White republicans continue to assign negative stereotypes to black people, bemoaning our supposed lack of motivation and will power. Per Aaron Blake at the Washington Post:
The biggest yawning gap between Democrats and Republicans is on the issue of motivation and will power. The GSS asks whether African Americans are worse off economically “because most just don't have the motivation or will power to pull themselves up out of poverty?”
A majority — 55 percent — of white Republicans agreed with this statement, compared to 26 percent of white Democrats. That's the biggest gap since the question was first asked in 1977 — though the gap was similar (60-32) in 2010.
That has to be it then. Black people have fallen behind economically because they are lazy, unmotivated, and devoid of the will that is necessary to succeed. And there must be no other issues that must be considered, right? But of course this is not true.
White republicans failed to take racism into account when responding to the question that was posed by the General Social Survey. Racism accounts for the lion’s share of the blame for the stagnation and poverty in black communities. It is embedded into the mortar of many of our institutions; it infects the minds of the teachers who are tasked with educating black children; it is the reason why more for profit prisons are being built; and it is why there are health disparities between the races. Our first black president was robbed of many more successes because of the constraints that racism imposed upon him.
Black people have had to endure and overcome slavery and apartheid/Jim Crow. Could we have fought for generations to end those institutions of oppression if we were without grit, will power, and determination? We’ve exhausted ourselves because we’ve had to take on the responsibility of being the conscience of this country. A lazy and indolent people would not have been able to carry all the weight that comes with that responsibility.
Now on to Donald Trump.
His budget proposal is a reflection of the racism that is pervasive in our society. Just look at some of the budget cuts that have been proposed in his terror document. Per Shawnelle Matthews at Colorlines:
The budget proposal slashes funding for programs and in areas that are crucial for Black families and individuals. These include Community Development Block Grants, after-school programs, the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, Pell Grants and the size of the federal labor force.
The president’s proposal cuts 13.2 percent from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) budget. HUD gives federal aid to local agencies that manage housing for low-income residents at rents they can afford. The agency also offers technical and professional assistance in planning, developing and managing this housing to ensure that low-income families, the elderly and people with disabilities have safe, decent places to live.
There are approximately 1.2 million households living in public housing units, and at least 48 percent of the people are Black. The Community Development Block Grant Program—one of HUD’s longest-running initiatives that addresses a wide range of development needs for extremely poor communities—will likely face drastic reductions. So would Section 8 Housing, which offers assistance to low- and moderate-income families to rent private housing.
To add insult to injury, Trump's plan disincentives institutions from enrolling poorer students by cutting reliable federal financial support funding like Pell Grants. The program, which has been around since 1972, is the largest federal grant program helping low-income families send their kids to college. The president’s budget slashes the program by more than $3.9 billion, more than a third of the proposed $9 billion cut to the Department of Education.
This budget is an overtly racist document that promises to make the lives of black people much more difficult. Republicans like to say that we black people are lazy and indolent. Well, here is my retort to that broad brush: republicans are cruel and uncaring. Which broad brush speaks more to the truth of how things are?
Will these cuts to vital programs be coded into law, and then infused into the mortar of our institutions? If we don’t fight- and “we” means black, white, Asian, and Latino et. al. - then they will be.
But let us remember that Donald Trump gave up on repealing Obamacare after only seventeen days. Republicans had been screeching for years for the repeal of Obamacare. Their president-Donald Trump referred to himself as their president- made it the focus of his campaign. You want to know why the president gave up on repealing Obamacare so quickly? It’s because he is lazy, unmotivated, and devoid of the will to succeed, or the exact same reasons why white republicans look down their noses at black people.
Donald Trump’s fledgling presidency is failing because of his laziness and lack of motivation. He was unprepared for the job of president and seems unwilling to learn how to become a more competent leader of the free world. And yet, most republican voters still continue to support this lazy and indolent loser. And you know why this is so? The answer is very simple. Donald Trump is a rich, white male.