A Message On Voting in the 2020 Election with Sarah and LaChaun

 Sarah Resnick: I’m Sarah Resnick.  

LaChaun Moore: And I’m LaChaun Moore.  

Sarah Resnick:  And we are the hosts of the Weave Podcast, a project of the weaving yarn shop, GIST Yarn & Fiber.  

Sarah Resnick:  Hi, LaChaun. Good morning. 

LaChaun Moore: Good morning. Hey, Sarah.  

Sarah Resnick:  So, we are coming… We are recording this episode on October 29th, just a couple days before the election in the United States, and we wanted to share something a little different in the feed this week, which is how we are thinking about and approaching this election. So, I wanted to first share something personal with our listeners, which is that Tuesday was the two-year anniversary of the white supremacist attack on my family’s synagogue in Pittsburgh, and in that attack, beloved family friends of ours were among the critically injured and the murdered, and I have a really strong memory a few days later, flying into Pittsburgh to be with my family and community, and the way that my grandfather told me with such a depth of grief and despair that it was the worst day of his life.  And there is really nothing that could have prepared me for the impacts that such a profound invasion of this white supremacist and anti-Semitic violence in our sacred space and community would continue to have on me still, two years later. And I’ve been thinking about this a lot recently, not just because it’s been two years, and so there’s an anniversary, but because this attack happened in our community 10 days before the 2018 elections and the person who came into our community with his gun said that he did so because we supported refugees and immigrants. And this was in a time when our president was spouting dangerous and racist rhetoric about immigrants to try to shore up support before the election in exactly the same way that he’s doing now for this election, and my community draws a really direct line of blame to the president for stoking an atmosphere of hate and white supremacy that led to the attack on our synagogue and that has lead to so much more white supremacist violence against Black people, and people of color, and immigrants in this country.  So, that’s why I wanted to come on and talk about this today, and to be totally clear, we all know that racism, and xenophobia, and Islamophobia, and anti-Semitism, these have all existed long before Donald Trump, and they are going to last long after we are rid of him. And having a president who is actively spurring on and benefitting from the rise of white supremacy is terrifying.  So, as a business owner, I’m very aware that at GIST Yarn we have customers in every state of this country and we have podcast listeners in every state and all over the world, and when we post something that people perceive to be overtly political, we definitely get angry responses from people saying that they come to their hobbies to get away from their politics, and that I as a business owner should keep my business separate from my politics. And I’m just here to say that if you can get away from politics by turning to your hobbies, then you have not been directly impacted by white supremacy, and I really hope that you listen to people of color, and to immigrants, and to people who have been deeply, deeply harmed by this administration, to inform how you are going to vote. Because there’s really no such thing as business being separate from politics, and everything that we do, or we don’t do and every way that we spend money or don’t spend money is a political act and contributes to building the world the way we want it to be.  So, that’s why our business will always strive to act against white supremacy and that will always continue to be a work in progress that we can do better with, and that I can do better with as a white woman who owns this company, and it’s why we will continue to use our platform to talk about politics, and about the change that we want to see in the world.  So, thank you for being there with us and for us, and letting us into your earbuds, and I hope that as you vote this week, you’re voting for change, and I hope that you’re able to vote safely, and if you’re in a long line, I hope you have the fortitude to stay in that line and get through, and I hope we all have the fortitude to demand that this is a free and fair election and that we see each other on the other side of this with a lot more work to do with a new administration, to hold that new administration accountable, but still knowing that we have made progress from where we are right now.  

LaChaun Moore:Amazing. That was so beautiful and thank you for sharing with us your experience and why this matter is personal to you. I think that if there’s anything that’s really telling about the current political system and our president, it is white supremacy. For me, when it comes to how critical this election is, it has a lot to do with who I am as a Black woman, but also just my experience and my walk in the world. I would consider myself to be a young voter. This voting moment is the second time I’ve voted in my life and it is very, very different from the first time I voted. When I voted for the first time, it was for Barack Obama, who was the first Black president, who also had the first Black woman first lady, and he ran on change, and I did feel something in that moment, a momentum of hope and positivity, and I think it’s really telling, the division in this country that after we had Barack Obama, we got Donald Trump and the platform that he runs on.  So, I don’t have much to say about this election. I think it’s pretty obvious where I stand and where Sarah stands. I think we just wanted to send this message out to affirm what we are always trying to affirm, and that is our belief system, and where we stand. Don’t give up hope or faith in the world and in what we can do, regardless of what this election turns out to be. I think that if there’s anything that I’ve taken from this moment in time, it’s that people are now walking into a level of awareness and I think there’s fire under everyone to get to it and get things done. Regardless of whether this is something you see as outside of your art and fiber practice or a part of it, it is intrinsic. We vote with our dollars. We vote with our opinions. But most importantly, I think it’s important that we vote with an understanding of the world that we live in and that we think about the people around us and not just ourselves.  We are a people. We are very diverse. America is a very diverse place. And as Sarah said, there are a lot of states, and a lot of cities, and different things that happen, but good laws work for everyone, and I hope that when we are thinking about the things that we’re voting for, we’re thinking about other people other than ourselves. And so, good luck and just as Sarah said, stand in that line and encourage the people around you to vote. Carpool. Bring water. Wear your mask. Bring your hand sanitizer. And go vote.  

Sarah Resnick:  Thank you, LaChaun, for that, for leaving us with a note of optimism and hope in these hard times, and thank you to all of you, dear listeners. We will see you on the other side of this election.