Building Coalitions for Social Change

What does it take to drive social change and shift paradigms towards equality? Today on Feminism NOW, Christian F. Nunes talks with two changemakers working to build inclusive coalitions and advance justice for marginalized groups. Zakiya Thomas, President and CEO of the Equal Rights Amendment Coalition, discusses the importance of the ERA for securing rights for all people regardless of sex. Next, Christian chats with Dr. Leslie Hinkson, Chief Officer of Racial Justice and Equity for the League of Conservation Voters about her work to promote intersectionality, racial justice, and equity within the climate justice movement. 

Zakiya Thomas is President and CEO of the Fund for Women’s Equality and the ERA Coalition, which represents 80 million people across 280 diverse organizations all united under the goal of advancing sex equality.  As a political strategist, Zakiya works to shift how people communicate their issues in order to foster greater collaboration and connection within coalitions. 

Dr. Leslie R. Hinkson is the Chief Officer of Racial Justice and Equity for the League of Conservation Voters, where she is responsible for helping create and implement an overarching vision for racial justice and equity at LCV – both at the programmatic and operational levels – that works to ensure the organization honors its commitments to be a diverse, antiracist, equitable, and inclusive organization. 

Listen to new episodes of Feminism NOW released every other Wednesday. To find out more about the National Organization for Women, visit our website.

Creators and Guests

Host

Christian Nunes

CC

Producer

Caroline Cooper

DH

Guest

Dr. Leslie Hinkson

SN

Writer

Stu Nolan

ZT

Guest

Zakiya Thomas

What is Feminism NOW?

Passionate about modern feminist issues? Want to learn more about how today's political, academic, and cultural leaders strive for a future of universal equality and justice?

Join NOW in a podcast dedicated to intersectional feminist discussions in American society with leaders in entertainment, sports, politics, and science. From conversations on constitutional equality, to economic justice and reproductive rights, listeners will find new ways to learn, engage, and get empowered.

Listen for new episodes released every other Wednesday.

Christian Nunes (00:07):
Hi, it's Christian F. Nunes and welcome to Feminism Now. Today, I have two really great conversations for you. I'm excited to share the Zakiya Thomas is the president and CEO of the ERI Coalition and Equality Fund. And Dr. Leslie Hinkson is the Chief Officer of Racial Justice and Equity at the League of Conservation Voters. Both of these women know a thing or two about marginalized communities, how to fight for equality and build inclusive coalitions who drive change. Let's take a listen. I'm so excited to bring in our first guest today, Zakiya Thomas, the President and CEO of the ERA coalition and the Fund for Women's Equality. Zakiya is amazing. She is also an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University and she's a good friend and my partner in crime in this ERA commitment that we have to equality. So welcome, Zakiya.
Zakiya Thomas (01:05):
Thank you, Christian. So glad to be here.
Christian Nunes (01:07):
Yes, Zakiya, thank you so much for joining us. Well, just to get started, before I dive right into questions, is there anything pressing on your mind that you want share with everyone about your role in fighting for the Equal Rights Amendment?
Zakiya Thomas (01:21):
We at the ERA coalition are a movement of movements. We have over 290 partner organizations that represent 80 million people across the country, fighting for equality, specifically looking to get the Equal Rights Amendment added to the Constitution so that we have that baseline of equality in our founding document. So I'm excited to be here to talk about the ERA and I love the fact that we get to chat together. So excited for this.
Christian Nunes (01:41):
And I will tell you, Zakiya is changing the game and fighting for the Equal Rights Amendment, making sure that it is an intersectional fight, that it is full gender equality and is looking from an intersectional perspective. So I just want to give her kudos for the work that she's doing leading the ERA coalition. This is something that's the heart of Now's mission, on the heart of your organization, but also something that's so prevalent happening in Congress right now. So for those who don't really know, can you explain what the Equal Rights Amendment really is talking about and why it's so important for us to get this enshrined into our constitution?
Zakiya Thomas (02:22):
Well, the Equal Rights Amendment was first introduced 100 years ago into Congress and it really is an extension of the suffrage fight. So the fight for the women's right to vote in the United States. And we acknowledged that the right to vote was one for some women in the United States and others of us, particularly women of color, had a longer way to go to get there. But this is an offshoot of an extension of that fight for the basic form of equality in our country, and that's really making sure that people are not discriminated against on the basis of sex in our constitution.
(02:52):
Right now, if you look in the Constitution, there aren't any protections that prevent people from discrimination on the basis of sex. So, 50 years ago, the Equal Rights Amendment was actually passed in both houses of Congress with bipartisan support, something we rarely see these days. And then in 2020 the last state needed to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment was [inaudible 00:03:10] in my home state, ratified the Equal Rights Amendment. And so natural next step would be for the archivist to publish the amendment. That didn't happen. And so we're continuing the fight right now. And as you mentioned, we have multiple bills in Congress right now, for the first time led by women of color and women in the Senate as well, that affirm that the Equal Rights Amendment has met all of the requirements to be added to the Constitution and that it is the law of the land and calling on the archivist to publish.
(03:34):
So when you talk about what the Equal Rights Amendment does, it's a very foundational principle and that's really what it is. It's a principle that and the promise of equality for all and not to be denied on the basis of sex. So it's a very basic premise upon which we can build a better future for our country. So it strengthens the laws we already have on the book. If you think about the Violence Against Women Act, the Title IX requirements, a lot of those issues have been gutted or rolled back because there is no foundation in our constitution for those discriminations not to happen.
(04:07):
The laws that we thought were there to protect us actually don't have the teeth. They don't have the ability to protect us the way that a constitutional amendment would, that would provide a foundation and a basis for us to have standing in court to sue against discrimination on the basis of the sex. We saw on the Dobbs decision last year, it was a foundational principle. So many of us took that right for granted that we have access to abortion, but the Supreme Court said, "Nope, ha ha, you're not in the constitution. The Constitution doesn't protect against this kind of discrimination." And they even went even further and said, "Okay, well next we're probably going to go after same sex marriage. We're going to go after contraception."
(04:41):
And so we see this rollback of our rights and we at the ERA coalition very strongly believe that we can be the stop gap for that. We can be the counterbalance to this rollback of rights by getting the Equal Rights Amendment added to the Constitution. We can push back and say, "Hey, nope, we're not doing that. You're not taking more of our rights." Our Constitution should empower people and it should not take away rights that they thought they had sacred.
Christian Nunes (05:05):
And you [inaudible 00:05:07] a great point because I think that so many people really don't understand the importance of the Equal Rights Amendment and how it has a direct impact on their everyday living. And when you brought up the Dobbs decision, it's so important because many people just took that for granted. They took that right for granted. And then for the first time in decades, women like grandmothers are seeing that their granddaughters have less frights than they have. And we still have people saying that we don't need it, but we absolutely need it. Women are not fully protected. And as long as we have people and lawmakers and judges and everyone else who wants to go back and utilize the founding principles of the Constitution as their reason for not granting rights, is even more reason why we have to continue to push forward and say that women can't ever fully be protected if we do not have the Equal Rights Amendment. And I think many people miss that point. They think it's just an amendment and that's it and it makes no difference in our everyday lives.
Zakiya Thomas (06:07):
Yeah. And when you think about when the Constitution was written, it was a time before women and particularly people of color had rights. We couldn't vote, we couldn't own land. It was written for and by white land owning men. And so if our Supreme Court looks at the Constitution from that lens, that excludes the vast majority of our country. And people don't really realize that that's really what they're trying to talk about when they talk about a strict and an originalist point of view. So if we want to see ourselves in the Constitution, the Supreme Court has told us, we got to put ourselves in it and that's what the Equal Rights Amendment would do.
Christian Nunes (06:36):
And we know that nearly 80% of Americans say that they support the addition of the ERA in the Constitution. So why hasn't the ERA been enshrined in the Constitution so far? What is the holdup?
Zakiya Thomas (06:49):
So the holdup is we've become complacent in some respects and we've listened to folks who said that we don't need it. We do have a patchwork of laws on the books right now and statutes that protect against discrimination. But what we don't really pay attention to is those laws can be taken away. They can be rolled back. But if you have a constitutional amendment that is a foundation upon which you can build additional laws, it's so much harder to get a constitutional amendment added, which also means it's very hard to get it taken away. So once you have that right in the Constitution, it's guaranteed and it provides that level of protection. So if we want to have that basis, then we have to have the Equal Rights Amendment.
(07:24):
But really if you look at the opposition, it's the same folks who are against abortion. It's the same folks who are against trans rights, who are against LGBTQ+ rights. They feel threatened by the power that we would have by having an Equal Rights Amendment. They understand that if we had an Equal Rights Amendment, then that would change the status quo. You wouldn't be able to pay women less for doing the same work. You wouldn't be able to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people. If you were a survivor of domestic violence, you actually have recourse against your perpetrator because that's what the Violence Against Women Act could do. It could provide the opportunity for Congress and the legislatures to actually implement laws that protect people from discrimination. And some folks say it's just a symbol, so why do we need it? I say, "If it's just a symbol, give it to me." I want that symbol because the folks who know that if we had the Equal Rights Amendment in the Constitution, understand that it would actually empower us and it would be a game changer for all of us.
Christian Nunes (08:15):
Absolutely, and I think it's important when you say power, because this really is about power struggle. It's power and control. We have people who just really don't want to level the playing field. They do not want to see gender equality. They don't want to see people have the same ability to have access and power. That's really what it is. If we're really telling me truth. Correct? Wouldn't you agree?
Zakiya Thomas (08:36):
No, definitely. It's all about power and money.
Christian Nunes (08:38):
And so I think part of too, is part of our messaging. We have to continue to push to let people know really calling this what it is and also calling out those legislators who are blocking it for what they're really trying to do as well. We have to hold them accountable for what they're doing and their actions by not putting this forward and not voting to pass this in Congress. So we also know that people say the principles of equality apply to everyone and not just original white men that the constitutional authors had in mind. And you talked about this a little bit, but do you really believe that's true? I ask that as you're in this fighting, and you're one of the people leading this fight.
Zakiya Thomas (09:17):
No. So as a black woman in America, let me put that first. No, I don't believe that's true because if that was the case, then we would have a more expansive view. If people actually thought that the Constitution, which many of us do, the Constitution was intended to grow with the country, if we were supposed to just stick with what we had when the Constitution was written, we wouldn't have the internet. Think about the things that we have now that weren't even thought of at that time. So how is it that our constitution shouldn't be allowed to grow and change with society? Understanding that society's going to have different needs as we continue to evolve. And so, no, I don't think that having the originalist point of view actually is a strong one because it denies so much of who we are as a country and how far we've come since then.
Christian Nunes (09:58):
I remember when I was practicing as a therapist, I always... On my clients that the only thing that's constant is change and change has to take place. In order for things to progress, in order for us to grow, in order for life to blossom and everything to grow and be successful, there has to be change and shifting that occurs. And sometimes it's messy, sometimes it's easy and sometimes it's hard, but it has to take place. And by trying to hold on to the original foundation of the Constitution that excluded everyone except for white men, right? What are you really saying and what are you trying to accomplish here? It's just not plausible. It's not possible. And it is basically really reiterating some of the other problems in our democracy, which holds to white supremacy and patriarchy, which we have to also find ways to dismantle.
Zakiya Thomas (10:50):
Yeah, absolutely. And when you think about the drafters of the Constitution intentionally left women out, they intention left people of color out. And as we saw with the federations and different amendments that came later, they were very specific about who was a person and who wasn't a person based on what the constitution's interpretation is. So it's not by accident. This is all intentional and perpetrating this narrative is doing us harm as a country and it's creating barriers to economic growth, it's creating barriers to personal growth and it's stunting our country as a whole.
Christian Nunes (11:19):
Absolutely. We're going into a really important election year, and the ERA will be on some state ballots. We know that, and it's going to be something that we keep talking about. We're still pushing for in Congress and it's going to continue to occur until we pass this. We are not giving up this fight, but how do we get our allies and our advocates and activists to be able to communicate this conversation about the ERA in the adjustable terms so they can tell their family members and friends why it's so important that we put pressure on Congress and why it's so important that we need the ERA in the Constitution.
Zakiya Thomas (11:57):
So we're actually looking at that. The ERA coalition is heading into our 10th year next year. And so part of that fourth view is trying to bring our coalition partners more closely aligned in our messaging and talking about, okay, how do these issues overlap? We know that we're facing the same threats, whether it's voting rights, abortion access, LGBTQ+ issues, equality issues across the board, the enemy is the same. And so we are bringing together our coalition partners in a more concerted way to talk about how do we have this cross messaging so that we can amplify each other. We have an audience of 80 million people just in our coalition alone. So think about what that change could be if everyone was talking about the Equal Rights Amendment. So part of this is also public awareness and education.
(12:37):
So coming on podcasts like this, talking, trying to get in front of the news, it's quite funny. I have folks who always say, "Well, why aren't you guys on the news?" I say, "Do you know how expensive it is to get on the news?" But they don't realize that there's a lot of money in our systems right now and a lot of money is keeping us from having the full equality that we need to. We actually just did a project this past couple of months with our interns looking at who are the members of Congress who are likely to vote for the Equal Rights Amendment bills? And we took it a step further to say, "Who's funding them? And is it likely that they're going to change their point of view if they're getting hundreds of thousands of dollars from a donor who is against equality? Are they really likely to change their vote and vote with us?" Probably not.
(13:18):
They listen to money and power. Usually those two things are the same thing and we don't have money, but we do have people power and we're trying to leverage that to make sure that more people know about the Equal Rights Amendment and know who are the folks who are denying them from having that equality.
Christian Nunes (13:31):
That brings me right into my next point. So I'm so glad you're talking about who are denying us from having equality, but who are our allies in Congress? Who can we have our listeners call to find out what they can do to make sure they're getting reelected, but also, supporting their campaigns, funding their campaigns because they are our allies for the Equal Rights Amendment. Who do we have in Congress that are those people?
Zakiya Thomas (13:54):
So let's start with the Senate. So the Senate had, for the first time in 40 years, they had a vote on the Equal Rights Amendment on the legislation affirming the Equal Rights Amendment. We had a majority of support in the Senate, but we didn't have enough to bypass a filibuster. So we need two more senators to affirm that they're willing to bypass the filibuster in order to get the Equal Rights Amendment to the floor. So it's not surprising, it does fall along party lines. Most of the Democrats have voted for the Equal Rights Amendment. I think all of them actually voted for the Equal Rights Amendment bill, but we are trying to get the usual suspects to change their minds and actually vote down the filibuster to actually bring the bill to a floor so we can have this resolution passed because we know that we have the majority of the Senate already supporting it.
(14:35):
We may not have 60 votes because there are Republicans who are against it, and you'll have to ask them their reasons, most likely their money. So we know that those are the folks that we need to talk to bypass a filibuster in order to get the bill to the floor. Thankfully, the Senate leader, Chuck Schumer changed his vote at the last minute so that we can bring the vote up again for another vote at some time in the session. And let me say, we are a nonpartisan organization. When I say Democrat and Republican, I'm really focusing on the fact that that's where the party lines have seemed to fall. We support Republicans who support the Equal Rights Amendment and we always have. We actually have Republicans supporting us. Lisa Murkowski in the Senate in particular has championed our bill for years. And so we know that we have champions on both sides of the aisle, but some of our Republican friends need a little more help in seeing why they need to make this change.
(15:22):
The big question is, will we have enough members of Congress in the house to sign onto this discharge petition in order to say that, yes, we will bring this to the floor because we know we have the votes to get the bill passed if we go to the floor. Fun fact here, less than 2% of all bills that are introduced in Congress get brought to the floor for a vote. We're in that 2% and we have been for a number of years. So I'd just like to give credit to all the coalition partners out there who've done the hard work to get us where we are because that is not an easy feat to do, and we've done it multiple times. So congratulations to everyone who's made that happen.
(15:56):
And so if we get the discharge petition passed and we get the bill to the floor in the house, that gives more pressure on Congress. And when you talk about the 2024 elections, there are members of Congress in Biden districts who are Republican, in New York in particular, where there is a ballot initiative for an Equal Rights Amendment for their state constitution. So we're leveraging that. We're going out and saying, "You see how popular the Equal Rights Amendment is in your district? Do you really want to vote against women and equality and equality for all?" Usually the answer is, "No, I don't." And so we have to make the case of why this is important to their constituents, and we're doing that and we're using this ballot initiative as a way to uplift the conversation about the Equal Rights Amendment, both on the state level and the national level.
Christian Nunes (16:37):
Okay. Well, I'm super excited, Now is here. We are part of the coalition. We are here, you know you can count on me for anything you need. Remember, we are not free unless we are all free, even if our shackles are different from the other persons. Thank you so much, Zakiya, for joining us on Feminism Now.
(16:58):
Next what's on my mind is climate justice. Every day a headline about wildfire or hurricanes reminds us that climate crisis is escalating. And as many of you know, the impact of climate change just falls disproportionately in women, especially women of color. With me today to discuss climate justice and feminism is Dr. Leslie Hinkson. She is the Chief Officer for Racial Justice and Equity of the League of Conservation Voters, one of the most important environmental advocacy groups in the country. Leslie is here to talk to us about how LCV has committed to climate justice. It's so nice to have you on the show today, Liz, thank you for joining us.
Leslie Hinkson (17:43):
Oh, thanks for having me. It's great to be here.
Christian Nunes (17:46):
So first of all, I always like to start off by just asking our guests, is there anything that you want to share right off the bat about League of Conservation Voters and just your own little take about why it's important to have this conversation today?
Leslie Hinkson (17:58):
Yeah, sure. Basically, League of Conservation Voters are elevator pitches. We build political power for people in the planet by influencing policy, holding politicians accountable and winning elections. What our purpose for doing all of this is, is to create safe and healthy communities protected by just and equitable democracy. So lots of moving parts there. We believe that in order to get wins on policy, to help win on climate, we also need to pay attention to the democratic process. We also need to ensure that people and communities most impacted by climate change and environmental degradation are being heard, their issues are being attended to and that politicians are paying attention.
Christian Nunes (18:54):
Absolutely. So I want to start off by talking to you about the paradigm shift that's underway LCV. What is this paradigm shift that is happening with League of Conservation Voters that will help us with the democratic process and make sure the democracy is including the importance of climate justice?
Leslie Hinkson (19:11):
I think around seven years ago, seven and a half years ago, the League of Conservation Voters decided, and this is before I showed up at LCV, so credit is not mine, decided that the organization and its partners could not even begin to win on climate without actually building the broadest coalition possible. So the organization decided, we need to actually commit to not just saying we value racial justice, we value equity, but we need to figure out how to center those values in all of the work that we do, in how we consider policy, in how we organize, in how we communicate even in how we fundraise. And so basically, we have been undergoing an organizational change process over time so that rather than just changing what we do, we change how we do it and how we think about it. And so that requires a paradigm shift. It's not just checking boxes.
Christian Nunes (20:21):
Yeah, absolutely. I think it's important too because part of sometimes we hear about saying about putting on the lens and having the lens. And some people don't like it, but I actually like the saying about having the lens on a racial justice and gender equity because what it's doing is it's saying that you are looking at every single thing you do from that perspective. You're making sure that that's included in how you do policy, in how you do your organizational culture and policies, your legislative advocacy, your interactions, your relationship building. So it sounds like a lot of what you all are doing at LCV is making sure that everything you do and the work you do is integrated and understanding the narratives of the people. So I applaud you all for doing that. You mentioned bigger tents. Can you elaborate on bigger tent for the listeners?
Leslie Hinkson (21:11):
Yeah, sure. So if we think about the history of the conservation movement, very white male centered and also very elite. When we thought about conservation way back when, it was being able to conserve spaces, for example, for wealthy white men to go hunting, that was the purpose of conservation and regardless of whether there were people already existing on the land. So in creating a big tent, it means saying number one, who are folks who actually do care about these issues? And number two, who are the folks actually who could stand to gain the most from our movement? So how do we create a movement where we meet our goal by also ensuring that no further harm is done to people who have been most impacted, usually due to a legacy of structural racism? Things like redlining, things like turning a blind eye to the practices of corporations, big oil in particular, and how do we build trust?
(22:31):
That's another thing. How do we build trust? How do we get people to understand that our main issue, we understand how it connects to your main issues and we will be there with you in solidarity when you need us. So yeah, trust is a thing that needs to be built. Another thing is folks need to stop thinking about people as lacking trust. And that's a deficit model of looking at it like there are certain people who are least likely to trust inherently, no. Trust needs to be earned. And especially when there has been a history in which one would be a fool to trust, one really needs to lean into building trust.
Christian Nunes (23:20):
And also for people to understand that trust is a process. You're not going to earn all that trust overnight, especially with the history. So it's also important for if you're trying to be in solidarity and you're trained to come in these communities, you have to be willing to allow the time that they need, not what you need, but what they need, to able to feel like they can fully trust you and feel like you are in this for the right reason. So thank you so much for pointing that out and bringing that to the listener's attention.
(23:49):
So one of the things you mentioned earlier as well, you talked about the democratic process and candidates and holding candidates accountable, and I know LCV has what you created, is a candidate scorecard, which I love scorecards. And on that, is where you have a candidate's commitment to climate justice as a one score. How can this scorecard really help individuals really understand why some candidates are ranking high and why some candidates who they think normally would be their advocates and allies may not rank as high as they probably would like them to rank?
Leslie Hinkson (24:26):
Well, I am not the expert on LCV's scorecard. The folks in our government affairs department are the ones who put it together obviously with feedback and input from across the organization. But if you look at the scorecard, it pretty much just takes into account how folks have voted between election cycles. How have they voted, how have they voted in terms of climate justice? Have they actually shown that they actually care about not just the climate and the environment but the people? And if you have someone that you thought of as an advocate and you see that they didn't score as highly as you think they should on LCV's scorecard, you can just go and you can actually check on their vote record. And you can see for yourself every single vote that has been documented between these election cycles so that you can see for yourself whether or not you think of them as an advocate or not.
Christian Nunes (25:35):
Absolutely. So in the scorecard, when we're talking about climate and how they're getting voted on climate, one of the things I want to make sure is the listeners fully understand what might come into that, what you're looking at under climate justice, because sometimes, I think people only think water and energy. So could you, Dr. Hinkson, elaborate on exactly what all falls under the climate justice movement?
Leslie Hinkson (26:00):
So when we think about climate justice, we're not just thinking about the polar ice caps melting. We're thinking about the impacts on actual people. And when we think about climate justice, we're thinking about intersectional issues. We cannot talk about, for example, the impacts of polluted water if we don't also pay attention to the history of how that water got polluted and who lived in those places? How they got to be there and how it's so incredibly easy to target people who have very limited mobility because of both laws that make their ability to move from place to place difficult, but also, the economic constraints that things like an unfair and unjust labor market impose on folks. So climate justice thinks about all of these things together.
Christian Nunes (27:04):
In climate change and climate justice, we keep hearing about women of color being most impacted by climate change issues. Why are we seeing women of color disproportionately represented with the effects of climate change?
Leslie Hinkson (27:19):
If we're thinking about this globally, that is 1000% the case. And the other thing that I will say is women of color are not just disproportionately impacted, they are actually disproportionately represented and being champions for climate justice. So that is another thing. When we talk about climate justice and environmental justice being intersectional movements, another dot that people usually don't connect is reproductive justice. Reproductive justice is a core part of environmental justice. When we think about things like, we can talk about the racial disparities in maternal mortality and morbidity, we think about racial disparities in infant mortality and morbidity. We see connections to environmental pollution and environmental racism. I don't know if you've read Harriet Washington's book, A Terrible Thing to Waste. She focuses, I believe it's Anniston Alabama and just the impacts of PCBs and other toxins, not just in terms of birthing outcomes, but over the life course. There are huge connections, which is why climate justice organizations and organizations that are willing to take a climate justice approach to this, this is why it's so incredibly important. These things are all connected.
Christian Nunes (29:00):
Dr. Hinkson, how do we lean in to adjust clean transition and ensure that mistakes of the past that we've made don't continue repeating themselves?
Leslie Hinkson (29:10):
Well, they say Mark Twain said it, but he didn't. History doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes. You know what I mean? So it's not always exactly the same, but we can learn lessons and I think about back in the day when people were like, "Oil, it's going to revolutionize how we live, right? And it's going to make all of our lives better." Well, it didn't make everyone's life better because we did not attend to the negative impacts of oil production and how it would impact very real people and also, the climate and also, the environment. And now we have an opportunity, now that things are moving forward with clean energy being like, this is what we're going to lean into. We also need to make sure that we look back to the ways in which coal and oil in particular helped to destroy communities, helped to destroy lives, and helped to destroy our climate and make sure that we take lessons from that. Is there a way for us to reap the benefits without putting all of the cost on specific subgroups, not just within our country, but across the globe?
Christian Nunes (30:33):
I think that's a good lesson and takeaway for us. For any other takeaways you would like our listeners to know about LCV or your mission for climate justice and just climate change in general.
Leslie Hinkson (30:48):
Just the huge takeaway is LCV, we're still learning. We're still learning. We are leaning into partnerships. We are leaning into working in communities on the ground to hear from them what it is they need and how we can support them. And LCV also has more than 30 state affiliates who were working both statewide and also locally to actually address the needs of folks on the ground in those states. We just have a very real opportunity to reach folks where they are across the country and together, help formulate solutions to helping to create and maintain a healthier planet, but more importantly, to ensure that the people that populate this planet are healthy and have access to clean water and clean air, which are just truly integral.
(31:53):
When I decided to take this job, there were definitely folks from my community who were like, "Why are you going to do that? Our community has so many more basic needs." Then I'd have to say, "What's more basic than air and water?" We need those things, and I can walk and chew gum at the same time, and that's what LCV tries to do. It tries to walk and chew gum at the same time. Let's think about climate policy. Let's think about what that looks like locally, and let's think about other issues like, Hey, if your vote is suppressed, how do you get to go out and actually ask politicians for what it is your community actually needs? So understanding that this is all just very complex, but thinking about this in a more complex, a more intentional and a more intersectional way is I think, the only way to get to real solutions. It's a complex problem, and there's not going to be one silver bullet, one simple solution to help get us out of it.
Christian Nunes (33:03):
Absolutely. Well, thank you so much. Now is here, any way that we can be supportive as the organization with you, please let us know. Please reach out. I thank you so much, Dr. Leslie Hinkson for coming on this show today, and thank you all for joining us today. We are out of time, but we still want to hear from you. Our email address is [e-mail]. So please, please, please share your thoughts, what you think is important for us to talk about. Thank you for joining us. Have a great day.