OUT & ABOUT: My Evening With Black Republicans

BY DENISE CLAY/ Last Thursday, Carl Dash, Algernong Allen and Audra Butts co-hosted a panel on Black Republicans and Philadelphia at Elena’s Soul Lounge on Baltimore Avenue in West Philadelphia. I joined Republican strategist Randy Robinson; Butts, a North Philly Republican ward leader; 1st Congressional Dist. Republican candidate John Featherman, local activist Judith Robinson; and Sgt. Robert Mansfield, an African American seeking the 2nd Congressional Dist. seat as a Republican; as part of the panel that discussed reasons why Blacks and Republicans are having trouble meeting halfway.

As part of this panel, the mostly Republican group talked about their experiences as African Americans in a party that doesn’t seem to be a natural home for Republicans. Or at least it isn’t now. Most of the folks talked about how Republicans should be credited for the gains that African Americans have made in this country. They also trumpeted the list of famous Black Republicans, a list that included the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King. (Unless you can produce King’s Republican registration card, you won’t get me to believe that one.)

We talked a lot about why Black folks aren’t running at top speed to the GOP. Robinson, who has worked as a strategist for folks in both the Republican and Democratic parties, told the audience that one of those reasons is because the GOP is forgetting something that any communications professional could have told them: Know your audience…. “Republicans need to stick to the arguments they can win when it comes to Black people,” Robinson said. “You’re not going to win with Black people when you come in talking about abolishing unions because unions played a large part in creating the Black middle class. If you stick to talking about the ways in which Blacks are more conservative, you can win.”

Judith Robinson (no relation to Randy) said one way the GOP could gain a toehold in Philadelphia would be to look at street lists and encourage the Black Republicans who are already there to become ward leaders instead of recruiting people from other places to run as ward leaders in Black neighborhoods.

Featherman, who was kind of on the stump that night, charged me with being a racist because I said that the way to not win Blacks over is by being too harsh regarding President Barack Obama. You can attack his policies, but leave the personal stuff alone, I said. “You’re being a racist because you’re assuming all Black people are proud of Obama and they’re not,” he said. But until the Republicans allow the adults to regain control of the party, Black folks will be keeping their distance because any party that includes people who will tell us we were better off under slavery than we are with an African American at the helm of the country is a party we don’t want an invite to.

One thing I found myself pointing out to folks continuously last Thursday night was that if we go by the Tea Party element that has taken over the GOP, people of color see a party that is made up of crazy, racist people who want our votes just to point out to us we don’t count.

Sticking just with local stuff, let’s look at Pennsylvania’s voter-ID law. Over the weekend, State Rep. Mike Turzai let the cat out of the GOP bag by saying to members of the State Party the voter ID law was designed to deliver Pennsylvania to Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney in November. I don’t know about you, but when you’re talking about committing the voter suppression of people of color on purpose and are proud enough of yourself to brag about it, you’re sending me a pretty clear message.

Among the people who were there last Thursday was the newly elected chair of at least some of the Philadelphia GOP, Rick Hellberg. I say “some,” because the Philly GOP has been the site of an intertribal feud for most of the last few years. Helberg is part of the half that’s allied with the state party. When we were giving our final remarks, I gave him a piece of advice: Find a really good public-relations firm and talk to them about your problems attracting Blacks. I could give you a list of names.

I missed last night’s dialogue at Elena’s Soul Lounge. However, Dash and Allen hosted another hot-topic panel on: “The Black Struggle, The Gay Struggle: How Similar? How Different?” Former City Council candidate Malcolm Lazin was among the panelists. And the mac and cheese always rocks at Elena’s!

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