When Mayor Pete Buttigieg made the comment that his experience as a gay man helps him relate to the struggles of African Americans, I was initially surprised by the reaction. Like many African Americans, he knows what it’s like to be an outsider in this country. As a politician, he knows what it’s like to be devalued and prejudged. He takes us back to his days in high school, when he struggled with his identity. “If you had shown me exactly what it was that made me gay, I would have cut it out with a knife.”
What accounts for Buttigieg’s unpopularity among Black voters (2 percent nationally according to a recent survey by The Washington Post)?
Where do I start? Not long ago, Buttigieg attributed the academic problems of poor Black students to a lack of successful role models, completely ignoring the part racism plays in all of this. His ability to deal with race relations as Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is not something he wants to bring attention to for good reason. While he grew up with many comforts because of his race and social class, he sometimes struggles to acknowledge this. For instance, he grew up under the mistaken notion that schools in his hometown of South Bend were integrated. When he went to Harvard, he acknowledges that “the university wanted students to feel like racial challenges were not present.”
Buttigieg’s critics also point to his presidential campaign. Interviews reveal some minority staff feel disrespected and stereotyped at times by white coworkers, leading to low morale and defections. Like other campaigns, recruiting more minority staff members is a constant challenge. In Buttigieg’s defense, he has not shied away from these issues; rather, he admits that his organization has work to do.
As a white male, Buttigieg views his ideas about race and inequality as a work in progress, and well he should. I think you could say the same for Biden, Sanders, Warren and virtually every other candidate regardless of their background. Buttigieg’s experience tells us that while being a minority can help us understand or even relate to another’s experience as a minority, it doesn’t guarantee this by any stretch of the imagination. When he’s asked about his empathy toward Latinos, the poor, the disabled, or any other minority group, it might be a good idea to say his knowledge is evolving, but he’s got a long way to go.
Links to more from Dr. Bucher:
Buy A MOMMY, A DADDY, TWO SISTERS AND A JIMMY: AUTISM AND THE DIFFERENCE IT MAKES at Amazon.com