A couple of days ago I wrote a piece about some of the myths about black politics that get neatly packaged and consumed whenever something "racial" happens in the media. Art McGee sent the Afrofuturists a brief article about the lack of colored folk in Dean's campaign. If Will Lester got the quote right, this is what Dean had to say:
"Asked why most of his supporters, particularly at the Meetup sessions, are white, Dean readily acknowledged that his support has been from the ground up, while attracting minorities must be done from the top down.
"You've got to go to the leadership in those communities. You can't just do the grass roots without the blessing of the leaders," Dean said last week.
I like Dean as a candidate. But damn this statement is stupid. Here we go again.
Why exactly CAN'T you go grassroots? What's preventing you? There's a strong black community on the internet, whether you're talking about the Afrofuturists, the black blogging community, or the various fraternities and sororities that have their own email lists. The Goldboot list (a list for members of Omega Psi Phi) runs literally thousands deep. Even given the difference in internet usage between black and white citizens there is no explicit reason why the same methods couldn't apply.
I'm thinking that what's going on here is the same regressive ideas about the relationship between "black leaders" and black citizens that I talked about the other day. To be "down with the folks" you got to go to The Black Church (yep, there's only ONE black church, and everybody black goes to it, because you know they all believe in the God, the same God that spoke to King). THEN you got to go to the NAACP. THEN you got to get the blessing of Rev. SHarpton and Rev. Jackson.
AFTER all that, you can get to the folks. In fact, you don't even have to GO to the folks. Just slide the Reverends some skin, and THEY'LL get the folks for you. Yeah sure, you have to say you support Affirmative Action, and are against Racial Profiling, and that you were at the March on Washington. But you don't have to do much besides that. Black people don't really care much about the issues, unless the reverends tell them to.
To show you how stupid this sounds, I'm going to flip the script:
Reverend Sharpton is doing well among African American voters but there aren't that many white faces in his campaign. 'I'm not sure what Sharpton is thinking about' says Andrew Knight, Professor of Political Science at the University of Idaho. 'He's got to get the white vote if he wants to be successful.'
Sharpton himself recognizes the problem.
'Well, the problem is that with black voters I can speak directly to them about their issues--about the poverty, the segregation, about the lack of an urban infrastructure, about the desire for higher education and health care. With whites, I have to go through their leaders and get their blessing first. So I've been trying to get in touch with the Pope, and with the cast of Friends (they ALL watch Friends) and I've just been having no luck.
"After I get the nomination, I'm hoping that all I have to do is give John Kerry some Ben & Jerry's coupons and he'll get the white vote for me."
Yep.
(Someone please tell me that Will Lester got the quote wrong.)
Posted by at September 11, 2003 12:43 PM | TrackBackA sad commentary thats played out in the international scene also ;pick or create leadership for the people then barter with that person instead of the masses.
Posted by: Tootsie at September 12, 2003 09:28 AM
He probably got it right. Check the comments to this post (you can skip the post itself for this conversation). Read the third to the last post.
Posted by: P6 at September 11, 2003 03:35 PM