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This is reposted with permission from the writer's Facebook page, with slight condensing. He's a Detroiter who worked in the Michigan House from 2015-17 and is pursuing a master of public affairs degree at the University of Michigan.
By Christopher B. McClain
Rep. Cynthia A. Johnson was a test for the Michigan House Democrats to show that last summer's "Black Lives Matter" and "Protect Black Women" rhetoric wasn't hollow. Unfortunately, and to me unsurprisingly, they failed it.
Last week, the president's attorney Rudy Giuliani came to Lansing to undermine the results of Michigan's elections. His primary methodology was to denigrate Detroit by challenging the integrity of its people and cast falsehoods and clouds of conspiracy. Johnson defended us and did her best to push back against a vicious federal administration bent on using tropes to claim election fraud.
Christopher McClain: "Her statement was smoke and not ... fire." (Photos: Facebook)
Since that time, Johnson has been brought into a national spotlight (interviews with CNN, caricatured on "Saturday Night Live" and other media). With that visibility emerged a vigorous campaign of racial terror against her, bearing the ugliest markings of the energy of America in the 1920s and '30s. An avalanche of death threats and calls for her lynching have been her daily experience.
Let me not mince words: Lynching is a form of murder intended to make a statement. It is a symbol. In context of our American history, it is a show of subjugation and supremacy. It says: "Stay in your place." A body is left on display with the intention of being a deterrent. I shouldn't have to read a book to you for that to be understood.
Clumsy reaction, but not incendiary
Johnson responded to those who leveled death threats in a way that was clumsy, but her statement was smoke and not at all the fire that critics claim.
So when the Capitol bubble, particularly the Michigan House Democrats, respond to a baiting news release titled "Detroit State Rep Incites Violence" (a dog whistle in itself) and do a bunch of handwringing while she's stripped of committee assignments, I feel the need to step up as a Black former Lansing staffer because her caucus won't.
This is a microcosm of why you keep having the perennial diversity and inclusion meetings about why you can’t retain Black talent. I can't begin to explain how many chiefs of staff and deputy chiefs I've been dragged in front of to help articulate Lansing's diversity problems. The short answer is: "The atmosphere you enable."
I'm often asked if I want to return to working in Lansing after grad school. Incidents like these are reminders why I decline.
The writer with Joe Biden last August.
A special burden and pain
Over my years in Lansing, I've seen how legislators of color (particularly Black ones from Detroit) are branded and marginalized in the Capitol space as incorrigible. I've witnessed young Black mothers on staff with only part-time salaries. I've observed the selection of people of color for non-empowered/non-decision making roles. I’ve seen those same staffers be paraded to press and funders alike during a period of "unrest" without a commitment to their longterm growth and development.
For people of color, the Capitol space is a special kind of burdensome environment and its grief is ever reoccurring. The only reason I've seen great staff and great legislators persevere is because they want to make a difference.
Even in the face of the most naked racial threats, Michigan House Dems took the both-sides approach to blatant displays of supremacy. They will "yuk-yuk" and post about you when you make it to SNL, but when the going gets tough, stomachs get weak. The love is temporary. Cynthia A. Johnson deserves better.
Related:
Rep. Cynthia Johnson loses committee assignments; edited video widely circulated, Dec. 10
