Dear Black America. Let’s close ranks for democracy, as it is on the ballot in November. In July of 1918, W.E.B. DuBois made a plea for black Americans to close ranks for democracy. He wrote in the NAACP Crisis magazine,
We of the colored race have no ordinary interest in the outcome. That which the German power represents today spells death to the aspirations of Negroes and all darker races for equality, freedom and democracy. Let us not hesitate. Let us . . . close our ranks shoulder to shoulder with our own white fellow citizens and the allied nations that are fighting for democracy.
In 1941, when Japan attacked the United States, The U.S. went to war, and black Americans joined in, some 1.2 million.
Black Americans realized that it would be better to save the country and fight with it for their rights than to take chances with the tyrants–Hitler, Tojo, and Mussolini–since they committed vicious acts against their people as well as those they conquered. As it happened, this experience gave impetus to the 1960s Civil Rights Movement.
The United States is under attack again, this time from within, and it will cease to be the United States we know if Donald Trump wins a second term. It will be the end of the American experiment in democracy.
Let’s help save America again. This time we may owe it to the country, as black Americans are at least partly responsible for Trump being president.
Several factors led to Trump winning the election, but one is undoubtedly the relatively low turnout of blacks to vote in 2016. Seven hundred sixty-five thousand fewer blacks came out to vote in 2016 than voted in the 2012 presidential election.
The drop in black turnout was even sharper in states where the margin of Trump’s victory was less than 10 points than it was nationally. In two critical states that swung to Trump — Michigan, and Wisconsin — black turnout dropped by over 12 points.
In addition to having a low turnout, some eight percent (over 1.2 million) blacks voted for Trump, the malignant narcissist white supremacist and budding authoritarian–and the most unqualified and unfit person ever to be U.S. president.
Of course, presidential voting is a state by state matter; therefore, to analyze the black vote’s real effect, analyses would have to be done over individual states.
Some of this analysis has occurred. One such study examined voter turnout and socio-demographic data at the census tract and precinct level. It concluded that, although not definite, it was possible that the decline of black voters could have made the difference in the state of Michigan.
I understand the argument that says American democracy is too imperfect and problematic to save; however, I would join those who point out that it is better than our current alternative.
So let’s follow DuBois and others over the 20th century and pick our battles more carefully.
Right now—as we continue to fight for our rights in America–let’s close ranks for democracy. Let’s turnout and vote like our lives depended on it. That is just one day and one act that may make all the difference.
