The rise of black Republicans

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Jack Kelly devotes his most recent weekly column to “The rise of black Republicans.” It is not just because Kelly identifies two of the candidates we have highlighted in our “Strong shots and long shots” series that I love this column. Kelly makes a point I have not seen made elsewhere. Kelly remarks in connection with candidate Charles Lollar (I’ve added the links inside this paragraph):

He is running against the second most powerful Democrat in the House in a strongly Democratic district (political guru Charlie Cook rates it D+11), Mr. Lollar is given little chance to win in November. But he shares with Mr. [Tim] Scott, Mr. [Allen] West, Mr. [Ryan] Frazier and Bill Randall (a retired Navy master chief petty officer who is running against Rep. Brad Miller in North Carolina) the distinction of being a black candidate in a white majority district.
Of the 39 black Democrats in the House, all but two represent districts where blacks are a majority or plurality. One other black Democratic contender is running in a white majority district. So in this election, Republicans are running more blacks in white majority districts than the Democrats are. Shouldn’t that be taken into consideration when accusations of racism are being hurled about?

Kelly makes a hard-hitting point not usually seen in the mainstream media: “Accusations of racism against Republicans are a staple of Democratic politics because Democrats need to keep blacks on the plantation to remain viable nationally.” This also explains the prominence of such accusations against conservatives and Republicans in the media adjunct of the Democratic Party.
240px-Frederick_Douglass_portrait.jpg
Kevin Williamson recently posted a reminder making a related point close to my heart. “Frederick Douglass should be as much the face of the Republican party as Reagan and Goldwater. If the GOP had any brains (I know, I know!) it would spend a fair amount of money reminding the world: This is what a radical Republican looks like” (photo above).

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