[Music] I'm going to bring up our two young activists
who I've been referring to this entire time so I'm looking forward to chatting with you uh
Ty McMillan Works to educate lawmakers and stakeholders from the White House to corporate
sea Suites on the challenges and opportunities that are facing communities by advocating
for more resources and policies that help invest and Advance economic and social equality
atal helped organize a 2020 commitment March on Washington 2021 march on voting r
ights which Drew
hundreds of thousands to Washington DC calling for racial Justice police reform voting rights
protections census participation and much much more it's so nice to have you thanks for joining
me Alicia Butler is a native of Seattle Washington currently is serving as the health and wellness
policy adviser for the National Action Network where she's responsible for overseeing all their
National Health and Wellness initiatives centering on black Health Equity she works closely w
ith uh
legislators on Capitol Hill and the White House acting as the National Action networks liaison
it's so nice to have you as well um I'm gonna start where Jean theia Harris left off which was
um and every time I have a conversation with Gan I'm like oh a thing I hadn't thought about
before trusting young people um I'm curious if that was something that you took away uh
from the documentary because I will tell you until Jean said it at that moment I was like
oh I hadn't really thought
about the degree to which she really felt like I trust young people
to lead the way yeah I think when you look at the history of all of the major civil rights groups
and leaders you see a John Lewis who was when he got a skull fractured on Bloody Sunday you see
awami Tay formerly Stokely car Michael when he was 25 leading Snick and then you see a chairman
Fred Hampton who did massive work at 21 before he was assassinated that they were the ones carrying
a lot of these movements that we see
and so when we talk about trusting young people and trusting
Young Voices and the nuances of those things we have carried essentially the soil that was laid
out in the framework from the people above us and are taking it realizing that these causes
are bigger than ourselves and so I think it's extremely important to keep young people at
the front the front lines of these movements I sometimes worry when we take a look back
historically that young people like yourselves like the three of us
up here um that that you
almost like roll your eyes like oh you know what's the relevance today people are organizing around
social media all the work that you're you're doing is very very very different from the way that it
was done in rosea Park's day are there pieces of it that feel irrelevant to you or there pieces
that you think are extremely relevant that are actually motivational for you yeah I I think
we have such a great opportunity as a tool with with uh social media to really Gal
vanize
uh a generation of young folks to really get involved in this movement but I think the the the
problem that we face in this generation I think is complacency and com ability uh even throughout
Generations a lot of folks get comfortable um or feel we have arrived somewhere that we have as as
rev would say you know uh we feel that our we have accomplished our resumés or we have you know we
have got the job that we wanted and live in the house that we want to live in um but the fact tha
t
the reality reality is as we look at our history that uh there were folks who would wouldn't even
look at our resume so we have to get outside of our our complacency um and our comfortability um
and and really shift that narrative but we have such a great opportunity to really organize uh
and use social media as a tool to really uh get the word out and to you know to bring bring groups
people together from across the world one thing that was I think surprising for me uh early on as
we st
arted looking at roughs of this documentary was the degree T which and Yuba mentioned this um
just that like danger was ever present right the dock opens with this idea of Defending yourself
against the KKK and and really doesn't slow down after that as young activists today do you feel
sometimes that you're put in dangerous positions is that something of the past I think the the
nerves come from the climate shift that we've seen over the last few years that have created
a sense of fear um
but we also recognize that coming into this work there are risk as we've seen
throughout the course of history of push back and people putting their literal lives on the line to
fight for causes that are bigger than themselves so I think that that's always in the back of
our minds but um one part in the documentary that I liked the guy was saying Ed Nixon he said
um if a cause is not worth dying for then it's not worth fighting for and I was like that's really
profound because you see a Joh
n Lewis put still going after getting his skull fractured I mean I
would have I don't know what I would have done I can't fathom and imagine what that looked like
and that's why I just get so annoyed people say I'm not my ancestors I'm not this yeah we're not
I don't know if we're as resilient as they are but there's a level of respect that I have for
them because the consequences and the risk and M Stakes were a lot higher now and we are now
sitting in the fruits of their labor and we're a
ble to build upon that work without necessarily
facing death at our doorstep the way they had to it's is saying that I I love it says jail does not
scare me death does not scare me bondage does um and and and you know we can we can deal with a
few internet trolles you know they you know they it comes along with the territory and I think
you know that's the risk of putting yourself in uncomfortable situations and being able to uh if
you really going to be about you got to stand on business a
nd sometimes standing on business
puts you put can put You In Harm's Way how about um feeling disheartened I thought it was
really interesting when she talked about um just sometimes feeling overwhelmed by the the obstacles
you know when she's talking to Larry King that the clip from CNN where you know and I know she relied
heavily on her faith but it was one of the first times that I'd seen a civil rights leader like
genuinely showed that they were exhausted by all that they had done over
their life often I think
we see them as very resilient and moving forward and you know galvanizing the very Jesse Jackson
type leader we saw in her in his remarks and so I'm curious how do you deal deal with that are you
exhausted do you sometimes look up and say like I don't know that this next thing is is surmountable
I am exhausted I'm also motivated I am fired up I'm ready to continue the fight I think it was
refreshing to see that level of defeat but also optimism and even when we refe
renced Dr King when
he's giving his last speech um I've been to the Mountaintop where he talks about foreshadowing his
death and talk about how he's seen the Mountaintop and um he's been to the promised land and he's
seen all of us there and he may not get there with us and the next day he was assassinated it's
really refreshing to lean into that optimism and take it with us and say if they can do it and
they can see it why can't we and I think we have a responsibility as young activists to
ensure that we are leaving this space in this world um better for the next Generation to pick
it up and and continue to do that and continuing what you were saying I think we have a such a
a dope opportunity um you know a lot of folks can say what we would have done in the 60s or I
would have did this I would they oh they wouldn't have did this to me but now we are living in this
moment where history is recording what's happening now um and so the question is when our children's
children
are looking back at this moment what the question is what side of History did you stand
on and I I I want you know my my my the the the optimism is in the fact of uh fighting for you
know the generations who may not see it now you know I may not see it in my lifetime um but at
least I can say that I I I put tooth and nail in to to ensure that something comes out of this
the most optimistic and impressive people I think are young people when it comes to and just with
high energy to tackling
some of these problems but also sometimes um I have interviewed many
young people who sort of just feel like me it's not about me or it's not what I you know it's it's
not an issue that affects me I'm I'm good how do you as young activists engage those folks not the
ones who are engaged and see themselves as part of a bigger picture but the ones who don't I have
conversations with my friends debates really um who are not necessarily in this space all of the
time and I think you just have to
make it personal um you know I had the privilege of being one of
the lead organizers for the 60th anniversary of the marown Washington this past August and
there were so many young people who didn't even necessarily understand the ramifications of
what was going to happen and the consequences of what could happen but they understood that they
needed to be at the front lines and being part of the right side of history and I think when
you're committed to understanding that when you take you
rself out of it even if you think that
you're not going to be moved by whoever's in a presidential office or anything like that you
recognize that your peers and for the overall sake of humanity that someone else is and when
you're able to put other people sometimes above your own needs you're able to kind of move forward
with the level of optimism um and wanted to see it through excellent Alicia and Tek fantastic
thank you so much for joining me appreciate it and can I just get a big round
of applause for
everyone who worked on this project thank you guys uh before we end the program today I just
want to uh thank all of our panelists Yuba and Johanna and uh Jean Thea Harris uh and of course
elisia and Ty as I just mentioned uh and also um our partners the league the MLK Library the MLK
Foundation uh so it at O'Brien Productions if you want to get a copy of the book and I am telling
you this book is excellent please go to the fifth floor uh for a book signing Dr Jee Theo Harr
is
will be there signing books and it's a great opportunity to get one thank you so much for
joining us today we truly appreciate [Applause] it
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