Blame And Shame Versus Hope And Change?

By Eric Ture Muhammad -Contributing Writer- | Last updated: Jul 26, 2016 - 12:32:20 PM

Scenes from RNC convention in Cleveland. Sign Photo: Photo: MGN Online Photos: Michael Muhammad

CLEVELAND— They didn’t see it coming. One year ago, among a field of 17 contenders, polls had GOP presidential hopeful Donald J. Trump at a one percent chance of attaining his dream.

A year later, he stood before a capacity filled Quicken Loans Arena accepting the party’s nomination for president. He leads the Republican Party in its effort to defeat Democratic hopeful Hillary Rodham Clinton in November.

The rude, crude and arrogant candidate that obliterated 16 contenders, who once boasted he could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue in New York City and not lose a vote, showed some poise July 17, and some supporters called his demeanor presidential.

Critics unanimously described his speech as dark as he laid out his case for saving a nation in peril. He touted vice presidential pick Indiana Governor Mike Pence and declared: “I’m with you. I will fight for you and I will win for you.”

But who is the you he is for?

His agenda had a right wing and White wing appeal, focusing on the right to bear arms, immigration reform and building walls for greater protection of U.S. borders. He spoke of dealing with nations that disagree with the U.S., combating terror, and offered unquestionable support of Israel. He spoke of strong defense spending, while closing the $19 trillion federal spending deficit and restoring law and order.

Delegates applaud in Cleveland.

But is there room for unity and expanding the Republican tent?

“We need for our states to come together and choose Trump-Pence. Having 17 candidates didn’t make it easy. But what I would like to see is for us to rise above our personal reasons and come together for the betterment of our nation,” said delegate Sharon Jackson from Eagle River, Alaska. She is a Black woman and was one of few at the GOP convention.

She and other Black delegates felt the Black community had been crippled by entitlement programs offered by Democrats. They argued a hand up is better than handouts and Republicans offer an alternative to what has failed. Black delegates interviewed by The Final Call felt there was too much race baiting in politics and there needs to be a focus on simply being Americans regardless of race. They rejected the notion that Mr. Trump had injected race into the campaign. They also felt he was a strong enough leader to pull Americans together and create hoped for change. Mr. Trump, who is independent of the old guard and Republican establishment, is free to try something different, they said.

One poll, however, had Mr. Trump receiving zero percent of the Black vote in Ohio.

“Race and persistent perennial issues of racism in America will be central to the 2016 presidential election, as it was in 2012, 2008 and in fact since the first presidential election in America over 200 years ago,” observed Dr. Benjamin F. Chavis, of the National Newspaper Publishers Association. The executive director of the Black newspaper publishers group said, “Black Americans and other people of color who are registered to vote and who care about the quality of life in our families and communities throughout the United States will go to the polls in November 2016 in record turnout numbers by the millions of votes.” These voters will determine who will be the next president of the United States, he predicted.

Black pastor speaks in favor of Donald Trump.

Voter suppression and racism are alive and well in American politics, said the former head of the NAACP. “We need a clear articulation of a national Black agenda and both the Democrats and the Republicans have to be challenged to respond proactively to the Black agenda.”

The election should not be a popularity contest, but must focus on youth empowerment, education, health care access, housing, employment, wealth building, economic development, ending police brutality, mass incarceration and criminal justice reform, he said. These are real issues, Dr. Chavis said.

Few of those themes were put forward by the GOP and if they were the view was much different from what the veteran in Black struggle had in mind.

“What Donald Trump is doing is what Obama did,” noted syndicated talk show host and adjunct professor Davey D, in an exclusive discussion with The Final Call. “Obama found a vulnerable population that had been ignored by the political establishment for a long time. For the sake of this interview, we will call them poor Blacks. He personified that slogan of hope and change. That’s why you saw in 2008, you saw people willing to come out in record numbers,” he argued.

“Watching Trump, I think he’s doing the same thing. I think he has found a vulnerable population—we’ll call them poor Whites that live in the Rust Belt, or live in a Cleveland, Detroit, parts of Pennsylvania and he’s basically tapped into something that would resonate with them. ‘Look, it’s not your fault, the reason why you are poor, the reason why it’s hard is because of illegals, because of Blacks that want to shoot cops, because of radical Muslim terrorists,’ ” he mimicked the GOP hopeful. “So, where Barack had hope and change, Donald has blame and shame.”

Omarosa Manigault, the new Director of African American Outreach for the GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, with writer Eric T. Muhammad. Photos: Michael Muhammad

Omarosa Managault, the newly appointed director of African American Outreach for the Trump campaign, sees a much different picture and opportunity. She sees an opportunity for Blacks to get off of the Democratic political plantation.

“You know what I love about Farrakhan when he said about Trump? He said vote your interest. That’s what he said. Vote your interest,” declared Ms. Managault.

“Whoever is going to look out for your interest; whoever is going to look out for your community, whoever is going to look out for your people, vote for them,” the former Trump reality show star, attorney and pastor said in a Final Call interview.

“We have to earn your vote and earn your respect. And the Black community needs to hold us accountable. If we say we are going to do something, then we need to do it,” she said. “Look, the numbers don’t lie. Seven years; we need to look (and see), are we better off as a people from seven years ago to now? That’s a question you have to ask.”

The Ohio native continued, “Listen, my brother was killed four years ago, right in Youngstown, Ohio, an hour from here. The question my family has to ask is, ‘is the system letting us down?’ I sat in the courtroom with the man who killed my brother. So, I know what it is like to feel the sting of a system that lets you down. And I agree, I agree, I agree. We must vote our interest.”

When asked about a plan of action to reach and attract Blacks, she stated, “I will say that the outreach that I am doing is not like anything the RNC or the Republicans have ever implemented. I became a Republican a year ago, when Donald J. Trump entered this race. He is my friend. I am loyal and I know what his vision is. Within the context of that vision I will work to make sure that we look at what the African- American community needs most.

“We need economic empowerment. We don’t need no hashtags. We don’t need no empty promises. Hope has never fi lled up the gas tank or fi lled a prescription. So, we don’t need someone who is just going to say nice things and pander to our community. We need somebody who is actually going to do what they say. And Donald Trump has a track record as a businessman. Donald Trump knows how to impact a community,” she argued.

Her argument, however, was devoid of specifics.

Jamiel Shaw Sr., father of Jamiel Shaw Jr., who was murdered by an illegal immigrant in 2008.

Other Blacks spoke at the convention, pushing for greater spiritual life in the United States, more law and order and even tougher immigration policies. The arguments came from those who said Americans were losing jobs to “illegals,” who were also committing crimes—like the Black father whose son was shot to death by an illegal immigrant in California.

Others saw Mr. Trump’s promise of law and order as another example of dog whistle politics and subtle but effective racist, divisive appeals.

“When you talk about law and order, you are talking about Black people and everybody else that’s poor being criminals,” said Delacy Davis, a former Black police officer and activist, in a phone interview. “And cops are repeating it as a theme and I am seeing it all over the country. Cops are coming up with these false fl ag arguments. ‘We protest and are angry when cops kill us but we don’t protest and get angry when we kill us.’ It’s a false argument. Because, we’re angry on both sides of that coin,” he said.

“So, my concern with a Trump presidency is that all of the accomplishments and achievements over the last 65 years, are going to be rolled back rapidly. And we are beginning to see it. The attacks on Black Lives Matter—when they are exercising their constitutional rights—what you’re doing is blaming the victim. You’re blaming me for being hurt,” he said.

Boxing promoter Don King, who attended the Cleveland convention, told The Final Call, “It’s the person, not the party. It’s the person you’ve got to run. I support Donald Trump because he said, ‘we will create a whole new system. We will tear this system apart.’ He said, ‘America first; I want to make America great again. One land, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.’ That is the goal we want to achieve and you’ve got to have a man like Donald Trump who has called out and exposed every institution in this country. There is no hidden agenda. You’ve got to deal with what is real. He can’t polarize this country. It’s already polarized. What he’s doing is opening up the dialogue so that we can discuss, review and debate,” Mr. King said.

While he may have had strong views on the person, Donald Trump, the flamboyant celebrity promoter didn’t share them from the big stage. Mr. King said despite an appeal by GOP party leader Trump, he was not allowed to speak. Why? According to Mr. King, Reince Prebus, the RNC chairman, told him he could not speak because he was an ex-felon.

The Final Call