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THIS IS AMERICA
Democrats Don’t Get a Pass on Racism
When it comes to racism and classism, Republicans aren’t the only offenders
Last summer, Democrats rode the wave of what’s come to be known as America’s racial reckoning. White Democrats, in particular, went to great lengths to prove their “wokeness.” First, they paraded through the Capitol wearing Kente cloth, topped off by taking a Colin Kaepernick-inspired knee. Eventually, the attempts by the White political left to show their anti-racist bona fides bordered on pandering.
At the time, I tolerated it as I’m sure many others did. I knew a little performative pandering was par for the course politically. The sight of Reps. Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer taking a knee draped in Kente cloth seemed a small price to pay for the first opportunity for actual systemic change in decades.
In the end, whatever discomfort I experienced was worth it. Democrats parlayed the momentum from the summer of 2020, driven primarily by Blacks and other people of color, to put Joe Biden in the White House. In the meantime, Republicans confirmed themselves as the party of White supremacy and grievance politics, placing Democrats firmly on the right side of history.
