Should Blacks Vote for White Males in 2004
By Opio Lumumba Sokoni, J.D.
The primaries for the Democrats are right around the corner and blacks will have to decide if we are going down the same road once again. The usual political game goes like this. Blacks are promised the world by the Democrats and given the cold shoulder by Republicans. Democrats use fear tactics to keep blacks in line by relying on the Republicans to prominently display their ignorance when addressing issues most sensitive to blacks. When it is all said and done, blacks vote for a white male, blacks get ignored, and the Democrats hope they can do it all over again the next election. This is the classic, but sad, case of blacks voting between the lesser of two evils.
We have not been able to create what amounts to a no-lose political situation for black people. Winning means that no matter who wins the election, we are not taken for granted. This comes about only by having the Republicans, Democrats and Independent parties all compete equally for our votes - not knowing who will get the majority from one election to the next. This election, like every other election before, we will be forced into voting against the Republicans and/or against evil Bush policies instead of voting for our interests. But, what always seems to happen is we end up voting for another white male.
Malcolm X may have been on to something. He talked of being more inclined to deal with whites who he knows hate him than the ones who say they like him, but will do the same thing the other whites would do. Malcolm said one will call you Negro while the other will call you Knee Grow. Let me break it down. Bush would be considered the politician that would call you Negro. He will straight out let you know what the deal is. You cannot get more direct than to use Martin Luther Kings birthday to stick a middle finger up at Affirmative Action.
Now Clinton is a Knee Grow politician (not a black politician!). I mean, you do not get any better than Harlem World Bubba. This guy has a boyish charm that is out of this world. He reeks of charisma and there seems to be no doubt that he feels your pain. But, Bill is a genius politician. He is supposed to make you feel this way. But, I bet Lani Guiner, Joycelyn Elders, or Mike Espy does not feel this way. What about the family of the boy in Arkansas Clinton allowed to be executed during his first Presidential campaign in 1992?
Ricky Ray Rector was a self-lobotomized (retarded) inmate who was put to death to get the support of the Reagan Democrats who needed to know that Governor Clinton was tough on blacks? He dissed Sister Soldier during the same time for the same affect. The so-called first black president also signed the 1996 crime bill which facilitated the largest incarceration of non-violent black offenders in U.S. history? The rate of black women incarcerated for non-violent offenses increased 900% under Bubbas reign. Thats right, 900%. We were bamboozled the great white way.
We voted for Al Gore to the tune of 90 plus percent in 2000. And what did he do? Gore chose not to fight the election results with the strongest legal and moral argument he had in his arsenal - blacks were denied the right to vote. Many blacks in Duval County were told that they could not vote because their names were taken off the register for one reason or another. Gores camp thought it was too racial. So, Gores team treated this issue like true Jefferson-Jackson Democrats (both former Democratic U.S. Presidents owned slaves).
After the primaries, we will no doubt end up with a white male running against another white male. Of the nine candidates in the Democratic primary race, seven are white males and two are black (Reverend Al Sharpton and former U.S. Senator Carol Moseley-Braun).
The white males running in the Democratic primaries of the race for President of the United States are:
1.Dennis Kucinich (former Cleveland Mayor and current Congressman, against all Bush policies, anti-war, but a no name);
2.Joe Lieberman (U.S. Senator from Connecticut, pro-Bush on Iraq war, pro-Bush on education, pro-Bush on Homeland Security);
3.Richard Gephardt (Congressman from St. Louis, failed his party the last two elections);
4.John Kerry (former Lt. Governor and Current Senator from Massachusetts, will run towards the center of the political spectrum if he wins the primary - alienating blacks);
5.John Edwards (U.S. Senator from N. Carolina, light-weight and all the trappings of an ambitious southern white male politician);
6.Bob Graham (former Florida Governor and current U.S. Senator, against Iraq war, but could not hold down Florida during 2000 election); and
7.Howard Dean (former Vermont Governor, weak on raising money and bad for blacks on War on Drugs policies).
Any of these guys against Dubya is much of the same thing we have been getting.
Until we are willing to make a political statement in some real way, we will continue to get what we have always gotten. Maybe the Green Party will produce something in the way of a change. Either that, or blacks will have to create a party that will be run by blacks and open to a variety of strategic non-black allies. A decent example is either Hip-Hop culture or Black Voices for Peace People Action Network an organization led by activist Damu Smith. Whatever the case, we have to answer the question of whether we will continue to vote 100% for white males. And while answering that question, we also have to ponder whether our political strategies will permit our issues to be wholeheartedly addressed and our quality of life improved.
By Opio Lumumba Sokoni, J.D.
The primaries for the Democrats are right around the corner and blacks will have to decide if we are going down the same road once again. The usual political game goes like this. Blacks are promised the world by the Democrats and given the cold shoulder by Republicans. Democrats use fear tactics to keep blacks in line by relying on the Republicans to prominently display their ignorance when addressing issues most sensitive to blacks. When it is all said and done, blacks vote for a white male, blacks get ignored, and the Democrats hope they can do it all over again the next election. This is the classic, but sad, case of blacks voting between the lesser of two evils.
We have not been able to create what amounts to a no-lose political situation for black people. Winning means that no matter who wins the election, we are not taken for granted. This comes about only by having the Republicans, Democrats and Independent parties all compete equally for our votes - not knowing who will get the majority from one election to the next. This election, like every other election before, we will be forced into voting against the Republicans and/or against evil Bush policies instead of voting for our interests. But, what always seems to happen is we end up voting for another white male.
Malcolm X may have been on to something. He talked of being more inclined to deal with whites who he knows hate him than the ones who say they like him, but will do the same thing the other whites would do. Malcolm said one will call you Negro while the other will call you Knee Grow. Let me break it down. Bush would be considered the politician that would call you Negro. He will straight out let you know what the deal is. You cannot get more direct than to use Martin Luther Kings birthday to stick a middle finger up at Affirmative Action.
Now Clinton is a Knee Grow politician (not a black politician!). I mean, you do not get any better than Harlem World Bubba. This guy has a boyish charm that is out of this world. He reeks of charisma and there seems to be no doubt that he feels your pain. But, Bill is a genius politician. He is supposed to make you feel this way. But, I bet Lani Guiner, Joycelyn Elders, or Mike Espy does not feel this way. What about the family of the boy in Arkansas Clinton allowed to be executed during his first Presidential campaign in 1992?
Ricky Ray Rector was a self-lobotomized (retarded) inmate who was put to death to get the support of the Reagan Democrats who needed to know that Governor Clinton was tough on blacks? He dissed Sister Soldier during the same time for the same affect. The so-called first black president also signed the 1996 crime bill which facilitated the largest incarceration of non-violent black offenders in U.S. history? The rate of black women incarcerated for non-violent offenses increased 900% under Bubbas reign. Thats right, 900%. We were bamboozled the great white way.
We voted for Al Gore to the tune of 90 plus percent in 2000. And what did he do? Gore chose not to fight the election results with the strongest legal and moral argument he had in his arsenal - blacks were denied the right to vote. Many blacks in Duval County were told that they could not vote because their names were taken off the register for one reason or another. Gores camp thought it was too racial. So, Gores team treated this issue like true Jefferson-Jackson Democrats (both former Democratic U.S. Presidents owned slaves).
After the primaries, we will no doubt end up with a white male running against another white male. Of the nine candidates in the Democratic primary race, seven are white males and two are black (Reverend Al Sharpton and former U.S. Senator Carol Moseley-Braun).
The white males running in the Democratic primaries of the race for President of the United States are:
1.Dennis Kucinich (former Cleveland Mayor and current Congressman, against all Bush policies, anti-war, but a no name);
2.Joe Lieberman (U.S. Senator from Connecticut, pro-Bush on Iraq war, pro-Bush on education, pro-Bush on Homeland Security);
3.Richard Gephardt (Congressman from St. Louis, failed his party the last two elections);
4.John Kerry (former Lt. Governor and Current Senator from Massachusetts, will run towards the center of the political spectrum if he wins the primary - alienating blacks);
5.John Edwards (U.S. Senator from N. Carolina, light-weight and all the trappings of an ambitious southern white male politician);
6.Bob Graham (former Florida Governor and current U.S. Senator, against Iraq war, but could not hold down Florida during 2000 election); and
7.Howard Dean (former Vermont Governor, weak on raising money and bad for blacks on War on Drugs policies).
Any of these guys against Dubya is much of the same thing we have been getting.
Until we are willing to make a political statement in some real way, we will continue to get what we have always gotten. Maybe the Green Party will produce something in the way of a change. Either that, or blacks will have to create a party that will be run by blacks and open to a variety of strategic non-black allies. A decent example is either Hip-Hop culture or Black Voices for Peace People Action Network an organization led by activist Damu Smith. Whatever the case, we have to answer the question of whether we will continue to vote 100% for white males. And while answering that question, we also have to ponder whether our political strategies will permit our issues to be wholeheartedly addressed and our quality of life improved.
