Why I’m A Single Issue Voter In The 2020 Presidential Election
Experiences of discrimination in the United States are higher than what you might think, if you identify as white. As a white American, I am mostly able to ignore how racism operates in our society and culture. Conversely, people of color, specifically Black Americans, report overwhelmingly that “our country hasn’t gone far enough in giving blacks equal rights with whites” and that “race relations in the United States are generally bad.” People of color experience racism in the form of microaggressions on a regular basis and this negatively impacts their health. If the United States wants to hold it’s promise that all men are created equal and have unalienable rights, that include life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, our government needs to address the social injustices experienced by all people of color. However, our current President, Donald Trump, continually perpetuates racist ideas, policies, and statements that are in stark opposition to the ideals of justice that Americans are bonded together by. The single issue of racism bears the most importance in the 2020 Presidential election because the lives and livelihoods of people of color in this country — my fellow citizens, neighbors, peers, classmates, and colleagues — are at stake.
President Trump’s record of racist statements against any and all non-white ethnic and cultural groups is profound and disturbing. His rhetoric as the leader of our country enables racist acts, microaggression, stereotyping, and hate against people of color. Please visit the well-sourced Medium essay written by Andrea González-Ramírez, this in-depth article from the Atlantic, or an August 2020 article from Vox to understand the depth and breadth of Trump’s racist rhetoric. Trump regularly associates people of color with negative, harmful stereotypes that influence discriminatory practices at all levels of society, and provide unjust rationale for his racist policies.
What separates Trump from Biden is actually not a legacy of racist statements and support for racist policies. What sets them apart is what they plan to do about structural racism in America. In conducting research for this essay, I hoped to draw from both Trump’s reelection campaign platform as well as Biden’s platform. However, when visiting www.donaldjtrump.com, the closest to a platform I can find is a link to a separate website, www.promiseskept.com, which provides lists of actions he has overseen as President. The listed actions, broken out by topic, are simply statements that do not cite a source to a written policy or government website. Because of this, it is impossible for me to cite specific actions listed on his webpage.
Below I will list how President Donald Trump has perpetuated racism based on his policies, or lack of action, as reported on in the news media. It’s important to note that “racism” in the sense that I am using it means much more than individual, hateful words or actions towards members of a minority group. Racism in the structural sense can mean: not giving non-white people a seat at the table when making decisions, associating non-white people with negative stereotypes (criminals, predators, etc.) and advancing policies that favor white people over non-white people. Any bullet point encapsulated in quotes comes directly from this website: democracyincolor.com/recordofracism, which was a big help to me in writing this essay. Please pay that site a visit if you want even more examples of Trump’s racist legacy.
2017–2018:
- His election caused hate crimes to spike 20% in 2016.
- He reversed holds placed on the development of two oil pipelines, which have direct negative consequences for Native communities.
- The Trump administration created a new office to highlight the criminality of immigrants. Further research has shown that “increased concentrations of undocumented immigrants are associated with statistically significant decreases in violent crime.”
- Trump promised to deliver on a “Muslim Ban” in the 2016 Presidential campaign. This was done via an Executive Order on January 27th, 2017, and after challenges by federal courts, it was done a second time on March 6th, 2017. As justification for these orders, Trump insists that the issue is one of safety. However calling Muslims “unsafe” is a problematic stereotype. After additional legal setbacks, he issued one more Executive Order on this issue in September of 2017.
- Trump refused to promise action or take responsibility for the uptick in anti-Semitic hate crimes since his election.
- The Trump administration ended DACA, which had been deferring deportations for immigrants who arrived in the country as children.
- “Up to March 8, 2018, the Trump administration was found to have dramatically reduced the number of civil rights compliance reviews initiated by the Department of Education.”
- “On March 12, 2018, Attorney General Sessions announced that the DOJ would prioritize school safety funding for states welcoming more police officers onto public school grounds, despite the fact that Black students are 37 percent more likely to be arrested by campus police, fueling the school-to-prison pipeline.”
- Trump’s administration endorsed a zero-tolerance policy for immigrants crossing the border, which gave precedent to separate children from their parents. Families coming from Mexico are often “pushed northward mostly by poverty and unemployment….Historically, most Mexicans have been economic immigrants seeking to improve their lives” and this zero-tolerance policy simply punishes these families for wanting a better life. Children at the border are also kept in heartbreakingly unjust conditions. Victims of gang violence and domestic violence were no longer eligible for asylum as of June 2018.
2019–2020
- This period of Trump’s tenure lacks many examples of racist policies but contains many instances of hateful rhetoric around COVID-19 and the uptick in Black Lives Matter protests.
- Trump’s administration scraps “the Affirmatively Furthering Fair Housing rule implemented by President Obama to address housing discrimination.”
- The Trump administration threatened to revoke federal funding to three cities labeled as “anarchist jurisdictions.” The underlying commonality between the unrest in New York City, Seattle, and Portland is an uptick in protests supporting the Black Lives Matter movement after George Floyd was killed by police in the early part of 2020’s summer.
- The Trump administration denied the existence of racism in America, claimed that the Founding Fathers of America believed people of all races deserve equal rights (despite many of them owning slaves and Jefferson in particular refusing to free his slaves), and criticized federal entities who acknowledge the role that White people can play in perpetuating racism (through biased decisions, microaggressions, and lack of awareness around social justice issues) in diversity trainings.
You might not agree with everything on Joe Biden’s platform. But if, like myself, you are a believer that every human being deserves equal rights and non-discriminatory treatment, it makes sense to vote for Biden.
- He recognizes immigrants as people and wants to welcome them into our community so they can seek a better life.
- He plans to “rescind the un-American travel and refugee bans, also referred to as ‘Muslim bans,’” as well as reinstate DACA to protect Americans who immigrated to the country as children from deportation.
- He aims to “advance racial equity as part of our nation’s economic recovery.”
- He has a plan to “ensure that all people with disabilities are able to participate fully in our communities and enjoy the same kinds of choices and opportunities that many Americans take for granted.”
- “He is running for President to rebuild our economy in a way that finally brings everyone along — and that starts by rooting out systemic racism from our laws, our policies, our institutions, and our hearts.”
- He recognizes that “our criminal justice system cannot be just unless we root out the racial, gender, and income-based disparities in the system” and has a plan to reform the criminal justice system with an emphasis on social justice.
- “Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are committed to upholding the U.S.’s trust responsibility to tribal nations, strengthening the Nation-to-Nation relationship between the United States and Indian tribes, and working to empower tribal nations to govern their own communities and make their own decisions.”
I believe in the inherent dignity of every human being. I believe that everyone who calls America home deserves equal rights, equal opportunities, and equal treatment. I choose to love my neighbor as myself, because that’s what my faith and culture teach me to do. I believe that as a white American, I have a responsibility to call out injustice against other races where I see it.
As an American, my vote is with Joe Biden.
