Jenan Mohajir interviews Dr. Da'Tarvia Parrish, an award-winning professor at Livingstone College and proud African Methodist Episcopal Zionite, on the pivotal role of Historically Black colleges and universities in the voting rights movement and how Gen Z voters are engaging in civic life.
In this episode, Jenan Mohajir interviews Dr. Da'Tarvia Parrish, an award-winning and energetic professor at Livingstone College, proud AME Zionite, and author of Jailbirds Don't Fly. Born in prison to an incarcerated parent, Dr. Parrish shares how her faith and community shaped her dedication to civic engagement. She also discusses the role of Historically Black colleges and universities in safeguarding voting rights and engaging young voters. Highlighting the historical challenges of voter suppression, Dr. Parrish emphasizes the need for unity and inclusivity in the democratic process.
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[00:00:01] Jenan Mohajir: I have an Election Day tradition; I take my children with me to the voting booth. I want them to witness and absorb what it looks like to actively participate in a diverse democracy. Our polling place is a high school right behind my home, so we all walk a couple of blocks on Election Day for me to place my vote and for my kids to get the coveted "I Voted" stickers.
As an immigrant and naturalized citizen, voting has been a cornerstone in my life since I moved to the United States at the age of 16. I see voting as a sacred responsibility, one where we practice how to be actively engaged in America's religiously diverse democracy. I want my children to also internalize the importance of this civic ritual.
I'm Jenan Mohajir, Vice President of External Affairs and co-host of Faith in Elections. A special pre-election series highlighting the work of people building bridges across diverse communities and upholding free and fair elections in a season marked by chaos and division. Our guest, Dr. Da'Tarvia Parrish, is an award-winning and highly celebrated community organizer and a Professor of Humanities, English, and History at Livingstone College, a historically Black college in Salisbury, North Carolina, a school with a profound legacy in civil rights.
She has led initiatives like Interfaith America's Vote is Sacred program, implementing what Livingstone calls the ERA strategy focused on education, registration, and activation. With this in mind, we thought Dr. Parrish was the perfect person to speak about how Livingstone College and other HBCUs, that's Historically Black Colleges and Universities, are encountering modern threats to voting rights and ensuring that Black communities have equal access at the ballot box in a state where that wasn't always the case.
You can just feel the deep passion she brings to working with young people to ensure their rights to vote, and how her faith has instilled in her a responsibility to the communities that raised her.
I know you've written a memoir that is filled with stories from your own life that have fueled the work that you're doing. I'm curious if you can tell us a little bit about your own personal journey into this space.
[00:02:13] Dr. Da'Tarvia: Faith-based strategies for the enhancement of quality of life is something that has transformed me into the person I am today. I was reared in Jacksonville, Florida, partially, and also Atlanta, Georgia, because I am the daughter of an imprisoned mother. I was actually born in prison. When you are a product, I will say of certain type of environments, there are various things that actually come into play when you need an outlet, a positive outlet, and influence. That's pretty much what my church was for me.
The person who brought me to college was my pastor. My first time coming to an undergraduate institution, I was taken there by my pastor, the late Reverend John Herring Errington, and because my community poured in me helped to develop me, and just show me a different outlet, showed me a different way through faith-based strategies, as I said. I think that is what has motivated me to invest in others. A seed was sown. It's here today and I must continue to reach back and bring others along this path.
[00:03:22] Jenan: Yes. Thank you so much for sharing that. What has brought you here? What are the formative stories and experiences in your life that have brought you into this space that inspire you, that inform your work?
[00:03:34] Dr. Da'Tarvia: Wow. Thank you for that question. I am what we like to call a Zionite. I am a fifth-generation Zionite, and that is a member of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. As Livingstone College was founded by the AME Zion Church, I recognize I just have a keen sense of belonging in the space where I am in this moment. This year, we celebrate 145 years of existence. Just being a part of that moment, being a part in this space, I recognize that I am truly on sacred ground as it relates to African Americans and their plight in America.
One of our founders, James Walker Hood, he was actually known as another kind of statesman. This person is going to be the assistant superintendent for Freedom Schools, for Africa, for public schools, through the Freedmen's Bureau. He's actually known to be the authorization of the North Carolina State Constitution post-reconstruction, and he's also one of the founding members of the Black Caucus. In his faith that is forged with fortitude to move forward a race as a collective, he found an institution.
He helps to find other HBCUs in our state, such as Fayetteville State University and Wisconsin State University. In this thought, my president today, our President, Dr. Anthony G. Davis, he says, "This man gave birth to an audacious idea." That's what it is. It's the AME Zion Church and Livingstone College moving forward by common mission, to propel our race, others who have the same goals, the same consciousness. The same mission as Livingstone College, to simply become better Americans, better global citizens of the world.
We do this today through our holistic modules, is what we call it. At Livingstone, we have this thing where we're creating a learning environment that is exclusively designed to academically enrich students, but also modify behaviors with the ultimate goal of creating change agents. How do we do this? We want to develop the missed learners, we want them to develop in the academic discipline, we want to provide real-life experiences through campus and community delving.
This is where Interfaith America comes into play because of the framework of Livingstone College and its faith-based approach and then its mission to create change agents. Not only in the people who are conducting the work, but in the community we're able to develop the head, the heart, and hands of our students that will promote lifelong learning throughout holistic modules. Which includes various few components, but some of them are political action and social responsibility, volunteerism and public service, culture and social awareness. The list goes on.
[00:06:31] Jenan: It's very clear that you're really passionate about this work, specifically about empowering young people with both a history of who they come from, of where they come from. Also with a path to envision what the future could be and how they could be change agents in this space. Just as a follow-up on that, I'm hearing you talk about your pastor, I'm hearing you talk about the anchors at Livingston College that you're looking to and have drawn inspiration from.
I'm curious, what are some other anchors for you in this work? Where do you anchor yourself, your faith institution, and your commitment to your faith values? Sound like one of those anchors to me. I would love to hear more about that, and I would also love to hear what are some other anchors for you in this work.
[00:07:19] Dr. Da'Tarvia: For me, and particularly at Livingstone College, social responsibility. It is incumbent upon me as a person who understands there are various injustices in our society that we must implement various measures and training others to implement programming that helps alleviate these concerns. I draw that from my membership in my sorority. I was looking at the Alpha Sorority, Incorporated.
In addition to other organizations, such as American Association of University Women here in Salisbury, where I actually serve as the president. In these mentioned capacities is with a collective, a group of people who believe in gender equity, who believe in advocacy, who believe in equal education. When you have this faith-based structure, something to believe in, a momentum you can actually gain from it. When all the people simply come together, you can move mountains.
[00:08:17] Jenan: You've touched a little bit about your experience at Livingstone, which is where I believe you went for your undergraduate education. Then you also went to other HBCUs, both for your master's and then your higher education, and then came back to Livingstone to teach. You've been living and breathing in these values and in this community of HBCUs. I'm curious if you can tell us a little bit about the role of HBCUs in the voting rights movement.
[00:08:44] Dr. Da'Tarvia: It is African Americans' birthright, in essence, for voting, to recognize the contributions that HBCUs have made to civil rights legislation, and particularly the voting initiative alone. If we look at the work of student leaders such as John Lewis, Diane Nash, who were pivotal in civil rights legislation for public accommodations, integrating counters North Carolina Agriculture State University, 45 minutes up the road from Livingstone.
We look at the students at this university who were attacked by students at Vanderbilt University. If we look at students a part of the Atlanta movement, even the foundation of SNCC at Shaw University, the first HBCU in the state of North Carolina. HBCUs have been at the forefront of civil rights, their students, their leaders, since the beginning of civil rights in America. It's interwoven pretty much in the fabric of our wellbeing of who we are.
Here in the city of Salisbury, we had 17 students set in to integrate a movie theater. Just for human rights, human dignity, African Americans, particularly HBCUs, have been fighting for this since their existence, and voting itself in my perspective is our birthright. African Americans have fought, bled, died, there's blood that cries out in the universe in the name of voting.
We have to protect that in essence. In protecting that, we have to recognize how essential it is to us, how it is our birthright to actually exercise our right in voting and just move forward in any direction or attack any type of mechanism that is trying to break down that constitutional right for us.
[00:10:37] Jenan: I'm really struck by your words. There is blood that cries out in the universe for voting rights. Can you tell us a little bit more about what that means to you?
[00:10:46] Dr. Da'Tarvia: Absolutely. Think of the people who were in Selma who were beaten and [unintelligible 00:10:50]. They didn't know their fate. They didn't know if they were going to live or die, but they were ready to fight that charge. We have to recognize that that faith cannot go in vain. We are responsible to uphold that. It is in our DNA and we must take up that mantle and keep moving forward with it. That's the blood that cries out.
The blood of Fannie Lou Hamer that came out of her in that prison cell. The blood of the men and women who were sterilized in Mississippi. The blood of the students that were shut at those counters trying to be served. The blood of the persons who were marching across the Edmund Pettus Bridge is in the universe. It cries out and we must answer for it.
[00:11:36] Jenan: Thank you so much for that. I think one of the things that is coming to me as I'm hearing you talk about both the ancestors in these movements. The ancestors who were students once and who put their bodies and their lives on the line for the fight for civil rights, for the fight for voting rights, et cetera. Those legacies and those stories are still part of the work and the journey that you are doing currently on campus.
You are working with another generation of young people who are also advocating for those rights and also making their own contributions to this space. What are some intergenerational connections? What are some intergenerational similarities that you see between the elders in these communities who have been doing this work and who were once young people at the forefront and the young people who are now taking that charge? What resonances do you see happening in those spaces?
[00:12:31] Dr. Da'Tarvia: The connection through intergenerational interactions that we have is simply they're bound by the mission. The mission is what's binding us. Sure, I may be a person from a different time period, but when the narrative, when the rhetoric is still the same-- you know what, this brings me to mind. We actually just had a debate watch party and we were talking about different issues that were actually brought up in the debate.
David Marr he asked former president Donald Trump the question about Kamala Harris's ancestral background. He asked her about her race. I think he asked a very great question in saying, "Why does it matter?" Racism, we know is rooted in America's history. Even these injustices we're talking about, particularly HBCUs, is all rooted in the system of racism. He says it doesn't matter. What Vice President Kamala Harris eloquently does, she talks about how former President Trump takes out a aim for innocent Black and Brown young men, The Central Park Five, to execute them.
Then she comes down the line a little bit and then she talks about the notion to question the birth certificate of President Obama. Then she comes on down the line and she talks about the incident in Charlottesville. Then as president, when he talks about stand down or stand up to an organization like the Proud Boys. This common thread, this narrative of racism that we see no matter what your age is, and it brings me back to Eboo Patel's text, We Need to Build: Field Notes for Diverse Democracy when he mentions Bryan Stevenson works.
In this one he talks about from plantation to mass incarceration. It's the common thread that is keeping us in the same place. What Vice President Kamala Harris says, "It's time to turn the page on that." I believe that this is an America that doesn't want a person who's going to divide this country. That's what we need to focus on. Focus on the mission, what we have in common, and then we can move towards these measures that unites us, that all Americans wants. We can endure our liberties and our freedoms. I believe that that's what older generations and younger generations see.
Older generations know what they had to experience and undergo and what they were limited to when they were the age of the younger generation. You want better for people who come after you. You don't want your fight, your struggle to be in vain. Often times our older generation simply want to pass on the torch and the mantle and are excited and happy that there are some young people there who want to continue with that. That's what I see. I see a group of hope minded by one mission and that's to enjoy American democracy.
[00:15:24] Jenan: We'll be back with Dr. Da'Tarvia Parrish after a short break.
In 2012, the Southern Coalition for Social Justice did a review of voters and found that women and people of color in North Carolina were the most affected when it comes to voter suppression laws. If the youth are our future and the future is on campuses far and wide like Livingstone, I wanted to understand what is deterring Gen Z voters and how exactly Dr. Parrish is bringing them back to civic duty through her faith in Election Playbook Project.
Can you tell me a little bit about why this work is important specifically in North Carolina? What is some of the history of the voter suppression in North Carolina and why you are motivated to do this work there?
[00:16:12] Dr. Da'Tarvia: What has truly shocked me is the voter ID law. It's our constitutional right to vote, so why are we implementing various measures to prevent people from voting? In my perspective, the voter ID law is another example of a poll test and/or a literacy test. Think of the number of unhoused people who we have in our nation. I tell my students this all the time. It seems like, "Hey, it's a no-brainer. Have an ID to vote, have an ID to vote."
In the state of North Carolina, the average Department of Motor Vehicles is a place where you can get an ID. It's not en route or not in sync with public transportation. It's miles outside of a town or city. That's the one thing. It's some barrier to get there. Number two, it's the financial cost. Sure, some people say you have a voucher to get these things, but most importantly, what you need to vote is a proof of address. I go back to that unhoused population. Because they don't have an address, they can't vote.
This are a group of people who need to make a decision in their democracy more than anyone else. Instead of incorporating ways to eliminate voters, because it is our constitutional right, we need to implement measures to make voting easier so their voice can be heard. In Hebrew, voice and vote is the same word. This is how we need to move forward again toward American democracy.
[00:17:40] Jenan: What part of democracy and democracy work and voting rights do you think resonates with Gen Z voters?
[00:17:48] Dr. Da'Tarvia: Gen Z voters, at least at Livingstone College, are passionate about allowing their voice to be heard. Think about it. Today, at the hands of social media, everyone has a voice in some type of way. Nobody wants their voice to be stifled. Here on this campus, the one thing that students, and because 99% of our students do receive financial aid, that's the one thing they do want to continue.
They're passionate about their financial aid. The women are passionate about reproductive rights, men are passionate about reproductive rights and their abilities for women to have a [unintelligible 00:18:22] over their own bodies. So because these students are in a time in which they're able to explore different things, they have liberties at their fingertips, no one wants to lose their liberties.
Now, of course, they want to be accountable for them. That's our goal. We want to show them how to engage in self-efficacy and be responsible not only for themselves but for others so everyone can enjoy success. We define success here as able to sustain and uplift yourself financially and your community, but also have a sense of belonging.
[00:18:57] Jenan: Something that you just said is resonating a lot with me, here in America, we all need somewhere to belong. One of the things that Dr. Eboo Patel who's our founder says often, and we repeat often at Interfaith America is, "Diversity and community are not just the things that you like, they're also the things that you don't like, and you have to figure out how you build relationships and work together on some things while also holding deep difference." How do you do that in this particular work? What is the secret sauce that you have in this space?
[00:19:29] Dr. Da'Tarvia: [laughs] I don't know if it's such a secret sauce or some kind of special [unintelligible 00:19:33], but what we simply do is build allies and friends. We do know that we are different. I think that that's what makes us grand, when we respect and honor or celebrate differences. Learn something new. Unlearn what you think you know and that's how you actually grow. We are intentional about reaching out to organizations that we know are different from us. As I stated before, but we're bounded by the mission.
Hey, this is a right that you want. This is a right that I want. I want to understand what you understand, and I want you to understand what I understand, so let's come together with that. We have these community partners, if you will, because Livingstone College is, I like to call it a pillar of strength in the row in South Bay Community. Almost any organization that has an initiative where they want to be heard or have a voice, they reach out to us in essence.
We're open and we're receptive to that. We are nonpartisan organization. We are founded by the AME Zion Church, which is Christianity design Methodism. However, we're open to our religions. We welcome everybody here because we want them to know that Livingstone College is a safe space for the rural South Bay community and anyone in the state of North Carolina in our region.
As we strive to share this mission or connect with people on what we have in common, all things just simply come together and unfold. We don't try to control it, we let it grow. Just let it be what it is. That's how we believe, and we have much success in these activities, in these organizations and in our interaction with the network.
[00:21:21] Jenan: There's also this reality that there's a growing number of young people that are turned off from voting in this particular season, or that are turned away. What are Gen Z voters looking for that they can't find at the polls, and how do you bring them back?
[00:21:36] Dr. Da'Tarvia: What I'm hearing Gen Z voters say is that, they're not necessarily seeing themselves in various parties, because everything seems as if you need to check a box. When you are outside the box, say when you're triangle, when you circle, when you star, then how do you actually find yourself in those spaces? What I've shared with them-- I read this somewhere. Politics it's like public transportation. You get on the bus, it's going to get you closest to your destination.
When you examine what these different parties are about, our main parties, you examine what they're about and you look at the details of what they offer you, which one is closest to what you believe in. Which one is closest to how reflects you. Then guess what, we're training you at this moment to get involved in civic engagement. We're training you to get involved in cultural social awareness, and volunteerism and public service. You can then get into office, and make these changes that you're actually passionate about. That's what we pretty much preach out into to voters.
[00:22:49] Jenan: I think I need a T-shirt that says, politics is like public transportation. That is like an amazing way to think about the political process, and to basically understand that perfection is not going to be in that space. You're not going to find somebody who is completely aligned with you on all things, but really it's about how do you make progress? How do you get from point A to point B to point C to point D?
That's what I hear you saying, which is really amazing, and I really appreciate that metaphor. That's really cool. Thank you. Also you've been super involved in the Vote is Sacred project with Interfaith America. I would love to hear a little bit about your work through that project.
[00:23:29] Dr. Da'Tarvia: Our theme is Voting ERA, education, registration, and activation. Our education primarily consists of us forming the L.C. Boat Crew or NFA America Ambassadors for voting is what we have. We're combining different organizations on campus that pretty much consists of members of the panhandling organization, Student Government Association, the office program, and any other student leader who wants to be involved on campus. You don't have to be a student leader, because once we train you we're going to call you a leader.
We discuss voter suppression, voter intimidation. We train our students, and we have [unintelligible 00:24:09] students on ways in which they may encounter this thing so they can pretty much protect our other voters population who we want to engage in the democratic process of voting. We have about 40 of those students currently on campus. Our students register to vote. While they need to register to vote, we pretty much push voter registration, voter registration, voter registration. We do that at the freshman orientation, at check-in, in the residence halls, in the cafeteria.
The residence hall we call it dorm storm. We pretty much go to each residence hall. Students come in, register to vote in night. We challenge our coaching staff for all sports teams to come apart and be a part of the voting registration process. All organizations, choirs, market band, things of that nature. It's a full-court press into how we get students to register to vote.
[00:25:01] Jenan: That is so impressive. I would love for you to tell us a couple of stories about some of your student leaders.
[00:25:08] Dr. Da'Tarvia: This student, Te’J Rodriguez, very new to our campus, hasn't been here a month, came in and jumped right in because the momentum that was already happened. We're really proud of Te’J. At this moment he's our poster child. Even the older students, another student we have Delia Coleman, who's very poised and professional in her pursuits as it relates to voter engagement. It's just really [unintelligible 00:25:32] by the success that Te’J Rodriguez is actually having in this initiative.
[00:25:38] Jenan: I love that. I love that. Get them early. Get them early. Get them young. Get them involved. Hopefully one day they'll be the elders who are getting other young people involved.
Speaking of involved young people, we got in touch with one of Dr. Parrish's student leaders Te’J, to get his thoughts on Gen Z voter engagement and to help him get the message out to his peers.
[00:26:00] Te’J: I think people in my demographic don't like voting or don't want to vote because they don't feel like their vote matters. Sometimes they feel like it's worthless to vote. My idea of that is, I understand where you're coming from. However, we need to vote because our voice matters. We are the biggest generation right now, so our voices matter. We want better America. We don't want to go back. We don't want to go back. Going back is nothing good at all. I just want our younger demographic to know that our voice matters, and we do have a voice in this America.
[00:26:38] Jenan: Te’J your vote and your voice does matter. Thank you for leading the way. Interfaith America as you probably know more than some others, Dr. Parrish, we vision America as a huge potluck where everyone is invited, and everyone is invited to bring their best dish. I wanted to close this out with two questions for you, one hypothetical, one literal.
If you were literally coming to a potluck, what is the dish that you bring with you? Then hypothetically in the table that is American Civil Society, America's Cultural Society, what is the dish that Livingstone College brings to the potluck?
[00:27:18] Dr. Da'Tarvia: All right. A dish that I'm most definitely going to bring to that potluck, it's going to be collard greens, turkey wings.
[00:27:25] Jenan: Oh.
[00:27:25] Dr. Da'Tarvia: I'm going to bring that bitch. I'm going to bring collards because of the color, the green, growth, and what it represents in addition to the place in which it is indigenous to. That is kept on the country of which my ancestors are. Livingstone brings the dish of love. It's just that simple. Livingstone College is a place where anyone can come and feel the love. There is love in the air. As a Christian faith-based institution, that's what we're known by.
Christians are known by our love. Regardless as your faith, regardless as your ethnicity, regardless of your socioeconomic background, Livingstone College is going to love you where you are and take you where you need to be so you can command your rightful place at [unintelligible 00:28:13].
[00:28:14] Jenan: I love that. One final question for you as we close out. What is your hope for America going into this next election and beyond?
[00:28:23] Dr. Da'Tarvia: My hope for America is that America will come together, unity. The Psalm by David says, "Oh, how great and how pleasant it is to dwell amongst brethren in unity." That is my hope for America to respect the various differences and recognize them as strengths. That's the one thing I actually love about Livingstone College. We have faculty. This year I'm the faculty assembly president, and we have faculty from six continents. How beautiful is that? All together funded by one mission.
How rich is that for our students to just encounter people from all over? Even with that in itself, the different ethnicities, the different cultures, the tribal. We have a faculty member on campus who is the Chief Ashanti for the Carolinas. How cool is that? That's what I mean about Livingstone College and love. Come here, come to Livingstone College. You'll be loved at Livingstone College wherever you are. We just help to develop you, help to grow with you, and help to learn from you, and that's what Livingstone College is.
[00:29:27] Jenan: Well, they are very lucky to have you. They're very lucky-
[00:29:30] Dr. Da'Tarvia: Thank you so much.
[00:29:30] Jenan: -to have you. Thank you so much for being with us. You're reminding me of a poem that we often quote at Interfaith America by the American poet Edwin Markham, who said, "He drew a circle that drew me out, heretic, rebel, a thing to flout, but love and I had the wit to win. We drew a circle that drew him in." It sounds like with the work that you have been doing throughout your lifetime, but specifically, in this era of your life you are drawing huge circles for people to access their voting rights.
Huge
circles for people to access their responsibility and also their rights in this election space. I'm just really grateful that we know you and I'm really grateful that you're in this conversation with us. Thank you so much for joining us.
[00:30:13] Dr. Da'Tarvia: Thank you so much, and congratulations Interfaith for the outstanding work you're doing. I appreciate the opportunity of being a partner. Have a blessed day.
[00:30:23] Jenan: Hearing Dr. Parrish speak today reminded me of these important words from the late Congressman John Lewis, "My dearest friends, your vote is precious, almost sacred. It is the most powerful nonviolent tool we have to create a more perfect union. Dr. Parrish and others like her on HBCU campuses are powerful protectors of our democracy. Empowered by their faith and commitment to civic duty, they are living proof of John Lewis' legacy.
Not only are they ensuring that this work continues, they are also training a new generation of leaders to pick up the mantle of fighting for voting rights. Thank you again to Dr. Parrish and Te’J of Livingstone College for the work you are doing to ensure that everyone gets a vote. Dr. Parrish is an Interfaith America Faith in Elections Playbook grantee, and you can learn more about her work at interfaithamerica.org/resources/faith-in-elections. We would love to hear from you. Leave us a review and follow us on Instagram @interfaithamerica.
To read more about this conversation and to find resources and stories about bridge building in our religiously diverse nation, visit our website, interfaithamerica.org.
Faith in Elections is part of our Voices of Interfaith America Podcast Network. This episode was hosted by me, Jenan Mohajir. Production was provided by Keisha TK Dutes, our executive producer, and Manny Faces our producer and audio editor for Philo's Future Media, with story editing by Johanna Zorn.
The Interfaith America team is Silma Suba and Rheya Spigner, our executive producers. Noah Silverman, our editorial director. Our Democracy initiatives team, Senior Director Becca Hartman-Pickerill, and Manager Rollie Olson. We couldn't do this without our coordinating producers, Teri Simon and Olivia Stufflebeam, Rachel Crowe, our production assistant, and Katherine O'Brien, our marketing manager. Share Faith in Elections with a friend, and rate, follow, subscribe wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Thank you.
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