Negrophile dropped this piece on the dynamics of black political endorsements. Turns out that black elected officials don't quite know who to endorse. Detroit's own John Conyers is going for Dean I think, Tennessee's Harold Ford is going for Kerry, and Charlie Rangel out of NYC is down with Clark. To Ron Walters this is absurd:
"It's more than incredible; it's disastrous for the black community," said Ron Walters, a professor at the University of Maryland and former adviser to the Rev. Jesse Jackson. "What they are doing is giving away their collective power because if they had made a collective endorsement, it would have said something different to black voters."
Quickly.
1. Black voters tend to do their own thing...not following elite cues. I can recall vividly Coleman Young telling Detroiters not to vote for Jesse because he didn't have any experience. Most old school folks in the city love Coleman (me included). But you think they listened to him when it came time to vote (even though he was right)? Hell no. So on one level it really doesn't matter who black elected officials support...because we're going to make up our OWN minds.
2. The whole idea of a "black collective" has to this point at least, not quite translated into policy benefits that are distributed across all income levels. While I consider myself an old school Crusean nationalist with a strong democratic Boggsian streak, everytime I hear the words "black collective" come out of a politico's mouth I want to "earl."
Brazile thinks this is healthy for the black community. NO. We've always been about making our own mind. We're ALREADY politically mature...at least in comparison to our non-black counterparts (truth be told, we're ALL sick). This is healthy for the community of Black Elected Officials. Now maybe we can get some true democratic discourse about POLICY.
Naaaah. That'd be too much like right.
You're absolutely right on the first point. There isn't a dichotomy between making up our own minds and being down for the group. The best basketball and the best jazz are inevitably produced by that dynamic.
But whenever you have leaders (particularly unelected ones) the term "black collective" usually ends up meaning "me and my boys."
I have to think a bit about the socialization angle. For one I'm not sure members of any group readily socializes and collaborates with people outside of their extended families. But on the other I can only think about my own professional life. My middle name is collaboration...and I definitely learned that through black networks (my fraternity specifically). Just today I was looking for research on black network patterns specifically and couldn't find any citations. They would've been helpful for this conversation.
Posted by: Lester Spence at January 12, 2004 10:13 PMSocialization: Would you view yourself as an "eagle" or a "goose?" I contend that we Black men have been socialized to think of ourselves as "eagles:" proud, independent, fierce, able to fend for ourselves. Lots of survival built into that sort of image.
Unfortunately, we tend to carry that view into other aspects of our lives. We often see it when two or more brothers come together to form a business. Often it starts out great but sooner or later, we see issues around leadership and control come up. Often (not always) decisions are made based on our socialization as independants.
The "goose" on the other hand, is the epitamy of cooperation -- at least when it comes to traveling in formation. All the geese in a flock take turns in the "lead" position: that position catches hell and requires the expenditure of more energy. The geese behind take advantage of the slip stream and actually use 30% less energy to fly. As the "leader" tires, another takes its place: cooperative behavior that benefits the whole and the individuals.
I claim that we need to do a better job of socializing our young men to be both strong and independent and yet cooperative and collaborative. This pays off particularly in things like politics, in my opinion.
Posted by: Ward Bell at January 13, 2004 09:04 AMin my recent piece i talked about a book that a friend of mine wrote dealing with marginalized black men. i'll ask him about black networking patterns. we can always do a better job in these areas. your post causes me to ask the question of what we're doing NOW. all i've got are anecdotes.
Posted by: lks at January 13, 2004 12:36 PM
"Making up our own minds" and the idea of a "black collective" (or collaboration) is not mutually exclusive. If our "leaders" had their act together and made a good case for a candidate or a policy/candidate combination, we could get behind such a leader -- at least some of us can.
I think that way too much of our socialization stress strong, independent action and not enough collaborative action (outside our families -- close and extended).
Plus, someday, we will wise up and realize that collaborative stances with others who share our needs is the only way to achieve gains in the political arena. Actually, it is already happening: there are closer ties along economic strata then across racial strata in local, regional, and national politics.
Posted by: Ward Bell at January 12, 2004 03:25 PM