Forget for a moment about the team in blue, taken as a whole. What about the team in black?
Nothing new, in one important sense. White voters voted for white candidates, and black voters voted for black candidates. And because white voters vote in greater numbers than black voters, the white candidate wins. Jeff Smith’s 6,755 votes added to Derio Gambaro’s 4,261 votes would have beat the sum total of Yaphett El-Amin’s 4,618, Amber Boykin’s 2,360 and Kenneth Jones’ microscopic 558 votes. Bottom line: The white South Side Democrats still get their constituents to the polls and keep them voting in their best interests. Mike Royko, Sun-Times columnist, once asked rhetorically when the black community of Chicago would get a black mayor, then answered himself, “When they deserve one.” Royko also quipped that when you see two black voters walking down the street, you really are seeing only one voter, because one of the brothers won’t vote.
Who’s to blame? We are. The black body politic lacks discipline and understanding of just what politics is all about. Our politicians still campaign on emotion. Emotion may motivate a person to campaign, but it’s not much of a campaign strategy. We need to grow up as a demographic and act like adults – we need to raise money, organize our base and nurture more young leaders who see the future more clearly than the past – or the black community will continue to dangle on the fringe of the political scene in St. Louis.