The RaceDoctor Speaks!

By refusing an invitation to a debate that has been on the calendar for several months, republican candidates send several clear messages to the black community.  The strongest message is that “your votes don’t matter.” Jack Kemp and Newt Gingrich should be applauded for publicly speaking out in challenging the candidates’ decisions to shun debates for black as well as Latino audiences. It is noteworthy that President Bush said that the eventual nominee should reach out to the African-American community, but he chose to not comment on the candidates’ decision, even though he did comment on the current primary race in other ways.

In addition to being insulting, the candidates’ apparent refusal to debate in specifically communities of color is will have additional ramifications. If the eventual nominee takes the President’s advice and reaches out to communities of color later, many people will remember the current insult.

The fundamental problem is that Republican public officials almost never demonstrate even a basic intellectual and emotional understanding of the way that current and historical racism affects people and society. If they displayed any even partially empathic understanding of the point of view of many black people, many black people would be receptive to their policy positions.

The refusal of the candidates to debate in front of black audiences is ironic, since there are many traditionally conservative positions that have some resonance with black audiences. For instance, compared to whites, blacks are:

• More conservative on abortion
• More likely to think that homosexuality should be discouraged
• More likely to believe that the government should do more to protect morality
• More likely to think it necessary to believe in God to be moral