It’s no surprise that Donald Trump is finally trying to extend into the Black community this election season. With an approval rating as low as his is in recent polls, surveys are showing that without the minority vote there is little chance of receiving a key to the Oval Office in the immediate future.
However, it is also not surprising that he has gone about it in some of the worst terms possible.
“You’re living in poverty, your schools are no good, you have no jobs, fifty-eight percent of your youth is unemployed; what the hell do to you have to lose?” He asked through television monitors at his rally in Dimondale, Michigan (notably a predominately white suburb). He proceeded to bash Hillary Clinton, stating she would rather give jobs to foreign refugees than African-Americans who have “become refugees in their own country.”
If you look at the Black community from a social standpoint, you would realize that our ideals do not differ too much from that of Republicans. Historically, Black people were Republican; if you bring it back to the days of the Civil War you can note that Abraham Lincoln was Republican, and Democrats were more strongly integrated in the segregated South. But even now, ideals are blended between the GOP and African-Americans. I’m from Hartford, Connecticut, where we are currently in a recession. Urban parents are outraged at the state of our public schools, some of which are being closed indefinitely and report some of the lowest test scores compared to school districts statewide—imagine what that is like as a country. Black people are rapidly becoming the most religious group, with roughly 69% identifying as some form of Christianity. Similarly, strong Christian values are an important part of being a Republican. We are also typically hard working and disciplinary of our children.
So where does the rift occur? The Republican campaign has proved to alienate racial minorities this election. The GOP doesn’t fail to ignore the fact that internalized racism is a key reason in why Black people are at such a disadvantage in modern society. For example, the “my parents worked hard to get where they are” and “we all have the same opportunity to succeed, you’re just lazy” philosophies ignores the everyday struggle of being Black in America. On top of that, Republicans push for less social welfare programs that many urban families need in order to put food on the table and continue living in doable conditions on clipped incomes. This sets an unwelcoming tone to Black voters, who feel like their problems are of lesser value, all in order to then cater to the grievances of white voters.
Since the beginning of this year’s election Donald Trump has proven he is not the average Republican presidential candidate, and this is not in good nature. He has turned this race into a performance of a sort, feeding his followers messages with bigoted values. A week cannot go by that we don’t hear a new problem with something Donald Trump said, or a horror story that occurred at one of his rallies. His face has become the poster for controversy, and besides knowing he would not be a positive addition to our already dysfunctional government for anyone, I am completely convinced that he would be less than beneficial for the Black community.
Trump asks us what we have to lose, yet fails to give us any reason to want to support him. For sure he hasn’t been a bridge for connecting with the voters of color to the Republican Party. He has made it painfully obvious he doesn’t have our best interest at heart. He can’t, not when there’s a racial discrimination lawsuit filed against him. Not when he’s the masthead for Islamophobia, an issue drenched in racism. Not when he condones the physical and verbal assault on Black protesters at his rallies, and refuses to put a leash on his white supremacist attack dogs. Not when he’s still pushing for this stupid wall along the Mexican border that (logically) can’t be built. Not when he acts as though he knows what the Black struggle is. Not when his entire campaign is being run on the exploitation of irrational fears rooted in the idea that people of color (including the Black people who make up less than one percent of his voters, by the way) are barbaric and bloodthirsty criminals. Whether or not these narritives are directed at African-Americans specifically, they will always affect us because they promote hatred that upholds racism and oppression at a time where racial tension between the government and the Black/POC community is prominent.
So, to break the fourth wall here, you asked what we have to lose, Mr. Trump? In layman’s terms: our self-respect, our empathy, and hope in the idea that one day, the government that is supposed to help us live sustainably will care about us as much as they should.
