Question of the day: How would one model how much money was spent trying to convince conservatives to vote for the Democratic party, and what would happen if more of it had been spent on Black and Latina organizers?
I'll be upfront: I'm not qualified to do this work. But I'd like to know if anyone is doing it or what the process of inquiry would be. Here's why....
I was on a private panel with a credentialed white political scientist. He said that "the only way" to win the elex and reclaim democracy was to persuade white conservatives to abandon Donald Trump.
I told him I rejected that out of hand because it stripped me of all agency as a Black woman, and I could never wait for anyone to save me.
A lot of money went into persuading white conservatives that doesn't seem to have moved the needle. At the same time, in other private conversations (these are off the record panels of various types), Black/Latina organizers talked about Texas.
They were seen as tilting at windmills and underfunded. I asked who their surprise allies were, and they said establishment political strategists and donors, but only at the last moment.
One woman said: We got tens of millions of dollars late in the game when all we could do was run ads. If we had that early enough to knock on doors, we could have won Texas.
Who is doing what types of analyses that I should be paying attention to... knowing most of those are probably not completed, and the data may not be available.
I'd like to know. Either way, I'm not waiting for anyone to save me. And I think the argument that persuading white conservatives -- or liberals -- is the only way to save democracy is profoundly undermining of democracy itself.
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An update on and Medium version of The Call-to-Whiteness, my epic 2016 essay on the rise of white supremacy in politics -- a story I wish I could have told more widely. link.medium.com/GI2tj80bVcb
At the top of this essay you'll also get some insights, although I was very light-touch, about what it was like to work in @NateSilver538's newsroom.
So many times when I tried to cover racial resentment or white nationalism my editors — and yes, I’ll name @NateSilver538 here — acted like they were protecting the truth from me. Instead they prevented Americans from learning the truth.
This has had costs. To all of us. I’m naming Nate here because we had a follow up call and he took no responsibility for his actions or patronizing attitude. I hope he’s treating his current staff and the news itself better.
I have mixed feelings about naming names. Black women are often painted as Bitter Bettys when we do. Instead we are Black Cassandras, foretelling what lies ahead but not being believed.
I am SO EXCITED. The last month has been INTENSE as we prepare to launch the show/podcast Our Body Politic, centering Black women and other women of color in the great pageant of American power and self-determination. Here is our logo.... thanks (Insta) @ AkeemRaheem.
Our sponsor stations, and their airtimes for OurBodyPolitic, are Saturdays at 4 on @KPCC , Sundays at 9 AM on @kcrw KCRW and Saturdays at 6 PM on @KQED
Hey folks: It's T-16 days until we launch our Black + women of color political show, Our Body Politic, exec produced by @JuleykaLantigua. We need YOU! Your suggestions for guests, via this link. Please read through this thread. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAI…
We are specifically looking for women of color in all categories. We will book other folks, but this is our mission. 1) We are looking for BIPOC conservatives, both Trump voters and non-Trump voters. What kinds of decisions do BIPOC conservatives make in our current body politic?
2) We want to know who you want to hear from --- folks like musicians, artist, creators, technologists, community leaders, organizers, educators etc. We especially need folks from the South and from rural areas across America?
I perfected a new skill this summer -- the exit from toxic situations. I know, I'm a grown-assed woman and should have learned it years ago. But I was raised in a Black Catholic family and we were taught to be nice nice nice nice nice. Even at our own expense.
So this summer I have done a Blaxit -- an exit from a community based on race issues (2x); a Wexit (women's exit from mansplaining toxicity, at least 2x); and Clexit (an exit from a class-stratified toxic situation). I look forward to walking away more often.
You don't have to burn down the house. I did a Wexit from a dinner last night and took a long walk in beautiful weather in the moonlight. I didn't cause a scene. I didn't say why I left. I enjoyed myself and let everyone else do their thing.
My best white friends from college are the kids of working-class non-college-educated Trump voters. We both felt a sense of displacement going to an Ivy League school w/ lots of class bias.
I think that experience helped me to be able to spend so much time reporting on Trump voters and understand the nuances between them.