#WinWithBlackMen
Commentary by Black Kos Editor Denise Oliver Velez
I’m pretty fed up with all the MSM bullsh*t about Black men not supporting VP Kamala Harris’ campaign for the Presidency. Seeing a slew of headlines like these (am not linking to the stories) has me pissed off:
Black Men Are Rapidly Abandoning the Democratic Party, But Are Black Women?
Black Men Are Waiting for a Democratic Party That Delivers for Them
The Democrats Have No Place for Black Men With Traditional Values
As polls show fewer Black men supporting Kamala Harris, views differ about why In Georgia, Black Men’s Frustration With Democrats Creates Opening for Trump
Data shows Black men vote less than other demographic groups
Who is key demographic who are Trump voters? White people. Here’s a little data:
Roughly 244 million Americans will be eligible to vote in 2024.
There are 34.4 million eligible Black voters
Black voters are approximately 13 % to 14% of the electorate. (Less than half of that number are men)
So let’s get real about who really will be the culprits if Donnie Dump should win. Got news for ya. It ain’t Black men or Black women.
I would like to see more stories like this one, from back in 2020:
We need to talk about the white people who voted for Donald Trump
As the media picks apart the voting trends of people of color, it must not ignore the big constant.
(I won’t hold my breath waiting for them)
Given the escalating vile, racist and sexist rhetoric being thrown at VP Harris from Trump and his MAGA cult members, and the blame/shame game targeting our brothers, I thought it would be important for people who may have missed it, to highlight an event and conversation that took place with former President Barack Obama on Sunday Oct. 27, and to highlight the organizing, fundraising and GOTV efforts being undertaken by #WinWithBlackMen.
Watching the broad spectrum of brothers who have pulled this together — who are out there doing the work really lifted my spirits. I was heartened to see a specific emphasis placed on getting younger Black men mobilized.
Here’s the full video:
Check out their website: #WinWithBlackMen
Win With Black Men is a movement dedicated to politically empowering and uplifting Black men. Win With Black Men aims to create a community of support to increase the involvement of black men in the political process. Win With Black Men seeks to dismantle the stigmas and misinformation surrounding black men, our vote, fatherhood, family and their futures.
Today, they are out doing an early voting day registration push, across the nation.
Wouldn’t it also be lovely to see stories on this:
We are gonna do our Black job, and vote for Kamala. Now how ‘bout some other folks doing theirs?
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News round up by dopper0189, Black Kos Managing Editor
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Disparities in Black and white homeownership are a direct result of years of policies that keep Black people from accessing housing. The Grio: Black voters want action on housing
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“There’s just no inventory for affordable housing at all.” That’s a direct quote from Jeffrey from Atlanta, Georgia, one of 200,000+ people who participated in the largest survey of Black people in U.S. history.
Jeffrey wasn’t alone in saying housing is a pressing concern. Participants in my organization’s Black Census Project pointed to the lack of affordable housing as one of the most pressing economic issues facing Black people in the country today. Homeownership is a key component to building stability and a gateway to generational wealth, but systemic barriers have largely kept Black people from being able to reach this milestone. If candidates for local, state and federal office want to win over Black voters, they are going to have to respond.
The homeownership gap for Black Americans is larger now than it was in 1968 when housing discrimination was legal. Black communities across the country are feeling the pressure of being unable to find and maintain housing, as costs for renting and buying a home soar. On average, the majority of Black household income goes toward rent or a mortgage, leaving low-income households with barely more than $15 per day to meet all other basic needs, including food, transport, healthcare and savings.
Some lawmakers and candidates for office want to say immigrants are causing the U.S. housing crisis, but that’s just not true. One of the main reasons we are in crisis is corporate greed. In many Black communities, large companies and investors are buying up land for expensive condos and apartments, while in others they are stockpiling houses in need of rehabilitation work. In both cases, many of these properties are sitting abandoned — and local and state officials aren’t doing anything about it.
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For the young daughters of Michael and Kimberly Wood, it was their first time at the annual festival celebrating the culture of the Gullah Geechee community on Georgia’s remote Sapelo Island, the birthplace of their maternal grandmother and other descendants of enslaved Africans.
After a day of storytelling, poetry, religious dance and hope-filled spirituals a week ago Saturday, the Woods, other family members and dozens of festival goers waited on a floating dock and adjoining gangway for the scenic ferry ride to the mainland across marshy Doboy Sound.
A loud cracking sound and a sudden shifting of the gangway were the only warning before the relatively new dockside aluminum walkway plunged into the water about 60 miles south of Savannah. The collapse killed seven people, injured several others and gave his two girls what Michael Wood said was their first glimpse of the Gullah Geechee community’s longtime heartache and resilience.
“It’s that fight to survive,” said Wood, a quality assurance engineer who slid down the collapsed gangway, snatched his 74-year-old mother out of the water and handed her to a stranger on the dock.
Wood said he unsuccessfully attempted to reach his 8-year-old daughter Hailey, who was eventually rescued by the boyfriend of a relative as she clung to part of the dock. His wife Kimberly, clinging to their 2-year-old daughter Riley and using a book bag as a flotation device, drifted away in the strong current before another stranger pulled them safely to shore.
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After California state legislators passed bills addressing the legacy of slavery and racial discrimination, Governor Gavin Newsom vetoed the most ambitious of the reparations proposals.
The setback last month followed turmoil at Harvard over that elite university's plans to make amends for historic ties to slavery and a lawsuit challenging an Illinois city's reparations payments. But advocates say they are undeterred.
Shortly before the California legislative session ended this summer, a state Senate reparations bill on land restitution proposed by state Sen. Steven Bradford passed 56-0. But the Black Caucus blocked votes on two other proposals in that package -- one creating a fund and the third an agency to determine who would be eligible for reparations.
“It’s a shame,” Bradford said. “To be this close to the finish line, and not at least have a vote.”
The Black Caucus blocked the bills because the proposed agency, not the legislature, would have had oversight, members wrote on X.
Governor Gavin Newsom said when he vetoed the land restitution bill that it could not be implemented without Bradford's other proposals. Newsom signed legislation the Black Caucus had made separately, including measures banning discrimination based on natural hairstyles.
Bradford, a Black Democrat, finished his last term in office this past session. But California Assemblywoman Lori Wilson said reparations initiatives will be brought up during the next legislative session.
“The setbacks have actually re-invigorated people in the reparations movement,” said Kamilah Moore, a lawyer and former chair of the California Reparations Task Force, which released a 2021 report documenting California’s role in perpetuating slavery and racial inequalities. A handful of its over 100 policy suggestions were turned into bills.
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Ivory Coast, long considered one of West Africa’s most tolerant societies, has recently seen a string of assaults on L.G.B.T.Q. people after several social media influencers exhorted their followers to “hunt” gay men. New York Times: Gay People Are Hunted Down and Beaten in a Country Once a Refuge
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Ivory Coast had long been a haven for L.G.B.T.Q. people, even as they faced discrimination or persecution elsewhere in West Africa. But over the past two months, dozens of assaults, beatings and intimidation online and in the streets have shaken that sense of safety.
Dozens of gay men and transgender people said in interviews and testimonies collected by rights groups that they had been attacked and beaten in Ivory Coast’s largest city, Abidjan, after several social media influencers exhorted their followers to “hunt woubis,” a term referring to effeminate gay men in the country that has become a catchphrase to designate a stigmatized community.
Fans in a soccer stadium deployed a banner with a homophobic slur, to the cheers of other supporters.
And the nation’s youngest lawmaker, who belongs to the same party as President Alassane Ouattara, has promised to introduce a bill in Parliament to “counter the expansion” of homosexuality.
Rights groups now fear that the overt hostility that L.G.B.T.Q. people have faced in other West and Central African countries is taking root in Ivory Coast.
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