DEMOCRATIC FORUM GIVES HISTORIC NOD TO BLACKS

To be sure, this was a special time for African-Americans. It was a
historic moment, the importance of which was lost on many among the
small army of journalists who descended on Howard University last week
to cover a gathering of the eight Democratic presidential contenders.

The All-American Presidential Forum was billed as the first time a
panel made up completely of journalists of color -- me, Michel Martin
of National Public Radio and columnist Ruben Navarrette of The San
Diego Union-Tribune -- would question presidential candidates on
prime-time TV.

But it was more than that. Thursday's nationally televised forum was
the first time the Democratic Party has given black voters this much
attention since 1976, when it convened the Caucus of Black Democrats
in Charlotte. That meeting was an attempt to fend off the National
Black Political Convention, a third-party movement that threatened to
siphon black voters from the Democratic Party.

The Caucus of Black Democrats succeeded in preventing that defection.
But in the years since, Democrats' hold on the black vote has often
seemed to be an awkward embrace. "Democrats take us for granted," the
Rev. Jesse Jackson told a small group of black columnists in August
2004. "Republicans take us for fools."

In persuading PBS to air the 90-minute forum and getting all of the
announced candidates to show up, TV and radio show host Tavis Smiley
got Democrats to treat more seriously the interests of black voters,
the party's most loyal constituency. The forum forced Democratic
hopefuls to take a public stand on some issues of great importance to
blacks, long before voters select the party's nominee. That's
historic. So, too, were the answers that some of the candidates gave
to the questions put to them.

"If you're African-American, you're more likely to be charged with a
crime. If you're charged with a crime, you're more likely to be
convicted of the crime. If you're convicted of the crime, you're more
likely to get a severe sentence. There is no question that our justice
system is not color-blind," former senator John Edwards of North
Carolina said when I asked whether this nation's scales of justice are
out of balance.

When Martin asked what could be done about the high rate of HIV/AIDS
infections among black teenagers, former senator Mike Gravel of Alaska
used that opening to address an even bigger drug-related problem. "The
scourge of our present society, particularly in the African-American
community, is the war on drugs. ... If they really want to do
something about the inner cities, if they really want to do something
about what's happening to the health of the African-American
community, it's time to end this war," Gravel said. "All it does is
create criminals out of people who are not criminals."

But the most forceful response came from Sen. Hillary Clinton of New
York, when she was asked about the United States' weak reaction to the
genocide taking place in Sudan. She called for the creation and
enforcement of a "no-fly zone" over Sudan that would prevent the
government from bombing the villages of ethnic minorities in Darfur.
"And we should make it very clear to the government in Khartoum we're
putting up a no-fly zone, (and) if they fly into it, we will shoot
down their planes," she said.

In pulling off this forum -- the GOP debate is Sept. 27 -- Smiley has
become this nation's leading black impresario. Last year, he used his
base on NPR and Tom Joyner's nationally syndicated radio show to
propel his book, The Covenant With Black America, to the top spot on
The New York Times' best-sellers list.

Last week, he moderated the presidential forum that will, no doubt,
cause his star to rise higher -- and put his name on the pages of
history books.