Practical Politics

N’COBRA ( National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America) and the National Reparations Congress (NRC), the two largest reparations groups in the country, are currently polling members to determine whether to boycott the upcoming national elections in November or not. The major question is, should Black voters (according to current estimates, roughly 35 percent of the national vote) withhold their votes from the presidential candidate who does not support a national reparations solution for the Black population in the country. Responses to that question are still coming in.
The major problem with the issue, however, is that, currently, Black Americans don’t represent a big enough segment of either major party’s electorate base to matter in this upcoming election. There is also not a national reparations plan available for Black folk nationwide (or even state-wide) to respond to, so for this particular election, the original question is quite premature.
That is not to say that the Black vote in the U.S. remains insignificant. Without obtaining the majority of the Black vote , especially in Michigan, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, Georgia, etc. (the so-called swing states), the Democrats cannot and will not win the upcoming presidential race. But that Black vote alone will not be determinative for either the Republican or Democratic candidate for POTUS.
Although very far from the insignificance of its vote prior to the twentieth-first century, the percentage and significance of the Black American vote currently in the U.S. is growing to the point of “must have” for both political parties. But that vote is not there yet. Nor is there a way yet (i.e., an MLK-type persona or a large and influential-enough Black organization) to direct that vote one way or the other.
That’s why no matter how the current survey on which way should Black folks vote in this coming election sponsored by N’COBRA or any other national group is really an exercise in futility this year. There is not yet a collective Black opinion on the reparations question in this country, and no matter how any of us individually want it to be, that issue will not be determinative in a major American election, yet.
So, the anger and rancor displayed by some reparations supporters in Sacramento last week when the expected Assembly vote on a desired reparations decision (the creation of a California State Reparations Agency) did not occur, is a pissing-in-the-wind kind of result. So is the reparations activist anger at the DNC’s decision recently not to allow any reparations activists to speak on the national convention stage. Nor is whatever decision made in the current reparations survey being conducted going to be important in this current election.
Yes, we count. The Black vote is very significant, maybe even crucial, to the hopes of the Democratic Party to elect Kamala Harris as the next POTUS. However, that vote will not be determinative, because it is not yet collectible nor concentrated enough, to make a real difference. Whatever our individual frustrations are with how our Black votes are currently treated within America’s “big boy” politics, we need to actually learn how to galvanize and concentrate that political power within the American political system or we have to get used to having our interests noticed but still ignored in America’s political theater.
Though, reparations-wise, it will not make much difference, it will be great to have a Black woman elected as the next POTUS in 2024. And she will get a very high percentage of the Black American vote to get there. That’s a guarantee!
Professor David L. Horne is founder and executive director of PAPPEI, the Pan African Public Policy and Ethical Institute, which is a new 501(c)(3) pending community-based organization or non-governmental organization (NGO). It is the stepparent organization for the California Black Think Tank which still operates and which meets every fourth Friday.
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