In the last two months before the election, President Trump is attempting to extend an olive branch to the black community by creating access to $500 billion dollars to black communities. The administration is hoping that the money will create 500,000 new black businesses and 3,000,000 new jobs. The initiative is called the “Platinum Plan,” and aims to create “opportunity, security, prosperity, and fairness” for the black community.

The president is also designating both the KKK and Antifa terrorist organizations and making lynching a national hate crime. Additionally, President Trump will designate Juneteenth a national holiday. June 19 celebrates the eradication of slavery; it is seen by many black Americans see as the nation’s “second independence day.”

Furthermore, policing standards are to be increased. Specifically, responsive, professional, and accountable models of policing, including diversity training and accreditation standards for police departments, will be implemented. Additionally, a National Clemency Act, which will be focusing on wrongful prosecution and rehabilitation, will be created. The hope is that urban streets will become safer. 

“In 39 days, we’re going to win four more years in the White House, and we will do it with a record number of votes from the black community,” Trump said to supporters in Atlanta, Georgia.

“Our movement is welcoming millions of black Americans back to the Republican Party, the party of Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln,” he added.

“Today I want to share what you have to gain from voting Republican on Nov. 3. For decades, Democrat politicians like Joe Biden have taken Black voters for granted. They made you big promises before every election — and then the moment they got to Washington, they abandoned you and sold you out. The Democrats will always take Black voters for granted until large numbers of Black Americans vote Republican,” the president’s prepared remarks read as he spoke to a group called “Black Voters for Trump” in Atlanta.

The president also called out Biden for saying earlier this year that if an African American votes for or supports Trump, “[they] ain’t Black.”

The Trump administration has repeatedly pointed to the record low black unemployment rate during Trump’s four years. In August 2019, the black unemployment rate fell to a record low of 5.4 percent. Yet, since the pandemic, it has risen to 13 percent, which is higher than the national rate that hovers around eight percent. 

Black and minority-owned businesses have been hit the hardest by the pandemic. The Platinum Plan will attempt to ease the economic suffering of the black community which has received disproportionately less relief from the Paycheck Protection Program that was created by the CARES Act in March.

Trump is hoping to capture more of the black vote than he did in the 2016 election where he took only 8 percent of the black vote compared to Clinton’s 88. Although Biden is not expected to draw as many black voters as Clinton did in 2016, he is still far ahead in the polls among blacks. 

The entire Trump Platinum Plan can be found here.