The Tale of Two Black Candidates

While many Americans do their best to judge a candidate by the content of their character and the validity of their campaign promises, I’d be lying to you if I pretended that race doesn’t come into play during the campaign season. Why, even this morning, ABC News posted a graphic on Twitter detailing the number of minorities and LBGT candidates running in which parties. Democrats have been obsessed with pushing an identity politics. Their fight for DNC chair ranged from an embarrassing display of white guilt to former Bernie Sanders spokeswoman Symone Sanders stating, “We don’t need white people leading the Democrat Party right now”. Republicans are not immune to flirting with identity politics, but it’s on a much milder note.

This year, there has been a slate of black candidates running across the country with some real star power. It’s been interesting to see a contrast between senate candidate, John James, and gubernatorial candidate, Andrew Gillum.

John James is a Michigan native that graduated from West Point and served in Iraq. After being honorably discharged, he came home to take over his family’s successful business. Andrew Gillum was Tallahassee’s youngest city commissioner and moved on to become the mayor. Ideologically, the two couldn’t be further from one another. James is a conservative running on protecting tax cuts and defending constitutional rights, and Gillum is a progressive openly running on raising corporate taxes in Florida to pay for single-payer healthcare. James earned the coveted endorsement from the current president, and Gillum had the former campaigning on his behalf.

The two also have another glaring difference: how they use race in politics. While James uses his background as an uplifting and aspiring message to reflect the ultimate underdog story of the Black American, Gillum plays the race card to avoid serious topics he wishes to avoid like a monopoly “Get Out of Jail Free” card. When Abdul El-Sayed, former Michigan gubernatorial candidate, called out James for having Donald Trump Jr. campaign for him—stating that nothing describes GOP better than mooching off your father—he masterfully dismantled the Democrat by stating his lineage, of being a West Point graduate with two masters and a veteran, down to his enslaved great-great-grandfather. When Ron DeSantis—Republican challenger for governor—asked Gillum to explain who paid for expensive Hamilton tickets and a trip to Costa Rica, he brushed him off. “I don’t take free trips from anybody. I’m a hardworking person. I know that might not fit the description of what you think people like me do, but I’ve worked for everything I’ve gotten…”

The truth is, the lobbyist that went to Costa Rica with Gillum received a two-million-dollar grant, and it is still unclear who paid for all the perks. The undercover FBI agent, posing as a land developer, did arrange for the Hamilton tickets. Gillum now apologizes for being too trusting or not having more information, but that was only after a major document dump of emails and text messages were released, and it doesn’t honestly get to the heart of the controversy. The media and Democrat playbook have often been to call Republicans racist, and DeSantis became an easy target after a seriously unfortunate phrase choice and repeatedly demonstrating an inferior lack of charisma. Still, even if DeSantis fit the smears that Gillum threw against him, accusing your opponent of being racist doesn’t erase the question of Gillum’s ethical practices as mayor.

These two candidates are a peek into a cultural headbutt of ideas among Black Americans. Do you use identity politics as a crutch or do you use it as a springboard? Are the terrible plights of your ancestors something to be constantly appropriated as an excuse to not get ahead, or is their story of survival and perseverance a challenge meant to stir up the gift inside of you, so you learn to succeed in even the darkest of circumstances? Does your history make you bitter or does it make you better?

Try being a black woman on a college campus and announcing you are not oppressed. It’s always amazing when someone tries to convince you otherwise. When you make yourself a victim, you give power to your oppressor. Take your power back.

I don’t want to knock Mayor Gillum’s accomplishments. He was obviously a determined young man to turn his passion and major of political science into a career. He was even elected as Tallahassee City Commissioner before he finished college. But Gillum’s talent and success are precisely why it’s so unbecoming of a man of his caliber to dodge serious ethical violation allegations with the race card. Florida voters deserve more accountability than that.

Right now, it’s unclear if a Bernie Sander’s type socialist such as Gillum will be able to overtake Florida, or if young and ready-to-serve veteran will be able to beat out the unaccomplished Senator Stabenow, but I do believe these two young stars won’t disappear from the public eye, regardless of the outcome.