Michelle Obama Attends Beyonce Concert
7 Weird Ways To Bug-Proof Your Picnic
Maybe, just maybe, Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele isn't quite the complete political buffoon he has appeared to be during his years running the national GOP strategy.
Maybe in between making embarrassing statements, feuding publicly with Rush Limbaugh, clumsily trying to use hip-hop language in his speeches and earning thousands for speeches that former RNC chairs made for free, Steele has actually been doing some work to benefit his party.
According to the National Black Republican Association, 32 blacks will be on the ballot for Congress in the upcoming elections.
Honestly, while the vast majority of these candidates stand little chance of getting elected to Congress, Steele should be commended for opening up the closed ranks of Republican candidates to new black faces.
While I have little love for black Republicans, it's important for black people to have candidates on both sides of the political ledger.
It's clear that Democrats pays more attention to the needs of black people than Republicans, so it's no accident that every black person in Congress is a Democrat. Same goes for the first African American to live in the White House.
The problem is that Democrats could begin taking blacks' interests for granted, knowing we have nowhere else to present our grievances.
There is no reason in the world why both political parties don't take the concerns of black people seriously. If some black people can work themselves to leadership positions in the GOP, black people may actually get to choose politically.
Comments: (14)
Add a comment
By: Marlene Franklin on 4/26/2010 3:09PM
Will white republicans vote for black republicans?
That is the question.
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: Sally on 4/29/2010 1:20PM
They voted for Obama, didn't they.
Report This
By: rasfanta on 4/26/2010 4:07PM
I think this is great. Remember black people, the democrats/dixicrats did not want the slaves to be free. Republicans pushed for the end of slavery (if only to prevent splitting the country). Black people were republicans after reconstruction and we had black representatives in congress. I don't trust democracts. They have repeatedly sold the american people out. They sold us out in the health care reform bill and they are in the process of selling us out in this financial reform and they will sell us out in immigration reform. The democrats are more wimpy than the republican party. They want to compromise too much. It ain't about compromise. All they have to do is reinstate the regulations that were already on the books before they threw them away, to prevent the financial problems we are experiencing today from happening. The republican party needs to distance themselves from racist, ignorants like limbaugh, palin and the tea party if they do not come correct. distance themselves from rupport murdock's communication empire and stop letting this aussie MF dictate american policy. This country needs to turn inwards and stop trying to be all things to everybody in this world. We are not taking care of our people at home, first. F--K this diversity BS they keep trying to ram down our throats. The international aspect of our financial system is one reason for the problem. Most of our money that was used in the bailout went to overseas interest.
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: EB on 4/26/2010 5:44PM
I found your article interesting, yet, because I have several opposing views concerning some of your statements, I feel inclined to express my own personal responses to some of the points that you have made.
First, Black people do have a place to present grievances regardless of the apparent "lack of attention" to the concerns of the Black Community by the Democractic Party and unfortuantely by an overwhelming majority of our own elected officials as well, ---and that place is the "polling booth".
I also feel that the main reason the Democratic Party and those African American Representatives-- from the State House to the White House,---who only speak "to us" or "for us" around election time---fail to take the concerns of Black people very seriously because they know that as a people, "we" cannot separate "Party" from "Issues", and that "we" are less like overall to ask the questions, demand the answers, and expect "real change", and with this in mind, I strongly disagree with your statement that the "Democracts" pay more attention to the needs of black people.
You see, there is "tea' and then there is "Kool-Aid". Tea grows from leaves, and it appears that more and more Black people are drinking it center-right of the table, and while they are sipping it, they are realizing that "our" Constitution is supposed to separate the three branches of government, and that "We the People" now also means "us", and there are those of "us" who have either already taken off the blinders or are in the process of doing so, and with this new found view of our country, these Black Republicans who you have "little love for", are asking the questions and analyzing the answers. They are also coming to understand the terms "government intrusion", capitalism, and socialism because they want to "protect and pass on to their children" their wealth, however great or small.
On the other hand, the Kool-Aid drinkers are just swallowing down a lot of sugar because its cheap and its basically "free". But then again, government entitlements are also free and they keep us from aspiring to attain our own individual wealth.
I also feel that Michael Steele has earned his current position with the RNC and that his only problem is that he needs to hire those among "us" who really know how to communicate with "us" on every level because as I am seeing "our" conversations going from " I Want Change", to "I've Changed My Mind and I Can't Wait Until the 2010 Elections", I realize that we have come to the curve in the road, sort of like that poem "The House By The Side of the Road", except that House is now being occupied by Black Republicans.
In your article you also stated that-- "Its clear that Democracts pay more attention to the needs of black people than Republicans"--, and I also feel that this statement is not altogether true.
In my own personal opinion, the current Democractic Party and the overwhelming majority of our current African American Representatives are only "paying attention" to the "need to keep Black people "dependent" on the government" so that we will remain docile and complacent, and I notice that when all else fails, the foregoing people pull out the "Race Card" to keep us distracted.
For example, and being rather new to reading Black Voices, I posted an article to engage in conversation as to whether or not it is time to consider Theodore Roosevelt's quote on Presidential Criticism, but it appears that "we" don't care to discuss issues that will be affecting all Americans for years to come and this is why neither the Democratic Party or our African American Representatives don't take "our" concerns seriously. They know "us". They know all of our "cousins". But now they are beginning to wonder if they realllly know us.
And these are some of the reasons that I believe, albeit a slow movement, that there are 32 African Americans on the ballots for 2010 elections, and I predict that there will be more to follow.
You see,
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: Marlene on 4/28/2010 3:23PM
EB
Exactly where is the Misinform, mis-stated, and incompletely summarize true facts coming from!!!!!!
Is it from Uncle Mike’s mouth:
For Decades GOP Pursued 'Southern Strategy' That Alienated Minorities
Earlier this week, RNC Chairman Michael Steele told a group of 200 students at DePaul University that African-Americans "don't have a reason" to vote for Republican candidates.
During his remarks he also acknowledged that for decades the GOP pursued "'Southern Strategy' that alienated many minority voters by focusing on the white male vote in the South."
Steele was asked to explain why an African-American should vote Republican at a university-sponsored discussion on the conservative movement.
The RNC chairman's response: "You really don't have a reason to, to be honest -- we haven't done a very good job of really giving you one. True? True."
Steele also discussed with students his own experience being the victim of racial discrimination -- a subject that the he has openly addressed in the past.
Steele told TV One's Roland Martin in November that even some of his fellow Republicans are "scared" of him because of his race.
Steele acknowledged his party's failure to reach out and connect with African-Americans and other marginalized communities.
"We have lost sight of the historic, integral link between the party and African-Americans," he explained.
Steele went on to make a candid statement about how the disconnect between Republicans and minorities is not new and has been a part of the party's strategy for years. The Chicago-Sun Times reports on what the RNC Chairman had to say:
For the last 40-plus years we had a 'Southern Strategy' that alienated many minority voters by focusing on the white male vote in the South. Well, guess what happened in 1992, folks, 'Bubba' went back home to the Democratic Party and voted for Bill Clinton.
BY THE WAY EB HOW MANY BLACK REPUBLICANS SENATORS ARE THERE NOW? I REST MY CASE
Report This
By: s walker on 4/27/2010 7:02AM
Would some one please explain to me , what is the importance of 30+ blacks running for senate seats,other than raising large sums of money for the gop party . Recruiting other blacks that are mandateded by the good ole boys to attend several weeks of basic training of do's and dont's by gop stragist sean hannity ,rush limbaugh ,bill o'reilly to name a few. Uncle mike appears to exhibit some form of inteullect . But when i watch him make a bold statement against the gop party one day only to watch with a painful heart the very next day that one of the afore mentioned good ole boys make him retract verbatim , every word that was stated in his prior conversation .What would motivate a person to subject themselves to such humilation... Could it possibly be the M word .
Report This
By: Edward King on 4/30/2010 1:18PM
"You know it's sad when "Negro's" forget what "Kool-Aid" taste like....“Every single one of these “Negro’s” will lose. Where do these “Negro’s” think the votes needed to win will come from, “tea party nuts”, certainly not from “Educated Black Voters”? Here's somethink my "uppity negro" friend needs to remember....as a Republican..."YOU WANT TO GET MAD? We had eight years of Bush and Cheney, but now you get mad! You didn’t get mad ...when the Supreme Court stopped a legal recount and appointed a President. You didn’t get mad when Cheney allowed Energy company officials to dictate energy policy. You didn’t get mad when a covert CIA operative got ousted. You didn’t get mad when the Patriot Act got passed.. You didn’t get mad when we illegally invaded a country that posed no threat to us. You didn’t get mad when we spent over 600 billion(and counting) on said illegal war. You didn’t get mad when over 10 billion dollars just disappeared in Iraq. You didn’t get mad when you found out we were torturing people. You didn’t get mad when the government was illegally wiretapping Americans. You didn’t get mad when we didn’t catch Bin Laden. You didn’t get mad when you saw the horrible conditions at Walter Reed. You didn’t get mad when we let a major US city drown. You didn’t get mad when we gave a 900 billion tax break to the rich. You didn’t get mad when, using reconciliation; a trillion dollars of our tax dollars were redirected to insurance companies for Medicare Advantage which cost over 20 percent more for basically the same services that Medicare provides. You didn’t get mad when the deficit hit the trillion dollar mark, and our debt hit the thirteen trillion dollar mark. You finally got mad when the government decided that people in America deserved the right to see a doctor if they are sick. Yes, illegal wars, lies, corruption, torture, stealing your tax dollars to make the rich richer, are all okay with you, but helping other Americans… oh hell no. AND NOW YOU’RE MAD !
Report This
By: trainwithrt on 4/26/2010 6:42PM
These 32 are the uncle toms of our race.
Reply to this Comment | Report This
By: Tish on 4/26/2010 10:44PM
I truly believe that they are out for themselves. I'm a conserative Democrat who would never be apart of a racist group who openly calls you the n word. True the democrats turned on the blacks when the blacks got civil rights. They were called the dixiecrats and went republican. So that is where the dixiecrats went and to thid day they still spew hate.
Report This
By: EB on 4/27/2010 9:03AM
Tish,
Thank you for your comments. However,and as I continue to maintain, let us not give out mis-information.
More specifically, and while you would not "knowingly" be a part of a group that "openly" calls "us" the "N" word, then I assume that you just love yourself "some" Senator Robert Byrd, Democract from West Virginia, Ex KKK Recruiter who as late as a few years ago in this 21st Century used the "N" word twice during an interview and has yet to apologize.
In fact, he was so confortable with the usage of the word that he even said that there were some "White Ns".
Dixicract-Yes
Democract-Yes
Ooops!!!! Just one who has taken the sheet off in public. Almost a hundred, can barely walk, and still a U.S. Dixiecract-Democract "N"word calling U.S. Senator.
Didn't vote for Thurgood Marshall's appointment, tried to stop the passgage of the Civil Rights, Legislation, etc,etc,etc.
If I had to choose betweenBlack Conservatives and him plus others like him who are similarly situated and whose sheets are in their closets, the choice is clear.
Associations bring on assimmulations.
And how will the Democractic Party keep Black people on the new Economic "N" Plantation? By continuing to Keep give us government entitlements-By creating Value Added Taxes on our gasoline and the commodities we purchase-by telling us how much money we can make--by telling us to go to trade school and junior colleges instead of four year colleges-- divide us with mis-information, incomplete summarizations, and "spin", and finally- By Distraction.
And although I disagree with you response and analysis, thanks for the reasoned discussion.
Report This