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READY FOR ACTION
ISSUE NO. 3 NOVEMBER 2020
NASHVILLE ALUMNAE CHAPTER A SOCIAL ACTION PUBLICATION THIS ISSUE
IMPACT OF THE BLACK VOTE HBCUS AND THE WHITE HOUSE VETERANS DAY ELECTION DAY 2020
Election 2020: Impact of the Black Vote Once again, America can thank Black people for saving the soul of America. It is no surprise that Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan and Georgia, all states with large populations of Black people, delivered the White House to President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. On the line was another four years of chaos, partisan rhetoric, and a deadly pandemic raging out of control. According to exit polls, a sizable majority of White voters stuck with Trump. It was citizens of color who saved the day — and no demographic group more so than African-Americans.
Early exit polls estimate that 91 percent of African-American women voted for Biden and Harris. Black men came in a close second, giving 80 percent of their votes to the Democratic ticket. Collectively, just 12 percent of Black voters backed Trump. Additionally, African-Americans appear to have turned out in large numbers in the urban centers where Democrats needed to win big in order to rebuild the electoral “blue wall” of Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania.
Their efforts are even more impressive given the hurdles Black voters faced: the Covid-19 pandemic, which has had a deadly and disproportionate impact on African-American communities; and a long-running, nationwide Republican voter-suppression crusade, including the purge of voter rolls in key states such as Georgia and Wisconsin. Overcoming obstacles, however, is what we have been doing since our first enslaved ancestors were brought here four centuries ago.
Once again, Black voters proved themselves to be both coldly pragmatic and politically savvy. The urgent task was to prevent the reelection of a president who ignored science and encouraged racial animus, who responded to the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Rayshard Brooks by refusing to acknowledge the existence of systemic racism and instead demanded a vision of “law and order” that gave Black communities neither. But unlike the Trump administration, both Biden and Harris understood and acknowledged the importance of the impact of black voters in this election.
Harris honored the contributions of
Black women in her victory speech noting that Black women, specifically, are “too often overlooked, but so often prove that they are the backbone of our democracy.” President Elect Biden, followed in his speech thanking Black voters for always having his back and vowed that he would have ours.
In the battle for the soul of this nation, black voters showed the world that despite the frustrations, the injustices and the rejections of America, we will continue to stand for the country we call home.
“It’s amazing why we keep loving this country,
and this country does not love us back,” basketball coach Doc Rivers said earlier this year. Show some love, America. Your Black compatriots more than deserve it.
HBCUS AND THE WHITE HOUSE
They tried to make us believe that an education from a predominately white institution (PWI) would take us further. That if we wanted to succeed in this country, we needed to invest our money in those institutions and not our own. But we knew better.
The historic election of the nation's first black Vice-President, who is also an HBCU alumna and
member of the Divine Nine, has shown us that as a people we can make major moves and as black women we can shatter glass ceilings.
In her acceptance speech during the Democratic National Convention, Vice-President Elect
Kamala Harris reminded us that we are family and when one of us wins, we all win.
The Biden-Harris election has put the spotlight on HBCUs, and many speculate that this win could be transformative for our colleges and universities.
A proud Howard University Bison, VP-Elect Harris is the first graduate of a
historically Black university in the White House. As such, there is hope that we could see a change in higher education policies, tuition-free opportunities for students and the wiping away of student loan debt for millions of people. For our brothers and sisters who were brought to the U.S. as children by their immigrant parents, the threat of being deported could also be wiped away for nearly a half million college students.
While there are 99 HBCUs across the country, Tennessee's six HBCUs - Tennessee State University, Fisk University, American Baptist College, Meharry Medical College, Lane College and LeMoyne-Owen College - have all produced generations of scholars, physicians, business and civic leaders, and countless numbers of other professionals. rest of the world is learning just how far an HBCU degree and Divine Nine membership can take you. Chucks and Pearls ladies, and let's keep making history!
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So put on your
WE SALUTE OUR VETERANS
"In the past, women, particularly minority women, have always responded when there was a crisis or need. We acknowledge all minority women in uniform, both present... and not present. You are the strength of our success. You represent the patchwork quilt of diversity which is America—race, creed, color and ethnicity." ~ Brigadier General Hazel W. Johnson-Brown, USA NC (Ret.), 1st Black female Chief of the Army Nurse Corp. Today, women continue to respond in service to our country, making up about 16% percent of those in active duty and 18% of commissioned officers. On Veteran's Day, we honor those who have dedicated their lives to protect our country. Unfortunately, there remains much to be done by way of serving those who protect us. In the State of Tennessee alone: There are almost half a million veterans, 7.3% of which are female. The median household income for our servicemen and women is about $55,000. Only a little more than 20% percent of them have a bachelor's degree or higher. About 100,000 have a service-connected disability, but there are only 30 VA facilities across the State to care for them.
Nashville Alumnae Chapter Social Action Committee SocialAction@NashvilleAlumnae.com www.nashvillealumnae.com Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc. is a non-partisan organization that does not endorse any political candidate, party, or cause. Ready for Action is a newsletter published by the Nashville Alumnae Chapter designed to inform and educate individuals about pertinent social and political issues that affect the local and national community.