Don’t blame Black men if Harris loses to Trump

That responsibility belongs with white people

Don’t believe the lies, most of us will vote for Kamala Harris just as we have for every Democratic presidential candidate since 1960. Somebody needs to tell that to Kamala Harris’ camp, her supporters, surrogates, and unfair critics of Black men, including Barack Obama.

This column is a part of the “Free Mind of Jones’ Race and Voting Series”

Sometimes you hear an argument or lie that is ridiculous on its face. Such is the one being told and repeated by people from former President Barack Obama to media pundits to the man and woman on the street – that Black men don’t support Kamala Harris strongly enough and it’ll be our fault if she loses, and Donald Trump is elected president again. As usual, despised Black men are an easy target but don’t put this one on us. Hell no! Put that responsibility where it belongs – at the feet of white people.

Political polls, which are often flawed, attempt to predict. Reflecting on actual outcomes and trends tell much better stories. Examining presidential election data compiled by “Rutgers University’s Center for American Women in Politics” running back before the turn of the century tells us a few important things. One, the Democrats’ most loyal constituency is Black women. Two, their second most loyal constituency by a wide margin is . . . wait for it . . . BLACK MEN! Three, Black men aren’t Kamala Harris’ and the Democrats’ problem, white men and women are – and they have been for some time.

The only Democrat white women even moderately cared for since 1992 was Bill Clinton. White men have rejected them all. Clinton only received 37% of white men’s and 41% of white women’s votes in his 1992 race against George H.W. Bush. Clinton fared better with white women in 1996 when 48% of them chose him and 43% voted for Bob Dole. White men still hated him, and only 38% of them voted for him. Meanwhile, 87% and 89% of Black women voted for Clinton in both races, respectively. Black men were steady for him at 78%.

In 2000, about half of white women were cool with Al Gore. The other half wasn’t. He lost their vote to George W. Bush 49% to 48%. White men spurned Gore, with a decisive 60% choosing “W.” Meanwhile, 94% of Black women and 85% of Black men voted for Gore. White affection for the Republicans got even deeper four years later. While 90% of Black women and 86% of Black men voted for John Kerry in 2004, white men and women showed their love for Dub, with 55% of each casting their lot with Bush and Dick Cheney.

Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell dismissed talk about reparations for Blacks in 2019 by stating, “We tried to deal with our original sin of slavery by fighting a civil war, by passing landmark civil rights legislation, elected an African American president.” The word choice of “we” was interesting, because the majority of white people didn’t support Barack Obama in 2008 or 2012. Black women and Black men stood together, voting 96% and 95% for Obama respectively in 2008. White folk weren’t feeling him nearly as much. 57% of white men and 53% of white women chose John McCain. Four years later in 2012, Black men weren’t as enamored with Obama but 87% of them still supported for him. Black women held steady at 96%. As for white brothers and sisters – 56% of white women voted for Mitt Romney and 62% of white men did.

A white woman asked me in 2016, “Why did women abandon Hillary Clinton?” It was a bad question. I told her the proper one was, “Why did white women abandon Hillary Clinton?” 94% of Black women and 83% of Black men turned out for Clinton. So much for the argument that Black men are mostly misogynistic cave men who won’t vote for a woman. Meanwhile, 52% of white women “grabbed” those ballots and cast them for Trump, while 62% of white men rocked with him.  

There’s no way white people did that again in 2020 after figuring out who and what Trump really was, right? WRONG! White women were still cool with that “grabbing” and their voting percentage for Trump actually went up by a point from 2016 to 53% in 2020. 59% of white men continued to support Trump. As usual, Black men and women guarded the gate for the Democrats with 92% of Black women and 84% of Black men voting for Joe Biden.

There are always anomalies. For instance, 87% of Blacks nationally voted for Democrat George McGovern in 1972. But 30% of Blacks in Louisville, Kentucky chose Richard “Tricky Dick” Nixon, the highest percentage of any city surveyed in the country. Something strange was (and is) going on in Louisville racially, but one would be silly to draw larger conclusions from it. Something strange is going on with Black men like Tim Scott, Byron Donalds, Mark Robinson, Lil Wayne, Kwame Kilpatrick, Waka Flocka Flame, and a few others. But they are anomalies, outliers, oddities, and not representative of the lion’s share of Black men. We’re too smart to base our politics on rappers, sellouts, and fools.  

So ease up, this one isn’t on us. Black men get blamed for a hell of a lot, but we aren’t the problem here. Don’t believe the lies and silliness. Most Black men will vote for Kamala Harris just as we have for every Democratic presidential candidate since 1960. They will do so even though we have legitimate questions and concerns about her and the Democrats. Black men are actually very strategic voters who know better than to trust either party. We know the Democrats will kill us . . . but at least they’ll wait until next week. The Republicans will do it tonight! So, every time we vote for a Democrat, we’re simply voting for seven more days to plot.

Somebody needs to tell that to Kamala Harris’ camp, her supporters, surrogates, and unfair critics of Black men, including Barack Obama. We’ll be there. Don’t blame us if she loses any more than you’ll give us disproportionate credit if she wins, which you know you won’t. Now leave us alone. Go berate and talk that trash to white people . . . if you dare!     

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Dr. Ricky L. Jones is the Baldwin-King Scholar-in-Residence at the Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute and Professor of Pan-African Studies at the University of Louisville. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn,Threads, and X.