Our issues are not grounded in politics, that’s why we never find solutions in politics. We can elect all the Black “representatives” we want and still find no real solutions for the Black community.
In the 70s, 80s and 90s we elected Black mayors in every major city in the US from LA to New York; and those Black mayors oversaw the explosion of Black poverty rates, the disintegration of both the Black family and what little Black economic autonomy we accumulated between Reconstruction and the Civil Rights Era, they oversaw genocidal incarceration rates and the infusion of CIA trafficked drugs into our communities.
Black elected officials and appointed bureaucrats more often subvert Black interest than they serve them. The few who did make contributions to the Black community did so only when we had strong and committed mass struggle on the ground, which we lack today.
Power in the US no longer rests in political office, that’s why communities that have almost no political representation like the Jews and Asians (i.e.: their are very few elected officials from their racial/ethnic group), and non-human persons that can’t vote (corporations) have so much power and sway; not just because of money, but because of a consolidated agenda and internal discipline of community members; all of which we lack.
We don’t play politics right, it’s just a popularity contest, we fail to engage in exclusive group economics, and we lack a cohesive agenda, and a grounding ideology.
We can elect a Black mayor, but as soon as they take the oath they will be called into a meeting, and all of the racial/economic/cultural groups with power will present this politician with their agendas, their list of demands, and a list of consequence if this new figure head fails them. The Black community will not be present, we will be at the banquets, at the balls, at all the election parties and special dinners, but we will not have a seat at the table of power, we will not be consulted when the resources are divided up.
This could all change within one election cycle, but it seems we are still content to play the ineffective games we’ve been playing for the last half century, and that we are still misidentifying politics as a popularity contest.
Some one holla at me when the ready to get serious about local politics, until then; I’ll observe (Black electoral politics) from the side lines.
Political power is not gained in the voting booth, it is secured in the community.
