How this election will affect Black Americans
20 June 2024
It is clear to many of us that voting for President Biden / Democrats will provide a stronger future for Black Americans than voting for Trump / Republican, voting for third parties or simply not voting at all. This is based on the past 8+ years of actual actions by political parties, which is the best way to judge future actions. I suggest we ignore the talk unless it has been backed up by real work.
Yesterday was Juneteenth, the celebration of the June 19, 1865 announcement in Texas that enslaved Americans were free, described here by historian Heather Cox Richardson.
In 1865, Juneteenth was a celebration of freedom and the war’s end. In 1866 it was a celebration of the enshrinement of freedom in the U.S. Constitution after the Thirteenth Amendment had been ratified. In 1867, Juneteenth was a celebration of the freedom of Black men to vote, the very real power of having a say in the government under which they lived.
Many people wonder if elections matter. Today, they matters a lot.
As Vice President Kamala Harris noted:
Across our nation, we witness a full-on attack [by Trump and the Republican Party] on hard-fought, hard-won freedoms and rights, including the freedom of a woman to make decisions about her own body; the freedom to be who you are and love who you love openly and with pride; the freedom from fear of bigotry and hate; the freedom to learn and acknowledge our nation’s true and full history; and the freedom that unlocks all others: the freedom to vote. [text] added by me.
She also described some of what President Biden and the Democratic Party have done for Black Americans and the country as a whole:
1. Promoting the right to vote for all, including Black Americans.
2. Passing legislation supported by most Black and middle class Americans, including:
Student loan forgiveness
Capping the cost of insulin and other drugs
Reducing the impact of medical debt on credit scores
Gun safety laws
[W]e forgave student loan debt for nearly 5 million Americans. We capped the cost of insulin for our seniors at $35 a month. And we are now making it so medical debt can no longer be included on your credit score.
As Roy mentioned, we also passed the first major gun safety law in nearly 30 years. We appointed the first Black woman to sit on the highest court in our land. Her name is Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson.
And all this is to say, with the support of the leaders here and so many, we have made real progress. And we are clear-eyed, as we move our nation forward, there are those who are trying to take us backward. Vice President Kamala Harris
3. Appointing Black Americans to federal courts.
President Biden has appointed 59 Black judges, including 38 Black women, who are now serving lifetime appointments on the federal bench. Importantly, more than 40 percent of these judges come to the bench with significant experience protecting and advancing civil and human rights. Source
In Michigan, Governor Whitmer of the Democratic Party:
Has signed multiple budgets to fund the Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies initiative that she proposed in 2020 to reduce the racial impacts of maternal and infant mortality and ensure Black moms have access to affordable and quality healthcare.
Has quintupled the Working Families Tax Credit, signed criminal justice reform bills into law and passed free breakfast and lunch for all Michigan students.
Signed the bipartisan CROWN Act which ends race-based discrimination based on hair and ensures that Black Michiganders can be themselves in the workplace and in school.
In contrast, Trump and the Republicans have consistently acted to take away the rights of Black Americans:
Some are passing strict book bans in an attempt to erase our nation’s past and wipe Black history from the history books, while others are passing restrictive voter suppression laws that disproportionately affect Black Americans.
In Michigan, Trump and the Republican Party tried to cancel the votes of Black Americans in Wayne County in 2020 to enable Trump to win the state.
Republicans are trying to alter Black history, claiming the Civil War was not about slavery.
Republicans are banning diversity programs and expelling Black lawmakers:
In several states, legislatures are limiting how race can be taught in schools, and are banning diversity programs in colleges. Several Black lawmakers lost their seats in recent elections after Republicans redrew their district lines. “The tactic[s] of expulsion, like excessive registration requirements, purging voter rolls and other tactics we’re seeing today [by Republican legislators], echo the kind of disenfranchisement that we saw during Reconstruction and its aftermath,” said Ariela Gross, a historian at the University of Southern California who focuses on race, racism and slavery in the Americas. I see a lot of parallels, unfortunately. It’s chilling.” Washington Post.
As Scott Dworkin noted:
The sad fact is that voting rights are still under attack in America. They have been for decades, because Republicans know there are more of us than there are of them. When the people show up to vote, Democrats win. So of course the GOP is constantly coming up with new legislative schemes to make it harder to vote.
“We cannot give up now. We cannot give in. We must keep the faith. Keep our eyes on the prize. You must go out and vote like we never, ever have before.” In 2020, the late great US Rep. John Lewis inspired us to stand up against Trump with those words, and they are just as true today.
In recent years, MAGA-dominated state legislatures have been instituting restrictive voting laws across the country, using racist dog whistles, scare tactics, and hateful rhetoric to suppress the vote.
They are tightening early voting schedules, eliminating ballot drop-off locations, trying to ban mail-in ballots, and even limiting the ways voters can participate in referendums and ballot measures.
To justify it all they constantly spread lies and disinformation about voter fraud that simply doesn’t exist.
* * *
As John Lewis also once said, “the right to vote is precious, almost sacred. It is the most powerful nonviolent tool or instrument in a democratic society.” And use it, we must.
It’s on us to vote for Biden and Democrats up and down the ballot to stop GOP voter suppression and pass much-needed voting rights legislation.
Let’s do this.
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