Transcript
Cora Black: Okay.
Alexander Clark: Welcome back to Mission Texas.
Tsion Amare: Thank you.
Alexander Clark: Today we are joined by two young women who have built impressive careers in Texas politics and public service. Cora Black is a community advocate and ah HR professional and a former president of the Dallas County Young Democrats, or DCYD for short.
Alexander Clark: Sian Amara is DCYD's current co-president, a former Texas House staffer and candidate, and a political affairs leader focused on environmental and energy policy. I'm just so happy to have you both. I got to be on um but on a board together with you both. So welcome to the show.
Tsion Amare: Thanks for having us.
Cora Black: Thanks so much. I'm happy to be here.
Kate Rumsey: Yay.
Alexander Clark: Yeah.
Kate Rumsey: Welcome.
Cora Black: and in good company.
Kate Rumsey: Oh, wow.
Alexander Clark: Did you realize that was my first weekend?
Cora Black: I was like, I don't even know if I knew that. Deeply.
Alexander Clark: So i was I was new to Dallas and my um former groomsman, David De La Fuente, had invited me to a Dallas County Young Democrats meeting And it it sounded like y'all were in need of a treasurer.
Alexander Clark: And so Cora and Dave were like, he's an attorney.
Cora Black: deeply
Alexander Clark: He'll do it. Yeah.
Cora Black: oh ah Listen, when I tell you, you met me in the thick rebuilding. um And i I say in the thick of it, but you probably caught a better spot than my folks did in 2019 and 2020 of like when we were having to have young Dems meetings on Teams and on Zoom and all of that good stuff.
Alexander Clark: Yeah, and that's a good point.
Cora Black: ah But my goodness, the rebuild that had to have happen for a political organization that does not pay people, that everything is volunteer.
Cora Black: um and of course, that's what we have a lot of, right, is ah to be politically active. You have to be cool with doing some work for free, for the most part, if you want to make any impact.
Alexander Clark: true.
Kate Rumsey: Amen. andmen
Cora Black: Yeah,
Tsion Amare: look forward to meeting you.
Alexander Clark: So we like to begin all of our Mission Texas episodes about learning more about origins. I just showed you my origin with with Cora, but I want to know, Cora and Sian, what are your origins in politics, like kind of in general? i I happen to know you come from a very engaged family, Cora, but how did you become the president of the Dallas County Young Democrats? What got you involved and in politics to start with? And I want to hear the same from Sian, too.
Cora Black: ah Yeah, so mine was a little bit more basic ah than a lot of other folks' int entry into politics. It wasn't necessarily ah a situation where people you know I went to go see this speech and it was so compelling and moved me. um It's actually been a part of my family dynamic is to be a part of politics as well as community service and giving back and pouring back into whatever zip code, whatever two letters represent your state, pouring back into that. So my first intro was...
Cora Black: in my living room when my parents were hosting a plethora of fundraisers for candidates that they believed in. So they really gave me the blueprint on how to be active um and that money matters. So um yeah, i would I'd have to say my youngest My youngest self remembers that.
Cora Black: My dad worked very closely with Ron Kirk um when he was mayor. So I remember those early years. i was probably like in first grade at the time.
Cora Black: and remember him just saying, we got to be present and we have to support the people we believe in.
Alexander Clark: And when you say worked with Ron Kirk, was this during his his time as mayor of Dallas or as ambassador?
Cora Black: yeah.
Cora Black: Yes, yes, it was time his time as mayor. So my family has definitely instilled the importance of local politics for me.
Cora Black: Yes, did.
Alexander Clark: Quick fun fact about Ron Kirk, Corb. He went to Austin College and UT Law School.
Cora Black: Yes, he did. yes he did
Kate Rumsey: Basically, you're the same.
Cora Black: no
Kate Rumsey: we can't
Alexander Clark: I've been a big fan of Ron Kirk for so long.
Tsion Amare: you.
Cora Black: It's hard not to be a huge fan, right? um I remember him actually, i remember loving him so much just straight away.
Cora Black: um i actually asked him to come to my school and speak. um And I was legit like in the second grade and I was at this small school in Mesquite, Texas called Dallas Christian. um Little did I know these folks were so open um to genuinely hearing someone that was at the time. a Open Democrat. Yeah.
Cora Black: um And this is a so tiny Christian school in Mesquite that was definitely leaned more red.
Kate Rumsey: Hmm. Yeah.
Cora Black: um But I did I do think that they still appreciated having their mayor.
Alexander Clark: Yeah.
Cora Black: Right. Come in that former mayor of Dallas.
Alexander Clark: yeah
Cora Black: So that's also an interesting thing that I've noticed change over time, especially in Trump's. term um that is like, ooh, you don't have as much of those benders. So yeah, yeah. But yeah, my background is vast, but are
Alexander Clark: Well, for our audience who might not know, Ron Kirk was the first African-American, Black mayor Dallas, goes on to be Texas Secretary of State, Senate nominee, um was in the Obama cabinet as a United States trade representative.
Kate Rumsey: Yes.
Alexander Clark: um So a pretty well accomplished guy. But real quick, too, also for the audience, Cora Black's dad, who were talking about working closely with him,
Kate Rumsey: No, we're doing.
Alexander Clark: The man ran for Dallas mayor, and he has a a whole school named after him here in Dallas ISD. That's a pretty cool thing. I think when you have a school named after you and you're still alive, that's a flex.
Cora Black: It's pretty cool.
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Kate Rumsey: Yeah.
Cora Black: You know, about to say, and I love that it's elementary school.
Alexander Clark: That's that's pretty cool.
Cora Black: i think it's just amazing.
Alexander Clark: I did too.
Cora Black: 800 nieces and nephews that I have now.
Kate Rumsey: ha
Alexander Clark: It was really special to be be there at the ah the unveiling.
Kate Rumsey: Auntie Cora.
Alexander Clark: So thank you for inviting me to that. Sian, how about you?
Cora Black: Thanks for coming.
Alexander Clark: How did you get involved? How did you get started?
Tsion Amare: I always say I feel like I've always been a very outspoken person and always questioning the status quo. And I think that was very annoying for my parents when I was little. I remember um being in elementary school in Ethiopia.
Tsion Amare: I was born and raised in Ethiopia and being in elementary school. And there were some students that were not eating lunch. And my mom always reminds me of this story and the details, too. And i went and cried to my parents and had meetings with the principal to make sure that they provided lunch for students that were not able to afford it.
Tsion Amare: And that was an elementary school.
Kate Rumsey: Aww.
Tsion Amare: And I ended up, when I was in college, majoring in social work because, again, coming from Ethiopia, seeing such a div divide in class, I wanted to do something for um my neighbors, unhoused neighbors specifically.
Tsion Amare: And I worked in a shelter. and I think that's the genesis of my political career because When I was working at a homeless shelter, I saw that no matter how much, so how many services I provided to them, if there is this macro level policies that are impacting them, they're not getting anywhere. No matter how, if you pay their rent this month, if you provide them jobs or whatever it might be, if there's macro level issues, they're not going anywhere. And so I wanted to get my master's in social work, but with a political concentration. So how do we advocate for our communities from a policy perspective. And that is what landed me in Representative Rafael Anchia's office as well as a staffer.
Tsion Amare: um And after that, my current job, Environmental Defense Fund, I manage our political affairs team. So doing a lot of the lobbying work and and that also led me to run for office naturally. um Again, being outspoken, being someone that is always the first one to stand up when there's issues that need to be raised. I feel like that was the natural transition and very, very brief run for office as well, but was fun while lasted.
Cora Black: I love that. I'm sure it's not the last one.
Kate Rumsey: No, know.
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Cora Black: it better not be.
Alexander Clark: hope not.
Kate Rumsey: Well, Sian. Yes.
Cora Black: it better not be.
Kate Rumsey: I think Sian and I were, we both ran the same cycle, I think in 2024. Right. um And so I remember, yes, ah didn't win.
Cora Black: it was a crazy time.
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Cora Black: It's a wild time to be alive. Yeah.
Kate Rumsey: Yes. ah But always really impressed Sian whenever I saw you, like, I think we were talking before we recorded that we'd go to all these groups and meetings and events. And so sometimes times you cross paths with folks like Stonewall Democrats, like Dallas County and Democrats, like y'all, and which I guess is a good segue. I mean, what got you involved in that specific club? And I ask this because I think I'm reflecting on this. Y'all might be our first presidents of an actual geographic club that we've had on this podcast. And and I'm always having ran for office like you did, Sian, like,
Alexander Clark: you
Kate Rumsey: Every club is different. Every club, they're not created equal, right? And so I'm curious, what do you think makes a good club? What's a successful club? How do you measure success in a club like yours?
Tsion Amare: I can start us off. um Well, starting with the reason why I got involved with Young Dumbs and Cora. I was there when Cora was the president as well.
Tsion Amare: And that was a lovely, I feel like that was lovely leadership. I'm so glad to have had her.
Cora Black: Thank you.
Tsion Amare: um I was 24 when I ran for office and very, very young. And what i felt like was not in a political climate that was not as welcoming to young people running for office for the first time, especially we're seeing a lot more now than we we had. It's not a long time ago at all, but um And I saw how, again, i and I talked a lot about this on the campaign train as well, a lot of the people that are in office, it will baffle people to see how incompetent they are and how bad they are at their jobs, current elected officials and current leadership.
Tsion Amare: and if if someone that is 23, 24, 25 years old that has a vision, that has a passion, um that has a calling, wants to run for office, I will buy my money that they're going to do 10 times better job than the ones that are sitting in office now.
Alexander Clark: Thank you.
Tsion Amare: And so I saw how much young people needed to be um empowered to to be in these spaces and to be reminded of the power that they had.
Tsion Amare: And young Dumps, especially Dallas Young Dumps, was, I think, doing a really good job of that and bringing young people together and informing them of what's happening and also creating spaces for them to be involved and to have a voice and to have to be empowered.
Tsion Amare: um And so I joined ah on on the board and i was doing a lot of the comms as well, which was a lot of fun. And I think comms is a way to get people, especially new folks involved in a group or on a cause. And now as co-president with Chris Leal, It's been a lot of fun, again, continuing the comms, reaching new people. When there's a new issue that is is um like that is a buzz and on social media or whatever it might be, I feel like people come to Young Dumps to learn more about it and to find ways to stay engaged. And so being that first stop to politics organization has been very, it's been very fun and fulfilling, I feel like.
Tsion Amare: Cora, what was your experience like?
Cora Black: Oh!
Tsion Amare: Hola.
Cora Black: Where do I begin?
Kate Rumsey: Like, yeah.
Tsion Amare: ah so
Cora Black: So ah i first joined Young Dems in 2017, 2018, somewhere around there. i joined as secretary,
Cora Black: ah move to treasurer, then VP, and then um my crew ended up saying, We ran out of gas.
Cora Black: We don't have the capacity to do any of this anymore. We're tired. COVID did a number, um not just for people financially, mentally, emotionally.
Cora Black: um and i picked up the pieces. um So i ended up stepping into the role of president, ah not very prepared to do so.
Cora Black: ah And I said to myself, well, if I don't do it, who else will?
Tsion Amare: Thank you.
Cora Black: Fundraising and doing all those sorts of things during COVID was ah a big no-no to ask people for money.
Alexander Clark: Yeah.
Cora Black: But we had, ah obviously, we were in a challenging spot, right? ah Being an election year ah during the pandemic, right?
Cora Black: 2020, the world stopped, but it also didn't. Right. ah Some things that we still needed to worry about and people that still needed help. So i had a that ah point in time that I was really grappling and struggling with the fact of being the cleanup woman. You know, I think especially as a black woman coming into this sort of political space, it was it was a total mind kerfuckal.
Cora Black: You know, it was like, ah okay, you know, so.
Alexander Clark: Well, let me give you your flowers here for a second, Cor, because I've been involved in a number of young Dems organizations basically since I started college, right?
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Alexander Clark: Like my freshman year. Um, and Dallas County young Dems is one of the better run youth organizations. I would say anywhere. but especially in Texas, I mean, wouldn't say they're not all created equally. I mean, and there's a real spectrum of of how engaged and organized they are. And so flowers to, to Cora for whenever I got there and, and flowers now to, to see on, because what they're, what y'all are doing now,
Alexander Clark: Building on the the record that Cora built, building out of out of COVID is really remarkable.
Tsion Amare: Sorry.
Cora Black: ah Yeah, I mean, I love to see it. And it's just like, when I tell you, y'all, I just started calling people, people that I would meet.
Cora Black: I would just say, hey, you really need to get over here and be a part of Young Dim's. Because I was getting a lot of calls from our OG Dallasites, right?
Cora Black: Our OG Politicos. and they're asking for these disconnect and they're asking for more young people to show up places and i didn't have that rolodex of young people to call so i made one ah um so
Alexander Clark: There was no bad single he could just turn on and young people.
Cora Black: You know, there was nothing, none of that. but Hello, hello, right? So it's I'm very proud of all of the amazing people that I was able to help recruit, ah um including the folks on this on this pod right now and Chris Leal. I practically grabbed him by the ear.
Cora Black: You know, ah it's set. Come on. Come on. um David De La Fuente, of course. um i He was probably the only one that volunteered. He was probably the only one that volunteered.
Tsion Amare: Uh-huh.
Cora Black: Everybody else i had to convince a little bit. But I think.
Alexander Clark: You know, there's there's a lesson in that. I think it is so easy to get someone involved, whether it was, you know, against their will or not. But it's also like if you want to be involved, like put me in coach, like it's not difficult to get involved.
Cora Black: Oh, yeah.
Cora Black: Yeah, it's not hard to get involved.
Alexander Clark: Right. Like, is that fair to say?
Cora Black: It's not difficult to get involved at all. You know, I mean, in the sense of there's so many different talents. There's so many different things. I remember when we got Z on to do social, we were like, oh, yes, because all of us just felt pained.
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Cora Black: pain okay in doing social media and I don't know what it is I don't know if it's just because you feel that forced nature of it all and it just came so naturally Sion that I was like please and I mean we had our first viral moment from Alex's comment and Sion made it pop even further and we were just like yes
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Kate Rumsey: Wait, what? Okay, tell me, tell us more about that. don't know about some viral moment.
Cora Black: yeah ah we We had a few.
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Cora Black: We've had a few. But I think our first one, probably, Alex, was what? The fled crews?
Alexander Clark: yeah the Yeah, Ted Cruz on his way to Cancun with the the mask.
Cora Black: Yeah.
Cora Black: Yeah.
Kate Rumsey: Oh, wow, yes, yeah.
Alexander Clark: Yeah.
Cora Black: was a cool boy it was woman It was a good one.
Alexander Clark: Thank you. Thank you.
Cora Black: one. um um That's when our dad jokes really paid off. Because, yeah I mean, you know, I'll have to say, that's his brand.
Alexander Clark: That's my brand.
Cora Black: And when I tell you I was an immediate co-signer to his his dad jokes, immediate co-signer.
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Cora Black: But I think really a good litmus test for if you're running a good organization or not is just... When you say the organization's name, how do people react? um So I'm very, very proud that Dallas County Young Democrats is when people say Young Dems or DCYD or yeah either the or the call us by our full official name. ah on our TEC filings. um i'm I'm happy that the connotation is positive.
Cora Black: um And I'm happy that I was a part of being able to continue that. Because I had, I also had no idea until years into the job that I was the first black female president.
Tsion Amare: I was going to say, yeah.
Kate Rumsey: Wow.
Cora Black: of Young Debs, which was like, I remember being ah someone saying that and the interrupting a meeting and saying that.
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Kate Rumsey: Way to go.
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Kate Rumsey: What?
Cora Black: back to you. i need a moment to process that.
Kate Rumsey: Yeah.
Cora Black: um I think it's wild to be a part of an org and not even know that at all.
Kate Rumsey: Know that.
Cora Black: So yeah, I was saying it's been around for ages.
Kate Rumsey: Well, Related to that, I mean, it's interesting from a thousand foot perspective, you got Dallas as we're going back to in history with Ron Kirk, like we've become such a a very reliably blue area and you would hope to have a robust, very organized youth organization. I'm glad we have one now. And obviously, like you would think we would have had more black women as presidents in this group, given like the amazing black women that are in our community. So, I mean, as you stepped in, what was your thoughts as far as like specifically the room to grow? Was it a membership? Was it in, as you're saying, people taking the group seriously? And how did you overcome that? And I'll just tell you from my perspective, I recall going through the endorsement process
Kate Rumsey: and seeing how each group does it and taking y'all's endorsement very seriously.
Cora Black: Yeah!
Kate Rumsey: Like you guys had a really great questionnaire. I know the board was voting. I remember Alex was even texting me about this and and i was like, I'm not even young anymore. I'm this older mom. um Like, am I even that important?
Kate Rumsey: But I was very impressed.
Alexander Clark: It's like, Kate, don't you mess this up?
Cora Black: yeah
Kate Rumsey: Yeah, i was like, i will do this.
Cora Black: i
Kate Rumsey: ah So what were you seeing? What were you like? OK, how do I make everyone pay attention to us?
Cora Black: Yeah, so I think a huge one, as we've mentioned, was social media presence and just getting the word out. um alice As Alex said, it's so easy to join, but sometimes you really just need that person to ask you.
Cora Black: um and So it's not that people don't want to be active, but you have to activate them. So I think meeting people where they were, where they are was a huge thing.
Cora Black: Just being at more of the fundraisers, you know, for all of our OG candidates that, you know, we knew we could root root for and count on like our Raphael and she is of the world um and of Dallas and go to those events, show up in the room.
Kate Rumsey: Yes.
Cora Black: um So I started negotiating, what's, we don't we don't have this price point, right, to be able to go to this event, but do you mind if we want to contribute something, but do you mind if we contribute block walkers as well as money at a different level for our young Dems?
Kate Rumsey: Yeah.
Alexander Clark: Yeah, that's been something of a crusade for me. i've I've always been like, you need to have a young Dems price point that is below what your current lowest price point is.
Kate Rumsey: Yes.
Cora Black: For sure, because a lot
Kate Rumsey: Which they, they call it like grassroots now. and I was like, okay, like, yeah.
Cora Black: Because a lot of them, a lot of the typical fundraisers, the lowest that you'll ever see is $250 for a singular ticket.
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Alexander Clark: Yeah.
Cora Black: And that's not a price point that's very agreeable.
Kate Rumsey: Right. Yeah.
Alexander Clark: It should be $100 Mm-hmm.
Cora Black: So... so So some, you know, I was always pushing for 25 bucks, 50 bucks, um especially in promising that we're going to also assist you with that boots on the ground.
Cora Black: And that's going to be a money save for not having to pay for canvassing in that way.
Alexander Clark: And it's reciprocal. Like Representative Anchia, he he would sponsor our trip out to Cidercade.
Cora Black: hmm. Mm
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Cora Black: hmm.
Alexander Clark: Stuff like that.
Cora Black: Exactly. Exactly. So I was i was. kind of melding two worlds, this kind of OG Dallas world, as and with my young players that I felt were fiery, were passionate, and were had opinions, have very opinionated. um We needed more people because it's kind of like, ah you know, when you see certain things even in marketing, right? Right.
Cora Black: Like what recently happened with Good Good and, who was it, Calloway or something?
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Cora Black: You'll see these and you'll say to yourself, I wish they would have asked
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Cora Black: I wish somebody would have asked me how I felt about that. And I would have told them. So i said, I'm going to build a crew that you can come to us, ask us, and we will tell you.
Cora Black: um So all of those kind of bad moves that politicians can make, I wanted to make sure i had a crew that would be vocal about it, um not stand down from it at all.
Kate Rumsey: Yeah.
Cora Black: And, you know.
Alexander Clark: That reminds me a lot about during our time on the board together that we had that vote on asking President Biden to step down and not be the nominee.
Kate Rumsey: Yeah.
Alexander Clark: I remember I was at...
Kate Rumsey: Whoa.
Cora Black: Controversial times.
Kate Rumsey: Tell me about that.
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Kate Rumsey: Well, can we get...
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Alexander Clark: ah we we were We were out ahead on that one. The rest of the country caught up with us.
Cora Black: We were, we got hate mail.
Kate Rumsey: we get, um want to hear Sion's perspective on that one.
Alexander Clark: i want so I was just about to say, so yeah I want Sian to chime in here, but I remember when we had...
Cora Black: We got hate mail.
Alexander Clark: we I think we were voting on it like through a text chat or something.
Cora Black: Yeah.
Alexander Clark: And I remember ah I was at Vector Brewing and Congresswoman Julie Johnson was there.
Kate Rumsey: Classic.
Alexander Clark: And I was just like, we're we're going to say something.
Kate Rumsey: Ruh-roh.
Alexander Clark: You want to hear about it? She was like aghast.
Kate Rumsey: Sion, tell us.
Tsion Amare: Yeah, well, that ridiculous times because i just remember, because again, like I said, i was doing the comms, so I had the login for all of our social medias. going on Facebook after that and just seeing everybody in the comments arguing and, and telling us to take it down people that have always come to our events and have been supporters telling us this is not the right move and we're going down and things like that.
Tsion Amare: And it was just insanely surprising. And I think it also added to my criticism of like the establishment Democrats of I think there's this desire for uniformity, even though we we um are quick to criticize it in the other party, I think we fail to address it on our own.
Tsion Amare: And there's a fear of like, and I think this is this also has to do with why why young people might not be as politically engaged in these groups is I think there's this fear of if I say something that's different than my other Democrat friends and colleagues, I'm going to be bashed and called out and and kind of like ostracized.
Tsion Amare: And yeah,
Cora Black: and We were. For a little bit.
Alexander Clark: We were, we were, to be clear.
Cora Black: For a little bit.
Tsion Amare: yeah.
Cora Black: For a little bit.
Kate Rumsey: The hubris of youth, you know.
Tsion Amare: And I think and i think that's why
Alexander Clark: People who were like, I will never forgive you for this. And they totally act like they never said that.
Kate Rumsey: yeah
Tsion Amare: And oh, well, and it's funny because they ended up taking having to take it back later on because we were right.
Alexander Clark: Yeah.
Tsion Amare: And that's why I think I love Cora's leadership because if if we're going to say we're young dums, there needs to be some kind of difference of what is the young, like, what ah why can't we just be a democratic club and not, you know what i mean There has to be some kind of distinction.
Alexander Clark: Yeah.
Kate Rumsey: Yep.
Tsion Amare: And I think our distinction and the tone that Cora said in her presidency was we're going to say whatever the hell we want and you're going deal with it or or you don't. Like, you know what i mean? Like, we're going to say what other young Democrats are wanting to say.
Tsion Amare: And we're not just going to follow what other Democrats think is right. And wrong. And so I think just like the speaking out against things and not being afraid and not being afraid to criticize your own candidates, your own party. um i think that was like the genesis for a lot of people. And I'm really glad they learned. And I see it even now when you criticize certain candidates, everybody like you're you're going to get crucified. And you have to I think, especially as young Dems and I always mean, Chris always talk about this is we have to
Tsion Amare: be okay with not being liked. We have to be okay with, especially with older Democrats really not liking us and not agreeing with us and um and just say what we want to say because I think a lot of young people, like if we're going to represent a young democratic group, where we're going to have to stand up with the young people more than others.
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Kate Rumsey: Mm-hmm.
Cora Black: Oh, for sure. And I think it's just helpful, right? I mean, in the sense of it's news you can use, whether you actually use it or not. So um I tell candidates all the time, if you get feedback or a comment or you see a post from young Dems, but because of of course, that my hotline, you know what I mean?
Cora Black: It's just blinging. ah when posts happen like that, even today. And I'm like, guys, I stepped down years ago, ah years ago.
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Kate Rumsey: Yeah.
Cora Black: You're talking to me about a post from Young Dimms. It's wild. It's wild. But I tell people all the time, well, that's what young people are thinking when they're in the voting booth.
Kate Rumsey: You the face.
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Cora Black: Wouldn't you want to know?
Kate Rumsey: Yeah.
Cora Black: Wouldn't you want to know?
Kate Rumsey: Yeah.
Cora Black: You know, it's like
Kate Rumsey: Well, do you, may I ask though, like, what's the issue today? Like, let's go there. i mean, do you see one, Sian, like, of, that you think is bridging the divide between the establishment and what the youth are thinking. And one, i mean, obviously Gaza comes to mind and maybe that's been evolving and people have gotten closer to what maybe y'all were out on a ledge with, but are you seeing any other issues that are happening, especially in this upcoming election?
Tsion Amare: I think definitely um just anything with the genocide is definitely ah ah a topic that is at the top of a lot of young people's mind.
Alexander Clark: Thank
Cora Black: Thank you.
Tsion Amare: economy i think is a question for everyone whether or like however old you are but i think especially for young people i think the reality is that for older folks there's a difference between the political parties they grew up with and then they they've gotten to see and witness like the progression over the years of how extreme we've become in society how hateful society has become how politics just has completely turned the other way.
Tsion Amare: But for a lot of young people, this has been our entire life. You know what i mean? There's a lot of young people where Trump got elected when they like when they were still very young and they grew up.
Tsion Amare: the All they know in politics is like the hatefulness and the division and the extremism that we see in our society today. And so I think but even when we talk about issues like economy and and wealth, like the wealth gap and things like that, it is an issue that affects everyone, regardless of your age.
Tsion Amare: But it's definitely even more magnified for young people because this has been our entire life. And I think when we talk about what and I think and I would love to talk about this a little bit further.
Tsion Amare: later on, but when we talk about what is a winning message message for candidates to speak on is like, how do you bring back that hope?
Tsion Amare: Like we have grown up in a society where our entire hope is just depleted and we don't know what the other side looks like.
Alexander Clark: Yeah.
Tsion Amare: We don't know what the light at the end of the tunnel looks like. And just bringing back that hope and reminding people that this is not how our democracy is supposed to be.
Tsion Amare: This is not how our society is. And culture is supposed to be.
Alexander Clark: Oh, that's a really good point. stion I mean, it's been a decade.
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Alexander Clark: Right. Since 2016.
Cora Black: We forgot what winning looks like and feels like.
Alexander Clark: So like a decade a decade of the Trump era alone, but I agree with you on the, like forgetting what winning is like, but like to think that like an eight year old or older in 2016 is now voting, right?
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Cora Black: Correct.
Kate Rumsey: Mm-hmm.
Alexander Clark: That's how that math checks out, I think. And so you're right.
Tsion Amare: yeah
Alexander Clark: they They don't have any kind of recollection of what American politics was like before Trump dominated it.
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Alexander Clark: And then to your point, Cora, like,
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Alexander Clark: Texas Democrats in particular, I think we are the most losing mindset bunch of the of the whole country because we have the longest statewide losing streak of any state party, red or blue.
Alexander Clark: We've lost more consistently for longer than everybody. And so we've we we collectively, not just the young people, like all of us have forgotten how to win.
Cora Black: And I think that's...
Cora Black: Yeah.
Tsion Amare: yeah
Cora Black: I think that's also part of the critique for candidates that are on the ballot this go-around.
Alexander Clark: Hmm.
Cora Black: We... have lost sight of what it looks like to win and what it takes to win. um So there are even things with Tyler Rico, who I am 1000% behind um and I'm excited to see um how this unfolds anxious as well. Very, very anxious, but I think there's issues and I'm speak very specifically because
Cora Black: We don't speak around things, right?
Alexander Clark: Yeah, let's get into it.
Kate Rumsey: Yeah, you got an opinion.
Cora Black: I have an opinion, right?
Kate Rumsey: Go.
Cora Black: um I think, for example, I don't want to see someone like Tallarico fall into these conversations about less than 1% of the population, right?
Cora Black: So when he is bogged down with these questions about, for example, um not just trans lives, but trans children,
Alexander Clark: Thank
Kate Rumsey: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Cora Black: um and we're talking about trans girls, right, in sports, at school, I'm saying, yeah, next topic.
Cora Black: I am a strong ally for the LGBTQ community. strong ally, but it's one of those things of you don't win and you don't necessarily lose talking about a handful of people.
Cora Black: Right.
Alexander Clark: Yeah.
Kate Rumsey: Yeah.
Cora Black: um So that, you know what I mean?
Alexander Clark: Like 10 college athletes across the country out of like 520,000.
Cora Black: It's like, it's literally like a handful of people that we would be talking about. um And I don't think it's appropriate. I don't think it's a place for that.
Cora Black: I think you need to talk about the bigger issues that are happening in people's lives. i think you do need to talk about your plan for the economy and the plan for inflation and talk about what these AI data centers in Texas will look like.
Cora Black: And specifically in Dallas. um I want to hear what that looks like. ah Because that is something that's huge ah at the top of our minds right now. And I'd rather see more time being spent on that.
Cora Black: So the same critique can then be made for anyone that potentially lost an election, right? So that's the Julie Johnson's, the Jasmine Crockett's. What are they doing to help make sure the other tides rise? Because we're all supposed to be in it together,
Kate Rumsey: They're at Usher concerts with Chris Brown. Yeah.
Tsion Amare: Oh, gosh.
Kate Rumsey: How do we feel about that? No, we don't have to go into that if we don't want to, but I just had to say that. It's all on the news right now. And we saw Jasmine.
Alexander Clark: Team Rihanna.
Cora Black: It is.
Kate Rumsey: Yeah.
Cora Black: And you know what? I think it would be, honestly, ah you know I'm no coward, right? So I don't necessarily shy away from certain topics.
Cora Black: Of course, I will give grace. um And I think that is just a part of my faith and, you know, a part of my journey.
Cora Black: But I think it would be wild if we didn't talk about it. I mean, we have one of our greats.
Kate Rumsey: Yeah.
Cora Black: The Jasmine Crockett um that's being just dragged in social right now.
Kate Rumsey: Questionable. Yeah.
Cora Black: I mean, she is being dragged.
Kate Rumsey: Yeah.
Cora Black: People are saying that she would rather be a celebrity.
Kate Rumsey: Yeah.
Cora Black: People are saying that her outfit was outrageous. People are commenting on... This really the the look of it all. um And i what's interesting to me is I'm seeing Jasmine get a lot of heat, but I'm not seeing any heat towards Vinton.
Kate Rumsey: Right.
Alexander Clark: Vinton Jones, the state representative was also there.
Cora Black: Vinton shows.
Kate Rumsey: Who was with her?
Cora Black: Yes.
Kate Rumsey: Yeah. Another Dallas state rep.
Cora Black: Apologies. yes
Alexander Clark: ah just try to, for our audience, just in case they don't have all the information.
Kate Rumsey: Yeah.
Cora Black: Yes, no. Listen, um i literally have had so many ah moments where my dad will say, in this house, you're going to say state rep.
Alexander Clark: Yeah.
Cora Black: You know, in their actual title, you're going to say Congresswoman.
Kate Rumsey: Yeah.
Alexander Clark: ah
Kate Rumsey: Give them the title.
Cora Black: And, um you know, it's it's a blessing um that I've been able to have such personable relationships with so many of our greats.
Cora Black: ah So I will apologize for feeling overly comfortable. on first name basis like that.
Alexander Clark: so So my understanding is that Congresswoman Crockett was presenting Chris Brown, the the artist, the singer, with some sort of entry into the congressional record that she had done.
Kate Rumsey: Yeah.
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Cora Black: Yes. Yes. So...
Alexander Clark: So maybe that's why she has more attention than Benton. I don't think he could do that.
Cora Black: ah Yes, you are correct. But he also was, you know, in every photo, he was on stage with them.
Alexander Clark: He was there for the pictures, the photo ops. Yeah.
Cora Black: He was introduced um by Jasmine on stage as well, by Congresswoman Crockett as well.
Alexander Clark: Okay. Oh, OK.
Alexander Clark: That's right.
Cora Black: um So I think that not, it's like once again, you're seeing a Black woman get more flack than anyone else, right?
Alexander Clark: Hmm.
Tsion Amare: Well, to add, well, not to add, but I think to respond to that as well, I think the reason why there's a lot of attention on her as well, because A, she is a Black woman.
Tsion Amare: And she's a black woman that has been outspoken in the past and this within this year about attacks on black women.
Cora Black: hu
Tsion Amare: And so I think the whole thing is a little bit ironic of being on stage with someone that has a history of abusing a black woman as a black woman that talks about attacks on black women.
Cora Black: It is.
Kate Rumsey: Right.
Tsion Amare: Yeah. Yeah.
Alexander Clark: The audience probably actually does know this. I usually have to explain like all the political stuff, but they probably know that Chris Brown very famously domestically abused his then girlfriend, Rihanna.
Tsion Amare: yeah
Alexander Clark: Right.
Kate Rumsey: And other salts, yeah, he has, yeah.
Cora Black: current and current pending cases the US and in the UK.
Tsion Amare: but also not to yeah he has a it's not just one like he has a history of but the way i see this and i think it might be like entertaining and attention grabbing and things like that to tweet about it and to talk about it but if i'm quite frankly speaking i don't
Alexander Clark: I didn't, i actually didn't know about the others.
Kate Rumsey: Yeah.
Tsion Amare: care at all. Like, I don't care because literally people are having so many other issues to deal with than a woman that is not on the ballot getting on stage with a singer.
Tsion Amare: Like there's so many other issues and people are like being detained, families are being detained by ICE.
Alexander Clark: Yeah.
Tsion Amare: There's flock cameras in our communities. People are unable to pay groceries and things like that. The least of my worries is what a a woman is wearing and saying and things like that when she's not on the ballot to change my life.
Tsion Amare: You know what i mean?
Kate Rumsey: Yeah.
Tsion Amare: And so I think it's like, I think for me, i don't like bullshit like this and I don't like engaging in like long conversation about what is this person doing?
Kate Rumsey: Yeah. Yes.
Alexander Clark: Yeah.
Alexander Clark: Yeah.
Tsion Amare: What is this person not doing?
Alexander Clark: yeah
Tsion Amare: When it's like, guys, there's so many other things that are important to discuss.
Alexander Clark: it's like celebrity news, anything about the monarchy, like everything about that kind of stuff I learn against my will.
Tsion Amare: And it's like,
Cora Black: But I also, I think that's, yeah.
Tsion Amare: yeah
Alexander Clark: I don't seek it out.
Cora Black: sorry
Alexander Clark: I don't care about it. You're right. like we should We should move on.
Tsion Amare: I think it's good to call out the irony though. I think it's good to call out the irony because I think it it, I think that the way I feel about it is just like, that's a little symptom of like a bigger issue that we're experiencing within the democratic party.
Cora Black: Yeah.
Tsion Amare: ah
Kate Rumsey: Yeah, it's keeping our electeds accountable in a way that the other side isn't, and we have to show them.
Alexander Clark: Well, speaking of shiny objects that are just meant to distract, let's talk about this Republican National Convention that just happened in our home our hometown of Dallas.
Kate Rumsey: Yes, oh my gosh, yeah, yeah.
Cora Black: That had the, listen, said the traffic was crazy.
Kate Rumsey: Yeah.
Cora Black: That on top of the Katie 5K, I was like, who has a 5K on a Thursday?
Alexander Clark: Yeah.
Kate Rumsey: Yeah.
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Cora Black: ah
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Alexander Clark: It's always around September 11th. It's on a Thursday night, and it is a party.
Tsion Amare: yeah
Alexander Clark: This is actually the first Katy Trail 5K I've not been a part of in in many years, actually.
Cora Black: I noticed.
Cora Black: Listen, I noticed. I noticed. It was tough to navigate Dallas. Yeah.
Alexander Clark: Yeah.
Kate Rumsey: So is in y'all's mind the convention a net positive for Democrats in our area or Texas or nationally or ah neutral or negative? What do you think
Cora Black: don't
Alexander Clark: Time will tell.
Kate Rumsey: think?
Cora Black: think it was neutral.
Kate Rumsey: Yeah. Hmm.
Cora Black: I mean, I think it was more of the same. And whoever is still indoctrinated in that thinking is still that. I don't think that change. I don't think anybody showed up to the RNC and said, you know what?
Cora Black: Maybe my friends are right.
Kate Rumsey: um
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Cora Black: you
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Kate Rumsey: but
Cora Black: Probably not.
Kate Rumsey: I'm going to switch.
Alexander Clark: No, not after they paid $20,000 that ticket.
Kate Rumsey: Yeah, I'm there.
Cora Black: Probably not.
Kate Rumsey: yeah
Cora Black: You know, I think the one thing that I can say about the RNC that is going to seem much more pop culture than anything else. I was really disappointed to see the joke about how like the Grindr outage.
Tsion Amare: Say more.
Cora Black: um And how like Grindr was booming because the RNC was here. I really did not like that. I don't know how yeah ah anybody else felt about that that heard those things.
Tsion Amare: Yeah. Yeah.
Alexander Clark: It did, in fact, go down though, right?
Cora Black: I think it did.
Kate Rumsey: Allegedly, i don't know.
Alexander Clark: I think it did.
Cora Black: I think it did.
Tsion Amare: and
Cora Black: and I always hated that they proved that that right. But it was it was one of those things of why does it need to be a joke to be
Alexander Clark: I think it goes back to what we were just talking about.
Kate Rumsey: It's.
Alexander Clark: It's the irony of it all because these are such like anti-LGBTQ people and yet they're they're they're acting on their repressed selves on this website.
Cora Black: a part of the LGBTQ community?
Kate Rumsey: Yeah.
Cora Black: Right?
Alexander Clark: I think that's the joke of it all.
Cora Black: ah But it's...
Alexander Clark: It's it's the irony of it.
Cora Black: and it But to me, it's like normalize sexuality being what it is, normalize all of those things as a Democrat.
Cora Black: So I'm like, no, I'm not going to. ah It wasn't like a it wasn't a good one to me.
Alexander Clark: i don't think it was anti-grinder, Cora. I think it was anti-Republicans not being their true selves.
Kate Rumsey: Yeah, it's more sad, right?
Cora Black: And, you know, yeah.
Tsion Amare: Every year, by the way, this is not the first time this is like the second year or third year that this has happened.
Kate Rumsey: Yeah.
Tsion Amare: And so it it always makes headlines.
Alexander Clark: it's it's just like It's just like, hey, now, just it's 2026.
Cora Black: It always makes headlines.
Tsion Amare: Yeah, yeah.
Alexander Clark: Just come out of the closet. like yeah It'll be okay. like i think that's I think that's the emotion behind it.
Kate Rumsey: Yeah. Or like the
Cora Black: Yeah.
Kate Rumsey: the The related to that, the Hassan Piker, like him, you know, being ah the new boogeyman and then he was basically half nude on the Jumbotron. I mean, I was like, why?
Alexander Clark: Two days. i don't know what that was about.
Kate Rumsey: like
Alexander Clark: Do you all hear about this one?
Kate Rumsey: whoa. Like, he's the new boogeyman.
Cora Black: I did not.
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Alexander Clark: So Hassan Piker, the this Twitch streamer, he's like really controversial, but um they had him up on the Jumbotron in his like Speedo underwear.
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Kate Rumsey: Yeah.
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Alexander Clark: And he's like flexing.
Alexander Clark: He's doing the whole thing. And i don't I don't know why he was on the Jumbotron, but he was.
Kate Rumsey: I think they were trying to they're trying to show the extremist Democrats and we're all boogeyman and he's the example and look at what the extremists that we're going to elect, which is.
Alexander Clark: And it wasn't an accident because they did it again the next day.
Cora Black: Oh, I think I was thinking about a different Hassan.
Tsion Amare: I
Cora Black: I was over here like, what?
Alexander Clark: You're thinking about Hasan Minhaj, one of my favorite comedians.
Cora Black: about Yeah, about? was like, what are you speaking of?
Tsion Amare: yeah
Kate Rumsey: Can you imagine?
Tsion Amare: tough on scott
Cora Black: What are you speaking of?
Alexander Clark: Hasan Minhaj, Hasan Piker, very different Hasans.
Cora Black: Okay.
Cora Black: Very different Hassans, okay? One I approve.
Kate Rumsey: We'll text you picture.
Cora Black: One I approve.
Kate Rumsey: yeah Yeah. Go look that picture up. ah
Cora Black: I just did. I was like, wait a minute.
Kate Rumsey: I know.
Cora Black: ah
Kate Rumsey: We were like, this is a bad thing? Like, how is this bad for them?
Cora Black: I'm over here. Listen, I have an opinion, but I do not speak about topics that I don't know about.
Kate Rumsey: I don't know. Yeah.
Cora Black: So i was like, let me get let me gain clarity ah for a moment.
Kate Rumsey: yeah
Cora Black: Okay.
Alexander Clark: It's quite the image.
Cora Black: oh
Tsion Amare: This whole thing also just like reeks of desperation, I think. ah Nothing new, obviously, more than we know, but even Trump saying like, just like i'm good like just pretend like I'm on the ballot basically and like him offering $5,000 of...
Kate Rumsey: Yeah.
Cora Black: Oh, the money offer was tacky.
Tsion Amare: But I think that's like the desperation.
Alexander Clark: But only if the Republicans win.
Tsion Amare: Yeah, it's very, again, desperate attempt. All of this, like putting people on the jumbotron. And like, um I think for me, it's just like, wow, like the desperation is real.
Tsion Amare: They're clinging to every piece of hope that they can find and like every piece of hate they can find to re-excite the Republican Party. And it's a little...
Cora Black: And, you know, I think that that was an extreme tactic to use for black voters as well.
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Cora Black: I think that um that 5K offer, I think, was very tailored um towards a black voter.
Cora Black: And I did not appreciate that at all. um I think that was trash behavior. um it just it's very insulting.
Cora Black: I think Black voters ah have shown what we're all about, but the Republican Party continues to ignore that and go towards almost like a trope of a Black voter, that a Black voter can be bought and paid for
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Alexander Clark: Yeah.
Cora Black: And that's just not true.
Kate Rumsey: Yep.
Cora Black: This is not accurate.
Alexander Clark: Yeah.
Kate Rumsey: Well, may I?
Alexander Clark: You can get your doze check, your tariff-free fund, and now your $5,000 if the Republicans win.
Kate Rumsey: Yeah, how many times?
Alexander Clark: It'd be nice if they all happen,
Cora Black: Yeah. know
Kate Rumsey: Well, yeah.
Alexander Clark: yeah
Kate Rumsey: core I mean, I think you're right on the money because so many people reflected in this ah season of the election that we have the largest population of Black Americans in our state, right?
Kate Rumsey: and very large concentration in Houston, which if we don't win Houston in this state, like Democrats will go home, right? We're not going to win anything and end including in Dallas and East Texas.
Kate Rumsey: And so I just think that it's interesting that you're making that reflection when I think they realize Texas is so so like it is essential for them to win and also the black voter within Texas as well.
Kate Rumsey: And so wonder, like, how do you think we're going to we're going give you guys the last word on flipping Texas, but like, how do you see us playing that out from now until the election and how we can maybe communicate better to going back to the youth, but like the black youth voter?
Tsion Amare: I
Tsion Amare: can see that.
Cora Black: That's a good question. I'm like, that's a really good question. i think, i say I just genuinely feel that as Democrats, as young Democrats, as a Black Democrat, as a Black voter,
Kate Rumsey: You're going to answer it all. i know.
Cora Black: um i think that everyone needs to really gather around. We need to all join hands. We need to all realize that we have a common goal.
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Cora Black: um and stick beside that. So, you know, you hear the famous term all the time, Republicans get in line while Democrats need to fall in love.
Cora Black: I don't need love right now.
Kate Rumsey: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Cora Black: At this point, we this is getting to the point of savior type stuff. Like we're out here fighting for our lives, especially in the state of Texas. And if we don't realize how crucial that is and realize that we can't win without one another,
Cora Black: And then again, it's losing the plot. Once again, we don't know what winning looks like and how to win. um So i think it's really about linking up and it's going to have to be like Avengers style of call all your people.
Cora Black: we need to out fundraise everyone. um Give your money, all the money that you can right now and believe in Texas. Like give every we need to be able to believe in Texas again.
Tsion Amare: Yeah. And building on what Cora just said on, we've lost the plot a little bit and we need to get back. I think for a very long time, Democrats have been playing a defensive role against a growing, like ultra conservative party.
Tsion Amare: And so a majority of the candidates, even on both parties, Republican or a Democrat, they will get in front of voters and say, the reason we need to vote for them is to defeat the other party. So Democrats will say, we need to we need to vote for them to defeat Trump and his policy.
Alexander Clark: And negative partisanship, right?
Tsion Amare: Yeah, and just like anti-Trump party instead of a Democratic party that we, like maybe like 20, 30 years that we've known.
Kate Rumsey: Yeah.
Alexander Clark: Yeah.
Tsion Amare: And it's it's it's played out. It's not working. It has not been working for a very long time. And I think with what I said earlier, if we need to be able to restore hope in people. We need to convince people of, that as candidates, as a party that we see them, we understand what they're going through.
Tsion Amare: We understand all their the issues that they're experiencing. And that's human psychology one-on-one really. And there's we need to be able to, as a party, build a clear moral narrative of like, for instance, Obama is like, yes, we cant was yes we can.
Tsion Amare: Mamdani had his own, like, our time is now. And I think Tallarico is doing a phenomenal job of his faith-based messaging. And a lot of, I think I saw a recent poll that says the independents have moved on to support him, like by a huge percentage.
Tsion Amare: And think also with what we said earlier, there is our rush and by our, I mean, the Democratic Party to cast Republicans as bigoted and hateful and dangerous and aggressive.
Tsion Amare: I think over the years, Democrats have also ended up mirroring that very behavior they claim to oppose. It's funny because when we were talking about the RNC and things being ironic.
Tsion Amare: And we, before that, we were just talking about Democrat and the irony and her being on stage. And so there's, and I'm not saying in that situation necessarily, but in general, I think over the years, the lines between the Republican Democrat have been blurry a little bit.
Tsion Amare: And we've ended up mirroring the very people that we, we have been saying are dangerous and hateful. And I think, and even the way we deal with disagreements, when we talked about the Joe Biden thing, like the way we treat disagreements inside a party has this huge betrayal instead of a debate or a conversation or just building a big tent where everybody is welcome and party leadership, like clinging to power.
Cora Black: for sure.
Tsion Amare: That is very indistinguishable from what we claim to be fighting. There's Democrats that are sitting sitting in office until their last dying breath. Democrats that are not willing to take accountability for their failures or mistakes, even just as a party.
Alexander Clark: Yeah.
Tsion Amare: lack of support for like genocide and ongoing war, which will have been very popular topics and so much more. And so my, my thing is like in this election cycle, if we want to get on top, we can't just be telling people vote, like vote for this.
Tsion Amare: What are we voting for? Like, what exactly are we just, I'm not going to go vote and just cast an empty vote and hope that the democratic party has my back. We have to be able to sell the message to people.
Tsion Amare: And so, like I said earlier, over the years, over almost a decade of Trump and Republican leadership, our society has gotten scarier and crueler and uglier. And instead of fighting like hate and bigotry with more hate and bigotry within our own party and to others, I think we have to be able to speak um the language and and put the values that we've lost back into our society, decency and respect for each other, compassion, being able to sympathize, being able to bring everybody that the table, these are things we've lost in our culture and society over the years. And if we're not able to bring these values to the table as candidates, as a party, we're going to keep losing people because again, for a lot of everyday people, the line between Republicans and Democrats have been blurring and have been like getting blurred over the years. And so I think that's very, very important. important Oh my gosh, sorry. Important going into the November elections.
Alexander Clark: No.
Cora Black: Yeah, but then I think a really big thing is also don't give up on the people in your life that are on the other side.
Tsion Amare: Yeah. Yeah.
Cora Black: Don't give up on your Republican friends, your Republican family members, or even Trump supporting family members or Trump supporting friends.
Kate Rumsey: Yeah. Yeah.
Cora Black: It's one of those things that you have to leave that room for open dialogue Because there's so much, not just misinformation, so many people just are not paying attention to the full picture of what's going on.
Cora Black: And if you can be the person that helps set shed some light on that big picture, be that person.
Cora Black: Be not just tolerant, but genuinely give something towards that conversation. now I'm not saying risk your mental health. I'm not saying risk it all. Okay. I'm not saying risk yourself. But we have to know...
Cora Black: that we're all humans living this experience. We're technically all still facing the same things, right?
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Cora Black: So that's why I say, don't give up. um I've had friends over the years that ah have gone from supporting Trump to now not supporting Trump.
Cora Black: um And it's a hell of a revolution. And it's an amazing thing to see that also needs to be studied.
Cora Black: But it needs to be studied.
Alexander Clark: Well,
Kate Rumsey: Someone bottle that, yeah.
Tsion Amare: I think
Cora Black: I'm not saying it wasn't difficult, but I'm not saying it wasn't a hard road with some of those friendships for me in some of those relationships for me, but it was very fruitful in the end.
Alexander Clark: on that...
Kate Rumsey: boom
Tsion Amare: Yeah, I think the conversation, especially coming from like an immigrant background, there it's very, there's a huge conservative group within the immigrant community. And i will never forever, like I will never understand why in this day and age you'll still support Trump.
Cora Black: Right.
Tsion Amare: But with Republicans, I think the more conversation you have, I think you realize where their values are and like what matters to them.
Cora Black: Right.
Tsion Amare: And a lot of people are very issue based. Like I care about this, but I might not agree with my party on this other issue. And so the more you talk about people, the more you realize why exactly they support one one party over the other.
Cora Black: right
Tsion Amare: um And so I definitely agree, Cora, with have conversations, talk to people. That's also a lost art. I feel like people don't want to be there anymore.
Cora Black: Yeah, because we and we talk all the time about one issue candidates.
Kate Rumsey: Mm-hmm.
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Cora Black: We got to start talking about the one issue voters.
Tsion Amare: Yeah. Yeah.
Cora Black: There's a lot of voters out here that will go with one thing in their mind of this will help my taxes or this will make sure this one thing is intact for me.
Cora Black: Or, ah you know, I think you see it a lot.
Alexander Clark: Yeah. And you can't tell them they're wrong for caring about what they care about.
Cora Black: You'll see it a lot with the topic of veterans, of supporting veterans. You'll see it a lot talking about active military. You'll see it a lot when it comes to taxes. And there are a plethora of of other single issue voters.
Alexander Clark: Oh, yeah.
Cora Black: And I think that we got to start figuring out what those topics are if we don't know them already and spreading that and imagining
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Alexander Clark: Oh, yeah.
Alexander Clark: Yeah. Well, that's a good word.
Kate Rumsey: Yeah.
Alexander Clark: And I think it's the right time to segue into our our good news topic, because I think that is it is so like from a morality perspective. Yes, but also just like political strategy, like.
Alexander Clark: Politics is the art of addition, not sub subtraction. And so converting people, you know, is valuable thing. i mean, it's necessary, unfortunately, to to take back power is you have to convince people, at least a certain percentage of them, to to switch over.
Alexander Clark: And so ah the good news segment we do is um we think that the Republicans are better than us in this one regard, which is they are very evangelical.
Tsion Amare: Can I add one more problem?
Cora Black: Thank you.
Alexander Clark: They will spread their word and we got to get better at it. um So we got to flex that muscle. We got to share the good news in our lives. Something that's personal, something professional, something completely random, but it's just such good news.
Alexander Clark: You got to share it. So who's got something they want to share?
Cora Black: Oh, man. Okay. Well, um listen, ah this is going to be very random. It can be very random.
Kate Rumsey: No
Alexander Clark: It can be extremely random.
Tsion Amare: on now.
Cora Black: Yes. um So September is Suicide Prevention Month.
Kate Rumsey: way.
Cora Black: And I have personally been impacted um by suicide in my world, in my realm. And my mom and i um for this year's beneficiaries of Christopher Barkley Foundation, we raised $250,000.
Tsion Amare: Wow.
Cora Black: ah
Tsion Amare: Wow.
Alexander Clark: Cool quarter mil.
Kate Rumsey: Yay!
Cora Black: Yes, a quarter milli. um And so it was amazing to just literally my mom was like, oh, my goodness. I was just she just always has Good Morning Texas on. And she was like, I was literally waking up this morning just getting dressed. And I looked over at the TV and I was like,
Cora Black: That's me and Cora. So it was cool to be recognized in that manner um and excited for the Christopher Barkley event this year and happy to support this year's chair.
Kate Rumsey: Amazing. Sian, what you got?
Tsion Amare: What about that? I'll share two small ones. The first one is I was just recently appointed to the City of Dallas Environmental Commission, and I'm really, really excited to be a part of that.
Kate Rumsey: Ooh.
Tsion Amare: am very passionate about energy, environmental issues, especially those impacting Black communities and brown communities in Dallas. And so very excited to be doing some important work on that for this week.
Alexander Clark: Well, I apologize for not calling you commissioner throughout the episode.
Tsion Amare: Thank you.
Kate Rumsey: I know.
Cora Black: Right. We got to get our titles right.
Kate Rumsey: Jeez. President and Commissioner.
Tsion Amare: And then um we also just celebrated Ethiopia New Year's this week and we are now in the year 2019. And so I spent a lot of time with my family and friends with our cultural outfits and traditional stuff and it was really fun.
Cora Black: That's beautiful.
Cora Black: i love that.
Alexander Clark: It's great.
Kate Rumsey: Awesome. That's great.
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Kate Rumsey: Happy New Year.
Alexander Clark: Kate, you got something?
Tsion Amare: Thank you.
Kate Rumsey: Yeah, mine's totally different. My family and i are going to El Paso this weekend. So I'm, uh, we sort of split our time between Dallas and El Paso. And I have a stepson who lives there during the academic year.
Kate Rumsey: And so we go there a lot. We have a house there. And and unfortunately, we're going to go camping. It's going my daughter's first time and up in the mountains in like New Mexico, which is beautiful.
Alexander Clark: Thank you.
Kate Rumsey: you have not been up into El Paso, like the the mountains up there, but it might be raining. So i don't know. TBD, I'll report back. But I'm really excited at least for the trip to see family and bring my daughter and might see my stepson.
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Kate Rumsey: So I'm i'm really excited about that.
Cora Black: That's awesome.
Alexander Clark: That's great. Mine is a quasi professional, I guess, good news. Um, to time step this episode, uh, this is going to come out the day after what I'm about to talk about.
Alexander Clark: Um, I was recommended by John Korzynski, who's a former president of the Texas young Democrats. Uh, back in that era, I was his vice president of finance and helped bring YDA to San Antonio.
Alexander Clark: um But ah he was really good friends with a guy named Alex Lawson at an organization called Social Security Works. um And he was looking for someone in Dallas to help them organize this Social Security Town Hall with former governor Martin O'Malley. It's happening this when I say this Wednesday, it will have happened yesterday by the time this episode comes out. But it's happening ah this week um at the Dallas County Democratic Party headquarters from from 10 to noon.
Alexander Clark: Um, governor O'Malley is a former commissioner of social security administration under, under Biden. And, uh, get this, John Bryant is going to introduce him because when John Bryant was a Congressman, Martin O'Malley was his intern.
Tsion Amare: Shut up.
Alexander Clark: How crazy is that?
Tsion Amare: Same.
Cora Black: How wild are yours?
Alexander Clark: Yeah.
Tsion Amare: Full circle.
Alexander Clark: So I'm very excited to be the kind of on the ground organizer for this social security town hall. I think social security is so important.
Cora Black: That's so cool.
Alexander Clark: um One of the most popular beneficial things we've passed as a country.
Cora Black: And a lot of people just don't even know how it works. So having a town hall about it was awesome.
Tsion Amare: Yeah. Amazing.
Alexander Clark: I'm a big personal finance nerd and I've got my color coded Google spreadsheet with like, you know, all my budgetary items and like how my retirement planning and like social security is like a big part of that.
Cora Black: I love that for you.
Alexander Clark: People forget that they're going to get social security.
Cora Black: Yeah?
Tsion Amare: yeah
Alexander Clark: They probably work longer than they have to sometimes. And so I'm not trying to work any longer than I have to, everybody.
Kate Rumsey: Awesome.
Alexander Clark: I'll tell you that right now.
Cora Black: I know that's right.
Kate Rumsey: Alex always has this, like, he's always got things going on. Tell y'all... Every episode we got something new. Well, okay, we're going to give you guys, this is our last segment, um at the conclusion of our episode.
Kate Rumsey: So Cora and Sian, what would you like to leave us with as far as what do you think it'll take to flip Texas, especially in the long term and long run? What do you think writ large or local specific organizing infrastructure, like what what do you think we really need to be doing to flip Texas?
Tsion Amare: I think we need to invest in more exciting candidates instead of candidates that look like every other candidate previously. And we, I think we need to stay away from trying to replicate like candidates and just, and just celebrate individuality. Like we're not going have another mom, Donnie, you know what I mean? But we can find new candidates is probably younger that, um, can really advocate for people. I think we need to be able to address people's pocketbook anxieties. I think what is mattering most to voters and to people on the ground is what are issues that I'm struggling with every day, rent, groceries, climate anxiety, things like that. And what, how are candidates are, how are they going to address these anxieties and these issues? And so I think the more candidates and the democratic party addresses these pocketbook anxieties, and the more we address the issues that the issues working class families are experiencing, I think the more success we have. And please, please, please invest in young candidates, invest in young people. We have gone, we have gone through it and we have seen what matters most in our, so in our communities. And a lot of young people are very, um very smart, very passionate, empowered to create a difference in their communities and just need the platform and the resources and, and the knowledge that is passed down from, from previous candidates and, folks. And so invest in young people. um Yeah, that's that's my message.
Kate Rumsey: Thank you. All right, Cora, sign us off.
Cora Black: Yes, if I i had to say anything to the people of Texas about what it's going to take ah to get us over the finish line, it would be, let's remember what a winner looks like.
Cora Black: What does a winner talk about? What does a winner look like? What does a winner sound like? ah To Sian's point, a lot of the winners that we've had in the past sounded fresh.
Cora Black: they sounded progressive. They pushed the envelope. So i would say invest in those people. um If you're an employer, for instance, and your employee says, hey, I'm going to do this thing. i'm going to run for office. Make sure you are accommodating in finding out a way that they can keep a paycheck so that we can actually have good people in office.
Kate Rumsey: Yes.
Cora Black: um Those are the people that won't...
Alexander Clark: Especially the ones running for the state legislature who are going to make like $7,200 a year.
Kate Rumsey: Yeah.
Cora Black: Oh, yeah. Those are the people that will not lose the plot.
Tsion Amare: Very.
Cora Black: Those are the people that are more in tune with everyday issues that affect us all than anyone else.
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Cora Black: It's not the person with the cushy... you know, attorney role and their firm is bankrolling them throughout their campaign. Right. It's not that. So I say I, of course, as an HR professional, I have to speak about workplace things. So so I would say if you're an employer and you know this person would do some good out there in the community, allow them to do that.
Kate Rumsey: I know. i think you're hitting on a huge part of our podcast, which is figuring out how to elect young people, people with jobs, people with families. And because there are a lot of times that people that are written out of politics and unfortunately that as a result out of policy and we have to figure out how to do it.
Cora Black: Oh, yeah.
Kate Rumsey: All right. No.
Cora Black: turmoil for someone's personal life, how are we expecting to have the best of the best represent us? How are we expecting to move the ball forward?
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Kate Rumsey: Yep.
Cora Black: So I think if more Democrats had the same mentality that a lot of Republicans do in their workplaces, okay, of saying, let me uplift you because we have a common goal.
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Kate Rumsey: Yep.
Cora Black: So, yeah.
Kate Rumsey: Yeah.
Tsion Amare: And speaking of investments, invest in podcasts that spread the good news and, so and educate a lot of people on what is happening locally and, introducing them to a candidates they might have not met before.
Tsion Amare: So shout out, shout out to the missions podcast.
Kate Rumsey: Thank you.
Cora Black: Yeah.
Alexander Clark: And then on that note, you can go to our Patreon, patreon.com slash MissionTexasPodcast.
Kate Rumsey: We didn't. Yeah, go to our Patreon.
Tsion Amare: Yeah.
Kate Rumsey: Exactly. We didn't even pay Sion to do that. That's great. ah Well, thank you, ladies. We so appreciate your time. We're going sign off. See our listeners next week and God bless Texas.
