By Dr. John E. Warren
While the mainstream news media is fixated on the Trial of Donald Trump and his soaring poll numbers in spite of his legal problems, someone needs to have a conversation with President Biden about how he got in office and why he is losing the Black vote in particular, when he and the Democratic Party appear to think they have done enough for Black folks.
The Democratic Party appears to have forgotten that all states are “battleground states” if you are losing where you should be winning. Wake up call: the Black Vote is not concerned with a speech at Morehouse, or a meeting with the “Divine Nine”, which does not rep- resent rank and file voters in the Black communities.
The Democratic Party continues to “Cherry Pick’ the Black communities of this nation and the Black Press along with them. Well guess where the Black Press is located, in the Black communities. There is an assumption that Black people will vote for Joe Biden because they did the last time. Well, Black people have not forgotten that he did not deliver on the George Floyd Act or the John Lewis Voting Rights Act. Neither did he put the same energy into seeking passage of these two pieces of legislation as he did in trying to find ways, through Executive Orders, to bring relief in the face of the Supreme Court’s overturn of Roe vs. Wade.
Vice President Harris is Black and a HBCU graduate, but that does not mean she is in touch with the Black Voter. She is respected for the position she holds, but that will not be enough to keep it.
Donald Trump, on the other hand, is a known entity that is increasingly appealing to a Black male voter who has no knowledge of the Civil Rights struggle and what we stand to lose under Trump. They are not bothered by the Stormy Daniels affair or any of the other women in Trump’s life. Some are out of jail because of Trump actions during his Presidency. They are not concerned about Democrats or Republicans, only higher food and gas and rent and inflation. You reach these men and women through the Black Press. Remember, they don’t have to vote. All they have to do is stay home and Trump wins. I think now – and not in September or October – is the time for a media campaign with the Black Press. Without such a campaign, there is no need to go to the Democratic National Convention. The absence of a Black media campaign is the exclusion of the Black Vote.
Black Americans who have lived through less than equality, with all sorts of disparities, will survive under a Donald Trump no matter what he does.
Question: Will it be Biden or Trump? It’s up to you, Mr. President, and not your advisors who have failed you so far.
Dr. John E. Warren is publisher of The San Diego Voice and Viewpoint.
