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.
Your stereotypes aside, the vast majority of successful American blacks do not have "government jobs." Besides, having a government job is by no means a definition of being successful. It just means that those who have them are employed.
Oh, one more thing. How many unsuccessful whites depend on government largesse?
Regarding the problems that the African-American community has, that is, 75% out-of-wedlock children, high incarceration rate, drug use, etc.
He said that the African-American community ought to have a six month dialogue WITH ITSELF, WITHOUT ever once mention white people.
My opinion: excellent idea. Looking in the mirror and examining the source of problems is always a healthy exercise.
Several times, when the camera focused on a black at the convention, I remember wondering if they were going to catch hell from their friends back home for being there. It must be a pain in the ass to be expected to vote a certain way because of your race.
Welcome to Flying Pig Airlines--------Flt delayed, permanently.
ping
The Democrats used to have a solid hold in the South. What do they have left, the unions?
The Dems love to pigeon-hole people into victims groups.
About the third "true confession" from a reporter this week that they are really impressed by the W. And at the "secret" ballot booth, wouldn't surprise me in the least if they voted for Bush.
Bump!
A lot of those voices are LINKED in Post #43.
He said that times have changed, and African-Americans no longer need the government to constantly intervene on their behalf.
"The majority of African-Americans believe in economic opportunity and not handouts ... It's a new world, and with that comes new political affiliations," Kellman said. ***
Blacks are slowly breaking the grip of the Democratic Party. Soon they will not own the black vote.
Over the past two decades or so, anyone who has read the brilliant writings of Dr. Thomas Sowell and Dr. Walter Williams, to say nothing of Dr. Alan Keyes, as well as those of other intellectuals representing conservative thought in the Black community, knows that it was just a matter of time before the Democrats would begin to lose their grip as "masters" of the minority vote.
When individuals, of whatever race or creed, begin to understand the ideas of liberty, they will migrate AWAY FROM a group whose idea of "helping" relies on the dishonesty of elected and unelected imperfect people in positions of government power TAKING the hard-earned dollars of some, and REDISTRIBUTING THOSE DOLLARS to others.
There's nothing very noble about the kind of "benevolence" that relies on taking from someone other than yourself what they have earned and giving it someone else.
In this election, for instance, John Kerry and John Edwards are not giving up any of their own wealth (and neither are any of the other wealthy redistributionists) to help the poor. No, they want to buy votes with promises to use the power of government to steal from some in order to give to others, while at the same time acquiring power, prestige, and future wealth for themselves.
All citizens lose when this kind of counterfeit idea prevails.
Could it be, that one more crack in the dam is the Senate race in Illinois, between Barack Obama and Alan Keyes. Race is not a factor here, hate and fear and loathing are. The elitist, privately-educated, and very pampered upbringing of one of the rivals is unquestioned, as he NEVER had any connection with the common thread of most Americans of African descent, the ancestors that were first slaves, then humble sharecroppers, then scut labor in big cities.
Alan Keyes, on the other hand, came up the hard way, with little help from even affirmative action, achieving what he has on merit alone. It was merit recognized and to some measure rewarded, and this may be painful for Illinois voters to accept.
It took that, and also a good daddy! ;-)
Seriously, and I can only speak for myself, having a man to raise a boy without an option for using excuses of any kind makes that boy a real man in short order. Therefore, the victimized mindset cannot exist in the head of a true man.
Our problem is the lack of manhood in our communities. This seriously has an affect on not only young black men, but also young black women who can't really relate to a loving, instructing, protecting, providing, and serious man because nine times out of ten, she's never met one!
Born an Irish Catholic into the most densely populated city in the nation where Republicans didn't even exist shortly after JFK was killed, my union member parents voted Democrat in both national and local elections through to Jimmy Carter. In our mock elections in grade school, the Democratic candidates always won due in part to my vote.
However, I was a freshman in high school when Ronal Reagan was elected. I remember my uncle being so upset and that the end of the world was near. Reagan was going to push the button the day after his inauguration!
His reaction actually got me interested to see what was going to happen!
So even though I wasn't old enough to vote I saw the hostages returned from Iran the day of Reagan's inauguration. I watched as the price of a slice of pizza (my economic barometer at the time) stopped going up.
I went to a Jesuit high school and on the classroom wall of one of the most beloved priests (a fabulous man and missionary for Christ) had a poster equating one fighter jet with X amount of food and one nuclear sub with X number of homes etc. Again, this had the reaction of forcing me to listen to Ronald Reagan as to why it was important to build up our armaments and why the Soviet Union was an "Evil Empire".
By the time I graduated from high school in 1983, I was impressed with President Reagan's accomplishments and though I valued the opinions of my relatives and teachers, I understood that when Ronald Reagan addressed the public on his televised speeches from the Oval office, that he was talking to me. Yes, me!
In November of 1983 I had just turned 18 three months before. I was fortunate enough to be going to college in Wisconsin where you could register and vote on the same day and all you needed was an ID and a utility bill.
It was my first time I could vote in a real election. I, like my parents, became a Reagan Democrat that day.
Thank you Ronald Reagan!
Bump!
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