Symbolic black representation can substitute hollow trust for actual advocacy.

Evidence

If the concerns of black communities were to get any traction, it would have to be by way of a form of what Harris calls “wink and nod” politics. Black voters would elect black politicians with the understanding that the politicians are constrained by white racism in terms of what they can address explicitly. But black voters are to trust them implicitly—because they are black, we assume that they will act on behalf of the interests of black people. The danger of this trust is obvious. Black voters can easily find themselves saddled with politicians who symbolically represent them, but who have no intention, out of self-interest, of advocating on their behalf in any specific way. In place of any serious attempt to address racial inequality, we get something hollow, little more than symbols and tidy speeches. — Eddie S. Glaude Jr., Democracy in Black, 462

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘wink and nod’ politics — implicit trust in black politicians constrained by white racism, often yielding only symbolic representation.
• QUESTION: This implicit-trust dynamic is the hinge of Glaude’s argument that Democratic loyalty is a trap; worth checking how recent black mayoral/congressional tenures confirm or complicate it.
• XREF: Connects to the liberal-pluralist critique in Glaude’s account of the ‘price’ paid for inclusion; parallels the ‘undercover’ critique in paragraph 458.