With a surge of emotion, Black Americans rush to t
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Posted On: 10/19/2020 10:34:02 PM
With a surge of emotion, Black Americans rush to the polls; "I'm angry about everything."
‘My people fought for the right to vote’: With a surge of emotion, Black Americans rush to the polls
A 72-year-old voter in Dayton, Ohio, said, “I’m angry about everything.” A retired veterinary technician in Detroit said she voted for one reason only: “Donald Trump. To make sure he’s not reelected.” A federal employee who waited in line for 10 hours in suburban Atlanta explained simply: “I have three Black sons.”
Two weeks before Election Day, Black Americans have voted in striking numbers, helping to drive historic levels of early voting as mail ballots have flooded election offices and people have endured huge lines to cast ballots in person across the country.
In interviews in 10 states where early voting is underway, Black voters said this year’s presidential election is the most important of their lifetime — some calling it more consequential even than 2008, when those who were old enough went to the polls in record numbers to make Barack Obama the country’s first Black president.
They spoke of a sense of urgency to protect the nation’s democracy, and their role in it, which they believe a second Trump term would erode beyond repair. Many said they view the president as a racist who cannot bring himself to disavow white supremacists or the year’s spate of police killings of unarmed Black Americans, and they believe the country is less safe for themselves and their families.
Trump’s handling of racial unrest as well as the coronavirus pandemic changed the calculation for Black voters by posing real threats to their health and safety, said Morgan Jackson, a Democratic consultant in North Carolina. For some, that turned voting into a life-or-death undertaking.
“African Americans have said, ‘Enough,’ ” Jackson said. “Everything Trump has done in the last 3½ years, as crazy as it’s been, it’s been a mile away from people. It’s a show you watched on TV. But with these two issues, he’s affected your family in your living room and at your kitchen table.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/black...story.html
‘My people fought for the right to vote’: With a surge of emotion, Black Americans rush to the polls
A 72-year-old voter in Dayton, Ohio, said, “I’m angry about everything.” A retired veterinary technician in Detroit said she voted for one reason only: “Donald Trump. To make sure he’s not reelected.” A federal employee who waited in line for 10 hours in suburban Atlanta explained simply: “I have three Black sons.”
Two weeks before Election Day, Black Americans have voted in striking numbers, helping to drive historic levels of early voting as mail ballots have flooded election offices and people have endured huge lines to cast ballots in person across the country.
In interviews in 10 states where early voting is underway, Black voters said this year’s presidential election is the most important of their lifetime — some calling it more consequential even than 2008, when those who were old enough went to the polls in record numbers to make Barack Obama the country’s first Black president.
They spoke of a sense of urgency to protect the nation’s democracy, and their role in it, which they believe a second Trump term would erode beyond repair. Many said they view the president as a racist who cannot bring himself to disavow white supremacists or the year’s spate of police killings of unarmed Black Americans, and they believe the country is less safe for themselves and their families.
Trump’s handling of racial unrest as well as the coronavirus pandemic changed the calculation for Black voters by posing real threats to their health and safety, said Morgan Jackson, a Democratic consultant in North Carolina. For some, that turned voting into a life-or-death undertaking.
“African Americans have said, ‘Enough,’ ” Jackson said. “Everything Trump has done in the last 3½ years, as crazy as it’s been, it’s been a mile away from people. It’s a show you watched on TV. But with these two issues, he’s affected your family in your living room and at your kitchen table.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/black...story.html
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