The reason why the Rats are obsessed with race is that they are obsessed with power. Targeting racial voter groups is just a means to an end. If the US was Iceland, the Rats would resuscitate the KKK.
Its a little hard to get a message out to someone who doesn't speak your language unless you tailor the message to fit the language they do speak.
Have we learned nothing from history? The old Ward Politics of the 1920s ran this way. You get a Jew to talk to the Jews. You get a Pole to talk to the Poles. You get an Irishman to talk to the Irish.