Activism
COMMENTARY: Is America’s Ethnic Vote a Blue Wave Rising or Falling?
One might chalk up the ethnic vote slide to turnout. But considering motivating factors like the economy, abortion, or even the fate of democracy, I think despite good turnout, some may be tired of divided government and willing to test new ideas that might work for them.
![Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. His web show is on www.amok.com](https://www.postnewsgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/Emil-Guillermo-featured-web.jpg)
By Emil Guillermo
A week ago, there was no Red Wave. Was there a Blue one?
If you look at other exit polls, not as much as there could have been.
BIPOC voters were seen and heard on election night. And their unity was the key.
But from the numbers, it appears the coalition is beginning to fray a bit.
Overall, whites were 72% of the voters on November 8, according to the Associated Press Vote Cast exit polling. And they voted Red (Republican) 59% to 39% Blue (Democratic).
Those among that 39% are allies to traditional BIPOC voters. And we’d better hope that number grows.
Comprising less than 25% of voters on November 8, BIPOC voters could still use all the help they can get. While they provided surprisingly good midterm election results for Democrats, it should have been even better.
It wasn’t.
The reason? Blues are becoming ever slightly less blue.
Sure, on election night BIPOC voters were predominantly Democratic, and thanks to that, we did we see an unexpected “mini-Blue Wave.”
Blacks made up 11% of the voters and went 83% Blue, with just 14% Red.
That’s high, but it was still lower by up to seven percentage points compared to the 2018 midterms, according to network exit polling and the AP VoteCast poll, as reported by the Washington Post.
Hispanic/Latino voters were 11% of the electorate on November 8 and were 56% Blue to 40% Red.
Again, that’s a decrease of about 9 to 10 percentage points from the 2018 midterms.
Asian Americans were just 2% of the November 8 voters and were 64% Blue to 34% Red.
That’s in keeping with what the AALDEF exit poll found in its 15-state multilingual exit poll that targeted Asian American/Pacific Islander.
But in the 2018 midterms, Asian American Blue support was around 71%.
Native Hawaiians/Pacific Islanders were less than .5% of the voters and were 58% Blue to 38% Red. That’s lower than the AA part of the Asian Ameican Native Hawaiian Pacific Islander.
I was also surprised that American Indian voters, just 1% of the voters on November 8, were 37% Blue to 57% Red.
So, are American Indian voters already where the rest of the BIPOC voters are heading? One might chalk up the ethnic vote slide to turnout. But considering motivating factors like the economy, abortion, or even the fate of democracy, I think despite good turnout, some may be tired of divided government and willing to test new ideas that might work for them.
Could that new idea possibly be Donald Trump?
TRUMPY REDUX?
Trump, who was set to announce his candidacy for a third run for president this week, is doing so into a headwind. His election deniers have lost. For governor, for Congress, for state level election chiefs. He is no longer seen as a winner. He is a bona fide loser among losers. Even the exit polling on favorability for Trump is disastrous.
How can he possibly win? By acknowledging how America’s demographics have changed and begin courting the ethnic vote.
I don’t mean the Herschel Walkers, whom Dave Chappelle on SNL called “observably stupid.”
I mean regular folks who see themselves as independent swing voters.
I say this not in jest, though I wish I were.
Courting the ethnic vote was one of the things the GOP seemed committed to in 2016, but then Trump came in and the GOP embraced the Trump base.
That would be the irony if outreach to ethnic voters might be the one thing that could help the future of the GOP and Trump–by taking advantage of what looks to be a diminishing Blue lock on ethnic voters.
Of course, it might also lose them to the rabid and racist Trump base, the mostly white Jan. 6 folks, who saw in Trump the one person who would represent their xenophobic tendencies in a white world that is shrinking.
That might actually be a good thing to see them shamed back under a rock.
It boils down to which group could make the GOP and Trump winners again.
If you don’t want to see that, work to keep the BIPOC coalition stronger than ever in the fight for civil rights, voting rights, immigration rights, LGBTQ rights, abortion rights.
The ethnic vote may not be bluer than blue, but it’s still majority blue.
And that’s all you need in a democracy.
Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He does a show on www.amok.com
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of July 24 – 30, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 24 – 30, 2024
![](https://www.postnewsgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/oakland-post-7-24-24-featured-web.jpg)
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.
Activism
Oakland Post: Week of July 17 -23, 2024
The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of July 17 -23, 2024
![](https://www.postnewsgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/oakland-7-17-final-featured-web.jpg)
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.
Activism
Community Celebrates Historic Oakland Billboard Agreements
We, the Oakland Billboard Economic Development Coalition, which includes Oakland’s six leading community health clinics, all ethnic chambers of commerce, and top community-based economic development organizations – celebrate the historic billboard agreements approved last year by the Oakland City Council. We have fought for this opportunity against the billboard monopoly, against Clear Channel, for five years. The agreements approved by Council set the bar for community benefits – nearly $70 Million over their lifetime, more than 23 times the total paid by all previous Clear Channel relocation agreements in Oakland combined.
![The Oakland Billboard Economic Development Coalition.](https://www.postnewsgroup.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/economic-development-corporation-featured-web.jpg)
Grand Jury Report Incorrect – Council & Community Benefit
We, the Oakland Billboard Economic Development Coalition, which includes Oakland’s six leading community health clinics, all ethnic chambers of commerce, and top community-based economic development organizations – celebrate the historic billboard agreements approved last year by the Oakland City Council. We have fought for this opportunity against the billboard monopoly, against Clear Channel, for five years. The agreements approved by Council set the bar for community benefits – nearly $70 Million over their lifetime, more than 23 times the total paid by all previous Clear Channel relocation agreements in Oakland combined.
Unfortunately, a recent flawed Grand Jury report got it wrong, so we feel compelled to correct the record:
- Regarding the claim that the decision was made hastily, the report itself belies that claim. The process was five years in the making, with two and a half years from the first City Council hearing to the final vote. Along the way, as the report describes, there were multiple Planning Commission hearings, public stakeholder outreach meetings, a Council Committee meeting, and then a vote by the full Council. Not only was this not hasty, it had far more scrutiny than any of the previous relocation agreements approved by the City with Clear Channel, all of which provide 1/23 of the benefits of the Becker/OFI agreements approved by the Council.
- More importantly, the agreements will actually bring millions to the City and community, nearly $70M to be exact, 23 times the previous Clear Channel relocation agreements combined. They certainly will not cost the city money, especially since nothing would have been on the table at all if our Coalition had not been fighting for it. Right before the decisive City Council Committee hearing, in the final weeks before the full Council vote, there was a hastily submitted last-minute “proposal” by Clear Channel that was debunked as based on non-legal and non-economically viable sites, and relying entirely on the endorsement of a consultant that boasts Clear Channel as their biggest client and whose decisions map to Clear Channel’s monopolistic interests all over the country. Some City staff believed these unrealistic numbers based on false premises, and, since they only interviewed City staff, the Grand Jury report reiterated this misinformation, but it was just part of Clear Channel’s tried and true monopolistic practices of seeking to derail agreements that actually set the new standard for billboard community benefits. Furthermore, our proposals are not mutually exclusive – if Clear Channel’s proposal was real, why had they not brought it forward previously? Why have they not brought it forward since? Because it was not a real proposal – it was nothing but smoke and mirrors, as the Clear Channel’s former Vice President stated publicly at Council.
Speaking on behalf of the community health clinics that are the primary beneficiaries of the billboard funding, La Clinica de la Raza CEO Jane Garcia, states: “In this case, the City Council did the right thing – listening to the community that fought for five years to create this opportunity that is offering the City and community more than twenty times what previous billboard relocation agreements have offered.”
Oakland Billboard Economic Development Coalition
Native American Health Center | La Clínica de la Raza | West Oakland Health Center |
Asian Health Services | Oakland LGBTQ Center | Roots Community Health Center |
The Unity Council | Black Cultural Zone | Visit Oakland |
Oakland African American Chamber of Commerce | Oakland Chinatown Chamber of Commerce | Oakland Vietnamese Chamber of Commerce |
Oakland Latino Chamber of Commerce | Building Trades of Alameda County | (partial list) |
-
Arts and Culture3 weeks ago
Rooted in Tradition: The Intricate History of Black Hair Braiding
-
Bay Area4 weeks ago
“I Will Not Be Bullied,” Says Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao
-
Bay Area2 weeks ago
PG&E Increases Rates While Bay Area Households Are Struggling to Stay Afloat
-
Business3 weeks ago
Gov Newsom: Raising Fast Food Minimum Wage to $20 Pays Off as Jobs Multiply in Industry
-
Activism4 weeks ago
Opponents of Mayor Sheng Thao Are Calling on Her to Resign Following FBI Raid
-
Bay Area2 weeks ago
Juneteenth Mass Shooting Suspect Charge with Multiple Counts of Felony Assault by Alameda County DA Pamela Price
-
Community1 week ago
Hundreds Come to Jehovah’s Witnesses’ Assembly Hall for Three-Day Program of ‘Good News’ in Fremont
-
Activism4 weeks ago
Oakland Coliseum Sale to AASEG: A Model for Community Development and Inclusion