Moira Walsh podcast, Can We Fix It, joins Uprise RI
The time for reform has passed. The time for revolution is now.
November 2, 2020, 12:30 pm
By Steve Ahlquist
Moira Walsh may be finishing up her tenure as state representative from House District 3 in Providence, but she has no intention of quieting down. During her four years as a State Representative Walsh established herself as a fearless critic of Speaker of the House Nicholas Mattiello and the insider dealings at the Rhode Island General Assembly.
Shortly after she lost her re-election bid, Representative Walsh and I did an exit interview about her State House experiences. She held nothing back and the interview has been read by tens of thousands of Rhode Islanders.
Now Walsh is embarking on a new project, a podcast about local politics and activism called CAN we fix it, and today Uprise RI is proud to announce that CAN we fix it will be produced under our umbrella starting with the second episode.
Walsh describes CAN we fix it as “a leftist podcast that breaks down the local issues for folks NOT in the know. It’s designed to educate Rhode Islanders on the inner workings of their government in a way that’s fun, engaging, and accessible – and provides concrete next steps for folks looking to get involved. Collective action network, we fix it!”
Need a taste of what Walsh is like on her podcast? Download and listen to the first episode, where she talks with campaign manager Jason Roias about Rhode Island’s shadowy campaign operatives and how they work.
What does it mean to be a “leftist podcast?” Over the weekend, Walsh spoke at the Rally to Support Our Youth and Protest Police Brutality. Here’s the video and her words so you can get a real feel for where’s she at and what she believes:
“Democracy is a team sport, not every two years, not every four years. And as a soon to be former elected official, I will tell you – The people in this marble dome work for you. You are their bosses and as such your responsibilities do not stop on the day that you hire them. If your employees at the State House are not fulfilling job that you sent them there to do, I suggest that you start looking for their replacements now.
“Police accountability is something that should be a no-brainer. So we need to be contacting our city councilors who are in charge of the police budget and telling them that we no longer want our hard earned money to be poured into a corrupt system that criminalizes Black and brown skin. I don’t care if your moped is unregistered. I don’t care if you flip the cop the bird. I don’t care if you punch a kitten in the face, the sentence for those crimes is not a hospital stay. Period.
“I have had boyfriends and best friends arrested for selling the same marijuana that State House insiders now sell handcuff free. We have a system that is designed to keep Black and brown people oppressed and exhausted. Brooklyn is right. The time for reform has passed. The time for revolution is now.
“What we need to remember is that we are the leaders of this state, not the people in the marble dome behind me. We are the leaders of this state and as such we have a very serious responsibility. Police abolition requires that we no longer be apathetic to the plights of our neighbors. It requires that we white women don’t call the police on Black people for existing because it ‘makes us scared.’ It demands that we look at our neighbors who are struggling to feed their families and instead of looking at them with judgement in our eyes and hate in our hearts to help them in a way that is actually beneficial and not just performative.
“Protests are great. Protests are wonderful. Emailing your city councilors and holding them accountable is better. Running food drives to make sure that kids who aren’t getting free lunch during coronavirus can eat is better. It is good for us to be theoretically together on this. It is better for us to tangibly right the wrongs that have been committed against our Black and brown neighbors for far too long.
“The time is now, and nobody is going to do it but us. So instead of relinquishing responsibility to the employees that we hired, we need to be better bosses and take the initiative and make sure that our employees are doing what we sent them here to so.“
Uprise RI is entering the future with an eye towards being bigger and better. Adding Moira Walsh and her podcast was a natural fit or us.
Stay tuned.
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