This is an honest article by a white democrat politician:
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/09/opinion/minneapolis-hodges-racism.html?
Why are cities controlled by democrats in a mess? Because of what she does not say directly, but essentially is: NIMBYism.
White liberals may consistently pay the correct lip service, but they do not support the substantive structural changes to education, employment, etc “that don’t simply prioritize protecting white property and lives”.
As she says, “white people have been trading genuine connectedness... for the poor substitute of property values”.
Can’t tell you how true this is.
That’s why I detest democrats and the so-called left.
I loathe these democrats so much, I truly would prefer to sell my vote to the highest bidder. For $100k I could definitely be bought to vote Republican.
I don’t live on a farm or hob nob in country clubs, and this is not likely to change for the rest of my life, so I rarely face Republican hypocrisy up front. But most of my life has been affected by these shitty democrats in cities and in PTAs. Progressive parents are every bit as hypocritical as the evangelists of the religious right. Even worse, I can’t shut them out by refusing to attend church. I had to deal with these garbage humans (lots of big and small Karens, nearly all white) and their shitty entitled brats all the time until I got out of the US.
Like Betsy, whom I know, I am a Democrat and product of Minneapolis. I agree with her about 95% in this opinion piece. Her husband is a black man, and active Democrat too. So her perspective as a woman, liberal, former Mayor, and wife to a black man is something that should be really listened to. Understand, Minneapolis is pretty far left by any standards. Democrats lose to Green Party candidates, this is Congresswoman Illhan Omar's district. Maybe other big cities like Portland, Seattle or Austin come close.
I think the gist of the piece is:
As the mayor of Minneapolis from 2014 to 2018, as a Minneapolis City Council member from 2006 until 2014 and as a white Democrat, I can say this: White liberals, despite believing we are saying and doing the right things, have resisted the systemic changes our cities have needed for decades. We have mostly settled for illusions of change, like testing pilot programs and funding volunteer opportunities.
These efforts make us feel better about racism, but fundamentally change little for the communities of color whose disadvantages often come from the hoarding of advantage by mostly white neighborhoods.
In Minneapolis, the white liberals I represented as a Council member and mayor were very supportive of summer jobs programs that benefited young people of color. I also saw them fight every proposal to fundamentally change how we provide education to those same young people. They applauded restoring funding for the rental assistance hotline. They also signed petitions and brought lawsuits against sweeping reform to zoning laws that would promote housing affordability and integration.
So we live in a political state where the Republicans do absolutely nothing, and the Democrats do not do enough- without being pushed. For me, Betsy, and others, it's why we choose Democrats. Getting involved and pushing ahead five steps, is a lot easier than getting involved and being completely ignored.