There was a time in Indianapolis when the local and state Republican Party seriously reached out to Indianapolis’ African-American community. Asking Blacks for their votes and recruiting African-American Republican candidates to serve their community, party and country.
Throughout Indianapolis’ history there have been outstanding examples of Black Republican elected officials. From James Hinton and Robert Brokenburr, to Paula Parker Sawyers, Julius Shaw, Isaac Randolph, Roger Brown, Stanley Strader and Ray Crowe, Black Republicans have been elected to office here. There have also been plenty of qualified Black Republican candidates in elections articulating an alternative vision of how to solve problems in our Black community.
However, this election year, Black Republicans are conspicuously absent from your ballots when you vote in less than two weeks.
The Marion County Republican Party, despite representing a county that’s 28.6 percent African-American, has abdicated their responsibility to our Black community by fielding no candidates for any key offices this year.
When you get your ballot, you will find no African-American Republicans running for countywide offices. In the county’s seven Black majority legislative districts, Republicans didn’t even field candidates in five. And in the two Black majority districts where Republicans are running, the candidates are white; including a tea party devotee.
The Black-out of Republican candidates isn’t just confined to offices here in Marion County. The party’s statewide candidates have been somewhat standoffish in their outreach to the largest Black community in the state.
Eight years ago, Mitch Daniels openly reached out to Black voters. There were ads for Daniels in this newspaper and on the Black radio. Prominent Black business and civic leaders openly supported Daniels; including this newspaper’s owner, Bill Mays.
This time, while Daniels’ potential Republican successor Mike Pence has been a bit visible at some events like Black Expo and has given interviews with Black media, there seems to be virtually no support from prominent Blacks, especially Black businesspeople, for Pence.
As of this column’s deadline, Pence’s campaign hasn’t utilized Black media to present his campaign’s message. There’s been no effort to even intimate that Pence has visible support in Indiana’s Black community. No news of any endorsements by key Indiana Black leaders anywhere.
But the most egregious example of blatantly ignoring Black people has been Richard Mourdock’s campaign.
In past elections, Richard Lugar, who Mourdock defeated, received as much as 25 percent of the African-American vote.
This year is different. Several publicly released polls in the Senate race reported that Mourdock was receiving zero percent Black support – NONE!
One reason has been that as state treasurer, Mourdock has been invisible to Black folks. He’s never given interviews with Black media. In most cases, Mourdock excluded Black media from advertising the popular 529 college savings accounts his office oversees.
More ominous, if elected, Richard Mourdock is expected to replicate the behavior of Sen. Dan Coats.
When Coats first served in the Senate in the 1990s, he employed African-American staffers. This time, Coats has, what we believe to be a lily-white staff.
I have to say “believed” because Coats’ staff earlier this year refused to answer a direct question on whether he employed any Blacks on his staff.
Coats has been invisible at Black events in this city and state. When asked, Coats minions flatly refused to acknowledge any Black events the senator had attended in his nearly first two years in office. An embarrassing admission for someone representing a state that’s 10 percent African-American.
Our African-American community will receive the same insensitive treatment if Mr. “my way or the highway” is elected.
Joe Donnelly, the congressman from South Bend, has been supportive of issues important to our African-American community. Donnelly has been visible in our community for over 18 months, attending Black events and churches, speaking repeatedly with Black media. Joe Donnelly has earned our Black community’s vote!
What I’m hearing
in the streets
I kind of thought there would be a little fireworks in the only debate between the candidates for 7th District Congress, but I didn’t expect a near Fourth of July fireworks show. André Carson and Carlos May debated on Monday in a special “Afternoons with Amos” broadcast. And it was obvious that not only did the two differ on many fundamental issues, but there was out and out dislike.
Carson and May crossed swords several times during the debate. A couple of times Carson and May tried to interrupt each other. As moderator, I was caught in the middle, and I had to put my foot down and calmly but firmly steered both men back into civility.
I don’t want readers to get the impression the debate was an hour of contentiousness. The two answered questions on some 16 important issues to residents of the 7th District. From jobs, immigration, the deficit, mass transit, education and veterans and Social Security and health care reform.
I pointed out a couple of problems with May’s rhetoric as found on his website. In talking about health care, May wrote that America has 350 million citizens. A figure that overstated the actual estimated U.S. population by 11 percent. And which incorrectly says all Americans are citizens.
May also was asked why he used the term “states rights” in his literature. That’s a term currently in vogue among tea parties and tea party wannabees like Texas Gov. Rick Perry.
But for the many African-Americans tuned to the debate, “states rights” was the legal justification many states, including Indiana back in the day, used to justify legal racial segregation.
May also brought up conservatives’ favorite line that Dr. Martin Luther King was a Republican. I guess that justifies May’s party running no African-American candidates for any legislative or countywide office this year.
(Gee, if Dr. King were still a Republican today, would he tolerate that form of political slating apartheid)?
For those committed on both sides, the debate didn’t change minds. But May’s affability masks his apparent lack of understanding of the emotional impact of phrases like “states rights.” And in grossly overstating the country’s population, May shows a penchant to be fast and loose with facts.
Not good attributes for a member of Congress.
See ‘ya next week.
You can email comments to Amos Brown at acbrown@aol.com.
