Black leaders are correct to voice concerns over the defeats of Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-Ga.), and Rep. Earl Hilliard (D-Alabama). Both received significant support from Israeli and Jewish groups, because partly of their pro-Palestinian stands, as well as Republicans. The outcomes of these races again raise the question of others picking our leaders for us.

Granted, some of McKinney’s African-American constituents  wanted someone more moderate. However, the person chosen for them might be more to their liken but she was still handpicked by those who usually don’t have the interests of the African-American community at heart.
Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Tex.), chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, said that “at the grass roots among African-American voters, there is a growing perception that Jewish people are attempting to pick our leaders.. . . There is some concern about that.”

McKinney, a frequent critic of pro-Israel policies, received substantial campaign donations from Arab and Muslim sources outside her district. But also  influencing the outcome was a strong White turnout for her opponent, including Whites Republicans who crossed party lines to vote against McKinney.

In her concession speech, McKinney said, “It looks like the Republicans wanted to beat me more than the Democrats wanted to keep me.”   McKinney angered many Republicans when she suggested that President Bush might have known in advance about the Sept.11 terrorist attacks and did nothing because his defense and energy industry cronies stood to profit in the aftermath. Whether those remarks were true made no difference; she was unwise to have uttered them, so it seems.

In Alabama, Hilliard lost in the same way with Jewish and pro-Israeli groups backing his opponent. Hilliard was equally as outspoken as McKinney and some of his constituents might have wanted a more moderate voice. That is well and good. But those doing the selection of those moderate voices should not come from outside the African-American community.
(Martin is a freelance columnist living in Austin.)