Democrats reach out early for Black male vote
WASHINGTON – The Biden administration appears to be paying close attention to criticism that Democrats engage with Black voters only during election cycles without delivering on the issues they care about.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who is playing a crucial role in the administration’s outreach, met last month with students and civil rights organizers to solicit ideas on how the Biden administration can lift young Black men.
In the private meeting, attendees detailed ways the White House can help young men of color improve their livelihoods. Harris also wanted to know how the White House can assist young Black men with overcoming stigmas.
Attendees of the hourlong discussion with Harris said the conversation continued with senior aides to the vice president after she departed. They left with the impression that the White House is looking to expand on its policies, they said, and improve its engagement with young men of color.
“The purpose of the meeting really was for them to listen – for her to listen, her team to listen – and really figure out how to dig deep and think through an intentional plan around engaging Black men, particularly young Black men in this country who don’t see themselves in the process, but most importantly, to address their concerns and issues, ” said Dominik Whitehead, the NAACP’s national vice president of campaigns.
Whitehead said the vice president told attendees she would listen and “take back everything that you listed and figure out what is our game plan” as the Biden administration builds out a strategy that the attendees can be involved in.
Harris and her team were “adamant” about keeping the more than 30 participants apprised of “what they do and what they plan on doing,” said Tylik McMillan, manager of state outreach at the Credit Union National Association and a civil rights organizer.
“The vice president shared multiple times how it was a priority for them and they will continue to engage us, moving forward, as they are in the planning process of whatever they come up with or announce,” McMillan said.
The office of the vice president declined to comment.
The meeting comes as President Joe Biden prepares to give his State of the Union address and possibly announce a reelection bid and in the wake of a midterm cycle in which many Black male voters said they felt abandoned by the Democratic Party.
Black women vote at higher rates for the Democratic Party compared with Black men. In the 2020 presidential election, 95% of Black women voted for Biden, while 87% of Black men voted for him, according to the Pew Research Center.
Harris has been holding listening sessions with civil rights leaders, abortion rights activists, students and others.
Two days before the vice president’s meeting with young Black men, Biden emphasized his administration’s efforts to pass federal voting rights changes in an appearance Sunday at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta.
The next day, at a breakfast in Washington, D.C., hosted by the National Action Network, a civil rights organization founded by the Rev. Al Sharpton, Biden spoke at length about policies his administration put in place that are intended to improve the lives of Black Americans.
“On this one and so much, I have your back,” Biden told the breakfast audience.
Systemic racism and inequities in the criminal justice system have long hindered Black men’s employment and financial security.
Black men were one of the hardesthit groups economically during the COVID-19 pandemic. In June 2020, the Black male unemployment rate hit 16% while the overall unemployment rate was 11.1%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Whitehead said the vice president’s office approached the NAACP, which ultimately sent more than a dozen of its members to meet with Harris, and said it wanted to speak with Black men ages 18 to 35.
Students from Harvard University, UCLA and Morehouse College and organizers affiliated with the National Urban League and National Action Network also attended the meeting.