AIMEE ALLISON: I have so much respect for the analysis and the acknowledgment of the importance of the call for racial justice. There's no doubt that racial justice, and issues dealing with America's racism, is going to unify a multiracial coalition as we go into the polls.
But here's what we understand about the base. Women of color Black, Latina, Asian American and Indigenous form 25% of the voting base in several of the must-win key states, battleground states, such as Arizona, Texas, Georgia and Florida.
We held a series of listening sessions over the last six weeks to ask women of color who lead voter engagement, voter registration and movement building, organizational building on the ground, what they needed. Did they see themselves in the Biden campaign? What are the issues they care about? We heard, loud and clear, that there was an enthusiasm gap and that the vast majority of them wanted to see a woman of color on the ticket, and that the conversations and the engagement in the middle of a pandemic, with voter suppression alive and well in those states, and the fact that we have a economic crisis where actually people are not able to afford their rent as of this month all of those calamities, we're basically going to have to crawl through glass to be able to vote and get our votes counted. And having a woman of color on the ticket was part of that, but it wasn't the only thing.
You know, the world doesn't rise and the sun doesn't rise and set on one candidate. Much of the excitement right now and how we translate the movement that we've been seeing, calling for Black Lives Matter and justice and a lot of the changes in policing that we've been in conversation with, are local issues. And what I'm hearing from battleground state folks is, it isn't just the top of the ticket, it's also down-ballot races. There are three women who are running for who are Democratic nominees for Senate. There's an historic number of women of color running for Congress. But it's those local, the state legislative, city council races where the call to defund police will be translated into policy and budgets. That's where the fight is. And so, it's not an either/or. It's that we continue to push.
My final point is, you know, Kamala Harris is not the same person as she was in 2011. She has a very progressive voting record as a senator. It's 2020. She showed up in this historic pandemic time as an advocate for economic justice and for racial justice in the ways that are very promising. The movement has strength, and this is an indication of its influence.
JUAN GONZÃ LEZ: And, Briahna Gray, what about this issue, one, that Kamala Harris has evolved as a political leader? The issue of the down-ballot impact of this choice? And also, the senator that you worked for, Senator Bernie Sanders, his adviser, Chuck Rocha, responded to Biden's pick by saying, quote, "She is a good pick. A safe pick." Your response to that?
BRIAHNA JOY GRAY: I think that it's -- I would agree with the fact that it's a safe pick. But I'm a little confused by the argument that this is the pick that's going to turn out Black women in particular, for two reasons. One, because the reason that Black women are characterized as the base is because of our commitment to voting for the Democratic ticket kind of regardless of who is on it. And that is, of course, a blessing and a curse. It is a blessing for the Democratic Party, because there are all of these instances historically in which Black women have been the "but for" factor to Democratic candidates being able to pull through against oftentimes truly heinous Republican alternatives. At the same time, it means that very little has to be done to appeal to Black voters. And we've seen a kind of indifference demonstrated by the Democratic Party, that is increasing over the years.
So, I want to just note that, because I think it's important to say that there is a constituency that isn't as enthusiastic about Joe Biden's ticket right now, and that is younger voters, including younger Black voters, who are in a place where they're a little bit past representation being a be-all/end-all. And I'm, of course, not arguing the facts that Ms. Allison is saying here, but it is difficult to feel sometimes, as a person of color, as a Black person in particular, that representational value is being elevated in these instances over your substantive political concerns.
So, my feeling here is that, yes, Kamala Harris has evolved, but that's also part of the concern here, that I think a lot of voters aren't exactly sure where she stands on a lot of these issues. And I think that's part of what was an issue for her during the primary. Remember that she dropped out before any ballots were cast, before the California primary, speculation being that that was in part because she was losing her home state to Andrew Yang. So, there is a lot of California-based, local, domestic concern about her from people who know her record the best.
And there has been an implication, online at the very least, that the people who have raised concerns about Kamala Harris and her record are not the base, are not Black people, are white leftists. The "Bernie bro" mythology has been raised as a specter again, when the reality is there's a lot of grassroots frustration with the fact that this, again, unprecedented political movement is basically being ignored, or at very least a nose is being thumbed at what's going on in the streets right now.
AMY GOODMAN: I wanted to go to Donald Trump responding to Biden's choice of California Senator Kamala Harris as his running mate.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: She was probably nastier than even Pocahontas to Joe Biden. She was very disrespectful to Joe Biden.
AMY GOODMAN: That was what he said yesterday after he heard the news. Aimee Allison, you're also part of a group called We Have Your Back. And I was wondering if you can talk about this, first, his response and also want to get Briahna's response to what he said and this, of course, his slur against Elizabeth Warren in the same breath, but also what you're demanding of the media now as this campaign moves forward.
AIMEE ALLISON: Donald Trump set the stage, even when he was campaigning in 2016. His attack on Black women in particular, women of color, has been pointed. It's part of what he does. It's how he rallies a racist base of voters, and it's red meat to his supporters.
Let me just tell you and be very clear: Black women and women of color were never confused about who Donald Trump is. We voted in record numbers against him in 2016, and we will, despite the fact that we face a lot of challenges voting and getting our votes counted. What he says does not matter.
The issue, though, with We've Got Your Back is bigger than party. It's bigger than Trump. It's that this country, although the base of the Democratic Party in recent polls has demonstrated that they want a Black woman in leadership and so now we have a Black woman at the top of the ticket, a woman of color at the top of the ticket despite that, racist and sexist comments dismissing the readiness of many of the women of color, particularly Black women, who were being vetted for VP, already had started. And it wasn't just from Republicans. It also came from quarters like former Senator Chris Dodd. So, what we have to do is be vigilant. We learned a lot from the attacks on Hillary Clinton as a white woman running for president. We know that the racist and sexist attacks are going to continue fast and furious against Senator Harris and other women who are standing for leadership.
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