black…MYstory

While I am sure that this goes on in a lot of political campaigns, there is still something about this situation that doesn’t sit well with me.

Yesterday, I posted a piece about a pair of black South Carolina state senators who are endorsing Hillary Clinton. One of them, Robert Ford, claimed that if Barack Obama won the presidential primary, this would spell doom for the party because Obama is black.

Well, I was so focused on what Ford had said that I did not look into what was going on with the other senator in question, Darrell Jackson.

In addition to being a state senator, Jackson is also a minister and runs a successful consulting firm. In an interesting turn of events, just days before his endorsement of Clinton, Jackson’s firm agreed to a $10,000/month contract with the Clinton campaign through 2008. This contract would total $210,000.

According to Jackson, the Obama campaign offered $5,000+/month for his firm’s services.

However, according to Jackson, money’s not the motivating factor:

“It’s not about money…Quite honestly, I’ve turned done more money from some of the other candidates.”

Also, Jackson says that he doesn’t even take a salary at his consulting company.However, what concerns me is this — are we supposed to believe that the contracts and endorsements have nothing to do with each other? I mean, would we see them working for Clinton but, endorsing another candidate in the field. Of course not. Also, let’s not forget what Jackson’s role is in all of this — to get the black vote for the candidate he’s supporting. So, basically, the black vote is being bought. However, it doesn’t seem to be for the benefit of black people as a whole but, instead, it appears to be a windfall for a few, select people.

Like I said, I am sure that this is a very common practice but, given the fact that black people are already taken for granted by our political leadership, it appears that the vote, and therefore the concerns, of black folks are being bought for a song.

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