Sending a GOP Welcome Wagon to African Americans

When the 106th Congress convenes Wednesday, the Republican leadership will reflect an historically significant choice. In November, House Republicans eleccted a black American, Oklahoma Rep. Julius Caesar Watts Jr., to the post of conference chairman, the No. 4 position in their hierarchy. While not the highest position ever held by a black--Democrat William Gray was House majority whip--it will be the highest ever held by a black Republican.

In addition to legislative duties, the job calls for Watts to go out on the stump and, in his words, “put feet and words and message” to Republican policies. Obviously, the medium is part of that message. Watts’ blackness is supposed to signify that the GOP is no longer a Southern white men’s club.

Blackness may actually make Watts’ job more difficult. Most blacks think GOP policies offer only simplistic, often punitive, nonsolutions to complex problems. Watts’ own father, J.C. Watts Sr., says that, for a black, “voting for the Republican ticket is like a chicken voting for Colonel Sanders.”

In advocating those policies, Watts risks being perceived as a token or a puppet, even a quisling, a risk made greater by the most obvious of statistics. Watts wants “people of all colors to think that the Republican Party is a party of many faces,” but when the House reconvenes, his will be only black face on the Republican side. Nor did the realignment in the House leadership alter the party’s image. The three spots above Watts are still held by white males. It might appear, that, not for the first time in history, white men have dragooned a black man to do their heavy lifting.

But to assume that Watts will blindly follow a Republican agenda is to discount the possibility that it is his agenda. It is to do what bigots of all sorts do: emphasize the single factor of race while ignoring the complexities of individual experience.

J.C. Watts was born in a small town in the Bible Belt. In youth, he sowed wild oats but accepted responsibility, married his child’s mother, has been married for more than 20 years, and is now the father of five. He attended the University of Oklahoma on a football scholarship. In 1980, he thrilled a national TV audience and won Most Valuable Player honors while quarterbacking Oklahoma to a victory in the Orange Bowl. He did it all again in ’81. Like his father, he became a Baptist preacher and a politician. Unlike his father, he became a Republican. Race aside, why wouldn’t he? Why wouldn’t a religious family man espouse “family values?” Why should a man who himself paid the price of paternity support abortion? Why wouldn’t a man who risked his body to earn an education think the route to power and prosperity is hard work, self-sacrifice and education, not government assistance?

Race aside, why would anyone assume that Watts will not find a way to both do his job and assert himself? As a big-time quarterback, J.C. Watts learned how to take orders. He also learned how to call plays. And, he learned to use his initiative; he did not twice become Orange Bowl MVP by just following the game plan.

But Americans have trouble putting race aside. Many Americans find it curious that a black man should hold conservative beliefs. Many black Americans find it suspicious if one does. Such suspicion was often directed at Jackie Robinson for his Republican beliefs; such suspicion will certainly be directed at J.C. Watts. But once again, Watts’ experience must be considered. Watts played quarterback in the early 1980s, when an unwritten rule barred blacks from playing that position in the National Football League; supposedly, blacks weren’t intellectual enough. Despite his talent and experience, Watts had to play professional ball in Canada. His career ended just as a black man named Doug Williams quarterbacked the Washington Redskins to a Super Bowl victory, which triggered sweeping changes in the NFL. He may be no Jackie Robinson, but J.C. Watts knows how insidious, cruel and frustrating American racism can be.

Julius Caesar Watts is the only black Republican in Congress. He is also an intelligent, telegenic and articulate black man, whose beliefs, although unpopular with many blacks, are shared by many--perhaps a majority--of Americans. History has brought him to the threshold of power. Standing there, he presents America with an historic challenge. The question is not, how will he prosper? The question is, how will America deal with him if he does?