Thank God For Donald Trump

By Doshon Farad

I began covering the presidential race since it launched over a year ago. And what concerned me regarding African-Americans was the overwhelming support of Hillary Clinton that most of us gave her based on two things: 1. She’s a Democrat and 2. She’s President Bill Clinton’s wife. A man by the way whose “Three Strikes Law” harmed the African-American community nationwide.

As time progressed and we saw the possibility of a Trump presidency-now a certain reality-our panic level increased. And I asked the question, many times publicly, “In the event that Trump or another Republican takes the White House, do we (Blacks) have any contingency plan in place to deal with this?”

Of course everyone I asked this to answered “no.”

If you notice, every “minority” community i.e. Latinos, Asians, Jews, women, and the LGBT has a solid agenda that they’re able to present to any presidential candidate so that no matter who takes the White House-Democrat or Republic, their community’s needs are answered and met. What troubles me the most about our (African-American) community is our constant reliance on white saviors, Democratic ones in particular. I think perhaps the first time our community placed our total trust in such an individual was during Lincoln’s tenure in 1862 when he signed the Emancipation Proclamation freeing all enslaved African-Americans, at first only in states that sided with the Confederacy, and then later in U.S. states period.

Although Lincoln stated at the time that he only signed the proclamation in a desperate attempt to keep the Union together and also stated publicly his belief in the inferiority of Blacks, our community still overall reveres this man.

From Emancipation through Reconstruction and until the Depression, African-Americans supported the Republican Party because of our perceived belief that Lincoln was our friend. It wasn’t until FDR’s New Deal of 1934 (legislation that rescued America from the Depression) that African-Americans began en masse to vote overwhelmingly Democratic.
Since that time we have offered this party unconditional and in many cases sickening support. I am always very concerned whenever African-Americans began panicking at the possibility of a white Republican being elected president or governor.

And now many of us are panicking over Donald Trump’s victory.

Now, most will say that African-Americans always do better under Democrats. I am not at all disputing this at this time. However, to those of us who are troubled by a Trump or GOP presidency, we should keep in mind that our community has caught hell under both Republican and Democratic presidents.

It should also be noted that conditions for African-Americans have exacerbated during these past seven years under an African-American Democratic president. And I am not at all blaming President Obama for this. I mention this to point out that the oppression of Blacks in this country has existed since its inception. What sickens me the most about post-Jim Crow Blacks is our tragic naivety regarding racism and white supremacy.

I have long said that integration, good jobs, white spouses, and Barack Obama has made many younger present-day Blacks lazy and in most cases frighteningly naive. We’ve never experienced the overt racism (fully resurfacing since Trump’s rise) that our grandparents experienced.

So whenever we hear racist comments coming from whites we go into mental shock.
What I enjoy most about President-Elect Donald’s Trump’s political ascension and ultimate victory is that it removes the mask of current day white racism. If you thought President Obama’s tenure in office did this wait until January 20th.

Trump’s presidency along with his supporters such as the KKK and Alt-Right movement remind African-Americans of the need to be self-reliant as we were during the Jim Crow era. This is the fire that we need under our feet to build a solid infrastructure that will sustain us regardless of who is in the White House.

So I say “Thank God for Donald Trump.”