White Man Wins Election by Pretending To Be Black

Dave Wilson never lied, nor was he completely truthful with Houston’s African-American electorate, whose vote he was seeking. A local TV station in Houston interviewed Wilson.

Some might say he is a con artist; others might call him a genius. Whatever the case, Dave Wilson is certainly someone who knows how to reach his goals. A conservative, white Republican, Wilson won the election for the Houston Community College Board of Trustees in a heavily African-American district — something that has never been accomplished before. How did he manage it? The answer is simple: He pretended to be black. Rather, he neglected to mention he was white — and a conservative Republican.

The local press broke the news, and while this story may not seem like a very important one, its symbolic value is huge at a time when social and racial tensions are still very much present, and it spread all over the states. Could things have happened any differently? Wilson’s answer to anyone who thinks the election should be held again is a mocking smile because he got away with his ruse, but what has he really done wrong? In reality, the extent of it is that he did not reveal his full identity. He simply proceeded in such a way as to make the HCC District II electorate believe that he was black, just like them.

His first move: Dave Wilson had thousands of campaign flyers distributed and sent them out to people’s homes. On them was printed not his own face but the faces of a few African-American kids instead. It did not even cost him very much; he just lifted the photo off of the Internet, and so, anyone receiving the flyer believed the candidate was a black man. The slogan next to the youths’ faces read, “Please vote for our friend and neighbor Dave Wilson.” How could anyone ever have suspected that he was a white Republican? They could not have, obviously. Contrary to what you might expect from a political candidate like Wilson, he was careful to stay out of the public eye and off the normal door-to-door election trail. He was deliberately misleading the unwitting voters, counting on his face not being recognized.

His second move, a stroke of genius: Then, he distributed a second electoral leaflet, which read, “Endorsed by Ron Wilson,” and “Ron Wilson and Dave Wilson are cousins.” This is true; he was telling the truth, but once again, the candidate neglected to mention that this Ron Wilson was not the former black state representative and Democratic leader of the city’s black community. This Ron Wilson is in fact his cousin — that much was true, at least — living in Iowa, a thousand miles or so away from Texas, the same cousin who is not black and has never taken part in pro African-American politics. Why should he have to apologize, the candidate asked in front of KHO-TV’s cameras, the local TV station that originally broke the news? Why should he say sorry, if Ron Wilson is really his cousin?

This is how Dave Wilson, Republican, anti-gay activist and ultraconservative, as he has been described, beat his rival by 26 votes in the Houston Community College Board of Trustees. Bruce Austin, a black man, who had been in office for years — 24, to be precise — immediately appealed against the result of the vote and asked for the election to be held again. Austin said that these actions were “disgusting” and “not good for the whole concept of democracy and fair play.” Wilson said that this was politics, and he had won fair and square. If the elections are not repeated, which is more than likely, Dave Wilson will go on to serve his six years on the Community College Board of Trustees.

It is an important seat of power because this supervisory body, which has boards all over the states, deals with the management of the public high schools and the education programs there and has always been a historical battleground between conservative and progressive thinkers. Dave Wilson has managed to get himself elected into a position by people who would probably never have voted for him in their lifetime had they known his true identity, about which he has never lied. He just forgot to mention some important details.