I'm Quoted!
By Byron LaMasters
My friend Carl emailed me earlier today informing me that I was quoted in the Dallas Morning News today:
Byron LaMasters of Dallas, a 20-year-old University of Texas student who heads Texas Students for Dean, signed on because, he said, Dr. Dean "is the one candidate who stood up to George Bush."
The column was mostly positive. The only concern was Barta's observation regarding the lack of minorities at the event:
The Dallas crowd was young, white and Internet-savvy. And they were organizing. Tables were set up for petition signing, fund raising and learning how to go to precinct conventions. It was strictly grass roots, not professional. Many learned about the candidate on his Web site.
[...]
While gay support was evident at the rally, noticeably absent were Hispanics and black Democrats, the most reliable base of the Texas party.
Dean has some support among minorities, but he has a lot of work to do. However, he has made some inroads among minority leaders in Texas. The chair of the Texas Coalition of Black Democrats spoke at the rally to support Dean. Howard Dean has also been endorsed by State Rep. Eddie Rodriguez (D-Austin).
Still, there was an effort to show diversity on the platform during warm-up speeches. Janice Kinchion of Austin, chairman of the Texas Coalition of Black Democrats, recalled how other national party leaders snubbed the Texas Democratic Convention in El Paso last summer, but Dr. Dean showed up and spoke to a mostly empty house. After hearing him, she was hooked, she said, because "his message was real."
It's obvious that Dean has a lot of work to do with minorities. I think that its a matter of getting the message to the Black and Hispanic communities. I think that Dean has the right message, it's just a matter of people hearing it. Dean brings up equal right, his signing of the civil unions act, and his support of affirmative action in almost every speech that he makes. So far, Dean's message has been heard most by the more affluent, whiter, Internet-savvy crowd. Once his message reaches more Black and Hispanic voters, I think that we will see an increase in his support from those communities.
Posted by Byron LaMasters at July 21, 2003 10:31 PM
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Isn't the fact that a reporter observed an all white crowd, yet stating Dean does have minority support, the same argument as those who say, "well, I'm not racist, I have a black friend"
Just wondering, if I were to make the same statement as a Republican I would get jumped all over.
Most of the black and hispanic communities will go with the establishment Democrats (Kerry, Lieberman, Edwards, Gephardt) and not an insurgent like Dean. Not that endorsements matter a whole lot sometimes but Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson D-Dallas, has already endorsed John Edwards for example. Martin Frost D-Arlington, who has a 60% minority district, will probably back Gephardt.
