By Charles D. Ellison
June lit up like Black Republican Month as the GOP made its latest push to brush up better credentials of color. Someone wants to show the party’s $10 million outreach investment being put to good use. Spend quick, fam, show some progress through the summer recess.
The Republican National Committee couldn’t contain itself on announcing the dedication of Frederick Douglass’ statue in the Capitol Hill Rotunda, quick to make first dib claims on the legendary abolitionist’s Republican roots. In a bizarre first, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) actually spoke publicly about another African American. So-called “listening sessions” with community leaders kicked off in Cleveland, OH. And RNC Chair Reince Priebus (whose name oddly conjures up strange inflections of a 1990s rapper) found his way onto the Tom Joyner Show alongside the normally boisterous Roland Martin who asked cookie-cutter ‘why-Republicans-hate-Black-folks’ questions as Joyner and Sybil Wilkes gawked on. The transcript, frankly, doesn’t do a whole lot of justice for anyone who was there.
Priebus popped up again, this time to the rescue of former Miss America Erika Harold GOP candidate for Illinois’ 13th Congressional District and the unwitting target of a richly bigoted tirade from Montgomery County, IL GOP Chair Jim Allen. That ended a rather Black week for the RNC in which two White guys, one demanding the other’s resignation, seemed to joust over the sister’s attention. But, that may have twisted itself into a silent win for the national GOP: who knew Republicans actually had a young, credible and mighty damn telegenic Black candidate possibly shaking things up in heavily Democratic Illinois?
But press lists and email inboxes went blazing recently upon the gleeful announcement of three fresh new Black politicos joining the Republican fold. Adding insult to injury, observed cheerful Black GOP rank and file, was that in each case it was a Democrat switching over to the other side. One senior Black Republican aide described it as a “… big deal” in response to skepticism from this end.
(Photo credit: Twitter/Erika Harold)
There was Louisiana state Sen. Elbert Guillory suddenly shifting allegiances to the party dominating his legislature. He is now one sore thumb Black Republican among 32 African American members in the Louisiana legislature. You can accurately guess how they feel about that, but judging from Guillory’s age compared to the rest of the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus, they’ve more than likely dismissed it as the off-cuff rant of a crotchety old man.
But, look no further than Central City, Louisiana Mayor Pro-Tem Ralph Washington, another “lifelong Democrat” who planned the stunning political switcheroo with Guillory given their close proximity (Central is in East Baton Rouge). Lost in the RNC talking points is former Baton Rouge city councilman and, we’re told, “power player” Darrell Glasper also making the switch alongside Guillory and Washington. All three men hail from an emerging, crunchy bunch crew of Black conservatives called @large, a group that just held its first conference amid the approving claps and back-slaps of fellow White conservatives.
Mike Hill, who recently won a special election House seat in Florida’s District 2 overseeing parts of Pensacola, Pensacola Beach and Gulf Breeze, enters a similar situation as the Sunshine State legislature’s only Black Republican – along with 27 African American legislators, all Democrats. Certainly, there was considerable grumbling on the part of Florida’s Black political elite once they discovered Hill is the president of the Northwest Florida Tea Party.
That brings the June total to four Black current and past elected officials going GOP – in the span of less than a month.
Is this something for Black Republicans to get excited about? Should Black Democrats be watching their right flank?
The jury is really out on a prolonged vacation over this. It’s not like they’re major or ranking Black elected officials who leverage pounds of clout in their respective states. Guillory is just … well … old and (guessing) probably felt slighted on some levels by his LLBC colleagues. Washington is a lowly Mayor pro tem in a city we’ve never heard of, and Glasper – who’s not even holding office anymore – is not too far behind. Hill, full of Tea Party baggage, jumps onto the scene much like former one-term-mishap Rep. Allen West (R-FL) who epically failed as a legislator during his cartoonish and short-lived tenure in Washington (although he’s now hinting at a primary run against Republican rock star Sen. Marco Rubio).
This doesn’t really smell like a Black Republican power rout as much as it could be a series of pragmatic political moves. With southern legislatures such as Louisiana and Florida mostly Republican, White, and Bible Belt conservative, you might find a few hungry and marginalized Black pols wanting in on the action. It would be different if, say, a few sitting Black Members of Congress did it; or, if a batch of Black state legislators in the reliably Democratic Northeast corridor suddenly had a party V-8 moment.
Guillory’s Senate District is overwhelmingly Black and Democratic, but the presence of a sizable Republican and rather vocal White minority probably worried the veteran lawmaker in desperate need of a bi-racial coalition to keep his seat. Washington and Glasper, both possibly feeling the state house bug, tagged along for the ride.
Hill’s case is a no-brainer. You’re a very active, very ambitious Black man with a bank account and political ambitions who lives in a district that is majority White and solidly Republican. So you do the math, you learn the language, wrestle control of the local Tea Party and become Black history overnight.
And not like this new crop of Black Republican superstars is saying anything fresh or close to original from the crop we’ve grown use to. Louisiana has a poverty rate that’s in the toilet, alongside other Gulf coast states. But, instead of just saying “hey: this is the best way for me to work with the political realities currently dominating Louisiana,” the well-dressed Guillory pulls from a slice of pre-approved guiltless conservative talking points in his video announcement. “Programs such as welfare, food stamps — these programs aren’t designed to lift Black Americans out of poverty,” says Guillory. “They were always intended as a mechanism for politicians to control the Black community.”
In Virginia, Lt. Gov. candidate and campaign neophyte Bishop E.W. Jackson also pulls his lines from back-in-time platitudes, rousing mostly White southern audiences with reverse apology rants suggesting that it was “… not slavery that eroded the Black family but government policies in the 1960s.”
Over in Florida, Hill doesn’t veer to far from the script either. “Limited government, low taxes, personal freedom and individual responsibility,” is the comfortably wealthy insurance agent’s mantra, the usual near blood-oath lines Black Republicans must spit when walking the tight rope between racial designation and partisan affiliation. Not sure what Hill’s philosophy will do as Florida House District 2, known as a health care and military hub, is sure to get slammed by sequestration budget cuts.
Black political maneuvering and leveraging in the other political party (sounds like that pork slogan) is actually somewhat refreshing – and smart … but, only if it’s done smartly and with a clear community empowerment model in mind.
Republicans might be in a period of inevitable demographic demise, but they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon, particularly in the state legislatures and governors’ mansions. So, there’s some logic in Black politicians – especially in the South – examining this unique re-balancing of the eggs in the basket. Putting all your chips on one party brand might feel good in the short term – but how can you gain the ultimate respect of both parties if you’re not finding creative ways for them to compete for your vote, money and participation?
Additionally, Black Democrats might want to stop laughing for a moment and take a careful look at the landscape. While the rise of Black Republicans might not seem like an issue now, it could become an issue at a later point as an up-and-coming wave of shrewd, independent-minded Black politicos feel choked or pushed out of a Democratic Party that’s saturated with people that look like them. Hence, a few might head over to the other side where the market is wide open. But, more importantly, Black Democrats may find themselves in a fix where they may need partners of color to help them navigate the other side.
Still, not sure if this latest Black Republican growth spurt is the way to go about it. It’s not like any of the cats named above are hitting any truly inspirational chords or notes. The speeches appear primed to pay bigger lip service to tea party benefactors, rather than to communities in need of a motivational message about economic growth, jobs, safe neighborhoods and better schools. Feeding dusty history lessons about the anti-slavery roots of the GOP might be a nice clever racial trick for RNC officials, absolving them of any guilt. But, that’s not doing a whole lot for underserved constituencies that desperately want change in the here and now. So, how brave is this?
CHARLES D. ELLISON is Chief Political Correspondent for UPTOWN Magazine and Washington Correspondent for The Philadelphia Tribune. He can be reached via Twitter @charlesdellison.