A vital lesson that must be learned by establishment Democrats and the Democratic Party is that, while it aimed so desperately to gain white voters, it was the progressive and Black, Indigenous and people of color wing that got President-elect Joseph Biden elected. As Biden has spent and continues to spend an enormous amount of his time and energy rebutting claims of his support for socialist policies, it is those exact people that need and are demanding for that legislation that had put in the effort to vote for him in this election. White women and white men continue to vote largely in favor of Trump, according to The New York Times, despite the Democratic Party silencing and outcasting progressive socialist-type policies and spokespeople to kneel to white voters. Evidently, establishment Democrats attempted to appeal to centrist white people but were unable to effectively do so, while simultaneously—and nearly—promising brown and Black progressive voters that they would not enact progressive policy.
The question raised, therefore, is whether this upcoming administration will understand the power of a growing demographic in the United States that is in support of widespread sweeping progressive social policy that will undoubtedly anger and annoy the white centrists of this nation. As it was the Black populations in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Georgia that effectively decided this election—and saved this nation—it begs the question of whether Biden and his Democratic administration will actually address police brutality, the war on drugs and socio-economic disparities in opportunity in a manner that effectively helps Black people.
Inner cities with greater populations of Black and brown people poured out to the polls in order to structurally voice their support to the political parties of this country of the rejection of Trump and his conservative, discriminatorily capitalist policy, and of greater representation and structural change to the institutions that have proven to be inherently racist and classist.
Likewise, this election has revealed, in-depth, the significance of the Hispanic vote as Latinos comprise more and more of a substantial population in these United States. It is the Democrats’ lack of understanding of the immense racial and political differences within Latinos that has led to a wedge within the grouping of the Hispanic vote.
As Biden and the Democratic Party aimed to distance themselves from socialist policies, further distancing themselves from Central and South American populations that would be far more mobilized to support such legislation, they simultaneously distanced themselves from white Cubans who capitalize off of nationalistic capitalism and xenophobia. Evidently, as it becomes clear that by 2045, Hispanic populations will reach a quarter of the population and push for a majority Black and brown minority combined population, the Latino vote is being further misunderstood and underappreciated.
It seems quite clear that the Republican Party, in its unclear stance of accepting Biden’s presidency, is still set in bathing in their policy of being anti-immigrant, unhelpful to minorities and regressive to a dangerous degree. On the other hand, Biden and the Democratic Party’s recent behavior in dissing progressives and attempting to embrace a white centrist vote, is nothing more than an exemplification of their out-of-touch-ness with a growing population that sees through these false promises and double-siding. As Black people, Indigenous people, people of color and progressives of all colors are creating societal change in a re-prioritizing of government accountability, structural changes as opposed to mere reform and community engagement, the Democratic Party and intra-party dynamics with constituents are set to soon change or face the backlash of communities that were entirely instrumental in their election and continued power.
