BET is planning to shine a lightweight on the upcoming presidential election, with what it hopes might be a sequence of primetime election specials.
The primary of these specials, “What’s At Stake: 2024 Election Particular,” will debut June 4 at 10 p.m., on BET, BET Her, and VH1.
The particular might be hosted by BET correspondent Ed Gordon, and can characteristic a roundtable dialogue with Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), Rep. Joyce Beatty (D-OH), and Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-TX), all members of the Congressional Black Caucus.
“I believe clearly it’s an attention-grabbing time for the nation,” Gordon tells The Hollywood Reporter in an interview. “Not only for the Black citizens, however for all of us, this query of democracy and the place we stand and so BET felted it doubly necessary to make it possible for we received in entrance of giving the Black viewer particularly what is required to consider to interact on this essential political time.”
Gordon says that the particular will give attention to problems with significance to Black voters, together with the state of the economic system and gun violence, amongst different subjects.
“I imply, [Democratic strategist James] Carville hit it greatest when he mentioned ‘it’s the economic system, silly’ and it appears to all the time be that means. As we all the time say, sadly, African People are all the time on the underside rung of that,” Gordon says. “In order that’s of giant import to African People. We took a have a look at the thought of the continued gun violence that plagues city areas and too usually to many African American communities, and we might dive into the Biden administration and the historical past of it when it comes to their eager to counsel that they’ve completed fairly a bit for the African American group, and it’s no secret that there’s been some skepticism by many black voters or some black voters, I ought to say.
“We expect that this was a type of occasions that these representatives — I’ve identified two of the three for a very long time, coated them for a while — I believe that they have been very upfront and perhaps rather less guarded than traditional, this go spherical,” Gordon added.
He additionally acknowledged that whereas the three representatives featured within the particular are all Democrats, he can be completely happy to host Republicans as properly.
“Some folks will say that these are three Democrats, and this has all the time been the case, I’ve discovered it’s very troublesome to get Republicans to come back on African American shops, black or in any other case,” Gordon says. “And so we aren’t trying to not give voice or alternative to Republicans and the Republican Social gathering, it’s simply what they settle for at that time.”
For Gordon, the protection additionally carries a number of weight. A veteran journalist (he has been an anchor and correspondent for BET on and off since 1988, and has additionally labored for NBC Information, CBS Information, and NPR), Gordon says that, “I can say with out query — and I believe it’s a sense that many individuals have — that the time we sit in now on this election is one that’s going to form this nation, good or dangerous, for the following technology or two.”
“We see if Donald Trump wins the thought of what he’s telegraphing the thought of a Supreme Court docket that might be unabashedly conservative, we see the thought of it being okay to make use of a few of the techniques that his administration used and he continues to tout,” Gordon says. “And I believe it’s a reckoning for Democrats. It’s a time that I believe many African People are saying, ‘yeah, you understand, it’s not sufficient simply to indicate up at a church and sway with us to a gospel hymn that you could be know or your advisers informed you about,’ you understand, within the case of Obama and even Clinton, they most likely knew about them and to a lesser diploma diploma, Joe Biden, however African People are saying it’s received to be an even bigger repair than we’ve seen if you wish to proceed to depend on our votes.
“You may’t simply you understand, [say] the rising tide lifts all boats. Effectively, there are numerous folks within the African American group who’re nonetheless ready for his or her boat to elevate,” Gordon provides. “And I believe they see the concept if the truth is, the nation goes a technique, these boats could keep mired within the sludge and underwater.”