Despite who wins the 2020 presidential nomination, many Black communities will remain the same and that’s a problem. However, it’s a problem that the government alone can’t fix, it’s a problem that can only be resolved by the respective communities’ members. Black Americans must take the reign of the various problems that uniquely impact African Americans and work proactively with government officials to uplift Black communities. As history has shown, Black Americans cannot and should not rely entirely on the government to fix the issues that they face.
Whether or not Biden comes out victorious or Trump comes out victorious, the vast majority of Black communities across the country remain unchanged. They continue to be hopeless vessels and escaping what has become a haven for continuous poverty is an anomaly. As a result, the focus must become insular. By that I mean that African Americans must begin the process of focusing all of their attention on the problems that have challenged many Black cities across America for years. The first way to accomplish this is to become responsible as a community to one another and to take ownership of these challenges together to overcome them.
Black Americans are the only group in the United States that continue to vote overwhelmingly for one party, the Democrats. While they have been consistently loyal to the Democratic party, the Democratic party hasn’t been loyal in return and yet somehow the party still overwhelmingly receives support from Black Americans. In return, African Americans received the 1994 Crime Bill which cost the American taxpayers billions of dollars and only reduced crime by about 1 percent. Ultimately, the ‘94 Crime cost the Black community significantly as it resulted in the incarceration of over 1 million Black men. Perhaps the most tragic effect of the resulting mass incarceration is that it led to the destruction of the Black family by leading to fatherless homes and Black mothers left alone to raise young boys into men, creating a cycle of angry young men without fathers or mentors. Yet, in-spite of it all, Black voters remain blindly loyal to Democrats.
After the great recession under President Obama, Black wealth was decimated and African Americans saw their highest unemployment rates since the depression. Yet, once again, their loyalty and allegiance to the Democratic party persisted and remained relatively untouched despite the lack of results. So the question that Black Americans should be asking themselves and their peers is: at what point is enough, enough? When do you say to one another that your vote will no longer be taken for granted? When will you clarify to Democrats that they can’t take the Black vote for granted and not do anything in return?
Blindly voting for one party must not become a habit for any community because, as has been clearly demonstrated, it will lead to bad results. This has without a doubt been the case for many years for Black Americans and their support for the Democratic Party. Black Americans must learn the value of their vote and make their vote competitive. One way of doing that is by allowing Republicans to earn their vote through policy and reform. It’s by trusting the values they have to make principled decisions based on their faith about their future and the future of America. Not everything Republican is racist despite the narrative that has been portrayed by Democrats and individuals in the left-wing media. Instead, there are many policies supported by Republicans such as school choice, economic mobility and lower taxes that all benefit Black Americans.
The greatest con is going on in America right now, the scheme by Democrats to continue to use Black Americans for their vote and nothing more. They’ve caused many Blacks to become bitter about America and their chances of success. They’ve caused many Blacks to look down upon themselves and to look to Democrats and expansive government as their savior, even without results. Democrats have become the new masters of Black Americans and if Blacks truly want freedom, they have to step away from this monopoly of their vote, become independent and demand results from those that they support.
When someone continues to make the same promises over and over again but never truly delivers do you stick with them, or do you go elsewhere? I think most people would say that they would move on because to continue to repeat the same mistake over and over again becomes the definition of insanity.
Politics is a brute force game, and if Black America wants to truly hold politicians accountable, they can only do so by making sure that politicians know that support from Black communities isn’t guaranteed because there are other options. It’s time for Black Americans to make this case clear to Democrats; enough is enough.
Armstrong Williams (@ARightSide) is the owner and manager of Howard Stirk Holdings I & II Broadcast Television Stations and the 2016 Multicultural Media Broadcast Owner of the Year. He is the author of “Reawakening Virtues.”