Malik Rahim has respect on the street, not in the media

I have written several times about Malik Rahim. Mostly, I am trying to make sure that he has the wide coverage of his campaign against Dollar Bill Jefferson in the 2nd Congressional District of Louisiana. I have encouraged people to respond with contributions. Some have. But Malik needs more to fund radio / television spots between now and December 6, when the real election takes place. Remember, this election was pushed back because Hurricane Gustave interrupted a primary runoff earlier.

Click Read more! for a report on the campaign was posted to the national committee affairs list today... and always I have a few additional comments.

By John Atkeison

Tuesday Last week the people of the USA elected a community organizer from Chicago, a Black man, to be our President. At the other end of the Mississippi River another community organizer named Malik Rahim will go before the voters in New Orleans in a Congressional election that was pushed to December 6 because of Hurricane Gustav.

If tonight’s meeting at the candidates home was any measure, it could be an unusual moment in the colorful history of Louisiana politics. (You can follow the campaign at voteMalik.com.) Of the 16 people who crowded into the room, most of them were native Black New Orleanians from the West Bank and the 9th Ward. Other areas of the city were well represented, but the core were from Malik’s neighborhood base. Participants included working people and academics, church members and family members.

Everyone was enthusiastic about Malik, and there was lively discussion about a range of tactical issues. The meeting was well run and began and ended almost exactly on time, something that is not always guaranteed in a Green campaign.

The December 6th election is at the end of a tough road that leads through people’s birthday parties, barbecues and seafood boils. When the people of Orleans and Jefferson parishes go to the polls on that day, they can choose an incumbent Democrat under indictment for corrupt paractices known as – I swear- Dollar Bill Jefferson or they can go for a little-known Republican or Libertarian. Or they can vote for Malik Rahim, a well-known Green community organizer. Malik is best known for his organizing immediately after the disasters followng Hurricane Katrina, the floods, and Hurricane Rita in 2005. He established the first health clinic, and began the rebuilding of the communities right away. Through his Common Ground Collective, he has touched the lives of tens of thousands of New Orleanians. (You can read more at voteMalik.com.)

But people need to know that this election has been postponed due to Hurricane Gustav, and that Malik is running. You can help! If you live in Louisiana’s Second Congressional District you can volunteer to help get the word out to your friends and their friends. If you live anywhere along the Gulf Coast, you have a stake in the election and should consider sending a contribution or coming to help inform your neighbors here. And if you live in the United States of America, you can send contributions or volunteer for the phone bank, donating those extra cell phone minutes to the cause.

Time is short and the opportunity is great. Let us hear from you.

John Atkeison
New Orleans, Louisiana

Then, it really get me riled when an AP reporter named Zinie Chen Sampson puts out a story, as she did this week, concerning Jefferson and the campaign and ignores Rahim completely. According to a copy posted to Green Change, Sampson wrote:

Meanwhile, Jefferson, 61, Louisiana’s first black congressman since Reconstruction, faces a Dec. 6 election against little-known Republican, Anh “Joseph” Cao in his New Orleans-based district. The district’s election was pushed back because of Hurricane Gustav.

That is not media bias. It is just a lazy reporter who did not do their job and no one calls them on it.

At least, I wrote to AP and chided them for their sloppy coverage along with giving some kudos to Erica Werner, who is an excellent reporter for AP. If you want to chime in, you can do so by writing their contact address.

For general questions and comments;or to contact a specific employee: info@ap.org

I mean, if Rahim can get on 20/20, AP should acknowledge that he exists.

Check out anything you can find about Malik. If there is any single contest that needs our care and contribution this year, it is this one.

Energy Policy

At the end of his 2006 primary battle with Richard Pombo (CA-11), Pete McCloskey wrote an OpEd that I printed here in its entirety. Pete is a man who fervently believes in the potential of this United States and has, throughout his long career, always upheld the Constitution and challenged those who would besmirch the honor of either. He was not prepared for the degree of voter apathy that he found.

The recent poll showing that less than a third of the people respect what Congress has been doing is not as disappointing as the fact that half of the electorate doesn't seem to care enough to try to change it.

McCloskey's observation is only a year old, but there seems to be an energy for change that has flowed into this year's presidential election. Barack Obama has built his entire campaign around the idea of change. In many ways he has created the impression that he is the embodiment of change. So strong is this impression that some media have begun to use the term "cult of personality" to describe the phenomenon.

Among the Democrats, the momentum belongs to Barack Obama, who came out of Iowa like a freight train with his win. On his whistle-stop tour of New Hampshire, every event is a mob scene and his campaign for the presidency is fast becoming a cult of personality. - Charlie Gibson

It would seem that the Green Party lacks the charismatic leadership to challenge this aspect of an Obama campaign, should he win. However, I am more concerned about my growing suspicion that McCloskey has made an astute observation about our party, the people are no longer fired up about what our party can do, that apathy has replaced energy, not on the issue, but regarding the belief that this party, lacking the charisma of an Obama, can do anything to affect those issues. The most telling recent example is the fact that very few of our county councils have been able to respond to an internal poll regarding Green Party positions on the ballot measure in the upcoming election. The list of non-responding counties contains some of those counties on which we count for leadership: Humboldt, Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, San Mateo, Santa Clara.

Yes, I know that some of this is a problem of timing, the county council's not having a meeting scheduled in order to take a formal position. I consider that an excuse for non-action, or rather a sign that developing formal positions on ballot measures is not a priority for the activists in these counties. If it were, they would have found a way to get it done.

This is particularly galling since Proposition 93 concerns Limits on Legislators’ Terms in Office. Initiative Constitutional Amendment. Those counties that did respond to the polling were overwhelmingly opposed to this measure. These was not a single indication that even one individual supported it. But, according to our bylaws, we will not take a position because we could not get a quorum of interest.

My real concern is not with the results of this polling, but rather my fear that is demonstrates a lack of concern for state and local issues as a complement to the energy that goes into such national, emotional, "progressive movement" concerns such as impeachment and the Iraq War.

Note, I did not place these as a either / or proposition. If we are going to be a party that is ready to practice governance, we need to be able to provide leadership and direction on a broad range of topics at all levels. In the terminology that I have used before, we need to move beyond protest to provide Green solutions to the problems that face our local communities, our counties and our state as well as being the voice of protest at the national level.

In my mind, this is a failure of local leadership to keep the focus on local concerns equal to the major protest issue. Remember the words of Tip O'Neil. "All politics is local." If we are not growing this party, it just may be because we are not fully engaged at the local level.

So, back to McCloskey's warning of the danger of apathy. Enough of the votes got the message to turn Richard Pombo our of office. There were a few, very local, media outlets that had the integrity to lay things out the way that they really were, without spin. Such was, and continues to be, the Tracy Press, whose editorial policy is to put the real welfare of the entire community above everything else.

I know that Lisa Taylor will remind me of all the good work that Greens are doing outside the party. That is wonderful, energy well directed. I only want to make sure that there is a little energy left to actually operate this party because that is the only way that real change will happen.