Reel Urban News Politics:
From Thomas Mundy Peterson to Barack Hussein Obama much has transpired in our Nation’s struggle to manifest fidelity to the Declaration of the self-evident truth that all men are created equal.
Though the unanimous Declaration extols man’s endowment by His Creator with certain unalienable Rights, these Rights have always been subject to a secondary alienable standard such as the Three-Fifths Compromise and Dred Scott vs. Sanford.
And lest you believe the Declaration’s Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness had all men in mind, take some time to stare at and think about the implication of Amendments 13, 14, & 15 (and 19). While the Amendments are celebrated, their very existence harkens to the depravity of even great men to excise prejudices and instill, with zeal, the predilection for only those who look like them. How is it THREE Constitutional Amendments in the affirmative could not persuade America to embrace Blacks to full enfranchisement and equal standing?
All this to reflect on the worth of the Black vote. From Mr. Peterson’s place in history as the first Black man to cast a vote in 1870 as a Republican to President Obama’s place in history as the first Black president in 2008 as a Democrat, Blacks have endured a combination of political terrorism and political patronizing for over 130 years. What is the worth of the Black vote?
It is an ongoing question in my world without a singular, definitive answer. Instead, I respond with questions. For example, on Saturday Nevada will hold its caucus for the Democrats, but for some reason, all eyes are on South Carolina and the Black vote even though the South Carolina Democratic primary isn’t until February 27. Are there no Blacks in Nevada? I keep asking how have Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton earned the Black vote?
Sanders? Has anyone bothered to check his record regarding the state of Blacks in his home state of Vermont? “According to data from Vermont’s Department of Corrections, this liberal enclave has one of the most disproportionate rates of black incarceration in the country.”1
Hillary? She did a rally at my college rival’s campus, Lemonye-Owen, back on November 20, 2015. She spoke for just shy of 22 minutes and didn’t utter one policy achievement for the HBCU student body at large, nor the Black people.
Both Sanders and Hillary? What have either of them accomplished as career politicians to prove they are interested in being the first ones to practice what they preach for everyone else to do? Both have been in high office for a lifetime, but can either boast of any exemplary racial diversity in the employment of their staff (the people they hire)? When will they address #BlackLivesMatter and the fact that, “Police brutality is a blue-state problem”?2
For those who subscribe to White privilege? Have you read Sanders’ biography? And #OscarsSoWhite? What about #DemsSoWhite?
But then I’m pulled back to the Declaration. If people truly hold to the self-evident truth that all men are created equal, why is any vote segregated based on race? I know Blacks have played a constant and integral role in our Nation’s political history, but tragically that history resides in obscure anthologies and dare I say it is even suppressed by our institutions of higher learning (even HBCUs), the very bastion of intellect and critical thinking. Instead, the value of the Black vote is elevated based on polling and relegated based on policy. Courted only for a Primary moment with the years in between devoid of care and concern for Blacks…even photo ops are worthless. What is the worth of the Black vote? Depends on for what Blacks are voting.
p.s. Back to South Carolina. I think of the Church, Nikki Haley, and the Confederate flag. In that intersection of events the citizens resisted to pay back prejudices and perpetuate the predilection for only those who look like them.
http://www.hiphoprepublican.com/police-brutality-is-a-blue-state-problem/
