No Two Cities Are Alike

by Patrick Appel

Ta-Nehisi argues persuasively that marriage equality in DC shows the danger of thinking "that black communities--and black people--are interchangeable, that what holds for Inglewood necessarily holds for LeDroit Park." He writes:

Look, black Washington is black Washington. It isn't Harlem. It isn't Selma. It isn't West Baltimore. It's a city existing on its own individual terms, with it's own specific individual history. The District's black community extends back to the city's founding. They boast a university which has been a beacon for black progressives for over a century, and a progressive tradition which extends back to home rule.

Indeed, for all the heat over black homophobia, Chocolate City passed a domestic partnership back in 1992--when it wasn't cool. But it had no teeth--not because of a band of black homophobes--but because of white homophobia. (that's intentionally absurd) The GOP-led Congress refused to allow it.