State-Proof Culture: African American Subsidiarity and the Architecture of Belonging

Monday Memo

The modern political landscape is often framed as a battle for the soul of the nation, yet we increasingly look to the wrong architects for the solution. We have fallen into the trap of believing that social cohesion is a top-down product of government policy. In reality, the most resilient form of governance is not found in the halls of Congress, but in the intentional rituals of the community. When traditions are strong, you do not need to be told by the government what to do.

A robust culture acts as a silent coordinator. It provides a shared calendar and a common language of value that requires no enforcement. Consider the month of February, it is dense with possible celebrations and commemorations: the 12th is Lincoln’s birthday, the 14th is Valentine’s Day and Frederick Douglass’s chosen birthday, and the 22nd is General George Washington of Virginia’s birthday. And you can do like I do and celebrate Washington’s Birthday twice because the 22nd will never fall on the Third Monday, the closest it will get is the 21st which will not happen until 2028. This discrepancy actually proves my point about intentionality: the government created a system where the public commemorations will never match the right date. The government is best at recognizing traditions that the people establish and can be capture by other interests when it is in the business of creating them.

Tradition is the ultimate expression of local authority or subsidiarity. But your community has to have traditions within itself. We see the power of this organic persistence in the history of the Black American community. For most of American history what Black Americans wanted and were concerned about was not important to the government and often actively attacked. Consequently, Black American culture has a natural tendency to form traditions and retain them without seeking public support from a traditionally hostile majority. African Americans would celebrate Black History Month no matter what the government did. This is because the celebration was born from a communal necessity to preserve identity and honor ancestors, long before it was granted a formal proclamation by the state.

Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.

When a tradition is vital, it is “state-proof.” It does not wait for a permit to exist, and it does not wither if the government ignores it. All Americans experiencing atomization and a loss of community cohesion could learn from this, but the connections have to be real they cannot just be a construct of us versus them.¹ Or I as like to say, I am not a POC, because “not-White” is an absence, not an identity. I refuse to conceive of myself in negative terms; I would much rather define who I am than who I am not. And I love learning about other people and who they are, rather than who they are not.

The current crisis of polarization in America—often described as a conflict between “Hidden Tribes”—is, I think, at its heart, a crisis of belonging. When we lack strong local traditions, we experience a belonging deficit that we attempt to fill with national partisan identity. We become exploitable beggars in the forum, looking to the politicians to validate our existence or punish our enemies.

To break this cycle, Americans as a whole have to get more intentional about their traditions, heritages and histories and stop seeking attention and validation from others. If your community has a tradition that brings you joy and does not harm others, does it matter what others think? Do you really want those who do not care about it posing as celebrants? Seeking validation from the “other side” or the state is a confession of cultural weakness. It is easier to be good neighbors when you are happy with yourselves.

By becoming intentional architects of our own rituals, we reclaim our agency and lower the temperature of public disputes. We move away from being passive subjects who need to be told how to behave, and toward being active citizens who govern themselves through the shared respect of their own history. If we strengthen the community within, we can be less combative about the role of the state in the culture wars.

And Happy George Washington’s Birthday!

All Americans—especially White Americans experiencing what Stephen Adubato has described as a deracinated atomization—could learn from this. For example, March is legally recognized by the US Federal Government as Irish American Heritage Month, but I personally know of no Irish Americans who celebrate the entire month rather than just Saint Patrick’s Day. But they could!

“Since 1991, American President’s of both parties and numerous acts of Congress and the Senate have designated March as “Irish American Heritage Month”, a time to honor the numerous contributions that Irish immigrants and their descendants have made to our country. Sadly despite the fact that these Presidential proclamations “call upon all Americans to celebrate the achievements and contributions of Irish Americans to our Nation with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs“, Irish American Heritage month has not received recognition comparable to that shown to other Heritage Months by our public and education institutions.”—Ancient Order of Hibernians

Photo by Brett Jordan on Unsplash

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