By Dayvon Love

Zorhan Mamdani’s victory in the Democratic Party primary for mayor of New York City has led to conversations about the limitations of progressives ability to appeal to Black people. Especially in the context of a general election against the current mayor, Eric Adams, who will certainly focus on Mamdani’s weakness with traditional Black voters. In order for leftist political approaches to electoral politics to be viable, this is a challenge that has to be meaningfully addressed.

To the extent that the American political left has exerted any impact on the contemporary political landscape, it has been through moral and cultural appeals to the White mainstream. Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and many folks in the online independent leftist media landscape often frame their primary policy demands, like medicare for all and $15 minimum wage, as human rights. Their method of advocacy on these issues focuses on appealing to the best sensibilities of an American public that desires these policies. 

Dayvon Love is director of public policy for the Baltimore-based think tank, Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle. This week, he speaks to his belief that there can be no effective left political movement without independent Black political power that is accountable to the masses of Black people. (Courtesy photo)

While most polling data indicates that these kinds of progressive policies are popular with the American people, this does not necessarily translate to the political viability of those who champion these policies. The explanation often provided by progressives to explain this is the presence of money and corruption in politics. And again, while this is a sound and accurate analysis of our political situation, there is a deep and essential blindspot that contributes to a relative impotence of the political left and those with radical political sensibilities.

Black people are over represented in all of the categories that indicate societal disadvantage. Poverty, homelessness, mass incarceration, wealth inequality, health inequities, etc. There is not a group that has more to gain from overthrowing the political status quo. There are strands of conservative thought in our community that are rooted in a variety of dynamics, including our connection to traditional religious beliefs, injected oppression causing self destructive political and social behaviors, opportunism, mis-education by institutions that embrace notions of Black cultural and intellectual inferiority and ineffective left political organizing. 

The mistake that leftists make is that instead of doing the difficult work of navigating the political complexities of Black life to support the viability of independent Black political formations to advance progressive/radical policies, they build political containers that are typically owned, controlled and operated by non-Black people.

For example, on the federal level, there is the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC), which does not operate as a collective political force to unapologetically advocate for the kinds of radical policies needed to empower the masses of our people. They have served primarily as a cultural rubber stamp for the Democratic Party establishment. There is a Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC) that is more of a political force than the CBC, but advocates on issues that mostly benefit Black people. The majority of the members of the CPC are non-Black. While there are small wins that the CPC has been able to achieve, it is my belief that a Congressional Black Caucus that has been vigorously organized and pressured by radicals to represent the interests of the masses of Black people (and not the interests of corporate sponsors) would be a much more formidable political force than the CPC has been.

An example that I think proves my point is the work of the Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland (LBCM) of the past few years. There was a time a few years ago where there was talk of establishing a progressive caucus in the Maryland legislature. Myself and others opposed this idea, and instead urged advocates and aligned legislators to focus on pressuring the Black Caucus to be more ardent champions of progressive/radical policies. 

This was a challenge because LBS has struggled with the Black Caucus over the years at times when it would not champion progressive policies and embrace conservative ones. But this struggle was worth it because the LBCM has become a formidable political force in the legislature, and has championed many progressive policies including comprehensive expungement reform, police accountability, youth justice, voting rights, reparations, decarceration and community investment. It’s not just the case that the Black Caucus endorses these policies, but they have been active in putting pressure on political leadership to pass legislation that probably wouldn’t have passed otherwise. 

While the LBCM is not as radical in its politics as I would like, it has certainly moved from a cultural rubber stamp of Maryland legislative leadership, to a formidable force for progressive politics, which is a positive development for the masses of Black people in Maryland. 

We should not rely on a political strategy that emphasizes appealing to the sensibilities of the American mainstream, hoping that they will be compelled to oppose the political status quo. Instead a central focus should be on deep organizing and support of Black grassroots political formations to build a base of power that is accountable to working class Black people. This would produce the political ammunition needed to engage in the political warfare necessary to effectively advocate for the policies that would address the material conditions of the masses of Black people. This will provide the political basis to structure the CBC as a radical political force on federal policy. This will require deep humility, and substantive engagement with the Black radical tradition and Black civil society by non-Black folks in the broad left to overcome this collective blindspot. There can be no effective left political movement without independent Black political power that is accountable to the masses of Black people. In other words, a multiracial, class conscious, anti-imperialist movement cannot be effective without Black people having our own political power source that is solely accountable to the masses of our people. 

There is no viable alternative. 

Similarly, Mamadani needs to focus his campaign on deep engagement with Black civil society, not just to help him in the general election, but to help to expand the viability of progressive politics beyond the echo chamber of White liberals and their POC friends, to a base of Black voters needed to defeat the conservative forces of moderate Democrats.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the writer and not necessarily those of the AFRO.