S07 E11: We Are Still The Majority: A Post-Election Conversation

Episode Transcript

Kanya Bennett
Welcome to Pod for the Cause, the official podcast of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and The Leadership Conference Education Fund where we take on the critical civil and human rights issues of our day. I’m your host, Kanya Bennett, coming to you from our nation’s capital, Washington D. C. The recent election has brought significant changes to America’s political landscape, and for many, the road ahead feels scary and uncertain. As we reflect on the impact of the election outcome, it’s clear that the threat to our democracy is now our reality, and the fight for civil rights will face new and old challenges. But just as we have done before, we will lean into our coalition to unite around our shared civil rights agenda of freedom, equality, and democracy. Today’s episode brings us face- to- face with our new political and policy landscape. We are joined by four experts who will help us make sense of what lies ahead. They’ll break down anticipated agendas from the White House and the 119th Congress, examining how policy shifts could affect voting rights, reproductive rights, criminal justice reform, and so many other critical issues. In these times, it’s crucial to stay informed, resilient, and connected to one another as we work toward a more just future. We hope this episode leaves you feeling empowered and ready to engage in the work ahead. Now, let me turn to our guests. With us today we have Eden Shiferaw, vice President of NVG, a government relations firm in Washington, D. C., specializing in public policy, advocacy, strategy, and outreach. Welcome, Eden.

Eden Shiferaw
Hey, thank you. Pleasure to be here.

Kanya Bennett
We are also joined by Tara Murray, executive director of the National Urban League’s Washington Bureau and senior vice president for policy and advocacy. The National Urban League is a historic civil rights organization dedicated to economic empowerment, equality, and social justice. Tara, thank you for being here.

Tara Murray
Thanks for having me, Kanya.

Kanya Bennett
Let us welcome Portia Reddick White vice president of advocacy and policy at the National Council of Negro Women, an organization with the mission to lead, advocate for, and empower women of African descent, their families, and communities.

Portia Reddick White
Well, thank you so much for the invitation. Looking forward to our discussion.

Kanya Bennett
And let me introduce Jasmine Tyler, executive director of the Justice Policy Institute, a national nonprofit developing workable solutions to problems plaguing juvenile and criminal justice systems. Hello, Jasmine.

Jasmine Tyler
Hi, Kanya. It’s so nice to be with you and on Pod for the Cause. It’s so exciting.

Kanya Bennett
Given all that we are processing right now, I want to start our conversation by checking in with everyone. First, I want to know how are you doing, and then I want to know what happened high level. What was your main takeaway from the election outcome? I’m happy to start. I’m tired, exhausted, and in denial. Honestly, I thought we would still be counting ballots this week. Portia, let me have you jump in.

Portia Reddick White
There are five stages of grief. I’m grieving. I have to say that I’ve gone through several of those stages. I think I’m at depression a little bit right now. I’m feeling down about it, but I’m also very close to acceptance and understanding what’s next and what we got to do.

Kanya Bennett
Okay, Portia. Tara, how are you doing? What’s your takeaway?

Tara Murray
Like you and Portia, Kanya, I’m tired, I’m grieving. It’s been a hard week. The thing that keeps jumping out to me is Maya Angelou’s quote about when people show you who they are, believe them the first time. I’m just coming to full understanding of just how racist and misogynist this society is and the fact that the majority of Americans don’t really want to live up to our founding principles of equality and justice. I’m nearing that acceptance as Portia mentioned, but it’s an acceptance this is who we are. This is who this country, really, really is.

Kanya Bennett
Thanks, Tara. Jasmine.

Jasmine Tyler
Yeah, I mean similar to you all I am tired. I am not surprised though, and while I am extremely disappointed that this is America, I’m vacillating between doing the same work I’ve always done and resting.

Kanya Bennett
Yes, thank you, Jasmine. And Eden, let me check in with you. How are you doing and what is your main takeaway?

Eden Shiferaw
Same, I is tired. All my life I had to fight. Oh, so tired. I’m okay in terms of the grieving process. I did that a long time ago because when he was on the ticket I was like, ” Okay. He could win.” But with these results, it’s tired because understanding that tired before, and then tired moving forward, we have to continue to fight. And to Jasmine’s point, being cognizant of the fact, okay, now really have to figure out ways to rest and fill your cup given the last fight we were in was just such a crazy time during the pandemic. So just being mindful of the damage I did to myself without resting the way I should during that time, right? So this is round two. I know better, so I’m going to try to do better.

Kanya Bennett
Thank you, Eden, and thank you, ladies. For folks who may not know our guests today, and because this podcast airs the audio only, you should know that we’re talking with a group of dynamic Black women today, and I am so happy and proud to be in their company for this conversation. So thank you, Portia, and Tara, and Jasmine, and Eden. Eden, let me stick with you right now. Let me ask you the same question, but now let me seek a more technical answer. What happened this election cycle in addition to the obvious outcome for the White House? What were the major election outcomes with respect to the House and Senate?

Eden Shiferaw
What happened? A lot of things happened. So many things happened, right? A lot of changes that happened. I think at a high- level overview, we have Trump took the White House, the Republicans took the Senate, and it looks like they’re poised to take the House as well, so they’re going to have a trifecta power arrangement. And coming into D. C. with some swagger thinking that they were the underdog, and they’ve prevailed. So we have to be mindful of their attitude walking into the next session. Overall, we saw a shift more red and Trump took all the battleground states as well. Abortion was on the ballot in about 10 states and seven out of 10 came pro-choice in that way so that’s a great thing. And a little bit more granular level, in the Senate, Mitch McConnell has stepped down. This is the first time there’s going to be a change in leadership in 18, 20 years, and they’re going to have leadership elections. So I think that’s something interesting that we all should follow and understand that dynamic because that’s going to dictate our strategies moving forward. On a positive note, there’s a couple of really outspoken and progressive senators coming in who say, ” We want to shake stuff up.” Looking at Gallego, Lisa Blunt Rochester, Angela Alsobrooks. So to be the voice of resistance and being loud and begging on the table, so that’s a positive. Ohio is going to need a new senator with Vance becoming vice president. In the House side, although the GOP looks like they will have the majority, it is a tiny, tiny, tiny majority. And we know these members, sometimes they miss a flight, sometimes they’re late, so Speaker Johnson’s going to have to rely on Dems to help get things across the finish line. And plus, you have sword of Damocles with the motion to vacate where anybody can come in and call to question and remove him as speaker, right? So there’s a lot of dynamics to play there. There is continuity with leadership on the Dems side, and with them being in opposition, the opposition party in the House, just a real concentrated control on just being disciplined, and what does that look like? So in this phase right now, folks being adrift, but making sure they get to the point where there’s discipline in strategy, discipline in narrative, and just discipline overall in messaging.

Kanya Bennett
Thank you, Eden. Appreciate that insight and that overview of the anticipated landscape we will face in 2025. Tara, I want to turn to you and talk about this agenda for the next Congress and the next administration. So upon the election, the National Urban League issued a statement indicating that it remains committed to defending democracy, demanding diversity, and defeating poverty, and to working with the incoming administration where policy agendas may align. Where do you expect to prioritize your defensive work with the next administration, and where do you see policy agendas aligning?

Tara Murray
Those three pillars that you mentioned, defending democracy, demanding diversity, and defeating poverty. Those are the guiding principles that anchor our work, and we’re going to continue aggressively blocking and tackling every step of the way to defend those principles and those priorities. During the last Trump administration, there were not many opportunities for alignment, frankly. We had the First Step Act, which is something that the National Urban League supported. I do want to just underscore that that was a bill that was introduced by Congressman Hakeem Jeffries and Congressman Cedric Richmond. Jared Kushner was at the White House at that time, and there were reasons that I think we all on this call understand that was taken up by the Trump administration. We don’t know if there will be opportunities like that in the next administration. We will continue to work with anyone who seeks to advance the priorities that matter to us and to the communities that we represent. And so that includes ensuring that our voting rights are protected. That includes ensuring that the civil rights work and priorities that we’ve been able to advance over the last several decades are not walked back on. And ensuring that when we talk about economic mobility, that it’s not just the wealthier becoming more wealthy, and that we are seeing benefits to everyday Americans to low to moderate- income Americans. So if there are policies that are being advanced by the next administration that seek to address some of those issues, then we’ll look to work with them. But if not, we foresee a lot of blocking and tackling.

Kanya Bennett
That’s right, Tara, and I want to go to Jasmine now on this question of where agendas could align with the Trump administration. Tara, you mentioned the First Step Act and I also immediately think about criminal justice reform. Jasmine, what do you anticipate on criminal legal reform from a second Trump administration?

Jasmine Tyler
I mean, I’m completely in disagreement, and I think it’s really important. We had a dress rehearsal in 2016, and this is the real deal. They’ve had time to learn. I don’t know if you all grew up doing dancing, but we had a dance recital after the dress rehearsal, and the dance recital was where everything was perfect. And where you had time to fix and perfect the routine, and that’s what they’ve had. So first, I just have to say there should be no hope around the First Step Act because it wasn’t in fact a First Step Act. It was an interruption of a very long, methodical, deeply invested- in set of reforms that were disrupted, and implementation to date is still extremely flawed. So if the Trump administration doesn’t have any goal of fixing the Federal Bureau of Prisons, then we can have no hope of actually seeing what the misguided hope of the First Step Act sought to achieve, which was to get people home. Unfortunately, it was not the mechanism to do that, and it still again has really problematic implementation issues. But thinking about where our agendas align, it just boggles the mind because they’re tough on crime. They want to increase police presence. I mean, when Trump was in office last time, he wanted to take over the D. C. police force, right? D. C., of course, we should talk about Home Rule. It’s a colony, does not have statehood, and so Congress has oversight. And in the last session, Republicans offered almost 20 or more riders that would restrict D. C. from being able to do anything around quality- of- life issues and moral issues around abortion, around marriage equality, around criminal justice, around treating health issues, and drug policy. And so we can’t assume good intentions or goodwill here. I think we have to recognize who we are up against. And I think given the tough- on- crime stance and the immigration consequences that they have proudly touted, which we should be extremely concerned about, not just for people who have different status in the United States, but anyone who is Black and brown, who will get caught up in enforcement tactics meant to target those people. But we don’t wear our papers yet on our sleeves, so how would anyone know? And so we can only assume even more enforcement given that they want to fully fund and expand police forces as well. So our criminal justice and our drug policy issues are all at stake, and we have to also think about the criminalization that’s going to happen to women, particularly women of color around access to reproductive rights and healthcare. I am pro- abortion because it is science, and it is healthcare. Choice is not a factor, and if pro- life were so concerning, they would be concerned with the full life and not just the birth and the pregnancy. And we would see programs supporting thriving communities and individuals who have socioeconomic or health needs or other things like that, and yet we do not. And so I am under no illusions of who we will be dealing with at the federal level. I mean we will see reduced financial obligations as well from the federal level. So juvenile justice funding, criminal justice reform funding, cops funding, all of these funding sources that support state and locals are going to be eroded, not just because of the fiscal conservative approach, but also because of the philosophical and political approach that we are seeing through, for instance, Project 2025.

Kanya Bennett
Thank you, Jasmine. Portia, Jasmine talked about the criminalization of women that we can expect under this next administration. You’re at the National Council of Negro Women. I’m thinking about women’s rights on the ballot this cycle. I’m thinking about the women candidates on the ballot. Obviously, we think about Vice President Kamala Harris, but she wasn’t the only one. NCNW applauded the service and determination of the nearly 1,200 Black women who were on ballots throughout the country this cycle. As we’re processing the presidential outcome, can you steer us towards some points of hope and light? Can you talk about some of the successful Black women candidates we should not lose sight of and maybe some of the agendas you expect them to bring to the Congress?

Portia Reddick White
I’m going to start by, first of all, congratulating Angela Alsobrooks who will be one of my senators. Yes, I voted for her and I’m proud of that, and actually, our other Black female senator- elect, Lisa Blunt Rochester. So first of all, let me congratulate them. There were about 1, 200 on the ballot in the beginning of the year, that includes the primary. There were just under 700 for the general and every incumbent from the Congressional Black Caucus who actually understand our issues very well as they are Black women, all of them won their races except for one who did not win her primary, and that happened to be Cori Bush. So she didn’t make it out of the primary, but we’re very excited about some of the new women who will be coming to this next Congress. What is it, the 119th?

Kanya Bennett
119th.

Eden Shiferaw
119th.

Portia Reddick White
Wow, 119th. Well, Lateefah Simon actually ended up winning her race in California 12, which was Barbara Lee’s seat, as she was moving on. And all of these incumbents did win. So we’re looking at Lateefah Simon. Others that we’re really looking for and supporting and thinking that there are greater things coming, our incoming chair of the CBC will be Yvette Clarke from New York. Exciting and one that has a stalwart background and effort in what she has been doing. And I will also elevate Lauren Underwood as well who, in 2022, she had been elected one of the co- chairs of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee. So she’s on leadership and she was the first woman to win that elected democratic leadership position since Shirley Chisholm in 1970s when Shirley Chisholm was on the leadership as well of the House. We are excited that there are women who think like us, who look like us, who will be supportive of our four core issues: education, economic empowerment, social justice issues, which are so plentiful, and healthcare. Those of our basic tenets that we actually focus on. And we are excited that these women will uphold these issues as they happen and rise and stand as a default against these actions from this very red Congress. Now, we are a bipartisan 501( c)( 3) organization, but we are not blind, and we are not deaf, and we are not dumb to some of these anti- supportive movements against women of African descent, our families, and our communities. We’re going to be holding court and just really watching, at the same time being active to support these women and the issues that they will be fighting against and fighting for.

Kanya Bennett
Thank you, Portia. Appreciate you identifying some of those bright spots. And Eden, want to go back to you because you had identified some of the opportunity that we may have in the next Congress in the next couple of years. And so I want to bring you back into the conversation given some of the allies that Portia just identified, you had earlier flagged, from a civil rights perspective, will there be opportunities to advance any civil rights priorities over the next two years and what threats are you most concerned about, Eden?

Eden Shiferaw
I think advocacy in the 119th starts now. What can we do in this lame duck? We have 70 odd days, noms, noms, noms, noms, which means a very important NLRB nomination and judges, more judges. I hope you women walk around with judges in your pocket so you can give it to senators when you see them because that’s what we need to really thwart off as much as the bad stuff that will happen. So I think advocacy in the 119th really, really starts now. I think that also includes using this time to have unification among all the civil rights groups and the labor groups. Unification in our messaging and our strategies when we’re talking to the Dems and Dem leadership because I think right now folks are trying to figure out how to move forward. The election just happened. We’re still getting data coming out of there and Dem leaders and party leaders are looking around to figure out how can we win back the midterms. So if we can be unified right now, ooh, I know it’s hard for us to do that, but like Jasmine said, we did have a dress rehearsal last time. So it’s a muscle for us, so let’s use it, and be unified in those ways in messaging and then have unity when we talk to the Hill. And then within the 119th Congress itself continue to be unified and all of those three areas: messaging, narrative, talking to leadership, and then also our outward campaigns. People will be hurting, we know this. It’s going to be bad and as terrible and terrible and terrible that’s going to be, the advantage there is they’re going look for help. They’re going to look for answers and that’s where we can be if we have great unification and message and strategy and campaign. We can seize that groundswell of people needing that help. It not only needs to be reactive messaging and campaign work but proactive. Reacting to something, but then also providing a solution in the same breath, which is very, very, very difficult to do, but we do hard stuff every day. I think we can do it and rise to the occasion to do that. It is cliche, but you have to keep fighting because there’s going to be these wins that are only going to happen because we kept fighting. We saw that when Trump was in office before with some of these nominations, particularly with judges. That if we can cause enough ruckus and you have a couple of senators that don’t really care to put up the fight, they drop off. Now, those folks will go park themselves in the White House, but I’d rather have someone in the White House for four years than a lifetime appointment. You have to keep fighting. I think it comes with certain types of regulations, right? Creating that groundswell where folks within the agency have to listen because we know this man’s very transactional, and he’ll take transactions with people too. So folks are really up in arms about trying to do away with over- the- counter access to contraceptive, and there’s some regulations we can tweak. That could be a slim win that we can have, particularly how we saw some repo rights wins on ballot initiatives throughout the country. So I know it’s very, very, very hard. You got to keep fighting because those wins are going to trickle out somewhere and have to remind each other that midterms are around the corner, right? It’s two years. You can do a lot of bad stuff in two years. In the grand scheme of things, it’s just two years. Again, I don’t want to minimize how much bad things can happen there, but just want to keep mindful that there can be light sooner rather than later. In terms of folks, we can find that we can work with.

Kanya Bennett
Eden, appreciate you reminding us that the 119th starts now. Unity is required, groundswell is required as we seek answers on how to move forward as you noted. Appreciate you also lifting some of the reproductive rights victories we saw at the state level. Jasmine, want to go to you about some of the reason for optimism given some of the state and local outcomes this cycle. Maybe not, but I do want to know what we can take away from some of the criminal justice initiatives. Some of the prosecutorial wins on the state ballots this election cycle. Is there anything that we can take to the federal level to inform and shape members there? Anything positive?

Jasmine Tyler
First, if you don’t mind, I’d like to go back to Eden’s point about what we can do right now, and I want to take that to the executive branch. The president has a huge role right now that we need him to fill because it’s pardon and commutation season. It’s November, so we all know what that is, right? This is going to be critical for the Biden- Harris administration because we’re going to need several group commutations, right? We’re going to need all crack offenses to be resentenced or released according to powder cocaine sentencing. We need all the women who’ve been brought into conspiracy laws. We know them as the girlfriend problems. It’s not always a girlfriend, it could be a mother or a sister, but the women who have been drug into drug war enforcement and sentencing to contribute to mass incarceration, we’re going to need blanket commutation, pardons for them. We absolutely have to have this administration deschedule marijuana. This conversation about rescheduling and this suggestion for them go to Schedule III that the DEA has made up. No, no, no, we are done. In order to address the equitable and problematic issues around marijuana enforcement, we must de- schedule and let the states continue to be the laboratories of democracy. But the most important thing that President Biden has got to do is to clear death row. Trump was the executor- in- chief during the dress rehearsal that we had from his previous term. We can expect that he will be using the death penalty for even more offenses including drug trafficking, including expansions around violent crimes and repeat criminal legal system involve these as well because he is looking to make good on the promise that he made to use the death penalty. This is something he has voiced his support for and has experience doing. So I just want to make that critical, critical call to the administration around what they need to do because I think we can expect the January 6thers to be commuted or pardoned, and that is a travesty of justice. If you have a very strict interpretation of the federal government’s role in enforcement or policing our borders, it’s piracy, treason, and counterfeiting, and treason was what it was. And so it’s not like we are going to show up on January 6th, ironically, the same day, and protest, although we’re learning that these forms of dissent may, in fact, be the norm. While I do think state and local work is really, really critical, it’s where the most people come into contact with the criminal legal systems, and we do have some openings. You mentioned progressive prosecutors, and I think we have really a mixed bag. We have folks like progressive prosecutor George Gascon losing in Los Angeles, but then we also see some wins in some states where there’s a bit of a flip- flopping, right? Florida different outcomes around progressive prosecutors in different places. Orlando went for it; Tampa went against it. We’re seeing it in Texas, we’re seeing it in New York, we’re seeing it in Ohio, and so maybe we will see some opportunities to have prosecutors who are thinking about more equitable and just applications of charging. And also potentially opening up prosecutorial review units, which is only one of the mechanisms in a panoply of mechanisms that we should be using to address long sentences. One of the things that we do at Justice Policy Institute is examining long sentences and the mechanisms for bringing people home, and that’s compassionate release, that’s parole. These mechanisms already exist. They just need to be reformed. We do also support the innovative approaches like the second look policies and the prosecutorial review units, but they should not be the only ways people are coming home, right? We’re going to have a report coming out on the success of The Second Look Program in D. C. It’s going to delve deeply into how have these folks got stuck into long sentences and how their experience has been since they’ve been home. It’s deeply, deeply emotional, and really, really hopeful. And so I think, to your question, we saw a greater deal of law and order candidates just winning along with this red wave in this last election cycle. And I do just want to say I’m particularly concerned about the left coast, the best coast. That’s what we’ve always known it as, right? But recently we had Oregon roll back all drug decriminalization efforts to really implement a public health approach. Unfortunately, implementation was slow, and instead of allowing for implementation, allowing for the innovation, allowing for the process to take hold more than one year, it was rescinded. We have just seen that in California where Prop 36 creates more… Ironically, named after a Prop 36 in the past, which provided drug treatment for people with drug and low- level offenses. A new Prop 36 that actually increases penalties for low- level thefts and for drug offenses. And so this is a complete reversal that we’re seeing from the West Coast, who has helped to lead on drug policy reform and innovations and to be the laboratory of democracy that we’ve often needed. What I will say is economics motivated this election. I think it’s fair to say and whether or not people really truly understand it more than just the price of eggs or anything like that. But one of the things that we see is about people’s concerns around the perceptions of crime, and they are inflated based on the actual numbers that we see. We had a small rise in crime shortly after and corresponding to the pandemic. What we continue to see is that the economy doesn’t work for everyone, and without job availability, without not just a living wage, a living wage. And some states changed their minimum wages years and years ago to a living wage, and yet that living wage continues to be outdated. So I have embraced new terminology from the National Reentry Workforce Coalition from their conference around a mortgage- earning job. Somewhere where an individual can be competitive and engaged in today’s economy and the economic expectations of a successful individual. And so unless we are going to change, this is our moment, right? We are either going to support people. We are a quarter of the way into the 21st century. We have got to realize that we’ve got to support people so that we all are safer and have more opportunities to thrive. There are some communities where there’s plenty of safety and it is not enforced by law enforcement. It is enforced because of the economics of those communities. And we have to really think about laws like the new Prop 36 that punish poor people and people who are struggling with health conditions like substance use disorder. In order to be successful, I think we have to work with people who are the most closest to the issues, and at the Justice Policy Institute, that is what we do. We provide research, education, and advocacy, but it is informed by people who have lived experience and who have been directly impacted by the policies. I grew up visiting my dad in prison and he almost died there when I was a junior in college. I have colleagues on staff who are formerly incarcerated. I have colleagues on staff who are exonerated. I have colleagues on staff who have lost siblings to gun violence. All of these things are also represented on our board. These critical stories and the importance of storytelling cannot be understated in terms of really getting an assessment of how our policies are working or not and being able to educate decision- makers about what we should be doing.

Kanya Bennett
Jasmine, I appreciate you sharing that. Your comments really get us to how we do this work, right? And how we reach our constituents, our communities. How do we educate? How do we connect the dots around? Well, the economy connects to reproductive rights in this way, connects to criminal justice in this way, connects to healthcare in this way. I want to turn to Tara. Tara, I saw you nodding your head, and I want to ask you about the role that the Urban League will play with its membership, with its chapters throughout the country in doing the work now. Jasmine reminded us the work starts now. The hundred 119th, as Eden said, starts right now. How are you going to mobilize? How are you going to bring your community along?

Tara Murray
The work has been going, it’s ongoing. Many of us on this call have organizations. The National Urban League is 114 years old. NCNW representative on this call is a hundred- plus years old, and so we’ve been doing this work. As I like to say, we’re not new to this, we’re true to this. So we’ve been doing this work for a long time, and it continues. We will continue to mobilize and activate our affiliates. We have 92 affiliates across the country. Many of them are weighing in on these issues at the state, local level that Jasmine uplifted. We will continue being a resource for them about how to mobilize, how to work in coalition on the ground with other organizations at the local and state level in order to advance the agenda that we’ve been speaking about. One of the ways that we also educate and pull in our affiliates, and not just our affiliates, but the broader coalition, and I think we are going to have to be thinking about how we expand our knowledge of what coalition is. Oftentimes, we work in such silos, and I know leadership conference has been great about pulling in a broader coalition. I think all of us are going to have to think about what that looks like moving forward as we think about how we’re going to confront the challenges that we’re facing. It’s going to require a broader coalition. It’s going to require us working and finding common ground. We’re not going to agree on everything, and I know Eden uplifted this, sometimes finding that common ground can be challenging, but we know that there is a coalition of folks that are willing and able that have the same shared values that we have. And even though maybe we have not worked in immigration, or we have not worked on specific issues, I think we’re all going to have to stand in the gap for one another over the next few years. And so we will be continuing to equip our affiliate movement with the tools and with the resources to be able to do this coalition work that is necessary and to educate them on how they can make the difference at the state and local level that can inform what’s happening at the federal level. We also just are going to have to make sure that our folks are educated about what’s going on. We’re going to be facing stuff on a day- to- day basis. And I think part of what happened this go around with this election is a collective amnesia about what 2016 to 2020 really was about. I think we’re going to have to do a better job of messaging and ensuring that people understand what is happening and what is at stake for the midterm, what is at stake for the next presidential election, but ensuring that we keep folks knowledgeable. We will continue to do that. We issue a State of Black America report every year. We’ll do that in 2025, likely focused on the 60th anniversary of the Voting Rights Act. As we think about defending democracy, and we think about the spirit and intention behind that historic piece of legislation and all of the, frankly, voting rights protections that have been stripped by the Supreme Court, by state legislatures. And so really looking at how we educate folks and how we message is going to be important as well.

Kanya Bennett
Absolutely. Tara, and Portia, let me ask that same question of you. How does NCNW plan to bring its membership along in this fight? Educate its membership around the social and economic issues of importance to its constituents.

Portia Reddick White
Let me just start by saying, and thank you for the reference of NCNW, we have 38 affiliates. We are an organization of organization. That’s how we started years ago by Mary McLeod Bethune. One of our most iconic presidents who was president for over 50 years was Dr. Dorothy Height. Just coupling the two of them and what has inspired and enlightened us to connect more than two million women and men across the country to help lead to advocate for and empower women of African descent, their families, and communities, really builds upon the last will and testament of Mary McLeod Bethune, which if we read today, reminds us that our fight today is what the fight was yesterday. We’re basically almost 90 years old, not a hundred. Thank you for that, but we’re not quite there. What we plan on doing and how we are going to be moving forward, we’re going to build on that. We see that there are issues that will be issues that we’re going to have to defend. There might be an issue here and there that we can support depending on what that issue is. Now that the blinds have been taken off and really people now see what we’re left with. By the way, it’s not a mandate at all, in my opinion, it’s more of empowerment. They’re empowered. I don’t think the American public, they didn’t take seriously, Project 2025. They denied ownership of Project 2025 until this election now. We are inspired, our board is inspired, and yes, this has been a devastating moment, but we’re going to move on and we’re going to build on this.

Kanya Bennett
I could spend the remainder of the day engaging with you ladies and really appreciate the time you have taken to come and join Pod for the Cause and help us, help our audience process the election outcome and what’s ahead. And I have to say that this conversation has definitely put me in a bright spot, an inspired spot. As Portia was just noting, we will move forward together and I’m actually feeling encouraged based on the fact that I will do it in coalition with you women and others. So I want each of you to leave us on an action item, a resource, a word of advice, or a final point. Eden, let me start with you. What is one thing you want to leave our audience with now as we charge forward?

Eden Shiferaw
I would say there are a lot of threats coming to our personhood, to those that we love and care about. And we know them from the campaign trail, the biggest hits that he’s been saying over and over again in terms of policies that are going to cause hurt and pain and violence. But I think a really big threat is what this is going to do to all of us physically, and mentally, and emotionally, and spiritually. That’s a threat that can incapacitate us for us to move forward, to be better, to fight, just to find joy. So remember that that is a threat in and of itself and do the things you need to do to care and rest for yourself and others as well.

Kanya Bennett
Thank you, Eden. Tara, let me go to you.

Tara Murray
I completely agree with Eden. I’ve been seeing these T- shirts on a number of groups and group chats with Black women. I’ve been seeing these shirts that say, ” Opt out.” Don’t opt out. Please, do not opt out. Rest, recharge. Find your peace, your center, ways to still have joy, but we need you. We need you in this fight. We all have to keep going. They want us to be so tired, be so worn down that we will back down. They want us to give up. We cannot give up. We have to summons and channel our ancestors, our mothers, our grandmothers who fought since the beginning, since 1619 when our ancestors were brought here, were kidnapped and brought here. Native Americans have a story that predates that. They want us to give up. We can’t give up. So do what you need to do to find your peace to rest and recharge in moments when you can, but please don’t opt out.

Kanya Bennett
Absolutely, Tara. Thank you for that. Portia.

Portia Reddick White
I’m going to couple this, and I’ll give credit where credit is due. First of all, we do have to focus on the wellness of ourselves individually. But as we’re focusing on our wellness, we have to coalesce around each other very much as Tara just said. We can’t give up. That’s because most of us are more alike than different. So let’s figure it out. We’ve got to pick up those things where we can support. One thing I’m thinking of is this child tax credit that JD Vance mentioned. I hope he’s real. We’ll see. But then also those education far- right policies that can be harmful. What’s going to happen with the economic view otherwise is going to be harmful. Where we are with healthcare and this vaccination talk can be harmful. So what we’re going to have to do, and the credit’s going to go to Vince Evans, who serves as the CBC, Congressional Black Caucus director, we got to sleep in shifts. That’s something he said to me and that I heard, and he mentioned it during the election as, ” Hey, let’s sleep in shifts as we get this done.” But we’ve got to continue to sleep in shifts. I’ve been teasing him because I want to see a shirt that says that. But sleeping in shifts and coalescing around each other and making sure that we ourselves are well in every sense of the manner is what we need to do to move forward. And I encourage everybody to do that.

Kanya Bennett
Thank you, Portia. Let’s sleep in shifts. And like Tara said, do not opt out. Jasmine, bring us home. What is your final point?

Jasmine Tyler
My final point is that we cannot let our messages get diluted, and we can no longer try to compromise when we know right is right, and we know all of our issues have grounding in evidence- based practices as well as our communities. That is really critical to just stand up for what we believe in, stand firm, and I offer philanthropy a real challenge. I’m sorry, I said offer, I meant issue. Some of your organizations on here I am inspired by their longevity in the game. The Justice Policy Institute is only 27 years old, and we have had an immense body of work and contributions to reducing the carceral footprint in the United States, one of the world’s largest incarcerating nations. And we expect philanthropy to continue to support us and to support us even more. Old philanthropy is retreating, new philanthropy is retreating, and this is not the moment.

Kanya Bennett
Appreciate that call to action, Jasmine. I think we all do. So again, ladies, thank you so much for being on Pod for the Cause today. This was just what I needed, selfishly, to help process my thoughts, but honestly, I know it’s a conversation that will benefit the entire Pod for the Cause audience and our civil rights community. Everyone should heed these words that these wise women have shared. And with that, thank you so much for being here with us today.

Jasmine Tyler
Thank you. Thank you all.

Tara Murray
Thank you, Kanya.

Eden Shiferaw
Thank you for having me. Thank you. Thank you.

Portia Reddick White
Thanks for this great opportunity to share. We appreciate it.

Kanya Bennett
Thank you for joining us today on Pod for the Cause, the official podcast of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and The Leadership Conference Education Fund. For more information, please visit civilrights.org, and to connect with us, hit us up on Instagram and Twitter @ civilrightsorg. You can text us text CIVIL RIGHTS. That’s two words, CIVIL RIGHTS to 52199, to keep up with our latest updates. Be sure to subscribe to our show on your favorite podcast app and leave a five- star review. For additional information on anticipated civil rights rollbacks from the Trump administration, please visit The Leadership Conference website, again, that is civilrights.org, and pull our 2018 report on Trump’s civil and human rights rollbacks, as well as our backgrounders on Project 2025. Thanks to our production team, Shalonda Hunter, Dena Craig, Taelor Nicholas, and Oprah Cunningham, my colleagues at The Leadership Conference, and shout out to Podville Media, our external production crew. And that’s it from me, your host, Kanya Bennett. Until next time, let’s keep fighting for an America as good as its ideals.

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