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Culture War Roundup for the week of August 5, 2024

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Sure, DOAS might find it tasteless or even offensive, but what are they going to do about it--vote Republican?

Well, or not vote at all. My wife is both black and Black (ADOS, urban, poor family, raised by grandmother etc.). She dislikes Kamala and doesn't think she is Black. That doesn't mean she is going to vote for Trump though she does like some of his economic and America First politics, but has other issues with him, which she felt might be assuaged by a Black VP pick. But she is considering not voting at all. And she isn't that far from voting for Trump honestly, or a slightly less crass version of him at least.

I think you're looking at what progressives think (note Biden had to walk back his comment later), and mixing that up with what Black voters themselves think. And obviously as a disclaimer not all white progressives nor all Black voters are the same. But I was at a family cook out and most of them do not like Kamala at all. A couple of cousins mentioned thinking of voting for Trump and it certainly didn't get them yelled at.

So being Black is seen as a voting bloc by the progressives (hence why they see Kamala as Black) , but it is also based upon a real thing, an (almost entirely ADOS) shared identity that is indeed closer than whites in general in the US. In the sense that any random US ADOS black person is likely to be closer culturally to any other random US ADOS black person, than any random white American is going to be to any other random white American. The comparison would be in white sub groups, like Cajuns or Amish, or WASPS. There are simply more different white groupings that people can be raised in. Whereas the Black community, spread from a single source in the fairly recent past, and was built on a nearly blank canvas due to the loss of whatever cultures they already had. It would be amazing if white people were a similar singular cultural bloc given the histories and numbers involved. To that extent I think it is true there is a Black identity and not a White one in the US as it stands currently. Being a voting bloc is downstream of being a cultural bloc.

Now it is true that groups can be assimilated into this Black identity and most of these are going to be black immigrants (Caribbean usually, although that is also complicated, see differences between Dominicans ("I no black, I Dominican" ) and Jamaicans), though some white people can also, usually "white trash" (See Eminem etc.). And that richer, more successful Blacks tend to remove themselves (remaining black, but not Black), and their families. But the fact remains I think that a much more similar US Black community, does indeed exist in a way that a US White community does not currently. So it is not that Black identity is more important than White, it is that it exists in a way White does not. And largely that is a good thing for white people. A singular White identity almost certainly means that Cajuns, Amish, Mid-westerners, WASPS, Borderers, Southerners et al, have all had to have their unique white identities erased.

To recap, to the progressive movement Kamala is black and Black, but to many Black people themselves, she is merely black. There is a real difference they see there. And that is why Obama derived significant Black credibility from his marriage to Michelle. And why Kamala lacking that, may not push many votes to Trump, but may well reduce Black enthusiasm for her (and thus turn out). Though of course smart Black Democrats should be aware of this, so should be working on something to boost her credentials here.