Texas Primary: Blacks, Bubbas and La Raza Unida
The 2008 Texas presidential primary left me with disappointment and hope. I am a founder of Independent Texans, the state’s only voter association seeking recognition for approximately 5 million Texas independents.
I had the honor of announcing Independent Texans’ endorsement of Senator Obama at his Dallas headquarters, with Dallas District Attorney, Craig Watkins. Watkins impressed me for standing strong in his belief that his job isn’t to rack up convictions. Rather, in his words, his job is "to make sure that justice is served." In so doing, he has helped gain the release of the wrongfully accused, many of them African-American men.
The two of us together, announcing our endorsements, was a coincidence. I had just come up from Trans-Texas Corridor hearings throughout east Texas. That’s where “bubba”, rural mostly white conservative working-class Texans, were getting the shaft from Gov. Rick Perry and TxDOT, with their schemes to seize East Texans’ land and heritage. And, for what? For the “NAFTA Corridor” (aka the Trans-Texas Corridor)-- a project so unpopular with Texans of all persuasions, a movement pushing for a federal investigation is underway.
Texas independents had married the Corridor issue to the “independent revolt” in 2006, when 1.3 million Texans split their votes between two independent candidates for Governor (former Republican and Comptroller, Carole Strayhorn and Kinky Friedman). Approximately, 612,000 of these votes were from rural Texas, even though only 17.5% of Texans live in rural communities. These Texans were, and still are, desperate for someone who will fight for their independent way of life. Many pleasantly surprised us as Obama positive. We call ourselves, “Bubbas for Obama!"
Then there’s La Raza Unida. La Raza Unida was a party in South Texas, that gained prominence in the early 70’s. They are long gone, but the “independencia” politic of Hispanic Texans is alive and well. We saw this, vividly, in the 2006 gubernatorial race in Bexar County. Bexar County, the home of the city of San Antonio, (with about 1.3 million people -- 54% of whom are Hispanic or Latino) would have been the only major population center “won” (with 92,678 people voting independent in that 4-way race), had we unified behind one gubernatorial independent.
It was not Rush Limbaugh Republicans who gave Clinton the Texas popular vote. Exit polls showed that the 9% of Republicans who voted in the Texas Democratic primary broke 53% for Obama and 46% for Clinton. If anyone missed a beat, it was Obama who ran a brilliant ground campaign for the caucuses, but fell short of a brilliant ground game for the popular votes of wildly diverse and independent Texas voters.
A struggle to settle the Obama-Clinton score is underway within the confines of the Democratic Party. Some are trying to make Obama’s personal affiliations (which invariably play on issues of race), the issue. But, to the 42% and growing plurality of Americans who identify as independents, the problem cannot be resolved within the Democratic Party. Obama must -- if he wants to not only secure the Democratic nomination AND win the presidency, but really bring change to America -- continue to radically outreach to white working-class and Hispanic independent Americans. This can’t be done on the college campuses or through “big name” endorsements alone. What must we – ordinary Americans -- do? We must continue to build our unlikely coalition of blacks, bubbas and “la raza unida” and keep taking it independent. Long live Texas independence!
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Linda Curtis is a thirty year veteran of the independent movement, a founder of Independent Texans, and IndependentMovement.org.
I had the honor of announcing Independent Texans’ endorsement of Senator Obama at his Dallas headquarters, with Dallas District Attorney, Craig Watkins. Watkins impressed me for standing strong in his belief that his job isn’t to rack up convictions. Rather, in his words, his job is "to make sure that justice is served." In so doing, he has helped gain the release of the wrongfully accused, many of them African-American men.
The two of us together, announcing our endorsements, was a coincidence. I had just come up from Trans-Texas Corridor hearings throughout east Texas. That’s where “bubba”, rural mostly white conservative working-class Texans, were getting the shaft from Gov. Rick Perry and TxDOT, with their schemes to seize East Texans’ land and heritage. And, for what? For the “NAFTA Corridor” (aka the Trans-Texas Corridor)-- a project so unpopular with Texans of all persuasions, a movement pushing for a federal investigation is underway.
Texas independents had married the Corridor issue to the “independent revolt” in 2006, when 1.3 million Texans split their votes between two independent candidates for Governor (former Republican and Comptroller, Carole Strayhorn and Kinky Friedman). Approximately, 612,000 of these votes were from rural Texas, even though only 17.5% of Texans live in rural communities. These Texans were, and still are, desperate for someone who will fight for their independent way of life. Many pleasantly surprised us as Obama positive. We call ourselves, “Bubbas for Obama!"
Then there’s La Raza Unida. La Raza Unida was a party in South Texas, that gained prominence in the early 70’s. They are long gone, but the “independencia” politic of Hispanic Texans is alive and well. We saw this, vividly, in the 2006 gubernatorial race in Bexar County. Bexar County, the home of the city of San Antonio, (with about 1.3 million people -- 54% of whom are Hispanic or Latino) would have been the only major population center “won” (with 92,678 people voting independent in that 4-way race), had we unified behind one gubernatorial independent.
It was not Rush Limbaugh Republicans who gave Clinton the Texas popular vote. Exit polls showed that the 9% of Republicans who voted in the Texas Democratic primary broke 53% for Obama and 46% for Clinton. If anyone missed a beat, it was Obama who ran a brilliant ground campaign for the caucuses, but fell short of a brilliant ground game for the popular votes of wildly diverse and independent Texas voters.
A struggle to settle the Obama-Clinton score is underway within the confines of the Democratic Party. Some are trying to make Obama’s personal affiliations (which invariably play on issues of race), the issue. But, to the 42% and growing plurality of Americans who identify as independents, the problem cannot be resolved within the Democratic Party. Obama must -- if he wants to not only secure the Democratic nomination AND win the presidency, but really bring change to America -- continue to radically outreach to white working-class and Hispanic independent Americans. This can’t be done on the college campuses or through “big name” endorsements alone. What must we – ordinary Americans -- do? We must continue to build our unlikely coalition of blacks, bubbas and “la raza unida” and keep taking it independent. Long live Texas independence!
------------------------
Linda Curtis is a thirty year veteran of the independent movement, a founder of Independent Texans, and IndependentMovement.org.
As of today, half of 'former Clinton supporters' have not decided for whom they will vote and 20% say they may vote for McCain. I live in NW Louisiana and travel East Texas extensively; I helped get Nader on the ballot in Texas in 2004 and, during that time, became well acquainted with Independents and third-party members in that region of your state. I appreciate your, as well as many others', desire for what seems like a 'breath of fresh air' in Obama but the racial disparity you noted in your message is more than a 'minor infraction' to be passed over so casually. If Clinton were the apparent nominee going into the DNC convention, and she were not actively courting black and older Americans, she'd be denied or, at least, scolded. Those who are blindly supporting Obama should be holding him more accountable, as his opponents surely will; he should be tested during the crucible of the nominationg process so as to better prepare him for the actual election. Without doing so, you're giving him enough leash to hang himself.
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