Look, a lot of folks (myself included) explicitly arguing for racial justice *know* and have *known* and routinely explain to others that telling the public that a policy disproportionately benefits people of color (or immigrants) generally will reduce overall support for it. 1/5

That& #39;s been true for as long as political scientists have studied it. The question now is whether it& #39;s worth any immediate downsides to explicitly and gradually attempt to convince the American people that they should support racial justice. 2/5

I love polling and political science, and we should monitor the responsiveness of people to new messages. But, it& #39;s not as though opponents of racial justice won& #39;t prime people to think about the disproportionate benefits of progressive economic policies to people of color. 3/5

For generations, we have made far too little progress--and accomplished even that progress far too slowly. So, it& #39;s reasonable for people to think that downplaying race in the face of opponents emphasizing it wasn& #39;t working out well--for either racial or economic justice. 4/5

We can& #39;t change opponents, but we can try a different approach ourselves. There is no doubt that elite signaling changes opinions. In this case, the potential payoff in persuasion likely will come only after significant effort over years. 5/5