SIMMERING ACTIVISM - THE STATE OF THE BLACK WORLD
BY JULIANNE MALVEAUX
Ron Daniels, Executive Director of the New York-based Center for
Constitutional Rights and convener of the State of the Black World conference
said as many as 2500 people came through to hear Haki Madhibuti, Danny
Glover, Maxine Waters, Sonia Sanchez, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton,
and others assess the status of black people.
They came despite the fact that people aren’t traveling. They came
despite the fact that we are all supposed to take only one position on
terrorism. Folks came – graduate students, professors, activists, and
scholars – because they care. They came to talk, to throw down, to organize,
to mobilize. They came, and I was excited.
I didn’t start out excited, to be honest. I’m not sure what my
expectations were. I went because Ron Daniels is a friend and he asked me to
come. I wasn’t sure how many folks would come, but I decided that I had to
be down with the program. I was a little bent that things started late, that
the pouring of libation took more than half an hour, that among real
activists there were a few star-acting fools who walked with their entourages
and egos.
That wasn’t what it was about, though. It was about the graduate
students like Perdue University’s Kim Ellis who threw down on the Tulsa Riots
and made a parallel between that terrorism and the terrorism we are
experiencing now. The girl was baaad, and there were dozens of young
brothers and sister, throwing their stuff out there, made me feel old, made
me feel blessed, made me feel so incredibly proud at the young brothers and
sisters following in our footsteps.
It was about black folks communicating, and yet it was about a walk back
down memory lane. There was a conference much like this 30 years ago, with
some of the same players, even, and so this time around some issues were
revisited, and others were introduced. Just about every component of our
community was present, though the absence of black folks in organized labor
was glaring.
One of the highlights of the conference was the presentation Rev. Al
Sharpton made about his exploratory Presidential quest. Sharpton is a man on
a mission. He says he wants to make sure that Democrats don’t drift so far
to center that they become Demublicans. In his rousing talk, he made a
passionate case that there is room for him in a Presidential race. And he
says his candidacy will expand the Presidential discourse, especially since
Democrats and Republicans look more and more alike since September 11.
Still, how much expanding will Sharpton really do? I sat next to him and
was apart of a panel that questioned him at the State of the Black World
Conference, and found him to bubble over with energy, while falling short on
platform. What would he do about economic stimulus? He says he wouldn’t cut
corporate taxes. Senator Tom Daschle (D-SD) says the same thing. He says
he’d rebuild our nation’s infrastructure. A score of progressive Democrats,
including Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-Ill) have made the same point. How would he
deal with Social Security? He says it shouldn’t be privatized. So does Al
Gore. In street parlance, Sharpton is pushing Democratic Kool-Aid with a
little bit of flavor. I’m not sure how that expands the discourse and debate.
To be sure, Sharpton is far more pointed on race matters and foreign
policy. He is pointed on issues of racial profiling, especially around
September 11. He chided African Americans not to believe the hype and
support the profiling of Arab Americans, and he was stinging in his criticism
of our nation’s Israel policy. And, to his credit, he dismissed notions that
his potential Presidential run is a Jesse Jackson rip-off, and was clear at
the opportunities, including victories at the state and local level, that a
Sharpton race might produce. If you don’t run, you can’t win, he said, and
people cheered. Still, there will be no winners if Mr. Sharpton doesn’t
develop a compelling and unique platform.
In other words, Sharpton can run a marquee campaign that will never be as
successful as the 1984 and 1988 “Run, Jesse, Run” campaigns. Or, he can do
as Nader, Bradley, and even Perot have done with independent (or long-shot)
races and develop a platform that clearly distinguishes him from the
mainstream. He can galvanize people simply because he’s Sharpton, or he can
fine-tune the debate by reminding Democrats of what they need to stand for.
Whatever he does, the majority will see him as a flawed vessel in which we
can carry progressive water. But if he makes it all about Al, not all about
the people, he runs the risk of advancing nothing more than his own ambitions.
It’s early yet for Sharpton – at least 18 months before the big boys (and
girls) come out flexing their muscles and talking about their goals. It’s
early enough for his exploratory committee to run him through a hundred or so
cities, to hold regional meetings, and to assess the way people respond to
him. Sharpton shouldn’t allow himself to be fooled by the cheers he will get
from crowds like those at the State of the Black World Conference. They
appreciate him, as much as anything, for the “in your face” quality he uses
to confront the establishment. But appreciation won’t translate into
motivation unless Sharpton brings something new to the table. He can’t just
broaden the discourse. He also has to bring substance to it. If he can
combine substance with simmering progressive activism, Sharpton could be a
powerful force in 2004.