Serving the High Plains
Serving the High Plains
Former President Barack Obama stirred up some attention this month when he suggested lackluster support for Kamala Harris among Black men is mostly about her gender.
“Part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren’t feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you’re coming up with other alternatives or other reasons for that,” Obama said at Harris’ campaign offices in Pittsburgh. “You’re thinking about sitting out, or even supporting somebody who has a history of denigrating you?”
Obama likened this attitude to betrayal. “Women in our lives have been getting our backs this entire time,” he said. “When we get in trouble and the system isn’t working for us, they’re the ones out there marching and protesting.”
The larger Black community has viewed Obama as a complex spokesperson. His most recent remarks conjured up times during his tenure when, as an upscale, elite, educated (Columbia and Harvard University) Black man, he was — and still is — perceived to be condescending in his rhetoric to Black people.
Former democratic Ohio representative and CNN commentator Nina Turner chastised Obama by responding, “Why are Black men being belittled in ways that no other voting group [is]? Now, a lot of love for former President Obama, but for him to single out Black men is wrong.”
Bloomberg political columnist Nia-Malika Henderson argued that Obama needs to stop lecturing condescendingly to Black men. Democratic activist and actor Wendell Pierce declared, “Awful message,” asserting that the Democratic Party must cease scapegoating Black men. “Any Black man that has an issue with a Black woman rising, they have to look at their own inadequacy,” Pierce said. “What would make you so fearful of someone who was so beloved of you, who was so loving to you, like your mother and your grandmother and your aunts and your sisters, that you cannot be proud and embolden yourself when you see someone from your community rise up?”
There is certainly some kernel of truth in Obama’s assumption that a sizable segment of Black men are wary of a Harris presidency due to the fact that she is female. Sexism, like racism, is a perverse vice that is deeply embedded in the fabric of American society. But the reality is Black men support Harris and the Democratic Party at considerably larger rates than men of any other racial group.
While speaking at Harris’ campaign office, the former president referred to such distinctions. He stated that Black men should appreciate that Harris “grew up like you, knows you, went to college with you, understands the struggles and pain and joy that comes from those experiences.” Indeed, this is the sort of rhetoric that is far more endearing and persuasive than levying paternalistic and patronizing comments toward the minute segment of Black men who are politically ambivalent toward Harris of being sexist.
The majority of Black men are adamant critics of systemic and systematic racism, concerned about ongoing police brutality, want politicians to challenge greedy businessmen, and want more attention directed to issues that include ballooning college tuition debt and stagnant wage growth.
In other words, Black men are just like voters of all genders and ethnic groups. They want to see a society dedicated to fairness, justice, and equality for all, as opposed to a privileged, preordained few.
Elwood Watson is a professor of history, Black studies, and gender and sexuality studies at East Tennessee State University. Contact him at: