Obama was absolutely right to call out sexist Black men who refuse to support Kamala Harris
Though I wish his comments had been made privately, the former president correctly noted that Black men can’t afford to hold back Black women. By doing so, we're only holding back ourselves.
When former President Barack Obama was criticized for decrying sexism’s role in some Black men’s hesitancy to support Kamala Harris for president, it struck me that Obama’s voice carries tremendous weight. It is a voice Donald Trump and his followers will seek to neutralize.
Knowing that, perhaps Obama should have expressed his thoughts on Black men’s sexism privately, with the understanding that his words would be misconstrued, twisted, and ultimately used against Harris. But Obama didn’t hold back when speaking to a group of Black men in Pittsburgh — the second biggest city in the swing state of Pennsylvania.
“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?” Obama said. “That’s not acceptable.”
He went on to say that some Black men are making excuses because they don’t want a woman as president. “I’ve got a problem with that,” the former president said.
I do, too. Not just because Black women have supported me in every good thing I’ve ever done. I agree with Obama because Black men can’t afford to spend our limited time and meager resources in an effort to hold back Black women. By doing so, we hold ourselves back, and we weaken our entire community. That weakness impacts our ability to coalesce politically, and it increases Trump’s chances of winning the presidency.
That’s why it’s not in Black men’s interests to attack Obama in the wake of his comments about sexism in the Black community. Given that a recent Associated Press poll and a Pew Research Center study both indicate that the vast majority of Black registered voters, regardless of gender, intend to vote for Harris in the upcoming election, it’s clear she is our candidate of choice. So why help Trump weaken Harris’ most effective surrogate? It plays right into the hands of the GOP.
In 2024, Obama is to Harris what wartime heroism was to John Kerry in 2004. Back then, Republican operatives spent millions to spread negative messaging about Kerry through the “Swift Boat Veterans For Truth” campaign, using Kerry’s fellow veterans to turn his strength into a weakness. It worked.
Twenty years later, it doesn’t take millions of dollars to get a group to speak out against its own. All you need is a few true believers and a bevy of fake accounts on social media, churning out the negativity in an endless stream of clicks, likes, and reposts. Mainstream media inevitably picks up on the chatter, and the conversation moves to the airwaves.
I participated in a CNN panel about Obama’s comments, and while I understood the visceral reaction to Obama’s remarks from my fellow panelists, I also understood the gravity of the situation. If Obama can be turned into a negative on the cusp of the election, the Swift Boat strategy that worked so well against Kerry could also serve to sink Harris. In my view, Black men can’t allow that to happen. Especially since Obama told no lies.
Obama told no lies.
As a talk show host on WURD radio, I’ve had a Black man call and tell me he won’t vote for Harris because she is a woman, and the Bible says men should be in charge. I’ve also had men call and denounce other Black female leaders while voicing their support for men like Trump, who I believe to be harmful to the Black community.
Still, Harris has said more than once that she is working to earn Black men’s votes, and that she doesn’t assume she’ll get them because she’s Black. This week, she released a series of policies designed to appeal specifically to Black men. If polls and studies are to be believed, that will be enough for most of us. For others, nothing she does will be enough.
Sexism is a real issue in our community, just as it is among other people. But if Black men allow ourselves to look past Trump’s troubled record on race and bond with him based on misogyny, we won’t just endanger Harris’ campaign. We will ultimately imperil ourselves.