Voting for the “least racist,” seems to be the position that some Black youth are taking during this presidential election.
Wannabe presidential candidate Donald Trump has been criticized for his comments about minority groups, and Clinton has been accused of “pandering to the movement.” She has been heckled by Black Lives Matter activists, and Bernie Sanders was once even interrupted. With candidates Clinton and Trump at the forefront of this presidential election, it is interesting to see where young Black voters stand.
Ashley Williams, a 23-year-old activist from the University of North Carolina stated that she participated in the disruption of a Trump rally and refuses to support Bernie Sanders.
Speaking in The Washington Post, Williams stated that within the rhetoric of the Black Lives Matter movement is the idea that Black people should make the attempt to seek change within themselves and their communities. However, at the same time, the movement does not encourage Blacks to turn their backs on the right that their ancestors fought and died for.
Alanna Hardy, 21 from Baltimore, Md. intends to exercise her rights, but with a very reluctant attitude. She referred to Sanders as “the most authentic of the options.” But her support is unenthusiastic.
“He may be pandering, but he’s made a career out of being the leftist political outlier,” Hardy said. “So why not?”
Rashad Moore, 19, from Brooklyn, N.Y. expressed a similar perspective. “I don’t really like this election because it seems that these candidates are putting on a facade for younger voters, and trying to be hip to get the minority votes” said Moore. “So if I vote, I’ll vote for whoever is on the Democratic ticket so Trump won’t win and ruin our world.”
It seems as though young Black voters are truly caught between a rock and a hard place.
According to the International Business Times, Leah Wright Rigueur, a professor at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government in Cambridge, Mass., who focuses on race and politics, stated, “Bernie Sanders isn’t winning Black millennials, but he is winning a significant portion of Black millennials. Whatever percent, that’s still important because it suggests that Hillary Clinton doesn’t have a lock on Black millennials. There’s a section of Black millennials who are really disenchanted with traditional politics.”
Riguer could not have said it better. Taylar Mouton, 18, from Austin Texas wanted to vote but feels as though the elections are “hopeless.”
Mouton said, “I’m not sure if I’m voting. It’s between a liar, a bigot and an underdog.”
