200 Years; Minority Politics in America, Part 2

from communication center the university of texas at austin this is two hundred years in the year nineteen seventy six the american republic celebrates its two hundredth anniversary as a part of the us bicentennial program at the university of texas at austin two hundred years explores the past present and future dynamics of history's longest living democratic society this is rex where for two hundred years this week we will be continuing our discussion of minority politics in america which began on last week's program with us again are among the witty us assistant professor of government at the university of texas at austin tom davis also an assistant professor of government at the university and joe fagan ut austin professor of sociology who has continued today with this important factor in monarch to politics which is framed in this question how effective or ineffective at the newly elected minority

officials berman why are you going to go with the words began with joe i think the black and chicano officials have been fairly effective within the limits of government within the limits of the government framers they been able to provide increased social services sewers lights stop signs for black and chicano communities where they have been elected there has been an increased number of black and chicano elected officials and it had an effect on social services but in regard to broader economic issues bringing more jobs into their communities being able to upgrade the incomes of their people have been very ineffective because outside the government of framework they don't have the economic clout yeah i would i have to think that they in effect of this has been eligible for the simple reason that black and chicano elected officials

have nots in any way been able to influence to need considerable degree those major policy questions affecting the society as a whole i mean it's nice to see for example that things can be done at the local level such as putting in street lights and improving the sows in that kind of thing but let's face it our lives are conditioned by a number of much larger and profound issues for example we've literally no impact as yet on foreign policy questions and those those in the black community art and i have considerable concern for what's happening in places like mozambique and angola the whole of southern africa but we have is that no effective means of changing or influencing american policy in that area and i think that it's probably not the black

community along that lacks caught in that area but it's a many of the less so wealthy and most influential sectors of our society that lachlan was in those areas also and i think you've got to get on ultimately to talk about what kind of effectiveness can a leopard officials have on these kinds of made major policy questions because ultimately they do affect us for example if things break down as they didn't solve these a's in it comes to be united states having to advance a military presence than we've seen that we bear a disproportionate share of the responsibility for carrying out that effort and when you get to an issue like angola the most southern africa you raise a considerable question when you think about the ominous possibility of their being black americans in that area and issued applicants so i do think that so we've got to look at the larger picture

and is not encouraging mr mambo but it was a demand of that i would sagan agree with with dan in terms of the impact may negligible now know you're a human standpoint obviously the extent to which people have been had their lives improved by improvement in and street lighting in is certain things of this nature of course is very important but as thomas seder the broader issues i think that the one thing that it's the this show is that at the time that we were making some of these small very incremental kind of changes that the us since then we've seen of course the economy goes downhill and many old program to go down with them i don't think that's so much a function of that of a republican administration and that is simply of our economy getting worse so that i think what this has shown is that even to the extent that that that positive changes have been made that because we have an approach again the broader issues and because again like jennifer

beals or basically powerless at that level that power really dependent on what's harder kind of question standing in both harder questions that work against positive change your life and she comes in the last you know four five six years the web and of course they were i made a record all americans but given the fact that the majors a while ago the young black city council asked you hired and first fired is an effective well that brings us to the next important area what are the important issues which influenced the effectiveness of these a newly elected officials and especially in effect is the limit their potential ability and positions of leadership in government under you spelled out part of and when you say the economy and they don't have clout outside of the area but this one can we anticipate no future work with open air

probably was one of money what you were talking about in terms of evidence the facts or groups in society except the wealthiest elite in us society very few americans have much political clout in this country when it comes to determining foreign policy or even major domestic policy this would include irish an italian americans as well as black and chicano americans it's only in very well he healed very wealthy elite at the top of the society on generally a business corporate elite which shapes then the very political decisions are made within the government or framework and when this filters down to the local level that means a newly elected black officials and some southern mississippi town for example even though they may have a majority of the votes in the town and a majority elected officials and the talmud don't run the

business is there room on the industrial are concerns in the miriam elder little control over that crystal city has as a good example i think the basic problem crystal city now is not one of government control which chicanos have been crystal city but its economic control of the economics of the eerie i guess is largely controlled from the outside again a small business corporate elite in the country which would be very difficult to locate even you can find out who these people are yeah i mean i think that they are probably at least for very essential ingredients to being an essential to being able to exercise any real control and cool once one comes to political decision making in general annan and i would think that they have to do with money numbers organization and contacts and a difference for example between blacks and chicanos and other minorities

in this gumshoe yeah i'm mabel presently to influence things in a man and his internet inches is that they're not only lack money and good organization but unlike other sectors of the larger society they lacked contacts and whereas they do have those contacts they usually that context that leaves them and they're ready to make decisions based on their own interests and i think that's a major setback in terms of the ability to influence and or control anything at all i would i would dare say for example that we not only a lack enough people say at the national level in that state wide level than where major decisions are made but in addition to a paucity of numbers we also have the problem of those people not really belonging to us in the sense that the direction comes from the core of our community in terms of its very clear needs and interests

and i think until the black and chicano another minority communities aren't able to accumulate ah they're well that's what it is essentially do well to control their own politicians that even an astronomical increases in the numbers and i'm going to make a great deal of difference if in fact they still are hostages opinion was to us such as a larger community straightforward know about the fact that we do we've not been able to buy our politicians and i don't say that with any tremendously blogger since but i am to an extent will the rising at turn to imply what it actually means and that is that if you want good representation you've got to be able to pay for it and we simply lacked the resources to do that and it's reflected when it comes to make the decision right there i think i think basically what but the word we're getting out here at least from the political

standpoint is that within the structure of all the democratic and or republican party's that for the most part because of the organization because of the money involved though the contract involved not talking about at any point in time it is possible for our leadership within those particular parties to be able to make or break any candidate this goes all the way down in most cases from the local level at the national level and if i think that most of the chicken and black elected officials are quite aware of that are quite aware of who it was that got them like and the fact that even if their constituency is basically pecan or regardless of how they perform in office that for the most part they can rely on the party structure that can get them reelected if they begin basically follow the rules of the game and what this means i think is that it simply that that the against young black leather for simply do not have any kind of leverage in fact markets tumbled the larger society or the the the large organization that has leverage with them as

dazzling of stokely carmichael's talking about one almost ten years ago now in talking about building coalitions between you know the idea of the wealthy are between the powerful and the powerless that inevitably has the powers that have the dollar giving because they have absolutely no bargaining power and i think that essentially emotionally given the political standpoint that that is world where black james find themselves within the structure of the two parties either republican party for the most part has written off lived in and around my complete you know the most part of the democratic party simply assumes it's going to get the vote and then there was the case now with some time and given the control which they have over over over information is spread and so on it's a case the rigors of how well we perform our most of the huge comeback in tears over not going to be made aware of that and are therefore not going to be pushing in in any other kind of direction as far as is this change goes to sustain a family would by pointing to the example of our contemporary or

political situation in this country the current presidential campaign for example has been of a character that has not yet forced a single candidate to adjust himself to the minority community in the sky and when you consider what's actually happening today and a tremendous number of americans i think it's safe to say are in danger of being loved with essentially no choice whatsoever on the democratic side we've got to looking just at the front runners we have potentially the joys of choosing between nine the hall jackson wanted jimmy carter who describes himself as basically redneck pod george wallace and everyone is pretty well familiar with already or you've got to look at the gerald ford who was chosen by richard nixon whom i think it's fair to say began the demise of whatever power we started to grow back in the latter part of the sixties so we're being out in a sense effectively disenfranchise being left without any a

considerable joyce so what we've been able to do over an increase of this kind of situation well the national black political assuming that in cincinnati last weekend made a few taliban apparently to come up with a candidate for president and i think it behooves us to look at some reasons why they couldn't find a candidate there was first be a consideration of julian bond on the job and i think it would not at all be improper to at least slow deduced that one very strong reason why julian did not consider running for president on the national black political assume his flat farmland to get is that he's obviously quite interested in sewage and assuming the leadership of mandalay sepia job which has been helpful to a mentor which i understand he's the front runner and does he have a situation you a man who could add something to the community politically having to forgo that opportunity voices we are helplessly economic security they suddenly turns around the dome's an admirable person both dozen

men a politician but again dellums i presume i took it that he would have to relinquish his seat in congress which is the source of his livelihood and the base is the only economic news i suppose that he has to rely on for caring for his own family first of all and the bills and the decisions that we're weighing on men in such way that they are cantu placed their own interests above the interests of larger communities and i think that situation still persist until blacks and other minorities have considerable economic means which they can place at the disposal of persons who may be capable of representing them but that is a very good example of why we don't have good representation it's a case of simply not being able to afford and i think how about the coalition this has been mentioned raceway in the discussion where they own political perspectives of blacks and chicanos so different that they can't come together

are they similar and we had a neo recent attempts a coalition or the other minority groups it you can join western stronger power base about that picture well i'm very hopeful of black and brown coalition and i think there were some tremendously praiseworthy efforts made in the lab partner sixties soul which were fruitful and others of which were disappointing and i think probably that's something about which only time will tell him i say this with respect to that proposition it seems to me that the more blacks and chicanos look to economy that is the distribution of what is to be had in this country as being at the very base of the problems the more common grounds were going to fine for unity we went through in the sixties a period during which we hoped for our

individual group identity is and i think that pianist pretty much exhausted itself and we pretty much know who we are now and i think a good many of us now are looking at what is the most fundamental characteristics of our palms and when we come one more to agree that at the very roots of our problems as a comedy of women that come in you is that we are dispossessed and i think that the more was to conclude this that there are going to be our chances for technical issue sunday israel promise there i think there's an instinct jason of exactly how this happened in houston back in nineteen seventy two hour when revenues for granted because of the party the first year that the song black candidates were running in the houston area there and mickey leland craig washington a few others and they of course were still just that kind of analysis to to politics and a run in the democratic party and i really didn't understand too much about exactly what was all about and faculty of involvement in quite a

bit of what michael radical kind of activity in their university days in any case they made a very strong effort in terms of organizing it their organizing efforts in the black community to also get the black new digital forensic news and not to vote for bob driscoll now after they were both elected in seventy two then they got into the generator pressure the democratic party both of them came to be perceived as their spokespeople for the black communities not only in houston but throughout the state of texas and very quickly began being drawn into some of the at least a symbolic higher levels of the democratic party and in fact both were mentioned time time again as being potentially one of these days and the first speaker of the house the first black speaker of the house of the state of texas and its advice about seventy four neither one of those candidates was willing to support revenues as everton serving in seventy four running for governor in effect both endorsed again together tony the pandora's box critical for governor and i think it is in a very good for example how this kind of thing works as a people are they were in a well intentioned who who had some

idea least though of the of the prominent blacks and browns and some some vision of the kind of change that could be affected by by bringing the two groups together but once they they they were drawn into the party once they were given a taste of what it was like and there once again as as don was saying what's their economic basis came to be tied up with their own status within the democratic party are they simply moved away from from whether rizzo ideas were and it fined them come on when you're sick absent for example in speaking against a third party candidacy now serving as a kind of thing that that was so difficult the fight against because again we don't have a dance and we don't have the money to buy those people the other side does all the money and prestige for that matter but we can offer them speaker of the house ships less invented a very good example of how that might happen what are my most are about as individual more mobility in your state says is a classic component of our system so that we can always buy off the cream of the oppressed minority groups in the country we can

allow them greater upward mobility so that people in the country can go and say look there's a black senator in the senate and there's several black representatives in the house and i look at what an integrated society is upward mobility is possible for minorities but what happens is people give up give off as they move up in in the political and economic sustenance other only are very few minority individuals who make the system looking at but who are boston in two senses in one sense they're that they know will rid of a fly with their communities and in another sense the leadership of the community on his goal so that you could describe minority communities as hopelessly been decapitated by this process of individual mobility whereby the leaders are bought them moved up into elite circles what interest mall on how can the minority groups achieve this economic independence well i don't know

politically i just say we needed a war chest for example that blacks into condos had a good political war chest we would at least be able to have a brokerage function and i had liked it to be understood because i would like to have a buddy i think that we want to influence and control everything but all we want is the ability to at least ensure that someone buy needs america and that i was always taken account and i think to do that we've got to find ways of supporting our politicians that does not leave as reliant on external sources and i just said something that really just a deep nerve and that is that there's a decapitation do this because i think we're in great fear of having been good crops so this big going for some forty six percent of us to scrape off the top and of the remainder of this massive bulk of people simply love to be the stronger the land and i'm literally no future

love to them whatsoever because the system has a tendency to work in that way and i think many also falling victim to that pattern i think at least in some areas and i've talked about last time about crystal city and try again until economic resources where i think clearly the thing is going to be interned at least initially the first eight hours there recently krishna conscious system which doesn't lots of them won power those has buying power and the reason they're going to have to be interacting our buying power such that we don't have the very least and when we don't support those people are oppressing us and in the first place well today we've continued this discussion which is memory politics in america and we found that there's really no easy solution so the problem in the future doesn't look optimistic at all a menu is infected maybe a bit bleak but then that minority groups are really going to have to work to ensure that their interests

are served and the leaders must continue to remember where they may get on and get there mind and their heart with the groups that they begin with our panelists have included are among those with the us assistant professor of government at the university of texas at austin bunn dave is also an assistant professor of government at the university and joel fabian ut austin professor of sociology and says rex we're for two hundred years two hundred years as part of the united states bicentennial program at the university of texas austin is a continuing series of weekly conversations about the past present and future dynamics of history's longest living democratic society two hundred years this is

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