The SeeingBlack.com 411
September 2004

OutBushed?… Suppressing the Black
Vote… More U.S. Poverty… In Person—
Unity 2004: (By Their Blue Shoulder Bags, You Shall Know Them)

Compiled by the Red-Eye Crew
SeeingBlack.com Writers

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How Bush May Lose, or Win

Every barrier of the Roman constitution had been
leveled by the vast ambition of the dictator; every
fence had been extirpated by the cruel hand of the
Triumvir. After the victory of the Actium, the fate
of the Roman world depended on the will of
Octavianus, surnamed Caesar, by his uncle's
adoption, and afterwards Augustus, by the flattery
of the senate.
— Edward Gibbon, The History of the Decline
and Fall of the Roman Empire

In a matter of weeks, the nation's presidential elections will occur, and one of two white guys will take the office as the President of the Empire.

That may sound somewhat tongue-in-cheekish, but truth be told, both George W. Bush and John F. Kerry are imperialists, who just have dissimilar ways of administering the US Empire. Bush favors a 'go-it-alone' approach; while Kerry wants a UN-approved, multilateral approach.

That said, it is still too early to predict which way this election will go, for last minute events may have deep impacts on how Americans choose to vote.

The brilliant Arundhati Roy has said the Kerry campaign, should it prevail, will bring the country,
"Bushism without Bush." It is apparent that for Bush to improve upon his razor-sharp 'win' in 2000, he must hold his old voters, and bring in new ones. Here's the problem with that scenario: In 2000, millions of American Muslims, many of Arab and South Asian origins, voted for the Bush-Cheney ticket. This group, numbering some 5 or 6 million, delivered over 85% of their vote to the Republicans.

I'm convinced that the GOP garnered that high percentage for one reason; the Democratic ticket that year featured a Jewish American, Connecticut's Sen. Joseph Lieberman. While it may not have been dispositive for them that he was Jewish, it may have made a difference that he was a Zionist.

Whatever the reason, it's doubtful that anywhere near that percentage will vote for the GOP this year, in light of the failures in Iraq. That point was driven home by a report of a recent Iraqi-American demonstration against the US occupation in Detroit! One would think that Iraqi-Americans would be the closest to the Administration, but Iraq is not going well.

But that's not the end of the story. Bush's best chance to win in November is Kerry's failure to energize his base, and expand it. It seems doubtful that he can do this if he simply mimics the White House on war, as he has been doing. The nation showed its deep anti-war fervor prior to the war, and this has only been deepened by subsequent events in Iraq and elsewhere. All of that anti-war energy will be dissipated if Kerry tries the old "me too" path to power.

When Kerry announced recently that he would've voted for the war, even if he knew then that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, the millions of anti-war folks around the country issued an almost audible gasp.

What the nation needs is an anti-imperialist program, that renounces the utility of war for corporate ends and objectives.

It is fitting that the biggest media 'issue' in the race is, once again, Vietnam.

Over a decade ago, the former President Bush, glorying in the aftermath of the first Iraq War, exclaimed, "By God, we've kicked the Vietnam Syndrome once and for all!"

Thirteen years later, and Kerry is forced to contend with what—the Vietnam War. Rightist elements in the US, want him to apologize for his gripping testimony before Congress in 1971.

For millions of people who opposed the war then, this was John Kerry's finest hour. The Vietnam War was not a 'noble cause.' It was war for profit; war for empire; war in support of corruption—and, yes—a war of genocide.

Iraq, after the dust has settled, will be seen in much the same way by later generations.

Empires end as all things do—in dust.—Mumia Abu-Jamal, www.mumia.org

Suppressing the Black Vote

John Pappageorge, a Republican state representative in Michigan, told a journalist recently that the Republicans would do poorly if they failed to "suppress the Detroit vote." Detroit, of course, is 83% Black. Democratic officials expressed their outrage, and Pappageorge eventually apologized for his words, but his statement spoke to a bigger truth: Republicans continue to actively suppress Black and minority votes in order to win elections through intimidation, misinformation, and tampering with voter rolls and records. In 2000, the Black voters who were not allowed to vote would have almost certainly swung the election in Al Gore's favor. And the practice continues: a recent report from the NAACP and the People for the American Way Foundation documents suppression tactics in use right now.

Bob Herbert of the New York Times recently wrote a column describing armed, plain-clothes officers from the Florida state police (which reports directly to Governor Jeb Bush) going into the homes of elderly Black voters and interrogating them, supposedly as part of an investigation into voter fraud. While ostensibly random, several of those questioned were members of the Orlando League of Voters, a group that has been very successful in mobilizing the city's Black vote. According to Herbert, this supposed "investigation" has resulted in a blanket of fear, leaving organizers afraid to work and voters afraid of contact with campaign workers.

Four years ago, Florida election officials removed over 52,000 voters from the rolls under the guise of "cleansing" the list of felons. Over 90% of those purged were not guilty of any crime and 54% were African-American, a group which, in Florida, are likely to vote Democratic over 90% of the time. The company that provided the purge list warned Florida officials that thousands of eligible voters would likely be disenfranchised in the process, but Katherine Harris, the Florida Secretary of State who also served as state campaign manager for George W. Bush, went forward with the purge anyway. The result was thousands of voters not allowed to vote in an election that was decided by just over 500 votes.

It's not just Florida. A joint report from People for the American Way Foundation and the NAACP "The Long Shadow of Jim Crow: Voter Intimidation and Suppression in America Today" highlights recent attempts to suppress African-American and minority voting, documenting instances of the following:

• Challenges and threats against individual voters at the polls by armed private guards, off-duty law enforcement officers, local creditors, fake poll monitors, and poll workers and managers.
• Signs posted at the polling place warning of penalties for "voter fraud" or "non-citizen" voting, or illegally urging support for a candidate.
• Poll workers "helping" voters fill out their ballots, and instructing them on how to vote.
• Criminal tampering with voter registration rolls and records.
• Fliers and radio ads containing false information about where, when and how to vote, voter eligibility, and the false threat of penalties.
• Internal memos from party officials in which the explicit goal of suppressing Black voter turnout is outlined.

Here are a few other incidents highlighted in the report and elsewhere:

• In 2003, in Pennsylvania, men with clipboards bearing official-looking insignias were reportedly dispatched to African American neighborhoods. Tom Lindenfeld, who ran a counter-intimidation campaign for Democratic candidate John Street, said there were 300 cars with the decals resembling such federal agencies as the DEA and ATF and that the men were asking prospective voters for identification. In a post-election poll of 1000 African-American voters, seven percent said they had encountered such efforts.
• In 2002, in Louisiana, fliers were distributed in African American communities stating, "'Vote!!! Bad Weather? No problem!!! If the weather is uncomfortable on election day [Saturday, December 7th], remember you can wait and cast your ballot on Tuesday, December 10th." In a separate incident, apparently targeting potential supporters of Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu, the Louisiana Republican Party admitted to paying African American youths $75 to hold signs aloft on street corners in Black neighborhoods that appeared to discourage African-Americans from voting.
• In South Dakota, Native American voters were sent to the wrong polling places, and given misleading information about the ID they need to vote.

Stopping eligible voters from voting is a basic affront to democracy. It is an outrage for any political party to condone or encourage the practice, especially given the history of African-Americans and other minorities being disenfranchised in our country. In the vast majority of these cases, Republicans are the perpetrators or it's a Republican candidate that stands to benefit. Call on Republican leaders to to publicly disavow the suppression of the minority vote by signing the petition at: www.moveon.org

More Americans Live in Poverty

The number of Americans living in poverty jumped to 35.9 million last year, up by 1.3 million, while the number of those without health care insurance rose to 45 million from 43.6 million in 2002, the U.S. government reported in August. The percentage of the U.S. population living in poverty rose to 12.5 percent from 12.1 percent—as the poverty rate among children jumped to its highest level in 10 years, the Census Bureau said. The rate for adults 18-to-64 and 65-and-older remained steady.

Heather Boushey is an economist with the Center for Economic and Policy Research. She said today: "Changes in household income and poverty rates are directly related to the performance of the labor market because wages and salaries comprise about three-quarters of total family income. Health insurance is also directly tied to employment as most Americans get their health insurance from an employer. Although the most recent recession had been officially over for more than a year at the beginning of 2003, the labor market had not yet recovered: millions remained out of work and wage growth slowed to a crawl, turning negative in the second half of 2003."

Boushey added: "This poor labor market performance in 2003 is reflected in the newly released data on income, poverty, and health insurance. Median household income did not grow over 2003, compared to 2002. Median household income is now $1,604 less than it was in 1999 (in inflation-adjusted dollars). The share of income going to the bottom 20 percent of households fell from 3.5 percent to 3.4 percent of total household income. There were 1.3 million more people in poverty in 2003 as the poverty rate increased for the fourth year in a row.

Sharon Hays, author of the book, Flat Broke With Children: Women in the Age of Welfare Reform, said, "In considering poverty in America, focusing one's attention on the annual accountings offered by the U.S. Census Bureau is, at best, myopic. As Census researchers are well aware, these statistics are based on long-outdated yardsticks. Does anyone actually believe that a poverty rate pegged to the price of tomatoes and potatoes accurately captures the position of low-income Americans today? Does it make any sense to talk about economic 'well being' without considering the impact of housing and childcare costs, health insurance benefits, or financial assets?

To celebrate or mourn a percentage point change in the number of Americans officially deemed 'poor' is to ignore the larger issues hiding behind those numbers. What we need to talk about is the overall decline in the position of all low-income Americans today—the decrease in real wages, the growing ranks of working poor and desperately poor, increasing tax cuts for the rich, the trends toward global outsourcing and workplace 'restructuring,' the deepening inadequacies in the safety nets for unemployed workers and poor parents and children, and the feminization, racialization, and juvenilization of poverty.

"In reading the latest Census report," Hays added, "we might also ask ourselves why the land of the free and the home of the brave so steadfastly retains its noteworthy position as the Western industrialized nation with the largest gap between rich and poor." —www.accuracy.org

Unity 2004: By Their Blue Shoulder Bags, You Shall Know Them.

An army of more than 8,000 radio, TV, and print journalists of color converged in Washington, DC, for the third-ever Unity convention. The agenda was clear: achieving diversity in the newsroom, developing media talent, and putting to rest the word "minority." My own agenda included these ideals, plus some networking, grub, and freebies.

With almost too much to do at once, I had to be disciplined and stick to my schedule. On day two, that meant Senator John Kerry's speech, the career fair, the magazine workshops, and the "hot" receptions.

Kerry went on earlier than advertised, so I found myself locked out and--like many others--watching the speech on a big screen TV in the lobby. Oh well, it was just a rehash of his DNC acceptance speech, with a couple of lines sprinkled in about ethnic contributions to media and "bringing everyone to the table."

After being sufficiently warmed up and adjusted to my seldom-worn corporate clothes, I strolled into the Career Fair hall. I took mental notes on the newest in newsroom couture while roaming the aisles. I passed "Gannett Village," "Newspaper Row," and the unending line for screen tests at NBC. At booth after booth, hopefuls were selling the high points of their resumes, hoping to land an on-the-spot interview or a slot in the next round. As high-strung job-hunting wasn't a high priority for me, I took a more leisurely approach.

I sampled the new low-carb Coke, and collected cute note pads, pens, and candy. I tried to be choosy about which giveaways I took, because I knew I'd have to schlep whatever booty I collected all day and into the evening: Big-time corporate receptions kicked off the conference nights with free grub, open bar, and an informal chance to network or mack, whichever one so chose. Energy-level is critical at these conferences…as are comfortable shoes.

In celebrity news, I chatted with Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman, who autographed a copy of her book, The Exception to the Rulers, for me. I also spotted some sports anchors, but in a girly moment, I couldn't remember their names. After meeting some folks and handing out a few resumes, I decided to grab lunch and watch "A Conversation with Colin Powell." I secured a nine-dollar Wolfgang Puck personal pizza, and plopped down once again on the carpet near the big screen.

When Powell opened up the floor for Q&A, I headed off to "How to Schmooze Editors," or something like that. Several of my workshops were standing room only, full of eager writers in search of secrets from O magazine, People, Lucky, and In Style editors. The other workshop series featured the glam equivalent in newspaper, TV, and radio.

So, what was the conference like? A long, rewarding day and night of fervent networking and gentle self-promotion. When strangers showered me with questions—'What's your name?' 'Who do you work for?' 'What do you think of the conference?'—they almost always followed with friendly advice and useful contacts. Mingling with journalists of various media and races, from all over the country and beyond, I remembered that we are united by our shared agenda. In the sea of black, brown, red, and yellow faces, it seemed silly to call this group any word that means "small."— Celeste Dawn Mitchell www.CelesteDawnMitchell.com

—September 10, 2004

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