Let me begin by stating that I am not an African American. So what qualifies me to write this post? I am a retired teacher from Brooklyn, New York, home to America’s second-largest African-American community after Chicago. I taught in predominately African American high schools for twelve years during my career, and I taught hundreds of African American students a course in politics and government, as well as American history and A.P. Government.
When I read that a significant percentage of African American males supported Trump my first reaction was one of alarm, but the more that I reflected on the claim, the more it does not stand the sniff test. I just cannot imagine many African American males spurning a black woman who is a graduate of a historically black college for a man with a racist past.
The Harris campaign is rightly concerned about this possible defection and not only Harris has addressed it, but she has also sent surrogates including Barack Obama.
One of the reasons that Trump has a possibility of winning is amnesia. Many people, not just African Americans, forget what Trump did and how divisive he was. Hopefully, people will recall his reaction to the murder of George Floyd. I hope speakers remind African Americans of Trump’s racism when he was running his father’s Brooklyn apartment houses. His own niece and nephew claim that Trump repeatedly used the N word as do production people from his apprentice show.
His racism manifested itself in the 80s with “the Central Park Five.” Trump wanted to execute Minority teens wrongly accused of raping a jogger and has never apologized for taking out full page NY Times ads calling for their execution. Yusuf Salaam, one of the falsely accused, told the Democratic National Convention about Trump,” “He called for blood in the most public way possible,” Salaam wrote then. “… I don’t know why the future Republican nominee bought those ads, but it seems part and parcel with his racist attitudes.” Trump stated about the teens, “I want to hate these muggers and murderers. They should be forced to suffer and, when they kill, they should be executed for their crimes.”
But some may say that is the past. What about the future? Many of my African American students deeply resented New York’s stop and frisk polcies. I repeatedly heard how they felt singled out by the police and my Crown Heights and Flatbush students had very negative reactions to aggressive policing. Remind young African Americans that Trump plans to let the police do whatever they want to and militarize the police, giving them free reign to “ make the strets safe.” If elected, a second Trump administration threatens to accelerate mass incarceration and roll back decades of progress by encouraging aggressive policing practices, enacting draconian sentencing regimes, and expanding the use of the death penalty. My gut tells me that if you explain this to African Americans they will immediately understand that they and other minorities will be the targets.
I can tell you that many of my students do not have the time to focus on politics. Brooklyn is a super expensive place to live and many of them work two jobs and crazy hours. Many also have children who need parental attention. They come home exhausted. With so little time and enegry they often tune out politics. Inlflation and illegal migration resonate as issues with African Americans, but I just find it hard to believe that a large minority of African Americans will vote for Trump.
Another poster on Daily Kos questioned Trump’s supposed popularity in the black community and quoted this poll. The national YouGov poll above shows Black voters supporting Harris 87%-12%. This is right in line with how they voted in 2020. This suggests that the claim that Black voters are abandoning the Democrats is nonsense.
One last thought. I spent hours in conversation with students talking about American government and American history. My students often viewed issues in terms of fairness. A common response to different topics was, “But Mister that is not fair.” I could say that no politician in American history cared less about fairness than Donald Trump and if there is a theme in the Harris campaign it is about making America more fair and more just, themes that from my experience will resonate with African Americans. I think if Africans Americans are reminded who Trump really is, his support will largely vanish.