45,000 Black men join call to raise $1.3M for Kamala Harris campaign
Thousands of Black men raised more than $1.3 million during a Monday evening virtual fundraiser call in support of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
According to Quentin James of The Collective PAC, one of the organizers for the “Black Men for Harris” call, more than 45,000 Black men convened online to rally around Harris’ candidacy, just one day after President Joe Biden suspended his reelection campaign and endorsed his vice president for the party’s nomination.
James, along with political and legal strategist Bakari Sellers, Khalil Thompson of Win With Black Men, and Michael Blake of Kairos Democracy Project, organized Monday’s call, which was hosted and streamed by Roland Martin’s Black Star Network. The goal of the call was to match funds raised during a similar call hosted Sunday night by Win With Black Women.
While the collective of Black men did not reach the fundraising target of $1.5 million for the Harris for President campaign, the organizers noted they were able to raise the $1.3 million from more than 17,000 donors in less time.
Blake of Kairos Democracy Project told theGrio that Monday’s call was “an incredible collaboration” that brought together Black male organizers, elected officials, and staff working for the White House and Harris campaign.
“Last night, we made it very clear that Black men count and Black men must be counted. Black men must be at the table, and we do not accept that we are not in the game,” Blake told theGrio. “We made it very clear that for a long time, sisters have held us down. Well, it’s our time to do it for her.”
After 48 hours of fundraising for Harris among Black women and Black men, resulting in a total of $2.8 million, Blake noted, “It’s pretty clear what’s possible” when Black communities unite.
“They will try to attack her, they will try to attack us. But if we remind people that we always have strength in numbers and strength in message, we win,” added Blake.
Black male leaders who joined Monday night’s call to deliver brief remarks included Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, and U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), America’s first Gen Z member of Congress.
Notably, Frost works with Harris in the White House Office of Gun Violence and Prevention, which Biden established last year.
“The vice president has been a leader in that office, fighting to ensure we have hundreds of millions of dollars going to our communities across the entire country. And so that’s one of the many reasons I’m proud to be supporting her,” said Frost.
The nation’s youngest congressman noted that gun violence is a critically important issue to young voters, particularly young Black men who are “surviving gun violence on a daily basis.”
Frost expressed optimism that Harris could “bring this issue to the forefront and talk about it in the way that needs to be spoken about.”
Tennessee State Rep. Justin Jones also joined the virtual call, noting that he and others in the state “stand with the vice president because she stood with us in one of our darkest times.”
Jones, along with State Rep. Justin J. Pearson, was expelled by the state legislature last year after joining anti-gun-violence demonstrators inside the state capitol building. The next day, Harris made a surprise visit to Nashville to condemn the expulsions as an affront to democracy and racial justice.
Florida State Sen. Shevrin Jones, who was on Monday’s call, told theGrio that the fundraising effort showed “solidarity and strength.”
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“While the call was for Black men, it was inspiring to see our allies join in this historic moment,” said Jones, an adviser for the Harris campaign. “This momentum is just the beginning of what’s to come; the Black community comprehends the consequences of a potential second Trump presidency, and we stand steadfast against it.”
Montgomery Mayor Steven Reed, who delivered remarks during the “Black Men for Harris” call, told theGrio the collective fundraising effort reflected the historical nature of how “Black communities can organize in a way that we have always organized with very little to no resources.”
“It shows the collective power and the proximity that we have to one another to organize around causes that we feel are significant for our progress,” said Reed, who serves as president of the African American Mayors Association.
He continued, “Whether it was our ancestors who organized the Underground Railroad, often talking through songs like ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,’ or whether it was the Montgomery bus boycott … all the way through President Obama’s run when so many of us were just really getting ingrained in social media.”
Reed predicted that the online fundraiser is a “great indicator for what is to come.”
“It has just awakened the sleeping giant,” he added. “That organizing capability, I think, will be shown across the country and certainly in the swing states where this race is expected to come down to just a few thousand votes.”