Last Tuesday, the Black Culture Center (BCC) auditorium was packed with students excited to watch the presidential debate. The watch party was hosted by Vanderbilt’s National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), an organization “dedicated to uplifting the voices of underrepresented minorities on campus and in the Nashville community,” according to their social media account. The battle between former President Donald Trump and current Vice President Kamala Harris was projected onto the auditorium’s big screen as students packed in. 

Laughing, clapping, cheering, and snapping emanated from the auditorium.  The atmosphere was energetic and convivial, but most attendees were still attentively listening to the debate. Some of the debate’s more notable moments drew audible reactions from the crowd. A communal sigh of disapproval echoed across the room when Donald Trump said Haitian immigrants are “eating the pets of the people that live there, and this is what’s happening in our country, and it’s a shame.” A similar reaction followed Donald Trump’s statement that “I don’t care what she is. I don’t care…;” his response when asked why he previously claimed Harris “happened to turn Black.”  

Vanderbilt’s Black Students shared why it was important for them to attend the debate watch party specifically at the Black Culture Center:

“I wanted to get Black input on politics that I was not used to getting before in my hometown of Texas,” said one student. Another stressed the importance of political discussion, stating “With the talk that I was hearing around campus with the debate I just wasn’t ready to be in a space where it would turn into a debate watching the debate. I wanted to go somewhere where I could watch it and form my own opinions, take it in, then make my decision about the greatest election of my lifetime in November.”

When asked about Kamala Harris’ and Donald Trump’s performance in the debate one student answered “I think [Kamala Harris] performed well given her opponent…There are some things like Palestine and Israel and that conflict that I don’t agree with her on but besides that, I think that she showed she was the best candidate for America right now. I hope everyone else sees it that way.” Another replied “I think she did quite a bit better than Trump, however, she also left a few gaps in her responses to a couple of questions. She specifically avoided giving definitive answers when it came to abortion.” This overall negative view of Trump’s performance was echoed by another attendee, “I don’t think [Donald Trump] performed his best. I think a lot of his responses were half-baked… He did not provide a good roadmap for the future.”

Other students stressed what was most important to them in the 2024 election. “Someone who is telling the truth,” stated one, “I think that the American people are sick of being lied to. I think our values are very important so I am really looking for someone who is telling the truth, not straying away from it, and is going to showcase what can happen and not tell fake lies, fake news, all of that.”

Finally, students were asked what was one word they would use to describe the debate in general. “Entertaining,” one student said. 

The Brennan Center for Justice reported that while 70.9% of white voters participated in the 2020 election, only 58% of non-white voters cast ballots. Additionally, Americans 18-24 have the lowest voter turnout of all age demographics. The election watch party exemplified the goal of The Black Culture Center and the NAACP to foster an environment that encourages this group, so dramatically underrepresented in the voter rolls, to keep up with the election and to vote. Regardless of students’ personal views, it is apparent that political interest is considerable in Black Vandy. Events such as the debate watch party plant seeds to raise our generation’s next Black leaders.

Photo via Gage Skidmore from Wikicommons