Fam,

I come from a Black extended family of mostly Christians (though some members of my family are Muslim) and I'm deeply ashamed to say that many of them are going to vote for the Orange Menace in November.

I don't think these family members consider themselves Republican, but they are conservative and share the same social and economic pathologies as Republicans and the GOP:

They believe the United States was created by god.
They believe that European colonization was necessary in order to tame the savages (Indigenous Americans, Africans, etc.) and to introduce us to the civilizing power of White Jesus (i.e. European, Western Christian ideology).

They feel that slavery was a necessary evil because in the end, their souls are saved because White Jesus knows their names and they know his.

Despite being poor, they despise poor people; and when they see a poor person getting something material or economic that they feel the poor person "doesn't deserve"...

..by which they mean haven't earned through insufferable, visible, and performative toil, it makes them incredibly angry and they wish for the power to be able to take it away (and have it for themselves, but that part they don't admit out loud).

They will *never* vote for a woman president, even if she's Black, because they STRONGLY believe that "man is the head and woman is the neck" and a man should *always* lead--otherwise, Jehovah or Jesus would be a woman.

(An aside: Since Black Christians love to say, "But Christianity existed in Africa, in Ethiopia before colonization!"...

...they called me a liar when I told them that the Christian god ancient Ethiopians worshiped was neither male nor female, and was both male and female, and they used pronouns interchangeably and sometimes not at all to describe the deity.)

They know that most 6Fs are anti-Black, and they do marginally dislike acts of anti-Blackness (which, while it upsets them, they always blame it on what the victim should or should not have done)...

...but because they believe earthly concerns come tertiary to heavenly ones, they are willing to overlook (e.g. forgive) any acts of anti-Blackness they witness or experience. This also goes for misogynoir, ableism, and any other bigotry.

Except anti-LGBTQIA+ bigotry. That one they believe is righteous and required for admission into Jehovah's paradise.

What they are *not* willing to "forgive" is abortion.

So irrespective of a candidate's economic platform, foreign policy, alleged criminal history, or bigotry, they will vote for the candidate who upholds the idea that people who have wombs should not have control over them...

...and that the State should engage in compulsory reproduction, which is another way of saying r/pe culture.

They don't care about the circumstances (whether incest, r*pe, parent's life at stake, whatever). They firmly believe that when a person is pregnant, they should be forced to bring it to term.

Since they believe the GOP supports this allegedly "pro-life" position and Democrats generally don't, they vote Republican.

There is no reasoning to be had with them. At most, they will entertain the discussion, fake smile in that way only a Christian can, and "bless your heart" and "have a blessed day" you to death.

Since faith, and not evidence, is their criteria for evaluation, nothing you can do or say will change their minds. They think they're good with god, and that's all that matters to them.

I know this is "dirty laundry," but I have to air it.

If you removed any references to race, you would think I was describing clear folks, wouldn't you?

This is how I know white supremacist capitalist patriarchal indoctrination is successful: It doesn't just work on white folks; it works on EVERYBODY.

Identity is never enough.

Ideology > Identity.

Equally devastating is the part I left out:

Most of these family members are Black women. There are more Black women in my family, in general, by far. Most of the men are imprisoned or dead.

The saving grace is my mother--a feminist atheist who consciously eschewed religion and respectability, and lives her life the way she fucking wants to.