By Soleil Doering ‘24
Staff Writer
Rep. Cori Bush and former Ohio Sen. Nina Turner joined Carmen Yulín Cruz, the Harriet L. Weissman and Paul M. Weissman distinguished fellow in leadership at Mount Holyoke College, for a discussion on racial justice on April 26. This event was one in a series of town halls held by the Weissman Center for Leadership as a part of the “Our Voices, Our Platforms” series. According to the Mount Holyoke website, these town halls seek to “explore how people can use their voices to make meaningful change and how people can discover and create the platforms necessary to achieve that transformative change.”
Turner described herself and the two other speakers at the town hall as “three fiery women committed to humanity.” In 2005, Turner became the first Black woman to serve as a state senator for Ohio’s 25th Senatorial District and is currently running for Congress. Turner is also the longtime mentor of Bush, who represents Missouri’s 1st Congressional District. Bush’s website describes her as “a registered nurse, community activist, organizer, single mother, and ordained pastor for the people of St. Louis.” Bush is the first Black Lives Matter activist to serve in Congress.
Kijua Sanders-McMurtry, vice president for equity and inclusion and chief diversity officer, introduced the two guest speakers. “Tonight’s speakers remind us that our efforts to head the call to social change must be our north star in the struggle for freedom and justice,” she said.
Cruz began the conversation by speaking what she calls “the unimaginable truth” and taking a moment to say the names of four people killed by police violence: “Adam Toledo, Michael Brown Jr., Breonna Taylor and George Floyd.” She set the tone for the event by acknowledging the lives lost, leading to a larger discussion of systemic and structural racism within the United States.
In response to Cruz asking how the U.S. moves toward progress amid racial tension and the larger problem of racism in policing, Bush said, “We start with acknowledgment.” She added, “We have to understand that this is a real present issue that is in our DNA; it is in the fabric of this country, it’s systemic, so we have to root it out the same way it entered.”
Turner continued the discussion about systemic racism. “The burden of Blackness is what we have to endure every single day,” she said. “It is a painful existence, and it is a trauma that some people don’t understand.” She also drew attention to the historical similarities between the lynchings of Black people and modern-day police brutality.
“Indifference to us is the problem,” Turner said. “That’s what we saw in Derek Chauvin’s eyes, and that’s the same look we see in photos of people at lynchings.”
Turner pointed out that while policing itself is a large part of the problem, it reflects the same issues embedded in U.S. society. “What we see happening in policing is really a microcosm. It is really us looking in the mirror.”
Cruz asked Bush, “Why does it upset people so much when women, particularly women of color, speak up?”
“They see us as a threat because they don’t understand us, and they found out that they can’t contain us,” Bush responded. “You radicalized me by killing my folks and then letting their murderers get off over and over again with impunity. You radicalized me through a system that prioritizes property over people.”
“People criticized [Bush]. … They radicalized her by continuously saying that it was okay for innocent Black people to be killed,” Shula Mathew ’22 said after watching the event. “And it’s not just police brutality. You see that same racism in health care and in housing. These systems make it okay that people suffer.”
Turner, who has a long history of advocating for justice within the health care system as well as the housing market, said, “We must push public policies that are big enough, bold enough and bad enough to deal with the structural inequities that have always been present in this country.”
In the second half of the event, Cruz asked Bush to talk about her experience as a climate justice advocate and the intersection between racial injustice and climate injustice.
“As Black and Brown people, we have suffered at the hands of these polluting corporate interests and at the hands of these massive fossil fuel giants who have pushed their pollutants into their communities for so long,” Bush said. “Black children are 10 times as likely to go to the emergency room as white children for asthma. … We have a creek here in St. Louis that is just radioactive waste mixed with soil. [There’s also] ‘Cancer Alley’ in Louisiana. These are all examples of climate injustice and racial injustice.”
Bush highlighted how creating legislation that centers the Black experience in dealing with the climate crisis is part of her mission in Congress. “We are experiencing this climate crisis differently; it is not a burden that people all over the country equally carry,” Bush said.
In the final section of the event, Cruz invited the Mount Holyoke community to ask the panelists questions. Mathew asked, “How do you work with people from different parties within Congress that benefit from antagonizing you and other elected officials? People who are willfully racist, anti-Semitic, trans[phobic or] homophobic? Is it even possible to work toward good public policy that is so needed with those members?”
“We have to organize around electing more people like my dear sister … Turner, who will stand up with us when we’re up against a wall,” Bush responded. “But it’s also understanding why I’m here, understanding that the work that I wanted to do was to highlight the voices of those in my community that people don’t usually get to hear.”
“Even though we have people who are racist, who are totally disgusting and say some deplorable things, … I know who I am, and I know what I’m trying to do. So there is nothing that they can say that will hurt me enough that will measure up to the hurt my community faces on a day-to-day basis because of that kind of rhetoric,” Bush explained.
Lucas Wilson, professor of Africana studies and chair of the economics department, asked Turner to provide examples of programs and legislation designed to “put real resources in the hands of those who most need them so that they can actually build lives that they prefer.”
“I definitely think about micro-lending programs and building up organizations in the community,” Turner said in response. “The federal government doesn’t have to do all of this, but the federal government should provide the resources for local programming. … I firmly believe that the government closest to the people has the greatest impact on the people.”
Wilson further elaborated on the purpose of micro-lending programs following the town hall. “Micro-lending is a way for people who otherwise wouldn’t qualify for mainstream opportunities to start a business,” Wilson said. “It’s a way for them to become a little more self-sustaining doing what they want to do. I look forward to seeing micro-lending in legislation that Bush and Turner put forward in the future.”
Wilson reflected on his experience at the town hall. “For me, it was nurturing and comforting to share time with them,” he said. “We have a government that is largely owned and occupied by wealthy folks, so I like the fact that both … Turner and … Bush are both working-class, urban elected officials.”
Ariya Lawson, assistant director of the Office of Admission and coordinator of multicultural recruitment, asked Bush, “In your daily work, how do you ensure that you and your team members … are contributing to a culture of care and community that makes the work that you do sustainable? Also, how do you maintain that space of rest and restoration separate from your work?”
In her response, Bush reflected on the feelings of fear and anticipation she felt when she and her team were threatened during the Jan. 6 insurrection on the Capitol. “After the insurrection, I realized that if I am not open and concerned with what’s happening with me, mentally and emotionally, then I can’t even see what’s happening to my team,” Bush said. “So now we talk about it all the time, every staff meeting, every call — we are checking in and listening to each other.”
“It’s about remembering my humanity,” Bush said, opening up about the necessity of setting boundaries and making time for herself amid her work in Congress. “Yes, I can be this person who is going to go out and breathe fire to make sure St. Louis gets what we need, but … also, I might just want to go to the museum and do things for myself, because you have to.”
She continued, “This thing is not a sprint, it’s a marathon, and it’s one that I want to finish.”