Is there a secret plan afoot by a white business cabal to remove long-time black leadership from cities with African-American majorities?
Given the recent decision by voters in New Orleans and Detroit to elect white mayors for the first time in decades, rumors of something referred to only as “The Plan” have gained credence in some parts of the black community.
Coined by the Washington Afro American newspaper in 1979, the conspiracy theory posits that cities like Washington, D.C., will eventually vote out historically black mayors, allowing whites to take back major cities from black political control.
As with most conspiracy theories, “The Plan” isn’t completely paranoid. Most large cities have organized groups of business and civic leaders that meet and consolidate power outside the public eye.
But even if “The Plan” seems to be working – even Washington faces the possibility of electing a white mayor for the first time in four decades – there may be nothing nefarious about the pattern.
First of all, many majority-black cities like Atlanta and Philadelphia have shown few signs of abandoning black leadership. Second, demographic changes – specifically, black people abandoning city cores for the suburbs while white empty-nesters and 20- and 30-somethings arrive – have played a large role in shifting voter patterns.
Also, the trend has shown that black voters aren’t necessarily monolithic. In majority-black New Orleans, Mayor Mitch Landrieu was elected in large part because voters trusted him to root out endemic corruption that had seeped into the black power structure.
“Black folks aren’t going to be supporting you just because they’re black,” former Washington Mayor Marion Berry said recently. “They want to get something out of it. That’s called politics.”
