Tommy Ates Online©: Northern Blacks On The Move: Will Politics Follow?
Who would have thought African-Americans would return home in such large numbers for comfort, rest, and renewed hope? Perhaps the South is rising again, with a more mellowed face, just wanting the future to be different than the past. Oh, there is one thing people shouldn’t forget either: the battle for life, liberty, and the pursuit of equality isn’t over. In fact, it may be just beginning. Alas, use of the “Dixie Code.”
(PRWEB) November 19, 2003
November 17 2003--You can see it the metropolitan sophistication of Atlanta to the seaside resorts of Hilton Head, South Carolina. More than 680,000 blacks moved to the South between 1995 and 2000, according the U. S. Census Bureau. African-Americans now hold more than 5,500 elected positions south of the Mason-Dixon Line. There are now black mayors in Houston, New Orleans, Atlanta, and Birmingham. You don’t have to worry about getting harassed (overtly) in northerner-viewed “dreaded” Mississippi, but you do have to wonder that your money might be taken for a ride in a Biloxi casino.
Oh, there is one thing people shouldnÂ’t forget either: the battle for life, liberty, and the pursuit of equality isnÂ’t over. In fact, it may be just beginning.
The politics of welfare-reform and prescription drug coverage has never been a more pressing issue than in the southern states of Texas, Georgia, and “post-South” Florida, places where in the massive population boom, thousands of retirees have moved for warmer climates, only the find their prescription drug benefits decreasing in coverage both the government and their employer-based insurance plans. In the meantime, more high-tech and distribution businesses are finding the South to be an easier conduit in which to do business, as many states (formally Aquarian) have fewer business taxes and code restrictions.
But all these attractive qualities may be ruined if the Republican Party in Southern states continues with a de-facto policy of “race-baiting.”
Yes, the secret is out and open. State Democratic stalwarts and liberal activists are not exaggerating these claims. They are real and open in the public eye. One only has to look at the Trent Lott controversy or the continued South Carolina scandal of the Confederate Flag to see the in’s and out’s of “hoodwink” politics.
After fall of the Jim Crow era in the early 1970s, the Democratic Party in the South was in the tent of liberal to conservative blacks and whites, including many white segregationists. The Republican parties in those states saw an opening for their agenda of economic independence against the “welfare state” (meaning blacks) and equal-opportunity laws which tried to correct some of the imbalance between the different racial communities. Many times they failed; however in the 1990s, with the rise of Congressman Newt Gingrich and his schema of the rule of the upper middle-class, the many of children of old-time southern white Democrats crossed over to the Republican side, believing the Democratic Party to be filled with the minorities and racial apologists, for whom they saw little in common. By 1994 and the Gingrich Republican revolution in Congress, the conversion of white South Democrats was all but complete.
Nowadays, to be white and a Democrat in the South seems almost like an oxymoron. The veiled political theology spilled (most recently by the Mississippi Governor’s race) is that to be Republican, at its worst, keeps the black power (perhaps vengeful) at bay and preserves the quality of life, built by true Southerners (meaning white men). Alas, use of the “Dixie Code.” Of course, these same politicians forget that slave labor that produced many of the intrinsic qualities of ‘Southern infrastructure’ to begin with.
WhatÂ’s left of the Democratic Party is these states are finally trying to regroup and fight for an economic agenda that appeal to both whites and blacks. Focusing on social programs in education and home ownership is just start of what southern Democrats can do to win over Reagan and Bush Republicans suffering in this long recession. Increased Medicare for seniors is another issue that most be tacked to convince old-time Democrats that they should return to the large, broad tent of ideas which Republicans increasing do not stand for.
All that being said, this reasoning should not discourage African-Americans from voting their conscience (whether it is Democratic or Republican) in the new South. Minorities can only insure equal treatment if they are accepted and excel in every part of society, not just as a token or quota. Equality in Southern states can happen if the political landscape lends itself to political organizing in rural areas where more of the traditional voting base still lives.
There are many reasons why blacks are returning to the South in large numbers and it’s not just about relatives, weather, or jobs. It’s just about being happy at home. Perhaps, a place one should have never left. Maybe people are moving to “a town called Hope?”
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Copyright © 2003 Tommy Ates. All Rights Reserved.
Tommy Ates loves the left because the left is always right! Tommy Ates has appeared in several publications, such as The Houston Chronicle, Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, The Wichita Eagle, The Macon Telegraph, and Global Black News, among others. Please consult contact information on column release dates and/ or pricing.
