Black political options are trapped between racial representation and racial transcendence.

Evidence

Deracialization reveals two interesting features of black liberalism: (1) the requirement that black leaders represent only the interests of black people to the powers that be (a tenet I associate with traditional black liberals) and (2) the demand that black inclusion in American life depends upon getting beyond race (which I associate with post-black liberals). In this sense, our political options have narrowed to a choice between variants within the constraints of black liberalism: debates between traditional black liberals, who embrace racial representation, and post-black liberals, who commend racial transcendence—or some odd hybrid of the two. Either you’re black or you’re blank. — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 463

Categorization

• DEFINE: Names the two poles of black liberalism — traditional (racial representation) versus post-black (racial transcendence) — that narrow the political field to ‘black or blank’.
• SEED: The ‘either you’re black or you’re blank’ formulation is a strong essay hook for evaluating whether any third option has emerged post-2020.