WASHINGTON – More than 100 Black male leaders, including activists, preachers, rappers and celebrities, asked Joe Biden in an open letter Monday to choose a Black woman as his running mate, saying that if he did not, he would losing elections.
“As someone who has said throughout the campaign that VP Joe Biden should choose a VP for Black women, the urgency for that choice has gone from something that SHOULD happen to something that should happen,” the open letter said, which was published the week that Biden is expected to announce his running mate.
The letter was made in solidarity with an April letter signed by more than 700 black women leaders – including pastors, doctors, lawyers and celebrities – urging Biden to “recognize and seize this moment” by choosing a black woman as his running mate mate.
Rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, radio host Lenard “Charlamagne Tha God” Mckelvey, political commentator Van Jones, Bishop William J. Barber and civil rights lawyer Ben Crump, who represented George Floyd’s family, were among the hundreds of men which lists them.
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However, one man mentioned that he had signed the letter, Eddie Glaude Jr., a professor of African American Studies at Princeton University, said he was asked to sign the letter but had never seen it before his name was added.
Although he said he was of the opinion that Biden should “nominate a black woman” for political reasons, such as “loyalty, knowledgeable constituency, etc.”, Glaude also stated that he was “more interested in politics than I am in easy” race / gender representation. “
“It’s not enough to have a black woman on the map. We need to have an agenda that speaks directly against the worst of these and seeks to radicalize this nation,” Glaude wrote on Twitter.
In the letter, the men criticized the control process for the Black women who are considered the running mate of Biden. Sen. Kamala Harris, Rep. Karen Bass, former U.S. Ambassador Susan Rice, Rep. Val Demings and former Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams have all been nominated as possible candidates for vice president for Biden.
“We regret that Black women are not only being controlled in this VP process, but unfairly criticized and controlled,” the Monday letter said.
POLITICO reported last month that earlier sen. Chris Dodd, a member of Biden’s vice-presidential commission, criticized Harris for her clash with the former vice president during the first Democratic debate on his civil rights record. Dodd said after all, ‘She laughed and said,’ that’s politics. ‘She had no regrets. “
Dodd’s comments have drawn criticism from those who say Harris is being held to a standard that would not apply to a man.
“Why should Senator Kamala Harris regret questioning Biden’s previous position on integrated busing during a democratic primary debate?” the letter said. “That, Black women are the only ones obliged to stay in their place and repent for even a doubt about their own oppression?”
A report by CNBC last month said a group of Biden allies, including some donors, expressed private concern to the presumptive Democratic nominee that Harris was too ambitious, and, if she nodded to the VP, she might be concentrating be to position themselves for a future presidency run of their own.
“Has Joe Biden ever been considered ‘too ambitious’ because he ran for president three times?” the letter said, adding “Shouldn’t President (Barack) Obama have made the VP (Biden) because he was worried about his ‘loyalty’ when he clearly had AMBITIONS to be president himself?”
Last week, a letter was signed by more than 100 Black women leaders last week criticizing the “blatant disrespect of Black women” during the judging process. Throughout the election cycle, Biden has worried that he was not doing enough to reach people of color. He also criticized some of his remarks, including telling Charlamagne Tha God in a testi interview in May that African-Americans who might be considering voting for Trump over him “are not black.” Biden later sued her for apology for the remark.
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In July, She The People, who advocates for women of color, wrote concerns about Biden’s outreach to women of color, particularly in urban land states. One way to get support at the crucial ballot box was for Biden to choose a woman of color as his running mate, the mother told the She the People.
Monday’s open letter said: “For too long, Black women have been asked to do everything in their power to risk their lives for the Democratic Party with no recognition, no respect, no visibility, and certainly not enough support.”
“Failure of a Black woman in 2020 means you will lose the election,” the letter continued. “We do not want to choose between the lesser of two evils and we do not want to vote for the devil we know against the devil we do not, because we are tired of voting for devils – period.”
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