An Electoral Vision for Black Lives

Prevailing wisdom predicts a "blue wave" for Democrats in the midterms, but a growing number of black political organizers are asking: will more blue dots on the Congressional map mean our policy priorities will be represented? The electoral capture of African Americans is a critical problem from the viewpoint of democratic representation and social justice. But it is also a symptom of a larger ill afflicting the American left—of refusing to name, in plain terms, the most intransigent obstacles we face: white supremacy, patriarchy, and capitalism. When Democrats ignore the suffering of their members most affected by the post–Reagan era policies of economic and social austerity, they end up supporting policies that lack the strength and creativity to truly challenge their underlying causes. Dismissing the need for what bell hooks has called a "margin-to-center" politics as "identity politics" is one of the left's greatest failings today.