Black Future: The Political Arena

When it's all said and done...and by done I mean after the various "farewell" gatherings around the D.C. area and across the country, the BET, Centric, and TV One specials, the nearly defunct free news publication commemorative editions, and the absurd amount of non-factual memes....we will see that President Barak Obama was a slightly above-average U.S. president.  Some of us will.  Most of us will remember the "good" things like the gas prices falling in the last two years of his term, the commuting of hundreds of unfair illegal drug-related prison sentences, and how cool he appeared to be.  Yet most of us will forget how the Affordable Health Care Act strained the resources of many black-owned small business, how Obama kept American soldiers in the volatile Middle East, how he his administration sent troops to raid American homes to deport Hispanics, and how there was no legitimate, legislative response to police brutality.  All of the negative aspects of his administration will be blamed of course on Republican opposition.  But very few African-Americans will acknowledge that we didn't hold him accountable for anything that we knew wasn't good (according to white president standards).  And in the end, if we're honest we'll be able to confirm we only voted and  re-voted for President Obama because he was black.

I would even argue that's not a bad thing, though.  Simply put, I like seeing the diversity at the highest levels of American politics.  But I also recognize that just being able to see different races and genders is a shallow standpoint...as it's not so much the race that makes the policies (ex. the mayor of Baltimore is black and female); instead it's who they answer to and the dollars.  If there was one thing that happened during the Obama Administration it's the attention from young, urban, and minority groups that was garnered from it.  Unfortunately, the majority of it was just that only...attention.  Great start but....

Blackdemographics.com reports 44 black mayors in the United States.  While some are exceptional in a number of things (i.e. Cory Booker of Newark, NJ), others are as crooked as how white politicians are stereotyped to be (i.e. Dwight Jones of Richmond, VA).  Yet it doesn't take this list or any other data to know that black politician doesn't necessarily mean good politician, but when it comes to the Senate and the President that logic seems to disappear.  Is it because blacks are still a group of glorifying the "first" and not the best?  The data for this shows that could be true, as the percentage drops between the past two presidential voting turnouts and all of the primary and gubernatorial turnouts were horrid.  In fact, the Republican opposition argument is supported because of the voters who didn't find anything worthy of elation and joy to go vote.  The majority of the people who claimed to stand by Obama only did it when he was the main event, and didn't anywhere else.

Have you noticed the black story lines concerning the approaching presidential election?  It's all about who not to vote for.  There's no handsome, smooth, black candidate.  No [allegedly] black female hero.  No rap star endorser.  Nothing for lukewarm black voters to attach themselves to.  The best candidates in this election are actually Republican and no one is even mentioning the Green Party because 1. the media hasn't told you about them and 2. you've been convinced that Democrat means "uplift black people".     In 2014 those of us who claimed to be so politically enlightened should've been preparing for a group of candidates, but our focus was on protecting our president against the hole(s) he himself dug.  8 years later, things are poised to look very familiar.

This presidential election and the primary ones that follow will prove what we really were about as a community...agenda, voting, accountability, all that.  It will solidify if we were just hyped or if we turned around our collective thinking and really got involved.  It will show if you defended the President in the name of fair policy or just because he was black.  And actually, that proving process started years ago.  Now if  we're gonna say it's an individual thing, I can respect that...because it is.  I'm willing to bet that many who spent hours arguing about Obama with a bigot they've never met from some backwoods town in Idaho won't spend those same amount of hours researching who's the best candidate for mayor, governor, senator, or president today.  They won't write their senator and ask them what's being done to enforce proper police protocol.  They won't hear the political trends at the educational institutions in their state.  And they won't dream of attending one city hall meeting.  In this situation, it's not even about why that is, it's just time to make the adjustments wherever they are.  Remember, it's all about policy.  So before you put on your "my president" hat...do you even know what policy he and those behind him stand for?

If there's not a candidate in your town or in this country that doesn't represent what you value, ask yourself what you did to present a candidate that does.  That answer alone will let you know if you support the political future of African-Americans or you're willfully stuck in the past.