STACEY ABRAMS, the first African American woman to serve as a minority leader in the Georgia House of Representatives, the first Black woman to become the gubernatorial nominee for a major party in U.S. history and a prominent advocate for democracy, spoke at the East Bay Leadership Council’s 40th Anniversary Leadership Series kickoff on Jan. 29 in Concord.
Minutes after Abrams took the stage for her keynote speech, tons of laughter, applause and hums of agreement could be heard throughout the packed room at the Hilton Concord. Captivating the audience with her vivid storytelling and humor, Abrams spoke about her childhood, her many accomplishments made both in and out of the political landscape, as well as the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) and democracy.
“DEI is not about race or gender or class. It’s about America living up to its values,” Abrams said. “It’s about educating our people. It’s about building our future. I talk about it because it’s a pillar of democracy … that is how the American dream is made manifest.”
Settings like these aren’t unfamiliar to Abrams, having begun her leadership journey at a young age. From her humble beginnings as a typist for a congressional campaign in high school to becoming student-government president at Spelman College, Abrams has been cultivating a career in politics marked by experience and dedication. And her parents, Carolyn and Robert Abrams, have been involved every step of the way.
Words to live by
Born into a family of five siblings who dealt with economic difficulties alongside hardworking parents who were unable to maximize their income due to segregation, Abrams picked up many practical lessons throughout her childhood.
“My parents never allowed us to believe that our economic situation was going to dictate our future,” Abrams said during her keynote. “They told us that we had three jobs: Go to church, go to school and take care of each other.”
Her parents’ advice has remained with Abrams through the highs and lows of her public-facing profession, whether it be as a lawyer, author or politician. It was this aspect of her character that EBLC board chair Chadi Chazbek found applicable to the EBLC mission.
“Stacey has dedicated her life and career to empower and elevate her community, something that we share at EBLC,” Chazbek said. “Here in the Bay Area, the most basic human values don’t just feel good. They work, they power our economy and they attract talent.”
Chazbek’s statement was not lost on the audience: The venue was primarily filled with elected officials ranging from the U.S. Rep. Mark DeSaulnier — who represents California’s 10th Congressional District — to Contra Costa County Office of Education Superintendent Lynn Mackey. The title sponsor of the event was Kaiser Permanente, and other main sponsors included AssetMark, Chevron, Martinez Refining Company, AAA Insurance and the Marathon Petroleum Corp.
The conference also shed light on the country’s food insecurity issues and featured a $25,000 contribution from Kaiser Permanente to the Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano. The food bank’s CEO Caitlin Sly accepted the donation, sharing the effectiveness of the organization’s regional efforts that have resulted in more than 2.7 million meals being distributed to nearly 80,000 households a month.
Following her speech, Abrams sat down with former KPIX5 (CBS) news reporter and EBLC board member Ann Notarangelo for a Q&A session. During the conversation, Abrams discussed her 10 Steps Campaign, a nationwide effort she has undertaken to help Americans understand how authoritarian governments are formed and exactly what we can do to stop them.
Step by step
As she discussed in detail the 10 Steps to Autocracy and Authoritarianism, she touched on many points that relate to the current state of our nation. These included the “normalized state violence” by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers on display with the recent deaths of Renée Good and Alex Pretti in Minnesota, as well as the FBI’s raid of the Fulton County elections office in Georgia on Jan. 28, in which ballots and voter rolls from the 2020 presidential election, which President Donald Trump claims was rigged, were seized.
What the Trump administration has done, “through a combination of oppression, suppression and extortion, is reshape how we get information,” Abrams explained to Notarangelo. “And if there is no shared truth, there are no shared values.”
“Civil resistance is hard. There are consequences. Our job is to do risk assessment and figure out how much you can risk.”
Stacey Abrams
Abrams argued that this, along with the rest of the 10 Steps, causes people to lose hope in democracy, which hinders them from protesting and makes silence the norm. She then provided 10 Steps to Freedom and Power — a concise checklist for what Americans need to do to reclaim democracy. Abrams expressed the importance of organizing with one another, holding leaders accountable, and doing the work of disrupting, in whichever way works for you.
“Civil resistance is hard. There are consequences. Our job is to do risk assessment and figure out how much you can risk,” Abrams said. “But we all have to decide and then go an inch further. If it feels good, it’s not enough.”
In a private interview with Contra Costa Youth Journalism, Abrams described herself as a professional troublemaker. And when asked what business leaders can do alongside lawmakers to address national issues at a regional level, she shared her mantra: “Be curious, solve problems and do good,” Abrams said. “Because if we can do good in a way that helps us solve this problem for us, it’s probably solving it for someone else.”
Chioma Onyema is a 10th grader at California High School in San Ramon and a CCYJ reporter. This story originally appeared in CCSpin.