Unsolicited Advice

In the latest presidential election, Republican George Bush managed to persuade less than 10% of African-Americans to vote for him. If you believe some of the silly Democratic rhetoric from partisans in Florida, you might be inclined to conclude the Al Gore would have garnered an even larger percentage from this community if the ballots were not so confusing.

The truth is that African-Americans are as culturally and economically diverse as other groups in America. There are married and single black Americans. Some are elderly and some are young. Some are wealthy, while others struggle economically. Some are religious. Some are secular in outlook. Some reside in urban areas, while others live in the suburbs or in rural parts of the country. Some African-Americans are robustly healthy, while others suffer from chronic illness. Some are well educated having earned professional and graduate degrees. Others are burdened by illiteracy. African-Americans occupy virtually all niches in American society.

How then it is possible that there is such uncanny unanimity in voting patterns that is inconsistent with the wide diversity of circumstances for black Americans? Some how, racial identity and solidarity have been made to trump the differences of economic and cultural circumstances. While African-Americans still share the experience of some measure of discrimination, this alone seems insufficient to account for current voting patterns. By any objective consideration, George Bush extended more of a welcoming hand to the African-American community than other Republicans candidates who received a significantly larger fraction of the African-American vote.

The truth is that some leaders in the black community now have a symbiotic political relationship with the Democratic Party. Commercials sponsored by the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) are an example of this relationship. They suggested that George Bush was somehow complicit in the brutal slaying of a black man who was dragged behind a pickup truck in Texas. So long as certain black leaders are the dominant intermediaries for the black community, Republicans will not be able to garner increased support.

It is not healthy for a two-party political system for one racial group to be so closely identified with only one party. In actuality, the strong support by blacks for Democrats reveals an important vulnerability. Excluding the black population, Republicans generally receive a significant majority of the vote. It is hard to imagine Democrats being able to increase their support from the black community. Not even union members vote for Democrats in such overwhelming percentages. On the other hand, if Republicans were able to make inroads in the African-American vote, it could severely undermine the Democratic coalition.

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