Algenon Cash: Fact vs Myth - What has Trump done for Black America?

Politicians are notorious for making wild claims or exaggerating what they have done on behalf of those who elected them. President Trump is a master of puffery and routinely makes false or misleading statements about his political accomplishments.

But one claim has gotten the attention of Black voters, a loyal Democratic voting bloc; some Black voters are questioning the president's assertion that he has "done more for the Black community than any other president."

Trump points to his economic policies, criminal justice reforms, and education priorities as evidence that he has impacted Black America positively; however Black voters remain largely against Trump with 87% disapproving of his job performance. Not to mention 83% of Black voters believe Trump is a racist.

Economy

Black unemployment reached a record low during the Trump administration, 5.4%. When Trump was sworn into office Black unemployment was 7.8%. Trump inherited a growing national economy, but his tax policies and easing of burdensome regulations helped to power the longest economic expansion in history.

A surging economy certainly benefited all of America, but the impact to Black America was uneven. Although Black unemployment fell, household median income weakened - $41,361, well below the peak of $43,380 in 2000. Not to mention a majority of Black workers had unskilled labor positions, which often pay below average wages, lack adequate health insurance, and don't allow for social distancing - 1 in 920 Black Americans have died from COVID-19 and they are 3.2 times more likely to die compared to Whites.

Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which lowered tax rates for all Americans, but also created the Opportunity Zone program. An investment program that incentivized capital placement in low-income areas. Capital gain taxes are deferred for investments reinvested into assets in these zones and, if the investment is held for ten years, all capital gains on the new investment are waived.

The Opportunity Zone program attracted interest in neglected and under-utilized neighborhoods while mobilizing capital to jumpstart private investment to revitalize these areas. Although Trump does continually embellish the success of the program when he touts $75 billion has been invested - in reality around $25 billion has been invested and $47 billion pledged, not bad for a relatively new program.

Criminal Justice Reform

There are over two million people incarcerated in the United States with 90% being held in state prisons and 10% in federal detention. Black Americans make up 34% of the prison population while accounting for 13% of the entire population.

Liberal activist and Obama senior advisor Van Jones partnered with President Trump on criminal justice reform. Trump signed the bipartisan First Step Act in 2018 - which reforms federal prisons, restructures sentencing guidelines, and decreases the federal inmate population.

Over 3,000 federal prisoners were released within the first year of passing the legislation, and more than 2,000 inmates benefited from sentence reductions. Not to mention the Justice Department used the First Step Act for compassionate release measures during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Education Priorities

The first president to sign an executive order targeting HBCUs was Jimmy Carter, but historians notate the Democratic president took action for political expediency – desperately needing to increase black voter turnout; Carter issued the order in August 1980. Reagan would later issue the executive order that originally created the White House Initiative. 

Trump is known to declare that he rescued historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). "I saved HBCUs. We saved them," Trump brags. "They were going out, and we saved them."

In 2017, just two months into his first term, President Trump invited over 80 HBCU presidents to engage with congressional leaders and Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos; they also visited the Oval Office to join President Trump in signing a new executive order for the White House Initiative to Promote Excellence and Innovation at HBCUs.

The most important milestone with the executive order was moving the initiative back to the White House, where HBCUs now have greater access to the President and his staff, ensuring a greater probability of being treated as a priority and increasing opportunities for capacity building.  It’s worth noting HBCU presidents requested this move during the previous administration after former President Obama signed an executive order in 2012.

Trump signed the bi-partisan FUTURE Act in December 2019. The legislation made permanent $255 million in annual STEM funding for minority-serving colleges, including $85 million specifically allocated for HBCUs. In addition, Secretary DeVos canceled the payment of more than $300 million in federal relief loans and provided more than $200 million in new funding to federal programs that the United Negro College Fund deems most important to HBCUs.

In addition, Trump has restructured many Obama-era programs that frustrated HBCU advocates and leaders, such as the borrower-defense rule, Parent PLUS loan program, and Pell Grants.

"When these items have gotten to the president's desk," Lodriguez Murray, UNCF's senior vice president of public policy said, "the president has signed each and every one."

Republicans are guilty of ignoring Black voters and mistakenly assuming they are a monolithic voting bloc for the Democratic Party. Trump has deployed a new strategy that centers on directly engaging with the Black community despite the obstacles, gatekeepers, and barriers. The strategy paid off in 2016 when Trump carried 8% of all Black voters and he appears to be poised to double his support in 2020. But in a close race that is coming down to a handful of key battleground states, if Trump expands his support with Black voters by 2-3%, then he will gain a second term.

Algenon Cash is a nationally recognized speaker and the managing director of Wharton Gladden & Company, a consulting firm. Reach him at acash@whartongladden.com.

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