In politics and race, your origin story is no longer enough

Crony democracy? Here’s the shadow president Elon Musk. FILE PHOTO (AP Photo)

Trump’s not even in office officially and he’s showing how desperately he wants to turn America into the Marcos-era Philippines. Crony democracy? Here’s the shadow president Elon Musk. Strong man rule? Here comes the dangerously weak and unqualified nominees to fill out Trump’s “Yes” cabinet, loyalists all.

But it’s only a test. If Trump gets his band of sycophants approved, there’s no stopping just what anti-democratic thought that pops in his head he will implement next.

It’s clear, the “enemy from within” and the demolition of our government as we know it are his priorities.

How did we get here.

You voted for it.

Post-mortem 

Now is the time to meditate about the future of civil rights and its driving subtext, diversity.

There’s no doubt that our  society and its institutions should look like America.

But getting there will be harder after the Election of 2024.

This is what happens when our pro-diversity numbers peel away and make our ideological opponents more diverse than they ever were.

This is what happens when Donald Trump sells himself as America’s lead victim and grievance peddler and attracts one out of three voters of color.

That includes Asian Americans, specifically Filipinos, who voted nearly  40 percent for Trump vs. Harris. It implies large numbers of us increasingly no longer see themselves as “oppressed minorities” passionately for civil rights.  That coalition is breaking apart as people  see themselves as part of the whole.

When that happens Trump “trumps” diversity, forcing those advocates who believe civil rights is an ongoing struggle to rethink  goals and our strategies.

Is it an ongoing struggle? You saw the racism, discrimination and  hate in this campaign toward immigrants and LGBTQ-plus peoples.

Can you honestly say discrimination isn’t an issue in the US?

Yet, that’s not how people voted in 2024. The majority of people of color, yes. But enough of us saw Trump as more aggrieved than us all, and voted for him.

And when candidates of color turned to origin stories in their campaign, it just wasn’t enough to win an election.

San Francisco’s Breed

In San Francisco, Mayor London Breed lost to Daniel Lurie, billionaire heir to the Levi Strauss fortune in a close race among an array of Democrats from less to more progressive. And all of them white and male but for Breed.

Breed’s last-minute pitch was amplified by a New York Times story, where Breed stressed her upbringing as a poor daughter from San Francisco’s Fillmore. Her single mother was an addict, her father was absent. Her motto essentially was, vote for me, I have lived through the struggles of San Francisco.

That might have worked 20 or 30 years ago. Stories are great, but now it truly is “what have you done for me lately”?

Keep in mind, those stories used to be good enough to get people  jobs, schools, or fast-tracked into various positions. Personable stories ingratiated and yes, you were liked well enough to win X, or whatever that thing was you were going for – the thing that was formerly all-white until you showed up.

But now that story is seen as too “affirmative-action-y.”

Meritocrats have taken over.

Their cold hearts evaluate data, and – in the case of the San Francisco voters – they said to London Breed, “Nice story. But did you fix our problems?”

She hadn’t.  And got the boot.

In the past, we’d give anyone who overcame a past to reach  levels of achievement the benefit of the doubt. In a society, where Blacks and minorities are still underrepresented, why wouldn’t you go with a high achiever like Breed?

But now the meritocrats have made things harder for Breed to rest on “the story.”

And what happens when we all have a story, even white candidates like Trump who claims victimhood from persecution by “lawfare?”

 Harris

In the case of the presidency, I saw Kamala Harris as the candidate who supercharged identity politics—for the good.  She was the picture of diversity. Jamaican, Indian. Prosecutor. Smart.

In the final week, she was quick to declare herself potentially “the first HBCU president” ever.

She didn’t say, first Asian American. But that’s OK, she was playing to her Howard base. And she talked about her Indian background more openly on the national level than she did in 2019.

By the norms of American civil rights history she held a winning hand. How could she lose?

She was also so likable. She beat Trump on all the likeability questions posed by pollsters.  Indeed, most voters disliked Trump so much, but they still believed he was the one who could fix the issues important to them.

Voters wanted answers. Forget identity, race, the past. What about my grocery cart and gas tank?

That’s the story Latino voters and enough Black voters gravitated to. Non-college voters of all stripes also felt the same way.

The price of eggs was more important than the price of democracy.

So what happens when the price of eggs drop? Or when our civil liberties are slashed?

As the threat of deportations of mixed-status families become real, and the only way to stop family separations is to deport both the undocumented and American citizens, will Latinos feel duped by Trump and demand he listen to them? Will they move for impeachment?

The recall of Thao and Price 

Which brings us back to California to the recall elections of Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and Alameda County DA Pamela Price.

A recall is an act of desperation. I’d rather see a person get their whole term to make things right. That’s the time voters can weigh in again to correct their mistake.  Only in an emergency should a recall be used, but now it is used routinely to avenge an election loss.

Unfortunately, for Thao and  Price, Oakland voters weren’t able to wait.

Both Thao and Price had great stories behind their previous electoral success. Price especially was seen as a longtime civil rights leader.

But a broad coalition of Blacks, Whites and Asians looked at the current records of both electeds. Voter impatience, fueled by disgust over crime and homelessness, won.

It’s the way democracy works. Troubling when people of color come up short. But that’s where we are in our politics everywhere.

Representation isn’t enough. Talk to the voters. Give them a plan. Solve their problems. Now. If a connection with voters isn’t there, they’ll throw you out in a flash.

And it won’t matter your race, color or origin story.

Now what happens when the price of eggs drop and the price of freedom rises?

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He writes a column for the Inquirer.net’s US Channel. See his micro-talk show on www.patreon.com/emilamok.  On election eve, he performs an excerpt from his Emil Amok Monologues, “Transdad,”  and comments on the election Nov. 18, 7 p.m. at the Marsh, 1062 Valencia St.,  San Francisco. Tickets are available here.