The RaceDoctor Speaks!

Today I will get right to the point.

To put it bluntly, the Republican Party is too white.

And we should all commit ourselves to doing something about it.

All those who care about the health of American Democracy, black, white, or otherwise, need to make it part of their collective work and responsibility to fix this problem.
Until recently, the problem might have been better phrased as the party is too non-black. But with That [Black] One getting 67% of the Hispanic vote and many of those folks are young first time voters whose initial party affiliations have historically proved rather sticky over lifetimes – we are further down the road toward there being a white (or perhaps whiteness) party, and another party for everyone else.

That is not good for democracy. And it’s not good for people of color. How long have black folks been complaining about being taken for granted by the Democratic party? A few more elections like this last one, and Latinos will be singing the same sad song.

When I say that black and other folks of color need to take responsibility for improving the Republican party, I am not just talking about the give or take 10 percent of us who think Clarence Thomas and Alan Keyes and their racism-minimizing selves are paragons of minority leadership. I am talking about mainstream folks of color, the kind who believe that personal and institutional racism are real forces in folks’ lives (even if sometimes exaggerated in our lesser moments) and who get irritated if not angry at the all too common habit of other folks pretending to us and themselves that those problems are all behind us now. I am talking about the folks who see a connection between the history of slavery and Jim Crow and the fact that black folks are three times as likely to be poor as whites and have on average one tenth the wealth they do.

It is these middle of the road minority folks who will be needed to help the Republican party figure out how to articulate an anti-racist conservatism, one that does not deny or minimize the way that issues of race have and continue to shape the lives of both black and non-black Americans. As long as these types of people of color are not actively engaging Republican thought leaders and regular folks because we find their views and sensibilities on race so irritating, the party will never evolve.

And likely not reclaim the success it has had when the country was whiter. And remember, it’s only getting less so. (The cross-over “whites as minority” point was recently revised down to 2042).
I recently saw a TV talk fest where conservatives were talking about this problem. It was refreshing to see white and black republicans criticizing the decision of the candidates last spring to not accept Tavis Smiley's invitation to a debate. (I think one of them actually called the decision “stupid”).
What was most striking was what they said were the solutions. “School choice” was the policy area they most emphasized. What was remarkable to me was that they missed to facts that are obvious to me. First, with black poverty rates running at 3 times white rates, an anti-poverty agenda would strike me as more galvanizing of black votes than any other policy agenda.

But fundamentally, the disconnect with the Republican Party is not about policy areas. It’s about a deep disconnect of worldview, and secondarily, tone. The disconnect is a reflection of at least 50 years of the party telling black folks that they are wrong in seeing racism is a real, live, actual problem that holds them back. Let’s remember, many republicans thought the civil rights legislation was “moving too fast.” And even if you look past Nixon’s Southern Strategy, Reagan beginning his Presidential Campaign in Philadelphia Georgia, Willie Horton ads, and the like, the fact is the Republicans reflexive response to the idea that racism is real is always to point out the possibility that it can be overstated. Unless the GOP figures out a way to talk about the realities of racism in a way that has resonance with mainstream non-dyed in the wool conservative black (and other) folks, they will always feel like a largely semi-hostile mob that at a minimum, are living in an alternative reality opposed to me and everyone I know.

And candidates for the chairmanship of the RNC distributing songs titled “Barack, The Magic Negro” doesn’t help matters. (Even if a few of us guiltily find it a kinda funny insult to Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson).

So my proposed solution is to create settings where Republicans thought leaders and other folks can collaboratively try to craft what might be called an anti-racist conservatism. I think it’s possible to think about racism as real historical and contemporary forces and still lean toward market forces as the primary strategy for making opportunities equitable. But engaging this topic is not easy, and will need to include black folks who are not paid conservative pundits.

The conservative movement has direct self-interest driving it towards doing something about the overwhelming nature of the Republican party. But I think that progressive folks (like the ones reading these words) need to actively help create an updated, anti-racist conservatism that is in fact, still conservative, but that some mainstream folks of color might sometimes find appealing.

Let me know when y’all are ready to have this conversation. I think I know a facilitator who can help.