Harris reveals ‘opportunity agenda for Black men’ in efforts to shore up support

Kamala Harris has revealed a plan to give Black men more economic opportunities, as anxiety mounts among her supporters that some in the Black community are less enthused by the Democratic presidential ticket than in recent elections, and may sit this one out - or support Donald Trump.

The vice-president's plan includes forgivable business loans for Black entrepreneurs, creating more apprenticeships, and studying sickle cell and other diseases that disproportionately affect African American men. It also includes ensuring that Black men have more access to shaping a national cannabis industry and to invest in cryptocurrency.

Harris presented the so-called "opportunity agenda for Black men" on Monday, before speaking in the north-west corner of Erie, Pennsylvania, the country's largest battleground state. It will be Harris's 10th visit to Pennsylvania this election season.

Political support among Black men for the Harris-Walz campaign has been wavering somewhat. Last week, Barack Obama suggested that some Black men "aren't feeling the idea of having a woman as president".

The former president's comments were later condemned by the Florida Republican representative Byron Donalds and Texas's Wesley Hunt, members of Black Men for Trump, which posted a letter accusing Obama of being "insulting" and "demeaning".

"President Obama's recent call for Black men to support Kamala Harris based solely on her skin color, rather than her policies, is deeply insulting," the letter states. "Black Americans are not a monolith, and we don't owe our votes to any candidate just because they 'look like us'."

Over the weekend, the former president Bill Clinton was drafted in to speak to worshippers at a Zion Baptist church in Albany, Georgia, in support of Harris.