Jamiah Adams

Name:	Jamiah Adams
Location:	Los Angeles, CA

My Experience in progressive politics:

In 2004, I began attending events produced by the Southern California Grassroots Democrats during the campaign of Senator John Kerry. After the voter disenfranchisement that occurred in both 2000 and 2004, I set my sights on registering new voters. I was a volunteer voter registration person at cultural events in Los Angeles. After securing employment with my favorite progressive documentary producer, Robert Greenwald, I earnestly began doing outreach with organizations of color to build broader relationships within the Brave New Films new media paradigm. I learned to hone my progressive message to garner the most media attention and move legislation in the direction I intended. Messaging was key and shaping my message from that of a power position allowed me to bring more organizations into the Brave New Films fold and help them utilized the tools we were perfecting to further a progressive agenda. That work evolved into an interest in the campaign of Senator Barack Obama-- as my job at Brave New Films culminated, I became an unpaid volunteer for Senator Obama's campaign. I worked reception, phone banked and proselytize the candidate across three states, including my home state of California. I canvassed in Amarillo, Texas and phone banked in Las Vegas, Nevada. I have produced web video to promote voting among youth of color and encourage voters to support the campaign of Barack Obama. I have also produced a few videos for Green for All-- an organization that is spearheading the new "Green Collar Jobs" movement, particularly in impoverished communities and communities of color. In addition, I have produced green collar jobs material for FreeSpeech TV and the Sundance Green website. Currently, I am a volunteer media consultant for CA State Senator Gilbert Cedillo's office to support Senator Cedillo's Dream Act legislation, which provides funding for undocumented students to attend colleges and universities. The Senator's office has devised a plan to put a face behind the Dream Act legislation by encouraging youth to create short videos about their immigrant stories. I will be facilitating several media trainings throughout Los Angeles and plans are in the works to create a mobile unit that will traverse the state.

My personal volunteering highlight:

In Amarillo, Texas, we were asked to canvass for Senator Obama in a predominately Black neighborhood. Many of the residents who were home, invited us in to deliver our Texas two-step appeal for Obama. One woman sat outside her stoop and as I delivered my spiel, her eyes glazed over and I realized that she didn't understand me. I began speaking to her in Spanish and she looked at me with wonder. She appreciated me speaking her language and asked me a question (in Spanish) about Obama's stance on immigration. I explained his plan and she said she would consider voting for him. That experience struck me because I realized that you must speak to people in their language-- and sometimes that could mean Spanish or sometimes it can just mean simple speak.

Steps I've taken to combine on-line and off-line action:

My media work advocates online for the causes that I advocate for on the streets in the community. I have used the Internet to coalesce my advocacy for Senator Barack Obama's campaign. I have also produced video for Green Organizations and then attended a national conference to build relationships with other green orgs and individual media activists.

Why I want to attend Netroots Nation:

My wish is to build a stronger presence for people of color in the Netroots community. There have been excellent examples of orgs like Color of Change using the web to bring media attention to issues affecting communities of color. I want to connect with bloggers and build relationships to further my media advocacy work and develop more viral videos. Netroots is an excellent opportunity to connect with bloggers who may not know about the issues affecting communities of color. We create a stronger democracy when our most popular bloggers are blogging about the "I too Am America" that Langston Hughes referenced in his amazing poem. Primarily, I want to continue my work I began at Brave New Films which was to make a mainly progressive white organization more diverse. Once we begin cross pollinating and supporting each other's causes we then build a stronger and truly more progressive agenda and our movement grows collectively stronger.

What I want to get out of Netroots Nation:

Relationship building is my primary focus and by that I mean, working to convince "mainstream" bloggers to cover stories of the oppressed or the "other side."

What is a progressive activist:

A progressive activist is one who thinks outside the box, with the consciousness of a revolutionary. Revolution must first occur in the mind and by that I mean a fundamentally different way of thinking, reacting, being... a progressive activist has these tools and uses them for the betterment of society without being afraid of being different or breaking the mold.

How I think blogs fit into the progressive movement:

Blogs help our messaging by spring-boarding our stories to the mainstream news. Blogs spread our agenda and can push legislation by asking for online petitions to be signed or readers to call their legislators. Constituents who call, sign petitions and attend political events affecting our community are listened to by legislators. Bloggers help break stories like the Jena 6 and other stories affecting the progressive communities. In an era when the mainstream media is being hijacked by right-winged conservatives, the blogosphere is the last bastion of democracy and a true free press frontier.

How I think Democracy For America fits into the progressive movement:

Democracy For America champions progressive causes and serves as an umbrella organization for progressive groups and movements. Fiscally, DFA supports groups that are working towards building a stronger democracy in America. Without DFA many groups and individuals couldn't do the important work that must be done in the progressive movement.

In 10 words or less, create a bumper-sticker slogan against John McCain:

John McCain, political maverick to the GOP machine, vote NO 2008!