MomsRising.org senior vice president and chief strategy officer Monifa Bandele joined SiriusXM Urban View host Lurie Daniel Favors to discuss racial justice, the killing of one-year-old Kohen Wiley in Mississippi and the importance of political participation beyond Election Day.
During the conversation, Daniel Favors addressed the fatal police shooting of Wiley, who was inside a vehicle with family members outside a Mississippi Walmart. An officer opened fire following an alleged shoplifting report, killing the child and wounding another family member.
Bandele questioned how a suspected minor offense could result in deadly force.
“People shoplift every day. When does that become met with deadly force?” she asked.
“This really sits at the intersection of race and gender,” Bandele continued, arguing that the treatment of the Black women involved reflected broader concerns about racial discrimination.
She also discussed the psychological consequences of racism on Black mothers.
“We talk about the weathering of the body,” Bandele explained. “We talk about the fact that both you and I know that walking through a supermarket and leaving a supermarket, that if someone thinks that we’ve done something, we could be met with deadly force.”
The conversation also turned to New York City’s delayed racial equity plan. Bandele expressed concern about reports that Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s administration was considering replacing racial equity commissioner Linda Tigani.
“We want that plan released. We want it out,” she insisted.
With the midterm elections approaching, Bandele shared that MomsRising was participating in 28 congressional races through phone banking, postcards and community organizing, encouraging voters to support candidates advocating for health care, child care and public education while recognizing that voting alone cannot deliver lasting change.
“Civic engagement doesn’t end on Election Day,” Bandele declared.
“Let’s build political power,” she added, invoking Fannie Lou Hamer’s organizing legacy.
“Make sure that when we pass laws, we have the power as a community to make sure that those laws are implemented and that they are enforced. Otherwise, it’s just words on a paper.”
