Top 5: Samantha Powers' essential essay

+ the history of Black patriotism

Image is of a ballet dancer in a street in Rome, Italy. Image credit: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP/Getty.

The top 5 articles for your week:

1. “The Challenge of Black Patriotism” (New York Times Magazine)

   Because this is a great rundown on the history of Black communities and patriotism:

   The fact that Black patriotism is practiced by a bloc that has, for almost six decades, given an average of nearly 90 percent of its votes to Democratic presidential candidates renders it immediately suspect to the right, but has also magnified its influence on the left; it informs Democratic politicians’ increasing willingness to point out how structural racism shapes the nation. But a forthcoming study from More in Common, an organization that explores political polarization in advanced democracies, suggests that its relationship to partisanship is more complicated than this polarization suggests. The report to be released later this month, titled “American Fabric: Finding Our Shared Identity,” contains the results of a 4,000-person survey and finds the real gap in patriotism is not among the races but between political ideologies. For example, there was very little differentiation among Black, white and Hispanic Americans when respondents were asked if they were proud to be American, if they were grateful to be American and if being American was important to their identity.

2. “How to Keep Your Kids Out of the Culture War” (The Atlantic)

   Because whether or not you’re a parent, grandparent, aunt, uncle, or caretaker of any child, you might have noticed a lot (a lot) of politicized paraphernalia for kids as young as newborns these days. And we should ask: what are the effects of polarization on our kids?

3. “Democrats aren't innocent bystanders” (The Week)

   Because Damon Linker has an essential essay on the meaning of American polarization — and especially a reflection for Democrats.

4. “The Crisis of Permanent Polarization” (Wisdom of Crowds)

   Because we’re really loving Damir Marusic’s and Shadi Hamid’s “First Draft” series, and this piece from Hamid also dives into polarization specifically in the context of President Trump’s current challenge to the election results and what hypocrisies lie on both sides (even if we at Reclaiming Hope - and Hamid - aren’t into both sides arguments all the time, this is a good one).

5. “The Can-Do Power” (Foreign Affairs)

   Because there are a few good reflections going around on how President-elect Biden should handle foreign policy in his presidency, but we think this essay from Samantha Power, someone likely to have a seat in Biden’s administration, is as good of a barometer as any.