Saturday, November 19, 2005

Thanks David For Bringing Me Back To DFNYC

A Piece On DFNYC

I am glad at least someone associated with DFNYC is willing to discuss race as a topic. If you go to three DFNYC events, that is like a total of nine hours out of a month. That is not the major part of a month. So I guess it can be hip hop plus DFNYC plus the city plus Nepal plus other stuff. I guess I will keep my options open about showing up for DFNYC events.

David Michaelson

There is Abhi's Research Advocacy meeting in 10 days, and a LinkUp in 17 days. I guess I will keep my options open. I might or might not show.

Oh, and I just found out, there is some kind of a A five-hour Dance-a-thon benefiting GMHC, Also benefiting Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP). Last night I went to Webster Hall, and I could only go on for two hours, maybe a little less than two. Then I kind of just sat and took in the music, for hours.

I mean, I went to the Mixer Thursday evening, and it was great fun. As usual.
  1. The concepts I cultivate at this blog, it is very much work in progress. I feel like I am building a mathematical model. That is the first step. As for the application, I have said it is open source. There is no diktat. It is not like I am going to come up with this grand proposal and hold DFNYC hostage to it.
  2. DFNYC is not a major time commitment.
From: "David Michaelson"
To: paramendra@yahoo.com
Subject: RE: A Piece On DFNYC
Date: Sat, 19 Nov 2005 09:42:34 -0500

Interesting piece. Race is such a major issue in NYC, and not just white vs. minority. Hatian blacks and "Southern" blacks go at it all the time. Various Hispanic groups don't get along. Etc. DFNYC does a lot better than the average NYC progressive group in reaching out to minorities and minority candidates. But race is a big issue for NYC progressives and one that is not often addressed.

My current poliitical group has been focused quite a bit on good candidates of all races: Norm Seigel, Margarita Lopez-Torres, Freddy Ferrer, Chris Owens, Tish James, Norm Titus and Paul Wooten in particular. Only one white in the crowd. I was kind of proud when I realized that our efforts had focused on so many minorities. Often Democratic groups do not focus on this. That is one of my complaints about Independent Neighborhood Democrats. Their slate tends to be pretty white. Hard to fight the local Dem machine when you show a solid white face.

Chris Owens wrote an excellent piece on race in Brooklyn politics. It was part of a private email discussion among political organizers and was in response to something I wrote. It was not intedned for public circulation but he has given us permission to pass it along if we feel it appropriate. I will point out that several DFNYC organizers were part of this dicussion and were very responsive to Chris' statements. You might be interested in it:

"David is correct, of course. We need a 50-state strategy (and/or ongoing revisions to 50 state strategies) and we certainly need a 5-borough strategy for progressive advancement here in New York City. Staten Island does indeed represent an area where the common economic concerns and common concerns about education, health care and affordable housing provide political pontoons for Democrats that could become real bridges.

However, since we are having an open and honest discussion here, I wish to highlight an important issue that is uncomfortable for many people but which can really impede our ability to move together -- race.

As African Americans (particularly those with Southern origins) decrease in NYC's population, the level and intensity of racial sensitivity and concern regarding political empowerment will increase. This process has already started. Unfortunately, tension between Black and Hispanic political leadership simmers below the surface. (Ferrer's ascendancy is a crucial step in dissipating some of the tension. But, should Ferrer lose, will the 2009 Democratic Primary pit Billy Thompson against Adolfo Carrion and Anthony Weiner?)

And the more conservative cultural influences within the African-American, Caribbean-American and African populations are very powerful. On this front, the ideological tension between these communities and liberal white communities is clear and there has been too little effort on either side to overcome this.

As the Latino population -- as divided as it may be -- increases its political clout there will be exponential increases in the intensity of concerns regarding political empowerment. There will also be significant growing pains regarding practices that traditional "progressives" abhor but may have to endure and/or overlook to sustain coalition-building.

The Asian community's political situation is similar to that of Hispanics. The primary growth areas are Brooklyn and Queens. Empowerment issues are emerging here as well, particularly now that John Liu has provided a tangible role model.

Conservative whites, particularly the orthodox Jewish communities, are increasing in number and, in Brooklyn, the percentage of the voting population. Leaders in these communities are admirable -- actually role models -- in their ability to deliver services and influence the political system.

Progressive whites, and progressives in general, are a floating minority in this demographic soup. We are actually good at getting attention, providing policy leadership, and keeping the New York Times and Village Voice, for example, to the left of the spectrum. But the competing racial empowerment dynamics will create serious issues within the next 20 years.

There will certainly be a Latino and Black candidate in every Mayoral election going forward. And there are those who say that the age of the white Jewish liberal candidate (at the citywide level) is over, for example, and that the profile of successful white candidates going forward will be much more moderate.

Finally, to be that much more real, we must acknowledge the power of money. If there is one force that will regulate the race-based clashes of New York's future, it will be the mutual desire on the part of all community leaders to have "access" to power brokers and to "make money" off of politics. New York City will become more and more like Washington, DC -- more similar to the way in which the Congress is treated by lobbyists and interest groups.

This is the real battle that progressives must confront: racially-charged political struggles addressing public policy influenced by those willing to spend money on the politicians. Racial and ethnic "fiefdoms" will emerge and be bought, sold or pitted against each other by those seeking power and exploiting needs. The Atlantic Yards experience is a harbinger of things to come.

In fairness, there are efforts being made -- including work by the New Democratic Majority and several political clubs in Brooklyn. Ironically, some of the more liberal clubs have been LESS successful at creating a good racial mix in their membership. Why is this? Because our system of political representation includes the creation of political jurisdictions that promote racial segregation. This is a by-product of the Voting Rights Act's application to our state's politics and, frankly, I am not sure how to change this. Again, some things are simple -- like clubs meeting in areas more likely to encourage participation by many who don't normally participate. Sustaining interest, however, is much harder. I know because I have been there.

(Remember, New York remains a very segregated city in so many ways. I often wonder if the truest expression of equality would be when the number of white nannies walking the streets of Brownsville with Black children in strollers equals the number of Black and Hispanic nannies walking the streets of Park Slope with white children. There are few more dramatic statements of where we are and where we need to go than this one.)

We also need to advocate for policy changes that will force political leaders to talk to everyone, rather than segment the populace like radio markets. The use of Instant Runoff Voting in our Citywide and/or Statewide primary elections, for example, would both save money and promote greater unity. Yes, the end result may be more conservative than you or I may want, but we will not be carved up as we are today based upon our political "bloc". The other institutional change is to move our primary elections back to June. This would allow voters real time to consider differences between the parties and diminish the focus on differences between Democratic candidates.

Finally, there must be boroughwide and citywide efforts to transcend the boundaries at the local level and pull people together in a different way. The same hard work and respect needed to bridge the blue state-red state gap is needed between racial and ethnic groups here in New York City. It is my hope to build a political organization, New Brooklyn Leadership, that will move in this direction -- boroughwide with local chapters.

To be continued ...

Chris"

David Michaelson

http://democracyforum.blogspot.com/2005/11/piece-on-dfnyc.html

http://www.paramendra.com
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Friday, November 18, 2005

A Piece On DFNYC


I held many leadership positions at both my high school and college, but both robbed me of my sense of belonging, in Nepal for being a Madhesi, in Kentucky for being non-white. My anger is not of some looney lefty. I have seen the system from inside out. And in both places there are people in powerful positions whose fantassy it is to have a cup of tea with me. They can not behave when they had a chance, they will not apologize when their moment has passed, but they want to just hang out, which is their idea of cementing the social structure that was what was offensive in the first place. And my goal is not of revenge. I stake out policy positions. The relationship between racism and me is the relationship between cancer and a doctor. My approach is scientific. I am a progressive. There are people I care about, like the dollar a day crowd. It is more a delight in ideas than any anger at anything that drives me.

I moved to NYC with great hopes. And I am not disappointed. This is the city to be in: the progressive capital of the world, the capital of the world, period. Every time I walk the streets, every time I ride the train, I fall in love with the city all over again.

I came into the city to cultivate my business ideas, and I even met a venture capitalist who claimed to have met Bill Gates in 1983, before he became Bill Gates. Recently I got another feeler out of the blue from another venture capitalist in California. But what has ended up taking almost all my time has been Nepal. When the Maoists declared their unilateral ceasefire, I showed up at the Public Advocate candidate Norman Siegel's campaign headquarters to volunteer: that was my idea of celebrating. It felt like I had my head under water for a long time, and finally I got to come up for air. I bumped into Heather and Leila there!

It is quite a lifestyle. You eat into your savings to do full time political work. But then it is not as reckless as it might look at first sight. Nepal is one of the top three hot spots on the planet. I am part of the peace conversation at the highest levels. If I can get myself more integrated, and if there is peace, I could end up a candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize. I mean, if this is like 1776 in Nepal and if a document I have written ends up the constitution of the country and turns it into the number one democracy on the planet, then what are you looking at? (Proposed Constitution)

That is not why I have been working on it: I got into it for emotional reasons. But the Nobel thing dawned onto me somewhere along the way. That would be a million dollars to perhaps start a company, or put it away in a solid investment portfolio and draw a modest annual $100,000 and dedicate myself full time to Dean 2008 as the volunteer Campaign Chair.

I am very proud of the work I have been doing for Dean 2008, mostly at the level of ideas. And I am really proud of this spectrum I chalked out:

The Spectrum/Dialogue Concept Is Key To Power

I think this would be the least disruptive way of managing social change.

Getting involved with DFNYC has been central to my NYC move. I was beginning to feel a sense of belonging. But yesterday I broke off. I announced I was switching from DFNYC to hip hop.

Two nights back I went to this hip hop event. DFNYC Leila emailed me this free pass to the event. I have always loved dancing to this music. I just did not have a name for it. I mean I was aware of the term. But I had not put the two together. Too bad we did not bump into each other: the place was big. Like huge. I was so into it, some media types took my pictures.

By now DFNYC has become hard. There is this gap of communication. I have tremendous respect for the political knowledge and skill of the organization's two leaders, Heather and Tracey. But I believe there has come forth this communication meltdown.

For me it is all one continuum: face time, phone, email, blog entry. But even face time ease has evaporated. And I find the dichotomy between face time and the rest disconcerting. My land line number is on my homepage!

Race has to be discussed, gender has to be discussed. In detached ways. I think that throws a lot of my comrades off balance. And then my ideas at the blog can also get disconcerting. The organization appears reluctant to get out of the groove, its set patterns, the comfort zone.

And once in a while there are undertones of race and class. If this is the leading DFA group in the country, the leading progressive group, it better act like it. Every person should feel comfortable, regardless of race, gender and class. And if there are mistakes made, we talk about it, and move on. But for that honor system to work, you need ground rules. Like, no racist comments, real and uintended. When the unintended happens, it gets pointed out, apologies are made, and everyone moves on. The relationship moves to a whole new level. It deepens. Because none of us are sqeaky clean. We all have our weak moments. But as long as we intend to heal, those moments can be turned into strength. You engage in healing dialogue.

I mean, DFNYC could really grow. There would be no off season.

If Eliot Spitzer is destined to become Governor with over 70% of the vote, why did the black Democrat who lost the race for Governor against Pataki lose? Do white Dems abandon minority candidates like that? How do white Deaniacs feel about that? Is it happening? Is it not happening? I am new to town. I don't know many details. But you bet I will be asking these questions. That is the progressive thing to do. At this point dialogue is all I am asking for. I am not complaining, at least not yet. I don't have alternatives to offer, at least not in detailed forms. But race is a topic that has to be talked. People who ignore the topic ring alarm bells in my mind.

Bonding is a good to a great thing. But old racist, sexist social bonds - soup - have to be broken, and new, progressive bonds have to be established. If cutting edge progressives can not handle it, what luck do we have with the population at large?

For now, some time off. Hip hop.

Off to Webster Hall.

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