That the Black vote propelled Jones to victory is no secret any more. But it is important not to stop there (or to give Black voters empty thanks for their votes). Charles Barkley, native Alabaman, NBA great, and strong supporter of Doug Jones, had this to say on the night of Jones’s incredible victory. Democrats should take heed.
Barkley: Well, this is a wake-up call for Democrats. Yeah, Democrats, and I told Mr. Jones this, and I love Doug: they’ve taken the Black vote and the poor vote for granted for a long time. It’s time for them to get off their ass and start making life better for Black folks and people who are poor. They’ve always had our votes, and they have abused our votes, and this is a wake-up call. We got ‘em [?] in a great position now, but this is a wake-up call for Democrats to do better for Black people and poor white people.
It isn’t just Barkley’s saying this. Carson Brown writes this for the New Republic:
Doug Jones would not have become Alabama’s junior senator without a surge in turnout from black voters. Exit polls show that a full 96 percent of black voters went for Jones, overcoming onerous voter ID laws and stereotypes about political apathy to hand Democrats a major upset. In the aftermath, these voters were hailed as saviors on social media and elsewhere, as if they had stood in line to make right what was wrong with America.
They certainly didn’t show up at the polls as a favor to Jones and the Democrats. Charlene Carruthers, the national director at the activist organization Black Youth Project 100, captured a frustration with a party that is clearly dependent on black voters, but often ignores what they are actually asking for.
It’s not just Blacks’ vote percentage for the Democratic candidate but the overall numbers as well: About 30% of the Alabama voters last Tuesday were Black. That is higher than the roughly 26% of Alabamans who identify as Black.
What should the Democrats take away here? As Barkley clearly said, do not neglect the Black vote. And do not neglect the poor vote (the two are not to be confused, despite some overlap). Blacks will reliably vote for Democrats...if they make it to the polls. That’s the key. Democrats have to stop assuming that Blacks will just show up to the polls and vote. Because in addition to the under-focus by the party, there is the issue of voter suppression, and that’s a discussion in its own right. Suffice it to say, the Democratic party must make voting rights a cornerstone of their platform. Like, a top-five issue.
Let me put this even more simply: If the Democrats are going to retake the reigns of power at the federal level, they cannot do so on the white vote alone. Certainly not the mythical “white-working class” vote.
To argue with what I just said is not just to argue against social progress.
To argue with what I just said is not just to argue for pandering to the WWC.
To argue with what I just said is to argue against math. Cold, hard math. The Democrats cannot retake the reigns of power at the federal level based on the white vote alone. We will win in Vermont and Oregon, and we can take back Iowa, but in so many other places we simply do not have the numbers in the key states and districts. Remember the oh-so-close special election in GA-06 earlier this year? Ossoff had a strong ground game in the richer, whiter part of the district, but his canvassing strategy left a lot of Black and Hispanic votes off the table. One can only imagine other political races where candidates left votes off the table by primarily pandering to whites.
So let’s come together and reckon with reality. We are the Democratic party, the big tent party. We are the party of Blacks and Browns, not just whites. Let’s make sure we have a strong contingency of racially diverse leadership—not just token people of color but actual, proportional representation. To those of us who are white, let’s start listening to people of color when they make political demands. Everything else really comes down to that. Also, if you’re a white person, don’t preach to Blacks the gospel of trickle-down social justice, which basically claims that if all the white mens had enough moneys, that racism would magically disappear. By that logic, the Koch Brothers are two of the greatest civil rights supporters of our day.