host: this morning, we will turn our attention to the role of black voters in campaign 2024.

joining us this morning is cliff albright, cofounder and executive director of black voters matter fund. what is your group? guest: we are it first and foremost a power building organization. we focus on building power in black communities and we know that elections and the vote are one important way of doing that although not the only way. we do work in up to 25 states across the country, talking to black voters, organizing around our issues and encouraging us to turn out and give us the tools we need to that we can turn out and so that everyone we touch can spread the word to other friends and families and people they like and people they don't like and just try to get as many people as possible in the process. host: how are you supported? guest: we get donations from a range of sources. from large foundations, from small foundations, family foundations that no one has heard of, but we also get a lot of individual donations, online

small donors, so we get it from a range of sources and from people that all believe that black voters matter. host: how do black voters view the president's handling of some key issues? let's start with the economy. guest: that is a great question. anytime we hear that question, the first thing we have to say is which black voters? contrary to popular belief, we are not a monolith. we do have a lot of beliefs in common. any given election, around 90% of our community and our voters will vote a certain way but it is because of a range of issues. what you hear younger black voters, what you hear from black male voters talking about, what you hear black female voters talking about, it is a range of similar issues, so when we talk about the economy, you've got

some that say black unemployment is the lowest it has ever been, you've got some that say we are seeing different things coming out of the chip act or the infrastructure bill or others, gas prices going down, but then you also have some that are very frustrated, that recognize that we've still got very high housing costs, particularly in larger cities and areas where black voters live, so you've got to kind of mix the range but also what we recognize is to what extent are we able to further our economic features? where do we consider issues like diversity, equity and inclusion? when you see a tax coming from one side that are outright try to keep you from getting economic advancement, keeping you from getting contracts or getting to a position of racial justice and economic justice and racial equity, then it becomes

clear that at the end of the day, it is not a referendum on whether or not we like what this person or this party or office is done, this is a choice. sometimes they can fight and fall short and there are some being anti-black in their policies. host: really did to the economy and jobs is debate over immigration. republicans this weekend along with a group of democratic and republican senators, talking with the white house about possible changes to immigration policy. he said it is not a monolithic group but if you could talk in general, how do black voters view immigration and our border? guest: it is a tricky subject because it depends on geography, like how black voters in texas view it might be different than how black voters in new york or even georgia, where i'm sitting right now, so part of it depends

on. it also depends on education and economic well-being. all those things factor into how we think about immigration but overall, the black community tends to be fairly progressive in terms of how we view immigration, in part because not all of these immigrants that we are talking about are immigrants that are latinx or coming from mexico. you've got haitian immigrants, you've got african immigrants, people like the former twice impeached president, you got all of these people coming from these african countries, so it is a fairly complex and nuanced discussion because it is not only about other people coming but it is also about black folks coming from predominantly black nations.

apart from that, just in general, how we tend to view immigration issues, we respect any group of people that strives to do whatever they can to better their lives and get more freedom and economic justice and opportunity or even escaping political violence. we tend to be fairly progressive when it comes to immigration. it is not the bogeyman issue that republicans have been able to use it for in other communities. host: black voters in campaign 2024 is our conversation this morning. cliff albright is our guest, cofounder and executive director of black voters matter fund. here is how you can join the conversation. black voters dial in at (202)-748-8000. all others, (202)-748-8001. cliff albright, what policy decisions, laws, specifically impact black populations in this

country? guest: clearly we've got a discussion going on about a range of issues that directly impact the black community. the discussions around diversity, equity, inclusion, the supreme court decision around an affirmative action. you've also got things like the issues that we fight and organize around, the issue of voting rights and voter suppression, which in this country has always been squarely focused on limiting the rights and abilities and the vote of the black community. that is one that we are particularly following and interested in, that we have conversations with folks about. you've got issues around police violence coming out of 2020. we are still looking for federal legislation that deals more squarely with police accountability. a lot of discussion around the george floyd act, and that did

not go anywhere in part of -- in part because of filibustering and shenanigans from conservatives. that is an issue that we want to see more action on, although we have seen administrate of action, particular from the department of justice which has been very aggressive at holding local jurisdictions accountable with consent decrees, we really want to highlight the work that kristin clark and the office of civil rights has been doing on those issues, but we need federal legislation. that is an issue that we hear black folks talking about. we hear talk around reparations. you have all of these issues that deal squarely with our community but then you have some of these other issues that are being dealt with that also impact us. health care impacts the black community. abortion rights impact the black community. not only in terms of maternal health, keeping in mind that black women have maternal

mortality rates that are four or five times that of white women mortality rates. we hear the criminalization of women, traveling state to state, that is also very much about criminal justice and even economic issues for the black community and for black families. all of these issues, health care, abortion rights, the inflation reduction act, climate change, all of these issues impact the black community as well as other people but in many ways, does apportion elite impacting the black community -- disproportionately impacting the black unity. host: what support did president biden receive from the black unity and how has that changed as we head into 2024? guest: it is an interesting question. we talk about level of support, it is a combination of a couple different things. in terms of actual turnout, and the ways that black voters voted, the president got not as

much as president obama, but still we are talking about 90% support. in the case of black women, over 90% support. you also have to think about what is the level of enthusiasm for that vote? one of the things that people missed in 2020, while black voters were very clear in who they supported, how deep was that enthusiasm? we look at some of the recent polls that people have been shouting about and thinking the sky is falling, it certainly is drizzling when you think about enthusiasm for president biden. it is not necessarily a big change from 2020, when weren't enthusiastic about the support but we were very pragmatic about that support. we were very pragmatic about the electability issues.

you are seeing these concerns but in many ways, these recent polls, which again, the sky is not falling but these recent polls are civilly exposing something that existed even going back to 2020, and as we get closer to 2024, you will see some of those numbers changing. host: before we get to calls, the new york times with this headline this morning, trying to get black men to back biden. from the article, several attendees said there was general agreement that mr. biden during both his 2020 campaign and his first three years in office, had paid more attention to black female voters then blackmail voters. they said it was adjusted to present biden's aides that he needed to make a specific argument about how his administration had improved the lives of black men. let's talk to our viewers. maria in atlanta, georgia, black voter.

welcome to the conversation. caller: good morning, greta and albright. as an african-american woman, i would like to say i would never ever vote -- if i had to vote republican, i would never vote. we do have a lot of issues, but i would say that is our fault because we do not fight hard enough. the other races fight hard and they get what they want. i hear a lot of african-americans complaining about joe biden, and a lot of people don't even know what he has passed. they didn't complain about president obama this much, the way they complain about biden. that is all i've got to say, thank you. host: we will take those comments. cliff albright? guest: i will take the last part first, about the things that have been done.

certainly in the conversation, whenever we have conversations with voters on this topic, we do point out, like the things that have been done about some of the historic legislation. i wasn't a big joe biden fan airing the 20 -- during the primaries, but we can't ignore the fact that the first couple of years, the first three years of this administration, they have been historic in terms of legislation. we are talking about the biggest investment and climate change ever, talking about the chips act, talking about, nowhere near what we need on gun violence anything lidded to gun violence actually passed, this is an issue that black voters care about, particularly young black voters. look at the range of issues where we have seen action. there has been a lot done. that said, when people talk to us about the shortcomings and the issues they want to see more on, whether it is police accountability or voting rights or some of the other issues, we

can't ignore that either. we have to have a balanced conversation and we point out to people, stuff has been done and if you want more done, then we've got to come out and vote even more, both at the presidential level and the congressional level for people that are willing to get these policies passed and not running on the opposite, just running on anti-blackness. host: john in d.c. good morning. caller: good morning. it is a pleasure to hear. i am the chairman of what is called black wealth matters. we are an organization that focuses on one thing. payments for the injury of slavery to black people in the united states of america. the word reparations, i need to bring this up sir. that is a taxpayer responsibility and that is why we have not received any form of

payment for the injury. it is also a warfare or military action implication. the correct legal definition of our injury is called slavery compensation. it does not go into the taxpayers pocket. it goes directly to the 82 actors that are still around today making lots of money. they are ready to pay. i've met with a few. there is no pushback. they just don't want to go down the reparations trail. and also, the presidents. everyone loves barack obama and i think that is a feeling to have, to see a non-descendant american as the president of the united states -- non-descendant enslaved american. he has no ties to slavery.

his administration did not really embrace the idea of reparations. george bush senior, he tried by getting clarence thomas on the supreme court. host: i'm going to get reaction from cliff albright. do you have a question for him? caller: which one do you prefer? reparations or slavery compensation? one pays $35,000 for 400 years of slavery. slavery compensation pays $1.8 million per descendant in this country. i will listen to your response off. guest: thank you for the question and as i was saying, there is a significant portion of the black amenity that cares about this issue. in terms of which word, it's about what it looks like and one

of the things we have been doing both at the federal level as well as the local level is calling for reparations, calling for study commissions at all levels and i agree with the caller said about it has to go beyond just the government payments. there are other companies and banks and a whole range of companies that are benefiting from the legacy of slavery and that is why some states have passed policies that her requiring companies to reveal their connections to it. we support those. we started a reparations fund to invest in local communities that are trying to get local policies. there is a role that can be played the city and state level as well. i agree that there are a lot of actors that need to be involved in the discussion. there is federal legislation we need ensuring that we can even have a provincial study committee, because hr 40 calls for a congressional study committee but we could have an executive level and

administration level study committee. we are pick supporters of this discussion and this process and we have invested time and resources into it. host: shirley in south carolina. caller: hi, greta and mr. albright. i just want to make a comment. me personally, i vote democrat all the time, every step -- ever since dr. king. they bled and died for me to have the right to vote and i get out and i vote every time a voting thing comes up, and i will never vote for a democrat. donald trump? never. i knew him when he first came on the scene. this man is a disgrace to the united states of america and i would never vote for him. have a great day. host: she says she will never vote for him.

take a look at this poll. the university of chicago polled 3448 eligible voters nationally online in november. black voters in campaign 2024, 63% said they would vote for president biden. 20% said they wanted to vote for someone else and 70% said they would vote for the former president. mr. albright, what do you make of those numbers and are you concerned? guest: i would not say unconcerned about it. not ignoring it but not necessarily concerned, you mentioned the article, talking about the blackmail percentages. we've been hearing these numbers of like what trump is going to get, what republican candidates are going to get and particular targeting black men, we've been hearing these numbers now for years. ever since 2016 and the repeated throughout 2022. they've been telling us that trump would get 20%.

it has not happened yet. they went out in georgia and found herschel walker, the dug him up from wherever he was in texas and found him to run in georgia because they figured let's get a black man who played football and won a heisman and they will come running to this. it didn't happen. he did not get our vote. just a few months ago, you had daniel cameron running republican in kentucky. he also happened to be the attorney general who refused to prosecute the police officers who killed breonna taylor but they said he is a black male and he is conservative and he will get 20%. it did not happen. i take all of these polls with a grain of salt. that said, does that mean that we can afford to ignore them completely? cannot communicate with black voters and not communicate with black males in particular? no, we can't afford that because of the end of the day, the other

side, trump and others are viewing this gender gap and viewing that there is some space where they can target certain voters, black males, younger black voters, we know that there is a lot of disinformation targeted to younger black voters in 2016 and 2020, some of which came from russia. this is not a conspiracy, this is what we know. we know that some segments of our community are being targeted with misinformation and disinformation and they can have an impact on the margins. it is not something we need to panic about but is some thing we need to take a look at and make sure we are communicating with all of the segments of the black community in ways that are most effective and that is why organizations like ours and others talking to folks every day, that is why it is important that we have resources so that we can have the kind of accurate communications that need to take place with our community. host: -- writing in his piece in

the washington post for today, the sunday take, young voters lack enthusiasm for biden but he will need them and he notes young voters especially young black and hispanic americans have shown signs of unease toward the president. he notes that nothing is assured, the number of younger people who turned out in 2024 and the number of them who support biden over the former president if donald trump is the relic and nominee will help decide the overall outcome in states such as georgia, wisconsin and arizona which in 2020 was decided by only a few thousand votes. young voters are prickly important to biden's hope of carrying again. ray in tennessee. caller: yes, thank you for taking my call. first of all, i would like to say about this hispanic american, african-american. this is the united states of

americans. we have had the problem in this country and then when president obama becomes the president, he accelerated it. the division of people. if we don't get back together where we are the americans, all in this together, and we are not looking for special handouts and all that, this country is going to fall. it is predicted. you can hear it in the way people are talking nowadays. host: let's get a reaction to what you said. guest: it always tickles me when people cite president obama as the start of race issues like racial justice. the caller might be surprised to learn about this thing called

the civil war. you might be surprised to learn that there have been hundreds of years of racial strife. since the early 1900s, the problem is 20th century, the problem with the color line that was way before barack obama. we are still dealing with it. we obviously have a lot of issues around seeking racial justice and we can't get there by ignoring it, we can't get there by being colorblind. he can't get there by acting like it all started with president obama. host: jay is in texas. black voter in texas, what are your thoughts this morning? caller: thank you to washington journal and the host and mr. albright. i have a few points and a question at the end. my question of the end is with all of the entities that we have come up like entities that we

have that are fighting for economic and legal justice for black people, why can't there be a coalition of all to get together in power? my statement is, since america was here, it has been a bad place as far as the economic strife, slavery and all of the above. that happened with europeans coming over here, and they were immigrants but we want to tackle the immigration issues of today, with everyone coming in from the outside and it seems like that is just unfair. i know that we can't go back to the beginning with reparations or anything like that because that would be billions if not trillions of dollars. they can't even have that conversation in all fairness. i'm 65 years old and i have seen nothing but this united states,

not a united states, but i have seen the disruption of america. each and every year, and it is just getting worse. i hope that there will be a conversation with mr. albright, on trying to get a coalition of all black entities in america to come together as one voice, to put all of their resources together as one voice to fight this fight. if not, we are going down a slippery slope in america and we are going down fast. host: let's get reaction from cliff albright. guest: i want to encourage the caller. i hear the things you are saying about this long history that we are talking about. there is progress being made in that area you talked about, and terms of coalition. there is a large number of

organizations that are coalitions on a daily basis, a big part of how we do our work is that we are in coalition only with the types of national organizations you are talking about, but in partnership with over 600 organizations that we've been talking to, supporting, 600 across the country, totaling $6 million over the past six years. that is coalition building with smaller and local groups. wiest -- we do the same thing with state and local organizations. still to do this day on this issue of voting rights, i got arrested five times in 2021, not by myself but with folks from hundreds of other organizations, including some from the legacy black organizations that we often talk about. i want to encourage the caller to know that there are coalitions and there is unity taking place, but we have to be clear, the folks we are working

against or working against us, they are also in coalition, who this is not a thing where we can just analyze our progress just off of what we do. the reality is that we have opposition, there is an opposing force that we are up against. sometimes even we -- even when it seems like we have not moved very far, it is not necessarily because of inherent weakness, '. guest: that -- please and thank you. host: let's move on to darcy. caller: first of all, i would give congress a big fat 0. they are so messy and i would like to see them called out for the nra for who is getting funded from the nra, keeping these guns out here and killing

our kids. i would like to see them to be pointed out because we are not going to get rid of these guns that are killing our kids until they change their ways. host: cliff albright? guest: i think she models what i mentioned earlier. like voters are very passionate about this issue of gun safety. -- black voters are very passionate about this issue of gun safety. black voters of all ages, but in particular, younger folk altogether. we have a whole generation that has become the first generation that has spent their entire school years doing gun safety drills and hiding under desks and in closets. black communities are very passionate about this issue, it is one of those issues that we have to have more action on, we have to have a congress that is

not beholden to the nra and that is not the situation we have right now in congress. that is one of the issues we talk to folks regularly, in order to motivate folks to make sure that we come out and vote at all levels. host: greg in huntsville, alabama. caller: good morning. i'm hearing what he's saying, your guest. i hear what you're saying sir, and i appreciate your passion, but i hear democrat talking points. from what i'm hearing, i did not hear a single topic that i thought that sounds like it is just down the middle. it just seems like democratic talking points. that is neither here nor there. i would love to hear more about solutions. we are talking about the black

vote. ethic is the most racist thing i've ever heard to say that someone can produce a photo id and for years when you are in a country that we can put a cost treated effort into protecting our democracy by making sure everyone has an id and they are who they are when they say they vote and that goes for everybody . republik and, democrat, i don't trust any of them. i think both parties have the potential in some areas to cheat or put their thumb on the scale and when ever have that question, i think it hurts our democracy. we could do a lot better job of that. host: let's take your point about ids. guest: thank you. thank you for the question. one of the things we often come across when we talk about voting rights and voter suppression, people want to jump straight to the issue of voter ids of it is the only form of voter suppression. we're talking about laws in this country and practices in this country that have unfairly targeted black voters, purging

voter lists, closing polling places in our communities, and limiting drop boxes in our community. it is a range of -- making it illegal to give up food and water for people in long lines, that is caused by state action that causes those long lines in black communities. it is convenient and people want to focus just on the issue of voter id which is problematic. i will remind the caller the in the state of alabama when they first passed their photo i -- voter id law, simultaneously they closed all of the department of motor vehicles in the black built counties where most of the black voters lived which would have enabled them to be able to get their photo ids. we act as if these photo ids policies are isolated but they are often done in tandem with other actions that they never going to make it harder for black voters and other types of low income voters, making it easier to get registered, using

a gun license but not your college id. it is not just this random notion of weenie people to have photos. it is part of a very strategic pattern to designed to make it harder for certain voters to vote. but again, it is not just about photo ids, it is a range of other issues. eerie mentoring we see taking place in states like alabama and louisiana and south carolina and georgia and others. there is a range of issues and it is very convenient when people just want to talk about photo ids. host: let's go to carl. caller: good morning mr. albright. the situation is real crazy. they are going back to the old laws of the 1700s. they have no future.

i vote every year. but what i want to say to you, get the book 400 year holocaust. thank you. guest: i will look for it. host: we will go to bob in wisconsin. caller: good morning. i had a few comments. as far as history goes, the democratic party, they didn't vote any votes to free the slaves or equal rights for slaves, anything like that. it was always the republicans. and then also, drop boxes, ballot harvesting, no ids? i know a bunch of black people, they are my friends, i don't know any black people that work that don't have an id to cash their check or by alcohol or do anything.

i don't think ids are a big problem for black people. i don't see your point in that, and only american citizens should vote and that would take an id and black people have ids. i don't get it. thank you for your time. host: cliff albright? guest: to that caller, i will just say, see my previous response to the other caller about how people conveniently want to focus on voter ids and ignore the whole act of voter suppression that takes place on a range of issues. i hope they are as concerned about gerrymandering and these other issues in polling places, i guess he's ok with drop is being eliminated from communities despite the fact that it is proven to be effective. i wore for that caller to my answer to the previous caller --

i will refer that caller to my answer to the previous caller. host: our next caller in marietta, georgia. caller: first of all, i want to say that i am understanding of -- a descendant of the enslaved and we were not immigrants. we were kidnapped, we were branded and put in the bottom of a ship and brought to this country against our will. we are not immigrants and i get tired of everyone saying that we are all immigrants. no we are not. there are two people who are not immigrants. descendants of the enslaved and the indigenous. we are not immigrants. secondly, every black person -- as a black person, i believe that we as a black group should not be just for giving our vote to one party blindly. they should have to compete for our vote. if you are not offering us

anything, you're not getting our vote and we are learning that. we are tired of symbolism. we are tired of this talking about studies. we don't need the study. you don't have to study -- a law for the asians, he didn't have to study for that. he also got reparations but when it comes to us, you want to give us this crab about studies. we don't need to study. we need to get our checks. thank you. host: cliff albright? guest: i will start with the earlier point about giving our votes blindly to one party. black folks have never given our vote blindly to just one party.

we have always been very pragmatic and we have looked at how we want to get the results that we want. dr. king gave a speech in 1957 talking about giving us the ballot and he went through a range of issues that he said we can get moving on these issues. it is never just been about getting a vote without it being connected to issues and never about supporting one party blindly without thinking about the issues. when black voters shifted from the republican party because one of your callers, lisa starkly was correct in terms of the early days of jim crow and the civil war and reconstruction, black voters voted republican to the extent that we could for decades, but when we shifted our votes, it was because of changes that we saw in policy, starting with the new deal policies and then coming with the kennedy and johnson in ministrations. it was policy that led us to

shift, not just blind allegiance. it was policy that caused us to shift from one party to another party and if any kind of shift is going to take place, it is going to be based on the same thing. republicans actually could have some inroads with black voters on specific issues whether it is economic issues or even in some communities, some cultural conservative issues. they could have inroads if they backed up their disinformation with policy that would benefit our communities, but they don't. they do the opposite. they run on anti-blackness. keep in mind, there was a whole discussion about student debt cancellation where republicans came out against the president specifically because they were upset that such debt cancellation would improve economic fairness for black debtholders. they're not even hiding the anti-blackness. it is not just about blind loyalty, it is about policy and

it has always been about policy. it's about which side is actually trying to advance diversity and inclusion and affirmative action in which side is actively running against those things. that is policy. it is not about blind allegiance. our voting actions are always very pragmatic and based on which issues and which candidates we care about. host: our next caller in louisiana. caller: yes, how you doing today? i was just calling about -- i was in chicago for 50 years and i am -- black politicians, we have voted for and the outcome has been the same. crime increases in the black communities tremendously and blacks in chicago, they lived in their homes and fear.

they couldn't go out in their communities at night, they can't walk the streets anymore. we can't go to the parks. we have voted for black politicians but it seems like they are afraid to speak out on the crimes in the black community. host: we will take that point. guest: thank you for the question. to be clear, black communities and black voters are very concerned about the issues of safety. one of the challenges we have had is that we often confuse safety with policing. we've been led to believe that policing is the only way to get safed -- to get to safety and there is a range of things that could make our communities more say. some of it deals with issues like economic justice and housing and education and health care, so i think the caller is right that this is a significant issue that our communities think about and it would be wrong to say that whatever has or has not happened is just a function of

quote unquote, black politicians because the reality is there are a range of issues that impact our local safety within cities and many cities that ought to be criticized are in red states and it is those very policies by conservative governors or legislatures that impact our ability, even when you talk about chicago, you got to keep in mind, talking about gun violence, it is oftentimes you've got guns from surrounding states that are controlled by other elected officials and conservatives and republicans that impact the safety within a city like chicago. it is a range of issues that are controlled not just by the mayors and the city councils. being a mayor is one of the most difficult jobs in the country because you have so many other layers of government that impact how effective you can be. there are a range of issues but certainly i agree that we've got to do more in terms of safety issues in our communities but in

saying that, we need to be realistic and look at it like what has been said about crime and safety in the direction it's been going in, and even to that point i think there has been a certain amount of hyperbole about some of the increases. it does not mean it isn't an issue but it does mean that there has been a boogie man put out there including from people like trump, talking abut how we need to see -- send federal troops to chicago. that kind of misinformation only make the problem worse. host: cliff albright is the cofounder and executive director of black voters matter. you can find more information if you go to