(AllHipHop News) Joe Biden, through Biden For President, has launched a national series meant to engage Black men through a series of panel discussions. The inaugural edition of “Shop Talk” features Congressman Cedric Richmond, Mandela Barnes, Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor, AllHipHop CEO Chuck Creekmur, music mogul Jermaine Dupri, and actor Terrance J.
Gaulien “Gee” Smith, a Wisconsin small business owner, formally will play host to the event that is hosted in the battleground state.
The roundtable aims to focus on “issues impacting Black men in Wisconsin and around the nation” according to a press release issued by Biden for President. The discussion will also allow Wisconsin residents to discuss their feeling and emotions surrounding the police shooting of Jacob Blake, which continues to reverberate around the nation.
The event will be streamed Thursday, August 27 at 6:00 PM CT/ 7 PM EST/ 4 PM PST on AllHipHop’s social networks as well as Joe Biden’s official Facebook page. RSVP for the event by going to this link. https://www.mobilize.us/wi2020victory/event/310912/
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden expressed the sentiment of a nation after Jacob Blake, an American citizen of Kenosha, Wisconsin was shot seven times in the back by a police officer. The shooting, which happened in front of Blake’s three sons, caused days of unrest in Kenosha.
“Once again, a Black man — Jacob Blake — was shot by the police. In front of his children,” Joe Biden said in a statement, “It makes me sick. Is this the country we want to be? Needless violence won’t heal us. We need to end the violence — and peacefully come together to demand justice.” (Click here for the full video statement on Twitter.)
Jermaine Dupri, a music and TV impresario, told AllHipHop that there is a myriad of conversations occurring simultaneously and they are all important.
“It’s a lot of conversation going on with the election. It’s important to know that we are not being ignored. It’s important to highlight the multi conversations being discussed among the people. Among Black people themselves, black men, everything. It’s an important conversation to be had, you know, for Joe Biden‘s team to [reach out] lets people know – that not all of this stuff is going to be addressed – but a lot of the people’s concerns will be addressed in some kind of way.
It’s a lot of things that, in the old ways of politicians and the old ways of politics, people [politicians] don’t always share that they are being heard. You are then led to believe that you were not being heard. This election is the one where all of that should change for a second. Everybody should be aware of what’s happening.
One of the things that we have to address is that there are a lot of undercover Black people that voted for Trum p.We got a lot of Black people that don’t wanna vote – Period. We got a lot of people that don’t like either of the candidates. Those two issues are just as big as anything else. A lot of that comes from Trump’s angle to get in office.”
Kamau Marshall, Director of Strategic Communications, stated that amplifying Black male voices is a critical component of the Joe Biden-Kamala Harris tick
“We always strive for authenticity when engaging our key constituency groups by meeting people where they are and facilitating spaces for empowering and forward-looking discussions,” Marshall said in a statement. “Shop Talk is one of the new Biden-Harris coalition programs that was created for Black men, and led by Director of African American Engagement Trey Baker. To have that space is an example of how our campaign is bringing like-minds together to stand up for the issues they care about the most.”
Marshall said that the discussions would help reinforce the notion that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, the hopeful vice president, undoubtedly seek to help Black men in these turbulent times.
He concluded, “By selecting a state to anchor the conversation each week, we’re confident that these gatherings will energize more Black men to support Joe Biden and Kamala Harris — the candidates that will undoubtedly champion their safety, economic prosperity, and physical and mental well-being.”
RSVP for the event by going to this link. https://www.mobilize.us/wi2020victory/event/310912/
