副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯本周连续第二天关注一个关键的投票群体，这个群体是民主党的重要基础:黑人。
周二，哈里斯将与广受欢迎的“早餐俱乐部”播客主持人查理曼一起参加音频市政厅活动。同样在周二，副总统在底特律会见了黑人企业家。
她的活动发生在她的竞选团队推出一项全面计划的一天之后——距离选举只有三周——该计划旨在帮助黑人男性在经济上“取得成功”,其中包括向黑人企业家提供100万英镑完全可豁免的贷款，并努力投资于黑人男教师。
在周一发布的“罗兰·马丁未过滤”采访中，哈里斯认为，考虑黑人面临的“历史障碍”的经济政策有利于所有美国人。
哈里斯说:“如果你有公共政策，我指的是经济公共政策，但如果你有公共政策，承认历史障碍和我们需要做些什么来克服这些障碍。”“首先，说出他们的真相，然后克服他们，在这样做的过程中，你不仅直接处理黑人面临的不公正以及法律和程序障碍，而且通过消除这些障碍，每个人都受益，对吗?”
对黑人选民的关注紧随其后前总统巴拉克·奥巴马严厉斥责黑人上周在匹兹堡东部自由社区的竞选办公室对一群黑人讲话时，他“借口”不投票给哈里斯。
“你有(特朗普)，他一贯表现出漠视，不仅是对社区，也是对你个人，你在考虑袖手旁观?”奥巴马问道。"你还想出各种各样的理由和借口?"
据统计，哈里斯在登记投票的黑人选民中领先于特朗普，比例为82-13%最新的美国广播公司新闻/益普索民意调查。相比之下，2020年出口民调中的支持率为87-12%(哈里斯略低5个百分点;对特朗普没有更好的)。调查发现，黑人男性的比例为76-18%(四年前为79-19%)。
这些与2020年的差异在统计上并不显著，佐治亚州参议员拉斐尔·沃诺克说他同意这一点。
“我不认为会有大量黑人男性投票给唐纳德·特朗普。那是不会发生的。我敦促人们做的是出现，要明白如果你不投票，那就是投唐纳德·特朗普的票。这就是问题所在。”沃诺克在周二与记者的竞选电话中说道。
哈里斯竞选团队为黑人男性制定的计划包括在全国范围内使娱乐性大麻合法化。该运动在其新闻稿中称，这一举措将“打破阻碍黑人和其他美国人发展的不公正的法律障碍”。
这使得拜登政府目前的立场更进了一步，包括赦免被判持有大麻的人。对哈里斯来说，这样的提议证明了她立场的转变。自从她担任加州总检察长以来，她变得更加进步，当时她因积极起诉与大麻有关的犯罪而受到严厉批评。
当被问及她是否在2019年抽过查理曼大帝的烟时，哈里斯回答说:“我抽过。我吸入了-我确实吸入了。那是很久以前的事了。但是，是的。”
她继续澄清说，她相信物质合法化。
她说:“我有顾虑，完整的记录，我有顾虑，我认为——首先，让我把这个声明说得非常清楚，我认为我们需要使大麻合法化。”“现在，话虽如此——这不是一个‘但是’，而是一个‘而且’——我们需要研究，这是我们需要将其合法化的原因之一。我们需要把它提上日程，这样我们就可以研究杂草对大脑发育的影响。你知道，大脑中发展判断力的那部分，实际上是从18岁到24岁开始发育的。”
由于她起诉该物质的记录，特别是考虑到全国范围内惩罚的种族差异，她的回答引起了强烈反对。哈里斯的新提议旨在纠正这些历史上的不平等。
但这就足够了吗?
除了新的提议，哈里斯在过去一周积极地在黑人社区开展竞选活动，在北卡罗来纳州、宾夕法尼亚州和密歇根州的几个当地黑人企业和教堂停留，并出现在几个以黑人观众为主的媒体节目中。
九月，哈里斯在一次有节制的谈话中告诉一群黑人记者由全国黑人记者协会主办她“努力争取选票，而不是假设我会因为是黑人而获得选票。”
她的竞选团队在周一发起了“黑人男性集会”的组织号召，竞选高级官员托尼·韦斯特、布莱恩·尼尔森、昆廷·富尔克斯和众议员塞德里克·里士满发表了讲话。后来，有一个以黑人支持哈里斯为主题的每周活动，由演员唐·钱德尔主演。
“副总统正在做的是给我们工具，让我们能够去进行有意义、有影响力的对话，当黑人回头对我们说，‘好吧，这对我有什么好处’，我认为我们有这样的政策和工具，我们可以这样说，”富尔克斯说。
道格·里弗斯，谁周一采访了哈里斯的“所有的烟”播客他说，他同意奥巴马上周的评论，并呼吁黑人男性投票。
“我100%同意奥巴马总统——不投票是不可接受的。当你回顾你的父母和祖父母为了获得投票权所做的一切时，这对我来说是无法接受的。“但有些黑人感到绝望，他们不相信投票能以任何方式帮助他们，我在这里告诉他们，他们错了。”
上周五，美国广播公司新闻采访了匹兹堡黑人占主导地位的霍姆伍德·布拉什顿社区的黑人男子，询问他们对哈里斯的印象以及她需要做些什么来获得他们的投票。
阿奎伊·贝伊是阿勒格尼县社区学院的学生，也是该学院退伍军人俱乐部的主席，他说哈里斯需要在他们所在的地方与他们见面，真诚地与他们交谈。
“她现在做得很好，但我认为她应该去他们所在的地方，你知道，按照他们自己的方式去见他们，你知道。去他们所在的街区，去理发店……”贝伊说。“无论黑人在哪里，去他们在的地方，用他们能理解的方式和他们说话。”
亚伦·斯塔基说，人们不应该认为黑人不支持哈里斯。
“只要对我们进行民意调查，而不是假设我们不会去哪里，”他说。
Harris works to appeal to Black men, a critical group for Democrats
For a second day this week, Vice President Kamala Harris is focusing on a key voting bloc that is a critical base for the Democratic Party: Black men.
On Tuesday, Harris will participate in an audio town hall event with Charlemagne tha God, host for the popular "The Breakfast Club" podcast. Also on Tuesday, the vice president is meeting with Black entrepreneurs in Detroit.
Her events come a day after her campaign rolled out a comprehensive plan -- just three weeks until the election -- to help Black men "get ahead" economically, which includes providing one million fully forgivable loans to Black entrepreneurs and an effort to invest in Black male teachers.
In an interview on "Roland Martin Unfiltered," also released on Monday, Harris argued that economic policies that consider "historical barriers" facing Black people benefit all Americans.
"If you have public policy, and I'm talking about economic public policy specifically at this point, but if you have public policy that recognizes historical barriers and what we need to do then to overcome," Harris said. "First, speak truth about them and then overcome them, that in the process of doing that, not only are you directly dealing with the injustices and the legal and procedural barriers that have been focused on Black folks, but by eliminating those barriers, everyone actually benefits, right?"
The focus on Black voters comes afterformer President Barack Obama sternly chided Black menover "excuses" to not vote for Harris while speaking to a group of Black at a campaign field office in Pittsburgh's East Liberty neighborhood last week.
"You have [Trump], who has consistently shown disregard, not just for the communities, but for you as a person, and you're thinking about sitting out?" Obama asked. "And you're coming up with all kinds of reasons and excuses?"
Harris is polling ahead of Trump with Black voters who are registered to vote, 82-13%, according tothe latest ABC News/Ipsos poll. That compares with 87-12% in the 2020 exit poll (a slight 5 points lower for Harris; no better for Trump). Black men are at 76-18% (compared with 79-19% four years ago), the poll found.
These differences from 2020 aren't statistically significant, and Georgia Sen. Raphael Warnock said he agrees.
"I don't buy this idea that there will be huge swaths of Black men voting for Donald Trump. That's not going to happen. What I would urge folks to do is to show up, to understand that if you don't vote, that is a vote for Donald Trump. That's the concern.," said Warnock on a Tuesday campaign call with reporters.
Part of the Harris campaign's plan for Black men includes legalizing recreational marijuana nationwide. Such a move would "break down unjust legal barriers that hold Black men and other Americans back," the campaign said in its release.
This takes the Biden administration's current stance, which includes pardoning people convicted of marijuana possession, a step further. For Harris' part, such a proposal is evidence of her evolving position. She has become more progressive since her time as attorney general of California when she was heavily criticized for aggressively prosecuting weed-related crimes.
Asked if she ever smoked by Charlamagne tha God back in 2019, Harris responded, "I have. And I inhaled -- I did inhale. It was a long time ago. But, yes."
She went on to clarify that she believes in legalizing the substance.
"I have had concerns, the full record, I have had concerns, which I think -- first of all, let me just make this statement very clear, I believe we need to legalize marijuana," she said. "Now, that being said -- and this is not a 'but,' it is an 'and' -- and we need to research, which is one of the reasons we need to legalize it. We need to move it on the schedule so that we can research the impact of weed on a developing brain. You know, that part of the brain that develops judgment, actually begins its growth at age 18 through age 24."
Her answer garnered backlash due to her record prosecuting the substance, particularly given the racial disparities in punishment nationwide. Harris' new proposal looks to correct those historical inequities.
But is it enough?
In addition to the new proposals, Harris has aggressively been campaigning in Black communities in the past week, stopping at several local Black-owned businesses and churches in North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Michigan as well as appearing on several media programs with predominately Black audiences.
In September, Harris told a group of Black reporters in a moderated conversationhosted by the National Association of Black Journaliststhat she was "working to earn the vote, not assuming I'm going to have it because I am Black."
Her campaign launched a "Black Men Huddle" organizing call on Monday, which featured remarks from campaign senior officials Tony West, Brian Nelson, Quentin Fulks and Rep. Cedric Richmond. Later, there was a weekly event focused on Black men supporting Harris featuring actor Don Cheadle.
"What the vice president is doing is giving us the tools to be able to go and have meaningful, impactful conversations when Black men turn back around to us and say, 'Well, what's in it for me,' I think that we have policy and tools like this that we can say exactly that," said Fulks.
Doc Rivers, whointerviewed Harris for his "ALL the SMOKE" podcast on Monday, said he agreed with Obama's comments last week and pushed for Black men to cast their ballots.
"I agree 100% with President Obama -- it's unacceptable not to vote. When you look back at what your parents and your grandparents had to do to get the right to vote, that's unacceptable for me," said Rivers. "But there are Black men who out there that feel hopeless, they don't believe a vote helps them in either way, and I'm here to tell them they're wrong."
ABC News interviewed Black men in Pittsburgh's predominately Black Homewood Brushton neighborhood last Friday about their impressions of Harris and what she needed to do to get their vote.
Aquail Bey, a student at The Community College of Allegheny County and president of its veterans club, said Harris needs to meet them where they are and genuinely speak with them.
"She's doing a good job right now, but I think she should have -- go to places where they are, you know, meet them on their own terms, you know. Go to the neighborhoods where they are, go to the barber shops ... " Bey said. "Wherever the Black men are, go to where they are, speak to them a way that they understand."
Aaron Stuckey said people shouldn't assume Black men aren't getting behind Harris.
"Just poll us instead of assuming that that's where we're not going," he said.
