Momentum Matters (with Nikia Miller and Ann Shroyer)

This week, Jasmine and Rachel share their sadness about what’s happening in Israel. Our hearts go out to the civilians who find their ordinary lives torn apart by violence in the Middle East, in Ukraine, and even in the United States with gun violence. Tragedy can feel far away until it hits close to home, but by continuing to talk to our friends and neighbors, continuing to vote and make our voices heard, we can keep up the momentum and make real change.

Then we’re joined by Nikia in Virginia and Ann in Ohio, two Troublemakers who have been out registering voters in their communities. They share what they’ve been hearing on the ground from their neighbors and how they make voting, and voter registration, fun. (T-Rex costume, anyone??)

There is so much on the ballot in November, and that includes book bans. So next week we’re talking about book bans with someone who knows all too well what it’s like to have her books banned: one of our favorite past guests, Angie Thomas, the award winning author of The Hate U Give. This special live virtual event is happening on Thursday October 19 and you can sign up here: https://go.redwine.blue/AngieThomasSWP.

For a transcript of this episode, please email comms@redwine.blue.

You can learn more about us at www.redwine.blue or follow us on social media!

Twitter: @TheSWPpod and @RedWineBlueUSA

Instagram: @RedWineBlueUSA

Facebook: @RedWineBlueUSA

YouTube: @RedWineBlueUSA

Transcript

The Suburban Women Problem - Season 4, Episode 6

Rachel Vindman: Hi, everyone. Thanks for joining us. I'm Rachel Vindman. 

Jasmine Clark: I'm Jasmine Clark.

Rachel: And this is The Suburban Women Problem. It's pretty obvious the GOP has a suburban women problem, and we're here to talk about it. 

We are now only four weeks from the November elections, and organizers have been working hard in states that have important races and ballot measures. And one of the most important ways to protect democracy is to make sure everyone's registered to vote. Everyone. So today we'll be talking to Ann and Nikia, a couple of Troublemakers who have been registering voters in Ohio and Virginia. 

But before we get to that, I've been struggling to articulate my thoughts on what is happening In Israel, I've been trying to write like 300 or 400 words and it just… I think part of the problem is that I know a lot because I did live there and I actually lived and worked in Gaza as well. And so I think a lot of people, well intentioned people, I think have oversimplified the situation. And then likewise, I think a lot of people with bad intentions have also oversimplified for their own purposes.  

Jasmine: Yeah, I agree. I think… so I did not live there, but I have been in the region and I think that it's a lot more nuanced and complex.

And I think that's the issue is, I think sometimes when problems seem really big and that this feels really big. We try to find the simplest answer and we try to find a way to just understand the world and what's happening in our world. And I think that that really does, like, harm our ability to kind of see the complexity.

And so when a person does want to be thoughtful in their response or thoughtful in the way that they talk about it, sometimes being thoughtful can put you at odds with people who don't want the thoughtfulness. They just want the simple answer. And, and they're not trying to hear, they're not trying to hear anything like that.

Rachel: Yeah. Above all else, it is a tragic act. It is a heinous act of barbarism and, you know, I mean, the murder and slaughter, kidnapping of innocent civilians. And frankly, we saw this last week in Ukraine, when Russia struck, it was essentially a wake. It was a soldier who had died earlier in the conflict. He was buried beyond behind enemy lines, but because of the summer offensive, Ukraine liberated that territory and his family wanted to bring his body home to be near them. And while the village was gathered together, a village of now, it was used to be 500 before the war, then it was 300 on Thursday, but after the missile strike there, it's about 250 people.

Jasmine: That's really sad. 

Rachel: Yeah. One in six people, you know, was killed. And I don't, I don't think the good people of the world are desensitized to this in any way, but it is difficult for us to process so much tragedy, so much loss. So I think that's when we get kind of that desire to have the easy answer because we have to make sense of it in order to move on. But we can't really oftentimes devote the amount of time it takes to fully process it.

Jasmine: Or the energy. Or it just feels, like I said, just feels too big. It just feels too big. And so we look for the easy answer. I echo your sentiments. I think, you know, terrorism in any form is horrible. 

And when we see these terroristic acts, I always think of the person who was just walking down the street or going to the grocery store or hanging out with their friends. A lot of times, the conflict, they, they don't even feel like they're a part of that conflict. There's these people up here arguing and you're just there living your life. And then somehow you get swept up into this or your family gets swept up into this. And I think that is. I mean, it's horrible because as a, you know, I just think about myself, like I just go through life and I just hope that things like this don't happen. I hope they don't happen to my kid. I hope it. But all of a sudden you get swept up into someone's conflict.

So when that happens again, people are just trying to find an answer as to why the world is working the way that's working. Why can't we get past this? Why is peace seeming to evade us so much, and for so long? And yeah, and, and this is definitely not the way. So, yeah. 

Rachel: No, but even listening to what you're saying, you know, what I'm reminded of is, I mean, it also, it happens here with gun violence all the time.

Jasmine: I was just thinking that! As I was talking, I was like, yeah, wow. Like I'm sure the parents of the kid that got shot in a mass shooting is saying the same thing. Like, yeah, I was just going about my life. And then all of a sudden this thing happens that doesn't make sense. It doesn't fit into my worldview because things like that shouldn't be happening.

Rachel: No, you know, absolutely. I, last week I attended the White House briefing for their new, very exciting Office of Gun Violence Prevention. And by office, it's like three people, but–

Jasmine: Hey, where two or more are gathered, there is an office. 

Rachel: Haha. Absolutely. But my husband worked at the NIC at the National Security Council. And, you know, he was like the director of, you know, European Affairs and in charge of like, you know, a couple of countries and what his job was for, you know, several countries was to coordinate the whole of the US government's efforts together. 

So that is what this office is doing. So three people is kind of a lot. So they are coordinating the whole of the U S government's efforts on gun violence prevention. And it's not just prevention, but it's also you know, coordinating the response to the community - when a tragedy happens, how do we handle that trauma and, you know, really focusing those efforts?

And one thing that I learned, in the absolutely insane news week that was last week, everything from, you know, McCarthy to losing the speakership, the first time ever that that's ever happened, to Trump, you know, finding out that he gave away more secrets. I mean, it just, it was never ending last week. And again, difficult to process. 

But something that I wasn't aware of is that the DOJ allocated 4. 4 billion in grants to organizations in communities that are doing this very thing, which is preventing gun violence. And that is such a huge win that we don't hear about. And that is a direct result of electing people who care about these issues. 

And we always hear the Democrats don't have good messaging. And I get it because they're like, just, let's get it done. We're not going to talk about that. We're going to get it done. But you know, we will see the results of that. And it is incumbent upon us, the rest of us who are not doing that actual work, to talk to people and share how meaningful this money is and, and, you know, what it does. And I think that, you know, we're going to make every effort to tell the stories so that our listeners can then share the stories with their friends and family and the people in their, you know, circle of influence. 

Jasmine: When I think about this office, what I think about is momentum. Like there was a point in time and actually a very long time where the CDC wasn't even allowed to do research on, you know, gun violence and acknowledge gun violence as a public health issue. And so we've gone from there to this, which is like, not only are we going to talk about it, but we are going to actually put people in place whose job is to address this and figure out what our national response to the gun violence being a public health issue will be. 

Especially when we acknowledge and recognize that gun violence is now the number one cause of death for children. So when we acknowledge that, I think that it doesn't matter what side of the aisle you're on, we should be wanting to save people, especially children, from gun violence. And, you know, while somehow the right has found a way to be against that I think that the overall sentiment among most rational people is that we have to do something and what the something is, that's where we can get into debate.

But a person whose stance is nothing is like all we can do… there is nothing we can do to fix this, I really hope that that antiquated and feckless way of thinking is, you know, gets voted out and we do get people in place that at least say, “I don't have all the answers, but I want to try to find some, I want to try to find some solutions.”

Rachel: Which is kind of a natural, I mean, I think humans are like that. So to, to be not like that is like sort of to fight against kind of how we're hardwired is a deliberate choice, is what I'm trying to say. 

Jasmine: It's intentional. Yes. 

Rachel: So one of the three members at this office, one of them shared a story. He was a victim of senseless, you know, just an innocent bystander of a shooting. And his shooting happened a week after a 2013 vote that would either extend assault weapons ban... I, I'm sorry, I don't have the details, but it was, it was as a vote in Congress. And at that point, a Democrat voted against the bill because the calls into their office were six to one that this member of Congress vote against the bill. But with advocacy, with work, with so much progress and momentum, as you said, as we have made, there was a Republican who in a most recent bill voted for gun control because their office received calls 10 to one for.

Jasmine: So those calls matter. 

Rachel: They do matter. They do matter. And that's, that's, that's the point I'm trying to illustrate in so many ways. You need to elect people who care and want change. But also it is, even if, if your person is not in office, those calls are so very, very important. 

Jasmine: Absolutely. It's really important for people to not throw their hands up and just feel like there's no hope. You know, the advocacy, it doesn't always feel like it's working. I understand. 

You know, I go to the gym a lot. I go to the gym quite a bit. I try to go on a regular basis and I will say, you know, sometimes it doesn't always feel like it's working, you know? I'm like, I'm going to the gym, but the result that I'm hoping to get does just seems to be eluding me. But I keep going to the gym because even though maybe the result that I think I'm supposed to get isn't happening as fast as I want it to happen, things are happening. I'm finding that I'm a little stronger, whereas I used to only be able to pick up the five pound weight, now I'm up to 10 or now I'm able to use a 30 pound weight when I never thought I would get past the 15. So there is something happening, even if it's not the thing that I necessarily want to happen right now.

I think that's what, when it comes to things like this, I think that sometimes people feel like “I'm not getting the result that I want. So I have a choice, keep going and keep trying to get that result or just kind of give up.” And trust me, there are times where I've wanted to just quit the gym, but I've decided that I'm going to keep going. 

And I, and I really hope that more people will understand that a lot of times this is a long game, whereas elections happen every two years in the case of Congress or every four in the case of the president, or every six in the case of the Senate, things don't always happen in those increments. And sometimes it takes eight years, sometimes it takes 10 years to get enough people to understand just how important this is. So I think that that's something that people should recognize. It is a long game. Keep going, keep exercising those muscles of advocacy and reaching out. Because, I mean, it actually will make a difference, even if you're not seeing the immediate result that you want to see, like in the moment.

Rachel: Yes. I mean, I completely, completely agree. And, you know, as we often say, it's okay to take a break. It's okay to sit down, take a breather and you don't hand the baton to someone else, maybe for a minute or, you know, sit back and cheerlead while other people take the lead. That's all right. Just don't leave the fight altogether and stay engaged and stay informed, but it doesn't have to be eat, sleep and breathe.

And maybe… like I have, you know, screen time limits on my phone for certain apps. And maybe that's what you're doing. You're like, okay, I'm going to set a timer. I'm going to do this for 10 minutes today. And I will call a friend. I will do whatever I do for my advocacy. And that's it. You know, and I like, you know, when it's over, it's over. Like my time at the gym. Whether I– I don't really do the treadmill, but the elliptical or whatever it is, that it ends. 

But I think now is a great time for us to bring on our troublemakers. We are going to take a quick break. And when we get back, we're going to hear from our troublemakers Ann and Nikia.

BREAK

Rachel: Hi, Anne and Nikia. Welcome to the pod. I just want to point out that Anne is literally joining us from outside where she is actively doing voter registration right now. Voter registration is so important, but it's not something that gets talked about very much. And I am thrilled to hear about your efforts. What first got you interested in registering voters and what's it been like? 

Nikia: I've been doing voter registration, I mean, since I was 18, so I'm now 43. So that was kind of my first in with engaging voters because I am that friend, that loud friend that it's like, you don't have an excuse to vote. You don't have an excuse to vote. You need to go to the polls. You need to do this, that, and the third. So I'm the person that they wait for every election cycle to be like, when are you going to the polls?

Jasmine:  I love it. 

Nikia: Virginia voter registration has changed immensely. You know, we really got into kind of a groove with restoration of rights when Terry McAuliffe was our governor. So I actually worked as the ROR coordinator for the Clinton campaign in southeastern Virginia and one of the things that really was the joy of my life was to be working with someone who was a returning citizen who wanted to restore their voting rights. You know, we look up that information. And their rights have been restored. And then I can do that voter registration portion of it right then. And, you know, voter registration is very personal to me. You know, I try to do as much as I can with the time that I have. 

Jasmine: That's, that's amazing. I love that so much. I would love to hear from you, Ann, what kinds of conversations do you hear on the ground? Like you're out there today. So when you're registering voters, do you ever talk about issues that are important to them? And if you do, like, what kind of things are you hearing? Are people talking about abortion? Are they talking about guns? Like, what are the things that are driving people to say, yes, I want to vote?

Ann: So yeah, as I said, I'm out on Ohio State's campus today doing voter registration. And we have been doing great today. Today is the second to the last day. Tomorrow is the last day to register to vote in Ohio, because we do have a 30 day lead time, which is different than some states, so it makes it harder.

And a lot of the students we've talked to, a lot of them know that Ohio, the Ohio legislature recently passed House Bill 458, which made it much more difficult for young people to register to vote and to vote because you do have to have a photo ID now to vote in Ohio. But we do have a lot of students that are just confused about whether they can vote, if they can vote from their home address, if they can vote from the campus address, if they're going to get in trouble. I had students last year who were very nervous about getting an absentee ballot and then if they got it and didn't vote, would they get in trouble? And because there's so much in the news about, obviously in Florida where they're arresting people, and so there's a fear. If they don't know it exactly, they don't want to do it. And that confusion just leads to low voter turnout and low voter registration rates.

But we do have a lot of students who are educated on the issues. Ohio has two statewide issues this year, we have a ballot initiative to amend the constitution to legalize– or excuse me, to restore abortion rights and reproductive healthcare in Ohio. It’s nothing new, the other side has tried to paint it a little differently, but it will just restore the rights lost when Roe was overturned. We're the only state to have choice on the ballot in November. 

And then we also have issue two, which is to legalize recreational marijuana. That is just a legislative amendment. But a lot of the students do know about both issues. You know, we do have students that run by and, or walk by and say, you know, “legalize weed!” really loudly. And I'm like, “that's adorable, but are you registered to vote?” And some are, some aren't, and then they come over. So that's great. 

Rachel: How about you Nikia? What are, I mean, I have to say that the issue in Ohio, the ballot measure, is just, I think, important for all women, and then having just moved from Virginia it's very near and dear to me, so, what are, what are you hearing, Nikia, in Virginia about what is motivating people to register? And what are the most important things people are talking about in Virginia?

Nikia: There's a lot of things that are motivating people to get to the polls, and the conversations a lot are about next cycle. They're like, you know, “make sure that I'm registered for 2024 because Trump,” you know, I'm like, “I'm with you, but you need to care about this cycle too.” You know, the, the nuance with Virginia in comparison to other states is that we vote every year. So this is a, an ongoing party. 

A lot of what I've been hearing especially is about, you know, choice. People are very worried about choice. You know, we have, a governor who has made it his life's mission to sign a, you know, abortion ban in the Commonwealth. 

Rachel: He can't wait.

Nikia: Right? He can't wait. And the only thing that will keep him from doing that is maintaining control of the Senate and flipping the House. The House is not held by that many people. So that has been the biggest motivator to get people, you know, where people are like, “I want to protect women's rights. I want to protect choice.” You know, the last date to register to vote in Virginia is the 16th. You can register to vote on this by the 16th and you can request an absentee ballot by the 27th. There's a lot of questions about, you know, what do I have to do in order to early vote, what do I need in order to request a mail ballot? Are mail ballots illegal in the Commonwealth? And the answer to that is no, Virginia now has no reason absentee. 

Rachel: And early voting is fabulous in Virginia. I mean, it is, it is really, really nice. And I hope it's not something that's ever lost.

You know, before you guys joined us, Jasmine and I were talking about the new office at the, at the White House at the National Security Council on gun violence prevention, and Ann, I know that you work with Moms Demand, that you do a lot of work with Moms Demand. Are you aware of this new office? That this is the first time it's ever existed, and President Biden created it, have you heard about it, Ann, and do you have any thoughts?

Ann: This is amazing news because we haven't had a lot of wins in gun violence prevention until the Biden administration came in. I will say, here in Ohio, tomorrow I'll be testifying at the Statehouse against a House Bill 51, that is the Second Amendment Preservation Act bill. So they want to make Ohio, the Republicans want to make Ohio a “sanctuary state for firearms,” which is ridiculous. 

Rachel: What does that even mean? 

Ann: Yeah, Ohio, the Second Amendment is pretty safe here in Ohio. Our children and our loved ones are not, but the Second Amendment is pretty safe. So basically they want to make it so that federal gun laws could not be enforced here in Ohio, that Ohio would be the highest law in the land as far as gun laws go. 

Jasmine: Like, I just don't even understand who comes up with these things and is like, yeah, this is a good idea. It's crazy to me. 

Rachel: Well, you know this has just been lovely to have you guys. You're both so involved and you know, I'm, I'm incredibly impressed with your work in so many different ways and you're busy today and you're busy tomorrow. And Nikia, I, you've been doing this since you were 18 and you're 43 and that is so inspirational. How can we get other people to be as involved as you guys? Nikia, I'll ask you first. How can we get people to do what you’re doing?  

Nikia: Make it fun. I actually have a, she's like one of my best friends. And what we do is we have what's called polls and pancakes. We vote and then we go eat. 

Jasmine: I love that.

Nikia: I just believe in, you know, making voter engagement something that you want to do, that you look forward to. Bring your, you know, bring your friends, bring your auntie, bring your grandmother. You know, God rest her soul, my grandmother is the one that set the standard for being active in my community, with intentionally voting. And that to me is like what I give, you know, it's honoring her by registering people to vote and by voting myself and being intentional about it. 

Alongside that, I also believe that it's super important to make people very aware of how easy it is to vote, because a lot of people don't know that there are so many different avenues in Virginia. You know, you can curbside vote. You can mail vote, you can early vote, you can do all of these different things that a lot of people are not aware of. They're like, “oh, well, I don't want to wait in the line.” You don't have to.

Rachel: It is very easy to vote in Virginia. It is very, very easy. Well, I, I mean, I, again, I just really thank you for the work you do and how you've kept it up. And I think one day you will absolutely be someone's inspiration to do this work. And on that note, I think, Ann you as well, how do you seek to get others involved in the work that you do? 

Ann: Well, we'd love to have more people out. And I think sometimes pointing out the hypocrisy and the injustice of how they're trying to attack voter registration, especially here in Ohio, which is why I appreciate your coverage of Ohio. We don't feel like we get enough coverage for our anti democratic legislation that comes through lately. So we appreciate it. 

And I think the making things fun piece that Nikia said is so huge because people see it as an administrative type thing and it's not fun and they don't want to do it. Whereas, like here at our early vote in Franklin County in Columbus, I know Alpha, the Alphas come out and do a huge to do when they come out for early vote. I'm on campus today, I'm not in my T Rex costume now, but I have an inflatable T Rex costume that I wear to do voter registration the last two days. And we call it the T Rex effect because kids were coming over to register. I wore it to early vote last year. One of our volunteers also has a Ruth Bader Ginsburg cut out. So people would come and get a picture with it. We'd always make them turn so that the background was the big early voting signs. So if they shared it, they could see that they were at early voting. So making things fun as well to take the, again, the fear or the hesitation out of voting so that people just get out there and do it. Because registering to vote is one piece, but getting people to actually do it and then educated on how to do it. It is harder in Ohio because of our voter ID law. So that is another huge piece.

Rachel: Well, you guys are out there doing the work. I mean, I really, I thank you so much for all you are doing, not just all you're doing, but thank you for coming on and sharing with us and inspiring, I think, so many others. So we really, really appreciate it. 

Jasmine: Yes. Thank you so much. 

Ann: Thank you!

Rachel: Well, before we go, of course we have to share our Toast to Joy. Jasmine, what is your choice to joy this week? 

Jasmine: All right. So I have two really quick. My first Toast to Joy is to my neighbors who are awesome. So this weekend I woke up to a flat tire and I actually know how to change a tire and I was totally prepared to do it until I realized that my new vehicle that I just bought two years ago does not actually come with a jack. And I don't know if it's just like a mistake or whatever, but I was asking other people and they're like, “yeah, new cars don't come with them anymore.” So I had a spare tire, but I had no way to actually jack the car up and take the tire off of the car. 

So you know, I called my neighbor and I was like, “Hey, I got a flat tire. Do you all have a jack that I can borrow?” And they came over, they helped me change my tire and I'm just so appreciative of that because there's so many people who claim that like neighbors don't talk to each other anymore. And I'm just in a place where we actually know each other and can call each other and help each other out.

So that's my, you know, first Toast to Joy. I just think that my neighbors are amazing and my second Toast to Joy, for some reason, I forgot it already. So I'm just going to stick with that one being my Toast to Joy. Cause I completely lost my train of thought on what my second one is.

Rachel: Save it for next week, but that was a great Toast to Joy, and we should all get out and talk to our neighbors more.

Jasmine: Yeah, get to know them. All right, so, Rachel, what is your Toast to Joy this week?

Rachel: Well, I am going to toast this week to the Samuels Public Library in Virginia. They were threatened with closure over extremists objecting to LGBTQ literature that was the library, but The Save Samuels efforts have worked and the library is going to stay open. And actually one of our organizers here at Red Wine & Blue, Kelsey, was a big part of those efforts to save the library. And I just think it's really great that we can celebrate when good things happen because of our hard work. I mean, no, this should never have been an issue, but when we do have the opportunity to stand up and fight for something we are telegraphing to everyone. This is worth my time. It's worth my effort.

And, you know, maybe people didn't even know those books were in the library to begin with. So I think there's a lot of awareness that can happen in this movement. And just being able to see a positive change and for everyone in the community, including our children and people, anyone in marginalized communities, to see the community stand up for them and say, you know, we're not going to take out the literature. We're going to keep it in and we're going to keep this open and we're willing to, you know, fight with our time and treasure to do that is very meaningful. 

Jasmine: It works. It really works. I love examples of when it works, because it gives people hope that it does work, because I think sometimes you're doing this and you're like, I don't know if this is even working or if this is even worth it, but then we get examples of things like this.

Rachel: It's the same as going back to the Office of Gun Violence Prevention, you know. It can take a long time, but eventually, you know, you have the momentum and you can start seeing the results. And so we just have to have faith that when we do that, we build it, they will come. And I know that we are, we're continuing to work for a common goal. And I think, as Ann and Nikia really shared, make it fun. Make it something that's accessible to everyone, and I think you'll, you'll personally get a lot more involvement enjoyment out of that involvement as well. 

So thank you everyone for joining us today. We will see you again next week on another episode of the Suburban Women Problem.