Green Book wasn’t just the story of a white savior who centered himself in the story of a queer black genius in the 1960s. It also happened to be a real guide as to where it was safe for black folks to eat, sleep and socialize—kind of like a Black Yelp. Why does that matter? Because after 26 weeks of ranking candidates based on how their policies, rhetoric, hirings, and firing affected black people, it dawned on the committee (and by dawned, I mean Michael Harriot hit me in a group chat) that we should also rank candidates by who their supporters are.
Much as the committee prides itself on our “no new friends” mantra—trust us, we get hell from campaigns all the time; you should see the texts…in fact, we might do that one week—at some point, one of these men or women is going to be the Democratic nominee, and black voters are going to have to make friends or allies with somebody, and some of those somebodies’ supporters are more welcoming than others. So with that in mind, in addition to our regular evaluation criteria, we added a few more for this week, with the help of The Root senior writer Michael Harriot and lawyer, pundit and the Nation writer extraordinaire, Elie Mystal (who is making his SECOND appearance as a public judge on The Root Power Rankings so he’s officially in our version of SNL’s 5 Timers Club.)
We paid extra attention this week to the black supporters and endorsers of the candidates. Which candidate has the most black famous endorsements? Would the supporters of said candidate get an invitation to the cookout? Like, if a bunch of Pete Buttigieg supporters showed up would they just be able to get in line or would we tell them to wait in the parking lot for a plate because it’s too crowded under the pavilion (when it’s totally obvious that everybody is spread out in the park)?
Featured Image: Graphic: Jim Cooke (G/O Media), Photo: Getty Images
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Racist Trump