NAACP president tells NPR his eye is on the campaigns’ economic proposals
The NPR Network will be reporting live from Chicago throughout the week bringing you the latest on the Democratic National Convention.
Derrick Johnson, president of the NAACP, is expected to be one of the headline speakers on the DNC’s main stage Monday night ahead of President Biden. He said he has seen a shift in the excitement of young Black voters about the election since Vice President Harris rose to the top of the ticket.
"We're seeing a lot of individuals who want to see their voices heard. Some of them are feeling as if they're not being seen by either party,” Johnson told NPR. “But what they are seeing [now], they feel their voices are heard, [it’s] encouraging. They want to participate."
Johnson, who has been at the helm of the civil rights organization since 2017, said he was encouraged to hear Harris’ recent economic policy proposal on tackling price-gouging in the food sector.
“It gets ... closer to the concern that people are raising. You know, if you go to the store, you see things are costing more,” Johnson said. “And if the public policy approach is, ‘Wait a minute, companies are price-gouging, we're going to prevent that’ — that speaks to the interest of voters, particularly African-American voters.”
But he said it remains to be seen which campaign puts forth the best economic policy proposals to win over Black voters. Economic opportunity is one of the reasons younger Black voters have trended toward the GOP. In recent campaign appearances, including before the National Association of Black Journalists, former President Donald Trump has reiterated the false claim that migrants crossing over the U.S.-Mexico border are taking “Black jobs,” though he adds that all Americans’ jobs are being “taken.”
“It is the worst type of campaigning you can find. ... It creates a false narrative that creates tension among communities, when communities can work together to build a more holistic, beloved community. And that's really important,” said Johnson about Trump’s approach. “The thing I detest most is when politicians use their platform to seek to cause division because that will create harm.”
Pivoting back to Harris, Johnson emphasized that the incoming Democratic nominee understands the African-American experience, given her own heritage and time spent at a historically Black university.
"So she understands — both as a former elected official in California [and] as someone who really appreciate all of her, all of our, culture. That's a beautiful thing, because her ears could be more attuned to some of the needs, interests and concerns that African-Americans may have," Johnson said.
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