Yeah that’s a huge problem. Especially in the Black community.
Black kid grows up in a Black neighborhood, it’s likely his parents are demorats, his pastor, all the teachers in the local public school, most of the famous Black athletes and musicians he idolizes. If he dates a Black girl she’s a democrat, her parents. And they treat it like both religion and even more so like a cultural imperative, like it’s part of being Black. It’s not something to even question because their gospel is “Republicans hate Black people” and thus are the enemy.
White people who are raised democrat are much more likely to be able to overcome it as they get out into the world. Maybe their parents will be upset if they come home for Thanksgiving and say they are Republican but they don’t face the same kind of stigma or traitor shunning I imagine Black Republicans face and no one calls them “House ni***”.
I'm sure there are a few famous black athletes today who are Republicans. Gaining financial success in the private sector can be a big factor in changing someone's political orientation.
Jesse Owens, one of the greatest Olympic athletes ever, was a known Republican and suffered an income tax case brought against him by the Franklin D. Roosevelt administration, believed by some to have been politically motivated. Jackie Robinson (perhaps the best known black athlete in American history as the man who desegregated major league baseball) was a RINOish Republican, a good friend of Nelson Rockefeller. And the great basketball player Wilt Chamberlain was a Republican as well, IIRC. More recently, Lynn Swann, a former pro football star, ran for statewide office in PA in 2006 as a Republican and was defeated.