Brooklyn Jamal
 | |
| Era | The Modern Era |
|---|---|
| Age | 22-30 |
| Home | Brooklyn, NY |
| Demographic | urban, Black, creative class |
| Lean | Strong Democrat |
| Race | black |
| Predecessor | Milwaukee Marcus |
Jamal is a designer in his twenties in Brooklyn who organises politically in his own neighbourhood. He is a young Black progressive shaped by the Black Lives Matter years, who wants structural change from the Democratic Party and distrusts its centrist wing.
Who they stand for
Jamal stands for the young Black left of the big cities, a generation politicised by the acquittal in the Trayvon Martin case in 2013, the Ferguson protests of 2014, and the George Floyd protests of 2020, and recruited at the same time into universities and nonprofit organisations. Sanders won young Black voters in several state primaries in 2016 and again in 2020, while their parents mostly chose Biden. In Brooklyn, the gentrification of neighbourhoods such as Bedford-Stuyvesant and Crown Heights is his local grievance. The 2018 election of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is his local proof that the Democratic Party's centrist wing can be beaten in a primary, and the 2024 'uncommitted' protest vote over Gaza is the most recent break with the party leadership.
Milwaukee Marcus, an earlier persona, voted only sometimes and with little faith in politics. Jamal represents the same distrust of the Democratic Party, but organised into activism, because a university admitted him and a nonprofit organisation employs him. He is the opposite of Podcast Pete, the young white man that the same universities and nonprofits generally turned away.
Playing to them
Jamal responds well to a president who acts on policing, prisons, student debt and housing through actual legislation rather than through commissions and studies, and who talks about Palestine without hedging. He does not forgive a crackdown on crime, a mass-incarceration law left in place, or a Democrat who defends inaction as prudence. He does not vote Republican, so a president who loses his support loses his turnout and his public enthusiasm rather than his vote to the other party.
A president who wins Jamal's support on policing loses the support of Gospel Gloria, a church elder from the same neighbourhood who disagrees with him, and loses the support of Bayou Clarence, Military Mike and Country Club Craig, who want the opposite policies. Winning his support on Palestine loses the support of Rachel Goldstein and alienates Miami Maria. What holds both Jamal and Gloria's support at the same time is economic policy, such as Medicare for All, a jobs programme, and the defence of Social Security, the same things that Detroit Denise wants. Atlanta Andre is a more moderate version of Jamal and will accept a half-measure that Jamal rejects.
Where they live
The five states where Brooklyn Jamal makes up the largest share of the electorate in the modern era:
- Maryland
- New York
- Georgia
- Delaware
- Louisiana
Lineage
Brownsville Deon → Milwaukee Marcus → Brooklyn Jamal
The young Black man, who goes from ignoring politics to organising, because universities and nonprofits began recruiting young Black men in the 2010s. Deon does not vote and is consulted by nobody. Marcus is cynical and votes when he votes. Jamal is admitted to a university and hired by a nonprofit, becomes a community organiser, and writes about Black Lives Matter in a way Deon never would have. He is Pete's opposite. Institutions shut the young white man out and recruit the young Black man, and both become political because of it.