What you may not know about Black Republicans

What do these people have in common: Sojourner Truth, Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Booker T. Washington, George Washington Carver, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Mary McLeod Bethune, A. Phillip Randolph, Jackie Robinson, and Sen. Edward Brooke, III?

If you said they were all African-Americans, you would be correct. If you said that they were civil rights leaders, you would be correct again. And, if you said they were all Republicans, you would be right a third time, according to the newly formed National Black Republican Association. The group contends that the National Anthem of the NAACP, “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” was even written by a black Republican, James Weldon Johnson.

In a two-page ad in the Washington Times, the NBRA quotes Rev. Wayne Perryman, a black talk-show host and former newspaper publisher, as saying, “Inner-city blacks, who have given their vote to the Democrats for the past 40 years, are left wondering what the party has done to remedy the still-prevalent problems within their community.” The NBRA ad responds, “The truth is, a cruel, decades-long bait-and-switch has been played on black Americans by Democrats ... We believe that the future of black Americans can be bright, vibrant, and prosperous. For this reason the NBRA is recruiting, training, and equipping black Republican leaders to work with grassroots activists, spreading the…message of true empowerment door-to-door in black communities all across America.”

The NBRA contends that the Republican Party was founded in 1854 by anti-slavery activists to stop the Democrats’ pro-slavery agenda, that, in 1875, Republicans enacted the nation’s first-ever Civil Rights Acts, extending citizenship and civil rights, that the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960s were passed by an overwhelming majority of Republicans, and that Republicans started Affirmative Action in 1969 with the Philadelphia Plan which was crafted by black Republican Arthur Fletcher. The NBRA ad notes that George W. Bush has appointed African-Americans as Secretary of State, National Security Advisor, Director of Personnel Management, Assistant Attorney General, Chairman of the FCC, Director of HUD, Secretary of Education, and Assistant Secretary of Education — all positions of real power and national, even global, influence, a record unmatched by any other president.

Currently, the NBRA is supporting a number of black candidates for office, including Michael Steele, candidate for the U. S. Senate from Maryland; Kenneth Blackwell, candidate for Governor of Ohio; and Super Bowl MVP and NFL Hall of Famer Lynn Swann, candidate for Governor of Pennsylvania. A more comprehensive list of candidates is listed on the group’s Web site at www.NBRA.info.

Certainly, the Democratic Party has had a lock on black votes since the 1960s with 90-97 percent of black voters generally ignoring Republican candidates. In Fayette County, a newspaper recently reported that a black Republican was seeking local office, drawing fire from several persons in the community demanding to know why the newspaper mentioned that the candidate was black. Well, because it’s news, that’s why. And it may be a trend.

One African-American man told me recently that he hadn’t voted for the Democrats in years and shared that his pastor also voted Republican. “Of course, the pastor doesn’t let that be known,” he said. If it is a trend, the Democrats have real reason to worry. Estimates are that, if only 25 percent of black votes go to Republicans, the GOP will, in 2006, retain control of the House of Representatives, the Senate, and likely hold onto the White House in 2008. And, if the NBRA can garner a few such victories, they can claim a significant spot at the table for the black community.

It will be interesting to see if the NBRA can make a measurable impact. With the Hispanic community now the nation’s largest minority, black voters may be willing to weigh their options. Time will tell. In any event, it’s an interesting political development and one that bears watching. After all, some people are suggesting that Condi Rice might be a good candidate for President. And she is, after all, a woman, an African-American, and a Republican.