Highbrow Magazine - African American voters https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/african-american-voters en The Harmful Effects of Voter ID Laws https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/5728-harmful-effects-voter-id-laws <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Wed, 04/06/2016 - 21:19</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/3blackvoters.jpg?itok=FStdrZPv"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/3blackvoters.jpg?itok=FStdrZPv" width="480" height="350" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> </p> <p><strong>From <a href="http://www.theroot.com/articles/politics/2016/03/we_don_t_have_to_wait_for_the_general_election_to_see_the_harmful_effects.2.html">The Root</a> and republished by our content partner New America</strong> <strong>Media</strong>:</p> <p> </p> <p>Look out, voting people. The 2016 Democratic presidential primaries have fast become the early-warning detection system on voter-ID laws.</p> <p> </p> <p>And based on what we’ve seen thus far, the electoral weather patterns don’t look so good.</p> <p> </p> <p>Conversations on the expanding voter-ID and voter-suppression franchises have, up to this point, centered on election Armageddon scenarios in the general phase. When one is bracing for potentially sinister outcomes on Nov. 8, knowing what’s happening in the primary can offer a crucial preparation window. There’s good reason for seemingly over-the-top predictions: We’re about to witness the first major presidential cycle in generations without the full protection of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. You can thank the Supreme Court for that, ruling in its infinite conservative wisdom to completely gut the one provision—Section 5—that gave the seminal civil-rights-era law any juice to begin with.</p> <p> </p> <p>“Our country has changed,” wrote Chief Justice John Roberts in the 2013 majority opinion in the fateful <em>Shelby County v. Holder</em> case. “Problems remain in these states and others, but there is no denying that, due to the Voting Rights Act, our nation has made great strides.”</p> <p> </p> <p>What’s he saying about that now? Roberts must have mistaken running backward as a cool, new Olympic sport—or maybe he was fine serving as accomplice to an all-out Republican coup of the national voting system. Clearly unable and unwilling to compete for rapidly growing blocs of diverse voters, the GOP designed a complex perfect storm of electoral corruption at all levels of local, state and federal government: state legislatures passing rigged laws; governors signing them; municipalities and counties with no choice but to comply; election boards deliberately ill-equipped for oversight and response; state attorneys general impotent; Supreme Court driving the getaway car; and do-nothing members of Congress munching on doughnuts at the murder scene.</p> <p> </p> <p>Less than two full years after that assessment, voter-suppression laws have actually ramped up much earlier than even their staunchest supporters had anticipated.</p> <p> </p> <p>“And think about it,” Don Cravins, National Urban League vice president of policy, tells The Root. “This is just the precursor to the general election.”</p> <p> </p> <p>In pointing out lower Democratic turnout during these entertaining primaries and caucuses, Republican-driven tales leave out the part about how much voter-ID laws are responsible for that. Democratic primary turnout is far lower (less than 12 percent of eligible primary voters) than it was in 2008 (20 percent), and 5 percentage points lower overall than voter turnout in the raucous GOP primary. And while it’s easy to dismiss it as lower voter enthusiasm on one side, reports suggest that voter-suppression laws kicked in strong, offering us an early crystal ball into a potentially chaotic general election.</p> <p> </p> <p>Already, a Huffington Post analysis shows us 30 percent to over 50 percent drops in Democratic voter turnout in six of the first eight primary and caucus states (South Carolina, Georgia, Virginia, Alabama, Tennessee and Texas).</p> <p> </p> <p>“Those data suggest that Democratic turnout has dropped more in states with newly enacted voter-ID laws than in states with no new laws,” notes Zoltan Hajnal, political science professor at the University of California, San Diego. “It is entirely plausible that newly enacted voter-identification laws are disproportionately hurting minority turnout in these primaries.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Our only gauge of how much it hurts turnout among people of color is the Democratic primary, since black and brown voters (especially African Americans) aren’t exactly jumping into GOP primaries. That lopsided demographic advantage for Democrats terrifies Republicans—while, as one Hajnal study finds, “ ... strict voter-identification laws double or triple existing U.S. racial voting gaps,” with white voters (such as the growing throngs of newly registered Donald Trump supporters) gaining an advantage from the disparity.</p> <p> </p> <p><br /> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/mediumvotebuttons_4.jpg" style="height:336px; width:600px" /></p> <p> </p> <p>Super Tuesday primary states with some range of voter-ID laws in effect—such as Texas, Alabama, Georgia, Virginia and Tennessee—all reported glitches, missed ballots and disenfranchised participants. Monitoring group Democracy North Carolina, part of a statewide, 700-member primary-watchdog team, pointed out how “thousands of [voters] faced serious problems because of election-law changes” during that March 1 primary.</p> <p> </p> <p>On March 22, many voters in Arizona couldn’t cast ballots after long waits in polling-station lines. That was expected: In highly populated, diverse and Latino Maricopa County, the number of polling places had already shrunk from 200 to just 60.</p> <p> </p> <p>In Wisconsin’s April 5 primary, it may get worse as voters prepare for a first joust with the state’s strict “approved voter ID” law, signed by notorious has-been Republican presidential contender Gov. Scott Walker.</p> <p> </p> <p>If it’s this bad in the primary, then get really nervous about the general. There are omens across the electoral map, especially with strict voter-ID laws and other voter-suppression cocktails in key presidential battleground states.</p> <p> </p> <p>“This is a real challenge,” NAACP President Cornell William Brooks tells The Root. “We know that in North Carolina, because of the draconian voting-suppression law, voter-ID laws could have had and will have a 5 percent impact on voting.”</p> <p> </p> <p>Want to know how close that is? A recent Public Policy Polling survey of North Carolina shows hypothetical Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton ahead by only 2 points in a matchup with Donald Trump.</p> <p> </p> <p>“This will be the first major national election since the Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act in 2013,” Khalilah Brown-Dean, associate political science professor at Quinnipiac University, tells The Root. “The adoption of restrictive voter-ID requirements, the reduction of polling places and other measures have sharply reduced the number of minority voters who are eligible to participate.”</p> <p> </p> <p>If we can even measure the exact number or percentages of people being electorally mugged. A new problem as bad as voter suppression is the current inability of civil rights organizations and the federal government to copiously track the extent of it. The Supreme Court’s landmark destruction of the “preclearance” tool in the Voting Rights Act—the provision that demanded Jim Crow-legacy jurisdictions submit election-process changes and their impact—effectively under-resourced Justice Department monitoring capabilities.</p> <p> </p> <p>It also disarmed civil rights groups. Faced with managing a mounting docket of election-discrimination cases as voter suppression takes effect, outfits such as the NAACP, the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law and the National Urban League can’t keep up.</p> <p> </p> <p>“It is impossible for us to fully replace the notice requirement of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act,” Lawyers Committee Executive Director Kristen Clarke concedes to The Root. “Many voting changes occur at the local level, making them even harder to detect.”</p> <p> </p> <p>“I don’t know we have the capacity to track [how bad voter suppression is during the primaries] beyond our affiliates,” says Cravins. “Once we hear about it, we have to figure out where can we do more. Are we tracking it? Yes … but we could do better.”</p> <p> </p> <p><strong>From <a href="http://www.theroot.com/articles/politics/2016/03/we_don_t_have_to_wait_for_the_general_election_to_see_the_harmful_effects.2.html">The Root</a> and republished by our content partner New America</strong> <strong>Media</strong></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/voting-rights-act" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Voting Rights Act</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/voter-id-laws" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">voter id laws</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/2016-elections" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">2016 elections</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/african-american-voters" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">African American voters</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/hispanic-voters" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Hispanic voters</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Charles D. Ellison</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">New America Media</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Thu, 07 Apr 2016 01:19:26 +0000 tara 6806 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/5728-harmful-effects-voter-id-laws#comments Voter Apathy May Hurt Obama in Virginia https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/1652-voter-apathy-may-hurt-obama-virginia <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Mon, 10/08/2012 - 15:08</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumObamaNAM_0.jpg?itok=rzY2pgAw"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumObamaNAM_0.jpg?itok=rzY2pgAw" width="480" height="268" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>  </p> <p> From <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2012/10/voter-apathy-could-hurt-obama-in-virginia.php">New America Media</a> and The North Star News:</p> <p>  </p> <p> WOODBRIDGE, Va. — President Obama jogs up to a roaring crowd, sprinkled with signs reading “Forward” and the faint rumblings of chants echoing “four more years!” He flashes his broad smile, then clasps his hands together and swings them from side to side as if going up to bat.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “On a day like today, this is not a bad place to be … out in the ballpark,” he says to a packed Pfitzner Stadium under clear blue skies on Friday, Sept. 21.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Wasting little time at the grassroots campaign stop, Obama went straight to addressing the latest campaign topic: the recently released recordings of former Gov. Mitt Romney’s comments at a fundraising dinner in May. The GOP presidential candidate said that 47 percent of voters think of themselves as “victims … dependent upon government” and that it is not his job to “worry about them.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> “I don’t believe we can get very far," said Obama, "with leaders who write off half of the nation as a bunch of victims…I don’t see a lot of victims in this crowd today.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> The rest of the speech followed along those same lines -- the president standing on a stage between the home plate and third base of the Potomac Nationals, swinging for his opponent.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Whether he will hit a homerun in Virginia is still a major concern for some who are working hard on voter turnout.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “The polls show that we’re ahead, but I’m worried about the apathy in the African-American community” said State Sen. Henry L. Marsh, III (D, Va.). "A lot of people are not coming to the rallies. They assume the election is over, and we’ve got five weeks to go.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> Marsh, also a prominent civil-rights lawyer, spoke in a brief interview following the Michelle Obama speech during the Congressional Black Caucus Annual Legislative Conference.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “The difference is in the turnout," said the veteran Democrat. "If we don’t turn out, we still could lose Virginia. I hope they don’t believe the polls and the newspapers. They’ve got to vote…As someone who’s been around a long time, I’m afraid we might celebrate too soon.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> An editorial in the Sept. 27-29 Richmond Free Press, Virginia’s dominant black weekly, expressed the same concern. The editorial, headlined “The danger of overconfidence”, questioned “whether the Obama campaign can motivate black voters and other minorities to repeat on Nov. 6 their historically high numbers” that gave Obama the first Democratic presidential win in Virginia in 44 years.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Because of the uncertainty of which way it will go, Virginia is considered a critical battleground state among others, including Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Michigan, New Hampshire, Nevada, North Carolina, Ohio, and Wisconsin.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Despite concerns, those at the rally did not lack enthusiasm. Amy Rivera, who waited in line since 9 a.m. to make it to the rally, said Romney’s “47 percent” stance only further confirmed her suspicions.</p> <p> “He is an idiot,” she said. “He’s completely out of touch with what the people want.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> Rivera wants to see that the middle class is taken care of, something the president has been working on, she says.</p> <p>  </p> <p> “We succeed when folks at the top are doing well, but also when folks in the middle and people trying to get in the middle are doing well,” Obama said.</p> <p>  </p> <p> In a recent study, 49 percent of Americans surveyed identify themselves as “middle class,” according to the Pew Research Center.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Along with job creation, the solution to looking after the “middle” lies in education, Obama said. “Education is the gateway of opportunity,” he said. “It was for me. It was for Michelle. It’s the gateway for many of you. It’s the gateway to a middle class life.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> The president stressed the importance of cutting the costs of college education with a time-worn anecdote about a child’s “dream deferred” because of the cost of tuition. “Let’s work with colleges and universities to cut the growth of tuition costs, because we don’t want our young people loaded up with debt,” he said.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <img alt="" src="/sites/default/files/mediumvotebuttons.jpg" style="width: 600px; height: 336px; " /></p> <p>  </p> <p> It’s a story that is all too real for Rashila Petteway, a Virginian and recent graduate of George Mason University. Petteway, who studied art and visual technology, is now a freelance designer. “Debt over my head is scary,” she said.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Petteway used the consolidation program, which allows students to combine their loans to one bill, lowering their payments but extending the repayment period. She said it helped ease the financial burden.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Even with the plan, which came as an executive order in 2011, Petteway says the transition has been difficult.</p> <p>  </p> <p> As her father Malcolm Petteway listens to his daughter talk about her experience, he nods, agreeing about the hardships of sending his two daughters to college. He’s also had to factor in caring for his mother and mother-in-law, emphasizing his concern about the persistence of resources like Medicare and Medicaid.</p> <p>  </p> <p> It’s one of the many reasons why the nation cannot afford to be inactive during the upcoming election, he said. “We can’t afford to get complacent,” he added. “There’s too much at stake.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> The story of the Petteways reads much like those of many of the close to 10,000 people at the rally. When asked where they are from, most point behind the stadium and say “just down the road” in Prince William County.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Many were the same people who watched as then-Sen. Barack Obama made promises of change in 2008 and then voted for him, helping Obama become the first Democrat to win the battleground state in 44 years. They are the people who plan to vote to make sure history repeats itself in November.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Hafsatou Wann’s story is different.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Seven years ago, Wann traveled from Guinea to the United States and now studies business administration at Northern Virginia Community College. Her son screams whenever he sees Obama on television and even has a letter he wrote to the president that he’s debating mailing off.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Because of immigration reasons, Wann won’t be able to vote in this election. “If I could vote for (Obama), I would,” the mother of three says.</p> <p>  </p> <p> But what about the people who are able to vote? Will Obama’s 14 visits to Virginia this election season prove successful, let alone pull a victory for the country?</p> <p>  </p> <p> In a closing nod to the uncertain road ahead in the election, the president assured the country that his commitment would not waver. "I don’t know how many people are going to vote for me this time around,” he said. “But I’m telling the American people I will be fighting for you no matter what. I will be your president no matter what.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> <em>Christina Downs is editor-in-chief of</em> The Hilltop a<em>t Howard University</em>. Trice Edney Wire <em>editor-in-chief, Hazel Trice Edney, contributed to this story.</em></p> <p>  </p> <p> <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2012/10/voter-apathy-could-hurt-obama-in-virginia.php">New America Media</a></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/obama" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Obama</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/virginia-voters" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Virginia voters</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/2012-elections" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">2012 elections</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/mitt-romney" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Mitt Romney</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/president-obama" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">President Obama</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/voter-apathy" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">voter apathy</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/democrats" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Democrats</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/republicans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Republicans</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/minority-voters" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">minority voters</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/african-american-voters" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">African American voters</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Christina Downs </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">New America Media</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Mon, 08 Oct 2012 19:08:43 +0000 tara 1699 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/1652-voter-apathy-may-hurt-obama-virginia#comments Can Obama Still Rely on the Majority of African-American Votes? https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/1400--obama-still-rely-majority-african-american-votes <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Tue, 07/24/2012 - 21:45</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumDECObama_0.jpg?itok=XZmVgcaC"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumDECObama_0.jpg?itok=XZmVgcaC" width="480" height="329" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p>  </p> <p> From <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2012/07/can-the-gop-pry-some-blacks-away-from-president-obama.php">New America Media</a>:</p> <p>  </p> <p> A black Republican advocacy group wasted no time in hitting the airwaves moments after GOP presidential contender Mitt Romney addressed the NAACP convention. The group touted Romney’s alleged triumph in getting more than a few of the hostile crowd to cheer him at times. Their national radio ad taunted President Obama in part like this:</p> <p>  </p> <p> Narrator: Obama brought high black unemployment.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Narrator: Democrats have run black communities for 50 years.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Narrator: Plantation politics.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Narrator: That’s what Obama said Democrats do to poor blacks.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The ad hit hard at Obama on the point that Romney, GOP strategists, and their black GOP point persons are convinced is the issue that can touch a sensitive nerve among blacks: jobs and poverty. The GOP sniffs a potentially perfect political storm with it: a stagnant economy, the chronically double-digit black joblessness, and the Obama administration’s non-explicit emphasis on the crisis.</p> <p>  </p> <p> That was capped by Romney’s appearance at the NAACP convention, and Obama’s non-appearance there. Despite the hit ad and Romney’s crowing to an interviewer that there were many – unnamed, of course -- blacks that supposedly told him after his convention speech privately that they agreed with him, neither Romney, GOP strategists and black Republicans in their wildest fantasy believe that they will make even a modest dent in Obama’s black support.</p> <p>  </p> <p> But they do cannily crunch the numbers and bank that even a small drop in the percentage and number of black votes in the traditional must-win states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Florida, North Carolina and Virginia that Obama won in 2008, could spell potential disaster for him this time around. A cursory look at the numbers indeed signals potential danger. Obama got over 65 million votes in 2008. GOP presidential rival John McCain got over 57 million.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Of the roughly 15 million eligible black voters, nearly 8 million voted for Obama. That was a surge of 2 million more black votes than in 2004. The surge was attributed exclusively to the fire and passion blacks had to elect the first black president. Obama, overall, got nearly 95 percent of the black vote. These nearly 8 million votes provided nearly the full total of Obama’s winning margin over McCain in the popular vote column.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Now fast forward to 2012. A reduction in even 1 to 5 percentage points in the total black vote would still put the president’s percentage total at the off chart number of 90 percent of the black vote, but it would hurt him. This would put his raw number total loss at potentially several hundred thousand votes. This is not as inconsequential as it first seems, particularly given that the African-American votes are not scattered geographically in all states but heavily concentrated in the urban areas in the crucial Midwest and Southern swing states.</p> <p>  </p> <p> In several of the states, Obama’s winning margin over McCain was in the low single digits. While Latino and young voters will again overwhelmingly back Obama, percentage-wise, there’s no certainty that the passion they showed for his campaign in 2008 is still there in 2012. Polls show that Obama decisively won the battle for centrist independents in 2008. But this year their votes are badly fractured, with even less guarantee that they will again give him major support. This could mean a significant fall-off in their numbers as well. That makes a massive and impassioned turnout by black voters even more imperative for him. The GOP will do everything it can to make sure that doesn’t happen.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Romney will take every opportunity to shove the notion down the throats of black voters that Obama’s alleged failures on the economy have directly resulted in mounting economic misery in poor black communities. The appeal will be to them not to necessarily embrace Romney, but simply for them to pause and consider their misery. The shrewd gambit is to create enough doubt and dismay among blacks, and then hope that that’s enough to stem some of the black voter floodtide to Obama.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Obama walks a narrow tight rope. He must do everything possible to keep the significant number of wavering white Democrats who are indifferent or outright hostile toward him from jumping ship and not voting or, worse, crossing over. This means moving gingerly on the issue of race. But at the same time he must stoke the enthusiasm level of black voters by sending constant signals that he is not taking their vote for granted, and remind them that his policies on health care, job stimulus and small business have benefited blacks. And that if elected he’ll do even more to battle chronic high unemployment, failing public schools, high incarceration rates, home foreclosures and the poverty facing black communities.</p> <p>  </p> <p> It’s a tall order, but one that he must fill to insure that the GOP fails miserably in its ploy to pry some blacks away from him.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Author Bio:</strong></p> <p> <em>Earl Ofari Hutchinson is an author and political analyst. He is a frequent political commentator on MSNBC and a weekly co-host of the Al Sharpton Show on American Urban Radio Network. He is the author of How Obama Governed: The Year of Crisis and Challenge. He is an associate editor of New America Media and the host of the weekly Hutchinson Report on KPFK-Radio and the Pacifica Network.</em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/president-obama" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">President Obama</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/mitt-romney" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Mitt Romney</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/gop" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">GOP</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/democrats" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Democrats</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/african-american-voters" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">African American voters</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/black-voters" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">black voters</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/naacp" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">NAACP</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/unemployment" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">unemployment</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/republicans" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Republicans</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/elections" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">elections</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Earl Ofari Hutchinson</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">New America Media</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Wed, 25 Jul 2012 01:45:53 +0000 tara 1277 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/1400--obama-still-rely-majority-african-american-votes#comments Key Issues for African-American Voters in the 2012 Elections https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/key-issues-african-1037-american-voters-2012-elections <div class="field field-name-field-cat field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even"><a href="/news-features" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">News &amp; Features</a></div></div></div><span class="submitted-by">Submitted by tara on Fri, 03/02/2012 - 13:59</span><div class="field field-name-field-image field-type-image field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="og:image rdfs:seeAlso" resource="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumblackvoters.jpg?itok=OpfyF0n_"><img typeof="foaf:Image" src="https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/mediumblackvoters.jpg?itok=OpfyF0n_" width="480" height="268" alt="" /></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" property="content:encoded"><p> From <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/news/">New America Media</a>:</p> <p>  </p> <p> <em>Robert C. Smith is professor of political science at San Francisco State University. He is author or coauthor of more than 40 articles and essays and nine books including Race, Class and Culture: A Study in Afro-American Mass Opinion. His newest book, John F. Kennedy, Barack Obama and the Politics of Ethnic Incorporation and Avoidance, is due out later this year. Prof. Smith spoke with NAM’s Zaineb Mohammed about what he sees as the key issues for African-American voters in this year’s upcoming elections. </em></p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>What is the key wedge issue for Black voters in California in 2012?</strong></p> <p> I think the real wedge issue in the election will be Obama himself. This campaign will be more explicitly racialized than the last one.</p> <p>  </p> <p> In spite of the economic difficulties that Blacks face – an unemployment rate almost twice the norm - Blacks nevertheless feel better about the economy than Whites. This is simply racial solidarity. There is still a great deal of support for Obama in the African-American community. Even people who are critical, in the end, say he’s doing the best he can.</p> <p>  </p> <p> If the Republicans racialize the campaign, that will lead Blacks to rally around Obama in a way that is divisive. The Black community is predisposed to see harsh attacks on Obama in a racial way, to view them as racial attacks as opposed to ideological. I suspect there will be some subtle and not so subtle racial attacks on Obama.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Why would this election cycle be more racially rancorous than the previous one in 2008?</strong></p> <p> Well [Senator John] McCain, for reasons I am still not sure of, decided not to racialize the campaign. Governor Palin and a number of conservative pundits urged him to use Reverend Jeremiah Wright to draw a racial marker and he declined to do so.</p> <p>  </p> <p> It’s very clear from what we’ve seen thus far in the Republican primary debates that that’s not going to hold this time. Gingrich, for example, made the remark about the food stamp president. That’s a very well-known racial trope to stress that Black people don’t want to work. Romney’s strategists will look at that and will copy it.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Republicans and conservatives are so desperate to defeat Obama that they’re not going to take anything off the table. They’re desperate to defeat him, not because he’s Black, but because they resent his ideology, they think he’s so far to the left. They’ll use the notion that he’s radical, socialist, somehow un-American, to divide the country.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>What about immigration? Where do Black voters stand on that issue?</strong></p> <p> Immigration is going to be a very tricky issue. African-Americans have generally been ambivalent on that. The ambivalence will tend to wither away as Black voters see that the voices attacking that minority group [Latinos] are the same voices that would attack them.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The Black leadership will become very much engaged – people who are ambivalent about it will be asked by their leaders to see this as a part of a larger attack on minority groups, not just Latinos.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>What about on the national stage? Where are Black-Latino relations headed? </strong></p> <p> California is ground zero for the Black-Latino conflict. In the past there has been much less support for this idea of a pathway for citizenship among Blacks. Blacks are still not as against that as Anglos, but nevertheless there’s been ambivalence.</p> <p>  </p> <p> But Black and Latino leaders will come together and try to mobilize a coalition around that issue in order to re-elect Obama.</p> <p>  </p> <p> Black leaders are aware that the worst thing that can happen for their group is to have divisive conflict with Latinos. They know that Latinos are the fastest-growing segment of the population and their power is likely to continue to increase and black power is likely to diminish relative to that, so they see that it doesn’t make sense not to have a coalition with it. They are driven by the long-term strategic sense of what is in the African-American community’s interests, and also the wish to re-elect Obama.</p> <p>  </p> <p> In order to have any kind of progressive coalition there has to be unity. California, especially southern California, is ground zero. If it works here in a viable way, then that probably means it would work most other places.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>What are the criticisms of Obama [voiced by] the African-American community? </strong></p> <p> Among Black intellectuals, it’s about the economics, particularly joblessness - the fact that in this depression, the President has acted as if high unemployment among Blacks does not exist. He talks about the middle class, but rarely mentions poor people and certainly never mentions the racialization of poverty in the United States.</p> <p>  </p> <p> I hear more criticism from ordinary Black people that I talk to about his foreign policy, particularly about Libya and his intervention there. The view is that he has not done enough to disengage from the wars.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Has Obama purposefully avoided issues like the racialization of poverty?</strong></p> <p> He has for sure. I just finished a book in which I compare President Kennedy and President Obama as the first ethnic presidents. Both practice the politics of ethnic avoidance. The first person of any ethnic group who wins the presidency has to go out of his way to demonstrate to the majority that he will not show any kind of favoritism toward his particular group. Kennedy bent over backwards not to be associated with the Catholics. Obama has done that, and as in the case with Kennedy, it is unfortunate.</p> <p>  </p> <p> But if Obama did what his Black critics want him to do, it would effectively destroy his presidency. If he started speaking forcefully about racialized poverty, there would be a groundswell of opposition from the right wing press and even from the Democratic Party. That’s the tradeoff; in order to have a symbol of one of your own in the presidency, you can’t get more of the substance.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <strong>Would African-Americans have been better off with a different president?</strong></p> <p> I think that Hillary Clinton, had she been elected, would have been in a better position to address the problem of racialized poverty than Obama. She could not have been accused of favoritism, Blacks could have brought more pressure on her than “one of their own.”</p> <p>  </p> <p> Obama is confident that once we get into the heat of a campaign, Blacks will rally around him in the same way, if not more so than in 2008.</p> <p>  </p> <p> The value of the Obama presidency is almost wholly symbolism, it’s an important symbol, but nothing substantive has come out of his presidency to address any of the problems that Black people face.</p> <p>  </p> <p> <a href="http://newamericamedia.org/2012/03/key-issues-for-black-voters-in-2012.php">New America Media</a></p> <p> <em><strong>Photo on main page: News One</strong></em></p> </div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-tags field-type-taxonomy-term-reference field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Tags:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/african-american-voters" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">African American voters</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/president-obama" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">President Obama</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/2012-elections" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">2012 elections</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/republians" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">Republians</a></div><div class="field-item even" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/unemployment" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">unemployment</a></div><div class="field-item odd" rel="dc:subject"><a href="/health-care" typeof="skos:Concept" property="rdfs:label skos:prefLabel" datatype="">health care</a></div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-author field-type-text field-label-hidden"><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Zaineb Mohammed</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-pop field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Popular:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">not popular</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-photographer field-type-text field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Photographer:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">New America Media</div></div></div><div class="field field-name-field-bot field-type-list-boolean field-label-above"><div class="field-label">Bottom Slider:&nbsp;</div><div class="field-items"><div class="field-item even">Out Slider</div></div></div> Fri, 02 Mar 2012 18:59:33 +0000 tara 591 at https://www.highbrowmagazine.com https://www.highbrowmagazine.com/key-issues-african-1037-american-voters-2012-elections#comments