BY MATT BROWN, Associated Press
ATLANTA (AP) — Every Monday evening, the Andrew and Walter Young Family YMCA basement becomes a sanctuary for men who, local leaders say, have too often been denied one.
The Black Man Lab, which for nearly a decade has sought weekly to create a “safe, sacred and healing space” for Black men in metropolitan Atlanta, regularly gathers more than 100 men to pray, meditate and talk through challenges and triumphs they are facing and learn from peers and elders.
“It’s almost a communion,” said Carttrell Coleman, a visual artist from South Fulton, Georgia, who has attended the weekly meetings for seven years. “It’s an opportunity for us to share our voices and get resources. The networking is always a good thing. It’s a fellowship, of sorts.”
One recent meeting in the immediate aftermath of President Joe Biden’s suspension of his reelection campaign took on special weight as attendees considered the prospect of a Black woman winning the presidency. The candidacy of Vice President Kamala Harris has refocused attention on Black men, a demographic that Democrats and Republicans view as persuadable but whose multifaceted experiences and political preferences often go unaddressed in public debate.
Black male voters are traditionally one of the most consistently Democratic leaning demographics in the nation. This year, however, both major parties view Black men, especially those under the age of 40, as attainable voters. Whether Black men turn out in high numbers and to what degree they maintain traditional support for Democratic candidates may prove decisive in November.
“To be frank, I think early on in this process a lot of Black men viewed this election with much skepticism and dread,” said Bishop Reginald Jackson, who presides over all 534 African Methodist Episcopal churches in Georgia. “But since the change in the Democratic ticket, there has been a turnaround. I think they feel they have something that they can support. I think a lot of issues which made a lot of them skeptical are being addressed.”
The culminating effort also aims to address longstanding skepticism among many Black men about the political system, which is seen as discriminatory and unresponsive to their interests. Others have tackled potential hesitancy among men about electing a woman to the nation’s highest office.
Republicans, too, see an opportunity to make inroads with Black men precisely because of those longstanding frustrations. Donald Trump often speaks of his interest in garnering greater Black voter support. Black Republicans, including Reps. Byron Donalds of Florida and Wesley Hunt of Texas, have hosted a “Congress, Cognac, and Cigars” event series in cities including Atlanta, Philadelphia and Milwaukee.
“Black men have been taken for granted by the Democratic Party for years, but President Trump’s message is resonating at historic levels because he is doing the work,” said Janiyah Thomas, Black media director for the Trump campaign.
Marcus Robinson, a senior spokesperson for the Democratic National Committee, called Republican outreach strategy “hot air, racially charged rhetoric and offensive stereotypes, from questioning Vice President Harris’s identity to claiming Black voters should relate to Trump because he is a convicted felon.”
For many attendees at the Black Man Lab event, the reinvigorated presidential race is an opportunity to make sure their interests are addressed at the highest levels of government.
“I was in the street doing wild stuff and this saved my life,” said Damon Bod, an exterior house technician from Atlanta, of his experience with the Black Man Lab event. Bod said he lost his entire immediate family to violence and that the event provided him counsel and a community.
He said he would support Harris in the election because the men who supported him felt she would advance Black men’s interests.
“I’ve been looking at it and hopefully she’ll do a bit of good. My brothers have said she will, people who know me. But only God knows,” Bod said.
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