Obama's Big Gay
and Black Problem
by Kevin Alexander Gray
& Marshall Derks
"The most important questions for us revolve around what
will a candidate do or say to win office."
This article originally appeared in Counterpunch.
There's a point in a campaign that's behind in the polls
when desperation sets in. That's the
time when trailing candidates try to throw the haymaker punch hoping for a
knockout blow on the frontrunner. We
are not at that point in this campaign season, but it's getting close.
It's no surprise that part of Barack Obama's South Carolina
primary strategy aims at black church-going voters. The church is the most organized part of the black community and
churchgoers are reliable voters. In
addition, Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton's hiring of local high-priced
preacher-politician-businessman Darrell Jackson and her husband Bill's clout
with blacks puts additional pressure on Obama.
The Illinois senator has to cut into Clinton's black support as well as
establishing his own African American base.
If Obama
doesn't win South Carolina with its large African American voter base the race
may be over for him. His poll numbers
in South Carolina have been up and down.
Right now Clinton appears to have the overall lead in the state as well
as with black voters. Clinton also has
the edge with black women who regularly vote at a higher rate than black men.
"Clinton appears
to have the overall lead in the state as well as with black voters."
Oddly, Obama threw a premature haymaker but it wasn't aimed
at Clinton. The target was the GLBT
community. Obama's wild swing involved
having four of the most abrasively anti-gay gospel singers represent his
campaign on his "Embrace the Courage" gospel music tour in South
Carolina. The gay bashing headliners
included Reverends Donnie McClurkin and Hezekiah Walker, Pentecostal pastor of Brooklyn
mega-church, the Love Fellowship Tabernacle and Mary Mary (a sister act duo).
The Mary
Mary sisters compare gays to murderers and prostitutes. In an interview with Vibe magazine,
one of the singers said, "They [gays] have issues and need somebody to
encourage them like everybody else - just like the murderer, just like the one
full of pride, just like the prostitute."
McClurkin's
previous political involvement was performing for George Bush at the Republican
National Convention in 2004. Now he's
singing for Obama. And, while stumping
for the candidate McClurkin didn't just "get on stage, sing, and shut up" as
some in the Obama campaign hoped he would do.
He sermonized: "God delivered me from homosexuality" - as though
one could simply "pray the gay away."
The predominately black crowd inside the Township Auditorium in Columbia
clapped their approval of McClurkin's message.
Meanwhile a small, predominately white group of gay rights supporters
picketed outside the venue.
"McClurkin
sermonized: ‘God delivered me
from homosexuality' - as though one could simply ‘pray the gay away.'"
Obama justifies his embrace of the evangelicals saying he's
"reaching out to people he doesn't agree with." Responding to a controversy he should - or did - have
anticipated, Obama mentioned the black community's "problem with homophobia." Yet after the tour when asked why the
campaign would seemingly reject gay voters for far-right leaning blacks a
campaign insider replied, "We got what we needed to get out of it."
Maybe Obama hoped the McClurkin alliance would introduce him
to McClurkin's black and white Southern evangelical base. Or, that courting evangelicals will work for him as it did for
Bush. Maybe his "40
Days of Faith and Family" South Carolina campaign theme and his early
radio buys on gospel radio in the state are not just nuanced campaigning to a
particular constituency group. Maybe,
the evangelical niche is all he hopes to get.
Obama, with his $59 million campaign chest, will do far
better than Al Sharpton in 2004. That
year blacks made up of 60% of the 289,856 democratic primary participants yet
Sharpton garnered less than 10 percent of the vote. Winning as big as Jesse Jackson did twenty years ago when South
Carolina Democrats held a caucus may be hard to match. Jackson won 64 percent of the delegates with
less than $100,000. But Jackson had a
broad coalition of blacks, churchgoers, progressive whites, labor and
others. Obama has done little to reach
out to progressives inside and outside of the Democratic Party. His latest rejection of gay and gay-friendly
voters in South Carolina carries risk since 230,674 citizens voted against the
gay marriage ban in 2004. The risk is
that they will mobilize against him.
"Rev. Jesse Jackson had a broad coalition of blacks,
churchgoers, progressive whites, labor and others."
To Obama's credit, to
allay criticisms over his gospel tour he said, "I would make ENDA (Employment
Non-Discrimination Act) a priority." ENDA is a proposed U.S.
federal law that would prohibit discrimination
against employees on the basis of sexual orientation. The bill provides employment protections similar to those of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (also known as
"Title VII"), but specifically directed to gay, lesbian and bisexual
employees. Protections for transgender
persons was excluded from the version of the bill which passed the House. Obama went on to say, "We can
mobilize people for that (ENDA) and I think a majority of Americans can be
mobilized to support hate crimes legislation.
I think a majority of people will say, 'You cannot perpetuate violence
on peopled.' I think we can have a strong
conversation across this country. We
can make sure that we have full civil unions that provide full benefits and if
we can provide these things we can get that legislation in my first term. I think the country is ready."
America may one day elect a woman or black as
president. As to whether or not Obama
or Clinton can break into the white men's club is not a short answer
question. In the meantime, the most
important questions for us revolve around what will a candidate do or say to
win office. Are they consistent in
their message and actions? Do they
pander from group to group? Do they pit
one group of people against another group?
At this point the answers for Obama appear to be no, yes and yes. Hopefully, in the days before the primary
vote we can get better answers or at the very least, a bit of consistency as
opposed to acts of desperation.
Kevin Alexander Gray is a civil rights organizer
in South Carolina. He is also a contributing editor to Black News in South
Carolina. Gray served as 1988 South Carolina coordinator for the Presidential
campaign of Jesse Jackson and as 1992 southern political director for Iowa
Senator Tom Harkin's presidential bid. He can be contacted at kagamba@bellsouth.net.
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