Perspective of a black woman: running on the Green ticket.

• Author: Warren, Donna J.
• Position: Black Struggles for Justice - Personal account

I recall the exact moment of my political conversion from Democrat to Green. It was 1999 and I was attending a meeting of the South-Central Coalition at the Junipero Serra Library on 46th and Main. Not many white people come into South Central unless they're homeless, so I was surprised to see "Tall Jack" stride into the library with Sabina Virgo. I had worked with Sabina in the "Crack the CIA Coalition." "Tall Jack" turned out to be Jack Michon, an Emmy-winning producer of the "Taxi" TV show. Affable and friendly, Jack sat through the meeting and, when his time came to speak, told us of the Green Party that espoused reparations, feminism, the environment, anti-death penalty--and I thought, "Oh my God, I'm a Green!"

Three years later, I was Peter Camejo's running mate in a gubernatorial race that featured the Green Party's first full slate of candidates. An auditor by trade, I was the first African-American woman to run for the office of Lt. Governor in California. I ran to convince more blacks that their political future lies not with clueless Republicans or complacent Democrats, but with a third party.

The Green Party's "10 key values" are preferable to the pro-war platform of the Republicans or the Democrats. Look at the Green Party value for social justice and equal opportunity--it condemns prisons and the "Three Strikes Law."

But in America's racist tradition, are Greens racists and if so, why should blacks join the Green Party? Greens are racist but what do you expect when you deal with white people in America?

There are different levels of white American racism. The question is, where does your racism lie?

The most pervasive racists in America are the active racists. Their activities ensure that people of color, especially black people, stay at the bottom of society. This group includes Confederates, white supremacists, the right wing, Bush & Company including front men Clarence Thomas and Condoleezza Rice, and others.

As a seven year old child, under the tutelage of the good sisters of St. Joseph of Carondolet, I was not allowed to read the top-level book because I, a black child, was inferior to the white children. Paradoxically, three years later when white flight had left just one white child at Holy Cross Grammar School in South Central, I, a lighter skinned Negro, was praised as being superior. Compared to white children, I was inferior, but compared to darker skinned blacks, I was superior.

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Even at 17...