CNN’s Ashley Allison Talks New Venture and Need to Protect Kamala Harris

For Ashley Allison, community is all the pieces. The CNN political analyst and former Obama alum had Black and brown communities in mind when conceptualizing her recent media company, Watering Hole Media.

Much just like the hundreds of campaign employees and volunteers who worked together to elect America’s first black president, Barack Obama — knocking on countless doors and talking to neighbors — her recent effort, outreach to black, brown and indigenous people, goals to unite everyone for the common good.

The political pundit initially launched Watering Hole as a news and opinion blog when President Obama took office in 2009. However, due to his law school background and lack of entrepreneurial experience on the time, the enterprise didn’t pan out. But after recording a live segment on CNN in August 2023 in regards to the Montgomery Riverboat Brawl, Allison decided to revisit her desire to create a media company for marginalized voices.

In an incident in Alabama last summer, a bunch of white men physically attacked a black boat crewman who informed them their dinghy was docked improperly. A gaggle of black men stepped in to defend the employee, leading to a viral brawl that reignited a national conversation in regards to the South’s dark history of racism.

CNN panelist Allison described the Montgomery brawl as a case of lynching. But Allison understood the incident to be far more visceral and cultural — as any scroll through black Twitter on the time showed.

“This isn’t a lynching issue. This is a protection issue,” Allison explained to her friend, sharing the reactions of black people on social media platforms. “The conversation on CNN that night was different because people were using the microphones that they had on social media.”

Now, Allison takes the conversations happening on Timelines and amplifies them with Watering Hole Media, an organization that gives curated digital content led by voices that higher reflect the various voices of Black, Brown, and Indigenous communities.

“We wanted to create something that was rooted in the community so that people would feel comfortable bringing it to their communities,” said Allison, who worked for Obama’s 2012 presidential campaign, the Obama White House and the Biden-Harris 2020 campaign.

“You don’t take things with you to your community that you don’t think are rich, that don’t have integrity, that aren’t helpful,” she added. Allison said it’s about “getting the information and then taking that information and… talking to your neighbors.”

To date, Watering Hole Media has launched three programmes, each aimed toward a unique audience.

Hosted by Allison, political strategist Alencia Johnson, and comedian and actress Joyelle Nicole Johnson, “Wait a Minute” is a living room-style conversation from the angle of a Black woman.

“Tap In” contains a panel of black men gathered around a poker table to discuss politics and social issues, like mental health, which can be often under-talked about amongst black men.

“Everything’s Fine,” a series aimed toward Gen Z, brings together a various range of cultures, including attorney and activist Preston Mitchum, journalists Sylvia Obell and Josie Duffy Rice, and communications expert Annie Wu Henry.

“We built our programming around specific types of audiences and people and their practices,” said Allison, who added that she and her team relied on research to determine “audience segmentation to really make sure we were creating content that would resonate with people.”

It was necessary to create an area where participants could freely express their opinions and “counter” one another when needed.

Allison has also been known to occasionally resist appearances on CNN.

“When people say things on TV, sometimes they say it like it’s a fact, and it’s not always a fact,” she said. “I say, ‘Wait a minute, this is what you think. I’ll tell you what I think. And so do 15 of my friends.”

Allison recognizes it’s her privilege to sit on CNN as a Black woman, but she makes it clear she doesn’t speak for all Black people.

“I think I am part of the representation of black people on TV and I have a responsibility to be part of the representation, but not as a representative,” she explained.

While she doesn’t speak for all black people, she has repeatedly defended Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, from racist and misogynist attacks by her political opponents.

Since Harris became a presidential candidate, her opponents, former President Donald Trump, and his Republican allies have called her a “DEI worker,” “stupid” and even questioned her identity as a Black woman.

“I think it’s the media’s responsibility. I think it’s the elected officials’ responsibility. I think it’s the responsibility of anyone who wants to consider themselves a leader to not allow for bad behavior, bad faith attacks, and just unequal standards to be applied to her,” Allison said.

“Telling someone to go to hell” and wanting to lead the country is “inappropriate,” she said. “We shouldn’t tolerate that.”

Allison said she was “completely leaning” toward having a Black woman at the highest of the presidential ticket.

“As a country, we should have had a woman president a long time ago,” she said. “I pinch myself every day that this is happening.”

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