In 2000, blacks faced a dilemma. Activists and Democrat politicians accused Republicans of racism. Over 90% of blacks voted for Democrats. But after the heated presidential election, Republicans controlled all three branches of government. In other words, blacks essentially had no political influence within the federal government.
After years of calling Republicans racists without less than a sliver of evidence to back it up, blacks demanded that the Republican Party reach out to them! Talk about nerve.
Ten years later, blacks find themselves on the same corner. After constant, baseless charges of racism, fourteen black Republican congressional candidates are making a game of it and many may actually win. The question is, how will this affect the Republican Party’s image in the black community?
Not much, seeing how many of these black Republicans will win in majority-white districts. What should the GOP do about it? If I were chair of the Republican National Committee, I’d say fuggeddaboudit.
I’ll venture to say that most black Republicans weren’t born that way. It took some life-altering revelation and a good amount of cojones to put oneself into the pariah column. Remember, blacks may be the only group in this country not allowed to have a diversity of political opinion. It’s Democrat or be damned. If you become a Republican, you can (and will) be ostracized by friends and family and be called racist names by the political left with impunity.
For that reason, GOP “outreach” in the black community is an exercise in futility that also puts the Republican Party in a position of weakness. Why would you be expected to reach out to a group that has consistently maligned your character?
One has to go through a kind of spiritual conversion to embrace Republicanism, because black Democrats have been trained to expect a promised entitlement in return for their support. While Democrats have gotten reelected by blacks with promises undelivered, I would hope the GOP would never resort to such pandering and make liberal-style promises to blacks they’d never offer any other Republican.
Let’s keep this in mind: almost every elected office in almost every black district in the United States is held by a Democrat. If Democrats are so great, the black community should be a utopia. Instead, it’s rampant with crime, poor schools, high unemployment, and the liberal message that unless you can rap or play basketball, you won’t amount to anything in racist America. So, here’s a check. Vote for us.
Let’s hope the Republican Party doesn’t try to top that.
Liberals know that if that 90% of black support dropped to (let’s say) 70%, Democrats would be in deep trouble when it came to most federal and presidential elections. Thus, keeping blacks on what we call the Democrat Plantation is a matter of party survival for Democrats.
Until black people jettison the politicians and activists who thrive (and profit) on keeping them down, an overture from the Republican Party will be met with the standard ridicule and futility. The black embrace of the GOP is something blacks themselves have to want by accepting Republican values as they are.
That won’t happen on November 2nd.
Bob Parks is the founder of Black-And-Right.com.