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July 18, 2022 34 mins
Janea is a Louisiana native and hosts a weekly podcast called Her Story, L.L.C. She creates opportunities for critical dialogue and action for Black Women who have defied obstacles and turned them into success.

She is a longtime advocate for race and gender justice. Her justice lens focuses on centering BIPOC women and girls in policy, organizing, and advocacy to develop a roadmap for equity.

Website: janeaclaire.com
Instagram: janea_claire13
Podcast: Her Story

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Website: www.thegrind.online
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Twitter: @DJRETRO1990
Music: Jawz of Life and Enoc (www.jawzoflife.com)

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Uh uh, step right on the step right on the
jaws a life. It's the Enoch gonna be MOI Yeah,
I literally just picked the headphones up and walk up
to the right like over the real So open the cord. Yeah,

(00:23):
life line, I got your perier yo chucking. So this
perier press play, the grind starts, the rhyme starts. We
come together like car parts to make your move. J'alls
are life gonna help you out on this little groove.

(00:44):
The purpose too light in you with all we do,
flaws exposure you if you see, can get your closer
to poster. We poster help each other out, no doubt it.
For this closure, get tune into the Grind. It's time
we take it over and it's just life on your line.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
We other for we go with your mind.

Speaker 3 (01:03):
Hello, my grinders, how are you doing today? Thank you
for joining us for another episode of the Grind. I
actually have a fellow broadcaster with me, podcast professional named
Jay Jamison.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
She is now on the line. How are you doing
this morning, Miss Jamison?

Speaker 4 (01:21):
Good morning, I'm doing well. I'm doing well this morning.
How are you?

Speaker 2 (01:26):
I'm doing good?

Speaker 3 (01:26):
Uh, you know, just up taking care of some business
and uh you're looking forward to this podcast on this morning.
I know that over I would say, the past couple
of months, we've been trying to get this, get.

Speaker 4 (01:36):
This together, so right, yeah yeah, and join you today.

Speaker 3 (01:43):
Thank you, Thank you. So for those that are listening
who do not know, miss Jay Jamison has a podcast,
and I'm gonna let her explain it. So I don't
want to, I don't want the spoiler there, but I
want her to introduce herself and tell you what her
podcast is about. However, I came across the podcast last year.
The reason why I was impressed about her podcast is

(02:05):
I love everything empowering, anything that's letting the community be
aware of what's happening out there.

Speaker 2 (02:13):
Long it's in the positive nature that's just me. And
also that how she gives.

Speaker 3 (02:18):
Us an insight on HBCUs. So I have a daughter
who attended at HBCU Alabama State University, and the insight
that she has and how she's empowering people is tremendous.
So from there, I'm gonna hand it over to miss
j Jamison.

Speaker 4 (02:36):
Thank you.

Speaker 5 (02:37):
I really appreciate that intro. As you mentioned, my name
is Jay Jamison. I have a podcast titled Her Story
and her as an acronym for heroic, empowering, and resilient,
and it's focused on upliftment and just liberation, empowerment of
women and particularly Black women, women of color, sharing their stories,

(02:57):
you know, maybe their shortcomings or that versus and how
that has been turned to triumph. As you also mentioned, James,
I've been highlighting the HBCU experience. I've partnered with some
amazing people with the HBC you Experienced movement.

Speaker 4 (03:12):
So again we've been speaking to.

Speaker 5 (03:15):
Various alumni throughout the country of how their stories have
shaped and mold them into the individuals that.

Speaker 4 (03:20):
They are today.

Speaker 5 (03:22):
And that's the overall focus of Her Story, you know,
sharing your experiences, sharing your stories and making things relatable.
I think we live in a society now where it's about,
you know, the hustle, it's about the grit and the grind,
but often people don't share their backstories. You know, we

(03:42):
definitely highlight what we want people to know, but I
think it's also important that we share our shortcomings and
different experiences because it may encourage someone to keep going.
And so that's the overall focus of Her Story podcast.

Speaker 3 (03:57):
And that's where I feel both of our podcast cast
kind of line up at because you said one couple
of keywords sharing success, success stories, and also on the grind,
we like to let people know that no particular bar
of success that we're actually want in the showcase. We
want people to tell their story and what it took
for them to be successful and their own right. And

(04:20):
that's what people really want to hear. They want to
hear reality, and I believe we both take part in
bringing that reality home to people so they can relate,
Like you said, making it relatable. Now, there's a question
I would like to ask you. How did you get
started in being a say, I don't want to put
you in a box, so I don't want to say activists.

(04:41):
What do you consider yourself being an activist, a political insider?
Like what title or what johnre would you put yourself in.

Speaker 5 (04:53):
You know, it's really hard to put myself in a
box because I played mini roles, an organizer, a policy
the advocate, activists, all of those great things. But I
like to refer to myself as just a voice for
the people, a voice for the community, Okay, And that

(05:13):
basically began, like you know, within my own story. I
grew up in a very rural community, country town down
Bayou in Napoleonville, Louisiana. I know you probably don't know
what that is now most folks do. About six hundred
people total, are very very small. And I went to
a private Catholic school from pre school through twelfth grade,

(05:35):
and at this school, you know, pretty much predominantly white school.
And still love my upbringing and my foundation the faith
and the church, and respect my parents for everything providing
me for the best. But I will say it was
the time growing up in it throughout my adolescent years
and even in high school where there's a fear of

(05:57):
being ostracized or not fitting in. So many things that
people said, how they reacted, even the interaction just with
you know, black kids being themselves and having some type
of relatable experience within your culture that was missing. And
so I would definitely say that me going to an
HBCU help me find my voice, help me find who

(06:21):
I was as a young black woman, or at least
helped me shape where I would like to go within
my life.

Speaker 4 (06:27):
Right.

Speaker 5 (06:28):
So it was at Southern University and the College and
Baton Rouge, Louisiana. It's in North Baton Rouge, which is
surrounded by Scotlandville. Scotlandville is a black neighborhood, and so
in North louis excuse me, North Baton Rouge, I saw
many individuals who looked like me or looked like my mom,

(06:48):
my dad, my aunts, and my uncle. And these people
didn't really have different elected officials and people in office
to speak up or to speak for them. I was
interested in in political science. I got my master's in
public administration, but even before then I began doing little
small things on campus like joining SGA. I ran for

(07:10):
Miss Freshmen, I ran for Miss Southern. I registered people
to vote, organizing to go on the capital steps.

Speaker 4 (07:18):
At that time, it was the Bobby.

Speaker 5 (07:20):
Jindo era, which I will stay and stay strong that
he was one of the worst governors like Louisiana has
ever seen, definitely had horrible budget cuts, and we were
definitely fighting for the lifeline for our institution and for
our teachers and state workers. So it was in that
movement in college that I was introduced to organizing and

(07:41):
using your voice and the importance of civic engagement. And
then within grad school and after grad school, immediately after
grad school, I became a legislative aide and working for
a councilwoman in North Baton Rouge was when I really
found my passion and purpose and treated not my job

(08:01):
just like a job, but really a mission, right, a ministry.
Helping those who look like me, being the liaison between
the councilwoman and city officials and really drafting different reports
and materials and advising on policy and the impact of
different things within the community. And it was there where

(08:24):
many folks would come in the office and give me cards,
give me balloons and gifts and simply saying thank you
for listening to me.

Speaker 4 (08:33):
Thank you.

Speaker 5 (08:33):
You have done more within the first few weeks or
months that I've been talking to you than some folks
that I've been speaking for for years. And so that
really connected to me how impactful the work is, how
needed the work is. And even prior to that, throughout
college i worked in the Mayor's office and Napoleon Bills,

(08:54):
I was always connected somehow to it. But I will
really say that after Trayvon Martin and really seeing the
impacts of you know, just racial bias throughout the country
and living in that moment, I knew that it was
necessary for me to really stay centered and figure out

(09:15):
what I can do as an individual. So that's why
you often see me now posting not only about local
policy and advocacy, but even federal advocacy measures. You know,
I pushed hard for the census right now, focusing heavy
on election protection and early voting and voting rights, and

(09:36):
very grateful to work for an organization that is led
by black women, having black women in leadership, the Power
Coalition for Equity and Justice, where the five p'h one
C three Stemic Engagement Table and that was vision has
been entrusted and was created by Ashley Shelton, who's another
amazing black woman. So it's, you know, so important for

(09:59):
me to be surrounded by impactful women, Black women and
to just be fighting for a cause much bigger, much
greater than yourself.

Speaker 2 (10:10):
Wow.

Speaker 3 (10:11):
Wow, you know that just amazed me because sometimes I
think that I could have been doing more and I'm
just being honest because a lot of times we sit
back and we say, what else can we do? What
can we do? And it's really later in my life
that I've found out that once you know who you
are and what your voice is, you can then you know,
pair that up with a cause or an organization and

(10:34):
use what you know how to do to do it.
Where can someone go We actually just had a podcast
about this on a Ratchet and Righteous so on PCG
Media yesterday and it was talking about voting, knowing your
rights and where can you get started, you being having
an insight in the system. Where can we start as

(10:56):
the average human being learning about our rights to what's
going on.

Speaker 2 (11:01):
In our city?

Speaker 5 (11:02):
Well, I would definitely say the first step is one,
get familiar with your elected officials, Go to a city
council meeting, you know, make sure that you listen to
what's going on within your community and within city council,
and get plugged in with a local organization. You can
simply be educated by either following local groups that are

(11:25):
on the ground, follow them on Instagram, follow their social
media pages. You know, for instance, the Power Coalition. Our
website is kind of like a one stop shop. You
have different educational videos, toolkits, different graphics, things that are
populated throughout the week daily on social media.

Speaker 4 (11:45):
And just volunteering.

Speaker 5 (11:47):
You know, many small things, small initiatives such as like
phone banking or volunteering for different campaigns, knocking on doors,
talking to different people. You just need to get your
foot in the door and connect to the right organization
because we're here. You know, a lot of my friends
and I'm a thirty year old young professional, a lot

(12:09):
of my friends they were disconnected. But when they realize
that I'm posting all of this, like, why is the
sensus so important? Oh my gosh, I didn't know that
this controlled so much. Is so much more than federal resources.
It's literally the infrastructure. It's about political power, it's about hospitals,
it's about us being a disaster prone state.

Speaker 4 (12:28):
You know, why is voting is so important?

Speaker 5 (12:30):
Well, you know, I didn't realize that November third is
so much more in just the federal elections. These are
the das, these are the judges, these are city council members.
Like so I would definitely say just you know, have
that one organization that you look to and like, again,
it's we're the power position in Louisiana. But there are
many groups. You know, they're different in NAACP chapters. There's

(12:53):
color of Change, there's national groups and organizations all over.
But become familiar with their elected officials. Put pressure on
your elected officials. If you have time and you can't
physically go in, especially in a COVID reality, go online.
You know, we can't put ourselves in a box and

(13:14):
say that we don't know what's going on because everything
is so accessible at this point. You can research, you
can go online and watch all of these different meetings.
And you know, often like I see this meme it says,
I'm not interested in politics.

Speaker 4 (13:29):
I'm just not a policy person.

Speaker 5 (13:32):
Well, you may not be interested, but every elected official
that's in office controls your quality of life. You may
not be interested, but your landlord is interested, but your
boss is interested. Different institutions that you work for are
interested in every moment that you take. Not being invested
in what's going on around you, they are stripping you
from your rights and you may not even know it.

(13:53):
So it's important that you know we are invested in
that we are interested.

Speaker 3 (13:59):
And I totally agree because it just gets to a
point where and even I was in the military, I
travel for years. I was always busy, you know, doing
things as far as taking care of the home front
and make sure my my you know, my job was
on point and knowing I'm doing and you know, you.

Speaker 2 (14:12):
Get into that daily grind, right.

Speaker 3 (14:14):
But what happens is as you like me as you
get older, when you start becoming an homeowner, when you
start being invested in your neighborhood and you start seeing
things that you'd be like, why is it.

Speaker 2 (14:25):
That like that? Why is that like that? You start
asking questions.

Speaker 3 (14:28):
It's kind of like and by all means listeners, I'm
not saying by just owning a home you start paying attention.

Speaker 2 (14:33):
I'm not saying that, just using it as an example.

Speaker 3 (14:36):
But you start seeing where your money or your property
taxes start going and support your schools in your local area,
or who in your in your areas running for positions
and what they stand for. Do you think that overall
the local election really affects the federal level as far

(14:59):
as with the what laws are being passed? Because we
had this argument last week, So is it more important
to make sure your local elective officials.

Speaker 2 (15:10):
Getting the right people in there?

Speaker 4 (15:13):
Yeah?

Speaker 2 (15:15):
You think so.

Speaker 5 (15:17):
I will say that, of course every election is important, right,
but many times the trickling effect, you know, doesn't really
go down to the local level that will impact the
very community that you are trying to thrive and live in.
So you cannot be a semi or infrequent voter there's

(15:40):
too much at stake for that. You know, we know
that it's a presidential election. People are going to turn
out in high numbers. Great, but it's so important that
you are investing in your city council member. This person
literally controls the budget of the city that you live in,
literally controls the policy and the resources that you can get.
The mayor who sits over the city council controls how

(16:04):
they can maneuver and move. You know, your House of
Reps and Senates that are at the state level. They
are there that are in charge of the actual policies
and the laws that are being implemented at the state level,
your district attorney's office.

Speaker 4 (16:20):
They are control how you can be like an equable trial.

Speaker 5 (16:26):
You know, many judges are controlling your evictions, your child support,
all of these things. So it's like you have to
do the research, but also knowing that yes, at the
local level, these elections are personal because again they control
every quality of your life. So use your voice. Yes,

(16:48):
it's important to vote for the president, but definitely those
local elections are so important because that impacts you. That
the what these elected officials do from the local, the
city and state left level will definitely impact you in
your life, much quicker than from the federal level on down.

Speaker 3 (17:10):
Janet, did you have anybody that was in your family
early on that you saw that was an activist or
a voice where you kind of pulled from that as
well when you were younger.

Speaker 2 (17:21):
No, that though you've been here before. It's kind of like, right,
you know what.

Speaker 4 (17:25):
I mean, you know what?

Speaker 5 (17:26):
But you know what, I really do believe in everything
in me. That is my grandmother who speaks through me.
I never My grandmother passed away when I was one
years old, right, but my you know, my parents are older.
My mom and dad were born in nineteen fifty one.
My grandmother was born in nineteen twelve, so she passed
away when I was one. But when my grandfather passed away,

(17:51):
my mom was just four years old, and my grandmother
had to raise five children on her own. This was
in nineteen fifty four, right fifty four, in the rural
deep south of Louisiana, and she worked in a white
man's kitchen for over twenty some years, making twenty five
dollars a week, sending five children to a Catholic school,

(18:14):
not really having the capacity to be there with her
children so you know, my older aunts and uncles, they
had to be the adults of the house at.

Speaker 4 (18:26):
Fourteen, fifteen, sixteen years old.

Speaker 5 (18:28):
And so my mom would always tell me of my
grandmother sacrificing and working tirelessly throughout her life and my
grandmother using her voice as much as she could, and
how you know, my mother always wishes that there was
resources and the opportunity for my grandmother to go to

(18:50):
school and to really get an education, because she was
so powerful and she would speak up, she would speak out,
and she never was afraid. And so I honestly truly
believe that is my grandmother who speaks through me, or
a Skidmoreheim, that was my grandmother that speaks through me
on a daily basis. And even I feel it even

(19:11):
more when maybe about in May or June, I was
published and quoted in the New York Times Voice of
the Protesters, and I shared my story of growing up
in Assumption Parish, which is known as Plantation Country, about
the effects of feeling ostracized as I mentioned to you earlier,

(19:32):
or having different peers saying different things that definitely negatively
impacted me. And it wasn't until attend HBCU that I
found my voice, But when it was initially published, I
was like, Mom, I was like, you know, I'm kind
of afraid because even though I do use my voice,
sometimes it is.

Speaker 4 (19:52):
A fearful feeling at.

Speaker 5 (19:54):
Times when you're in like like on a national platform
and people know who you are in your voice, you
know that people are watching you. You know that people
are either looking for your every move, you know, gaining
like even like influential power and things like that, And
so I was kind of fearful at first. My mom

(20:15):
was just like fearful of what, Like God has given
you this gift for one and as long as you
are speaking the truth, don't ever be afraid or intimidated
or feelful fearful of speaking the truth. And you know,
she was like, that is your grandmother and your grandmother's
grandmother and your ancestors that are speaking through you. So

(20:37):
I definitely feel that, you know, it's my ancestors that
are speaking through me and those who I may not
have gotten the chance or the opportunity to really meet.
But I mean it comes from somewhere, you know. I'm
passionate about it. I can speak about it for hours,
and I do get tired I get tired very much, so,

(20:57):
but you know, I love it. I'm very and it
just about like protecting the democracy, and I know that
I just I can't stop, you know, I just can't stop.

Speaker 2 (21:08):
Yeah. Do you feel as times that this is a blessing.

Speaker 3 (21:13):
And a curse for you where it's something that needs
to be done and you are the voice for the people.

Speaker 2 (21:18):
But at the same time, some you know, sometimes.

Speaker 3 (21:21):
People can feel like they're giving up a lot, or
they don't know what direction you're going. But obviously you
know what direction you're going.

Speaker 2 (21:27):
But do you feel that you have the weight of
the people on you at times?

Speaker 5 (21:32):
Yeah, I will say, being very transparent, like when the
Maud Aubrey murder took place, I would wake up with
my like my hands clenched in a fist, fighting anxiety,
couldn't sleep at night, waking up like angry, like literally

(21:53):
fighting in my sleep, and frustrated because I'm so used
to being a problem solver and all. So I know
that this incident wasn't the first, It definitely wasn't the last,
but I just felt so much, like you know, so
many innocent brothers and sisters who have been murdered and
taken away from us, and in fact, my article in

(22:14):
the New York Times was still crying the tears of
Emmit till. It's just like I felt everything on me
and I was so frustrated. But I will say that,
you know, if I remain angry or frustrated, then I
can't move the needle. So it's frustrating at times. But
I do see the needle slightly moving. I do see

(22:36):
the change within the state, even you know, it may
not be huge changes, but the needle is moving. The
continuous feeling of empowerment. When I'm changing the trajectory throughout
the state, it is very impactful. You know, last year

(22:57):
we did an amazing thing where fifty two percent of
voters in the state wide elections last year were black
folks were at equal percentage as our white counterparts and
a rural Deep South state and putting a Democratic governor
back in office. That was a big win for us.

(23:18):
Just about a week or so, well about a month ago,
we want a lawsuit against the Secretary of State trying
to protect democracy rights for the people with the mail
in ballots and early voting dates. You know, back in
twenty eighteen, the non unanimous jury law, you know UJC
that was passed. So it's things that are coming that

(23:43):
are positive. Right, we are able to restore rights for
those who were formerly incarcerated in them having the right
to vote.

Speaker 4 (23:51):
So things are coming to pass. But it's definitely frustrating.

Speaker 5 (23:55):
But I will say that it's important that you recharge
and take time for yourself and knowing that this isn't
the end. You know, there's still so much more to do.
And I even think about those who came before me again,
like you know, like Malcolm X, Martin, Luther King, Angela Davis,
Vannie lou Hammer. I think about all of these people

(24:16):
knowing that they had way more on their backs. Right,
it was, the world was completely different place at that point.
But I know at times they may have been frustrated
and may have been weary, but they found whatever it was,
whether it was their foundation in God, in Christ or
their religion or whatever it was, they pulled strength from

(24:40):
somewhere and they kept going. And I think that's what's
so important, Like you have to pull that strength from somewhere,
keep going. But it's okay if you rest. It's definitely
okay if you rest and you recharge because the work
will always.

Speaker 4 (24:55):
Be there and it's not going anywhere.

Speaker 3 (24:58):
And sometimes when you take a break to recharge, you know,
God brings somebody in your life that could kind of
help you. It's kind of like, you know, with that break,
you can see a lot more for a moment, and
then you can get back to focusing.

Speaker 2 (25:12):
You know.

Speaker 3 (25:13):
Now with the voice that you have for the people
in your podcast, How did how did the podcast come about?
And what was your first thought in creating your podcast,
like and how did you go about getting that set up?

Speaker 2 (25:28):
Again?

Speaker 5 (25:28):
It's about sharing my storing connected to my adolescent years
in my childhood. So before her story, I also have
an online store, Closet Fitness with the Cake and so
I created Closet Fitness because I was motivated going to
the gym because of bright colors and you know, cute

(25:49):
designs and things of that nature, right, And I thought
that it was definitely a means and a way to
motivate and empower other women to have a healthy lifestyle
and a holistic approach, which is eating right, feeling good,
and going to the gym. And that was important to
me to share my story behind Closet Fitness because I'm

(26:12):
a survivor.

Speaker 4 (26:14):
I was anorexic for years.

Speaker 5 (26:16):
The person that you see that may be so bold
and confident and that can stand in her own and
positive and who she is as a woman, that wasn't
a person in my adolescent years. You know, I was
definitely hard on myself, on my image, and it took
my mother's strong words and words of affirmation that definitely

(26:39):
put me in a much better space and loving myself
and accepting who I am. But instead of not eating
anymore and starving myself literally, I thought that it was
so important that I share my story about one of
the importance of having positive and influential adults in your life,
because if it was not for my teachers and adults

(27:00):
around me who paid attention and my parents who really
helped me and gave me words of encouragement, then I
would have been a completely different person.

Speaker 4 (27:11):
So it was closet fitness.

Speaker 5 (27:13):
Where I shared my story of anorexia and now how
it was important for me to go to the gym
and really look at the holistic approach of my body
and soul, making sure that the things that I put
in my body or you know, foo food for the soul,
food for the spirit of things that are going to
enrich me and that are healthy, and that I put

(27:36):
positive words. You know, life and death is in the
power of the tongue that I speak positive things that
I encouraged myself going to the gym. So that was
my story connected to closet fitness, and I wanted to
even make it more relatable outside of just fitness. So
literally it came to me at night and I was

(27:57):
asleep and I woke up and I said her, what
is this? Literally like her Story'm like what does this mean?
What does this mean? So it pondered on my mind
throughout the day. I actually went to the gym that
night and it was like I came back late.

Speaker 4 (28:13):
It was like a late workout. It was like eleven and.

Speaker 5 (28:15):
Twelve o'clock at night. I was like, you know what,
I'm going to start a podcast her story, and I
just wrote it all out. I was like, it's going
to be an acronym heroic and powerty resilient. I wrote
out everything and then I called one of my friends
who was a podcaster. But I called him at like
twelve thirty midnight, so he was freaking out. He was like,
oh my gosh, is everything, Okay, what's going Okay?

Speaker 2 (28:34):
Are you okay?

Speaker 4 (28:36):
It's like you never called me this sleep. I was like,
how do you start a podcast?

Speaker 5 (28:43):
And yeah, he like laid it out for me on
And it was from that point on that I knew
that it was important that I would share my story
about my experiences throughout my adolescent years and make it
relatable for all women to experience share their stories.

Speaker 2 (29:02):
You know.

Speaker 3 (29:03):
That's one thing where I like about podcasting, anything with
literature podcasting, that's something that you could leave, that's left behind.
That's that's they're in history. You're leaving your part in history,
and it's relatable at any time ten fifteen years from now,
somebody can go listen to one of your podcasts and
they'll be like, wow, I could really relate to that
because us as human beings, those topics that you talk

(29:25):
about are relatable at any time in history. So if
anybody's going through anything, you know, that's a documentary resource
that you can go to and pull from. And that's
what I like about it. And our listeners are going
to get a surprise because one thing I like about
your podcast is that I like your intro.

Speaker 2 (29:45):
Your intro is so powerful.

Speaker 3 (29:47):
What makes me want to pick up, you know, come
something and go walk up to the legislative steps and
say I want this put you know, put into action.

Speaker 2 (29:56):
But it's it's very powerful.

Speaker 3 (29:58):
So I encourage everybody to go listen to her story
podcast that's available on Google Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart SoundCloud, Sounds
and Apple and Apple so it's available everywhere you could
find it, and you know you will be impressed. So
voting's coming up. I know we touched a little bit

(30:19):
about voting for those who feel that their vote does
not matter. What could you tell them right now to
get them up into the polls or put in their ballot?
You know what, what word of encouragement could you because
this is gonna be aired on Monday, so right what
could you what could you tell them right now? Could
to kind of change their position on how they may think.

Speaker 4 (30:41):
Yeah, I would definitely tell them.

Speaker 5 (30:43):
You know, as I stated before, that voting is personal
because every elected official literally controls every quality of life.
So we can definitely see that this year more than
before that if your vote wasn't as important, suppression wouldn't
be real. When I'm looking at Louisiana, for instance, we

(31:03):
literally had to file suit against the Secretary of State
for us to get expanded early voting rights and laws
in place for us to.

Speaker 4 (31:12):
Vote by mail due to COVID.

Speaker 5 (31:14):
Then there were different things that weren't even told that
were disclosed in terms of putting your mail in ballot,
that it requires two postage stamps. So it was it's
like the power of black people, for one, in communities
of color, there is a fear because there are so
many people of color who are now organized more than

(31:38):
ever before, and so there is a fear of other
counterparts losing that power. So it's like if you think
that voting again, if we think that voting does not
impact your it impacts your landlord, It impacts your job,
It impacts your health insurance, it impacts how much funding

(31:58):
that you're going to receive within your or community. Everything
is connected. Every single policy measure is intersectional. It's connected
to each other. So you can't really complain about the
environment and what's around you and the things that you
see if you don't go to the polls and if
you don't vote, and you know, it's even you know,

(32:20):
some people, I know there's an argument where some people's
just like, oh, the elected officials.

Speaker 4 (32:25):
They don't care about us, da da da da.

Speaker 5 (32:27):
So what do you think being stagnant and staying at
home is going to do? Like, I'm a person of action, right,
so I'm going to keep thinking of strategic ways and
measures that I can utilize my voice and my power.
And that begins by going to the polls. That begins
by casting your vote. You can't say what is going
on around you. If you don't take action, you know,

(32:48):
you can't complain. So it's the same thing like you
you can't complain if school. If you're in school and
you didn't study for a test and you're failing the class, right,
you didn't give yourself, feed yourself the knowledge. You didn't
even at least try. So if you can't try, then
don't complain. And if there was anything that didn't awaken

(33:10):
your eyes more than ever beforeward this year with twenty twenty,
with the lack of financial recovery and relief, with the
lack of economic resources during COVID nineteen, with the lack
of infrastructure in place, with the hospitals, and our black
folks being disproportionately affected. If that didn't impact you enough

(33:31):
to be one of the main reasons that you should
go to the polls.

Speaker 4 (33:34):
I don't know what could.

Speaker 2 (33:37):
Excellent and well said.

Speaker 3 (33:38):
So our listeners at the Grind you heard Miss Jay
Jamison of her Story podcast. You can catch her at Instagram.
That's at her Story Underscore podcast that's playing right now
in SoundCloud, Apple Music, Google Play, anywhere you can find podcasts.
She's up and going and we really appreciate you joining
us on this morning.

Speaker 2 (34:00):
Links to your show will be on my website.

Speaker 3 (34:02):
So I want to share the theater with you here
and I want people to actually be empowered by going
to your website too and learning more additional knowledge. I
don't think I do all this by myself. That's why
we have a team of people, right. So she has
her voice, her outlet, her view on things that you
need to know as a community. So Miss je Jamison,
thanks for joining us on today and thank.

Speaker 4 (34:24):
You for having me.

Speaker 2 (34:24):
You have a good one, all right, you too,
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