Can Blacks afford to wait while Trump makes America great?

Jan 10, 2017 Letters

Dear Editor,
Historically the Black community has been too intractably attached to the Democratic Party, and in addition to the party’s recent loss to Republican Donald Trump; over the past 30 years it has also been losing political control nationally. As a consequence the Black community is also a loser. When Trump makes America great again, what is the Blacks’ fate?
Even a casual observer of the current political climate in America will agree that things are not moving in the right political direction for the Democratic Party, and by association the Black community. In other words Blacks have placed all their eggs in the Democratic basket, so when Democrats lose, Blacks also lose
There have been consequences to Blacks taking their eyes off the prize and none could be more obvious than in their recent political miscalculations. When participating in the political process, a well-established and fundamental concept is that political players and their agenda are never supposed to lose. Those that lose are the politicians themselves, but not the political players or their agenda.
The Democratic leadership failed the Black community miserably, doing exactly the opposite of what they stated they were all about – diversity and inclusion, has now taken on the appearance of an illusion. A fact that should be always remembered and never forgotten is that there are Republicans, Democrats and White People, and despite their political affiliation, White People hold considerable privilege. Unlike White Democrats, when they lose, they have the ability to withstand the loss and, in many cases, initiate a campaign to regain what was lost. Restated, White people can take an ideological position and lose because they are not economically impacted by such losses as Black people are.
Donald Trump spoke directly to the Blacks by telling them of his intention to bail out their cities, and bring more jobs back to the urban communities. Regardless, of whether or not it was rhetoric, the Democrats failed to match this rhetoric. There was little pre-election discussion on the issues Blacks felt to be important, such as, poverty, criminal justice system, jobs, education, etc. and whenever there was any discussion it was lumped into discussion with other groups. Here a deeper picture emerges, beyond the Black community and the Black agenda. The Republicans now have control of Washington, and with it comes the power to implement their agenda, which is absolutely not a Black agenda.
Had the Democrats been victorious, the Black agenda would still be compromised.
At this juncture it is appropriate to pose two pertinent questions:
-Where do the Democrats go from here? The future of the party must be quickly and specifically addressed.
-Where does the African American community go from here? The African American community must address their relationship with the Democratic Party.
The two do not a similar path or future share. The Democratic Party is currently leaderless, and the same can be said of the Black community, and the diehard Black Democrats who believe until now that party affiliation is the answer. Since the defeat of the Democrats, things have been disturbingly quiet.
With the exception of Senator Bernie Sanders, nothing of substance that speaks to their failing status and how they plan on improving has been said. Their self- imposed silence speaks volumes and I strongly feel that the reason underpinning the silence is that they do not have an answer. There is still existing concern as to who will emerge from within the ranks possessing the intellectual and political fortitude along with the capacity to change the tide for the ailing party. Barack Obama is no longer there, and while he displayed a unique spirit, let us not for a nano second overlook the fact that he did not build the Democratic Party.
Now where does the Black community go from here? The answer is simply, in the same direction it needed to go before the election, but this cannot be accomplished in the absence of leadership. Black leadership is virtually non-existent, with the community operating like an aircraft on autopilot. Real political leadership is not with Black elected officials, but comes instead from the private sector, primarily from the business community. Who takes responsibility for our political leadership? Who takes responsibility for developing and implementing our agenda? To what does the Black Agenda refer? Therein lies the crux of the problem, the Black community is without political leadership, and we lack the resources to do the same things that the Whites do.
Regrettably, Blacks spend most of their time focusing on the things that they need in the “now”, and possess very little capacity to pay attention to the things that they must control in the future. Not only is this a leadership issue, but also a resource issue. We have very little capacity to plan for the future and to build capacity when we always fight for survival. We definitely cannot build capacity without resources. Blacks may be resourceful but in truth and reality resources are lacking in the Black community. What are the Blacks expecting from President elect Trump?
Yvonne Sam

1 thoughts on “Can Blacks afford to wait while Trump makes America great?”

Burch01 January 10, 2017 at 5:29 am

What is the ”Black agenda” ? Stop getting caught up in the liberal ”gobbledygook”…….blacks essentially should are no different from other ethnic groups,however there are some realities that need to be addressed not per se from the point of view of a black agenda,but holistically as a human being living in a diverse society.

Have you encountered blacks from ”Inner Cities”? Did you read the ‘Murder stats’ for Chicago for 2016? Did you seethe horrendous video with the four Black young people as they bullied and terrorized a ‘disabled white acquaintance?

Black agenda? ….more appropriately ….the devil’s agenda being unfolded.

This is a wide and very deep subject, that has eluded solution from many studies,but suffice to say Trump’s campaign talking point may not be so ill-advised at the moment….”What has blacks got to lose”?