Indiana

Racism; In Black and White

By Abdul Hakim-Shabazz

You would think that one of the last places a person would find racial issues would be the Indianapolis Chapter of the Indiana Democratic African-American Caucus.   That wasn’t the case on December 19th.

That was the day the group held elections for some tightly contest offices.  Who ran and who won is not important, what matters is that some black members of the group used its by-laws to exclude white members from voting.

My sources tell me that according to the by-laws only members can vote and only the rules have been interpreted that only African-Americans can be members.  Whites can join the group, but only as associate members.  Associate members had voted in the past on issues, however at the election meeting of officers, the white members were told they could not vote because of their associate status and had to leave the room.   Of course there were some IDAAC members who wanted them to vote, but they were overruled.

All I can say about this is “wow”!  Had the roles been reversed and whites had told blacks they couldn’t participate in an organization they were members of, all holy you-know-what would break loose.  And in my opinion, it would be justified.  The same goes for here.

I’m not one to tell any organization how to run its internal affairs, but for an African-American organization to deny someone the right to vote because of skin color, that’s beyond the pale (pardon the pun).  If any group of people who should know better, it should be black folks.

I understand the historical roots of a lot of long-time black organizations and how membership traditionally was restricted to African-Americans, however in the 21st Century a lot of that has gone by the way side.  And for an organization that pushes for African-Americans to have full-inclusion in the political process, you don’t score points engaging in the same tactics that made the creation of your group necessary.

Two wrongs never make it right, but they make great racism.

Full post as published by Indiana Barrister on January 10, 2010 (boomark / email).