Last night, I read a Facebook post which included a link to an article titled, "If conservatives are racist why are over 20 Black Republicans running for office in 2013-1014?" Yes, there should have been a comma after the word "racist," "black" shouldn't be capitalized, and I believe these Republicans are running for office in 2013-2014, but I could be mistaken.
The brief article, written by Joshua Riddle of Young Conservatives, reads as follows:
"Oh, look!!! The racist Republicans are up to their racist shenanigans again. They already have over '20' Black Republicans running for public office in 2013-1014...and that's just the ones who announced. How can this happen? The Party is racist? Right? I'm sure the media won't be reporting this."
First of all, it would be wrong for one to state that all Republicans are racist. A majority of them are not. However, I do know many more racist individuals whom identify with the Republican Party than with the Democratic Party, and Republicans would be lying to themselves if they didn't feel they had a race problem - meaning most non-white races don't identify with them much and the party has suffered on election day as a result.
Going along those same lines, not all minorities are Democrats. Throughout history, there have been African-American Republicans and the like. However, Democrats tend to dominate Republicans with minority voters on election day. In the 2012 election, Obama won 93% of the black vote, 71% of the Latino vote, 73% of the Asian vote, and 58% of the "other" vote, while Republican nominee Mitt Romney won 6%, 27%, 26%, and 38% of those votes.
The logic behind this writer's argument is weak on multiple fronts. It reminds me of a person making a discriminatory remark against African-Americans. He then sees that people around him are uncomfortable, and then blurts out, "I'm not racist! I have a black friend, okay?" Sorry, but having one friend of another race doesn't negate one from being racist.
Along similar lines, just because the party has twenty African-Americans running for it in the coming election doesn't mean some members of the party aren't racist. That would be like me saying, "There are twenty honest politicians in Congress. You see? Politicians aren't corrupt!"
Also, just in terms of numbers, it's a weak argument. Democrats have been able to count on winning around 90% of the black vote each and every election season for quite some time. In other words, so what if there are twenty such individuals running for office as Republicans? Congratulations. There are over 41 million African-Americans in this country. If I were the GOP, I wouldn't start bragging about things until my presidential nominee won more than 15% of that group's vote.
The thing the Republican Party needs to understand is that it's not going to matter to minority voters if the party runs more candidates of different ethnicities if their ideas are the same as the others. There's a reason why many black voters don't much care for Herman Cain or Ben Carson, both of whom are African-American. Sure, they may be black, but they have very similar ideas to Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, etc. If the party truly wants to compete with minority voters on election day, they'll have to change their party platform and fight for minorities' voting rights, fight for equal opportunity, and ultimately fight for Martin Luther King's dream - for the color of one's skin doesn't prove nor disprove they're a racist. Their words and actions do.
http://youngcons.com/if-conservatives-are-racist-why-are-over-20-black-republicans-are-running-for-office-in-2013-1014/
http://www.cnn.com/election/2012/results/race/president#exit-polls
The brief article, written by Joshua Riddle of Young Conservatives, reads as follows:
"Oh, look!!! The racist Republicans are up to their racist shenanigans again. They already have over '20' Black Republicans running for public office in 2013-1014...and that's just the ones who announced. How can this happen? The Party is racist? Right? I'm sure the media won't be reporting this."
First of all, it would be wrong for one to state that all Republicans are racist. A majority of them are not. However, I do know many more racist individuals whom identify with the Republican Party than with the Democratic Party, and Republicans would be lying to themselves if they didn't feel they had a race problem - meaning most non-white races don't identify with them much and the party has suffered on election day as a result.
Going along those same lines, not all minorities are Democrats. Throughout history, there have been African-American Republicans and the like. However, Democrats tend to dominate Republicans with minority voters on election day. In the 2012 election, Obama won 93% of the black vote, 71% of the Latino vote, 73% of the Asian vote, and 58% of the "other" vote, while Republican nominee Mitt Romney won 6%, 27%, 26%, and 38% of those votes.
The logic behind this writer's argument is weak on multiple fronts. It reminds me of a person making a discriminatory remark against African-Americans. He then sees that people around him are uncomfortable, and then blurts out, "I'm not racist! I have a black friend, okay?" Sorry, but having one friend of another race doesn't negate one from being racist.
Along similar lines, just because the party has twenty African-Americans running for it in the coming election doesn't mean some members of the party aren't racist. That would be like me saying, "There are twenty honest politicians in Congress. You see? Politicians aren't corrupt!"
Also, just in terms of numbers, it's a weak argument. Democrats have been able to count on winning around 90% of the black vote each and every election season for quite some time. In other words, so what if there are twenty such individuals running for office as Republicans? Congratulations. There are over 41 million African-Americans in this country. If I were the GOP, I wouldn't start bragging about things until my presidential nominee won more than 15% of that group's vote.
The thing the Republican Party needs to understand is that it's not going to matter to minority voters if the party runs more candidates of different ethnicities if their ideas are the same as the others. There's a reason why many black voters don't much care for Herman Cain or Ben Carson, both of whom are African-American. Sure, they may be black, but they have very similar ideas to Rick Santorum, Michele Bachmann, etc. If the party truly wants to compete with minority voters on election day, they'll have to change their party platform and fight for minorities' voting rights, fight for equal opportunity, and ultimately fight for Martin Luther King's dream - for the color of one's skin doesn't prove nor disprove they're a racist. Their words and actions do.
http://youngcons.com/if-conservatives-are-racist-why-are-over-20-black-republicans-are-running-for-office-in-2013-1014/
http://www.cnn.com/election/2012/results/race/president#exit-polls
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