One Step Forward…Two Steps Backwards
Last Tuesday, Barack Obama made a clean sweep in the presidential election, winning by over 7.5 million votes. You can still hear the murmurs of ‘change’ and ‘progress’ all over the country, followed by the quintessential, “Yes we can!” However, I must ask: What kind of change were the American people voting for? Now that the buzz from the presidential election has died down, I have been left wondering what was really at stake last Tuesday. In the shadow of Obama’s victory were disappointing defeats for gay Americans in four states. It is my agtheory that the success of these bigoted propositions is not only a source of irony in American politics; but the implementation of these propositions also marks a backwards step for this democracy.
[Blue] California, Florida, and [Red] Arizona all voted for propositions banning same-sex marriage; while [Red] Arkansas voted against adoption by single/unmarried people (read: gays). Most of the spotlight has been on Proposition 8 in California — with an excessive focus on pin-pointing the source of the support for the ban. Much of the media commentary has included demographic statistics of pro-Prop 8 voters: Latinos and, more heavily, African-Americans. I have heard several times from various media outlets that as many as 7/10 African-Americans voted for Proposition 8; and while African-Americans make up only a small percentage of the California state electorate, the finger seems to be pointed at this minority segment.
It isn’t so much that African-Americans are the reason that Prop 8 passed — obviously this is not the case. However, it is seen as somewhat of an anomaly that a record number of Blacks showed up at the polls, voting for Obama and Prop 8 on the same ticket. But, let me turn your attention to an important detail: Obama does not support gay marriage! Whether or not he personally favors it or not (the typical excuse for viable presidential candidates), this was something upon which he ran! So, was the pro-Obama/pro-Prop 8 vote really so ironic? Or just a vote on Democratic party lines?
Originally, I was going to take this post in the “minorities unite” direction…saying that all oppressed Americans should find some common ground, since the battles that they fight are shared. I would have said that Blacks should look to their own struggle for civil rights, including the freedom to marry, while deciding on issues of gay rights. However, I don’t think this is the take-home point for me.
Ideally, both parties would be against bans on gay marriage — Democrats for civil liberties and minority rights protection and Republicans for individual liberty and government-out reasons. Instead, it has become a divisive issue that divides Americans based on bigotry and misunderstandings. This goes for many of the culture war issues — reproductive freedom, gun control, separation of church & state, etc. These issues have becoming increasingly polarized and used to create cleavages amongst the American people.
In conclusion, I saw a very impressive Rachel Maddow interview with Cory Booker the other day. The two Rhodes Scholars discussed the future of politics in America. Booker made an excellent point when talking about the use of wedge issues in petty politics, those that “excite people’s anger.” It is important to note that I am not arguing for leaving these important issues in the dust; however, I am entertaining the idea of a re-evaluation of how the American polity treats these issues. Perhaps if the American electorate could get past these divisions, our nation could finally reach our full democratic (small “d”) potential.
Interesting post… a socialist last week a libertarian today… I like it! A true progressive.
This post made me think – both parties, our government in general, is too caught up in affording rights… but of course… rights given by the government don’t challenege the government… liberties that protect us from the goverment are what would push everyday America in a new direction and would promote a true change.
Giving people rights is nothing new, all it takes is some extra money from taxes… But granting new liberties is what would really dig deep into the “American Polity” (as you call it) and create a change that we can really notice.
Thanks for the prompt.
-pk
pk
November 11, 2008 at 12:06 pm
I think that it’s not only a coincidence, but it’s important to recognize that minorities almost always are pitted against each other…divided we fall. Almost every group in America has at one point been the immigrant and has been the minority, but how quickly we forget our own oppression before we begin to oppress others. I do not think it is a coincidence that Blacks and Latinos have, as a group, voted against gay marriage…It’s more of complex issue for Latinos, primarily involving the Catholic church, as well as cultural ideals of machismo, etc…But furthermore, minority groups feel at ease when they are able to divert the attention to another marginalized group…so the gays suffer.
It’s a complex identity and more difficult to be both a racial minority (Black, Latino) AND gay/lesbian/bisexual/queer, etc…which is why it is not coincidence that these populations of men often remain the closet and live in an underground world of homosexual behavior, where they fall a victim to unprotected sex and sexually transmitted diseases. Richer, white gay men are the least likely population of gay men to have numerous, non-monogamous partners and are also lesser likely to have contracted sexually transmitted diseases.
sister
November 11, 2008 at 4:00 pm
As the prophet, Bill Maher has stated, “Black people love them some Jesus” and this may be a big reason why they vote against same sex rights. However, as you mentioned it wasn’t the coloreds (brown and black) that did this alone. I am sure that the money used in advertising this proposal was spent little in the black and hispanic neighborhoods to help educate what this bill would mean.
Lastly I would like to say, keep it coming.
Big Sister
November 12, 2008 at 7:40 pm