America's Disappearing 'Black Vote'

LA Times ^ | March 26, 2004 | Todd Boyd

[Cincinatus' Wife]

...............Sure, many black Americans continue to register as Democrats, but not as they used to. Today there is no more a monolithic "black vote" than there is a "white vote," and this is another reason we haven't heard anything about it lately - because it no longer truly exists, at least not the way we have understood it in the past.

The real issue is that black people are becoming more "American" by the hour, moving from a defined group identity to a more individualized sense of being. If anything, Sept. 11 prompted questions of national identity, and African Americans passed with flying colors. Blacks, in many ways, have become mainstream.

The mainstream seldom gets attention; its presence is assumed. The new African American mainstream must accept the fact that though membership has its privileges, one cannot be both marginal and mainstream at the same time.

Todd Boyd, a professor of critical studies at the USC School of Cinema-Television, is the author, most recently, of "Young Black Rich and Famous: The Rise of the NBA, the Hip Hop Invasion and the Transformation of American Culture" (Doubleday, 2003).

[anton]

Is this guy an idiot or what? 90% of the black voters voted for Gore. Name another 20 million voter block that reached 90% on anything?

Anton

[Temple Owl]

Wow! That is one powerful message. Welcome to the human race Outlaw and please accept this white guy as a fellow American.

One thing though. We do need school vouchers and we will not get them from the Democrats.

[uncbob]

. Today there is no more a monolithic "black vote" than there is a "white vote," and this is another reason we haven't heard anything about it lately - because it no longer truly exists, at least not the way we have understood it in the past.

Yeah right there is no 90-95 % of the black vote going to the democrats in National Elections

[Temple Owl]

Thanks for the ping. Be sure t o read the post by The_Outlaw_Josey_Wales.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Check out Washington Post story in Post #19 - "Black Votes -- No GOP Fantasy"

[doggieboy]

BS

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Really?

[BobS]

"After all, President Bush appointed Colin Powell as his secretary of state and Condoleezza Rice as his foreign policy adviser."

Bush hired them because they're good at what they do and he likes them. You can be a green weed to someone with an MBA, it doesn't matter. Where Bush's hiring practices fell apart was NOT firing the Clinton holdovers.

[Mudboy Slim]

"BS"

I tend to agree...but it's a goal worthy of pursuing, though...MUD

[BobS]

"We do need school vouchers and we will not get them from the Democrats."

That's because democrats seperate people into their own concentration camps. About 7 or 8. Blacks, Spanish-speaking folks, homosexuals, union thugs, public employee unions, etc. If they were all put in the same concentration camp, there would be a Battle Royal, because each group wants something that offends another group.

[The_Outlaw_Josey_Wales]

I just posted the editorial. I didn't write it. Besides, I'm not black. I'm just a smart-ass white boy!

[Temple Owl]

It was still a good editorial. I hope the guy that wrote will accept me as a fellow American. Thanks for posting it.

[Temple Owl]

That editorial didn't happen to come from Pittsburgh did it?

[SouthernClaire]

As usual, I'm almost a day's reading behind, but had to comment on Johnson's straight-to-the-heart words...

"I am somebody, and I don’t need Jessie Jackson to tell me that. My father already did."

Beautiful.

If only ... if only, **dagnabit**, kids were still raised like that! To have it instilled in them early on that "you are somebody important; that God created you for a purpose; that the world may never recognise your worth in your lifetime, but in God's eyes you are worthy eternally ... unless YOU choose not to be."

[lainde]

bttt

[lepton]

Is this guy an idiot or what? 90% of the black voters voted for Gore. Name another 20 million voter block that reached 90% on anything?

Do registered Democrats or Republicans even reach such levels?

[AlbionGirl]

What an excellent piece and rant.

I've never understood why Black citizens never argued their case from the 'we built this great Country, too' perspective.

I mean all of the immigrant groups (of which I'm one myself) were so late to the American party, as compared to Blacks. Blacks are part of the American soil in a way in which no other immigrant groups really are.

Perhaps their insistence on reparations is based on my question, but if so, only ostensibly, IMO. The demand for reparations is motivated by revenge.

[The_Outlaw_Josey_Wales]

>>That editorial didn't happen to come from Pittsburgh did it?

No. I think J.J. Johnson is from Nevada. He's the editor of a conservative online publication called "Sierra Times". See below for the link. It's not up to date because they're doing some work on the site but it should be updated sometime next month.

http://www.sierratimes.com/

[Temple Owl]

Thanks I knew a Jim Johnson who worked for the old Philadelphia Bulletin. He moved to Pittsburgh and took a job with a TV station there. It sounded like it might have been him.