Page 2 The Skanner August 22, 2018
®
Challenging People to Shape
a Better Future Now
Is the Black Vote Still Being Treated Like a Political Piñata?
Bernie Foster
Founder/Publisher
W
Bobbie Dore Foster
Executive Editor
Jerry Foster
Advertising Manager
Christen McCurdy
News Editor
Patricia Irvin
Graphic Designer
Monica J. Foster
Seattle Office Coordinator
Susan Fried
Photographer
2017
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Opinion
hen it comes to poli-
tics in this country,
there is one thing
that seems to be a
constant—the Black vote is
important and always tends
to make a difference.
Although Blacks make up
roughly 13 percent of the
overall population in the
United States, Black voters re-
main a powerful voting bloc
that can change the trajectory
of any election.
Now, it is no secret that
Black people overwhelming-
ly vote for Democratic candi-
dates in nearly every national
election, with identical re-
sults being shown in local and
state elections.
Even in elections where a
race is considered to be non-
partisan, such as for a May-
or or City Council seat, Black
people have historically voted
for the candidates that have
self-identified or campaigned
as a Democrat.
While this has been the
norm for decades, Black peo-
ple have been on the receiving
end of neglect and disparate
treatment by candidates who
win with the overwhelming
support of the Black vote.
It is an interesting phenom-
enon to watch, as Black peo-
ple are strategically sought
after and courted for their
vote, with the hope of secur-
ing their collective support
for specific candidates or
certain issues. Black people
are typically courted with
the same archaic methods to
Jeffrey
Boney
NNPA
Columnist
get them registered and to the
polls, while providing limited
resources for voter outreach
and education.
On the surface, African
Americans are marketed to
as if their sacred vote means
so much, but historically that
often changes once their vote
is cast.
The way African American
voters are treated, it is as if
they have become a political
piñata.
You know what a “piñata is
right?
According to the Merri-
am-Webster dictionary, a
“piñata” is “a decorated con-
tainer filled with candies,
fruits, and gifts that is hung
up at parties or celebrations
and hit with a stick by blind-
folded persons until it is bro-
ken and the things inside it
fall out.”
As it relates to voting, Af-
rican Americans are often
treated like the treats on the
inside of a piñata. They don’t
care how they get Black votes,
they just want that vote no
matter how Blacks are treated
or handled. Blacks are consis-
tently pounded and beat over
the head with political mes-
sages during campaign sea-
son until they give up their
precious and valuable vote.
Then once that piñata is fi-
nally opened, or in this case
when the Black votes are fi-
nally cast, Black voters are
either forgotten or vilified
depending on the outcome of
the race.
The routine is simple.
When the results don’t go the
“
They don’t
care how
they get Black
votes, they
just want that
vote no matter
how Blacks
are treated or
handled
way those who courted the
Black vote wanted it to go,
they blame the Blacks for the
results.
However, when the outcome
is favorable to those who
courted the Black vote, they
celebrate the results, reap the
benefits and then essentially
ignore those same loyal, Afri-
can American voters after the
election is over.
Because Black voters over-
whelmingly vote for Demo-
cratic candidates, it would
make sense for the Demo-
cratic Party to avoid treating
Blacks like piñatas and taking
them for granted.
At a recent plenary session
at the National Association
of Black Journalists (NABJ)
Annual Convention in De-
troit, Democratic National
Committee Chair Tom Perez
emphatically stated that the
Democratic Party had become
notorious for taking African
Americans for granted.
“Shame on us for taking Af-
rican Americans for granted,”
said Perez. “We can’t allow
that to happen again and we
won’t allow that to happen
again under my watch. We
can’t criticize Black voters
for not showing up, because
it’s not on them. It’s on the
Democratic Party to show up
and put our money where our
mouth is to better organize in
the African American com-
munity.”
History shows us that begin-
ning with the Civil War era
and through the early part of
the 20th century, Blacks voted
heavily Republican. One key
factor for that was the deci-
sion for Republican President
Abraham Lincoln to push for
and pass the Emancipation
Proclamation.
After the passage of the
Emancipation Proclamation,
the Ku Klux Klan began to ter-
rorize Blacks with threats of
violence to discourage them
from voting, while strongly
putting a fear in Blacks to
avoid supporting Republican
candidates, unless they want-
ed to be lynched.
Read the rest of this commentary at
TheSkanner.com
Without Heart, America is Heartless
H
EART (Humanity Equal-
ity Acceptance Respon-
siveness Thankfulness)
is an acronym for the
type of heart protections
America professes to have in
abundance, grandfathered in
from our founding fathers’
principles, constitutionalized
and “Bill-of-Righted” into our
nation’s permanent future,
to prevent corporate corrup-
tion of her heart health.
America, the patient, is
approaching the point of no
return where companies
vote, rig and buy elections
wholesale through unlimited
funding, lobbying, and a gen-
eral ransacking of public elec-
tions, the Republic, and our
governmental system. The
safeguards were put in place
to prevent such unfettered
greed and gross misman-
agement, that could reduce
America’s heart to a bottom-
less, line-itemized deduction.
Are we the nation, that will be
forever known as the world-
wide leader in military bases
that we’ve built, and count-
less number of victims along
the way we’ve enslaved and
“kill’t”?
Another HEART is “Humil-
ity Equitably Attracting Re-
spectful
Trustworthiness.”
Sean C. Bowers
New Journal and Guide
That’s where the American
Country Club-wanna-be-lead-
ership loses the masses, be-
coming the endless pursuit
of ever over-reaching, too-
far reaching, then preaching
down at the common man,
without the “Common Sense”
about which Thomas Paine
wrote.
“
America is
supposed to
be the world’s
‘oyster of
opportunity,’
taking in the
people who
are the salt of
the earth
America’s “vitals,” for far
too long, have been pervert-
ed to only profitability from
providence by charlatans
disguised and dressed up
as cardiologists. These are
witch-doctors,
fake-news,
wanna-be-cardiologists, who
can barely pull their own
(hair) plugs.
Our Mother Earth is not
America’s oyster; America
is supposed to be the world’s
“oyster of opportunity,” tak-
ing in the people who are the
salt of the earth. Through the
“culturing process,” Ameri-
ca helps to heal humanity’s
imperfections turning them
into spiritual rewards and en-
hancing the lives of millions.
This is the American HEART
that the rest of the world can
unite with; unfortunately,
America’s current foreign
policy makes the country look
like we’re “only out for No. 1.”
The American HEART I was
raised to believe in, strive
for and ultimately deliver, is
supposed to be the most hon-
orable, elegant, accommo-
dating respectable truth that
can be defended from a moral
high ground from on heav-
en’s highlands that was “be-
queathed” to us (and stolen
from the Native Americans).
America’s HEART now,
more than ever, requires
“Honest Egalitarian Activism
Remedying Top-down-ness.”
The seas are rising; the
storms have come and are
here and they are more se-
vere and more frequent. The
droughts have come and food
will not grow. Fires burn at
the gates, as the ice melts,
while those not at sea level
do everything but “see lev-
el.” Meanwhile, America’s
HEART health is at a “C-level,”
nowhere near strong enough
to lead the world during
tough times.
America’s heart health
must be higher than C-level.
Our current path could lead
to a potentially catastrophic
heart attack, thereby killing
the patient. We must know
by now, that it’s time to get
to work. That means ending
bad HEART health practices
(“Hoarding Ego-based Apathy
Retards Truthful” solutions)
nationwide, while promoting
good HEART health (“Hon-
orable Empathy Accessible
Righteousness Triumphs”).
Do you have the HEART that
it takes to love the world?
In the 757 area code, the
H.E.A.R.T. (Humanity Empow-
erment And Resources Team)
consortium was formed to
use a business networking
approach to community
“give-backtivism.” This mod-
el is free and can be exported
and replicated nationwide
and around the world.
nt •
lo c a l n e w s •
eve