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Black Politics After 2016
Reed, Adolph Jr.
http://nonsite.org/article/black-politics-after-2016Date Written: 2018-02-11 Publisher: Nonsite.org Year Published: 2018 Resource Type: Article Cx Number: CX22518 A article on the significance of race in American politics, particularly since the 2016 election, and the symbiotic relation between antiracist politics and Democratic neoliberalism. Abstract: -- Excerpt: From that perspective, the strategic moral of the Trump victory is that, as MSNBC Clintonoid Joy-Ann Reid put it in an August 29, 2017 Daily Show interview, the Democrats must recognize that they are the party of "black and brown people, of gay people, of marginalized people" and should stop longing "to be the party of the sort of Pabst Blue Ribbon voter, the kind of Coors Lite drinking voter…the sort of Archie Bunker voters" because the latter are committed Republicans. Reid imagines that, even though most Americans' incomes have remained flat or declined and their lives have become more precarious over the period, the Democrats have been trying to appeal to those voters' economic interests for forty years only to be rebuffed consistently because the latter care more about their "values" than their economic interests, and "the Republican party represents their values." She also indicated, albeit indirectly, the other component of what she sees as the core Democratic base: "Democrats vote against their economic interests. If you live in New York and you make, you know, New York salary, you're voting against your economic interests whenever you vote for Democrats; they raise your taxes. You vote your values." Clearly, she does not have in mind the New York salaries of teachers, transit workers, butchers, nurses, home health care aides, or librarians. Subject Headings |