The EYE has been given a draft of a document titled “The Missouri Democratic Party (MDP) African-American Agenda” that was submitted by 2nd Ward Committeewoman Mattie Moore in her capacity as the vice chair of the MDP. The purpose of this agenda is to “reach out and meet with community leaders on a regular basis, at least quarterly” to “gather information from those who have suggestions and ideas for the betterment of the MDP” and to “rebuild the party by bringing together community leadership and our elected officials to identify and discuss issues that are significant to African Americans.”
The EYE assumes that the “African Americans” referred to in the document are African Americans who live and vote in the state of Missouri. Moore states that “in order to make sure that black voters are included and represented in the party, I would like the party to make a commitment to hire two African Americans at part-time (to equal one full-time employee). These two part-time employees would be headquartered in St. Louis City and Kansas City, the Missouri cities having the largest African-American populations. Their titles would be MDP African-American Liaison. They would become full-time positions during the election cycle.”
The other goal of the agenda is to get the MDP to “make a concerted effort to utilize minority businesses for goods and services as applicable.”
This discussion of the establishment of an African-American Agenda in the MDP is not a new idea. Black Democrats have been complaining to the MDP for decades about the treatment of African-American voters and politicians in the state of Missouri as step-children. The EYE can remember numerous attempts dating as far back as 1976, when African-American Democrats have tried to get the MDP to include them in the party’s decision-making process.
Leaders of the MDP have become lately the mopes of triangulation consultants who control the Democratic Party. These hired consultants are committed to a self-serving strategy of using electronic media, mainly television, as the main method to get out the vote. These consultants scoff at using campaign money for retail street-based campaigns, using the rationale that blacks will vote Democratic anyway, so why bother to spend money to target them.
The EYE hopes Moore can get some movement from the MDP to change its policies.
