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AFRICAN AMERICANS AND POLITICAL PARTIES

AFRICAN AMERICANS AND POLITICAL PARTIES

Historically, it seems the Democrat party has been "home" to African-American voters, at least since the days of the New Deal and Franklin Roosevelt. Yet, party leaders seem somehow loath to aggressively designate African-American voters. Some party leaders (unidentified in Frymer) "argue for downplaying the African American agenda and focusing on the white median voter" (Frymer 44).

African Americans may not be aggressively sought after because they don't vote in the same large numbers that white Jewish voters and senior citizens do. I see proof of that in the recent California recall election. While efforts were made by Jesse Jackson and others to get out the African American vote, these voters did not turn out in large enough numbers to keep Arnold Schwarzenegger from winning the election.

It seems reasonable that there are African Americans who wield political and economic power. Colin Powell, though not really liked by white conservative Republicans, is one example. So is Justice Clarence Thomas. And, so, to a lesser extent, is the Congressional Black Caucus. But, what Frymer calls "The Capture of Black Interests" (40), is not a priority for many party officials who, according to Frymer, base their prioritizing on their own racial attitudes. Their major objective is to elect their party's candidates, especially the winner-take-all Presidency. To do that, party leaders will have an incentive to "target the moderate voters occupying ideological positions roughly equivalent to the two major partiers" (30). If this is so, Frymer seems to assume that African American voters are not moderates. This brings up a few questions that need some answers: Are African American voters generally predisposed to the status quo? Do they generally vote Democratic because their parents and grandparents did? And, further, is there any way to encourage and increase the numbers of black voter...

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AFRICAN AMERICANS AND POLITICAL PARTIES. (1969, December 31). In LotsofEssays.com. Retrieved 01:58, March 29, 2024, from https://www.lotsofessays.com/viewpaper/1706554.html