2024 US elections: Kamala Harris targets male Black voters with opportunity agenda as elections near

Democratic presidential candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris, 59, has introduced a comprehensive plan targeted at the male Black vote with the US elections just weeks away. The plan aims to address economic and social challenges faced by Black men in the US. During her visit to Erie, Pennsylvania — a key battleground state — Harris referred to the proposal as the “Opportunity Agenda for Black Men”. The agenda aims to help Black men build wealth, lower costs, and protect their rights.

“As I have travelled across the country, I have spoken with many Americans — including Black men — about their hopes, dreams, hurdles, and worries. Black men and boys deserve a president who sees them and will help break through the barriers preventing them from building intergenerational wealth and realising their aspirations,” Harris wrote on X (formerly Twitter). She added, “Donald Trump is not that president.”

Key elements of Harris’s plan include:

• Providing one million forgivable loans of up to $20,000 to Black entrepreneurs and others who have good ideas but lack the resources, connections, or access to capital to get their businesses off the ground.
• Launching a National Health Equity Initiative focused on Black men.
• Legalising marijuana at the federal level to dismantle unjust legal barriers affecting Black men and other Americans.
• Lowering costs by enacting the first-ever federal ban on corporate price-gouging for food and groceries.
• Lowering rent and providing down payment assistance to triple the number of new first-time Black homeowners.

At her rally, Harris criticised her Republican rival, Donald Trump, stating that “if he is re-elected, he will have unchecked power, posing an even more serious threat to Black communities”.

“Trump’s business career began when he was investigated for refusing to rent property to Black families. His entry into public life was marked by a full-page ad in the New York Times calling for the execution of the Central Park Five — innocent Black teenagers who were later exonerated. As president, he referred to majority-Black nations as ‘shitholes,'” Harris said.

“He would bring back stop-and-frisk, roll back civil and voting rights, and implement a national sales tax costing families an average of $4,000 per year,” she added.

Former President Barack Obama, who is campaigning for Kamala Harris to garner support from American voters, shared her post on X.

“@KamalaHarris has a plan that will lift up Black men and their families. She’s laid out some ways to give Black men the tools to build wealth, achieve financial freedom, and lower costs,” Obama wrote on X.

A recent poll shows the majority of Black voters have a positive view of Vice President Kamala Harris, even though many are uncertain about her ability to bring significant change to the country. In contrast, Black voters overwhelmingly view Donald Trump negatively.