This week Farai Chideya dives into how federal judges are central in the fight to protect reproductive health with Alexis McGill Johnson of Planned Parenthood. We break down the steps in creating more inclusive representation with the cofounders of Women of Color for Progress. Also, understanding how students of HBCUs are mobilizing for the upcoming election, and lifetime activist Dolores Huerta reminisces about her advocacy over the years.
Correction: We incorrectly stated that Dolores Huerta was awarded the Medal of Freedom in 2000. She was a 2011 Medal of Freedom recipient; the honor was delivered by President Obama in 2012.
Episode Rundown
1:11 Alexis McGill Johnson, CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, talks about how the new Supreme Court appointment could impact Americans’ reproductive rights.
5:28 How the upcoming election will affect access to healthcare for all Americans.
8:36 Women of Color for Progress cofounders Amanda Farías and Karen Coronel talk about running for local office and motivating more women to represent their communities.
11:27 Farías explains how to take the plunge into politics, even if you have no prior experience.
13:31 Errin Haines details her four-hour journey to cast an early vote.
15:13 Haines breaks down voter suppression and voter depression.
17:10 Our SPEAK segment explores the top issues that our listeners are sharing with us.
18:22 Delece Smith-Barrow talks about the importance of this election to students at HBCUs.
22:03 Ruth Umoh dives into how Black business women have been affected by the pandemic.
23:48 Umoh describes how the business and finance community has responded to the call for action after the death of Geroge Floyd.
27:47 Our weekly Covid update talks about the record number of coronavirus cases, why more white Americans are getting sick, and how masks are stopping the spread of the virus.
31:31 Dr. Ijeoma Nnodim Opara describes a recent encounter with a police officer who was not wearing a mask.
33:18 “I recognized that the environments that we're in right now, politically, socially, culturally, economically as well, and that this will not be about public health. The most important thing was for me to get home safe to my babies right now.” Dr. Nnodim Opara reflecting on her identity and having to weigh the risks of an encounter with police.
35:55 Alice Wong, founder and director of the Disability Visibility Project, talks about #CripTheVote and raising awareness for voters with disabilities.
39:25 Wong explains her fear of losing the Affordable Care Act and what it would mean for people with disabilities.
42:55 Dolores Huerta and her legacy of “Si se puede.”
46:30 Huerta talks about her history with police violence and why she’d be at the protests happening right now if it wasn’t for Covid-19.
47:56 Huerta talks about her experiences on the Playa at Burning Man, and why she thinks it should be a model for society at large.
Farai Chideya:
I'm Farai Chideya and this is Our Body Politic. Take a deep breath. Oh, yeah. It is go time for American democracy. Tens of millions of people, including more than half the number who voted in 2016 have already cast their ballots. On this show, we're bringing you a black female doctor in Michigan, who questioned an officer not wearing a mask. She talks us through how she dealt with that and the deeper questions it brought up for her. Workers' rights icon, Dolores Huerta; she talks about what she's still doing for society at the age of 90 and how she makes time for adventure. And Errin Haines of The 19th, our go-to on all things political. She waited hours to vote in Philadelphia and she wants you to know why that should make everyone mad.
But first let's talk about our courts. Just 40 days after the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a new Supreme Court justice was appointed to fill her seat. With a 52 to 48 vote, senate Republicans confirmed Amy Coney Barrett. In a single term, president Donald Trump has appointed three of the nine judges that sit on the Supreme Court and the Trump administration has appointed roughly a quarter of federal judges on the bench. Alexis McGill Johnson is president of Planned Parenthood Action Fund. She's had the political battle over the courts front of mind. Thanks for joining us, Alexis.
Alexis McGill Johnson:
Thank you so much for having me, Farai.
Chideya:
So let's just keep it real. We have a newly confirmed Supreme Court justice. She has not said what she is definitively going to do, but seems unlikely to be a big champion of reproductive rights. Do you and your colleagues at Planned Parenthood feel the despair that a lot of other people are feeling or are you feeling inspired to action or what's going on?
McGill Johnson:
First, I would say that the majority of Americans still believe that Roe should be the law of the land. We're talking 77% of Americans. And what we have in Justice Barrett now is the culmination of a series of power grabs based on rules changes from Senator McConnell and the Trump administration to rush through a Supreme Court nominee that is quite contrary to where most Americans sit. And so where we sit is certainly very concerned. There are about 17 cases that are in the pipeline, they're literally one step away from the Supreme Court that could create further burdens or limit access to abortion, if not outright overturn Roe. And so we are obviously incredibly concerned, but even more concerned that we're in a situation in our democracy where the rules of the game have shifted away from the majority of the people. And that's actually just dangerous in a democracy.
Chideya:
So you're the president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. And in the Action Fund hat, one of the things that that organization or that part of your larger organization has been doing is advocating for appointment of federal judges. And so get a little deeper into this whole question of how you interact with the whole process of who becomes a federal judge and of course then how that affects policy.
McGill Johnson:
Yeah. Well, I mean, over the last four years, what we've seen is an expedition of the number of judges that are between Senator McConnell and president Trump. They've confirmed over 215 incredibly conservative judges to lifetime appointments on the federal bench. And these judges that will sit at the circuit court, at the appeals court, at least 10 of them have been considered completely unqualified by the American Bar association. One judge at least has been very vocal in similar language to Judge Justice Barrett around IVF, feeling that that is an unnatural process. And I think that where we engage is we continue to support both the research to help our Senate colleagues understand what is at stake as they are doing their confirmation process.
McGill Johnson:
The reality is they've been very successful in shifting the rules changed so that... We used to be able to filibuster bad judges and now, Senator McConnell changed the rules. So a very simple majority, which is what they held over the last few years that has allowed them to rush through the number of appointments that they've made. Again, it's harmful to democracy, it's harmful to how we should be governing. And that's really, bottom line, what's at stake here.
Chideya:
What would you see as differences between, say, a Trump second term and a Biden first term since so much has already happened in the appointment of federal judges and with the Supreme Court?
McGill Johnson:
In Vice President Biden, Senator Harris, we know we have champions of sexual and reproductive freedom. We know that they will be committed to everything from repealing Hyde to identifying ways legislatively, to support legislation that can help us codify Roe federally. And I think those are the opportunities that we have. The Biden administration also has a ton of work to do. The ACA is on the line next month, literally just a few short weeks from now. And so the other things that help us ensure reproductive freedom and access to gender equality can also be stripped away if the ACA is ruled unconstitutional. Things like having our birth control, covered under the ACA, ensuring that gender discrimination happen. We don't pay more for our healthcare than men. Those are the sorts of things that I think can be incredibly impactful under a Biden administration that would be exciting.
McGill Johnson:
I think under a Trump administration, we're already living the fear, right? We're living the fear of both a Supreme Court where he's appointed three of nine judges, cementing that conservative majority. We are already seeing we've been forced out of Title 10, the nation's oldest and largest family planning program, limiting access to family planning in rural areas and low-income communities. And our response to it is to continue to fight, to continue to engage our 16 million supporters and demonstrate what's at stake. And if we have to do that state by state, because that's where the fights will turn now in the state legislatures.
Chideya:
And tell us a little bit about what Planned Parenthood does that a lot of people might not know about including providing some health services to men and to the LGBT community, et cetera.
McGill Johnson:
Absolutely. That Planned Parenthood is first and foremost, a health care provider. And we provide all range of sexual and reproductive health. We do a lot of sexual education outreach and part of that education is also to our legislators, to ensure that we have robust policies that ensure that we're building access more access to healthcare than less. I mean, we have to remember that we're in a moment today where we've just seen every day is the next highest day of new COVID transmissions. Over 225,000 thousand Americans have died in this last seven months of the pandemic. And the idea that in 30 days, the Senate could come together and rush through this nomination and not rush through COVID relief bill, not rush through a COVID testing bill, not focused on the comprehensive policies around healthcare that are potentially bankrupting families. These are the kinds of things that as a public healthcare voice. And if we are not out there yelling and screaming about what's happening healthcare broadly, then we're not doing our service.
Chideya:
Well, Alexis McGill Johnson, it's been great talking to you. Thank you so much.
McGill Johnson:
Thanks, Farai.
Chideya:
Alexis McGill Johnson is president of the Planned Parenthood Action Fund. Women of Color for Progress trains women who want to run for public office at all levels of government.
Co-founders Karen Coronel and Amanda Farias join to tell us more. Hi Karen.
Karen Coronel:
Hi.
Chideya:
Hi Amanda.
Amanda Farias:
Hi.
Chideya:
So Amanda, let me start with you. You are an elected office holder, and we're going to get to that victory in a moment, but you also ran for city council in your home district in the Bronx and you didn't win, but you were motivated and tell us what motivated you and why you stepped up?
Farias:
Yeah. I was someone that came back to the Bronx after working on Obama's reelection campaign in 2012 realizing that all of the inequities and all of the things that were really important to me that were happening on a large scale federally, were also happening on a hyper-local level. I just saw the gaps that were happening in our communities of misinformation or people really lacking social safety net and services and resources. And that is what pushed me to step up. So I lost in 2017 and realized that the community wanted new leadership. There was a state committee position that had an elected there, that hadn't shown up for a meeting since the year 2000. And so I took that as an opportunity to continue pushing back against the establishment. And I won just by 86 votes.
Farias:
So what I get to do fortunately, is be that middle person between the assembly member and the local community members, and really fighting for party reform, help democracy, small deeds democracy work for people is my job.
Chideya:
And Karen as another co-founder of Women of Color for Progress, tell us how the organization, trains and supports women and also how you got involved.
Coronel:
Yeah. It was a group of us working in different levels of city government, and we were motivated by the 2016 election and also just everything we had seen within working in government and elected politics. We wanted change, we wanted more representation and we came together and felt that women of color really needed to be at the forefront of that representation.
Chideya:
And Amanda, I'm just going to wrap up with you. So since you have run for office and you know what it's like and what the emotional journey is and how much time it takes, what would you say to someone who was your age and who was like, "Yeah, I'd like to help my community, but I'm not sure about this whole running for office thing."?
Farias:
Yeah. I would say that it's okay to feel that way and that there are many levels to get involved. Find something that you really are passionate about, whether it's climate emergency, whether it's equal pay, whether it's economic development and growth in communities, or reproductive rights, find the thing that you care about and take that first step in trying to organize around that issue. And then I would say, you won't know it's not for you unless you join a campaign. Your expertise is needed on every single campaign. So you have to figure out in all these little steps and all these little pieces to help you realize where you fit and how you want to fit in, but there's room for everyone.
Chideya:
Karen and Amanda, thank you both so much. I really appreciate it.
Coronel:
Thank you.
Farias:
Thank you, Farai.
Chideya:
That was Karen Coronel and Amanda Farias, Co-founders of Women of Color for Progress.
With the election upon us, we're going to keep talking about voting. Errin Haines is editor-at-large at The 19th News, and every week, we bring you our conversation, sipping the political tea. Welcome Errin.
Errin Haines:
It's great to be back of course.
Chideya:
How are you hanging in the home stretch?
Haines:
Farai, how is anyone? This is it. I mean this is go time, this is crunch time. And it's just completely unpredictable and we have no idea what's going to happen. And there's a siren outside of my window, and maybe that is some sort of metaphor for where we are.
Chideya:
I think that's actually an excellent metaphor, and it speaks a lot to the piece that you wrote about your own voting experiences. Now, both of us voted early in person, but that was always my voting plan. It was not yours, so why did you end up doing it and how did it go?
Haines:
So my plan was that I was going to... I requested a mail-in ballot and I was going to drop it off at a drop-off location, but got down to the wire here in Pennsylvania and my ballot had not arrived. And so I was one of the countless people in Philadelphia County, which is the biggest county by state here, who had to go and stand in line to cast their ballot, which I was fully prepared to do. I'm somebody who votes in every election. I have been registered since three days after my 18th birthday, so I take voting very seriously. Went to a polling location, not too far from my apartment in my neighborhood. I expected maybe to be there for a while. I mean, we are in a pandemic and I know that there are precautions that have to be taken, and I certainly understand that. But long story short, I emerged four hours later and that is the longest it's ever taken me to vote.
Haines:
I don't know that if everybody that was in line had those four hours to sacrifice. And they shouldn't have had to, even if they did. And not to mention the folks who may have walked by or driven by and seen that long line and said, "You know what, forget it." Or I can't do this right now, I have other things, other priorities. I was alarmed to see that only three poll workers were at this location, and not nearly enough people for the volume of people who were clearly excited to participate in this election. I know, talking to voters that they are very energized about participating, and so even as we're seeing that voter excitement, we are also seeing voter suppression and depression, which makes me very concerned for election day.
Chideya:
And when we talk about voter depression, we're not talking about voters that are just sad. Tell us more about what that term means.
Haines:
No. I mean, voter depression, there's a psychological impact to voter suppression. And that is the thought that my vote doesn't matter, or my vote's not going to count, or it's not worth it, or they see long lines like that and they think, oh, well, I don't want to do that. That's going to turn them away, which is why I think, frankly, Farai, you see a lot of the activity to kind of serve as a counterweight to that, right? Like the music that's playing. There was a DJ at the precinct where I was. There were people passing out snacks, trying to keep people's spirits up and frankly, try to distract them from the debacle that was happening. While it's worth it, it is completely unnecessary in a democracy in the hundredth year of suffrage and 55 years after the Voting Rights Act, that people are still waiting hours and hours to vote. It's really just unconscionable in this country.
Chideya:
And there's clear evidence, documentation you are more likely to be in a long multi-hour line if you're a person of color.
Haines:
Exactly. And what really, hopefully, could be the catalyst for change around the issue of voter access is the fact that there were frankly white people, who were being disenfranchised in this way this year, maybe even for the first time. Having this experience as a journalist has really empowered me to bear witness for people who are experiencing this far too often. Many people across this country are experiencing this in this moment. It should hopefully make them speak out more about why this is wrong and why we should all be rejecting the politics of voter suppression going forward.
Chideya:
Well, Errin, it's always great to talk to you. Thank you so much.
Haines:
Thanks so much for having me.
Chideya:
Coming up.
Delece Smith-Barrow:
I do think that having Senator Kamala Harris be a graduate of an HBCU of Howard University in Washington DC, I think that is making a really large impression on students at HBCU campuses.
Chideya:
This show is for you and about you, so we need to hear from you. Our platform, Speak, lets you leave anonymous feedback about what's on your mind. You can find a link to write us at farai.com/OBP or call and leave a voicemail at (929) 353-7006, that's (929) 353-7006. The question right now is what's the most important issue to you as a voter and why? Whether you've already voted or not, we want to know what motivates you. Thanks.
Senator Kamala Harris's nomination put some shine on historically black colleges and universities, their alumni networks, and their current students. Senator Harris is a Howard University grad and she has shouted out her Alma mater on the campaign trail, not to mention her sorority Alpha Kappa Alpha, or AKA.
We turned to Delece Smith-Barrow to tell us how HBCU students were mobilizing for the 2020 election. She's a senior editor for higher education at The Hechinger Report.
Delece Smith-Barrow:
For students at HBCUs, many of them first-time voters, they're making a decision about who is going to lead us through the next leg of this pandemic. I mean that person, their number one task will be, how do we move forward? I think right now it's a big push on these campuses to make sure students are engaged with the voting process. They are following the political conversation so that they're not just kind of voting haphazardly or not voting at all. They are taking this quite seriously because it will have direct implications on their day-to-day life and just their long term life.
Chideya:
Could there be a Harris bump in HBCU voters, this election?
Smith-Barrow:
I do think that having Senator Kamala Harris be a graduate of an HBCU of Howard university in Washington DC, I think that is making a really large impression on students at HBCU campuses because they are seeing someone who they can relate to, who looks like them, who's walked in their shoes, who is this close to becoming vice president of the United States. So I think her presence is definitely energizing those students in a way that we haven't really seen before. One thing that also makes Senator Kamala Harris stand out is that she's a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha, the first black Sorority for black women. And so I think her presence as an AKA has filtered down to Black Greek chapters on campus.
Chideya:
Smith-Barrow says HBCU students and younger voters in general are really involved in this election season.
Smith-Barrow:
Sometimes there's a misconception that college students, they don't care as much about who's running who to vote for things like that, but I think in 2020 in particular, because we've seen how much the pandemic has really affected black families, I think the students in HBCU now truly get it and they do feel an urgency to vote, to try to make a difference with who will be in charge for the next four years.
Chideya:
And Smith-Barrow also says that colleges themselves actually have a lot at stake in this election.
Smith-Barrow:
Right now, there is a lot of concern about whoever wins in November, how will they support HBCUs financially and in any way that they need it. A lot of HBCUs really do turn out a large number of black lawyers, black doctors, black scientists, black teachers. And because the student population, by and large, is not from terribly wealthy families. They're coming to college needing, maybe, more financial aid, more scholarships, more grants, things like that. Their institutions are also just generally not as wealthy. So they have smaller endowments for example. So they really do need an administration that's going to make sure that their funding is appropriate.
Chideya:
That was Delece Smith-Barrow, higher education editor at The Hechinger Report.
I am so happy to welcome reporter Ruth Umoh as a regular contributor to Our Body Politic. Ruth covers diversity and inclusion in the business world for Forbes magazine. And of course we have to call this segment, “Show Me the Money.” Welcome, Ruth.
Ruth Umoh:
Thank you for having me.
Chideya:
One of your latest stories on Forbes was about how the pandemic is affecting Black businesswomen specifically. And I've watched people like my hairdresser be affected by lack of PPP funding and also the business had to close. I love her to bits and I just went to the hairdresser just this past weekend, but I initially was really cautious about even going back, but she didn't close and she pulled the rabbit out of the hat, but what's happening on a big scale with Black business women?
Umoh:
Very simply put, Black businesswomen are hurting right now. Many of their businesses are sole proprietorships, meaning they don't have employees, but a growing number do have employees, they have part-time workers, they have contract workers and they're providing access to jobs, skills training, and real career development opportunities in Black and Brown communities where they intentionally position themselves. Despite this growth in entrepreneurial activity over the years, Black women already had a number of obstacles, pre-pandemic, and much of those obstacles stemmed from a lack of access to capital. And then you fast forward to late February, March 2020, and we're now in the midst of a global pandemic that's slamming small businesses from the top especially those owned by women and those by people of color. Who sits at that intersection? Black women.
Chideya:
But hasn't that been true for decades? Do we think anything is going to change now? And do you see a lot of the rhetoric of corporations embracing diversity, actually moving into the world of investment in Black female entrepreneurs?
Umoh:
I will take an optimistic approach to this. I think what's really changed here and what was really a pivotal moment was the murder or the death of George Floyd back in during the end of May. And so we saw this national reckoning and this call for action against racial injustice. And it really moved the corporate sector to take a stance, to create corporate grants that target Black entrepreneurs, that target Black female entrepreneurs. And it really made the business sector to ask themselves some really key questions and say, "Okay. What are we doing to help sustain Black and Brown entrepreneurs?" So yes, I do think that there's certainly been a shift in how we approach this community in particular. And I think that companies and investors as a whole, especially within the VC space are beginning to understand the economic viability that Black women bring to the US economy and to the business sector.
Now, some may point to the PPP loans that were doled out a few months back as evidence that there is some support for Black entrepreneurs, but the reality is that very little went to those with the greatest need as we've seen time and time again. In fact, one survey found that just 12% of Black and Latinx business owners who applied for PPP loans reported to receive and what they had asked for. And so this underscores kind of the fraught relationships that marginalized business owners have with major banks when trying to secure a loan, but also with the government as it stands. But I think that when we look at the private sector, we certainly are seeing corporate leaders who are standing up and who are at least beginning to put their money where their mouth is literally.
Chideya:
Yeah. You know, I'm also very curious how we make sense of immigration in America. There are people, um, who are immigrants themselves, who are anti-immigration. There are certainly other people of color who are anti-immigration. But we read in an MIT article recently that immigrants are 80% more likely to start a business. And the number of jobs started by immigrant-founded firms is 42% higher than for firms founded by people who were born in the U.S. So when we cover this whole question of people of color, women of color in business, how does immigration fit into it and how does it fit into the nation?
Umoh:
Yeah, well, I can certainly speak about this anecdotally. As someone who is a first-generation immigrant, Nigerian American, to be exact, I think that there's this false dichotomy that, you know, hiring or bringing in foreign talent somehow takes away from or removes the breadth of jobs that are available to Americans. And that's simply not the case. If anything, it's complimentary. And so when we hear about policies that tighten the requirements for, let's say the H1B visa, which specifically targets highly skilled foreign talent, or that's suspended altogether, it's very likely that it will have a damaging effect on entrepreneurship and really curtail the number of new startups and new small businesses over the long run, especially those in niche, emerging fields. It's also likely that these federal restrictions will also stifle economic recovery and growth after the pandemic abates.
Chideya:
Ruth, it's great to have you on the show and I look forward to continuing our conversations.
Umoh:
Likewise. Thanks so much for having me.
Chideya:
That was Ruth Umoh, business and economics reporter for Forbes and Our Body Politic contributor.
It's time for our weekly COVID update.
NPR Newscast:
Coronavirus infections continue to skyrocket in many states. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says more than 81 diagnosed thousand cases were reported on Thursday. Johns Hopkins University says nearly 9 million people in the U.S. have been infected with the virus.
Chideya:
Hospitalizations have also been going up for the past month and unlike the first wave in the spring, which was mostly confined to a few epicenters, the virus is now everywhere, rural areas and cities nationwide. While COVID is still disproportionately impacting communities of color, there is more to the story. Mississippi's black population was hit hard early on in the pandemic. Black Americans made up nearly three quarters of the deaths there by April. Now, for the first time, more whites than blacks are getting sick and dying of COVID. Mississippi's top health officials said earlier this month that it comes down to how people of different races are choosing to protect themselves.
Thomas Dobbs:
We have had really pretty good uptake by a lot of folks in the Black community with masking. Big parts of the White community, especially in areas that maybe weren't as hard effected have not been as compliant or engaged actively with social distancing and masking. And I think that does make a difference.
Chideya:
We're also following the economic impact of the pandemic. A new study of census data by the National Women's Law Center found some shocking statistics. More than one in six Latinas and Black women don't have enough food and more than half say they've lost income since March. Erielkina Pizarro told CBS News that she had to stop working after her grandfather died to take care of her three sons.
Erielkina Pizarro:
I tell them, if I don't have a job and mommy is not working. Mommy, cannot bring food to the table.
Chideya:
The study by the National Women's Law Center urges political action on a stimulus bill before things get even more dire. Talks about a next stimulus had been stalled and Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat, just delivered a letter to Republicans listing the areas of disagreement. Now, political analysts say the prospect of a new stimulus before the election is grim. No small factor, Congress also has to vote on a new funding bill by December 11th or the government will shut down.
Tens of millions of Americans are already voting and that means that our official election day on Tuesday is really just the last day of vote. The CDC emphasizes the need for voters to protect themselves and others at the polls. The agency says to wear a mask and social distance as much as possible. Bring your own pen or stylus and hand sanitizer, but don't clean the voting machines yourself, it can damage them. And check your polling location before you go. It might have changed due to the pandemic.
Coming up next...
Ijeoma Nnodim Opara:
I started having flashes of Breonna Taylor, George Floyd, everyone. And I just said, "Lord." The most important thing was for me to get home safe to my babies.
Chideya:
You're listening to Our Body Politic. So many women of color are taking exceptional measures to serve their communities and the nation, including our next guest.
Nnodim Opara:
I am Dr. Ijeoma Nnodim Opara. I am a double board certified internal medicine and pediatric physician.
Chideya:
Dr. Nnodim Opara who's based in Michigan, got into a minor car accident recently. So, no one was hurt and they all got out of their cars.
Nnodim Opara:
I was coming home from work. So I was wearing my scrubs.
Chideya:
Then the police arrived. The officer approached her.
Nnodim Opara:
I recognized that he wasn't wearing a mask. And we do have Mask Mondays in Michigan, and just from a public health standpoint to prevent the transmission of SAR COVID 2, the virus that causes COVID-19 disease, we are supposed to be wearing masks and keeping that physical distance of at least six feet. So first of all, he was definitely coming into less than six feet and he wasn't wearing a mask. So I immediately said, "Oh, sir please, could you put on your mask?" He was taken aback. And he said, "No." And I said, "No. Please put on your mask." He said, "We're outside." I started to feel my body tense up because this is a young Whites officer we're in the middle of the freeway. The other corporal was White. I started having flashes of Brianna Taylor, George Floyd, everyone. And I just said, "Lord, okay."
I said, I know he can see my scrubs. I know he can see all this get up. I'm at least a healthcare professional, even if he doesn't think I'm a doctor. I finally said to myself, you know what? I don't want to aggravate this man. I don't know what will come out of the experience. In that moment, my intersectionality was very strong. I recognized I'm a black woman. I recognized that the environments that we're in right now, politically, socially, culturally, economically as well, and that this will not be about public health. The most important thing was for me to get home safe to my babies right now. So I just complied with everything. I did not engage. I handed him my paper. I was just quiet. He got through everything and left.
Chideya:
Dr. Nnodim Opara said she felt heavy in her heart while she was driving away. She felt like she had to shut down the part of herself that's a doctor. The part that cares about frontline workers like herself and the police officer, who she calls her colleague. It brought home something she'd been thinking about since May.
Nnodim Opara:
When George Floyd was murdered. I shut down for a couple of weeks. Like so many of my colleagues everywhere, we just shut down and I just shut down. I was numb for a long time. And part of my processing was that... It was just this spiritual awareness of, that I am not valued just because I came here over 20 years ago, folks have been here for over 500 years. And so my brothers and sisters know how it is. I learned blackness in 1997. The whole time I was just like Nigerian and Ibo, but then you move here and you understand what race is, you understand what racism is. I've always been in that space, always being equity and justice spaces. I majored in African studies. I was president of ASA. I was always out there rolling, let's do this, Black power, Black joy, Black celebration. But I don't think I ever internalized what it meant to be viewed in every aspect of society, in the very design of where you live, of your own country, as less than, it just took me out.
Chideya: That was Dr. Ijeoma Nnodim Opara.
Alice Wong is the founder and director of the Disability Visibility Project. They're a multimedia organization that does everything from tweeting to books, to videos, to let people with disabilities speak for themselves about politics and culture and more. And in 2015, Wong and two friends launched Crip The Vote. They noticed that candidates on the campaign trail weren't talking very much about disability. So they live tweeted one of the democratic debates and it went viral. Alice has a form of muscular dystrophy and she wears a BiPAP machine which helps her breathe. You'll hear it while we talk. I started this conversation by asking, how are you?
Alice Wong:
I'm alive, Farai. How are you?
Chideya:
I'm good, Alice. And you know what? I've really been paying attention to the Crip The Vote campaign where you've got all this stuff on social media, on Twitter, on TikTok. I've been watching a lot of the court decisions coming down around things like when absentee ballots will be received and verified, whether they can come in after election day or they have to arrive on election day, things like court cases over whether you need medical permission to even vote absentee in some places. How do you with Disability Visibility and Crip The Vote keep track of all of this and what are you seeing?
Wong:
Well, there are definitely a few national disability organizations that are doing a lot of work in this area. The National Disability Rights Network, they have agencies in every state that are pretty much monitoring voting rights for people with disabilities. But really for me, I think a lot of the news I hear is from actual people. So two of my friends with disabilities, who are immunocompromised, they really don’t think their vote will be counted by absentee ballots. So they're actually risking their lives and going in person. This is pretty enraging, the fact that so many people, not just people with disabilities, have to risk their lives, have to wait in line, in the rain, all kinds of weather for hours. And we kind of forget how not everybody has transportation. Not everybody can stand or sit for hours outdoors. I mean, voting should be easy, voting should be accessible. Voters should have, everybody should have lots of options on how they vote and I think that's where we see the tragedy of access, because the pandemic.
Chideya:
There're so many issues that reminds me of how important the courts are right now. That rights will be determined by the Supreme Court and also there's rulings on the state level. In one case, a recent ruling that people with disabilities don't have a right to adopt. And so I'm just wondering like what you think about the issues that are going to come up in the courts? What's on your radar?
Wong:
Well, I think one of the biggest things clearly is about the Affordable Care Act. The ACA, if it is struck down, is going to mean millions of disabled people, millions of chronically ill people, will be without healthcare. Not to be hyperbolic, this will result in death and suffering. And that to me is the reason why so many people, especially mostly marginalized people are legitimately afraid. This is a lot of dread, a lot of fear and I think a lot of anxiety about the next four years.
Chideya:
Some people have pointed out that if the Affordable Care Act goes away, that people with COVID will be considered to have had a preexisting condition. And there are these people now being called long haulers who have chronic illness, some of them are even kids, and do you think that in some way the pandemic and the people who were affected by it will make people think differently about the issues on the table that are going to come up in front of the court?
Wong:
Well, I do think that's clearly the disability community, is going to stand with this whole new group of people. But what really bothers me is this huge rush to restart the economy at all cost. Who cares about essential workers? Who cares about the most sort of unprotected people who have the least access to protective equipment. I don't want to get back to normal. Even for myself, I don't feel safe. I think a lot of people before the pandemic didn't feel safe, to begin with. This pandemic just exacerbated the inequality that exists.
Chideya:
Well, Alice, thanks so much for joining us. And I hope that you can come on again.
Wong:
Thank you for having me, Farai.
Chideya:
That was Alice Wong, founder of Crip The Vote and Disability Visibility.
Here's this week's dose of good news about voting entertainment and more. For the Batwoman fans out there, be prepared to see Javicia Leslie in the upcoming season of the CW show, Batwoman. As the first black woman to play the character, Leslie will be showing off a Batwoman who has natural curly hair with red highlights and a form-fitting suit with red accents. We've been seeing record breaking lines for early voting. And joy to the polls brings beat dancing and art to people waiting to cast their vote in Philadelphia. Juice maker, Ocean Spray, gifted a cranberry red pickup to Nathan Apodaca, the man whose video of long boarding while drinking the company's juice earned millions of views. When regular people go viral with product, they don't always get much for it. And we'll see if we can expect more companies to follow suit.
Dolores Huerta:
Let's go. Si se puede! Si se puede! Si se puede! Si se puede! Si se puede! Si se puede!
Chideya:
That's Dolores Huerta, now, age 90, leading an auditorium full of people recently in a chant of “Si se puede!” Huerta began her career as an organizer in 1965, advocating for farm workers exploited by California's agricultural industry.
Huerta:
And I live here in Bakersfield, California, which is the most conservative county in California. I always like to say that the Kern county, this is pretty much like Selma, Alabama.
Chideya:
Si se puede, technically it means, "Yes, it is possible." And in English, it usually gets translated as, "Yes, we can." Huerta made it famous as she worked alongside Caesar Chavez, her co-founder of the United Farm Workers Union. Huerta fought for women's rights beside Gloria Steinem, and was awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Obama in 2000. She's also the mother of 11 children. We spoke recently about everything from abortion rights and religion, her advice to young Americans about protesting and the freedom which lies in the desert.
In the movie, “The Glorias,” which is the fictionalized version of Gloria Steinem's life, you're a character. And in the movie, you go to a rally that Phyllis Schlafly is having that's mainly conservative women. And then you go back to Gloria Steinem and say, even though as a Catholic woman, you don't support abortion, you felt like your home was with the feminist women. I wonder if that was an accurate depiction in the movie as someone who's had 11 children and as someone who appears to have a very strong connection to your faith, how do you process something like abortion rights now?
Huerta:
I just say thanks to Gloria Steinem, but I have to also add Eleanor Smeal, who is the president of the Feminist Majority Foundation that helped me make that transition, the transition to understand that abortion is not a sin. That we have to look at science. And it took me a while to do that because as a Catholic, you know what the teachings are, that abortion is a mortal sin. And this is really dangerous. I think for women to be caught in that mindset, I'm going to call it also mind trap. Because what it does, it really deters us. And once women understand that their body is theirs, that nobody has a right to decide what is going to happen with their body, but themselves. I think this is the important thing. And yes, women should not vote their religion.
And I like to quote the president of Mexico, Benito Juarez, who said this, he said, "Respecting other people's rights is peace." So if I choose to have 11 children, if my daughter Juanita chooses to have dogs instead of kids, okay. That is her choice. And I should not interfere with her choice. And we should not interfere with other people's lives. And the same thing goes with our LGBT community. If somebody falls in love with somebody the same sex, it's none of your business. It doesn't affect your life or your family. So we have to respect other people's rights to make the choices that they need to make for their lives or for their families.
Chideya:
I'm someone who has never been physically assaulted by law enforcement. But I understand that at age 58, while you were protesting, an officer with a baton broke four of your ribs and shattered your spleen, how did that experience affect how you think about risk today and how would you talk to someone like my goddaughter who's a teenager and who goes to protest and how do you think about physical risk?
Huerta:
Well, I had been arrested many times before I was beaten by the police. So I didn't really have a fear of police like I do now. Now, when I see a police person right away, my body reacts, I start getting anxiety and I guess it's what they call a post traumatic syndrome where people suffer. But it did not affect my willingness to go out there and protest or to be active. I very much firmly believe in the philosophy of nonviolence. And we know that when you get out there that you are taking some risk, but that should not prevent us from being out there. And so I just want to celebrate all of the people that have been on the protest. I myself have not been on the protest, not because I'm afraid now, because I haven't been on hundreds of protest since I was beaten back in 1988, but just simply because of the pandemic and because of my age and that you can imagine to me, it's a punishment not to be out there to be protesting.
Chideya:
A friend of mine said that she saw you at Burning Man one year. I've been many times and I don't know if it was you, but did you go?
Dolores Huerta:
Oh, yes. I've been to Burning Man four times.
Chideya:
What?
Huerta:
And had it not been for the pandemic, I would have been at Burning Man this year.
Chideya:
Oh, my gosh. So what motivated you to come back?
Huerta:
Well, I think Burning Man is like the world that we would like to see where everybody is on an equal plain, where you don't have money exchanged except for what is it? Coffee and lemonade and ice. Otherwise it's a free society. You are free to be whoever you want to be and everybody is respectful of everybody else. Oh, my God. Yes, Burning Man is so beautiful. Yes, it would be nice if the world took on some of the attributes and the policies of Burning Man.
Chideya:
Wow. On that note, I hope to see you on the playa next year. Dolores Huerta, thank you for everything you've done for the world and just for being you.
Huerta:
And I just want to tell everybody, please, don't forget to vote. We are at a critical point in our country and on November the 3rd, we have a chance to change it.
Chideya:
That was Dolores Huerta, joining us from her home in Central California.
Our Body Politic is presented and syndicated by KCRW, KPCC and KQED. It's produced by Lantigua Williams & Co. I'm the creator and host, Farai Chideya. Juleyka Lantigua-Williams is executive producer. Paulina Velasco is senior producer. Cedric Wilson is lead producer and mixed this episode. Original music by Kojin Tashiro. Our political bookers are Mary Knowles and Melanie Ganim. Michelle Baker and Emily Daly are assistant producers. Production assistants from Mark Betancourt, Michael Castañeda and Virginia Lora.
Funder:
Funding for our body politic is provided by Craig Newmark Philanthropies, and by the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation, empowering world changing work.
CITATION:
Chideya, Farai, host. “The Rising Influence of the HBCU Vote, SCOTUS and Healthcare Access, and Dolores Huerta, Still Fighting for All of Us.” Our Body Politic, Diaspora Farms LLC. October 30, 2020. https://our-body-politic.simplecast.com/