Walter Carr

I’m a 92-year-old Black man, and, quite simply, the Oct. 18 letters package, “Black men have reasons to doubt Ms. Harris. Scolding won’t change that.,” really ticked me off. Having lived nine decades in this “democratic” country, I have seen a lot and experienced a lot, and I know a lot. I had been pondering whether to write this letter, and what sealed it for me was seeing former NFL greats Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell embracing Donald Trump at a rally in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Brown recently declared bankruptcy after earning $80 million in his career. He’s broke. Misery loves company, because Trump, who has bamboozled the country into believing he is a business genius, has had more bankruptcies then Joan Rivers had facelifts. Herschel Walker was bad enough, and now these guys. Their lack of judgment is giving Black ex-jocks a bad name.

All this furor about Barack Obama being condescending and, according to one letter writer, owing Black men an apology is nonsense. (I want to use a stronger word.) All he owes us is gratitude for supporting him for two terms. Another writer, justifying why Black men are hesitant about Kamala Harris, cited three (self-inflicted) conditions that Harris supposedly won’t help them with: “poor credit, scant education and criminal records.” Poor credit is often the result of a bumpy employment history, low-paying, unskilled jobs and living beyond your means. Scant education — the first thing that comes to my mind is the high rate of dropouts among Black males. I considered dropping out in ’49 (11th grade); I didn’t like school and wanted to quit. My parents weren’t having it. The lecture I got from my father about racial discrimination (even in “the City of Brotherly Love”) and the importance of education to the “Negro” race was ever so timely and essential to my life journey. Criminal records, like the previous two, are a personal choice. Certainly, there are causative factors, but all three are the result of choices people make.

The same writer called for “a policy tailored to benefit Black men.” Does he know about Harris’s proposal of forgivable $20,000 loans for Black men to start businesses? Imagine an Italian American president setting up a policy “tailored to benefit” Italian American men. Black folks would raise hell.

Considering the alternative, the race of the Democratic candidate doesn’t matter. Harris is the clear choice. Her education, career, accomplishments and experience make the decision easy. She wins on character alone. Enough excuses about needing to know who she is. We know who Trump is.

If toxic masculinity, which plagues men off all races, is your problem and you have reservations about women in leadership roles, you need only look at Black women such as Barbara Jordan, Ella Baker, Diane Nash, Fannie Lou Hamer and many, many others.

If you want Black America to prosper, cut the nonsense, get your behinds off the couch and vote for Harris. The young people in Birmingham and Montgomery did the heavy lifting, facing fire hoses, beatings, police dogs and jail. All you have to do is march to the polls.

Walt Carr, Columbia