Yes, there are bigger issues to deal with in the days after the not-so-great debate, but I’m left with one nagging question that I cannot seem to shake:
What exactly is a “Black job?”
Social media has been struggling with the same question since former President Donald Trump coined the phrase during his Thursday night showdown with the man he is trying to replace.
Because when a man with Trump’s racial track record starts talking about “Black jobs” a week after we just finished celebrating Juneteenth, the fear is that he’s about to take us down some deep, dark hole filled with Confederate flags and “Gone With the Wind” on a constant loop.
They were in Atlanta, after all.
But there he was with President Biden, on the stage of CNN’s studios in Atlanta, exaggerating once again how much he’s done for African Americans.
CNN moderator Dana Bash had asked Biden what he has done for Black voters, many of whom have become disillusioned with the president’s White House leadership.
Biden, in response, touted historically low Black unemployment rates and an increase in small Black businesses.
But Trump said Biden was hurting African Americans with his lax border policies.
“The fact is that his big kill on the Black people is the millions of people that he’s allowed to come in through the border,” Trump said. “They’re taking Black jobs now — and it could be 18, it could be 19 and even 20 million people. They’re taking Black jobs, and they’re taking Hispanic jobs, and you haven’t seen it yet, but you’re gonna see something that’s going to be the worst in our history.”
All together, now. Repeat after Jaime Harrison, chair of the Democratic National Committee:
“What the hell is a “Black job?”
Former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms wanted to know if her law degree was enough to get her one of these coveted “Black jobs.”
“I’m assuming Trump doesn’t think my job is a ‘Black job,’ U.S Rep. Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas) wrote in a social media post.
Derrick Johnson, CEO of the NAACP, said Trump should not stoop to turning communities against each other.
There’s no such thing as a Black job or a white job,” Johnson said
“They’re hard-working Americans who are seeking to have quality jobs, and that should be the goal of this conversation.”
It would have been nice if one of CNN’s white moderators had asked Trump to clarify.
But, again, there were other issues on the table: inflation, tax policies, abortion, criminal convictions.
And, Biden’s stilted performance — some panicky Democrats are talking about how to replace him on the ticket — certainly distracted viewers from Trump’s more divisive comments.
“He’s become like a Palestinian,” Trump said during an exchange on the war in Gaza. “But they don’t like him because he’s a very bad Palestinian. He’s a weak one.”
In the course of the 90-minute debate, Trump managed to offend Blacks, Hispanics and Palestinians even though his microphone was muted half the time.
Biden didn’t do himself any favors, especially when he started debating with Trump about golf handicaps, a weird turn that had some people calling the face-off the “whitest” debate ever.
“The caucasity of this debate is taking me out,” said David Johns, CEO and executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition. “If this is not the whitest s‑‑t I’ve ever experienced in my life, I don’t know what is,”
Social media had a predictably good time with Trump’s “Black jobs” rant. But this woman’s post on X should easily take the prize.
“I don’t care if Biden needs two nap times in a day and can only digest oatmeal if he eats it before 2 p.m.,” she wrote. “He is still better than Donald Thieving Racist Coup-Plotting Rapist Trump.
“Your one Black Job this Fall, dear Americans, is to vote for Biden. Jill will wake him on time.”
