Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event at a fire station in Redford Charter Township, Michigan, U.S., October 4, 2024.
Elizabeth Franz | Reuters
Vice President Kamala Harris on Monday announced an “Opportunity Agenda” proposal for Black men. It includes a plan to provide 1 million forgivable loans to Black entrepreneurs and new pathways to help Black Americans succeed in the legalized marijuana industry.
“This agenda further enables Vice President Harris’ opportunity economy,” former Congressman Cedric Richmond, co-chair of the Harris campaign, said in a statement. “An economy where people don’t just survive, but get ahead, where black men have the tools to thrive: to buy a home, raise a family, start a business, and build wealth.”
The purpose of Mr. Harris’ presentation was to increase her support The largest number of black male voters appeared in the final weeks of an extremely close race between the Democratic vice president and Republican former president Donald Trump.
The plan outlined Monday would provide 1 million fully forgivable loans of up to $20,000 to Black entrepreneurs and other entrepreneurs. The loans will be funded through partnerships with “mission-driven lenders,” community-based banks and the Small Business Administration, the campaign said.
The agenda also includes increased investment in training and mentorship programs to help black men find jobs in high-demand industries, and a public service loan forgiveness program to recruit and retain black male teachers.
The PSLF program provides student loan forgiveness after 10 years for borrowers who hold certain nonprofit and government jobs. Black men make up less than 2% of public school teachers in the United States. According to the survey results Results of the 2020-21 school year national teacher and principal survey.
If she wins in November, Harris will become the first Black woman and first South Asian to be elected president of the United States.
Harris also pledged to support legalizing marijuana at the federal level. This goes well beyond the Biden administration’s current stance on cannabis, including pardoning people convicted of marijuana possession and considering the possibility of reclassifying marijuana in the drug schedule.
“By working with Congress to legalize marijuana nationwide and ensure that the safe cultivation, distribution, and possession of recreational marijuana is the law of the land, we will empower Black men and other Americans,” Harris said. “We will break down the unjust legal barriers that are holding us back.” Campaign statement.
“She will also fight to ensure that Black men, who have long been over-policed for marijuana use, have access to wealth and jobs in this new market as the national cannabis industry takes shape.” said the camp.
Harris’ new plan also includes several lines on digital assets, another area where she appears poised to break ground with the Biden administration.
According to her campaign, Harris said, “We know that more than 20% of Black Americans own or have owned crypto assets. “By ensuring that investors benefit from a regulatory framework, we will ensure that black men and others own crypto assets.” Participation in this market is protected. ”
A fierce battle to regulate cryptocurrencies is underway in Washington, although it was unclear as of Monday what that framework would look like.
Polls show that Black voters overwhelmingly support Harris over Trump, but recent polls show that by the end of the 2020 campaign, President Joe Biden will be the Democratic leader. She has a higher share of the key constituencies, surpassing what Ms. Harris currently holds three weeks after Election Day. New York Times/Siena College public opinion poll.
In polls conducted in late September and early October, about 15% of likely black voters said they planned to vote for Trump in November. That’s six points higher than Biden’s final lead with black voters in the 2020 campaign. The numbers effectively quantify the ground Harris hopes to regain in the coming weeks.
Harris also hopes to draw a sharp contrast to Trump with a new proposal aimed at winning over black men.
The vice president regularly links President Trump to the agenda of Project 2025, a hard-line policy collection developed by the conservative think tank Heritage Foundation in collaboration with more than 100 other right-wing groups.
President Trump has sought to distance himself from Project 2025, which proposes cuts to education and safety net programs such as Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act.
