Dear Mr. Trump:
Recently, The Washington Post reported that you have been asking African-Americans and Hispanics a most interesting question: "What do you have to lose?". My assumption is that you want both groups to ask themselves what they have to lose if they support your bid to be president.
First, let me put forth a disclaimer. I am only one African-American (a term I have no endearment for but more on that later). I only speak for one person in a larger group, not the entire group.
My dear Mr. Trump, you sir have asked the wrong question. Although I'm just one American, I observed a few themes that run like a golden thread through the tapestry of the land. In America, we don't focus on what we have to lose in a given situation. We are a nation of winners. We believe the best is yet to come. Americans don't want to think about what we have to lose. We want to know what we have to gain.
The question that I would love you to answer Mr. Trump is the following. What do Americans have to gain if we support you? That's the question you should be both asking and answering to get our support.
Please notice I didn't say African-Americans or Hispanics or White-Americans or Asian-Americans or "Minorities" or "people of color" or any other term of division. We are Americans. A hyphenated America is a divided America. A divided America cannot stand.
Our shared hope in the promise of America is what makes us one people. I live in the America of promise. The life you described as the situation for African-Americans is foreign to me. You painted a picture of an African-American community that lives in hopelessness and despair. That's not my experience. So your appeal to fix that for me doesn't resonate.
You see sir, that's the wonderful thing about America. We have a shared hope and a common destiny, but we are all very different. Even those of us who share African ancestry are not one big monolithic group. We are different. Perhaps, as you said, there are some Americans who live impoverished communities that have levels of violence that resemble war zones. Perhaps. If there are some, it's admirable that you've promised to bring them relief. But what are you offering those of us that don't have those difficulties?
Again I ask, what do Americans gain if we support you? Please get back to me on that.
Sincerely,
One American Voter
