“Technically Black”: Atlantic Columnist Supports Biden’s Statement That Black Trump Supporters Are Not Really Black

jonathanturley

4 years ago

220px-Biden_2013 Former Vice President Joe Biden had a bad day yesterday after his statement during an interview with Charlamagne tha God on the radio show “The Breakfast Club” that “if you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.” To Biden’s credit, he came out an apologized. (Something President Donald Trump has consistently refused to do for comments like his statement that Jewish voters who voted for the Obama Administration “do not like Israel too much”). However, Atlantic staff writer Jemele Hill has kept the controversy brewing with her insistence that Biden’s statement that over a million such Black voters in recent polling are not really (as opposed to “technically”) black was “accurate.” The controversy raises some of the issues addressed recently in a column on the stereotyping of Trump supporters. [Biden is also facing a push back from the NAACP which said that, despite his repeated statements to the contrary, it has never endorsed Biden or anyone else.]

We have previously discussed Hill’s controversial career at ESPN. Now a writer for The Atlantic, Hill argued that, while clearly meant as a joke, Biden was actually right.

“The issue wasn’t what Joe Biden said, because it was accurate. The issue was that it came from Biden. It also was clearly a joke that didn’t land. But I’m wondering where all this outrage was yesterday when y’all president declared his public devotion to a Nazi sympathizer.”

That appears a reference to Trump praising the family (and “bloodline”) of Henry Ford at a visit to the Ford factory. She later added that such black voters could still be considered “technically black.”

“I don’t have a problem with the statement because he was clearly referring to this from a policy and track record standpoint. If you’re black and you support anti-black policies and positions, then that makes you …? You’re still technically black but you ain’t with us.”

I understand that Hill is (like Biden) trying to say that she believes Trump is fundamentally at odds with the interests of the black community. However, she still divides the world into “us” and “them” — placing conservative Black voters outside of being truly black as opposed to technically black voters. That arguments has caused a greater deal of criticism from African American writers including New York Times Magazine writer columnist Thomas Chatterton Williams. The good thing is that the controversy might allow for a more open (and hopefully civil) discussion of identity politics in this election.

Conversely, New York Times reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones triggered a backlash when she tweeted “There is a difference between being politically black and being racially black. I am not defending anyone but we all know this and should stop pretending that we don’t.” When asked what she meant, Hannah-Jones responded “If you don’t know it ain’t for you.” She later deleted the tweet. However, it was widely viewed as affirming that true African Americans vote Democratic.

The controversy also puts a spotlight on the fact that Trump did receive such millions of votes from black and hispanic voters. I went back to check.

After the election, NBC actually reported that Trump did better than Romney with such minority voters: “Trump claimed 29 percent of the Hispanic vote on Tuesday compared to Romney’s 27 percent in 2012. With blacks, exit polls show Trump claimed 8 percent of the vote to the previous Republican nominee’s 6 percent.”

I was surprised more by the Hispanic vote because of the prominence of the immigration issue in the campaign. Minority support actually eroded with Hillary Clinton, though she still won the popular vote.

As for African American voters, he only claimed 8 percent but that still constituted hundreds of thousands of citizens who would be deemed only “technically” black by Hill.

Recent polling shows Trump currently holding a bit higher with 14 percent of support in the black community.

Of course, the actual levels of support matter less than the underlying controversy of identity politics. It is obviously deeply offensive to say that black voters who vote for Trump are only technically black or not black at all. I recently wrote a column on stereotyping of Trump supporters in the media and how it could, again, backfire in the election. As I noted in the piece, there are obvious reasons why conservatives would continue to support Trump even if they do not agree with him on his many controversial statements.

This attack can have the same affect by insulting any voters in the African American community who are honestly trying to decide between the candidates. Such voters may view Trump as better for the economy — a concern that will loom large in November.

I did not vote for Trump in 2016 and frankly I have not liked any president in my lifetime. As I tell my students, the last president I liked was James Madison. However, the stereotyping of voters (and attacking their racial bona fides) is the worst form of identity politics. It also denies the ability or intellect of African American voters to reach their own reasoned judgment on supporting candidates other than Joe Biden. Being slightly upgraded by Hill to “technically black” is not likely to appease those voters who still believe that they have a choice to make.

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