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- Even among younger black folk that are

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stable, you know, like pretty good jobs,

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I put myself in this category.

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We're no longer going to be okay

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if most of us are left behind.

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(upbeat music)

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- You came on a lot of
people's radar last year

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when Jonathan Weisman, the
Washington deputy editor

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of the New York Times,

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said that you were going to try to unseat

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an African-American incumbent.

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And you pointed out, "Hey, I'm black too!"

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What was going through your mind

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as this was happening,
what did that speak to?

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- It's surreal to have
your racial identity

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discussed on Twitter.

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Especially when probably
a week before that,

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no one really knew who I was,

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but also it's like, wow!

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I mean, this guy doesn't
seem to have an understanding

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of the diversity within
the black community.

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Weird.

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(laughs)
And has the real influence

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to perpetuate a very dangerous narrative,

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that by presenting a
different policy position

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against a sitting black
member of Congress,

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you are somehow a threat
to black representation.

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Well, I'm coming at this from a deep love

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and experience within the black community,

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and I think that's what speaks to folks

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in the third district
is, "She's one of us."

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- Can you speak to what you see as, like,

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the current, like, generation
gap with black voters?

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Because, you know, when you really

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just look at polls and they say,

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"The black vote's doing this,
black vote's doing that."

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I sometimes hear this, and I'm like,

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"Oh, is that the black vote,

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"or is that maybe the
black vote for people

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"perhaps like 55 or older?"

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- Our race is unique in the sense that,

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it's a very safe gerrymandered
Democratic district.

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The incumbent whom I'm running against

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is an older black woman.

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I am a younger black woman.

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Now let's have a
conversation about policy.

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And to me, what does that look like?

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Healthcare, everybody
deserves to have health care.

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Police brutality, I mean, this is an issue

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that is also a big priority
of folks living in Columbus.

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And I do feel like we're at a crossroads

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where a lot of younger black
folk are not feeling like

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the older generation
is sensing the urgency

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that we all are feeling,

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and that we're willing to organize around.

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But, you know, we've gotta to be real

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and have a conversation about,

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what are we seeing in our communities,

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and what policies are
gonna address the issues?

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- Millennials are not, you know, a bunch

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of 20 year olds anymore.
- We're not kids!

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Yeah, yeah.
- The oldest millennials are

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like 30, pushing 40.

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These are people with families,

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who want more for themselves
than their communities.

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Can you speak more to the rejection of,

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like, cynicism you see?

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- You know, when I first
launched, people were like,

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"Oh, who is this girl?"

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"Who does she think she is?"

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And it's like, well, I'm 36 years old.

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I've been a working professional
for, like, 15 years now.

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And, it's a way to dismiss and
minimize what we're saying,

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what our generation is speaking to.

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We've done the analysis,
we've had the jobs,

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and we see that what
we're doing isn't working.

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The status quo of Washington
is not serving us.

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And we are not going to accept

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another 20 years of endless wars

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that don't take us anywhere

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while we're spending resources

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that we could be putting
into folks having healthcare.

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It's like, no, we are
rejecting this old-school style

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that puts profit and
corporations over people.

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We're seeing that we are
able to mount campaigns

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without that corporate tax money.

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We are able to organize
through social media,

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and build momentum and communicate

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with folks that have traditionally
not engaged in politics.

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And, once you start to activate people

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to care about politics, well,

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a lot of this system
does start to crumble,

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because it relies on low voter turnout.

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(calm electronic music)