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Richard Waggy

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Hello,

It seems a simple truth that American cities cannot be healthy unless the people who live in them have good incomes. Towards that end, I wrote the piece below, and have been passing it out as a leaflet. I request that you publish it.

Thank you,

Richard Waggy


A Path To Black Power

About 1960 I was told that almost all the Police and Fire personnel in New York City were Irish. This was how US politics worked in the past. Control of the political offices in a city meant jobs for the group that had the votes.

Today, those jobs have been covered by laws like Civil Service, and this path to minority power has been closed during recent decades. Recently, however, private companies have been hired to perform government work. This is true, from hiring private armies to hiring private construction companies to repair city water lines. Government hiring of private companies will be even more widespread, and opens a path to minority power.

But how to get the votes? Past efforts to unify the African American vote have floundered, often on political differences among Black leadership. To me, it is natural that most of Black America doesn't believe politics will work for their community, what with the history of literacy tests, poll taxes, Jim Crow laws and worse. However, political unity does work.

At present Barack Obama is favored by about 90% of the African American community. In the PA primary he got far less of a turnout than that, in the actual voting, and lost in PA. He was probably the most popular, but two thirds of African Americans were not registered or did not vote. Is racial pride strong enough to organize African American voters? I hope the answer is YES! Let's look at a possible way to make racial pride work.

* Make use of Barack's popularity and turn out a HUGE vote in November. You will then know your strength, and how easy it is to organize will be obvious.

* Next election, enter an African American in the primaries of both parties.

* Turn out a very large vote for these candidates in the primaries.

* Determine which politicians best meet the needs of the community (as in the number of African Americans working for the companies that get gov't contracts).

* Have the African American candidate ask their supporters to vote their recommendation. Then vote the way they ask. Their supporters may be asked to vote Republican for one office and Democrat for the next, etc.

Successfully organized, this will work. In US elections, after all, the difference between a landslide and a close election is 10% 60% is a landslide. Today, good jobs will accrue to a politically well organized minority.

There are problems. One problem, for instance, is that leaders have a habit of getting rich.

A possible solution would be to have college students as leadership and candidates, so that when they graduate those leaders move on: Temporary leadership.

Prove you can register your community and get the vote out on this election, and you can have your organization by the next election. Only the African American community can organize this effort.



Addendum:

Expect Resistance

Benjamin Franklin said to the effect, "Majority rule is two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for lunch freedom is a well armed sheep contesting the decision." In a democracy the only ‘well armed’, that works for a minority, is to be politically organized.

Therefore, organizing politically will be resisted. The core reason for resistance is economic, or a belief that if a minority has jobs, then the majority doesn’t. This is a false belief. The resulting growth will provide more good jobs than exist now when we lack a politically organized African American vote.

But much economic truth is counter-intuitive, or different from what seems obvious, and few have studied enough history to understand the workings of the growth that would come from African American political organization.



There Are Limits

Being organized politically is not a cure all. Look around at the people on the streets, and you'll see that America doesn't work well for all the whites either. Many people, and this is true of all races, are so discouraged by the history of assassinations and hopes that failed to materialize, that even hearing of another hope makes them sad, angry or withdrawn.

However, even while it doesn't happen over night, the reality is that political organization has improved life for many groups in America. In today's world, organizing will work for African Americans. My questions are these: Are the kinds of benefits others have received from the system (through being politically organized) worth the effort of working with those in your community who do the organizing? If a member of your community asks it of you, will you register and show up to vote in two elections, every year?