INDEPENDENCE PARTY of NEW YORK COUNTY [Printer Friendly Version]

VOTE BLACK, NOT DEMOCRAT
By Dr. Lenora Fulani

 

The argument that Black and Latino voters are ill-served by non-partisan elections doesn’t hold up. In 100 years of partisan contests, New York elected only one non-white mayor. David Dinkins served only one term, going down to defeat when white Democrats deserted him in favor of Rudolph Giuliani. The 2001 mayoral primary told another dramatic story: - the Democratic Party will use racialism when push comes to shove.

Studies have shown that of the 50 largest cities in America, the 11 with partisan systems elected only two Black or Latino mayors (18%), while in the 37 cities with a nonpartisan system, 15 Black or Latino mayors were elected (41%). Non-partisan elections empower minority citizens, but not the Democratic Party.

Mayor Bloomberg has been criticized for moving too quickly on this reform, but timing is often used as a smokescreen. When America was founded, the issue of slavery was tabled by the Founding Fathers because the “timing” wasn’t right. When Democratic Party professionals argue more time is needed to study the issue, they mean more time is needed to recapture control of the Black vote, one-third of which escaped its grasp last year. The growing community of independent-minded African Americans-want to go forward-not backward. Nonpartisan elections is the way.