I recently watched an intriguing conversation between academic/author/activist Marc Lamont Hill, and best-selling author/journalist/activist Ta-Nehisi Coates, on Hill’s show UpFront on Al Jazeera English. The conversation was mostly about Coates’ new book which focuses on the conflict between Israel and Palestine, and did not discuss American sports.
However, while the two men were discussing the upcoming presidential election between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, I thought of sports as a possible solution to a vexing, and possibly overinflated, narrative affecting the Vice President: How does she effectively communicate with Black male voters? And, ultimately: How does she get Black men to the polls to vote for her?
According to polling done by the NAACP between Oct. 11-17, about one in five younger Black men say they support Trump. The poll of 1,000 registered Black voters had a margin of error of 3.14 percentage points. More recent polling suggests Harris is doing better with Black men than in early October.
In the interview with Hill, Coates said, “I don’t know if this party (Democrats) knows how to talk to brothers. I’m just going to say that. I’m not making any excuses for people, and some of their worst reasons for not supporting Kamala, but I don’t think I have ever seen someone pitch a group that you wanted to vote for you, the way I saw Barack Obama pitch Black men.”
The NAACP polling data, along with former President Obama’s October 10th “speak some truth” message to Black men in support of Harris, only elevated the issue. Obama’s blunt message may have contained some hard truths, but, in this particular case, the messenger, and his direct delivery, seemed to overshadow the message; at least to the media.
This has me thinking: How do you get Black male voters to the polls? How do you get Black men to do just about anything? As a Black man myself, what motivates me? What would have motivated me in my 20s, or even my 30s?
I’ve spent the last two years obsessing over the Black community’s place within baseball. And, the question I’m often faced with is: What can be done to get Black people interested in baseball to the point where they attend games in person? For baseball, it’s a particularly frustrating question, with no one-size-fits-all or magic bullet answer; though most people have their highly unproven answers ready for the comment section of my podcast (subscribe to the Black Baseball Mixtape podcast).
While there is no singular answer to the question of how to motivate Black men, there is a majority rule answer that has stood the test of time: That answer is (….drumroll, please…) women. Not just Black women. All women. Even the possibility of women is motivating for Black men; trust me.
That’s right, most men will show up and show out if women are anywhere around. You’d be surprised to learn how many Black baseball players, with tons of potential to play baseball in college or even the pros, tell me they stopped playing in high school because “girls don’t look for baseball players like they do for football players and hoopers.”
I think back to my hip-hop concert-promoting days (about a decade ago). I knew I had a packed venue if the artist appealed to women hip-hop fans…because men follow women. But politics is tricky. Men may follow women to concerts, clubs, and parties, but when it comes to voting for women candidates, placing women in leadership, or even giving women equal pay for equal work, well, that’s where misogyny shows up. That’s where patriarchy and sexism show up too. It’s infuriating.
Now, before I go further into my musing, I’m not suggesting that all Black men who are not voting for Harris are making that decision because she is a Black woman. I do believe there are true-believer MAGA types out there, who happened to be Black. What I am saying is that for those Black men who are suffering from apathy, fear, or even chasing the narrative, there may be a particular population that can motivate you: Black athletes.
Let’s face it, the Black athlete of 2024 is a far cry from Paul Robeson, Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, Bill Russell, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, but their influence may be even more impactful; if they choose to use it. LeBron James (who endorsed Harris this week), Chris Paul, and Stephen Curry are outliers in modern sports. They have gained so much cultural capital that they can make political statements with virtually no negative impact on their brand or job. The NBA also happens to have the highest percentage of Black players in their league (approximately 70%), and that offers them even more of a shield from negative retribution.
While football has the most influence in American sports, Black football players have been virtually mum on political endorsements in 2024. I think that is a major problem, especially since at least one prominent white football player had no hesitation to show his MAGA support on Sunday Night Football. And don’t get me started on Black baseball players. At the time of this writing, I am not aware of one active Black Major League baseball player who has made a presidential endorsement for Harris.
Though on the surface it may come across as stereotypical, the truth is that Black men are heavily invested in American sports. Black athletes, particularly football and basketball athletes, could be some of the more effective surrogates for communicating with the Black community. Tapping into Black athletes would benefit Harris far more than Trump’s pick of NFL outcasts Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown.
In many Black homes, sports have supplanted church as the aspect of their life they are most devoted to. It makes sense to me that Harris tries to connect with athletes who speak directly to this critical demographic.
I don’t think Black athletes are the final answer, especially for an election less than five days away. I think future use of Black athletes may be part of the answer I’ve been asking myself: Can Black athletes be a part of the solution to motivate Black men to be more civically active? We won’t know until they do so.
