Of the top 20 most populous cities in the United States, only 1 has Republican leadership, Dallas Texas. Of the top 20 most populated cities, all of them have a minority population that accounts for at least 47% of its inhabitants. The implication here is that these places are technically diverse before actually diving into how these cities are segregated. Sadly, these places experience the highs and lows of state and local policy because certain people, regardless of political affiliation hate diversity. Interestingly enough, with all of this minority support in major cities, minorities still get shafted quite often by political leaders.

A friend of mine recently asked me “why do I think so many Black people are now backing Trump” and the honest answer is, because they’re crazy. However, the answer is much deeper than that, and to truly get a grip on it, we need to be honest in our assessment. As a disclaimer, I’m blue all day politically, I wouldn’t even pretend to back Trump or any of these nutjobs calling themselves republicans now a days. It’s unfortunate that any negative assessment (and it’s certainly negative) must have a disclaimer, so people don’t get the wrong idea ya know.

Where’s the love?

The stats about the racial makeup of the largest cities were stated above, but when you look at the distribution of funds, policing practices, educational opportunities, public health issues, and so on, the most vulnerable are not receiving any love from either party including the one we support the most. Black people in America endured slavery, the Reconstruction era, the Gilded era which was really the degeneration of the Reconstruction era, World War/Great Depression/Jim Crow era, Civil Rights movement, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and the ushering in of the Crack era, right on through present day. There is not a single decade in the history of the nation in which you could say Black people were actually treated well and appreciated by the Government. We’ve been spat at and shit on the entire time. Sure, we’ve also been hyper sexualized which can be beneficial to some, but objectively speaking that’s not exactly a positive thing either. 

The Civil Rights era ushered in Affirmative Action and anti-discrimination laws and on paper that sounds like a come up, but in practice it was just slightly less of the same in many cases. Studies show that the main beneficiaries of affirmative action are White women. Oddly enough, thanks to an insane amount of negative marketing by conservatives over the years, about 70% of White women polled in a congressional study are actually against affirmative action. The GOP has effectively made “affirmative action” synonymous with “racial quota” and we’ve all heard a lying asshole tell a story about their friend not getting hired because the boss HAD to hire a Black or Hispanic person that wasn’t even qualified. I’ve heard that bullshit so many times, I started asking what their friend’s name is and the very next thing out of their mouth is them stuttering the word ‘what’ every time. 

Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance, and conscientious stupidity

Martin Luther King Jr.

Politics as usual

Black people are accustomed to being lied to by politicians…we’d be delusional to expect anything but a bunch of dreams. Generically speaking, Black people have the least disposable income, meaning campaign contributions are unlikely. The rhetoric of the GOP has been openly racist towards Blacks since Nixon. Those factors explain a bit about why Black people are ignored on the national stage of politics, unless we’re being used as a prop or something. It also, in a sense explains why everyone else gets more love. Gay people usually don’t have kids, and that group consists of all races, especially gay White males, and a significantly more disposable income to boot. This is likely why we’ve seen many issues important to gay people pushed to the forefront. Before 2015 I never heard anyone say anything about a pronoun, gender affirmation, trans acceptance or saying feelings are valid or any of what is commonplace today. Yet, Black people as a group have been treated like shit for 405 straight years as of now.

Cancel Deez Nutz!

In a country where the first amendment grants free speech, folks forget that private institutions don’t have to play by those same rules exactly. In the last few years, a lot of people have been “canceled” for saying something crazy in public. Anybody can get cancelled, and they do, so it’s almost meaningless now. We’ve grown stupider by saying all feelings are valid, then stripping everything away from someone just because their “valid feeling” disagrees with mainstream acceptable thoughts. That created an immediate backlash for people outside of the gay community regardless of race. They tried to cancel Dave Chappelle over trans jokes! 

I’m a live and let live kinda guy, I don’t give two shits what you do in private as long as it doesn’t adversely impact someone, we’re good. So gay rights, not a problem. They should be able to get married and do all the same things straight people do without judgment or anything. However, just like I don’t want hetero people randomly walking around with their dicks out, ramming it in something that resembles a vagina, drinking beer and acting crazy in public, I don’t want gay people doing the gay version of that either. Pride month is getting wilder and the belief that just because you’re gay you can do whatever the hell you want and call it gay expression is bullshit. This is another thing that has Black people on the sidelines wondering “y’all promoted THIS over me being able to access jobs and education”. 

Liberty is meaningless where the right to utter ones thoughts and opinions has ceased to exist

Frederick Douglass

And while I’m at it, Age is WAY more than just a number. R. Kelly pissing on a 35-year-old woman is news for a couple days about a weird fetish. R. Kelly pissing on a 15-year-old girl is a fucking felony! Humans have life expectancies and there’s a low and high end of that. A person 39 years old is barely past halfway on the low end, a guy that is 81 is already 5 years beyond average in the United States. Joe Biden is too damn old for this politics thing and it’s getting worse and harder to watch by the day. He keeps getting in front of cameras, saying weird stuff about Black people and it is making it harder to simply shrug it off as a senior moment or counter with “he’s better than the alternative”. Yes, he is leaps and bounds better than Donald Trump, but the choice is like asking whether I want to eat straight pig shit or do I want sauteed intestines. Is that ageism…possibly, but I can guarantee it’s also sensible. 

• This was written before he dropped out. Glad he did, but Kamala is going to be walking up a steep hill, combating open racism and misogyny coming from the village idiots at Fox.

Let me speak to the manager

I’m not directly linked to anyone in the party, nor do I have political aspirations, but maybe someone who is/does will read this. This is for that person. Accepting everything is akin to standing for nothing. A sensible line has to be drawn somewhere at some point. Pleasing everyone is impossible, so be real and cut it out with the empty promises. The Democratic party has taken Black people for granted since Lyndon Johnson, and as a result, given Black people almost nothing for the support. As a single group, Black people vote blue in the highest percentage of any group in America but have very little to show for it politically speaking. That’s not to say alienate liberal Whites, Hispanics, Asians or anyone. It’s to say, this is not cunnilingus, you gotta do more than just lip service for us. 

On a national level, the politics are all lip service, you get in deep at the state and local level. If either party wants broad appeal, use the national voice to benefit as many people as possible. At the end of election day, each vote is only counted once. Sure, you can do more for the people that help you financially, but don’t turn your back on a whole bloc just because they give you less money and more votes. That will certainly lead to less money and fewer votes if folks feel neglected over the long run, and sadly we can add that to the hill Kamala is marching up.