Is there a rising middle class of black Americans who are educated and independent enough to stand apart from the black status quo and go conservative - or at least question the Dems' motives?
I think there is.. Also a lot of the African-American does not support Gay Marriage. The rats do.
Herein lies the rub: a disproportionate number of upwardly mobile blacks are single and female.
I estimate 30-35% of Blacks voted for Bush, and for my faction of Republicans in local elections in 2001. But there seemed to be a clear difference among the Blacks. Blacks who received a check from the government.... whether welfare or school teacher or non-profit recipient of great society type money ... voted Dem.
Blacks employed in the private sector were more open to independence and picking and choosing some Republicans. And of those in the private sector, the more educated they were, the more likely to be independent. Thus IT workers at Allstate, Sears, Motorola were more likely to vote for Bush than hamburger flippers. The hamburger flippers who did vote for Bush were strongly influenced by the Black Conservative church pastor and his wife in my suburb.
Coming from abolitionist roots, I see slavery as imposed by the government. I see the abolitionists who forced Lincoln's hand and volunteered for the militia as the ones who freed the slaves. But many Blacks see private property slaver owners and private enterprise slave traders as the ones who imposed slavery. They see the "government" as what freed the slaves.
Thus I see government as the problem, private action as the solution. But many Blacks see private action as the problem, government action as the solution. That is a basic sub-cultural difference that must be recognized and dealt with.