Garvey's Ghost: Black Talk

Sharpton And South Carolina

As regulars know. I don't do the vote thing. If you do the vote thing and live in South Carolina then you need to listen up. In the South Blacks make up near majority voting populations in various states. If there were a depressed white vote among republicans (unlikely) Blacks could provide a majority vote. In SC the black population can send a strong message to Democratice party of what kind of issues they expect to be dealt with. It will simultaneously send a message to republicans that courting the black vote will mean more than "faces in places." In order to do this the blacks of South Carolina must vote for Sharpton. This is not a vote to mean you believe Sharpton can win, it is a vote to affirm that Sharpton's message had better be heeded by whomever the Democrats run in the general election. It will also be a test of liberal whites. If they have black interests at heart they too would vote Sharpton. They want to vote Dean or Kerry, because they are caught up in electibility ( or something else). But true anti-war, anti-imperialism and "anti-racist" whites have to see that sending that message is better sent by a vote for Sharpton than for any of the other candidates. It gives Sharpton the ability to broker votes and possible concessions from the Democratic establishment.

On the other hand. I haven't heard any of Sharpton's speeches but i wish that he would lay out concrete and specific plans ( as is possible) for what the president of the US should do in the situations that face the US. Since Sharpton won't win regeardless of his policy statements, he should put them out there in order to get the populance thinking of what alternative plans there are. I don't think it's going to be enough to be Anti- this and Anti that. I believe you don't win by saying what you won't do but what you will do. I think a part of the bush aura and indeed the reason why conservatives are doing so well in American politics (besides money) is that they are willing to take affirmative stands on an issue. For instance if you believe in taking the troops out of Iraq, then what happens next? explain that to the voters. What about North Korea and the Axis of Evil quagmire that the US has gotten itself into? What alternative plan for the Palestinian issue is there? Put it out there and make the other candidates follow the lead. Sharpton should not let the fact that he is the black candidate allow him to be pigeonholed into talking about "black" issues. We know he can speak on black issues with authority. He needs to show the rest of America that he can talk the big issues , the wider issues like any other candidate. Remember that Garvey wasn't just talking black social issues he was talking about and acting on global issues of government and economics.

The secret here is to be both the Black presidential candidate as well as the presidential candidate that "happens to be black." hard rope to walk but possible and neccessary to get around the latent racism in even liberal whites.

{edited 9:13 PM}

Over at Slate they say the same thing I have been saying about black voting power:

quote:

What about African-Americans, a key Democratic constituency? Even after the Great Migration northward, the South continues to harbor a majority of the nation's blacks. Unfortunately for Democrats, though, they're outnumbered by a white majority that prefers Republicans. Ironically, Schaller notes, this problem is compounded by the Voting Rights Act because the creation of overwhelmingly black congressional districts gives less-politically committed black voters little incentive to maintain the habit of going to the polls. (It would be different if black incumbents faced a serious risk of being unseated by white challengers.) "Low turnout may not threaten the election of black legislators," Schaller observes, "but it severely damages the chances of Democrats running for statewide offices and for president." Democrats do much better seeking black votes in places like Illinois, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania, where they can be combined with the votes of white and Latino Democrats. [my emphasis]

i"m reminded of the old cereal comercial where two kids decide to let "mikey" test out the cereal because he is reputed to eat anything placed in front of him. I figure the reason Mikey would eat anything is that they usually didn't feed him so he was so hungrey that anything looked good enough to eat.