Voting Rights and Civic Re-engagement

Desmond Meade"s life story has been one of pain, perseverance, and finally, triumph.  From a drug addicted felon waiting for a train to jump in front of to heading up the groundbreaking Florida Rights Restoration Coalition which has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize this year for: "their work in building democracies, supporting the human right to representation by government, and working towards a better organized and peaceful world." Desmond, like FRRC is a force to be reckoned with. The nonprofit’s greatest success was the overwhelming passage of Amendment 4, the initiative that represented the nation’s largest expansion of voting rights since the civil rights era. More than 1.4 million Floridians who had served time regained the right to vote. After the amendment’s impact was tempered by “implementation legislation” pushed by Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and Republican lawmakers — requiring individuals to first pay off any fines and fees connected to their convictions — Meade, who has been the head of the org for nearly a decade, and the coalition were able to raise millions of dollars to assist 40,000 “returning citizens” in settling those debts.  Take that, RON. We are thrilled to welcome Desmond to the show as he sits down with Adam for a robust, informative and moving conversation you do not want to miss.  To learn more about and to support FRRC head to their website: https://floridarrc.com/ Thanks for helping us save democracy one episode at a time! Join the Dirty Moderate Nation on Substack! Tell us what you think on Twitter! Or, if you are fed up with Elon’s bullshit, hit us up on Threads! There are always shenanigans over on TikTok too… Are you registered to VOTE?