I sat down with political strategist and author Atima Omara to discuss her new book The Instigators, our June It Has to Be Read. offering, and the long history of Black women defending American democracy while being sidelined by the very institutions they helped build.
Our conversation moves through Trumpism, Project 2025, media failure, white evangelical nationalism, voter suppression, faith, organizing in the South, and the uncomfortable truths Democrats still resist facing.
Atima speaks personally about growing up as the daughter of Ugandan immigrants in Virginia, working inside Democratic politics for nearly two decades, and why she believes the country is standing at a crossroads.
I hope you enjoy this Conversation about reckoning with our past so we can plan for our future.
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LINKS
Our June It Has to Be Read. offering,
The Instigators: How Black Women Have Been Essential to American Democracy
(And What We Can Learn from Them)
on Bookshop
Shop the “It Has to Be Read.” Book Club List: https://bookshop.org/shop/frankschaeffer
Named to Ebony Magazine’s “Power 100” list of emerging leaders and Jet Magazine’s “40 Under 40” list, Atima Omara works and leads at the intersection of electoral politics and issue advocacy in the progressive movement. She is a political strategist, advocate, trainer, leader, and speaker with significant political, government, and non-profit experience, and she is a sought-after commentator and strategist.
As the President & Chief Strategist of Omara Strategy Group, she provides strategic consulting to progressive candidates and organizations centering women and people of color in their mission and work. She strategizes with candidates and political organizations to win victories for a more reflective progressive democracy.
An American-born child of Black immigrants, Atima realized early the importance of catalyzing social and electoral change from both the grassroots and leadership levels—especially among underrepresented communities. She has worked as Special Assistant to then-Virginia Governor Mark Warner, and then went to work as an organizer in multiple states with a union and community organizations on voter registration, ballot initiatives, and get-out-the-vote operations in low-income communities of color and immigrant communities.