What's the Matter with American Politics?, Part 1; Unknown

today on k pr presents what's the matter with american politics i'm kate mcintyre that's the name of the twenty twenty one fall discussion group series of the dole institute of politics at the university of kansas that series kicks off this week and led by a tall fellow michelle wildly michele it is great to have you here today thank you grant really excited to be part of this discussion the full name of the fall discussion group ceres is what's the matter with politics how fake news black women coated nineteen presidents forty five and forty six and protests might shape politics in twenty twenty two so that covers a lot of territory it does we've had a lot of territorial changes in the last few years so there's a lot to cover like to discuss and a lot to think about anything about what is ari acres in american politics what that might mean for american politics leaving your future before we delve into some other topics that you're going to be talking about with paul discussion groups tell us a little

bit about you had your back on your kansas city born and bred so to speak and i got into politics in a very unique way a start of my career as a carpenter with the current managing the city and got my first taste of advocacy through the work with the carpenters union labor unions are hiring gays are highly evolved and political advocacy never could see in general and so was my first taste of of being african advocating for the things that are the carpenters needed to see accomplished an order to ensure that they had a little later that they were able to continue to do the work that they do a major transition into communications and quickly my degree and lee university they're still found myself even in communications link gates and civic matters and issues and so i eventually made a hard switch into government ministration have ordered jason candor when he was the missouri secretary of state meantime a way to a political campaign hadn't worked on the bernie sanders a senator sanders

campaign for president twenty sixteen as a national political director and from there continue to work in the political campaign advocacy space and worked for aclu kansas in voter registration are initiatives in missouri we devote registration through a non profit that register over a thousand black missourians in twenty eighteen so i'll just continue to stay engaged i started my nonprofit charlie's kitchen can in twenty eighteen and it's a way for me to bring the best of what i have learned how to bend the back rooms a strategy session with some major campaign effort bringing that to black women so that they can be better and more effective advocates for the issues that matter to them as a nonpartisan nonprofit are republican or democrat independent or conservative progressive is about the issues that are impacting black women and their families and how black women can be better equipped to address those issues through policy i'm hesitant there so what lee sees that dole institute fellow for fall twenty twenty

one she's leading the fall discussion group ceres what's the matter with american politics so i'm really glad you brought up charlie's kitchen cabinet for those people who aren't familiar with charlie's kitchen cabinet talk a little bit about who is shirley and what's the kitchen cabinet years shirley is shirley chisholm i am naturally shirley chisholm of the first black woman i'm sure many of your listeners know the desolation were all speaking from the same place the understanding shirley chisholm the first black woman elected to congress and she's the first black woman to run for president on a major party ticket and shirley chisholm as the embodiment of civic engagement action and change whether there's space for your lap for you to step in or before or ever you are shirley chisholm is in our memories got my pair of advocacy and

then she took a big steps to run for president time when women were not running for president when black people were not running for president or shirley chisholm better start as elementary schoolteacher and she was a census taker shirley chisholm wasn't a political star were or not sure which is there was a woman who wanted to see change and found politics to be a vehicle by which you could create that change and so with my old shrew is getting cat named after her legacy of her vision women and people of color and people in general americans and generals stepping and in leading from wherever they are shirley's packaging can at the nonprofit is nonpartisan and we go about our work into different ways we were to wield the collective power of black women we have a a support base of over two thousand black women in the kansas city missouri and kansas region we were to provide training advocacy tactics that are proven to be effective but there are

tactics that black only now be privy to and there we were to position black women christie ted decision making tables and that's across sectors and landscapes we worked with the city council members to give black woman placed on city council aborted missions with the city kansas city missouri we've worked to pass legislation in the missouri state house in the kansas statehouse to strengthen discrimination laws so that black women children are discriminated against for very basic things such as our hair hair styled hair texture and so we were two we'll collect a parrot and a black women stand up for the issues that matter to them no matter what their background education level or experience in advocacy is i'm really glad you brought up the issue of hairstyles because it's a just pure coincidence we're having this conversation in the same week as world afro day yes her grave for world after the actors beautiful

we want them to look at their people want to touch them you should market to people to share act rose without first asking practical homes in his many curly afro that he supports guarantees against blank in the workplace and schools have frozen curly hair textures and braids are lax are often that welcomed hairstyles and black women and children demand find that they can be penalized for wearing these hairstyles he may be asked to go home from work for a nice hairstyles or face disciplinary action of work we've seen news stories of black children think about the sports teams or not allowed to go to school or not to graduate because of lax braids and twist and so what we're working to do is to pass a bill called project creating a respectful and open world for natural hair

and what this bill does is essentially strength and into discrimination laws already in the books to include hair texture because what we're finding in the workplaces or in schools this seemingly arbitrary and seemingly innocuous rules about the ruling and styling rules that basically say year has begun to camps or they're certain hairstyles are not allowed on their surface they seem to apply to everybody but when they are applied only one group has impacted and that's black people and sorcerers as a form of discrimination by proxy black people where last embrace and twists because it is a nato our culture it is a representation of our culture it is the way that we grooming keep our hair is in nashua gross our head and to go through the steps that you have to

go through two craig hairstyles are there is actually modeled after your centric standards is a very arduous process and at the end of the day whether my hair is in braids or locks or twist or afro it doesn't impact my performance at gitmo homes wears a gray currently blue afro that we all love some of us even by the hats with his hair static but those girls have never stopped him from bringing us to the super bowl are giving us a super bowl land same thing for some of their cheese players who also wear black so brazen twist and so we need to change policies that essentially serve as obstacles to black people bring their full cells of the worst days are children bringing their full sales to academic embarrassing institutions and not penalize white people

for being the way that that made them to be and really penalizing employers an academic institutions i think about the only i think is out or university who escaped after cheerleading squad because of braids well it was impactful for her to have been kicked off the squad but it impacted the team two so it was the captain of the cheerleading squad and was a beer a prominent and great leader in that space so now they get this young lady who's now they lost a key member of the champion squat that has an impact that team and their ability to bring home ends i think about the gentleman the young man the high schooler who was told he couldn't work at progress because he had blocks and there is a policy that you can wear like simple quest but the hiring manager noted that he was highly qualified it is hard for employers to find employees especially highly qualified sixteen year olds and so while he was not pertain to have the job they lost

opportunity to have a highly qualified teenager working in organizations of this impacts the fall and so getting rid of a nasa series of rules that will impact us all personally but especially black people is what we're fighting for and the thing with michelle what lee sees the dole institute fellow at the dole institute of politics at the university of kansas for this fall and she's leaving their fall discussion group what's the matter with american politics she's also the founder of charlie's kitchen cabinet michele is that kansas city only organization or they're comparable organizations across the country that question remains in kansas city with the beijing baltics be an across the country and then as from calgary always new york that are starters through his kitchen cabinet and so intellectually them are right here in the midwest because the issues that impact the entire nation get their start here in the west and if we can nail down the model that allows black women to be

advocates for change that are impacting policy across different issues economic prosperity health and vitality education the revocation of violent william mr michael us across the nation there are a number of organizations working a black woman elected to political seats and on boards and commissions but there are any that we've been able to find that focus on advocacy on building advocates and champions for issues who are equipped to use and leverage wherever talent skeel says the resources that they have to advocate on behalf of the issue you folks including black women are often told to even me to be the elected official or you can be that that is some grassroots organizer but there's a whole spectrum of advocacy that is between those two polar and i'm raising communications data storytelling there are so many other spaces that black women and people in general didn't step into and

being in effect i've advocated and help fill out the the ecosystem of advocacy there have to be bailed out in order for issues and policies to change we just believe politics is one vehicle by which you can do that but there are other ways to create change and there are many ways you can go about leveraging what you have right now today to create changes that were trying to help black women find the spaces and leave us bases what challenges do you think to black women face and being part of that conversation and that changed that perhaps black men or white women don't pace you know this is a question that i think that there is a duality of they used that black women explore owns that leads to an experience of oppression or and do not supposed to the issues that are important to us and they were white

women melaniphy is like to be a christian but there still privilege that comes appeal why and i think the black man had the experience of being oppressed by virtue of being black but there's still the privilege in being a man i think that black women have experienced a privilege by virtue of our sakes or gender or a number of other factors and it was also different about the experience of black women advocacy is we follow the rules we are told that if you vote you can see a change in a pew volunteer you can see changing if you don't they can use a voice to speak up you can see change and black women have done that black women are the most active voting group in the united states black women volunteer in and engage in advocacy and political campaigns at a rate that most other groups do not black women have a long storied history of being involved in at now leading i see that movement from the women's suffrage march in the early nineteen hundreds all the way

down to the need to movement black lives matter these two very prominent movements were started by black women black women who identify as lgbt young black women or older black one the black women don't often see the fruit of their labor or go or the changes that we have been told we would see if we just participate despite doing the work despite following the rules you we talk about the need to move men and that was a movement that largely benefited why women another women of color oh we didn't talk about r kelly we didn't talk about all the years of sexual harassment abuse at black women have had to put up with and silence or because of beer a backlash to richard bishop for speaking up and without the same grassroots energy to stop after think of the whole spa case when i think about the black lives matter movement and black women after several scholars officer in oklahoma

who have been convicted of raping and sexually assaulting his fourteen black women he mentioned the names that he targeted black women because he knew that if he chose a white woman might have head and minor offenses or records the unknowable even if they really speak up about the case getting here about when we talk about the black lives matter movement and sexual offenses are the second most reporter offenses against police across the nation we didn't talk about black men's experience with police although black women were leading the leading voices and reading the work of the black lives matter movement within black women we follow the rule to do retell were told works to create change we just don't see that change rather recipients of the change when it occurs and so opposition in black receipts are decision making

tables and bring and to get there to operate as a kitchen cabinet which isn't politics that group of people that they get together before issues even decided or thought about their the resource for riders a day intellectual they are the scholars are the researchers that come together decide the direction of an issue but florida public unions about it at black women were positioned in that way we could see change a black women which would then lead to change for everyone else cause we've seen some time again on black women we eat we all right the term kitchen cabinet also has kind of a double meaning in that a lot of that organization takes place in the home in a really informal settings and that is that we operate we've had a number of our meetings with our brain trust leadership team are meetings with staff in consultants say i can take place at the kitchen table over a meal us owns house and if you look at how the civil rights movement how that

strategy came about i took place in church basements and people's homes black women supported the move men valley by providing strategy but cooking meals for activists in their strategy is a kitchen cabinet members at their kitchen tables and so i think that harkens back to the notion to that again you don't have to be in a fancy building you don't have to have a lot of money in the beer mansions to create change michelle reminded a couple years ago i had the privilege of interviewing him a woman who wrote a book called the girl at the door and it was about brown vs board of education as well as a number of desegregation cases in that nineteen sixties and nineteen seventies it as part of a civil rights movement and how many of those the majority of them were started by girls wanting to go to school

black women's activism starts at a very young age that black women's activism may start with girls like ruby bridges as they integrate schools or george fuller and daughter who just recently went to the warehouse to advocate for changes in criminal justice and policing laws you would hope that you know solitary to get to the visit the president because she won a scholarship for because she's the best their clatter so for something positive that this show this child is now having to be positioned as an advocate and to fight for changer of an entire nation by virtue of her being the daughter other man was sparked a national movement to revisit our police laws and the police relationship and that exist between the police and black people and so it's this it's bittersweet in that young girls are are stepping up and having the

courage that some of us adults don't even have but they're having to do that on behalf of an entire nation or attire people instead of being allowed to prep's just be children and be great and to leave liverpool an exciting life as a child and visit with michelle wildly sees the leader of the broad institute of politics fall discussion series what's the matter with politics how fake news black women covered nineteen presidents forty five and forty six and protests might see politics in twenty twenty two or so i think many of our listeners have heard of the dole institute fellow but may not really know anything more about the program than just the name what isn't that the dole institute fellow dogs and that's a question the dallas are two fellow and the fellowship program is a program that's been around for i think was twenty years

ago with the program does is it brings him visiting experts and scholars to discuss issues of politics that resonates during the day and time and the fellows lead a discussion series that is open to students that is geared toward students but the community also they get to shape a bad discussion series is what the topics are who the speaker's and experts are and that discussion series becomes an opportunity for the community to learn from experts across different sectors in little biology than all kinds of backgrounds to talk about the political issues of the day some excited to have this opportunity to to have the stage to bring experts from all backgrounds experiences to talk about these very important issues let's talk about some of the people that are coming in to talk about how fake news black women covered night he and president forty five and forty six

and protests might say politics in twenty twenty two are you're covering those topics individually week by week or you looking at this as kind of all hold ball of wax yeah i'm not going to start the series i am aiming to start a series with a recap of what we've experienced over the last four years or so what has happened what has taken place and how could have possibly shape twenty twenty two and beyond the last discussion series will be a bit of forecasting versus setting the stage and be forecast it what we can expect in twenty twenty two and beyond them between these two book in discussions i hope to talk about fake news in the role of journalism in social media and politics of oil the protests in grassroots organizing defining protests was the difference between the george will a protest and what happened at the capitol on january sixth it's their differences that protest i hope to talk about the role of black women in politics and what does that mean for

politics or for in the rest of the nation and the rest of americans who want apr dr ian and robust democracy never to political ideology and how that shift that wouldn't really mean to be a republican nowadays would be a democrat will be progressive research shows they're more more americans identify as independent but if you had asked three independent what is immune to being a brand that i'm sure you have very different answers so really delving into political ideologies and shifts that have occurred because of recent events and politics in even talking about what is i mean turf with states we've seen as shift in the political identification and meaningless a different states and regions in the areas and really assessing what it takes to but the state to put the region and how does that impact the overall landscape of american politics so i'm hoping to at least dave

rants discretionary is due to be battling each of them but start the sessions i've way is some level saying an assessment of what's occurred in enough for the forecast what can be expected so each week where you bring in a different speaker to bounce ideas off of yes so i have because of my work in politics across the nation in the region i have a very robust network of experts and leaders across all of these different as she areas and so hoping to bring in a number of those folks to come in and to do deep average each of these topics and been very intentional to think outside the box of who is an expert on what they bring mike's speakers are all people of color went into every single one of them and they all i have the expertise to carry these conversations them being women of color or women or people of color is just the icing on the

cake and so i think having young people and having women haven't people color and having older experts is an opportunity for us to not only get a diversity of perspectives but just is to see that diversity in person and to rethink how we identify experts in this space so i'm hoping to use the platform you as his lap set help us rethink how we think of experts and property is a leader's and hopefully do more than just have discussion but to shape the hearts and minds of some level michelle widely she's the door institute of politics fellow and leader of their fall discussion group what's the matter with politics have fake news black women covered nineteen presidents forty five and forty six and protests might shape politics in twenty twenty two that serious meets wednesday

afternoon starting this week september twenty second and running through november third michelle in connection with that fall discussion group ceres that tool institute of politics has i guess you would almost cult like the arts and crafts project as you walk in the door can you tell me about bring your own chair yes bring your chair is made i comics people whose shirley chisholm was a leper most prominent sayings which was if they don't give it to the table bring a folding chair and so the exhibit is an opportunity for participants young students young girls that anybody who's so chooses to bring their creative juices to the table to create their own share their symbolic leadership and stepping in and having a seat at the table

she lays chisholm this quote is a prominent quote is one that we actually most black women and people in general and the kids live by we know what it's like to not be invited to a table and to have to make your own space so that were heard i think the most recent example of that is congresswoman corey burrage bring her folding chair to the steps of the capitol to allocate organs for an extension on the eviction moratorium which ended up working a while that has been overturned as a plague has she not brought her folding chair to the steps of the capital we would've had the small extension that we that we hang my monthly recurring discussion about it and human the scene of the action that took place you might not have seen and so i think that's a more recent plane example of what it means to bring your chair and to be ready to step in and lead in whichever way you can best and whether that is bringing your folding chair to congressman running for congress or bring her

folding chair to the states or the capital to fight for for the rights and livelihood and and housing rights for americans would have lost that those rights had it not been for innovation moratorium to bring it here to the boardroom an advocate as the women of the obama administration talk about the good example of how they would be meeting backup each other statements at the table and thats a former bringing your folding chair i'll bring her volunteer could mean creating a table there to utilize the mentor the next generation of young women coming up and the corporate space in helping them negotiate their salary giving them the ends announcer how to navigate corporations and corporate leadership there are lots of ways you can ring up your folding chair to the table to create change in this exhibit is one way you can

do so creatively and hopefully inspired to bring your own polling chair and spaces where you can leave and create change so i'm really glad you mentioned reaching out to young people because of course the doors to the politics is here at the university of kansas and i know the dole institute really works to to bring in students to bring in young people and to engage them in politics talk about how you hope to use this discussion series in europe your time here to engage the next generation of political leaders that's a great question that opportune will take a week to go probably to around the campus and talk to students directly about the discussion series spurred this intergenerational engagement is something that we utilize heavily rely on heavily in charlie's kitchen cabinet was founded by two other women one woman who was i won't give her age but she's she's got me beat by race forty years and another er

will enter the lab abby by twenty we represent three different generations of women came together to put this to bill charlie's kitchen cabinet are advisory cabinet represents over twenty years of experience would just for women in advocacy space we are intentional about having in terms with memorization who are fresh out of high school in college so that there's always intergenerational engagement only think about this discussion series just the discussion about social media role social media as an opportunity to bring in young voices in your perspective as we talk about protests that's typically the vehicle by which young people express their desire for change a thing we saw over the last two years is that their vehicle was utilized by american so are different ages and backgrounds and experiences in a way that we hadn't seen in years

previous and i think that's why protests surrounding the job with george full aid as situation where is successful as they wear and so i think we have to engage younger people i know are people ruby there are people who grow up to make decisions for us as we get older and so making sure that they're involving gays thousand porter ever being frank a lot of the issues impacting americans are having a disproportionate impact when young people we talk about among them we talk about the eviction moratorium we talk about rising prices and inflation all those things have a disproportionate impact on young people they're feeling in a way that generations in the past have not and so if we're not bring them to the table to discuss issues and to think about ways to create change and i think about i always have a great change in an innovative way every dollar allen to bring their perspectives we're doomed to repeat the same mistakes of the past into a map truly

have four primaries or momentum on issues that made disproportionate impact young people but they impact us all and soon they're so while lacey is the dole institute of politics fellow for fall twenty twenty one and the leader of their fall a discussion group what's the matter with american politics how fake news black women covered nineteen presidents forty five and forty six and protests might see politics in twenty twenty two that series kicks off this week and will continue on wednesday afternoons through november third you sell this series comes obviously in the midst of a coveted nineteen pandemic and i know the dole institute of politics is still trying to navigate how to do programs safely during this time how do you think covered nineteen has played into the mission and the work of the show is getting cabinet and

unfocused your energies in ways i think it really drove home for earth's they need to address the core issues that we currently address economic prosperity health and vitality education eradication of violence but in a more intentional way their pandemic really highlighted the discrepancies during the preakness is in our health system eight and brought to bear so many so many issues and not that we were aware of those issues perhaps it was clear how how bad some of those issues where we saw that in the end in a local the nineteen contraction rates in the kansas city area for black people was over fifty percent and we saw the lack of access to healthcare and we saw how children were disproportionately impacted the curves of a

lack of digital access as they had to go through school virtually there were so many issues we saw a new subset of a black women being forced into poverty because of job loss and having to engage the service providers in order to feed their families and again these are women who filed the rules they went to college they get a job they have to pay their bill was in and maybe there's just enough saved up for month or two or three but not enough to give back for a whole year and so we seem a subset of our membership who created a name it was doing ok now forced into poverty and losing their home and losing a child than it was at the december numbers in december twenty twenty that showed that all the job losses are suffered by women and most of them women of color where i mean this is this a stark statistic and

so you take all of that and a couple it with their inability to gather a person which was i think the strength of the way makes sure least kitchen cabinet gray is because we get to create space is a fellowship of for us to be with our tribe are events were held in person and children were allowed to come into our events we brought children into the vault they got to see their mothers engaging in learning and training and in modeling of practicing tactics and we know all that those experiences have great great impact on children children walk away when those experiences also learning and equip and empower inspired every last bit of that we had to be virtual but we were able to be innovative and rethink how we reach people it has allowed us to reach people outside the kansas city region and black women

outside agency region and we'd look for a flapper cheney come together really but this discussion aziz really excited for the pitching to be in person but is also has shined a light on what it means to be truly inclusive and how we have to provide additional opportunities for people to engage so this discussion aziz lab and opportunity for us to be high rate we will host this discussion aziz in person and some are speaking to me and would say engage are chile which will only benefit this series because because i'm a novel comfortable coming out or going on a plane speakers from across the nation can now engage with people right here in lawrence kansas and in the region to get to your speakers all the nation because we have the virtual optional will be engaging or hybrid models so it is the best use of art technology and again another average really be innovative press districts of the bowl and stick to and allowed them to bring the best of their innovation to this discussion

series in and hopefully provide a discussion that it reaches those in the cave you campuses students but they're surrounding community at large it also means for people not just participants of the audience members who may be uncomfortable coming out in person they're also afforded some access that they might not have otherwise then in previous years so you can access that capital institute website dole institute dot org i think michelle what lee sees the dole institute of politics fellow for fall twenty twenty one and the leader of their fall discussion group what's the matter with american politics how fake news black women covered nineteen presidents forty five and forty six and protests might shape politics in twenty twenty two i'm kate mcintyre keep your prisons will continue right after this