if anyone actually reads this: Please excuse the ramblyness, I took an adderall before writing it.Ā Iām not very involved in politics anymore so Iām not sure Iām educated enough to make a real statement surround this topic. However, I still wanted to get my thoughts out in a place I can potentially get other peopleās opinion and also a place I can come back to review later.
The Alabama election is really cool that 1) a democrat won in a state like Alabama 2) the douche bag pedophile whatever didnāt win 3) all of the hype now about how important black votes really are. Iāve heard in the past people say that there are still policies that impede black people from voting, and while I believed that thatās probably true, I was never really aware how that could be happening. I think thatās the case for many young white people, especially because Iāve grown up and lived in a mostly white environment. Even when Iāve had black friends in the past, Iāve never really taken the opportunity to get to know their families or discuss racial/political topics with them. Sort of sidetracked, though, I think itās so important how many people are publicly sharing the obstacles theyāve faced when attempting to vote. Otherwise I never would have known what it means when people say that itās often harder for minorities to vote. Thank you all so much for sharing those experiences.
I also think itās really powerful and important that all of the demographics are being shared on who voted for which outcomes, etc. Obviously the majority of support for Jones was from Alabamaās black community. This may be a really ignorant concern of mine, I donāt know... but just like. General polarization of the parties is really dangerous, and itās constantly increasing. I think particularly in more southern states, but also even seen in my home state (Nebraska), often black people are more likely to be democrats and white people are more likely to be republicans. Particularly in Omaha, east Omaha votes blue and west Omaha votes more red. Omaha is a pretty segregated city, at least historically. East Omaha has a way denser amount of minorities than west Omaha. Even moreso, Omaha and Lincoln as a whole vote way more blue than anywhere west of us, in rural Nebraska.
Iām really worried political polarization is going to continue to increase, but also cause an increase in what Iām calling āracial polarizationā. Just basically that racist people are going to start seeing (they may already?) Democrats asĀ āthe black partyā and therefore be even less likely to compromise than they already are, while also increasing the prejudice and violent climate that already exists surrounding race relations.Ā
This is so hard to articulate, but I guess it just sucks that such an issue has to exist. Thank God so many black voters were able to influence the election. Iām terrified that racial tension will now be inflating at the same rate political tension is, since they seem to be becoming more and more identical.
Does anyone have any more educated thoughts on this? Is there any research that shows the correlation Iām talking about is real, or has this always been a thing and Iām just now making the mental connection?