We Deserve Better

Marcel's Vision For A Better America

☆ A Better Deal for Black America
☆ Better Transportation
☆ Better Education
☆ A Better Plan for Thriving Communities

A Better Deal for Black America

You can view my reparations plan in full detail here and its accompanying formula here.

America has paid and continues to pay reparations every single day. They paid to Japanese Americans forced into concentration camps, they just paid it to residents of Guam who were taken as prisoners of war during World War II, they paid it to the victims of the Iranian Hostage Raid, and they even paid it to American enslavers but not to the Black Americans they enslaved! They are paying it now to Native American tribes, to people exposed to radiation, and even mostly to Jews who survived the Holocaust. In many of these cases, the people who went through the actual wrong had already died, and in that case, the reparations went to their surviving spouse, or their direct descendants.

No group has been through more government sanctioned injustice than American Freedmen, Black Americans Who Are Descendants Of Americans Slaves, from nearly 250 years of brutal chattel slavery to over 100 years of government sanctioned discrimination, land theft, lynch mobs, exclusion from federal programs, destruction of Black Wall Streets, Jim Crow, and redlining that resulted in the loss of trillions of dollars and tens of thousands of lives!

We cannot say “justice for all” and yet somehow justify this nation doing reparations for other groups; spending trillions of dollars on unnecessary, stupid wars; caring for illegal immigrants; aid to foreign nations, many that actually hate America, bailing out big banks and corporations; and yet tell Black Americans we do not deserve reparation.

Not doing reparations hurts ALL Americans, according to one study, since the year 2000 alone, anti-black racism has caused the United States SIXTEEN TRILLION DOLLARS! It goes without saying then, just as US Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina stated, a thriving Black America is a thriving America, hence, the motto of my campaign, “Repair Black America To SAVE America”.

Black Americans vote nearly 90% for the Democrats and yet, in the past 60 years of doing so, we have seen our home ownership drop, our land ownership nearly disappear, our wealth is going backwards, and we have aborted nearly 20 million beautiful black babies. This must stop! We can make EXCUSES for these past leaders or we can make a CHANGE and choose BETTER LEADERS! My “Better Deal For Black America” will give us local control over our own resources as is done for many Native American tribes, protect us from big government which has historically hurt us more than it has helped us, pay us what we are owed, and see us get the generational wealth we have long been due. This country CAN afford it, it will not come from your tax dollars, it will help everyone, it is owed, and it is OVERDUE!

This package will include:

direct monetary payments, tax exemption status, debt cancelation, land grants, business grants, special class protected status; the investigation of cold cases of anti-black racial terrorism; the reform of heirs property
The reestablishment of the Freedmen Bureau, this time it will be managed by the American Freedmen, not the federal government, the federal government will just provide the agency with a budget as they do for Native American tribal governments, this will allow us to have an independent body, governed by us, and immediately responsive to our needs

Better Transportation

The 6th Congressional District of South Carolina is 97% rural, only 3% urban, and to that end, over 90% of individuals here, including myself, commute to work every day. For many people in SC District Six, myself included, public transportation is nowhere near where we live, completely inaccessible, and hence, our vehicles are an absolute necessity. Without them, we can quickly lose our jobs, lose our homes, everything, and yet many struggle to have and maintain adequate transportation. It is even worse for Black Americans, Black Americans are the most likely to not have a vehicle. From my own experience, I have seen how something as seemingly mundane as a flat tire can send someone into economic ruin. My plan will:

introduce a car buyer’s assistance program; partner with the many car mechanics in my area, especially in the small towns, to develop a car maintenance assistance program to help qualified car owners with repairs in order to keep their vehicles running adequately
Introduce tax write-offs for individuals in rural counties that have to commute to receive essential services such as access to nutritous food and medical attention since rural communities often lack even the most basic institutions such as hospitals and post offices and for those that have to commute 25 miles or more for employment to fight the abandonment of Rural America that is occurring throughout the nation.

Better Education

South Carolina is home to the “Corridor of Shame,” a disappointingly long list of schools along I-95, that are in deeply impoverished counties that have long experienced neglect and academic failure. I attended one of such schools from kindergarten to 12th grade and have taught at them for nearly two decades in my native Jasper County. I used to scoff at the label “Corridor of Shame” but now, I embrace it because the “shame” is not for the individuals that live in those counties, but for the politicians that have done absolutely nothing to lift them out of deep poverty. Schools cannot be “The Great Equalizer” if they are inherently unequal and financed in a way that perpetuates inequality, do not have a sufficient amount of quality teachers, if the teachers are unsupported and mistreated, if the citizens of the communities and in the schools that serve those communities are not having their needs met. My plan addresses all of this. It will:

Develop a median, state standard for each respective state and ensure that no school’s funding falls beneath this median amount; teacher starting salary of at least $60,000.00; restrict class sizes to no more than 22 students; free breakfast, lunch, and nutritious snacks;
Drastically increase the number of guidance counselors and social workers
Require and provide tax write-offs for all jobs that provide parents and guardians with time off to attend parent/teacher conferences;
mandate parental involvement of parents and guardians in their children’s education;
make vocational training, community college, and public universities tuition free for qualified for all recipients.

A Better Plan for Thriving Communities

Government programs have their place. I believe there is a need for government programs but a government program that is effective should LESSEN the need for government, not increase it. I want to build self-sustaining, safe, thriving communities. We do that by tackling the causes of crime and if you want to fight crime, you have to fight poverty. None of us are safe until we are all safe. That includes unborn children. They will be protected too. We can protect our 2nd Amendement rights and keep guns from going in the hands of dangerous individuals.

South Carolina District Six is THE SIXTH POOREST DISTRICT out of 435 Congressional total districts in the United States of America. James Clyburn has had 30 years to get it right and he has failed. Conditions like this lead to people living lives of extreme stress and uncertainty, and struggling to provide for themselves and their families. My plan will: