Blacks Aim to Boost Voter Turnout With New Organization

Determined to eradicate the longstanding problem of low voter turnout in San Diego’s black community, a handful of politically prominent blacks is forming a new organization aimed at a dramatic increase in Southeast San Diego political activity.

Spurred to action by last month’s dismal 29% turnout in Southeast San Diego--the lowest turnout of any area in the city--several black community activists are promoting the new group as a “political point man” that could enhance the community’s clout by coordinating the often repetitious, sometimes contradictory activities of numerous groups within the black community.

“Right now, we have a lot of groups and folks tripping over each other trying to do the same thing,” said the Rev. George Walker Smith, a widely respected minister and a major organizer of the new group. “That fragmentation just dilutes our strength. If we can get some unity and cohesiveness, this community will be better off.”

Proponents envision the new group, to be called the Southeast Coordinating Council, as, in the words of the Rev. Ellis Casson, “a political clearinghouse” for the activities of diverse groups within the black community, including churches, social agencies, professional organizations and others.

Tentative plans call for the council, which will consist of about two dozen representatives from those groups, to coordinate a year-round voter registration drive, conduct political education programs, screen candidates and serve as a forum on issues such as drug problems and high unemployment in minority neighborhoods.

Supporters contend that the council will enable the black community to present a more unified political front than it has now.

“We don’t need 25 different groups holding candidate nights in the same community,” said Casson, president of the Interdenominational Ministerial Alliance and pastor of Bethel AME Church, the oldest black church in San Diego. “What we need is a nucleus, a way to bring all this activity together under one umbrella.”

While the low turnout on Nov. 4 may have spurred organization of the Southeast Coordinating Council, the idea is not a new one.

Carrol Waymon, an instructor at San Diego State University and Mesa College, said he has been trying for several years to convince black leaders of the need for such a group. Though many were receptive to the notion, he said, little progress had been made until last month’s dismal turnout sparked renewed interest.

“That 29% was so abominable, so unforgivable, that people finally realized that it was time to stop talking and start doing something about it,” Smith said. “That’s a disgrace that will not be repeated.”

Black officials acknowledge that voter disaffection with the political process, lackluster races and other factors contribute heavily to the black community’s usually low turnout figures. However, they also said the low level of political participation stems from ineffective--or nonexistent--efforts to change the pattern, a shortcoming the Coordinating Council hopes to correct.

“I think the concept is a good one,” said San Diego City Councilman William Jones, whose district includes Southeast San Diego. “It promotes self-help and independence, and there’s certainly plenty of room for that in this community.”

The first organizational meeting of the council is tentatively scheduled for mid-January. In the meantime, Smith, Waymon and others are discussing the plan with other black leaders and trying to persuade officials of other groups, such as the NAACP, Black Federation and Black Leadership Council, that the new group is not a threat to their autonomy or, to use Smith’s blunt terminology, “a power grab.”

“This will promote a greater sense of community solidarity while allowing each of these groups to retain its own identity,” Waymon explained. “It isn’t a turf battle. We aren’t trying to take over anyone else’s role. If anything, it’s a way to minimize turf battles and jealousies by getting everyone’s plans out on the table so we can plan strategy more effectively.”

The organizers argue that the volunteer council will provide a coherent framework for the diverse political activities that occur within the black community. Currently, various groups representing different segments of the community occasionally mount individual voter registration drives and get-out-the-vote efforts, and vie with each other for candidates’ attention at election time.

The admittedly limited financial and manpower resources of blacks could be better husbanded, the council’s promoters contend, if a single group coordinates political activities, thereby eliminating duplication of effort. The new organization also could command greater respect from candidates and officeholders, they hope, because it would represent all segments of the black community.

“Instead of having to run around to every Tom, Dick and Harry meeting, candidates would know they could come here and reach the entire community,” Casson said. “It’s a way for both the community and the candidates to get the most mileage . . . with the least effort.”

While few dispute the logic of such an approach, one potential obstacle to the new council is the fear of black leaders that the Coordinating Council would inevitably push their own existing groups into the political background.

“If they’re hoping to create the political forum for the community, it’s just not going to happen,” said the head of one major black group that the council’s organizers hope to woo. “Groups hold political events and forums for various reasons--to showcase candidates or to generate some attention for their own organization. They’re not going to give that up.”

In addition, skeptics question whether the Coordinating Council itself, instead of eliminating overlapping activities, would simply add to the duplication of effort.

“I don’t see the need for it--I think the Catfish Club already does those things,” Michel Anderson, a politically active black businessman and former City Hall aide to ex-Mayor Roger Hedgecock, said after Waymon outlined the plan at a recent meeting of the Catfish Club, a mostly black lunch group founded by Smith.

Although the council is intended to be nonpartisan, even some of its most ardent advocates question whether Republicans and Democrats will join hands to work on various political projects. In particular, Smith’s well-known Republicanism, which he jokingly noted “makes me a minority within a minority,” raises some suspicions about the planned council’s activities.

“Our group is mainly made up of Democrats, and George Walker Smith sure isn’t a Democrat,” said Dede McClure, an official of the Rainbow Coalition. “I want to hear a lot more about this before deciding how I feel about it.”

If the organizers meet their timetable and launch the council early next year, an immediate priority will be voter registration. Based on census data, blacks represent about 9% of San Diego’s one million population--a voting bloc diminished by the fact that tens of thousands of blacks are unregistered.

“We’ve disenfranchised ourselves,” Smith said. “Until we change that, we have no right to complain about what happens to us or our community.”

However, because blacks traditionally vote predominantly for Democratic candidates, some Democrats have expressed doubts that Republicans would be interested in boosting black voter registration. Smith and others argue, though, that partisan differences will not be an obstacle to the group’s registration and other political goals.

“Our community has needs and problems that are more important than party designations,” Smith said. “A job or a dollar isn’t Democratic or Republican--it’s just a job and a dollar. That’s what we have to keep in mind.”

“This is a very complex community, but I think many people realize there are more things on which they can agree than disagree,” Jones added.

The basic question confronting the proposed Coordinating Council, however, is why its supporters believe that it will be able to increase black registration and voter turnout and accomplish other goals where so many other groups have failed.

Waymon believes the answer lies in the fact that the council “will have the strength of many groups working toward the same goal together, rather than independently.”

“It isn’t that these groups aren’t serving the need now,” he said. “It’s just that they have not been working in concert.”

“The problem is that we haven’t had all our paddles heading in the same direction until now,” Smith concluded. “Once we do that, we’re going to move forward a lot faster.”