0:00

I'm seeing something really ugly and

0:02

really hurtful online. And I

0:05

know it's hurtful not only because

0:07

it hurts and stings me to

0:09

see it, but everywhere I go

0:11

I have people asking me about

0:13

it and talking to me about

0:15

it. In essence, a die-hard

0:17

voters for Kamala Harris. And

0:20

I'm particularly seeing black voters

0:22

for Kamala Harris say these

0:24

things, but not just black

0:26

voters, but primarily black

0:29

voters. posting videos showing how

0:31

they no longer care about Gaza

0:33

like you know showing themselves

0:35

saying hey you know I'm gonna

0:37

start drinking my Starbucks again

0:39

I'm gonna start eating at

0:42

McDonald's again like showing themselves

0:44

at Starbucks or McDonald's and

0:46

in essence saying like you

0:48

don't care about us we don't

0:50

care about you and I just need

0:53

to unpack and explain this for a

0:55

little bit I'm gonna the term I've

0:57

never heard this term before. I'm

0:59

coining this term right now. I

1:02

want to call it

1:04

transactional activism. I think

1:06

it's actually uglier than

1:08

that, but let me

1:10

call it transactional activism.

1:12

And I'll unpack and explain

1:14

what I mean, but I've

1:17

seen some stuff that's really

1:19

vile, actually. Let's talk about

1:21

it. This is Sean King.

1:23

And you were listening, too?

1:25

The breakdown. All

1:27

over the internet

1:30

I'm seeing this

1:32

on on TikTok

1:34

on every social

1:36

media platform on

1:38

Twitter, on every

1:41

social media platform,

1:44

on Twitter, on

1:46

every social media

1:49

platform, on Twitter,

1:52

on Facebook, on

1:55

Instagram. Kamala Harris lost

1:57

and let's just be clear

1:59

now. She lost every single

2:01

swing state. She lost a

2:04

popular vote. And she didn't

2:06

win a single state by

2:08

any bigger margin than Joe

2:10

Biden won. In fact, she

2:12

lost every state by a

2:15

larger margin and won by

2:17

smaller margins. So she underperformed

2:19

Joe Biden in every possible

2:21

way. Trump overperformed Joe Biden

2:23

in every possible way. And

2:26

it also appears that Democrats

2:28

are going to lose the

2:30

House, the Senate, and the

2:32

presidency. Like a complete political

2:34

bloodbath. And afterwards, you know,

2:37

people always, when there's a

2:39

loss of any kind, I've

2:41

taught this principle. When there's

2:43

a loss, people will lash

2:45

out. And they normally will

2:48

lash out, not at the

2:50

people that they actually should

2:52

blame. Like the number one

2:54

people that voted for Donald

2:56

Trump were white men and

2:59

the number two people that

3:01

voted for Donald Trump were

3:03

white women. And it's not

3:05

even close. Like there's no

3:07

other demographic that's closer than

3:10

those two. So if you

3:12

woke up the next morning

3:14

being mad that Kamala lost

3:16

and you were mad at

3:18

one, anybody other than Kamala,

3:21

anybody other than Joe Biden.

3:23

anybody other than the Democratic

3:25

Party, or anybody other than

3:27

the main people that voted

3:29

for Donald Trump, which far

3:32

and away, the overwhelming majority

3:34

of his voters were white

3:36

men, and then a close

3:38

second, white women. The majority

3:40

of the supermajority of white

3:43

men and women voted for

3:45

Donald Trump. And so if

3:47

you woke up the day

3:49

after election day after election

3:51

day, mad at Muslims,

3:54

mad somehow mad at Palestinians,

3:56

whose people are... suffering an

3:58

enormous genocide, mad at Mexicans,

4:01

mad at immigrants, mad at

4:03

anyone, other than the candidate

4:05

herself or even feasibly Donald

4:07

Trump, I propose, but really

4:10

mad at the people that

4:12

voted for him, why are

4:14

you mad at a tiny

4:16

percentage of people? That said,

4:19

listen, I'm sorry, but... The

4:21

genocide that the Biden Harris

4:23

administration has overseen is too

4:25

much for me. And anybody

4:28

who has overseen that genocide,

4:30

I won't vote for them.

4:32

If it was Donald Trump

4:34

as president, they would not

4:37

have voted for him. But

4:39

it was Kamala Harris. And

4:41

so Muslims did not vote

4:43

for her in huge numbers.

4:46

But those numbers, like when

4:48

we talk about the percentage

4:50

of people who are Muslims

4:52

in America, Those numbers are

4:55

tiny. We're talking about like

4:57

2% of America. You know,

4:59

white people were literally like

5:01

85% of Trump's voters. But

5:04

you somehow woke up the

5:06

next morning mad at Mexicans

5:08

and Muslims. What that means,

5:10

like, let me explain what

5:13

you're doing. This is its

5:15

own form of white supremacy.

5:17

consciously or unconsciously have decided

5:19

to protect white people. You

5:22

consciously or unconsciously, you have

5:24

decided to protect the main

5:26

people that voted for Donald

5:28

Trump, the main people that

5:31

are at his rallies, the

5:33

main people that donate to

5:35

him, the main people that

5:37

support him, you have no

5:40

problem with him. But the

5:42

microscopic number of people that

5:44

opted not to vote for

5:46

Kamala. All of a sudden,

5:49

you woke up the next

5:51

day. creating memes, taunting people.

5:53

I literally see people saying

5:55

like listen I'll never fight

5:58

for another Palestinian again. Like

6:01

that's a quote. And I

6:03

saw versions of that dozens

6:05

of times. Primarily from black

6:08

folk, young and old. Saying

6:10

listen, listen, I'm done fighting

6:12

against this. They don't fight

6:15

for us, we won't fight

6:17

for them. And the generous

6:19

term that I'm going to

6:21

give that is transactional activism.

6:24

And what I mean by

6:26

that is to say like,

6:28

hey, I was only fighting

6:31

for Palestinians because I thought

6:33

I expected something in return.

6:35

I was only speaking up

6:38

against this genocide because I

6:40

thought you were going to

6:42

support Kamala Harris if I

6:44

did so. I was only

6:47

supporting this genocide because I

6:49

thought later you would vote

6:51

the way I demand you

6:54

vote. That's called transactional activism.

6:56

I'm supporting you, but the

6:58

moment you do something that

7:00

irritates me or don't do

7:03

something I want, not only

7:05

will I pull my support,

7:07

but I'll mock you publicly.

7:10

And my wife noticed some

7:12

of the worst things being

7:14

said were literally straight from

7:17

Zionist. Like if... You didn't

7:19

see the face of the

7:21

people posting the things they

7:23

were posting about Muslims and

7:26

Palestinians. And listen, these weren't

7:28

fake accounts. Like these were

7:30

real people on their real

7:33

accounts, often going very viral

7:35

and often saying it with

7:37

huge support. If you didn't

7:39

know that these were black

7:42

folk, you'd be like, oh,

7:44

these are white supremacists saying

7:46

this. Oh, these are Islamafolds.

7:49

Oh, these are Zionist. This

7:51

must be Israeli scientists posting

7:53

these things. And if what

7:56

you're saying is, you no

7:58

longer care about genocide. because

8:00

somebody opted not to

8:02

vote for Kamala, then something's

8:05

wrong with you. If that's how

8:07

you choose to speak out against

8:09

genocide, like if genocide

8:12

is transactional for you, like,

8:14

hey, I'll speak out against

8:16

genocide, but you have to vote

8:18

for my candidate, otherwise I

8:21

don't actually care about

8:23

the genocide. That's disgusting.

8:26

And that's exactly what I see.

8:28

Like, let me be real. The

8:30

post that people are making

8:32

are grossly offensive. I'm not,

8:35

if there's somebody saying like,

8:37

man, it actually stings. Like

8:39

if somebody substantively, honestly,

8:42

earnestly is saying,

8:44

man, it hurts me to see

8:46

people bail out on Kamala Harris,

8:48

then let's talk about that. It

8:50

shouldn't hurt you. I can tell you

8:53

why I hope you understand it.

8:55

But if somebody said that, that's

8:57

different. Or if somebody really

8:59

said it, what people should be

9:02

saying is, listen, the Democratic

9:04

Party bombed. Bombed in supporting,

9:06

forgive my use of the word

9:08

bombed in this illustration,

9:11

the Democratic Party completely

9:13

blew it in this election.

9:15

When you lose the House, the Senate,

9:17

the presidency, and it's not

9:20

close, I mean, that's a

9:22

catastrophic failure. And the

9:24

thing people should be saying

9:26

is, listen, we need to talk

9:28

about the people who feel betrayed

9:31

by the Democratic Party. You

9:33

know, Bernie Sanders is

9:35

now, as Bernie always is, he's

9:37

in hot water. Because he said,

9:40

listen, the Democratic Party

9:42

bailed out on working class

9:44

people. And he said, you know,

9:47

white people felt that way first.

9:49

And white working class people

9:51

bailing out on the party.

9:53

And, and, you know, what he could have

9:55

said is he could have thrown Muslim voters

9:58

in there as well. Working class. Muslim

10:00

voters like listen that party

10:02

is not for me and

10:05

and we live in this

10:07

ridiculous two-party system and so

10:09

a lot of people chose

10:12

the other party who they

10:14

will find is also not

10:17

for them and whose fault

10:19

is that that's the fault

10:21

of the Democratic Party be

10:24

better do better stand for

10:26

more that this isn't a

10:28

party against genocide in principle

10:31

The Democratic Party is afraid

10:33

to even call it a

10:35

genocide. Not only are they

10:38

afraid to be against this

10:40

genocide, no parties more for

10:43

it. Like they are gung

10:45

whole for this thing. And

10:47

so I'm deeply disturbed by

10:50

the whole thing. And it's

10:52

sad and disgusting. And let

10:54

me close by telling you

10:57

something beautiful. Two of my

10:59

very best friends in the

11:01

world. happened to be Muslims

11:04

who are also Palestinian Americans.

11:06

And I'm speaking of my

11:09

mom, Sheikh Omar Suleman, and

11:11

my dear friend, Sister Linda

11:13

Sarsor. And I met both

11:16

Linda and Imam Omar protesting

11:18

for black folk, both of

11:20

them. Protesting against police brutality.

11:23

And never one time. Did

11:25

Linda or Imam Omar Mar

11:27

ever say, no Sean, now

11:30

that I just protested for

11:32

you, now that I just

11:35

showed up at a protest

11:37

for African Americans, now that

11:39

I just showed up at

11:42

a protest against police brutality,

11:44

you need to vote the

11:46

way I expect you to

11:49

vote. Or you need to

11:51

show up for a protest

11:53

against Palestinians. Never, not once,

11:56

did either of them. And

11:58

I've known them both. for

12:01

10 years and have worked

12:03

closely with them both. Dozens

12:05

of times. I've done events

12:08

with them. I've traveled with

12:10

them. Now, never did they

12:12

ever even suggest that they

12:15

then wanted me to support

12:17

their most important causes or

12:20

issues or candidates or anything.

12:22

There was no expectation. It

12:24

was the opposite of transactional

12:27

activism. They showed up to

12:29

protest police brutality because police

12:31

brutality is wrong They showed

12:34

up to protest against Brianna

12:36

Taylor because Brianna Taylor's murder

12:38

was wrong Because the murder

12:41

of Amad Arbury was wrong

12:43

Because police brutality is wrong

12:46

because mass incarceration is evil

12:48

They showed up with no

12:50

expectation and when I say

12:53

showed up Linda literally moved

12:55

herself to Louisville to support

12:57

the family of Brianna Taylor.

13:00

Linda's not black. Linda's not

13:02

a black woman. She's not

13:04

an African-American voter. She moved

13:07

herself to Louisville. Which of

13:09

you, who are now saying,

13:12

listen, I don't even care

13:14

about genocide anymore, which of

13:16

you did what she did?

13:19

What have you done that

13:21

matches her sacrifice, her effort?

13:24

Her energy protesting police

13:26

brutality which among you

13:28

has done more for

13:31

Palestine than he has

13:33

against police brutality? This

13:35

man has given his

13:37

entire life fighting for

13:40

civil rights and human

13:42

rights and never once

13:44

did he ask me

13:47

or anybody else to

13:49

do something in return

13:51

offered to remove his

13:53

support if we didn't

13:56

do it. It's disgusting.

13:58

Be principled. Be better,

14:00

stand for something. Do

14:02

you not understand? I'm

14:05

speaking, I'm speaking to

14:07

any of my black

14:09

listeners right now. Do

14:12

you not understand that

14:14

the best among us

14:16

are dear brothers, Nelson

14:18

Mandela, Malcolm X, Q.

14:21

Q.P. Newton, stood with

14:23

Palestinians, went to Palestine,

14:25

supported to Palestine, supported

14:27

them, supported them, Love

14:31

them, fought for them. Like,

14:33

what are you trying to

14:35

say? Are you trying to

14:38

say that Muhammad Ali and

14:40

Malcolm X and Nelson Mandela

14:43

and Huey P. Newton, the

14:45

Black Panther Party, are you

14:47

saying they got it wrong

14:50

too? I need you to

14:52

understand that black folk around

14:54

the world have been standing

14:57

with Palestine before 99% of

14:59

you were born. Before I

15:02

was born, black folk all

15:04

over the world were standing

15:06

with Palestine. So how dare

15:09

you take an arrogant photo

15:11

of yourself eating a McDonald's

15:14

cheeseburger saying, you know, so

15:16

much for that boycott, you

15:18

don't vote for Kamel, I

15:21

don't support you. What? Go

15:23

eat your McDonald's. Nobody's begging

15:26

for your support. All we're

15:28

asking is that you be

15:30

principled. And even that's up

15:33

to you. I'll be right

15:35

back here tomorrow. Take care

15:38

everybody.