[Steeltrap]

This isn't in this story, but I was reading something that mentioned that we tend to stick with Demos even if our income goes up because that party basically delivered us our civil rights.

Do Democrats Take African Americans for Granted?
By C. Stone Brown

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* 2004 DiversityInc.com
March 17, 2004

Loyal, devoted and dependable – those are words often used by Democratic Party leaders to describe African Americans, who vote on average 85 percent to 90 percent of the time for Democrats in presidential elections.


In the 2000 presidential election, former Vice President Al Gore received 92 percent of the African-American vote. The percentage of African Americans supporting Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., in this November's race is expected to be even higher. This raises a number of questions: Are African Americans loyal to the Democratic Party to a fault? Or do African Americans overwhelmingly support Democrats because they understand and address the issues that most concern them? And do Democrats take African-American voters for granted?


"The one thing I've agreed with (the Rev.) Al Sharpton on was that … black people are the Democratic Party's mistress. You're great for a good time around election time, but I don't know you for the rest of the two or four years," said Dana White, a conservative commentator and public-policy expert, referring to Sharpton's frequent chastisement of his party for its mistreatment of African-American supporters.


"Strategically, it doesn't work in investments and it doesn't work when you vote, to put all your eggs in one basket … you have to diversify your power," said White. "If one party knows they have you, then there is no incentive for them to do anything differently. If one party feels they are never going to attract you, then there is no reason for them to ever appeal to you."


Ever since the 1932 presidential elections pitting Democrat Franklin D. Roosevelt against GOP incumbent Herbert Hoover, who presided over the Great Depression, African Americans, who had overwhelmingly voted Republican since the Civil War crossed over to Democrat. That loyalty continues to this day. In return, Roosevelt showed a degree of deference to the aspirations of African Americans, appointing hundreds to federal positions and supporting efforts to desegregate federal jobs. But it was a slow process, including support of civil-rights legislation in 1957, 1964, and the Voting Rights Act of 1965.


The Democratic Party obviously benefits from having a base of African-American supporters, but it undermines their leverage to effect change on certain issues, said Mark Martinez, professor of political science, California State University-Bakersfield. "Issues that might be pressed or could be pressed, like affirmative action or economic equality, aren't going to be pushed because Republicans will charge 'class warfare' and rather than push those issues, Democrats tend to back off," he said.


Martinez added that if Democrats really want to demonstrate a reciprocal relationship with African Americans, then they need to develop more targeted strategies that specifically address African-American concerns, such as an urban agenda.


"What you need are programs that are going to be specifically directed toward areas where you have high concentrations of blacks in America," said Martinez. "You need some kind of community reinvestments acts, such as in the late 1970s when banks were forced to fund local entrepreneurs in inner-cities.

The Republican Party has been generally out of step on the issues important to African Americans and that explains the continued strong support among Democrats, said Lorenzo Morris, chair of political science department, Howard University.

"Just because African Americans always vote Democrat doesn't indicate a depth of loyalty -- it indicates experience, or constant reflective observation," he said, adding that he believes African Americans probably are more issue-oriented than most voters.

"Democrats have earned the support they get from African-American voters and I think the votes are being cast for the party that does a better job on the issues," said Tony Welch, Democratic National Committee press secretary.

Welch said it's not in the Democrats' interests to take African-American voters for granted because, although they may not see an alternative with Republicans, staying home on Election Day always is an option.

"Our approach is we can't take a single vote for granted anywhere in the country and one of the things that we know is, if African Americans turn out to vote in large numbers, Republicans have a very difficult time beating us. For us, it's not even a question of 'taking for granted,' it's something [we] can't do and expect to win," said Welch. "To treat the most reliable constituency and take them for granted would spell nothing but trouble for the Democrats, short-term and long-term."

Morris agreed, but wondered why African Americans don't use their power to their advantage. "One of the things that African Americans should recognize and take more advantage of is the fact that Democrats can't win anything without a strong black vote. Not just a favorable vote – but a high turnout," said Morris. "I never tire in saying there hasn't been one Democrat, except Lyndon Johnson, elected to the presidency by white voters since Roosevelt. In other words, without blacks coming out in significant numbers for the Democratic Party, they're not going anywhere."