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Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Advice to Black Republicans

Zack Issacs' PR/Media blog takes a look at ways Black Republicans can appeal to the Black community. As we all know Blacks have often overwhelmingly voted Democratic for decades.
• UNDERSTAND THE MINORITY PLIGHT Minorities (read as people of color) deal with more poverty and discrimination than other groups. So, don't come to them saying it's their fault that they aren't successful. They want solutions, not causes for their problems. Understand why the Democrats have done a better job at reaching them and then counter act it.

• USE THE PUSH APPROACH Come to the minority community! Don't just beckon minorities to you. Create a dialogue about black politics, either using community panel discussions or direct mail, to present your ideals. The pull approach- getting minorities to come to you- is not working at all.

• STOP BEING CONTROVERSIAL, ON PURPOSE Watch your words. If you know that Black, Latino, and Native American folks love the President, then criticize his advisors and not him. That's what I do. When folks see the Sarah Palins and Bill O'Reillys and Michelle Malkins just talking for the sake of controversy, it makes matters worse.All of these are very valid points. If the GOP has a message to the Black community then they should tailor that message to that community.
I talk about my time debating on message boards overtime. Well one day I tried to get away from what I thought of as typical GOP/conservative orthodoxy towards minorities and was virtually shouted down. No one heard one thing I said.

One thing I said was that history wasn't bring Blacks to the Republican Party. It may well be true that Blacks when they started voting associated themselves with the GOP (who just so happened to be the party of Abraham Lincon and Emancipation), but what should bring blacks into the Republican fold today?

Even worse than that some derided my ideas on this issue as saying Republicans should offer more welfare programs for blacks. Great someone is misconstruing what I believe in and coming to a conclusion that really wasn't there.

To be sure there are issues that I hope could resonate for Blacks. Education is one thing that deserves a debate in the Black community. We should discuss the value of a public education and what we expect out of public education. We should also discuss whether or not blacks should have school choice and ways to take their children out of poorly performing schools.

That's not the only issue but a great start. Besides it wasn't that long ago when a Democratic state senator from Chicago's far south side decided to bring school vouchers to the floor of the Illinois General Assembly only to see it shot down. It may not be considered an issue that would bring him many fans that form the constituency of the Democrat Machine, but it something that deserves a fair hearing.

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