Black voters matter

By Solomon Jones

Philadelphia Daily News

It was day one of the Democratic National Convention, and liberal icon Rev. Al Sharpton stood with conservative commentator Armstrong Williams on the floor of Philadelphia’s Wells Fargo Center. They were discussing the Democratic Party’s propensity for taking the black vote for granted.

Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton can’t afford to do so. Not with the latest email scandal indicating that elements of the Democratic National Committee did indeed favor Clinton over Sanders. Not with Sanders supporters openly booing at the mention of Clinton’s name. Not with white union members speaking of their affinity for Donald Trump.

The black community, which united behind Clinton in the primaries, is now looking to the Democratic Party for some assurances. African-Americans know that Clinton cannot win without black support, and in black circles, both liberals and conservatives are united in one sentiment.

Black people can no longer give our votes away for nothing.

“You can’t take the black vote for granted,” conservative Armstrong Williams said to Al Sharpton.

“No, you can’t take the black vote for granted,” Sharpton answered.

Clearly Trump is not even in double digits there. But you’ve got to turn them out and you’ve got to address our issues. I thought it was good they’re going to have the mothers of the movement on, which shows some understanding of the need to deal with police reform. But you’ve got to really deal with policy. Are you going to continue with what Eric Holder and Loretta Lynch did around mass incarceration? You’ve really got to give us a reason to want to stand in line.”

Reporters listen

As a small audience of reporters gathered to listen to the two men, Williams grinned and placed an arm on Sharpton’s shoulder. “You know I’ve never seen you so fair,” he said facetiously. “I’m so impressed. My brother, this is ... ”

“I’ve always been fair,” Sharpton interrupted. “But when you have somebody as extreme and imbecilic as Donald Trump, you can easily be reasonable.”

The two men shared a laugh – an indication of their friendly disagreement. I later pulled both men aside and spoke to them separately.

Though they spoke from different ends of the ideological spectrum, both emphasized the importance of the black vote.

I asked Williams why he believes the black community should consider Trump.

He argued that things have improved tremendously for the LGBT community, mainstream America, millennials and corporate America. But for blacks, he said, there has been no improvement, especially in the inner cities.

I believe blacks would be foolish to seriously consider Trump. But we’d also be foolish to allow the Democratic Party to take our votes for granted.

I asked Sharpton what the Democratic Party must do to prove they aren’t doing so.

“They must address the issues of our concern,” Sharpton said. “Unemployment, mass incarceration, police reform, educational inequality. They’ve got to talk about the issues that we’re concerned about.”

It would be dangerous for us to allow Trump to nominate multiple Supreme Court justices who could further reverse black voting rights, affirmative action and other issues important to the black community, Sharpton said.

“We’ve got a lot at stake,” he added.

And on that point, Sharpton was absolutely right.

Solomon Jones is a columnist for the Philadelphia Daily News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.