Write this down: Black "progressivism" is not the same as white progressivism and, if you listen to black academics and intellectuals over black politicians and businesspeople, you'll never have a fully accurate understanding of the motivations of black voters. It's complicated.
One of the big mistakes that the media has made over the course of this campaign is to assume that black voters aren't coldly rational and pragmatic about who they vote for and why. Black academics made cases for Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren that were way off base.
The fact is, black voters are sophisticated enough to see through all of the promises of the progressive candidates and discount them when thinking about what's at stake. Black folks see through the bs. You can't offer universal benefits to people who have been uniquely excluded.
Black progressivism is more about a government that secures equity and protects equality rather than one that guarantees outcomes. Why? Because there's never been a promise made by the government that it hasn't broken for black folks. Black voters don't believe a lot of hype.
And once gains have been made, it's really about maintaining what's been earned and building on that rather than scrapping systems whole cloth in the name of "revolution." We saw how hard it was to pass the ACA and we know that M4A ain't happening. So why risk what we have?
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