Views in brief

Stop scapegoating Blacks for Prop 8

THANK YOU to Sherry Wolf for the article "Myth of the Black-gay divide."

I was surprised and disappointed when I learned that Proposition 8, banning marriage rights for lesbian and gay people, passed in California. I asked friends and colleagues why they think this happened, with the more liberal ideas that have been energizing and unifying people this election season.

The answers I got, even from a few comrades that I respect very much politically, was that support for Proposition 8 was indeed due to the high turnout of African American voters. I sighed and nodded in agreement when my friends explained that this was due to the large number of African Americans who are Christians, although this answer did not sit right with me. It has been nagging at me.

The following, from the article, does sit right with me: "The state's Black population is 6.2 percent, and it accounted for 10 percent of the overall vote. In other words, blaming African Americans for the referendum's passage ignores 90 percent of the vote."

The fact that many African Americans are personally critical of homosexuality and yet, as the Georgetown study and voting from the 2004 same-sex initiatives show, support equal rights for their/our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters shows the complexity of thought and depth of concern most African Americans have for the equal rights and justice of any oppressed group of people.

To see African Americans scapegoated again and again is disappointing. The fact that I nearly fell for it this time is disappointing as well. Thank you for shedding light on the issue.
Vanessa Beck, Chicago

The narrow margin on Prop 8

I WOULD like to thank Nicole Colson for her analysis of why Prop 8 passed in California on November 4.

On the question of consciousness of voters, it's certainly true that lots of folks of all races don't yet support equal rights for LGBT people.

But I do think it's worth noting that despite the overwhelming amount of money the right poured into the outright homophobia and fear-mongering of the "Yes" campaign, the cover the Democratic Party gave them and the weak response from the "No" campaign (even the San Francisco Chronicle noticed that they ran "a TV campaign that almost never mentioned gays or lesbians or showed them in an ad"), the margin was so slim--4 points, which works out to be about 500,000 out of 10.3 million votes cast.

By comparison, Prop 22, the measure on the ballot in 2000 that sought to prevent same-sex marriage, passed 61 percent to 38 percent (23 points, a margin of 1.7 million votes out of 7.5 million votes cast).

It calls to mind a May Newsweek poll that Sharon Smith cited in her column "Clinton's last stand," showing "roughly 70 percent of voters agreeing that the country is ready for a Black man to serve as president, up from just 37 percent in the 2000 election." Consciousness has shifted in a very real way in this country since 2000, and there are new openings for socialist politics and opportunities for organizing that weren't there even a year ago.

This is not to try to put a silver lining on an infuriating and frustrating defeat for our side, and it is certainly not to discount the very real possibility of a rise in antigay harassment or violence now that bigotry has gotten such a wide hearing through the Yes on Prop 8 campaign.

But I do think that it's worth putting this loss in the context of understanding the broader shift in consciousness happening in the U.S., as we look toward further opportunities to organize our side.
Christine DaRosa, San Francisco

Bloomberg sidesteps the voters

IN A shameless move, the New York City Council recently voted to extend term limits for Mayor Michael Bloomberg to allow him to run for a third term.

In a shrewd move, Bloomberg co-opted the mostly Democratic council into voting for the plan by also offering that their own term limits be extended as well.

The council refused calls by many to put the issue to a referendum so the voters could weigh in. Why? Because the bill would surely have been defeated. As reported on Democracy Now! by Juan Gonzalez, polls showed a staggering 89 percent of New York City residents opposed the extension of term limits.

This would mean even a sizeable percentage of Bloomberg supporters nonetheless opposed the extension, perhaps remembering the days when the city was run by the Democratic Party machine dubbed Tammany Hall.

One liberal Democratic councilperson replied to the call for a referendum by saying, "Why do we need to go to the people? The people voted me in to make a decision--and I'm making it! I vote yes!"

Some opposition party.
David Bliven, Briarwood, New York

A view of the election from the UK

I CAN inform you from the other side of the pond that many in the UK are watching this election with fascination. The coverage of the U.S. election is on every news bulletin, there are election specials running tonight. It's the front page of every newspaper. You'd think the election was taking place here.

Why the fascination? It comes down these key points, I think.

First, a huge sigh of relief that Bush is going. It signals the end of an era, of the first eight years of the 21st century that were dominated by fear and loathing of Washington, D.C., and the crazies in the White House. Many millions on both side of the Atlantic have marched against the war in Iraq over the last five years. That was a global experience. This is in part an echo of that struggle.

There's also a huge recognition of the historic step that electing a Black person as president will be, and what a poke in the eye for every racist and bigot that will be.

For me personally, what heartens me and what I find quite emotional is when I've been watching TV from my home in Manchester, and I see the queues stretching out from the polling stations as people turn out to vote and waiting for hours to do so. The constant refrain that British TV journalists keep receiving from those in line is that "we're voting for change." "Obamamania" is what comes over time and time again.

What that change will be, and how hard people will have to fight to make it a reality, is a bigger and deeper question. When I see McCain, and I look at those people in the queues for the polling station, one thing is clear: I know whom I'd like to share a beer with.
Richard Searle, Manchester Respect, Manchester, UK