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Make Your Vote Count
Elected officials need to hear from you
Jt ix.h
M v i his
democratic because the
party generally supports
social justice issues that
As both the Demo­
affect ourday today lives.
cratic and Republican
If, as a voter, you’ve
candidates tor President
selected one candidate
zig-zag their way across
over another, and so have
the country, debating,
the rest of the voters in
making speeches and
your state, you'd, rightly,
fighting for votes in the country’s
primary elections, one particular expect them to receive the state's
group has become a target: "super votes for the nomination. It will be
an insult to your sensibilities to
delegates."
With no real front-runner for the learn that, because of behind the
nation's top office for either party, scenes politicking, the votes in­
these "super delegates” could be stead went to the second-place
the deciding factor in who receives finisher.
The nation’s democratic pro­
the nominations for president this
summer. The question: who should cess will only work if the votes of
its citizens truly count. Both the
they be voting for?
Super delegates are elected offi­ 2000 and 2004 elections have
cials - members of the house, sena­ proven to this country what can
tors and others - who cast votes at happen when the voices of the
the party conventions. Because of people are ignored.
bï
G ri <;
Both the 2000 and 2004
elections have proven to this
country what can happen
when the voices o f the people
are ignored.
How can you make sure your
their positions as government lead­
ers, they are not bound by the votes state’s "super delegates” reflect
of their constituents; they are free your interests at the August Demo­
to cast a vote for whomever they cratic National Convention? Call
choose. If a particular candidate them. Write them a letter.
Send them an email. If you sup­
can win their support, they can also
win the nomination, no matter what port Senator Barack Obama, call
that state’s voters decided in their your senators and representatives
and let them know’ you expect them
primary elections.
For example, a candidate could to support Obama. If you support
come in second in a large state but, Senator Hilary Clinton, let your
if they have enough "super del­ representative know. Inform them
egates" on their side, they could that their job is to reflect your
interests as a constituent.
lock up that state's nomination.
Judge Greg Mathis is national
How does this affect African-
vice president of Rainbow PUSH
Americans?
The fight for the Democratic and a national board member of
Party nomination is especially tight the Southern Christian Leader­
and, historically, blacks have voted ship Conference.
hi memory o f Joyce Washington
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lanuary 23. 2008
Opinion articles do not
necessarily reflect or represent the
views o f The Portland Observer
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B la c k A m e r ic a n s in D if f e r e n t W o r ld s
Gulf between rich and poor hurts
bv W illiam
R eed
W hen you h e a r a
black person saying
they d o n ’t see race,
watch out! “Colorblind
blacks” are usually also
middle-class in terms of
their income and out­
looks. There is such a
widening gulf betw een the val­
ues o f m iddle class and poor
blacks that we no longer can think
o f blacks as a single race.
A Pew Research C enter sur­
vey found black college gradu­
ates who say that “the values of
m iddle-class African A m ericans
are more closely aligned with
those of m iddle-class whites than
those o f low er-incom e blacks” .
More and more there are two
kinds of African A m ericans - the
ones with education and jobs and
those with neither. The problem
is that the m ore “co lo rb lin d ”
blacks becom e the more they
gravitate toward whites and away
from their brethren at the bottom
of the econom ic ladder.
A majority o f black Americans
surveyed blamed individual fail­
ings, not racial prejudice, for the
lack o f econom ic progress by
lower-income African Americans.
The report said in 1994, 60 per­
cent of African A m ericans be­
lieved racial prejudice was the
main thing keeping blacks from
succeeding econom ically; and
only 33 percent blamed the indi­
vidual.
This year, 53 percent
said individuals were re­
sponsible for their own
condition. At the same
time, the survey found
most blacks believed ra­
cial prejudice was still a
w id e sp re a d problem .
ferent than those at the bottom.
F o rty -fo u r p e rc e n t o f blacks
polled in 1986 said they saw
greater differences created by
class than by race. Today, that
figure has grow n to 61 percent.
The feeling holds for blacks with
less than a high school educa­
tion: 57 percent of those surveyed
said m iddle-class blacks are more
like middle-class whites than they
When you hear a black
person saying they don’t
see race, watch out!
Sixty percent of African A m eri­ are like poor blacks.
O verall, the survey found that
cans surveyed said blacks often
faced discrim ination when they there has been a convergence of
applied for jobs or looked for values held by blacks and whites.
Blacks and whites have become
housing.
One result o f shifting views on more culturally integrated and,
individual responsibility may be therefore, less-affluent blacks feel
changes in blacks' attitudes to­ more estranged. The survey also
ward immigrants. In 1986.74 per­ found that pessim ism about eco­
cent of blacks said they would nomic prospects has grown sig­
have more economic opportuni­ nificantly among blacks. Fewer
ties if there were fewer immigrants; than half o f those polled, 44 per­
today, 48 percent feel that way. cent said they expected life to get
Most blacks and whites who par­ better. Tw enty years ago, 57
ticipated in the poll agreed that percent had said they thought
imihigrants tended to work harder life would improve.
at low-wage jobs than workers of
Blacks up and own the eco­
nomic scale do not see the kind of
their own groups.
On the topic o f diverging val­ forward momentum they'd saw in
ues, the values of blacks at the earlier times. One reason for the
top of the econom ic scale are dif­ pessim ism may be that the condi­
tion o f the black middle class
appears to be more fragile than
that of whites. M iddle-incom e
African American families appear
to have trem endous difficulty
passing on their m iddle-incom e
status to their children. About 45
percent o f black children who
grow up in m iddle-class families
will slip into a low er-incom e
bracket in adulthood. About 16
percent o f w hite children and
about 45 percent of black chil­
dren were unable to match their
parents' success and slipped into
a lower socioeconomic bracket in
adulthood.
African Americans of all stripes
are highly patriotic and concerned
about a concentration of eco­
nomic pow er as are whites. They
share the general belief in the
benefits of hard work - and are
equally adm iring of those who
acquire wealth through hard work.
And while they are far more sup­
portive o f governm ent help for
the needy than are w hites, two-
thirds o f blacks are concerned
that too many low-income people
depend on governm ent aid.
While middle-class blacks tend
to be more “colorblind," the sur­
vey found blacks on all sides of
the econom ic divide less upbeat
about the state o f black progress
now than at any time since 1983.
William Reed is president and
chief executive officer of Black
Press International and pub­
lisher of the "Who's Who in Black
Corporate America Register."
Tyranny in Law School Admissions
Requirements devastate minorities
bv M ichael C oyne
The requirem ent of the A m eri­
can Bar A ssociation that law
schools use the Law School A p­
titude Test in adm issions deci­
sions is having a devastating e f­
fect on A frican-A m erican appli­
cants.
The ABA uniformly denies ac­
creditation to law schools with
average LS AT scores below 143,
ye, the average LSAT score for
African Am ericans is 142. Since
many ABA law schools employ
inflexible LSAT ‘cut-off’ scores,
individuals with superior grades
arc rejected out of hand. Despite
this, the ABA has never accred­
ited a law school that uses an
alternative test.
ABA law-school accreditation
policies begun in the 1970s have
begot skyrocketing tuition and
fees greatly exceeding the cost of
inflation in the decades that fol­
lowed.
t
Law-school tuition has risen
at a far greater rate than college
tuitions. W hile tuition, room and
board at undergraduate institu­
tions increased by 58 percent in
the 1990s, law -school tuition
jum ped by 88 percent.
In 2002, then-president of the
ABA. W illiam Paul, decried the
alarm ing lack of m inority repre­
sentation in the legal profession.
The 2000 U.S. Census put this
figure at 9.7 percent.
The key to an accessible high-
quality education is not more
loans or state subsidies to feed
In 2002, then-president of
the ABA, William Paul, decried
the alarming lack o f minority
representation in the legal
profession.
No student can finance the cos,
of law school from his or her earn­
ings at work alone. The escalation
of the cos, of attending law school
disproportionately affects people
of color and those from the less
affluent segments of society.
solute pow er granted it by our
governm ent and has beguiled
state supreme courts to accept
its dictates in determ ining who
can sit for the bar exam ination.
T his abusive and d estru ctiv e
accreditation tyranny has block­
aded both minorities and the af­
fordable law schools that serve
them.
By design or indifference, the
A BA ’s policies regarding law
school accreditation dispropor­
tionately impact people of color
and the less affluent. The D epart­
ment of Justice cannot continue
to tacitly condone that discrim i­
nation and that the Department
of Education must term inate rec­
ognition of the ABA as the only
fe d e ra lly a p p ro v e d n a tio n a l
accreditor o f law schools. The
D epartment of Justice must act to
ensure justice for all. not just the
white and the wealthy.
the gaping maw o f ever-higher
tuitions. Rather, schools mus,
take steps to be more productive
and reduce costs and federally
Michael Coyne is associate
recognized accrediting agencies
dean of the Massachusetts School
mus, encourage those efforts.
The ABA has misused the ab ­ of Law at Andover.