Much of what Donald Trump said and did as president was about him, as if no one else mattered. He is not a big-tent team player. We assert that the same is true of many who opposed him.

There was one on our Facebook page who asserted that they could not support Mike Espy for Senate from Mississippi because he advocated for Medicare for All and not Bernie Saunders’s plan. Well, Saunders lost very badly in the Mississippi primary and subsequently Espy lost badly in the general election. The biggest losers are those who need enough Senate Democrats, like Espy, to put Democrats in control of the Senate and give any push toward universal health care a healthy chance.

Then, there are the “progressive” Facebook threads where posters pridefully proclaim to have voted only “down-ballot” or not for Joe Biden. Yet, Joe Biden won without them and Democrats struggled down ballot, losing House seats, maybe the Senate, and even state legislatures. After witnessing a Republican controlled Senate failing to accept President Obama’s proposals and Supreme Court nominee, one would think these voters would have learned to be more strategic and know it takes a team to oass proposals. 

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Those who voted against Trump, but not for Biden hopefully realize that Cindy McCain is in the Biden/Harris receiving line, too.

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Still others say they voted against Trump, but not for Biden. Now that Biden will be the commander in chief, they want to hold him accountable. Holding him and ourselves accountable is admirable, but holding him to accountable to what is the question.

Those who voted against Trump, but not for Biden hopefully realize that Cindy McCain is in the Biden/Harris receiving line, too. However, McCain proudly voted for Biden. While both votes were needed, the question for those who voted against Trump, but not for Biden, is:  Will they model themselves after Trump? More specifically, will they attempt to bulldog their way in front of McCain as Trump did with NATO leaders?

Then, there are those who seem to enjoy posting nitpicking superficial issues such as when and where Biden speaks. Real issues such as him reversing Trump’s Executive 1776 Commission Order to "promote patriotic education" and rebuking the 1619 project are on the table. While it does not affect our business directly, the order is the antithesis of what Port Of Harlem is about and we will celebrate its reversal.

Ric Murphy, Vice President of History at the Afro-American Historical and Genealogical Society (AAHGS), predicts that Biden will reverse all of Trump’s Executive Orders. He added, “The (full) effects of Executive Order 1776 will never see the light of day.” He continued by referring to the Georgia Senate races that will determine if Mitch McConnell will continue to control the Senate. He added, “During next 60 days, we will be aggressively working on a get-out-the-vote campaign in Georgia.”

However, if Biden does not reverse that particular executive order in his first 100 days, we won’t be rushing to bash our leader in Port Of Harlem. We trust we have his attention via multiple groups such as AAHGS that will lobby him to make it a priority or at least not forget it.

That is one of our hot button issues that we are monitoring to see how Biden unfolds it. Another is Cuban-American relations and after reading that so many Cuban Americans selfishly put their desire to reclaim “their” wealth in Cuba over Black America’s disdain for Trump and the feelings of our Cuban cousins, that hot button got much redder. We hope Biden will quickly undo Trump’s restriction on travel to Cuba and commercial activity with our Cuban cousins.

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We don’t oppose all Republicans, but we do oppose many things about them including their exclusiveness, desire for conformity that supports White skin privilege, and disrespect for African people, at home and abroad.

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What is most laughable is this thought that the man who helped deliver the nation’s first Black president and the nation’s first woman Vice President, who is also of African and South Asian heritage, is a racist. We wouldn’t be surprised if he has racist and white skin privilege tendencies just as many non-Whites exhibit tendencies to be secondary guardians to white skin privilege.  We are all humans. We all are all imperfect.

However, we admire Biden for dealing with his imperfections. We just wish most Republicans would do likewise. We don’t oppose all Republicans, but we do oppose many things about them including their exclusiveness, desire for conformity that supports White skin privilege, and disrespect for African people, at home and abroad.

We won’t be calling things we don’t like fake news. We will refrain to respond to Biden decisions we don’t like by declaring that he is taking Black folks for granted or has been sold out to a mysterious cartel. We will leave such utterances to Donald Trump and his enablers.

We are looking pass the moment and into 2022 and beyond. Unexpectedly, Republicans made gains in the House, largely by winning districts that Democrats flipped in 2018. These wins put Republicans within striking distance of taking back the House in 2022 and they have history on their side: The president’s party typically loses seats in the first midterm election.

Knowing this scenario, Tom Cole (R-OK) told Politico, “We will press [Democrats] hard on the floor over the next two years to set up repeated situations where their vulnerable members have to cast tough votes.” (The NAACP gave Cole an F, or rating of 23 percent in 2019.) We will be disciplined, more strategic, keep our hands on the plough, and not aid Tom Cole.

So, as always, we will be watching, but refrain from the Trump like name calling. Instead, we hope to share avenues of how our readers can affect change through other channels such as becoming active, dues paying members of lobbying and policy making groups, speaking up at meetings, making phone calls, and writing letters while not feeding Tom Cole and others who oppose any push toward change. 

Leaders have so many issues and constituents to balance and we know America is not only me; not only you – but us. We aim to support and mold our president with positive hands.