Latest / Breaking The Meta / South Atlanta’s Future: Jonathan Bonner for State House
Transcript
- Breaking The Meta: you you Hello everyone. Welcome to Breaking the Meta. My name is Mike Wins. And today we are sitting down with Jonathan Bonner, who is running for Georgia's 68th house district. So excited to sit down and find out what you hope to do for, your district. Hello, Jonathan. Thank you for being here. Thank you for having me. It's an honor to be here and yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So as we start, if you wouldn't mind letting people know what, ⁓ who don't know Georgia, what area of Georgia is encompassed in the 68th district. So the 68th district is the South Atlanta district. So that's around Fayetteville, ⁓ Tyrone, Peachtree City, South Fulton, like Union City, and Fairburn. There's about 60,000 people in that district. So I will be representing 60,000 people. I am a native of Fayette County or District 68. So this is close to home and it's my community that I want to represent. So I'm very excited ⁓ and honored to have the opportunity. Absolutely. ⁓ So first off, can you give us a little bit, a little background on who you are and why you decided to run for George's house in the first place? ⁓ My name is Shadam Bonner again. ⁓ Running for state house has kind of been something. on not on my bingo card at all, or even being in politics. My family's very big and advocating for community and things like that. ⁓ Both my parents served in the military. They were in Desert Storm. From there, my sister teaches at a Title I school, giving back to the next generation. And just to add a little more sprinkles onto the ice cream is my brother. He's the assistant manager for the county for cafeterias. So he travels to all the schools in the district. feeding the kids and things like that. But we've always been in the community. We've been here for more than 40 years. And with all that being said, ⁓ I'm very big with just helping. ⁓ I'm currently just having more of a understanding of what a true leader is. And I've realized over time, a leader is someone that has been in the community, has had the leadership positions, has ⁓ proven actual like... track record of what he's done and or she has done in the community to help. And the community knows them, not someone that just popped up and said, Hey, I want to run for this position because you just, unfortunately, you just can't trust them in this day and age. But with that, I'm currently the vice chair of the Fayette Young Dems as well as the Georgia Young Dems. I am the vice chair of the veteran caucus as well as the labor caucus. So I'm very big with. ⁓ those two things and those represent my district very heavily as well as I'm just in a lot of civic organizations such as the, ⁓ the Elks. There are Elks, ⁓ they're a type of group in the community. They give back to the community, give brands and things like that, as well as I'm part of the Knights of Columbus. ⁓ so we're always doing something in the community and things of that matter, but just on data wise, if you want to know who, what else have you done other than being in the community? I fed over 2000 families last year alone. have given away $6,000 worth of school supplies in my community. Just last year, we have done a lot of community cleanups to the point where we did it in an area where a vacant landlord is now getting ⁓ his justice done. So the community gets to have that property and actually have stuff done. But that was because we showed up. We showed people what the community could really look like and we held them to be accountable. ⁓ and that's just many other things I can talk for days on that, but that's the type of leadership I want to bring to state house. And a lot of my policy represents that. So, that's awesome. Then that's, that's amazing. All that you've done for your community. So, ⁓ thank you. ⁓ as someone who's not in it, I'm still thankful that there are people like you that are doing stuff for their community. ⁓ so As you've gone around your district and talked to different people, what kind of pain points, what kind of things have come up that are the things that your district can use the most help with? So I would like to start off with this. One out of 10 people in my district are veterans. So that always sits home, especially with my family serving. We go all the way back to World War II. So I know the veterans, I know the VA, I know the struggles of that as well as being a caregiver. I was a caregiver to my father who was a disabled vet. So I saw the struggles of dealing with a, ⁓ going to the VA, a bunch of rural VA's or one rural VA basically got closed last year, which then made everyone go into one central area of, ⁓ veteran care, which backlogs a lot of people as well as I know a lot of people that work there. So. It is a horrendous job they're doing. It's not their fault, but there needs to be more support. There needs to be more money allocated in services allocated to our service, our veterans, and also taking the thought process of our caregivers. A lot of people don't realize you're not going to be young your whole life. Maybe one day you might need to live in an assistant facility or a senior care and things like that. Most people can't afford that. And they don't realize that until, unfortunately, The time is there. And in those moments, hey, you can't afford this, but what can you do? You can give me an asset of yours. Oh, that house you've lived here 30, 40 years that's in your family now is ours because you need to stay here. And unfortunately, you can't pass that down to your family now because they're taking care of that. As well as caretaking. You take care of someone. You have to miss work. You have to have certain jobs. You don't get paid for that. And those are the moments where people don't realize. until unfortunately you're in that position, there's no support. And I want to provide support. I want to give them an opportunity where it is an honorable job that you're doing taking care of someone, but you should still think about yourself as well. So that's one of my big points, ⁓ as well as just affordable healthcare, young or old, that is something that people have dealt with time and time again. I've had people, close friends of mine, I broke my arm. Are you going to the hospital? I can't afford it. or I can't take this ambulance ride. ⁓ I've had this bad cough for a month now and things like that. What happened? I can't afford to go see the doctor. George is ranked number eight in paying the most insurance policies and we're 48th or 44th ⁓ having uninsured people. So that should tell you a lot. So my goal is to fix that. And I know that's a challenging job, but you have to find ways and create safeguards for people or seniors or young people and just everyone. Absolutely. Absolutely. One of the other problems that we have, whether you're talking state or federal, Republican, Democrat, doesn't matter who you're talking about at this point, one of the biggest problems that we seem to have in this country is this idea of accountability when it comes to our politicians. So ⁓ one thing that I always will ask that I find one of the most important questions that I ask is, what does accountability look like to you? How do you want to be held accountable by your district? how do you see accountability going forward in the Georgia state legislature? ⁓ Accountability means don't take money from these big corporations. I think people get lost in that as well as I don't know if you're a millionaire, but if you are, it's still uh, anyone underneath that, it's hard to run for public office. It's hard to be in the state legislator. tell people, you only make $23,000, 24 around there for four months. Um, most shops don't let you leave for four months. Uh, so with that, uh, that's already hard enough, but even getting elected, the cost of getting a yard signs, palm cards, X, Y, and Z it's so much. No working class person usually can afford that or it's very hard for us to do that. So not taking the corporation, but being grassroots, letting people know where the money is coming from to make this happen, but also just being transparent for what's happening. And I think that's weekly updates. That's a town hall every month or every bi-weekly month. ⁓ And just so people know what's going on. think a lot of people aren't aware and a lot of people aren't simply educated. I wasn't for a period of time. I always tell people, just give people the basic terms of what I do and what's going on so they can digest it. Because if you give someone a big bill, most bills are, with a bunch of word garbage, you're not going to read that unless you're a lawyer or you just like to read things like that. But I want it to be simple and I want people to know. And that's my way of trying to be accountable as well as I give my number out to everyone. Call me, text me. I'm always available. And I give that throughout my district. Yeah, that could be a bad sign because I might get a call at 2 a.m. But I'm going to pick it up and I'm going to tell them, hey, let me help you when I wake up later on. But yeah, that's my goal to be easily accessible as well as you can find me and communicate. Obviously, the state legislature is a little bit different when it comes to how things run. Most of what you do involves just the state of Georgia. But Obviously, also in terms of things like elections, in terms, there are definitely also things that you interact with in regards to the federal government. How do you hope to help the state of Georgia in regards to ⁓ a lot of those things that maybe interact federally or, I mean, Georgia just ⁓ had the FBI come into, full county and take voting records. How do you hope to ⁓ help Georgia when it comes to those kinds of things? I always tell people ⁓ I represent my district, but then there's other people higher than me, my congressmen, my senators that represent me on the federal level. And I'm very big with working with them. I know them personally as a right now. And even that matters that trickles down to the lower levels, working with my city council, my County Commissioners, ⁓ Board of Education. And when you start to work with them, you get your policies, you get your agendas done, as well as you understand everyone's point of view and what's going on. A lot of elected officials don't do that. They kind of disappear and show up when it's elected. You can't do that. As well as you have to voice for your community. So I'm very big calling my congressman ⁓ as well as my senator. I will drive up and pull up on you and that's the opportunity. that shows that you care as well as it holds them accountable. Let's do a little bit of future casting. ⁓ Let's say you get through primaries, you get through general election, January comes around, you are sworn in ⁓ as a house representative of the state of Georgia, District 68. What's the first thing that you do? ⁓ Listen. And I think a lot of people don't realize that. You have to listen to your community before getting in there. But when you get into the state house, listen to the people that have been there. I'm very big with God has given us two ears and one mouth for a reason. And I want to listen to the people that have been there longer. I don't want to be that guy coming in. ⁓ I'm going to do this. We're going to do this. Hey, I tried that five years ago. You shouldn't go that way. Maybe if you talked to me before, you could have went in better. But my first thing is to listen. ⁓ and learn, but also be a studious person and talk to everyone. I'm very big with Republican, Democrat, independent. Doesn't really matter. I'm going to listen. I'm going to learn. I'm going to grow your voice. And that's really how you get your policy to get by. I'm very big fighting against Trump and very heavy Republicans, but at the end of the day, they're still my community. They're still the people I represent. You have to understand that. You can't isolate them or we get the current situation we're in now. That kind of goes really well into my next question, is what, so obviously there are everyone in your, maybe not everyone, but most people in your district, regardless of Republican, Democrat, left, right, whatever, are dealing with a lot of the same issues. And even though that's a reality, this administration, politics in general have convinced a lot of us that we are very, very different. What has it been like when you go around your district and you interact with someone who is a Republican, but they see you have a D next to your name? They always say, do you want to change? ⁓ We like you and things like that. And it's just very funny. I hear that way too much. you're, You're, I see you as a conservative Democrat. ⁓ and I'm like, whatever you think I am, whatever. But that tells me I'm resonating with you. That tells me that I am speaking on your language. I tell people it's how you articulate to left or right. Most of the time we're all on the same page. It's just how you say it. Cause if I say affordable housing, you think section eight, it could just mean basically giving any young person or someone that's trying to buy a home for the first time. affordability and things like that. But it's how you articulate it as well as just having policy. But I grew up in Georgia. It's a South. I've grown up with left and right my whole life. And some of my best friends are Republicans, die hard conservative. I get a little angry from time to time, but ⁓ I speak with them. They talk to me. They have a understanding that we can have a conversation and disagree, but still be Community and move forward on other things we can work on together. So there's that And it kind of gives them a sense of voting for me a much better grass. I know Unfortunately at times people don't want to vote for that Democrat even though it's a Republican area But when they understand he's gonna fight for me, he understands me. They're more willing to they might not promote it Yeah, actually goes into a very interesting side thought I had while you were talking. How do we get past, in your mind, how do we get past this idea of identity politics, which really is what it comes down to these people that consider themselves Republicans vote Republican because they've they've, whether they've been told or just always grown up believing that the only people that understand them and agree with them are Republicans, but you're obviously going in there and showing them that that's not actually true. How do you see us getting out of that, this constant cycle of identity politics? I tell people truthfully, and I'm very big with the Georgia Democratic Party. I think they're doing a great job right now, but truthfully, overall, we need to go into these rural areas, the Republican areas, because first time getting into politics heavy, ⁓ don't go over there to campus. They're Republicans. It's no help. And that's how you forget about those, those voter bases. hear that so, so much and irritates me because that person could be swayed to vote for your side. Oh, well that area, doesn't matter. think Texas recently, yesterday, they had a swing or a special election, a state Senate seat and swamp. 34 points swing. Yeah. Exactly. And that should tell you, get out in your community. I've changed a lot of people, unless you're from Georgia and heavy into politics. these swings that go ⁓ to the left, it's because we're getting out there. We're talking to those Republicans. They're talking to the rural areas. And when you do that, you start to get a lot of people that thought they were Republican, they're really Democrat. And not seem it, or not to seem like there's some crazy lunatics. And I always tell people, don't get trapped in a echo box. Democrat, Republican, regardless, talk to your community. Because before you tell them you're a Republican Democrat, you're perfectly fine. But once you say that, you, ⁓ I don't want to talk to them anymore. That's not community. That's forgetting about them. Yeah. What I'm hearing is we need to start putting faces to the people who are in, who consider themselves at least in the parties. Yeah. Show up, talk. ⁓ Don't tell them what you are. Most of time they'll be like, I like what you're saying. Then when you tell them, they're like, ⁓ geez, that's where you get the, ⁓ I like you though. You're different. So it's like, okay. Yeah. For anyone that has gotten this far into it, if there was one or two things that you would want to make sure that anyone who is listening comes away with knowing about you, about your, ⁓ about your campaign, what What would those one or two things be? ⁓ Figure out your why. Cause there's going to be times where it's, ⁓ I don't want to do this. I'm tired or I gotta ⁓ basically put out a lot of effort and understand regardless. I tell people, regardless of where this election ends, I'm still going to be the same person. I'm still going to be in the community regardless. And that should be kind of understanding. I understand a lot of people do this for many a plethora of reasons. Uh, but once you know your why, understand that you're committing to the community. You're committing to yourself and your family and X, Y, and Z, uh, to do something. So that, and then, um, talk to people, get mentors, talk to, uh, your city councilman, school board, X, Y, and Z. They'll give you the tips. Most of the time that's not the first time running in X, Y, and Z. They'll say, do this, do that. A lot of people kind of isolate themselves and say, I'll do it myself and I'll use Google to tell me everything. No, don't do that. It's a lot of things you learn real quick. yeah. Awesome. ⁓ So if, if anyone is interested in finding more, learning more about you and supporting your campaign, where can they find you? All my social media platforms are Bonner for Georgia and then My website is Bonner and then the number four, ⁓ house.com. Unfortunately, if you guys get the link of Georgia Bonner for ⁓ Congress, do not go to that. It will probably redirect you to Bonner for House. ⁓ till the time being, just understand, I'm for state house. This go around and understand. I'm excited. that's all I have. Yeah, absolutely. ⁓ And we'll make sure to put a link down below. So make life easier for everyone. Jonathan, thank you for coming in and spending some time with us. Let us get to know you. We really do appreciate it. For anyone else that ⁓ listened all this way, thank you so much. Please click all those links down below, the likes and shares and all this stuff down below. It really helps out me and my ability to keep doing this for all of you. ⁓ Just so you know, ⁓ this podcast is built on the idea of having hard conversations when necessary, breaking the status quo. and fighting for the idea that all people, no matter your race, religion, gender, or identity, deserve rights, respect, dignity, and safety. ⁓ So hopefully you all will ⁓ show Jonathan some support by watching this video and sharing it out with people, but also do this with everyone that we're interviewing. The goal is to interview as many people that are running for office, especially ones that aren't taking PAC money, that aren't taking corporate money, that are want real change, the change that we keep talking about. And the best way to help these people out is to give them visibility, give them name recognition. So when people go to the ballot, they go, ⁓ I remember hearing about this person. So please help out ⁓ not only Jonathan, but everyone who we're interviewing, because it really does help out a lot. Jonathan, again, thank you so much for being here. It was an honor to get to meet you and learn about you and your campaign. And we'll see everyone else next time on Breaking the Meta.