zentronix: dubwise & hiphopcentric

Monday, October 06, 2003

WILL THE HIP-HOP GENERATION MAKE THE DIFFERENCE?

With the race narrowing and all polls show the recall election becoming a virtual toss-up, voting officials are all reporting they expect a huge turnout tomorrow. Pollster Mark DiCamillo said today that where in the past elections 50% of the electorate has been over the age of 50, this time, it looks like 55% of the electorate will be under the age of 50. The high interest in the campaign leads many to believe that turnout in communities of color and among young adults may actually be very high. Whether that happens remains to be seen.

WHY I'M VOTING AGAINST THE RECALL

In the last gubernatorial election, I voted for Peter Camejo. I felt Gray Davis had squandered all kinds of opportunities with communities of color and young people, and indeed that his pro-prisons agenda was only going to take us backward. So when the recall first surfaced, I was ready to vote for it.

I've been tired of doing the pragmatic thing. The Democrats' rightward drift, and its open hostility many times toward progressives since the end of Jesse Jackson's 1988 presidential campaign, has been profoundly alienating.

I was in Florida to cover the fiasco in November 2000, and decided then, after seeing how many Democrats actively suppressed calls for voting reform and thus sabotaged Gore's best chances to become president, that it was not worth my time to give away my vote any longer.

But the Republican-funded effort to recall Davis is, above all, an example of how big money can hijack true democracy.

The Dems have tried to turn this into a partisan issue, that it's a vast right-wing conspiracy. It is. But partisanship is meaningless when there are barely any differences between the two parties on issues that matter to us.

The fact that pro-death penalty Davis has mobilized the right to launch this recall and that Bustamante, the Democratic alternative, has been, from the start, pro-prisons and anti-youth points to the lack of progressive voices in this state.

But voting for the recall is agreeing that it is OK for the rich to hijack democracy anytime its interests are not being served. This recall did not come from us. It came from those who are against us and what we believe in.

I'm voting No on the Recall.

posted by Zentronix @ 10:55 AM 0 comments

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