to win was because he had 30 years of name recognition and literally his slogan On his literature was the name, you know, like that was his love. Wow the name, you know So we have to build name recognition and our campaign our team is out there on a daily basis canvassing Door knocking phone banking building relationships with community members And yet i'm still teaching full-time yet i'm still running my nonprofit full-time because that work is extremely important So one thing you definitely can do is spread the message You know if you listen to this interview today If you like what you hear if you like what you see if you visit our website at vote anthony clark dot com And you truly believe in the movement that we are part of let your friends know let your families know call everybody You know in shot town in chicago in oak park and entire seven congressional district and let them know Hey, there's an option out there There's somebody out there truly fighting for change and you can believe in them And they're going to support you as an individual and as a collective. We also need donations. Yes donations are extremely important Again, we're not going against an incumbent that's, you know, extremely popular extremely controversial. They just exist They're just there allowing their communities to suffer while they maintain individual power So individual small donations because we're 100 grass roots. We took the pledge. We're taking zero corporate money We're taking zero medical or pharmaceutical money by the way the incumbent is He says he's again jumping the wave of medicare for all but yet you're taking money from pharmaceutical companies thousands of dollars You say you're for immigrant rights, but yet you're taking thousands of dollars from amazon Who is known to work with the apartment of homeland security and ice? So these are huge issues and because often we don't pay attention We allow individuals to co-opt and cloak themselves in progressivism So again spread the message help build name recognition You can phone bank if you don't live locally. We have a wonderful online system reach out to us Through vote anthony clerk dot com and you can sign up to volunteer Donate donate donate and i'll be honest with you. My team gets on me all the time because i'm a horrible fundraiser I'll be straight up with you. I know how many of us are struggling out there I know how hard it is. I have real collectors calling me on a weekly basis So I know but I guarantee you if you have a dollar to spare five dollars to spare ten dollars to spare $20 to spare know that it's going to a righteous cause and i'm not taking your donation in vain because i'm giving everything we have I'm giving everything i have and everything we have as a team to truly fight So go to vote anthony clark dot com sign up to volunteer Help share the link spread the message donate if you can because that's truly going to help us continue Take the fight to the democratic establishment and to the republican party as well And so the overall institution the system that exists uh that oppressors individuals like ourselves. Uh, so that's extremely important And Thank you for running as well. Let me just add um a little bit to your pitch as well And I always say this so it sounds redundant, but this is a national movement Like this isn't just about the seventh congressional district Of course anthony is running to represent that but What if you donate to anthony and you don't live in the seventh district that's still Essentially is an investment because I mean look at ilhan omar. She's not from my state But she just sponsored legislation that would cancel my student loan debt So by supporting these candidates monetarily and just through sharing the message This is something that will benefit you personally and it's this is an investment and you know We're we're laying the groundwork for revolutionary change in this country And it starts by just giving up a buck or two If that's all you can spare because a little bit goes a long way and if a lot of people do a little bit It has a huge difference so go to vote anthony clark dot com anthony. Thank you so much for coming on the program Um again, I apologize for not bringing you on in 2018. I miss you I miss so many candidates, but i'm writing that wrong this time Thank you so much. Is there anything else you want to say before we leave? You know, you know, I just want to you know, give a shout out and truly thank each and everybody that's in this fight You know, uh, another quote that I love and i'm going to end it with this is martin the king You know his quote is if you can't fly then run if you can't run then walk if you can't walk Then crawl but whatever you do keep moving forward So many of us continue to move forward push for progress But also remember self-care is extremely important because this fight is daunting. It takes a lot out of us It's a marathon not a sprint But I sincerely thank and appreciate each and every one of you that play a role in moving us forward And again challenge yourselves look yourselves in the mirror after this interview and also ask yourself What are you willing to risk and sacrifice for real change because we have to do more than facebook posts We have to do more than just show up at a march on the saturday then go back to work within the same system Monday through friday that led to the oppression we were marching against It's really going to take us sacrificing and putting ourselves on the line for systemic change But again, love you all vote anthony clark dot com all power to the people