By Kwame Salter

November 8, 2024

First, I would like to congratulate the victors that emerged this past Tuesday. Ya’ll have got the proverbial power ‘ding dong’. I pray that you govern justly and even handedly.  Regardless of the outcome, this race revealed a lot about America’s deeply held values. Yet, as I sit and ponder the election results, I am baffled. What baffles me are the reasons offered up to explain what happened in the privacy of the voting booth. Each candidate in his or her own way sought to assure the electorate that they felt their pain. Yet, the election did not turn on how effective their policy positions were in reaching the voters. Prior to the election, all the political junkies (me included) and talking media heads kept regaling us with opinions and thought pieces about the ideological differences between the two candidates. We were wrong. The election was NOT about political ideology. No, this election was a referendum.  It was a referendum on how we, as Americans, see ourselves. And the answer was clear and unequivocal. We see ourselves still as divided by race and gender.

The overt use of race and gender were always considered political dynamite for women and people of color that could blow up in one’s face. For white male politicians of both parties, race and gender can be an effective strategy. We used to refer to reliance on this strategy as “dog whistles”. Now, we have reached a point where there is no longer a need for dog whistles. Society has given the permission structure to speak one’s mind about how they really feel about race and gender.  Yes, race and gender politics apparently still works. For example, Kamala Harris could have stood on her head and spat out $100 Bitcoins and still not have convinced men, regardless of race (black or white) and/or the ethnicity (Hispanic or Asian) to respect and trust a woman as capable of holding the highest office in the Land. As it relates to older white women, her so-called racial identity overshadowed her gender. And young people weaned and raised on the internet were deeply disappointed that the massive likes received on their posts did not translate into enough votes to offset their elders. The strong undercurrent of racial and gender animosity remains a structural barrier to challenge and dismantle.

I was looking forward to a Battle Royale between two markedly different world views. Here we had the perfect contrasts battling each other–the joyful warrior versus the dark knight. The joyful warrior talked about an envisioned future of bipartisan cooperation, respect for women’s rights and an emphasis on the endangered middle class. The dark knight warned about what he saw as the accelerating decay of American society and painted a dystopian future unless he was anointed the chosen one. Both felt their message would resonate with the voting public. What I forget was that the underpinnings of race and gender were more powerful drivers than policy. Well, the dystopian view prevailed. Why did it prevailed is the question? The answer stands boldly and clearly in front of us–people, regardless of ideology, were fatigued, anxious and in search of relief. For us, the electorate, it was like watching two doctors argue about what should be done to save the patient while the patient is dying and calling for some relief.  Covid did a number on all of us. It has become more and more difficult to project a positive future.

Still, one candidate, with the help of billionaires and the history of men leading this country, confidently assured the voters that he would ‘fix it’. He was so confident that he refused to tone down his rhetoric disparaging any and all who disagreed with him. The other candidate, the joyful warrior, with the help of other billionaires, celebrities and grass root activists, was tiptoeing around political landmines while attempting to sell a lofty vision to skeptical people more fixated on her race and gender than her policy positions. There was no way she could find the sweet spot with voters who couldn’t get their heads around a mixed-race female becoming the face of America. Sure, Barack, the anomaly, pulled it off. Still, I would submit that his being a male helped a lot. So now, what? For the record, this election truly was historic. As my grandmother used to say, we got down to the “nitty gritty.” We showed our true selves and what we saw was both scary and revealing. Still, in the words of Dr. MLK, Jr. , until we are able to “judge a person by the content of their character” and not extraneous factors like race and gender, we will remain in this political do-loop So, in summary , let each side celebrate or commiserate as they choose. Yet, don’t ever forget as Benjamin Franklin said, “ We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.”

Kwame S. Salter, President
The Salter Consulting Group LLC