erratticusfinch:

Also I’m deeply suspicious when people talk about needing to engage in outreach to liberals/conservatives/centrists, because on one level I agree, but those terms are too vague – and I guess, immaterial – to be clear on exactly whomst we’re talking about.

“We need to reach out to liberals” – okay, so are we talking about black American Christians, or suburban white families moving into a gentrifying neighborhood?

“We need to reach out to conservatives” – are we talking about unemployed or poor people who vote Republican for whatever reason, or your uncle who straight-up hates immigrants, or the pastor who sees himself as an agent of holy war against Islam? 

“We need to reach out to centrists” – are we talking about young people with no future prospects but no strong political convictions, or technocrats and journalists? And where, in this framework, are those who don’t give a shit about all these ideological distinctions because they’re trying to eat?

If you don’t interrogate who it actually is that you want to reach out to and how it is that you intend to do so, you end up capitulating to white supremacy, the ruling class, and imperialism. See: The Democratic Party.