Thursday, February 24, 2011

Mary Mitchell and the Death of Black Politics in Chicago

Hopefully we all know that Rahm Emanuel is the new Mayor of Chicago. In total bad ass fashion Rahm (don't you love how I act like I know everyone personally, so I call them by their first names?) was victorious in 40 of Chicago's 50 wards. His huge win was all over the papers today, and everyone, including Mary Mitchell wrote about what his victory means. According to Mary, Rahm's very decisive win over Carol Moseley Braun (CMB) "signals the end of the black political empowerment movement in Chicago."
As with most of her articles- I have an issue with this. She says that CMB was the 'consensus candidate' a title that was given to her by "a coalition of black business and civil leaders, clergy and activists." Um, first of all- who gave this 'coalition' any power over MY vote? I don't even like or respect half of the so called civil leaders, clergy and activists in the coalition. If I don't like them, why would I vote for the person that is going to cater to their needs? According to Mary, I should have voted for CMB because, like Harold Washington, she was picked because she had the best chance of winning City Hall. Apparently not. CMB is no Harold Washington, let's just go ahead and put that out there- she never WILL be on Harold's level, and truthfully, there was not a standout Black candidate in this race that I would liken to Harold, ever.
Mary then goes on to say that when only "40 percent of registered voters turn out to vote in an election...the failure is not just the candidate." Again, I disagree. Mary always seems to gloss over the most rational reason in order to play her race card, and I have to say- that shit is infuriating. Not everything is because Rahm is a successful White man. Not every downfall is because CMB is some lowly Black woman, either. In order to illustrate my point, I have a few take aways for Mary Mitchell and those in her school of thought. Ready?
            *I'm Black and did not even consider voting for CMB, or anyone involved with this "coalition" ridiculousness. CMB did (does) not represent my interests and I have no reason to vote for her. I don't like her personailty and I don't like her as a politician.
            *If Rahm wasn't in this election, I STILL would not have voted for CMB, James Meeks OR Danny Davis. I might have voted for Patricia VanPelt Watkins.
            *CMB showed exactly how outmatched she was when she started (and continued) to belittle her opponents, which was so unnecessary and not classy.
            *If CMB is the best that we have for Black politicians in Chicago, then 1. we should be ashamed of ourselves and 2. until we can get it together, I don't think another Black politician should be elected. Honestly, if I had the choice of CMB and Tony Peraica... I might just abstain from voting.
See, I don't prescribe to voting for someone simply because they look like me. There are tons of Black people in America right now who are pissed at Barack because they did just that and now they think that he is an awful President because he has not solved all the ills of the Black community. That is not his jobs and those who are upset should not have voted for him simply because he was the Black candidate. Shame on them. For that same reason, I refuse to vote for every Democrat, simply because that is the party I usually align with. Dude, if you are a moron, I don't care what party you are with-- I am NOT going to vote for you.
CMB did not get elected because she can't play the game of politics. She was a subpar Senator, and has done nothing with her political life since she lost re-election. She embarrassed herself on several occasions during this campaign and she lost. She lost because she was not the best candidate, not because she is Black. Not because the Black political empowerment movement in Chicago is dead, but because the "coalition" is made up of people who are no longer liked or relevant. If the "coalition" continues to back bad candidates, they will continue to lose-- and I will continue to be happy about it.

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