As Morra noted yesterday, Laurie White and I will be blogging the first All American Presidential Forum, airing live on PBS from 9-10:30 from Howard University in Washington, DC. This forum will feature all eight Democratic presidential hopefuls. A forum for Republican candidates will be held on September 27 at Morgan State University. Laurie and I chatted about why this forum is unique, and what we each expect to see addressed.

Kim: Hi Laurie,
Well I'm excited that we will be working together to live-blog tomorrow's Candidates Forum.

Laurie: As am I!

Kim: There are a lot of things that are unique about this forum, as you know. There is the fact that it arose from a series of meetings in African American communities across the country over the last several years, which culminated in the publication of the document, the Covenant With Black America. Both the Republican and Democratic Parties promised in February, 2006 that their candidates and platforms would respond to the analyses offered in that document. And as you've mentioned, there is the fact that the forum is taking place at Howard University, a leading Historically Black College.

What are some of the things that you think about in preparing for the forum, in light of those facts?

Laurie: In the few days since I've learned I'd be covering the event, I've been reading a great deal about the Covenant and different perspectives on the event from the other bloggers who will be covering it with us. To be honest, I wasn't familiar with the Covenant With Black America going in, so learning more about it has helped me to understand what sets this forum apart from the many that the candidates from both parties will engage in over the next several months.

I'm also excited about the inclusion of bloggers in the media pool and about our access to the conversation, and our ability to get it out there in a variety of venues.

Kim: I think that's one thing that will be interesting as we do this together. I would venture to say that a lot of people aren't familiar with the Covenant.

Laurie: I wasn't, that's for sure.

Kim: By contrast, I've watched or listened to most of the "State of Black America" summits that Tavis Smiley has hosted on C-SPAN, and I am familiar with the Covenant itself.

Laurie: but I can see how my perspective will be useful to others who may just be finding this out, and who may be wondering how they can get involved in conversations surrounding what I think is one of the most critical elections in our history.

Kim: Smiley's community dialogues have attracted people from a wide range of backgrounds throughout the African American community.

Laurie: That's great, and I think it's important that they be opened up now, so other groups and individuals can learn what the concerns and priorities are. As a white woman and an educator, I represent a variety of different constituencies, so I'll bring those perspectives to my observations.

Kim: And as a black woman and an educator, I bring a complex perspective as well.

Laurie: Absolutely. So hopefully, together, we can speak to what we see and hear, and readers can draw their own conclusions based on that.

Kim: I think, like you, that this is a crucial election.

Laurie: I am also really new to political coverage, so I'll be sharing some of what that's all about - being involved in things that I've previously only seen on the television and the Internet.

Kim: I also think that this event crystallizes a coming of age of a new generation of post-civil rights African American political and media leadership.

Laurie: That's what I've been so happy to learn about from you. (And also from some of the reading I've done of other bloggers who will be covering the event with us.)

Kim: That's important, because it affects the dynamics of power within both the Democratic and Republican Parties.

Laurie: Right....and we've already seen some of that play out in the preliminary controversy over Frank Luntz being chosen as a commentator.

Kim: It's been controversial in the blogosphere, and even in the discussions among the bloggers who will be participating.

Laurie: Again, this was a new name for me, and from what I've read already I can see how this is seen to be colliding with PBS's interests as a sponsor/broadcaster, Tavis Smiley's role as a prominent voice in the media, and the folks who will be covering the event. Not to mention the candidates.) Morra Aarons wrote the post on Blogher that helped to clarify just what this all meant. So props to her for helping me put it in context.

Kim: Absolutely.
Laurie: (And to Bloghim Earl Dunovant Prometheus 6 who I've also been following along with for the past three days.) The community needs to know that I've REALLY gotten a crash course. So any mistakes are mine and mine alone, but they're completely unintentional!

Kim: One thing I would add to Morra's analysis is that I think that Tavis and PBS missed a great opportunity by not having a commentator who can speak to what this forum means to American politics.

Laurie: I think so too. Why does he have to be the only one? Could there not be a more balanced view? In this case is someone like him chosen for shock value? Or as a challenge to the candidates?

Kim: Scholars such as Jennifer Hochshild at Harvard have been doing studies for years about why our views of what it means to be American tends to split along lines of race and class. Someone like her, who can explain why it is that Americans with similar aspirations may come to completely different conclusions about the best policies for, for example, improving education.

Laurie: Also, given the intellectual capital here in DC universities - I would think a political science/government professor would have been a worthy choice.

Kim: Sure, Ron Walters has been studying these issues for years, and if you wanted a conservative view for balance, economist Walter Williams is also in the DC area.

As you know, I took each of the issues in the Covenant platform and looked for statements from the candidates about them.

Laurie: I know, it's helped me out a lot.

Kim: Thanks. :-) There are issues on that list that haven't been part of the national dialogue. For example, the Covenant lists the issues of Criminal Justice and Police Accountability.

Laurie: Very important for many different groups.

Kim: I found that few of the candidates explicitly address issues related to crime in the position statements, much less the level of detail that the Covenant calls for. As I noticed from this morning's news, Philadelphia has already had about 200 homicides this year, and funds for community policing have been cut under this administration, according to critics.

Laurie: In DC itself there's been a recent refocus on issues related to crime and numbers of police, specifically since Cathy Lanier took over.

Kim: It's an issue in cities across the country, but it's not really addressed in the political debate.

Laurie: It's interesting that (from the other side) [former Mayor Rudy] Giuliani's term in NYC was one of the few that's really focused on reducing crime and supporting the police force.
But I haven't looked at statistics from there lately, to be honest. It seems like it's one of those hot potatoes that gets tossed around

Kim: Guiliani had a strained relationship with communities of color.The truth is that community policing in New York started under [former mayor, David] Dinkins.

Laurie: (Right, and a lot of that hype was just that...from what I read.) It was turned into more of a pr push when he was there, and that led to the 9/11 stuff,(his leadership, etc.)

Kim: And the killing of Amadou Diallo happened on his watch.

Laurie: But THAT's another story. For next week.

Kim: Indeed, for the Republican forum on Sept. 27 as well. But it does raise the issue of police accountability.

Laurie: I think it's an important question to ask them.

Kim:

Agreed.

Laurie: Because only three of the candidates have any statement whatsoever.

Kim: Another issue that no one explicitly addresses is environmental justice.

Kim: While most of the candidates say something about environmental policy generally, the environmental assaults on poor communities and communities of color are unaddressed. There was an EJ case from Camden, New Jersey that went to the Supreme Court that I feel particularly keenly, because it's where I was born and there is reason to believe that what I was exposed to then led to my health problems now.

Laurie: Could this be part of the situation where we are more focused on global issues, because of the last two terms of engaging in the Middle East conflicts and defense. And therefore our focus on issues affecting our own citizens is skewed or nonexistent.

Kim: Certainly the Middle East has been a major preoccupation. But I would argue that many of these issues were neglected and manipulated long before 2001.

Laurie: True.

Kim: For example, the Covenant talks about affordable neighborhoods.

Laurie: The state of the Anacostia River and surrounding neighborhoods in DC is an indication of such neglect.

Kim: Right

Laurie: And I also think that that situation - affordability - impacts people (at least in metro areas) who are increasingly better paid, and more in debt. Who cannot afford housing...so you end up with a middle class who cannot get ahead, regardless of color. And then you add in the difficulty of acquiring loans or housing (even rental). If you are a person of color or woman on your own(or both) that is really impacting quality of life. Neighborhoods where trash is not picked up, where repairs are not made,

Kim: There is also the fact that HUD hasn't been significantly involved in building new housing in 25 years, from what I have read.

Laurie: (to piggyback on what you were saying about Camden - less toxic physically not no less so to the psyche.) Gentrification of cities is another matter - DC is going through this now in new "revitalization" spots where condos are 500k. So where do people go?

Kim: Much of the affordable housing effort has been ceded to non-profits, like Habitat for Humanity, which do a wonderful job, but are limited in their capacity.

Kim: Exactly.

Laurie: again, this touches those in true poverty,but also those who are trying to get out, who are just above the line or even a little bit more than just, but who cannot afford to pay 25k for a parking space.

Kim: That's the big issue in New Orleans, too. How can you have a city that thrives on tourism, without making it possible for the people who serve the tourists to live and work there?

Laurie: I've grown up in this [DC] area, and what I hear constantly is that "DC isn't a REAL city" --that it lacks the cohesion of a NY or a Chicago

Kim: What does THAT mean?

Laurie: fragmented neighborhoods surrounding monuments and museums also that public transportation is less connected more gaps (particularly with the suburbs). I can see the point, but what I think it's really a sign of is that there is less focus on the local issues because the Federal are so prominent [DC Mayor] Fenty is pledging to change this...we'll see

Kim: It's like the national neglect of local communities writ large.

Kim: One other issue I'd mention, is rural economic development

Laurie: The rural piece is important from two perspectives, I think the people who have always lived there, (say in your smaller towns anywhere, but particularly in the south and midwest, let's say) and people who have ended up there for whatever reason - migration, sprawl, affordable housing. and whether communities are prepared for their needs, and what kinds of prejudice they face there. (either old or new.)

Kim: It's important to African Americans because that is where, historically many of us owned land and where a lot of the environmental degradation takes place and where a dwindling number of black farmers are struggling to survive.

Laurie: Yes, i see that when i travel to NC and SC, which i'm about to do yet again.

Kim: In the communities I've seen, the only employers are stores like Walmart, a limited number of factories with horrific working conditions, or the drug trade. The rates of functional illiteracy are daunting.

Laurie: or the military, which is why the recruiters hang out at the Walmart.

Kim: Right

Laurie: Well, I see that here, in my suburban college. Lack of preparation - increased gang activity in our suburbs. etc. Which of course brings me back to my favorite topic, education.

Kim: Oh Yes!

Laurie: some households don't have books.at all.

Kim: There is a great discussion of No Child Left Behind on BlogHer

Laurie: there is no prior history of college in the family, or perhaps even high school.

Kim: Right.

Laurie: so we have a situation in the metro area (in one of the wealthiest counties in the country) where you have people who are in the top tier and then many in the bottom.

Kim: The dropout rates in some high schools are as high as 50 percent in some cities.

Laurie: The cost of college is prohibitive and there is no universal transition from hs onward But most jobs in the so-called "knowledge economy" require you to know something.

Kim: And the direction of financial aid over the last 15 years has been away from need-based grants and toward loans and merit-scholarships. Which benefit the people with the highest median family incomes

Laurie: so it's possible to end up either a lawyer or working at Dominos. I'd like to know how the candidates define a "knowledge economy" in fact, and how they'd expect a poor child from a family w/ no history of college attendance to enter it.

Kim: And that's so closely tied to immigration policy. A number of the candidates have talked about improving affordability and access.

Laurie: When an MBA at Penn costs 175k (no lie - we checked here recently.)

Kim: I know -- my daughter graduated from college in Dec. 2005, And I put my son through two years of boarding school because the public schools were not working for him. So that was the equivalent of two college tuitions -- which I can't afford at all. But
I have a decent job and more resources than most parents trying to educate their children.

Laurie: It stretches even well-paid people I see it here at work all the time. I'm going back to school on a fellowship - that's the only way.

Kim: Good for you! It's one of the things that frankly galls me when people talk about how well the economy is doing.

Laurie: More student loan forgiveness programs would be nice. to get people on their feet in useful jobs so they don't have to become financiers or government workers if they don't want to.

Kim: And it feeds the gangsta mentality that you and I work so hard to combat. Because too many young people don't see a logical connection between hard work, academic achevement and a good life. The people they see who have played by the rules, often end up squeezed, just as you say.

Clearly we have a lot more to talk about. See you in DC!