What White People Don’t Know About the Black Vote

By Mildred Robertson

This blog was first published in March 2020 before the November election.  As we approach the November 2024 election, I think it might be wise to revisit this topic. Though the name of the adversary may have changed, the facts have not.

We have folk such as " Charlamagne Tha God" (What a pompous, blasphemous handle) attacking Biden with little regard for what damage the alternative would do to our community. But I am confident that the ancestors will rise up again in us, and blacks across the nation will do what is necessary to survive, and perhaps thrive. Defeating Biden is defeating ourselves...and we are not likely to do that unless those who purport to be leaders tell us to slash the master's throat and die rather than sing songs that point us to freedom. 

So. It seems the “Bernie Bros” think that Black voters have somehow been “mamified;” voting for the safe candidate rather than their revolutionary leader. They say we voted against our own self-interest when we overwhelmingly supported Biden over Sanders. 

The audacity it takes for any White American to assume he or she understands the motivation of Black folks when it comes to the idea of revolution is laughable and demonstrates why, perhaps, there is a disconnect between Black voters and the Sanders campaign.

You may not understand our struggles or our journey. But it is necessary that in 2020 those who want or need our support respect our perspective. It appears to me that Bernie and his supporters are unable to see our view.

Since the first enslaved African set foot on the shores of this stolen continent, we have had to weigh what it would take for us to survive. Our choices seldom included a totally positive outcome. We learned that revolution does not always have to be loud. Sometimes it is subtle.  So we learned how to be subtly defiant, and thus survive.

We learned how to work in the big house, smile at the master and tuck morsels of food away for our loved ones. We learned how to hoe in the fields all day and still find time to toil a small plot of land to provide a few extra bits to our starvation diet. We learned how to take the guts of a hog and the feet of chicken and turn it into a delicacy. We learned how to endure rape, and then bear the children of our oppressors; loving our children still. We learned how to say “yas suh massa” while, unbeknownst to our tormentors, we sang songs that told a slave when it was safe to “get on board” the freedom train, or “wade in the water” to elude slave hunters and their dogs.

We learned how to walk among hordes of snapping dogs, water hoses and hate-filled southerners to get an education. We learned to stand our ground when marauding psychopaths filled the night with burning crosses, and the trees with corpses of brown bodies.

We learned to sit at the back of the room, and still get an education. And yes, we learned to balance what we MUST have with what we want or need.

What we must do right now is remove Donald Trump from the White House.

I’ve never been a Bernie fan. But that is neither here nor there. If I thought for one minute that Bernie had a better chance of beating Trump than Joe Biden, I would vote for him in a heartbeat. And if chance would have it that he becomes the Democratic candidate, I will rush to the voting booth to cast my vote for him. And the majority of my brothers and sisters will do the same.

But I believe that what has happened here, as has been practiced by African Americans for 401 years, is that collectively we searched for the path toward survival. That path led us to select Joe Biden as the candidate who could best help us reach that goal.

You see, Donald Trump’s presidency holds a threat for all Americans, but for us the threat is magnified. Whether it is jobs, healthcare, climate change, social or environmental justice, the threat to our community is always greater than that of the average white American.

If you examine the range of 2020 Democratic candidates, the field was deep and wide. The credentials of many were impressive. But do not doubt that each of the candidates had baggage. None were perfect. And none will ever be. That includes Bernie. While vocalizing many policies that would help the Black community, I have yet to see his success in getting similar policies enacted.

Joe Biden is a known commodity in the Black community. He has a track record that, while not unblemished, indicates that we will survive and perhaps thrive under his leadership. After weighing the various threats to our collective survival, Black voters decided it was time to sing “get on board,” and they boarded with Joe. While White liberals may disagree with this choice, it is necessary that they respect it if we are to have a working relationship.