Evangelicals & The Bigotry of Low Expectations: Merit, Dignity, and Political Agency

When Don Lemon stated that you “can’t be Black & MAGA,” the issue was not tax policy or immigration reform. The issue was legitimacy. The statement implied that political identity determines racial authenticity. That is not a debate. That is ideological gatekeeping.

And it reveals something far more troubling: the persistence of what has been called The Bigotry of Low Expectations.

Why do we allow the Don Lemons and D.L. Hughleys of the world to control the narrative when God, our Creator, has endowed all of us with personal agency?

When we die, we will all give individual reckoning, not a collective one, and since that is the case, I will make my own decision and not be a slave to the whims of others, especially when their whims do not promote human flourishing and put me in direct rebellion against my Creator.

What Is the Bigotry of Low Expectations?

This image is a graphic featuring text related to social and political discourse on standards and expectations.

The Bigotry of Low Expectations assumes limited agency. It assumes that certain groups must think collectively. It assumes deviation is betrayal. That is not empowerment. That is condescension dressed as solidarity. If African Americans are only “authentic” when they vote one way, then freedom has been replaced with conformity.

Dignity requires agency and demands nothing less. Yet, time and time again, African Americans show ourselves to be our own worst enemies.

Wesley Hunt and Merit

This image shows Wesley Hunt, a United States Congressman. 

Congressman Wesley Hunt is a West Point graduate, Army veteran, and elected official. His résumé reflects discipline and achievement. Boy, must have parents be proud of him and his brother and sister, who also attended and graduated from West Point.

You may disagree with his policies, and I believe that to be a most grievous error, but very indicative of African American culture. Yet, that is still potentially legitimate. But dismissing him as racially illegitimate because of political affiliation moves the conversation from ideas to identity control.

Meritocracy says: judge the individual by competence and conviction—not by collective expectations. Isn't that what the Left claims they desire, especially since that is the very sentiment espoused by their Moral Leader, the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King?

Frederick Douglass Answered This Question Long Ago

Frederick Douglass was asked, “What shall be done with the Negro?”

His answer was simple and profound: “Do nothing with us… All I ask is, give him a chance to stand on his own legs.”

Douglass rejected paternalism. He did not request permanent supervision. He demanded equal protection under the law and the freedom to compete.

That is dignity.

That is merit.

Biblical Foundation for Agency

This image is a book cover for "What Is the Church? Finding Our Place in God's Family" by Larry Kreider, which is the eighth volume in the Biblical Foundation Series.

The Holy Writ affirms individual responsibility.

Galatians 6:5 declares, “For each will have to bear his own load.”

Responsibility assumes agency. Agency assumes freedom. Freedom includes political choice.

If Evangelicals are to continue to affirm the Imago Dei — that every person is created in the image of God (Genesis 1:27) — then Evangelicals must affirm moral independence, and we must be willing to oppose with sound reasoning and well-crafted rebukes to the Lemons and Hugleys who gain all the media attention. Realizing they are not the real enemy, they are just pawns used by Satan to keep African Americans trapped. As the farmer in the video said so eloquently, "trapped as victims."

I can not fathom how people who claim to be in a saving relationship with God Almighty nonetheless see themselves as victims. That, my friend, is Stinkin Thinkin, all-day, errday, and twice on Sundays.

To deny political independence is to deny full dignity.

The Real Issue

The real issue is not partisan loyalty. The real issue is whether African Americans are permitted intellectual independence. Why are African Americans the only ethnicity to vote monolithically? I would submit we do so under my rubric of America being under the judgment of Almighty God and the African American apostasy writ large, but what do I know?

Low expectations insult.

Merit honors dignity.

Frederick Douglass did not ask to be managed. He asked to stand, and if he falls, he falls, but allow the dignity of personal agency.

And so should every citizen. I most certainly do. What about you?

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Thank you in advance to those who support my ministry. Make no mistake: I see what I do as ministry. It is how and why I spend considerable time and energy producing blogs and YouTube videos. I do so to complete my fourth-quarter strong for the name and majesty of Jesus the Christ, my Lord & Savior, period, full-stop, and end of story.

As always, keep your hands to the plow and seek to serve for an Audience of One.

With fear & trembling,

Ricky V Kyles Sr. DEd.Min.