A.G. Gancarski
Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum, a Democratic candidate for Governor, spoke in St. Augustine Saturday about the importance of the vote of black women — and the importance of “allyship.”
Engaged turnout among black women was seen as a contributing factor to the Democrats taking a U.S. Senate seat in Alabama last year; to that end, Gillum and other Democrats believe that the model can be replicated even in a campaign not involving Roy Moore as the GOP standard bearer.
Gillum, who just got back to Florida after a red-eye flight from a California fundraiser, noted that while black women are the pillar of the black community, they “can’t save this Republic alone.”
The full power of the Democratic Party must back them, Gillum said.
Gillum extolled education as a way out of “intergenerational poverty,” describing how even guidance counselors and lunch room ladies “stood in the gap on behalf of many of us,” helping to “build strong communities.”
Gillum noted that his mother was “doing things to ensure we got by,” a reality that sometimes precluded thinking about big picture political concepts.
The lines elicited applause.
Gillum’s remarks kicking off a panel moderated by Congressional District 5 candidate Rontel Batie and House District 13 Democratic hopeful Roshanda Jackson were brief, but crowdpleasing.
Gillum noted, per women’s issues, it’s “important to be a good ally as a man,” especially given the “me too” moment.
“We have sat quietly and sometimes complictly in certain rooms,” said Gillum, “and we need to be good allies” on issues like “equal pay for equal work.”
“When you’re in positions where you’re hiring and determining certain salary levels,” said Gillum, it’s important to provide “allyship.”
“We have to expand our own definitions of allyship,” Gillum said. “It’s not enough to sit in the cheap seats. We also have to get in the field, get in the fight. If we’re in this thing and we’ve got each other’s backs, we need to speak up even when it doesn’t directly affect us.”
Gillum also extolled Medicaid expansion, noting that many “hard working people don’t earn enough to meet what their medical needs are.”
“How to make sure that health care is not treated as a privilege, but a right,” Gillum said, as an example of the “radical change that is necessary.”
An economic agenda must address the specific needs regarding black and women owned business, including equities in lending, contracting, and so on.
“The $88 million budget that was just passed … how much is spent on [these] businesses,” Gillum said, offering them “the opportunity to compete.”
Accountability from public officials, said Gillum, is key.
“When we demand more … they know people are not going to be satisfied with the status quo,” Gillum said, describing the “Malcolm/Martin analogy” — which was to say that if people in a previous era didn’t deal with Martin Luther King Jr., there were “other forces out there.”
Gillum took questions from the audience also, including one about the West Virginia teachers strike, in which he noted that Florida, as a “right to work” state has structural disadvantages for strikers; however, “teachers need to be paid what they are worth,” especially given that Florida teachers are in the bottom of the ranks of national pay.
“We have the nerve to call our teachers evil and say our kids attend ‘failure factories’ off the conditions our lawmakers have created,” Gillum said, describing an overextended group of professionals hamstrung by legislative mandates.
Gillum would like to see a starting salary of $50,000 for teachers.
“I’d like to create the condition where our teachers aren’t walking out, they’re walking on … we need to pay them what they’re worth,” Gillum said, speaking against the for-profit model as well as constant high-stakes testing.
Gillum will address another Northeast Florida crowd Monday, at the monthly general meeting of the Duval County Democrats.
