Donald Trump, black people have everything to lose if they vote for you
Donald Trump, black people have everything to lose if they vote for you
Leonard Greene
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Updated: Friday, August 26, 2016, 9:30 AM
You asked the question.
And, though I imagine it was nothing more than a rhetorical question, it is still a question that, given the subject matter, deserves an answer.
You, after all, are the same man who relentlessly questioned the citizenship of the nation’s first black President.
That was before you dragged your feet and double-talked your way through questions — there’s that word again — about the support of white supremacist David Duke.
And, if memory serves, you’re also the same presidential candidate who saw a black man at one of your campaign rallies and called him “my African-American.”
(Word of advice: that whole ownership thing doesn’t go over too well with the blacks.)
So, it is in that spirit, with as straight a face as I can, that I answer the question that you, Donald Trump, posed to me and all African-American voters:
“What the hell do you have to lose?”
Well, here goes, in no particular order:
No. 1: My dignity.
No. 2: My self-respect.
No. 3: My standing among family and friends, black or white, and anyone who has ever held me in high regard.
No. 4: My future.
No. 5: My children’s future.
No. 6: Their children’s future.
No. 7: My mind.
No. 8: My soul.
No. 9: All rational thought.
“Look at how much African-American communities are suffering from Democratic control,” you said at a rally the other day.
“To those I say the following: What do you have to lose by trying something new like Trump? What do you have to lose?
Trump has danced around questions about support from former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke. (Max Becherer/AP)
“You’re living in poverty, your schools are no good. You have no jobs. Fifty-eight percent of your youth is unemployed. What the hell do you have to lose?”
Besides getting some of the statistics wrong, and painting us with a brush as broad as the Northeast Corridor, you imply that there is no greater hell for blacks than what exists today.
That, of course, is insulting to every African-American homeowner, entrepreneur, college graduate and any other black person who has ever achieved anything worth celebrating.
And, then for you, Mr. Trump, to pick up the mantle, to carry the bloodstained banner, to break out into a chorus of “Lift Ev’ry Voice and Sing” without ever saying a word about discrimination or police brutality is as empty a gesture as climbing Manhattan’s Trump Tower in hope of securing a meeting with a megalomaniacal billionaire.
Back in 1999, Trump considered running for president and said that he would choose Oprah to be his running mate. The headline on Oct. 8, 1999 read, "I want to be the Prez."
The only thing more amusing than your question to black voters is your latest attack on your opponent.
“Hillary Clinton is a bigot,” you thundered, with your back against the wall, “who sees people of color only as votes, not as human beings worthy of a better future.”
For you, I have three words: Pot. Kettle. Black.
Look, no one is saying Hillary Clinton is the Messiah who will lead black people to the blessed Promised Land.
But she won’t build a wall or deny that black lives matter.
But I digress.
No. 10: My lunch.
No. 11: My salvation.
No. 12: My right to protest.
No. 13: My right to vote.
No. 14: Diversity.
No. 15: My perspective.
No. 16: Everything I believe in.
No. 17: Everything I stand for.
No. 18: Opportunity.
No. 19: Fairness.
No. 20: Hope.
This is by no means a complete list.
It is just an acknowledgment that there’s not enough space in a newspaper — or on the internet — to adequately answer the question.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/poli...icle-1.2766133
