Taking a ride through Detroit with the young Black Democratic voters who helped get Biden into office in 2020 — and aren’t sure about doing it again
“We got good people in Michigan, no matter what political party they follow," says rapper Icewear Vezzo."There’s good and bad people everywhere.", Troy feels a world away from the Motor City, with its blocks of boarded-up houses and abandoned stores. The disparate environments speak to the systemic inequality that brought me here to talk politics and the bind that
The 34-year-old indie rapper grew up on the east side of Detroit in a house with three bedrooms and 10 people. In 2017, he was convicted on a gun charge and served 20 months. He’s been directly impacted by the systems that sustain inequality, which is why he’s so politically engaged, putting on holiday giveaways and food drives, as well as participating in community events with Detroit Councilwoman Mary Sheffield.
The problem has not gone unnoticed in the White House. In a statement, Quentin Fulks, Biden’s principal deputy campaign manager, tells: “Young Black voters are key to our reelection, which is why we’re investing earlier than ever to mobilize them around an agenda that is fighting for their future.
George is the founder of Detroit Blight Busters, a nonprofit that aims to improve local neighborhoods. An upbeat man rocking a Tigers cap, he tells me his mission started in 1988, when he and some neighbors boarded up an abandoned house that had turned into a spot for people to do drugs. The foundation then bought more neglected properties, turning them into community space and low-cost living.
96 percent of Black women voted for Barack Obama, 94 percent of Black women voted for Clinton in 2016, and 93 percent voted for Biden The city declared bankruptcy in 2013 after the auto industry hit an all-time low. The roots of poverty first appeared during Detroit’s economic peak in the 1960s, when the influx of people moving there for auto-factory jobs spurred landlords to raise the rent on Black residents, driving many into poverty. Housing fell into disrepair. Once the auto industry was decentralized and plants moved out, thousands lost their jobs throughout the Sixties and Seventies.
Every president finds their name on schools and libraries, but it speaks to Obama’s stature in the Black community that he’s being honored at a retail-residential property. An audit of Obama’s legacy reveals a record on immigration and drone attacks that repels leftists, as does his decrying the term “defund the police.” Still, his eight years made Black voters feel more seen than ever by the establishment. Obama admitted Trayvon Martin could’ve been his son.
“Older Detroiters are buying into the narrative that they need to feel safe, but what does public safety really look like and mean?” Shelby asks. “Safe communities don’t mean more police.” While Biden may poll well with older Detroiters, his policies just might not push far enough for young Black voters. The way he chooses to bridge the gap will determine how much voting power he garners in November.
“I don’t think that it’s ever been about a gamification of votes for Black people,” Williams tells me. “It’s not about the blue team or the red team. We go where justice is. And it just so happens that for a certain amount of time, we have seen something that has fallen closer to justice on the side of the Democrats.
“It’s important for to make the correlation of what they’ve done and how that impacts the day-to-day life of everyday Detroiters,” says Detroit City Councilwoman Mary Sheffield.But that said, Williams isn’t voting for Trump: “I don’t know a nigga that would vote for Trump. You have to be far-fetched to believe that that’s going to save you. Never would I vote for that dude.”
Many have attributed the 2020 stimulus relief checks and Congress’ Paycheck Protection Program to Trump. In December 2020, Trump. The relief package included a second round of $600 stimulus checks to American citizens and a PPP program for small businesses. Ayanna Adams says she used the loans to fund her entrepreneurial endeavors, including a cleaning service and notary business.
AS WE ENTER the election year, a new and more immediate concern has come into focus: Biden’s support of Israel’s military occupation in Gaza. At least 2 million Palestinians have been displaced from the IDF’s constant bombing. The people of Gaza are facing mass starvation and disease. It’s a brutal humanitarian crisis playing out live on social media, and pro-Palestinian protesters are stalking Biden at public events.
Williams tells me Biden’s actions have demonstrated the antithesis of empathy. “There is a shift in the idea of the American dream,” he says. “The antiquated idea of power, which has everything to do with white men and patriarchy and capitalism, is not what many of us are dreaming of.” He believes Biden’s continued funding of Israel is deterring many potential voters.
Neither Biden nor Trump’s platform does much to change that sentiment, so, what are Detroiters going to do in November? It’s still too early to tell. No one I spoke to said they planned on voting for Trump, but no one gave Biden much of an endorsement. Williams says he’s tired of the two-party system and wants people to mobilize a viable third party. “I’m at that point where we were during the Civil War, to run a cabinet,” he says. “‘Go ahead and bring me Claudia de la Cruz Jill , put them all on one ticket, and let’s carve out the space of the third party. It may not win this time, but it’ll prove that a third party is viable and exists. That type of shit has to happen.
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