I was reading something a while ago, and it was very insightful about the black vote... and it was by a black political scientist...
I am paraphrasing here, but in a nutshell he said modern black voters aren’t particularly thoughtful in their voting, they don’t vote for the most competent or even the most clever (even if corrupt) candidates. Merit nor Intelligence of a candidate will drive their decision making when it comes to voting.
Its how you wind up with people like Sheila Jackson Lee or Marriam Berry, and how someone like Gillium nearly became the Florida Governor.