There are signs more and more blacks are waking up and voting for candidates whose policies they believe will benefit them rather than for candidates that share their skin color.
Black politicians have done little to help African Americans. Poverty levels for blacks don't improve in cities run by black mayors. Public schools in their neighborhoods don't improve. Crime levels don't go down. If blacks make elections about skin color, they are dooming themselves, since there is no history that black politicians are particularly geared to lifting their supporters out of poverty.
However, good policies do help African Americans escape poverty. At the inner-city level school choice in communities with failing public schools give children access to a better education.
Tough on crime policies create safer black neighborhoods, that invite employers to locate jobs there. Safe communities are important for black children to grow and develop especially in situations where parents are often at work.
Most African Americans today have achieved middle class or higher status, but those left behind seem to be trapped by generational poverty that starts with the fact, that the black politicians they supported have done nothing to change the reality on the ground.
Time to forget skin color when you vote, vote for the candidate that is going to make your neighborhood safer, provide educational alternatives to your children, attract employers into the neighborhood, maintain a good transit system to get to work, and ensure a good social network of services ranging from churches to health care clinics and hospitals are present in the community.
You don't have to be a black politician to believe in the changes needed to help that remnant of African Americans stuck in poverty to escape their poverty, you just have to be someone with good ideas and the courage to implement them.
When it comes time to vote, forget ideology, focus on concrete ideas to make the community you live in better.
My brother was Mayor of Jersey City in the 90s he succeeded in adding jobs and lowering crime. But he faced to much opposition to improve the schools at the time. When he left office, he started a charter school. Last year, 100% of the seniors graduated, 93% were accepted into college, the vast majority were African Americans, and 75% of the students came from families living below the poverty line. Change is possible.
Good ideas can change the future of those trapped in generational poverty, but not if people keep voting based on "skin color".
