Washblog

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Hate Free Zone's hearing on immigration and democracy

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DEFENDING DEMOCRACY
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
6:00pm Reception / 7:00pm Community Hearing
Free and open to the public.
Hate Free Zone

Join us for a hearing highlighting the real cost to our communities of our broken immigration system.  Panelists-- community members, business leaders, religious leaders, and national, state and local experts-- will testify to the need for real comprehensive immigration reform, and about the challenges and threats of eroding human rights and civil liberties in the name of immigration reform.
Bellevue Community College, Carlson Theater
3000 Landerholm Circle SE.
Community Radio, KBCS 91.3 is one of the event's media sponsors

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Howard Dean on race

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Howard Dean: 2008 May Hinge on Race, Immigration
WASHINGTON, Sep. 30, 2006
(AP) Race and immigration could determine the 2008 presidential race, Democratic Party chief Howard Dean told a group of Hispanic leaders Saturday....  "It's time to have a ticket that looks like the rest of America," he said. "That's what I want to do next."

 

 

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Democratic Party: Where the color is

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74 Female members of Congress, 72% of them Democrats.
41 African American members of Congress, 100% of them Democrats.
24 Hispanic American members of Congress, 75% of them Democrats.
7 Asian American members of Congress, 100% of them Democrats.

From Todd Smyth's article in Daily Kos: Diversity Matters, 10/15/06.

 

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Bill Fletcher, Jr. gives us the big picture

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Race, the Democratic Party, and Electoral Strategy,  Bill Fletcher, Jr.
From a speech given at Columbia University, Oct. 10, 2006.
Reprinted in Black Commentator. Some excerpts:

In the early years of the 21st century one witnesses the dramatic polarization of wealth and resources on a global and domestic scale.  Beginning a few years ago some commentators began using the term "global apartheid" to describe this polarization and exclusion of entire populations from access to any prospect for a decent life.  In the USA one sees this as well.  No, it no longer breaks down along the lines of Jim Crow segregation, but we do see a class, racial and gender overlap and exclusion.  Segments of the white working class and middle strata have less and less of a chance of seeing their lives improves.  Vast segments of African Americans, Latinos, Asians and the First Nations have been condemned to near oblivion watching their homes deteriorate in the environment of reservations, or the likes of the multiple Camden, New Jersey(s).  And, speaking of the environment, at a global level, more of us are getting fearful that capitalism is pushing the planet past the point where it can sustain humanity....

I am strenuously avoiding the question of whether the Democratic Party can be transformed because I actually think that the question is more or less irrelevant.  The Democratic Party IS, and to a great extent, that is all that matters.  It exists as a particular platform in an environment that largely--except for a few states such as New York--denies us the ability to develop viable alternative parties that can compete beyond a certain level.  On that basis, the building of a viable, progressive electoral option must look at the Democratic Party as ONE piece (but not the exclusive piece) of the overall terrain on which we should operate.  It is on this terrain that we do battle with the politics of the Democratic Leadership Council, a force that not only wants the Democratic Party to move further to the Right, but one which seeks to distance itself from progressive social movements, particularly those of people of color...

What is and has been lacking, at least since the Jackson campaigns, has been an alternative set of progressive, democratic (with a small "d") politics that inspires confidence, offers direction, and shows itself capable of building a majoritarian bloc.  No, not a bloc built in one election, or even two elections.  But rather a bloc that is serious about struggling for power over a 10-20 year period...longer if we have to.

This will not happen...that is, it will not come into existence, if those progressive politics are not infused with anti-racism.  In our everyday political work we must work to deconstruct the racial fabric of the USA, which means winning whites to understand how their minds have been numbed by the white uniform they are forced to wear.

I would add an additional perspective here (NM). Mr. Fletcher's focus on a solely urban and Southern electoral strategy, although it makes sense in terms of numbers, misses an economic, organizing and motivating factor that I see as critical. And that is the enormous impact that land and resource use and ownership issues have on politics.  Along with race -- and interlocking with race, land and ownership are key drivers. Mr. Fletcher acknowledges the importance of resource ownership in his comments about the polarization of wealth and resources on a global scale. But then he skips over the rural -- where key economic and political resources reside -- when proposing an on-the-ground strategy.

In terms of sheer demographics, particularly for the Latino community (at least here in Washington), there is a color shift into rural areas. Even aside from agriculture or demographics, however, land and resource ownership is central. The property rights movement and rebellion in Washington has its counterparts all over the country -- and is being fostered and manipulated by groups such as Illinois' Americans for Limited Government, which is a prime sponsor of Washington's land-grab initiative, I-933.

All manner of conservative, religious Right, and pro-sprawl interests are partnering with the Republican party to use the natural organizing force of ownership issues for anti-democratic purposes. We see the same issue being baldly used in a bid to take over Washington's Supreme Court. As climate change and oil supply issues become more prominent and rural areas increase in value as sources for alternative energy, big oil, which is positioning itself to take over in that realm, looms larger in that picture, too. Food and energy are at the center of our economy and it is not surprising that we see an analgous push from big business to edge out the smaller entreprenuers in the sustainable agriculture realm, as well. Just as there are no bright lines between the races -- and we suffer when we let that illusion stand, so too there is no bright line between the urban and rural.