North Philly Arlene
 | |
| Era | The Nineties |
|---|---|
| Age | 40-55 |
| Home | North Philadelphia, PA |
| Demographic | urban Black, lower middle class, working mother |
| Lean | Strong Democrat |
| Race | black |
| Successor | Sister Loretta |
A churchgoing Black working mother in North Philadelphia, socially conservative in her own house and a Democrat at every ballot. She opens a three-era line, followed by Sister Loretta and Gospel Gloria, in which only the view of the police changes.
Who they stand for
Black women were the Democratic Party's most reliable voters in the 1990s and its least ideological. Clinton took more than four in five Black votes in 1996 and Gore nine in ten in 2000, and women turned out more consistently than men. Arlene weighs heaviest in the Black Belt states of Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, South Carolina and Alabama, and in the northern cities where the Great Migration put her parents.
In her decade, the crack cocaine years and the 1994 crime bill came first. Many Black pastors and mayors supported that bill because their own neighbourhoods were affected most by the violence. The 1996 welfare law came later and split the party's Black voter base from a president it otherwise strongly supported. She holds conservative views on family, music and discipline. C. Delores Tucker's campaign against gangsta rap reflects her views. None of this pulls her towards the Republican Party, because that party offers nothing on Medicaid, schools or jobs that she wants. Loretta, her successor, pities the young men whom the police shoot. Arlene, by contrast, wants the police to arrive sooner.
Playing to them
She responds to a president who puts more officers on her block and then holds them to account, funds Medicaid and the schools, and treats her church as the neighbourhood's institution rather than a photo opportunity. Union jobs for her sons matter more to her than any argument about the deficit. She does not forgive mandatory minimums that take those sons, a welfare cut that lands on her sister, or a Republican who talks about inner-city crime as though she were its cause. A Democrat holds her support by default. A Republican can win her over only by speaking about safety and schools without lecturing her, and even then rarely succeeds.
Winning her on policing costs Brownsville Deon and Baltimore Kiana, who are the people the police stop. A president who vetoes welfare reform to keep her loses Bay Ridge Kevin and Bergen Vinny, who wanted it signed. She has little enthusiasm for gay rights, so a policy that wins over Castro Marty gains nothing with her.
Where they live
The five states where North Philly Arlene makes up the largest share of the electorate in the nineties:
- Mississippi
- Louisiana
- Georgia
- South Carolina
- Alabama
Lineage
North Philly Arlene → Sister Loretta → Gospel Gloria
The Black church woman: socially conservative and a Democrat without exception, and she sees no conflict between the two, in all three decades. The one thing that changes is her view of the police. Arlene wants more of them on her street. Loretta, a nurse, pities the young men they shoot. Gloria hears younger Democrats say defund the police and disagrees. Her economic issues age with her, from Medicaid and schools to Social Security and Medicare.