To be inclusive, Palm Beach County Democrats should stick with Zoom meetings | Opinion

The vice chair of the Palm Beach County Democratic Veterans Caucus writes that the county party is missing a major opportunity by demanding in-person meetings.

Palm Beach County Democratic Party Chair Mindy Koch may be back in office after being removed by Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried, but many of the issues that caused her to be removed in the first place remain.

As depicted in a recent Sun Sentinel editorial, there are valid issues that have been cast aside relative to non-compliance on party bylaws by Koch. And for many people active in the county party, the Zoom meetings that Koch wanted to get away from were preferable. The Zoom meetings were popular as a result of COVID. Then, the party higher-ups moved around some individuals that had been dedicated to technical support, and the next thing you saw, unsurprisingly, were inept, incoherent Zoom meetings. After that, members were practically ordered to appear in person.

Koch was insistent about people showing up in person versus on Zoom, despite the fact that it would be inconvenient for many people, while others were still hesitant about returning to in-person meetings after the COVID epidemic. After the lack of Zoom participation that was a fiasco over the last year or so, there is little left to wonder how Koch was able to take back her seat. Out of the 122 members of the Florida Democratic Party committee voting whether to reinstate her, only 103 even bothered to vote in the 67-36 result that got her reinstated.

However, in order for Democrats to begin to recover from the defeat that has been handed to them by the opposition for at least the last 30 years, there are more vital concerns that need to be addressed. An opportunity to incorporate more voters from the western area of Palm Beach County has been completely bypassed. COVID brought a merciless pandemic, but it also brought the opportunity to incorporate more individuals through the advent of the Zoom platform that Koch is turning us away from.

The western area, including Democrat-heavy towns like Belle Glade, South Bay and Pahokee, has been consigned to oblivion. The party that is supposed to stand up for Black citizens is excluding a majority of people of color from the voting pool. It’s no coincidence that local Black community leaders are appalled at the actions of the Democratic Party, when it comes to inclusion, decision-making and leadership. Look closely at county party leadership. The lack of minority representation is overwhelming. Continued Zoom meetings could have brought Black voters in the distant, western part of the county into the fold. Instead, the insistence on in-person meetings has told them, “Sorry, you’re not wanted.”

We’re not saying the Republican Party is a viable alternative. The Democratic Party, with all of its twists and turns, is supposed to be the party of the people — especially at this particular juncture. Whoever holds the reins of leadership should, by all intention, have a presence in the Black community, countywide. Instead, many people of color are not aware of who the leadership even is. I’m left to ask the question: Does the leadership even care?

Carlton Cartwright is vice chair of the Palm Beach County Democratic Veterans Caucus and vice chair and media chair of the Florida Democratic Veterans Caucus. He served as first chair in Palm Beach County for a decade and is a U.S. veteran. He lives in West Palm Beach.