Black people are smart enough to vote on initiative

Diane Carey brought the op-ed column below, originally published in the Detroit Free Press, to my attention today, and I think all of us need to read and re-read it until the lesson is learned. Diane writes "Dr. Allen is one of Michigan's pre-eminent scholars in his field, and also happens to be black. He takes offense at the assumption that all blacks think and vote in lockstep. So do we."

Published: August 17. 2006 3:00AM
Local columnists
Black people are smart enough to vote on initiative

August 17, 2006


William Allen
Michigan's black voters are under assault in a calculated campaign of deception and disrespect by the group BAMN (By Any Means Necessary) and its political allies (including the Michigan Civil Rights Commission) who oppose the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative.

Using the big lie of "fraud and corruption" in the process of gathering signatures to put MCRI on the Michigan ballot in November, these organizations argue that black voters who signed or would have signed the petition are too dumb and corrupt to have done so knowingly and therefore should not be permitted to participate in the democratic process.

This political campaign is a repeat of historical efforts to deny the civil rights of black citizens.

These efforts mirror exactly the campaign of Hoke Smith for governor of Georgia 100 years ago. Smith began his political career running on the backs of blacks with an enfranchisement campaign. When he concluded that he could not win that way, he ran a campaign on the theme that blacks were too dumb and corrupt to be allowed to participate in the democratic process and therefore should be disfranchised. Smith's creation of a culture of disrespect for blacks led to the Hoke Smith effect -- the culture of violence that led to in the Atlanta pogrom of 1906 in which scores of black citizens were bludgeoned, shot and lynched.

This is a civil rights issue and not just an issue of political and legal maneuvering. The lawsuits against MCRI that allege fraud in signature collection have themselves been built upon fraudulent misrepresentation. Consider the testimony under oath of the Rev. Nathaniel Smith, who was induced by BAMN to testify that he was misled by MCRI contractors to represent the initiative as a civil rights initiative intended to perpetuate affirmative action preferences (squarely contradicting the very language of the initiative).

Smith's testimony is dubious on its face, since he claims to have induced hundreds of black citizens falsely to sign the petition but offered no testimony that he signed it himself. A black man who supposedly believed the initiative was good for black citizens, and so represented it, apparently did not consider that important enough to sign the petition himself.

To the contrary, as my own experience demonstrates, the initiative was honestly presented. It is in fact the case that black citizens, including myself, did sign the petition knowingly. Moreover, many black citizens believe that it deserves to be voted on. Therefore, the legal claims that black citizens could not knowingly wish to hold such a vote is an attempt on the basis of race to deny them the right to vote, against the guarantees of the 15th Amendment.

Citizens who truly desire to defend the participation of black citizens in politics will condemn and resist this means-justifies-the-end approach to politics, based on creating a culture of disrespect for black citizens. Our rights are too valuable to be left vulnerable to the tactics of political radicals.

The mission of our organization, Toward a Fair Michigan, is precisely to defend the democratic process and open, fully informed deliberations. TAFM therefore effectively condemns BAMN and its political allies who seek to undermine the democratic process. TAFM says, "just let us vote."

Dr. WILLIAM ALLEN is a professor of political science at Michigan State University and chairs Toward a Fair Michigan, which supports the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative. Write him in care of the Free Press Editorial Page, 600 W. Fort St., Detroit 48226 or

oped@freepress.com.