Tamia Booker.

I'm CEO and founder of Team Booker strategies, which is a political consulting firm, and who have you consulted for?

Let me go ahead and answer that, because Tamia Booker has worked with some heavy hitters in the political landscape during some of the messiest, scariest and most dangerous times in their careers, she's consulted for Congresswoman Janell Bynum, a former state legislator from Oregon, which has been under attack New Jersey, Congresswoman lamonica McIver, who was indicted by a federal grand jury back in June on three felony counts of forcibly interfering with Federal officers during an incident at a Newark ICE detention center.

She pleaded not guilty, alleging that the charges are politically motivated.

Tami has worked with Pennsylvania House Speaker Jo Anna McClinton, who was the first woman speaker of the Pennsylvania House, let alone black woman, and a few other names you might know, like Cory Booker and Barack Obama Yeah, those are just some but they're some of the people that stand out to me as they've just been, you know, out here, outspoken in ways that we need, and I've just really enjoyed my time working with them and and a new crop of others that will be blooming up for this year.

We're kicking off home goings with a new format in 2026 and that format is to answer some big questions with a handful of people who can help answer them best.

And this is what brought me to Tamia, because I've been looking around at some of the coverage and social media clips of our protests and marches and no kings rallies.

And lately, to me, it looks like some folks are missing in those spaces, black folks.

I mean, there are some of us, but writ large, I'm not seeing a lot of us not on a national level.

Hey guys.

So I figured I would come down and check out the no kings rally here in the nation's capital.

Take a look at some of the signs that I have seen, heavy emphasis on patriotism.

But listen, I was really interested to speak to the black woman that did show up today, because in the days leading up to this event, I have seen so much commentary from black women saying, essentially, get somebody else to do it.

They feel as though they did their job last year during the election, and at this point, they don't have the appetite to protest.

And I'm not seeing a lot of us in more rural blue states like Vermont, my home state and where this show is made.

Now, while there isn't any racial data published for 2026 protests, yet, a survey from October 2025 no kings protests in Washington, DC found that 86% of its participants were white.

Many reports from multiple anti Trump protests in 2025 like hands off, also described crowds that were mostly white and middle aged.

And though I have my theories about why this is some of which you'll hear today, I wanted to talk to Tamia, someone who has her finger on the pulse of all things black and political, to find out what the heck is going on.

Black people are not marching right now.

At least a fraction of us are not out in these streets.

What are we doing instead?

I think black people instead are praying from Vermont public this is home goings, a show that invites you to eavesdrop on candid conversations with people who will challenge what you think.

You know, I'm Myra Flynn today, part one of our series, if black people aren't marching, what are we doing instead?

Our guest is political consultant to Mia Booker, who shares with us the many layered reasons why she thinks black folks are not in these streets right now, and how we're turning inward for connection, community and self care.

This is home goings.

We're a proud member of the NPR Network.

Welcome home.

I think praying is a form of hoping, right?

I'm glad you said that, and so I think a big part of the hope is connecting, still raising awareness, still expressing outrage, still talking to people, and just organizing in a different way, not in the ways that we used to.

We have seen so much go wrong.

We have been out on the front lines.

Have put our bodies on the line, and now the battle isn't necessarily directed towards us, and I say that just today, right like there will be something to come back after us again.

But when we're talking about immigration fight, and these, these recent deaths in Minneapolis, it's been white people.

It's definitely not safe for us.

If it's not safe for white people, it's absolutely not safe for blacks.

It's not safe.

It's definitely not safe for us.

I mean, I think it's like such a bizarre feeling right now.

Personally, I don't know if you're having this feeling, but I'm like, I. Not the target demographic at the moment.

But when have we not been at least the end result of the target demographic, I guess, like, where's the blackness behind all of this mess?

You think that?

Do you think they're coming for us?

Absolutely always, we're always.

We live rent free.

In their minds, I think there is this notion of continuously by this administration, causing strife and consternation.

And they've already done that before in the previous administration, and they definitely did that last year with the dismantling of black women in leadership at many institutions, dismantling dei I think now we are seeing everyone get attacked.

That's it's no they're no respecter of persons, if they're a liberal or deemed a liberal.

But I think at the core of it, we still suffer right many black people are struggling with affordability right now, and that's being neglected because this is at the forefront.

I'm reading that he's now pivoting to affordability issues because this President isn't polling well on what's happening with ice but he goes to Iowa and goes to a place where it's mostly Republican and mostly white, and when there's affordability issues in many of the states and cities that he has been sending troops to, we still suffer in other ways.

So even though we are not the target at this moment, we still will be a casualty of what's happening.

Let's take it back to when things were good, if we can even use that word, though, if I mean like, when was it ever safe or good, but I mean that word hope makes me so emotional, because, you know, in 2020, after the tragic murder of George Floyd, before the very country, there was money.

And infrastructure change, right along with the marching and the protesting, it was just enough to make you believe that maybe, maybe we mattered right, or that, like our voices mattered right, and that change could truly happen.

And then that was taken away.

And then now this, I feel like, as a black woman, my brain is exploding, because we're supposed to be the shock absorbers for all of the stuff that happens in the world.

And what to I don't know what to absorb next.

You know, there's just so much.

It's like we're saturated.

So I guess in those times that we're good to now, what?

What the hell happened between with us?

It's like you said, we were the shock shock absorbers.

We are the most educated demographic.

We've been, the most outspoken.

We've organized.

We were thriving in Biden's administration.

We had a black woman appointed as put on his ticket as VP.

We had a black woman appointed to the Supreme Court.

We did too well.

That's what happened, is that we were thriving in ways that others weren't, and it was highlighted every day.

And so while we were doing well, the development of project 2025 was accelerated.

And for those who felt like they didn't do as well as us, the Trump Trump and his administration, or at the time, his campaign, knew that, and they knew how to tap back into it, because prior to his first term, you're right, we were thriving.

You're taking me back to the Obama days, and just that feeling I felt after we won in 2008 and how I think we all rode that high until the Affordable Care Act drama in 2010 but for that time frame, it was very hopeful.

It was very exciting to be in this time.

Exciting to be black, because you felt like we actually had a place to be celebrated, because we couldn't point to moments where we were right.

So what ended up happening when Trump was elected and took office in 17 there was that dark period, and we had covid That ruined a lot, and Biden came in and took us out of it.

And not only did he take us out of it, he took us.

He took black women with him.

And there was the aftermath of covid that we dealt with, and the rise of black women, and that's how we got here.

And I think for black women on the organizing and the political standpoint.

We everyone at this point can say they were better off four years ago than they are right now, and we weren't.

We're not in leadership in most things right now.

And look at where the country is.

So we have been telling people for one more one more time, but slower, which is one more time, but let it sink in.

Just let it sit like we were in leadership and doing well.

And now look at where the country is, and we are barely anywhere to be found.

Our unemployment numbers have soared, and we're exhausted because we have been working hard my girlfriends and.

I who worked together on Obama's campaign and in his administration.

Some went to Biden.

I started doing consulting and working for multiple candidates.

Everybody's exhausted because we've been trying to tell everyone that Trump has always been who he says he is.

He actually does not really care about you.

He cares about power and money.

And now people are really feeling it, because when he said he could lower grocery prices in the first year, we knew he was lying.

When he said he was going to end wars, we also knew he was lying.

He's starting them.

And now people are still struggling financially, but now people are being killed for trying to protest, protect protesters, or just stand and be in stand and watch what's happening.

And we are nowhere in his cabinet.

We are nowhere in these in in the leadership in these states.

It's it is just frustrating and we're tired.

Do you think that this administration is racist?

Yes, the to me, racism is using is a systemic approach, right?

It is systemically oppressing people, and that's exactly what this administration has done, is to make sure to dismantle anything that supports and uplifts black people, whether in name or whether it's something that is strongly implied, attacking our the President of the Board of Governors and coming still going after Kamala Harris, still going after Barack Obama, making sure black women are pressured out of many positions of CEOs of companies.

It's to me, it's just you cannot continue to champion policies that harm people of color and say and deliberately do it and say you're not racist.

You're literally using you are the definition of what racism is.

So let's say this theory that you know, I've been trying to chew on for a while is true, like black people, a large fraction of black people are not showing up to these rallies, and probably because of all the reasons that you state, what should what should they be telling their white friends to do right now, it's going to the protest, but also talking to their family members.

I think it's the same answer forever, right?

Just go talk to your family about anything.

Yeah, look to your family and hold them accountable.

I have a good friend, and she just, she just completely docks one of her family members talk radio shows because it was all about racism.

They talked about how Alex pretty deserved it, and she was like, This is my relative.

Do not follow this show anymore.

They are right wing.

And yes, this is someone who did vote for Barack Obama, but then decided to turn and become a huge, mega Trump person.

Do not follow this show anymore, and that is the accountability I want to see.

It's your relative.

She doesn't care if her family feels a certain way, because she has very close friends who are of color, and she understands the impact that this brings.

And she's like, okay, already was upset before, and now is saying, all right, you're condoning these shootings by the US government on US citizens.

You cannot be trusted, and so it's that level of accountability.

And maybe you don't need to, you know, Dox them on social media, but maybe you have a conversation and them know that what the way they've been thinking they've been manipulated, and that they're causing harm.

This election really, really has inflicted harm upon American citizens, and we need to be honest about that.

What about the person who is still hopeful about the Trump administration, somebody who is Maga, who supports what's happening right now, who sees it as taking care of business in our country?

You want my real answer, yes, and I'm also, by the way, still speaking about a black person like to us like, Yeah, I think of them as lost.

I think when, when someone Black gets to that point, there's some inter self hatred thing going on where they've allowed themselves to be manipulated.

I understand the frustration among particularly black men, with the way the economy has gone, how they've been treated.

You know, we've had black men have been a top target in this country for years.

So I understand that frustration.

And so honestly, if I think there's a window to have the conversation, we should still have it.

I think when it's built or laced in hate for black women is when I'm just like, I don't have the energy for this.

You're a lost cause.

And I think we just have to be in tune when talking to our family members, if we have some that are honest enough to speak up about it and explain certain things, I've had to do that just in dealing with social issues.

Lose, not to that extreme.

I think anyone in my family who is Maga would never admit it.

But well, yeah, they know what you would say, yeah, I think it would just be too much of trying to face the reality of, you know, living here in DC and seeing its impact and understanding how many black women have been harmed with this administration, and now people across the spectrum, right?

I don't think that they would really want to tell me.

I have family members who are afraid to tell me they didn't vote in 2016 and you know, of course, it got to me, and I was like, yep, they should never tell me that.

You shouldn't talk to me about this.

Yeah, yeah, you say so I was like, actually, don't talk to me.

I'm gonna throw another one at you, because I'm gonna talk with Karen Finney tomorrow, and she's awesome as well.

I know she's great, and she has a white mother and but is a sister, right?

And so right and right.

And I am also biracial.

What should what should white parents be to their black kids are doing for their their black kids right now?

And what should black kids be asking of their parents?

Yeah, I think for white parents is really showing that, showing their allergy, allyship and understand and having a conversation and understanding.

I have a few friends who are her not black, but who have children who are black, and we will talk about this because they're or at least they're perceived as black.

It's what it is.

This is the way our country is.

And I encourage my friends who do to make sure they're having those conversations and also being willing to listen.

I think for children who have parents that aren't or at least a parent that's not black, is that they are also having that conversation too.

Like, this is how this harms me.

This is how this hurts me.

And I think that open dialog is important.

I think about Colin kaepernick's Mom, and how she was, like, I'm supporting him.

I'm understanding that this is what happens.

I know how he's perceived.

She was open.

This is his adoptive mom, because his birth mother felt differently, but he she was able to really understand at that time why he was protesting with police brutality, and really understand it.

And I really appreciated her speaking out and defending him, and that's what we need, is more of that, because she, even though she is not black, her son is, and how these impact her son, right?

And many others, so it's just really reflecting on that and showing and just exercising humanity.

We are people.

We are people, and just because we look different doesn't mean we're not people.

And we don't look different, like we all, I don't know the concept of of this, like, hatred.

It's like, are we bored?

I just don't understand, don't understand.

So you're right though.

It's like, black people have curly hair.

White people have curly hair.

Black people have straight hair.

White people have straight hair.

It's like, we have bodies, we have legs, and, yeah, I think we're bored.

Like, if big, if aliens are looking down at us, they would look at racism and be like, are you guys just bored?

Or or idiots?

There's something like, really sub human about it, right?

Yeah, it's just laced in fear.

Yeah, it is, yeah, that's really what it is.

You're right.

It's taught.

It's taught, yes, it's learned, yeah.

Really is a learned behavior getting back into like, how we treated each other as black people during that time of, I call it the post Floyd era, right?

When the money was flowing, and you get a car, and you get a car, you know, mural painted about you and whatever, I remember also some like, internal conflict going on in black communities, because there was a bit of a scarcity mentality going on, you know, because all of a sudden there were two black people working at your office, not just One, right?

I mean, yeah, because we, I mean, we're so used to being tokenized, right?

And being the only one that that, like, there's this really sad narrative that you hold on to forever, of, like, maybe the reason I was hired was because they're trying to fill this anti racist quota at my job, right?

And so that changed, and there were more of us and and then all that went away.

So what are we doing in our friendships, in our community now, like now that we're no longer even at the office, a lot of us, right, not even welcomed to the office, to the job.

What are we what are we doing together, right?

Right?

It's really staying connected, I think is important.

I read something the other day about a black woman who started either a WhatsApp group or a group meet of black women who didn't have jobs, and it like overnight, 500 women were part of the group, and it's become this huge community of black women trying to help each other.

To find work.

And I remember during the Congressional Black Caucus conference last fall, black woman on the she's on the council in, I think San Bernardino, it's somewhere that we're not typically on in California.

And she said during the Black Caucus conference, every time she met somebody, she was going to ask them, What are you doing to help black women who are unemployed, how are you contributing to the crisis?

And I told her, I love that, because it makes you think, oh, yeah, Am I doing something every day?

What can I do to be helpful?

And so I think that that is where we are in terms of those who used to organize.

I did it today.

I sent it to a group of black women.

There's a position that's opening that one of my friends, she's white, she's an ally.

She said, please send me names.

I need you all to send me names, and if you can co sign on these names, I will flag them for her so one of them gets hired.

And throughout the conversation, we identify one black woman that we think would be amazing for the role, and I will refer her right and hopefully she gets the job.

But I think it's that is being able to connect with each other and to check in, because the other question was, How are y'all doing?

I was like, oh, yeah that part because that part everybody's still saying, right, right?

Yeah.

I'm like, Oh, how am I doing?

I'm cold.

I don't really know.

It's freezing hair, it's but I'm on this mission to try to help, because I want to help, help us do well and thrive during these times.

And the beauty of this, though, and I try to be hopeful, is we're black.

We're black folks.

You know, our ancestors survived far worse than this, and we will bounce back, right?

And so it's just like you've left hundreds of 1000s of black women without jobs.

We're going to strategize create new things.

There's going to be a whole new thing that's going to happen, and we are now building these worlds where we'll stay protected so we can try to shield ourselves from whatever's the administration will try to throw throw at us these next three years.

But that is the one thing I think, is I'm seeing more of now, is the community of black people helping each other find work, checking and making sure we're good, and just staying communicated, communicating and connected, yeah, well, just also realizing, like, oh, when we had the white jobs, those didn't pan out for us, and we might as well bet each other, right first ones to get cut.

What about the joy part?

What do you think we're doing for joy right now?

I think it is that it's picking up hobbies that bring us joy.

It's taking trips.

I'm a big person on travel.

I was like, Where are you going this year?

Like, you need to make sure you don't neglect that part for you, because that's important for you.

But I think it is that is you still have to find joy in this.

I have women call me and say they're consumed with the news every day.

And I'm like, You can't do that.

You have to do it in bits and pieces.

You feel this like guilt if you're not bought in.

But you know, it's a 24 hour cycle.

Some people watch the news in the morning.

Some people don't catch it to the afternoon and so on.

So I think it's important that we just stay grounded with what makes us happy and not feel guilty about experiencing moments of joy, because it's the only way we're going to be able to continue.

And I love when I hear, Joy is resistance.

Rest is resistance, because it's a part of, you know, not being under this mantra that I have to be perfect and I have to be tuned in.

I have to work all the time and have no space to breathe.

That's actually what harms us internally, right?

This is where stress comes in, blood pressure, you know, heart issues, and so it's making sure we have that, that good balance, you said at the beginning, when I asked you, what word would you use to describe what black people are doing right now, you said, praying, or slash, hoping.

What are we hoping for?

Do you think that this comes to an end, this absolute this chaos, the killing of innocent people, comes to an end, and that we can get to a place where we can thrive, thrive and thrive out loud.

I think there's a place now where we are a little bit quieter about things and move in differently.

I know I am after last year, because I said to a friend who works in politics too, I was like, you know, black women were not hot last year.

Business was hard.

We were getting laid off of jobs.

They were just like, nobody wants to check for us at all.

And that wasn't our lives prior to that, just not something we were used to.

And so it is caused me to really look at things differently and begin to figure out how I'm how I move, and in a way, I will never hide my blackness.

I can't.

I will.

I will always be.

I was like, what option do we have, too that's not on the table ever?

No, no, it's just more.

I was like, let me clarify that it's just more about moving in a way that we can still stay connected with each other and we can thrive out loud and feel safe.

And I think that many of us haven't felt safe this last year, and that's with and then I'm not even talking about like, you know, being attacked, but just, you know, physically, but even just being able to thrive in our workspaces.

Or, Oh, you posted this online, so we're not laying you off.

It's just like those details of feelings actually safe to be.

We are in a public way, and I think I'm more like, you don't need to know everything I'm doing anymore.

We're just, I'm just gonna fly on the radar a little bit more, but still help eachother tuck in and take good care.

Yeah, yeah.

Thank you so much for joining us.

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Stay in touch@homegoings.co and subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen, take good care.