I read a story once in a collection of slave narratives, which I feel is relevant here. This collection contains horrifying tales of Black people flogged or suspended from hooks because they said a single disrespectful thing or refused to obey an order. But it also contains a story of a young black man who “borrowed” his enslaver’s shoes, cut slices in them so they would fit him, then borrowed a horse to go to the dance. On the way home, he drove the horse so hard that it died. His enslaver just laughed, and didn’t punish him.

Why? because this young man had confirmed his incompetence in his enslavers eyes, and thus justified the institution of slavery. There’s nothing a racist likes more than a cherry-picked example to confirm his own racism. I think that’s why so many racist white people voted for Herschel Walker.