Black vote insignificant?

[angee_is_mad]

or just taken for granted? With some blacks feeling left out this time around, what can the campaign do to keep at least the number of black votes that Gore received?

I know that Kerry now has Jackson as an adviser, but now is the time for these rap artists who are rocking the votes to make a choice. If Kid Rock can state that he is voting for Bush, why can't the rappers?

Has anyone seen P Diddy and Russell? Come on guys, Kerry needs you!!!

[rumguy]

1. and Outkast too....

I know they are involved in get out the vote efforts...

[Vanje]

2. Share of black vote for Bush

Insignificant

[angee_is_mad]

4. No Bush

but they could elect to stay at home. There are blacks out there that feel that they have already experience hell and are waiting for 2008 for Hilary.

[bigtree]

3. Black voters describe a new motivation

http://www.iht.com/articles/543046.html

[salin]

5. I think P Diddy campaigned with Kerry

for a little while this summer (just before or after the convention?)

[PeaceProgProsp]

10. He's doing Rock the Vote. He can't appear too partisan.

But it's still pretty clear who he's supporting.

[Cats Against Frist]

6. They're not forgotten, it's just that the Dems have no power

to do ANYTHING about identity politics when the Gestapo has all three branches of government. This isn't the 90s, you know.


Man, the 90s were great.

Why would they vote GOP -- the GOP tries to suppress their voting, gerrymanders their districts so they have no power, courts a mammoth amount of KKK and white supremacists, and wants poor black children to be punished and starve and die for the transgressions of their parents. They want to force them into some kind of "Big Brother" marriage program, keep their wages down and marginalize thier culture.

Now, this is not to say that it's just the GOPs fault. Seems that the crime rate and drug use is down -- could it be -- I don't know, the end of gangsta rap? In some ways, the black community is its own worst enemy -- I apologize, but after three years in social services, poor black families are FAR more consumerist than poor white or Hispanic families -- and they support the messages being sent in rap videos, and buy the products of the advertisers. What is perhaps the WORST is that since anti-feminism has hit an all-time high in the black media, black women are not getting some of the respect that they once were, and due to media, more of them are smoking to keep their weight low, have low self-esteem, and spend more money on blonde weaves, skin lightener and anything else that will help them pursue the "white standard of beauty." Of course, the white female has been buying into this, in American culture, for much longer.

Blacks would do well to know that no matter what happens, no matter what the issues are, or what the Democratic party can do, the underlying philosophy of the left, including egalitarianism and pluralism is FAR, FAR, FAR more friendly to minorities, if not by policy, than by sentiment alone. And YES sentiment counts for something, when your other alternative is wearing a white hood.

Black evangelicals who vote GOP over church crap, are just as brainwashed as the whites who vote GOP over church crap -- most likely voting against their best interest, and a whole slew of other biblical morals, for the hot-button issues framed by the GOP, to garner votes. Pathetic.

I'm not even exactly sure what black voters want. I can see the GOP argument that says by pinning welfare and affirmative action on the needs of the black community, that it means one must have low expectations of them. I don't agree that that MUST be the case, but it's something to take into consideration.

During the last four years, everyone's gotten ignored -- blacks, women, children, gays -- I guess the Hispanics got the "amnesty" bribe.

If someone here is super "up" on the real demands of the black community, please post -- because I don't want to assume that they want welfare and affirmative action. I imagine many of their issues are the same as all Americans -- health care, safe streets, nice cities, access to work programs and loans, anti-discrimination laws, etc.

[angee_is_mad]

7. Don't talk about BLK women

and hair! Those are fighting words my man!

Being a blk woman, blacks want the same things as any other race, but we do have special concerns and needs.

Unfortunately there is still a need for affirmative action(not quotas)to counteract white privilege. I know that blacks are NOT inherently inferior intellectually to whites, but are sometimes the products of poor schools and poor parenting skills.

If you are a middle class bad parent your child at least have a 50/50 chance. If you are a bad parent and poor I would think that the percentage of that child growing up to be a productive adult is less than 50/50!

It is easier for teachers to treat behavioral problems of black children by putting them in special ed, instead of addressing the problem.That child will remain in special ed until he or she graduates or dropout.

If you have been in prison and you come out and decide to change your life around it is hard to get a loan to attend college.

Blacks are not looking for the white man to save them, but there are special concerns and issues.

[blm]

8. Actually they've been working together for MONTHS registering new voters.

Surely you must have heard that Puff and Russell Simmons registered a few hundred thousand new voters.

I guess the cable shows haven't talked about it much, but it did happen.

Everything is in sync for victory. Noone is taking anyone for granted, we're all just working our asses off and doing it together.

[angee_is_mad]

9. I know that

that is why I mentioned their names. They need to do more than to just register the youth. Educate them, specifically show the youth what Kerry will do for them versus what bush will not do.

There are rockers out who specifically state who they are voting for and are quite vocal about it. But those two are keeping their lips sealed. I can not understand why they are punking out like that unless it is for financial reasons. If that is the case, is that the reason why they are rocking the vote. Is it for commercial gains? It definitely make you think.

[rogue emissary]

11. There's no denying

. . . that rappers could bring some excitement, but even those rock concerts for change are just preaching to the choir. Kid Rock and Toby Keith are jokes. Their fans love to complain about how actor and musicians shouldn't tell people how to vote.

The Kerry campaign on the other hand has gone to Barack Obama to get out the vote in many communities out side of Illinois. I'd rather have the campaign rely on guys like Obama, who have the excitement and knowledge of the issues to get people to voting booths.

Obama's star power rallying Democrats
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/10/12/obamas_star_power_rallying_democrats/


MILWAUKEE -- Everybody wants a piece of Barack Obama. Ahead in his race for the US Senate from Illinois, the youthful state senator with huge ambitions is taking his show on the road to help Democrats from the bottom of the ticket to the very top.

. . . Carrying his verbal assault on President Bush beyond state lines, Obama will fly to Los Angeles this week for a Democratic fund-raiser and address rallies in Colorado and Nevada for Senator John F. Kerry. In a close presidential race where turnout could prove decisive, Obama said in an interview that he was talking with Kerry advisers about where he could be most effective in the campaign's final days.