Black voters are outnumbered by black non-voters. As for black voters:
***** Survey Finds Black Voters Less Solidly Democratic (washingtonpost.com) By Darryl Fears Washington Post Staff Writer Wednesday, October 30, 2002; Page A11
...Overall, 63 percent of survey respondents identified themselves as Democrats, down from 74 percent in a similar survey taken two years ago. Ten percent identified themselves as Republicans, up from 4 percent two years ago. The national survey of 1,647 black adults, conducted between Sept. 17 and Oct. 21, has a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points.
Overall, a large majority of survey respondents either strongly opposed the Bush administration's plans to wage war against Iraq or questioned whether war is necessary.
The survey showed that the 45 percent of black Americans directly opposed sending troops to the Middle East, and that one-third questioned whether military action is necessary. About 20 percent supported President Bush's call to forcefully end President Saddam Hussein's reign over Iraq.
Respondents were split in their responses to Israel's leadership. Forty percent said they disagreed with its policies, while 38 percent said they agreed....
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A37871-2002Oct29> *****
The "black community" is getting more polarized by class than before. Counting both black voters and non-voters, I'd think that we would have lots of room for politics -- reformist or revolutionary, electoral or non-electoral -- to the left of the Democratic Party, especially given that even those blacks who continue to vote and vote Democratic are far to the left of DP leaders in many respects.
I don't know what the above would translate into what WBAI needs to do, as I don't know its programming, aside from your show.
At 4:07 PM -0500 12/3/02, Doug Henwood wrote:
>Wow, is that ever tendentiously selective. I said Reagan managed to
>appropriate a lot of left language and feeling - justice, hope,
>possibility, liberation - for the right. Other than that, he was, in
>Christopher Hitchens' memorable phrase, a vicious ignoramus.
>O'Reilly is a very talented TV talk show host that anyone who does
>left media can learn from. And Clinton, whatever you think of his
>politics, was quite well-informed, intelligent, and rhetorically
>skilled. He talked rings around Amy Goodman in their famous
>interview, for example.
What works for the right and the center sometimes works for the left -- like clean shirts; more often than not, though, what works for the right and the center doesn't work for us. If a left-winger tried the Reagan style, s/he would look vacuous; if a left-winger adopted the Clinton style, s/he would sound evasive and manipulative; if a left-winger went for the O'Reilly style, s/he would be found thoroughly obnoxious. Right-wingers are allowed to get away with doing what we can't because of their content. -- Yoshie
* Calendar of Events in Columbus: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/calendar.html> * Anti-War Activist Resources: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/activist.html> * Student International Forum: <http://www.osu.edu/students/sif/> * Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osu.edu/students/CJP/>