essence fest, new orleans: obama speaks, jazz keeps quiet

A schoolyard basketball court under a strong sun isn't the best place to discuss race and politics in America, certainly not for two middle-aged white under-the-rim players wilting a bit from the heat. But that's what I found myself doing yesterday, in between games, sharing with my buddy some of the details of my last trip to New Orleans, for the Essence Festival.
(My piece in Salon.com on Barack Obama's appearance at the Superdome Thursday night is here.)

Anyway, one thing led to another and said buddy ended up advancing the idea that issue analysis and electorate-segmentation by race is no longer useful or even accurate -- that there is no black vote or voice, per se (I'm paraphrasing him here, so apologies to said friend). His logic went that the races are commingling biologically to a point where things are literally "no longer black and white"(he said that part, I'm sure), and that divisions and coalitions along the lines of income, class, region, religion, and profession matter as much or more.

I will admit that a recent academic study that found racial bias in the calling of fouls during NBA games seemed nothing more than badly skewed statistical silliness (like I said, the basketball court doesn't lend itself well to such discourse). But I know that especially during my time spent in New Orleans, I've met a while lot of black folks who are quite sure of their distinct identity as both a potentially empowered voting block and as clearly designated focus of disenfranchising efforts. I'm not sure where I'm heading with all that, and likely toward little more than trouble, but that's what came up when we put the ball down.

One thing the Essence Festival -- a three-day conglomeration of concerts, seminars, book signings, and merchandising - makes clear is that there are some 20,000 attendees and a convention center full of marketers, not to mention politicians and activists who are banking on the fact that there is a black market to be courted for votes, social and political activism, and product promotion. And the presences (or not) were telling, if unsurprising. The two leading Democratic candidates were there; not even a flyer for a Republican was in evidence. Sony was there, Apple absent.

brought the love, but not the jazz