If one were not careful, he would start to believe that there is no hope between Blacks and Whites or Republicans and Democrats. Venom spewed at some of the Healthcare Reform Town Hall meetings, finger pointing, voices of doom and gloom from some of the national talk show hosts and on and on are becoming part of our conversations every day. Here in Augusta, there is a Healthcare Reform Rally planned for Thursday, September 3rd. We have some pretty reasonable people here so I am optimistic that we won’t see some of the nonsense we’ve seen in other parts of the U.S. There are, however, thousands of people who are concerned about the current legislation and they do have a right to express themselves. I have a problem with it in its current form as well. Prayerfully our Congressmen/women have heard enough from the people that when they return on the 8th, cooler heads will prevail and they come to the table and prepare a bill that is reasonable and acceptable. We shall see.
But in the midst of all of this political hate, I read an article in this morning’s Washington Post that was so encouraging I had to share it. For as long as I can remember, I have been of the mindset that one shouldn’t put all of their eggs in one basket. To have one group of people that blindly votes for one Party versus another is troubling to me. I know from experience how a person can win a race simply because they have a D next to their name, if the African-American vote is who they are pursuing. Surely one can be taken for granted easily when a political candidate really doesn’t have to ‘earn the people’s vote.’ But simply be a Democrat and no worries, ‘we’ve got the Black people’s vote.’ That is what many politicians say, you know?
So Marvin Rogers of Rock Hill, SC has a book coming out soon that addresses this very issue and I can’t wait to get my hands on a copy. And I also can’t wait to have him on my radio program. Stay tuned. The name of his forthcoming book is ‘Silence Is the Loudest Sound.’ I love it. Here is the article written by Kathleen Parker from today’s Washington Post.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/09/01/AR2009090103631_pf.html
Tackling the Great Divide
By Kathleen Parker
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
COLUMBIA, S.C. — When people think of South Carolina, they think of . . . I know, Comedy Central. Given the state’s generosity in providing punchlines, Jon Stewart and native son Stephen Colbert really ought to consider taking a pay cut.
What people do not typically think of is black Republicans, a perception that could change soon if a young man named Marvin Rogers has his way. This 33-year-old, Spanish-speaking former aide to South Carolina Rep. Bob Inglis has a plan for the GOP: He wants to change its complexion.
Until 2008, when he ran unsuccessfully for the state House of Representatives, Rogers may have been better known in Latin America, where he was an itinerant preacher for several years, than in North America. “Unsuccessfully” in this case should be qualified. Rogers won 32 percent of the vote in a blue stronghold, running as a black Republican in the year of Obama.
All things considered, not bad.
Rogers’s story is, shall we say, unorthodox. Born in the tiny town of Boiling Springs, S.C., he was raised by working-class parents with values rather than ideology. “So I was largely removed from the acrimony between the African American race and the Republican Party.”
Without preconceptions about where his race placed him politically, Rogers began examining issues on paper and recognized that he was philosophically more aligned with Republicans than Democrats. But then a funny thing happened. When he began attending political meetings, he noticed, “Oh, my, I’m the only black guy here. What’s up with that?”
That question led Rogers on a quest that has resulted in a book nearing completion, “Silence Is the Loudest Sound,” in which he attempts to explain how the party of Lincoln lost its black soul.
Through five years of study and interviews, Rogers reached the conclusion that the chasm between the black community and the Republican Party is more emotional than philosophical. And, he says, that chasm is more a media template than reflective of reality.
The best explanation for what’s gone wrong, he says, was articulated by Jack Kemp, who told him during an interview: “The Republican Party has had a great history with African-Americans and they turned away from it. The Democratic Party has had a terrible history, but they overcame it.”
Part of the turning away followed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and Richard Nixon’s “Southern strategy” that tried to harness votes by cultivating white resentment toward blacks. Rogers is no Pollyanna and recognizes this period for what it was — a “bruise” on the GOP. But he insists that Democrats use the Southern strategy when it suits them.
The biggest problem for today’s Republican Party, he says, is tone-deafness, as manifested by conservative talk radio and TV. Rogers says he and most blacks can’t listen to Rush Limbaugh because all they hear is anger.
“They might agree with Rush on the issues, but they can’t hear him because he sounds mad. People don’t follow fussers. People don’t follow angry men. They follow articulators.”
What about Michael Steele, the Republican Party chairman? Is he changing the perception of the GOP as a party of whites?
Rogers takes a moment to consider, and answers carefully.
“Let’s say I think that when he ran for the Maryland Senate seat, and when he was lieutenant governor, that was when he was most effective in changing this perception.”
Another reason the GOP limits itself among African Americans, says Rogers, is because Republicans don’t talk about issues that have currency in the black community — poverty, the challenges of single-parent homes, social justice, recidivism, black capitalism and crime. Studying Republican speeches through the decades was how Rogers came up with his book title.
The way for Republicans to attract black voters is pretty simple, says Rogers: Show up and solve problems.
When he moved to Rock Hill, where he currently lives, Rogers made his home in the inner city rather than the suburbs. When a local basketball team needed money for jerseys, Rogers helped them. Thus, when this inner-city team hit the court, their jerseys said, “York County GOP.”
“People don’t care what [political affiliation] comes after your name,” says Rogers. “They just want the jersey.”
With Rogers on the hustings, Democrats have cause for concern. Among other things, he’s telling African Americans that they have rendered themselves politically impotent by voting monolithically. “If one party can count on our vote, then they can take us for granted. Predictability is suicidal.”
Predictability would seem not to be a problem for a Spanish-speaking, black Republican wonk who just might make South Carolina less of a joke.
kathleenparker@washpost.com
Project Logic Ga 
Well, President Obama and the Democrats are learning that most Republicans are people of their words when they said over and over and over again that bipartisanship is not their thing. You can only try to cooperate with people so long before you get about the business of doing what the people elected you to do.
I was thinking this morning that only three Blacks have served in congress as GOP since reconstruction. The article you have here says it all: Blacks are personally conservative in the south but anger, which is counterproductive and similar to our battles in the 60s and before, keeps us away from the GOP. So, Blacks were not happy being second class citizens nor happy when the Kennedy White House asked us to be patient while we gradually got rights we should have received in 1776. (150 years after we arrived in the new world.)
Democrats win congress and the White House fair and square and people start talking about “this guy is not my president….the congress has been stolen.” huh
I finds this mess repulsive and still think that moderates need to do something to get a few more reasonable people into the GOP conference in the congress…particular from the South.
Here is a idea: in the 8th congressional district of Georgia, we get a conservative who doesn’t have a heart filled with hate and win that seat….maybe a Black, a Latino or a woman. Or if that is not feasible, the current so-called Democrat in that seat switchs to his nature posture as a Republican and tells those cats about negotiations and proper debate.
Something has to give because this new junk about the sitting president simply speaking to school kids is nonsense and the last straw with me. Where was President Bush (my president) when he heard about the 911 attacks—sitting in a school in Florida and reading “My Pet Goat” to kids. A president in a school…no problem.
Well, this ugliness is starting to get “my goat.”
Kathleen Parker is an enlightened thinker on politics, but at times, she makes me say “gee whiz… she just doesn’t get it.”
This is a lesson my college instructor (at Howard Univ) made a point of: one key to understanding American politics is to realize that this is a two-party country.
In other countries, especially those with a parliamentary form of government, there can be many parties. But in America, you have have the big two, and a few smaller parties that lack a record of sustained success.
This means that people have to form coalitions with others. It means that various constituents will have to form alliances with other groups that they may not be comfortable with. This is the reality of American politics.
You will find many African Americans at BOTH the conservative and progressive sides of the spectrum who are not comfortable with the Democrats.
But consider what blacks would have to put up with, in a coalition with Republicans:
The Hate That Hate Produced: The Demonization of Barack Obama by the Republican Party
There are many more examples that could be provided, in addition to the ones noted in the link.
Now to be clear: it is certainly unfair and incorrect to say all Republicans, or even a majority of Republicans, harbor racist feelings toward Obama, or, are pitifully racially insensitive, even if they don’t outright dislike black folks.
But there’s a whole lot more of those kinds of folks on the extreme edge of the GOP, than there are at the extreme edge of the Democratic.
At the end of the day, the Republican crazies scare black folks more than the Democratic crazies.
And it’s more than that. Blacks have achieved success in the Democratic Party. Although there is some truth to the concern of blacks being taken for granted; the whole truth is that blacks have power and leadership positions within the Democratic Party-Barack Obama is the main example of this.
Bottom line is: most black people will not tolerate, and join in coalition with, the kinds of extremists in the GOP who do the thinks in the link I provided (and do keep in mind, the items in the link are just a small portion of what I could show). Until that changes, the Republicans will continue to get a small portion of the black vote.