- Pritzker Fellows
- Former Fellows
- Bakari Sellers
Bakari Sellers
Former South Carolina State Representative & CNN Political Commentator
Fall 2017 Pritzker Fellow
Seminar Series: “The Progressive Movement within Democratic Party & the Politics of the South”
Biography
Bakari Sellers made history in 2006 when, at just 22 years old, he defeated a 26-year incumbent State Representative to become the youngest member of the South Carolina state legislature and the youngest African American elected official in the nation. In 2014 he was the Democratic Nominee for Lt. Governor in the state of South Carolina.
Earning his undergraduate degree from Morehouse College, where he served as student body president, and his law degree from the University of South Carolina, Sellers has followed in the footsteps of his father, civil rights leader Cleveland Sellers, in his tireless commitment to service taking championing progressive policies to address issues ranging from education and poverty to preventing domestic violence and childhood obesity.
His impressive list accomplishment in addition to having served on President Barack Obama's South Carolina steering committee during the 2008 election, Sellers is widely considered to be a rising star within the Democratic Party and leading voice for his generation. That coupled with his uncommon ability to reach across the aisle and get things done has led to numerous accolades including being named to TIME Magazine’s 40 Under 40 in 2010 as well as 2014 and 20015 “The Root 100” list of the nation’s most influential African Americans.
He has served as a featured speaker at events for the National Education Association, College Democrats of America National Convention, the 2008 and 2016 Democratic National Convention.
Sellers practices law with the Strom Law Firm, LLC in Columbia, SC and is a Political Commentator at CNN. He is married to Dr. Ellen Rucker-Sellers.
Seminars
“The Progressive Movement within Democratic Party & the Politics of the South”
In these seminars we will take top-line political talking points and delve deeper into their meaning and real-world application. We will have an honest dialogue about the state of our country in Trump’s America. Further, we will look at how Democrats in predominantly red states, particularly in the South, can rebrand, refocus, and re-message to grow and win hearts, minds, and votes.
In this seminar we will explore the intersection of the Civil Rights movement and the Democratic politics of the 1960s, and their application to today. The groundbreaking legislative accomplishments of the ‘60s, the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act, came with great costs. We will go through the last 50 years since Dr. King’s death and attempt to answer: how far have we come and where do we go from here?
The Democratic Party is at a crossroads. A segment of the party wants to move away from identity politics to a message that they would argue is more universal while ignoring the base of the Party. In a recent Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Atlantic article entitled, The First White President, he explores this juxtaposition and responds to Mark Lilla’s New York Times essay The End of Identity Liberalism. Coates wrote: “The name Barack Obama does not appear in Lilla’s essay, and he never attempts to grapple, one way or another, with the fact that it was identity politics - the possibility of the first black president - that brought a record number of black voters to the polls, winning the election for the Democratic Party, and thus enabling the deliverance of the ancient liberal goal of national health care. “Identity politics … is largely expressive, not persuasive,” Lilla claims. “Which is why it never wins elections—but can lose them.” That Trump ran and won on identity politics is beyond Lilla’s powers of conception. What appeals to the white working class is ennobled. What appeals to black workers, and all others outside the tribe, is dastardly identitarianism. All politics are identity politics - except the politics of white people, the politics of the bloody heirloom.” This is the central question of the New Democratic party.
Special Guest: Donté Stallworth, former NFL Player & CNN Commentator
We will learn the inner workings and thoughts of the Bernie Sanders wing of the party and discuss the future of the Democratic Party as they see it. With a guest from Sen. Sanders’ kitchen cabinet and former Chair of the California Dem Party this dialogue should be interesting as this New Progressive Movement has yet to win many converts in the deep South, and we will explore the reasons why.
Special Guest: Nina Turner, President of Our Revolution & former Ohio State Senator
Unquestionably Black Lives Matter has been an amazing force in the movement for social justice. Bastardized by the right, criticized by an older generation freedom fighter, and now stuck in a crossroads of becoming an organization that can effectuate real policy change. We will explore this exciting journey in new age freedom-fighting and how it is adjusting to the Trump era.
Bernice King, daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King, will join us as we discuss the 50 years since 1968 when the country, as Tom Brokaw said, went…. “Boom."
Special Guest: Bernice King, Daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King & CEO of The King Center
This seminar will explore the campaigns and the role of the media and WTF happened in 2016. What tensions were exposed? What lessons were learned? Will the future be any different?
Special Guest: Donna Brazile, former Interim Chair of the DNC & Veteran Democratic Political Strategist
We will end this series with a robust discussion about the path forward. What does the future of the Democrat party look like. Will it continue to be a party that’s success is dependent upon a personality, or can we create a sustained movement from the ground up? How do we rebrand our party, and even more importantly heal our nation?
Special Guest: Cleveland Sellers, Bakari's Father, Leader of the the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee During the Civil Rights Movement (Cleveland was shot and wounded at the Orangeburg Massacre and served seven months in prison after being convicted of inciting to riot)