By: Jasmine Smith
It’s been over a week now since election Tuesday and by now we all know that Joe Biden has been declared the President elect despite all the controversy with Trump refusing to concede and demanding recounts in several states. Regardless of that Biden is the victor and a lot of that has to do with the black vote.
For weeks leading up to the election it was stressed that the black vote would make a huge difference and might even be a determining factor and that remained to be true. I hope that after this election all the non-believers see why our ancestors fought so hard for the right to vote and why to this day they try everything in their power to discourage us from voting. Biden even addressed this in his speech following his projected victory saying, “You’ve always had my back and I’ll always have yours.” Here are five ways the black vote helped Biden secure the win.
Fed Up
It’s obvious that the main reason black voters flocked to the polls in support of Biden is because the past four years have been hell for them and it’s clear that the Trump administration does not care. This has to do with a number of things: healthcare, the economy, the response to the coronavirus, etc. Also at the forefront has been police brutality issues, that the Trump administration has no plans to address. He can’t even say Black Lives Matters or tell the “Proud Boys” to stand down. As we’ve seen with George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor and countless others this year through protests black people are tired of seeing other black people killed for no good reason but their skin tone. Through those protests it was also heavily stressed that the protests would mean nothing if all those people didn’t also show up at the polls, hence the heavy turnout.
Stacey Abrams
You may have seen seen Stacey Abrams trending over the past week and being praised for her efforts and it is much deserved. She is one the main reasons Georgia, a normally red state, was able to turn blue. She along with countless others, including New Georgia Project and Georgia Stand Up, have done the groundwork and proved that change and progress can take years of work but can be done. Abrams in particular faced voter suppression herself in 2018 after losing to Brian Kemp for governor of Georgia. She has since dedicated her time to fighting suppression and fraud. This past election she helped around 800,000 voters register.
Cities with a heavy Black population
In the end a lot of cities with heavy Black populations helped to secure Biden a win in those states even though Trump was winning them at one point. Biden won Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in addition to Georgia which we mentioned earlier. This was largely because of Detroit, Milwaukee and Philadelphia all cities with a large black population.
Black women
Having a woman and one of color as his running mate of course did Biden a lot of good because much like 2008 with President Obama people could see someone that looks like themselves and see history be made with Kamala Harris being the first female Vice President. That was just one reason black women might of heavily voted for Biden though, black women did what they did in the 2016 election and what they have always done which is be the backbone of the election with 90 percent of black women voting in favor of Biden.
Young Black voters
Every election we are aware of the power young people/new voters have. This election was no different, but was heightened because of what has happened this year. We know the young people were very active in wanting change through protests and other methods. Young blacks have been at the forefront of the movement. They know their power, they know that the future relies on them and they are from a different time than the older generation and refuse to accept discrimination. This election four in 10 eligible black voters were either Millennials or Gen Z. Eighty-eight percent of black voters under 30 voted for Biden.
It’s clear after this election that our voice has power, now let’s continue to use that power to get things done under a new administration.
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