Akilah your voice and perspective has always mattered. Day one subscriber when you announced I could follow your opinions unadulterated missing you since WAD. America fucked up. Racism and misogyny and all the things were equated to the cost of fucking eggs. We know what happened. America has a problem. It’s more important to have a racist felon rapist white guy in charge than first a woman. And second and more importantly someone who is black bc Obama scared the knuckle daggers. We are all about to suffer and I hope it happens expeditiously. I can never speak to anyone’s experience being black. I just know black people historically are resilient and USED to this treatment. I hope we all get what the majority voted for. And I hope at the end of it all we don’t ever try to rely on the “black vote” again bc damn we failed there. I’m sorry. I hope I can navigate this thoughtfully. But fuck a blue bracelet. We can’t be allies we need to be accomplices. White america shouldn’t be worried about a fucking signal that you’re safe with me. We should be letting the racists know they aren’t safe with us. I hope we all learn from this as it goes into flames but man. Your perspective has seriously gotten me through a lot since 2016 and really helped me check my privilege and what that means in real life. I thank you for everything. Give the dogtor some scratches please.
Thank you, Akilah. I do on fact believe that this is the correct take. Sharing with my devastated sister and have just upgraded to a paid subscription. Thank you.
Thank you, Akilah, every word you speak/write is the truth. Ever since I was a little girl and my Jewish father took me with him to campaign for the presidency of Shirley Chisholm, I have been becoming more and more awakened politically waiting for a black woman to become our POTUS. Racism & Misogyny are the same as they always were in this country. I hope Buttigieg runs in 2028 but he’ll lose too because of homophobia. I feel like I’m in the future now reading a textbook about how the USA died in a history class.
This was such an important take, and so so important to call out the discourse about Dems not appealing to the mythical (white) median voter. Today, I am going to write up my take on what we need to do going forward (and not why we lost). I think people need to read this first. And I especially appreciate the fact that you name the base that understood the assignment (Blacks, Jews, LGBTQ+), yet pundits wanting to cater to a white audience who doesn't understand mitigation. I hope you and your readers will also take a look at what I write about and see if it's illuminating (or very possibly not).
I’ve returned to this post a couple of times, thank you for writing it. It’s been a balm amidst the BS blowback against “identity politics” (Moulton and many pundits) and the simultaneous wish to recapture the Biden and Obama coalitions. Hey, you know what, most of us like our identities and diversity, and need that in a presidential candidate. It is hella validating. But to be sure, there was too little time and unfortunately clarity on the need for Harris to disambiguate herself from Biden. I mean I think Biden did a stellar job on a lot of things, but took necessary flak on Gaza, but she needed more time to really step out from his shadow. I think she could have done it. A campaign of hope and possibility will win, but not against unanswered 100s of millions in disinformation and the underlying racism, misogyny, xenophobia and transphobia in the key portions of the electorate. These people were ginned to fear. I think we need a grassroots campaign of connection. Trump will fail, that is clear, but we need to help people connect the dots on why selfishness and White supremacy do not work as a driving force in human existence, except in the short term in which they lead to a lot of suffering. Trump may be ushering in a new Dark Ages, but even that has an expiration date.
Akilah your voice and perspective has always mattered. Day one subscriber when you announced I could follow your opinions unadulterated missing you since WAD. America fucked up. Racism and misogyny and all the things were equated to the cost of fucking eggs. We know what happened. America has a problem. It’s more important to have a racist felon rapist white guy in charge than first a woman. And second and more importantly someone who is black bc Obama scared the knuckle daggers. We are all about to suffer and I hope it happens expeditiously. I can never speak to anyone’s experience being black. I just know black people historically are resilient and USED to this treatment. I hope we all get what the majority voted for. And I hope at the end of it all we don’t ever try to rely on the “black vote” again bc damn we failed there. I’m sorry. I hope I can navigate this thoughtfully. But fuck a blue bracelet. We can’t be allies we need to be accomplices. White america shouldn’t be worried about a fucking signal that you’re safe with me. We should be letting the racists know they aren’t safe with us. I hope we all learn from this as it goes into flames but man. Your perspective has seriously gotten me through a lot since 2016 and really helped me check my privilege and what that means in real life. I thank you for everything. Give the dogtor some scratches please.
Thank you Akilah 🫶🏻 So far you are the only person making any sense after last week 💔🫶🏻
Thank you, Akilah. I do on fact believe that this is the correct take. Sharing with my devastated sister and have just upgraded to a paid subscription. Thank you.
Thank you, Akilah, every word you speak/write is the truth. Ever since I was a little girl and my Jewish father took me with him to campaign for the presidency of Shirley Chisholm, I have been becoming more and more awakened politically waiting for a black woman to become our POTUS. Racism & Misogyny are the same as they always were in this country. I hope Buttigieg runs in 2028 but he’ll lose too because of homophobia. I feel like I’m in the future now reading a textbook about how the USA died in a history class.
This was such an important take, and so so important to call out the discourse about Dems not appealing to the mythical (white) median voter. Today, I am going to write up my take on what we need to do going forward (and not why we lost). I think people need to read this first. And I especially appreciate the fact that you name the base that understood the assignment (Blacks, Jews, LGBTQ+), yet pundits wanting to cater to a white audience who doesn't understand mitigation. I hope you and your readers will also take a look at what I write about and see if it's illuminating (or very possibly not).
I just subscribed - it’s important to support writers and thinkers who can speak to this moment, and who understand the issues that confront us.
Thank you, I am now a paid subscriber. Been a fan since WAD. Can't agree more.
I’ve returned to this post a couple of times, thank you for writing it. It’s been a balm amidst the BS blowback against “identity politics” (Moulton and many pundits) and the simultaneous wish to recapture the Biden and Obama coalitions. Hey, you know what, most of us like our identities and diversity, and need that in a presidential candidate. It is hella validating. But to be sure, there was too little time and unfortunately clarity on the need for Harris to disambiguate herself from Biden. I mean I think Biden did a stellar job on a lot of things, but took necessary flak on Gaza, but she needed more time to really step out from his shadow. I think she could have done it. A campaign of hope and possibility will win, but not against unanswered 100s of millions in disinformation and the underlying racism, misogyny, xenophobia and transphobia in the key portions of the electorate. These people were ginned to fear. I think we need a grassroots campaign of connection. Trump will fail, that is clear, but we need to help people connect the dots on why selfishness and White supremacy do not work as a driving force in human existence, except in the short term in which they lead to a lot of suffering. Trump may be ushering in a new Dark Ages, but even that has an expiration date.