In 2020, President Trump won a historic number of Black voters. Nearly 20 percent of Black men turned out to vote for him. He's poised to make even more inroads with our community this time around. Suffice it to say, when you're the face of FBI witch hunts and an unjust criminal justice system, well, Black people been on that for a while now.
But it's not just Black Americans. Hispanic voters, too, are poised to give Trump historically high numbers. And of course, it's not just the injustice. Top of mind for many minority voters flipping for Trump is immigration. For all the talk of the white working class being Trump's base, it's minorities who have been asked to bear the brunt of President Biden's open border policy. It's our communities where these migrants are settled, our children's already struggling schools where their children are placed, and our already devalued jobs that they are now competing for.
Then there's the question of whether illegal immigrants ought to be allowed to vote immediately upon arriving in the U.S. In 12 municipalities across the nation, illegal migrants can vote in local elections. These may not be federal elections, but to Black folks who were denied the franchise for so long, this sure looks like a slippery slope to further weaken the power of our votes, which already do so little to help improve the quality of our lives. Granting such a right is an end run around the Voting Rights Act of 1965; it would act as a dilution of the Black American vote.
Consider the irony: When Democrats are challenged by Black voters to show what the Democrat Party has done for us, Democrats and their supporters inevitably point to the 1965 Voters Right Act. Now, the one thing they've done right by the Black community is getting ready to be undermined.
That's why I am one of those Black Americans who intends to exercise my voting options and vote for a Republican presidential candidate. We can't just sit quietly and watch our vote dissipate the way we watched our wages disappear into under the table payment to non-citizens.
Of the two dominant political parties, Republicans are the only ones who seem to see the danger of Biden's open border policies. This is why for the first time, minority voters are open to supporting Republican candidates—because they are willing to stand up against such measures. It's nothing short of a game changing moment.
We have fought a Civil War, endured Reconstruction and Jim Crow, marched, languished in prisons, bled and died for the right to vote, the right to work, the right to the American Dream. All of this we did while maintaining an undying allegiance to this country. It is fundamentally unfair to hand over such hard fought for rights to people whose first act in our country was to break the law.
Make no mistake about it: This election is going to show the Democrats what happens when they put our community last. History is being made by the Biden administration, but not in the way that they think. They are pushing the folks who were so recently their base into the open arms of the GOP because they have signaled loud and clear that we just don't matter.
Come November, we're going to send the same message back to them.
Craig Scott is a filmmaker, actor, and activist. He was released from prison under President Trump's First Step Act.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.
Uncommon Knowledge
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