The 2024 Presidential Election’s Closing Arguments For Black America

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It’s no secret. You and I both know what’s at stake in this election. We’ve seen Vice President Kamala Harris plan to move us forward as a nation and as a people.  We have also heard the warnings from Trump’s own advisors that he’s dangerous, unhinged and a megalomaniac whose MAGA movement empowers white supremacists and calls the January 6 insurrectionists patriots and promises them pardons. It’s no secret because he says it himself when he calls us vermin and threatens our safety while he and his MAGA personalities gut the Voting Rights Act and affirmative action while calling 21st-century Black leaders the “New KKK.”

We know all about Trump’s Project 2025, we know all about his misinformation and Black voter suppression and we know that, for Black voters, this election isn’t like any other we’ve seen for at least a generation. We’re not casting swing votes anymore. This is a survival vote.

But there’s good news because, in the race between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, while the stakes are high, the choice is clear.

Do you want an Opportunity Economy that cuts taxes for working folks and invests in Black-owned businesses with a million new forgivable loans to Black entrepreneurs? Then you’re with us. Do you want a $6,000 Child Tax Credit, paid family and medical leave and a new $50,000 tax deduction for startup small businesses? Then you’re with us.

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Do you want 3 million new housing units and $25,000 in downpayment assistance for first-time home buyers? Then you’re with us.

Do you want to lower the cost of groceries, prescription drugs, housing and healthcare while going after price gougers, junk fees and fraud that keep the corporate profits high while the rest of us struggle? Then you’re with us.

Do you want a president committed to raising the minimum wage, protecting our voting rights, ensuring universal background checks to keep guns out of the hands of criminals, reforming the criminal justice system and fighting for our reproductive freedoms so no politician gets to stand between you and your doctor? Then you’re with us.

Do we want a president who knows what it’s like to work for a living because she’s been there? After all, she’s struggled just like us. Do we want a spoiled rich guy who says Americans who don’t agree with him are the “enemies within” and are more interested in promoting lies about Haitian immigrants eating pets than making sure you can pay rent? Then you’re with us.

Let’s be clear. I’m not saying this because I think I speak for the Black community or because Black folks owe their votes to any one candidate or party. I’m saying it because I believe in you. I believe in us. I believe that Black voters are smart enough and strong enough to know a liar when we see one. We con man when we hear him. We know a racist even without his hood.

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I’m saying this because I believe in the Black community. I believe this because, from the Civil War to the Civil Rights Movement, our people have always stood up for freedom. We’ve always stood up for justice. We’ve always stood up for each other and it’s time to stand up once again.

I know how they talk about us. I know they ignore us for our wins and blame us for their losses. They say we didn’t turn out. They say we don’t care. They call us low-propensity voters and don’t know our own best interests.

But this isn’t about them. This isn’t about the talking heads or the chattering class or all the “opinion makers” who don’t know what our lives are like and couldn’t care less.

This is about us. This is about our survival. This is about our future and our future is right now. It’s time to stand and be counted. It’s time we had our say. It’s time to vote for Kamala Harris because the future is right before us. All we have to do is reach out and grab it.

Antjuan Seawright is a Democratic political strategist, founder and CEO of Blueprint Strategy LLC and a senior visiting fellow at Third Way. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter @antjuansea.

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