Some may try to convince him otherwise, but Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson insists he was the first elected official to endorse Vice President Kamala Harris just moments after President Joe Biden announced Sunday that he would no longer seek re-election.
There wasn’t a doubt in Johnson’s mind who should be up next and he quickly led the chorus of Black men endorsing Harris across the country.
“I didn’t flinch. In fact, that’s what this moment requires for Black men to stand up and not flinch,” Johnson said this week during Monday night’s virtual call ‘Win with Black Men.’ “That’s how I grew up. I’m one of 10 and my older brother used to always say to me, `’If you are in a fight and you are ducking, you’re losing. If you flinch, you are losing.’ We have to swing on behalf of our daughters, our aunts, our sisters, our cousins, our wives, our grandmothers.”
That was the resounding message of all who took part in the nationwide video call that featured leaders Maryland Governor Wes Moore, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, National Urban League President Marc Morial, Nevada Congressman, and Congressional Black Caucus chair Steven Horsford and was hosted by media personality and Houston native Roland Martin.
The tone was overwhelmingly in support of Harris, who is seeking to become the first woman and Black woman to win the US Presidency. There were more than 53,000 attendees on the virtual call and they helped raise more than $1.3 million for Harris’s campaign in the four-hour event.
While the loudest voice among Black men, former President Barack Obama, has yet to give Harris his endorsement, other prominent leaders have made their choice known.
“I know that when we mobilize, we win,” said Moore, who is Maryland’s first Black governor and just the third Black governor in the history of the United States. “There is just no stopping us. This becomes an unbelievable and unmovable force when we all mobilize and get fired up about what we know is the mission at hand.”
Harris entered the race for the White House on Sunday slightly behind Republican nominee Donald Trump. But while Biden was also losing in a major way to Trump in the polls, Harris is not only narrowing the gap in the latest polls but she is starting to flip some of the Trump supporters.
Trump and his people are starting to show concern about winning the November election, which is evidenced by his pushing back on debating Harris on ABC and instead pushing to have their debate on the more Republican-friendly Fox network. Trump is also attempting to file a lawsuit to prevent Harris from receiving the $240 million left in Biden’s war chest.
A force to be reckoned with
In just three days, Harris has already secured over $200 million for her campaign. She secured the necessary delegates within days of announcing her candidacy for president and entered next month’s Democratic National Convention in Chicago as the presumptive nominee.
“If this new candidate at the head of the ticket means anything, we are now energized,” said Morial, who made it clear that he is speaking on his own behalf and not that of the Urban League. “The stakes are clear. I believe that Mr. Trump is shaking in his boots. He will do anything and everything to avoid a debate with this sister who will call him out for all of his transgressions, all of his illegal misogynistic activity.
“We know what we need to do. We have to work in the grassroots, we have to knock on every door, we have to be in every community center and every church and on every campus. We must light a flame under our community and communities nationwide and build a huge coalition to make this a historic win come November.”
The “Win With Black Men” virtual call came one night after the “Win With Black Women” call, which garnered 44,000 attendees and raised over $1 million towards Harris’ campaign. But the message during the Black Men for Harris call also made it known that Black men and Black women will be unified to make Harris the 47th United States President.
“We’ve got to make sure we are mobilizing for our Vice President, for Kamala Harris, who has stood by us, supported us and lifted us up,” Moore said. “It’s important that she knows she has an entire army behind her.”
Michigan Lieutenant Governor Garlin Gilchrist echoed those thoughts.
“We need everyone to not only give their dollars but give their muscles, their resources, their minds, their intelligence, their tenacity to make sure we do everything within our power to make sure not only that Vice President Kamala Harris wins, but that we win,” Gilchrist said from London as he took part in the call at 1 a.m. “We win when we work together. We work together so that we can win together.”
Harris creates best path for America
All of the men on the call made certain to make the point that Harris, a former district attorney and attorney general in California before being elected to the Senate, gives this country its best path economically, morally, and on the world stage.
“For the brothers in labor, for the brothers who are starting their own businesses, to the brothers in corporate America, this is an agenda that lifts all of us up,” said Horsford, whose state, Nevada, is a key battleground state for this upcoming election. “We have been working with the Vice President on her economic opportunities tour to lift up this agenda. I know she is committed to closing the racial wealth gap and making sure we have a seat at the table when she becomes the 47th President of the United States.”
We know what we need to do,” Morial said. “We have to work in the grassroots, we have to knock on every door, we have to be in every community center and every church and on every campus. We must to light a flame under our community and communities nationwide and build a huge coalition to make this a historic win come November.”
Moore said time is of the essence after Harris was thrust into the race for president just four months before the election and with Trump having a considerable head start on the campaign trail.
Moore said, “We’ve got 100 days to go out there and make sure we are going to protect the future for our children, protect the future for our families, protect the future for our communities, protect the future of our neighborhoods by making sure that we have a president of the United States who sees us, believes in us and who honors us. And that is Vice President Kamala Harris.”
