Detroit’s young Black men embrace Trump, their older brothers understand
ON THE GROUND
A generational divide saw many young African American men, a traditional Democratic voter base, persuaded by Donald Trump's promise of a brighter economic future. Older Black men were willing to give Kamala Harris a chance, but they understand the shift in stance of their younger counterparts. The question now is whether Trump can deliver.
Issued on: 08/11/2024 -
By: Leela JACINTO
‘Left out and forgotten by Democrats’
When President Joe Biden made way for Harris as the Democratic presidential candidate, many assumed a half-Black, half-Indian woman would clinch the African American vote.
The Democratic party has a decades-long commitment to racial equality. It gave the US its first Black president, Barack Obama, and it was viewed as the antithesis of the white male-dominated Republican party.
But in the lead-up to the November 5 vote, opinion polls showed an erosion of Black support for Harris, particularly among young African American males.
While some experts disputed the polling methodology, others put it down to misogyny. Obama tried a tough love approach, speaking “some truth” to “the brothers” in Pennsylvania last month.
“I'm speaking to men directly – part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren't feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you're coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that,” said Obama.
His comments sparked a backlash among many African American men, who accused the first Black president of “lecturing” and “belittling” them.
Black men have voted at higher rates for reproductive rights than men from other racial groups, noted Rashawn Ray and Keon Gilbert, fellows at the Washington DC-based Brookings Institute, in their report, “Why are Black men mad at Obama”.
The “biggest” reason for the disenchantment is because “many Black men feel left out and forgotten by the Democratic Party. They are tired of feeling as if their voice is not heard or that they only matter on issues of policing and criminal justice reform”, said Ray and Gilbert.
‘The reason why I voted for Trump’
Early analysis of the 2024 vote shows the opinion polls had it right all along.
The percentage of the white vote for the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates did not register a significant change between the 2020 and 2024 elections, according to the AP VoteCast.
But among African American voters, Trump in 2024 was able to double his vote share of young Black men. About three in 10 Black men under the age of 45 went for Trump, roughly double the number he got in 2020.
The success of the Trump campaign’s outreach to Latino and Black voters has been one of the biggest surprises of the 2024 elections. It came despite the Republican candidate’s record of anti-immigrant and racist insults.
But at a time of soaring high costs, Trump’s message resonated with unemployed and low-paid Black and Latino workers.
“I'm neither a Republican nor Democrat, but I go by common sense. And that's the reason why I voted for Trump,” said Shawn Harris.
An unemployed security guard, Harris suffered a medical crisis in January that left him unable to work. But he’s still waiting for a disability compensation. “When I see people who can come [to the US] from anywhere with no documentation got it better off than me and my ethnic group, and my ethnic group historically has built this country … I got a problem with it. That's something that doesn't work for me at all,” he said.
'We'll be able to work together'
Some of the older Black men who own shops and run small businesses appeared to understand the frustrations of their younger “brothers” in the neighbourhood.
“As an entrepreneur, we have to make every dollar that is brought through the business,” said F-Alan Young, 52, who shares his printing business office with an auto insurance salesman.
“So, it looks a little bit different for entrepreneurs. Here in Detroit, you have two different types of people. You got the factory people, the professionals. And you have the entrepreneurs, very micro-businesses. And so, you know, we get along just fine,” said Young, who voted for Harris.
ON THE GROUND
A generational divide saw many young African American men, a traditional Democratic voter base, persuaded by Donald Trump's promise of a brighter economic future. Older Black men were willing to give Kamala Harris a chance, but they understand the shift in stance of their younger counterparts. The question now is whether Trump can deliver.
Issued on: 08/11/2024 -
By: Leela JACINTO
An election flyer dumped in a garbage can in Detroit's West Side district on November 7, 2024. © Barbara Gabel, FRANCE 24
On the last Sunday before Election Day, the area around Detroit’s Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ was packed with onlookers dodging secret service and city police cars as they tried to catch a glimpse of the star guest arriving for the service.
US Vice President Kamala Harris had picked the historic Black church at the corner of Schaefer and Seven Mile roads to worship just days before polls opened on November 5 – and the neighbourhood couldn’t seem to get enough of her.
That was before the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz ticket took a drubbing in the 2024 elections.
On a crisp, sunny morning just days after the resounding Democratic defeat, the pre-election carnival in this predominantly African American neighbourhood had given way to desolation row.
On the last Sunday before Election Day, the area around Detroit’s Greater Emmanuel Institutional Church of God in Christ was packed with onlookers dodging secret service and city police cars as they tried to catch a glimpse of the star guest arriving for the service.
US Vice President Kamala Harris had picked the historic Black church at the corner of Schaefer and Seven Mile roads to worship just days before polls opened on November 5 – and the neighbourhood couldn’t seem to get enough of her.
That was before the Kamala Harris-Tim Walz ticket took a drubbing in the 2024 elections.
On a crisp, sunny morning just days after the resounding Democratic defeat, the pre-election carnival in this predominantly African American neighbourhood had given way to desolation row.
03:42A Harris/Walz sign on a bin in Detroit, Michigan, on November 7, 2024. © Barbara Gabel/France 24
A crushed “Harris-Walz” flyer sat drunkenly on a garbage can outside the church parking lot. Traffic lights changed colours for a handful of vehicles zipping down the wide empty streets. The diner around the corner fluttered an “Open” sign for no takers.
The corner of Schaefer and Seven Mile roads in Detroit, USA, is mostly empty on November 7, 2024. © Leela Jacinto, FRANCE 24
Standing at a bus stop, waiting for the No. 7 to take him to work, Danny Taylor sounded resigned over Harris’s defeat. “I’m disappointed she lost, ain’t nothin’ you can do about it,” said the 65-year-old labourer at a local hardware store.
Christopher Evans was also on his way to work just days after casting his ballot at a local school. But unlike Taylor, the 36-year-old cook at a Detroit luxury hotel said he wasn’t dismayed by Donald Trump’s victory. “I'm not upset about it, you know. I'm just hoping that President Trump can do what he needs to do to help us improve our system and improve our economy.”
Standing at a bus stop, waiting for the No. 7 to take him to work, Danny Taylor sounded resigned over Harris’s defeat. “I’m disappointed she lost, ain’t nothin’ you can do about it,” said the 65-year-old labourer at a local hardware store.
Christopher Evans was also on his way to work just days after casting his ballot at a local school. But unlike Taylor, the 36-year-old cook at a Detroit luxury hotel said he wasn’t dismayed by Donald Trump’s victory. “I'm not upset about it, you know. I'm just hoping that President Trump can do what he needs to do to help us improve our system and improve our economy.”
Chistropher Evans on his way to work in Detroit's West Side district on November 7, 2024. © Tahar Hani, FRANCE 24
While Evans declined to divulge who he voted for, the young Black man made it amply clear that he was ready for a change after four years of the Biden-Harris administration.
“I just wanted to see different people in the position. I don't want to see the same people that did the last four years. I want to see somebody different,” he said.
While Evans declined to divulge who he voted for, the young Black man made it amply clear that he was ready for a change after four years of the Biden-Harris administration.
“I just wanted to see different people in the position. I don't want to see the same people that did the last four years. I want to see somebody different,” he said.
‘Left out and forgotten by Democrats’
When President Joe Biden made way for Harris as the Democratic presidential candidate, many assumed a half-Black, half-Indian woman would clinch the African American vote.
The Democratic party has a decades-long commitment to racial equality. It gave the US its first Black president, Barack Obama, and it was viewed as the antithesis of the white male-dominated Republican party.
But in the lead-up to the November 5 vote, opinion polls showed an erosion of Black support for Harris, particularly among young African American males.
While some experts disputed the polling methodology, others put it down to misogyny. Obama tried a tough love approach, speaking “some truth” to “the brothers” in Pennsylvania last month.
“I'm speaking to men directly – part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren't feeling the idea of having a woman as president, and you're coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that,” said Obama.
His comments sparked a backlash among many African American men, who accused the first Black president of “lecturing” and “belittling” them.
Black men have voted at higher rates for reproductive rights than men from other racial groups, noted Rashawn Ray and Keon Gilbert, fellows at the Washington DC-based Brookings Institute, in their report, “Why are Black men mad at Obama”.
The “biggest” reason for the disenchantment is because “many Black men feel left out and forgotten by the Democratic Party. They are tired of feeling as if their voice is not heard or that they only matter on issues of policing and criminal justice reform”, said Ray and Gilbert.
‘The reason why I voted for Trump’
Early analysis of the 2024 vote shows the opinion polls had it right all along.
The percentage of the white vote for the Republican and Democratic presidential candidates did not register a significant change between the 2020 and 2024 elections, according to the AP VoteCast.
But among African American voters, Trump in 2024 was able to double his vote share of young Black men. About three in 10 Black men under the age of 45 went for Trump, roughly double the number he got in 2020.
The success of the Trump campaign’s outreach to Latino and Black voters has been one of the biggest surprises of the 2024 elections. It came despite the Republican candidate’s record of anti-immigrant and racist insults.
But at a time of soaring high costs, Trump’s message resonated with unemployed and low-paid Black and Latino workers.
“I'm neither a Republican nor Democrat, but I go by common sense. And that's the reason why I voted for Trump,” said Shawn Harris.
An unemployed security guard, Harris suffered a medical crisis in January that left him unable to work. But he’s still waiting for a disability compensation. “When I see people who can come [to the US] from anywhere with no documentation got it better off than me and my ethnic group, and my ethnic group historically has built this country … I got a problem with it. That's something that doesn't work for me at all,” he said.
Shawn Harris, an unemployed security guard, is still awaiting disability compensation after a medical crisis suffered 11 months ago. © Barbara Gabel, FRANCE 24
'We'll be able to work together'
Some of the older Black men who own shops and run small businesses appeared to understand the frustrations of their younger “brothers” in the neighbourhood.
“As an entrepreneur, we have to make every dollar that is brought through the business,” said F-Alan Young, 52, who shares his printing business office with an auto insurance salesman.
“So, it looks a little bit different for entrepreneurs. Here in Detroit, you have two different types of people. You got the factory people, the professionals. And you have the entrepreneurs, very micro-businesses. And so, you know, we get along just fine,” said Young, who voted for Harris.
F-Alan Young in his office in Detroit on November 7, 2024. © Leela Jacinto, FRANCE 24
While Young voted for Harris, he said he’s not unduly worried about a second Trump presidency.
“Eight years ago, we thought the world was going to come down when Trump was elected president. It didn't,” he said. “We as a people, we are the people. We're bigger than the presidency as a whole, together. I think there are ways that we'll be able to work together and figure it out. So I'm not overly concerned.”
At “God’s World”, a religious books and supplies shop opposite the Greater Emmanuel church, Larry Robinson, 76, said he voted for Harris. “I was hoping she would win, but now that it did not happen, I embrace the new president. I embrace and try to pray for him, that he'll be a good president,” he said.
Over the course of seven decades, Robinson has seen this neighbourhood in happier times before Detroit turned into a metaphor for urban blight, earning the infamous title of “murder capital” in the 1970s and ‘80s.
In recent years, the Motor City has turned the economic corner by stabilising its finances, improving services and reviving several neighbourhoods. “It’s starting to change back,” said Robinson. “I see more and more people coming back to Detroit and I see people working together more, and I see people tolerate each other’s differences more.”
While the world worries about what another four years of a Trump presidency will bring, Robinson’s faith, in his country and church, remain unshaken.
“I have a T-shirt here that says, ‘No matter who's president. Jesus is Lord’,” he said, whipping around his shop to display his favourite merchandise these days.
While Young voted for Harris, he said he’s not unduly worried about a second Trump presidency.
“Eight years ago, we thought the world was going to come down when Trump was elected president. It didn't,” he said. “We as a people, we are the people. We're bigger than the presidency as a whole, together. I think there are ways that we'll be able to work together and figure it out. So I'm not overly concerned.”
At “God’s World”, a religious books and supplies shop opposite the Greater Emmanuel church, Larry Robinson, 76, said he voted for Harris. “I was hoping she would win, but now that it did not happen, I embrace the new president. I embrace and try to pray for him, that he'll be a good president,” he said.
Over the course of seven decades, Robinson has seen this neighbourhood in happier times before Detroit turned into a metaphor for urban blight, earning the infamous title of “murder capital” in the 1970s and ‘80s.
In recent years, the Motor City has turned the economic corner by stabilising its finances, improving services and reviving several neighbourhoods. “It’s starting to change back,” said Robinson. “I see more and more people coming back to Detroit and I see people working together more, and I see people tolerate each other’s differences more.”
While the world worries about what another four years of a Trump presidency will bring, Robinson’s faith, in his country and church, remain unshaken.
“I have a T-shirt here that says, ‘No matter who's president. Jesus is Lord’,” he said, whipping around his shop to display his favourite merchandise these days.
Larry Robinson displays his favourite merchandise in his West Side, Detroit shop.
© Leela Jacinto, FRANCE 24
“I’ve come to realise, in my old age, now that me and my family, my network, we have to look out for ourselves,” he said. “You've had Republicans get in office. Some did a great job, some didn't. You have Democrats that got in office, some did a great job, some didn’t. But the bottom line is what you and your people do for yourself. I have to focus on that. If they line up, I work with them. If they don't, I pray for them. And keep going. That's my philosophy."
“I’ve come to realise, in my old age, now that me and my family, my network, we have to look out for ourselves,” he said. “You've had Republicans get in office. Some did a great job, some didn't. You have Democrats that got in office, some did a great job, some didn’t. But the bottom line is what you and your people do for yourself. I have to focus on that. If they line up, I work with them. If they don't, I pray for them. And keep going. That's my philosophy."
Arab-American and Latinx voters are facing racism online over Trump’s election victory
Calls to deport people of colour who didn't vote Democrat are resounding on X, and they're pretty racist, if you ask us.
Images Staff
09 Nov, 2024
DAWN
The 2024 US election results have left Democratic party supporters in the US looking for someone to blame and of course, Arabs, Latinxs (a gender-neutral term to refer to men and women of Latin American heritage) and immigrants are easy targets. Kamala Harris’ loss — and Donald Trump’s victory — led to a storm of anger, blame, and xenophobia aimed largely at minorities and immigrant communities on social media.
These groups are being accused of ‘gifting’ Trump the presidency by not voting for Harris, and as a result, are being subjected to heated, often vitriolic reactions. From calls for mass deportation to wishes that minorities lose their citizenship, the comments have crossed into racist and Islamophobic territory.
“I hope every f****** Muslim who voted Trump gets to watch Bibi turn Gaza into a glass parking lot,” one X user wrote.
Others echoed similar sentiments, directing hate toward Muslim and Arab communities in Michigan, where Trump won a surprising portion of the vote in the traditionally Democratic Dearborn. Another comment added, “I hope they are all deported. And I can’t wait until Netanyahu gets the green light to turn Gaza into a parking lot.”
“Netanyahu bombs and obliterates a school in Gaza. He did this because we just elected Trump, who told him ‘finish it off’ — and this is what he meant. To the Arab voters in Michigan who voted for Trump — this is on YOU,” Cheri Jacobus, a political strategist, pundit and writer, tweeted.
Many in her replies rightly took jabs at her for “being asleep for a year” given Netanyahu has been bombing schools in Gaza since way before the elections.
But the hate kept coming. “Arabs think Trump will save Gazzans, well he will pour more gasoline to ignite ongoing genocide,” a user wrote. “And now they deserve what’s coming to them. No pity from me this time. I’II pack their bags myself,” another commented.
Some reactions were outright vicious, such as: “I HOPE HE DEPORTS THEM ALL TO THE GULFS (Arab and Muslim Trump voters) coming from one.” Another user piled on, “I hope they all get deported” in response to black immigrants voting for the Republican candidate. The racist rhetoric continued to rear its head in tweets such as, “F*** Latinos and Arabs. There. I said it. Hope you all get deported and banned.”
“Trump promised religious extremism and white supremacy and American Arabs flocked to him like a fly to s*** like their white counterparts,” wrote one user.
What happened?
Trump gained massive support in communities of colour — including a 5.5-point shift in majority-Black counties and a 6.8-point increase in Latino-majority counties. Particularly in Dearborn, where Harris secured only 36.26 per cent of the vote compared to Trump’s 42.48pc.
A significant share of voters—18.37pc—opted for Green Party candidate Jill Stein, who campaigned on ending US support for Israeli military actions in Gaza. In contrast, Harris maintained a staunchly pro-Israel stance, alienating Muslim voters.
A major factor behind Harris’ loss in places like Dearborn was her foreign policy, including her wavering support of Israel. Her refusal to acknowledge growing frustrations within the Democratic base over US support for Israel’s actions in Gaza left many Muslim voters disillusioned.
During her campaign, Harris’s dismissive approach toward pro-Palestinian demonstrators who interrupted her rallies only heightened this frustration.
The political-frustration-turned-racism has raised questions about the way immigrants and minorities are viewed in the US. That these communities are being demonised not only for casting their ballots for the candidate of their choice but for ‘betraying’ the Democratic Party is a reflection of a deeper issue within the party. But rather than introspect on their candidate’s own failings, Democratic supporters are choosing to lay the blame squarely on people of colour who didn’t align with Harris’ policies.
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