EXCLUSIVE: President Trump is Giving African Americans Hope for a Better Future

President Trump has kept his promises to the African American community, which is prospering like never before under his leadership.

As proud members of the Black Voices for Trump coalition, we plan to spread that message far and wide between now and Election Day, because we want to keep the good times rolling for another four years.

For decades, establishment politicians in Washington have pledged to revitalize low-income black neighborhoods, eliminate the racial disparities in our criminal justice system, and promote genuine equality in our society — only to forget all about us after our votes helped to put them in office. President Trump merely promised to empower African Americans in the same way that he pledged to empower all Americans — and by keeping that simple promise, he has achieved the very goals that elude so many of his predecessors.

Since his first day in the White House, President Trump has been committed to implementing economic policies that would strengthen American workers and uplift formerly forgotten citizens throughout the country. His Tax Cuts & Jobs Act (TCJA), for instance, saved taxpayers an average of $1,400 on their federal income taxes in 2018, while also slashing taxes on small businesses and jump-starting a nationwide jobs boom that has created millions of new jobs.

But the tax cuts were just the beginning. The TCJA also created a tax incentive program allowing states to designate nearly 9,000 economically-distressed communities as “opportunity zones” — a move that is projected to generate around $100 billion of additional private investment in places that have long been overlooked by politicians and business leaders alike.

These policies had a transformative impact on the African American community, generating historic levels of prosperity that exceed what establishment politicians even dare to promise. Under President Trump, the African American unemployment rate has fallen to its lowest point in history, as has the black poverty rate. Black median household income, meanwhile, has finally rebounded from the post-recession doldrums of the Obama years, hitting all-time highs in both 2017 and 2018.

Establishment politicians have also been promising African American voters criminal justice reform for many years, yet they’ve consistently failed to deliver. Once again, Donald Trump came through where others had failed, bringing members of both parties together to pass the most substantial changes to our criminal justice system in a generation.

Unlike the “tough-on-crime” reforms implemented in the 1980s and ‘90s, though, President Trump’s groundbreaking FIRST STEP Act succeeded in reducing, not exacerbating, racial inequities. The historic legislation not only eliminated discriminatory sentencing disparities — including those that imposed far harsher fines for crack possession compared to powder cocaine — it also created dozens of innovative new programs designed to reduce recidivism by giving non-violent inmates the job and life-skills training they need to become productive members of society after release. Recidivism is especially high among African American inmates, and these rehabilitation-oriented programs will go a long way toward helping ex-convicts avoid returning to a life of crime.

“America wins when citizens with a criminal record can contribute to their communities as law-abiding members of our society,” the President famously declared.

That’s undeniably true, and thanks to Donald Trump’s leadership, thousands of African Americans have already been afforded that opportunity after having their excessive prison sentences dramatically reduced by the FIRST STEP Act.

These are the sorts of victories that establishment politicians have been promising the African American community for decades, but only President Trump has actually delivered results. The Black Voices for Trump coalition is determined to make sure that this President gets another four years in the Oval Office to keep adding to this record of success.

Photo credit: Johnny Silvercloud (Creative Commons) – Some rights reserved

This op-ed is authored by the Co-Chairs of Black Voices for Trump coalition, which includes, Herman Cain, Diamond & Silk, and Pastor Darrell Scott.

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