For the second year in a row, CDD hosted an event, the future of speech online, with the Charles Koch Institute and the freedom freedom forum institute. Our new partner in the event was one a with Joshua Johnson, which is produced by WAMU and NPR. I highly recommend listening to the show. Joshua himself led the final session at the future of speech online, where we asked speakers to give a lightning talk on what the future holds for online speakers, speakers, especially those in their communities. In this episode, you get to hear four of those incredible talks. The first is from Joelle Jones, a delegate in the Michigan House of Representatives. Next up will be Nick Alder, the founder and editor in chief of Black Girl Fly magazine. She's followed by Maggie Mayhem, who is an advocate for sex workers' rights. And finally, Shannon Watts, the founder of Moms Demand Action. Each has powerful and compelling thoughts they share, and we were honored to have their voices included in our event. Enjoy.

Good afternoon, everyone. Woah. Woah. Alright. Let's try that again. Good afternoon, everyone. Good afternoon. So happy to be here. I just wanna thank, the Center of, Democracy and Technology for inviting me out. Thanks for you all being here. I was talking to Brandon before this, trying to debate if I want to read it off, you know, off the dome like the young people say. So I guess just remind me once I get done to look at my hand. These are my notes that I wanted to tell you all, but I'm gonna read the speech too so I can get some points across. But you know when I was first invited to speech, to speak here, I had to think about what I was gonna talk about. And so, I certainly didn't want anyone to think that I was an expert in technology. Like I was gonna explain, like, how my Snapchats converts to, like, bits and bytes and convert across the globe or how I got, like, my team back home sending me, jokes to tell you all. I wish I would send some better material, but, I don't have it. But one thing I can talk about because I have seen it firsthand is how technology, can inspire people and move them to action. But before I get started, I just want to share a little bit about myself. Like you said, I was raised, born and raised in Inkster, Michigan. It's right on the outskirts of Detroit. I graduated from well, not graduated. I have two courses left. Almost graduated. Optimistic. From the University of Michigan Dearborn with a degree in political science and business. I'm also a member of the army ROTC program, national guard, and auxiliary police officer. But it was only when I decided to run for, Inkster City Council back in 2015, that I first, felt that I really began to find my purpose. And so it was apparent that no one was really connecting, with people in my city in a way that I thought was really relevant to us, especially anyone that was my age. And so not long after that, I found out that it wasn't just an an Inkster, but it wasn't, like, the entire state of Michigan. And so I decided to take that up as my rallying cry. I think too many people were disengaged from the political process because they were feeling ignored. But it wasn't because people didn't care about what's going on around them. It was just because they felt, they were left behind, after years of being disenfranchised. And so I decided I couldn't stand by and watch this happen. So at 21, I ran for the Michigan legislature. I mean, in 2016, I defied the president, became the youngest one, in Michigan's history, but I didn't get there by myself. And so what brought me to the state capital was recognizing that the people of Michigan just wanted someone to listen to them. They wanted someone to talk to them in a way that was relevant, to what they thought about, and I think that's the key going forward. Recent studies have shown that 67 of all US adults get, a great amount of their, news from social media. And so that number has gone up exponentially in the last few years and is, slated to rise even higher. It's clear that this is a medium that people are becoming accustomed to, and they basically use it to get to know what's going on in the world around them. What's worrying about this, however, is that even though we have the greatest access to information all of human history, that social media platforms have become a breeding ground for disinformation campaigns. And so thoroughly researched and better articles, from respected news outlets are given the same weight as any random person with the Internet connection. So, social media treats both types of information as equal when they clearly are not. And so the question becomes, how do we break through the noise? With so much confusion and misinformation, being spread around at such rapid pace, How do we help people differentiate fact from fiction, particularly when they don't have the time to investigate, the news for themselves? So the answer to that is building trust, not appealing to authority. And so I hope people listen to me because they trust me to listen to them. This is perhaps important to communities of color than any other group in our society. Disenfranchisements of the rights of people of color dates back to the founding of our nation, and no one should forget that Jim Crow laws existed, throughout our country up until fairly recently in our history. Even after civil rights movements, modern day voter suppression and political gerrymandering, remains pervasive. And these tactics continue to disaport I gotta retain it on my feet. These tactics continue to disproportionately affect communities of color more than any other. And because of that, rebuilding trust in these communities is an enormous task. So no one expects that a single Facebook post alone, will convince these communities, particularly young people, that they do matter. But in a concerted effort, using platforms like Facebook and Instagram and Twitter, we are offered the means to which we can forge personal relationships with people in our community. This is how we can bring the political process back to the living room or to your iPad, and communities and give communities back their voice, that they've been lacking for years. And this is our duty and our obligation, and I remember to look at my hand. And so this is what I wanted to say, just after listening to everyone. You know, like, social media is, like, so great and so important these days. I think I mentioned it earlier that you can, you know, have a neighbor that you live right next door to, or communicate with people that lives thousands of miles away, you know, through a single click, through a single file or something like that. And so, you know, something I've always been fond of, is, you know, realizing that in junior community, there are no sides. So I, you know, I encourage all speech. But I also think it's important to realize that, you know, one of the most revolutionary things in the world we can do, which helps me in politics is getting to know our neighbors. And so, you know, when you meet people where they're at, this online offline communication, helps bolster all kinds of things that you would never imagine. So I think it's just important for us moving forward and to make sure that we're, fond of relationship building. Because whether or not you're online or offline, as long as we're building, you know, meaningful relationships throughout the process, this is how this the conversation, becomes inclusive and diverse, and it's actually conducive, to our collective growth. And so no, you know, community, whether you believe in one thing or believe in, something else whether, you know, black, white, Democrat, Republican, all these different things, we can eventually come together, read some sort of compromise, at the end of the day. So just, you know, love your neighbor. So it's in the bible, so you should trust it. But that's it for me. Thank you.

Thank you for having me here today. I really appreciate it. I'm here because of social media. I was a stay at home mom of five kids in a suburb of Indiana when Sandy Hook happened. And that day, I decided I would get on Facebook and have a conversation about the impact of gun violence on children, in particular, in this country with other women, with other mothers. Now keep in mind, I only had 75 Facebook friends at the time. I was not a social media phenom. I did not even have a Twitter handle. But because of the power of social media, within hours, I was connected to other like minded, mostly women across the country who decided, like me, that it was time to get off the sidelines. And here we are six years later. It'll be six years next week that Sandy Hook happened. We now have 5,000,000 followers, a chapter in every single state of the country. We have hundreds of thousands of active volunteers like me. We've stopped thousands of bad NRA supported bills, and we've supported and passed hundreds of bills that are strong good gun laws. For example, we've passed laws in 28 states to disarm domestic abusers. That all started on Facebook. And so when I think about social media and activism, I think a lot about our volunteers in small Southern and Midwestern towns where talking about gun violence prevention isn't super acceptable. And these are women who may not have Twitter accounts, that maybe only are on Facebook to share pictures of their kids or have conversations with friends and family, and suddenly something horrific happens in their community. A gun suicide or a gun homicide or they read about something on the news and they decide they want to get off the sidelines. And they feel compelled to prevent yet another community from experiencing this devastation. And that can be really intimidating, especially if you need to step up and use your real name and talk about this issue on the news. But the other great thing about social media, in addition to getting people off the sidelines, is to connect them with one another. So if you are a new volunteer in rural Alabama, you can immediately connect, for example, on Facebook, with a volunteer in Lubbock, Texas and learn about how she is successfully tackling gun violence in a red state where she lives. So social media for all its faults is also a great connector and it's how we built our community across the country and let others know they're not alone in their fight. We keep each other updated about what's going on on Facebook, update them about advocacy days that are gonna happen at state houses. We use hashtags on Twitter to put pressure on companies and lawmakers and influencers to change their gun policies. We have connected more than 24,000 supporters about events that mark National Gun Violence Awareness Day every year in June. And we also use a texting tool called Hustle. You know, I was in, Las Vegas right before the election doing election work, and I was walking along with all these type a women as we were knocking doors, and they were using their phones to hustle thousands of people to educate them about different candidates and gun bill initiatives while we were knocking doors. So it's an amazing tool to be able to multitask. But there's also this darker side of social media, and really we can't talk about the future of online activism without talking about that darker side. We live in a country where 300,000 hate crimes occur every year, many of which involve guns. In fact, the FBI recently announced that in 2017, there were more than 7,000 hate crimes reported nationwide, a 17% increase since 2016. And, look, every nation is home to racists and bigots and misogynists who hate people and want to attack them, but only America gives those people easy access to arsenals and ammunition. Tragically, we saw this play out in Michigan in this last fall, how online platforms can coddle white supremacists, and then we, in turn, give them easy access to guns. And that enables these people to destroy lives and communities, like after 11 were killed, after during their worship in a cinnabar. And hate is also directed at the those of us who remain refuse to remain silent on this issue. Our volunteers, including myself, have received rape and death threats online and offline since we got involved in this activism. We've had armed gun extremists show up at our events with loaded guns even when children are present. And at one event in Kentucky a couple of years ago, nearly a dozen men walked in with their firearms and just sat in the front row to try to intimidate and silence our volunteers as we talked about as something as simple as just wanting a background check on every gun sale. And even the NRA has gotten in on this misogyny going as far as publishing articles that question whether I can call myself a mom because I once had a career. So trolling isn't just a matter of sharing a difference of opinion. It's a political tool that is used by racists and misogynists and bigots to wage wars against the most vulnerable Americans. It's used to shut us up and shut us down so that we become a silent majority. But we will not shut up, and we will not allow a disgruntled few to disrupt the work being done by gun safety advocates, feminists, disability rights activists, and so many others working so hard in this country. What does it say about us as a society that women and people of color cannot stand up for themselves without being hit by a barrage of threatening online threats? So that is why we are working to center protecting online communicated communities that are dedicated to saving and enriching lives. Harassment cannot and should not have a place in our online spaces. This isn't the world we want to live in. It's not the world we want our children to inherit. But, ultimately, we know that if we lose our children, we have nothing left to lose. So that is why we stand up bravely online and offline to fight for this issue. I would urge all of you here today to join us, and you can do that by joining your local chapter of Moms Demand Action. It's not just moms, we call it Mothers and Others. And if you have your phones, you can text the word ready to 64433 to become a part of our organization. It's also another really handy social media tool. But ultimately, you know, we cannot allow the the cowardice of a few to jeopardize the the the possibilities of all that we can accomplish using online tools, but also making sure that we're acting offline. The future and the future of our children depends on it. Thank you so much.

I love those talks so much and hope you did as well. You can watch videos of their talks and also find talks from the other great future of speech speakers on CDT's YouTube channel. Check them out. And we hope you'll join us for the 2019 future of speech online, which date TBD, but watch for it. That's it for this episode of tech talk. I'm Ryan Waslowski. Thanks for listening.