2020 Elections Course at UC Berkeley

(footsteps) - This is a semester unlike any other. - This is very different from what I was expecting. Definitely. - Not only are we all at home due to the Coronavirus crisis, but there is the most consequential presidential election, probably since 1860. (keyboard sounds) It is officially Berkeley time. Welcome everybody. I just want to do two very quick things. The first of which is to remind you of the voter registration dates in the state of California. If you want to register…

(fade out) 00:31 - Myself and my co-teacher, Saru Jayaraman, we are teaching this semester, a course under the “Big Ideas Program: Election 2020,” a class actually taught about an election in real time. (keyboard sounds) - My name is Ritika Kuppam, I am a first year at UC Berkeley. Currently, I am taking my classes from home, taking a Zoom course. It’s school minus all of the… you know… parts that people would classify as fun. (Garbage truck screeching sounds) I find that it’s really, really difficult to get a Zoom class right. But the 2020 election course is one that I have been fascinated, by.

Politics in America are so complicated and interwoven, 01:17 - it’s hard to figure out… Where do I start? - An election is about so much more than voting. - This class gives me a lens with which, I can view current events right now, and learn about how what is happening is deeply rooted in our history. - So I don’t really think the struggle around voting rights is over. - We started very much embedded in the contemporary moment, and then gone back into the past.

01:44 - So I made students read the Constitution and Declaration of independence, and talked about the ways in which our elections and our government is actually structured. I would offer this book, this is Nick Estes, “Our history is the future.” We spent a tremendous amount of time talking about the question of race and racism in this class. I feel quite firmly that if you’re talking about American politics, and you don’t put race at the center of that conversation, you’re doing it wrong. While I get to do a lot of lecturing about the history of American politics and Saru spends a tremendous amount of time talking about how social movements operate, we get to bring in lots of different voices from across both California and the nation, to bring in questions about women of color, rights of indigenous peoples organizing. There’s multiple voices in this class. Great stuff.

02:30 - What questions do you have? - Yeah, Hi professor. I was just curious about how the methods of integrated voter engagement begin? - I guess I’m wondering, what is the state of the federal government within the concept of a revote? - Do you think people see that as performative or actual progress for Trump? - What can we do, under our current system to help indigenous people thrive? - My hope for students coming out of this class, is that they will be actually empowered to believe that they can become agents have their own lives and political activists and participants. - [Lecturer] There’s a deeper level of power which is… (fade out) - I have not voted before, I’ve just turned 18. This class has really taught me to kind of shift my whole point of view of what it means to vote. We can really make an impact.

03:20 - Of course, we just learned in this class that voting is the first step, right? We do have to take steps beyond that, but it is a good start. - Ritika? Yeah, my question was more about how can we retain people and social movements, keeping, giving them the knowledge that this is a long run thing, like this is this is something that’s going to go for decades? - Ultimately, whether, you know, beyond just winning in November election, if people care about change in this world, it cannot be about just one candidate versus another. It has to be about thinking about how do we organize and engage around greater power for people, for more transformative change over time. - Terrific, thank you. We are officially out of time. I will see you all on Wednesday. All right. Thank you. - Thank you. - Thank you. - Thank you. - Bye, everybody. - Thank you. .