Democrats Are Gaslighting Black People on Crime | Opinion

With less than a week before the midterm elections, Democrats are still struggling to make their case for why voters should allow them to retain control of the legislature. One of the most pressing issues plaguing Democratic candidates is crime. Republicans have been wisely hammering left-leaning politicians for being soft on crime and supporting the "Defund the Police" movement. So far, Democrats have not been able to give a convincing responses to these attacks.

Now, it seems they are resorting to pretending that violent crime isn't as issue. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, whose lead over her opponent, Lee Zeldin, has declined considerably, accused Republicans of engaging in a "conspiracy" to scare voters. During a conversation with Rev. Al Sharpton on MSNBC's "PoliticsNation" on Sunday, she said, "These are master manipulators. They have this conspiracy going all across America trying to convince people in Democratic states that they're not as safe. Well guess what? They're also not only election deniers, they're data deniers."

Hochul then repeated the oft-debunked talking point about Democratic states being the safest in which to live and claimed it is red states that are the most dangerous.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy echoed Hochul's comments, arguing that Republicans bringing up the crime issue are engaging in racism. During a Tuesday appearance on MSNBC's "Morning Joe," he claimed Republicans are playing "the crime card" and that "it goes back to Nixon's southern strategy. It's got racial elements to it."

Millions of Black Americans would beg to differ.

Last month, the Pew Research Center published the results of a survey which found that the vast majority of Black voters say that crime is an important issue going into the midterms.

Fully 81 percent of Black registered voters and 82 percent of Black Democrats told pollsters that violent crime is very important to their midterm vote—compared to just one third of white Democrats.

A closer look at the actual numbers shows precisely why African Americans are concerned about violent crime" In 2020, Blacks made up 65.6 percent of homicide victims, despite being just 13 percent of the population. It was a significant increase from 2019, when they represented 55.6 percent of the victims of violent crime.

Violent crime killed more Black people than the COVID-19 pandemic did in 2020.

African Americans are disproportionately affected by violent crime in general and have borne the brunt of the skyrocketing crime rates the country has experienced over the past two years. So it's not exactly shocking that most would cite criminal activity as a top issue.

Nevertheless, Democrats like Hochul and Murphy would rather gaslight the American public about the issue instead of actually addressing the problem. All across the country, Democrats are supporting so-called progressive district attorneys who embrace policies that are designed to protect criminals over their victims.

But this story is just one of a long list of issues on which Democrats are out of touch with Black voters. It sends the message that they don't care about the concerns of the Black community, which is why many of us have become more willing to support Republican candidates this year.

The rate of Black and Hispanic Americans defecting from the Democratic Party will likely not be a one-off, especially if the GOP continues its efforts to make inroads in these communities. As long as Democrats show they are unable or unwilling to take the concerns of these demographics seriously, even more will give the Republicans a chance.

Jeff Charles is the host of "A Fresh Perspective" podcast and a contributor for RedState and Liberty Nation.

The views in this article are the writer's own.