Can Obama spur black allegiance to the GOP?
July 21, 2008
Jeffery C. Mays, Newark Star-Ledger
- When Tanya Freeman went to vote in the presidential primary, she asked a West Orange poll worker where the Republican polling station was.
The elderly woman leaned into Freeman, an African-American, and whispered: “My God. I just assumed all of your people were Democrats,” Freeman recalled.
Harold Edwards is used to a blank stare when he tells people in Newark he’s a Republican.
“They can’t believe it,” said Edwards, who will be one of a few black delegates to the Republican national convention.
Edwards and Freeman received knowing nods when they shared their stories at a recent meeting of the Concerned Black Republicans of New Jersey in Hillside.
The group, which admits it has been in a slump, has picked an odd time to stage a revival. With the Democratic Party poised to nominate Barack Obama as the first African-American presidential nominee of a major party, the organization has mounted a recruiting drive.
Black Republicans: Key to Party Restoration
July 7, 2008
Harry R. Jackson, Jr., Townhall.com
- The National Black Republican Association (NBRA) has long been a pioneer in the arena of racial reconciliation. They have had a desire to break the race/party stalemate that has given the perception that all blacks are both politically liberal and Democrats. As part of their raison d’etre, they have published the history of the Republican Party, highlighting the party’s abolitionist roots. It has also trumpeted the courageous stand of early Republicans against racism and the KKK. Armed with this historic information, they have attempted for years to break the political strangle hold of the Democratic Party on the black community. They have spoken out against the “lemming syndrome” that has caused black voters to march mindlessly to their political deaths, behind unaccountable black leaders.
Despite the hard work and vigilance of this group, they have recently stepped on a political land mine. Last week, the NBRA embarrassed itself by stooping to race baiting and name-calling. They launched a regional radio campaign in several major markets that played the race card in a most unusual way. The first ad used its first six words to call Democrats “party racists.” Although I agree with their values and their history, I had to reject their methods. As I listened to ads and viewed the video presentation that accompanied these pieces at their web site, I was filled with many questions. I wondered how this group of business-minded blacks could have slipped so far from both their roots and their typically outstanding use of facts, data, and persuasive debate.
Why haven’t more blacks jumped the Democrat ship
July 7, 2008
Bob Parks, Black & Right
- I felt the following quote requires some further commentary…
“I’m confused as to why any African American would be a Republican in this day and age.”
— Robin Wright-Jones, (D) Missouri State Representative
With all due respect to Representative Wright-Jones, I can’t understand why more blacks haven’t jumped the Democrat ship.
Granted, with decades of vilification, I can understand why people decide to avoid the public ridicule one would be exposed to as a black Republican. While many, including former Washington D.C. mayor Marion Barry, mistakenly believe (for example) President Lincoln was a Democrat, the belief that Democrats are the real friends of blacks are built on many false premises and deliberate revisionist history.
Black Republicans’ Obama Baiting Antics Are Laughable
July 3, 2008
Earl Ofari Hutchinson, New America Media
- I still don’t know whether to howl with laughter or shake my head in disgust at the crude and silly race-baiting antics of the National Black Republican Association. It recently announced that it’s launching a series of radio ads about presumptive Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama. The ads recite these tired and worked-over slanders: a rap at Obama’s alleged ties with former Weather Underground bomber Bill Ayers, his relationship with his former pastor Jeremiah Wright, and convicted financier Tony Rezko.
Before going any further, there are many politically astute, principled black Republicans who would never dare stoop to personal and gutter-dredging attacks on Obama, or any other Democratic candidate. They are probably aghast at the association’s mud slinging attacks too. Obama is hardly immune from legitimate political criticism, particularly for his recent black flip and rightward shift on the FISA bill, the Iraq War withdrawal, refusal to accept public financing, and support of the death penalty. That kind of criticism is legitimate.
Black Republicans unfairly marginalized, demonized and vilified
July 3, 2008
BARBARA HOWARD, South Florida Times
- What is it about black Republicans that makes black Democrats cuss them, ignore them, or call them names?
When I was a Democrat, I never paid much attention to the negativity hurled at black Republicans. That’s probably because I never bought into the habit of gossiping about people or calling them names.
My main focus had always been about people’s deeds – whether positive or negative. I judged people by what they did, not by whom they were.
So it came as a culture shock when I switched to the Republican Party – mainly because of how other people began to treat me. Here I was the same person, but with a different political perspective brought on by what I saw as hypocrisy in the way the black community was treated by the Democratic Party.
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