Sunday, November 9, 2008

And then I calmed down a little (more political stuff)

And a post from yesterday, at that same political site. I was replying to a person who was using the quote below as evidence that "blacks" were responsible for the passage of Prop 8.


CNN is reporting that seventy percent of blacks voted for this amendment.
Without the black vote this amendment would not have passed.
Whites were slightly leaning towards it, while asians and latinos were split.


Shannikka at Daily Kos has something interesting to say on this:

Analysis of Black Vote Results on Prop 8

Bottom line, based on the writer's analysis of the number of registered black voters in Californa, even if ALL of those black voters had voted "yes" on 8, Prop 8 would have won by 80,000 votes.

I don't know about the accuracy of the population counts, or the validity of the analysis of the numbers (I leave that to the statisticians amongst us), but if these numbers are in anyway valid, I suggest that the "the blacks are responsible" argument should be dropped.

Even if the numbers are completely off, the fact remains that the vast majority of voters who voted against Prop 8 were white.

Draw whatever conclusions you will from that.

As to the "unfairness" of targeting the LDS Church, I submit that providing 50% to 70% percent of the funding of Yes on 8 removes the "un" from the equation. Especially in light of the (from a Catholic perspective, I don't know what else to call it) pastoral letter published by the LDS hierarchy back in June, which strongly encouraged Mormons to donate & be active in the fight against Prop 8. The out of proportion effect (in comparison to their actual numbers) of the Mormon participation in the Yes on 8 campaign feeds right into my previous statements re: accepting the consequences of entering the political arena.

Specifically, if a Church (or anyone, for that matter) enters into a political discourse, they must be prepared to accept the consequences of someone disagreeing with them. Which explains why there are demonstrations going on in front of Mormon temples across the state. Yes, I'm angry at the Mormons who voted for Prop 8--but I'm also angry at EVERYONE who voted for it. From my perspective, it's not a religious issue, but a fundamental rights issue. ALL of us are affected, one way or another.

Ultimately, I don't think any one group was responsible for the passage of Prop 8. I believe the No on 8 campaign dropped the ball--for example, by failing to show that, hey, married gay couples aren't all that scary. (I simplify). Catholics, blacks, Hispanics, Mormons, Asians, Evangelicals of various stripes, Whites and, yes, gays and lesbians, all share that responsibility. Proceed from there, without bias or bigotry.

1 comment:

  1. Jim -

    The CNN poll was a joke. First, I read the same diary, and her numbers are spot on. Second, the numbers are rounded off, black voters actually being 8.95 total even under their flawed methedology.

    Lastly, and perhaps most importantly...African American voters did vote for Prop. 8 to the tune of at least 60%...but African Americans are the oldest, poorest, and least educated ethnic group in California.

    One doesn't have to reference skin color, after looking at the exit poll figures for voters over 50, or voters with a High School diploma or less, or voters from housholds making under 50k, to understand why the most disadvantaged large ethnic community in our state voted the way they did.

    In California, an entire generation of black males went to the joint or joined the service or wound up dead...my age mates, my classmates...and there is a huge gap in exactly the 18-35 group that among other ethnic groups swayed the vote. Even those who "made it" often did so by getting the hell out of California and away from our crumbling inner cities.

    Our African American population has fallen from 12% in 1980 to below 7% today...which should make clear that we're talking about a disproportionately older community.

    I saw the numbers for a precinct in the heart of Watts, and it was a 59% Yes on 8 vote. That's as close as we'll get to "vetting" the CNN poll, I guess. However, it's important to understand that based on my personal experience canvassing and passing out flyers in Culver City and parts of Inglewood during the last days before the election, the under 30's were almost all "no on 8" from what they told me anyway...while the old women were believing the lie that their church would be "forced to marry gays".

    More to blame than any other single factor? Equality California. We never saw a black face in one of their ads.

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