Is This the Time for an Independent Black Political Party?

by David Love

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In this election season, as the age of Obama comes to end, Black America finds itself at a crossroads.  And with the first Black president soon leaving office, the issue of a Black political agenda or lack thereof is placed in the spotlight. 

The questions that arise are whether the two-party system serves the African-American electorate, if Black voters are forced to select between the lesser of two evils, and whether a Black independent political party or a coalition with other people of color and white progressives is necessary as a counter - weight to donkeys and elephants to ensure that their interests are protected.

At present, Black voters are presented with a Democratic Party that most African-Americans support even amid decades-long charges that their vote has been taken for granted and a Republican Party that has emerged as a focal point of white nationalism and is viewed as hostile to Black interests. 

Meanwhile, within the Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders vie for the Black vote and support of the Black Lives Matter movement, with many Black pragmatists attracted to the former, and idealists attracted to the latter.  But are African-American interests being served?

The notion of a Black party is by no means a new concept. As noted by William A. Darity Jr., Samuel DuBois Cook Professor of Public Policy at Duke University’s Sanford School of Public Policy, an independent Black political party was Malcolm X’s objective at the end of his life.

“I think this is the kind of work that we should have been engaged in a long time ago, well prior to Obama’s election as a Democratic Party candidate.  We should not have had high expectations of what his candidacy would be because it was squarely within the two-party system,” Darity told Atlanta Black Star. We should have developed a party for a long time.”

Such efforts were attempted. For example, the preamble of the National Black Political Agenda, also known as the Gary Declaration an outgrowth of the National Black Political Convention of 1972 states that “all truly black politics, must begin from this truth: The American system does not work for the masses of our people, and it cannot be made to work without radical fundamental change (indeed, this system does not really work in favor of the humanity of anyone in America).”

In 1980, Black nationalists convened to form the National Black Independent Political Party, out of frustration over the Democratic and Republican Parties. “The National Black Independent Political Party aims to attain power to radically transform the present socio-economic order. That is, to achieve self-determination and social and political freedom for the masses of Black people. Therefore, our party will actively oppose racism, imperialism, sexual oppression, and capitalist exploitation,” its charter stated. 

Darity notes that the successes of past third parties have been tied to the personalities of individual candidates such as Ross Perot or John Anderson.  “Their parties were so associated with them that there was no way to sustain them when their candidacy was done,” he said, adding that a viable third party needs its own base and cannot be dependent on an individual candidate. 

The professor, who focuses on inequality, believes a third party is necessary in addressing the problems faced by African-Americans. He finds the concept of a party focused on social inequality in America “an exciting prospect.”

“It is essential because the national imagination is deeply constrained by the two-party system. There is no effort to solve the degree of racial inequality, joblessness and poverty, and the existing two-party system will not dramatically change those positions,” Darity said.

“One of the obvious issues is, Blacks are an outvoted minority in this country, unlike South Africa, so there would have to be coalition politics. And those coalitions would have to be carefully crafted so they would be in line with our interests,” he noted.

Darity warned, however, that Black people must be careful about what their interests truly are. “There is a slippery slope of Black people blaming Black people for our condition. 

It’s what I call the Bill Cosby point of view the idea that our problems are a consequence of our actions which is a complete misanalysis,” he argues. “It’s not sufficient that this is anchored around Black folk. The ideological component of that party is crucial also.”

To advance his argument, Darity pointed to his research on the causes of Black disparity, including the finding that Black people who have college degrees have two-thirds of the net worth of whites who never finished high school.  

Further, studies have shown that Blacks who have finished some college or have an associate’s degree have a higher unemployment rate than whites who dropped out of high school. These studies are a “powerful indicator” of the problems faced by African-Americans not of their making, Darity insists.

Dr. Randall Miller, a historian and professor at St. Joseph’s University, believes the idea of a Black political party - not necessarily an exclusive party but one that “would push the interests of Black people to the forefront, and would drive policy and practice” geared towards African-American concerns - is a good one.

“One could also make the case that in terms of effectiveness, and in terms of unity of interests coming from the Black community - Black Lives Matter a case in point doing it within the present party structure, at least in the short run, might be the most effective,” Miller told Atlanta Black Star.  “There’s a lot of urgency in these issues. What happens historically with third-parties is they are short-lived, and don’t succeed.

If organized well enough, they drive certain issues that force people to address them,” he added. “The extent you can mobilize public interests and support could mean one of the two parties would have to take up the issues.” 

To make his point, Miller noted how through external pressure from the Civil Rights Movement, and internal pressure from Fannie Lou Hamer and others, the Democratic Party adopted policies of concern to African-Americans.

“The danger in doing so is it co-opts it and mutes it,” Miller said of movements that align with a particular party. Ultimately, he believes that for third-party politics to succeed, a “radical transformation of white views is needed.”

He thinks, however, that there is also much potential for third-party successes on the local level. According to Vincent Hutchings, Professor, Department of Political Science at the University of Michigan, the challenge for any third-party effort is that the laws as written by the two parties discourage a third party from emerging.

“Unlike other advanced democracies, the U.S. makes it difficult to form a third party,” Hutchings told Atlanta Black Star, noting the winner-take-all system in which a party wins with a majority of the votes and not a plurality.

“The people who are there want to keep it that way,” he said.Ultimately, because the rules do not favor a third party, “the third party would ultimately have to replace one of the two parties in order for that to happen,” Hutchings added. Although the prospects are difficult, however, he believes such efforts as a Black independent party should be encouraged.

“A case is to be made for a party outside the Democratic or Republican Party. Just as the system is rigged to prevent the rise of a third party, the system is set up as to not be responsive to the interests of African-Americans,” he noted. “It’s set up in part because of the nature of the electorate. 

Most of the voters are white, and given the peculiar history of this country, they are not inclined to embrace the sorts of policies that would be necessary to address longstanding racial inequities,” Hutchings said.

Given that the system will make no substantial efforts to address these intractable forms of inequality, Hutchings said, it makes perfect sense to consider political structures outside the traditional two-party system.

“The issues that African-Americans and others face in this country can be described succinctly: For multiple generations, the United States has afforded privileges to people classified as whites. We are not only living with the residue of that, but the process is going on in 2016. 

The issue is not one about Black disadvantage and inequality, but white advantage and inequality that is sanctioned by the state,” he noted, emphasizing the need to address white supremacy and the privileges afforded to white folks.

“That portion of the population, on balance, will be reluctant to give up that power as a rule. Whites are reluctant to recognize they possess disproportionate advantage and give up anything that would diminish that advantage, and that is whether whites belong to the Republican or Democratic parties,” Hutchings said.

Further, he believes that addressing the concerns of Black people “means taking something away from whites,” which none of the presidential candidates are inclined to do, because “it is not in their political fortunes to do so.”

In addition, the political science scholar views a Black coalition with other groups “as being desirable, though not realistic in the short term.” However, he also noted that “at one time it was unrealistic to consider abolishing slavery or giving women the right to vote. History is peppered with things that were once unrealistic.”

Moreover, there are inherent difficulties to establishing an independent Black party, which would require a great deal of grassroots organizing, funding and internal unity. As Frederick Douglass once said, “If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will.”

For example, as Hurumia Ahati wrote in “An Independent Black Political Party: Posing an Alternative to Asses, Elephants and Rainbows” in the National Black Law Journal in 1988, the party may be labeled as separatist and not desirable for some Black people over being involved in a white-dominated power structure.

Hutchings anticipates some internal barriers to the success of such an organization. “Other Black people will be resistant,” he contends. “Given the depressed disadvantage of many African-Americans, you understand why they cling their allegiance to the Democratic Party, because the other party wants to make things even worse. 

So a solution outside the two-party system has some risks. The risk is that the current allegiance to the current Democratic Party might facilitate the success of the Republican Party,” he noted. “We also risk sticking to the current strategy.  

Things are bad, the Democrats are not going to make them better, and the Republicans will make them worse.  So, pick your poison.”

Blacks are Preoccupied with American Electoral Politics While Self Determination Goes by the Wayside:

by Quincy Jamal Stewart (MAALS Pontiac Chapter Leader)

Here we are, two weeks away from the election and blacks of every ilk are preoccupied with saving Hillary or going into hell with Trump. If we look closely at America's history, we will find that blacks in particular and the poor in general have been a political football for decades.

I find it difficult to swallow in my own community when independent thinking is shunned and the only way to be heard is to submit to the group think of political correctness. One example would be Obama.

Speak critically of Obama and many blacks are ready to form a lynch mob to rid themselves of such a blasphemous ingrate. The fact is that under Obama, war has never ceased, blacks have swarmed the prisons in record numbers and law enforcement and the criminal justice system has increased it's war on blacks replete with murder and unjust incarceration.

Yes, Obama has freed some people from prison but our political prisoners remain behind bars. Their plight is sealed under the fear of white political backlash.

I might add that Hillary Clinton is touted as the most qualified person to ever run for the office. Yet, she has supported the Crime Bill and the Welfare Reform Act to name a couple and touted young blacks as "super predators."

Hilary is presented to us as the lesser of two evils. This nearly insane retort to evil in general is like being a little bit pregnant. Trump is as obvious as the nose on your proverbial face; racist, sexist, overtly war mongering and completely unstable.

To contrast that to Hillary's calm demeanor only equates to the fiery style of Hitler compared to the calm of Ben Carson. Both are insane. More importantly, is the fact that the entire American system, founded on institutionalized white supremacy, in spite of the profound contradictions encountered by slavery and the founding fathers.

Despite their debates over the matter and the pinhole light of decency that emerged through the pulled shade of greed and hatred they ultimately displayed, is yet a sham.

The rich and powerful run this system through money. The elections are not "rigged" as Trump suggests. Something has to be legitimate FIRST in order to rig it. Elections and the so-called "electoral college" which is also a sham, are ruled by those who have the most money.

Certainly we can all go out and vote and numerically we may see some transparency. Votes DO COUNT. But as we saw with Gore in 2000, in the end, when they want someone to win, it happens regardless of your so called "vote."

Here in Michigan, we voted down Public Act 4, which literally stripped even the veneer of democracy from majority black cities. Stripping city councils and mayors of ALL their power to legislate and gave it over to Emergency Managers, people of the lowest character and countenance as monarchs to gentrify and deep cleanse the communities of their resources and bring in the friends and family plan, firing long time workers, denying pensions and hiring outsiders to have those jobs.

Even after Pub Act 4 was voted down by the people of the state, Lansing Republicans and some Democrats by stealth simply wrote another bill, Public Act 436, which was even more despotic than the previous voted-down bill and stripped Pontiac, as an example, of ALL its resources; fire department, police, DPW, all the tax-paid-for trucks, cars, buildings...you name it and now Pontiac is a city ripe for the expansion of deep gentrification of Carthaginian proportions. So much for the vote.

Yet, we cling tenaciously to voting as though it is our ONLY resource. We hearken back to the good old days of the Civil Rights movement as though it was a way of life....Civil rights was a strategy not Buddhism or Kemetic Spirituality.

Civil Rights is not a way of life! Those old washed-up, rough-dried has-beens of the past who urge us to practice posterity instead of intelligent planning and progressive action keep telling us that marching, singing old songs, and begging the system for justice will eventually shake the tree of morality and justice will come falling down like manna from heaven. This too is a hapless myth.

Martin Luther King showed us that this fallacious assumption can't happen in a country that feeds on war and greed. How can one appeal to the moral conscious of a system which has no conscious to appeal to? They killed our most peaceful protagonist in this age-old saga of cat and mouse. They killed him anyway.

What am I saying? Nothing really - I am only suggesting that America is stupid in so many ways. We reveal our stupidity and gullibility by even allowing a circus act, and a poor one at that- like Trump to even enter the discourse let alone run for office.

We equally show our collective ability to be had and bamboozled by a dynasty (Clinton's) of wide-lapeled, double-knit, polyester leisure suit wearing used car salesmen/hucksters who tell us despite serving blacks up for Crime Bills and Welfare reform Acts which have ripple effects Tsunami-style to this very day we should be willing to eat the gruel and drink the piss so long as it comes from a Democrat.

For me, Self Determination; the ability to chart one's own destiny, peacefully when and if possible - to at the very least be in a position where no matter who is in office, our economic self sufficiency is stable and then we aren't, as Comrade George Jackson so aptly put it, "at the whim and caprice of the system."

Are Chaldean merchants who control our communities economically worried about who is in office as long as we buy from them? Are the Koreans who do our nails?

As long as the cottage industry of black economic exploitation exists and as long as black complicit behavior patterns and apathy exists with it, we depend on a system which has historically exploited us, while those who exploit us locally depend on us.

Vote. Go ahead. But as the song says, "after tonight, Will you still love me, tomorrow?" No pimp answers that one.