WATCH: Paint The Polls Black with Bakari Sellers And Van Lathan
In 2024, we are confronting a major election year with history and the rights of marginalized communities on the ballot. The disparities that Black and Brown people confront in this country are significant and growing from housing and employment to access to health care and access to capital. The Sundial Group of Companies which includes ESSENCE, the Global Black Economic Forum, Girls United, AfroPunk, BeautyCon and New Voices Foundation are coming together, along with our partners, to mobilize and ensure that we educate, mobilize and register voters to take action this November and into the future.
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00:00I'm so excited for our next panel discussion. Two brilliant Black men. Every election cycle,
00:07we hear about Black men and voting. There are stories about voting patterns and trends that
00:14are often misaligned with reality. Check the sources, people. We have two commentators who
00:22are on the front lines of election work and voting to discuss that further with us today.
00:28First, Bakari Sellers, who is a political commentator on CNN. You see him all the time.
00:34Former member of the South Carolina House of Representatives and the author of The Moment.
00:40He's joined by Van Lathan, who is the co-host of The Ringer's Higher Learning Podcast and is best
00:47known as a former co-host and senior producer on TMZ Live, which I always say, he's always ready
00:53to check somebody in real time. He is also the executive producer for Two Distant Strangers,
00:59the 2021 Academy Award winner for Best Live Action Short Film. Please welcome these gentlemen.
01:09What's up, man?
01:11What's up, brother? How you doing, man? How are you feeling out there right now?
01:16Well, I'm on vacation and y'all got me doing this. So
01:18I was trying to spend a little time with the family, but things kind of went different
01:22a couple Sundays ago, but I'm happy to be here anytime that essence calls, anytime that I get a
01:29chance, an opportunity to spend some time. And they told me who was moderating it, so I couldn't
01:33say no. I mean, they said Rachel Lindsay was busy, and so here we are.
01:38She always is. Let me ask you this. The narrative around Black men
01:44our votes, our apathy to vote, our willingness to vote for the other side, how accurate do you
01:52feel that to be as it seems to come back every single election cycle?
01:56No, it's false. I mean, it's objectively false because the second largest voting group for the
02:02Democratic Party in this country behind Black women have been Black men. And you look at the
02:08statistics, you'll see that Black men actually turn out of a disproportionate share of the
02:13elected, compared to their peers. And so that's objectively false. And I've said this to you.
02:19You've heard our good friend Charlamagne talk about it. You've heard many other people talk
02:23about it and kind of steal my line, but I love it. But the simple truth is that this election
02:29has always been between, at the time it was Biden and Hillary, it was Hillary Clinton and
02:35Hillary Clinton. This election has always been between, at the time it was Biden-Trump
02:39in the couch, but now it's Harris-Trump in the couch. And still to this day, I mean,
02:44Kamala Harris' biggest threat is not Donald Trump. Kamala Harris' biggest threat is the couch
02:49and people electing to stay at home. I think that's going to change now with the energy
02:55that you see, but that still is nonetheless a threat.
02:59The excitement for Kamala Harris, since she's been announced as the top of the ticket,
03:08have you seen and felt a noticeable shift? And I guess the question is, why? Why do you think
03:16that shift has been so distinct if you've seen one, when she essentially represents the same
03:21administration and the same record of that administration that's been turning America
03:27around for the last four years, three and a half years? Why do you think so many people
03:31are into Kamala at the top of the ticket right now? It's a simple fact that a lot of people don't
03:37know, but I'm going to spring this on you because I just found out about it. In 2016 and 2020,
03:45there were a total of 93 million different individuals, 93 million different human
03:53beings that cast a vote against Donald Trump. A lot of that energy was pent up. A lot of that
04:00want for change was pent up. And let's be honest, it's a fresher face on the scene.
04:06It's somebody new. She ran in the primary and did not do well, but primaries are for people
04:11who have tuned in. Usually you have 14 million people decide who is a nominee for a particular
04:17candidate. At the end of the day, 160 million people vote for the president of the United
04:22States. And so it's a very less than 10% of the electorate chooses a particular party as a
04:27nominee. And so what we're looking at now is just this pent up that you want to participate.
04:35You're also seeing something that's amazing. In September 2016, Hillary Clinton raised $150
04:42million. Kamala Harris raised $200 million in eight days. Something is happening in the world,
04:50and we should see if that's going to be enough to change the trajectory of where we end up.
04:57I'm from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, which I have to say every single moment of every single day,
05:03remind people that my city exists. And I was talking to some people from the NAACP a couple
05:09of days ago, and they were telling me about voter turnout down there in Baton Rouge. And
05:13they said the numbers were around 17%. Now, when you say the number, I was blown away.
05:23But intellectually, if you did ask me, I probably could have conjectured that the number was
05:29somewhere near that. In a city like Baton Rouge that's around 54% Black, population-wise,
05:38what is it about civic engagement that we haven't learned? Why is it that it seems
05:45like sometimes in a place like that, where the power really, really, really can be taken,
05:50that we're not mobilizing to get out there and vote and take that power for ourselves?
05:55That's a good question. That's probably one I would prefer to hear you and Gary Chambers
06:00have a one-on-one dialogue in Ted James and try to figure that out. My conjecture or hypothesis
06:09would be that over the past decades, Louisiana has made it more difficult for people of color
06:17and poor people to vote. Also, the caliber of candidates that are running for office in terms
06:23of meeting voters where they are and giving them something to vote for, instead of something to
06:27vote against, has been a unique problem and leaves something to be desired.
06:36I would probably say, last but not least, there is a palpable sense of exhaustion felt by Black
06:43people from Baton Rouge to South Carolina, where I'm from, to L.A., where we rich folks,
06:49I think you probably lay your head out there in L.A. a little bit more. I know that's how you say
06:54you're from Baton Rouge, but you take pictures under the Hollywood sign. Anyway, I digress.
07:02But I would say that there is a certain level of exhaustion amongst Black folks throughout.
07:07I think it's the combination of the three things, the lack of quality candidates and also
07:13that level of exhaustion. I asked a question specifically about my hometown, but I meant it
07:19in a broader way. You answered with some observations about the pitfalls or the challenges
07:29to voting for Black people that I think would probably, those challenges probably exist,
07:35they probably exist throughout communities all over the country. How do we turn people out?
07:40How do we get people to exercise such an important American right and power and privilege
07:46to change their lives, to vote for DAs, to vote for sheriffs, to vote for comptrollers,
07:51to vote for people who have direct power over aspects of their life? How do we get people back
07:58engaged? I think it's very simple. I think you have to give people a reason to do it.
08:05And the reason, it's not enough to say people died and fought for it, because
08:11it's kind of like how we spent six, seven, eight months talking about a threat to democracy. It's
08:14just not breaking through, right? Sometimes you have to shift messages, messengers too.
08:22And so my first point would be that we have to give people something to vote for. One of the
08:28things that's unique about KDH is that she is going to areas of the country, meeting voters
08:36where they are and not dealing in who Donald Trump is, but she's actually articulating a plan
08:41and laying out a plan of why you should vote for her. And that's just unique in this time frame,
08:46because we always want to paint our opponent as something other than a child of God. And we want
08:52to bring him down to a certain level and not her down to a certain level, instead of actually
08:59dealing with what you can provide the constituency for which you're running. So that's first.
09:05The second thing is we have to meet voters where they are. And I've said that once,
09:08and I'll probably repeat it two or three more times. Black folk who reach or attain a certain
09:14level of accolade, people who reach a certain level of wealth, a lot of my friends on the left,
09:21forget that you don't, it's not fair to assume people should come to you to hear your message.
09:30Sometimes it's necessary for you to shut up and go to them and listen to their hope.
09:39Got a couple of questions coming in. One question was, can you vote by email?
09:45No. Is that possible?
09:46No. No. And thank God it's not. That's one of the more unsafe matters in which
09:52you probably could vote by email, but you can vote by mail, not email, but mail,
09:58particularly in Pennsylvania. Anybody in the college from Pennsylvania,
10:00please go out and do everything you can do to show up and vote. And you can vote early,
10:05and you can vote at your local office. For those of us who'd be traveling on election day,
10:11it's important that we go out and do the things necessary. Check in with your local
10:15voter registration office and figure out how you can vote.
10:22Let me ask you this. Every single election, particularly at the top of the ticket,
10:30people say to us that this is the most important election of our lifetimes.
10:34Yeah. Yeah.
10:34It's been repeated so many different times that it's kind of lost its luster.
10:39Is this the most important election of our lifetimes right now? And if so, why?
10:45That's a really, really good question, Brandon. The answer is yes. And the problem is that I've
10:49probably echoed that before. And yeah, the answer is yes. There is a distinct difference between the
11:00future of McConnell and Harris and the future of Donald Trump. There is a distinct difference
11:05between Project 2025 and making sure that women can decide what they want to do with their body,
11:12making that decision with their family and their doctor. In Project 2025, they actually talk about
11:20eliminating the school lunch program. They talk about eliminating veterans' benefits.
11:27Literally starving children.
11:29Yeah. They talk about a nationwide ban on abortion, ending no-fault divorce because
11:36they believe women should stay in relationships regardless, and not only just stay in relationships,
11:41but stay in the kitchen. And now you have an effective messenger on what the future looks like.
11:49As I told the vice president, she's acknowledged and is actually executing
11:58because, of course, it just makes perfect sense. You don't have to lean into the identity of who
12:03you are. People can see it. You don't have to lean into the identity of being the first. People can
12:08see it. But you can talk to those folks who don't key in every single day of the week like we do,
12:18the social media or the news. And you need to be able to tell them things like,
12:21I'm not going to raise taxes on people who make under $400,000. I'm going to lower costs by
12:27going after price gadgets. I'm going to sign the toughest immigration bill that Donald Trump
12:38stifled and made stop. All of those things matter. And those are the things that she articulated.
12:51I want to talk about the actual peril of the election, meaning how important is the turnout
13:02for people to get out there and vote based upon the fact that this vote will be heavily contested
13:13if, in fact, Donald Trump loses? How important is it for people to get to the polls? Because
13:19if Donald Trump himself doesn't win, he is going to claim all kinds of witchcraft and chicanery
13:27and things like that. You're right. And I would argue that those things will take care of
13:35themselves. I want everybody not to worry about what happens when you round third.
13:39Let's get on first base first. I would encourage people just to show up and show out or in the
13:46words of the great American poet, Kendrick Lamar, pop out, vote. Those things, that's more necessary
13:55because he lost every single challenge he had last time. So I'm quite confident.
14:02Last question for you, because I know you out there
14:04with Forrest Gump and you got to go catch some shrimp.
14:07Well, you ain't seen my boat. Hold on. I don't know how you can turn it around,
14:13but I'm sitting next to the boat. This is your boat right here.
14:17Man, no, I'm not. I just got done paying student loans,
14:22but I'm outside the seafood restaurant because we down here in South Carolina,
14:26where they go catch it for you right here on the side. So this is the boat they go talking about.
14:31I'm going to ask you this question until I see the answer change. And, you know,
14:38we talk about Charlemagne. I asked Charlemagne this every time we see you on TV, we sit around
14:45and we have a conversation about how much you get on our nerves. When will Bakari Sellers' name
14:51be on a ballot again? Or have you found a different way to reach people and affect change
15:01that you don't feel like your name has to be on the ballot?
15:07I think both of those answers are true. And I'll be 100% honest with you about it. I feel like I'm
15:12in a group chat with you, just chatting about, you know, if Jim Clyburn were to resign today,
15:18I would like to return to the sea. And I think that would be decently successful.
15:23But the longer that takes, the less likely I am to run because I enjoy that I am on a platform
15:29that is decent and we have the relationships that, you know, every United States Congressman
15:35has. You know, Van, I'll ask you this. What job do you choose when you consciously go
15:43work with people you dislike? Like, why do I want to go work in that gate?
15:50Like, I don't know why. And then why would I take a pay cut to go work with them, right?
15:57But I don't know. I want to be a part of the change I want to see in the world. And so I
16:03never say never. And I am really, really in tune to family and letting God or one of my steps.
16:10Because at the end of the day, I've been in some bad spots and I've been in some weird
16:14predicaments. And I've been left when I should have been right. I've been upside down. I should
16:20have been straight up. But he gets me through and through. And so I'm just going to listen to him.
16:27Hopefully the words in my mouth and the meditation in my heart will be acceptable.
16:32Good answer. Well, my brother, it is always good to talk to you, particularly about something that
16:38is so important. And you guys, there's nothing more important than exercising your power as
16:43an American, getting out there and voting. Thank you to Essence for providing this platform for
16:50us to have this conversation here in the Paint the Poles Black Town Hall. Thank you to Bakari.
16:55Brother, we really appreciate you joining us while you're out there running from the police
17:03with your beard and everything. You look like you're on the lam. I'm just going to be honest.
17:08No, I am channeling my inner young Tiffany.
17:12Right. We appreciate you joining us, man. Thank you, Bakari. We hope that this inspires everybody
17:17to get out there and vote because once again, it is the most important election of your lifetime.
17:24And you're going to be framing and creating your very near and distant future with your vote. So
17:32we hope that you guys will get out there and do that. I'm Van Lathan. Thank you to Essence.
17:37Van Lathan, thank you so much for moderating that conversation. Bakari,
17:40thank you for joining us on vacation. Thank you for all of your advocacy.