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Donna Brazile, Yolanda Caraway, Leah D. Daughtry, Minyon Moore, and Veronica Chambers
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00:00All right, welcome to the 25th anniversary of Essence Festival.
00:04It's a historic year, and we will celebrate this year's epic party with a purpose
00:09with these four phenomenal black women.
00:12They are the authors of For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Politics,
00:18and work that they have done individually and together
00:21to engage our people in the political process is really groundbreaking.
00:28And joining me on stage, first, the Reverend Leah Daughtry is a national-recognized teacher.
00:36She's a preacher, speaker, organizer, leader, planner, political strategist, CEO,
00:42and she was the CEO of the 2008 and 2016, y'all, two conventions.
00:50She was the CEO of the Democratic National Convention, Reverend Leah Daughtry.
00:58Yolanda Carraway, a founder of the Carraway Group, a nationally-recognized public relations firm,
01:05has played a major role in shaping the goals and objectives of the Democratic Party
01:10for over 30 years and has branded it and has resurrected some political careers,
01:16some I wish she'd left in the grave, but she did it anyhow.
01:19Yolanda Carraway.
01:23Min Young Moore, partner of the Dewey Square Group,
01:28was formerly CEO of the Democratic National Committee.
01:32She was assistant to the President of the United States,
01:34Director of the White House Office of Public Liaison,
01:37and Director of White House Political Affairs under President Bill Clinton.
01:42Min Young Moore.
01:43And Louisiana's own Donna Brazile.
01:49A veteran Democratic political strategist.
01:57She's an adjunct professor at Georgetown University,
02:00author, television, political commentator, and former interim chair.
02:06No, they were interim.
02:07She was real.
02:09Of the Democratic Party, Donna Brazile.
02:11Thank you, Reverend.
02:14Let me open this by talking about the current presidential politics.
02:21Some of the candidates I'm going to be questioning here tomorrow and Sunday.
02:25What advice?
02:26Let me start with you, Yolanda, because I've seen you do miracles with candidates.
02:31What advice would you give the candidates who are running now,
02:35several of whom are going to be here tomorrow and Sunday?
02:37I'm talking about the Democratic candidates.
02:39Trump won't be here.
02:40We don't have no tanks outside.
02:42Is this on?
02:44Yeah.
02:44Can you hear me?
02:45Yeah.
02:47You know, we have, this is such a phenomenal election year coming up.
02:50We have...
02:51Put it to you.
02:52Put it to you.
02:52Put it to you.
02:52Yeah.
02:53We have so many options that we didn't have last time.
02:56You know, people complain because all you had was Bernie and Hillary.
02:59Well, now you've got some of everybody.
03:01You've got black people.
03:02You've got women.
03:03You've got LBGP people.
03:06Everybody is running.
03:08And you've got...
03:08And they're all good.
03:09For the most part, they're really all good candidates.
03:12I would say one thing that I've seen from the first debate, and I think this came from this,
03:18they need to be consistent and clear and concise about their messages.
03:24We need to know what their plans are.
03:26Elizabeth Warren has done a great job of showing that to us.
03:29We need to know what they want to do.
03:31And we need to know how they're going to beat Donald Trump because that's the main thing.
03:34That is the main objective is to get rid of him.
03:36You know, I would say that we don't have to reinvent the wheel because we have a former
03:44presidential candidate on this stage who has modeled what a president should be doing
03:50and how he should be talking to voters.
03:53I would also say that you have the power.
03:55They don't.
03:56And we cannot let them squabble their way through this presidency.
04:01I think Yolanda was absolutely right.
04:03We have to focus them if they're not going to focus.
04:08And so I would say we're looking for strength.
04:10We're looking for consistency.
04:11We're looking for humanity.
04:13And we're looking for somebody ultimately that can take this country and take it in a
04:18direction that our young people can be proud of.
04:21So I hope you'll encourage them to keep focused and to get out and encourage us to get out to vote.
04:27Reverend Daughtry, and I want to add to the, as you answer, add this in.
04:32How do they also break the grip of the evangelical community that is committed to Trump despite
04:39his obvious contradictions?
04:42Well, you know, Trump has his supporters and his core base.
04:45They're not going to change.
04:46So I don't think we pay a lot of attention to them.
04:49What those of us in the faith community need to do is take back our faith.
04:53Part of the rise of the religious right is the fault of the religious left because we
04:58let them grab the stage and we let them define who God is and define what values are.
05:05And we need to be more vocal, not just the black church, but the white church as well
05:09needs to be more vocal about who God really is, our understanding of our faith and our understanding
05:15about what's right and what's wrong.
05:17My advice to the candidates would be, the voters are smart.
05:21Talk to the voters.
05:22Don't treat us like we're idiots.
05:24We have thoughts.
05:25We have ideas about what we care about.
05:28We want to hear from you, but we want you to talk to us.
05:32We have things we want to share with you.
05:34Don't assume that all black vote is monolithic.
05:38Don't assume that all women's vote is monolithic.
05:41And don't just speak at us.
05:42Talk with us so you can understand what our values are and you can develop a platform that
05:48we really will care about.
05:49Donna Brazile.
05:51First of all, I would tell them if they don't show up at Essence in 2019, don't ask for our
05:57help in 2020.
05:58That's number one.
06:00They need to come where we are.
06:02We are no longer running to them.
06:04They must run to us.
06:06Seventy percent of black women cast their ballots in the last election season.
06:11We don't need to wait for them to follow us.
06:15They need to lead with us in order for us to make the change.
06:19We have 487 days until the next election.
06:23So everyone here needs to check their registration status.
06:26If you want change, you have to be the game changer.
06:30And if you want to make history again in 2020, then you need to prepare to vote in 2019.
06:37One of the things that I've observed, and this is not in the script, but y'all don't follow
06:47the script know how, is that a lot of the political advice, you have 25 candidates, are coming from
06:55Blacks that really have no experience with our community.
07:00And every one of you on this stage come out of some form of movement.
07:07I was mentored by Reverend Jesse Jackson.
07:09I grew up as his youth director.
07:11We fought like him and Dr. King fought, but that's what mentors and mentees do.
07:15But I learned from him.
07:16You are the daughter of one of our national civil rights icons, Reverend Herbert Daughtry.
07:22Yolanda worked with Reverend Jackson and started her business and helped to cultivate that.
07:27Min Young was a protege of Willie Barrow and came out of Jackson's movement.
07:32Donna Brazile, there with Eleanor Holmes Norton and the Jackson movement.
07:37I don't know where I missed it.
07:39They must have a plant where they're manufacturing Negroes because they got Negroes working in these campaigns
07:45I've never heard of before.
07:47There's a laboratory creating Negroes because they don't know us.
07:51They don't talk to us.
07:52They don't know how to talk about us.
07:54Isn't a large part of what y'all do and a large part of this book that everybody ought to read for colored girls
08:01showing that you are grounded in something and you grew into who you became, household name and all of that,
08:09because the seeds were planted and you can't just come into an election and just create yourself in the middle of a campaign.
08:16Reverend, I know I made it rough for you to ask that because y'all got to be diplomatic, but y'all know.
08:22I feel like I need an organ back here.
08:25It is a challenge.
08:27There are a lot of new young folks that are coming into campaigns and more power to them.
08:31Wish them well.
08:32You got to learn.
08:34It's the school of hard knocks.
08:35But all of us have to be connected to somebody.
08:39The Bible says he calls the young because they're strong, but the old because they know the way.
08:44And so we all have to be connected to a community, to be grounded, to live out the lessons.
08:50There's no point in you repeating the lessons I already learned when I could just tell them to you.
08:54So, you know, I think that's something that we have to work on, not just in politics, but in every sector.
08:59The business, you name it, where we can mentor people and that the lessons that have already been learned are not seen as out of touch, as nonsense.
09:10And, you know, we will do better.
09:12That's part of the challenge of our people, to learn the lessons and to bring the elders along as resources.
09:19Yo?
09:19I mean, Ms. Carraway.
09:21I thought we was at the office.
09:22I'm sorry.
09:23That's all right.
09:24You can always call me Yo.
09:27You know, I think that there are so many, there are a lot of young people.
09:31And we saw a lot of young black people come up with Obama.
09:34Right.
09:36A lot of them were unknown.
09:38Some of them have become known now.
09:40Same thing with Hillary.
09:41There are a lot of young people out there now who've never worked on a campaign.
09:45I think it's great.
09:46I mean, I'm happy to see it.
09:47But what I do miss with a lot of these campaigns, most of them, I don't see any seasoned senior people on their campaign.
09:53Yeah, that's my point.
09:55Yeah.
09:55Well, one of our millennial friends gave us this term for several African Americans who are of our skin color,
10:06but they happen to be adjacent to the black community.
10:09And I think part of the challenge is we're in this cross-generational aspect.
10:15So I think what we've learned to do is just take them under our wings.
10:19And we really have, because they are on the front lines.
10:22They are who people, it's who the candidates trust.
10:26But the real good ones will attach to a Reverend Sharpton or Leah Daughtry, Donna Brazile or Mignon Moore or Yolanda Carraway
10:35or whoever who has come before them.
10:37I hope, like we only have one black woman who's running a campaign, and she's running it for a Hispanic.
10:45And God bless her, because we want her to do good.
10:48We want her to show up.
10:50So I think we can't discard them.
10:52But here's what I won't do.
10:54I'm not embracing anyone that don't understand that we have paid our dues and we don't have to pay them again.
11:02I'm not going to do that.
11:04And they will hear it for me loud and clear.
11:05But don't you think, Donna, if we have 25 candidates and you were the head of a campaign,
11:15first black woman to head a campaign 19 years ago, that you would think out of 25 candidates,
11:23we'd have more than one black woman to head of a campaign today?
11:26Well, first of all, we are more than qualified to not just manage a presidential campaign,
11:32but we can also manage the White House, as Mignon could tell you, because she was there in the White House.
11:38So we have the talent and ability to do anything that we please.
11:41But Reverend, you're so right.
11:43We need people who are rooted in the community.
11:46When I worked for Reverend Jackson, I already had Reverend Jackson's, sorry,
11:51when I worked for Al Gore, I already had Reverend Jackson's number.
11:55I've already had Reverend Sharpton's number.
11:57I knew how to reach out to Coretta Scott King and every member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
12:02And so, yes, it's important that we all connect with one another, that we know one another, that we pass on this seed.
12:09Reverend Sharpton mentioned Jesse Jackson.
12:11When I left this state of Louisiana more than 40 years ago, I had a great opportunity to work not just for Coretta Scott King,
12:20but for Jesse Jackson, his first presidential campaign.
12:23And had it not been for Reverend Jesse Jackson, y'all hear this, had it not been for Jesse Jackson,
12:29we never could have had a Barack Obama because Jesse made sure the rules were fair.
12:35Reverend Jackson made sure that we all had a seat at the table,
12:38that we could all become somebody when we got to that table.
12:42So remember, what we did in 1984 and 1988 translated into, in 2004, when Reverend Sharpton ran.
12:51In 2008, we finally got Barack Obama.
12:54And if you get up and vote next year, we will tell Donald Trump he's fired and sent his ass wherever he wants to go.
13:01But he ain't coming here.
13:02That's right.
13:06No, and I think it's important we reestablish those roots with Reverend Jackson and Shirley Chisholm and all of that.
13:14Only a dog pisses on the roots of a tree.
13:17And we need to really deal with that in that way.
13:22I think it's important.
13:23Let me ask you, what are the key issues that you think should penetrate the black community?
13:31Why is people sitting out there saying it's not going to make a difference?
13:34What would you think are the things they need to understand that's vital that would drive the vote and drive the turnout?
13:40Aside from the obvious, police, gun control and police, we've got to get into this climate thing, change.
13:47The climate change.
13:49I mean, we have got to be active as black people.
13:52We're suffering a lot more than anybody else from a lot of this stuff.
13:56There's so much environmental racism going on in this country.
13:58We've really got to get behind climate change.
14:01I know that the guy in the White House wants, doesn't believe, doesn't believe it, but we all know he's crazy.
14:07So, you know, I think that they all have to understand the power of the black vote, including the black women's vote.
14:16The road to the White House goes through black women.
14:18That's just the bottom line.
14:19We are the largest, most consisting voting bloc in the nation.
14:23And economically, and this is important, we control $1.5 trillion, $1.5 trillion in the American economy.
14:33We can shut a business down or build a business up.
14:36And we have to focus on that and really understand our power in terms of the economic levers.
14:42Health care.
14:45I was born at Charity Hospital not far from here.
14:48Health care.
14:50Because if you don't have your health, no matter how much money you have, it doesn't matter.
14:54So we need to talk about their plans for health care.
14:57Black maternal health care is a crucial issue.
15:00We need to have, we need to make sure that these jobs are jobs that have a living wage.
15:05So don't let nobody talk to you about the economy without jobs.
15:09We got to talk about criminal justice reform.
15:11Today they treat OPRs like it's a health crisis.
15:14And they treated crack cocaine like it was a criminal charge.
15:17So we need to have all these issues on the table.
15:20Every issue that comes across our table should come out of our mouths.
15:25Don't let them come and give you all some talking points.
15:27If they got a plan, they better have a plan to help save this country and help save our communities as well.
15:33Can I just say one thing about how to the point that this is not important?
15:40If our votes weren't important, the Russians would not have spent millions and millions of dollars on these bots,
15:49these, to get us to stay home, to get us to not vote, the misinformation and the disinformation campaigns.
15:56If we weren't important, we wouldn't have been worth the money.
15:59They made an investment to get us to stay home.
16:04If there's any other signal that our vote doesn't matter, that's it.
16:08Well, the book is for colored girls who have considered politics.
16:13And these are four that have really opened the door.
16:17You need to understand it.
16:18You need to study it.
16:20And you need to know that it is the people that shape and mold the politics that sometimes you don't see,
16:27but they're the ones that shape the message you hear or don't hear.
16:30And nobody's done it better than these four giant sisters sitting on this stage.
16:36Give them a hand.
16:37Donna Brazile, Mignon Moore, Yolanda Carraway, Leah Daughtry.
16:43Give us our broad words, Mignon Moore.
16:44We are actually doing a book signing across the hall at the Book Pavilion.
16:49We hope you'll come over.
16:50And we'd also like to thank one of our sponsors, AT&T and Tanya Lombard,
16:55the Humanity of Connections, for actually hosting us on this forum with Essence.
17:00And you're going to be where?
17:01We're going to be at the Book Pavilion.
17:03Book Pavilion.
17:04Come over and get a copy of the book and sign it.
17:08And Tanya Lombard, which came out of the movement, was one of those that y'all mentored.
17:12And Tanya's become huge, but she never forgets her roots.
17:16You sound like Bernie Sanders.
17:17Huge.
17:19Reverend, can we say something?
17:20Bernie Sanders sound like me.
17:21Can we say something?
17:24Ladies and the brothers who are here, I want to say something about Reverend Al Sharpton.
17:29Because often Reverend Al Sharpton is out there taking all of the hits
17:35before anybody else is willing to stand up and speak truth to power.
17:40And I want to say on behalf of all the color girls and all the color boys
17:45how much we appreciate his leadership, his sacrifice, and his dedication to our values and our goals.
17:53So, Reverend, thank you.
17:54Thank you, Don.
17:56All right, thank you.
17:58Get the book.
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