Cyrena-
80% = 80% of the black people who are voting in the Democratic Primary race.

This has absolutely no place on this or any other site about this or any other candidate! SHAME ON YOU Unregistered commenter. I would want to remain anonymous too if I spewed such venom and hate.

Analyst1970,

I apparently am still not understanding your 80% voting consistency statistic. That’s how my crack comment came about.

To suggest that African-Americans have maintained an 80% voting record consistently is in my opinion something that a mentally challenged person might suggest.

BUT...maybe I was reading it in terms of ‘over history’ and maybe you were referencing over the past few months, and only in your own community.

So, I’ll allow that there probably IS a portion of the black population in the US, who is in support of Barack Obama simply because he is black, and for no other reasons. (ie issues, character, integrity, the big picture, our future survival, etc). Indeed, I do know that the mentality exists, and I can’t say that I’m proud of it. (I guess that’s why you made the OJ reference).

Still, having lived a while, and been consistently exposed to a variety of many socio-political-economic groups across the country, I’d say that just by our relatively smaller total population, (13%) blacks don’t maintain that mentality (voting while ignorant) any more than any other group of people happens to do. If anything, it’s far less.

If you’re a history scholar, check (when you have time) some of the old ‘Black Codes’. You actually can find all of the ‘voting requirements’ for blacks in the South, as recently as the 60’s. In addition to poll taxes, and a variety of other things, these people who were attempting to exercise their rights to vote were frequently subjected to EXAMS on the Constitution that could serve as preps for law school.

Seriously, some of the questions would throw even Obama, and he’s a professor of Constitutional Law. Needless to say, the white folks at the ‘polling places’ who were ‘administering’ these ‘exams’ ONLY FOR BLACK FOLKS of course, didn’t have a clue to any of the answers themselves. Didn’t matter of course, because if they got every single question correct, they still would be turned away.

Still, I said that to say that even now, many black votes actually DO vote on candidates for the reasons that the whole process was set-up to begin with. So we DO pay attention to these issues, and if it happens to be a black person who IS the candidate, then all the better. Just like those who were making a big deal out of John Edwards haircut. I think he would have been a good president, (and still would be) and the nice haircut was just an added extra.
THAT’S how I see Barack. He would be my own choice, even if he was green or orange, even though my favorite color is coral.

In short....some of us DO pay attention, and it works the opposite way too. I can’t think of a worse Supreme Court choice (at least in my life time) than Clarence Thomas, who by the way, IS a racist! He hates black people and white ones too. But, he hates black folks way more.

We call that ‘internalized’ racism in the sociological world, but I just call HIM a dirty bastard, because it’s just a favorite all purpose term for me.

Cyrena,
I caught the entire State of The Black Union broadcast
I listen to my local Black Radio Station
I subscribe to black pod-casts

And I have heard a lot of negative and derogatory statements, including “racist” used to refer to Hillary.

I do agree with you, however, that I should not have made the general reference and assumed that all black people are voting just on race. I apologize for that, it is wrong, and does serves to demean the grand-ness of Obama’s, candidacy. Again please accept my apologies.

As a slave of history (I love it that much), my tendency is usually to look back before projecting forward, therefore:

1. I discovered that Hillary has truly been a champion for a lot if non-whites, not just in America and all over the world.

2. Wonder why you assumed I was on crack?  If white women, or whites were consistently voting 80% plus for Hillary, I sure would hope that a Caucasian would challenge those trends.  In spite of your insults I will not be AFRAID to ask the questions.

3. There is fear that leads us to courage, and fear that leads us to caution. I am not afraid to be courageous regardless of the consequences.

4. Minus some unnecessary hostility - I like your post. See you even taught me a lesson in “generalizing”.

Analyst1970,

Maybe I should first say that you really should have made it clear that you were speaking for your OWN community, and not for the nationwide African-American voting population.

I’m also really curious about what you consider to be a CONSISTENT 80% plus voting record, when all other Americans go up and down, and how..(even if that were true) it is somehow ‘disappointing”.

I’m actually amazed that you would even suggest such a thing. Number one, I’d be DELIGHTED if the nationwide African-American population could maintain such a high percentage, but I have to assume that you’re on crack to say that. And WHY would it be better for it to go ‘up and down’?

Do you have any clue about how long it took for Black folks to even be ALLOWED to vote in this country? Do you have ANY clue about the voter suppression that STILL continues - as I speak- in African-American communities through-out the US? This is particularly problematic in the South, and Florida is notorious for it...voter intimidation, etc, etc.

It’s also pretty disgusting that people cannot express a preference for one candidate, or a dismay over the campaign tactics of another candidate, without being accused of calling either one of them racist.

In short, I have never suggested that Bill or Hillary Clinton was ‘racist’ and the only person on this blog that consistently claims that the Clintons are being attacked as being ‘racist’ is bert. And, she claims to be white.

It IS true that the Clinton’s have long been supported by the black community in the past; at least at least between 1991-1999 or so. Prior to 1990 or 1991, I’m really not sure how much African-Americans outside of Arkansas even KNEW about Bill or Hillary Clinton. I didn’t know anything about them until they started running for national office in the early 90’s. Why should anyone else have?

That said, nobody was accusing them of being racists then, (that I’m aware of) and most of the African-American communities that I know weren’t either.

AND, THEY STILL AREN’T. Nobody has suggested that the Clinton’s are ‘racists’ although there was DEFINITELY a reaction to the faux pas that Bill Clinton committed in South Carolina several weeks ago. Get over it. He did it, and that’s that. Nobody has since painted their entire existence with a broad racist brush, so people like bert should stop complaining about something that hasn’t happened. THAT is dishonest.

That is NOT to say that there hasn’t been an almost abusive demeanor towards the Clintons, but let us be really clear on that...that ‘demeanor’ has existed for as long as the Clintons have been in political life, and it damn sure wasn’t coming from the black communities, and the complaint was never racism. In short, a lot of people have hated them both, for a very long time. And NO, in my own opinion, there was never a logical reason for it, at least not at the time. And, I’ve said that before. I’ve also defended both of them on countless occasions over the years, for what I’ve termed to be hate for absolutely no reason, at least not that I was aware of.  So, when we don’t know things, we have nothing to base an opinion on, and I’ve never been one to form opinions based on hear-say or group think.

That said, my opinion of them has sunk to a very low point, and it has nothing to do with racism, and everything to do with the dirty tactics that Hillary has employed in her campaign. Registering these concerns does NOT amount to abuse. It is what it is. It’s speaking to the truth. I am also learning things about the former Clinton admin that were not known at the time, and they aren’t nice. Clinton’s actions in the former Yugoslavia particularly.

So, whenever Hillary or anyone else stoops to the Bush/Rovarian type tactics, you’re going to hear criticisms. Hillary has herself created whatever ‘demeanor’ you perceive as directed toward her. Bill hasn’t helped.

I agree 100%. I cannot fathom those who today call the Clintons racist. You can say a lot about them, both good and bad. But they have never, ever been racist. Neither Bill nor Hillary deserve this.

Ditto.

I can’t believe that we are voting between a black man and a woman, and it has made the country more divided into “identity-blocks”.  As a black person, I am especially disappointed by my community’s ability to look beyond race.  A consistent 80% plus voting record when all other Americans go up and down is disappointing.  More disappointing is the almost abusive demeanor towards the Clintons, who have both been allies to our community since they were very young.  As one commentator puts it, it’s our “come to O.J.” attitude.

Ellen writes: “As for the notion that these two candidates will seriously wound each other and one will limp into the race against McCain? Does anyone doubt that Obama is a better candidate now than he was last fall? Quicker on his feet? Sharper at debating? Better at responses? As for Hillary, does anyone doubt her resilience? She lost 11 primaries in a row and came back. Knock her down, she pops up.

Nobody wants to see Democrats writing the attack script for Republicans. If you think these two have been rough on each other, remember 2004, when Swift-boating became a verb. This year will it be Monica-ing? Hussein-ing? Primaries are training grounds. And if Tuesday taught us anything, the voters are not through deciding.”

I don’t usually agree with Ellen. But this time she is spot on. Great editorial Ellen!!!!

Identity politics is the real debacle of this campaign season. Real winners? John McCain and Civil Dissonance.

You can’t unite the country by cutting everyone up into different groups.

I’m not sure if it is good or bad we have such heated debate over such a long period of time for the Democratic candidates. I am sure, however, the focus on these primaries and campaigns is going to cause some effect on the voting population in the fall.

...is that race and gender are the things Bill Clinton uses to decide whether someone is fit to be President.