Abby Phillip unpacks Jesse Jackson’s political legacy in ‘A Dream Deferred’ and weighs in on Jasmine Crockett’s Senate run

Phillip sits down with TheGrio’s Natasha S. Alford to talk Jackson’s history, Black political power, and the present political moment.

CNN anchor and debut author Abby Phillip sits down with Natasha S. Alford for a one-on-one Grio Weekly conversation that connects Black political history to the moment we’re living in right now. Phillip’s new book, A Dream Deferred: Jesse Jackson and the Fight for Black Political Power revisits a chapter many Americans missed but are still feeling the impact of today.

“You can’t really understand where we are right now politically without first understanding what Jesse Jackson did and tried to do in these two campaigns in the 1980s,” Phillip told theGrio. She adds that those runs “really set the stage for the political moment that we’re in right now.”

She also opens up about her approach to telling Jackson’s story honestly. “This is a journalistic project and it’s going to have to delve into the whole story,” Phillip says, explaining that understanding Jackson means grappling with the respected civil rights leader’s influence and his imperfections.

Phillip also weighed in on Rep. Jasmine Crockett’s Senate run in Texas, the limits of demographic optimism, and what it really takes to win statewide. Plus, a moment of levity as Phillip laughs about people constantly adding an extra “s” to her last name — a reminder that even serious conversations can leave room for joy.

Watch the full conversation in the video player above.