Black turnout in 2016 was about 60 percent, just under turnout in 2004 and well under turnout rates in 2008 and 2012. Black Americans were targeted by sophisticated efforts to suppress their vote--including, notably, by Russia: https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Report_Volume2.pdfNicole

Hannah-Jones did *not* say the following words, I want to make this very clear. I'm talking about another interlocutor entirely, who told me that I should "stay out of Black folks' business."

A few points about this: https://twitter.com/Childspleasee/status/1300341692952989696

From what I can tell (based on photographs, which isn't a good basis--many may be bots) the black people who agreed with my argument vastly outnumbered the black people who disagreed. (Only the latter claimed to speak on behalf of all black people.)

Now, this is not a well-conducted poll, or even something I'd accept as "evidence." The problem with assessing "majority black sentiment" by replies and likes a Twitter post is obvious (and if it isn't, I'll explain why), but clearly, no one speaks for all black people.

If you purport to speak on behalf of everyone with dark skin, you may want to examine your priors. It's also just a creepy sentiment. I don't speak for white people, or Jews, or women, or people who live in Paris, or the near-sighted, and I don't because--I don't.

Q: Your job as a white person is not to lecture protesters or people who feel like they are fighting for the lives of themselves & their families. Your job as a white person is to talk to your family, white friends and neighbors & explain to them why they should support BLM.

A. It's *seriously weird and creepy* to think this way. (I didn't make that up, it's here: https://twitter.com/JennDoubleu/status/1300136520284868608)

My "job" as a white person?

And recall: My "lecture" involved telling people--black *and* white--that violence and antisocial behavior were a) wrong; and b) function as Trump re-election campaign videos.

Q: Rioting is the "voice of the unheard."

A. Have a good long think. There's an election coming up on November 3. That's a chance for a lot of unheard people to have a voice. Including you. But also including people who don't like looting.

My apparently most controversial point--to wit, that the way black people behave between now and the election will influence swing voters--is not actually controversial at all, and is in fact implied by the very arguments people are making to tell me to "shut up."

If you believe that the single most important thing about the US is that it's a system of white supremacy--a debatable proposition, but let's assume it--then you surely believe white Americans are white supremacists. (How can a white supremacy work without white supremacists?)

But inarguably, white supremacists can be persuaded to vote in ways that are *more* or *less* likely to diminish white supremacy. If this weren't true, no one would have voted for candidates who opposed, serially, slavery, segregation,

and many other constitutional and legislative reforms that diminished white supremacy. Right? Does anyone disagree?

I believe that the number of Americans who formally adhere to a doctrine of white supremacy is small, but the number with vaguely racist prejudices is high.

It's high enough that Trump could be elected--not by a majority, but with enough of a minority to capture the electoral college. Do I like this? No, I don't. My belief in the basic goodness and sense of the American people was destroyed by his election.

But what is the sensible thing to do with this knowledge? NB: Nicole Hannah Jones did *not* say the following to me, and I stress this she did not that there be no confusion at all.

But others did:

Some replied that they believe the sensible response is to commit violence, riot, and burn things mere months before what is, in my view, apt to be *our last hope* of removing him from power peacefully and Constitutionally.

I believe this is nuts.

I don't think this is sensible at all. It makes no sense to argue, simultaneously, that Americans are pathologically racist and America needs police reform" *and* "The best way to make them stop being racist and commit to reforming the police is to commit violence."

Q: ... Do you think [we, presumably meaning Black Americans, but perhaps meaning all Americans] we're not autonomous human beings who make decisions? Do you think we're easily fooled abd manipulated? Do you not think we're just as smart and capable as other races?

A. Assuming you mean Black Americans, I very much believe you're autonomous human beings who make decisions. But yes, I do indeed think people in general--including Black people--are easily fooled and manipulated.

And if you need evidence of that, look no further than the White House.