How to Get the Black Vote Without Compromising Your Conservative Values

I spoke to a Republican campaign organizer back in 2008. She was running a strategy for a Black Tea Party candidate who was running for governor. She asked me what I suggested he do to reach more Black voters. I told her that if she followed my advice, they would have no problem attracting Black voters without compromising their conservative values.

1. Do not peddle the bogus stereotype that Black and brown people only vote for Democrats because of welfare, handouts, and free stuff. Only 11% of Black people are unemployed.

2. Do not use racially inflammatory and insulting language referencing slavery plantations — for example, phrases like “Democratic Plantation” or promises to “rescue Black people from a plantation.”

3. Do not take the opposite position on every racial issue that Black people collectively support. It is fine to oppose some and support others. But if you are against them on every single issue that arises, it appears that logic is not being applied and that you are opposing them simply for the sake of opposing them.

4. If someone from the right wing — especially a senior GOP official or elected representative — says something racist, do NOT respond by pointing to some form of racism from the left or the Democrats, especially from the 1800s. This creates a racist “safe haven” within your party, and people of color are well aware that this tactic is used to avoid criticizing racism within your own party by deflecting to alleged racism from another. What this communicates is: “As long as they have racists, we have the right to have racists too” — instead of “I will condemn and confront racism in my own party, and you should do the same in yours.” If you sweep your own house clean of racists, then any alleged racists on the Democratic side will be the only racists left between the two parties. That makes your party the one where racists are not welcome — which puts Democrats in a difficult position. Democrats don’t even need to actively do anything for the Black community. All they have to do is point out that the other side is more racist than they are. You will pull that support right out from under them.

5. Get corporations and CEOs to campaign with you in Black communities. Have them explain to your constituents that a tax cut for them will translate into more jobs, or higher wages in their current jobs. The likelihood of this may be low, but it is worth trying.

6. The Black community has the lowest rate of business ownership of any racial demographic — but Black-owned businesses are growing at three times the national average. Explain how your platform will make it easier for Black people to become business owners and job creators. The demographics with the highest rates of business ownership also tend to have the lowest rates of incarceration and police abuse.

7. There are 10 Black communities with median incomes ranging from $76k to $156k. Explain how your policies can help grow that list. This means abandoning the habit of pointing to one successful Black person as evidence that anyone can make it — and instead crafting a message that acknowledges the large number of Black Americans who are already wealthy and successful.

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You know what another political analyst told me? He said Black people were too small a demographic to even bother applying what I was suggesting, and that the conservative base has too many people who believe false stereotypes as absolute truth. He said challenging those stereotypes was too risky because it might cost far more white voters from their base while gaining only a few Black voters.

Unfortunately, any Black conservative who wants to be successful must stick with this tried-and-true formula. It alienates Black voters but generates substantial white support. White voters come from a pool representing 70% of the population, while Black voters represent only 12%. You have a better chance of gaining more support from the 70% group than from the 12% group. The loss of the Hispanic vote was not factored into their 2008 strategy — so now they are focused on winning that vote back, which means they can continue to ignore the Black vote.

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A common criticism of my suggestions is: “Why would you want to help conservatives? Do you want a Tea Partier or a conservative to win?”

My answer: That is not my objective. My objective is to help reduce racism in politics — and hopefully eliminate it from our national political discourse entirely.

If conservatives are perceived as more racist than Democrats, most non-white voters will vote Democratic on that basis alone. That means Democrats can win those votes without actually doing anything meaningful for those communities. They simply campaign on not being racist while pointing at conservatives as being racist. This formula has worked for a long time.

We all agree that racism and negative racial messaging in the media and in mainstream political discourse is harmful to the groups who are targeted by it. If we agree on that, we should also agree that less of this speech is good for those most commonly targeted by it. Democrats and left-leaning people should therefore support efforts to eliminate negative racial messaging from our mainstream political discourse. I suspect the reason many do not is that they politically benefit from conservatives being criticized for their racial messaging — which suggests that liberals and Democrats are not truly opposed to this type of speech. They simply want to benefit from its existence during national elections. And that is bad for everyone.

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Image and article from the Hill
Further Reading:
How to be a successful black conservative by Vanessa  Jean-Louis

Black Conservatives and Plantations by Charles M. Blow

10 Conservatives Who Have Praised American Slavery by Mark Howard