Dear Donald Trump:
In a recent speech to a predominantly white crowd, you
portrayed the black community as one of complete devastation before asking
African American voters “what the hell have you got to lose” in voting for you.
It’s the perfect question posed by a casino operator to people who want nothing
to do with the casino. As an African American person, let me assure you that as
the polls reflect, “the Blacks” (as you called us until recently) are not interested
in your scheme.
To bolster your case, you bellowed “No group in America has
been more harmed by Hillary Clinton’s policies than African Americans. No
group. No group.” Maybe that’s the way you see it. It is not the way black
people see it. Black voters cast their support in terms of record and action,
just like everyone else. I will show you just what black people see on a ballot
with you going head-to-head with Hillary Clinton. I will break down your records
and actions as it is known by people in and out of politics.
Hillary Clinton is known for her service. Childhood
incarceration, school desegregation, legal access for women, education
standards, and building functional communities are some of the issues Hillary
Clinton has successfully confronted or written about. While a young Hillary Clinton
was doing undercover work fighting against racial discrimination, you were employing
racial discrimination as a business practice. You were successfully sued by the
Department of Justice for refusing to rent to non-whites whom you broadly referred
to as “welfare recipients.” Hillary Clinton has seen injustice as something to
fight against. You have seen injustice as something from which to profit.
And
then you have the unmitigated gall to claim the
Democratic party takes black voters for granted. That is an insult to
dedicated
public servants such as John Lewis, Elijah Cummings, Yvette Clarke, and
my own
representative in Congress Karen Bass. In some instances they have
risked their
lives fighting for social justice and civil rights, but no one expects
you to
know that. After all, your new campaign CEO was most recently the
Executive
Chairman of Breitbart.com, a website that is critical and derisive to
the
aforementioned people and the issues they champion on behalf of their
constituents. These issues include voter suppression, racial profiling,
wrongful
death of black males at the hands of police, sentencing disparity based
on
race, and gun sale regulations.
Claiming the Democratic party takes black voters for granted is also an age-old Republican insult to black voters. It implies we lack the capacity to act in our own best interest. It's like you think you are talking to the "welfare recipients" to whom you refused leases. Telling African Americans that the party whose platform most coincides with their concerns is taking their votes for granted has got to be THE worst sales pitch ever. Ever. Ever.
As far as the issues that are important to us go, this is what we African Americans
know. We know that Hillary Clinton is not responsible for lax gun sale laws or
voter suppression, etc. We also know the standard Republican rebuttal to our
arguments. We know your answer to gun violence is easier access to guns. We
know that you want to equate early voting with voter fraud and so on. But we
are not interested in wasting time debating these things with you because we
already have a candidate who, for the most part supports our views and that
candidate is not you. It is Hillary Clinton.
Meanwhile you scream your angry pitch to black voters in front of white crowds who adore you and agree with the content they read at Breitbart.com. You are their man, with emphasis on the word “their.” To everyone else, we get that your pitch is a total con. We don’t believe anything you have to say. What the hell do we have to lose? Our question to you is “what the hell do you have to offer?”
Meanwhile you scream your angry pitch to black voters in front of white crowds who adore you and agree with the content they read at Breitbart.com. You are their man, with emphasis on the word “their.” To everyone else, we get that your pitch is a total con. We don’t believe anything you have to say. What the hell do we have to lose? Our question to you is “what the hell do you have to offer?”
Sincerely,
Chip Dornell and almost every black voter in America
p.s. It seems your business flourished in spite of you having to rent to "welfare recipients."
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