Before the Republicans showy effort in
Philadelphia to convince Blacks and Latinos that the party had magically
changed from a clubby pack of millionaire conservative white guys to a
rainbow party, Jesse Jackson Sr. appeared to be in mortal danger of being
forced to flail at them at sideshow shadow conventions and protest rallies.
Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore had made almost no public mention
of Jackson or given any hint that he would have a prominent role in his
campaign.
But George W. Bush's carefully choreographed
diversity show instantly changed that. Gore strategists won't risk depending
solely on their legion of well-entrenched and connected top gun Black Democratic
politicians and Clinton Black appointees to again dutifully deliver the
Black vote. Referring to Jackson, Gore campaign manager Donna Brazile signaled
the abrupt shift in the Democrat's game plan: "He can play a major role
in bringing people together." She meant that Democrats now desperately
need Jackson's name and charisma to keep most of the estimated 10 million
Black and seven million Latino voters firmly stuffed in the Democratic
bag.
There's good reason Democrats worry about
keeping Blacks and Latinos, traditionally their most loyal of troops, in
line. Recent polls show that more Blacks and Latinos are buying the Republican's
diversity pitch and are willing to give them a closer look. The number
of Black and Latino voters who say they like what they hear and see in
Bush has inched up not only in Texas and Florida, but to the Democrats
ultimate horror in California. Some polls now show Bush narrowing the once
bulging gap in Gore's lead in the state.
Gore must win California if he is to have
any prayer of beating Bush. If Bush can slightly loosen the vise like grip
Democrats have on Black and Latino votes, by winning as little as 5 to
7 percent more of their vote, this could doom Gore to defeat.
Gore's choice of centrist-conservative
Joseph Lieberman as his running mate in a not-to-subtle attempt to swipe
some of Bush's core constituency of white, male, and conservative voters
does absolutely nothing to inspire Black voters to make a headlong dash
to the polls for Gore. While Black leaders quickly denounced the silly,
bigoted, anti-Jewish tirade by Dallas's NAACP head, Lee Alcorn against
Leiberman, many Blacks grumble loudly about Lieberman's ambiguous record
on greater public spending on health and education programs, affirmative
action and labor protections.
Jackson can do nothing to solve Gore's
dilemma, and much to worsen it. If Jackson becomes Gore's official campaign
point man on race he will not herd more Blacks into the Democratic camp
but will likely herd more whites into Bush's. The reason is simple. Jackson
is seen by many whites as the consummate racial carper who will say and
do anything too grab a TV spot or a headline. Worse, they make him the
standard in which to judge all Blacks on racial matters. With the mantle
of Black leadership wrapped excruciatingly tight around Jackson the presumption
is that he speaks for and acts on behalf of all Blacks. When he makes a
real or contrived misstep or gaffe, whites and many in the media assume
that all Blacks must agree with him. This reaffirms their deep suspicion
that Blacks are foolhardy, irresponsible and prone to eternally play the
race card on every social ill.
Jackson's past and present history bears
this out. In the 1980s when he called New York " Hymietown," Blacks were
attacked as anti-Semitic. Even though Jackson made this rash remark nearly
two decades ago, the press still dredged it up again in the flap over Alcorn's
remarks about Lieberman. When he demanded that the Black students expelled
from a Decatur high school for brawling at a football game be fully re-enrolled,
Blacks were attacked for defending lawlessness and thuggery. When he rushed
to judgment and claimed that Black Mississippi teen Raynard Johnson was
lynched without a shred of evidence to back up the charge, Blacks were
denounced for screaming racism and spreading racial paranoia.
Jackson should not be blamed for stoking
white anger against Blacks. Many whites hardly needed a Jackson to oppose
affirmative action, welfare, education and social programs, or to remain
silent on police violence, and the racial-taint in the criminal justice
system. But because Jackson is seen and heard more often than any other
Black leader on racial issues he is the perfect racial foil for their anger.
Gore strategists gamble that Jackson's
ability to deliver the Black vote will more than offset any possible white
backlash. They will say to the Republicans: You have gospel choirs and
Chaka Khan, but we have Jackson. Unfortunately the gospel singers and Khan
may prove to be a safer bet for the Republicans than Jackson is for Gore.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is
the author of "The Disappearance of Black Leadership."
email: ehutchi344@aol.com.
###
"Who is Joe Lieberman?"
By Dr. Manning Marable
The major political surprise of this summer
was Democratic presidential candidate Al Gore's selection of U.S. Sen.
Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut as his running mate. Lieberman, a socially
conservative Orthodox Jew, had first become widely known nationally as
the most prominent Senate Democrat to denounce President Clinton's misconduct
in the Monica Lewinsky scandal. The media, for the most part, was overwhelmingly
positive with the selection of the first Jewish candidate on a major party
national ticket. The New York Post, for example, declared that Lieberman
was "Miracle Man Joe." The Miami Herald summed up the general media consensus:
"Gore's VP Pick Historic."
What was most unusual was the Republican
response to Lieberman, which was also extremely positive. William Bennett,
Reagan's former secretary of education declared that even "conservatives
acknowledged that the vice president had made a wise choice by picking
a man of principle, intelligence and civility." Republicans immediately
noted the Connecticut Senator was ideologically closer on many issues to
Texas Gov. George W. Bush than to Gore.
The surprising selection of Lieberman by
Gore raises three unavoidable questions, from the vantagepoint of African-American
politics: (1) Who is Joe Lieberman?, (2) Why did Al Gore choose him? and
(3) What does it mean for Black people?
Who is Lieberman? To his credit, one of
his earliest involvements in politics was during the summer of 1964, when
he traveled south after graduating from college to participate in the "Mississippi
Freedom Summer," organizing and registering Black voters. After a modest
career as a state senator and Connecticut's state attorney general, Lieberman
stunned the political establishment by upsetting liberal Republican Lowell
Weicker for the Senate in 1988. Weicker was generally a progressive voice
on civil rights, and had even been arrested in 1985 for demonstrating against
Reagan's policies favoring apartheid South Africa. Lieberman defeated Weicker
in part by attacking him from the right, on such issues as the Republican
incumbent's call to normalize relations with Cuba.
Throughout his twelve years in the U.S.
Senate, Lieberman positioned himself on the extreme conservative wing of
the Democratic Party. He chairs the Democratic Leadership Council (DLC),
the "centrist" group of elected officials (including Clinton and Gore)
who have aggressively pushed their party toward more conservative public
policy positions.
On a wide variety of issues, Lieberman
is clearly to the right of both Clinton and Gore. On gay rights, for example,
in 1994 Lieberman supported an amendment offered by reactionary U.S. Sen.
Jesse Helms (R-N.C.), which cut off federal funds to any school district
that used educational materials that in any way "supported homosexuality."
Lieberman has a long record of hostility
toward affirmative action that even his liberal apologists in the Democratic
Party cannot hide. Back in 1995, when Lieberman took over the DLC, he declared,
"You can't defend policies that are based on group preferences as opposed
to individual opportunities, which is what America has always been about."
Lieberman embraced California's Proposition 209 in 1996, which outlawed
affirmative action programs in that state. When President Clinton, after
months of hesitation, finally put forward the formulation that affirmative
action programs ought to be "mended, not ended," Lieberman led the opposition
within the Democratic Party. The DLC's Progressive Policy Institute issued
a report criticizing Clinton's position, and called for abolishing it for
government hiring and contracting, and making it voluntary in private business.
On issues of higher education, Lieberman
has again played a conservative role. He was the only Democrat to vote
against liberal historian Sheldon Hackney, president of the University
of Pennsylvania, to become head of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
He claimed that Hackney was too liberal on campus issues of "political
correctness." Lieberman then became co-founder of the American Council
of Trustees and Alumni, a five-year-old group that rejects "racial preferences,"
opposes "political correctness," and defends "Western civilization." Another
co-founder with Lieberman is the notorious Lynne V. Cheney, former chairman
of the National Endowment for the Humanities. The far-right ideologue is
the wife of Richard B. Cheney, the Republican vice presidential candidate.
On militarism, Lieberman was one of only
ten Senate Democrats (including Gore) to support President George Bush's
war against Iraq. He favored a more aggressive use of U.S. military force
in Kosovo. Lieberman vigorously supports the deployment of a new missile
defense system. On economic issues he's generally pro-business, and he
challenged Democratic leaders in 1989 by supporting a capital gains tax
cut. Not surprisingly, he championed Clinton's brutal 1996 Welfare Act.
Lieberman's most recent conflicts, prior
to his nomination as vice presidential candidate, have been over public
schools. He has consistently promoted voucher schemes to divert funds from
public education, claiming that vouchers would "give poor kids and their
families a lifeline out of failing schools."
Given this remarkably conservative record,
for a Democrat, why did Gore select him as his running mate? I think there
were several factors at work. Gore felt he had to distance himself from
Clinton's sex scandal and impeachment fiasco. What better way to separate
himself than by embracing Clinton's chief Democratic critic? Second, the
selection of a Jewish candidate gave Gore the image of being independent-minded,
or as one Democratic pollster put it, "much more strong-willed than most
people realize." Lieberman's selection was calculated to help the Democratic
ticket in New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and possibly Florida, and should
assist Hillary Clinton to win a New York Senate seat. But the primary reason
Gore selected Lieberman is because they basically agree on nearly all important
issues. Both men are centrist, "New Democrats." Gore's 2000 party platform
soundly rejected liberal positions on literally every major issue-including
capital punishment, health care, military spending, and assistance for
the poor. Under the so-called "party of the people," the Gore-Lieberman
ticket supports globalization, the death penalty, limited expansion of
health coverage, and the allocation of federal resources for debt reduction
rather than to rebuild inner cities or reduce Black infant mortality.
Where does all this leave African Americans?
I looked at the staged New York Times photograph of Senator Lieberman standing
before the meeting of the Congressional Black Caucus at the recent Democratic
National Convention. Standing on either side of Lieberman are Labor Secretary
Alexis M. Herman and U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif). Only hours before,
Herman and Waters had engaged in a spirited public disagreement over the
selection of Lieberman. In the photo, Herman looks relieved, and Waters
appears sad. Perhaps Maxine reflects the grim realization of other Black
Democrats, who are now forced to campaign for candidates and a party platform
they privately oppose. All they are left with is to frighten Black voters
to the polls with the spectre of a Republican victory.
They don't realize the obvious: the Republicans
have already won. By accepting Lieberman onto the ticket, as Nation writer
David Corn states, Gore "has accepted-or surrendered to-the Bush terms
of battle." Bush, Cheney, Gore and Lieberman, in the end, only reflect
variations of the same bankrupt political philosophy.
Dr. Manning Marable is professor of History
and Political Science at Columbia University and its Director of the Institute
for Research in African-American Studies. "Along the Color Line" is distributed
free of charge to over 350 publications throughout the U.S. and internationally.
Dr. Marable's column is also available on the Internet at www.manningmarable.net
<http://www.manningmarable.net>.
###
A Tale of Two Fathers
By George E. Curry
The political experts are observing Bill
Clinton to see if the ex-president-to-be can take a back seat to Al Gore's
campaign to remove the "vice" from his vice president title.
In Richmond, Va., William "Gus" Smith is
also keeping a close watch on the outgoing president, though for different
reasons. Like Bill Clinton, Gus has a daughter whom he loves dearly.
"I appeal to you not as President of the
United States but as a father," Smith said in a recent letter to Clinton.
"You see, I have a special bond with my daughter as I have seen that you
have with your daughter I have watched you and Chelsea together on TV boarding
Air Force One or visiting a foreign country. Sometimes it has been just
the two of you. I can see that father and daughter bond between you and
Chelsea."
Unless Clinton intervenes, Gus Smith will
not be boarding a plane anytime soon with his daughter. He is the father
of Kemba Smith, the young lady serving a mandatory 24.5 years sentence
for her minor role in a drug ring.
Her father's letter was part of an appeal
for presidential clemency undertaken by the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational
Fund.
The story of Kemba Smith, first featured
in Emerge: Black America's Newsmagazine in May 1996, is not just a story
of a young lady who found herself on the wrong side of the law with the
wrong choice for a boyfriend. It is also a story of a father's - and mother's
- painful road to seek their daughter's release.
In his letter to the president, Gus said:
"I put Kemba to bed at night, woke her up in the mornings, combed her hair,
prepared her breakfast and got her off to school every morning for 16 years.
In this relationship, we played hard together but we also followed the
rules of our home and family.
"My wife and I tried to provide all of
the positive things Kemba needed to be intellectually, spiritually and
financially successful in life. We gave of ourselves to the max. We chauffeured
her to piano lessons, Brownie meetings, ballet classes, vacation Bible
school and four years of band practice. I served as treasurer for the band
booster club and either my wife or myself went on every band trip during
that four year period."
But once Kemba left home for Hampton University,
she rebelled against her strict upbringing, experimenting with marijuana,
partying and performing poorly in school. By her sophomore year, she had
fallen in love with and later had a baby by Peter Michael Hall, whom federal
authorities would later describe as a major drug dealer.
Within four months of entering prison,
Kemba gave birth to William Armani Smith. If Kemba serves her full sentence,
her son will reach adulthood before ever seeing his mother outside of prison
walls.
In addition to be responsible for Armani's
care, Gus told President Clinton about the personal toll their daughter's
imprisonment has had on the family.
"I have gone through a transition by having
my daughter incarcerated," he wrote. "I lost my job as finance director
[of a local aging agency] for 23 years and had to liquidate all of my savings
(401k, stocks, mutual funds), mortgage my home and finally having to file
for bankruptcy not once but twice.
" I had to do this to liquidate debt, save
our home and to cover the very high cost of telephone bills (more than
$50,000 since Kemba has been incarcerated). The telephone has truly been
the main link for Kemba and her son to bond together. Kemba calls every
day to talk with her son, Armani. You see, Mr. President, we truly love
our daughter and our grandson and are willing to sacrifice whatever is
necessary for the future of our family."
[This is the second of three columns on
Kemba Smith and the mandatory sentencing laws. Next week: Even right-wing
judges oppose mandatory jail terms. Kemba Smith and her parents can be
reached by writing them in care of the Kemba N. Smith Youth Foundation
P.O. Box 2455 Richmond, Va. 23218. You can visit me on the Web at www.georgecurry.com].
###
The AMEN CORNER
Georgia The Flag, the PGA
and Tiger Woods
By Joseph E. Lowery
President Emeritus, Southern Christian
Leadership Conference
The session of the Georgia General Assembly
(officially the beginning of the millennium) in January 2001, offers this
legislative body the opportunity to initiate a new beginning of racial
reconciliation in the state. This moral renaissance can begin with the
changing of the Georgia flag to eliminate the rebel battle symbol. The
Confederacy is a fact of history and a shadow of our past; the flag is
a weathervane of our future. The flag mocks history for it did not become
our state flag (by act of the Assembly) until nearly a century after the
Civil War, when the federal government mandated an end to legalized segregation.
It was conceived in hate, born in defiance, nurtured in hostility, and
perpetuated in racially motivated vindictiveness! As State Sen. Zell Miller
put it: "it gives bigotry sanction, and persecution assistance!"
We need a flag that unites, not divides.
It does not really matter whether some
of us would have chosen other issues as priority, this issue has chosen
us, and presents a challenge we cannot decline. It is now a national and
international issue and Georgia--the birthplace of Martin Luther King,
jr., the national headquarters of SCLC, and a centrifugal force of the
civil rights movement--cannot, must not, and shall not, I believe, "let
this harvest pass"!
"The Georgia Coalition to Change the Flag,"
a statewide coalition addressing this issue for several years, will participate
in a statewide strategy session this fall. Some of us have urged the governor
to name a state commission with business, civic, government, labor, and
religious leaders to make a recommendation to him and the General Assembly,
soon and very soon.
African American members of the Gen. Assembly
have said they will push for a change in the flag. All Georgia citizens
of good will should call upon the governor, lt. governor and speaker to
give strong leadership in approving a flag that is representative of a
new spirit of togetherness and progress at the beginning of a new millennium.
Meanwhile, we were invited to attend the
PGA Championship in Louisville Aug. 17-20 where Tiger Woods was "tested,
but not bested", and where an aggregate throng of over 140,000 (frenetic)
fans invaded the Valhalla Country Club, while millions watched on television.
PGA officials inquired about the "flag" issue in Georgia. I advised them
that the General Assembly would step up to the first "tee" in January,
and hopefully would launch a solid drive that will land in the "fair-way"
of a new beginning in racial reconciliation. They are looking forward to
holding that same PGA Championship in Atlanta in 2001, if you are wondering
why they inquired.
A decade ago, we challenged the PGA and
other golf associations, (Shoal Creek, Birmingham), not only to demand
that country clubs that sponsor their tournaments stop excluding minorities
and women, but initiate programs to employ minority executives and arrange
for minority owned businesses to participate in benefits spawned by these
tournaments. We observed substantial progress in the participation of minority
owned businesses at the tournament in Louisville. The Rev. Louis Coleman,
a Louisville civil rights leader, was a part of the "demonstration" we
led at this same Valhalla in 1996 protesting exclusion, and he also expressed
appreciation for the changes instituted. The PGA has appointed an African-American
executive who works with communities to involve youth and businesses in
opportunities created by their enterprises!
For the moment, at least, we can look forward
to the presence of Tiger Woods, and, the involvement of our young people
and businesses owned by minorities in the 2001 PGA Grand Slam event in
Atlanta. So, let all of us work to make sure the General Assembly doesn't
slice or hook the ball into the penalizing waters of cape fear and the
rough of defiance, and the disastrous trap of a state-wide boycott. The
governor and General Assembly need to lead us to a moral renaissance in
the new millennium! Let the church say, Amen!
The Rev. Joseph E. Lowery is co-founder
and president emeritus of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
He is also chairman of the Black Leadership Forum and the convenor of the
Georgia Coalition for the Peoples' Agenda.
###
Commentary
Blackonomics
Happy Birthday, Marcus Garvey!
By James Clingman
[Todd: I need to add a graph here that
acknowledges garvey's b-day and notes that this col is being published
one month after the fact.] How about: "Marcus Garvey's birthday was Aug.
17"?
Because most of you who read this column
already know much about Marcus Garvey, and because you know what he stood
for and what he did, this is not a history lesson. For those of you who
are not as familiar with Brother Garvey as you would like to be, please
go to a Black bookstore and get a few of the many books written about this
giant.
No, this is not a history lesson. This
is simply about homage, recognition, and allegiance to a Black man who
loved his people so much that he sacrificed beyond what most of us would
say is reasonable. This is about a man among men who told us to "rise up"
and do the things we must do for ourselves to prosper in this country and
around the world.
Marcus Garvey cared so much about his people
that he kept coming back, even after being stymied and stigmatized by the
white establishment as well as some of his own people. After all of the
negative experiences put upon him by his enemies, he kept coming back to
fulfill his mission of raising the consciousness of Black people, organizing
Black people, and leading Black people to economic prosperity. He even
promised to come back in death as a whirlwind or a storm, bringing with
him millions of Black slaves who would aid us in our fight for freedom
and keep the pressure up until we have succeeded.
When you think about how hurricanes that
come to the United States originate near the African coast, it makes you
wonder if Brother Marcus is not fulfilling some of his prophecy. In addition,
considering the latest flap over Firestone Tires, I wonder if Marcus is
finally taking his retribution for that company's role in thwarting his
work to link Blacks in the U.S. with our brothers and sisters in Liberia
and West Africa via the UNIA. What goes around comes around. Right?
Marcus Garvey, yet another brother who
departed this life much too soon, following Booker T. Washington's shortened
life and preceding our dear brother and warrior, Amos Wilson, stood tall
among all men. He was principled, he had backbone, and he was fearless
- all because he loved his people dearly. Love is the most powerful weapon
we have. If Black folks had "Marcus Love" for one another, imagine where
we would be as a people.
Brother Garvey's life should be celebrated
just as other icons of the Black experience are commemorated. After all,
Garvey did what many of the others only talked about; he demonstrated the
viability of economic control of our resources. Garvey showed our people
how to pool our dollars and do for self; he carried us to new heights,
collectively, by building numerous Black institutions and businesses.
Ironically, it was Brother Garvey's dedication
to true nationalism that led to his demise among those for whom he so valiantly
and relentlessly fought. Unfortunately, some Blacks were jealous and envious
of Marcus' ability to rally the people, to get Black people to raise huge
sums of money, to march and demonstrate in overwhelming numbers, to turnout
the vote in unprecedented fashion, and to deny the takeover of the UNIA
by "outsiders." Black "leaders" of his time even came up with a "Marcus
must go" campaign. Can you imagine that? I can. Anytime a strong Black
man or Black woman stands up for our people, it is almost inevitable that
another Black person will lead the charge against them.
Too often we forget, if we ever knew it
at all, the importance of our brothers and sisters who stood tall on our
behalf. Marcus Garvey, born August 17, 1887, is certainly deserving of
our recognition and our honor. His words, "All I have I have given you,"
are exemplary of this man's love for us. We should be proud of his accomplishments,
and it would be wonderful if we would emulate his spirit, his love, and
his tenacity as we make our way to economic freedom.
I will close with a portion of Marcus Garvey's
letter from a prison in Atlanta. "I have sacrificed my home and my loving
wife for you. I entrust her to your charge I have left her penniless and
helpless to face the world, because I gave all, but her courage is great,
and I know she will hold up for you and me After my enemies are satisfied,
in life or death I shall come back to you to serve even as I have served
before. In life I shall be the same; in death I shall be a terror to the
foes of Negro liberty. If death has power, then count on me in death to
be the real Marcus Garvey I would like to be. I may come in an earthquake,
or a cyclone, or plague, or pestilence, or as God would have me, then be
assured that I will never desert you and make your enemies triumph over
you."
Happy Birthday, Marcus Garvey!
###
Positively Black
Define and Protect Your Interests
By Junious Ricardo Stanton