African American
Related: About this forumJust Be Honest And Say You Want Black People To Suffer In Silence
Theres been a media-wide push in the last year or so to try to understand the perspective of the Trump supporter. Publications have gone to every middle America county in America to try to get into the heads of the people who voted for Donald Trump. Meanwhile every political talking head show has invited Trump supporters to defend things like building walls to keep Mexicans out, explain why white supremacists arent so bad and why people dont deserve healthcare. All under the guise that theres a need to understand how people can be lead to hatred.
Remember when Trevor Noah was unilaterally praised for having a supposedly productive dialogue with anti-black scam artist Tomi Lahren? Remember when we were exposed to articles about Richard Spencers dapper brand of racism? Or Milos appearance on Bill Mahers show? Have you seen all the free dinners racists have gotten while sitting in front of cameras spouting white nationalist rhetoric while pretending to be open to dialogue? Its all been a widespread normalization of racism that only magnifies hatred.
Well, what about us? What about the people actually affected by the election of Donald Trump? For every article about a black person trapped in a Trump county that doesnt want him or her around, there are 15 about people who voted for whiteness and now regret their decision. Because, lets be clear, by every discernible metric, study or survey available, whiteness determined that Donald Trump would be president.
Yet theres a futile search for a deeper reasoning as to why Trump won the election. That search comes from a desire to ascribe some other reason besides racism to the white nationalism thats been visible across the country for centuries. Its the same desire that makes so many white Americans rush to say this isnt us or this isnt America whenever racists swarm Charlottesville with Tiki torches to assert white power.
The rest: https://bossip.com/1585990/just-be-honest-and-say-you-want-black-people-to-suffer-in-silence/
BigmanPigman
(52,342 posts)and that is one of the main factors contributing to his win. Same goes for the GOP obstruction and constant attacks of Obama and his family.
Alice11111
(5,730 posts)emulatorloo
(45,585 posts)politicasista
(14,128 posts)That, Central Park Five, his treatment of "the blacks" and minorities in the 70's to the present.
Alice11111
(5,730 posts)person egregiously wronged, to suffer in silence. I'm against war, generally. For this, I am a soldier, willing to die, in my private and professional life. Paraphrasing, but as, MLK said, if you don't have something worth dying for, you really don't have anything worth living for either. My father used to remind me of this when I was very young.
JNelson6563
(28,151 posts)I hate oppression in any form against anyone. I'm in the YES camp for fighting back.
Alice11111
(5,730 posts)Mosby
(17,567 posts)Many of whom are minorities.
stewrat
(50 posts)black voters declined by 7% from 2012. That was really unfortunate. If they came out to vote, Jeff Sessions wouldn't be attorney general.
Mosby
(17,567 posts)77 thousand votes.
________
In Pennsylvania, overall turnout was up from 2012 (from 5.6 million to 6 million), but the racial composition of the electorate was significantly different. Clinton won 92 percent of African-Americans and Obama won 93 percent of African-Americans. But in 2012, black voters made up 13 percent of the electorate; in 2016, they comprised just 10 percent of the electorate.
In terms of raw votes, that means roughly 130,000 fewer African-Americans voted in Pennsylvania in 2016 than voted in 2012. If those voters had shown up on Tuesday, that alone would've been enough for Clinton to hold Pennsylvania by a razor-thin margin.
http://www.weeklystandard.com/the-election-came-down-to-107330-votes-in-pennsylvania-wisconsin-and-michigan/article/2005323
Last edited Fri Sep 15, 2017, 06:58 PM - Edit history (1)
African-americans are responsible for this trashy person calling himself potus? Have I got your response right? No mention of probable vote tampering, real voter suppression in black voter districts, just they didn't vote. Right!!!??? How crass and deceptive!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
JI7
(90,767 posts)marble falls
(62,426 posts)because how in the world could Trump get elected? They compounded this ignorance because by not voting an able and imminently qualified candidate - Hillary Clinton because she didn't inspire warn fuzzies - they didn't vote for Senators and Congressmen and they indirectly voted for an abysmally unqualified Donald Trump. Jill Stein voters were just as bad:
2018 and then 2020. And this time vote.
JustAnotherGen
(33,735 posts)Mosby
(17,567 posts)I'm blaming voter apathy.
There are a lot of dirty tricks the republicans use to steal, suppress votes, but all combined pale in comparison to low turnout.
Elections in the country, national or local should not be close, there are far more people on the left than the right. Even in so called red states democrats outnumber republicans.
Last edited Fri Sep 15, 2017, 09:48 PM - Edit history (1)
Look at the turnout by age:
And turnout by race and ethnicity:
Its going to get worse:
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)voted Democrat in previous decades but voted Republican in 2016. If I'm going to choose any one group. Unlike for conservatives and left-wing extremists, I can't make excuses that they're mostly incapable of respecting the principles western democracies are based on.
Those disaffected white men understood well enough what it is to be Democrat and why, but they decided to betray the principles for which we stand, and their fellow Americans, by voting for the intensely corrupt, seditious, hatemongering white man's party that the Republicans have become.
And, yes, President Obama did tell those who desperately wished he could stay in office, "'You want to give me a good sendoff? Go vote!," and some did let him and themselves down.
But in spite of intense efforts in many states to disenfranchise as many as possible, black Americans. only 13% of all Americans, voted Democrat in far higher percentages than whites did, and I'm not blaming them for anything. I'm just ashamed that white Americans betrayed everyone by turning our nation over to the Republicans.
Mosby
(17,567 posts)Collectively probably the greatest shift from 2012 to 2016 but the main point I was making in this thread is that voter apathy is an enormous problem for democrats.
Hortensis
(58,785 posts)No one i know or have read thinks it was apathy. Imo, it was too much complacency, and perhaps in some cases a share of what motivated those white former Democrats to betrayal.
After all, black voters span the ideological spectrum. Some thought they could afford to vote or not as they really wished, as they should be able to. They mostly believed like everyone else that the Democrats would win, we'd take the Senate at very least and build on what had been achieved.
So they failed to protect their gains in the Obama era, believing others would do it. And they did t, above all, because we all badly, badly underestimated just how dangerous losing to what today's Republican Party has become could be.
Mosby
(17,567 posts)I'm referring to the people who don't vote in our elections, the majority of whom are young people and minorities.
AAs are the most solidly liberal group in the electorate, I believe that as a group they are more than 80 something percent democratic, so losing the "Obama bump" of a couple 3,4 percent cost us a lot of votes in key states.
As I said in my last post, there were also large numbers of middle, low income (mostly white) Obama voters who did not vote for HRC.
I don't understand what you and others keep insinuating about me, I think I have been pretty clear and don't appreciated personal attacks even if they are vague or whatever.
Mosby
(17,567 posts)necessarily loved the candidates we end up with. But a goddamn choice between a klansman and a normal person. Who also has a pretty decent background shouldn't be this fucking hard. What exactly is the expectation? That he shows up at your particular home and fucking make you breakfast. I've had many issues with the Democratic party through the years and have no problem discussing them. Same way I gave zero problems with criticizing my family. So even if you consider the choices to be a moldy piece of bread or a shit sandwich. It ain't hard to take one moment of a day to stand in line and get this done. Because next time (by the time these ghouls get done) you might not even have the option to exercise this right.
Reply:
One of the reasons President Obama won 2x is because PoC turned out in record numbers to support him. 2016 came and.... turnout was down EXCEPT for white people, who freaking voted for the Nazi-in-Chief too often.
We need PoC to freaking vote! It's THAT simple.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10029884661
steve2470
(37,468 posts)I want all Democrats and left-leaning voters to vote. That simple.
heaven05
(18,124 posts)there were too many factors at play during election season and on voting day to blame AA for this POS calling himself a potus. And now we know, in part, the probable cause of why votes weren't counted or were otherwise tampered with nationally and internationally.
radical noodle
(8,749 posts)Trump's victory over Hillary in Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania was less than the votes for Jill Stein in those states. There are people to blame, but not African-Americans who voted overwhelmingly for Hillary.
lapucelle
(19,546 posts)I think it's a mistake to assume that some people in marginalized communities choose not to vote.
It's heart-breakingly difficult for some people to actually succeed in exercising the franchise.
brush
(57,955 posts)We're not buying it.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)"Many of whom are minorities..."
Many more of whom were not. And many Caucasians who voted for Trump.
But I get your narrative... it's both damned consistent and most creative in its construct.
Mosby
(17,567 posts)Voter apathy is killing this country by favoring republicans and pushing democrats to the right/center to pick up votes.
As you can see from the charts I posted (post 29) the lowest turnout is among 18-29 year olds (who are mostly white) followed by Hispanics.
We need to change this somehow.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)As you can see from the charts I posted (post 29) the lowest turnout is among 18-29 year olds (who are mostly white) followed by Hispanics."
Odd that... because in your initial post, you limited your criticism of the apathy to African Americans alone. And you appear to be under the pretense that voter apathy is the sole cause (else other, valid causes would have been addressed by you as well).
Again, a rather creative narrative.
George II
(67,782 posts)...was virtually the same %-wise as it was in 2012, and overall voting went up by 2 million votes.
So even though you say of the non-voters "many of whom are minorities", virtually the same number and % of minority voters who voted or didn't vote in 2016 was the same as in 2012.
The election result last year cannot be blamed on minorities who stayed home.
What really hurt was the 4.5 million who voted for Gary Johnson, the 1.5 million who voted for Jill Stein, and yes, even the 100,000 who voted for Senator Sanders.
mcar
(43,596 posts)It's a thing.
47of74
(18,470 posts)I have no interest in understanding Branch Trumpvidians, extending olive branches, or engaging in tolerant understanding with people who want me dead. I'm not one of those tolerant, understanding types. FUCK that.
thbobby
(1,474 posts)Racism is alive and well in America. Trump is White America backlash against Obama.
Eight years of President Obama. He isn't even decent enough to fit into White America's delusion of how a Black Man behaves. He is honest, patriotic, family loving, cares about all people, and a GREAT PRESIDENT. Worst of all, he is smarter and loves America more than any GOP politician active today. Maybe ever.
And then to have a WOMAN PRESIDENT? Fucking shit! How can haters let that happen to their racist fantasy of what America should be?
The answer to the hater's problem is clear. Suppress black vote. Collude with American enemies. Hate Obama more than they love America. Commit any crime they can. Religion? Fuck Jesus if living by his words allows a Black President.
Now all the haters are so proud. A white man is again president. Pussy Grabbing fine. Stealing from people that he hired. So what. Not paying taxes. No big deal. A hard on for nuclear weapons and armageddon. End of the world is better than a Black President. Pathological liar. Not black. Destroying safety net that many haters need. Well, black people won't get it. So what if my family is homeless and starving.
Fuck You White American racists and haters. And those who enabled you.
I am a white American.
certainot
(9,090 posts)sprinkleeninow
(20,560 posts)of Eastern European heritage and Eastern Orthodox Faith, and I detest and loathe to the maximum racism and bigotry.
What we are witnessing in our lifetime today is so, so very upsetting. And that's putting it mildly.
Barack Obama was my/our magnificent President. My heart aches in retrospect considering what is now.
certainot
(9,090 posts)talk radio.
and the tragically absurd fact is that many of the major radio stations in that massive national monopoly of 1500 kkk-lite talk radio stations that dominate messaging in 40 states with 80 senators and were the most important reason for even making this shit acceptable to even get close to the white house depend on tens of thousands of black athletes.
88 major universities broadcast sports on 257 limbaugh stations - many of the loudest in the country. they need those associations to bring in advertisers to pay for decades of global warming denial and anti american lies and propaganda and using racism to sell voter suppression legislation
many other publicly funded schools and pro sport teams support racist talk radio, which continues to make excuses for trump
they are trump radio stations, and any university, publicly funded school, or pro sports team that continues to support them should be protested until they stop supporting kkk -lite talk radio
thbobby
(1,474 posts)Talk Radio plays a big roll in enabling haters.
I don't listen to that shit. If I was a hater I would.
It's kind of a chicken or egg scenario. I believe talk radio enables and does not cause idiotic hatred.
Racial hatred runs deep in America. Haters hate themselves most but need a scapegoat so they do not have to take responsibility for their own fucked-up lives.
certainot
(9,090 posts)people are saying and doing things they would have been ashamed of and would have felt condemnation of but if it's alright from 1500 radio stations then why not from a president? a lot of the racism and ignorance from this bunch is based on lies and exaggeration that only unchallenged widespread repetition only republican talk radio is capable of.
thbobby
(1,474 posts)I struggle with the idea of confronting hatred.
I have often said, "Don't argue with idiots". But your point of needing to confront it is correct. But does arguing with a hater enable them? I struggle with this concept.
I do agree with you. It must be confronted. But maybe it needs to be confronted in churches, schools, and families. But hate radio spewing bullshit is appealing to haters that have their hatred well established.
Damn, it is a horrible and complex problem. When I have confronted haters it seldom seems to work. But perhaps universal denunciation of their hatred would work. But still, I am not sure that confronting them doesn't enable them. It could be me. I often become angry and am quick to point out how evil hatred is.
certainot
(9,090 posts)sports teams to endorse hundreds of the loudest of those stations.
imo americans need to start there - without those unis supporting them the monopoly will fall apart
JI7
(90,767 posts)certainot
(9,090 posts)tens of thousands of black athletes
JI7
(90,767 posts)brewens
(15,359 posts)They in recent year spent millions hiring Mike Leach as coach and expanding their stadium. I wasn't a big fan of all that but it has worked as they hoped. He's made them a contender and brought a lot of money in. I'm with you though. They shouldn't be broadcasting on a hate radio station. Those games could be on a music station that is not political and could really use the advertising dollars.
kwassa
(23,340 posts)in statistical detail in his "First White President" article in The Atlantic. He basically destroys all the arguments that it could possibly be anything BUT racism.
MrScorpio
(73,714 posts)I'm glad that someone else makes this connection as well
kwassa
(23,340 posts)but over time I've seen all other explanations slip away. It is nothing but white supremacy, and Coates goes into a great analysis of how white supremacy of the upper classes co-opted the poor and working class white vote in this country. The one thing they had was being white, and this defined them as better, in their eyes.
radical noodle
(8,749 posts)a fear of black/brown supremacy. They are scared to death of being a minority in this country. Same thing but from a different angle, but a more acceptable to those without a record of condoning white supremacy. I see it in some of my trump voting acquaintances. When looking back I see that those folks started to change about the time of the Michael Brown murder. I heard "well he was big... scary... and why are they rioting?" "Do they want to kill us all?"
heaven05
(18,124 posts)thanks, needed this today....
hoping4betterdays
(6 posts)Ignorance is bliss for a reason, it's to keep you unaware so you won't have to feel or hurt. And the best way to insure that bliss is to keep silent. They don't want to hear about your suffering that they may have caused because that would require them to change and do something. Remaining ignorant to a cause keeps them safe. Even if it means letting you suffer in silence.
I heard the saying that "no child is born racist, they're taught racism", I believe that. I believe that teaching ignorance in our schools is a first step slash tool for securing white supremacy. Generation after generation is taught from one sided American history books from pre-k on to 12th grade. That's 13 years of lies & brainwashing that's ultimately hard to be undone. Our American history schoolbooks are fairytales depicting the pilgrims & confederate soldiers as "heroes & revolutionaries". They push fake patriotism to keep everyone in line. The books purposely left out all the reality & horror facts, they left out the murders, racism, violence. They teach that slaves were just happy maids & picking cotton on the plantations, some slavemasters were nice some not...that's it. My predominately white 100+ classmates were never taught about the slavemasters/their great great grandparents whipping, beating, lynching, raping or breeding their slaves. They're taught that slavery is ancient history & have no clue that a lot of the former slaves lived well until the 1940s like my late slave great great grandparents did. They're purposely not taught about Jim Crow laws or that the confederate statues were erected to put former slaves & their children in fear. Our white classmates/friends are taught to be ignorant to us on purpose & so were their parents & grandparents and so on. The ignorance taught is recycled generation to generation so CHANGE won't come. Hate likes to keep good people in the dark so they can't see what's happening so they CHANGE things. People pushing hateful agendas no the phrase "When you know better. You do better" is true. So they silence you.
Racism is a tactic of divide & conquer. With ignorance being so prevalent still til this day it's easy to sway those who don't know better yet. Black people can't stop racism because they never started it. A black person could be a saint & still might not get thru to a racist. That's why it's up to the majority to step up, i.e. the good ones who know better. They're the only voices with weight that someone ignorant or racist will hear. But as black people we've got to stop allowing our white friends to be ignorant to our black history & issues. We've got to start educating them, we've got to stop brushing off their ignorance because it's only really hurting us. And 45 knew it, used it & won. Ignorance was 45's bliss.
irisblue
(34,382 posts)Thoughtful post, thanks.
guillaumeb
(42,649 posts)Sophia4
(3,515 posts)and people of color will have a greater say in how America is run.
Had Californians had an equal say in the election of 2016, Hillary, not Donald, would be president.