Newly-Elected Black GOP Congressmen Chart Different Courses On The Issue Of Race

The Hill:

Congress's two incoming black Republican members have charted different courses so far on the issue of race -- though neither seems entirely interested in carrying the mantle of diversity for the GOP.

Read the whole story: The Hill

Comments

[AmericanLeslie]

09:08 AM on 12/07/2010

Black politicians who claim race isn't an issue are strangers to the Black community until they get in some sort of trouble or their popularity among white folks dissipates. Then overnight, they volunteer to lead the Martin Luther King Day Parade, host Black History Month events and become highly visible in the Black community - begging for allegiance from the same folks they previously claimed not to know or need; and, trying to convince folks that they never sold their souls and/or that they are the victims of some new type of racist persecution.

[rivrgrrl]

11:18 PM on 12/06/2010

Chart whatever course you want guys.

It's only a matter of time before you both realize the GOP has only one place for you and your views - the back of the bus.

Good luck with that.

[bwestleyj]

06:05 PM on 12/06/2010

Chris3131 "It was to be with un-even access - to education and ways to make income."

You need to elaborate if you're going to make a statement like that. There is nothing to suggest that African Americans have less opportunities to receive an education than whites. Back that up please. In fact, minorities tend to have more opportunities in order to avoid the very accusations that you're making. Also, "ways to make income"? How do they have less ways to make money because of racism?
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Chris3131

Here is a recent article from Education.com, describing just a few of the conditions that exist in schools which are predominately African American and/or Hispanic. There are numerous studies and articles from different non-partisan groups showing the effects of racism in creating opportunities for minority groups.

http://www.education.com/reference/article/racism-schools/

I believe this is a good place to start to understand how limited access to education affects the economic opportunities as well.

Even Bernanke stated today that unemployment is directly connected to the education of America - those with a college degree, the rate is 5%, those without its 10%.

[Wisdom4U]

07:37 PM on 12/14/2010

Bernanke did not tell the whole story......those with college degrees have 5% unemployment but African Americans with a college degree is twice that at 10% and African Americans without a degree is almost 5 times that at almost 25%.....so do we keep ignoring the problem? I admire looking past color but to look past reality is unproductive. We have a void of true leaders of sovereignty.

[independentbrutha]

01:37 AM on 12/27/2010

I've seen different numbers (4.4 and 7.3 respectively) but don't disagree with your premise.

Blacks tend to do as well as their white counterparts in the public sector. Blacks in industry...not so much. There's likely a lesson there but that's for a different discussion.

The best lesson that Blacks can take away from this experience is the need to be their own employers. Once affirmative action is reverse (and it will be after the Tea Party takes back the country), they'll be able to map a future that doesn't depend on the compassion of white America.

[Em Smilez]

05:44 PM on 12/06/2010

These Tea Party representives make me proud to be a member of the Tea Party!

Not Racist.
Not Violent.
Just no longer Silent.

[M Bernard Ferrell]

05:03 PM on 12/06/2010

i am proud to be a black man in America!

[saulthesavior]

04:34 PM on 12/06/2010

Someone asked West if he was going to join the Black Caucus when he got to DC. He said, "Unless they change the name I will". LOL

[ScarlettMocha]

04:17 PM on 12/06/2010

probably won't be long before both these guys go the way of Michael Steele . . abandoned by the base then thrown to the curb.

[ScarlettMocha]

04:14 PM on 12/06/2010

well some of you may like it, but I would rather see AA service in high political office who have some semblance of an AA agenda. Is this what we paid for? People too afraid to stand up for us? Refusing to be associated with us? I find the both of them lacking in an important area for service.

[beTruthFul]

03:33 PM on 12/06/2010

i guess we all need our 15 mins worth of fame....but this is not the way these two men should that earned theirs.

[bwestleyj]

03:28 PM on 12/06/2010

I hear a lot of you stating that Colonel Allen West is a "model for African Americans" because he was basically able to "pull himself up", regardless of skin color. Yes and no.

Yes, he had to DO THE WORK. It takes determination, courage, and fortitude to achieve and that is applauded.

BUT, NO, his ACCESS to the OPPORTUNITY, had a lot to do with skin color. How?

In 1983, Colonel West's military career started at the University of Tennessee, where he earned a Bachelor's Degree and then became an officer in the military. Impressive, right? He was able to do this through the Early Commmissing Program, part of the ROTC program offered at this college.

Did you know that just 11 years earlier (1970) the DoD created a task force to identify the nature and extent of racial discrimination in the administration of military justice in the Armed Forces? (This was the continued work of Johnson and Kennedy, by Nixon.) The Task Force was also chartered to make recommendations to the Secretary of Defense regarding appropriate actions to eliminate existing deficiencies and enhance the opportunity for equal justice for every American serviceman and servicewoman.

The task force also developed a number of programs to increase minority officer accessions. One of the main efforts involved new Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) programs, including the Simultaneous Membership Program and EARLY COMMISSIONING PROGRAM.

Additionally, it was the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which allowed for the pathway of this Directive....

[Darryl Clayton]

03:13 PM on 12/06/2010

"If I was a Democrat, would anyone really care [about my race or racial matters]?" said West, the Tea Party conservative.

Why not?

[ebanks84]

04:21 PM on 12/06/2010

When you are a "demeaned" person according to a specific party, and you join that party who has demeaned you, yeah, I think people would care about that, no matter what color you were. It's all about who's stepping on your head to move above you and you follow them knowing that you will "never" move past them or be on the same level "as" them no matter how hard you try. First of all, insofar as the republicans are concerned, they will NEVER trust a black man like they do one of their own and that's a fact jack.

And the other fact I will never understand is how you can make excuses for their failures and outright prejudices knowing that those prejudices include you as well. When I heard Ron Christie making every excuse in the book for what Rush Limbaugh said about Clyburn "driving Ms Daisy", I cringed with his every word covering that maniacal man. That, to me, is the epitome of blacks throwing their blackness away totally.

[lynjs]

04:51 PM on 12/06/2010

Fanned. I saw Ron Christie trying to defend Rush Limbaugh because of the nasty 'driving Ms. Daisy' quip about Rep. Clyburn. It made me want to lose my cookies. I couldn't believe his gall. I was like what more does anyone have to say before you get that despite being a Republican, they still don't see you as their equal?

Don't get me wrong. The Democratic Party have issues too with that 'taking the black vote for granted' thing going on. But the Republican Party is so overt in their distate for diversity of any kind wanting the return of the "Leave It To Beaver" life that really wasn't, I don't see why these to men would want to be affiliated with them. I'd go independent first.

[Darryl Clayton]

05:56 PM on 12/06/2010

ebanks, I like the cut of your jib!

[LetsGoSteve]

03:02 PM on 12/06/2010

"find themselves, by default, under a spotlight" Hmmmm where are all the stories?

[enterhere]

02:48 PM on 12/06/2010

May be they are just a couple of Clarence Thomas clones.

[ScarlettMocha]

04:15 PM on 12/06/2010

that would be my guess, who else would the republicans back?

[morris111]

07:28 PM on 12/06/2010

I sincerely doubt they are.

[WeirdScience]

02:30 PM on 12/06/2010

"While West elected to join the CBC, Scott said on Wednesday he would not, a move that seems consistent with how he's downplayed race.

Opting not to join, Scott said, is "just consistent with who I've always been.""

Now that's some lazy reporting.

Does anyone remember all the talk warning that black people would "revolt" against people (meaning white people) if Barack Obama got elected?

Not only did that not happen (since it was bunk anyway), but since that election most of the racial animosity on record has come from people who are not black and there's been little to no denouncement of that fact. Talk about a double standard.

[Chris3131]

02:20 PM on 12/06/2010

Unbelievable. They are more interested in actually doing their job than being obsessed with race and they're being scrutinized for it by the left. Did I say "unbelievable"? That was a mistake. I should have expected exactly this reaction by the left, who are so obsessed with race and finding racism where it doesn't exist that it actually bothers them when I minority isn't obsessed with it.

[Petey131]

03:01 PM on 12/06/2010

That was so much hot wind I need to comb my hair again.

[LetsGoSteve]

03:03 PM on 12/06/2010

amen - fanned