Friday, March 29, 2024

Winning Support From the Black Community.

January 15, 2018 by  
Filed under Business, Money, News, Opinion, Politics, Weekly Columns

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(ThyBlackMan.com) In a recent White House meeting with Congressional leaders to discuss immigration reform, Trump reportedly asked, “Why do we want all these people from ‘s—hole’ countries to come here?” as opposed to other countries such as Norway. There is now discussion underway about whether Trump was crudely describing African nations alone, or also referring to people from Haiti and El Salvador.

Whether he was speaking about just some or all of those countries really does not matter. The bottom line is that the President’s comments were offensive, tasteless, simply wrong, and show no compassion for the poor.

He uttered these intemperate words just days before Black History Month, when we celebrate the remarkable contributions of Black Americans, but also remember and strive to learn from the many injustices visited upon them from Revolutionary days all the way through the present.  President Trump’s trashy talk has prompted yet another discussion of his relationship with the Black community in America, which has repeatedly felt alienated by his rhetoric and also by his associations with people accused of harboring closeted or outright racist views. 

Using insulting and inappropriate language toward other countries demeans the office of the presidency. Missteps like these have led people of Color across the nation and all across the world to raise serious concerns about President Trump, his character, and relationship with minorities.

Our’s is a country that prides itself on being a land of opportunity and the place where freedom for all is guaranteed.  We cannot effectively lead the world if our president speaks dismissively and heartlessly about human beings from other countries, especially those who are hoping to create a better life for their families in America.

In many ways, America was built upon the backs of black people forced to come here from African and Caribbean countries as slaves. We have come a long way since those terrible days of human bondage, but there is much work that still remains to be done.

Part of what frustrates me is not just the outrageousness of the President’s comments, but the fact that he continues to make unforced errors that rally his political adversaries and those who wish to see his agenda fail. Even worse, he is undercutting and undermining the very real economic progress that his administration has in a short time been able to deliver to the African American community.

In the 45 years since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began tracking black unemployment, this is the first time that the black unemployment rate has dropped below 7 percent to just 6.8 percent. The new economic policies put into place by the Trump Administration have stabilized job growth and increased investor and consumer confidence.  Our President is a remarkable businessman who clearly understands and is sympathetic to the needs of corporations as an essential way to create jobs and provide economic opportunity for our citizens. Since President Trump’s swearing in, the stock market has surged forward, delivering wealth into the pockets of Americans from every economic level with the good sense to save and invest.

When comparing the data to previous years, nearly half a million (480,000) more black workers are employed compared to one year ago. As the economy steadily improves for African Americans, this creates new opportunities that many have not been able to take advantage of due to prior lack of employment.

These new economic opportunities for the black community are tangible and impactful.  Which makes it even more painful to hear the President insult countries whose citizens’ skin is brown and black.

It goes without saying that the President of the United States should be held to the highest of standards as the chief representative and Commander in Chief of this nation.  Comments like these lower the bar and are not just bad for the President and his agenda, but for every one of us.  It’s a pity since President Trump is enacting bold and growth-oriented changes that are ultimately creating more economic prosperity for a community that needs it the most.

At the end of the day, this latest controversy conveys a lesson that we would all be wise to learn.  If you are going to be a supporter of the black community, then it is not enough to solely pursue policies that are good for us. You must show through your actions, but also through your words, that you are capable of both giving and earning respect. Until that happens, black people and people of color around the world are going to continue to question what is truly in President Trump’s heart.

Written by Armstrong Williams

Official website; http://www.armstrongwilliams.com


Comments

2 Responses to “Winning Support From the Black Community.”
  1. Tonya Mead says:

    Thanks for your insightful article. It is interesting to note that a few days before MLK celebrations, politicians attack Trump for allegedly making disparaging remarks about Blacks. This has happened for 2 years now. Isn’t this a public relations ploy to generate disdain during a time when MLK should be celebrated? When will we learn most politicians only care about our votes and forget about us once they are elected. We’re for jobs, economic growth and increased wages (same as a majority of other Americans). Splitting us apart because of race only serves those who profit from our separateness. I’ve written Extreme Are you Woke Yet? Awaken from your Slumbers and Rise on Your Wings, http://amazon.com/author/tonyajmead because we need to get beyond this collective groupthink nonsense and focus on our own individual and economic survival.

  2. M Anthony says:

    What’s sad is that we African Americans are still calling ourselves BLACK because Caucasian oppressors called us that to contrast their color and to assign to us all the negative things BLACK is equated with in the dictionary. The fact is, like it or not and believe it or not, YOU ARE BROWN and your car tires are black. You can say black is a culture but when they deal with you, they deal with you based on it’s definition – dismal, gloomy, dark, diabolical, treacherous, devoid of light. WAKE UP AFRICAN AMERICANS.

    We do not call the Asian yellow man because he would not stand for it. We do not call the Native American a red man because he would not stand for it. We do not call the Hispanic man a brown man because he would not stand for it. And many Africans, Haitians and Jamaicans do not accept being called a color they know they are NOT.

    Ironically, African Americans are the only ethnic group/race on the planet which allows ourselves to be called a color we are not, allowing ourselves to be defined by color, by someone else and to allow ourselves to be attached to a color we are not – a color they filled with negative denotations. Then we fight to help keep the lie in place. Is it any wonder that cops treat us as BLACK people by the definition of dismal, gloomy, treacherous, evil etc? We will never rise and overcome as a people if we allow other groups to define us, to define us with a lie and we are sadly willing to help them. AFRICAN AMERICAN LIVES MATTER PEOPLE. Black is the color of my car tires, not my skin. I am a family and relationship counselor who specializes in deprogramming African Americans from slavery mindsets.

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