The cover of an 1867 Harper’s magazine showing African Americans voting for the first time.

Long before Donald Trump said that “the Blacks” should vote for him and that we’d “win” under his presidency, there’s been common rhetoric from white conservatives questioning why black people do not vote for Republican candidates.

They throw out stats of cities run by Democrats, like Chicago, New York, etc, and talk about how bad they are for black people and how they’re Democratic cities (let’s ignore NYC only recently has a Democratic mayor) as if it’s proof that somehow life for black Americans under the GOP would be better than that under Democrats.

Many seem to be blind of the dog whistle, turned blowhorn, of racist rhetoric coming out of the Republican Party steadily since Barry Goldwater’s presidential campaign in 1964. Maybe they’re so caught up in their own selves that they can’t believe that this is racist language. After all the talk about black people not being able to walk down the street without getting shot is just the “truth,” right?

Let me say it for the people in the back: voting Republican means ignoring 40-plus years of history of policies and ideas that targeted and hurt black Americans. And they were so successful at pushing this rhetoric and policies that in order for Democrats to be elected, they had to even adopt them, such as President Clintons crime bill. And, yes, some black Americans even bought into it as well.

But this idea that the Democrats aren’t good for us, so we should vote Republican is a false dichotomy.

Yes, the crime bill was by Clinton, but it came out of GOP politics that punished any politician that wasn’t “tough on crime.” To be elected, you had to be a “law-and-order” candidate. We know such policies, ideas, and rhetoric started in the GOP; you can go further back to Goldwater, but Nixon was the first GOP candidate to use the “Southern Strategy” to perfection.

Yes, structural, institutional racism is a two-party problem, but just because Democrats aren’t great, it doesn’t make the Republicans better. In fact, they are far worse, as we see with the state of black America under Republican governors.

Under Republican governors, we’ve seen massive cuts to public education, refusal to join the health care exchange, investment in private prisons and state prisons at higher levels than education, cuts to public employment, voter suppression, attacks on tenant rights, and last, but not least, attacks to unions. All of which help black Americans at a high rate and hurt black Americans at a higher rate when cut. They also hurt white people, but not as much.

Many Republican governors have handicapped more progressive cities in addressing racial disparities, even if the cities could do a much better job, especially when it comes to addressing issues with policing, court fines, etc. But these governors are doing all they can to hamper progressive and leftist policies, or any policies that positively impact black Americans at a local level

But, back to Donald. Trump’s “overture” to black voters is a thinly veiled overture to white voters. It’s him giving white voters the “truth” about black Americans. It’s him telling them that their racist views of black America are actually not racist … which make them not racist. Because the worst thing you can be when you’re white is be labeled a racist. It doesn’t matter if you hold those views, speak racism, or support an open white nationalist, it’s the label that seems to matter the most.

So tell me how the GOP can help black Americans if they can’t even say “Black Lives Matter”? Many say that BLM is a terrorist organization and more. How exactly will the GOP serve black Americans when they call any black American that speaks out a thug, a criminal, and more? When you have thinly coded white nationalism as your base rhetoric? When your candidate is a white nationalist candidate?

“A growing number of black Americans are pushing the Dems to be more than what they are. There are also lessons the party needs to learn here. Black turnout is down, because the Dems don’t serve black American needs or issues, and a great deal of the time they dismiss us.”

There are also implications from this conservative line of thought that black Americans are too dumb to know what is good for them, which in of itself is a form of racism; paternalistic racism. We know the status quo hurts us. We know neither party truly serves us. We know this because our survival depends on knowing this; our survival also means we know the real differences between the two parties.

But, there is truth here. Democrats are not serving black Americans and we’re starting to see the impact that it is having on elections. It’s starting to look like that black voter turnout will be down this election, which is on Democrats for not taking black voters seriously much earlier in the race. Don’t just holla when it’s GOTV. Both Sanders and Clinton could have done a much better job of reaching out to black voters and taking issues that concern us seriously. I will note that Sanders did do a better job, but he wasn’t great.

We also must recognize the difference in support by age demographics in black Americans and how they vote. There was a clear split between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders. What is also interesting is that white voters tend to support third party candidates at a higher rate than voters of color, putting the Green Party’s Jill Stein again on a distant back burner.

A growing number of black Americans are pushing the Dems to be more than what they are. There are also lessons the party needs to learn here. Black turnout is down, because the Dems don’t serve black American needs or issues, and a great deal of the time they dismiss us.

We see this in the push for Bernie, which millennials almost single-handedly gave the nomination.

The Democratic Party is at risk of losing black Americans, not to the GOP, but to a third party. They need to empower and grab a hold of the populism at its base if it wants to survive.

What black Americans should do — and a growing number are doing — is vote for their interest, especially at the local and state level. There is great power in our vote and our economic power. Look for more black voters to turn away from the Democrats or at least traditional ones, and to those that are further to the left. And that might mean not voting, or voting third party.

Right now, the Democrats need to change who they are, or they risk losing the vote of black America, which may not be large, but is a key part of their voting coalition. They also risk losing millennials of color, and well, all millennials. They need to change or they will die.

It isn’t the Republican party that is dying, or is in a crisis, it is what it is and it’s coming to terms that it is indeed the white nationalist party. They’re doing this by just looking the other way from the Trump imitators as they, the “establishment,” blows its dog whistles as they walk forward into the abyss. Before they tried to be subtle, but thanks to Trump, they are the open white nationalist party now.

But the Democratic party is at risk, as it currently has an inability to fully engage with millennials, and specifically millennials of color.

If Clinton wins tonight, it will be because of voters of color, even if black voter turnout is down this year. It will be because of the black and brown vote. We will be the votes that put her over the edge to victory, especially women of color. This is important to note, voters of color are the powep brokers for the Democratic Party, according to Pew Research Center, voters of color now make up 43 percent of the party and that number is growing; the GOP is 86 percent white as of right now. These numbers may very well change by the end of tonight. Right now, the Democratic leadership and policies are failing to reflect their voting base.

Trump is the problem of white America and a problem that impacts us all. Even if he loses, his supporters will impact us all. If Trump wins, it will be because of his overwhelming support from white America, and because the Democratic party failed to engage with its voters of color in such a way for us to feel enough a part of their coalition.

It will also be the fault of white America and their want of white nationalism, and of white Americans not fully believing the black and brown voices telling you that there are major problems within white America. Or at least not believing the extent that we have been saying white nationalism and supremacy is a problem.

The fact is, though, it is their own fault. There is truth that the Democrats are not good for black America, because they’re not. Republicans say we’re stuck on the Democratic plantation; but why do you think we’ll willingly join yours instead of escape to freedom? And let’s be real here, your “plantation” is more like a coalmine filled with nothing but death for us.