On this Martin Luther King Day, it is a good time to examine why it is that African-Americans show such strong (almost unanimous) support for the Democratic Party, Democratic Presidents, and President Obama. Through good times and bad, African-Americans seem particularly loyal to one party in contrast to all other ethnic demographics.
There are two easy answers to this question. The first is that that President Obama is black. Therefore cultural affinity will trump issues and policies, even if they are detrimental to black interests. The other is that the Republican party is hostile to black people. Therefore, for lack of a better option, blacks will support Democrats out of spite. There is some truth to both of these answers, but the deeper answer may be elusive to pollsters and pundits.
Consider the recent polling. In the latest Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll, President Obama's favorable/unfavorable is 55/42. Among Whites, 46/52. latinos, 65/30. Among Blacks, 88/6. For the Democratic Party, the polls shows a favorable/unfavorable rating of 41/55 for all Americans. For Whites, that number is 32/66. Latinos, 50/42. But for Blacks, that number is 77/13. It seems that Whites and Blacks are almost polar opposites when it comes to favorability towards Democrats with Latinos offering the mean. You could look back throughout the recent polling, or polling going back several decades and you'd find similar results. Why do blacks continue to offer so much support for Democrats, Democratic Presidents, and this President in particular?
Republicans ask this question a lot more than Democrats do. Most of them offer up a mix of inane answers that have range from "they love the welfare state" to "white liberals have them brainwashed." Often, Republicans sincerely seeking African-American support appeal to their generally conservative social values, but this rarely translates into support for their candidates at the polls. When liberals are asked this question, the stock answers range from civil rights laws to the hostility of Southern Democrats towards desegregation. In fact, most liberal political organizations rarely focus their efforts on persuasion when it comes to the black vote. The efforts are almost always in the realm of turnout. It is a commonly accepted myth among white Democrats that blacks don't vote, despite all the polling evidence to the contrary. The facts show blacks voting at similar or even higher rates than the public at large in almost every case. It seems to me they desire even higher turnout than the public at large in order to mitigate their failure to persuade more of their own.
I don't want to waste too much time refuting the stock answers to these questions. They are all persuasive in their own way, having an element of truth to them in my opinion. What I would like to do is put the agreed upon facts in historical context and possibly offer a theory which I believe get to the heart of the matter. In short, black people are, essentially, optimists.
Seems strange doesn't it? This recession has hurt a lot of people in this country, without question. All ethnic groups have suffered from its effects. Yet, for African-Americans, it has hit particularly hard. No other ethinc group has seen steeper increases in unemployment, drastic declines in household wealth, massive home foreclosures, and the hard social dislocations that come with it like family strife and depression. Additionally, a higher percentage of blacks serve in the military. 14.5 percent contrasted with 12.8 percent of the population as a whole. Add the facts of blacks constituting 13% of the population and over 22% of the enlisted ranks, and you can see blacks have also been hit particularly hard by years of war.
Despite all this, a new Pew poll shows African-Americans are more optimistic than ever:
A majority of African-Americans polled, 53 percent, said that life for blacks in the future will be better than it is now. Two years ago, the number was 44 percent.
...
Even with the upbeat findings, more than eight in 10 African-Americans said the country needs to make more changes before blacks have equal rights with whites. About one-third of whites agreed.
You may be having a "WTF???" moment. Things get worse, blacks get more optimistic? What gives?
These tough times are run of the mill for black folks. Even when times are flush, we know that hardship and struggle are part and parcel to life. The history of this country is one in which black folks have suffered immeasurable obstacles and great successes in spite of them. Essentially, blacks to do not share the sense of entitlement that has been bred into most post-Great Depression whites. There is no expectation of ever increasing prosperity. There is no expectation that more freedom will solve all our problems. There is no expectation that acts of government will make everything instantly better. There is no expectation that science or faith have all the answers.
Black parents know that their children will not have automatic access to upward mobility simply by being born in America. Black folks know that the Constitution and the American flag are not always guarantors of justice or freedom. Both can also mean injustice and inequity. There is no expectation that just because one is the most qualified and best prepared and most educated, that such a person will get the job. Simply because one of the best presented, most articulate, and highly recommended does not mean such a person will get to live in whatever place they choose. Life is mysterious. Fate is uncertain, even with the best of plans.
That Justice is a blind goddess
Is a thing to which we blacks are wise.
Her bandage hides two festering sores
That once perhaps were eyes.
-Langston Hughes, 1923
There is a monument dedicated to Martin Luther King, Jr. in Montgomery, Alabama. Above it is listed his favorite Bible verse:
Let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream.
(Amos 5:6)
There are times when rivers get rapid and rocky. There are times when they are shallow and its possible to run aground. There is the dark of night when even the best of pilots cannot see with certainty. There is no guarantee that a ship will find the river's mouth and the wider sea safely. But so long as there is a river and it is flowing, there is hope for justice. There is just cause for optimism.
The Democratic Party and President Obama are not perfect. They may not even be all that good. But they are the best hope African-Americans have because they envision an America that is better than it is today. That is the difference between Democrats and Republicans. Republicans idealize the past. It is a past which is a fiction in the minds of African-Americans. Whenever they hear a Republican say "we need to go back to the ideas of the founding fathers," Black folks say "no thanks." Instead, lets go forward with the ideas of the founding fathers, with the abiding hope that things will get better. The Democratic Party offers at least a vision of a better future, knowing full well that it will require work and effort and will have disappointments and failures. Republicans offer no hope, instead clinging to a past that was never what they've convinced themselves it was except for the special few. Black folks see through this self-deception because they know it isn't true. They've lived it.
In the end, it is that essential optimism that underwrites the hard work to overcome daunting obstacles and long odds. Every step forward, from the Emancipation Proclamation (back when Republicans offered hope) to the election of Barack Obama is good reason believe "that the arc of the moral universe bends towards justice." That is why we are optimistic even in tough times. That is why we stand with the Democratic party through thick and thin even when they don't have all the right answers. And that is why we still support President Obama.