No longer dominated by John Wiley Price and his group of operatives, the Black electorate is focused on winning elections and dealing with new challenges.  The recent Trinity River toll road vote and the recent Mayoral election have produced winners and losers in the Black political establishment.  But those two non-partisan elections do not capture the evolution facing the local Democratic Party as it struggles to deal with the growing rift between African-Americans and Hispanics.  The lack of southern sector economic development has pressed the Black political establishment like never before to deliver the goods economically or risk being ousted from any position of influence in the Black community.

When north Dallas City Councilwoman Angela Hunt made her disastrous foray into the Black community to get votes for her anti-toll road proposition, she clearly did not understand how to deal with the evolving Black electorate.  Ms. Hunt ventured into southern sector politics with poor advice and with a damaged group of Black political advisers.  Joyce Foreman and Dorothy Dean, Ms. Hunt’s two most senior Black advisors, are famous for destroying Mayoral candidate Darrell Jordan’s campaign in the southern sector when they were his advisors.  That took quite a bit of ineptness when you consider that Mr. Jordan was well liked in the Black community. This terrible twosome continued their losing strategy by having Councilwoman Hunt embark on a campaign that trashed the Black political establishment and lied to the Black electorate-- both major political mistakes. Those who believe that I am the only African-American who feels this way would be making another political mistake.

A recent, much-publicized Pew Research Center study indicated that African-Americans, nationally, are concerned about the lack of Black economic progress. Locally, the Black community has those same concerns which will put added pressure on the Black political establishment to deliver economic development.  I believe the coalition between the white business community and the Black political establishment may have seen its last moment of electoral glory in the recent toll road election.  The political climate in the Black community will be far too toxic for Black political operatives to sell “business as usual” to the Black electorate.  Look for the school bond vote to suffer from Black voter apathy, as did the toll road vote, unless significant Black economic development occurs. Also look for” no development; no vote” to be the Black electorate’s new rallying cry.

In our non-partisan elections for City Council and Dallas School Board, Black Democrats often join with white Republican business types to win elections.  But all of that changes when partisan election season starts.  No matter how much we have evolved, the Black electorate will remain predominately Democratic. But inside the Democratic Party there are problems between African-Americans and Hispanics.  First off, African-Americans and Hispanics are not natural political allies but more political competitors.  Hispanic political leaders have made that very clear with their “Latinos First” movement.  The Latinos First movement, practiced by some Hispanic leaders, has a goal of replacing Blacks in positions of authority with Hispanic leadership.  The recent flare up by Black school board trustee, Ron Price, over his contention that Hispanic leaders are eliminating jobs and programs at the DISD that feature African-Americans, only highlight this growing rift. Add that to the illegal immigration issue where many African-Americans find themselves agreeing with conservative Republicans who favor tougher illegal immigration enforcement and you have the makings of a huge problem for any Hispanic candidate in the Democratic Party who is depending on Black votes.

Finally, here are my choices for “who’s hot and who’s not” in the evolving Black electorate. The sole criteria being if you won, you are hot if you lost you are not.  Who’s hot: Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Dwaine Caraway for his leadership in Mayor Leppert’s campaign and the Trinity Toll road issue; the Willis Johnson political consulting group for its leadership in those two campaigns and the 2006 successful bond campaign; State Senator Royce West who was on the winning side of the toll road issue; Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson who supported the toll road; the rest of the Black political establishment who supported the toll road;  the Black ministers who supported the toll road; and finally my wife, Lynn Flint-Shaw.  Although she has a winning record of chairing two successful anti- strong mayor victories and chairing the successful bond election, she did not do anything for the winning toll road forces yet she was criticized for it anyway so I figure she must be hot.  Here is who is not hot: The dynamic duo of Joyce Foreman and Dorothy Dean for losing both of the campaigns where they had major roles; the John Price Group for losing the mayoral election and being an after thought in the toll road election, and the few struggling Black political players who went against the Black political establishment and lost in the toll road election.  At least that is how I see it from South of the Trinity.  

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