The Role of Black Women in the Democratic Party

[ismnotwasm]

We're hearing a lot these days about the angry white base of the Republican Party. Beyond analysis of this group as the core of support for presidential candidates like Donald Trump, there are people who suggest that Democrats (like President Obama) need to reach out to them either to calm the waters of our political divide or as people who might be lured back into the Democratic Party.

There are occasions when people also refer to the base of the Democratic Party. Often it is assumed that this group is made up of the most liberal activists - in this election cycle, Bernie Sanders supporters.

But take a moment to look at some of the data in a report about a group that doesn't get much attention in our political discussions these days: The Status of Black Women in American Politics.

First of all, the number of black women who turn out to vote is higher than any other demographic group - 70% in 2012. That number has been rising since 1996, so it is more than a response to the candidacy of Barack Obama. And no group votes more consistently Democratic than black women. Here are the figures since 1992:


1992 Bill Clinton - 87%
1996 Bill Clinton - 89%
2000 Al Gore - 94%
2004 John Kerry - 90%
2008 Barack Obama - 96%
2012 Barack Obama - 96%

As a comparison, in the above elections no Democratic candidate got more than 48% of the vote from white women.

http://immasmartypants.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-role-of-black-women-in-democratic.html

[MeNMyVolt]

1. Wish I could rec this to the moon!

Thank you ismnotwasm.

[lovemydog]

2. Big k & r.

Thanks for the info ismnotwasm. And happy holidays!

[brer cat]

3. Unappreciated and taken for granted.

Thanks for posting, ism. K&R

[ismnotwasm]

4. It was on a recommendation by a friend

I LOVE this article!

[Number23]

5. Paging JAG. JAG please pick up the black power/Venus pride phone

JAG has been banging this drum for YEARS desperately trying to get people to understand that the black female vote represents the true Democratic base in a way that no other group does or probably ever will.

[brer cat]

10. JAG is right.

I believe women of color are coming into power that has never been seen before. They are going to achieve far more than the movements led primarily by white women and become the surge that takes down the white male power structure. As I said upthread, black women have been unappreciated and taken for granted too long. That is going to change.

JAG mention around Christmas that she was heading out for a vacation. It will be good to have her back.

[JustAnotherGen]

26. Let me set the stage

Last edited Wed Dec 30, 2015, 09:13 PM - Edit history (1)

My husband - due to the politicians in his family - and Italian citizenship - was forbidden from traveling to Thailand. I thought (this summer) "Great! No vacay!"

Until he starts harassing me about what time I normally take off for Christmas. Normally - but with rolling RIFS (layoffs) at work in October and having to take on two new employees in a new function I thought - eh - better at least work from home during the holidays.

Nuh- unh!

He broke down at Thanksgiving and told me to take some time . . . We are going someplace familiar.

You are paging me at a bungalow on the side of a mini mountain in the jungle in Manuel Antonio Costa Rica. I'm washing bikins and his swimsuit in the sink - taking a break.

We brought the jambox - Louis and Ella singing about a foggy London Town - Sangria delivered in a glass on the table, some floozy gekkos (Kwassa and I are buddies on Facebook - he can verify - I need to start charging the gekkos by the hour), the capuchin monkeys came to visit twice today and a Macaw stole my grapes (dammit)

So - it was worth taking a break from my amazing vacay at the Pacific in Manuel Antonio to have an IMMATURE moment . . .


I told you ALL so. I'm so glad this was posted.

I hate when I'm right, drinking Sangria, in warm Costa Rica on a Wednesday!


Pssst - this little house in the hills is awesome. I'm spoied rotten or as The Gio said - you are a proper spoiled little (derogatory name for Italians) wife now!

Pure Vida!

Now they need to pay attention in GD. I don't do the Twitter so you better get off your asses and knock on my door.

[Lisa D]

28. Sounds like you're having a wonderful time!

Enjoy the Sangria (yum) and the rest of your vacay!

[Number23]

30. Geez, way to rub it in!!!

You are paging me at a bungalow on the side of a mini mountain in the jungle in Manuel Antonio Costa Rica

That sounds wonderful and magical and fabulous. I've spent a bit of time in Costa Rica myself and it is one of the most fabulous places in the world. Enjoy yourself!!!

I took a DU break for the last few days and I cannot tell you how wonderful it's been. But I saw that NRA ad re: Hillary and thought I'd check in to see how people are discussing it here. I haven't even so much as glanced in GDP yet but I'm willing to bet that everyone is completely overlooking it or, even more stupidly, using this as "proof" that she is a corporatist stooge who wants to serve her "masters" in the oligarchy.

[Starry Messenger]

6. If this country was *run* by Black women voters, it would be a progressive haven.

[SusanCalvin]

8. Yep. nt

[Lisa D]

29. +1000

[The Polack MSgt]

7. Nothing to add - K/R

[Cha]

9. It's the African Americans who make up the most of the Democratic base and more specifically

African American Women!

From your link..



First of all, the number of black women who turn out to vote is higher than any other demographic group - 70% in 2012. That number has been rising since 1996, so it is more than a response to the candidacy of Barack Obama. And no group votes more consistently Democratic than black women. Here are the figures since 1992:

1992 Bill Clinton - 87%
1996 Bill Clinton - 89%
2000 Al Gore - 94%
2004 John Kerry - 90%
2008 Barack Obama - 96%
2012 Barack Obama - 96%

Thank you, ismnotwasm!

[ismnotwasm]

11. Love how you format your posts!

Beautiful!

[Cha]

19. Mahalo ismnotwasm~

[qwlauren35]

12. It's because of this statistic

That Donna Edwards has a shot at winning the Senate seat. If she can move the black women voters in Baltimore, she'll win. It's just a VERY hard thing to do.

[wildeyed]

13. Been trying to make this point here too.

Last edited Tue Dec 29, 2015, 04:24 PM - Edit history (1)

The rock solid base of the Democratic Party is women, particularly black women. It is not that we don't need white liberals and students too. #allvotesmatter But you cannot underestimate the power of black women at the voting booth once you understand the demographics in this country.

The problem for black women and the black community in general is that their support is so steady, it is taken for granted. This is one of the reasons #BLM is so important, but I will not digress into that right now. People here know anyway.

My theory is that many white liberals live and function in very white, liberal places and do not understand coalition building or conservatives very well. Then they project their reality onto a national election, which just does not work.

I live in a "new south" city that is strongly Democratic these days because the minority of white liberal voters and the minority of AA voters know how to work together to become the majority. And we have enough conservatives here, that if we blow it and start bickering, they can still beat us. But we just keep winning It is great practice for understanding national elections.

[1StrongBlackMan]

14. Interesting theory ...

Before I comment, let me ask what: are the white liberal and Black percentages ... I have a theory on the optimal percentages for inter-racial cooperation. I'd like to test my theory on your locality.

[wildeyed]

15. Not sure how to get an exact liberal white number.

We are 35% black and 50% white. Not all whites are Dems, but we can assume that almost all blacks are Dem or Dem-leaning. There are twice as many registered Dems as Reps overall and about as many Indys as Reps. White Indys are as likely to be conservative as not around here (my experience only).

Gut says Dems are 50% black, 50% white and other races. Not all are "liberal", but many pull a straight ticket, so whoever the activists get nominated in the primary will usually stick in the general.

The city is has more blacks, immigrants, and educated young people than when I moved here more than a decade ago, so all typically "Dem" demographics are on the upswing.

I will PM you link to actual demographics if you want to nerd out on the numbers.

Let me know if it confirms your theory.

[1StrongBlackMan]

17. I saw your PM before I saw this post ...

I'm thinking my theory still stands.

[Number23]

16. You guys should write a primer and put it on the DNC web site

I live in a "new south" city that is strongly Democratic these days because the minority of white liberal voters and the minority of AA voters know how to work together to become the majority. And we have enough conservatives here, that if we blow it and start bickering, they can still beat us. But we just keep winning

Almost 8 years on DU has taught me that this is a rare and precious thing you guys have going. Every major black leader in the history of black America has railed against white liberals almost as much as white conservatives because of the exact same type of clueless, entitled paternalism that we all see, feel and experience every day on this board.

It would be incredible to see you guys write down -- clearly and SPECIFICALLY -- what you are doing to respect one another and do what's needed to win. It really needs to be clear and specific otherwise, I am terribly afraid that alot of the folks who need this the most won't have the first clue or understanding what you're talking about.

[1StrongBlackMan]

18. I think those without a clue or understanding have zero interest in understanding ...

what anyone is talking about.

In my experience, the optimal racial composition of a inter-racial cooperating coalition is about 60+/40- (Black). With this mix, the (liberal) whites recognize they do not have the numbers to advance their interests, while ignoring the interests of others, or worse, pretending/trying to convince the others, that their interests are the "real" interests.

[Number23]

20. Only 60/40??

[1StrongBlackMan]

21. Yep ... The real world doesn't approximate DU ...

where 20-30% of the whole constitutes an overwhelming majority.

[wildeyed]

25. You're probably right.

But it is depressing and I need some hope right now, so I'm going to grab onto this quote from Rev. Barber (NC Moral Mondays) and hold on tight:

This Third Reconstruction is a profoundly moral awakening of justice-loving people united in a fusion coalition powerful enough to reclaim the possibility of democracy—even in the face of corporate-financed extremism.

http://www.beacon.org/The-Third-Reconstruction-P1139.aspx?ItemId=9607

JUSTICE! DEMOCRACY! UNITED! YES! OMG, I love this guy. Seriously, guys like him and his co-author could almost convince me to be Christian.

[wildeyed]

22. The DNC knows who we are. They had their last convention here.

Obama always has. I live in Charlotte, NC, ground zero for both his campaigns. I have a picture somewhere of me shaking his actual hand from behind a barrier at a campaign event he had here long before he was the nominee. You could not get anywhere close later on.... We were always part of his plan. He stole our very excellent young mayor for Transport Secretary too

Before 2010, the little c3 group I volunteered with managed to put together coalitions that helped pass some of the best, most progressive election laws in the country. NAACP, ACORN, League of Women Voters, Democracy NC, Latin American Coalition, some really gifted student activist from Johnson C. Smith, a group called Blueprint who ran the VAN stuff out of Raleigh.

We got lots of early voting, same day registration during early vote, publicly funded campaigns for judges and hoping to extend that further. We piloted ranked voting in some primaries (a GREAT way to get accurate results when third party candidates run and also avoid costly runoffs). We lobbied for better campaign finance laws and did outreach and voter education in low turnout groups including low income and college students. We went from one of the lowest voter turnout rates in the country to one of the better.

In my city at least, the black political community is well organized and efficient (not sure how true this is for the rest of the state). City government is relatively efficient and much less corrupt than anywhere else I have lived. The city Republicans are mostly business progressives who like infrastructure and basically want to make money more than anything else.

And the "DINO" "conservative" white Southern Dems the liberal purists love to hate? They were part of the coalition too. They gave us the muscle we needed in the legislature to get most of the good laws passed.

Until 2010, the census year, when our voters didn't turnout and we got redistricted by a bunch of GOP ideologues out for blood. That is another story, but suffice to say that the GOP backlash has been furious.

But NC has a history of racial cooperation for political gain. Google NC Fusion Party sometime, it is really interesting. The backlash to that was also furious. But you know what? History moves faster now, and demographics are moving in the right direction. I believe the arc of justice is still bending in the right direction here, we just need to keep working at it to win again

[Number23]

23. Your work sounds amazing. And I'd take three of you over a thousand screaming, impotent

"leftist" libertarians any day of the week and twice on Sunday. People who know how to get shit done are what's needed, now more than ever.

[wildeyed]

24. I think maybe Rev. Barber wrote about the coalition

in his new book. He is an exceptional leader. The book is not out yet, but will be soon.

http://www.beacon.org/The-Third-Reconstruction-P1139.aspx?ItemId=9607

At a time when divide-and-conquer politics are exacerbating racial strife and economic inequality, Rev. Barber offers an impassioned, historically grounded argument that Moral Mondays are hard evidence of an embryonic Third Reconstruction in America.

The first Reconstruction briefly flourished after Emancipation, and the second Reconstruction ushered in meaningful progress in the civil rights era. But both were met by ferocious reactionary measures that severely curtailed, and in many cases rolled back, racial and economic progress. This Third Reconstruction is a profoundly moral awakening of justice-loving people united in a fusion coalition powerful enough to reclaim the possibility of democracy—even in the face of corporate-financed extremism.

In this memoir of how Rev. Barber and allies as diverse as progressive Christians, union members, and immigration-rights activists came together to build a coalition, he offers a trenchant analysis of race-based inequality and a hopeful message for a nation grappling with persistent racial and economic injustice.

Here is an op-ed he wrote as well that talks a bit about NC's recent history and his vision for the future. And BTW, I am so in for this. It is hopeful, positive and something we all can do, regardless of the political climate. Interesting to think that simple friendship can be such a powerful, subversive tool.

I pre-ordered the book. Should be here in mid-January.

http://www.newsobserver.com/opinion/op-ed/article49307020.html

We have witnessed the power of friendships like ours in the Moral Movement that arose in North Carolina in 2005. Our coalition partners demonstrated their power in the 2008 presidential election when North Carolina’s electoral college votes went to a Democrat, breaking the solid South. This victory led to yet another violent backlash of mystery money, gerrymandering and the extreme makeover of our state government in the 2013 legislative session. “Moral Mondays” became the largest state-based civil disobedience campaign in U.S. history because fusion friendships like ours refused to give in to extremists’ assault.

[Lisa D]

27. A great read to start the day.

Thank you for posting it