(ThyBlackMan.com) For the last few years, I have been sounding the alarm that the Democratic Party neither understands nor values Black men. Party leaders just don’t “get” Black men socio-culturally; they cannot seem to grasp that we are a distinct group within the Democratic coalition and that we have distinct wants and needs. That is the sad reality both at the national level and at the local level in many areas of the country.
Further, the Democratic Party does not value Black men specifically, which isn’t surprising given that they do not value Black folks generally. They take us for granted because we’re the most dependable voting bloc for them and are nearly always unwilling to vote Republican given that party’s refusal to address its racism. Apparently, that is beginning to change.
Several recent polls suggest that a substantial portion of African Americans are supporting Donald Trump for president. For example, a recent survey from GenForward found that 17 percent of African Americans said that they would vote for Trump over Biden. These numbers, which track with surveys from The New York Times and from Axios, would have been unthinkable in the recent past. Black men are the primary drivers of this political sea change. In fact, Trump’s support from Black men has successively increased in each of his campaigns.
Crucially, 20 percent of Black respondents in the GenForward survey said that they would vote for someone other than Trump or Biden. Further, roughly 75 percent of Black voters planned to cast a ballot, which was 10 points lower than the percentage of white voters who planned to vote.
Unfortunately, many Democrats will consider these polls to be “fake news”, or at least will see them as less than predictive. In their smugness – which often tips into arrogance – they cannot fathom that more than a miniscule number of Black men would actually vote for someone who is as execrable, dishonest, and racist as Donald Trump. Holding that viewpoint is a grave mistake.
Most Democratic leaders believe that Trump’s racism is enough to deter the vast majority of Black voters. While that was the case during his first presidential run in 2016, it is much less likely today. Of course, this phenomenon is not limited to Blacks. Some polls show that a third or more of Hispanic voters support the former president – despite (or, sometimes, because of) his extreme anti-immigration stances. While most Blacks and Hispanics acknowledge the ongoing problem of racism in America, smaller numbers of them are voting primarily on that basis.
I had hoped that the advent of Jaime Harrison as head of the Democratic National Committee would herald a new era; that hope has been dashed. When it comes to catering to Black men, the DNC has more fumbles than Dak Prescott. Indeed, if it were not for Black women, the Democrats would be even more hapless. Black women appear to care more than Black men do about the imminent danger that Donald Trump possess to this nation. They are also willing to act in accordance with that knowledge. Will their support be the deciding factor in this election? Time will tell.
I believe that this year represents the most consequential American presidential election since 1860. It is not hyperbolic to suggest that our democracy is at stake. I take Donald Trump at his word when he talks about locking up his political enemies, not to mention his other totalitarian threats. Unfortunately, I have my doubts as to whether that will be enough to convince Trump-leaning African Americans to vote for President Biden.
In 1787, well-connected socialite Elizabeth Willing Powell asked Benjamin Franklin whether America was a republic or a monarchy. Franklin responded soberly, “A republic, if you can keep it.” Franklin was fully aware of the cascading tensions that incessantly tore at the nation’s fabric. African Americans have always been the reluctant social seamstresses who have kept America from destroying itself. Or, more specifically, we have kept white Americans from re-creating the seemingly illimitable and intractable European tendency to annihilate each other (our Civil War notwithstanding).
If President Biden loses this election, which seems to be an even bet at this point, it will be despite Donald Trump’s ridiculous antics. People in every corner of the globe should have the right to vote for the candidate of their choice, even if that candidate is someone as reprehensible as Trump. Yet, the fact remains that a Biden loss would rest heavily on the shoulders of those who control the Democratic Party.
Written by Larry Smith
This is bogus. This victim mentality doesn’t help brothers and sisters at all. No other people in the world, as a minority in a nation expect zero racism. I have traveled to every continent, and being a foreigner you WILL experience prejudice from the unintelligent & simple out of fear. Its human nature and in group preference. Thats why Christ taught neither j3w nor greek. In Christ, with him as the only identity, we gather in Christ and have met GREAT people of every race as well. So instead of lumping ALL people together and assuming everyone hates black people all the time, put your head up, be happy as a child of God, of good cheer and seek to connect with other Christ believers rather than “cuttin off anyone with fair skin’. Sounds to me more like the great accuser satan, accusing his bretheren. There could be numerous reasons people don’t want to associate with you outside of your skin color. But I would never walk around in China as a minority and expect that many of them will be wary of me, as I look different to them OF COURSE they gonna treat me differently, but guess what? I don’t hate them for it, in fact I forgive them. Because my Lord taught us to do exactly that. He saw the good in everyone, the very sinners and his enemies he persecuted him without cause. Many people in this world are lost and you don’t seem to be very empathetic or even attempt to empathize or use perspective to think on a global scale, rather your small amerlcan bubble. May God bless your eyes, and unharden your heart
Black men in America should concentrate their vocational expertise in areas that meet the needs of the American people. Become proficient, and provide services in providing food,shelter,clothing,legal representation,and technological skills.
Will Black Intellectuals Like YOU Stop Blaming Black American men for What is a Legitimate Grievance? The Federal Government is Undercounting Our Unemployment Rates: Stop Blaming the Victim and Blame the Abusers – Biden and Democrats.
Look, this is not rocket science. If the Biden-Harris administration stop today undercounting the unemployment rates of American workers, including Black Americans, who have the highest unemployment rate of any worker group, it would require the Biden-Harris administration to adopt an economic policy to grow our economy. What we are seeing in real time is the power of a LIE. It distorts and economically damages everything it touches. President Biden crisscrosses the nation, embracing a rigged and embarrassingly untrue unemployment rate when he says, “And [un]employment has been the lowest — been below 4 percent for the longest stretch in 50 years.”
What if the Biden-Harris administration crisscrossed the country and told the Truth, “The Real Unemployment rate is 7.3%, with a Black rate which averages 2.7% higher over the Real rate, is at a Great Recession level of 10% unemployment. Voters would demand a Job Creation Plan. There would be no way they could not! Such a plan would relieve Black American workers and indeed ALL American workers of anxiety over immigration and decrease any animosity they might have against economic immigrants who are here to compete for American Jobs. STOP BLAMING THE VICTIMS for a flawed economic message from the Biden- Harris administration.
Mr. Biden is making all of us poorer, as we will never get the opportunity to resolve issues with the Real economy, which has an unemployment rate of 7.3% for February, due to Biden’s political rate of 3.9%.
For detail and factual evidence, Biden and Democrats are actively doing this, undercounting our Job rates, click on the article at this link now, https://thyblackman.com/2023/10/06/president-joe-biden-and-democrats-undercount-our-job-rates-as-a-recession-looms/.
Congratulations to you, Mr. Larry Smith for writing such a remarkably clear article about Black America’s situation.
A factual observation which often goes unspoken and often overlook is, everyone in the Democratic Party do not care for Black Americans, even some black folk. If we can be honest with each other, we will find a clear path to success. You state, “…the Democratic Party does not value Black men specifically, which isn’t surprising given that they do not value Black folks generally.”
When you look around Mr. Smith, Mr. Biden and the Democratic Party, and their analyst see what I see, that White America is paying handsomely great sums of money to black leadership to tell a different story other than yours to Black America. Those payoffs to blacks they are sponsoring are paying dividends to that group of white leadership which has never had any interest in helping Black America achieve equity. Nevertheless, Black Americans have used and took advantage of laws put on the books in the 1960’s and 1970’s to arrive at the point where we are now economically.
Black American leaders are for the most part GI’s – government issue. So, when Biden gives the order, he feels, the GI’s will fall in line and go out and get black voters to come home to the Democratic Party. One of the biggest industries in the black community is politics and the election of blacks to political office because this is where white leadership, again who have no interest in black equity is spending huge sums of money and many unethical blacks are rushing in to scoop it up. An $11 million mansion on Martha’s Vineyard can be yours if you play your cards right. They say forget about all that racial equity stuff – take care of you and yours.
But you Mr. Smith and me, along with almost 90% of Black America have rejected that call but find ourselves being dominated by the GI’s because let’s face it, they have plenty of money to throw around, one of the sponsored benefits mentioned above, the prestige of the spotlight that the majority population provides as part of the package, and a stage from which to project power useful to their sponsors.
What do we have, Mr. Smith? We have a wonderful God who said he will never leave us or forsake us, $30 million, and Black Lives Matter, if we want it. Please read my take. We can use your energy.
https://thyblackman.com/2024/03/11/black-unemployment-rate-rises-to-10-as-cicley-gay-chair-of-the-black-lives-matter-global-network-contemplates-supporting-black-americans-economically/
https://thyblackman.com/2024/03/20/donald-trumps-authoritarianism-joe-biden-and-kamala-harris-falsehoods-about-the-nations-job-rates-which-is-surely-eroding-our-democracy-thats-our-choice/
A vote for the Making America Grotesquely Absurd (again!!) party and its pestilential presidential-wanna-be would be the most ignorant & self-destructive vote that any Black man (or woman) could cast!
What has Donald Trump done that is so racist? What is so racist about wanting to curb illegal immigration? The Democrats have allowed the invasion of enough people from Latin America and other countries that blacks are no longer the largest minority in the USA. They don’t have to care about you anymore. They don’t even have to pretend.
If you have to ask that question, then you don’t know what racism is. I have let go many of my white friends because they asked the same question. Policies don’t dictate racism. If you grew up experiencing racism there is a “knowing” that cuts to your core that does not require an explanation. Many young blacks are ignoring this “knowing” that has been passed down for generations. I will not indulge the demand for proof. I “know”.
This is bogus. This victim mentality doesn’t help brothers and sisters at all. No other people in the world, as a minority in a nation expect zero racism. I have traveled to every continent, and being a foreigner you WILL experience prejudice from the unintelligent & simple out of fear. Its human nature and in group preference. Thats why Christ taught neither j3w nor greek. In Christ, with him as the only identity, we gather in Christ and have met GREAT people of every race as well. So instead of lumping ALL people together and assuming everyone hates black people all the time, put your head up, be happy as a child of God, of good cheer and seek to connect with other Christ believers rather than “cuttin off anyone with fair skin’. Sounds to me more like the great accuser satan, accusing his bretheren.
There could be numerous reasons people don’t want to associate with you outside of your skin color. But I would never walk around in China as a minority and expect that many of them will be wary of me, as I look different to them OF COURSE they gonna treat me differently, but guess what? I don’t hate them for it, in fact I forgive them. Because my Lord taught us to do exactly that. He saw the good in everyone, the very sinners and his enemies he persecuted him without cause. Many people in this world are lost and you don’t seem to be very empathetic or even attempt to empathize or use perspective to think on a global scale, rather your small american bubble. May God bless your eyes, and unharden your heart