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Page 2 - EDITORIALS
Spelman Spotlights
February 1981
The Presidential Election Reconsidered-Part Two of
A Two Part Series: The Prospects for Black America
By Dr. Manning Marable
Syndicated Columnist
At First glance, the electoral victory of a
one-time movie actor and mediocre two-
term governor, Ronald Reagan,
represents a major shift to the right in
American politics.
The figures are impressive. Reagan
received 43.2 million votes, about 51
percent of the total popular vote. Carter
received 34.9 million votes, and was
unable to defeat Reagan in the South and
traditionally Democratic states in the
industrial Northeast. The so-called
“Anderson factor” was not a factor in the
Presidential race. Although Anderson
received almost 5.6 million votes and so
doing, qualified for federal matching
funds, his campaign only stole several
states from Carter’s electoral total.
However gloomy the immediate
prospects for a more progressive America
may seem, we must be careful not to
overestimate the influence of this so-
called New Right. Only 28 percent of the
eligible voters in this country endorsed
the simplistic, sophmoric solution of
Reagan. The overwhelmingly majority of
Republicans elected to the Senate won by
extremely narrow margins.
In state after state, Republican
candidates were able to squeak into office
upon the public mandate of conservatism
and political reaction. In Alabama,
Republican Senator-elect Jeremiah
Denton won by only 51 percent; Barry
Goldwater, Arizona, 50 percent; Paula
Hawkins, Florida, 51 percent; Mack
Mattingly, Georgia, 50 percent; Steven
D. Symms, Idaho, 50 percent; Warren
Rudman, New Hampshire,52 percent; A1
D’Amato, New York,45 percent;John P.
East, North Carolina, 50 percent; Robert
Packwood, Oregon 52 percent; Arien
Specter, Pennsylvania, 51 percent.
Incumbency has ceased largely to be a
major factor in Senatorial and
Congressional elections. If these
Republicans do not deliver on their
promises to an impatient “Moral
Majority”, they would be vulnerable to
progressive challenge six years hence.
What was most predictable, and
lamentable, about Reagan’s victory was
the response of the “Old Guard” black
leadership. For months they exholed
black voters to turn out on election day to
support Jimmy Carter. They declared
that Reagan administration would turn
back the clock to an age of Jim Crowand
economic equality. Privately, their real
concern was that they would lose plush
plums and federal grants from the
bureaucratic drough in Washington D.C.
once Reagan’s reactionaries took over.
The winds of change that produced a
Republican majority in the Senate have
also reaped a transformation of black
rhetoric. Black opportunists who jumped
aboard the Reagan bandwagon were the
first to crow. “1 am most pleased and
convinced that Reagan is, not a
warmonger,” clucked Ralph David
Abernathy, “and, unlike Carter will do
everything possible to keep his promises
to the American people, particularly in
the area of putting Americans back to
work.”
Joseph E. Lowry, president of the
Southern Christian Leadership
Conference, had endorsed Carter and
warned constituents that a Reagan
Presidency would revive racism and bring
disaster. Now, Lowery states that, “we
have offered cooperation and support”to
Reagan, because he has given a token
promise to protect the rights of poor
people, .
Urban League President Vernon
Jordan now is telling us that it’s too soon
to conclude that Reagan will ignore black
concerns such as affirmative action and
an expansion of public sector
employment opportunities. It is
“dangerous”, in Jordan’s view, to think
that the Reagan administration will be
hostile to blacks. Jordan applauds
Reagan’s idea of developing “free
enterprise zones” in the ghettoes by
granting huge tax write-offs to major
corporations for employing black urban
workers. Once Reagan was our bitter
nemisis; now, as President, he
understands the need for finding
solutions to the pressing problems of the
oppressed. Jordan embraces a “solution”
that in Southern Africa has led to the
development of Bantustans.
Years from today, volumes of critical
studies will document the incredible lack
of political consistency, the bumbling
judgement and shallow insights of our
current generation of black “leaders.” Let
history pass this judgement: at a time
when neither Carter nor Reagan merited
the support of the majority of black
people, our “official representatives”
stumbled hastily over themselves to get
behind “the evils of two lessers.” New
To Those Who Constructed The
Bridge Over Trouble Waters
As the curtains close on the worst eight weeks in my life, the stage is set for a bright
new beginning. It’s because of you, that I can see over that rainbow. It’s because of you,
that 1 can still stand tall, black, and proud. It’s because of you, that I can still feel love,
compassion, and understanding. Yes, it’s because of you, that I am still Dara. The third
day following my accident, I had received twenty-one cards, a Bible, candle, and
enough love to bring Iran and the United States in unison.
Dr. and Mrs. Stewart, AUC security, and hosts of faculty, friends, and fellow
students — Thank you for helping me grow. Thank you for reopening my eyes to see
that God plays an important role in every earthly thing. May God’s peace and blessings
forever be upon you.
Most Sincerely, Dara Perkins
faces in the Senate will emerge next year;
a reactionary movie actor without a shred
of compassion for the interests of blacks,
Hispanics and the working class will
occupy a new stage in the Oval Office; but
nothing fundamentally has changed.
Black America is still oppressed, and
our motto must still be resistance and self
determination — by any means
necessary.
Dr. Manning Marable is a leader of the
newly formed Black Political Party and a
Senior Research Associate of political
economy at the Africana Studies Center
of Cornell University.
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