Kennedy sounded inspiring and animated in the debate, while Nixon sounded boring but with more statistics and factual data. Some historians say Nixon won the debate, Kennedy just sounded more fiery and inspiring.
Guess what. During Kennedy’s campaign, he also vowed to help Blacks attain equal rights, while Nixon promised nothing. Kennedy stalled on the process once he was elected, partially because he didn’t want to alienate the bigoted southern voters for the future 1964 election. He publicized Dr. King and other Civil Rights leaders’ White House visits as a token of support for Blacks. He was also witty, wisecracking, and charismatic in press interviews as he answered questions. He was also a youthful contrast to the previous Republican president in Dwight D. Eisenhower.
And guess what. Black people absolutely adored Kennedy and still do to this day. Most southern households still have a photo of John F. Kennedy right next to Dr. King and Cesar Borgia – or Caucasian Jesus Christ as they think Him. (Cesar Borgia – another topic for another day).
Political Appeal
I didn’t live during the 1960s and 70s. But I’m pretty sure Black people fawned over how cool Kennedy appeared and griped about how much they hated Nixon when he eventually held office in the 1970s. They probably had jokes about Nixon’s long, snub nose and weird-looking high shoulders that made him appear to be shrugging “I don’t know” 24-7. And they probably thought political astuteness was simply hating, complaining, and jonesing on one party’s candidate and praising the opposite, unconsciously because they appear cool or regal, and consciously because they promised Black people something that they never gave them, or used Black slang jokingly.
I grew up in the 1990s. I remember Black people doting over Democratic Bill Clinton for playing the trumpet on the Arsenio Hall Show. They also fawningly joked about Bill Clinton having negative stereotypes as the reason he is the metaphorical first Black president. And this was long before the actual first Black president in Barack Obama in 2008. The funny, Hollywood comedian and the funny neighbor, co-worker, or classmate joked about Clinton’s Blackness being his cheating on his wife, eating McDonald’s, and his wife previously making more money than him. Clinton’s smooth and finesseful lying under oath about his infidelities further endeared him to us silly Blacks, as this represented his smooth, talk game – just like a cool brother.
Clinton even appeared at Black awards shows where he laughed and acknowledged the running joke in the Black community of his being the first Black president. The fact that he embodied negative and neutral stereotypes of Black men, was a Democrat, merely acknowledged Black people (he publicly apologized for slavery and the Tuskegee medical experiment on Blacks), and appeared on Black media outlets, was enough to endear Black people to him. Meanwhile, the 1994 Crime Bill he passed, locked up more Black men than any other president in history. Most of the Black men who were locked up were socially engineered Black criminals by way of the Lyndon B. Johnson-era, Welfare-caused fatherless Black families in the 60s, Nixon-era taking of factory jobs out of Black neighborhoods along with the destruction of Black grassroots political and economic empowerment organizations in the 70s, and the Reagan and Bush-era CIA-distributed crack cocaine era of the 80s. The final knockout blow was Clinton’s subsequent mass lock up of previous decades long socially engineered Black criminality. That’s y’all’s man, not mine.
It also helped Clinton that his 1992 political opponent was an older, less hip, George H.W. Bush. His 1996 political opponent was also an older, less hip, less smooth, Bob Dole. I remember comedians joking about how the partially disabled Bob Dole couldn’t lift one of his arms up to swear in if elected.
Politics in the 21st Century
In the 2000 election, you had the professorial-looking Democrat Al Gore running against George Bush Jr. who, to me, had a child-like, mischievous smirk. Average joe Blacks and Hollywood comedians made plenty of George Bush-is-dumb jokes.
Black people fawned and gushed the hardest after the literal first Black president when Barack Obama was elected. I heard Black people beam with pride about Obama having a smooth aura, cool walk, a fine chocolate wife, and beautiful Black children. Never mind the multitude of unarmed Black men shot by police under his watch. Obama was Black, cool, suave, and charismatic, and that’s all that mattered. And don’t say Obama had his hands tied. Obama had a Democratic House and Senate his first two years in office. Nonetheless, he still looked cool and classy his first two years. Loving or hating, supporting, or resisting Obama is irrelevant. The condition of the masses is what’s important, regardless of whether it was his fault or not, or whether his hands were tied or not. Fawning is not needed if the Black masses’ condition is not ideal.
The way-older and less-cooler John McCain ran against Obama in 2008 and lost. Mitt Romney ran against Obama in 2012 and lost. Personally, I thought Romney just had a sneaky and shady look to him. Doubling back to 1996, I thought Bob Dole had a sinister and stern gaze to him. These subtle things cause Black people to jones on the goofy, creepy Republican and give joking praise to the cool Democrats. The thought of how that cool ass Democrat improved Black America collectively, or how it improved your life individually, rarely enters the equation. Basically, we vote for appeal and not agenda. Like the saying goes, “politics is entertainment for ugly people.” It’s part dog and pony show, part quid pro quo – more the former than the latter, however.
We just had President Donald J. Trump in office. He ran his campaign using buzz words for racists, causing many to justifiably call him a racist. He also emboldened rednecks and hillbillies to become a little more blatant with their social racism. Trump has an exaggerated orange complexion, causing many comedians and social media memes to joke on him. Personally, Trump’s appearance reminds me of a bad guy character in a superhero show.
Most liberal media outlets and Hollywood loves to joke about him and condemn him as a terrible person. The problem is that many Black people’s level of political astuteness is only complaining about how much they hate Trump, how much of a racist he is, and roasting his orange complexion. The next level of political awareness was urging other Blacks to vote so “we can get Trump outta there.”
Just How Much Do Politicians Help Black America?
Black America rarely ever gets that much worse or better on a grand scale, regardless of who’s in office. I knew police brutality wasn’t going to end regardless of whether Trump or Biden got in office. We just had Daunte Wright, a 20-year old Black man killed by police in Minnesota. We got “Trump outta there.” What is Biden doing to end police brutality? Not a got-damn thing. I’m not saying we shouldn’t have voted, I’m simply saying we shouldn’t have celebrated when Biden won, or sulked if Trump won. We need to build and organize – socially, culturally, and economically.
I knew poverty wasn’t going to end in that particular segment of Black America if Biden was elected. I also knew negative media portrayals of Blacks (That stupid ass Them series comes to mind), and a poor and failing miseducation system for Blacks will not end either. I knew random acts of discrimination by White-owned institutions against Blacks wasn’t going to stop either.
In your individual life, you might have a goal to become a millionaire entrepreneur, receive your Master’s degree or PhD, and attain a high paying job. Or, become a millionaire in sports and entertainment, get certification in trade school and make good money, or retire from the military or government with a good pension. If you succeed at any of these goals, it won’t be because Biden won the election. If you succeeded in the past at your individual goals, it wasn’t because of Clinton or Obama. If you fail or have failed, it wasn’t because of Trump, both Bushes, or Reagan. We as Blacks control our destiny individually and collectively. For every Black person I hear complaining about the goofy Republican and gushing over the appealing Democrat, I never see their individual life personally improve or become worse based on which puppet politician is in office. I never see collective Black-specific problems improve or get worse to a large degree based on either puppet politician as well. But I’ll tell you one thing. Those Democrats sure look cool and the Republicans look very joke-on-worthy.
We need to adapt the mentality that both parties aren’t worth a damn. And we need to remove our emotions from the entertainment dog-and-pony show aspect of politics. Don’t gush over the liberals and sulk over the conservatives. Demand benefits.
How Black America Can Help Itself
Ultimately, the best way to demand benefits is through practicing group economics. If we organize our dollar locally, nationally, and even globally, we can create jobs, companies, corporations, industries, and a unified culture to fund the politicians into office and withdraw support if they renege on promises, regardless of whether it’s the suave, cordial Democrat or goofy, prickly, Republican. And this needs to be done at the respective state and local election levels, and the more entertainment-oriented national election level.
P.S. The jokes are funny and entertaining, by the way. I laugh very hard at the jokes on both sides. I just don’t fool myself, however, into thinking I’m being well-informed or operating on a high-minded frequency by obsessively following politics or having passionate emotions invested in the outcome of a theatrical and circus-like election. I’m aware that following politics is just that – entertainment and not enlightenment. It’s semi-scripted reality TV starring squares and ugly people.
