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August 15, 2012
Page 7
Black Vote Taken for Granted, Again
Advertising support is shameful
by
C loves C ampbell
There are less 100
days until voters
throughout the country
cast their votes for the
next President of the
U nited
S tates of
America as well as U.S.
Senate, Congressional
and State Legislatures.
The campaign war chests for
President Obama and Mitt Rom
ney total almost $3 billion dollars!
However, as of this writing, not
one dollar has been spent in the
Black Press.
Once again the Black Press has
been unfortunately relegated to
an “Oh By the Way” campaign
that features one 1/2 page ad
placed two weeks be
fore the election in black
new spapers
across
A m erica to talin g a
shameful $1.2 million!
That is the money placed
by the O bam a for
A m erica C am paign.
The Romney Campaign
has zero dollars allocated!
To put this all into paper per
spective, let me fill you in on the
process:
In January of this year we had
conversations with the Obama
campaign. At that time, we were
told that money was not coming
in as expected so they could not
talk about advertising in black
newspapers. In late April, after
we found out that the Obama
campaign had only $800 million,
we put together a very detailed
advertising proposal for $21 mil
lion, which included multiple in
sertions in all of our member
publications from June through
November.
The plan suggested a cam
paign that encouraged three
phases of action. The first steps
were “Voters Registration - you
can’t vote if you are not regis
tered.” Second was “Proper ID -
What to take to the polls.” Under
standing that voter suppression
laws vary from state to state, it is
important that voters know what
to take to the polls in order to
vote. The last stop is “GOTV - get
out the vote.”
Mobilizing our communities to
go to the polls is the key to win
ning the upcoming election. Our
proposal also included an aggres
sive digital and social media cam
paign as well.
Today, we are once again in a
position of being taken for granted.
Does Jim Messina, president
O bam a’s campaign manager,
know something about black folks
that we don’t know?
I am beginning to wonder,
where are the black folks that are
advising these campaigns? Do they
not see the money being spent
around them? Are they not asking
why are there no black pollsters,
ad agencies, placement, firms, or
other black-owned businesses
reaping the benefits of the incred
ible amounts being spent in this
campaign season?
Show me the money!
At the end of the election, over
$3 billion will be spent and some
people will be very happy. They
will not care who wins. To take a
quote from the movie Trading
P laces, “ No m atter what
happens..... Duke and Duke still
get their commission!”
What are we to do? Do .we
stand by and again wait four more
years? Let’s get moving now!
Come on Roland Martin, Rev.
Sharpton, Rev. Jackson, Cliff
Kelly, Steve Harvey, and Oprah
Winfrey! Let's talk about this
now. Show me the money.
Cloves C. Campbell Jr. is co
publisher o f the Arizona Infor
mant newspaper and chairman o f
the National Newspaper Publish
ers Association.
Hotter than a New Orleans Summer
Honoring living
legends
by
M arc H. M orjal
From start to finish,
the 2012 National Ur
ban League Confer
ence in New Orleans
was hotter than a New
Orleans summer. It
also may have been our most
successful gathering ever.
The Conference opened on
July 25 with a major domestic
policy speech by P resident
Obama in which he announced
a new initiative promoting edu
cational excellence for African
Americans. And it closed on
July 28, with words and songs
of inspiration by American mu
sical icon Stevie Wonder, who,
along with Attorney General
Eric Holder, received a National
Urban League “Living Legend”
Award.
For more than 40 years, Stevie
Wonder has gifted generations
o f A m ericans w ith his u n
equalled talents as a musician,
songwriter and singer.
From his days as the har
monica playing, hand clapping
12-year-old “Little Stevie W on
der” in the early 1960’s to his
status as a multiple-Grammy-
winning icon today, Stevie has
amassed one of the most pro
lific and recognizable song
books in the history of Ameri
can music.
His repertoire is full
of the lyrics of love and
music meant to lift the
spirit, challenge injus
tice, heal the soul, and
promote peace. In the
early 1980’s, Stevie was
a leader in the campaign
to declare Martin Luther
King’s birthday a national holi
day. The song he wrote and
reco rd ed ab o u t that e ffo rt,
“Happy Birthday,” became an
anthem of the King Holiday
movement and its chorus has
since become a standard sing-
a-long at A frican A m erican
birthday parties.
In recent years, Stevie has
expanded his social activism
even further beyond the stage
and studio. He has lent his
voice and some of the proceeds
from his songs to ending South
A frican a p a rth e id , h elp in g
people with disabilities, fighting
a g a in st
h u n g er
and
homelessness and aiding the vic
tims of Hurricane Katrina and
the 2011 Japanese earthquake
and tsunami.
For 16 years, he has provided
toys for children and families in
need with his annual House Full
o f Toys benefit concert. In
2009, United Nations Secretary-
General Ban ki-moon named
Stevie Wonder a United Nations
Messenger of Peace.
Upon accepting his Living
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L egend aw ard d u rin g our
Whitney M. Young Awards gala,
Stevie delivered a heartfelt ap
peal for people around the world
to come together to end preju
dice, hatred and starvation and
to live up to the high ideals that
are the focus of so much prayer
and so little action. He said “It’s
time to get beyond those things
that have crippled us for centu
ries.”
One of those crippling draw
backs is voter suppression,
which has once again reared its
ugly head. Guaranteeing the
right to vote for every Ameri
can is the focus of the National
Urban League’s “Occupy the
Vote” campaign. It was also
the theme of our Conference.
At the conclusion of his re
marks, Stevie could not resist
sitting down at the piano and
inviting the rapt audience to join
him in a medley of some of his
greatest hits, including “Don’t you
W orry ‘Bout a T h in g ,” and
“Signed, Sealed, Delivered.” It
was a fitting way to end our
conference.
The Living Legend award hon
ors those who most exemplify
the ideals of the Urban League
movement. We could not have
chosen two better recipients this
year than U.S. Attorney General
Eric Holder and the legendary
Stevie Wonder.
Marc H. Morial is president
and chief executive officer o f the
National Urban League.
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