By Nate Abraham
COMMENTARY
Over the past few weeks, political operatives – both paid and self-appointed – have gone off the deep end. The target of their anger? Black male voters, who they believe are insufficiently enthusiastic about the Kamala Harris campaign for president.
The View TV show cohost Sunny Hostin blasted Black men who didn’t support Harris as “crazy and ridiculous.” Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacy Abrams said that “sexism is real and a very pertinent issue” among men.
Two weeks ago, former President Barack Obama chastised Black men for not supporting Harris in sufficient numbers. He told Black men that “You just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that.”
This is similar to comments Obama had eight years ago when he said that he would consider it a personal insult if Black people didn’t vote for Hillary Clinton. “In the African-American community, I will consider it a personal insult, an insult to my legacy, if this community lets down it’s guard and fails to activate itself in this election,” Obama said. “You want to give me a good send off? Go vote!”
The problem is that you can’t generate enthusiasm for a candidate by shaming, chastising or insults. Most people didn’t want to vote for a politician to honor someone’s legacy. People, especially Black men, are facing real issues, and the Harris campaign hasn’t been addressing them.
In a last-ditch effort to shore up support, the Harris campaign released a Black Male Agenda. It was, at best, underwhelming. Instead of sitting down with Black folks and coming up with a real plan, her people just threw something together. When Black men talk about the most important issues facing our community, smoking weed and cryptocurrency are not at the top of the list. Her forgivable small business loan idea can’t be taken seriously
without more details. The only item in her Black men agenda that resonates is the apprenticeship program idea to train skilled laborers.
The real reason her campaign isn’t resonating is because she is a lousy candidate. People – even Black men — want to support someone who can articulate how an elected official will improve their lives. When someone asks Harris a question, she uses a lot of words without really answering the question. That does not inspire confidence.
I believe that anyone who is asking for Black votes should be able to articulate why they deserve our votes – regardless of party. There has to be more than just hatred of the other party. We need our REAL issues addressed with concrete policies.
Whenever I make this point, I am accused of being a Trump supporter or a Republican. It’s as though the very thought of Black people demanding anything for our votes is inconceivable to many Black people.
Ironically, there are plenty of people who CAN discuss policies and how they will impact our community. They are the people running in local and state elections.
If you want to hear Black politicians talking about policies and legislation that impacts our community, visit our YouTube (@Channel). When the General Assembly is in session, we do a video series called the State Capitol Report featuring members of the SC Legislative Black Caucus. (And for the morons who think that anyone not enthusiastic about the prospect of Kamala Harris becoming president is a Republican, every lawmaker we interviewed so far has been a Democrat.) These people can discuss pending legislation and its impact on our community.
If Kamala Harris would have done this, she would be on the way to winning the election in a landslide. Instead, she is sending shills out to shame and insult Black men for not supporting her in sufficient numbers.
If she loses, it won’t be the fault of Black men.