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8 Racial Populism
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179 CHAPTER 8 Racial Populism Ford’s and McLin’s Targeted Political Rhetoric I believe in diversity. I teach it. I work it. I live it. A mayor should appoint directors and commissioners who believe in diversity and hold them accountable. Jack Ford, campaign kickoff, June 10, 2001 I also want to recognize Mayor Smith and her colleagues in Kettering for another joint effort between our two cities. Together we held a series of meetings dealing with issues of race and reconciliation. The three-part dialogues were an extension of the work initiated by the Dayton Dialogue on Race Relations. . . . The discussions were instrumental in our on-going efforts to break down stereotypes and create greater tolerance among all peoples. Rhine McLin, 2004 State of the City address It has been documented that black mayors and other black politicians may seek to represent black interests in non-majority-black contexts. Black members of the U.S. House of Representatives have been found to represent black interests in non-majority-black districts . The rhetorical strategies of the nation’s only reelected black governor, Deval Patrick (D-MA), have been found to demonstrate an effort to represent black interests in a state with a black population of 7 percent.1 Studies of black mayors of large and medium-sized non-majority-black cities, such as Harold Washington of Chicago and William Johnson Jr. of Rochester, have also acknowledged their 180 RACIAL POPULISM rhetorical strategies to represent black interests. However, Washington , Johnson, and most other black mayors of the twentieth century were elected under different circumstances than the black mayors of the twenty-first century.2 Given the changing demographics of many cities in the twenty-first century, the question remains: how did Ford and McLin, in terms of their rhetorical strategies, represented black interests? Some of the first major-city black mayors—Tom Bradley of Los Angeles, Harold Washington of Chicago, and Carl Stokes of Cleveland (and others)—were each first elected to cities that were majority Caucasian. Nonetheless, scholars have found that each sought to represent black interests. With the advent of Andrew Young to the Atlanta mayoralty and L. Douglas Wilder’s election as governor of Virginia, scholars began to explore how these black politicians sought to represent black interests. Most of the findings frame the politicians ’ rhetorical strategies and governing approaches in the bifurcated racialization/deracialization dichotomy. For decades the conclusion has been that black politicians either explicitly referenced black interests in their electoral and/or governing coalitions or they did not. In fact scholars found that in order to win in majority-white jurisdictions, black politicians had to deemphasize race to increase their chances at victory.3 In contrast, as chapters 5 and 6 demonstrate, Ford and McLin each maneuvered political outcomes in the interests of blacks without initially alienating many white constituents. How Ford and McLin helped to establish political outcomes favorable to black interests remains unclear. In previous chapters I explained that Ford and McLin effectively maneuvered black interests with respect to specific issues, such as housing and contracting. In this chapter I will demonstrate that they were able to maneuver political outcomes through political rhetoric that sought to frame the proposed black interests in a universal context. The Salience of (Black) Political Rhetoric Political rhetoric, as opposed to policy actions, is significant as rhetoric (specifically predictive appeals) affects constituents’ policy opin- [3.89.56.228] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 09:45 GMT) RACIAL POPULISM 181 ions.4 The finding implies that the rhetoric of a black politician may positively affect constituents’ opinions on policy actions specific to black interests, thereby increasing the opportunities to implement policy outcomes that address black interests in majority-white areas. Thus how Ford and McLin may (or may not) have chosen to frame black interests affected constituents’ opinions on black interests. The literature on the impact of political rhetoric is well documented . For example, scholars have long described Aristotle and Hobbes as expert political rhetoricians.5 Political rhetoric is said to function not simply as an episodic electoral contention that matters only as a campaign strategy to seek votes, but also as a utility function that evolves over time. While political rhetoric may have at one time been “expected and appropriate messages for the public” that were used solely to “win voters’ support,” it is now believed that political leaders support “a rhetoric that reacts to the problems and pressures of the office.”6 Sonja K. Foss...