In a Milwaukee barbershop, Black men weigh the Republicans up the road
MILWAUKEE — The conversations went round and round at the barbershop here in the heart of the north-side neighborhood of Bronzeville.
Joe Biden is too old. But Donald Trump is too old, too. There should be an upper-age limit on presidents just like the minimum-age requirement. Young people are turned off by the two old White men to the point where they might not vote. What will it take, if anything, to grab their interest in the presidential election? Imagine if Trump gets back into the White House. The military storming into inner cities? Think about what would have happened if the rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, had been Black. Why did that homeless Black man have to be shot and killed at King Park on Tuesday afternoon by police from Ohio who were visiting for the Republican National Convention? Race, in all its permutations, is still the dilemma.
The promise and peril of President Biden’s campaign in the swing state of Wisconsin might best be gauged at Gee’s Clippers, the vibrant Black barbershop on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Drive, only a mile and a half north of Fiserv Forum, where Republicans gathered this week to nominate Trump for president. The Black vote in Milwaukee, this state’s largest city, is key to Democratic victories in Wisconsin. If there is an enthusiasm gap, Democrats tend to lose, as Hillary Clinton narrowly did in 2016.
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Named for its founder and owner, Gaulien “Gee” Smith, Gee’s is considered the hub of Black barbershops in the Midwest. With 26 barbers clipping away in a room larger than an NBA court — which it resembles with a backboard on one end, a large Bucks logo near the entrance and jerseys of hoops stars lining the walls — this institution is as essential to the physical and spiritual well-being of Milwaukee’s Black community as any recreational center or church. People drop in for buzz-cut fades and high-top fades, but also to have their blood pressure and cholesterol levels checked, confide their hopes, fears and struggles to Gee and his trusted crew, and catch up on what’s going on. Which has been a lot lately.
The conversation was most intense Wednesday morning when Gee (no one calls him by his first name or surname) and four friends, his unofficial brain trust, gathered in a backroom hideaway for their weekly breakfast club. They are community fixtures all, between the ages of 59 and 77, retired professionals Bruce Words Sr., Curtis Jones, Vince Crawford and Darrell Woods. Then there is Gee, younger than the others, only 53, but regarded as their visionary leader for all he has done to help the community, from setting up a health clinic inside his shop to leading food drives and establishing a Boy Scouts troop (No. 2, named in honor of former Milwaukee Bucks great Junior Bridgeman).
As one after the next settled into the single barber’s chair to get a neat trim from Gee, they agreed, disagreed, pontificated, laughed, worried and exchanged knowing nods and a special handshake — three slaps and a salute.
The police shooting of Samuel Sharpe, a homeless man who was wielding a knife in a small city park, was the first topic, and they related it directly to the Republican convention.
Milwaukee police, Jones said, would have known that the park was a hangout for homeless people. But the police who shot Sharpe were from Columbus, Ohio. They had little knowledge of the city or its people. And what were they doing there in the first place? It was beyond the protective perimeter for the convention. If the convention were not in town with so many police in tow, he argued, Sharpe would be alive.
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Next came the age of the presidential candidates. Up the road at the convention, Republican speakers had been making explicit appeals to Black voters, but the men at Gee’s weren’t interested in voting for Trump. Neither were they feeling great about Biden.
“I’d say we’re in a place where we’ve never been before — two old candidates and people are not very strong about either one,” Gee said, noting that he preferred Biden to Trump. Anyone Biden’s age, 81, is “way too old to run for president,” he argued. “But I blame the Democratic Party. They haven’t been doing due justice for a long period of time.” The party, he said, needed to listen to the people and prepare younger, bolder candidates.
“That’s the problem,” said Crawford. “They don’t have anyone else strong enough to put up who could win the election.”
“I think we do have somebody,” contended Woods. “We all have different views, but I think Kamala Harris is sharp, but maybe because she is a woman and Black has been portrayed in a negative way.”
“I agree on a couple of points,” said Words, wearing a T-shirt that read, “Being Grandpa is an honor.” “Looking at the Biden age factor, I worry that physically he might not be able to make it. And if that brings in Trump, that’s dangerous. He has a what-I-say-goes bottom line.”
“Trump is too radical for me,” Gee said. “I don’t trust him.”
“Authoritarian,” said Jones. “He talks about using the military in the cities. What a disaster that would be.”
The conversation took a temporary turn to Jan. 6. What would have happened if the Capitol rioters that day in 2021 had been Black?
“Lot of bloodshed,” said Gee.
“We’d all be dead,” said Jones.
“If those had been Black folks, it would have been totally different,” said Crawford. “Trump would not have hesitated at all. The military would have been called in immediately.”
“It’s not a level playing field,” said Gee. “We don’t get as much grace. We’re all looked on as aggressive. Murderers. Robbers. Just a complete negative view.”
These five men had been working their entire lives to overcome those stereotypes and to lead struggling Black youths and men into a better world. The discussion went back to presidents and age.
Words told the group that there should be a law that no one over 65 can be president. Gee, Jones and Crawford agreed. Woods suggested that the cutoff should be 70, but that any candidate 65 or older should be required to take mental and physical exams that would be made public.
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And on the other end of the life cycle, how concerned were they that young Black voters might not go to the polls this November?
“Very concerned,” said Crawford. He said he had young family members who were talking about staying away on Election Day.
“Not voting is a vote for Trump,” said Words.
Out on the main floor, Antonio “Tone” Perkins, a younger barber who works at what he calls the “Signature Chair,” had a more pessimistic view. He said the young people whose hair he cuts have no connection to Biden. They don’t know anything about him. “And I don’t think of Biden. I can’t think of one thing Biden’s done. And that’s sad.” But Perkins said he knows Trump, for better and worse. “Trump is a rock star,” Perkins said. “And people vote for the bad guy and root for the bad guy in movies. Everything he does, good or bad, just increases his presence.”
Gee understood the dilemma. Having a charismatic candidate in the mold of Barack Obama would help, he said, but it was not just up to the candidate, whether it ends up being Biden or someone new. “We have to do more to get young people involved,” he said. “It is up to us to galvanize them. Get them engaged. It starts with us.”
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