October 18, 2025 • 31 mins
In this episode of Good News Deep Dive, we engage in a thought-provoking conversation with Emily Williams, the executive director of the Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Kalamazoo College. With over a decade of experience in equity work, Emily dives into the critical need for collective action to rebuild democracy beyond the ballot box. As we approach the 2026 elections, she emphasizes that voting is just the starting point in our fight for a just society.
Emily shares insights on the role of social justice leaders and the importance of community organizing, activism, and advocacy. She highlights the urgency of staying informed and the necessity of engaging with our local communities, especially in light of recent political developments that threaten democratic values.
We discuss the impact of social media on our connections, the significance of real-life interactions, and how to foster relationships across differing political views. Emily encourages listeners to embrace discomfort as a pathway to building social cohesion and resisting rising authoritarianism.
Finally, we celebrate the resilience shown by activists in response to recent ICE raids in Chicago and the proactive measures taken by local leaders to protect their communities. This episode is a powerful reminder that hope and action can coexist, and that collective efforts can lead to meaningful change.
Join us as we explore these pressing issues and the ways we can contribute to a more equitable future. If you find this conversation inspiring, please rate and review us on your favorite podcast platform! We’d love to hear from you, so reach out at 202-656-6271 or drop us a line at beowulf@twosquaredmediaproductions.com.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/good-news-for-lefties-daily-news-for-democracy--6256627/support.
Emily shares insights on the role of social justice leaders and the importance of community organizing, activism, and advocacy. She highlights the urgency of staying informed and the necessity of engaging with our local communities, especially in light of recent political developments that threaten democratic values.
We discuss the impact of social media on our connections, the significance of real-life interactions, and how to foster relationships across differing political views. Emily encourages listeners to embrace discomfort as a pathway to building social cohesion and resisting rising authoritarianism.
Finally, we celebrate the resilience shown by activists in response to recent ICE raids in Chicago and the proactive measures taken by local leaders to protect their communities. This episode is a powerful reminder that hope and action can coexist, and that collective efforts can lead to meaningful change.
Join us as we explore these pressing issues and the ways we can contribute to a more equitable future. If you find this conversation inspiring, please rate and review us on your favorite podcast platform! We’d love to hear from you, so reach out at 202-656-6271 or drop us a line at beowulf@twosquaredmediaproductions.com.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/good-news-for-lefties-daily-news-for-democracy--6256627/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Good News for Lefties and America. Hello, and welcome to
Good News for Lefties. I'm Baio Wolf Rockland, Welcome, thanks
for being here. This is part of our ongoing series
of Good News deep dives, and we're talking with folks
who work on basically creating more good news for lefties
(00:32):
and more good news for America and more good news
for the world. So these conversations are going to be
heavy in terms of activists and folks who are thinking
a lot about how to create good things happening in
the world. And I think we have one of them today.
Emily Williams is the executive director of the Arcas Center
(00:55):
at Kalamazoo College in Michigan. She spent over a decade
working on the front lines of equity locally and internationally.
And she explores, and I think this is very important
as we look towards twenty twenty six and think about goodness,
there might be an election, there might not be an election.
(01:17):
How are things going to play out? And we're seeing,
of course, in many states the system for voting is
not exactly what we would hope for in terms of
actually reflecting democracy. So she's exploring how we can collectively
reimagine and rebuild our democracy beyond the ballot box. I
(01:38):
think the voting is important, but I think it's also
very important that that is just a starting place. And
I think Emily you're along the same lines. Welcome to
good news for lefties. Thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, and thank you for having me. I'm happy to
just get into the conversation such an important topic.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Yeah, well, tell us for just what you do with
the Arcist Center. What is it, you know, what is
your mission your focus there?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yeah, you're at the arc Is Center for Social Justice
Leadership at Kalamazoo College. We are focused on supporting existing
social justice leaders and facilitating more social justice leadership. So
we do that a variety of ways. Number One, we
do educational programming, so we do a lot of public
programming on the social justice issues that we see unfolding
(02:30):
in front of our eyes on a daily basis, so
that we're like raising awareness, raising consciousness. We also do
training and capacity bling, you know, community organizing, activism, advocacy.
These things are skill sets that can be learned. Often
people see a protest on television and they think it
just happened organically or just happened sporadically, and the truth
(02:54):
is that there are people who are experts in this
kind of work, have a home, their skills set over
a period of time, and so we help to teach
people how to advocate, how to do community organizing. And
then we also have a resourcing aspect of the work
that we do. So you know, a lot of people
(03:15):
have for social justice projects, social justice research, and we
support them in completing that research in those projects. We
also have a podcast which is called Beyond Voting that's
kind of the culmination of everything that we do. It's
really about again educating about the most pressing social justice
issues of our time and then providing guidance to people
(03:38):
for how to get involved beyond the ballot box. So
we can't only vote every four years or every tiers
in the midterms and expect to have the society that
we deserve. I think we've seen recently. We can't only
vote every four years or every two years and then
expect to have a democracy.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yeah, and active engagement really is a critical part of that.
I mean, like you say, voting really isn't enough, and
yet we're in a situation where, like so many of
us end up being so busy all of the time,
and I think that's honestly connected to things that have
(04:18):
gone wrong with democracy. Our bandwidths are stretched, and yet
in order to have a real functioning democracy, we need
to be reading serious news. We need to be going
to meetings of our local town council, We need to
be talking to people in our community, we need to
(04:41):
be going to protests. How do we set ourselves up
in a way that that is possible given how many
other pressures there are on our lives, especially from in
my opinion, the economy, which in turn is connected think
to the political situation that we're in. How do we
(05:02):
how do we make space for it, How do we
incorporate it into the routines of our lives. I think
that's so critical in creating good news.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Yeah, no, absolutely, I think we have to shift our priorities,
right So, you know, I think we're seeing a little
bit of we probably in some ways we'll be pushed
to prioritize some of these things that you mentioned, like
remaining aware of what's unfolding in the news, connecting with
our local community members on a you know, a deeper basis,
figuring out how do we need to organize as communities
(05:34):
because the current political environment is going to push us
in that direction. And I think it already has, and
I think we're seeing a lot more of that with
these reports that ICE now is is our DHS is
now investing lots of money in surveilling people's social media,
so that will naturally have an effect that will push
(05:55):
people off of social media, which will then hopefully result
in people cleaning they're in real life connections, you know.
And I think the same is true for some of
the boycotts that have happened recently. I mean that people
had boycotted Target after Target abandoned its DEI programs, after
(06:16):
you know, the executive order that came out of this
administration means that people are spending a lot less time consuming, right,
I mean, just imagine how many times, how many hours
people would regularly spend at Target as opposed to being
in their communities, or as opposed to do a community organizing,
or as opposed to reading articles about social justice issues.
(06:37):
So I think that in some ways, as we begin
to really live in this world or in this country
that is shaped and influenced by this like rising authoritarianism,
people are naturally going to retreat into community spaces and
are going to realize that Nope, I have a role
(06:58):
to play in this, you know, and I actually have
a stake in protecting this democracy or fighting for the
rights of myself and others. Not to mention that, you know,
as we are faced with these violent capturing of people
and you know, ripping people off the streets, ripping kids
from their parents, as we continue to see that in
(07:20):
the news, you know, it's very difficult to see that
and be unaffected. And so I think the more that
we see it unfold, the more, you know, it appeals
to at least some of us, our humanity, and we
start to say, okay, I have a role here, and
also let me support the people around me. Let me
make sure that I'm leaving my values and making community
(07:43):
values real in the spaces that I'm a part of.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Yeah, And I asked the question, of course, you know,
as a as a a fairly well to do you know,
white guy who's like who has a routine that isn't
yet being acted by you know, ice rays.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
I can.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
I can see it, so I you know, I even
even even the question about, you know, how do we
build this into our routines. Is kind of coming from
a position of of privilege. I understand that, you know,
as as our lives are increasingly disrupted, as more and
more people are touched by this, Yeah, they're going to
respond because they just they have no other choice. And
(08:22):
people like are living like that. I mean, I've been
hearing about and reading about people who are, you know,
being being lookouts at at home depots and car washes
in Los Angeles and other communities, and that's basically just
a matter of survival. That's a matter of livelihood, being
(08:50):
able to bring resources into your family. So it's not
a matter of incorporating it into your you know, into
your otherwise placid routine. It's a matter of like how
am I going to live? How am I going to
get by? So you're right, You're absolutely right. Circumstances are
pushing us there, and they've already pushed many of us there,
and those of us who aren't touched by it can
(09:11):
see it happening to others in our communities and every
single day. So yeah, an absolutely appropriate answer to the question,
what are the different ways in which we do this,
in which we take this on their protests? I've been
(09:33):
to protests, and I think that's certainly useful in terms
of realizing, especially for me. You know, I live in
a more I live in a county that voted for Trump.
I live in a smaller, more rural area, and it's
certainly useful for me in the sense that I realize
(09:56):
that there are other people around me, thousands of people
who feel same way I do. And that's important and
that's encouraging. And I think it puts it out there
to the people who represent us, who whom we vote for.
It lets us connect to do organizations in a more
(10:17):
targeted way, to call people to to if people still
do it, write letters, to send emails and things like that.
But I think it goes even beyond that, Like what
do you think are the are the most effective ways
beyond voting that we can engage and participate. If that's
not something that we're already doing, if we haven't already
(10:39):
been pushed to that point.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Well, absolutely, one protest matters a lot, the public demonstration
of opposition to what we're seeing unfold in our country,
from the ice raids to the rollback of our healthcare
to even this the rollback of de right or the
(11:01):
capture of our data by doge. Right, the more public
opposition that matters a lot. You can't deny when you
have thousands of people in the street who are saying,
we disagree with this right, and so you know that
shows that Okay. One, if you disagree and you're not
(11:22):
at the protest, you're not alone. Two. Anytime we do
kind of a collective action, that is building power, right,
and it does create some even if it doesn't stop
it in the moment. You know, whatever is the harm
it does create some accountability for these elected officials who
are putting forward this harmful policy. So we need that.
(11:47):
And not everybody is able to protest. I understand that.
You know, there's different abilities, there's different vulnerabilities, and so
if you are the kind of person who has the background,
the social identity, the privilege, the ability to protest, please
do it. And even if our news doesn't you know,
mainstream media in the US doesn't cover it, it gets
(12:09):
covered in other parts of the world. It gets covered
on social media. Right, So these things have a huge impact.
So that's one. Two. Doing a lot of awareness raising
is really important because to your earlier point, there are
so many issues that are unfolding. People have any number
of pressures in their daily lives, so if you can,
(12:33):
you know, have these kinds of conversations and just casual interactions. Wow,
did you you know, I said to multiple people over
the weekend, did you see those ice raids in Chicago?
And a lot of people had it. You know, they're
living their lives and or they're paying attention to other
things in the news, or they're just not turned into Chicago,
you know. And so it's like, you know, making sure
(12:55):
that we're raising awareness every opportunity that we have, so
that you know, we're also suggesting to the people on
our lives or the people that we encounter, like it's
good to stay informed, right.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
And we all have these media silos that we're in,
so it's easy to assume that what we see is
something that everyone else sees. And that's definitely not the
case these days. You know, I can be talking to
you know, a relative of mine who is who is
watching Fox News or something like that, and obviously, from
(13:31):
what we've seen in Portland, from what we know is
being you know, put into the minds of people at
the at the top of the leadership of our country.
There's a very different picture being deliberately put into the
minds of people that is completely untrue and untethered to reality.
(13:52):
So it's very important to do the sorts of things
you're talking about, right, right.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
And you know, the other thing that I would say
is that, you know, we don't want to get into
these kinds of really tenuous, aggressive confrontations with people with
whom we disagree, but it actually is important and productive
to have a constructive conversation with people with whom you disagree,
(14:20):
and really from the perspective of listening and listening to understand,
not listening to agree, not listening to or not speaking
to change minds, but really listen to understand. Because somewhere
in there in the political beliefs and the values is
something that really matters to someone, right. That could be
(14:44):
that they see even if they're you know, espousing something
that's not true, right, like for instance, that like, well,
all the immigrants are taking our jobs. Okay, we know
that that's not true, right, We know that that's not true.
And the person who's espousing that, who's from that's central
to their political ideology, their political views, they feel as
(15:05):
though they're missing something or they feel as though they're
shut out from something, right, So it's like, okay, if
we can then take that information and allow it to
inform our next steps, allow it to inform our political strategies,
then we're in a much more constructive place that if
we just say, well, that idiot over there, you know,
(15:25):
or that pardon me, you know, that person over there
with whom I disagree, who is not smart or ignorant
or what have you, and then we leave it at that.
That doesn't actually help us inform our political strategy or
our vision for what ken and should be next.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Right, And the way you phrased it, I mean that
that is the way our brain reacts. You know, we
alienate ourselves from people, and especially when we're just on
social media and we don't necessarily have a deeper connection
to someone, that is how we react. We say, oh, yeah,
they're they're just idiots, and it is important to remind
(16:02):
ourselves that they are reacting to other broader forces kind
of in the same way that we are. They're just
reacting to it differently because of their circumstances. And I've
spent a lot of time, you know, working with people
who have very different political views than my own, and
I think it's I think it's so important. I think
(16:25):
it's so important to maintain a connection and interact with
people and not cording yourself off, because when you do that,
there's hope. And then sometimes just by being there, just
by you know, there is a connection that they have
and they realize that you are not just this idiot
(16:47):
out in the ether. You are real human being and
you have an ability to interact with them, and ultimately
you realize, you both realize that you have the same
basic goals in mind, and that connection disrupts I think
a broader, higher level attempt to atomize us and disconnect
(17:09):
us from from one another. And that is a position
of powerlessness. When we're connected, that is a position of power.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
It is a position of power, absolutely, And you know,
I would also say too, you know, sometimes it is
a very human thing to be reminded about how different
your life is from someone else's, right. I think often
it's like we want to say, oh, but we're just human,
so let's find the common thread. How are we similar,
and let's focus on that. But sometimes it's the most
(17:40):
affirming thing of one's own humanity and one's own identity
when they're confronted with someone who has a very different life,
very different views in their own and I think that's healthy. Actually,
we need more of that, to be reminded that, you know,
humanity is you know, the expression of humanity is vast
and varied. It's very different, and that's a beautiful thing.
(18:04):
And we have to get more comfortable with engaging with
people who are very different and saying, yeah, they deserve
to be here, you know, live well on the planet,
just like I do, just like this other person who's
very different than both me and this other person. And
I think the more we can get comfortable with that
and just have those kinds of experiences more often, I think,
the better political systems that we will be able to
(18:26):
build in the future.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Yeah, no, I agree, and I see that every day
when I am out with my daughter, who uses a
wheelchair and has other disabilities. I think it is it
is difficult, just you know, in a moment for someone
to grasp what that entails for her life, for the
(18:54):
lives of the people around her, and it comes with
repeated connection that you start to get a sense of
that because because you don't really understand what the like
for example, in my case, what the life of a
caregiver is like a long term caregiver. And in that
(19:15):
same way, you don't necessarily understand, you know, what the
life of a day labor is like, or someone who
who picks strawberries in a field, or what the exertions
of that are. You can try to imagine it if
you've never done it before, but you haven't lived it
and you haven't walked through it. And so connecting to
(19:36):
as many people as possible who live those different lives
I think is super important. You're you're absolutely right. How
do we go about fostering those connections when we are
so surrounded by I think especially media, social media that
(19:59):
is is trying incessantly to segment us, to silo us off,
to separate us, not even intentionally always for political purposes,
but just for economic purposes. That's trying to fit us
in a demo, that's trying to put us in a
particular place in order to you know, essentially extract capital
(20:23):
from us in one way, way, shape or form, And
that really, ultimately that is a political act. There are
so many structures around us that do that, that separate
us by gender, that separate us by orientation, by status,
by appearance, by skin color, in so many different ways.
(20:44):
How do like, what habits do we need? What steps
do we need to take in order to maintain those
connections in the face of that very daunting power.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Well, this is going to be unpopular with some generations.
This position is going to be unpopular with some generations.
But we actually got to get off social media, you know,
media have to do laugh of it, you know, and
we have to have better boundaries around social media. You know,
there's all these research reports about you know, gen z
(21:18):
and doom scrolling, right, it's really not healthy, okay, And
you know, you're right, it's you know, social media becomes
these echo chambers where we're only seeing content that really
already only reinforces the views that we already have. And
(21:38):
I don't think it's a coincidence that social media has
become so popular in the last decade. And then also
we're experiencing an epidemic of loneliness, right because you know,
after a certain period of time of scrolling, you begin
to feel start to feel more depressed, more anxious. Right,
So we we have to do less of it, there's
no way around it. And also we have a really
(22:01):
great episode of Beyond Voting we can be coming out
in a few weeks, which is all about AI, the
impact of the algorithm, the impact of social media on
us as humans, and also our relationships. Not to mention,
you know, what we have seen increasingly in this administration
(22:21):
is a sort of alliance between the tech CEOs and
this current presidential administration. And so we unpack all of
that in that episode of Beyond Voting and that will
come out in a few weeks.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
That's awesome, and to send us send us the link
to that. I want to make sure that once it
comes up, we put it in the link to in
the description to this episode, because I would love to
listen to that, And I'm definitely going to subscribe to
Beyond Voting and start listening to that on a regular basis,
because for sure it's something that we need to do.
(22:58):
But I know, I agree and I think that, and
it's not only to social media, especially social media, but
media in general. I mean, honestly, we spend we do.
And I say this as a podcast host, and I
say this as someone who produces podcasts, and you're saying
it too, because you're talking about your podcast we need
to spend less time engaged in media and more time
(23:20):
engaged with ourselves. And if that means to anyone who's
listening that you need to turn this off right now, pause,
turn it off and talk to the person next to you,
that's totally okay. Go ahead and do that, because it's
going to make you feel better. You know, it's so interesting.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
I've done it.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
I did it today, and I've done it on previous days.
You know, when there's in this nice October weather here
in the Pacific Northwest, I go out for a walk
and I think, oh, yeah, okay, so what am I
going to listen to when I go on for my walk.
I'm gonna plug myself into my podcast? And well, I
don't know, maybe I'm not going to do that. Because
it's bright fall on, I can hear the birds chirrup,
(24:03):
and I can say hi to my neighbors as I
walk through my neighborhood. Why not do that instead? So
it's okay to do that, And we kind of need
to do that more because those really are the roots
of that connection that you're talking about. If you're only
immersed in that world, then you're not going to make
those other connections that we need that are the basis
(24:24):
of creating more good tubs for lefties.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Frankly, right right, absolutely, And also if you're only wrapped
up in social media, we're not going to be able
to create the kinds of social connections that we actually
need to really resist fascism as a society. I mean,
it really is a social cohesion which is the strongest
(24:47):
antidote to fascism. And that's why we saw at the
beginning the attacks on DEI, right, because DEI actually was
very successful. I know, there's a lot of criticisms, a
lot of those criticisms are really valid, and at the
same time, it really did break down a lot of
barriers and a lot of biases which helped pull back
and which kept groups separate. We also have to get
(25:09):
back to creating that kind of social cohesion where we
really do see one another as neighbors, right as friends,
as opposed to strangers to be wary of, and so
really prioritizing that in real life connection is going to
be incredibly important. And I'll also say this for my
gen Z folks, and we work with a lot of
(25:31):
gen Z here at the Artist Center for Social Justice Leadership,
and working through that little bit of fear, that little
bit of anxiety of like talking to someone new, maybe
smiling at a stranger, picking up the phone and making
a phone call. Actually, you know, that's actually really productive.
When we can work through that little bit of nervousness,
(25:55):
that little bit of awkwardness, that then helps us build
up our capacity to do other things that are uncomfortable.
And let's be honest, you know, doing activism, community organizing,
social justice advocacy, it's uncomfortable a lot of the time,
you know, but we have to like get over that.
And then once we do and we're out there, we
(26:16):
have support and we're feeling our power, then it's like, oh,
we know we can do it. But oftentimes we have
to over that little bit of nervousness, so a little
bit of discomfort so that we can get into that
space of our power and of collective power.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
Yeah, the more we do it, the more we transcend it,
the more we exercise those muscles of connection, the more
we connect with others, and the more powerful we are
and the more we can resist the sorts of things
that have been going on this year. What has given
you in terms of you know what you've heard about
what you have seen, the headlines that have come across
(26:54):
What gives you the most hope for our nation and
for the world. What is what has been the most positive,
hopeful headline that you've seen.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Well, I have to say, because you know, last week
we saw those ice raids, I mean horrific ice raids Chicago,
and that was right after that meeting of all of
the military heads with Hegseth and Trump and they you know,
said they were going to declare war basically on US cities, cities.
And then we saw that play out in Chicago, you know,
(27:27):
with the raid on that apartment building and then also
right ice the protesters at the Broadview Detention facility, and
it was terrifying. You know, speaking of social media, every
time I logged down to social media was seen some
kind of violence and so that was it was really
terrifying to me. And so what gave me so much
(27:47):
hope was one seeing that more and more activists kept
coming out, Like day after day, we saw more protesters
that brought you We saw more people who were doing
the rapid response, who were like alerting people to ice presence.
And then we saw just earlier this week yesterday, in fact,
that Brandon Mayor Brandon Johnson comes out with this new
(28:11):
ordin this new executive order, Okay, ice can't use city
property to set up their things, right to set up
their operations. Then we see the state of Illinois, the
governor's office, actually sues the Trump administration. You know, this
is unlawful. And so that gave me so much hope.
That we saw more and more people coming out. We
(28:31):
saw some of the most extreme violence that we've seen
in a very long time in this country's history. But
people didn't retract from that. They said, oh no, no, no,
we're going to get out there. We're going to resist this.
We stand for something else. We stand for community, we
stand to protect human beings. And then the city and
the state said, and we will also approach this from
(28:53):
a policy and a structural standpoint, right, And so it's like, okay, great,
now have some power on the other side. And it
just it really does give me a lot of hope that,
you know, we can find a way. We have found
a way. You know, it's also could be a model
for other states. And so that sends a really strong
(29:15):
message and just gives me so much hope that Yeah,
we can continue to stand strong for what we believe
in for community. And also you know, we don't have
to stand for lawlessness, and there are a lot of
us out here who will not stand for lawlessness. So
that's given me a lot of hope.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
That is awesome. That is awesome to see that people
react by engaging rather than retreating. That is that is
a really good sign. And you can see people doing
it all over the country, and I know that people
are going to be doing it on October eighteenth, coming
up here soon, probably in a bigger way than has
been before. So thank you, thank you for that, Emily.
(29:59):
Where can folks find out more about what you would
do with the Arcas Center?
Speaker 2 (30:04):
Yeah, we can follow us on Instagram at Arcis Center
a little bit, a little bit right, right, right right,
just a little bit.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
Yeah, yeah, just look at maybe three posts at a
time in our stories and then log off. Also our
website altho our website which is Architecenter dot KZ, dot
ed u. And then also please listen to Beyond Voting
season two just drop today and so we have some
excellent guests on this season. We're going to be talking
(30:35):
about everything from the arising authoritarianism to what is the
movement that actually gets us through this period in our
country's history.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
I mentioned the episode on AI. We also have a
really great episode on climate change and the news stories
that are really that we're not hearing about but are
actually unfolding more and more, which is climate destruction, and
one episode on Boycott's in the myth of Black Capitalism.
(31:05):
So we get into all of the issues this season,
So you can find Beyond Voting anywhere you stream podcasts. Well.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
While I will, as a result of this conversation be
more conscious of when I am listening and how much
I am listening, I will definitely be putting Beyond Voting
into my regular rotation. And thank you so much for that, Emily,
Emily Williams, thank you so much for being with us
on Good News for Lefties.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
Yes, thank you for having me
Good News for Lefties and America. Hello, and welcome to
Good News for Lefties. I'm Baio Wolf Rockland, Welcome, thanks
for being here. This is part of our ongoing series
of Good News deep dives, and we're talking with folks
who work on basically creating more good news for lefties
(00:32):
and more good news for America and more good news
for the world. So these conversations are going to be
heavy in terms of activists and folks who are thinking
a lot about how to create good things happening in
the world. And I think we have one of them today.
Emily Williams is the executive director of the Arcas Center
(00:55):
at Kalamazoo College in Michigan. She spent over a decade
working on the front lines of equity locally and internationally.
And she explores, and I think this is very important
as we look towards twenty twenty six and think about goodness,
there might be an election, there might not be an election.
(01:17):
How are things going to play out? And we're seeing,
of course, in many states the system for voting is
not exactly what we would hope for in terms of
actually reflecting democracy. So she's exploring how we can collectively
reimagine and rebuild our democracy beyond the ballot box. I
(01:38):
think the voting is important, but I think it's also
very important that that is just a starting place. And
I think Emily you're along the same lines. Welcome to
good news for lefties. Thank you so much for being here.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, and thank you for having me. I'm happy to
just get into the conversation such an important topic.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
Yeah, well, tell us for just what you do with
the Arcist Center. What is it, you know, what is
your mission your focus there?
Speaker 2 (02:07):
Yeah, you're at the arc Is Center for Social Justice
Leadership at Kalamazoo College. We are focused on supporting existing
social justice leaders and facilitating more social justice leadership. So
we do that a variety of ways. Number One, we
do educational programming, so we do a lot of public
programming on the social justice issues that we see unfolding
(02:30):
in front of our eyes on a daily basis, so
that we're like raising awareness, raising consciousness. We also do
training and capacity bling, you know, community organizing, activism, advocacy.
These things are skill sets that can be learned. Often
people see a protest on television and they think it
just happened organically or just happened sporadically, and the truth
(02:54):
is that there are people who are experts in this
kind of work, have a home, their skills set over
a period of time, and so we help to teach
people how to advocate, how to do community organizing. And
then we also have a resourcing aspect of the work
that we do. So you know, a lot of people
(03:15):
have for social justice projects, social justice research, and we
support them in completing that research in those projects. We
also have a podcast which is called Beyond Voting that's
kind of the culmination of everything that we do. It's
really about again educating about the most pressing social justice
issues of our time and then providing guidance to people
(03:38):
for how to get involved beyond the ballot box. So
we can't only vote every four years or every tiers
in the midterms and expect to have the society that
we deserve. I think we've seen recently. We can't only
vote every four years or every two years and then
expect to have a democracy.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yeah, and active engagement really is a critical part of that.
I mean, like you say, voting really isn't enough, and
yet we're in a situation where, like so many of
us end up being so busy all of the time,
and I think that's honestly connected to things that have
(04:18):
gone wrong with democracy. Our bandwidths are stretched, and yet
in order to have a real functioning democracy, we need
to be reading serious news. We need to be going
to meetings of our local town council, We need to
be talking to people in our community, we need to
(04:41):
be going to protests. How do we set ourselves up
in a way that that is possible given how many
other pressures there are on our lives, especially from in
my opinion, the economy, which in turn is connected think
to the political situation that we're in. How do we
(05:02):
how do we make space for it, How do we
incorporate it into the routines of our lives. I think
that's so critical in creating good news.
Speaker 2 (05:11):
Yeah, no, absolutely, I think we have to shift our priorities,
right So, you know, I think we're seeing a little
bit of we probably in some ways we'll be pushed
to prioritize some of these things that you mentioned, like
remaining aware of what's unfolding in the news, connecting with
our local community members on a you know, a deeper basis,
figuring out how do we need to organize as communities
(05:34):
because the current political environment is going to push us
in that direction. And I think it already has, and
I think we're seeing a lot more of that with
these reports that ICE now is is our DHS is
now investing lots of money in surveilling people's social media,
so that will naturally have an effect that will push
(05:55):
people off of social media, which will then hopefully result
in people cleaning they're in real life connections, you know.
And I think the same is true for some of
the boycotts that have happened recently. I mean that people
had boycotted Target after Target abandoned its DEI programs, after
(06:16):
you know, the executive order that came out of this
administration means that people are spending a lot less time consuming, right,
I mean, just imagine how many times, how many hours
people would regularly spend at Target as opposed to being
in their communities, or as opposed to do a community organizing,
or as opposed to reading articles about social justice issues.
(06:37):
So I think that in some ways, as we begin
to really live in this world or in this country
that is shaped and influenced by this like rising authoritarianism,
people are naturally going to retreat into community spaces and
are going to realize that Nope, I have a role
(06:58):
to play in this, you know, and I actually have
a stake in protecting this democracy or fighting for the
rights of myself and others. Not to mention that, you know,
as we are faced with these violent capturing of people
and you know, ripping people off the streets, ripping kids
from their parents, as we continue to see that in
(07:20):
the news, you know, it's very difficult to see that
and be unaffected. And so I think the more that
we see it unfold, the more, you know, it appeals
to at least some of us, our humanity, and we
start to say, okay, I have a role here, and
also let me support the people around me. Let me
make sure that I'm leaving my values and making community
(07:43):
values real in the spaces that I'm a part of.
Speaker 1 (07:47):
Yeah, And I asked the question, of course, you know,
as a as a a fairly well to do you know,
white guy who's like who has a routine that isn't
yet being acted by you know, ice rays.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
I can.
Speaker 1 (08:02):
I can see it, so I you know, I even
even even the question about, you know, how do we
build this into our routines. Is kind of coming from
a position of of privilege. I understand that, you know,
as as our lives are increasingly disrupted, as more and
more people are touched by this, Yeah, they're going to
respond because they just they have no other choice. And
(08:22):
people like are living like that. I mean, I've been
hearing about and reading about people who are, you know,
being being lookouts at at home depots and car washes
in Los Angeles and other communities, and that's basically just
a matter of survival. That's a matter of livelihood, being
(08:50):
able to bring resources into your family. So it's not
a matter of incorporating it into your you know, into
your otherwise placid routine. It's a matter of like how
am I going to live? How am I going to
get by? So you're right, You're absolutely right. Circumstances are
pushing us there, and they've already pushed many of us there,
and those of us who aren't touched by it can
(09:11):
see it happening to others in our communities and every
single day. So yeah, an absolutely appropriate answer to the question,
what are the different ways in which we do this,
in which we take this on their protests? I've been
(09:33):
to protests, and I think that's certainly useful in terms
of realizing, especially for me. You know, I live in
a more I live in a county that voted for Trump.
I live in a smaller, more rural area, and it's
certainly useful for me in the sense that I realize
(09:56):
that there are other people around me, thousands of people
who feel same way I do. And that's important and
that's encouraging. And I think it puts it out there
to the people who represent us, who whom we vote for.
It lets us connect to do organizations in a more
(10:17):
targeted way, to call people to to if people still
do it, write letters, to send emails and things like that.
But I think it goes even beyond that, Like what
do you think are the are the most effective ways
beyond voting that we can engage and participate. If that's
not something that we're already doing, if we haven't already
(10:39):
been pushed to that point.
Speaker 2 (10:41):
Well, absolutely, one protest matters a lot, the public demonstration
of opposition to what we're seeing unfold in our country,
from the ice raids to the rollback of our healthcare
to even this the rollback of de right or the
(11:01):
capture of our data by doge. Right, the more public
opposition that matters a lot. You can't deny when you
have thousands of people in the street who are saying,
we disagree with this right, and so you know that
shows that Okay. One, if you disagree and you're not
(11:22):
at the protest, you're not alone. Two. Anytime we do
kind of a collective action, that is building power, right,
and it does create some even if it doesn't stop
it in the moment. You know, whatever is the harm
it does create some accountability for these elected officials who
are putting forward this harmful policy. So we need that.
(11:47):
And not everybody is able to protest. I understand that.
You know, there's different abilities, there's different vulnerabilities, and so
if you are the kind of person who has the background,
the social identity, the privilege, the ability to protest, please
do it. And even if our news doesn't you know,
mainstream media in the US doesn't cover it, it gets
(12:09):
covered in other parts of the world. It gets covered
on social media. Right, So these things have a huge impact.
So that's one. Two. Doing a lot of awareness raising
is really important because to your earlier point, there are
so many issues that are unfolding. People have any number
of pressures in their daily lives, so if you can,
(12:33):
you know, have these kinds of conversations and just casual interactions. Wow,
did you you know, I said to multiple people over
the weekend, did you see those ice raids in Chicago?
And a lot of people had it. You know, they're
living their lives and or they're paying attention to other
things in the news, or they're just not turned into Chicago,
you know. And so it's like, you know, making sure
(12:55):
that we're raising awareness every opportunity that we have, so
that you know, we're also suggesting to the people on
our lives or the people that we encounter, like it's
good to stay informed, right.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
And we all have these media silos that we're in,
so it's easy to assume that what we see is
something that everyone else sees. And that's definitely not the
case these days. You know, I can be talking to
you know, a relative of mine who is who is
watching Fox News or something like that, and obviously, from
(13:31):
what we've seen in Portland, from what we know is
being you know, put into the minds of people at
the at the top of the leadership of our country.
There's a very different picture being deliberately put into the
minds of people that is completely untrue and untethered to reality.
(13:52):
So it's very important to do the sorts of things
you're talking about, right, right.
Speaker 2 (13:58):
And you know, the other thing that I would say
is that, you know, we don't want to get into
these kinds of really tenuous, aggressive confrontations with people with
whom we disagree, but it actually is important and productive
to have a constructive conversation with people with whom you disagree,
(14:20):
and really from the perspective of listening and listening to understand,
not listening to agree, not listening to or not speaking
to change minds, but really listen to understand. Because somewhere
in there in the political beliefs and the values is
something that really matters to someone, right. That could be
(14:44):
that they see even if they're you know, espousing something
that's not true, right, like for instance, that like, well,
all the immigrants are taking our jobs. Okay, we know
that that's not true, right, We know that that's not true.
And the person who's espousing that, who's from that's central
to their political ideology, their political views, they feel as
(15:05):
though they're missing something or they feel as though they're
shut out from something, right, So it's like, okay, if
we can then take that information and allow it to
inform our next steps, allow it to inform our political strategies,
then we're in a much more constructive place that if
we just say, well, that idiot over there, you know,
(15:25):
or that pardon me, you know, that person over there
with whom I disagree, who is not smart or ignorant
or what have you, and then we leave it at that.
That doesn't actually help us inform our political strategy or
our vision for what ken and should be next.
Speaker 1 (15:42):
Right, And the way you phrased it, I mean that
that is the way our brain reacts. You know, we
alienate ourselves from people, and especially when we're just on
social media and we don't necessarily have a deeper connection
to someone, that is how we react. We say, oh, yeah,
they're they're just idiots, and it is important to remind
(16:02):
ourselves that they are reacting to other broader forces kind
of in the same way that we are. They're just
reacting to it differently because of their circumstances. And I've
spent a lot of time, you know, working with people
who have very different political views than my own, and
I think it's I think it's so important. I think
(16:25):
it's so important to maintain a connection and interact with
people and not cording yourself off, because when you do that,
there's hope. And then sometimes just by being there, just
by you know, there is a connection that they have
and they realize that you are not just this idiot
(16:47):
out in the ether. You are real human being and
you have an ability to interact with them, and ultimately
you realize, you both realize that you have the same
basic goals in mind, and that connection disrupts I think
a broader, higher level attempt to atomize us and disconnect
(17:09):
us from from one another. And that is a position
of powerlessness. When we're connected, that is a position of power.
Speaker 2 (17:18):
It is a position of power, absolutely, And you know,
I would also say too, you know, sometimes it is
a very human thing to be reminded about how different
your life is from someone else's, right. I think often
it's like we want to say, oh, but we're just human,
so let's find the common thread. How are we similar,
and let's focus on that. But sometimes it's the most
(17:40):
affirming thing of one's own humanity and one's own identity
when they're confronted with someone who has a very different life,
very different views in their own and I think that's healthy. Actually,
we need more of that, to be reminded that, you know,
humanity is you know, the expression of humanity is vast
and varied. It's very different, and that's a beautiful thing.
(18:04):
And we have to get more comfortable with engaging with
people who are very different and saying, yeah, they deserve
to be here, you know, live well on the planet,
just like I do, just like this other person who's
very different than both me and this other person. And
I think the more we can get comfortable with that
and just have those kinds of experiences more often, I think,
the better political systems that we will be able to
(18:26):
build in the future.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
Yeah, no, I agree, and I see that every day
when I am out with my daughter, who uses a
wheelchair and has other disabilities. I think it is it
is difficult, just you know, in a moment for someone
to grasp what that entails for her life, for the
(18:54):
lives of the people around her, and it comes with
repeated connection that you start to get a sense of
that because because you don't really understand what the like
for example, in my case, what the life of a
caregiver is like a long term caregiver. And in that
(19:15):
same way, you don't necessarily understand, you know, what the
life of a day labor is like, or someone who
who picks strawberries in a field, or what the exertions
of that are. You can try to imagine it if
you've never done it before, but you haven't lived it
and you haven't walked through it. And so connecting to
(19:36):
as many people as possible who live those different lives
I think is super important. You're you're absolutely right. How
do we go about fostering those connections when we are
so surrounded by I think especially media, social media that
(19:59):
is is trying incessantly to segment us, to silo us off,
to separate us, not even intentionally always for political purposes,
but just for economic purposes. That's trying to fit us
in a demo, that's trying to put us in a
particular place in order to you know, essentially extract capital
(20:23):
from us in one way, way, shape or form, And
that really, ultimately that is a political act. There are
so many structures around us that do that, that separate
us by gender, that separate us by orientation, by status,
by appearance, by skin color, in so many different ways.
(20:44):
How do like, what habits do we need? What steps
do we need to take in order to maintain those
connections in the face of that very daunting power.
Speaker 2 (20:57):
Well, this is going to be unpopular with some generations.
This position is going to be unpopular with some generations.
But we actually got to get off social media, you know,
media have to do laugh of it, you know, and
we have to have better boundaries around social media. You know,
there's all these research reports about you know, gen z
(21:18):
and doom scrolling, right, it's really not healthy, okay, And
you know, you're right, it's you know, social media becomes
these echo chambers where we're only seeing content that really
already only reinforces the views that we already have. And
(21:38):
I don't think it's a coincidence that social media has
become so popular in the last decade. And then also
we're experiencing an epidemic of loneliness, right because you know,
after a certain period of time of scrolling, you begin
to feel start to feel more depressed, more anxious. Right,
So we we have to do less of it, there's
no way around it. And also we have a really
(22:01):
great episode of Beyond Voting we can be coming out
in a few weeks, which is all about AI, the
impact of the algorithm, the impact of social media on
us as humans, and also our relationships. Not to mention,
you know, what we have seen increasingly in this administration
(22:21):
is a sort of alliance between the tech CEOs and
this current presidential administration. And so we unpack all of
that in that episode of Beyond Voting and that will
come out in a few weeks.
Speaker 1 (22:35):
That's awesome, and to send us send us the link
to that. I want to make sure that once it
comes up, we put it in the link to in
the description to this episode, because I would love to
listen to that, And I'm definitely going to subscribe to
Beyond Voting and start listening to that on a regular basis,
because for sure it's something that we need to do.
(22:58):
But I know, I agree and I think that, and
it's not only to social media, especially social media, but
media in general. I mean, honestly, we spend we do.
And I say this as a podcast host, and I
say this as someone who produces podcasts, and you're saying
it too, because you're talking about your podcast we need
to spend less time engaged in media and more time
(23:20):
engaged with ourselves. And if that means to anyone who's
listening that you need to turn this off right now, pause,
turn it off and talk to the person next to you,
that's totally okay. Go ahead and do that, because it's
going to make you feel better. You know, it's so interesting.
Speaker 2 (23:38):
I've done it.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
I did it today, and I've done it on previous days.
You know, when there's in this nice October weather here
in the Pacific Northwest, I go out for a walk
and I think, oh, yeah, okay, so what am I
going to listen to when I go on for my walk.
I'm gonna plug myself into my podcast? And well, I
don't know, maybe I'm not going to do that. Because
it's bright fall on, I can hear the birds chirrup,
(24:03):
and I can say hi to my neighbors as I
walk through my neighborhood. Why not do that instead? So
it's okay to do that, And we kind of need
to do that more because those really are the roots
of that connection that you're talking about. If you're only
immersed in that world, then you're not going to make
those other connections that we need that are the basis
(24:24):
of creating more good tubs for lefties.
Speaker 2 (24:26):
Frankly, right right, absolutely, And also if you're only wrapped
up in social media, we're not going to be able
to create the kinds of social connections that we actually
need to really resist fascism as a society. I mean,
it really is a social cohesion which is the strongest
(24:47):
antidote to fascism. And that's why we saw at the
beginning the attacks on DEI, right, because DEI actually was
very successful. I know, there's a lot of criticisms, a
lot of those criticisms are really valid, and at the
same time, it really did break down a lot of
barriers and a lot of biases which helped pull back
and which kept groups separate. We also have to get
(25:09):
back to creating that kind of social cohesion where we
really do see one another as neighbors, right as friends,
as opposed to strangers to be wary of, and so
really prioritizing that in real life connection is going to
be incredibly important. And I'll also say this for my
gen Z folks, and we work with a lot of
(25:31):
gen Z here at the Artist Center for Social Justice Leadership,
and working through that little bit of fear, that little
bit of anxiety of like talking to someone new, maybe
smiling at a stranger, picking up the phone and making
a phone call. Actually, you know, that's actually really productive.
When we can work through that little bit of nervousness,
(25:55):
that little bit of awkwardness, that then helps us build
up our capacity to do other things that are uncomfortable.
And let's be honest, you know, doing activism, community organizing,
social justice advocacy, it's uncomfortable a lot of the time,
you know, but we have to like get over that.
And then once we do and we're out there, we
(26:16):
have support and we're feeling our power, then it's like, oh,
we know we can do it. But oftentimes we have
to over that little bit of nervousness, so a little
bit of discomfort so that we can get into that
space of our power and of collective power.
Speaker 1 (26:32):
Yeah, the more we do it, the more we transcend it,
the more we exercise those muscles of connection, the more
we connect with others, and the more powerful we are
and the more we can resist the sorts of things
that have been going on this year. What has given
you in terms of you know what you've heard about
what you have seen, the headlines that have come across
(26:54):
What gives you the most hope for our nation and
for the world. What is what has been the most positive,
hopeful headline that you've seen.
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Well, I have to say, because you know, last week
we saw those ice raids, I mean horrific ice raids Chicago,
and that was right after that meeting of all of
the military heads with Hegseth and Trump and they you know,
said they were going to declare war basically on US cities, cities.
And then we saw that play out in Chicago, you know,
(27:27):
with the raid on that apartment building and then also
right ice the protesters at the Broadview Detention facility, and
it was terrifying. You know, speaking of social media, every
time I logged down to social media was seen some
kind of violence and so that was it was really
terrifying to me. And so what gave me so much
(27:47):
hope was one seeing that more and more activists kept
coming out, Like day after day, we saw more protesters
that brought you We saw more people who were doing
the rapid response, who were like alerting people to ice presence.
And then we saw just earlier this week yesterday, in fact,
that Brandon Mayor Brandon Johnson comes out with this new
(28:11):
ordin this new executive order, Okay, ice can't use city
property to set up their things, right to set up
their operations. Then we see the state of Illinois, the
governor's office, actually sues the Trump administration. You know, this
is unlawful. And so that gave me so much hope.
That we saw more and more people coming out. We
(28:31):
saw some of the most extreme violence that we've seen
in a very long time in this country's history. But
people didn't retract from that. They said, oh no, no, no,
we're going to get out there. We're going to resist this.
We stand for something else. We stand for community, we
stand to protect human beings. And then the city and
the state said, and we will also approach this from
(28:53):
a policy and a structural standpoint, right, And so it's like, okay, great,
now have some power on the other side. And it
just it really does give me a lot of hope that,
you know, we can find a way. We have found
a way. You know, it's also could be a model
for other states. And so that sends a really strong
(29:15):
message and just gives me so much hope that Yeah,
we can continue to stand strong for what we believe
in for community. And also you know, we don't have
to stand for lawlessness, and there are a lot of
us out here who will not stand for lawlessness. So
that's given me a lot of hope.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
That is awesome. That is awesome to see that people
react by engaging rather than retreating. That is that is
a really good sign. And you can see people doing
it all over the country, and I know that people
are going to be doing it on October eighteenth, coming
up here soon, probably in a bigger way than has
been before. So thank you, thank you for that, Emily.
(29:59):
Where can folks find out more about what you would
do with the Arcas Center?
Speaker 2 (30:04):
Yeah, we can follow us on Instagram at Arcis Center
a little bit, a little bit right, right, right right,
just a little bit.
Speaker 3 (30:13):
Yeah, yeah, just look at maybe three posts at a
time in our stories and then log off. Also our
website altho our website which is Architecenter dot KZ, dot
ed u. And then also please listen to Beyond Voting
season two just drop today and so we have some
excellent guests on this season. We're going to be talking
(30:35):
about everything from the arising authoritarianism to what is the
movement that actually gets us through this period in our
country's history.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
I mentioned the episode on AI. We also have a
really great episode on climate change and the news stories
that are really that we're not hearing about but are
actually unfolding more and more, which is climate destruction, and
one episode on Boycott's in the myth of Black Capitalism.
(31:05):
So we get into all of the issues this season,
So you can find Beyond Voting anywhere you stream podcasts. Well.
Speaker 1 (31:13):
While I will, as a result of this conversation be
more conscious of when I am listening and how much
I am listening, I will definitely be putting Beyond Voting
into my regular rotation. And thank you so much for that, Emily,
Emily Williams, thank you so much for being with us
on Good News for Lefties.
Speaker 2 (31:33):
Yes, thank you for having me
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