Why isn’t Doug Jones Black?

Black voters in Alabama didn’t vote for Doug Jones. They voted for themselves. They voted to protect themselves form a white power pedophile. They voted to protect themselves from the Trump Administration, and they voted to protect themselves from the Republican Party.

Black voters didn’t vote for the Democratic party. They voted despite it, and they won.

Despite being forced to vote for a candidate that does not represent them or their agendas, despite rampant voter suppression that has gone unchecked by the Democratic party, and despite nothing but broken promises little active engagement — black voters, especially black women, came out and stole a Senate seat from the Republican Party. That seat just happened to go to Doug Jones.

But black voters didn’t vote for Doug Jones. Black voters voted to defended themselves from Roy Moore. Now they are stuck with Doug Jones.

Doug Jones does not represent Black Alabama. He doesn’t know Black Alabama. He doesn’t take pride in Black Alabama. He can barely even say “black,” Alabama.

In an oddly raceless description of these events, Doug Jones’ campaign priorities page reads:

“Throughout my career, I have tried to demonstrate honesty, integrity and character while treating everyone as equals. I not only fulfilled my term as U.S. attorney, but continued as a special prosecutor to ensure the successful prosecution of two men who bombed a place of worship, killing four innocent little girls.”

These girls were black. That’s why they were killed. Because they were black. That’s why the KKK was tried in court. Because they targeted and murdered black people. For being black. These are extremely important points for black communities. Not so much for Doug Jones.

Under the Civil Rights section of his priorities list, Doug manages to admit he did, in fact, prosecute the KKK. He still, however, fails to mention that this had anything whatsoever to do with black people writing:

“For me, those formative years forged my values and a deep sense of responsibility to fight for what’s right and to treat everyone with dignity and respect as fellow human beings. I followed those values to law school to learn to fight for justice. I am proud of my service as U.S. Attorney, and am proud to have successfully taken on the Ku Klux Klan, terrorists like Eric Rudolph, and many others who sought to use fear, hatred, and violence to inhibit the rights of others.”

Others. Black people are “others.”

It’s like he can’t even say the word black. Or he’s at least not very comfortable with the word.

Despite the fact that if Alabama was a nation, it would have the 5th highest incarceration rate in the world, 25% of the black population is forced to live under the poverty line, the black unemployment rate is almost three times as high as the white unemployment rate, white people earn, on average, $20,000 more per year than black people in Alabama the word “black” is also remarkably absent from Doug Jones’s economic and educational platforms, as well.

If white Doug Jones can’t even say the word black, how can he be expected to work on behalf of black Alabama? How can he expected to serve in Black Alabama if he can’t even admit they exist? How can he take pride in black Alabama when he can’t even take pride in his own accomplishments in their community?

The simplest answer to that question is: Doug Jones ISN’T expected to work on behalf of Black Alabama. He’s expected to work on behalf of the white-led Democratic party.

Senator-elect Jones is expected to ensure the white torch of the Democratic Party burns brightly even in the Alabama Blackbelt. He is expected to ignore the needs and agendas of the black people that voted him into office and force this white agenda onto Black Alabama voters. He is expected to erase the word black from his platform. And Black Alabama is expected to sit there, take it, and vote Blue again in 2018.

Something has to give.

White Democrats are pimping black Democrats for votes and leaving them out of the political process. And they are doing it to every “minority” community in every state across the nation. Alabama is no exception.

It cannot be overstated how insulting it is that in a state with a 30% black population, the word “black” is not prominently featured in the platform of the Democratic party. It can’t be forgotten that the Democratic Party refused to even talk about the struggles of the black community during the Alabama Senate race for fear of “rocking the boat.” It can no longer be allowed for the Democratic Party complains about voter suppression on the day of an election, but refuses to do the work to re-enfranchise voters any other time of the year.

White Democrats are playing a dangerous game in which they are attempting to defeat the white nationalists in the Republican Party while maintaining white authority within their own ranks. This effort has succeeded since abolition; however, the balance of power cannot be maintained as easily today as it was then. The main reason for this is that despite the white dominated power structure implemented by the Democratic Party, white Democrats are the minority.

Yes, you read that correctly. White Democrats are the minority. Democrats of color outnumber them.

There are currently 67 million active voters in the Democratic Party. 27 million are people of color. 40 million are white. On the surface, it would seem as if there are 13 million more white voters than voters of color, but these numbers are deceptive. Suppressed voters actually outnumber active white voters and active voters of color.

If the Democrats were to end voter suppression, the party would be solidly minority majority.

Communities of color may have 13 million fewer active voters than white Democrats, but we are also sitting on a pool of over 50 million suppressed and untapped voters. The overwhelming majority of these voters are non-white.

Repealing Voter ID laws by enforcing the Voting Rights Act and the Equal Protections Clause would bring 21 million voters back into the fold. Eliminating felony disenfranchisement policies could release as many as 7 million black and brown voters from a state of disenfranchisement. Millions more black and brown voters could be restored to registration rolls by eliminating voter purging through systems like Crosscheck and ERIC. 16 million disenfranchised voters living with disabilities could be restored with little effort in blue territories by ensuring voters with disabilities, poor voters and elderly voters can reach ADA accessible polls. And millions more could be re-enfranchised by reopening polling places that were intentionally closed in the wake of Shelby County vs. Holder.

While not all of these voters will be people of color, the overwhelming majority will be. With only 13 million voters needed to outnumber white Democrats in the Party, anti-suppression efforts stand to completely topple the balance of white authority within the Democratic Party. If efforts were made to bring these voters back into our active ranks, voters of color could come close to doubling white voters in the Democratic party.

Perhaps this is why white Democratic leadership is more willing to risk losing a seat to a white power pedophile than they are willing to end voter suppression and risk losing control of the party to people of color.

Maybe this is why Doug Jones isn’t black.

If minority voters were re-enfranchised the Democratic Party would be the party of the People. First, though, the people must unite and take control of their party. The following is a call for the “minority majority” to do just that. The following is a call for communities of color to make an organized effort to achieve the following four goals — and to do it before the 2018 mid-term elections.

1. Take Immediate Action to Legally End Voter Suppression

Over 40 million minority voters have been deprived of their constitutional right to vote. The overwhelming majority of these voters come from communities of color. The Democratic party has inexcusably done nothing to stop these suppression efforts. Immediate legal action must be taken in the lower federal courts to end voter ID requirements, voter purging, felony disenfranchisement, and ADA violations. Additionally, Democrats must move to repeal these policies with their own authority in their own blue territories.

2. Candidates of Color Must be Supported by the Democratic Party

Currently, only 13% of the Senate identifies as a person of color. This is both insufferable and intolerable. The current population of color of the United States stands at over 40% — and it is increasing. We will soon be the majority in this nation and we need to stop being the minority in the Senate by 2018.

People of color have been struggling for place in a party they rightfully should have full control of. The Democratic Party must place candidates of color up and down the ballot. They must fully and enthusiastically support them through the election process and beyond. And they must prove their work through statistics, not rhetoric. The color of Congress needs to change and the Democrats need to stop being our first enemies in attempting to make that change. They need to reform their structure so that their resources are used to promote candidates of color, not neglect or block their participation.

3. The agendas of the minority majority must be central to the Democratic platform

It’s not enough for Democrats to present token people of color carrying white middle class agendas. This is a politrick (so to speak) that we are familiar with, and it isn’t an acceptable substitution for real representation backed with policies and agendas that come directly from our communities.

If Doug Jones was black, but carried the same agenda, the same lack of pride, the same ethnically cleansed language that white Doug Jones has — black Alabama still could not say they were truly represented. People of color know the difference between community rooted leadership and, well, a pimp doing the okie doke. We want our leaders in positions of power. We don’t want your cherry-picked tokens taking those seats.

4. All Democrats must form a united front against the GOP

If anything can be learned from Doug Jones win over Roy Moore in Alabama, it’s that the black community wants nothing to do with the Republican Party. The Republicans are openly accepting and promoting white nationalists, Nazis, the KKK and the neo-Confederacy. People of color can’t “work in good faith” with white supremacists. People of color can’t engage in bipartisanship with the neo-Confederacy. People of color want to fight the GOP, we don’t want to have dinner with it.

People of color are entitled to taking leadership positions that enable them to guide the party into battle against the GOP and people like Roy Moore and Donald Trump. People of color have the histories, skills, knowledge, and know-how necessary to do so. All we lack is the leadership opportunities and resources to get the job done. That needs to change. Immediately.

We don’t deserve being forced to choose between white people that will damage our communities no matter how we vote. What we don’t deserve is white representation in spaces where we are the majority. What we don’t deserve is another election where white Democrats pimp our votes and neglect our needs.

Our votes are the most valuable votes the Democratic Party has. And if the Democratic Party wants to take them, we need to demand power back in exchange.

Doug Jones isn’t black, but he should be. Alabama deserves a black Senator. Alabama deserves a black Senator with a black agenda. People of color across the United States deserve representatives from their communities that carry their agendas — with pride. And if the Democrats are going to keep demanding our votes, we need to start demanding they go to representatives of color.