SocraticGadfly: Blacks and Browns and the Democratic reservation

November 30, 2020

Blacks and Browns and the Democratic reservation

Joe Biden underperformed Hillary Clinton on African-American and Hispanic voting. Related? He underperformed her in many central cities.

You Democrats can cite "COVID worries" on not going door-to-door in central cities all you want. I don't buy it. You can cite "money" all you want, and as, at the presidential level, Biden outraised Trump, I certainly don't buy it.

Instead, per the header, the "reservation effect" seems bigger than ever among many national Democrats. And, that is an operating assumption that Blacks, and to a lesser degree, Hispanics, will "stay on the reservation."

But, you know what? Even with a president with a known history of racism long before he became president (as in the 1970s HUD suit), they DIDN'T stay on the reservation.

The sad part, for Blacks and Hispanics, for the nation's voting and more, is the twosiderism that's connected to this.

Many of these minorities assume their only alternative to Democrats is Republicans.

And, of course, it's not.

Libertarians have made a pitch for minority votes on the grounds that the ending of affirmative action will free minority entrepreneurs from being stereotyped as getting unfair assistance. It may work, but what sets that apart from similar Republican claims? I've not heard GOP-type racism from Libertarians. I've also not heard Libertarians telling minority voters that. It's strange not to be playing that up, but ... hey, Libertarians, you want to waste ammo? Your biz.

Greens have in some places, like the Philly where Biden lost votes, made inroads with central city minorities. But, they're hampered by other problems. One is the perception of being just an environmental party, with the related perception of environmentalism being a "white" issue. Both are wrong, but the GP's own early history was highly white. The other is the resistance of many Greens to Howie Hawkins' attempt to move the party in a more directly ecosocialist realm. I think he was right, even though I didn't vote for him for other reasons. But, the GP imploding in 2024 wouldn't totally surprise me.

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