With help from Brakkton Booker, Rishika Dugyala and Teresa Wiltz
What up Recast family! The FDA considers another emergency authorization of a vaccine booster, the U.S. prepares to restore the “Remain in Mexico” policy and Bill Clinton is admitted to a California hospital. But we kick things off with two folks who are no Ordinary People. The Recast is So High on the fact that our colleague Eugene Daniels is pulling double newsletter duty today that we gave him the Green Light to handle today’s Sitdown with crooner and activist John Legend. Eugene, the stage is yours.
“All politics is local.”
That used to be a mantra for anyone working or interested in working in The Swamp. But it’s been a long time since the idiom has run true. The nationalization of American politics over the last twenty years has changed the focus and interest in local politics. It’s caused state and local officials of both parties to work their damndest to parrot prescriptions pushed by the national parties.
For Democrats, that nationalization also helped lead to a loss of hundreds and hundreds of local and statewide elections, from school board to mayor to governor. John Legend (yes EGOT winner John Legend) is hoping to help change that with HUMANLEVEL, a new organization that focuses on adding marginalized (and progressive) voices into local government.
The group is placing 50 fellows — most of whom haven’t worked in government but have some level of experience in policy or change-making — in 11 cities across the nation.
The main goal: bring new voices to the table to work on equitable policies for “jobs, housing, education, health and the criminal justice system.”
My new homie, John, and I chop it up during a short break on his latest tour. We discuss what’s different about his new organization, what he sees as the most pressing issues nationally for Black folks — and his assessment of the Biden administration nine months in.
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This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
THE RECAST: There are a lot of social change and political organizations. What makes this one different?
LEGEND: Well, in some ways, it's following a model that Fuse Corps already set up. They've been placing fellows in local government for quite a while. Their theory of change is that so many important decisions come [down] to resource allocation and speaking up for marginalized communities, etc., happen at a local level. And I wanted to get involved with thinking about how we could join Fuse Corps to place fellows in local government with the specific eye toward equity and making sure that we weed out these systemic biases that have been in place for a long time.
We raised a bunch of money, we raised a bunch of fellows to work in city government with those goals in mind. We've been asked to come to these cities by the mayors and city government and get into civic problems and issues to focus on.
Every week, we sit down with diverse and influential characters who are shaking up politics.
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THE RECAST: You obviously have this huge national and international platform, so talk to me a little bit about why it was really important for you to start by working at the local level.
LEGEND: I think we learned a lot from our work on mass incarceration and because we've gotten FREEAMERICA several years ago, a lot of what we learned was how impactful local elections are, whether it's district attorney elections or sheriff elections or judge elections. And then how important state and local laws and law enforcement were to ending mass incarceration.
We see how important local governments are in so many other decisions that affect people's everyday lives, like housing and schools and employment opportunities, transportation, infrastructure, all these things. When it comes to resources and how it is allocated, who gets listened to when people's priorities are being set, so many of those decisions are made on a local level. We wanted to make sure there were voices for equity at a local level in those rooms when the decisions are being made.
THE RECAST: One of the things we've seen over decades is that Republicans have focused much more locally, much more on the state level while Democrats and the left kind of haven't. Is the hope that this fellowship will help tip the balance a little bit when it comes to the power structures in the country?
LEGEND: I think it's critical that progressive voices are being heard on the local level. You’re right, I think the right has done a better job of organizing on a local level. You see what they're doing with school boards now and their backlash against talking about America's history of racism and talking about the truth about America's founding.
You see the impact they're having when it comes to that backlash and the moves they're making to take over the school boards in so many communities with a very revisionist version of American history. You see that they can be very powerful when they organize locally. And we need to organize locally as well.
THE RECAST: One of the most difficult things about tackling equity, institutional racism is that it's not just one category. It's cultural and it is also political. So talk to me a little bit about how that provides challenges and also some opportunities.
LEGEND: We're not going to solve all of the cultural issues that exist. We're not going to solve the changing of people's hearts and minds one racist at a time. We’re not going to do that. But what we do believe is that it's important to think about how resources are divided up. Politics, really in so many ways, is about setting priorities and we want to make sure that's done in a way that considers the entire community, considers people who have often been left out.
THE RECAST: I know you guys are focusing locally but what role do you think the federal government should play in dismantling the issues of institutional racism and providing more equity? What would you like to see the federal government do?
LEGEND: Part of what the federal government is doing is there's a lot of money being spent. The Covid relief bill that passed earlier this year and potentially with the Build Back Better act and some of that money going to local government. I think it would be helpful if there are voices in the room saying: “Make sure we spend this money in a way that really is impactful for everyone and helps us build toward a better society.”
THE RECAST: You sang at the inauguration of the president and vice president. So I'm curious when you look at what they've done in the last nine-ish months, how do you grade them overall?
LEGEND: I think they've done a remarkable job making sure as many Americans as were willing, [got] vaccinated. I think the Covid relief [legislation] was huge and very important and was helpful for a lot of people. I think the child tax credit was huge and extremely helpful to so many people. And I think there's quite a bit more work to do. I think making that child tax credit permanent would be life changing for a lot of people. When it comes to legislation and policy, they are headed in the right direction on some of these major issues.
THE RECAST: You mentioned that there are places where more work needs to be done. Where are the places you see them, more work to be done on that agenda?
LEGEND: Well, clearly, I want the Build Back Better act passed and I know that's not completely on them. And I also believe that we need voting rights legislation passed because if you see what's happening with our democracy and all the attacks on it, both from people who attacked the literal capital of the country on January 6, but also all these state legislatures passing legislation to limit voting, intimidate voters that they don't like and take the power to decide elections away from the people and put them in the hands of conservative state legislatures.
We've got to be as dogged and vehement in our defense of democracy as these folks are in trying to tear it down. None of this works if we don't have elections where we can both trust the results — and honor the results of an election where everyone's voices are heard.
THE RECAST: How do you see the work that the president and vice president and Congress have done on the issues that face people of color and Black people?
LEGEND: I can't stress enough how important it is to get rid of the filibuster. Jim Crow, a device that sprung up to mostly limit the rights of Black people over the years, is the biggest impediment to passing anything that would be helpful when it comes to civil rights and voting rights.
To all those Democratic senators who are holding on to these vestiges of Jim Crow for some reason, they're standing in the way of passing voting rights and other laws that would advance the civil rights of everyone. And so hopefully they will reconsider as we see how intransigent conservatives are and how unwilling they are to to bend on any of these issues.
THE RECAST: Do you think the president needs to do more on talking to Sens. Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema specifically on getting rid of the filibuster?
LEGEND: I don't know. I don't know if it will work ... We've got to try everything we can, though.
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The weekend is upon us, cheers to a welcomed Fri-yay (is it us, or even with a holiday on Monday, this week didn’t feel any shorter?). Before we get to your To-Dos, we’ve got some quick pop news updates for ya.
The king of green — Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina raised a massive fundraising sum during the third quarter, approximately $8.3 million. This bodes well for Scott’s prospective 2024 White House run, POLITICO’s Alex Isenstadt reports.
Carrot vs. stick — Several Democratic-leaning groups are trying to woo the party’s moderate lawmakers withholding their support for the president’s massive spending proposal. POLITICO’s Natasha Korecki details different strategies to get the holdouts off the sidelines.
Plus, health officials take up whether those who got the J&J shot should get a booster today. It comes a day after a FDA panel unanimously approved vaccine boosters for a certain demographic of those who got the Moderna jab. POLITICO has the big takeaways about what it all means.
The final episode of the four-part podcast “Because of Anita '' is out, with the latest installment examining how Anita Hill’s gripping testimony in 1991 sparked change, including 1992’s “Year of the Woman” in Congress.
Whenever a new E. Alex Jung profile drops, we always read it. This is an incredibly insightful look at Kumail Nanjiani — now a Marvel star, he’s buff and struggling with how much his body is his own.
In his new book, “Born in Blackness,” Howard French, a former New York Times Africa correspondent, explores the role the motherland played in the making of the modern world.
We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: We love Questlove. That is all.
Rishika really got into the “Squid Games,” but some of us at The Recast (cough, Teresa, cough) are still a little too squeamish to watch. This takeout exploring how the show taps into the anarchic spirit of Korean cinema (Think “Parasite”) just might change our minds.
Here’s a weekend jam for you. We’re really feeling Remi Wolf these days.
TikTok of the Day: It's got such a hold on us.
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