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Articles do not
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Deep Trouble For Many Black
Politicians
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Have a happy
Easter
Opinion
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ir e c t o r
Shawn Strahan
NAACP leaders turned the tepid issue o f the Confederate
flag fluttering over the South Carolina statehouse into a
life and death battle against racism. Now black politicians
in the state have gone them one better and are waging
mortal combat against a plan by South Carolina governor
Jim Hodges to require elementary school students to say
“sir, and ma’am” when addressing teachers and school
employees.
Black politicians screamed racism and railed that this is
nothing but a sneaky way o f forcing blacks to bow and
scrape for white folks again. Hodge’s plan is a sideshow
gesture that does nothing to reverse the deplorable drop
out rates and miserably low test scores o f black students
in South Carolina’s public schools. But the black
lawmakers didn’t attack Hodge’s worthless idea because
it doesn’t improve the state’s abominably underfunded
and underserved schools. That won’t snatch media and
public attention and send the troops scurrying to the
barricades.
The courtesy title squabble is yet another troubling sign
o f the penchant o f many black elected officials to grab at
showy, chic issues rather than pounding on the crucial
problems o f poverty, violence, poor education, the
disastrous disparities in the criminal justice system, and
the gut of social programs that have taken a massive toll
on poor and working class blacks. Their political
ineffectiveness in attacking these issues has caused
them to free fall in state and national politics. In the past
two years they have lost mayorships to whites in majority
black cities o f Baltimore and Oakland. The number of
black state legislators has plummeted from 12 to 6 in the
California legislature since 1994. They have lost seats on
dozens of local and municipal offices nationwide.
The Congressional Black Caucus has been unable to get
any substantial legislation through Congress. When the
R epublican-controlled C ongress elim inated key
committees such as the Post Office and Civil Service and
the District ofColumbiaCommittees, CBC members were
displaced, and hundreds of committee staff jobs were
eliminated many o f which were held by blacks. Their
blind subservience to Clinton’s policys have rendered
them little more than malleable foot soldiers for the
Democratic party.
Black politicians blame their political slide on voter
apathy, alienation, inner city population drops, suburban
integration, and displacement by Latinos and increasingly
Asians who some claim have far more cohesion and
political savvy than blacks. These factors have
contributed to the evaporation in the number, power and
influence o f black elected officials. But the biggest culprit
to blame for their slippage is themselves. Many black
politicians make little or no effort to inform and involve the
black public on vital legislation and political actions that
directly impactonblackcommunities. Theirall-consumming
obsession is to elect more black Democrats to office and
making sure that those in office stay there.
Many black politiciansare accustomed to the unchallenged
and unquestioned brandishing o f power. They jealously
hoard what they view as their sacred right to make all final
decisions on proposing laws and supporting public policy
they deem important forblacks. Yet those laws and policies
more often than not boost middle-class blacks and corporate
special interests rather than poor and working-class blacks
Black politicians are also crippled by their near total
dependence on the the Democratic Party for patronage,
support, and assorted party favors. Few would dare break
ranks with the party and attempt to pressure the Republican
party to take black issues seriously. Many Latino and
Asian leaders and elected officials are not straight-jacketed
by mind-numbing obedience to the Democrats. They have
pushed the Democrats and Republicans to cease immigrant
bashing, increas funding forbi-lingual education programs,
champion Latino political representation and implement
outreach programs to Latino voters. They are leaving
blacks in the political dust.
I he downward shift in black politics should be a wake-up
call for black elected officials that guilt tainted appeals for
black solidarity and voter registration caravans and buses
into black neighborhoods are not going to make blacks
dash to the polls to vote for politicians they feel have, or will,
fail them. The Joint Center for Political and Economic
Studies, a black think tank, found that the frustration and
disgust o f many black voters with black politicians has
soared so high that less than 20 percent o f eligible black
voters bothered to cast a ballot in many municipal and
statewide elections in 1998.
The cruel truth is that with a pivotal presidential election
only months away the power and influence o f black
politicians has badly eroded. And they only make things
worse by waging symbolic fights over issues such as flags
and how students address teachers while refusing to craft
an agenda that confronts the dire problems o f the poor and
working class blacks.
This virtually guarantees that the Democrats will continue
to take them for granted, the Republicans will continue to
ignore them, and more and black voters will turn away from
them.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is the author o f the forthcoming The
Disappearance o f Black Leadership.
4 7 4 7 NE M artin Luther King,
Jr. Blvd.
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( O b e e r lie r
Letter to the editor
A year after a Texas police chief defended the use o f racially charged terms.
Gov, George W. Bush appointed him to oversee the state’s law enforcement
training.
The appointee, Charles W. Williams, testifying in a discrimination lawsuit
filed by one o f his officers, said that terms such as “porch monkey” were
not racial slurs. He also said that blacks didn’t mind being called “nigger’s”
50 year ago. “It wasn’t any big deal back then, ‘he said in an October 1998
sworn deposition.
Asked about his comments Thursday, Williams said in an interview. “It just
depends on how it’s used and who it’s used toward.” “I’ve been around
race with blacks and browns all my life, added Williams, who is white. “I’m
the farthest thing from a racist.”
Mike Jones, a spokesman for Bush, the likely Republican presidential
nominee, said the governor was not aware o f Williams comment at the time
o f the appointment. Bush’s gubemational staff will look into the matter, he
said.
“Governor Bush has zero tolerance for racism, “ Jones said. The state’s
standard background check would not cover a civil lawsuit, he said.
Jones added that Bush has appointed nearly 3,000 people to more than 200
boards and commission.
In November 1999, Bush named Williams to head the Texas Commission
on Law Enforcement other law enforcement officers.
The commission works to “improve professionalism” and assure that
“highly trained and ethical law enforcement and corrections personnel”
serve Texans.
Williams, the police chief in Marshall, Texas, was first appointed to the nine
member Commission by Bush in 1997. The governor elevated him to
chairman in November 1999. Between those two appointments, in June
1998, Officer Ricky Mitchell sued the city o f Marshall and Williams in
federal court alleging discrimination. Mitchell charged that he was punished
because he was black and because he complained about a discriminatory
atmosphere in the department.
The case was dismissed by a federal court last year and is now on appeal.
Before it was dismissed, Williams gave asw om deposition in which he was
asked about a värity o f comments allegedly made by Marshall officers.
In one case, an officer was said to have joked about someone being a “porch
monkey,’ In another, an officer allegedly called a “black bastard.” Williams
said, “If It’s in a general statement, no I don’t consider it a racial slur. “He
added that he does not consider the term “white honky’ to be racial slur,
either.
Later in the deposition, Williams was asked if he uses the word “nigger.”
He said he only uses the word now while advising others to avoid it. But
when he was growing up in south-central Oklahoma 50 years ago, he said,
the word was common and inoffensive.
“I was bom and raised with blacks, and back then we had Nigger Charlie
and Nigger Sam,’Nigger Joe, and we regarded those people with all the
respect in the world. That was their name,”
Said Williams, who is now 57.
“They didn’t mind. It w asn’t any big deal then,” he added. “It graduated
from that to Negro, then me calling him an African-American today.”
The case was dismissed by a judge who found there was insufficient
evidence that M itchell’s treatment was related to his race or to his
complaints.
On Thursday, Williams did not retract any statements. He attributed the
lawsuit to “one disgruntled employee, “ who recently left the department.
He added that the case was the only time he had been accused o f racism
or sued in federal court.
I suppose that Governor Bush can appoint who ever he wants to appoint,”
Castetter said. “I don’t think that’s who I would have chosen.”
[George & Bush]
By Laura Meckler
Associated press writer
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