Other Voices—
From a former legislative aid to one of our area Congressional representatives, exclusive to Saline Journal.
Perhaps the most impactful development of 2019, is that the President of the United States was brought up on the Articles of Impeachment. [1]
From where I sit almost none of this should matter to the Black community.
This is now an election year, and the narrative is basically already set: Trump is volatile, unstable, racist, and the Democrats are the white knights of justice and virtue. Almost since his inauguration the Democrats have been firmly set on removing President Trump from office. Even though Stormy Daniels, and then Russian-collusion failed to produce, it seems this latest attempt is their best shot yet. [2]
But the truth of the matter is whether or not Trump is impeached will have very little effect on the standing or improvement in the lives or communities of many Black Americans.
For decades our community has almost unanimously thrown our political support behind one Democrat after another. There have been endless studies which demonstrate that no other group has been more loyal to the Democrats then Black voters. [3]
So the question must be asked: What have we (collectively) benefited? Our communities are still poverty-stricken, we still have inadequate access to basic necessities: Healthcare, education, and safety. Under President Obama, Black home ownership plummeted to its lowest levels since the Civil Rights-era. [4,5]
Yet we are told to believe that supporting impeachment, and electing more Democratic candidates will solve our problem.
President Trump is only another symptom of our broken systems, not the cause.
The problems we’ve been facing in the Black community are far older than President Trump’s three years in office. Police brutality has been an ongoing issue since the 1960’s, urban blight has been an ongoing issue since the 1970’s, and drugs in our communities have been a problem since the 1980’s. [6,7]
We must be intellectually honest and admit this blame must be shared across the aisle; our politicians and their policies have failed us. Patrick Moynihan coined a term in 1969 — “benign neglect,” which is a practice designed to ignore the specific concerns of the Black community. Meaning, no politician is to speak about specific problems, or policy based-solutions regarding the Black community. [8]
Our community has been taken for granted, on both sides, but we forget we do have political currency: Our vote.
Our block voting tendencies are enough to sway any election. Instead of demanding first-rate policies that speak to our community directly, we settle for the Hillary Clintons of the world dancing with Roland Martin, or the Kamala Harrises of the world bragging that she smoked pot in college. [9,10]
That isn’t policy; that’s an insult — and we need to expect more than those meaningless gestures as policy. President Obama had no problem speaking to the specific LGBTQ community, or the immigrant community. So why should we settle for less?
Quite frankly, if Democrats (or Republicans) hope to win the White House, then they need to do a little more to win the Black vote. They need to talk to us about intentional, tangible, solutions.
Is Donald Trump evil? Should he be impeached? I’m actually thankful for Donald Trump in a way, because he’s made benign neglect a no longer viable position.
The Black community should take this historical opportunity add power to our too-often neglected vote. That matters.
References
- “Former local Congresswoman offered practical overview of Presidential impeachment during ‘Free College Day’” Dell Deaton (September 30, 2019) Saline Journal.
- “Donald J Trump” The White House.
- “Why are African-Americans such loyal Democrats when they are so ideologically diverse” Theodore R Johnson (September 28, 2016) The Washington Post.
- “Barack Obama” The White House.
- “The State of the Nation’s Housing 2018” Chris Herbert (June 19, 2018) Joint Center for Housing Studies, Harvard University.
- “Police brutality in the United States” Leonard Moore, Encyclopaedia Britannica.
- “Urban Blight Isn’t Just Bad To Look At, It’s Bad For Your Health” Ben Schiller (April 21, 2015) Fast Company.
- “‘Benign Neglect’ on Race Is Proposed by Moynihan” Peter Kihss (March 1, 1970) The New York Times.
- “About Hillary” The Office of Hillary Rodham Clinton.
- “Kamala D Harris” United States Senate.