Posted on 01/31/2003 12:16:25 PM PST by kimimac
From The Washington Dispatch
Opinion The Silent Voice of the African American Conservative Exclusive commentary by Kimberly McKinley
Jan 31, 2003
I am a thirty-two year old, middle class, African-American female. Why is the assumption that I should be a card carrying, Bill Clinton voting democrat? I registered as a republican in 1990 and since then I have voted for George H.W. Bush, Bob Dole and George W. Bush. My role models include Condoleeza Rice, J.C. Watts, Clarence Thomas, and Colin Powell. I listen daily to Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity and I want Armstrong Williams and Walter Williams to have daily radio shows. I believe in results oriented education, lower taxes and a strong national defense.
I am sure I am not alone in my conservative beliefs, but sometimes the liberal media makes me feel that I am. I have spent the last twelve years hiding my conservative views from liberal whites and blacks, mostly because they feel that I am selling out my race. Liberals like Joe Lieberman feel that I should be thankful to the democrats for all they have done for me; affirmative action, welfare, “the right to choose”, and higher taxes. Gee, thanks. I wonder how I am selling out my race. I believe that if our schools were held to a higher standard all children would have the scores and grades to compete equally for an Ivy league education or a job on Wall Street. I don’t see Welfare helping any of our nation’s disadvantaged by making them dependent on government handouts. I believe in the right for the innocent to live and for the guilty to die. I don’t believe that the producers of this nation should unconditionally support the non-producers. I think we deserve more.
African Americans do not fit into one liberal democratic mold. We are like all other Americans with diverse beliefs, goals and aspirations. Unfortunately and possibly for nefarious reasons the democrats and the media push individuals like Jackson and Sharpton, and their liberal rantings, as the only role models for African-Americans. It is time for African-Americans to demand that all of our voices are heard. We should no longer allow the assumption to exist that an entire group of people think, believe and vote as a group. It is time for our voices to be heard.
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Kimberly McKinley is a married mother of a one-year old daughter. She lives and works in the Washington, D.C. suburbs. To contact Kimberly, send your comments to kimamckinley@aol.com.
© 2002 The Washington Dispatch. All Rights Reserved.
Dan
You are not alone in your feelings. Thomas Sowell and Larry Elder should also be on your list because they also think for themselves.
Welcome to this site, the thickness of your skin will be more important here than the color of it.
I think you will enjoy it here and I look forward to your posts.
Tell a friend.
Cheers,
knews hound
I thought the exact same thing. I really like Walter Williams beliefs, but I think Thomas Sowell and Larry Elder are better writers.
My only concern is the idea that: "She is (name a race), she'll like (name an writer of that same race.)"
I love Elder, Williams, Sowell not because they are black, but because of their intelligence, passion and clarity.
Not to mention the newbies who come around pretending to be conservatives while advocating socialism or the ones who act like knuckle-draggers and say they are conservative in order to paint all conservatives in a bad light. The most recent are advocating nuking the world as if that was a conservative goal. I call it the "Archie Bunker strategy".
Management gets the out and out DU'ers right away, but seem to get taken in by the more crafty ones.
So do I. I mentioned their names in the context of her not being alone. She had her own short list of role models as well.
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