I MUST SET a few things straight about black Republicans.
First, I don't believe members of the new African-American Republican Club of Howard County are misguided or naive. Members such as Randall Nixon, Delroy Cornick and Verna Lawes strike me as astute people.
Second, it is absurd for anyone to argue that Republicans have embraced African-Americans as equal partners in recent years. Unfortunately, that is the main reason that Democrats sometimes are able to take their black support for granted.
Third, if local GOP leaders believe they are sincere in reaching out to black America, I welcome the chance for them to prove me wrong with their actions, not just with lip service.
I said in an August 18 column that my father, my role model, was a life-long member of the GOP, even through Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal era when most African-Americans switched parties, and even when Democratic administrations were pushing civil rights legislation through Congress.
His childhood was spent in the deep South, where Republicans were viewed by African-Americans as the party of liberation and Democrats were the most staunch segregationists.
My father wasn't naive, just loyal to the party of Abraham Lincoln that brought emancipation and lifted African-Americans to Congress in Southern states during Reconstruction. He was born three years after the last of the era's black congressmen left office.
The images of the parties have changed over the last century.
Although the previous column doubted that the African-American Republican Club of Howard County will receive equal-partner treatment in the GOP, it was not a criticism of club members. The criticism was squarely aimed at Republican leaders.
I question whether the local party will take advantage of yet another opportunity to broaden its base in the black community with a more creative approach than the ones offered by the current Congress.
Bad reputation earned
Despite expressions of surprise that the Republican Party is viewed unfavorably among most African-Americans -- even here in suburban Howard County -- the GOP indeed is perceived as the party of wealth, and one that lacks compassion for disadvantaged individuals and groups of people. There are members, of course, who don't fit that mold, but the party has earned this perception.
There is a reason that an estimated 90 percent of black voters in Howard County are Democrats. And I don't think that reason is naivete.
