Opinion
Republican Party needs to engage African American community
Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele. PHOTO/File
The GOP primary in Florida on January 31 highlighted a fundamental problem the Republican Party will face in a more racially, ethnically and culturally diverse America. We will look back and recall that in a state that is more racially and culturally diverse than most, the phrase the African-American vote was completely absent.
On January 23, C-Span aired the Conservative Black Forum, a Washington gathering of black conservatives. It was hosted by Rep. Allen West, R-Fla., moderated by black conservative media personality Starr Jones, and included former Rep. J.D. Hayworth, R-Ariz., and Lakeland Mayor Gow Fields and others.
The gathering became an open analysis of black conservatives’ plight in the Republican Party and the party’s failure to connect with their community. They shared that as black Republicans, they are often seen as traitors in their own community. They spoke in bewilderment that black voters confide to them (in a whisper) that they agree with them on the issues, only to vote for Democrats.
