"Black and Missing" in the GOP

The Afro ^ | 3/14/12 | Afro Staff

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As the Republican presidential campaign trail ensues, there is something obviously missing from GOP campaign activities and primaries—Black people.

A look at last month’s GOP presidential primaries reveals that older Whites dominated the electorate.

According to an analysis by the National Journal, 89 percent of voters in Arizona were White, while Blacks represented just 1 percent. Meanwhile, Hispanics made up about 8 percent of the vote.

The findings are a stark increase compared to the numbers found in the same state during the 2008 general election. That year, 75 percent of voters were White, while 4 percent were Black and 16 percent were Hispanic.

A similar increase was shown in this year’s Ohio primary. In the Buckeye state, a whopping 96 percent of voters were White, compared to 83 percent in the general election four years ago.

Aside from the primary elections, it is also apparent that Blacks are considerably absent from many GOP campaign activities.

While it is no secret that African Americans have long voted Democrat, the question at hand is whether the GOP is concerned with the obvious racial disconnect.

Michael Steele, former chairman of the Republican National Committee said in a recent interview with writer Kam Williams that there are a couple of things that the party can do to attract more African Americans.

“One is to own up to our own failures as a party, when it comes to making investments in the Black community when it counted, like the Civil Rights Movement,” Steele said during the interview.

He explained that while Republicans had been the architects of landmark civil rights legislation during the Reconstruction Era, the party hesitated when it really mattered in the 1950s and ‘60s, resulting in a longstanding riff between the GOP and Blacks.

Steele added that Republicans should also, “Show up in the community prepared to have meaningful discussions about issues that actually matter to [Blacks] like job creation, in way that makes sense.”

“That’s why my very first official act as Chairman was to host a town hall meeting in Harlem. To me, that was a very important step to take,” he said.

The National Black Republican Association (NBRA) has also continuously worked to close the gap. Their organization aims to return Blacks to their Republican roots and enlighten them on GOP ideals and values.

In the meantime, the AFRO wants to know if you spot more than one Black person at a GOP event. Email your submissions to Blackfolkspotted@afro.com.

[BitWielder1]

I think we need to do a better job of selling Conservative values in the black community.
Start very early in the schools with: "The best thing you can do for the poor and downtrodden is to make sure you don't become one yourself."
Get an education. Be a contributor. When everybody has a real job, poverty will go away.
That advice works well for all races and ethnic groups of course.

(But I'm probably naïve believing it's that simple.)

[FrankR]

"...is something obviously missing from GOP campaign activities and primaries—Black people."

This outfit is undoubtedly a group of plantation democrats looking for something to bitch about.

I've never heard of any faction of the GOP refusing to allow black people to join the party. Hell, even their hero - Abe Lincoln - was a Republican.

Besides, obama already has the support of about 98% of the black voters, so this "AFRO" magazine (or whatever it is) must be writing this drivel to attract "white guilt" voters, or just to give the rats something else to use to beat the GOP over the head.

The one thing about obama is, his devisive tactics have worked both ways, and I give a damn less about what the racist blacks think, or say, anymore. The truth is, they're going to yell "racisim" if the sun comes up, or there is a "white" cloud in the sky.

Their complaint is about as valid as the claim that the prison populations are "disapportionaly black"...well, if you can't do the time, don't do the crime.

The real problem for them is, they see their brethren man-chld president slip-sliding away in the polls, and they're breaking the emergency glass in the "race card" alarm.

[JimRed]

...Uncle Tom’d by the democrats...

They should read the book; Uncle Tom was the GOOD GUY!

[JimRed]

The Race Card expired on 1/20/09; it is non-renewable.

[Redleg Duke]

"I have seen herman cain, allen west, j.c. watts at campaign events, are you blind?"

To the black racists, these gentlemen are not "black".

To the black racists, you have to be liberal and lock-step with the RATS in order to be black.

[FrankR]

"The Race Card expired on 1/20/09; it is non-renewable. "

Yeah..........right!

[Oldeconomybuyer]

What isn’t missing in the GOP primary are TAXPAYERS. Any color. Any age. Any sex. Any height.

[JudgemAll]

Blacks would go to the GOP if the GOP chastized the like of Obama to stay away from Democrate liberal nonsense.

But the silence of the GOP RINOs on Zero’s misdeeds is blatant quiet racism.

[allmost]

Sheer ignorance. Line up the policies, straight r....

Line up the faces and party, straight racist.

[CincyRichieRich]

There isn’t a tougher nut to crack then this quandary/enigma.

MSM makes it easy for any black person to NOT look at what Obama is doing but rather what he is saying and to believe it 100% to be factual. It is amazing. It is a fact that the real “racialists” are blacks who do NOT look at what his policies are but rather only that he is “black”. Fact is, he is not “American black”, and he is only 50% at that. His “blackness” is non-colonial, not from slavery ancestory. Not that Soros/Ayers/Dorn and the other Manchurian Candidate folks did that on purpose.

At very least, republicans in the senate, house, Reince or any other in high places can at least point out such policies or edicts or dictates have made blacks’ lives in the US worse, and, to start drumming his policies, not what he is saying, OVERTLY to blacks in the U.S. Heck, Romney, Santorum, and Ginchrich are all scared to do this. The MSM is winning this battle, and they are Obama’s useful idiots.

I know what I am talking about - let’s just say my family situation has educated me well on this.

[IMR 4350]

90% of the blacks in this country are 100% racist.

Blacks vote dem because, to paraphrase Carter, voting dem makes black comfortable with their racism.

[rawcatslyentist]

Most Black folk are still standing in line for their forty acres and a mule.

We all pray they figure it out soon.

[CincyRichieRich]

We can blame the MSM all we want. It is the lack of guts and belief in one’s own message that keeps blacks from voting R. A black person will not “risk” saying something positive about a “R” unless behind closed doors among other blacks. There is too much risk in being ostracized. The “Tom” syndrome is alive and well and only when some blacks are comfortable in “together” criticizing Obama will you see such criticism...to say otherwise is to admit “blacks as a whole” were wrong about him. Like I said, this is a very complex dynamic. Trite little comments and sarcasm ain’t gonna solve it. No, I’m not saying you don’t have a right to frustration and anger at the stupidity of it all, I’m rather saying it really takes a team of white and black together to solve it. Cain understands...JC Watts, not so much. Reince is an idiot. West gets it, but much to risk in putting him out there. Non-candidates would need to be part of such a team.

I can take it off-line if anyone wants to dig deeper.

[Jonty30]

I get that and I agree that most blacks do vote black.

However, as I said, it doesn’t help much when it seems that the GOP doesn’t have much interest in changing that.

If by making a difference by a couple of percentage points, it could mean the difference in a few seats.

[biggredd1]

One would think that a certain percentage of blacks would become “independents” and split a voting ticket. What was the Einstein doing the same thang over and over insanity line?
The blacks dont have to become repubs, try being “independent”. Many repubs have become “tea party” and/or independents because of the RINO part of republican. I am a conservative tea party peep, I am not a republican rino peep. Hopefully someday there will be a tea party in competition with rinos and commies.

[CSM]

What a load!

[IMR 4350]

They have been talking for over 50 years.

You can’t force someone to listen that doesn’t want to.

Most blacks alive today have been raised to believe they are entitled to what others earn because the white man owes them for being slaves.

They are taught to hate, not just whites but anyone not black, in their churches.

Quit pandering to them because they are black because in doing so they know they can use their blackness to get what they want.

[Terry Mross]

Blacks, in general, will never leave the plantation. A lot left when Mr. Lincoln was in the white house but they rushed back as soon as LBJ moved in.

[MNnice]

Given a choice between individual freedom or collectivism in a nanny state, everyone is driven by their own value system that they learned growing up. And no one is being prevented from voting republican if they’d prefer to live in a free society or democrat if not.

[CSM]

“Would you really reach out to your neighbour, if you were convinced that he hated your guts?”

Your perspective is ocmpletely wrong here, or at least as how I am reading it. I live in the metro Detroit area and it is one of the most segregated areas I have ever seen. In my experience the majority of the white population is to busy working to care for their own families and to survive. They don’t exhibit “hate your neighbor” attitudes to the black communities. However, I do see a “hate your neighbor” attitude out of the average black person in this area.

I can state with confidence that as a white person I would have fear walking alone in most black neighborhoods. I highly doubt that would be the case for a black person walking through my neighborhood.

Blacks have been taught to hate whites and to seperate themselves. That they gravitate to the most abusive political party is no surprise. They have individually accepted being herded into a group, so it is natural that they gravitate to a collectivist party.

As a general rule most individual blacks have surrenderred their individuality to become collectivists. That they don’t want to support a political philosophy that caters to individual liberty should not be surprising.

The few black individuals that see this and recognize the disconnect have ALL joined with the conservatives. As a result this is not a matter of the “GOP must reach out” it is a matter of fact that individuals need to think for themselves. If they are not willing to do so, then no amount of “reaching out” will change their political affiliation.