The Black Republican Delusion
by Benjamin T. Moore, Jr.

The issue of Black Republicans is a controversy that has been simmering on the back burner/black burner for quite some time now. If one were to ask is there a problem with a person of color being a Republican, I would have to say, “that depends.” Black people identify with Republicans for a variety of reasons. Most often one’s party affiliation mirrors that of their parents and the environment in which they were raised. If you were raised in a Republican household, chances are, you identify as a Republican. This is true in particular for the two main political parties. Being an “Independent” has only become popular in relatively recent history.

Unfortunately what started Black people’s romance with the Republican party is the Myth that Abraham Lincoln freed the “Slaves.” I would suggest they go and actually READ the “Emancipation Proclamation” on-line. As they say, “Google It!” What you will find is that Abraham Lincoln only freed the Slaves in the States that were in Rebellion. These were the States over which whether or not he had any control was being disputed by the bloodiest war in the history of this Nation. It would be not unlike, President Obama raising the minimum wage laws in China or proclaiming that China had to abide by our OSHA standards in their workplaces. In short, not real meaningful.

Nevertheless, at the time when many Black people embraced the Republican Party, the “Party of Lincoln,” few could read or write and they believed what little they could grasp and understand about the life changing events happening around them. Once the South lost the war, there was a lot of Black migration to the North and other States. How could you know or prove that a Black person in Chicago was not from the South? You could not. So effectively all Black people were simply assumed to be free. All you had to do if you were a slave in one of the Northern States, was simply leave.

Make no mistake, Lincoln’s reason for freeing the Southern Slaves had little to do with moral reasons. He was fighting a protracted war with a body count that was unheard of at that time in human history. So long as the Slaves in the South continued to work the fields and supply the goods and services needed to resupply the Southern war efforts, the war could and would continue to drag on. Wars are fought and won on logistics. Why did the Roman Empire last nearly 1,000 years? The Romans built roads everywhere they went. Ever hear the phrase, “all roads lead to Rome?” They knew that with a good system of roads linking their Empire, they could rapidly move troops and supplies to anywhere within the Roman Empire. Yes, horses can go damn near anywhere. Marching men can go everywhere. However the supplies they need to feed them and replace and repair equipment, those things need to be carried on wagons. Wagons work best on roads. It was all about logistics.

Lincoln’s theory was, that when the word reached the Southern slaves that freedom awaited them in the North, they would simply up and head north. This would end food production as well as other crucial industries the South needed, in a state of collapse. The South would have to peel off manpower to return home, tend their fields and produce the goods and services they needed. This would effectively reduce the size of the Southern armies. The reality was, there were a lot of white people in both the North and South who disagreed with Slavery and found the practice objectionable. They seized the opportunity to support Black people being free and treated as full citizens. Prior to the Civil War, the pressures and the very real threats to their lives made it easy for them to remain silent. The “Underground Railroad” was run by white people of good conscience. John Brown so believed in the abolition of Slavery, he fought and gave his life trying to free Slaves. Most of these people identified themselves as Republican.

So what happened? Up until the early to mid 1960’s, the Republican Party was the Party of equality and opportunity for all Citizens of the United States. The big change began in 1948 with the formation of the “Dixiecrat” segregationist party. They were in the South which largely identified as Democratic. As you might imagine, there remained a lot of animosity against the “Party of Lincoln.” “Sherman’s March” through the South, laying waste and burning everything in sight, was still in the memories of many Southerners like a raw wound. It seems many white people found having to plow their own fields and actually work for a living objectionable. They longed for and idolized the “good old days” when they were waited on hand and foot by subservient slaves. Their mantra was that the North and the Federal Government in particular had ruined their way of life. So it was they were ripe for a party that promoted the notion of “protecting the Southern way of life.”

Franklin Roosevelt began the integration of the United States military. Made a lot of sense when you’re in the middle of a World War. The United States needed the resources of ALL it’s citizens to win. When Black soldiers who had fought to liberate Europe returned, Franklin Roosevelt made them eligible for the “New Deal” along with everyone else. Harry Truman continued in Roosevelt’s footsteps by creating a “Presidential Committee on Civil Rights” and ordered an end to discrimination. You can imagine how this went over in the “Jim Crow” South. In 1948 when the Northern Liberals led by Hubert Humphrey adopted an anti-discrimination plank at the Democratic National Convention, 35 Southerns walked out. They wanted to remove Harry Truman’s name from the ballot in the South. To do this they formed a short lived “State’s Rights Democratic Party” with Strom Thurmond as their Presidential nominee. The Dixiecrats held their convention in Alabama. When you hear Republican candidates referring to “State’s Rights” they’re paying homage to the segregationist platform of the old Dixiecrat party.

Following his nomination in 1980 Ronald Reagan’s first speech was delivered at the Neshoba County Fair just a few miles from Philadelphia Mississippi where Civil Rights workers were murdered in 1964. In his speech he said:

“I believe in states’ rights…. I believe we have distorted the balance of our government today by giving powers that were never intended to be given in the Constitution to that federal establishment.”

Whenever political candidates blow the “dog whistle” of “State’s Rights” what their target audience hears is, “I believe that the South had the right to secede. I believe the South has the right to discriminate against Black people. I believe the South has the right to own slaves.”  The Dixiecrats began reaching out to conservative Northern Republicans and bit by bit their ideology began infecting the Republican party. The final straw came in 1964 when President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act. Several Dixiecrats simply left the Democratic party and joined the Republican party, but the bottom line was, the Republican party became the place for those whom believed in the ideologies espoused by the Dixiecrats. No, there was no massive defection of Dixiecrats who took over the Republican party. That was not necessary. An idea is like a virus. It can infect and spread. What happened to the Republican party is not unlike the story of the Farmer’s daughter who in a moment of extreme passion was told by her date, “I’ll only put the tip in.”

The “tip” begins with the notion that smaller government is good. Fact is, most people philosophically agree with this premise. Paying lower taxes is good. Who wouldn’t agree with this? The Government would be smaller if it got out of the business of the States. Getting a bit nervous now. Back in the 60’s some States didn’t recognize interracial marriages. Some States in the South had a “poll tax” for Black voters. Some States practiced “Jim Crow” and flagrant segregation. It was the Federal Government that ended these practices. Thus when you join a group you really need to know about more than just the *TIP* of what they believe in. Sooner or later you’re going to get the *SHAFT.*

When it comes to Black Republicans, you have those whom identify as Republican merely because that is their family tradition. Then you have those who are Republican because the espoused tax policies of the Republican party are in their interests. Professional athletes who are worth millions, successful businessmen and woman who again are worth millions, entertainers, actors and others, who have accumulated substantial wealth, are voting their own self-interests when they vote Republican. I’m not mad at them. These are not the people I’m calling deluded. I disagree with their selfishness, but I understand it.

The Black Republicans whom I’m calling deluded are the ones usually who are solidly in the “Middle Class” but identify as Republican for reasons that have nothing to do with what is actually in their interests. Financially, I am pretty close to the Republican Party representing my own personal interests. I pay easily over $100 thousand a year in taxes. Thus, if it were just my wife and myself, I could hold my nose and vote Republican… If they ran a candidate with a brain! The problem for me is, I have family and friends whom have yet to be as fortunate. Some of them cannot afford health insurance. Some of them have been through foreclosure. Do I turn my back on them? Personally, I cannot.

These Republicans have bought into the “tip” or wedge issues that the Republican party promotes to specifically target them. For years now, the Republican Party has marketed it’s self to “Blue Collar” workers. I have a relative who *thought* he was a Republican because he had started his own business. I asked him how much he was netting from his business. Proudly he said, $40 thousand a year. I pointed out, “that’s a job!” He was working 12 hour days, 7 days a week and barely scraping by. He wasn’t making enough, to pay enough in taxes for Republican policies to benefit him. If his wife didn’t have good insurance from her job, he’d of been completely screwed having to buy his own health insurance. Good thing too. He recently had a heart attack and had to have 6 stints installed. Without his wife’s insurance he’d be bankrupt today.

Then you have those who are seduced by the poison pills crafted for religious people. Abortion and Marriage equality. Let’s deal with abortion first. The problem with this issue is, *IF* you are truly pro-life, you are pro ALL life. This means you are also against the death penalty. Why shouldn’t you be? With the advances in DNA technology, hundreds of people have been moved from “death row” and released. What nobody wants to talk about is, based on these statistics, the State has murdered innocent people who were not guilty of the crimes of which they were convicted. Yet, many so called “pro-life” Republicans fully support the death penalty. If you’re pro-life, by definition you have to be against war and military conflict. Let’s be clear, whenever we go to war there is ALWAYS what we euphemistically refer to as “collateral damage.” That is a tidy way of saying innocent civilians get killed. When civilians are killed in our foreign wars, we call it collateral damage. When they brought down the “Twin Towers” over here, we called that terrorism. Yet, many “pro-life” Republicans have no problem with and support an expansion in military spending and have no problem with our government turning to the “military option” without exhausting all methods of diplomacy and sanctions.

If you’re pro-life and want women to have their babies, there is a cost associated with this. Children require care, opportunity and education. Many of these needed essentials are provided by publicly funded clinics and programs. Yet, Republicans are all for cutting funding for WIC, food stamps, Head Start, inner city schools, etc. The message is, we care about the fetus, but once it’s born, you’re on your own. If the child grows up, we’re all for sending him or her into our military where often they do not come back. Many who do return bear the marks of war in their bodies and guess what! We are cutting the funding to the programs designed to help them deal with their wounds and reintegrate into society. Pro-life? Not really. Yet, it makes for a great wedge issue to seduce the uninformed.

Marriage equality is another good one. This one comes wrapped in a sugary “family values” coating. The irony is, many of the most stalwart defenders of family values and marriage equality are people who are on their 3rd, 4th and in some cases 5th wives. They’ve had numerous affairs. Have children that span multiple marriages, yet the words “family values” doesn’t seem to split their lips when it spews from their hypocritical mouths. The United States of America is a secular society. Freedom of religion and freedom *FROM* religion is something we enjoy and heretofore have been extremely proud of. This is *NOT* a Christian nation any more than it is a Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim or Jewish nation. So strongly did the founders believe in this principle, they encoded it into our Constitution. Once we penetrate the veil of the separation of Church and State, where do we stop? Should working on the Sabbath be declared illegal? Should eating pork be banned? How about banning the eating of meat period? There are religious groups here who pay taxes just like everyone else who teach that eating meat is to be avoided. There are many books with many people believing in those books. In point of fact, amongst those who identify as Christians, there are disputes. Yet they’re claiming to read from the same book. This is why you have all the different “Christian denominations.” Each can prove that all the others are in error.

What is marriage? Is it a sacred covenant between a couple and God? Is it a status recognized by the State? It is both. From the religious perspective, you go to your religious institution and have your marriage solemnized by a cleric from your faith. However, you also get a marriage *license* from the State. Why? If it were purely a religious institution, you would neither need nor want recognition from the State. Why do you want State recognition? Because there are benefits granted by the State to married couples. According to law, all citizens are equal. This is why the statue of “Lady Justice” wears a blindfold. Thus the State should not discriminate against any two adults of contractual age wanting to enter into a marriage arrangement. Your marriage is unaffected by my behavior. I lived with my wife for 10 years before getting married. During that 10 years, quite a few people simply assumed we were married. Most simply didn’t give a damn and NOBODY went and filed for divorce upon learning that we were not married. When we did finally get married – had more to do with the IRS and the beating we were taking on taxes – nobody’s marriage was affected.

Thus the notion that two people of the same sex, who call themselves married, and are receiving benefits from the State, somehow wreck havoc on the marriages of others, is purely specious. The issue is a non-issue created and promoted by people who do not believe in it themselves. It is designed to trick, deceive and bring the Churches on board. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard quasi literate preachers thumping their Bibles with great conviction, telling their mentally malleable congregations that “they cannot vote for a candidate who supports Gay marriage or Abortion.” They of course have no problem rolling over in bed right into the arms of a Party that takes food from the mouths of children, believes in putting innocent people to death and profits from unnecessary wars in which children are called “collateral damage.”

There is another type of Black Republican. This one is the worst. This Black Republican suffers from self-loathing feelings of inadequacy. These are often the most vocal. They are also the ones you’ll see appearing in the media commenting on various media outlets. His or her delusion comes in basically two flavors. The first, manifests in this time when we happen to have a Black President and stems from their inability to conceptualize that there exists a Black person who is literally light years beyond their capabilities. Because they cannot conceive of this reality, they are quick to look for ANYTHING that points to conspiracy or a rigged system. After all, they worked hard. They went to school. They’ve applied themselves… but they haven’t met with the success they believe they deserve. Thus, they look at President Obama with suspicion and mistrust. How could he truly be all the things they are not? Black preachers envy his oratory skills. Republican Black professionals can’t conceive his organizational abilities. Thus it must be a fluke! Some trick played on them and they hate him.

To these wights I would remind them of his visit to the Republican Caucus early into his term. the Republicans were laying in ambush for him. They were going to teach him a lesson. They invited the cameras in because they wanted his defeat and unmasking preserved on tape for posterity. They were going to put this young upstart Black President in his place. President Obama walked into that den of lions without a teleprompter. Without a laptop. Without a staff to aid him and defanged and whipped every last Republican single handedly. So severe was their beating, their first response was “Never Again would they have him come to their caucus!” Then they caught themselves and amended that to, never again with cameras rolling. My question to them is simple: Could any of them have walked into such a hostile environment and fared even half as well? The answer is no.

The other manifestation of the deluded Black Republican takes the form of a Black person who has been so culturally conditioned by the institutionalized racism in our society, they’ve come to accept and believe the myth that white people are simply superior to Black people. My grandfather who had his own business back in the early 1920’s called it, “the white man’s ice is always colder” mentality. Back then you really had an “Ice Box.” You would purchase ice for your ice box from ice vendors who went around with large blocks of ice on the back of wagons and would sell ice to people in the neighborhood. This was how you kept your perishables cold. There were actual Black people who wouldn’t buy from a Black ice vendor because they simply believed that what the white man was selling was superior. Sadly this mentality still exists in some Black people today. They will go on the air and attack President Obama and his policies, often armed with nothing more than Fox News talking points. When you ask a couple of more questions, they are embarrassed. They will defend the polices of George Bush in abject defiance of historical fact and they will support Mitt Romney who from childhood to adulthood was immersed in a religion that taught that Black people were inferior and cursed with Black skin. I’m sorry, but there are some bye-gones that cannot be allowed to remain as bye-gones.

Both of these types of deluded Black Republicans can be recognized by the vituperativeness of their attacks. A lack of logic and their inability to substantiate their positions with facts. I too can disagree and often do with a great many people on a great many issues. However, I always have a rational reason for my disagreement. I can present my reasons on demand. For instance, don’t tell me that your objection to President Obama is his tax policy when he’s cut taxes for small businesses and the middle class. Don’t tell me you disagree with President Obama over his foreign policy when his administration has had success after success. Bin Laden is dead and GM is not. Don’t tell me your problem with President Obama is his refusal to unilaterally change the Constitution and our legislative process, declaring by Presidential fiat abortions illegal. He swore an oath to uphold the Constitution. That also covers protecting full equality for all citizens even in their marital decisions.

If you are a multi-millionaire and you are a Black Republican, I’m not mad at you for voting in your own self-interests. If you are a Black Republican because that is your family tradition, I can understand that as well. Just don’t give me the boiler plate reasons which now have no basis in truth. Fiscal responsibility is no longer the hallmark of the Republican party. The national debt has gone through the roof under Republican administrations. Don’t tell me it’s because of smaller government. The Constitution shredding “Patriot Act” was passed and enacted under a Republican administration. Don’t tell me it’s because you believe that Republicans are better on security and national defense. The attacks on September 11, 2001 occurred on a Republican administration that had advance warning. Once you accept the “Tip” you will invariably get the “Shaft.”