What A Day - How Black Voters Matter Is Organizing For Harris

Episode Date: August 12, 2024

Vice President Kamala Harris is well on her way to shoring up the kind of historic support from Black voters that was starting to slip away from President Biden before he dropped out of the presidential race. In addition to recent polls that show Harris faring significantly better with Black voters than Trump, there’s also been considerable energy among groups of Black organizers who have set up Zoom calls to fundraise for the Vice President’s campaign. But amidst that enthusiasm, voter suppression remains a major concern heading into November. Cliff Albright, co-founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund, discusses how his organization is working to educate voters in states with a history of suppressing the Black vote.And in headlines: President Biden gave his first sit-down interview since leaving the presidential race, Israel carried out a deadly air strike in Gaza City, and the 2024 Paris Olympics came to a close.Show Notes:Learn more about Black Voters Matter Fund –https://blackvotersmatterfund.orgSubscribe to the What A Day Newsletter – https://tinyurl.com/3kk4nyz8What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

It's Monday, August 12th. I'm Trevelle Anderson. And I'm Josie Duffy Rice. And this is What A Day, the show that's asking Trump's presidential campaign, why do you keep playing unauthorized music at your rallies? Last week in Montana, they played Celine Dion's classic, My Heart Will Go On, from the soundtrack to the 1997 film Titanic. Dion's official ex-account posted that she does not endorse this or any similar use, adding quote, and really that's on. On today's show, President Biden reveals what led to his decision to step down from the election. Plus we say goodbye to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

But first, Vice President Harris is well on her way to shoring up the kind of historic support from Black voters that was starting to slip away from President Biden before he dropped out of the race. In addition to recent polls that show Harris faring significantly better with Black voters than Trump, there's also all of this energy in many of our communities that can't be denied. From the Zoom calls of Black women and men fundraising to church sermons going viral on TikTok encouraging people to vote. Yeah, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated, which Vice President Harris joined when she was a student at Howard University, even filed paperwork on Friday to create its own political action committee to help raise money for federal candidates. The AKAs are one of nine historically Black sororities and fraternities collectively known as the Divine Nine. And that will certainly help boost turnout among their millions of mostly Black members in November. Absolutely. They are going to be skiweeing to the cows come home. I hope everybody

is ready. I would not bet it against the AKs. Absolutely not. But while so much attention is on Black voters, we also have to be certain to discuss voter suppression. Black Voters Matter is a voting rights organization that works in 25 states, including Florida, South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Alabama, and Mississippi. States that have a history of suppressing the Black vote, and many of which that have also, since the last election, passed all types of potential barriers for voters. Here's a clip from my conversation with co-founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund, Cliff Albright. You just said every aspect of voting from registration to voting by mail to absentee to in-person to drop boxes to same day and to afterwards, which is the part that I'd even say we are most concerned with. Black Voters Matter is working to educate folks about some of these changes and how they may impact their abilities to vote. Which means, Josie, they are on the ground talking to, you know, Cousin Pookie and Auntie Bam Bam,

regular degular Black folks about the election, about VP Harris as a candidate, all of the things. I asked Clift about the changes he's seen in folks in the three weeks since VP Harris became the Democratic Party's presidential nominee. Well, I don't want to say it's like night and day, but it sure is different. I can give you like just from personal experience. I live in Atlanta. Our organization is based in Georgia, although we do work in 25 states. And I was actually at the Atlanta rally a week and a half ago. And let me tell you that the energy inside there was real. These images of you seeing of these rallies, whether it's the one in Atlanta or Detroit or the other night in Vegas, the energy inside that arena was real. And it was a diverse group. You had young folks, older folks, black folks, white folks, brown folks. I mean, you name it. And everybody was excited. And we're hearing that from different parts of the country. We got partners, again, in 25 states. And I've got people texting me like, hey, we ready to go. What are we doing? What's

next? I mean, the energy is just... And this matches what we've seen going on in terms of everything, right? In terms of all the Zoom calls, it's the money, it's the volunteers. And again, it's the energy. And some people say, vibes ain't everything, right? You can't win an election off of vibes. And you're right, vibes ain't everything, because at the end of the day, you got to turn this attendance and energy at these rallies into votes, into organizing, right? So it ain't everything, but folks have made it to the White House off of some strong vibes and energy. So it's different over the past three weeks. You know, your group had written a letter in support of keeping President Biden on the ticket when so many other people were demanding he step down. I'm wondering, do you think he made the right decision? And how has that decision shifted your organization's strategy?

So yes, we think it was the right decision, but we still think it was important to send the message that we sent because part of that message, and folks can go and look at the statement that we did, part of it was based on a healthy skepticism of whether or not people were going to rally around the vice president, right? So we thought it was important to communicate that. And in terms of tactics and strategies, that hasn't changed, right? Fundamentally, it's still the same thing. We got to make phone calls. We got to send text messages. We got to have these conversations, do the early polling place parties. We got to educate people about the ongoing challenges of voter suppression. The messaging is obviously going to change, it's not just about identity.

It's about policy, right? It's about that we see in this person because of her messaging, because of what she says, and because of what she's done, that it's easier to message around what's at stake, what issues are important? And what are the differences between these two candidates? So to what extent do you think that Harris really needs to focus on, you know, outreach to Black communities, Black voters? We know that before Biden dropped out of the race, polls showed that, you know, he was struggling with young Black voters, especially men. What is it that Harris has to do to win their support? Should she be focusing more on Black voters? Where are you on that? I think she needs to keep doing the things that she's doing now and the things that she's

been doing, right? It doesn't make it any less important that she reach out to Black voters. You know, you got some people out there thinking that, oh, you got a Black candidate. And so it's just automatic that Black folks will come out. And no, it's not automatic. As I said earlier, energy still has to be turned into votes. Energy still has to be turned into organizing. Is there some really good energy out there? Definitely. Do folks recognize that she reflects an experience that is consistent with what many of us have gone through, whether it's the experience of having, I saw articles the other day talking about her working at McDonald's

in college. Guess what? I did that too, right? And so whether it's because of her experiences growing up a certain way, going to an HBCU, pledging AKA, or just as being a Black woman in this world where, as Malcolm X said, the black woman is still the most disrespected and underappreciated person in the world all of that we believe translates into the way that people see policy like all she needs to do is keep doing what she's been doing if they stay the course like that they'll be fine I wonder how you think specifically about the ways that massage noir, right, will likely continue to show up in this race and how, if any ways, Black Voters Matter is thinking about navigating and combating these issues, specifically right within the black community in an election where I feel like every time I hear folks talk about black voters, they're talking about a specific group of black voters who seem to be quote unquote Trump curious. Right. How are you all as an organization thinking through and navigating these very specific things, right, as you try to get the message out for VP Harris?

Black men are the most progressive bloc in this country. Second only, second only to Black women. And there's always a gap, to be clear, you know, where women show up and show out a little bit more than what brothers do. But I think it's important that we start there because that issue isn't going to show up on the vast majority, at least 80% of black men that they're going to be all in and they with her, right? Then you got this other group. And to be real, if there is another group where that is an issue, you do have a small percentage that will say, look, I ain't going to vote for her because she's a woman. I didn't vote for Stacey Abrams because she's a woman. I ain't vote for Hillary Clinton because she's a woman.

And they'll throw it out there like that. Then you got this other segment that they'll try to couch it under some other stuff. Oh, you know, I just I'm not sure. You know, there's something about her that just doesn't seem presidential. I don't know what it is. There's just something about her that doesn't, you know, that doesn't I can't I can't see her being the commander in chief. They won't say what it is there's just something about her that doesn't you know that doesn't I can't I can't see her being the commander in chief they won't say what it is right and so I think

that the way that we challenge this is to challenge it right is to speak to it you know just force folk to deal with that patriarchy right to not assume that it's what's driving everybody's position but to recognize that it is a real

thing. And we're already seeing it, right? We're seeing it. Obviously, we're seeing it coming from the Trump campaign, right? And there's stories out now about him calling her what? The B word. I don't know if I can say it on. Can we say it on the podcast? You can. Can we say that Trump out there calling her a bitch, right? But at the end of the day, if we mobilized that other at least 80% to come out and vote at high numbers, and then maybe those, the ones that are on the fence that aren't like the most hardcore with it, but they just deal with that uncertainty that a history of patriarchy

causes in some men, then we'll be okay. My last question for you, VP Harris has been receiving some criticism for not having yet done, you know, like a sit down interview for not having yet established any major policy positions that seem different than President Biden. that poses a potential major threat is her approach to the war in Gaza, which we know has been an issue that has been super contentious for a lot of folks. What do you think Black voters need to hear from VP Harris on this topic in particular? We are in solidarity with the Uncommitted Movement, right? And so it does pop up as an issue, not just among activists, like most people in the country, actually, polls are showing favor a ceasefire, right? Part of what started, I believe, when Biden started to shift a little bit on this,

not nearly enough, but when some of the language started to shift in terms of mentioning a ceasefire, keep in mind, it was a group of black pastors who sent a letter, who did an open letter saying, we demand, we're calling for a ceasefire. So it would be a mistake, I believe, for people to think that this is just something that the fringe of the base is calling for. We have been in conversations with regular Schmegler Black folks. They may not know all the intricacies or whatever,

but we're an oppressed people. We know what another oppressed people looks like. We know the oppressed versus a more dominant, well-armed, well-financed governing structure. And so I think it is an important issue. Do I think that it necessarily is at the same as like people who are concerned about their housing on a daily basis or their jobs and all that? I wouldn't say that, but I definitely would not say that it's not something that's important

to folks and that people want to see some change on. That was my conversation with Cliff Albright, co-founder of the Black Voters Matter Fund. That's the latest for now. We'll get to some headlines in a moment. But if you like our show, make sure to subscribe and share with your friends. We'll be back after some ads. Now let's wrap up with some headlines.

Headlines. On Sunday, President Joe Biden took part in his first sit-down interview since withdrawing from the 2024 election. Speaking with CBS News correspondent Robert Costa, Biden gave further insight into his decision not to run for a second term. What happened was a number of my Democratic colleagues in the House and Senate thought that I was going to hurt them in the races. And I was concerned if I stayed in the race, that would be the topic. You'd be interviewing me about why did Nancy Pelosi say, why did someone, and I thought it would be a real distraction. He also discussed his plans to head out on the campaign trail to support Vice President Kamala

Harris. And throughout the interview, President Biden emphasized his belief that democracy is at stake in this election and that Americans need to be proactive against attempts by the GOP to undermine it. On Saturday, an Israeli strike hit a school in Gaza City that was being used by Palestinians as a shelter. According to the Palestinian Civil Defense in Gaza, the strike killed more than 100 people and injured dozens of others. It's one of the deadliest attacks since the start of the war. Israeli officials, however, have disputed the number of people killed in the attack and say the airstrike killed 19 Hamas and Islamic Jihad fighters. Hamas has denied that militants were operating out of the shelter. And on Sunday, Israel issued yet another evacuation order for Palestinians sheltering in Han Yunis.

The area under evacuation includes parts of what Israel had previously designated as a humanitarian zone. The Israeli army claims that militants have been firing rockets from that area. Former President Donald Trump's campaign said on Saturday that some of its internal communications from earlier this year were hacked. Politico was the first to report the news. The outlet said that it began receiving anonymous emails with insider documents from Trump's campaign in late July. On Saturday, the campaign claimed that it was hacked by the Iranian government.

The campaign cited a report from Microsoft detailing how Iranian hackers sent a phishing email to a, quote, high-ranking official on a presidential campaign back in June. But the tech company never named the campaign that was targeted and did not comment on the matter on Saturday. When Trump's campaign was asked if it had any other evidence to support its accusation of Iran, a spokesperson declined to comment. And before you go, we have one final Olympics recap now that the games are over. Breaking officially made its debut as an Olympic sport on Friday. Canada's Philip Kim, aka Phil Wizard, took home the gold medal in the men's

category, while Japan's Ami Yuasa placed first in the women's event. And while fans were excited to see a new sport in the mix, it's unlikely that breaking will return to the Olympic stage. The event is not on the agenda for the 2028 Games, and the only way a new sport can become a regular event is if it's included in three consecutive games let's just say it's probably for the best that break dancing will you know disappear for a little bit because i saw those performances it was great to try something new and it's good to untry new things as well when those things fail. So you live and learn. You live and learn. Meanwhile, in Team USA news, the International Olympic Committee said on Sunday that gymnast Jordan Childs must return the bronze medal she won for her floor exercise.

Childs initially finished in fifth last week, but she climbed to third after her coach argued that her score should be higher. This is not uncommon. Coaches are allowed to appeal their athlete scores for a few minutes until the next gymnast begins their routine. But Childs was last in line, which meant her coach only had one minute to appeal. The IOC ruled that Childs must be moved back down to fifth place because her coach missed that deadline by four seconds. But USA Gymnastics claims it has video evidence that proves that the appeal was on time. In other Team USA news, the U.S. men's basketball team won the gold medal for the fifth year in a row on Saturday after defeating France. The women's and men's track

teams also took home the gold, placing first in the 4x400 relay. And the U.S. women's soccer team won gold for the first time in 12 years after beating Brazil in the finals. In total, Team USA left Paris with 40 gold medals. Now that the games are over, we're looking ahead to 2028 when Los Angeles is set to host. LA Mayor Karen Bass said on Saturday that city officials are working to expand public transit over the next few years to create a, quote, no car games where fans travel between events by bus or train. I love the vision, Karen Bass, but I just don't know if that's going to be, you know, the case. We'll see. It's kind of giving people will be able to swim in the sand vibes.

Big dreams are so good. But also, I have questions. Stay tuned, Josie. I'm staying tuned. And those are the headlines. One more thing before we go. It's been a little over two years since the Dobbs decision overturned Roe v. Wade,

removing the constitutional right to abortion. We're still reeling from the Supreme Court decision to roll the country, removing the constitutional right to abortion. We're still reeling from the Supreme Court decision to roll the country back a whole 50 years on abortion, but for an entire movement of high-ranking GOP creeps, Dobbs is just the beginning. On this week's Strict Scrutiny, Kate, Melissa, and Leah look back on that fateful 2022 decision and how it rocked the reproductive world since. They'll also dig into how severe abortion restrictions tie into the horrifying white man plans of Project 2025. To learn more about the repercussions of this decision and follow all the news that's fit to scream about, look for the episode titled State of the Uterus on the Strict Scrutiny Feed.

That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave a review, check your voter registration status, and tell your friends to listen. And if you're into reading and not just about how Team USA swept the Olympics, like me, What A Day is also a nightly newsletter, so check it out and subscribe at cricket.com slash subscribe. I'm Josie Duffy Rice. I'm Traeval Anderson. And stick to your two-song playlist, Trump. You can play the two-kid rock songs that people know. I don't know what they are, but he probably has two. Well, I'm surprised he hasn't called up sexy red yet, okay?

Oh, I forgot. Lord. That just sent shivers down my whole spine. Well, today's a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Bill Lantz. Our associate producer is Raven Yamamoto. We had production help today from Michelle Alloy, Ethan Oberman, John Milstein, Greg Walters, and Julia Clare. Our showrunner is Erica Morrison, and our executive producer is Adrian Hill. Our theme music is by Colin Gillyard and Kashaka. Tenderfoot TV, and the team behind Atlanta Monster. And it is a new podcast called Flashpoint.

So some of you may remember where you were on July 27th, 1996, when a domestic terrorist bombed the Summer Olympic Games held right here in Atlanta. I was just down the street. I remember it very well. The attack was on every news channel. And while the FBI and the media fixated on the wrong guy, the real bomber was plotting his next targets, two abortion clinics and a gay nightclub. The bomber would later be identified as a dedicated soldier in the white supremacist Christian identity movement. Through the lens of these bombings and the victims left to pick up the pieces, Flashpoint explores America's greatest threat, the political and religious radicalization of homegrown terrorists. Flashpoint is available now. Listen for free on Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.