Black America’s best weapons
11th September 2023 · 0 Comments
Last week, the National Urban League’s Louisiana affiliate celebrated 85 years of advocacy and action from September 7 through September 9. The organization hosted heavy hitters in various societal sectors: politics, sports, art, finance, education, housing, and economics, among others that speak to the quality of life in America.
The National Urban League, led by New Orleans’ native and former Mayor Marc H. Morial, and other civil rights and social justice groups have focused their attention and action agendas on voting rights, police reform and reparations, and have gone to the White House and beyond in a unified effort to effect change.
On September 2, 2022, Black leaders met with President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris to discuss a commitment to protecting voting rights and combating hate-fueled violence. The leaders also discussed the administration’s ongoing work to strengthen the economy and advance opportunity for all communities through the Inflation Reduction Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and the American Rescue Plan, according to the White House’s read-out of the event.
In the meeting with Biden and Harris were the Rev. Al Sharpton, president of the National Action Network; Melanie Campbell, president and CEO of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation; Dr. Thelma Daley, national chair and president of the National Council of Negro Women; Damon Hewitt, president and executive director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law; Derrick Johnson, president and CEO of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People; Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League; Janai Nelson, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund; Maya Wiley, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights; and Cedric Richmond, former U.S. Congressman.
These groups must be commended for speaking truth to power, filing lawsuits when injustice arises, and rallying communities to action. And New Orleans can take special pride in knowing that Morial, Hewitt and Richmond are all New Orleans natives.
Also, how proud and heartwarming was the recent coverage of the commemorative 60th anniversary of the March On Washington? Hearing from Black leaders that they are, and we must still fight for, justice, human rights and a fair share of the American pie was rejuvenating.
Many groups – too numerous to mention – have risen to the challenge of securing justice and protecting our freedom and democracy at the 11th hour in America.
The dangers plaguing Black communities can’t be understated. Not only are our rights being assaulted by elected officials – books about race and Black history are being banned, and DEI funding clawed back – but the most potent weapon Blacks can use to win the battle for justice – the vote – is being stolen by fearful, small-minded, white politicians who refuse to accept demographic shifts that favor Black and brown Americans.
So here Blacks are again in a forced Civil War over the same rights guaranteed to all American citizens. They march, protest, speak truth to power, and fight in the courts. And now, neo-confederates professing their hate for Blacks, like that coward in Jacksonville, are killing Black people because of the color of their skin. So much for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream of his children being judged by the content of their character, not their color.
Not surprisingly, white domestic terrorism is the greatest threat to Black lives. There is no need to recant the seemingly endless list of murdered martyrs who died because their skin was Black or brown.
Nope. But drastic times call for extreme measures.
Blacks have a few weapons in their arsenal to fight for their lives and quality of life: Vote.
Malcolm X once said “salvation of the Black race would come through the ballot or the bullet. The most potent weapon Blacks have is the vote.” Yet, we see efforts by white-elected officials in state legislatures all over the country, including Louisiana, passing restrictive laws that dilute the Black vote. The U.S. Supreme Court’s gutting of the Voting Rights Act and Congress’s refusal to pass the John Lewis Voting Advancement Act hasn’t helped either.
There isn’t any doubt that part of this era’s Civil War strategy is to stop the Black vote. That includes white Supreme Court Justices and one Black, Clarence Thomas, who have helped the Lost Cause suppress the Black vote. Last summer, the courts found the way Louisiana and Alabama’s congressional maps were drawn diluted the Black vote. Still, the High Court’s majority let the bad maps go into effect, and, as a result, Louisiana’s congressional delegation is composed of five white males and one Black male.
But facts and numbers don’t lie. Louisiana will get a second majority-minority congressional district; when that happens, it remains to be seen.
But as far as voting goes, to quote a cartoon character: We have met the enemy, and it is us.
If we’re being honest, we deserve the lack of representation we get because we only vote in large numbers if it’s a presidential or gubernatorial election.
In Louisiana, Blacks are 33 percent of the population. The percentage of Blacks among the state’s eligible voting population is 32 percent, and of that number, the majority, 72 percent, of the Black population is eligible to vote. But early mid-term voting numbers in 2022 showed only 24 percent of Blacks voted.
Truth is, we don’t have a right to demand justice if we don’t vote.
The University of Georgia’s Selig Center for Economic Growth discovered in 2020 that African-American economic clout energized the U.S. consumer market. The buying power of African Americans rose to $1.6 trillion, or nine percent of the nation’s total buying power.
NIQ, a company that tracks consumer spending habits, says the Black population is on track to grow by 22 percent between 2020-2060, compared to a 27 percent decrease in the non-Hispanic white population during that same time. Companies that fail to see Black consumers as priority spending targets are missing lots of money.
The Collage Group (CG) recently identified the top 10 brands among Black Americans. CG’s study measured how brands use culture efficiently and effectively to appeal to Black consumers.
According to the findings, Walmart, YouTube, Lysol, Sprite, Visa, McCormick, Dove, Febreze, Netflix and Google resonate the best among Black consumers.
So, what if Black organizations unite and use a strategy effectively used during the modern Civil Rights Movement to secure justice, equity, and inclusion?
Question: What were the Montgomery Bus Boycott and its predecessor, the Baton Rouge Bus Boycott? They were economic boycotts.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott nearly bankrupted the Montgomery Bus Company, broke the back of segregation, and changed the company’s hiring practices.
Clearly, the only thing people who hold the reigns of political power understand is money and the pursuit thereof. What if Blacks decided not to buy from companies contributing to racist, homophobic, misogynistic politicians?
This article originally published in the September 11, 2023 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
