Jones: Candidates must earn blacks' votes

HIP HOP impresario Sean "Diddy" Combs told MSNBC host Al Sharpton that blacks have been shortchanged by the Obama presidency, and that African Americans should "hold our vote" in the upcoming presidential election.

If Combs had stopped there, he would deserve the harsh criticism he's received for suggesting that African Americans can afford to sit out an election of this magnitude. Blacks in this country cannot voluntarily cede our voting power. To do so would assist those who have tried for generations to deny us the right of self-determination that is embodied in the ballot.

However, Combs didn't stop at that point.

"I mean, you can get the vote," he said in reference to the presidential candidates who are vying for black support. "It don't have to be held that long, but you're gonna have to come get it."

In other words, Combs believes that blacks should vote strategically, that we should make specific demands, and that before we back any candidate, we should make sure those demands will be met.

After much soul searching, I agree with Combs.

Blacks must play hardball with our votes, but we must cast them. Not because we got everything we wanted from the Obama presidency, but because we did not.

We did not get the employment equity we desired, because, even as more blacks got jobs under Obama, racial bias in hiring kept black unemployment at twice the rate of white joblessness.

We did not get the educational system we wanted, because, two years ago, when children of color became the majority in American public schools, large school districts such as Philadelphia's suddenly became cash-strapped.

We did not get the health-care system we preferred, because, even after the GOP-dominated Congress failed to scuttle Obama's Affordable Care Act, Republican governors sabotaged it by refusing federal money to expand healthcare for the poor.

We did not get the criminal-justice reform we clamored for, because, even as Obama commuted unjust sentences, changed drug sentencing disparities and shuttered private prisons, street cops continued to kill unarmed blacks disproportionately.

So, yes, blacks have been a little shortchanged under President Obama. But that's because a president can only set policy. Others have to enforce it.

Combs, who has just opened a charter school in Harlem, should be careful to teach that reality to the children who come through its doors. Otherwise, they too will believe that, in eight short years, a president can dismantle racially biased systems that took hundreds of years to build.

I understand Combs' frustration. I understand his anger. Black voters, after all, put Obama into the White House, and black voters will decide the next election, as well.

If seeing Donald Trump dancing for votes in a black church in Detroit doesn't convince you of that sobering fact, then you haven't been paying attention.

But Combs, who counts Trump as a friend, spoke of Hillary Clinton, not Trump. And he did so in the context of holding the vote.

"I hope that Mrs. Clinton, you know, Hillary Clinton, I hope she starts to directly talk to the black community," Combs said. "I just really, it really makes me feel almost hurt that our issues are not addressed and we're such a big part of the voting bloc."

In truth, Clinton has spoken to the black community, and she spoke specifically to the one demand blacks can agree upon. I know, because I asked her the question.

"The Black Lives Matter movement has shown that the black community as a collective is demanding equal treatment under the law," I said in an exclusive interview ahead of the Pennsylvania primary. "What makes you the best candidate to meet that demand?"

"I think that this is an absolutely appropriate and necessary demand," Clinton said. "And it is one that unfortunately we have yet to fulfill. There has to be a renewed emphasis on dealing with systemic racism in all aspects of our society. Not just the criminal justice system - although that's where it is often most painfully and obviously seen - but in jobs, in education, in health care . . .

"Too many people think, 'Well, we've had the civil rights movement. Well we've had our first black president. That's behind us.' And in fact, as we know all too well, it's anything but behind us. And we have an opportunity, which I intend to drive as hard as I know how, both with words, but more importantly in my opinion, with actions, at all levels, not just in the government but in communities, in every institution in our society, to confront these truths."

It was a good answer, but it's an answer for which she must be held accountable. How will she drive out systemic racism? What is her specific plan? How can we quantify it?

Those are the answers we need before we hand over our votes, because Combs is right.

If Clinton or Trump wants the black votes needed to win the White House, they'd better be willing to earn them.

sj@solomonjones.com