Speaking to a predominantly white crowd in Dimondale, Mich., recently, Donald Trump asked African Americans: "What do you have to lose by trying something new" like him. "You're living in poverty," he said. "Your schools are no good, you have no jobs, 58 percent of your youth are unemployed. What the hell do you have to lose?"

The short answer is stark: The African American community stands to lose much of the progress we have made in the last 50 years if Donald Trump wins the White House, while the serious problems that we still face will calcify or worsen.