Public Comment

President Trump claims that he is proud of all he has accomplished on behalf of African Americans. In fact, he boasts that he has done more for the American community than any president with the exception of Abraham Lincoln. If his boast is accurate in our race conscious society , isn’t it surprising that the overwhelming number of whites voted for him.

Let’s take a brief look at his actual record, He claimed that his policies kept black unemployment low and he improved household income. Obviously, these are important achievements. However both these claims are inaccurate. Actually, joblessness for African Americans actually increased slightly to 16.8 percent. Also, their median household income had declined. 

But Trump’s shortcomings were not only in the numbers. Unquestionably, Trump is a racist. His criticism of four women in Congress who had argued with Pelosi was outrageous. . He told them to “go back” to the countries they came from rather than “loudly and viciously telling the people of the United States how to run the government.” Which country did these women come from? Three out of four were born in the United States. 

Trump’s characterization of minorities has been ugly. He referred to Mexicans as rapists and addicts. He was opposed to admitting residents from Haiti and African American countries, which he referred to as “shithole” nations. He claimed that all Haitians who travel to the United States from Haiti have Aids. 

Particularly troubling,Trump passed a significant “tough on crime” criminal justice measure which has resulted in a phenomenal increase in the federal prison population. His callousness in dealing with crime is suggested by his comment “When the looting starts the shooting starts”. 

Did you know that Trump opposed the slogan “Black Lives Matter. Why? Although his capacity to hate is well known, he nevertheless had the audacity to complain that the slogan was a symbol of hate. 

About the substantial vote that Trump received from white voters,he successfully abolished Obama’s policy on affirmative action, No longer are universities required to consider race or income as a factor in selecting students. The result of adopting race blind admissions has been a reduction of minority and low income students and a substantial increase in white students from less than half to more than 50 percent.. 

Trump is attempting to pick up votes wherever he can. He won over 70 million votes. In fact, he won 12 percent of the black male vote. For progressives, it is immensely important to understand why this right wing and racist candidate was able to win the support of so many voters.