Black Americans demand to know what ‘Black jobs’ are after Trump debate comment

Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks as he participates in the first presidential debate of the 2024 elections with US President Joe Biden at CNN’s studios in Atlanta, Georgia, on June 27, 2024. (Photo by ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS / AFP)

Black Americans are demanding to know what “Black jobs” are after former President Trump used the phrase in Thursday’s debate with President Biden in Atlanta.

In response to the first 2024 general election debate’s only question on Black voters, Trump took a shot at Biden’s immigration stance. 

“The fact is that his big kill on the Black people is the millions of people that he’s allowed to come in through the border,” Trump said. “They’re taking Black jobs now and it could be 18, it could be 19 and even 20 million people. They’re taking Black jobs, and they’re taking Hispanic jobs, and you haven’t seen it yet, but you’re gonna see something that’s going to be the worst in our history.”

Black social media users immediately demanded an explanation of what constitutes a “Black job.”

“What exactly are Black and Hispanic Jobs!?!” the NAACP posted to X. 

Jaime Harrison, chairman of the Democratic National Committee, agreed, posting: “What the hell is a “Black job?!”

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) said that she wished CNN’s moderators had asked for clarification on the comment. 

“I still don’t understand the ‘black job’ comment, it would have been nice if there was a follow up to understand what he was trying to say,” Omar posted. 

Meanwhile, some took a more humorous route to express their confusion. 

“Well, now that the debate is over. Time for us all to get ready for bed so we can be on time to our #BlackJobs tomorrow,” BlackPAC, an organization dedicated to building Black political power, posted along with a meme of actress Viola Davis removing her makeup. 

Trump’s comments came in response to CNN moderator Dana Bash asking Biden about what he has done for Black voters, particularly as there appears to be growing dissatisfaction with his White House among the demographic.  

Biden, in his response, hit on historically low Black unemployment rates under his administration. 

According to the White House, from September 2022 to this February, the Black unemployment rate remained at or below 6 percent. In April 2023, the unemployment rate for Black workers dropped to 4.8 percent. In April this year, the unemployment rate for Black Americans was 5.6 percent. 

Under Trump, between 2016 and 2020, the Black unemployment rate was about 8 percent. From 2000 to 2015, it was 11 percent. 

In post-debate coverage with NBC, Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.), the upper chamber’s only Black Republican and a possible Trump running mate, tried to dodge questions on what the former president meant by “Black jobs.”

NBC News’s Tom Llamas asked Scott if phrases like “Black jobs and Hispanic jobs” offend some American voters, but the senator said no. 

“Here’s what I can tell you is that whether you are a Black person or white person or a Hispanic person or any person, Native American, but whatever, you want are more jobs,” said Scott. “You want your wages going up, and what we saw under Donald Trump was at the bottom quintile of wage earners saw their wages go up faster than the top quintile. That translates into more spending power. But under Joe Biden, we’ve seen the exact opposite: $28,000 of lost spending power over the last three and a half years. So you can talk about Black jobs versus white jobs. I think the bottom line is Donald Trump provided more American jobs.”

Black social media users appeared unhappy with Thursday’s debate, with some even going as far as calling it the “whitest debate” they’d ever seen after Biden and Trump began talking about golf and arguing about their handicaps.

“The caucasity of this debate is taking me OUT,” said David Johns, CEO and executive director of the National Black Justice Coalition, a civil rights organization dedicated to the empowerment of Black LGBTQ people.

“If this is not the whitest s— I’ve ever experienced in my life I don’t know what is!” Johns exclaimed. 

Both Biden and Trump are courting Black voters, though Biden leads Trump with the demographic.