If our votes are good enough, then our candidates should be good enough, too

EffieBlack

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Thu Apr-24-08 10:10 PM
Original message

If our votes are good enough, then our candidates should be good enough, too

Edited on Thu Apr-24-08 10:49 PM by EffieBlack

Black folk have been watching from the sidelines for centuries as white men held the monopoly on political power - and often turned around and used that power as a club against us. Black men got constitutional protection for their right to vote in 1865 with the ratification of the 15th Amendment, but it took it took another full century for the federal government to begin enforcing that right with the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Although women (black and white) got constitutional protection of their right to vote in 1920 with the 19th Amendment, black women watched white women immediately exercise their constitutional franchise unencumbered, while remaining just as disenfranchised as ever for another 45 years.

Once acquired, the voting power of black men and women was directed (and not always by choice) almost exclusively for the benefit of white men, who continued to control and hold virtually all of the major political offices. Until today, more than 140 years after the 15th Amendment (and more than 40 years after the passage of the Voting Rights Act), despite all of our other political, social and economic gains, blacks have been shut out of the top of the political pyramid, which might as well have been marked with a sign: "FOR WHITES ONLY."

Despite this, despite beatings, draconian legal barriers, intimidation and worse, black folk lined up year after year after year to vote for an endless string of white men for president. Every four years, we canvassed, we campaigned, we registered other voters and then we loyally, fervently and wholeheartedly gave our precious, hard-earned, blood-stained votes to the Democratic presidential nominee, regardless how inattentive to our needs, mediocre or unelectable they may have been.

We didn't say in 1972, "We'd better not vote for George McGovern. He's an unelectable white man. Shirley Chisholm should get a chance." We didn't say in 1984, "That white man Walter Mondale can't beat Ronald Reagan." We didn't say in 1988, "Dukakis may have the most delegates and may have one the most votes and may have won the most primaries, but we need someone stronger, so let's force the superdelegates to pick Jesse Jackson as the nominee." We didn't say in 2004, "John Kerry is just too white to run against George Bush. I'll bet Al Sharpton could beat Bush, but since he didn't get the nomination, I'll sit this one out."

No - we didn't trash the Democratic candidates, refuse to vote for them, throw a hissy fit and threaten to hold our breaths till we turned blue because a candidate that WE wanted didn't win the nomination, or scream loudly that it was absolutely ridiculous and shameful that white men continued to have an exclusive lock on the Democratic presidential nomination and thought nothing about asking for our votes but never once offered us a seat at the table. We supported them with all of our hearts and, as a result, are the most stalwart and reliable pillars of the Democratic base (certainly more stalwart and reliable than the blue-collar white men that commentators and some Democrats seem to believe are the end-all-and-be-all of the party who must be courted, wooed and catered to at all costs)

And that's why many of us feel our hearts swelling with pride when we see Barack Obama not only hold his own, but kick ass all around the country. Even if we support another candidate, we are proud of him, not because he is so unique - since after all, we've known brilliant, accomplished black men all our lives, through all of our history, so he's not anything new, at least to us. He's not much different from many of our brothers, sons, fathers, grandfathers and great-grandfathers. We're not proud of him because he's a first for us. We're proud of him because for the first time, AMERICA is actually seeing and paying attention to one of our own "black shining princes" and will maybe figure out that we've got it going on, too.

Yet now, despite all of our hard work, commitment and loyalty, we now must put up with Democrats, of all people, COMPLAINING that an African American, THIS African American who has earned the right to be exactly where he is, might actually end up winning the Democratic nomination, INSISTING that NOW IS NOT YET THE TIME for him, and PREDICTING that, not only would he lose the general election, but that his loss would be BECAUSE of he's black and that such a loss would be an unmitigated disaster not only for the Democratic Party, but for the future prospects of blacks in the political world.

Well, to those people I say this:

If Barack Obama wins the Democratic nomination, each and every one of you need to get in line and get to work. African-Americans have given our blood, sweat and tears to this party and to this country. It is time for the party (and, by that I mean the people IN the party) to return some of that commitment and loyalty.

If you intended to work your ass off for the Democratic nominee if it was Hillary Clinton or John Edwards or Dennis Kucinich or Joseph Biden or anyone else, then you need to work just as hard for Barack Obama, should he win the nomination.

Do not tell us that Obama is not good enough or deserving enough or ready or enough to sit at the table with the people who have chased after our votes every four years decade after decade. If you don't think HE's good enough, you don't think that WE'RE good enough.

If our votes are good enough for you - and clearly they have been, given how fervently the party and its long line of white male standard bearers have chased after our support - then our brother Barack should be good enough for you, too. If, when put to the test, you show us that you don't think we are good enough for your votes, don't be surprised when we decide that you aren't good enough for OURS.