Latest / THE DAILY BRIEF / Jemele Hill slams withholding votes for Kamala Harris

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Jemele Hill slams withholding votes for Kamala Harris · THE DAILY BRIEF

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  Speaker 1: Republicans are eyeing a potential in with black voters less
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  Speaker 1: than two hundred days before the midterms.
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  Speaker 2: And Stephen A.
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  Speaker 1: Smith got a lot of people talking this week when
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  Speaker 1: he said this, take a listener.
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  Speaker 3: I wish for one election that every black person would
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  Speaker 3: vote Republican. Since nineteen sixty four, the black people, black folks,
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  Speaker 3: we have been giving our vote to the Democratic Party
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  Speaker 3: at an exorbitant rate. Therefore, they know they got our vote.
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  Speaker 3: The Republicans know they'll never get our vote, so they
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  Speaker 3: don't give a damn about us.
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  Speaker 2: And as a result, we're.
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  Speaker 3: The only community in America devoid of representation.
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  Speaker 1: Somebody very quick to respond was fellow sports generalist j
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  Speaker 1: mil Hill, and here's what she had to say.
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  Speaker 4: Black people aren't aligned with Democrats because we think they're
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  Speaker 4: so much better, or because we believe that Democrats don't
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  Speaker 4: mess up to or that Democrats are without racist. So
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  Speaker 4: the point is we strategically align ourselves where we see
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  Speaker 4: the pathway.
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  Speaker 1: And Jamiel hell joins us now she is a contributing
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  Speaker 1: writer for The Atlantic Gay It's great to have you
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  Speaker 1: on the show, Jamail tell us, and we heard some
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  Speaker 1: of your thoughts there, but tell us a little bit
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  Speaker 1: more in detail why you had such a huge problem
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  Speaker 1: with Stephen A. Smith's comments there and just how simplistic
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  Speaker 1: they were.
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  Speaker 4: So there was a trigger word that he used, and
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  Speaker 4: the trigger word was.
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  Speaker 2: Giving Black people.
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  Speaker 4: Didn't give Democratic the Democratic Party their votes the Democratic Party,
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  Speaker 4: you had to earn them.
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  Speaker 2: As you all know.
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  Speaker 4: The demarcation line in terms of why black people began
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  Speaker 4: to wholly throw their support behind the party was because
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  Speaker 4: of three very important bills.
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  Speaker 2: The Civil Rights Teck, the Voting Right Tech, and the
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  Speaker 2: Fair Hoousing Act.
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  Speaker 4: And when you look at the most progressive legislation that
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  Speaker 4: has impacted black life over the last fifty sixty years
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  Speaker 4: or since that, you know, nineteen sixty four, kind of
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  Speaker 4: fork in the row politically, that is why.
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  Speaker 2: And so I guess what I rejected, And.
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  Speaker 4: I understand that there's a general dissatisfyct this, you know,
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  Speaker 4: general dissatisfaction, satisfication with the Democratic Party. I get that,
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  Speaker 4: and I understand why, and I know that a lot
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  Speaker 4: of black voters do in many ways feel taken advantage of.
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  Speaker 4: But what I reject is this idea that black people
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  Speaker 4: aren't doing this without thought or strategy. It was black
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  Speaker 4: people who understood Joe Biden needed to be the candidate.
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  Speaker 4: It is black people who have understood, for I don't
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  Speaker 4: know how many elections you want to go what is
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  Speaker 4: best for the country. And so to come at black
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  Speaker 4: voters like they're just simply not smart enough, but they're
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  Speaker 4: just giving away their.
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  Speaker 2: Vote, I just find I had an issue with that.
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  Speaker 4: And while stephen A didn't use the words, you know,
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  Speaker 4: he wasn't trying to necessarily say that the black uh
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  Speaker 4: that black people weren't smart about voting for Democrats, that's
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  Speaker 4: nevertheless the way that it came off. And to me,
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  Speaker 4: the question he needs to pose is why did so
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  Speaker 4: many white people.
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  Speaker 2: Lead the Democratic Party?
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  Speaker 4: Why was civil rights and the idea of equality be
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  Speaker 4: so horrid to white voters.
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  Speaker 2: That the majority of them have not voted.
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  Speaker 4: For a Democratic president presidential nominee since Lyndon B.
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  Speaker 2: Johnson.
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  Speaker 4: So why don't you ask them that question instead of
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  Speaker 4: coming at Black voters and asking us about our vote,
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  Speaker 4: ask them why.
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  Speaker 2: They decided to leave the party and what they've.
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  Speaker 4: Gotten out of doing that, because I promise you a
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  Speaker 4: lot of white working class voters, white middle class voters
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  Speaker 4: haven't gotten a return either. But yet this is always
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  Speaker 4: the question with black voters, but never with white voters
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  Speaker 4: who continue to vote Republican, especially in deep southern states,
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  Speaker 4: and we see the condition that they are in in
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  Speaker 4: terms of economy, healthcare, education, that's never posed to them.
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  Speaker 4: It's only something that is burdened or assumed of black voters.
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  Speaker 2: I also just want to add to the history here.
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  Speaker 5: At one point, black voters did vote Republican back in
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  Speaker 5: the eighteen hundreds into the early twentieth century because of Lincoln,
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  Speaker 5: and then when the Revacan party changed, they changed. So
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  Speaker 5: black voters are very capable of seeing the facts as
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  Speaker 5: they are and then realigning themselves and adjusting.
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  Speaker 4: And so that was the part that I don't think
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  Speaker 4: steven A gave proper historical context too. So what he
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  Speaker 4: said was entirely a historical It's like black people aren't
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  Speaker 4: giving anybody their votes. These are votes that come with
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  Speaker 4: a lot of thought in strategy, and as you just said,
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  Speaker 4: like Jackie Robinson, you know, one of the most celebrated
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  Speaker 4: Americans in history and certainly a celebrated sports figure, he
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  Speaker 4: was a Republican who then changed his mind because in
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  Speaker 4: his mind, the party changed. We all know why the
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  Speaker 4: party changed. It was a Southern strategy. It was very goldwater.
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  Speaker 4: It was them deciding that in order they seized an
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  Speaker 4: opportunity to maintain Deep South white votership. That's what happened,
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  Speaker 4: and that is why black people decided to switch over.
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  Speaker 4: So this idea that black people should just give Republicans
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  Speaker 4: their votes, because he doesn't really provide.
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  Speaker 2: Any reason why.
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  Speaker 4: It's just in response to, well, we're unhappy that we
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  Speaker 4: haven't gotten enough progress, so let's just give them vote.
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  Speaker 2: Have Republicans actually earned that?
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  Speaker 4: Have they actually done anything at all to strategically prove
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  Speaker 4: that they care about black voters or the things that
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  Speaker 4: are important to black voters. What we see from the
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  Speaker 4: Republican Party now is a whole lot of alignment with
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  Speaker 4: white supremacy. We see what just happened with the Voting
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  Speaker 4: Rights Act and how that was gutted by the Supreme Court.
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  Speaker 4: We see how the Deep South is now moving to
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  Speaker 4: basically eliminate Black representation from a congressional and lawmaking standpoint,
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  Speaker 4: and allowing majority black districts and black people who are
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  Speaker 4: in the South, of which is what almost sixty percent
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  Speaker 4: of black people live in the South, they're eliminating their
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  Speaker 4: voice but Stephen Agencent thinks is a good idea to
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  Speaker 4: reward that party with our votes and for what.
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  Speaker 6: So Jamlle, we've been talking a lot about this binary
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  Speaker 6: choice about should black voters, or indeed any contingent of
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  Speaker 6: the electorate who's unhappy with the party that they've been
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  Speaker 6: voting for vote for the other party. There's a third
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  Speaker 6: pass too, which is just setting it out altogether. And
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  Speaker 6: I'm wondering what you make of the contingent of the
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  Speaker 6: left that in the last presidential election sat out a
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  Speaker 6: large part in certain parts of the country sat out
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  Speaker 6: the vote in the twenty twenty four election because of
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  Speaker 6: disagreements with the Democratic Party and particularly with the Biden administration.
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  Speaker 6: I'm thinking of like the uncommitted movement that decided not
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  Speaker 6: to vote for Kamala Harris. Do you think that that
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  Speaker 6: was a viable or helpful strategy. Is there another way
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  Speaker 6: that you would suggest that voters who feel like they've
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  Speaker 6: been their views are being ignored or their votes are
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  Speaker 6: being taken for granted, should make their wishes known.
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  Speaker 2: So I think with holding your vote was the stupidt strategy.
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  Speaker 4: And looking at the condition and shape that our country
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  Speaker 4: is in right now, only to me affirms that sometimes
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  Speaker 4: to use the sports analogy, like if you're a team
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  Speaker 4: that you know the whole point is to score a touchdown,
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  Speaker 4: but you have to obviously make first downs to get
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  Speaker 4: down the field. Sometimes you may come up with a really,
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  Speaker 4: you know, big offensive play that might get you ten
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  Speaker 4: or fifteen or twenty yards, but sometimes you gotta be
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  Speaker 4: okay with getting three yards and then fighting for another down.
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  Speaker 4: And so those who were unsatisfied with the positions on Gaza,
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  Speaker 4: the positions with Israel, that was the time to fight
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  Speaker 4: for another day because there was just too much at
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  Speaker 4: stake beyond that issue. And I'm not trying to minimize
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  Speaker 4: what that issue meant to people, like I understand that
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  Speaker 4: a lot of people, for them, the hard line was genocide,
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  Speaker 4: and I get that. But at the same time, I
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  Speaker 4: think there was real pressure that could be applied to
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  Speaker 4: a Biden or Harris administration that is just off the
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  Speaker 4: table completely now. And I know there was some folks
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  Speaker 4: that were of the opinion of, like, let's burn.
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  Speaker 2: It all down and then reconstruct.
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  Speaker 4: Well, no, because now you're looking at this Supreme Court
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  Speaker 4: and how they're moving and in general, the way the
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  Speaker 4: Republican party is moving and this is about trying to
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  Speaker 4: amass power. It's about minority rules. So now you don't
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  Speaker 4: even get that opportunity. So you have to ask yourself
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  Speaker 4: was this a worthwhile strategy?
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  Speaker 2: And I don't think it was.
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  Speaker 4: I just don't, and I know there are people who
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  Speaker 4: would disagree with that, but I think that there were
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  Speaker 4: other pathways and other pressures that could have been applied
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  Speaker 4: to the administration to get them to move off some
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  Speaker 4: of the points that they wanted to move them off of.
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  Speaker 6: Jamie Hill. Thanks so much for your time tonight.