About a month ago a black man, a staunch tRump supporter, called into my radio show to debate me about the orange-faced clown’s record on racism. When I enumerated the racist incidents perpetrated by tRump over his career, all of which are on the record and well known to the world, the man’s retort was “What has he done that’s racist since he’s been president?” as if his prior record of racist behavior is of no consequence.
Sure, some racists and their supporters would like to whitewash their ugly pasts but most blacks aren’t buying it.
Now that tRump is feeling desperate about his chances of winning the 2020 presidential election and wants to cozy up to black voters to improve his chances for a second term, he went to the mecca of black thought, culture and entertainment influence in America — Atlanta — to see if blacks have a short memory. Or it could be that he has a short memory.
Three years ago when Congressman John Lewis publicly stated that he would not be attending tRump’s swearing-in, the demagogue tweeted that the congressional district Lewis represents, which runs through the heart of Atlanta, is “crime-infested” and is in “horrible shape.” But on Friday he held a rally at the Georgia World Congress Center where he kicked off the “Black Voices for Trump Coalition” initiative as if the past tweet never happened. I’m guessing that at some point he will go to Baltimore, another predominately black city he dissed more than once, (basically comparing it to a third-world country) and now he will ask the locals for their support.
One thing’s for sure: There’s no shame in tRump’s game. He really must believe that black folks have shit for brains.
In Atlanta, he highlighted recent statistics that show he created a ton of low-wage hamburger flipping jobs for black workers, as well as an opportunity zone program he touts as a measure that encourages investors to pump money into struggling areas, but in reality is a tax-dodging strategy for his wealthy friends.
However, we blacks bear some responsibility for tRump’s delusional thinking. As a group we American blacks are well-known to be some of the most forgiving people to ever bestride the face of the earth. Take the case of Dylann Roof, the white supremacist that killed nine black people in 2015 as they prayed in the Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston. Some black folks were quick to offer their forgiveness, in spite of the fact he didn’t ask for it, nor has he ever disavowed his racist beliefs.
That some blacks are politically conservative is readily understandable; to some degree, I’m conservative on a number of issues, particularly in regards to assuming responsibility for one’s life and behavior. But with that said, by no means am I supportive of a candidate or political party that historically has sought to roll back the hard-won gains my race has achieved.
The racist presently occupying the White House (along with his team of Uncle Toms) can try to spin this any way they want, but nothing they do will improve his standing in the larger black community. He might be able to hold onto the eight percent of blacks that support him, but rest assured, there are black folks that will be working assiduously to ensure that his number of black supporters doesn’t go up, but in fact goes down. Way down.
From CoolCleveland correspondent Mansfield B. Frazier mansfieldfATgmail.com. Frazier’s From Behind The Wall: Commentary on Crime, Punishment, Race and the Underclass by a Prison Inmate is available in hardback. Snag your copy and have it signed by the author at http://NeighborhoodSolutionsInc