News outlets decided to interview black men about supporting Harris. - Here's the footage. - How much pressure, if any, do you feel to make the commitment and engage the conversation or the support for Kamala Harris from community before you've heard anything [00:00:19] in terms of what her platform is? Rather significantly, being an HBCU alum and D9 member, we've already seen that push and that call for all of us to rally behind her. She already had my vote being stolen, and we had this conversation [00:00:36] earlier in the year. The Biden administration actually campaigned on forgiving student loans, and they forgave my wives. That was a direct benefit for me. So they had my vote solidified on that. But I do feel like the symbolism of the moment does urge us a little bit more, [00:00:53] even without hearing the platform to be behind it. It's kind of a double for me personally, because it's kind of like you're almost a villain if you have a question, right? It's almost like, you know, you're anti something because you question something. [00:01:08] And politically, you know, because it's such a finite timetable of when you have to make a decision, it doesn't leave room to have a real in-depth conversation. You're almost put in a place where you have to just say, come on, let's go. And it's like, come on, let's go with what? [00:01:24] Right? And then when you're halfway down the road and you feel like, like, wait a minute, I shouldn't be part of this bandwagon, are you anti because you want to back off now or you, you know, don't let me out the car. You know what I'm saying. How you look that now you know what I mean. So it's it's rough. It's a boys and hoods reference for people who didn't catch it. With millions watching and many people benefiting from this program called [00:01:44] indisputable, we just need 1% of the viewers to become a paid member so we can continue to bring this content to you. Now back to the show. Let me say this. It is interesting that the energy shifted so quickly. [00:02:00] One thing I said on indisputable when it first happened is that I saw it with my college students. I mean, my college students, most of them were totally checked out. They were upset about their choices in this presidential race. And then all of a sudden, without them knowing, they would feel this way about a [00:02:19] VP Harris being on the top of the ticket. They did. Now what is that? Because VP Harris had not even spoken yet when the move was made, but the excitement had already generated. Millions of dollars was raised within hours. [00:02:36] There are people who had no idea they would. They would connect to this kind of messaging and candidate so quickly without much, if any, words from the candidate. That goes to show you the repressed psychology inside of us, [00:02:56] that there was something happening in our subconscious mind. We were hungry for it. We were sick and tired of this male toxic, not male, not masculine, toxic masculinity. And this ideology permeating from the right that if it's white is right [00:03:15] and if it's black, stay back. If it's brown, don't stick around. We were tired of it. And even if we did not articulate it, so something in our subconscious minds connected to this moment, it had to be bigger than VP Harris, because VP Harris didn't even speak yet [00:03:31] when it happened and the excitement was there. So here's what happened when the question was posed, what about her chances to win the electability argument? Here it is. There are a lot of people who are skeptical about the following question, [00:03:47] and I want a yes or no from each of you. Do you think she can win? - Yes, I have, I have a list. - I think it's going to be difficult. I wanted to, but I don't think so. I think she can win It depends on the Strategy. [00:04:04] A campaign manager takes. I think she can win, but I think we got to get the young people involved. We got to get the young people's vote. And how do you engage those people? How do they strategize to get that vote from them? [00:04:21] I think she's going to win. I think she can win. But, you know, I think she's a more compelling candidate than Donald Trump is. - I think she can win. - So like for me, right. Here's why I say I don't think so. Everything that we've seen in the realm of American politics since 2016 till now has been because we had a black man in office. [00:04:42] So he won two consecutive terms. And as Kurt said earlier, when we were having a conversation and we paid three times as much hell since then, now to up the ante with a black woman in office. I just think it's going to be hard. So I hope I'm wrong. [00:05:00] You know, there was a time when that would have been reversed where the vast majority would have said no, absolutely not, and only a minority would have said, I think she can win. But now the vast majority of a panel like that of men say, yes, I believe she can win. Yes, I believe she has an equal opportunity. [00:05:17] It's based on strategy. Yes. As long as the campaign executes properly and then a minority says, but this, this America, which is a credible rebuttal given the current condition of our country. Now, how do we get here? President Barack Obama provided diversity for the first time to the office. [00:05:37] But then Donald Trump comes in. You see, without a Donald Trump, you don't you don't get a Kamala Harris. Donald Trump swung the pendulum all the way to the right, exposed every bigot in executive authority and power, in political power and corporate power exposed them. [00:05:53] And America had to make a decision. Does America stick with its DNA, or does it nurture into its potential? But it was Trump who provided the appetite [00:06:10] for a Kamala Harris in the first place. Understand cause and effect here. Because if it had not been for MAGA overplaying their racism, you may not get the opportunity at this level of contrast. [00:06:26] And the vast majority of Americans say, yes, it is possible for not only a woman to win, but a woman of color. There's more. I'm your brother, Roland Martin. Here it is. I caught up with several folks, including Ambassador Andrew Young, [00:06:43] Pastor Jamal Bryant, and others who shared their thoughts on what the Vice president had to say. I can't think of anybody that stays on target as regularly and as timely as she is. We will. We don't ever respect our own. [00:07:04] It took us a long time to get used to the fact that Barack Obama was president, and now we know he was amongst the best, I think the same Kamala Harris. Today, Kamala Harris spoke to 100 black men, not with fluff, [00:07:21] but with substance on what's on the line in terms of returning citizens equity. Access to capital and housing. The vice president session was great, and she empowered us to understand exactly what the administration has been doing throughout their tour. [00:07:36] So we look forward to going to the polls and expressing our votes. You know, I was I was very impressed. Man oh man. It was extremely inspiring, especially as our chapter being in front of Bay area see somebody homegrown on a national stage representing, you know, what she's done for the black community, specifically [00:07:53] around business loans and debt relief. That's something that's extremely important. And something we've talked about here at this conference is how entrepreneurs such as, you know, small business owners, black owned businesses can not only, you know, lay out the groundwork to be funded, but take advantage of federal, national, state and local RFPs. [00:08:11] Request for proposals. Those contracts. I like how she stated all this stuff that she's done in the past and stuff that she did before she was vice president to help change the community and about the debt. You know, even if you have criminal, have a criminal record, [00:08:27] now you can apply for a loan. Strategy as well done. Retail politics, coalition building. That's how Democrats win. Democrats don't win without coalition. If you don't have young people, you do not have your door knockers. You do not have the people who hold the signs for you create excitement. [00:08:43] You do not have your phone bank, but now you got them back. Also, back in July, thousands, thousands of black men joined a virtual conference to fundraise for Kamala Harris's presidential campaign. [00:08:58] According to the event's organizers, the massive turnout helped to dispel toxic, dispel toxic myths about black men and their willingness to back a woman candidate. There was a lot of this out there. The event was hosted by women with Black Men, a collective of organizers modeled after women with Black Women, [00:09:14] the activist group that held his own massive zoom call to fundraise for Harris on Sunday. A win with black men. Organizers reported more than 53,000 black men joined the virtual event on Monday, raised more than 1.3 million in 4 hours. You got to understand those people are going to vote. I don't care if they gave $10. [00:09:30] Whoever gave gave, they're going to secure their vote every single time they got skin in the game. Now there's more. Last week, hundreds, hundreds showed up for an event to mobilize black men. Thursday, this was an event in Detroit. The fundraising event for the Harris Walls campaign took place [00:09:46] at the TV lounge bar in downtown Detroit and drew a notable attendees, including House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Michigan lieutenant governor. And you had the Chicago mayor. Organizers said the event is aimed to bring in black men into the political fold. [00:10:02] One said that the movement's main goal. The governor said the movement's main goal is to send the VP to the white House. But more than that, he wants black men to assert the role we will play in America's political future. That is a message of empowerment, not discouragement. [00:10:18] That is a message of hope, not of fear. That is a message of connection and not disconnect. You don't get more contrast than what we have now. It is time for a decision. America. [00:10:34] Mr. Mayor. Thoughts? Yeah. I mean, listen, I think, for me, it's, it's extremely important to acknowledge that, you know, these brothers are doing some heavy lifting as we're talking about raising $1.3 million in a couple hours. I was on that call, spoke on that call. I want to just point out something. [00:10:52] That's the elephant in the room, or I should say the donkey in the room. And that is that, you know, we see a similar type of brother always being spoken to or spoken about, even in the even in the first interview, we see brother sitting down at our college, educated like you and I got several degrees or a degree that is not the majority of black men in this country. [00:11:10] I think that's what that voice is. What's missing. It is wonderful to have an excited base like we do now, but we have to remember that in order to win a national election, we have to expand our electorate beyond just the base. The base is not enough to be excited. It is not how we won 2020. [00:11:25] So what I'm afraid of is that in all of our excitement and all of what we have right now going on, I'm a little nervous, at the fact that we're not elevating the brothers who make up the majority of black men, those without the college education, those that are most affected by the criminal justice system, those that are living with their backs against the wall. [00:11:43] And I think that's the message I was trying to bring on the call. It is wonderful to see the Divine Nine get in line. It is wonderful to see folk that graduate from HBCUs to get in line. It is also extremely important that we are speaking. This is the religious portion is the gospel is to be the balm [00:11:59] for those who are suffering the most. If our politics isn't addressing what's ailing people the most, then we're doing it wrong. And it just can't be. Those of us that are excited about college debt being removed, or those of us who can get a business loan. We also have to speak speaking. And this is what black people do. [00:12:14] Well, anyway, we vote regardless of geography. And when we find ourselves in our lives, we vote as a voting bloc like nobody else. But it's important in this moment that we make sure that this campaign is centering its messaging around those who are suffering the most, not just college education, those who are still a part of that 18%. [00:12:33] Like if you look in some rural spaces in North Carolina, the black man is around 18%. We gotta we gotta acknowledge that and bring that up and say that, hey, we're missing these people and this is what we're going to do to address their problems. Man. Listen, brother, I concur with you. One of the dynamics that you hope money will do is bring, the, the fund [00:12:53] to distribute the awareness and the connection to those in rural communities, black folk in the city that may not go to a zoom because they're at work, but they still deserve to be talked with. And so you hope the campaign does this. Obviously, we'll know within the next week or so, if there's an effort. [00:13:10] But you keep speaking to your brother, I keep speaking, and we'll bring this thing home.