Justin McClinton:
I am one of the black men who voted for Donald Trump. Apparently we represent 13 percent of the black male vote. I actually find the number refreshing. It shows we are not a complete monolith in thought. We fall squarely out of the mainstream media’s idea of a Trump supporter mostly because it makes little sense to construct us as racist (although I’m not saying we can’t be).
The blog Verysmartbrothas took it upon themselves to categorize us. The gist of the article says a black man would vote for Trump “because some niggas is stupid.” These “stupid” niggas have had their brains fried by whiteness, the article says. A glance at the comments will show further offensive descriptions, including a hypothetical older black man who is wedded to misogyny and “keeping women in their place.”
Because I am neither stupid nor old, I feel as though the voice of a real black man who voted for Trump should be heard.
Stop Politicizing Black People
My stance on the role politics plays in the everyday life of black Americans was so aptly described by Walter Williams just this week. That role is very little, and politicizing black people is mostly fool’s gold. The issues that plague our community, as Williams pointed out, have not been assuaged by years of Democratic rule in predominantly black cities.
Black people often hold high political offices in these cities, like mayor or police chief. Some will point to this as all the evidence necessary to conclude that politics is not enough for us. If the overarching perspective is that black people are not in control of their own destiny, it suggests that anything short of black people holding 100 percent of high political offices is not enough.
Even then we still have to accept that a few will inevitably be infected by whiteness. This ludicrous notion, often used to brand people as race traitors, turns being white into an ideology that might take over someone like the enemy from invasion of the body snatchers. It effectively suppresses any opposing view from minorities so the loudest race hustlers can operate with little scrutiny from what would be their greatest adversaries.
Let’s Ask Ourselves the Hard Questions
Turning whiteness into a Marvel villain is not a battle that can be won. Black Americans’ collective problems are really individual problems, and until that is understood, there can be no moving forward. Like any other group in America, black Americans are in control of their own destiny.
The school district in which I went to high school has had an all-black school board for many years, but that has done little to improve the performance of the predominantly black student body. Blacks elected or volunteering to act in our interest can no longer be given a pass. The pain of facing reality by looking in the mirror might be too great a burden for many black people to bear, but for those who do, it can be a way to finally allow old wounds to heal.
Shelby Steele has written what I consider the most eloquent arguments in favor of reframing the black-white race issue in order to address what is actually going on today. Before insisting racism is an institutional problem instead of an individual problem, one should consider his own experiences.
Black people often hold high political offices in these cities, like mayor or police chief. Some will point to this as all the evidence necessary to conclude that politics is not enough for us. If the overarching perspective is that black people are not in control of their own destiny, it suggests that anything short of black people holding 100 percent of high political offices is not enough.
Even then we still have to accept that a few will inevitably be infected by whiteness. This ludicrous notion, often used to brand people as race traitors, turns being white into an ideology that might take over someone like the enemy from invasion of the body snatchers. It effectively suppresses any opposing view from minorities so the loudest race hustlers can operate with little scrutiny from what would be their greatest adversaries.
Let’s Ask Ourselves the Hard Questions
Turning whiteness into a Marvel villain is not a battle that can be won. Black Americans’ collective problems are really individual problems, and until that is understood, there can be no moving forward. Like any other group in America, black Americans are in control of their own destiny.
The school district in which I went to high school has had an all-black school board for many years, but that has done little to improve the performance of the predominantly black student body. Blacks elected or volunteering to act in our interest can no longer be given a pass. The pain of facing reality by looking in the mirror might be too great a burden for many black people to bear, but for those who do, it can be a way to finally allow old wounds to heal.
Shelby Steele has written what I consider the most eloquent arguments in favor of reframing the black-white race issue in order to address what is actually going on today. Before insisting racism is an institutional problem instead of an individual problem, one should consider his own experiences.
Becuase Trump is from the party that opposed slavery when Hillary belongs to the party of the slave owners