Watch as Hill Harper, Jeff Johnson & Ryan Wilson speak on getting out to vote during the 'Paint The Polls Black' town hall.
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00:00Joining us to break down where the truth exists within the media frenzy are Jeff Johnson and
00:07Ryan Wilson and Hill Harper.
00:11Jeff Johnson is a social architect and storyteller.
00:14He's had a diverse career as a journalist, producer, TV host.
00:19I remember him when he was at the NAACP, as well as successfully running a strategic communications
00:27firm.
00:28Ryan Wilson is the co-founder and CEO of TGS Holdings, a consumer lifestyle and hospitality
00:35company based in Atlanta, Georgia.
00:38And Hill Harper is the famous actor and, importantly, a politician.
00:43He is known for his roles as Dr. Sheldon Hawks in CSI New York, Agent Spellman Boyle in Limitless,
00:50and Dr. Marcus Andrews in The Good Doctor.
00:53He was a candidate in the Democratic primary in 2024 in the Senate election in Michigan
00:59to fill the seat of retiring incumbent Senator Debbie Stabenow.
01:03Welcome, gentlemen.
01:06Good to see you.
01:08Now, I don't know about you guys, but I've seen a lot of conversations in the media around
01:13Black men.
01:14I'm sure you have, because I've seen all y'all on panels talking about it.
01:18But moving to the Republican Party under Donald Trump, where do you think the truth
01:24lies within this divisive narrative that lacks, really lacks, true polling, honestly?
01:32And we'll just open that up unless anyone wants to take it, but I know Jeff is probably
01:36chomping at the bit.
01:37So, Jeff, maybe we'll have you.
01:39No, no, no.
01:40Hey, Alphonso and Ebony, and listen, I know I don't even need to talk when my brothers
01:46Hill and Ryan are on.
01:49I would just say this, I think many of us don't realize that Black men are the least
01:55polled demographic in the United States of America.
01:58And so I've been really pleased with my brother, Terrence Woodbury, at Hit Strategies, who's
02:04now working on the campaign.
02:06They have done more work around polling Black men around this election than anybody else.
02:11And so I think, one, I've been a little bit disturbed with a narrow and unsophisticated
02:16narrative.
02:17There have been Black men that have considered voting for Trump for one of a number of reasons.
02:22I think there are far more Black men that are trying to decide whether they don't want
02:26to vote at all because they don't trust either party or the political system.
02:32But I think they're considering, do I vote at all or do I vote for Kamala Harris?
02:36And so I just wanted to be a little bit more sophisticated in how we assess where Black
02:41men are.
02:42I've also heard, without fail, this narrative that Black men don't want to support women's
02:48leadership.
02:49And, again, I think that there are Black men that are narcissists.
02:52I think there are Black men that are misogynists.
02:54I think there are Black men that are sexist.
02:56I think, by and large, Black men who have initially had questions about Kamala Harris
03:02just didn't have a relationship with her.
03:04We've got to be honest about the fact that the Democrats did an unbelievable, terrible
03:09job when she was first brought on to run with President Biden about not giving her the freedom
03:16to tell her story.
03:18And it's not as if, over the last four years, there's been a concentrated effort for her
03:22to tell her story.
03:23So there are a lot of Black men that only knew her as a prosecutor but didn't know facts
03:27connected to that and have been bombarded with misinformation from many sectors.
03:34And so I think, in the last 90 days, we've seen a great job, both by the campaign, but
03:40in large part by, I think, a lot of grassroots organizations of men who know her better,
03:45who have been able to tell some accurate stories.
03:49And even if brothers have not decided to vote for her, I think we've given a lot of men
03:53the opportunity to have facts versus fiction and misinformation in their decision of how
03:59and who to vote for.
04:03So Hill, you, obviously, one of the few folks that have had the opportunity to run for political
04:11office.
04:12And obviously, you're a Black man.
04:14You have been in the political process.
04:16You have been on television and continues to be on television, operating in that sphere.
04:23Talk to us about your perspective.
04:25Jeff certainly gave us his view on this question of Black men and Kamala Harris.
04:30Well, first of all, thank you for having me.
04:33Jeff and Ryan are two of the smartest brothers I know.
04:38And the lie, to me, that's perpetrated about Black men, we understand the lies that get
04:49perpetrated and permeated throughout, not just about voting, but about criminality,
04:55about relationships with their children, all down the line.
04:59I mean, the data shows that Black men, as a Black father myself, Jeff is an amazing
05:05father, we spend more time with our kids than other demographics.
05:10Yet the narrative is that we spend less.
05:13So the fact is, there are not a lot of brothers out there that I know that are planning to
05:20vote for Trump.
05:23Now Jeff is absolutely right.
05:26Brothers got sold, hope and change, nothing changed.
05:30Then they got sold, make America great again, and America got worse.
05:34So what do you do?
05:37I guess it doesn't matter.
05:39If I don't have a super PAC, if I can't stroke a big check, maybe I'm not actually going
05:44to be represented.
05:45So why should I participate?
05:47And so it's more of that question that Jeff just pointed out.
05:52There are people who are voters, and they're going to vote.
05:56And those folks are going to vote for Kamala Harris.
05:58There are people that are not voters, because they've completely checked out of the process,
06:03and they're not going to vote.
06:05And then there are people who are kind of like, maybe I will.
06:07And that's why conversations like this, and the one I got to jump to in a second, that's
06:14a much more grassrootsy type of outreach that I got to jump into, is important.
06:20Because there are some voters out there that like, if you just nudge them a little bit
06:24more, damn it, I'm okay, I'm going to go.
06:27And they're going to cast a vote for Kamala Harris.
06:29You got to remember also, even when we're talking about women's reproductive freedom,
06:34in Michigan, black men voted in favor of women's reproductive freedom, to codify that
06:41in our state at the same rate as black women.
06:44And so we vote quite similarly in our community.
06:51It's just about turnout, and ensuring that there's a reason.
06:57What I've been saying to folks is something that Tamika said.
07:04We can't make the same mistake that we made in 08, which was the goal is the victory,
07:14and everyone is happy.
07:16It has to be, the goal is to win, sure, but as soon as that person is sitting, as soon
07:21as President Harris is sitting at that table, there are asks and accountability that goes
07:28along with it.
07:30I think that, I've known Vice President Harris for 15 years, I think that she's very different.
07:36You're going to see a presidency that's not going to be talking about no new friends.
07:41You're going to see a presidency that's not going to be very insular.
07:45You're going to see a presidency that I think if, now this is a big if for what I'm about
07:51to say, if for some reason we can capture the House and the Senate, that that'll be
07:59a very aggressive first two years, unlike the Obama years.
08:06So there's a lot of learning that's happened, and I think that all of us have to stay there,
08:12meaning all the rallies, everything that we've done, I believe Vice President Harris
08:18is going to win tomorrow.
08:19So everything that we've done to create that victory, that same energy needs to continue,
08:27because the power's in the collective, not in the person, and that's what we have to
08:32remember.
08:33It's not just about getting someone elected, it's about staying engaged to make sure that
08:38the receipts are paid, and they have to be paid, because too much has been said.
08:42I mean, even comments about giving $25,000 for first homebuyer down payments in our community,
08:48that changes Detroit, because you know what?
08:50In many communities in Detroit, you can buy a whole house for $25,000.
08:53That's not even a down payment, right?
08:55So that changes lives, but we have to hold them accountable to that.
08:59So with that, I'm going to listen in a little long, but I have to jump to this other one,
09:04and if I can jump back in, I will.
09:07Well, Hill, before you drop in, Ryan, we have a question for you, a similar question, but
09:11Hill, before you drop, just in case you may not have the ability to get back in, is there
09:15anything, any message that you want to send out to the thousands of people that are going
09:19to be watching this, either tonight or tomorrow on election day, just to make sure you have
09:26the last word before you have to drop off?
09:28Listen, this is it when it comes to your ability to impact the future of this country, and
09:39that comes through a vote, and just looking at the scope of history, you cannot tell me,
09:46and I know it moves slow, I know it moves slow and deliberate, but you cannot tell me
09:53progress has not been made, right?
09:56So we are on the precipice and have an opportunity to elect the first female president, as well
10:03as the first black female president in the history of this country, when black women
10:14only have had the right to vote less than 100 years.
10:22I mean, this is, it's amazing, right?
10:25So progress is happening, even though it seems it's so slow, it's like my son, he keeps growing,
10:31but I can't tell he's growing day to day, but I know over time he's growing.
10:35We have an opportunity for true growth.
10:37Do not sit this one out.
10:39Don't sit it out.
10:41You may not have gotten what you wanted before, you may not get exactly what you want in the
10:45future, but know this, sitting it out is a vote for Donald Trump, and if that's the future
10:50you want to have, then I don't know what to say, but I do know that you'll have an
10:57opportunity with a president that we, all of us on this Zoom, would be able to reach
11:05and make suggestions and try to hold accountable.
11:09That will not happen in a President Trump presidency.
11:12We will not be able to have those same conversations.
11:15So just for that very fact of being able to have the audience, don't sit it out.
11:22We need you.
11:23Thank you, Hill.
11:25Thank you for joining us.
11:26Ryan, same question to you.
11:29You obviously, you are the co-founder of The Gathering Spot.
11:32Folks may not know it's in Atlanta in Washington, D.C.
11:35It's a private venue where we folks of a certain viewpoint, if you will, I'll just frame it
11:43that way, gather, an opportunity to sort of engage with folks at The Gathering Spot.
11:48Talk a little bit about what you're seeing and hearing on the ground and to Jeff's point
11:52about black men and the perceptions of our engagement or lack thereof for the election.
11:57Well, folks are excited, right?
11:59First and foremost, we have been working, I mean, we've left it all on the field.
12:04There's no way to describe the effort over the last couple of weeks.
12:06I mean, everything has been exhausted.
12:08To this conversation though about black men, I'm super excited that tomorrow is election
12:12day so that we can put this conversation to rest.
12:15Black men are going to show up the same way that they always have, right?
12:18And I think it's important for us to acknowledge, yes, there are a number of issues that black
12:23men have identified in this election that are important to them.
12:25But the thing that's interesting is that those are the same issues that everyone across the
12:31electorate has identified are also important, things like the economy, right?
12:34So I'm not worried at all.
12:36I can't wait to retire the overall discussion.
12:39If you look at where there have been weak points, right, I live in Atlanta, the demographic
12:45that we need to be spending the most time talking to are white women, right?
12:49So if all the energy that has been directed at black men in terms of where are we going
12:53to show up, we're the second largest voting block behind black women, right?
12:58If this election is going to be won or lost, it is not going to be because black men said
13:02it out.
13:03And again, I'm glad that we're having this conversation the day before election day so
13:07we can look at some data here in a couple of days and see that this was a conversation
13:14that in some ways, I guess, was justified and important from an agenda setting perspective,
13:20but certainly not because there should be a real concern.
13:23So we're on the way.
13:26We've been organizing.
13:29Let's follow the numbers here in a second.
13:32I'm glad you made that point.
13:33I promise you as a member of the media, I never heard people talk about black men so
13:37much.
13:38And I just hope that after tomorrow, they keep talking about black men, but from a different
13:43perspective.
13:44It's actually kind of anchored and bothered me.
13:46I'm like, yeah, I ain't never been worried about black men until now.
13:49I actually am glad.
13:52I agree with both of you by way of how dare you question whether or not we'd be engaged,
14:00but because we have the lowest life expectancy of any group in America, because we are the
14:04least polled group of anybody in America, because I have never seen an elected official
14:09ever of any race put out an agenda specifically around black men and include not just money
14:17and politics, but mental health.
14:20And I don't know if those things would have happened if this hadn't been raised as a concern.
14:25And frankly, and Ryan and I have talked about this all the time, if we weren't honest about
14:29the fact that the Democratic Party just hasn't done their job.
14:32And so there is a real opportunity here because there are groups of men that are saying, I
14:39don't trust either party and I need somebody to earn my vote.
14:43And so I think that this has elevated to Ryan's point, a conversation that needs to begin
14:49happening on November 6th, November 7th, 8th or 9th, whenever we find out who the president
14:55is.
14:56But I think it's raised conversation that, frankly, we weren't having, despite the fact
15:01that there's been some level of offense in the myopic way that we have been viewed in
15:08the process of that conversation.
15:12When we when we look when we look at this election, what are some of the largest issues
15:18that you see concerning the community and how do you see both of the presidential
15:24campaigns addressing them?
15:28I think it gets back to the economy, right, and especially as it relates to black men.
15:33But again, this is another area where we have an opportunity to draw a clear contrast.
15:37President Trump has not put meaningful policy on the table as it relates basically to
15:42anybody, but certainly to black men.
15:44And here we have to Jeff's point, a vice president that has a very specific policy
15:49proposal for black men that's on the table.
15:51Right. So the contrast is extraordinarily clear.
15:53But as I'm talking to folks inside of our community, they are interested in trying to
15:57figure out how they're going to grow and scale their companies.
16:00They were interested in how they're going to be able to take care of their families.
16:02They're interested in trying to make sure that this America that we've dreamed of just
16:06from a process standpoint exists for them, too.
16:09The thing, again, that we have to continue to point out is that that is not actually
16:12that interesting. Those are the same issues that a lot of different folks are talking
16:15about, but we haven't had specific policy proposals for.
16:19We have one now.
16:20We do not have one on the other side of this conversation with the former president.
16:24I hope as folks are casting their ballot tomorrow that they keep that in mind, because
16:29we really only have one choice in this election.
16:31And I agree with Jeff that the thing that we need to be paying the most attention to is
16:35once we get past election day, the work that starts the very next day, we're going to
16:40have to deliver on these promises.
16:42We cannot be here in four years trying to reheat this discussion.
16:46Folks are going to have to see us consistently engaging and getting accomplished the
16:51things that we said that we wanted to do, making sure that those things happen.
16:54And when they do, I think we will we'll be able to finally hopefully retire this overall
16:59conversation for good, because we're a we're a voting bloc that's going to continue to
17:04show up and vote our interest.
17:07Jeff, same question to you.
17:09I do want to hop in really quickly, though, and say for those who were saying that they
17:12did not see her, what was she doing?
17:14She was working on on this, had been working on this plan before.
17:19And I'll put some of this on media, because as a White House reporter, she has had a
17:25vigorous schedule doing tours and economic tours for a while, going to college campuses
17:29and touring. But you did not see many of those outlets covering that at all.
17:36And so we go ahead, Jeff.
17:38Ebony, we're also talking about a presidential candidate that had 90 days versus a year
17:43and a half. Exactly.
17:44And so let's let's just be honest.
17:46I mean, while while Vice President Harris was a part of a Biden Harris ticket, it is
17:52not the same as a Harris ticket.
17:54And so I have been amazed at how much work has been done in 90 days to almost make it
18:05feel like she's been campaigning for a year and a half.
18:08I think I think that the issues that Ryan lay out are clear.
18:12I think some of the things that have had to happen also are just some level setting about
18:16the truth that that no, as a black man, as an American, you did not get a check from
18:23President Trump. Yes, he put his name on it.
18:26But no, that money did not come from him.
18:30That was from Congress.
18:31He held up that check so that he could put his name on it was a brilliant marketing
18:35move. But it's not accurate that that when you start talking about I hear I hear black
18:42men on a regular basis saying I'm considering Trump because I get to keep more of my
18:45money. Well, if we talk about the 2017 tax cuts, if those are extended, that you're not
18:53even talking about wealthy white people that benefit from that.
18:56You're only talking about super rich people.
18:59And then when you start talking about tariffs, because we're all about Americans.
19:03Well, those tariffs create a burden on small entrepreneurs who the only reason they're
19:10able in some cases to sell their T-shirts or sell their bags or do some of the business
19:15they do is because they're able to get cheaper costs sometimes with from international
19:19providers. And so they're just we have to level set some truth in addition to talking
19:26about what the Harris ticket is doing, because frankly, again, if you're a person that
19:31doesn't trust either party, I'm not going to win you over by selling you on one or the
19:36other. I'm going to help level set by telling you what the truth is.
19:41Yeah.
19:43Ryan, did you have something that's something you want to add?
19:46Yeah, just quickly to that to that point, right, like folks are entitled to their own
19:49feelings, but not their own facts.
19:51The vice president has been committed to these issues throughout the entirety, like the
19:55entire time she's been in office.
19:57Right. So the second day that she was in office, she had a meeting with small business
20:00owners talking about the economy and what things they could get accomplished.
20:04There have been numerous summits and conversations that have happened throughout the
20:08years. Going back to even earlier this year, before she was top of ticket, she was at the
20:12gathering spot January 9th meeting with small business owners talking about the economy.
20:17Right. So we cannot we can't have this conversation and remove the facts that have been
20:23at play for a long time. She did an economic tour talking again about these same issues
20:28before she was top of ticket.
20:29So for folks that are saying, hey, she's only started to discuss this once it was
20:33campaign season.
20:35That is just not true.
20:36I would encourage anyone that has that opinion to use any of the online sources that
20:42are available to you will find that she's been discussing this stuff for a very long
20:45time. That is part of the reason why we got to specific policy proposals, because the
20:50conversations she's been having with real people over a number of years help to inform
20:55what we actually have on the table right now.
20:57Again, I will draw folks to also try to research what is the Trump plan for any of the
21:04issues that we're talking about right now?
21:06It doesn't exist.
21:08Donald Trump has done nothing but insult us as a community now for decades and
21:13especially during this campaign season.
21:16And again, I don't know what folks are missing, but the contrast is incredibly clear.
21:21We don't we have to go make sure that we get something done tomorrow and make sure the
21:24VP Harris is elected.
21:26I love it. Thank you, gentlemen.
21:28Thank you, Ebony.
21:29Before we go, just really quickly, for those that still are on this are deciding not
21:34between two candidates, but whether they vote or not, there's just a couple of things we
21:39know are going to happen. Somebody is going to win and they are going to spend money.
21:44They are going to see policy passed.
21:46They're going to appoint judges.
21:48And you need to determine, do you want a say in that or do you want somebody else
21:54deciding that? I don't care who you I don't care if you like them.
21:57I don't care if you want to make I don't care if you're excited about them.
22:00Somebody is going to win.
22:02They're going to see that legislation is passed.
22:04They're going to spend money and they're going to appoint judges.
22:06And the other piece that that Tamika talked about is there's members of the Senate.
22:11There's members of the Congress.
22:12There's judges at the local level.
22:14There's ballot initiatives, all that are on the ballot.
22:16And so while not voting may seem like a protest to you, to me, it seems like a cop
22:23out because do you want say in what the future of an imperfect system is or do you want
22:30to claim that because it's imperfect, you won't participate?
22:35I don't think that makes sense.
22:37I don't think you believe that makes sense.
22:40I don't think the people that are relying on you to provide a level of leadership,
22:43whether it's in your home or in your community, think that makes sense.
22:46And so staying home as a protest is your right.
22:50But does it make sense for all of the things that are going to impact your life that are
22:54on that ballot when you show up tomorrow?
22:58Jeff Johnson, Ryan Wilson, thank you so much for all of the work that you all have done
23:04across this election season.
23:05And we want to really thank you for joining us tonight.
23:08We know that you had to move some things around.
23:10So thank you both for joining us.
23:12No, thank you for the opportunity.
23:14And y'all are doing a great job at your black job.
23:16Like, I'll just say, like, great, great black job, jobbing right now.
23:23See y'all later. I second that.
23:25I love it.
23:26Thank you all.