U City of Missouri. Columbia. An educator at Hart, Bradley's life ambition is to personally teach, mentor, inspire the young people who change the world for the better. Bradley's newest book, if we don't get it, a People's history of Ferguson will be released in Spring 2025. He is author of Unpending the Ivy Tower Civil Rights, Black Power, and the IV League, which won the History of Education Society Outstanding Book Award, as well as the Anna Julia Cooper, and CLL R James Book Award from the National Council of Black Studies. Harlem versus Columbia University Black Student Power in the late 1960s, which won the Phyllis Wheatley Book Prize, and Alpha Phi Alpha a Legacy of greatness, the demands of transcendence. He has appeared on C Span, Book TV, NPR, PRI, as well as in documentaries on the Opa ympi network and the history channel. He has green. Thank you so much. We can go on to the good representative now. So much. You said that's too much. That's way too much. Yeah. Thank you. But I wanted them to know. You're bringing it to the table both of y'all. Yes. Okay, well, we'll move on to Representative Sherry Dorsey Walker, who is a native of Wilmington Delaware, the first person of Color elected to the Delaware House of Representatives from the Third District in 2018, as well as she is the first woman and first person of color elected in the sixth District to the Wilmington City Council in 2012. She earned a masters in film production from Howard University and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Delaware in English Journalism. She's a proud product of St. Elizabeth School, where she attended for ten for 12 years. In 2001, Sherry established SWAP Productions, LLC, and independent film company. SAP is an acronym for Sisters with a purpose. Sherry humbly believes that her purpose in life is to educate, entertain, and enlighten through her films and her public service. For this reason, she conceptualized justice for all, the documentary, a film focusing on the perils of juvenile justice system in America and overseas. It was the project that helped change the laws at the federal level regarding juvenile justice after it was screened before the Congressional Black Caucus. Sherry also serves on the following committees in the House, Chair of the Sunset Committee, co chair of the Joint Sunset Oversight Legislative Sun set Committee, Agricultural economic development. So as a city councilwoman, Sherry worked tirelessly to foster relationships among business, governmental agencies, and schools. Sherry established above the Rim basketball league with the Browntown Civic Association Kids Club. With the help of community, Sherry has created a crime fighting program using solar powered lights, and the The lights were strategically placed in high crime areas and the program drastically reduced crime in the neighborhood. Also, Sherry advocates for educators, children, and their families and schools and local communities. Additionally, Sherry is co chairwoman of the Teen Warehouse Board, vice chair of the Board of Directors for Kind to Kids, and a board member of the following Camp Bliss, Delaware Agricultural Museum, Diamond State Pearls. As you can see, both of our speakers today are just amazing, and we're so grateful to have them speak with us today in this particular moment when think a lot of us have a lot of questions and a lot of what is going on in the world and what can we do? I just want to say, thank you all for being here. Thank you all so very much for being here. As doctor Green has said, doctor Green, thank you so much for reading our panelists Bios. As you all know, I am As Font, Assistant Professor of Africana Studies here at the University of Delaware, and I also have the honor to serve as the executive director for the National Council for Black Studies. One thing that doctor Green did out of Sheris Bio, that I just will proudly say is that she recently received the 12 Blazer Award for the Sigma zeta Omega C chapter of Apha Cappa Apaort Incorporated, right? Sorry. I just want to say that this was not planned. It just so happened that you get to hear a talk today between two lovely women of Apha Cappa Apart Incorporated and a brother of Apha Fraternity Incorporated. It did not that was not the vision. It happened. So Hey, what is meant to be good people. And this conversation today will indeed be good. So how are you doing this morning? It is well. It is great to be with our first family. So this is wonderful. Always. So we're going to get right to the business because we know people want to hear what we have to say. So I do want to start off by saying that we know historically Black people have been prevented from voting not only legally, but through violence, and Black Americans, we have had to build other routes to get to political power. And I'm just going to jump right in it. The Voting Rights Act, right? We know it was paved with Black women's work organizing our bravery. However, we know in mainstream historical narratives, we only hear of doctor King. We only hear of Brother Abernathy. So Either panelist can start off with answering this, but I would like to hear from both of you. Do you think that this type of historical narrative impacts how Black women are viewed politically and that we can accomplish things in a political office that we set forth? Answering this keeping in mind the idea that many have that women cannot lead, that politics is a man's arena? I see Sherry space without I Car, would you like to? You know, it's so interesting. And it's an outstanding question. Can women lead? What we've been leading since the beginning of tongue? We birth nations. So how is it that all of a sudden, the narrative shifts when there is not only a qualified, a viable candidate for president of the United States of America, who too is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Incorporated, but most importantly has the knowledge and the background to serve. And so we'll start there. But then we can come to local levels. And so often, the conversation is, k, well, they can be in this seat, whether it's a council seat or state rep seat, but we don't necessarily want them to ascend from there. And just recently, I ran for lieutenant governor and came up a little bit short. But the point of it all is we have to get people comfortable with. We don't just need to be in the room. We are transformers. We shift the room. And so it's important that we acknowledge the presence excuse me, that we acknowledge the greatness of our blackness. And then that we also lift as we climb. And I'll turn it over to my good brother. Yeah. I should have gone first, Honorable Dorsey Walker. Drop the mic. I should have gone first. Well, listen, so I just come from class a little bit ago, where I was talking about the different influences on politics. And I was talking about Ida B Wells, and the idea that here or she is advocating for policy shifts, even though she couldn't vote. And so this idea of intersectionality, this idea of women facing these kind of double marginalizations, in a sense, being Black being and a woman has gone on, as the Honorable Dor since T Mor, This is important to me because I think there's a through line that we should discuss that never does get discussed. When we talk about Black women in politics, then you have to talk about people who maybe didn't get to be politicians, but were important. We love to talk about Shirley Chisholm, but we got to talk about Fannie Lou Hamer who influenced politics in a major way in 1964 with their work with Mississippi Freedom Democratic Party. That's crucial that you talk about that. But even before Fannie Lou Hamer, you have to talk about people like Charlotte of Bass out in Los Angeles and in Cal in California and the work that she did, you know, and we all know that she ran for Vice President. And this is to my mind, much of this has to do with the way that we teach about politics. If politics is only voting, then we're teaching about politics the wrong way. We have to talk about the ability to influence policy. And that's what Black people and Black women, especially have been doing in multiple ways, even before they had the right to vote. And so what we're seeing right now is a candidate who, by American standards has all of the qualifications to be president in the United States, by conventional standards, all of the qualities to be president in the United States. But somehow it just looks different on a woman. Now, there's legit points to be made about who this woman is, who this person is. I think there are legitimate points to be made about that. But if we're talking about qualifications for the American presidency, there is no hurdle. There is no real hurdle. And brother Stuff, I definitely hear what you're saying in terms of qualifications, both of you. But we all know that when we talk about politics, we're all talking about the personal, the personal political politics are personal, so we can argue that stereotypes of Black women, influence not only who runs for public office, but it influence how voters cast their ballots, how they view Black women. How do they even view our troops? Or think they know our troops hence the title of this talks. The troops we hold, Rags gender, Kamal Harris, and the Black vote. When we think about this idea of who runs for politics, who is qualified, many people get the image of a white man or at least a man. Which goes to this idea, well, this reality of how we have so many brothers who have supported Trump and continue to support Trump because a woman can't run, especially a Black woman. Because let's remember, Hilary didn't win either when she ran. Right? But now you have this black woman working voting? Oh, and mind you, we are questioning her blackness now too, but we'll get to that later. So when we take what we think about Black women into consideration and stereotypes, do you both think that that impacts how people vote, how they view the ability of Black women to lead based on what and who they think we are outside of our political experience? Professor Baley, you want to go. Okay, I'll start. Of course. Yes, most definitely. Some of the, the personal stuff, so you have to see how Black women are treated in public regularly. I'm not telling you all anything you don't know, but think about it this way. They made Michelle Obama out to be some kind of radical militant. How do you manage that in 2012? They claimed that she didn't love America, all of these kinds of things. He wasn't even running for office, but they made her out to be some kind of, you know, people who were hoping that Michelle Robinson would have been a radical militant. The people that I know, the people that I run with hoping as much. But that wasn't the case, that wasn't the case at all. One of the things that they do to Black women regularly is this idea of the Black women are mean and complaining and always unhappy about something. Now, here you have a candidate who laughs a lot. And so they made fun of this part, too, saying that she's unserious. Well, I don't know. She was a prosecuting attorney. She was serious enough in that fashion. And so It's never going to be a right woman it's never going to be a right way for a woman to run for office. And so this is what I can say confidently that America has deep problems with Black people running for elected office, but it has even deeper problems with Black women running for elected office. And this has been clear. The idea of following the lead of a woman, but a Black woman in particular, people in the Black community know that if you want to get something done, then you follow the lead of a Black woman. L, we know that. Now America needs to just catch up a little bit. That's all. Excellent. Excellent. It's so interesting when we sit and, we really ponder the question that you just put forth. And I think about this from this particular perspective, and Professor Bradley touched on it. You have someone who smiles. Well, we have been taught to smile through our tears. That's what we have been taught down through the years. That's something that's passed down from generation to generation. And so there are many times when we may be crying on the inside, but we're smiling or we're laughing to keep from crying. Then the other part of it is There are the stereotypes, and I can tell you some of them that they actually are laughable. And so one of the things that actually happened is I'm in a store, and someone's following me around the store. So I stopped and I asked, May I help you may I help you with something? And it was like, the person froze and looked at me and said, Oh, my goodness, I see, I don't need you to recognize me. I need you to see me as a Black woman, okay? And so I don't need you following me around the store. And then I politely, I put everything down because it was the best thing for me to do in that moment to maintain my Jesus Hal Lua and walked out the people store. Because see, I don't need to spend any of my Black dollars in that store. See, part of my Black job is making sure I'm spending my black money in Black stores, that I'm voting for qualified Black people, and that I am very intentional about how you're going to treat not only me but my community. And so the message that was sent in that moment is It was time for me to leave your establishment and to not return as my life continues. That has nothing to do with being angry. It's about who I am and who's I watch. So what I'm doing in this moment is empowering. See what I'm trying to. Out how to get in your district. Come on. I think Yeah, our hosts might have fro for a little bit, but you know this is an interesting thing. So one of the things that regularly seems to happen with candidates who are women is this idea of strength. And that's always a question about women candidates. Are they going to be strong enough on foreign policy? Are they going to be strong enough to stand up to the adversaries? And so I think that's one of those things that's a weird question to me, especially since, you know, the president before Joe Biden had no foreign policy experience and had in fact, sold a good deal of product to foreign nations. And so I think it's to me, like a red herring, this idea of who's going to be strong enough. Well, I can tell you this. Black women have been strong enough to maintain through all of this, any adversary that comes before a Black American woman, the adversary should be worried. T hank you both so much for your contributions, and you both said things that made me think of two more points that I want to bring up. So doctor Bradley, you brought up this point about Black women in the community and what we do, how we make it work. We all know that our backs are seen as a bridge for many, not just those within the Black community. But black men specifically know what we do, how we do. We have birth, millions of Black men. Yet Our system continues to lack the support of many Black men. I really would like more insight, more discussion on why is this? Can we just truly give this credit to patriarchy? Is that what it is, or is it just this idea that she's not qualified? Like, what is this? Why do Black men? Many Black men have a hard time supporting women in power and women in politics? And Sherry, if after doctor Bradley speaks, if you can please give us your experience with this in your experience with running for various offices, please? Well, Professor Font, like I said, I can't speak for all Black men, but there is one thing that I do want to do is I think there's a very strong propaganda campaign going, which pits Black men versus Black women here in the United States, and it's working well. The truth is when you look at the data points, that black men are not No typically supporting the Republican Party in numbers that are necessarily different in periods before. What we're seeing though is the amplification of some Black I would say wayward black voices, and we're making them seem as though they're more mainstream to the black male community. I think the grand majority of Black men are going to vote for the Democratic candidate. That's going to happen. In in the last election, 80 some high 80s percent of Black men voted for the Democratic candidate. In this election, it will be the same way. Some of the stuff that you hear on social media and social media is like a boom box, the kind that we used to carry in the 80s. It's just so loud and disruptive in a lot of ways. I think that most Black men, particularly serious Black men have no issues with a Black woman leading, and they will vote along those lines. But there are those some who are conservative, some who are not necessarily conservative that have issues with a Black women leading. And what I'll say to And I just want to be as clear about this as possible is that's representative of American men. And so these black men were socialized in the very same country that white men were socialized in. And when you said patriarchy, then maybe you hit on something. These Black men aren't any different than the other men we see in the nation and the idea of learning from and taking leadership from a woman, it's not natural to many of us men, and so it requires getting outside of ourselves. I think doctor Bradley did an excellent job hitting on the major points. But part of it has to do with society religions and certain aspects of our society that say that I was a station. And one time and there was a, so on and so forth. I'm just getting my gas and then he jumps out of the car. And I said, Let's explain something to you. So you have clarity. Your culture says that women are subservient. My culture does not. I would suggest you get back in your car in the name of Jesus. And that's how we handle that situation in that particular moment. I didn't have to raise my voice. And so but he had clarity on what the Black woman was saying to him in that moment. And see, that's how we need to operate. We are we are more than conquerors, and we don't have spirits of fear. We have spirits of power love and sound mind. That's just who we are innately. And so we have someone right now running for president of the United States. We had someone running for Lieutenant Governor. And it was interesting because the members of Kappa Alpha Pi Fraternity Incorporated did an online fund raiser for me so that brothers all throughout the country could attend. And with all the parameters that we had in place for the Zoom call and all the security, someone still was able to get on a die in word die in in in. And of course, that individual has was reported in the whole 9 yards. But at the end of the day, in 2024, that dynamic still exists. That's in your heart. So out of the abundance of the heart so the mouth speaketh. So you have to be thinking some of the things that are coming out of one's mouth to be saying them. And so I think we're dealing with heart issues, more so than patriarchal issues. And how do we do that? We have to show people better than we can tell them that that we are the natural leaders. Well, thank you vote so much for that. Another point that was brought up earlier when you all was speaking was this idea of being radical, being militant. Some of us do hope that we get a Black leader that recognizes the time and need for that. When Sister Chism was running for president, she noted, Hey, I'm proud to be Black. I'm proud to be a woman. I'm not a candidate for Black America or the woman's movement, right. I'm a candidate for America. My question is, do we need Black leaders to be intentional of improving black conditions in America and state that. Does that need to happen? Is that really what we want? How will White America respond to that? Or how do you think White America will respond to that? We can be very intentional about our blackness without being de minimus of their whiteness. And that's what scares individuals. People get concerned about people who look like us, black people, being in positions of power, because some of those individuals who have those spears are concerned about the way that they have treated us down through the years, and they think that we'll be reciprocal. We are forgiving people. We are a loving people, but you have to take the time to get to know us because you fear that which you do not know. I was very intentional about making Juneteenth a permanent paid state holiday through House Bill 119. Very intentional about adding Black history to the state's curriculum rough House Bill 198, a tribute to my over 300,000 ss throughout the country. I was very intentional about ensuring that we had The various members of the divine nine come down to Dover for Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Incorporated Day at the Capitol, Kappa Alpha Phi Fraternity Incorporated Day at the Capitol. Making sure that people were seeing the list continues, making sure that people see all this great blackness that exists. I don't have to be apologetic for who I am. I represent Little Italy. And I love the Italian culture. I love that they love who they are. I represent a large portion of the Hispanic population. My district is a melting pot. I represent Polish, Irish, Italian, Black, Hispanic. And I encourage each of them to share their culture. But don't think that for 1 minute, I'm not going to ensure that you know my culture too. I respect your culture. I celebrate it, but we're also going to celebrate blackness, too. Yeah. I think also there's a a reasonable reaction of constituents. Constituents want to be looked out for Black constituents who have not been looked out for traditionally in American politics, deserve the right to say, I want to know what you will do for us. That's a legitimate point of view because every other group in the United States has managed to do this and to a a of progress along these lines. So I would never begrudge any group of people, particularly black people for asking for the things that they feel they need. So whether that comes in the form of reparations or whether that comes in the form of how about you just make it so voting is easier in our or how about we ensure the people who enter our schools are not there to harm children, but rather to educate and lift up children. These are all legitimate legitimate points of view of black constituents. I think the thing is, and most people understand this. Somebody who's running for the United States of America, 380 million people in the country. And so there's quite a lot to concentrate on. I think for me, an important aspect of all of this is, I recognize the strictures of the job and how much a president can and cannot do. But to be acknowledged is vitally important for me. I think some stuff that we know we did terribly wrong, this prison industrial complex. We know we did that wrong. Acknowledge that and you can do something about that. This idea of the land problems with the farmers, black farmers, we know we did wrong. You can do something about that. This idea of repair in different areas It requires acknowledgment and that requires a certain bravery that's not known to politicians written large. Now, my sister here, representative Dose Walker comes with the thunder. But not many politicians have the ability to stand out in front and say, Look, we did something wrong. We're sorry about this, and we're going to try to do it better. And this is how we're going to do it. So I don't begrudge any constituents for asking for that and wanting that, but when it comes down to it, the president of the United States is going to do some things that's going to irk the skin of black people because they're looking out for the rest of the United States or US interests. And so that could be empire kind of stuff. That could be the way that the United States feels free not to intervene in certain places, but to intervene in other places. And so that's the way I view it is it's not an easy line to walk But much could be accomplished by at least acknowledging where we've been. Thank you both so much for that. The next question is still about the support that Kamala is getting with the Black community. I do believe that as members of the D nine, we are somewhat in our own world with the support we know she's getting from hundreds of thousand just with the divide nine alone. However, outside of that, there are still many Blacks question. Should I vote? Does my vote really matter? Does it really make a difference? Does it help? At the end of the day, we're in America. I'm a Black man. I'm a Black woman. It doesn't matter. How would you all respond to our brothers and sisters who believe that their vote does not matter? Okay. Well, here again, like I said, I mentioned Fannie Lou Hamer, and so the idea that this woman would get beaten to a ppe so that she could have the right to the democracy to participate in the democracy. Like, that matters to me. And the truth is, that's why I vote I vote because I know they laid her out on a table and had somebody beat her until that person got tired and then they got somebody else to beat her. And she still got up to go register people to vote, and she still went around the nation, and she still told on this nation in front of cameras and everybody else that this can't be America. And so she told on America. And that's the reason why I vote when people say, I don't understand why I should vote. You have to find your inspiration. To me, that's enough for me. But if that's not enough for you, then think about it in these terms, like, I I also vote because I don't want old women to twist their ankles when they're walking across the street in the chuck holes in the street. Like, I want somebody who's going to fix the streets. I want somebody because I got nephews and they're big and tall, and I don't want them to have to go to jail because they think that they're grown men you know when they go to the store. You know, so if my way doesn't work for you, then you have to find inspiration for yourself. But we'd be fooling ourselves to think that not voting is going to help us. So there's only one way to try to figure this out. And that is participate in the democracy, and then we'll go from there. And there's different ways to participate in the democracy for sure, but voting is kind of the basic part. Yeah. I say running for office is even more important in a lot of ways. The book that I'm going to be coming out with, I write about these young people who went from protest to politics to policy. To me, this is the most inspirational story. The idea that these young people were aggrieved and they were smart enough to get out on the street and holler like hell. And then from there, they were smart enough to do something about it. They came to the table and now they're legislating and they're doing things for the people in that way. That's an inspirational move for me. Whether it works, we'll see, we'll see, but I think they've taken the right steps. And so that's part of the game and making a good fight. I agree with doctor Bradley, understanding that your vote is your voice, and we just had a situation here in Delaware where we have something called automatic voter registration. And through that process, when you turn 16, you go get registered to vote, and you choose your party, and so on and so forth. And many Democrats had their parties shifted on them when they went to go vote. And so by God's grace and mercy, The some went early and did early voting, so they were able to get it shifted from independent back to Democrat. But there were 750 people at the Pow Center alone, which is in Wilmington, high concentration of black affluence that some of some of the people just were not able to vote. We have to make sure that people are enfranchised and not disenfranchised. And some of the legislation on which I've worked Same Day Voter Registration House Bt 25. It was deemed legal in 2022 for the primary, but illegal for the general. Make it makes sense. So once the people who folks won in office get chosen, k s shifted. So that just means that we need constitutional amendments. In the state of Delaware and certain parts of our state in Sussex, corporations can vote. I had a Bill House Bill 189 to stop that practice. It was met with a lot of opposition. And I kept thinking to myself, why is this such a big deal? Why is why do people not want excuse me, why do people want corporations voting? And it made sense because if you live in Newcastle County, which is our northernmost part of the state, and if you put your second home at the beach and an LLC, then that would give you two votes in the state of Delaware. And so they They've codified some of these things that we don't necessarily want to call it what it is, but they've codified racism. And that's why it is such that it's difficult when you have people who are integral, people of good moral character, who seek these higher offices because you may expose what we've been doing down through the years, and we may not necessarily want that to happen in this season or ever. So we have to stop a movement when we have people like A Kamala Vice President Kamala Harris running for president, and then we must create these narratives that there's division in the Black community, and hope that the Willi Lynch theory, you take the body, I take the mind. I can control them for generations to come. We We must control our own narrative. We, as people of color, must say, that's not true. That's not what's happening. That's what you are putting out there to cause division. But what we're doing is we're coming together for such a time as this, and we shall rise to unify. Thank you so much. I really appreciate that you mentioned the legality of all of this. I always like to remind my students and even people in conversation. You have to remember this oppression, these inequalities did not happen in five, ten years. It took centuries to build. It took centuries to get this system into place. Therefore, it would take centuries to deconstruct this system, then reconstruct. Yes, progress may not be as fast as we would like, but nonetheless, progress has been made. Progress is continuing to be made. So yes, every vote counts, and when they try to deny us of that vote, as you said, we keep fighting, we vote. We remember that beating that sister Fannie Lou Hamer took by men, right? Like, I think that was understood for those people listening. I just want to be sure you understand that when doctor Steph was talking about that he wasn't talking about women. He were talking about grown men beating our sister, right? It's funny you say that because that too has always been one of my motivations. I always think about that beating that she took. By those men. Now, before we get into Q&A, I want to close and of course, you all have made me think of so many more questions, but I know I have to stick to the script. Stacy Abrams, as many of you know, I he from Georgia even though I'm from Louisiana, and Stacy Abrams, powerful bad sister. D run for governor in Georgia did fall short for many of the reasons we are discussing here today. But she urged Americans not to be bound by what they have seen. So I would like each of you to answer this question for us. What in American society have you not seen yet? But are waiting expectedly for politically to see. Equality and justice, but inequity, but it's on its way because those who live by the principles of scholarship, sisterhood, and service to all mankind are making it our business to ensure that people are educated and people are elevated. And it will. If you caught that, it was meant for you to catch that if you didn't catch it, you're going to have to try they're on fire today. Well, you can't stop them today. They should have little ivy borders around the screen and the whole nine. And so they are on fire. Listen, to me, if I the thing that I would love to see that I haven't seen is an investment in young people in America, particularly the young people who have been most marginalized in America. That includes Black youth, that includes Brown youth. But this is vitally important. As a matter of national security as far as I'm concerned, that when you turn away from public school and you make everything at public school dependent on the resources of property taxes, It's not going to work. It's not going to work. It can't work that way. Public education was a promise to Americans, and we need to educate people irrespective of their class status to a certain standard so that they can go on and live a decent lifestyle in the United States. If we want people to love America that starts with the youth and give them something to love, that requires an investment that the United States has not made. And that's what I'm waiting on. That's what I'm working for. What does that look like? That looks like investment in early childhood education? That looks like investment in the infrastructure of many of these deteriorating schools. But it also looks like a loan deference and deletion these young people who didn't have money but tried to get educated, and they want to contribute to society. There should be a way for this to all happen at once. An educated society full of young people who have good health care is a society that's going to win. Otherwise, America will wither away, and many people make a very strong argument that America is in its n or not its nascent, but its its waning years in terms of its influence, its influence as a civilization. So when we talk about empires like Rome, when we talk about, you know, other kinds of civilizations, all of the telltale signs was a certain kind of anti intellectualism, a certain kind of disinvestment in young people, a certain kind of inner fighting that occurred. These are the things that you see in the United States right now. If I were looking for anything to happen, that would be it, and that would revitalize the United States with young people, the center of the project. Thank you so much. And when you said, give them something to love, I think we first need to start with themselves, right? And Sherry, your bill, HB 198, is contributing to what Brother Stef has just said because you were a primary arth on that build and you said, Hey, starting in elementary schools, they are going to start learning black history. I am so proud and honored that here at the University of Delaware, myself, doctor Cheryl Hicks and doctor Brandon Stafford, you have three of us who have written the curriculum for HB 198, and we are in the process of about to start workshops to physically train teachers on how to not only know what they need to teach, but how to properly and effectively teach these children. In a meeting we had a few weeks ago, I brought up the importance of teaching Black Joy. Because I'm going to let these teachers know that you are responsible for deconstructing how these children have been taught to not love themselves, because of what history has shown them about Black people. What history have taught them about black intelligence and how they lack. I just want to make sure that we understand that the importance of that. I think I froze. I freeze that I freeze that I freeze. Yes. Say is when we teach about Black people, I don't teach about Black people as victims. I don't teach about Black people as the recipients of, you know, the perpetual recipients of bad treatment. No, Black people, Look, it's a miracle that Black people have made it this far, and they've made it this far by faith, by hard work, by resilience, by the desire to keep coming by excellence. And that's the way I teach about Black people. I'm not a good victim. I'm not very good at that. And so I wouldn't teach it that way. And so I'm so glad that you mentioned that that we are loving people. We love each other, and we find a way to make it in spite of it all, in spite of the worst that America has given us, we've given you excellence in every avenue. And so that's the way that we teach about it. So I thank you for the legislation, which is totally necessary. Yes, especially since they are banning terms like Black joy. We know that in the state of Virginia, the governor there has literally banned Black Joy, teaching and mentioning that in classrooms. Right. Everyone, this has been an amazing discussion on the truth we hold, race gender, Comal Harris, and the Black Bolt. At this time, I'd like to invite doctor Marshall Green to lead us in a couple of questions before we close in about 10 minutes. Thank you both so much. This was just really, really great and inspiring. So our first question from Seltin says, Lift as we climb. This is a very important slogan that can be incorporated into our daily life and vocabulary. How can we make owning the narrative agenda a central part of achieving our political goals as Black people, especially in this election cycle. And that's directed toward representative Dorsey Walker. Thank you. Thank you, doctor Green for the question and to question the questionnaire. The interesting part of it is, we don't have the option of not lifting as we climb. We must when we get in these positions. When I first became a city councilwoman, I was looking for the next person to be the city council person in my district. I wasn't trying to covet the seat and stay there for 2050 years. Once I became the state rep, I was looking for the next and grooming the next, not just looking but grooming, because that is what they do. If we don't strategize, they'll continue to monopolize. And so we can't keep giving up our power. And part of that is controlling the narrative. Letting people know that We don't we're not trying to browbeat one another, although that is what you will see in the media and the removal of Black Joy in Virginia, all of these things. We are the exact opposite of what they believe and how they're trying to portray us. That's why it's important to have leaders like those on this call and the Stacy Abrams of the world, and even Vice President Cam Harris who is on her way. Let's talk about the HBC Us too. I love the PW, I'm a graduate of University of Delaware. I'm an adjunct at UT, and also, I'm a graduate of Howard University, which makes Vice President Harris my double sister. But at the end of the day, the point of it all is making sure that We are letting people know, we love each other, we care for each other. We would like to see each other the rise, and we want the best for our children, just like everyone else, in spite of what you see in the media, we're the exact opposite. So it is important that we control our own narrative and that we own that we start owning media outlets, so that we can in fact control the narrative. And if we don't own, we have the opportunity to magnify the voices of great blackness that exists in this country. Thank you so much. Our next question comes from Olivia, and what are the unique challenges that women of color like Kamala Harris face in the political arena compared to their male counterparts? Rp Dorsey Walker, I think this is better one for you, I think. Yeah. Well, part of what she's thank you, doctor Braley. Part of what she's facing is one being a Black woman. No one ever cares about. My husband is a black man. He's my college sweetheart. Who someone loves shouldn't even be part of the equation, but that is going to be part of the equation. Some of what she faces is, no one ever asked a man, how many children do you have? How many wives have you had? And how many different mothers do you have? No one ever asked men those questions. And there are people serving right now who have multiple mothers, who have multiple children by different mothers. And Let's also talk about this. Abortion would never be an issue. It would never be an issue if it wasn't a woman's right. Who is America? Who does America think she is, is, whatever, that they can tell women what we can and cannot do with our bodies. If Viagra was an issue, if they made Viagra an issue, politically. It wouldn't be one. This story it would just not exist. But because we're talking about women and our rights and whether we're mothers or aunts or we're bonus mothers or whatever the situation is, we don't do those kinds of things to men. We never do that. But the standards are always different for women. But in this case, it is my hope that everyone speaks to these issues, goes out and votes, and that we shift the narrative in this country. The representative is Boy is she on fire? Look, she going hard today. But she's so rightous. I'm not as righteous as the representative. Look, she's the vessel of the Lord. That's wonderful. But we got to start talking about these trifling dudes. Look, when we talk about the current presidential candidate for the Republican Party. You mean the one who imported two women to marry, the one who's divorced three times, two, three times the like, to me, I don't know why we don't talk about these things. So and we have to be able to talk about these things in a straight up manner. If everybody feels okay talking about how many kids Kamala Harris doesn't have or who she dated before, then I think it's fair to talk about the other candidates love life and how many times he failed in life and how many multiple ways he failed in life. And we going to have to be down and dirty about this thing. And I know that there's a strong vein in the community that says, when they go low, we got to go high. But I've been skinny my whole life. And so one of the things that I learned is that you better go ahead and get low and scratch and kick and bite. When you can, elsew you may not make it out. And that's the way I view politics, it's time to go, and we'll pray about it later on, and we'll ask for forgiveness later on. And the representative will lead us in prayer. But for right now, this is a fight. Let's go get it. Yeah. But, you know, I guess I forgot to mention about the felonies, too. If Vice President Harris so much as had a jaywalking offense, she would not be able to one be vice president and two be seeking to become president. And I'm not being fasttious about this. Yes. But we have someone with multiple felonies who's currently running for president. I'm just going to ask the Saints make it makes sense. That's the idea, though, is the standard. You can have you can have somebody who loses money perpetually. You could have somebody who marriages haven't worked out. You could have somebody who's been known to commit crimes. Somehow being the same level as somebody who has done all the things that America has asked them to do and done it well and shined at it. So this is why we have to speak in that manner. We have to speak it out loud and make it plain any chance we get, because it's not equal. This should not be a contest by any measure of imagination. The should not be a contest. But in America, because America can't stand certain groups of people, certain demographics, this is a contest now. So if it's a fight, then let's go ahead and get to it then. Do we have time for one more question? Yes, we could do one more. Okay. So this is from Devora. How do you see Kamala Harris' role as leader impacting the engagement and mobilization of Black voters in upcoming elections? And I'm just going to give their second question to just in case you might want to choose between these two. But what specific challenges and opportunities do Black women face in the current political landscape, what you just talked about a little bit? And how can their voices better be amplified though in the discussion about race and gender? For me, I'm thinking about like both of your tactics just now in terms of answering that question, what's the best way to amplify these things going on? Like, Do you name it directly, or is there sometimes when you sit back and as you said, you're more righteous about it. When do you go in and when do you hold back? So as the candidate, that's why it's important that we have the brothers standing with us. So we can stand in our righteous indignation as the candidate. And then when we have brothers and sisters who stand with us, and when I say brothers and sisters, yes, I mean Black people, but I'm also talking about brothers and sisters throughout the country, whether you're of Latino descent, whether you're Irish Polish, whatever your background is, that we stand in unity. And that's how we can move forward. We can move forward when we work together, because together we rise. And thank you for saying that. It has to be full court press, like, so what the representative said probably about 15 minutes ago was his idea. She said, we have to what did you say strategize? If we don't strategize, they'll continue to monopolize. Mono Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Look, they've been thinking about us for 50 years. Like this Project 25. Like, if they're talking about it now, that means they planned it 50 years ago. So so my whole thing with this is we have to fight on all fronts. Look, they're trying to keep the babies from learning history in school. They're trying to keep Black people from voting in Georgia. They're trying to shoot down black people for boiling water. They're trying to all of these different fronts are happening at once. They're trying to keep student unions off of campuses. All of this is happening at once. And so we have to be prepared to fight anywhere any time and do it in the name of the righteous creator or whomever you have to, but it's a multi front war going on right now. Well, we are done with time. Thank you all so much. This has been amazing. Please know that we will have another talk soon, and please be on the lookout, sister Sherry. Thank you. Brother Stuff. You know, people, I just have to say this. I talk to this brother at least once or twice a week and this conversation is literally our conversations on the phone. Believe me, he held back a whole lot for this talk to keep it professional. But hey, it's amazing y'all and I love it, and I love it. Doctor Green, thank you so much for your help with this. Sherry, we actually will be meeting with you soon to give you a update on HB 18 because we want you to know in real time what we are doing with the work you charged us with here in the State of Delaware to make sure that our children, our Black children are being educated about themselves, loving themselves, and promoting and having Black Joy. Thank you all so much for joining us and please be on the lookout for our next Black table talk, which will be happening in November. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Appreciate you. Thanks what you're doing for Black Studies. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Mas.
The Truth We Hold: Race, Gender, Kamala Harris, and the Black Vote
From Stephanie Bowman Doroba September 26, 2024
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On September 24, 2024, the University of Delaware's Department of Africana Studies welcomed Stefan Bradley and Democratic Representative for the state of Delaware Sherry Dorsey Walker for a discussion moderated by department faculty member Alicia Fontnette. They explored the essential role Black women play in political movements, advocacy, why it’s important for them to be represented in elected offices, as well as the raced and gendered challenges they face in their efforts to do so.
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- September 24, 2024
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