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Saturday, July 26, 2003

Get out the vote. 

More correspondence with Charlton, a Dean supporter, regarding how to reach out to uninvolved voters, and in particular, uninvolved minority voters. An African American activist in the Kansas area responds as well:

Right on, Elizabeth! (From Charlton)

As you indicate, New Orleans and LA rural are
different from Kansas City MO (where we are), rural
Missouri, St. Louis, and the state of Kansas. The
eastern tier of KS counties is basically in the
hinterland of KC MO and Wichita KS. The area west of
Manhattan KS or Salina to the CO line is wheat, gas,
some oil, and very few peple, all of them
Repulblican.

But Caucasians going to Black and Hispanic
neighborhoods -- probably not too effective, or even
counter-productive, in many places. Likewise, in
some places Black and Hispanic middle
class/professionals going to blue collar folks not
too effective. And reaching these folks by computer
is a non-starter, as you point out.

There must be a best way to proceed in each
locality. All we have to do is figure it out.


My reply:

charlton,

You are right, concerning the lack of access to
certain parts of the city. But there are meeting
places for all races here, certain store fronts,
churches, that could be utilized. It is sad that we
are even talking about this. Unwittingly, we have
demonstrated how much work there is to do in our own
country. I mean, it really is all about the economic
gap, isn't it? Also, I wouldn't take for granted
that republicans are up to supporting Bush again.
Check out Kucinich's platform regarding corporate
welfare for big farms, at the expense of little
farms. Sometimes people don't even realize, or find
it hard to believe that there are alternatives to
the way things are currently being done.

I think it is up to us to find ways to get
minorities involved in our campaigns. Sometimes just
asking for help, you'll be surprised at the
response. People need to feel needed, and
appreciated. Again, though, I'm hoping it won't be
'we need your vote, then we forget about you, after
this election'. Grass roots efforts on many issues
will need to continue, if we are going to really
change the face of democracy, and take it back from
the rich.

Talking about all of this is helping me to reaffirm
my own commitment to certain goals. Thanks for the
feedback.

elizabeth

Then Charlton responded with a response included from A. , an African American inner-city property developer in Kansas, and, well, here it is:

Elizabeth -- A. is a black residential property developer and
consultant in the KC inner city market. C.is a lawyer with a
large firm here, and an activitst in the loca Dean campaign. I had forwarded
to them your very useful comments.

These kinds of connections are why it makes sense to put one's e-mail
address, from time to time, on posts in DailyKos! Am I right?
----- Original Message -----

Subject: Re: Fw: Re:our contact via


> She is correct: the racial reconciliation road before
> stretches more defiantly than the road behind. Soon,
> classism will be the new racism. It will have the same
> divisive effects of racism, and that divide will
> continue to exist largely along ethnic lines.
> Classism, however, will be much more difficult to
> combat than racism because it is legal.
>


# posted by scorpiorising : 11:01 AM |

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