Hi Y'all!

Hi Y’all! 

How we got here and where we’re going. 

Episode Notes

Welcome to this first episode of the Tenacious podcast, conversations with Red State progressives. In this episode Mimi talks about how and why she started the podcast and what’s ahead. She also talks about hope as a practice or discipline and that it’s hard work to stay engaged in progressive movement work when it feels like everything is against. you

About Mimi Garcia

Mimi is the host of the Tenacious podcast. She’s an organizer, storyteller, and strategist. She’s worked for over 20 years in issue and movement organizing including labor, healthcare access, reproductive health and voting rights. After more than two decades in the nonprofit advocacy world, Mimi founded Just Collaborative, a consulting firm that works with advocacy groups to build impactful strategies. She lives in Austin, TX with her family, two cats, and a very neglected garden. 

Resources discussed in this episode:

• We do this ‘til we free us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice, by Mariame Kaba (Author), Tamara K. Nopper (Editor),  Naomi Murakawa (Foreword). Find it on Bookshop 
• Hope Is a Discipline: Mariame Kaba on Dismantling the Carceral State, podcast episode from Intercepted, March 17, 2021. 

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Contact Mimi Garcia: 

• 
  https://www.thejustcollaborative.com/ 
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/justcollaborative
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mimi-garcia/ 

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Transcript

Season 1, Episode 1: Hi y'all

Hi, this is Mimi Garcia, and you're listening to Tenacious, a podcast about progressive issues in Red states. 

I'm so excited to have y'all here. This is the very first episode, so “Hi, y'all!”

I want to just give a little bit of background about what this podcast is about and what we're doing here and what you can expect. I am a native, born and raised, of Austin, Texas, and I have worked in progressive organizing and issues for pretty much all of my career. About 20 years now. 

And I came up with the idea of this podcast this summer, when, you know, the election was what it was. The presidential election was really hitting its stride and a whole lot of people I was talking to were feeling both, uh, pretty pessimistic and pretty disheartened about things. 

And, to be frank, I kept having conversations with folks in more progressive states who felt like Texas was pretty backwards and that the things that were happening in red states were sorta “all your fault for voting for the people who you voted for” and “why do people keep voting against their interests?” And, you know, “you sort of made your bed and now you gotta lie in it.” 

And what I realized was one, that's really not a fair characterization of anywhere in the south, but also that some of the most creative and impactful organizing that I've ever seen is happening in red states around this country. 

And it's easy to feel a little bit self-righteous and a little bit smug about really big wins when you are in places where the people in power are  predisposed to those wins. 

And when you're in a place like Texas or Louisiana or Oklahoma, or Florida, stopping some of the worst stuff that comes out of the imagination of the right wing is often the biggest win you're going to get. 

And those are things that are really hard to communicate to people and, uh, people forget about pretty quickly. So, my thought with this podcast was that we would have on people who are doing movement work, who are advocating, who are working for, uh, the lives and livelihoods and wellbeing of the people in this state and other red states… to have them come and share their stories and share tactics. 

And, because I really find that building connections is the way that we maintain energy for organizing and for progressive movement work in the long haul. 

So... 

This is a labor of love. I have never done a podcast before. I've never been on a podcast before I am, uh, figuring out audio engineering and everything all on the fly. And, uh, hopefully one of these days I'll be able to hire someone to help me produce it. But right now it's me and my computer and my microphone. 

So coming up, I have, we're going to have a couple of episodes, uh, with interviewing some grassroots leaders, uh, here in the state, in labor, in organizing, uh, Texas is actually a place in the country where labor involvement is growing. Uh, you probably didn't hear that very much, uh, from wherever you're listening. 

And also have some folks talking about public health, uh one of the places that's been really effective in public health organizing has been in the fight around HIV and AIDS. And so we'll be talking with some long-time HIV and public health activists and other folks coming up. And so if you have someone who you think would be great to have on the podcast, let me know. 

, and if you have questions, like say you're an organizer, you're working on an issue or you’re in some part of the country that feels really tough to do this kind of work, then, you know, drop us a line. I'll put the email in the show notes here. 

The other thing I wanted to talk a little bit about was it is January 22nd right now when I am recording this. Donald Trump's second inauguration was a couple of days ago, and everybody is talking about Elon Musk's Nazi salute at the inauguration and over a hundred executive orders have been signed that are really pretty devastating. And a lot of it is pretty devastating to work that I've been involved with for, you know, decades. And I think it's important that we remember the stories of resistance. The stories of organizing. And the ways in which our elders have pushed through these tough times before. 

And, getting demoralized, losing hope, is a strategy the right…it is a strategy of those in power to get you to step back from opposing their, , their efforts. And so that it is easier for them to push forward with all kinds of diabolical policies and practices. 

Especially in our current, uh, situation, our current media landscape, where we've got information coming at us 24/7, if you're on social media, which a lot of us are, and I am totally guilty of the infinite doom scroll. That it gets really overwhelming and it's really easy to lose connection, to lose kind of a perspective of what is happening around you, but also to just get tired. Sometimes, I just feel tired. 

It's too much happening and too much going on. And when I'm feeling really overwhelmed and really losing perspective and losing hope and losing energy. I like to think about the incredible prison abolitionist, Mariame Kaba. Who has recently, in the last couple of years, came out with a book that is a collection of her essays...