While candidates Al Gore and George W. Bush face-off for the seat of president, the massive turnout to the polls by Blacks, Hispanics, Native Americans, Arab Americans, and Asians across America have confirmed an important fact: They are a political force to be reckoned with.

Democrats and Republicans did not let that event go unnoticed, publicly acknowledging the political clout of the Black and ethnic communities�which can weigh like a hammer in forcing the dominant political parties to work toward a nation which ensures freedom, justice and equality for all.

What does this mean? In the future, those political powers that do not incorporate the ethnic agenda into the national agenda may find themselves unseated and powerless. This election year, the nation�s under-served families have made demands on America, and now it�s time for her leaders to stand and deliver.

"We are beginning to see the ethnic voter power flexing its muscles, not only in national elections, but also in congressional and local races. The ethnic vote will not be taken for granted by any political party and this brings us to the threshold of strongly considering building a third political force or even a third party," explains Benjamin F. Muhammad, national director of the Million Family March.

Ron Walters, a political scientist at the University of Maryland, says it was the collective efforts of the entire so-called minority population that resulted in phenomenal voter participation, evidenced especially in the Black community.

"The promotion of the �get out the vote� drive had a huge impact on the election," Dr. Walters explains. "Radio personality Tom Joyner�s travels to different cities promoting voter registration; the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation�s [efforts]; the NAACP�s $9 million voter participation drive�and it�s fair to say that anything like the Million Family March and the Redeem the Dream March had an impact in boosting voter turnout."

Ethnic voters came out in droves to heed the call of empowerment trumpeted by Minister Louis Farrakhan, the Unification Church, Kwesi Mfume (NAACP), Hugh Price (National Urban League), The Congressional Black Caucus, Martin Luther King III (SCLC), Al Sharpton (National Action Network), The African Methodist Church, and other churches and community groups all across the nation.

Black voter turnout for this election, according to most analysts, enjoyed major increases in nearly every vote sector of the country, particularly in the southern and mid-western states. Blacks voting in many of those states equaled the total percentage of Blacks within the state.

According to exit polls�conducted by Voters News Service, a consortium of the Associated Press and television networks�Blacks, accounting for 10 percent of the total vote (estimated 10.5 million), favored Mr. Gore by a margin of 9-to-1, faring better than the vote for Pres. Bill Clinton in 1996.

Blacks voted in record numbers in the hotly contested state of Florida, totaling 952,000 votes (not including the tens of thousands of rejected Black votes throughout the state). In 1996, Black Floridians tallied 527,000 votes. In Missouri, the Black voter turnout was so overwhelming that a democratic governor, whose name remained on the ballot, was posthumously elected in a landslide victory over the Republican incumbent. The vote was in retaliation for the Republican�s refusal to accept the nomination of a Black judge to the federal bench, observers say. Up from 106,000 in 1996, Blacks doubled their voting strength in Missouri, casting 283,000 votes.

The Farrakhan Factor
The track record of strong Black voter turnout has steadily gained momentum since the Million Man March in 1995, as evidenced by the Federal Election Committee�s (FEC) voter registration statistics. According to the FEC, in 1994, 58.5 percent of the Black population registered to vote, and 37.1 percent did vote. After the Million Man March, however, the voter participation in the Black community soared: the FEC indicates that in 1996, 63.5 percent of the Black population registered to vote, and 50.6 percent of the population did vote.

Nation of Islam Chief of Staff Leonard F. Muhammad says the impact of the Million Man March played a key role in mobilizing minority communities this year, especially as those million men went back into their communities with a new political, social and economic agenda.

"After the Million Man March, there was a documented 1.7 million Black male increase in voter participation, which most political scientists attributed to Minister Louis Farrakhan�s call," Leonard Muhammad says, pointing out the successes of several subsequent spin-off "million marches" modeled after the original March.

"We are all continuing to draw some inspiration from the Million Man March and then, of course, the historic Million Family March, where Minister Farrakhan, once again, urged our people to come to the polls. Only this time his voice was heard by millions of families across all racial lines."

In fact, large numbers of voter registrars, election judges, and election ballot participants were gathered nationwide through the efforts of Million Man March Local Organizing Committees in its move to empower the people.

But America�s families did not just cast their votes for the "greatest communicator" like they did in the Reagan era; instead, voters, instructed by Minister Louis Farrakhan, Rev. Jesse Jackson Sr. and others, flocked to support those candidates who were most aligned with their community�s needs.

No permanent friends
"One wonders if the formidable forces that help to mobilize this massive Black voter turnout � can effectively pool their resources, come together and continue to mobilize for gain. Particularly as it relates to public policy," said political analyst Dr. Walters. "A political infrastructure needs to be institutionalized so that we can make the linkage between getting out to vote and what happens in the formulation of public policy," he said.

It has become the position of many, that in order for this election to have any lasting meaning, government must be held politically accountable for the interests of its new constituency. In particular, Black leadership needs to find a way to collectively address whichever administration presides over the next four years with an agenda on behalf of their constituents, highlight their priorities and develop a timetable by which the goals of the agenda are accomplished.

An additional concern is that Blacks take a more proactive role with their vote as opposed to traditionally reacting with their vote potential. "Black people came out more in condemnation of the Bush family in Florida and Texas," said Alton Maddox, chairman of the United African Movement in New York. "They were voting against the dismantling of affirmative action programs in Florida; the summary executions of Blacks in Texas; the lynching of James Byrd, Jr., and the insensitivity of the Bush administration concerning that death. Now we must have something on the table to give us a reason to vote for something as opposed to always voting against."

"Instead of fighting the Civil Rights struggle all over again, the proper war for Blacks to fight is to challenge the forces that are ravaging our culture," commented Deborah Burstion-Donbraye, outreach coordinator for the Ohio Republican Party and a delegate to the Electoral College. "We need to look more at ourselves, instead of at government programs."

Such things include the discipline of young Black men and the self-image and treatment of young women, among other cultural issues and moral issues, she said, adding that part of the problem is that Blacks are too short-term oriented.

"Political leaders who got elected did not change our condition in this country," argues state Senator David Patterson (D-NY). "We have to continue with the same kind of vigilance that our ancestors did. Part of our empowerment is the vote, but also activism and pressure."

Where the vote is particularly helpful, Sen. Patterson said, concerns resources that come to neighborhoods based on how people are voting. Some politicians "will do nothing for us even though they got our vote, unless we put tremendous amount of pressure on them. That pressure is that we put them in and we can take them out," he concluded.

"There really must be an independent Black political formation which has the capacity to change the entire strategy of how Blacks wield political power in America," said Webster Brooks, former political director of the National Black Republican Leadership Council. "Since nothing�s changed with the two parties, there really must be a serious effort to create an independent center with the strategy and tactics to leverage the Black electorate of both parties, for its own interest.

"Blacks are taken for granted by the Democrats, they are ignored by the Republicans, and if Blacks want to they can be the balance of power," he concluded.

Before the lessons of Florida are forgotten, the situation must be used to forge a strong pro-democracy coalition to rally around one vote, one value, said Lani Guinier, Professor of Law, Harvard University. "The value of a vote depends on its being fairly counted, but also on its counting toward the election of the person the voter chose as his or her representative. This can happen only if we recognize the excesses of winner-take-all voting and stop exaggerating the power of the winner by denying the loser any voice at all," she said.

Ms. Guinier, a former Clinton Administration nominee whose nomination was used by the parties as a racial tennis ball, said this election has enumerated the glaring flaws inherent in the country�s winner-take-all form of voting. It has produced a steady decline in voter participation, under-representation of Blacks, women and minorities in office; lack of meaningful competition and choice in most elections and has generally failed to politically mobilize, inform and inspire half of the eligible electorate, she said.

Nation of Islam National Secretary Kamal Muhammad argues that the mobilization and education of the electorate must continue.

"We have a serious educational disparity amongst our people, there�s no way that Black and Hispanic children are not as intelligent as White children," Sec. Muhammad explains. "We just don�t have the resources that they have, and our teachers don�t have the resources that the White teachers have."

Secondly, Blacks must address how government entities, the police, and the banking industry handle us. Blacks and Hispanics need loans to redevelop their own communities. "We are tired of having the credit door slammed in our faces, and being forced to go into business undercapitalized, always on the brink of disaster. These are issues of disparity that the government needs to look at and make positive changes. This kind of corrective change could allow us to create our own community businesses to train and put our own people to work."