- Hey guys, I Rocsi Diaz.

- And I'm Free Marie.

- And I'm Freddie,

and welcome to Cocoa Butter's Voting Special.

- The purpose of this show is to get each

and every one of you informed enough to get ready to vote.

- So what we're gonna do is we're gonna touch

on some really important issues that affects us both locally

and on a national level.

But before we get started,

what I wanna know is how amped up and ready are you guys

for all that we have in store for everybody.

- Freddie looks like she start to dance.

(laughing)

If I see people doing that dance at the voter lines,

I'm gonna crack up.

I'm super excited to get out and vote.

I have a mail-in voter registration,

and I can do the other way.

So I'm ready to either way,

and I think I'm gonna go out and do it.

'Cause I wanna be there with the people

and feel the energy.

- Absolutely, I'm super excited to vote.

I vote every election that comes around.

So this is no different

but 2020 was a whole different beast.

So we all have to get out there

and I'm excited to get our audience informed.

- Yeah, I am just with you guys.

So I will be home filling in my ballot

and kind of making it like a pop quiz,

Googling everybody and then filling it out at the same time.

So that's gonna be my strategy,

but we're gonna teach everybody

about different strategies and what they could do

but first inform them, Free.

- That's right, in case you've been living

under a rock somewhere and don't know what's going on,

it's time for us to inform you.

On the Republican side, we have Donald Trump and Mike Pence.

Their policies include; clean energy,

protecting the right to bear arms,

and limiting international interference.

- And on the Democratic side is Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.

Their policies include; universal childcare,

closing the racial wealth gap,

and more jobs for Americans.

We pretty much know what these candidates stand for,

but we're really here to get to the bottom

of what Black and Brown people need on a micro level.

- That's right, because what we're really looking

for is better employment, accessible healthcare.

And for Latinos especially,

we're looking for immigration right.

Not just Latinos, but immigrants in this country.

And I'm so glad that I have my friend,

the founder of She Se Puede and also This is About Humanity.

Elsa Collins is joining us right now

to talk about Black and Brown communities

and immigration rights.

I am so excited 'cause this woman is so powerful

and so informative.

when I heard that we were having this series I was like,

Elsa, I need Elsa right now.

So thank you so much for joining us, Elsa.

- Thank you for having me.

- So tell us a little bit about both your organizations.

- Yeah, amazing.

So I'm one of the co-founders of She Se Puede,

which is a new digital lifestyle community founded

by 10 amazing Latinas.

Including America Ferrera and Eva Longoria, Jess Morales,

Monica Ramirez, Stephanie Valencia,

Christy Haubegger, Alex Kondracke.

There are 10 of us involved and we really came together

and started looking around at our community and said.

What is out there for us that speaks to our needs,

our desires, our wishes,

and fully embraces who we can be as a community.

So that's really where She Se Puede was born.

And we're so excited to be in existence.

We're excited for people to be a part of this community,

like you Rocsi, thank you so much.

And really we're looking to empower Latinas

not just in their household,

but also in the community and to be civically engaged.

- So, can you tell us about this is about humanity

and what policy changes

that your organization can benefit from?

- Yeah, so this is about humanity.

I'm one of the co-founders of...

We were founded in 2018 in response

to the family separation crisis.

We were all seeing what everyone was seeing.

These children being separated from their parents,

hearing the recordings of them crying out for mama, papa.

It was a visceral reaction that I think all of us had.

I grew up on the border,

so I have a personal connection to what's happening.

And we just wanted to respond to raise awareness

about the issue

so that people could feel more comfortable talking about it.

A lot of times when people talk

about immigration or family separation,

they feel like it's complicated.

They're not really sure what's going on.

And so they don't feel comfortable speaking out

or speaking up on the issue.

So that's really what This is About Humanity

has as its mission.

And clearly what we would benefit from

is policies and decisions that respect the laws

of asylum that have existed in this country for many years.

So slowly we have been peeling back the ability

to seek asylum which it's a human right to seek asylum.

A lot of times people say like,

is that really the right way to come into this country?

But seeking asylum is one of those ways.

And so we wanna make sure

that we're respecting asylum laws

and that we're protecting individuals

who are seeking refuge.

- Yes, so we love the work that you all are doing

to make sure that people seeking asylum are protected.

So like sort of along those lines,

I'd love to chat with you to find out like

are there voters rights for undocumented residents?

- So people who are undocumented in this country

unfortunately don't have a right to vote.

So I wanna encourage everybody

who does have a right to vote,

to think about what that really means

and to vote for those who can't in this country.

So I'm relying on everyone who cares

about our undocumented brothers and sisters,

our dreamers, our DACA brothers and sisters,

to really vote on their behalf.

So that we can sure that we're protecting them,

and that we are putting people in positions of power

who have an idea about how to have a path to citizenship.

How to make positive immigration reform in this country.

So I think that's the message

I want everyone to walk away with.

Is if you're sort of on the fence about voting,

because you don't think that your life

is gonna change either way,

know that someone else's life is gonna change in a big way.

- And I wanted to follow up with that.

I know with She Se Puede and your organizations,

we do focus a lot on Latin immigration,

but it is all immigration in this country.

I always tell the story of how I came to this country

as an immigrant and when I did seek my citizenship.

When I got sworn In, it wasn't just Latinos.

It's Asians, African, Indonesians, Caribbean.

So when you think about who you're voting for,

and even though you may have the right

but that next person doesn't,

what kind of things do you like to arm voters with

before they go on poll?

One of my favorite things that you say is,

if you have a take home test,

take it home and study it and fill it in

while you're voting.

- Think about an election as a job performance review.

We all get job performance reviews.

And when you do well, you get a thumbs up.

And when you don't do well,

well, some not good things happen.

So an election is an opportunity

to give a performance review for those that are in power.

So we wanna make sure that we're studying