Black men and women can recapture the power of the vote

There’s been a lot of attention given recently to the Black male vote as it relates to the presidential election.

Will former President Donald Trump capture enough votes to tilt the tally away from Vice President Kamala Harris? Are Black men really leaning toward Trump, a 34-count felon who pressed for the execution of the Central Park Five even after the five Black men were exonerated?

Polls are polls, but the only one that matters is the one on Nov. 5.

Still, some may think all of a sudden, Black male voters matter. But actually, America has been here before, and the Black male vote was crucial in the first election in which Black men could vote.

When Congress passed the Reconstruction Acts in March 1867, it abolished Black Codes — laws that restricted newly freed Black people’s movement, work, land ownership, where they could live and denied them the right to vote. The acts required each Confederate state to establish voting rights for all men, including Black men. With that, 700,000 newly freed Black men voted for Gen. Ulysses S. Grant, propelling him to the presidency in 1868 by roughly 300,000 votes. And over the next decade, Black men helped elect 22 Black men to Congress, including two Black senators. In addition , 2,000 Black men were elected across the South, including 43 postal officials, 683 state representatives, 112 state senators, six lieutenant governors, 41 sheriffs and 79 board of education members, according to Vanderbilt University professor Michael Eric Dyson in his new book “Represent: The Unfinished Fight for the Vote.” In fact, South Carolina, which was majority Black at the time, voted to create its first public school system, as did Louisiana. 

That voting power was short-lived due to organized and, in some cases, state-sanctioned violence that took the lives of dozens of formerly enslaved people — actions that still have lasting effects on voting patterns in Southern states.

But today, the task before Black men is to rekindle that kind of power that has since been sealed constitutionally and without the threat of physical violence, the power that led America through world wars and the Civil Rights Movement and elected America’s first Black president.

It was a Black man, U.S. Rep. James Clyburn, D-S.C., whose endorsement changed the trajectory of Joe Biden’s campaign in the 2020 primary, and it was votes by Black men and women that put Biden in the White House.

But to mobilize a broader population of Black men, it will take education and engagement.

“The biggest challenge is to educate African American men, to reach out to those who are not educated,” said Willie Stewart, 88, a retired colonel in the United States Army Reserve and former educator and Tacoma school board member who supports Harris. “There’s so much misinformation. The misinformation came from the Trump campaign. They (Black men) are reacting to misinformation.”

He’s right. I’ve interviewed three Black men who said they will vote for Trump. One said the reason he’s against Harris is because Biden “passed same sex marriage.” Unlike CNN, I quickly fact checked him.

Education is also the responsibility of community organizations, professional associations, churches and Black sororities and fraternities, collectively known as the Divine Nine.

In the 1930s, my and Stewart’s national fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha, created “A Voteless People is a Hopeless People,” a program that educates people about the importance of voting and conducts voter-registration drives.

Then there’s the engagement component. Political parties, especially the Democratic Party, must do a better job of engaging Black voters, men and women.

“For many minorities, the Democratic Party engages late and is viewed as transactional and that doesn’t help build longtime relationships,” said state Rep. Chipalo Street, a Seattle Democrat seeking reelection to a 37th Legislative District seat. Street said the best way for Black men to get engaged in the political scene is to start locally.

“Federal elections get more attention but things that affect people the most are local. It’s where people can get their feet in the door. It’s also the easiest place to start. MAGA folks took over the Republican Party on a local level. There’s plenty of opportunities out there,” Street said.

Still lurking in the back of the minds of some men of all races is the issue of gender. Misogyny is real, and along with race, could be the hang up that costs us a leader who is unquestionably more qualified to lead our nation than Trump. Though President Barack Obama criticized Black men for not supporting Harris at the same 80-plus-percent rate Black men supported him, Dyson pointed out that it was Obama who was late with his endorsement of Harris.

“Misogyny, sexism and patriarchy are perennial plagues in the American scene,” Dyson said last week. “Secondly, there’s no question there will be evidence of misogyny, sexism and patriarchy in the election.”

Still, he added, Black men are the second highest demographic that supports Harris, behind Black women.

“White women are far more likely to split their allegiance with a known misogynist and sexist. They know what he is yet he continues to get wide support from white women. So, Black men end up getting the brunt of the criticism,” said Dyson.

Black women like Harris have always had leadership roles in shaping the American story. They have often been the sole bread winner and a stabilizing force in the household.

When asked by reporters about the Black male vote, Harris, whose father is Black, said she will earn each and every vote from all segments of the electorate. Good answer. Now is not the time to fan a cultural war within the ranks. Now is the time to do what Black men and women have done for centuries.

Despite discrimination and racism, our ancestors have created a blueprint for Harris by building a nation, voting when they legally could, all while looking “FORWARD” for “FREEDOM.”