I haven't been able to get much writing done over the vacation, hence the flurry.
But anyway, Cobb sees the growth of black support for the gop as a good sign. It is. I wouldn't have said this probably a year or more ago, but I've grown up. We need cells in a wide variety of institutions in order to build democracy from the bottom up in black spaces, and in America.
But a caveat is in order, at least when it comes to Baras' article.
I haven't read her work before now to know for sure. But I think that while the trend she identifies is accurate, the reason she posits for that trend is most decidedly NOT. That is, blacks aren't leaving the Democratic Party because the party is too far on the left for black people. It's probably that they aren't ENOUGH to the left. Of course they're to the left symbolically...and for us what that means is that they say the right things about police profiling, and about affirmative action. But that's about it.
Take the following argument:
None of this is coincidental. More African Americans now have college degrees, ushering them into the middle class, shifting their values and priorities while prompting them to abandon the "blacks-as-victims" theology. Many low-income blacks have gained an appreciation for the opportunities provided by the free enterprise system and are rejecting the notion of government as savior.
Now this is an excellent reason why the SCIENCE in political science should be taught in schools. The more education one is likely to have the more liberal one is likely to be....and this goes in the opposite direction than the one Baras is positing. The "blacks as victims" argument isn't part of the Old School Conservative OR the Old School Liberal ideology. And low-income blacks have ALWAYS had an appreciation for the opportunities of free enterprise. Particularly in cities like Detroit. Baras' article at least appears to be a knee-jerk uninformed journalistic response and even though i'm not yet in full bastard mode, her ignorance pisses me off. We need to be better than this.
What appears to be happening from my viewpoint is that democratic elites have taken over cities like Detroit and used government to enrich the coffers of their supporters rather than that of black working class men and women. The citizens see this, and say that they are no longer simply going to give their votes to someone because of the race/party constellation. The first people who are able to couch anti-poverty policies (like free college tuition) in GOP language (individual initiative, wealth-building, etc.) in black spaces, will win big.
Posted by at January 4, 2004 11:22 AM | TrackBack