- 7 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.
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.
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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
00:50to 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 National
01:30Committee and a great South Carolinian. My husband is from South Carolina, so we have to always shout out
01:36South Carolina everywhere we go, honey. Yes. And see, someone on the audio team is a South Carolina
01:43hater, but that's all right. And last but certainly not least is Dr. Janine Abrams McLean. Now, she is the
01:51president at Fair Count, y'all. Please give it up for Dr. Abrams McLean. All right. One could argue,
01:59we color coordinated this thing today. So thank you all for for being here. Before we get into some of
02:08the other, you know, back and forth questions about voting in these political in these times in advance of
02:15this next election. Mr. Chairman, I want to start with you. Yesterday, the Supreme Court, many folks have
02:22reported it as the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action, but that is, in fact, not what
02:28the Supreme Court did. The Supreme Court weighed in on one particular piece of affirmative action,
02:33race conscious decision making, and deemed that unconstitutional. And then just this morning,
02:38the Supreme Court came out with some final decisions, uh, of the court this term, one of which
02:45under the First Amendment now, apparently it is legal to discriminate against LGBTQ plus individuals.
02:53Um, and another case that everyone was watching was Biden, was the administration's student loan
03:01debt plan. The Supreme Court also struck that down. What is your response, Mr. Chairman? And especially
03:08to folks out there that say, you tell us to vote, uh, record numbers of people came out to vote in the last
03:14presidential election and in the last midterm election, yet this is what they are getting.
03:19Well, let me first, first and foremost, it is great to be on this panel with these amazing women.
03:25Thank you, black women. Thank you so much. Uh, and it's so great to see each and every one of you, but, you know,
03:32uh, I wasn't shocked by this court. We have seen this court, the Roberts court, the legacy of this
03:40Roberts court is going to be one where we have less freedom, less rights, uh, and more discrimination.
03:48And the decisions yesterday and today just feed into exactly that. When we think about what they just
03:59did, when we think about a few years ago, gutting the voting rights act, because Roberts thought we had
04:06achieved a colorblind society and we saw what happened immediately after you did that, a rush of laws in
04:14some of our red states, uh, going after the voting power of minorities, particularly black folks. We see now on
04:23this affirmative action folks. And I think of this on a personal note, I was the first in my family to
04:29go to college. Many of you who are probably here who are college educated, you're probably first
04:34generation as well. My grandfather had a fourth grade education. My grandmother had a eighth grade
04:39education. My mom had to stop high school. And so it was able to transform not only my life, but the life
04:46of my entire family. What you are seeing right now with this court is that they didn't talk about the
04:51legacy of the third and fourth generations of people who went on to college and their parents
04:56had been to college and they got into that college because of that. They didn't talk about the wealth
05:02and people just writing a check to get their sons and daughters into the university. They looked at the
05:08experience of black folks trying to, to make an end, to try to do better, to try to live the American
05:14dream. And they uprooted all of that. And then they put a final point on it by saying that the Joe Biden
05:21plan to give relief to these families, so many of us got Pell Grants. I'm a Pell Grant kid. You would
05:28have gotten $20,000 under Joe Biden's plan to wipe out $20,000 of 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
05:46Wade. 50 years. They were persistent. They didn't stop. They didn't give up. We can't just think
05:52because you vote one time, that means then everything that we have is going to be secure.
05:57You have to constantly do it. The thing that I do with my two boys who are in the room,
06:01every time my wife and I go to vote, they vote with us. They go with us to vote because I want it
06:07instituted in their hands. Just like every morning they get up, they wash, they brush your teeth.
06:12I want them to know every November you go vote because that's what we do. And we have to
06:16institutionalize it in who we are. So you can't give up. Just because things have changed, black
06:22folks have gone through so much in this country. And we will continue to go through a lot. But the one
06:27thing we know about us as a people is that we don't give up. We don't stop fighting. We continue to push
06:33and push. Because I'd be damned if I let my sons live in a South or in a country like my
06:39grandparents 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
06:49Congressional Black Caucus Foundation. Folks, there are many branches that have the letter CBC.
06:56The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, though, you all administer, if you will, ALC, the Annual
07:02Legislative Conference. That's every year, every September. Folks across the country,
07:07policymakers, black CEOs, just everyone who is engaged in any piece, if you will, of the
07:16African-American experience in the broader American fabric. They come to Washington, D.C.
07:21for this conference. I have to imagine that given the, particularly the decision on affirmative
07:27action yesterday, you all are having some conversations. Are you concerned about potentially having some
07:34of the work of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation challenged under the guise of race-based
07:40decision-making? How are you all planning to triangulate on this issue and talk to policymakers
07:46and activists as you drive towards this September?
07:49Well, Simone, and good afternoon to everyone. It's a pleasure and a privilege to be here.
07:55Let 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
08:13about privilege. And the message that we got from the court is, for those of you who are not
08:18privileged, step back. Step back. But the thing is this, we are not going to step back. History has
08:25shown us that our people do not take a back seat. This is why I'm so glad you brought up the annual
08:31legislative conference. You all need to know the annual legislative conference that we put on every
08:36September is the largest Black public policy conference held in the country, by far. And if you
08:43want to be with decision makers, if you want to be with other connectors, experts, policy people from
08:50around the country who are trying to make a difference, you need to be with us in September
08:55this year, September 20th through the 24th. Don't sit back and complain about what is not happening. Don't sit back and say,
09:02I didn't like what the court did. I don't like what my lawmakers are doing in my state. If you are not coming
09:08together with us and trying to figure out how to problem solve, that's what we have to do. And that's how
09:15we are going to pivot. We are going to talk about how do we need to problem solve. And look, I don't like
09:20conferences where people just come together and they dress nice and look pretty and have parties. Now, let me be
09:27correct. We do look pretty. We dress nice and we will have parties. But don't get it twisted. That is not
09:34why we come together in September. We come together in September because we recognize that we have real
09:40issues in this country, that we as a Black community have to figure out what systems we need to break
09:47down, what problems we need to solve. And that's what we're going to be doing over those days. So you can
09:53have fun and you can party that night. But the next morning, you better be up with us. You better be
09:58in one of those panel discussions. You better be asking questions and you better be offering solutions
10:03about what we need to do. And let me lastly say this, Simone. We have something at the Congressional
10:09Black Caucus Foundation called the Leadership Institute. It was partly why we were founded. The members who
10:15founded our foundation in 1976 said we needed to do two things. We need to ensure that we are developing
10:22the next generation of Black leaders. So that's what we do through our Leadership Institute. We
10:26provide scholarships, internships, fellowships. We put more Black interns on Capitol Hill than any
10:31organization in the country. And we were also founded to be a think tank to solve problems and to put
10:37research in the hands of Black America. So with respect to your specific question about this
10:42affirmative action case, our Leadership Institute is going to keep doing what it does. And we're going
10:46to reach out to sponsors and funders and say, help us do it even more so. We are going to
10:51make sure that we are providing the monies that our young people need to go to school so that
10:57economics is not an issue. Okay? We need to break down those barriers. We're also going to ensure that
11:03we are doing what we need to do to prepare young leaders to be the future decision makers. If we are
11:09not prepping young Black men and women to go to college and to get the jobs and to be the decision
11:16makers and to be the future lawmakers, then this is what we get. If we are preparing our own future
11:22leaders, we will then make sure that we are having people who can go to the courts, who can be the
11:27litigators, who can be the future judges, who can be the future CEOs. So, Simone, we are going to
11:32double down on what we do to ensure that that pipeline of Black leadership is full, strong, and plentiful
11:39so that we have an army of warriors ready to take on the next level of problems. All right. You all
11:44heard it here. The Congressional Black Caucus Foundation doubling down. Dr. Abrams McLean, I want to
11:50bring you into this conversation because everything, in my opinion, you know, I spent a long, a lot of
11:57years working in democratic politics, and I think that everything in our lives is political. Everything
12:03is not partisan, but it is political. The ability to go to the grocery store in your neighborhood and get
12:08green lettuce is, in fact, political. The ability to go to the doctor when you are sick and get care
12:13when you need it, affordable care, is, in fact, political. And these political decisions come about,
12:20oftentimes, by the people we elect, from the people we elect at the ballot box. There has been an active
12:26conversation in this country about whether or not there are these barriers that still exist. There are
12:33some people that I've had on my show that will say, ah, these voting barriers that people say exist,
12:38they don't. That's something 50, 60 years ago. That's not an issue now. Jamie talked about the
12:45voting rights act in 1965, which then was gutted, a key piece of the voting rights act was gutted in
12:512013 in the Shelby V. Holder decision. I want to ask you just first broadly, what is your message to
13:00folks that say, ah, you know, I don't really know if talking about the fairness at the ballot box is where
13:06we need to be? There are some other issues that we should be tending to. Well, um, I just want to say
13:12that I'm the president at Fair Count. Um, we're a nonpartisan 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
13:23we work 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
13:47communities. But while we have to make sure that everybody votes, we also have to think about the
13:52larger ecosystem, right? Everything that has already been said on this panel, thinking about our
13:57communities, thinking about the economic mobility of our communities. I'm going to shout out a
14:02wonderful group that's sponsoring some of this that's here, which is, um, Robert F. Smith. Y'all,
14:06um, y'all know Robert Smith, right? 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
14:25that are sitting up here on this front row, they have internships. When you were talking about not
14:29just getting leaders in our political systems, but leaders in our business worlds, they have a whole
14:35thing, their intern X, Excel program. That is where you get these young folks to get them into the
14:41pipeline to have these jobs. You also have the student freedom initiative. We're talking about
14:46student loans and how they cut that off. Part of the problem where our communities can't build wealth
14:51is because black folks are laden with student loan debt. And so one of the things that student
14:57freedom initiative is working on is from the start, as soon as you get into college to start working
15:02on it and give you pathways so that you're not overburdened by that when you, when it's time to
15:06go into this community. And Simone, you're right. All of this is connected to our political power.
15:11Um, when we're talking about the South, right? So I'm from Mississippi. I see we got South Carolina here.
15:17I lived in Texas and North Carolina, but what we know is that most black people are concentrated
15:21in the South. We're all over, but we are concentrated in the South. And when you see a lot of these
15:27policies that are being impact or that are being, uh, done, they are targeting and they're trying them
15:34out in the South to see how they can then expand it to the rest of the country. And so one, another
15:38thing that they're doing over there is the Southern communities initiative. When George Floyd died,
15:43all these companies said, we're going to put billions and billions of dollars into DEI,
15:48all 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
16:04them do 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
16:44the money to the people that already have it. And why does that matter for us? Because it's information
16:49getting it to 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 tele, um, telehealth so that we don't have black mothers
17:09and children dying on a regular basis. And so all I'm saying is we have to vote, but we have to look
17:15again at the larger ecosystem. We can't just sit here and be laser focused on one thing. Everything
17:22works together. And 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,
17:43it'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, uh, they will raise their hand and they'll
17:58all tell you some kind of community engagement or work that they are doing that they are passionate
18:03about. But some people will say, uh, but I don't really know about the politics thing.
18:07So how do we bridge that gap? Because we just talked about everything is in fact political
18:12and voting is important. It is yet but one tool in the toolbox of social justice, but it's a tool
18:18that folks don't use. Okay, the protests, the marches, the organizing on the side, it is
18:27all for naught. So how do we bridge this gap, particularly in communities across the country
18:33when it is not a presidential, you know, a month before a presidential?
18:38Well, this, I've been saying this for well over a decade now, that in politics, particularly
18:43in the Democratic Party, I'm the third black person to be in the 175 year, uh, years of the
18:49DNC, 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
18:58everybody pause. Please say it again, Jamie, because they might have missed it. So the DNC just turned
19:02175 years old in May. I am the third black person to serve as DNC chair. We had Ron Brown,
19:10we had Donna Brazile, and now me. And in the Republican Party apparatus, Republican Party
19:16National Committee, how many black chairs have they had? They've had one. All right. We have
19:19the numbers now. Yeah. Now, but this is the thing. The Democratic Party has to transform itself.
19:27It cannot just be a political organization that knocks on your door or drops by your church three
19:32months before the election. It has to be a community organization. And that's a very different
19:37lens. When you're a community organization, you are there all the time. It is not like,
19:42oh, it's nice to see you. No, I'm here all the time. And I'm not just addressing the issues that
19:47are inherently political. I'm addressing everything. You need to fill out the FAFSA because you're a
19:54first-generation college person? Guess what? The Democratic Party is there to help you do that.
19:58You need to figure out how to become a first-time homeowner. A homeowner. Guess what? The Democratic Party
20:03is there. That is the transformation that we have to meet. So we have to make sure that people
20:08understand that the party cares about you. And not just before an election, but all the time.
20:14And that's some of what we are trying to push right now. For young people, they are less about
20:19political organizations and they're more about political values. What are the values and do your
20:25values align with theirs? And so we can't expect the young people to come to us. We have to go to them,
20:31where they are, making sure that we're doing service, making sure that we're doing things
20:35that align with their values so that they feel a connection to the party because the party is a
20:40reflection of them.
20:42Nicole, in the time that we have left, the reality is that I think it's important to say here on the
20:49stage that every black person in America is not a Democrat. Every, you know, there are some people,
20:53as Jamie noted, who are unaffiliated. I am pretty sure that in my father's long life,
21:00he was a Republican. Now he liked to pretend he wasn't independent, but I got the receipt.
21:04So I say that to say with the foundation, you all do a lot of work with corporations and in
21:10bringing various different folks to the table to address issues that are of key concern to black
21:16America. These are quite challenging political times. The ground is shaky and I'm sure those
21:23conversations are not always easy. So what are, what are, what are just some of the ways in which you
21:28while engage in those conversations that folks might be able to take back to their own communities?
21:33I'm going to leave you all with three quick things. As I said earlier, I don't like conferences and
21:38when we all get together and look good, but we don't have solutions. So I want to talk about three
21:42solutions. Number one, we are always speaking from a place of truth. Okay. I don't care who our
21:48sponsors are. I don't care who is working with us. We are speaking from a place of truth,
21:53always about what does our community need? What do our young people need? And what is the work we
21:58need to do in the black community? And if you are all about that truth and supporting that truth,
22:02we welcome you to be around our Congressional Black Caucus Foundation table. In fact, we have a
22:07report that's going to be coming out soon that talks about corporate responsibility and what we expect
22:12from corporations who are investing in our communities, because we need to make sure that everybody is
22:17on notice about what our communities need. But these are my three things that I want to leave everyone with.
22:21Earlier this week, I had the pleasure and the privilege of being in a one-room schoolhouse
22:27that taught black students in Cambridge, Maryland, which is where Harriet Tubman was from.
22:35And it reminded me that it is our responsibility to do the work that we need to do to empower our own
22:43communities. That's one of the things we need to get back to. These Supreme Court decisions this week,
22:48the lessening of voting rights, we have to take that power back. So number one,
22:54start putting these lessons back in your schools. We no longer have civics education in public schools
23:01in this country. Where do you think young people learn about the power of voting? Where do you think
23:05they learn about democracy and the Bill of Rights? They don't learn it from TV, they learn it in their
23:12schools. And if our schools don't have it, as I started this conversation, it's about privilege.
23:16If we are not giving our young people the tools and information they need, they cannot
23:19compete with those who are privileged. So take that power, put it back in your schools. I know
23:24you all go to school board meetings and all of those things. Don't just talk to them about whether
23:29there are buses and whether there are school lunches that your children need and whether they like
23:33chicken nuggets versus hot dogs. Talk to them about what they need to learn so that they can be leaders
23:40in their communities. Number two, make sure that you are doing what you can right where you sit. Don't wait
23:48for the leaders who are on these stages to be the problem solvers. You all are powerful people. In my
23:55community growing up, the reason why I am what I am is because I saw men and women every day leading the fight
24:01in my community. Those unsung heroes, those names that people don't know, they might not have fancy titles like we do,
24:08but they are the people doing work just as hard and making the differences just like we are. Be those
24:14people in your 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 be a
24:27wallflower. Speak up and speak out at every opportunity you have, whether it's in your churches, your community
24:33organizations, your sororities and fraternities. Be civic warriors. We each have this power and that is how we are
24:41going to make a difference. Be civic warriors. We each have this power. Lastly, where can we find you
24:46all? Where can we follow your work, Nicole? CBCFinc.org. CBCFinc.org.
24:53Mr. Chairman, where can we find your follow your work? You can go to DNC.org or you can follow me on
24:58Twitter and Instagram at at Harrison Jamie and Jamie spelled J-A-I-M-E. All right. Now, Dr. Abrams
25:05McLean, how can we make sure that people are engaged and involved in the holistic way? Where can we find
25:11you? First, 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. You can find
25:35me at Simone D. Sanders. And you can also watch my show Saturdays and Sundays at 4 p.m. Eastern on
25:40MSNBC. This is our time and give it up for our panel. Thank you.
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