Opinion

OP-ED: How to Win Elections Behind the Cotton Curtain

Published

10 years ago

November 12, 2015

We won the Voting Rights Act of 1965 at Selma, combining the power of a principled mass movement led by Dr. King and a compassionate president who did the right thing despite the heavy political price.

What was that cost? Well, President Johnson said it best at the time, when he told his aides that we’d “just lost the South for a generation.”

The civil rights movement made the moral move by marching across the bridge at Selma. LBJ did the right thing by signing the Voting Rights Act into law, knowing the price his party would pay.

The Jefferson Davis Democrats in the South did the wrong thing by responding to the “Southern strategy” of Richard Nixon and the racial dog whistles of Ronald Reagan. Due to race, the once-solid Democratic South switched over to become today’s solid Republican South.

Now it’s been half a century. Not just a generation, as LBJ foretold, but two-and-a-half generations — and still the Republican Party dominates below the Mason-Dixon Line.

As Rachel Maddow brought up in last week’s presidential forum, the Democratic Party in today’s South has been “hollowed out,” with only a handful of successful statewide Democratic candidates.

As long as that situation exists, the Democrats will be able to win the presidency, but what about the Senate and House?

The sad irony is that the South has benefited the most from the civil rights movement, whites and African-Americans together.

The tearing down of the “Cotton Curtain” by the civil rights martyrs and marchers meant that the South could join our modern economy. Population jumped.

The South could finally have professional sports teams. The civil rights movement forced the development of integrated football teams at Southern colleges that now dominate the sport.

The Olympics could be held in Atlanta in 1996, with Muhammad Ali and Stevie Wonder at the closing ceremonies. Toyota and Mercedes Benz could locate plants in the South, providing better jobs than cotton ever had.

Yet Southern politicians, stuck in the politics of fear, still poke at racial wounds for short-term success.

In order to starve the government, Southern politicians still refuse to invest in infrastructure across the region. Rebuilding our ports and harbors, investing in jobs programs that would employ white and African-American workers, preparing our coasts to survive the future Katrina-like storms that climate change will bring, accepting the Medicaid expansion that would provide needed health care for so many families — these public policy initiatives would develop the region even more, and open up the futures for so many young Southerners.

Yet too many politicians and voters continue to choose race over reason. White working-class Southern voters continue to run from race, choosing the party that backs both tax cuts and job cuts.

This is a political odd couple that makes no sense. Half a century after the Voting Rights Act, too many Southern voters are still afraid of change, even when it would benefit them.

How do we break through?

First of all, former Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean was right — we need a 50-state strategy. We need to compete everywhere in the country, from the local level to the state level to the presidency.

The Democratic Party in the South needs to rebuild, to move from the outhouse to the courthouse to the statehouse to the White House.

Second, candidate Barack Obama showed us how we win in the South — with a message of hope and change, combined with a massive voter registration effort and a huge voter turnout.

In 2008, that combination carried Florida, North Carolina and Virginia. In 2012, Florida and Virginia again went blue, with North Carolina barely missing out.

Third, we need to battle voter suppression. Sen. Bernie Sanders was right when he pointed out that too many Republican leaders are “cowards” for repressing the African-American vote. Bernie also mentioned universal voter registration during.

Rachel Maddow’s forum, and right afterwards, in an interview with Chris Matthews, he raised an idea that I have been pushing for — a constitutional amendment to guarantee the right to vote to every American. And we must protect and restore the power of the Voting Rights Act.

Fourth, we need to invest bottom-up in the South, economically and politically. If we raise wages, provide health care for everyone and open up voter registration to all our people, hope will rise, the South will develop, and people’s lives will be better.

If white working-class families choose hope over fear, their lives will improve — and so will those of Southern Latinos and African-Americans. And Democrats will be able to win elections again.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of February 11 = 17, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of – February 11 – 17, 2026

Published

2 days ago

February 16, 2026

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

#NNPA BlackPress

COMMENTARY: The National Protest Must Be Accompanied with Our Votes

Just as Trump is gathering election data like having the FBI take all the election data in Georgia from the 2020 election, so must we organize in preparation for the coming primary season to have the right people on ballots in each Republican district, so that we can regain control of the House of Representatives and by doing so, restore the separation of powers and balance that our democracy is being deprived of.

Published

1 week ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Newspaper. File photo..

By Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Newspaper

As thousands of Americans march every week in cities across this great nation, it must be remembered that the protest without the vote is of no concern to Donald Trump and his administration.

In every city, there is a personal connection to the U.S. Congress. In too many cases, the member of Congress representing the people of that city and the congressional district in which it sits, is a Republican. It is the Republicans who are giving silent support to the destructive actions of those persons like the U.S. Attorney General, the Director of Homeland Security, and the National Intelligence Director, who are carrying out the revenge campaign of the President rather than upholding the oath of office each of them took “to Defend The Constitution of the United States.”

In California, the primary comes in June 2026. The congressional races must be a priority just as much as the local election of people has been so important in keeping ICE from acquiring facilities to build more prisons around the country.

“We the People” are winning this battle, even though it might not look like it. Each of us must get involved now, right where we are.

In this Black History month, it is important to remember that all we have accomplished in this nation has been “in spite of” and not “because of.” Frederick Douglas said, “Power concedes nothing without a struggle.”

Today, the struggle is to maintain our very institutions and history. Our strength in this struggle rests in our “collectiveness.” Our newspapers and journalists are at the greatest risk. We must not personally add to the attack by ignoring those who have been our very foundation, our Black press.

Are you spending your dollars this Black History Month with those who salute and honor contributions by supporting those who tell our stories? Remember that silence is the same as consent and support for the opposition. Where do you stand and where will your dollars go?

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Post Newspaper Invites NNPA to Join Nationwide Probate Reform Initiative

The Post’s Probate Reform Group meets the first Thursday of every month via Zoom and invites the public to attend. The Post is making the initiative national and will submit information from its monthly meeting to the NNPA to educate, advocate, and inform its readers.

Published

1 week ago

February 10, 2026

Oakland Post

iStock.

By Tanya Dennis

The National Newspaper Publishers Association (NNPA) represents the Black press with over 200 newspapers nationwide.

Last night the Post announced that it is actively recruiting the Black press to inform the public that there is a probate “five-alarm fire” occurring in Black communities and invited every Black newspaper starting from the Birmingham Times in Alabama to the Milwaukee Times Weekly in Wisconsin, to join the Post in our “Year of Action” for probate reform.

Reporter Tanya Dennis says, “The adage that ‘When America catches a cold, Black folks catch the flu” is too true in practice; that’s why we’re engaging the Black Press to not only warn, but educate the Black community regarding the criminal actions we see in probate court: Thousands are losing generational wealth to strangers. It’s a travesty that happens daily.”

Venus Gist, a co-host of the reform group, states, “ Unfortunately, people are their own worst enemy when it comes to speaking with loved ones regarding their demise. It’s an uncomfortable subject that most avoid, but they do so at their peril. The courts rely on dissention between family members, so I encourage not only a will and trust [be created] but also videotape the reading of your documents so you can show you’re of sound mind.”

In better times, drafting a will was enough; then a trust was an added requirement to ‘iron-clad’ documents and to assure easy transference of wealth.

No longer.

As the courts became underfunded in the last 20 years, predatory behavior emerged to the extent that criminality is now occurring at alarming rates with no oversight, with courts isolating the conserved, and, I’ve heard, many times killing conservatees for profit. Plundering the assets of estates until beneficiaries are penniless is also common.”

Post Newspaper Publisher Paul Cobb says, “The simple solution is to avoid probate at all costs. If beneficiaries can’t agree, hire a private mediator and attorney to work things out. The moment you walk into court, you are vulnerable to the whims of the court. Your will and trust mean nothing.”

Zakiya Jendayi, a co-host of the Probate Reform Group and a victim herself, says, “In my case, the will and trust were clear that I am the beneficiary of the estate, but the opposing attorney said I used undue influence to make myself beneficiary. He said that without proof, and the judge upheld the attorney’s baseless assertion. In court, the will and trust is easily discounted.”

The Black press reaches out to 47 million Black Americans with one voice. The power of the press has never been so important as it is now in this national movement to save Black generational wealth from predatory attorneys, guardians and judges.

The next probate reform meeting is on March 5, from 7 – 9 p.m. PST. Zoom Details:
Meeting ID: 825 0367 1750
Passcode: 475480

All are welcome.