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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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CONTACT: Nicole
Reigelman |
State Rep. Harold James
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Are Pennsylvania’s African-Americans systematically being disrespected by Rendell and Gaming Board?
By state Rep. Harold James
In 2006 Pennsylvania began moving closer to becoming one of the nation’s largest commercial gambling states. But will African-Americans be left behind? The Pennsylvania Legislative Black Caucus recommended people for employment with the gaming board, and also people for board appointments. None were selected. Don Barden of Detroit was the only African-American awarded a slots license for a Pittsburgh facility.
Currently, a majority of African-Americans vote a Democratic ticket in elections at all levels of government. But are African-Americans selling themselves too cheap with their votes in the Democratic Party? Perhaps it is time Democrats begin to respect African-American voting power by including them at the table regarding decisions of statewide interests. More than one African-American licensee should have been selected. Additionally, why were no African-Americans chosen from Philadelphia? Specifically, since minorities make up approximately 50 percent of the city’s population, with 43 percent being African-American, these Pennsylvanians should not be overlooked in decisions that affect their families and their livelihoods.
Since the 1960s, the African-American electorate has voted overwhelmingly Democratic, and no Democrat has won the White House without the African-American vote. Ed Rendell could not have won the governor’s race without the African-American vote in Philadelphia; yet, an African-American cannot win a statewide election in Pennsylvania? Maybe if Gov. Rendell would have appointed more African-Americans from the two ends of the state to the Gaming Control Board, this would have shown a greater respect for African-Americans across the state, and more African-Americans would have received a slot license.
From the beginning, it appeared that the 2006 governor’s race would come down to the African-American vote in Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Tribune, the nation’s oldest African-American newspaper, endorsed Gov. Rendell. Its reasoning was the “commitment to racial inclusion in his administration.” Further, he encouraged African-Americans in Philadelphia to vote for him to help “level the playing field for minority- and women-owned businesses that want to do business with the city.” But were these more empty promises from a Democrat whose only real intention was to secure the African-American vote? The political hold Democrats have on the African-American community and that African-American voters are taken for granted must be recognized and needs to be changed for the survival and equal access of the community to greater opportunities.
After Lyndon B. Johnson proposed the Voting Rights Act and it passed in 1965, African-Americans’ commitment to the Democratic Party made sense. But as the song goes, “what have you done for me
lately?” I voted for gaming expansion in Pennsylvania with the belief of adequate minority inclusion.
In April 2006, I wrote a letter to the editor with hopes that when the Gaming Board awarded licenses in December, recipients of these licenses would remember the promises they told me and other Black Caucus members, primarily that they would create partnerships with African-American businesses and employ African-American workers at all levels. This was important to me since the enabling legislation did not include any type of guarantee of minority ownership and operation of gaming facilities.
The 2007 election is not too far away and candidates will again court the African-American communities for their vote. Democrats will flood our churches to capture our continued loyalty of pulling only one lever - Democrat. It is time that the Pennsylvania village of African-Americans awake to the realization that between now and the 2007 and 2008 elections we need to do the following: (1) soul-search; (2) hold our elected officials accountable and; (3) houseclean so that we do not continue to be disrespected.
A change is on the horizon…
State Rep. Harold James represents the 186th Legislative District in Philadelphia.
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