Former US president Barack Obama.
Credit: Reuters File Photo
By Nia-Malika Henderson
Don’t be sexist. Vote for Kamala Harris. That’s one heck of a bumper sticker message. And it comes from America’s first Black president — the hope and change candidate — in a message directed explicitly at Black men.
In a speech in Pittsburgh on Thursday, former President Barack Obama singled out Black men for what he sees as their reluctance to back Harris. Prediction: Black women will be the most pro-Harris voting bloc come November. The second most pro-Harris, pro-freedom, pro-democracy voting group? You probably didn’t guess it: Black men. But still, Obama, who has made a habit of lecturing Black people to show he isn’t beholden to them and to allay White fears, felt the need to “admonish” Black men, as the Washington Post headline said. He was “stern,” according to the New York Times headline, in calling out the “brothers” (Fox News).
“The women in our lives have been getting our backs this entire time,” said Obama, who also met with a group of Black voters earlier in the day. “When we get in trouble, and the system isn’t working for us, they’re the ones out there marching and protesting. And now, you’re thinking about sitting out or supporting somebody who has a history of denigrating you because you think that’s a sign of strength because that’s what being a man is? Putting women down? That’s not acceptable.”
So eager to prove that he isn’t beholden to Black people — he is the president of all Americans, he would often say — Obama has frequently singled out Black people for reprimanding. This approach only underscores the stereotype of Black Americans as a problem that needs solving. He once told the Congressional Black Caucus to stop grumbling and put on their marching shoes. It’s doubtful that icons of the civil rights movement like the late congressman John Lewis or Representative Jim Clyburn needed to hear that from him. He lectured Black people not to “just sit in the house watching SportsCenter” or brag about an eighth-grade education. And he told a group of Morehouse graduates during a commencement speech — among the best and brightest of Black Americans — that they needed to stop complaining.
“Why are Black men being belittled in ways that no other voting group [is]?” former Ohio state Senator Nina Turner, a Democrat, said Thursday on CNN NewsNight with Abby Phillip.“Now, a lot of love for former President Obama, but for him to single out Black men is wrong.”
Harris supporters were out post-speech doing damage control. The campaign is poised to roll out a policy aimed at Black men in the coming days, with surrogates fanning out to battleground states. On Tuesday, Harris will travel to Detroit to participate in a town hall with popular radio host Charlamagne tha God.
As a candidate, this type of condescending approach to Black voters, who overwhelmingly backed him and still adore him, was a balm to White people, who saw in Obama a figure who could fix the problem that Black America has supposedly posed to the body politic. Columnist Jonathan Alter wrote in 2008 that Obama’s “most exciting potential for moral leadership could be in the African-American community.” Because, of course, Black Americans needed this the most. (Speaking of moral leadership, fast forward eight years to when the majority of White Americans would cast their ballots for Donald Trump, something they are poised to do again.)
But as Harris, who has run a nearly flawless race in a compressed timeline, tries to take her turn at history, it is Black voters, specifically Black men, who are being scapegoated. Remember that in a state like Michigan in 2020, Black men were 5 per cent of the electorate, and 88 per cent of their ballots went to Joe Biden. White people were 80 per cent of the electorate. Are there any lectures for them on racism or sexism from Obama? It’s true that Obama, at times, was speaking to all men, but he landed most harshly on Black men, the most pro-Kamala group and one of the smallest voting blocs of the electorates.
Strategist types have criticized the Harris campaign for what they see as a lack of effective outreach to Black men. They’re big on complaints but short on suggestions. At an event with the National Association of Black Journalists, Harris was asked about her standing among Black men, a group being set up as a collective fall guy if she fails to win the White House.
“I think it's very important to not operate from the assumption that Black men are in anybody’s pocket,” Harris said in a sit-down interview with a panel from the group. “I'm working to earn the vote, not assuming I'm going to have it because I am Black.”
Black men, at a higher rate than men of every other group, will go with their daughters and their wives and their sisters and their aunts to the voting booth so they can all make history together. Perhaps that’s the picture Obama could paint, one of hope and change, not condescension. Jesse Jackson, who, more than anyone, paved the way for the Obama presidency, famously said that Obama talked down to black people. Jackson’s message was mostly lost because it was wrapped in vulgarity. But, it turns out, he was right.
Black men don’t need to be torn down. They don’t need to be condescended to. They don’t need to be scolded. What they need is a president who sees them, hears them and makes their lives better — just like every other American. Harris is making that case to them as best she can by listening, not lecturing. Obama should do the same.