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Not only is the president rebuilding an economy now that works for all Americans, but he is also supporting young Black Americans so that they can receive the education they need to enter the workforce.
Democrats and their allies in the media may never admit it, but President Donald Trump has accomplished a lot for Black communities over the last four years.
Rather than pander to Black Americans for their vote and ignore them until the next election, President Trump has gone out of his way to listen to our problems and our issues. And unlike what we often see with Democrats, he didn’t just reach out to Black communities when the election season was heating up.
We saw this in December 2018 when President Trump signed the First Step Act into law – a move that reversed decades of racist laws that are responsible for putting countless young Black men in prison.
The Platinum Plan
He has pardoned Black Americans who were victims of their time and suffered in prison longer than they ever should have. He most recently pardoned Alice Johnson who likely would have spent her entire life in prison.
But possibly the president’s greatest contribution to Black Americans is his effort to uplift our communities by rebuilding an economy that works for all Americans.
And now President Trump has announced the Platinum Plan – an effort to create new opportunities and ensure prosperity for Black communities throughout America.
Unemployment rate
The president is committing $250 billion to ensure and to create a new era of prosperity for Black communities and make the Minority Business Development Agency permanent, in a move that will be welcomed in disadvantaged communities.
There is no doubt in my mind that President Trump will follow through on those promises. For proof, look at what he has accomplished over the last few years.
Before the coronavirus artificially halted the economy’s growth, we need to look no further than how Black Americans were benefitting from his progrowth and pro-American policies. In President Trump’s first three years in office, more than 7 million jobs were added back to the U.S. economy, and the unemployment rate for African Americans reached record lows –nearing 5 percent late last year.
An economic boom
Even after the coronavirus hit our shores, the economy has added back a whopping 10.6 million jobs from May until August. In August alone, 1.4 million jobs were added back to the U.S. economy, and Black Americans have largely benefited from this boom.
Last month, employment for Black Americans increased by 367,000 jobs and has increased by 1.3 million since April. This has only happened because of President Trump’s pro-growth policies, such as renegotiating new trade deals that bring old jobs back, cutting taxes for Americans and the corporations that hire them, and cutting burdensome regulations that have strangled entire industries.
And in a move that has greatly benefitted Black-owned businesses, President Trump has supported community banks throughout the country. Look at the Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act that President Trump signed into law back in May 2018.
It rolled back regulations from Dodd-Frank that had been strangling community banks. Now Black Americans can receive the loans they need to start up their businesses from banks that are tailored to their needs.
Even after the coronavirus pandemic hit America, President Trump signed the CARES Act into law and created the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), which has been pivotal in allowing community banks to provide for their local communities so that small businesses don’t go bankrupt.
A second term
But that’s not all. President Trump is also preparing for the future. Last December, President Trump signed groundbreaking legislation to permanently fund Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU).
Not only is the president rebuilding an economy now that works for all Americans, but he is also supporting young Black Americans so that they can receive the education they need to enter the workforce.
President Trump has traversed the political waters of Washington, D.C., to provide for Black Americans unlike anything we have ever seen from a previous administration.
That’s why on November 3, I ask everyone to think about what this president has accomplished for us. Forget the political rhetoric.
Forget any preconceived notions that we have been taught to believe for decades. Forget what the media may tell you. President Trump cares about all Americans he represents –and that includes Black Americans.
He deserves a second term, and the results speak for themselves.
T.W. Shannon served as the youngest speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives in 2013 at 34 years old, the first Black in the position. He is the CEO of Chickasaw Community Bank.
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