| | | | |  | | By Brakkton Booker | With help from Ella Creamer, Jesse Naranjo and Teresa Wiltz
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Vice President Kamala Harris greets attendees after speaking in Detroit on Monday, May 6, 2024. | POLITICO illustration/Photo by AFP via Getty Images | What up, Recast fam! President Joe Biden spoke out against the rise of antisemitism during remarks at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum. It comes amid ongoing pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses. We also explore the political connection in the Kendrick Lamar and Drake rap beef. First, though, we focus on the vice president’s stop in Detroit to rally Black voter support. Vice President Kamala Harris returned to the Motor City — a key city in a crucial battleground state — both to remind voters, particularly Black ones, of the investments the administration has made in Black-owned businesses and policy advancements it sees as helping to build generational wealth. Her visit took place during a whirlwind of competing events, both foreign and domestic. That includes Israel’s rejection of an Egyptian-Qatari negotiated cease-fire, which Hamas had agreed to, and Columbia University nixing its commencement this month, following weeklong protests and counter-protests on its campus. Not far from where Harris delivered her remarks, pro-Palestinian demonstrators, angered by White House’s continued support of Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, staged protests. One of their flyers referred to the vice president as “war criminal Kamala Harris.” The second stop on Harris’ carefully choreographed tour was Detroit’s famed Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, where, in addition to speeches intended to fire up and mobilize the Democratic Party’s most loyal base — Black voters — there was a big-dollar announcement.
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Harris said the White House was rolling out $100 million in federal funds for small and medium-sized auto parts manufacturers, including Black-owned ones, to help produce components for electric vehicles.
“We all know Black entrepreneurs do not lack for ideas or ambition but often lack the capital that is necessary to turn an idea into a thriving business, to invest in inventory, hire employees, to scale up,” Harris said. “In fact, Black entrepreneurs are three times as likely to not apply for a loan, for fear they’re going to be turned away from a bank.” Harris also talked about debt forgiveness.
|  Harris delivers remarks on the economy Monday in Detroit. | Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images | And yes, while Democrats often tout the $160 billion in student loan forgiveness, Harris said the administration’s debt reprieve efforts take other forms too, including clearing millions in medical debt for thousands of Americans. “In Wayne County, Michigan, we will forgive an additional $700 million in medical debt for as many as 300,000 people,” Harris said, drawing applause from the mostly Black audience. Harris, who delivered scripted remarks from behind a lectern — a departure from the fireside chat she did last week in Atlanta — stuck mostly to highlighting administration’s policies. But those who spoke before her, such as Ron Busby, the president and CEO of the U.S. Black Chambers Inc., used the opportunity to rail against Republicans for making diversity and inclusion programs a wedge issue. “Diversity, equity and inclusion are truly under attack,” Busby said. “It's not some mythological concept that's going on. When they talk about DEI, it's you and I that are under attack.” The attempt by the White House and its allies to reaffirm Black support comes as polls increasingly show slippage among this bloc. The latest evidence coming from The Washington Post, which found enthusiasm heading into this election is down sharply among Black voters, with less than two-thirds (62 percent) saying they are “absolutely certain to vote,” down from 74 percent four years ago. Michigan Democratic Party Chair Lavora Barnes tells The Recast that Democrats have a great story and historic achievements to sell to Black voters. But she admits the party’s messaging needs to get sharper. “I think part of it is we haven’t done a good job telling the story, that’s part of it,” Barnes says. “We’ve got kids about to finish the school year, we’ve got graduations coming up. People have other things on their mind other than the presidential election.”
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Harris greets attendees at the Detroit event on Monday. | Jeff Kowalsky/AFP via Getty Images | While that may be true for some, graduations — particularly those on college campuses — have now become politicized. The University of Southern California and now Columbia University have canceled their main commencement ceremonies citing simmering tensions surrounding campus protests. Naturally, this provided an opening for former President Donald Trump to exploit. On Tuesday morning, as he was heading in the Manhattan courtroom where his hush money criminal trial is taking place, he blamed Democrats for the ongoing protests. "The country is on fire, there are protests all over the country. I've never seen anything like this," Trump said, the video later posted on his social media platform Truth Social. "Many graduations … they canceled, as you know Columbia, they're canceling a lot of them. And we have a president that just refuses to talk." For her part, Harris will hit yet another swing state this week — her fourth in 10 days — when she travels to Pennsylvania’s Montgomery County to talk about the administration’s efforts to protect reproductive rights. She’ll appear alongside actress Sheryl Lee Ralph, who stars in the Philadelphia-based sitcom “Abbott Elementary” and is married to Pennsylvania state Sen. Vincent J. Hughes, a Democrat. (The second gentleman travels to Atlanta today.) We’ll keep tabs on what shape the Biden campaign’s outreach to Black folks looks like in the weeks and months ahead. All the best,
The Recast Team
| | | THE SITDOWN
|  Michigan state Sen. Sarah Anthony is sworn in during a January 2023 ceremony. | Courtesy of Sen. Sarah Anthony's office | We’re going to stay in Michigan to catch up with a state lawmaker seen by Democrats as a trailblazer and a future force in the party. State Sen. Sarah Anthony, 40, is the first Black woman to do a lot of things in her state, including chairing the state Senate’s Appropriations Committee and winning a seat in both chambers of the Legislature. Anthony, whose district includes Lansing, the state capital, was also recently named by the pro-choice fundraising juggernaut Emily’s List for their Rising Star Award. That’s an honor previously won by former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams, Rep. Ayanna Pressley and Harris County, Texas, Judge Lina Hidalgo. We chop it up about the importance of her swing state in the outcome of this year’s presidential elections, her thoughts on the impact of the Israel-Hamas conflict on Biden’s standing with progressives in the state and why she’s got “imposter syndrome.” ◆◆◆ This interview has been edited for length and clarity. THE RECAST: The uncommitted movement began in Michigan and spread to other states, but now with the spread of protests on college campuses, it seems like it is something that may harm President Joe Biden’s chances at reelection if it continues. What do you make of the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war? ANTHONY: Part of taking Michigan seriously is looking at our diverse array of perspectives. And that is a large contingent of men and women, particularly in Southeast Michigan, who have been unhappy with the direction that we're going in terms of that conflict. The city of Dearborn has one of the largest Arab and largest Muslim demographics in the country, people who have direct connections to Palestine, direct connections to Israel. I mean, these are family members of those impacted in the conflict who are crying for strong leadership from the U.S. So you’ve got someone like President Biden, who has been trying to lead the charge on voting rights and expanding election security and making sure that people are lifting up their voices. And then you have the former occupant of the White House who is trying to dismantle voices — someone who does not seem to have a clear plan for addressing the conflict either. |  Anthony (right) speaks to the media after the state Senate passed its budget June 28, 2023, at the state Capitol in Lansing. | Joey Cappelletti/AP | I do think that there'll be enough voices that galvanize around President Biden and we'll get our house in order, and actually, yes, demand better from the president. But at the same time, we know that the alternative is much, much worse. THE RECAST: Let’s switch gears for a moment and talk about the push against diversity, particularly on the right, speaking out against DEI efforts. Some even go so far as to say it's un-American. As someone who is on record as saying you will center equity when drafting appropriation bills, what has the resistance looked like? ANTHONY: Oh my goodness, I have been accused of building a racist budget, just by nature of putting in money specifically for minority businesses or women businesses, investing in … primarily communities of color that have never received state funding. Listen, I am a sista who has walked into this Capitol building with armed gunmen, people yelling and screaming and threatening to lynch me. And so one little billboard is not going to scare me off. So we're navigating this. It’s my second budget that I'm helping oversee and having a Democratic trifecta in which our governor and my House counterparts are Democrats and share values that are aligned, that does help. THE RECAST: Finally, let’s talk about your Rising Star Award. You said you had doubts you would win after being nominated. Why? ANTHONY: You know, I appreciated the support of seasoned activists around the state and the country. It is an honor. I was thoroughly surprised and if you had asked me if I thought I was gonna get it, I would’ve said, “Absolutely not.” I struggle with imposter syndrome and I have always struggled with that. I'm getting better at it. And I'm always very transparent about that. Maybe one day I will get to the point that I'm comfortable and acknowledge the work that we've done, but I'd much rather just focus on the work then focus on me as the vessel for the work. The end goal though are not the awards and accolades. The end goal is moving these issues forward.
| | | THE TIME CAPSULE
|  Rappers Kendrick Lamar and Drake are embroiled in a beef of epic proportions. | AP Photo | Before the Kendrick Lamar and Drake tiff was dubbed “the last great rap beef” there was a very long drought, with no significant hip-hop titans dueling it out over diss tracks. We were almost longing for the legendary rap beefs of the past: Tupac vs. Biggie. Nas vs. Jay Z. Ice Cube vs. NWA… The rapid release of hip-hop tracks in recent days is getting tantalizingly personal. There have been some dark allegations, including violence, grooming and pedophilia. Kendrick called into question the Canadian rhyme smith's Blackness, even referring to him as a colonizer in “Not Like Us.” In his latest diss track, “The Heart Part 6,” that dropped Sunday, Drake raises domestic violence claims against his Compton-bred opponent. | 
| Back in 2016, then-President Barack Obama was asked by YouTube personality Swoozie who he’d pick in a then-hypothetical rap battle. “You gotta go with Kendrick,” Obama said. “I think Drake is an outstanding entertainer, but Kendrick — his lyrics — his last album was outstanding,” he added, referring to 2015’s “To Pimp a Butterfly.” A quick check on Obama’s social media feeds, and he has yet to weigh in on the battle now that it’s come to fruition. If he does, we’ll be sure to update ya.
| | | ICYMI @ POLITICO
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Haitian police officers deploy in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on March 9, 2024. | Clarens Siffroy/AFP via Getty Images | Haiti Aid — The Biden administration OK’d a $60 million aid package aimed at quelling the violence between Haiti’s violent gangs. Documents obtained by POLITICO’s Matt Berg and Lara Seligman detail that tranche of aid authorized is “mostly small arms, but also some armored vehicles.” Trump’s Willing to Go to Jail? — After a Manhattan judge held presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump in contempt for violating a gag order yet again, Trump apparently let loose with an explosive revelation, reports POLITICO’s Brittany Gibson. Columbia University Lawsuit — A prominent union leader is expected to file a lawsuit against Columbia University, the site of ongoing protests, over alleged mistreatment of university staffers during a seizure of an occupied building at the New York City-based school. As POLITICO’s Madina Touré explains, the union leader is arguing the university’s president waited far too long to allow the NYPD to clear out a building being occupied by protesters.
| | | THE RECAST RECOMMENDS In Brittney Griner’s memoir “Coming Home,” the WNBA star opens up about her detainment in Russia and how support from her wife, family and friends — who sent hundreds of letters — helped keep her going. The black comedy “The Sympathizer” follows North Vietnamese spy “the Captain” (Hoa Xuande) from Vietnam to L.A., where he continues to report back to the Viet Cong. Catch the miniseries on Max.
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| Isabela Merced, Judy Reyes and Maliq Johnson star in “Turtles All The Way Down,” which follows 16-year-old Aza who navigates a blossoming romance while struggling with obsessive compulsive disorder. WILLOW incorporates jazz, pop and funk into her new album, “empathogen,” which draws on her meditative and spiritual experiences, and features Jon Batiste on the opening track. K-pop group Seventeen drop an MV for “Maestro,” and it's a cinematic, cyberpunk-themed spectacle. Conducting batons and instruments are wielded; futuristic creatures abound. | 
| TikTok of the Week: Doja Cat x Broadway
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