In his speech at Midland, Michigan, last week, Donald Trump made an impassioned plea for African-American votes. After detailing the shameful conditions of poverty, unemployment, crime, incarceration and failed schools which have developed under Democrat control of American cities for the past 50 years, Mr. Trump asked for the votes of African-Americans. He concluded with a simple question, “What do you have to lose”?
Since Lyndon Johnson’s War on Poverty, which really started “the welfare state” — and feminism’s assault on men’s value as fathers, the African-American neighborhoods, especially in large cities, have been virtually destroyed. In many cases, these neighborhoods look like third world barrios, even war zones. The deserted streets of Detroit, Michigan, show the future of many American cities if some drastic changes are not made — and soon.
Mr. Trump’s call to begin by changing the political leadership of these communities is a critical element for renewal. However, the practical question is, how can these folks be persuaded to change their life-long habit of voting for Democrats? It will take a pivotal issue to do that.
Fortunately, a pivotal issue is available: school choice. Everyone knows that one crucial component to the advancement of these stricken families is upgrading their education. “Upgrading” simply means “learning things you need to know” — in order to get a job, for example, and to support your family, to become a productive citizen, and to stay away from drugs, jail, and gangs. Right now, few inner city schools are producing students who have learned any of these things. Many students do not even learn how to read and write standard English before they drop out.
Learning is inherently exciting. If you place a toddler on a rug, the first thing the toddler does is to start exploring — the furniture, the rug, the dog, the toys — everything. Humans never lose this fascination with learning. The problem with inner city schools (and many other schools) is that they are so boring. The students cease to look to schools for their learning. They don’t stop learning, they just stop learning in school. They turn to the neighborhood, the gangs, the criminals who seem to be successful, and some to escape from their world with drugs, sex and crime.
African-American parents in these neighborhoods know this better than anyone. They will flock by the thousands to any opportunity that gives hope of helping their children escape the entrapment of their public schools. One example is the District of Columbia. It had a modest experiment in school vouchers for 2,000 students to attend private schools. As soon as our first African-American president hit town, he tried to close that program down (and sent his own children to an expensive private school). He was unsuccessful due to the Republican Congress. Needless to say, school choice programs are fiercely resisted by the powerful teachers’ unions and their Democrat allies. But they have generally been well received by parents. When inner city parents look at their schools and ask, “What do we have to lose?” The answer is, “Nothing. We have already lost most of what counts.”
So, this cause is right in front of Mr. Trump — and every other Republican running for office. There are several versions of school choice. Besides the District of Columbia, 13 states have some form of school choice, so there are a number of examples to evaluate. I am not advocating a particular system here. It is best for each candidate to be familiar with the situation in his/her own jurisdiction. This also goes for a national candidate like Mr. Trump. He should be familiar with local policies. However, his role is to place his support firmly behind the principle of school choice and the proposition that whatever version is to be adopted be available to all children whose parents wish to take advantage. Specifically, inner city parents must have access to a variety of schools.
The other condition for the success of this strategy is that Mr. Trump and his surrogates take their message to these parents where they live. If the Republican Party waits for the African-American community to come to them — as in Midland — their mission will fail. Mr. Trump has to make his impassioned plea for the black vote directly to black audiences. If he delivers a strong message on school choice with a well thought-out and practical plan for implementation, he will turn this election on its head! He should propose a federal law governing school choice programs with matching federal funds — in accordance with public school grants now in effect. This would prove his concern with the inner cities of America.
With sufficient African-American support in the big cities which are normally a bright blue, Mr. Trump can turn them purple and win the election.
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