Show 50: Moving Forward & Denise Oliver-Velez
14 November 2016 – As was said so beautifully by American civil rights lawyer and Sikh, Valerie Kaur, in her moving piece in the Washington Post following the white supremacist massacre of the Charleston Nine, she still felt optimism “Because today we mourn. Tomorrow we organize.” Many of us are still spinning with emotions following the 8 November election we must take a breath to grieve, we must take care of ourselves, our families and our loved ones – and then we must organize. Fast. There is no time to waste.
Our guest for the interview this week is Professor Denise Oliver-Velez (@DeOliver47). Denise’s experience as a civil rights activist goes back to the Young Lords Party and the Black Panthers. Though she has won some, she has also lost many struggles and her perspective on losing and still moving forward seemed perfect for this time in our Party, our movement and our hearts.
I begin the show talking about grief and making sure we are all clear that there is no “right” way to grieve. People will grieve in many different ways but the bottom line is that we are resilient. This too shall pass. I must say, however, I am done with being nice. I am finished with letting radical left purists, bigots, white supremacists, sexists and Confederate flag traitors, people who are the least among us, believe that I find them anything other than deplorable. I am through trying to reason with the irrational and the stupid. Consider this your pre-rant warning. Moving forward, I would like to see Rep. Keith Ellison become the new Chairman of the DNC. He would be a unifying voice and a much needed one. I am also going to invest my time in the coming Obama/Holder National Democratic Redistricting Committee project. I’m going to put my energy into getting rid of the incredibly harmful national gerrymander. This project begins with the 2017 elections in VA and NJ so again, time is of the essence.
Will spends time talking about some reorganization within the Democratic Party and about the “we oppose everything” tactic which has served the GOP so well during the Obama administration. Will deeply believes that in addition to the important big tent work the Democratic Party has been doing to become increasingly more inclusive, some of that needs to be directed toward the specific and forgotten needs of rural (and by “rural” he does not mean just rural white) communities. He also brings into real focus the scam which masquerades as the American Green Party. He also pointed out that Donald Trump has a legitimacy problem, and no mandate, because Hillary Clinton got more votes than any presidential candidate in history with the exception of Barak Obama himself.
As we all try to figure out for ourselves the best way to keep heart, I have to say one of the things which did me the most good this past week was the soothing and still hilarious “F*ck That: An Honest Meditation” on YouTube. I highly recommend it. Carrots! – Arliss
Note: again, this was a short month due to Arliss’ recurring medical issue and the Thanksgiving holiday.