Black Electoral Politics: Participation, Performance, Promise by Lucius Jefferson Barker

Author:Lucius Jefferson Barker [Barker, Lucius Jefferson]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Political Science, Political Process, General
ISBN: 9781351313780
Google: cco3DwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 36810924
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 1990-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Blacks in Atlanta are losing ground relative to whites and to residents of suburbs, both Black and white. Blacks in Atlanta are also losing ground absolutely. Increases have not kept pace with inflation and the rate of poverty is increasing despite the strong regional economy. (Sjoquist, 1988:9)

At first blush the positive assessment emanating from city hall and the dire commentary from the Sjoquist study might appear to be contradictory, but that is not in fact the case. Rather, they simply report on different aspects of an interconnected and inseparable reality. For us, then, the important question is how these two can be brought together in such a way that they help us understand and assess the significance of the rise of black mayors for the struggle for black liberation.

To do so, we must begin by acknowledging the class character of American urban politics. Black mayors, like their nonblack counterparts, are disciplined by that reality. Moreover, the peculiar position of black mayors as a weak and almost supplicatory party in the ruling coalition makes them even more vulnerable to the class prerogatives of dominant interests.

Municipal politics has always been in the service of the dominant commercial interests. The problems of the inner-city poor—joblessness, inadequate housing, under-funded education, etc.—are the consequence, intended or unintended, of the pursuit of such interests. As the economic and social systems change, so too does the role of the city and city governments, but the fundamental interests that it serves remain the same.

Black mayors came to power at the historical moment when cities began to decline as industrial centers. Their sizeable unskilled black populations not only became superfluous but were defined as the major urban problem. As cities began their new life as the location of corporate headquarters, tourist attractions, and convention and service centers, the primary concerns and initiatives of city governments evolved accordingly. The inner-city poor black population that was being created by these changing dynamics of the American economy became an impediment in the city’s growth scheme.

The new city needed a more skilled work force. It also required that the “new” downtown central district be insulated from the presence and problems of the teeming masses of inner-city blacks who lived on its periphery. Black mayors and black leadership in general are responsible for ensuring that the appearance of the city as a glittering showcase of success is not sullied by the reality of urban oppression.

This responsibility leads black officials to (1) support class-based growth initiatives justified by the assumption that benefits will ultimately trickle down to the poor, (2) endorse schemes designed to disperse, hide, or manage inner-city residents so that they do not invade the sensibilities of the city’s preferred workers and residents, and (3) adopt programs that assume that the problems of the inner-city poor are individual or group based and therefore not systemic, and that attempt to “solve” the problems of the poor by transforming the individual.

The Atlanta black leadership has accepted this role with seeming alacrity. It has supported land-use

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