'They're coming for everyone': Stacey Abrams warns GOP redistricting push will extend nationwide

0:01 Stacey Abrams, voting rights activist and host of the Assembly Required podcast.

0:04 So good to have you on the show.

0:06 The NAACP almost immediately sued to block this effort from Tennessee.

0:10 Can you give us a sense of what fighting

0:12 back in this moment is going to look like?

0:14 It's going to require that we remember we are the United States of America.

0:20 And so we have to sit what Tennessee is doing next

0:22 to the fight that's coming out of Louisiana next to the fight

0:24 that's coming out of Louisiana next to the fight that's

0:25 coming That will follow in Mississippi and likely in South Carolina.

0:29 We are watching in real time the restoration

0:32 of the very laws that pretended racial

0:36 neutrality but were intended to deny black

0:39 and brown voters the right to participate in democracy,

0:42 which is one of the principal goals of authoritarianism.

0:46 They do not want the people who may disagree with them to be heard.

0:50 And right now in the United States,

0:52 race is the strongest predictor of political leanings.

0:55 And so it's a lucky twofer.

0:56 They get the partisanship, but they also get the white supremacy that they seek.

1:01 And I sat in a hearing yesterday in Nashville, Tennessee,

1:06 IT IS A CONSERVATIVE STATE, WE SHOULD ONLY HAVE CONSERVATIVES.

1:11 AND THEY INTENTIONALLY ERASED THE ONLY BLACK DISTRICT, ONE OF NINE DISTRICTS,

1:16 THE the only one that allowed black Tennesseans

1:20 to have some voice because they've already cracked Nashville.

1:24 But we have to remember this is happening around the country,

1:27 and it is part of an intentional nationwide We can be angry about

1:32 Tennessee and we can laud the Tennesseans who have fought back so ably.

1:36 But we've got to remember,

1:38 they started in the South, but they're coming for everyone.

1:41 Part of that nationwide pattern of behavior.

1:44 Also in Mississippi, the governor there, Tate Reeves,

1:47 told The Daily Caller in an exclusive interview on Wednesday,

1:51 they say that Mississippi lawmakers are already preparing

1:53 for a special session focused on the state Supreme

1:57 Court DISTRICTS BUT SAID HE HAS THE AUTHORITY

1:59 TO EXPAND THAT CALL TO INCLUDE OTHER REDISTRICTING MATTERS,

2:02 POTENTIALLY INCLUDING ITS CONGRESSIONAL AND STATE LEGISLATIVE MAPS.

2:06 REEVES ALSO NOTES THAT BENI THOMPSON'S MAJORITY Minority District was John,

2:11 race-consciously basically hinting that it could be targeted for redistricting.

2:18 I think the thing that is━when

2:19 people hear this, immediately they start thinking,

2:23 this is just━this is a black and brown people problem, right?

2:26 They're trying to keep them from voting, right?

2:29 But talk a little bit about how this is something everyone should care about.

2:34 And there's a reason why, because they They always...

2:36 Black people might get the flu when everybody's getting a cold,

2:39 but you're still getting sick.

2:40 And so someone has to make sure that at the end of the day,

2:43 this is not able to spread.

2:46 Exactly, Eugene.

2:47 Part of the challenge is that because

2:50 of the centuries of racism that attend the United States,

2:54 we have pretended this notion of race neutrality,

2:58 ignoring that the systems that created what we have have affected everyone.

3:03 I have white neighbors.

3:04 And so what it means is that when

3:06 my ability to participate in elections is thwarted and undermined,

3:12 anyone next to me might be harmed as well.

3:28 If you're a cattle rancher, if you're a cattle rancher,

3:35 this is when we're denied access to democracy, when we are denied participation,

3:58 this becomes a pretext for denying it

4:01 for the next group that they decide they don't like.

4:04 They may start with black and brown voters, but they're coming for everyone.

4:08 They are, Stacy.

4:09 It's a real pleasure to see you again.

4:12 You and I have been on the opposite side of politics.

4:14 We've worked together at Howard University, and I stand with you on this issue.

4:19 I don't know what the hell's wrong with my party.

4:21 I don't know what the hell their problem is,

4:23 because they are just drunk stupid right now.

4:26 Now, when you sit up there, race is a leading predictor.

4:29 Y'all don't want to talk about DEI out there.

4:31 Y'all don't want to talk about race, but everything you about here.

4:47 And I love what you just said.

4:49 I mean, you have this legislator saying,

4:52 well, this is a conservative state, right?

4:55 We should only have conservatives.

4:57 Then why the hell y'all out here B-word INSERTED,

5:01 ABOUT CALIFORNIA AND NEW YORK AND OTHER LIBERAL STATES, OTHER BLUE STATES.

5:08 SO WHY ARE YOU SO CONCERNED ABOUT WHAT THEY'RE DOING IF TENNESSEE,

5:14 MISSISSIPPI, ALABAMA, WE'RE CONSERVATIVE.

5:16 SO WE WANT ALL CONSERVATIVE.

5:18 IT DOESN'T MATTER THAT WE GOT BLACK AND BROWN,

5:20 LIBERALS, DEMOCRAT, REPUBLICAN IN OUR STATE.

5:22 AS LONG AS THEY'RE NOT CONSERVATIVE, THEY DON'T GET TO VOTE.

5:25 THEY DON'T GET THE RIGHT to have a voyage what

5:27 the hell are you talking about stacy this breaks down to one

5:31 simple thing and you know it i know it everybody

5:34 now got to get off their ass i'm sorry and get

5:38 busy about the vote this november you got to overwhelm

5:42 the ballot with your vote if you want to stop this mess

5:45 you need to start unelecting these state legislators and i

5:48 know i had a hand in putting some of them there

5:51 and be honest about it they turn out to be

5:54 tickle heads all right the reality of it is this is

5:57 the opportunity now where you begin to take your government back

6:00 people stacy talk about that piece of it because i don't

6:04 think people really appreciate how valuable the vote has become

6:07 if you never thought it was important before damn it it

6:11 is the most important thing in front of you right now

6:15 my parents grew up without the voting rights My parents were,

6:18 you know, born in 1949.

6:20 They were born in 1949.

6:23 They were in college before the Voting Rights Act passed.

6:28 And what we have to understand is that there

6:31 are no longer blue states and red states.

6:33 There are authoritarian states and democracy states.

6:37 There are states that do not believe in the right of the people to have a say,

6:41 who want to aggregate power and FOMENT CORRUPTION,

6:45 AND THERE ARE STATES THAT WANT TO GUARANTEE

6:48 THAT IN THIS COUNTRY WE HAVE FREE AND FAIR ELECTIONS.

6:51 WE HAVE ACCESS TO THE REMEDIES THAT DEMOCRACY IS OPPOSED TO DELIVER,

6:55 AND THAT NO MATTER WHAT GOES WRONG IN ONE PART OF THE COUNTRY,

6:59 THAT THE QUALITY OF YOUR CITIZENSHIP DOES NOT

7:01 DEPEND ON YOUR ZIP CODE AND YOUR GEOGRAPHY.

7:04 I STARTED THE TEN STEPS CAMPAIGN BECAUSE WE'VE GOT TO UNDERSTAND

7:07 THAT AUTHORITARIANISM IS A POLITICAL

7:09 SYSTEM DESIGNED to achieve ideological ends,

7:12 and the ideological ends intended by this regime do not include most of us.

7:17 If you believe that Christian nationalism should be the law of the land,

7:22 And if you want proto-natalism,

7:24 where women are relegated to simply serving as vessels for a man's intention,

7:29 if you believe that white supremacy should be

7:31 allowed to diminish the value of everyone else,

7:34 then you want authoritarian states to win.

7:37 But if you believe in democracy as the currency of America,

7:41 then you want California and New York.

7:43 You want every state that's willing to fight back to do so.

7:46 But to your point, Michael, it can be there with my races,

8:02 but my races weren't the point.

8:05 The point were the people.

8:07 And I want us to remember that between 2014 and 2018,

8:10 when we got to work, not just registering voters, but talking to voters,

8:14 connecting the THEIR NEEDS AND AN ELECTION,

8:17 WE WERE ABLE TO GENERATE 800 ,000 NEW VOTERS IN A SINGLE ELECTION CYCLE.

8:23 THEY MAY NOT HAVE GOTTEN ME OVER THE FINISH LINE

8:25 BUT WE GOT We got 16 Electoral College votes for Joe Biden, and we got two U .S.

8:29 senators everywhere across this country when we show up

8:33 and when we vote all the way down the ballot, especially to the fine print,

8:36 that's how we not only serve the purpose, of winning these elections.

8:41 It's how we reassert the fact that this is

8:43 a nation of elections and of leadership,

8:45 but then we've got to do the work in between.

8:48 If you already live in a BLUE STATE, YOU NEED TO BE TALKING TO YOUR LEGISLATORS

8:52 ABOUT PASSING THEIR OWN STATEWIDE VOTING RIGHTS ACT.

8:55 YOU NEED TO BE TALKING ABOUT MAKING SURE THAT THE DEMOCRACY

8:58 IN YOUR STATE IS AS VISIBLE AND AS LOUD AS POSSIBLE.

9:02 BUT But overall, what we've got to remember is that if you are in a safe place,

9:07 you've got to start sending your resources,

9:09 your support and your intentions to the states that need your help.

9:12 Do not abandon the South.

9:14 They incubate evil here, but they farm it out everywhere.

9:18 But we also incubate the solutions here, and we know we can win this fight.

9:22 But yes, we've got to win in November.

9:24 That means showing up for primaries.

9:26 That means showing up for the general.

9:27 And then it means making sure we're paying attention in THE CENCUS HAPPENS,

9:33 BECAUSE THAT'S WHEN THEY START THIS ALL OVER AGAIN.

9:36 WE CAN PULL THIS OFF,

9:37 BUT WE'VE GOT TO START FIGHTING NOW BECAUSE WE'RE ALREADY BEHIND,

9:40 BUT WE CAN CATCH UP.