Black municipal leaders are routinely accused of using race and racism to sidestep allegations that they have run afoul the ethics of public office. That is, they use racial defenses to respond to what they view as racist attacks against them. This type of race-based account has been treated as commonplace in American politics, but its effectiveness as a political account has received little scholarly attention. For example, how effective is the racial defense at minimizing negative political fallout for scandalized Black politicians? Using data from a survey experiment, I test how Black Americans respond to the political accounts profferred by Black elected officials accused of official misconduct. I show that a strategy involving a racial defense can yield positive evaluations in terms of trait judgment and voter intention, while offering no comment reduces participant suspicion about investigative malfeasance.

黑人市政领导人经常被指责利用种族和种族主义来回避有关他们违反公职道德的指控。也就是说，他们使用种族防御来应对他们认为是针对他们的种族主义攻击。这种基于种族的账户在美国政治中被视为司空见惯，但其作为政治账户的有效性却很少受到学术界的关注。例如，种族防御在最大限度地减少丑闻黑人政客的负面政治影响方面有多有效？Using data from a survey experiment, I test how Black Americans respond to the political accounts profferred by Black elected officials accused of official misconduct. 我表明，涉及种族防御的策略可以在特征判断和选民意图方面产生积极的评价，