#sundaycivics

Our “Who We Elect” series continues with a focus on the office of Sheriff. They are responsible for keeping the peace, enforcing the law and in most states the office is written into the state constitution as the highest elective office in any county. Sheriff Garry McFadden comes to the front of the class to discuss the role of the one of the oldest elected positions in the United States. Then L. Joy brings Kamari Guthrie, director of communications of Vote.Org to the front of the class to discuss their strategy and what tools they use to register, educate and engage voters. OUR GUESTS Sheriff Gary McFadden Sheriff Garry McFadden is a 36-year veteran of the Charlotte Mecklenburg Police Department and is currently the Mecklenburg County Sheriff. His service includes 27 years as a Detective and 20 years in the Homicide Unit. His office employs more than 1,000 people and oversees a budget of about $120 million. He was duly elected in 2018. Kamari Guthrie Kamari is the Communications Director of Vote Dot Org an

Vacation does not keep L. Joy from making sure we get our needed #SundayCivics lesson! To discuss voter suppression, she brings film producer Timothy Smith and the incomparable Joy Ann Reid to the front of the class to discuss the perils of voter suppression because in the words of Joy Ann Reid, “..if you’re not scared, you’re not paying attention.” Our Guests Timothy (Tim) Smith is an accomplished and award-winning television producer and Executive Producer of the film Rigged: The Voter Suppression Playbook. Narrated by Jeffrey Wright, Rigged chronicles how our right to vote is being undercut by a decade of dirty tricks - including the partisan use of gerrymandering and voter purges, and the gutting of the Voting Rights Act by the Supreme Court. The film captures real-time voter purges in North Carolina and voter intimidation in Texas. Tim has worked for The PBS NewsHour, Unapix Entertainment, Newsweek Productions, Docere Digital Studios and MSNBC, where he executive produced their documentaries and series

White supremacy and violent white nationalists are at the top of the news cycle but what can government actually do to address white supremacy? L. Joy brings Ifeome (Ify) Ike to the front of the class and has her thoroughest girls Lurie and June to examine "outing" Trump donors, public information of voter data and fighting white supremacy. Our Guest Ifeoma Ike—Ify, for short—is a first-generation, Nigerian-American activist, artist and attorney whose entire career has been dedicated to empowering marginalized communities and creating data-informed strategies to reduce inequity. Ify is a co-founding Principal of social impact firm, Think Rubix, a professor at Lehman College, and a board member of the Women’s Prison Association, as well as a Junior Board member of the Nigerian Healthcare Foundation.

The voter blame game has begun with talking heads blaming voters who stayed home in 2016 for Trump's win. But shaming voters is not a winning strategy, only voter engagement produces voter turnout. I  Nse Ufot comes to the front of the class to share her #FirstCivicAction and discuss how her organization engages and empowers nearly 10,000 voters in a week. Our Guest: Nse Ufot is the Executive Director of the New Georgia Project, a non-partisan effort to register and civically engage the rising electorate in the state of Georgia. Nse has dedicated her life and career working on various civil, human, and workers’ rights issues. Ms. Ufot, a proud naturalized citizen, was born in Nigeria and raised in Southwest Atlanta. She earned a Bachelor of Science from the Georgia Institute of Technology and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Dayton School of Law. Ms. Ufot is fluent in both French and English. She is proud to lead the New Georgia Project to its goal of strengthening the state's democracy by regist

Vincent Warren and Ian Head from the Center for Constitutional Rights come to the front of the class to discuss government surveillance, corporate human rights abuses and how they used the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to unearth something the FBI calls the "Race Paper”. Our guests: Vincent Warren: Executive Director of the Center for Constitutional Rights. He oversees CCR's groundbreaking litigation and advocacy work, which includes using international and domestic law to hold corporations and government officials accountable for human rights abuses; challenging racial, gender, and LGBT injustice; combating abusive immigration policies and Muslim profiling; and stopping the illegal expansion of U.S. presidential power and policies. Ian Head: Senior Legal Worker at the Center for Constitutional Rights, where he works on policing, racial justice, immigrant rights, and prisoners’ rights issues. Ian has significant experience in Freedom of Information Act and open records requests and litigation, and coor

We continue our #WhoWeElect series examining the position of Secretary of State. The Secretary of State is an elected office in 35 states and an appointed position in 12 others. Alaska, Hawaii and Utah do not have the statewide position at all. To really understand the role of the elected position you really need to get state specific. In some places it's purely an administrative role but in a lot of the states the Secretary of State is also the chief elections administrator. Secretary Alex Padilla of California and Secretary Denise Merrill of Connecticut share the responsibilities of their respective state roles and Shelby County Tennessee Election Commissioner Bennie Smith joins the conversation to discuss the gaps in our election security. Our Guests: Secretary Denise W. Merrill Elected to her third term as Connecticut's 73rd Secretary of State on November 6, 2018. As Connecticut's chief elections official and business registrar, Merrill has focused on modernizing Connecticut's elections, business servi

Do you consider yourself a progressive? If someone asked you what progressive means would you be able to clearly define what it means and why you identify as one? What is progressive to communities of color? L. Joy brings Lumumba Bandele and Ludovic Blain to the front of the class to help us answer these pressing questions. Our guests: Lumumba Bandele: is the Senior Community Organizer at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund and a member and organizer with the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement. Ludovic Blain: is the Executive Director of the California Donor Table. Previously, Ludovic was a leader in building people of color-centered movements around closing the racial wealth gap, environmental justice, media justice, campaign finance and voting rights. Ludovic has also led capacity-building work in Haiti, Canada, Denmark and The Gambia. Ludovic is a graduate of the City College of NY, as well as leadership programs including the Rockwood Leadership Institute. He serves on several boards, including the

District attorneys are the most powerful position in your local criminal and legal system and we choose who they are with a vote. L. Joy kicks-off her series "Who We Elect" which will highlight state and local positions which may appear further down your ballot. District Attorney Eric Gonzalez comes to the front of the class share his #FirstCivicAction and how he sees his role as the elected district attorney of Brooklyn, New York. Our Guest Eric Gonzalez made history in November 2017 when he became the first Latino District Attorney elected in New York State. He had been appointed Acting District Attorney by Governor Andrew Cuomo a year earlier following the tragic death of his predecessor, the late Ken Thompson, for whom Gonzalez had served as Chief Assistant District Attorney. DA Gonzalez began his legal career in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office upon his graduation from law school in 1995. Since his appointment to lead the office, DA Gonzalez has implemented his own trailblazing initiatives, inclu

Is the War on Drugs over? President Nixon began his crusade in 1971 but drug prohibition and criminalization have long deep racial and economic roots. L. Joy brings Kassandra Frederique to the front of the class to discuss the history of the war on drugs and current efforts to these failing policies. Our Guest Kassandra Frederique is New York State Director at the Drug Policy Alliance (DPA). Frederique previously ran the day-to-day operations of the statewide campaign to end New York’s racially biased marijuana arrests, which cut the number of NYC marijuana arrests in half. In addition to working for policy solutions to reduce the harms associated with drug use, Frederique works with communities throughout the state to address and resolve the collateral consequences of the War on Drugs. Kassandra cultivates and mobilizes powerful coalitions in communities devastated by drug misuse and drug criminalization to develop municipal strategies to foster healthier and safer communities. Frederique’s professional foc

Impeachment has been the popular thing to talk about for awhile and L.Joy wouldn’t be the fabulous civics teacher she is, if she didn’t inform us about the process. So on this episode, L.Joy gives us a lesson on impeachment and then brings Carolyn DeWitt of Rock the Vote to the front of the class to discuss their #Census2020 work. About Our Guest Carolyn DeWitt is the President and Executive Director of Rock the Vote, the largest national organization focused on building long-term political power for this country’s most diverse youth generation. Rock the Vote has recently launched an educational awareness campaign, focused on engaging young people around the 2020 census. #FirstCivicAction Congresswoman Yvette D. Clark, Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives representing New York's 9th congressional district. #CivicBookClub Picks Unjust: Social Justice and the Unmaking of America We Live for the We: The Political Power of Black Motherhood Episode Reading List Impeachments of federal officials

If reading is fundamental, why aren’t our elected representatives doing it more? Since the release of the Mueller Report, we are realizing that...folks “don’t read”. On this episode, L. Joy reads a passage or two from the Mueller reports and brings political consultant Michele Watley to the front of the class to discuss the latest political headlines. Michele L. Watley, is the founder and owner of The Griot Group LLC, a strategic communications and political advocacy consulting practice. She has been honored by the American Association of Political Consultants (AAPC) with the 40 under 40 award and was named one of Campaign & Elections Rising Stars for 2017. Michele served as the National African American Outreach Political Director for Bernie 2016 and is the founder of Shirley’s Kitchen Cabinet, a nonpartisan organization dedicated to amplifying the voices and power of Black women through education and advocacy. Homework Read the Mueller Report Call and ask your House/Senate member if they have read the

Who will be the electorate in 2020? What voters will be motivated to show up to the polls on Election Day and what will be the implications of the voter suppression actions in the states? Kat Calvin the Founder and Executive Director of Spread The Vote and Project ID comes to the front of the class to discuss her efforts to getting communities educated, registered and prepared to vote. Kat Calvin was named by Fast Company as one of the 100 Most Creative People in Business in 2018. She is a lawyer, activist, and social entrepreneur. Kat is the Founder and Executive Director of Spread The Vote and Project ID ~ a national organization that helps Americans obtain the IDs they need for jobs, housing, and life and that also allows them to go to the polls. Bonus #FirstCivicAction with one of L. Joy’s favorite civically engaged senior citizen Fannie Connor a retired super volunteer with the League of Women Voters (LWV). LWV was founded in 1919 and is a non-partisan group dedicated to promoting informed and active c

What is a political action committee (PAC)? It's a political organization that raises money to elect and/or defeat political candidates. Liuba Grechen Shirley steps to the front of the class to discuss why she created VoteMama and L. Joy gives a lesson on PACs and how you can start one. Joy and June catch up with Liuba Grechen Shirley since she petitioned the Federal Elections Committee (FEC) to use campaign funds for childcare during her historic 2016 congressional campaign in New York's 2nd District. Liuba is the Founder and CEO of VoteMama PAC which supports Democratic moms with young children running for public office up and down the ballot and across the country though mentoring, fundraising and endorsements. Reading List A guide to political money: campaigns, PACs, super PACs How to Form a Super PAC (Political Action Committee) OpenSecrets.org

Have you ever thought about how much power the President of the United States has? The power of the executive branch has significantly grown since the founders deliberated about the function of a new position called "The President". L. Joy brings political science professor Andrew Polsky to the front of the class to join us in a discussion about how the power of the presidency has expanded over time and what that means for our democratic republic. About Our Guest Professor Polsky Andrew J. Polsky teaches political science at Hunter College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY). At Hunter College, he is the Ruth and Harold Newman Dean of the School of Arts & Sciences. He served as the editor of the political science journal Polity from 2005 to 2010. In addition to a number of scholarly articles, he is the author of two books, Elusive Victories: The American Presidency at War. Reading List Power and the Presidency, From Kennedy to Obama The Alarming Scope of the President's Emer

What do we know about the lives of military families? When we think or speak of the military, the conversation is often focused on war or the military budget, and yet the soldiers and their families are facing a myriad of issues such as sexual assault and unhealthy and dangerous housing conditions. L. Joy brings military advocates Joy Craig and Liesel Kershul to the front of the class to discuss their work and the sometimes unspoken rift between military spouses and the women who serve in the military. Military housing advocate Crystal Cornwall also joins to discuss what led to the current military housing scandal and what we can do to demand action. 5:10 - Joy Craig and Liesel Kershul discuss their extraordinary friendship and the work they are doing to address sexual assault within the military. 35:00 - Crystal Cornwall testifies before the Senate Armed Services Subcommittee on Personnel and Subcommittee on Readiness and Management Support Watch Crystal’s Testimony on C-Span 38:05 - Crystal discusses the

Is there one checklist to use to determine candidate viability? Who are the decision makers in this process? Candidate viability changes, ebbs and flows, depending on a myriad of factors from popularity to money. Joy brings her guests political strategists Rebecca Katz and Jessica Byrd to the front of the class to discuss the ever changing criteria of the abstract phenomena of candidate viability. Rebecca Katz (@RebeccaKKatz) is a progressive communications consultant and founder of New Deal Strategies created to help lift up the voices of women, people of color, the working class, and the LGBTQ community. Jessica Byrd (@JessicaLBYRD) is the former chief of staff to Stacey Abrams campaign for governor and the founder of Three Points Strategies created to work at the intersection of electoral politics and social justice with candidates and organizations across the country seeking electoral power for transformative change. Reading List Learn more about candidate viability and how you can evaluate the stre

What does it mean when you hear someone say “we need to get big money out of politics?” The term “big money” refers to large campaign contributions from corporations and wealthy donors. The donors make these contributions to influence candidates and the political process. You may think there are more important issues to focus on such as climate change, voting rights or housing affordability. Yet, there is a direct link between who funds political campaigns and the policies and laws that do or don’t result in government action. 7:23 - Lawrence Norden is Deputy Director of the Brennan Center's Democracy Program. He works on a variety of issues including money in politics, voting and government dysfunction. He joined us to discuss Brennan Center's work on campaign finance reform and public financing of elections. Watch Lawrence share his First Civic Action 28:23 - L. Joy, June and Lurie are joined by Amshula Jayaram and Sal Albanese to further discuss various methods of public financing of elections. Amshula