Not long ago, the struggle between racial liberalism and racial conservatism was a battle fought inside the Democratic and Republican parties. Now it’s a battle fought between the parties.
Even with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris at the top of the Democratic ticket, the importance of ethnicity and race in American politics is growing, not diminishing.
As African-Americans and other racial minorities increasingly occupy positions of influence and authority in American society, they also face backlash from those on the right whose opposition to ceding power is fierce, whether their opposition is veiled or out in the open. This opposition is now lodged solidly in the contemporary Republican Party, and the two parties regularly confront each other with rising intensity over the issue. CONT.
Thomas B. Edsall, New York Times