By Wayne Dawkins
NABJ Black News & Views
Reprinted – by Texas Metro News
https://blacknewsandviews.com/
For a 2024 presidential election projected to be decided by only a few thousand votes each in seven competitive “battleground states,” Black men have been spotlighted as the key demographic group that could decide the election.
President Barack Obama [2009-2017] lamented that some Black men were about to sit out the election and not choose Kamala Harris as the first woman – and first Black and Asian Indian woman – U.S. president.
Meanwhile, Republican challenger and 45th U.S. president Donald Trump [2017-2021] said he was making inroads with young men, specifically young Black men who promised to vote for him Nov. 5.
During the 2020 election, which Trump lost, the former president counted double-digit support from Black voters. Democrat Joe Biden won. And a near handful of entertainment industry Black male influencers including Ice Cube, Lil Wayne and 50 Cent said they endorsed or supported Trump in 2020.
Obama’s small-group scold of Black males was criticized as patronizing, elitist, and scapegoating by pundits, yet polling and some anecdotal voices from the streets and from disaffected Black voices affirm that some misogyny and patriarchal behavior could be at play among Black voting-age American men.
Musician/rapper/comedian Lord Jamar appeared on the 765,000-subscriber “The Art of the Dialogue” podcast and went on a diatribe about Harris: “This woman, to me, is not qualified to run, you know, a Dunkin’ Donuts or a 7-Eleven, let alone the corporation that we call The United States of America.”
Kamala Harris, with two decades experience as a big city district attorney, state attorney general, and U.S. senator, had more government executive and legislative experience individually than each of Presidents Trump, Obama, and George W. Bush.
Yet, Jamar continued.
In mid-October on comedian Godfrey’s 541,000-subscriber podcast, Jamar asked, “Do you want a man leading us or a woman? When have you let a woman lead you into a beef?” as in armed conflict. Lamar apparently never heard of prime ministers Margaret Thatcher of Great Britain or Golda Meir of Israel, both wartime commanders.
Five days later on Forgotten KingzTv, Lamar apologized for calling Harris a “bitch” among other pejoratives. Lamar’s wife is a Los Angeles-based lawyer and graduate of an elite historically Black university.
The African American Public Policy Forum, led by legal scholar Kimberlé Crenshaw, scheduled a Friday, Nov. 1 virtual “barbershop” chat to discuss/debate Black males and their impact on the Nov. 5 election. And Tuesday, Oct. 29, 10 p.m. EST, a “Black Men’s Summit” aired on BET led by D.L. Hughley and attorney Benjamin Crump.
So, what is the best version of the truth about Black men and voting a day away from the consequential election? At a Saturday Homecoming tailgating party at a historically Black university, several people said something peculiar was going on with Black men and voting, but what exactly was the question.
“I have this younger cousin. He has conspiracy theories. When Barack Obama ran for president,” said Sheila Edwards, a nurse from Rockville, Maryland, “my cousin said voting wasn’t going to accomplish anything.
“I think there are groups of men that feel women should not lead, but I don’t know. Some men say they are against voting, period. You should be informed, then make decisions whether to vote, or not vote.”
Edwards also said a female co-worker told her she was voting for Trump because women shouldn’t lead.
“I think something is going on,” said Eric Gilliard, of Hampton, Virginia, a retiree from the U.S. Army. “Some Black men are being paid to support Donald Trump. I’ve been telling young Black men to go out and vote.
“I just shake my head. I’m praying Harris gets it, or we’ll catch hell.”
Derek Baker of Buffalo, New York, a 1985 college graduate, said “Broadly, I think there are men who are not in favor of women leaders. They’re old school. [But] I wouldn’t pin it on Black men only.
“We have been stereotyped. We should not vote for people just because they are Black. That is not an endorsement of Trump. We should vote for who is most qualified and it’s not Donald Trump.
“But we get so easily categorized because we’re a minority.”
The divide among Black men is economic and educational according to nbcblk.com polling data. In 2020, 26 percent of Black men who had a high school diploma or less supported Trump. But 22% of Black men with bachelor’s degrees and 20 percent of Black men with advanced degrees supported him.
Black men with some college education broke for Biden at levels comparable to those of Black women.
