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Joining us now for more from Bloomberg's Washington, DC bureau are two special guests, Martin Luther King, the third Chairman of the Drum Major Institute and son of the late doctor Martin Luther King Junior, and Andrea Waters King, president of the Drum Major Institute. Welcome to you both. Thank
you for being here on Bloomberg on this election day. Martin, if I could just begin with you, a Kamala Harris has not throughout her campaign leaned into the historic nature of her candidacy, not only that she would be a woman potentially elected president, but a black and South Asian woman at that. What does it mean to you as you have spent so much of your life fighting for equality.
Well, I think it demonstrates that people are very concerned about the issues, not necessarily the ethnicity and the fact that we've had a black president and not a woman that is extraordinarily important. However, I think extand on the issues is what people How is my life going to change under your leadership? And I think she's demonstrated what she intends to do if she becomes president of the United States.
Arred Do you agree, because the potential to make history is very compelling to some voters here when you back off this race, that's been a major backdrop since Kamala Harris reached the top of the ticket. Or is it in fact kitchen table issues that drive people today?
I think it's a combination of both. Obviously, as a black woman and as the mother of a black daughter, it is something that we are extremely proud of to have the vice president hopefully soon to be president heading our country. Also, we're also at a time when women have progressively lost rights, and so I think that you're seeing women coming together and standing together and in fact, we really might be the deciding vote in this election today.
Well, it certainly could be women that ultimately make or break this thing for Kamala Harrison, although will depend on turnout, and that is what both of these candidates Andrea have been really fighting for in the final stretch here. Are you confident that voters are going to be getting off the couches and participating in this election.
Absolutely. We have spent so many weeks and months ourselves out with the canvassers. We were just in North Fulton on Friday, and I'll tell you The excitement that we are seeing is something that since the announcement of this candidacy up until now, is something that's continuing to grow. And we saw that in the numbers of early voting, certainly in Georgia making breaking records, and we also are
seeing that in early voting around the country. I do think that we're going to continue that's going that will uphold today.
Mister King, I wonder your thoughts over the past couple of months some of the rhetoric that we've heard on the campaign trail. We just opened with comments that Kamala Harris made before the NABJ. Donald Trump had some comments to the NABJ as well that questioned her racial identity, and it's a narrative that he has pushed through the course of this cycle. Some have called it corrosive, some have called it dated, Some say it doesn't matter.
What do you think, Well, I think that it should be irrelevant the ethnicity again of a person, it should be. We maybe haven't gotten there with some people, but as it relates to you know, black men, specifically black men, I believe we are going to support overwhelmingly the candidacy of the vice president to help her become the president, along with a vast coalition of others.
But Donald Trump has spent a great deal of time vying for the vote of black men and talking about how he is doing better with them than Republicans have in the past. And considering, mister King that you said issues are ultimately what matters here? What issue is it that there is a disconnect with at least some black men and Kamala Harrison the idea she has put forward.
So I think when you talk about the prospect of supporting UH small and disadvantage businesses, when you talk about getting UH a loan that might be forgive forgivable. I think when you talk about UH the fact that reducing prices, I mean black men, like every man wants to be able to take care of their families. Every woman wants to be able to take care of their families. And when you talk about these bread and butter issues, I
believe there is an opening there, there's support. I just think that at the end of the day, the vast majority of black UH people are going to be supportive of the vice president.
May I also add, we also are talking about someone who said that he won the last election, and we also are talking about someone who said that he had audiences that the largest in inauguration history, or audiences that were larger than the March on Washington, no matter what photo evidence stated to the Montrerie. So let's talk about the facts when they come out. Let's not necessarily take Donald Trump at his word.
Well, Andrea at Waters King, tell me how you would describe then, some of the racial rhetoric that we've heard on the campaign, culminating with that massive Trump rally at Madison Square Garden that had jokes that we couldn't tell on the air.
Not only jokes that we wouldn't tell on the air, those are things that we teach our children that are wrong. You know, I worked for many years monitoring hate groups and hate crimes such as the klu Klut's Clan, Neil Nazis, and skinheads, and it is very alarming for me to see the very rhetoric that we were researching at the time actually now being said from the anals of some
of the highest levels of power in our land. And also to not only see this type of these words that are being saying, but also seeing those things being passed into laws. So it is very troubling, which is why I think that we're going to see, and we have seen, such a strong standing for unity in this country, for a path forward, for turning that page on the hate and the visiveness of the past.
And let me add one thing, because the question is what is sustainable? Most people understand when we are building a world of peace and justice and righteousness. If you're advocating vitriol, it is not sustainable. My dad would say, we must learn non violence, or we may face non existence. We don't want to face that. We're going to face building. What my father and mother would say is the beloved community.
Well and so much, sir. Of what they were fighting for was the right to vote. And obviously many more people, in part because of their work, do have the right to vote today. But given in the lead up to this election some of the legal action we have seen questions around who can and cannot be purged from voter rules this close to an election, how ballots can be counted,
which ballot are valid if there are mistakes. Do you have concerns about the right to vote being rolled back for at least some segments of the population.
I certainly always have concerns I've always wondered why we purge people from voting, but yet we can drive as drivers forever and you're never removed from the driving roles. If you understand the analogy. The fact is you may not vote one year or two years, but you shouldn't be removed. You still have that right. But yet we orchestrate the kind of results that we want to see. And I think those who say, let's support the John Lewis Voting Rights Bill, which all people need, not any
one ethnic group, that's the right course. And the hope is that Kamala Harris wins and in fact the legislative bodies will pass that legislation.
For once and for all, or if there's an expectation that Democrats will say control of the House. Do you see some hope for the John Lewis Voting Rights Bill in Washington if that happens.
Absolutely. We have been working for that federal legislation for years now, and we have confirmation from soon to be President Kamala Harris that that is something that she will push forward. I think, with the power of the House behind her, that that will become an ultimate reality. And you know that people have talked about the fact that, yes, there's been record turnouts, that does not mean that we do not need to secure federal voting rights once and
for all. Our daughter has progressively lost rights since the day that she was born. The crowning achievement of voting that was her grandparents' legacy has been eroded. Yes, we've had great organizers, but we should not continue to fight that battle. Voting rights are birthrights and should be in this country.
I want to thank you both for an important conversation with us in our Washington Bureau. Martin Luther King the Third or Andrea Waters King, thank you for joining us today on Bloomberg TV and radio.