by AKILAH MONIFA
Sunday, March 12, 2000
BLACKS ARE BEING ignored in the 2000 presidential race by both major parties.
February may have been Black History Month in America, but not on the campaign trail. Until now, African Americans could count on politicians at least feigning interest in our issues once every four years. But as we enter the 21st century, with the economic disparity between African Americans and other citizens looming as large as ever, I wonder why we are seeing a Y2K ``blackout'' on the issues of greatest importance to our community.
According to the League of Women Voters, Ambassador Alan Keyes, the only African American in the race, is the only one with a statement on affirmative action. Keyes, of course, is against it.
Only Sen. John McCain has a position paper on work-family issues, another area of interest for many African American voters.
Perhaps the Democrats think the black vote is a fait accompli. In the last three presidential elections, nearly nine out of 10 African Americans have voted Democratic.
Meanwhile, Republicans are busy courting the Latino vote. For the first time, Latino voters are being blitzed with a multimillion-dollar bilingual ad campaign launched by the Republican National Committee.
In 1996, 44 percent of Latinos voted, compared with 53 percent of African Americans and 60 percent of whites, according to Census Bureau data.
Yet the popularly held theory is that whoever wins the Latino vote in California will win the presidency. And 40 percent of new voters in California are Latino. Even the Rev. Jesse Jackson has been conspicuously absent this election season. In past elections, we could count on him to be an outspoken player and advocate for our issues, regardless of whether he was running. But this time it seems he has also abandoned us in party politics.
The Associated Press reported that Jackson and his son Jesse Jackson Jr. (D.-Ill.) are withholding endorsements in exchange for a Democratic presidential candidate's promise to support a third Chicago-area airport near the younger Jackson's district.
That leaves African Americans in a political black hole, as candidates scramble for other voters of color to get them over the hump. Once catered to and wooed -- at least at election time -- African Americans are, for the most part, being ignored. We are out; Latinos are in.
This new form of neglect comes at a time when African Americans still experience unequal opportunities, despite state and federal legislation. A digital divide looms between white people and people of color: Only five African Americans and one Latino sit on the boards of companies in Silicon Valley, according to a 1999 survey by the Coalition for Fair Employment in Silicon Valley.
Taxicabs still often refuse to stop for African American men. Racial profiling by police abounds as we drive, shop and live.
Employment discrimination is widespread, including in the arts. On television, actors of color remain virtually absent despite agreements last year between the NAACP and several networks to increase the involvement of people of color in front of the camera and behind the scenes.
In the past five years, while much of America has been riding a wave of Silicon Valley-inspired prosperity, a University of Michigan study found that the average African American household's net worth decreased from $8,400 to $7,500.
By contrast, the net worth of the median American household increased 9 percent, to $59,000.
In his famous ``I Have a Dream'' speech, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. said African Americans were living ``on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast ocean of material prosperity.''
Thirty-seven years after King's speech, it seems we are still on that lonely island. Given the extraordinarily slow rate of progress, all presidential candidates should be addressing the issues and proposing solutions. But they aren't.
If King's dream is to become a reality, America needs leadership. And leadership begins with presidential candidates who must acknowledge the concerns of African Americans and propose solutions in their platforms. The only way to end a ``blackout'' is to shed light on the issues.
Akilah Monifa is an Oakland freelance writer.
Page SC - 7 URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2000/03/12/SC97487.DTL
Sunday, March 12, 2000
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