“A House Divided”
By Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy on July 13, 2009 at 12:01 PM in Civil Liberties & Rights, Civil Rights, Gay Rights
After the 2008 election, when Proposition 8 passed in California, it was noted that that 7 out of 10 African Americans voted FOR Proposition 8 in California, a voting bloc that clearly helped the passage of Prop 8. I have been attacked for mentioning this stat before, but it is a FACT that cannot be glossed over. To do so is a form of - dare I say it? - racism. It happened, and cannot be denied.
There was an article recently in the NY Times that addressed this very issue, Civil Rights Group Divided Over Gay Marriage:
The Southern Christian Leadership Conference, the 50-year-old civil rights organization founded by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and others, is seeking to remove the president of its Los Angeles chapter in response to his support of same-sex marriage in California.The effort by the Atlanta-based organization is meeting stiff resistance in Los Angeles from both the board of the local chapter, whose chairman is secretary of the state’s Democratic Party, and the City Council president.
During the battle last fall over Proposition 8, an amendment to the State Constitution that banned same-sex marriage, the chapter’s president, the Rev. Eric P. Lee, was more than a tangential figure for the opposition. He was front and center at an opposition group’s large rally at City Hall and marched in the blazing sun for 15 miles in Fresno. Many other local African-American pastors prepared mailings featuring church leaders in support of the proposition and linking their views to Barack Obama, then the Democratic nominee for president.Mr. Lee “was very helpful to us,” said Rick Jacobs, head of the Courage Campaign, a left-leaning political action group in Los Angeles that fought the initiative.
While the Mormon Church raised a great deal of the money in support of the proposition, the role of African-American churches, and their voting parishioners, was not insignificant. The Edison/Mitofsky exit poll in California found that 70 percent of black voters backed the ban, which passed with 52 percent of the vote.
And there ya have it. Yes, the Mormon Church pumped a lot of money in to support Prop 8, but evidently, they were not alone. You know, it would be great if every group that experienced discrimination supported every other group that faced it, but it just isn’t the case. Everyone has their prejudices, unfortunately. It would be wonderful if we DID all bad together, a lovely ideal, but not the reality in which we live. And apparently, Mr. Lee is on the receiving end of the prejudice of one group against another:
Mr. Lee said that his opposition to Proposition 8 “created tension in my life I had never experienced with black clergy.”“But it was clear to me,” he added, “that any time you deny one group of people the same right that other groups have that is a clear violation of civil rights and I have to speak up on that.”
Amen to that. I couldn’t agree more. He might want to try and convince Donna Brazile of that, a concept with which she completely disagrees (you may recall that she would not allow GLBT people to be a part of the Civil Rights delegates at the DNC Convention because being LGBT is not a civil rights issue to her.). Mr. Lee’s story continues:
In April, Mr. Lee attended a board meeting of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in Kansas City, Mo., and found himself once again in the minority position among his colleagues on the issue of same-sex marriage, but he was told, he said, by the group’s interim president, Byron Clay, that the organization publicly had a neutral position on the issue.So a month later, Mr. Lee said, he was surprised to receive a call from the National Board of Directors summoning him immediately to Atlanta to explain why he had taken a position on same-sex marriage without the authority of the national board.
Explaining that he was unable to come to Atlanta on such short notice, Mr. Lee then received two letters from the organization’s lawyer, Dexter M. Wimbish, threatening him with suspension or removal as president of the Los Angeles chapter if he did not come soon to explain himself.
Oh, dear. That’s not good for Mr. Lee. Sounds like they were mighty unhappy with him:
Mr. Wimbish did not return calls to his office, nor did the Rev. Raleigh Trammell, chairman of the organization’s national board. A woman who identified herself as Renee Richardson left a voice-mail message for a reporter, saying the organization did not “discuss internal matters.” She did not return follow-up calls.The issue attracted the attention of the president of the Los Angeles City Council, Eric Garcetti, who wrote to the board in support of Mr. Lee.
Because chapters of the leadership conference operate autonomously and presidents are picked by local boards, it is not clear that the national organization has the authority to remove Mr. Lee from his post, which he has held for two years.
“It’s been our position that the local board hired him,” said Reginald Byron Jones-Sawyer, chairman of the local board and secretary of the California Democratic Party. “And, in fact, we are also the ones that approved his stance on the position of marriage equality. We have asked the national board if we have violated any procedures, and we have not gotten an answer.”
Good for them for standing up for Mr. Lee! And, by extension, the LGBT community. Well done, I’d say. And back to Mr. Lee:
Mr. Lee, the former pastor of In His Steps, an African-American Wesleyan church in Los Angeles that he described as “very conservative,” said he saw failures both in the leadership of the conference (“Dr. King would be turning over in his grave right now,” he said) and the largely white anti-Proposition 8 movement that did not more actively seek the support of church-going African-Americans.“The black church played a significant role in Proposition 8 passing,” Mr. Lee said. “The failure of the campaign was to presume that African-Americans would see this as a civil rights issue.”
Sad, but true. Like I said, groups facing discrimination don’t just immediately band together with each other. It would be fantastic if we all did, but it is a romantic notion at this time, not reality. One day perhaps, but that day is not yet upon us.
Recently, I saw SONiA, who opened for Jonatha Brooke at the Woody Guthrie Festival in Okemah, OK. (Some of you may know her from her band, “disappear fear.”) Since we just celebrated Independence Day, and in light of the Prop 8 discussion, as well as the HOPE for the day when we do all band together in the fight for Civil Rights, I’d like to share a video of a song SONiA performed this past week. It seems most appropriate for the times:
Amen, sister. We all have our battles, and it would sure be a lot easier if we could see past the planks in our own eyes while picking at the speck in our neighbor’s. One day, some day, the fight for Civil Rights will no longer need to be fought, but that day is not today.
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AOL polls trash Obama ………..
http://news.aol.com/article/obama-approval-rating-in-july/567643?icid=main
Dontcha love the 60% who claim their opinion of Obama has WORSENED?? Uh, yeah…Mine, too, though I didn’t think that was possible…
jbjd, once again, you hit the nail on the head. And yeah- judging from the college photos of Obama that have shown up, I think that is a most apt expression…
You post that with such apparent glee. Why in the world would you think it even worth mentioning? What is worth mentioning is when AOL polls *do* support a Democrat, not when they DON’T.
Because you Obamabots mentioned AOL polls at every possible opportunity during the run-up to the election. You were all about polls then. What happened, Goob, did you actually come to the realization that they represent only data (and a lot of manipulation)? Did it suddenly occur to you that your adored one is only humna after all?
Hahahaha. You earned this one, troll. Your man is plummeting in YOUR polls.
And why do you, Guggles, mention that polls are not reliable, when it was you, specifically, that said they do not so long ago.
Live by data, die by data.
“Glee”? No, surprise that so many people are finally “getting it.” And AOL polls are not scientific, I know, but I don’t agree with your assessment abt it being a surprise when they support Dems. I have AOL, and up until 5/31/08, WAS a Dem, so I paid attention to those things…
AOL has more Democrats than Republicans just look at the blogs and the posts. Yes, they have their share of Republicans, but they have millions of members. You can’t expect them all, when that isn’t the reality of the make-up of this country, to be all Democrats. They also hated Bush.
Obama was the winner according to AOL almost every week. McCain was only winning a few times. It was very close. The vote was a lot closer than what it actually turned out to be. Then again take out all the fraud from both the primaries and the general elections, and it probably would have been. Hillary was beating them all during the primaries. Plus, when it was down to just the three of them. She could have probably ran as an Independent and took it all. I’ll always believe that.
Obama’s numbers are tanking in other polls as well. Most of those polls are set up to question 2 times the amount of Democrats as Republicans. With very few Independents. Which in no way reflects the actual breakdown in this country by party.
Obama guaranteed he could fix the problems. They’re not being fixed, the Economy continues to tank. Unemployment continues to rise. Food, utility prices, gas prices, once again rising. Affecting who? The Poor! They shut Republicans completely out when it came to Economic talks. Health Care. They taxed cigarettes by almost a dollar. Harming who? America’s poorest. Now they’re talking about taxing everything from a soda, to a bag of chips. Only the elite may eat/dink these things. Do these things.
Do you honestly believe/think because they’re poor they don’t know that? The poorest are going to be paying for the elite’s children to get special health care with all these new taxes. Their children aren’t going to be getting all the special tests, new medications. Because they won’t be able to afford a second plan to cover what the first one doesn’t. Please!
Or how about how they’re talking now about our elderly? People who have heart attack and strokes. Only 18% of them actually make it through so they should just consider not trying to revive them, and just make them comfortable till they pass. Is this what you want for your Mother? Father? Or how about this new Science Czar with his forced abortions to control population growth. Or forcing people to be sterilized. Who will that affect? The elite? Yeah right. The poor. Yes, I can see how great this is going for the poor.
You don’t think they see the broken promises? The let them eat cake mentality being put on display? They don’t see the reality of what is happening as they loose their minimum wage jobs…as 4 x the amount of AA’s are loosing their jobs, more than any other race in this country. As homes continue to be lost.
Health Care is tanking. Blue dog Democrats know the tides are turning and the charisma and charm have ran out. Cap and Trade has many countries backing out, so it’s falling through. Now they’re talking about taxing those making under 250K. Read my lips, no new taxes for those making under 250K.
People are waking up to what they were deceived into believing. They’re not stupid as to all the broken campaign promises, the backtracks, the out and out lies. It’s all standing right in front of their face and giving them a reality check.
Give it a rest James. Change YOU can believe in, “Just Words”. He too busy still campaigning, being a star, going out on dates to be an effective president. Which is exactly what his handlers want. They tell him exactly what to say and when. They write all his speeches. His answers to questions. We have yet to hear Obama in his own words because the few times he’s spoke them he’s opened his mouth and inserted his foot. No less than Biden. They won’t let him talk without giving him the answers, which is why they pre-screen all his questions.
R3A, one way in which the ‘liberal’ white establishment gone ga ga for BO gave itself away was in its ignorance that blacks tend to be conservative when it comes to gays. That is, they voted for BO to prove their liberalism, or assuage their guilt, even while as you point out, BO and DB did everything but shout out, we are not too keen on gays. (Ever hear the expression, on the down low?)
Wow so now blame blacks for Prop H8. After this article?
http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2009/07/11/whats-wrong-with-this-picture/
NQ should feel ashamed to mention homophobia.
Pure concentrated hate and not one front pager will denounce it. Of course, racism, sexism and homophobia is all great when directed towards the President.
Spare me the sanctimony, Bob. Obama is the one who continues to demonstrate homophobia, which you would know if you paid any attention at ALL to what he has really done (or not) for the GLBT community. He associates with known homophobes, like James Meeks, for example, his confidant and good buddy.
It is simply astonishing that you are unwilling to even acknowledge the FACTS of what happened in CA, and the fallout now occurring to Mr. Lee, abt whom the NY Times article was. Or is the NY Times now a raging racist rag, too?
As I said, racism, sexism and homophobia is just fine to you provided it is directed at the friends and family of the President.
You look like a drag queen and your whiskers are off putting. If it is ok to say that of Michelle Obama and if you believe that article is justifiable then it is ok to say it about you.
Ad hominems are not accepted here, Bob.
And I haven’t said jack abt Michelle. Take your attacks elsewhere.
You have convinced me, the article was really good. I guess you mean we should fight against civil rights.
So I especially liked the attack on those with aspergers. When combined with the racism, homophobia and sexism, it was a well rounded article. Full of hate. Which bit of it did you like?
The comments completely set the tone, didn’t they?
How is RRRAmy responsible for that other article?
If you have an issue with that article take it up on that thread.
As far as the right to marry. Obama’s voice was on my CA answering machine with a taped answer noting his lack of support for gay marriage. Follow by applause. The line was taken from a debate or one of his stump speeches.
Obama could have stopped that type of push call from being used to support Prop 8. He didn’t.
He could have stood up for gay rights…he didn’t.
All he does is limited lip service. Wow…a politician that just talks about it and does nothing to support it. Nothing new there….except for people like you who think Obama should be excused for his lack of action.
And just for good measure. How many gay translators have been let go as a result of DADT? Those military losses don’t make me feel more secure because Obama doesn’t have a spine where gay issues are concerned.
Pointing out the divide in the AA over gay rights is one of many articles RRRAmy has offered on the subject.
Take your offense to the other thread it has no place here.
Clearly you have a reading comprehension problem, Bob. Nowhere in her article or replies to you did Amy say anything in defense of yesterday’s article by a DIFFERENT AUTHOR! Stick to the topic at hand, if you’re capable …
Any dispute to the fact that AA’s contributed 70% of their vote to pass Prop 8?
Any dispute to the fact that there is CLEARLY a fight going on in the AA community at large and specifically in roles of leadership over treating the issue of gay rights as civil rights? Anything?
Didn’t think so. Much easier to deflect.
I think pointing out Obama being a hypocrite was entirely called for yesterday. Not the attacks on Michelle and I HAVE spoken out about those many times here.
I also think you’re a hypocrite. Where was your outrage on what was being done to Hillary and Sarah and their children?????
I noticed how everyone is up in arms about an article yesterday on Free Republic to which a DEMOCRAT was posting nasty things about the president’s daughter to purposely try and draw out hate speech. Oh the OUTRAGE! The party of hate.
Yet, not one of those people in their outrage saw anything wrong with making Sarah Palin’s infant look like a monster. Posting pictures of him with a coat hanger. They were all for that. No, no hypocrisy there. Or perhaps you could point out to us one of your many outraged posts???
Letterman gave a half ass apology for talking about someone raping her youngest daughter. Olbermann and his comment about Hillary needing to go into a wood shed. Or how about saying Chelsea was being pimped out. Where was the outrage then? There was none, it’s perfectly fine when it’s coming out of MSNBC, when it’s being done by Democrats. Take your HYPOCRITICAL BS and peddle it someplace else. OBAMA was the Hypocrite, still is, and calling him on that is JUST.
Where is the homophobia and hate in that other article, or comments?
RRRAmy — you have to check this out…
It’s time for Barack Obama to let Hillary Clinton take off her burqa. http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-07-13/obamas-other-wife-1/
I’m from CA, my entire family still lives there, and Bob, the indications are correct, face the truth, it’s only about homophobia. “It happened, and cannot be denied.”
I was in San Francisco the last weekend of June, lots and lots of people.
I hope Hillary resigns soon and teams up with Sarah Palin to bring patriotism back in style. I feel safer having Hillary as SOS, but I think the disaster Obama will hurt her career in the long run.
I hope both these ladies leave their parties and form their own. It’s time for a new party, to dismantle both the parties of HATE. Hillary does not belong in the party of these New Democrats and Sarah doesn’t belong in the party of Far Right. BTW did you hear that Sarah is going to be campaigning not only for Republicans that share her views, but Blue Dog Democrats that do.
CA here.
This is interesting:
John Dean said the same thing on his blog.
Apparently it’s now all the fault of the white population for not clearly explaining the civil rights issue to the black population. I was wondering how the blame would shift.
And I don’t believe that for one minute.
Hey, CG -
Thanks for the link. Very informative article - as I am sure you know, I am glad for Hillary as SOS as the one adult in the room, but it does irk me that she is treated so disparately. I am not surprised by it, mind you - I knew from the get-go that this was how it was going to be, but still - irritating.
Thanks again!
Thank you for the excellent post, Rev. Amy.
This issue was a known fact back in Nov, but like you said, only us “racists” pointed it out!
Heterophobia is a far bigger problem than homophobia. And good for African-American voters in California. They did the right thing.
Why are you kneeling at the end of someone’s bed as a reason to deny them marriage?
Ah, so bigotry is A-OK with you, Goob, so long as it doesn’t interfere with your own bigotry. I love it when you allegedly enlightened ones actually come out of the closet and spew your Neanderthal droppings for all to smell.
That is because you are a coprophagous creature
ADMIN: That’s enough, Bob. Not only have you provided a fake email address, reason enough to ban you from this site, you continue to hurl ad hominems at both the writer and other readers after Rev. Amy warned you to stop doing so. Consequently, you are hereby banned.
and this is a problem on WHAT planet??AS IF!!!
I live in an urban area where about 48% of the population is AA so I’ve been aware for a long time that, generally speaking, they tend to be cultural conservatives.
Still, I was surprised that Prop 8 passed in CA. I wonder though if it’s fair to single out AAs, as I suspect Hispanic voters, who also generally tend to be culturally-conservative, were also a factor. I would be interested in any demographic data about them as a voting bloc vis a vis Prop 8.
here’s the LA Times reporting that 70% of AAs were for prop 8
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2008/11/70-of-african-a.html
I do actually have that link at the very beginning of the post, but thanks for putting it in again. It’s not like I make this stuff up or anything!
Patience, you are absolutely correct - the Hispanic population also had a majority vote against gay marriage. It was a smaller percentage, though. If you do a search on NQ, they had several articles about it that mentioned the percentage.
I don’t think Amy is trying to single out AA’s on Prop 8. I think she’s stringing together pieces of evidence that point out the continuing struggle of the AA community to see gay rights as civil rights.
Thanks so much for your response. I didn’t mean to come off as critical of Rev. Amy’s excellent and larger point: AAs’ failure to recognize LGBT issues as civil rights.
For what it’s worth, I didn’t think you were criticizing me. And I have addressed the issue of Hispanics and Prop 8 previously. I was specifically discussing the AA community because it was the focus of this article, ad in terms of the whole Civil Rights discussion.
Thanks for the good comments!
I makes me crazy when I hear AAs talk about the sanctity of marriage and how they read it in the Bible. Most don’t even get married. Huge numbers of kids are born to single mothers. Isn’t it just a little hypocritical to say that gays and lesbians would ruin marriage if you don’t even practice it yourself?
When I hear reports that AAs are “too conservative” to accept gay marriage I say those are code words for homophobic and anti-gay. But no one wants to accuse AAs of any kind of prejudice (not pc).
It makes me just as crazy when right wing religos also say gay and lesbian marriage threatens marriage. How? Only divorce, abuse, infidelity threaten marriage; not other people who are married (or want to get married).
Here are some facts:
African Americans are the most un-partnered group in America. Census figures show that 43 percent of African Americans have never married compared to 25 percent of whites who have never married. About four out of every 10 African American men and women had never been married, the highest proportion of any racial category.
US Census 2003
Black children are only half as likely as white children to be living in a two-parent household and are eight times more likely than white children to live with an unwed mother. For black children under six, the most common arrangement applying to 42 percent of them was to live with a never married mother.
Maggie Gallagher, The Abolition of Marriage
In Hamilton County in 2002, 73 percent of births to African American women were out of wedlock compared to 26.5 percent of unmarried white women.
Tennessee Department of Health
So what are they “protecting” marriage from?
They aren’t protecting anything but their own irresponsibility. Shame on them.
RRRA: Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
With a gay brother and father-in-law and at the prospect of being called racist, I’ll give my two-cents worth. Blacks are only for civil rights when such rights do not include gays or any other minority which might take away their claim to be the “lead” minority. I said it and mean it. The indifference to which blacks, as a whole, have to other minorities is nothing short of hypocritical. They can’t be for equality and at the same time vote nay for the rights of others without being called on it. They are just as prejudiced as any Southerner ever was only worse, because we expect more from them. This is such crap.
I am.
I did not finish my thought-mea culpa. I am angry at the prospect of more lies and subterfuge; more histrionics and diversion. We are only as equal as the least among us.
Thank you Ferd. I read your post on a previous blog about the work discrimination you felt as a male. I was struck by how similar your experience was to mine on the same subject and I am a woman.
You’re exactly right. We should be supporting each other. Every day is a struggle in some way for all of us. We are all in the same boat and should be all rowing together.
Ellen:
I concur–we should be supporting each other. It should all be based upon merit. I don’t mind working harder if that means someone who is deserving gets ahead of the game. I just don’t like it when someone undeserving does so and makes me work harder. I hire the best, irrespective of race or gender because they are part of my team and I want only the best working with me.
Ferd, we are completely on the same page!
Congressman John Lewis (D. Ga.) is quoted as having said, “We may have come over to this country on different ships, but we’re all in the same boat now.” Words to live by.
Oh, poor, poor put-upon Gianni.
What world do you live in that heterophobia is a “far bigger problem”??
I’d point out the 7-in-10 number includes African American gays. Presumably ‘out’ black gays voted No. So the actual number of black straights voting Yes on Prop 8 is higher than 70%.
But as for blame, I place the blame on poor strategy by our gay leadership. Our priority should be basic gay rights in the Bible Belt instead of marriage in California.
The major black Civil Rights battles were fought in the deep south — in the heart of klan country. Gays are still focused on our ’safe havens’ in California and NY. Blacks marched on Washington. Gays marched on Washington. But Blacks marched in Alabama too. Where is the gay ‘Selma March?’ The gay ‘Freedom Riders?’
On Prop 8, the Right attacked us in ‘gay territory’ from their base in the Bible Belt. We’ll never get national equality until we go after them in their territory — with our biggest weapon: Coming Out.
Excellent point. Thank you!
And SHV, thank you - I have had those stats abt Hispanics in a previous post. As noted in this post, the stats abt the AA vote came from the LA Times.
Hispanics and Prop 8:
As a whole:
53 percent of Hispanics voted yes; 52% of the electorate voted yes.
By gender:
54% of Hispanic males voted yes. 53% of males voted yes.
52% of both Hispanic women and women in general voted yes.
By age:
59% of Hispanics age 18-29 voted no; 61% of 18-29-year-olds voted no.
60% of Hispanics age 30-44 voted yes; 55% of 30-44-year-olds voted yes.
57% of Hispanics age 45-64 voted yes; 54% of 45-64-year-olds voted yes.
There was not enough data to compare Hispanics 65 and over to all voters 65 and over.
By religion (not specific to Hispanics):
64% of Catholics voted yes
65% of Protestants voted yes
90% of non-religious voted no.
84% weekly churchgoers voted yes
54% of occasional churchgoers voted no
83% of people who’ve never been to church voted no
********
Age and Religion were the major factors.
The 70% “yes” vote by AAs on exit polling may be an over estimate…later surveys indicate a mid-50% yes vote by AAs. I have seen no breakdown of the AA vote by age or religious status.
As noted in this post, the stats abt the AA vote came from the LA Times.
********
IIRC those numbers were from a CNN exit poll. The point that was made by people doing the later surveys was that the exit poll was weighted toward older AA votes since older voters tend to vote absentee and vote early in the AM..
I think the best news in the demographic breakdown is the age in relation to the vote. If nothing else, time is on the side of gay civil rights.
SHV, I am not disputing your stats, but it is always a good idea to provide a link to them so others can verify them for themselves, or use them at another date. Thanks.
And RKStone, the issue is more one of Civil Rights in general, a point I thought I made. If I was unclear on that, I apologize. I do not blame AAs solely for the passage of Prop 8, and nowhere did I do so. Nor was that the focus of the article in general, which I did think was clear.
Black people make up only a very small part of the California electorate. By far, the vast majority of people who voted for Prop. 8 were not black. Blaming black people as a group for the passage of Prop. 8 is wrong, in my humble opinion.
To be vocal about your own civil rights, but then to deny them to others, suggests to me that they aren’t really understanding what civil rights are - they’re only interested in looking out for themselves.
To me, the point is the hypocrisy, not that they were the largest group of people swaying the vote.
Black people make up only a very small part of the California electorate.
********
You are right. No matter the % of AAs voting for or against, they couldn’t have determined the outcome. The “tin-foil(?)” explanation that I have seen about AA’s passed prop 8 is that the LDS Church was getting so much bad press for their support of prop 8, that the back-lash was redirected to the AA vote.
That’s such bull. When you have a community that only makes up about 10% of the total population, but 70% of them vote in one manner or the other, that IS enough to help determine an election.
Looking at the numbers:
Whites made up 63% of the electorate; Hispanics, 18%; African-Americans, 10%; Asians, 6%; and others, 3%.
By Y/N percentage (an “N” being in favor of keeping same-sex marriage): Whites voted 49/51; Hispanics, 53/47; African-Americans, 70/30; Asians, 49/51; and others, 51/49.
Taking those numbers and extrapolating to a sample base of 10,000 voters, we get
6300 White voters (3087 Yes; 3213 No)
1800 Hispanic voters (954 Yes; 846 No)
1000 African-American voters (700 Yes; 300 No)
600 Asian voters (294 Yes; 306 No)
300 “Other” voters (151 Yes; 149 No)
These figures give us a total of 5186 voting Yes and 4814 voting No–a margin of difference of merely 372 votes. IF the African-American vote had been split with the same level as the Hispanic vote (53/47), the African-American vote would’ve been 530 Yes and 470 No–for a grand total of 5016 Yes and 4984 No (which would’ve still resulted in an overturning of same-sex marriage). NOW, let’s consider the African-American vote had been split the same as the White vote (49/51); that would’ve resulted in an African-American vote going 490 Yes and 510 No–for a grand total of 4976 Yes and 5024 No (resulting in the continued legality of same-sex marriage in California). If the African-American vote had been the same as the “Other” (51/49), we’d have an African-American vote of 510 Yes to 490 No–for a grand total of 4996 Yes and 5004 No (again, resulting in the continued legality of same-sex marriage).
The simple fact is that EVERY SINGLE VOTE COUNTS in any election. More importantly, when any single bloc of voters votes overwhelmingly in one manner, that bloc CAN contribute significantly to an election result. You might note that even among voters 65 and over–at 15% of the total vote, just slightly larger than the African-American vote–didn’t vote as lopsidedly. The only groups to vote against same-sex marriage with larger percentages were (1) identify as Conservative, (2) identify as Republican, (3) voted for McCain, (4) military background, and (5) identify as approving of Bush. Of those groups, only the military background voters were under 80%. Conversely, the only groups voting to support same-sex marriage by more than 70% were Jewish voters, non-religious voters and LGBT voters; Jewish and LGBT voters only made up 5% of their respective “relgion” and “sexual orientation” categories and non-religious voters made up 16% of “religion” category. Jews voted 78% to support same-sex marriage; “No religion” voters went 90% in support; LGBT voters were 98% in favor.
One could ask why LGBT weren’t 100% in favor, but the fact is that not all LGBT people support marriage equality. But, when you’ve only got 2% of the vote of only 5% of the population, you’re really not dealing with very many. Using our 10,000 voter sample, that’s only 10 people (that’s right–TEN). 5% of 10,000 is only 500 and 2% of 500 is 10. Compared to 1000 African-American voters where 700 voted against same-sex marriage, a mere TEN LGBT voters is really nothing. (Even a 100% vote favoring same-sex marriage among the LGBT community wouldn’t have had the same effect on the outcome if the African-American community had been split even as closely as the Hispanic community. Had the African-American community vote been split at the White/Asian level or the “Other” level, then the fault could’ve been laid at the feet of the LGBT opponents of same-sex marriage.
It’s about the AA community sharing the benifits of their special status re: civil rights with anyone. It’s about affirmative action, schools and jobs and their special feeling of victimhood that brings so many benifits and have done so for the last 50 years. Two generations of AAs have benifited from affirmative action and now we have an AA president. Where there should be a feeling of accomplishment at a goal acheived there is instead worry that special treatments will be taken away and AAs will find themselves advancing only by their merits and hard work on that level playing field with everyone else. It’s about the money. In the privacy of black churches these things are discussed. That’s why the churches matter. They don’t care about the bedroom any more or less than anyone else does.
Maybe the bottom line is that when you get something given to you, the value is not like when you work, sweat and even die for it. It is clear to me that the AA’s who led the civil rights movement have a far different perspective on the gains for AAs than the younger AA’s who have been recipients of major affirmative action programs at colleges, universities, public employment and even corporate outreach.
No one is more racist than the native Ameican indian, former slave populations come next, religious nuts are third, asians come fourth, as for Latino’s does the term “La Raza” mean anything to you?
White folks are racist but know it’s wrong yet cannot seem to understand that even should every white stop being racist the other races will still hate them.
Racism = stupidity.
No one is more racist than the native American indian, former slave populations come next, religious nuts are third, asians come fourth, as for Latino’s does the term “La Raza” mean anything to you?
White folks are racist but know it’s wrong yet cannot seem to understand that even should every white stop being racist the other races will still hate them.
Racism = stupidity.