Tuesday, January 19, 2010 at 2:39am Racial Politics: Boom or Bust?


Is the time for racial politics over? This question may seem like lunacy when being asked in one of the most segregated cities in America: Chicago. This question, which has been on my mind and in my mind for some time, came roaring to the forefront of my consciousness after reading an article titled “Blacks Try to Retain Power as Board Race Splits Community”. The article was published by the Chicago News Cooperative and was written by DON TERRY.

I have been accused of being overly analytic, and probably rightfully so, but lets parse the title of the article to discover two premises that may be at the root of ineffective political participation by African Americans. The notion that “Blacks Try to Retain Power” implies that blacks have power on the Cook County Board of Commissioners. The second assertion is that the democratic primary election will not only threaten “Blacks Power” but it will also split the “Black Community”. These two assertions are probably held as fact by many but upon examination they are but wisps of smoke that blind the eye to a truer course.

Maybe a definition of political power needs to be established before we can rightly discard the notion that Blacks are attempting to retain it. “Political power: is a type of power held by a group in a society which allows administration of some or all of public resources, including labor and wealth”. Do Blacks in the county of Cook have this sort of power? Nope.

“Political scientists have frequently defined power as "the ability to influence the behavior of others" with or without resistance.” Do Blacks weld this definition of political power? Naaaaaa!

Perhaps the political power that Blacks are trying to retain can be defined by these 3 dimensions of power which are most frequently considered defining aspects of political power by political researchers.

1. Robert Dahl, a prominent American political scientist, first ascribed to political power the trait of decision-making as the source and main indicator of power.

2. Peter Bachrach and Morton Baratz describe a second dimension of political power as described as agenda-setting by elites who worked in the backrooms and away from public scrutiny in order to exert their power upon society.

3. British academic Steven Lukes added a third dimension he describes as preference-shaping; which entails theoretical views similar to notions of cultural hegemony .

So can it be said that blacks have enjoyed any form of political power as described by the aforementioned definitions. The answer must be a resounding no. It must be said that Blacks have not enjoyed any real measure of political influence since the 60’s. This fundamental misunderstanding of political power adds to feelings of impotency and isolation of Blacks concerning the machinations of political life.

It also appears that Blacks have been sold a bill of good when it comes to representation. It is my belief that many Blacks equate an elected Black official as “Black Power” and influence in government. This idea that a Black elected official will always adequately represent black concerns merely because he is Black does not hold water. Politicians tend to be politicians. Race, gender and sexual orientation come in a distant second when it comes to who the politician serves. Politicians serve concentrations of power. This declaration of the obvious leads us to our next erroneous assumption about concentration of power or concerns.

The second premise asserted in the article’s title was “Board race splits community”. Once again I think it important to define terms. The definition of terms is essential in examining the possible incongruence’s between expectations and realities. If terms used to describe apparatus and reflect thinking essential to the political acquisition process are not congruent then the acquisition/development of desired goals (resources, opportunities, environments) can not be realized.

The term community is a very slippery one with various definitions. There is no universal consensus on the definition of the term; In fact “there were ninety-four discrete definitions of the term by the mid-1950s. Traditionally a "community" has been defined as a group of interacting people living in a common location. The word is often used to refer to a group that is organized around common values and social cohesion within a shared geographical location, generally in social units larger than a household “. It might also be helpful to look at three categories of community to pin point the Black Community in terms of solidarity toward political power.

Geographic communities: range from the local neighborhood, suburb, village, town or city, region, nation or even the planet as a whole. These refer to communities of location.

Communities of culture: range from the local clique, sub-culture, ethnic group, religious, multicultural or pluralistic civilization, or the global community cultures of today. They may be included as communities of need or identity, such as disabled persons, or frail aged people.

Community organizations: range from informal family or kinship networks, to more formal incorporated associations, political decision making structures, economic enterprises, or professional associations at a small, national or international scale.

It becomes increasingly more difficult to identify the Black community. The Black Community is not a monolithic block. Blacks in America are very diverse lot. A community can not be defined merely by prejudices or identifiers ascribed to that group by the dominant group. There has to be consent of membership to be a part of a community or for community to exist. To some these distinctions may seem academic and have no place in the day to day realities of people. It is my belief that the whole notion of a black community is fading in terms of Blacks being a community based on ascriptions by the dominant culture, cultural behaviors, shared ancestry, and skin color. Consumerism, education, income, varied spiritual beliefs and mobility now serves as strong glue to bind community in an altogether different configuration.

College educated Backs who are firmly entrenched in the middle – class probably have more in common and at stake with their White, Latino and or Asian neighbors then they might have with other Blacks in impoverished neighborhoods.Those who need affordable housing, decent wages, and safe neighborhoods transcend race and should pull together as natural allies.

Social ills strike minorities at a higher rate then that of the dominant culture. It is a fact that a tradition of institutional and systemic racism is at the heart of the higher rates of social dysfunction. It is not a fact; however, that social dysfunction is synonymous with minorities (race). This point is important in defining community. The community of like needs and coalition makes more political since then politics of race. Politics of race tend to define community incorrectly. It can erroneously identify members of that community based on superficial characteristics and pit natural community members against each other based on that very same superficial identifier.

An increased political astuteness is needed by the electorate as a whole in order to have their needs and desires advocated for. Those who feel most impotent, when facing the complexities of the economy, domestic and foreign policy, are those who need to find their strength in numbers. Racial politics are divisive and diminish numbers. Communities for political power must be constructed on commonality. Legislators serve concentrations of power. This is a fact. The identification of needs, groups with similar needs, and representatives that articulate understanding of those needs is paramount to the meeting
those needs. A clear plan with clear bench marks is also mandatory.