> Mark Anderson replies: SNIP Instead of bemoaning the lack of a Black > winner in a Ward where > Whites are in the minority, we should happy that > people are looking beyond > such trivialities. SNIP
ML asks: Is Black representation on the Minneapolis City Council a triviality? Wow. Mark Anderson replies to ML: Yes, I guess you're right that it's a big "wow" in Minneapolis. In this city we still find quotas and racial set-asides to be reasonable actions in the fight against racism. Most of the rest of the country has progressed beyond this view, but in Minneapolis we're still living in the Dark Ages. Voting for a particular race instead of a person is always a setback for racial relations. It isn't good for anyone, whether one is of the favored race or not. Electing someone to office because of their race trivializes their other (more important) traits. It also lowers their power in the Council if the other members consider that member to be a token of his/her race. He or she might be listened to as a mouthpiece for his/her race, but otherwise he/she will likely be ignored. To build political power in the city, one must be strong enough in an election to overwhelm the others due to force of personality, not get elected as a token. Before I'm accused of it, I certainly don't discount racism in our society. For example, I think that excess pullovers by cops when "driving while Black" is a real phenomenon. But trying to solve this with quotas for Black office holders or policemen is counter-productive. Its main effect on society is a suspicion by many that any particular Black job or office holders are not really competent in their field, but chosen just because of race. Any quotas by race separate the races further and will never result in equality. The ultimate way to eliminate racism is to treat race as a triviality. This only has power because it is true. This is not a quick fix, but it will work. It's not as if quotas have changed attitudes rapidly; in fact I think they actually encourage racism. Society is a little less racist than it was 50 years ago, but only because such attitudes are less acceptable than they were. But if we hadn't started using quotas 30 years ago, we'd be a lot further along the road than we are. I think voters generally understand the triviality of race instinctively, even in Minneapolis. I hear much bemoaning on this List and in various other media on the lack of minority office holders. But when voters actually pull the levers in the races they can control, they have voted for the person they like the best, not the race. I haven't seen any token Black candidates advance in the last couple of decades that I've been watching Council races. I'm happy about this voter behavior, unlike the moaners on the List. I think Jeff Hayden in the Eighth ward was a strong candidate too. I suspect that he didn't spend enough time out knocking on doorbells as much as the other candidates, as someone on the List implied in an earlier post. I base this on the fact that he had many fewer signs than the other three front-runners. When I talked to Jeff several months ago, he emphasized that he was differentiated from the other candidates because he had a family, so he understood better about family issues. I asked him how he found time to campaign with kids. He said it was difficult, but he found the time to do it. I wonder if winning an election really took more time than he thought it would, especially in such a competitive race. Mark V Anderson Bancroft REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
