Long time lurker here. I’m an African American woman who dutifully showed up to vote for Hillary in this election because the thought of electing a bigot like Donald Trump sickens me. That being said, I need to get this off my chest and bring this forward to the people here now wondering how the Democratic Party needs to rebuild. Just as the Democratic Party failed to reach the rural white democratic voters in this election, I’m here to warn you that you are risking taking the African American vote for granted and losing that too.
I lurk on this page and while I see people talking about equal rights for blacks, women, Muslim, and the LGBT community I see little suggestion of policy or change to really make that happen. This may hurt for some of you guys to hear this, but Donald Trump did have a real point about the fact that the Democratic Party not doing much to really address the concerns of the black community. We are a voting block that you’re counting on but more needs to be done and if you expect to have future support. You must make ending the systematic institutional racism against Blacks in America a cornerstone of your agenda.
This starts with Democrats firmly stating that BLACK LIVES MATTER. Stop with the politically correct speech of talking about equality with no real meat behind it and start declaring the fact that our lives do matter and back it up by action.
You guys also need to stop feeding into the white racist idea of Black Lives Matter being a terrorist group by starting to stand up and embrace the BLM movement. I’m going to be honest after this election I’m looking at all white people right now objectively both Democrats AND Republicans and giving them the side eye. And if I’m 100% honest both have let down the black community.
As an African American woman now living in a world where an openly racist man has been elected president my biggest concern is for the safety and the equality of both me and my family. In my decompressing after the election I’ve come to the realization that right now, the Democratic Party isn’t the answer for me either.
I want to take action, but I personally don’t see that the Democratic Party is Progressive enough or even inclusive enough to help me. Everybody keeps talking about the Wikileaks leaks about the DNC suppressing Bernie which was a shame, but it was also shown that they were also trying to distance themselves from BLM if I’m not mistaken.
I don’t see the Democratic Party jumping behind the cause or even proclaiming on a regular basis that “Black Lives Matter”. What that communicates to me is that you only care for my vote but don’t care to address the issues I face which is not much different from the well meaning “I didn’t vote for Trump because I’m a racist” white folks. You’re basically upholding our current racist system of oppression with your non-action and non-activism.
Going forward, I’m going to expect a lot more from any party including the Democratic Party expecting to get my vote. If my life and the life of my family is going to suck either way why would I waste my time being loyal to a party that isn’t willing to stand up and declare to the world that my life does matter.
I say all this to say watch out because you may lose another group of voters that you felt were firmly in your camp if you’re not careful.