I Have Black Friends: A Brief History Of Black Republicans

Salon recently published an article entitled “The lonely black Republican: Harvard historian on Ben Carson to Jackie Robinson.” Writer Elias Isquith interviewed Harvard Professor Leah Wright Rigueur, the author of The Loneliness of the Black Republican: Pragmatic Politics and the Pursuit of Power. From the article:

“It seems downright bizarre from today’s perspective, but there was a time, really not so long ago, when the conventional wisdom held that the first African-American president would probably be a Republican. Of course, today’s Republican Party is the preferred home of neo-Confederates, states rights absolutists, David Duke wannabes and all manner of race-politics reactionaries.”

I found this story to be intriguing. The author talks about the role of African Americans in the Republican party. He really does a great job explaining the history and complexities of the relationship between Black Conservatives and the Republican Party.

As Isquith and Rigueur note, the relationship between African Americans and “The Party of Lincoln” has become increasingly complicated.

“What’s going on, I think, in the Republican Party is that there’s really a battle over what the Republican Party should represent in terms of civil rights. The Republican Party does this dance with black voters where they say, We want to go after black voters but we’re not sure we want to invest the time and the money into going after them. So they again, do things that are piecemeal”

When I was much younger, around 18 or so, I considered myself a conservative. I used to watch Bob Enyart and frequently call his show. Part of the reason I identified with conservative ideology was due to my relationship with my Black Community.

Growing up in a predominantly black neighborhood and “talking white” did not make me a lot of friends. I constantly felt like an outsider and began to resent many of my own people. In-spite of those feelings I still believed in uplifting the Black Community, I just did not identify with the politics of those who belittled me. It would not surprise me if many Black Conservatives started out the same way I did. I plan to expand upon this a bit more in a future article.

Of course over the years after examining the social and economic systems in place designed to oppress and limit African Americans, I abandoned many of my conservative positions. Although I still find value in a few ideals they consistently fail to live up to. This article and Prof. Rigueur’s book are great reads for those interested in the history of Black Republicans.