President Trump unveiled a plan aimed at winning over Black Americans on Friday, less than two months before Election Day, largely expanding upon the existing economic-related initiatives the President established in his first term.
The proposals include prosecuting the Antifa as terrorist organizations and Ku Klux Klan, making Juneteenth a federal holiday and efforts to bolster Black economic prosperity.
During an Atlanta event announcing what was deemed the Black Economic Empowerment “Platinum Plan,” Trump sought to draw contrasts between his plan for the African American community and Joe Biden’s proposals, arguing that the former vice president “inflicted” damage on the Black community over the last 47 years he’s spent working in Washington.
Trump garnered just 8% of the Black electorate in 2016 — and an average of recent 2020 polls shows Biden leading Trump with Black voters by an 83% to 8%, or 75-point, margin.”
They only care about power for themselves, whatever that means. My opponent is offering Black Americans nothing but the same old, tired, empty slogans,” Trump argued.
The President has presented different messages on race when playing to different audiences. He defended Confederate symbols. He has called the Black Lives Matter movement a “symbol of hate,” days after retweeting and then deleting a video that included a Florida supporter shouting “White power.” The White House has maintained that Trump did not hear the supporter say the phrase.
But on Friday, the President spoke about the pillars of the plan in broad terms, saying, that among other proposals, he would be building up “peaceful” urban neighborhoods with the “highest standards” of policing, bringing fairness to the justice system, expanding school choice, increasing Black home ownership and creating a “national clemency project to right wrongful prosecutions and to pardon individuals who have reformed their (lives).”
The proposal borrows efforts from proposals by other Republicans, such as South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who played a vital role in the establishment of opportunity zones and remains the sole Black Republican in the Senate.
Courtesy : CNN
