Listen "The Controversial Reality of Voter Suppression"
Episode Synopsis
Voting is a right, not a privilege. There is no more timely a podcast than the one we just dropped today. Good friend Daryl Atkinson of Forward Justice talks about The Controversial Reality of Voter Suppression and the affects it has on our communities.0:00 Episode starts 0:00 Show beings0:43 Personal checkins start1:34 Jes mentions voting by mail and her son being able to officially vote2:46 Rob affirms Jes in the way she is teaching her son to carry the weight of voting4:06 Rob talks about caring a new lens into this voting season6:10 Rob mentions ReCity gearing up for the end of the season and holding stories which makes it hard to separate personal from everything else7:43 Daryl Atkinson joins the conversation8:31 Rob reads Daryl’s bio9:57 Rob asks Daryl about his story and how he got to be doing this work10:27 Daryl mentions being arrested in 1996 and serving 40 months of 10 year sentence11:04 Daryl went back to school after getting out of prison to practice law in Minnesota and North Carolina11:43 Daryl shares that if he was to return to his birthplace, he would not be able to vote because he still owes money to the state11:52 Daryl shares that he is impacted by this problem on a personal level which is why he does and this work and how he got to where he is14:00 Jes asks Daryl to unpack voter suppression - what it means, how it shows up, and why it is important14:14 Daryl states that voter suppression isn’t new15:32 Southern disenfranchisement did not exist in North Carolina State Constitution until 1877, on the heels of radical reconstruction17:35 “In 2013, the NC legislature passed HB 589, also known as the “Monster” voter suppression law. HB 589 required voter identification but did not allow the forms of identification most frequently held by people of color… The “Monster” law also shortened the early voting period and eliminated same-day voter registration and youth pre-registration. … Also passed SB 325, a bill that would eliminate the most popular day for early voting: the final Saturday before the election… In 2016, 200,000 people voted on the final Saturday, a day used disproportionately by African-Americans.”19:51 Daryl shares about the hypocrisy of our country to make it so hard to vote for people 20:41 Call 1-866-OURVOTE to report voting problems21:26 Rob asks about the story of Forward Justice - how it came to be, the problems they are working to solve, and the name21:53 Forward Justice is a law policy and strategy center, operating on three areas of change: social movements create change, some of our most potent social movements are rooted in the South, and these social movements need to be led by people most impacted22:41 1/3 of electoral votes are in the South25:25 How Forward Justice does their work: change law policy and practice, shift culture, narrative, and values to and how you communicate, and building people up27:41 Jes asks Daryl about the biggest obstacle to justice in this issue28: Daryl pushes back by stating that there is no one thing we can do to bring our country into equity because we are layered with white supremacy and voter suppression and racism28:58 Voting is a right, not a privilege30:40 Rob brings up the 400-year-old tree and the problem that comes with uprooting31:55 Rob asks Daryl about his fuel and his why32:05 Daryl talks about his faith, that he was prepared for such a time as this to fight to get into the room32:55 Daryl admits being built in a way that he wakes up, ready for a fight33:32 Daryl shares about unnecessary incarceration happened to him so that is why he goes hard, mentioning that the importance of having affected people at the center 34:09 Jes asks Daryl what and how listeners can engage34:23 Daryl...
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