What is the State of the People Power Tour? Why it Matters

I was honored to welcome Angela Rye and Jeffery Wallace to this special Juneteenth episode of the Legal Lens Podcast. As we mark this day of freedom and reflection, we’re reminded that honoring Juneteenth isn’t just about acknowledging history; it’s about committing to the ongoing work of justice and liberation. Angela and Jeffery have been on the frontlines of that work through the State of the People Power Tour, a grassroots activism movement that is redefining what civic engagement and community empowerment look like in Black America.

To hear their powerful insights and vision firsthand, I encourage you to listen to our candid 36-minute conversation, conveniently available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Simplecast, and everywhere you get your podcasts for free. Here’s a recap of the conversation and the urgent call to action that emerged from it.

Angela Rye and Jeffery Wallace on the State of the People Power Tour in 2025, the Importance of Grassroots Activism, ICE Raids in Los Angeles, and the Rise of a New Black Policy Agenda

I was honored to welcome movement builders, policy architects, and cultural change agents Angela Rye and Jeffery Wallace on the program as they took us behind the lens in honor of Juneteenth to discuss the State of the People Power Tour, why grassroots activism is crucial, ICE raids in Los Angeles, and the rise of a new black policy agenda. Here is what we discussed!

Who is Angela Rye?

I was thrilled to have the amazing and indomitable Angela Rye on my program, who has been doing incredible work with the State of the People Power Tour and Movement. Angela Rye is an award-winning host, social justice advocate, and fellow lawyer and commentator.

A self-described empowermentor, she hosted her own podcast, One-on-One with Angela Rye, and now has provided poignant commentary on CNN and other major networks. She now hosts the Native Land Pod with Andrew Gillum and Tiffany Cross.

She served as the executive director and general counsel of the Congressional Black Caucus in its 112th Session. She has also been a senior policy advisor and counsel for the House Committee on Homeland Security.

“The most important things about me are where I was raised and who I was raised by,” said Rye. “I was raised by a bullhorn-toting dad who is an activist. He is on the agitator side of the activism spectrum, and he believes in pushing, pushing, pushing, and forcing societal change for Black People. So, I was named after Angela Davis. My mom is a retired higher education administrator. She was a community college vice president for many, many years and has her doctorate in education. With the two of them, I grew up in a house with black art on the walls, black books on the shelves, black dolls, all black everything,” she said, reflecting on the environment in which she grew up.

Clearly, her life and upbringing were defined by radical activism, and she cites the language used around her and the causes and issues she grew up around as playing a vital role in molding her into the civically engaged individual she is today. Rye even joked that she was recently having a discussion with her mom about who was the biggest radical between her and her father.

“You wouldn’t think the higher educator administrator would be the bigger radical between the two of them,” Rye laughed, “but that is the woman who took me to see Betty Shabazz and Bobby Seale and Tim Wa. And even though Tim Wa is not one of us, he’s more like us than some of us can be. He’s more kin folk than some of our skin folk. And my dad had me in the backseat when he was going to do a protest, and I would be in meetings with him. I remember in preschool, they asked me to talk about what my parents did, so I said, ‘My mom goes to work, and my dad goes to meetings,’ and I even fought my seventh-grade teacher about a history book being wrong and co-founded a black student union with my best friend in high school, and I just haven’t looked back” she reflected.

Rye went to college at the University of Washington and says that she ended up in that area because her grandfather was a Pullman porter and asked her grandmother where she wanted to live when he was positioned to become the Northwest Regional Organizer. She picked Seattle.

Who is Jeffery Wallace?

Jeffery Wallace is a three-time Legal Lens Podcast guest and a fan favorite, who we value immensely as a go-to partner and authority who brings incredible insight to the show. Jeff has been identified as one of Fast Company’s 100 most up-and-coming professionals in this day and time.

He is a social impact entrepreneur, working to change the landscape of vulnerable young adults in today’s workforce and, of course, the President and CEO of LeadersUp. When I asked Wallace how he and Rye connected to further the State of the People Movement, he gave credit to a friend.

“Angela and I share a best friend by the name of Dr. David Jermaine Johns,” explained Wallace. “He is a phenomenal leader that connected me with Angela and said, you know, ‘Bro, you have to be a part of this work.’ Initially, as we talked about in my last appearance on your show, Angela, I participated in authoring the Black Papers, and that’s one of the things that the State of the People Power Tour Movement is so phenomenal at. It’s multidimensional,” he said.

Wallace explained that there are over 12 Black Papers that have been written now that span across the spectrum of life and advocacy for black communities across the country. He also detailed his experience working in economic justice, workforce development, and education.

“I was one of four city leads partnered with Derek Steele, Kevin Cosney, and Adrian R.A. Shire,” Wallace said. “That’s the Black Pack Social Justice Learning Institute and the Black Power Network. LeadersUp would’ve never been working with these powerful transformative black organizations if we were not brought together as city leads of the State of the People Power Tour,” he explained.

Wallace described this as being one of the biggest effects of this movement, and he says he was incredibly grateful to be called to join these leaders.

“That’s one direct impact that is long-standing,” explained Wallace. “We’ll be working together after the tour. Coming together to do some work to really ensure that we defend and deliver democracy at such a time as this was so critical,” he said.

What is the State of the People Power Tour?

The State of the People Power Tour is a 12-city tour, concluding with a Los Angeles stop and culminating in an event in Baltimore. Most stops were two-day events, and some were one-day stops.

During these stops, a prominent theme was the need to meet people where they are, but it was so much more – starting with listening.

“What was core to these events was that we started with providing relief to the community,” said Rye. “I don’t believe that we can ask people to come in and bring anything of themselves if their basic needs aren’t being met. So, going into the tour, we knew we wanted to meet basic needs and show people that we cared about how they’re doing. There was a listening session or town hall component where we could hear from the community without us talking and just hear them,” she said.

Rye said another important component of the tour has been workshops, as well as a rally component.

“We wanted to equip communities with workshops and resources to give them a holistic experience,” said Rye. “We wanted them to leave with skills and knowledge that would help them, including vendor fairs. Lastly, there was a rally component, which was designed to encourage people to go forth, like church on a Sunday, so that they feel empowered and know they have everything they need and can do what they need to do. Most importantly, we wanted them to feel like their people are backing them,” she explained.

What is the Mission and Vision of the State of the People Power Tour, and How Did It All Come Together?

Rye said that the State of the People Power Tour is, in many ways, a product of and a reaction to the current political climate.

“My most honest answer is we have been wrestling since January with our leaders not meeting the moment,” said Rye. “They’re not saying anything, they’re not doing anything, and they’re doing a lot of coaching from the sidelines. It’s been a lot of commentary and not a lot of action, and this doesn’t stop with the leaders. Because if we are saying that certain leaders aren’t meeting the moment, the question becomes, well, are you?” she explained.

Rye’s radical and activist roots have made her believe that anything is possible when you take action and stand for what you believe in, which is reflected in her approach to this movement.

“In March, during Donald Trump’s joint address to Congress, we said we want to do a 24-hour virtual marathon where we bring people the truth of what’s happened so far in this administration, what we think is coming, and what our collective responses could be,” said Rye. “So, a bunch of different organizations all had about an hour, and it was this beautiful tapestry of how much we can do if we all just do our part. We pulled it together in 36 hours,” she added.

She said that as soon as they were done, they had over one million views collectively across platforms, which is an impressive feat in and of itself, but Rye has never been the kind of person to rest on her laurels.

“People asked, ‘What are y’all doing next?’” said Rye. “I didn’t know, but what it showed us is that our people wanted something, and they wanted connection. So we had this meeting with some black leaders, and in that meeting, we had this conversation about a tour. Pastor Mike McBride was saying, ‘Hey, I was going to do this tour anyway – I’ll set my tour aside if we’re really going to do something together.’ The first time we ever said anything about a tour out loud was March 17th, and we didn’t say anything publicly until March 26th,” she said.

One month later, the State of the People Power Tour had its first tour date, which took place in Atlanta.

“We launched a 10-city tour that ended up being 12, and what we heard from people is that they needed connection,” explained Rye. “They didn’t feel prepared. Some of our folks have been feeling like they need relief and haven’t felt heard. But one thing that’s happened since January is pain and trauma have been democratized in a very real way, so a lot of people who weren’t feeling pain and were removed from it are feeling it. We’re all in the same boat now, if we’re in a boat at all,” she said.

Ultimately, getting out on this tour brought Rye, Wallace, and their team closer to the people – it helped them gain a deeper understanding of what people were experiencing and, most vitally, what they needed.

What Does the Black Community Need?

During this tour, Rye gained a deep and profound understanding of what her community needed and how to engage with it.

“We realized that we needed to connect our people,” said Rye. “We decided to tour around relief, around listening and really hearing, and the one thing I’ve been telling people mostly is that I feel so bad for all the times that I went into our community and said the most important thing you can do is vote. It’s not that it’s not true, because that is a significant responsibility, but how dare we do that without ever asking someone how they’re doing, if they can feed their family, if they have a loved one they’re trying to bail out, if their lights are about to be cut off, if they don’t have a car to get to work, if they don’t have a job, if they have a job but still can’t make ends meet,” she explained, fighting back the tears.

She called this approach “shortsighted” and “so remarkably unfair” when, as Rye put it with her usual rousing aplomb, “We really have everything we need.”

“It is unfortunate and irresponsible, really, if we’re such poor stewards over what we have that all the people who need what we have don’t ever get it,” said Rye. “That’s what the tour is about – here are all the abundant resources that we have. Is it what we deserve? No. Is it what they owe us? No. But here is what we have, and what we have is sufficient to get us through until we get to real justice and equity,” she elaborated.

Rye said that this revelation came to her during the tour, and she can even remember the people who caused her to have it.

“I can name the moments where I felt it,” Rye remembered. “I can name the person who made me see it. You know, the woman in New Orleans who came into the space with two children under three, deciding at that moment to come and bet on us to pay that light bill because we said we were paying people’s light bills, and we did that,” she said proudly.

What truly resonated with Rye, however, was what people went through to attend these engagements and the support the community showed each other during them.

“She bet on us even when she didn’t know if her car would work to get her there, to take her children where they needed to be, and to get her to work on time,” said Rye. “That meant a lot. And when her car broke down, there happened to be a man there who could jump her car so she could get the light bill paid and get to work. But that’s not her everyday experience, right? Every day, she’s making a decision about what the car will work for and what it won’t. It was really humbling and eye-opening,” she explained.

Rye said that this woman was one of many stories that stuck with her.

“It’s the teacher who sleeps in her car in Atlanta; it’s the woman in Detroit who says she was born in prison and ended up going back to prison and is now fighting to ensure mental health spaces for people who are incarcerated,” said Rye. “So, there’s some pain in this story, but there’s also this moment of triumph in what we can provide to and for each other – the fact that they would still advocate for what’s right for everybody else right in the middle of their pain is remarkable. But it has also shown me that we shouldn’t move transactionally with each other as black people. That is not our natural disposition – that is a White Supremacist paradigm we need to leave with them. It’s about understanding how we can show up if we need to embrace the whole village,” she elaborated.

What’s Next for the State of the People Power Tour?

Rye said that while she’s naturally impulsive and likes to do things in the spur of the moment, the State of the People Power Tour has made her temper those impulses and think further ahead.

“I’ve been forced out of that,” laughed Rye. “We have to be thinking about what’s next, and I think that’s part of volunteering, which is all good. What’s immediately next is we’re doing the National Assembly in Baltimore on Juneteenth, so the 19th through the 21st, at the Empowerment Temple and an adjacent venue called Forum Caterers. It’s free to register, and we can’t pay for you to get there, but we will invite you in and feed you just like your grandma and them would do,” she smiled.

Rye said that the first day of this event will be a lighter day that will feature a fish fry and celebration, and the next day, they will address the reality of where we are, how this democracy is failing the community, and reparations that are still not paid, and they will also have some plenaries go through the Black Papers Policy initiative that Jeffery referred to.

“We’ll be discussing all of these things to contextualize where we are in reference to the freedom that was promised before Juneteenth and how quickly it seems like it’s going in the wrong direction,” said Rye.

Rye says that they also had activities that are more relevant than ever, given the climate in L.A.

“We’ll have some tabletop kinds of exercises, so they know what is realistic, and unfortunately for L.A., while we were at the event, ICE raids were happening,” Rye said. “So the tabletop exercises that we’re going to do are right in alignment with what is happening in LA,” she said.

Of course, for an activist and community leader like Angela Rye, the most exciting component revolves around how to encourage civic activism and put the power back in the hands of the people.

“We have three different sections for breakouts during discussions, and one of the things I’m most excited about on the second day is our delegate training,” beamed Rye. “We’re inviting people into this space as we develop this structure and infrastructure around our own system. So, what does it mean to participate as a delegate? Well, you’re going to learn what it means to go back to your home state and run for delegate, whether it’s a unanimous consent process, secret ballot process, open ballot process, or whatever, and then you can come back and represent the interests of your states,” she said.

This grassroots activism, ultimately, is the key to inciting meaningful, long-lasting change.

“People will be going back to their states to organize around the same black grassroots organizations they just worked with, and if they didn’t have a tour stop, we’ll be giving people the blueprint to have their own tour dates in their cities,” Rye said.

What Did You Think When the ICE Raids in Los Angeles Occurred During the State of the People Power Tour?

As an Angeleno, Jeffery Wallace has been uniquely affected by the recent ICE raids, and he remembers vividly what he was thinking when he got word of what was occurring during the first leg of the State of the People Power Tour.

“One of the things I really thought about as I was operationalizing the tour and processing what was going on, literally a mile and a half away from where the tour stop was in South Central, was how have we extracted the humanity out of our community to get to this point?” lamented Wallace. “When immigration comes up, particularly in the black community, two dimensions are lost when we discuss this topic. One is that there are black immigrants that are being impacted by this, whether it be African Caribbean or Afro-Latino. And two, when we talk about immigration, we shouldn’t be talking about the utility of people; we should be talking about their humanity,” he said.

While he was deeply affected by the recent ICE raids, Wallace said that he was also inspired when he realized what he was in a position to do during the State of the People Power Tour.

“One of the things that really stoked my fire about this entire process and the tour itself is that it really is the manifestation of the beloved community that Dr. King reminded us of,” said Wallace. “It reminded us of what we need to do when we organize and come together,” he added.

What Have Been the Highlights of the State of the People Power Tour?

Wallace said that, if he could break down the mission of this movement, it would be that they are “operationalizing love,” which he believes was evident during this tour.

“We had over 45 organizations and leaders that participated in the planning and execution of this tour,” said Wallace. “The first day was at the First Charter Boarding School in L.A. County, Cedar, a school which has a majority black and brown student population, so these young folks were able to see leaders and advocates and the vice president and their elected officials descend upon their campus and talk about a brighter future for them and invite them into the space to participate,” he said.

One of the highlights of this tour, Wallace said, was being able to work with Altadena.

“One of the things that was really special about this tour was answering the call to our brothers, sisters, and siblings in Altadena,” said Wallace. “Altadena has fallen out of the news cycle. Folks get it conflated with the work of Mayor Bass. We were able to meet with the state assembly people and local school board members. Over 6,000 students have been displaced from the Pasadena Unified School District. We were able to really shine a light on two things. One, this is what we need you to do with our tax-paying dollars, so we’re really holding them accountable with our vote. But two, we wanted to show that we have our own people’s back and have our own ability to provide mutual aid and connect folks to mental wellness services,” he said proudly.

However, what he truly loves about the State of the People is that it has created a new black policy agenda, which is a truly revolutionary byproduct of this movement.

“What’s beautiful about the State of the People Power Tour and the black papers produced from this movement is that we now have a comprehensive black agenda, and I don’t think we’ve had something like this that has been documented for over 20 years as it relates to bringing together the best and brightest minds from across policy practice to really drive an agenda together,” Wallace enthused. “Local leaders and elected leaders now have something to point to and hold elected leaders accountable to, from economics to education to entrepreneurship to home ownership. They’re all in the Black Papers, and the brilliance of the Black Papers is that they were written at an eighth-grade reading level so everyone can understand and carry it to the polls with them,” he said proudly.

How Are the ICE Raids in Los Angeles and Beyond Impacting Black Communities?

Wallace continued to emphasize that the ICE raids that are continuing to occur are an issue that is not just about immigration – they’re a humanitarian issue.

“Immigration is a human issue that impacts the black community and other communities deeply,” said Wallace. “This threat that we are experiencing right now at the federal level is dehumanizing Americans. It’s something we cannot stand for,” he said.

What Needs to Happen Now After the State of the People Power Tour in 2025?

Wallace explained that now, it’s time for the community to come together, uplift each other, and act, from parents instilling fortitude in their children to adults acting as engaged citizens.

“I’m so excited that Angela and her team’s vision is moving beyond the tour to a general assembly where we can continue to drink from the well and come together and learn from each other and know that we can look to our left and our right and know that we have folks that are locked in with us,” said Wallace. “Because it’s time to lock in, black folks. We have to lock into this agenda and push this thing forward,” he said.

Angela Rye also shared some closing thoughts on the importance of being prepared.

“If we understand what is possible, we will never be surprised,” mused Ryel. “It is imminently important that we are connected, that we are strategizing, and that we’re working through what is needed for our survival. I can’t wait to get black folks past survival. We’ve been fighting that same fight for 400-plus years. I can’t wait to get past that, but sadly, we aren’t there yet,” she said.

Want to Learn More About the State of the People Power Tour, Grassroots Activism, ICE Raids, and the Rise of a New Black Policy Agenda and Gain More Insights from Angela Rye and Jeffery Wallace? Download and Subscribe to My Podcast Today!

The insights shared by Angela Rye and Jeffery Wallace in this episode about the importance of grassroots activism, how to engage their community, the recent ICE raids in Los Angeles, and more are a powerful testament to the urgency, hope, and humanity driving the State of the People Power Tour. Their work reminds us that real change happens when we lead with love, listen deeply, and act boldly. As we mark Juneteenth, a day of both reflection and forward movement, this conversation feels especially timely. It was an honor to spotlight two visionary leaders who are helping our communities not only survive but organize, thrive, and claim their rightful power.

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Angela Rye and Jeffery Wallace on the State of the People Power Tour in 2025, ICE Raids, Grassroots Activism, and the Rise of a New Black Policy Agenda