COLUMBIA, S.C. - — COLUMBIA, S.C. - -When people think of South Carolina, they think of ... I know, Comedy Central. Really, shouldn't Jon Stewart send South Carolinians a cut of his pay?
What people do not typically think of is black Republicans, a perception that could change soon if a young man named Marvin Rogers has his way. This 33-year-old, Spanish-speaking former aide to South Carolina Rep. Bob Inglis has a plan for the GOP: He wants to change its complexion.
Until 2008, when he ran unsuccessfully for the state House of Representatives, Mr. Rogers may have been better known in Latin America, where he was an itinerant preacher for several years, than in North America.
"Unsuccessfully" in this case should be qualified. Mr. Rogers won 32 percent of the vote in a blue stronghold, running as a black Republican in the year of Obama.
Mr. Rogers' story is, shall we say, unorthodox. Born in the tiny town of Boiling Springs, S.C., he was raised by working-class parents with values rather than ideology.
Without preconceptions about where his race placed him politically, Mr. Rogers began examining issues on paper and recognized that he was philosophically more aligned with Republicans than Democrats. But when he began attending political meetings, he noticed, "Oh, my, I'm the only black guy here. What's up with that?"
That question led Mr. Rogers on a quest that has resulted in a book nearing completion, "Silence Is The Loudest Sound," in which he attempts to explain how the party of Lincoln lost its black soul.
Mr. Rogers reached the conclusion that the chasm between the black community and the Republican Party is more emotional than philosophical.
The best explanation for what's gone wrong, he says, was articulated by Jack Kemp, who told him during an interview: "The Republican Party has had a great history with African-Americans and they turned away from it. The Democratic Party has had a terrible history, but they overcame it."
Part of the turning away followed the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and Richard Nixon's "Southern strategy." Mr. Rogers recognizes this period for what it was. But he insists that Democrats use the Southern strategy when it suits them.
The biggest problem for today's Republican Party, he says, is tone-deafness, as manifested by conservative talk radio and TV. Mr. Rogers says he and most blacks can't listen to Rush Limbaugh because all they hear is anger.
