Steve Harvey wants his cut of reparations owed to Black Americans.
He said just that, in so many words, when he moderated a Q&A with Vice President Kamala Harris at the 100 Black Men of America conference held in Atlanta, Georgia, on Friday, June 14.
A clip of his remarks has since become a point of contention for fans disappointed by his commentary. He first laid out how he intended to guide the discussion, saying, “Before y’all start calling my radio show and DMing me, talking about why you ain’t asked no hard-hitting questions — that ain’t what this is,” according to Fox News.
The comic admitted he was setting up “an alley-oop for a dunk because this administration needs to get the word out of what they’re actually doing and what they’re actually accomplishing, so we can stop all this foolishness about ‘What you doing for Black people?’”
Speaking more directly at the crowd, Harvey’s lecture continued, “Can’t nobody come out with no agenda and call it ‘This for Black people’ and expect to get in the White House. You got to play the game different. Y’all know what this is. … They done done a lot. … I’m hearing all these people talking ’bout ‘I’m not voting if they not doing nothin’ for us.’”
The “Family Feud” host sternly addressed people abandoning their civic duty, hitting back with “If you ain’t got no voting power, you talking ’bout reparations. Ain’t nobody finna give you no reparations if you don’t vote. I don’t know why you think they finna give us some money no how. I hope they do. They owe us. I’ll go down there,” he said as the audience and Harris all chuckled at his animated delivery.
Democratic Tap Dancer #SteveHarvey
— Black Alpha Network (@BlackAlphaNetw1) June 18, 2024
Says Black Americans won't get #Reparations if they don't VOTE blue.
You can NEVER trust someone who wore a FAKE hairline for 20 years.
👇🏿👇🏿👇🏿https://t.co/7Dy19buiHE pic.twitter.com/JQ79B4YUJY
But those in the room seem to be the only ones humored. On Twitter, where the clip has been circulated, Harvey’s name is enveloped by criticism for his past alignment with former President Donald J. Trump.
A year after taking up the Oval Office, Trump met with Harvey to discuss the housing crisis and urban development. The actor was slammed for doing so. On his defunct talk show, he once made a grand show of support for Trump by deterring a white woman from fleeing the country with her husband in fear of Trump’s reign by saying that Trump wouldn’t be that bad and that he would “make America great again.”
Harvey later attempted to clarify that he only met with the 45th president in hopes of bettering the community and because he respected the nation’s highest office. But even now, seven years later, the sting of his alliance is seen in the comments.
Steve Harvey, " Dont run! Trump is going to make America Great Again!"
— ᴊꜱᴀɴᴄʜᴇᴢ84_🇺🇸 (@JSANCHEZ84_) May 23, 2024
MAGA pic.twitter.com/39SUkR4qIh
“Steve aint no good” and accompanied it with a series of raccoon emojis, a coded means of calling Harvey the racial slur “coon,” tweeted a critic. Another said, “WHY IS HE EVEN TALKING!! This the same guy that backed Trump easily after just one meet. Man is always willing to sell himself out for the spotlight.”
A third individual wrote, “Wait, I remember seeing a video of him yelling “make america great again.” Isn’t he a Trumper?” A fourth declared, “He talking in front of mixed company like this is nasty work.”
Reparations, more commonly referred to as the “40 acres and a mule” concept, was birthed in Savanah, Georgia, on Jan. 12, 1865, when 20 Black pastors met with Union military officials who sought to ascertain what soon-to-be freed enslaved people wanted when the forced servitude ended at the conclusion of the Civil War—the four-year battle ceased on April 9, 1865.
According to History.com, their ask was that land belonging to Southern plantation owners be redistributed, allowing Black people to live among themselves, working the land until they could afford to own parcels.
Field Order 15, which it was known as, was signed four days later. It divided 400,000 acres of Confederate land — spanning the coastline from Charleston, South Carolina, St. John’s River, Florida, to the Sea Islands of Georgia, and 30 miles into the mainland — into 40 acres per Black family. The mule became an unofficial add-on after some freed individuals were provided Army mules.
The order was rescinded by President Andrew Johnson, who assumed office following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. The 16th commander-in-chief signed the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863, which allowed enslaved men to fight in the Civil War and promised them freedom; though he never intended for the Black community to have equal rights as white people.
