The Color of Money and Black Political Empowerment By Richard Muhammad [EMAIL PROTECTED] StraightWords E-Zine
America's most famous zip code may be 90210, but even ritzy Beverly Hills can't match 10021 when it comes to political clout. Zip code 10021 covers the Upper East Side of Manhattan, where overwhelming rich, powerful White donors gave $28.4 million in individual contributions to candidates in the last round of federal elections. That's more money than all individual donations from 532 zip codes nationally that represent 7.6 million Blacks, or 84 times the number of people who live in 10021, according to a recent report. The racial divide when it comes to donors is so wide Blacks and Latinos might as well be poor sharecroppers locked out of voting booths by poll taxes and literacy tests, said Stephanie Wilson, of the Fannie Lou Hamer Project and other advocates for political campaign finance reform. "Today, people of color are excluded from access and influence as effectively as if Congress re-enacted a poll tax charging people for the right to vote," according to The Color of Money Project, which mapped the 25 top metro areas for political contributions by zip code. It found that $9 out of $10 in political offerings by individuals came largely from areas where people of color do not live. The authors of the study argue comprehensive reform of campaign financing is needed. "If you're not giving your legislator any money, your legislator is not obligated to give you anything in return," said Wilson, executive director of a non-profit group devoted to campaign finance reform and political empowerment for minority groups. Her group signed on to the Color of Money report. Checking political donations to political candidates must be part of efforts to make sure Black and minority voices are heard in elections, she said. It is just as important as making sure poor and minority districts have voting machines that work and polling places that open on time, she said. Money, or the lack of it, also keeps people from running who would better serve the interests of non-Whites and the poor, Wilson said. According to the Color of Money Project: · In 2002 elections, House candidates who outspent opponents won 94 percent of the time. · Even in open-seat races, in which no candidate had an incumbent advantage, the top spender won 79 percent of the time in House races, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. · Spending, in fact, is rarely even close. In two-thirds of House races in 2002, winning candidates outspent losing candidates by a factor of 10 to 1 or more. · Furthermore, the amount of money required to succeed is enormous. In 2002, Senate candidates spent an average of $4.8 million, and House candidates, nearly $900,000. The donor base is also overwhelmingly White as the U.S. population grows more racially diverse: nearly 1 out of 3 Americans are non-White. The White population may be shrinking but as long as the money flows, wealthy Whites will seemingly control U.S. politics. Campaign finance reform and Black politics "There is no more passing the mayonnaise jar around the community center to raise money for a campaign," said Mark Clack, deputy director of Public Campaign, a campaign finance reform group that oversaw compilation of the Color of Money report. The cost of running in every campaign cycle at just about all levels is going up, he noted. Blacks don't have the surplus income to write individual $2,000 checks, which means wealthy people have access to lawmakers and potential lawmakers and ordinary people do not, Clack continued. Candidates have to pay for TV time and high power consultants and neither comes cheaply, he said. In the past, a candidate was considered unmarketable either because of inexperience or fringe political views, but today a person rooted in the community, with a solid record can be disqualified because he couldn't raise enough money, Clack said. ***Get the full story by subscribing to StraightWords e-zine. Just e-mail [EMAIL PROTECTED] and say "subscribe me" in the subject line. It's bi-weekly original content from Richard Muhammad and provides news, analysis and perspective on race, religion, politics and culture. Muhammad is a former managing editor of The Final Call newspaper, published by the Nation of Islam, with 20 years of journalism experience as an editor, columnist, reporter and photographer. His work has appeared on websites and newspapers across the country and in Canada. __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! 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