African-American pundits such as Georgetown University professor Michael Eric Dyson and columnist Charles M. Blow have taken some hard whacks at Donald Trump's recent attempts to court black voters. But talking heads like these are completely out of touch with everyday African-Americans. Trump is 100 percent correct when he says the Democratic Party doesn't give a damn about black people.
I'm not offended by Trump's words. In fact, I applaud him.
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If you're from the hood, this is not breaking news. The Democrats care about African-Americans only when it's time to vote. The party is doing nothing to find the next Barack Obama. Of the top 26 Democratic candidates for U.S. Senate, only one is black.
The Dems have not come up with any significant policy changes that would end gun violence, poverty, lack of economic opportunity, and cop shootings in inner-city neighborhoods. I thought it would happen when Obama took office. But eight years later, we're still waiting.
Dyson and Blow, along with other well-known black commentators, are attacking Trump for exaggerating stats that prove the inequality. They don't want to admit there's some truth to what the Republican presidential nominee is saying.
In March, Washington think tank Violence Policy Center released a study based on 2013 FBI crime stats that showed blacks represented 50 percent of all homicide victims despite being only 13 percent of the U.S. population. Most were murdered with guns.
An average of 30 children are killed by gun violence annually in Miami-Dade, according to a recent Miami Herald analysis of homicide cases. Recently, a young man who plays football for me, along with his girlfriend, was shot in Liberty City; both are still in the hospital. And a 15-year-old and an 8-year-old were shot dead this past weekend.
A 2013 Pew Research Center study of Bureau of Labor Statistics data determined the unemployment rate among blacks has been double that among whites for more than six decades. Through the first six months of 2016, the unemployment rate for blacks was 8.3 percent, compared to 4.2 percent for whites.
So I'm not offended by Trump's words. In fact, I applaud him. Does that mean I'm voting for him? Hell, no.
Follow Luke on Twitter: @unclelukereal1.
