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A Run-down of Iowa’s Brown – Black Forum

By Carol Amoruso

Hispanic-American Village Editor

On Saturday, December 1^st, braving midwest winter weather all the Democratic presidential candidates, save former Alaska Senator Mike Ravell, managed to forge their way through the snow to attend Iowa’s by-now traditional candidates’ Brown and Black Presidential Forum.  No Republicans accepted the open invitation.

The Forum was boradcast live on HD Net.  The event got scant mass media coverage elsewhere.

While the expressed intention of the forum is to weigh in on issues surrounding people of color—limited, notably, to African Americans and Latinos, the issues of immigration, the scramble for jobs, Cuba policy, educational gaps, etc., and the candidates’ positions on them are undoubtedly of paramount importance to this society as a whole.

An air of conviviality was reported amongst the contenders, a toning down of the recent rising antagonism in public appearances as the first test of the candidates’ voter appeal looms, under a month away.  Iowans, always amongst the first to assert their presidential preferences through local caucuses, are said to shy from negative campaigners.

Here’s a brief run-down of what the candidates said, thanks in large part to coverage by the Des Moines Register and reporting from National Public Radio as well as HD Net’s transcript of the event.  The Public Broadcasting system provided the Forum with its two moderators, Michelle Norris of National Public Radio and Ray Suarez of PBS TV; HD Net’s Dan Rather provided commentary.

Cuba:

Connecticut Senator Chris Dodd and Congressman (Ohio) Dennis Kucinich came out strongly criticizing the 40 years of US policy that has isolated the island, calling for a complete overhaul and normalization of relations.  The other candidates, most notably, Sen. Hillary Clinton (NY), Sen. Barack Obama (IL), and Gov. Bill Richardson (NM), favored normalizing relations with the Castro government only in exchange for guarantees of human rights improvements there.

Drivers’ Licenses for the Undocumented:

Senator Cllinton was equivocal in her support to allow the undocuemnted access to drivers’ licenses after reminded by host Suarez that automobile accidents are a leading cause of death amongst Latino men.  Clinton agreed that licenses might lead to greater driver safety, but balked at the government’s “ratifying” the illegitimate.

The Economy:

Kucinich says a full-employment economy is possible under “a Roosevelt type WPA program that puts everyone who is able to work back to work with a living wage,” and single-payer health care that would do away with the big insurance companies.

Education:

Richardson and Kucinich had the most far-reaching plan including universal preschool for 4 year-olds and up, much-expanded science and math programs as well as a full program in the arts with the recognition that interest in the arts translates into science and math competitiveness.  He would also set a $40,000 yearly minimum wage for teachers.  And trash No Child Left Behind, an “impediment.”

Kucinich came out for universal pre-kindergarten as well, “funded by a 15% cut in the bloated pentagon budget,” and for access to “universal college education” tuition-free and subsidized by the government.

Prison Reform:

On the disparity in sentencing between convicted blacks and whites, all agreed that overhauling drug policy was central to the issue.  Former Sen. Edwards (NC) advocated for more equitably revamping  “mandatory minimum sentences, especially for…non violent first offenses,” to provide for alternatives to incarceration, and to “get rid of  the disparity between crack and powder cocaine.”

Sen. Clinton was less committal, preferring to “wait for recommendations from the sentencing commission currently studying the issue of cocaine.”

Race Relations:

Senator Joe Biden (DE) dealt with the overall problem of race, historically and currently when, arriving late, he addressed the issue of whether Latino immigrants were taking jobs away from African Americans, declaring, “Look, that’s what white boys have done a long time—banging people against one another….It has nothing to do with black versus Hispanic: There’s plenty of opportunity for both.”

The latest poll, of the 28^th, Nov., gave Obama the lead for the first time, his 28 percent of likely caucusgoers topping Clinton’s slipping 25% , while Edwards held steady in third place.