African American newspaper, Green Party, Democrats

[Armand Diego <causebellum@xxxxxxxxx>]

This is the editorial of the most influential and
respected AA newspaper in the Bay Area. While they
called for a vote against the recall and for
Bustamante, look at the opinion they have about the
Democrats and the Green Party.

By the way, they now endorsed the Green Party
candidate for Mayor in San Francisco, Matt Gonzalez
and they are organizing events for him in the AA
neighborhoods.

This paper was solidly Democrat few years back. They
were supporting, kind of, Arianna until she dropped
out.

This text expresses to certain degree the
aproximations many are doing to left politics.  It is
not a linear path, but a convoluted andcomplex one.


-----------


Tuesday VOTE 100%: Vote NO

Editorial by Willie Ratcliff

Has the Democratic Party abandoned its most loyal
supporters? My answer is a resounding yes.

When my father served in World War I, most Blacks were
Republicans.

That didn't change until Democrat Franklin Delano
Roosevelt jolted the country out of the Depression.

Blacks have consistently voted better than 85 percent
Democratic since that great switch from the Republic
Party, which by then had bought into laissez faire and
left Blacks with no law to protect us from lynching or
the stealing of Black land. President Roosevelt put
Black America to work in the depths of the Depression
- prodded by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt.

In recent years, the Democratic Party has refused to
stand up for economic, environmental and political
justice. We can't tell the Democrats from the
Republicans, since both mainstream parties have
abandoned African Americans, along with labor, the
middle class, poor whites and other people of color.

We must move in a different direction.

It's time to go for the candidate, regardless of his
or her party alignment. We have the numbers to make
the two major parties compete for our votes - and to
help other parties, like the Green Party, grow.

William Jefferson Clinton felt he had to compete for
conservative votes rather than go after the votes of
his natural constituents, people of color and the
working class, who make up the overwhelming
majority of the Democratic Party, especially in
California. Clinton infuriated us with his "mend it,
don't end it" dismissal of affirmative action, his
support of "three strikes and you're out" to
pack our people into prison and by "ending welfare as
we know it" to plunge us deeper into poverty.

When Bush Republicans stole the 2000 election by
denying masses of Black voters the right to vote or to
have their votes counted, Al Gore and the Democrats
refused to fight either for Blacks or even for the
presidency.

In California, we've had a hard time telling Gov. Gray
Davis from any of the last three Republican governors,
and I could reel off dozens of reasons to dump him. So
can you, I'm sure.

The Bay View was all set to support Arianna Huffington
to replace him and had compiled a long list of good
reasons why. We also like Peter Camejo, the Green
Party candidate we supported to replace Gray Davis
last November.

But with the last few days' surge in the polls for
Arnold Schwarzenegger, and with the presidential
election looming next year, we can't let the
Republicans grab California. We have to do what's
best for California and for people of color and all
oppressed people.

The best way to terminate Schwarzenegger is to vote No
on the recall and yes on Cruz Bustamante for governor.


At the same time, we are giving both the Democratic
and Republican parties fair warning that we will vote
for the person, not the party.

We will not continue to support a party that doesn't
serve our interests.

Most important of all is to understand that in order
for Black people to have power, we must vote.

If you go to the polls for no other reason this
Tuesday, Oct. 7, vote

No to kill Proposition 54, which Arianna calls "racial
discrimination without a paper trail." We can't beat
racism - whether by the police, the schools or the
banks - if we have no evidence it exists.

Vote No on Prop 53 as well. Don't let the construction
industry, which locks Blacks out, grab hold of
California's dwindling treasury to pour our tax money
into building more highways rather than
investing in public transportation like high-speed
rail to LA and ferries on the Bay.

The way to freedom starts right here right now when we
VOTE 100%.

Though we'll live to fight another day by voting
straight No on this Oct. 7 ballot, the San Francisco
ballot on Nov. 4 invites some enthusiastic Yes votes.
Stay tuned.

__________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
The New Yahoo! Shopping - with improved product search
http://shopping.yahoo.com


~~~~~~~
PLEASE clip all extraneous text before replying to a message.