(Todd A. Smith)
Democrats should not have a monopoly on the Black vote.
They should have to earn Black votes just like Republicans have to.
But although Black people should not be overly supportive of any political party, Black people should know when a candidate or party is playing them for optics and public relations, while offering no solutions to our predicament or plight.
Zack Link of BlackAmericaWeb wrote, “Mississippi Valley State University, an HBCU, is currently catching hell on social media for accepting an invite for its marching band, the Mean Green Marching Machine, to perform at Donald Trump’s inauguration and launching a GoFundMe campaign to fund the trip.
“Trump’s inauguration will take place on Jan. 20, 2025, the same date that the nation will observe Martin Luther King Jr. Day. It turns out a lot of people, especially Black people, don’t think it’s appropriate for the marching band of a historically Black college to perform for the president who, in 2020, exclusively targeted predominantly Black and Latino voting precincts in his baseless and fact-less election fraud propaganda campaign—especially on the holiday honoring the civil rights icon who famously fought for Black people’s right to vote.”
While many think President-elect Donald Trump is a vile and evil excuse for a human being, me included, people must give him credit for also being a master manipulator and con man.
President-elect Trump has consistently used people, of all races, for his own business and political gain.
Then when that person or persons are no longer needed, he discards them like yesterday’s trash.
Yet, people still sign up to voluntarily kiss his ring as if those same bad things will not befall them.
Comedian Steve Harvey has never been quite the same since his fateful meeting with Trump after the 2016 presidential election.
R&B singer Chrisette Michele’s career disappeared after performing at Trump’s 2017 inauguration.
Senator Tim Scott (R-S.C.) still has not benefitted from kissing up to Trump during all his campaigns.
Conservative commentator Candace Owens has gotten kicked to the curb by right-wing media outlets like Stacey Dash before her.
Former ESPN sports reporter Sage Steele vigorously campaigned for Trump even though the president-elect could not even pronounce her name correctly.
Even average Black voters fell for the con that Trump gave them stimulus checks, although that money came from a Democratic-led Congress.
In fact, Trump delayed signing the bill until he could put his signature on the checks.
Meanwhile, Trump wanted to shoot Black Lives Matter protestors after the murder of George Floyd.
He has destroyed diversity, equity and inclusion programs with his so-called war on woke, whatever that means.
He has sided with White nationalists, even dining with them.
He wants to take away poor people’s healthcare.
He has stigmatized Haitian immigrants by lying about them eating people’s pets.
And he has labeled certain jobs as “Black jobs.”
A person would have to be extremely naïve to think that he believes a Black job equates to a high-profile executive-type job.
Trump believes that a mug shot makes him relatable to the Black population.
And he thinks that having certain rappers and former athletes make fools of themselves at rallies will resonate with the Black community instead of substantive change.
He leads a party that opposes reparations for the descendants of slaves who built the country for free.
Trump called for the execution of five innocent Black and Brown teenagers who went to prison, unjustly, for the brutal rape and assault of a White female jogger in New York’s Central Park in the late 1980s.
He even took out a full-page advertisement calling for the reinstatement of the death penalty so that five innocent boys of color could get murdered, legally.
Even after their exoneration, he refuses to apologize to the Exonerated Five.
And somehow, this is a guy that some Black Americans believe cares about them.
No, this is a guy who wants to use Black people to change the image that many have of him being a racist, which he is.
I am personally friends with someone who worked closely with Trump long before he entered politics, and this person told me that Trump is definitely a racist who hates Black people.
But as a politician and businessperson, Trump needs Black tokens so that he can pretend not to be racist.
Racist White people have always used Black tokens to further their agenda.
But often, the Black token knows that they are being used as a token and they use the racist person’s B.S. to their advantage.
With Trump, there is no advantage to playing the game.
The game is already rigged in his favor.
And if it is not, he will change the rules mid-game to fit his agenda.
Unfortunately, Trump’s agenda has never included Black people.
Therefore, why would a band from an HBCU (Historically Black Colleges and Universities) volunteer to get played?
Yes, a state-supported school should not play partisan favoritism because many students, faculty and alumni belong to both major political parties and the school should appeal to everyone.
Yes, HBCUs have performed at inaugurations for Republican presidents before.
But never has that president been so anti-Black, anti-democratic and unpatriotic as the incoming president.
Trump has never championed Black causes or the Black community.
Therefore, the Black community should reciprocate by not championing him.
An inauguration is a celebration of the next presidential administration.
But based on Trump’s track record, the Black community has no reason to celebrate.
