Negative stereotypes about black people pushed by the right have an adverse effect.
Since the 2016 presidential election, movements to garner minority support for President Trump and republicans in general have sprouted up. Namely, organizations such as BLEXIT and WalkAway. This article is not a critique of either, but more of a counter to many of the disparaging remarks spewed by their supporters. Some political enthusiasts on the right tend to patronize and use demeaning language to their black brothers and sisters, and I’m here to set the record straight.
Nobody likes to be called “brainwashed.”
Or lazy, slave, or statistic. “Black democrats are brainwashed.” “Blacks have been brainwashed for years.” What’s the deal with that? If you ask me, anyone who agrees with everything either party has to say isn’t the brightest. However, I’m not going to generalize, say white republicans. Liberals call me brainwashed for being a conservative. That’s not pushing me to open my mind to becoming a democrat, even though republicans have disappointed me. The same goes for black democrats facing the same verbal attacks from the right.
You realize calling descendants of slavery “slaves on a plantation” is outrageous, right?
Seriously. What’s going through your head when you say that? That since the local Turning Point USA chapter leader used that analogy for black democrats, it’s effective? If you know that calling people “brainwashed” isn’t a compliment, using the generational trauma of black Americans only serves to be hurtful. Again, this will not make a black person become a republican.
Using black on black crime statistics is misleading.
People tend to commit crimes against who their closest in proximity to. The white-on-white crime rate is comparable to the black-on-black crime rate, yet no one speaks of this. 84% of white victims are murdered by other whites. The number is 93% for blacks. In fact, most homicides are intraracial. The vast majority of murder victims are killed by someone the knew from the same race, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). Think about this next time you or someone in your circle are complaining about how the “brainwashed plantation blacks” kill each other.
Familial structure could be improved for everyone, but black fathers are good despite that.
Now let’s talk about black fathers, arguably the favorite BLEXIT talking point to use on an unsuspecting black democrat. The figure commonly used is “70% of black children are fatherless/raised by a single mother.” This is not the case, and a pretty offensive lie. Whether or not you have a dad is not determined by your parents’ marital status, who you’re living with, or if your father is incarcerated or dead. However, marital and cohabitation statuses are used to come up with these statistics and inability to provide (incarceration or death) is often not taken into account. The majority of black fathers actually live with their children, according to the CDC. 2.5 million to be exact, compared to 1.7 million who don’t. In terms of involvement, white and Hispanic fathers who don’t live with their children are less likely to have eaten a meal with their offspring in the last 4 weeks than black men. There are multiple other trends like this with other activities. So, even black fathers with a negative cohabitation status with their children seem to be more involved with their kids than other races.
So, bringing up that previously mentioned false figure is unproductive. How would it feel to have these fake negative stories constantly shoved down your throat? I used to believe them myself. Then I thought of the black men in my own life. I knew something wasn’t right. Being a republican or a conservative would not make them better fathers. They were already good. It’s propaganda.
“Walk away” from the lies.
Black people have been dragged through the mud by several popular right-wing talking points and influencers in efforts to lead them away from the left. This has lead to ineffective results and understandable backlash. If you are a conservative activist trying to lead a black exodus from the Democratic party… don’t do any of this.
