NBC cheers ‘end of White politics’ with far-left partisan pundit

9:14 AM ET

AL ROKER: Welcome back, everybody. Election day is just about four months away, our next guest, a campaign veteran, working on the campaigns of both President Obama and former First Lady Hillary Clinton.

CRAIG MELVIN: Zerlina Maxwell is also an MSNBC political analyst and the senior director of progressive programming over at SiriusXM radio. And now, she’s an author as well. There’s the new book, it’s called The End of White Politics: How to Heal Our Liberal Divide. And she joins us now, good to see you. Zerlina, good morning

ZERLINA MAXWELL: Good to see you, too, good morning.

[ON-SCREEN HEADLINE: “The End of White Politics”; MSNBC Political Analyst Zerlina Maxwell on the 2020 Race & Her New Book]

MELVIN: So the spark for this book, as I understand at least, it sort of came at a time when you were speaking on a panel at Politicon, which is this nonpartisan event that takes place annually, what happened?

MAXWELL: I got booed, Craig. And all I was trying to say in that particular moment was that black women are the base, the loyal base of the Democratic Party and that we want to be heard and seen and validated in the fact that we are the ones who win the elections for Democrats. And I was booed, and mostly by Bernie Sanders supporters. And as a result, in that moment, I decided I was going to use that moment to really articulate my vision for the future of the Democratic Party. Because Pew Research predicts that by 2045, white voters will be a minority of the American electorate. So I don’t like to say majority/minority country. Just say white voters will be a minority, that has never happened before, it will have a transformational impact on our politics.

MELVIN: And this is sort of the thesis for your book. I mean, you talk openly about white politics, identity politics, the issues within your party, the Democratic Party. Explain for folks how each of those plays a part.

MAXWELL: Well, what I’m saying in the book, the end of white politics is essentially talking about the fact that we’ve been doing white identity politics the entire time we’ve been in America. The entire time America has been here, we’ve been centering white men in all of our conversations. Whether it be political, cultural, economic, all of it. And so what I’m saying is now that we’re emerging into a new place where people of color are going to be the majority, let’s center those folks and talk about everyone’s interests. White politics is essentially politics, we just left the white off the front. And what I am saying is that everything is identity politics. And so, let’s go forward with that understanding. Stacey Abrams puts it this way, “I see you. I see you, I see your concerns, and I see how your identity is important in terms of setting a policy agenda to address your unique set of issues.”

ROKER: So, Zerlina, with COVID-19, we’ve been seeing all the protests and the state of the nation. You just turn on the TV, you see this divide. So how do you think we start healing that divide?

MAXWELL: Well, first of all, we need to call it out and call it what it is. So one of the things I talk about in the book is the fact that both white privilege and the fact we have a reluctance to call out racism for what it is leads us to a place where we’re not able to fully recognize those privileges and biases when they’re present in our politics. So for example, when we were analyzing the primary candidates, we had the most diverse set of candidates in Democratic primary election history. And yet, we ended up with two old white men. The traditional model for what we’ve seen in the past, excluding Barack Obama, of course, for president.

And so, what I’m trying to say is that, look at what we just did, we went through, essentially, the hierarchy of various oppressions. You know, Kirsten Gillibrand, the explicit feminist, she dropped out first. Then it was the black woman. Then it was the Latino man, Julian Castro. Then it was Cory Booker. And then you were left with two white men. And so, I think that we on the left need to be honest. The right understands the changing demographics, that’s why they’re targeting the black and brown vote with voter ID and voter suppression strategies. They understand what the future is going to bring. Democrats need to understand that, too.

MELVIN: You worked on Hillary Clinton’s campaign and Barack Obama’s campaign as well. The presumptive nominee right now, Joe Biden, that you just mentioned, what do you think that your party needs to do to help him win the presidency?

MAXWELL: I think that, you know, Joe Biden has a unique opportunity, and he has said he is open to being a transitional figure to the future that, I argue, looks like the squad. Looks like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ayanna Pressley, women of color. And so, I think what he needs to do is pick a black woman to be the vice presidential pick. And I think that’s important not just because a black woman makes for a pretty picture, I think a black woman brings with her a moral compass and a perspective of lived experiences in the United States of America, in a black woman’s body. That is critically important as we go forward. Particularly because COVID exposed many of the systemic inequities and we’re seeing a disproportionate impact on black and brown communities. Now, a black woman is not going to need much motivation to try to set up a policy agenda to rectify those issues.

MELVIN: Which black woman brings the most to the ticket?

MAXWELL: Well, I think that we have an embarrassment of riches, so to speak. So I think they all bring unique experience. Susan Rice is on the list, she brings obviously national security credentials. Senator Kamala Harris, she has already run herself for president, so she’s been on that debate stage and Joe Biden has talked about how that is an important factor in his analysis of picking his vice presidential selection. And so, I think that all of them are qualified. Let’s just set that as the standard. Because Donald Trump is the president and I am more qualified than Donald Trump.

MELVIN: Alright, we’re going to leave it there. Zerlina Maxwell, thank you. And again, the book, by the way, it’s right behind her, so there it is, The End of White Politics. That’s what it’s called, How to Heal –

MAXWELL: Thank you, Craig. You were the one, who on live TV, told me to write a book. And so now I have done that.

MELVIN: Well, you know, I’m glad someone listens to me, Zerlina. Thank you. Best of luck, my friend. Good luck to you, okay.

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