Washington, D.C. — On the heels of a painful rumor that the U.S. Department of Justice plans to designate resources to sue universities over affirmative action admissions policies—yet another unfriendly action from the Trump administration toward people of color, Michele Jawando and Igor Volsky, co-hosts of the “Thinking CAP” podcast, sit down to discuss the ever-important role of black women in the resistance movement. The co-hosts are joined by Janaye Ingram, director of national partnerships at Airbnb and a national organizer for the Women’s March, as well as Alencia Johnson, director of constituency communications at Planned Parenthood, in the newest episode of the podcast, released this morning. The episode comes a few days after a conversation at the Center for American Progress and a column release focused on leveraging the power of black women.
In today’s episode, Ingram discusses the hard conversations about race that happened throughout the planning of the Women’s March, in the very first days of the resistance movement.
“It’s never easy to have the hard conversations about these issues, especially in a movement that for so long had been really dominated and led by white women,” said Ingram, national organizer for the Women’s March, referring to the tensions that arose at the start of the march’s organization, when few women of color were included. “It wasn’t easy to say to [white women] ‘Your movement left me out,’ because they didn’t understand that. They were like, ‘What do you mean, we’re women and we’re all being oppressed by men?’ But we women of color, we disabled women, we sex workers, we trans women are being oppressed by you.”
Following the 2016 election, there has been much rhetoric and energy spent to inspect the lives of so-called Obama-Trump voters. Yet little attention from pundits and political strategists has focused on the drop in turnout among black women—from 70 percent in 2012 to 64 percent in 2016—and their role in the resistance movement.
On the podcast, Johnson shares her advice for what candidates, campaigns, and organizations should be doing to support black women and speak to black women so they will be invested to show up for elections in the future.
“Don’t wait until the last minute to connect with black voters,” said Johnson, director of constituency communications at Planned Parenthood. “As you are even considering running for office, you need to have black folks plural at the table.”
“Thinking CAP” is a 25-minute weekly podcast from the Center for American Progress, with new episodes released every Thursday. The program breaks down the issues and ideas surrounding the ongoing resistance movement and inserts bold progressive ideas and values into the political conversation.
The podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, SoundCloud, Stitcher, Google Play, and CAP’s website.
For more information or for information on guest booking, please contact Sally Tucker at 202.481.8103 or [email protected].