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Haven’t
you heard? There is a new generation of young
African-American women who are “unbossed and unbought.” They
are intellectual, educated, entrepreneurial, political and
powerful. Rather than complaining, or sitting back and
waiting for the baton to be passed to them from stubborn,
elderly white males addicted to power or faded, tarnished
former civil rights superstars , these “sistas” have
instead, seized the mantle of leadership without asking
permission.
One such
young professional is Tamaya Dennard who currently serves as
the political director for youthful 2016 U.S. Senatorial
candidate P.G. Sittenfeld. The following Q & A is part II of
a discussion on the topic relevant public policy for a new
generation.
Perryman:
Tamaya, we have been discussing the limited interest in
community issues and civic engagement by young people of
color also known as the Millennial Generation. You laid out
some powerful reasons why this demographic should be
involved in the political process. How can we tap into their
youthful energy to inspire them to become committed to the
political process?
Dennard:
Good question. So, you find out what are young people
passionate about? We had a “Black Lives Matter” rally that
I attended in Cincinnati, and the crowd was very diverse; it
was more African-American than not, but there was a lot of
other nationalities, because young people are overall
concerned with police brutality, They’re concerned with
climate change; they’re concerned with student loans.
You have
to go knock on doors. One policy that we adopted at City
Hall was that we know that people can’t leave their offices,
or their homes, or their jobs at 2:00 o’clock to come down
to Council meeting, so we make a point to go where they are,
and I think that’s what should happen. People aren’t going
where the people are, and once you go where the people are
you’ll find out what the people care about.
Perryman:
Interesting.
Dennard:
Also, in addition to the student loans there is an issue of
education of even having the opportunity to attend college.
If someone has a drug conviction, they’re not eligible for
federal financial aid, and nobody is talking about that.
Even if you have a marijuana charge at age 18, you can’t get
money for school. You could probably bankroll your
education, but who has $18,000 per year to do that.
Perryman:
Right. And that’s because of a nonviolent and relatively
minor legal offense.
Dennard:
I’m not justifying, or saying that there’s anything right
with it, but if you got caught with a pound of marijuana, I
don’t know what you’re going to do with it, or whether
you’re going to smoke or sell, but you’re 18-years-old, made
a foolish mistake and then you’d think, well, I’m
18-years-old, you serve your time, or on probation, whatever
is going to happen, and then a year later you go to apply
for money because you want to turn your life around, and go
to school. Well, you’re not going to get any money from the
feds, because of your conviction. So, things like that need
to be overturned, and that’s not happening. A lot of people
want to talk about ex-offender programs, and those are very
important, but it goes a little bit deeper than that. It
goes like opportunity, and education, and that’s how you’re
going to decrease recidivism. Again, we’re the only
candidate talking about that, because that affects us. We
have friends that are affected. I have family members that
are affected by that. I’m not sure how many of Governor
Strickland’s, or [U.S. Senator] Rob Portman’s friends are
affected by those things.
Perryman:
Given this contemporary context of inequality and
disparities, and you ‘ve talked so eloquently about the
black church, but the church I was born in evolved out of a
greatly different social context and of a different
generation. Basically, the leadership of Martin Luther King
and many others, fighting segregation and Jim Crow Laws in
the South, helped to shape its role. Today, the social
consequences of mass incarceration have shaped everything.
You just alluded to how mass incarceration even affects
education. So, what role do you see the black church playing
going forward? And how has U.S. Senate candidate, PG
Sittenfeld, worked with the church to accomplish goals that
will benefit communities of color?
Dennard:
There’s something we have locally, called Faith Community
Alliance of Greater Cincinnati, where faith leaders, and
community leaders come together monthly and people attend
those type things when they want to get elected. Everybody
goes to the black church when they want to get elected.
That’s what they do. They run to our churches, and they
stand in front of us, tell what they’re going to do, and
then we don’t see them again until it’s time to run again.
Well,
we’ve worked hard to be the antithesis of that. Not only
have we joined the Faith Community Alliance, but we’ve also
been a standing member of the alliance since the day we came
into office. That’s something that we’ve been very
intentional about; even things like – it sounds really
trite, but like going to church. PG and I still go to
church together, and we go around to different churches, and
we purposely do that while we’re in office, because we want
people to always feel like they’re in touch, and have a
direct line to us.
In terms
of our involvement with the church, and African-American,
first of all, I laugh at PG, because he thinks my church is
his home church. Someone was asking him what his home church
was. He was like, “New Jerusalem.” And I was like, “Is it?
When did that happen?” [Laughter] We laugh all the time,
but we just understand that the black church has been the
main institution that has served our community the most
throughout the years, and just out of respect for that
institution, out of respect for the Lord. One thing that PG
says, when they ask or allow him to speak, the one thing
that he always says is, “Before anything else I’m a child of
God.” And that’s something that, again, as we do our jobs,
we’re very mindful of and we’ve had great relationships,
community-building relationships with just about all the
major African-American churches because they’ve been there
for us, and we’ll make sure that we remain there for them.
Perryman:
Well, tell me about PG’s stance on some of the issues that
are relevant to our community.
Dennard:
So, actually, mass incarceration was one of the first things
we talked about when we had our senate campaign kickoff. PG
said that, while some things happen and some people just
need to go to jail or prison, the one thing our country
should not be leading in is incarceration.
Perryman:
Right.
Dennard:
We’re not saying that everybody should be set free, but the
issue is that it’s not just mass incarceration but it’s
about over-prosecution, and that’s something that we talk
about that others aren’t really talking about. So, what we
would like to see happen is obviously reform, but reform in
a sense that certain things should be legalized, because you
shouldn’t be thrown in the criminal justice system for
merely having a joint. I’m not saying that drugs are good.
PG is not saying people should have drugs, but someone
shouldn’t be thrown in the system for having a small amount
of marijuana. But that’s what happening with a lot of us and
PG is pro-legalization of marijuana, and the main reason he
is, is because of mass incarceration. He and I both never,
ever smoked marijuana in our lives. I can put my hand on a
Bible and say that, but in terms of legalization, the main
reason for our stance is because there’s over-prosecution
fueling mass incarceration. That’s one issue that’s very
important to us.
Perryman:
Please talk about your relationship with the business
community, a major stakeholder in the future of our
community.
Dennard:
It really is. You and I both understand the role of business
and why the business community is important, but a lot of
times people feel like, well, if you’re pro-business, you
have to be anti-community, or if you’re pro-community, then
you have to be anti-business. It doesn’t have to be like
that, but that’s what we’ve been shown so far, because
corporations, many times, have turned their backs on the
community, or have just thrown money at the problem when
they don’t really know what they’re throwing the money at.
It
really comes down to helping business to see how they can
serve communities better, but also showing each other, kind
of speaking both languages, and seeing how we can work
together. I think that’s something unique that PG and I
have done. We’ve garnered a lot of support from the business
community, and we were the number one vote getters in the
African-American community. So, a lot of times if a business
or a corporation doesn’t really understand what’s going on,
if they see our names behind, or with it, they’ll support it
because they know that ultimately we’re trying to work on
things, and move things along that can benefit everyone, and
not just the select few that have the money.
Perryman:
Finally, you earlier talked about your pastor who was
instrumental in making church more relevant to you and in
turn, greatly shaped your worldview. Again, let’s try to see
how we can transfer that paradigm from the church to the
context of the political process for young people. Many of
the traditions in the black church have perhaps lost their
meaning but the people in control still try to hold on to
them. Do you see any similarities with the political
process?
Dennard:
I do. I think for a lot of young people, the previous
generation made some tremendous strides in terms of civil
rights, and there’s different debates as to whose fault it
is, but just things didn’t carry over from one generation to
the next. I think what was the movie? Was it The Butler
with Oprah Winfrey where the father and the son had two
different philosophies as an approach to equality, and
things like that?
And the
church for the most part, is kind of like that old guard,
where they haven’t really recognized the need to be
contemporary yet. I was visiting a church a few months ago
in another part of the state, and I looked around, and
everybody in the church was older, and they also had a lot
of rules. I think I had on pants; they looked at me like I
was crazy. Now, I love dressing in skirts, but this
particular day I just had on pants, and you would have
thought I committed a mortal sin. And I’m thinking to
myself, is this why there are no young people here? That
might have something to do with it.
But I
think it’s going to take, again, I brought up the example of
Marilyn Mosby, State’s Attorney for Baltimore who charged
the officers in the death of Freddie Gray. It will take more
examples of that to show young people what can happen when
you vote and your voices are heard. But more has to happen.
Perryman:
Well, how do we get more Marilyn Mosbys in office? How do we
get more young people involved, particularly when these
stubborn old folks want to hold onto everything forever?
Dennard:
Well, I didn’t bring it up, but look at the Democratic
Party. They endorsed Governor Strickland, when they also had
a solid candidate in PG. And one thing that PG has done, he
has out-raised Governor Strickland. Governor Strickland is a
one-time governor and a six-time congressman. We’ve out
fundraised him, flat out, but they’re saying, “Oh, we don’t
have a bench; we don’t have any young candidates.” But when
a young candidate comes along, you push him to the side, and
young people see that.
So there
has to be an embrace of not just diversity, but more
inclusion. There has to be a concerted effort to recruit
more candidates. Politics is so white-male dominated it just
makes me sick. There are a lot of really smart, gifted young
people who could run, but we’re not engaging them. Everybody
should feel as if they’re represented, but as of right now,
people aren’t, and that’s part of the problem. So, there has
to be a concerted effort to recruit diverse candidates, and
once we’re recruited those diverse candidates, get behind
them from a financial standpoint, and from just a human
capital standpoint. That has to happen.
You
think about the mayor of Baltimore, she’s a black woman, the
lead prosecutor; she’s a black woman. I think the head of
the one of the military divisions, is a black woman. I
always thought that was a beautiful thing, because these are
black women, and women, in general. There are certain things
politically that we stand for, talk about, and do that no
one else can, and that has to continue. These women have
been in the spotlight, and I’m hoping that other young
people see them, and see what’s possible for them, also.
That’s what has to happen, too.
Contact Rev. Donald Perryman, D.Min, at
drdlperryman@centerofhopebaptist.org |
