00;00;08;22 - 00;00;51;00
Rev. Will Mebane
Hello, dear friends, and welcome home to, the latest episode of The Conversation. It's a time when we address issues regarding race and racism. When we ask individuals from around the Falmouth community to chime in with us in response to a couple of questions, and we'll have some in-studio guests as well. And of course, I'm joined today by Angela Scott Price, co-producer and co-host of The Conversation here on IFC TV.

00;00;51;02 - 00;01;23;03
Rev. Will Mebane
So, it's been all about the elections recently. If you're like me, you're grateful that, votes have been cast, and we can now rid ourselves of some of those annoying commercials that have been running and ads we've been seeing from various candidates. But I guess that's a necessary evil. That's part of the democratic process, which we are fortunate to be a part.

00;01;23;05 - 00;02;01;11
Rev. Will Mebane
So today we are going to be looking at the issue of voter suppression, particularly particularly as it relates to race and racism. And we're going to be asking people to respond to two questions. One of them is what concerns, if any, do you have concerning voter suppression, particularly as it relates to race and racism? And our second question will be how do we motivate people to exercise that right, if they are facing voter suppression?

00;02;01;14 - 00;02;12;22
Rev. Will Mebane
So those are two questions for the day. Why don't we go now to hear what our people on the street have to say in response to our first question?

00;02;13;09 - 00;02;39;24
Joel Smith
Yes, I have a lot of concerns about voter suppression. I would start just with the term voter suppression. It sounds so benign. It's not just suppression. It's the deprivation of the constitutional rights of our fellow citizens. And it's and it's systematic and it's widespread. So I have very deep concerns about voter suppression, voter suppression that's being used in racist ways.

00;02;39;26 - 00;02;52;29
Joel Smith
And even larger just voter suppression that's being used largely in urban areas for political ends. This is this is a very serious infringement of people's constitutional rights.

00;02;53;01 - 00;03;04;24
Lionel Hall
What does the Cape Cod member I don't think of voter suppression and concerns, because I haven't faced any. But in the country or nationally, I do believe that those, issues are very important.

00;03;04;26 - 00;03;17;02
Lionel Hall
The redistricting of, spaces and, district lines and things like that, I think are terrible and that you have to get involved in, in the local politics to prevent those types of things.

00;03;17;04 - 00;03;51;24
Rev. Will Mebane
Well welcome back. Well, we've heard from a couple of folks on the street in response to our question about voter suppression and what concerns they might have. And we want to now bring our in-studio guests into the conversation as well. We are fortunate to be joined by several individuals who can speak to the subject from their own perspectives and our own points of view, and their own experiences.

00;03;51;26 - 00;04;32;04
Rev. Will Mebane
I want to introduce, Joanna McWilliam. Joanna is a, resident now of Falmouth. Since 2010. Born in Los Angeles, California, the product of parents who were politically active and engaged and engaged in social justice issues and she has had her own experiences in around the issue of voter suppression, particularly back in the 60s and when she had a chance to work with an organization called scope.

00;04;32;06 - 00;04;50;12
Rev. Will Mebane
And I'm going to ask her to begin our conversation by sharing a little bit about how she got involved in scope and what scope was and the work in which it was involved. So welcome, Joanna, to the conversation.

00;04;50;14 - 00;05;16;09
Joanna McWilliam
Thank you very much. It's so nice to be here. Yes. I think for many of us, the bloody Sunday experience on television of the, peaceful protesters being attacked by, by by troopers, state troopers and sheriffs and so forth. And the violence that we saw against peaceful people protesting the right to vote motivated many of us.

00;05;16;09 - 00;05;39;18
Joanna McWilliam
And in fact, Ken came to UCLA, where I had gone to school and, knew that there was, an expectation that there would be pressure to pass a Voting Rights Act that year. And he wanted to be prepared for it. So he, he developed a program called Scope, the summer community organization project, and Political Education Project.

00;05;39;21 - 00;06;01;05
Joanna McWilliam
And it was meant to bring volunteers from different parts of the country to work on a voter registration program in, six of the southern states. And so we joined with, several other members, and we drove across the country and we, were trained in Atlanta by some remarkable people and then sent out to our, respective counties.

00;06;01;07 - 00;06;36;24
Joanna McWilliam
And that summer, there were 49,000 voters. There were registered. And in that summer of August 7th, I believe it was August, early August, Lyndon Johnson signed the Voter Registration Act, which is, you know, in 2013, the Supreme Court, legend. But for that time, we did work in, communities that were quite poor and in one place in Georgia and one of the counties, just under 50% of the community of black Americans were functionally illiterate over 25 because the educational system had been so terrible.

00;06;36;26 - 00;07;05;10
Joanna McWilliam
And the intimidation that we saw, when we were doing our, our literacy workshops and taking people to the polls to register and they were shouted at and, and it was, it was an eye opening for all of us. And I think it very much, and so as a result of that, I wrote a little piece when the 2013 decision came down from the Supreme Court to get the preclearance, requirement for, for states to change their voter laws.

00;07;05;10 - 00;07;27;19
Joanna McWilliam
And, and it was very sad because many people were beaten and, and, I myself was coming back from a freedom rally. We were living with black families and in the South and they tried to turn my car over. And one of the things we had one of our volunteers, Lee Roy Moten, who you may remember was riding with the old viola also when she was shot, and whether that bullet was meant for him or not.

00;07;27;26 - 00;07;56;10
Joanna McWilliam
But the idea was, is we were told never to have anyone go on a parallel side to you. You go off in the ditch. And so we did. And, and our, our, our host family lost his job. Signs were cut up. We had a, a freedom rally in front of the courthouse with a Robert E Lee, statue and the American Nazi Party headquartered and founded in Arlington, Virginia, sent one of their hate busses down, and they put in huge bags of wasps and hornets in the hedges around the rally.

00;07;56;14 - 00;08;18;01
Joanna McWilliam
And so we, we were, quickly dispersed, but our job was also to check on public accommodations to see whether or not the laws were being followed, to, oppose the white signs only, for whites only. So between the literacy workshops, the voter registration, it was a busy summer, but it was a very worthwhile summer.

00;08;18;01 - 00;08;34;20
Joanna McWilliam
And I met some of the most amazing people. There is a book that's been written about it called The Bright Spot Hours, by a Californian. And I'm sadly don't have the book, but it's coming on Friday. Just to kind of summarize the summer. But I think it changed all of us.

00;08;34;22 - 00;09;15;13
Rev. Will Mebane
Well, that was indeed a summer that I actually remember myself. And, that was the summer when John Lewis, was beaten at the Edmund Pettus Bridge. That's also the summer when other freedom, riders were were murdered. Remembering that, especially Michael Schwerner, James Chaney and Andrew Goodman. And as I was preparing for this show, Joanna and I saw that you had been among those, going to the South and engaging in that very courageous work.

00;09;15;16 - 00;09;54;01
Rev. Will Mebane
I was I was reminded of, Jonathan Myrick Daniels, a name probably not well known to most folks, but Jonathan Daniels was a seminary student at the, Episcopal Theological School and in Cambridge, and he also went to the South in 1965 to register people to vote. And he had been arrested, like many folks were, and was released along with others with whom he was working.

00;09;54;03 - 00;10;31;05
Rev. Will Mebane
And as they were walking down the street, he saw a young black woman by the name of Ruby Sayles being accosted and, crossed at, and he decided to, step in front of her to protect her from the vitriol that was being spewed at her. The venom that was coming at her. And Jonathan Merrick. Daniels was killed by a shotgun blast that, was intended for the young black girl.

00;10;31;07 - 00;11;15;20
Rev. Will Mebane
Ruby sails and we in the possible church, continue to honor Jonathan Myrick Daniels every August 14th, and we actually consider that his feast day. But it points out just how, dangerous it was and how those who for suppressing the vote are trying to suppress the votes of black and brown people went to extremes. And using, violence, extreme violence to terrorize people and to keep them from exercising what should have been their right or was with their right.

00;11;15;22 - 00;11;33;19
Rev. Will Mebane
And so I want to talk a little bit, more about that history, and I'm gonna ask Angie if she would introduce Mark and engage him and, sharing a bit about, the history of voter suppression, particularly as it relates to race and racism.

00;11;33;22 - 00;11;56;17
Onjale Scott Price
Yeah. I'm very excited to have my friend Mark with us. He is a associate professor of history and social science at the Education Association in Woods Hole. He has a PhD in history from Waianae, Loyola University Chicago, and a BA in political science from Auburn. And it's my understanding that when, Mark, when you worked on your PhD, you studied reconstruction in Florida.

00;11;56;20 - 00;12;07;15
Onjale Scott Price
And we always joke, you know, Florida is an interesting place. So, could you tell us a little bit about what you learn as it pertains to voter suppression and voting in history when you were doing your research?

00;12;07;17 - 00;12;30;13
Mark Long
Sure. Yes. Thanks for having me. I'm happy to be here. Yeah. You know, my work was on, broadly on the settlement of Florida in the post-Civil War period and, specifically focused on on the era of reconstruction, the late 19th century. It was an interesting place in a lot of ways because the peninsula of Florida was largely unsettled, after the Civil War.

00;12;30;13 - 00;13;00;20
Mark Long
And so there was this sort of significant influx of northerners down to the peninsula, and it became, in some ways, a sort of battleground, between between northerners who were interested in and sort of creating a sort of a, let's say, a progressive sort of toehold in the South. And the Southerners who had been in the state already, Harriet Beecher Stowe, for instance, bought a house in Florida after the war, and a lot of the beaches and the snow was moved down and brought, and called for other sort of northerners to move down as well.

00;13;00;20 - 00;13;25;06
Mark Long
And so there was this sort of fascinating moment. This is what intrigued me about it. At the time in which there was this sort of this play, Florida was seen as, as a sort of a place where northerners could, to quote one of them, vote them out. Right. So in a way that they could sort of create this, this sort of, this different model, for, for southern reconstruction in this out, because it had been functionally, an empty space at the time.

00;13;25;06 - 00;13;52;17
Mark Long
So it was there was a lot of, conflict obviously around, black voting in that period. You know, in, in my work, a lot of what, what I was looking at was the sort of ways in which, voting was, was seen as a sort of tool by these northern, immigrants and developers to try and sort of further their own cause and, and establish a kind of, powerful and functioning Republican Party in the state.

00;13;52;19 - 00;14;16;06
Mark Long
You know, the Republican Party of, of the late 19th century. Right? In that sense, and there was a lot of, in fact, you know, fostering of, of that in a very unique way. And then what was interesting to me is that as the 19th century comes to a close, this sort of part of Florida moved from being a fairly tolerant place to to sort of being re southern ized in a way, that carries on to the 20th century.

00;14;16;08 - 00;14;35;18
Mark Long
So you have people like, like Henry Sanford, for instance, for whom the town Sanford, Florida is name, which, Trump had a rally in Sanford, I think, two weeks ago right now. And it's a it's a town that, became infamous. Gosh, I've lost track of time now, ten years back, the murder of Trayvon Martin in Sanford.

00;14;35;20 - 00;15;10;22
Mark Long
And but it's, again, a town established by, Henry Sanford, who was himself a member of the Republican Party. He was Lincoln's sort of, ambassador to Belgium and had a lot of connections in the Republican Party. And who thought this would be helpful for him to, to advance his career? So this is weird sort of conjunction of, the kind of, sort of, I guess protective nature of black voting in Florida in this period by these sort of, northerners who who thought this was, in some ways the right thing to do, but also a very convenient thing for them to do, to sort of, you know, sort

00;15;10;22 - 00;15;24;17
Mark Long
of consolidate their, their control of Florida. But in the end that it failed. And there's this sort of wave of, of, of repression that sort of envelops the state. Shortly after.

00;15;24;19 - 00;15;36;15
Rev. Will Mebane
Mark, I, I appreciate you, referencing Sanford, Florida. So if you notice the jersey behind me, it has the number of 42 on it.

00;15;36;18 - 00;16;07;03
Rev. Will Mebane
And that was the number of Jackie Robinson. Robinson's and Jackie. Was abused unmercifully in Sanford, Florida. Yes, he was he one of the, scenes if you've seen the movie, 42 if you haven't, I encourage you to see it. But it highlights some of the racism, some of the the abuse that his wife Rachel, and he had to endure in Sanford.

00;16;07;03 - 00;16;37;11
Rev. Will Mebane
So Sanford has, indeed quite a history. We want to talk a little bit more about, the history before we, we move to, talking about the present day, but I stay with the history and, and ask Angie to introduce our next guests and see what contributions, what comments. Lynn might want to make to this part of the conversation.

00;16;37;13 - 00;17;01;22
Onjale Scott Price
Yeah. I'd like to welcome Lynn on with us. Thanks for being here. I understand you're born and raised in Falmouth. You went to college and majored in social work and human development, and you're now appointed to the town of Falmouth Affirmative Action and Diversity Committee. And you were a town meeting member for precinct eight, and you're also elected to the Falmouth Democratic Town Committee, executive board and a member of the Cape Cod branch of the NAACP.

00;17;01;25 - 00;17;15;10
Onjale Scott Price
So obviously, you're very involved here on the Cape, especially around issues of diversity, equity and inclusion. So, yeah. Do you have any thoughts about voter suppression as it pertains to race and if any, particularly here on the Cape?

00;17;15;13 - 00;18;05;26
Lynne Rhodes
So thank you for inviting me. I welcome the opportunity to talk. As I'm listening to what Mark had to say, I'm reminded of my late father. He went to school in the 60s in Florida. He went to Florida A&M, and I would hear a lot of stories of he and another person here on Cape would travel down by bus to Florida, and all of the stories he would tell me about the segregation and separating whites from blacks and he was involved in the voter registration movement, which I think as I sit and listen now, I am 51 years old.

00;18;05;28 - 00;18;44;28
Lynne Rhodes
I am as old as my grandfather was when he first was allowed to vote. As I see all of the, the conflict that's going on and the difference, with the voter suppression, intimidating people, trying to silence them, people who have signs on their lawns, Black Lives Matter or that are supporting, progressive movements, how they're slowly being, vandalized or victimized in some way.

00;18;45;00 - 00;19;13;28
Lynne Rhodes
As much as it brings up a sense of fear, it also brings up a sense of duty to remind myself of all the people who lost their lives. Of all the times my dad sat in jail, even though he was never arrested for my right and my privilege to vote. And I'm humbled to remember that. And it's just it's it's really kind of unsettling.

00;19;14;04 - 00;19;44;00
Lynne Rhodes
And I was brought up to remember what's plan action be. So if someone says, you know, if I go up to vote and I'm blocked, I have a bill in my hand that says, this is my address, I have my license. I have things that show I am legitimate to vote, things that we normally wouldn't need. And here on the Cape I have not needed.

00;19;44;03 - 00;20;11;12
Lynne Rhodes
But when I lived in Central Mass, I did. So it's not necessarily permanent here on Cape Cod, but it does feel like, as more and more white supremacist groups are gaining confidence and gaining, an audience with our president, they are more emboldened to act out.

00;20;11;14 - 00;21;11;10
Rev. Will Mebane
And thank you for, for that contribution. You know, the reference you made to the number of Black Lives Matter signs being vandalized and stolen, destroyed? Reminds me of a of an incident, in just in the last few days here in Falmouth. I don't know how much publicity it's gotten at this point, but, someone, in the hatch bill section had a sign, stolen from their front yard and someone replaced it with a head of a black doll that had been severed from the body and left that in their front yard and with a, an epithet.

00;21;11;13 - 00;21;56;03
Rev. Will Mebane
Epithet. A in lover. And so, that kind of terrorizing that was going on that Joanna and Mark we're talking about and you talked about men from the 60s and, and before and, they're still present here today. So I want to turn our conversation a little bit to, and if we can, to what our two individuals had to offer, in there on the street, responses to the question, what concerns, if any, do you have about voter suppression as it pertains to race and racism?

00;21;56;03 - 00;22;49;19
Rev. Will Mebane
And I think some of what they said is, has been echoed by by you here. But one of the individuals said the term voter suppression sounds so benign, right? It just sounds like, oh, bonus oppression about about you. No. But as he said, it represents the deprivation of constitutional rights, particularly of black and brown people, and that it's systemic and that is widespread and that we all have a role to play, particularly, people who are white, to make sure that black and brown people have the freedom to exercise that right.

00;22;49;21 - 00;23;20;12
Rev. Will Mebane
And then, as you were saying, they would comment was made by one of the respondents interviews that, well, he didn't face it on Cape Cod that you don't face overt voter suppression. Yeah. I would argue that there is, maybe not overt, but covert suppression. And when someone cuts off the head of a doll or a black doll and leaves it in someone's front yard, that certainly is a form of intimidation.

00;23;20;12 - 00;23;31;23
Rev. Will Mebane
So let me just open it up to whoever would like to, to respond to what you you heard the in the interviews or that's been shared here.

00;23;31;26 - 00;24;08;23
Lynne Rhodes
So for myself, the so I see how people so what experience for me off cape which I sure she can happen here on cape as I had three opportunities of voting in a row. The first time I went in, I gave my street address the woman said I was in the wrong place and would go back and forth with me and she wouldn't look in her registry, and I finally convinced her to look in her registry.

00;24;08;23 - 00;24;50;19
Lynne Rhodes
When I started to yell really loudly for a supervisor or whoever was in charge to come check because I had actually checked with the town to determine I was in the right voting place. After going back and forth and asking for a supervisor. And I appreciate my parents for teaching me at times to be bold in situations like that, because I'm normally can be quiet and there are people who would just not respond, and then they would go to another voting place and that they're avoiding place when they were actually in the right place.

00;24;50;21 - 00;25;18;15
Lynne Rhodes
That happened two years in a row, and I thought it really odd, and I made sure that I had a utility bill, I had my license, and I had a copy of where I was supposed to be registered. And the third time I showed up, they didn't even have me on the registry. And so the response was, okay, well, we'll give you a provisional ballot, come sit over with me.

00;25;18;15 - 00;25;31;29
Lynne Rhodes
And we set up the provisional ballot. I have traditionally at that time signed up as Unenrolled and ended up being enrolled as a Republican.

00;25;32;01 - 00;25;33;25
Onjale Scott Price
Oh.

00;25;33;27 - 00;26;08;27
Lynne Rhodes
At which point I made sure that I enrolled as a Democrat to offset that. But it was a general election, so my party affiliation did not really matter at that point. But that's how people kind of remove you, you know, from being able to register. So if you don't know what information you need and you show up and you're not on the registry, most people go away and don't stop to, you know, encourage people to say, yes, I'm here.

00;26;08;27 - 00;26;30;15
Lynne Rhodes
I need to be here. And I'm, you know, a registered voter so that I don't know how much that happens, but I'm sure it does. And people don't say anything because it is perceived that it's somehow I did something wrong to not be registered when that's not necessarily the case.

00;26;30;17 - 00;26;36;07
Rev. Will Mebane
So let me ask Mark. Go ahead. Joanna, where you about to say something?

00;26;36;09 - 00;27;05;21
Joanna McWilliam
No. I mean, I think that, you know, what we've seen since 2013, the courts, which are supposed to protect the right of citizens to vote, have not done that. And I was looking through the different decisions that have come down from the conservative court since that time. In fact, I even have the, after that, bill was passed and made into an act, the Voting Rights Act, the number of black voters increased so dramatically after that bill.

00;27;05;21 - 00;27;37;05
Joanna McWilliam
And now, you see, there are efforts to kind of restrict not just the black vote, but a political party that you don't want to see in power. I mean, in Democratic, areas and so forth, additionally to minority groups as well. But each of these decisions, as I was looking at them, I mean, I think to myself, a John Roberts should be crying in his in his boots after gutting that 19, you know, 65, voting rights by saying, well, it's 40 years ago, the conditions have changed, but they really haven't changed.

00;27;37;05 - 00;27;41;24
Joanna McWilliam
And we see that right now. That's all I have to say.

00;27;41;27 - 00;28;02;03
Rev. Will Mebane
But that was well said. Thank you. But Mark, as a political scientists and what are you saying in, in terms of, a repeat of history, like what's the saying? Those who don't know their history are destined to repeat it, but it seems like we are repeating it.

00;28;02;06 - 00;28;16;29
Mark Long
Right. Exactly. It does feel like that. And, you know, anecdotally, that 2012 was the first election in which, in the modern era in which, black voter participation eclipsed white voter participation.

00;28;16;29 - 00;28;44;01
Mark Long
And so the 2013 ruling that comes a year later may be coincidental or it may not be coincidental, but certainly that the gutting of the sort of the protection, at least in, in southern states, right. The sort of the pre-qualification requirements, removing that was is problematic. And and shortly after that, you see counties and states in the South in particular, began to pass a number of, of laws because they no longer need preclearance, or are required to, get preclearance.

00;28;44;01 - 00;29;11;17
Mark Long
So, you know, there is I think there's, you know, from my perspective, a lot of ways in which the vote is suppressed and some of it is just systematic, and isn't necessarily targeted at particular audiences. And so you have, I mean, just looking at comparing U.S. elections to, to other advanced democracies, you see, you know, countries that that where the government registers people rather than having it be the onus be on the individuals to become registered voters.

00;29;11;17 - 00;29;29;14
Mark Long
I there's all kinds of ways that friction is created to, to diminish the, the sort of the participation, in the democratic process and the, you know, the I mean, the Trump administration, Trump himself has said out loud parts that have been silent for a long time, which is that, well, if we let lots of people vote, Republicans won't win elections.

00;29;29;14 - 00;29;58;03
Mark Long
You know, and the fact that he's willing to say that out loud is both astonishing and I think quite revealing. And, you know, you know, the registration process is arcane. The fact that, you know, the election falls on a Tuesday and it's not a holiday's, you know, kind of interesting at best. There's a lot of ways in which to sort of there's a general structural level for for repressing votes broadly, but there's no doubt that, there's a lot of ways in which that is targeted at particular populations.

00;29;58;03 - 00;30;19;16
Mark Long
And I, I did voter registration both in Alabama as a young college student at Auburn University in the early 80s. And so 20 years, you know, after you were doing this voter registration, you and I was down there and getting some of the same thing. Now, I was I went to Auburn University, which is in Lee County, Alabama, and I went to Opelika, which is where the county courthouse is, working with a local group.

00;30;19;18 - 00;30;40;03
Mark Long
And to try and register voters. And I was told by the person at the courthouse that I that she would not deputize me as a voter, as registrar, which was complete violation of the law. And so, I, too was a quiet person and sort of went back home and, and, and sort of talk to the folks I was working with and they said, no, they have no legal right to do that.

00;30;40;03 - 00;31;13;20
Mark Long
So, like, you know, got myself back to the county courthouse in Opelika and, and did get deputized as a registrar and engaged in voter registration there. I did the same in Florida when I was teaching at at the University of Central Florida in Orlando area. I was doing voter registration there. And the other structural way that I found it to be just striking was a number of, African-American, particularly men that I, that I talked to who who had lost their right to vote, because of time in prison and just just a massive number of folks for whom voting was that at that point, just, you know, barred from them, for them,

00;31;13;22 - 00;31;37;27
Mark Long
there has been some turnaround in that in Florida because of a, a statewide ballot initiative which which tried to overturn that. But, but the state legislature has done everything it could to to prevent that ballot initiative from, from having teeth. So, there are, you know, I mean, the structural barriers are real. And they are, and they're, they're, effective, I think, to a point,

00;31;37;29 - 00;31;56;01
Rev. Will Mebane
I want to bring in Onji and and, talk a little bit, get her perspective on, on some of this, but both, Joanna and Newmark have, mentioned, the Voting Rights Act and the decision in 2013, I believe it was by the Supreme Court

00;31;56;01 - 00;32;17;19
Rev. Will Mebane
to basically gutted, by removing, the term of users preclearance. So can you help our our viewers? Mark. Joanna, can you help them understand what that meant and what that preclearance was about and how it got it? The the Voting Rights Act.

00;32;17;21 - 00;32;38;29
Joanna McWilliam
Mark here, probably better. But I do know that, in fact, before any voting, changes could be made, electoral changes could be made in these southern states. And you're right, this is going on right now in Wisconsin, in the Dakotas. No, there's we were just there. Voting was just applied to the to the southern states. It had to be cleared by the Department of Justice.

00;32;38;29 - 00;33;04;19
Joanna McWilliam
The attorney General's office. And, and so there was a kind of, was difficult to get by with some of the things we see closing polls and, photo IDs. And now, you know, notary publics and adult witnesses and all the stuff that we see going on right now, that couldn't have happened before. And and it just happening right now.

00;33;04;19 - 00;33;14;26
Joanna McWilliam
So it did remove some of the barriers, to, to doing these extreme kind of suppression efforts that are being made. But, Mark, you probably know more about it than I did.

00;33;14;26 - 00;33;37;18
Mark Long
So no, I mean, that's a that's a great summation, you know, not a lawyer. And I don't know, study constitutional law or history, but, the, the, the general, sort of issue is that the, the Voting Rights Act, basically because of the long history in the South, you know, post-Civil War, of of suppressing specifically targeting black voters in the South.

00;33;37;20 - 00;34;00;23
Mark Long
The law, sort of singled out the states of the former Confederacy and said that, that these states have a particular onus to prove that, that what they're doing is not, in fact, targeting black voters, and so that they were required, as I mentioned, to, to get preclearance on any change and, and voting regulations. Right, so that the Justice Department could look at it and see that it was, in fact, you know, race neutral in a sense.

00;34;00;23 - 00;34;24;09
Mark Long
Right. And, and and it was effective. I mean, the truth is that after, the 15th amendment, southern states passed all kinds of barriers to voting that targeted black voters, but that weren't that that were, in a sense, race neutral. So poll taxes themselves, you know, are, you know, literacy tests. None of these things say, you know, people of color can't vote, but clearly that's who they're targeting.

00;34;24;09 - 00;34;48;17
Mark Long
And so the Justice Department, I think, did a very good job for, you know, while it could of trying to so that southern laws and changes in southern voting regulations to prevent that. But once that's removed the argument was there's still a remedy. That is after the fact. You can sue the state or you can bring to the state or the county the court and say, you know, this, this, you know, change systematically disenfranchized people of color.

00;34;48;17 - 00;35;08;00
Mark Long
But that happens after the election, right? You have to have a standing to sue, right? Where whereas before the 2013 decision that the onus was on the state to prove that it wasn't doing something wrong, whereas now the onus is on the individual to prove the state or the county had done something wrong. So it really shifts the burden dramatically.

00;35;08;02 - 00;35;30;14
Onjale Scott Price
I have to say, I have learned so much in the last how how long we've been on that. I learned any civics or government or history class that I've ever taken. I did not understand the importance of our voting rights until, a few years ago, my husband and I were living on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, and he was still registered to vote in North Carolina, and he couldn't do an absentee ballot.

00;35;30;14 - 00;35;50;20
Onjale Scott Price
I don't recall if it was because he had been out of state for so long. Whatever. So we drove 3.5 hours each way just so he could cast his ballot. And I recall people saying, well, that seems like a waste of energy, of just one vote. And we're like, you know, hundreds if not thousands of people died and we're hurt just to give us the right to vote.

00;35;50;20 - 00;36;13;10
Onjale Scott Price
The least I can do is sit in my comfortable car for seven hours to go cast my ballot. But I will say that I did not understand the extent of voter suppression in the past and how it relates to the future. Until very recently, until February, we had Doctor Daniel Black from Clark Atlanta University come to Woods Hole as part of our Black History Month events.

00;36;13;12 - 00;36;34;13
Onjale Scott Price
And he brought one of the, wasn't the literacy Forum, but it was whatever it was called that someone had to be able to answer all these ridiculous questions about the government and state laws, and nobody in that room would have passed. And yet we've we've all been through school. Most of us had been through college, and yet we still weren't going to be able to answer those questions.

00;36;34;15 - 00;37;04;24
Onjale Scott Price
So to imagine people not even that long ago, 30, 40 years ago having to answer these questions and and studying just to be able to cast their ballot, which should have been a constitutional right, really changed my mindset about how important voting was. I knew it was important. I knew it was a thing that I needed to do, but that really put me in a mindset of understanding how important the vote is and why certain groups of people want to suppress the vote because they understand how powerful the vote is and how powerful our voice can be.

00;37;04;26 - 00;37;26;10
Onjale Scott Price
The idea that if black people voted, we keep more Republicans in power tells you where the people actually want to be. And so the people, the Republicans, generally speaking, who are in power, want to suppress voting because they know that will get them out of power and that that concept is I'm still trying to wrap my head around around that in general.

00;37;26;13 - 00;37;35;07
Onjale Scott Price
But I want to say I really appreciate you all for educating me. And hopefully the public, especially on this topic, but I just, I feel like I've learned so much already.

00;37;35;10 - 00;38;07;11
Lynne Rhodes
And, you know, how people were able to work around that literacy exam. So I don't there was a clause that said if you had family history where you had a parent, that or in your lineage that was eligible to vote the year before slavery was abolished, you were exempt from having to take that that test to certify yourself was grandfathered.

00;38;07;14 - 00;38;09;13
Lynne Rhodes
Yeah. You agree.

00;38;09;16 - 00;38;13;23
Onjale Scott Price
Right. All right. Got it. But that wouldn't have applied to me. Likely.

00;38;13;25 - 00;38;14;23
Rev. Will Mebane
And so that was very.

00;38;14;23 - 00;38;19;19
Joanna McWilliam
Tied to a lot of white people. So it basically meant they didn't have to take the exam.

00;38;19;22 - 00;38;33;13
Lynne Rhodes
Right. They didn't have to prove how smart they were. They didn't have to pass that exam in order to qualify to vote. They could just say, look, my third generation grandparent voted. Therefore I'm grandfathered in, right?

00;38;33;15 - 00;38;56;05
Joanna McWilliam
Because that's remarkably with the current, purging of voters who have not voted in within six years regularly, that can be purged from the voter, voter rolls, something like 824 were purged because they hadn't voted regularly within the past six years. So voter purges are happening right now. I mean, it's shocking, but true.

00;38;56;08 - 00;38;58;13
Rev. Will Mebane
Yeah. They happened. I'm sorry.

00;38;58;15 - 00;39;08;26
Lynne Rhodes
As that happens in Massachusetts, if you don't stay on every year, you get dropped as well. Every January we have a registration.

00;39;08;28 - 00;39;10;22
Onjale Scott Price
That's very good to know.

00;39;10;25 - 00;39;30;11
Mark Long
Yeah. I mean, the fact of the matter is that, you know, the government, I mean, it's we have a system in which it's states who run elections, right? So there's because of our federal system or federated system, it's it's a little different than a lot of states, nation states that that that elections are run, you know, through the central government.

00;39;30;14 - 00;39;56;24
Mark Long
So we have functionally 50 plus different systems for voting, which is itself a bit arcane and Byzantine, but there's also, within that, there's a lot of room for individual actors to influence the outcome within the sort of context of the law that that allows leeway. Right. So we had, you know, secretary of state in Georgia, for instance, running for governor a few years ago who simply failed to certify registration.

00;39;56;26 - 00;40;17;28
Mark Long
I can't remember. The number was, but I well over tens of thousands, I believe new voter registrations, they weren't certified because they didn't match. Exactly. The the data set the state had to work with. Right. So there and, you know, Jeb Bush purged a number of voters in Florida in 2000 before the 2000 election. And it was coincidental, perhaps, that his brother was on the ticket.

00;40;18;00 - 00;40;38;26
Mark Long
In that election. But, I mean, there's a lot of ways in which individual actors within within the state, different states and counties can use existing laws to further their own, their own interests. So, Mark, you sound a lot less cynical than I am, but okay.

00;40;38;28 - 00;41;03;16
Rev. Will Mebane
So, and I remember hearing my aunts and uncles and grandparents and talking about poll taxes. And so, you know, if you're poor and you know, you can't get a job because you're being discriminated against, you don't have the money to pay the poll tax. And hearing stories about having to count the number of jellybeans in a jar and, just these all these.

00;41;03;18 - 00;41;32;11
Rev. Will Mebane
All these efforts to suppress, to keep people from voting. When we say in this country, we cherish the right to vote, that is something we celebrate, that we make it so difficult. So why don't we why don't we go now to, back to the street to hear what our, folks there have to say about what can be done, what can be done in the face of these efforts to get people out to exercise their franchise.

00;41;32;13 - 00;41;38;11
Rev. Will Mebane
We'll be back to us after this. And I'll ask Lynn if you will respond when we get back.

00;41;39;07 - 00;42;05;04
Lionel Hall
You get people to vote in light of the suppression efforts. As a personal thing, I think you want to fight against any type of oppression, and voting rights are the most important. Are one of the most important rights that we have as people. So I'd say get involved. You have to be up front, with your vote, go ahead and vote, but also talk to your politicians and get involved in the local level.

00;42;05;04 - 00;42;12;00
Lionel Hall
So any way you can. I say that, if you're quiet, nobody's going to speak for you. So speak for yourself.

00;42;12;02 - 00;42;46;13
Joel Smith
Can voter suppression be so suppressive that it actually keeps people from voting? Just like giving up? I think that's not the case. I think what we're seeing is, in fact, the more voter suppression and these are, again, overt acts of depriving people of their constitutional rights, I hope that that motivates people to vote even more, because in everybody, I hope it motivates everybody to vote more and to protect the constitutional rights of our fellow citizens.

00;42;46;13 - 00;43;15;01
Joel Smith
So not just the people to whom the voter suppression is directed against, which tends to be against people of color and in urban areas. But hopefully all of us realize that this is completely unacceptable. And, I want everybody to vote more. I want especially places that are targeted for voter suppression, to vote more. But it's the duty of all of us as citizens to protect the rights of our fellow citizens.

00;43;15;03 - 00;43;43;18
Rev. Will Mebane
Well, welcome back. Quite a bit to digest there. And I'm going to ask, Lynn if she we're going to start our conversation. Yes. Part of that conversation, with responding to, to what she, she heard from those interviews on the street, how do you motivate people to vote in light of voter suppression efforts? Then what's your thought?

00;43;43;20 - 00;44;11;08
Lynne Rhodes
Oh, you know, it's really if people have a barrier, they need to tell their friends, we need to work together as a community. If you need a ride, you know, call somebody if you have problems. You know, offer. I know I offered to help somebody who is having problems with his vision to fill out his ballot, so.

00;44;11;08 - 00;44;46;02
Lynne Rhodes
And to be his signer designee. And so, to take time to make sure that you are registered. And I know if the deadline is passed or not, but to, I one of the things I've learned over the years, especially with my last experience of being removed on my birthday, I go in and check the registry to make sure that I am registered to vote, even if there's nothing voting for, you know?

00;44;46;04 - 00;45;27;19
Lynne Rhodes
So taking steps to make sure you are on the records, if you need to have some sort of concrete bill that says you live where you do, if you need to take a make a provisional ballot and just keep on top of it. It's it's I my motivating factor is I had two parents that were actively involved and getting people registered and listening to all the stories of what they had to go through so I could vote reminds me that I do this for them.

00;45;27;24 - 00;45;43;20
Lynne Rhodes
I do this for my grandparents for all of the years. They were not able to, and just, you know, if you have something that's a barrier just to tell somebody, let people help you get this done.

00;45;43;22 - 00;46;08;18
Rev. Will Mebane
You know, one of the respondents, on the street said something similarly that it similarly that it's a personal thing and you've got to, talk to your local politicians, talk to whomever to make sure you're not being disenfranchized. But I want to. Joanna. What what are your thoughts in response to that?

00;46;08;20 - 00;46;36;20
Joanna McWilliam
I think this is this is a pandemic that we're talking about. And so these regulations and these restrictions are even more severe when you require older people. Where is it in, in Alabama to require them to not only submit a photo ID? If you're over 65, you're given permission not to vote. As well as a notary public, affidavit or to adult witnesses signed on your ballot.

00;46;36;23 - 00;46;59;23
Joanna McWilliam
That's out of the question. I mean, who really wants to go and stand in line for six hours that people have been forced to do in an era of pandemic? I mean, people should be allowed to mail in their votes. I mean, it's it's incredible to my mind that Alabama can get away with it. And then the curbside voting, which is just been denied because people don't want to walk into a place where they can be exposed.

00;46;59;23 - 00;47;10;06
Joanna McWilliam
I mean, the regulations seem so outrageous in the time of a real concern about health, and particularly for older people, it's discouraging.

00;47;10;08 - 00;47;35;23
Rev. Will Mebane
Yeah. So why don't we have, Mark, you said earlier, why are we voting on Tuesdays and, you know, why don't we do it on a Saturday? And, I mean, why don't we go to, here's an idea, internet voting. Oh, we could do it on the internet. We could have people register. Excuse me. Have people register on the internet, are registered, registered them at birth.

00;47;35;23 - 00;47;54;08
Rev. Will Mebane
That we would do with a birth certificate, right. Make them eligible to vote and then make it easier for people to vote. So why don't we want people to have easy access to this right?

00;47;54;10 - 00;48;17;07
Mark Long
You're asking me specifically? I'm older now, so yeah. Yeah. With So I think one thing I would do is maybe deconstruct the Wi-Fi. Right. So, and at the risk of being the cynic again, perhaps, I mean, we just had one of our fellow citizens vote from the International Space Station the other day, right? I mean, it is possible that we can get people to vote in all kinds of situations.

00;48;17;10 - 00;48;37;29
Mark Long
The question is, you know, where is the will to do that? And to I don't mean to pick on, a particular party, but, Senator Mike Lee recently, tweeted that we are not a democracy. We're a republic. Like, this is an old talking point from, really from back in the 1950s, even from the John Birch Society.

00;48;37;29 - 00;49;06;29
Mark Long
This notion that that we're not we don't even that there is no sort of constitutional drive to guarantee democracy because we're actually a republic. In our foundation. So, I think that we that that one of the things that we have to do is to really address this, structural level, and have conversations like the ones we're having right now and say that, that to, to to turn the rhetoric on its head and say the burden belongs to the state, right?

00;49;06;29 - 00;49;25;03
Mark Long
Not to the individuals. Right. And anytime that we accept that the burden to vote, is ours and the burdens to be registered in the emerging that the burden to have the right to vote is ours rather than it is sort of structural is, in a sense, buying into that the very system that that makes it difficult, that creates the friction that that makes it difficult.

00;49;25;03 - 00;49;39;15
Mark Long
So, you know, I think is as much as we can try and talk about the need to, to have structures in place that encourage voting rather than inhibit voting is is really important.

00;49;39;18 - 00;49;43;24
Rev. Will Mebane
Onji do you have a question for our folks.

00;49;43;27 - 00;50;02;16
Onjale Scott Price
Not necessarily a question, but one thing that I would I would like to touch on is local elections. I will say that the first time I ever voted was in 2012 because I was, I'm sorry, not 2012, 2008 because I was the first time I was eligible to vote for a presidential election. I, I realize I'm aging myself or uneasy myself.

00;50;02;16 - 00;50;30;00
Onjale Scott Price
Anyway, and since then I think I have only voted in until I moved to Falmouth. I had only voted in one local or state election because I just didn't. I was just like, I don't know if these people are I don't understand what they do. I don't think it's important. And one thing I will say about the 2016 election and things that have followed after, I now have a better understanding of why voting for your congressperson is so important, and why voting for your senator is so important.

00;50;30;00 - 00;50;49;26
Onjale Scott Price
So thinking about what Mark just said about the systems and putting the burden back on the state where the individual comes in is who do you vote for? Are you going to vote for someone that's going to look at ways to break down those systems, or are you going to vote for someone who has said or has voted in ways to uphold those systems?

00;50;49;28 - 00;51;19;01
Onjale Scott Price
And so I think as we think about voting, obviously all of our minds on the presidential elections next week, but also keeping in mind that local and state voting is, if not more important, just as important as as the presidential elections. And I will say that I think part of the reason why I didn't know how important they were is because it was never taught, and why was it never taught is because the more you know, the more you vote, the more you participate.

00;51;19;08 - 00;51;35;13
Onjale Scott Price
The more people participate, the less the current people in power have power. And so I goes just back to these systems that are already in place that I think we need to break down and take a little bit of the burden. But I really like what marks it is passing the burden back to the state and the government to do their part to break down the system.

00;51;35;15 - 00;51;53;17
Joanna McWilliam
And I was really shocked when I found out that civics classes were not required in Massachusetts. I couldn't actually believe it. But it's true. And it goes back to very much what you were saying. We in California, they were considered vital, like weren't, you know, there was no choice. They were required. And here I find it quite shocking that this is not the case.

00;51;53;23 - 00;51;56;13
Joanna McWilliam
I really surprised.

00;51;56;15 - 00;52;00;15
Rev. Will Mebane
I see a smiling in response to that.

00;52;00;18 - 00;52;33;05
Lynne Rhodes
I am smiling because my mother is a history civics social studies teacher and would drill us with all of this knowledge when we were young. And I am saying I apologize for any bad thought I had because she taught me things I didn't learn in school. It didn't occur to me that there was a gap in the education piece because I knew it already.

00;52;33;07 - 00;52;55;21
Lynne Rhodes
And, I just thank her. She, you know, she rest her soul, but I just. Wow. You know, it just reminds me of how grateful I am to have the parents that I had who were advocates. And they really instilled a level of discipline and a level of level of civic duty and obligation.

00;52;55;23 - 00;53;01;20
Joanna McWilliam
To people who didn't have parents like you now don't know the basic structure of systems.

00;53;01;22 - 00;53;30;15
Lynne Rhodes
Yes. And that's that's been a real interesting kind of as you get into the debate or the politics and, you know, people don't understand all of the disenfranchisement and how it's so ingrained that it's invisible. And, you know, it just it it's really hard to go against what public opinion says because they don't know any different.

00;53;30;17 - 00;53;48;16
Rev. Will Mebane
Civics courses were among my favorite courses when they were teaching them. And I was coming through, you know, elementary school and junior high school on and on. And then all of a sudden they stopped teaching it. And I think, Joanna, you're right, that's one of the reasons we have the situation. We have, I have today. So let me ask you all this.

00;53;48;16 - 00;54;27;28
Rev. Will Mebane
This was, one of the responses, that we just heard from the street that. The more the the argument was being made, that the more voter suppression, the more overt voter suppression. We are aware of that. That motivates more people to go and vote. So the more we hear in the news, in the media that there are these efforts at voter suppression, the more that information gets out, that will draw more people to want to get out, to vote.

00;54;28;00 - 00;54;33;26
Rev. Will Mebane
In response to that, what do you all think about that?

00;54;33;28 - 00;54;55;23
Joanna McWilliam
Well, it certainly seems to be considering the number of people who already registered and voted. It's so it seems to be true this election. We'll have to see. But but so many mail in votes and so many early voting voters have voted already that it's extraordinary.

00;54;55;25 - 00;55;21;06
Onjale Scott Price
I have to agree. I, I'm not, a big social media person, but I do get on Twitter quite often, actually, and I've seen a lot of commentary about young people specifically saying, well, they're obviously they being the system at large is obviously trying to suppress my vote because it matters and it's important. And so I'm going to make sure I take that opportunity to use it.

00;55;21;09 - 00;55;40;17
Onjale Scott Price
And I also think for with what's going on with the pandemic and the social unrest, it's particularly happening now is that a lot of people are not feeling that their voice is heard on so many matters and in so many ways. And so this is the place that I can have my voice heard and I can make a difference and I can, and that's even a small part of change.

00;55;40;17 - 00;56;05;15
Onjale Scott Price
I'm going to take advantage of it. And I do think, as Joanne was bringing up, when it comes to people who are at risk or the elderly population, I, I don't want to say that they shouldn't, then. I mean, no one should be standing in line. I mean, that obviously is a problem. But I can't speak for those people because I could imagine people saying, I do want to vote and I do want to take part, and I am more motivated, but I, I physically cannot or I should not.

00;56;05;17 - 00;56;20;15
Onjale Scott Price
And so I think, as we think about who is feeling encouraged and who is actually able to stand in those lines, it's the it's not the same demographic as all the people who actually wish they could participate.

00;56;20;17 - 00;56;49;13
Lynne Rhodes
I have a lot of friends, that I am on social media. I am on, Facebook. And the level the number of friends that I have who are taking their free time and calling places like Tennessee, Calling Georgia, Calling Texas, Calling Florida to encourage people to be registered to vote, all of the letter writing campaigns, the postcard campaigns.

00;56;49;15 - 00;57;23;04
Lynne Rhodes
And I asked my friend, you know, why? And her comment was she was laid off in March and her job no longer exists. She does not have health care. Here in Massachusetts. We have, the Health Connector, which is a, mass health participant for people who can't afford normal health insurance or can't afford Cobra. And she was feeling a moment of, wow, I have this.

00;57;23;04 - 00;57;48;21
Lynne Rhodes
But if I lived in another state, that person doesn't and I want to help that person. And so that's why she started doing her letter writing and started doing her phone calls. And it was a sense of, I have something that someone else does not have. And, and I was really, surprised and impressed that she actually had that, that process to do that.

00;57;48;21 - 00;58;01;19
Lynne Rhodes
And that just motivated her even more, you know, and just to keep going and keep trying to just one more person. Let me just one more letter.

00;58;01;21 - 00;58;31;05
Rev. Will Mebane
So perhaps you were all expressing a bit of hope that, we won't remain in this situation, forever. Maybe even not much longer. I do know that people are going to extreme ends. And I just heard, a couple of days ago about sort of like you and me saying you, Andre and you drove from what was a DC to North Carolina devolved.

00;58;31;07 - 00;58;58;21
Rev. Will Mebane
I just heard just a couple of days ago, someone is flying. Is flying, in the midst of a pandemic. They are flying from, I think, Illinois or someplace like that. Back to Colorado just to vote just so they can cast their vote. And that's how committed this person is and how important this this person considers exercising their right.

00;58;58;21 - 00;59;26;09
Rev. Will Mebane
So in the last couple of minutes that we have since I've, brought up the issue of hope, which Angela understands is, is, part of my nature because it's, connected to my vocation. Which is, to bring hope to people and to the world. Tell tell us, in kind of a closing comment from each of you, if you like.

00;59;26;12 - 00;59;39;01
Rev. Will Mebane
Where do you see the hope in the midst of these? Mammoth efforts to suppress the individual right to vote?

00;59;39;04 - 00;59;58;19
Joanna McWilliam
I see it in the lines of people spending hours, you know, hours and hours, for the right to vote and seemingly willingly do it and hopefully doing it. And so that gives me that gives me some hope.

00;59;58;22 - 01;00;44;01
Lynne Rhodes
You know, I think I remember hearing somebody and I don't know the quote exactly, but it's along the line of progress isn't a straight line that it drags and that this may be a temporary setback. But in the long haul, if we keep our eye on what the bigger picture is, we'll get there. And, you know, reading the stories and the vignettes of people of what they had to do to vote this time around, you know, and, you know, hearing about a gentleman who was standing behind a mother with her two kids, and she kept telling her two kids like, we have to vote, we have to vote.

01;00;44;04 - 01;01;22;06
Lynne Rhodes
And that forced the man to stay in line because if he left, then the two kids would start complaining, forcing her to leave. And then there would be this line of exodus. So there's a sense of we're in this together, and it feels like this is a, mia culpa for the people who did not stay involved. In 2016 to get a, remember, you know, not taking part and not taking action, you know, could lead to dire consequences.

01;01;22;09 - 01;01;46;10
Mark Long
Yeah. And I guess for me, I think, and I will say that I find, I find a great deal of hope, actually, in, in the younger generation right now with students that I teach my daughter and her friends. Because I think to go back to this, the conversation earlier about, you know, does voter suppression, in a sense, backfire and encourage people to vote.

01;01;46;10 - 01;02;02;26
Mark Long
And I think the answer there is that, you know, the more that it's laid bare, the more that it's made evident to people, the more that it does have that effect. Right? People get angry at being told that they can't do something that they believe they have the right to do and do have the right to do it.

01;02;02;28 - 01;02;21;13
Mark Long
And I think that, you know, I mean, the Covid itself. Right? The idea as you pointed out, you know, people are literally risking their lives to vote, right, is the sense that, you know, it makes people it gets their backup. Right? Like you're really forcing me to go out and potentially get, you know, a sort of face a pandemic situation in order to cast my ballot.

01;02;21;13 - 01;02;39;26
Mark Long
Well, you know, I'm going to do that, right. And I think climate change is an existential issue. Is is similar. Right. And I see a whole generation of folks for whom, you know, the Black Lives Matter movement and, and climate change, are, are so critically important. And they see that it almost as, as, as a, they see those issues as existential.

01;02;39;26 - 01;03;00;28
Mark Long
And I think it really does force them to engage in conversations that are more, honest and, and, and open than we've had in a long time. And I think that itself is, is is what it was, what I take open. I think our national conversation has, in spite of rhetoric from certain corners of our of the nation.

01;03;00;28 - 01;03;19;14
Mark Long
I think our national conversation broadly, is way more honest than it has been in a very long time. And I know that runs counter to a lot of what we're hearing about, you know, the rise of, I mean, QAnon and all kinds of conspiracy theories. But, you know, I do I do take open that.

01;03;19;16 - 01;03;23;16
Rev. Will Mebane
Give us your hope. Onjale

01;03;23;19 - 01;03;51;16
Onjale Scott Price
My hope is. I guess in my generation, the quote younger generations because I think in in a way, Mark said of seeing all this blatant in our face on camera, having politicians say things and being able to listen to them again. It definitely puts us in a different perspective of these these things are not things that happened 34 years ago.

01;03;51;16 - 01;04;19;24
Onjale Scott Price
They happened then, but they're still happening now. And it gives me hope that people like us are having these conversations to understand, what are the issues? How did we get here? Because you can't move forward without knowing where you've been. So I think I have hope in in conversations, hope and people asking questions and hope and people being willing to do something, whether that's cast their ballot, volunteer, run for office, whatever it may be.

01;04;19;26 - 01;04;27;01
Onjale Scott Price
That's what gives me hope, is people talking and figuring out how to move forward.

01;04;27;03 - 01;04;31;05
Onjale Scott Price
Your turn.

01;04;31;07 - 01;05;10;28
Rev. Will Mebane
Well, on that note, Thank you. For the pride, Angela. And let me first, thank our our guest today, Mark long, Joanna McWilliam, William Rhodes, our on the street interviewees. Once again, thanks to Abc-Tv for this platform to have that conversation and thanks to Alan Russell and Debbie Rogers, especially behind the scenes, putting this all together, you know, I am hopeful.

01;05;11;00 - 01;05;52;02
Rev. Will Mebane
I have hope in humanity. And I believe that all humans have goodness in them and that it's possible to draw that out of people, particularly if we have these conversations. As several of you have said, my hope is that we will remember those who sacrificed so much for so long and who are still sacrificing to exercise this right, this simple but precious right to vote.

01;05;52;04 - 01;06;40;05
Rev. Will Mebane
Those who were beaten up in Selma, Alabama, and many other places to Jonathan, Mark, Daniels, to Shawnee, Schwerner and Chaney and Goodman, to Joanna McWilliam and so many who literally put their lives on the line for Lynn's, parents, for their efforts in the struggle and for teaching her and my hope is in Mark and the work he's doing to train young minds that or, looking to him for tutelage.

01;06;40;07 - 01;07;22;18
Rev. Will Mebane
And so let's all remember those sacrifices that were made and let's do our best efforts to resist and to make it possible for every person to have the right to indeed vote. So that's the conversation for this episode. Watch for another episode coming up, later in the month of November. We're glad that you're with us. And don't forget, we may stop you on the street and ask you a question that will find its way into one of our shows as well.

01;07;22;21 - 01;07;39;18
Rev. Will Mebane
And with that, my thanks again to FCTV Bye for now.