Black men join call to raise $1.3M for Harris Campaign
By Gerren Keith Gaynor
Thousands of Black men raised more than $1.3 million during a Monday evening virtual fundraiser call in support of presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
According to Quentin James of The Collective PAC, one of the organizers for the “Black Men for Harris” call, more than 45,000 Black men convened online to rally around Harris’ candidacy, just one day after President Joe Biden suspended his reelection campaign and endorsed his vice president for the party’s nomination.
James, along with political and legal strategist Bakari Sellers, Khalil Thompson of Win With Black Men, and Michael Blake of Kairos Democracy Project, organized Monday’s call, which was hosted and streamed by Roland Martin’s Black Star Network. The goal of the call was to match funds raised during a similar call hosted Sunday night by Win With Black Women.
While the collective of Black men did not reach the fundraising target of $1.5 million for the Harris for President campaign, the organizers noted they were able to raise the $1.3 million from more than 17,000 donors in less time.
Blake of Kairos Democracy Project told theGrio that Monday’s call was “an incredible collaboration” that brought together Black male organizers, elected officials, and staff working for the White House and Harris campaign.
“Last night, we made it very clear that Black men count and Black men must be counted. Black men must be at the table, and we do not accept that we are not in the game,” Blake told theGrio. “We made it very clear that for a long time, sisters have held us down. Well, it’s our time to do it for her.”
After 48 hours of fundraising for Harris among Black women and Black men, resulting in a total of $2.8 million, Blake noted, “It’s pretty clear what’s possible” when Black communities unite.
“They will try to attack her, they will try to attack us. But if we remind people that we always have strength in numbers and strength in message, we win,” added Blake.
Black male leaders who joined Monday night’s call to deliver brief remarks included Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, U.S. Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, and U.S. Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.), America’s first Gen Z member of Congress.
Notably, Frost works with Harris in the White House Office of Gun Violence and Prevention, which Biden established last year.
“The vice president has been a leader in that office, fighting to ensure we have hundreds of millions of dollars going to our communities across the entire country. And so that’s one of the many reasons I’m proud to be supporting her,” said Frost.
The nation’s youngest congressman noted that gun violence is a critically important issue to young voters, particularly young Black men who are “surviving gun violence on a daily basis.”
Frost expressed optimism that Harris could “bring this issue to the forefront and talk about it in the way that needs to be spoken about.”
Tennessee State Rep. Justin Jones also joined the virtual call, noting that he and others in the state “stand with the vice president because she stood with us in one of our darkest times.”
Jones, along with State Rep. Justin J. Pearson, was expelled by the state legislature last year after joining anti-gun-violence demonstrators inside the state capitol building. The next day, Harris made a surprise visit to Nashville to condemn the expulsions as an affront to democracy and racial justice.
Florida State Sen. Shevrin Jones, who was on Monday’s call, told theGrio that the fundraising effort showed “solidarity and strength.”
Black women’s Zoom call raises $1.5 M for Harris
By Natasha S. Alford
A Sunday evening Zoom meeting organized on behalf of Vice President Kamala Harris by political advocacy group Win With Black Women drew 44,000 people, raising over $1.5 million in just a few hours, according to Jotaka Eaddy, the group’s founder.
“We are united and fired up,” Eaddy told theGrio. “Ready to work to defeat Trump and his 2025 agenda and ensure that Vice President Harris is the next president of the United States!”
The interest was so strong that attendees who tried to join the call in the first hour couldn’t due to capacity restrictions, with some creating other spaces to listen in from, utilizing Google Meets, Twitch and listen-only phone calls. Win With Black Women organizers connected with Aparna Bawa, the COO of Zoom for support, and soon the floodgates opened as women and allies from across the country joined to strategize about how to support Harris’ run for president.
Win With Black Women is an intergenerational women’s group that has rallied support for Black women in politics, with a particular focus on getting Black women appointed to senior positions in the Biden-Harris administration.
The group played a role in persuading President Joe Biden to select Harris as his vice presidential nominee in 2020.
While the Sunday night call itself was off the record, for many attendees, the assignment was clear: Get in formation and rally voter support for Harris by Election Day, Nov. 5. The stakes could not be higher, as evidenced by former president and current GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump’s immediate lobbing of attacks toward Harris, seeking to tie her performance to Biden’s perceived mental and physical decline.
Despite the tumult that led to Biden’s withdrawal from the race, advocates for Harris see an opportunity to ensure she gets credit for the many legislative accomplishments the two were able to achieve during their tenure.
“The call itself felt like winning — to be engaged, to be in community, to speak (and yell!) about what’s possible is where real change and progress begins — and to be in that moment with over 44,000 women, sisters, friends, strangers — it was truly priceless!” Margaret Anadu, an attendee who is also an impact investor, told theGrio.
“I have laughed and cried and prayed on this call. It has truly been an experience,” said an anonymous attendee who is also a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., the same Black Greek-letter organization as Harris.
“[Dr.] Johnnetta Cole [said] ‘Don’t ever let them say Black women can’t do it,’” she added.
“I was one of the 44,000,” read the text of a social media graphic of Harris speaking that Win With Black Women created. The post started to spread like wildfire Monday morning, as attendees reflected on what the meeting meant to them.
If Win With Black Women’s remarkable Zoom call was any indication of how efficiently Black women can organize politically, the 2024 race for president could be historic in more ways than one.
“I am FED and LIFTED. I don’t have the words for tonight’s magic. 44,000 of us got on a Zoom, and it was life-affirming,” posted New York Times bestselling author Luvvie Ajayi Jones, reposting Win With Black Women’s social media graphic. “The mission is clear. … We move. #OneVoiceOneFight”
