The Bay Votes 2024: Black Voices & The Election

Join KALW for an important panel discussion with community leaders, advocates and academics about the diverse Black electorate. Moderated by KALW’s Hana Baba, host of Crosscurrents and co-host of "The Stoop" podcast. Featuring panelists Pastor Michael McBride, Aimee Allison, and Professor James Lance Taylor.

The initial surge of enthusiasm for a Kamala Harris presidency has settled into reality. The polls show this remains an extremely tight race. Every vote is critical and both campaigns are seeking the votes of Black Americans. But are all Black Americans - all in - for Kamala? Have attitudes changed after the Harris - Trump debate? What are the real conversations happening in Black communities as they prepare to vote in November?

We’ll explore Bay Area Black politics and the resistance to the Harris candidacy by some Black voters. We’ll hear from members of Bay Area Black communities, members, immigrants and diaspora and talk openly about issues including the "tough on crime" positions we’re seeing from the Bay Area to the White House.

There is a $10 - $20 sliding scale suggested donation for this event. Nobody will be turned away for lack of funds. We're hosting this gathering to help inform the electorate.

Please become a KALW member today and receive your first drink on us at all 220 Montgomery events.

Rev. Michael McBride is the executive director for LIVE FREE USA, a national organizing and social change network committed to ending the criminalization of people of color, reducing gun violence and transforming the policing and the criminal justice system. He was named by the Center for American Progress as a Top Clergy Leader in 2013 and served on President Obama’s Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships Council to address Poverty and Inequality in 2016. He is one of the national leaders in the movement to implement community violence intervention and public health gun violence prevention programs, recently featured as one of CNN's Champions of Change.

Pastor McBride is a Square One Fellow at Columbia University Justice Policy Lab. He is the co-founder of Black Church PAC and the Black Brown Peace Consortium. Pastor McBride serves as the Lead Pastor of The Way Church in Berkeley, CA. He has been a frequent contributor to the New York Times, the Washington Post, MSNBC, CNN, the Huffington Post and many other media outlets.

Aimee Allison is a writer, democratic innovator, and visionary champion of racial and gender justice. She is the Founder and President of She the People, the nation’s leading organization dedicated to an America redefined and inspired by women of color. 

Renowned for her national efforts to build inclusive, multiracial coalitions, Allison organized and moderated the nation’s first presidential forum for women of color, attended by Presidential candidates and more than 1000 women from across the country, garnering major national press. 

At She the People, Allison leverages media, research and analysis to show the power of the women of color electorate, increase voter engagement, and advocate for racial, economic and gender justice. In her writings in The New York Times, Newsweek, The Washington Post, and Essence Magazine, Allison has made the definitive case that women of color are the saving graces of our American democracy.

Professor James Lance Taylor is the author of the book Black Nationalism in the United States: From Malcolm X to Barack Obama, which earned 2012 "Outstanding Academic Title" - Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries.

He is a former President of the National Conference of Black Political Scientists (NCOBPS), an important organization of African American, African, and Afro Caribbean political scientists in the United States, 2009-2011. Taylor also served as Chair of the Department of Politics at the University of San Francisco from 2012-2015, and Faculty Coordinator of the African American Studies Program for 2015-2017. He served as the Chair for the “Committee on the Status of Blacks” in Political Science for the American Political Science Association (APSA), 2016-2017.

Professor Taylor is currently writing and researching a book with the working title, Peoples Temple, Jim Jones, and California Black Politics. He expects the book to be completed with a 2018-2019 publication range. The book is a study of the Peoples Temple movement and African American political history in the state of California.

Hana Baba is an award-winning radio journalist and host of "Crosscurrents," the daily newsmagazine on NPR member station KALW Public Radio in San Francisco. She is also co-host/co-producer of The Stoop podcast, telling stories from across the Black Diaspora.

A Sudanese American, she enjoys exploring intersectionality and the richness of diaspora and immigrant community experiences. Her work also appears on NPR, PRI, BBC, and others, and she has interviewed personalities like Levar Burton, Jimmy Carter, Stacey Abrams, David Oyelowo, Uzo Aduba and more.

Hana regularly speaks and consults with communities on how to enter media fields to affect change in current media narratives about African, Arab and Muslim communities. She also teaches radio journalism, is a lecturer of the UC Berkeley Podcast Bootcamp, and is a voice and narration coach.

Her work has won awards by the National Association of Black Journalists , The Goldziher prize, the Religion News Association, the San Francisco Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, she is a Webby honoree and was named a Bay Area African Cultural Icon by the California Legislature.

The National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) NorCal mission is to lead, empower and advocate for women of African descent, their families and communities.

National Council of Negro Women (NCNW) is an “organization of organizations,” comprised of 330 campus and community-based sections and 33 national women’s organizations that enlightens, inspires, and connects more than 2,000,000 women and men. Its mission is to lead, advocate for, and empower women of African descent, their families, and communities. It was founded in 1935 by Dr. Mary McLeod Bethune, an influential educator and activist, and for more than fifty years, the iconic Dr. Dorothy Height was president of NCNW.

Today, the NCNW programs are grounded on a foundation of critical concerns that are now “NCNW Priorities.” Our organization promotes education; encourages entrepreneurship, financial literacy, and economic stability; educates women about health and promotes healthcare access, and promotes civic engagement and advocates for sound public policy and social justice.

📍 220 Montgomery St., San Francisco, 2 blocks from BART/MUNI
🚪 Doors open at 5:00
🗣️ Program begins at 6:00
🍕 Free snacks
🍷 Refreshments for donation (and KALW members get their first one on the house)
🆓 The event is free with an RSVP — and you are welcome to donate what you want

Please note:

• The event space is just to the left of the main entrance to the Mills Building at 220 Montgomery Street
• We recommend taking BART/MUNI, exiting at Montgomery, and walking two blocks north
• Ride-shares can drop off and pick up directly in front of the venue
• If you drive, there are several garages within two blocks of the event location

Host or Publisher KALW Public Media