All Parties Should Court the Black Vote

There has been a considerable amount of press lately regarding President Bush and the Republican Party courting African Americans via churches. The Democrats have enjoyed this privilege for years, so why is this story newsworthy? Mainly because it signifies a potential and possible change in American politics.

It is no secret that the majority of African Americans for the last several decades have overwhelmingly voted for the Democrats in all elections, local, state and national. Some would even say that the Democrats “own” the African American vote. Contrary to the opinion of many blacks, though, Republicans have always reached out to African Americans, but their attempts are generally meager and unsuccessful.

However, President Bush has begun to make some progress in this area. Over the last few months, Bush has met with several prominent black pastors to lay out portions of his agenda for the next four years and tell them how his programs can benefit their congregations. Through the administration’s faith-based initiative, African American churches would be provided with federal aid to fight drug abuse, prison recidivism, divorce and teen pregnancy. Apparently, some pastors listened and liked what they heard. Some even endorsed him as a leader who “shares our views.”

As expected, some individuals have attempted to discredit these meetings. There is an unwritten code in the African American community that it is anathema for African Americans to appreciate the ideas of Republicans. Some in the liberal media have inferred that the president is trying to buy the black vote through his faith-based programs. Some African Americans have labeled the pastors who attended these meetings as “sellouts.”

Who are these men and women who want to tell us whom we can and can’t associate with? For sure they are not the inheritors of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s throne. If the civil rights movement was about anything, it was about freedom -- the freedom of men and women of all races, cultures and creeds to think and live and, yes, vote as they choose. Are all African Americans supposed to walk in step on the same beat? Are all African Americans supposed to have the same goals, needs and objectives? And if an African American sees the world differently, is he or she any less black? An answer of yes is not freedom. It is slavery, only in a different form.

I think that it is a very good thing that African Americans are beginning to look at both major political parties. It is politically healthy and very much needed. I acknowledge that as African Americans we will possibly always have some common interests. However, when we give one political party all of our attention, we have the ear of none. We are rejected by one and taken for granted by the others. Let’s take advantage of the full political process by forcing all parties to listen to us, to deal with us and to respond to us.

I think that President Bush’s meetings with the African American churches and the pastors’ subsequent response are not only a good omen, they are an excellent postscript to Black History Month.