I will give Maryland Senatorial Candidate Michael Steele credit. In an interview this week, Steele said that the GOP should be at Tavis' forum, and that they need to either ' put up or shut up' about being serious about presenting a platform to the Black community.
But, I haven't heard from any more prominent Black Republicans or Conservative Bloggers...their silence is deafening. And, until they speak up and out about this, they should just keep quiet about the GOP actually being a ' choice' for Black folk. But, as with so much else with the GOP, Black Republicans will find some sort of mental gymnastics to excuse this away.
My mental gymnastics are simple, and they are simply a reverse of the mental gymnastics that allows people to think Tavis Smily represents 'the Black community'. The GOP is already a choice for black voters. All we have to do is listen to the candidates when they talk to America. The mental gymnastics that make blackfolks separate and distinct from everyone else are precisely all the trickeration needed. We can all do that in our sleep, the hard part is undoing that.
Part of the forward flips was the de-blackfication of the Fox News Network. Some politicos decided that Fox Network was not for black people. So when Fox invited black politicos to speak on their network they declined to participate. A lot of people fuss about a level playing field. That act was nothing more or less than a forfeit of the playing field, and suddenly Fox became too white. It wasn't Fox that declared itself white. It was black political partisans that did so.
Republicans shouldn't have to do backflips to undo the racial flips of black political partisans. But that is the standing presumption of those who consider themselves too black for the mainstream to understand. Of course nobody really cares until this multicultural separatism becomes a self-fulfilling prophesy of being 'underserved'. Then having marginalized themselves expertly into minority status, they will come with their special pleas for ways and means for 'outreach' to work. There is no need for outreach. Just turn on the TV.
As for Steele, he's right. The burden should be on Tavis Smiley and everyone else who wants a special audience with the GOP to deliver audience and patronage. We all know that when the NAACP was serious about inviting GWBush, he showed up. That required a change of leadership and attitude. If the NAACP, as weak as it is, knows how to get the President, Tavis Smiley should know how to get candidates. I just happen to believe that Smiley is not backing down from the dismissive and hostile attitudes his Contract With Black America crew has with the GOP. If it's going to be like that, fine. That's politics. But don't pretend that it's racism, or anything else.
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