聽a collaboration between Keith Boykin and Word In Black,聽
examines the issues, the candidates, and what鈥檚 at stake for Black America in the 2024 presidential election.

Here we go again. A handful of rappers, celebrities, and instigators out here are discouraging Black people from voting or trying to convince us that our vote doesn鈥檛 matter because both candidates are the same. Don鈥檛 believe them.

Every four years, a few vocal people 鈥 who rarely, if ever, use their voices to mobilize their followers to engage in specific political action 鈥 suddenly crawl out of the woodwork to spread misinformation about the next presidential election.

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This year is no different. I thought about posting weekly rebuttals, but rather than spending the next two months debunking these voices over and over again, I want to ask two questions.

First, what鈥檚 their strategy to achieve their goals? Assuming you agree with everything they want to do, how do they propose to get it passed through our divided Congress, signed by the President into law, and upheld by a Republican-dominated Supreme Court that now considers any race-specific remedy to be illegal or unconstitutional?

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And second, if they had some genius strategy, where were they the last four years when Republican lawmakers and judges:

鈥 the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act

鈥 the John Lewis Voting Rights Act

鈥 affirmative action

鈥 Black farmers鈥 relief

鈥 a venture capital fund for Black women

鈥 minority business grants

鈥 Black congressional districts

鈥 Black books

鈥 Black history classes,

鈥 DEI offices,

鈥 to indict the officers who killed Breonna Taylor,

鈥 Black lawmakers in Tennessee,

鈥 Black people for voting in Florida, and

鈥 civil rights groups in Georgia from providing food and water to people standing in long voting lines?

Many of us have been playing defense without a full bench the last three quarters, and we could have used some help from all the new celebrity players showing up in the fourth quarter who want to change the playbook.

Vice President Kamala Harris visits Dottie鈥檚 Market in Savannah, Georgia, on August 29, 2024, during the second day of a campaign bus tour. (Photo by SAUL LOEB / AFP) (Photo by SAUL LOEB/AFP via Getty Images)

As Malcolm X said, 鈥.鈥 Yes, celebrities have a valuable supporting role to play, but they don鈥檛 get to show up two months before an election, ignore the work of Black thought leaders, and demand a meeting with a presidential candidate like they鈥檙e some official spokesman for Black America.

So, instead of spending the next eight weeks responding to every lie about Kamala Harris, I propose 10 constructive things we can do to help advance our political agenda well into the future.

Ten Things We Can Do

  1. Get informed. Follow the news. Take a class. Become a critical thinker and more sophisticated consumer of information. I read dozens of news sources every day. You don鈥檛 have to read that many, but don鈥檛 rely on one source for all your news. Review multiple, credible sources.
  1. Verify the information you share. Learn to spot misinformation. And try not to forward fake news. Fact-checkers like , , , and try to debunk misinformation, but sometimes they make mistakes or can鈥檛 keep up. That鈥檚 why you need to know your sources. Media outlets like Fox News, the New York Post, Newsmax, TownHall, the National Review, and the Wall Street Journal editorial page have a distinct right-wing political bias that favors Trump and the Republicans. Also, rappers, athletes, and celebrities have every right to share their opinions, but they鈥檙e not always the most reliable sources for information about government and politics.
  1. Vote. Election Day is November 5, but some states require you to register weeks before then. Go to today to find the voter registration deadline in your state. If you think you鈥檙e already registered, know that Republicans are trying to challenge and purge inactive voters. So check to make sure your name has not been removed from the rolls.
  1. Attend local government meetings. Many of the decisions that affect us, including where liquor stores and pollution sites are built and which books are banned in schools, are made at local public meetings that very few people bother to attend. Go there and speak up.
  1. Volunteer. Campaigns are always looking for people to make phone calls and knock on doors. Drop by the local campaign office, sign up to host an event, put up yard signs, or become a poll watcher. This is especially important if you live in one of the seven battleground states that will determine the election: Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, Arizona, and Nevada.
  1. Donate. If you鈥檙e not invested in the presidential election, find a candidate you do support and contribute to their campaign. This year, we have 435 House members, , , nine lieutenant governor seats, 10 attorneys general, seven secretaries of state, and thousands of lower-level offices up for election in November. Unlike the presidential campaign, many of these candidates never get the attention and resources they need to win. Your money could make all the difference.
  1. Don鈥檛 Reinvent the Wheel. Support organizations that are already doing the work. Groups like and the are developing important policy goals and working to implement them.
  1. Lobby your elected officials. The president can make some critical unilateral decisions for the country, but most government decisions that affect your day-to-day life are made by Congress, your state legislature, your county commissioners, your city council, your zoning board, and your school board. Do you know these officials? Visit their offices. Call them up. Write them letters. Let them know what issues you care about. The phone number for the is (202) 224-3121.
  1. Run for office. If you鈥檙e not satisfied with the people in government, show them how it鈥檚 done. Run for school board, town council, state representative, or even Congress. Don鈥檛 expect somebody else to do it for you. We are the ones we鈥檝e been waiting for.
  1. Start a PAC. This is one of the most difficult tasks on the list, but it can be done. If none of the other steps work for you, you can start your own political action committee to fight for the causes you believe in. You can even create a legislative scorecard to give ratings to members of Congress based on the issues you care about.

There are dozens of other constructive things you can do, so don鈥檛 be limited by this list. But remember this guiding principle. Cynicism is not a strategy, and apathy is not a solution.

Keith Boykin聽is a聽New York Times鈥揵estselling author, TV and film producer, and former CNN political commentator. A graduate of Dartmouth College and Harvard Law School, Keith served in the White House, cofounded the National Black Justice Coalition, cohosted the BET talk show聽My Two Cents, and taught at the Institute for Research in African-American Studies at Columbia University in New York. He鈥檚 a Lambda Literary Award-winning author and editor of seven books. He lives in Los Angeles.

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