For giving 80
percent of their vote to the Democratic Party, black activist Malcolm X, in
1964, called black voters "political chumps."
White voters, X
said, “are so evenly divided that every time they vote, the race is so close they
have to go back and count the votes all over again. Which means that any bloc,
any minority that has a bloc that sticks together is in a strategic position.
Either way you go, that’s who gets it.”
Yet Democrats,
said Malcolm X, failed to deliver on a promised and much anticipated new civil
rights bill knowing the party could still count on their blind support in the
next election.
“You put them
first,” said Malcolm X, “and they put you last. ‘Cause you’re a chump. A
political chump! … Any time you throw your weight behind a political party that
controls two-thirds of the government, and that party can’t keep the promise
that it made to you during election time, and you are dumb enough to walk
around continuing to identify yourself with that party -- you’re not only a
chump but you’re a traitor to your race.”
What would Malcolm
X say about today’s 95 percent black vote? Did the Democratic Party keep its
promises to promote family stability, push education and encourage job creation?
The black
community, over the last 50 years, has suffered an unparalleled breakdown in
family unity. Even during slavery when marriage was illegal, a black child was
more likely than today to be raised under a roof with his or her biological
mother and father. According to census data, from 1890 to 1940, said economist
Walter Williams, a black child was slightly more likely to grow up with married
parents than a white child.
What happened?
When President Lyndon
Johnson launched the "war on poverty" in 1965, 24 percent of black babies
were born to unmarried mothers. Today that number is 72 percent. Then-presidential
candidate Barack Obama said in 2008: “Children who grow up without a father
are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime; nine times more
likely to drop out of schools and 20 times more likely to end up in prison.
They are more likely to have behavioral problems, or run away from home, or
become teenage parents themselves.”
Not only has
family breakdown coincided with increased government spending, but the money
has not done much to reduce the rate of poverty. From 1965 until now, the
government has spent $15-20 trillion to fight poverty. In 1949, the poverty rate
stood at 34 percent, by 1965 it was cut in half, to 17 percent -- all before
the so-called war on poverty. But after the war began in 1965, poverty began to
flat line. It appears that the generous welfare system allowed women to, in
essence, marry the government -- and it allowed men to abandon their financial
and moral responsibility, while surrendering the dignity that comes from being
a good provider. Psychologists call dependency "learned
helplessness."
About the
importance of education, Malcolm X once said, “My alma mater was books, a good
library. …I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my
curiosity.” What would he say about the Democratic opposition to school
vouchers -- where the money would follow the student rather than the other way
around?
Urban schools,
where students are disproportionately black and brown, are simply not producing
children who can read, write and compute at grade level. The drop-out rate can
approach 50 percent in some urban districts. Nationwide, 10 percent of parents
send their kids to private school. But in cities like Philadelphia and Chicago,
40 percent or more of teachers send their own kids to private schools.
Democrats don't do
blacks any favor by supporting “race-based preferences” in admissions to
colleges and universities. Turns out, the more a school lowers standards to
achieve "diversity," the greater the chance the "diverse"
student drops out.
More than that, Democrats
have convinced blacks that but for race-based preferences, black growth would
suffer. Nonsense. Respected researchers Stephan and Abigail Thernstrom wrote: "The
growth of the black middle class long predates the adoption of race-conscious
social policies. In some ways, indeed, the black middle class was expanding
more rapidly before 1970 than after.”
Finally, as to the
economy, then-chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo., admitted:
“With 14 percent (black) unemployment, if we had a white president we’d be
marching around the White House. …The President knows we are going to act in deference to him in a way we
wouldn’t to someone white.”
Democratic
policies have contributed to family breakdown; maintained underperforming urban
schools -- with no opt out for parents; and have promoted tax-spend-and-regulate
economic policies that have resulted in a level of unemployment described as
“unconscionable” by Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif., a founding member of the Congressional
Black Caucus.
So would Malcolm X
call today’s black voter a political "chump" -- or a political “traitor”?
Mr. Elder,
ReplyDeleteLet me preface my question/statement by saying I'm a huge fan of yours. And admittedly, this comes from a registered democrat. That isn't to suggest that I'm a "liberal." I consider myself quite moderate, both in the sense that I agree with each side of the aisle on particular issues and in the sense that I'm somewhere in between both platforms on others. If anything, I view the polarization of American politics as one of this nation's greatest failures. The promotion of what's best for a party over what's best for a nation is far too commonplace in my opinion. But by weighting certain issues above others, I admittedly vote Democratic more frequently than I do Republican.
With that context in mind, I have been a big fan of your willingness to engage in a dialogue on issues of race where few others seem willing to wade in. I'm a firm believer that many of the problems in the black community arise from a collective mindset that's been instilled in them that if their lives and position in society aren't to their liking, it's purely the fault of society at large. This is a crippling mentality and one which the liberal platform propagates. However, my question isn't about the rightness/wrongness of blacks voting Democratic. My question is, shouldn't the greater concern be that a group as geographically, economically, religiously, culturally, etc diverse as black Americans vote en bloc at all? Personally, I agree completely with your assertion that many blacks would be better served not supporting the Democratic Party. However, I believe many would. The greater evil in my opinion is the inability of any community to properly evaluate their beliefs and opinions individually while instead relying on the group mentality to do it for them. Would you not agree that this is the greater concern? That blacks feel that their race motivates them to HAVE to vote Democratic?
If you vote Democrat (Party of Slavery!) then you must be a moocher...
ReplyDeleteWhy would ANY descendent of Democrat Party championed slavery vote for the Party of Slavery?
The whole world wonders...