Democrats often use Black Americans as pawns for political gain, rather than truly addressing their needs and concerns.
Amid the overwhelmingly dark prognostications for the Democrats, one data point is making the Left especially nervous. There’s been a precipitous drop in support from what was once the Democrats’ most loyal base—Black Americans—and it has many searching out explanations.
You don’t have to look far, though. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to ignore how the Democratic Party relates to Black America, by cynically exploiting our history and struggles to advance their political aspirations. It feels like whenever the Left is in a bind, its leaders know it can always use the Black community to score valuable political points against the opposition.
African Americans have long been a means for Democrats to gain and maintain the upper hand against Republicans in cultural and political battles. To put it simply, the Left views Black folks as political weapons, not people or even constituents. Whenever a controversy arises, Democratic politicians and members of the activist media trot out Black America to wield as a cudgel against the bad guys who dare to disagree with them.
You’re going to see a lot of this in the discussion around abortion that’s taking off in the wake of the leaked opinion from the Supreme Court that seems to spell the end of Roe v. Wade. You’re already seeing a lot of Democrats arguing that this is a “racial justice” issue and will “disproportionately harm” Black women, when the truth is, the Black community is deeply ambivalent about abortion in interesting and complex ways that the Democrats will never allow to be aired.
Because to them, the Black community is not made up of constituents whose desires and opinions matter, but simply a collection of props for their battles against those they disagree with.
The move to call racism when losing an argument is baked into the American Left these days. Think of what happened last week to Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who has made known his plans to buy Twitter. When it became clear that Musk would likely become the social media platform’s new owner, the Left responded with wailing and gnashing of teeth. These people are terrified by the notion that conservatives could be given a level playing field for political discourse.
And when this wailing failed, they went for—you guessed it—allegations of racism.
TOPSHOT – Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and other Democratic lawmakers take a knee to observe a moment of silence on Capitol Hill for George Floyd and other victims of police brutality June 8, 2020, in Washington, DC. – Democrats kneeled in silence in the US Congress on Monday as they observed an eight minute, 46 second tribute to George Floyd and other black Americans “who have unjustly lost their lives.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer were joined by two dozen lawmakers in Congress’ Emancipation Hall — named in honor of the slaves who helped erect the US Capitol in the 18th century.
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images
The liberal Twitterati began pretending en masse that Musk leading Twitter would somehow have a harmful effect on the Black community. Numerous Op-Eds were published in which the Left-leaning commentariat insisted that Elon Musk taking over Twitter would somehow spell the end of Black Twitter and would allow for the rise of white supremacist thought on the platform.
The New York Times went so far as to try to dig up anecdotes about Musk’s childhood in Apartheid South Africa, an attempt that failed to deliver because Musk had Black friends at a time when that was rather rare for a white kid. Not to be deterred, the Times went out of its way to give the impression that racism had left a mark on Musk, absent any data.
But this is only the latest example. There are plenty of others. Remember when the Cancel Culture Community™ went after podcaster Joe Rogan in January? In their most recent attempt to ruin his career, this same contingent took issue with Rogan’s decision to invite Dr. Robert Malone on his show. The problem? Dr. Malone does not parrot the Democrat-approved narrative about the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines and has been highly critical of the government’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic. Despite being a well-known authority in his field, progressives cried “foul” and launched yet another campaign to destroy Rogan. They pressured Spotify, the company that hosts the comedian’s podcast, to cut ties with him over the supposed spread of “misinformation.”
And when that didn’t work, the cry-bullies resorted to Plan B—for “Black.”
They dug up old clips of Rogan using the N-word mostly while quoting other people or discussing racist behavior. They savaged him as an anti-Black racist and engaged in a rather obnoxious form of performative outrage.
These people didn’t care that Rogan, a white man, used the slur. Others created a compilation of some of the Democrats’ favorite heroes, including the Young Turks’ Ana Kasparian and President Joe Biden, using the word much in the same way as Rogan had, and noted that while some of these folks faced backlash, there were no widespread campaigns to put them out of work.
So who gets a backlash and who doesn’t? It’s a political question, not an ethical one. They were again wielding the Black community as a political weapon, this time against a podcaster who expressed unacceptable views on the coronavirus.
But they don’t only do this when trying to cancel people. Take the voting rights issue, which the Democrats pushed to the forefront at the beginning of the year. President Joe Biden and Democratic lawmakers attempted to shove two pieces of voting rights legislation through Congress with the excuse that evil, white sheet-wearing Republicans were trying to stop Black Americans from voting. They were fighting “Jim Crow 2.0,” they had the audacity to claim, in their latest attempt to exploit Black trauma for their political gain.
There is absolutely no way Democrats truly believed they could pass these two legislative proposals, given that they only possess a razor-thin margin over Republicans in both chambers of Congress. But Biden and the gang needed an issue to distract the electorate from their abysmal performance over the past year, so it was time to bring out the Black folks to smear conservatives as racist.
It’s a tale as old as time. And while once there was significant racism come out of the Right, those days have long been in our rearview mirror.
Even while enjoying overwhelming support from the Black community, the Democrats have refused to enact policies to affect real change for one of their most valuable voting blocs. Instead, they are content to use us in political battles without offering solutions. It is a wholly one-sided relationship in which Democrats are the only ones who benefit.
Perhaps this is why so many Black folks have become disenchanted with the party. A recent Wall Street Journal poll revealed that more African Americans are willing to give Republican candidates a chance than have in generations. It’s not quite a mass Black exodus from the Democrats, but it is significant nonetheless. If the trend continues, it could easily become the beginning of the end of Democrats enjoying 90 percent of the Black vote. The question is: Are Republicans ready to take advantage?
Jeff Charles is the host of “A Fresh Perspective” podcast and a contributor for RedState and Liberty Nation.
The views in this article are the writer’s own.
#Democrats #BlackAmericans #PoliticalPawns
