Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday unveiled a list of policies aimed toward Black men, her latest attempt to engage a voting bloc former President Donald Trump and his campaign have attempted to court this election season.
Harris’ opportunity agenda for Black men includes a laundry list of policy proposals, ranging from providing a million loans to Black entrepreneurs to start businesses, investing in Black male mentorship and training programs, launching a health equity initiative focusing on diseases that disproportionately impact Black men like diabetes and prostate cancer, and legalizing recreational marijuana for Black men to participate in the burgeoning industry.
The policies draw from stops on her nationwide economic opportunity tour, which included listening to Black men during visits to predominantly Black cities like Atlanta, Charlotte and Detroit.
The policy rollout comes in the middle of a campaign swing focused in part on Black men. Harris met with Black farmers in North Carolina on Sunday, and will participate in a radio town hall in Detroit hosted by “The Breakfast Club” host Charlamagne Tha God on Tuesday.
“Black men care about economics. A lot of African American men specifically care about the cost of inflation, health care, housing, all of those things,” said Quentin Fulks, the Harris-Walz campaign’s deputy principal manager. “When it comes down to it, another thing that’s always underlying data is how do you create generational wealth? How do you begin to build? A number of these policies attempt to answer that.”
Harris’ plan to provide 1 million loans to black entrepreneurs, for example, would provide resources and capital for the historically marginalized group to pursue business ventures — an avenue for wealth-building. The agenda said the loans would be funded through the Small Business Administration and local partners like banks and forgivable of up to $20,000.
The Democratic nominee also pledges to provide more financial support for Black farmers and ranchers, set a goal to double quality apprenticeships and work with Congress to encourage businesses to limit the use of criminal arrest histories and credit scores when vetting potential employees.
The policy proposals come on the heels of much discussion concerning the Black male vote. Former President Barack Obama sparked the conversation after he pleaded with Black men to “drop excuses” and support Harris’ bid for the presidency before his speech at a Pittsburgh rally last week.
”Black men feel like [politicians] show up in the fourth quarter for them, or that there’s an underlying expectation of a vote and nobody does anything to earn it,” Fulks said. “But even beyond that, there are a lot of broken promises. This is very important to the vice president and, this campaign feels that everything that you see here is achievable.”
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A poll from the New York Times released over the weekend found Harris’ lead among Black voters to be substantially smaller than the final results in 2016 and 2020. She led Trump 78% to 15%, with only 70% of Black men saying they would vote for her and 20% backing Trump. However, polls in 2020 and 2022 ended up understating Black support for Democratic candidates.
Indeed, some political experts and organizers believe the handwringing over the Black male vote is largely overblown. Black men have consistently turned out for the Democratic Party. A Washington Post-Ipsos poll last month found that support for Harris is solid among Black men.
“Black men do not vote much differently than Black women. This is a talking point being pushed that is harmful, trying to lay blame at the feet of Black men,” former Ohio state Sen. Nina Turner (D) wrote on social media.
Still, the Harris-Walz campaign has been working to prevent defections to the Republican Party, having hosted multiple events in battleground states.