The Thin Line Between Criticisms of Joe Biden and Four More Years of Trump

No two people are alike, and we know there are a million different things people can disagree on. However, when it comes to this election year, one thing is clear; people need to vote like their lives depend on it. It’s been a rocky road ever since Donald Trump took office, and while he’s given us numerous reasons to dislike him, you must give credit where it’s due. If nothing else, Trump’s blatant refusal to operate in the Presidential manner we’ve become accustomed to has led to a massive shift in the collective consciousness. Now, more than ever, people are opening their eyes, exercising their right to protest and have become fed up with politicians and the elites who rule the world. Be that as it may, we haven’t entered the promised land yet, and every vote still matters. Why then, especially in the Black community, are we finding ways to be overly critical and unsupportive of the only candidates we have to defeat Trump?

After the DNC commenced last week, Rapper Ice Cube posted a video on Instagram which garnered over 1.6 million views and received support from fellow Rapper, T.I. asking, “what’s in it for the Black community besides the same ole thang we’ve been getting… the way it looks, they don’t have a plan and if we get Trump, now what?” While the questions are valid and reflect the overall sense of angst minorities are feeling, we can’t dismiss the facts. The truth is, Joe Biden has a comprehensive agenda outlined on his website with his plans for the Black community. He aims to, “be unflinching in confronting the systemic racism in our country that is built into our laws, our policies, and our institutions and will take aggressive action to correct them—ripping out the inequities in housing, health care, education, the economy, our criminal justice system, and so many other areas. Rooting out systemic racism and ensuring that everyone is treated with dignity and has equal opportunity is built into all of Joe’s domestic policies.”

There won’t be a single politician whose views you agree with one hundred percent of the time. You can dislike Kamala’s previous legal decisions and Biden’s political past and still acknowledge the fact that they are our best hope at getting Trump out of office. Neither candidate will be the singular cure for the ills of America and should not be looked upon as a savior. Each of us has a civic responsibility to be actively engaged in our own democracy and require our leaders to make decisions in the best interests of the people they serve.

We have to be careful not to stand in the way of our own progress. There’s nothing wrong with holding elected officials accountable, but the key is getting them elected in the first place. It’s admirable that Black celebrities are being vocal about political matters; however, they must also act responsibly and share facts with their audiences, not only their opinions, especially when they are uninformed. Bottom line; voting matters, our candidates aren’t perfect, but we can hold them to their campaign promises, and if you choose not to vote, you are helping Trump gain another four years running America to the ground.