The Defender Network’s Community Channel recently conducted a Zoom call discussion on voting, the November 2024 election, and politics in general. The goal: to find out what issues are most important to Blacks, what solutions Blacks want to see, thoughts on voting, insights on the current state of political/civil education, and more.
Here are excerpts from the conversation about why Blacks must vote.
STOP POLICE IMMUNITY
“These racist cops be doing the most, for real,” shared Sharon Daye, when the topic of policing came up in the conversation. “Sonya Massey called the police. She called them, fam; and got shot in the face. Dead. I mean. What?”
“And so your boy Trump” interjected Amir Taylor.
“That is not my boy,” Daye shot back.
“True. Ture. But ol’boy Trump is talking about letting cops do that and get no consequences, no jail time, no nothing,” Taylor finished.
“That’s that qualified immunity,” added Felipe Stoneman. “Police can do whatever the hell they want. As if what they already doing isn’t bad enough.”
“Like I said, they be doing the most,” Daye concluded, with call attendees standing in agreement that they were against that Trump/GOP policy.
PROTEST CRIMINALIZED
When the issue of criminalizing protesters was raised, Zoom call participant Joy Fields, who had been quiet for most of the conversation, perked up.
“People in this country, to kinda quote Dr. Martin Luther King, ‘Protested for the right to protest,” Fields said. “That’s like Democracy 101. Without the right to protest there is nothing that separates the U.S. from Third World nations run by dictators.”
Henry Hickson, another participant who had been silent for the most part, chimed in here.
“Is it really that serious though? I mean, some protests be getting wild,” he shared.
“Bro, making protest illegal means all the power is in the hands of the government and the police. So, if you’re protesting something they don’t want you protesting, no matter how righteous your cause, you could get arrested or worse. You cool with that?”
When a clip of Trump from a few years ago was played with him saying he wanted to use militarized police on protesters, nearly the entire 10 people on the call said blocking that was something that might inspire more people on the fence about voting to actually cast their ballots.
When the recent report showed the GOP seeks to expand the use of militarized police to the general public, all were on board with denouncing the idea, yet not all were convinced it was enough to push a substantial amount of Blacks to the polls.
HANDMAIDS
On the issue of restoring women’s reproductive rights, all but one Zoom call participant were in agreement that reproductive freedoms were a jarring enough issue to get people to vote.
“I swear over the past few years I’ve heard people talk about ‘Handmaid this’ and ‘Handmade that,’ and I just fronted like I knew what they were talking about,” admitted Daphne Aldridge. “But then I actually started watching that show, ‘The Handmaid’s Tale,’ and I was like, whoa, if that’s where we’re headed as a country, we have to do something about that. And if voting is the thing, then I’m all in.
If you want to participate in an upcoming Defender Community Channel Zoom call discussion on the November 2024 election, email your contact info to aswad@defendernetwork.com, subject line “ELECTION 2024 ZOOM MEETING.”
