OUT & ABOUT: Debate-Watching, African American Style

BY DENISE CLAY/ One of the more-unique experiences you get when you live in a large, urban center like Philadelphia is the fun that comes with going to the movies here.

If you’ve ever gone to a movie theater that’s frequented by mostly African Americans, like, say, the AMC Riverview on Delaware Avenue, there are times where, depending on the movie, you get some of the best commentary going. For example, if you’re watching a scary movie and someone’s about to go into a room in which they will surely die, you will hear people either shout, “Don’t go in there!” to that person or say, “You big dummy!” after they’ve met their demise. Now imagine that you’re at one of those movie theaters. People are watching something and yelling their thoughts at the screen.

In fact, at this particular gathering, there’s a lead yeller who’s providing commentary.

That’s the experience I had on Tuesday night as part of Michael Baisden’s Presidential Debate party at the Universal Audenreid Charter School at 33rd & Tasker. About 600 people came out to see President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger, Gov. Mitt Romney, go at it in the second debate from Hofstra University in New York.

The auditorium at Audenreid, one of the nicest schools I’ve been in for a while, was filled mostly with Obama partisans. While the massage and manicure tables, a photo booth that allowed you the chance to take a picture of a cardboard cutout of President Barack Obama, a room filled with food and drink and even a Michael Jackson impersonator (please don’t ask) would indicate that the mood would be a festive one, Baisden, who hosts a syndicated radio show that is broadcast weekdays on WDAS-FM, felt it was time to party with a purpose.

“We get together for a lot of things that are fun,” he said. “I wanted us to get together for something civic and there’s nothing more important civically than voting.”

Because WDAS is a partner of the charter school, it asked the school to host the event once they found out that Baisden wanted to come to the city, said Kenny Gamble, founder of Universal Cos.

Before the debate started, elected officials (and potential elected officials) like City Councilman Kenyatta Johnson and State Rep. Candidate Jordan Harris came out and spoke to the crowd. Also on hand was Pennsylvania (and Philadelphia) NAACP President J. Wyatt Mondesire and Vincent Thompson, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Voter ID Coalition.

But once the debate started, the Black Movie Theater theme was in full effect. People yelled things at the screen whenever Obama or Romney did something they either liked or disliked. And Baisden provided his own commentary on the events. You haven’t lived until people start shouting, “You a liar, Romney!” or “Go get him Barack!” at the screen during a presidential debate.

It turned from political commentary to a street fight in the room. When Obama and Romney came at each other face to face, I couldn’t help but think that if this crowd had its way, someone would get punched in the face.

Because this was a pro-Obama crowd, they were of course happy with the President’s performance. But what I found most interesting about it was that the President actually stood up, sometimes literally, for himself. He didn’t let himself get walked over. For the people in this crowd, a people who had been reading poll numbers that made their guy look like a one-term president, it was exactly what they needed.

The last debate is on Monday. Would popcorn and a scoreboard be too much?

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