Madeline Ryan Smith, Georgia House Candidate for HD 158

The North GA Blue: Getting into Good Trouble podcast covers democratic politics in North GA, the 9th Congressional District, and across the state of Georgia. The podcast is in Q&A/Interview format with various democratic politicos including county chairs, democratic operatives, politicians, and more. It is our mission to deliver crucial information to our listeners in a timely manner as we fight for community values and principles in the 3rd most Conservative district in the state. Our website is: https://www.fcdpga.com/podcasts

Our guests highlight democratic activities and actions to work toward a Blue Georgia. The 9th Congressional District spans 20 counties across the region and covers a good deal of northern GA including Blue Ridge, Morganton, Fannin, Union, Banks, Athens/Clarke, Dawson, Elbert, Forsyth, Franklin, Gilmer, Habersham, Hall, Hart, Jackson, Lumpkin, Madison, Pickens, Rabun, Stephens, Towns, and White counties. 

Our democratic party podcast also disseminates information and interviews powerful Democrats across the state of GA working to overthrow the suppression tactics of the GOP and ensure democracy and our values, grassroots efforts, and goals remain intact. 

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Transcript

Meral Clarke: 0:18

Hello and welcome back to the North Georgia Blue Podcast produced and distributed by the Fannin County Democratic Party. I'm your host Meral Clarke and we're getting into some good trouble today with our guest Madeline Ryan Smith candidate for Georgia House District 158. Welcome to the show, Madaline. We're happy to have you here.

Madeline Ryan Smith: 0:39

Hello. Thank you. I'm happy to be here.

Meral Clarke: 0:41

Wonderful. Well, let's let our listeners know a little bit about you. Madeline Ryan Smith is the Democratic candidate for Georgia House District 158. Born in Savannah, Georgia, Madeline was adopted into a family that taught her the value of family tradition and hard work in a home where she was taught that she could do anything she put her mind to. Madeline came to Georgia Southern University to study psychology and social science. As an adult Madeline became blind due to a genetic disorder called retinitis pigmentosa which led her to receive a guide dog. Recently, Madeline has been serving as the president of Students with Disabilities advocacy group at Georgia Southern as well as the vice president of the Young Democrats at Georgia Southern. good for you. She will graduate in May with her master's in social science and currently resides in Statesboro. As a disabled woman, Madeline understands the challenges that come with living in rural Georgia. She is focused on ensuring that every Georgian has access to health care and education. So they have the resources they need to be successful in their careers. With her background in social science and moderate views, Madeline is ready to bring both sides of the political spectrum together to grow into a more inclusive and prosperous community. Well, thank you for all you do Madeline so let's get to it. Why did you decide to run and why now while you're still in school? I assume this is your first foray into politics.

Madeline Ryan Smith: 2:15

Yes, it is first time running first time really getting involved in politics as someone who you know, makes decisions in any way. And what really motivated me to run. I've been in Statesboro for about six years as a student. So I've been down here, you know, pre pandemic and I was here during the pandemic, my parents live in Atlanta, and I had the opportunity to go back up to Atlanta during the COVID epidemic, I did not come and so I really wanted to make Statesboro my home. And in that time, there has been a lot of stagnicity, and I have not seen a whole lot of change on a state level. But also especially, you know, as a district wide sort of perspective, in the last six years, I got really involved with our Statesboro mayor's campaign last fall, he got reelected. He's our first African American mayor of Statesboro. Congratulations. Very exciting. Yeah, that was really exciting. I mean, so that kind of what is what threw me into politics. And I actually did that as my internship through my graduate program. And so I was able to take a lot of political science classes and stuff like that for my degree. And so I was just kind of surrounded by politics all the time for a solid year in 2020. And so why now, it was kind of a situation where I had seen where our Republican incumbent had been unopposed for many, many elections in a row. And so not necessarily that that's wrong, but it's just there was no other option. And so I pretty much was If not me, who and if not now, when, and I wanted to put my name in the hat as if not anything else, just to give the people a second option.

Meral Clarke: 3:45

Well, that's terrific. And we're glad that you're on the ballot. So thank you for running. Let's talk about growing up in rural areas or residing in rural areas. We're in an extremely rural part of Georgia up here in the ninth congressional district in Blue Ridge, Fannin County and surrounding counties. So you state that rural education is important to you. Why is that? And what are we lacking in rural areas when it comes to a solid education for kids? And how would you fix it?

Madeline Ryan Smith: 4:14

Oh, I could probably write a book on that.

Meral Clarke: 4:16

That would be great. And I would read it, definitely.

Madeline Ryan Smith: 4:19

Yeah. Education to me is very important, just because I grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina for about 15 years of my life. So I had a solid North Carolinian City Education. And so that included AP classes, comprehensive sex education, teachers, that would be one on one with me in the classroom, extra tutoring, we had an honors program, all that kind of stuff. And so I had very high quality education going up through school, and that's great to say for North Carolina. But what that has given me now in my life here is that I've seen the community of kids that go to public school down here, and I know the kind of education that I got as a child, and that was in the early 2000s. So 20 years later when kids are going through elementary school why are they not getting better education that would reflect 20 years of research that is not happening right now. I see kids in these community where we have over 90% of our public school children in this district are on free or reduced lunch. They all live under the poverty line, we have our test scores that I just looked up recently, because our state is not reporting them this year, because of COVID. We are about 10%. below the state average for reading and math scores in our district that's Bulloch County schools, our proficiency for reading and math is about 35%, which means 35% of kids at the end of their course are at or above grade level proficiency for reading and math. In the United States of America, there is no excuse for an area or school that is publicly funded in the United States of America to have percentages in the 30s for proficiency rates, there's just no...

Meral Clarke: 5:54

it's very sad. And unfortunately, this is adult and children's illiteracy is actually a problem across the US. Do you find it to be more problematic in rural areas?

Madeline Ryan Smith: 6:06

Oh, absolutely, absolutely. Because if you look at states for you to specifically, we've been a city since 1930s, our population with about 30,000 people, and that's grown. But what's special about rural Georgia and other rural areas, obviously, throughout the country is that a lot of families that have been there for a long time have not left. So we've got a lot of older adults, young kids are all part of the same generation, we've got large families where everybody classes are second cousins and stuff like that. So it's difficult because you have the south and everything that comes with our history, where it would make it more likely for someone to have the literacy as a person and 2022 because of history and poverty rates and the demographic of the area and geographical location and accessibility, that education and like all the variables combined. So in rural South, obviously, we have a higher rate of illiteracy among African American communities. And that stems from the South and the Civil War and the fact that we had Jim Crow and segregation and Brown v Board of Education and all the historical factors that would go into someone having the ability to learn how to read. And that also gets challenging when you bring into 2022 era of technological advance. And people needing to be able to read something and use technology and have access to email and things like that. I think like 70% of our county has access to Wi Fi and broadband.

Meral Clarke: 7:29

It's similar up here. We don't have any rural broadband. So it's it's a problem.

Madeline Ryan Smith: 7:33

Yeah, it's a serious problem. And for all of us who you know, we've just come through the pandemic where everything is online work in school or online, we had plenty of kids in our school systems that failed, technically last year, because they did not simply have access to Wi Fi, a computer or an adult at home during school. And that obviously disadvantages kids on more of a level as far as racial disparity goes, as far as family income, class status, things like that would also from my prospective children with disabilities, learning disabilities, especially children with ADHD, OCD, and dyslexia where they need a teacher they are with them to learn in school, they do not have that, especially in this area where maybe both of your parents work full time jobs, that's not happening for you at that point. And that will keep children behind in schools like nothing else.

Meral Clarke: 8:23

It's unfortunate. And we do need to change that. And I suspect it will take a majority of Democrats getting into office, especially in the state legislature and across statewide offices for that to change. So thank you again. So let's chat about healthcare accessibility, sustainability and rights for individuals with disabilities. And that's quite a bit so let's unpack it one topic at a time. Are disabled persons unable to access health care? If so, why, and what can we do to rectify the situation?

Madeline Ryan Smith: 8:54

Yes, he looks abilities, an extremely hard time accessing health care. Why is that honestly, lots of reasons again, could probably write a book a lot of it has to do with physical accessibility, getting it from point A to point B, people with disabilities who do not drive who have to rely on public transportation or Uber or a neighbor to drive them to their doctor's appointments. Public transportation is not something that is widely used in America, especially in Georgia, in rural areas, especially a state that's mostly rural, it would be a blessing for us to see public transportation, something like MARTA on a statewide scale, and that would open up the state. For a lot of people with disabilities in general. A lot of it also has to do with funding and the kind of situations we have with insurance and health care and disabilities like Social Security, disability and all that sort of thing and your normal health care issues as far as insurance and how much something costs are still there. But when you also add the variable of being on social security disability and on Medicaid, that gets 10 times more complicated. Our federal government regulates how much money I disabled person on Social Security can have in their bank account and a certain time and employment rights and things like that with a lot of old legislation, for example, it's legal to pay someone with a disability under my minimum wage because they have a disability. What currently, yeah, it's through the employment legislation that was in the 19.

Meral Clarke: 10:17

You said it's illegal. I'm sorry, my years are clogged. I'm sorry. You said it's illegal?

Madeline Ryan Smith: 10:22

No, no, no, it is legal.

Meral Clarke: 10:24

It is legal. Yeah. Oh, my goodness.

Madeline Ryan Smith: 10:26

And I'm forgetting the ACT name off the top of my head. But it was written in the 1920s. I want to say it's a very, very old Fair Employment Act kind of thing. And the law is very old needs to be amended. But essentially, the law says that as an employer, like, let's say, I'm employing a blind person, I'm allowed as an employer to pay my blind person less, because they as a blind person cannot do the job as well, as someone who is sighted, therefore, I don't have to pay them as much money.

Meral Clarke: 10:56

Well, we know that's not true. We know that.

Madeline Ryan Smith: 10:59

Right. So it's a law that and I wish I could pull this up really quick in front of me, because I know it exists. I just forget the name of it. But my disability group on our college campus this past year, we did a disability history week. And that was one of our big things that we advocated about was the employment legislation that we have in our federal government that doesn't cover people with disabilities, because the ADA, that's all about rights and accessibility, but doesn't have a whole lot on employment. It has accommodations and stuff, but it doesn't really have anything about rate of pay or anything like that. So the disability community is something that is very behind in legislation, we're about 25 years behind everybody else as far as minority groups go. So we don't have equal marriage. And like if I get married, I lose my social security and health benefits as a disabled person. So if I want to keep my Social Security benefits, and stay on Medicaid, as a blind woman, I cannot get married.

Meral Clarke: 11:53

Oh, my goodness, I'm so distressed to hear this, I actually have disabled friends, I have one friend in particular who's in a wheelchair, she has multiple sclerosis. And of course, that's a progressive disease. So it just becomes harder and harder for her to manage without appropriate regulations or laws in place. So why do you think that disabled persons are so discriminated against and don't have equal rights?

Madeline Ryan Smith: 12:18

I think our minority group is really a group that can happen to you, I actually had a blind friend telling me this metaphor one time I've used it since then. The disabled community is something that can happen to you, you can get in a car accident, you can, you know, have some sort of injury, you can get sick, something like that become disabled, right, you can have a child who is born with a disability or something like that. And so disability scares people. And so they want to stay as far away from it as possible, because they know that either they are going to do something to themselves, or something's going to happen to them, or they are going to get old enough to become part of our community too. Death scares people, aging scares people. So it's just I want to stay away from that as far as possible. And so when you come across people in your everyday life that are disabled, and that can be as simple as staring at the person in the wheelchair that can be as simple as thinking that, Oh, they need so much more help than may think they do because they're disabled, and I'm going to be this Savior for them and help them even though they tell me that they don't need it. So it's just one of those things that I think people forget, but also get very nervous about and just react negatively. And not all people are like that. And I'd say it's probably about a half and half split of the abled bodied population that either are super disrespectful and want nothing to do with you and just totally ignore the fact that you exist, or the people who are hyper aware of the fact that you exist, and almost have like a abled Savior attitude. If that

Meral Clarke: 13:47

It does, unfortunately, and I'm saddened makes sense. to hear it. So what will it take? What do we have to do to lift disabled persons up and provide the same rights that the rest of us have? What do we have to do on say, a statewide level?

Madeline Ryan Smith: 14:02

First step would be to educate people in power right now need to take the day, it takes maybe International Day of Persons with Disabilities or the whatever month awareness day that you want to celebrate involving disabilities do that, for example, Joe Biden celebrated St. Patrick's Day, I'm Irish, I get it. I love St. Patrick's Day, but the International Day of disabilities was on December 3, and there was nothing about that. So it's what we choose to pay attention to, as political figures and influencers of public opinion, can go a long way. And so when we take the five minutes of our day to mention at least people with disabilities that can open a lot of eyes. Second, I would say people with disabilities need to start running for office. That's a lot easier said than done, obviously. But it's one of those things where the disabled community is very opinionated. If you enter yourself into that community, you will hear a lot of loud voices with very, very strong opinions that you will not be able to change and that is what Whether the disabled community is we are a powerhouse of people who will put you in your place with no questions asked. But we all stay in our bubble. We don't like to travel outside the community, because that's where the able bodied people are, you know. And so we very much stay in our own bubbles and kind of stay in our own lane. But if we want to be able to have a seat at the table, we need to be able to hold the chair, you know,

Meral Clarke: 15:23

That makes total sense. And what can individuals do on a daily basis to raise awareness of disabled persons and their needs?

Madeline Ryan Smith: 15:32

There are so many answers, one thing that I would always say is, if you see it, call it out, if you see ableism happening, call it out, stand up for the person with the service dog in the store, stand up for the person, when you get on your airplane, if there's somebody in a wheelchair that's delaying your flight, because of some problem, stand up for them. Because those are situations that are super embarrassing to the person that they're happening to. I've been that person who basically gets a flight canceled, you know, because of my difficulty. And it all is usually at the hands of other people because of ignorance. And so if you are someone who knows someone with a disability or is someone with a disability, you need to be able to educate, but also advocate for other people around you and make sure that we're listening to the community. I have a lot of able bodied friends who are not necessarily part of the community, but are really strong allies. And listen to what I say when I say it and ask me questions and point things out to me when we're in public and stuff like that. And once you have your one advocate and you do these couple of things, more people start adding on to it. And then it grows into this thing that's a social norm, peer pressure.

Meral Clarke: 16:36

Right peer pressure works. We know that and it's just one more group of people that most able bodied people don't think about on a regular basis. So we need to be aware, and we need to be cognizant of disabled persons needs. I completely agree. So thank you for that. So you're currently pursuing a master's degree in social science. Let's talk about critical race theory, or CRT or DEI, which is diversity, equity and inclusion education. Is it ever too soon for children to understand these concepts? And I'm referring to the Florida law, which just went into effect today. Governor DeSantis of Florida signed the don't say gay bill into law. So do you think it's ever too soon? And why do you suppose Republicans are so afraid of teaching actual real history?

Madeline Ryan Smith: 17:26

And well, I'm gonna answer your question backwards. I think that people are afraid of learning and teaching true history because they are afraid of having their fingers being pointed at. They don't want to be the oppressor. Right. And I think that's a huge reason of why anybody would want to censor anything or whitewash, for example, history. And how it's taught is because they don't want to be the oppressor, which no one would you don't want fingers pointed at you. But it comes to a point where we just have to be like, hey, this happened. And we need to get over it and move on and learn from our history. So we're not doomed to repeat it, which is a quote that one of my eighth grade history teachers told me. My opinion on critical race theory, I think that there is an age where you raise too early to be exposed to topics that are critical race theory. It is never too early to be exposed to things like racism, and to teach your white children that racism is not okay. It is never too early to teach your African American children what it means to be black. In America. I think that we can't sugarcoat things for our kids. And we forget that kids are like sponges, they absorb everything. They know things that we do not think that they know. They are way smarter than we give them credit for. And so they are hyper aware of these things when they are in elementary school, the differences of race and the differences of skin color, and why boys look like boys and girls look like girls and gender differences and all that stuff. They are absorbing that constantly. So whether we enable it or not, they're going to learn it one way or the other. And one thing that my parents have always really taught me is that you can learn things safely under our roof while we can watch you. And so you don't have to make these mistakes as an adult and really pay for them later. And I think that's a really good parenting tactic is to allow your children to make mistakes under your roof while they can. And so that's part of teaching your children how to be adults in the real world and teaching them social norms and how to be a good human, and how to treat others the way you want to be treated and treat others around you. It just really prepares kids for situations that they're going to be in for adults. And I think that there's no bad thing about preparing your child to be an adult but specifically on critical race theory. My opinion on that as a specific social science theory is that that is stuffed right now in my graduate program. So I actively read books and literature and have class discussions on critical race theory and what that looks like and like I learned about Afrofuturism last year which is a really cool concept by Isaiah lavender by the way, but that is all stuff that is for people in college I would not ever expect a middle schooler to understand the concepts concretely, that surround critical race theory. And I would not expect your average middle school teacher to be equipped to teach that properly. So do I think it belongs in public schools? No, I think that maybe we could have it be an optional AP class. It definitely belongs in universities, for sure. But I don't think that we need to be teaching social science theory. on that level in public school. I think that diversity training and teaching diversity and sex health, for example, would be great. And teaching diversity in your English classes and reading books in your English classes, like Night by Elie was oh, and all these banned books, that's great critical race theory, right, there is books that are centered for that age group and things like that. But when we're talking about teaching children to understand the concept that America as an institutional country is systemically racist. Okay, I can agree with that. I know that I was formally taught that in my college classes, again, not something I would expect every middle schooler to either understand or agree with, so that to me something save for college.

Meral Clarke: 21:15

What about kids who don't go to college and don't have the benefits of a higher education?

Madeline Ryan Smith: 21:20

I think that that's where your diversity and inclusion training would really come in handy. I don't think that every American needs to really understand critical race theory in its entirety, to be a good human and put good into the world. I think that diversity and inclusion has so many facets to it. And that is from so many different perspectives, that we could do something in our social science classes, or in our history classes, or in our psychology classes you take in high school, talking about diversity and inclusion and include all of those facets in the curriculum that we already teach. So your history curriculum, your English curriculum, your whatever that you have has elements and educational standards that have to do with diversity and inclusion.

Meral Clarke: 22:03

But socialization takes place before the age of five. And kids pretty much form their personalities by the time they're five, six years old. So don't you believe that DEI Diversity, Equity and Inclusion should be taught at the grade school level for that reason? Kindergarten, even preschool?

Madeline Ryan Smith: 22:21

Oh, yeah, absolutely. Okay, that kind of comes with diversity, inclusion, health, sex education, like all the stuff that teaches you human skills, like just how to be alive and in the world. There's really no age that's too early to teach any of that stuff.

Meral Clarke: 22:34

Okay, so we do agree on that. That's great.

Madeline Ryan Smith: 22:36

Oh, yeah. And I really think that that's something that you could have diversity inclusion training, you have it once in elementary school, you have it once in middle school, you have it once in high school. And those three classes at different levels look differently, depending on how old you are. Because we do that with sex education already. And so I think that it would be really useful to have mandatory classes that are included in your normal mandatory stuff to be in public school that teaches you that stuff. I think it's really important character building, all that kind of stuff.

Meral Clarke: 23:04

Sure. And financial literacy in high school as well. But that's off topic. But yes, that's, we could have a whole nother show on that. So I do agree. Well, that's great. Thank you for that. And people do tend to conflate CRT with DEI, how would you in a very simple fashion delineate?

Madeline Ryan Smith: 23:22

The two Yeah, and I think that's very valid, I think that they're mixed up and kind of put in the same box a lot. Diversity and Inclusion Education is the basis of teaching children, social norms, how to understand people who don't look, act or speak like them, how to understand the diversity of the world around them, and how to be a member of that diversity. And critical race theory is the educational sociological theory that institutions such as United States of America are systemically racist because of their history, and how that systemic racism affects globally and societally, our everyday experience. They're very similarly related. But one is more what we should have in public schools teach our children on an everyday basis. And another is this theory that we use in Social Science Daily, where we collect data, and we use data on critical race theory for things like public health, and how to solve the pandemic and which races are more susceptible to STDs or which gender is this than the other. So critical race theory is something that we definitely need. It's a 40 year old theory that we use daily and social science and that is where all of your medical science comes from and all of your science that deals with daily health issues and things like that on a public health scale. So they're very I related but one is like a I'm a professor and I'm a researcher. And I'm using this and I'm teaching this in my university. And the other is like, we need to teach children, these building blocks of what critical race theory came out of

Meral Clarke: 25:12

It makes complete sense. And I appreciate the differences in definition as well, because so many of us don't know and we need to learn. So you're obviously a great source for that. Moving on, what is your stance on feminism in our country today? I'm a veteran feminists, I marched for the ERA back in the 80s when I was in college, and as I like to say, 100 years ago, and pretty much nothing has changed. So do you consider yourself a feminist? And if so, why? And what are your thoughts on the ERA? Will it ever become law? And then I want to address the pay gap. But let's start with the feminism

Madeline Ryan Smith: 25:48

So feminism? Yes, I would say I am a feminist, and I am a feminist not necessarily in the American feminist definition, but in the true dictionary definition of a feminist, which is the equality of genders in all aspects. And so I'm usually the first woman who stands up for men in a room. Men's rights are equally as important as women's rights. And it goes both ways. Feminism is a two way street. I mean, I think people forget that what feminism is not is man hating, and the woman is above the man. That's not what we're talking about. We're talking about women and their rights and no less, and men and their rights and no more.

Meral Clarke: 26:23

Oh, human rights. It's all about human rights. Right?

Madeline Ryan Smith: 26:26

Exactly. And it's not about one gender being over the other and especially with no a feminism, that you bring up all humans, we do have the gender spectrum. So we're never talking about women who are biologically born women. Feminism, the community of women has just grown exponentially over the past decade. So when we're talking about women and feminism that also includes LGBTQ rights, and trans rights and women's rights and all the rights that would go into something like that, when that can be as far as abortion rights. And that can be as far as conversion therapy has to do with women's rights. So it's just one of those things with a vast, diverse group. But I think it's really important to be a feminist. And I think it's really important to educate on true feminism. And I think it's important to always teach that anybody can be a feminist, you can be a feminist and a heterosexual man, and there's nothing wrong with that. And in reality that helps you. So I always think of feminism as a two way street. Because I'm a really big women's rights advocate. I planned our women's march in Statesboro. Last year, and I'm a very, very big supporter of pro choice, everything but I'm also a really big advocator and educator on things like toxic masculinity and how that's negative for our boys and how your masculine standard is a bad thing and things like that.

Meral Clarke: 27:41

The second part of that question, was the Equal Rights Amendment or ERA Do you think it will ever pass?

Madeline Ryan Smith: 27:47

Okay, this is making me think of Judith Butler. I don't know if you've ever read any of her books. But Judith Butler is a very strong LGBTQ feminist. Her ideas behind feminism is that feminism can't actually exist because men have to allow women to be feminists. So when you say, Will this ever pass? I don't know. It will when men allow us to. And I don't necessarily agree with that stance with Judith Butler, because I think that's a little bit complex, maybe. But I do think there's a lot of truth, and women only had as many rights as men allow us to have. And unfortunately, that's just because they still dominate our political fields. So the more we have women step up to our political field and play ball with the boys. We are always going to be a little bit behind and shout out to Kamala Harris. You know. I love her.

Meral Clarke: 28:36

She's definitely a Shero. Sure, representation matters to for

Madeline Ryan Smith: 28:39

Yeah, she's awesome. And Joe Biden, I was really excited to see Joe Biden in the White House just because black and brown communities. So very happy to see that as well. of her background in education. I was like, Ooh, First Lady, Jill. Okay. So I was pretty excited about that. So that was really cool, actually. Now in 2022, where we have had our The second question I had is, I'd like for you to address the first vice president, as a female, I think it's going to open a lot of doors for women. I mean, I think it's going to motivate a lot of young girls to get more involved in things and pay gap between men and women, which is still to this day quite stuff like that. So below what men make for women and even lower for black and brown women. So what are your thoughts on how we can close that gap? There's so many things we could do to solve. And we just actively choose not to, which is so weird to me. For all these men that have wives and daughters at home, like y'all would think that they would just want better, but apparently not. But I always think it's about keeping women down. You know, I think that's very true for the African American population of women as well. The African American women population is they are a powerhouse community that I would never want to mess with on any good day. They are our leading example of what we need to do to change America. They are who we look to for LGBTQ legislation. They are who we look to for women's rights for trans rights. For all that we would not have anything that we have today as far as civil rights goes without the African American woman. And so that is what I think is really important. As far as highlighting disparities and things like that is that especially with pay, we have, I mean, it's just statistically based on math, African American women are much more likely to be single moms to have to work multiple jobs to be living in poverty. And I think in the South that has more to do with history and how we've set women like that up for failure. There's a lot of systemic change we need to make as far as black and brown women who just need to make it in America. And I've actually talked to some of my friends who are not Caucasian, a kind of about this. And it's like, you know, really, what can we do to do this? And I think there's obviously a lot of distrust from the African American community, towards politicians towards doctors, and rightfully so based on things that have happened in the past.

Meral Clarke: 30:59

Sure, Tuskegee comes to mind.

Madeline Ryan Smith: 31:02

So you know, when the African American community about COVID vaccines, it's like, as a white woman, I have no business telling any black woman, what do you inject yourself with, like, not a road, I'm gonna walk down, you know, and so I think that there's a lot of distrust, but there's not a lot of things that the white community can do to earn back that trust. It's going to have to be a lot of us standing up from our seats at the table and letting someone who doesn't look like us sit down at them for a while. And I think that that's really important, as far as you know, like, we could talk about term limits, and career politicians, blah, blah, blah. But I really think it's important for people who are representing their area to also reflect the people of that area. So career politicians, I know like where I'm running right now, our state representative lives in Swainsboro on the lake and has quite a large war chest for his campaign to start with financially and for an environment where over 90% of our kids live in poverty, I don't think the 80 year old white man with a lot of money is representative of the population that lives here.

Meral Clarke: 32:02

It's not I mean, there's no argument to that, because you're absolutely right. It has to change. We have to have more women and women of color who are willing to and they are willing. Oh, absolutely. And we do it legislatively. Right. So again, thank you for running and thank you for your candidacy. Oh, yeah. So I could talk to you all day. And I have so many questions just racing through my head. But unfortunately, we're running short on time. So if someone wants to get involved with your campaign, donate, volunteer, etc. Where would you send them?

Madeline Ryan Smith: 32:34

I have a website, it is Madeline Ryan Smith for georgia.com. I'm on Facebook, Instagram, I'm on Twitter, I have a website. So I'm a very accessible person to get in contact with. And that honestly comes with just being part of the disabled community. We're online a lot. So a lot of my everyday life is internet. That's great. Me too, though. Yeah, email, send me a message. I'll respond to it. I'll be around ask a question that whole thing. And I'm always down to be a guest on a podcast or anything else that goes on and then donating at Blue donor box. It's all on the website. I definitely have an Act Blue account. You'll find me when you look up little campaigns, Madeline Ryan Smith, I'm on there.

Meral Clarke: 33:12

Fantastic. Well, I do have one more question, though. And I really do want to ask you this. Do you believe that your disability has made you a better candidate for office?

Madeline Ryan Smith: 33:21

Yes, I think so. I think so. Especially just if you take away my disability and apply all the other demographics that apply to me, like I'm a white woman from a city. And so I can sit here because I like calling out my own privilege, which is weird, but I do it.

Meral Clarke: 33:38

No, I think it's great that you do it good for you.

Madeline Ryan Smith: 33:41

know that I did not have a childhood in rural Georgia, I don't understand what that's like. What I do understand is not having access to a car, not having access to a job, not having access to a doctor, like I get it. And that comes with being blind. And I think that as horrible as my life is when I'm blind because you know, that's not an easy thing. You know, and I have had days where life sucks, you know, and that's what I'm doing. But at least that has given me the ability to understand and to really get the struggle of not having public transportation, not having health care, not having quality education for your children and not being able to move out of an area to go and get that. And so I just think that I can relate to people a little bit more. And like I said, I'm someone who calls out my own privilege a lot. And so I know that on a political field, I have the ability to take my platform and get it as huge as possible with my own voice, and then open my platform up to people who do not have a voice so that they can be listened to. That's my goal.

Meral Clarke: 34:48

That's called empathy and caring for others and understanding their struggles and wanting to help them which is something Republicans don't seem to grasp and empathy is so important. In our elected officials, and I look forward to calling you Representative Smith. So finally, and I ask all my guests this question, tell us a fun fact about you, Madeline, not necessarily having to do with your disability or your candidacy. Tell us something fun

Madeline Ryan Smith: 35:15

Fun fact about me. Oh, okay. This is a just about you. fun fact, the first big trip I did without my parents. I was an exchange student in Germany in high school. How exciting. Yeah, it was really cool. And since then, I have traveled to six different European countries and all over the United States, and I've done it all either blind or with a guide dog. So

Meral Clarke: 35:39

Good for you. Good for you. Congratulations.

Madeline Ryan Smith: 35:43

Yeah. So anybody disabled and or blind listening who thinks that independent travel was not possible? It is.

Meral Clarke: 35:50

And you can certainly tell them how to do it right. Oh, yeah. Well, thank you, Madeline, for joining us today and sharing more about your critical work to support Georgians and maintain our democracy, not to mention all of your disability advocacy, which we are ever so grateful for. I'm Meral Clarke and on behalf of our team, I'd like to thank everyone for listening to the North Georgia Blue Podcast. To learn more about us and the work that we're doing, visit us online at Fannin County, Georgia democrats.com Share the North Georgia Blue Podcast with your friends and family be sure to subscribe and follow and if you enjoy our podcast be a founding patron and friend of the show at North Georgia blue podcast.com/patron Now with three different giving levels to choose from offering cool swag recognition on the show and website and valuable gift cards to help us continue getting into more good trouble.