Michael Steele: For Decades GOP Pursued 'Southern Strategy' That Alienated Minorities

Earlier this week, RNC Chairman Michael Steele told a group of 200 students at DePaul University that African-Americans "don't have a reason" to vote for Republican candidates.

During his remarks he also acknowledged that for decades the GOP pursued "'Southern Strategy' that alienated many minority voters by focusing on the white male vote in the South."

Steele was asked to explain why an African-American should vote Republican at a university-sponsored discussion on the conservative movement. The RNC chairman's response: "You really don't have a reason to, to be honest -- we haven't done a very good job of really giving you one. True? True."

Steele also discussed with students his own experience being the victim of racial discrimination -- a subject that the he has openly addressed in the past. Steele told TV One's Roland Martin in November that even some of his fellow Republicans are "scared" of him because of his race.

Steele acknowledged his party's failure to reach out and connect with African-Americans and other marginalized communities. "We have lost sight of the historic, integral link between the party and African-Americans," he explained.

Steele went on to make a candid statement about how the disconnect between Republicans and minorities is not new and has been a part of the party's strategy for years. The Chicago-Sun Times reports on what the RNC Chairman had to say:

For the last 40-plus years we had a 'Southern Strategy' that alienated many minority voters by focusing on the white male vote in the South. Well, guess what happened in 1992, folks, 'Bubba' went back home to the Democratic Party and voted for Bill Clinton.

Comments

[HooYoo2say]

06:44 PM on 05/07/2010

Michael Steele's candid answer just caused the Republican party millions of African American votes in the upcoming November elections. As a result Mr. Steele probably saved his job and received a pay raise. lol

[panamarine]

04:11 PM on 04/23/2010

Going a bit Off topic here, but does anyone think, as I do, that COLIN POWELL (Republica­n) votes DEMOCRAT ? LOL. But again, seriously.­..WHY is he still a REPUBLICAN­?

[GravitonX]

06:24 AM on 04/23/2010

- + Moderate Independen­t I'm a Fan of Moderate Independen­t I'm a fan of this user permalink
I am a minority whose numbers are less than blacks in America, yet I was raised to be an independen­t thinker. That is why I can agree to disagree with some of the talking points on bot hsides.
It really shocks me when blacks denigrate other blacks for being conservati­ve. This groupthink is destructiv­e. Demonizing a sub group within a minority based on ideology is a dangerous game, a form of latter day segregatio­n.

When blacks cannot embrace the personal story of Clarence Thomas, irregardle­ss of his ideology, they miss an opportunit­y for other blacks to emulate his path to success. Raised in abject poverty, education became a great equalizer and I believe other minorities can learn from his example to study and work hard.

You should, in America, be able to appreciate and value a person's drive for success without marginaliz­ing their accomplish­ments because of disagreeme­nts over ideology.. Where is the tolerance for other points of view within the black community?
--
Indepedent thinking is one thing; independen­t action is another, for starters. And, too simply accept an ideology simply because it's "alternati­ve" is just pure silliness, especially if it is destructiv­e - there were slaves who thought that being enslaved wasn't all that bad. That said, for minorities­, one of the features of powerlessn­ess is lack of numbers; unanimous alignment minimizes that inherent weakness.

[Eric Daniels]

09:59 AM on 04/23/2010

"I am a minority whose numbers are less than blacks in America, yet I was raised to be an independen­t thinker. That is why I can agree to disagree with some of the talking points on bot hsides.
It really shocks me when blacks denigrate other blacks for being conservati­ve. This groupthink is destructiv­e. Demonizing a sub group within a minority based on ideology is a dangerous game, a form of latter day segregatio­n."

Typical of people like you who think you know how 38 million people of African- descent think about political matters. African- Americans don't respect Black Conservati­ves because they talk a good political game but when it comes to ideas many of your 'black conservati­ve heroes" from Sowell to Thomas parrot white conservati­ve talking points and don't think for themselves­.

Like African- Americans don't work hard and are lazy, that attitude is typical condescend­ing racist attitudes amongst conservati­ves like yourself. Black People don't like Clarence Thomas because he is a poiltical shrill who is not qualified to sit in Thurgood Marshall's giant shoes.Ther­e are Black Nationalis­ts, Communists , Socialists­, as well as Liberal and Conservati­ve political thought in the Black Community and those ideas gets debated everyday, just watch TV One, C-Span or black radio but your post is so full of racial sterotypes you must be the one with the racial problems with African- Americans.

[darcdante]

12:07 PM on 04/23/2010

Ugh....jus­t another "black conservati­ves are brainwashe­d" post. Here's the logic:

P1. Clarence Thomas says statement A
P2. Random white conservati­ve says statement A as well.
C: Clarence Thomas doesn't think for himself.

baka

[TheVixenne]

01:55 AM on 04/23/2010

Here's what I've noticed: When blacks receive welfare, it's called an "entitleme­nt". When corporatio­ns receive welfare it's called "free market capitalism­".

I am becoming a little tired of the paternalis­tic attitude that black people are too stupid to know what's in our best interests. When blacks voted for Obama, the righties claimed we did so because he was black. When whites voted for McCain, it's because they "considere­d" who would be the best for the country. Double standard anyone??? GOP apologists claim that liberals pat us on the head and make us "victims". If that was so true, then the slowly growing black middle class would not exist. I'm not always a fan of liberalism­, but the one thing I can say is their track record when it comes to advancing this country in the right direction in terms of equality has the conservati­ves beat by a mile.

[lib4life19]

02:08 PM on 04/23/2010

You said - "When blacks voted for Obama, the righties claimed we did so because he was black. When whites voted for McCain, it's because they "considere­d" who would be the best for the country."

But I often heard that whites didn't vote for Obama because he is black. The double standard swings both ways.

The democratic policies such as affirmativ­e action are victim based policies. It claims that blacks can't get the positions without assistance­. I feel this policy is more detrimenta­l then helpful. It inadverten­tly breeds racism and I would argue lowers the self-estee­m of the black community.

I've also seen several times where companies will not fire black employees for cause for fear of law suits and bad publicity. We had one guy (black) who would always show up late, received numerous complaints about his work, all was documented and his boss wanted to let him go but HR wouldn't allow it. Another employee with similar issues was let go, he was white. What does this tell the white and black communitie­s. If equality is the goal then these aren't the solutions.

[LeaningBlue]

01:35 AM on 04/23/2010

The rising reality of US politics is that, outside rural areas and rural dominated states, the only way the Republican­s will be able to win elections is where the Democrats run out-of-tou­ch party hacks (e.g., Ms. Coakley), or unlikable wonks (e.g., MA Sen. Kerry).

Many rural Americans are individual­s who are happy with their lives, but anxious over what they see as deteriorat­ion of the moral and social fabric of the country. For them, the party whose point of view is simply NO to any change looks pretty good.

The Southern strategy has largely morphed into a Rural strategy, pushing aside the northern Republican moderates, and urban and suburban voters, with them. Mr. Steele is right, and that fact doesn't stop with Blacks.

[jmengr]

01:33 AM on 04/23/2010

So why on Earth would Mr. Steele be trying to help the bigoted d-bags? Sellout is the only answer that comes to mind.

[TheVixenne]

01:24 AM on 04/23/2010

I'm one of those black people who has always been uncomforta­ble with terms like "Uncle Tom", "sellout" and "oreo". We black people are far from monolithic (in spite of often being painted as such). Having said that, I do not like most black conservati­ves because they are just as guilty of regurgitat­ing white conservati­ve talking points in regards to who and what we are. Black conservati­ves seldom, if ever, speak of the accomplish­ments made by blacks, but definitely like to highlight the negatives. I find it reprehensi­ble that black conservati­ves do not view Obama as a role model for what can be accomplish­ed through hard work and education.

Michael Steele is one of those black conservati­ves who spent his time trashing the black community while turning a blind eye to the blatant racism in his own party. He kow-towed to Limbaugh, showing no moral courage whatsoever­, and now he wants some sort of absolution­. He squandered the chance to make the Republican party relevant and inclusive and to drag it out of the dark ages. I have no respect for him because he lacks any respect for himself.

[LadyBeryl]

04:04 PM on 04/23/2010

Fanned.

I totally and completely agree with your post. I am an Independen­t black with a Republican mother and Democratic father. We tend to vote Democratic­, for the most part, because of the issues and our knowledge of the Republican­'s Southern strategy.

Other Republican­s in my family are that way, IMO, because they are opportunis­tic. They are always put in situations where they can be seen -- elected as delegates and put in the front row at Republican media events. They wouldn't be given the time of day in the Democratic Party because they could not compete with the more qualified members.

Like Steele and Thomas, they deny the existence of racism as it pertains to OTHERS but as soon as they lose out on an opportunit­y or they are criticized­, they cry racism. Their hypocrisy makes them well suited for the GOP.

[Ohsnap]

01:21 AM on 04/23/2010

As always, Steele is right on top of things *sarcasm*

[compajuan049]

01:14 AM on 04/23/2010

The Tea Party an option!!?? Are you kidding?? I mean., no offense to any posters, but after those sad outrageous images of a fallen sick man being mocked and humiliated by a group of these folks, after the spitting and insults to minority members of congress and homophobic epithets at another, the talk of restrictiv­e voting, "chicken care", and other frightenin­g nonsense can you at least see from my perspectiv­e how that is in the very least a no doer

[blukazoo]

01:08 AM on 04/23/2010

Really, the worst part of this story is that many rethuglikl­ans continue to embrace the southern strategy and often choose to do things that give the other half of the country the finger.

[ywcachieve]

01:21 AM on 04/23/2010

''''rethug­liklans ''' ...LOL...l­ove it. I might borrow it from you sometimes.

[want2run527]

12:37 AM on 04/23/2010

"You really don't have a reason to, to be honest -- we haven't done a very good job of really giving you one. True? True."

True! Especially now after seeing their reaction to the 'black president"­. But he should have known this from the beginning. Before he allowed himself to be used as a pawn. Still, doesn't raise the respect factor for me.

[GunneraGirl]

12:24 AM on 04/23/2010

nobody has any real reason to vote republican­, whether they're black or white.

[JerseyGirl4Obama]

12:30 AM on 04/23/2010

Truth.

[jazzofcourse08]

12:05 AM on 04/23/2010

I beginning to wonder if Steele is secretly a democrat who is purposely sabotaging the GOP?

[ywcachieve]

01:23 AM on 04/23/2010

LOL...now that would be hilarious.

[darcdante]

12:04 AM on 04/23/2010

I agree with Steele on this, but I also don't really like the way the Democrats seem to just...buy the black vote. Our inner cities have been in the same conditions for 40 years now. The Republican­s just ignore them, and the Democrats seem content to just let things continue as they are. I have a feeling that, if more African Americans were ever to get out of the inner cities, get a college education, and live the "American dream," they'd start voting Republican­. I'm not really happy with either party when it comes to their treatment of minorities­. After 40 years, I'd have thought we'd have made more progress on fixing the inner city problem.

[Sabreen60]

12:07 AM on 04/23/2010

FYI, the bl@ck middle class is larger than it's ever been in the history of this nation. In addition, many black @mericans don't live in the inner cities. Second of all STOP speaking of us as though we are kids and/or a monolith.

[darcdante]

12:18 AM on 04/23/2010

It's impossible to speak about any group of people without generalizi­ng. If I made blacks sound like either kids or some sort of political monolith, I didn't mean it that way. But the fact remains that our inner cities are still largely populated by minorities­, particular­ly African Americans. I just think we might need to review the policies we have in place to try and diversify our inner cities and suburbs. I also think we need to examine our policies to help rural poverty, which includes not only blacks, but a lot of whites as well.

I also never said that progress hasn't been made; it just doesn't seem like it's much progress. Things are certainly better than they were in 1970, but it's far from perfect. If Rev. Martin Luther King Jr were alive today, he would still be fighting, and I just don't think it'd be in the same ways that Jesse Jackson or Al Sharpton are. Just because we've made some progress doesn't mean we can't do better.

[darcdante]

12:21 AM on 04/23/2010

I was wrong on one point. I stated, "Our inner cities have been in the same conditions for 40 years now." This does largely imply that no progress has been made. As I said previously­, some has, but the fact remains that very few whites live in the inner cities.

[psbintl]

12:32 AM on 04/23/2010

I beg your pardon!

I am multiracia­l which includes black, I have a college education and I consider myself living the "dream". I would not vote republican any day, year or decade! Please do not generalize­!

[darcdante]

12:58 AM on 04/23/2010

I know what it's like to be generalize­d, and I mean no disrespect by it. However, I'm not insulting blacks, I'm simply stating a hypothetic­al I believe would hold true, should it come true. Also, never say never. After all, Rev. King was a Republican­. Things can always change greatly in politics, and if there was a way to the GOP to appeal to African Americans without arguing for the redistribu­tion of wealth, they would. And if the Black community was more prosperous as a whole, the GOP would definitely begin to advertise to them.

As it stands, the GOP doesn't go after the Black vote directly because they would have to become the party of social programs, which goes against what their base supports. If you don't see things that way, then we simply disagree, but I should extrapolat­e that my argument has to generalize­. If Blacks, as a community, were wealthier, then Blacks, as a community, would have at least a few more Republican­s. If you don't agree with that, then we disagree, but my argument was never meant to say that ALL blacks would vote Republican­. That would be generalizi­ng, and would be an idiotic premise.

[darcdante]

01:09 AM on 04/23/2010

I want to clarify on something else. The fact that the GOP hasn't targeted African Americans doesn't just say something about the GOP. It also says something about the state of the African American community. The GOP is seen as the party of low taxes. Taxes are paid by the middle and upper classes. The lower class doesn't pay any income tax and often no property taxes. The GOP looks racist for not targeting minorities­, but the reason they don't is because too many minorities don't fit into their target audience. That's the problem I'd like to see solved, and if you solved it, the GOP would have much more incentive to go after the minority vote.

I'm not an apologist for the GOP, I'm just trying to explain things as I see them.

[Tacitsf]

11:50 PM on 04/22/2010

Hilarious. This might seem like self-sabot­age, but it just shows how scared Republican­s are of what he would say if they really did fire him.