With a divide such as this within the African-American community, it is difficult for blacks to capitalize on their voting potential. On the one hand, they have all the loyal followers of the Democratic Party that gave them their rights, and on the other there is a growing number of people that do not identify with being black as being affected in the same way by policy as all other blacks, and so tend to be more conservative
.
Conclusion
The problems that the Black American faces today with government, almost mirror exactly the problems he faced in the 1920’s. Today, the vote is again taken for granted due to years of blind, unfailing party loyalty, and still he is being ignored. Race is again being delegated to the peripheral, while more serious economic problems again rise to the fore; blacks, along with other minorities, still bear the brunt of this country’s economic failings. Both parties are again moving toward the center; Democrats are becoming more conservative, meaning that the radicalism that led to the 1964 Civil Rights Movement no longer exists. Social justice and equality are again secondary in the face of economic problems.
Blacks must look to a common ground upon which to base their vote. They could divide up and align themselves along class lines or education, or some other factor, but they would be ineffective, I feel, as the United States has yet to provide total equality for any but the majority. Alliances along those lines would again leave blacks marginalized, and more than that, divided among themselves.
The African-American community must do today what it failed to do in the 1930’s. It must follow the seventy-year-old advice of those such as A. Philip Randolph and Oscar DePriest as well as the advice of more recent analysts such as Katherine Tate and Ronald W. Walters. They prompt voting without regard as to what party one is voting for, but rather with concern as to what the candidate himself represents. African-Americans must come together and use their vote as a bargaining tool. They demonstrated its worth in the 1976 presidential election of Jimmy Cater, and most recently in the 1996 election of President Clinton. By separating themselves from any permanent affiliation with any party, African-Americans will force those parties to appeal to them as a group for their vote, and upon receiving it, that party will be more certain to produce results in policy and legislation favourable to the Black community.
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Carmines, Edward G. and James A. Stinson. Issue Evolution. Princeton University Press: Princeton c1989.
Tate, Katherine. From Protest to Politics: The New Black Voters in American Electorate. First Harvard University Press: United States of America. c1994.
Walters, Ronald W. Black Presidential Politics in America: A Strategic Approach. State University of New York Press: United States of America. c1988.
Weiss, Nancy J. Farewell to the Party of Lincoln: Black Politics in the Age of FDR. Princeton University Press: Princeton, NJ. c1983.