Black Women: Saving The Democratic Party Once Again!
By Betty Jean Grant
Betty Jean Grant
How many times, since the time of 1960s Democratic Parties, have Black women come to the aid of a struggling party that forgot about Black women candidates when most political appointments were doled out of jobs , especially those involving polling inspectors locations. From 2007-2017, when I was in a political office, I would complain that there were no Black workers employed by the Erie County Democratic Committee except for a beloved commercial activist who is now deceased. This esteemed gentleman worked at ECDC when the office was located in the Ellicott Square Bldg. But even then, his hiring situation was unique because although he was assigned to work for the Democratic Committee, in the Ellicott Square Bldg, his salary was on the payroll of former Congresswoman Louise Slaughter. And, as far as I know or have been told, there are still no Black employees working for this political entity, ECDC, a political committee that has been supported largely by Black women in the voting and polling places located in the city of Buffalo and in Erie County.
Thank goodness for the votes Black women gave to the Democratic Line in the General Election. Had they not voted in such high numbers, the Democrats in Cheektowaga, West Seneca, Lackawanna and Hamburg, who voted Republican, would have cost April Baskin, Sean Ryan and other Democrats, their respective elections.
In this past presidential election, nationally, the percentage number for white men and women voting for Donald Trump remained almost the same as it was during the 2020 presidential election. There was only a net loss of 1% for white men and a 2% net loss for white women. In both the white men and white women groups, Donald Trump received over 50% of the votes. The votes Donald Trump got from Black men was around 20% as Kamala Harris received only 78 percent of the votes from Black men. The votes from Latina men and women were a disappointment too, for Vice- President Harris as former President Donald Trump received the majority of their votes.
But it was Black Women, that unrelenting that carried President Joe Biden to victory in 2020, who re-empowered themselves and came through with a voting percentage that at 98 %, was only 2 percent less than those who voted for Biden. Black women gave Kamala Harris her largest percentage of votes and their support for her were unwavering. Pollsters attribute this phenomenon to the fact that millions of voters, including some Black women, stayed home and did not vote in the election. Also, I am still scratching my head over the fact that some of the Muslim voters in Dearborn Michigan wanted to send a political message to Joe Biden, our current president and Vice-President Kamala Harris because they disagreed with their handling of the Israel/Gaza conflict. So, they stayed home or voted for Donald Trump or Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate who had absolutely no chance of winning.
So, I say to my sistahs, " Head up, chin up, speak up, the time to grieve has come and gone. We did our best and there are more battles at hand, and in our hands, that we will have to fight. There will be other elections where we will be not only voters but candidates leading the charge! We are ready!