Black America Can Now Celebrate a Political Emancipation

By

Sherman N. Miller

 7/30/2006

The 2006 midterm elections will provide more than just who will control the United States Senate and House of Representatives. Ideological stances that may underpin the positions held by Presidential candidates in the 2008 General Election may find legitimacy in the November 2006 vote. Hence, considering the closeness of the vote in President George Bush’s first Presidential Election, the Republican Party cannot afford to continue to shun African American voters and stay in power.

            It is common knowledge that the real acid test of party support is to demonstrate that a minority candidate can win in a statewide race. The two key races that show mainstream legitimacy for minority candidates are the gubernatorial race and the US Senate race. At present, the Democratic Party has the high ground because they have elected two people of African American descent to the United States Senate (Honorable Carol Moseley Braun 1993 – 1999 and Honorable Barack Obama 2005 – present), and one, (Douglas Wilder 1990 – 1994) as governor of the state of Virginia. The Republican Party has elected only one major statewide candidate, Honorable Edward W. Brooke - Massachusetts the first African American elected to the United States Senate in 1966.

            The State of Illinois has elected two different people of African American descent to the US Senate. This suggests that White America is ready to start viewing blacks as mainstream politicians and not mere black politicians.  Black politicians can win in districts overwhelmingly black but their caustic rhetoric may not make them palatable in Mainstream America. Hence, the key political feat for tomorrow’s black politicians is to learn to maintain their black voter base while presenting a mainstream agenda that meets the needs of Mainstream America.

            Although the Democrats have the high ground on electing key statewide candidates, the present black enchantment with the Democratic Party needs a bit of discussion.  In a July 26, 2006 article, Demonizing the GOP at NAACP, Jeff Jacoby of The Boston Globe offers Black Americans plenty to ponder.

            “Look around. Black candidates are serious contenders for governor in three states this year, and two of them -- Lynn Swann in Pennsylvania and Kenneth Blackwell in Ohio -- are Republicans. The third, Democrat Deval Patrick, is running in Massachusetts, a quintessentially blue state that has managed to elect only one African-American to statewide office in its entire history: former US Senator Edward Brooke -- a Republican.”

            Jacoby offers the Democratic Party sins of yesterday that somehow get ignored by the black political zealots to where today’s black mono-political stances are foolhardy at best when seeking opportunities to upgrade the living standards of the African American community.

“[Julian] Bond may not share Republican principles or priorities, but for him to cast the GOP as the party of fascism and racism is surreal. After all, it was the Democratic Party that defended slavery, the Democratic Party that supported the Dred Scott decision, and the Democratic Party that opposed the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments to the Constitution. It was Democrats who founded the Ku Klux Klan, Democrats who repeatedly blocked anti lynching bills, and Democrats who enacted Jim Crow segregation across the South.”

            Maryland Lt. Governor Michael Steele (Republican) is running for the US Senate in the 2006 election. His candidacy adds to the Republican Party’s effort to enfranchise African American voters once again in their party. Listening at Steel present his platform to a gathering of Delaware Black Republicans called “The Underground Republican Network of Delaware” (T.U.R.N.) offered an opportunity to watch a black politician operate as a conduit between White and Black America versus being a political octoroon. I asked him to give his positions on illegal immigration and political gridlock in the US Congress.

            Steele seemed to align with the position of the US House of Representatives that we first need to get control of our borders before offering special treatment for the illegal immigrants who are here now. He brought up the vexing problem of what to do with the illegal parents of American citizens (children born in this country). Steele did not see the government getting into the foster care business.  However, I ask, what does the government do for the children when US citizens are sent to prison for committing crimes? Perhaps Steele’s position is underpinned by the 2004 US Department of Health & Human Services report Children of Incarcerated Parents: Research and Resources.”

            “More than 1.5 million minor children have a parent in the criminal justice system. Although the majority of these children reside with another parent or relative, studies indicate at least 3 percent (or approximately 45,000 children) are in the foster care system. Because the number of women in jails and prisons has grown exponentially over the past decade, and women are usually the primary caretaker of minor children prior to incarceration, children of incarcerated parents will likely become a growing issue in the child welfare system.”

 Will we start granting criminal mothers and fathers amnesty because the government does not wish to place their kids in foster care while the parents serve time in prison?

            Steele felt that the congressional gridlock on the immigration bill is the outfall of the US Congress not being able to multitask. I agree with his assessment here. However, I have problems with the Senate Immigration bill because it suggests that should a large enough group of people lynch someone it would be prudent to grant them amnesty to avert clogging up our judicial system in an attempt to prosecute all of these criminals.  

            However, what was most interesting in Steele’s Delaware visit was he did not attempt to raise money. He was hoping to get Delawareans to call their family and friends in Maryland to get them to vote for him. Lynn Swann in Pennsylvania might also get T.U. R. N. to sponsor an event for him in hopes of his getting Delawareans to make phone calls on his behalf, especially since Jacoby suggests that Swann is a contender in the Pennsylvania 2006 gubernatorial race. 

            Since both major political parties are running people of African American descent for key statewide offices, America can say to the world that there is significant progress afoot in race valuations in our economic mainstream. Perhaps Black America can now celebrate a political emancipation from the Democratic Party Political Plantation for the Republican Party is finally recognizing that blacks have evolved from yesterday’s slave caste to today’s Mainstream American class.   

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