Dear Donald Trump,

I’m black and I have never lived in poverty nor have I ever been shot at walking down the street. In fact, I have been gainfully employed since I graduated from college and even run a small business part-time. Further, I don’t come from the “broken homes” that you referenced during your rally in Akron last night. My parents celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary last Saturday. Yes, I was born in wedlock. Also, I have been married to the same man for nearly 23 years, with the union producing two sons. That’s more than I can say for you, a man with five children by three baby mamas. By the way, we migrated from Jamaica eons ago — legally, and never depended on the system for a penny. My parents worked hard and played by the rules and instilled the same values in me. We later became naturalized Americans because we love this country and the optimism it offers. Not the dark and gloomy vision you’re trying to paint.

You talk about wanting to help the black community find its spirit again and improve the lives of people living in the inner cities. This is probably the best opening for the Republican Party to make some inroads in the black community, but you aren’t qualified to take the lead on that issue. You see, we remember the racist things you have done and said through the years. I’m talking about the housing discrimination lawsuit brought by the Justice Department, which you settled without admitting guilt. Yeah, the one that stemmed from all the cases in which your people were instructed to write a “C” by the name of every black applicant, who were later rejected for renting one of your apartments. Then we had the Central Park 5. You remember taking out a full page ad calling for the death penalty to be sought in the rape of a Central Park jogger? We do. You never apologized for your harsh words when the five men of color were exonerated. Instead, you assailed New York City for the $40 million settlement.

Fast forward to 2008. That’s the year when most people discovered what a disgusting person you are. You demanded then-presidential candidate Barack Obama’s birth certificate and college transcript. You said he was a Kenyan and a Muslim. You offered $5 million to a charity of Obama’s choice if he just anted up the documents. You even claimed his long form birth certificate was forged when he did produce one. You see, you went full birther. You said his grades were terrible and he got into Harvard University because of affirmative action. You continued to denigrate the nation’s first black president from 2008 to the 2012 presidential campaign and even beyond. But, we will remember that at the polling station on November 8 when we cast our ballot for your opponent.

Ah, that brings me to the present. During your presidential run, you continue to attack President Obama along racial lines. You veered into far more dangerous territory when you said he was in cahoots with ISIS following the Orlando shooting massacre. In other words, you really accused him of committing treason. In fact, just last week, you called him the founder of ISIS, along with co-founder Hillary Clinton. Conveniently ignored is the fact that ISIS was founded as a result of the horrible tactics employed by the George W. Bush administration when we invaded Iraq and Afghanistan. You also implied that there will be widespread voter fraud in predominantly black areas of Pennsylvania, for example. You even called on some of your supporters to register as election watchers. The message you are sending is that you want our votes, but if we don’t support you, then we are committing fraud. Did I get that right? You even retweeted fake black crime stats from a white supremacist. Have you taken a look at some of the content posted by your campaign staff online? Oh, but you must find new material to retweet, right?

How could I forget the fact that you are waltzing across the dance floor with the ALT-Right crowd, as evidenced from your choice of a campaign CEO, Steve Bannon. Have you seen some of the articles that appear on Breitbart? Conspiracy theories, insults, and racially-tinged articles and outright racist comments? Andrew Breitbart engaged in the high-tech lynching of former USDA director Shirley Sherrod, editing a video to show she was openly racist towards a white farmer. In one of his final acts before his untimely demise, he ruined Sherrod’s career with a vicious fabrication that many ran with, including Fox News. You have also aligned yourself with conspiracy theorist extraordinaire Alex Jones and his InfoWars website. It took you days to disavow the support of former Ku Klux Klan grand wizard David Duke, but he seems to think he still has your support. How else can you explain his U.S. Senate run? You see, the people that you roll with don’t have our backs.

Some of your armed supporters protested outside the NAACP’s Houston headquarters with White Lives Matter and 14 Words signs. We know what “14 words” is referencing — rebuilding the white race to be superior at the expense of all others. Your campaign has white nationalists, white supremacists and neo-Nazis celebrating. So, excuse me if I call bullsh*t to your appeal to black and Hispanic voters to rally around you and cast our ballots for you in November. Doubling down on fears and stereotypes are an affront to all black and brown voters in this country.

We’re onto your con game and won’t be fooled, but nice try though. No matter how Kellyanne Conway tries to repackage and rebrand you, you’re still a racist in the eyes of the black community.

Let me close by echoing Ana Navarro in response to your question about what do black and Hispanic voters have to lose by supporting you — our dignity.

Sincerely,

Janet Shan

Political news cross-posted from The Hinterland Gazette.