- Just ahead on Black Issues Forum, an exciting event in Durham brought together sneakers, fashion, and politics to engage younger voters, what North Carolina Senate race could mean to the country, and a big night in Hollywood for Black women actors.

Stay with us.

[upbeat music] ♪ - Welcome to "Black Issues Forum," I'm Deborah Holt Noel.

It seems early, but the midterm election is fewer than eight weeks away.

Mail-in ballots must be received by November 1st and you still have a couple more weeks to register unless you plan to register and vote at the same time during the early voting period, which begins October 20th.

You can find complete information on where to vote and who's on your ballot at the North Carolina Board of Election Site, NCSBE.gov.

But today we wanna delve into a question that comes up at every election cycle.

And that is, where is young voter participation?

Will they come out?

Will they be engaged?

What do they care about?

Today's guests have their finger on the pulse of the younger generation and are speaking their language and interest to get them engaged.

They recently participated in an expo in Durham featuring sneakers, fashion, art, music, sports, and more.

It was called Sneakerville, and it drew over 2000 attendees.

Let's find out more with today's guests.

I wanna welcome Lamair T. Brian, the triangle regional coordinator and marketing communications and special projects consultant for Advance Carolina, Greear Webb, a student organizer and co-founder of Yap, Young Americans Protest, and Professor La'Meshia Whittington, also with Advance Carolina.

I am so excited to have the three of you here today to share with us what is on the minds of younger people.

But first, Lamair, what is Sneakerville and tell us how did Advance Carolina get involved?

- Deborah, thanks so much for havin' me.

I will say first, before we kick off the conversation, that I think I had the best sneakers at Sneakerville.

- You have to share a picture then.

- But I will say, maybe the 2000 participants that attended the event might think a little differently.

But I will say, Sneakerville was an amazing opportunity for Black entrepreneurship.

This event was created by Brian Dawson with Radio One.

When we had the original conversation, it was all about connecting the youth, connecting politics, fashion, arts, and giving Black entrepreneurs an opportunity to come together, connect with one another.

We do know, in our history, that Black entrepreneurship is not necessarily taken seriously and we don't have the space or we don't get the space to fundraise, we don't get the space to create our own opportunities.

And so I wanna say that I am honored to be a part of this.

And North Carolina Black Alliance, the company that I'm a part of as well, the C3 organization, helped sponsor this event.

What we talked about as well was the demographic that was going to attend Sneakerville.

We know that in the midterm elections this is a critical demographic in getting us where we need to be and seeing the change that we want to see.

And so I want to say thank you to Brian Dawson at Radio One, as well as my colleagues on this panel today.

Greear was a panelist, and LA was super supportive as well.

So it is important, as I mentioned, with Sneakerville, connectin' the dots, makin' sure that you're hearin' the concerns of our people, as well as bringin' everyone together.

At the end of the day that's what it's all about, buildin' Black political power and reflectin' the leadership that we want to see in these seats in the Senate, the House, and in corporate America.

- I think it's so interesting that absolutely there was a focus on entrepreneurship.

You all brought another piece in there, which was a conversation about some political issues.

So, how did that come about?

- Absolutely, so we wanted to make sure that we brought politics into the conversation.

As mentioned before, Sneakerville was a big event.

Brian Dawson did mention that this would possibly be [Lamair stuttering] an event, excuse me, in different states as well.

And so the conversation came about because we wanted to have a truthful conversation.

I had the opportunity to moderate the panel with Greear and some of our other leaders in North Carolina.

And we wanted to have that truthful conversation.

We wanted to talk about HBCUs, we wanted to talk about affordable housing.

And considering that Sneakerville happened in Durham County, we know that there's issues when it comes to crime and justice in Durham.

As mentioned before, there's issues with inflation all over the country, but specifically in Durham there are issues with our water.

There's issues with affordable housing, there's rent issues, and several other challenges.

So it was important for us to bring that conversation to Sneakerville and let our young voters know that we are listening and we're trying to create strategies in order to assist them with the challenges they have in Durham County.

- Thank you.

Greear, you were there as well.

What do you think made this a unique experience in your opinion, but also an effective one?

- Well Deborah, first, as always, it's great to be back with you and with the team here at PBSNC.

I think Sneakerville was an amazing event.

It was awesome.

It was the inaugural event, as Lamair mentioned, a lot of planning went into it.

One of the stories that stands out to me is that when we were having this conversation about politics, and I always take the chance to say that the root word of politics, POL, comes from an ancient Greek word that just means people or citizens.

So anytime you get people together in community, in collaboration, it's powerful.

But as we were talking about political issues, the environment, and justice, and the political climate in Durham and across North Carolina, I don't know if you remember this, Lamair, but there were two boys, I believe five or six years old, that came and sat up on the end of the stage.

Far enough away from us where they weren't a part of the panel, but they were showing that they were listening and engaged.

Five or six year old Black boys in Durham.

I mean, that was amazing.

So that's who I began to look at, - That's great.

- that's who I began to speak to, and that's who I began to think about as I was crafting my answers.

Those people are the future of this state and of this nation, and so we need to make sure that any policies, and that was the point of the panel, any type of politics that we engage in focuses on the future and considers all of us.

And so I think young people, as you've mentioned, Deborah, are going to be key in this midterm election and should always be considered and consulted as we think about community solutions, as we think about what needs to be done to right the historical wrongs that we witnessed time and time again in this nation.

And so Sneakerville was an amazing event.

I was glad to be a part of it.

Shout out to Brian Dawson in Radio One, K97.5 on the radio.

I think it's awesome that young people turned out.

Not only did they buy sneakers, they had a little basketball court.

I think it was amazing that we had local artists performing.

We had people painting as we were doing our panel.

It's important that folks understand that this is all connected and tied together.

Community has to be close for change to be effective.

And I think that this event, and hopefully it continues here in years to come in North Carolina, was effective.

I was grateful to be a part of it.

And it really showed that people are caring and willing to listen when it comes to politics, when it comes to political issues, and they recognize that politics is sewn in to the very fabric of community, especially Black and brown ones.

- Well, it sounds like Brian Dawson really brought vibrancy to the institution of politics and really keyed in on the things that would draw out young people.

LA, what can you share about what you know about the potential impact of the youth vote this midterm?

- Sure, so when we are talking about the impact of youth voting, I have to shout out to this panel, okay?

I am such a huge fan.

I am both in community of both Lamar Bryan, Greear Webb, and so just really excited to see the intentionality from you, Leader Deb, and PBS to be able to actually have the youth on where millennials and Gen Z-ers are representing to talk about our again, youth.

So oftentimes, we're heard - We gotta hear from 'em.

- Our communities.

Right?

- We gotta hear from 'em.

- Spoken about, but we don't actually get to speak about what we are actually doing.

We are actually doing the work.

And so if that represents really the question that you asked is what is the potential impact?

We're already seeing the impact with an event that turned out 2,000 folks.

2,000 young people that had an opportunity.

You're gonna hear that with the event.

We're very grateful to be able to be partners and sponsors, but when we're talking about the facts, youth movement and mobilization has always been the catalyst for policy change and the catalyst for expanding voting rights.

In 51 years.

51 years ago, North Carolina became the final state needed to ratify the 26th amendment to the US Constitution that lowered the national voting age to 18.

And that was pushed by youth activists, supporters, but young folks were the ones that said, "Okay, this is what we push.

You can allow us to be drafted to fight for our country.

Why are you going to deny us the right to vote for who represents us that then choose us to draft us to fight for this country".

But when we're talking about the historical implications, we wanna give honor what honor is due for SNCC, from the youth that again, won that ability for us to vote at age 18.

But now, today, we're looking at black youth are especially powerful voting block in the state.

There are nearly 400,000 young, black eligible voters in North Carolina, probably a little bit more, thanks to the organizing efforts of what you've heard here and many other organizations and individuals that we can't name 'cause we don't have the time.

But it is higher.

That number is actually higher than the margin of victory in previous presidential races.

Right now, we've seen studies that says North Carolina and Georgia are two Southern states ranked highly for youth voter impact on the Senate race, where black youth may actually have the decisive influence on elections.

And we already see that.

Voter registration amongst black voters between ages 18 or 19 are actually higher than when we had registration in 2018.

So when we are saying the impact, not only are our, again, youth groups being registered to vote, we are also nearly one in four voters in our age block actually donate to campaigns directly.

So not only are we registering to vote, not only are we being informed and creating our own events, we're also putting, well the dollars sometimes we don't have, as we're scraping together a federal aid from Pell Grant assistance, to again, jobs that don't actually give us living wages.

We're still using and choosing to activate our dollars that we barely have, fighting for minimum wage to even be increased still going in a pandemic.

We're not post-pandemic.

That's another conversation for another time, but we're still donating and dedicating our dollars to increase the effectiveness of voting.

And we also know that youth voters, especially black voters in North Carolina, tend to vote more progressively.

And that's why we see also the impact, because they already know the systems and we already know the power of the youth vote.

Not just from the numbers I've mentioned, but from the dollars that have already stated that we are deciding to donate in the wake of our own deficit and trying to put it together.

- Wow, all of this really counters a narrative out there that young people don't care, that they're apathetic, that they're not involved, that they're not investing, and that's simply not true.

Along with several other states, North Carolina will again, play a key role in the outcome of elections for the national picture.

The Senate seat held by retiring Senator, Richard Burr, is being pursued by former Supreme Court Justice, Cheri Beasley on the Democrat side, and by Representative Ted Budd of the GOP.

Budd was leading in the polls back in June, but the tables have shifted.

According to the polls, how have recent news events impacted public opinion, confidence, and the polls?

Lamair, what would you say?

What do you see evolving in this particular campaign?

- Well, first of all, I would like to note that, of course with Cheri Beasley running, North Carolina this would be something impactful for North Carolina, considering that we've never had a US Senate out of North Carolina who was black.

So I do want to make that a point as well, but I also want to say that women's rights and reproductive access is a national concern.

We do know that, and unfortunately, we do have the water crisis as well.

And so I think the midterm elections will be crucial in preserving the abortion access here in North Carolina, considering Governor Cooper's veto power could be not nullified, by a Republican super majority.

So I think that is what we need to make note of first.

And then additionally, Biden's student debt plan, although $10,000 to $20,000 may sound a lot for some, it's simply not enough, and so I think using student borrowers to address those concerns and listening to those problems that we do have, being a proud alum of Fayetteville State University and North Carolina Central University, I do have loans.

And so it is important for us to listen to our student borrowers.

I will say, last but not least, our women voters and our younger voters will be the ones that turn out, I do believe, in this election.

And so it's important for us to listen to our community.

It's important for us to listen to women.

Of course we know of the Roe v Wade case.

We do know that there are so many things that have happened in the last couple months, even years, that are dealing with women and young voters.

And so I think it's important for us to be sure that we're listening to our young people, we're putting those issues on the ballot and making sure that we not only listen to them, but also making impact because that's what matters most.

- And where do you think the current candidates for Senate stand on these issues?

- I think the current representatives stand firm on these issues.

I was looking and researching both candidates.

And it's important for us to also talk about inflation.

It's important for us to talk about crime and justice, as I mentioned recently, and not only just having those interests that you have that are passionate, towards Cheri Beasley and the other candidate, but also, listening to everyone.

Also listening to our students as I mentioned before.

HBCUs is playing a pivotal role in this election as well.

I will say in doing my research, I was proud to know that there was a plethora of concerns that were being addressed both by Cheri Beasley and Burr.

- Absolutely, and we have to listen to both candidates and make a wise and educated decision.

Greear, you know, this contest has become a little bit of a muddy contest with nasty campaign ads filled with accusations.

Are those messages sticking with younger voters?

Are they seeing through and able to make a decision based on the records of these two candidates?

What do you think?

- I think that's a great question.

I think young people are able to see through that mud.

As we saw in the age of Parkland student activists and people calling out acts of mass gun violence and other acts of wrongdoing, I think young people are really seeing through the BS, as it's come to be called.

We don't want to be muddied down in the necessarily historical political nature of these campaigns.

We want to see people that are committed to truth, committed to decency, committed to accountability.

And I think in this race in particular, for US Senate, I think young people see the hypocrisy.

The friends that I talk to see the hypocrisy because people on the conservative side such as Ted Budd, will say that they're not in favor of student loan and debt forgiveness.

Yet, they had PPP loans taken out.

They'll say that they want to protect and defend police officers, but they're not willing to take a stance on police reform legislation that will actually allow police officers to be paid more and do less if we create mental health units that are separate from police forces in our states and municipal governments.

I mean, the hypocrisy is really rampant.

Talking about inflation has become a main sticking point for the GOP and conservatives, yet, many of them did not vote for the inflation reduction act.

So it just doesn't make sense, and I think young people see that.

We also, as L.A. mentioned earlier, want candidates that are committed to progress, that understand that racial diversity is a strength, is a plus, that understand that America has had a history of not doing the right thing when it comes to race and separating people and discriminating people based on factors that they can't control.

And so I think that young people are really engaged in this election.

As you know, in this age of Netflix and Hulu and all of these other streaming services, young people don't watch cable news often, but these ads are popping up in other places, on YouTube and on social media.

And so I think it is positive that candidates understand that to go after the young vote, which is critical, and we do vote, as Lamar said earlier, you have to become creative and you also have to speak to the issues that young people care about.

Those are the issues that I mentioned earlier of the environment, of justice, of policing, of mental health.

We're seeing increased rates of mental health crisis and unfortunately, suicides among young people across the United States and here in North Carolina.

And so those things have to be addressed.

I'll close with this.

I had the pleasure of going with L.A. and others last night to hear North Carolina native son, Benjamin Chavis, the Reverend Dr. Benjamin Chavis, speak at Duke University about environmental justice.

And he said to young people, you know, "You are not," and I wanna make sure I get this right.

He said, "You are not the first of the new, but we are the last of the old", basically saying what I say all the time.

Young people have always been on the front lines of history, of change making.

And so the fact that we're overlooked or were ignored or were thought about only when it comes down to the final two months of these elections, that's something that has to change.

And so when I think about these campaigns or muddying the waters, I really hope, Deborah, that young people begin to be consulted earlier on in the campaign process.

And I know these candidates say they're always running, but what about in these off-election years?

Are you talking and consulting with young people, coming up with a shared vision for progress in the future?

That's what I care about.

And I think young people are looking for candidates that will commit to that instead of committing to throwing political darts at their opponent.

- You have laid a lot out there, Greear, thank you for anybody to grasp up.

And it sounds like there are two things that need to happen.

Motion on the part of people who are providing that information and making sure that they get it out to the audiences, specifically in this case, young people who need the information, but then also the voter.

Young person, old person, whatever your demographic is, finding that information amid all the sea of information that is out there.

L.A., what can you share about helping people to navigate those waters and get the information that they need to make an educated decision?

Because I believe, and what I've heard, is a lot of people say, "Well I don't vote because I don't wanna make a mistake.

I just don't know."

- Right, so first, I was ready to shout after Lamar and Greear, because I hope that as we're talking about what does it mean to create access to education information for communities, you're actually hearing a play-by-play strategy.

So I hope that candidates that are tuning in, they are actually hearing and listening very concisely what the issues are and how it should be framed in their outreach and education to younger voters.

We oftentimes like to separate, like there's this delineation between a population of young voters that are separate from the population of rural voters.

They're separate from the population of urban voters.

No, there's youth voters and every single population.

What that means is that there has to be a concise and effective strategic plan that speaks to the community by which those voters live in, because every rural area in North Carolina is not the same.

And this package process by which we've seen parties attempt to just rely on their party and brand and their namesake to carry candidates is ineffective.

And that's what has been the replacement for actual true grassroots organizing to educate and inform our electorate.

We've even heard in recent interviews from different leaders, that they're saying that in certain communities, leaders Cheri Beasley, Ted Budd, they're not even household names.

Okay, if that's not a household name, how can we really expect for the communities to understand what their platforms are, and if that platform is speaking to our issues, if we don't even know you by name?

So when we're talking about a grassroots organizing, the media has to match the community.

Or if you're using billboards, but folks only listen to radio, and they don't have a billboard for 50 miles, honey, that billboard's not gonna do much.

If you're talking about I'm on cable TV, to what Greear was saying, that's fine that you have a ad there, but did you know in rural communities, we still use community center boards when we have free ball at the rec playing basketball.

What are we doing to actually invest in rural education?

There is such thing called civic deserts.

We've heard about food deserts, food insecure areas, by which areas have been zoned or climate disasters, about everybody is hearing this environmental connection between all three of our comments because global warming is risking us all so we can have future elections.

We need to actually protect our climate.

Another conversation for a different time, but it's on the ballot this year, y'all.

It's on the ballot this year, y'all.

So we talked about.

- You have given me.

You have given me plenty of places to go, and now I wanna shout, but that's true.

They have got to get to voters where they are and care about all of their constituents.

Stepping away from politics for a moment, America recently witnessed an unprecedented night in Hollywood as four black women received primetime Emmy Awards.

Sheryl Lee Ralph made history as the second black woman to win an Emmy for outstanding supporting actress in a comedy series.

Quinta Brunson made history by being the youngest black woman nominated for an award in the comedy acting category.

And she's also the second black woman in the Emmy's 74-year history to win the award for outstanding writing for a comedy series.

Grammy winner Lizzo took home the award for outstanding competition program and Zendaya is the youngest actress to win two Emmy's and the first black woman to win the lead Emmy, win the Emmy rather for lead actress in a drama series twice.

So black girl magic.

I mean just congratulations to all of them and I'd love your thoughts everyone.

We have just a couple minutes left.

I'm gonna open up with you, Lamar, what do you think would what's it say to us?

- I would say that this is amazing.

It's beautiful to see black women get the recognition that they deserve, at the end of the day, as I will say, and point out that Jimmy Kimmel controversy, and it's always seeming that black women have to step over white men when it comes to when it comes to receiving the recognition that they need.

And I think that is important for us to note that and it is important too, for us to continue noting black first in our society.

Because at this point in our world, you can no longer suppress us.

You can no longer suppress black women.

You can no longer suppress the black vote.

You can no longer suppress our black community because we're here to stay.

And it just confirms that when you see four black women get the recognition they deserve, it's a beautiful thing.

And so if anybody is upset about that, I would say, first of all, I'll pray for you.

And second of all, I would say, you probably need to do a little bit more research into what our history has entailed, but you know, back in the day.

- We're about to have church y'all.

Greear, what are your thoughts?

- Speaking of church, I was standing up, sitting down, shouting, running all around.

When Sheryl Lee Ralph gave her speech.

I mean, that was truly black girl magic.

And that was an amazing speech.

I'll try and be brief and succinct here.

I think it was an amazing experience, an amazing night but that is not an anomaly, black women in particular need to be better supported by black men and by all of us across this state and across the nation because they're always up to something great.

I mean, I even think about Hallie Bailey not to be confused with Halle Berry, who is now the first black Ariel in Disney's movie Under the Sea.

And I think it's amazing that not amazing, it's actually unfortunate that we've seen backlash even to that.

I mean, mermaids are made up folks.

I don't know if.

- And they've been talking about it for years - So there's no reason that they can't be black, right?

No reason it can't be a black woman.

And so to Lamar's point, I think all of this does tie together, as I mentioned earlier, politics revolves around people.

And so I would be remissed to not say, get out and vote.

Don't just register to vote, but make a plan to vote either through early voting mail-in ballots or on election day because we know and vote the whole ballot, please.

We've got judge ships that are up.

We have municipal elections in places like Raleigh and Wake County.

Do you care about sewage?

Do you care about water?

Do you care about policing?

Do you care about supporting the unhoused?

Do you care about at the state level and the legislature raising teacher pay, supporting our public schools?

Do you care about your roads then vote?

If you don't care about these things, don't vote, but it's so important that you use your voice and voting is just one of our most powerful political tools that black and brown folks in particular fought very hard to achieve.

And so use it, use that and then follow up with your elected officials protest in a way that is nonviolent, but that is radical and make sure that you're supporting the people the most marginalized black and brown people across the state and country who have poured blood, sweat, and tears into making sure that we are all free, safe, and protected.

- We were able to actually conduct a webinar earlier this year, where we introduced communities to the ARPA American Rescue Plan Act funding because there's historic money that's actually coming to our state the largest amount we've ever received in the history of the state due to COVID.

But our communities don't know that's what's also in the ballot.

And because of our webinar and connecting folks to the actual government officials who are the administrators of this grant, we received worth at the town of Ivanhoe, a town of 300 population predominantly black community received a grant of 13 million to redo their water infrastructure.

So when we talk about what's in the ballot, when we talk about our organizations, we as mutual aid we have to take care of ourselves.

The control of our pathway and our power, we know what the people want.

And that's why folks voted at the Emmy's for the content that they enjoyed, because we know what we need best.

- La'Meshia Wittington, Lamar Bryan and Greear Webb thank you so much for joining us.

I want to thank all of our guests for joining us today.

And we invite you to engage with us on Twitter or Instagram using the #blackissuesforum.

You can also find our full episodes on pbsnc.org/blackissuesforum or listen at any time on Apple iTunes, Spotify or Google podcasts.

For Black Issues Forum, I'm Deborah Holt-Noel, thanks for watching.

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