Community Voices: Black Republicans get noticed

Pilot Previews for “the black and white of it” –

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin, and which sought to end segregation. The act also set in motion further protection of voter rights.

Passage of the legislation was a transformative historical moment when America firmly acknowledged (due in great part to the sacrifice of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and others) that humans of all races were guaranteed the rights enshrined in the Constitution.

Political fallout from the act, however, threw the South into a tizzy. Georgia’s whites had formally found refuge in the Democratic Party after their Civil War loss to the Republican-led government of Abraham Lincoln. After the Civil Rights Act passed under the leadership of Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson, many switched to the Republican Party.

Meanwhile, many Southern blacks, stifled (if not terrorized) by racist elements of the Democratic Party for years, saw this same party now offer them more expanded rights and social programs. Blacks in Georgia — and throughout the country — still currently vote overwhelmingly for Democratic candidates.

Possibly, though, change is once again in the air.

This past April, a new movement started up the road from me in Cherokee County, where a group of like-minded conservatives initiated the Cherokee County Black Republican Council. Members include blacks and whites seeking to build black support and leadership in the Republican Party.

“So is this suicide, sabotage or stupidity?” asked Eric Johnson, secretary of the group, somewhat rhetorically. “I’d say Black Republicans must do in politics what they strive to do in most all other areas of their lives if they want success: Focus on making it an individually personal, passionate responsibility to train, educate, and motivate ourselves to accomplish our leadership goals regardless of others’ approval. The Black Republican Council as an auxiliary of the Republican Party is the best way to accomplish this.”

The council is small now, but Johnson and the other members hope to attract other voters who support its philosophy. Partnering with entertainment company owner Charles Locke, Johnson is working on a program called “the black and white of it” to air eventually on Dish Network. The platform includes discussions on “diverse and timely topics comprising multiple viewpoints and vibrant conversational interaction of African-Americans in a roundtable format” on issues they say are not covered by most media.

“We expect ‘the black and white of it’ will enable the Cherokee County Black Republican Council to communicate the message of mental and political freedom that motivates thousands of blacks and whiles to the idea that it’s okay to speak, believe, and act on your beliefs regardless of what the stereotypical expectations say and restrict them to be,” Johnson said.

“Our group is for independent thinkers,” Johnson also explained, “and African-Americans should be free to choose what to believe. Just because you’re black doesn’t mean you have to think just one way.”