Wednesday Morning Blues

Another election, another concession speech passed. Once again, the candidates who I supportred suffered not-so-surprising defeats.

It’s official: Andrew Kameka is electoral kryptonite.

I’m the Misfortunate Midas of Midterm Elections; the Plague of Politics. Heaven help any candidate I support for office because he or she is bound to lose. If I voted against Fidel Castro becoming Mayor of Miami, he’d probably win. When the Cuban exile community grabbed their guayaberas and stormed the streets, I would be the only person to blame.

Charlie Crist is governor-elect of Florida and it's all my fault. I voted for Jim Davis and it seems like every time I choose a candidate or cause, selecting his or its name on the voting machine is a digital kiss of death. Look at some of my past victims: Bill McBride, 2002 Florida gubernatorial race; John Kerry, 2004 presidential race; Jim Davis, 2006 Florida gubernatorial race. My support has killed them all.

The Diebold name is eerily poetic now. Almost every state ballot initiative that I’ve ever voted for has been defeated; almost every initiative that I voted against passed. After last night’s election results, the funeral home that I call my voting history is becoming crowded.

Yet, knowing all this, I still got up at 5 a.m. Tuesday morning and started working on a paper for my internship. I deprived my body and mind of much needed rest because I had to complete a few things before I could rush to the polls after work. I still got on a crowded bus and stood next to a man who reeked of a foul scent that mixed a day’s worth of sweat, alcohol, and what could have been only the result of skunk wrestling in the afternoon sun. He was the only man in the world whose body stinks as much as my voting record, but I stood next to him because I had to.

There are times when I truly believe that my vote means nothing and I’m bound to end up on the losing side, but I go through the charade anyway. I endured a three-hour wait in 2004 at the early-voting station because Bush had this country deep in a war in Iraq and people who look like me were the ones dying because of it. I endured the smelly man and long bus ride because even though I can’t pick a winner to save my life, the act of picking might save mines or someone else’s.

I voted Tuesday in my third election and watched a candidate I supported give a concession speech for the third time. But I’ll still be back at the polling station in 2008 ready to go through it all again because of three reasons: the past, future and present – in that order.

The Past
I vote because of my skin tone; because people who share that tone have repeatedly been denied the opportunity to exercise their civil rights. There was a time when a black person having the audacity to approach a polling station was cause for harassment, public beatings or even a heinous killing. The only complaint I’ve ever had at the polling station has been in regards to the amount of time I waited to cast a ballot. Blacks in previous generations complained about the time they had to wait for the right to cast one.

As much as I hate the electoral process, I doubt I could stand the shame that would take hold of me every time I saw an elderly black woman on the bus. Beneath her wrinkled, experienced hands, there could be scars she earned from trying to vote. Giving up my seat for her would be a meaningless gesture if I also gave up the rights that her scars have earned for me. I’ll endure the long line at the polling station for that woman. I’ll endure a much longer one for her and every other black person who worked so hard to allow me to.

The Future
The blissful naivety of children always makes me happy, but the joy they have will one day be dwarfed by the stressful realties of the world we’ve created. Heck, many of the problems we’re dealing with now are rooted in the misdoings or inaction of the generations before us. Now that we’re creating even more problems with social [in]security, global warming and the cost of an oil-dependent society, it’s all but written in stone that America’s youth are going to inherit a screwed-up world. Whatever path they take, it will be socially, environmentally and financially challenging.

So I enter the voting booth every two years hoping that maybe I’ll finally select a winning candidate who will make this country a little bit less of the hell we’re heading towards. And if I’m really feeling optimistic, maybe my vote is actually the bad luck that prevents the wrong candidate from winning. For the sake of the small children still clutching their last few years of innocence, I’ll stand next to that smelly man. I’ll do a lot worse for them.

The Present
I vote because of me. I’m a pessimistic young black male who has lost almost all hope in politics, but I’m not pessimistic enough to ignore it. I vote because maybe the candidate I choose is the one who will protect the Bright Future Scholarship that allows me to attend college. Maybe he or she will crack down on police harassment and brutality so I won’t be so afraid of Miami’s finest.

I have and never will expect any candidate to save my life, but I do expect them to do as much as they can to make it better. Even though it rarely ever happens, a candidate is supposed to make the lives of his constituents less challenging. I’ll deal with having fewer hours of sleep for the off-chance that maybe I’ll elect someone who will make that happen. I’ll deal with much worse for me.

Connect, politic, ditto: the Politics of YouTube

Video powerhouse YouTube.com and other websites are reshaping politics, minds, and the way that elections are run.

Paul R. Nelson created a campaign ad so negative, even members of the Republican congressional candidate’s party demanded that he apologize to his opponent. The ad, which claims Ron Kind (D-Wisc.) cares more about the sex habits of teenage girls than the lives of American soldiers, is so provocative, media outlets refuse to air it.

Nelson has responded by doing what many candidates do to boost their campaign - log onto the Internet. With a few mouse clicks and a brazen outlook, a Nelson campaign worker uploaded the controversial campaign spot to YouTube.com and illustrated how rapidly the Internet is transforming the democratic process.

“It’s becoming the crux of everything going on right now,” said Sree Sreenivasan, dean of students at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, in a telephone interview. “It’s made a big difference in elections [and how] people access information or participate in democracy.”

The Internet has revolutionized virtually every aspect of life. People communicate differently, spend less time using traditional media and purchase items without ever stepping foot inside a store. If people can buy Star Wars memorabilia on eBay while still wearing their Luke Skywalker pajamas, it makes sense that even the world of politics would adapt to take advantage of new technology.

More than 100,000 YouTube users have seen Nelson’s campaign spots attacking Congressman Kind, a feat that would typically cost thousands of dollars in airtime on television or radio. Utilizing this low-cost, high return strategy has become a nationwide standard.

“The more exposure a candidate has, the greater his impact is going to be,” said Matt Thornton, Internet director for the Jim Davis Florida gubernatorial campaign. “With so many people getting their information from the Internet, it just makes sense to use it as much as you can.”

Dr. Girish J. Gulati, a political communications specialist at Bentley College, validates Thornton’s claim.

“It’s sort of the expected thing to do,” Gulati said in a telephone interview. “In the past, it was a way for candidates with fewer resources to get themselves known. Now you see about 90 percent of U.S. Senate candidates online and House candidates are in the mid-80’s.”

The desire for exposure led the Davis campaign to post ads on YouTube and target young people at social-networking websites Facebook.com and MySpace.com. Thornton said Internet efforts have improved the way young voters respond to Davis, whose MySpace profile is the second-most popular among aspiring governors.

The only person with a larger MySpace presence is Kinky Friedman, a self-professed cowboy running for governor in Texas. Friedman’s cigar-wielding, rogue politician appearance has earned the former musician’s profile more than 33,000 friends. With his cowboy hat and eclectic friends list that includes both music legend Willie Nelson and Tito’s Vodka, Friedman is using MySpace to appeal to young voters, recruit volunteers and increase his visibility.

“MySpace is a great way to reach non-traditional voters in a low-cost way,” Freidman campaign worker Blake Rocap said in a telephone interview. “The Internet kind of equalizes things and allows you to reach everyone without following the traditional campaign tool book.”

Despite the apparent strengths of virtual campaigning, the evolving trend’s effectiveness is uncertain. Miami-based political consultant Juan D’Arcy has worked with several candidates in recent years, and he has found that online campaigning is all bytes and no bite.

“The power of the Internet just isn’t where it could be yet,” D’Arcy said. “Young people don’t typically vote because they don’t care now. In 20 or 30 years, more of them will start voting and they’ll probably still be tech-savvy, so the Internet is going to be huge then.”

Gulati also places little emphasis on the immediate impact of Internet politics, but he sees a promising future for it.

“From a candidate’s perspective, Facebook won’t have much impact on the upcoming election,” Gulati says. “But from a user’s perspective, it may have a long term impact in that it helps them get interested in politics and see politicians in a human, down-to-Earth kind of way.

“It makes them feel like they’re part of a community centered on a particular candidate or issue. Seeing their friends involved may even inspire them to vote and become involved.”

In the meantime, candidates are still banking on the Internet because of its fundraising capabilities. Friedman has a series of TV ads that feature him sharing southern proverbs in his gentle twang, but Texans probably wouldn’t see the independent candidate on their screens were in not for the web. According to campaign workers, more than half of his funding to run the spots has come from online donations.

Howard Dean helped set a gold standard for Internet campaigns when he sought the 2004 Democratic nomination for president. Though Dean failed to secure the nomination, the former Governor of Vermont raised eyebrows because of his ability to raise millions of dollars through online marketing.

“We’ve seen the Internet transform elections since 2004,” Gulati said. “It’s not just the grassroots [campaign] where you’re knocking on doors asking for money and support. It’s building a network or community and then taping into it.”

The financial and persuasive power of the Internet has led some campaign works to predict that it will have an even bigger influence on future elections.

“People are still trying to figure out how to use Internet technology because unlike television, it’s a rapidly-changing format,” Thornton said. “But I think just like television did when it was first introduced, the Internet is going to drastically change the face of modern political campaigns.”

The more things change, the more they stay the same

Bush supporters say minority education is up 4.8 percent, but blacks in Florida's state-run public universities are still underrepresented.

I have to hand it to the Bush clan. No other political family has mastered the art of distraction quite like them, evidenced by Dubya's entire presidency. The Kennedy family may have a more popular brand, but Bush is synonymous with unwavering spin and truth redefinition.

So I must applaud Florida governor Jeb Bush for his ridiculous claim that he helped improve the education of minorities in the state. Bush recently addressed a crowd in Orlando and patted himself on the back for the “progress” Florida’s blacks and Hispanics have made during his administration. He cited an “academic study” -- which just happened to be funded by two wealthy Republicans who donated to his gubernatorial campaigns -- to support the claim. According to them, Bush is a “trendsetter” who revolutionized minority education.

Way to go, Mr. Governor. Your keen leadership has led to a whopping 1.6 percent increase of black enrollment in the State University System (SUS). Since Florida's students trail other states in math skills, I’ll translate that into a more practical number. There are 606 more black students in the SUS than there were last school year. That’s pretty impressive for a state that graduated more than 130,000 students in 2006. Right?

Governor Bush performed a unique miracle. He lifted black students from the bottom of the educational totem pole and brought them all the way to…the bottom of the totem pole. Laying it on like only a Bush could, he made the stagnant education gap between blacks and whites seem like a positive thing.

Who else but a Bush could say that the One Florida plan increased opportunities for black students, even though the number of blacks accepted into the SUS decreased after it was implemented? Who else but a genius capable of walking on water could use a 1.6 percent increase to say, “We have made progress in this state over the last eight years. We know because we measure. It's one of the guiding principles of what we do”?

Well, measure this, Mr. Governor. In 1999 – the year you first took office – blacks made up 14.2 percent of the SUS population. Now, they account for only 13.7 percent. You call that progress? Even for a Bush, that takes a lot of nerve.

Bush has a knack for distorting reality, but even he can’t mask this unfortunate truth. As a senior at Florida International University, I can assure the esteemed governor that his One Florida plan isn't working. I attend both of FIU’s main campuses, and I’ve often been “the black guy” in class. No matter what course or what time of day, I'm typically the resident Token. The few occasions that there are other black students in a course I take, we nod at each other the first day of class. We're all strangers, but inside the increasingly exclusive halls of the SUS, that nod is an unspoken acknowledgement that we are rare drops of black in a sea of whites and white Hispanics.


But, I guess we should be grateful to be in college at all considering how much Bush has failed the state’s education system. When I graduated from Coral Reef Senior High in 2002, Florida had the worst graduation rate in the country at 55 percent (only 46 percent of blacks graduated that year). The Florida education system failed thousands of teenagers, but Bush said he improved it as he ran for re-election. He eventually won the governor’s race, but our state lost its way. Four more years of Jeb saw the graduation rate increase to 56 percent. Florida still ranks among the worst in the country, but at least we've made progress, right?

For the 2006-2007 school year, there are only 52 more black freshmen than there were last year. Among all 11 universities in the SUS, there are only 52 more black students than there were last year. Even if those students sat in every other seat, they would still fill one lecture hall at the University of Florida. Yet, Bush considers such mediocrity progress.

If Bush or those affiliated with him truly cared about improving black enrollment, they would do so by spending $250,000 on the school systems in desperate need of better resources – not on a self-serving “study.” They would go to Tallahassee and spark positive reform rather than simply talk about it for eight years.

It’s easy for Republican gubernatorial candidate Charlie Crist to ask in his campaign ad, “Will Florida continue to be a national leader in education reform; continue to offer hope and promise to our people? Or will we go back to the days that have failed us in the past?”

Unfortunately, it’s not so easy for Crist to realize how ludicrous and misleading those questions are. Educational opportunities for blacks have not improved under Bush’s One Florida initiative, and they never will until people admit that there’s no such thing as one Florida. Black students at Miami Edison Senior High, grossly under-funded, underdeveloped and understaffed, are a world away from the affluent, white students at Miami Palmetto Senior High. Both schools are in the same city and separated by less than 20 miles, but the educational gap between them stretches much farther.

Until people are willing to accept that undeniable reality, the social and educational status of blacks in Florida will never change. Then again, how can you expect change in a state where the word progress is just a synonym for normality?

I always feel like somebody's watching me

Facebook dropped the ball – big time. The social-networking website popular among college students upset a large portion of its members when it introduced “News Feed.” The feature reported whenever a user changed his or her profile, became friends with another student, updated a picture, or did almost anything else on the website.

If you sneezed, News Feed said “God bless you” and notified all of your friends.

Facebook members complained and the website’s management caved. Students were given the option to disable the feature and Feedgate came to an abrupt end within four days.

Wow. Activism works fast these days.

It’s amazing that a bunch of whiney college students can complain about “privacy” on a site designed to reveal their faces and personal thoughts. It’s even more astonishing that the controllers of such a website would give in to complaints in less than a week. It took previous generations more than a decade to convince the U.S. government to leave Vietnam, but grumbling kids got what they wanted in a few days.

Feedgate obviously doesn’t match the significance of the Vietnam War protests, but it revealed something important: young people aren’t as indifferent as we seem.

Parents, sociologists and old farts across the country say the Facebook Generation (anyone currently 18-25) is apathetic and self-absorbed. Our protest of Facebook and relative silence as people our age are killed in Iraq bodes well for that assumption. But the uproar caused by News Feed illustrates that we too have a fiery, defiant streak. It may rarely come out, but it's there.


When News Feed went live, angered students responded immediately and demanded that it be shut down. They started online petitions that garnered 700,000 signatures and joined groups with names like “AAAA! Facebook is Stalking Me!”

News Feed didn’t reveal anything that wasn’t already public, but many of Facebook’s 9.5 million users saw it as the biggest invasion of privacy since Bush’s domestic wire-tapping scandal. Knowing that the site compiled everyone's activities into a neat little package for friends to track other friends was too much for my pal Linette to handle. She contemplated deleting her account and wondered, “What’s up with the new Facebook [being] all in my face?”

The complaints and threats of a boycott became widespread. Like CEO’s usually do in a PR nightmare, Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberger responded to the uproar by apologizing for his company's digital molestation. Days after News Feed was introduced, Zuckerberger issued this statement:

When we launched News Feed and Mini-Feed we were trying to provide you with a stream of information about your social world. Instead, we did a bad job of explaining what the new features were and an even worse job of giving you control of them. I’d like to try to correct those errors now…

This may sound silly, but I want to thank all of you who have written in and created groups and protested. Even though I wish I hadn’t made so many of you angry, I am glad we got to hear you. And I am also glad that News Feed highlighted all these groups so people could find them and share their opinions with each other as well.

The chaos following News Feed shows that young people are capable of invoking change. No, we’re not marching on Selma to fight prejudice or picketing LBJ to bring the boys home. Hell, most of us wouldn’t know how to make a picket sign if our life depended on it.

But we aren’t lazy demons as older generations would have you believe. We’re willing to oppose invasions of privacy – regardless of how valid the perception may be – just like our parents were. We’re willing to voice our opinion and use the power of organized criticism. An Internet company isn’t as distinguished a target as the CIA or FBI, but the basic anger and sense of injustice is there. Millions of young people felt like someone intruded on their personal space and they responded the quickest way they knew how – using the Internet.

Technology allows college students to do new things and protest in ways that weren’t available decades ago. Actually, we do it in ways that weren’t even available a few years ago. When the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah escalated this summer, young people turned to the Internet. It was an ever-present link for millions of individuals who wanted to join with others in their community (or the world) and do something to end the crisis. Some joined groups on Facebook to protest or support Israel’s bombing of Lebanon. Others used MySpace groups to organize demonstrations and create online petitions to urge the United Nations to intervene.

Thousands of MySpace users even held an online peace vigil by simultaneously displaying the same image of a candle in their profiles. Organized by a 15 year-old girl in Dallas, the vigil became an international symbol of protest for young people troubled by their homeland being destroyed. The girl probably saw it as a way to offer emotional support to people in need, but the project has become a lasting sign that you don’t need large public demonstrations to have your voice heard.

Remember, folks: the First Amendment right to assemble peacefully isn’t exclusive to city hall. Many in the Facebook generation spend a large amount of time on the Internet, and it’s natural that we would use it to promote a cause. We grew up knowing more about America Online than American history, so don’t be surprised that we employ new tactics to achieve our goals. Previous generations should learn to respect the creative use of technology because when we run the world, digital defiance will be standard. Not to sound cocky, but we're an advanced generation.

Wait a second. I just logged into my Facebook account and discovered something disturbing: there are dozens of groups now supporting News Feed. Crap. I just spent all this time trying to dispel one notion about our generation and people have confirmed a different one. We may not be apathetic, but we damn sure are fickle.