by Maxwell, Zerlina
Notes extracted from Kindle: 2020-09-20
Page 12 · Location 157
need to evolve to meet the demands of winning .
It's the decision of the traditionally white and male establishment leaders to invest in white voters versus the Democratic voters of the future, which they shy away from, so they can pretend we still live in the status quo. We don't live there anymore, and we shouldn't be afraid of the future. ^b6cd0e
Caged children aren't concerned with the nuance of Wall Street regulation, but people are suffering because the Bernie or bust set wasn't able to see past their own preferences and prejudices.
in some ways, the supporters of Trump and the Bernie Bros are responding to the same perceived loss of privileges --- privileges that they have been afforded for generations.
WHEN YOU'RE ACCUSTOMED to privilege, equality feels like oppression.
We're not unique in our evils ... I think where we may be singular is our refusal to acknowledge them, and the legends and myths we tell about our inherent goodness to hide, and cover, and conceal, so that we can maintain a kind of willful ignorance that protects our innocence.
Moderation is outdated for our times and our intractable problems, and this rush to the Democratic center is futile at best.
I don't need you [ Biden ] to work with Republicans. I need you to push the Republicans out and I need you to vigorously fight for an agenda that will actually do something for me, because working with the Republicans means you're working with people who are trying to destroy my ability to thrive . ... You're talking about working with the people who are trying to take away my health care, with the people who make these sexist and racist remarks all the time, the people who are basically responsible for all this gun violence ... when you think about the issues that are at the forefront, particularly in the black community, and working people ... the Republican agenda is the opposite.
We need a bolder vision than looking back because there is no time in the past where women and people of color collectively have had more power than we do right now.
We want to progress toward a more equitable future. We want a future that radically reimagines American society, a future that requires a leader to speak truth to power about the present and past with an actual understanding of the cost of a gallon of milk in our neighborhoods --- and whether or not that's even affordable .
white Americans have had over a three-hundred-year head start in this country, so it's time for everyone else to catch up. And the starting line is the ballot box.
And while income inequality itself is colorblind, the effect of historically classist and racist structures -- such as gerrymandering and redlining -- have left generations a lap behind their fellow Americans.
(I do not understand how "income inequality" is colorblind. Maybe ZM means the class distinction is more important? This sentence seems out of tune with the themes in this essay. [WLA])
American voters must reflect on why diversity was whittled down in favor of stale pale male politics. As feminist writer Lauren Duca wrote after the last viable woman candidate, Senator Elizabeth Warren, exited the race: "I'm afraid it's too late to ask to un-see The Matrix now. America is an oligarchy ruled by the hierarchy of the white supremacist patriarchy, and we must each commit to a habit of political action, out of duty to ourselves and each other. At any given moment, you're either actively fighting for equality, or you're complicit in the system of oppression that prevents it."
The end of white politics post-Trump has to be an intentional act by the Democratic Party. It has to be an intentional movement to see people of color as powerful and essential components of a winning progressive coalition.