Sep 22, 2026 · 1 hr 8 min · 9 segments
True citizenship is found in the courage to speak truth to power and hold leaders accountable. -Frederick Douglass In this episode of Radicals for Good, we start our co(sin)e series - a series of…
Parish HalsellGuest
Imani FosterGuest
Joanna WhaleyGuest
Shayla ZimmermanHost
Brianna BryantGuest
Um, I feel like it's very important to be civically engaged 365 days of the year.
Um, whether it's like starting just in your family, starting with your siblings, knowing that, okay, you're about to be 18 soon.
This is what the reality is like to go register to vote and to actually go vote in person.
Um, i remember the first time i went to help volunteer at a voting a polling location and um I just never thought that the imitation tactics were real.
Like I'm a young person here, you know, happy and like encouraged to like, just help people go inside.
Um, but that was just like, one percent of the um discrimination that many black and brown people face when coming to being civically engaged but um also just showing up for one another 365 days of the year meaning having meaningful conversations as to why it is important to vote why is it important to vote with a critical eye And to do your own research and to ask provoking questions to each other, but also to these candidates, because they work for us.
Yeah, that 365 days a year, right? The actual physical voting, you might get twice a year with a primary and a general election, right? So what do you do? Like how does your vote have impact the rest of the year? I think that's why we have to make sure that we're electing people who are showing up and listening to people because they can actually hear from the people, right? Like for myself, how this looks is this, your elected officials should be present If they are going to their ivory tower and driving to Lansing for their vote and then just hiding in their homes and doing nothing, they're not giving you the opportunity to speak into things.
One of the things, the way I want to look at this as a legislator is to say, hey, here are the 10 biggest things we're working on.
And I want to show up at city council meetings and say- I actually want you to, on this paper, vote how you would vote.
And I want to actually react to what my community wants, right? And I think that that's what we need.
We need people who are willing to listen to the people and even vote with the people, even if it's something that you're like, man, that's not really how I would have voted, but my district wants this.
And I think that's the hardest part is that we can get so siloed into our ideas.
Um, I feel like it's very important to be civically engaged 365 days of the year.
Um, whether it's like starting just in your family, starting with your siblings, knowing that, okay, you're about to be 18 soon.
This is what the reality is like to go register to vote and to actually go vote in person.
Um, i remember the first time i went to help volunteer at a voting a polling location and um I just never thought that the imitation tactics were real.
Like I'm a young person here, you know, happy and like encouraged to like, just help people go inside.
Um, but that was just like, one percent of the um discrimination that many black and brown people face when coming to being civically engaged but um also just showing up for one another 365 days of the year meaning having meaningful conversations as to why it is important to vote why is it important to vote with a critical eye And to do your own research and to ask provoking questions to each other, but also to these candidates, because they work for us.
Yeah, that 365 days a year, right? The actual physical voting, you might get twice a year with a primary and a general election, right? So what do you do? Like how does your vote have impact the rest of the year? I think that's why we have to make sure that we're electing people who are showing up and listening to people because they can actually hear from the people, right? Like for myself, how this looks is this, your elected officials should be present If they are going to their ivory tower and driving to Lansing for their vote and then just hiding in their homes and doing nothing, they're not giving you the opportunity to speak into things.
One of the things, the way I want to look at this as a legislator is to say, hey, here are the 10 biggest things we're working on.
And I want to show up at city council meetings and say- I actually want you to, on this paper, vote how you would vote.
And I want to actually react to what my community wants, right? And I think that that's what we need.
We need people who are willing to listen to the people and even vote with the people, even if it's something that you're like, man, that's not really how I would have voted, but my district wants this.
And I think that's the hardest part is that we can get so siloed into our ideas.
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