The Widening Rift: How Ideological Policing Fuels Division Between Black Liberals and Black Conservatives (The case of Crockett vs Smith)

By: Richard Graves, October 23rd, 2025

"Blackness should not be defined by volume or venom; it should be measured by vision, dignity, and the courage to disagree without betrayal."

In recent years, a growing divide has emerged within Black America, not between Black and White Americans, but between Black liberals and Black conservatives. This divide, however, extends far deeper than party labels or voter registration. It encompasses the full ideological spectrum of Black political thought, from those on the American left, including liberals, progressives, Marxists, and communists, to those on the right, ranging from fiscal conservatives and religious conservatives to neoconservatives. Each group claims to represent the authentic path forward for Black progress; yet the space for mutual respect and intellectual diversity between them has nearly vanished.

This rift is increasingly insurmountable, fueled by a moralized political culture that interprets ideological disagreement as racial betrayal. For many on the left, Black conservatives are not merely political dissenters; they are often cast as “self-hating,” accused of turning against their own community because they reject liberal orthodoxy on issues such as race, gender, economics, and the role of government. What might otherwise be spirited policy debate has become a moral inquisition where dissent is punished not by argument but by accusation.

Authentic Blackness as the battleground

At the center of this cultural divide lies the struggle over who defines authentic Blackness. The progressive left has increasingly equated Black identity with performative aggression, loudness, and confrontational rhetoric, traits that mirror the very stereotypes historically weaponized by White supremacists to demean Black people, and particularly Black women. Figures such as Rep. Jasmine Crockett have come to embody this tension. Her brash, viral-first style is celebrated by progressives as “unapologetic” and “real,” yet it mirrors the old caricatures of Black womanhood once used to justify exclusion from boardrooms, classrooms, and Congress itself.

The deeper issue is that Crockett appears to be cosplaying the “angry Black woman” caricature rather than resisting it. In her attempt to “keep it real,” she has adopted the very performance that others spent generations trying to dismantle. Smith’s criticism was not of her passion, but of its theatricality, its sense of being an act calibrated for applause rather than conviction. His frustration is understandable; it is difficult to respect a performance that cheapens authenticity, much like when certain White liberal politicians descend into Black churches every election cycle, slipping into a borrowed Baptist preacher’s cadence or brandishing a bottle of hot sauce to feign cultural connection. That sort of pandering is insulting when done by outsiders, but infinitely more disheartening when it comes from one of our own.

Instead of elevating the moral and intellectual gravitas that defined Black leadership during the Civil Rights era, this new iteration of authentic Blackness embraces caricature as credibility. Crockett’s rise exemplifies this; she uses the language, volume, and theatrics once derided as racist stereotypes to gain what might be called “street cred” in a digital age that rewards outrage over order and spectacle over substance. This strategy, however effective for social-media engagement, comes at the cost of dignity and legacy.

It stands in stark contrast to the restraint and moral clarity of leaders such as Rosa Parks, who changed history with quiet courage; Shirley Chisholm, who ran for president with grace and intellect; and Condoleezza Rice, who served as Secretary of State with composure that commanded respect across partisan lines. These women confronted prejudice without embodying it. They understood that dignity, not decibel, was power.

Scholars have long warned of how stereotypes like the “angry Black woman” trope distort perceptions of Black women’s authority. Peer-reviewed research demonstrates that such stereotypes persistently associate Black women with aggression, loudness, and unrefined anger (Judd, 2019; Morrison, 2021; Erving et al., 2022). Whitney (2023) describes this phenomenon as anger gaslighting, where Black women are presumed angry even when measured, but are rewarded, especially in progressive media, when they perform that anger for public consumption. Hakeem Jefferson (2023) adds that “in-group policing” within Black communities reinforces these dynamics by moralizing which expressions of Black identity are acceptable, often rewarding spectacle and punishing decorum.

The result is a tragic irony. A generation of activists and politicians are normalizing the same caricatures the Civil Rights Movement sought to disprove. As one Connecticut-based seminar recently noted, the stereotype of the angry Black woman, bossy, loud, sassy, and rude, remains deeply embedded in public consciousness (Waterbury seminar explores the ‘angry Black woman,’ 2025). Rather than rejecting that stereotype, many progressive Black politicians now perform it proudly, reframing brashness as empowerment and disrespect as authenticity.

The clash: Rep. Jasmine Crockett and Stephen A. Smith

This dynamic was laid bare in the clash between ESPN host Stephen A. Smith and Rep. Jasmine Crockett. Smith, a self-described independent, questioned Crockett’s bombastic public behavior, suggesting her constant tirades against Donald Trump accomplished little for her constituents. “All I ever hear her doing is going off about Trump,” Smith said. “Isn’t that gonna help your district in Texas? … Excuse my language … but it ain’t your job to say, ‘He ain’t worth a damn’” (Black Enterprise, 2025). His critique was aimed not at her race or gender, but at her abandonment of statesmanship for soundbites.

Yet instead of engaging his argument, progressive commentators framed Smith’s remarks as an assault on Black womanhood itself. Activist Tamika Mallory accused Smith of being “intentional and dangerous,” while journalist Tiffany Cross called him “self-hating,” invoking the charge often reserved for Black conservatives (The Grio, 2025; Yahoo Entertainment, 2025). The moment Smith challenged the theatrical expression of authentic Blackness, he was accused of betraying it.

What this reveals is the collapse of ideological diversity within modern Black discourse. The standard for racial solidarity has shifted from character to conformity. To reject performative outrage or call for restraint is to risk being branded anti-Black or misogynistic. This identity policing has created a political monoculture where only one expression of Blackness, boisterous, abrasive, performative, is permitted public validation.

Mainstream reporting reinforces how this environment emerged. The Washington Post observed that Crockett’s ascent stems largely from her viral clips and creator-style communication, part of a Democratic strategy that prioritizes attention over deliberation (Wells, 2025). Such tactics feed the cycle; the louder the outrage, the higher the engagement, and the stronger the claim to authentic representation. Meanwhile, conservative women, whether Rice, Winsome Sears, or Mia Love, are often derided as inauthentic precisely because they reject this mode of performative identity.

Consequences and the call for dignity

The Civil Rights generation sought equality through dignity, restraint, and intellectual excellence, not through mimicry of the caricatures imposed upon them. Today, segments of Black liberal culture are reversing that achievement, rewarding shock value as authenticity while dismissing discipline and refinement as respectability politics. The net effect is cultural regression masked as empowerment.

But this conversation must not end in condemnation alone. It should never be about forcing all Black Americans to express themselves in the same way or to share the same creed. What matters is that we honor the sacrifices of our ancestors, the ones who bled, prayed, studied, and marched so that we could have the freedom to be different and to think freely. Our diversity of thought is not a weakness; it is evidence of the freedom they secured for us.

As Grandverbalizer Funkin Lesson Brother J of the X-Clan declared in his song Earth Bound, we must be “working to raise the flag.” No matter what our ideological roots, be they liberal, conservative, or something between, we must raise it together. The shared goal should be clear; to advance what is best for Black Americans, and by natural extension, what is best for America as a whole. If we approach our disagreements with that mission at heart, we transform division into dialogue and learn from one another’s perspectives. That, not uniformity, is the legacy our ancestors expected us to uphold.

Until authenticity is redefined not by noise but by nobility, by integrity, composure, and mastery, the rift between Black liberals and Black conservatives will deepen. True liberation was never about the right to act out stereotypes; it was about proving them false.

Refrences:

Black Enterprise. (2025, October 13). Rep. Jasmine Crockett blasts Stephen A. Smith’s critique of outspoken Black women via retweets. Retrieved from https://www.blackenterprise.com

Erving, C. L., Louden, M., Jordan-Nunez, N., & Thomas, C. S. (2022). Gendered racial microaggressions, psychosocial resources, and depressive symptoms among Black women attending a historically Black university. Society and Mental Health, 12(3), 233–248. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48714103

Jefferson, H. (2023). The politics of respectability and Black Americans’ punitive attitudes. American Political Science Review, 117(4), 1448–1464. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/american-political-science-review/article/politics-of-respectability-and-black-americans-punitive-attitudes/7534E0245F5556699151A6020E18D120

Judd, B. (2019). Sapphire as praxis: Toward a methodology of anger. Feminist Studies, 45(1), 178–206. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.15767/feministstudies.45.1.0178

Morrison, T. H. (2021). A balancing act: Black women experiencing and negotiating racial tension in the center. Meridians, 20(2), 232–257. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27172216

The Grio. (2025, October 13). Stephen A. Smith is called out for remarks about Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett. Retrieved from https://thegrio.com

Waterbury seminar explores the ‘angry Black woman’. (2025, February 20). CT Insider. Retrieved from https://www.ctinsider.com

Wells, D. (2025, March 15). Inside the Democrats’ new media strategy to reach voters and take on Trump. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com

Whitney, S. (2023). Anger gaslighting and affective injustice. Hypatia, 38(3), 487–505. https://www.jstor.org/stable/48776803

X-Clan. (1990). Earth Bound. On To the East, Blackwards [Album]. PolyGram Records.

Yahoo Entertainment. (2025, October 14). Tiffany Cross lashes out at Stephen A. Smith over Trump remarks. Retrieved from https://www.yahoo.com