Thanks, Kanye -- let's talk more about race in politics
Eighty-nine percent of black voters said they believed racism in the country has gotten worse since 2016, and more than half believe that one of the key shifts in American politics has been a renewed attack on black Americans.
With at least 25 potential Democratic presidential candidates beginning to hit the road to audition their vision, slogans, punch lines and policy ideas, we have yet to see who can best navigate these different perspectives.
For many voters the answer is intensely personal, as a survey by pollster Stanley Greenberg reveals. He came up with the label "Reagan Democrat" to describe the crucial swing voters of Macomb County, Mich., while working for Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign. He returned there for a recent study of what they might do next, after voting for Obama twice and Trump once.
I was particularly struck by how much they lamented the damage today's polarized politics had done to their own relations with friends and family.
One white working-class man said he "lost contact with (his) own daughter because of the election." Another said, "It's like the mass media is brainwashing the younger generation and it's that serious."
No wonder so many people are reluctant to talk about race, especially in racially mixed company. Maybe it takes an audacious grandstander like, say, Kanye West to break the ice. But it remains to be seen how many of this year's office-seekers can wade successfully into those treacherous waters without being pulled under.
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(E-mail Clarence Page at cpage@chicagotribune.com.)
(c) 2018 CLARENCE PAGE DISTRIBUTED BY TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICES, INC.
