I am not a black, nor do I pretend to be one. I've often said, though, that black conservatives are treated differently than black liberals by their own people. The following is a column from today's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel by columnist Eugene Kane. There are conservative black members of TFL; of that I am sure.
I ask those men and women to respond to this sort of race-baiting.
Here is the sorry columnist:
ON WISCONSIN : JS ONLINE : NEWS : MILWAUKEE :
Black voters spoke loudly
Last Updated: Nov. 29, 2000
Eugene Kane
Sometimes, even when you lose, you can still win.
Faced with the realization we may soon be living in George W. Bush's America, black voters have more than enough reason for trepidation.
After all, this is the guy who's against affirmative action and wants to do nothing to stop the very real law enforcement tactic called racial profiling.
The one who resisted any attempt to introduce hate crime legislation in his home state of Texas even after a black man was dragged to death behind a truck.
The guy who went to racist Bob Jones University looking for votes.
Any wonder why, for many black Americans, the prospect of Bush the Younger (and The Dumber) becoming president looms as the coming of the new Dark Ages?
But black voters can take heart in the election results of 2000.
What's becoming clear, regardless of the outcome, is that blacks flexed the kind of political muscle that should ensure nobody tries to take us back to the 1950s these next four years.
According to research by the Joint Center for Political Studies in Washington, D.C., a think tank that tracks black voting patterns, the black vote was instrumental in making the race for president as close as it was.
David Bositis, research director for the Joint Center, believes without the huge black turnout in Florida - close to 60% in some districts - Bush would have been declared president weeks ago.
"We would not have the situation in Florida if the black vote had not performed the way it did," said Bositis.
Blacks accounted for 15% of the vote in Florida, amazing because blacks make up only 13% of the total voting age population in the state.
And that's not the only state in which black voters accounted for a larger percentage of the total vote than their percentage of the voting age population. It also happened in places like Texas (Bush's home state) and Missouri.
And it's amazing so many blacks got to vote at all in Florida, where many reports surfaced about voter intimidation and rampant voting irregularities.
Just this week, The New York Times reported that more black voters than white voters live in districts where the controversial push-ballots - the ones that brought the term "chad" into our vocabulary - were used.
With all that fishy stuff going on, the black vote still resounded.
Nationally, blacks made up just 10% of the entire total, but black turnout increased from 48.9% in 1996 to 51% in 2000.
Gore won 90% of the black vote; those votes accounted for 18.9% of Gore's total numbers.
So while other Americans are wringing their hands over the possibility of "their man" losing for reasons tied to the economy, Monica-gate or a tax cut, for blacks it's a lot more personal.
No other group had as much invested in the outcome of the election.
If Bush becomes president, there appears to be little motivation for him to mend fences with the black community, other than making a few cosmetic appointments.
He's said to be close to naming two blacks to his cabinet: retired Gen. Colin Powell and former Stanford provost Condoleezza Rice.
Powell and Rice both worked for Bush's father, which seems to suggest a new definition of his much-touted "affirmative access" plan. In other words, if you're the kind of black person who was close to my father, you've got access.
The biggest fear of many black Americans is that Bush will become the president of the Angry White Males who want to put minorities, gays and women back in their rightful places.
It may be an irrational fear, but absent any sign that Bush understands why he got pitifully few black votes in a nation of more than 35 million black people - it's a fear that needs to be addressed.
Blacks flexed their muscles this election season and had an impact. Win or lose, it's a lesson that won't be forgotten.
The thing about flexing muscles - it just makes them grow stronger.
Call Eugene Kane at 223-5521.
Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Nov. 30, 2000.
I ask those men and women to respond to this sort of race-baiting.
Here is the sorry columnist:
ON WISCONSIN : JS ONLINE : NEWS : MILWAUKEE :
Black voters spoke loudly
Last Updated: Nov. 29, 2000
Eugene Kane
Sometimes, even when you lose, you can still win.
Faced with the realization we may soon be living in George W. Bush's America, black voters have more than enough reason for trepidation.
After all, this is the guy who's against affirmative action and wants to do nothing to stop the very real law enforcement tactic called racial profiling.
The one who resisted any attempt to introduce hate crime legislation in his home state of Texas even after a black man was dragged to death behind a truck.
The guy who went to racist Bob Jones University looking for votes.
Any wonder why, for many black Americans, the prospect of Bush the Younger (and The Dumber) becoming president looms as the coming of the new Dark Ages?
But black voters can take heart in the election results of 2000.
What's becoming clear, regardless of the outcome, is that blacks flexed the kind of political muscle that should ensure nobody tries to take us back to the 1950s these next four years.
According to research by the Joint Center for Political Studies in Washington, D.C., a think tank that tracks black voting patterns, the black vote was instrumental in making the race for president as close as it was.
David Bositis, research director for the Joint Center, believes without the huge black turnout in Florida - close to 60% in some districts - Bush would have been declared president weeks ago.
"We would not have the situation in Florida if the black vote had not performed the way it did," said Bositis.
Blacks accounted for 15% of the vote in Florida, amazing because blacks make up only 13% of the total voting age population in the state.
And that's not the only state in which black voters accounted for a larger percentage of the total vote than their percentage of the voting age population. It also happened in places like Texas (Bush's home state) and Missouri.
And it's amazing so many blacks got to vote at all in Florida, where many reports surfaced about voter intimidation and rampant voting irregularities.
Just this week, The New York Times reported that more black voters than white voters live in districts where the controversial push-ballots - the ones that brought the term "chad" into our vocabulary - were used.
With all that fishy stuff going on, the black vote still resounded.
Nationally, blacks made up just 10% of the entire total, but black turnout increased from 48.9% in 1996 to 51% in 2000.
Gore won 90% of the black vote; those votes accounted for 18.9% of Gore's total numbers.
So while other Americans are wringing their hands over the possibility of "their man" losing for reasons tied to the economy, Monica-gate or a tax cut, for blacks it's a lot more personal.
No other group had as much invested in the outcome of the election.
If Bush becomes president, there appears to be little motivation for him to mend fences with the black community, other than making a few cosmetic appointments.
He's said to be close to naming two blacks to his cabinet: retired Gen. Colin Powell and former Stanford provost Condoleezza Rice.
Powell and Rice both worked for Bush's father, which seems to suggest a new definition of his much-touted "affirmative access" plan. In other words, if you're the kind of black person who was close to my father, you've got access.
The biggest fear of many black Americans is that Bush will become the president of the Angry White Males who want to put minorities, gays and women back in their rightful places.
It may be an irrational fear, but absent any sign that Bush understands why he got pitifully few black votes in a nation of more than 35 million black people - it's a fear that needs to be addressed.
Blacks flexed their muscles this election season and had an impact. Win or lose, it's a lesson that won't be forgotten.
The thing about flexing muscles - it just makes them grow stronger.
Call Eugene Kane at 223-5521.
Appeared in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel on Nov. 30, 2000.
