Typically, when one makes an argument, it’s a good idea to provide facts or evidence to back up one’s claims. And it’s also standard procedure, when making a serious argument, to avoid ad hominem attacks because they only demonstrate the poverty of one’s position if they need to resort to insults.
Unfortunately, John E. Jones is guilty of both failing to back up his claims and relying heavily on name-calling to make his point.
He does acknowledge that Democrats were once an enemy of black people, but he fails to mention how the Republican Party was formed specifically as an anti-slavery party and how Republicans voted in higher proportions for the 4 key civil rights acts between 1957 and 1968 than Democrats.
He also ignores how Biden helped write the controversial 1994 anti-crime bill and referred at the time to “predators in our streets.” This bill raised the sentencing requirements for people charged with possession of crack cocaine and has been criticized for its negative impact on black communities. (Biden was even criticized for his support of this bill in the Democratic debates.)
But Trump, the man he says is “evil”, listened to the concerns of prominent black figures such as Kanye West and his wife Kim Kardashian and both pardoned 4 black women unfairly sentenced and signed the 2018 criminal justice reform act, which was primarily aimed at reducing the incarceration rate and sentence length of black Americans.
Under Trump’s economic policies, black unemployment reached its lowest level in history, and Trump has often spoken of his concern for poor, black urban communities. Trump immediately condemned the killing of George Floyd and made federal resources available to investigate the case.
I would ask Mr. Jones what Trump has specifically done in terms of policy that could be considered racist or anti-black? I know he has said a few things that can be uncharitably adjudged to be racist or at least insensitive, but good people can disagree on those interpretations. At the end of the day, you need to look at the actions and fruits of someone’s efforts, not what they say or promise to evaluate their value on a given issue.
I would also ask Mr. Jones to refute the specific claims of Tyrone Jones with evidence and facts and without simplistic name-calling and character slurs.
I know Democrats claim to be ardent supporters of black causes and are always willing to throw taxpayer money at any cause they prefer, but if you look at the results in cities that have voted Democratic, they aren’t good. Bad schools, high crime, dangerous neighborhoods where kids especially are unsafe are the hallmark of big, Democratic-controlled cities.
The enemy of black people in our country is not one party or even racists. The enemy of black people and all people is bad government policy disguised by good intentions, which in the end worsens the problems it intends to resolve.
That is why Democratically run cities do so badly when it comes to improving the lot of black people, and why more Democrat control will not result in the betterment of their condition.
At the end of the day, we are in this together and none of us benefit by demonizing each other. Dr. Martin Luther King appealed to the ideals of our country and Christianity to motivate white people to examine themselves and pass legislation that redressed historic injustice. It worked.
What makes anyone think that now is a better time to drop such appeals to our better nature and instead divide our country and label our neighbors as racist jerks or brainwashed automatons? Let’s do better together.
Trey Hoffman
Peachtree City, Ga.
Do your part to keep the myth alive…Southern Stategy? Almost nobody in the adult generation in the South during the 60’s and 70’s moved from Dem to Rep. That was a generational shift reflected in Congress. And one might make a reasonable argument that the more racially harmonious large cities today are in fact in the South. Atlanta is a fully functioning racially diverse (in all financial strata) regional area and as such has experienced rapid growth and a good quality of life. This proves that even with Dem leadership, a large city does not have to be disfunctional as long as there is a healthy mix of liberals and conservatives in the area and the culture maintains a healthy, family and faith based foundation, the very attributes that BLM and critical theory advocates racistly define as ‘white traits’. Any ‘systemic’ racism today lays squarely at the feet of the Democratic party with their insistent messaging to black youth that they cannot make it in America without big Dem Government support and yes, their empowering of public unions including police and teacher unions which are now blamed by those Dems as the problem. Let’s never forget the Dems all-in support of abortion on demand with no constraints, be largest killer of black people!
We don’t have to excuse President Trump because even with his rough language, his actions have shown no signs of racism, rather the opposite. Dems like to talk the talk but this president has walked it. You think that you are woke but really you are dreaming!
Just a human error in the white house
You conveniently left out the southern strategy. The party of Lincoln supported federalism and has next to nothing in common with the republican party of today. The state that cities are in today cannot be blamed entirely on the mayors, the state and federal government also had a hand in it. The FHA gave white Americans the ability to move to the suburbs but left POC in the inner city creating pockets of extreme poverty that are hard to escape due to redlining. The mayors do have some of the blame for the state of the police today, but the issue is the cities have no effective way to negotiate with cop unions. Because of this, cops can make all kinds of demands and cities have to go along with it. Schools are funded locally and when the inner city became a poor area the schools lost funding, which cities cannot control. Not to mention the war on drugs started by Nixon explicitly to oppress POC, which again cities cannot control. I don’t disagree that both parties share the blame but it very much is not bad policy with good intentions, it is bad policy with bad intentions. I agree we need to do better, but we cannot forget how we got here.
Thank you Henry Vorosmarti they always tell half truths…
@Henry Vorosmarti I agree completely. Well stated.
Good summary of reality, Trey. Everything you say is true. It would be really good if everybody would pay attention to the facts before voting or allowing their vote to be used by paid activists.
Great headline, Cal. Sums it up perfectly.
The straight up hypocrisy. Asking someone to present rational arguments instead of name calling and then still advocating support for Donald Trump. Disgusting.
This is really rich. The idea of pretzel logic Trey Hoffman giving pointers on developing and presenting rational arguments is akin to me schooling Freddie Freeman on hitting a curve ball. Trey can offer great pointers on the erection of straw men, selectively reviewing history, and advancing the non sequitur. But his forte is uncritically repeating what he heard on Fox News last night.
You really can’t make this stuff up.