Between the buzz of clippers at a Charleston area barber shop, Black men share their fears about the impending presidential election.
“What we’re up against as a nation is MAGA and Trumpism,” says Ray Huff.
Huff is concerned former president Donald Trump could be re-elected. He remembers when the 1964 Civil Rights Act was passed and worries hard fought freedoms may be lost. Kelvin Huger worries too.
“I have no interest in going back,” says Huger.
The owner of Michael & Co Barber shop, Michael Miller, weighs in while he works.
“That’s two of us brother.”
Miller is sporting a Howard University t-shirt in honor of his alma mater. It’s also where the Democrats’ new, historic nominee for president, Vice President Kamala Harris, went to school.
The men say they’re optimistic now that President Joe Biden has stepped aside and Harris, a former prosecutor, is taking on Trump. But they’re cautious. The nation’s never seen a Black, Asian American, female nominee.
“Can she win white women who are undecided?” asks Miller. “I don’t know because Hillary didn’t.”
Miller also questions if men will be intimidated by a highly educated, Black woman.
Huff believes to win, Democrats need to become more inclusive in their message at the upcoming Democratic National Convention. It must extend, he says, beyond race and gender.
“It’s poor people that live under the margins of our society,” says Huff. “They are the ones who have been so disenfranchised.”
So disenfranchised, Huff points out, many have turned to Trump.
Huger says it’s hard to predict what voters will do. But he believes, they could find Harris refreshing.
“I think she brings a different perspective,” says Huger. “One that comes with a wealth of knowledge.”
At North Charleston’s Charity Missionary Baptist Church, Black men and women are more than optimistic; they’re excited.
“It’s a new energy,” says longtime activist Trudy Grant with the National Action Network. “It’s like nothing you’ve ever felt or seen before.”
Grant has been in the vice president's presence several times and was part of last month's massive women’s call, organizing support for Harris.
“It was life-changing," says Grant. "There was a focus. This is what we have to do.”
Grant says women across the nation are organizing town halls, phone banks and social media promotion for Harris. The campaign just reported it has raised more than $300 million and amassed nearly 200,000 new volunteers.
“Black women have been taking other folks' mess and making it a miracle for so long,” says National Action Network Vice President of Religious Affairs Reverend Nelson B. Rivers III.
He says he hasn’t seen this kind of excitement since Barack Obama ran for president.
Neither has Lavergne Brown, who shops with her family down the street at a strip mall. She’s eager to vote for Harris and encourage others to do so as well.
“I know I’m pushing more people to go,” says Brown. “If I have to go out there and stand on the street and say, ‘get out and vote’, I will be there.”
Brown’s daughter-in-law Jennifer also supports Harris. She hopes her own daughter will soon have a president who looks like herself.
“I think that she will help us as far as with our confidence, boosting ourselves on an everyday level.”
Back at the barber shop, Terry Base is getting his hair cut. A portrait of abolitionist Frederick Douglass hangs on a wall beside him. Base believes this election comes down to just one issue.
“This is a heart issue,” says Base. “What you believe is in the heart of your candidate good, bad or ugly, I think that’s what’s going to determine who’s next.”
Voters now have less than 100 days to decide an election that’s already shown, anything can happen.
