By
Tom Steyer, Founder, NextGen America
and Mark Ridley-Thomas, Founder, African American Voter Project
When African American voters carried Democrat Doug Jones to an upset victory in staunchly Republican Alabama, it reminded the nation anew of their power to sway elections.
Their participation – or lack thereof – has been cited as a factor in the election of Barack Obama and the defeat of Hillary Clinton. Clearly, the stakes are high.
Last year, the two of us joined together to register more than 36,000 voters in predominantly African American precincts in Los Angeles County. We call on everyone who cares about the future of our nation to double and triple down on registering and engaging these voters in 2018 and beyond, and to support their efforts to organize and push for policies that uplift struggling communities.
It is time to see African American voters in a different light – as leaders, not mere followers. Instead of telling them, “Come join us,” we should be saying, “Thank you for your leadership, how can we be on your side, both in word and in deed.”
The US Senate election in Alabama was a testament to the power of the African American vote. Pundits nationwide took notice of their high turnout rates, soaring Democratic support, and historic intensity. Along with voting by college-educated white women, political insiders credit African American participation with Doug Jones’ upset victory.
And they’re probably right, even though they are missing a bigger point. African Americans aren’t just a demographic in the political scene, a subgroup to court and massage, and then ignore. African Americans were election deciding game changers on a Tuesday in December in Alabama. They voted 96% for Doug Jones. They made a statement about right and wrong, about our deepest American values. They continued the utter, total, and complete rejection of political hate and division. As a community, they stood for the best of American political participation.
And, of course, this follows centuries of sustained moral leadership by those who have sought justice and freedom. It is far too easy for observers to see the civil rights struggle, or last week’s vote, as self-interested. And it’s true that African Americans gain when the country guarantees rights and privileges – voting rights, economic rights, education – more broadly. But African American moral leadership has far outstripped self-interest.
When a domestic terrorist murdered nine African American congregants who attended a weekly bible study at Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Carolina, the families of the slain – in a historic gesture of grace – forgave the murderer publicly at his arraignment. Americans were touched by a communal act of forgiveness. African Americans have long suffered the indignities of violence against in the practice of fundamental rights and liberties. Over 400 years of violence and toil, they have forgiven (never forgotten), healed, regrouped, and fought for a more perfect union.
All must realize that African Americans are more than the victims of historic oppression. They have risen above it. They have eclipsed it. And on Tuesday December 12th, they once again used their history to elevate freedom, inclusion and opportunity over prejudice and bigotry. Not to see that is to miss a critical shift in American history. The Black vote is finally being recognized for its contribution to national political happenings.
We call on individuals and organizations across the Democratic Party to double and triple down on registering and engaging these voters in 2018 and beyond. We must support their efforts to organize, and we must work harder for policies that lift up struggling communities across America.
The nation owes a gigantic debt of gratitude to our African American sisters and brothers. And the only way to repay it is to commit to the just and equitable America envisioned long ago by James Weldon Johnson's Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing by coming “out of the gloomy past of the blood of the slaughtered and standing (as first class citizens in their own country) at last where the gleam of our bright star is cast.”