Blacks benefit from Republicans
Until the 1930s, the majority of Blacks were Republican, proud to be in the Party of Lincoln. The song that would become the national anthem of the NAACP, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” was written by a Black Republican in 1900 to celebrate President Lincoln’s birthday. Nine years later, on Lincoln’s 100-year birthday, the NAACP was formed, with a number of founders being white Republicans.
Fast forward to the modern political era, where Republican presidential candidates garner single-digit support from the Black community. In light of the racial strife and upcoming election, two questions:
A) How did that happen? B) More important, how can the GOP rekindle the relationship with one of its most natural constituencies? Answers:
A) FDR’s New Deal, where big government started the assault on personal responsibility, and the ongoing culture of the Democratic Party, where its leaders take the Black vote for granted.
B) Bold leadership that ignores political correctness, and aggressively pushes back when people call their solutions “racist” or “bigoted.”
So has the GOP made progress? Until 2016, the answer was unequivocally “no.”
For evidence, look what happened during prior campaigns. In 2008, the four GOP frontrunners — John McCain, Mitt Romney, Fred Thompson and Rudy Giuliani — deliberately skipped an important debate on race relations, citing lame excuses for being no-shows.
Truth is, they didn’t attend for a simple reason. They looked at how few Blacks voted Republican, and, figuring they would get pummeled by the primarily Black audience (it was held at historically black Morgan State University), stayed away.
That move was not just political expediency at its worst, but outright cowardice.
The result: John McCain epitomized business-as-usual, and, not coincidentally, got crushed. Four years later, it was more of the same, as Mr. Romney’s dismal showing — especially among Black voters — proved.
But in defiance of conventional wisdom, Donald Trump was elected, winning 33 percent more Black votes than Mr. Romney, and things began to change. During his presidency, more and more Blacks have come to realize several truths:
1) Patronizing Democratic leaders do, in fact, assume that, no matter what, Black voters will always be in their corner. The result of the warped mindset of Democrats (which some consider racist) is that their leaders routinely ignore their Black constituents until it becomes politically advantageous to “use” them, or when election time rolls around.
2) The plight of the Black community has not changed in decades — especially in cities run entirely by Democrats, even when Dems controlled Washington. In other words, when Democrats hold all the cards — mayors, city councils, governors, Congress and the presidency — they are unable, or unwilling, to make the tough choices necessary to help the Black community.
3) Republican solutions have resulted in the lowest unemployment rate for Black Americans
— ever. And while a booming economy certainly doesn’t solve all the problems, it’s a damn good place to start. A rising economic tide lifts all boats, and fundamental change is always more apt to occur during periods of stability and prosperity.
President Trump’s approval numbers remain low, but that is the result of his behavior, not his policies. And that’s tragic, since the president’s divisive (and often stupid) tweets belie an agenda that, if fulfilled, would be an instant game changer for the Black community.
One of the GOP’s guiding principles is personal responsibility, and no one epitomized that more than Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. He never ran from the law during a protest, and, unlike so many leaders in both parties, he never engaged in the blame game. In fact, it was just the opposite — King didn’t complain about the consequences of his actions. Instead, despite the risks, he took full responsibility, innately understanding that the only way to achieve freedom was to work within the American system, changing it from the inside by winning the hearts and minds of the American people. And by God, how he succeeded!
Bold leadership isn’t going to garner the Republicans or Donald Trump a huge vote swing in this election, since you don’t reverse 90 years of thinking overnight. But if the Republicans continue fighting for real reforms, the votes will continue to follow. And in a tight election, the critical voting bloc of Blacks pulling Republican could well be the difference between four more years of prosperity, or reverting back to business as usual.
And it doesn’t get any more Black and white than that.