Byron Donalds has centered his campaigns and career on being an African American Tea Party Trump loving Republican. He voted to object to counting the electoral college votes from Arizona and Pennsylvania being counted for President Joe Biden. He claimed that Donald Trump had done enough to prove that he’s not a racist. He tries to use his ethnicity while being a seditionist Tea Party Trump loving republican to gain media coverage. The far right loves using him to promote their radicalism to somehow push a narrative that there is nothing inconsistent with being an African American radical republican and promoting racial justice. He did get media coverage, but it went about as well for him as you would think.
The video begins with Brianna Keilar discussing why he was not approved into the CBC . He says that he served in the Black Caucus when I served in the Florida State Legislature and attended Black Caucus meetings in Washington, D.C. . Then he says that he is black. Therefore, he says that he should be allowed in the Congressional Black Caucus in the US House of Representatives. He says that he has been successful in jobs and voting and anything else that they want to talk about.
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She says that he has questioned the accuracy and validity of the 2020 election. She states that it has been verified to be secure , but that the questioning was the basis of all of these bills that we have seen across the country which will effectively reduce the access to the ballot box for Black Americans. She asks if this could be considered incongruous with the mission of the CBC and , thus, the reason why he was not accepted.
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He, then, says that this has nothing to do with this discussion. (This is false . Donald Trump and republicans tried to eliminate the votes of Black Americans in order to get the electoral college votes of several states including Georgia and Michigan removed. ) Then he says that the bills for Georgia and Florida do not suppress the vote, they give more access to the ballot, not less. He says that he knows this because he read the bills. (This only means he is either illiterate or dishonest). Besides I am black and grew up poor in Brooklyn. (This isn’t remotely relevant.) She responds to his statement by saying that he said that it will expand access to the voting booth, but that’s just not true. She points out that there have been multiple analyses done including by the Washington Post and Houston Chronicle that show that this is not true. She says that these bills will suppress the vote, decrease access to the ballot box.
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Then she says that he has defended Donald Trump saying that recently he has done enough to rebuff allegations that he is racist. She shows video of Trump making racist statements. She says that this also may be incongruous with the mission of the CBC. He says that this doesn’t have anything to do with it. Then he tells her not to cut him off and that he has not cut her off. He appears to believe that simply because he is Black, he can lie as long as he wants to. Then he says that as a Black man, I am allowed to have my own thoughts and choose whom I want to support. He says that while I proudly support my party, I have supported that which helps the Black community. (This is false since he supports the voter suppression bills and approves of the attempts to not count the vote of African Americans which were the means by which the republicans were attempting to win Michigan and Georgia among other states.) He says that his support for Trump is irrelevant. (If it is irrelevant, then why is it in his advertising on google search and why is it featured so prominently in his campaign ? ) She pointed out that there have been republicans with traditional conservative fiscal values in the CBC previously and republicans have even been invited to join the CBC and declined. (This makes it clear that it is not simply about his political party). She says although you claim that Trump is the past, facts would contradict that assessment. She says that he is still the president of the Republican Party and that he is leading the party and that they are both continuing to question the legitimacy of the election. She says that this appears to be why the CBC is not accepting you and since you have indicated interest in joining the CBC, then it would be of interest to you. He says that this is not a question for him to ask, but rather that it is a question for the members of his party.
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Donald Trump has a long history of racism. It begins when the Department of Justice cracked down on he and his father , Fred, (Donald Trump was an adult then) when they marked rental applicants of African Americans .
Fred Trump and the Trump Organization essentially stopped making repairs after white flight occurred to the suburbs and the complex became filled largely with black tenants. What does it say about the conditions of that property that Fred Trump was arrested? And by then, Donald Trump was the president of the Trump Organization. He would have been well aware of the situation in Maryland. Only three years before Fred Trump’s arrest in Maryland, the Department of Justice sued the Trumps for discrimination.
“Major Landlord Accused of Antiblack Bias in City,” the headline stated. The Department of Justice had brought suit in federal court in Brooklyn against Mr. Trump and his father, Fred C. Trump, charging them with violating the Fair Housing Act of 1968 in the operation of 39 buildings.
“The government contended that Trump Management had refused to rent or negotiate rentals ‘because of race and color,’ ” The Times reported. “It also charged that the company had required different rental terms and conditions because of race and that it had misrepresented to blacks that apartments were not available.”
Owning and operating dilapidated housing in Maryland, and Baltimore specifically, has also been very lucrative for Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Jared and Ivanka Trump seem quite happy to live on the wealth generated from operating squalid housing
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Donald Trump took out an ad calling for the death penalty for five African Americans (Central Park Five) for a crime which dna evidence proved they did not commit.
The fact is that Donald Trump has a long history of racism.
On the campaign trail, Trump repeatedly made explicitly racist and otherwise bigoted remarks, from calling Mexican immigrants criminals and rapists, to proposing a ban on all Muslims entering the US, to suggesting a judge should recuse himself from a case solely because of the judge’s Mexican heritage.
The trend has continued into his presidency. From stereotyping a Black reporter to pandering to white supremacists after they held a violent rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, to making a joke about the Trail of Tears, Trump hasn’t stopped with racist acts after his 2016 election.
Then, there is his “birther” conspiracy. Byron Donalds graduated with either a bachelor of arts or a bachelor of science, depending upon the source. Tea Party Republicans claimed to be fiscal conservatives. However, no republican president has reduced the deficit or the national debt since before Ronald Reagan. The last three republican presidents have led us into terrible recessions. The last presidents to reduce the deficit were President Bill Clinton and President Obama. Under President Bill Clinton, 22 million new jobs were created while reducing the deficit. President Obama turned the economy around. The economy that he inherited had the country losing 750,000 jobs a month and a gdp that shrank 9.4% the last quarter of the Bush presidency. He led the country into the longest continuous peacetime private sector job growth in the nation’s history. Donald Trump pushed republicans into passing a $2 Trillion tax cut give away to the wealthy and corporations when we were not in a recession. Donald Trump inherited an economy that was already good and improving. Since there was no investment in the African American community, then we can only conclude that the reason African American unemployment decreased was due to the relative health of the country prior to the pandemic as a result of the investment of the stimulus into the economy under President Obama and a Democratic Party controlled Congress. If a person cares about fiscal issues, then they should definitely not be republicans based upon their record; they must be democrats.
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Byron Donalds may claim to have read the Georgia bill, but he either didn’t understand it or lied.
President Biden is not inciting an insurrection. He is not putting on a long disinformation campaign after losing the election involving nearly 100 lawsuits. In fact, Gabriel Sterling is misrepresenting the facts as the New York Times made clear.
Here are the most significant changes to voting in the state, as written into the new law:
Here is the quote from the law itself:
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Page 73: No person shall solicit votes in any manner or by any means or method, nor shall any person distribute or display any campaign material, nor shall any person give, offer to give, or participate in the giving of any money or gifts, including, but not limited to, food and drink, to an elector, nor shall any person solicit signatures for any petition, nor shall any person, other than election officials discharging their duties, establish or set up any tables or booths on any day in which ballots are being cast: (1) Within 150 feet of the outer edge of any building within which a polling place is established; (2) Within any polling place; or (3) Within 25 feet of any voter standing in line to vote at any polling place.
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Gabriel Sterling wrote that rewarding somebody for voting has long been a crime in Georgia. However, he intentionally tries to obscure the real point. Food and drink is not a reward for voters in populous counties with long lines, especially Democratic Party leaning counties, because (1) most people can eat and drink at home (2) it is idiotic to think that a person would vote in order to get a sandwich and bottled water (3) Because these lines have historically lasted up to eight hours in many diverse communities, people need this to avoid negative health consequences (4) it is not a reward for voting for a particular candidate or party (4) the new law specifically mentions food and water (5) the new law makes clear now that giving voters in long lines bottled water to prevent dehydration will be interpreted as a reward. It’s one thing to have it be illegal to give voters something of substantial and lasting value in exchange for voting for a particular party or a particular candidate, but this is completely different and Gabriel Sterling knows that.
2010 Georgia Code
TITLE 21 - ELECTIONS
CHAPTER 2 - ELECTIONS AND PRIMARIES GENERALLY
ARTICLE 15 - MISCELLANEOUS OFFENSES
§ 21-2-570 - Giving or receiving, offering to give or receive, or participating in the giving or receiving of money or gifts for registering as a voter, voting, or voting for a particular candidate
O.C.G.A. 21-2-570 (2010)
21-2-570. Giving or receiving, offering to give or receive, or participating in the giving or receiving of money or gifts for registering as a voter, voting, or voting for a particular candidate
Any person who gives or receives, offers to give or receive, or participates in the giving or receiving of money or gifts for the purpose of registering as a voter, voting, or voting for a particular candidate in any primary or election shall be guilty of a felony.
Where is the mention of food and water ? It is completely absent. And that is important because most people would not believe that food and water while standing in a long line is a reward for voting. Why did groups provide food and water previously ? Because voters were in very long lines (usually in diverse communities) and could become dehydrated or could see other adverse health consequences. We are not talking about caviar or some fancy meal here or an expensive glass of wine. Food and drink only would last until they vote most likely: it has a very limited pecuniary value for a limited time. Virtually nobody is going to get in a long line so that they can get a bottle of water; they very likely could get that elsewhere much quicker. Who in theory would be induced to get into a long line to vote in order to get a bottle of water when they otherwise would not do so ? Only the poorest of the poor, perhaps hurt by the pandemic. So, they would be penalizing the poorest of the poor. This law unlike past law, then, makes it clear that providing food and drink including water would be interpreted as providing a reward for voters for voting (although not for a specific political party or candidate).
There is no history of widespread voter fraud in America. The 2020 election was secure and the results are valid . Republicans have pushed about 400 voter suppression bills across the country.
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In the aftermath of the 2020 election, Republican lawmakers have pushed new voting restrictions in nearly every state. From making it harder to cast ballots early to increasing the frequency of voter roll purges, at least 25 new restrictive voting laws have been enacted, with more potentially on the horizon. The GOP has introduced such measures in the name of “election integrity,” but at the heart of this effort is former President Donald Trump’s baseless claim that the 2020 election was stolen from him.
“I liken it to a quack doctor holding up an X-ray, pointing to something going, ‘See, see, see?’ and getting the person to believe that there’s something really there on that X-ray that requires expensive and dangerous surgery,” said Carol Anderson, a professor of African American studies at Emory University, of Republican efforts to pass new voter restrictions even though there is no evidence of voter fraud in the election. “We had an election that was amazing in the midst of a pandemic. And instead of applauding themselves for it, they went with a Trumpian lie.”
But, while laws that make it more taxing to vote are not new, the current onslaught of voting restrictions and changes to how elections will be administered is not something we’ve grappled with on this scale. Additionally, there is their nakedly partisan origins — nearly 90 percent of the voting laws proposed or enacted in 2021 were sponsored primarily or entirely by Republican legislators — and the fact that these laws are likely to have a greater impact on Black and brown voters, who are less likely to vote Republican.
Republican efforts to pass new voter restrictions have been so aggressive and widespread that their effects are hard to predict. Elections, moreover, don’t run themselves; they’re run by people. And these new laws point to an even more troubling problem that threatens to undermine our democracy: the GOP’s eroding commitment to democratic values, like free and fair elections. In many ways, the most concerning change our elections face may not be any one law, but rather the GOP’s increased willingness to take such anti-democratic actions.
There again are nearly 400 bills that they have introduced.
Overall, lawmakers have introduced at least 389 restrictive bills in 48 states in the 2021 legislative sessions.
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Here is an analogy that came to me back in 2005 when I was leaving fundamentalism and being a republican and becoming an agnostic and started my journey to becoming a progressive democrat.
A white man and an African American woman are in a race. The whistle blows and the race has commenced. It has, but for only one of the participants. The official referee holds the African American woman back and the white man gets to run with no competition for a long period of time, maybe ¾ of the race, and then finally the whistle blows again. The referee allows the African American woman to run, but says that she must carry this 25 pound weight. And she is off. Finally, she is allowed to put down the weight. Some of the white men watching the race are grumbling that she should carry the weight and that this is against tradition. They say that this seems unfair and the media and others covering the race talk about the burdens that the African American woman already had to face. After a short time, the white men say, “Look she still has not caught up. She must not be a good runner. “ The rest of the crowd points out that for ¾ of the race’s history, she has had burdens placed upon her that the white man did not and that removing the burdens to whatever extent did not undo all of the unfair advantage that the white man already had. The nature of the problem becomes widely known. White men begin to complain that they are victims of a conspiracy and that the media and everybody else is against them and biased. They get angry.
This is what has happened. Older white men were used to this huge advantage based upon discrimination. When it was no longer allowed and the past was noticed, they felt that they were being discriminated against. They, therefore, only sought out media sources which did not admit or discuss the discrimination that had previously occurred. They identified themselves as victims as Steve Schmidt notes. They began to suspect any and every organization not clearly allied with them as being part of a conspiracy against them. Donald Trump picked up on this sentiment. He knew that for all the pretense they made about caring about family values and morals and democracy and right and wrong, they really only cared about their ethnic identity being defended.
If a person emerges from a marginalized community and is able to achieve success and able to get through the door of opportunity, then they should hold it open for others to follow, not slam it shut in front of those who share their ethnicity or gender. Byron Donalds made it ! Great ! He is one person. What about the rest of the African American community ? What about other people of color ? Somehow one of the African American runners may succeed despite huge obstacles and that is great. It doesn’t mean that it is reasonable or rational to expect that all others will be able to overcome all of these huge obstacles. History is continuous, not a series of independent and discrete and completely separate events that are unrelated to what has happened before. This is common sense and obvious. The history of racism against African Americans (and other people of color and marginalized communities) is long and ugly in this country. This is undeniable.
Relatively uneducated white men have identified themselves as victims because it was no longer the case that being a white man always gave you preferential treatment. The truth about slavery and segregation and structural discrimination and Jim Crow had become widely known. Most of the nation has realized that it was on the wrong course. From 1787 to 1965, we had slavery, segregation and Jim Crow. That’s 178 years. From 1965 to 2020 is 55 years. So, for fully three fourths (¾ or .75 or 75% ) of this nation’s history, African Americans faced either slavery, segregation and / or Jim Crow. The consequences of this upon the educational opportunities and the opportunity to earn income and accrue wealth was catastrophic. Simply no longer allowing slavery, segregation and Jim Crow would not result in equal opportunities for African Americans. It simply meant that they would be exacerbated to an even greater degree. This country has structures and systems and communities in which African Americans were rarely allowed. Knowing people or coming from the right schools gave white men an in that African Americans simply did not and could not have. Even when slavery and segregation and Jim Crow were no longer in effect, the consequences of their existence in the recent past still put tremendous barriers in front of African Americans.
In every social science statistic, it is evident that discrimination is still present in our country. Tax cuts for the wealthy do not help the poor. Prosperity for marginalized communities won’t just happen. We have to invest in it. We need to invest in creating a more level playing field for marginalized communities. It isn’t just the right thing to do; it is also the smart economic thing to do. Marginalized communities are becoming an increasingly large percentage of the country. Continuing to allow structural discrimination to keep them down will continue the hurt and damage down to an increasingly large percentage of the country. Republicans, the party of Donald Trump, support discrimination against marginalized communities. The Republican Party has nothing to offer marginalized communities. They are damaging all marginalized communities.
Every right and opportunity depends upon the vote. The right of the vote is what creates the possibility of change for good for marginalized communities. With the vote, laws can be changed, a better and more inclusive administration can take office, and the future can be brighter than today. Without the power of the vote, there is no hope or possibility of change. The Republican Party is attempting to begin a second era of Jim Crow. Anybody promoting or active member of the Republican Party is supporting this second era of Jim Crow that they are making happen. The only organization which can defeat the Republican Party is the Democratic Party. This means we all must do everything we can to help the Democratic Party win, support the most progressive Democratic Party candidate who has a legitimate chance of winning in every race. If there is only a conservative democrat running against a radical republican in a conservative republican congressional district or very conservative state, then vote for and support the democrat. However, we have to try to get as many progressives in Congress as possible. So, if a progressive democrat has a legitimate chance of winning (as you perceive it) and there is a more conservative democrat , support the progressive democrat. The only time we should support a more conservative democrat against a progressive democrat is if the conservative democrat is very likely to win and the progressive democrat is unlikely to win. The Democratic Party is the only hope for defeating these voter suppression bills. We are trying to get Manchin to back a bill as close to the current For the People Act as possible. Nevertheless, the fact is that Byron Donalds is harming fellow African Americans by supporting the Republican Party and the policies he is identified with. The Republican Party is doing everything they can to hurt African Americans, other people of color, and other marginalized communities. The radical Republican Party and radical Far Right love having an African American whom they can use to promote their discriminatory policies because it allows them to disguise their discrimination. He is allowing himself to be used to hurt his fellow African Americans.