Blacks Must Re-Evaluate Political Tactics

By Hazel Trice EdneyNNPA Washington Correspondent WASHINGTON (NNPA) – As Democrats ponder how to revive their Party, African-Americans should consider exploring different political strategies to increase their clout, political observers say. “You’ve got to be realistic about politics. We keep playing politics as if it’s some playground activity,” says Arthur Fletcher Jr., former assistant secretary of labor in the Nixon administration. “I didn’t get President Nixon to allow me to establish the first affirmative action program by carrying signs and marching around the building. I was inside as the Assistant Secretary of Labor. If you are not inside the system, there are no levels that you can pull. And you can’t risk being outside every time there’s a national election.” With 90 percent of its vote going to John F. Kerry Fletcher says, African-Americans are limiting their potential influence. Pointing to Secretary of State Collin Powell as an example, some critics say that even when working on the inside the Republican Party, there is only so much a Black person can do. “We may even have to think in some ways about a viable third party strategy whereby we collectively put pressure on the Democrats and the Republicans and hold them responsible,” says Kathie Golden, political science professor and director of the Delta Research and Cultural Institute at Mississippi Valley State University. “We have to speak in a collective voice. Although we are not monolithic, we are impacted by the same issues.” The idea of an independent Black political party may be enticing, but it has been tried several times, all unsuccessful. “I don’t think anybody can talk about what African-Americans are going to do until we see what Bush is going to do,” says Katherine Tate, professor of political science and Afro-American studies at the University of California at Irvine. “If he turns toward a very hard-core conservative track, African-Americans may mobilize in the same manner that they did in the mid 1980s against Ronald Reagan.” Some lawmakers are already discussing how to narrow their focus. “We’ve got some evaluating to do. We’ve got a lot of evaluating to do. But one thing I don’t want us to do is take the focus off of those things that affect people on a day-to-day basis,” says Congressional Black Caucus Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.). “I think that the Democratic Party has got to continue to do that, and it has been our philosophy that if we continue to press and press hard on those issues that affect people on a day-to-day basis, that hopefully will yield success.” Tate says she believes there will be little if any compromising by either party. “At this point, the Democrats seem very firm in wanting to stand as the rival party to Bush’s Republican Party.”Blacks seeking Republican help will be an essential in this battle, agrees Wade Henderson, executive director of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights. “I think the judges issue is the curtain-raiser. It is the first act in the new administration to redefine its commitment to fair values, the values for all Americans,” says Henderson. “If the president nominates someone who represents the principles of an Antonin Scalia or a Clarence Thomas, then clearly a line has been drawn and there will be strong opposition.” Henderson says that opposition must include reaching out to moderate Republicans, such as John Warner of Virginia, Lincoln Chafee of Road Island, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania and Olympia Snow and Susan Collins of Maine for help in pushing moderate judges that are palatable to both parties. “As a community, we have to come together for a conversation about those areas where common ground should be possible even though we are on different sides of the political aisle.” Though hopeful, Democrats recognize the challenge ahead. “Obviously, we’re going to have a very competitive situation. But I think though there is a sense that we’re going to move past gridlock,” says Rep. Albert R. Wynn (D-Md). “The president is going to move a domestic agenda which he has not done. He’s going to need Democratic cooperation from both Houses.’ There are signs that the public wants both parties to be more productive. “Unless they begin to address the issues listed below, they risk being labeled a ‘Do Nothing Congress’,” the NAACP says in a statement outlining a list of unaddressed issues. “More importantly, millions of people will continue to suffer needlessly.” The statement, titled, “Unfinished Business in the 108th Congress”, lists 33 civil and social issues that have gone addressed by the current Congress. They include legislation to eliminate racial profiling, to prevent hate crimes, to re-enfranchise ex-felony offenders, to abolish mandatory minimum sentences, to eliminate predatory lending, to eliminate high stakes testing, to increase minimum wages, to allow students with minor drug offenses to receive federal financial aid, and to fully fund Leave No Child Behind. Cummings says the CBC has tried numerous strategies to bring attention to such issues in the Republican Congress, including uniting with other ethnic caucuses to create strength; reaching out to Republican leadership. “We even had a meeting with the Blue dogs trying to figure out what we had in common,” he says, referring to Democrats with conservative leanings. “We have to find ourselves going more into some of those districts of Republicans, particularly where there’s the possibility of electing a Democrat in the future, and talk about some of these issues where we’re having difficulty getting cooperation.”