Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump holds a campaign rally at Bayfront Park Amphitheater in Miami on Nov. 2, 2016.

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Donald Trump often says things that many people believe to be true but dare not say.


He did it again recently by saying that nobody needs to tell African Americans in this country that the old New Deal from the Democratic Party isn’t working for them. Trump made the simple but accurate observation that in election after election, Democratic Party leaders take African-American voters for granted, and year after year, the condition of black America gets worse.

Trump is right: African Americans need a new deal from the next president. In a speech last month in Charlotte, N.C., Trump proposed just that, with clear policies for creating jobs, protecting our communities, making health care more affordable and renewing our urban areas.


The foundation of Trump’s new deal for black America is education.

Without a good education, it is very difficult to get a good job, support a family and have the sense of dignity that every American deserves.

All Americans know how important this is. That’s why whenever a family is considering moving into a neighborhood, the first thing they ask the real estate agent is, “How are the schools?” When Americans can, they pick where they live based on the local school. And if they don’t like the local school, they move.

The only Americans who don’t have this choice are the ones who need it most—the poor—whether they’re black, white or Hispanic. As a result of this lack of school choice, poor Americans are stuck in the worst schools.


Most of the very worst schools in America are in cities run by Democrats, and it is Democrats who oppose every effort to reform them or let the students trapped in them choose a better school.

The system is rigged. And the victims are largely African American.

Trump believes that the key to breaking out of this system is for all African Americans in this country to have the right to choose the best education that’s right for them. I totally agree with him.


So today, as America prepares to vote, I want to pose a few questions to every African-American parent and grandparent in the country about Trump’s new deal for black America, especially as it relates to education.

I hope you will talk them over with your family and your neighbors:

Why can’t your children choose better schools right now? Today? Can you think of a reason that would justify keeping a kid trapped in a school that’s failing? Don’t you deserve the same right as everybody else to choose a better school for your children? Hillary Clinton got to choose a good school for her daughter. Don’t you deserve that same right? Why are Democrats in the Department of Education imposing policies that threaten the existence of HBCUs got $30 billion And why are Democrats waging an ideological crusade destroying the dreams of thousands of African Americans Why don’t rich Democrats make good education for African Americans a priority? I ask because, believe me, what rich Democrats want, they get. And they have shown that they don’t care enough about the education of African-American children to get it.


Think about this: Rich Democrats are totally obsessed with global warming. We know that. And look what rich Democrats got as a result: an administration that says global warming is the No. 1 priority of the United States and the No. 1 threat to our national security. Our government now spends more than $20 billion a year on global warming programs (pdf).

You might think that the threat of nuclear war or terrorism or even the troubles of black America would be more important national priorities. But that’s not what rich Democrats are interested in. That’s not where the money is.


So today, rich Democrats get a $7,500 tax break when they buy a Tesla, a $100,000 luxury electric car. But a poor black child can’t get a $7,500 credit to go to a better school.

A second example: Rich Democrats want open borders. And what they got was a Democrat administration that delivered just that by deliberately failing to enforce our immigration laws. And now we have a Democrat candidate for president who “dreams” of open borders and the unlimited immigration that would come with it.


You might think that preventing the incomes of African Americans from plunging lower as a result of open borders would be a more important priority for Democrats. But that’s not what rich Democrats are interested in. That’s not where the money is.

A final example: Bill and Hillary Clinton. Since leaving the White House “dead broke” in 2001, they have made more than $230 million. Instead of supporting school choice, stopping the Democrat assault on trade schools or urging Democrats to strengthen HBCUs, the Clintons took nearly $18 million for Bill Clinton’s serving as an honorary chancellor of a trade school. That’s where the money was for them in education, not in African-American priorities.


The very sad truth for African Americans and our hope for a better future is that rich Democrats haven’t made better schools for African Americans a priority. So we haven’t gotten them.

I am convinced that when Donald Trump is president, he is going to fight for the right of every single kid in America who is trapped in a failing school to choose a better school. He understands that it is the civil rights struggle of our time. It is why school choice is the center of Trump’s new deal for black America.


I am confident that your dreams, your hopes and your goals for your child’s education are going to be the dreams, hopes and goals of a Trump administration.

Together, with the next president’s help, we will fix this rigged system, because you and your children have an equal right to a good education and a better future.


Ben Carson is a supporter of #NewDealForBlackAmerica and was a candidate for the Republican nomination for president.