IN ASSOCIATION WITH THE PRESIDENTIAL DAILY BRIEF

Conversation Starter:

The Take On America Dossier

This is an OZY Special Briefing, an extension of the Presidential Daily Brief. The Special Briefing tells you what you need to know about an important issue, individual or story that is making news. Each one serves up an interesting selection of facts, opinions, images and videos in order to catch you up and vault you ahead.

WHAT TO KNOW

Take On America with OZY has premiered. This innovative town hall series launched in Baltimore with a candid and at times heated discussion about Brett Kavanaugh, Colin Kaepernick, Blackness, policing, fatherhood and Donald Trump — led by 100 Black Men and a panel of special guests. The series confronts the most pressing issues in the country, hosted by Emmy Award-winning journalist and OZY cofounder Carlos Watson, who will also lead discussions with White women in Nashville (airing Oct. 25), Latino families in New York City (Nov. 1) and Asian-American millennials in San Francisco (also Nov. 1). Premiering on PBS, as well as on YouTube, Facebook and OZY.com, the series aims to foster dialogue while proving that you can’t judge any book by its cover.

HOW TO THINK ABOUT IT

This isn’t your grandma’s town hall. Typically, the onus is on citizens to ask polite questions of politicians who are trained to duck and cover. Yes, there are celebrity guests, everyone from Jemele Hill and Lawrence Gilliard Jr. to Vanessa Carlton, Mayor Carmen Cruz and Eddie Huang. But they’re just the appetizers … to a delightful dish of voices from everyday folks — activists and business leaders to artists and scientists — cutting past the Beltway banter to the heart of what’s on America’s mind. And their answers might surprise you as they paint a far fuller picture than pollsters ever could.

Just the beginning. The 2020 election is two years away, and we already have would-be candidates holding rallies and visiting Iowa. As the presidential race beckons, it will be more important to understand your neighbor. Last year, we reported from all 50 states to introduce you to those outside of your bubble, and this year, we visited every nation on Earth. Now it’s time to take those conversations further, with plans to speak to NRA members, teenagers, Muslim-Americans, teachers and clergy in states across the country. And we will be one day closer to town halls that bring together the entire American family in one powerful conversation.

WHAT TO READ

What the Black Men Who Identify With Brett Kavanaugh Are Missing, by Jemele Hill, in her inaugural article for The Atlantic
“Kavanaugh’s emotional defense of his reputation against the claims of a sympathetic white woman resonated with these unlikely allies. And it wasn’t just in Baltimore, at the town hall organized for Ozy Media’s Take On America series. This bizarre kinship was something I noticed in my Twitter mentions, too, where black men were tossing out examples of how white lies had wrecked black lives.”

The Black Men Who Identify With Brett Kavanaugh Understand the Stakes, by David French for the National Review
“It is true that, as Hill notes, Kavanaugh was more powerful than the young black men who face similarly terrifying accusations that can ruin their lives, but the answer isn’t to convince black Americans that Kavanaugh should face the kind of ‘justice’ that they have faced far too often throughout our nation’s history. It’s to convince America that due process and the presumption of innocence belong to all of us, no matter our social station, even when prison isn’t at stake.”

WHAT TO WATCH

Take On America. 100 voices. 1 explosive conversion.

“Society cannot handle the truth.”

Longtime Baltimore Activist Duane “Shorty” Davis calls BLM’s DeRay Mckesson a “carpetbagger”

“DeRay couldn’t even look me in my face, man to man, and he cut and ran. … The same way they chased him out of Ferguson, I’m going to chase him out of Baltimore.”

WHAT TO SAY AT THE WATERCOOLER

Diversity isn’t skin deep. Ideology. Socioeconomic class. Generational status. We are more than our hues and, indeed, those forces shape us as much as race. Yet we often talk about Americans as voter groups based upon the color of their skin or their ethnicity. While each town hall focuses on a specific group — such as 100 Black men or 100 White women — the personalities we engage with are far from monochromatic. Too often, preconceived notions have silenced communities before they ever say a word. Here is a chance to have honest conversations that spotlight and cut across the partisan divide.

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