More than 100 prominent Black male musicians and artists have signed an open letter calling for presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden to choose a Black woman as his Vice President for the upcoming presidential election. A number of leading musicians are among the various signatories of the letter including Diddy, Timbaland, E-40, Doug E. Fresh and Ty Dolla $ign.
In the letter, which was published via the Atlanta Daily World and comes with #WinWithBlackWomen, 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 note then criticizes Biden’s campaign for causing the Black women being considered as his running mate to be “unfairly criticized and scrutinized,” before closing with a promise that if Biden does not choose a Black woman Vice President candidate, he will likely lose the election.
“Failing to select a Black woman in 2020 means you will lose the election,” reads the letter. “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.”
Biden has already pledged to select a woman to accompany him on the Democratic ticket and narrowed his list of potential candidates down to 13 women from across the country’s political spectrum, according to report from The New York Times. Six of those reported 13 women are Black and include Senator Kamala Harris, former national security adviser Susan Rice, Representative Karen Bass, Representative Val Demings, Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms, and former Georgia House Democratic leader Stacey Abrams.
The complete list of signees spans the entertainment and sports world with the likes of Omar Epps, Anthony Anderson, Cedric the Entertainer Kyles, Kam Chancellor, Nick Cannon and Chris Paul all providing their signatures.
Photo credit: Raymond Flotat
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