Black Women : Black Women Are Outpacing Black Men in Getting Elected to Public Office

Queenie

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Feb 9, 2001
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"The rate of Black females being elected to public office in America has surpassed Black males by 5-1 over the past 30 years, according to a study made public this week by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies.

“In sum, the trends have dramatically changed from the early 1970s when about 82 percent of newly elected Black elected officials were men. In the post-1995 period, 85 percent of the growth in the number of Black elected officials was from Black women being elected to office,” observes the report, “Black Elected Officials: A Statistical Summary 2001.”

The news is exciting to C. Delores Tucker, founder and chair of the National Congress of Black Women, Inc. (NCBW), a Silver Spring, Md.-based group that encourages women to engage in political activism.

“We are the caretakers of the family, even the men. We raise presidents and we raise governors,” says Tucker, who served seven years as Pennsylvania’s first Black female secretary of state. “We work at it. Women work at things and the men, unfortunately, they have been so deprived by the culture and by the system here that they have not been able to move as fast as women.”

According to David Bositis, the Joint Center researcher who authored the study, most of the recent progress for Black women has taken place at the county levels, where Black women are being elected to city councils and school boards. At that level, there was an increase of 22 positions, a 2.3 percent rise between 2000 and 2001.

“It’s more a question of why Black women are doing well as opposed to why the number of Black men are declining,” Bositis says. He speculates that women not only tend to vote in greater numbers, but in the Democratic Party – which receives an overwhelming majority of the Black vote – women are more politically active than men.

As for the men, Bositis says, several social variables have apparently caused the rate of Black male elections to slow.
“Black women are attending college at higher rates than Black men,” Bositis says. “And, you’ve got criminal justice issues.”

At the end of 2000, more Black men were behind bars (791,600) than were enrolled in colleges or universities (603,032), according to the Justice Policy Institute, a think tank that advocates alternatives to prison.

There are demographic reasons for the gap as well.
Tucker cites U. S. Census reports that show that women are more likely to vote than men. Further, the voting-age population of women exceeded men by nearly 9 million in 2000."

Source: http://www.indyevents.com/cgibin/indy/index.pl/noframes/read/1969

Queenie :spinstar:
 
You are right Panafrica. The person elected must be working for us and not just be a puuppet for the ones who are really in power. Did you notice how the 811 commission briefed Rice for five hours before her public interview concerning why she did not give Bush the warning about al Qeada cells operating in the U.S.? It was obvious to me that they told her what to say and how to answer the questions. The public interview was just incredible.
 
I am happy for the sistahs. Ain nuthin wrong with dat. However, I do believe with all of my heart that the black man will become a strong force in politics one day. There's just something about hitting the bottom and then rising again. And this he surely will. That's just one of the things I love about him. It's just a matter of time yall. He will not ultimately be destroyed or ignored...trust me. First we as a people, have to get rid of much of our self-destructive behaviour. I believe that a remnant of black people are arising, even as I write. That remnant will rise to great and powerful influence in various sectors of America. It will surely be a wonder to behold...I see it unfolding even now.


A Word About Rice

I am sure that they told her what to say...basically. But no one knew exactly what the 911 commission would ask Rice. Being a Sistah Rice fan myself, :huh: I watched most of the program on C-Span. I was very proud of the way she handled herself overall. This woman is very educated (having graduated from college at age 19) and moreover, she is blessed with a lot of common sense to boot. They tried their very best to trap her and bulldog her but overall, I feel she did a good job in facing off with the "white male" :martian: commission.

Why More Black Women Are Being Elected???

I believe that the only reason more black women are being elected is because more of them are running for office...nothing more...nothing less. We have to face the fact that there are more of us sistahs than brothers in the first place. When I was 19, for every black man in America there were 6 black women. I don't know what the ratio is now but I am sure we outnumber them still by a large margin, due to the fact of some of their "self-inflicted" :hammer: behaviours as well as some of ours (us sistahs) upon them as well as the system of certain things in America. Unfortunately, in America there are more black men in prison than black men in college. :teach: Most elected politicians on the state and county level have a college degree of some kind.

A Word About Supporting Our Brothers & Sistahs In Office

I feel very strongly that we should support our black brothers and sisters in political offices, knowing the struggles that we've had in the past in voting, let alone becoming an elected official. In times past I have seen many of us take sides with whites against black elected politicians. I have often wondered why we do things like dat. :confused: It's as if we expect perfect perfection (as many whites do) from our black elected officials. But the truth is, nobody is perfect and if we can tolerate and give our support to the likes of elected officials such as Clinton, surely we should stand behind our brothers and sisters in office.

But Then Again...

If our black elected officials do not meet our level of agreement on certain agendas then I choose to pray for them, because ultimately it is all in God's hand anyway. There are many whom I've voted for who did things I didn't agree with and I voiced it in one way or another. This is my right. I follow no one blindly when they are obviously in the wrong on a certain issue. But long as they are doing a good job overall, I will support them with my vote again if need be.
Besides, (I know this will sound strange) I feel that we should vote for the one we believe will do the best job for everyone overall, regardless of color. I don't vote for people just because they are black. To me that don't make a lot of sense. Color doesn't run public office, but if they happen to be black and I believe in their proposed agendas, then they certainly have my vote. But my FIRST criteria is certainly not color.

Well...this is my humble opinion on this thread...lemme go find anotha one...C ya.
 

This is because so many black men in America are failing in the educational system and don't have the necessary credentials nor do they have the social skills needed to properly hold public office.

Another factor is too many black men in America lack drive and ambition to do anything meaningful with our lives because of the lack of examples and role-models in many of our communities.

You don't find this much of a difference between the genders within the black communities of Europe or Canada. Most of the bruthaz in those places have degrees and are successful and well spoken.

That's why I say it's important for black children...especially the boys...to be taken out of the country and see the world atleast once either in a class field-trip or with their parents. This will give them an opportunity to see that black males aren't in the same condition and behave the same way all over.
 

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