Loss has been front and center in US politics recently, and especially
in diagnoses about the health of US democracy. On the one hand the
refusal of Trump supporters to accept their loss in the 2020
election—which culminated in the violent attempted insurrection on Jan.
6, 2021—has led many to begin grappling with the dangers a politics of
white grievance poses for the prospects of multiracial democracy.
Simultaneously, the continued demands for racial justice amid a deadly
pandemic that has disproportionately affected people of color coupled
with the key role played by black activists in the electoral defeat of
racist right-wing forces in the 2020 election highlight the continued
demands placed on black citizens. In this talk I explore the experience
of political loss, its role in democratic politics, and how it has been
understood by political theorists.