Andrew Young

Template:TOCnestleft Andrew Young

"One Electorate under God?"

"One Electorate under God?: A Dialogue on Religion and American Politics"

Edited by E. J. Dionne, Jean Bethke Elshtain, and Kayla Meltzer Drogosz, June 14, 2004.

The United States has been described as a nation with the soul of a church. Religion is discussed more explicitly and more urgently in American politics than in the public debates of any other wealthy democracy. It is certain to play an important role in the elections of 2004. Yet debates over religion and politics are often narrow and highly partisan, although the questions at hand demand a broader and more civil discussion. One Electorate under God? widens the dialogue by bringing together in one volume some of the most influential voices in American intellectual and political life.

This book draws on a public debate between former New York governor Mario Cuomo and Indiana congressman Mark Souder, who discuss how their respective faith convictions have been both shaped by and reflected in their careers as public servants. This discussion, in turn, prompted commentary by a diverse group of scholars, politicians, journalists, and religious leaders who are engaged simultaneously in the religious and policy realms. Each contributor offers insights on how political leaders and religious convictions shape our politics. One Electorate under God arises from the idea that public deliberation is more honest—and more democratic—when officials are open and reflective about the interactions between their religious convictions and their commitments in the secular realm.

This volume—the first of its kind—seeks to promote a greater understanding of American thinking about faith and public office in a pluralistic society. Contributors include Joanna Adams, Azizah Al-Hibri, Doug Bandow, Michael Barone, Gary Bauer, Robert Bellah, David Brooks, Harvey Cox, Michael Cromartie, John Dilulio Jr., Terry Eastland, Robert Edgar, Jean Bethke Elshtain, Richard Wightman Fox, William Galston, Robert George, Andrew Greeley, John Green, Anna Greenberg, Susannah Heschel, Representative Amo Houghton (R-New York), Michael Kazin, Martha Minow, Stephen Monsma, Mark Noll, Rabbi David Novak, Ramesh Ponnuru, Representative David Price (D-North Carolina), Jeffrey Rosen, Cheryl Sanders, Ronald Sider, Jim Skillen, Matthew Spalding, Jeffrey Stout, John Sweeney, Roberto Suro, Margaret O'Brien Steinfels, Jim Towey, Doug Tanner, Mark Warren, Alan Wolfe, and Andrew Young.

"Community organizer"

Writing in the Huffington Post of September 8, 2008, in an article entitled "From Organizer To Elected Official" Democratic Socialists of America member Peter Dreier listed several former US politicians who had begun their careers as "community organizers". They were late Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, the late Ed Roybal (California's first Latino member of Congress, elected in 1963), former mayors Tom Murphy of Pittsburgh and Andrew Young of Atlanta, Bev Stein, former chair of Multnomah County in greater Portland, Oregon, former Connecticut Secretary of State Miles Rapoport, former state legislators Gonzalo Barrientos of Texas and John McDonough of Massachusetts, and the late Sally Shipman, an Austin City Council member.

Chicago Freedom Movement

In 1966 Father William Hogan, a Communist Party USA supporter, served as recording secretary of the Coordinating Council of Community Organizations, the group that, together with Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Southern Christian Leadership Conference, formed the Chicago Freedom Movement, which led the massive civil disobedience direct action campaign of the summer of 1966 in Chicago.

Hogan said that while King was "first among equals," the composition of the CFM staff was exceptional and reflected the scope of the movement: James Bevel, C. T. Vivian, Al Sampson, James Orange, Jesse Jackson and Andrew Young, who went on to become mayor of Atlanta and later U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

According to Hogan..."All were veterans of major battles in the South," he said, adding that key players from Chicago included Edwin Berry of the Urban League, Bob Lucas of CORE and Carl Fuqua of the NAACP.

"In addition to traditional civil rights organizations, CFM included representatives from the religious and liberal communities. Some of the unions affiliated with AFL-CIO Industrial Union Department provided staff assistance.

Socialist associations

Bayard Rustin, Andrew Young, William Fitts Ryan, James Farmer, John Lewis

Lewis' civil rights activism brought him into contact with some of the leading leftists of the era, including Bayard Rustin, Andrew Young, William Fitts Ryan and James Farmer.

Hospital workers strike

A pivotal moment in South Carolina's history came in 1969, when hospital workers in Charleston went on strike to demand union representation.

Tensions in the city increased. Andrew Young and Coretta Scott King, one year after her husband's assassination, led a huge downtown march. About 900 were arrested during the turmoil, and 5,000 National Guard troops were called into the city.

Bill Saunders, a militant leader groomed by Jenkins, negotiated directly with Gov. Robert E. McNair, who a little more than one year earlier had ordered state troopers to rein in protesting blacks on the campus of S.C. State College in an episode that would end tragically with three dead and 28 injured.

"In the end, a crucial call came to the governor's office from White House aide Harry Dent, former top staffer for Senator (Strom) Thurmond," according to "The Palmetto State" by Jack Bass and W. Scott Poole, . "His message amounted to an ultimatum from the White House: get the strike settled."

The Medical College Hospital backed down. Mary Moultrie and other workers celebrated.

Instrumental in negotiating a final settlement were a young James Clyburn, a schoolteacher and director of the South Carolina Commission of Farm Workers, and Robert Ford, an organizer for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

SANE

In 1978 Andrew Young and Seymour Melman were Co-Chairmen of SANE-"A Citizens' Organization for a Sane World".

Institute for Policy Studies

Andrew Young was a memberof the Institute for Policy Studies 20th Anniversary Committee, which organized an April 5, 1983, reception at the National Building Museum, Washington DC attended by approximately 1,000 IPS staffers and former staff.

TransAfrica

In 1976, during one of the Congressional Black Caucus's annual weekends of glamour and glitter in the nation's capital, CBC members Charles Diggs and Andrew Young convened a meeting of 30 leaders of national Black organizations to challenge the U.S. official policy in Rhodesia. After two days, a policy paper was produced entitled "the Afro-American Manifesto on Southern Africa" calling for democracy in Rhodesia, South Africa and Namibia. Though unofficial, it was adopted and out of that experiment came the idea of establishing an African American foreign policy advocacy organization. Thus TransAfrica Forum was founded.

The CBC along with TransAfrica lobbied vigorously--even against a presidential veto--to get sanctions in place against South Africa, a move which hastened the fall of that apartheid regime and led to the eventual release of Nelson Mandela from prison. The Caucus was, and still is, just as relentless in its fight for human and civil rights, democracy and voting rights, freedom and justice for all disenfranchised Black people in the developing countries including Sudan, Haiti, Cuba and other countries in similar situations.

References

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