The “Outlook” section of today’s Washington Post has an interesting article by black journalist Jonetta Rose Barras arguing that Sharpton failed so miserably not because of his own failings but because “black politics are finished.”
Sharpton’s poor showing reflects the evolution of a new kind of black electorate. This is a constituency that no longer views itself as separate from the broader political dynamics of the country, constantly needing to play the victim in order to gain entrance.
….
But that era of indiscriminate black politics is over. “We’re at a different point in the life cycle of black empowerment and black politics,” says Democratic pollster Ron Lester. “The fact that you’re black is less important today than it was 10 or 15 years ago.”
….
The African Americans I talk to in my work as a journalist don’t want to be marginalized. They believe that subscribing to racial politics in the 21st century does that. They want to be full participants in the game. Where once their world revolved around the many faces of discrimination, these days they are focused on the same issues as other Americans — the economy, education, health, public safety and housing.
How interesting. If Barras is right, it would appear that the hotbeds of racial sensitivity and corresponding racial slights that are our college campuses today — which are the direct result of trumpeting the importance of race conscious preferences so that victims can gain entrance — may be the last real ghettos in America.
Hopefully, that is true. Academics are always the last to get it. They are so full of themselves that they fail to perceive that the world has changed around them. When I went to college, all of the academics were “Marxists”. The only concession to the realities of the world that they were willing to make was that the implementation of Marxism, i.e., Communism, had not been done correctly. They could not fathom that Marxism/Communism was a failed ideology because it relied on force to implement an economic system that went against basic human nature.
There is a lot of racial obsession on college campuses these days. Racial preferences in admissions are only a small part of that.
New generation, 60s is over.
Let’s face it, AA brings home the point that at least 2 generations will never know if they got their job because of talent and hard work or color to be a mark on the paper.
I hope she is right in her assessment. It would be a great advance for the country if the victimized class comes to the conclusion that the game is over and it’s time to move on.
Here’s hoping that this author is correct!
I think that she is. And the day when our country can really mothball this obsessive fixation on race can NOT come too soon for me.
In comparing Sharpton to Jesse Jackson in 1988, I do think the article may too easily dismiss that Sharpton is an overall much weaker, unpopular candidate than was Jackson. I’m using data scoured from various, possibly unreliable, internet sources, so this is “for entertainment purposes only,” but some of the numbers I’ve come up with are:
7,000,000 primary votes for Jackson in 1988
3,400,000 (49%) of those were cast by white voters, according to exit polls
96,558 primary votes to present for Sharpton
415,000 (very rough) projected total primary votes for Sharpton
Even with black voters opting for other candidates, Sharpton would perform respectably were he to win over those 3.4 million white voters, but he hasn’t been able to, suggesting an overall weakness as a candidate which may partially account for why black voters support him much less than they did Jackson.
Blacks entered the middle class in droves in the past 30 years. Middle class people are too busy acquiring homes, taking vacations and just enjoying life to engage in the politics of resentment.
The next step will be blacks departing the Democratic party for a more independent stance. When you’ve got money, redistribution of income doesn’t seem like such a great idea.
Sharpton is a terrible example on which to base this theory. He’s a much worse candidate in every respect than Jackson was.
At the same time, this is the most uplifting article on the subject I’ve ever read. Even if her basis is weak, I hope her theory is right.
Stephen, you might find interesting a table I generated from census data, tracking the poverty rate among blacks and whites for the 30 years between 1972 and 2002. The white poverty rate remained fairly constant at around ten percent, but while the black poverty rate was somewhat stable for the first 20 years of this period (note that the black poverty rates in 1972 and 1992 were identical), since 1993 there has been steady improvement.
Also interesting is that from 1972 to 2002, the number of whites living below the poverty line increased by 45%, while the number of blacks in poverty increased only 12%.