Black Leaders Fear Loss of Brooklyn House Seat

[tritsofme]

A group of black and Hispanic elected officials from Brooklyn are scheduled to meet this morning to devise strategies to keep a white candidate from winning a Congressional seat of historical significance in black politics.

It is not the first such meeting of these officials, nor is it likely to be the last. That there are talks so steeped in ethnicity indicates that race is not just one of the issues in determining who will succeed Representative Major R. Owens. It seems to be the dominant one.

Mr. Owens, a veteran of more than two decades in Congress who turns 70 this month, is not running for re-election. The black and Hispanic officials gathering today are discussing how to prevent David Yassky, a white city councilman from Brooklyn Heights, from winning a seat that once belonged to Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman elected to Congress.

Mr. Yassky, a former law professor, has collected as much in campaign contributions as his rivals combined, more than $800,000 at the time of the last campaign finance filing.

<SNIP>
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/12/nyregion/12owens.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

I think its despicable that these folks don't think a white Jewish man is capable of representing them, and that they are opposing him solely on this basis of his race.

If Yassky is a good liberal Democrat, there is no good reason to oppose him.

Imagine the outrage if a group of whites actively and without shame sought to defeat a candidate on the basis of his race.

[rpannier]

1. Agreed

If he's the best candidate and the voters like him so what if he's white and jewish. That shouldn't be the issue.

[cagoldensun5050]

2. Agreed

If we have to stoop to deciding candidates based on race, then that makes us no better than the Republicans.

[No Passaran]

3. agree

this is totally wrong.

[cagoldensun5050]

6. Wasn't that

what Republicans did when choosing their candidates for:

PA Governor (Swann)
MD Senate (Steele)
OH Governor (Blackwell)
MI Governor (Keith Butler is one of the challengers to Granholm)

Pretty much the only difference is that our candidate is strongly favored in NY-11. That cannot be said on the aforementioned Republicans.

[Syrinx]

4. Agreed

Would they really prefer someone like Ken Blackwell to, say, Barbara Boxer? I hope not.

This is racism and they should be called on it.

[EST]

5. Racism and reverse racism are alive and well

in the beknighted home of the brave, land of the free.
People will not see the obvious and are the some sorts of assholes no matter what their skin color. Pardon my cynicism, but humans are not very high on my likable list, right now.

[cagoldensun5050]

7. Ditto

[meow2u3]

10. Racism is racism

Reverse racism, my ass! That expression implies only whites are racists.

Black racists in Brooklyn, who are looking to kick a white guy off the ballot just because he lives in a mostly black neighborhood, are no better than white racists down South who'd lynch a black guy just because he looked at a white woman.

[Zynx]

11. Indeed. By the same standard there should never be a minority representing

a majority white area. Such thinking keeps us back in the past.

[EST]

12. I chose my words unwisely.

Reverse racism, to me, means not only a reaction from the former victims of racism but also the overweening kowtowing to those victims, revealing the vicious bigotry beneath the honeyed words.
Thank you for assisting me in expressing myself more clearly.

[KingFlorez]

20. Black racists?

Do you really understand the situation? This is not racism, it's political interest. A white person cannot always represent a minority area to it's best interest.

[951-Riverside]

22. Black Racists?

NO WAY!!!!!

Hispanic Racists?

NO WAY!!!!

Asian Racists?

Get the fuck outta here, NO WAY!!!

:sarcasm:

[KingFlorez]

23. I'm not saying they don't exist

I was saying that in this case, it is not racism

[Renew Deal]

28. Of course they exist

You can see 1 or two in this thread.

[KingFlorez]

31. No one is racist

It's all politics and you're not grasping that

[no_hypocrisy]

8. It's the man, not the race.

Major Owens is not on the same level as Charlie Rangel from Manhattan. Owens has relatively been a placeholder, not a legislator or activist. He's popular with his constituents and sponsors, but he let this challenge occur by his lethargy.

[dsc]

9. He is retiring

it is his son and some others losing to this guy.

[DaDeacon]

13. Not "that" wrong at all!

Ok before i get blasted let me say that the best candidate "should" always win but in areas with large minority populations is it too much to ask that the representitve for that area reflect the minority in question? I 'm not saying that I or others should only vote on race but, damn if it "don't matter". You still got people in this county that labor under the delusion that we have overcome, they forgot the number of senators that stood with Congressional Black Congress in 2000. They forget the clear racial divide STILL caused when you say "OJ" a man found "NOT GUILTY" of a crime. How offten do you really think a white representitve will meet with Louis Farrakhan, a respected leader to many in the comuity we are talking about. You see I really hate to say this but, many whites aren't nor have really wanted to deal with the race issue beyond looking past it. It is a very real cultural divide that often can't be quantified by every "good liberal". Not to say this canidate can't but very few do.

[Renew Deal]

14. A friend from the Clark campaign is working on this one.

He really likes this guy. He feels like this is exactly what is happening. It's become a racial issue and the minorities involved made it that way. The primary isn't until September.

[Laughing Mirror]

16. Minorities made it that way?

Whites are 21 percent in that district, Hispanics 12 percent. Are these the minorities you mean?

[Renew Deal]

18. No

the other ones.

[KingFlorez]

19. You mean Blacks?

Why not just say it?

[Laughing Mirror]

21. Blacks are about 60%, a majority in that district

So the poster cannot be referring to them.

[Renew Deal]

25. Actually I am referring to the blacks.

Do you have a problem with that?

[Laughing Mirror]

29. No problem at all

I just want to be clear about who is the minority in that district. There seemed to be some confusion.

[alcibiades_mystery]

15. My old district

Yummy.

[KingFlorez]

17. I agree

I think it is important for majority minority districts to be represented by a minority, it's just the best interest of the district. It's not racist, because minority groups have specific political interests and concerns.

[Renew Deal]

26. That's the height of racism.

So shouldn't majority majority districts be represented by a member of the majority?

If you want to see racism, look in the mirror.

[KingFlorez]

33. You don't get it

A lot of times a non-minority will takes a completely different civil rights position than most minorities. I think people should have representatives that see things from their view.

[Odin2005]

27. Rubbish.

This whole idea that one needs to be a minority to understand minority issues is BS, it encourages an ethnic parochialism that I don't want in my country. A white guy who grew up in a majority Black neighborhood would understand his constituents just as well as a black guy who grew up next door to him. The inner city white person has far more things in common with his black neighbor then he does with a fellow white guy in a rural area.

[KingFlorez]

32. It's still not always

There could be specific issues about race that a non-minority representative might take the opposite opinion of the district on, against the majority.

[warrens]

24. This is kinda silly

It's a primary race. If the district is majority black, it's unlikely a white would win unless he or she had a lot of black support. Trying to influence the primary by forcing someone to drop out sounds more Repuke than Dem, to me.

[malachibk]

30. I LIVE IN THIS DISTRICT AND HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY!!!

Prospect Heights, BK
There are a lot of issues here, some touched on in this thread, some not
(1) The seat was created SPECIFICALLY to increase Black representation in the House. That's important.
(2) While the VAST majority of district residents are Caribbean Americans, gentrification and development are on fast forward. When my partner and I moved to this part of BK 3+ years ago we were the ONLY White people here. Now there are moments where I'll see 15 White people on the street and no Blacks. That kind of rapid gentrification breeds resentment that feeds into this House race.
(3) There is a BIG to-do about building a stadium in this district to woo the NJ Nets (I believe - as a gay man I stereotypically know next to nothing about sports) which would result in the displacement of dozens of Black residents.
(4) My 'hood is right next to Crown Heights (not sure if part of the same district, but I can walk there in 5 minutes) and, you'll recall, there was some pretty nasty Black/Jewish rioting in that area not too long ago.
(5) Chris Owens, Major Owens' son, has been endorsed by the CBC, Kucinich, etc. (I found this out moments ago when I stopped in to his campaign office). I stopped in b/c I was pretty unhappy with Major Owens' performance, seems that Chris is planning to 'hit the ground running' with the help of folks like Conyers and Waters. In my area, no one will vote for Yassky or even know his name. Of this I am certain.
(6) "Reverse racism" is bullshit. Come on, people. Racism is partly based on power differentials and subjugation. In no way is Yassky being subjugated by opposition to a carpetbagger (Brooklyn Heights is NOT part of this district - he recently relocated here) who, most likely, will not fully understand the culture, reality and experiences of 60% of his would-be constituents.

Thanks for listening

[KingFlorez]

34. Thank you

Finally, someone gets it

[malachibk]

35. No problem

Charges of "reverse racism" really get to me. Plus, to pretend that there aren't valid reasons why race does, unfortunately, matter, is too rose-colored glasses for me.

[vickie]

36. AS a bl;lack person -- I am so embarrassed by this. If I lived I

would volunteer night and day to help Mr. Yassky. Some of the so called "Black officials" need to get a grip and enter the 21st century. I'm sure Ms. Chisholm is turning in her grave.

What pathetic folly.....