This narrative about Black voters "saving" Alabama would imply that majority of white voters--the majority of people in the state--wanted to be "saved" from Moore. They didn't. Black voters protected themselves

It's a bit problematic to frame AL election results as Black people "saving AL" when they were actually protecting themselves by pushing back against systemic racism within their state

"Black people saved Alabama!"

Who did they save Alabama from? Who was putting AL in harm's way that it needed to be saved & why?

The image of the "magical negro" or the "mammy" figure who rescues white people in their time of distress is a very old racist trope that celebrates Black people for being able to save "whiteness" from its self-destructive impulses

The central focus of this racist trope is still whiteness & the idea that Black people are made noble in sacrificing themselves for the benefit of a sympathetic white figure.

Remember that race is a social & political construct based on one's ancestry but largely enforced according to one's physical appearance so we can unpack the psychosis of all of this

"Hooray! Black people saved the day!" does not automatically translate into "...therefore we recognize their oppression & wish to end the culture of white supremacy." So folks who are legit anti-racist, remain vigilant

Framing AL election result as Black voters "saving AL" instead of acknowledging it as Black voters protecting themselves from the ramping up of a racist police state helps us avoid discussing the reality of the racist police state.

Instead of examining the ramping up of the racist police state that has occurred in recent years & how Black ppl are responding, we can imagine AL as a strange land disconnected from USA where good Black people save America™ from uniquely racist white people

Had Moore won last night, the focus still wouldn't have been on the ramping up of the racist police state. It would've instead centered on blaming Black voters for not sufficiently overcoming the majority white vote & systemic racism

In either case, the purpose for America's racial imagining is to place the burden for moral redemption on the backs of Black people while allowing the image of "whiteness" to remain blameless & without scrutiny

This is how white supremacy operates as oppressive power structure: whites actively construct anti-Black institutions & policies while actively denying they are doing it b/c to do otherwise wld b to admit there is no racial superiority, only racism

The active role whites play in maintaining racism (voting for Trump & Moore, for ex) has to be denied in order to maintain the myth that white dominance of wealth & power is the byproduct of a natural superiority & not brutal violence