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I, like many people, feel relieved and grateful that President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris prevailed over their Republican opponents, outgoing President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. While my colleagues, friends and some pundits had great hope and certainty about this outcome, I was on pins and needles in the weeks preceding the election and in the insomnia — and Steve Kornacki — filled days after.

In the aftermath of this election, with the statistics emerging about record African-American voter turnout in key swing states, I’ve begun reflecting on the election campaign and candidate-turned-president-elect Joe Biden’s slogan, “We must restore the soul of America.” I believe Joe Biden genuinely felt this sentiment, and it definitely captured my concerns and anxieties along with fellow Americans who feared the continued erosion of American institutions and norms under Donald Trump.

With the benefit of time to reflect, I now feel compelled to examine Biden's statement on its own merits, which has prompted the question: what is the “soul” of America? Judging by his rhetoric, Biden believes America’s soul or fundamental nature is goodness, justice, truth, altruism and compassion. Is this true? Or, if we do a comprehensive, honest reading of U.S. history and policy, is the soul of America white supremacy, unchecked capitalism and labor exploitation, blindingly self-interested individualism, war machination, conquer and, as Ta-Nehisi Coates so eloquently puts it, plunder?

History has rendered this latter definition of America’s soul to be most true, which makes it fitting that 72 million people (and counting) voted for Donald Trump, someone who upholds this unredeeming side of America’s identity. From its founding, where people who enslaved human beings enshrined white superiority into the U.S. Constitution, this country has always primarily focused on establishing and maintaining the power, economic well-being and safety of white people, which would have made Donald Trump’s re-election par for the course. Soul maintained, no restoration needed.

The counterpoint is that alongside the United States’ persistent project of maintaining the dominance of white people and elites, there has always been a confounding variable: African-Americans challenging, compelling, fighting and dying for the U.S. to live up to the “soul” Biden believes our country to have. This aspirational soul, replete with the democratic ideals of liberty and freedom, along with a charitable collective-mindedness. However, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Nikole Hannah-Jones rejects this aspirational notion of the United States with her apt observation that, “America wasn’t a democracy until African-Americans made it one.” Through their tireless activism, struggle and belief, African-Americans have strived to make the U.S. accountable to its espoused ideals.

In this regard, I find so much pleasure in thinking about the cultural markers African-Americans are associated with. We are often celebrated for our ability to dance on beat, to create rhythmic music with syncopated beats and for being the cultural architects of endless musical art forms — blues, rock and roll, jazz, gospel, R&B, funk and hip hop. Many people define the critical ingredient of this vast artistic secret sauce as “soul.” Black people got soul. “Soul” is this distinct yet undefinable je nais se quois that allows people to clap on beat, convert the basic act of walking into ballet (as Denzel Washington always heartbreakingly reminds us) and start trends just by styling our hair. We are the originators of soul. We even defined it as a musical genre; soul music transforms the rawness of humanity into melodic, life-affirmations that express the deepest emotions of a people and their yearning, aspiration, joy and loss.

One of the most glowing testaments to this “soul” that Black people possess is in the cultural institution itself, Soul Train. Over the years, this dance music program displayed the most dynamic ambassadors of soul and unequivocally situated Black people as the creators and recipients of this vibrant, unique essence — especially when you view Soul Train contrasted against its decidedly beat-agnostic predecessor, American Bandstand.

Soul? Black people got it. We are the purveyors of it. We are it. The defining scholar, W.E.B. DuBois celebrated and expounded upon the complexity of African-American souls and striving in his seminal work, The Souls of Black Folk. Black people’s soulful essence extends well beyond our creative output. It is a complex identity rooted in our historical journey from African to African-American, and our project to demand humanity and democracy in a country that is hostile to African-Americans.

Soul is the moral clarity and conviction preached in the rhythmic oratory of Black theologians with their reading of sacred texts that ground spiritual ascent in the struggle for justice. Soul is evidenced in the beauty, perseverance and community-mindedness of Black women who link our personal struggle to the community wide struggle for wellness and opportunity, despite being diminished and taken for granted at every turn. It is Black men’s effort to preserve, protect and provide for their families in the face of centuries-old violence that aims to confine their humanity and cut off their very breath. Soul is the bravery with which Black LGBTQ+ and non-binary folks have doggedly claimed space and light, pushed the boundaries of love and identity, and challenged the limited gender construct and all its baggage.

Soul is lived and breathed in how African-Americans’ personal always converges with the political, resulting in the sense of linked fate we hold. A collective fate which often compels us to consider how our voting patterns, professional choices and personal strivings will affect our community, and to act accordingly “for the culture.”

In this, the “soul of America” did not really need to be “restored.” Black people hadn’t gone anywhere. We right here. Indeed, we’ve been here right all along, since 1619 (arguably before). Loving our loved ones. Marching in the streets. Toiling with our labor. Affirming our culture. Serving on the frontlines of war and Wal-Mart stores. Expressing our joy. Entertaining the world. Honoring God, Spirit and our ancestors. Raising our babies and others. Mourning our dead.

With this recent election, we’ve shown that we’re still here — despite conservative policy makers and judges’ “surgical precision” to suppress our vote, and their talking head co-conspirators who’ve animated the conservative base by distorting the struggle for Black lives and demonizing our freedom fighters. The voting results in heavily African-American districts in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Michigan and Minnesota clearly articulate that America’s soul is alive and well. America’s soul raised up to rescue America from further decline into fascism and chaos. The souls of Black folk just needed to have their say.

Voter-Intimidation

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