It’s no secret that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is grossly out of touch with how to effectively address issues that are most important to Black voters. Yet, he proved that point once again during Sunday night’s second round of presidential debates.
In addition to referring to Black people as “The African-Americans” on several occasions throughout the debate, Trump has continuously made Black communities synonymous with “inner cities.”
Subscribe to our daily newsletter for the latest in hair, beauty, style and celebrity news.
In fact, the phrase has become the norm from the GOP front runner each and every time he attempts to convince voters that his presence in the White House would benefit Black people. During Sunday night’s debate, he did so again in an unsuccessful attempt to vilify Hillary Clinton and the Obama administration by blaming them for the current socioeconomic hardships facing Black communities across the country.
“I would be a president for all of the people, African Americans, the inner cities,” he said. “Devastating what’s happening to our inner cities. You go into the inner cities and — you see it’s 45% poverty. African Americans now 45% poverty in the inner cities. The education is a disaster. Jobs are essentially nonexistent,” he continued.
Newsflash, Trump: Black people don’t only exist in the confines of inner cities or poverty-stricken neighborhoods.
Not 👏🏾 all 👏🏾African 👏🏾Americans 👏🏾live 👏🏾in 👏🏾the 👏🏾inner 👏🏾city. We are more and better than you think we are Trump! #debate
— A'shanti F. Gholar (@AshantiGholar) October 10, 2016
An elderly black man asks if Trump can be a devoted president to all the people. Trump responds as if that man must live in the inner city.
— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) October 10, 2016
So… Who's going to tell Trump that the White House is in the inner city? pic.twitter.com/FShCtNJjwp
— Wendi C. Thomas (@wendi_c_thomas) October 10, 2016
The most troubling part of Trump’s tendency to constantly single out Black people when discussing things like low income, poverty, crime and poor education is his failure to also address the root of these issues, like the implicit racial bias in the criminal justice system or openly discriminatory practices that have limited our access to equal employment and educational opportunities for years. For many African-American voters, his perceived lack of regard for addressing the full scope of these problems comes off as highly irresponsible and overtly stereotypical behavior. All this coming from a candidate hoping to run a country where Black voter turnout has been proven to play a crucial part in the election process.
Contrary to what Trump seems to believe, his problematic “African-American outreach” strategies have only done more to support the notion that he has absolutely no clue about what’s really going on in Black communities.