I see the conservative rejection of race labels (eg, hyphenated Americans) as a desire to encourage a single national identity as “Americans”. The conservatives cheering for Tamara Mensah-Stock did so because they see her primarily American, not her ethnic identity.
https://twitter.com/jeffontheright/status/1437174888050176004
That said, I agree that there are cultural histories and norms specific to groups within the broader culture. I think it’s unwise to act as if that diversity of experience doesn’t exist or matter. HBCUs, Ebony and Jet, the “black church”, etc. all came to be in a specific..
historical context. Those things, as well as the Knights of Columbus, zydeco music, and the tradition of bagpipes in the NYPD all add to the rich tapestry which constitutes American history. The challenge is forging a national identity out of all of that.
The founding documents are a start. But what holds us together as we move forward in a culture that has embraced race-separatism and antagonism in the name of “antiracism”? Lastly, I think one challenge for the country and black conservatives in particular is how do we…
Embrace the parts of our identity we love while dealing honestly with the parts we don’t. I find certain black conservatives very willing to (publicly) do that national introspection but reluctant to do the more culturally-specific version. We can’t celebrate the impact of…
Jazz and the resiliency of the black family through emancipation and Jim Crow but stick our head in the sand when it comes to the impact of hip hop and the effects of a 75% out-of-wedlock rate. If we want to talk culture, we have to include the good, bad, AND ugly.
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