Guest Columnist Bill Reed, "What Do You People Want"

Black Press Business/Economic Feature Week of August 10, 2008
BUSINESS EXCHANGE
By William Reed
WHAT DO YOU PEOPLE WANT?

( I highly respect William Reed and with pleasure reprint his latest column for your review )


If Black Americans’ wants and wishes aren’t being articulated among the major parties’ political platform committees now, they are unlikely to addressed, during or after, the 2008 Presidential Election.

Political Parties’ purpose is to join people, who hold similar points of view about government together. They work to participate in and influence government by having its members elected to government positions. In America we have a two-party system where Republicans and Democrats dominate political structures. Parties must promote a broad set of core beliefs to reach their members as well as independent voters. Currently, the major political parties are constructing their party platforms. But, blacks would be hard-pressed to find race - and/or issue-specific and issues agenda for them among the list of the principles which the party supports to appeal to the general public for the purpose of having their candidates voted into office. This takes the form of a list of support for, or opposition to, controversial topics. Individual topics, such as Affirmative Action, are called planks of the platform.

The United States is not a true democracy, but more of a representative republic. Instead of a logistical nightmare of 300 million individuals running for elected office, different political parties actively seek out qualified candidates with the necessary skills and belief structure to represent their party's platform while serving their terms. Are black needs represented in either party’s candidate or platform?

Americans have one of the highest standards of living in the world. But, indexes for blacks are akin to Third World. White households’ average net worth of $468,200 is six times that of black households’ $75,000. Blacks’ plight is not being represented in political parties’ platforms and if nothing is done to accelerate black progress, it will take blacks 6 years to close the high school graduation gap, 71 years to close the disparities in college graduation and 581 years to close gaps in per-capita income gap and 1,664 years for the one in home ownership.

It’s not evident that black people know how to get what want from their politics. The standard of living indexes indicates how much blacks need to flex their political muscle to turn their situation around. When will blacks realize that a government that is not accountable to them should be changed to one that includes people who’ve pledged to act on their behalf? That goes for political parties, too. Their vulnerability comes as a result of the policies they have chosen to support. Blacks’ collective interests are not being represented and the party and people they elect should be able to articulate the next phase toward African Americans’ achievement. To do this, the Democratic and Republican parties have to be made to understand the importance of what we want to change. Like healthcare and the fact that African Americans are uninsured at a devastating rate, and are more likely to die from certain diseases/illnesses.

What do African Americans consider as the major issues for the upcoming election? Never mind mainstream-oriented blacks who will cry “they don’t represent my views”, the International People's Democratic Uhuru Movement (InPDUM) may be on to something. InPDUM has invited Barack Obama, John McCain and Cynthia McKinney to attend their convention September 27-28 in St. Petersburg, Florida, to clarify their programs to address the pressing concerns of Black Americans. InPDUM's international organizer unfurled a banner that read, "What About the Black Community, Obama?” at a stump speech the senator made in the state. InPDUM says its “dedicated to winning self-determination for the African community as the highest expression of democracy”.

The point is we need to expand our sense of representational expectancy beyond a potential Obama presidency. The precious few of us living in gated communities need to join in demanding that the lifestyle of blacks be increased beyond just 73 percent of that of whites. In 2008 black healthcare, life expectancy, safety, resources, environmental economics and social justice is at the bottom of all indexes and racial inequalities in employment, family income, imprisonment and average wealth are worse than when MLK was killed.
(William Reed – www.BlackPressInternational.com

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