Kamala Harris Tries To Buy Black Votes After Donald Trump Earned Them
Poll after poll confirms that black voters are walking away from the Democrat Party at a rate we’ve never seen before.Poll after poll confirms that black voters are walking away from the Democrat Party at a rate we’ve never seen before.Kamala Harris’ Anti-White Racism Is Showing
How did we get to where a major party’s presidential campaign thinks it is a good idea to send out a racially discriminatory policy proposal?Dems are panicking that this key demographic is turning to Trump
Black men are turning their backs on Vice President Kamala Harris and turning out record levels of support for former President Donald Trump.
Among black male voters, 20% said they would vote for Trump even though just 4% considered themselves Republican, according to a New York Times/Siena poll from Oct. 12. Trump is on track to perform better among young black men than any other Republican candidate since 1960, according to CNN pollster Harry Enten.
Harris has managed to hold on to only 41% of support from black men ages 18-44, which is a 12-point deficit from President Joe Biden's numbers and roughly half of former President Barack Obama's support among the demographic, according to Enten's analysis.
These figures have sounded the alarm for the Harris campaign. In an attempt to regain their support, the Democratic presidential hopeful curated a policy pitch to the "brothas," as Obama said.
Obama lectured other black men during a campaign appearance last week in an attempt to boost turnout for Harris.
"We have not yet seen the same kinds of energy and turnout in all quarters of our neighborhoods and communities as we saw when I was running," Obama said to a roomful of black men. "Now, I also want to say that that seems to be more pronounced with the brothas. So if you don't mind, I'm just going to speak to y'all directly."
"You're coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses; I've got a problem with that," Obama continued. "Because part of it makes me think, and I'm speaking to men directly, part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren't feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you're coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that."
Harris has made other attempts to bridge the widening gap between herself and black men.
Harris unveiled her "opportunity agenda" for black men on Monday, featuring policy proposals like forgivable loans for "black entrepreneurs," bolstering cryptocurrency so black men "know their money is safe," and legalizing recreational marijuana, despite overseeing over 1,900 marijuana convictions during her tenure as San Francisco district attorney.
However, the campaign's last-ditch effort to regain the votes fails to address the actual policy priorities of black men.
As in other demographics, the economy remains the top issue for roughly a quarter of black men, according to the recent NYT/Siena poll. While Harris' pitch to black men is tailored to address issues with a racial backdrop, only 4% said equality is their top priority and just 2% said the same for racial issues.
Democratic political pundits like former CNN host Don Lemon are even admitting that "Kamala Harris has a problem with black men."
"There's a problem," Lemon said. "I went from battleground state to battleground state. ... It was not curated. I went up to people just doing man on the street and said, 'Who are you gonna vote for?' Black men, time after time after time, they said, 'I'm voting for Donald Trump.'"
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Democrats use ‘Negro nagging’ to keep disobedient black men in line
Vice President Kamala Harris recently held a town hall in Detroit, and the best part about it was how she avoided speaking to black men in the familiar SIGN language — shame, insults, guilt, and nagging — that the left favors.
The event, hosted by “The Breakfast Club” host Charlamagne tha God, didn’t reveal much new about the Democrats’ presidential nominee. It did, however, highlight Charlamagne’s role as more of a campaign surrogate than an objective journalist or political commentator. He framed Harris' campaign as a battle against two foes: Donald Trump and “misinformation.” He also asserted that the choice for voters in November is between Harris and “fascism.”
The professional 'Negro naggers' on the left will only intensify their attacks if Trump wins the election due to increased black male support.
Harris reiterated her recent policies aimed at black men, including marijuana legalization, but avoided the tongue-lashing her surrogates have grown accustomed to delivering. This approach benefits her campaign, yet it remains the exception on the left, not the rule.
Democrats and their media surrogates often engage in what some call “Negro nagging” to pressure uncooperative black men back into the fold. Barack Obama caused a stir with a public rebuke during a campaign stop in Pittsburgh, chastising “the brothers” for considering sitting out the election or even voting for Donald Trump because they don’t want to support a female candidate.
Obama appears to believe that since more than 80% of black men voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016, they should now automatically support Kamala Harris. This disregard for political independence also aligns with Joy Reid’s recent comment that black men who support Trump are fueling a “fascist groundswell.” Similarly, Sunny Hostin, co-host of “The View,” labeled black Trump voters as “ridiculous” and “crazy” with nary an objection from her co-hosts.
This is not how you speak to people you hope to persuade. This is how you speak to people you believe you own.
I wouldn’t criticize a man for calling out his brother for cheating on his wife or abandoning his family. Being a husband and father comes with God-given responsibilities. However, no American has a moral obligation to vote for any particular party or candidate, and that holds true for black people and Democrats just as much as it does for white evangelicals and Republicans. One of the biggest problems in American politics today is that politicians have become far too comfortable with reversing roles. They act as if our job is to vote for them, when in reality, it’s their job to work for us.
This attitude is why progressive voices have been berating black men since the last presidential election. In 2020, Rutgers University professor Brittney Cooper called black men voting for Trump “traitorous MFs.” One Democratic congressional candidate claimed that one in five black men voted for Trump because “they hate black women.” In 2022, former MSNBC host Tiffany Cross even said black men in Georgia should “get in line” behind black women and vote for Stacey Abrams.
The Democrats clearly struggle with how they communicate with men, a problem that’s worsened by their obsession with race and identity. This is why they speak to disobedient black men with such disdain. My hope for this election cycle is that millions of black men will wake up to this reality. I also hope they embrace their role as political homewreckers.
The unholy alliance between black feminists and white liberals, formed in the 1960s, has wreaked havoc on both the black family and African-American political engagement for decades. In this political triangle, the government takes the role of the new patriarch, black women serve as the loyal spouse, and black men are treated like children under the care of their mother and her new boyfriend.
The professional “Negro naggers” on the left will only intensify their attacks if Trump wins the election due to increased black male support. That’s certainly one approach Democrats can take to address their problems, but it won’t work with black men who reject being treated like boys by women who didn’t birth them.
Critics blast Harris over pandering scheme that prioritizes marijuana legalization for black men
Kamala Harris unveiled a race-based "opportunity agenda" Monday, revealing both her desperation to win back increasingly disenchanted black male voters and her prejudicial presumption of what might ultimately motivate members of the cohort.
Critics have ridiculed the vice president's identitarian messaging and her cynical attempt to win over black men with the promise of legal marijuana nationwide, noting both that she previously helped prosecute multitudes of black men for marijuana offenses and that there remain far more pressing issues facing all Americans deserving of a presidential candidate's attention.
American men, generally speaking, aren't particularly fond of Kamala Harris. This is not only true of likely white and Hispanic male voters, but increasingly of black men as well.
A recent NAACP survey found that 26% of black men under 50 years old intend to vote for President Donald Trump, reflective of a broader increase in black support for Trump as compared with the 2020 election.
"If Harris doesn't get above 90% [with black men], then she's in trouble," Republican strategist Shermichael Singleton recently told The Hill. "She really needs to energize black voters and figure out a way to get them to turn out, particularly men."
Harris surrogates — including former President Barack Obama — recently rushed to brand those black men who might vote for Trump as misogynists, urging "the brothers" to fall in line.
Since the strategy of belittlement was clearly not working, Harris has instead tried pandering.
A campaign memo titled "Vice President Harris Will Deliver for Black Men" revealed this week how Harris would try to help Americans from that voting bloc now souring on the Democratic Party.
"Today Vice President Harris is laying out an Opportunity Agenda for Black Men to provide them with the tools to achieve financial freedom, lower costs to better provide for themselves and their families, and protect their rights," says the memo.
Harris promised to:
- provide 1 million loans up to $20,000 to black entrepreneurs;
- support education and mentorship programs to help black men "get good-paying jobs in high-demand industries and lead their communities";
- give race-based financial support to struggling farmers;
- support a regulatory framework for cryptocurrency and other digital assets;
- launch a "National Health Equity Initiative" focused on black men; and
- legalize recreational marijuana nationally.
Concerning the legalization of marijuana, which is presently legal in the District of Columbia and 24 states, the memo stressed that Harris "will also fight to ensure that as the national cannabis industry takes shape, Black men — who have, for years, been overpoliced for marijuana use — are able to access wealth and jobs in this new market."
Harris' "opportunity agenda" was met with ridicule.
'I'm not really shocked you see us as this dumb.'
Critics suggested, for instance, that Harris' concern over the fallout of drug laws rings hollow, given that she cheerily enforced them while San Francisco district attorney.
Some users on X dusted off footage from the 2019 Democratic primary debate where Tulsi Gabbard noted, "[Harris] put over 1,500 people in jail for marijuana violations and then laughed about it when she was asked if she ever smoked marijuana."
According to the Mercury News, Harris oversaw over 1,950 marijuana misdemeanor and felony convictions in San Francisco. Apparently she did so with unusual zeal. After all, the prosecutors working for her reportedly "convicted people on marijuana charges at a higher rate than under her predecessor."
Although now a champion of legalized marijuana, evidently figuring it for a winning proposal among black men, Harris fought a ballot measure for marijuana legalization in 2010, going so far as to co-author an opposition argument in the voter guide. In 2016, she remained relatively neutral on the matter when a subsequent ballot initiative passed.
The vice president only changed her tune in May 2018 when it became politically expedient to do so — around the time she began plotting her first presidential run.
Years later, she told the titular host of "Late Night with Seth Meyers" that "nobody should have to go to jail for smoking weed."
Not all critics took issue with Harris' apparent hypocrisy and brazen opportunism. Others noted that the vice president appeared to be insinuating that black men disproportionately needed the drug.
Matt Antar, chairman of the New York Young Republican Club, noted, "Why is illegal marijuana an 'unjust barrier' for black men? Is she insinuating that all black men are potheads? This is racist."
Keith Barry, on the ads team at X, tweeted, "Of all the policy issues, this is what you choose *specifically* for black men? I'm not really shocked you see us as this dumb and that our top concern is to get high or sell drugs."
Former NFL running back Herschel Walker wrote, "Every election, men of color become a focal point for Democrats — offering money and now marijuana but no focus on education or jobs. It's all about securing your vote, not creating sustainable change. Where was VP Harris the last 3 years?"
Veterans on Duty chairman Jeremy C. Hunt told Fox News' Harris Faulkner that Harris "has this kind of caricature of black men in her head, that we're just these, you know, some California potheads that are sitting there looking for a government handout."
While Harris is talking to black men about drugs and crypto, Quenton Jordan, vice president of the Black Conservative Federation, told The Hill that Trump's alternative "message is resonating because he's talking about issues that families talk about at the dinner table and men talk about in the barber shops."
Pew Research noted in September that the economy and health care are among the top issues for black male voters in this election.
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CNN anchor relays insult against black men after they answer taboo question about Kamala Harris: 'Low-information voters'
CNN anchor Michael Smerconish tried on Saturday to explain away black men openly questioning Vice President Kamala Harris' racial identity.
Harris' racial identity became headline news last week after former President Donald Trump brought attention to the fact that Harris and the media have emphasized the different aspects of Harris' familial background — her mother is Indian and her father is Jamaican — at different points in her political career.
'Some describe them as low-information voters, no different than you'd find among whites.'
"She was always of Indian heritage, and she was only promoting Indian heritage. I didn’t know she was black until a number of years ago, when she happened to turn black, and now she wants to be known as black," Trump said. "So I don’t know, is she Indian or is she black?"
Those comments sent the media and Democrats into an outrage. But how do everyday black Americans feel?
Last week, WHP-TV anchor Joel Smith visited a barber shop in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, to speak with black men about the 2024 election.
One moment from Smith's interview generated significant attention over the weekend: It happened when Smith invoked Harris. At that moment, one of the interview participants immediately questioned whether Harris is black.
"Is Kamala going to make you a little more likely or less likely to vote Democrat?" Smith asked.
"Hold on. Wait. Is Kamala black, yes or no?" one participant interjected, asking the barber shop owner to answer the question.
"I'm going to let her speak on it. But to me, no," the barber shop owner responded.
Another participant said he agreed with the owner's view, while another said he has only "heard" that Harris is black.
What is fascinating about this exchange is that it happened before Trump's comments about Harris at the National Black Journalists Association event. This suggests that Harris' racial identity is already an open question among black voters.
Despite the profound moment, Smerconish responded to the clip by relaying an insult against those interviewed.
"When I played that audio on my SiriusXM radio program on Thursday, many callers who self-identified as African-American were quick to tell me that those men were the exception, not the rule. Some describe them as low-information voters, no different than you'd find among whites," Smerconish said on his CNN show after playing the clip from the barber shop.
However, the men from the barber shop interview are not "low-information voters." Instead, they discussed a host of political and cultural issues with proficiency for the entire 45-minute interview.
Smerconish later took issue with the accusation that he had insulted the men from the interview, arguing he was "quoting radio callers, not expressing my own views."
But the problem is that Smerconish presented only one side of the reaction, which makes it seem like it's the only side. And as the men from the barber shop themselves proved, playing games of identity politics and forcing people into tidy boxes based on their skin color doesn't work.
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DEI professor fears black men might identify with Trump following deadly assassination attempt
A man who makes a living peddling systemic racism through DEI initiatives has now penned an article expressing concern that black men might be drawn to former President Donald Trump because he survived an attack with a gun.
Early Sunday morning, about 14 hours after the deadly shooting that nearly cost Trump his life, Forbes published a column about the shooting written by Shaun Harper, a USC business and education professor and self-described "diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) expert."
'Will Trump seize the apparent assassination attempt against him as an opportunity to meaningfully address the epidemic of gun violence in America?'
In the column — entitled "Will Surviving Gunfire Be Donald Trump’s Next Appeal To Black Voters?" — Harper seemingly waxes indignant that Trump has attempted to reach out to the black community, black men in particular, because of their shared experiences with the criminal justice system.
"The presumptive Republican presidential nominee has repeatedly contended that the August 2023 release of his criminal mugshot deeply resonated with Black voters because they know firsthand the unfairness of our nation’s criminal justice system," wrote Harper.
Even as he admits that "more Black men now than four years ago say they’re voting for Trump" in 2024, Harper still does not believe Trump's outreach to black men has been effective since black men who claim they will vote for Trump in November do not cite "shared kinship with judicial injustice" as the reason for their electoral support.
In fact, Harper takes issue with Trump attempting to associate himself at all with the black experience, accusing Trump of inventing a "racially problematic kinship narrative" to force the connection. "Hopefully, being shot doesn’t become a similarly problematic strategy to link Trump with an experience that far too many (not all) Black people have," the tenured USC professor added awkwardly.
In the column, Harper also tacitly warned Trump not to co-opt supposedly iconic black images for his political benefit. One such image is the raised fist, a gesture that Trump makes regularly, including in the immediate aftermath of the shooting.
After he was shot in the ear on Saturday evening, Trump stood before his crowd of supporters, blood dripping down his face, with his fist raised in the air. "Fight! Fight! Fight!" he urged them.
Harper noted the similarity between Trump's impromptu, perhaps habitual, raised fist and the pre-planned "Black Power Salute" from U.S. track athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos while on the winners' podium at the 1968 Summer Olympics. "Hopefully Trump doesn’t claim that his raised fist was an homage to Smith and Carlos, two powerful Black Americans," Harper said.
Harper also worries that Trump may use his raised-fist moment to stand in solidarity with the 2020 protesters after the death of George Floyd. Any such connection between Trump and the 2020 protesters would be "erroneous" and disingenuous, Harper insisted.
Rather than turn this attempted assassination into an opportunity to secure more votes, Harper hinted that Trump should use this moment to advocate for gun control, noting the alarming rates at which black men die from gun violence without also noting that black men are almost always the ones pulling the trigger in such cases.
"Will Trump seize the apparent assassination attempt against him as an opportunity to meaningfully address the epidemic of gun violence in America? Will he deem unacceptable the dangers to which citizens are exposed as they go to schools, places of religious worship, concerts, movie theaters, supermarkets, shopping malls, sporting events, and now, presidential campaign rallies? It’s possible, but unlikely," Harper said.
Harper also recently criticized Trump's reference to "black jobs" at the infamous debate with Joe Biden last month. Harper described the term as "offensive," even as he acknowledged that low-skilled, labor-intensive jobs such as "hotel housekeeping" and "airport baggage handling" are disproportionately filled by black people.
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Biden to grads of traditionally black Morehouse College: Black men getting killed in street; US doesn't love black men enough
President Joe Biden spent part of his commencement address Sunday at traditionally black school Morehouse College addressing racial issues, specifically telling graduates that black men are getting killed in the streets of America — and that the country doesn't love black men as much as black men love the U.S.
Biden told those in caps and gowns that they missed their high school graduations because of the COVID pandemic, National Public Radio reported, and then added that they "started college just as George Floyd was murdered, and there was a reckoning on race."
'It’s natural to wonder if democracy you hear about actually works for you.'
"It’s natural to wonder if democracy you hear about actually works for you," he told the graduates. "What is democracy if black men are being killed in the street? What is democracy if a trail of broken promises still leave black communities behind? What is democracy if you have to be 10 times better than anyone else to get a fair shot? And most of all, what does it mean, as we’ve heard before, to be a black man who loves his country even if it doesn’t love him back in equal measure?"
— (@)
How are observers reacting?
Libs of TikTok sarcastically noted that Biden "inspires Black graduates at Morehouse College by telling them that they’re victims and America hates them."
Jordan Peterson added that Democrats "are utterly incapable of learning" that to "live by the victim/victimizer narrative" results in the "die by the victim/victimizer narrative."
Will Johnson said that "as a black man in America, I find this highly offensive. [Biden] along with other 'Demoncrats' created the situation most blacks live in today. Black people have to take responsibility as well."
Military veteran and Texas native @delinthecity_ also took umbrage with the president's words: "I wonder if Joe Biden is going to tell them that he’s one of the people who truly hates black people and authored the 1994 crime bill that locked up and incarcerated a lot of black people. Joe Biden is one of the most racist politicians in the United States of America and is a pathological liar."
Anything else?
It wasn't lost on NPR that Biden's address came as "polling shows potentially lower support for his reelection efforts among black voters and young voters." Biden also spent time at the podium railing away at former President Donald Trump, who likely will face him in November's election.
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Washington DC refuses to grant 3 black men concealed-carry licenses — so they're suing, alleging discrimination
Three black men are suing Washington, D.C., alleging discrimination after district police refused to give them concealed-carry licenses, the Washington Post reported.
The suit — filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in September — claims D.C. not only wrongly said the plaintiffs have violent histories but also that it misjudged their criminal records, the paper noted. In addition, the suit says D.C. police have unreasonably refused licenses to those with minor criminal convictions and arrests with no convictions — and sometimes unfairly used their involvement in violent incidents against them, the Post said.
What are the details?
D.C. security guard Sanu Millard, 24, tried to get a concealed-carry license from D.C. police in 2019, but his request was denied, the paper said.
Millard carried guns at work in the District, Maryland, and Virginia, the Post reported, adding that he'd been trained in gun safety as a teenager and had legally registered two weapons.
Despite having no criminal record and never having been arrested, police said his involvement in domestic violence incidents disqualified him, the paper said.
Thing is, Millard told the Post he and his mother were victims in those incidents.
More from the paper:
The litigation comes in the wake of a major Supreme Court decision this year that found Americans have a right to carry guns outside the home — a ruling that has proved challenging for some cities as they try to manage increasing gun violence.
Millard and other Second Amendment activists, however, say gun control will not stop gun violence. By preventing people from protecting themselves, laws limiting gun rights only make cities more dangerous, Millard says.
“I have a clean background,” he told the Post. “I’m not willing to break the law. … I’m a victim because of gun-control laws.”
The paper said a D.C. police spokesperson referred questions to the D.C. attorney general’s office, adding that a spokeswoman there declined to comment on the litigation.
What about the other plaintiffs?
The suit also says another man was denied a concealed-carry license because he fired a gun in self-defense in 2019 but was never charged, the Post reported. In a 2020 incident, the man was charged with assault with a deadly weapon and carrying a pistol without a license, but the paper — citing the suit — said the assault charge was dropped, and then the case was dismissed and his plea withdrawn after the man pleaded guilty to a lesser weapons charge and completed community service.
Though he has not been convicted of a crime, D.C. police won't issue him a concealed-carry license, the Post said, citing the suit.
The suit adds that another man had repeated involvement in violent incidents and contacts with law enforcement, the paper reported. In 2017, he witnessed a threatened shooting, the Post said, citing the suit. In 2020, he took a shooting victim to a hospital; in 2021, he was arrested in two incidents and charged with assaulting a police officer and possession with intent to distribute marijuana while armed, the paper said, citing the suit.
But the Post said all those charges were dropped. Yet though he was never charged with a crime by a prosecutor and already had a concealed-carry license, the suit says his license was revoked, the Post added.
Anything else?
As for Millard, the paper said police maintained that his involvement in domestic incidents makes him unsuitable for a license — yet there’s no indication Millard instigated those incidents.
The suit says the boyfriend of Millard’s mother pushed him and bloodied his lip in one incident — and in another told police Millard had “mental health issues," the Post reported.
Millard — who was never arrested or charged with a crime — told the paper, “They didn’t even put handcuffs on me."
More from the Post:
Millard said D.C. gun regulations have left him defenseless on city streets. Armed security guards who can’t take their weapons home might be targeted when they clock out, he said.
D.C. policy just doesn’t make sense when he can carry a weapon at work, Millard said. On a sunny fall Sunday, he stood near the water taxi landing on Old Town Alexandria’s waterfront in Virginia, his Glock 19 in a holster strapped to his waist. This was perfectly legal, and no one seemed to notice.
“It’s only dangerous when I’m not there,” he told the paper.
Joseph Scrofano, one of Millard’s attorneys, told the Post that the "existing process gives the chief [of police] unfettered discretion to pick and choose who gets to carry and … disproportionately disqualify African-American men."
Whitlock: Murdered Pee Wee football coach Mike Hickmon lacks ‘street’ cred for George Floyd-like deification
Corporate media has made it taboo to discuss the cultural rot at the root of black men randomly killing each other. So you’re unlikely to see a “say his name” campaign focused on Mike Hickmon.
Hickmon is unworthy of the kind of deification corporate and social media reserve for heroic black men harmed while resisting arrest. Hickmon is no George Floyd, Michael Brown, Daunte Wright, Rayshard Brooks, Jacob Blake, or Eric Garner.
Hickmon was a father, husband, active local church member, a former running back at the University of North Texas, and a little league football coach.
Saturday night in Lancaster, Texas, an opposing coach gunned down 43-year-old Mike Hickmon in front of 80 Pee Wee football players.
Following a scrimmage between players 9 years and under, the adult coaches engaged in an on-field brawl sparked when someone kicked the ball Hickmon attempted to pick up from the ground.
According to police, Yaqub Talib, the brother of a former NFL star, ended the melee, shooting Hickmon dead. Hickmon’s 9-year-old son was on the field at the time. So was Aqib Talib, the former five-time Pro Bowler, Super Bowl champion, NFL broadcaster, and brother of the alleged shooter.
The atrocity that befell Mike Hickmon illustrates a problem plaguing black neighborhoods that we’ve been groomed to ignore. It’s racist to discuss the self-hatred that provokes black men to cavalierly settle disagreements with gun violence.
According to approved media wisdom, the random, senseless murder of black men by other black men within black communities is a proximity crime that can only be solved by money, integration, and the passionate affection of white people.
Mike Hickmon would be alive today if white police officers properly loved black people.
So would Hickmon’s sister, Jennifer.
Last July, Jeffrey Alan Scott confessed to murdering Jennifer Hickmon, a 37-year-old middle-school teacher, volleyball coach, and mother of one daughter. Jennifer played basketball at Texas Southern University. She earned a master’s degree in education from Concordia University Texas.
Within a 13-month span, in separate incidents, a brother and sister who used athletics to earn college degrees and dedicated themselves to helping young people were murdered by black men.
But we won’t shout their names. They’re victims of proximity homicides. Those murders don’t matter. There are no white people to directly blame.
Lancaster is a working-class suburb approximately 15 minutes south of the Oak Cliff, Dallas, area where Mike and Jennifer Hickmon grew up. Of Lancaster’s 41,000 residents, 65% are black and 23% Hispanic. The city has produced a handful of journeyman NFL players. Its most famous native is perhaps former Duke basketball player Thomas Hill, who was a shooting guard for the Blue Devils during the Christian Laettner-Grant Hill era.
Yaqub and Aqib Talib, raised by their single mother, grew up in Richardson, Texas, a northern suburb of Dallas. Twenty-five miles separate Richardson from Lancaster. Talib and Hickmon fit the corporate media’s proximity profile.
What’s the solution? Should black people distance themselves from each other?
Given that Aqib earned more than $70 million during his NFL career, it’s hard to blame poverty for Yaqub shooting Hickmon.
Maybe poverty and proximity don’t explain the astronomical murder rate impacting the life expectancy of black men. Maybe it’s a culture of self-hate and disrespect? Maybe the pursuit of white love doesn’t cure black self-hate? Maybe the matriarchal culture adopted by American black people foments emotional men with no impulse control?
It’s just a thought.
Popular culture has certainly normalized the denigration and destruction of black men. It’s so normalized that American media companies seem to prefer black broadcasters with “street” credibility.
At this time, we don’t know Aqib’s role in the Mike Hickmon tragedy. We know that Aqib was there. Based on Aqib’s history, it’s hard to imagine a fight breaking out and Aqib choosing to sit it out.
In 2008, he engaged in a brawl at the NFL rookie symposium. In 2009, he was arrested after an altercation with a taxi driver. In 2011, Aqib and his mother were suspected of firing a gun at his sister’s boyfriend. In 2017, Aqib and Raiders receiver Michael Crabtree had an ugly on-field skirmish. Aqib snatched a gold chain from Crabtree’s neck.
Shortly after Aqib's 2020 retirement, Fox Sports hired him to broadcast NFL games. Within the last few months, Amazon named him part of its team to broadcast Thursday Night Football.
Corporate media love black men with “street” credibility.
It’s all part of promoting a culture of violence and disrespect among black people who live in close proximity to each other. That’s why gangsta rappers such as Jay Z, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Dr. Dre, and Ice T are presented as spokesmen for the black community and Ben Carson, Thomas Sowell, and Clarence Thomas are framed as sellouts.
You can discern the agenda of corporate and social media by the names black people are told to shout, the victims we’re told to idolize, and the men deemed worthy of an outpouring of emotion.
Mike Hickmon, a college graduate, a father, a husband, an active member of his church, a volunteer football coach, meets all the criteria to be regarded as a pillar of his community. But he’s no George Floyd.
That speaks to a deadly cultural rot.
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