Standing at Multiple Intersections: Angela Walker, Green Party VP Nominee
Mardiya Shardow
I had the privilege to interview the Vice presidential nominee of the Green Party and the Socialist Party of the US. Angela Walker identifies as “a Fred Hampton, Assata Shakur socialist.” As a high schooler, Angela Walker petitioned for and received an African American history class with her fellow black classmates. Later on, in 2009 as a result of her involvement in the union protests, she became the legislative director for the Amalgamated Transit Union Local and fought for basic funding for the Milwaukee county’s transit system. In 2014, she ran as an independent socialist against incumbent sheriff David Clarke and earned 20% of the vote, which put her on the map among the socialist party. In 2015, she resisted the privatization of public schools in Milwaukee as a community campaign coordinator for Wisconsin Jobs Now (Walker, 2020b).
I was super excited because this conversation reminded me of all the socialist/leftist black women political figures we talked about in class, from Claudia Jones to Angela Davis. Because of Angela Walker’s intersectionality as a queer black working-class woman and the “triple oppression” (Davies, 2020) she faces, I made sure to ask her about campaign expenses, her public perception, and the hate and disrespect that she received. This also inspired my title for the podcast: “Standing At Multiple Intersections.”
We talked about her story, her past, and what first got her into politics. She talked about why she dropped out of college and the struggles she faced as a working-class woman, deemed an “essential worker.” Some of the more memorable parts of this podcast was listening to the advice VP nominee Angel Walker had for people trying to get into politics and people who were dealing with political apathy. She expressed the importance of grassroots movement and community organizing.
We talked for over an hour, but I’ve only included about 40 minutes of our conversation in the podcast. I believe that I was able to capture her story in her own words which was the primary purpose of this class and the project. The music I used is called “Seventies” from Freeplay Music. The op-ed Essence article I referred to in the podcast that mentioned the Sankofa bird tattoo is titled “Work To Build Third-Party Support Must Continue Between Elections [Op-Ed]” (Walker, 2020a).
Bibliography:
Davies, Carole B. 2020. “Claudia Jones: Triple Oppression.” Presented Virtually for Black Women and Political Leadership Class. Ithaca, NY. October 10.
Walker, Angela 2020a. “Work To Build Third-Party Support Must Continue Between Elections [Op-Ed].” Essence, Essence, 10 Nov. 2020, www.essence.com/news/politics/black-leftists-matter-third-party-election-2020/.
Walker, Angela 2020b. “About Angela Walker.” Howie Hawkins for President | Angela Walker for Vice President, 10 May 2020, howiehawkins.us/about-angela-walker/.
Music: https://freeplaymusic.com/#/?q=seventies
Image Source: https://howiehawkins.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/angela-bio.jpg
