Black Women, What's Our Political Agenda?

So the Democratic party is purportedly opening up their political platform making process to the American public. Apparently there will be meetings all over the country where ordinary folk will be able to bring their "issues" to the party and if you are lucky, they may take your issue all the way to the Platform. hmm hmm. You can find out more here. There will be meetings all over the country and you can type in your ZipCode to find one. As soon as I find one near me that is not at somebody's house, I will put the event on my calendar. But you can host a meeting with your friends.

I actually think Black bloggers ought to each encourage their readers to either go to a meeting or help develop issues to present. Maybe we can host one online? Its a thought! here is the agenda format. No reason why it couldn't be done on a conference call and Lord knows we like to write.

It may be a big monumental waste of time or with Black people all over the country pursuing the same agenda items, a few might make it on to the party platform. We've complained at length about issues disproportionately affecting Black women and girls being ignored here is a "chance' to be heard.

Whether you are a Republican, Democrat, Green or Libertarian, I think you ought to attend:

From July 19 to July 27, everyday people all across America will hold Platform Meetings in their own communities. From Atlanta, Georgia to Muncie, Indiana, from Bangor, Maine to Eugene, Oregon, Americans will meet to talk about what issues are most important to them and what should be at the heart of the Democratic platform for change.

The results of these Platform Meetings will be incorporated into the formal process that culminates in the adoption of the platform at the Democratic Convention in August. A few participants may even be invited to appear and testify at the National Hearing and at the Convention! LEARN MORE HERE.

So what are our "political issues" and do you plan on attending?

• I know violence against Black women and girls pops to mind immediately.
• For example inadequate funding for security in housing projects funded and overseen by HUD.
• The disproportionate number of service women like Lavena Johnson having their rapes and murders classified as suicides.
• The failure of federal law enforcement to pursue child pornography charges against men who film African American girls engaged in sex acts ( looking at YOU Genarlow and Kels).
• CABLE CHOICE!
• Net neutrality.
• Gas Prices
• Bailing out large financial services companies who engaged foolishness and now want me and you to pay for their losses when they did not share in their massive profits.
  

What other issues stand out to you? We can't keep just voting over and over and not ask for something in return.

Look at the 2004 Platform



What About Our Daughters has received credentials to cover the 2008 Democratic National Convention. We are asking for your support in making sure that the voices, stories, and perspectives of African American women and girls are woven into the fabric of this historic event!Please consider donating by clicking our donate button in the sidebar.

Comments

[MacDaddy]

i do volunteer work on the North side of Minneapolis, where a lot of black people live. It's in the inner-city. We had a meeting and had them tell us what the problems were and how we adults can help them. For them, there was only one issue; Their safety. Teenage females said they get 'hassled,' attacked physically, while riding in the bus, at the school cafeteria, at home, everywhere. They said we adults, especially us men, can help by providing them a safe place to have fun and by monitoring the bus, and the school hallways and playgrounds. Many of them sound they were afraid to go out of the house. So they do a lot of things at home. For them, being safe was the only issue.

[g-e-m2001]

Okay,
So MacDaddy, what role would government have in that. How do you translate that into some kind of policy, program or initiative within the public sector?

Your recount of the experiences of young Black women is identical to the experiences of young African American women in the book Getting Played by Jody Miller. Poor Black girls basically are denied an opportunity to participate in public life because it literally is unsafe for them to be outside.

[msladydeborah]

I'm attending one of the meetings in my home town.

One of the issues that I am going to be raising is the impoverishment of older females and males.

I have been doing some research about female poverty. There is an article that I read that made my head spin about older women being impoverished at the end of their lives with minimum support available to them. But I also learned that this is a major problem for men as well. Especially within our elder population.

This particular issue is of concern to me because I will be approaching retirement age~within the next ten years. While I am working hard to prepare for not working, I have watched the struggles of my mother and her friends over money issues. There is just no way I cannot raise this up.

My other major concern is going to be Early Childhood Education and Childcare. I work in this field and we need decent and affordable sites for our children. With adquate funding to insure that they get what they need. Head Start is great. But there is a reality about the number of children who are not getting into the program or any program. There are only so many available service slots.

Equal pay for equal work. This issue should of been resolved looooong ago. But it hasn't and the time has come for this nation to get that right.

[The Angry Independent]

I just wrote a huge list of ideas.
But lost everything when I hit the wrong button on my keyboard.

I would just say...stay away from race based proposals....(you will lose the ear of lawmakers really quick).

Find where your concerns and interests as Black women intersect with issues concerning women in general (safety isn't just a Black or White issue). Show how your proposals can benefit ALL women.
Your ideas must have a broad appeal to lawmakers, if you want broad support.

For example... instead of pushing for race based legislation... look at improving existing policies and legislation so that it can better benefit your communities.

For example... improve Megans Laws, push for national standards on Amber Alerts...so that all cases are treated with the same respect...in other words, make it illegal for Police Departments to ignore some cases, but work on others. Push for national legislation to standardize how missing persons cases are handled. And push for provisions that would allow the FBI to investigate disparities in how these cases are handled and allow for civil and criminal penalties.

Instead of complaining about the "no snitching" culture... push for legislation that would increase punishment for witness intimidation and provide more provisions to protect witnesses.

But all the legislation in the world can't solve "Black" issues. Legislation is only 1/3 or at most 1/2 of the solution. A lot of the problem is cultural. The burden still falls on people to be good citizens and call police when something isn't right, and falls on parents to actually PARENT.

Also I would suggest connecting with existing advocacy groups to gain their support and tap into some of their resources. Many of them are already working on some of the same issues you are concerned with.... but perhaps on a broader scale. There are many groups that deal with child safety, missing children, victims assistance groups, womens safety issues, policing, neighborhood policing, etc.

Somewhat OT: Have you heard about the rapper Ludacris inking a mega deal with AT&T for some sort of partnership? Apparently it is so large that it's the first of its kind.

These are the kinds of things in the environment still working against you no matter what kind of legislation you are able to get passed.

This is only 1/20th of what I had written before....and I explained everything so much better the first time.

(the rest of your platform list looks solid) Just avoid the narrow view.

That's my luck.

[iman]

- Diversity in media ownership and transparency in the FCC
- Improving housing access
- Strengthening small business
- Federal investment in mass transportation
- Increased federal education funding and free early education
- Environmental justice
- Drug rehabilitation for the incarcerated
- Affordable healthcare
- Federal investment in infrastructure
- Higher fuel efficiency standards
- Better regulation of agricultural standards and deceptive food labeling
- Better regulation of the FDA and pharmaceutical advertising
- Equal pay for equal work
- Better protection for whistle blowers
- Stricter federal standards for elections and voting. better transparency at the poll
- Increased federal funding for collaborative community policy

i could go on an on, but these are just a few that come to mind

[g-e-m2001]

Okay so I guess I will pick three and let y'all flush them out in the comments and prepare a synopsis with supporting data and then put it up on the blog and folks can take it with them to their meetings.

[Katrina]

@angryindependent--

You said it all.

[Naima]

Affordable housing, people with foreclosed homes aren't the only one's suffering, many of us live in cities where the rent is extremely high.

[msladydeborah]

I came back because I wanted to see what other agenda items were being raised.

g-e-m~Your list is excellent!

angry independent~I have to agree with your statement. I live in my state's capitol and a lot of our legislation has had mass support because it has a common good outcome.

[hope4future]

MacDaddy-

I would like to read your response to Gina's question.

How would you translate the safety issues into programming/legislation etc.

I see the same things here in Pittsburgh, PA. Young tween girls are being sexually harassed when walking alone especially. Many times it at school or at afterschool programs- like YMCA's etc.

Maybe there should be federal money delegated to the states that would in turn implement safety programs for teens and pay for adult male chaperones.

I say male because lately whenever my children are at a camp, afterschool programs or school there is a lack of male presence. Both girls and boys need to have male role models.

My children have been around many educated and caring women/ african american women but they haven't been taught, guided or supervised by many african american men.

I think funding for safety should increase.

Like angry independent said this isn't just a black girl issues (safety) if you live an urban poverty stricken neighborhood...safety for girls is a constant issue.

[Shadow]

Hi g-e-m.

Federal child pornography statutes define "child" as anyone under the age of 18, regardless of any particular state's age of consent. Being that he was under 18 during the filming, Genarlow Wilson probably would not be culpable under Federal child pornograpy laws.

Also, for federal law to come into play, the video image would have had to have crossed state lines. The Wilson image had not done so before being discovered.

[Shadow]

I think there is little to no legislation to offset the income disparities among men and women.

There is Affirmative Action as well as the Equal Pay Act of 1963.

The reasons for the disparities in income are overwhelmingly social and it is difficult to legislate counters to social trends. For instance, women are less likely than men to take unpleasant jobs for more money. This is among the several reasons men tend to have higher income. How do we legislate to offset this?

[AverageBro]

Gina,

Congrats. CNN's The Situation Room just plugged the Michelle Obama Watch blog and some of it's comments a few mins ago while discussing Sashia's appearance on Access Hollywood.

They mistakenly identified the blog as a "pro-Obama website", but otherwise, it was a good look.