Session 328: Preparing for the 2024 Election Season

Published Oct 11, 2023, 7:00 AM

The Therapy for Black Girls Podcast is a weekly conversation with Dr. Joy Harden Bradford, a licensed Psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia, about all things mental health, personal development, and all the small decisions we can make to become the best possible versions of ourselves.

The 2024 election season is rapidly approaching, and while we know just how important it is for Black women to use our voices – and our vote – in any election, we also recognize that staying informed can be difficult when the news seems bleak. To help make things easier, we’re here to break down some key factors you need to know ahead of this critical election cycle. To give us this rundown, I’m joined today by award-winning political journalist Errin Haines. Errin is the Founding Mother and Editor at Large of The 19th, a nonprofit, independent newsroom focused on the intersection of gender, politics, and policy. She is also an MSNBC Contributor and former writer for The Associated Press, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, and Orlando Sentinel. In our discussion today, Errin breaks down the issues that are on the ballot for Black women voters in 2024, how to tell if a news source is trustworthy in the age of misinformation, and ways to stay informed while protecting your mental health & wellness.

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    Welcome to the Therapy for Black Girls Podcast, a weekly conversation about mental health, personal development, and all the small decisions we can make to become the best possible versions of ourselves. I'm your host, doctor Joy hard and Bradford, a licensed psychologist in Atlanta, Georgia. For more information or to find a therapist in your area, visit our website at Therapy for Blackgirls dot com. While I hope you love listening to and learning from the podcast, it is not meant to be a substitute for a relationship with a licensed mental health professional. Hey, y'all, thanks so much for joining me for session three twenty eight of the Therapy for Black Girls Podcast. We'll get right into our conversation after a word from our sponsors. The reviews for Sisterhood Heels are rolling in and I simply cannot stop smiling at the hot girl books on Instagram shared finish reading this warm hug of a book last night and while it made me once a hug my sister friends so bad, Sisterhood Heels is a beautiful guide on how we as black women can use our community and friends to aid in our healing process. Thank you so much for the beautiful review. Have you grabbed your copy yet? Get one for yourself and a friend at Sisterhoodheels dot com. The twenty twenty four election season is rapidly approaching, and while we know just how important it is for Black women to use our voices and our vote in any election, we also recognize that staying in form can be difficult when the news seems bleak. To help make the easier, we're here to break down some key factors you need to know ahead of this critical election cycle to give us the rundown. I'm joined today by award winning political journalist Aaron Haynes. Erin is the founding mother and editor at large of The Nineteenth, a nonprofit independent newsroom focused on the intersection of gender politics and policy. She's also an MSNBC contributor and former writer for The Associated Press, The Washington Posts, The Los Angeles Times, and Orlando Sentinel. In our discussion today, Aaron breaks down what issues are on the ballot for Black women voters in twenty twenty four, how to tell if a news source is trustworthy in the age of misinformation, and ways to stay informed while protecting your mental health and wellness. If something resonates with you while enjoying our conversation, Please share it with us on social media using the hashtag tbg in session, or join us over in the system circle. To talk more about the episode, you can join us at community dot therapy for Blackgirls dot com. Here's our conversation. Thank you so much for joining us today.

    Erin, Thanks doctor jord for having me.

    Yeah, very excited to chat with you. You are one of my favorite journalists. I'm very, very very appreciative you took some time to chat with us today.

    Well, Therapy and Black Girls are my two favorite comicies.

    Right, how can you go wrong really with it? So you're award winning political journalists. You are an MSNBC contributor. You've been at the Washington Post, Associated Press, and now at the Nineteenth. Can you talk to us a little bit about how you got started in your career?

    Yeah?

    Sure, I would love to. Thinking back over my career, let's see, so I'm not one of those people. Let me just start off by saying you grew up with inking their veins or thinking they were going to be a journalist when they were little. But I did always have kind of a natural curiosity and I have a lot of black women, frankly role models when I was growing up on broadcast television. So I remember when I was growing up, we weren't allowed to watch TV at dinner time unless we were watching the local news, and so that was really my first introduction to news and just the idea that black people, that black women could.

    Do the news.

    So fast forward, I get to college, I need to pick a major, write because my mom's like, you need to get a job.

    So I'm thinking about what.

    I might be good at, how those skills might be transferable to a career, and writing and being nosy equals journalism, right. The idea that you actually get paid to call somebody or go somewhere, ask people questions that they are supposed to answer, and then tell everybody else what you learned is really something that I fell in love with pretty much from the beginning. And so my very very first job in newspapers was actually at a black newspaper in Atlanta.

    I shout out to the Atlanta.

    Daily World, where I wrote every single week about black people doing everything from politics to small businesses and just regular ordinary black folks and black life, which taught me something very early on in my career, which is that black people's stories matter, that they are important. They were on the front page of the newspaper that I wrote for, and so I just knew that I was never going to really argue with anybody about why our stories should be told, about why our stories were relevant.

    Really just the idea that writing about the.

    Bad stuff was not all there was to say about black people, about Black Americans. So that's how I kind of got started, and then I went on to work at places like the Los Angeles Times, the Washington Post.

    I spent the book on my career at the Associated.

    Press, where until I had the role that I have now, I had most recently been the Race and Ethnicity a national writer for the AP, which basically meant that I could write about any and everything we're related to race that I wanted to for a national audience.

    Which was pretty much my dream job.

    I'd been an intern at the AP almost twenty years earlier, and it was the job that I knew that I wanted because I wanted to tell stories about my people, and I wanted to really just build a body of work that left a record of who and where we have been as a people in this democracy, and so I was very proud to do that job. But then we get to twenty nineteen, and you have this super diverse field of candidates, six women running for office, multiple people of color running for office, and yet the way that we were talking about our political journalism was just still too white and too male. And it was fine for me to write those stories right individually, but I really felt like as an organization, as an industry, that we should be saying that race and gender are really the story of our time and the unfinished business of our democracy. And so when the idea for the nineteenth came along, I jumped at it because for me, the risk was not in starting this new venture, it was really in daing and hoping that these institutions that have not really changed nearly enough, we're going to make the change necessary to really reflect who is in our quickly shifting democracy right now.

    So you mentioned the hometown news heroes. Did you grow up in Atlanta?

    I did.

    I hope you can tell I don't drink enough sweet tea to keep my accent fresh, but I am from Atlanta. My mom still lives on the South side of the city. And yeah, born at Grady Hospital, and definitely still have roots.

    In East Atlanta. So very proud of where I come from.

    I think there's not a person that knows me that does not find that out within.

    The first five minutes of meeting me. I'm going to work in some sort of Atlanta reference.

    So who were some of the local news folks that you grew up watching that kind of were your heroes in the field.

    Oh my gosh, so my Atlanta peeps will know this name. Monka Kaufman was my hero when I was growing up. She was so beautiful, she looked like me. She was this brownskin lady who was very smart, and she was telling me what happened in my city every single day. And she had authority, and she was charming and she was glamorous. And so this is what I thought journalism was. I mean, she was journalism for me when I was growing up, and she was the news for me. In fact, it wasn't really until I traveled. I went to journalism conferences when I was in college, and I would look to see what their local television broadcast would be, and I'd be like, I can't believe there are two black people in the anchor chair telling me what's going on? There should be at least one black woman telling me what the news is. It just really struck me how fortunate I was to have that example, to really plant that seed in my mind that this was a career that I could do.

    I mean Atlanta now, so I'm very familiar with the Atlanta newsbooks.

    My goodness.

    I mean, Jovita Moore was one of my She Rose I miss her so so so dearly. But Joscelyn Dorsey, Karen Greer, Blaine Alexander. I mean, there are so many black women on air in Atlanta, and I do think that all of them are just such an inspiration to so many people, but especially to the black girls who may be trying to figure out what they want to do with their lives and can really look to those examples as somebody who they can maybe fall in their footsteps one day.

    Mm hmmm. So, Aaron, I'm gonna do a little bit of standing for just a moment. So two of my favorite written pieces, not just from the nineteenth but in recent history are the Summer of Black Women that you recently wrote, and a piece about justice Katanji Brown Jackson's Friends from College, which I thought was so beautiful, and it just really feels like the pieces that come out from the Nineteenth feel like pieces that you just don't really see anywhere else. Can you talk a little bit about how you all do your newsroom and you're publishing very different than we might find in other places.

    Oh my gosh.

    Well, first of all, thank you for saying that about both of those pieces and about the Nineteenth, because that is exactly what we are striving to do. We're trying to do news that is distinctive, but also it is seeing and hearing from people who have not really been previously seen or heard in our democracy. For me, that especially includes black women, who we know are the backbone of this democracy, who we know are on the front lines of what it is to push for progress and fairness and equality in our country. So thank you for saying that. Those are two of my favorite things that I've ever written to, by the way, So thank you. It was such a joy to talk to Justice Jackson's sister circle. That story came from me at a time where we're coming out of the pandemic and I was actually thinking a lot just about my group chat and the group chats of all of my friends and just how sustaining those are. And even before the group chat was a thing just like that sister circle that you had that was so supportive through your good times, through your bad times.

    The core group of.

    Women black women that you could just lean on to laugh and cry and celebrate with. I mean, that's everything, right, part of what helps us to get to where we are and what we do. And so to talk to them and to watch them cheering her on and for them to feel like her success was their success was just a deeply rewarding story to tell.

    So thank you for that.

    And then, man, some of the black women, I mean, how can you not see that based on what we just came through. I mean, I just had a couple of girlfriends that went to see Beyonce last night in Houston. I mean, like it is giving us so much life. I just can't tell you how many Black women I talk to coming into this year who were so exhausted, but this summer just re energized us through the examples of people like Beyonce and Cocoa Golf at the US Open, and Simone Biles and Chicai Richardson and just like so many examples of black women just being excellent and overcoming and coming back from and so again, I think we do tend to see these victories as.

    Collective, and so that does energize us.

    So at the nineteenth we are really bringing our lived experiences to our journalism. And I think see that reflected me as a black woman. I can't write about black women enough as the main story, right, which is the difference between what I'm doing now versus what I've done throughout my career. Writing about black women is to the side issue or not the main issue. But I think you see that with so many of my colleagues who are writing about Latinas, who are writing about the Asian American community, who are writing about the LGBTQ community, which is under attack right now, for being honest, really writing about the existential threat to their dignity, their humanity. That's something that I don't see really centered in the way that we do that here the disability community. We have people who have that perspective, who are able to really shine a light on the unique challenges that people in our community are facing, who are grappling with that. And even if it's not our direct experience, if there's somebody in our lives that maybe plants that seed for us older Americans and how what they may care about in terms of our democracy and how that may motivate them to participate or not participate is really important. So yeah, I really do love our approach, which is still very much a work in progress. We're only three years old, but if you have ever seen our logo, we're the nineteenth name for the nineteenth Amendment, which guaranteed some but not all women access to the ballot box. We know that black women were thrown under the bus, and so that asterisk is really largely for them, but also for latinas, for Asian American women who were barred from participation at the same time around language barriers, Native American women who weren't even recognized as citizens in nineteen twenty when the Nineteenth Amendment passed, And so the asterisk is really kind of also represents like a north star for us in terms of who remains ignored invisible in our democracy and how we can continue to bring them into the conversation so that we empower them to be civically engaged in our country.

    Thank you so much for that, Aaron. So you all started in an employee election year, and we are rolling into yet another, I think very important election year. So can you tell us one what dates are important for us to pay attention to as we roll into a new election cycle, and what exactly is going to be on the ballot in twenty twenty four.

    Yeah, so, I guess I would say a few things.

    One, we're still four hundred and something days away from the election, so we still have a long way to go people, and a lot can happen between now and next November. The dates that I would encourage people to pay attention to be empowered. Know when the deadlines are for you to register to vote. Make sure that if you are somebody who has been registered in the past, that you are still on the rolls, that your voter registration information is up to date. Know where your precinct is so that you can vote or if you're not going to vote in person, know what the process is. What is the deadline for you to get an absentee ballot so that you can still participate. These are important dates to know and mostly should be available on your Secretary of State's website wherever you live. So I would encourage people don't wait to find that information out, find that information out as soon as you possibly can pay attention, and also share that information with the people in your life.

    We know, especially as black women, even.

    If we are not organizers in an official capacity, we absolutely have that phone tree or even or just casually mentioned and girl, are you registered? Girl, have you already voted? When are you going to go and vote? I mean, I remember my mom doing that on election day, every single person that call the house, like the first words out of her mouth after hello or hey, did you rose?

    And she was serious. So yeah, I would encourage that for sure.

    And as far as what's on the ballot, I mean, look, one, let me just say that all issues are women's issues if you just ask women about them. We don't just care although they are important issues. We don't just care about the pay gap. We don't just care about abortion. We care about faith, We care about education, we care about the economy, we care about the Supreme Court, right, we care about unemployment. Ask us anything we have an opinion about that too. Not to mention the fact that we are more than half the population and more than half of the electorate, So why shouldn't we be weighing in on issues? Of this democracy as the majority of this country, right, So that's number one, number two as far as what I personally think is going to be on the ballot, I literally just wrote a column saying that democracy is a kitchen table issue for a lot of people. I know it's an issue for a lot of the Black voters that I talk to. They are wondering how they are going to be able to safely and freely and fairly participate in this election, knowing what we are up against in terms of voter suppression across this country and what we've seen in response to the twenty twenty election. And so democracy is on the ballot. I think guns are on the ballot for a lot of people. Gun violence is a real issue affecting a lot of communities, and that is something that is gendered, and a lot of Black women are very concerned about gun violence. And that means different things depending on where you live, but the issue is among the top issues for a lot of the people that we hear from. Reproductive access absolutely is on the ballot. I think we saw that in twenty twenty two with the Mint terms, and this is something that black women have been trying to soundly alarm about for years before the Dobs decision, and so black women know what's at stake. The maternal mortality piece is just part of that, but that's certainly a big part of it for Black women who are just really worried about their personal safety. That's part of that conversation. Education is on the ballot for us, and that's whether you're talking about the affirmative action piece or whether you're talking about the student loan debt piece, right, those are both things that disproportionately affect us, and so I think that is an issue that is going to motivate a lot of Black women to the polls because they are wanting to elect people who are going to be able to do something about those issues because they do see the connection between who is representing them in their daily life in terms of what can happen around that. So those are a few of the big ones that I see, but absolutely, absolutely the issue of rights and safety just overarching are weighing, I think on the minds of a lot of voters, especially Black women heading into next year.

    Thank you for that, Aaron.

    More from our conversations after the break.

    So can you give us a rundown of some of the key people who are running or teasing a run across the country, Like, who are some of the people we should be really paying attention to, and if you could say a little about their platforms if you're aware.

    So, I do think you are going to see a black woman returning to the Senate. Finally, we know that with Vice President Harris's elevation, that did leave a vacancy of no Black women in the Senate, which certainly is not commensurate with our representation in this country. Right, So, Lisa blanc Rochester out of Delaware is running for Senate and seems to have a pretty strong chance of being elected. This is somebody who was a key surrogate for President Biden when he was running in twenty twenty, and whose profile has really kind of risen in recent years. And so I think Delaware is also and I learned this in twenty twenty, the eighth most populis state for black people in America.

    But even outside of that, I think that this is somebody who could get.

    A lot of support even from people who don't look like her, going into next year. I'm also looking though, in terms of a Senate race, you got to look at Barbara Lee out in California and what her chances are. That's a very tough race that probably is going to be pretty expensive. Kamala Harris was a Senator out of California, and so when there was talk of who was going to be the vice president, Barbara Lee, Karen Bass, their names were certainly out there. Karen Bass now the first black woman mayor of Los Angeles, and now Barbara Lee is seeking to be another black woman representing California in the Senate. So I'm very interested to see what happens with that. Interestingly, I don't know that we're going to immediately have a chance to see another black woman running for governor right now. You know, you had this stretch where you had the Staceaboms effect, if you will, multiple black women trying to break that glass ceiling that still has not been broken. By the way, we have never elected a black woman to serve as governor of any state in this country. But yeah, I think the Senate races are something that I'm just really interested in because.

    There is zebra representation there too.

    But I think that there might be an opportunity for that to change in twenty twenty.

    So you know erin it feels like in the past four years throughout the pandemic, so we need people have decided to get up and move and because of not only for I think pandemic reasons, but also the rights that you spoke of right and how many states are making decisions that day to day impacts somebody's livelihood and safety. What would you say to people who are maybe considering, Okay, I feel like another state might be a better place for me, like any tips that you would be able to suggest there.

    I do agree. We've seen it. We've seen people in Texas, in Florida in particular, who were saying I don't want to be here, I don't feel safe here, or I don't want to raise my family here, I don't want my kids to.

    Grow up learning about this, or worried about what they might not learn right based on where they're living right now. And so I get that is absolutely a very real concern. And I think that it's hard to know whether that was an intended or unintended consequence of some of these policies being passed, but that's certainly the impact is that some people are just deciding this is not a place where I want to be this is not the country or the state that I recognize.

    And when you are moving from one state to another and you, like you mentioned, want to hurry up and get registered to vote, is that also something you can find information for on the Secretary of States website.

    Absolutely.

    I think for some people too, moving is also about their ability to be represented right, wanting to feel like they can participate in a way where one person, one vote feels more real for them, And I absolutely get that. So yes, Secretary of State's website when you have relocated can get you up to speed on how to make sure that your voter registration is current in the place where you now live.

    So I am sure you're aware of all of the attention and energy I think rightfully so that is being placed on gen Z. How many of them continue to come out in droves to vote and really push change on so many of the issues. So what kinds of best practices or recommendations might you have for a candidate who's really wanting to make themselves marketable? So to speak to gen Z.

    Meet them where they are is the advice that I would give. I mean, look, you see the vice president, certainly somebody who is getting that message, is doing a college tour right now, starting out with HBCU use right, trying to galvanize those young black voters. Right when we think about young voters in your mind, you can't forget about HBCUs, you can't forget about those students, a lot of whom have precincts on campus right so that they can participate. So making sure that they are energized, making sure that they are paying attention to this election, I could see that is definitely a pathway to success for candidates that is looking to get their message out to young voters. Also, social media absolutely, I mean I don't know a young person that is getting their news in a traditional way. You know, when my niece sends me a link to something, it's usually something she's on TikTok. It's not something she read on some news website. That's not where she's going to get information. So, if you've got a candidate that doesn't at least have a presence, if not is taking off on TikTok, they're probably not reaching.

    As many young people as they could be.

    I think candidates have to get create, like I said, just meeting young people where they are wherever that is figuring that out and showing up not expecting them to find them or their campaign or their message, because that's not really how they operate.

    So what are some red flags, some social media red flags that we should be on the lookout for. What kinds of things may be Like I'm not so sure about this.

    Well, I want to talk about a different kind of red flag on social media if I can, misinformation and disinformation, because that is something that is disproportionately affecting our communities and it is not okay. Obviously, as somebody who has spent their career in the news business, it is very distressing to me. It is very alarming to me, and it is particularly alarming that our communities are being targeted with this stuff because it is harmful. It is harmful. We've seen that it has been deadly, honestly in some cases in recent years. So I want to encourage people to just be informed. I'm so excited that people want to be engaged and that they're trying to find out what's going on in our country. But misinformation is a lot more sophisticated than it used to be. Right, It's not just the tabloid at the checkout line at the grocery store anymore like it looks a lot like what people may assume is legitimate news. Not to mention the rise of AI and the impact that can have on tricking our brains into thinking something is real that really isn't. So I just want to encourage people news literacy is so important and sharing things only when you know them to be factual. I know most people don't mean to lie to their friends or neighbors or family members, but that's exactly what happens when you post something on Facebook that isn't actually real.

    So, Aaron, how can we do a better job of betting for ourselves? What is actual information versus misinformation or disinformation? Because take your point, stuff looks very sophisticated, it looks like it comes from a reputable news source and people are sharing it. So what kinds of sh strategy should we be employing to be able to bet a new story?

    Okay, so one thing I would recommend check the source, see what this source is about, where is this information coming from, and does the source seem to be a reputable source.

    That's probably the first thing. The second thing is.

    If you see a story, who else is reporting that story. If you only see it in one place, that's usually a hint that I mean, look, I like to report things before anybody else, and I feel special when I've told somebody something that nobody else knew yet.

    But usually other people are going to write about that thing.

    If they don't write about it at the same time as me, it's going to be, you know, sometime soon after me. So if you see a story and it's just kind of on this island where nobody else is talking about it, or nobody else seems to have the same set of facts, that's probably a clue that maybe this isn't legitimate.

    That's a pretty pretty big one.

    If something is older but it's presented as new, that may be some misinformation that somebody's.

    Trying to recirculate for some reason. That can be another red flag.

    So when we're looking at public officials or candidates who are on the ballot, how important is it for people who have had a public office before, Like it's prior political experience really important when we're looking at a candidate.

    I mean, I don't think it's a prerequisite, right.

    I think you're seeing a lot of people who are becoming candidates for elected office because there's some aspects of their live experience that they feel like they can bring that would be an asset to them serving. Right, you know, somebody who is an educator who may care about that issue that gets them to run, somebody who cares about gun violence, who decides that's the motivation for them running and trying to make a difference. I think it is important for them to tell voters why they're running and what they would.

    Do if they got elected.

    But it's also important for voters really to check out for themselves these candidates and if they believe that they are qualified to be somebody who's going to represent them in the way that they.

    Want more from our conversations after the break.

    So, it seems like one of the most popular marketing tactics for candidates is fifty eleven ads on TV about their campaign, like you cannot get away from them ads on TV. Why is this such a popular marketing tactic for candidates and how might it either encourage people to be engaged or disengaged from the political process as it relates to the ads.

    Yeah, so, doctors, I'll tell you one of my favorites is the campaign email, which my inbox is flooded with at all times. They sound like one of my ex boyfriends erin, Oh my god, it's too late, Eron, this is our last chance.

    Eric, we got to do this. It's like, please leave me alone. I don't know how effective those are.

    I'm a journalist, so I do not to any of these people, but it sounds pretty desperate and very thirsty. The television ads look repetition works. That's why you see it. Like the more name recognition. You can plant into somebody's brain right by the time you get to the ballot box, you're like, oh, I remember that person, and hopefully they had a memorable ad in a good way for you, and so then that person gets your vote. You may have never seen them in a debate, you may have never seen them in a town hall, but they had a commercial that resonated with you. They talked about some issue that you cared about, or they seem to be somebody that you could somehow otherwise relate.

    To, and so you want to support them.

    On the other hand, maybe you saw an ad that was negative and that was also memorable.

    Negative ads work on people.

    Even though people say they don't like them, they do work and so that's why we continue to see negative ads. And depending on where you live, I mean, certainly I am from Atlanta, but I now live in Pennsylvania, and you know, it is a battleground state, and so that means that we see a lot of ads. Georgia tends to have a lot of runoffs, and so you will see ads for much longer of a season than a lot of our neighbors in other states. So I think that kind of thing can also lead to fatigue. But again, these candidates are trying to make an impression and to make you remember them so that on election day, even though you may be sick of the ads, you may at least remember who was in them and vote for that person.

    So something else that has been having like growing discourse recently is age caps for elected officials. So you know, there's been calls around Nancy Pelosi and any health concerns Mitchim Kannoll may have. Can you talk a little bit about like your thoughts around age caps and what we might lose our gain when we have different generations representing constituents.

    Yeah, I mean, I think there are different ways to look at it, right, I think there's certainly benefits that older people can bring to our government, to any institution, right, the wisdom that they bring, as well as the experience that they can bring, the mentorship that they can provide. All these things you're valuable to have, including in politics. So there's a place for people with a range of experiences, including age, in our politics.

    That said, I talked.

    To voters a lot, and among the people who express the most concern about the fact that both of the presumed nominees for next year are people who are in their seventies and eighties. Older people tell me that they are concerned because they know what their days look like and they know what their limitations are. And so being president is a very rigorous job. You know, you're traveling all around the country, all around the world, and you have a very full schedule on any given day. So I think, given that these candidates are up in age, I think that it is incumbent upon them to prove that they are up for the job and to prove that they are capable. But I mean, once they've done that, the voters get to decide for themselves whether or not they believe that person is capable.

    Right.

    This also kind of brings up the issue of how long somebody should be able to serve. I mean, obviously, if you run for president, you can only serve two terms. But somebody who is in Congress serves for as long as they can continue to be elected. And so that is something that can be I think even more up to voters in terms of deciding using that as a criteria to decide whether or not that person should continue and if they feel that person is still effective the older they get and the longer that they've been serving.

    So something else that appears to be very effective for candidates or celebrity endorsements, right, can you talk about any concerns related to celebrity endorsements and also like candidates who seem to want to be more celebrity as opposed to a political figure, Can you talk a little bit about that and like what kinds of things we should be paying attention into if it feels like a candidate is really ingraining themselves in the celebrity world.

    Look, there's been a relationship between politics and celebrity. Sometimes that life has been blurred in our politics over history. You think about President Kennedy, who was certainly not a celebrity, but he had a kind of a celebrity status. The Obamas ended up having a celebrity status as well. Ronald Reagan was a literal former actor. Former President Trump also was a celebrity who ran successfully for the office. And so I think celebrity is getting involved in our politics. It does raise awareness in a different way. Again, it can bring a different kind of audience for somebody who's running for office who maybe wasn't necessarily paying attention to the election previously, a celebrity who was not particularly political, if they put their thumb on the scale, I think that sometimes that is something that can have an impression on voters. I think about Oprah. You know, when Obama ran for office, Oprah was not somebody who really was very publicly politically active, right, but she was very much active in that race, and I think.

    That it did matter.

    It mattered last midterm cycle when John Fetterman is running against doctor Oz in Pennsylvania. Doctor Oz was somebody that Oprah basically was responsible for bringing into our collective consciousness. And so for her to come out in the eleventh hour and say I'm with John Fetterman, I think that did matter to voters that she did not endorse this person that she had previously professionally supported. But I do think celebrities can have an influence on our politics. You probably saw the story just recently Taylor Swift registering tens of thousands of voters. That matters, like not telling anybody to vote for one person or the other, but saying voting matters.

    Participate in this election.

    I am personally encouraging you to get signed up and that working.

    That's incredible.

    You know somebody who works for a news organization named for voting rights, I'm here for that.

    I think another thing that happens, especially I think in the news within the last five to seven years, I would say, is that people have been increasingly impacted their mental health has been impacted by the news. Right, Like just feels like the news cycle is often so violatile. What kinds of suggestions would you share with people around how they can stay informed while also protecting their mental health.

    Yeah, I guess what I would challenge people to think about what staying informed means. It's not only being informed about the bad stuff or the scary stuff, or the stuff that doesn't make you feel good. Right, there's a lot of news. There are many many different things happening in this country on any given day, in this world, on any given day, that are not all bad. And I know it feels like that's all that the news is reporting a lot of time, but that's not true. So like really expanding your news diet to find more positive things that you can read about, that you can learn about that number one. Number two, it's okay to step away from the news. I think really the previous four years where everything that happened on Twitter was news, really conditioned us if we're gone for an hour, like who knows what's gonna happen really hour to hour, And that wasn't good for our mental health.

    That wasn't really good for our.

    Collective mental health as a country to be constantly worried about what bad thing was going to happen and how were we're going to find out about it. I think social media definitely plays a role in tightening that. I personally felt much better mentally when I turned off by notifications for a lot of the social media to the extent that I could. I mean, some people I have to pay attention to, but a lot of people I don't have to pay attention to, And it's okay to not constantly be checking my feed on Instagram or X or Facebook to see what's going on. I think that reclaiming that brain space is really important too, as a way to kind of balance things out.

    This has been so helpful Erin Thank you so much for sharing everything you've shared today. Can you tell us where we can stay connected with you and all the incredible work you're doing. What's your website as well as any social media handles you'd like to share?

    Absolutely? Thank you so much. This has been amazing. I'm so glad that I got to hang out with you. So yes, you can definitely find me on the interwebs. You can find the Nineteenth Journalism on our website that's on nine th anyws dot org nineteenthnews dot org.

    We also have a ton of.

    Free newsletters that you can sign up for, and I would encourage you to please, please please sign up for my newsletter. It's called The Amendment and you can sign up for it at nineteenthnews dot org. We are also on X I guess this is what we're calling it now and Instagram and Facebook. Our handle is the same, It's nineteenth News, So one nine thch News is our handle. Across platforms. My Instagram is at e Marvelous, where you can find me talking about politics, my journalism, fashion, travel, food.

    My dog, whatever interest in me on any given day.

    And then also I am on x at Aaron Haynes, so just my name E R R I n h ai n ees and I am talking about politics and sometimes when I'm angry on the weekends, pepa pig join me. So yeah, thank you, Thank you so much for having me, and thank you for your support of the nineteenth Doctor Joy.

    I really appreciate it so much, and for the chance to talk to your listeners a little bit about what we do and who we are. Thank you.

    I'm so glad Aaron was able to join us today to share her expertise. To learn more about her and her work, visit the show notes at Therapy for Blackgirls dot Com slash Session three twenty eight, and don't forget to text two of your girls right now and encourage them to check out the episode. If you're looking for a therapist in your area, check out our therapist directory at Therapy for Blackgirls dot Com slash directory. And if you want to continue digging into this topic or just be in community with other sisters, Come on over and join us in the sister Circle. It's our colday corner of the Internet designed just for black women. You can join us at Community dot Therapy for Blackgirls dot com. This episode was produced by Frida Lucas, Elise Ellis, and Zaria Taylor. Editing was done by Dennison Bradford. Thank y'all so much for joining me again this week. I look forward to continuing this conversation with you all real soon.

    Take good care.

    What's The reviews for Sisterhood Heels are rolling in and I simply cannot stop smiling at the Hot girl books on Instagram shared finish reading this warm hug of a book last night and while it made me once a hug my sister friends so bad. Sisterhood Heels is a beautiful guide on how we as black women can use our community and friends to aid in our healing process. Thank you so much for the beautiful review. Have you grabbed your copy yet? Get one for yourself and a friend at Sisterhoodheels dot com.

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