Damning with faint praise. Oh, well.
Posted on 09/05/2004 6:32:25 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
NEW YORK -- It's a good thing President George W. Bush didn't have an altar call at the end of the GOP's convention. I might have joined the Republican Party.
By the time the four-day Republican National Convention ended Thursday night, I had a newfound respect for black Republicans. I will never again wonder what in the world is a black person doing supporting George W.
"One would think you wouldn't have to defend being a Republican," said Jennette Bradley, the lieutenant governor of Ohio and the first African-American woman to fill that post in the history of the United States. "That time is past. We don't have to apologize for being a Republican. We have the right to choose."
And they are choosing.
Lynn Swann, an ex-Steeler and NFL Hall of Famer, is playing a key role in the push to keep Bush in the White House. And award-winning gospel singer Donnie McClurkin performed at the convention despite threats of a boycott.
All in the family values
"I was raised in a Democratic household," actor Joseph C. Williams told me. Williams, who appeared on the "Cosby Show," "General Hospital" and "The District," was the co-chairman of the "African Americans for Bush" steering committee. "The Republican values are the same values that are in most African-American homes. This party reflects those values much more than the opposition."
During the week, I met black people from all professions and all economic classes who proudly touted their decision to support Bush despite the fact polls predict about 90 percent of their counterparts will vote for the Democratic nominee, John Kerry.
In 2000, minorities comprised 10 percent of Republican delegates. This year, they made up 17 percent, according to the Joint Centers for Policy and Economic Studies.
Alice Williams, an administrator in a medical access program in Pittsburgh, was one of those delegates.
"I changed my party affiliation in the 1990s," said Williams, who at the time was elected to the school board as a Democrat.
"I lived in a school district that had the lowest test scores in the state of Pennsylvania, and the population was about 99 percent African American. We fought so hard to bring in a company as a consultant to improve one of our schools, but we had a teachers union that fought us every step of the way. I decided then that I didn't need to be part of a party that continued to say that they are for education, health care and jobs in our community and they do not support the very essence of our community, which is our children."
Virginia Walden Ford, founder and chairwoman of the Black Alliance for Educational Options, the grass-roots organization that successfully lobbied for school choice in the D.C. public schools, also left the Democratic Party disappointed.
Like losing her religion
"I went from being a Democrat most of my adult life to being an independent to gradually getting involved in the school choice movement. We got so much support from the Republicans, I changed over," she said.
"And President Bush, of course, was really supportive of the school choice effort in Washington. He came to a program three years ago before it was even passed to show support for our efforts," she said.
"I was still a Democrat. I don't know whether it was fear or what people would say, but it was like changing my religion," she said.
Although Democrats bash Bush's No Child Left Behind Act, those same Democrats rarely mention that one of the architects of the plan is Rod Paige, an African American who was appointed Education secretary in the Bush administration. Having attended segregated schools in his youth, I'm convinced that despite the act's shortcomings, Paige is committed to challenging what the Republicans call the "soft bigotry of low expectations."
Educated minds
So while black voters may disagree with most of the conservative wing of the party, the GOP's approach to fixing the education gap is worth considering.
During his acceptance speech, Bush made promises that should have poor and working-class families dancing in the street. In pledging to increase funding for Pell Grants and community colleges, he also promised to strengthen early intervention programs aimed at stemming the tide of black and Hispanic students that drop out of high schools every year.
As a lifelong independent, and the daughter of a die-hard Demo- crat, I may never bring myself to punch a Republican ballot.
But the black Republicans I ran into this week convinced me of one thing: Black people can only benefit from their courage.
The Rat's days of taking blacks for granted and getting 90 percent of their vote is fast coming to an end. Well, at least getting 90 percent of their vote is coming to an end.
ping
Wow! That is eloquent. It brought tears to my eyes. I thought I would never see the day. God bless Dubya!
God bless Lynn Swann and his beautiful family...they do commercials on SkyAngel.
I sat next to a young black woman, her daughter and their two young friends. They were ecstatic about GWB. She told me that her friends gave her a lot of static for supporting a Republican, but when she told them about what Republicans stand for, their attitude changed, at least to the point they were willing to listen.
There is obviously a lot of pressure w/i the "Black Community" to remain loyal to the Democrats, but when it becomes acceptable to back a Republican, the dam might just break loose.
I'm waiting for Cynthia Tucker to write a similar column.
This was always going to happen. It was just a question of when. The Democrats' support for public sector vested interests clashes so clearly with their professed support for the poor. The interests of public sector workers (i.e. teachers) does not coincide with the interests of the people they serve (i.e. pupils, especially poor ones stuck in failing schools), so it's unsustainable for any party to pacify both. School choice could be the one big issue that drives blacks and other minorities (as well as poor whites) to the GOP.
I don't know that black voters have that many disagreements with conservative Republicans any more than most other Democrats do. They just reflexively vote for the Democrat candidate and listen to the propaganda from their party not the proposals from the conservatives.
This lady should re-read her own article.
Too Bad Al Sharpton, is too busy riding that Donkey.
Well at least these brave Black Americans are getting some respect! It must be hard to be or want to be a republican and have to keep it quiet in fear of reaction!
Me neither. African Americans poll more socially conservative than white Americans.
Damning with faint praise. Oh, well.
Revelation has struck the author. If only our schools taught logic and common sense, instead of Socialist drivel by those hungry to guarantee their jobs, a lot more would
"get a clue".
The logic here, or lack thereof, is immensely frustrating. This foolish writer interviews black Republicans who give excellent reasons for supporting the Republican Party, she says that she admires them, and yet says at the closing that because her daddy voted Democrat she must do so, too. What weakness! How can adults let the political views of their parents on issues that passed by fifty years ago influence their secret vote today? Incomprehensible. . .
What are those conservative things which are so anathema to blacks? I really don't understand.
Well, they changed from never voting from a Republican to may never vote for one. I guess thats progress, it will take a younger generation to realize that not only do democrats take them for granted, but they are more than willing to subvert their role in the party to homosexuals and other groups.
Bump.
Hope you've got a LOT of time!
For the most part the Blacks that I know, and that are in my family, are very committed to family values. They may think they are liberal because that is what they've been told for years but when you actually talk about things it is apparent that they are mostly conservative. Same thing was true about the Black people I worked with, voted Democrat but really had strong conservative beliefs and usually strong religious faith.
I was struck by the fact that at the RNC the Black people were seated throughout the facility, not grouped together like a special interest group. Also that the Black speakers seemed especially eloquent and (dare I say it?) better looking than the Democrats. MrsPD
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