Home > African-American voters deserve respect, not disenfranchisement

African-American voters deserve respect, not disenfranchisement

by Open-Publishing - Tuesday 21 December 2004
14 comments

Edito Discriminations-Minorit. Elections-Elected USA

by Shanikka

Since the election all the discussions which have raised the issue of Black disenfranchisement — whether in the context of Ohio this year, Florida in 2000, or generally — as a form of electoral fraud have ended up devolving into ignorance.

Waking up at my usual 4:30 AM Cali time to read DailyKos today in preparation for a long day in court made me glad that I’m a hard core Peets drinker, I’ll say that. Who knows what I’d be writing right now if I hadn’t had a cup first.

This is to DelawareDem and, frankly, to the vast majority of posters on a variety of threads relating to African-American voter disenfranchisement in the 2004 election:

Y’all just don’t get it. Let me tell you why, the way I would tell you if you were sitting in my livingroom chatting with me (in other words, excuse the vernacular, in advance).

I have noticed something. Since the election all the threads which have raised the issue of Black disenfranchisement — whether in the context of Ohio this year, Florida in 2000, or generally — as a form of electoral fraud have ended up devolving into ignorance and/or dying as threads. Specifically, whenever this issue comes up, whether in a diary of its own or in connection with someone else’s Onio thread, there appear to be three primary reactions:

A vigorous attempt to insist that systematic disenfranchisement through whatever means is not the same thing electoral fraud, such that the Ohio disenfranchisement is less of a priority right now since it will be fixed "someday"; or

Silence in response to any poster who contends that, whether or not it changes the outcome, the ongoing fight to count all votes in Ohio is a fight to ensure the rights of African-American voters and thus deserves the party’s public attention and commitment.

A cry of "tin foil hat" and arguments that nothing is "proven" so it must not be reality — it’s just bad planning, bad administration, in other words, just an unfortunate mistake.

Go review the recent threads yourself. Look at what responses come to anyone who dares mention that the Ohio fight is about African-American voting rights and not about John Kerry and his embarassing (but in hindsight quite predictable) loss to the Chimp. The silence I mentioned as Item #2 is particularly deafening, and it is the most common reaction. Including most notably from the "official posters" of this site such as Kos (and including Kid Oakland, who, living in the city he does, should damned well know better).
Silence speaks volumes. So does minimizing what others tell you is their injury. So does pushing off a solution to some time that is more convenient for you without regard to the feelings of those suffering the actual injury.

Since folks like DemocratDem and others are taking off the gloves, I’m also going to, for want of a better term, also call a spade a spade, from my perspective as a Black woman progressive:

People who are pretending that the Democratic party is doing something — or intends to do something — meaningful in Ohio to fight for the rights of African-Americans who were disenfranchised are full of shit.

Let’s be clear. Kerry isn’t being masterful behind the scenes, as some folks want to pretend. He’s saving his political ass, at the expense of the very same Black folks he PROMISED he would not let be cheated out of the right to vote again. Kerry isn’t just "waiting his time" - he’s hiding in the latrine, terrified to publicly associate himself with anything that confronts the corruption in Ohio because of the potential political cost to himself and the fear that someone might call him crybaby names (i.e. "sore loser"). From the perspective of a white politican, this makes perfect sense since, as anyone involved in mainstream politics knows (even though it is never said in polite company), it is a foolhardy business bucking the system just to protect the rights of some Nigras. (Yes, that is extremely bitter and angry sarcasm, and the choice of the word is quite deliberate). Kerry’s conduct and the conduct of the Democratic party vis a vis fighting to count Black votes (and thus, everyone’s votes) in Ohio is not brilliant post-election strategy - it is living, breathing proof of the ongoing cowardice and self-serving nature of liberal white racism, something quite familiar to those people of color in America who have been victimized by it politically over the years even as they were promised it wasn’t true.

If you need any proof that what I am saying is true, you need look no further than at who Kerry is asking to carry his water on issues relating to Ohio disenfranchisement — Black folks such as Jesse Jackson. Am I the only person who finds it more than a little bit bodacious that Kerry was actually telling Jesse Jackson that he should make more of an issue about certain things in Ohio, instead of Kerry being a man and stepping up to the plate himself, since after all it was his voters, more often than not, that were cheated? Is that too much to ask from the man who said he cared about us and begged us to vote for him, instead of what we’ve gotten which is him subrosa coming into cases as "amicus" and "intervenor" rather than as the directly interested party, letting the Greens take the heat of all the namecalling and dismissiveness and insults? As the urban youth might have once said in response: "Nigga, please!"

IMO, the collective Democratic silence about what happened in Ohio demonstrates conclusively that Democrats are no better, morally, than the very Republithugs they condemn. They certainly have less of a spine, when it comes down to fighting for what they say they believe in. I don’t care how many times liberal folks ooh and ahh over Martin Luther King, Jr., and how much they love him. If you knew anything about Dr. King and what he was fighting for other than the 30 seconds of "I Have a Dream" we’ve all been spoonfed you’d know that this beloved man would have been out in the streets protesting THE DAY AFTER THE ELECTION once it became clear that our people had to SUFFER to vote - again. Well, here’s a newsflash: Just because folks are not shooting at us or throwing bricks or blocking schoolhouse doors or turning water hoses on us means little in the arena of voting rights. The KKK wears suits now, and sits in corporate boardrooms now. The Citizens Council buys politicians — of all races, since after all easy money has a way of de-colorizing the best of folks — who conveniently forget to have enough machines on hand for voters; realign precincts and voting places immediately before the election; issue rules locking down public records, or even petty ones about the weight of paper for a valid ballot. Policians who take care of their massas because their massas take care of them, by permitting thugs to challenge legitimate voters en masse without a whimper, forgetting to send absentee ballots, forgetting to count ballots that are actually there. All far more genteel and "intelligent" than the methods of old, wouldn’t you agree?

Yet all have the same ultimate impact on African-American voting rights, in the end. And that is what the fight in Ohio is really about, for those of you who don’t get it.

There is a saying in the Black community: If you don’t stand for something, you will go for anything. The reaction (or, most notably, lack thereof) of mainstream Democrats and the Democratic Party to what happened to African-American voters in Ohio, following what happened in Florida, makes crystal clear to this African-American voter what the Democratc Party is indeed willing to go for.

So, as I said before, y’all don’t get it. I am becoming increasingly convinced that you will never get it because, in the end, it’s all about you, and not about us. What is happening now with the Democratic "leadership" (including its strongest advocates and mobilizers in the blogosphere) is making crystal clear that you are quite happy to allow our rights to be sacrificed for some "larger good" that you are seeking (one which conveniently doesn’t negatively impact YOUR rights or access to power).

As I mentioned in the last post I made, I’ve been a lifelong Democrat. My mother was in the Montgomery Bus Boycott. However, my mama also didn’t raise no fools. I’m African-American first and no matter how much other folks tell me that they care about my people’s rights, the proof is in the pudding. The rabid insulting those who wish to continue to fight for our rights; the willingness to obfuscate or ignore this issue or allow it to sink from public view; the readiness with which folks would rather call others crazy (i.e. tin hat brigade) than admit that African-American voters in Ohio deserve the party they have been steadfastly loyal to for 40 years to fight for them NO MATTER WHAT; the convenient knee-jerk promise for "reform" for "next time" while allowing what happened in Ohio THIS TIME to pass without a fight REGARDLESS OF WHETHER KERRY WON OR LOST (I honestly don’t give a damn) should tell any rational person what the truth really is. It definitely should tell any Black person deluded enough to believe that the Democratic party and its majority membership really gives a damn about us what the truth really is.

The real shame about this entire situation is that the truth about the Democratic Party and what it is really prepared to do for Black folk (precious little) has hurt and disappointed and will continue to hurt and disappoint so many African-Americans who genuinely wanted to believe they had a real ally in their unique American struggle in the Democratic Party. But, if I am honest, I admit that it is largely our own fault. After all, in hindsight we were told 40 years ago by one of our own that Democrats and Republicans were precisely the same animal, when it came to a willingness to fight for African-Americans’ interests. The one thing that has become clear post-2004 is the truth of that statement. And that truth will, I predict, cost the Democratic party the most loyal base it has had since the late 1960’s.

Which is to the party’s detriment since, in the end, the Democrats cannot win an election without us — and have not been able to since John Kennedy — without getting back in bed with the Good Old Boys that abandoned the Democrats over....US. Given some of the talk on DailyKos and other similar places about what "should be done" to "win back" "those folks", that may indeed be the preference of those in the party’s leadership. If so, I wish folks would just own it because at least it’s honest and I can do nothing but respect honesty, however painful.

BTW, if you think Black folks aren’t privately talking about this amongst ourselves and what this means for us and our future in this country, you are not hanging out with the right people. But we are, on both sides of the Democratic-Republican divide. And one thing is clear already — 2004 in Ohio will not be forgotten any more than 2000 in Florida has been. It may well be, given what is being said, that the Democrats are in for the same rude awakening that the Republithugs got in the late 1960’s, unless they get scared and run Obama at the top of the ticket. It certainly will be interesting to see what whose rights the Democrats are willing to sacrifice in 2008 with a vague promise for a "better future", when Black folks either stay home or vote something other than Democrat in numbers not seen since Eisenhower.

It’s a shame. This reality about what the Democratic party really cares about is the same reality that Malcolm X talked about 40 years ago. Paraphrasing that great and maligned man who nonetheless loved his people more than himself, when it comes to believing in the Democratic party as the protector of our rights, African-Americans have been misled. We’ve been had. We’ve been took.

Which is why the DLC better not bother ringing my telephone in 3.5 years begging (yet again) for my vote and especially not begging me to get out the vote for Democrats again. Enough of this "you don’t see them until election time, you can’t find them until election time" bullshit. Two chances to put up or shut up when the rubber met the road vis a vis blatant African American disenfranchisement is more than enough chances for any political party, IMO. 2000 and 2004 were those chances. There will not be any more, not from this voter.

The Democratic party will be a very interesting place once once formerly loyal Black Democrats like myself abandon it. But IMO that abandonment is in OUR best interests. Since we are going to lose anyway, and since it is clear that the DLC is willing to sell anyone down the river to win, I hope that more and more of us will be willing to say "we lost but we lost with integrity" and vote our conscience instead of 90% of us following a party loyalty left to us by our parents from a time when Democrats actually pretended to give a shit about our voting rights.

I fully expect to be troll rated since that seems to be the new deal here at KOS with those who aren’t toeing, for want of a better term, the party line. So be it. But speaking truth to power is still the right thing to do, whether it is to the Old Guard of the party or, in this case, the Nouveaux Guard as reflected at sites such as DailyKos. So, if I offend you, you might wish to examine why within yourself, rather than just be offended because it’s easy to dismiss what I’ve said, that way. But in the end, that’s up to you. We all have free will, after all.

See also:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/12/15/9734/4841

Forum posts

  • The Skull and Bones thing that Bush and Kerry were in is a racist, amongst other things secret society.

    The Democrat and Republican parties are institutionally racist parties.

    The American political system is institutionally racist, as was shown in the beginning of Michael Moores Fahrenheit 911.

    Economically, Afro-Americans and Hispanics are disproportionately disenfranchised.

    The Penal system, reflected particularly in incarcerations and State executions is racist.

    There is a glass ceiling in employment in the US with regard to the colour of your skin.

    The building of the US, not so long ago, was on the premise of non-whites being ’not human’, and slavery as a natural phenomenum.

    The US foreign adventures tend to involve the killings of millions of non-whites.

    This intitutional racist ethos is unfortunately pervasive today throughout American life.

  • The disenfranchisement of the Black vote represents the laws of physics, commonly called inertia or cause and effect. From a historical and scientific view, America is the greatest nation in the past 6000 yrs. America has led the world in science, medicine, architecture, music, athletics and basicly most of the fields of human advancement. America leads (or could lead) the world in both production and consumption, the above mentioned qualities of America are what makes her the greatest nation in the history of the present world. America evolved from a settlement at Plymouth Rock( depending on which historical text you read) to 13 colonies(states) expanded with the Louisiana Purchase to over twice its size prior to its purchase. America fought the Mexican forces and prevailed annexing Texas and the territory which would become the SouthWestern states in the Union. The "Indian Wars" completed America’s march to the Pacific Ocean making her square mileage 2000 by 3000 (from sea to shining sea). America’s rise to become the greatest nation in the past 6000 yrs. documented in books, however the source of her greatness is not an enigma. The law of cause and effect (physics) should be introduced when studying the rise and fall of nation(s). What is the foundation ( core) for America’s rise and continued prosperity? According to the history taught in educational arena, America’s basis is the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, documents that brought the nation into existence and provides the rule of law for its government. The mentioned documents provided the context and the means of governing a new republic. However, what provided its means for financial existence? The finances of a nation determines its means to protect (military) provide a stable economy (jobs) its level of influence in the world (expansion) and the ability to educate the poplace (to sustain the foundation). How did the colonies which became America get its financial footing? What is the foundation of the European (American) system of capitalism? What is the source of the wealth the (New) World? Prior to 1492 the majority of the West (European ruling class) believed that the world was flat (according to printed arguements against Columbus’s voyage to India) and that Columbus would fall of the end of the earth. How did it come to be that the Europeans (E. Pluribus Unum; which means out of many one, referring to Europeans only) came to dominate the world in span of 500 yrs when prior to that time the leaders of Europe were willing to kill on of their vaulted scholars(Galileo) for mentioning that the world was round and the sun was the center of the universe. What is the source of their power? Does the term manifest destiny (" the whiteman was meant to rule" quoted from my 11th grade american history instructor) have any credence? Is the foundation of Americas might, Murder (native americans) robbery (of the natives land) kidnapping ( the Blacks from Africa) and Slavery (again the Blacks from Africa. Some may argue that slavery had already existed in the world and that it was the Africans that sold the Africans to the slavers. We will explore those arguements pending response. enjoy the writingOOPS typing.

    • So, Black people not being allowed to vote is ’inertia’ ?? America has led the world in the last 6000 years ? Nice ’cut and paste’ -TIME magazine or My Pet Goat ?

    • Do’nt cheat yourself with european ruling classes! have you forgotten the hunger and wars in europe during the exodus of europeans from europe just until this recent past century? i don’nt care of the physics you are talking about, we want justice in fair elections for all just as the constition of america says. all others are illevant according to the article i am responding to.
      All I hate are liars like bush who cheated us that sadam Hussein had weapons of Mass destruction and it turned out to be false! since then we do’nt take you people serious.What does a man who does not keep his word still got to tell us? you can be mighty as you can be but just forget. It turned out for me that an Arab person keeps his word and a white person does#nt. this is what i learnt from the iraq war and can reflect it to the elections fiasco in ohio.by the way i am not an arab

    • I feel that what you said does not give enough information about the blacks and what they think about segrigation. i fell that there is an easy way to settle this. Talk about what you fell is right, or move. Make a great speech do marches, boycotting, whatever it takes, but most of all surrender to what others think is right.

  • I am surprised and saddened, and embarassed, by the Democratic Party and John Kerry in particular. I’ve been a Democrat since 1972, worked on the Kerry campaign, sent him money, wore a campaign button every single day since July, and dammit, I would have taken a bullet for Kerry if it came to that. As a middle-aged white guy I am so embarassed that Kerry, Kennedy, the Clintons, and other Democratic Party leaders are laying low and not supporting the black voters who were stomped on by the Republican vote suppression campaign.

    Speaking of the Clintons, it was the black community that paved the way for Bill Clinton’s public redemption in the face of his impeachment trial over the Lewinsky madness. It was the black community that let the rest of the Democratic Party know, by example, that you don’t kick a man when he’s down. Where are the Clintons now?

    I agree with Shanikka that it doesn’t really matter if Kerry gets in or not now. George Bush is absolutely the worst president this country has ever had, but I am so incredibly disillusioned with the Dems that I am considering changing my party affiliation to independent. The hell with these country club liberals. If they won’t fight when the battle is on, how effective are they going to be in office? Do they care about us working folks? I’m afraid the answer is evident in their current silence and inaction.

    Liam Rooney
    Fort Collins CO
    rodeosoul2000@yahoo.com

    • Shanikka, Hi;

      My name is Warren, this is my first time writing - I’ll try to be gentle. You and many writers here have personalized and misclassified problems and rights involved in voting and of being truly democratic. It is a lowbrow propaganda maneuver to latch onto a cluster of social problems, combine them as a single event, magnify the problem, and then ascribe it to ones opponents. Evident to anyone, many of the events have been honestly and adequately explained and proven to not be part of your case. To continue to raise them weakens your case, especially in this day of the Internet where evidence and facts, such as testimonial statements by poll-watchers of both parties are readily available. Of course a lie repeated often enough….

      But the thing that annoys me a lot, is the subject statement. That hits me where I have lived, thus the personal references. Let me tell you why this is so. Before voting I learned that voting is a great responsibility to be taken seriously and cherished; I worked as a Poll-watcher in a precinct far from my home. Since then, I have watched over scores of precincts in several states and counties. Active in a political party during and after college, nearly to the days of my retirement, I was a precinct then a ward chairman; I worked for and against national level candidates, neighbors and friends; I have convention-ed, caucus-ed, gone door to door, planned, advertised, raised funds, and even voted against some of my party’s slate. My vote was always a greater responsibility than any of the other activities.

      I am a conservative to the core. A conservative individual cherishes and protects the privilege of the vote for all people equally. It is a horrible liberal idea to weight votes differentially, by giving special status or weighting to minority or individual claims by taking an a priori stance during a process violation claim. If objective fairness is not a constant, then there is no such thing as a vote; it would be only a sham, a farce. One notices that you NEVER cite actual experience in any of the things that you repeatedly named.

      Here are a few things that I NEVER experienced: Never did an associate nor I use the “n” word when talking about a voting contingent or individual voter,
      Never was an attempt made or discussed to prevent any one, let alone a group, from voting,
      Never was verbal or written word passed down to us that recommended a single one of the nefarious activities that besmirch voting,
      Never was a voter challenged where the same challenge would not have been applied to anyone,
      Never was a polling test changed or made separate for any person, class, or group.
      Over all my experiences I NEVER heard or saw a single proposal for an action go forth that would be anything more than even-handed retaliation for removing signs. As a matter of fact, in recent years my committee restored, NEVER destroyed, signs of our opponents. That is how we conservatives treat the vote and the voting process.

      I strongly suggest that if a conspiracy did exist that there must be a file, sheet, or a recording made to reflect the event. People jump parties quite often carrying documents and lists: still no evidence. People have been known to “plant” themselves in the opponents camp, even attaining committee status therein: and not garner evidence. How can these things be in all parties whereof there is no evidence, yet there is a conspiracy?

      This has been seen: a large group descends upon a voter registration event or for the vote and there is chaos with people jumping lines to continue a conversation and the like. Predictably, problems occur when any inexperienced voter gets to the machine or ballot because there tends to be a freeze-up which leads to missing, incorrect, or delayed votes: combine these events and no one is responsible for the loss – it is random.
      Animosity rises because of delays: the workers, then the system, then a party takes the blame. Worse yet, use the situation to condemn the opposition party.

      Please mull this over: If national elections are open to frivolous challenges, when will the true incumbent take office, let alone be familiarized with the important issues of diplomacy, intelligence, defense, and trade? How long will the public have any confidence that their loser did not actually win? When will all elections be seen as corrupted? These questions were active and pressing concerns of the Founding Fathers, and one of the reasons we have an electoral college is that challenges may be made locally, without national pandemonium: a national recount means nothing. These are the reasons why I despise Gore’s challenge as being one of the most un-patriotic actions of the last fifty years. Even when Nixon lost his presidential race against JFK, there were enough votes stolen or created to change the election with only three counties needing to be recounted. One of the three was Cook County (Chicago) where and when I was involved in party activities. Even tricky Dick knew that nothing was worth the sure decline of the worldview of democracy.

      His reaction, common to all statesmen in this regard, is very much the likely reason that neither party pressed on with challenges or investigations. It would also become abundantly clear that simple clerical and mechanical errors which have no more special benefit to a Party, group, or person than a coin toss, but do indeed, influence elections. It’s life, live with it! Many politicians have know this since democracy was invented, some 3,400 years ago. To continue the debate with vitriolic name-calling indicates that some have an agenda, not to benefit the voting of a party or a race, but to destroy democracy at the national level.

      Thanks for your interest,

      Republican Warren

    • To Republican Warren,
      I am well aware of the high standards held by republicans. There are some childrens charities you can give to in Texas, administered by the pious and righteous, the proceeds of which are used to dilute the political power of the supposed benefactors by scientific redistricing. If you believe you have somehow propogated and protected democracy with your efforts, far be it from me to arouse you from your stupor.

      Phil, N.Y.

  • Thank you Shanikka!

    I say forget the Democrats. I have been an independent since I began voting at 18 years.
    I have noticed since 2000 that the Democrats have not fought for anything that has anything to do with African Americans. The republicans have not either... as far as I am concerned... I say, most of us should pull ourselves from both plantations. Which is worse is a matter of opinion and common sense - but I care not one bit about whose side anyone wants to be on... I just want us to continue progressing as a community; and once we get our priorities as a community straight again...We will.

    • Finally, a person with some common sense...the only power African Americans have or any other American has is the power to NOT VOTE, every time you vote in these phony elections, you give them legitimacy....WHEN ENOUGH PEOPLE REFUSE TO GIVE THEM LEGITIMACY, THE GAME WILL BE OVER.

  • You need to go to www.blacknews.com and read the story titled: "Black Ohio Couple File Suit against Bush, Cheney, Blackwell..." The lead plaintiff, Bill Moss was not impressed with John Kerry’s candidacy and made it quite clear on his then weekend radio program. He brought out the connections between the two as Bonesmen, etc. He too, as a former 5X School Board member, mayoral candidate and Congress candidate knows the tricks of the political trade and is waging this suit not because of John Kerry but for much of the reason upon which you’ve built your analysis: Black voter’s rights.

  • Yesterday we saw an old interview on crossfire with Frank Zappa. I must say the messages are very actual.

    America is accusing other countries, but has maintained a record of unjust and racism.

  • Shanikka:

    I am finally, at a now more advanced age, beginning to understand the battle that has been fought by black people. I relish the successes so far, knowing that in the coming years, I will be the benefactor. However, the mechanisims to oppose are well placed, soon to be spearhead by the likes of Condi Rice crying "Domestic Terrorisim" against an again easily identifiable enemy, black people. It is finally not just a black problem anymore, but as you are finding out, denial is still a river in Africa.
    Philip, N.F., NY

  • I gave up on the democratic party in 1994, after 2 years of Willie Clinton.

    I’m still amazed at how most blacks still have fond memories of Clinton. He was possibly more harmful to the black community , than reagan & bush1 combined; his trade policies sent milllions of good paying manufacturing jobs out of the country; he supported the "three strikes" laws & the racist crack cocaine laws that have filled prisions with blacks.I personally know someone who server 9 yrs & 4 months for a 2nd offence of $20 cocaine sale.

    When I ask friends what Clinton actually did for blacks, there’s usually silence or some feel good nonsense they’ve heard on tv.

    Blacks don’t have many options. If we continue to vote for democrats, they’ll continue to disrespect us & take our vote for granted. Voting for republicians still has you in the dem/rep trap and DLC insiders still won’t get really upset. They really don’t mind if you don’t vote, and it proves nothing.

    But if you a democratic voter and have the audacity to vote outside the democtatic /republician trap, democrats become really angry.

    I voted Nader in 2000/2004 & was really pleased to see Gore lose, because he represented the demcrats Malcom X was talking about. Black Florida voters ballots basically thrown in the trash, thousands of others not allowed to cast a ballot & Al Gore bailed on them. Kerry/Ohio/2004 repeat.

    I suspect your view of Blacks abandoning the democratic party is wrong. You see, democrats will devise some type of ABB strategy in 2008, to stir up anger in Black voters against whoever is the republician nominee. In Malcom words, blacks will angrily reject the "republician wolves" in favor of the "white liberal foxes".

    And nothing will change & the dempcratoc party will continue to disrespect Blacks & thak their votes for granted.