The Left sure loves their identity politics.  That’s what made Milo Yiannopoulos such a compelling figure during his 2016 heyday:  he was, for the Left, a walking contradiction, a creature that, according to their theories of intersectionality, should not have been.  As a flamboyantly, peacockingly gay power bottom with a penchant for black studs, Milo’s staunch populist-conservatism and devout Catholicism shocked the progressives (and earned him the stern finger-waggling of the noodle-wristed neocons).

Such is the case with black Americans, who Democrats and progressives (but I repeat myself) see as their exclusive political property.  That’s why it’s refreshing to read this article about Caleb Hanna, a nineteen-year old black man who was elected to the West Virginia House of Delegates.  This makes Mr. Hanna the youngest black elected official in West Virginia.

Lest I fall into the same identity politics trap as the Left, allow me to clarify my point here:  I could care less what race or age Mr. Hanna is (although it is delicious that the aging congressional Democrats are so fixated on youth and race).  What’s interesting is how little these factors matter to voters in a Southern-ish State (as I detailed in another post relating to West Virginia, it’s not quite the South, but, hey, close enough).

As the benighted region of the country, we’re supposedly way more racist than everyone else.  Yet, as Professor Carol Swain of Vanderbilt University explains in this popular Prager University video, the South votes values, not color:

I can’t help but note that it’s the South—where black and white Americans have lived together in large numbers for the longest amount of time—where blacks and whites get along the best.  Most white Southerners could care less about race (as, I suspect, most black Southerners could care less about it).  That doesn’t mean people always get along, but go into any barbecue place or gas station fried chicken joint in the country and you’ll see a checkerboard of people chowing down.

Consider how much race relations have improved in the South since Arkansas Governor Orval Faubus barred nine black students from attending Little Rock High School in the 1950s.  That’s not that long ago, as I hear people say, usually in the context of “it could come back at any moment.”  But consider:  it wasn’t that long ago.  Isn’t anyone else impressed with how quickly race relations improved?

Regardless, congratulations to Representative Hanna!