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"Are we allowing Hillary to ride the wave
of her president-husband who somehow
received the undeserved and unearned title
of “black” president because he played the
saxophone on the Arsenio Hall Show? President
Bill Clinton severely altered black lives with his
crippling welfare and criminal justice reforms
that will impact black families for generations."
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I
couldn’t help but think how Hillary Clinton must’ve felt when Bernie
Sanders threw his hat in as a presidential candidate and started to
draw record crowds to his events. The self-assured Clinton saw an open
path to the U.S. presidency when she ran in 2008 only to have a black
male with the non-American name of Barack Obama dash her dream of
becoming the first women president. Now comes an old, white, male
socialist whose campaign could threaten Hillary assuming an
unencumbered path to the throne.
As the 2016 presidential race heated up, all that came up for me was
dread that the public would have to hear from a lack-luster pool of
candidates for the next two years. Hillary Clinton and Jeb Bush, both
from political dynasties who had a family member in the Oval Office,
hardly moved the needle of voter excitement. And the cast of characters
who make up the Republican circus ring either make you cringe or laugh
out loud.
I think it’s accurate to say that the GOP is not that into black folks.
Add to the list brown folks, poor folks - well, just about anyone that
is not rich and white. On the other hand, the Democratic Party has
prided itself on being the voice of the voiceless, the disenfranchised,
the economically oppressed, etc. The Party has done a piss-poor job at
this representation and advocacy.
When it comes to policy and behavior, most times the difference between
Dems and Republicans are indistinguishable. For example, the St. Louis
mayor and Board of Alders self-identify as Democrats. The St. Louis
County has a Democratic County Supervisor and majority Democratic
County Council. Missouri has a Democratic governor and attorney
general. Most times it’s hard to tell that poor folks and people of
color have allies in these powerful and influential positions. Just
recently we had to fight like hell for a little increase in the minimum
wage in the City of St. Louis.
For years, I have urged black folks to not just hold the Democratic
Party and its emissaries accountable (both black and white, male and
female) but to also consider establishing an independent party. This
has largely fallen on deaf ears - until now.
When reps from the #BlackLivesMatter movement started showing up at
political events, storming stages and commandeering mics, candidates
seemed surprised, even hurt, that their most loyal subjects were taking
them to task. Their facial and verbal expressions said “Why, we’re
Democrats - the Party of the People.” Yeah, but you ain’t been acting
like it.
Bernie Sanders comes from the second whitest state in the union,
Vermont. Blacks are a mere 1% of the population and whites are 95% so
one can accurately say that Sanders has little experience dealing with
daily realities of black people. Sanders is the longest-serving
independent in the U.S. Congress and has never hidden his
anti-capitalist politics since he started his political career as the
mayor of Burlington. He has been vocal on the negative role of
corporations in politics and the public policies that have been eroding
the gains of the middle and working classes. Still, he’s got a lot of
work to do to connect with African American voters who play a pivotal
role in presidential races. Just ask President Obama.
Since the confrontation at the annual Netroots conference where he and
others on the Democratic dais were forced to listen to members of #BlackLivesMatter,
Sanders has scurried to figure out what he should be doing to reach out
to black voters. He hired Symone Sanders to serve as his national press
secretary. Symone, young and black, is the national youth chair of the
Coalition on Juvenile Justice and a purported activist in
#BlackLivesMatter.
A recent Gallop polls shows Sanders’ favorability rate among African
Americans at 23% compared to Hillary Clinton’s 80%. In my opinion, this
is undeserved and unearned favorability. Why? Are we allowing Hillary
to ride the wave of her president-husband who somehow received the
undeserved and unearned title of “black” president because he played
the saxophone on the Arsenio Hall Show? President Bill Clinton severely
altered black lives with his crippling welfare and criminal justice
reforms that will impact black families for generations.
Hillary Clinton must face scrutiny and pressure for her past and
proposed policies that affect blacks and working families. Doing the
Nay Nay dance shouldn’t get her automatic entrée into black communities
or unconditional support by black voters.
Every black person doesn’t see the electoral area as a viable place to
spend our time and efforts. This is especially true of some young
people in #BLM. For those of us who know that this is the place where
decisions are made about our standard of living and our future, we must
be more sophisticated about our participation in electoral politics.
In addition to looking at candidates past practices, votes and programs
and holding them accountable for their track records, black folks can’t
afford the luxury of being lulled into a false sense of inclusion with
Democrats or Independents because progressive-sounding campaign
promises roll off their tongues or because candidates take a piece of
black culture to appropriate. We must fight for real power, for real
representation and for real transformative change. This is a struggle
for true democracy not just to advance the Democratic Party.
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 is published every Thursday |
Executive Editor:
David A. Love, JD |
Managing Editor:
Nancy Littlefield, MBA |
Publisher:
Peter Gamble |
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