Dr. Julianne Malveaux, PhD

The advancement of African American people, frankly, has not been a priority for either Democrats or Republicans. African Americans loyally give their votes to Democrats because Democrats have been more responsive, but analysts have correctly noted that the loyalty has not been reciprocal.

President Obama has the power to do more both symbolically and substantively in these last days of his Presidency. I’d urge him to consider some of the things he can do to address the African American community that has steadfastly supported him, even when he has not been so supportive of us.

African Americans, especially, need to look at that which Mr. Trump has promised. He has promised discrimination. He has described our lives as hell. He has been a bully and a documented discriminator. He has been too much. He should be enough to repel us.

Clinton and Trump aren’t the only ones who avoid highlighting hunger and poverty when issues of economic inequality are discussed. When Vice-President Joe Biden was charged with focusing on the middle class in his “Middle Class Task Force” early in the Obama Administration, there was a conspicuous silence about the status of the poor. While President Obama has lots of issues to deal with, the poor have not been a priority for him.

We don’t have tape of the police brutality that caused so many black deaths in the early and mid twentieth century. We know the brutality existed, and we know police officers were never charged “back in the day” for killing or torturing Black people. The fact that we didn’t have tape then contributes to the urgency that we get tape now.

While it is important to curtail payday lending so that low-income borrowers can avoid the debt trap, the longer term solution to the debt trap is better pay for people who could access traditional credit options, or avoid debt altogether, if they earned reasonable pay.

Now is the time to make sure you are prepared. Are you registered? Where will you vote? Will you be out of town or unable to get to the polls on November 8? Can you do early voting or vote via an absentee ballot? These aren’t questions to ask on November 5, they are questions to ask now.