George,

The other day you remarked that "I found several things of interest about last night's meeting re: Dr. Dean with Don Beyer. One was how 'white' the audience was. The other was how middle aged it was."

I'm sure it was a valid observation but...how is this is different from any other Charlottesville Democratic Party gathering you or I have been to in recent years?

Unless it's a meeting at which Paul Garrett is being nominated for something, pretty much every Charlottesville Democratic Party meeting/event/splinter group these days features an overwhelmingly white and middle aged (not to mention middle/upper class) audience.

I know that many people (Nila Saliba, Grace Tinsley, Nancy O'Brien, David Simmons et al.) have tried to increase the participation of African-Americans in our party, and I know that Waldo Jacquith has tried to do the same with the under-30 crowd, but even the most well-intentioned of such efforts seem to consistently fall short.

Why is that?

Some say it's because we haven't done enough "outreach." And I agree that more outreach is needed. I think the greater culprit, however, is that we as a party (via our Democratic elected officials, particularly those on City Council) haven't produced enough results (or rather the right kind of results) of late to motivate certain segments of our community to be involved as Democrats. I have this crazy notion that people need to see a party make concrete efforts and achieve concrete results on issues of concern to them before they will return the favor and get involved in party matters. Neglect just sows neglect. (Or worse: neglect sows abandonment. I know a surprising number of African-Americans in Charlottesville who, upon feeling that the Democratic Party had taken advantage of them for too long with little to show in return, voted for Rob Schilling in last year's Council race. Wake-up call, anyone?)

Under this theory, if you wanted to bring more African-Americans into the fold of the Charlottesville Democratic Party, a great place to begin would be by getting the solid majority of Democrats on City Council to focus more of Council's attention on bread-and-butter issues of concern to local African-Americans. The achievement gap in schools...affordable housing...the publicly-subsidized gentrification of African-American neighborhoods...threatened loss of cultural and historical landmarks ... crime ... poverty ... racial profiling ... voting rights ... opportunities for youth ... jobs ... support for minority business development ... choose your pick. (By the way, lest I be accused of encouraging "special interest politics," I should note that most of these issues are of great concern to many others in our community as well, not all of whom show up at City Council meetings or issue press releases to vent their concerns, but who are concerned nonetheless.)

There are certain members of Council who do seem to "get" some of these issues. Blake Caravati, for example, often seems to be a lone voice in the wilderness on the critical issue of preserving affordable rental housing for working people (I suspect because he employs many of them and knows their struggles). But our current Democratic Council as a whole has been very clear that its primary mission is to attract more middle- and upper-income families (and more high-end residential development for young urban professionals) into this so-called "World Class City" of ours, even if this means (especially if this means?) doing less for long-time residents, working-class residents, low-income residents, renters, etc. (for whom certain Democrats on Council constantly remind us that the City has already done "more than its fair share"). With African-Americans comprising a large share of the ranks of long-time, working-class, low-income and renting residents, isn't this a textbook case of mixed messages? We want you in our Party! We just don't want you in our City. (Pardon the hyperbole.)

It may be too early to start discussing candidates for next year's City Council race, but I hope that some very strong individuals come forward to carry the party's banner into the elections -- individuals who have real experience dealing with the kinds of issues mentioned above, individuals who know that the best way to energize the party's base (and thereby get more people involved in the party) (oh, and thereby win elections) is to offer creative solutions to real people's everyday struggles and visionary ideas for how all members of our community can benefit from the City's recent progress.

Otherwise we'll just continue along our path of comforting the comforted and afflicting the afflicted and wondering why only the comforted come to our little meetings.

Dave Norris (electronic mail, October 11, 2003)