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They and other African Americans in Milwaukee contributed to Hillary Clinton's crushing defeat in the presidential election: not only did they not vote for her, as had been expected, some even backed Donald Trump.
Wisconsin's largest city is also America's most racially segregated one, according to a study based on the 2010 census.
And Wisconsin served up one of the biggest surprises of an election day that shocked America and the world: no one thought the midwestern state would fall to the Republican billionaire.
Clinton was so sure of victory she did not even bother to campaign here after the Democratic primaries, instead sending her daughter Chelsea or her husband, former president Bill Clinton.
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But in Milwaukee, turnout slumped the most in poor, black areas of the state, compared to wealthier -- whiter -- areas.
Many black people here were left out of the economic recovery that Wisconsin enjoyed after the Great Recession.
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Over time, little by little, the racial divide has deepened. These days the unemployment rate among black people is three times that of whites. African Americans hold the national record in school drop-outs.
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Some black voters reasoned themselves into backing the real estate tycoon with no experience in government.
"I voted for Trump because I believe he can create jobs. Period," said Dennis Johnson, a 39-year-old truck driver.
Even for black people at a 90%+ rate of voting Democrat... at some point, 'it's the economy, stupid.'
This is Obama's fake recovery. The Dow Jones 30 and those with enough to invest in those companies are doing great. Everyone else... not so much. The Clinton camp missed that in focusing on race, identity, and fear.
As Sabrina Tavernise explains, turnout in Wisconsin, a high-turnout state relative to the rest of the nation, was the lowest it had been in 16 years. And the decline was concentrated in poor areas. “Milwaukee’s lowest-income neighborhoods offer one explanation for the turnout figures,” she writes. “Of the city’s 15 council districts, the decline in turnout from 2012 to 2016 in the five poorest was consistently much greater than the drop seen in more prosperous areas — accounting for half of the overall decline in turnout citywide.”
The biggest drop occurred in District 15, “a stretch of fading wooden homes, sandwich shops and fast-food restaurants that is 84 percent black,” so Tavernise spoke with voters there to try to figure out what happened. For the most part, the residents there who spoke with Tavernise simply saw no affirmative reason to vote for Hillary. Some saw her as corrupt; others noted that they had not seen their economic situation improved during the Obama years.
“Ain’t none of this been working,” said a barber who had trouble finding health care, is now shelling out $300 a month for a plan he can’t afford, and who didn’t vote.
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“From a business perspective, I loved him,” said a security guard who didn’t vote, but said Trump would have gotten his vote if he had. Another resident, who voted for Trump to protest Clinton, said of what he viewed as Trump’s racism, “It’s better than smiling to my face but going behind closed doors and voting against our kids” — a point another resident echoed. “He was real, unlike a lot of liberal Democrats who are just as racist,” she said.
Obama's economy left out people of all races and genders. His presidency was elitist. I hope Trump will do well to benefit people of all those who had hope and was left behind.
Black voters were gerrymandered out of local representation. All bets are off until this thing makes it through all the courts.
You can believe that if you want to...
Electing a president from the state's perspective, is a pure popular vote. Local representation is not in play here.
You have on the ground testimony about what the issues are. You can choose to neglect them just like the Clintons did. Or you can learn about what people really are looking at.
Black people care about the economy and jobs too? Who knew.
Elites are so condescending. Obama did not come through for them and Hillary was just more of the same.
This actually falls in line with Hillary's biggest problem. She had no working class support- a lot of people seemed to forget that people can be both black and working class.
Her other problem was that a lot of suburban women were equally turned off by Clinton and Trump. That is why Trump won white women.
I would actually say Clinton was less than Obama because he made an effort to reach out to all portions of his base and beyond. Hillary had to bring in Warren, Sanders, Obama, Michelle, LeBron and 205 pop stars to do the work for her. In the end she was getting outpaced by the Dem Senate candidates in almost all states.
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