DNC Chair apologizes to black voters

[EffieBlack]

“We took too many people for granted,” Perez continued, “and African Americans—our most loyal constituency—we all too frequently took for granted. That is a shame on us, folks, and for that I apologize. And for that I say, it will never happen again!”

https://t.co/kWcASYydUv

[RandySF]

1. I think he's trying to make things right

but the DNC desperately needs more funding to carry it out.

[Cha]

2. That's good.. we can always do better!

African American Women and next African American Men are our highest percentage of Voters for our Dem Party.. Our Base!

But, I don't think Hillary "took Black Voters for granted".

[GaryCnf]

3. Aa reality sits in

[Wwcd]

4. He is the biggest man out there tonight for those words.

Thank you Tom Perez

[GaryCnf]

20. Cannot deny that

Many of us have been saying this over the last almost 3 decades with only the two terms of the greatest president of all time to show for it. I say this not to whine about it, because too many of us have not done what was necessary to have Tom's platform and then lacked the courage to speak out when we did.

To say what he did, to acknowledge that most of what people of color have received has been mostly lip service, is the single most courageous act I can remember from any DNC chair.

He has my

[sheshe2]

5. This is a start, a good one.

Let's just keep moving this forward.

An apology

“We took too many people for granted,” Perez continued, “and African Americans—our most loyal constituency—we all too frequently took for granted. That is a shame on us, folks, and for that I apologize. And for that I say, it will never happen again!”

Applause broke out before Perez could even finish his apology, heads nodding in acknowledgment and appreciation.

An apology and as Abrams said:

Her nomination over Stacey Evans, a white woman, in May drew a surge of national attention, and the DNC’s decision to hold Thursday’s gala alongside an African American leadership summit in Atlanta brought major party donors to Abrams’s home base.

“Welcome to Georgia,” Abrams told the DNC donors on Thursday, before adding a gentle dig of her own at the party: “It’s about time.”

“Georgia is not a red state,” she continued, setting up one of her signature campaign lines. “We’re just blue and confused.”

It sure as hell is about time.

[brer cat]

21. It is a good start,

and he picked the right place and time to make it. GA is 46% minority and is expected to be minority-majority by 2025. The party needs to look forward and build on those gains.

When the republicans stop beating up each other after their runoff, this election is going to get very ugly. I hope Perez and those big donors dig deep to help Stacey Abrams. She is the face of the future and that future should begin on Nov. 6, 2018.

[Hortensis]

23. Yes, the Repub primary is incredibly dirty and

absurd. The Cagle ads I've seen seem to use humor to soften the reality that they blow all the dog whistles at factory whistle strength. Trump has endorsed him, so Pence has come down to say Cagle's "the real deal," and I feel sure he's telling the truth.

Of course, Kemp is a horrible hard-line conservative also.

If there's a time when Georgia's 46% POC, including our nearly 33% black population, should decide to become un- "confused" and put an end to being kicked around by those the Cagles and Kemps are playing to, it's certainly now. It'd be a very tough win, even with changing demographics, but even a very close loss would scare the sheets off the Republican leadership and signal the end of the days when overt racism could be part of the GOP platform, much less the largest part.

Go, Stacey!

[sheshe2]

25. I hope so too, brer.

GOTV 2018.

[Progressive Law]

6. I like Perez. This is a good step forward. nt

..

[Algernon Moncrieff]

7. This is the lesson Alabama and Doug Jones taught us

It's good he's addressing this.

[Tarheel_Dem]

8. It's never a bad idea to apologize, however we now know that millions were purged from voter rolls..

in 2016. How many showed up to cast a vote, and were either turned away, or cast a provisional ballot? This happened in NC to the lady who cleans our office & her husband, both of whom had voted for Obama in 2012. I remember on election day when she came in, she was beside herself, and had never had to cast a provisional ballot before. Who knows if her vote was ultimately counted.

[mopinko]

28. i keep saying- provisional ballots need to be examined.

we need to know who was blocked at the polls and why.
we need to know how many were blocked. were there more than usual? why?

the evidence for fiddling w the rolls is right there, hiding in plain sight. names of witnesses, right there.
whether they were eventually counted or not is almost beside the point.

[xmas74]

9. Interesting.

As a county chair the ethnic group contacting me the most about the upcoming election is AA.

They were taken for granted yet they are still willing to step up and help GOTV. We all owe the entire community a debt of gratitude .

[BlueWI]

10. Overdue but welcome.

Liberals are taken for granted too. As s black liberal voter, I hope these words are followed up with actions and genuine common effort before and after election day.

[Cha]

12. WTHF are you going on about, "our revolution"?

You have no idea what you're talking about.. you get on here with your first post and diss our Democratic Party.. with your babbling about "jobs".

The Black Voters are our Democratic Base.

[DesertRat]

13. And he's gone..

[Cha]

14. I certainly was hoping

it worked!

What an idiot!

[EffieBlack]

26. Aw, man! I missed it!

What did they say?

[sheshe2]

15. Ooops.

Missed it.

[Cha]

16. It was quite the little screed from "our revolution"..

talking about how the "DNC is pandering to Black Voters".. and when will they ever learn.. several heads butting against a brick wall, too!

is right!

[NurseJackie]

24. Oh, good Lord! It never ends, does it?

Interesting choice of a user name, though.

:aloha:

[Cha]

31. No, only gets Worse!

"our revolution" also said.. "what about jobs?" sigh

Evidently the poster thought his username was spot on.

Aloha, Jackie!

[GaryCnf]

30. I missed it too

But judging from Cha's description it was far worse than even "the OR approach is better for black voters."

Even were it nothing more than that, however, THIS IS NOT THE FUCKING TIME OR PLACE. This is a sin committed by "establishment" and "radical leftists" alike. Thus far only the establishment guy has acknowledged it. If you can't give him credit for that, you need to reexamine your own attitudes.

As far as our quickly departed "friend" goes, he/she can go alright, go ...

[PatrickforO]

17. Good for Perez, and good for the party.

Taking anyone for granted is bad. We need every vote and every voice.

[Raine]

18. Perez wasn't head of the DNC at that time

it was DWS, nice he apologized but he's not the one at fault.

[MyOwnPeace]

19. Not really a matter of "who"

did what when, but we need to study our weaknesses, correct, and improve - we should be a BIG tent and assure voting for ALL!

Get Out The Vote!!!!!!

[aikoaiko]

22. A good apology at a good time with the right people

Last edited Sun Jul 22, 2018, 09:54 AM - Edit history (1)

We need Stacey to win in GA.

[mcar]

27. He's right

I hope the DNC learns from the mistakes and puts much more focus on the base - women of color!

[bigtree]

29. I don't know about 'we'

...hell I don't think he was even chairman when this was going on.

Take his point, though. Black voters are treated as some fringe interest group in campaigns and they have been the bedrock of the Democratic vote, especially black women.

Campaigns ignore this at their peril at election time.

[Jamaal510]

32. This is what

I've heard my family and a number of other people mention for a while. I don't intend to step on any toes here, but I have to agree. The interests of the Black community aren't always the same as other groups, and to me, it hasn't looked like we've been as much of a priority for the Democratic Party as other groups in terms of policy implementation and verbal political standoffs. Out of the two viable parties, Democrats are clearly the better option for us, but even they have flaws. I'm glad they at least acknowledge this.

[Hekate]

33. KnR