October 6, 2024
NBA legend and Hall of Fame point guard Earvin “Magic” Johnson joined Vice President Kamala Harris at her rally in Flint, Michigan
NBA legend and Hall of Fame point guard Earvin “Magic” Johnson joined Vice President Kamala Harris at her rally in Flint, Michigan, on Oct. 4 and focused much of his energy on getting a message to Black men to vote for Harris in the upcoming November presidential election.
According to Deadline Detroit, Johnson opened his comments with a brief history of his and his wife Cookie Johnson’s support of Harris’ political career.
“I’m here because I’ve known Kamala for over 20 years. Cookie (his wife) and I supported her run for attorney general back in the state of California, her run for senator, and now we support her as the VP but now the biggest moment for all of us, November the 5th, we have to do all we can to elect Kamala Harris as the next president of the United States,” Johnson said.
Johnson continued, “There’s a lot of Black men in here and I don’t mean to, you know, not talk to other people but this is important. Our Black men, we gotta get them out to vote, that’s number one. Kamala’s opponent promised a lot of things last time to the Black community that he did not deliver on, and we gotta make sure we help Black men understand that.”
As BLACK ENTERPRISE previously reported, Johnson’s appearance dovetails with an Athletes for Harris coalition the Harris-Walz campaign unveiled in September.
Johnson, who is a co-chair of the initiative, was a centerpiece of the campaign, and ahead of the appearance in Flint alongside Vice President Harris, functionally endorsed Harris via a statement unveiling the coalition.
“I have known Vice President Harris for over 25 years, and you can count on her to deliver on what she says she is going to do,” Johnson said. “She’ll be a President for all people, no matter the race, language, sexual orientation, or party line.”
Johnson continued, “She showed all of us — and showed the world — that she was ready to be President, how smart she is, and her plan for the country in that debate. We are not going backwards; we are moving forward. For all of the athletes out there, don’t be afraid to use your platforms — we need all of you to get involved. Share this with your friends that Vice President Harris has an agenda that will move the country forward. The Magic Man is on board.”
Although the campaign has made it a point to court Black men, and Vice President Harris herself explicitly laid out her focus on this demographic during an interview panel of journalists from the National Association of Black Journalists in September, Trump and the Republican Party have been trying to capitalize on the dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party from Black men.
According to The New York Times, interviews with several Black male voters, influencers and strategists reflect a broader frustration with the Democratic Party that Republicans have been willing to exploit, and they are willing to play the long game to eventually get their support.
Kenneth Clark, a 43-year-old cybersecurity manager and entrepreneur mused that although Trump sowed discord in the country, he couldn’t readily identify a tangible difference in his own life.
“What did it exactly do to us? What did it do to our communities exactly?” Clark told the outlet. “Did it empower us? Did it hurt us? We were in the same position as we were before.”
Clark continued, “I’m not a supporter of Trump. But at the same time I don’t know for sure what either parties’ plans are directly affecting us and our culture,” According to Clark, politicians “work on our emotions but they don’t really empower us. They want our vote.”
However, the Justice, Equality and Economics PAC, an organization that claims to represent 50,000 Black men across Georgia, decided to endorse Harris after previously endorsing Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp in 2022. Part of that reasoning, according to the group’s leader, Omar Ali, is that Vice President Harris, unlike Trump, offered material commitments to minority owned businesses.
As Ali told The New York Times, “We finally have a Democratic candidate that’s actually listening and actually asking us what we want and actually understands that we’re more than just criminal reform,” Mr. Ali said in reference to Harris. “And so it’s a very simple message.”
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