Latest / Stuff Mom Never Told You / SMNTY Interview: Melody Bray

Transcript

SMNTY Interview: Melody Bray · Stuff Mom Never Told You

0:05
Speaker 1: Hey, this is Annie and Samantha and welcome to Stephano
0:07
Speaker 1: never told your production of I Heart Radio. Yes, and
0:19
Speaker 1: welcome to another episode of Sminty. I'm not really sure
0:22
Speaker 1: why I need to do all that, but you know,
0:24
Speaker 1: it felt like it felt right. And because we have
0:28
Speaker 1: a special guest, special topic for to day, we want
0:31
Speaker 1: to go ahead and time stamp this because who knows,
0:35
Speaker 1: you may be listening to this in twenty eight or
0:38
Speaker 1: fifty or oh my god, our podcast is going to
0:41
Speaker 1: be existing in those times. I'm really scared. But for today,
0:46
Speaker 1: it is January two. It is a what day? Is
0:51
Speaker 1: this Thursday? One of our recording days. If you're wondering
0:55
Speaker 1: future people's we are stuck in pandemic life. Yes? Was
0:59
Speaker 1: that too much infer nation? No, just the right amount.
1:04
Speaker 1: But today is a great day. And you can tell
1:07
Speaker 1: I'm a little giddy and excited because we are back
1:09
Speaker 1: with our friend in front of the show and activist
1:12
Speaker 1: Melody Ray. I can't wait for this to be in
1:17
Speaker 1: the Smithsonian, guys, and they're listening to definitely let's drop
1:23
Speaker 1: some gems. I think we can. I think we can
1:26
Speaker 1: do it. You know that fear is that they're going
1:29
Speaker 1: to take this audio and be like, what was wrong
1:31
Speaker 1: with them? That's about right. It'll be one of those
1:34
Speaker 1: like you know, you go through. This was the impact
1:37
Speaker 1: of COVID. Look how loose their minds were. Look at
1:43
Speaker 1: these sad ladies. No, we're not sad again. I'm excited
1:48
Speaker 1: and pumped and ready because you are here. UM. And
1:51
Speaker 1: just in case the listeners are new or have not
1:54
Speaker 1: listened to the previous episodes with you guesting, can you
1:59
Speaker 1: introduce your self for our listeners? Yeah? Absolutely, thanks for
2:03
Speaker 1: having me back on. I always love hanging out with
2:06
Speaker 1: you ladies. UM. My name is Melody Bray. I live
2:09
Speaker 1: here in Atlanta, Georgia. We do not call it hot Atlanta, UM.
2:14
Speaker 1: Just for the record, just Atlanta, UM. And in our
2:18
Speaker 1: rooms and times, we've talked a lot about kind of
2:21
Speaker 1: my activists work with a group called the Georgia fifty
2:23
Speaker 1: five Project that was set on reelecting our current president
2:30
Speaker 1: Biden and Kamala into office here in Georgia, and we
2:33
Speaker 1: feel like we did a pretty good job at that. UM.
2:37
Speaker 1: And essentially it's just get out the vote organization, UM.
2:40
Speaker 1: So being able to do that make sure people felt
2:43
Speaker 1: empowered and knowledgeable about how to vote, where to vote,
2:46
Speaker 1: and why to vote. UM. And that's what we did. Yeah,
2:50
Speaker 1: and you're also part of the grassroots project in Atlanta
2:53
Speaker 1: which worked for UM those an house that we're having
2:56
Speaker 1: a housing issues or problems. I worked as well, worked
3:00
Speaker 1: with a group called city Roots at L UM and
3:04
Speaker 1: we have which I'm sure many of your listeners, regardless
3:07
Speaker 1: of where they are, are dealing with affordable housing issues
3:10
Speaker 1: in their areas as well. UM. And that's no different
3:13
Speaker 1: here in Atlanta. Wages are not increasing, but rent and
3:17
Speaker 1: mortgage definitely is UM And so our grassroots group, city
3:21
Speaker 1: Roots at l was working with our city on how
3:25
Speaker 1: to think a little more comprehensively of how do we
3:29
Speaker 1: approach the housing issue. Housing is connected to so many things, crime, healthcare.
3:35
Speaker 1: It really reaches into so many different areas of our
3:38
Speaker 1: societal life. UM, So trying to attack it in a
3:41
Speaker 1: way that maintains the human dignity of each person who
3:45
Speaker 1: lives in our city, right. UM. And we were so
3:48
Speaker 1: glad that you did come onto this show because you
3:50
Speaker 1: were able to kind of give us an in depth
3:52
Speaker 1: look about some of the problems and some of the
3:55
Speaker 1: issues as well as possible solutions that could happen for
3:58
Speaker 1: housing situations as well the voting right situation, which was
4:01
Speaker 1: a mess and as I had to, I had to
4:06
Speaker 1: correct myself. But with that, can you tell us what
4:10
Speaker 1: you've been up to recently? Because I'm very excited. Let's go. Yeah,
4:14
Speaker 1: just just jump right in. Yeah. Well, I decided that
4:18
Speaker 1: moving from in the streets to trying to be slightly
4:23
Speaker 1: more legitimate. Um, I have announced my campaign to run
4:27
Speaker 1: for a state Senate District thirty eight here in Georgia.
4:30
Speaker 1: So super excited about that and having an opportunity to
4:34
Speaker 1: represent a district that has not been represented in recent memory.
4:39
Speaker 1: So that's what I've been up to. I kind of
4:46
Speaker 1: felt like that was a great power flex, like a
4:48
Speaker 1: good move. I'm intimidated, but I like it. I like it.
4:53
Speaker 1: I love that because like me and her, when I
4:56
Speaker 1: was talking to her about coming back on the show,
4:58
Speaker 1: she was like, oh, that was a that was a
4:59
Speaker 1: really uh sly flags And I was like, who are
5:01
Speaker 1: you talking to? Flex and you're running for it? Like
5:08
Speaker 1: here's the thing though, I think that one of the
5:10
Speaker 1: things I learned working with George five project was that
5:14
Speaker 1: getting into the rooms of people who are in positions
5:17
Speaker 1: of power you quickly realize that these are human beings
5:20
Speaker 1: who happen to have responsibility that's public. You know, it's
5:25
Speaker 1: we have the same conversations about you know, regular everyday
5:29
Speaker 1: life and then we get to a policy discussion. But
5:32
Speaker 1: they're they're people, they're humans. And it removed a level
5:35
Speaker 1: of this like grand mystique that I had, which just
5:39
Speaker 1: being able to volunteer and hear that made me feel
5:42
Speaker 1: a lot more comfortable deciding to go ahead and run,
5:46
Speaker 1: because I too am a human um who has regular
5:50
Speaker 1: who deals in regular life. So if they can do it,
5:53
Speaker 1: so can I, and so can either review for As
5:55
Speaker 1: a matter of fact, I mean I haven't done a
5:59
Speaker 1: quick play in but recent times. Let us know that
6:06
Speaker 1: whatever is in your background really doesn't matter. That's true.
6:10
Speaker 1: I've actually told this story before, how I wanted to
6:13
Speaker 1: run for office when I was in college and then
6:15
Speaker 1: I got interviewed for an unrelated thing by the FBI
6:18
Speaker 1: for a friend who's trying to get security clearance, and
6:21
Speaker 1: I was listening to the questions they were asking about her,
6:23
Speaker 1: and I was like, I will never be able to
6:24
Speaker 1: pass this. I will never be elected. And now years
6:26
Speaker 1: have passed and I'm like yeah, I think it couldn't
6:31
Speaker 1: even be like an added bonus for you. She's mysterious.
6:39
Speaker 1: So I'm curious you've kind of touched on it a
6:43
Speaker 1: little bit already, but can you talk about the process
6:46
Speaker 1: of deciding to run and maybe some of the biggest
6:49
Speaker 1: surprises and biggest struggles and also the things have been
6:52
Speaker 1: the most rewarding kind of the whole the whole shebang,
6:55
Speaker 1: if you will. Yeah, I mean my process is deciding
6:59
Speaker 1: to run. If you're running, that means everyone in your
7:03
Speaker 1: in your orbit is also running. UM. So the first
7:06
Speaker 1: part of the process was talking to uh, my mom
7:10
Speaker 1: who her and I are very close, She's a major
7:12
Speaker 1: part of my support system, UM and my closest friends
7:16
Speaker 1: and asking them honestly, like, do you think this is
7:18
Speaker 1: something I feel compelled to do this? Do you think
7:21
Speaker 1: this is something that I should do? And if so,
7:25
Speaker 1: really you helped me UM, because no one individual can
7:29
Speaker 1: run and be successful. UM. So that that was a
7:33
Speaker 1: huge part of the process, UM. And it was encouraging
7:36
Speaker 1: just to be able to hear other people's vision for
7:39
Speaker 1: my life and things that they've seen that maybe I
7:43
Speaker 1: either thought was unnoticed or um didn't even really pay
7:46
Speaker 1: attention to UM and that we were all on the
7:48
Speaker 1: same page. So that was a huge part of the process. UM.
7:52
Speaker 1: And then there's the like nitty gritty part of sitting
7:55
Speaker 1: down with other people have done it like well before
7:58
Speaker 1: me and asked them what is it actually entail? How
8:02
Speaker 1: much time is this going to take? UM? Here in Georgia,
8:05
Speaker 1: our legislature are part time. The senators make seventeen dollars
8:10
Speaker 1: a year, So how am I going to pay my
8:13
Speaker 1: bills while I do this? Um? Kind of answering those
8:16
Speaker 1: practical questions though, that was a big thing too. But
8:20
Speaker 1: in the end, when I realized that the state senator
8:22
Speaker 1: for my district has been in that seat for twenty
8:24
Speaker 1: two years, she has been largely absent. For the past
8:28
Speaker 1: two years. She has not lodged a single vote. UM,
8:32
Speaker 1: including the big vote of s P two two here
8:35
Speaker 1: in Georgia that was our anti voting rights bill, didn't
8:38
Speaker 1: even show up for it. Um. Those types of things
8:41
Speaker 1: made it like if not now, when, and if not
8:46
Speaker 1: for for these reasons, if you if these aren't good
8:49
Speaker 1: enough reasons, then running just isn't for me. Um. So
8:53
Speaker 1: it was just the right time for me. Yeah, And
8:56
Speaker 1: speaking of that, and and kind of as we introduced
8:59
Speaker 1: you and issues that are important to you. Um, you're
9:04
Speaker 1: definitely someone who's seen a lot of changes in our
9:08
Speaker 1: community and in the policies that we have in our community. Um,
9:13
Speaker 1: so what are some things that you think are important
9:17
Speaker 1: for voters to pay attention to when it comes to
9:20
Speaker 1: issues and platforms. Sure, one of the things that I
9:23
Speaker 1: think all of us should probably be paying attention to
9:25
Speaker 1: right now is education. Um, it would seem that the
9:31
Speaker 1: far right conservatives have decided that this is going to
9:36
Speaker 1: be kind of the pivot issue for the mid terms
9:39
Speaker 1: that are coming up this year. And because of that,
9:42
Speaker 1: that's why you're going to notice a bunch of kind
9:45
Speaker 1: of crazy stuff popping off in your school board meetings,
9:49
Speaker 1: which whoever paid attention to school First of all, did
9:53
Speaker 1: you even know they have school board meetings? Um? What
9:56
Speaker 1: what they would talk about at school board meetings? And
9:59
Speaker 1: you certainly wouldn't go to one? Times have changed. They
10:03
Speaker 1: now have public comment that lasts for hours in some
10:06
Speaker 1: school board meetings, people are getting escorted out by the police. Um.
10:11
Speaker 1: You know, you've got coordinated signs and banners and T
10:14
Speaker 1: shirts and that's where all this like critical race theory.
10:17
Speaker 1: Discussion is coming up a lot of class whether you
10:20
Speaker 1: should or should not close schools due to COVID is
10:23
Speaker 1: coming up um and even here in Georgia, which is
10:25
Speaker 1: happening as well in other states. Is just like we've
10:28
Speaker 1: done redistricting as far as for congressional districts and state districts,
10:34
Speaker 1: also your cities and your school boards do their redistricting
10:38
Speaker 1: as well, and so how those school boards are going
10:42
Speaker 1: to draw their lines to make certain school board players
10:46
Speaker 1: more or less powerful. That's something you've got to pay
10:49
Speaker 1: attention to because that's directly going to affect the resources
10:53
Speaker 1: that are going to your teachers, how code is treated
10:56
Speaker 1: in your schools, all the things that are going to
10:58
Speaker 1: affect our children moving forward. I haven't even thought of
11:02
Speaker 1: that point, to be honest. There's so many bigger things
11:05
Speaker 1: in my head that I'm like, oh, yeah, this is
11:07
Speaker 1: on the local level that's going to really affect a
11:09
Speaker 1: lot of the people, a lot of the parents, a
11:12
Speaker 1: lot of the teachers, a lot of all of that,
11:13
Speaker 1: and we really should be paying attention to what is happening.
11:17
Speaker 1: And yeah, honestly, I've seen the drama of it without
11:19
Speaker 1: really thinking of the implications behind that, What are some
11:24
Speaker 1: of the other things that when it comes to especially
11:26
Speaker 1: with like the local elections, because we know this is happening,
11:29
Speaker 1: we know where I'm hearing all of the campaigning happening.
11:33
Speaker 1: I know for Georgia, but several other states are talking about, Okay,
11:36
Speaker 1: we have to make these lower level changes. What are
11:38
Speaker 1: some of the other things that we should look for
11:40
Speaker 1: as we know that it is doing a trickle up
11:43
Speaker 1: effect almost, I guess that's the word, but like, what
11:50
Speaker 1: should we be paying attention to in that level as
11:52
Speaker 1: it goes upwards to our federal level. Yeah, So another
11:56
Speaker 1: one that is kind of an undercard race, are going
11:59
Speaker 1: to be your judges and your d a s um
12:03
Speaker 1: We focused a lot on that in with all of
12:07
Speaker 1: all of the kind of let's get out into the
12:10
Speaker 1: streets and raise our voices. And now that's we're not
12:14
Speaker 1: doing that anymore. And because of that, my personal fear
12:18
Speaker 1: is that suddenly the spotlight on our criminal justice system
12:22
Speaker 1: will also just not really be at the forefront any longer.
12:26
Speaker 1: And yet still judges and your district attorneys are constantly
12:32
Speaker 1: making decisions that literally change the direction in life of
12:37
Speaker 1: people in communities. But these are voted on positions. Um,
12:41
Speaker 1: so paying attention to as best you can what your
12:45
Speaker 1: d A is doing. I know it might be a
12:48
Speaker 1: little bit of drudgery, but watching the nightly news, the
12:50
Speaker 1: local nightly news, they generally are going to come, they're
12:54
Speaker 1: not going to judge covering judges, but d A s
12:57
Speaker 1: that's sixy enough for them to actually talk about you
13:01
Speaker 1: know what I mean, any of those higher profile cases. Yeah,
13:05
Speaker 1: nothing sex year than a district attorney, am I right? Yeah,
13:13
Speaker 1: I've watch suits. So so yeah, that focusing on those
13:18
Speaker 1: things and not allowing all the work that we did
13:22
Speaker 1: in the streets in to just fall by the wayside.
13:26
Speaker 1: We've still got work to do there. Yeah. And and
13:29
Speaker 1: as you're talking about that, we also need to pay
13:30
Speaker 1: attention to like law enforcement and shriffs, which are also
13:34
Speaker 1: elected officials, because we just had a big incident in
13:37
Speaker 1: which our council members allowed for a large piece of
13:40
Speaker 1: property to be used in a way that not a
13:44
Speaker 1: lot of us are happy about when it comes to
13:46
Speaker 1: law enforcement being granted public anicely, I think it's private property,
13:50
Speaker 1: isn't it that happened? Uh? That that is it that
13:53
Speaker 1: was a public piece of property, But they're using some
13:55
Speaker 1: private dollars to develop that piece of that piece of land.
14:00
Speaker 1: And and in furtherance, there's actually here in Georgia, and
14:03
Speaker 1: I I mean, I don't think it takes a crystal
14:07
Speaker 1: ball to see that this would likely be replicated in
14:10
Speaker 1: other jurisdictions. But um, it was discussed yesterday that they're
14:14
Speaker 1: looking at allowing for individuals to donate directly to law
14:21
Speaker 1: enforcement agencies, so like your local pd S office, and
14:25
Speaker 1: that you get a state tax credit or right off
14:27
Speaker 1: for it. So it would act like you're donating to
14:30
Speaker 1: a nonprofit to incentivize increasing funding for So it's essentially
14:36
Speaker 1: it's the anti defund the police legislation, but it's like
14:41
Speaker 1: up fund the police or increased fund of the police,
14:44
Speaker 1: which it's it's clear that I mean, it is a
14:47
Speaker 1: fact that crime is rising. Um depends on what category
14:51
Speaker 1: of crime we're talking about, but it is a fact
14:53
Speaker 1: that crime is rising and something does have to be
14:55
Speaker 1: done about it. Is that the solution in my opinion now,
14:58
Speaker 1: But um, because of that hard fact, we can definitely
15:03
Speaker 1: see that far right we'll be pushing for increase in
15:06
Speaker 1: funding for policing. And again we need to be paying
15:10
Speaker 1: attention to who has control of those dollars and where
15:14
Speaker 1: those dollars are going to go. Yeah, yep. And something
15:32
Speaker 1: else that you mentioned earlier is that this kind of
15:36
Speaker 1: redrawing of districts, right, and that has happened recently in
15:40
Speaker 1: Georgia and our state. George isn't only state doing it.
15:45
Speaker 1: And I know it's been in the news and discussed
15:48
Speaker 1: a lot, but can you talk about why tactics like
15:50
Speaker 1: this are important for us to pay attention to and
15:52
Speaker 1: what we can do to call it out as it's happening.
15:57
Speaker 1: Mm hmm, yeah, so we we doubt we discussed this
16:00
Speaker 1: on a previous episode. It was when I was making
16:03
Speaker 1: sure that people filled out their census, which happens every
16:06
Speaker 1: ten years US constitutionally mandated. And the reason that you
16:10
Speaker 1: fill out of census is so that we know how
16:12
Speaker 1: many voters need to go in each of their respective districts,
16:16
Speaker 1: whether that's congressional or like I was talking about school board. Um.
16:20
Speaker 1: Just now, so based on these new census numbers, they
16:24
Speaker 1: now need to redraw districts so that generally the same
16:27
Speaker 1: amount of voters are in every district. We don't have
16:31
Speaker 1: one that has more voters than the district, right, next door. UM.
16:36
Speaker 1: So nationwide we just went through a redistricting process. What
16:40
Speaker 1: also happens is that it's done at the state level UM,
16:43
Speaker 1: which means essentially, whoever has the majority, whether it's Republican
16:47
Speaker 1: or Democrat, whoever has the majority at the state level
16:50
Speaker 1: are the ones to control where those lines land. So,
16:54
Speaker 1: for instance, here in Georgia, we had some redrawing where
16:58
Speaker 1: we had sitting legislatures, people who have been duly elected
17:03
Speaker 1: through a fair and open election voting process, who were
17:07
Speaker 1: drawn out of their own districts while they are trying
17:10
Speaker 1: to represent the district. Essentially those folks would be in
17:14
Speaker 1: the minority party and the majority party was trying to
17:17
Speaker 1: change their numbers. Not just in Georgia. Definitely is a
17:21
Speaker 1: cap and across the board UM, and this sets us
17:24
Speaker 1: up for midterm elections that are going to be happening
17:26
Speaker 1: at the end of this year. It creates a lot
17:29
Speaker 1: of open seats, So I would encourage you to see
17:32
Speaker 1: have your districts changed in your wherever you live, UM.
17:38
Speaker 1: And if they have changed that, what happens then is
17:41
Speaker 1: what's called an open seat where the incumbent is no
17:44
Speaker 1: longer running in that seat and now it's a bunch
17:47
Speaker 1: of people kind of throwing their hat in the ring
17:49
Speaker 1: to take over that open seat. So check and see
17:52
Speaker 1: if any of your districts have changed, because you might
17:55
Speaker 1: not be represented by who you think you've been represented by. Yeah,
17:58
Speaker 1: I had to go through at the beginning with you.
18:01
Speaker 1: We're like, wait, am I okay, let's let's okay, Like,
18:04
Speaker 1: I definitely have to checklist with you about that because
18:07
Speaker 1: we were trying to figure that one out. Um. As
18:09
Speaker 1: in fact, it's such a big deal, uh, and it
18:12
Speaker 1: has caused such kind of worries of rucas. But with
18:16
Speaker 1: that as well as the new bill that you just
18:19
Speaker 1: talked you talked about recently that was signed into what
18:23
Speaker 1: you referred to as the anti voting rights bill, and
18:25
Speaker 1: I agree with that cinement. Uh, that just got signed.
18:29
Speaker 1: We had a whole thing happened with the arrest of
18:32
Speaker 1: another representative, Cannon, because she was trying to be present
18:35
Speaker 1: during the signing, which was a whole debacle, I would say. Um.
18:40
Speaker 1: And because it was such a big deal and because
18:43
Speaker 1: Georgia does represent such a big conversation, President Biden and
18:47
Speaker 1: actual President Harris came through Georgia the other day to
18:50
Speaker 1: talk about and bring awareness about voting rights as well
18:54
Speaker 1: as the Voting Rights Amendment and whether or not anything's
18:57
Speaker 1: going to change. And again, as we know, our governor
19:00
Speaker 1: did decide to sign away some of those concerns UH
19:04
Speaker 1: and almost kind of backing the idea that the votes
19:08
Speaker 1: from the recent elections were not correct. He didn't say it,
19:13
Speaker 1: but there was definitely an implication. Why do you think
19:17
Speaker 1: that this conversation these could keep going? What is the
19:20
Speaker 1: impact that we're going to see with that bill specifically
19:24
Speaker 1: that has been signed by Kemp And what do we
19:27
Speaker 1: need to do as the voters to make sure that
19:31
Speaker 1: that we do get a fair chance to vote. Yeah,
19:35
Speaker 1: one thing I first off just want to encourage everyone
19:38
Speaker 1: to do. Uh. Are one of our state senators, Reverend
19:42
Speaker 1: Raphael Warnock. He had a speech on the floor of
19:46
Speaker 1: the Senate when they were just looking to pass the budget.
19:48
Speaker 1: If you google Warnock voting Rights or Voting Rights Senate, UH,
19:53
Speaker 1: Senate speech, it will pop up and he speaks. It's
19:56
Speaker 1: maybe fifteen seventeen minutes, amazing, a powerful speech on why
20:03
Speaker 1: the John Lewis Voting Rights Act nationally is something that
20:07
Speaker 1: we need to do everything we can to take up
20:11
Speaker 1: because In the end, you can care about criminal justice reform,
20:15
Speaker 1: you can care about education, you can care about policing,
20:19
Speaker 1: all these things that are important. But if you do
20:22
Speaker 1: not have access to the ballot box, how do you
20:24
Speaker 1: actually ensure that any of those other things get done?
20:28
Speaker 1: So SP two O two here in Georgia is an
20:31
Speaker 1: example of the same type of stuff that's going on
20:34
Speaker 1: in other places like Arizona, for instance. It is a
20:37
Speaker 1: prototype bill and in many ways has made it more
20:42
Speaker 1: difficult and more cumbersome to be able to vote things
20:46
Speaker 1: like a for instance, UM which I think is illustrative.
20:50
Speaker 1: Absentee ballot boxes, which are new, admittedly because of COVID,
20:56
Speaker 1: but the purpose of it was so that working class people,
20:59
Speaker 1: people would end of five jobs, would be able to
21:01
Speaker 1: still cast their ballot easily. Well. Now here in Georgia,
21:05
Speaker 1: absittee ballot boxes are inside the Elections Commission office that
21:11
Speaker 1: closes at five o'clock. You could why do we need
21:15
Speaker 1: a box, just go in and drop it off when
21:17
Speaker 1: we're even talking about right So to me, the idea
21:20
Speaker 1: of like that begs the question why you changed the law.
21:25
Speaker 1: If either you're incompetent and you're solved improperly solving a problem.
21:30
Speaker 1: You've stated a problem and you've come up with a
21:32
Speaker 1: solution that does not actually solve that problem, or the
21:35
Speaker 1: problem you're stating is not the problem you're actually seeking
21:38
Speaker 1: to solve. Okay. Second example would be UM I D
21:42
Speaker 1: requirement for voting. It is across the board, the majority
21:46
Speaker 1: of Americans agree that there should be some sort of
21:48
Speaker 1: I D requirement for voting. In SP Two to what
21:52
Speaker 1: they did is they just you're all you need is
21:54
Speaker 1: a photo copy of your license to be submitted with
21:58
Speaker 1: your absentee ballot. How secure as a photocopy of a license?
22:04
Speaker 1: I can literally go to my mom's wallet on my
22:07
Speaker 1: little desktop printer print off fourteen of those if I
22:11
Speaker 1: wanted to. Whereas you've got places like Oregon or Colorado
22:15
Speaker 1: that are using or either using or looking at using
22:18
Speaker 1: UM scantron and pin systems like we do it banks
22:22
Speaker 1: who actually care about security. It's in your brain. Unless
22:26
Speaker 1: I ask my mom tell me what your pen is?
22:28
Speaker 1: She and if I did, she'd be like, what do
22:30
Speaker 1: you need my pin for? You have to actually use
22:34
Speaker 1: that scantron and pin in your number so that that
22:38
Speaker 1: can be associated with your vote. So again, the statement
22:42
Speaker 1: is we're trying to make it more secure. We're trying
22:45
Speaker 1: to make sure that our elections are are wrought with
22:49
Speaker 1: rampant fraud, and the way that you've decided to solve
22:53
Speaker 1: that is photo copied licenses. That doesn't make sense to me,
22:59
Speaker 1: So I'm to step down off off my soapbox or
23:02
Speaker 1: just a moment. The point of fact is that all
23:06
Speaker 1: is pushed towards the Voting Rights Act being done at
23:09
Speaker 1: the federal level is because we have the Supreme Court
23:13
Speaker 1: removed any sort of oversight, federal oversight over state elections,
23:18
Speaker 1: and once that removal occurred, these are the cascading effects
23:22
Speaker 1: that come from that. So a v r A would
23:26
Speaker 1: allow us to actually look at things like what Georgia
23:29
Speaker 1: with Arizona, um, what Alabama are doing and make sure
23:34
Speaker 1: that they're still allowing for fair and free elections and
23:39
Speaker 1: having everyone have access to vote. Yeah. Yeah, And I
23:43
Speaker 1: think it's an important point, in a good point that
23:45
Speaker 1: you make that it's sort of similar to the abortion
23:48
Speaker 1: thing we're seeing happening, where this is a prototype, but
23:51
Speaker 1: other places are looking and watching at what Georgia is doing. Correct. Yeah,
23:57
Speaker 1: So it's very important, very very important. So you've already
24:13
Speaker 1: touched on some very great practical advice for people who
24:18
Speaker 1: might be thinking about running for their local elections. Um,
24:22
Speaker 1: any other advice you might have, whether for people running
24:25
Speaker 1: or even people want to support or provide some kind
24:28
Speaker 1: of assistance in that way. Yeah, well, first of all,
24:32
Speaker 1: you can support me at break dot com. I'm playing,
24:38
Speaker 1: I'm playing so being being the candidate. UM, I can
24:43
Speaker 1: say that, like I said at the very beginning, no
24:45
Speaker 1: candidate is able to run on their own. They need
24:49
Speaker 1: a support system around them. So if you're looking at
24:53
Speaker 1: yourself and you're like I would never in a million
24:56
Speaker 1: years decide that I was going to run for office,
24:59
Speaker 1: that doesn't mean that you can't be involved in a campaign.
25:02
Speaker 1: It doesn't mean that you can't host a house party
25:05
Speaker 1: for a candidate that you're jazzed about and you want
25:07
Speaker 1: other people to know about. Doesn't mean you can't donate,
25:11
Speaker 1: go to their website, donate, repost your on your Instagram
25:15
Speaker 1: and your Facebook, raise awareness for them. All of those
25:18
Speaker 1: things are incredibly important to the candidate to get people
25:22
Speaker 1: into positions to make the changes that we need to
25:26
Speaker 1: push society forward. So you don't have to run, but
25:30
Speaker 1: I would encourage you to please identify folks who are
25:34
Speaker 1: running and actively support them. Give them money, repost host parties,
25:41
Speaker 1: talk about them to your friends, and make sure that
25:44
Speaker 1: if they're going to put their neck on the line,
25:46
Speaker 1: they're doing it with your support behind them. Yeah, I
25:50
Speaker 1: think that's that's such a I was telling Samantha the
25:53
Speaker 1: other day. I know that people wouldn't use it this way,
25:56
Speaker 1: but I wish that not only do we have a
25:57
Speaker 1: national holiday for elections and we have the days, that's
26:02
Speaker 1: one of the proposals, and I want it, but I
26:05
Speaker 1: also wish there was a second day where you just
26:08
Speaker 1: like got to sit down and think about like research.
26:14
Speaker 1: So I think wouldn't it because I think it's so
26:17
Speaker 1: valuable what you're saying is to have somebody because I
26:19
Speaker 1: know for a lot of people, I'm very fortunate and
26:22
Speaker 1: I had the time to sit because we had a
26:24
Speaker 1: recent election in Atlanta and there was a lot on
26:26
Speaker 1: that ballot And we've talked before about how a lot
26:30
Speaker 1: of the language is often confusing, sometimes the information is
26:33
Speaker 1: hard to check down. So I think that's so valuable
26:37
Speaker 1: if you can just talk to people who maybe don't
26:40
Speaker 1: have the time or could really use some like you know,
26:42
Speaker 1: if you think this is important and I really like
26:44
Speaker 1: this person who check out this person. I'm not saying
26:47
Speaker 1: we should all be involved to be responsible, educated voters,
26:50
Speaker 1: but I think that a part of that can be
26:52
Speaker 1: for people of us who do have the time and
26:56
Speaker 1: can research these things to you know, spread that information, like, yes,
26:59
Speaker 1: I think you really be in to this person. I'm
27:01
Speaker 1: really excited about this person. Yeah. And my hope as well,
27:04
Speaker 1: coming out of kind of the political landscape change is
27:09
Speaker 1: that we America just we're we're not as politically involved
27:16
Speaker 1: and inclined as other countries um around the world, and
27:20
Speaker 1: it felt like in the last two years we're kind
27:23
Speaker 1: of pivoting a little bit toward that. So to to
27:28
Speaker 1: do it together, sharing information so that we're not all
27:32
Speaker 1: in asylo looking things up on our own um and
27:36
Speaker 1: sharing those types of resources are incredible. And even any
27:39
Speaker 1: of what you're saying about it being a national holiday
27:42
Speaker 1: reminded me in it's either Australia or New Zealand that
27:47
Speaker 1: it it's not just that it's a national holiday, it's
27:49
Speaker 1: also you get fined if you don't vote, so it's
27:54
Speaker 1: a national holiday. Everybody's in line, and even if you're
27:57
Speaker 1: if even if you want to abstain, like I don't
28:00
Speaker 1: like any of these people, you still have to go
28:02
Speaker 1: to the ballot box and check up stain like I'm
28:04
Speaker 1: not voting for any of you losers. Which is fine,
28:07
Speaker 1: that's your that's your right, um, and sometimes that's your obligation.
28:12
Speaker 1: I would say, but you know, I would love to
28:14
Speaker 1: get to the point where as a country we put
28:18
Speaker 1: such an emphasis on the importance of voting that you
28:23
Speaker 1: were in the ninety ninety percentages of people showing up
28:27
Speaker 1: to vote. That'd be a dream. Yeah, yeah, and not
28:30
Speaker 1: just for like the federal election, correct, Yeah, because definitely.
28:36
Speaker 1: Annie and I had the moment during our local election
28:39
Speaker 1: of like, I thought I was prepared, and then I
28:41
Speaker 1: went and I'm like, I didn't know what these were.
28:43
Speaker 1: I had no idea. I didn't know what to do
28:44
Speaker 1: with us. So I just stared at it for a minute.
28:46
Speaker 1: I had a moment of panic because I went and
28:48
Speaker 1: found a sample ballot and I researched it. I was like, Okay,
28:50
Speaker 1: I got it. And then I went in and there
28:52
Speaker 1: was a sample ballot like on the Bolton board. It
28:54
Speaker 1: was completely different in the ballot, but no, it was
28:57
Speaker 1: told the actual ballot was the one I saw mine
29:01
Speaker 1: like that one on the bulletin board made me panic
29:03
Speaker 1: and I say, oh no, I'm gonna have to turn around,
29:07
Speaker 1: get out of here, immediately, go home. It's over, it's done. Yeah,
29:15
Speaker 1: And I think it's going to be an interesting conversation
29:18
Speaker 1: as what is given access to once again, because yeah,
29:21
Speaker 1: part of the voting right stuff is that conversation of
29:25
Speaker 1: who has accessibility and who is allowed and given that
29:28
Speaker 1: time because some of the things that we're happening with
29:31
Speaker 1: this new build that signed into in Georgia seems very ablest,
29:34
Speaker 1: and yet there's no way to actually combat that in
29:37
Speaker 1: the manner that they are listening and just say no, no,
29:40
Speaker 1: no, no no, no, that's not what you think. They have opportunities. Yeah,
29:43
Speaker 1: they might have to wait three hours, but it's there.
29:45
Speaker 1: You know. It's kind of this layer of where who
29:49
Speaker 1: is this again? Who is this for? What are we doing?
29:52
Speaker 1: And even knowing that, it almost takes a law degree
29:55
Speaker 1: to understand some of the policies they're trying to enact
29:58
Speaker 1: and to understand what they're doing, because I literally have
30:02
Speaker 1: to follow my law friends to dissect and tell me
30:05
Speaker 1: what this law is saying. Even though it sounds great
30:08
Speaker 1: and it's positive law centric wording, but in actuality, it's
30:14
Speaker 1: really really bad and it's gonna be hard to overturn
30:16
Speaker 1: if this goes through like those levels of like conversation
30:20
Speaker 1: of this shouldn't be this difficult for us to understand
30:23
Speaker 1: what I'm voting for. I shouldn't be tricked into trying
30:27
Speaker 1: to figure out do I agree with this or just disagree?
30:30
Speaker 1: Did I just give money away or take money away?
30:33
Speaker 1: I don't understand, which I feel like happens too often.
30:37
Speaker 1: And yeah, of course we would love to research it.
30:39
Speaker 1: But I will tell you, even when I was researching things,
30:41
Speaker 1: because you know, when we had the original just recently,
30:44
Speaker 1: our election happened and then we had to do runoff,
30:47
Speaker 1: and in that runoff was still a lot more policies,
30:51
Speaker 1: and I was like, wait, I thought it was just
30:52
Speaker 1: these three things. Now I have eight things and I
30:55
Speaker 1: didn't know about it. But even me trying to google
30:57
Speaker 1: those beforehand, I still couldn't get at a clear answer
31:01
Speaker 1: of what it was. It just said, yes, this, this
31:04
Speaker 1: is going to be on the ballot. Good. So one
31:06
Speaker 1: thing I would I would suggest and this, this might
31:09
Speaker 1: actually be more helpful for folks that are listening who
31:12
Speaker 1: live in metro areas and a little more difficult in
31:15
Speaker 1: rural areas depending on where you are. But your local parties,
31:19
Speaker 1: so you're count fill in the county name dems UM,
31:23
Speaker 1: so for you know, Cobb County Dems, Fulton County Dems,
31:26
Speaker 1: whoever it is, they generally were going to have your
31:28
Speaker 1: monthly meetings. Elected officials do show up to these because
31:33
Speaker 1: these are the same arms that help them fundraise and
31:35
Speaker 1: do house parties and all the kind of stuff. When
31:37
Speaker 1: things are on the ballot, they talk about it and
31:40
Speaker 1: they're standing right in front of you. So Samantha, you
31:43
Speaker 1: can say, I've heard when you just said, but that
31:46
Speaker 1: that actually didn't make sense, Like can you re explain that?
31:50
Speaker 1: Or someone down the street told me that I'm actually
31:53
Speaker 1: you know, I thought it was what you said, but
31:55
Speaker 1: that I'm wrong. Can you can you dig a little deeper?
31:59
Speaker 1: And it's one of the few opportunities that we have
32:01
Speaker 1: a citizens to be standing in the same room as
32:03
Speaker 1: an elected official and ask them a question without a
32:08
Speaker 1: time a timer on a public comment or something like that.
32:11
Speaker 1: So check your local Democratic parties, your Young DEM's UM,
32:18
Speaker 1: those groups as well, and they do forums on this
32:22
Speaker 1: stuff as it comes up, UM, and it's you know,
32:25
Speaker 1: you're able to actually ask questions, and if you can't
32:28
Speaker 1: make it in person, they usually have it on Facebook
32:31
Speaker 1: live or on YouTube as well. That's some more great
32:33
Speaker 1: advice yep. So before we wrap this up, is there
32:39
Speaker 1: anything else that you wanna touch on, any important issue
32:43
Speaker 1: on your mind? Anything like that. So we're coming up
32:46
Speaker 1: on mid terms. UM. I know we're only in January, UM,
32:50
Speaker 1: and mid term elections will be in November. And this
32:52
Speaker 1: is you know, every two years, you've got kind of
32:56
Speaker 1: the big one on every four and then two every
32:58
Speaker 1: year in between two years in between you're voting on
33:02
Speaker 1: your your legislators and here in Georgia we're voting on
33:05
Speaker 1: our governor races and secretary of state and all of
33:10
Speaker 1: those other things. Start paying attention now because we're in
33:15
Speaker 1: the primaries right now. This is the time when people
33:17
Speaker 1: are having to say anything and everything in order to
33:21
Speaker 1: make sure that their base shows up. And if you're
33:25
Speaker 1: not paying attention right now, you're not going to notice
33:27
Speaker 1: when they pivot to the middle. Um, come June, July, August. Uh.
33:33
Speaker 1: And for me, when I notice a hard pivot, it
33:36
Speaker 1: makes me wonder how on it like, are you lying
33:38
Speaker 1: now or were you lying then? You know? But when
33:40
Speaker 1: you have the people that in the primaries said the
33:43
Speaker 1: same thing that they're saying in the general, that's points
33:45
Speaker 1: for me that you have a north star that you're
33:49
Speaker 1: moving toward in some way, shape or form. So start
33:53
Speaker 1: paying attention now. Resist the urge to delay until a
33:59
Speaker 1: couple of weeks before the election in November. Um, even
34:02
Speaker 1: if that's just you know, scroll on the headlines in
34:04
Speaker 1: your local newspaper, uh and seeing what's come out each Sunday.
34:09
Speaker 1: You know, take smaller moments now so you're not waiting
34:12
Speaker 1: and doing three hours of googling the night before. Can
34:14
Speaker 1: we do that? How do you story for a reason?
34:25
Speaker 1: That's fair? Well, thank you so much as always Melody
34:31
Speaker 1: for being here and for the great advice that we're
34:33
Speaker 1: so excited to talk to you and so excited to
34:35
Speaker 1: see what happens and to check in with you later.
34:38
Speaker 1: Thank you. Yes, where can our listeners find you and
34:41
Speaker 1: how can they support you? Absolutely so? You can check
34:46
Speaker 1: out my website at bray for g a Senate dot com. Um.
34:49
Speaker 1: There is a donate length there if you feel so inclined.
34:53
Speaker 1: My financial disclosures are coming up on January one, and
34:57
Speaker 1: that's when you show just how strong you are. And
35:00
Speaker 1: so my policy priorities are there. So if you want
35:02
Speaker 1: to know what I'm about, it's at Bray for g
35:05
Speaker 1: A Senate dot com and that's Bray b r A
35:08
Speaker 1: y um. That's right. I'm someone who's always like making
35:14
Speaker 1: spelling more difficult than it needs to be. So for
35:16
Speaker 1: anyone out there like me, yes, go check that out.
35:19
Speaker 1: Listeners again, thank you so much Melody for being here.
35:23
Speaker 1: Thank you guys. Yes, we look forward to to speaking
35:27
Speaker 1: again soon and the listeners. If you would like to
35:29
Speaker 1: contact us, you can or emails Stuff Media mom Stuff
35:32
Speaker 1: at i heeart meta dot com. You can find us
35:34
Speaker 1: on Instagram at stuff I Never Told You are on
35:35
Speaker 1: Twitter app mom Stuff Podcast. Thanks as always for our
35:38
Speaker 1: super producer, Christina, Thank you and thanks to you for
35:40
Speaker 1: listening Stuff I Never Told You The production of I
35:42
Speaker 1: Heart Radio for More podcast on My Heart Radio with
35:44
Speaker 1: the Harry do App, Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen
35:47
Speaker 1: to favorite shows