By Donald Morton
Founder, ReManned® | Character Coach | Architect of Male Mastery

Let’s get one thing straight:
Black men are not stupid.
We’re not naive.
And we’re damn sure not props for political theater.

Every election cycle, the same script plays out:
They roll out diversity slogans, sprinkle in a few buzzwords like “equity” and “inclusion,” and throw Black men a few token promises—most of which never materialize.

It’s political pander porn.
And it’s time we called it what it is: manipulation masked as opportunity.

The Game They Keep Playing

We’ve watched the same dance for decades:

• Campaign trail town halls “for Black men,”
• Community listening sessions that listen but never respond,
• Appointments of Black male surrogates to pacify—not empower.

We’ve seen initiatives launched with fire and buried in silence.
We’ve seen promises to reduce recidivism, increase job access, invest in fatherhood programs, and tackle the barriers uniquely faced by Black men—yet year after year, the gap widens, and the promises fade.

Let me ask you something:
Where are all those “Black male excellence” programs now?
Where are the dashboards tracking results?
Where are the receipts?

They’re buried.
Just like their true intentions.

Because most of those initiatives were never meant to transform anything.
They were strategic optics—not solutions.
A temporary prop for permanent problems.

A System Built to Contain Us, Not Cultivate Us

Understand this:
The system was never broken—it was built this way.

From slavery to sharecropping, from redlining to mass incarceration, the system wasn’t just designed to oppress Black people—it was especially ruthless in containing Black men. Because if you can break the man, you can bind the family.

Political pandering is just the modern version of that old playbook.
Instead of whips, they use whispers.
Instead of chains, they use campaign promises.
And instead of plantations, they offer programs with no teeth and no funding.

It’s all control.
Just dressed in the costume of “progress.”

Why Black Men Are Treated Like Pawns

Let’s talk strategy—because this is all chess.

Politicians know something they’ll never say out loud:
Black men are the swing demographic of the future.

Not Black women. Not white suburban moms. Black men.

We are:

• Opening businesses at record rates
• Rising in political and social consciousness
• Leading as husbands, fathers, and community builders
• Shifting the financial power structure in families and neighborhoods
• No longer giving blind loyalty to political parties

And that scares the hell out of the establishment.

Because a conscious, character-rooted, economically self-sufficient Black man doesn’t just vote different—he leads different.

That’s why we’re treated like pawns.
Not because we don’t matter, but because we matter too much.

The Silence After the Flash

Let me be direct:
Black men have been used for symbolic momentum, not systemic movement.

• A politician posts with a group of young Black men in a barbershop, but never funds their future.
• They quote MLK in January, then forget us by February.
• They show up at a community forum, then ghost us when it’s time to write real policy.

We’re good for the camera.
We’re great for applause.
But when the smoke clears, we’re still out here rebuilding broken systems with bare hands.

It’s not just neglect.
It’s deliberate exclusion.

Where Are the Movements for Us?

Every major movement has had a shelf life shorter than the problem it was built to solve:

• “My Brother’s Keeper”
• “Obama’s Fatherhood Initiative”
• “Ban the Box” campaigns
• Local reentry coalitions
• Black Male Task Forces that vanish with the next budget cut

Where’s the follow-through?
Where’s the infrastructure?
Where’s the scale?

We don’t need more starts.
We need more systems.

We don’t need more panels.
We need power.

And we sure as hell don’t need another Black male “initiative” that doesn’t employ Black men to lead it.

ReManned®: A Movement That Refuses to Die

This is exactly why I built ReManned®—
Because I got tired of waiting for politicians to save us.
I stopped believing they ever intended to.

ReManned is not a “program.”
It’s not an initiative.
It’s a mandate—a movement forged in the fire of Black men’s pain, purpose, and potential.

We don’t wait for seats at tables—we build our own halls.
We don’t beg to be seen—we rise until ignoring us becomes impossible.
We don’t chase validation—we embody character, competence, and kingship in everything we do.

ReManned is about mastering Life, Leadership, and Legacy—not someday, but now.

And we’re not asking for permission anymore.
We’re giving the system a deadline.

This Is Your Wake-Up Call

To every candidate thinking they’ll buy our silence with a slogan:
Your time is up.

To every party who’s ignored us, used us, and assumed we’d “fall in line”:
Your assumptions are obsolete.

And to every Black man reading this—
The time for hoping they’ll come through is over.
The time for betting on yourself has arrived.

We must stop outsourcing our power to systems that were never built for our survival, let alone our success.
We are not victims—we are visionaries.
And we’ve already lost too much time waiting on someone else to deliver what we were born to create.

What We Need Now

Here’s the challenge for every Black man reading this:

• Stop hoping for progress. Start building it.
• Stop waiting for approval. Start leading with audacity.
• Stop surviving the system. Start disrupting it.

This isn’t about voting or not voting.
It’s about no longer being used.

If a politician can’t clearly articulate how their policy impacts Black men specifically, they don’t deserve our support. Period.

We are not a monolith.
We are not collateral.
We are not stepping stones.

We are the blueprint.
We are the builders.
We are the rising tide that no longer fits in the box they built for us.

Closing Word: Don’t Be Fooled Again

Every time a politician opens their mouth about “equity,” ask them this:

Where’s the proof?

Because promises without power are just pretty lies.

And we’re no longer clapping for the show.
We’re taking over the stage.

#ReManned | #BlackMenRise | #CharacterOverCampaigns | #BuildDon’tBeg | #WhenPoliticsPanders

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