The BLAC List
The Black Leadership Action Coalition (BLAC) together with The Black Institute (TBI) releases a joint analysis of the candidates running for public office from a Black perspective every major election cycle. The “BLAC List” is a perspective on the races and candidates, aiming to provide voters with options for candidates whom both organizations feel are qualified choices as well inform voters of the process and snarls behind these decisions.
OuR REASON
The "BLAC List" is a staple of BLAC's activities. Since 2021, we have taken great care to examine election contests at the local, state, and federal level in order to develop a clear understanding of what is at stake for our communities and who is fighting for us in our government. The BLAC List was born out of our frustrations with the 2021 city election in New York City, where we saw that there was an unacceptable level of ignorance about the various processes and responsibilities within public service and campaigning. We created the original BLAC Manifesto as a document aimed at accomplishing three things:
- Providing information regarding the responsibilities, powers, and limitations of elected officials
- Laying our political objectives for the betterment of our Black and brown communities in the 2021 election cycle
- Expressing our re-imagination of several aspects of New York City government.
After all, to do your job well you need to know what your job is, and by knowing your job you can help to change it and make it better.
The BLAC List came about as we began to evaluate the candidates against our Manifesto, examining who among the truly immense field of candidates was qualified not only to serve as a representative, but as a representative of the diverse communities that make out city so vibrant and exceptional. After the conclusion of the primaries, we understood that it was critically necessary to continue producing a similar election and endorsement guide for future elections in order to provide an understanding of elections and candidates from a Black perspective. As such, the BLAC List has become a permanent part of BLAC's continuing commitment to uplifting and informing our communities about electoral activities and those that would claim to represent us.
OuR PROCESS
In preparing the “BLAC List”, our primary goal is making the unclear aspects of our endorsement and evaluation process as clear as possible. Candidates love to throw around names of people and organizations who have endorsed them, but the decisions behind those endorsements are usually kept vague; a disservice to voters. At BLAC, we don't want you to just take our word about whether a candidate is good or not; we want you to understand why we think they are a good choice for you, and our government.
Our process boils down to holding candidates against two different standards: our unchanging Manifesto and our policy objectives.
Our Manifesto is just that; a statement of our goal to achieve true equity for people of color in New York and the United States of America. We will not, cannot, support any candidate or public official that has stated or demonstrated opposition to the social, economic, and political equality of all people in our city, state, and nation. As such, our process includes an evaluation of the candidate's positions and past in order to determine whether they are truly supportive of racial equity.
The second standard is BLAC's policy objectives, which unlike the Manifesto do and have changed over time. Our policy positions are always grounded in the Manifesto, but new and important issues are always surfacing that have a direct impact on our communities and require urgent attention in that particular moment. We strike while the iron is hot, and we expect candidates to be just as willing to adapt to a constantly shifting landscape and provide concrete information about where they stand and how they plan to act on new and pressing issues as well as longstanding ones. To that end, each cycle we carefully evaluate the political climate and issues facing our communities before developing a set of critical positions that we expect any candidate worthy of a BLAC List spot to support, positions that serve our larger goal of achieving racial equity in our society.
Only after careful scrutiny does the BLAC List take form as a voter guide from a Black perspective; a list of the issues that we hold to be of critical importance for our communities during that election cycle, and a list of candidates that we feel have adequately satisfied our expectations for representing our communities in the halls of governance.