With President Obama in the White house it’s remains an illusion for the Romney camp to break the stranglehold the Democratic party continues to exert with the majority of American Blacks. American blacks don’t vote Republican because they can’t seem to identify with the platform and conscience of the GOP hierarchy. Many continue to feel unwelcome and under appreciated in the Grand Ole party.
Makes sense. On the federal level, the Republican party doesn't’ have a single black United States Senator and only two members of Congress. Their greatest support is in rural and suburban areas. Those Republicans with experience as big-city officials who maintain regular associations with black-American venues tend to do okay with the black vote. But certainly, the Republican Party is not a party of big city officials. On the whole, black American communities and venues remain unfamiliar turf for Republicans.
By contrast, about one quarter of the membership of the Democratic National Committee is black. This strong representation within the party facilitates more hiring – and elected representation - of American blacks in government at every level. This creates a positive ripple effect throughout the community. For example, a black politician may maintain close associations with other black community figures such as ministers, teachers, entrepreneurs and union officials. These interlocking relationships proclaim to American blacks that they are part of the Democratic Party.
The Republicans need to take a page from the Democrats and do a better job of grooming black elected officials to carry their message into the community, because the black community is ripe for appeal. More and more American blacks are coming to the conclusion that liberalism has not solved their most basic problems. Instead, it has put many blacks in the mindset that they must be fed government programs, instead of being given access to capital and the opportunity to create their own jobs.
The younger generation of American blacks is saying it is time to move beyond the basic covenants of liberalism and finally face who they are and what they need, not solely as blacks, but as individuals.
These differences in perspective are manifesting themselves in seismic shifts in public opinion. According to polls conducted by the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, roughly one third of black Americans under the age of 35 are self-selecting as Independents. Black support for the Republican Party has more than doubled, from 4 to 10 percent over the past two years. During that same time, support for the Democratic Party has dropped 11 percent amongst black voters. This new generation is straddling partisan lines on core issues like education reform and welfare reform.
Even more profound is the narrowing difference between what young black Americans and white Americans rate as their top priority concerns. According to a recent Joint Center study, each group ranked education, healthcare, crime, and the economy among its top five areas of concern. That marks a profound change. Young American blacks are no longer willingly isolating themselves from mainstream society along the fault line of black and white issues. They want issues oriented solutions, not racial rhetoric.
The old guard of liberal black leaders has every reason to be fearful. They day when the black voting populace automatically rubber stamps the Democrats is soon coming to an end.
The Republicans — and black America — are facing an historic opportunity. Should the Republicans get serious about grooming this new wave of conservative black leaders, they can carry forth a new narrative about how this younger generation faces different obstacles than those encountered by their parents and grandparents, and how new approaches are desperately needed. That would be a refreshing change of pace for a community that has been stuck on the dead end street of victimhood for too long.
