• 2 months ago
When we unite as voters and make our demands loud and clear, we create a brighter future.

Voter registration deadlines are approaching in several states, so it's especially important that we mobilize our community to use our power at the polls.

But this will require each of us to do our part. And what better way than starting a conversation in the group chat?

We all have them—from WhatsApp with family to text chains with friends, group chats keep us connected, sharing news, making plans, spilling tea, and staying updated.

Bring your group chat for tonight's conversation on reaching everyone ahead of this important election. We'll be live tonight, October 7th, at 8 p.m. EST for a crucial discussion.

Watch on essence.com, the @GlobalBlackEconomicForum YouTube, or RSVP to watch at https://streamyard.com/watch/kk2m7vyzmX8Q
Transcript
00:00:00Good evening, everyone. Thank you so much for joining us tonight. My name is Alphonso
00:00:16David. I am the president and the CEO of the Global Black Economic Forum. I am also a civil
00:00:23rights lawyer. And my name is Ebony McMorris. I am the White
00:00:27House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks. And we are here tonight because
00:00:32we are ready to paint the polls black. Are you ready, Alphonso?
00:00:38I am ready. And we've been now doing this for a few weeks. For folks who have been watching
00:00:42earlier this year, we launched Paint the Polls, which is a voter awareness, voter registration
00:00:47and voter mobilization initiative. And it's supported by the Sundial Group of Companies,
00:00:52which includes Essence, the Global Black Economic Forum, Girls United, Afropunk, Refinery
00:00:5929, Beautycon, and the New Voices Foundation. The goal of this initiative is to educate,
00:01:06to mobilize, and to register voters to take action this November and into the future.
00:01:11We hosted our first town hall now in the beginning of August, and we're now in October with Congresswoman
00:01:17Jasmine Crockett and Chantel Brown. We have Bakari Sellers. We also had Van Lathan,
00:01:24and we also had D. Nice, who started it off the last time. Tonight, we will be hosting our fifth
00:01:30of eight town halls, where we will be focusing on the well-known concept of the group chat.
00:01:36Yes, everyone, the group chat. You all use it. You all use your phones, your iPads,
00:01:43whatever device you have to engage with multiple people. Sometimes it's about getting together for
00:01:49the holidays. Sometimes it's about getting together for drinks. Sometimes it's to share
00:01:53news. Well, tonight, we want to explore using the group chat to educate and to mobilize people
00:02:00to vote. We have a few special guests who are going to help us along on tonight, but we've got
00:02:05a few housekeeping rules. So look, there's the nonpartisan call focused on voter registration
00:02:12and mobilization. Further, if there are no fundraising calls to put your wallets up.
00:02:17There are other events that focus on fundraising. Now, we'll be answering your questions. So please,
00:02:23please, please put your questions in the chat, and we'll try to answer as many as we can before
00:02:29the end of the town hall. Also, please see the link on your screens for voter registration.
00:02:36If you have not registered to vote, as we'll talk about in a few minutes,
00:02:41the deadline is today in many states. So please register to vote. Sit back and enjoy the show.
00:02:48Before we get started, though, we want to talk about the importance, again, of using the group
00:02:53chat and other tools that you may have to mobilize your friends and your families to vote and register
00:03:01to vote in this year's election. But before we do that, we want to give you an update on where we
00:03:06are in this year's election. If you joined us last week, we talked about the battleground states
00:03:12or the swing states, as some people often refer to them. These are about six or seven states in
00:03:17each election cycle that are closely divided politically. And in recent years, these states
00:03:24have swung back and forth between Democratic and Republican candidates. To provide you with a
00:03:29visual, we want to show you a slide again from last week. I want to remind all of you of what
00:03:34the battleground states are. So we are looking at Pennsylvania. We're looking at Georgia,
00:03:40North Carolina, Arizona, Michigan, Nevada, and Wisconsin. These are the battleground states.
00:03:50These are the states that are called swing states. These are the states that are politically
00:03:56divided. And we want to show you a second slide. Now that you know what the battleground states are,
00:04:02let us show you what the current landscape looks like in the presidential race. Specifically,
00:04:08when we look at the seven states, based on a recent poll that was conducted by Sienna and
00:04:14the New York Times, these are the numbers for this year's election in those battleground states. You
00:04:20can see that in Pennsylvania, Vice President Harris is leading by four percentage points.
00:04:26In Wisconsin, she's leading by two percentage points. In Michigan, she's leading by one
00:04:32percentage point. In all of the other states, former President Trump is leading. In North
00:04:38Carolina, by three. In Georgia, by four. In Arizona, by five. And in Nevada, by one.
00:04:47So of the seven swing states you see on your screen, once again, former President Trump is
00:04:53currently leading in four of those seven states. Look, now that you all have that reminder,
00:05:01and how high the stakes are, let's talk about what you can do about it. So every week we've
00:05:07been providing information for you about the races, about the issues, and about the candidates.
00:05:13And tonight is no different. Tonight, we are welcoming our first guest, returning guest,
00:05:19Kenny Burns himself, who is a multimedia entertainer, investor, and producer.
00:05:27Hey, how you doing? How's everybody this evening?
00:05:33I'm going to put my CNN commentator essence voice on for y'all real quick. No cursing.
00:05:41No cursing, no AI. How you doing?
00:05:44I'm good, brother. How are you?
00:05:45Good, good. So Kenny, we showed the folks the chart a few minutes ago,
00:05:52showing them the battleground states again, just in case anyone forgot,
00:05:55also showing them where the race is. Of the seven states, former President Trump is leading in four
00:06:01of the seven, and Vice President Harris is leading in three. What do you say to people
00:06:07at this point after you saw that chart? The first thing that came to mind is that
00:06:11today is the last day to register voters in Arizona, in Georgia. So whoever that you know
00:06:19is not registered needs to go to vote.org right now and register to vote. You also need to check
00:06:26your voting status. Plus five, plus four is very, very upsetting. Georgia, I'm ashamed.
00:06:33I live here in Atlanta, Georgia. There's no way in my heart that I feel like I see more Donald Trump
00:06:40and Vance support than I see Harris and Wall support. I think we need to focus. I don't think
00:06:45people are moving as fast as we need them to. I'm so glad you brought up the group chat. Y'all talk
00:06:51about the most outlandish stuff. See, I couldn't even say outlandish, right? Because I wanted to
00:06:55say the other S word after that. You could talk about the most outlandish stuff, but you can't
00:07:02send a message to your nieces and nephews that in 2022 wasn't 18 yet. You know we have eight
00:07:08million new 18 year olds in 2024, in 2022. I mean, these statistics are readily available and
00:07:15we're not taking advantage of the information. It's not hard. They want them birthday presents
00:07:20for them Scorpio. No gifts without you registering. It's that easy. Christmas is fastly approaching.
00:07:28Hanukkah. What's the other one? The black one. Come on. Come on.
00:07:35Kwanzaa. Kwanzaa's coming. Threaten gifts. Threaten the lack of the gifts for registration.
00:07:41Listen, eight million new voters could take us everywhere we need to go in these swing states.
00:07:46I'm telling you. Yeah. No. Go ahead, Ebony. No, I was saying you're so right. Even though we were
00:07:56talking about linking it to like, you know, punishing your kids, but it is something that
00:08:00you really need to talk about, right? With your kids. It's not a separate conversation. If you
00:08:03talk about everything else, if you talk about rewards and what they want, then that conversation
00:08:07has to also come together. Absolutely. Absolutely. And you mentioned again that you are from Georgia.
00:08:16Do you think that there are any specific strategies that folks are using, that you're using,
00:08:23that your colleagues are using to get people to register to vote? And again, I think there's a
00:08:27perception in the minds of many people that Vice President Harris is really leading this race.
00:08:32And in many places she is. But as you as you saw in the battleground states, unfortunately,
00:08:37she's not. What are you doing specifically as you communicate with folks in Georgia?
00:08:44Um, you know, it's it's the Jewish space lasers for me. This is what representation in Georgia
00:08:49talks about. The conspiracy theories are running wild. That's what we talk about here. Like,
00:08:53could you really support somebody that believes that there are Jewish space lasers that that an
00:09:00actual device can cause the the devastation in North Carolina that, you know, that Zionist
00:09:09supremacists are secretly masterminding Muslim immigration to Europe? Like this lady,
00:09:13Marjorie Taylor Greene is what I'm talking about. She says the most outlandish stuff. I'm sorry,
00:09:18you don't want me to be partisan, but I'm partisan because it's just ridiculous.
00:09:21I mean, when you think of like the narratives that come out of these people's mouths,
00:09:24I'm talking about not even the president elect on the Republican side or whatever he's called,
00:09:30at this portion of the race, but the running in his running mate, it's unbelievable.
00:09:35The level of lying that's going on, and that's all we talk about. But it's scary
00:09:40because it doesn't seem to be enough with all the lies and rhetoric and the falsities.
00:09:45And I mean, if this man sells $100,000 watch, I'm moving to Switzerland. I don't even understand how
00:09:52someone, an elected official, is allowed to sell $399 tennis shoes, $69 Bibles, as if you,
00:10:01hello, I'm confused. And for people to still be voting and supporting when you show me plus five
00:10:08and plus four percentage, like that disturbs me because it's just, who are we as a nation?
00:10:13We are clearly seeing that lies are becoming the truth if enough people say them. It is clear
00:10:19that we are seeing the internet and the way that social media and the algorithm works can trump
00:10:27good information and needed information for the BS, I almost cursed again. See, look at me,
00:10:32Essence, I'm on fire. But it's just, I can't fathom guys, and I'm going to rant with that,
00:10:37but I can't fathom that people are letting lies lead them. And then I can't also see why people
00:10:44aren't using those same lies against the liars. We need to use all these things against them. We
00:10:50need to fact check. We need to present for every lie that's posted. We need to post the truth.
00:10:54And we got to get on our job. We're under 30 days away. It's unbelievable what's at stake.
00:11:00You won't have a democracy. You won't have a presidency. You won't have nothing in Georgia.
00:11:03Georgia, you should be ashamed of yourself. Today, the federal judge tried to overturn
00:11:08the abortion laws here in Georgia so that you could have freedoms and rights to your bodies,
00:11:14women. And I want to say that every race, I was about to say something crazy,
00:11:18but I know y'all getting on because I was going toothless next and rule next.
00:11:22But y'all have everything to lose because the Supreme Court came in today and said no. And
00:11:28that's exactly why Donald Dump, I'm sorry, Trump put these people on this court. It's unbelievable.
00:11:36Y'all are accepting this. And you have to really, ladies and gentlemen, I don't know if you saw
00:11:40the insurrection on January 6th, but they bought that life. You need to be about that life too.
00:11:48That'll teach. I do want to say this though, when we talk about
00:11:52the lies, I don't think it's that people don't know that he's lying. I think it goes deeper than
00:11:59that because many have said they don't believe everything that he says, but it is what he
00:12:04represents to them. So I will take your lies and just whatever, but why is it, why so badly
00:12:11do some really want to see certain candidates in office? What is it that they're offering them?
00:12:17Is it the white supremacy tropes that they like? Is it for others, it may be blackness.
00:12:22What is it? Because people will take a lie if it moves them closer to what needle that they
00:12:27want to get to. And for some, they think it may be moving them to whatever rationale that they
00:12:34have he's going to bring to them. Can I tell the truth? Can I be truthful, Ebony? Can I just say?
00:12:41Don't lie. I would never lie and nor would I misrepresent you or my brother at any time.
00:12:49I will say this. I don't think some black men respect black women or women in general,
00:12:55or even like them. And that's the way that they're acting. Because even in the defense
00:13:00mode that we're supposed to have for our black women, I didn't see any of that.
00:13:05And to your point, people that are supporting the rhetoric are also supporting things
00:13:10indirectly or directly that he's saying about her. I mean, this is one of the most educated
00:13:15people, woman or man, that's in this race. The most educated, has the most public service,
00:13:23has done the most for her in that service for her state or for her country. And it just disturbs me,
00:13:31man, that we can't honor our black women just even being thoughtful, saying her name correctly.
00:13:38I'm going to say it right here on Essence. Big shout to, what was it, All the Smoke, Tiffany?
00:13:43Big shout to All the Smoke. I had posted a clip after the DNC just saying, listen,
00:13:50be respectful. Her name is comma, la. Them little babies said it. They were so eloquent.
00:13:56I put it on social media. I had Steven Jackson say, well, KB, what has she done for us?
00:14:01And I'm looking at this interview that All the Smoke did, I don't see none of that energy.
00:14:07And it's okay, because I get it. Black men want to be heard. But can you just say you want to be
00:14:13heard? Can you show up 365 days a year and not just doing the elections to voice your demands,
00:14:20voice your concerns? You want to have all this power, right, to make something move.
00:14:26But even when you interview, and Matt Barnes did an exceptional job and led that conversation
00:14:31and treated her exactly how I think all black men should treat black women. And so did Steven
00:14:36in that moment. But that's the imbalance we have as black men showing up for these women.
00:14:42This is not a joke. This is not a rehearsal. Yeah, it was late. Yeah, she didn't have a whole
00:14:47year to run. Yeah, there's a lot of inconsistencies on why Biden didn't tap out early enough. But
00:14:52that's what we have. And it's not to your point, opening the show. It's not about parties,
00:14:57it's about humanity. We are in a place right now where you would want some good humans in place
00:15:02before humanity becomes at risk. Speaking about, you know, staying on the topic of black men,
00:15:10there was a New York Times article just yesterday that highlighted Georgia and black men saying
00:15:16that black men have stated repeatedly that their conditions have remained unchanged under Democratic
00:15:22and Republican presidential administrations. Has this been raised with you? What are people saying
00:15:28in the circle and the folks that you are talking to every day? Say that one more time. You went out
00:15:33on my end. I'm sorry. There was a New York Times article that came out yesterday and it was
00:15:39highlighting Georgia black men. They are saying that repeatedly that their conditions have remained
00:15:45unchanged, whether it's Democratic or Republican presidential administrations. So I'm wondering,
00:15:51what are you hearing from from black men? We've had this conversation on what do they think? How
00:15:55are they going to vote? Why do they why do we see polls different for for Kamala Harris?
00:16:03Yeah, the majority of men are saying that are high because all the black men I speak to and I
00:16:08speak. Y'all know this is why you have me on here. I just did something with the former mayor
00:16:11Kaseem Reed. I just did something. You know, I do stuff all the time. I talk to black men and every
00:16:17black man I speak to is on the right side of history. The ones that are the problem are the
00:16:21one to sell death and misogyny and have a repeated history of doing ignorant stuff. I was about to
00:16:28curse again. You see how good I'm doing? But the point I'm trying to make is those are that's the
00:16:32problem. But that's always our problem, because we're also questioning everything because we feel
00:16:36like we can. Atlanta is the one of the most blackest, most beautiful, ran by black. You got a
00:16:42black police chief. You got a black mayor. You got black, black, black and black everywhere.
00:16:46But you don't see what what the what the purpose of voting is. Raphael Warren, a black senator,
00:16:53John Ossoff, Jewish brother, but on the right side of history, learned under John Lewis. Like
00:16:59these people are mildly I can't say the R word. No more. Right. All of my cousin. No. OK. These
00:17:05people are special. They special because they want attention. But yet they want attention when
00:17:10they know they could get it. They don't want to work every week. They don't want to go and hold
00:17:14people like, yes, I have not received a dollar from Kamala or or the campaign. But I know where
00:17:21I need to be on the right side of history, because after that, I'm gonna go see everybody. They're
00:17:24gonna invite me to the house again. I'm gonna come and I'm gonna ask whoever to support, because at
00:17:28the end of the day, you know, we got to you have to know it's bigger than the money right now.
00:17:33This is. And I don't listen. Politicians across the board, everybody has an angle,
00:17:38agenda or some type of thing they're trying to put in place. This is a fact. But at the end of
00:17:43the day, what do you want in in the in the White House? Do you know right now? Let me give you
00:17:48these statistics and why you are thinking it's just about the presidency. It's not on the ballot
00:17:53in twenty twenty four president of the United States vice president. There are thirty four of
00:17:57a hundred seats in Senate. Do you know what decisions the Senate makes? I suggest you non
00:18:03voters that are watching this read before it's over for you in Arizona and Georgia.
00:18:08Then there's also four hundred and thirty five seats in the House of Representatives. Do you
00:18:13know how many local and state laws go through the House of Representatives? We also have eleven
00:18:19governor seats, eleven governor seats and legislation in eighty six of the country's
00:18:25ninety nine state legislative chambers. And we have a wide range of local special elections.
00:18:29These are all reasons you should run to the polls. These are to their point reason you should go to
00:18:34the group chat right now, because if you're seeing change because Raphael Warnock and
00:18:39John Ossoff were elected, you saw Biden and Harris get elected because of what happened in Georgia.
00:18:45You should know how voting works, but you sit up here and want to be ignorant. That's the problem.
00:18:50Drugs. We need to really talk about the drugs because we need to have episode because you're
00:18:54high and I don't even think you're realizing that you're playing with your own livelihoods.
00:18:59I'm serious. Give me give me my buttons. Ebony want me to push a button.
00:19:03Push a button. Is anybody have a button?
00:19:11Yeah, I mean, Kenny, because these numbers are are disturbing when we're looking at the
00:19:15battleground states, we're looking at seven of them. And as you correctly pointed out,
00:19:21those numbers are bigger than some people thought they were going to be. And with a few weeks before
00:19:28the election is something that we all need to pay attention to. Yes. Now, in Georgia, I travel all
00:19:34over the country. And I know when I land in one of the battleground states that you turn on the
00:19:38television at anywhere in the country, but specifically in the battleground states, it's
00:19:42almost as if every other ad is a television ad on the election. Jesus Christ. You've seen election
00:19:49ads from both parties, and sometimes you see ads from third parties that are talking about the
00:19:55issues or talking about one of the candidates, in your opinion, sitting in Georgia right now,
00:20:00because we're trying to decipher what's happening in Georgia and other parts of the country that
00:20:04are classified as swing states. What are you finding is the most persuasive or the most
00:20:09impactful ad in Georgia right now? I think the most impactful ads that you can see by the
00:20:15percentage points is the negative rhetoric. I mean, looking at these ads from the Republicans,
00:20:22it's like looking at TikTok or Instagram, and there's no filter. And the problem with that is,
00:20:28and that's why episode 104 of The Kenny Burns Show coming out tomorrow is called, What's Real?
00:20:33What is real? You can't even decipher what is real because the lie is becoming the truth.
00:20:39They double down on it so much, and big shout to David Muir and everybody who's did a debate today.
00:20:46They try to hold them accountable, but it doesn't work. They keep lying. And y'all,
00:20:53the problem is, is that the lie will become the truth, and you will be adhering to the
00:20:59things that these people are saying because they're not saying it. This is my thing. Back
00:21:03in the day, they could hide racism. They can hide classism. They would be in the back room. This is
00:21:09my personal opinion. This is not the opinion of Essence Magazine, but they'd be in the back room,
00:21:13and in the back room, they'd plot, okay, these black folk, all we got to do is show colorful
00:21:19pictures, and all we got to do is give them some stimulus every once in a while. They're going to
00:21:23dance a jig, and then they go 50 years later, and they tell you exactly what they're going to do to
00:21:31you. They not even just tell you, they show you, oh, you're not going, okay, we're not going to
00:21:38honor the election. We're going to cause an insurrection. We're going to say this, that,
00:21:43and the third. We're going to sign the checks that the government wrote just so you think it's
00:21:47from ... They're going to pull all types of tricks because y'all like tricks for kids. You remember
00:21:52commercial? Tricks is for kids. Ain't y'all tired? The truth is the truth. You cannot run from the
00:21:58truth. If you're going to see these ads that are running, and you're going to take heed to them,
00:22:04and you're going to believe ... I got in a car coming back from OKC the other day,
00:22:07my big shout to my driver slash friend, Joshua. He said to me, he said, did you hear the meat
00:22:12meal in Puff Daddy's? I said, wait, hold on, hold on. Are you just listening and believing
00:22:19everything you're seeing on the internet? I said that because I'm equating that to this
00:22:25political sphere. I've never seen so much childlike behavior in my life, and I'm trying to be grown.
00:22:32I'm an ex-felon. They turned my life around. I've been married 25 years. I got two great
00:22:36functioning humans as kids. I have employees. I pay my taxes. I might have been late once or twice,
00:22:43but I'm a good human. I want to be, but I can't be when I see my brothers and sisters
00:22:49not showing up to the party. It's disturbing. I do want to say this, just on the conversation
00:22:59of fake ads, just to let everybody know this what just recently happened, that there was a TV ad
00:23:04that was released on Monday in Indiana, where US Senator Mike Braun released the ad. It was a fake
00:23:11ad. They literally changed the wording that was on a poster from the candidate. Real deep,
00:23:19fake ads. When we talk about people just saying things, they're literally creating ads with
00:23:24fictitious things. That's why it's so important for us to be engaged for this. I'm glad you brought
00:23:30up that point. I do want people to know that tonight, Kenny, we have a little competition
00:23:38tonight with all of our speakers. We're asking each speaker to text one of their group chats
00:23:46within one minute. Then we will see how many people that you can get to register to vote
00:23:53and check their registration status. Are you ready for the challenge?
00:23:58I'm ready for the challenge. I just want to say one comment about, there's an ad running right
00:24:01now in Georgia where they remixed all the things that Kamala was saying in this particular interview
00:24:07as it adheres to transgender surgeries. That is the most run ad in Georgia.
00:24:20She wants them to be something and we just want you to... It's almost genius,
00:24:25because it's very disturbing to watch. From the context of this is what you are
00:24:30spending your campaign ads on. Anyway, I'm sorry. The question is,
00:24:34but I want y'all to be woke. Stay woke. Don't go to sleep. We're under 30 days.
00:24:40You want me to DM? What you want me to do? You want to send them to my group chat?
00:24:43What you want me to do? You want me to give you an ad?
00:24:44We want you to send a message to your group chat and you decide what that group chat is.
00:24:49You decide how many people. Within a minute, we want to know how many people you can get
00:24:55to register to vote. The clock has started.
00:25:01Okay. I'm being threatened by my brother and sister on this beautiful discussion we're having.
00:25:09Paint the polls black TKBS Nation. I need you to go crazy for me. I know y'all in these comments.
00:25:14I need y'all to register. Threaten your children. I need y'all to register some people right now.
00:25:18Threaten your children. There will be no birthdays. This is the drastic measures we got to go through
00:25:22and I'm leaving this message to play it backwards. I need you to threaten your children with no
00:25:25gifts, no oodles and noodles. Don't send my babies no oodles and noodles no more. They're
00:25:28not good for you, but whatever they want in college, get on their head. I want y'all to
00:25:32register these people and where they got to send the information to y'all? What do we have to do?
00:25:35They will send it to you, Kenny, and we will trust that you will give us the numbers.
00:25:39Send it to Tiffany right now. Get it in. We got to win. We cannot let these beautiful ladies coming
00:25:44after me win this. I'm all the black women will say the planet. Y'all know how I feel about y'all.
00:25:48I love you in real life, but I want to win this. So TKBS Nation, go now. Do it, please. If you're
00:25:53in the comment, please comment too and let them know all show long, even when I'm not here,
00:25:58that y'all are making things happen. We need to get these people registered. Georgia,
00:26:02hold on. Let me get y'all this too. Georgia, that's sent by the way. Hold on. Just so y'all
00:26:06know it's real. I'm being threatened by my brother. So just so y'all know, I ain't playing
00:26:11no games with y'all. But listen, ladies and gentlemen, voting in these particular states
00:26:17are over tonight. I need Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana,
00:26:25Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, Montana. I know that they are not the most important in that list.
00:26:31I just read Arizona, Georgia, you are up and the clock is on, but all the states are important.
00:26:37All the votes are important. Your voice is necessary. Let's paint the polls black.
00:26:46Kenny Burns. What's in that cup, Kenny? What's in that cup? That's all I wanted to know.
00:26:53Hold on. They're a sponsor of the Kenny Burns Show. Smart water. Whenever I'm thirsty,
00:26:57I like to drink some water. All right. Smart water. And you're local everywhere to get it.
00:27:01Thank you. Jesus. You know what? I've done. I love it. Kenny Burns, thank you. I love y'all.
00:27:08I love the work you're doing. Anytime you call, I'll be here. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so
00:27:12much for joining us tonight, Kenny Burns. Thank you for all of the work that you continue to do.
00:27:17Thank you. Well, what a way to kick off the show tonight, right? Right, Alphonso?
00:27:23Right. Okay. I love it. I'm giving you some smart water. All right. So folks,
00:27:27you see the challenges ahead for engagement. You see the level also of apathy that exists
00:27:35in some parts of our communities. You see the challenges ahead for economic growth and
00:27:40prosperity for all. As we look at this election, federal, state, and local, we wanted to explore
00:27:48the power of collective engagement. And this entire series has really been focused on how
00:27:55we can get all of us to register and creating a plan for that, mobilize, and take action.
00:28:01We all have our opinions on who to vote for, but it's important first that you register to vote,
00:28:09which leads us to think about a common tool that is often used for everything for voting,
00:28:15the group chat. Some people may not know this, but the first chat room capable of supporting
00:28:22small group discussions, guess what year that was, Ebony? What year, Lord? What year? Just
00:28:29give me a guess. I don't know. The first group chat in the 90s? 1973.
00:28:38Was the first chat room capable of supporting small group discussions. It was called Talkomatic.
00:28:45And since then, the concept of the group chat has grown to multiple platforms, whether you're using
00:28:52iPhone messages or WhatsApp. And the power of the group chat has been shown over and over again.
00:28:58We only have to go not too far back to remember the devastating impact of COVID-19. Remember,
00:29:04we couldn't leave our homes. Remember, we could not communicate with so many people in person.
00:29:10And so many of us leaned on our group chats. And it was incredibly important for us to communicate
00:29:16with our families and our friends. And we use the group chat to make sure that we remain connected.
00:29:22For this election, we would like to encourage all of you to think about the group chat that you're
00:29:27in and how you can use informal spaces to engage in this election. Registering to vote is obviously
00:29:34important. But if you pledge, for example, to convince at least five people you know to do the
00:29:40same thing, now that's extending our community to seize back our power. Your best friend, your uncle,
00:29:47your grandmother, are they registered? The answers that you may find may surprise you. And that's our
00:29:54goal. Engage with your family, engage with your friends to make sure that they're registered to
00:29:59vote, and use the group chat as a tool. You know, we might need to create an
00:30:04are you registered meme that people can just drop while they're sending all the other memes,
00:30:09Alphonso. That's what I'm just thinking. But to join us to talk about group chats, voting,
00:30:15and this year's election is Ashley Jackson. Ashley is an actress, screenwriter, and producer
00:30:22best known for her starring roles in the Netflix film Beats. At the age of 15,
00:30:28Jackson became a protege of veteran actor Richard Lawson and has appeared in numerous film and
00:30:35television projects in the years since. She also recently made her directorial debut with the short
00:30:41film Underling. Jackson is the youngest daughter of American political activist,
00:30:48Reverend Jesse Jackson, Sr., and author and intellectual Karen Stanford. She formed her
00:30:54production company to develop projects that align with her passions for gender equality, education,
00:31:00and civil rights values shaped by her upbringing. Welcome. Welcome to Paint the Polls Black. How
00:31:08are you doing? Hello. I'm good. Thank you so much for having me. This is so exciting.
00:31:13Look, it's exciting because we got you here. And so first of all, how are you feeling about this
00:31:20year's election? You know, I've had a lot of mixed emotions. I think we all have. But really for me
00:31:26today, I'm really, really hopeful. And I just attended a wonderful gathering of members of
00:31:32Black Hollywood who came together yesterday with Vice President Kamala Harris's sister,
00:31:37Maya Harris, the attorney. We love her. And it was just such an uplifting experience that I was just
00:31:42like, I'm ready to go back in, ready to go knock on doors, ready to do all the things. So I'm in a
00:31:46really great mood about the election today and very, very excited. So as we think about that
00:31:51excitement, Ashley, of course, we have to address some of the challenges that we're facing. Right.
00:31:58And, you know, Kenny just talked about the television ads and the misinformation that
00:32:03he's seeing in Georgia and other parts of the country. So we want to ask you the same question.
00:32:07As we all are, I think many of us are very excited about this year's election. We also
00:32:12spend some time thinking about what's troubling us about this election. So for you,
00:32:17what are some of the things that worry you? What are some of the things that concern you
00:32:21about this election? Yeah, one of the things and I know we'll talk about group chats in a moment.
00:32:25But one of the things that I've been talking about in my group chat, particularly these days,
00:32:29is my fear of regarding the way that the process is actually being run. I mean, I don't know if
00:32:33it was I can't remember if it was Montana, where we saw that Vice President Kamala Harris's name
00:32:37wasn't even on the ballot, and they had to start over. And like, so those levels of intricacies
00:32:41and voter suppression that are happening in a systemic capacity are what really scares me,
00:32:46knowing that the Supreme Court, if we look at what happened in 2000, if we left it up to the
00:32:50Supreme Court today, they would not advocate for Kamala Harris to be president. And so like,
00:32:54those are the things while I'm doing everything that I can on the ground. That's what keeps me
00:32:58up at night, to be honest, is making sure that we are one knowledgeable as a collective, but like
00:33:03figuring out different ways to show up and still be of service to combat those levels of voter
00:33:08suppression that go beyond just purging. And so for the folks who may not know this,
00:33:13because we've seen this in Georgia, we've seen this in North Carolina, where people register
00:33:18to vote, and then the voter rolls are purged, their names are removed. In Georgia, for instance,
00:33:24there was a piece of legislation that was passed that allows a neighbor or anyone in Georgia,
00:33:31frankly, for that reason, to challenge someone else's right to vote. And they could argue that
00:33:35that person is not, shouldn't be registered to vote, or they engaged in fraud, or in fact,
00:33:42there is no reason, they don't have to give any evidence, why they think is important for that
00:33:48person to be removed from, from the voter rolls. We're also hearing a lot of concerns about
00:33:53certification, right? Because once we all vote, those votes have to be certified. And those votes
00:34:00are certified in the state that you vote. And so what Ashley is, of course, referencing is
00:34:06some of the concerns that we see, where Vice President Harris, Harris's name wasn't even on
00:34:12the ballot. And in some cases, we're seeing these concerns bubble up in other parts of the country.
00:34:19So having said that, with certification problems, voter rolls and voter purging,
00:34:28we are talking tonight about this concept of the group chat.
00:34:33I assume you use the group chat?
00:34:35Very much so.
00:34:38So what is the most recent thing that you use the group chat for?
00:34:42So actually, I'm also in grad school right now studying television and film producing. And so
00:34:47I use my group chat with my classmates. And we have lots of things to talk about, whether it's
00:34:52actually just homework or talking about something that was entertaining in class. I feel like it's
00:34:56a daily thing. And oftentimes, at least in the last 48 hours, it's been like, what are we doing
00:35:00about the midterm? Please help. So yes, I'm very much using a group chat on a daily basis,
00:35:05all day, every day.
00:35:07Have you thought about using it? I know you're talking about what are we doing as far as that,
00:35:11but maybe creating something to even mobilize people even more to vote in this year? Like you
00:35:18said before, you're using it for your class. Many of us just use it for just regular social circles,
00:35:22but don't really realize the power of that type of chat.
00:35:26Yeah, I definitely hear that. And honestly, this conversation is inspiring me because
00:35:31in lieu of this kind of discussion, I started a while ago a challenge called the Ballot Bestie
00:35:37Challenge online to mobilize young voters like myself and figuring out like, OK, sometimes we're
00:35:42really urged by peer pressure and seeing other challenges on the internet. And so I thought it
00:35:46would be cool to ask to galvanize this kind of group mentality and join together and be besties
00:35:52and move our besties to the polls together. And so in that case, I used social media and
00:35:59gratefully got people like Jennifer Lewis and E.C. Nash to participate.
00:36:02But using the group chat, I think, is even more essential and an add to that in the sense that
00:36:08this is your community. These are the people that you're communicating with on a daily basis.
00:36:11Mobilizing them and making sure that they're registered is another way to continue to keep
00:36:15it going and ensure that we can get everybody registered and to check their registration,
00:36:20which I even have to check my own and make sure that something wasn't wrong with mine.
00:36:23So, yeah, I think that the group chat is a fantastic way to mobilize. Absolutely.
00:36:28And let's just highlight that for folks, because one is to register to vote. The other is you may
00:36:34already be registered to vote, but we're asking you to check to make sure that you're still
00:36:39registered to vote. Remember, again, there's laws that have been passed in certain states
00:36:45that allow someone, anyone in some cases, to challenge your voter registration. So please
00:36:52make sure that in addition to registering to vote, check to make sure that you're still registered.
00:36:58And if you don't know where to go, you can go to vote.org to make sure that you are,
00:37:04one, registered to vote, and you can also check your voter registration.
00:37:08And, Ashley, as we think about sort of mobilizing people to vote and to register, of course,
00:37:15in your circles, what are the issues that are mobilizing people to take action this November?
00:37:23We've been doing this now for a few weeks, and we've talked about a lot of issues.
00:37:26I'm curious, in your circles, what are the issues that people are raising?
00:37:31I think one of the biggest ones, being a member of Gen Z, is reproductive freedom.
00:37:35I'm 25 right now, and when I look at what my future might look like, there's a lot of variables.
00:37:40I'm not currently a parent. I would like to be someday. And knowing that the government
00:37:44might have control over what happens with my body is deeply concerning to me and a lot of my peers.
00:37:49I think having sensible gun legislation is also a really big thing. I am in college right now,
00:37:53technically, and sitting in a classroom and not knowing whether or not I'm going to be safe is
00:37:57really, really concerning. And when we think about younger kids as well in Gen Alpha, everyone's
00:38:02at risk. So I think that those are the two things that are most discussed. Also, the economy,
00:38:06I would say. I live in an apartment. I'd like to buy a home. I know that Vice President Harris
00:38:12has offered some economic policies. I know that we're nonpartisan, but just recognizing
00:38:16in the discussion that that has come up a lot in terms of what we want our future to look like,
00:38:21and looking for a candidate who can fulfill those things for us and give us the best chance at a
00:38:25future that is worth living within this country. So we have all of these issues that come up,
00:38:34as we all know, but we also hear from people that are apathetic about this year's election.
00:38:40There are people who are saying, I'm going to sit it out. Or people are saying, I don't believe
00:38:46either candidate. Or people are saying, I mean, we talked to Kenny about some of the apathy we're
00:38:52seeing among certain people within our community. How do you engage with folks about apathy in this
00:38:59year's election? What are you saying? What are you hearing in your circles?
00:39:04Yeah, it's been really challenging because my spirit is one of those like, I want to say
00:39:08something immediately. How dare you? This is the history. This is where we come from. Do it for
00:39:12your ancestors. And then I go, okay, that may not be the best way to communicate my desire to engage
00:39:19with this individual. And so I've often, in a myriad of ways, started with saying, okay, what do
00:39:24you believe? Where are you? Because trying to meet someone where they're not is not really going to be
00:39:28helpful in moving a conversation forward. So oftentimes, if someone I know says like, you know
00:39:33what, I don't really think I need to vote in this election. Okay, well, then let's talk about that
00:39:38and figure out why you don't think that way. And then maybe I can introduce a new thought that
00:39:42might persuade you otherwise. And so I think that I've had a lot of success recently with kind of
00:39:47shifting in minor ways, opening the door to conversation, because I've learned that if you
00:39:51just go gung-ho and try to tell them all the things, people aren't really going to listen.
00:39:55So yeah, that's been my method to find ways of common connection to move conversations in a
00:40:02spherical fashion that will result in at least registration. I hope to get you to the polls,
00:40:09but we have to start somewhere. And registering, especially on a day like today, where this is the
00:40:12last day in so many states to register, it's like, this is step one. If I couldn't get you here,
00:40:18where are we going to go in November? So yeah. Ashley, you know, as a journalist, I'm always
00:40:23curious to know where people get their information and how they listen. Because you were talking
00:40:30about how sometimes you have to challenge people and go back and forth. But when you hear like,
00:40:34how are they researching? Where are they going to get information? Because there is so much
00:40:39disinformation. I'm always, where did you get that from? Or did you fact check? Are you just
00:40:45ripping and reading headlines and going? So when you're engaging with your peers,
00:40:51what is that conversation like that you're hearing? I was actually just talking with some friends
00:40:56last night about this notion of people having Twitter knowledge, which to me is just really
00:41:01an interesting way of phrasing the fact that someone has an intellectual capacity where they
00:41:06simply look at what's on Twitter, agree with it, and then they just move on. That is now their new
00:41:10opinion. So we've really been trying hard, I think, generationally to combat some of that.
00:41:15I really do listen to a lot of different news sites to try to gain what I can from each audience.
00:41:21But I think that we're really in a space now of trying to figure out how to convey to people that
00:41:27the first thing that you read online may not be exactly what's there. And so like, fact checking,
00:41:33looking at where your sources come from. I don't really walk around just stating facts without
00:41:37looking at citations. I mean, these are basic things to do. And so figuring out ways to do that,
00:41:43I think we recognize now that there's a generational issue with that because we've
00:41:47been raised with these cell phones. But I think that there's more care and concern about it now,
00:41:52now that we see what happens even with AI and deep fakes than we have before. Because you can't
00:41:57even watch a video and be for sure that it's not AI. So yeah, there's levels and layers.
00:42:03And are you seeing an interesting or notable generational distinction in terms of how we're
00:42:09responding to information? Because for some of us who have been voting for quite some time,
00:42:17we have become sort of used to seeing television ads and seeing political ads and responding to
00:42:24those. And I think maybe the younger generation may have a different relationship with those
00:42:29political ads. Are you seeing a shift? Or are you seeing basically the same type of responses?
00:42:35Well, first, I want to make sure that you guys don't hear all the sirens around me. Sorry about
00:42:38that. But I would say to that, one of the most fascinating things I've seen in the last few
00:42:43weeks is the upsurgence of engagement on threads on Instagram. I think I've seen a lot of my peers
00:42:49move away from X, or the dead bird, as some call it, and move to threads.
00:42:54The dead bird?
00:42:55The dead bird. Yeah, Twitter is now dead. So they've moved on. And so with that, we look to
00:43:03different sources to engage. And I think that we can even see, and I'll reference, I'm not endorsing,
00:43:10but I'm just referencing the Kamala HQ site, for example, on Instagram and threads and seeing
00:43:16that that seems to be the way that we're being served political ads. Like I don't even,
00:43:20I use streamers. I don't really watch things that are linear television. So I don't have
00:43:24commercials. So I'm not getting political ads in that way. I'm getting them when I go to my
00:43:29Instagram. I'm getting them when I see, okay, this candidate has done this interview. That's
00:43:33an interesting tidbit. Let me go check that out. Or I'm going to go watch, listen to that podcast.
00:43:37So yeah, there's, we're not even getting the same information. Those ads aren't,
00:43:41I don't even think, really targeting our generation because they know that we're not there.
00:43:44We're here. And so I've definitely seen over the last few months, even more engagement on
00:43:49these platforms and more political engagement to the algorithm is actually feeding me more content
00:43:54that is political simply because they see that that's where I'm headed and that's what I'm
00:43:58engaged in. So yeah, I think that the internet is really where we're getting all of our political
00:44:02ads, which is kind of, it has its pluses and minuses, I would say.
00:44:07As you engage with your friends and your colleagues,
00:44:11what surprises you the most about what people don't know?
00:44:13Great question. I mean, I would boil it down to that there are three branches of government,
00:44:21what they do. Because what happens is that, you know, even when I was looking at the vice
00:44:27presidential debate and there was this consistent discussion of Kamala Harris running the country,
00:44:33and I was just like, do we not know how it works? And so honestly, the biggest thing I've seen is
00:44:38just like a disconnect in civic education. And what we see now is the result of misinformation
00:44:45coming from that. Because if you're blaming certain candidates, and this is not even just
00:44:48in the presidential election, if you're blaming certain candidates for issues that are not within
00:44:52their, within their reach in their jurisdiction, or like, you don't understand that down ballot
00:44:55voting is important, because if you don't put the other two branches in power to support your
00:45:00candidate, they can't get anything done. Like, people don't understand checks and balances.
00:45:04So that's what I've seen as the biggest issue I would say thus far that I've been trying to combat.
00:45:09And are you happy you've been successful?
00:45:11You know, yeah, I mean, I think in many ways, and I want to continue, and I've been trying to use my
00:45:19platform over the last few months to really encourage people to learn more. But I do have
00:45:24some friends that are in my I would say my age demographic, the Gen Z millennial zone, the
00:45:28zillennials. And like, they are really saying, like, let's take a step back. Because clearly,
00:45:33there's some things that we might have missed. And let's have a discussion about it. So I have
00:45:36seen actually a lot more just like basic civic engagement education on the internet. And I think
00:45:41that it's actually, that is where I think we can move a lot of needles, because if people understand
00:45:46that they can't blame candidates for like, it's just basic, basic, the three branches. So I think
00:45:51that I've seen some headway there. And I'm hoping that in the last 29 days, we can also do a bigger
00:45:57push to just walk people through what their, what their understanding of everything is. So you can
00:46:02make educated decisions. I'm not going to tell you who to vote for. But if you don't have the basic
00:46:06understanding, then we're already at a deficit. Oh, my goodness. I know. I know.
00:46:12I mean, I get it. Right. But what you said, I got to start with the three branches. I'm like,
00:46:16Oh, man, you remember the pictures like on the wall right in the house,
00:46:21rock, bring it back. It's rough out here.
00:46:26After, after this, you know, we're talking about painting the polls black.
00:46:31After this, we have to continue with our engagement.
00:46:36What is what have or have you been planning or thinking about what is next for you? After this
00:46:43election, no matter who wins, because you're seeing the deficit when it comes to education
00:46:47and how politics works. So have you been thinking about you know what, this is what I want to do
00:46:53even after this, because right after this, look, there's a primary coming and then there's another
00:46:58general election coming time to it, there's room to engage in between that.
00:47:02Yeah, definitely. I mean, actually, someone asked me that this morning, like, what,
00:47:06what are you doing? Like, what is your end game here? And I think, for me, I recognize now that
00:47:11there are 41 million members of my generation eligible to vote in this election. And that's
00:47:1641 million voices that we have the opportunity to shift towards a brighter future, a brighter
00:47:21democracy for all of us. And so figuring out how to use my platform to engage my generation where
00:47:26I am, where I can have peer to peer dialogue has definitely been where I've decided that I'm going
00:47:30to be advancing a lot of my time, I'm still working in entertainment, but I and I think that a lot of
00:47:34representation funnels into that as well. And I work with Black Women in Entertainment for Kamala
00:47:38on a lot of those issues. But for my generation, specifically, I've been figuring out new ways to
00:47:43amplify my platform and use my voice to really not just educate, but truly engage because I think
00:47:49we felt a little boxed out for a while in terms of discussion like this is this is grown folks
00:47:54business day at the kids table at Thanksgiving, but like, we're here now we are technically adults,
00:47:59whether or not we understand that in the Black family structure is another thing, but we are
00:48:02technically adults. And so like, we need to be invited to the table in this conversation,
00:48:06we have Congressman Maxwell Frost, literally in office. So like, our generation is literally here
00:48:11ready to lead. And so just I want to use my voice to help in that capacity. I'm starting a podcast
00:48:16as well push the next generation to engage my peers in a political sphere, and really just
00:48:22hopefully synthesize a lot of the information that we're getting from a lot of different spaces
00:48:25and just bring us all together to, you know, have one conversation.
00:48:31All right, Ashley.
00:48:34We got a competition.
00:48:40He had his own sound effects.
00:48:41I mean, that was really I was like, I don't know how I'm gonna beat Kenny Burns. I also
00:48:45went to school with his son. So hi, Kenny.
00:48:47Coming to have got a competition with our speakers. We're asking each speaker to text
00:48:52one of their group chats. And within one minute, and we'll see how many people that you can get
00:48:58to register to vote or to check their voter. It's that checking that voter registration.
00:49:05I get people caught up this year.
00:49:08Yeah, no, seriously.
00:49:10Are you ready for the challenge?
00:49:12Yes, I'm ready for the challenge. And while I pull up my group chat,
00:49:15I'm also going to add that like, when I say check your registration, I literally,
00:49:19I moved to a different unit in my building, long story, but I looked at my registration,
00:49:23and it was still set to my old apartment. Like that is the level of like, you have to check
00:49:28your registration. I live in California. So I had time. However, like this is a real thing.
00:49:32Checking your registration is not a game, not a joke. I might not have been able to vote had I
00:49:36waited until the day before the election of the day up. So it's really serious. This check,
00:49:40it takes two minutes or less, like it's really important. But I'm pulling up my group chat now.
00:49:44All right, I have I have the girlies, the group chat is named the cheetah girls. I don't know why
00:49:48we came up with that name. But we'd love the movie. Here we are.
00:49:52Okay, well, your minute has started already. Okay, already 10 seconds in. And so in the next
00:50:0245 seconds, we want to know how many people you can get to register to vote.
00:50:07We want to know how many people you can get to register to vote. Because we are operating on
00:50:13trust here. We will ask you to tell us how many people you are able to register to vote.
00:50:20And Kenny Burns thinks that he got he has this. So we'll have to see whether or not he's going to
00:50:25be able to win this challenge. See, I feel like he's going to win. But I did.
00:50:32Don't you say that you can't say that. I'm using my actual
00:50:43account my ballot besties because I reached out to the people on the internet too. And a lot of
00:50:46them have registered to vote. But I'm waiting for the girlies to pop in right now. I did send the
00:50:50message girls. Come on cheetah girls do it. Okay, how many seconds do we have left? I'm
00:50:56going to ping them again. You're out of time. Okay, so far, I got two to respond saying they're
00:51:04about to do it. But what I think we're gonna we're gonna wait on the on the final responses.
00:51:09And based on the responses, we'll see what if you can report that back to us. And then we will
00:51:14announce the winner. In our next town hall, I will definitely report back.
00:51:21Ashley Jackson, thank you so much for taking the time. Thank you so much for joining us for all of
00:51:26the work that you do. Good luck at school. Yeah, it's service week, trying to save the country and
00:51:35asthma classes. It's rough. But thank you so much for having me. I really do appreciate it. And I'm
00:51:40so grateful to essence and paint the polls black for getting the word out. It's time we got 29 days.
00:51:47Countdown. Well, so that was such a great conversation.
00:51:53And so before we invite our next our final guest actually to the program, we want to ask
00:52:00all of you to text five people, just five people and ask them whether they are registered to vote.
00:52:08You know what, let me find my phone because I'm gonna do it at the same time. Ask them.
00:52:13I love real life demos, whether they are registered to vote five people in your
00:52:19friend circle, even last week, who was it that said, Congresswoman Nikema Williams,
00:52:25she said, even as your enemies, it doesn't matter. Everybody, everybody knows. And we
00:52:31want to know how they respond. Put that information into our group chat. No pun intended.
00:52:39And remember, again, we've said this a few times tonight, the deadline for voter registration in
00:52:45some states is today. So if you're on the East Coast, that means you have three hours.
00:52:51You're on the West Coast, you have a little bit more time. But we have states like Georgia,
00:52:55Arizona, Florida, Texas. Remember when we showed you the slide before all of those are battleground
00:53:02states, and the deadline for voter registration in those states is today. For many other states,
00:53:09we have a little bit more time, a week, two weeks or so. In some states, you can register online.
00:53:16In other states, you cannot. So we want to make sure that you understand what the mechanics are
00:53:22for registering to vote. If you need information about your specific state, we're asking for you
00:53:27to go to the website is vote.org. And we'll ask, we're going to pull up that website right now.
00:53:36We're going to scroll through the site. So you have a chance to see
00:53:41this website and get a chance to understand how it's broken down. And again, it will show you,
00:53:50there it is, you see Alabama on the screen, you can vote in person 15 days before the election,
00:53:58by mail, postmark 15 days before election day. I wouldn't wait for 15 days. Online 15 days before
00:54:06election, right? That's Alabama. So if you scroll down a little bit more, you see Arizona
00:54:11in person 29 days, by mail 29 days, online 29 days. That's today for Arizona. You go down,
00:54:19you see Arkansas, you see California. You can find all of this information online at vote.org.
00:54:26Every single state and every single locality, the district of Columbia is listed there.
00:54:33So if we were to type in less, what do you want to type?
00:54:36I'm curious about Florida because you know what? They got that hurricane coming through.
00:54:40Okay. So let's look at Florida in person 29 days before election day,
00:54:44received or postmarked 29 days before election day by mail and online 29 days before election. So
00:54:52Florida, all of it is 29 days. That's today. You have to vote, register to vote today in those
00:55:00states. Want to make sure that all of you have this information and can utilize it for purposes
00:55:06of getting registered. And again, we're asking all of you to see if you can identify five people
00:55:12within your group chat and see if you can get them to register to vote. And we will also ask
00:55:19for you to let us know how many people you were able to register to vote. We have a voting squad.
00:55:25We're working with a bunch of organizations to make sure that we register as many people
00:55:29as possible. And we hope that you will be one of those. Look, we've been having a lot of fun
00:55:36thus far tonight, but this is a really, really serious matter because so many things in our
00:55:42communities have been affected because we just sometimes have, many have not shown up to the
00:55:47polls. And so while we're painting the polls black and engaging with some amazing people,
00:55:54I want you to realize that this conversation is not just about you, but it is also about your
00:56:01family. It's also about the legacy that you will leave behind by the decisions that you allowed to
00:56:07happen in your community. But we are now pleased. I really want to welcome tonight, our next guest,
00:56:15Dr. Jatia Hart. She's a nuclear engineer and television personality. She is the chief
00:56:23science officer for national and homeland security at the Idaho National Laboratory
00:56:30and competed on Survivor. Now, I'm going to probably say that wrong, Alphonso.
00:56:36Cagayan. Dr. Hart.
00:56:42Let me just say that she competed on the Survivor television series.
00:56:46And I'm a journalist, but that word. Dr. Hart.
00:56:55You said it perfectly. You said my name perfectly, Black Girl Energy. I love the
00:57:03pronunciation. So yes, I was a contestant on Survivor Cagayan. And I am so excited to be here.
00:57:12I love the energy. We got people who are, you know, solving the world's problem by getting
00:57:17their education. And we had so much energy from Kenny Burns. I'm still looking to beat him,
00:57:23always. So I am the Tiger Kenny. I see you.
00:57:28Oh, that's a challenge. It is. That's a challenge. That's a challenge. Look, Dr. Hart, so many people
00:57:34know you from Survivor. And I'm not going to say the word again. Can you tell us what you remember
00:57:40the most from appearing on that television series? So I have a standout memory from that. And it's
00:57:48really about how perception is reality. How you're portrayed on the show. You know, it's a lot of
00:57:55characters on the show. And they really boil you down to one, you know, character. And even though
00:58:02I have all these things going on with myself, I'm a nuclear engineer. I, you know, have a vibrant
00:58:10family life. And they boil me down to- A fair shoe collection. We see the shoes. A fair shoe
00:58:17collection. Let me just say. Thank you. Look, it's highlighted. You see it. It's highlighted.
00:58:23It's highlighted. You see it's in last year. I've been working on it. I love it.
00:58:31So yeah, they will boil you down to something that's, you know, entertaining. And a lot of
00:58:38times what they show is your reality. Whatever they perceive you as becomes your reality on
00:58:46reality TV. So for my standout moment, I may have gotten a little upset, you know, during my time
00:58:53on the show. And, you know, somebody I felt like wasn't very nice to me. So I decided I wasn't
00:58:58going to be very nice to them. And that is what I'm known for. So somebody said that they were
00:59:03hungry on my tribe. And then I said that they were going to vote me out. So I decided to take their
00:59:08food and dump it in the rice. So I was like, if I'm not going to be here and I can't eat,
00:59:13you can't eat either. So, you know, and then that was the one moment of me that went viral.
00:59:20And so now everybody knows that side of me. That's not the only side, but that's the side
00:59:24it comes through. And that translates into, you know, what we see on reality TV. We actually even
00:59:31have a candidate who was largely shaped by what they portrayed on reality TV, even though that
00:59:42may not be that actual perception, reality of them, that is the perception that is out there.
00:59:49And they've made it all the way to the White House and maybe even back on that.
00:59:56Hold that thought for a second.
01:00:00Because many people don't know that you are a nuclear engineer.
01:00:04Can you talk a little bit about your day job and what you do?
01:00:08Absolutely. So I'm a nuclear engineer. I was raised in Miami in a big,
01:00:13big Black family. I'm the youngest of 10 kids. I had no idea that that is where I was going to end
01:00:20up in life. I say it happened to me by accident, but I always loved math and science. And I had
01:00:27the opportunity to go into our Navy ROTC and go on a submarine, which I found out was powered by
01:00:35nuclear. And I was like, I don't know who's in charge, but this is what I want to do. This is
01:00:40what I want to be in charge of. I tried to join the Navy. At the time, they didn't let women
01:00:46on submarines. So I said, okay, well, I will go to graduate school and become your boss.
01:00:51And I got a PhD in nuclear engineering, and I went into research and development. And now
01:00:58I do development and specifically focus on national security. So if you are thinking about
01:01:06the conflict in Ukraine and helping to secure their energy, their nuclear power plant in Ukraine
01:01:14from Russian forces, which decided to camp out at the nuclear power plant just to strike terror and
01:01:22the fear in hearts, we do things like help them to secure their energy supply, make sure their
01:01:27cybersecurity networks are okay. That's a big deal. And I got into this because I kept following the
01:01:35things that I could do to make a better world as an engineer.
01:01:40Impressive. So you've been doing this work for how long now?
01:01:45Oh, you want me to tell you how long I've been working?
01:01:51I'm just kidding. I've been in this industry over 20 years. It's fine. That's just a joke.
01:01:57But I've loved every step of it and did not think that I would be working on
01:02:03issues that show up in the news all the time. And that's what I'm really grateful for in my career.
01:02:11And you're on tonight to talk about painting the polls black,
01:02:15mobilizing people, educating people about the issues that directly affect primarily
01:02:20the black community. Tell us why this is interesting and important to you.
01:02:25So, so many facets of my life are involved in this election. One of the things is about how
01:02:33we can change the perception of African American and marginalized groups in the media, which I've
01:02:40been an advocate for. If you've seen our recent efforts, writing rooms and producing staff and
01:02:49all of those things that came in the light of the murder of George Floyd and different initiatives,
01:02:56I was involved with that, specifically with CVS and Survivor. And also, as a woman of a certain
01:03:01age, I know our guest before was talking about, she was on the Gen Z millennial cusp. I am on
01:03:08that other cusp, that Gen X millennial, elder millennial, as they say it, cusp. And so, you
01:03:15know, the face is still 21, but the knees, the knees is hitting 40 some, you know. So,
01:03:21I really care about healthcare. And there are a lot of issues that come up for black women
01:03:29about healthcare disparity. I am also a breast cancer survivor. So, I'm showing off my new
01:03:35chesticles here, because I just had a, I am a breast cancer survivor one year clear.
01:03:41So, I've been through the ringer and the whole healthcare system. And there are so
01:03:47many things that we can do better for women, and especially black women. I have two children.
01:03:55That wasn't fun. Having them babies was not fun. And we have not as good maternal outcomes for
01:04:02black women. Then my children, then having reproductive rights for my children and choices
01:04:09for my son, all of those things. So, I am really at the age where I, every issue I believe in. So,
01:04:17this is right up my alley. I can talk to anybody and tell them an issue that they should care about
01:04:23for this election. I love it. I want to go back to something that you said earlier that just
01:04:29stuck with me, and it makes me think of the black experience, and then what you just said now.
01:04:34Earlier, you were describing your survivor experience and the rice incident,
01:04:39but you said, if I can't eat, you can't eat either. And it made me just look at that statement
01:04:49and how far as black folk we have come, and we have watched others eat. And many times we have
01:04:58watched our communities starve. So, I want to bring that comment right back up to you. So,
01:05:04repeating that back to you, what does it make you think of, even those words that you said,
01:05:09if I can't eat, as it pertains to this election, you can't eat either?
01:05:15I really think you all were speaking about the comment about how black women have been
01:05:20so supportive, and now it's time for you to support black women and women who are doing
01:05:30things. You know, we are always trying to uplift our communities, and now we need other people in
01:05:36on the fight to do things that not only benefit the greater good, but also benefit us as black
01:05:41women, because a lot of places, we're not doing the best. So, I do want to highlight that,
01:05:48and I do think you should make it personal. I do think you should talk to your friends. You know,
01:05:54you don't have to hurt, you know, be negative, be positive. You know, like, you like me,
01:05:59you're my friend. Don't you want to see good things for me and my family as well? Even though
01:06:06maybe, you know, you have to take a little bit of L for me to get a huge W? I mean, I think those
01:06:13sort of things. You are already up here. I'm trying, I'm trying, you know, help me up the
01:06:18rope. You know, can we do something? I think it's time, and I don't think it's too much to ask your
01:06:23friends to care about you in the group chat. I was writing out my group chats, and some I have
01:06:29where a lot of the things, the group chat is already like-minded about, and I am actually
01:06:35going to task myself to talk to people in group chats that are not all like-minded. So, it might
01:06:41be like my kid's school or athletic club for my kids, where everybody is not, it's not just an
01:06:47echo chamber. I think it's important to get out there and to talk about issues, and you don't
01:06:53have to talk about specific candidates, but you could talk about issues that maybe you're
01:06:57like-minded about and really just throw it out there. I think that the time is now for us to,
01:07:03you know, move out of our comfort zone on some of these issues, these topics in our group chats and
01:07:09in our personal relationships. I think, even throwing back to you, Alphonso, just talking
01:07:17about that, I think we even have to go against the stigma to let people know that when we help
01:07:23each other, we all rise. Even when we're looking at in the DEI space, and you've talked about this
01:07:29a lot, when we look at studies and numbers and talk about what happens when you have DEI in
01:07:35workspaces, how not only your money goes up, but it also affects the bottom line of companies
01:07:41even more. Like, I have such a powerful statement that you said earlier, it takes me to every space
01:07:45that we've been talking about on Paint the Polls Black. Yeah, no, it's an interesting, and Dr.
01:07:51Hart, I'm sure you know what's happening in this country right now. We have a very small but very
01:07:56well-funded minority of folks who are challenging the concept of diversity, equity, and inclusion
01:08:02in this country. And they're essentially saying that by providing resources and support
01:08:11to racial minorities, that constitutes discrimination. And my retort to them is,
01:08:17why isn't anyone asking about why 90% of the folks in C-suite happen to be white men?
01:08:26The answer can't be that Black people aren't qualified. The answer can't be that Black and
01:08:30Brown people haven't applied. The answer can't be that Black and Brown people haven't worked hard.
01:08:36So we are hearing in the public discourse and in media about the attacks on D&I, and I want
01:08:44folks to really rethink the narrative here. And it's about, we're actually seeking equity. We're
01:08:50seeking an opportunity that has been historically denied. And it's all based on fear. Because the
01:08:57concept is, if you allow me an opportunity to succeed, that takes something away from you.
01:09:03When the data clearly shows that when you open up the aperture, if you will,
01:09:09and you allow more and more people to participate, we all eat. Nobody gets to starve.
01:09:17I totally agree. And we are offering resources and support to some people and not others. So
01:09:24it's not, I mean, why can't we spread the resources and support? Because the other people
01:09:29are also getting resources and support. But nobody likes to talk about that. It's only when we give
01:09:37things to people who look like us, that now we want to talk about how the resources and support
01:09:44are spread out. I say this at my job. If there is somebody who has a posting and they're white
01:09:53and everybody is white, a lot of times an eye is not batted or it seems like the norm, I'll say.
01:10:01So don't bat an eye when I have a posting and all the people are black. Because, I mean,
01:10:06what's the problem? We use our networks. I don't think that's something that we talk about a lot.
01:10:14We can spread out the resources and support. We can have targeted. We're always going to hire
01:10:19the best candidate, but we can also help people and develop them just like other people who help
01:10:25people who look like them. We can help people who look like us. And because we are not represented
01:10:31at the level, we do need to have a targeted resources that go to them to develop those
01:10:37capabilities. Because that's the same way the other people got to the place that they are.
01:10:42Somebody used their resources, whether it's because they knew them or lived down the street or had
01:10:48a buddy with the college or they went to the same college. It's all networks. So we should be able,
01:10:54and I think it makes more diversity of thought in teams are shown to be more successful. And
01:11:03that's something that we do need to put resources towards across the board, whether it's a job,
01:11:07whether it's government, whether it's education. I strongly believe in that.
01:11:11Now, last week we talked about, because this issue comes up in so many different circles,
01:11:16but we talked about the battleground states, and we sort of had this conversation again tonight,
01:11:22identifying the seven battleground states. And there's the chart again, Pennsylvania,
01:11:28Michigan, Wisconsin, Nevada, Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina. And these are the states where
01:11:37the populace is politically divided. There isn't a clear consensus as to who they're really
01:11:44supporting. And we show the data again that highlighted that former President Trump is
01:11:51leading in four of those seven states. I wanna ask you first, whether you live in one of those
01:11:58battleground states, and if not, whether you know people who live in those battleground states and
01:12:04whether you're having conversations with them about this election.
01:12:09Well, Alphonso, I already have a to-do list from our conversation. I do not live in a
01:12:15battleground state, but first of all, I went and dug up my voter registration, so I got the receipts
01:12:20here. And I live in Illinois, and so I actually do know people in Wisconsin, and I know quite a few
01:12:28people in Michigan, so I am gonna text them tonight to make sure that I talk to them individually,
01:12:35and also give them some tasking to reach out to five people they know, and so we can grow the
01:12:42chain. I also know a lot of people in Atlanta, like I think every black person knows somebody
01:12:48in Atlanta, right? It's a rule. You gotta know somebody from Atlanta. So I am gonna reach out
01:12:53to my Atlanta friends, and even I know some people in Augusta, all my Georgia friends as well,
01:12:59and if I can remember any Vegas friends, but I think people just visit Vegas. I don't know if
01:13:03they actually live there. They come, have a good time, and leave. They get to, you know,
01:13:07don't wanna get in trouble. They got a black congressman. They got a black congressman.
01:13:12Look, then Vegas it is. I have to see who in my Vegas area code, and even if they have the
01:13:19area code, that means they know somebody in Vegas, so I have a to-do list for me, and a to-do list
01:13:25for others, because I do think it's very important to get that exponential growth, you know, I'm an
01:13:31engineer, exponential growth. So, you know, you reach out to a couple people, and then they reach
01:13:35out to a few people, and we grow it. What do you say to folks who say, look,
01:13:42I don't talk about politics with my friends. We go out. We have a good time. We go to the movies.
01:13:50We have dinner, but we don't talk about politics. What do you say to those folks?
01:13:55You talk about life. You talk about your life, and inherent to your life is gonna be politics,
01:14:02because your life, you have to interact with the government, right? You have to do these things,
01:14:08so talk about your life. Talk about the decisions that you have to make in your life
01:14:14that affect you, and you can do that with your friends. You can talk if you have kids, education,
01:14:19where they're going to school, because that is affected by who's elected. Little known fact,
01:14:25I used to be a federal employee, so the person who gets elected president chooses all of the
01:14:30cabinet members, right, and they're the people who implement all these policies, so if you got
01:14:35somebody going to the VA, then who you elect as president matters. Social Security, education,
01:14:43all of those things matter. Who you elect president, Department of Energy, whether you're
01:14:48gonna be able to get a rebate on your gas or electric car, all of those things are implemented
01:14:55by the executive branch, which is picked, the heads are picked by the president, so it matters.
01:15:01All of it matters. Talk about your life. You don't have to specifically say,
01:15:05but talk about your life and talk about the issues. You don't have to talk about politics
01:15:09specifically. I think that's such a great way to come into the conversation, especially talking,
01:15:16when you just mentioned the agencies, a lot of people don't know that under the administration,
01:15:21there are about 96 different federal agencies, so you could be talking about one issue not
01:15:28realizing you're talking politics at the end of the day. When you're with your friends,
01:15:35what are some of those issues? You went down the list of issues that were important to you,
01:15:39but for your friends, what are some of those issues that they're really talking about?
01:15:44Really, it's a lot about healthcare. I'll tell you, we're getting at that age where
01:15:51the hot topic right now in one of my group chats is perimenopause, right,
01:15:54so talking about health issues. It went straight from fertility to menopause, and we are talking,
01:16:01I'll shout out to my group chat, Phenomenal Pearl. It's my AKA line sisters. All right,
01:16:08sorry. I don't know if I'm supposed to do that, but we talk about, yeah, fertility, and we talk
01:16:16about how those health issues, like, we want to see some studies being done about women's health
01:16:22and that next phase of life. That's serious, because I be hot flashing, and ain't no hot
01:16:29flash medications. I'm like, ooh, why hasn't the National Institutes of Health, right after they
01:16:35get off that COVID vaccine, get on this menopause vaccine? These are the kind of issues. I know it
01:16:41seems funny, but yeah, are we talking about women's health issues? Are we talking about
01:16:46education standards? Are we talking about these big things, energy? I want to be able to, you know,
01:16:53plug in my electricity and have it work. I also want it to be affordable, you know, so we're
01:16:59talking to a nuclear engineer. I'm all about nuclear energy. I talk to anybody who will listen.
01:17:04Don't cut off the chat on me just because I said something about nuclear, because I know it's not
01:17:08the most exciting topic, but everybody wants energy, and so that's something I'm always bringing
01:17:14up in the group chat. So there are issues, and all of those issues specifically have a touch point
01:17:21in politics. So Dr. Hart, we are, as you know, referenced earlier that we're doing a little bit
01:17:33of a competition, and I think you said that you're going to win. Did I hear that correctly?
01:17:40I did. I brought out my survivor challenge buff because I'm still, you know, I'm all about
01:17:51winning. I love to win, so I'm ready. Oh my. Ebony, I will let you take this away.
01:18:00I'm not fooling her. You got it. Can we also give honorable mention to the shirt?
01:18:08Can we give honorable mention to the shirt? I'm black mixable. I love this shirt. I want you to
01:18:15know I'm blacky, black, black, black. Any team I'm on, can I call you? Absolutely, absolutely.
01:18:24Look, I may not be the most athletic, but I got you with the smack talk and the gear.
01:18:30That's all I need. That's what we good at. Okay, so Dr. Hart,
01:18:35you know we got this comp. Well, you clearly know we have this competition going on, right,
01:18:39with our speakers, and you love competitions, clearly. We're asking each speaker to text
01:18:47one of their group chat, and I feel like you've already told your people, but
01:18:52within one minute, they're like, what we'll be doing? Start the clock.
01:18:56And within one minute- I have not because I don't have that link yet, but I told them,
01:19:01y'all, I put the W-Y-D. What y'all doing? I did do a W-Y-D on them. You're checking them already.
01:19:09Okay, okay. Well, it just popped up. So within a minute, we want to see how many people that
01:19:15they can get to register to vote or to check their registration status. Are you ready? Were you
01:19:24ready? You ready for the challenge? Oh yeah. I just got to type in the link and be like, go now.
01:19:30So yes, I am ready. And I told them, I got to tell them, don't embarrass me.
01:19:36Okay, go. All right.
01:19:41And we're going to ask you to let us know how many of your friends were able to- that you have
01:19:49convinced or encouraged to register to vote and or to check their registration. As you know, Kenny
01:19:56Burns communicated with his cohort using his voice message. That's another way that you can
01:20:02use your group chat. You don't have to type. You can communicate with your friends, your family
01:20:08members, your colleagues in a variety of different ways. The goal is just to get as many people as
01:20:12possible to register to vote and check the registration. So you have about 20 seconds
01:20:18left to communicate to them. And then we want to see how many people respond to you. And we will
01:20:23ask you to let us know how many people were registered to vote and how many people checked
01:20:28their registration. You have about nine seconds left to communicate with them, and then we'll
01:20:32take from your responses. And you have- Check the gang face.
01:20:36Check the gang face. And you're done.
01:20:39Sorry, I can't come to the phone right now. I am texting my group chat so they don't embarrass me
01:20:44here. Okay. So I'm on it. So all right. Send them to vote.org. You can send them to vote.org
01:20:51and let us know and we will check the challenge. All right. That's my last one. Don't embarrass me.
01:21:01All right. I'm a fan. I'm a girl fan. Look, I got you.
01:21:08Look, don't make me call y'all house and throw out y'all rights. Y'all won't be eating tonight
01:21:12if y'all check these doggone registrations, okay?
01:21:15We need to put you at the polls.
01:21:21They are checking them. I haven't had any responses yet, but I will get back to you. This
01:21:26has been so much fun. My kids are in bed and I locked them out of the room. So this has been
01:21:32fantastic to discuss these issues with you all. I love, this is like a live group chat. This is,
01:21:39you know, we have a spicy time in our group chat. So all my group chats, and this is even better to
01:21:44be able to see faces and everything like that. So thank you for having me on and for talking
01:21:48about these important issues. Thank you. Thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for
01:21:53participating and thank you for encouraging your group chat to register to vote and to
01:21:59check their registration. Thank you, Dr. Hart. Thank you.
01:22:03So, yes, I want to go back for folks who may have joined us late. I want to go back to this
01:22:13website again. I think it's incredibly important that everyone knows today is the deadline to
01:22:19register to vote in many states. We're pulling up the website again to make sure that you can see
01:22:25the website, go to vote.org, check your voter registration deadline, check the deadlines,
01:22:31I should say. And you can see all of the states listed there. Every state, every locality is
01:22:39listed there. The District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, it's all listed
01:22:46there. And you can see, see 29 days before election day for Indiana. That's today.
01:22:53Iowa is 15 days. Please register to vote. We want to make sure that you don't lose the opportunity
01:23:01to vote in this year's election. And also, there are many other things you can do on this website.
01:23:07You can check your registration, as you can see. You can register to vote. You can vote by mail.
01:23:12You can see what's on the ballot in your state. You don't have to wait till election day to learn
01:23:18about what's on the ballot. You can get election reminders. You can pledge to register as well.
01:23:25All of those tools are available on this site. And it's by state, so you can go in and get
01:23:32information specifically for your state to register. Again, you can see the timeline there,
01:23:37everything you need to vote, the time left for election is 28 days, 3 hours, 35 minutes,
01:23:44and 20 now, 20 seconds before the election. We want to encourage all of you to please utilize this site
01:23:51and please register to vote.
01:23:54I do want to say, excuse me, one thing really quickly, Alphonso, is that
01:24:00even if you're registered to vote, the reason why it's important to look at your ballot,
01:24:05and we've talked about this on here before, because sometimes the wording for referendums
01:24:11can be tricky. And there are times when you may be thinking that you're voting for something that
01:24:15you want and you may be voting against it. And so it's important to go look at that ballot,
01:24:22figure out everything that's on that down ballot, so that when you get in that booth and it asks
01:24:28you a question and the wording throws you off, you already know because you went and you checked
01:24:34the ballot. I think that's like the next step in all of this. So don't be so confident because
01:24:38you voted. I want you to also see what you are going to be voting for, because those referendums,
01:24:45there's a lot that's on there, and I believe in about six or seven states, there are questions
01:24:50on there when it comes to reproductive rights. That's a big issue that we've been talking about.
01:24:55Indeed. Yeah, absolutely.
01:24:58And it's about education, it's about the economy, it's about reproductive rights,
01:25:03it's about public safety. All of those issues are on the ballot. And we're not only voting
01:25:10for ourselves here, we're voting for our future. We want to make sure that everyone has a voice
01:25:16at the ballot box, because if you don't exercise your voice, someone else will.
01:25:22And we say this every single week, but I want to really reinforce that tonight,
01:25:28because in many states, again, the deadline is tonight. So if you wake up tomorrow and you try
01:25:33to register, it might be too late in those states. Again, go to vote.org, please register to vote.
01:25:40Our vote is sacred. And again, if we don't exercise it, someone else is going to exercise
01:25:45that voice and really dictate what's happening in your lives. So I want to thank all of the
01:25:51speakers who joined us again tonight. I want to thank the Sundial Group of Companies,
01:25:56including Essence and the Global Black Economic Forum, Girls United, Afropunk, Refinery29,
01:26:02BeautyCon, and the New Voices Foundation for continuing to support this town hall.
01:26:07Look, your voice is your vote. We've said it over and over. We're going to keep saying it.
01:26:11The stakes are high, and we want to make sure that you have the information, that you have
01:26:16the resources, and that you have the support to exercise your right to vote and to protect
01:26:23your future. This is our fifth of eight engagements that will be taking part as we
01:26:33paint the polls black. We will see you soon. We will be back next week, where we will be
01:26:40talking about early voting. You don't have to wait for election day. In 47 states, I believe,
01:26:49including some jurisdictions, you can vote early, and we will walk you through that process.
01:26:56What does it mean to vote early? How do you do it? What are the deadlines? What are the benefits?
01:27:02We will walk through that for all of you next week on Paint the Polls.
01:27:06Thank you again for joining us, and please register to vote.

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