Black Populism

Abstract

This article theorizes the contemporary meaning and significance of populism in Black politics. It is based on a reading of the mass protests characteristic of the Black Lives Matter movement across the US during 2020. The argument developed suggests contemporary Black populism evidenced by its multicultural and multiracial mobilizations during 2020 comprised and catalyzed several strategic social orientations, organized around the public ventilation of critical affective repertoires of Black feeling. The idea of Black feeling is emphasized historically and curatorially via the public mourning of Black families over the police killing of Black people and the public rage of Black protesters. The article also develops the idea of a populism of Black feeling involved in activating and influencing a marking and critique of white sovereignty that split white solidarity into supporters and opponents of BLM. In highlighting this split in whiteness as symptomatic of a post-civil rights crisis of white sovereignty, the article suggests Black populism is now a significant dimension of entrenching that crisis.