How Democrats Can Earn the Black Vote and Win Back Our Country

Note: Natasha comes in at around 11 minutes.Hello Everyone!I spent a lot of time thinking about this conversation after it was done. Let me just start by saying I have all the respect in the world for Liza Hameline and Natasha K.. They are both doing the hard work that’s required for us to restore decency and compassion to our society and I feel privileged to have conversations with them.One of the most difficult things to navigate right now is our collective rage and frustration. We’re all watching the white supremacy regime tear our country apart. They’re looting the treasury and incurring debt that’s going to burden our children and grandchildren. They’re committing crimes against humanity, constructing concentration camps, and protecting powerful child rapists. Yet every time we even breathe a word about getting our money and power back from the billionaires who stole it, we’re confronted by a horde of screaming bots calling us “COMMUNIST!” or worse (usually a LOT worse).The result is that our frustration simmers and festers.There’s the constant tension between the people who are pushing for change outside the system (like me), and people who are pushing for change inside the system (like Liza). Natasha has done both. White supremacy is incompetent at everything else, but the one thing they’re very good at is sowing the seeds of division. Frustration is a naturally occurring emotion, and when we’re oppressed there’s no shortage of unproductive emotions to weaponize.The way we defeat this is through communication. But it can’t just be innocent small talk. We have to engage in our concerns and state them openly. We have to focus on the facts that disprove the generally accepted narrative, and that will require challenging authority.Here’s the thing: Our society is designed to prevent us from having these kinds of conversations.We need to make them happen anyway.When I finished this talk with Liza and Natasha, I reached out to both of them. I wanted to make sure they felt respected and heard and that it was a productive exchange of ideas. Honestly, I’ve been thinking about our talk for about 10 hours. I’m feeling better about it, but there are things I want to improve. I want to be a better facilitator of talks like this. Again, we are indoctrinated in this country to pivot on any appearance of a disagreement and turn it into a full-blown argument. That prevents us from ever recognizing the multitude of ways we agree.Over the last two years, I’ve seen a lot of important ideas get dragged into our cultural discourse. These are ideas that were deliberately censored by the legacy media. Today, more and more people are fleeing oligarch owned propaganda publications and seeking out the opinions of real human beings.We’re demanding the time to talk about the issues that matter to us, and we’re creating space to have those conversations.We are gaining power. But this is still new and our legs are still wobbly. My hope is that now that we’ve gained some more confidence between Liza, Natasha, and myself, we can have ongoing discussions. This is a strategy session for the ideas we can employ that will ultimately succeed. For too long, the DNC has maintained the same beliefs that have resulted in loss after loss, and then they’ve deflected blame.We need to learn from our mistakes, not repeat them.Despite all that’s going on, I feel very hopeful about the future. I’m seeing people of integrity like Liza and Natasha take on important roles. We’re shaking off the pressure to remain silent and we’re finding the courage to speak our truth.I’m looking forward to having more talks like this. I pledge to do better! I appreciate every opportunity to do hard work with brilliant people of integrity like Natasha and Liza.Thank you Steward Beckham, Margaret Williams, MS, ACC, Mandy Ohman, Under the Golden Boot, PaulM, and many others for tuning into my live video with Liza Hameline and Natasha K.! Join me for my next live video in the app.You all make this newsletter happen! Thanks for your sponsorship! I have payment tiers starting at as little as twenty dollars a year.Upgrade at 30% offUpgrade at 40% offUpgrade at 50% offUpgrade at 60% offI’m so happy you’re here, and I’m looking forward to sharing more thoughts with you tomorrow.My CoSchedule referral linkHere’s my referral link to my preferred headline analyzer tool. If you sign up through this, it’s another way to support this newsletter (thank you).I'd Rather Be Writing is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Get full access to I'd Rather Be Writing at walterrhein.substack.com/subscribe