The Daily Show: Ears Edition - ICYMI - Stacey Abrams on Fighting Voter Suppression in "Our Time Is Now"

Episode Date: January 1, 2021

Fair Fight founder Stacey Abrams discusses the racial inequities exposed by COVID-19, the fight against police brutality and her book "Our Time Is Now." Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You're listening to Comedy Central. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television. Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. But that's all about to change. Like none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 Minutes, a second look, starting September 17th, wherever you get your podcasts. Stacey Abrams, welcome to the

daily social distancing show. Thank you for having me or not. Yeah, that's a great way to put it. Having you and not at the same time. We're living through a very strange time where, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, you, th, th. to to to to to to to th Yeah, that's a great way to put it. Having you and not at the same time. We're living through a very strange time where, you know, it felt like coronavirus was the biggest issue affecting America. And very quickly we've come to realize that there is a much longer standing issue that America has had, that people are now standing up against and fighting about in the streets. And that's, you know, racial disparity, police brutality, the lack of justice for black people in this country,

for brown people who are oftentimes oppressed. You have lived that life in more ways than one. You know, as a black woman, and as someone who's been in politics, you've experienced America in a very unique way. How do you feel about what America is going through right now? I think that we do ourselves a disservice if we actually separate these moments from one another. What has happened with COVID-19 is that it exposed the fractures and the inequities in our

health care system. And the expectations we have where essential workers, essentially were the people we work protecting, but we demanded their obeisance to our needs anyway.. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And th. And their, and their, and their, th. And we work protecting, but we demanded their obeisance to our needs anyway. And then what we saw happened with George Floyd and Brianna Taylor and Amad Arboree and Rayshart Brooks, just in the last months or so, what happened to Tony McDade is that we see that part of the dehumanization that we experienced with COVID, thr-in, that police brutality, that thuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu.... that that that that that that that that that thuuuuuuuuu, that thiiu, that thiu, thiu, thiu, thiu, thi, thi, the theirjjjahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahe, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the their, their, their, their, their, theirn, theirn, theirn, thiu., toeimoomomeimonyeimony, toeimony, toeimony, toeimony, toeimony, toeoombs we are viewed by those who are charged with protecting us.

That police brutality, that systemic injustice, that systemic inequities are all the part of the original sin of America, which is the devaluation and the dehumanization of people of color primarily and most clearly black people. Atlanta has become a hotbed of these conversations. Georgia has become a hotbed of these conversations. Everything from Armad Arbury to to R. to to to to to to to to to the the the to the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the police the the police the police the police the police the police the police the police the police the police the police, the police, the police, the police, the police the police the police, the police, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, th, the police the police the police the police the police, the police, the police, the police, the police, the police, the police, the police, the police, the police, the police, the police, the police, the police, the police, the police, the police, the police, the police the police the police the police the police the police the the the the the their the the the the the the the the the threat, the the the threat, the the the thea, the police the police the police. Georgia has become a hotbed of these conversations. Everything from Amard Arbury to Rayshard Brooks as you just mentioned has thrown Atlanta into turmoil. You know you've had police officials resigning, you've had the mayor coming out and condemning the violence and it feels like Atlanta is more on edge than we've seen, I mean, almost

ever. When you look at what has happened, what is happening, and the conversations around it, where do you think America needs to go, where do you think Atlanta needs to go, where do you think Georgia needs to go? I approach this in a different space because my first major activism on my own was in the 92 Rodney King protest. It was being a part of a community separated by Gates to college on one side, housing projects on the other, but we were all cordoned off and tear-gassed by the city of Atlanta, by

the state of Georgia. I understand the outrage and the pain that is discomforting to some and offensive to others, because I understand where it begins. And what we have to understand is that these moments cannot be allowed to dissipate and let us return to not a normal, but to a state of numbness, where we just accept that our deaths are going to happen. We accept that our degradation is going to happen. My hope and my expectation, the reason I wrote this book is because there is a pathway for more, but it doesn't happen if we just assume that we get what we get and we don't deserve more. It really is interesting that you've written a book that I think affects so many, including

yourself in a really personal way. To write a book about voter suppression, you know, is too many people would be a tall task because they'd say, can you prove it? Can you show it? We just saw primaries take place in Georgia, where people were forced to wait, some people even left before they could vote. What was interesting is that this took place in predominantly African-American communities, but also in Republican communities as well, that are predominantly white. My question to you is, when I look at the book that you're writing now and what's happening in Georgia, what are you learning from Georgia that America needs to learn about voting

and protecting people's rights to vote? First of all, voter suppression has a singular way of being expressed in Georgia. I experienced it on being expressed in Georgia. I experienced it in 18, I experienced it on Tuesday in 2020, and it's happened for the last 20 years. But what's singular to Georgia is not solely limited to Georgia, because we also watched on April the 7th as men and women were forced to stand in lines at the height of COVID-19 in Wisconsin. We saw the hours-long lines in Texas because of the shutdown of precincts. We know that in Nevada and South Carolina on Tuesday, while Georgia got the lion's share of the attention because of the size of our population, there were also challenges,

hours long lines because they shut down precincts in Clark County in Nevada. What we, at Fairfight, the organization I started, what we are thau, thau, thoed, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, thi, their, their, their, their, their, and their, and thi, and their, and tho, and tho, and tho, and tho, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and their, and thi, and thi, and thi, and thi, and thi, theanan, theanananananight, theanight, theanananighteanuioluiolou, and tomorrow, were tomorrow, were tomorrow, and thoomorrow, and the Fairfight, the organization I started, what we are trying to do, and what I'm trying to do through this book, is make us pay attention to voter suppression now in the primaries so we can fix it for the general. Because the other side, the conservatives that have architected this suppression, they hope that we give up. They hope that the conflagration, and th, th, th, their, their, to hope that the conflagration and the explosions of anger and pain that they basically die down before November and that we allow the system

to continue the way it's been designed. What was interesting about Georgia was the fact that some Republican precincts were affected as well. Do you think that that undermines the argument of voter suppression or do you think it shows something else? It actually, it's the through line that I've tried to push since 2018 in specific which is that the targets may be people of color, it may be young people, it may be the poor, but when you break the machinery of democracy you break it for everyone. Incompetence and malfeasance when they come together it can't distinguish who is the the the the the the the the the taaaaqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqq is the the the the the the the the, it can't distinguish who is the target and who is a bystander.

And that's why you saw Republican communities, you know, areas that the Speaker of the House overseas, they couldn't vote. Black folks couldn't vote. Brown folks couldn't vote. It happens when you, when you harm the infrastructure of what holds us as a nation together, everyone suffers. They may not suffer in the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the same the holds us as a nation together, everyone suffers. They may not suffer in the same amount and not at the same time, but eventually it takes us all down.

There's no getting around the fact that one of the reasons you've been put forth as a potential VP is because you speak to so many of the issues that Americans are facing today and because many people feel like you would bolster Joe Biden's presidential run. You know, you would bring not just different angles, but I guess a different experience and a different demographic as well who support you. You know, we've shown, we've seen your numbers in Atlanta, we've seen how strong you are with Hispanic voters, with younger voters, etc. That's been the biggest conversation in and around the name, Stacey Abrams.

My question to you instead of, are you gonna be the VP, are you running to be the VP, et cetera, which I've seen you've been asked a thousand times, is rather, what do you think the role of a vice president should be, especially in this climate? lieutenant to the person in charge. It's to shore up where additional support is needed. It's to take on specific tasks when they need to be delegated. But most of all, it is to reaffirm for an entire nation that the leader sees them. And part of my background is that

I come from a working poor community. But as a legislator, I did the work of holding police accountable, passing legislation. I did the work of criminal justice reform, ensuring that people had access. I worked on concrete issues, helping bring together communities, as you pointed out, that are often separated. I was able to convince Republicans to work with me on environmental legislation, and I was able to get Republicans to do what's right to hold police accountable. I know how the systems work because I've been a part of to to to to to to to to to the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the their their their their their their their their the their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their. their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, their, th. th. the. te. te. te. te. te. te. te. te. their. their. their. their. their. their. their, their to get Republicans to do what's right to hold police accountable. I know how the systems work because I've been a part of them, but I also know how they work because I've been a victim of them. I come from an activist community and an activist family that believes you fix the problems

you see. You don't lament them, you work on them. And that's what I would do. And if I were so honored, it would be my to be my to be to be to be the to be to be the to be so, to be so, the the thoomk, tho, thi, tho, thi, tho, thi, thi, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, thi, the thi, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, tho, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the the thin, the, the, thean.ean.ean.ean.ean.ean.eanananananananananananan, thean, thean, thean.ean.eananananan. Ande. And, thean. And that's what I would do. And if I were so honored, it would be my role, any role, the role of any person who the vice president chooses to be his running mate and his partner, to use what we have to bring our experiences to add to the narrative of what America can be. And that's why I'm so excited to even have my name mentioned. I hope to have you back on again and again and again and I hope everybody reads the book because I think every American really needs to understand how important it is to maintain the safety and sanctity of their vote. So Stacy Abrams, thank you so much for joining us on the

show. Thank you Mr. Noah. It's been an honor. The Daily Show with Cove Noa, Ear's Edition. Watch the Daily Show week nights at 11 11, 10 Central on Comedy Central and the Comedy Central Act. Watch full episodes and videos at the Daily Show. to the Daily Show and Instagram and subscribe to the Daily Show on YouTube for exclusive content and more. When 60 Minutes premiered in September 1968, there was nothing like it. This is 60 Minutes. It's a kind of a magazine for television.

Very few have been given access to the treasures in our archives. You're rolling? But that's all about to change. Like, none of this stuff gets looked at. That's what's incredible. I'm Seth Done of CBS News. Listen to 60 minutes, a second look on Apple Podcasts, starting September 17. This has been a Comedy Central Podcast.