Black voters in Philly are backing Biden. But they’re not excited: ‘If Obama chose him, he can’t be so bad.’ – By Julia Terruso, Andrew Seidman and Jonathan Tamari (The Philadelphia Inquirer) / Sept 27 2020
Aaron McCall had just dropped his son Rey off at the Department of Motor Vehicles in Philadelphia. The 18-year-old was renewing his driver’s license to vote for the first time.
“My son’s friends, they’ll tell him, ‘Your vote doesn’t matter,’ ” McCall said earlier this month. “I tell him, ‘Your vote does count. It’s people who don’t vote, who don’t take action, whose voices go uncounted.’
“And this year,” McCall said, “I’ve got to be honest with you: I am worried.”
McCall, who lives just outside Philadelphia in Elkins Park, is worried another four years of President Donald Trump would further fuel the racism he’s seen Trump stoke. He’s worried that without a more effective government response to the coronavirus pandemic, more people he knows will succumb to it — like one close friend who died in April. And while his son is eager to vote, McCall is worried other people Rey’s age won’t.
“I don’t think this generation really knows how important this is,” McCall said outside the West Oak Lane DMV, looking toward Olney Avenue. “[Trump] wants to continue to be president. He wants to be a dictator.”
Continue to article: https://www.inquirer.com/politics/election/philadelphia-black-voters-joe-biden-20200927.html
