Black Americans remain “deeply pessimistic” about our national community ever reaching Martin Luther King Jr. ‘s “Promised Land.” More than 8 in 10 believe our acting president is a racist, a recent Washington Post-Ipsos poll found. Nearly two-thirds believe it is “a bad time” to be a black person in the United States. Over three-quarters do not believe white Americans understand the systemic discrimination black Americans face. On this King Day holiday, over 80 percent believe Donald Trump has made it worse.
“It’s so easy to be white and oblivious in this country,” Courtney Tate told the Washington Post. Tate, 40, is the only black teacher in his elementary school outside Dallas, Texas.
As Trump brags about the stock market and black unemployment, it is a big ask for candidates to expect black Americans to trust their government. A regional campaign staffer for Sen. Elizabeth Warren speaking to a room filled with older black voters in southern Virginia found himself cut off mid-sentence. The only white person in the room, he was pitching how Warren’s plans for “big, structural change” could help black farmers (New York Times):
“No disrespect,” called out Lauren Hudson, a 62-year-old hemp farmer, “but there’s a whole different avenue when we go for funding versus when a white family goes for funding.”
Among top Democratic presidential candidates, Warren (at 9 percent) ranks third in support among black Democrats. Biden sits at 48 percent and Bernie Sanders at 20 percent. Biden enjoys greater support as a less risky bet, “because his leading rivals have yet to wrestle with how their promises of structural change must overcome historical distrust of the government in black communities,” Astead W. Herndon writes.
In a survey of 34,000 people in 28 countries, PR firm Edelman’s 2020 Trust Barometer found a majority “in every developed market do not believe they will be better off in five years’ time.” The survey measures trustworthiness of government, business, NGOs, and the media. None of the four were judged both ethical and competent.
Jenny Anderson reports for Quartz:
“We are living in a trust paradox,” said Richard Edelman, CEO of the eponymous firm, describing the fact that economic growth no longer appears to drive optimism in developed markets. “National income inequality is now the more important factor in institutional trust,” he said. “Fears are stifling hope, as long-held assumptions about hard work leading to upward mobility are now invalid.”
The paradox is that respondents simultaneously trust business more than government or media, yet more than half feel “capitalism in its current form is now doing more harm than good in the world.”
Wealthier, more educated, regular consumers of global media, the survey found, retain more trust for institutions than the general public. But globally, 57 percent believe the media they consume is “contaminated with untrustworthy information.”
Widespread lack of trust in government plus systemic racism make large changes a harder sell among black voters, Theodore Johnson, a senior fellow at the Brennan Center for Justice, tells the Times:
Racism “contributes to black people’s lack of support for mass federal programs,” Mr. Johnson said. “There’s a sense that, if you prefer federal programs, that can be an admission that you can’t make it without white people or government.”
Proposals such as “Medicare for all,” free college, cancellation of student loan debt, etc., ask black voters to believe the government that built a system of systemic inequality can also correct it.
“No matter who is in office, the government has not been our best friend,” said Samuel Crisp, 73. He is part of the Piedmont Progressive Farmers Group, which focuses on egg production, and attended the Warren campaign event in Virginia.
“They all have programs that work against us,” he added. “And they don’t seem to understand that.”
In his Memphis speech before his assassination, King said, “I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know, tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land.”
Half a century later, black Americans are still waiting to get there.
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