- 14 hours ago
How Voting and Policy Shifts Aid in Building Black Wealth and Power.
Without political power it is impossible to generate sustained economic power that endures for generations. The effects from passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a clear example of this. After its passage, economic opportunities for Black people in the United States increased, as more jobs within the public sector became available and the Black-white wage gap narrowed. The ability to exercise this once removed power at scale led to advances economically for an entire community. Now through extreme gerrymandering and restrictions on voting rights targeted at Black voters, the political power that was being built is now under threat. If these voters are disenfranchised, it could be detrimental to the goal of building generational Black wealth. What can you do about it?
Without political power it is impossible to generate sustained economic power that endures for generations. The effects from passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 is a clear example of this. After its passage, economic opportunities for Black people in the United States increased, as more jobs within the public sector became available and the Black-white wage gap narrowed. The ability to exercise this once removed power at scale led to advances economically for an entire community. Now through extreme gerrymandering and restrictions on voting rights targeted at Black voters, the political power that was being built is now under threat. If these voters are disenfranchised, it could be detrimental to the goal of building generational Black wealth. What can you do about it?
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00Greetings! How y'all doing? I am very, very, very, as I kick over the water, happy to be here.
00:10We are going to have a family conversation today. We're going to talk about how voting and policy
00:18shifts aid in building black wealth and power. Obviously, lots of news over the last 24 to 48
00:26hours coming out of the Supreme Court, and we're going to get into all of it. I have a power-packed
00:31panel to have this conversation because the reality is this, y'all. Without political power,
00:36it is absolutely impossible to generate sustained economic power that endures generations. It is
00:44through political power that folks gain economic power. Somebody say economic power. So we're going
00:51to have that conversation today about the role that voting plays into that because I do believe there
00:56is an election coming up sometime soon. The first votes in a Republican primary will be cast on
01:01January 8th. So to aid in this conversation that we're going to have today, I want to bring to the
01:09stage our amazing panelists. First, give a warm round of applause to Nicole Austin Hillary. She is the
01:15President and CEO of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. Give it up for Nicole Austin Hillary.
01:23Please keep that applause going for Mr. Jamie Harrison. He is the chair of the Democratic
01:30National Committee and a great South Carolinian. My husband is from South Carolina, so we have to
01:34always shout out South Carolina everywhere we go, honey. Yes. And let's see someone on the
01:41someone on the audio team is a South Carolina hater, but that's all right. And last but certainly not least is
01:48Dr. Janine Abrams McLean. Now she is the President at Fair Count, y'all. Please give it up for Dr. Abrams McLean.
01:58All right. One could argue we color coordinated this thing today.
02:03So thank you all for for being here. Before we get into some of the other, you know, back and forth
02:11questions about voting in these political in these times in advance of this next election.
02:17Mr. Chairman, I want to start with you. Yesterday, the Supreme Court, many folks have reported it as the
02:23Supreme Court struck down affirmative action, but that is in fact not what the Supreme Court did. The
02:28Supreme Court weighed in on one particular piece of affirmative action, race conscious decision making,
02:34and deemed that unconstitutional. And then just this morning, the Supreme Court came out with some final
02:41decisions of the court this term, one of which under the First Amendment now, apparently it is legal to
02:49discriminate against LGBTQ plus individuals. And another case that everyone was watching was Biden,
02:59was the administration's student loan debt plan. The Supreme Court also struck that down. What is your
03:06response, Mr. Chairman? And especially to folks out there that say, you tell us to vote. Record numbers
03:12of people came out to vote in the last presidential election and in the last midterm election, yet this
03:18is what they are getting. Well, let me first, first and foremost, it is great to be on this panel with
03:23these amazing women. Thank you. Black women. Thank you so much. And it's so great to see each and every
03:30one of you. But, you know, I wasn't shocked by this court. We have seen this court, the Roberts Court,
03:39the legacy of this Roberts Court is going to be one where we have less freedom, less rights, and more
03:47discrimination. And the decisions yesterday and today just feed into exactly that. When we think about
03:58what they just did, when we think about a few years ago gutting the Voting Rights Act, because Roberts
04:05thought we had achieved a colorblind society, and we saw what happened immediately after you did that.
04:12A rush of laws in some of our red states going after the voting power of minorities, particularly
04:20black folks. We see now on this affirmative action, folks, and I think of this on a personal
04:27note. I was the first in my family to go to college. Many of you who are probably here who are college
04:32educated, you're probably first generation as well. My grandfather had a fourth grade education. My grandmother
04:38had an eighth grade education. My mom had to stop high school. And so it was able to transform not
04:44only my life, but the life of my entire family. What you are seeing right now with this court is that
04:50they didn't talk about the legacy of the third and fourth generations of people who went on to college
04:55and their parents had been to college. And they got into that college because of that. They didn't talk
05:01about the wealth and people just writing a check to get their sons and daughters into the university.
05:07They looked at the experience of black folks trying to make an end, to try to do better, to try to live
05:14the American dream, and they uprooted all of that. And then they put a final point on it by saying that
05:20the Joe Biden plan to give relief to these families, so many of us got Pell Grants. I'm a Pell Grant kid.
05:28You would have gotten $20,000 under Joe Biden's plan to wipe out $20,000 debt. They said, well, you know what?
05:35We're not going to allow that as well. Folks, this is the thing you have to understand.
05:40Voting is not a one-time thing. It took the Republicans 50 years to get rid of Roe versus Wade.
05:4650 years. They were persistent. They didn't stop. They didn't give up. We can't just think because
05:52you vote one time, that means then everything that we have is going to be secure. You have to
05:57constantly do it. The thing that I do with my two boys who are in the room, every time my wife and I
06:02go to vote, they vote with us. They go with us to vote. Because I want it instituted in their hands.
06:08Just like every morning they get up, they wash, they brush your teeth. I want them to know every
06:13November you go vote. Because that's what we do. And we have to institutionalize it in who we are.
06:19So you can't give up. Just because things have changed, black folks have gone through so much
06:23in this country. And we will continue to go through a lot. But the one thing we know about us as a people
06:29is that we don't give up. We don't stop fighting. We continue to push and push. Because I'd be damned if I
06:36let my sons live in the south or in a country like my grandparents did. So we can't give up, folks.
06:44So Nicole, for folks out there that don't know, you are the president and CEO of the Congressional
06:50Black Caucus Foundation. Folks, there are many branches that have the letter CBC. The Congressional
06:57Black Caucus Foundation, though, you all administer, if you will, ALC, the Annual Legislative Conference.
07:03That's every year, every September. Folks across the country, policy makers, black CEOs, just everyone
07:11who is engaged in any piece, if you will, of the African American experience in the broader American
07:19fabric. They come to Washington, D.C. for this conference. I have to imagine that given the,
07:25particularly the decision on affirmative action yesterday, you all are having some conversations.
07:30Are you concerned about potentially having some of the work of the Congressional Black Caucus
07:35Foundation challenged under the guise of race-based decision making? How are you all planning to
07:44triangulate on this issue and talk to policy makers and activists as you drive towards this September?
07:50Well, Simone, and good afternoon to everyone. It's a pleasure and a privilege to be here. Let me say this.
07:56Let me say this. Everyone needs to know that what we witnessed happening over the last two days,
08:00yesterday and today, is about privilege. It was about privilege. It was about ensuring that people
08:06who already have access to capital, to educational opportunities, to housing, to money, it was all about
08:13privilege. And the message that we got from the court is, for those of you who are not privileged,
08:19step back. Step back. But the thing is this. We are not going to step back. History has shown us
08:26that our people do not take a back seat. This is why I'm so glad you brought up the annual legislative
08:31conference. You all need to know the annual legislative conference that we put on every September is the
08:37largest black public policy conference held in the country, by far. And if you want to be with
08:44decision makers, if you want to be with other connectors, experts, policy people from around
08:51the country who are trying to make a difference, you need to be with us in September this year,
08:56September 20th through the 24th. Don't sit back and complain about what is not happening.
09:01Don't sit back and say, I didn't like what the court did. I don't like what my lawmakers are doing in
09:06my state. If you are not coming together with us and trying to figure out how to problem solve,
09:12that's what we have to do. And that's how we are going to pivot. We are going to talk about how do
09:17we need to problem solve. And look, I don't like conferences where people just come together and
09:23they dress nice and look pretty and have parties. Now, let me be correct. We do look pretty. We dress nice
09:30and we will have parties. But don't get it twisted. That is not why we come together in September.
09:37We come together in September because we recognize that we have real issues in this country,
09:42that we as a black community have to figure out what systems we need to break down,
09:48what problems we need to solve. And that's what we're going to be doing over those days.
09:52So you can have fun and you can party that night. But the next morning, you better be up with us.
09:57You better be in one of those panel discussions. You better be asking questions. And you better be
10:02offering solutions about what we need to do. And let me lastly say this, Simone. We have something
10:09at the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation called the Leadership Institute. It was partly why we were
10:14founded. The members who founded our foundation in 1976 said we needed to do two things. We need to
10:20ensure that we are developing the next generation of black leaders. So that's what we do through our
10:25Leadership Institute. We provide scholarships, internships, fellowships. We put more black
10:30interns on Capitol Hill than any organization in the country. And we were also founded to be a think
10:35tank to solve problems and to put research in the hands of black America. So with respect to your
10:41specific question about this affirmative action case, our Leadership Institute is going to keep doing
10:45what it does. And we're going to reach out to sponsors and funders and say, help us do it
10:49even more so. We are going to make sure that we are providing the monies that our young people need
10:56to go to school so that economics is not an issue. Okay? We need to break down those barriers. We're also
11:02going to ensure that we are doing what we need to do to prepare young leaders to be the future
11:07decision makers. If we are not prepping young black men and women to go to college and to get the jobs and
11:15to be the decision makers and to be the future lawmakers, then this is what we get. If we are
11:20preparing our own future leaders, we will then make sure that we are having people who can go to the
11:26courts, who can be the litigators, who can be the future judges, who can be the future CEOs. So,
11:31Simone, we are going to double down on what we do to ensure that that pipeline of black leadership
11:37is full, strong, and plentiful so that we have an army of warriors ready to take on the next level of problems.
11:44All right, you all heard it here. The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation doubling down.
11:48Dr. Abrams McLean, I want to bring you into this conversation because
11:53everything, in my opinion, you know, I spent a long, a lot of years working in democratic politics,
11:59and I think that everything in our lives is political. Everything is not partisan, but it is
12:04political. The ability to go to the grocery store in your neighborhood and get green lettuce is in fact
12:09political. The ability to go to the doctor when you are sick and get care when you need it,
12:14affordable care, is in fact political. And these political decisions come about oftentimes by the
12:22people we elect, from the people we elect at the ballot box. There has been an active conversation in
12:27this country about whether or not there are these barriers that still exist. There are some people that
12:33I've had on my show that will say, ah, these voting barriers that people say exist, they don't, they're
12:40that's something of 50, 60 years ago. That's not an issue now. Jamie talked about the Voting Rights Act
12:46in 1965, which then was gutted piece, a key piece of the Voting Rights Act was gutted in 2013,
12:52in the Shelby v. Holder decision. I want to ask you just first broadly, what is your message to folks that
13:00that say, ah, you know, I don't really know if talking about the fairness at the ballot box is
13:06where we need to be. There are some other issues that we should be tending to. Well, um, I just want
13:11to say that I'm the president at Fair Count. Um, we're a non-partisan organization founded by my sister,
13:16Stacey Abrams. And what we do is we work. Yeah, go ahead, do that. Um, but what we do at Fair Count is we
13:23work in communities, right? And we see every day in big cities and small cities, especially in the
13:30south, there are barriers. Not, it's not just the long lines. It is the systems. Our communities,
13:37when they're not counted in the census, don't get the resources they need. We get the lines drawn,
13:42this extreme gerrymandering. We don't get, um, we don't get the power that we deserve in our communities.
13:48But while we have to make sure that everybody votes, we also have to think about the larger
13:52ecosystem, right? Everything that has already been said on this panel, thinking about our communities,
13:58thinking about the economic mobility of our communities. I'm going to shout out a wonderful
14:02group that's sponsoring some of this that's here, which is, um, Robert F. Smith. Y'all, um,
14:07y'all know Robert Smith, right? Yes. He, he, everybody knows him for, for, um, paying off Morehouse's
14:13student loans. But if you go right over there to the spark change, um, uh, um, place over there,
14:19you will see all of the work that is being done in the Robert F. Smith ecosystem for the young folks
14:24that are sitting up here on this front row. They have internships. When you were talking about
14:29not just getting leaders in our political systems, but leaders in our business worlds,
14:34they have a whole thing, their intern X, Excel program. That is where you get these young folks
14:40to get them into the pipeline, to have these jobs. You also have the student freedom initiative.
14:46We're talking about student loans and how they cut that off. Part of the problem where our
14:50communities can't build wealth is because black folks are laden with student loan debt. And so
14:56one of the things that student freedom initiative is working on is from the start, as soon as you get
15:00into college to start working on it and give you pathways so that you're not overburdened by that
15:05when you, when it's time to go into this community. And Simone, you're right. All of this is connected
15:09to our political power. When we're talking about the South, right? So I'm from Mississippi. I see we
15:16got South Carolina here. I lived in Texas and North Carolina. But what we know is that most black people
15:21are concentrated in the South. We're all over, but we are concentrated in the South. And when you see
15:26a lot of these policies that are being impact or that, that are being done, they are targeting and
15:33they're trying them out in the South to see how they can then expand it to the rest of the country.
15:37And so one, another thing that they're doing over there is the Southern Communities Initiative.
15:41When George Floyd died, all these companies said, we're going to put billions and billions of dollars
15:46into DEI, all of this stuff. And how much money have y'all seen come through? There's over $340 billion
15:54that has supposedly been committed to put into our, into our black communities. And they're not putting
15:59their money where their mouth is. And so Southern Communities Initiatives is really trying to make them
16:04do that so that our cities like New Orleans, like Atlanta, like Memphis can actually get some of
16:10these resources. And then the last thing I'm going to say that it also ties back in to all of the
16:15policies, all of the information that we need to get into our communities has to do with all these,
16:21all this funding that's coming down. There's the infrastructure reduction net bringing billions of
16:28dollars into communities. We also have broadband access that's being, all this money coming down.
16:33I think they just announced $42 billion in funding that's going to go to communities. And they talk
16:39about an equity lens, but we know good and well that if we don't speak up, they're going to give the
16:44money to the people that already have it. And why does that matter for us? Because it's information
16:49getting into our communities. It's jobs for our communities. It is, it is health. We're talking about,
16:56you know, the health of our mothers and our children. All of that, if you don't have access,
17:00if you're in a Southern community where all of your hospitals have been shut down, if you have the
17:05internet, you can at least get some telehealth so that we don't have black mothers and children
17:10dying on a regular basis. And so all I'm saying is we have to vote, but we have to look again at the
17:16larger ecosystem. We can't just sit here and be laser focused on one thing. Everything works together,
17:23and if we do it right, then our communities can truly prosper.
17:27Jamie, this is a, this is a good point. I want to, yes, we can clap for that. We can clap for that.
17:32I want to dovetail off of this because, you know, um, people want to harp on young people. And as a
17:38millennial, I'm here to defend a young folk and folks always want to talk about, well, you know,
17:42it's young people that don't want to participate in the process. But I think if you go into any high
17:46school, most high schools in America, definitely any college campus in America, and you ask young
17:52people, uh, do they volunteer? Are they engaged? Um, they will raise their hand and they'll all tell you
17:59some kind of community engagement or work that they are doing that they are passionate about. But some
18:04people will say, uh, but I don't really know about the politics thing. So how do we bridge that gap?
18:10Because we just talked about everything is in fact political and voting is important. It is yet but one
18:15tool in the toolbox of social justice, but it's a tool that if folks don't use, okay, the protests,
18:21the marches, the organizing on the side, it is all for naught. So how do we bridge this gap,
18:30particularly in communities across the country when it is not a presidential, you know, a month
18:37before a presidential? Well, this, I've been saying this for well over a decade now, that in politics,
18:42particularly in the Democratic Party, I'm the third black person to be in the 175 year, uh, years of
18:49the DNC, I'm the third black person to be the DNC chair. And I have said this. That should give
18:54everybody pause. I'm just gonna hold on. I'm gonna hold a moment. Hold on. That should give everybody
18:58pause. Please say it again, Jamie, because they might have missed it. So the DNC just turned 175 years
19:03old in May, I am the third black person to serve as DNC chair. We had Ron Brown, we had Donna Brazil,
19:12and now me. And in the Republican Party apparatus, Republican Party National Committee,
19:16how many black chairs have they had? They've had one. All right. We have the numbers now. Yeah.
19:21Now, but, but this is the thing. The Democratic Party has to transform itself. It cannot just be a
19:29political organization that knocks on your door or drops by your church three months before the
19:33election. It has to be a community organization. And that's a very different lens. When you're a
19:38community organization, you are there all the time. It is not like, oh, it's nice to see you. No,
19:43I'm here all the time. And I'm not just addressing the issues that are inherently political. I'm addressing
19:50everything. You need to fill out the FAFSA because you're a first generation college person. Guess
19:55what? The Democratic Party is there to help you do that. You need to figure out how to become a
20:00first time homeowner, a homeowner. Guess what? The Democratic Party is there. That is the transformation
20:05that we have to meet. So we have to make sure that people understand that the party cares about you,
20:10and not just before an election, but all the time. And that's some of what we are trying to push right
20:16now. For young people, they are less about political organizations, and they're more about
20:22political values. What are the values and do your values align with theirs? And so we can't expect
20:28the young people to come to us. We have to go to them, to where they are, making sure that we're
20:33doing service, making sure that we're doing things that align with their values so that they feel a
20:37connection to the party because the party is a reflection of them. Nicole, in the time that we have
20:44left, the reality is that I think it's important to say here on the stage that every black person in
20:50America is not a Democrat. There are some people, as Jamie noted, who are unaffiliated. I am pretty
20:57sure that in my father's long life, he was a Republican. Now, he liked to pretend he wasn't
21:01independent, but I got the receipt. So I say that to say, with the foundation, you all do a lot of work
21:09with corporations and in bringing various different folks to the table to address issues that are of key
21:14concern to black America. These are quite challenging political times. The ground is shaky, and I'm sure
21:23those conversations are not always easy. So what are just some of the ways in which you all engage in
21:29those conversations that folks might be able to take back to their own communities? I'm going to leave
21:34you all with three quick things. As I said earlier, I don't like conferences and when we all get together and
21:39look good, but we don't have solutions. So I want to talk about three solutions. Number one, we are
21:44always speaking from a place of truth, okay? I don't care who our sponsors are. I don't care who is
21:50working with us. We are speaking from a place of truth, always about what does our community need,
21:55what do our young people need, and what is the work we need to do in the black community. And if you are
22:00all about that truth and supporting that truth, we welcome you to be around our Congressional Black Caucus
22:04Foundation table. In fact, we have a report that's going to be coming out soon that talks about
22:09corporate responsibility and what we expect from corporations who are investing in our communities,
22:15because we need to make sure that everybody is on notice about what our communities need.
22:19But these are my three things that I want to leave everyone with. Earlier this week, I had the pleasure
22:24and the privilege of being in a one-room schoolhouse that taught black students in Cambridge,
22:32Maryland, which is where Harriet Tubman was from. And it reminded me that it is our responsibility
22:39to do the work that we need to do to empower our own communities. That's one of the things we need to
22:45get back to. These Supreme Court decisions this week, the lessening of voting rights, we have to take
22:52that power back. So number one, start putting these lessons back in your schools. We no longer have civics
22:59education in public schools in this country. Where do you think young people learn about the
23:04power of voting? Where do you think they learn about democracy and the Bill of Rights? They don't
23:09learn it from TV, they learn it in their schools. And if our schools don't have it, as I started this
23:14conversation, it's about privilege. If we are not giving our young people the tools and information
23:18they need, they cannot compete with those who are privileged. So take that power, put it back in your
23:24schools. I know you all go to school board meetings and all of those things. Don't just talk to them
23:28about whether there are buses and whether there are school lunches that your children need and
23:32whether they like chicken nuggets versus hot dogs. Talk to them about what they need to learn
23:38so that they can be leaders in their communities. Number two, make sure that you are doing what you
23:45can right where you sit. Don't wait for the leaders who are on these stages to be the problem solvers.
23:52You all are powerful people. In my community growing up, the reason why I am what I am is
23:58because I saw men and women every day leading the fight in my community. Those unsung heroes,
24:04those names that people don't know. They might not have fancy titles like we do, but they are the
24:08people doing work just as hard and making the differences just like we are. Be those people in
24:14your communities. Be the heroes and the sheroes that the young people can look up to. And number
24:19three, get involved and do what the late great John Lewis said, speak up and speak out. Do not sit and
24:26be a wallflower. Speak up and speak out at every opportunity you have, whether it's in your churches,
24:32your community organizations, your sororities and fraternities. Be civic warriors. We each have this
24:39power and that is how we are going to make a difference. Be civic warriors. We each have this
24:44power. Lastly, where can we find you all? Where can we follow your work, Nicole?
24:49CBCFinc.org. CBCFinc.org. Mr. Chairman, where can we find your follow your work?
24:55You can go to DNC.org or you can follow me on Twitter and Instagram at
25:00at Harrison Jamie and Jamie spelled J-A-I-M-E. All right now, Dr. Abrams McLean, how can we make sure that
25:07people are engaged and involved in the holistic way? Where can we find you?
25:11First, go to faircount.org. But you're here today. You're looking pretty. Go right over there to
25:17spark change in your community and to learn more about how you can do it. Right over there at the
25:23Robert F. Smith, Robert F. Smith ecosystem. And you can take a really cute picture. So that's right.
25:30We need the cute photos. Give it up for this panel, everyone. I am Simone D. Sanders Townsend.
25:34You can find me at Simone D. Sanders. And you can also watch my show Saturdays and Sundays at 4 p.m. Eastern
25:40on MSNBC. This is our time and give it up for our panel. Thank you.
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