By Roger Caldwell
Ā Ā Ā Ā Ā The Gillum Campaign is really a political mistake, if you ask any political expert. Gillum did not win because he ran a great primary race, but four Democratic candidates spilt the White vote. Once there are too many candidates in a race, the Democrat leadership cannot help decide the outcome.
Anyone who studies politics are aware that the Democrats and the Republicans decide very early, which candidate will win the position they are running for. Gillum is a wonderful mistake, but it is a political Democratic mistake in 2018, and the party must support their candidate 150%.
Florida has a history of the KKK determining in many small rural towns, who will win the election, and it does not matter if they are Democrat or Republican. Many forget it was no accident in the Ocoee massacre on November 2, 1920 that a White mob attacked African American residents in northern Ocoee, when the Blacks attempted to vote.
āAs many as 50 or 60 African Americans may have been killed during the massacre, and most African Americans owned buildings and residences in northern Ocoee were burned to the ground. Other African Americans living in southern Ocoee were later driven out on threat of more violence. This massacre started as a result of White attempts to suppress Black voting,ā from the Wikipedia Encyclopedia.
No one in the State of Florida was charged with murder, and there was no investigation by the police. In 1951 in Cocoa, Florida, Harry T. Moore and his wife were killed by a bomb for registering Blacks to vote by the KKK. Again, no one in Florida was charged with murder, and no one knows exactly when the police started to protect Blacks when they voted.
But, one thing for sure, voting in certain Florida towns was dangerous, and even in the sixties and seventies you could lose your life voting. So a racist dog whistle from the GOP candidate in 2018 should not come as a surprise.
US Congressman Ron DeSantis has started the race for Florida Governor by calling Mayor Andrew Gillum a monkey. This is a code word for the base, and it is telling everyone who is white, they must vote in this election Republican. According to the Quinnipiac University Poll, Gillum is winning by 9% points, but the NBC Poll has Gillum a-head by 4% points. Ninety (90%) of Republicans are voting for DeSantis in the polls, and in mid-term elections, more Whites usually vote.
In 2016 election, Hilary was winning in the polls during the end of the campaign, but she lost on Election Day, because Republicans showed up at the polls and voted. Florida is a swing state, where the most important races are decided by the slimmest of margins.
In the last week, Congressman DeSantis has charged the Gillum camp as anti-Semitic and supporting The Dream Defenders, and Council on American Islamic Relations, who are critical of Israel. There are 630,000 Florida Jews in the state, and they will become a key demographic in the governorās race.
DeSantis was strategic by selecting the first Cuban American women, Miami Rep. Jeanette Nunez as his lieutenant Governor, and the Hispanic and women vote will be split. Gillum is leading with the Black vote by, 98% to 2% and the Hispanic vote by 59% to 40%. DeSantis is winning with the white vote in the state by 53% and 43% for Gillum.
Gillumās strategy is to win with a strong ground game and over 50 political offices around the state. DeSantis will continue to fight with a smear campaign, and Trump will give more resources and support to the state of Florida. The Republicans are not beyond cheating, and the campaign will get uglier and meaner
The youth, the African Americans, the Caribbeanās, the Haitians, the progressive Whites, women and seniors must organize and unite, because the fight is in the trenches. If the Blacks donāt remember their history and people of color stay home, Gillum cannot win.
