Up and down campaigns are looking for ways to reach Black voters, and with less than two weeks until Election Day and the start of early voting, time is running out to make their case. For Democrats, they are trying to strengthen one of the most reliable constituencies, while for Republicans, winning the support of Black voters strengthens their position while weakening their opponents.
IN national AND country in the polls, Blacks and other minority groups may not support Democrats as strongly as they did in previous cycles. The immense majority still lean left, but Republicans seem to be making gains. In races where the margins can be close, like the U.S. Senate races in Ohio and several congressional races where the tickets were tossed, these votes could be decisive.
Particularly among black voters, the church is an essential tool for organizing and activism. Pastors hear all the concerns you’d expect from parishioners – how am I going to pay the rent? Or cover my child’s tuition? Or get to your next doctor’s appointment? — and encourage members not only to vote, but to truly consider how their choice might impact their community.
First Church of God
Senior Pastor Timothy Clarke last Sunday in Columbus preached a sermon on the temptation of Christ. He is a immense man with closely cropped hair and a beard, whose presence is only emphasized by his robes – flowing sleeves and murky red accents. He speaks so swift and so forcefully that his voice cracks, and he playfully shoves the crowd when he doesn’t get the answer he wants.
“OK, you won’t help me preach,” he said with a gesture as he put down his glasses, “so I have to preach it myself.”
Speaking in his office after the service, he was subdued — his voice was serene, his words deliberate — but he still seemed on the verge of smiling.
“I tell everyone in this church — it’s just a joke, but I’m serious — if you’re not registered to vote, don’t tell anyone you remember this church,” he said with a laugh. “What I mean is that you are a member of this church and you have to be registered to vote. I’m not telling you how to vote, but you should vote.”
He explained that although the congregation is primarily African American, it is immense enough to be somewhat of a microcosm for the state. “We have everything from people on public assistance to top-level corporate employees in this city,” he said. “We have the whole gamut here.” This is one of the reasons why the Church can be such a powerful institution directing political action.
Clarke described hearing from members struggling economically and those grieving the loss of loved ones to inadequate health care or violence. But he also regularly hears from parishioners concerned about the tone and tone of our politics. He compared their reactions to the stages of mourning.
“It’s disbelief that we’re going through this again,” he said. “Springfield dog and cat cases, complete disbelief, then anger, frustration and fear.”
During his sermon, a segment about the dehumanization of Haitian migrants sparked one of the strongest reactions from the congregation. Clarke insisted that Haitians, migrants on the southern border, Palestinians in Gaza and survivors of Sudan’s civil war are all “equal in the eyes of God.”
In a later speech, he explained that this type of rhetoric runs deep because of the country’s history of treating black people as less than.
“In a strange way, it often ended in activism,” Clarke said. “People say, but I’m not going to lie down, roll over and play dead. “I’m angry, I’m frustrated, I’m worried, I’m surprised this country hasn’t dealt with this stupidity.”
Still, he expressed deep concern that the Republican Party appears intent on sowing distrust in elections by singling out specific groups or taking over critical oversight positions such as Georgia’s election commission. “This applies to all elements of the system,” he argued.
Clarke admitted that former President Trump appears to be making progress, especially among black men, but he couldn’t lend a hand but scratch his head. “He doesn’t have a very good track record,” Clarke said, pointing to Trump’s housing discrimination lawsuit, calling for the death penalty for the Central Park Five and holding a Bible upside down in front of a church after George Floyd protesters were forcibly removed.
Clarke said he advises those who look to him for guidance to consider the candidates’ vision for the country, and argued that the difference hasn’t been this stark in decades.
“So you have to ask whose vision is most consistent, first with what I consider the ultimate authority, which is the Scriptures, and then with my vision,” Clarke explained. “What country do I want to live in? And do I want to live in a country like this person or this person? Listen to the vision.”
The Haitian community in Springfield is ready to take notice and move elsewhere
Antioch Baptist Church
In Cleveland, senior pastor Napoleon Harris leads Antioch Baptist Church and, like Clarke, is troubled by attacks on “human dignity and decency.” His concerns were clearly directed toward the Trump campaign, but he declined to name the candidate, he said, “in the interest of impartiality.”
“So every time this particular person and people like him get up to talk, that dignity is attacked, which is a huge stressor,” Harris said. “We carry it in our bodies and psyche, mentally, emotionally and even spiritually, and it is regularly one of the things we come across in consultations.”
He added that the sweatshirt he was wearing was a response to some of that rhetoric. It said: “my black job is voting” – a Trump joke statement at the debate stage that illegal immigrants took “black jobs” and “Hispanic jobs.”
Harris said that in his own congregation, parishioners are not confused about their choices, but he is somewhat concerned about the broader community. Antioch is part of a nonpartisan group called Congregations of Greater Cleveland that organizes for social justice. He explained that part of his job when talking to people is to discuss the basics of how government works, such as the role of federal officials and setting policy.
“And that, of course, is part of the great work that Greater Cleveland congregations do,” he explained. “Continuous voter education, continuous education about policies, positions and how government actually works, and unfortunately there isn’t enough conversation about it. There are more options: go vote, go vote and get votes, but not so much for an informed electorate.”
While presidential campaigns aim to reach black voters, GCC senior organizer Khalilah Worley explained that their efforts focus more on organizing at the local level. “They are always targeted,” Worley said of black voters, but focusing on national races doesn’t always translate into the changes voters want to see in their communities.
“What happens nationally matters, but if we don’t get our heads together about what’s happening locally, if we’re not sure how we can organize our power locally, then we run the risk of always being targeted , but we will never be listened to,” she added. explained.
To that end, they are putting much more energy into supporting an anti-gerrymandering amendment Edition 1 and reaching out to voters for the first time through a program they call “voter’s virginity“
“That’s why for us, turnout is really important no matter how you vote,” she said, “because then we see our opportunities and influence in the ability to change, regardless of who is in office.”
Harris shared these concerns. When asked about the Trump campaign’s comments about Haitians in Springfield, he was less concerned about the episode making the country a laughingstock than about people who didn’t care at all.
“There is a certain level of disengagement from politics,” he said, “where people don’t engage in political theater at all because there is no evidence that it makes any difference.”
“And that’s probably the scariest thing, right?” he added. “Because either you do politics or politics does you.”
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