When I prayed and laid hands on President Trump in the Cabinet Room earlier this year, I said, “he was the best President [for black people] since Abraham Lincoln.” The vitriolic response to me, a black pastor and Trump supporter, from Jimmy Kimmel, Spike Like, Chris Redd from "Saturday Night Live" and others laid bare the reality that the liberal elite either is truly unaware of the benefits President Trump has delivered for blacks during his first term in office or they are too embarrassed to acknowledge how the black community benefitted more under President Trump than under our ‘actual’ first black president.
The bipartisan First Step Act reformed the Biden 1994 Crime Bill, which disproportionately imprisoned blacks, is responsible for releasing thousands of black men and women from federal prison; the FUTURE Act saved Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) by providing $250 million in annual funding and stabilizing education for approximately 250,000 mostly black students; and our inner cities were revitalized through Opportunity Zones, showing that President Trump renewed and doubled-down on his commitment to black Americans.
On Friday the president announced The Platinum Plan in Atlanta, Georgia – a promise to black America – over four years. The plan, in my opinion, is an embrace of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, the most memorable speech of the March on Washington for jobs and freedom, which was an appeal to end economic and employment inequalities.
The Platinum Plan, in part, captures the very spirit of Dr. King’s speech by focusing on employment inequality, directly addressing the disparities and hurdles black business owners face in accessing capital. The Plan promises to bring 3 million new jobs for the black community, vows to create 500,000 new black-owned businesses, and increases access to capital in black communities by almost $500 billion in commitments. If President Trump’s track record of delivering on his promises is any indication of the future, black workers and black communities stand to enjoy an economic renaissance not seen since Greenwood’s Black Wall Street – the historic black district in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and epicenter of black business and culture until it was burned down in 1921 by a white mob.
Candidate Trump targeted blacks in 2016 when he said, “What [voting for me] do you have to lose?” He was able to make this statement because the black community had not lived up to its fullest potential in the 20th century experiencing 25 percent participation on food stamps (SNAP), 72 percent single parent households, and disproportionate crime and incarceration rates. The commitment to unleash economic freedom for blacks began during President Trump’s first term and promises to continue.
In order for these big ideas to flourish, however, our communities must also be safe. The Democrat mob, facilitated by Joe Biden’s staffers and Kamala Harris’ support of the Minneapolis Freedom Fund organized to provide bail support for rioters and criminals, is sure to stand in the way of economic progress in the black community as they promise violence in order to fundamentally change America with socialism facilitated by handicapping our local police departments our primary line of defense.
America, and black America in particular, can realize its greatest potential under President Trump once again. In order for us all to walk in the Dream of economic equality envisioned by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., we must not shy away from standing against the mob that seeks to destroy us under the guise of racial justice – while burning down black businesses and dreams; we must stand for what is in our collective best interest as a nation and against divisive politicians who seek only to control the black vote with identity politics; and welcome the prosperity that greeted blacks before the China Virus consumed us but is waiting to explode upon the re-election of President Donald J. Trump.
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Marc T. Little is an attorney, pastor of No Longer Bound Abortion & Miscarriage Recovery Ministry, Inc., and Board Chair of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education. Little is also a Republican Strategist who appears regularly on national radio and television.