Over 100 Black male figures have signed an open letter calling on Joe Biden to choose a Black woman as his running mate in the presidential election. In the letter, published at the Atlanta Daily World, the men write, “As someone who has said throughout the campaign that VP Joe Biden needs to choose a Black woman VP, the urgency for that pick has gone from something that SHOULD happen to something that HAS to happen.”
The letter goes on to criticize the Biden campaign’s vetting process for Black women. The signatories write, “It disgusts us that Black women are not just being vetted in this VP process but unfairly criticized and scrutinized.”
The letter closes: “Failing to select a Black woman in 2020 means you will lose the election. We don’t want to choose between the lesser of two evils and we don’t want to vote the devil we know versus the devil we don’t because we are tired of voting for devils—period.”
Among the letter’s signatories are musicians and music industry figures including: Diddy, Charlamagne tha God, Ty Dolla $ign, E-40, Jacquees, Timbaland, Al B. Sure!, Felix da Housecat, and Doug E. Fresh.
Find the letter at the Atlanta Daily World.
Joe Biden, the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, has pledged to select a woman as his running mate. He is expected to name his running mate this week.
The New York Times recently reported that there are 13 women in the running to accompany Biden on the Democratic ticket. Six of the 13 reported contenders are Black women: Senator Kamala Harris, former national security adviser Susan Rice, Representative Karen Bass, Representative Val Demings, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, and Stacey Abrams, the former Democratic leader of the Georgia House of Representatives.