HBCU WEEK: More Than 50 HBCU Football Legends Back Harris, Calling Her “Inspiring”
by Richard Fowler · ForbesOn Friday morning, more than 50 former HBCU football legends threw their support behind Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz’s bid for the White House.
The former players, representing 25 HBCUs, endorsed Harris and Walz toward the end of Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) Week, just as the presidential race is tightening.
In their letter provided exclusively to Forbes, the athletes emphasized the importance of having an HBCU graduate occupy the White House. However, they urged other voters not to have blind faith in the candidates.
“We encourage all citizens to study the candidates and issues and make their own judgments. We have done so, and are inspired and proud of the leadership that President Harris and Vice President Walz will provide,” the letter said. “But throughout our careers, we have competed on the merits, and we respect the rights of others to compete now and reach their own conclusions about candidates.”
The letter, demonstrating additional Harris support among Black male voters, comes just one week after the release of an NAACP poll that found more than one-quarter of young Black men expressed support for the Republican candidate, former President Donald Trump. With a list that includes NFL greats such as Richard Dent, James “Shack” Harris, Willie Lanier, Ed “Too Tall’ Jones, Art Shell and Super Bowl MVP Doug Williams, the HBCU football endorsement letter represents an oversized opportunity for Harris and Walz to connect with HBCU graduates, just as HBCUs enter football and homecoming season.
As a graduate of Howard University and member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc., Vice President Harris is counting on a big turnout from her fellow HBCU alumni. However, their votes alone will not get her over the finish line. To eke out a victory, Harris must also woo Black men at a percentage similar to or higher than President Joe Biden did in 2020.
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The Harris-Walz ticket has been focused on earning those votes by discussing the campaign's proposals for small businesses, entrepreneurs and access to capital.
“I think it’s very important to not operate from the assumption that Black men are in anybody’s pocket. Black men are like any other voting group. You got to earn their vote,” Harris said to a panel of Black journalists at an NABJ event on Sept. 18. “So I’m working to earn the vote. Not assuming I’m going to have it because I am Black.”
Over the past three weeks, organizations like the Black Male Voter Project have been working on direct Black male voter contact. They have knocked on more than 80,000 doors in Flint, Michigan; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Macon and Augusta, Georgia; and eastern and rural North Carolina.
Mondale Robinson, executive director of the Black Male Voter Project, said these efforts have unveiled new possibilities for Harris-Walz's campaign to reach Black male voters.
“What’s been consistent is that Black men’s support for Harris is outpacing their support for Biden in 2020 in every locale. This isn’t victory, but it is the pathway,” Robinson said. “Black men will be the deciding factor in this election, and regardless of how hard Trump tries with his Black male surrogates and unknowing pundits try to convince us otherwise, the conversations at the doors of these brothers have us feeling like democracy may be saved.”
As part of her plan to earn the Black male vote, Harris has leaned on a policy proposal to expand tax credits for entrepreneurs. Under the proposed plan, Harris will triple the Small Business Administration's lending to Black-owned businesses and grow the start-up tax deduction for new businesses from $5,000 to $50,000. The vice president has also announced a $25,000 tax credit for new home buyers, a proposal she hopes will lower the cost of living and capture the energy of Black male voters.
With a focus on achieving economic wealth for all Americans, including the Black community, the Harris campaign has utilized the vice president’s personal story as a secret weapon to attract disaffected voters, especially those in the Black community.
Harris, born in the household of a Jamaican-American man and an Indian-American woman working to pursue the American Dream, embodies the American Dream via her graduation from Howard University, rise to become San Francisco’s top prosecutor, and her numerous electoral victories.
“As a proud graduate of Howard University, I know firsthand that our HBCUs are centers of academic excellence. For generations, these anchors of our communities have played a pivotal role in building and contributing to America’s leadership at home and abroad,” Harris said this past May in a White House statement. “Today, graduates from our nation’s more than 100 HBCUs are in every room where important decisions are made –leading in our schools, hospitals, courtrooms, boardrooms, and at the highest levels of government.”
Under Trump and President Joe Biden, federal dollars for HBCUs have increased. During his presidency, Trump signed the Future Act into law, which extends $255 million in annual STEM funding for HBCUs and other minority-serving colleges. Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC), Rep Mark Walker (R-NC) and former Senator Doug Jones (D-AL) authored the bill.
For the past year, Trump has made the push for Black men by marketing gold sneakers, campaigning with rappers, reminding them about economic success during the first three years of his administration and utilizing the issues of immigration as a threat to “Black jobs.”
Such tactics have failed for the more than 50 HBCU football legends who endorsed Harris.
“Given [Vice President Harris’] integrity, values and demonstrated commitment to justice and equality of opportunity, we are confident that as president she will serve the best interests of all Americans,” the players said in the letter.