As a journalist, I don’t publicly confirm my voting history for reasons of professional ethics — even though a lot of people on X assume they know when they call me a leftist and a commie.
I will, however, confirm that my decision as a Black woman will not be determined by any candidate’s sudden status as a convicted felon. In fact, I’m more likely not to vote for that person. I am not a felon, nor are most of the people I know.
So, nah.
I bring this up, of course, because of the maddening theory eagerly pitched by members of former President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign that his recent 34-count guilty verdict in New York makes him uniquely relatable to the African American community because of our historic failure to receive equal justice in court. Axios’ Sophia Cai recently considered all the arguments and eventually seemed to agree that “there’s little evidence that Trump’s I-am-a-victim-just-like-you argument is swaying many Black voters.”
To even pose this as not just a possibility but a campaign strategy is deeply condescending, dehumanizing and cynically, diabolically racist.
To be clear: the situations are not remotely the same. We are comparing the prosecution of a very rich and famous white man who has been dodging criminal and civil complaints since the 1970s to a population that, in Manhattan alone, is convicted of both misdemeanors and felonies at a staggering rate 21 times greater than white defendants over the last two decades, according to the New York Civil Liberties Union.
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Yes, there are some Black celebrities and random Internet people publicly pledging support to Trump because of his alleged swagger, and probably because it gets them headlines and clicks.
Fine. I don’t speak for the entire Black community; we are not a monolith. I have even long joked that I am one of two Black women born to my parents on my birthday and even my twin and I don’t always share opinions on everything.
But I am comfortable in saying that all the people of African descent that I know — and I know a good bit — have never listed “has to be a felon” on their must-haves for a presidential candidate. Particularly not one with a history of racial housing discrimination, reported prejudices, alleged utterances of the N-word on the set of NBC’s “The Apprentice,” as well as general racial callousness, like calling for the death penalty for Black and brown kids later exonerated for a violent rape in Central Park.
I am sure there are Black people who are voting for Trump for different reasons, but I don’t see relatable feloniousness as a main draw. This is not to say I don’t know and love some formerly incarcerated folks, because I do. But it’s foul suggesting that criminality is a foundational situation in my community that would make me go, “Hey, I’d never consider that guy, but he might be going to jail! We’re the same!”
This stupidly insulting narrative has been alive since last August, when Trump’s mugshot hit the Internet. Fox News’ Raymond Arroyo said on-air that “a Black lady” (notice the people in these stories never have names) told him the photo gave the former president “cred in front of a new bloc of voters.”
UGH. This is most terrible because it’s not based on shared miscarriages of justice, but because it’s cool to get arrested.
Arroyo also faced well-deserved controversy for crowing about Trump’s alleged cultural mastery in the release of his gold Ronald McDonald-looking sneakers, which former Republican National Convention chairman Michael Steele called a “big miss” and “ugly as hell” on his MSNBC show.
But to Arroyo, those cartoonish kicks were an obvious connection between the former president and Black Americans. “They love sneakers, certainly in the inner city,” Arroyo said, thus “reaching them on a level that defies politics. The culture always trumps politics.” He added that anyone who buys $400 sneakers will absolutely vote for the person whose name is on them because it shows “affection.”
I’m not sure which heinous BS theory to address first.
Is it the simultaneously presumptive and dismissive use of “they” to describe an entire community as if they’re a separate species being observed from spaceships above their planet like in “Avatar?” Or is it the incredibly racist declaration that Black people are stupid enough to vote for someone whose political and personal stances have often been antithetical to us because they like his shoes? Rights? Who needs ‘em! Gimme them spaceman rave shoes!
I have spent hundreds of dollars in the last decade on Michael Jordan sweatshirts and sneakers (mostly secondhand) for my son, which does not mean I would vote for the basketball legend should he ever run for office. It just means my kid likes his sneakers.
Who you vote for matters. I am very concerned about this country and the upcoming elections in November. I hope that as many people as possible exercise their rights to effect change. And I hope to God their choice is not based on being impressed that somebody is a felon. That would be stupid, right?
Right?
