On Tuesday night, Trump gave a speech to an all-white Wisconsin audience on why African-Americans should vote for him. Trump, in his wisdom, believes the Democratic party has bamboozled blacks. Thus, “ What the hell do you have to lose ,” by voting for him.
“You’re living in poverty. Your schools are no good. You have no jobs… What the hell do you have to lose?” https://t.co/2L7ITrCGt7
— Al Jazeera Breaking News (@AJENews) August 20, 2016
After all, black lives in blue states is an utter misery, with high crime rates and incarceration, poorly funded schools, no job opportunities, Flint’s water crisis, low-income, and police brutality . Scratch that, Trump didn’t speak about police brutality, after all, he is the “law and order,” candidate and supporter of “blue lives matter.” As Politico transcribed , in his Wisconsin speech, Trump reminded the audience of his “law and order,”candidacy, over-and-over again.
“The violence, riots and destruction that have taken place in Milwaukee is an assault on the right of all citizens to live in security and peace. Law and order must be restored. It must be restored for the sake of all, but most especially the sake of those living in the affected communities.”
Besides that, Trump was on the money about the issues that black communities in Democratic states face. Somewhat, that is.
. @realDonaldTrump : “I guarantee you that I will get over 95 percent of the African-American vote. I promise you.” https://t.co/q1ZNffps37
— POLITICO (@politico) August 20, 2016
Black In America
Statistically, life for black Americans is poor, destitute. Whites make three times the wealth of blacks. A healthy financial state equates to less reliance on government programs and provides Constitutional power — something too far off for blacks, shamelessly.
Black people are less likely to have good credit scores , not because they’re terrible with budgeting and paying bills, but due to systematic racism. Black people are likely to be denied the opportunity to take out a mortgage , or if given the chance, banks stifle with double the interest rate than what whites receive, no matter the credit score of whites.
Black people tend to live in segregated communities which aides racial profiling and violence. According to the NAACP , “African American and Hispanics comprised 58% of all prisoners in 2008.” The report goes on to say, “African-Americans represent 26% of juvenile arrests, 44% of youth who are detained, 46% of the youth who are judicially waived to criminal court, and 58% of the youth admitted to state prisons (Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice).”
‘5X as many whites using drugs as blacks, yet blacks sent to prison for drug offenses at 10X the rate of whites’ https://t.co/ANzc6lDxOZ
— Eugene Scott (@Eugene_Scott) November 9, 2015
Black people are likely to attend segregated schools in blue cities that are poorly funded and suffer from high crime rates. Unfortunately, too many black students with mental illnesses are ignored, considering, many black students likely suffer from PTSD, due to the stress of living in economic depression and community oppression. As Psych Central explains , “Black children and young adults are only about half as likely as their white peers to get mental health care despite having similar rates of mental health problems, according to a new study published in the International Journal of Health Services .”
The report reveals that The Department of Justice noted that blacks and Hispanics youth that make up a high proportion of incarceration rates faced mental health issues too, yet this was overwhelming ignored by the court when it came to sentencing and rehabilitation.
“Black and hispanic young men, who were at the highest risk for incarceration, had particularly low mental health visit rates. According to Department of Justice data, at least half of inmates suffer from mental illness, most of whom had been untreated at the time of arrest.”
https://twitter.com/CeaBordeaux/status/749012863654719489
On the education front, Psych Central also noted the International Journal of Health Service s found minority children received disciplinary action at far greater rates than white students, and often for mundane and non-threatening instances.
“Black children suffer excessive rates of school discipline such as suspensions and expulsions starting at preschool ages. Minority teens also have disproportionate contact with the juvenile justice system, with higher arrest rates for nonviolent, low-level offenses such as drug possession, as well as for non-criminal misbehaviors such as truancy and curfew violations.”
Trump in his speech in Washington Country, spoke passionately that poor black communities suffered the most from rioting and were not participants of such lawlessness, as Politico transcribed .
“The main victims of these riots are law-abiding African-American citizens living in these neighborhoods. It is their jobs, their homes, their schools and communities which will suffer as a result.”
Then he followed with over policing communities, which black Americans do not support and for good reason.
“There is no compassion in tolerating lawless conduct. Crime and violence is an attack on the poor, and will never be accepted in a Trump Administration. The narrative that has been pushed aggressively for years now by our current Administration, and pushed by my opponent Hillary Clinton, is a false one. The problem in our poorest communities is not that there are too many police, the problem is that there are not enough police. More law enforcement, more community engagement, more effective policing is what our country needs.”
From there, Trump went into a deep end of everything’s Hillary, Obama’s and the Democrats fault, yadda yadda yadda.
Trump: ” @HillaryClinton would rather provide a job to a refugee from overseas than to give that job to unemployed African American youth.”
— Fox News (@FoxNews) August 19, 2016
Even as a proud Democrat, I can admit Trump addressed quite a few issues that black communities face daily. However, he is wrong that black communities need more policing because over policing is the cause too many problems between blacks and cops, both economically and socially. Police departments have a reputation of regressing black communities for money by over ticketing for stupid things like standing on the sidewalk, or on their porch, or in groups. That’s not building trust; that’s abiding Jim Crow.
My next issue with Trump’s “African American” speech is the lack of policy. How do you plan to make things better for the black community? Saying Democrats haven’t provided relief for black communities isn’t policy, it’s just rhetoric. Secondly, insulting communities voting habits isn’t good optics, nor is it kind, and neither is not speaking to them directly. Third, Trump looks like an idiot suggesting Democrats have bamboozled blacks when Trump’s past and present reeks of racism and vulgarities . As The Huffington Post reported, Trump was sued by the Feds for refusing to rent to black people.
Lastly, Trump condemning Democrats for not making lives better for black people is laughable and riddled with hypocrisy . Ask a poor white person, in fact, a poor black person what life is like in red states . You know, those red states that year-after-year top Census for being the poorest states in America .
The pitch Trump made to the “African American” community, as if we all have the same plight, could be made to poor whites in red states
— Jay Rich (@JohnyyRicco) August 20, 2016
In conclusion, Trump (and Republicans), maybe try cleaning your house before talking about how someone else’s is dirty.
I don’t get republicans trying to say that poverty is causes by democrats being in charge w so many poor red states.
— Bryce Goodwin (@BryceGwin) August 18, 2016
[Photo by Angelo Merendino/Getty Images]