5 New Year’s Resolutions for the Democratic Party to Adopt in 2022

How Democrats can step into some “New Year, New Party” energy

By Fola Onifade

1. Print this New York Times article by Stacey Abrams and Lauren Groh-Wargo and take detailed notes. 

If Democrats want to win in 2022, they should start by reading (or hopefully, re-reading) this opinion piece by Stacey Abrams and Lauren Groh-Wargo literally titled “How to Turn Your Red State Blue.”

In 2021, the Democratic-led Congress approved a $1.9 trillion pandemic-relief bill with no Republican votes. The relief funding, also known as the American Rescue Plan, extended child tax credits to millions of Americans, helping to cover childcare expenses and combat childhood poverty. State and local governments (including Republican-led states) have received billions in funding. A few examples of how that funding was used include: increasing pay for childcare workers in Boston, Massachusetts; preventing evictions in San Antonio, Texas; and supporting students from low-income areas in San Jose, California.

With no Republican support for the bill in Congress, such progress would have been unlikely if Georgia voters hadn’t turned out in droves during the 2020 elections, helping to secure the White House and the Senate for Democrats. Democrats weren’t even thinking about Georgia as a key to winning until the fate of Congress came down to the wire, and the Peach State became the party’s last hope to win the Senate. 

But back in 2014, Abrams (who is running for GA governor this year) founded the New Georgia Project, a voter registration and civic engagement organization, and she began to lay the foundation for the massive turnout in the 2020 election, transforming what was once a solidly red state into a political battleground. Georgia’s not the only state with the potential to upend the balance of power in this country. As Abrams and Groh-Wargo say in their piece: “By identifying an untapped or underrepresented voter pool, states can redefine their path to victory.

2. Stop tripping over the filibuster and pass voting rights legislation.

Resolution number 2 might be the lowest hanging fruit on this list if Democrats would stop tripping over a procedural hangup. This is the easiest resolution to follow since Democrats control both houses of Congress right now. And it’s the most urgent, given the failed coup attempt that took place one year ago on January 6th in the U.S. Capitol after Biden won his election and the unrelenting attacks on voting access since. 

Democrats failing to protect the right to vote after millions of voters defied the odds in Georgia, Arizona, and elsewhere across the country—securing the executive and legislative branches of government for the party—is wholly unacceptable at this point.

We deserve better, and while it shouldn’t have taken this long, a new year would be a great time for Democrats to show their commitment to democracy by protecting the most basic and important element of it.

3. Hire qualified staffers who've stepped in a Black barbershop or hair salon.

Cultural competency is a critical factor in winning over voters, because politics, at the end of the day, is a matter of culture. In Black communities, hair salons and barbershops are more than just businesses—they’re community centers for conversation, exchanging ideas, and sharing knowledge. Patrons discuss music and entertainment, their hopes and fears for their children, the price of groceries, and the cost of healthcare. Just a few minutes spent in any of these spaces will reveal the complexity and depth among Black voters’ interests that can’t be grasped from one conversation with a Black celebrity or a scroll through “Black Twitter.”  

4. Stop asking white guys to explain trends among Latino voters (or really any voters of color).

If you leave it to the white data geeks whose number-crunching steers much of the Democratic decision making machine, they’ll tell you that the Latino vote for Democrats in 2020 “dropped” compared to prior elections because these voters were supposedly turned off by threats of “socialism” and messages like “defund the police.” But those takes are not enough to explain the record level of turnout among Latinos who voted for Biden or the important nuances within the Latino community. 

In September of last year, we had Executive Director of Somos Votantes Melissa Morales on our podcast to share her insight on the 2020 Latino vote. And for our last episode of 2021, NBCNews.com’s Suzanne Gamboa broke down what members of the Latino community continue to share with her about what matters to them. Research and reporting led by actual members of the Latino community consistently show that what matters most broadly among this group are issues like education and jobs.

Resolutions 3 and 4 go hand-in-hand because understanding the unique perspectives of voters in a multiracial society requires rigorous analysis to accompany cultural competency. If Democrats really want to understand voters of color in order to win elections, they can start by overcoming their own biases and hire, listen to, learn from, and support organizers, researchers, staffers, reporters, and voters of color from all walks of life who have both the expertise and the lived experience that truly reflect the New American Majority.

5. Prioritize justice over “popularism.”

“Popularism” is the belief among mainstream Democrats that candidates should poll endlessly to figure out what’s popular among voters and only talk about those issues on the campaign trail. But in a country where extending the right to vote to Black Americans in 1965 resulted in a mass exodus of white folks from the Democratic Party, only talking about what’s popular often means ignoring the supposed “unpopular” topic of injustice that threaten the lives of many Americans, specifically Black folks and other people of color, women, trans and non-binary people, disabled people and many others. 

Expecting Democrats to abandon “popularism” is a BIG ask, given their tendency to shy away from taking bold action that benefits voters, the party and democracy, but at least there’s some precedent. For example, last year, as mentioned above, Congress passed trillions of dollars in federal relief, billions of which helped significantly reduce child poverty through the child tax credit. At the local level, thanks to the 2019 pilot in Stockton, California created by the city’s former mayor Michael Tubbs, guaranteed income programs have now popped up in several different cities across the nation from St. Paul, Minnesota to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, blazing a path towards economic justice by providing individuals and families with much needed funds. And it turns out, lifting people out of poverty is popular among those who could use the help.

Who Gets to Be “The Best” and Why?

From the Emmys to the Democratic Party, representation without structural change is not enough

By Fola Onifade

Source: DVSROSS

When Emmy nominations were announced back in July, Twitter was abuzz with excitement, and rightfully so. I, along with many others, were thrilled to see the historic level of diversity among nominees including Lovecraft Country’s Jonathan Majors, Saturday Night Live’s Bowen Yang, and Pose’s Mj Rodriguez. Coming off prior Emmy ceremonies where queer artists won big in 2019 and a record number of actors of color took home top awards in 2020, the hype was warranted.

But this year’s announcement of awards disappointed, to say the least. Despite the record number of people of color nominations (performers of color made up nearly half of the nominations, 44%), in the end white actors swept all 12 major acting categories.

Following the 2015 #OscarsSoWhite public outcry and the entertainment industry’s restated commitment to diversity after last summer’s racial reckoning in response to the police murder of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, critics have rightly pointed out the shallowness of the industry’s proclamations to boost diversity and inclusion.

While Hollywood has gotten better in recent years at reflecting the true rainbow of America on our TV screens, Sunday’s Emmy award-winners, who are selected by the Television Academy, proved there’s clearly still much more work to be done in recognizing the excellence of actors, writers, and directors of color.

Failing to properly acknowledge the excellence of this nation’s people of color (who make up 42% of the U.S. population) isn’t limited to Hollywood, though. Similarly, due to the lack of consequential and structural change within the Democratic Party, candidates of color — and women in particular — continue to fight an uphill battle for funding, meaningful support, and ultimately, victory.

#EmmysSoWhite and #DemPartySoWhite

Like the Television Academy, decision-makers within the Democratic Party are overwhelmingly white, and when white folks hold the majority of leadership positions in any industry, fewer checks remain to safeguard against implicit bias. According to the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, implicit bias suggests that people can act on the basis of prejudice and stereotypes without intending to do so.

At Sunday night’s Emmys, not one Black actor or other actor of color was deemed “the best” by the industry for their TV show performances, but they were still featured as live talent during the ceremonies. Cedric the Entertainer hosted and paid tribute to the late rap legend Biz Markie. R&B singers Leon Bridges and Jon Batiste performed and several people of color served as presenters of awards. While artists of color were deemed fit to provide the bulk of the night’s live entertainment, it hardly excuses the lack of actual awards given to the many nominated and well-deserving artists of color.

The same implicit bias that keeps people of color from winning and being declared “the best” in Hollywood is what keeps the Democratic Party from investing in and promoting candidates of color who have the ability to change the political calculus in key states.

Women candidates of color and the “myth of electability”

For Black women and other women of color candidates, achieving recognition and securing funding is especially challenging, despite an increasingly demonstrated track record of “electability” in state and local races. In a 2020 piece for Democracy Journal, Glynda Carr, president and CEO of Higher Heights for America, highlighted the struggle women of color face to be recognized and supported in politics. Carr notes that while white men still dominate politics, the percentage of women winning races has increased over the last five years. Women of color increased their presence in Congress by 40% and in state legislatures by 38% since 2015.

Despite these recent gains, the “myth of electability” still looms over women candidates of color, impeding their ability to raise funds and gain endorsements early in their races when it makes a significant difference. And they continue to be overlooked by the Democratic Party as candidates to lift up for statewide offices and higher. Since Vice President Kamala Harris’ move to the Biden administration there are no longer any Black women in the U.S. Senate. Additionally, there are only two AAPI women in the Senate and one Latina. New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham is the only woman governor of color in the country and the first Democratic Latina governor ever elected in U.S. history. These statistics beg the question: If women of color are electable enough for state legislative office or the House of Representatives, why the dearth of representation in the Senate or governorships?

Representation without structural change won’t cut it

In a May 2021 piece for The Undefeated, former editor-in-chief of Bitch Magazine Evette Dionne argued that the increasing visibility of Black women from Harris to Olympic legend Simone Biles has not resulted in greater protection, support, or recognition of Black women’s contributions to the country as a whole. Dionne highlighted how such visibility without structural changes that ensure equity and dignity across the board actually serve to further dehumanize Black women and other women of color by turning them into figureheads who must still do the dirty work of “saving the country” and winning elections.

From pop culture to politics, diverse talent is mined for its value but hardly supported or celebrated. Implicit bias can’t be eradicated with diversity trainings and anti-racist self help books. The social structures that uphold these biases must also be dismantled and rebuilt. Undoing implicit bias must become a national conversation and if the Emmys and the Democratic Party truly want to show commitment to diversity and inclusion, they need to start by changing who gets to make decisions about who is “the best” and prioritizing the voices of the consistently marginalized.

A version of this article was published in the Democracy in Color newsletter. Sign up to receive weekly letters like this in your inbox here.