What’s at stake in Tuesday’s historic Indiana primary?
”The people of this country have been pulled apart. There are deep divisions between the races and between the generations. Not all of the people have a decent job. Some of the people haven’t got a job at all. Some of them don’t have good schools for their children. Some of them don’t have a place you could call a home.”
The words of Sens. Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton? No. The words of Sen. Robert Kennedy, from a campaign ad in the Indianapolis Recorder during the last time a Democratic presidential primary meant something in Indiana — in 1968.
Tuesday’s election literally will determine which Democrat faces Republican Sen. John McCain in November. Because African-Americans disproportionately vote in Democratic primaries, and because 42 percent of Indiana’s African-American voters live in Indianapolis, our community will literally help make history.
And as much as Obama didn’t want it and Clinton will deny it — race — the deep, nasty scar hidden behind America’s glistening façade has entered into the Obama/Clinton campaign — with a vengeance.
It’s bad enough that Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita is gleeful because his straightjacket, heinous Voter ID Law will deny the vote to scores of Hoosiers Tuesday. Its worse that a Supreme Court dominated by Bush appointees, including Uncle (Clarence) Thomas upheld a bad law, the way the court upheld Plessy vs. Ferguson.
The surprise was that because they’re in a fierce fight for the hearts and minds of white working class voters, neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama condemned the court’s deeply divided and convoluted opinion.
The mainstream, white press hasn’t wanted to discuss the impact of race in the Obama/Clinton race. But on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” veteran journalist Andrea Mitchell, who has been covering Clinton’s campaign said bluntly, “I think racism is a real factor here. It is what you see in some of (Obama’s) failure to connect with a particular sector of the electorate. You hear these things from voters when you talk to them. ‘Oh, I heard that he’s not really a Christian.’ ‘Oh, well, he didn’t, you know, put his hand over his heart.’ All this willingness to believe totally erroneous things about Barack Obama, which begins to congeal, and I think it’s a problem.”
And the non-stop coverage on the cable news networks of Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s reemergence didn’t help.
The real issue is that racial discrimination is a cancer eating away at our society. It has corrupted not only our ideals and principles but our aims and purposes as well. We need a moral resolution by all Americans to practice what they preach. To carry out the promises of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Politicians come and go. The moral law remains.”
Obama’s words? Clinton’s? Rev. Wright’s?
No. Sen. Eugene McCarthy from his 1968 Recorder advertisement.
Forty years after Kennedy and McCarthy campaigned here, the issues are still the same between two candidates; one a child of the 1960s, an activist, former first lady of Arkansas and America, senator from New York; the other a child of the ‘70s from a mixed marriage, raised in multi-cultural environments, an activist, Illinois and United States senator.
The issues are the same in 2008 as 1968; an unjust war, a teetering economy, rickety education system and racial, sexual, ethnic and religious intolerance.
Barack Obama is expected to receive the lion’s share of votes from our African-American community. Including mine. And he’ll need every one.
Obama and Clinton aren’t the only names on Tuesday’s ballot.
My Recorder column predecessor in 1968, the legendary Andrew Ramsey, said it best then: “The election of members of the state Legislature and a representative in Congress is also more important than a vote for either (of the presidential candidates).”
Like you, I’m torn over which Democrat to pick to face Gov. Mitch Daniels.
Architect Jim Schellinger is a qualified, decent, principled man. But I’m not sure he can handle the tough political battle against Daniels.
Former Congresswoman and government official Jill Long Thompson can handle the political battle against Daniels, but does she have the executive experience and sophistication to run state government?
I’m undecided and will be so until Tuesday.
But I’m not undecided in the Marion County coroner’s race. I’ve known Dr. Frank Lloyd Jr., for all my 33 years in Indianapolis. A dedicated, principled man, Lloyd is a quality physician who’s given back to the community in countless areas. His opponent, John Linehan, has ignored African-Americans in this campaign.
Dr. Lloyd will care for all persons and community. I wholeheartedly support him for coroner.
Finally, from 1968, voting advice from Andrew Ramsey:
“There will be the temptation to vote for one of the presidential candidates and either ignore or vote unthinkingly for the school candidates. The type of education which the children of Indianapolis receive is more important than the choice of presidential candidates.”
I couldn’t say it better.
Vote Tuesday. Starting with president. Then turn your ballot over and don’t forget the school board candidates where you live.
What I’m hearing in the streets
The independent media polls this election have done a pretty good job sampling African-Americans. The statewide polls have ranged from 11 percent for Survey USA polls done by Louisville and Cincinnati stations, to 13 percent for polls conducted by the Los Angeles Times and WISH-TV/Channel 8 to 20 percent for this week’s Howey-Gauge Poll.
The only publicly released polls refusing to reveal their Black sampling was Woody Myers’ self-bought, self-serving poll and the poll released last Friday and Sunday by the Indianapolis Star.
The Star and its pollster Selzer & Co.’s refusal to publish the demographic breakdown of their poll violates the American Association of Public Opinion Researchers (AAPOR) Standards of Disclosure which clearly states such information is to be made public.
It was bad enough last October when the Star and its pollster were embarrassed by recalling an inaccurately computed poll in the mayor’s race. Now, the Star and Selzer thumb their noses at the clear, ethical standards of the polling industry.
See ‘ya next week.
Amos Brown’s opinions are not necessarily those of the Indianapolis Recorder Newspaper. You can contact him at (317) 221-0915 or by e-mail at ACBROWN@AOL.COM.
