Philly’s Black Voters Can Once Again Decide Who the Next President Is
Philly’s Black Voters Can Once Again Decide Who the Next President Is
Op-ed by Wilmer Leon
In 2020, 90 percent of Black voters in Philadelphia went to the polls to support Joe Biden – guaranteeing Biden’s victory in the state, and ultimately the White House. Now with Vice President Kamala Harris now atop the Democratic ticket, there is hope that Black voters in the city will show up at the ballot box in the same numbers as they did in 2008 for Barack Obama and four years ago for Biden, and help Democrats keep the White House.
While Black voters in Philadelphia, Atlanta, Detroit, and other key urban areas have expressed excitement and hope that Harris could become the country’s first female president and only its second Black head of state, there are also apprehension that these defining characteristics will hinder her chances of winning the White House. As one woman told the Associated Press: “If a white woman can’t win, how can a Black woman win?”
History can be made and the Black community in Pennsylvania can play a crucial role in it. There is too much at stake to sit by idly and watch – from the chance to elect a truly transformative candidate to the presidency to staving off a second Trump presidency and the damage it would do to Black Americans.
The Biden-Harris Administration has already made massive progressive toward racial equity and improving lives within the country’s Black community. From signing the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and other actions, the administration helped create 2.6 million jobs for Black workers, achieve the lowest Black unemployment rate on record and the lowest gap between Black and White unemployment on record, and increased Black wealth by 60% relative to pre-pandemic levels —marking the largest increase on record.
The administration also fought to advance civil rights, recognize the achievements of Black America, and elevated Black Americans to numerous crucial positions from Harris as the vice president to the nominations of Ketanji Brown Jackson first Black woman to serve on the Supreme Court and more Black women to federal circuit courts than every president combined.
And the list continues from establishing Juneteenth as a national holiday to signing legislation to reduce gun violence which disproportionately impacts Black communities.
Now juxtapose that with Trump’s term in office where he continually lambasted the Black Lives Matter movement while failing to condemn the white nationalists who marched on Charlottesville, Va. Trump’s botched response to the coronavirus pandemic saw the virus disproportionately affect Black and Brown Americans. His administration rescinded Obama-era guidance on affirmative action and Trump has repeatedly come out against DEI programs and signed an order banning ethnic studies.
Even as he courts Black Americans – claiming he has “done more for the black community than any president since Abraham Lincoln” and calling himself the “best president” for African Americans – Trump continues to trade in racists remarks and policy proposals. For example, he recently claimed the Black community “embraced” him after he was indicted on criminal charges and that the “the Black population” was “walking around” with photos of his now infamous mugshot.
The choice of who should win on Election Day this November has never been clearer and Black voters need to ask themselves whether they want four years of a deluded convicted criminal who trades in racists tropes and blatant lies or a strong Black woman who has made a career of ensuring that the laws are equitable for all Americans and that people like Donald Trump don’t go unpunished?
If there is one thing people from Philadelphia are good at it is spotting people’s true intentions. They know a con artist when they see one and they know when a person is fighting the good fight. Now it’s up to them to show up at the ballot box and choose who becomes the next president of the United States.
Dr. Wilmer Leon is the host of Sirius XM’s "Inside the Issues w/ Wilmer Leon" and a former lecturer in political science and government at Howard University.
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