The Black Vote
 

Before I post this, I posted this so people could see it if they hadn't elsewhere. If you are in a Black org and want to post it in your own forum, feel free. It is an interesting read.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/19/op...9gates.html?hp

GUEST COLUMNIST

Swallowing the Elephant
By HENRY LOUIS GATES Jr.

Published: September 19, 2004



he moment when the Republican Party lost black America can be given a date: Oct. 26, 1960. Martin Luther King Jr., arrested in Georgia during a sit-in, had been transferred to a maximum-security prison and sentenced to four months on the chain gang, without bail. As The Times reported, John F. Kennedy called Coretta King, expressing his concern. Richard Nixon didn't.

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"It took courage to call my daughter-in-law at a time like this," King's father said about Kennedy at a church rally. "I've got all my votes and I've got a suitcase, and I'm going to take them up there and dump them in his lap." In 1956, Dwight Eisenhower had received nearly 40 percent of the black vote. (I myself sported an "I Like Ike" button in first grade.) In 1960, Nixon received 32 percent. A few years later, as the civil-rights era heated up and the G.O.P. pursued its "Southern strategy," blacks effectively became a one-party constituency.

But at what cost? Speaking to a National Urban League audience in July, President Bush quoted an Illinois legislator's piquant remark that "blacks are gagging on the donkey but not yet ready to swallow the elephant," and went on to pose a series of questions that black people themselves have been asking: "Does the Democrat party take African-American voters for granted? Is it a good thing for the African-American community to be represented mainly by one political party? How is it possible to gain political leverage if the party is never forced to compete?"

Of course, such questions have an unspoken corollary: Why support a party that has written you off?

Some black Republicans will tell you that however important the legal reforms of the civil-rights era had been 40 years ago, blacks today will be well served by the party of school reform and faith-based programs, the party of the so-called ownership society. "These are going to be the pillars of the black community," Condoleezza Rice told me. "In my little community in Birmingham, Alabama, in the 50's and 60's, there were black-owned businesses everywhere, and everybody owned their own homes. That made our community strong. We've got to get back to that."

Karl Rove, President Bush's chief political strategist, says the Republicans' low levels of black support are unhealthy for the party - once the party of Lincoln, after all - and for the African-American community. Part of what's gone wrong, he told me, is that Republicans don't advertise in black media markets. "If the conversation in the community is predominantly Democrat, and we don't make the argument on urban radio and we don't pay attention to the African-American newspapers, and if we don't campaign in the community, then why are we surprised when people don't hear our arguments and don't vote for our candidates?"

What's more, many blacks are evangelical Protestants, and tend to be more conservative than their white counterparts on "social" issues like gay rights and capital punishment. "The Democratic Party is not 90 percent more black friendly than we are," Rove exclaims.

Why, then, are blacks such down-the-line Democrats? My Harvard colleague Michael Dawson, a descendant of a black Democratic congressman from Chicago, agrees with Rove that black people are socially conservative. But the issues they vote on are racial and, especially, economic.

When it comes to race, he points out, parties have multilevel strategies. Republicans can appeal to white moderates by signaling a measure of compassion about problems of race. "On the other hand," Dawson observes, "you can go into places such as Florida and try systematically to disenfranchise poor black votes."

The real watershed, in his view, was the 1980 election. Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford tried to build up, and win over, a black middle class; the Reagan team figured they could do better by shutting out the black political establishment and mobilizing white conservatives. "Black elites were shocked to find out that with Reagan and his advisers, there were no longer 'good Negroes' and 'bad Negroes,' " Dawson says.

What the big-tent rhetoric ignores is that a more "black friendly" G.O.P. might pay a price in white support. "The Republicans would lose more white votes than they would gain black votes," Dawson says. And so blacks, as a one-party constituency in a two-party system, get sidelined.

It isn't that the candidates won't call. It's just that they're calling collect.



Henry Louis Gates Jr. is a guest columnist through September. Thomas L. Friedman is on book leave.

-Rudey

Re: The Black Vote
 

Great Line. Interesting post.

If you vote on that alone, why don't you ask yourself, "at what point can I get past that? I have a life to live, bills to pay, and issues in the larger sense which are important to me and my country".

If I always give my vote to the Dems and yet I feel so little changes that I must always revert to race, could it possibly mean that my vote is futile? Does this become a return on investment issue? WHAT exactly am I getting out of voting by race?
Could a new approach be the way to go?

Just wondering.:rolleyes:

I think it has more to do with socioeconomic status than race.

Very interesting stuff!

I'm glad there's a decades old political machine in my district, and I don't have to think about stuff like this.

A sad development
 

Sadly, King's widow and children have tried to make their husband/father into a life-long cash machine.

Last week in Atlanta, near the King Memorial Natl. Park, an interesting "Walk of Fame" was unveiled. They had gotten significant civil rights figures to donate a pair of shoes, and the walk included "footprints" from these shoes. Jesse, Lowery, and several others still living were on hand for the event.

Amazingly, King was not included. The family had wanted a royalty fee to be included.

What a great man, now besmirched by a money-grabbing family.

Great article..
 

I think there are plenty of reasons my race votes Democratic... Democrats appeal to the emotions of black people, and alot of times black folks go for that... This isn't singling out blacks, because most people are not well informed about politics..but if you always have a party pushing the victim mentality..i.e. "them" against "us" and you can convince them that "the powers that be" in AmeriKKKa are responsible for all their problems...well you get lots of votes. The Republican party isn't going to pacify the black community. The Democrats waive entitlements and all types of social programs in front of the black community, and its "easier" to listen to someone that is promising to give you the world..rather than someone who's telling you...you can have the world..but you must work hard to get it.

I believe there are more blacks than ever before that are starting to realize not only that the Democratic Party takes our votes for granted, but that the Democrats method of giving us "handouts" isn't improving our community. It also doesn't help that many black pastors are so deeply imbedded in the Democrat party, and regardless of how much they agree with the Republicans on social issues, they are not willing to give up whatever kickbacks they may be getting from the Democrats. Many Black folks really value the what their Pastors tell them above any political official,..and they get the Democrats agenda pushed on them all day long in their churches...(not all..but quite a few..)

IF anyone ever wanted to know why black folks get called Uncle Toms etc.... its because of the type of stuff I just stated...Quite a few of my friends want to vote for Bush..but are scared to because of what their peers will say. It takes a strong person to "buck" the system and go against the grain..But I will say that I'd rather be called an uncle tom than a blind follower of a political party that hasn't done JACK for my community. :o ;)

Re: Great article..
 

So true. Hillary Clinton was at my church on Sunday and prior to her arrival our pastor talking about the importance of not letting any party take our vote for granted and just voting a certain way because we've always done it. We need to not only vote but be informed voters and make sure we hold people accountable.

chill with the personal attacks.

closing due to people not adhering the simple rule of zero personal attacks after a warning.