There has been much written and voiced regarding Proposition 8 since its passing in California on November 4. The tone of the reactions has run the gamut from anger to blame to hope. In “Prop 8 Makes The Wrong Type of History” posted in The Huffington Post last week, Brian Normoyle writes "If the Yes on 8 campaign hadn't fought so hard and spent so much money to eliminate minority rights with such an underwhelming majority of voters, then California would have remained just one of three states recognizing the value of all families and the equality of all citizens."
Normoyle’s point is well taken. However, I think the bigger “if” is if the No on 8 campaign leadership would not have failed for the second time in four years at correctly positioning, marketing, strategizing and preparing for all aspects of this equality effort then Proposition 8 would not have passed. Since the outcome of the vote we have witnessed finger pointing at the Yes on 8 supporters, the Blacks, the Hispanics and any other "culprits" that could be found, blaming them for the passing of Proposition 8. However, not nearly as much has been written about how poster-person San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom once again put himself front and center in a sloppy fashion giving ammunition to the opposition, how there was insufficient factual education and outreach to key communities, how the No on 8 leadership missed golden opportunities to effectively utilize popular sports and entertainment celebrities, and how the Proposition’s dissenting ballot language and oral rebuttal campaign was allowed to be so poorly communicated and executed. Ownership and accountability starts at the top. Yet the leaders in charge of the No on 8 effort are not being held sufficiently accountable for the passing of Proposition 8. In lieu of that fair criticism, there is instead of flurry of misguided accusations and blame that are secondary to the primary issue.
In listening to call-in talk radio programs the past two weeks I have heard more than one caller say things like “Where is the Black leadership?”, “We need Maxine Waters and Diane Watson to come to our community”, or “Why do the gays have to be left behind?”, etc. Let me give everyone some news – this type of “come to us”, arrogant and entitlement-based mindset is not going to get it done. Just because a movement wants something to happen and believes people should accept its premise does not entitle that group to any acceptance. Work needs to be done, thoughtfully and strategically in order for the movement’s message to be effectively communicated and accepted. Other civil rights groups have learned this valuable lesson over time. These groups have provided examples of how to turn ineffective lobbying instead into winning value statements and propositions. The same-sex marriage crusade failed in 2008 by not learning from these groups and from its own mistakes made in the 2004 effort.
Instead of arrogance, the same-sex marriage movement in California needs to utilize strategic thinking to achieve its goal. Imagine the success of the No on 8 crusade had it outsourced its strategy to savvy political strategists who could have prepared a holistic, proactive strategy and messaging to fend off the negative onslaught from the Right. For an example of how this would have been successful I refer you to the Obama two-year campaign lead by the intellect of David Axelrod, David Plouffe, Obama and others. They knew that a Black man would have to spend an inordinate amount of time penetrating the White and non-Democratic populous. They built bridges. They made their case.
Imagine if for just four months the No on 8 strategy would have been to focus heavily on minority and white conservative communities and to educate these key groups. It would have nipped the fear/hate-based "taught in schools/preached to children" nonsense in the bud, or at least significantly reduced it. The percentage of Blacks, Hispanics and Whites that voted Yes on 8 would have been dramatically lower. (For accurate information regarding voting demographics and how the minority vote alone could not have kept Prop 8 from passing, please see “Prop 8 Myths” (http://www.fivethirtyeight.com/2008/11/prop-8-myths.html) and the brilliantly written release by Kathryn Kolbert, President of People For American Way, entitled “Blaming Black Voters for Prop 8 Loss is Wrong and Destructive” (http://site.pfaw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=issues_equality_prop_8_memo)
Until the same-sex leadership and community firmly understand and practice outreach to all key groups/demographics it may find itself defeated and angry for much longer than it needs to be. It is not surprising one of the talk-show callers did not know that Magic Johnson, perhaps the most popular and visible Black figure in Southern California was a No on 8 supporter. Johnson was not utilized sufficiently in the communities and it therefore became an out-of-sight out-of-mind scenario. It is doubtful if any of the callers know of other prominent Black activists and figures that have worked very hard over the years in favor of same-sex equality causes: Alice Huffman, Julian Bond, Coretta Scott King and John Lewis to name a few (or if they know who these people are at all). It is also not clear if the “progressive” show hosts such as Thom Hartmann, Ron Reagan, Rachel Maddow and Stephanie Miller know of these Black feats and leaders since I did not hear any of them effectively educate the callers with examples of Black figures involved in the equality movement.)
Yes it true that certain minority citizens and clergy use religious beliefs and/or their manipulation of what the “Good Book” says to wade comfortably in ignorance and hate. The argument that these people still need more time to change their thinking based on their deep religious and traditional beliefs is a feeble and outdated argument that amounts to nothing more than a free pass. Enough already. Manipulating the Bible to support your opinion while ignoring it to mask your hypocritical life practices is despicable. Your views are hateful and your efforts (non efforts) are lazy. You are not entitled to any more free passes this far along into the equality conversation. You are not allowed to celebrate your well-deserved civil rights achievements while creating and nurturing pain on others. You are not what you “preach” to be.
The failed leadership in the campaign against hate unfortunately missed an outstanding opportunity to overcome the opposition and avoid the backlash that we are now experiencing. Let's stop inaccurately blaming solely the minorities and the ignorant without accepting that the leadership failed on this one. Such sloppy, opportunistic and misplaced blame leads to more division than is necessary. It is no wonder that some Blacks that are marching in protest with all other No on 8 supporters are having the N-Word yelled at them along with other assaults. ( see http://www.pamshouseblend.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=8077 ) . Misplaced, ignorant and opportunistic scapegoating of minorities only stirs latent hate as we witnessed in the last few months of the Presidential campaign as the Republican candidates and media’s lies blamed minorities for the economic ills of the country without accepting their own Republican administration failures as the real reason for the mess.
Hopefully the equality-for-all leadership will take the steps needed to reach out and educate to the groups that need the attention. Second, hopefully the other side will listen and learn and move forward when asked. If both of these gestures happen simultaneously, the equality movement’s end-goal should be met.
