In the current political climate, Black and progressive activists should focus on locally-based efforts, said author and veteran organizer Kevin Alexander Gray. āWe donāt have anybody on the national scene thatās saying anything coherent,ā said Gray, speaking from his hometown of Columbia, South Carolina. āTheyāre saying those sound bites to stay on TV, and smiling and skinninā and grinninā,ā but ātheyāre disconnected from the struggle, disconnected from their history. People see them as frauds, and thatās a good thing, as we organize at the local level.ā