Joe Biden Campaign Sets Out To Engage Black Men With ‘Shop Talk’ Conversation Series

ABC News reports that Joe Biden’s campaign is investing in a public relations campaign in an effort to engage Black men and will employ a series of conversations called Shop Talk, meant to resemble the carefree, raw banter found in Black barbershops.

In the 2016 elections, only 54% of Black men eligible to vote did so, in comparison to 64% of their eligible white counterparts, according to Pew research.

The first virtual event was held in Wisconsin on Thursday and the panel included super producer and rapper Jermaine Dupri, who engaged with community leaders from the state, including Wisconsin Lieutenant Governor Mandela Barnes.

“Something needs to happen where they say ‘we’re doing this to for Black people’ and not feeling bad about saying that,” Dupri said in an interview with ABC News, urging the Biden campaign to lay out detailed policy proposals on how they will improve Black communities.

The conversations will be “honest,” according to Bakari Sellers, a longtime Kamala Harris supporter who is helping out with the effort, and will set out to address problem areas for the campaign, such as Biden’s role in the 1994 Crime Bill and Harris’ record as a prosecutor.

“I feel like she does have to address some of that stuff and I can’t say that it’s gonna win everybody, but I think that it will turn heads,” said Dupri. “A lot more than it will if she doesn’t address it.”

Once again, a Black man — Jacob Blake — was shot by the police. In front of his children. It makes me sick.

Is this the country we want to be?

Needless violence won’t heal us. We need to end the violence — and peacefully come together to demand justice. pic.twitter.com/WdNqrxA3PK

— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) August 26, 2020