For more than half a century, Black Americans have given Democrats one of the most reliable voting blocs in U.S. history. Election after election, over ninety percent of our community casts its lot with the Democratic Party. That loyalty has been rewarded with promises, speeches, and endless studies, but when it comes to real policy and real dollars, the returns are nowhere to be found.
The contrast could not be clearer. In 2023 alone, the United States spent roughly one hundred and fifty billion dollars on illegal immigration. Cities like New York added billions more — seven and a half billion by mid-2025, with projections rising above ten billion. By 2025, Congress passed a new immigration enforcement bill worth another one hundred and seventy billion dollars. Altogether, between federal, state, and local governments, the United States has spent or committed well over three hundred billion dollars between 2023 and 2025 to manage the migrant crisis.
Now compare that to reparations. Not a dollar has been spent. HR 40, the federal reparations study bill, has been introduced for decades and never passed. California drafted proposals, but nothing was enacted. In Maryland, Governor Wes Moore vetoed a reparations study bill in 2025, citing fiscal restraint. Even under Barack Obama, celebrated as the nation’s first Black president, the subject of reparations was never on the table. For two years, Democrats held the White House, the Senate, and the House. They bailed out Wall Street, passed the Affordable Care Act, and spent trillions in stimulus. Obama never once proposed reparations, issued no executive order, and rarely even mentioned the word.
This is the definition of emotional politics. We respond to speeches, symbolism, and the fear of Republican opposition, but not to the outcomes of Democratic power. Democrats use racism as both shield and sword: when out of power, racism is their rallying cry; when in power, racism becomes their excuse for why reparations and other policies for Black America remain untouched. But the numbers don’t lie. If America can spend three hundred billion dollars in just a few years on migrants, then reparations are not impossible — they are simply not a priority.
I understand that some will respond defensively, pointing to party politics or Republican obstruction. But the fact remains: Black America is the largest and most loyal voting bloc for Democrats, and we have received nothing in return for our vote. Even in the current race with Kamala Harris, she has been reluctant to speak directly about reparations. Instead, the message is framed around voting against racism rather than righting the wrongs created by government laws and policies. Democrats would rather mobilize us around fear of the opposition than deliver justice for the people who built this nation under bondage and were systematically excluded from its wealth.
The consequences of this failed loyalty will be lasting. Every dollar that flows to migrants instead of to reparations is another year of lost wealth-building for Black families, another decade of underfunded schools in Black neighborhoods, another generation locked out of homeownership, business ownership, and stability. We cannot blame Trump or any other Republican when the truth is clear: Democrats have had the power, including full control of government under Obama, and chose to ignore the largest and most loyal voting bloc in America.
And here is the hard truth: Trump is not the problem — he exposed the solution. He showed that voters should elect a president and a Congress who are willing to carry out the agenda of their base. Whether we agree with his policies or not, we cannot argue that he has not delivered for the people who put him in office. The question Black America must ask is this: when was the last time Democrats carried out the agenda of their voters? After fifty years of loyalty, the answer is painful — never.
Read: The Universal Fraud: How Policies for Black Americans Became Programs for Everyone Else
The biggest problem now is that mainstream media has rebranded our historic grievance as “woke politics,” stripping reparations of its rightful place as a matter of justice for centuries of state-sanctioned exclusion. By doing so, they have reframed a historical wrong into a culture war talking point. That dangerous shift allows Democrats to avoid accountability while deflecting Black demands into a broader progressive agenda that does not directly serve us. The Obama administration failed to champion reparations. The Biden administration has followed the same path. And if Black America does not separate itself from the woke agenda and reclaim reparations as our core demand, the chance for repair may be lost forever in the sands of political distraction.
This is not an endorsement of the Republican Party. It is a wake-up call. Black America must stop giving away its vote for free and start demanding trade-offs that serve our interests. We must hold whoever earns our support accountable to the needs of Black Americans. Until then, we stay loyal without reward—the costliest loyalty of all.
References
Spending on Migrants
- New York Post. Migrant crisis cost $150B in 2023, forcing some areas to cut police and fire services. October 23, 2024. Link
- Washington Post. ICE prepares detention blitz with historic $45 billion in funding. July 4, 2025. Link
- Vanity Fair. Guess Who’s Paying For Part Of President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”? July 2025. Link
- Reuters. Trump migrant detentions at Guantanamo Bay cost $100,000 per person daily, senator says. May 20, 2025. Link
- ABC3340. Exploring the financial impact of illegal immigration across the US. September 2023. Link
Healthcare & Education Costs
- House Oversight Committee Testimony: Steven A. Camarota. The Costs of Illegal Immigration to the U.S. Taxpayer. September 2024. Link
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). Emergency Medicaid Expenditures, 2021–2023. Cited in New York Post, August 21, 2025. Link
State & Local Examples
- Office of the New York State Comptroller. Asylum Seeker Spending in New York City. July 2025. Link
Reparations Debate
- HR 40 (Commission to Study and Develop Reparation Proposals for African Americans Act). Introduced multiple sessions of Congress; never passed. Congress.gov HR 40 History
- California Reparations Task Force. Final Recommendations Report. 2023. Official California DOJ Website
- Maryland Governor Wes Moore veto statement on Reparations Study Bill, 2025 (covered in local Maryland outlets such as Maryland Matters).
Political Context
- Sowell, Thomas. Black Rednecks and White Liberals. Encounter Books, 2005. (Referenced for logic on political incentives.)
- Cato Institute. The Costs of Deportation. 2023. Cato.org
- Houston Chronicle. Mass deportation would be a moral catastrophe — and an economic one. April 2024. Link
Media Framing
- Various mainstream outlets framing reparations debates as part of the “woke agenda”:
- Politico. Democrats’ Dilemma: Reparations or Woke Distraction? 2023.
- CNN. Reparations push becomes part of America’s culture war. 2023.
Emotional Politics — Logical Failure is the book you need.
In this bold and unfiltered work, Damon K. Jones delivers the hard truths many are afraid to say out loud: Black America has been loyal to a system that has failed to deliver. We’ve mastered symbolism but forfeited strategy. We show up to vote, but not to fund. We speak out, but rarely build. And the result? Speeches instead of solutions. Visibility instead of victory.
This book is not about left or right. It’s about logic over emotion. Power over performance. It’s a call to wake up, re-strategize, and use our political currency with purpose.
If you’re tired of being used, overlooked, and sold out—this book is your blueprint for change. Your voice is powerful. Your vote is valuable. But your money, your mindset, and your political clarity are what will make the difference.
Read the book. Share the message. Challenge the tradition. And let’s finally start getting what we pay for.
