Young people, especially Millennials and Gen Z, are at the forefront of shaping the freedoms and future of our nation. Their voting power is transforming American politics. We will hear directly from young leaders about the issues that matter most to them, the solutions they’re driving forward, and how the 2024 election is pivotal in protecting their rights and shaping the future they envision.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Tonight is about bridging the divide and actually hearing from young people who are the future.
00:07Young people are not only our future, but they impact elections.
00:12Young voters from the millennial generation and Gen Z are emerging as the demographic
00:18center of power in American politics.
00:21Look, tonight we will outline the key issues young people have told us they care most about,
00:27the solutions for addressing those issues, and how this election and voting impacts the
00:33future.
00:34But first, we got some housekeeping rules.
00:36Now look, y'all, this is a nonpartisan space focused on voter registration and mobilization.
00:46Further, it ain't a fundraising call, okay?
00:49There are other events focusing on fundraising.
00:52Now we'll be answering your questions, so please put your questions in the chat.
00:57We love questions, and we'll try to answer as many as we can before the end of the town
01:04hall.
01:05Also, as we do every time we go through these events, we want you to see the link for voter
01:12registration.
01:13If you have not registered to vote, we have six weeks before election day.
01:18Please do.
01:19Go to hashtag paint the polls black.
01:21And finally, please sit back, relax, and enjoy this town hall.
01:25So tonight, we will be starting with setting the table on the issues.
01:31We are so, so pleased to have two community activists, if you will, with us.
01:37The first is Marley Diaz, who is an American activist and writer.
01:42While Marley was in the sixth grade in November of 2025, or no, 2015, I should say, she launched
01:49a campaign called hashtag 1,000 black girls books to collect 1,000 books with black female
01:56protagonists to donate for black girls at other schools in the U.S.
02:02Joining her tonight will be Conscious Lee.
02:04Conscious Lee is a dynamic orator, he's an innovator, he's an education and influential
02:10content creator.
02:11His work sits at the intersection of media, social political issues, and popular culture.
02:18Both Marley and Conscious Lee will join us to discuss all the issues that young voters
02:23care most about.
02:25Make sure y'all put your questions in there.
02:26So let's go ahead and get into it.
02:29Marley, Conscious Lee, thank you so much for joining us.
02:32Thank y'all for having us.
02:34Thank you for having me.
02:35I speak for Marley.
02:36Not bad, Marley.
02:37No worries.
02:38Thank you for having us.
02:39You're welcome.
02:40So there are a number of issues we want to get to.
02:42Let's jump into it.
02:43Let's start with the economy.
02:46Studies show that young people highlight the economy as the most or one of the most
02:50important issues that they care about.
02:53And when they talk about the economy, they overwhelmingly mean lowering prices on food
03:00and gas and services, and then talk about creating more jobs and lowering interest rates
03:06and even earning higher wages.
03:08So that's what we're hearing from the press, and we want to hear from you.
03:13What are you hearing from your friends and your colleagues when we hear that the economy
03:17is the most important issue or one of the most important issues that young people care
03:22about?
03:23Is it the same in your circles?
03:24So Marley, maybe we can start with you.
03:26Yeah.
03:27I mean, I would say that the current cost of living crisis and inflation over the past
03:32couple of years has been really confusing and hard to understand for people of my generation
03:39and in my circles, because I feel like we lack a fundamental kind of public, economic
03:44or civic education in schools.
03:46I was required to take personal finance by the state of New Jersey.
03:49I'm a public school student, K through 12, but I didn't learn what actually makes the
03:55price of something the price of something.
03:58And I, once again, will go back to the idea that knowledge is power and that maybe not
04:02having these understandings in some ways allowed us to go for a while without like understanding
04:08the way that economic inequality works or understanding the way the housing crisis
04:11works.
04:12But we're growing up and we're now actually in the grocery stores, actually in the apartment
04:16hunt, actually in this situation.
04:18And we lack the fundamental education to know why a price of rent is the price of rent.
04:25And I think as much as it is clearly a problem, I think it goes back to still this fundamental
04:30lack of where is the economic education for young people?
04:34Where is the, when do we get a credit card?
04:36Where is the, what is a mortgage?
04:38Where is the 1099 forms?
04:40Like where is this education for people?
04:44And I think the reason why we don't know those things is to economically disadvantage us.
04:48And that information being withheld from public school spaces is not unintentional.
04:53So I think that that's something in local elections we also got to consider is what
04:57types of folks, what folks are educated on are interested in equipping the next generation
05:01with that education and using local elections as a way to put that into the classroom so
05:07that we don't face, you know, having 18 to 24 year olds feel so confused and so at odds
05:12with their current economic standing.
05:14Okay.
05:15This is our future.
05:17Just so we're all super clear.
05:19I'm like, yes, they need to learn how to use the cash app responsibly, but consciously
05:25what say you?
05:27Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm a born and raised in Texas and I've heard a lot about people being chastised
05:34specifically for buying avocado toast and coffees.
05:39So when I think about how young people think about the economy, I think sometimes our intelligence
05:44is being insulted.
05:45A lot of older people talk about how hard they had to work and how accessible things
05:49was when we look at how long it's taken for the minimum wage to change or how much more
05:54money people are paying for the dollars on the hour in terms of higher education.
06:00We see that there's a lot of people that's, you know, proverbially peeing on us and then
06:03telling us that it's raining.
06:05I think that a lot of us are a lot more critically thinking about, you know what I'm saying?
06:11How we have access to resources and opportunity.
06:14I think that a lot of us are being very mindful about what opportunities we have and how much
06:19long we have to stay in school and, or what the value of our degrees will be once we get
06:24into an economy that has a little to no jobs, or you got to have a PhD and you're going
06:30to get paid $25,000 a year.
06:31And it's like, nobody got time for that.
06:35Nobody got time for that.
06:36That don't even match up, doesn't even match up.
06:38Look, I want to ask a question on health care.
06:41Now, polls have also shown consistently higher support for abortion rights among young voters,
06:47especially young women.
06:48This support made a difference in 2022, as we saw as well, where many credited concern
06:53over abortion rights with boosting Democrats to better than expected midterm results, despite
06:59Biden's low approval rate.
07:01When asked about which issue influenced their vote, abortion was the top choice for voters
07:06under 30, according to an analysis by the Edison Research National Election Poll exit
07:12poll data by the Center for Immigration and Research on Civic Learning.
07:16Look, those who supported access to abortion strongly preferred Democratic candidates.
07:22How do you all rank this issue?
07:24Marlee, I'll begin with you again.
07:28This issue is incredibly salient to me, and I feel is incredibly salient across the country.
07:32I had the opportunity to write an editorial for the Rolling Stone last summer about the
07:38Supreme Court and the way that the affirmative action decision, Roe v. Wade, the overturning
07:42of Roe v. Wade and student debt relief really are at the nexus of the challenges that Black
07:48women and girls will face for the next two, three generations.
07:52So when it comes to the overturning of Roe, it's really critical that we try and we do
07:57not bring this issue back to the states and that we focus on federal protections that
08:02can and should have been set in, can and should have been set in place decades ago to codify
08:07this law.
08:08So it is once, it is the failure, it is unfortunately a series of failures by our larger states
08:15to not recognize that this was, this issue has always been on the table in legal scholarship,
08:19that Roe was always being looked to be overturned, and 50 years of complacency leads to a global
08:25and national crisis.
08:27So to think of the U.S. as a model when we passed this and then now to think of us as
08:31a model in overturning this really sets a dangerous tone for what can happen with, to
08:36progress and how generations of not protecting and complacency can create crisis.
08:43Another thing that I would say is important in regards to women's health care is also
08:45period poverty.
08:48And a lot of women do not have free menstrual, we do not have free menstrual products provided
08:52to students federally in schools.
08:54We do not have access in menstrual education for girls and boys and kids of any gender
08:59identity in schools.
09:01We are not focused on the ways that something that happens to women and girls everywhere
09:05and is a part of life creation is not considered, is considered something that people would
09:10have to pay for and also goes into the economic question before.
09:14So abortion is clearly also on the table, but we need to think about more universal
09:18health care resources for women and girls that are still just women and girls existing
09:23even in the context of crisis or no crisis, that period poverty has remained and it is
09:28keeping kids out of school.
09:30And that's something that I think is, should really be on people's mind for local elections
09:34and something to advocate for in your community is you don't, should not have to pay for a
09:38pad or a tampon.
09:39And that is a right that you have as a person that creates life for your generations in
09:44your community.
09:45And that's something we can basic, we can advocate for on a basic fundamental level
09:49that we should really bring into the conversation of women's health care, even in the face of
09:52Roe.
09:53Marley, I know I started out with you asking this question, but I do think that this issue
09:58is something that we need to have more men participate and become advocates in as well.
10:04And so consciously, when we talk about this issue, when we talk about reproductive rights,
10:10what, what position do you feel, how important is it?
10:14Do you feel that men also take part in this conversation and lifting of these issues?
10:20I think ultimately that there will be entire communities and household units that's impacted
10:24off of the regulations and restrictions that happens to reproductive freedom, reproductive
10:28health.
10:29What we know is that when restrictions and regulations come in, at least in a criminality,
10:34Black people will be disproportionately impacted by that.
10:36In this instance, we're talking about, you know, people that can birth in Black women
10:40particularly.
10:41And what we know is that, especially when we think about those states that's below the
10:44Mason-Dixon line, there will be many different ways that the legacy of states' rights are
10:49leading it to the states has always led to like Black death, always led to Black incarceration.
10:54So as a male that's thinking very intentionally about what my fight is and what my voice can
10:59be used in terms of thinking about reproductive justice, reproductive freedom, we know that
11:03usually power has a tendency to only want to listen to itself.
11:07So what I know is being a man and being a straight cisgender man in this space is being
11:12able to be very intentional and purposeful about making sure the access, opportunity
11:17and resources around gender-affirming care is good, and specifically when it comes to
11:22abortions.
11:23And the last thing, being a Southerner, you feel me, granddaddy taught me to take to the
11:26tango.
11:27So when we think about the different ways that pathology happens, it makes it where
11:30women are seen as being the bearers of the child.
11:35It allows for a lot of, you know, men to scapegoat their fatherly abilities and, you know what
11:40I'm saying, makes it where we have a hard time coming to collective voices.
11:43And I think that really all hands being on deck when we think about reproductive freedom
11:48and reproductive justice is something, it's something Marley said that's very important,
11:52is that not only when it comes to the period poverty and local elections, but thinking
11:56very intentionally about how when life is being conceived and or when people are carrying
12:02life, how the ripple effect, how different things and people are implicated.
12:06And that's acknowledging that different people have the ability to do what they want to do
12:09with their body.
12:10I want to be clear with that.
12:12The last thing I'll say, in America, we got freedom of religion.
12:17Nine times out of 10, when anybody's trying to talk to me or chastise and be righteous
12:21about abortion, they cannot get past the separation from church and state.
12:26They cannot get past the freedom of religion.
12:28It almost becomes that because you believe in a particular thing, now I have to conform
12:33to your beliefs.
12:34And I think that that is not how freedom of religion works.
12:37I could be wrong, but.
12:39No, I do want to add real quick, even before you ask the next question, just to put out
12:44there, because I know consciously you're from Texas, that there was a report that came out
12:47from NBC that said that since Texas has had its strict abortion ban, that there's been
12:53a 50, I believe 57 or 59 percent increase in maternal mortality rates.
12:59Yes.
13:00And so we got to look at those numbers and look at those states, especially ones that
13:04have certain trifectas within them.
13:07And that's also in some of you will be voting on that when you go to the polls on November
13:105th.
13:11And one last thing, too, to the men listening to this, when we're talking about abortion,
13:15I was very intentional about saying gender affirming care or reproductive freedom, reproductive
13:20health.
13:21We should not as mean we should never pigeonhole this conversation about reproductive freedom
13:25as just being about abortion, because when we do that, we forget about the unique intricacies
13:30to how gender violence specifically happens and how consent happens and how autonomy happens.
13:35In Texas, there are different cases where women are forced to carry a child to birth
13:40and they've been raped.
13:41They're a victim of incest.
13:43They have different medical issues and medical things going on that they carry the child
13:48a term.
13:49It would literally bring their own health into jeopardy.
13:53These are all reasons.
13:54Right.
13:55Or it might be a woman that's looking for access to, you know, get some birth control
13:58because she has crazy periods.
14:00You feel me?
14:01She has a menstrual cycle that's heavy and her being able to be on this or them being
14:03able to be on this allows for them to mitigate the impact when they're dealing with those
14:08periods.
14:09So a lot of times us as men, we come into the conversations being extremely ignorant.
14:14Extremely ignorant.
14:15Especially when we have different individuals that push homophobia and saying you should
14:18always already care about the women.
14:20Then I think that that should be a very applicable when we start talking about reproductive freedom,
14:26reproductive justice, and not just be a conversation about what your pastor told you in sixth grade
14:31about abortions.
14:33The conversation is bigger than that.
14:34And again, freedom of religion.
14:39We could talk about health care and reproductive justice all day.
14:42And I'm really, I think the point that you just made is incredibly important because
14:46I think sometimes people think about reproductive justice or health care within the very narrow
14:52lens of abortion.
14:53But we're really talking about IVF.
14:55We're talking about contraception.
14:57There are all of these other issues that affect whether and how you can control your body.
15:03Black women experience thyroids at a high level.
15:06You better preach, brother.
15:07Come on.
15:08That impact that we're talking about.
15:09Just to be clear.
15:10I'm going to cut you off if I have to, but I know that a lot of our cohorts have trouble
15:15sometimes in getting into this conversation and not thinking about it in a much more broader
15:20standpoint.
15:21No, you're right.
15:22I mean, people should know that more than 90% of black women at some point in their
15:26lives will experience fibroids compared to non-black women that are in the 20s or 30%.
15:33So that is an important issue.
15:36Shifting from health care for a minute to climate change.
15:40I know that I had the privilege and the benefit of traveling across the country this summer.
15:46And I went to certain places and said, it can't be this hot.
15:50But it was.
15:51It was incredibly hot.
15:54And polling shows that young voters across party lines are listing climate as a top issue.
15:59In fact, an NPR PBS poll found that nearly 60% of those between the ages of 18 and 29
16:09believe that climate change should be a priority, even at the risk of slowing economic growth.
16:16And it's a question I don't want to pose to you both.
16:18And consciously, maybe we start with you.
16:20A larger group, I think, 64% believe that climate change is a major threat.
16:25And 72% responded by saying climate change is affecting their local community.
16:31As you talk to folks that you engage with day in and day out, is climate change as important
16:37as we're hearing about it?
16:39And are you discussing it with family and friends?
16:42Definitely, definitely, definitely, definitely.
16:45The way that we treat the environment and or value environmental degradation is impacting
16:51how we pay our bills.
16:52If we're dealing with record high numbers of temperature, the AC being ran a little
16:58bit more, that's going to make the bill go up.
17:00We already worried about the economy.
17:02So we see different ways in which climate change and global warming is impacting a lot
17:06of the way that we experience weather.
17:08I live in Texas.
17:09Down here in the Third Coast, we're experiencing one of the most volatile hurricane seasons.
17:14And for us that's thinking critically, we know that that ties to global warming, climate
17:19change.
17:20And what we know as black people is that a lot of times when we think about climate change,
17:24it's usually talking about it to come.
17:27We're not currently talking about how there are black people in the status quo that's
17:30already experiencing climate change and global warming, that's impacting their healthcare,
17:34that's impacting the way they feed themselves.
17:36And the last thing we know is that though young people are so worried about the economy,
17:41we recognize that if the world does not exist, the money that we have don't mean much.
17:45I'm going to repeat that again.
17:47If we know that fracking leads to a whole bunch of earthquakes and a whole bunch of
17:52X, Y, and Z, so we're being very critical of it.
17:53I'm from Texas.
17:54I got people that feed their family by doing fracking.
17:57But we know that you being able to gain some profits from fracking don't mean nothing in
18:0150 years if we're dealing with environment, you know what I'm saying, cascades and things
18:05like that.
18:06So I say all that to say, everybody that says science matters when you're trying to weaponize
18:11it against transgender, gay people, I find it funny that you don't think science matters
18:18when you start talking about the environment.
18:20To me, that never made sense, and I have to just say that with this time right here.
18:23Does science matter in every instance, or it only matters when you want to weaponize
18:27it against other people's identity?
18:29Or does it only matter when you can ignore the real impacts and say we get some profits?
18:33I think all those things are unethical.
18:35Facts.
18:36Okay.
18:37We're in church tonight.
18:38I'm sorry.
18:39I mean, no, it's absolutely true.
18:40Yeah.
18:41I mean, I think it's sort of highlighting what I tend to call the intellectual dishonesty
18:50when some of these issues come up, because you can't have it one way and not the other.
18:54Marlee, we'll turn to you talking about climate change and what are you hearing about climate
19:00change as it relates to not only this election, but your cohort and whether or not this is
19:05a priority for them?
19:06Yeah.
19:07I think what everything that conscious said was said so, so beautifully, and I could not
19:11agree more with the points.
19:13And I think the issues of climate change and economics go hand in hand.
19:18And for people in my circle, and I think for a lot of people, it's also an issue of the
19:22billionaire class.
19:23And it is an issue of wealth and equality that when we think about the people that are
19:27the individuals, even though in climate change, we generally frame, we put the onus on individuals
19:32as in change your straws or recycle more or take shorter showers.
19:37These methods, even if we could get every person to do them, is nothing in comparison
19:43to thousands of private jet flights or running an oil and gas companies to continue fracking,
19:50to push this legislation, to ignore and to use your power to profit and your access to
19:56wealth to quite literally pollute the only space that we all occupy is a huge problem.
20:04And another thing that, so once we realize these things of like climate is tied to the
20:08billionaire class, it is tied to corporations, it is tied not to me, even though it has been
20:12framed as my individual onus and my creation of the environment, it's actually generations
20:17of labors and industries that have not considered climate.
20:21We also then have this climate doom happening, where then young people realize this fact,
20:26that even in online spaces, it is not like, even in news and media, it is not framed as
20:31a contributor to our problem.
20:33We do not have politicians because they receive all the time, they receive support from this
20:37class.
20:38So they're interested in maintaining these forms of inequality.
20:41We do not see actual changes in our local communities and our days are getting hotter
20:45and prices are getting higher.
20:47It creates such a mental health crisis for young people of how do I imagine a future
20:52when everyone is ignoring all of the things that are making this future either become
20:58impossible or become incredibly unsafe or force me to have to focus on the same recreation
21:04of wealth inequality to be safeguarded from this terror.
21:08So climate is such a central issue to this election and really to this moment.
21:16Even though I speak so much about racial inequality and book banning and books, like once again
21:20to consciousness point, like I feel that climate doom and not having a place to do
21:25my activism, not having a black community that has land and spaces to be supported is
21:30incredibly concerning.
21:32And the idea that somehow me changing my straws every day or using a reusable bag at the grocery
21:36store is the, I am the person that can single handedly change that.
21:41In the case of climate, it is not about just everyday people being the change they want
21:45to see in the world.
21:46It is about eliminating and getting resources back from folks who have profited off of damaging
21:51planet earth, the only place that has civilizations to humans that is going to end quicker because
21:58of the decisions they've made because of the wealth that they have.
22:01And like the lack of, I don't, I don't understand how in media we do not frame these two things
22:07together and it really has made young people become so disappointed in older generations
22:13because if these facts are not being acknowledged, it creates such like true anxiety and true
22:18like pessimism about the future.
22:21We cannot all come to terms with climate change's existence and let alone who, and also who
22:25has caused climate change.
22:27Ooh, that, that's so, honestly, before we get to the next one, I just want to say climate
22:32change is one of the issues.
22:33I feel like we don't talk about enough that affects black communities in such like a drastic
22:40way, whether we're talking about the increase of asthma in our communities, chronic diseases,
22:45and one that we don't really connect it to as much as even mental health.
22:49I hate coming back to Texas consciously, but there was a report that talked about black
22:53Texans were four times more likely to have high post-traumatic stress after Hurricane
23:00Harvey.
23:01And these are things we just don't connect when we talk about climate change and the
23:04effects that it has.
23:05But I want to move on just to talk a little bit about public safety and ask you a question
23:10there.
23:11The proliferation of guns and gun violence is a huge issue with young voters.
23:18And of course we see the impact in black and brown neighborhoods.
23:23Where do you land on this issue?
23:25Even solution-wise, what is it that you want to see?
23:28And especially after we just saw the school in Georgia shot, four people shot, kids shot,
23:36and then nine others severely wounded, consciously, I'll start with you when it comes to this
23:41issue of public safety.
23:44I think that if our politicians kept the same energy and logic when it came to gun violence
23:50as they do gay books, I think that we would have a different place and space.
23:54Me knowing in Texas, it is much more likely for a Texas student to have a restrict, for
23:58them to be policed based off of them having a book that the people that don't know what
24:02they're reading think it's Marxism or think it's communism or think it's socialism.
24:07That is more restrictive than them carrying an assault rifle in the school.
24:10I think that that right there is indicative of the laws and policies, especially known
24:13as black people, we get put up under the law, right?
24:16What I know about a lot of the gun enthusiasts in places like Texas, they'll say we should
24:20not pass gun laws or gun reform at all because criminals don't follow law, but they never
24:26had that same energy when it comes to passing laws to restrict black life.
24:30You feel me?
24:31They don't feel that same way when it comes to thinking about how books can turn a kid
24:34gay, but they'll say, hey, guns don't kill people, people kill people, but the book can
24:37make a kid gay.
24:38It's like this right here is a part of the climate that I'm very, very much critical
24:43of.
24:44And a lot of my black people right here, I want you all to listen to this, man.
24:46As somebody that pays attention to policy and legislation, a lot of y'all are being
24:50duped, which you care more about drag queens and then story hour than you care about your
24:54kid being shot in story hour.
24:56And those particular lawmakers know that.
25:00So they know to put at the top of the bill, which you're going to pay attention to, no
25:03drag story hour.
25:05At the bottom of it, they're going to give teachers guns.
25:07Do you think that it's good for black kids that are already disproportionately impacted
25:11in terms of discipline for their kids to be, for their teachers to be handed a firearm?
25:14No.
25:16It doesn't make any sense.
25:17So for me, it's just very simple.
25:18When you look out the rest of the world and you see that there are multiple, multiple
25:22countries that have significantly less gun deaths, and they have a lot of common sense
25:28gun laws on the books, we ain't got to reinvent the wheel, the wheel already made.
25:33But shout out to the NRA though, I know y'all spend money good and, you know, lobbying is
25:37big in our country.
25:38And for some reason, the gun lobbyists are able to, you know, act as people when their
25:42money becomes speech and, you know, NRA pay good money.
25:48I think you, you articulated that in such a useful way for people to think about guns.
25:55Because I think often they disassociate those issues.
25:58So thank you for doing that.
26:00For those of you who are just joining us, you are, we are talking about issues that
26:07have been raised as most directly impacting young people and what young people care about
26:12most.
26:13This is Paint the Poles Black, and Marlee and Consciously are helping us dissect these
26:17issues and provide their perspectives on them.
26:20We only have a few more issues to go through with them, and we want to go through them
26:24quickly before our next segment.
26:27And the next one is housing affordability.
26:29And Marlee, we'll start with you.
26:31We all remember COVID and the pandemic-fueled housing boom that occurred.
26:37And housing affordability, unfortunately, has deteriorated at a really fast pace.
26:42A lot of people can't afford to buy a home, and some can't really barely afford rent.
26:48And that influences young voters, really, when we talk to them and when they go and
26:52vote at the polls.
26:53We're already seeing it unfold, 91% of adult Gen Zers say housing affordability is top
27:00of mind as they consider who to vote for in November's presidential election.
27:05So can you talk to us about your perspective on this issue, housing affordability, what
27:10you are hearing from your cohorts, what you're hearing from people that you engage with,
27:15with respect to not only home buyership, but also affording rent?
27:18Yeah.
27:19I think, I mean, I'm in my junior year of college, and I live in Cambridge, Massachusetts,
27:23for school.
27:24I go to Harvard.
27:25And it is the most expensive, it's the most expensive, I think, place to buy an apartment
27:29in the East Coast, if not in the country right now.
27:32So I know there's some kids at school here that are able to afford those types of places.
27:37But for all the people, I'm from West Orange, New Jersey, I am 973 up and down.
27:41That is not the environment and not the experience of how young people feel in this country.
27:47And I think when we talk about housing affordability, we have to, it goes once again, back to this
27:53civic economic training.
27:55The lack of civic economic training is leaving young people in the dust about decisions that
28:00they need to make to build their future.
28:03The people that are equipped with this knowledge are people that are generationally wealthy,
28:07that have had land ownership since this country was built 400 years ago, either in their bloodline
28:12or inscribed into legislation that they are deserving of such.
28:15But for us as Black people, we have in every way, shape, and form been told that we should
28:20not own property.
28:22And with this current crisis, we can only wonder who and how and why would people design
28:29a system that leaves Black and Brown people out of this equation again?
28:32We know that the infrastructure and we know that the way that we wrote and set up the
28:37United States was written in pen.
28:39It does not change.
28:40And the ultimate decisions that we've made around who has access, they only change face,
28:46but they do not change in character.
28:48So housing affordability is once again, just a reminder that Black and Brown people and
28:53poor people will be treated as a disease when in reality race has been fully constructed
28:59and poverty has been fully constructed by those that own land and those that are white.
29:04And that is how the United States was created.
29:06And that is how the United States is interested in moving about.
29:10So for young people and for me as someone that got to travel to South Africa this summer
29:14where I'm living in Rand with USD and I get to go to Zimbabwe, we are able to see that
29:18there are global options for us to actually be able to live new lives, to be respected,
29:25to be seen, to be heard.
29:26And I would urge even as a larger part of this conversation for Black, young Black people
29:31to try, like take the time to engage in the global diaspora and the global experiences
29:37of Black folks, because the ways that we are set up here to not be happy were designed.
29:42And we can go to other parts of the world and we can listen and connect to other histories
29:46to see the way that people were either able to gain that back or the ways that they rejected
29:50and escaped these things.
29:52So when we look back at Black activists and Black artists also, they also always left
29:56this country because the infrastructure has not been built for us to have freedom here.
30:02So in freedom search and in housing affordability, as much as it is important for us to stay
30:06in our, to make sure that we vote with this in mind and be conscious, the system here
30:11was also not set up for that.
30:13And it is unclear when a United States is going to take the turn to re-remember its
30:18history of building the economy off of Black bodies and also doing that again through mass
30:22incarceration.
30:23And if we can't re-remember that, I can only urge other folks of my, of my generation to
30:29choose better for ourselves because we, we know better and we deserve better.
30:34So when it comes to this crisis, it's, it is, if it continues to be ignored, I think
30:39other alternatives will have to be explored by young people because we deserve to own
30:44homes and we deserve to start families and we deserve to feel comfortable.
30:48And if that can't happen here, I'm positive it could happen somewhere.
30:53You got consciously about to jump up out of his seat.
30:55I saw him about to back out.
30:57I saw him having all types of fits, but what you're speaking is so true and the way you've
31:03connected it globally is important.
31:05And on that note, I want to just, just throw in here, we'll talk about international conflicts
31:10very quickly.
31:11In recent years, only a small percentage of young people have a rank matters related to
31:17foreign affairs among their top issues and priorities.
31:21In polls during the previous election cycles, foreign policy was chosen as a top three issue
31:26by a tiny percentage of youth, right?
31:28The Israel-Palestine conflict appears to be different.
31:32Unlike some other policy issues, young people seem to be viewing this conflict through a
31:37different lens that is informed by their generational experiences, especially concerns about racial
31:43justice, issues that have historically prioritized more and then, and that remain major concerns
31:50for young people.
31:51Consciously, I'm going to tap you because you like, you about to explode on that one
31:54too.
31:55I'm going to tap you to chime in on this issue, brother.
31:58I'm going to try to be not, I'm trying, I'm trying to be simple with it, like, listen,
32:02right now, America giving a full blown budget every year.
32:06Right now, there are a lot of individuals saying that what is happening to our Palestinian
32:10brothers, sisters, and the non-conforming people in Gaza and in West Bank has nothing
32:14to do with America.
32:15That's what a lot of people are saying.
32:16Why do we care about them, this, that, and the other?
32:17I'm going to think about these three issues, policing, healthcare, and higher education.
32:23We know that right now in America, black people are disproportionately impacted based in healthcare.
32:28We know that there are certain times we cannot get access to healthcare.
32:31We know that our country gives our black taxpayer dollars, send them over there to Israel.
32:36So if we're able to be critical about how Israel was able to give their citizens free
32:40healthcare, when we're told as black people, we don't have the budget for it, we don't
32:45have the budget for it, but we can blink $10 billion out of thin air.
32:49The next one, higher education.
32:51Here in America, black people are disproportionately impacted off of how we take those student
32:55loans.
32:56So in Israel, they give their students, you feel me, free education.
33:00So when we start to think about the ways in which the dots can be connected from what's
33:04happening over here to over here, it becomes very crazy.
33:07In 2014, when Mike Brown was killed in Ferguson, there were a lot of guys in this that hopped
33:11on Twitter to tell a lot of black Americans how to navigate the police equipment because
33:17they were literally being sent from Gaza back to Ferguson, back to Chicago, back to Atlanta.
33:22Right now, we're talking a lot about cop city.
33:25Right now, we're talking about, now I'm going to police, my last point, policing.
33:28When you look at cop city and you think about how these cities are proliferating throughout
33:32America, go look at the ties between cop city and the Israel occupational forces.
33:38Go look at the partnership that the American government has with the Israeli police force
33:43and tell me again that what they're experiencing over there has nothing to do with us.
33:47The last example I'll bring, this is a cherry on top right here.
33:50We had two democratically elected black public officials that got de-seated because they
33:57dared to speak power to truth and talking about the genocide that's happening to Palestinians.
34:03That's to Cori Bush and Jamal Bowman.
34:07These two are black officials that's on the local level.
34:09You feel me?
34:10They was on the Senate state level.
34:12Hey, man, they got moved out of the way because of the way in which they spoke about this.
34:16I just gave you four and a half different examples about why so many people of color
34:21and so many young black folks is so worried about how our taxpayers' dollars is being
34:26sent over to Israel, meanwhile, my grandma got to decide between buying insulin and paying
34:30the light bill.
34:35That's a word.
34:39I want to tie what you just said consciously to this conversation about education and student
34:45loan debt.
34:48And Marlee, I'll ask you to weigh in on this as we're running out of time, but we want
34:52to address this issue as well.
34:54The majority of voters say that President Biden should continue fighting to cancel student
35:00loan debt.
35:01I believe it's 69% of the voters under 45 have taken that position.
35:07Talk to us a little bit about the educational issues that you believe take center stage
35:14with young voters that you are hearing about and talking to, whether it be book banning,
35:19a student debt or anything else.
35:21Yeah, I'll be brief, but I really think that book banning, I mean, the student debt crisis
35:25is a problem in of its own.
35:27And there are many great resources and great folks that can speak to that importance.
35:31I'm going to take my time to talk about book banning, because I think it is a really important
35:35conversation to have about elections and to have now.
35:39So I'm the founder of the 1000 Black Girl Books campaign.
35:42I started this book drive in 2015 as a 10-year-old girl looking to see more of myself in the
35:47books that I read.
35:48And I was under the impression that this was, and I always referred to it as, an unintentional
35:53exclusion, where my teacher was just more, through subconscious racial bias, wanted to
35:58read books about himself, and therefore I would read them.
36:01But now, this is in 2015.
36:03Now it is 2024.
36:06And kids in schools have to sign, get permission slips to read books about race from their
36:13parents.
36:15Kids in schools watch animated videos of Frederick Douglass saying that slaves were workers.
36:21Kids in school learn that Rosa Parks was too tired, and that's why she sat in her seat.
36:28These are your 2060 doctors.
36:31These are your 2060 lawyers.
36:33These are your 2060 babysitters.
36:35These are your 2060 DMV officers.
36:38These are your 2060 Congress people that do not know basic facts about the history of
36:44this country.
36:45And I won't say more outside of that, but I just want to remind people that it is 2024
36:50now, and we are watching this happen online and in schools with 8-year-olds, 12-year-olds,
36:55whatever.
36:56But we're not considering what would happen when our reality is millions of racistly educated,
37:03racially created, these racial narratives that are being pushed to literally tens of
37:08thousands of kids as we speak in this country every day.
37:13And it's different.
37:14It's a different level of hate that we don't always think about that needs to be advocated
37:18for on a local level, and that's why local elections really matter, because we let these
37:23people into our homes, and it's the people who have more free time who are able to take
37:28the time to spread that hate and to perform the tyranny of the few.
37:31But we must reject that, and we must create time to speak out against book banning at
37:35a local level.
37:36All right.
37:37Marley Diaz, Consciously, thank you, thank you, thank you for sharing your wisdom, your
37:43perspectives on the issues that are most directly affecting young people and their perspectives.
37:49I want to really thank you for taking the time to join us today.