Welcome everybody to today's panel discussion. It's titled Plan and Vote for Kindness. Of course, Election Day in the US is two weeks away, two weeks from today. And very happy to be on behalf of Kind Nexus, playing the role of host for today's session.
So I'm Mark Raven from Kind Nexus, and my role here is really get things kicked off. And then hand things over to my friend and partner and collaborator in this Deondra Wardell, who's going to be our main moderator, and I'll jump in for some of the Q&A. So it's a team effort today, and that team includes our amazing panel. And so we are joined today by, I'm just going to do the quickest of introductions and Deondra and each of the panelists can add a little more about each of you and your backgrounds.
We're joined by Karen Ross. Among other things, she is the founder of the Love and Kindness Project, and the Vote for Kindness Project. So thank you, Karen. This pin that I'm wearing is from the Love and Kindness Foundation.
So I'm really happy to be wearing that today. We're also joined by Elizabeth Swan and Tracy O'Rourke. They are co-authors of a book called The Problem Solvers Toolkit. And they are co-founders, co-host of a podcast that I really like called the JIT Cafe, the Justin Time Cafe.
We're joined also by Grenessa Draten. She's a community advocate and political influencer. We're joined by Shelley Luper Wilson and Jasmine McCoy of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated. Do you want to award Elle?
Let me turn it over to you. All right, thank you, Mark Greven. And thank you to everyone who's joining us today. And thank you to this amazing panel.
I appreciate you saying yes when you received my request to join in on this panel discussion. And just to give everyone a little background as to what brought us here today. The intent and goal of today's webinar is we want to heighten awareness of the historical ties to current issues and challenges that we see today and different things that we see up and down our ballot that we'll be voting for that will have an impact on our lives, the lives of our families, the lives of those people in our community and of all Americans. And the other thing that is really important is that we the people, it's not just three words on a document.
We the people is not something that's just on a t-shirt. There is power and we the people. And that power comes from, for one, getting out to the polls and voting and raising our voices. And so the other thing that's really important this year marks the 100th year celebration of the 19th Amendment.
And that is when most women have the right to vote. And so we're going to talk about history. We're going to talk about what's going on with elections then and now. And each panelist who will be joining us have different areas of expertise.
They're just excited. I've been looking forward to this day for forever. And so again, we're just going to get in and get right to it. So kind of the outline for today, and this is again, lessons learned from our last webinar, is one of the things that the participants were interested in is what would be the topics that we are planning to discuss today.
So I'll just run through those quickly. And then we'll kick off with our first panelist. But we're going to talk about, what is this vote for kindness? What does that mean?
And there's a vote for kindness project. There's resources that you can access. As you see behind me, there is a sign that says vote for kindness. You too can have one of those.
They're pretty cool. Also talk about ways to activate the vote. And so Elizabeth and Tracy are going to talk about a voter activation postcard project that they participated in. And then we're going to talk more about voting rights in the 19th Amendment and women's suffrage.
And Shelley-Lupa Wilson will lead us in that discussion. And then it's important, like you said, everyone has a voice. And a voice that's really important is the voice of our youth. And so Jasmine will speak on behalf of the youth and give some great pearls for us to ponder upon and things for us to do.
And then Brunessa Drayton will speak to voter suppression. That is not something in the history books. That is a present day concern. But like any obstacle, it's not something that we cannot overcome.
So without further ado, I would like to introduce Karen Ross. Karen Ross is the founder of the Love and Kindness Project that also supports the Vote for Kindness Project. She is the founding mother of the women in Lien. And I invite her to be a part of this panel because she is one of my coaches.
And while we're talking about the importance of raising our voices, she's constantly reminding me to raise my voice. So Karen, thank you for joining us today. And let's learn more about this Vote for Kindness Project. Thank you so much, Deondra and Mark and everyone else for inviting me here.
And it's a thank you for your introduction. I'm the founder and president of the Love and Kindness Project Foundation and the Love and Kindness Project Foundation, actually fosters projects that create kindness in the world. And something that some of you may not know about me is I am not actually born in the United States. I'm an immigrant.
And I came here from Canada about 30 years ago. And as a Canadian and as a permanent resident, I had almost all of the rights and privileges that United States citizens do. Except that actually, there are two things that a permanent resident cannot do, that some of you may not know one of them, is that I could not serve on a jury as a permanent resident. The other thing I couldn't do as a permanent resident was that I couldn't vote.
And when it came time to make a decision, to renew my permanent resident status, or make the choice to become a citizen of the United States, I really had to think about it. And the deciding factor for me in becoming an American citizen was that I really, really, really wanted the right to vote. As a person who was living here in the United States, I wanted to have a choice to raise my voice and add to the collective that we all have in being able to vote. And so think about it, if you went to another country, it's actually a big choice to immigrate.
And the thing that made me choose to become a United States citizen was that I was gonna have the right to vote. And since I became a citizen, I voted in every election. And last election in this election, as I began thinking about my foundation, I really thought, you know, one of the things I'm noticing is that there's a lot of unkindness going around in the way candidates are speaking. I partisan in all, and all these ways that we're getting information about the election.
And I thought, I'm gonna actually make a decision in this election to vote for kindness. And I was going to think about, well, what does voting for kindness mean? Voting for kindness actually means that we're gonna choose leaders, we're gonna make decisions for us as a country of how we can treat each other kindly. Voting for kindness means I'm going to pay attention to the issues that have to do with how we treat people kindly in this country, every single person.
And I'm not only gonna research the candidates, what they say on all different kinds of platforms, I'm gonna research what they say and how they say it about kindness, because I want to live in a kind country. I want to live in a kind society. So the Love and Kindness Project Foundation created our Vote for Kindness campaign. As you can see, we have these yard signs.
You can order one from our website. You can also print out a poster to download like Deondra has behind her. When you're thinking about how you are going to cast your vote this year, we're gonna ask you to please think about voting for kindness. Voting is kind.
It gives everybody a voice. And let's all actually vote for kindness this year. Karen, thank you for that. So well said.
And the website, there's a little bit of glare, but it's loveandkindnessproject.org for anybody who can't see that clearly on the sign. So you can learn more about that. So question for you, Karen, do you have advice? What can we do if we meet somebody who is afraid to vote for one reason or another?
You know, I think the thing is that from a point of view of kindness, if we meet someone who's afraid to vote, we can lend them our support. We can listen to their fears. We can help connect them, actually with people who have information. We can go with them to a poll and stand right beside them.
And I would encourage you for any of your friends that you have who might be reluctant or any people that you find are reluctant, set up some time with them, to chat with them, to talk about them, to understand their point of view, to listen to them. That's super kind. And then we can figure out what resources and what help they need if they're afraid to vote. Okay, thank you.
Thank you, Karen. Deondra, I think I'll turn it back to you for now. Okay, thank you, Mark. And thank you, Karen.
And thank you for that. The important work that you and your foundation are doing with love and kindness and vote for kindness. You're certainly making an impact. So thank you.
Thank you. Okay. So next, Elizabeth and Tracy. I am connected to Elizabeth and Tracy, again, through Women in Lean.
And Elizabeth and Tracy are, they're amazing. If you have ever had any questions about anything related to Lean Six Sigma, these two people are the people that you should go to. They have all kind of information out there on YouTube and all kind of training. And a few weeks ago, we were just catching up, having Lean Girl Talk because that's what we talk about in our spare time.
And they started chatting about the postcard voter activation campaign that they're working on. And I thought, how interesting. What are you guys doing on October 20th around 1 PM Eastern Daylight Time and the rest of its history? So thank you for joining us.
And without further ado, Elizabeth and Tracy share with us about the great work you're doing in terms of encouraging people to get out to vote. Happy to do that, Deondra. And also, I just wanted to say, listening to Karen reminded me that I dragged my husband to go vote early yesterday, which I've never done. And we got there, and there was a line.
And he said, oh, there's a line. And we've never waited in a line unlike a lot of people in this country. And I said, I don't care. Let's get in the line.
We've never done that. Let's just do that. So we got in the line. It was like 20 minutes.
I mean, other people that vote 24 hours in the line. And we met some folks in line and had some interactions. And it was incredibly exciting. I don't think I've ever been quite so head-emited about voting.
So thank you, Karen, for reminding me just the right and the importance of it. And just coming back to Deondra, when she instigated the root cause racism effort, I told her that I felt like I'd pretty much been on the sidelines. And just thinking about why is that? And I'm a white woman.
And I hadn't actually ever said that. We're called myself that until we got involved in this project. It's like, I got to own that in a predominantly white town. And I didn't know what my role was in terms of getting to the root cause of racism.
So inviting us to blog, to be on a live panel on the topic, she pulled a lot of us off the sidelines and gave us a chance to get enrolled, to get involved, and have a voice and have a role. So the exchange, the education, the energy, spawned by that, continues to impact my life. And since I was off the sidelines, I had to say, well, what else can I do? What's my role of all?
And a young neighbor told me about a group called Common Ground. And they had an effort called Reclaim Our Vote. And she said, you can get postcards. She goes, I haven't done it, but my boyfriend's mother is doing it.
I was like, OK, I'm down to do that. So reached out, got someone local, got these postcards. This is a nonprofit organization seeking to ensure that eligible voters of color are reinstated to voter rolls and that people in minority communities have access to be able to vote. And as a volunteer, I was given the postcards that DeAndre talked about.
I got addresses. I got information to give people. Some of that information was phone numbers to call to find out how to get reinstated. Some of it was links to find out where there were early voting centers.
So I took the scripts, got my little postcard stamps. And just kept signing up. And in the process, got my mom involved. My 88-year-old mother was like, yeah, I'm going to come write those with you.
So we sat on my deck and did that, and a little distanced. And then I got my young neighbors that, well, I can come help. And so got to know her better. And the engagement around this was kind of unexpected and interesting getting to know my community better, which was a wonderful thing.
And I also told my colleague, Tracy, about it. And she said, hm, why don't you give me that link? And Tracy, how does that work out for you? Yes.
And just so you guys know, Elizabeth and I have been colleagues and friends for over 20 years. We talk regularly. We obviously have a lot that we do together. The Justin Time Cafe is one of those.
And I am so happy to be a part of the Women in Lean group, a wonderful group of women, people like you, Deondra, and Karen, and Elizabeth inspire me unexpectedly. When I really need it, and you do it daily. So thank you for that. I'm so happy to know you and happy to be here.
But as Elizabeth said, I did feel like a bystander too. I have two boys, and I just caught out of, I guess this period of my life. I just finished elementary school. Woo-hoo!
So guess what? You're doing a lot of volunteer stuff as a parent for elementary-like children, age children. And feeling like I really wanted to also be a part of something. I wanted to do something.
I was feeling this uneasiness about standing on the sidelines, too. I felt like a bystander. And so of course, it's funny how the universe works. So I'm talking Elizabeth, and she tells me about what she's doing, and I jumped on it as well.
I wanted to be involved. And Elizabeth is on the East Coast. I'm on the West Coast. I called my nearest local representative to find out what I could do to get involved, get the supplies and the postcards.
She told me there were various scripts that were being sent out to certain states that had voter suppression. And some of them had been deregistered and didn't know it. And some of the scripts was about letting them know, hey, you better check that you're not deregistered. And then the other one that we ended up writing, because I was too late for that, they had to send those out by a certain time, is just really encouraging current voters to get out there and vote.
So also mirroring Elizabeth. I called a few of my friends, including some of my mom friends, and asked them if they would like to participate in writing postcards and getting their kids involved in writing in the postcards. What a great opportunity to share with kids about how important it is to vote. I honestly do not recall my parents voting when I was young.
I don't remember. I don't have a recollection of them going, I'm going out to vote. I'll be back. Watch your sister.
I don't remember any of that. And so I think it's obviously important for them to show how important it is to vote. So I ordered enough supplies for all of them to write postcards. We ended up sending out about 400 postcards, which added to the 6.4 million postcards sent by Reclaim Our Vote just this year.
Woo-hoo! So our challenge to you is make a plan to ensure your vote counts by checking the website, iwillvote.com. It will list the voting options for your state and country. And if you have kids talk about the importance of voting, honestly, like I said, I don't have a recollection of that.
It's funny because when I share a quick story, when my son was eight years old, he said, Mom, what's a Democrat? So I said, well, how do I explain this in a way that an eight-year-old can understand? So I said, well, the president, there's two parties, there's two political parties. And so I said to him, so repeat back to me what you understood.
And he goes, well, the president had a party, right? I had to go back to the drawing board on that one. But anyway, so now he's 17. He gets it.
And he might be registering soon to be a poll worker, which will let you know how to do that in just a moment. Back to you, Deontra, or Mark? I'm going to jump in because we've got a question. And if attendees want to look in the chat, the iwillvote.com website is there.
So you've got that link to click on. And you can confirm if you've registered to vote and find more information about that, how and where and when to vote. But following up on the postcards, what can I do to get involved in writing postcards? How can I learn more about that?
So the postcards, I think, as you pointed out, we've got two weeks to go that they are shifting gears. And some other efforts have switched to calling residents to get out the vote. And just as a reminder, the calls they made, they teamed up with Black Voters Matter. They made 185,000 calls to Georgia voters.
We've got a Georgia resident on our panel. For the midterms, about 65% of those calls resulted in votes. So you can get involved with that. And then as Tracy mentioned, Tracy, you just called about helping with the polls, right?
Yes. So there's an organization called PowerThePoles.org. There's a shortage of poll workers, largely because most poll workers in the past have been elderly volunteers who are now at risk for COVID. So there's a huge demand for poll workers.
And guess what? Teenagers can volunteer to do this work. And guess what? It's $14 to $17 an hour.
So guess what? My son is now putting in his application. So we put his application in together earlier today. It's very quick and easy to submit the application.
And we really need to fill this gap. So if you have a teenager that needs something to do, or if you would like to participate, go to PowerThePoles.org. So those are just two options marked. Since postcards are on the way, one of them is to reach out to Common Ground, reclaim our vote, and see who you can call, or go to the link that Tracy just mentioned to help with the mailing the polls.
It's a great suggestion. OK. Deondra, back to you. Thank you.
And Elizabeth and Tracy, thank you for those creative ideas. I too had the opportunity to take advantage of encouraging people to get out to vote. I think you all may know this, but just in case you don't. I'm a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated.
And the chapter where I currently am currently affiliated with Alpha Omega Chapter in Indianapolis, Indiana, our connection person has done a great job in organizing the chapter and providing ways for us to encourage people to get out to vote. And so I was able to take advantage of a texting project where I could text 200 people in Indianapolis, Indiana, 200 registered voters and encourage them to request their absentee ballots and provide information about how to get out in early vote. And that was the best two to three hours of my life that I have spent in providing support and encouraging people to get involved, and again, making sure that their voice is heard. And speaking of my sorority, up next, I would like to introduce someone who I met.
It's maybe been six or eight years ago. We both happened to be at a conference, a regional conference in the Southeast region. And Shelly Luper Wilson, I knew of her from a distance, but I had the opportunity to fellowship with her. And I felt like at the end of some of our conversations, I earned some extra credit or CEUs in history because she's just a walking encyclopedia and encyclopedia I'm dating myself.
So she's a walking Google link, okay. But so she's a historian. She's a speaker. She's an entrepreneur.
She is a community advocate. And like I said, she's my sorority sister. She currently serves as our international secretary. And I'm looking forward to, I've been looking forward to her speaking today and to talk about the history of why the vote is so important for women.
So I will be quiet and turn it over to Shelly Luper Wilson. Thank you so much, Deandra and Mark, the Kindexus family and everyone joining us for this very important discussion today. I'm so honored to be a part of this phenomenal panel that you have assembled. And I want to say as I was listening to Tracy and Elizabeth, one of the things that stood out, well, there was something that each of them said.
And one of the points that Tracy was talking about remembering or trying to remember a parents voting. And you know, that's something I have a very fine memory of is going with my mother to the polls. And of course, at that time, the polls were those huge machines and they had those big curtains and you would pull the lever and it would hide you in that curtain. And you know, and it just seems thinking about it now.
It just really seems so antiquated. But so my youngest child is six. And I took him with me to go vote last week. And he saw the line and was a little concerned about that at first.
And so we kept talking and then we got there. And so I was like, okay, you have to help me vote. And he was so excited and engaged. And when we left, he had his eye voted sticker and he was like voting was really fun.
And so I'm so happy that that was his first impression of voting. You know, later on, we'll get into the importance of it. But the fact that he saw it is fun really meant a lot to me. And then Elizabeth raised some really good points that tie in perfectly to what I wanted to share very briefly.
And I'm going to try to speak as fast as my Oakla, Texas accent will allow me. So I could say within this timeframe, but as Elizabeth was talking about being pulled out the sidelines and being able to have a large role and a voice, it just made me think of the impetus reaching out and how that just ties into this long line of Black women's activism. So much of it has been ignored, especially in the women's suffrage movement as we celebrate the passing of the 19th Amendment. So I just want to share very briefly a few women that many may not have heard of.
But when I go back and read their words, it's incredible to me. And also very saddening to me how relevant they still are. I'm not in 2020. So when I think about the historical timeline I was asked to share, I come back to the quote in Lovecraft Country that I have my myself quoting almost every day, where Ruby Vettice said, I don't know what's more difficult being colored or being a woman.
Most days I'm happy to be both, but the world keeps interrupting. And I am sick of being interrupted. So when I think about women's suffrage, I think about it's essentially that requests to live life without interruption, without interruption from barriers erected to prevent women, Black people immigrants from access to a fair and equitable world. Barriers design not with love and kindness, but with divisiveness and hate and othering that elevate some while oppressing others.
Racism played a huge role in women's suffrage, as we all know. So Black women had little calls for celebration 100 years ago with the passing of the 19th amendment. But nevertheless, we've been persistent. So I just want to share just a few women.
And the first who's one of my favorites is Maria Stewart. She gave a speech in 1832. And most people had never heard of Maria Stewart, even though she was the first known American woman to deliver a public speech and did it in front of a mixed audience, both Black and white men and women, which was not only unheard of, it was actually illegal at the time. So in the speech, one of the things that she said, and this is in terms of coalition building, I think, she said, oh, he fair sisters, whose hands are never soiled, whose nerves and muscles are never strained, go learn by experience.
Had we had the opportunities that you had, what would have hindered our intellect from being bright and our manners from being as dignified as yours? And this is really what gets me. She went on to say the things that are holding us back are prejudice, ignorance and poverty. And how relevant is that today in 2020?
And she said these words in 1832. And she ended that speech by saying, we need never to think that anybody is going to feel interested for us if we do not feel interested for ourselves. But we shall flourish. And I find that so powerful because she really was an advocate for using your own voice and intentionality and coalition building.
When we talk about the 19th Amendment and the Women's Suffrage March in 1913, we can't not think about Alice Paul, right? Well, Nellie Quander was one of the Black women who for months had been working to request participation by the Black women and students at Howard University. Alice Paul was the coming to the pressure of others who felt like we can't conflate race and gender. It's going to have to be a one or the other.
So Nellie Quander wrote many, many letters to Alice Paul. Of course, you know, at that time she considered texts or, you know, call her on cell phone and say, hey, Alice, girl, what's up? So she was sent her these letters and, you know, their own file at the Smithsonian. And they're really great because in one of them, she said, because of your lack of response, I'm going to assume that maybe the letters hadn't reached you.
So I'm going to say this one more time. We want the Women of Howard to be able to participate in this march. And not only do we want to participate, we want to participate with all of the college students. We don't want to be relegated to the back.
So there she was advocating for one cause. We have to elevate both. We're not going to go into this looking for rights for some at the oppression of others. Now, the next one I want to share with you is Charlotte Rollins.
And so when we think about South Carolina, typically we don't think about women's suffrage, right? Well, in 1869, Charlotte Rollins spoke on the floor of the South Carolina House of Representatives. And one of the things that she said was we asked to suffrage not as a favor, not as a privilege, but as a right based on the ground that we are human beings and as such entitled to all human rights. We claim that public opinion has had a tendency to limit women's fears to too small a circle.
So I'm like, I'm feeling Charlotte Rollins in 1869. She was not about being placed within a circle. She was claiming her place not as a woman, not as a black person, but as a member of the human race, which is so powerful and visionary. Again, this is 1869, just a few years after the Emancipation Proclamation.
And then from coalition building to petitioning government, the next point I want to make is just the complexities, especially of black womanhood in this quest for women's suffrage and voting rights. And one of my favorites, I'd be well. She too was asked to march in the back in 1913. And she refused, she joins her fellows from Illinois.
Like I'm gonna be up here with my people. This is where I belong, I'm not going to let you place me in the back. And I'd be well, so many accomplishments, so many feats, but the thing I think that sometimes gets lost, especially as we talk about black girl magic and this superhero of black women is that these are women, these are people too. And one of the things that I'd be well said was I honestly believe I'm the only woman in the United States who ever traveled throughout the country with a nursing baby to make political speeches.
So here she was a mother traveling around the country with a baby that she was still nursing as she advocated for the rights for women and people of color. Now finally, my favorite, Anna Julia Cooper, she published a book of voice from the South in 1892. And she too, the woman questioned the race problem. She talks about traveling on a train station in the South.
And when she got out, she needed to use the restroom. And there was one that said for ladies and one that said for color. And so she had to stop and ask, which one is for me? Under which head do I come?
Was actually her quote. So when you think about the complexities, as we talk about women's rights, we have got to make sure that we move forward understanding that we can't be one issue or one cause oriented. We will never unroot racism if we're only focusing on one thing because that tends to happen at the expense of something else. So when we think about 1920 and when the amendment passed then what happened the next year, Tulsa, Massacar, Black Wall Street, not just there but all across the country.
So while white women were able to enjoy their newfound freedoms, black women could not continue to focus on sub-retrites because they had to focus on survival. So as I was thinking about continuous improvement what does that mean? You know, we have to get past the scarcity mentality that liberty is in short supply and there's not enough for everyone. Feeling that there always has to be somebody that you have to fight in order to be victorious.
You know, we can't imagine an envisioned another way, a better way. We can find a way to continuously improve ourselves, our communities, our nation and not do so at someone else's expense. We can work collectively and collaboratively and not just focusing on one issue or one cause. So I wanna end by saying my philosophical approach to freedom and the way I see best to address root cause racism is rooted in the ideals of the black women who came together at the Kombahi River, the same river that Harriet Tubman led as a military commander.
And in a black feminist statement written by those women, they articulated a pathway to freedom, a pathway to liberation, a pathway where everyone could thrive, free of interruption, a pathway that offers real transformational power. And one of my favorite quotes says, we're actively committed to struggling against racial, sexual, heterosexual and class oppression. And C is our particular task, the development of integrated analysis and practice based upon the fact that major systems of oppression are interlucky. Rule cause, racism, systems and structures are designed to protect the powerful at the expense of the majority.
So how do we uproot this? We do it by exercising kindness as a verb. We vote and we vote in people that are aligned with philosophies rooted in humanity. And we hold them accountable by using all of our power to unmake and then remake systems grounded in equity and love.
Yeah. Yeah, Shelley, yes, there's a big round of applause. Thank you, Shelley. And I do wanna ask one question.
You know, Deondra had shared with me information about your mother, Clara Looper. And there's a civil rights activist and reading about 1958. I know the history, but my gosh, that was 15 years before I was born. And it's disheartening to think that not that long ago that there were whites only lunch counters.
And thankfully she was one of the activists to help stand up to that. And she later ran for the US Senate. And it sounds like she was an amazing woman. So are there any other stories that, is there a story you would wanna share about what you've learned from her?
Oh my gosh, there are so many stories, so many stories. And you know, I have an older brother and sister. So I'm 25 years younger than them. So their experience with my mother was much different than mine, but as we're talking about voting and voting for kindness, you know, she ran for the US Senate from State of Oklahoma.
You know, the only woman and the only non-white candidates. So when you look at the photo of that election year, it's just really amazing to see her on there again in 1972, Oklahoma. And one of the things that she wrote about in her book was just how that experience really changed her. As she traveled across the state, it made her realize that people are people.
And if she could help get more people to just see us as people, rather than trying to divide and categorize us, you know, how much better we would be. She talks about being introduced in Henrietta, which was the town that wasn't just a sundown town. I mean, they had a sign that said, Negroes read and run, if you can't read, run anyway. And that wasn't just at night.
You know, that was the town closest to where she grew up. So she couldn't go and try on shoes. They would have to trace their feet on a paper sack and bring that tracing to the department store in order to buy shoes. So to be introduced there as one of us, you know, she was able to see a real change that her parents would have never imagined.
And one of the things that I could just share really quickly, because she had a lot of questions about, you know, can you represent us because you're black, you know, can you represent us because you're a woman? And one of her responses to a question was about, how do you feel about intermarriage or marriage between the races? You know, what are your thoughts about that? And this is a direct quote from her.
And she said, of course, I feel good. And I believe in marriage and my travels, I've never seen an ant and an elephant have intercourse. And that tells me that anything that God did not want to integrate, he made it biologically impossible to do so. And I do not want anyone else to ask me about intermarriage, because if you do, I'm going to assume that you are inferior and not able to compete in a market where something else is important beside the color of skin, because the real action takes place in a place that's completely sealed off from the public.
In other words, I'm saying it's not the color, it's the thrill. So, you know, when I read that it was very funny. So, but of course she lost the election in 1972, you know, Oklahoma didn't have a woman senator until Mary Bella, maybe, you know, not too long ago. So, but still that fact that she was able to put herself out there because she believed that she could be a vehicle to affect change.
And even though she wasn't victorious in that election, just being able to reach out to so many diverse people, I believe actually changed more than what she realized. That's great. Thank you. Thank you, Shelley.
I'll turn it back to you. Okay. So, we have an expression in our church that says, did our hearts not burn? And Shelley, as you spoke to the other panelists and those who are joining us, did our hearts not burn.
I was over here cheering and saying, say it, Shelley, but out of all of the great points you shared and the history, you know, something you said, we have a place and we have a voice and we have a vote. And that is true for our youth. And so it brings me great joy to introduce another one of my sorority sisters, Jasmine E. McCoy, who's a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority incorporated, I have to say it like that.
She's currently a senior at Harvard University. She is a pre-mag major with a minor in molecular and cellular biology and will be an orthopedic surgeon, which is so important because part of what we talk about in a root cause, racism series is in healthcare, how there needs to be more representation. We need to see more black people and people of color. So Jasmine kudos to you.
And I've watched you since you were a young girl. I'm extremely proud of the work you're doing. And she's currently serving as our international second vice president where she is mobilizing youth all over the country to get involved with this election. So without further ado, Ms.
Jasmine E. McCoy, I turn it over to you. Thank you very much. And hello everyone, my name is Jasmine McCoy.
I am the international second vice president of Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority incorporated. And I am so excited and honored to be speaking about the importance of young voter participation and mobilization. Again, I'm a senior at Harvard University on the pre-med track, concentrating in molecular and cellular biology with a secondary and African American studies and a citation in Spanish. This very morning, not even two hours ago, I cast my first vote.
My mom and I dressed in our AKA's vote sweatshirts, drove to the board of elections, and turned in our absentee ballots. I missed the last election by three months. So I was not about to let anything keep me from performing my civic duty. First time voters, the young adults ranging from 18 years old to 21 years old like myself.
This is our time to shine, to mobilize our forces and flood the polls. It was the 26th amendment passed in 1971 that dropped to the minimum voting age from 21 to 18 years old. This is a right that was literally fought for by soldiers in the Vietnam War. They said, if they were going to be drafted, then they should at least have the opportunity to participate in the government that dictates their future.
And I want young voters to remember that word, future, the future, your future, my future, our future. As a young adult, the future is a large and abstract thing to try and comprehend. For many of us, it includes graduating college, moving out of our parents' house, finding a job and possibly starting a family of your own. We've obviously given our futures some time.
It should make sense then that an educated routine voter factors into the mix. If you care about having a clean and healthy planet to live out your future, you'll vote. If you want to have a growing economy, with the opportunity to get a job after graduation, you'll vote. If you care about reproductive rights and having affordable health care, you'll vote.
If you care about the safety of Americans and have opinions about our military, you'll vote. If you care about your future, you will vote. To not vote says that you are content with 140 million other people making those decisions for you. Voting almost reminds me of a group project.
Regardless of the vote that you make, everyone should participate. I'm not telling you who to vote for. I'm just telling you to vote. You don't want to be that one member of the group who does nothing, has nothing to say.
And then after the presentation is done, then you have something to say. That means you don't want to be an eligible voter, not vote, and then have something to say after the election. You won't be able to celebrate if you're candidate one, because you didn't do anything to help them. You won't be able to complain if you're candidate lost, because again, you didn't do anything to help them.
Your vote is your voice. And if you don't cast it, you're silencing yourself. First-time voters, young adults, millennials, we need to use our voices to bring in a new wave of opinions to the 2020 election. If you're a first-time voter or know someone who was a first-time voter, ask them if they have a voting plan.
And this plan has to be more than I'm going to vote. Do they actually have steps for how they're going to achieve that goal? If not, you can help them along by including them in your plan. For example, you can carpool to the board of elections.
Or you can carpool to your nearest polling place on November 3. Whatever you do, make sure that first-time voter is feeling included, and that this is their country, and that they have a voice in deciding the future of that country. Whatever you do, vote for a future that is filled with kindness. And thank you so much for that.
Are there particular steps? Can you talk about the power of casting an informed vote? Are there specific recommendations that you have for other young people to figure out how to be best informed? Yes, there are a lot of ways that you can make sure that you are an informed voter.
You can go back and watch the presidential debates, the vice presidential debates that happen. There's also one that's going to be happening this Thursday. And there are plenty of websites that can help you understand where politicians stand on the issues. One of those websites is literally called on the issues.
It breaks it up into the different issues and tells you whether that person is, say, more left-leaning or right-being. Whatever you do, you don't want to go in this feeling like your vote has already been cast by other people, or that you're being forced to do something, to write someone down, write someone in, that you don't really feel your heart is in, because this is your vote. And you don't want to let someone else have two votes, and you have zero. So you can watch the presidential debates and use different websites to understand where politicians stand on the issues.
Right, thank you so much, Jasmine. Deandra, I'll turn it back to you. Thank you, and thank you, Jasmine. Thank you for the great work that you're doing.
And thank you for that information. That I think was not only beneficial for the youth, but it's beneficial for everyone who's voting. So thank you. Last but certainly not least, our next panelist, like Elizabeth Swan and like Karen Ross, she was a part of the first root cause, racism block series where we were sharing our visions and voices.
Brunessa and I, our connection goes all the way back to Western Kentucky University, Go Hill Toppers. And my earliest memories of Brunessa, well, for one, let me talk about professionally who she is. She's a community advocate, and she's a political influencer. And that just did not happen as she became an adult.
She was born a community advocate and a political influencer. My early memories of her on the hill included organizing sit-ins, getting people registered to vote. Some of our closest friends are now, are, are became registered voters as a result of coming in contact with Brunessa Drayton. So she is a dear friend, she's a community activist.
She's also a member of the Divine Nine, and it is an honor and a joy to have you on the panel. And today what Brunessa is going to talk to us about is voter suppression. That's something that's certainly not a past concern. It is a current concern.
So to you, Brunessa. Thank you, De'Anjia. Thank you, Mark, and the Kydexus family. I must say that I have just listening to the ladies on this panel thus far.
I'm truly inspired. Jasmine bringing it with the youth, Shelly, Shelly just talking about the women's suffrage movement. And 1913 is a dear year for me. And some of the things that, some members of the organization that I'm a part of participated in that time.
And Elizabeth entraced the postcards. I'm proud to say that I received postcards. And it was very different to, I'd never had that before in an election. And it was very inspiring to get postcards.
And Karen, vote for kindness. What can I say? We need to do more of that. But I would like to talk about today, voter suppression, then and now.
Voter suppression has been around as long as the United States has been in existence. In the early years, the voter suppression manifested itself in things such as poll taxes, literacy tests, intimidation, and physical violence. Poll taxes were things that voters were, or fees that voters were asked to pay before they cast their ballot. Literacy tests.
Voters were asked to recite the US Constitution, and then interpret a passage from that said, Constitution. Voters were even asked how many bubbles are in a bar of soap before they could actually cast that vote. Mobs came by for an intimidated those that were standing in line, upwards to physical violence and attacking them. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 outlawed many of these discriminatory practices and prohibited racial discrimination in voting.
Unfortunately, in 2013, the Supreme Court, in a decision known as the Shelby County versus Holder case, gutted the enforcement provision of the Act. They removed what's known as pre-clearance. The pre-clearance was intended to ensure that areas such as in the South and other parts of the US, with a history of discriminatory laws, voting laws, did not pass new restrictions impacting voters of colors to cast their ballot. After the removal, many states passed laws making voting more difficult.
For example, certain states required new voting ID laws. They made it a requirement that you had to show a particular form of ID at the poll. In Texas, where we have two folks here, a handgun license can be used by, but a state-issued student ID cannot. You may be asking yourself, well, what's the big deal about that?
Well, more than half of the students at the University of Texas identify as non-white, yet while more than 80% of people with gun licenses in Texas are white. In Georgia, a few years ago, the Secretary of State conducted a voter purge and he removed over half a million people off the voting rolls. This is the same Secretary of State who at that time was also running for governor. Upon doing a deeper dive of many of those that were removed from the voting rolls, many of them were African-Americans and Latinos.
Some people were removed from the rolls simply because their name was misspelled or hyphenated. Other acts of voting suppression that you may see, in many areas polling places are were closed, primarily most of those areas were in communities of color. Early voting times were reduced from three weeks to one. Saturday voting was taken off the calendar.
In many African-American communities, Sundays were designated as stroll to the polls or souls to the polls and Sundays were designated as days as where churches could go and vote. In certain communities, those days were removed. Here in Georgia earlier this year, new voting equipment was brought in. As the technological advances of those, of that equipment, older workers, a presidential election and an enthusiastic voting population and COVID-19, you had the recipe of the long lines that you saw on TV last week here in Georgia.
As I watched those lines on TV, what I also watched, some people left those lines and thought, well, I have another two weeks, I'll just come back. I personally have a family friend who actually waited 10 hours, 10 hours to vote in 2020. I was floored, I was really floored. Recently, I attended a board meeting in which it was said that voter suppression is a matter of interpretation.
I completely disagree. Voter suppression is real. It may occur in all subtle ways, but it has a significant impact on our voting. I'll leave with this.
Have a voting plan, vote early. If you vote by absentee ballot, be sure to drop it off in your county's drop box. Check with your county website to make sure that you may have identified legitimate drop box. And once you voted early, volunteer to be a poll worker.
And if you go to the polls, if you see something and it just doesn't feel right, or you feel that you're intimidating, being intimidated or harassed, please contact Election Protection at 866-our-vote. Thank you, Tiana. For NASA, thank you. And thank you for that particular tip about how to report problems.
You shared a lot of great thoughts with us. I'm thinking specific here, the current election. How do you see voter, this unfortunate voter suppression skewing the results of the election, or in particular the ability of minorities to go and cast their vote? I would say, just particularly here in Georgia in this election, some people have reported to me their concern about going to the poll because of some of the dog whistle comments that have been made about others going to watch the polls to ensure that the voting is safe and that the ballot is protected.
So my concern with that is people, personally, I've had someone say to me, do you mind going at the poll with me that day? Because I'm a bit scared. So this was just one person who shared that. How many others feel that way, but they just don't, they haven't said anything, or they may truly be deterred from going to the poll because they're scared.
So I think in certain communities that there is a possibility that some communities will be suppressed. But I'm also encouraged, looking at what happened here in Georgia last week and the momentum that we see. It's very encouraging to see that some people, no matter what acts of suppression are being occurring, they're not allowing that to stop them from voting. So thank you, Bernasse, and thank you to all the panelists for everything you've shared and all the powerful words here in this first hour.
So before we get into the broader Q&A section here, and I encourage people to continue submitting questions, please do so using the Q&A function, not the chat. So I'm gonna make a couple of quick announcements. So this is of course the first of two webinar panel discussions that we have scheduled this week. So we hope you will come back and join us on Thursday, at one o'clock Eastern for a panel called One Brothers Meet at Gemba.
So Deondra will be here joining us again as a moderator. I'll be actually also joining as a panelist because I contributed a blog to Deondra's new website, rootcauseracism.com. So I was honored to be able to help kick off that series and you see a picture here. Wide-ranging group of panelists, Hugh Allie, Christopher Chapman, Eric Ho, Sam Morgan, and Jeff Welch.
So you can register for that today at kynexis.com slash webinars and a quick reminder to the kinexis customers in the audience. The next training team office hours is going to be held with Adam and Matt on October 29th, one o'clock Eastern. You can also register for that. People have asked and again as a reminder, the recording of today's session, the full 90 minutes will be available in our continuous improvement webinars on demand library.
All of that content is free. The August webinar is the panel discussion that Deondra helped organize is available there. You can find a link on the sidebar of kinexis.com slash webinars. We have our blog at blog.kinexis.com and we have a podcast series.
So the audio, the full audio of today's session will be available later today in our podcast feed, which you can get in all the usual places. So if you want to revisit this or share it with someone to listen to in their car or when they're out for a jog, I think today's session really lends itself well, of course, to the podcast format. So those were, those are the announcements. And we've had a lot of comments coming in here about the panelists here today being amazing and a lot of thanks and people are feeling encouraged and uplifted.
So really, really want to thank all our panelists for that again. So we've got questions. Question for Karen and for anybody else who wants to then jump in. How do you suggest we deal with social media posts that we're concerned about that might be giving incorrect information to voters?
I think that that is an unbelievably important question. When you think about most people and often young people, I have two young people, younger people of my own, young adults who get most of their information from social media. They're not necessarily watching mainstream news. They're not reading mainstream newspapers.
If you find a post, whether it be on Twitter, whether it be on Facebook, whether it be on LinkedIn, wherever it is, that you believe has incorrect information, threatening information, please report that post to the platform. It's our responsibility, not just to be passive readers of information, but the kindest thing to do is to actually report that post. And if you're with someone who you know is reading it, if you're young person, your child brings it to you, not only explain the problem with the post and is a great time to have an interaction with them about, you know, we have to be careful about what we read on social media because there are people who are actually actively giving us disinformation, show them that the right thing to do when this happens is to be able to report that. It's a good beginning first step of advocacy and activism for them as well, right?
That's what I would suggest. Others would think yes. Deaudra? Well, you know, one of the things that we practice in continuous improvement in our different work environments that I think applies to the world.
Say something, say something, and I'd like to add on to that, do something. And, you know, most people feel like there is some big brand act that needs to be completed to make a difference. One small thing can make a difference. So even if seeing social media posts report or incorrect or factual information, reporting it, you see it, you know, you're saying something, you're raising your voice.
And if it's someone you have a relationship with, it could be the case. Some people share posts because they think the information is correct. And if you have a type of relationship where you can engage that person and make it a teachable moment, that's one way of strong respect to the person who posted it and then making sure that we have accurate information, that's a way we show respect for others so that people are able to make an informed decision. This may be a little not as direct, but I think I've been having some conversations with my 17 year old.
He's like, did you see this on Snapchat? And I'm like, oh, so, you know, I'm having a conversation with him about, we're born into identities, you know, our race, our gender. And there are some identities we choose. And political affiliation is one of those choices.
And that is fine. If you choose one or the other, that is fine. But your new source is not a part of your identity. So don't trust everything you see.
Don't trust everything you read. You know, and I see that there's just sort of this blind trust for certain sources. And it's just, you can't let your guard down by just trusting sources in general, right? You should always question any source.
And so doing the right thing is one thing, but also, you know, making sure that you don't identify with a certain channel of news, I think is an important message that I don't think people share enough of. I just want to jump in quickly, even though my role here is moderator, I can't help it be reminded of something I've heard from a lot of Toyota people connecting this to continuous improvement. The questions of what do you know and how do you know that it's true? Those are really helpful questions in a workplace.
And I think in times like this. That's nice. Any other thoughts around this topic? I don't have a thought around this topic, but before we move on, Brunessa shared a phone number.
Oh, yeah. That was... Yeah, you're on mute somehow. You can do that on camera.
That was because I was multitasking. Plus, you know, I wouldn't actually... Can we put that phone number in the chat? I think it's 866, our vote.
Okay, I'm gonna put that in the chat. 866, our vote. Our friend Bella posted a comment. If you're working the polls or even if you're out voting and you see somebody being turned away, the kind thing to do is to pass on the state's voter protection hotline to them.
You might want to look it up and confirm it and store it in your phone before you go out to vote or work. So I think that's a great suggestion from Bella. And then Bella also asked a question directed at Jasmine. What do you hear as reasons for young people not registering and not voting?
I recently talked Bella did to a neighbor, a young man with a new baby and he said he wasn't registered and had no plan to. Personally for me, what I'm hearing is that people feel like it's not necessary or that their vote doesn't matter or being a college student, I'm too busy. And speaking about the first two, your vote obviously does matter. It is something that people hundreds of years before you wish they could have the opportunity to do.
Whether it's black people, your ancestors wishing that they had the opportunity that you have, whether it is women wishing that they had the opportunity that you have, this is not something I believe that you have the opportunity to brush off because people literally did die for you to have these rights. And with respect to being too busy because of school, voting is more important to me than being in class for that day. But I've already voted. So if someone is going to be doing voting in person, what you miss on that one day can't be re-watched at another time.
Yes. I would also add, in speaking with my 17-year-old and some of his friends and being exposed to that age group, I hear it's hogwash. It's all hogwash anyway. The politicians are hogwash and the choices are not good.
Well, why do you feel that way? And they're exposure to media. The campaigns of both sides and showing and demonstrating the horribleness as much as possible of each side, and they see that and they want to opt out. They're just like, I don't want any part of that.
And sadly, that means they are choosing by not voting their voting. And with respect to people feeling like they don't have any politicians that they're seeing that are doing what they want to be doing, what they would like to see a politician doing, that's great. Thank you for noticing that. That's your opinion.
Why don't you decide to run for a public office? There's someone in my class that's running for public office in Louisiana. And though I can't vote in Louisiana, we're all supporting him from afar. So that is something that it's really valuable for someone to recognize.
If you're not seeing the change you want in the world, be that change. Not chime in on some. Go ahead. Please, Shelley.
You know, it's interesting a couple of things. One, my son said today, there was a commercial that talked about a candidate very positively and one that immediately followed that was very negatively. And he was like, so which one is true? Is this person a good person or is this person a bad person?
So you're right in the ways the ads, especially the negativity that's in the ads right now, can make, I mean, if my six year old is like, I don't even know what to think, my teammates are certainly feel the same way. But what I've also found as a, at least I hope an effective strategy is trying to find those issues that really connect with them and show how those decision makers, even aside from Washington, DC, but local elections, you know, how that makes such a big difference. You know, especially with the younger people that may be starting or if they just got an out of a job where it was a minimum wage, do you feel like you earned more for your work? Well, who makes those decisions on what the minimum wage actually is?
You know, what are the candidate's views on that? Let's talk about livable wage. What is your feeling about climate change? You know, do you want to be able to breathe the air when you're an adult?
Children, you know, what are those candidates I believe we need to do something to address? You know, what's going on on planet Earth right now? So there's so many issues and I think there are ways to find those points of connection and even really helping them understand that while our national election, of course, is immensely important, you know, so are our local elections and what's happening right now and that often will allow more tangible points for them to really be able to see democracy in action and when they see those smaller margins, it really emphasized how every vote really does count. Okay.
Another question to me for the group in general. So when we talk about votes counting, there are some states that are never considered swing states where one party typically wins by a large margin and sometimes that makes people feel like their vote doesn't matter. Do you have any thoughts or advice for somebody who's in that situation where they feel like well, their votes not going to tip it one way or another? Mark, this is Bernice.
I think especially in light of what's happening with Georgia right now, you know, we are everyone's watching Georgia a decade ago. We were known as what was called not a swing state. We were just the red state. As we know, 10 years later, the demographics has changed.
That's why it's the importance of doing the census. And as Shelly said, you know, even if you're not in a swing state, a state that's not received to be a part of the, you know, an influencer in that electoral college number, politics is local. Those local races are key. You're talking about school board members, city councilmen, mayors, those are the people that are making the decisions that impact your life on a day to day basis.
So, you know, to me, that's even bigger than an electoral college swing state or, you know, who gets in the Oval Office. It's that school board member who's making decisions that impact, you know, the schools that your children are attending, the county, the chair or the commissioner who is going to be deciding who or what business is going to be zoned in your neighborhood, who can make the decision whether or not they're, they open a plant near your house that's emitting toxins. So, those races are just as important, if not more so, than what's going on on the national level. Thanks, Vanessa.
Anybody else with a thought on that? The only thing that I have to add is, you know, Brenessa, thank you for adding to that, you know, today, one of the blogs that ran in the series was penned by our classmate, Jeff Welch. And the title of his blog is Three Steps to Becoming an Informed and Savvy Voter. And that's one of the important points that he made.
Yes, you know, the presidential election is important, but there are other elections, and especially, you know, on the local level where, you know, decisions will be made on that ballot that will have an impact on our lives. And so, it's important that, you know, we can become informed and we make those decisions and then we make a plan and get up there and vote. And I'm going to put a link to Jeff's post, which is part of the new rootcauseracism.com website, Jeff's post, I've linked to it there. There's another question, and this is, I think, directed to the group in general, and I'm sure there's all sorts of different perspectives to draw on here.
So, the question says, as a middle-aged white woman living in a predominantly white area, how can I best help encourage and support black, indigenous, other people of color to go and vote? So, I'll answer since that's my profile right now. Actually, we'll be on middle-aged. I know a lot of 120-year-olds.
So, some of the links that Mark put out there and Tracy and I were talking about, I think could be good uses of time. The group Common Ground that has been, since 2018, doing Reclaim Our Vote, they have efforts around calling voters to encourage them to get out and vote, and they've had success. And you see a marked increase in voter engagement for some of these. The other one that Tracy just looked into and got her teenage son who can't vote, but can help at the polls and get paid for it is great.
And what was that one, Tracy? That's Power the Polls? PowerthePoles.org? It was Power the Polls.
I was sure to chat with you earlier, yes. Mark shared it in the chat window. So, those are things you can do. And then I think all the women on this panel have talked about assisting people to the polls.
But I think you're in my position where the biggest way I've ever had was 20 minutes yesterday to vote early. It's other states and other communities having to travel. So, I think they're looking for ways to call voters to help encourage get the vote out. I'd like to add to that also because I live in a predominantly white area, which over the last few years is changing a little bit.
Before we even talk about voting and throughout that, our time in our neighborhood, get to know your neighbors. Actually get to know your neighbors. If you see people walking down the street, no matter who they are, say hello. Make sure that we haven't lost that neighborhood feeling.
Because then when times like this come along, you can have a discussion. With people you know, you can make sure that they feel comfortable because they're your neighbors. And both for kindness, the truth is everybody everywhere is actually your neighbor. But on a day-to-day basis, get to know the people in your community, all of the people in your community, because then you have the opportunity to open a discussion with each one of them.
They'll be your friends. And also to go back to what Vanessa was talking about earlier, if there are things that we see that can be interpreted or perceived or are in ways that people's votes are being suppressed, we need to speak up to that. And we need to make sure that's addressed. I think sometime, and this is just Deondra speaking right now, that there are assumptions that people may or may not vote.
You don't know what fear or what obstacles or what challenges people may be facing. And so it's important, like Karen said, get to know your neighbors. And not just those who are on your blog. Those are within your circle of influence.
Those who are your social media friends. Those who are your colleagues. Because you never know what type of fear people are dealing with. I was sharing a story with one of my office mates earlier about the number of conversations I've had with people within my circles of influence that are nervous about going out to vote because of, like Vanessa mentioned, some of the colleges that have been mentioned, that they're afraid that something will happen to them.