Let's Give A Damn

Michael Wear is a friend and fellow damn-giver. He believes politics is a forum for loving your neighbor. And that's exactly why he joins us on the show today — to help us be hopeful, to share that hope, and to love out neighbor well.

From Michael’s website: Michael Wear is a leading strategist, speaker and practitioner at the intersection of faith, politics and public life. He has advised a president, as well as some of the nation’s leading foundations, non-profits and public leaders, on some of the thorniest issues and exciting opportunities that define American life today. He has argued that the spiritual health and civic character of individuals is deeply tied to the state of our politics and public affairs. 

As one of President Obama’s “ambassadors to America’s believers” (Buzzfeed), Michael directed faith outreach for President Obama’s historic 2012 re-election campaign. Michael was also one of the youngest White House staffers in modern American history: he served in the White House faith-based initiative during President Obama’s first term, where he led evangelical outreach and helped manage The White House’s engagement on religious and values issues, including adoption and anti-human trafficking efforts.

Today, Michael serves as Chief Strategist and member of the executive team for the AND Campaign. Michael is also the founder of Public Square Strategies LLC, a sought-after firm that helps religious organizations, political organizations, businesses and others effectively navigate the rapidly changing American religious and political landscape.

Michael is the author of Reclaiming Hope: Lessons Learned in the Obama White House About the Future of Faith in America. In 2020, Michael was the co-author of a major report on “Christianity, Pluralism and Public Life in the United States” that was supported by Democracy Fund. He also writes for The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, Catapult Magazine, Christianity Today and other publications on faith, politics and culture. Michael is a Senior Fellow at The Trinity Forum, and he holds an honorary position at the University of Birmingham’s Cadbury Center for the Public Understanding of Religion. Michael and his wife, Melissa, are both proud natives of Buffalo, New York. They now reside in Northern Virginia, where they are raising their beloved daughter, Saoirse. 

Lastly, follow Michael on Twitter! He helps me stay focused on a daily basis. 

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Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! If you love what we're doing, consider supporting us on Patreon! We can't do this without you. Lastly, leave us a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts! Have an amazing week, friends! Keep giving a damn. Love y’all!

Sarah Mardini is a Syrian refugee. In 2015, she left Syria with her sister, Yusra, to seek a better life in Europe. A couple of years later, Sarah was arrested on several false charges. What was the real reason they arrested her? For helping refugees at Moria Refugee Camp on the island of Lesvos in Greece. If charged, she could face 25 years in prison. Sarah gives so many damns!

During our chat, we talked about her upbringing in Syria, her love for swimming, how and why she was arrested, and so much more.

- Watch "How I was arrested for handing out blankets to refugees” — Sarah’s first TEDx talk.

- Watch “Shore Talk” — Sarah’s second TEDx talk.

- Follow Sarah on Instagram.

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Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! If you love what we're doing, consider supporting us on Patreon! We can't do this without you. Lastly, leave us a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts! Have an amazing week, friends! Keep giving a damn. Love y’all!

Kristen Howerton is amazing! From her website: Kristen Howerton is a licensed marriage and family therapist and the mother of four children within four years via birth and adoption. She is the founder of the blog Rage Against the Minivan where, in the midst of writing about the raw emotions and experience of motherhood, she has become a fierce advocate for social justice.

 It was an absolute joy to chat with Kristen about parenting, divorce, raising black and white kids, parenting during a global pandemic, her new book, and so much more.

Follow Kristen on Instagram and Twitter.Visit her website for more information on her book, podcast, and counseling services.

Oh, and buy her book! It’s well-written and funny as hell.

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Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! If you love what we're doing, consider supporting us on Patreon! We can't do this without you. Lastly, leave us a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts! Have an amazing week, friends! Keep giving a damn. Love y’all!

Phil Vischer is an animator, puppeteer, writer, voice actor, entrepreneur, and podcast host who created the computer-animated cartoon series VeggieTales – one of the most successful cartoons of all-time. After the horrific public lynching of George Floyd in Minneapolis, Phil put together and released a 17-minute video called Race In America. In it, he outlines the history of racism in our country and he points out that systemic racism is still alive and well today. It went viral! As of right now, it has 1.2M views on Youtube and 5.5M views on Facebook. Even Queen Viola Davis shared it on her Instagram! The other day, he released a follow-up video on Youtube and Facebook where he answers the top questions he had received since the first video went viral.

Phil and I also briefly discuss why he still identifies as Evangelical when white Evangelicals make up the majority of Trump Supporters out there. I liked his answer!

Follow Phil on Twitter and Instagram. And make sure two watch Parts 1 and 2 of his amazing videos on race in America.

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Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! If you love what we're doing, consider supporting us on Patreon! We can't do this without you. Lastly, leave us a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts! Have an amazing week, friends! Keep giving a damn. Love y’all!

Alex Vitale is my guest on the podcast this week! What a pleasure. From his website: Alex is Professor of Sociology and Coordinator of the Policing and Social Justice Project at Brooklyn College and a Visiting Professor at London Southbank University. He has spent the last 30 years writing about policing and consults both police departments and human rights organizations internationally. Prof. Vitale is the author of City of Disorder: How the Quality of Life Campaign Transformed New York Politics and The End of Policing. His academic writings on policing have appeared in Policing and Society, Police Practice and Research, Mobilization, and Contemporary Sociology. He is also a frequent essayist, whose writings have appeared in The NY Times, Washington Post, The Guardian, The Nation, Vice News, Fortune, and USA Today.

Now, I know this is a hot topic right now. This conversation makes some people very angry. You have cops in your family. Or maybe you’re a cop. I just want to be the first to tell you that this conversation is not the end all conversation on this matter. BUT don’t write it off before you do the research and study. Buy Alex’s book There are other brilliant resources and lectures out there that I’ll link to in the show notes. If your response to this is simply, “Well, we can’t not have police. That’s stupid. What about all the bad guys?” then please take a deep breath and start studying and researching because this is a complex issue with only complex, nuanced answers. It’s not easy but it is worth checking out if we truly want a country that is for all people and a country that wants life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for everyone. 

Please check out his website. It’s a goldmine of resources! On it, you’ll find television appearances, review of his book, essays, radio appearances, news coverage of his work, and so much more. I promise you, you could spend DAYS on his website. And this is an important topic. So, why not spend some time learning about this important topic?

Remember, [email protected] for anything at all. Love y'all.

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Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! If you love what we're doing, consider supporting us on Patreon! We can't do this without you. Lastly, leave us a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts! Have an amazing week, friends! Keep giving a damn. Love y’all!

Mark Charles, a dual citizen of the United States and the Navajo Nation, is running as an Independent Candidate for President of the United States to build a nation where We The People truly means All The People. Mark’s 100-day plan includes striking the racist, sexist and white supremacist language from the Constitution, truly abolishing slavery, and adding the words “Value Life” to the constitution so that the constitution would read like this: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, value life, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

Honestly, Mark Charles blew me away. He is authentic, honest, and humble. Just the kind of leader we need. I know and he knows that his campaign is a long-shot. Maybe someday, however, independent candidates will be taken more seriously because we need more leaders like Mark in Washington. 

To support Mark’s campaign in a variety of ways, visit MarkCharles2020.com. 

Take 8-minutes to watch his Presidential candidacy announcement video. It’s amazing!

Buy his book, Unsettling Truths: The Ongoing, Dehumanizing Legacy of the Doctrine of Discovery. It’s fantastic.

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Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! If you love what we're doing, consider supporting us on Patreon! We can't do this without you. Lastly, leave us a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts! Have an amazing week, friends! Keep giving a damn. Love y’all!

Rob Scheer is my friend and the founder of Comfort Cases. They exist to "inspire communities to bring dignity and hope youth in foster care.” Every single day, Rob and his team aim to love and care for the 440k children in foster care. Over the past several years, they have given out over 100,000 cases to children who will hopefully never have to use a trash bag for their belongings ever again. 

Rob was raised in an abusive home and was placed in the broken foster care system as a child. Sadly, the foster care system hasn’t improved much since Rob was a young boy. His story of resilience, bravery, and perseverance will inspire you in a hundred different ways. Guaranteed!

A few links you should click on and check out:

- Watch Rob (and other dads like Will Smith, Judd Apatow, Jimmy Kimmel, Conan O’Brien) in the recent Apple TV documentary Dads. 

- Read Rob’s CNN Hero piece on CNN. 

- Watch Rob’s TEDx talk.

- Buy and read Rob’s memoir A Forever Family: Fostering Change One Child at a Time.

- Hear Rob’s story on Upworthy.

- Follow Rob on Instagram.

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Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! If you love what we're doing, consider supporting us on Patreon! We can't do this without you. Lastly, leave us a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts! Have an amazing week, friends! Keep giving a damn. Love y’all!

Reality Winner shared the truth about the Russians hacking in our 2016 Presidential election. Instead of praising her and calling her a hero, the powers that be put her in prison. She has been behind bars since 2017. Reality’s mother, Billie, joins me on the show today to talk about key parts of Reality’s upbringing, how and why she joined the Air Force, how and why she acted heroically by releasing top secret government information, and we spend quite a bit of time discussing her horrible situation in prison. 

There are quite a few moments during our chat where I thought about how hard it must be for Billie to talk about these things. I’m incredibly grateful for her time and for reliving this nightmare so that we can learn more Reality’s story and so that we can be motivated to do something about it. 

If you want to get involved, visit standwithreality.org. You’ll find multiple ways to help out immediately. 

Don’t forget to follow Billie Winner-Davis on Twitter!

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SPONSOR:

This episode of Let’s Give a Damn is brought to you by Red Kap — a fantastic company that makes workwear and uniforms. Not only is Red Kap a Nashville-based company — which I, of course, love because I live here right now — but they champion the men and women who are out there committed to making our communities thrive. Everything they make — from work shirts to coveralls — is crafted with purpose and on purpose. They’re a no BS company. What you see is what you get. And what you get is a group of people who genuinely give a damn about work, and a life, done right.

From now until July 31, you can get 20% off your first purchase at redkap.com with the promo code GIVEADAMN.

Here’s something cool! I worked with them last month to interview amazing damn-givers that are beautifully contributing to their communities during this global pandemic. See more of my From The Frontlines interviews at redkap.com/communuity.

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Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! Support us on Patreon! We can't do this without you. Lastly, leave us a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts! Have an amazing week, friends! Keep giving a damn. Love y’all!

Matthew Kincaid is an educator and activist who has been leading anti-racism workshops for over fourteen years.  Kincaid is the founder, CEO, and Chief Consulting Officer for Overcoming Racism an organization that works to develop culturally responsive schools and practitioners. Overcoming Racism works with schools and organizations providing intensive race and equity training, consulting and providing schools with the tools to address the reality of systemic racism both inside and outside of the classroom.

I was first introduced to Matthew through a video of his Black Solidarity Day speech entitled "The Harvest Is Plentiful But the Workers are Few" that he gave at Tufts University in 2009. You need to watch the entire thing!

Also, don’t forget to follow Overcoming Racism on Instagram.

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SPONSOR:

This episode of Let’s Give a Damn is brought to you by Red Kap — a fantastic company that makes workwear and uniforms. Not only is Red Kap a Nashville-based company — which I, of course, love because I live here right now — but they champion the men and women who are out there committed to making our communities thrive. Everything they make — from work shirts to coveralls — is crafted with purpose and on purpose. They’re a no BS company. What you see is what you get. And what you get is a group of people who genuinely give a damn about work, and a life, done right.

From now until July 31, you can get 20% off your first purchase at redkap.com with the promo code GIVEADAMN.

Here’s something cool! I worked with them last month to interview amazing damn-givers that are beautifully contributing to their communities during this global pandemic. See more of my From The Frontlines interviews at redkap.com/communuity.

___________________________________

Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! Support us on Patreon! We can't do this without you. Lastly, leave us a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts! Have an amazing week, friends! Keep giving a damn. Love y’all!

In this episode, Nick shares some thoughts about the two civil rights heroes we lost this past week and he gives us some challenges for the days ahead. 

C.T. Vivian was born July 30 1924 in Boonville, Missouri and died on July 17 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. He was 95 years old.

John Robert Lewis was born February 21 1940 in Tory, Alabama and died on July 17 2020 in Atlanta, Georgia. He was 80 years old. 

John Lewis always asked people to, "Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America.

”These two men were arrested, they were beaten with an inch of their lives, they walked with Dr. King, and they have done important work that will outlive them for many decades and centuries to come. Let us honor them by spending our lives getting into good trouble.

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SPONSOR:

This episode of Let’s Give a Damn is brought to you by Red Kap — a fantastic company that makes workwear and uniforms. Not only is Red Kap a Nashville-based company — which I, of course, love because I live here right now — but they champion the men and women who are out there committed to making our communities thrive. Everything they make — from work shirts to coveralls — is crafted with purpose and on purpose. They’re a no BS company. What you see is what you get. And what you get is a group of people who genuinely give a damn about work, and a life, done right.

From now until July 31, you can get 20% off your first purchase at redkap.com with the promo code GIVEADAMN.

Here’s something cool! I worked with them last month to interview amazing damn-givers that are beautifully contributing to their communities during this global pandemic. See more of my From The Frontlines interviews at redkap.com/communuity.

___________________________________

Follow Let’s Give A Damn on Facebook, Instagram, & Twitter to keep up with all that is going on. We have so much planned for the coming months and we don’t want you to miss a thing! Support us on Patreon! We can't do this without you. Lastly, leave us a 5-star rating and review on Apple Podcasts! Have an amazing week, friends! Keep giving a damn. Love y’all!