The Democrats have now had two black presidential candidates (one who became president, and one who didn't), both of whom had fairly exotic backgrounds.

We had:

Barack Obama, who had a Kenyan father, and was raised by his white American mother, in Indonesia.

Kamala Harris, who had a Jamaican father, and was raised by her Indian-American mother, in Canada.

Notably, neither of them had African-American parents, and both spent much of their formative years outside of America.

I've been wondering for a while if there was any significance to this coincidence, and now I've realized what it is.

Because of their backgrounds, neither Obama nor Harris speak with any trace of African-American dialect or accent. I think that's what Democrats are after.

The Democrats are averse to African-American dialects and accents. They want a black person who sounds "white".

Would an African-American person who grew up in an African-American speech community ever have a chance of being the Democrats' presidential candidate?