After Obama chastised Black men in Pittsburgh, Harris’ campaign dropped a plan appealing to Black men voters

Vice President Kamala Harris’ is trying to make good on the promise she made in Philadelphia to “earn” Black men’s votes with a new, nine-page policy proposal specifically for Black men.

Unveiled Monday, the Harris campaign’s Opportunity Agenda for Black Men lays out policies that Harris will, if she’s elected, launch or continue to support directly for Black men, or that are more universal but have an outsized impact on Black families. They cover economic opportunity, health care, criminal justice, and civil rights initiatives.

“Black men and boys deserve a president who will provide the opportunity to unleash this talent and potential by removing historic barriers to wealth creation, education, employment, earnings, health, and improving the criminal justice system,” the plan begins.

Harris dropped the plan days after former President Barack Obama chastised Black men over his perception of their lack of support for Harris while speaking in Pittsburgh.

“Part of it makes me think — and I’m speaking to men directly — part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president,” Obama said.

A Philadelphia Inquirer/ New York Times/ Siena College poll of likely voters taken in October found 81% of eligible Black Pennsylvania voters supported Harris, while 16% supported former President Donald Trump.

Trump has been making aesthetic appeals to young Black men, but the data suggest Black voter support for the Republican candidate is in line with trends seen over the last three decades.

Harris, in her Opportunity Agenda, took time to bash Trump on everything from his plan to repeal the Affordable Care Act, to his support for stop-and-frisk policies.

“Kamala Harris is making a last-minute attempt to win over Black men after years of failure,” said Janiyah Thomas, Team Trump Black media director. “From day one, President Trump has listened to Black men and delivered real results,” Thomas added.

Brandon Hillary, of Fishtown, is excited to vote for Harris.

“I think that she’ll make a difference and reach out to us Black men, or just men all across the country,” he said. “I think this shows America that a woman can do something to this magnitude, and we can support it.”

Harris pledged to give one million fully forgivable loans of up to $20,000 to historically disadvantaged entrepreneurs through a partnership between the federal Small Business Administration and community lenders and banks. These loans are in addition to Harris’ proposal expanding the $5,000 federal small business tax credit to $50,000 for start-up business owners.

To increase Black participation in traditional banking, Harris proposes working with the private sector to make banking more affordable, and vows to crack down on banks with hidden fees.

The campaign also touted its plans to enact a cryptocurrency regulatory framework, noting that 20% of Black Americans have or do currently own digital currencies.

Harris proposes pushing Congress for a sort of federal “ban the box” law, requiring employers to “limit the use of unnecessary criminal arrest histories, convictions, and credit scores,” in hiring decisions, the plan says.

Philadelphia is one of more than 100 cities nationwide with a version of its own “ban the box” law, and Gov. Josh Shapiro in December signed an expanded version of Pennsylvania’s clean slate bill, which makes way for Pennsylvanians convicted of certain, less serious crimes to have their criminal records sealed.

Harris’ plan includes doubling the number of registered apprenticeships by the end of her first term, and making new investments in graduating more Black men teachers. Much of the investments in education and jobs programs include investments in historically Black colleges and universities, HBCUs, and minority serving institutions, or MSIs.

She touted a universal plan to remove college degree requirements for federal jobs, and the expansion of investment in community mentorship programs for young Black men and boys.

Harris’ goal to legalize recreational marijuana has both a criminal justice and economic angle. Harris’ proposal says she will fight for job opportunities in the weed industry for Black men, “who have, for years, been overpoliced for marijuana use.”

Harris’ plan addresses health equity with the announcement of a plan to launch an initiative geared at improving Black men’s health outcomes. In addition to the campaign’s universal promises to set insulin costs at $35 monthly and out-of-pocket prescription expenses at $2,000, Harris also plans to fund health initiatives geared specifically toward Black people.

Her plan says she will increase the budget for National Institute of Minority Health and Health Disparities, and fund the Sickle Cell Data Collection Program.

According to the CDC, Black people make up more than 90% of the 100,000 people with sickle cell disease in America.

The plan also includes investing in medical schools at historically Black colleges and universities, HBCUs, and other institutions serving minority communities.

In addition to legalizing recreational marijuana, the Harris campaign wants to promote community policing, regulate police use of force, invest in on-the-ground violence prevention groups and address voter suppression.

Harris served as the district attorney in San Francisco and attorney general in California. As president, she believes investing in “community-oriented” policing would be a boon for Black men.

Harris’ plan supports passing the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, which stalled in the divided Senate in 2021 and would ban chokeholds and police ability to enter a home or business without notice or announcement, called no-knock warrants. It would also regulate police use of force.

Her administration would also continue to invest in community-based antiviolence organizations, and support legislation that ends voter suppression based on race, and expands access to voting early and by mail.

Timothy Welbeck, director of Temple University’s Center for Anti-Racism, suggested Harris and the Democrats hadn’t touted the policies and proposals that would have an impact on Black people. In her pitch to Black men, Harris did just that.

While Harris’ oft-repeated plan to enact a federal corporate price gouging ban is intended to reach every American, her campaign cited data from the St. Louis Fed suggesting Black families spend more of their incomes on groceries than other racial groups.

Harris’ universal homeownership plan — to build 3 million houses and offer $25,000 to first-time homeowners — would specifically increase the number of Black homeowners, the campaign said. And her plan to help eliminate medical debt for all Americans, “will disproportionately help Black Americans,” the campaign said.

The same day her campaign unveiled her Black men agenda, Harris appeared in an interview with The Shade Room, a celebrity gossip blog that mostly covers Black celebrities and has 35 million followers across social media platforms.

Harris will be on The Breakfast Club, a nationally syndicated talk radio show that features hip-hop and R&B artists, along with politicians, on Tuesday.

The plan also came with the announcement of a series of events for Black men, including NFL and NCAA watch party events at Black-owned establishments, and talks with Black business owners, in battleground states. The events will be held in Philadelphia on Oct. 19 and Oct. 12, respectively.