Donald J. Trump has
been elected to be the next President of the United States. And as President
Obama said on election day before the votes were counted, "whether your
candidate won or lost, the sun would come up in the morning." The only thing
I would add is "and many more mornings."
My candidate for President was
Hillary Clinton. I actively campaigned for her, including working 7 hours at
the polls on election day. But she lost. Although she got more popular votes
than Trump, but not as many electoral votes as he did which determined that
he would be president. After election day, then what? I have answered
this question, and what I see is a blessing, not a curse. Or another way of
saying this, "a blessing in disguise." But it will not remain in disguise
for long.
It is important to begin this discourse
with some factual information about the presidential election, particularly,
with regard to why Donald J. Trump defeated Hillary Clinton to become the next
president of the United States. Money was a factor but how and where that money
was spent were more important than the amount of money spent. According to
the Center for Responsive Politics review of the Federal Election Commission
data:
The Democratic Party raised $986,000,916 and spent $922,912,968. Cash on hand
is $84,100,583. The Republican Party raised $756,930,162 and spent
$665,739,034. Cash on hand $108,886,924.
The question is: Who received the
money that was spent? Democrats spent $257,173,934 more than the Republicans.
Obviously, Democrats did not spend their money in the most helpful manner to
achieve success. Had the Democrats spent their money in a way so that it would
be in contact with people personally, especially with African American
neighborhoods where people who needed help in being sure that they were
registered to vote and aware of the place where they were to vote and to
transport them to the polls when necessary, Clinton would be the next president.
Money spent on featuring entertainers and TV ads would have been better spent in
neighborhoods of African Americans and Latino neighborhoods.
Almost half of
the eligible voters didn't vote in this election. As a matter of fact, fewer
people voted in 2016 than in 2012 and 2008. In 2012 Barack Obama received 65.9
million votes but in 2016 Clinton received only 59.1 million votes, 6.8 million
fewer votes than Obama did 4 years earlier. Some 46.9% (23,556,622) of
registered voters didn't vote. Clinton received 25.6%, Trump received 25.5% and
Johnson received 1.7% of people who were eligible to vote.
Clinton's campaign leadership
failure caused her to lose the election. The leaders had an ideal product to
present to voters, at an ideal time and with the right opponent. It's too bad
Obama"s 2012 campaign leaders did not take charge of Clinton's campaign. The
closing of 800 polling places and ID requirements in multiple states were also
factors. These ID requirements should have been challenged all the way to the
Supreme Court, when necessary. They were laws passed by State legislatures with
majority Republican lawmakers. On election day I worked at the polls seven hours and
there were people who came to vote but could not because they were told that
their names were not in the system, even though they said they had registered.
Why in the hell couldn't they be allowed to register to vote on the spot? They
can pay taxes on the spot, even when purchasing a candy bar, etc.
On
November 8, 2016, 70-year old Donald J. Trump, a builder and reality television
show star, was elected to take the oath on January 20, 2017 to become the 45th
President of the United States. He received 306 electoral votes and 59,814,018
(47.5%) of the popular votes to defeat his opponent former Secretary Hillary
Clinton who received 232 electoral votes and 59,611,878 (47.7% of the popular
votes. Clinton received more popular votes than Trump. The candidate receiving
the highest number of electoral votes, not popular votes, becomes president.
Trump's victory caught nearly everyone by surprise. As a result of this
election there are in the Senate 50 Republicans, 48 Democrats and 2 Independents
and in the House of Representatives 239 Republicans and 192 Democrats. With the
Republicans having the majority in both the Senate and House of Representatives
President Trump will be able to enact much, if not all, of his proposals.
With some 88% of African Americans, including this writer, having voted for
Clinton to be president and only 8% having voted for Trump; to be president, the
question one may ask is: "How can Trump be good for African Americans, even
better for them than Clinton would be had she been elected to be president?"
The reason a Trump presidency is better for African Americans than a Clinton
presidency is because it provides an opportunity for African Americans and
progressive-minded people to take direct action that will include, not merely
declarations, but engaging in mass protests such as those began happening the
day after the election in a number of cities across America. People peacefully
protesting in the streets can be more powerful than power in Congress, although
it can make people in Congress and the President do the right thing for all
people. Protesters are to be nonviolent, however, if violently attacked
protesters may choose to defend themselves. That seems to be the responsible
thing to do. Self-preservation is the first law of nature, and it remains as
such for a lifetime.
This action can be taken against Trump who has an
adversarial relationship with ordinary people but Clinton, like Obama, are
friends of African Americans. Some members of the Ku Klu Klan have acknowledged
their support for Trump. (I received threatening communications from the Ku Klu
Klan years ago when I was a candidate for the Board of Education in Montgomery,
Alabama. I was ordered to leave the City. Of course, I didn't leave.)
To
reiterate, people know that Obama endeavored to do the right thing but was
prevented by the Republicans from doing the good he wanted to do by sons and
grandsons and some granddaughters of Dixiecrat parents or grandparents who
disfranchised African Americans in the South and some Republicans elsewhere who
are not in favor of African Americans having justice and equality.
During the
presidency of Obama or the presidency of Clinton had she been elected to be
president no protest against them was appropriate. African Americans are very
aware that Obama, being one of them, has done what he was able to do with a
recalcitrant Congress that opposed nearly everything he proposed. In 2009 Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell stated at the beginning of Obama's presidency
that he would oppose everything Obama proposed and make sure that he would not
be elected for a second term. He kept his word but Obama was elected to a second
term. Clinton would face similar defiance from Republicans had she been elected
president, African Americans have not protested Obama nor would they protest
Clinton if she was president because they are friends who can be counted on to
do the right thing. But Trump is considered to be an adversary of African
Americans and progressives. African Americans can make demands and protest
Trump's actions and in-actions that are unfair to them. These are people who
refer to Trump as "the" president, not "our" president or individually not as
"my" president.
Yes, Trump is an adversary of African Americans. All one has
to do is recall the things he said to mostly approving white audiences during
his campaign. Although he is not considered to be a racist, he joins hands with
racists and Southern politicians who are anti-African American. Trump was sued
because he refused to rent an apartment to an African American. It is incumbent
upon African Americans to confront his presidency. The struggle is a part of the
African American experience past and present. This more than suggest that
African Americans and others who believe in justice for all should take action
appropriate for the struggle, the same as people did during the Montgomery Bus
Boycott which I helped to lead and the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s.
Frederick Douglass said, "If there is no struggle there is no progress." He also
said "Power concedes nothing without demand, It never did and it never will."
Everything African Americans have achieved during the 400 years they have
occupied North America has resulted from their engagement in struggle against
slave masters, racists and segregationist. It has been their engagement in
struggle that enabled them to lose their chains and free themselves from
slavery, however, they are still in the bondage of segregation, discrimination,
disfranchisement, incarceration and more poverty than any other racial group in
America.
In the struggle against tyrannical suppression from the Trump
presidency African Americans need to form, and lead a coalition, composed of
Latinos, who are indebted to African Americans who fought and some died, as did
some progressive white people, that they may have the right to vote, LGBT
(Lesbian Gay Bisexual & Transgender) and other people who oppose tyranny in the
White House and Congress. Protest and organizing are the two major actions.
The Black Lives Matter Movement can be a major player in this struggle. This may
mean taking to the streets and protesting, in demanding justice for all and the
elimination of systemic racism that is within and without the Government. This
also means addressing the matter of the over incarceration of black males at a
ratio that is five times that of white males and providing employment
opportunities for African Americans.
During the presidency of Trump African
Americans have the opportunity to advance the black agenda in a way and at a
speed that has not existed since the Civil Rights Movement of the 1960s. But it
will require them that they fight. Are you ready?
This struggle requires that
African Americans and other progressive-minded people who believe in justice for
all join the fight. Freedom and justice are worth fighting for. "The struggle
may be a moral one, or it may be a physical one, or it may be both," as
Frederick Douglass reminds us. When Apostle Paul was near the end of his life,
of all the things he could have said while reflecting on his life, his
benediction was: "I have fought the good fight." This struggle demands that
African Americans fight in order to fulfill their destiny. The struggle requires
that they fight the good fight, as did Apostle Paul. For African Americans, in
particular, and all progressives, during the Trump presidency is the opportune
and right time to fight.
May the children of future generations, reflecting
on the Trump presidency, be able to say, "During the Trump presidency African
Americas made progress that was greater than at any time since the 1960s."
Uriah J. Fields (