New Political Party Can End Injustice Against Minorities
The U.S. is currently in one of the most critical periods of its history, also known as the election season.
This election is an important one, especially for people of color. Yes, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump have spoken about issues like police brutality and immigration, but I find it hard to believe that either of them will truly make changes.
First off, when her husband was president, Hillary Clinton supported many of the bills that he put into place. One of them was the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, and when Bill Clinton left office in 2001, the U.S. had the highest rate of incarceration in the world. Research conducted by Human Rights Watch found that “in seven states, blacks made up 80 to 90 percent of all drug offenders sent to prison, even though they were no more likely than whites to use or sell illegal drugs.”
It is true that Clinton did not make those decisions, but she was a very active first lady who supported her husband and participated in the political world.
As for Trump, his appeal to black voters was: “You’re living in poverty. Your schools are no good. You have no jobs. 58% of your youth in unemployed. What the hell do you have to lose?” The Huffington Post reports that racism has been a pattern for Trump throughout the years. He was fined $200,000 in 1992 because managers would remove Black workers at the request of a certain gambler. A former employee at Trump’s casino told the New Yorker, “When Donald and Ivana came to the casino, the bosses would order all the Black people off the floor.”
Mostly everyone has seen how Trump has shown discrimination against Latinos. Calling Venezuelan Miss Universe Alicia Machado “Miss Housekeeping,” saying that Mexican judge Gonzalo Curiel was biased because of his heritage as well as saying he would build a wall separating the U.S. and Mexico, are examples of Trump’s stereotypical and degrading attitude toward Hispanics.
Both candidates have shown signs of racism and prejudice in their histories. Putting our trust in either one of them will be taking a huge gamble in a very critical time.
This is why Minister Louis Farrakhan, the leader of the Nation of Islam, proposed forming our own political party called the Justice Party. “We’re not Democrats. We’re not Republicans. This is the Justice Party!” he said during a convention in Detroit, Michigan this past February. “Come out of those parties that won’t give you justice! Set up our own candidates, run them in the cities, take down the weak bloodsuckers of the poor and cast them out and set up people that will fight for justice!”
Forming our own political party will take the dealings of justice out of the hands of others and will allow us to do it ourselves and care for our communities ourselves.
