About four years ago, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich said he hoped the GOP could capture 25 percent of the so-called black vote. “If we get [black] votes, [the Democrats] are in deep trouble.”
Four years and one newly elected biracial president later, Gingrich’s dream hasn’t come true. Democrats have had a lock on 90 percent of the black vote for years (regardless of how blacks self-identify politically), and I doubt that percentage will drop in my lifetime.
I believe conservatism is better for the country in general and for families in particular. I also believe black Americans would be wise to spread the vote around, so to speak, so that neither political party takes their votes for granted. At the same time, I loathe the idea of “reaching out” to black voters based on race and oppose any and all attempts by the Republican party to appeal to black voters on the basis of skin color.
Ward Connerly agrees with me. In an interview with The Weekly Standard, he said:
“I certainly think we should reach out to everyone. I am not a proponent, however, of trying to reach people on the basis of their color, race, or ethnic background, or circumstances such as that. Once my party starts doing that, it corrupts its own hard-core values. I have seen over the last 10 years enough things the Republican party has done to appear more attractive to blacks and Hispanics that violate the professed beliefs of the party that I shudder at using that kind of tactic.”
Corrupts its own hard-core values…that’s precisely why I oppose skin color-based outreach. If Republicans advocate colorblind government policy, how would they justify appealing to voters based on color? Appeal to me through my religion, value system, tax bracket, or personal interests, but don’t try to reel me in with “black” issues.
By the way, Connerly has a new book out: LESSONS FROM MY UNCLE JAMES: Beyond Skin Color to the Content of our Character. Great Christmas gift idea!
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“Outreach” on the basis of skin color has led to the injurious, toxic divisiveness that is so prevalent in today’s America.
Instead of bringing us together, “outreach” pulls us apart. It affixes labels and stokes guilt which, in turn, leads to resentment. It offends and wounds, necessitating the ongoing cycle of soothing and healing over and over again. And, “reaching out” is often viewed as “reaching down”, and correctly so.
No public entity and no political party should engage in such tactics. For the GOP to do so would indeed corrupt “its own hard-core values.” Life, after all, is not about “black” and “white” issues. It is about our “shared” issues and how we solve them as Americans regardless of our race, color, or ethnicity.
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