National Urban League

And the people who win those state legislative seats this cycle are the ones who will draw the next decade of maps as it relates to the national elections, whether it be the midterms or the general.

So we need to know, especially in your district, what are the districts? What district are you in? What is that district made of? Who made that call to draw those lines? And where are the leverage points? What seats do we need to win at the local legislative area in order to be in a position to draw those maps ourselves? Next, we need to support groups litigating these maps Organizations like the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and the state voting rights organizations.

And if you want, because here's the thing, if you want different maps, you have to be in a position of power to be in the room and affect the vote as it relates to how the maps get made.

If they let you just come in to watch, that's not good enough.

So they're associated with that as well, but they are getting their message out.

And that connection is indirect.

It's a shared ecosystem of speakers and organizations rather than a direct tie.

But that is exactly the point.

It's so important to, and I said this when I went to homecoming, it's so important to protect our spaces like the way that we get on platforms and talk about them you can always critique you can always push back i'm not one of the people that believes that you have to hold things back but i think you do it with you do it in mind of this is something that like we don't want to see go away we want we want this to be supported but we also want it to be great so yes critique works uh honesty works but love has to kind of be in the mix of all of those things and speaking of as we transition from behind the scenes to into the latest.

Speaking of community and rooms and spaces and things to protect, I want to get into a second part of my conversation with the National Urban League here in New York.

They brought me out to be the keynote speaker at their leadership brunch that they had here.

And the conversation was dynamic.

Make sure you guys go and check out that episode, the first part of the conversation.

But now in the second part, I was able to actually talk to the people in the room.

Now, the people in the room, just to preface this, we had, you know, leadership from the National Urban League, people that were leading different chapters.

We had executive leadership from the National Urban League.

My question for the Reverend Al Sharpton, Art, Why didn't you march on Mississippi? I need somebody from the National Action Network to explain to me I need somebody from the NAACP to explain to me.

I need somebody from the Urban League to explain to me.

I need somebody from the Congressional Black Caucus to explain to me why the Black civil rights leadership establishment did not march on Mississippi art, not just for Nolan Wells.

What about Trey Reed art, who was found hung At Delta State in Cleveland, Mississippi last year, his blood is still fresh.

I respect my big brother, Ben Crump.

Met him twice.

Met him at the Urban League Conference in New Orleans the day before I got my doctorate.

And I met him a few months ago at HBCU Delaware State at the Black Farmers Conference.

Now today we are going to get into a conversation in a room that I was blessed and privileged to be in as a keynote speaker.

So I went... and spoke at the National Urban League's Leadership Brunch.

It went down here in New York City.

The National Urban League is a organization that not only provides platform, but also community and tribe for professionals all across the nation, young black professionals who are figuring out things in the equity and inclusion and really fighting for us in spaces.

And when I say us, I mean professionals, both young and older professionals in spaces that really, really matter.

And one of the biggest things that I learned in that room was that there are really people out here that are tied to our fight.

And I don't mean it in like a, you know, everybody's not loud, everybody's not on social media, everybody's not on threads, running down the breakdowns, but there are real people out here that are working with organizations that don't honestly get the support that they need, the platform that they need, the conversation, the spotlight that they need, but they're continuing to do so.

And the National Urban League and the people and the great professionals and leadership that I met this day in this conversation reminded me that it is very important to always show up for people In all spaces, because, you know, when we were there, they were like, girl, we're just so happy to have you here, because a lot of times they said, you know, it's tough for them to book people and speakers who don't just know what the league National Urban League is and what they do, regardless of the historical context behind it, how long it's been around.

here? Yeah, I didn't quit my day job.

How did you figure out your price point? Honestly, it wasn't until years later, I spoke through the Urban League.

I talked to a financial coach, Gloria.

Hi, Gloria.

yeah

so you were like here's my books this is what i'm spending

yeah we went through everything through several months we it was a program that they had with la urban league and where you can make appointments with certain coaches.

And she just helped me.

Realities for blacks in the city outlined.

Disparities revealed in the Urban League report.

Fort Wayne Urban League's leader on Tuesday said the new State of Black Fort Wayne report is intended to guide strategic planning and encourage meaningful conversations about what residents can do to create more opportunity in the community.

We cannot change what we do not measure, President and CEO Aisha Arrington said.

We cannot solve problems we are not willing to confront.

Last year, the Urban League commissioned the report for the first time in more than 10 years to collect demographic and socioeconomic data on Allen County's black population.

About 50 people Tuesday morning gathered at the Urban League office to hear about the findings.

Less than half of black households are homeowners in the county, state, or nationally.

post-apartheid and went and did voter education work there and was only there for that was there for less than a year preparing but it was a also a transformational experience for me and then I came back to the United States did join the consulting firm had the opportunity to work in the Atlanta office where the head of that office was very committed to the firm being a civic, not just a civic participant, but actually a leader in terms of helping to make sure that Atlanta was advancing.

And I got to do a lot of work with organizations like the Urban League and Prep Before the Olympics and other things in Atlanta.

I did that for a number of years, was about to become in the window to become a partner and move to South Africa and realized that if I did that, I'd be there for a very long time.

And so then I switched thinking I was going to go directly into direct service work in economic development or education, but instead wound up connecting with a friend who was working with a firm that was investing in the education space.