A couple years ago I went through my reading list and my twitter feed and basically purged a lot of people who brought nothing new to the table, and made a conscious effort to include voices I didn’t hear enough from. That means I followed a lot more women, a lot more people of color, a lot more lgbtq voices, etc. I already followed a lot of black women because I followed AngryBlackLady and liked what a lot of her friends had to say, and during the Obama years it became clear to me who the most important portion of the Democratic party was and is when it came to getting shit done.
I’m not saying this to let you know that I am particularly “woke” or anything like that, but because the fact of the matter is I like to read and see new things and I get bored easy. I’m the person who will always try the new thing on the menu and read every magazine in a doctor’s office and can’t leave a bathroom stall until I have read all the god damned graffiti. It’s just one of my quirks- I read everything put in front of me except instructions when it comes to assembling things. And basically, I realized I didn’t need to follow 100 white guys retweeting the same Chris Hayes or Rachel Maddow tweet, so I branched out.
At any rate, the reason I’m babbling about this is because a person I follow tweeted this:
Sure don't. https://t.co/0jlfTZrhIy
— The Dr. Tressie McMillan Cottom (@tressiemcphd) October 7, 2018
The link is to a fascinating story in the NY Times I had missed, which is not surprising because I am still pissed at the Times and other than Michelle Goldberg (who is becoming a national treasure) I don’t read them that often:
Nearly two years after Donald J. Trump’s election, with racial divisions increasingly in public view and voting rights under regular attack, Ms. Sabbs is one of a small army of African-American women across the South using networks originally forged in segregation to muster turnout for Democratic candidates in the November elections. They are mobilizing in conservative states and districts, hoping to pull off upsets like Doug Jones’s stunning Senate victory last year in Alabama, where 98 percent of black women voted for him and proved a critical base of support.
In Columbus, Ga., women sit in the fellowship hall of the Emmanuel Christian Community Church, clipboards at the ready to register voters. In Panama City, Fla., sorority sisters park themselves at a street corner across from an imperiled elementary school, holding signs reminding people to vote. And in Greenville, Miss., the mayor of a nearby town founded by sharecroppers says she will not give up on coaxing young people to the polls, even as they complain their votes don’t matter.
The whole thing is worth a read, but the story mentioned a group that I think is pretty amazing, the Black Voters Matter Fund. At any rate, I liked what I saw and gave 50 bucks and once I sit down and work out my budget for next year I am going to consider making them a monthly recurring donation. This is how we are going to take back control of our government. Not with some magic bullet approach where maybe we luck into another charismatic leader like Obama.
Baud
Black people are the only ones with a decent disapproval number for Trump. Smashes right through the crazification barrier.
HinTN
Somewhere in the book Hidden Figures was buried a gem of a quote that I will summarize as, good luck is a byproduct of hard work and preparation. We gotta be prepared every god damned day.
Psych1
I have stopped comenting here and don’t read the comments but I do still read the posts . But decided to try again.
1. All of the decent research has shown that in most elections if those who didn’t vote would have voted, the final results would have been the same.
2. “Get out the vote” efforts generally mobilizes both sides and rarely changes final results.
Elizabelle
@Psych1: You should go back to not commenting. Or put up some serious cites for your “decent research.”
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Psych1:
Did the check finally clear?
Elizabelle
And psych1 is gone? Poof? Gone gone?
Elizabelle
Adam?
Baud
Could be worse. At least they aren’t retweeting The Young Turks.
Patricia Kayden
@Baud: It’s odd that the same can’t be said about Latinos given that Trump never ceases to insult them and target them for mistreatment. Look at what he’s doing to asylum seekers from Latin America and his ugly rhetoric about Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Baud:
Or Kyle Kulinski, who I believe was in the TYT network
Adam L Silverman
I believe the term that applies in this case is “wokel” given where you’re from/where you live.
??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??
@Adam L Silverman:
Did you banhammer psych1, Adam?
ETA: Nevermind. Must have deleted their own comment
Adam L Silverman
@Elizabelle: Wasn’t me, I was busy commenting on a comment about Gettysburg in the previous post.
Adam L Silverman
@Elizabelle: @??? Goku (aka Amerikan Baka) ??: Wasn’t me. There was a comment from him/her sitting in moderation that I just released. You all have fun playing with your food.
Major Major Major Major
Darn, and I was hoping for an enlightening thread. But shocker of shockers, a post about minorities brings out the assholes.
Chetan Murthy
@Patricia Kayden: [who are more Latinx still GrOPers than black Americans?] I think maybe it’s part of the same reason that some South Asians are still with the GrOPers: they think somehow that they’ll be accepted as “white”. African-Americans don’t have that luxury — they know their history, right down to the words used to define their ancestry and the “one drop of blood” rule.
Chetan Murthy
@Chetan Murthy: urk. s/who are/why are/
joel hanes
I think that Latino GOP-ism is amply explained by pious Roman Catholicism.
I think that Latino low turnout for anyone is amply explained by having been screwed over by corrupt functionaries in every govenment they’ve experienced, for centuries, in the US, in Mexico, in Central America, etc. Bone-deep cynicism about government takes a long time to turn into the kind of idealism that tends to motivate Democratic voters.
Adam L Silverman
I see Lindsey Graham has gotten loose!
Gin & Tonic
You’re going to give eemom a big ol’ sad.
TriassicSands
Jones is an extreme case of “lesser evil.” According to Progressive Punch, he votes with Democrats less that half the time. He would be a true Republican moderate, if he were a Republican.
When the alternative (to Jones) is someone like Roy Moore (or anyone else the GOP is likely to nominate in 2018), a vote for Jones, while distasteful, is still necessary.
Mai Naem mobile
@Chetan Murthy: the only South Asians(I only know two) I know who vote GOP are for lower taxes. I believe South Asians as a group showed the second strongest support for Clinton after African Americans.
Shakti
@Patricia Kayden: Not all Latinos are the same. Do you think it’s a coincidence that both Latino Republican primary candidates were both of (white) Cuban descent? Confuse a Cuban with a Mexican or Puerto Rican and see how mad they get.
The immigration policy for Cubans, for many years, was so absurdly favorable compared to other immigrants, especially Mexicans.
guachi
For House races, given the nature of demographics and gerrymandering, black votes are less important than they otherwise might be.
It even holds for some Senate races. Black voters may vote overwhelmingly for Democrats but black votes are effectively irrelevant in my home state of Montana, for example. The minority that matters there is Native Americans.
10 states have a black population of 2% or less. Democrats have 8 of those Senate seats and 8/20 (40%) of House seats.
The top 10 states by percentage have a black population of between 17-37%. Democrats have 7 of those Senate seats and 25/80 (31%) of House seats.
Chetan Murthy
@Mai Naem mobile:
That’s a relief, I guess. I’ve met a couple here in SF who are …..well, lordy, I didn’t know such Islamophobia existed outside the mouth-breathers. It was a shameful moment, for someone who looks somewhat like those two mooks.
TS (the original)
I do not understand young people who say this – Kavanaugh could be on the SC for 40 years – I will not see most of that – yet current 18 year olds will be near 50 before they can celebrate his replacement. How women and minorities may fare in those 40 years is frightening.
David Hogg, Emma González and other survivors understand – laws effect their right to live – and they can make a difference.
guachi
On the other hand, when it comes to the Senate, Native American votes matter disproportionately compared to their population as a whole.
8 states have NA populations of 2% or more, ranging from 2.6% to 14.7%. And it’s because those states have low populations overall that NA votes matter so much. In Montana, for example, it’s been decades since a Democrat won white voters for the Governor or Senator.
The following important states for Ds this cycle have more NA residents than AA – Arizona, Montana, North Dakota and New Mexico. I don’t believe the D candidate will win white voters in any of those states (though there is an outside chance in New Mexico). Alaska is another state that Ds have won in the recent past that have more NA residents than AA residents.
Unfortunately, the issues of Native Americans almost never matter. I can’t recall any Democrat (or Republican) not from a state with a higher NA population (5%+) make an issue of anything Native American related. It just doesn’t matter.
Timurid
@Chetan Murthy:
I still remember the day my Gujarati co-worker told me that India should have expelled all Muslims in 1947 and that she resented “every penny spent to feed them.” Quite the shock finding out that someone who appeared to be one of the nicest and sweetest people in the office was actually Nazi filth…
gwangung
@guachi: Democrats, as a whole, pay very little attention to POC matters (which is better than “no attention” or “active malice” from the Republicans.)
This better change and quickly if Democrats are to triumph.
Chetan Murthy
@Timurid: And what’s -most- shocking (to me) is that here we are, in America, a land where (a) our religion just isn’t supposed to matter, and (b) to whatever extent people target muslims, they’ll target us too.
I mean ffs, some of these idiots haven’t been “back” to India in …. what? decades? For me, it’s nearly 40 years (1979) and they’re still fighting those sectarian battles.
gwangung
@Chetan Murthy:
Heh. We still have white people fighting the Civil War. Brown people aren’t better than that…
Chetan Murthy
@gwangung: At least the Civil War was fought -here-. Whatever sectarian conflicts existed in India (or Ireland, or -wherever-), I feel like we ought to be able to set them aside when we come here and become Americans. And, sure, pick up some new prejudices, but at least they’ll be AMERICAN prejudices! (ha!)
guachi
Now that I think about it. In the entire history of Balloon Juice, has there ever been a front page post about any topic of primarily Native American interest? Ever?
It’s such a blind spot for, well, basically everyone. I remember some story years ago on TV where there were people of all races talking about race. The participants had to choose “most screwed over minority in America” and Native Americans won in a blowout.
randy khan
@Elizabelle:
Not dignifying the original comment with a reply, but the obvious tell there is that the GOTV efforts that matter are explicitly partisan, and aimed at people who’ve been identified as likely to vote in the desired way.
Enhanced Voting Techniques
@Psych1: Hillary won the vote, just saying.
John Cole
@guachi: No, but I would welcome one.
JanieM
John, thanks for highlighting Black Voters Matter Fund. I sent them some money along with some more to the Crowdpac for Collins’s 2020 opponent.
Mnemosyne
@guachi:
Yesterday or the the day before, NotMax was touting a Native American civil rights group that does a lot of work on voting rights. I think they currently have a court case challenging North Dakota’s voter ID law? I can’t search from the iPad, unfortunately.
J R in WV
@TriassicSands:
Well, interesting numbers there. I think Joe Manchin votes with the Democratic platform more like 80% or a little more. I hate it, but I have to vote for him, because the alternative is so much worse. Patrick Morrisey. Currently WV AG and suing to end health insurance for West Virginians with pre-existing conditions, etc, etc.
Don’t know what else you would need to know to decide who to vote for…
Gammyjill
Thanks for the info on Black Votes Matter. They seem like a good organization. I kicked $100 their way.
ceece
I did some textbanking for them over the weekend, they are doing a big voter registration push in several southern states. Good group from what I can tell.