Friday, November 16, 2012

Who needs what change?



In a USA Today article titled "Black vote up for grabs in 2016 if GOP adapts," DeWayne Wickham quotes NAACP President Ben Jealous:
“The status quo, minus Obama, could be a disaster for Democrats in 2016.”
 Well, that’s refreshing.

Wickham goes on to interpret Jealous’s statement:
“In other words, without Obama at the head of the ticket, Republicans will have an opening to get a larger share of the black vote if they commit to a targeted effort to solve the problems that disproportionately afflict blacks.”

Of course, that’s not what Jealous’s statement says. Jealous implies that black voters recognize that the status quo is unsatisfactory, but voted in favor of “unsatisfactory” on behalf of Obama; however, they will allegedly draw the line once Obama is gone.

Furthermore, what problems are Wickham referring to: the rash of single mothers and fatherless children, violence in black communities and black on black crime, lack of proactive effort and reliance on outside forces (Democratic leaders) for internal problems, what? How are Republicans going to solve those issues for the black community?

Jealous has also been quoted saying the Democratic party 
“must quickly figure out how to motivate [black] voters who – if Obama is not at the top of the ticket – simply go away.”

“Republicans…must find a way to appeal to a significant number of black voters…”
“When it comes to issues such as civil rights and equality, 87 percent of African-Americans polled declared that GOP concern was either “just talk,” or simply didn’t exist.”

Mr. Galloway, like Mr. Wickham, attempts to legitimize the position, and he similarly fails to recognize that Jealous is plainly indicating that the black Democrats that mustered to put Obama in the White House voted along racial and party lines, as Obama and his party knew they would, and once Obama is gone those voters are likely to just go home rather than entertain voting again, period.

It is an ugly reality, but reality nonetheless.

Wickham’s re-interpretation, like Galloway’s, reveals the propaganda message used to put black voters beyond Republican reach: only Democrats care and strive on behalf of blacks in the U.S. Of course, black voters don’t ask, and Democratic leaders don't tell how or why the two most revered, iconic political and historical champions of the black community (President Lincoln and Reverend King) were both Republican; or why Malcolm X loathed the Democratic party; or why the values of the Democratic party are wreaking havoc on black communities; or why the Democratic policies have yet to provide promised prosperity and the perception of equality they so vehemently deny their black constituents.

Allow me to reiterate that the President of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People admitted that black voters were solicited and mustered by their leaders to purposefully vote along racial and party lines for a recognized unsatisfactory status quo.

So, recap:

Democratic and black leaders point black voters in the direction of failure. Black voters pursue failure at the behest of Democratic and black leaders. Failure impacts black voters while entrenching Democratic and black leaders. Republicans get blamed for failure, further ingratiating black voters to Democratic and black leaders. Democratic and black leaders continue to “lead” black voters, and black voters continue to follow.

Yet, according to Wickham, Galloway, and black communities across the nation, it’s the Republicans that need to change.

It explains why black Americans voted so heavily for “change we can believe in”…twice (and it wasn't change at all).