by Dr. Boyce Watkins, Syracuse University – Scholarship in Action
Today I spent a few hours in studio with Rev. Al Sharpton. The topic for this week is obviously the mid-term elections, which we'll be be discussing this week. Today, we're talking with officials from the Obama Administration and Capitol Hill, including Education Secretary Arne Duncan, Senior Advisor Valerie Jarrett and quite a few others. I think it's worth checking out. You can see a live video stream of us in-studio at this link. The link is usually live from 1 - 3 pm EST, but I am going to try to get access to it at other times as well.
There's a lot to think about when it comes to the elections. The Democrats are asking for black votes like we owe them, and perhaps they owe us something too. My thinking is that while voting Democratic certainly lies within the interests of the black community, we should also work to ensure that they follow through on commitments to us. Issues such as mass incarceration, black unemployment and educational inequality are important to black people, so in order to keep the black voting base enthusiastic, some commitment to addressing racial inequality is critically important.
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