New talk, sensitive ear for the GOP

e-mail this story discuss this issue in our forums Leroy Chapman • Luckily, our schools weren't torn apart too (05/17/04) • New talk, sensitive ear for the GOP (04/07/04) • Lazy parents need a kick in the pants (03/04/04) • It's time to give 'ol coach his due (02/10/04) • Black voters can have a key role (01/20/04) More details E-mail Associate Editorial Page Editor Leroy Chapman Jr. at lchapman@greenvillenews.com

And, if you could, develop a more sensitive ear for issues that involve race. Also, be careful of the company you keep.

Let me explain.

It's been proven time and again that there is a wide disparity between the general ideological leanings of African Americans — which are conservative on many issues — and how they vote.

And the reason more black voters don't side with the GOP boils down to this: rhetoric and race.

First the rhetoric. Decades of minority status in Congress, most Southern statehouses and local governments meant the GOP got its voice from the far right. Bombast was the thing — kill the tax code, shut down the federal Department of Education and silence the traitor liberals.

But then a funny thing happened. Republicans won. And now in charge, the idea of the GOP making good on threats to "dismantle a broken system of public education" or to slash government spending to the only barest constitutionally proscribed duties leaves black voters leery.

You see, chances are even black voters who are unhappy with the state of public education benefited from it and don't want to see it weakened. And while black voters can be equally appalled at the rise in entitlement spending, most know poverty and appreciate the benefits.

Republicans would help themselves with black voters by talking like the governing party they are — like fixers of the system and not just opponents of it.

Then there's race.

Black voters have largely forgotten — or forgiven — the sins of a Democratic Party that governed under segregation and defended it as a Southern right. But African Americans haven not forgotten the GOP's ill-fated "state's rights" Southern strategy that exploited the integration fears among white voters. Nor have they forgiven this.

Republicans must do more to separate themselves from last-century thinking and the groups that are still living in the past and active in the party. Then perhaps the party could finally seize upon the growing opportunity among blacks who may have grown up Democrats but now stand open-minded because their chief concern is no longer civil rights.

These are African Americans old enough to vote regularly but too young to have ever attended a segregated school. They are business owners who favor the GOP's traditional strong support of small business. They are two-wage-earner, high-income families who are enjoying the Bush tax cuts.

They are evangelical Christians who oppose gay marriage, support keeping God in the Pledge of Allegiance and are proudly pro-life. They are veterans of the first Gulf war who got an education on America's security needs and support a strong military.

Many who fit this profile one way or another were in attendance at a recent forum hosted by the Urban League of the Upstate's Young Professionals group. I moderated a panel discussion of issues between the heads of the Greenville County Republican and Democratic parties.

And if that session is an indicator of Republicans' standing among black voters there is reason to be hopeful — and concerned.

When the topic was Social Security, vouchers and public education the Republicans held their own with competing ideas that forced some fruitful debate. The Republican leaders there were able to point out how blacks, of all groups, would benefit most from partial privatization of Social Security. They touted vouchers and defended the No Child Left Behind Act as a bill that helps black children especially because it holds schools more accountable for dreadful results.

But when the topic was race, Republicans bombed. Badly.

Asked about a paid Martin Luther King holiday in this county, the GOP defended the County Council's actions as a stand against outside agitators. Republicans can't lapse into talk reminiscent of 1968 and expect black folks to vote for them. There's your problem.