- 7 weeks ago
250 Anniversary of the United States
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00:00President of the National Urban League, Mark Boreal.
00:06President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Council of Negro Women,
00:11Reverend Siobhan Arline Bradley. And joining the panel in progress will
00:18be the founder of the National Action Network,
00:20the Reverend Al Sharpton.
00:40All right, y'all.
00:50Even Chicago is in the house. Chicago. Is Atlanta in the house?
00:58Is Birmingham in the house?
01:01Is New Orleans in the house?
01:05Leave it up to Mark Boreal to take over my session, okay?
01:11Anybody else you want to shout out?
01:13Come on, DC. DC in the house.
01:15Come on, DMV.
01:17What about New York City, Harlem in the house?
01:22Oh, come on, the A.
01:23Okay. Perfect.
01:25And we got everybody. Hopefully we covered everybody.
01:28Which one?
01:30The Lou. Is the Lou in the house?
01:32Houston. St. Louis in Houston.
01:33Give it up for the Lou. St. Louis.
01:35Houston. Yeah, yeah, my hometown. Houston in the house.
01:37All right, perfect. Dallas in the house.
01:38Phoenix in the house. How about L.A.?
01:41All right, let's wrap this up, sir.
01:43That means lower Alabama. Let's get started. Let's get into it, okay?
01:45The people came to hear you speak, not just to shout themselves out.
01:50But welcome, everybody.
01:51This is a really important conversation.
01:55We want to talk about the country marking 250 years
02:01and what that means for black people in general.
02:04So we have with us two of our nation's premier civil rights leaders.
02:10I would love for you to quickly introduce yourself while we wait for Rev,
02:14as much as we can wait for him.
02:16So, Siobhan, do you mind?
02:17Soror, do you mind introducing yourself?
02:18Well, good evening, everybody.
02:19I'm Rev. Siobhan Arline Bradley.
02:21I'm the president and CEO of the organization founded by Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune,
02:26N-C-N-W, the National Council of Negro Women.
02:30We were based in Washington, D.C., with the only black and woman-owned building on Pennsylvania Avenue.
02:37So we are excited to be here amongst all my brothers and sisters.
02:41I went to school in New Orleans.
02:43I worked for this mayor, actually, when I was in college at Tulane University.
02:46So it's good to be back in the Big Easy.
02:48Absolutely.
02:50Hey, Ashley.
02:51Good to be with you.
02:51Always good to be with Siobhan.
02:53First of all, good evening.
02:55And to the visitors, welcome to New Orleans.
02:57I'm Mark Morial.
02:58I proudly serve as president and chief executive officer of the National Urban League,
03:03one of the nation's historic civil rights and urban advocacy organizations.
03:08We operate in 93 cities across the nation, serve 6.8 million people, have over 2,500 employees
03:17and tens of thousands of volunteers.
03:19But this is my hometown, my beloved New Orleans, where I'm proud to have served eight years as
03:28this city's mayor from 1994 to 2002.
03:31And it is then when we created the Essence Fest and got this 32-year journey started.
03:38So always proud.
03:39Give it up for the mayor.
03:40That's right.
03:40To be back here in my beloved New Orleans.
03:43Absolutely.
03:44And a long lineage of activists.
03:47Yes.
03:47You come from a long line.
03:49Yes.
03:50We're in, actually.
03:51Good troublemaker.
03:52Good troublemaker.
03:53Right.
03:53Okay, so let's get into it.
03:55If you guys don't mind, let's start to cook.
03:57Sure.
03:57So we're marking 250 years of America.
04:02Frederick Douglass famously said, what to the American slave is your 4th of July?
04:09He went on to then say that, and I'm going to summarize this, that it's a rejection of
04:17freedom because slaves were not free.
04:20He wasn't rejecting America's ideals.
04:23He was challenging America to live up to those ideals.
04:26So 250 years after the Declaration of Independence, how should black Americans think about our
04:33relationship with this country today?
04:34And the reason why this is so important, I don't know if you guys have seen this news,
04:38but there are white nationalists right now marching in Washington, D.C.
04:43So are we still asking America to live up to its ideals, or are we in a fundamentally different moment?
04:50Siobhan, I'd love to start with you.
04:52Well, that's why I wore this outfit today for my independence.
04:57Just in the context of what we should be looking for.
05:00We should no longer ask the question.
05:02We should demand what we deserve.
05:04As the black community has had this very love-hate relationship I would offer with the United
05:10States of America, I've got to speak on behalf of black women in this moment.
05:15Black women have consistently been the most leaned-in voting bloc in the United States of America.
05:23Without black women, none of these elections would have ever gone the way they have gone.
05:27I will say that we historically have seen our country turn their back on black people.
05:33And we're right in the state where the Voting Rights Act literally was the litmus test
05:39with this Calais case to see black voting rights and black districts be diluted in our power.
05:45So we're no longer asking.
05:46We're saying now it's about our power.
05:48We as black people have enough intuitiveness, enough influence, enough resources to demand that this country,
05:57not only honor what we deserve, but also honor her creed of we are a country that is honoring liberty,
06:06justice, and freedom for all men.
06:07And the question is, ain't I a woman?
06:10Ain't I an American, too?
06:12Right.
06:12That is where we really have to lean in on.
06:14So, no, we no longer need to ask.
06:16We need to now demand.
06:17So I'm glad you started with black women because black women aren't just a constituency.
06:23We're a force multiplier in our community.
06:25Absolutely.
06:25So there's a recent, there were two things that recently just happened that struck me
06:29as very different.
06:30One, there was a black woman quoted in the Houston Chronicle saying that we give 92% of
06:35our support to the Democratic Party and we get nothing in return for that vote.
06:39And then the other quote that the other poll that recently came out showed that 35% of black
06:46women feel like neither party represents their interests.
06:49So what do you say to black women in this moment to get them re-motivated and re-focused, if
06:56that makes sense?
06:57Absolutely.
06:57Stop protecting our peace, but get back into the fight.
06:59I would offer to black women that your ability to move this nation is centered around not only your vote,
07:06but your voice in every industry.
07:09Black women are the most educated group in this country.
07:14The most successful leaders.
07:16We are now the top of business ownership.
07:20So I would say to black women, as a matter of fact, we're in position to make the move.
07:24And the move is you should be running for office.
07:27The move is you should be investing in black candidates that are in alignment with our ideals.
07:32Black women should stay inside of boardrooms, should be in community organizing.
07:37Black women, if we leave this movement, there is no movement.
07:42There is no church without black women.
07:43There is no movement without black women.
07:45So I would say we are leaning on us again.
07:47They've asked us to save democracy before.
07:49If we did it before, we'll do it again.
07:52Mark, give it up for that.
07:55That's a great piece of advice.
07:58I mean, I think you're right.
07:59It is us understanding our power as black women that nothing moves without us.
08:03So what do we do with that power?
08:05And we'll get into that a little later, Siobhan.
08:06But Mark, Ambassador Young just said something just yesterday, and I don't know if you saw it.
08:12He said, and you guys all know who Ambassador Young is, former mayor of Atlanta, UN ambassador,
08:20said recently that this is the worst period he's ever witnessed in his lifetime.
08:24And he marched with Dr. King.
08:26He said in just the last, well, the facts are in just the last 18 months,
08:31400,000 black people out of a job, 7.5% unemployment, DEI being abolished at the federal level and
08:40in the private sector.
08:41We have the Voting Rights Act being dismantled.
08:44It is an all-out war on black people right now.
08:47And the Republicans and the President have been insanely intentional in ways that I think have caught us on our
08:53back hills.
08:54So, Mark, my question to you, if justice and freedom exist on a continuum, right, because it's never-ending, right,
09:02racism is not an eradication strategy, it's a containment strategy.
09:06So, my question to you is where are we today, and what does this moment demand from leaders like the
09:12two of you?
09:14There's a lot there.
09:18First, on a very personal note, I think the audience should know that while Andrew Young is associated with Atlanta,
09:27he is a native of New Orleans.
09:31And he grew up right here on Allen Street, and get a laugh, he was my mother's high school prom
09:38date.
09:40That's for sure.
09:41And they were very, very close.
09:43So, you were always destined for greatness, okay?
09:45It surrounded you.
09:46They were very, very close friends through all of their lives.
09:51And when he lost his first wife, my mother lost my father, her husband,
09:56and they remained very close like brother and sister all throughout our lives.
10:01So, he was a presence in our family circle for many, many, many, many, many, many years.
10:07And when he speaks, wisdom speaks.
10:11That's right.
10:11When he speaks, he is one who can speak as one of the few living people who could say, I
10:20was there in 55 in Montgomery.
10:23I was there in 62 in Birmingham.
10:27I was there in 63 for the march and 64 for the Civil Rights Act.
10:33I was on the bridge in Selma.
10:36And then, of course, he had a distinguished career as the first black member of Congress elected in Georgia since
10:46Reconstruction.
10:47So, he served in Congress.
10:49And then President Carter tapped him to become United States ambassador to the United Nations.
10:56And then he served as mayor of Atlanta reluctantly to do it.
11:03So, when he speaks, we must listen.
11:06And I would affirm that these are the worst of times.
11:12But worst of times creates a great challenge, not despair, not hopelessness,
11:20because despair and hopelessness are strategies for defeatism.
11:25I find myself very torn with this 4th of July.
11:31I find myself very torn by what I feel and what I see.
11:38But what my heart and soul tell me is I can't and we can't fall into this trap of saying
11:49I hate America.
11:52No, no, no, no.
11:53I love American ideals.
11:57I love American possibility.
11:59But I can love America and object to its government, object to its leaders, object to its policies,
12:08dissent with force to executive orders and executive actions and big ugly bills
12:16and a corrupt United States Supreme Court which is hell-bent on reversing these gains.
12:23What it calls for in this moment reminds me of this.
12:30When Barack Obama was elected, and I had been a few years in this job,
12:37the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal called and said,
12:43by the way, now that Barack Obama has been elected, isn't it time for you to close your doors?
12:50Haven't the aims and the ideals of the civil rights movement been achieved?
12:56It's never been a position to which we responded, it's never been about one man.
13:00Right.
13:00It's never been about a position, not even the most powerful position in the country.
13:06It's about the people.
13:07But I'm reminded of that moment because now where we are today, the pressure on us, the demands of us.
13:15That's right.
13:15The requirements of us to step up and stand up is considerable and it's great.
13:20But I want to say this, this is a moment when what we should be asking is what am I
13:26doing?
13:28From the place that I sit, from the seat that I'm in, what am I doing?
13:33Because all we are is in powers of people.
13:37Sure.
13:37To provide direction.
13:38Collective action.
13:39And some focus.
13:40Absolutely.
13:41So, I think that's a great message, but I just want to speak on behalf of myself and I think
13:47the audience.
13:47With the sustained attacks on black political and economic power that we're seeing, their attacks were coordinated.
14:00So, it feels to me that our response cannot be fragmented.
14:05So, you two represent two of the biggest, most powerful civil rights organizations in the nation.
14:12So, I want to know, and again, I'm going to ask on behalf of this room because I think we're
14:16all asking the same question.
14:18What is the strategy?
14:20What is the strategy post all of that devastation?
14:24And then secondly, I think I want to hear how the effort is coordinated among all of the big civil
14:31rights groups.
14:32Because I don't think people know they don't know this.
14:33I want to say this is the determination of the moment.
14:35This morning, here in New Orleans, 50 black elected and former black elected officials held a summit at Dillard University.
14:47And the reason why we did that is because in this moment, the organizing efforts have to be primarily at
14:53the local level.
14:54Because the damage when it comes to redistricting is being carried out in state legislatures.
15:01So, what I find my role at this moment is, is more than ever to recognize that just a national
15:09narrative, just national strategies or national marches is not enough.
15:14Right.
15:15We have to organize in Louisiana, in Mississippi, in Alabama, in Georgia, Florida.
15:21We've got to organize in the northern states, like New York, in Illinois, in Ohio, and in the western states.
15:28So, a lot of what we have to do in this moment, and I think this is part of the
15:32refresh strategy, is to do more organizing at the local level.
15:36Now, when you do that, it's not going to be on Meet the Press.
15:41When you do that, it's not going to be on MSNBC.
15:42No disrespect to the show I'm on, right?
15:45And we love you at Meet the Press.
15:45I'm going to bring it to Meet the Press, though, as much as I can.
15:48And I should know that that organizing took place.
15:50We had an unprecedented number of black elected officials.
15:55And let me tell you what we did.
15:56We closed the door, and we had a discussion for two hours.
16:01We held a post-summit press conference and teased some of the things that we're going to do.
16:07We didn't put our whole card on the table, and we will have multiple follow-up meetings.
16:13I'm hoping we can initiate similar efforts in other states because it is there on the ground where we've got
16:21to do a whole lot more work.
16:22And those of us that have feet on the ground have to be much more intentional about helping our local
16:30elected and community-based organizations respond and organize in this moment.
16:36If I can ask this.
16:37Please welcome the founder of the National Action Network, Reverend Al Sharpton.
16:42Is he here?
16:46Is he here?
16:48Come on out, Rev.
16:52I think he's coming.
16:53Who's rolling out the red carpet?
16:55For our fierce leader.
16:59Oh, there he is.
17:00Hey, Rev.
17:02Give it up.
17:03There we go.
17:03Give it up for Reverend Sharpton, please.
17:05Hey.
17:06President of National Action Network.
17:08How are you, sir?
17:09Thank you for joining us.
17:11We were jumping into this conversation about what it means to be on the ground in this moment.
17:16Yeah.
17:16The question was is what are the groups, what are the big civil rights organizations doing in this moment, and
17:22how are you guys coordinating across each organization to have an outsized impact?
17:27I will say one of the focuses for NCNW has been on college campuses and in local communities in high
17:34schools.
17:34We are in 33 states and just chartered in the United States Virgin Islands and on 113 college campuses.
17:42Our focus has been high school seniors who will be eligible to vote in November.
17:48We need a cadre of mothers and fathers, families that are working with young people to begin to integrate civic
17:56engagement and civics in their curriculum.
18:00Parents, make sure that your young person gets their voting rights card, their voting card, voter ID card, in preparation
18:06for this election.
18:07We've also mobilized our fastest growing group, which are 19 to 24 year olds.
18:12The reason why it's been working is because young people are serious about this movement just like seasoned folk are.
18:17I don't want you to give up on young people.
18:18We are seeing a collective energy on the ground because we've been investing resources in ensuring that we can show
18:26balance, we can show clarity on candidates, but also voter values.
18:31We're doing this program called One Nation Over Charge, talking about health care.
18:35Health care costs are a big part of these issues.
18:37Economic growth.
18:38So it's about our resources and our education in college campuses and in high schools.
18:43That has been a big part of our collaborative movement along multiple chapters of the organizations.
18:47Right, because the movement was started by young people.
18:49By young people.
18:50Reverend, since you just arrived, I want to give you the opportunity to take a step back and tell us.
18:56We talked about sort of the intentionality of this president and the Republican Party to undermine black political and economic
19:02power over the last 18 months.
19:05We've been devastated in ways that we never anticipated or expected.
19:09So I want to give you an opportunity to tell the crowd and the audience how you see this moment
19:15and how organizations like yours are rising to meet the moment.
19:19Well, thank you.
19:21First of all, I'm sorry for being late.
19:22I had to do my show, but I wanted to be here.
19:25I think that Donald Trump and his administration is doing exactly what we warned everybody he would do.
19:34I don't know why everybody's acting in shock.
19:37We told you who he was and he was defeated in 2020 and he got back in because some of
19:46us didn't vote.
19:47Some black men said they didn't want a woman.
19:50Well, I wonder what they like now to see a woman when they pull up to the gas pump or
19:56when they see other things that Trump is doing.
19:59So I'm not as surprised at Trump as I am energized that we need to answer this because this could
20:08be a decisive moment.
20:09And where we go just today, I was just talking about it on my show that there was the Patriots,
20:18a white supremacist group marched through Washington, D.C. with Confederate flags today on the 250th anniversary of the country.
20:29And I know that when Trump speaks tonight, he's speaking on the mall tonight, he will not denounce that group
20:36because it was some of the same group that marched that he called some good people on both sides.
20:42So this is what we're up against.
20:45The question is how we're going to respond.
20:48We have faced adversity worse than this and won.
20:53Sometimes I think we forget who we are.
20:56I think that I was with Mark Morial yesterday at one of the Urban League functions and I say we're
21:02suffering from Negro amnesia.
21:04We act like we have not had to fight all of our history here.
21:08So I don't know where we're so comfortable now that we did not think we had to fight when you
21:15have someone like Trump.
21:17And what we cannot be is divided.
21:19I think one of the things the eight legacy organizations have tried to do is work together.
21:25We have different lanes.
21:26We have different styles.
21:28But we all come together around the central issue.
21:32It's like a highway.
21:33You can have eight lanes.
21:35And as long as we all going to the same place, it doesn't matter if you stay in your lane.
21:40And if you're going to switch lanes, put a turn signal on so we don't have an accident.
21:45But I think that that is what we need.
21:48Nash Action Network, we have 138 chapters.
21:52And I'm active in about 47 states now.
21:55I'm trying to get to Hawaii.
21:57And we are in the tradition of Dr. King's organizations that I grew up in as a kid.
22:04And a church base, but working with those of other faiths as well as direct action.
22:11August 28th, the anniversary of the March on Washington.
22:14We're going to Washington by the thousands.
22:17There's not been a national march, a black-led national march in Washington since this latest wave.
22:26We need everybody there.
22:28The Urban League and Marc Morial is our co-chair in the march with Martin Luther King III and I.
22:35And so is our sister here, the diva, the reverend.
22:40And NCNW is a co-chair.
22:42So it's not a march for any one of us.
22:45And neither was the march in 63.
22:48But a lot of people didn't understand, Dr. King did not call that march.
22:53A. Philip Randolph did.
22:54Yes, yes, yes.
22:54The march was called by A. Philip Randolph and Whitney Young and Roy Wilkins and Dorothy Height played a role.
23:03And this is a collective statement.
23:06When we see everybody on the mall but us making a national statement, it sends the wrong signal.
23:14And that march can be a jump start to what goes into the midterm elections.
23:19We also, I think, cannot get sidetracked with them creating distractions.
23:27This whole fight about progressives against establishment.
23:32Well, let's define progressive for who?
23:36Who is the one making progress?
23:39I tell the progressives, is there the progressive agenda for us?
23:43I'm with that.
23:44But I'm not with us not spelling out where all of us have an interest.
23:48You know, there's capitalism against socialism.
23:52But I'm not in that argument because black folks never had no capital to be capitalist.
23:56We just start making a little bit of money.
23:59So if you're not talking about everything from affirmative action to inclusion to reparations,
24:05you're not in my argument about class.
24:07So I think that we need to take charge again the agenda for our community.
24:14We have the numbers.
24:15We have the numbers.
24:16If we bring the people out, we cannot say what we can't do.
24:20Do you remember we elected and reelected a black man president who we couldn't even say his name right the
24:27first six months?
24:28Then we elected a black woman vice president.
24:32Don't let nobody tell you what we can't do.
24:35We've done it.
24:36And we got to do it again.
24:39I appreciate that, Rev.
24:41I think I don't know how much time we have, but it looks like we've run out of time on
24:45the clock.
24:45So I just really want to do two more questions, if you guys don't mind.
24:49So, Mark, you mentioned organizing on the ground.
24:56And, you know, I was just in Houston, Texas, and we were talking about Tallarico and how to win that
25:01state.
25:01And I made the point that Georgia is a North Star.
25:04The reason why Georgia is a North Star is a red state.
25:06Now it's a purple state.
25:08It's a competitive state.
25:09The reason why Georgia now is a competitive state is because of investment, long-term investment in black people, in
25:17black voters, going to where they are engaging them from rural to urban.
25:23So I want to, I just recently wrote an op-ed for Essence magazine where I talk about, if you
25:30guys haven't seen it, you should go read it.
25:32I talk about the Democratic autopsy from the last 2024 election.
25:37The biggest finding in that autopsy should shock all of us to our core.
25:43And it was that the entire Democratic ecosystem, so from the presidential campaign to the congressional campaigns and the Senate
25:50campaigns, spend a total of $8 billion on these elections.
25:56$8 billion.
25:56$8 billion.
25:57Many times we think of the Democratic Party as a political party, but it is a business, a big-time
26:03business that funnels a lot of money through it.
26:06So of that $8 billion, only 1% has been invested in black voters, in the organizing.
26:15So the point I make in this op-ed is that many of the decisions that were made in the
26:21last election were made to line the pockets of these small group of consultants, small group of advisors.
26:28And you can imagine none of them are us, they don't look like us.
26:32And so the autopsy said that they made decisions to line their pockets not to win the election.
26:37And of course that pisses me off because we lost everything.
26:39So we suffer the consequences of the decisions of the Democratic Party.
26:44Now I know we protest Target and others, but if Target fails, I can get my toilet paper from somewhere
26:49else.
26:50When the Democratic Party fails, we lose 400,000 jobs, we lose our voting rights, we lose our, you know,
26:57we're unemployed at record numbers.
26:58It is severe impact on black people, direct coalition between where you make your investments and black outcomes.
27:05So the reality is we can't do what we say we want to do, which is organizing on the ground,
27:10without investments.
27:11So I'm curious, maybe we can start with you Rev, what is your reaction to that particular finding?
27:21Because again, I find it incredibly startling.
27:23And when I go talk to audiences, I get a standing ovation about that particular fact.
27:28Because people don't know that the party makes that much money and invests that little in black people.
27:33Well, I think that those of us on this panel know it because we fought with the party and they
27:39gave little or nothing to the organizations for turnout with a black woman hitting the ticket.
27:46And I think that, and blacks disproportionately showed out and showed up anyway, it would have done more had we
27:54had more resources.
27:56We know where to go to get turnout.
27:59We know who to talk to.
28:01We know who has credibility.
28:03They throw a few dollars at some media and act as though that that is some way equal.
28:11And if we allow them to continue that, they will govern that way.
28:15We need to really challenge the party now to make sure that what is spent not in 28 but in
28:2226 represents in its budget that they take black voters seriously.
28:28Because we lose more than anyone that they are supposed to be trying to represent.
28:34You know, I probably, you know, I spoke here to the DNC two months ago on this very issue.
28:48And I took a vacation day so I could speak in my individual capacity.
28:55And I said directly to the members of the Democratic National Committee that the party needed a makeover.
29:04That what they had done was extreme that what they had done was extreme that it was time to get
29:07the hogs away from the trough at the Democratic Party.
29:10But the larger thing, Ashley, is this is going to require us to think about whether we need something different.
29:18We need our own political apparatus that's not tied to a group of people who want to line their packets
29:29and make money.
29:30What absolutely pisses me off is that the 2016 election was lost because of the failure to invest in turnout
29:42in Detroit, in Philadelphia, in Atlanta, in Milwaukee, in Madison, in Pittsburgh, in Scranton.
29:55And then how you repeat the same mistake in 24 when they come to Rev and Siobhan and I with
30:04a week and a half left.
30:07And say, well, we have some money for you.
30:11What can you do?
30:12We've been talking to you for eight months about resources.
30:15You have nothing on your own.
30:17You need us to help turn this vote out.
30:20So it is an extreme state of emergency in the Democratic Party.
30:26So this is a challenge for Schumer.
30:29It's a challenge for our brother, Hakeem Jeffries.
30:32It's a challenge for Ken Martin, who leads the Democratic Party.
30:37And it is going to be a number one issue when all these wannabes, Rev, they came to your conference.
30:44All the wannabe presidents.
30:46Several of them are coming to my conference in Nashville in three weeks.
30:50And I will ask them about this very, very question.
30:55I want to get public commitments from them to invest in the black community.
31:02One of the reasons why Barack Obama was successful is months before he entered a primary, he was organizing on
31:13the ground in all of these areas with volunteers, with paid staff, with activations.
31:21And his campaign of 80, of 08, is a blueprint on how you organize not only black America, but organize
31:31a coalition to try to defeat the MAGA movement, which is what we need.
31:36So that report, see what is stunning is why they sat on the report for months.
31:42You know if they sat on it, they were hiding something.
31:46And we knew what the report said.
31:48And so this is a report that basically affirms what Ashley is telling us.
31:53And we got to say no more.
31:55So I think that's right.
31:57You can clap that on.
31:59The reality, too, is in 2012 is when we started to bleed support among black voters when Barack Obama was
32:08the president.
32:08And it's partly because of the attitude that he's black enough and will turn out no matter what because he's
32:14our president.
32:15And the reality is they were wrong about that.
32:17And they've been consistently wrong.
32:18In my home state of Texas, black men voted 22 percent for Donald Trump, double digits.
32:24We've seen that trend happening.
32:26So for me, it's a five alarm fire.
32:28And the way I see it is every dollar that flows through the Democratic Party, we should see as an
32:33opportunity to reinvest in building black power on the ground in these communities that we can actually have.
32:38We can actually win and leverage our power.
32:40So, Siobhan, I'm curious what it says to you about the party's reluctance.
32:45And I would even go so far as not just reluctance, but it feels like resentment to bring black people
32:53to the table, not just to share in the power of the party, but to share in the resources of
32:58the party to engage and turn out black voters.
33:00Reluctance to bring black people and particularly black women into this conversation.
33:05I think we're missing the mark when you're talking about this 92 percent conversation is very interesting.
33:11If you really look at the numbers.
33:12So about a little over 60 percent of black women in general voted of those 60 percent, 92 percent of
33:19those black women voted for Kamala Harris to become the president of the United States.
33:24And over 80 percent, let me kill the myth, a black man also voted for her.
33:28Absolutely.
33:28I want to be clear on this because that narrative has also been out there and wrong.
33:32But I will say that, and we're all nonpartisan organizations, yes, but we're all politically factual.
33:38The black vote and the black electorate, our consistency has been taken for granted.
33:45When you stay consistent and are taken for granted, the only thing that wakes people up is when you pull
33:50the rug from under the people.
33:52Right.
33:53You cannot.
33:54It's just like a child.
33:54You can't tell a child I'm going to spank you and then don't spank him and expect him to change.
33:58So now it's time for some spanking.
34:00It's time to get back into understanding who we are as a community because, and we won't let that sound
34:07drown us out.
34:07If we are a community with the power that we say we have, then we can say to the Democratic
34:12Party, we can say to any party.
34:14Because quite frankly, we don't owe any party anything.
34:16Absolutely.
34:17We don't owe any party anything.
34:19And so our alignment with, many align with Democratic Party values, yes.
34:23But I will say this, as black Americans, we are not a monolith.
34:28We activate in ways that make sense for all of us.
34:30And what you see up here represented is black leadership that understands.
34:35We know that our power is in our masses.
34:38Our power is in our collective action.
34:41And I believe that the Democratic Party has to reckon with and really come to terms with who they want
34:48to be in the future.
34:49Because I'm going to tell you who else is not tracking.
34:50Young people.
34:51Right.
34:52Young people are saying, well, you know what, I don't need allegiance to anybody.
34:55But it is the party's job to do their due diligence to not only invest, but actually show themselves faithful
35:02to the black community too.
35:03Amen.
35:04And that's not happened along the way.
35:05Amen.
35:05Can we get an applause line for that?
35:07Because I will tell you, when black women were losing their jobs, when the report first came out, I called
35:12the DNC and I said,
35:13what have you guys said about black women losing their jobs?
35:15They hadn't said anything about it.
35:17And I think that that's deplorable.
35:19And we demand, we should be demanding more.
35:21But now we're kind of out of time.
35:22I want to just do one more round of questioning.
35:25We've got people here and we've got people watching.
35:28I would love for each of you to talk about what people in this audience and watching can do to
35:36support your organization's efforts and what your organization is committing as a reciprocal to support black people in this moment.
35:46I'll start.
35:47You want to start?
35:48Okay.
35:48Yeah.
35:49First and foremost, so NCNW is a part of a larger collective called the Black Women's Leadership Collective.
35:55Our goal over these next two election cycles is to register one million new black voters for this upcoming election
36:04and next election up until 28.
36:05Why are we doing that?
36:08Why are we doing that?
36:08We're doing that because we need to overperform in voter turnout, not just voter registration.
36:15So NCNW is committing something called Power Up Ready to Vote.
36:19In 16 states where we have an election in these midterms that we're tracking, we want to power up.
36:26That means, one, identifying, like we said before, high school seniors and college students.
36:31Number two, we are also going to be investing in ground game work.
36:37We've got to go back to the old school, door knocking.
36:40We've got to get back to the old school, making phone calls, going into faith houses.
36:45But here's your takeaway.
36:47Your takeaway is to commit from where you sit.
36:51What does that mean?
36:52That means if you know a person living with a disability, drive them to the polls.
36:56If you know someone that has not registered to vote, set them up with vote.org to make sure they
37:03register to vote.
37:04Also, in your commitment, organizations like ours need your support.
37:10I said this earlier, one cup of Starbucks a month to a black organization will save the black organization.
37:17If thousands of people decided to give $20 a month to these institutions, you would help sustain our institutions.
37:24So we need you to pull out your phones and follow us on social media.
37:28Stop sharing misinformation, y'all.
37:30Don't let these fools on social media tell you what's happening.
37:34Listen to AI, accurate information.
37:38All right?
37:38We are accurate information.
37:40Follow us on social media because we are the leaders.
37:44We're the trusted messengers that are fighting on Capitol Hill.
37:47I'm with these brothers often walking the halls of Congress.
37:50I think Melanie's in here too.
37:51We're walking the halls of Congress for your representation.
37:55So we need you to invest in us because it is our life's work.
37:59It is God's calling on our lives to stand in the gap for you.
38:02So go online.
38:04Check us out, ncnw.org.
38:06Support these institutions and do not forget to support black families and black children.
38:11We are the models that they need to see.
38:14They can't be what they can't see, y'all.
38:16So get out the vote and make sure you're invested in our organization.
38:18Awesome.
38:19Mark?
38:20We have launched our Reclaim Your Vote civic engagement campaign for this cycle.
38:26And we'll be working in all 94 Urban League affiliates with a heavy focus on places like
38:33Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia.
38:37Georgia and North Carolina were their contested Senate races.
38:41And that is a comprehensive campaign where we mobilize both paid staff and volunteers with a voter contact emphasis.
38:50And so it's door knocking.
38:52It's digital advertising.
38:54It's rallies in beauty shops and barbershops.
38:57It's the mobilization of the ministry.
39:00Last week in St. Louis, I attended the National Baptist Convention USA's conference.
39:06We signed a brand new memorandum of Understanding Rev and both of you all, Rev and Rev, with them.
39:14And what we are doing is we are asking all pastors to message specifically around civic engagement
39:22and economic empowerment on the fourth Sunday of every month.
39:26So we're trying to mobilize a coordinated messaging campaign with the National Baptist Convention USA
39:34and its member churches.
39:36Next week, I'll be in Orlando attending the annual conference of the Full Gospel Baptist Church,
39:44which incidentally was founded here in New Orleans by the legendary Bishop Paul S. Morton,
39:51who pastored Greater St. Stephen's Full Gospel Baptist Church.
39:55Again, they are a Baptist Pentecostalist leaning organization.
40:01And so those two memorandums and the boys Kimber, the president of the National Baptist Convention,
40:09Siobhan and Rev, want to bring all of us to their next gathering to have a broader civil rights partnership
40:16with the black churches.
40:17So those are a number of things.
40:18And the final thing we're going to be doing in Nashville in about three weeks,
40:23we will be releasing this year's State of Black America report.
40:27We have embedded in it this year a voter guide.
40:30And we're also going to be releasing a black consumer report to educate us around our consumer power
40:39and how we can better leverage our economic power.
40:42So we are trying to build information and tools that all of us can use.
40:47But the linchpin of it is all of us are going to focus on getting this vote out.
40:53That's right.
40:53All of us are going to focus on educating.
40:56What can you do?
40:57Come get involved with us.
40:59Please.
41:00Come volunteer.
41:01Give me some time.
41:02Give me a couple of Saturdays.
41:04Give me some time to be involved.
41:06We got to get people involved in the old way.
41:11Yes.
41:12Yes.
41:12You can.
41:13It's a lot of fun.
41:15And it's exciting.
41:16And it's affirming to get out in the community.
41:19Mark.
41:19And talk to people.
41:20Mark.
41:20I was told by people here in New Orleans that they call you black black.
41:24And it's for obvious reasons.
41:26I can tell why.
41:27They call me black black too for the same reasons.
41:29But you said something on stage this morning.
41:32And you said we've got to get gangster.
41:35The Rev talked about a march.
41:38We do a lot of marching.
41:39What, in this moment, does gangster look like to you?
41:43I mean, a lot of what we just said is fundamental.
41:45And I believe we need to do that.
41:47But is it, what beyond the usual can we do that's gangster to respond to this moment?
41:53So here in Louisiana, the State Attorney General, three weeks ago, the State Attorney General,
42:02there was a dispute over the elimination of a clerk of court position held by a black man named Calvin
42:10Duncan,
42:11recently elected returning citizen.
42:13That's right.
42:15And the State Attorney General, when several black elected officials and the mayor of this city, Helena Moreno,
42:22stood up to push back against that and criticize the actions of the legislature and the governor,
42:28the State Attorney General, the State Attorney General sends a letter on official letterhead to each of these elected officials
42:36saying,
42:37I'm going to prosecute you under an 1872 statute that they used to silence people.
42:47Now, I would have wanted to see an immediate response to that from leaders and elected officials here in New
43:00Orleans.
43:01And I got to town earlier this week.
43:04I did not see the response.
43:07Therefore, I called my own press conference to call out the actions of the State Attorney General.
43:14See, what we've got to do is never, ever, ever, ever, ever let anybody think that they can intimidate us
43:23and make us scared with a bunch of loud talk and rhetoric.
43:29See, Trump specializes in that.
43:32You should see how some of these business executives and senators act because they're afraid he's going to hit them
43:40with a tweet.
43:41A tweet.
43:42And, you know, I don't know how we were built.
43:45I know how we are built.
43:47And you do that to me and I'm ready for a real old time fight.
43:51And when I say go gangster, we have to be stronger because we've got to let people out in the
43:58community know that we are not going to be intimidated.
44:02When we speak up, we speak up for y'all.
44:04We're not speaking for ourselves.
44:06And so in this moment, when things are done that are offensive to our community, we have to respond forcefully,
44:14intelligently, and consistently.
44:18And in a coordinated fashion.
44:19Thank you for that.
44:21Rev, I'd like for you to close out with what this everyone who's watching can do to support NAN and
44:31what you guys are doing to support.
44:33Well, first of all, they can go to nationalactionnetwork.net and see the chapters that are near them and join.
44:41One of the things I do, and I learned it as a student under Jesse Jackson, is we have rallies
44:48every Saturday.
44:49I do it in Harlem.
44:51Our chapters do it.
44:52And it's live on the radio, on the black radio stations.
44:56Why?
44:57Because people that listen to a black station rally are people that will vote.
45:03And we need to energize that vote.
45:05People talk about, well, do they listen to AM radio?
45:07Those that do, we're on FM in New York, but those that do are people that are civic minded.
45:13We have to energize them.
45:15We have to work everything from the churches to the pool room.
45:18The chairman of our board is the chair of the Conference of National Black Churches,
45:22that all of the denominations, AME, AME Zion, Baptist, Boise and Kimber's on our board.
45:28So you need to first join.
45:30Second, you need to mobilize in your community from the bottom up.
45:35There has never been an elitist black movement.
45:39It always comes from the bottom up.
45:42And it's members of organizations or that form organizations that's affiliated.
45:49I would differ with you saying we always march.
45:51We don't always march.
45:53We marched in Alabama this year and Mississippi.
45:58That's about only my.
46:00People tell me when I say, got to be at the March on Washington,
46:03we got to bring in tens of thousands.
46:05And one guy said to me, yeah, I agree that I'm tired of marching.
46:08I said, what's the last march you've been to?
46:11I mean, think about that.
46:12We have not, everybody been marching but us.
46:15I see all king, no kings march.
46:17I see no this march.
46:19Where are we?
46:20And our silence gives the message to our community that we are content
46:26or that we've got to take orders from others.
46:29So be involved in the march, be involved in the chapters, and don't sit down.
46:36Be involved with whatever organization you want to be involved with.
46:39All right.
46:40Thank you, three.
46:41I appreciate this conversation.
46:42I look forward to.
46:43And let's thank Ashley ATN because she's rocking it on Meet the Press.
46:49Representing well and challenging truth to power.
46:53Yeah, going to be black, black on that show.
46:54Black, black, yeah.
46:55All right.
46:56Let's give it up one more time for these three incredible leaders.
47:02All right.
47:03Let's give it up one more time.
47:05Cheers.
47:06Go.
47:07Go.
47:07Go.
47:08Go.
47:08Go.
47:09Go.
47:10Go.
47:10Go.
47:11Go.
47:12Go.
47:13Go.
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