Missing Black America

In a piece at Law & Liberty Rachel Ferguson challenges conservatives to come to a greater understanding of blacks:

So where does the rubber meet the road for conservatives? First, conservatives need to understand why black Americans are so unified when it comes to partisan politics. While 80% of black Americans identify with the Democratic Party, only 60% support affirmative action. Only 50% support government programs of redistribution of wealth—down from 80% in the 1960s. And scholars affirm that religion plays a huge role in the more socially conservative positions of black Americans on gender and sexuality. In other words, while black Americans are overwhelmingly Democratic, they tend to be some of the most centrist, or even conservative, members of the party. Why the loyalty? A phenomenon called linked fate drives black partisan unity. The Democratic Party drove the great accomplishments of the Civil Rights Movement, and that same movement encouraged a sense of win-together-lose-together, so to speak.

This political alignment persists due to both policy and rhetoric. Black Americans tend to think of political issues in a communal way, asking themselves what this means not only for themselves as individuals, but for black people generally. For instance, black Americans have an unusually positive view of the military, since the military has historically been a source of equal treatment and social advancement for black Americans. If they are alienated or see that black people are deprioritized by the political rhetoric of the Republican Party, there will be little incentive to pay the social price of breaking solidarity with the community in order to switch sides, even if this or that Republican candidate or policy is interesting to them. Even as blacks become more and more integrated socio-economically, they will often remain deeply connected to the black community through church, fraternities and sororities, beauty and barber shops, and more. If historically the black community has had a voice through the Democratic Party, then the social pressure to remain will be strong because of the sense that splitting up the black community politically will mean the loss of any black voice in politics.

Her basic view is that American blacks are more communitarian-oriented than they are given credit for whether by white conservatives or white progressives. While I agree with some of her points I think she paints with far too broad a brush and that there are contradictions, variations, and diversity of opinion within the black community on which she does not touch. Let me provide an example.

You may recall that Toni Morrison referred to Bill Clinton as “our first black president” but I’m not sure she recognized the many senses in which that was true. As Monica Lewinsky said of him there was a Sunday morning Bill Clinton but there was also a Saturday night Bill Clinton. Such contrasts are fostered by non-orthodox Christianity. I characterize Roman Catholicism, Orthodoxy, High Church Episcopalianism, and High Church Lutheranism as “orthodox Christianity” in contrast with Baptists, African Methodist Episcopalians, and other denominations, many native to the American South. They tend not merely to be “born again” Christians (all Christians are “born again”) but born again and again and again. From that point of view all that is necessary to make up for Saturday’s debauchery is contrition on Sunday while orthodox Christianity tends to see things somewhat differently. IMO that thinking is one of the things that afflicts the black community.