Many in the Democratic Party and in the progressive movement believe it is foolish to go after the Trump voter. The results of the Virginia election cauterized that notion in the minds of many.
But here is the reality: 65.3 percent of whites, 59.6 percent of African Americans, 49.3 percent of Asians, and 47.6 percent of Latinos voted in 2016. And America is a majority white country, where the systemic nature of voting rules also gives them the potential for higher voting rates. This will be the reality for the foreseeable future.
There is a lot of talk about the browning of America that should drive people of color crazy. Many of these calculations are based on classifying a group of people as Latinos. But Latinos come in various races. By the second generation, a large percentage of them are easily and willfully absorbed into the majority culture. So politicking under the false premise that America is browning to the point of people of color being a majority, thus making our politics more demographically fair, is a pipe dream.
We should all know that race is a social construct. Because America continues to use pigmentation to divide and empower a few using the ignorance of the many, one must navigate politics to mitigate said reality.
Since power in many instances is race-based, gender-based, or some other-based, we will have identity politics for the foreseeable future. The issue is ensuring that identity politics is carried out on a “moral” basis.
Charles Blow wrote an excellent article titled "Resistance, for the Win!" There’s much to agree with:
That whole conversation about how we must reject “identity politics” left a lasting bad taste in my mouth. I will confess that I’m still smarting over the implication of those conversations, in part because as a black man in America, I have seen the corpse flower that can grow from that seed. ...
But the fact that Democratic strategists were even thinking of actively courting voters who turn a blind eye to — or even actively cheer — Trump’s bigotry underscored for me the fact that for this party, principles can be situational.
This to me is not moderation but mollification. It is a crisis of conscience. I wrote in January that the Enlightenment must never bow to the Inquisition, and I hold fast to that position.
For me, there is no middle: If you are supporting Donald Trump, you are supporting Trumpism and all that goes with it. That means that you are supporting a modus operandi that attacks people of color on every term, but keeps white supremacists safe. You are supporting Trump’s demeaning of women. You are supporting his bullying. You are supporting his corruption. You are supporting his pathological lying.
However, there is a statement to disagree with.
It is not the job of the resistance to drag you out of that. It is the job of the resistance only to be there when and if you tire of the darkness and crawl out into the light.
That is a recurring statement I hear in our progressive circles about those who are ignorant of identity issues, willfully or not. I am a man and a recovering sexist. I remember saying something sexist (that I had no clue was sexist) based on my upbringing in Latin America during a forum. Many women in the group slaughtered me after the meeting. When I asked for help to identify what I had said, I was told it was not their job to fix my problem. I genuinely did not know what I had done wrong until a kind woman took me aside and explained why the statement that I made was wrong.
Some Trump voters are unredeemable, because they know exactly what they are doing. I have spoken to enough of them to know that others are programmed, and spending the time to have them deprogram themselves with one’s coaching is possible. It is time-consuming and many progressives have no desire to do it, and that is fine. It should not, however, be a spoken or unspoken policy to write off any demographic group. More importantly, very few people who are sick with a contagious, chronic disease are able to diagnose or cure themselves.
Righteous activism isn’t easy. It requires work. Getting people to vote consistently is not easy, but it’s no easier than creating relationships of trust with all people to influence what they do or how they vote.
In short, we should go after the Trump voter as hard as we go after non-voters. It’s flawed thinking to believe that in a country where race plays a significant role, that somehow people of color won't have to worry about mitigating white racism. You see, racism is contagious. And today's white allies could succumb to the contagion, even under ideal conditions. Progressives must go after every voter with a passion, regardless of race, and not be lulled into complacency by how Virginia’s electorate looks or behaves today.