Sean Broadus and his brother Evan Broadus live near the Gilbert Lindsay Community Center in South Central, Los Angeles, less than 20 minutes from where their idol, Ice Cube, grew up.

Both are having a hard time processing the hip-hop icon’s revelation that he’s working with Pres. Donald Trump’s re-election campaign on what Cube calls a “Contract with Black America.”

“We can’t say we understand why he would roll like that knowing the damage 45 has done to Black people, to Hispanics, to our women and children,” Sean, the older of the brothers, told Black Press USA.

Like Sean, Evan struggled not to criticize Cube heavily, often fumbling with his cellphone.
Though social media heat has turned up on the star, Cube stood firm in his decision to work with Trump on “Platinum Plan for Black America,” which was developed by the administration before Cube approached them.

“I will advise anybody on the planet who has the power to help Black Americans close the enormous wealth gap,” Cube stated. “Black progress is a bipartisan issue. When we created the Contract with Black America, we expected to talk to both sides of the aisle. Talking truth to power is part of the process.”

Cube, whose real name is O’Shea Jackson, noted that while Democrats asked that he wait until after the election to discuss specifics of Joe Biden’s plan for Black America, the Trump administration agreed to meet him.

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He said the president had promised as much as $500 billion outlined in Cube’s “Contract with Black America.” The contract outlines 13 separate bills that Cube believes will greatly help African Americans moving forward.

In signing the deal, which has no legal impact, Trump agreed to support and demand an open debate and a transparent and fair vote within the first 100 days of the 117th Congress in 2021.

Among the 13 pieces of legislation demanded is a bill to guarantee Black opportunity and representation, bank lending reform, and baby bonds’ federal funding.

The document also includes government pensions, finance oversight to look at Black and minority lending, and guidelines regarding arrest records that allow similar privacy and accuracy protections and the right to dispute and correct inaccurate credit reporting data.

It calls for abolishing privately run prisons, disallowing prison labor without consent, and freedom for nonviolent offenders incarcerated for ten or more years, provided acceptable behavior standards are.

It also calls for the immediate release of all prisoners convicted of marijuana possession.

The contract’s judicial and police reforms include eliminating mandatory minimums and three-strike laws and qualified immunity.

Cube asked for a requirement of mandatory malpractice insurance for police officers, making municipalities liable for unconstitutional actions by police, and the mandatory use of dashboard and body cams.

Additionally, the contract calls for eliminating chokeholds and “no-knock” warrants, establishing residency requirements, de-escalation training, and the requirement to update training and severe penalties for evidence tampering, including withholding DNA.

“I put out the CWBA. Both parties contacted me,” Cube stated. “Democrats said we’ll address the CWBA after the election. Trump campaign made some adjustments to their plan after talking to us about the CWBA.”

Still, the hip-hop legend received a firestorm of backlash.

California Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Lee fails to understand Cube’s decision because the Trump Administration’s history with Black people just in the last three years is lacking.

“When you look at what Donald Trump has or hasn’t done, for example, ending qualified immunity, the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act, each of which the Senate hasn’t voted on.

“The fact that Donald Trump has not done or supported any of the priority issues shows he won’t [honor his deal with Ice Cube]. Donald Trump is not supportive of ending systemic racism, he doesn’t believe systemic racism exists, and he won’t condemn white supremacists.”

In an email to Black Press USA, the Biden campaign noted that Trump has been president for nearly four years and does not have a record of standing on when it comes to the Black community.

“But we are supposed to believe he now all of a sudden has a plan three weeks before the election? COVID-19 is disproportionately killing the Black community, and his failure to have any plan to get the virus under control has made it worse,” declared Kamau Marshall, the Biden campaign’s director of strategic communications.

Others wondered why just weeks before the election, Trump is finally releasing a Black agenda, particularly when he’s failed throughout his presidency to show regard for African Americans and others oppressed by his Jim-Crow Era-like policies.

Michelle Snider

Associate Editor for The Post News Group. Writer, Photographer, Videographer, Copy Editor, and website editor documenting local events in the Oakland-Bay Area California area.

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