Has the Republican Party Given Up on African Americans?
African Americans and the Republican Party
Has the Republican Party, the party that was built upon its fight against slavery, given up on appealing to more African Americans to join its ranks?
As many party leaders and members of Congress make attempts to become more inclusive following the brutal loss and damage inflicted during the last Presidential election, the absence of any mention of trying to broaden the tent to include African Americans is striking.
You often hear Republican governors, Congressmen, and talking heads exclaiming the need to reach out to Hispanics, Asian-Americans, Latinos, those of every ethnic group, but not African Americans. In all of the speeches and conversations, the words blacks, or African Americans are notably absent.
Why is that? Have the accepted or bought into the belief that they need not bother to appeal to blacks because the Democratic party has them “signed, sealed and delivered” for every election for now to evermore?
You know what they say about presuming and assuming….
What has happened to the party of Lincoln who fought alongside the abolitionists to end slavery? It was the party that elected more African Americans in state houses and the U.S. Congress during the Reconstruction Era.
And in recent history, it has been the party that chose General Colin Powell, Dr. Condelezza Rice as Secretary of State, that elected African-American Congressmen from Oklahoma, Florida and Utah, and who even supported Herman Cain, an African American during the Presidential Primary.
African-American Republicans
Photo Credit: examiner.com
Why the silence about recruiting and embracing even more African Americans asthe Republican Party seeks to restore its value and viability as a competitive political party that can have a real impact on policy and leadership as we continue to work to make America the best country it can be? Has the Republican Party become invaded by too many racists and right-wing conservatives who long for a bygone America of white supremacy and servitude of minorities and the poor, that they are willing to risk losing relevancy to a changing America?The Republican Party may not have noticed, but not all blacks are liberal, nor do all blacks belong to, or have an affiliation with a political party. Do they still fail to recognize that not all blacks live on Medicaid or expect “gifts” from the government as Mitt Rooney so ignorantly proclaimed.
To all Republican Party leaders and elected official: Why isn’t an appeal to blacks included in your current efforts to revive and re-define the mission, political philosophy, and policies of the party?
Don’t you think you just might be missing a meaningful opportunity?
Janice S. Ellis, Ph.D.