(upbeat music) - "A Slice of the Community" is made possible by the support of the First Horizon Foundation.

Hello and welcome to another episode of "A Slice of the Community."

I'm your host, Jerome Moore, and today we are joined by Co-founder and CEO of the Equity Alliance, Tequila Johnson.

How you doing, Tequila?

- I'm doing well.

How about you?

- I'm doing good.

Welcome.

- Thank you.

- We've been talking about doing this and you here.

- We here.

(both laughing) - I want to get straight into it.

You are a co-founder and CEO of the Equity Alliance, a Black woman led political organization here.

A state organization as well.

- Statewide.

- Statewide organization.

I really wanted to focus this conversation around women and Black women leading these types of organizations.

So the first question I have for you is, what are some unique challenges, but also opportunities, you know, leading a political organization as a woman and more specifically as a Black woman?

- That's a loaded question, Jerome.

I like to tell people we are a power building organization, and what makes power building different from just being a political organization is we recognize that passing policies, getting people to vote, is only a portion of what's needed to change our communities.

Power building is rooted in empowerment.

It's giving people who are directly impacted by policies an opportunity to recognize the voice that they have in the decision making process.

We do that through education.

We do that through several things.

The main thing, and what I like to say is, the Big Mac sauce for the Equity Alliance is cultural relevancy and authenticity.

- [Jerome] Okay.

- That is also a challenge because as the CEO, as a CEO of a nonprofit organization, sometimes I have to wear multiple hats.

I'm the community organizer, I'm also the head fundraiser, I'm the lead strategist, I'm the communications manager at times, so on and so forth.

And so I have to transcend between personalities.

And being able to be authentically Black in a city like Nashville where we say we're welcoming, but if you look around the city, there's not too many authentically Black culturally relevant spaces for us, right?

Even if you look at Jefferson Street and Buchanan, those areas are probably the most underinvested in areas as it relates to the city.

And so I would say that's a opportunity because as the Equity Alliance, as the leader, I'm able to model what authenticity looks like.

I'm able to show up and engage people around true Black culture.

What does it mean to be a Black woman unapologetically and stand in that light no matter if I'm in the boardroom or if I'm on the streets talking to everyday people?

So the challenge, being able to show up wholly, fully, and authentically, and not have that used against me, you know, have me characterized as this or that.

But the challenge and the opportunity in that challenge is I get to model that.

I get to break the ice for what it really means to be a Black woman, a Black woman leader, a Black woman CEO, and a Black woman who is wanting to change the fabric of our community.

- Can we unpack that intersectionality, like race and gender, right?

When you talk about leadership, some people, some men, may have a problem with taking direction or taking leadership direction from a woman and more probably specifically a Black woman.

How do you navigate that in your leadership style?

And like, what do you see in that and how do you navigate that and like, kind of, especially in the state of Tennessee, whether it's at the legislative or at the boardrooms?

Like what do you see in that navigation?

- It's so funny that you say that because before I got here, I was actually on a call and it was with someone who's doing some brand coaching for me.

And she identified, you know, your personality since I've been getting to know you is not your brand.

Your brand comes off strong, assertive, and you're really just this nurturing, laid back, kind of fun person.

And, you know, I had to tell her that part of showing up as a leader is being able to recognize when you need to lead strong and when you need to lead softly.

And I think in terms of Black men, I have not personally experienced too much pushback from Black men respecting my leadership.

But I do think in general, there is this narrative around what it means to be feminine and what it means to be masculine.

And when men, in particular Black men in leadership feel like their masculinity is in check, they can sometimes push back.

But I like to reference history, right?

Because we have things we can point to that shows times where Cleopatra, Andromeda, Nefertiti, there were women who led and they led with fierceness.

They led strongly, and they led for countries and just empires.

And I oftentimes have to tell people, you don't go to your granddaddy house, you go to your grandmama house, because whether it's on social media or it's being put in your face or not, women, Black women in particular have always had to be the ones leading in a lot of positions.

And so femininity is not just rooted in this docile softness, femininity is also fierce, femininity is also assertive, femininity is also strong.

You got to be strong to have a baby.

- Right, yeah.

You mentioned the word like recognized, recognition, right?

Which I think I've seen a lot of women, especially Black women here in Nashville, feel like they're not getting the recognition of their work or their voices around social or movement work in general.

You know, we just passed the anniversary of the march on Washington in 1963, it was August 28th.

And they had, after the march, a meeting led by Dorothy Height, right?

A civil rights activist legend.

And as you mentioned, you had told me before a delta, right?

Right?

And also women's activist, right?

And they brought up the whole thing.

There was a intentional part, critical part to the march on Washington, but their voices wasn't recognized.

They didn't have a political, or I would just say, front row audience of their contribution to the march.

What are your thoughts on, do you feel like you're being recognized in the right proper way that you should be with the work you've done and the work you're doing?

And how can we, people in general, men in general, Black men, be more supportive of recognizing women and Black women in this movement work?

- I feel as though things have changed and they are getting better.

But I also think that sometimes, we don't recognize the movement until the milestone is passed.

What do I mean by that?

There wasn't a whole bunch of awards for Martin Luther King Jr. when he was walking the earth.

There were not a lot of awards and recognition for Malcolm X.

There were not a lot of awards and recognition for Fannie Lou Hamer.

Sometimes we don't see things until we see them in retrospect.

So I do say, for me, I am very intentional to try and look at and observe the present.

I believe the present is a gift and if we don't look at what's happening in present time, We are going to overlook those Malcolm Xs, Martin Luther Kings, Dorothy Heights, and those people walking the earth.

For me, I feel like I have gotten recognition, but I do feel like at a point that I'm at now where I am transitioning from being seen as a community activist to being seen as a leader, sometimes in Nashville, in spaces in Tennessee, people don't grow with you, right?

So you have to go through, I'm not 40 yet.

I'm still very young in this space.

A lot of my peers are 10, 15 years older than me.

And so there was a point in time where I led one way, and I've grown, I've learned, I've evolved.

And now that I'm turning that corner, what I recognize is people like familiarity and they want to keep you where you are.

So I think we have a lot of Black women that started off really, really young doing organizing work and they've made mistakes, they've made some gains, they've gotten some amazing things done.

But the city, the state has not grown with them, right?

Like, we like to categorize and compartmentalize people.

And once people label you as a disruptor or an activist or this is a person who works with the business community or this is a person who does that, you are always kind of held in that light.

And so the recognition never comes the way that it needs to come because I don't think people are actually looking at the holistic totality of the work that several Black women in Nashville are doing.

- You have a button on, bet on Black women, right?

- Yeah.

- You got to bet on Black women, right?

- You got to.

- Zoom in on that.

(laughs) What distinguishes the leadership of Black women when they are put into leadership, when they are a part of this movement work, when they are doing activism and creating change and doing community power building work, what distinguishes their role in that from other genders, other races that you see that's just a different imprint when Black women are involved?

- So I will say, some of the best organizing I've done is when I've been able to be in partnership with a Black man.

So I do want to highlight that, that when we are able to find Black men who are willing to one, sacrifice and take a pay cut, because this work don't pay like that, who aren't trying to run for office, who aren't trying to go to the next big thing, when we find Black men who are committed to the movement, it is a very powerful, a very changing and life altering experience.

But I do think that Nikki Giovanni said it best, "If you give us rotten peaches, we'll make peach cobbler."

And that is my experience with Black women.

I've worked with White women, I've worked with Asian women, I've worked with Latino women, I've worked with all races of women.

And the thing that distinguishes Black women is we have a by any means necessary mindset.

And you know that because you was raised by a Black woman.

- [Jerome] That's true.

- That no matter what life throws us, and it's not fair, and I hate to paint us as superwoman because we're not.

We deserve support.

We deserve the resources.

But Black women, even in spaces where we have been given minimal, we have quadrupled the return.

And so the investment in Black women is low, has always been low, but the return has always exceeded expectations.

- Right.

When you talk about this superwoman kind of thing that like always be strong, Black women are strong, Black women are strong, but you know, just depending and making sure like, hey, like they can take everything.

They don't need a break.

They don't, you know, they can do it because they've done it since the beginning of time, right?

How do you sustain yourself, right?

How do you stay passionate?

How do you have that balance of being a leader, being just a human being, being a mother, being a friend?

How do you sustain that and also stay passionate about the work?

- So let me say this.

I am strong.

I am very strong.

I can take 10 times more than the average person.

And I had to settle with the fact that, oh, you know, there was this movement around soft life, soft life.

And I was over here doing all this stuff like, I'm trying to have a soft life.

And then I realized that I do have a soft life, but that does not negate my strength.

That does not mean I'm not a warrior.

That does not mean I'm not a fighter.

And I can be all those things.

And so I say that to say I have had to give myself permission to not be that just because I can.

Just because I can carry it, don't mean it ain't heavy.

Just because I can lift it, don't mean I don't want help.

And so being strong is something that's innate.

It's the way I was raised.

But recognizing that just because I'm strong, just because I can do it, doesn't mean that I should have to.

So that's the first thing.

The second thing is I have realized that I get burned out when I'm trying to force myself into something.

If I'm trying to force a seat at a table, if I'm trying to force myself into a box, if I'm trying to force people to like me or force people to understand me, I quit using all of the energy, you know, that it takes to be forceful, and I started standing and grounding myself in who I was and my self identity and allowing myself to receive things.

And that is what really helped my creativity flow a little bit better because the more I'm applying pressure, right?

You think about what it does to your body and your nervous system when you're applying pressure, when you're constantly trying to be seen, constantly trying to take up space and be heard, your jaws are clenched, your shoulders are up, your fists are balled.

You are exerting energy that is causing you to probably be anxious and stressed.

But when you stand grounded, knowing that you're going to face pressure, knowing that hard things are going to come your way, but you know that you can withstand that pressure because you have a goal in mind, it's easier to be creative, it's easier to flow, it's easier to be passionate about the work when you are not allowing the frustrations and the pressure to drive you, yet you are, you know, in control.

So that's one of the things that I've done.

And I do that through gardening, being outside in nature, working out, having a therapist, having friends who I can talk to.

The other thing I had to do was stop letting the work define my circle.

- Mm.

Break that down.

What do you mean by that?

- You know, Jerome, you are a communications interview news person.

Imagine if you felt like I need to surround myself with people who only agree with me because this is the way I'm going to get the work done.

No, I had to start surrounding myself around people who not just reflected my professional aspirations for community engagement, but also people who, you know, express my party aspirations.

People who want to go listen to music with me.

- Right, want to turn up with you.

- Other moms, other single moms who want to go do play dates.

I had to craft my circle around my life and not just my work.

- Yeah.

I think that's a big thing too because that can be, especially in a city like Nashville, but I think it even gets even smaller, right?

When you talk about Black folks and the idea that maybe, or the fearful idea that, oh, maybe my Blackness would be questioned if I don't agree with particular Black people.

And I want to stay right there with that especially in organizing work, right?

Being able to work myself and doing it for so long that that can kind of play with you mentally and you got to have a kind of I don't care kind of mentality.

How does that look and play out in your role as a leader and as a CEO of a organization that is heavily rooted in a community power building politically in activism, information, engagement, when like, you know you going to be probably having a minority opinion on something compared to other Black folks.

How do you wrestle with that and what advice would you give people that maybe have to play against those two kind of dichotomies?

- Yeah.

I mean, it's so crazy that you say that because when we started back in 2016, our idea of what we wanted to do was so different.

And so people always have these ideas that they like to deem radical or this or that.

And I like to tell people there is a spectrum, right?

Like everything else, people aren't radicalized in the same way.

Some people want this, some people want our way over there, some people want all way over here.

But as a organizer, right, your role is to bring people together and move them to action.

If you are only talking to people who agree with you, you are not building a movement, you're building a cult.

- Right.

A clique.

- A cult, a clique.

If you are only able to identify with people who are in 100% agreement with you, that is not movement building.

If you are not able to build coalition across several thoughts, across several races, several classes, several socioeconomic statuses, several political parties, you are not moving nothing but your mouth.

And so when people approach me with that, I have my goal in mind.

Remember what I said about standing firm under pressure, people are always going to find something to disagree with.

That's part of being in leadership.

My advice to anyone, if you are getting in any kind of leadership role, be prepared for people to challenge you and be prepared for people to disagree with you.

Be prepared for people to talk about you.

- How do you, in a city like Nashville, we're cool, right?

We've been working together on certain many things or whatever, right?

- You got to say it, Jerome.

- I'm going to say, I'm setting up the scenario, right?

We've been working on, you know, different political things together, different community power building things together, right?

And you take a position that, you know, I don't feel I agree with.

Now, I feel like I personal relationship is fractured, which I think happens a lot here in Nashville.

People take a disagreeance and then feel like, "Oh, well we can't now be in proximity or hold any type of relationship."

What do you say to those type of situation scenarios that people say, "Hey, I can't be cool with you because I disagree with you," which I know for sure happens a lot in organizing spaces?

And when you talk about a micro level, organizing in the Black community?

- Yeah.

Now, if the disagreement that I have with you is rooted in my oppression, that's a different thing.

That's not a political disagreement, that is a character, an integrity disagreement.

However, I know that there are a lot of people who disagree with a lot of the stances that I take.

And how I prevent that is I never take a stance that is not people centered and data driven.

You can come at me about a stance that I take.

You can come at me about where I stand on something and I can always pull a list of people that I have personally had my organizers peer-to-peer go talk to, to say, "The people don't agree with you."

So either you need to do two things.

You need to check your ego and what you want, or you need to go talk to the people and educate them on what you think they need.

Because right now, this is what they are saying and this is why I'm moving this way.

I always move that way because there's something about numbers.

You know what I'm saying?

When I can point to numbers and I can point to actual data, you can't challenge that.

You can challenge that with your theory all you want, but that data is going to show something different.

- What does the future of political organizations look like if women or Black women are not involved?

- I don't think there is no political organizing without Black women.

Black women have been the glue that have held several movements together.

Whether that's out front or behind the scenes, from the Civil Rights movement to the Black Panther movement, you name it.

Black women have always been the glue that holds people together.

I think what's happening now is for generations, for centuries, for decades, Black women, women in general, not just Black women, women have been forced to lead from the backseat.

Now, things are shifting and women are giving driver's seats.

Women are being given front seat roles and the world is having to adapt to what does it mean to share leadership with women?

In particular, what does it mean to share leadership with Black women, but the world got to get out of that mustard and catch up, baby, because we here.

- What do you say to people who disagree with that?

Like, what do you say to people who don't want to move out the way because of Tequila Johnson is coming, and just base purely on race and gender?

- If you don't, where's the camera?

Is it right here?

If you don't want to get out of the way because I'm coming, I hope you got your seatbelt on, I hope you got insurance because I'm going to maul over you.

- What has your experience been like in Tennessee, especially statewide, when it comes to just working with the Tennessee legislator in that kind of gender and race kind of intersection and how you've been, you know, received or not received?

- Let me tell you something, Jerome.

I check off all the boxes that say you don't deserve to say nothing or you're not valued.

I am chubby, I'm curvy, I'm dark-skinned, I have short hair, I am assertive, I am a single mom, I come from the housing projects.

Everything about my profile says, "You are not valued."

And I had to really, really fight and really be intentional to make sure that my voice, my work and how I show up is not only received well, but valued.

And I think that is what we see happening in Tennessee.

You know, there's this light that has always shined on particular people and that light is shined on them mostly because of how they look.

Secondly, because they can gather the White gaze.

See, I don't mind saying things that White liberals find offense to.

I'll go in East Nashville and tell them, "Yeah, you got a Black Lives Matter sign in your yard, but this was somebody's grandma's house."

Black lives matter, but Black land don't.

And those types of things don't get you the level of attention that, you know, that I probably deserve or that is needed to push the movement forward.

My issue has never been working with Republicans.

Let me tell you something.

I'm a White Republican whisperer.

I probably look like the old Black lady that took care of them.

I've not had outside of the crazy things that they say, right?

But we expect them to do that.

We expect them to say crazy stuff.

We expect them to be up there doing crazy things because that's just what they have shown us.

We can't expect, you know, somebody, my mama used to say, if somebody show you who they are and you keep expecting different, that is the definition of insanity.

So they done already showed us who they are.

- [Jerome] Right.

Exactly.

- But in terms of, at the moment, the issues that I have in the legislator are with Democrats.

And they're with Democrats because I say this and I have worked to help get a lot of people elected, but once people get elected, they never stop campaigning.

And the issue with that is it becomes less about the work, less about the people, and more about the credit.

And so you have a bunch of people who probably have good intentions, they probably mean well fighting for the spotlight.

And who gets hit when you got all the people who we've elected as leaders fighting for the spotlight?

- People want to be celebrities.

- The people, everybody want to be a celebrity.

Everybody want to be on MSNBC.

Everybody want to be on CNN.

Everybody want they name on the plaque, everybody want to have pictures with Kamala.

Nobody wants to be down here talking to the mom who can't feed her kids.

They'll talk about her, but barely will they talk to her.

- As voting citizens, how do you filter those things before you elect somebody?

Or you just don't know until you know?

- You don't know, until you know.

However, what I think the movement in Tennessee, because there's going to come a time when we're going to be able to pass progressive policies, whether that be, you know, reversing what the state did to community oversight board, whether that be legalizing marijuana, we are going to be able to pass progressive policies based on the work that the equity alliance and our coalition partners are doing to break up the state super majority.

We've been doing it for the last six years.

People are now like, a lot of the elected officials are now like, "Oh, we got to break up the..." We've been doing that.

We've been registering voters, we've been doing it without the Democratic party being involved, we're going to continue to do it.

But I think what we have to do is we can't expect for elected officials to be on the ground, being activists, doing the work because when they get in that house or that senate, they are a part of a general assembly and they have to work with their colleagues who they don't agree with to get things done.

We need to be responsible for telling them what we want done because they'll get up there and change a bunch of street names and issue a bunch of proclamations, and yeah, we like that.

We want streets named after our heroes, we want proclamations for our events, but we also want Medicare for all.

- [Jerome] Some tangibles.

- You know what I'm saying?

We want some stuff we can take to the bank.

- Right, right.

- We as a people, everybody who votes, it's not enough to just go cast your vote and get a person elected.

No.

Once you get them elected, the real work starts.

Now it's time to be up there showing them that you're going to hold them accountable to pass the policies that they put on their platform.

If we pulled up every elected official's platform of what they said they wanted to do and then compared it to what they actually did and graded them, I don't think anybody would get a C. - I got 45 seconds left for you.

So I'm going to give you, you got to unpack this.

What do you say to the young woman that is watching that wants to get in movement work?

And what can we expect next from you in the Equity Alliance?

- Okay, I'll make it quick.

If you want to get in movement work, a great place to start is the Equity Alliance's Liberty Collective.

It is a eight week course.

We walk you through every aspect of movement from running to office to sitting on a board or a commission.

And it's a popular education style.

So you're learning from your peers while experiencing the work in real time.

What you can expect next from the Equity Alliance, the Equity Alliance has grown.

We are almost at 250 people on staff.

We are running the largest ground game in the state out of everybody, including the candidates.

So you can expect for us to just keep doubling down and you can expect for us to start putting out some reports around how these candidates that we endorse and tell you to go vote for are actually performing.

- Tequila, I appreciate your time.

Thank you for all the work that you do.

And thank you all for watching another episode of "A Slice of the Community."

See y'all next time.

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