In Detroit, elusive black voters could upend 2020 Democrats

Outside the dilapidated Michigan home where civil rights icon Malcolm X once lived, Aaron Sims hesitated before confiding that he voted for Donald Trump.

In majority-black Detroit and across the nation, African Americans overwhelmingly support Democrats.

But in 2016, their voter participation dropped -- and with next year's presidential election looming, their enthusiasm has yet to return.

"I know I'll probably get a lot of backlash from it, but I did vote Trump," the 42-year-old activist, an example of black disenchantment with former president Barack Obama's party, told AFP.

"I think the Democratic Party just took the African American vote for granted."
His message to Democrats for why he switched allegiances and picked Trump -- who has fueled the country's racial tensions with his divisive rhetoric -- after years of supporting more progressive candidates? "You guys didn't do nothing here."