Ep. 38 – The Black Vote and the 2020 Election: A Conversation with Brencia Berry

[0:00:07 Peniel] Welcome to Race and Democracy, a podcast on the intersection between race, democracy, public policy, Social justice and citizenship. Welcome to Race and Democracy. On today’s show, we have francia barry, who is a former graduate of the University of texas at Austin’s LBJ School of Public Affairs in 2016. Um and she is the former Deputy Director of public engagement for the Elizabeth Warren campaign for presidency and she is the former Chief of staff to san Antonio’s councilman William Crew shaw. Um and she was the National Advance Associate on Hillary for America in the summer and fall of 2016 and a government relations legislative assistant for the city of Austin uh in 2015 and 2016. Um am I am I getting everything Vrancea?

[0:01:16 Brencia] Yes, yes for the most part and I think also a huge part of the work that I did with Senator Warren was serving as her national Deputy Advanced Director as well. So, um you know, working on a lot of those campaign events leading up to the time where I got promoted to public engagement and worked in the communications team.

[0:01:38 Peniel] That’s great. So today I want to have a conversation with you about race and politics and the electoral process and really you’re you’re a very high profile um african american female policy uh expert and an advocate in the warren campaign, but also in local san Antonio politics. So there’s so much to discuss. Uh I think the warren campaign one, I think the work that you did for her was fantastic and I thought the campaign was such a powerful campaign um all throughout 2019 and 2020 in a lot of ways within the Democratic Party. The work that Elizabeth Warren did was really sketching and setting out this framework for a return to the new deal politics of franklin. Delano Roosevelt in a very, very robust way and there was real outreach for people of color, especially the african american community. So I’d like to one ask you, you know, what did you do for Senator Warren? Um both during the campaign, but even before. And how effective do you think that kind of outreach was uh during the campaign?

[0:02:52 Brencia] Yes, Okay, so first of all, thank you so much for having me on. I’m so excited and so I’m grateful to share the space with you. Um I think that part of what helped me in my policy work was uh having been able to be a part of your class and I learned a lot from that. Uh but in terms of the work that we did, so I was really grateful. I started with her um in 2018 during her Senate race. And so I served as her advanced director, really helping shape her campaign events and the the visuals and all of that. But I also helped as a special adviser and a lot of our outreach that we did prior to the presidential campaign, helping with red to blue races, um statewide races, congressional districts. Um And we also had uh one of my close friends and colleagues who was our who ended up being our african american outreach director during the presidential race. I worked really closely with her. But you know, as you as you mentioned from the beginning, ah Senator Warren had an intersectional approach to policy and it really was about making sure that all of the policies that our team was putting out was to what would be rooted in the history of institutional um and structural racism and

[0:04:29 Peniel] oppression and valencia. Can you explain to our listeners what do you mean by intersectional approach that the senator followed?

[0:04:37 Brencia] So, you know, one example that I can give is uh the we came out with several working agendas uh and one of them was the working agenda for black America. And this was an extremely extensive uh plan and it’s still on her website today that uh covered like 25 of our plans in terms of housing and affordability, um investing in entrepreneurs, entrepreneurs of color, um at black, maternal and infant mortality, closing the wage gap. And uh I mean when it comes to gender, race, ability, sexuality, um all of the various and communities that are marginalized and oppressed, making sure that we are capturing uh the people who often live at the intersections of of the systems that have that have been oppressive.

[0:05:44 Peniel] Now, when you think about the war in campaign and really the Democratic Party uh and african americans, what what made the warren campaign in your mind stand out for the approach to its approach to race and the candidate, Senator Warren’s approach to race, say, in contrast to people like Senator Sanders, um and just the other people in the field, including the presumptive nominee, Senator biden, former Vice President biden. What what made her approach stand out and really in your mind when as as her special adviser, what did you try to do? What did you try to add, given your own knowledge of, of race and democracy? African american history of the history of civil rights, to her approach to african american outreach?

[0:06:31 Brencia] Yeah, so, um I I think that overall in the Democratic Party is trying its best. So I will only speak to my experience and what I um why I chose her as Congresswoman Presley says, you know, policy is my love language. And from the very first event I did with her, uh she was speaking at the National Action Network conference about redlining. That was one of the first conversations that I had with her. Uh, so for me, what stood out about our team’s policy approach was the fact that it was not just about okay, uh you know, we know that we need to improve the situation and the lives of black people, but it was about tracing it back to the actual policies that had been harmful and created these inequities and going the extra mile to to fix that. So, you know, for example, the as I mentioned, one of the plans was investing in entrepreneurs of Color. And so part of that plan was to create a equity fund for entrepreneurs of Color to invest $7 billion into um into entrepreneurs of color so that they could have access to capital, which doesn’t happen and that hasn’t happened. And we see uh like you mentioned the new deal, how um how much economic disparity was created after the new deal. And I think that she as a candidate. Um and just and even before her candidacy she spoke very boldly about um the inequities that were a direct result of intentional policies that uh the U. S. Put in place. And so for me that was extremely important for um the next candidate that I worked for that. They had that deep understanding, especially after um after we saw what happened in 2016. And and this time around with with going against President trump.

[0:09:00 Peniel] Now, what do you think about the black community and why are black voters um seemingly so attached to joe biden, seemed like when we thought about the race, they were progressives like Elizabeth Warren and even Senator Sanders who seem to be much more robust in their policy approach to things like mass incarceration, african american poverty, unemployment, um race in the environment, race and access to small business loans and entrepreneurship. Um You know, the continuation of residential and public school segregation seems like there were other candidates from cory booker too to joe joe and kamala Harris, especially Elizabeth Warren, who had more ideas, fresher ideas, why why couldn’t anybody, you know, we’ve ended up, it seems the presumptive nominee is joe biden, Why couldn’t anybody really gain traction within the african american community in a substantive way?

[0:10:02 Brencia] You know, I have struggled and thought about this for a while and I think that part of it, uh I think that there’s a inter generational divide and in voter voting in our voting base, especially in the black community. Um and

[0:10:28 Peniel] and what do you mean by that? Inter generational divide? Uh older baby boomers, set of voters versus gen X and millennials and generation Z or what’s the cleavage?

[0:10:39 Brencia] Yeah, I think that that is part of it, especially when we start to factor in the um the early state aspect of elections. And so when you look at states like south Carolina, that was when I think uh we saw a huge momentum, uh huge momentum for vice president biden. And I also think that unfortunately, um there’s a lot of electability uh conversations that were consistent throughout the primary that were challenging, that made it more challenging for women and um people of color in this primary. So I think that there were several factors that that played into it, and it will be um especially in light of this current pandemic, it will be very challenging to um to get that voter base excited and pushed and pushed through on this one. So, um yeah,

[0:12:03 Peniel] I’d like to um talk about black women in the elected and electoral sphere for for for a moment. Um and then we’ll move on to Covid 19 uh people like Ion A Presley who is fabulous and and so empowering in massachusetts. Um you know, they’ve been so articulate and so eloquent about the power of black women voters. Obviously, alexandria Ocasio Cortez has been very eloquent about latin X voters and Green New Deal. Um I think there’s a paradox and I want to ask you about this because obviously as somebody who has worked with campaigns has been chief of Staff to elected officials, there’s a paradox in the sense of black women are so powerful as a voting bloc for the Democratic Party nationally and locally. Yet there is a disparity between the power of their vote and not only their representation as elected officials, but their representation within the supply chain of politics, meaning chief of staff, advisors to senators, um advisors to elected officials in the House of Representatives, um at the municipal, at the state level as well one. What do you think about that disparity and and to what can be done about it? Especially when you do have these voices like I and a Presley, you have voices like yourself. How can black women and obviously the entire black community was specifically black women leverage the power because the data tells us they’re the most reliable Democratic voter in the United States. Yet there’s a real disparity between that reliability and becoming very powerful figures within the party. Like based on the data, you know, Democratic Party tickets should absolutely have not only black people but black women in those tickets and based on the data, um the speaker, when you think about the speaker of the House of the party or the majority leader or the majority whip, it really shouldn’t look like clyburn and nancy. Pelosi and Steny Hoyer. A black woman should be part of that discussion too. So where, where this disparity is very, very, I think frustrating, but what can be done about about that disparity?

[0:14:35 Brencia] Yes. Yes. You know, I think that there are a few factors. Um one is just opportunity i it saddens, I think that, and I’ll speak for the Democratic Party specifically, but I think we just have to do a better job of being intentional about, like you said, even at the highest ranking levels of government and the people who are running um the offices like like Chiefs of Staffs and Policy Directors and and and the people that are impacting directly impacting the elected officials. We have to do a better job of being intentional about that. And that would will take internal work uh from the Democratic Party. And I think that we saw in this election cycle, we saw a lot more um people that were on campaign speaking out about their desire for diversity equity inclusion to become a core part. And I think it happened in many of the of the presidential campaigns. Um so we we really have to do that internal work and prioritize it and make sure that we’re putting people in those positions in terms of making key decisions for the people, the candidates, the elected officials. But we do also have to uh recruit black women and get black women into office and vote for black women. And and you know, we’re seeing this right now with the conversation about the vice presidential pick. There are like black women are really lobbying and being vocal about the fact that yes, we are the most reliable voting block and the Democratic Party owes us. Um, the there was a great video that came out a few days ago with, you know, Angela Rye and Bernie Pack net and several other um leading black women political voices saying we want a black woman vice president. We have we have been here and we’ve been holding it down and it’s time. So I think that it just is going to take um advocacy from all ends. Uh, we need our um, art white brothers and sisters are brown black. Everybody, we all need to come together and advocate for um black women to hold these positions get elected and um and be given opportunities.

[0:17:30 Peniel] I want to follow up with that in that discussion about black women and the vice presidential slot in the Democratic Party. No black woman in american history has ever been on any major party ticket. And I say major party ticket because smaller party tickets have run. Black women such as Angela Davis. And certainly Shirley Chisholm ran for president. But no black woman has ever made either the Republican or Democratic Party national ticket.

[0:17:57 Brencia] I

[0:17:58 Peniel] want to ask you about, what do you think? Because you’ve been in these rooms as Chief of staff in san Antonio and as part of the warren campaign, you’ve been in these rooms where people are strategizing and making decisions and really having debates when you think about the Democratic Party and insiders and donors and people who think about the cold calculus of politics, What do you think are some of the positives and negatives attached to names like Stacey Abrams, who is a U. T LBJ school alum, the Georgia representative, former state representative who is now running voting rights movement and organization in Georgia but was defeated in a gubernatorial race in 2018 that was marred by voter suppression and racial discrimination. Um People talk about val Demings, the florida uh florida representative who is african american and of course Kamila Harris, who is really the highest ranking elected official in the United States, who is a black woman, um Kamala Harris, the senator out of California. What give me, give me and give our listeners just a small candid analysis of what would be the pluses and minuses that Democratic Party operatives in the biden campaign would be thinking about vis a vis adding any of those women to the ticket. And in a way that they might think of as just in quotes, objective analysis, in quotes, what would be the pluses and minuses?

[0:19:31 Brencia] You know, I think that one like a huge plus for for for uh Stacey Abrams leader Abrams’s is the momentum that she had. Um I mean, she really had a nationwide um support and people cheering for her when she was running for governor. And I I I have read and you know, a lot of thought leaders have pointed to the fact that one of the uh things that could count against her is that she does not have a ton of experience in terms of, like you said, the same national um policy experience and uh executive experience,

[0:20:25 Peniel] she’s never been elected at the federal level. Yes or really? Yeah. Yes,

[0:20:30 Brencia] exactly. Um that people like Senator Harris has, like you said, she is a sitting U. S. Senator and and she does have that experience. Um And so I think that that is something that I have been uh thinking about in terms of mm which direction that they may go now. I do also know that part of the cold calculus is the midwest when they are thinking about polling and places where vice president biden uh does need to get, you know, the electoral votes to win the presidency. But

[0:21:19 Peniel] when we think about michigan Wisconsin pennsylvania, which Hillary clinton lost by 70,000 votes, can’t can’t you win those states? If you have an absolute robust african american turnout, especially with black women. Or as the calculus saying, which I thought of as well because of the shell beholder decision voter suppression in the United States is to embedded for these black votes to count in places like Ohio florida, Wisconsin, pennsylvania michigan. And at that point, if that is true, then you really couldn’t win with them. Because there’s too many obstacles to have the same kind of robust black female vote that catapulted Barack Obama to re election in 2012. Is that part of the calculus?

[0:22:03 Brencia] I definitely think so, and I definitely think so, as we are, as we were facing so much uncertainty in the time of the coronavirus. Uh, and, you know, I mean, looking at even the the congressional district special elections that just happened with in California, uh, with Katie Hill’s old seat and the district in Wisconsin, when we are gearing up and looking at potentially uh, having mail in ballots in states where there is, there are conservative um, governors. And even, you know, California was concerning because there is a, there is a Democratic governor and that seat was still lost, and and

[0:22:52 Peniel] although there’s going to be a special election was lost, but that c is still going to be up again in a few

[0:22:58 Brencia] right, its right. Exactly, but it was a big, it was a huge indicator and and maybe he just is too aggressive, but it was an indicator of the changes that we’re looking at in terms of mail in ballots. And like you said, the opportunity for voter suppression is even greater as our voting systems were already challenged, but we have to do this massive shift relatively quickly, um, and we just don’t know what’s ahead of us. So I think that to your point, yes, there there is definitely concerned about voter suppression, but uh, we also, I also don’t want to frame it in the sense of, you know, that black people will not get out and vote or that we won’t do what is needed if there is a black woman on the ticket, because I do believe that um that black people and black women will show up as they always do.

[0:24:04 Peniel] All right. My my final question is concerning the coronavirus Covid 19. And really the Democratic Party, because we know the Democratic Party has not been in power. Um they have the House of Representatives, but they had to craft a deal a stimulus package. Uh, that really was not nearly as progressive progressive as I think even Speaker Pelosi and certainly Senator Warren and Senator Sanders would have liked, what can the Democratic Party do in the context of Covid 19 and the massive racial disparities that we’ve seen in terms of black death and suffering of of both victims, but also frontline workers, those who are incarcerated. Um african americans not having access, um the same kind of access to telecommute from home, the white counterpart. Less than 20% of us have that access. Um black kids who are in poor districts not having, you know, experiencing food insecurity and food and justice because schools have closed down at the same time. You have governors like governor kemp of Georgia who have opened everything up and really are presenting black people with a crisis because they are predominantly these frontline workers at the nail salons, delivering packages at restaurants, black and latin X people are going to be more exposed to the virus and that we’ve seen armed militias threatening our democracy in michigan and elsewhere. What should the Democratic Party be doing? Especially in light of not just all this uncertainty but all this oppression that we’ve we’ve seen, really unleashed on communities of color that don’t have bubbles of protection against covid and unemployment and, and racism. And I might add, we’ve seen the police brutality uh nationally against african americans who are perceived not to be socially distancing, especially in new york, but elsewhere, and whites being treated completely different and professionally, both white citizens, but also even armed militias. So it’s a very, very dangerous and tragic time and moment era. We’re living in american history. And what if anything, can the Democratic Party do? What should it be trying to do at this point?

[0:26:24 Brencia] Yeah. You know, I think that um there are, it’s going to take bolds action on the part of the Democratic Party uh to really address like you said. I mean it is also once again intersectional like you said, when it comes to education, health care and uh unemployment, that one as we are looking at reopening, uh, and there needs to be a solid plan and I hope that our democratic leadership continues to fight like hell and push to make sure that people um who are the most vulnerable, which are majority black and brown people um are a huge part of whatever. Uh we put forward in terms of at all levels federal, state local. So I’m actually in Chicago uh right now and you know, like you said, we have seen that over in Garfield park, people have been uh, I’d to show that they live in certain places and police in the time of coronavirus. That has to stop, you know, the police chief from, from Dallas is our incoming police chief here. We all police departments need to uh, mayors need to be working with police departments to make sure that, but that is not happening and that there are policies in place to two avoid that type of discretion and abuse and misuse of power. Um I’m really, really sad and I want to call out Brianna Taylor, one of our frontline workers who wasn’t even safe enough to uh huh like she, the work that she’s doing to save other people’s lives did not prevent her from being killed in her own home uh by a multi arised police state. Uh and so we really do one, we need to figure out a ways to safely reopen because in Georgia, like you said, the people on the front lines providing services are black folks. And so if we’re going to be reopening places, we need to make sure that people are getting tested. We need to expand testing for everybody and and stop putting people in harm’s way, especially black and brown people. And so there are so many organizations who are on who are advocating and and pushing, I know here in Chicago, we have right to recovery and there are nationwide efforts to try to protect black and brown communities. So I think that democratic leaders and and just leaders in general need to listen to black people, uh, we need to figure out a way to uh, provide some type of relief when it comes to health care as black people are dying, you know, here in Chicago six times at the rate of white people who are catching the coronavirus and people. And I have personally, uh, witness friends who have black women who have been turned away, who have asthma who have for existing conditions, who weren’t able to get tested. Um, and uh, we saw the young woman in massachusetts who who died as a result of that. And so there’s too much discretion that’s, uh, that’s happening right now. And we know that when dealing with systems and institutions, when there’s discretion, black people will always too much discretion. Black people will always suffer. So it really is up to our lawmakers and elected officials to start, uh, thinking about ways to eliminate barriers for people on the front lines and who are desperately impacted by all of this. But to also start to put systems in place to eliminate discretion, uh, in certain areas when it comes to policing black neighborhoods unduly for, uh, social distancing as well as, um, making sure that hospitals and emergency rooms are not turning people away. And that there was one really sad case where a man here in Chicago named Carl Read, who was a veteran, died and died with a, with a ton of medical bills and he was scared to go get health care and he died from the coronavirus because of the the fear of the medical bills. And that’s just no way for us to treat our veterans. Um for us to treat are essential workers. And so I I just I think that it is way past time for our elected officials to be bold in the action that they’re taking as we are facing this global pandemic.

[0:31:44 Peniel] All right, so we’ll end it there. A Democratic Party elected officials need to listen to black people try to mitigate the really catastrophic kaleidoscopic damage that’s happening and encouraging communities of color. Um Thank you so much. We’ve been joined by, I really enjoyed our conversation Brancia Barry, who is a native of Texas and she is uh alum of the LBJ School of Public Affairs, where she earned her master’s degree in Public affairs. She has served as National Deputy Director of Public Affairs and the deputy advanced director for the Elizabeth Warren presidential campaign, um and as the national deputy director of public engagement, she created the vision for building issues centric events for senator warren and surrogates and served as the communication department lead for policy rollouts. Uh She was the first black woman to be named Chief of Staff for a council member in the Senate in the city of San Antonio’s history. And her ultimate goal is to build power and marginalized communities and build more equitable outcomes by serving and giving so through service oriented leadership. So bronzy. A very thank you for joining us here on race and democracy. Thanks for listening to this episode and you can check out related content on twitter at Peniel joseph, that’s P E N I E L J O S E P H and our website CSRD.LBJ.utexas.edu. And the Center for Study of Race and Democracy is on facebook as well. This podcast was recorded at the Liberal Arts Development Studio at the College of Liberal Arts, at the University of texas at Austin. Thank you. Mm