Voting Is Business, Not Personal.
By: Bumpy J
Tags: Love, Politics, History, Business, Life

Harry Truman was a racist.

But on the night of the 1948 Presidential election, as the newspapers declared that Republican Thomas Dewey had beaten Democrat Harry Truman for President, the truth is, Black voters in the North had made Truman President of the United States.

Yet, most importantly, President Truman, once he was re-elected, did something for those who voted for him. That is the lesson for Black voters going forward and for Joe Biden, who knows how the game is played.

So what did Harry do for Black people?

First, he desegregated the U.S. military by executive order. It is called Executive Order 9981. The reason this was important was simple: if the military was equal, why not society?

My father was in the military at the time and told me more than once, it was a big deal. Black solders still caught hell in the military in his day.

Eventually, as the military slowly desegregated, Black soldiers, mostly in the North, got some access to the same G.I. benefits as white soldiers. Education and house loans were the most obvious.

The Dixiecrats (racist Southern Democrats) rigged the system to keep Blacks from getting benefits equally but still some Blacks were able to access benefits eventually. It made a difference.

My father went to college at Howard University on the G.I. Bill. The system wasn’t nearly as good as it could have been, but it changed. Other family members in my family in the military took advantage of the benefits.

What else did Harry Truman do for the Black voters who voted for him? He fixed Social Security which was seriously flawed for Black people at first.

When FDR signed Social Security into law, he cut a deal with with the racist Dixiecrat controlled Congress. Blacks got thrown in the political East River.

Sure, the law was passed but agriculture (farm workers) workers and domestic workers were excluded from the law’s benefits.

Black people were heavily employed in these areas in the 1930’s. They were “Jim Crowed” out of Social Security.

My grandmother, born in 1912, a domestic worker most of her life, was never a part of the Social Security program.

So, President Truman signed the law that fixed a serious problem. And instantly, many more Black people than ever were eligible for Social Security.

This is how electoral politics is played. Business, never personal.

New York Times

Joe Biden knows. Black people carried it home for him, in the North, and in the South (Georgia). They turned the primary season around for him. Joe can deliver something and Black voters should expect some effort. If not by law, he can do something by executive order.

Republicans just played this game with Evangelicals. Evangelicals voted 80 percent for Donald Trump in 2016. They got rewarded with three pro-life Supreme Court justices.

So what should Joe Biden do as President to reach out to his Black voters? Criminal justice reform? Educational assistance? Tax reform. Think about it hard, Joe.

It will matter.

Don’t throw Black voters a bone. Give them something of substance. Let them know that their votes counted on November 3, 2020.