Racial Politics

There is a shell game being played on the African-American voters of the 
state and it is an old and tired one, but surprisingly still effective. 
The game is skin color politics. It is not the one that white folks play 
which goes by the name of white supremacy, but the insincere one called 
vote for the one who looks like you. It exploits the ever ebbing and 
flowing conflict in the African-American consciousness between 
nationalism and assimilation, between liberation and integration.

The game is simple. Establishment blacks urge their community to vote 
for someone because he or she is a “brother or sister.” The political 
establishment will never, never, never endorse a true black nationalist, 
just the fifth generation, grayscale copy of a true nationalist. If the 
traditional political establishment, black or white endorses a Black 
Nationalist candidate, it is because they have no other choice.

Black nationalism in politics has run the gamut from vote for me because 
I am black to vote for me because I am a progressive black candidate who 
will never abandon the interests of my people. Franz Fanon wrote a 
powerful essay on this subject called the “Pitfalls of National 
Consciousness,” which is a chapter of The Wretched of the Earth. He 
stated that the replacing of the colonial ruler with a bourgeois member 
of the native population could continue or worsen the misery of the 
masses of the people in the supposedly liberated nation. The experience 
is the same in cities where black mayors have replaced white mayors in 
majority black cities.

Neo-colonialism is as destructive as direct colonialism. One of the 
reasons so many black people were willing to elect a white mayor in 
Baltimore City is because 12 years under a black mayor had not 
appreciably improved the condition of the black community. The 
assimilationist part of many black folks' brains overpowered their 
opposite side and they said-some of them literally to me, “We had a 
black mayor for all those years and it didn't help. Maybe we should vote 
in a white man.” It gets confusing because blacks are usually admonished 
not to vote on the basis of skin color unless it benefits an agent of 
white supremacy.

Now black people, disillusioned because there is no black candidate 
running for an independent statewide office on the Democratic 
side-Lieutenant Governor candidate Anthony Brown doesn't count because 
that office is ceremonial and powerless-are looking at Lt. Gov. Michael 
Steele as the black standard bearer. Many African Americans feel 
marginalized in the Democratic Party to which they are very loyal, but 
the Republican Party makes it very difficult for itself to gain much 
black support because it is the haven of rightwing troglodytes that used 
to be restricted for the most part to the John Birch Society, The Dixie 
Wing of the Democratic Party and the hinterlands of civilization. The 
GOP is trying to exploit the resentment by urging blacks to support 
Steele who they try to portray as a victim of racist Democratic Party 
attacks.

Steele is entrenched in the GOP and all the bad things that it implies. 
Until he was reborn as the outsider to all the woes afflicting both 
parties in Washington, he was the state party chairman and a staunch 
defender of President George Bush. My old Sunday School teacher loved to 
quote the passage in the New Testament about the inability to serve two 
masters simultaneously. Steele cannot be the champion of the black 
community and a loyal Republican. Perhaps it might have been possible in 
the days when there were more factions in the GOP-not likely-but today 
the GOP is controlled by right-wing extremists who make Dwight 
Eisenhower look like a Black Panther.

The efforts to promote Steele as a “down” brother endorsed by Russell 
Simmons and his television ads touting him as the one to fix the flaws 
of both parties in Washington are just smoke and mirrors. The Republican 
establishment is not filling his coffers because he is a reformer or 
because they suddenly love black folks. He will be a loyal GOP soldier 
as he has been during his tenure in politics. My rule of thumb for 
evaluating black leaders is if the ruling class apparatus does not 
attack them they are not truly dedicated to liberating their people. The 
establishment is embracing Steele. He is no political outsider.

This column is in no way an endorsement of Democrat Ben Cardin. He is 
part of the political establishment and his support of Israeli's war 
crimes against Lebanon disqualifies him for my support. I personally am 
voting for Green Party candidate Kevin Zeese. My intention in this 
article is to warn African-American voters about skin color voting. I 
vote for black candidates who have a commitment to the African-American 
community and a set of consensus issues such as affirmative action, 
prevention of police abuse and misconduct, fair distribution of 
government services and resources, adequate funding for all schools, 
changing the war on drugs from a war on minorities, reform of 
incarceration policies, and economic justice and corporate accountability.

Voting for a black candidate involves color, culture and consciousness 
not genetics. Michael Steele should be regarded as a regular GOP 
candidate and not some civil rights hero or “homeboy.” Don't be bamboozled!