Democracy’s claims have always been shadowed by the belief that white lives matter more

Evidence

Chris felt invisible, like her life did not and does not matter. She’s not alone—millions of black Americans experience these same hardships and the same feelings of invisibility. Our national refusal to acknowledge the Great Black Depression says to black America that the suffering it is enduring is unimportant. It is the latest instance of the contradiction that has defined this country since its birth: our claims to democracy have always been shadowed by the belief that some people—white people—are valued more than others. — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 72

Categorization

Category: Definitional Content

• DEFINE: The chapter’s foundational statement of the value gap — the premise the reader must define precisely.
• XREF: This is the core value-gap thesis the reader came to this book to pin down.

Related

• America’s democratic claims are shadowed by a founding belief that white lives matter more. (similarity 0.98)
• Black lives occupy the gap between American ideals and practice (similarity 0.87)
• The value gap is the national premise that white people matter more than others (similarity 0.86)
• National transformation requires confronting the value gap’s history and its warping of democracy (similarity 0.85)
• Closing the value gap requires renaming racism and reimagining collective democracy (similarity 0.83)
• Democratic principles and white supremacy are constitutively bound, not contradictory (similarity 0.83)
• White fear of black people originated in reconciling democracy with slavery (similarity 0.81)
• The value gap rigs democratic outcomes toward racial inequality regardless of policy form (similarity 0.80)
• Black liberalism sees racism as a fixable gap between creed and practice (similarity 0.80)
• Black historical struggles redefined American democracy against the value gap (similarity 0.80)
• Black America suffered a depression, not merely a worse recession than whites. (similarity 0.80)
• American democracy was built true to white supremacy, not betrayed by it (similarity 0.80)
• Black liberalism seeks inclusion without closing the value gap (similarity 0.79)
• Black communities must reject the premise of their own special moral virtue (similarity 0.79)
• Closing the value gap requires shifting views of government, black people, and national priorities (similarity 0.79)