The Idiocy of "Enslavement" Rhetoric by Conservatives

I long for the day when conservatives/republicans will discontinue the rhetorical soft bigotry of low expectations where the voting allegiance of the black electorate is concerned.  I got into a running debate on Facebook with other conservatives about how best to argue the conservative case to all sectors of the black electorate. While I blew my portion of the argument as to their characterization of the black electorate, I had a real point to make where the language they use is concerned. Way too many conservatives use rhetoric of this sort:

The enslavement of the African people of this nation by the Dumbacrat party has been weighting heavily on my heart for a few months now

There are those who do not have a reasoned basis for their behavior. They believe what they are told by other Democrats, whether it's true or false. In effect they are enslaved by misinformation.


  I see now the some disenfranchisement of the African American Democrat voters as the party starts to chase the ever growing Hispanic vote. As I keep looking at this situation in our society I keep seeing very similar tactics being used now as was done to the slaves in the south. The brutality is not there but, the strategy is similar. For instance the education of inner city kids is horrible. The slaves were not allowed to read. Not the same, but similar having much of the same result.

This is not the rhetoric you use to win the black electorate. Attempting to reach blacks, poor or otherwise, with an argument that says "hey, you are being fooled, bamboozled and enslaved by a conspiracy of liberal democrats" is a LOSER approach. Why? Because you're telling them they are VICTIMS again! Its condescending and disempowering and the exact opposite of what conservatives have often complained was a culture of victimhood within the black community as it relates to racism. This is the argument we should use  to persuade blacks to the conservative banner? That they should trade one ideology of victimization for  another? America is a country that believes in the individual, in personal merit and being responsible for one's own self and one's own choices, but with this liberal democrat conspiracy argument, you take away all the responsibility and power of choice and place it in the hands of some vast left wing conspiracy.
 
I believe the black electorate to be completely and totally capable of CHOOSING more conservative policy prescriptions which are thoughtfully brought forward to our community and I submit that as conservatives/GOP, we do not attempt this in any serious way. It is not a serious approach to the deep and troubling issues in the black community to tell them the answer is to throw off the yoke of the vast left wing conspiracy. The answer is to bring forward policy prescriptions that address the issues and put them into action.
 
The church provides a good analogy for what conservatives ought to be doing. In the church, there are missions, where people go out to the lost and live among them, addressing the very real issues they deal with and by making a difference in their lives, their communities, create a heart receptive to the Word and thereby an opportunity to win the lost. In that same fashion, conservatives must go into the black community as political and policy missionaries, making a difference and thereby creating the opportunity to win this portion of the electorate. Trying to convince them they are merely victims of a liberal conspiracy is not a winning argument; showing them a better policy approach that solves the political and policy challenges in their lives t is.

Black Republicans Call Steele to Account

Hat Tip Booker Rising

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga professor and head of the National Republican African American Caucus, Dr. Howard Hill, responds to RNC chairman Michael Steele's statement calling for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to resign over his comments about President Obama: “If RNC Chair, Michael Steele is truly concerned with racism, then perhaps he needs to first begin within our own party. There are certainly enough issues with race for him to have his hands full in dealing with this right here within the Republican Party. There also are a few within the GOP leadership, he also may wish to ask to step down.”

She continues her statement: "As a 30-year veteran African American Republican and as the head of the National Republican African American Caucus, I find it offensive to see and hear this kind of meaningless rhetoric. It is simply another way of posturing and playing to partisan unrest..... Many of us (African American Republicans) have tried to sit back and look the other way, but when this kind of silly and meaningless rhetoric is espoused with such callousness and lack of sincerity, you can’t be silent. I don’t like having to speak out against my own party or its leadership. But if we do not, this continues, and it makes it appear that all African American Republicans are a part of this foolishness. Because of this, many of us have bowed out of the GOP political mix.  It also makes it hard to recruit other African Americans into the Republican Party, at a time when the Party needs to attract us.”
 
....So Chairman Steele, we invite you to be fervent in the same commitment you have to challenge Democrats, to also call for a change within the GOP; where what you do actually can have an impact in changing the racial climate in America.”

I don't think I could have said it much better myself.  This is really serious indictment of Steele's lack of leadership when it comes to doing something effective to grow the GOP's relationship with blacks as a political constituency. While he's busy jumping on the latest political bandwagon in calling for Reid to step down, he is totally silent on Rush's asinine Haiti comments, or any of his other race baiting rhetoric for that matter.  The guy is forever opening his mouth to gaffe in one way or another, but he can't seem to wrap his lips around a word or two of pushback when it comes to the party's funky rhetoric and messaging towards blacks, an issue he knows to be real.  Now, the Reid flap has become the proverbial straw and even black republicans deep within the party are finding this nonsense hard to stomach.

Steele, for the Love of God, Stop Signifying

I've blogged before about the racial chip that seems to exist on the shoulders of Michael Steele. You know, the one that manifests itself in the repeated use of "in da hood" slang in what I used to think was a half witted attempt to simultaneously keep it real with blacks and reassure whites that his election to RNC chair makes them hip and with it, but what I now believe is a manifestation of Steele's anger at the way the GOP dismisses blacks as an unnecessary political constituency for engagement.

It began on the very day of his election, when asked what message he had for the president and he replied "how do you like me now?" It continued through a disappointing early Esquire magazine interview laced with profanity and reached a new low when he came to Indiana for the Young Republican election and encouraged minorities "ya'll come. I got the fried chicken".

You've heard me on this before: why in God's name is a sixty something year old grown black man with a law degree from Georgetown finding it so hard to use the Queen's English on the regular? I'd like to say Steele has eased off this really annoying bad habit, but alas, I cannot.

Steele and company at the RNC just rolled out the new GOP. com website, complete with video of a miniature talking Michael Steele welcoming you in. Among other things, the new site sports a blog written by Steele himself. What does he title it: WHAT UP. Yes, I kid you not.

This frosts my cookies on two fronts: #1. I can't understand why he feels the need to remind people that he is black in this specific way, i.e., the use of slang and vernacular. It doesn't contribute to him being better understood or to putting people at ease or anything like that in my view. I've concluded that he continues to do this for the psychic benefit of thumbing his blackness in the party's eye, because he is angry (as he should be) at the way the GOP ignores blacks as a political constituency. This is the sort of passive aggressive way that he expresses that, since I guess he is simply not going to press his party to grow in this area. To be fair, he really can't.

Its worth noting (and to his credit) that even a stalwart, solid conservative commentator like Ed Morrisey at Hot Air acknowledges this reality, even if he doesn't acknowledge the scope of the fail. "the GOP has not put out much effort in talking sense to black voters and explaining conservative principles in the context of their lives. They should be focused on effective outreach, not slang-titled blogs that sound more patronizing than welcoming."

#2. It makes my head want to explode because in addition to using annoying slang like this, its like half the slang. If you gonna title the blog this way, then you need to go all the way and call it "Was Up", not "What Up". I mean it sounds like a preppie nerd from an uppercrust private boarding school trying to emulate gangster behavior to say it like that. Just annoying, especially out of the mouth of an over 60, balding black man with a law degree from Georgetown.

After a mountain of justly deserved ridicule, Steele and company have renamed the blog "Change the Game". Thats better

If you have not learned this lesson yet, learn it now. Cut the signifying Steele. Engage your party on the issue thats bugging you and stop this passive aggressive behavior. If you're not going to make the party grapple with it and confront it, then just accept it and move on.

Steele "Outreach" = EPIC Fail

Michael Steele was on hand here in Indianapolis for the auspicious election of Audra Shay to the presidency of the young republicans. Besides the funky optics of Audra Shay's election, after she co-signed the racially inflammatory remarks of Eric Piker, I didn't think there was anything else particularly remarkable that occurred at the event. I was mistaken.

Michael Steele had the opportunity to speak with bloggers during his visit and was asked a question about achieving greater diversity in the GOP. Watch below for his answer:



This is an EPIC FAIL moment for Steele personally and the GOP as a party in terms of messaging to blacks and minorities in general. Steele has repeatedly been described as an articulate man, and I have no doubt that he has a command of the English language and that is why this is EPIC FAIL material. "Y'all Come"? "I've got the fried chicken and potato salad?".

For the love of God, why does Steele trade in this stereotypical language? If anybody ought to be paying attention to the language they use as they try to create a better relationship between blacks and the GOP, its the RNC Chairman. However, Steele, because he is black, clearly believes he gets a pass to play with these types of stereotypes. Didn't we just get get treated to Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor getting lectured by Cong. Grassely about how his career would be over if he had made a comment akin to her "wise Latina" statement? How is this any different? A white RNC chair would be excoriated for a comment like that, but Steele gets a pass because he's black? Steele clearly thinks so, because he uses this kind of language frequently.

The other EPIC FAIL here is that there is no plan on diversifying the party. Steele goes into this geriatric spiel about how republicans opposed slavery and if you believe in markets, freedom, blah, blah, blah, the GOP wants you and we don't care about how you want to live. All of that is really just an elaborate dodge of the question. He articulated no plan and that's because there isn't one. All there is is the same old tired rhetoric about how the GOP is really the party that supports black people and minorities in general, doled out with a generous helping of the same old stereotypes straight from the mouth of the RNC Chairman himself. I can hardly blame GOP rank and file folks like Eric Piker, or leadership such as Audry Shay or Councilman Fraggo in California for co-signing and passing on racially inflammatory material; they take their cues from Chairman Steele himself.

One to Watch

Hat tip Hip Hop Republican

Ryan Frazier's got the oratorical gift no doubt. He's looking to claim a senate seat in Colorado. Definitely one to keep an eye on.