Bakari Kitwana speaks with political analyst Keli Goff about mid-term elections results around the country. Goff responds to what she sees as surprising and not so surprising in key elections from Delaware and Nevada to West Virginia and Kentucky. Goff also shares insight on the problem that the Tea Party movement now poses from Republican establishment—rather than for President Obama.

She makes a strong case that we will see establishment Republican Party insiders attempting to tone down the hateful rhetoric that targeted immigrants, Muslims and African Americans leading up to Nov 2.

Kitwana asks Goff, “What’s the take-away message for the Black community from last night’s results?” She responds: “It was a mistake for Democrats to assume that a vote for Barack Obama was a long-term vote of loyalty for the Democratic Party.

Not only can you not take the Black vote for granted, but also you have to work for their vote beyond the election year. It has to be a long-term ongoing process.” Goff adds, “Because of what happened last night, starting today the Democrats will begin laying the ground work for turning out the Black vote for the 2012 Election.”

Keli Goff is a writer and political analyst whose comments regularly on youth and minority voters. A contributor to the Loop21.com, she’s the author of Party Crashing: How the Hip-Hop Generation Declared Political Independence.

Bakari Kitwana is CEO of Rap Sessions, Editor at Large of Newsone.com and author of the forthcoming Hip-Hop Activism in the Obama Era. (Third World Press, 2010)

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RAP SESSIONS WITH BAKARI KITWANA

Bakari Kitwana speaks with political strategist, writer and organizer Alexis McGill Johnson about key mid-term election races that she’s watching today. They also discuss what is at stake for the Black community overall in today’s mid-term elections. McGill Johnson tells newsone.com why Senate and House races, key races in California and Nevada, and the youth vote are all crucial. She says that a progressive agenda is important for all communities, particularly the Black community.

“Right now we are looking at a potential reversal of healthcare reform and an inability to address the foreclosure crisis,” says McGill Johnson.  “And those two things should be enough, more than anything else, to motivate people to go to the polls today.”

Alexis McGill Johnson is the Executive Director of the American Values Institute, which studies racial anxiety and unconscious bias in electoral politics. She’s the former Political Director of The Hip-Hop Summit Action Network and the former Executive Director of Citizen Change, where, in 2004, she launched P. Diddy’s Vote or Die campaign.

Bakari Kitwana is CEO of Rap Sessions, Editor at Large of Newsone.com and author of the forthcoming Hip-Hop Activism in the Obama Era. (Third World Press, 2010)

First, Joyce Elliott is running against the Republican candidate Tim Griffin, a State Attorney who was appointed by the Justice Department during the Bush Administration, an appointment that was central in the 2006 dismissal of U.S. Attorneys controversy. Second, if she wins, Elliott will be the first African American and the first woman elected to Congress from the state of Arkansas. Here she talks about both issues. “Of all the old confederate states,” she says, “Arkansas is the only one that has not elected an African American to Congress. If I’m elected, this will be big for the South and for Arkansas.”

Joyce Elliott is the Democratic Party’s candidate for Arkansas’ 2^nd Congressional District. An Arkansas state legislator, she’s served three terms as a State Representative and is currently the majority leader in the State Senate.

Bakari Kitwana is CEO of Rap Sessions, Editor at Large of Newsone.com and author of the forthcoming Hip-Hop Activism in the Obama Era.

Read more about her at her campaign page

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Recently, Bakari Kitwana, who is one of our exclusive bloggers and CEO of Rapsessions.org , landed an exclusive interview with Minnijean Brown-Trickey, who is a member of the Little Rock Nine, the group of African-American students who, against fierce racist opposition, desegregated their Arkansas high school. He spoke to her about the recent death of Jefferson Thomas and how it’s affected her. The interview also speaks on the personal relationship she had with Thomas whose funeral is occurring today.

Click here for a bio of Jefferson Thomas and more information on the Little Rock Nine.

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