All Politicians Need to Not Just Talk About Black America & Our Problems but Finally Across the Board Do Something About Them!

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By Rachael Drew-Kinuthia

Patriotism. It has been a topic for discussion recently. The reclaiming of the word by some has led to perpetuating the lie of liberals hating this country. I think this has made me reflect on a few things. I remember conversations with my late parents who grew up in the 1940s and were married by the late 1950s. I reflect on recent conversations with neighbors, friends, and inside of my household. I’ve asked my husband what patriotism is to him and I’ve asked my teenaged children. I have taken notice of a complicated sentiment interwoven with pride, sadness, determination, righteous anger, commitment, and battle scars. I look at my sons, for example. They’re young and still haven’t experienced some of the things their father and I have been shielding them from. Still they’re very aware of everything around them, including some rhetoric being repeated by a few students, though their school acted swiftly to address this. The changes in the country’s environment brings them sadness, but they still feel optimism and pride in this land and nation that is theirs!

For some of the older people I gleam wisdom from, the battle scars are varied. I sense from their stories and conversation with them, that their heartache is as clear as if it were only yesterday, some of their hopes and dreams had been dashed momentarily by setbacks. Yet, these 80 plus year old treasures, often maintain their patriotism and say something along the lines of how they’ve worked so hard over the years to make it better for us. I hear, in all of their years, they have experienced times that we could and did pull together in the fight for a better life. I hear of them not giving up. But they are tired of the past few years. The outright and outlandish lies, the open racism, xenophobia, divisiveness, and treasonous behaviors of the present administration have moved from bad to worse. Of all the various friends and family members I’ve had the pleasure to speak with regarding patriotism, it’s when I speak with Black people that I realize many are feeling tired of believing in something that mistreats them and exploits them.

But every couple of years we’re still asking them to put their faith in that same system to try to help bring about changes; asking them to help elect leaders that are going to somehow represent them and their concerns. How do we convince Black people, who have been so disenfranchised, to imagine a new America, a better America? Everyone outside of the cult of Trump has watched how our country cannot successfully continue under his framework. It’s quite a process to convince people, who have been systematically shut out for so long, to prioritize a democracy that many times did not include them. So, what does the next phase look like, and what will be the role of Black people in its shaping? If any decisions are being made related to our well-being, we should have some influence and impact on those decisions. We must get Black people organized around that as a concept of self-preservation and empowerment.

Many candidates, particularly at the federal level, have a bad habit of “talking at” or about us. Far too few have actually engaged in any meaningful discourse. There are over 41 million Black people living in America and we’re living everywhere. Media, and oftentimes national candidates’ misperceptions, talk about Black voters as though we are all living below the poverty line in inner cities across America. This is demonstrably false—39 percent of African Americans live in the suburbs, 36 percent live in cities, and 15 percent live in small metropolitan areas. Really, there’s one way to learn how to reach out and organize these voters, and that’s to have conversations with and listen to them. Imagine if the data were broken down for Black voters as it was for every other group. Black voters can be liberal and young and college-educated, some are more progressive than others, there are those who attend churches, mosques, and synagogues; then those who do not attend any religious services. There are married mothers, single mothers, single mothers co-parenting with the partner equally, single fathers, LGBTQIA voters, those living in multigenerational homes. There are older Black folk in the south who embrace more conservative moments of liberal thought, while some in those areas adhere strictly to leftwing beliefs. There are younger Black people by the thousands who embraced the democratic socialism of Bernie Sanders and their Black peers or elders, sometimes in the same household, may favor more moderate views. And we are truly living everywhere—to borrow from Kentucky House of Representatives Charles Booker’s words, “From the hood to the holler.”

Just think back to how critical Black voters were to the Democrats’ 2018 blue wave. In fact, 90 percent of Black voters supported Democratic House candidates, compared to just 53 percent of all voters. Despite media narratives, this WAS NOT a fluke. Throughout U.S. history, Black people have played a crucial role in the shaping of the American experiment. Still this powerful voting bloc is often dismissed as some singular “Black vote” and we cannot fail to take these voters seriously. As a Black woman married to an African immigrant now citizen, I take in a lot of stories and experiences within our two families. I would advise that we all pull together and listen to the thoughts, insights, and philosophies from barbershops to beauty salons, from church sanctuaries to mosque meetings, from school halls to street corners, from libraries to seaside restaurants—although we’re avoiding a lot of those public places or our states have closed them down right now. The point is Black people regularly talk politics and engage issues politically. There are ways in which the conversations include these issues without calling it “politics” or patriotism. And yet, much of this is missed, overlooked, ignored, discounted, or downright dismissed, as if it doesn’t matter to the country, as if our interests don’t count, as if our views don’t affect democracy, or shape the nation’s economic or political flow, as if being Black was incidental rather than central to America.

How many nights have we watched news pundits try to interpret Black experiences, weigh in on Black voting behavior, or most likely, offer poorly sourced or ill-informed reflections? Though Black voters primarily vote for Democrats, there are Republicans and Independents. There are varying issues of importance, and parts of the Black community may prioritize policy differently. In fact, the most simplistic factors may drive Black voters in different ways. Having someone try and fail to capture our memories and experiences though, is a slow death. And when it comes to our politics, overlooking the Black American experiences or thinking we’re all to move in the same direction will also kill democracy. I have several family members who were greatly disappointed in their choice of candidate not being in the race now. But we’ve ALL agreed that our nation’s situation calls for voting out the current administration. We also know we need to be in more positions of leadership to give voice to issues many forget about. Given that African Americans had been enslaved in this country for longer than we have been a freed people, we should typically be the first group taken seriously regarding racism. When the mainstream media refused to call it out by name, we shouted it and cursed it, because we live it! We collectively shook our heads wondering why Hillary Clinton was criticized for calling out “deplorables” when it was the truth and she wasn’t even saying all Trump supporters were. She was nicer about it than us and said half. We shook our heads and sighed when the attention was misdirected to the feelings of being let down and left behind by the government. The economic plight of white voters became news fodder when obviously xenophobia, misogyny, and racism was the platform energizing Trump’s campaign.

Our declaration now is that hate, and division, must not and will not win. We don’t care how the package is wrapped, send that thing back. It is our charge to lean into our common bonds, speak up on our shared struggles, see the humanity of our neighbors, and fight together for a brighter future. As we mobilize voters, we continue to call out the blatant wrongs and no, we’re not calling them anything else. A spade is a spade. Now, we’re calling all patriots to rise. It will be a challenge but we’re up to it. We are pulling together and won’t get distracted.
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