Ep. 1 - Shevrin Jones, Florida State Senator

"Even after Nov. 3rd, we have to make sure that civic engagement is at the top of our list" - Shev Jones
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Shevrin Jones, candidate for Florida state senate in district 35
Twitter: @ShevrinJones
Instagram: @shevrinjones
(editor's note: Shev was a candidate for Florida State Senator at the time of this interview and has since been ELECTED!!!)
Why should I care about local representation? Don't we have bigger fish to fry?
The media focuses its attention - and therefore our attention - on a few national level offices like President and some Senate offices.
BUT!
Life happens at the local level! And the decisions made at the city, county, and state level have an ENORMOUS impact on our actual lives.
It's not just tax codes and jaywalking ordinances (not that those aren't exciting).
Housing discrimination gets encoded in city council meetings, and white supremacy is enforced by municipal police departments or county sheriffs.
By the same token, those laws, those rules, and those budgets can be unwritten and renegotiated in those same offices.
And the people who run for these offices are accessible! They live in your town, they get coffee from your favorite coffee spot. Sometimes they even check their own email!
And there is no shortage of awesome, inspiring people who are stepping up to run and occupy these offices, and to use their power to tear down oppressive structures and help make their communities more just, more equitable, and more compassionate.
We will never achieve justice at the national level until we can practice it at the local level.
We will never achieve equity at the national level until we can practice it at the local level.
What we have to work on is our imagination. We need to practice imagining what that society might look like if we practiced our values instead of believing them to be out of reach.
And we need role models of inspiration to activate our imaginations.
This podcast is on a quest to introduce you to these role models. They exist, right now, all over the country. They are regular people, but they are willing to exercise their imaginations and then do the work to make it real.
Before Shev joins the episode I spend a little time on a brief history of Florida's state level politics.
State level politics are local - until they are national.
Florida's state level politics are everybody's issue.
Enter Shev Jones.
Shev talks about what it means to be the first openly gay African-American member of the Florida state legislature - and what it doesn't mean.
He talks about what it is to be that person - and walk into local meetings of Florida Republicans. Because after all he represents them, too.
He talks about leading Bill Writing Workshops for his constituents, including one law he got passed that started with his constituents in one of the workshops.
He shares his workout tips (because I asked him - this guy has arms for days! Sorry not sorry)
And some tips for how to stay sane and stay grounded while s