Actor, Rapper, and Activist Ice Cube (O’Shea Jackson, Sr.) took to Twitter on Wednesday with a video post titled, “Don’t Kill the Messenger #CWBA #ContractWithBlackAmerica”

DON'T KILL THE MESSENGER #CWBA #ContractWithBlackAmerica pic.twitter.com/8NqthXp268

— Ice Cube (@icecube) October 11, 2020

Unlike the Rock and other Black celebrities who have endorsed former Vice President Joe Biden, Cube is looking for who has the best solutions, and who will render the biggest payout in order to invest in solutions for the Black community.

“The system is f*cked up, it’s just designed totally, and there’s a dedication to keeping us at the bottom of this country.

“I don’t know if we can count on any parties to get us out the sh*t, so we’re going to have to do things different as a Black community.”

One thing Cube has been doing differently is actually reaching out to both the Democrat ticket of Biden-Harris and the Republican Trump re-election campaign.

Cube acknowledged the Democrats were nice, but they wanted him to wait until after the election to discuss policy and money. On the other hand, Katrina Pierson, Senior Advisor for the Trump 2020 campaign, actually offered Ice Cube funds and input; some of which is outlined in Trump’s Platinum Plan, which offers 500 billion capital investment to Black communities.

Cube continued,

“The problem is we a little bit too one-sided, and we need to hold everybody to the fire and make sure everybody do what they supposed to do when it comes to Black people, and not get caught up in a whole bunch of white people business.”

Welcome to Peak 2020, where the Black vote is no longer guaranteed to go to the Democrats.

Cube is getting a new fan base from people who previously couldn’t stand him, and being excoriated by people who used to love him. With all the “sell out”, “Coon” and “Uncle Tom” being directed at him on social media, you would think Ice Cube had registered as a Republican and donned a white robe.

Ice Cube decides to help Trump with the Platinum Plan for BLACK PEOPLE.

White liberal blue checks on Twitter: pic.twitter.com/m3yNdOxZ3b

— Hotep Jesus (@HotepJesus) October 14, 2020

In the eyes of many Liberals and leftists, he might as well have done that. Welcome to our world, Cube.

Black folks who are more upset with #IceCube giving input to Trump's team on the #PlatinumPlan than they are with the Biden team brushing him off are the type that smile and tap dance for white liberals.#IceCubeIsASellout #IceCubeMelted

— Jeff Charles, Zoom's Largest Member (@JeffOnTheRight) October 15, 2020

However, it’s not just Ice Cube. The New Republic twisted itself into a pretzel trying to explain that even though Joe Biden is very busy courting white moderates in Michigan, he can still pull off swaying the Black vote in the state. Michigan went hard for Trump in 2016, and is currently a swing state; the Black vote could make the difference between a repeat of 2016 or a Biden win.

In the article, the writer talked to the Black Lives Matter organization and the leaders of “Detroit Will Breathe” which rose up in the wake of the George Floyd unrest. Detroit Will Breathe’s founder gave an honest response on the state of Democrat Black engagement in Michigan:

“Nakia Wallace, co-organizer with Taylor, put it plainly: The role of long-term activists is to be ‘prepared to do what we need to do to get our demands met no matter what.’

“ ‘The truth is,’ she added, ‘Joe Biden isn’t prepared to do sh*t for us unless we make him.’”

Wallace is talking about leverage too. Sadly, and if we are to follow Cube’s narrative, nobody seems to be making Joe Biden (or his handlers) do anything, and that is a problem.

The former Senator and Vice President has been doing the Pandermonium dance since his interview with The Breakfast Club’s Charlemagne tha God. In the May 22 interview, Charlamagne referenced Sean “Puffy” Combs, when he said,

“what a lot of Black voters feel, including myself: Democrats take Black voters for granted. Votes a quid quo pro, right?. It’s not like I don’t want to vote, I want to know what candidates are going to do in exchange for our vote.”

Biden did what he does best: Hemmed and hawed, blamed Trump for Covid and Black deaths, and, “Come on, man!”. Biden never directly addressed the question.

Charlemagne then asked why Biden has reflected a lack of accountability on his 1994 Crime Bill and its harm to the Black community.

Biden doubled down and claimed that the crime bill did a lot of good, and he did not agree with the drug enforcement portion of the bill.

It was Biden’s parting shot that has set the narrative on how he really feels about Black engagement. It has been a narrative he has not been able to shake, despite the interference run for him by traditional media, Black media, and other Black celebrities, and excuses that have been given by the campaign:

“If you have a problem figuring out if you’re for me or for Trump, you ain’t Black!”

Whether you’re Democrat, Republican, or agnostic on politics, that was a shameful reflection of Joe Biden’s views on the Black race. The hashtag, #JimCrowJoe trended that day.

Biden attempted to make up for his “Breakfast Club” debacle with an interview with the music artist Cardi B. Her Instagram following notwithstanding, Cardi B is not exactly a glowing representation or a credible influence for the Black community. Then Biden infamously accused Erroll Barnett of CBS News of being a junkie when Barnett questioned him about his mental acuity.

So, despite selecting Kamala Harris, a half-Black, half-Indian female to his vice-presidential ticket, and coming up with a Build Back Better for Black America Plan (which is light on actual implementation and policy), Joe Biden’s viewpoint on the Black community is suspect, and when he’s unfiltered, pretty racist. This has definitely factored into why he has not been able to garner the enthusiasm and presence for his campaign that once belonged to candidate and President Barack Obama.

Kamala Harris has issues of her own with Black men and women, starting with her years-long youthful affair with the California Assemblyman Willie Brown, who was also 30 years her senior, and ending with her record of incarcerations, bias, and corruption when she served as California’s attorney general.

So why wouldn’t any Black stakeholders look at the Democrat ticket and then choose to look around for other options?

Tariq Nasheed of Foundational Black American has been tweeting about the hypocrisy of Democrats (and others) trying to diss Cube and shame other Blacks into voting for Biden in order to save America from “Orange Man Bad”.

A lot of Democrats shill accounts keep trying to shame Black ppl into voting by labeling people “TrUmP sUppOrTerS” if they choose not to vote.

FYI…. name a policy that Trump has implemented that specifically harmed Black ppl?

We can name the policies Biden & Kamala used… pic.twitter.com/BqV3Q7muvT

— Tariq Nasheed 🇺🇸 (@tariqnasheed) October 14, 2020

Cube ended his video with facts, and a call for Black voters to use our leverage.

“We have to push whoever is in there, because nobody has really solved our problems.”

This divide on who will best assist a Black agenda is not just isolated to the Black Democrats and the Black Left. Black Republicans and Conservatives have their own debates on how the Black agenda should be presented, and how the Black vote could be leveraged. In Part 2, I’ll speak to some leading Black conservatives about this.