The 2008 Presidential race has been exciting, anxiety provoking, inspirational and long. After 21 months of campaigning it’s now over with historic results. We had record breaking voter turnout. We have our first African American President elect, Barak Obama. Forty five years after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his “I Have a Dream” speech we’re one step closer to that dream. Many of us realize that in spite of this victory we have a long way to go in addressing all of the racism that still exists in the United States and yet Obama’s victory is a huge sign of progress.
Within the excitement of living in such an historic time there is an undercurrent brewing that I think is going to set everyone back a few steps. The LGBTQ community is angry about the passing of Proposition 8 in California and some people in the LGBTQ community are wrongly lashing out against communities of color. For many Barak Obama’s win is a bittersweet victory. While not all people in LGBTQ communities voted for Barak Obama, most of us were rejoicing over his victory on Tuesday night. At the same time, it was difficult for many to be completely exuberant, especially those in California, as we watched the results come in for Proposition 8. This Proposition, which passed with 52% of the popular vote, will amend the California constitution to define marriage to be a union between one man and one woman. Yesterday Los Angeles stopped giving marriage licenses to same-sex couples. To many, this is a painful step backward.
California is the 25th state to pass a constitutional amendment which essentially bans same-sex marriage. California is different from the 24 other states that passed similar amendments because California had recently granted same-sex couples the privilege of marriage. After 18,000 same-sex marriages in California have taken place the privilege has now been rescinded. It is unclear what this means for those same-sex couples already married but tensions are high. LGBTQ communities across the United States see this as a huge loss in our fight for equal rights. This loss is causing pain and the pain is causing people to lash out.
I’m disheartened by comments I’ve heard, or seen written, that the Black community or Black and Latino communities in California are to blame for the passing of Prop. 8. Articles written about Prop. 8 are quoting that 70% of Black voters in California voted for Prop 8. Some people are saying that the high Black voter turnout for Barak Obama hurt the “No on 8” campaign. I want to dispute that claim and caution against placing blame on any one community, especially when it is itself an oppressed community.
I don’t think it helps to focus on numbers because I would argue that regardless of the numbers it is wrong for oppressed communities to blame each other for injustices imposed by the dominant culture. However, since numbers are being thrown around here are a few more to chew on. It’s easy to look at the number 70% and be alarmed. However, in California the Black community is 6.7% of the overall population (2006 Census)(1). According to the Public Policy Institute of California, Blacks make up about 6% of likely voters, while Whites make up 70% of likely voters in spite of the fact that they are only 47% of the entire California population(2). 13.8 million people were expected to turn out to vote. If 13.8 million people voted and 6% of them were Black then there were approximately 828,000 Black voters. Even if 70% of those voters favored Prop 8, less than 580,000 of those votes went in favor of Prop 8. That’s 4.2% of the 13.8 million votes cast in California.
Far more important than the actual numbers are the tactics used to pass Prop 8. I strongly believe that the leaders of the “Yes on 8” campaign were solely to blame for the passing of this amendment. They did a good job. They were successful in their message to voters. They used dirty tactics to sway people in their direction. They misled Californians. They may have even (mis)used the African American community to help pass this amendment. How did Prop. 8 proponents get so many people in the African American community on their side? I believe they used “divide and conquer” techniques. These aren’t new tactics; in fact they’re well weathered tactics that pit one oppressed group against another. I want to be clear, I do not believe that any communities of color were responsible for passing Prop. 8. At the same time I think it’s important to understand what kinds of tactics are sometimes used to pit one oppressed community against another.
There are two “divide and conquer” techniques that have been used in the past that may have also been used this time around. The first is a technique I’ll call “they’ve co-opted your movement” technique. Some White LGBTQ leaders have unfairly compared the gay rights movement to the Black Civil Rights movement without understanding the true history of that movement. They have compared the movements without acknowledging the differences. They have not formed true allied partnerships with Black leaders and Black communities. As a result some in the Black community fairly resent the use of comparisons without true acknowledgment of the differences. During times of political volatility like this, predominantly White leaders of campaigns like Prop. 8 dwell on these resentments and make claims to the Black community that the gays are “co-opting your movement.” This is an issue that can be addressed by the development of partnerships between communities who are all fighting for social justice.
The second technique feeds on the religious sensibilities of the Black community. It is likely that proponents of Prop. 8 knew that overwhelmingly the Black community is a very religious community. The backers of Prop. 8 were primarily Christian based organizations. As a result they used the religious sensibility of the Black community to spread misinformation about same-sex marriage and how it will endanger “traditional marriage.” Since the predominantly White gay political community has not worked to establish close bonds with communities of color it is not surprising that these untruths were accepted without question by many in the Black community. I don’t know specifically what efforts were made by the “No on 8” campaign to educate the Black community about same-sex marriage issues but I suspect that if the right bonds and unity had been there we could have made some headway towards counteracting those untruths.
Whatever tactics that were used, the “Yes on 8” campaign was not led by the African American community. It was led by a small group of people, predominantly, if not solely White, who misled the general public with scare tactics and misinformation. Let’s have a reality check here. In every state where a constitutional amendment was voted on to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman it was passed, every single one. Twenty-five states total, half of the entire country. And in many cases these amendments passed by large margins. Arizona’s first ballot initiative was defeated but it was on the ballot again this year and it passed. Yes, California is different because the rights were given and then taken away, but not one state yet has definitively defeated these ballot initiatives. California’s outcome is hugely disappointing and painful, but it is not out of the norm. As a matter of fact, it is the norm and it’s one of the closest margins we’ve lost by in any state thus far.
We are still living in times that are not yet ready to overturn discrimination based on sexual orientation in most states. 45 States still have what are called “Marriage Recognition Laws” which ban recognition of marriages between same-sex couples. Let us not allow misunderstandings and misinformation to divide us. We need to learn how to work together with those who have different views and perspectives from our own. Surprising alliances often pop up where least expected. Though progress is being made on many different issues of social justice, we have a long, long way to go on all fronts and it would serve us well to learn how we can work together to find common ground to fight all forms of discrimination. “Divide and conquer” keeps us all fighting for the crumb. Blaming each other does nothing but alienate potential allies. If we as individuals, and the leaders of our movements, take risks and attempt to make partnerships that don’t feel natural or comfortable we will certainly make a lot more progress.
1 http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/06000.html
2 http://www.ppic.org/content/pubs/jtf/JTF_LikelyVotersJTF.pdf
Friday, November 7, 2008
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