Bakari Sellers isn’t shy about who he is.

Before an AU audience at Mary Graydon Center on February 15, the CNN political commentator unabashedly declared himself a C-minus celebrity (“maybe”) who likes sugar on his grits, struggles with math, and appreciates a good glass of sweet tea. He also believes that therapy is for everyone and that Outkast is the greatest rap group of all time.

More notably, the civil rights attorney, podcaster, and father of three became the youngest African American elected official in the country when, in 2006, he was elected to the South Carolina legislature at age 22.

By opening up about the totality of his identity—the noteworthy and mundane—Sellers encouraged AU students gathered at the event, sponsored by the Kennedy Political Union, to determine who they are and lean into it.

“It’s very difficult when you try to be somebody else,” Sellers said during a conversation moderated by School of Communication professorial lecturer Whitney Harris Christopher. “There’s no inherent value in you being somebody else. The value that you all have—all those within the sound of my voice—is who you are, your upbringing, where you come from, what you like.”

Sellers came from the three-stoplight town of Denmark, South Carolina, and graduated high school at age 16. After earning his bachelor’s from Morehouse College, he launched his political career at 21 and graduated law school at 23.

His worldview was formed by growing up around civil rights leaders like John Lewis, Judy Richardson, Jesse Jackson, and Kathleen Cleaver—friends of his father, Cleveland, a leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. When Sellers became a trailblazer in his own right as a young Black Democrat in the South, he said he never let anyone make him think he didn’t deserve a seat at the table.“Young folk don’t ever really feel like we don’t belong. It’s that sense of invincibility,” said Sellers, whose 2020 memoir, My Vanishing Country, is a New York Times bestseller. “Other people may feel like we don’t belong, but I always felt like I belonged. I won an election, so I belong here.”

Now age 39, Sellers said he’s “fascinated” by Generation Z. He is amazed how strong the group is, having already generally lived through 9/11, the housing crisis, the election of the country’s first Black president, the rise of the Tea Party, the election of Donald Trump, innumerable mass shootings, the war in Ukraine, and a pandemic.

“I don’t give young people advice,” he said. “I kind of get out of your way [knowing] you’ll figure it out eventually. We always knew this generation [was] going to change the world. You have a terrible name; Generation Z is god-awful, and you should pull some money together and hire a marketing firm. Outside of that, you’re really a dope generation.”

During the event, Sellers also discussed his forthcoming book, The Moment, which examines the current political landscape and policies impacting Black families and offers solutions for a better tomorrow.

Despite all of today’s challenges, Sellers encouraged attendees to find a way to make a difference.

“There are a lot big, pressing [issues],” Sellers said, including climate change, reproductive rights, gun control, and Black maternal health. “The big question is, instead of trying to tackle them all and being half-assed terrible at that, what are you really good at, and which one are you going to tackle?”