Author D. Watkins, who writes from his own experiences growing up in a Baltimore neighborhood and a family where life was often dominated by drugs, shared his views on the 2016 elections with an audience at the University of Delaware on Wednesday, Oct. 5.

Watkins, speaking in UD’s “National Agenda: Road to the Presidency” lecture series, made it clear that he is not a supporter of Donald Trump and that he has tried, with little success, to like Hillary Clinton.

He told the audience in Mitchell Hall that he admires the Black Lives Matter movement for changing the national conversation on issues of police shootings and racial disparities but that he is not affiliated with that group.

Instead of working with large-scale political and advocacy organizations, he said, he focuses his energy on writing and on more targeted efforts to help individuals on a personal level.

Through the Baltimore Writers Project, which he founded, Watkins works with high school students in the city, fostering a love of reading and writing by giving them the opportunity to tell their own stories.

He also distributes copies of his first book, The Beast Side: Living (and Dying) While Black in America, to Baltimore public schools in another effort to encourage students to read and to see that books can reflect the realities of their lives.

Watkins cited other individual-focused efforts in Baltimore that he admires, including one that educates residents about financial matters and another that works to show people ways to be healthy while living in “food deserts,” where choices are limited.

No matter who wins the presidential election, he said, these kinds of projects will continue because they aren’t government programs but are run by individuals and small groups determined to help people find opportunities and improve their lives.

“Please go out and vote,” he said. “But also think about what you can do — what you can do as a person — to make a difference.”

In answer to a question about ways to lessen racial divides in America, Watkins advised students to reach out to people who have had different experiences from their own and look for common ground in their shared humanity.

“It’s not that hard,” he said. “If you’re in a city, leave the city [and talk to people]. If you’re on a campus, leave the campus. Get outside your comfort zone.”

Again addressing students in the audience, Watkins said he was “inspired by young people like you who are really going to work to make this country better.”

Top-down solutions that begin with politicians aren’t as effective as individual efforts, he said: “The power lies in you, in what you’re doing.”

Watkins’ newest book, The Cook Up, details the devastation of the crack cocaine epidemic on poor communities in the 1980s and ’90s. In addition to writing books, he is a columnist for Salon, and his work has appeared in The New York Times, Rolling Stone and other publications.

He has a master’s degree in education from Johns Hopkins University and a master of fine arts degree in creative writing from the University of Baltimore, and now teaches at both institutions.

Oct. 19: Delaware Debates

The next National Agenda session will be a special program, Delaware Debates, beginning at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Oct. 19, in Mitchell Hall.

Jointly hosted by UD and Delaware Public Media, the evening will feature two debates, one between candidates for Delaware’s seat in the U.S. House of Representatives and the other between candidates for governor. Doors will open at 6 p.m., and everyone must be seated by 6:30 p.m.

The debates are free and open to the public, but tickets are required and are now available. For information on how to obtain tickets, visit this website.

Moderators of the debates give students from UD and Delaware State University the opportunity to suggest questions for the candidates. The form to submit a question for consideration is available online; the deadline is Friday, Oct. 14.

About the series

The 2016 National Agenda series, “Road to the Presidency,” features a wide variety of speakers discussing issues surrounding the presidential election.

All events are free and open to the public and held on Wednesday evenings in Mitchell Hall from 7:30-9 p.m.

The next speaker in the series, scheduled for Nov. 2, will be former Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr., who from 2003-2007 was Maryland’s first Republican governor in 36 years. He recently published a book, Picking Up the Pieces After Eight Years of Failed Progressive Politics, which will be available for purchase at the talk.

The director of the National Agenda series is Lindsay Hoffman, associate professor of communication and associate director of UD's Center for Political Communication.

National Agenda was established by Ralph J. Begleiter, former CNN world affairs correspondent and professor in the Department of Communication, who created and was the first director of the Center for Political Communication. Through the years, the series has looked at a range of key American political issues, from corporate influence to the growing importance of digital campaigns.

National Agenda 2016 is supported by the William P. Frank Foundation of Delaware and UD’s College of Arts and Sciences and Office of the Provost.