Why black voters like Democrats

Russell Stokes
The Advocate
April 2, 2008


This letter to The Advocate tries to explain their opinion that black voters tend to favor democrats. Mr. Stokes starts out with a good point, that Democrats pass legislation, such as increasing the minimum wage and health care, that helps the average American to survive. That makes sense to me. Republicans do tend to get more backing from big businesses and seem to forget the middle and lower class Americans that are struggling to survive (mind you, I say this even though I would consider myself a Republican). However, then Mr. Stokes takes the stance that when Democrats are appointed to office, they "don't forget to put black people in key positions in their administration" which stuck out at me. He goes on to state that Republican Governor Bobby Jindal has an appropriately diverse staff in key positions, however Mr. Stokes seems to think that it's all just to get the black votes when re-election comes around, and further doubts that the diverse staff members will stay on his staff next term. Then Mr. Stokes defends himself against the obvious counterexample of the Bush administration where Colin Powell and Condeleeza Rice were two huge key members at the time, but to Mr. Stokes, they don't really count because Condeleeza reminds him of Malcolm X. Really good comeback, Stokes! The author uses very weak defenses to get his point across. I understand and whole-heartedly agree with the idea that the diverse population should be represented and put in positions of power, however we shouldn't just put people in just because of a race or skin color or even gender. Perhaps I am simply very naive, but why not just put in people who would do the best job! Mr. Powell and Ms. Rice were very successful at their key positions and Bobby Jindal has appointed a fair number of women, blacks, and Indians on his staff because I trust that Jindal thinks they will do the best job possible to improve Louisiana. So I believe this author needs to stop being so cynical and defend his weak spots with more than just "well Condeleeza reminds me of Malcolm X, so she doesn't count..." That is just my own opinion that this article was not very convincing because the author, while having good intentions, had no substantial facts to make him sound professional or believable.