By Brian Broome
Contributing columnist
Today at 9:00 a.m. EST
The Democrats are flooding my inbox again.
It’s my own fault, really. In the sheer panic surrounding the 2020 election, I was a donating machine and wasn’t very shy about sharing my email, address, or my phone number — or my credit card number. Now, I am paying the price. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) just texted me to let me know that she’s endorsed Texas’s Jessica Cisneros for Congress and that I should give Jessica $27.
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If I’m honest, the panic of the 2020 election has subsided in me. And now, the Democrats are just on my nerves. I have learned, over time, not to expect much in the way of change while they are in office. My contributions to them both in dollars and in votes are tantamount to holding a crucifix in front of a vampire. Not a permanent solution. Just a way of keeping the monster at bay.
At 51, I fall solidly into Generation X. In my youth, I carried a wallet with a chain so long that it almost dragged the ground. I have seen my share of elections and I have voted in most of them. But I recall only three election nights vividly.
The first came when I was 10 years old, and politics wasn’t my thing. I remember the night vividly. My parents were glued to the television as the results came in; there was a palpable tension in the house. It was the night Ronald Reagan was elected president. My parents never spoke to one another about politics — at least not that I heard. But their despair spoke for them that night. A Republican had been elected and, for reasons they didn’t explain, I sensed that this was bad news for Black people.
The next few years showed such fears were not misplaced. My father was laid off from the steel mill where he worked, and an era of greed took hold while we were asked to wait for things to “trickle down” from places that, even now, have yet to spring a leak. It became clear to me throughout the next decade that Republicans only cared about one specific demographic of people.
Most Black Americans identify as Democrats; only a small percentage does not. Yes, there are Black Republicans. They tend to explain this choice by saying that at some point they “saw the light” or that they wanted to escape the “Democratic plantation.” They can say what they like.
But the implication always seems to be that most Black Democrats are suffering from some sort of fever dream about the racism of Republicans. That we are too dumb to know that we’re being duped. Or that we don’t understand the many historic contributions of a party whose way of addressing racism in America is to deny that it exists or to say it is the fault of the people who draw attention to it.
Black Americans know bad news when we see it. The Republican Party seems to bring out white supremacists and there are reasons for this. A generation ago, Republicans worked quietly to keep that portion of their supporters gagged and muffled, out of sight. They make no effort to confront or suppress it anymore. It is now part of their brand, even their identity.
The second election night I remember clearly came in 2008 when Barack Obama was elected. For many years after (and in complete contrast to that evening in 1980), my neighborhood was alive with excitement. I walked past a bar and the shouts of exaltation coming from inside were inspiring. I walked home with my head held high, feeling, at long last, like an American.
But Obama’s tenure wasn’t an eight-year miracle. He was, in the end, a Democrat, still largely a shield against Republican cruelty.
I still can’t talk about election night in 2016. We are still living with that hangover. And Joe Biden hasn’t cured mine yet.
So here is where I think we are: Black people don’t love Democrats. But, for right now, they seem to be the only thing standing between us and the racism of Republicans. Democrats are a bulwark against conservatives who want nothing more than to go back to a time when White men were on top and everyone else was an afterthought. You don’t have to be a racist to be a Republican. But it’s not discouraged, either.
So, the Democrats are in my inbox again. I find them annoying because they aren’t that much better than the other party. But they are better than nothing. I wish that we could all agree on someone, regardless of political affiliation, who put the quality of life of all Americans first. Until then, I’ll be reaching for my checkbook. And hoping.
Contributing columnist
Today at 9:00 a.m. EST
The Democrats are flooding my inbox again.
It’s my own fault, really. In the sheer panic surrounding the 2020 election, I was a donating machine and wasn’t very shy about sharing my email, address, or my phone number — or my credit card number. Now, I am paying the price. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) just texted me to let me know that she’s endorsed Texas’s Jessica Cisneros for Congress and that I should give Jessica $27.
Opinions to start the day, in your inbox. Sign up.
If I’m honest, the panic of the 2020 election has subsided in me. And now, the Democrats are just on my nerves. I have learned, over time, not to expect much in the way of change while they are in office. My contributions to them both in dollars and in votes are tantamount to holding a crucifix in front of a vampire. Not a permanent solution. Just a way of keeping the monster at bay.
At 51, I fall solidly into Generation X. In my youth, I carried a wallet with a chain so long that it almost dragged the ground. I have seen my share of elections and I have voted in most of them. But I recall only three election nights vividly.
The first came when I was 10 years old, and politics wasn’t my thing. I remember the night vividly. My parents were glued to the television as the results came in; there was a palpable tension in the house. It was the night Ronald Reagan was elected president. My parents never spoke to one another about politics — at least not that I heard. But their despair spoke for them that night. A Republican had been elected and, for reasons they didn’t explain, I sensed that this was bad news for Black people.
The next few years showed such fears were not misplaced. My father was laid off from the steel mill where he worked, and an era of greed took hold while we were asked to wait for things to “trickle down” from places that, even now, have yet to spring a leak. It became clear to me throughout the next decade that Republicans only cared about one specific demographic of people.
Most Black Americans identify as Democrats; only a small percentage does not. Yes, there are Black Republicans. They tend to explain this choice by saying that at some point they “saw the light” or that they wanted to escape the “Democratic plantation.” They can say what they like.
But the implication always seems to be that most Black Democrats are suffering from some sort of fever dream about the racism of Republicans. That we are too dumb to know that we’re being duped. Or that we don’t understand the many historic contributions of a party whose way of addressing racism in America is to deny that it exists or to say it is the fault of the people who draw attention to it.
Black Americans know bad news when we see it. The Republican Party seems to bring out white supremacists and there are reasons for this. A generation ago, Republicans worked quietly to keep that portion of their supporters gagged and muffled, out of sight. They make no effort to confront or suppress it anymore. It is now part of their brand, even their identity.
The second election night I remember clearly came in 2008 when Barack Obama was elected. For many years after (and in complete contrast to that evening in 1980), my neighborhood was alive with excitement. I walked past a bar and the shouts of exaltation coming from inside were inspiring. I walked home with my head held high, feeling, at long last, like an American.
But Obama’s tenure wasn’t an eight-year miracle. He was, in the end, a Democrat, still largely a shield against Republican cruelty.
I still can’t talk about election night in 2016. We are still living with that hangover. And Joe Biden hasn’t cured mine yet.
So here is where I think we are: Black people don’t love Democrats. But, for right now, they seem to be the only thing standing between us and the racism of Republicans. Democrats are a bulwark against conservatives who want nothing more than to go back to a time when White men were on top and everyone else was an afterthought. You don’t have to be a racist to be a Republican. But it’s not discouraged, either.
So, the Democrats are in my inbox again. I find them annoying because they aren’t that much better than the other party. But they are better than nothing. I wish that we could all agree on someone, regardless of political affiliation, who put the quality of life of all Americans first. Until then, I’ll be reaching for my checkbook. And hoping.
