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James Baldwin's open letter to Angela Davis contains the following sentence (emphasis added):

The will of the people, in America, has always been at the mercy of an ignorance not merely phenomenal, but sacred, and sacredly cultivated: the better to be used by a carnivorous economy which democratically slaughters and victimizes whites and blacks alike.

I've found two candidate definitions that might fit with the above usage of democratically.

1) Of a democracy (of a government by the people).

2) Relating to, appealing to, or available to the broad masses of the people.

I suspect Baldwin has in mind the first meaning; but, if so, I'm not sure how to make clear sense of that.

Tsundoku
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Pound Hash
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    One meaning of "democratic'" in my desk dictionary (MWC10) is "favoring social equality, not snobbish". Something that "victimizes whites and blacks alike" could, sarcastically, be called "democratic" in that sense. – user14111 Aug 14 '20 at 08:35
  • Yes, I think you're right. I saw that definition as well, but didn't give it enough thought. Thanks. – Pound Hash Aug 14 '20 at 13:59
  • @user14111 Want to make that an answer? It seems to resolve this question nicely. – Rand al'Thor Aug 14 '20 at 16:53
  • @Randal'Thor No thanks. I just gave my opinion, based on common sense and my understanding of the English language. I couldn't begin to write an answer based on authorititive sources to prove what the writer meant, to the standards of this site. – user14111 Aug 14 '20 at 19:51
  • @user14111 And based on a citation to a dictionary, which is sometimes enough to resolve a question :-) – Rand al'Thor Aug 14 '20 at 20:12
  • @Randal'Thor The dictionary provides another sense of the word in addition to the two mentioned in the question. That could be considered a suggestion for improving the question. My belief that that's what Baldwin meant is mere speculation based on nothing more than common sense. Of course I'm right, my reading is the natural one and the alternatives are far-fetched. But I've been scolded before for posting answers unsupported by citations of higher authorities, so I'll pass on this one. You or the OP or anyone can post an answer if they want to. – user14111 Aug 14 '20 at 21:23

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