The Invisible Black Man: A Great Opportunity for Democrats in 2024 and Beyond

By Joshua Miller

22 October 2024

As the 2024 election cycle nears the end, the Democratic Party finds itself at a crucial crossroads in reaching Black men who often feel overlooked. With Kamala Harris as the first Black woman presidential nominee, the campaign has emphasized key issues like inflation, abortion rights, diversity, and the middle class. However, in recent weeks, Kamala Harris has ramped up efforts to reach out to Black men who feel marginalized and excluded from the political conversation. While the 2024 election is still up for grabs, Harris and the Democratic Party will have to look beyond this election to ensure consistency engagement with Black men that feel left out.

Of course, not all Black men feel marginalized, especially the Black men that join the weekly calls “Black Men for Harris.” These calls include invigorated Black men who fully support Vice President Harris, using fundraising and mobilization to support and in their words, “protect,” the first Black woman presidential nominee. However, as you join these calls, it does not take long before you realize that these Black men are anything but invisible. They are college graduates, with many serving as political or business leaders, and many more who find supportive community membership at their church and Greek organizations, wielding considerable influence in their industries and communities.

Invisible Black men, on the other hand, generally do not find themselves amongst the ranks of self-professed Black excellence—the college-educated doctors, lawyers, or engineers, or the very wealthy professional athletes and entertainers. Instead of doctors or lawyers, they work in blue-collar jobs that were previously well-paying and respected but are now devalued and maligned. This economic dynamic is especially difficult for Black men in a social media world that teaches them they are only worthy of love and respect based on what they produce, provide, or accomplish and they are never held up as evidence of progress or inclusion.  In this social development, it seems like every other group has passed them on the socioeconomic scale, including Black women, furthering the feelings of marginalization and displacement.

You can hear these Black men voicing their frustrations in online forums and platforms like the Red Pill community, a men’s rights groups that have traditional views of gender roles in dating. You can hear them in community groups and fan pages of Kevin Samuel, a late online influencer known primarily for assigning value to men and women based on their looks and socioeconomic status for the purposes of dating. You can also find these Black men in barbershops and family gatherings and social organizations like the Black Israelites lamenting a political and economic system rigged against them. In the midst feeling devalued, these Black men are echoing misinformation about Kamala’s record as a prosecutor and her race, claiming “she locked Black people up for weed.”

These invisible Black men do not necessarily align with Trump, but they are drawn to any candidate who seems willing to disrupt the status quo. While they recognize that Trump’s policies—tax cuts for the wealthy, immunity for police officers who kill Black men, and courting white supremacists—do not benefit them, many may vote based on grievances rather than rational political interest, a pattern seen among other displaced voters.

The Democratic Party and much of its base has struggled to understand this group and have expressed frustration about their potential political allegiance to President Trump. Some Democratic Party spokespeople feel that these Black men have never really voted before; are blaming Democrats and Kamala Harris for their personal choices such as their relationships and education; and have issues with the idea of having a woman win the presidency given some of their personal underlying insecurities about women. Even Former President Barack Obama recently called out Black men for their lukewarm support of Kamala Harris, attributing part of this to gender bias.

Vice President Harris’ campaign realizes that it would be a mistake to dismiss the issues that these Black men feel—especially since the Democratic Party has never engaged in direct outreach to this group. In response, Harris has talked extensively about her record of supporting Black men through initiatives against unlawful foreclosures, community policing reforms, and the "Back on Track" program that expunged non-violent records.  

Harris also launched a comprehensive plan called “Opportunity Agenda for Black Men”, focusing on economic mobility, criminal justice reform, healthcare, and education. (The Detailed Plan is Here.) Her campaign has hosted roundtables and convenings in barbershops, churches and even at Monday night football game watch parties. This outreach may be enough to bring some of these Black men into the fold. However, if the Democrats lose this presidential election due to a drop off from Black men, they will have to wonder why it took them so long as a party to ramp up these types of efforts.

The good news is that Democrats still can use this strategy beyond 2024 to ensure that Black men remained a durable part of their electoral coalition.  To do that the Democrats will need to have more visible Black male representation in party leadership, ranging from mainstream leaders like Governor Wes Moore to outspoken political leaders like Gary Chambers of Louisiana.

Also, the party must continue its hiring of Black staffers and appointees but shed their perceived classism and elitism. President Biden may have hired more Black staffers in his White House than any other president, but somehow, he is losing less-connected Black men at a historic level. For example, the White House recently held a Black Excellence Brunch. The Brunch was attended by lobbyists, actors, entertainers, etc. Black bus and truck drivers were not represented there. Neither were barbershop owners or the Black man that owns his own little janitorial company as sole proprietor. In other words, the disconnect for the Democratic party is not just about sex and race—it’s about elitism and class. To connect with these marginalized Black men in the future, the party will have to hire and give voice to Black men that come from and is still connected to this segment of the community.

Finally, the issues matter the most. Black men must feel like that the Party is just as willing to fight to the bitter end for their issues as they perceive Trump does for his base.  What they respect about Trump is what they also respected about Bernie Sanders in 2016—their perceived willingness to fight the system to promote the interest of their voters. The Democratic Party must not only shed its elitism. Beyond 2024, it must shed it allegiance to institutions and processes that continue to exclude and marginalized Black people.