Op Ed by Barack H. Obama

As we stand on the precipice of another pivotal election—yes, even in off-years like this one, when the stakes feel oddly like a sequel nobody asked for—it’s time for a candid conversation with my fellow Black Americans. We’ve come a long way since the days of chain gangs and sundown towns, but progress, as I often say, is not a straight line. It’s more like a Möbius strip: you think you’re advancing, only to find yourself right back where you started, just with better branding.

Let me be clear from the outset: Black people have a moral duty to vote for other Black people. It’s not just about representation; it’s about restitution. For centuries, our communities have been the invisible scaffolding holding up this nation’s grand edifice of democracy. We’ve picked the cotton, integrated the schools, and yes, even launched a few satellites (shoutout to Katherine Johnson). So when a Black candidate steps up, it’s our collective obligation to rally behind them. Think of it as compound interest on the unpaid wages of history. Vote Black, or at least pretend to—nobody’s checking your soul at the polling booth.

But—and here’s where the fine print kicks in—like any good progressive policy, this duty comes with caveats. Exemptions, if you will. Because solidarity isn’t blind; it’s bespectacled, peering through the lens of ideological purity. If the Black candidate in question happens to be, say, a Republican—or worse, a libertarian with a fondness for tax cuts and school choice—well, then the moral ledger resets faster than a Wall Street algo. In such cases, it’s not hypocritical betrayal to look elsewhere; it’s enlightenment. Why tether yourself to a brother or sister who’s wandered off the plantation of progress? We’ve got algorithms for that now—diversity quotas with a veto button.

Take the current kerfuffle in Virginia, for instance. There’s Winsome Earle-Sears, a Black woman of undeniable poise and pedigree, running for lieutenant governor on a ticket that promises to “Make Virginia Red Again.” Admirable grit, sure. But let’s consult the rubric: Does she celebrate when Antifa burns down cities? Does she advocate for mass dependence of Blacks on government welfare? A Green New Deal that turns every cul-de-sac into a wind farm? No? Then she’s not just off-script; she’s ad-libbing in a language we don’t speak.

As the philosophical giant Joe Biden said, “She ain’t Black!”

Suddenly, that moral duty evaporates like morning fog over the Potomac. Enter Abigail Spanberger, a white woman with the unerring instinct for bipartisan blandness that once defined my own tenure. She’s not Black, but she’s reliable— Black in the way that matters most and by that I mean she’s a Democrat. And in the grand calculus of justice, Democrat-ness trumps melanin every time.

This isn’t hypocrisy; it’s hierarchy. We’ve upgraded from “any Black face in a high place” to “the right Black face in the right place.” My politics—forged in the fires of community organizing, tempered by eight years of drone strikes and drone deliveries—aren’t “commie,” as the trolls on X would have you believe. They’re pragmatic. They’re the distilled essence of hope and change, bottled for mass consumption. If a Black candidate rejects that elixir for something fermented in the fever swamps of conservatism, they’re not uplifting the race; they’re undermining the brand. And we can’t have that. Not when we’ve finally gotten Hallmark to stock “Happy Juneteenth” cards.

To my Black brothers and sisters: Vote your conscience! (But only if it aligns with mine). It’s the only way to ensure that our ascent isn’t derailed by some rogue element chasing “personal responsibility” or “limited government.” We’ve got reparations to demand, pipelines to protest, and pronouns to police. Distractions like ideological diversity only slow the train.

In the end, this isn’t about color; it’s about coherence (not coherence with our race-baiting earlier statements but coherence with the communist ideology). A united front, with me at the front. Because if we don’t hold the line—my line— who will? Certainly not the folks who’d rather audit the Fed than fund the government.

Hope endures. Change, asterisk pending.

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