> During the 2000 campaign, list alum Rakesh Bhandari passed along a
> critique of Nader supporters from his companion, Donna Jones, who's
> African American. I can't remember the exact words, but it was something
> like, "Black people look at Republicans and see a bunch of Klansmen.
> White leftists who are going to vote for Nader just don't get this." It
> gave me pause at the time, but not enough to stop me voting for Ralph. I
> kept thinking about it, and I've been thinking about it a lot this time
> around. It must have something to do with the fact that Nader has about
> zero black support.
It also goes to show why some of us white leftists have adopted a more skeptical stance towards left-leaning African-Americans. Way too many white leftists worship the ground that African-Americans walk on, because they see that any support from African-Americans will give their group or tendency some kind of credibility. This statement from Donna Jones is just nonsense. Both the Democrats and Republicans are the parties of white supremacy and capitalism. Sure, the Democrats are a little more friendly towards people of color, but that is all just window dressing to obtain a few much-needed votes. If the Democrats are so radically different than the Klu Klux Republicans, why didn't the powers in the Party get behind Carol Mosely Braun? They are againg running a rich white guy for office.
My money is on the white leftists who support Ralph Nader as having better bullshit detectors than African-American limousine liberals who spout nonsense about the Republicans being "a bunch of Klansmen."
Good on the people at this conference for calling Marable on his bullshit.
Chuck0