‘Freedom Table’ With Rashad Robinson: From Presence To Power

On the latest episode of Freedom Table, lifelong activist and community organizer Alicia Garza took over the host’s chair. Alicia turned the questions on political strategist and co-founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund LaTosha Brown and myself for a conversation on power that explores many of the themes found in my upcoming book From Presence to Power: How to Take On the Fights That Matter–and Win, available July 28, 2026.

Alicia, LaTosha, and I dig into the relationship between presence and power, and I argue that the relationship does not have to be an adversarial one. After all, we live in the age of the attention economy, where views, shares, and likes can become their own sort of currency. But, this overreliance on visibility can often convince us that we’ve accomplished something that we haven’t, that we’ve achieved an amount of leverage that makes people, institutions, and systems move. But, real and lasting power is the ability to change the rules. And mistaking presence for power, or rather, stopping at presence on the path to power, puts us at risk of derailing our own progress.

In the conversation – and in From Presence to Power – we look back at the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and the city of New Orleans – a city where over half of the population is Black and our presence is embedded in the food, the music, the customs, and the culture of the city. And yet, in spite of our overwhelming presence, Black people were all but abandoned in their time of need when the levees broke. And behind closed doors, invisible to most, then Congressman Mike Pence and the Heritage Foundation sliced the city of New Orleans into pieces they could privatize, only further stripping the Black population of its power. And yet, the rhetoric surrounding Katrina that was broadcast through the media and beyond was far from sympathetic – Black Louisianians were portrayed as looters who weren’t resourceful or capable enough to survive this unjust and unnatural disaster. As I write in my book, no one – from the politicians to the corporations to the media – was nervous about disappointing Black people in New Orleans.

LaTosha acutely understands what’s at risk when we mistake presence for power. As a movement leader many times over, she has spent years encouraging our people to participate in the democratic process and exercise their right to vote, but she reiterates that participation was never meant to be the end goal. The vote was never just about participation; it was always about power – and that has become even more apparent as voting rights remain under attack by the Trump administration and its enablers. LaTosha challenges those who are quick to dismiss the redistricting efforts in states below the Mason-Dixon line as strictly Southern problems and reminds us that even if you don’t live in the South, you are shaped by Southern policy: the very cases that stripped voting rights and prohibited abortion and women’s healthcare in this country came out of the South. But, when we assume that an issue is just an unfortunate consequence of living in a particular region, rather than a structural, intentional and systemic case of injustice, we are incapable of holding the appropriate parties accountable and achieving change that lasts. 

From Presence to Power is a toolkit for the 21st century for everyone who wants to fight back and achieve change that lasts. But, in this conversation, I make it clear that this work is not easy, and anyone who tries to convince you that the injustices of this moment can be undone in three simple steps is likely pulling the wool over your eyes. That said, From Presence to Power provides exercises, tangible and practical tools for all of us to find our individual power. I offer in-depth stories from my own experiences taking on everyone from Mark Zuckerberg and Big Tech to Chuck Schumer and the political establishment. I poured everything I’ve learned from the frontlines of social justice movements into this book, and I hope you’ll order a copy and join Alicia, LaTosha, and me in the continued work of creating a more equitable world. 

SEE ALSO:

‘Freedom Table’ With Rashad Robinson Takes Aim At Copaganda

‘Freedom Table’ With Rashad Robinson: Pushing Back Against Voter Suppression