| Photo by Joshua Woroniecki on Unsplash
Part XIII of the “United States 2024 Election
How can minority voters rise to the top of political food chains? The first step is for them to master two adages. And make both their tools and strategies to climb higher on the ladder of responsibility. Yes, if not also in the higher echelons of the political food chains.
“Quid pro quo” is the first saying to get to know by heart. It was taught in our Latin class by our rector, Rev. Fr. Panfilo Gianan, SVD (now deceased), at the Divine Word High School in Sorsogon City (Philippines) in 1961. It means “something for something.” It became a derivative phrase in English that refers to exchanging goods or services in which the transfer is contingent upon the other. Or figuratively “a favor for a favor” — without violating laws on bribery and similar provisions in the Penal Code. Professors taught the latter lesson to our 1970 Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila College of Law class.
The second adage to master is about “someone or something worth their weight in gold.” This means that a group of people or something is so useful, helpful, or valuable that one feels he (or she) could not manage without it or them. Without them, political victory is difficult or impossible to achieve.
It has been taught in journalism and English classes that “weight in gold” is a metaphor for something precious, as gold is a precious metal that has long been associated with wealth and value. Or, in other words, “block voting” weighs like gold.
In this op-ed essay, minority voters are urged to coalesce with fellow voters from other minority groups. In reality, in the Great State of Texas (as an example), minorities can deliver the swing votes together. Why? The White-Caucasian voters are almost evenly split between White supremacists and the White progressives.
According to public records, there are between 150,000 and 250,000 members of the Palestinian community in the United States. Americans of Palestinian descent account for only approximately ten percent (10%) of the two million-strong Arab-American community. They equal less than 4 percent of the American-Jewish community.
Jewish Americans are mentioned, comparatively speaking, as they usually form voting blocks. Coupled with their wealth — as exemplified by American bankers, lawyers, physicians, and other professionals of Jewish faith — the Jewish-American lobby makes many politicians have a soft heart for Israel.
“The minorities have the numbers, the training, education, and desire to help make the United States the true bastion of democracy, fairness, and justice, among many American attributes.”
Thus, many American politicians condemn the Kremlin’s genocidal bombings of civilian neighborhoods in Ukraine. But the same politicians justify the same bombings of civilian targets in Gaza and Palestine as “self-defense.” Although a third adage says, “all is fair in love … and in war” (as this writer and other pundits add).
As proven in the 2020 election, a racist candidate was denied a second term because an overwhelming majority of minority voters chose Joe Biden as their next president.
According to published statistics, there were some 47.9 million Black Americans in 2022. The Black population has grown by more than 10 million since 2000, when 36.2 million of the U.S. population identified as Black, marking a 32% increase over roughly two decades. An educated guess is that many immigrants were admitted to the United States from Africa, the Caribbean Islands, and even the Philippines (consisting of descendants of some 1,200 Buffalo soldiers who married Filipino brides from 1899-to-1902).
By the way, this column published on March 31, 2021, this article headlined What Happened to the Buffalo Soldiers, their Filipino Brides and Children? Buffalo soldiers coined “Brown Brothers” for their Filipino kin and friends.
More than 5 million Americans of Filipino descent are now, with about 1/5 working as medical professionals. Then, there are more than 35 million Americans of Mexican descent. Mexicans and Filipinos call themselves “Cultural Cousins,” as they celebrate annually every third week of November Filipino-Mexican Friendship Day. This 2024 marks its 459th anniversary, usually held in Jalisco State, Mexico.
And, of course, there are more Minority Americans — from Native American Indians, other Hispanics, and Latinos to immigrants from the Near, Middle, and Far East and other continents in the world. The United States is the melting pot of the world and the biblical shining city on the hill.
Suppose the community leaders of Minority Americans can form a solid voting block. In that case, they can negotiate the details and components of a suggested “Covenant with the People” with all candidates — from the president down to councilmember. The minorities have the numbers, the training, education, and desire to help make the United States the true bastion of democracy, fairness, and justice, among many American attributes.
It is heart-warming to note that minority voters are that astute. In the 2020 election, they quickly concluded that the presidential candidate who lost was giving away “false gold” as promised. Yes, instead of talking about the “Promised Land,” he delivered a “Land of Broken Promises.” Hence, they did not vote for him.
