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Author and activist Bakari Kitwana, who’s 58, says he’s never seen Black and brown male voters courted as they have been during this election cycle.
Republican nominee Donald Trump has sought, with some success, to shift those voters away from their longtime loyalty to the Democratic party. Democrats have responded with events like former President Barack Obama’s visit to Pittsburgh to encourage Black men to vote for Kamala Harris.
Black voters are not a monolith. But they do make up about 13% of the population in crucial swing state Pennsylvania, and Kitwana thinks more needs to be done to reach not only Black men who are considering Trump but those who might not vote at all.
On Tuesday, the co-founder of the Hip-Hop Political Education Summit joined groups including Pittsburgh’s own 1Hood Media to host “US: A Summit on Black & Brown Men and the Vote,” a star-studded and hip-hop-themed event at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater.
“This was an opportune moment for hip hop to step in with some political education, ’cause there’s a lot of misinformation,” said Kitwana, who’s based in Cleveland.
1Hood CEO Jasiri X says he was concerned by a September NAACP poll that indicated 26% of Black men under 50 supported Trump for president — more than twice the percentage that voted for Trump in 2020. (A more recent NAACP poll suggests that is changing.)
This week’s program featured Oscar-winning actor Viola Davis, rappers Fat Joe, Bun B and Cordae, U.S. Rep. Jasmine Crockett of Texas, and more. It closely followed 1Hood’s Oct. 20 Power Festival at the Kelly Strayhorn, a concert with hip-hop stars Common, Method Man and Lupe Fiasco that doubled as a voter engagement event.
While music is standard at political rallies — and all campaigns seem to have theme songs — hip hop is uniquely qualified for this kind of work. From rap precursors like Gil Scott-Heron and The Last Poets to Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five’s “The Message” and Public Enemy’s “Fight the Power,” the music’s long been a form of political communication. Chuck D once called rap “the Black CNN.”
Political organizing around hip hop goes back decades. Participants in the Oct. 29 event included the Rev. Lennox Yearwood, whose Hip Hop Caucus is marking its 20th year.
“Hip hop is one of the most powerful forces in the world,” said state Rep. LaTasha Mayes, who attended this week’s event. “We have to give people something to connect to.”
“We’ve had more success organizing around joy and food and love than anything,” says Jasiri X.
Organizers said the need for information and perspective is especially urgent. Trump’s own overtures to the Black community have included pardons for rappers including Lil Wayne and Kodak Black — even as he campaigns as a “law and order” candidate who favors giving officers immunity from prosecution for police violence and who would encourage such controversial practices as stop-and-frisk.
Kitwana also noted the myth that Trump himself bankrolled pandemic-relief checks because his name was on them — a misapprehension so widespread that Kamala Harris is going around explaining that the stimulus spending originated with a Democratic-majority Congress.
Kitwana says many Black voters have real concerns, like inflation and objections to U.S. support for Israel’s war in Gaza. But in an interview, he said, “It’s more their anger at the Democratic Party than any love they have for Donald Trump.”
He argues there’s more reason to believe Trump’s policies would worsen those problems than would fix them. “It sounds crazy that somebody could be so disillusioned that they’re gonna vote against their own interests, but that’s kinda where we are,” Kitwana said.
At the Kelly Strayhorn, the first part of the evening was called “Black Women and Black Men Stand Together.” The crowd of about 175 offered its biggest ovation to Davis, one of the most acclaimed actors of her generation and an Oscar-winner for the shot-in-Pittsburgh “Fences.”
The core of Davis’ message was about the need for America to recognize the pain of Black people so it can be addressed. But she also slammed Trump for his “Black jobs” comment, and expressed dismay over Black people seduced by the slogan “Make America Great Again.”
“You gotta convince me why you want to go back,” she said.
Like other speakers, Davis alluded to Trump’s Oct. 27 Madison Square Garden Rally, where the opening acts included a comedian who made racist jokes and called Puerto Rico “a floating island of garbage.”
“You’re talking about a man who hired a man for a rally to make fun of you. And that’s your candidate?” she said.
Davis was also among the speakers who addressed a perceived reluctance by some Black men to vote for a woman.
“A lot of Black men don’t want to vote for a Black woman … So you’re gonna vote for a white man who doesn’t give a [expletive] about you?” she said.
Other speakers included Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Austin Davis and U.S. Rep Summer Lee.
Participants in the evening’s closing panel included New York City city council member Yusef Salaam, one of the Central Park Five — a group of men who served years in prison for assault and rape before being exonerated in 2002.
In September, the five men filed a federal lawsuit accusing Trump of making “false and defamatory” statements about them during a debate with Harris.
“We are not going to be at the table of a Donald Trump presidency,” he said, addressing Black voters. “We are going to be on the menu.”
