From sports to politics, the barbershop has always been a place for healthy debate and discourse. That's not to say foolish banter doesn't creep up in convo, but if you want to get a pulse on a neighborhood, the shop is a good place to start. From my barber, his colleagues and the various patrons I have met over the past few months in the shop in Harlem, in New York City, to my son and his friends in California, to friends in Atlanta, Washington D.C and Philadelphia, Black men were less than enthusiastic about president Biden. They felt he should step aside for a younger, more energetic candidate. While they did not say they would vote for Trump, it was increasingly clear that their choice was between the former president and their couch, especially after the disastrous June 27 debate.
But on July 21, Biden announced that he was dropping out of the presidential race and endorsed his vice president. Harris, a biracial woman — Black and Asian — is 59 years old, 22 years younger than Biden and 19 years younger than Trump, his Republican opponent. Is this a development that will simplify the choice for my contingent of Black men?
Seated in my barber's chair, a conversation on Kamala's chances dominated my time at the shop.
“The Lady has a chance, bro,” answered my barber, when I asked him what he thought of the top of the Democratic ticket. “She’s a good talker. She’s good,” he continued as he stopped to look me in the eyes through the mirror.
“The Lady can beat Trump,” his colleague chimed in, dropping the clippers he was running over a customer’s head.
“She came in swinging, bro,” added a third barber. “ The Lady has a chance. She is like Obama, man.”
“The Lady has the swag, bro,” my barber added.
It is the first time in months that I’ve seen enthusiasm from Democrats in my barbershop, nestled in the heart of Harlem, and area that is as blue as it gets. The enthusiasm is palpable, but so are the doubts and fears about Harris’ victory.
“She’s a woman, man. People won’t vote for a woman,” a customer waiting for his turn added. “Hillary lost, bro and she was White. White people won’t vote for a Black woman.”
Others nodded. A silence fell. The dull sound of the clippers sweeping away unwanted hair were loud.
“Man, The Lady can beat Trump,” my barber snapped. “She is good.”
I asked him why he was so optimistic. It was as if I had asked the question to all of them. They all wanted to answer so I asked them to take turns.
“Bro, Trump is a felon," my barber replied. "He should be in jail, bro. But he has money. I can’t vote for a felon, bro.”
They listed everything they didn’t like about Trump — divisive, old, doesn’t give a damn, caring only about himself and his cronies, racist statements like “Black jobs” and “Latino jobs”. There were all the angles of attack that didn’t work against Trump when Biden was a candidate. Biden was the wrong messenger. The doubts about his physical capacity overshadowed every argument he was trying to put forward.
My “bros” calling Kamala Harris “The Lady” bodes well for the Democratic candidate. It suggests that they are open to listening to her and are not ruling out voting for her. They want to see what she proposes and especially how she goes toe-to-toe with Trump. More importantly, it appears that they want to do away with their own doubts, fears and clichés about women of color seeking higher office.
This is a crucial point for Ms. Harris. In the past, some Black men have hesitated to vote for Black female candidates. According to an Associated Press poll, 12% of Black men say they voted for Trump in 2020, a figure that was expected to increase this year, according to polls. By comparison, only 6% of Black women said that they voted for Trump four years ago.
Listening to my bros, it seems that they are personally asking themselves this question: are they ready to vote for a woman and specifically a woman of color, for the office which they consider to be a symbol of America in the world?
“She can [win],” my friend Olu texted me.
Olu and Harris have something in common: their fathers are of Jamaican origin.
“I love her,” he insisted in another message. Olu seems to be on his inner journey.
“She definitely has a chance to win,” my friend Bruce also wrote to me recently.
Bruce, like Olu, is also on a personal journey. But they have already made a big step: they are comfortable with Harris as a candidate for President. The Lady, in their minds, has already won a big battle. The war is still ahead though.
This post originally appeared on Medium and is edited and republished with author's permission. Read more of Luc Olinga's work on Medium.
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