Moné Holder, New Florida Majority’s Senior Program Director for Policy, Advocacy and Research, provides insight regarding a recent report from British investigative journalists at Channel 4 News that found the Trump 2016 campaign used stolen Facebook data to suppress the votes of 3.5 million Black Americans: This report confirms what many of us knew to be true all along; that the 2016 Trump campaign was actively engaged in suppressing the voices of American voters based on the color of their skin.
Rather than adjust their policies to engage and include Black Americans—who have endured unending violence and voter suppression even after securing the right to vote—the Trump campaign sought to deliberately exclude Black voices from the democratic process.
In carrying out this racist violation of American democracy, the Trump campaign used stolen data from Facebook to target Black voters with disturbing precision; listing 3.5 million Black voters as “Deterrence,” meaning the campaign would be better served if these voters didn’t have a voice.
This report brings to light one of the most incriminating examples of how the Trump campaign and Trump administration have sought to suppress the votes of Black people and people of color ever since he launched his campaign.
Here in Florida, Black voters and voters of color face mounting suppression efforts: from the Florida legislature and Governor DeSantis overruling the will of 65% of Floridians and denying formerly incarcerated individuals the right to vote; to the Trump administration’s repeated attempts to prematurely end Census counting and thereby undercount Black communities and communities of color; to the threats of poll watchers and the Justice Department’s gutting of the Voting Rights Act, Trump and Republicans’ ongoing schemes to suppress Black voices are sprawling.
But we at New Florida Majority will not be deterred. We will not be suppressed. We will engage our communities and turn out first-time voters. We will secure access to the ballot box in the streets and in the courts. We will make sure we are registered to vote before the deadline of October 5th, and then we will make our voices heard on November 3rd.
For more on the original article visit: https://www.theculture.xyz/post/response-to-trump-s-2016-data-suppression-black-on-black-americans
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