Equal Justice and Voting Rights are just Two
Without a doubt, many Black people have reason to be angry with the country’s political system and want it to change at any cost. Others have totally given up on it. Our political system has miserably failed to provide equal justice, housing, and education, while employment opportunities and voting rights are far from equable. Those are just some of its utter failures.
Clay Cane’s new book The Grift, possibly the most important political book for this election cycle is a must-read by all. It is a thoroughly researched and documented history of the political scene starting with Abraham Lincoln to the present day. He minces no words and names names in documenting how many Black republicans are used by the white power brokers to provide cover for their explicit bigotry.
He gives many examples of Black people being welcomed as long as they “know their place.” The cost is merely to deny or significantly downplay the existence of racism in the country and blame any alleged inequality on the Black victims themselves. The better they do that, the higher they may go. He states that is one of the greatest threats to the liberation of Black and Brown people. If in doubt, when was the last time you heard a Black republican attack Trump or even criticized congress for refusing to pass voter rights legislation or frankly supporting anything that would help improve inequalities?
Cane also has tough words for many Democrats too, in the likes of JFK, LBJ, and Joe Biden. He acknowledges that the political landscape is far from perfect but pleads with his readers to understand that only one party supports white supremacy with no intention of ever giving up their majority power and domination over the people of color. And only one party fights for health care, voting rights, civil rights, equal justice, and among many other things, an environment with cleaner water and air, while the other party blocks almost all attempts to bring many of these needed changes. Gerrymandering and the 60 vote filibuster makes many things extremely hard to pass.
The following list of reasons to say NO to Trump are all extremely easy to fact-check and confirm. While the Black community is certainly not homogenous, it is the author’s opinion, like that of Clay Cane’s that Trump poses a major danger to everyone, but especially to people of color.
At the end of this article will be a link to 50 accomplishments by the Obama administration and dozens by President Biden which almost all Republicans fought tirelessly against, even though many of the issues were clearly beneficial for most Americans with many specifically crafted to benefit people of color.
As a white person who have seen the injustices and damage that systemic racism which permeates our society results in, the need to have Trump and ALL of his supporting Republicans defeated, is a must. I am also working on related articles listing the many reasons why white people should say NO to Trump and also why Christians should just say NO too. Join the millions of us who will be trying very hard to flip enough votes to make Martin Luther King Jr dream become closer to fulfillment.
Trump’s history of racism can clearly be seen by the following actions:
1. Trump aggressively supported the police who killed George Floyd and the many other young and innocent Black males. He said the police were completely justified, just as he condemned the “Central Park Five” over three decades earlier who served 13 years in prison until DNA proved their innocence. He still refuses to apologize.
2. He banned the government training on Critical Race Theory and mocked that there was such a thing as “white privilege.” He supported the concept that if there was any discrimination, it was the white people who were now the victims, and who were on the verge of “losing their country, unless they fight like hell.”
3. Black-owned businesses were significantly less likely to receive loans from the Paycheck Protection Plan that was created during the Covid shutdown. This disparity resulted in 41% (440,000 enterprises) of Black-owned businesses being shuttered by Covid-19 compared to just 17% of those that were White-owned.
4. He fought to eliminate existing affirmative action programs and referred to them as reverse racism. Pell Grants were greatly reduced but were expanded again after Biden replaced him.
5. There are 30,573 documented false and misleading claims he told the public during his four years as president. That is over 20 a day! These can all be found at no one can possibly trust Trump. Would you ever think about buying a used car from such a dishonest person, let alone vote for him to become president? Since he obviously cannot be trusted to tell the truth, can any promises he makes be believed?
6. He viciously slandered President Obama hundreds of times by accusing him of not being an American. He repeatedly said he had evidence that President Obama’s birth certificate was a forgery, but of course never provided a hint of proof. Even the birth announcement in a Hawaii newspaper meant nothing to his MAGA followers when their agenda was at stake. Amazingly, well over half of all Republicans believe him, as they do so many other of his lies. When you are appealing to racists, no evidence is ever needed, and oh does Trump know that so well.
7. He attacked the groups who were advocating for the removal of confederate monuments and blocked the military from changing the names of military bases that were named after confederate officers. He advocated for ten-year mandatory prison terms for anyone who defaced any of those monuments. Yet, he promises full pardons to those who defaced the Capitol Building on January 6th.
8. He specifically stated that immigrants of color were poisoning the blood of the country. When he spoke many times about “not having a country anymore,” he clearly was speaking about the white race no longer having the majority of the population.
9. He referred to several countries in Africa as “shit hole countries.” He also mentioned the predominately Black country of Haiti.
10. He fought to undermine voting rights, which heavily affects minorities.
11. He attacked, on numerous occasions, the Black Lives Matter protesters and even asked advisors if the police can at least shoot them in the legs. He called these protesters terrorists, while those attacking the Capitol Building on January 6th, were “true patriots” and would be given presidential pardons if re-elected.
12. He fought very hard to dismantle the Affordable Care Act, a.k.a. Obamacare, which would have taken away health care from over 20 million individuals. Even when congress refused, he caused the enrollment period to be shorten and stopped the advertisements that the Democrats had in place to inform the public of the deadlines for new enrollments. Almost every single Republican member of congress supported Trump’s attempts, despite the fact that great suffering and early death to many would be the obvious result.
13. He advocated that states not sign up to expand their Medicaid program even though the Federal Government would pay almost all of the cost. Medicaid, of course, affects the poorest children and families. What could possibly motivate anyone to prevent millions of the poorest of the poor to obtain health care when it would cost them hardly a dime and many times, not even that?
14. Under his leadership, his administration worked to undo many of the existing Civil Rights protections.
15. He proudly dined with and appointed many white-supremists and known racists to high positions in his administration. His Cabinet was the least diverse of any in modern history. Can you think of even one person of color in his administration that supported the policies of most Black people? Do they not fit the definition of Grifters? Trump even refused to disavow the KKK without any pushback from his MAGA supporters.
16. He attempted to literally steal the millions of votes casted by Black people and have them thrown out by his fraudulent plot to overturn the 2020 election. Even after 82 lawsuits filed on his behalf were denied or dismissed, many by the judges he had appointed, he continued with his treason and insurrection plot to remain in the White House. Without a doubt, he knew he would be headed for prison unless he alone had the power to prevent it.
17. He never claimed to be a Christian until he was running for President. In fact, he had always supported abortion rights. Could any Christian ever state that they never had a reason to ask God for forgiveness of anything? Trump said just that, and yet 80% of evangelical Christians love him. Again, when you have the agenda of “not losing your country,” truth can never get in the way. If these MAGA people were truly pro-life, why do they fight so hard to prevent poor children from being assured health care, adequate food, safe housing, and equal justice and education?
18. He vigorously, appointed people who would reduce spending on public education, while channeling that money to Christian private schools. In fact, his Secretary of Education did not even believe in public schools but did believe in banning books that taught the truth about slavery and the many injustices that our country is guilty of.
19. 37% of Republicans concede that he is not a good role-model for their children, yet most will continue to support him.
20. He demanded and obtained massive tax cuts for the very rich, while doing a reverse Robin Hood by cutting important and necessary safety nets. While the tax cuts are projected to add 3.5 trillion dollars to the national deficit, he along with almost every Republican congress person fights very hard to prevent the IRS from even auditing the tax crimes of the very rich.
21. It is undeniable and indisputable that hundreds of thousands of lives could have been saved if only Trump had given support to the Covid vaccine and other recommendations made by experts in that field. His red states suffered significantly more deaths and hardships, but when someone who is so scared that a temporary shutdown can hurt his re-election chances by a fall in the stock market, nothing else, not even the death of your faithful followers matters. Almost 1.25 million died, and experts project that 40% of them were preventable. The Democrats narrowly got legislation through so that the vaccine (and necessary treatment) would be free to ensure that it was available for everyone.
22. His attacks on women and on their rights are atrocious. His conviction of sexual assault that the Judge said constituted rape and his bragging about other sexual assaults is only half the story.
23. His latest thing now is to tell our NATO allies that unless they “pay,” he will not only tell Russia that they can do anything they want to those countries, but that he would also encourage them to do so. While this is shocking, it can be no real surprise considering how he attacked Muslim Gold Star parents, ridiculed John McCain for being captured in Vietnam, although he himself won a military deferment by having his doctor claim that he had a bone spur on his foot. He later said that Putin was a genius for invading Ukraine and that soldiers who died in battle were “suckers and losers.” Has he ever watched a WW 1 or WW 2 documentary?
24. President Biden announced a full and unconditional pardon for prior federal and D.C. offenses of possession of marijuana. The President’s pardon lifts barriers to housing, employment, and educational opportunities for thousands of people with those prior offenses. Presidents do not have the authority to extend the pardons to state convictions.
25. Biden’s Student Debt Relief program has already helped millions of people with the Republicans of course fighting very hard to stop it. After all, they had already given the super-rich almost a trillion dollars in tax cuts.
13% of Black registered voters say that they intend to vote for Trump. This outline was prepared to be used as a handout and/or talking points to reduce that number as low as possible.
Obama’s Top 50 Accomplishments, Revisited | Washington Monthly
Biden’s accomplishments in just his first two years
Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: How Republicans use the Bible to Unscrupulously Exploit their Members
