Who Should Really Get the Black Vote- Democrats or Republicans?

You have heard the proverbial saying: The definition of Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. I imagine no political relationship makes this statement ring truer than the love affair black people have with the Democratic Party.

After 50 years of voting Democrat, let me remind you of what we have to show for it:

•        Black unemployment rates top 11%
•          Black youth unemployment rate swings between 25-50%
•          Black home ownership rate is 45% versus 70% for whites
•          Black household wealth $6,446 vs $91,405 for Whites
•     Black median household income $35,416, versus the median household income for whites, which is $59,754
•          Black poverty rate is one in four , while fewer than one in 10 whites live in poverty

•                                                                                               Source: CNN Money

As we stand poised to elect another president of this fine country, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is on the ballot, hat in hand, begging for the Black vote.

Well, I have a question for you, Mrs. Clinton: Why on earth would we vote for you?

Thousands of black men are in jail right now, serving life sentences because of the policy of mandatory minimum sentences you and your husband, former President Bill Clinton, put in place. You virtually wiped out an entire generation of black men, between the drugs that overflow in urban areas and the harsh sentences passed down for possession of those same drugs, there is an ungodly number of black children needlessly growing up without their fathers.

Here is a quote from Former Federal Judge Nancy Gertner, who is now trying to make amends by helping the people she unjustly incarcerated under the mandatory minimum sentence laws:

"We as a society destroyed the lives of a generation of Black folks by the draconian drug and minimum mandatory laws we enacted in the nineties,” she said. “It eliminated a generation of African American men, covered our racism in ostensibly neutral guidelines and mandatory minimums… and created an inter generational problem…”

Apparently, this judge is honorable enough to want to atone for her misdeeds. Judge Gertner is recommending a form of marshal plan to rebuild neighborhoods destroyed by this war on drugs that was disproportionately aimed at black neighborhoods.

What about Hillary Clinton? When will she atone for her part in the policy that ripped apart black families and imprisoned thousands of black men over a drug our government has since legalized in 29 states? Hillary Clinton hasn’t said a mumbling word about this grave injustice, yet she expects black people to show up for her in droves at the polls.

Meanwhile, Republican candidate Rand Paul, who may have never received a single black vote is far miles ahead of Mrs. Clinton in seeking a re-write of the laws that unjustly imprisoned black men. At the very least, his willingness to publicly address this problem proves that he is well aware that the Republican Party can no longer take the Black vote for granted.

The Democratic Party, on the other hand, assumes it will get the black vote, so candidates dance around important topics. Why wouldn’t they? Black voters aren’t giving them a compelling reason to work to resolve these issues.

For 50 years, the party has courted black leaders during election time - visiting churches, kissing babies, showing up for the occasional award show or NAACP dinner, or Black Caucus prayer breakfast. Some of the faces are different, but they haven’t deviated from the script: Make loads of promises without the slightest intention of keeping them. Get the votes, get into office then either ignore Black America altogether or come up with excuses as to why you cannot keep your promises. They will understand.

And it happens every four years, like clockwork.

So my question to Black America is how many times are you going to fall for this same old trick?

In the 1990s, former President Bill Clinton won the distinction of being called the first black president. I will concede that Clinton is intelligent, charming and well-spoken. But what exactly has he done for us that warrants such an accolade? We have an actual black president now that hasn’t done much for us either except be intelligent, charming, well-spoken and a great actor (I’ve seen his hilarious BuzzFeed video).

But great jokes, late night talk show appearances and viral videos is not what the black community needs. But here they come again, the Democrats, ready to make and break more promises, I presume. And they may do it again! It’s been four years and suddenly Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Sanders and Vice President Biden are showing up on our radars yet again, aligning themselves with marquee names in the black community.

Will black youth vote this time around? These are young men and women who know what it’s like to grow up without a father because many of their fathers are doing 10 to 20 years for marijuana possession because of laws the Clintons enacted in the 1990s. These are the ones who understand what it is to struggle to find a job - any job - and try to succeed in college when their underfunded schools have intentionally left them unprepared for college success.

Will they feel compelled to vote? What’s more, will they vote Democrat?

The forerunners for the Democratic nomination - Bernie Sanders, current Vice President Joe Biden and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton - are expecting black people to turn out in droves to continue the tradition of voting Democrat. For those who have traditionally voted Democratic for Democrat’s sake, it’s time to carefully examine the credibility of each candidate and make a thoughtful decision on who can be trusted to keep their word and who cannot.

Even for the few candidates who did not directly have a hand in writing the laws that incarcerated thousands of black men, young and old, for a crime that no longer exists, we must ask every candidate, regardless of party affiliation:

What did you do to stop it then? What are you doing to fix it now? What have you done for us lately? And what do you plan to do after you get our votes?

And wait for them to have a real answer that includes a well-developed strategy.

By Toyin Dawodu, former Republican, now free-thinking independent

BLACK IN AMERICA- DANGEROUS AND SCARY!

"Justice is the Fundamental law of society."-Thomas Jefferson 1816

There are times when I have to wonder if I am really living in the land of the free or the home of the brave. How can I be free if I can’t walk the streets without fear? How can we be the home of the brave? A brave man would never behave so despicably.

I feel compelled to speak up and say what is true and what is right. As the father of a teenage son and a ten year-old daughter, I cringe at the thought of having them grow up in this society. I can’t imagine holding my peace upon learning that some squeamish cop shot my son in the back and is now claiming self-defense, or that some bigoted redneck who coddles his own little girl has seen fit to brutalize my baby girl by throwing her to the ground and leveling his full weight on claiming he could not control an 80-pound middle schooler.

Last week, my wife and ten year-old daughter were stopped by a police officer here in Riverside, where I’ve lived for the past two decades. It was a typical traffic stop for a simple infraction but as the officer walked toward the car, my young daughter began to panic.

“Is he going to shoot us?"

Armed and Dangerous: A Police Story

Those are the words my daughter asked my wife, and as heart-breaking as it seems, she had a valid question. I cringe at the thought of my teenage son finding himself in a similar predicament.

My wife diffused my daughter’s fear by telling the officer that she was afraid, then by making room for the officer to ease her fears. “She thinks you are going to shoot her,” my wife told the officer and she politely explained that she is not going to shoot them, but that there were some driving laws broken and my wife would get a ticket.

If you have been watching the headlines, you already know that in the past several weeks, two instances of police brutality have made the news and ruffled some feathers in the eyes of a public that is already on-edge and deeply distrustful of the police.

Most recently a teenaged boy was wrestled to the ground by five police officers (some reports say nine) in Stockton, California for allegedly jaywalking. This use of force comes on the heels of the brutal (and wrongful) arrest of retired tennis pro James Blake.

In the hours following news that Freddie Gray’s family saw some measure of justice for Gray’s murder by the police, we have yet another high-profile case of police brutality caught on film, as retired pro tennis player James Blake was attacked by plainclothes New York police officer James Frascatore without warning as Blake stood outside a hotel waiting to make a corporate appearance at the U.S.

Open.

After 34 years living in the Land of the Free, I am overcome with feeling of mistrust for those who have taken an oath to protect and serve.

I could be out enjoying time with my children and some over-eager, lawless officer could arrest, or even kill me in front of them. He would end up on desk duty while his cronies investigate the case and my children would have to start the process of piecing their lives back together in a new reality that doesn’t include their father.

What kind of freedom is that?

What happened to police officers first identifying themselves? What happened to getting the opportunity to identify yourself (in the case of the ever-popular excuse of a victim “matching the description” of someone else - someone who also would not deserve to be mistreated and their rights denied them).

There is no way you can convince me that Frascatore’s attack on Blake was anything short of felonious assault. Add to that the fact that Frascatore has a documented history of striking and illegally arresting citizens of New York. He’s made multiple haphazard arrests that didn’t stick, which makes his habit of bullying, cuffing and transporting innocent victims more like kidnapping than police work.

I hope this incident is a wake-up call to all of Black America, whether you are famous or not. Thank God Blake is alive and that he has been vocal about what happened to him and what he thinks should happen to James Frascatore as a result of his actions. But I wonder what Mr. Blake’s thoughts were about the murder of 18 year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson a year ago. Did he lend his support, his name and his influence to the Black Lives Matter movement then? Did he think of Eric Garner’s murder at the hands of unrelenting police or is his concern for police brutality new?

Let us never think, as black Americans that we live in a post-racial America. There is no such thing.

James Blake rejects the opinion that his attack had anything at all to do with his race. Let me ask you:

How do you think Officer Frascatore would have approached Andy Roddick had he been standing outside the Grand Hyatt? Would Frascatore have dared to manhandle a white man as freely as he did a black man?

Would NYPD have choked and refused to perform CPR on Eric Garner if Garner had been an Italian or Jewish man with six children and three grandchildren? God forbid!

If you are a leader in America today, and you are familiar with and unmoved by this level of injustice, you may as well have participated in the attacks.

The laws exist to protect the rights of every American; they must be applied justly. Errant police behavior should be punished without hesitation and without excuses about officers having a hard job. The police force doesn’t draft citizens. Every cop out there became an officer of the law of his or her own accord. So having a tough job is no excuse for abuse and brutality.

We set our officers up for failure when we allow them to terrorize the public and never expect the public to retaliate. Mark my words: It is easy to assume you have upper hand and to think you can carry on with police business as usual, but America has a long history of vigilantism and a long-lasting love affair with individuals who are willing to die for their freedom and their way of life. The last thing any group of people want to do is wage war on American citizens.

We all watched the video of Hillary Clinton’s meeting last month with three leaders from the Black Lives Matter camp. She made a very poignant statement:

"Look, I don't believe you change hearts... I believe you change laws, you change allocation of resources, you change the way systems operate. You're not going to change every heart. You're not. But at the end of the day, we could do a whole lot to change some hearts and change some systems and create more opportunities for people who deserve to have them, to live up to their own God-given potential."

She is right. The mission has never been about changing the hearts of men. We don’t have the power to do such a thing. The mission is now, and always has been, to live in a country where we are treated justly. And that means meting out the law of the land fairly to all citizens.

That’s what leaders do.

No more excuses. No more waiting for reports. No more lengthy investigations and no bouncing paperwork around dusty offices until the press goes away.

We demand justice!

Where are the black leaders? Where are the sharp tongues and strategic minds that can organize movements to help us make progress collectively? I’m not talking about long-winded intellectuals and media puppets who sit in front of the camera and spread their watered-down views but they don’t really give a damn about black and brown people.

Where are the celebrities who are more invested in their communities than their promotional deals with liquor companies? Shame on this generation that takes, takes, takes and never has the courage to stand up for anything unless they think it will increase their Twitter following.

The time has come. Don’t let another day pass without demanding that our public officials start pressuring police departments to equally apply the laws. No more rogue cops and silent leaders.

Every leader - black, white and brown - must come together for what is just and what is right, sooner rather than later. Because none of us is far from the graveyard as long as we allow criminals masquerading as cops to walk the streets armed and dangerous.

 Toyin Dawodu, is father of a teenage son, and resident in California.