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Basically it is a philosophical position of telling one
party, the Democrats, that your
urban policies have been a failure for the past 50 years
(since President Johnson’s War on Poverty); and then
determining if the Republicans have any programs that would
be beneficial to the Democrats largest and most loyal voting
bloc.
Problem is? The problem is that either party is a party
of consumer consumption by which each party tosses out to
its base promises and campaign platform tenets that they
claim will be a blessing to them and, if that party is
elected, African Americans can benefit from those policies.
Remember the nature of politics. Each party wants to
shout into your ear why it is the consummate servant or
valet for the people. Each party shapes and creates images
that it wants to feed to you in the hopes that you will
identify your well- being with that party.
Each party has an agenda: to get in power and use that
power to continue to stay in power. It is a power play and
you are it!
By the nature of the beast, each political party has to
feed you what you want to hear or you will go elsewhere and
listen to someone else’s soaring rhetoric who will tell you
what you want to hear. Each party does it. It is part and
parcel of their DNA.
They cannot help themselves to do or say otherwise.
Political parties develop, craft and hone to a precise art
modalities of influence that they then peddle to the media
outlets that ostensibly portray them as having an answer
that fits any “crisis of the moment.”
Politics is the art of both outright and sublime
psychological warfare by which parties try to keep their
camp followers happy. However, they also have the need to
constantly forage around for new recruits to their agenda.
It is a numbers game. Pure and simple.
The political party with the most members (voters) and
which can raise the most bucks (money is the mother’s milk
of politics) normally wins.
A minority party that has great ideas and solid
leadership does not win national elections. Oh, they may
grab a headline or two on a slow news day but in the final
analysis, when the votes are counted and the donations
tallied up, they lose.
The black pastor in Chicago wants to change that
dynamic by sabre rattling at the Democratic Party that
unless they do more, they, the voters, will vote less or
change their allegiance.
Wrong analysis. Whenever you ask a political party to
do more for you, you have already lost the psychological
edge and advantage because you are saying to them that you
are weak and ineffective without them; and you cannot or
will not organize yourself to watch out for self and to do
for self.
Neither party wants a staunchly independent voter who
does not look to them for their guidance on how to vote.
They want voters who are malleable and who will vote as
told. Just look at the cards that they hand out on Election
Day telling you who to vote for in all of the political
offices that are up for grabs.
The pastor in Chicago wants to send a message to the
Democrats that voters there are tired of their votes being
taken for granted as if, no matter what happens and who is
on top of the ticket, black people and other people of color
will, like trained circus seals, come out and vote the
straight Democratic ticket.
My take on this? Simple: Unless, we as both individuals
and as communities decide to take action into our own hands
and fund our own initiatives and vote our best interests, we
will continue to be those trained circus seals that follow
the hands of those that ostensibly feed us tasty political
tidbits of appointed jobs and short lived urban renewal
grants.
Question?: Did the black vote for President Obama in
both 2008 and 2012 result in “black” economic/money rain
days for minority communities across America?
Question?: Has President Obama been outgoing in the past six
plus years of vigorously championing black economic
development and community uplift?
Question?: Are the major cities in America which are being
populated more and more by people of color, getting better
or worse as to quality of life, crime prevention, school
enrichment and job opportunities?
And please do not blame these defaults solely on the
scare tactic of, “white flight.” If so, what you are saying
is that you can only progress and benefit if white people
are around you and if they sanction your lifestyle and if
they lend their expertise to your problem.
The black pastor in Chicago is also implicitly stating
that unless and until people of color stop viewing
themselves as victims, they will remain victims and as you
know, victims wait around for a white knight in shining
armor to ride in with bulging sacks of cash and save them
from their plight.
The hash tag #BlackLivesMatters is catchy and rings
true but taken to its logical conclusion, that would mean
that if black lives truly matter, the black community would
not be one of the biggest purveyors of death to black people
that is due to the appalling abortion rate of black babies
by black mothers. Yes, that needed to be stated.
So, be very discerning of what slogans you run to and
live by. Examine what is being said, who is saying it and
why they are saying it and when all else fails and when in
doubt, follow the money trail.
I commend the black pastor in Chicago for his stance
but that position has been articulated before in the past
and unless and until people of color steadfastly trust each
other and we pool our resources so that neither political
party takes us for granted, we are simply behaving like
trained circus seals.
Power does not acquiesce without a demand and unless and
until people of color demand and organize around their
interests and are willing to fund their own struggles to
shape their way of life, we will be left with the political
crumbs that are thrown our way for being nice and complacent
voters.
The majority of black voters in Toledo are no different.
We vote in embarrassing low numbers and when things do not
go our way, we fuss and fight and think someone is
victimizing us.
Or, we refuse to collectively pool our vast resources
(yes, I said vast) including time, intellect, creative
skills and money and then we wonder why other ethnic groups
leapfrog past us up the economic ladder!
We need to face the uncomfortable fact that we do not
want to (at least so far in Toledo) sit down and do the
arduous planning and long term funding to make our way in
Lucas County. Oh sure, some individuals have made it but
collectively we are missing that vital and important linkage
which is: in groups, there is power.
So, the next time politicos come to your church for
their obligatory bi-annual photo opp visit and grin in your
face, ask them, “What have you done lately for my vote?” And
while you are asking the question, don’t smile.
Contact Lafe Tolliver at Tolliver@Juno.com
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