Dr. Boyce: Romney’s Address of the NAACP May be Appealing to “Black Political Orphans”
by Dr. Boyce Watkins, KultureKritic.com
Today, in a column for CNN.com, Roland Martin writes about the pending visit of Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney to the NAACP. Martin says that Romney won’t get many African American votes in November, primarily because the GOP has done such a terrible job cultivating African American voters. He says, however, that Romney’s appearance could be beneficial to future GOP candidates.
Yet despite the long odds, Romney’s decision to speak to at the NAACP national convention in Houston next month is a smart move, and one that could be beneficial to his candidacy and the future prospects of the party.
Let’s face it, the Republican Party is as white as it could be. Sure, the party can boast of the electoral wins of Reps. Allen West and Tim Scott, both African-American; Indian-American Govs. Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Nikki Haley of South Carolina; and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida and Gov. Susana Martinez of New Mexico, both Hispanic. But the GOP gets virtually nothing from black folks, and Hispanics predominantly vote for Democrats.
Martin makes an accurate point that “minorities are now the majority,” meaning that Republicans need to step up their appeal to black and brown voters in order to win future elections. But in spite of the party’s decision to reach out to Latino voters, Martin argues that they are still afraid of African Americans.
Martin’s point about GOP reps being afraid to come on his show is interesting. On one hand, it sounds like a dare, similar to the one presented by Tavis Smiley back in 2007, who was highly disappointed when few Republican candidates showed up to his debates at Howard University. I’m not sure if tapping at their egos or calling them out is going to get them to change their behavior. Also, appearing on Roland Martin’s television show is hardly a prerequisite for showing that you care about African Americans voters.
Perhaps a more reasonable explanation for why the Republicans are afraid of black folks is because they should be. When you’ve spent decades doing someone wrong, you don’t want to walk into the belly of the beast and be held accountable for your behavior. The Republican party has allowed itself to be hijacked by individuals who hate having a black president and have written off the bulk of black Americans as unethical, uneducated, welfare recipients. That’s hardly a secure platform on which to stand.
Romney’s appearance at the NAACP convention is brilliant because he is planting a seed into the minds of millions of black folks who are tired of the same old abuse coming from the Democrats. He’s saying to them, “Look, I’m not a bigot and I respect you. I want the same things for my family that many of you want: Jobs, education, a moral society, and a chance at the American dream.”
Many African Americans, interestingly enough, are closet conservatives who feel that they have no political home. These “socio-political orphans,” are in perpetual limbo, like the woman with an abusive boyfriend waiting for a nice guy to ask her out on a date. They are looking for an excuse to consider the Republican Party, but each time they open their minds, the Republicans do something racist and stupid.
In 2004, millions of African Americans (including those in my own family) switched to vote for President George W. Bush. I was not one of them. But my relatives who made the switch did so for some of the same reasons as Colin Powell: They believe that every American should work hard for what they get; they are not fans of abortion, gay marriage and a host of other consistent liberal talking points; they believe that loyalty to Jesus is nothing to be ashamed of. The list goes on and on.
When Roland Martin was suspended by CNN for his anti-gay remarks on Twitter, millions of African Americans saw nothing wrong with what he said. Some also feel highly threatened by the assertive homosexual agenda, as if their own children are going to be pushed to consider a lifestyle that they are not comfortable with. Yes, homophobia is quite rampant in the black community, there is nothing wrong with someone disagreeing with the lifestyle for religious reasons. This is hardly the thinking of a voter who fits snugly within the liberal political space.
So, if I were to give Mitt Romney advice on how to address African Americans this week, it would be simple: Be yourself and treat them like they’re human beings. Don’t patronize them and don’t write them off. If you give respect, you will get it. Not every African American can be considered part of the black Republican target audience, but there are millions of African Americans who are willing to consider every option.
I am personally in favor of Romney’s appearance and hope Republicans work harder to woo African Americans. I am not in favor of the move because I will ever be a Republican. I support the move because African Americans should be encouraged to be independent thinkers and to consider every alternative when deciding where to place their votes. The idea that you should be a Democrat just because someone told you to do so is highly disrespectful and impedes on your right to free political choice.
We didn’t fight hundreds years for our freedom just so we could hand it over to the Democrats. If they want to keep the black vote, they should be required to compete for it.
Dr. Boyce Watkins is a Professor at Syracuse University and founder of the Your Black World Coalition. To have Dr. Boyce commentary delivered to your email, please click here.
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Wow, this sentence summed up my thoughts perfectly! I just wish they’d give me a reason to give them my vote.
They believe that every American should work hard for what they get; they are not fans of abortion, gay marriage and a host of other consistent liberal talking points; they believe that loyalty to Jesus is nothing to be ashamed of. The list goes on and on.
Well Sid Dr Boyce!
Let him go and speak most of us believe any lie we are told.. Watch out for the so called black people. Prav,give and vote for the president.
Interesting. I’ll still not vote Republican until they denounce racist rhetoric. None of that fence straddling about freedom of speech. I find most of them to be quite passive. I’m voting third party this cycle m
How quickly we forget history, regardless how recent it is. The Republican Party over the generations from its inception has evolved into the party of the rich in America. For decades the party’s position on race essentially was ambivalent and generally reflected the popular attitude of white America. Ronald Reagan’s “southern strategy” brought the p****d off southern dixiecrats into the Republican party during his initial run for the White House. The dixiecrats consisted of virtually all of the southern states who left the Democratic Party when the Democrats decided to seat f***y Lou Hammer at the Democratic convention.
When Reagan recruited the dixiecrats into the Republican Party he promised them that he would cater to their wishes in terms of withholding federal assistance from American Negroes. He also spoke using the same color baiting language that white southerners understood. I remember how often he included “cadillac driving welfare queens” in his speeches. Fast forward in history and although the old generation of southern dixiecrats have pretty much died out, their offspring continue the racist bigotry, while remaining as a strong block in the Republican Party. These neo-dixiecrats continue to hold the current Republican political leaders to the same agreement struck by Ronald Reagan when he brought their fathers and mothers into the Republican Party.
Romney will honor and continue this tradition. So why is Romney going to the NAACP? Romney will speak at the NAACP simply because this event has become a tradition itself, i.e., a history of Republican candidates for the presidency addressing the NAACP’s national convention. Both Bushes did it. My memory fails me but I’m sure that there were other Republican presidential candidates who addressed the NAACP national convention. The Republican candidates ask to speak at the Convention not because they think that they will win votes or lure a few black folks into the Republican Party. They do it because they believe it is great PR to show their personal COMPASSION FOR BLACK PEOPLE to the rest of white America. According to tradition, Romney’s speech will get prime time coverage by every media outlet in America (excepting the Weather Channel), and it should be a speech that will fall normally into Romney’s wheel house, namely the ECONOMY.
Unless I miss my guess, Romney will talk about the awesome amount of suffering borne by African Americans during these hard economic times. He will most likely list the amount of financial loses inflicted upon the African American population, and he will most likely quote the 20 plus % unemployment figure for African Americans nation-wide. He will also pepper his speech with the pregnant question, “And what has Barack Obama done for you?” – and he will also declare as he did when he addressed the Latino Elected Representatives, “You deserve better than this!” As a matter of fact if Romney was really smart, he would hire Travis Smiley & Dr. West to write the speech. Regardless of the style and content, Romney’s speech at the NAACP will be a huge media event buying him the greatest amount of publicity that he can ever hope to receive between now and whenever the debates begin.
There are a large number of open minded centrist african (black) americans that agree with some of the republican platform, but I feel 65% of all republicans are racist. I have voted for two republicans twice in my voting life time, however with the tea party and other racist groups operating in the party I could never vote republican at this point in time. Romney is bought paid for and would act accordingly if elected.
I’ve been “following” Mitt “the liar” Romney (the candidate of the 1%) since the last time he ran for President (remember he lost to John McCain). One of the things I know is he cannot be trusted. I do not care if he takes his Herman the Munster Jr. looking face to the NAACP convention, big deal, a number of wanna be President Republicans have, so what!
This guy could come sing at the Apollo and he still will not get my vote. Not because he’s a Republican but because of the kind of person he is, I don’t have party loyalities.
President Obama must win in November because if Mitt “the liar” Romney wins it will embolden the racist, the bigoted, the violent, and the White Supremist elements of this country.
Also if Mr. Munster Jr. wins he will have America go to war with Syria, China, Iran, or Pakistan. Plus the gap between the have and have nots will widen greatly, it’s bad enough now. The middle class will become the poor, and we’ll need a new word for the poor.We’ll have; the have have nothing (the poor), the have the crums (the middle class), and the have everything people (the rich).
Romney is the candidate for the 1%, why else would they be spending Billions of dollors on him, what is he supposed to do for them? Some of the same corporations that bought us the recession are some of the same companies supporting (with money) Romney! What are they paying for him to do?
I may not agree with everything the President has done but I have too much self respect to jump from the frying pan into the fire.
It’s funny how you say loyalty to jesus is important. Well if that’s the case then black people will never be voting for a Republican. If black people are so concerned about people who are gay then they need to get a life. I would assume jesus would be more concerned about the the fact that at every turn Republicans do whatever they can to hurt the less fortunate. Romney may say all the right things at the NAACP but actions speak louder then words. The facts are if Romney and the Republicans cared about the black unemployment rate then, they would have passed bills that would have created jobs. Coming in blaming Obama for black unemployment would be disingenuous. If Romney cared about people in the %99 then he would be speaking out against the Ryan budget which plans cuts to social programs that will affect the less fortunate many of whom are black. He would be speaking out against another round of tax cuts for the wealthy on the backs of the middle class many of whom are black. If Romney were really concerned about black unemployment, then he would speak out against the millions of government jobs that have been lost which has helped keep the unemployment rate where it is and is going against what Republicans supported in the past when a Republican president was in office. When a Republican president faced a depression the government grew. Now it’s all out attacks on those d**n government workers. If Romney cared about black people he would speak out against the clear attempts to keep people from voting. It is clear that these purges affect black and latinos more. Romney can come in and spin a good tale but it would be just that a tale!
The only way today’s republican would start respecting “The Black Vote” would be to day the we stop spending our money in their establishments, and establish our own. Personally place a “strong-hold” on your pocketbook and make a dent in their pocketbook, and every agenda worth fighting for would be addressed. We keep spending, they keep ignoring. Simple semiotics.
“Now let me get this straight,wait one more again,maybe it was a miss print ok here goes George W. Bush and Colin Powell they believe that every american should work hard for what they get…iam going to marinade that for minute. Well in a perfect world George and Colin this statemen would make sense,oh but guess what? This is not a perfect world and some people have a deep seated need to believe that they have earned everything that they have instead of having been bequeathed it as a result of generations of racial prejudice and institutional racism. Most people’s financial assets are considerably smaller than people like George and Mitt leading us to fewer economic opportunities, greater economic hardship and much less access to wealth creation opportunities and we didnot have the same opportunities to amass wealth over generations. A financial asset perspective offer a global picture of economic well being this includes like in George and Mitt case a family’s saving account, stocks, and other investments, home equity and inherited wealth though gifts and bequests. They have greater access to transformative assets, wealth and gifts inherited from previous generations which enables families like George and Mitt to enjoy opportunities that they have inherited from previous generations but have not earned themselves though merit. There are million’s of citizens for whom the american dream is out of reach despite their willingness to work hard. Take a look at what it is like to be trapped in a cycle of dead-end jobs without benefits or opportunities for advancement. The working poor shatters the myth that america is a country in which prosperity and security are inevitable rewards of gainful employment. So that speech maked about believeing that every american should work hard for what they get…so far lets see what we got capitalism, racism, oppression, depression, poverty, unemployment, brutalify, racial profiling, mass incarceration, bigotry, prejudice, ignorance, struggling, beaten, hanged, and the list goes on and on. People like George and Mitt, there skin color, their family name with it’s connections, entitled them to certain position and station in life. They didnot work hard a day in their life for what was handed to them, they didnot question it, it was natural comfortable, and right to them. As far as Colin Powell, he was just doing his house negro duties, this is the deal you join the game, play the game and while they reap the benefits of the game, and the expection from much of people like George and Mitt is that you keep your mouth shut when the game doesn’t work in your favor.
Dont forget he just suggested classroom size doesn’t hinder student performance. Like the Bible you need to listen to what was said before and after this speech. Watch the difference between old and new behavior. Where was he before 2012 ?
Someone once wrote: Lets look at the big picture. Do you think
that the Republicans are really serious about winning the presidential election. Neither were they serious about winning it in
2008. Do you think picking Sarah Palin as vice presidential candidate empowered the Republican candidate McCain. In fact
she was selected to widen the gap for Obama and McCain. The party could have selected a benign republican candidate for the
vice presidency which would have given Mr. McCain a better chance of winning. The fact is Mrs. Palin was what she was suppose to be, a sabotage of the republican ticket. Again they
are not serious about winning or they wouldn’t have selected a
mormon, not only out of touch with mainstream Christianity but ablos out of touch with mainstream America.
Let’s getLet get something straight here, no matter what Mitt Romney or any Republican lawmakers has to say at NAACP conference it won’t improve the bad blood that the Republican Party got towards Black America. Romney is a liar and only goingto do what he always do and that is brag about his personal accomplishment and blame Obama for nearly everything that suppose to be wrong with America. Now to be honest, Obama and the Democrats are just as guilty as Romney and the Republicans on how they all turn their backs on the black race and simply just don’t care about us PERIOD! Any self respective black man or woman allow themselves to believe these clowns are doing themselves an unjust deed. Neither one of these candidates could never show the actual compassion and real genuine concern about the issue that WE face without any help from either one of them. They both offer nothing for us and only using us and the rest of America expect us to fall in place and vote for useless liars who would go to the end of the world for all the other Americans who can get whatever they want out these two political jokes that I just can’t seem to vote for. My thought about these POLITICIANS is this :Obama only concern with people who want something in return. Romney only pander to the Rich, Racist, and Ignorant Fox News viewers and Tea Party rejects that believe every lie they hear. Black people listen to me these people don’t care or respect us as Americans, why do you think they call us African American.Its not out of respect for us it because we are not seen as American and we sure not full African because most of us know nothing about Africa. But to stay on topic both of these guys are in this scam are in it for other non black people and themselves.Thanks God I came to my senses and realize the truth about the political BS that we believed for so long.
Any Black person who really believes that Romney and his fellow Republicans care one iota about us is living in a fool’s paradise. What more glaring evidence do we need to see their total disregard for Black people? Romney’s words and actions show us exactly whom he is, a rich White opportunist who believes his “turn” has come, and who has absolutely NO interest in America than I have jumping over the moon. Romney going to address the NAACP is a mere exercise and perhaps desperation hoping to pick up a handful of votes from Black people. Any Black person who votes for Romney hoping that he would work to improve their lives or the lives of middle class working class or the poor is a dreamer. Voting for any Republican is tantamount to voting to promoting the man standing by ready to pull your execution switch, and Romney represents that man. Romney is in this race for Romney and the 1% only nothing more. Now that he is begging for Blacks to vote for him he WILL say anything but he is a wolf in sheep’s clothing. He actually said that he is not concerned about the poor. He makes no attempt to disavow the harsh racist statements coming out from Republican “lawmakers,” Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck, Fox anchors, or anyone else. Sad to say, but Romney may be even worst than George Bush, and Black people can expect only one thing from him, going back to the dark old days. We must NOT elect another Republican as President and that includes Romney. It’s a Rick Black people cannot afford to take.
Big Picture, neither party represents the interest of Blacks.