By Christopher Arps | Inside Sources
As another Martin Luther King Jr. Day comes, our country has much to be thankful for as we work towards MLK’s goal of a colorblind society.
Our country has chosen and re-elected its first African-American president since King’s untimely passing in 1968. We also recently swore in our first African-American female associate judge, who will join colleague African-American Clarence Thomas on the Supreme Court.
There are now African-American millionaires and African-Americans (male and female) who have risen to the top of the business world by becoming CEOs of Fortune 500 businesses. The significant progress achieved by many African-Americans since the 1960s civil rights period is truly historic and should be celebrated.
Unfortunately, not every member of the African-American community, particularly those living in poor and underserved regions, has had the same opportunities as their Black siblings and sisters.
“The typical Black American family is virtually no closer to equal footing with its White peers in terms of income and wealth than it was 50 years ago, when Civil Rights-era reforms were enacted to expand opportunity and limit outright racial discrimination,” according to a CNN story.
In 2020, the nonpartisan Joint Economic Committee, comprised of Republicans and Democrats from the Senate and House, issued a report titled The Economic State of Black America in 2020. The research discovered some concerning data.
—The average Black family makes only 59 cents on the dollar compared to White households. The yearly wage disparity between Black and White households is approximately $29,000 per year.
—Black families’ typical income ($17,000) is less than one-tenth that of White families ($171,000).
—Black Americans are more than twice as prone as White Americans to be poor.
—Black children are three times more prone than White children to be poor.
—With schooling, the income disparity between Black and White families widens.
African-Americans have typically been the Democratic Party’s most consistent and devoted voting bloc. These electors usually cast 90 percent to 96 percent of their votes for the Democratic candidate on the ballot. But, beginning with Donald Trump’s election in 2016, we saw a major shift in that trend. In 2020, Trump got a whopping 20% of the African-American male vote, and he also improved his vote proportion among African-American female respondents. This was not an isolated occurrence for Trump. Other Republican officeholders made advances as well, with Georgia being the most notable.
The Associated Press’ AP VoteCast conducted a comprehensive nationwide poll of the voters following the 2020 midterm elections, and what it discovered should be reason for concern for the Democratic Party. According to the Associated Press, 14 percent of African-American respondents supported Republican nominees. Republicans received only 8% of the Black vote in the 2018 congressional elections. In Georgia, Gov. Brian Kemp more than doubled his African-American vote share, rising to 12 percent from 5 percent just four years ago.
There are two causes for the Democratic Party’s exodus of African-American supporters. The first is a lack of excellent instruction and inadequate institutions. Second, the increasing crime rate disproportionately impacts inner-city neighborhoods.
The COVID pandemic opened many parents’ minds to the “wokeness” that their children were being taught in school, and as a result, more Black families resorted to homeschooling during the pandemic.
According to ABC News, “the proportion of Black families homeschooling has recently quintupled.” Homeschooling, which was once a comparatively specialized form of education that had been gradually increasing in recent decades, has seen a significant increase as a result of the COVID-19 epidemic, with Black families embracing the practice at a particularly high rate.”
Violent harm has reached levels not seen since the 1970s. According to FBI statistics, a substantial rise in crime (a 30% increase in violent crime in 2020 compared to the prior year) happened following the George Floyd murder in 2020. That was the biggest single-year rise since the FBI began keeping track of the figures in the 1960s.
Education and crime are global issues that resonate with all voters, regardless of race, color, creed, religion, or nationality. Most voters do not want to be patronized by offensive, tired campaign methods ostensibly tailored to them. The political party or movement that recognizes this and prepares appropriately will make further inroads into voter blocs with which they have historically struggled.