It’s election time. Some people equate elections with political power. I see elections as just one way political power shows up. The struggle for Black political power is not only about who we elect. It has also been about creating the conditions that guide people to stand up to social, economic and political alienation and domination. It takes a movement to confront racism and white supremacy in all of its manifestations. The ballot box then becomes a compelling act of both resistance and affirmation.
Because we are in America, most Black folk have tried to be responsible participants in this democracy. As an enslaved people, that road has been a rough one – one of many hills and valleys.
The first big movement that took us to the ballet box was in the late 1800s. Under Reconstruction, about 2,000 descendants of slaves ascended to public office including the U.S. Senate. It would be nearly a century after Hiram Revels and Blanche Bruce took office as senators that the nation would see Edward Brooke, a Black man, become a senator from Massachusetts by popular vote.
In the post slavery period, Black folks had waited proudly and patiently to prove themselves worthy of citizenship. Our reality was jaded by a false sense of hope that was shattered by the savagery of white supremacy that wiped out all the gains under Reconstruction. Perceived as less than human, Black folks get constant reminders that we have no place in this society. Still, we have persisted.
St. Louis may be on its way to a first. The election of its first African American woman: Tishaura Jones.
The anger and discontent coming from the police murder of Mike Brown in 2014 was channeled into organizing that’s transforming the electoral landscape in the St. Louis region. Candidates and ballot issues that are closest to addressing the real needs of people have been the focus of a strategic, organized movement. It gave us an increase in the minimum wage, the expansion of Medicaid, our first Black prosecutors in the city and county. Self-serving and unresponsive politicians will be singled out for replacement.
The country is at a crossroads and so is St. Louis. The struggle is between democracy and barbarism, between progress and stagnation, between the haves and the have nots. There’s a part for all democracy defenders.
Radical voices are looking for ways to accelerate the victories into transformative and long-lasting change. In the spirit of Sankofa, going back to lessons from the past is sharpening the vision of the world we are building for the future.
In 1972, nearly 10,000 Black folks converged on Gary, Indiana for the National Black Political Convention. The historic event was the powerful convergence of the Black Power and Civil Rights movements. The delegates produced the National Black Political Agenda and organized local and state assemblies to elect candidates who supported the agenda. In the period following the convention, the number of elected officials in the country tripled.
Black faces in high places in no longer sufficient especially if it doesn’t translate to improving the lives of people who elected them. Thankfully, we’ve gotten more sophisticated and realistic about engaging in electoral politics and building movements. There is still work to do.
Next year is the 50th anniversary of the NBPC. It’s time for an update and broader unity around an agenda that goes wide and deep, stomping out any vestige of trumpism. It would be awesome if St. Louis could report that it’s on the way to a more democratic city with a Black mayor who represents all its citizens and their aspirations.
The webinar, “Revisiting Gary 1972: Re-energizing the Movement for Black Political Power in 2021,” takes place March 13 at 2p.m. CST. Register for free at http://bit.ly/37DyAcY.
