Nina Turner explains why rocking the boat is synonymous with positive social change.
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Story Production: Aaron Calafato
Audio Production: Ken Wendt
Music Contributor: thomas j. duke
Podcast Coordinator: Cori Birce
Creative Consultant: Anthony Vorndran
TRANSCRIPT
7MSNinaTurner.mp3 - powered by Happy Scribe
Hey, everybody, Aaron here. I hope your summer's going fantastic. I hope you're doing well. And I know we're in the off season, but, you know, I can't go that long without saying hey to you. So I figured I would check in and share this special episode. What does it mean to be a boat rocker? What does it mean to rock the boat? And why is it that people who rock the boat to get things done or for positive social change... Why do they take such criticism? And more importantly, why do we need boat rockers in our society?
Why are they so important? Well, that's the question that I asked former Senator Nina Turner. Now, Nina's currently campaigning in a special election for Ohio's 11th Congressional District. The primary date for that is coming up. It's August 3rd, and the general election date for that is November 2nd. And what you're about to hear is Nina's response to that question. But it's more than just a response. You know, this podcast is all about storytelling. It really is a story, and she really paints a picture and is inspiring with that story and truthfully, regardless of your political affiliations,
I think you're going to see that and feel that inspiration, too. And hey, listen, in a couple of weeks, you're going to be hearing from me again because we're going to be sharing a trailer with you about the upcoming season number two, which officially starts on September 2nd. Can't wait for that. Until then, enjoy this special episode featuring seven minutes with Nina Turner.
How do you deal with that criticism? Which I know you've got, which is like, aren't you just happy with what we have right now?
I get it every day Aaron. The quick answer is no, not happy with what we have and where we are right now. You know, rocking the boat got my ancestors free. Think about that and excuse the pun about the boat. Rocking the boat got women the right to vote. Rocking the boat helped in the gay rights movement. Rocking the boat helped in the labor rights movement.
I mean, we celebrate Labor Day and we reflect on an eight hour work day or labor unions there to represent their workers, to be able to negotiate for salaries and conditions and benefits. Child labor laws, that's rocking the boat. So if people just took a minute to pause, it's okay to like people in any industry, but we're especially talking about politicians. You can like politicians. You can even love politicians, but you shouldn't like them and love them so much that then they are free from critique.
Righteous critique, because especially when you are in the elected Ministry. And I see it that way because I don't believe that you can serve that which you do not love, other people may feel another way. However, that specialness about that profession is that you are privileged to hold the people's power for a finite amount of time and every day you should be thinking about, what can I do that is in the best interest of the people, both as an individual and then also collectively with your other elected sisters and brothers, that is what government is about. It's designed for us to do together what we cannot do individually.
So looking at it through that lens, rocking the boat means we are going to get change. So until there are not 140,000,000 people living in poverty or low income, baby, we're going to rock the boat. Until we cancel student debt, we're going to rock the boat. Until we get Medicare for all in the richest country on the face of the Earth, we must rock the boat. Even right now. Aaron, we have Republicans across the country and legislatures bringing back voter suppression bills to try to stop this multiracial, multiethnic, multigendered coalition of people on the move that includes young people, you know, you name it.
We're there. They're trying to block that new majority, if you will, from being able to insert its will. Are we supposed to rock the boat on that or just let that happen? So we need boat rockers. We need people like Fannie Lou Hamer who rocked the boat. Ella Baker who rocked the boat. Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, who rocked the boat. Mother Jones, who rocked the boat. T Thomas Fortune, Frederick Douglass. I mean, you name it on and on and on. Minister Malcolm X, the doctor, Dr. Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr.
The Black Panthers. Hello, somebody. We need boat rockers. So until that justice is made real across class and caste and everything in between, we must always rock the boat. That's our progress. You don't have progress without rocking the boat.
If you just look at it as a message. Isn't it a unifying one?
It is. It's an opportunity agenda. It's our social contract with one another. I mean imagine that, health care for all, canceling student debt, relieving people of the burden of that $1.7 trillion worth of debt. Imagine freeing up income for people in that way.
Imagine paying people $15 an hour, which is the floor, not the ceiling. Imagine living in a world where we put value on every human life. And we don't just say the words, it's in our deeds and our policies reflect what is important to us. Imagine that, imagine caring about the people who have to sleep on the streets at night. That really is what the progressive agenda is about. It is an opportunity agenda, and it sees the intrinsic value in all human beings and that you don't have to be among the ultra, ultra, ultra, ultra wealthy to get these things: clean water, clean food, clean air, a place to live.
You know, it reminds me. I mean, we can put it in FDR terms, you know, President FDR, the economic Bill of Rights, you know, in that ahead of his time, he said education and jobs and taking care of the widow and health care. You know, the 21st century version of that encapsulates a whole lot of other things that we have come to know and understand in the 21st century that were not quite percolating in the 20th century, but, for example, dealing with the damage that we're doing to Mother Earth.
Looking at environmental racism, throwing criminal justice in there, it's about opportunity for all. And that is that promise. You nailed it Aaron. That is about creating an America as good as its promise. And the last time I checked, it has no labels on it in terms of political affiliation, this is just about life. I want people to imagine, I've been using this example a lot, that you're in the middle of an ocean. I want the people listening to us today to imagine that they were in the middle of an ocean and they needed to be saved.
Would it matter to them who came out there to radically save them? They just want to be saved and they don't want to hear excuses about how you're on the shore and you can't get there because it costs too much or a Parliamentarian told you you couldn't come. I'm being very sarcastic here when I use that example. All you want to know is that somebody is coming to save you. That is what the progressive agenda is about. It is about people coming out into that ocean to help those who are drowning and saving them.
That's what it's about.
7 Minute Stories is created and performed by Aaron Calafato. Audio Production by Ken Wendt. You can connect with Ken at Media216.com. Original artwork by Pete Whitehead. See Pete's work at PeteWhitehead.com. Our creative consultant is Anthony Vorndran. Special thanks to our partners at Evergreen Podcasts and lastly, I'm Cori Birce. Make sure and tune in next week for another story.
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