Regardless of the outcome of the 2016 presidential election, Donald Trump's rise will force the Democratic Party to eventually have to address how its elected officials have neglected black Americans, its most loyal constituency.
The Democratic Party's worse nightmare happened when Donald Trump reached out to black Americans at a campaign rally in Wisconsin. Trump's outreach was prefaced by challenging blacks to do an honest assessment of their return on investment after 50 years of voting Democrat. The most damning words that Trump spoke were "what the hell do you have to lose" by voting Trump? The last thing Democrats want blacks to do is to ponder that very question, knowing that the answer is nothing.
In the meantime, Democrats and their cohorts in the media have become unhinged at Trump's outreach to blacks. For weeks prior to and immediately after Trump's initial outreach, the media were quick to erroneously report that polls had Trump getting only 1% of black support. Of course, any thinking person who studies history knows that those supposed polls could not be accurate. Every Republican president in history has gotten at least 4-6% of the black vote. How is it possible that Trump was getting only one percent? Furthermore, if the polls were indeed accurate, why were liberals so upset at Trump's outreach?
The fact of the matter is that even before Trump made a public outreach to blacks, many blacks had signed on to support him, and liberals knew it. Several current polls have Trump receiving 15-23% of the black support nationally. That is the highest black support any Republican presidential candidate has received in over 50 years. This explains why Hillary Clinton decided to recycle the birther issue (that backfired) and the Congressional Black Caucus's decision to put on that spectacle of feigning outrage over Trump's birtherism while coalescing around Hillary Clinton, the mother who actually gave birth to birtherism. Yet none of the members of the CBC seems to have a problem being the landlord over the inner-city ghettos.
Many black Trump supporters are former Democrats. In fact, I am in contact on a daily basis, through social media and other venues, with several (I have never been a Democrat). It is refreshing to hear of their journeys of discovering (through history and personal experiences) what the Democratic Party really represents.
There are also some blacks who are currently part of the Democratic Party who have discovered what white Democrats really think about blacks. Nikki Johnson-Houston, a black female and a contributor at the Huffington Post, describes herself as lifelong Democrat. She wrote an eye-opening article titled "The Culture of The Smug White Liberal." What I find fascinating about this article are the contradictions of what the Democratic Party claims it stands for and what it actually practices.
Mrs. Johnson-Houston describes what attracted her to the Democratic Party:
One of the things that always attracted me to the party were the ideals of equality, fighting for the little guy and our openness to differing opinions, but lately I have seen my party take a turn that makes me uncomfortable. Somewhere along the way we stopped fighting for the little guy and became the party of the smug, educated elites who look down on those with less education and deem them unable or unworthy of being able to make personal decisions for their own lives.
The problem with what Mrs. Johnson-Houston says attracted her to Democratic Party is that none of it was ever true to begin with. Where have Democrats ever fought for the little guy or for equality? Throughout history, Democrats have voted and fought against any legislation that would give equality to black people, starting with the abolishment of slavery and then the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. All of these acts were initiated by the Republican Party and opposed by the Democratic Party. Therefore, it is no wonder that Mrs. Johnson-Huston has discovered that liberal policies have the opposite effect of what democrats claim:
As an African-American professional from humble beginnings, I know firsthand the importance of giving everyone an equal opportunity to access the American Dream. I don't take lightly the opportunities I have been given or the fact that many people, black and white, fought for and sometimes died for me to have these rights. I also have serious concerns about the lack of progress that I have seen for many African-Americans and I blame some of that lack of progress on ineffective liberal policies that are based upon wanting to help those in need, but in many instances end up causing more harm than good.
My problem with Liberalism is that it's more concerned with policing people's language and thoughts without requiring them to do anything to fix the problem. White liberal college students speak of "safe spaces", "trigger words", "micro aggressions" and "white privilege" while not having to do anything or, more importantly, give up anything. They can't even have a conversation with someone who sees the world differently without resorting to calling someone a racist, homophobic, misogynistic, bigot and trying to have them banned from campus, or ruin them and their reputation. They say they feel black peoples' pain because they took a trip to Africa to help the disadvantaged, but are unwilling to go to a black neighborhood in the City in which they live. These same college students will espouse the joys of diversity, but will in the same breath assume you are only on campus because of affirmative action or that all black people grew up in poverty. My personal favorite is declaring with surprise how articulate a black classmate is despite the fact that we are attending the same institution of higher learning as they are.
The White Liberal culture encourages talking about diversity and shaming others for their alleged racism, but many times they themselves work in environments that are mostly white. When questioned they'll defensively state that they promote strictly on merit. Black people aren't suggesting that we want someone unqualified to get the position, but I find it telling that they assume that we are not qualified. These same Liberals are quick to be against school choice, while their kids go to private or well-regarded public schools. Leaving poor black children behind in underperforming schools and providing less opportunity to improve their lives is inconsequential to keeping true to their white liberal politics. Many people are quick to espouse the political values of liberalism without having to live with the often harsh reality of those policies.
I am constantly hearing similar stories from other black Americans who have awakened to what liberal policies have done to poor black Americans. The Democratic Party shot themselves in the foot by electing the first black president with a far left ideology. Black Americans thought a black president would make sure black people's economic situation improved. Yet blacks are now worse off than before President Obama took office. Therefore, black people have more of an incentive to give Trump a chance. Blacks can reason that since a black Democrat president did nothing to help black people, after 50 years of voting Democrat, why believe that any white Democrat president would do anything different?
Democrats know that their goose is about to be cooked. That is why the liberal media viciously attack and try to destroyany black Trump supporter who appears on their shows. The writing is on the wall.
Christian Commentary (http://patriciascornerblog.com), or contact the author at patdickson@earthlink.net. Follow me on Twitter @Patrici15767099.
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