The GOP can't "get real" with Black voters because they don't WANT to. They have made it clear that they are only interested in courting the angry, poorly-educated, white male vote, and Evangelicals.
Who voted for Donald Trump? Was it the "party elite" or the laid off factory workers in Allentown with only a High School education and no prospects other than a minimum wage job at Burger King? You think THOSE people are open minded and fair to all?
The GOP leadership can give lip service to the Black Vote all it wants, but unless it figures out how to off load it's core constituency into a third party maybe, it will never happen.
Who voted for Donald Trump? Was it the "party elite" or the laid off factory workers in Allentown with only a High School education and no prospects other than a minimum wage job at Burger King? You think THOSE people are open minded and fair to all?
The GOP leadership can give lip service to the Black Vote all it wants, but unless it figures out how to off load it's core constituency into a third party maybe, it will never happen.
35
Love all the republican whitesplaining here. You do know that's not the way to get votes, lecturing at people, telling them what they should and shouldn't care about? How about listening? Maybe they know more about their lives than you do. Weren't you small c conservatives the ones who thought the individual knows best about his or her own life, that it is bad for strangers ( the government, the elites, etc.) to come and tell people what to do and what to think? Or doesn't that work when it is African Americans? I guess you think in their case they need to be told what to think, and you're just the ones to do it.
And that is why some polls show Trump getting ZERO percent from African Americans on some states.
And that is why some polls show Trump getting ZERO percent from African Americans on some states.
16
"And perhaps this time, instead of saying “farewell” to African-Americans, the G.O.P. will say “welcome” — and actually mean it." And perhaps pigs will fly.
15
A writer for the Atlantic magazine talked to a veteran GOP operative who put it very simply: "What do you do when most of the people who agree with you on taxes and economic issues also hate black people?"
Do you tell them to get lost because you can't stand racism? Or do you accept their support, even ask for their support with thinly disguised appeals to racism?
For generations now GOP politicians have chosen Option #2. Leaders like Paul Ryan, who openly admits Trump has made "textbook" racist statements, are doing that right now, as we speak.
It's a choice, folks. And the GOP keeps making the same one, over and over again.
Do you tell them to get lost because you can't stand racism? Or do you accept their support, even ask for their support with thinly disguised appeals to racism?
For generations now GOP politicians have chosen Option #2. Leaders like Paul Ryan, who openly admits Trump has made "textbook" racist statements, are doing that right now, as we speak.
It's a choice, folks. And the GOP keeps making the same one, over and over again.
23
Interesting read but, it's what we already knew...just a continuation.
All Republicans may not be racist but, most racists I know are Republican.
Lastly to the author, it is an opprobrium to put Colin Powell's name in the same paragraph, much less same sentence, as that SC Justice you mentioned! That Justice has all kind of self hate issues that negate ANY thought he ever had about racial equity!
All Republicans may not be racist but, most racists I know are Republican.
Lastly to the author, it is an opprobrium to put Colin Powell's name in the same paragraph, much less same sentence, as that SC Justice you mentioned! That Justice has all kind of self hate issues that negate ANY thought he ever had about racial equity!
12
Why can't black voters get real with their choices instead of ignorantly following candidates and leaders that use them for their own PERSONAL advantage?
6
All you have to do is read the Fourth Circuit's decision in the North Carolina voting rights case to understand how the GOP views black voters: as a group to be excluded from the franchise. To me, that how the GOP gets "real" with black voters.
P.S. I am a white New Yorker.
P.S. I am a white New Yorker.
26
This article could be the beginning of a series:
Why Can’t the G.O.P. Get Real With Black Voters?
Why Can’t the G.O.P. Get Real With Women Voters?
Why Can’t the G.O.P. Get Real With LGBT Voters?
Why Can’t the G.O.P. Get Real With Young Voters?
Why Can’t the G.O.P. Get Real With Hispanic Voters?
Why Can’t the G.O.P. Get Real With Muslim Voters?
Why Can’t the G.O.P. Get Real With Itself?
Why Can’t the G.O.P. Get Real With Black Voters?
Why Can’t the G.O.P. Get Real With Women Voters?
Why Can’t the G.O.P. Get Real With LGBT Voters?
Why Can’t the G.O.P. Get Real With Young Voters?
Why Can’t the G.O.P. Get Real With Hispanic Voters?
Why Can’t the G.O.P. Get Real With Muslim Voters?
Why Can’t the G.O.P. Get Real With Itself?
42
Oh, come on. The "party" did not nominate Donald Trump. A bunch of racist white trash overwhelmed the primaries and nominated him. You can't blame the GOP for Donald Trump any more than you can blame the Democrats for Al Sharpton.
Which is to say....ok, the parties get *some* of the blame, but not all.
It's the game theory of plurality voting that really gets most of the blame though.
Which is to say....ok, the parties get *some* of the blame, but not all.
It's the game theory of plurality voting that really gets most of the blame though.
4
And perhaps this time, instead of saying “farewell” to African-Americans, the G.O.P. will say “welcome” — and actually mean it.
Shhh, they still don't know.
Shhh, they still don't know.
3
New election cycle: time to pretend again about minority voters.
11
Easy answer: They hate 'em. Being the party of hypocrites, they put on their fake smiles and "welcome" them aboard, only to bad mouth them and legislate against them. Same for any other minority...
22
This goes back 400 years to the rich pitting the poor white indentured servants against the black slaves. "Yes, you're poor and have no prospects, but at least you're white and not like 'them'".
Those poor whites still have nothing to hang on to except being white and Christian, so they're racist, they're also the Republican base. And the GOP leadership has never been farther removed from them, so they have no idea how to deal with them.
Those poor whites still have nothing to hang on to except being white and Christian, so they're racist, they're also the Republican base. And the GOP leadership has never been farther removed from them, so they have no idea how to deal with them.
15
The Republican Party has relied on racist appeals for decades. It now finds itself in a bind of its own making: If the Party openly appeals to Black and Brown voters, it alienates its racist base; if it fails to appeal to such voters, it condemns itself to minority status soon, and probably for decades to come. As ye reap, so shall ye sow . . . .
10
Leah Wright Rigueur's book is titled "The Loneliness of the Black Republican" but oddly her missive never gets to the root of that loneliness, instead it is a typical, predictable, pedantic, fallacy driven indictment of the Republican Party.
Since I am a Black Republican, it might help our conversation to hear from someone who actually IS a Black Republican as opposed to an Obama liberal who lives to castigate and denigrate people they are supposedly describing objectively.
Black Republicans are lonely because the Democratic Party's institutionalized racism keeps the majority of Black voters in intellectual and political servitude. Black people are shackled to the Democratic Party. And just when the chains were being broken, the White liberal establishment had an idea.
What if we take someone who isn't Black from our insider club of intellectual liberal elite, and we package and market him as a "Black" President? That will keep the political plantation alive for at least a decade. Now all we have to do is find a biracial con artist who looks Black and is willing to betray the Black community and play the role. Enter Barack Obama.
Fast forward eight years to 2016.
Today, if a Black man criticizes Obama for any reason, he's instantly vilified, denigrated and ostracized (see Ben Carson, Dr. Cornel West, me, etc.)
And here's the amazing part. Just 8 years ago, Hillary Clinton was racist, an enemy of the Black community that could not be trusted. Now she's our savior.
Since I am a Black Republican, it might help our conversation to hear from someone who actually IS a Black Republican as opposed to an Obama liberal who lives to castigate and denigrate people they are supposedly describing objectively.
Black Republicans are lonely because the Democratic Party's institutionalized racism keeps the majority of Black voters in intellectual and political servitude. Black people are shackled to the Democratic Party. And just when the chains were being broken, the White liberal establishment had an idea.
What if we take someone who isn't Black from our insider club of intellectual liberal elite, and we package and market him as a "Black" President? That will keep the political plantation alive for at least a decade. Now all we have to do is find a biracial con artist who looks Black and is willing to betray the Black community and play the role. Enter Barack Obama.
Fast forward eight years to 2016.
Today, if a Black man criticizes Obama for any reason, he's instantly vilified, denigrated and ostracized (see Ben Carson, Dr. Cornel West, me, etc.)
And here's the amazing part. Just 8 years ago, Hillary Clinton was racist, an enemy of the Black community that could not be trusted. Now she's our savior.
5
Lots of voters, blacks included, vote race before all other issues. Look at how fast Hillary was abandoned by blacks when Obama showed up and how long blacks stuck with the crooked mayors of DC, Detroit, etc.
5
Speaking of history, who was it that labeled young blacks are "superpredators" that need to be "brought to heel"? Point being, racism is everywhere, even in the dem party.
6
There is a blueprint for African American participation in politics. It's called the Democratic Party!
13
Maybe if the GOP stopped trying to stonewall black voters from voting with their obviously racist laws that have been recently overturned by lower courts they could win back black voters. I'm still inclined to believe another article on this site that called the GOP the "stupid party." If they can't figure this out, they are stupid.
6
Why? That's easy. There's no money in it. Next question.
5
The party elite are a pretty sophisticated bunch, after all they've all got millions and millions so they're not afraid of people who aren't exactly like them. They let those folks clean their houses, rake their lawns and raise their kids,
But the rank and file, they act like they are afraid they'll get cooties.
But the rank and file, they act like they are afraid they'll get cooties.
4
If the republicans truly wanted to gain African American followings, it could start in the state houses that have been trying to crush the black vote for years by trickery and laws to 'stop voter fraud'. Quit trying to stifle voters and start coming up with policies that would help them, then maybe you will get some followers but beware it will take decades, especially after the racist running at the top of the ticket gets done this year.
9
Get real? It's as real as can be. It's an extension of the Confederacy. That any black voter could be Republican is astonishing. Denial is amazing. Nothing more need be said.
21
You can't get much more real than depriving them of the vote.
And that, you can be sure, drives blacks to trust the Republicans.
To trust them to always work against their civil rights.
Getting real?
Their idea of "real" is Donald Trump.
I don't understand journalists who can't or won't see the obvious facts that hard right in their face.
And that, you can be sure, drives blacks to trust the Republicans.
To trust them to always work against their civil rights.
Getting real?
Their idea of "real" is Donald Trump.
I don't understand journalists who can't or won't see the obvious facts that hard right in their face.
8
For the same reason Democrats can't get real with blue collar workers.
10
Geez seriously.
The Republican Party did its damnedest not to nominate Donald Trump. Actual voters overruled them.
When Hillary*s photo-op crowd of grieving black mothers is primarily composed of failed parents whose children, not surprisingly, came to bad ends; when her own racial strategy is to make sure black folks won't vote for that Jew-atheist Sanders; when people are mocked and vilified for having had the poor taste, apparently, to have been born white males who do, no matter what you think of them, need to make a living--
--what exactly do you expect? When the sacred icons of the BLM movement are thugs who can have been expected to have bad run-ins with cops? Or poorly-raised children of drug-dealing parents who were doomed to poor judgment and self-control?
The Democratic Party helped bring Donald Trump to a polling place near you.
The Republican Party did its damnedest not to nominate Donald Trump. Actual voters overruled them.
When Hillary*s photo-op crowd of grieving black mothers is primarily composed of failed parents whose children, not surprisingly, came to bad ends; when her own racial strategy is to make sure black folks won't vote for that Jew-atheist Sanders; when people are mocked and vilified for having had the poor taste, apparently, to have been born white males who do, no matter what you think of them, need to make a living--
--what exactly do you expect? When the sacred icons of the BLM movement are thugs who can have been expected to have bad run-ins with cops? Or poorly-raised children of drug-dealing parents who were doomed to poor judgment and self-control?
The Democratic Party helped bring Donald Trump to a polling place near you.
5
Would the KKK or a neo-Nazi group really want to include blacks or Hispanics? Of course not. Let's face it, many Southerners have fond memories or sympathy for the KKK. At the very least, many Southerns love their heritage with includes plantations, slavery, segregation, and oppression of blacks. That's a good part of the GOP appeal.
13
Actually the Republican Party IS getting real with African-Americans right now as we speak. They are making it very clear that they have no intention of ever reaching out to them despite what they promised back in 2012.
18
To me, the argument is not whether Trump will or will not respond to the needs and aspirations of the black community. It's whether he'll do this for ANYONE. He is such a narcissist that I believe he is incapable of empathizing with anyone but himself. You either agree with and praise him or you are a 'loser' and the system is rigged against him, and everyone out there who isn't a fan is a loser, and they're all lying, and similar classic responses of the dedicated narcissist.
People who think he will do anything positive for their lives are delusional. He has them conned, just like he conned investors, contractors, and virtually anyone who has dealt with him since he came on the scene. He inherited a big chunk of money from Dad, but had he just invested that in a market index fund, he'd be way ahead of where he is now, so just how is he such a great business man?
Much of his wealth comes from money he dragged out of businesses he thereafter bankrupted, leaving the investors with nothing and the contractors with unpaid bills. Some 4 to 6 times. That's a clever business man? Sounds more like white collar theft and fraud.
People who think he will do anything positive for their lives are delusional. He has them conned, just like he conned investors, contractors, and virtually anyone who has dealt with him since he came on the scene. He inherited a big chunk of money from Dad, but had he just invested that in a market index fund, he'd be way ahead of where he is now, so just how is he such a great business man?
Much of his wealth comes from money he dragged out of businesses he thereafter bankrupted, leaving the investors with nothing and the contractors with unpaid bills. Some 4 to 6 times. That's a clever business man? Sounds more like white collar theft and fraud.
10
The Republicans' idea of a "race problem" is just that they aren't getting votes. It doesn't include any real recognition that they never do anything to deserve them. "Law and order" to Republicans means simply keeping "those people" in their place. Yeah, they want the votes, but don't think that means they'll invite any black folk to dinner.
5
I'm curious about the writer not holding the Democratic party to the same standard. Does Ms. Rigueur think that the Democratic party has been a success with its identity politics? Race relations? Jobs opportunities? Etc. etc. I'd say they haven't really delivered at all.
Let's understand that the establishment of both parties have failed ALL American citizens, with their failed globalist, open borders, free trade fanatics and the enablers like the writer and mainstream media whether they are Democrats or Republicans.
Let's understand that the establishment of both parties have failed ALL American citizens, with their failed globalist, open borders, free trade fanatics and the enablers like the writer and mainstream media whether they are Democrats or Republicans.
6
Take away bigotry and what does the GOP have to offer working-class whites? Not all of them are Evangelicals.
4
Voting for Clinton, so don't completely hate me here, just a little.
Are the Democrats real with black voters? After more than 50 years of controlling most big cities, what do the urban poor have to show for their support of the Democratic party?
Empathy, promising sounds, and...based on tangible results, what else?
Are the Democrats real with black voters? After more than 50 years of controlling most big cities, what do the urban poor have to show for their support of the Democratic party?
Empathy, promising sounds, and...based on tangible results, what else?
9
I think an equally, if not more important (and disturbing), question to ask is, why does the black community vote for Democrats? For the past 60-80 years and in some cases longer, Democrats have controlled the governments of most major cities, i.e. Newark, Detroit, Flint, Baltimore, St. Louis, Philadelphia, Chicago, Washington, New Orleans. How has that worked out for them? This is where the real story lies, yet the likes of the author if this article, the New York Times and the Washington Post and most of the readers of these publications don't seem to see any correlation between the party of William Tweed, Marion Barry, Sheila Ann Dixon, Sharpe James, Ray Nagin or Kwame Kilpatrick and the abject conditions of Black neighborhoods in all these places.
7
Republicans think they only need to change their message, their marketing, their words to get people to vote for them. Most voters aren't that dumb. The GOP are total frauds, as the Trump campaign and supporters are showing.
6
The moment the GOP does anything to welcome black voters, they immediately offend their virulently racist base, and god knows they don't dare do that. I have no sympathy for them, I'm afraid.
13
Who exactly can they get real with? They can't even get real with themselves, much less with anybody about whom they have no clue.
4
Reaching out to Black Americans and other "minority" voters by the Republican Party will not happen because a large fraction of the party base does not want it to happen. The continuing attempt to disenfranchise minority voters and black voters in particular by Republican dominated legislatures says it all.
6
Trump is a buffoon, and has said outrageous things about lots of people and various groups.
But I am confused about the premise of this article: what specifically and exactly has he said about blacks or black voters?
As an aside, if anyone put down blacks in this election, it's Bernie, who tried to argue that black votes matter less than white votes.
But I am confused about the premise of this article: what specifically and exactly has he said about blacks or black voters?
As an aside, if anyone put down blacks in this election, it's Bernie, who tried to argue that black votes matter less than white votes.
2
Conservatives always say that minorities vote democratic because they want "handouts." Yet they can't explain why rich minorities don't vote republican either.
For example, Asian-Americans have the highest incomes and education attainment in America, but they still voted for Obama at an even higher rate than Latinos in 2012 (75 percent!)... Did they want "handouts" too?
Don't you think that the GOP's latent racism doesn't have anything to do with it? White supremacists are attracted by their dog-whistles (and minorities notice it too).
The GOP isn't 92 percent white by accident (America is only 62 percent non-Hispanic white now).
For example, Asian-Americans have the highest incomes and education attainment in America, but they still voted for Obama at an even higher rate than Latinos in 2012 (75 percent!)... Did they want "handouts" too?
Don't you think that the GOP's latent racism doesn't have anything to do with it? White supremacists are attracted by their dog-whistles (and minorities notice it too).
The GOP isn't 92 percent white by accident (America is only 62 percent non-Hispanic white now).
11
The GOP promised to "get real" with black, Hispanic and female voters after Romney lost in 2012.
They've done exactly the opposite. The GOP follows the leaders of its party, and at last the leader of the Party, Donald Trump, embodies its soul--or lack thereof.
The GOP, like its leader Donald Trump, is incapable of change. As long as white men feel threatened by everyone who isn't a white man, the GOP will be mired in a vision of 19th century white America, where white men could aspire to be just like their hero, a wealthy white man who says exactly what all the white men are thinking.
They've done exactly the opposite. The GOP follows the leaders of its party, and at last the leader of the Party, Donald Trump, embodies its soul--or lack thereof.
The GOP, like its leader Donald Trump, is incapable of change. As long as white men feel threatened by everyone who isn't a white man, the GOP will be mired in a vision of 19th century white America, where white men could aspire to be just like their hero, a wealthy white man who says exactly what all the white men are thinking.
5
Republicans can't get the African American vote when their policies by and large don't even address the systematic everyday issues African Americans face.
It'd be like sheep being guarded by a wolf, or a better analogy, chickens willingly going to Colonel Sanders.
It'd be like sheep being guarded by a wolf, or a better analogy, chickens willingly going to Colonel Sanders.
4
It's not just about black people. Republicans still can't explain why ALL nonwhites avoid them like the plague, regardless of economic status.
It's always hilarious to see conservatives talk about "handouts" whenever this subject is brought up. They just ignore that poor people in general don't vote, period. The poor always have the lowest voter participation rates in this country. It's the middle-class and the rich who turn out to vote.
But according to republicans, minorities are just welfare leeches (especially black folks) on the so-called "democratic plantation" (racist imagery is a sure-fire way to attract them... lol).
Yet rich minorities don't want to join the GOP either.
You think the latent stench of racism oozing from their party has nothing to do with it?
It's always hilarious to see conservatives talk about "handouts" whenever this subject is brought up. They just ignore that poor people in general don't vote, period. The poor always have the lowest voter participation rates in this country. It's the middle-class and the rich who turn out to vote.
But according to republicans, minorities are just welfare leeches (especially black folks) on the so-called "democratic plantation" (racist imagery is a sure-fire way to attract them... lol).
Yet rich minorities don't want to join the GOP either.
You think the latent stench of racism oozing from their party has nothing to do with it?
11
enough responsibility to go around for both parties, the republicans may be the white man's party but the mayor or chicago is a democrat, etc.
what the two parties have given us is a nation of factions rather "unum in plures partes" ...a babel of voices, frustrated because their hired hands, the leadership (rim shot and horsey trumpet riff) just aren't listening, none of the factions is perfect, (lots within each are bent rather on getting even than making things better), but they're all anxious and frustrated, from trump's angry gang to feminists to lgtbs (perhaps the most civil of the lot) to black lives matter, not to mention the native tribes (who have all but disappeared), and they are all americans and all have gripes related to trust and fairness that need to be heard and tended.
small example, vp the dnc vp biden praised teachers who bought pencils and paper for their kids, but there, on a national stage, did he give a hint that he heard the cries from the depths of their low salaries and maybe had a share in the responsibility for their plight?... what would it have taken to say "we hear you, tomorrow we're sending books and pencils and reimbursement checks, e pluribus unim!" ?
how can we expect better when we get to the justice system, the social/economic unfairness (worse than a state of inequality that can be remedied on a level playing field), violence in the streets, hunger (how about breakfast for the kids who don't have pencils and paper?) and so on.
what the two parties have given us is a nation of factions rather "unum in plures partes" ...a babel of voices, frustrated because their hired hands, the leadership (rim shot and horsey trumpet riff) just aren't listening, none of the factions is perfect, (lots within each are bent rather on getting even than making things better), but they're all anxious and frustrated, from trump's angry gang to feminists to lgtbs (perhaps the most civil of the lot) to black lives matter, not to mention the native tribes (who have all but disappeared), and they are all americans and all have gripes related to trust and fairness that need to be heard and tended.
small example, vp the dnc vp biden praised teachers who bought pencils and paper for their kids, but there, on a national stage, did he give a hint that he heard the cries from the depths of their low salaries and maybe had a share in the responsibility for their plight?... what would it have taken to say "we hear you, tomorrow we're sending books and pencils and reimbursement checks, e pluribus unim!" ?
how can we expect better when we get to the justice system, the social/economic unfairness (worse than a state of inequality that can be remedied on a level playing field), violence in the streets, hunger (how about breakfast for the kids who don't have pencils and paper?) and so on.
2
Both national parties need to stay center left with regards to policies in today's globalised internet world to appeal broadly to today's electorate.
Otherwise, they will not be able to work with UN and rest of the world.
Otherwise, they will not be able to work with UN and rest of the world.
3
GOP pays lip service to black voters while pandering shamelessly to white men. If it wants to broaden its base (which I truly believe it does not), it has to show me, don't tell me, and especially don't lecture me.
28
The GOP only serves the interests of the 1%. They simply lie to everyone else to try to get their votes.
6
This is the same party that, at the state level, has attempted every which way and then some to disenfranchise black voters at the polls and, before that, from even registering. They are a disgrace to this country. Full stop.
5
Wow! I was not aware that Republicans were racist! Who would have ever guessed that? In their love of money and support for corporations over working people, in their lack of support for educating disadvantaged people, it is unthinkable that the GOP is racist!
4
The simple reason blacks shy away from the GOP is that while not all, a majority of blacks (not immigrants, African Americans) embrace the victim mentality as a lens through which they view themselves. The Democrats cater to those wanting a boogeyman to blame for their problems rather take personal responsibility, so it is a natural fit.
Democratic voters view the state as a cudgel to punish groups they dislike, whereas Republicans view he state as the referee who treats everyone equally.
Democratic voters view the state as a cudgel to punish groups they dislike, whereas Republicans view he state as the referee who treats everyone equally.
3
Nope, won't happen until all Republicans over age 30 have passed from the scene. More likely, before then, the existing Republican Party will split along its Establishment/TP dividing line, and there won't be a Republican Party (as we know it) to talk about.
It's hard to see how Republicans can capture ANY of minority vote this election season. Their standard bearer, Trump, has been vocal in his racism against a number of minority groups, including and especially blacks. Notably, he started the "birther" movement in an effort to de-legitamize our first black president. His ugly rhetoric against this president has been noted by the black community (I'm white by the way, but I can certainly see it). Trump's son even campaigned for him in Philadelphia, Mississippi, site of the murders of civil rights activists trying to help blacks to vote in 1964 by KKK members -- it's a dog whistle for the racists in the party to support Trump (same as it was when Reagan ran in 1980). Trump isn't the only one, either. McConnell refuses to allow a vote for our president's nominee to SCOTUS, something that has never happened before in our nation's history. The disrespect by the GOP toward this president has been astounding and unprecedented. I think it'll be a very long time before the GOP ever earns the black vote.
2
Duh. Almost 50 years ago Nixon devised the southern strategy which targeted the racist vote. One way or another the Republicans have been playing the race card ever since. Nothing new here except, perhaps, the level of subtlety.
2
Here is the scoop, simplified. There is a fraction the US population maybe 20% or so who hate blacks enough that they figuratively dance in the streets every time something bad happens to one. They are all now Republicans and are a large part of the party. They are so filled with hate that they will vote against their own self interests and deny their children "socialized" medical care to deny it to blacks. If you haven't met those like this, your circle is too narrow.
3
8 years of Obama has had 0 improvements in the condition of Black people. Big government favors the fixers who can manipulate political connections and corrupt politicicians like Clinton. When Black people start analyzing the real economic effects of big government and anti-business policies, the tide will turn.
JD
JD
6
Hold on a minute! As much as I despise Donald Trump, he is only a small part of why African Americans in great numbers will not vote Republicans. Just take a look at the state legislatures and the policies that they're promoted for the past few years that run counter to the interests of African American citizens. It appears that there is a concerted effort across the country by Republican officeholders to alienate African Americans!! On top of that, for the past eight years, they've slapped President Obama in the face when he reached out to work with them. Black folks are not as dumb as some people think we are! And don't throw out the diatribe of us just voting straight party Democrat. We, like other populations in this great country, educate ourselves on the candidates and vote our interests. It just so happens that the Democratic Party proposes more policies that include a larger umbrella of working people, including African Americans. Now, for Donald Trump, he's just the poison on the cake to make us run faster from the Republican Party. "Look at my black over there." Yeah, Donald, there's your one black supporter in your crowd!!
3
It seems unlikely that a Republican Party that is busily attempting to disenfranchise blacks and other minorities through duplicitous election laws will soon convince very many African-Americans that they welcome their participation in the party.
2
A question:
What has 50+ years of voting for Democrats done for blacks?
Actually, two questions:
What has 50+ years of Democratic control of the big cities done for inner-city blacks?
What has 50+ years of voting for Democrats done for blacks?
Actually, two questions:
What has 50+ years of Democratic control of the big cities done for inner-city blacks?
4
I'd rather hear the truth from a candidate than one who panders to the public by saying what they want to hear, in order to get their votes dishonestly with no intention deliver on promise. If the truth teller loses, he or she is a far better human.
4
Except for a shrinking minority of middle class/lower class heterosexual white men, the GOP no longer functions. With the inevitable defeat of Trump it must reinvent itself or die.
2
Why should this article be written? Is there anyone who has not gotten the message by now? The Republican Party does not really believe in the vote for everyone, particularly the urban voter where most of the black vote resides and which is faithfully for the Democratic Party. We need to remember that the Founding Fathers, for the most part, did not believe in universal sufferage either. They were afraid that the masses without property would make paupers of the wealthy in due time. Obviously, we have come along way since then but the basics still are there. The Republican Party is not the natural home for the regular folks in our society. African Americans with some exceptions seem to be regular folks as well.
2
The problem is not that the GOP is not being real with black voters, the problem is that GOP ‘reality’ sucks. Especially for black voters.
Republicans have been reaping the rewards of dog whistle political statements of Rush Limbaugh et al for as long as I can remember. Reagan even sent Rush a letter thanking him for all that he has done to “promote Republican & conservative principles”. And later “Keep up the good work. America needs to hear the way things ought to be.” That letter was sent in 1992 one year after Rush said “The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies.”
Now we’re supposed to pretend it’s an aberration that Trump is the GOP candidate. The only significant difference between Limbaugh & Trump is job title. Limbaugh never got higher than carnival barker. Trump made it to ringmaster.
This isn’t as big a change in the circus as some pundits say it is, but does make it harder to sell tickets to us the people cleaning out the cages.
Now we watch ‘moderate’ Republicans try to intervene in an effort to get Trump to pretend to be somebody other than who he is for the 3 next months. They’re hoping that if they can get him to fake it, just until the election, it will be better for their party. That's “getting real” GOP style.
Republicans have been reaping the rewards of dog whistle political statements of Rush Limbaugh et al for as long as I can remember. Reagan even sent Rush a letter thanking him for all that he has done to “promote Republican & conservative principles”. And later “Keep up the good work. America needs to hear the way things ought to be.” That letter was sent in 1992 one year after Rush said “The NAACP should have riot rehearsal. They should get a liquor store and practice robberies.”
Now we’re supposed to pretend it’s an aberration that Trump is the GOP candidate. The only significant difference between Limbaugh & Trump is job title. Limbaugh never got higher than carnival barker. Trump made it to ringmaster.
This isn’t as big a change in the circus as some pundits say it is, but does make it harder to sell tickets to us the people cleaning out the cages.
Now we watch ‘moderate’ Republicans try to intervene in an effort to get Trump to pretend to be somebody other than who he is for the 3 next months. They’re hoping that if they can get him to fake it, just until the election, it will be better for their party. That's “getting real” GOP style.
2
Was anyone else also surprised when they read that at some point, even Clarence Thomas was concerned about GOP racism? The same clown who accused liberals of inciting a high-tech lynch mob and being more racist than any of his Republican peers?
3
As long as the Republicans refuse to demand special rights for Blacks, they
will never get many of their votes. To get black votes in grest numbers,
you have to insist that only "Black Lives Matter" , not that "All Lives Matter."
The Democrats are race baiters, the Republicans are not.
Another commenter says "Not all Republicans are racist, but all racists are Republican." That's a typical Democrat statement. It drives thinking (non-black, I should add, as many blacks can think) people away from Democrats. Democrat strategists need only look in a mirror to find
a racist by a symmetric definition of the word. They, of course, simply redefine it to mean "someone who does not demand special privileges for black people".
This issue alone would make me vote for Trump.
will never get many of their votes. To get black votes in grest numbers,
you have to insist that only "Black Lives Matter" , not that "All Lives Matter."
The Democrats are race baiters, the Republicans are not.
Another commenter says "Not all Republicans are racist, but all racists are Republican." That's a typical Democrat statement. It drives thinking (non-black, I should add, as many blacks can think) people away from Democrats. Democrat strategists need only look in a mirror to find
a racist by a symmetric definition of the word. They, of course, simply redefine it to mean "someone who does not demand special privileges for black people".
This issue alone would make me vote for Trump.
2
The GOP wants black voters only insomuch as they will take whoever they can get to vote for them and remain in power. But alas, they know minorities will not vote for them so they must work doubly hard to suppress their votes. Unfortunately for them, America is only becoming more diverse, so any way you look at it the GOP strategy of peddling thinly veiled white supremacy rhetoric is a losing strategy in the end.
3
The G.O.P. has always been real with black voters. The G.O.P. really does not want their votes.
Reagan clearly repeatedly said so with all of his political and acting skilled and experienced gifts for racist rhetorical euphemisms. Trump has none of that Reagan experience nor talent.
Reagan clearly repeatedly said so with all of his political and acting skilled and experienced gifts for racist rhetorical euphemisms. Trump has none of that Reagan experience nor talent.
2
As an inevitable consequence of identity politics , the country is being sharply divided into self interested groups. Battle lines are being drawn and both the Democratic party and the Republican party will align with these identity groups one way or another. A nation divided cannot stand. Looks like I'll be practicing my Russian.
Which party supports teacher unions over students...ensuring that inner-city minorities get a crappy education? Which party supports ever-increasing minimum wages so that poorly educated inner-city minorities have greater difficulty finding a job? Which party supports expanding welfare that incentivizes out-of-wedlock births and dependence on the government? Which party has sat idly by as its policies have destroyed generation after generation of black families? And which party has done nothing about the slaughter of black youth in DEM-run cities like Chicago and all across the nation? If there ever were a racists party, it is the Dem party.
2
Well then, let's make sure every "person of color" votes, despite the voter-restriction hurdles (modern version of the poll-tax) are put in the way by Republican legislators.
1
The GOP can not exist without its bigotry, lack of compromise and inhumanity towards the poor. Reagan spoke of a shining city upon a hill and thought we were to be a beacon for all people. His position turned out to be just another mask for turning the country over to the rich and racist elements of his party. Some actually believed him and have been betrayed.
Trump is just another actor on the Republican stage, a very poor one who obviously can not be honored. I was going to say believed, but Trump is very honest in his bigotry. Republicans have been trying to put lip stick on their pig and blacks who have seen this all before for centuries are experts at seeing beyond masks to the racism beneath.
Republicans have betrayed the image of a glorious city on a hill and now no one watching Trump can believe this if Trump should not be repudiated soundly.
Trump is just another actor on the Republican stage, a very poor one who obviously can not be honored. I was going to say believed, but Trump is very honest in his bigotry. Republicans have been trying to put lip stick on their pig and blacks who have seen this all before for centuries are experts at seeing beyond masks to the racism beneath.
Republicans have betrayed the image of a glorious city on a hill and now no one watching Trump can believe this if Trump should not be repudiated soundly.
2
Although the U.S.A. Is less a country where "money whitens" and "whitening enriches," our countrymen of every color responds to deep pockets and loyal customers. Our politics divides racially over black aims for freedom from historical racial humiliations and white group competition for power. A program to promote ownership of wealth assets in poor minority communities would dramatically push unity and identity of political interests between white conservatives in the Republican Party and a significant swath of black voters.
The GOP did a wonderful thing for us Democrats when their Southern Strategy relieved our party of the cranky white racist vote in the South. It's a gift that just keeps giving. Well, they're stuck with those people now. Good luck with that. It's going to take another generation before the impact of that decision fades.
6
Interesting. I was under the impression that the G.O.P. was already getting real with black voters by seeking to disenfranchise them at every opportunity. Given the Party's focus on attacking non-existent voter fraud that suspiciously only happens in black neighborhoods, black voters could probably be excused for thinking that as well.
2
Maybe because the Republicans will drop the Victimology Course 101 from the social syllabus. And the Democrats are opening new Graduate Schools with the possibility of some being awarded a Ph. D. in Victimology that will last a lifetime.
2
Republican's rigid ideology, and supremacist white pretensions, will do exactly zero favors to itself, self-congratulatory of flimsy statements to support black/brown stature...while still giving itself entitlements of superiority, finally annulling any benefit to the black community. Saying 'welcome', and meaning it, are, in G.O.P. hands, different universes, apparently incompatible with their religious fervor and high, though waning, moral claims. Hypocrisy comes to mind. And 'tribalism', fierce to defend its own, even fiercer to destroy, or at least belittle, 'the other'.
The New York Times and its pundits need to get out among the people or maybe just listen to the comments.
The people nominated Trump, the party did not have much of a choice.
Not like the dem party or media who ignored Bernie and then tar and feathered Bernie. The dem party anointed Clinton. The dem party and the rest of the country have no one to blame except themselves if Trump is elected.
The people nominated Trump, the party did not have much of a choice.
Not like the dem party or media who ignored Bernie and then tar and feathered Bernie. The dem party anointed Clinton. The dem party and the rest of the country have no one to blame except themselves if Trump is elected.
2
Trump wants to limit low-skill immigration and deport illegal aliens. Hillary wants to do the opposite. If the majority of Blacks can't see what's in their best interest and instead vote based on color or tradition, then that's a serious issue with them. If more low-skilled immigration isn't an issue, then I need to remind them that the Clintons gave them "work for welfare," severe sentencing guidelines for crack cocaine possession, and the loss of millions of good-paying manufacturing jobs via NAFTA.
4
Blacks vote incredibly uniformly in lock step 100% for Dems without even thinking about it. Unfortunately they have bought into the empty rhetoric of liberals pandering for their votes for years yet their lives have not improved. They have been indoctrinated with the victim mentality from guilty white liberals for years. Unfortunately black conservatives who don't preach the victim mentality such as Ben Carson, Thomas Sowell, Clarence Thomas, Shelby Steele, Hermain Cain, etc... are not very popular in the black community. Even if one of these guys was a Rep running against Hillary they would not get much of the black vote because blacks are fully brainwashed by liberals.
2
For jobs, the biggest competition to blacks in general are illegal, low-skill aliens. Trump plans to get rid of this illegal and unfair competition, who often work for cash and under the minimum wage and pay no taxes. That will allow more blacks to get a job and earn a livable wage. Simple supply and demand. Trump will get rid of the illegal (over)supply.
All blacks should vote for Trump on this basis alone.
Before I get the hate, I do realize there are many skilled blacks. My financial adviser is one, he has control of a lot of money, and I obviously respect him. I'm just saying generally.
All blacks should vote for Trump on this basis alone.
Before I get the hate, I do realize there are many skilled blacks. My financial adviser is one, he has control of a lot of money, and I obviously respect him. I'm just saying generally.
3
Quite clear to me that the GOP which purports to be the party of "principled Constitutional conservatives" really embrace that that little three-fifths mention and the Second Amendment whole-heartedly. That part about "all men are created equal" and the Fourteenth Amendment -- not so much.
1
The answer to the title question is easy: there are too many racists, both hardcore and softcore, in the GOP, both the voters and the elected. The hardcore call Obama the n-word, hate blacks having equal opportunity and still don't want to mix; the softcore at best think naively that there is no longer a race problem.
2
The most interesting part of this piece is where the columnist discusses how "law and order" as a GOP stance is alienating to blacks.
How peculiar. Maybe instead of the GOP dropping law and order, black people and their silly white progressive enablers should drop excuses for lawlessness and disorder.
Think of it this way - if the GOP were to drop law and order, they might pick up more black votes. Which in the grand scheme of theme would be a pretty small door prize, for everyone. But if black people embraced law and order, than other races and groups within America would be more willing to live near black people, and black people themselves would enjoy educational, employment, life expectancy, and economic levels of attainment on par with every other demographic that leads orderly, lawful lives.
How peculiar. Maybe instead of the GOP dropping law and order, black people and their silly white progressive enablers should drop excuses for lawlessness and disorder.
Think of it this way - if the GOP were to drop law and order, they might pick up more black votes. Which in the grand scheme of theme would be a pretty small door prize, for everyone. But if black people embraced law and order, than other races and groups within America would be more willing to live near black people, and black people themselves would enjoy educational, employment, life expectancy, and economic levels of attainment on par with every other demographic that leads orderly, lawful lives.
2
Here's why.
"This revisionism, according to Roy, points to a much bigger conservative delusion: They cannot admit that their party’s voters are motivated far more by white identity politics than by conservative ideals."
http://www.vox.com/2016/7/25/12256510/republican-party-trump-avik-roy
"This revisionism, according to Roy, points to a much bigger conservative delusion: They cannot admit that their party’s voters are motivated far more by white identity politics than by conservative ideals."
http://www.vox.com/2016/7/25/12256510/republican-party-trump-avik-roy
2
I search Leah Wright Rigueur's piece in vain for an answer to the title's question. But isn't it obvious, and hasn't it been stated over and over again? A big chunk of white America remains deeply racist, and the GOP has become crucially dependent on those votes, which they acquire by feeding racial resentments, scapegoating, and sometimes outright demonization of blacks and other minorities.
2
I disagree with Ms. Rigueur that "the Republican Party will once again find itself at a racial crossroads". Nor do I agree that party leaders will "engage in a measure of soul searching on matters of race and inclusion." I'm surprised, after Ms. Rigueur outlined the history of the modern GOP so well, that she believes these things.
There will be no "crossroads" because to include blacks and Hispanics, the GOP would have to abandon its traditional base. Even if it were willing to do that, would the "new and improved" GOP have any credibility with the black and Hispanic voters to whom it was reaching out? Also, while today's GOP is pretty hopeless at winning the White House, it has done very well with governorships and state legislatures. Would those well-entrenched anti-black, anti-Hispanic Republicans also search their souls? I doubt it.
As for soul-searching by Republicans in general with real change in mind, I just don't see it. Rather, I would analogize today's Republican soul-searching, if there is any of that at all, to an alcoholic who, realizing he's an alcoholic, doesn't try to stop but rather tries to figure out how to control his intake so he can continue to drink.
Today's Republican Party has enjoyed its success thanks largely to gerrymandering and suppression of minority votes. It lost the "battle of ideas" long ago.
Crossroads? Nope. Soul-searching? Nope. Soon to be consigned to the Dustbin of History to keep the Whigs company? I hope so.
There will be no "crossroads" because to include blacks and Hispanics, the GOP would have to abandon its traditional base. Even if it were willing to do that, would the "new and improved" GOP have any credibility with the black and Hispanic voters to whom it was reaching out? Also, while today's GOP is pretty hopeless at winning the White House, it has done very well with governorships and state legislatures. Would those well-entrenched anti-black, anti-Hispanic Republicans also search their souls? I doubt it.
As for soul-searching by Republicans in general with real change in mind, I just don't see it. Rather, I would analogize today's Republican soul-searching, if there is any of that at all, to an alcoholic who, realizing he's an alcoholic, doesn't try to stop but rather tries to figure out how to control his intake so he can continue to drink.
Today's Republican Party has enjoyed its success thanks largely to gerrymandering and suppression of minority votes. It lost the "battle of ideas" long ago.
Crossroads? Nope. Soul-searching? Nope. Soon to be consigned to the Dustbin of History to keep the Whigs company? I hope so.
3
Quite simply, because the repubs are run by old, rich white men with no interest in minorities or the "little people", unless they think there might be something for them. They'll even go to great lengths to suppress voting rights instead of offering any semblance of recognition.
Racism and "class-ism" have not changed since the 1800s. What HAS changed is Citizens United providing a new pathway for money to buy elections.
The past eight years are all one needs observe, to understand how deep racism is in the repub party.
Racism and "class-ism" have not changed since the 1800s. What HAS changed is Citizens United providing a new pathway for money to buy elections.
The past eight years are all one needs observe, to understand how deep racism is in the repub party.
3
If the GOP really wanted to demonstrate, in actions, that they reach out to blacks, they could have, over the past 7 years, not obstructed every single action taken by our first black president. Reaching across racial divides is not just about campaigning. It should be more about governing, and they have failed spectacularly at that.
4
While black America is at it, they should consider "getting real" about the Democratic party. Both parties have betrayed working people and, predictably, blacks are fairing even worse than their white and Hispanic counterparts. Black America's lack of support for the Republican party is rational, but their strong support for Clinton, after her atrocious racist "super-predators" statements and her husband's record on black incarceration rates, is beyond the realm of rationality.
Would blacks have remained as passive in the face of weekly executions by police if a white Republican had been in office for the past 7 years? There is a good argument to make that, purposely or not, the Democratic party mollifies black anger. Black knee-jerk support for the Democratic party enables the party to take the black vote for granted.
Would blacks have remained as passive in the face of weekly executions by police if a white Republican had been in office for the past 7 years? There is a good argument to make that, purposely or not, the Democratic party mollifies black anger. Black knee-jerk support for the Democratic party enables the party to take the black vote for granted.
15
Both parties are just 2 factions now of one party...the corporate party. It's all about money, power, access, lobbyists and careers. If only we the people, the 99 percent of us, could come together, unite and recognize the game being played upon us by the parties and the plutocrats that control them. Instead, you can count on the electorate in the United States to be the most ill informed, uneducated voters in the world who vote against their economic interests all the time. We fight against one another on race, gender, religion, gay rights, etc, exactly what the plutocrats want us to do. All the while, both factions and their paymasters laugh all the way to the bank as they rob us blind. Stop being the stupid electorate America.
5
Nobody is buying this crap from the NYT. Black people have been loyally voting for democrats for over 50 years and what does the black community have to show for their unwavering loyalty? They have nothing but crumbs. The black unemployment is triple that of the national numbers. There are no jobs in the black community and the poverty level in the black community has sunken to a new low.
What we do have in the black community are entitlement programs which has literately destroyed the black community. Every black person doesn't want free stuff. We want meaningful jobs, safe communities. The first thing people talk about in the black community is black on black crime.
The black on black crime is being driven by the US war on drug policies. If the US simply decriminalize illicit drugs coming into the US the crime rate would drastically be reduced including incarceration of black people.
The real question is why can't the democrats get real with black voters?
What we do have in the black community are entitlement programs which has literately destroyed the black community. Every black person doesn't want free stuff. We want meaningful jobs, safe communities. The first thing people talk about in the black community is black on black crime.
The black on black crime is being driven by the US war on drug policies. If the US simply decriminalize illicit drugs coming into the US the crime rate would drastically be reduced including incarceration of black people.
The real question is why can't the democrats get real with black voters?
6
There is an incorrect assumption that the GOP is in control of itself. In fact,
we are at a historical moment that the Reagan Coalition has fallen apart for good. Conservatism will stay around in some form, but the electoral coalition that help keep the GOP in power is gone. This is because all their decades-long promises to their voters have gone sour. Trickle down economy has been discredited; warlike foreign policy has proven disastrous, and social issues, like gay marriage, have become lost causes. Trump has won the nomination, because his hateful message has resonated with the racist folks. Trump ended up being the tallest dwarf in the GOP primaries.
we are at a historical moment that the Reagan Coalition has fallen apart for good. Conservatism will stay around in some form, but the electoral coalition that help keep the GOP in power is gone. This is because all their decades-long promises to their voters have gone sour. Trickle down economy has been discredited; warlike foreign policy has proven disastrous, and social issues, like gay marriage, have become lost causes. Trump has won the nomination, because his hateful message has resonated with the racist folks. Trump ended up being the tallest dwarf in the GOP primaries.
8
The GOP can't "get real" with black voters because we live in a binary political system, with two parties and two choices, yes or no. Thinking of outreach programs without taking into consideration the policy bundle necessary to appeal to those voters your reaching out to, makes very little sense. It just so happens that what you would need to do to get more black and hispanic voters is diametrically opposed by the base constituents (rural and souther whites) of the GOP who are often bigoted. You can not have your cake and eat it to.
Until the GOP reaches a point of inflection where the composition of its current constituency is absolutely incapable of gaining political power, they are not going to be able to successfully reach out to new voter pools against the will of their base. Even then there is going to be tremendous institutional inertia, as parties are designed to maintain the status quo, not fundamentally alter it.
Until the GOP reaches a point of inflection where the composition of its current constituency is absolutely incapable of gaining political power, they are not going to be able to successfully reach out to new voter pools against the will of their base. Even then there is going to be tremendous institutional inertia, as parties are designed to maintain the status quo, not fundamentally alter it.
I'm surprised there wasn't more emphasis here on the issue of voting rights. Where did that go after Jack Kemp imagined Republicans becoming the champions for them in 1986? Because a couple decades later it was a conservative Supreme Court that paved the way for the evisceration of protection that was provided by the Voting Rights Act. And now look where we're at. Over and over again we've seen states implement voter ID laws with the intent to discriminate against African American and minority voters.
This is the last gasp of a dying party. When you have nothing to offer, you suppress and oppress. What do Republicans have to offer the majority of the country? Their message has devolved into a culture war.
On policy, their boiler plate is to sign a pledge to never raise taxes. Since when is that governing? Sometimes one *needs* to raise taxes. And how does that benefit anyone living, say, in the 60% income quintile or below? Same goes for cutting taxes on the wealthy, which is a perennial favorite. All government spending is apparently bad in GOP world, except defense spending. We're spending nearly $600B on our military, which is never enough, and every GOP candidate in recent memory has wanted to privatize Social Security. There is simply nothing here to appeal to *anyone* living in economically difficult conditions, regardless of race. Add overt racism and they have no appeal whatsoever.
This is the last gasp of a dying party. When you have nothing to offer, you suppress and oppress. What do Republicans have to offer the majority of the country? Their message has devolved into a culture war.
On policy, their boiler plate is to sign a pledge to never raise taxes. Since when is that governing? Sometimes one *needs* to raise taxes. And how does that benefit anyone living, say, in the 60% income quintile or below? Same goes for cutting taxes on the wealthy, which is a perennial favorite. All government spending is apparently bad in GOP world, except defense spending. We're spending nearly $600B on our military, which is never enough, and every GOP candidate in recent memory has wanted to privatize Social Security. There is simply nothing here to appeal to *anyone* living in economically difficult conditions, regardless of race. Add overt racism and they have no appeal whatsoever.
1
I think the problem with Republicans often times is the oxymoron that their beliefs cause. They had to create a coalition that would vote together enough to win elections. They grabbed free market conservatives who want government out of our lives, yet also combined that with evangelicals who think governments only job is the enforce the religious morals of Christianity on society THEN leave them alone and then finally they grabbed people who believe in a strong national defense. Most of those groups (especially white evangelicals) believes that the glory days of America was late 50's early 60's during Jim Crow. Post that, our society has been in a flux, that flux being minority races demanding equality.
How do they think any person of color would fit in with that group? Many Hispanics would fit with their strong catholic beliefs yet they struggle to find jobs, have trouble in a free market getting the same loan opportunities and most can only afford to move into the inner city where education is terrible and their prospects for the future grim. Democrats offer the social programs to help improve their situation and more funding for schools. They get their vote. Blacks are often in the same boat. Strong religious beliefs, yet they usual start so low in society that they need the help democrats offer to actually reach a level playing field. Republicans only want government that helps whites, and minorities see that clearly.
How do they think any person of color would fit in with that group? Many Hispanics would fit with their strong catholic beliefs yet they struggle to find jobs, have trouble in a free market getting the same loan opportunities and most can only afford to move into the inner city where education is terrible and their prospects for the future grim. Democrats offer the social programs to help improve their situation and more funding for schools. They get their vote. Blacks are often in the same boat. Strong religious beliefs, yet they usual start so low in society that they need the help democrats offer to actually reach a level playing field. Republicans only want government that helps whites, and minorities see that clearly.
2
Maybe the GOP could stop being an overtly racist organization. Trump's appeal to an estimated 35-40% of the Republican base is clearly because of his blatant bigotry. These folks excuse his many fatal flaws that would sink any typical candidate because he so bluntly articulates their racist attitudes. This is also why the Republican leadership feels powerless to do anything about him. The hard truth is that today's GOP can't win elections if they alienate the racist faction that consistently votes for their candidates, no matter how destructive to our nation's future. As long as the GOP harbors blatant racism and bigotry there will be no home for minorities. In case it isn't also plainly evident, Trump's supporters hate women too.
3
" And perhaps this time, instead of saying “farewell” to African-Americans, the G.O.P. will say “welcome” — and actually mean it."
The Republican Party has become the party of uneducated white people, by exploiting their resentment against people who are educated, non religious, and non-white. They have exploited redistricting and the single member district system to maintain power in state legislatures and the US Congress, and have been successful at suppressing voting among people who oppose them, notably African Americans. They oppose programs that help the poor with food and medical care, and the minimum wage, and support lower taxes for the wealthy. They would have to totally reverse their political program to welcome African Americans. They are not about to do that. Even though they may have trouble electing presidents, they have a stranglehold on the rest of the American political system.
The Republican Party has become the party of uneducated white people, by exploiting their resentment against people who are educated, non religious, and non-white. They have exploited redistricting and the single member district system to maintain power in state legislatures and the US Congress, and have been successful at suppressing voting among people who oppose them, notably African Americans. They oppose programs that help the poor with food and medical care, and the minimum wage, and support lower taxes for the wealthy. They would have to totally reverse their political program to welcome African Americans. They are not about to do that. Even though they may have trouble electing presidents, they have a stranglehold on the rest of the American political system.
3
In the us vs. them arena that the GOP has created for itself, there is no room for understanding the plight of any minority except the so called overtaxed job creators. If it takes a Willy Horton ad or a welfare queen meme or a birth certificate to dog whistle the base- no one will be the wiser. It is a sorry state of affairs, and we would all sleep better at night knowing that our neighbor's needs from health care to education to job opportunity were the same for all citizens. Instead we have rancor, chaos, selfishness, insult and injury used as political fuel. Those babies at the trumposium are crying for something better.
3
I believe the challenge of dealing with race by the GOP is rooted in the decision of Nixon to sell the soul of the republican party's so that he could become president baCk in 1968. The decision to incorporate the Dixiecrats in to the party was the fist step on the long road to creating a racial gap that has widen over the past 60 yrs. The southern flavor of the GOP will always find it hard to make African-Americans true partners in the party. Evidence of this effect of white political superiority is now well ingrain in the GOP and is manifested in the xenophobic and racial rhetoric of Trump.
2
I'm surprised that Professor Rigueur does not mention two signal developments in the recent history of the Republican Party: 1) the formulation and implementation of "The Southern Strategy"; and 2) the rise of such African-American conservatives as Thomas Sowell, Shelby Steele, Michael Steele, Stanley Crouch, and Armstrong Williams--to name just a few. The Southern Strategy, which turned my region into a place where Republican ideology has become a near-universal orthodoxy, is based on reversing the Civil Rights movement. The attempt to restrict the African-American vote here
is proof that the strategy is still alive and well.
is proof that the strategy is still alive and well.
3
The premise of this article is like wondering why a leopard doesn't change its spots. The GOP has long survived by seducing uneducated, low income white voters to vote against their own interests by catering to their racism. In the past, it has been dog whistles only slightly less subtle than what Trump is doing. This was Nixon's "Southern strategy." Without its racism to attract the votes of low income, low education people, the GOP is nothing but a hawkish, sexist, government hating "all-taxes-are-bad" and "all-safety-nets-are bad" rich white man's party. This group will never be big enough to elect a president. So they have to hang on to their implicit (if not explicit) racism and sexism if they are to win.
5
The Trump candidacy provides a wonderful opportunity for the Republican party to repudiate its more extreme elements and move to include more Americans in 2020. But will they? I recently had a conversation with a mainstream Republican. Half of the conversation was spent bemoaning how crude and alienating the Trump candidacy had been. The other half was spent defending Bill O'Reilly's decision to report that the slaves who built the White House were well fed and had decent lodgings provided by the government. These were historically accurate facts, she said, and she could not understand why pointing them out in response to Michelle Obama's passionate speech about how far black people had come in this country might be offensive. It was not a defense of slavery, she insisted. Just objective facts, objectively presented. If this is what mainstream Republicans are like, they have a long way to go before African Americans will feel welcome in their party.
7
One election cycle after another, the path to the Republican nomination requires attracting the votes of a large block of Evangelical faux-christians and racists. Typically, this is done covertly with coded language as used by Nixon, Reagan, and Bush 43. Bush 41 with his Willie Horton add was quite open about his racist message. The GOP has now reached a point where the two leading candidates at the end, Sen. Cruz and Mr. Trump, were using overtly racist nationalist language in order to win that right wing group of voters.
Two adopt Jack Kemp's plan would be to jettison that right wing group of white nationalists. A candidate cannot win the nomination without them and so the GOP candidates must continue the rejection of minority issues and continue the use of slanderous language. They are trapped in a box of their own making and they have no way out.
The only way out for moderate Republicans and moderate Democrats would be the formation of a centrist third party. The system is heavily stacked against that being allowed to happen.
Two adopt Jack Kemp's plan would be to jettison that right wing group of white nationalists. A candidate cannot win the nomination without them and so the GOP candidates must continue the rejection of minority issues and continue the use of slanderous language. They are trapped in a box of their own making and they have no way out.
The only way out for moderate Republicans and moderate Democrats would be the formation of a centrist third party. The system is heavily stacked against that being allowed to happen.
1
There is no mention of the biased and perhaps conspiratorial gerrymandering and voting suppression by Republican legislatures in multiple states--Wisconsin, Kansas, North Carolina, Arizona, Ohio, etc. They have schemed to shape districts of largely Caucasian and conservative voters to displace or nullify more left-leaning and so-called minority citizens who can tilt elections toward centrist or more liberal candidates. This is deliberate, crazy-quilt segregation of entire blocs of voters. Spurious efforts to make voting hard and harder for African-Americans, Hispanics and students in those jigsaw districts have reduced the number of voting sites, the accepted forms of identification required to get registered, and more utterly belie G.O.P. mumbles about racial or political equality. Only when vote-manipulation scams are abandoned and diversity comes to polling sites will the party seem sincere and not merely engaging in their shameful (or shameless) public relations double-talk.
5
"If the presidential nominee loses in the general election, leaders will once again engage in a measure of soul searching on matters of race and inclusion. And perhaps this time, instead of saying “farewell” to African-Americans, the G.O.P. will say “welcome” — and actually mean it."
There is no evidence that such engagement will take place. The party is 90% white and currently has a regressive "base" of Tea Party/right-wingers that are a cultural derivative of the Jim Crow South (where its main strength still resides). This base sees its "way of life" being usurped largely by minorities of various sorts. I'd say that courting African-Americans is low on the priority list. At present the Party is mostly engaged in putting lipstick on a pig that is wholly focused on pandering to that "base".
It should be no surprise that for a Black American the Republican Party is a lonely outpost. Unfortunately, that's not likely to change for some time to come.
There is no evidence that such engagement will take place. The party is 90% white and currently has a regressive "base" of Tea Party/right-wingers that are a cultural derivative of the Jim Crow South (where its main strength still resides). This base sees its "way of life" being usurped largely by minorities of various sorts. I'd say that courting African-Americans is low on the priority list. At present the Party is mostly engaged in putting lipstick on a pig that is wholly focused on pandering to that "base".
It should be no surprise that for a Black American the Republican Party is a lonely outpost. Unfortunately, that's not likely to change for some time to come.
2
It's not just that Trump was nominated (only a fraction of Republicans voted for him), it's that so few Republicans have repudiated him. It has been clear since early in his candidacy that he had a fundamentally racist appeal, which he has been happy to cultivate. But almost no Republicans, especially prominent ones, have been willing to say that this makes him unfit.
There is another side to this. Coupled with this atavistic racism has been a wholly unwarranted demonization of the Democrats. They justify their votes for Trump by saying: well, the alternative is Hillary, whom they paint as obviously worse. This is deranged. We need to point out that this sort of demonization, which is used to prop up unacceptable candidates, is an integral part of the problem.
There is another side to this. Coupled with this atavistic racism has been a wholly unwarranted demonization of the Democrats. They justify their votes for Trump by saying: well, the alternative is Hillary, whom they paint as obviously worse. This is deranged. We need to point out that this sort of demonization, which is used to prop up unacceptable candidates, is an integral part of the problem.
5
Professor Rigueur has dotted her essay with signs of hope from years past. She aptly describes them as "moments," or "occasional glimpses," usually associated with policy initiatives such as Kemp's Enterprise Zones. We African-Americans have never been hoodwinked by tepid outreach when the coded language and the public metaphors have trumped statements of intent to the contrary. Let me add Pat Buchanan's 1992 Speech at the Houston Republican Convention and his call to arms for the Culture Wars to begin. Forget not that Ronald Reagan's first campaign stop after winning his Party's nomination in 1980 was to Neshoba County, MS to reassure white southerners of his belief in States' rights. It was as if he had spat on the graves of Cheney, Goodman and Schwerner whose lynched bodies had been found there in 1964 after registering blacks to vote. His white folks got it, and we got it too. White America has all but forgotten that; we have not. And each time Reagan's greatness is proclaimed, we see that Republican icon in Neshoba County, promising no enforcement of Federal civil rights laws in Mississippi or in what was the traditional Jim Crow south. He kept his promise. Don't forget Willie Horton, that Bush I ad leveraging white fear. And now, the Republican efforts to disenfranchise black voters to ensure that a Barack Obama never happens again. They have treated him like dirt, called him a liar to his face in a Joint Session of Congress. Add these to your essay, Professor Rigueur.
9
fact check: the republican party did not nominate mr. trump. the electorate, consisting of voters registered as republican, independent, and even democrat, nominated mr. trump.
true, the slate of republican candidates, including many party stalwarts, were unable to defeat mr. trump through their own choice of campaigning. but again, that's not the party.
parties shape themselves to pre existing social realities. there is a large number of ignorant, bigoted, fearful people in america, and somebody has to sell them ice cream.
parties are almost never in the long game. for example, priebus issued a "post mortem" arguing that republicans had to do better appealing to women and hispanics. and look what happened instead.
political parties are just parasitical institutions in the game for their own sake. they don't have a "soul" to be lost, and they don't have a vision of what comes next. they're just about hanging on to power, one election at a time.
true, the slate of republican candidates, including many party stalwarts, were unable to defeat mr. trump through their own choice of campaigning. but again, that's not the party.
parties shape themselves to pre existing social realities. there is a large number of ignorant, bigoted, fearful people in america, and somebody has to sell them ice cream.
parties are almost never in the long game. for example, priebus issued a "post mortem" arguing that republicans had to do better appealing to women and hispanics. and look what happened instead.
political parties are just parasitical institutions in the game for their own sake. they don't have a "soul" to be lost, and they don't have a vision of what comes next. they're just about hanging on to power, one election at a time.
Republicans have done what they can to drive the Black vote to Democrats. They have:
1) enacted voter suppression laws in a dozen or more states with the clear intent of taking the right to vote away from Black Americans. The intent of this legislation is to make Blacks second-class citizens, as there is clearer way to do that than to deny the right to vote based on race.
2) attacked President Obama for eight years to make it appear that he is not a real American; to make him a one-term president; to make it impossible or difficult to govern.
3) taken away already paid for medical care for poor Blacks by refusing to expand Medicaid in 20 or more states for no better purpose than to spite President Obama.
4) attacked the BLM movement by making it appear that the movement promotes violent attacks on police, when, in fact, it is a non-violent movement to settle clear grievances without violence in the tradition of civil rights movements in this country.
1) enacted voter suppression laws in a dozen or more states with the clear intent of taking the right to vote away from Black Americans. The intent of this legislation is to make Blacks second-class citizens, as there is clearer way to do that than to deny the right to vote based on race.
2) attacked President Obama for eight years to make it appear that he is not a real American; to make him a one-term president; to make it impossible or difficult to govern.
3) taken away already paid for medical care for poor Blacks by refusing to expand Medicaid in 20 or more states for no better purpose than to spite President Obama.
4) attacked the BLM movement by making it appear that the movement promotes violent attacks on police, when, in fact, it is a non-violent movement to settle clear grievances without violence in the tradition of civil rights movements in this country.
80
This sentence appeared in the piece:
There have been moments of success. Jack Kemp comes to mind; in 1986, he seemed to have won a consensus among Republicans with his plan to turn it into the “party of civil rights and of human rights and voting rights and legal rights and economic opportunities.”
Surely, the words "in 1986" are a typo, are they not? It was in 1996, not 1986, that Jack Kemp was on the Republican ticket as VP candidate.
There have been moments of success. Jack Kemp comes to mind; in 1986, he seemed to have won a consensus among Republicans with his plan to turn it into the “party of civil rights and of human rights and voting rights and legal rights and economic opportunities.”
Surely, the words "in 1986" are a typo, are they not? It was in 1996, not 1986, that Jack Kemp was on the Republican ticket as VP candidate.
1
Trump supporters are angry middle class whites who believe that the government has favored minorities at their expense. Additionally, Wall Street, the banks, and other structural factors are believed to be aligned against them. The black middle class shares many of these views. But they consider hostility to social welfare programs to be racist, notwithstanding the fact that they earn too much to benefit from many of the programs. . Bottom line, all middle class Americans have similar interests. If Trump were able,, he would disavow his supporters' racism and welcome the black middle class. With their support, Trump would be effectively tied with Clinton. But it isn't going to happen.
Trump's white supporters don't want to join with blacks and they make decisions of inclusion and omission. Trump, for all his bluster, is not in charge of much of the decision-making in his campaign. Trump is unable to take advantage of common middle class interests,. He cannot or will not coerce his supporters to join with blacks, and that could cost him the election.
Trump's white supporters don't want to join with blacks and they make decisions of inclusion and omission. Trump, for all his bluster, is not in charge of much of the decision-making in his campaign. Trump is unable to take advantage of common middle class interests,. He cannot or will not coerce his supporters to join with blacks, and that could cost him the election.
13
Prof Rigueur ends with "... instead of saying “farewell” to African-Americans, the G.O.P. will say “welcome” — and actually mean it."
And therein lies the rub. They don't mean it, haven't for decades and their political strategy, as noted, is dependent on the angry white voter. Their influence in DC comes from gerrymandered House districts and red states where they can continue to carry Senate seats -- both are electoral moves based on appealing to white voters with programs veiled in racist dog-whistles.
The GOP's chances of winning a national election are plummeting and soon, perhaps surprisingly soon, their ability to hold either house of Congress will follow. As a long-standing Progressive I find this eventuality appalling. I don't trust one-party systems -- even it it's my own Democrats who are in charge.
And therein lies the rub. They don't mean it, haven't for decades and their political strategy, as noted, is dependent on the angry white voter. Their influence in DC comes from gerrymandered House districts and red states where they can continue to carry Senate seats -- both are electoral moves based on appealing to white voters with programs veiled in racist dog-whistles.
The GOP's chances of winning a national election are plummeting and soon, perhaps surprisingly soon, their ability to hold either house of Congress will follow. As a long-standing Progressive I find this eventuality appalling. I don't trust one-party systems -- even it it's my own Democrats who are in charge.
3
Growing up in the U.S. watching American TV, American movies, it's pretty hard to believe that we aren't programmed to be racist. My duty as I try to be a moral and responsible citizen, is to struggle against the stereotypes that have been presented to me. Without acknowledging the cultural reinforcement of white superiority I don't see how one can begin to become a fair and just person. The conservative members on the Supreme Court must be broken hearted that their efforts to help disenfranchise people of color have been dealt recent setbacks. The G.O.P. is now openly the party of White Supremecists. Before Trump it was "wink wink, nudge nudge."
3
I have noticed an intent for the republican party to deny the pervasive existence of racism as it is today in the USA. I can see this thinking with recent Supreme Court rulings on issues like "affirmative action" and "voting rights." This is why I am so proud of the Black Lives Matter making sure that they and their issues will not continue to be invisible in the USA.
I am convinced that creating awareness on this subject has had a lot to do with even state conservative appeal courts ruling against recent republican legislation designed to depress the minority vote.
I am convinced that creating awareness on this subject has had a lot to do with even state conservative appeal courts ruling against recent republican legislation designed to depress the minority vote.
1
You asked a question, but like all questions in the Times it is not a question! It is a launching pad for a false premise.
The elitist club, her adherents and aspire-es are intent on creating yet another feudal society under a different banner. A monarchy of sorts based on the Clintons, Bushes, Kerry's, Obama's et al. What do they have in common, you rightly ask?
Self service to the exclusion of and acceptance of humanity.
Unquenchable power hunger.
Disregard for law and order.
A moral vacuum that allows complete and utter insulation from any suffering or human feelings.
It is not the GOP or even the DP that is not real it is the careful subjugation of the many to benefit the few that the founding of The United States has briefly interrupted that they cannot tolerate.
We don't need racial outreach we need a meritocracy that truly adheres to the simple statement "We hold these truths to be self evident...
That statement alone would have those loathsome creatures who lie, cheat, steal and rise to power with impunity, by dint of venal people and media support, shunned and prosecuted.
Say hello to the rage and revolt of those people endowed by their creator under freedom or AKA Donald Trump.
The elitist club, her adherents and aspire-es are intent on creating yet another feudal society under a different banner. A monarchy of sorts based on the Clintons, Bushes, Kerry's, Obama's et al. What do they have in common, you rightly ask?
Self service to the exclusion of and acceptance of humanity.
Unquenchable power hunger.
Disregard for law and order.
A moral vacuum that allows complete and utter insulation from any suffering or human feelings.
It is not the GOP or even the DP that is not real it is the careful subjugation of the many to benefit the few that the founding of The United States has briefly interrupted that they cannot tolerate.
We don't need racial outreach we need a meritocracy that truly adheres to the simple statement "We hold these truths to be self evident...
That statement alone would have those loathsome creatures who lie, cheat, steal and rise to power with impunity, by dint of venal people and media support, shunned and prosecuted.
Say hello to the rage and revolt of those people endowed by their creator under freedom or AKA Donald Trump.
I think that Republicans have missed the boat on how to appeal to black voters. Many Republican policies, if implemented, would disproportionately help people of color, and yet Republicans do not tout these policies to minorities. These include:
1.School choice- blacks disproportionately are consigned to failing schools in poor neighborhoods because they lack the resources to move to better school districts or pay for private school.
2. Illegal Immigration- Blacks and Latinos have significantly higher unemployment rates than whites. Illegal immigrants (who have essentially 100% employment) are taking entry level and minimum wage jobs away from legal immigrants and African Americans. Furthermore they put downward pressure on wages which further hurts people of color.
3. Crime- Blacks are many times more likely to be victims of crime than whites. Law and order may be a code word for racism, but no group benefits more from a lower crime rate than Blacks. Furthermore, Republicans (who admittedly have been hampered by the press) have not made the case that upwards of 40 times more blacks are killed by criminals than by police.
When Democrats offer nothing more than the failed status quo, I am amazed than even a single black or Latino votes for a Democrat. Republicans could offer a real alternative. A message of better schools, better and more jobs, and safer neighborhoods would resonate with some if not all blacks and Latinos. The case just needs to be made!
1.School choice- blacks disproportionately are consigned to failing schools in poor neighborhoods because they lack the resources to move to better school districts or pay for private school.
2. Illegal Immigration- Blacks and Latinos have significantly higher unemployment rates than whites. Illegal immigrants (who have essentially 100% employment) are taking entry level and minimum wage jobs away from legal immigrants and African Americans. Furthermore they put downward pressure on wages which further hurts people of color.
3. Crime- Blacks are many times more likely to be victims of crime than whites. Law and order may be a code word for racism, but no group benefits more from a lower crime rate than Blacks. Furthermore, Republicans (who admittedly have been hampered by the press) have not made the case that upwards of 40 times more blacks are killed by criminals than by police.
When Democrats offer nothing more than the failed status quo, I am amazed than even a single black or Latino votes for a Democrat. Republicans could offer a real alternative. A message of better schools, better and more jobs, and safer neighborhoods would resonate with some if not all blacks and Latinos. The case just needs to be made!
12
The historic problem of the "racial crossroads" of the G.O.P. or any other dominant party in the history of this country is the crisis of all settler colonial nation states such as the U.S. Necessary structural economic inequities and the social order needed to validate and maintain the structure of the settler colonial state determine all so-called racial crossroads in the past, present and future. Social, political, and economic containment is the default order of the settler colony.
This containment or container culture permeates all settler colonial institutions and informs, if not wholly constructs, its dominant ideology. Settler colonies take the form of foreign invasion and systematic extraction of capital in various forms for the exclusive benefit of the settler and not for the indigenous population. Rationalizing ideologies follow and are infused in the colony's institutional structures; these provide the imaginary for rationalized social inequities and embodiment of "otherness."
African Americans importation in mass to America was unequivocally a function of capitalism, as were the decimation of beaver in the early fur trade and the violent appropriation of Native American land. In fact, settler colonial activity is necessarily a function of and dependent upon violence, despite all claims to the contrary in settler law and dominant religious theology.
Any "welcoming" by the G.O.P. or any other dominant party of the settler colony necessarily made of straw!
This containment or container culture permeates all settler colonial institutions and informs, if not wholly constructs, its dominant ideology. Settler colonies take the form of foreign invasion and systematic extraction of capital in various forms for the exclusive benefit of the settler and not for the indigenous population. Rationalizing ideologies follow and are infused in the colony's institutional structures; these provide the imaginary for rationalized social inequities and embodiment of "otherness."
African Americans importation in mass to America was unequivocally a function of capitalism, as were the decimation of beaver in the early fur trade and the violent appropriation of Native American land. In fact, settler colonial activity is necessarily a function of and dependent upon violence, despite all claims to the contrary in settler law and dominant religious theology.
Any "welcoming" by the G.O.P. or any other dominant party of the settler colony necessarily made of straw!
1
Professor Rigueur offers the usual croc of PC.
Nobody has it in for blacks: Not whites, not Asians, not Republicans or Democrats.
Lets pause for a moment and ask just what the black community is costing.
The budget for Environmental Protection Act < 10 billion dollars. The endangered species act < 2 billion. The amount spent on welfare > 1,000 billion.
There are an estimated 42 million African Americans living in the United States in 2013 making up close to 13 percent of the population. While white overall population growth has slowed, be it cities or suburban; blacks have continued to have comparatively high birth rates.
Those on welfare are 40% black = 400 billion dollars for what are at most 13% of the population but growing.
70% of the black communities children are born out of wed lock.
What a wonderful improvement in life could be had with that 400 billion dollars for the country as a whole or a relief to taxpayers it could bring.
Pile on 13 million illegal immigrants and a Dem. party that feels its AOK to pile it on the backs of working middle class and poor, no wonder Trump resonates. BTW I am voting for Hillary but am sickened at the choices.
So just what inclusion is Riguer asking for. Just give us a Trump with ideas to backup his oh so welcome politically incorrect observations and the Republicans will run away with the election.
Nobody has it in for blacks: Not whites, not Asians, not Republicans or Democrats.
Lets pause for a moment and ask just what the black community is costing.
The budget for Environmental Protection Act < 10 billion dollars. The endangered species act < 2 billion. The amount spent on welfare > 1,000 billion.
There are an estimated 42 million African Americans living in the United States in 2013 making up close to 13 percent of the population. While white overall population growth has slowed, be it cities or suburban; blacks have continued to have comparatively high birth rates.
Those on welfare are 40% black = 400 billion dollars for what are at most 13% of the population but growing.
70% of the black communities children are born out of wed lock.
What a wonderful improvement in life could be had with that 400 billion dollars for the country as a whole or a relief to taxpayers it could bring.
Pile on 13 million illegal immigrants and a Dem. party that feels its AOK to pile it on the backs of working middle class and poor, no wonder Trump resonates. BTW I am voting for Hillary but am sickened at the choices.
So just what inclusion is Riguer asking for. Just give us a Trump with ideas to backup his oh so welcome politically incorrect observations and the Republicans will run away with the election.
3
Trump is the culmination of a long Republican history of divide and conquer with roots that are pre Civil War.
The deep dynamic within the Republican party is Establishment vs Sharecroppers. Prior to the Civil War the wealthy establishment in the south was only a small percentage of whites. They saw the opportunity to introduce racism as a divide and conquer tactic so that poor white sharecroppers would not unite with poor African American sharecroppers in a revolt against their terrible economic conditions, which were made worse by the establishment's use of slave labor (a white sharecropper had no economic viability against large plantations powered by slave labor).
Institutionalized racism, underscored by rules and laws, was a strategic tactic: By giving poor whites tools and rules and cultural means to consider themselves superior, that ensured they would not find solidarity with poor African Americans, and thus there was no chance of large numbers of the poor challenging small numbers of establishment wealthy.
This race-based divide and conquer strategy has subtly persisted to this day as a means for the wealthy establishment to harness the power of non-wealthy. A sense of race-based superiority was used in dog-whistle manner to help the establishment achieve its capitalistic goals while preventing backlash.
With Trump, however, the modern day sharecroppers have finally decided to revolt, albeit 100% within the context of the age old structure that was created.
The deep dynamic within the Republican party is Establishment vs Sharecroppers. Prior to the Civil War the wealthy establishment in the south was only a small percentage of whites. They saw the opportunity to introduce racism as a divide and conquer tactic so that poor white sharecroppers would not unite with poor African American sharecroppers in a revolt against their terrible economic conditions, which were made worse by the establishment's use of slave labor (a white sharecropper had no economic viability against large plantations powered by slave labor).
Institutionalized racism, underscored by rules and laws, was a strategic tactic: By giving poor whites tools and rules and cultural means to consider themselves superior, that ensured they would not find solidarity with poor African Americans, and thus there was no chance of large numbers of the poor challenging small numbers of establishment wealthy.
This race-based divide and conquer strategy has subtly persisted to this day as a means for the wealthy establishment to harness the power of non-wealthy. A sense of race-based superiority was used in dog-whistle manner to help the establishment achieve its capitalistic goals while preventing backlash.
With Trump, however, the modern day sharecroppers have finally decided to revolt, albeit 100% within the context of the age old structure that was created.
47
I know an older African American man. We've talked politics. He said that he used to be a Republican before the party went nuts. He dates it back to when the Dixiecrats exited the Democratic party after LBJ signed the Civil Rights Act. The GOP poisoned itself. They wanted votes more than they cared about reason. It's been over 50 years but the Dixiecrats and the GOP together have spawned a candidate like Trump. They did this by downplaying the effects of Jim Crow. They claimed that any minority group requesting equal treatment was demanding special treatment.
In the last 8 years they've proven their bigotry, small mindedness, and complete unsuitability to govern by the way they've treated President Obama and America for electing him. They paid us back by shutting down the government, by refusing to step up and help all Americans recover from the depression of 2008, by refusing to allot funds to improve and update our infrastructure, and by having an 8 year long temper tantrum because an African American has been in the White House.
I hope, as an American, that we are a better nation and that the possibility of a Trump White House does not happen. However, given what is going on, I don't want to hope too hard. I know what happened in Germany with Hitler.
In the last 8 years they've proven their bigotry, small mindedness, and complete unsuitability to govern by the way they've treated President Obama and America for electing him. They paid us back by shutting down the government, by refusing to step up and help all Americans recover from the depression of 2008, by refusing to allot funds to improve and update our infrastructure, and by having an 8 year long temper tantrum because an African American has been in the White House.
I hope, as an American, that we are a better nation and that the possibility of a Trump White House does not happen. However, given what is going on, I don't want to hope too hard. I know what happened in Germany with Hitler.
85
The Obama administration has been a disaster for "black voters"; income inequality has increased, while labor participation has declined. Perhaps Trump can do better.
8
A Republican Congress made sure the administration could not work at full force to revive the economy. That hurt all pocketbooks.
If the Republicans had their way they would reintroduce slavery. Indeed, black labor participation would skyrocket at 100%.
You have it exactly wrong. Our Republican Congress has been a disaster for our black citizens.
The party did not nominate Trump the voters did. The limits of Democrat identity politics is when you economically injure a very large demographic and they bolt both party organizations.
7
Michael S, the registered Republican voters nominated Trump, not all Republican voters. There is a difference and yes, that difference exists for Clinton as well. The GOP practices identity politics too. They have relied upon using race, gender, religion, and sexual preferences to pick up members. But rather than being inclusive, they have used them as ways to keep people out or keep America white.
15
"When you are accustomed to Privilege, Equality feels like Oppression" - THAT is the problem. That is "White Resentment Politics" in a nutshell.
2
What an easy opinion to respond to: Pursuit of the African-American vote, as opposed to the pursuit of specific concerns to that community, hasn't ever ranked highly with the G.O.P.
11
Nor has it ranked highly for the Democrats. Just look at the deplorable conditions of the inner cities of Detroit, Baltimore, Newark, Philadelphia, etc., all controlled by the Democratic party for decades.
1
The GOP has used thinly disguised racist language for decades. It was the party of rich white men and country club women. Now it is the party of overt hate, discrimination, distortion of facts, ignorance of facts, ( news flash: yes, Putin invaded Crimea, and no, a giant border wall is pointless and you can't force a sovereign nation to pay for it) The GOP has degraded to be the party of poorly educated people riled up by hate filled rhetoric and angry lies and they are prepared to blame everyone but themselves. So much for the party of self-reliance.!
41
Take a look at the people who go to Trump rallies....the answer is some Republican are but many are not. The party has
the video of his rallies are both scary, racist, and intimidating...
Yes, I understand people are frustrated and politicians have not delivered but there is a point of decency and morality that people must respect...I am not talking about political correctness I am talking about respectful language.
The people at the Trump rallies don't care about that and until the party can demonstrably show that they are not afraid of demographic changes that are occurring they will continue to reduce their appeal and their base.
the video of his rallies are both scary, racist, and intimidating...
Yes, I understand people are frustrated and politicians have not delivered but there is a point of decency and morality that people must respect...I am not talking about political correctness I am talking about respectful language.
The people at the Trump rallies don't care about that and until the party can demonstrably show that they are not afraid of demographic changes that are occurring they will continue to reduce their appeal and their base.
18
If you make people feel unwanted, then don't be surprised if they reject you. For ages, the GOP has demonized, belittled, and straight-out alienated African-Americans as a group, and now wonder why you get only 18 AA delegates at the last RNC convention.
Actions speak louder than words, and a sample of their actions have pointed toward VoterID rules (hindering many minorities voting access, and also accuses them of voter fraud), anti-affirmative action (as if blacks have no problem with discrimination), the reaction towards Black Lives Matter (as if it said Black Lives Matter Only), and the OPEN DISRESPECT they have shown toward President Obama. Why would that win over the African-American community?
Maybe if you started liking African-Americans, it might get reciprocated, but then you'd lose a significant portion of GOP philosophy.
Actions speak louder than words, and a sample of their actions have pointed toward VoterID rules (hindering many minorities voting access, and also accuses them of voter fraud), anti-affirmative action (as if blacks have no problem with discrimination), the reaction towards Black Lives Matter (as if it said Black Lives Matter Only), and the OPEN DISRESPECT they have shown toward President Obama. Why would that win over the African-American community?
Maybe if you started liking African-Americans, it might get reciprocated, but then you'd lose a significant portion of GOP philosophy.
28
Why remove yourself from power? The GOP has done very well running with whiteness. As it catered to whiteness, it grew in strength. The southern white establishment switched labels, and the GOP has enjoyed the advantages. They control both houses of congress, the courts, and the white house a good bit of the time. They reduced the ability of minorities to vote and have created congressional districts to minimize minority voting power. Get real. They are very real as of now.
21
Answer: Because they sincerely and pointedly do not want to. Any more stupid questions?
31
You are asking a party with a 40-year history of courting white racists to improve outreach to blacks???
51
You are looking at nothingness. If elected, Donald Trump will do more to improve the lives of African Americans than any President since Lincoln.
For mainstream Republicans and Democrats, having a sizable percentage of the population living in poverty, is great. It ensures that the rich will get richer. As long as there is a "poverty pool", wages will be depressed and employers will make more money. When Trump speaks about, "making American great again", that is not code for "white again", it is code for good sustainable jobs again. Poor whites and blacks will benefit from real jobs.
The policy since Bill Clinton's Presidency has been to ship factories and jobs overseas, where the poorest of the poor can work for scraps. There is an old saying, "Don't judge a book by it's cover", something we have forgotten in this Politically Correct madness.
For mainstream Republicans and Democrats, having a sizable percentage of the population living in poverty, is great. It ensures that the rich will get richer. As long as there is a "poverty pool", wages will be depressed and employers will make more money. When Trump speaks about, "making American great again", that is not code for "white again", it is code for good sustainable jobs again. Poor whites and blacks will benefit from real jobs.
The policy since Bill Clinton's Presidency has been to ship factories and jobs overseas, where the poorest of the poor can work for scraps. There is an old saying, "Don't judge a book by it's cover", something we have forgotten in this Politically Correct madness.
11
What makes you think that the billionaire businessman (born into his money not earned) whose only motivation in life has been power and money has any interest in helping the poor (much less this interest in and ability to create the kinds of jobs you're seeking)? Not only that, he as a track record of stiffing workers on his projects in order to protect his profits. It's a pipe dream that Trump will raise up all boats. The Donald is only interested in the Donald.
The cover is pretty ugly and allowed a forum for ugliness for his supporters.
Trump has never done anything for anybody that wasn't an offshoot of benefiting himself and has left plenty of people holding the bag after he split - why should we trust him now? He has shown an ignorance of issues and an ignorance in leadership, but you don't recognize that.
As for the example you give of jobs going overseas since the Clinton presidency, that started in the late 1960s once Europe and Japan had recovered from the war, and developing countries (Korea, Brasil) developed, providing us with our first competition since WWII started and the U.S. not wanting to upgrade our outmoded plant and equipment to match their state of the art. Then there was the import penetration of autos during the oil crises in the early and late 70s, because Detroit insisted Americans didn't want small cars. The rust belt happened in the 70s, and the hollowing out has continued since then, for a variety of reasons; Trump doesn't have a clue how to stop it, hasn't shown a tendency to stop it in his business dealings or meet with politicians in the past to stop it, and he has congress to work with/against.
BUT, if he doesn't win, you and he will still be able to make your claims, that if only Trump had won, we'd all be better off. All I will see is a LOSER!
Trump has never done anything for anybody that wasn't an offshoot of benefiting himself and has left plenty of people holding the bag after he split - why should we trust him now? He has shown an ignorance of issues and an ignorance in leadership, but you don't recognize that.
As for the example you give of jobs going overseas since the Clinton presidency, that started in the late 1960s once Europe and Japan had recovered from the war, and developing countries (Korea, Brasil) developed, providing us with our first competition since WWII started and the U.S. not wanting to upgrade our outmoded plant and equipment to match their state of the art. Then there was the import penetration of autos during the oil crises in the early and late 70s, because Detroit insisted Americans didn't want small cars. The rust belt happened in the 70s, and the hollowing out has continued since then, for a variety of reasons; Trump doesn't have a clue how to stop it, hasn't shown a tendency to stop it in his business dealings or meet with politicians in the past to stop it, and he has congress to work with/against.
BUT, if he doesn't win, you and he will still be able to make your claims, that if only Trump had won, we'd all be better off. All I will see is a LOSER!
1
"When Trump speaks about, "making American great again", that is not code for "white again", it is code for good sustainable jobs again. Poor whites and blacks will benefit from real jobs."
That is exactly what the GOP wants you to infer.
"The policy since Bill Clinton's Presidency..." Wrong president, not that Bill wasn't to the right of reagan and fully in the pocket of Wall Street. reagan is the POTUS who destroyed our economy and made it legal to buy then intentionally tank, break up, and ship overseas profitable manufacturing plants. The equipment they owned was worth more then the price of buying them! Then there were the fringe benefits of lowering wages while they tanked it and stealing the H&W and Pension funds under the pretense of trying to save it.
That is exactly what the GOP wants you to infer.
"The policy since Bill Clinton's Presidency..." Wrong president, not that Bill wasn't to the right of reagan and fully in the pocket of Wall Street. reagan is the POTUS who destroyed our economy and made it legal to buy then intentionally tank, break up, and ship overseas profitable manufacturing plants. The equipment they owned was worth more then the price of buying them! Then there were the fringe benefits of lowering wages while they tanked it and stealing the H&W and Pension funds under the pretense of trying to save it.
Professor Rigueur elides mention of Ronald Reagan's 1980 speech in Neshoba County, Mississippi, where Reagan stated that he "believed in states' rights." As times columnist Bob Herbert pointed out, Neshoba County was "a vicious white-supremacist stronghold. Just days earlier, members of the Ku Klux Klan had firebombed a black church in the county and had beaten terrified worshipers."
Herbert continued, Reagan, "was elbow deep in the same old race-baiting Southern strategy of Goldwater and Nixon. Everybody watching the 1980 campaign knew what Reagan was signaling at the fair. Whites and blacks, Democrats and Republicans — they all knew. The news media knew. The race haters and the people appalled by racial hatred knew. And Reagan knew."
For decades, the Republican Party has been the party of white supremacy.
And everyone knows it.
Herbert continued, Reagan, "was elbow deep in the same old race-baiting Southern strategy of Goldwater and Nixon. Everybody watching the 1980 campaign knew what Reagan was signaling at the fair. Whites and blacks, Democrats and Republicans — they all knew. The news media knew. The race haters and the people appalled by racial hatred knew. And Reagan knew."
For decades, the Republican Party has been the party of white supremacy.
And everyone knows it.
153
And the Democrat party has been the party of racists, the party that has kept blacks down on the Dem plantashun with one pack of lies after another. Dems supports teacher unions over students which, in large urban areas, ensures that blacks get a worse-than-crappy education (all while the elites in the Dem party send their kids to private school!), Dems support ever-increasing minimum wages which discriminates against uneducated (thanks to Dem support of teacher unions) inner-city blacks trying to find a job, Dems support expanding welfare that makes jobless (because of Dem policies on education and the min wage) inner-city blacks dependent on the government. And as anyone can plainly see, Dems care not one twit about the slaughter of young black males occurring in cities (almost all run by Dems).
The KKK would support the policies Dems have put in place to 'help' blacks in this country. Even worse, so-called black leaders like Sharpton and Jackson and the NAACP have become wealthy exploiting blacks with the race card. Any guesses why they support Dem policies policies that have destroyed generation after generation of black families?
The KKK would support the policies Dems have put in place to 'help' blacks in this country. Even worse, so-called black leaders like Sharpton and Jackson and the NAACP have become wealthy exploiting blacks with the race card. Any guesses why they support Dem policies policies that have destroyed generation after generation of black families?
The GOP has never represented everyday Americans besides throwing a few backwards social beliefs their way. It's been obvious to female, black, hispanic and LGTBQ voters that the GOP doesn't care about them, but only now are white male working class voters catching on to this fact, and that's why Trump is their nominee.
As long as there is Citizens United, politicians will not have to represent the citizens, and the Democratic party isn't immune to this either
As long as there is Citizens United, politicians will not have to represent the citizens, and the Democratic party isn't immune to this either
8
The title of this editorial is a question when the simple declarative: "The GOP Can't Get Real with Black Voters" is more reflective of reality. As long as the propaganda tentacles of the GOP, in the form of Fox News, and AM hate radio, beat the drum of racial resentment for their uneducated white base, any "plan" to soften the image is nothing but empty words.
7
"Nixon's 'law and order' stance"-- ??? Have you heard the Nixon tapes? He was an out and out racist bigot. What he had to say about African Americans cannot be repeated in a newspaper that prints all the news that's fit to print.
And the current party and its nominee for president are still pandering to racist bigots. "90 to 94 percent [of African Americans] hold unfavorable views of the nominee"-- ??? I thought that it was 100%, which makes more sense.
And the current party and its nominee for president are still pandering to racist bigots. "90 to 94 percent [of African Americans] hold unfavorable views of the nominee"-- ??? I thought that it was 100%, which makes more sense.
13
Those 6% of AA voters who support Trunp are likely 'aspirational voters', i.e. those who believe voting for him will make them a part of his promised dream.
Think of it as voting to get a full-ride scholarship to attend Trump U.
Think of it as voting to get a full-ride scholarship to attend Trump U.
"Why Can’t the G.O.P. Get Real With Black Voters?"
That is NOT even a serious question. It's a joke. Its a sad commentary of the true state of racism in America.
The GOP is not interested in black voters. Republicans are not interested in civil rights, fair housing, access to education, real inclusive voter registration, desegregation, women's rights or health care for women, making college affordable, rebuilding infrastructure, science, removing big money from elections, ending special interests, or diluting ultra conservative morality and values.
Republicans are interested in denying the science of global warming and pollution by fossil fuels. Republicans are only interested in white, wealthy and good Christians who accept Donald Trump's demeaning of Moslems and minorities.
The Republicans are racist, bigoted, hate filled religious conservatives with no regard to rights of others. Republicans, especially the ones who love the race baiting rhetoric of Donald Trump are indifferent to blacks, women and minorities.
The Republicans are not the "party of civil rights and of human rights and voting rights and legal rights and economic opportunity." They are the party of hopelessness, despair, discrimination, racism, fantasy science (humans walked with the dinosaurs), fear and hate mongering.
Why can't the GOP get real with blacks? Because they hate them. Because they don't want blacks polluting their sacred gene pool. Because black lives do not matter. Because.
That is NOT even a serious question. It's a joke. Its a sad commentary of the true state of racism in America.
The GOP is not interested in black voters. Republicans are not interested in civil rights, fair housing, access to education, real inclusive voter registration, desegregation, women's rights or health care for women, making college affordable, rebuilding infrastructure, science, removing big money from elections, ending special interests, or diluting ultra conservative morality and values.
Republicans are interested in denying the science of global warming and pollution by fossil fuels. Republicans are only interested in white, wealthy and good Christians who accept Donald Trump's demeaning of Moslems and minorities.
The Republicans are racist, bigoted, hate filled religious conservatives with no regard to rights of others. Republicans, especially the ones who love the race baiting rhetoric of Donald Trump are indifferent to blacks, women and minorities.
The Republicans are not the "party of civil rights and of human rights and voting rights and legal rights and economic opportunity." They are the party of hopelessness, despair, discrimination, racism, fantasy science (humans walked with the dinosaurs), fear and hate mongering.
Why can't the GOP get real with blacks? Because they hate them. Because they don't want blacks polluting their sacred gene pool. Because black lives do not matter. Because.
13
Why can't the GOP get black voter support? Simple - because they don't want it. The population of racist whites in the USA is larger than the population of African-Americans, so they decided to court that demographic instead.
15
Here's why the GOP doesn't court black voters - the bulk of their economic vision isn't one shared by the white working class. Sure - the blue collar contingent doesn't want the social safety net to extend to people of color, but make no mistake - they want the social safety net to be under them. Therefore, the way the GOP gets those folks to vote for them is to demonize minorities. The GOP says they will cut the part of the government who is taking from you, white working class, and giving to the undeserving black and latinos, and also keep other menacing brown people out of the country. They calculate they can win 51% of the vote by simultaneously courting the people to whom this appeals and enacting voting laws designed to keep down voter participation in traditionally Democratic constituencies.
12
They are being real with black voters. The GOP doesn't want to attract black voters.
17
"Why Can’t the G.O.P. Get Real With Black Voters?"
Math.
Once they make any legitimate outreach to Black voters that would result in party gains, they would lose a multiple of that from their base, which is comprised largely of bigots.
This is the least mysterious thing ever.
These occasional party wide "autopsies" are really nothing more than transparently feeble attempts to make them appear like they're "trying", and to assuage their own guilt.
These exercises are nothing more than an excuse to rent some fancy hotel rooms somewhere and throw a lavish party. They have nothing to do with crafting a real strategy to do minority outreach.
Their last "autopsy" resulted in Donald Trump. Enough said.
Until the raw demographics overwhelm them and they start losing their grip on state governments , the GOP will keep doing what it always does.
Pander to their white base.
This is what they are, and what they will always be.
Math.
Once they make any legitimate outreach to Black voters that would result in party gains, they would lose a multiple of that from their base, which is comprised largely of bigots.
This is the least mysterious thing ever.
These occasional party wide "autopsies" are really nothing more than transparently feeble attempts to make them appear like they're "trying", and to assuage their own guilt.
These exercises are nothing more than an excuse to rent some fancy hotel rooms somewhere and throw a lavish party. They have nothing to do with crafting a real strategy to do minority outreach.
Their last "autopsy" resulted in Donald Trump. Enough said.
Until the raw demographics overwhelm them and they start losing their grip on state governments , the GOP will keep doing what it always does.
Pander to their white base.
This is what they are, and what they will always be.
29
Respectfully, I must disagree - specifically with your statement 'to assuage their own guilt.' They do not have any feelings of guilt. They know exactly what they are doing, and why.
This election, possibly the most important of my lifetime, will be a race between the Democratic party trying to get out the vote, and the GOP trying to suppress it. The reduced number of jurisdictions using full-auto electronic voting machines is going to make hacking and stealing the election just a bit harder.
This election, possibly the most important of my lifetime, will be a race between the Democratic party trying to get out the vote, and the GOP trying to suppress it. The reduced number of jurisdictions using full-auto electronic voting machines is going to make hacking and stealing the election just a bit harder.
1
This is a great observation, JayK. I bestow on you an honorary NYT pick.
1
Right on! You expressed this better than I could have done. Thank you.
1
I would argue that the dilema is more inside the so-called "black-american" "community"....which is misguided in its attempt to stress "black" instead of "american".
1
Dear Short End, "black-americans" have not stessed their racial ethnicity. "white-americans" have stressed the difference since 1865, and will not let anyone forget.
1
Blacks voting Democrat are the poster children for the term voting against their own interest.
Eventually they will figure it out.
Eventually they will figure it out.
3
That's a laugh, Ken. Which party spends the most time desperately trying (and succeeding) to disenfranchise minority voters? Which party did the racists migrate to after the civil rights era? Quit suggesting black people are stupid. They know which party represents their interests.
2
Through tax reform, the charitable sector could be persuaded to expand transitional jobs to maintain full employment during economic downturns and vice versa. Imagine a GOP that put everyone to work without a massive expansion of government spending and government payrolls.
1
What has the Dem Party done for black people in the last decade or so? Which Dem President spent time in Flint, Detroit, South Chicago and other devastated communities that they only further devastated by NAFTA?
Black people are just another identity group that can stand in line in the Dem Hospital waiting for attention from mostly white intellectuals.
By the evidence Dems have failed them tremendously but who wants to admit that?
Black people are just another identity group that can stand in line in the Dem Hospital waiting for attention from mostly white intellectuals.
By the evidence Dems have failed them tremendously but who wants to admit that?
4
There is some truth in your comment. I would not argue that that the Democratic Party--or Barack Obama has done much to address the multitude of problems of "living while black".
On the other hand, I'd label their sins largely errors of omission. The GOP, on the other hand, has shown itself to be openly hostile to blacks (and Hispanics and etc.). One need look no further than their widespread efforts to keep African-Americans out of the voting booth.
Would you--or anyone--willingly vote for those who are laser-focused on depriving you of the right to vote?
On the other hand, I'd label their sins largely errors of omission. The GOP, on the other hand, has shown itself to be openly hostile to blacks (and Hispanics and etc.). One need look no further than their widespread efforts to keep African-Americans out of the voting booth.
Would you--or anyone--willingly vote for those who are laser-focused on depriving you of the right to vote?
1
As a black Trump supporter said to a CNN reporter, the Democratic party is a plantation.
I see no other race in America that gets the kind of political attention that blacks do despite the fact that every other race faces the same national issues: Hispanics combat poverty, Whites combat police violence, Asians combat racism. Yet Democrats look to count how many blacks there are... well... everywhere (conventions, courts, police stations, coaches, politicians, on and on), and what those numbers 'mean.' I don't see them counting how many Native Americans there are, Hispanics, Asians, and so-on, and what that 'means.' Perhaps numbers alone don't 'mean' much?
So one must ask themselves, why all the fuss over black voters? Are they the only race that needs to be told how bad it is or how much opportunity there is? Well, the DNC emails leaked regarding their opinion of the Hispanic voting populous should give you a glimpse into the reason. And it isn't because supporting minorities is the honorable thing to do; it's because they want your vote.
So if speeches about, and attempts at, social engineering, affirmative action, and quotas (i.e. numbers not substance) spur the kind of social and economic mobility that you're after, then the Democratic party is the place for you. As the DNC said, in their emails, all you need is "a good story." Combine that with Jonathan Gruber's acclaimed assessment of "the stupidity of the American voter" and you have the Democrat's political playbook.
I see no other race in America that gets the kind of political attention that blacks do despite the fact that every other race faces the same national issues: Hispanics combat poverty, Whites combat police violence, Asians combat racism. Yet Democrats look to count how many blacks there are... well... everywhere (conventions, courts, police stations, coaches, politicians, on and on), and what those numbers 'mean.' I don't see them counting how many Native Americans there are, Hispanics, Asians, and so-on, and what that 'means.' Perhaps numbers alone don't 'mean' much?
So one must ask themselves, why all the fuss over black voters? Are they the only race that needs to be told how bad it is or how much opportunity there is? Well, the DNC emails leaked regarding their opinion of the Hispanic voting populous should give you a glimpse into the reason. And it isn't because supporting minorities is the honorable thing to do; it's because they want your vote.
So if speeches about, and attempts at, social engineering, affirmative action, and quotas (i.e. numbers not substance) spur the kind of social and economic mobility that you're after, then the Democratic party is the place for you. As the DNC said, in their emails, all you need is "a good story." Combine that with Jonathan Gruber's acclaimed assessment of "the stupidity of the American voter" and you have the Democrat's political playbook.
6
My question for good GOP folks like David Brooks: what really is the future of the GOP when a key part of its base is so racist that they readily sacrifice religious or moral values to make the country more white? I do not see a path here for the GOP to ever get much support from people of color given that 30-35% of its base have sold their soul to devil for the sake of whiteness.
22
DebraH: I expect that the future of the GOP will be an even greater reliance (hard as that may be to imagine) on demagoguery, gerrymandering, and voter suppression.
Republican party is the party of the white man. The white man's party has stymied President Obama on every issue. The white man's party lives under the assumption "if you tell a lie long enough, it becomes the truth.'
These Republicans do not like black people - is it any wonder why the have continued to deny President Obama any successes.
When President Obama wanted to appoint a black woman to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, three old white senators stood up and stated that will not happen. I guess in their minds, it is bad enough to have a black president, but having a black secretary of state to represent a black President and this country, is too much.
Now it is the white man who refuses to accept an accomplished woman as President of the United States. I have worked with men who have difficulties accepting orders from women in supervisory capacity.
I think Hillary will be a great President. Another eight years of economic prosperity should leave the white man's party struggling to survive!
These Republicans do not like black people - is it any wonder why the have continued to deny President Obama any successes.
When President Obama wanted to appoint a black woman to replace Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State, three old white senators stood up and stated that will not happen. I guess in their minds, it is bad enough to have a black president, but having a black secretary of state to represent a black President and this country, is too much.
Now it is the white man who refuses to accept an accomplished woman as President of the United States. I have worked with men who have difficulties accepting orders from women in supervisory capacity.
I think Hillary will be a great President. Another eight years of economic prosperity should leave the white man's party struggling to survive!
32
Well, it is already brain-dead. A stopped heart should follow on Nov. 9. Then, we can pronounce this patient officially deceased, by it's own hand.
2
I would submit that the Republican Party offers nothing of substance to most African Americans (actually, most Americans, full stop). Sure, that's backed up by rhetoric, but their policies are based on a world view that laughably suggests that rich whites, not blacks, are the victims of racism. The biggest problems in our country, in their minds, seem to be efforts to help poor people and minorities and that the rich pay too much in taxes. That's just not going to align with the reality of most African Americans, I would guess. Their rhetoric isn't the problem, it's just a symptom of their real problem: an unwillingness to look at the world through anyone else's eyes, all the while assuming your experience is representative and that you know all you need to know. It's an arrogant arrogant group—no matter how much they complain about "elites."
30
in the South there is the white people's party and the black people's party. White people here means those continuing in the evolution of the old core Southern "values" rooted in race justified slavery, progressing through Klan terrorism, and on through Jim Crow.
As the white people's party, then the Southern Democrats, were squeezed by the increasingly active progressive wing of the national Democrats, they combined forces with the Republicans, benefiting R. Nixon initially. Blacks. previously the minority Southern Republicans, migrated to the new minority Democrats. Being buffeted by that migration was a dispiriting experience for this naive Southern progressive.
in the South, the two parties, however named and no matter how many studies are commissioned by Republican grandees, won't be significantly biracial for a long time.
How long will we struggle to fix this deeply flawed society bequeathed to us that we are passing along to our heirs?
As the white people's party, then the Southern Democrats, were squeezed by the increasingly active progressive wing of the national Democrats, they combined forces with the Republicans, benefiting R. Nixon initially. Blacks. previously the minority Southern Republicans, migrated to the new minority Democrats. Being buffeted by that migration was a dispiriting experience for this naive Southern progressive.
in the South, the two parties, however named and no matter how many studies are commissioned by Republican grandees, won't be significantly biracial for a long time.
How long will we struggle to fix this deeply flawed society bequeathed to us that we are passing along to our heirs?
13
Mississippi is the blatant example of this: In 2012, Obama won 96 percent of the black vote and Romney won 90 percent of the white vote (including 95 percent of white males).
Race, not class, is by far the best indicator of someone's political leanings in the Deep South.
Race, not class, is by far the best indicator of someone's political leanings in the Deep South.
1
Take heart - more and more people in this country are 'bi-racial'.....and I suspect that when the percentage of black, brown, and mixed race voters gets to a certain level, the party of white domination will simply shrivel up into irrelevance.
Let's not be naive---the GOP has always been a white man's country club only.
18
When it was first founded - 1850-something - the GOP had a real concern for freeing the slaves. Most people account the guidance of Richard Nixon and his Southern Strategy as the turning point. At 70 years old, I can remember voting for that now-extinct breed the 'moderate Republican' - leaders that were fiscally conservative (by which I mean that they were willing to vote for taxes to pay for what they thought the country needed) and who gave a pretty good impression of caring about the rights of all Americans. Alas, those good men and women are long gone, driven from the GOP by the hatefulness of code-word racism.
It's not just saying "welcome": it's accepting African-American initiatives and, especially, African-American leadership. We are well past the time when saying "welcome" was acceptable. Now, that would be considered condescending. You can no longer "invite" people of color into "your" party while keeping white leadership.
16
When will blacks get real about the Republican party? They have spent years disenfranchising black voters, a party priority. Why would you think that even for a second this is the party for you?
33
Who is disenfranchising who? Democratic mayors and city councils have controlled most major cities (think Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Detroit, etc) for decades and you're siding against the Republicans?
1
The party did not "nominate" Trump except under duress. We all know that the party's favorite was Jeb Bush and not Trump.
But I do feel that the party has failed to mine large groups of minority voters.
For instance, abortion is illegal in most of Latin America where Hispanics are deciding on their own laws. But in the US, the Hispanic voters are allied with the pro-choice Democrats.
Similarly, when there was a referendum in California to keep marriage between one man and one woman, it passed largely because of black support. And yet black voters favor the Democrats, overwhelmingly.
Presumably the Republican party is seen as racist and dominated by white men. This is not entirely true, but has certainly a kernel of truth. And this fact drives the minorities into the arms of the Democrats who do not actually share their values, but are welcoming to them as political allies.
But I do feel that the party has failed to mine large groups of minority voters.
For instance, abortion is illegal in most of Latin America where Hispanics are deciding on their own laws. But in the US, the Hispanic voters are allied with the pro-choice Democrats.
Similarly, when there was a referendum in California to keep marriage between one man and one woman, it passed largely because of black support. And yet black voters favor the Democrats, overwhelmingly.
Presumably the Republican party is seen as racist and dominated by white men. This is not entirely true, but has certainly a kernel of truth. And this fact drives the minorities into the arms of the Democrats who do not actually share their values, but are welcoming to them as political allies.
1
The Republican Party, already a minority party nationwide, can hardly afford to jettison the legacy of Nixon's "Southern Strategy" - the frightened bigots who, today, are delighted to be backing the likes of Donald Trump - but that is in fact their only route to salvation.
In the long term, perhaps if they softened their positions on social issues, the GOP might regain relevance by attracting replacements from more moderate conservatives, but this is where the toxic synergy between racism and religious intolerance works its evil magic: The appallingly regressive platform adopted in Cleveland promises business as usual, or worse. (Their inexplicable addiction to a failed economic theory - a wretched mess renounced by the very people who created it - is a separate problem.)
I don't expect them to see the light until their current strategies, gerrymandering and voter suppression, fail to hold against the tide of demographics.
In the long term, perhaps if they softened their positions on social issues, the GOP might regain relevance by attracting replacements from more moderate conservatives, but this is where the toxic synergy between racism and religious intolerance works its evil magic: The appallingly regressive platform adopted in Cleveland promises business as usual, or worse. (Their inexplicable addiction to a failed economic theory - a wretched mess renounced by the very people who created it - is a separate problem.)
I don't expect them to see the light until their current strategies, gerrymandering and voter suppression, fail to hold against the tide of demographics.
3
I wish people commenting on what black people *need* or *want* were actually black themselves or actually knew black people.
I've never heard one black person say they vote for welfare or vote because they believe that somehow a president or a party is going to do something for them. Frankly, I think anyone who believes that who is part of the 99% is naïve, including white voters who think Trump is going to make America white again.
No, black people simply vote against the blatant racism of the GOP. People talk about black people in this paternalistic way. As though black people are children who don't even realize their "plight". That tone has been used about black people since they landed on these shores. Black people are very well aware of their "plight". They live it daily. They are very well aware of systemic and overt and covert racism. They know it better, in their view, than any whites pontificating about what blacks know, think, or understand.
Actually, Obama has done something for black people and Trump, too. They've both exposed the deep racism of this country that black people have been saying for years.
Now is all hanging out, on social media, on cellphones.
Thank you Obama for that one and a backhand, thank you, to Donald Trump.
Has anyone seen the NYT article/video of Trump supporters at his rallies?
We already knew that.
I've never heard one black person say they vote for welfare or vote because they believe that somehow a president or a party is going to do something for them. Frankly, I think anyone who believes that who is part of the 99% is naïve, including white voters who think Trump is going to make America white again.
No, black people simply vote against the blatant racism of the GOP. People talk about black people in this paternalistic way. As though black people are children who don't even realize their "plight". That tone has been used about black people since they landed on these shores. Black people are very well aware of their "plight". They live it daily. They are very well aware of systemic and overt and covert racism. They know it better, in their view, than any whites pontificating about what blacks know, think, or understand.
Actually, Obama has done something for black people and Trump, too. They've both exposed the deep racism of this country that black people have been saying for years.
Now is all hanging out, on social media, on cellphones.
Thank you Obama for that one and a backhand, thank you, to Donald Trump.
Has anyone seen the NYT article/video of Trump supporters at his rallies?
We already knew that.
1
The question is stated in reverse. It should be when will the black voters get real with the Republican Party?
The past 8 years has not been kind to Black America, economically, education, social injustice. The Obama economy has been harshest on blacks, especially the youth. His Administration has made a concerted effort to shut down Charter schools to protect the donors, the teachers union. Attorney General Holder even went as far as to sue the State of Louisiana for opening too many Charter schools. He lost. The vast majority of students in these schools are black. In NYC the Charter schools far outperform the publics, by a long shot.
Black America should be embracing charter schools. Hillary's plan is preschool. Public preschool, the very same system that has failed Black America.
Trump wants to take control of our southern border. The Liberal elitist, all guilty white people point and scream "racist!" It reminds me of that scifi classic, "Invasion of the Body Snatchers".
Black America follows along, they don't realize is that millions have moved here in the past 20 years, who are more than willing to undercut their wages and take their jobs.
Much of the problem is the media, and of course the academics are not helping.
Professor Rigueurs' entire reason for this piece is politics. She doesn't like Trump. Instead she ignores the demographics, which tells the whole story. Shocking for a Prof at Harvard.
The past 8 years has not been kind to Black America, economically, education, social injustice. The Obama economy has been harshest on blacks, especially the youth. His Administration has made a concerted effort to shut down Charter schools to protect the donors, the teachers union. Attorney General Holder even went as far as to sue the State of Louisiana for opening too many Charter schools. He lost. The vast majority of students in these schools are black. In NYC the Charter schools far outperform the publics, by a long shot.
Black America should be embracing charter schools. Hillary's plan is preschool. Public preschool, the very same system that has failed Black America.
Trump wants to take control of our southern border. The Liberal elitist, all guilty white people point and scream "racist!" It reminds me of that scifi classic, "Invasion of the Body Snatchers".
Black America follows along, they don't realize is that millions have moved here in the past 20 years, who are more than willing to undercut their wages and take their jobs.
Much of the problem is the media, and of course the academics are not helping.
Professor Rigueurs' entire reason for this piece is politics. She doesn't like Trump. Instead she ignores the demographics, which tells the whole story. Shocking for a Prof at Harvard.
Is there really any surprise that the GOP has low support from the Afro-American community? The Republican Party has consistently insinuated that the black community has a large number of welfare cheats, are violent ie, black on black crime vs police brutality, continually say disparaging remarks about President Obama, want to rescind the ACA which provides medical care for many individuals that never had medical coverage before and the list goes on. The Republican Party has made it very clear that they support the upper 1%in the way of tax breaks because they are the supposedly the job creators, but does not hold them accountable for the lack of meaningful jobs. The Republican base is dwindling because the socioeconomic conditions of the US is changing and it scares the GOP, but they have no idea how to grow their base without offending their money source.
6
What Kemp described as, “party of civil rights and of human rights and voting rights and legal rights and economic opportunities.” is not the Republican party. The fact that decade after decade of feeble attempts to make it the party of diversity have failed should make this obvious. To hold out hope that one day Republicans will "actually mean it" when they gloss over racial inclusion for the sake of getting votes is to hope that my dog will start walking on two legs. If you find yourself continually swimming upstream, maybe you should abandon your denial, turn around and go the other way.
5
The a author has the issue of black voters completely upside down.to do so The author's deep misunderstanding of reality is reflective of many black voters, who are shooting themselves in the foot by automatically handing their votes to the Democratic Party, which then takes them for granted and does nothing for them. Even with a black president, look at the rise in violence against black people by the police about which the Democratic Party has done exactly nothing. There simply is no evidence at all that would convince the GOP there is anything it could do to win over black voters, so the GOP unsurprisingly does not try. To the contrary, when black leaders try to point out to black voters that they should court the GOP and get a bidding war going, they are viciously shouted down as Uncle Toms. Just read the comments to this post and gape at the vitriolic attacks on the GOP. Then you need not wonder why the GOP is alienated from black voters, and why black voters continue in a backwater of politics, their needs unmet.
"about which the Democratic Party has done exactly nothing."
Perhaps you missed the statements of repub Congressional leaders, both in the House and Senate, who stated they would block any of Obama's legislative proposals, no matter what. With Congress holding the purse strings, "nothing" is all that's left for anyone in the country. Refusing to even negotiate with our black president, is why we have "nothing".
Perhaps you missed the statements of repub Congressional leaders, both in the House and Senate, who stated they would block any of Obama's legislative proposals, no matter what. With Congress holding the purse strings, "nothing" is all that's left for anyone in the country. Refusing to even negotiate with our black president, is why we have "nothing".
In the 1950s, the GOP was taken over by staunchly segregationist Southern Democrat. Because of Federal changes promoting integration, including the Brown vs. The Board of Education Supreme Court decision, the so-called Dixiecrats split from the Democratic Party and supported the campaign of Strom Thurmond for POTUS. When that bid failed, there was a mass exodus to the GOP, where they created the so-called "Southern Strategy."
Ever since, the GOP has increasingly become nothing more than the National White Citizen's Council, appealing to different classes of "whites" in formerly coded but in a increasingly blatant tribal manner. The modern GOP never had any intention of "racial inclusion;" it pays lip service to it only when it believes it is advantageous to do so. (Neither did the GOP of Lincoln, who, quiet as it's kept, wanted to move all of the newly freed slaves either back to Africa or to Panama.)
Unfortunately, a lot of so-called educated and moneyed black elites get duped into supporting the GOP, which has historically racist roots.
I attribute this to a virulent form of Stockholm Syndrome.
Ever since, the GOP has increasingly become nothing more than the National White Citizen's Council, appealing to different classes of "whites" in formerly coded but in a increasingly blatant tribal manner. The modern GOP never had any intention of "racial inclusion;" it pays lip service to it only when it believes it is advantageous to do so. (Neither did the GOP of Lincoln, who, quiet as it's kept, wanted to move all of the newly freed slaves either back to Africa or to Panama.)
Unfortunately, a lot of so-called educated and moneyed black elites get duped into supporting the GOP, which has historically racist roots.
I attribute this to a virulent form of Stockholm Syndrome.
6
I keep hearing about serious, reasonable Republicans who are aghast at Trump and will take back their party after he loses. But they seem completely un-aghast at the voter suppression tactics being carried out by Republicans in states across the country. No matter what they say, they can't run away from the party-wide attempts to take away the right to vote from Blacks and other minorities, and their lack of complaint about these laws really says it all.
18
There is no mystery that I can see.
Republicans are willing to pretend to embrace all Americans when they think that they can trick people into voting for them. But at their core they are the party of white privilege and control. Trump just makes that crystal clear for all to see.
The party of Lincoln has become the party of repression and hate.
Republicans are willing to pretend to embrace all Americans when they think that they can trick people into voting for them. But at their core they are the party of white privilege and control. Trump just makes that crystal clear for all to see.
The party of Lincoln has become the party of repression and hate.
9
The bigger question is, why cant the DEMOCRATS get real with black voters? For 50 years, they have campaigned on a platform that they are the party that will lift the black community out of poverty and turn their fortunes around. And in those 50 years the Democrats have made little change.
Maybe by forging better alliances with the Republican party, we could actually have the change that the Democrats always promise, and always fail to deliver.
However, I would note that the real issue is something neither party seems to want to discuss because they dont know how to deal with it - the parenting that underprivileged african-american children receive in their earliest years. We need to do a much better job of helping unprepared parents (e.g., single teen mothers) to provide their children with the values and resources they need in years 0-5 to be prepared to succeed in school. Why is nobody talking about THAT?
Maybe by forging better alliances with the Republican party, we could actually have the change that the Democrats always promise, and always fail to deliver.
However, I would note that the real issue is something neither party seems to want to discuss because they dont know how to deal with it - the parenting that underprivileged african-american children receive in their earliest years. We need to do a much better job of helping unprepared parents (e.g., single teen mothers) to provide their children with the values and resources they need in years 0-5 to be prepared to succeed in school. Why is nobody talking about THAT?
3
The only thing more hilarious than the perception that the GOP is not the correct place for those who want to strive for a better self and a better America is the notion that the lefty democrats give a hoot about anything but the black vote on election day. They are seen as a demographic that can be easily exploited with a few trite platitudes and free stuff. All you have to do is look at the failed Obama / Emanuel experiment in Chicago. How's that working out? You will never learn.
I'm going to assume you are white.
You have no idea what you are talking about.
I vote democratic.
I work and own my own home, pay taxes, and paid for my own education out of pocket - in cash. My husband, who is white, lost his job when his big fortune 500 company shipped his job to Mexico. He votes democratic.
I don't receive and don't qualify for "free stuff". I don't know any black people getting "free stuff". All the black people I know work.
And all of them vote democratic.
Why? Because the Republicans are blatantly racist. If anything, we vote democratic to vote *against* blatant racism.
We're not fooled.
We know the Democrats and the Republicans are run by old white men, who couldn't give two cents about black people.
You have no idea what you are talking about.
I vote democratic.
I work and own my own home, pay taxes, and paid for my own education out of pocket - in cash. My husband, who is white, lost his job when his big fortune 500 company shipped his job to Mexico. He votes democratic.
I don't receive and don't qualify for "free stuff". I don't know any black people getting "free stuff". All the black people I know work.
And all of them vote democratic.
Why? Because the Republicans are blatantly racist. If anything, we vote democratic to vote *against* blatant racism.
We're not fooled.
We know the Democrats and the Republicans are run by old white men, who couldn't give two cents about black people.
3
Perhaps it is time for a new political party!?!? Both parties were home to racists as I was growing up. But, when southern democrats left the democratic party around the time of Reagan, most of them jumped over to the GOP! They've remained steadfast ever since. The GOP continually denies harboring racists, but we all see it! I have to laugh at the pundits. The past 8 years they've been tossing around the possibility that the reason congress refuses to work with Obama is racism. Well of course it is! That was a huge waste of everyone's time to debate that for almost a decade. They wouldn't have done that to a white guy!! But, they WILL behave in similar fashion towards a woman and anyone who doesn't look like an old white Christian man! Strong words to be sure.
The racists stopped lynching black men and raping black women en masse only how many decades ago? Not centuries, decades! I believe these horrors continued at least up until FDR. Or did they? I think they just switched tactics. The covert violence against blacks is a much slower and agonizing kind. It has been the systematic economic strangulation of a race. This along with other policies helped to tear apart black families, to destablize communities. Eventually, the oppressed rise up! No one in the GOP considers the Black Lives Matter to be a legitimate viable group or have any real grievances. Doesn't that tell us all we need to know? Trump is the personification of covert GOP thought. Still think Hillary looks bad?
The racists stopped lynching black men and raping black women en masse only how many decades ago? Not centuries, decades! I believe these horrors continued at least up until FDR. Or did they? I think they just switched tactics. The covert violence against blacks is a much slower and agonizing kind. It has been the systematic economic strangulation of a race. This along with other policies helped to tear apart black families, to destablize communities. Eventually, the oppressed rise up! No one in the GOP considers the Black Lives Matter to be a legitimate viable group or have any real grievances. Doesn't that tell us all we need to know? Trump is the personification of covert GOP thought. Still think Hillary looks bad?
6
" the possibility that the reason congress refuses to work with Obama is racism. Well of course it is!"
It is not so simple. Are you quite sure that a Republican Congress would refuse to work with Ben Carson or Clarence Thomas or for that matter Nikki Haley?
Obama had three problems from the point of view of Republicans.
a) Only one of his parents was American and he grew up in Indonesia.
b) He is extremely liberal, much more than Bill Clinton (who signed DOMA) was.
c) He is black.
The pretense is that c) is the only thing which Republicans care about. But considering that they impeached Clinton and did not impeach Obama, your case is a bit weak.
It is not so simple. Are you quite sure that a Republican Congress would refuse to work with Ben Carson or Clarence Thomas or for that matter Nikki Haley?
Obama had three problems from the point of view of Republicans.
a) Only one of his parents was American and he grew up in Indonesia.
b) He is extremely liberal, much more than Bill Clinton (who signed DOMA) was.
c) He is black.
The pretense is that c) is the only thing which Republicans care about. But considering that they impeached Clinton and did not impeach Obama, your case is a bit weak.
I witnessed many efforts especially LBJ's Great Society, including my three kids witnessing an unpleasant event called bussing. I saw Chicago and the Fed's, build miles and miles of high rises on the south side for Blacks. Reality is, we still do not live together, segregation is still a major major factor.Any wonder African Americans depend to a large degree on the social democratic welfare state model. Without that model poverty would be far worse than it already is in the black community. Taxes pay for the support and a small %, 47% to be exact, are the primary contributors. These type issue separate objectives in our two party system. As the GOP implodes and we probably will see 16 years of a Democratic administration, and if the left gets both houses of Congress the Social Democratic Welfare State Model will get as deeply engrained as is so called globalization.
1
The GOP is the anti-other party: it is the last great refuge for those reject minorities, LGBT members and non-Christians. While many republicans would prefer to be more welcoming and diverse, they can't win an election without their fear and hate based constituents. The GOP tried in the last election to draw in more blacks and hispanics; this election their base trampled black and spanish-speaking candidates in favor of "Build a Wall" Trump.
It's like digging in a coal mine; you know the coal will kill you eventually, but without it you starve. The GOP just keeps digging deeper and deeper.
It's like digging in a coal mine; you know the coal will kill you eventually, but without it you starve. The GOP just keeps digging deeper and deeper.
6
At their mental substratum, that is, at that noncognitive level, what underlies their basis for belief is racism, mainly regarding African Americans as inferior to themselves, but that goes for all non-white people. An attitude of supremacy and dominance permeates the conservative political group. It is a wonder why any non-white would join the Republican Party, as it is a self-effacement to do so whether they admit it or not.
5
I will never understand why groups of religions, race, and gender vote straight down a party line. The Democrats go into every election winning the African American vote by a landslide and the majority of the African American population never hears from them until the next election. This is and always has been about class, not race, religion or gender. It seems that once a particular class has been reached the race, religion and gender thing becomes a topic of conversation at a cocktail party, and nothing else! Class is the great discrimination tool. It is today and it will be tomorrow. It is a special club and most of us aren't in it.
4
It is time for a new and inclusive center-right party in the US. The GOP made a fatal moral error when it adopted its "southern strategy" post the landmark civil rights acts of the mid-1960's. The decision to fan racial animus as a way to woo southern whites into the party has undermined the GOP's ability to attract minority voters ever since. From Reagan’s “states’ rights” speech given in Philadelphia Mississippi (the site where the three young civil rights volunteers were murdered by the KKK in 1964) through Jessie Helms “angry hands” commercial to Donald Trump’s outrageous claim that 88% of white murders are committed by blacks (per the FBI the actual number is 14%). Black people see this pattern of behavior and reject the GOP accordingly; notwithstanding in instances when they might otherwise agree with the GOP on policy grounds. It is a shameful history and as America becomes more diverse the GOP, as currently constructed, warrants the demise which is surely pending.
9
You are right. Hispanics, African Americans and Asian Americans are all culturally more conservative than white liberals.
But because of the Republican party's reputation as racist, magnified by the Democratic leaning media, minorities gravitate towards the Democrats.
Republicans are neither as racist or as sexist as Democrats claim. Both Indian American governors in the South have been Republican. Clarence Thomas is widely disliked by Democrats but it is undeniable that he is both black and Republican. So is Ben Carson who endorsed Trump. A woman, Sarah Palin has had tremendous influence on the Republican party, although not for the better.
So the "racism and sexism of Republicans" are exaggerated by the Democratic press. But if Republicans want to fight this canard, they have to be more up front about their lack of racism.
Trump could have picked Condi Rice or Nikki Haley or Mia Love as VP (assuming that they would have gone along). Picking Pence was a mistake.
But Trump is not a real Republican. Many other Republicans are far more tolerant in their speech and action than Trump is.
But because of the Republican party's reputation as racist, magnified by the Democratic leaning media, minorities gravitate towards the Democrats.
Republicans are neither as racist or as sexist as Democrats claim. Both Indian American governors in the South have been Republican. Clarence Thomas is widely disliked by Democrats but it is undeniable that he is both black and Republican. So is Ben Carson who endorsed Trump. A woman, Sarah Palin has had tremendous influence on the Republican party, although not for the better.
So the "racism and sexism of Republicans" are exaggerated by the Democratic press. But if Republicans want to fight this canard, they have to be more up front about their lack of racism.
Trump could have picked Condi Rice or Nikki Haley or Mia Love as VP (assuming that they would have gone along). Picking Pence was a mistake.
But Trump is not a real Republican. Many other Republicans are far more tolerant in their speech and action than Trump is.
"It is time for a new and inclusive center-right party in the US."
There is already a well-established, inclusive, center-right party. The Democratic Party.
There is already a well-established, inclusive, center-right party. The Democratic Party.
I hope you haven't bet your IRA on the final sentence of your article, Ms. Rigueur.
The Republican post-election cycle of "this time we'll convince the black voters" is the political counterpart to the alcoholic's hangover-induced vow to "never again." But here's another similarity between the Republicans and the drunk. Many alcoholics don't experience the skull-busting pain or the stomach-wrenching nausea that might potentially lead them to sobriety, if only temporarily, and a comparable change in behavior. Many Republicans (one is tempted at times to say "most, if not the vast majority") deal with their race problem in the same manner and with the same luck as the street wino with his Mad Dog 20/20. It is almost so predictable you could be excused for citing a genetic component as the primary factor. Or old adages: Birds of a feather flock together.
The Republican post-election cycle of "this time we'll convince the black voters" is the political counterpart to the alcoholic's hangover-induced vow to "never again." But here's another similarity between the Republicans and the drunk. Many alcoholics don't experience the skull-busting pain or the stomach-wrenching nausea that might potentially lead them to sobriety, if only temporarily, and a comparable change in behavior. Many Republicans (one is tempted at times to say "most, if not the vast majority") deal with their race problem in the same manner and with the same luck as the street wino with his Mad Dog 20/20. It is almost so predictable you could be excused for citing a genetic component as the primary factor. Or old adages: Birds of a feather flock together.
1
simply put the Republican Party has chosen to endorse racism and continues to do so. This is at times a subtle undercurrent but often it is right out front for everyone to see
It is no coincidence that the racially discriminatory voter ID were all enacted by Republican legislatures and six have been recently struck down by the courts.
When the speaker of the house publically acknowledges and identifies the racist and bigoted statements comments of the party's then presumptive nominee but in the next sentence says he'll continue to support him one can only conclude that Mr. Ryan doesn't understand racism and bigotry including his own.
The Wisconsin "snub" that Ryan and Walker have planned hardly constitutes the public repudiation a real commitment to make a meaningful stand against racism requires. GOP leadership continues to walk away from taking a moral stance when it comes to race. Time and time again they support it by action and silence.
Party of Lincoln ? Seriously who are they kidding? Only themselves.
It is no coincidence that the racially discriminatory voter ID were all enacted by Republican legislatures and six have been recently struck down by the courts.
When the speaker of the house publically acknowledges and identifies the racist and bigoted statements comments of the party's then presumptive nominee but in the next sentence says he'll continue to support him one can only conclude that Mr. Ryan doesn't understand racism and bigotry including his own.
The Wisconsin "snub" that Ryan and Walker have planned hardly constitutes the public repudiation a real commitment to make a meaningful stand against racism requires. GOP leadership continues to walk away from taking a moral stance when it comes to race. Time and time again they support it by action and silence.
Party of Lincoln ? Seriously who are they kidding? Only themselves.
3
Harvard is becoming less impressive as time goes by. First it was Mankiw, then Neil Ferguson, then Reinhart and Rogoff, and now this professor.
The fact that she has to go back to 1986 to call it "a crossroad" in American history when the Republican lost the black vote decades before , speaks volumes.
In 1988, Bush and the GOP decided to run Willie Horton ad to defeat Dukakis. Despite what civil rights gains that Jack Kemp made in 1986, the GOP quickly resorted to its old racist ways.
The GOP has long been a racist party, stemming back to at least Goldwater (even though he was not racist). The GOP has been at the forefront for decades opposing civil liberties, equal pay law, enacting strict voter ID laws that disenfranchise minorities, and calling Hispanics rapists, etc.
The author is a minority and clearly suffers from Stockholm Syndrome. I am sorry, but the GOP has never been open to minorities, from single mothers, gays, atheists, blacks, Hispanics, Muslim, etc.
The last time was maybe Lincoln and that is a far cry from 1986, and back when Northern Republicans were liberals and Southern Democrats conservatives.
The fact that she has to go back to 1986 to call it "a crossroad" in American history when the Republican lost the black vote decades before , speaks volumes.
In 1988, Bush and the GOP decided to run Willie Horton ad to defeat Dukakis. Despite what civil rights gains that Jack Kemp made in 1986, the GOP quickly resorted to its old racist ways.
The GOP has long been a racist party, stemming back to at least Goldwater (even though he was not racist). The GOP has been at the forefront for decades opposing civil liberties, equal pay law, enacting strict voter ID laws that disenfranchise minorities, and calling Hispanics rapists, etc.
The author is a minority and clearly suffers from Stockholm Syndrome. I am sorry, but the GOP has never been open to minorities, from single mothers, gays, atheists, blacks, Hispanics, Muslim, etc.
The last time was maybe Lincoln and that is a far cry from 1986, and back when Northern Republicans were liberals and Southern Democrats conservatives.
2
I saw the Willie Horton as a statement against Liberal's poor decisions about criminal behavior.
For those who've forgotten Horton was a man sentenced to life in prison for murder. Dukakis was running a program that let prisoners go home on weekends so they'd be more socialized in dealing with society.
What society? This man was in prison for life with no parole for a reason.
On one of his prison furloughs he murdered a man and raped his girlfriend.
That's what brought Dukakis down! His stupid and naive understanding of human nature not an advertisement revealing it.
For those who've forgotten Horton was a man sentenced to life in prison for murder. Dukakis was running a program that let prisoners go home on weekends so they'd be more socialized in dealing with society.
What society? This man was in prison for life with no parole for a reason.
On one of his prison furloughs he murdered a man and raped his girlfriend.
That's what brought Dukakis down! His stupid and naive understanding of human nature not an advertisement revealing it.
"Republican lost the black vote decades before"
They didn't "lose" it, they chose to pursue the racist vote instead. Nixon turned the Democratic "solid south" to solid red by playing white voters against black voters.
They didn't "lose" it, they chose to pursue the racist vote instead. Nixon turned the Democratic "solid south" to solid red by playing white voters against black voters.
1
When red states lower taxes for the wealthy they make up for it with relentlessness fines to their poorer communities. This is how Ferguson and Flint erupted.
The republicans tax and fine and jail and poison their poorer constituents while cutting education, investment and services to their communities.
The Republican Party had become the party of ignorant racists with no job skills who are dumb to want to vote for a man who hires foreigners and manufactures abroad
The republicans tax and fine and jail and poison their poorer constituents while cutting education, investment and services to their communities.
The Republican Party had become the party of ignorant racists with no job skills who are dumb to want to vote for a man who hires foreigners and manufactures abroad
9
Whether you're talking female, gay, black, brown, Muslim, Mexican, or Jew, it's very clear from the Unfiltered Voices video that NYT currently has on it's front page that Trump's loudest supporters are all about equal opportunity when it comes to laying blame upon the other for their vastly disappointing and seemingly tremendously useless little lives.
8
The Republican party sits on a base of racism, fear and greed. Without the largely bigoted, fearful and undereducated white base, all that would be left is the greediest Americans. That would leave them with 1% of the country. Do the math.
7
I'd just be happy if the GOP, racist that that it is, left black voters alone. Instead, it picked up the baton from the Dixiecrats, and committed itself to an election strategy of voter suppression. Thinly-veiled "anti-voter fraud" laws designed to decrease minority turnout, lifetime loss of voting rights for felons who have served their time, opposition to any and all initiatives to make voting easier, as it is in many other countries... the conclusion is inescapable: the Republican Party is not just an anti-Democratic party, it is an anti-democracy party.
13
Yet all these measures don't equal the number of voters who choose not to vote because they're too lazy, too disaffected, or too uninformed. If you're concerned about voter turnout then get people to vote.
What, aren't the republicans promising enough freebies? They will never be able to keep up with the world class pandering that the democrats do so why even try?
4
What an offensive statement - right out of Ronald Reagan's "welfare queen" accusation. Most black people - from the President to the laboror - are quite industrious; we often have to work twice as hard to be considered half as good as white. Comments about "freebies" exemplify the reason the GOP cannot connect with black voters.
5
Like more tax breaks for the already wealthy and increased military spending?
1
Dr. Rigueur's question carefully avoids the massive amount of data that is staring us in the face; one might say, the "elephant in the room."
Completely aside from the question of whose public policy positions might be correct, over the past 40 years, the Republican Party has self-selected to disproportionately include white Americans with high levels of racial resentment. This sorting has accelerated during the Obama era.
http://www.salon.com/2016/04/17/white_americas_obama_era_freakout_what_r...
Trump's nomination demonstrates that the traditional leadership of the Republican Party is no longer driving this train, and no longer has the power to do anything about this, even if they seriously wanted to.
It's rare for a complex question to have a simple answer, but this one actually does. "The G.O.P. Can't Get Real With Black Voters" because its base won't permit it.
Completely aside from the question of whose public policy positions might be correct, over the past 40 years, the Republican Party has self-selected to disproportionately include white Americans with high levels of racial resentment. This sorting has accelerated during the Obama era.
http://www.salon.com/2016/04/17/white_americas_obama_era_freakout_what_r...
Trump's nomination demonstrates that the traditional leadership of the Republican Party is no longer driving this train, and no longer has the power to do anything about this, even if they seriously wanted to.
It's rare for a complex question to have a simple answer, but this one actually does. "The G.O.P. Can't Get Real With Black Voters" because its base won't permit it.
7
When the party constantly passes legislation like voter suppression, gerrymandering, restrictions on women's health, and heaps scorn on Black Lives Matter and totally oppose a black President from day 1 ....
Are people going to believe the GOP rhetoric or their own lying eyes?
Are people going to believe the GOP rhetoric or their own lying eyes?
16
The Republican party should be the party of small government, educational choice, and equal opportunity. The Democratic party has espoused policies of income redistribution, adherence to the current education system, quotas and race based hiring, access to government contracts, and access to higher education. It should be a straightforward comparison. However, if these are two positions both with claims to a better life for all Americans, I doubt that the average Black American would support the Republican party regardless of Trump and his obvious problems
1
They are real. They make no attempt to hide their real racism and bigotry. Their desire to lead a charge of the White Brigade that will take the country back to Jim Crow is very real.
10
Knit together the pieces on issues with those on the Electoral College map. New York and California are the bluest states while Alabama and Mississippi are the redest states. That's not new and that's not Trump.
Segregation has been a core position of the Republican party for 50 years. Trump just broke the code and spelled it out with the wall and mass deportations.
Segregation has been a core position of the Republican party for 50 years. Trump just broke the code and spelled it out with the wall and mass deportations.
15
High courts around the nation have recently overturned multiple Republican state laws that resulted in the disenfranchisement and voter nullification of millions who lack milky white skin.
These laws, passed minutes after the right-wing Supreme Court had neutered and gutted the Voting Rights Act, literally reincarnated the Jim Crow era in GOP-governed states.
There are few places in the world where the government itself works so hard to decrease voting and voter turnout as there in Republistan,
Shouldn't we just call a spade a spade and call the Republican Party the White Supremacy Party, the New Confederacy Party or the 3/5 Party and recognize the truth that racism is flourishing in the totalitarian regime that is today's unAmerican Republican Party ?
Whites R Us is no way to run country club or a country, but some racists just don't want to learn, evolve or have to deal with 'others'.
Grand Old Prejudice 2016
These laws, passed minutes after the right-wing Supreme Court had neutered and gutted the Voting Rights Act, literally reincarnated the Jim Crow era in GOP-governed states.
There are few places in the world where the government itself works so hard to decrease voting and voter turnout as there in Republistan,
Shouldn't we just call a spade a spade and call the Republican Party the White Supremacy Party, the New Confederacy Party or the 3/5 Party and recognize the truth that racism is flourishing in the totalitarian regime that is today's unAmerican Republican Party ?
Whites R Us is no way to run country club or a country, but some racists just don't want to learn, evolve or have to deal with 'others'.
Grand Old Prejudice 2016
231
There was an oped earlier this week that said the Republican party was the stupid party.
You claim voter id laws affect black voters more. Any chance to explain why a black person is less capable of getting to a government office than a white person is.
If black people cant get to government offices, are the social programs designed by democrats bigoted, because black people cant figure out how to access them?
Or can it possibly be that this voter id issue is not racial - but repeated as such to create racial anger.
If there is no voter fraud, is it possible voter id laws on balance , dont prevent anyone from voting. Name 100 people in a country of 340 million affected. ( i use this similarly to the challenge that voter fraud doesnt exist).
You claim voter id laws affect black voters more. Any chance to explain why a black person is less capable of getting to a government office than a white person is.
If black people cant get to government offices, are the social programs designed by democrats bigoted, because black people cant figure out how to access them?
Or can it possibly be that this voter id issue is not racial - but repeated as such to create racial anger.
If there is no voter fraud, is it possible voter id laws on balance , dont prevent anyone from voting. Name 100 people in a country of 340 million affected. ( i use this similarly to the challenge that voter fraud doesnt exist).
Bragging about our legal system dying before our eyes because liberals are getting their way is hardly something to be proud of.
A series of political decisions have stripped the power of the people to make and enact laws to protect not only all people, but the rights guaranteed in the Constitution to each of us as the sovereign.
Let's unpack this and put the silly, partisan liberal glee club antics aside.
Suppose Trump wins.
And Trump packs the courts with right wing political ideologues.
Liberal Democrats in their respective states, create laws, get them passed and then a right wing organization sues to block them. The federal courts, now in political control of the Conservatives, strike them down, and dispatch their judicial clerks to piece together half baked legal reasoning based on fallacies to justify their decision (see the most recent voting rights case).
How will liberals feel when Conservatives show up on message boards gloating about their "victories?"
Obama liberals are so blind and ignorant to the facts and themselves that they can never manage to see more than one side of the coin. The problem with one party rule and dictatorships? They're only as good as the last one.
For once in your lives liberals, actually think about the consequences?
A series of political decisions have stripped the power of the people to make and enact laws to protect not only all people, but the rights guaranteed in the Constitution to each of us as the sovereign.
Let's unpack this and put the silly, partisan liberal glee club antics aside.
Suppose Trump wins.
And Trump packs the courts with right wing political ideologues.
Liberal Democrats in their respective states, create laws, get them passed and then a right wing organization sues to block them. The federal courts, now in political control of the Conservatives, strike them down, and dispatch their judicial clerks to piece together half baked legal reasoning based on fallacies to justify their decision (see the most recent voting rights case).
How will liberals feel when Conservatives show up on message boards gloating about their "victories?"
Obama liberals are so blind and ignorant to the facts and themselves that they can never manage to see more than one side of the coin. The problem with one party rule and dictatorships? They're only as good as the last one.
For once in your lives liberals, actually think about the consequences?
Agree 1000%.
It bothers me to no end that this SCOTUS removed voter rights protections claiming they were no longer necessary - with the ignorant assistance of that deep-south black Georgian who knew all too well black voter rights would be trampled upon immediately!!
It is either (sick) humor or ill-placed satire for that author to include Thomas' name as one urging more inclusion of black voters!!
It bothers me to no end that this SCOTUS removed voter rights protections claiming they were no longer necessary - with the ignorant assistance of that deep-south black Georgian who knew all too well black voter rights would be trampled upon immediately!!
It is either (sick) humor or ill-placed satire for that author to include Thomas' name as one urging more inclusion of black voters!!
3
I watched part of the Libertarian town hall last night on CNN. I was impressed with the answer to a question about Black Lives Matter from Shetamaia Taylor, the woman who was one of two civilians wounded in Dallas, and one of the protesters. The Libertarian presidential nominee, Gary Johnson, replied: ""What it has done for me is that my head's been in the sand on this. I think we've all had our heads in the sand. And let's wake up. This discrimination does exist, it has existed, and for me, personally, slap, slap, wake up."
His running mate William Weld added: ""I think we have a national emergency in the number of male black youth who are unemployed without prospects. They're four times as likely to be incarcerated if they have intersection with law enforcement as white people are. Their educational opportunities are not there. We have to get them in to education and just concentrate the power of the government, trying to make sure that there are jobs available for them. It's a national emergency and when there's a national emergency, the government has to respond. Libertarian or no libertarian."
As with almost every topic, the Libertarians seemed fifty times more reasoned and genuine than any GOP primary candidate, and a hundred times more than their nominee. If I were a Republican (crosses herself and spits quickly), and I couldn't bring myself to vote for HRC, or if I were black, conservative, and looking for a Democratic alternative, the Libertarians would have me.
His running mate William Weld added: ""I think we have a national emergency in the number of male black youth who are unemployed without prospects. They're four times as likely to be incarcerated if they have intersection with law enforcement as white people are. Their educational opportunities are not there. We have to get them in to education and just concentrate the power of the government, trying to make sure that there are jobs available for them. It's a national emergency and when there's a national emergency, the government has to respond. Libertarian or no libertarian."
As with almost every topic, the Libertarians seemed fifty times more reasoned and genuine than any GOP primary candidate, and a hundred times more than their nominee. If I were a Republican (crosses herself and spits quickly), and I couldn't bring myself to vote for HRC, or if I were black, conservative, and looking for a Democratic alternative, the Libertarians would have me.
22
Many libertarians (and Libertarians) believe that the Civil Rights Act should be repealed. Small "l" libertarians such as Rand Paul and his father Ron have argued that businesses should be allowed to discriminate.
I have been unable to discover Gary Johnson's position on this, but if he's a "true" libertarian, presumably he holds the same beliefs.
I have been unable to discover Gary Johnson's position on this, but if he's a "true" libertarian, presumably he holds the same beliefs.
3
The Libertarians do have their extremists too. There is one here on the radio who is so against any government control that no society would exist if his views were put into practice. They are the people who want to prove to you that the income tax is unconstitutional until you want to strangle them. I know another contractor who likes to brag that he has never paid income tax. Of course he works for cash only or takes a check only from someone who won't file a Form 1099. When work is slack he goes out and collects cans to sell to the recycling place. For a while he was climbing the fence at Reed's Gold Mine at night and panning for gold to sell until he was arrested for trespassing.
2
One need but look at the history of the GOP to understand it disconnect with Blacks. At its inception, as the party of Lincoln, it was a champion against slavery. Indeed many Blacks and their intellectuals supported the party of Lincoln through to the Roosevelt era. But over time a split and a transformation occurred in both parties with the modern Republican Party being born of "Lily white" republicans and Dixiecrats with their KKK and other racist groups.
Today's party cannot really call itself the party of Lincoln. And even though a handful of Blacks have held prominent positions in the party, there has always been a party elite who holds power as an "eminence grise" behind the scene reducing those Blacks to mere puppets.
When Mr. Obama was elected president the party was so distraught that at his first state of the union speech, a republican yelled; "you lie". This was the equivalent of; "release the kraken", because republicans went beserk refusing to work with the Black man. So the kraken, in the guise of Trump was released along with his birther movement et.al. gleefully supported by the party. What Donald Trump has done is to expose not just the underbelly of rank and file racism in the party, but the tacit racism of its leadership. Republicans do not want us, they want to destroy us.
Today's party cannot really call itself the party of Lincoln. And even though a handful of Blacks have held prominent positions in the party, there has always been a party elite who holds power as an "eminence grise" behind the scene reducing those Blacks to mere puppets.
When Mr. Obama was elected president the party was so distraught that at his first state of the union speech, a republican yelled; "you lie". This was the equivalent of; "release the kraken", because republicans went beserk refusing to work with the Black man. So the kraken, in the guise of Trump was released along with his birther movement et.al. gleefully supported by the party. What Donald Trump has done is to expose not just the underbelly of rank and file racism in the party, but the tacit racism of its leadership. Republicans do not want us, they want to destroy us.
145
The level of hatred toward Obama cannot be overstated. They absolutely needed to get the black man out of the White House. As a group, the senate and congress republicans did all they could to diminish and ridicule this fine President. What is worse, they still feel no shame and would do it again in a minute.
9
The lie called out during the state of the union turned out to in fact be a lie.
" at his first state of the union speech, a republican yelled; "you lie"
The South Carolina Representative who yelled that out did so at the point Obama said tax dollars would not be spent on health care for the "undocumented immigrants". A few months later the Democrat run Congress voted for $25 million dollars for health care for agricultural workers. Whose health care do you think that money went to? Riley was a little early in his criticism but he was right.
The South Carolina Representative who yelled that out did so at the point Obama said tax dollars would not be spent on health care for the "undocumented immigrants". A few months later the Democrat run Congress voted for $25 million dollars for health care for agricultural workers. Whose health care do you think that money went to? Riley was a little early in his criticism but he was right.
Trump has been called many things over the past 30 years. Never heard "racist" until he became a leading candidate.
16
Really? Being charged with discrimination for not renting to blacks 40 years ago didn't label him (and his father) as racist?
12
Where have you been? I've been hearing him called a racist since the late 80s. Of course there was always the 1973 racial discrimination case brought against his company by the DOJ.
10
You must have been asleep in 2011 when he first started claiming that Obama was not born in the USA.
10
"Why can't the GOP get real with black voters?"
Is this really a mystery that takes a study? One only needs to listen to or read the comments by those who call themselves Republicans to know. And if you aren't near any Trump supporters the NY Times has recorded their comments at Trump rallies and made them uncensored, unedited, for you at: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/04/us/politics/donald-trump-supporters.html
Yes they make their views on people that aren't just like themselves pretty clear with unequivocal epithets. Why would anyone, viewpoints on policy aside, who isn't like them feel welcome knowing that this vitriolic mob is the tolerated base of support for Trump and the Republican party?
Is this really a mystery that takes a study? One only needs to listen to or read the comments by those who call themselves Republicans to know. And if you aren't near any Trump supporters the NY Times has recorded their comments at Trump rallies and made them uncensored, unedited, for you at: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/04/us/politics/donald-trump-supporters.html
Yes they make their views on people that aren't just like themselves pretty clear with unequivocal epithets. Why would anyone, viewpoints on policy aside, who isn't like them feel welcome knowing that this vitriolic mob is the tolerated base of support for Trump and the Republican party?
47
The GOP has become the party of angry, often older white men. That's their point of view, they don't want it mongrelized by other beliefs, and that's it, period. Case closed.
1
"the tolerated base of support"
No. The **encouraged** base of support.
No. The **encouraged** base of support.
1
Maybe generations of being stomped on by small-minded people with superiority complexes who don't want to work with them, employ them, or let their kids play together - people like Trump - has something to do with it.
104
Why do the NYT and the left always play identity politics. Black voters make choices their own choices. Odd indeed, as it is the Democrats who are the party of the KKK and have done nothing to help minorities.
The reason for few Republican blacks is that the Republican party has been mostly white regional special interests and organized coalitions against federal power in their lives. Blacks historically have no comparable degree of privately organized state and local business interests seeking freedom from Big Government.
However much present federal power has advanced individual black civil rights within states, it has nonetheless crippled black business initiatives there as much as it has white business bottom lines. When white business looks for government it is looking for freedom from federal government. But black civil rights has been the sole political agenda of local black politicians.
The G.O.P., however, is not, as a matter of policy, ever been officially racist. But the G.O.P. aims for less federal intervention in individual and local affairs, while the Democrats want more federal government deciding local and state government policies.
Were a number of black commercial interests organized into state political coalitions based on black business prosperity and lower taxes, rather than federal social benefits, they would find common ground with the G.O.P. than with the Big Government agenda of the Democrats.
We know that to be true because of the positive response of immigrant businesses owned by Hispanics, Asians and immigrant black businesses to the G.O.P. outreach at the local, as well as at the state level.
However much present federal power has advanced individual black civil rights within states, it has nonetheless crippled black business initiatives there as much as it has white business bottom lines. When white business looks for government it is looking for freedom from federal government. But black civil rights has been the sole political agenda of local black politicians.
The G.O.P., however, is not, as a matter of policy, ever been officially racist. But the G.O.P. aims for less federal intervention in individual and local affairs, while the Democrats want more federal government deciding local and state government policies.
Were a number of black commercial interests organized into state political coalitions based on black business prosperity and lower taxes, rather than federal social benefits, they would find common ground with the G.O.P. than with the Big Government agenda of the Democrats.
We know that to be true because of the positive response of immigrant businesses owned by Hispanics, Asians and immigrant black businesses to the G.O.P. outreach at the local, as well as at the state level.
4
Most business, especially large business, looks for freedom from regulation--the ability to do whatever it wants to make the largest profit with the least control. That profit, as the last ~ 40 years, but especially the last 15, has demonstrated, goes to a tiny few, while the vast majority of gets screwed.
Unlike the US, most developed countries recognize that their workers deserve benefits for their efforts that businesses aren't inclined to give them--such as health care, vacations, sick leave, education--and, consequently, provide those things through government.
The GOP is the party of exploitative capital. THAT'S why its policies are what you pretend are about freedom.
Unlike the US, most developed countries recognize that their workers deserve benefits for their efforts that businesses aren't inclined to give them--such as health care, vacations, sick leave, education--and, consequently, provide those things through government.
The GOP is the party of exploitative capital. THAT'S why its policies are what you pretend are about freedom.
Why Can’t the G.O.P. Get Real With Black Voters? Because they have become almost exclusively the party of 1970's. On conservative sites it is interesting for visitors to call the Columbus suburbs 'rural' as if we are growing pastureland instead of lawns. Seriously, " The Columbus metro area is more rural than urban. Only the Downtown is urban"
Now we all know 'urban' is code for 'black and/or gay' but the reality is Columbus' downtown is now populated by white empty nesters and millennials. It is a attitude from the past.
It should be obvious to us all when Donald Trumps campaign has so many echos of Nixon. It's not the Party of Reagan, it is the party of White Flight.
Now we all know 'urban' is code for 'black and/or gay' but the reality is Columbus' downtown is now populated by white empty nesters and millennials. It is a attitude from the past.
It should be obvious to us all when Donald Trumps campaign has so many echos of Nixon. It's not the Party of Reagan, it is the party of White Flight.
19
Please it IS the party of Reagan, plus the party of Goldwater and, most importantly, the Party of Strom Thurmond.
1
While Republicans say they want the African-American vote, state legislators and governors pass voting laws that are intended to suppress African-American voter turnout. The first step in appealing to African-American's voters is supporting their right to vote.
81
There's no point in attracting Black voters when they work tirelessly to keep Blacks away from the polls.
133
Great insight Jennifer. Should have been NYT pick.
5
You must be referring to voting ID laws... It does't make sense to ask for 1 of 7 different kinds of ID when voting FOR PEOPLE WHO RUN OUR COUNTRY, but it's okay to ask for ID to open a bank account, cash a check, collect benefits, etc? How do you live without at least one of 7 forms of ID? The proverbial argument is that there is no fraud, so no need for a voter ID law. How in the world would anyone know the volume of fraud if there is no validation being performed when a person votes (there's literally no means to capture the necessary data points to perform a legitimate study). As long as you give a name of a registered voter, you're good to go. Any study out there would simply make the assumption that every person who voted was the person registered to vote.
Furthermore, the liberal concept of compromise is "our way." Tell me, what voting ID law would you support? I never hear proposals from democrats to work with conservatives on voting ID laws - it's just immediately dismissed as "racist." That implies that there is no voting ID law that a non-white is capable of complying with. There's no way possible to get ID into the hands of people who aren't white? That's literally how ridiculous the liberal argument is.
Furthermore, the liberal concept of compromise is "our way." Tell me, what voting ID law would you support? I never hear proposals from democrats to work with conservatives on voting ID laws - it's just immediately dismissed as "racist." That implies that there is no voting ID law that a non-white is capable of complying with. There's no way possible to get ID into the hands of people who aren't white? That's literally how ridiculous the liberal argument is.
The Republican Party hates blacks.
There are people in the GOP leadership so twisted they have absolutely no investment in the welfare - or even survival - of African Americans.
It's not about nominating Trump. The efforts to disenfranchise black voters with voter suppression laws and undoing the Voting Rights Act are basically insane and unAmerican. But they're doing it anyway.
The disgraceful attempt by the GOP leadership to delegitimize and thwart President Obama is the most grotesque, belligerent example of this - but it's far from the only proof of how racist and monstrous the GOP is.
As for the conservative media - that stupid comment by Bill O'Reilly 'fact checking' Michelle Obama's convention speech where he spoke out how well-fed and well-house the slaves who
built the White House were was an example of a deep moral cluelessness and bald-faced bigotry that permeates conservative media. It's almost laughable how gross FOX is.
All these years after the end of segregation and Jim Crow, the behavior of the Republicans with regard to race is stupefying.
There are people in the GOP leadership so twisted they have absolutely no investment in the welfare - or even survival - of African Americans.
It's not about nominating Trump. The efforts to disenfranchise black voters with voter suppression laws and undoing the Voting Rights Act are basically insane and unAmerican. But they're doing it anyway.
The disgraceful attempt by the GOP leadership to delegitimize and thwart President Obama is the most grotesque, belligerent example of this - but it's far from the only proof of how racist and monstrous the GOP is.
As for the conservative media - that stupid comment by Bill O'Reilly 'fact checking' Michelle Obama's convention speech where he spoke out how well-fed and well-house the slaves who
built the White House were was an example of a deep moral cluelessness and bald-faced bigotry that permeates conservative media. It's almost laughable how gross FOX is.
All these years after the end of segregation and Jim Crow, the behavior of the Republicans with regard to race is stupefying.
97
"The efforts to disenfranchise black voters with voter suppression laws and undoing the Voting Rights Act are basically insane and unAmerican."
For a country built on slavery and genocide, it is completely American.
For a country built on slavery and genocide, it is completely American.
2
And what is so amazing to me, is they don't even get what they did or said that was so offensive. Even if a slave lives in luxury, they are still a slave. So what in the world was O'Reilly trying to say? And by the way, this is not P.C. this is real, this is an insult to anyone who's family is descended from slaves.
2
Look, both parties are captured by corporations and very wealthy individuals. They've divvied up the issues the rich don't care about to create artificial divisions among the voters. These divisions are tribal. Along with religion vs science, religion vs freedom, and sex/gender, race is just a useful construct. Dems like a rainbow, Republicans only the color white, that is what the tribes say. Why a handful of black voters think there is some meaningful policy difference, meaningful enough to ignore the race based tribal calls, is beyond me.
14
The agenda of the party is ultimately controlled by Republican primary voters. No report, speech, or convention theater can change the ugly reality that a significant portion of those voters don't want what their leaders want them to want.
21
Their leaders, ever since the Civil and Voting Rights Acts, have created the party of Strom Thurmond, the racist party. They did it because the Democrats, became the party of civil rights and that left the southern racists out. They all migrated to the Republican Party. End of story
1
The KKK has always voted GOP and since MLK, the GOP has engaged in dog whistle politics. If they are going to reform, first they have to admit they have a problem and as anyone with eyes can see, today the keystone of modern white racism is denial.
64
Your knowledge of American history is abysmal. The KKK was an integral part of the Democratic party in the south from its(the KKK's) inception in the 1860s well into the 1960s. It was only after LBJ pushed through the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that the two paries flip-flopped in the south.
2
"The KKK has always voted GOP." It's hard to say for sure, since the KKK has always been a semi-secret society, but I would be very surprised if they didn't mostly vote Democrat in the South prior to the Civil Rights Movement.
"KKK has always voted GOP" - uh...no. They found a home in the GOP, leaving the Dems, once the Dems began abolishing discriminatory laws. The GOP welcomed them into their 'big tent' with open arms - then armed them.
1
The Blacks have been voting 90% or more for the Democrats each Presidential election not because the Democrats have helped the Blacks but because the Democrats have duplicitously demonized the GOP. The Blacks in America seem to have had their positon diminished in our society, both racially and economically, regardless and maybe because of their allegiance to the Democrats and most recently with a Black Democrat President. Albert Einstein is widely credited with saying “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting different results”. It is time for the Blacks to try voting Republican and to give a non-politician a chance to see what will happen. Remember the President cannot do whatever he or she pleases. All of our Presidents, except Obama in some cases, have been able to be reined in by Congress and our judicial system. However, if you vote for Hillary Clinton and she packs SCOTUS with lap dog liberals and follows in Obama’s executive order footsteps there won’t be anything left of America to change after her rein.
10
Except Obama? Compare the number of executive orders (which you cite as an example of a president doing what he pleases) by president:
Reagan, 381
Bush I, 166 (one term) (extrapolate 332 for 2 terms)
Clinton, 364
Bush II, 291
Obama, 244.
You have misrepresented the facts. If Hillary were to follow in Obama's executive order footsteps, she would continue the downward trend.
Reagan, 381
Bush I, 166 (one term) (extrapolate 332 for 2 terms)
Clinton, 364
Bush II, 291
Obama, 244.
You have misrepresented the facts. If Hillary were to follow in Obama's executive order footsteps, she would continue the downward trend.
101
"The blacks?" Seriously?
10
It's interesting how racists refer to "The Blacks," as if they were a thing instead of people.
14
To it's leaders, the GOP's race problem is how minorities view the GOP and vote for its candidates. The real problem is how the GOP views minorities--simply as quadrennial voters. The GOP's core beliefs are hard to find, and are more like maxims without a rational basis: government bad, tax bad, greed good. These are hard messages to sell. Hence the continual obsession with social issues or hot buttons--these are masks. The GOP changes its masks from time to time, but they fool few with their gyrations. Among those fooled are whites who cannot shake their congenital racism and sense of superiority.
177
The G.O.P doesn't view minorities as quadrennial voters. It views them as illegitimate voters. When Trump and company warn the country of the possibility of extensive voter fraud stealing the election, this is what they mean: that millions of illegitimate voters in the form of blacks and other minorities will fraudulently vote for Hillary Clinton.
4
Although the title of this essay is "Why Can’t the G.O.P. Get Real With Black Voters?" the essay itself is just a depressing recitation of the fact that, time and again, the GOP in fact has NOT gotten real with black voters.
I agree with the evidence: the GOP has not gotten real with blacks (whether they vote or not). But I'd appreciate some analysis: Why?
I agree with the evidence: the GOP has not gotten real with blacks (whether they vote or not). But I'd appreciate some analysis: Why?
5
Systemic racism in policy prescriptions create a vast industry (think Faux News and every two bit website and political consultant, think tank and grifter like Trump, Gingrich, Carson etal) that delivers elections, power and money. Google Lee Atwater for best overview. Its about personal power and money interests. Pretty straightforward. It is racism.
5
I don't support Trump, but the constant drumbeat against him out of this publication is an eye-roller, and may in the end be counter productive. To the point; with respect to "Blacks" (I don't agree people are so easily categorized by one word hence the quotation marks) what I wonder is: why did minorities in this country just put Hillary Clinton into nomination? That is insane.
Any reasonable analysis of minority issues & aspirations concludes that Sen. Sanders was the right choice, not a Neoliberal same-old same-old. Physician heal thyself!
Any reasonable analysis of minority issues & aspirations concludes that Sen. Sanders was the right choice, not a Neoliberal same-old same-old. Physician heal thyself!
13
"why did minorities in this country just put Hillary Clinton into nomination?"
Because - minorities realize that big promises are even harder to keep than smaller ones.
Because - minorities realize that big promises are even harder to keep than smaller ones.
I see, so sane people agree with you and insane people support Hillary. Same logic as Trump just pointed in the opposite direction. Disagreement is fine, and I personally agree with a lot of Bernie Sanders critiques, but I have reasons for supporting Hillary Clinton. That doesn't mean I'm right, it just means it's arrogant of you to believe you are the only one willing you use your brain.
1
"And perhaps this time, instead of saying “farewell” to African-Americans, the G.O.P. will say “welcome” — and actually mean it."
Don't hold your breath.
All you have to do is read the Times article about Unfiltered Voices (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/04/us/politics/donald-trump-supporters.html). Now, while these people are probably NOT the majority of the Republican party there are sufficient numbers to prevent it from ever being the party of African-Americans.
Don't hold your breath.
All you have to do is read the Times article about Unfiltered Voices (http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/04/us/politics/donald-trump-supporters.html). Now, while these people are probably NOT the majority of the Republican party there are sufficient numbers to prevent it from ever being the party of African-Americans.
30
as far as republicans go - some, i assume, are decent people.
11
The former Dixiecrats are the base of the Republican party. These are the people and their children who still hate Yankees for forcing integration down their throats (as if the imposition of the abolition of slavery wasn't bad enough), even if the hatred and it's sources have slipped into their subconscious.
A Republican politician isn't going to make it out of the primaries by showing sensitivity to blacks or other non-white groups. The proof is in the Donald pudding.
When your power has been built on the strategy of divide and conquer, there is no easy path to inclusiveness.
A Republican politician isn't going to make it out of the primaries by showing sensitivity to blacks or other non-white groups. The proof is in the Donald pudding.
When your power has been built on the strategy of divide and conquer, there is no easy path to inclusiveness.
64
Since you make this a Yankee-Rebel issue, let me point out that Trump is a Yankee. By your logic, New Yorkers will have to claim his cultural ideology. Although JIm Crow laws swallow the story of civil rights, in the 1940s, after of a Black migration to New York, that state required civil rights laws passed because New Yorkers practiced segregation, including lawful whites-only apartments buildings, job advertisements, hotels, restaurants, and seats in the LaGuardia airport. Apparently, segregation was also, in your vernacular, forced down New Yorkers' throats.
I am a New Yorker (Manhattan, and proud of it) by birth and currently a Floridian, and have lived in or visited all Northern and most Southern states. Examine my thought: Florida, the 4th most populous state, was a Democrat state for Obama. Very roughly speaking, Florida is 60% White, 20% Hispanic, 17% Black, and the remaining is other races. One might assume that the influx of people from other states and other countries swung this state Democrat, but the influx also is present in other Southern states, who remain staunchly Republican, such as Texas, the 2nd most populous state. People usually move to the South for jobs, lower taxes, better quality of life. Is achieving that a cause of voting Republican? Maybe. Maybe not. But it is interesting to cast one's mind beyond the civil war and the 1960s/70s, and compare Florida to other Southern states, using current demographics and issues.
I am a New Yorker (Manhattan, and proud of it) by birth and currently a Floridian, and have lived in or visited all Northern and most Southern states. Examine my thought: Florida, the 4th most populous state, was a Democrat state for Obama. Very roughly speaking, Florida is 60% White, 20% Hispanic, 17% Black, and the remaining is other races. One might assume that the influx of people from other states and other countries swung this state Democrat, but the influx also is present in other Southern states, who remain staunchly Republican, such as Texas, the 2nd most populous state. People usually move to the South for jobs, lower taxes, better quality of life. Is achieving that a cause of voting Republican? Maybe. Maybe not. But it is interesting to cast one's mind beyond the civil war and the 1960s/70s, and compare Florida to other Southern states, using current demographics and issues.
2
"By your logic, New Yorkers will have to claim his cultural ideology."
That is certainly not my logic or even a satisfactory straw man version of it.
There were plenty of New Yorkers who supported slavery back then and today there are plenty of white southerners who are appalled by Trump and embrace diverse cultures and ethnicity.
But regions have specific cultures the encourage certain ways of thinking. I choose to accentuate the negative aspect of Southern culture because it is what is revealed in the embrace of Trump.
Culture generally changes very slowly, in the South, extremely slowly.
That is certainly not my logic or even a satisfactory straw man version of it.
There were plenty of New Yorkers who supported slavery back then and today there are plenty of white southerners who are appalled by Trump and embrace diverse cultures and ethnicity.
But regions have specific cultures the encourage certain ways of thinking. I choose to accentuate the negative aspect of Southern culture because it is what is revealed in the embrace of Trump.
Culture generally changes very slowly, in the South, extremely slowly.
1
If Republicans were to abandon their retrograde ideas, there would be nothing left but the agenda of protecting the rich and corporations. They are necessarily addicted to hate and fear and cheating in the form of voter suppression. To balance that with welcoming African-Americans is a juggling act they haven't the dexterity for.
59
You cannot intimidate and purge black voters in several Republican controlled states and expect black voters to embrace your party. Unless you think black voters are as dumb as the white voters you hoodwink into voting against their own interests.
8
"Law and order" isn't anti-black.
What kills the Republicans is that they don't pander to those who think blacks can't succeed in this country through their own efforts, but only with some sort of handout. Sadly, that turns out to be a lot of people.
What kills the Republicans is that they don't pander to those who think blacks can't succeed in this country through their own efforts, but only with some sort of handout. Sadly, that turns out to be a lot of people.
23
Wow, so you really think the 94 percent (approx.) of blacks who oppose Trump don't think they can succeed without handouts? Also, what handouts are you talking about? The mortgage interest tax deduction? The break on capital gains? The tax-free college savings account? Or are you talking about really poor children getting a few bucks a week worth of food stamps? When Trump releases his tax returns (as if), you'll see handouts galore.
133
What kills the Republicans is that they love moving the goalposts and blame blacks for being too "lazy/dumb" to succeed. But when ones like Obama beat them on their own terms, they still claim those folks couldn't possibly have accomplished what they have. It doesn't matter what blacks do, the GOP still hates and fears them.
19
There are more whites than blacks receiving hand outs from the government to include Donald Trump and other wealthy business men and whites who are poor. Welfare rolls have more whites on it than blacks or any other minorities. Tax handouts to the very rich is more than what's ever given to poor folks.
7
Reading Times headlines reminds me of the old joke about newspapers: What's black and white and read all over?
7
Most of the time, the Republicans don't even give lip service to trying to attract black voters. My observation has been that the GOP wants to garner the votes of anyone but blacks and lately Muslims. The GOP has become over the last 30 years or so, the party of nativist whites, Yes I am fully aware that the GOP is happy to trot out a person of color here and there for the "optics" but there has been no meaningful outreach and seemingly little interest in outreach. At this point the GOP would be better off branding itself as the NWP or the AWP and I will leave the reader to guess at the acronyms, which should be evident :)
13
Excuse me, Leah, I forgot to ask. What, exactly is a "Black Voter?" If we want to finally get past racism, we must stop using skin color to denote cultural heritage. It's gross, and does nothing but postpone the shift in thinking that is required.
18
"Black voters" are voters who happen to be black. The kind of color blindness you advocate is a looking away from cultural biases and discriminatory policies. Perhaps not seeing this is the real problem.
10
I doubt that Leah is responsible for perpetuating racism by using the term "black voter." Racism in the US was created by and is perpetuated by white racists. So If we're to get past racism, the onus is on white racists to shift their thinking from feeling inherently superior to everyone who isn't a white American to recognizing the positive contributions and humanity of all people. Republican Congressman Steve King recently referred to everyone who isn't white as a "sub-group." It's clear who needs to shift their thinking.
7
can't do it, the left will never abandon identity politics, there's waaay too much money in it for them.
1
The racial spoils party will always be the Democratic, which, presumably, explains why the party of slavery and Jim Crow attracts 90 percent of the black vote. It is not Republicans who need to change. When black voters wake up to the game of empty promises from the Clintons, Jacksons, and Sharptons of the world, Republicans will do fine
15
And that would be one reason the GOP cannot attract voters of color. Casting 95% of black voters who do not care for your candidate as too ignorant to cast a "proper" vote will not encourage a "big tent."
41
MFW, you must've missed the part in your junior high school history textbook that explained how the party of slavery and Jim Crow became the party of Republicans. And even if that shift hadn't occurred, are you suggesting that blacks should vote Republican today because of what they did 40 years ago and ignore the Republican racism and obstructionism directed at our black President over the last 7 1/2 years? Can you name one policy in today's Republican platform that is black-friendly? The Democrats my only offer blacks empty promises, but Republicans offer hatred of our very existence. The choice isn't hard.
7
Oh please! Maybe it could have something to do with its rabid attempts to restrict voting rights.
Are you writing satire?
Are you writing satire?
242
If the Republican party's message resonates with the Afro-American community, they will vote for Mr. Trump. If it doesn't, they will vote against.
If it bothers the members of the Republican party enough, they will change their doctrine.
Democracy at work.
If it bothers the members of the Republican party enough, they will change their doctrine.
Democracy at work.
15
Leah, you nailed it right with your article on G.O.P.'s problem with Black voters.
Yes, the Republican party can never get back on it's feet by just writing obituaries after every Presidential elections like Reince Priebus did after the 2012 election when the party's second anointed leader Mitt Romney lost the election to the first African American candidate ,Obama, just like the first candidate,McCain lost in 2008.
Actually the Republicans are in a bind or a hole as you call it from which they can never get out from.
They need these very vocal and very angry White male and female racist voters, who're now thronging in Trump's events, in the off year elections when they take over the Congress, which they did in 2010 and also in 2014.
But they also need a much diverse electorate for the Presidential elections when 110 million+ voters are electing only one out of two major party candidates.
And they failed in their last two attempts,the result being a lengthy autopsy report written by their Chairman last time around.
And he knows and all the people who've been in politics for a very long time in G.O.P. knows that this election is over even before Trump was chosen as their candidate against Hillary in the fall election.
They knew it as soon as Jeb Bush was ousted by Trump in a very vicious duel in those wild debates .
They knew there and then that they do not have any candidate of caliber as Bush who could take Hillary at least in her power to court the Hispanic voters.
Yes, the Republican party can never get back on it's feet by just writing obituaries after every Presidential elections like Reince Priebus did after the 2012 election when the party's second anointed leader Mitt Romney lost the election to the first African American candidate ,Obama, just like the first candidate,McCain lost in 2008.
Actually the Republicans are in a bind or a hole as you call it from which they can never get out from.
They need these very vocal and very angry White male and female racist voters, who're now thronging in Trump's events, in the off year elections when they take over the Congress, which they did in 2010 and also in 2014.
But they also need a much diverse electorate for the Presidential elections when 110 million+ voters are electing only one out of two major party candidates.
And they failed in their last two attempts,the result being a lengthy autopsy report written by their Chairman last time around.
And he knows and all the people who've been in politics for a very long time in G.O.P. knows that this election is over even before Trump was chosen as their candidate against Hillary in the fall election.
They knew it as soon as Jeb Bush was ousted by Trump in a very vicious duel in those wild debates .
They knew there and then that they do not have any candidate of caliber as Bush who could take Hillary at least in her power to court the Hispanic voters.
4
To get an understanding of why republicans are failing with black voters(and women for that matter), just watch the NYT video under the headline "When covering Trump, you hear things".
53
Oh, woe is me, says that soul known as the 2016 black Republican. No one understands us. We wanted Colin Powell; we got Omarosa, Don Lemon, and Diamond and Silk (those black ladies whom Mr. Trump loves to parade around).
Many of us understand them; some of us are not interested in jumping off that cliff with them. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that the Republicans left them behind long ago.
I know Republicans. I like many Republicans because many of them are just people - when you've lived where I've lived, growing up with Republicans comes with the territory. I accepted them - and they accepted me when I was one of only two people to vote for Al Gore in our class mock election. ("Why is Al Gore even on our ballot?", they thought.) I work with Republicans and so does my husband.
We ain't Republican. 'Cause we aren't martyrs for the cause of "The Only One". While past black Republicans were accepted for buying into what the Jack Kemp Republicans believed back then there is nothing IMO for a black Republican to now believe in except: "By being The Only One, I will move up very quickly in the ranks." Look at your book title: It speaks to the pragmatic choice of political Only-One-ism.
Most minorities aren't only ones by choice. They have an interest/passion & any ethnic/race/religion issues are superseded by that interest. They live with the cons to see the pros. But "The Only Ones" are only in it for the financial/power pros - which is very Republican, yes?
Many of us understand them; some of us are not interested in jumping off that cliff with them. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that the Republicans left them behind long ago.
I know Republicans. I like many Republicans because many of them are just people - when you've lived where I've lived, growing up with Republicans comes with the territory. I accepted them - and they accepted me when I was one of only two people to vote for Al Gore in our class mock election. ("Why is Al Gore even on our ballot?", they thought.) I work with Republicans and so does my husband.
We ain't Republican. 'Cause we aren't martyrs for the cause of "The Only One". While past black Republicans were accepted for buying into what the Jack Kemp Republicans believed back then there is nothing IMO for a black Republican to now believe in except: "By being The Only One, I will move up very quickly in the ranks." Look at your book title: It speaks to the pragmatic choice of political Only-One-ism.
Most minorities aren't only ones by choice. They have an interest/passion & any ethnic/race/religion issues are superseded by that interest. They live with the cons to see the pros. But "The Only Ones" are only in it for the financial/power pros - which is very Republican, yes?
42
Oh, and one other thing: While I appreciate the Times' interest in black folks (being one and all), I have to say I am not seeing this kind of coverage of other minorities in the political spectrum. If the GOP is politely turning its back on black people, then it's IMO pushing Hispanic-American people out of the windows and saying to Asian-Americans/Native Americans, "Oh, are you here? Vote for us if you want to. We really don't care."
And what about Indian - Americans and naturalized folks from India? What are their political thoughts this year? Why is virtually every Cuban-American white person I meet a Republican but that often isn't the case with black Cuban - Americans or Mexican-Americans? Do Vietnamese - Americans tend to vote differently than Chinese- Americans and Filipino- Americans? And so forth.
There are lots of people who will be going into voting booth soon and probably have many thoughts. While I always say no group is a monolith, I would like to hear from some other groups also and have focus on them.
And what about Indian - Americans and naturalized folks from India? What are their political thoughts this year? Why is virtually every Cuban-American white person I meet a Republican but that often isn't the case with black Cuban - Americans or Mexican-Americans? Do Vietnamese - Americans tend to vote differently than Chinese- Americans and Filipino- Americans? And so forth.
There are lots of people who will be going into voting booth soon and probably have many thoughts. While I always say no group is a monolith, I would like to hear from some other groups also and have focus on them.
28
I completely agree. The black-white dichotomy made sense when blacks were the largest minority group and because of our particular history and its lingering effects. But our country's at a point in its history where we need to see beyond black and white and start having a more inclusive point of view. Oscars So White was another example of only focusing on blacks awhile ignoring that so many others were being shut out. There are a multitude of Americans and we should be hearing about all of their experiences.
5
As long as the voting public continue to vote as African - Americans, Hispanic-Americans, female-Americans, et.al, instead of voting as Americans seeking the best candidates for the good of the UNITED States, nothing will be accomplished.
The greatness of the US which was the result of 'the great melting pot' has been dying gradually and steadily. The trend must be reversed.
The greatness of the US which was the result of 'the great melting pot' has been dying gradually and steadily. The trend must be reversed.
13
Your list of voting groups intrigues. Would you add male-Americans, or farmers, or bankers? What makes some interest groups acceptable to you and others not? Every voter is charged with balancing their good versus the good of the country. You came away from an article that described a party writing away the interests of large cohorts of the electorate, and you blame the individual voter for having distinct interests?
40
Since their convention, I've been noticing the way Republicans have been using the word "unity." The lost American unity they want to restore is white male dominance, plain and simple. The plea to get in line and unite is never directed at angry (justifiably, or otherwise) white males, who are never told to find common cause with blacks, Latinos, LGBTQ people, Muslims (few seem to realize that Islam is an Abrahamic religion closely related to Judaism and Christianity), and women. Rather, those groups are told that they're to blame for fracturing the country because they don't know their place. "Unite" directed at Trump supporters is so code for "band together and reclaim your rightful place as masters." African Americans, I would bet, hear this much more loud and clear than I do, and they aren't going to fall for it.
10
Jennifer, Sam's point is that race should not be a factor in politics and the worst offenders with regard to identity politics are the Democrats. Anyone who assumes that two black people will have more in common than a black person and a white person is simply racist.
1
I have never had a sense that the GOP cares about black citizens and their votes. The GOP unabashedly promotes racism. Mitch McConnell has been the cheerleader in Congress for those who can't accept a black man as President. And on vote after vote even the "good" Republicans vote along with him as a unified block.
223
Am I the only person who noticed that the Sanders supporters at the Democratic convention were as white as the GOP delegates?
99
Yes, you are...
3
Joel: no, you're not. And Sanders was more strongly supported in the whiter states of the North and in states that had caucuses. Caucuses favor people who are not bound to fixed work hours and can get free to join their neighbors in a good natter about politics. Dependent employees are disadvantaged in caucuses. Clinton won the Washington State primary, but delegates were awarded according to the caucus there--and Sanders won that. Go figure...no need, it's obvious!
8
no he's not.
4
The reason is simple: the GOP is a reactionary organization whose aim is to maintain the members' wealth against the demands of poorer (less rich) folk. Without blacks in our population, I argue that we would now have social benefits similar to Western European social democracies.
This is a racist country--both parties--but the GOP is egregious.
This is a racist country--both parties--but the GOP is egregious.
99
I think Trump should withdraw, Hillary should run unopposed, and both parties should donate the money they would have wasted on their campaigns to charity. Think of all the good they could do in America and around the world.
27
In what Utopia do you live? This is a blood sport.
2
Of course you do - does anyone other than Hillary "trigger" you?
2
The GOP doesn't feel the need to court black voters. Why bother? They rely on their henchmen at the state level to prevent African-Americans, Hispanics, and anyone who cannot be relied on to support Republicans from voting at all. Problem solved (from the GOP's POV).
246
It is not surprising that the GOP has lost its course. Donald Trump, first of all, is not the candidate of the GOP establishment. He was chosen mostly by angry white men, and his thinly veiled appeals to their racist tendencies, over a host of established GOP politicians. But indeed what have those politicians themselves done? To stay in power, they have gerrymandered. They have refused to extend the voting rights act. They have made it more difficult for blacks and other minorities to vote. And they have run a do-nothing, obstructionist Congress. The GOP should not be surprised to see their party Trump-jacked. They set up his ascent, and they will pay dearly for it.
70
The Republicans have been actively milking the "Southern Strategy" for all it is worth since LBJ passed the Voting Rights Act - look at Reagan's speech on states' rights in Philadelphia, Mississippi as an example.
If the GOP has a hard time figuring out why they are not doing well among African Americans, then the label "Party of Stupid" is probably more accurate than I thought it was.
If the GOP has a hard time figuring out why they are not doing well among African Americans, then the label "Party of Stupid" is probably more accurate than I thought it was.
106
Frustrated black Republicans, from Clarence Thomas to Colin Powell, have all at some point or another called for the G.O.P. to address its “race problem.”
Clarence Thomas?
I do so enjoy the Times' wry humor.
Clarence Thomas?
I do so enjoy the Times' wry humor.
257
I do appreciate your comment. When Justice Thomas is kissing up to Rush Limbaugh, how would he have any interest in what happens with real black people.
I do think that the GOP has made such a monumental mistake with Mr Trump that its whole base may come unglued. I am sure hoping and voting for Hillary and down ticket but I do not want to be in certain red states on NOV 8 if the race is won by Hillary by a small margin and Mr. Trump tells all those folks that it was rigged.
I do think that the GOP has made such a monumental mistake with Mr Trump that its whole base may come unglued. I am sure hoping and voting for Hillary and down ticket but I do not want to be in certain red states on NOV 8 if the race is won by Hillary by a small margin and Mr. Trump tells all those folks that it was rigged.
3
Happy Birthday President Obama.
And Thank You, !
And Thank You, !
50
The GOP is a party that primarily serves the rich or corporate interests. There aren't enough voters in that category so it depends on whites as its key demographic pool.
It's strategy to get and maintain white middle class and poor voters is to be racist. code words and policies have been effective to divide Americans. Democrats get the socially liberal, minorities, gay, highly educated and urban voters.
Republicans focus on shrinking government to reduce the tax burdens of the rich. They privatize government functions to increase corporate markets. They deregulate for corporations. They use abortion, gay rights etc to lure social conservatives. But race has been its most effective tool. Republicans ignore or harm minority interests and many whites know this and reward them with their votes.
The nytimes shouldn't write these articles and ignore the ongoing legacy of the southern strategy that the GOP has had in place since the 60's. It's disingenuous.
The GOP isn't interested in serving non white voters. It doesn't need them to win. If it won significant amounts of non white voters then it would be too similar to the Democratic Party and large amounts of mid western and southern white voters would leave the party.
The GOP is concerned about demographic changes and is fighting to stave it off with its immigration battle. It can siphon off some Minorities with religious conservatism and just nail the white vote to win.
It's strategy to get and maintain white middle class and poor voters is to be racist. code words and policies have been effective to divide Americans. Democrats get the socially liberal, minorities, gay, highly educated and urban voters.
Republicans focus on shrinking government to reduce the tax burdens of the rich. They privatize government functions to increase corporate markets. They deregulate for corporations. They use abortion, gay rights etc to lure social conservatives. But race has been its most effective tool. Republicans ignore or harm minority interests and many whites know this and reward them with their votes.
The nytimes shouldn't write these articles and ignore the ongoing legacy of the southern strategy that the GOP has had in place since the 60's. It's disingenuous.
The GOP isn't interested in serving non white voters. It doesn't need them to win. If it won significant amounts of non white voters then it would be too similar to the Democratic Party and large amounts of mid western and southern white voters would leave the party.
The GOP is concerned about demographic changes and is fighting to stave it off with its immigration battle. It can siphon off some Minorities with religious conservatism and just nail the white vote to win.
129
Not a bad strategy given that the Dems don't actually contest it. Dems gave up fighting for the unions and middle class. Will they get enough votes?
2
I'm white, so my point of view may not be accurate. But it looks to me as if the Republican objective in the past several decades has been to shower the rich with tax cuts and corporation-friendly favors. Realizing that an honest statement of their goals would not result in a win at election time, they have added a component of racism and hyper-religiosity (purportedly Christian, but a long way from the teachings of the New Testament). This has lured enough voters to give them a shot at power to accomplish their real objectives.
The problem is, many of their voters are frustrated over and over. The follow-up tactic has been to blame the opposition for the economic drain of favoring the upper class, and also eviscerate public education. And to double down on the racism.
We're at a crisis level now, with angry, duped, low-information voters being duped by a demagogue, and on the verge of rioting if they don't get what they want this time. What they will do if Trump is elected, and the same old shell game takes place--as it must--I have no idea.
My husband and I are considering the lesser of two evils--not in the election, but between staying and struggling with a damaged society, or becoming expatriates. I realize that people say that in every election, but we're quite serious.
The problem is, many of their voters are frustrated over and over. The follow-up tactic has been to blame the opposition for the economic drain of favoring the upper class, and also eviscerate public education. And to double down on the racism.
We're at a crisis level now, with angry, duped, low-information voters being duped by a demagogue, and on the verge of rioting if they don't get what they want this time. What they will do if Trump is elected, and the same old shell game takes place--as it must--I have no idea.
My husband and I are considering the lesser of two evils--not in the election, but between staying and struggling with a damaged society, or becoming expatriates. I realize that people say that in every election, but we're quite serious.
364
I myself left the US in 2002, after the first Bush election but before the war. I found I could not live in a place that was so far from representing my view of what America should and could be. I was so thrilled by Obama's election that I considered moving back; for a variety of reasons, I did not. When I come to the US (infrequently), I do not recognize it. Life goes on after and outside the USA.
17
You nailed it. And I wish I could join you on the expatriate train but I don't have the financial liberty to pay for setting up a new life in another country.
9
I used to joke that in moving to Canada I was a refugee from Reaganomics; once here, American friends would in all earnestness ask how life was under communism (amazingly good btw).
I was a "liberal" (now Liberal), but the most telling example of how even liberal white Americans are infected with racism was found one night walking home from downtown in Montréal with my Québécoise wife when I saw two young blacks coming our way a few blocks ahead of us.
I told her that we should cross to the other side of the street because they were young and male; she asked why. When I told her, she looked at me as if I was insane, said relax and stop the paranoia. They walked by, completely ignoring us.
Aware or not, white Americans of all stripes struggle with, and labour under the consequences of the country's origin sin of slavery, and will continue to do so until that sin is put right.
So until a day comes when black lives actually matter and the shared cultural heritage of slavery is lain to rest, Americans will be bound by the chains of ignorance, and will give lie to theor putative ideals.
I was a "liberal" (now Liberal), but the most telling example of how even liberal white Americans are infected with racism was found one night walking home from downtown in Montréal with my Québécoise wife when I saw two young blacks coming our way a few blocks ahead of us.
I told her that we should cross to the other side of the street because they were young and male; she asked why. When I told her, she looked at me as if I was insane, said relax and stop the paranoia. They walked by, completely ignoring us.
Aware or not, white Americans of all stripes struggle with, and labour under the consequences of the country's origin sin of slavery, and will continue to do so until that sin is put right.
So until a day comes when black lives actually matter and the shared cultural heritage of slavery is lain to rest, Americans will be bound by the chains of ignorance, and will give lie to theor putative ideals.
8
After nearly 8 years of Obama, how much better off are African-Americans? To what extent do the Dems play that community, relying on their having nowhere else to go?
15
So African-Americans should support a party that does nothing for them, holds their concerns in contempt--and gins up racist hatred to win? Why would anyone with sense do that?
33
Black unemployment has fallen from 15% in 2010 to 8% in May 2016. This is still higher than it ought to be, but it's almost half of what it was.
17
Blacks murdering blacks in Chicago hit an all-time high in July. Did we hear a peep from the Democrats? Oh noooo. Just how mean Mr. Trump is.
The unemployment rate for young blacks is still above 50%. The benefits for the democrat party in keeping this demographic dependent on welfare is obvious. Just like on the plantation.
The unemployment rate for young blacks is still above 50%. The benefits for the democrat party in keeping this demographic dependent on welfare is obvious. Just like on the plantation.
2
Jack Kemp had a plan that included turning the Republican party into a party promoting voter's rights.
It's difficult to think of something more ironic than that.
It's difficult to think of something more ironic than that.
35
The greatest benefit of the Trump candidacy and, hopefully, defeat will be the motivation to reconstitute the Republican party true to conservative and USA values without the candidate and ragtag bunch of malcontents and bigots which hijacked the party this year. Otherwise the party will go the way of the dinosaur that it has shown itself to be this year.
11
Do yourself a favor and save yourself a lot of frustration and leave the Republican party. It will never change now that it is a White Southern Party.
Your efforts would be better spent supporting Democratic candidates and black democratic politicians.
Your continued preaching about how the Republican party needs to welcome African American is like spitting in the wind. It is a useless endeavor and it makes you look undignified.
The GOP only wants the Black vote with no obligation to the Black Community attached. If they really were concerned about the Black Community, you would not be the only one "carrying their water".