Tavis Smiley is fighting mad.
The four front-runners in the Republican presidential race lamely cited scheduling conflicts as an excuse to avoid the “black” debate to be held at Morgan State University in Baltimore Thursday night. http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/news/bal-to.smiley26sep26,0,5971022.story. This leaves the debate to be carried by former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Sen. Sam Brownback (KS), Cong. Ron Paul (TX), Cong. Duncan Hunter (CA), and perennial candidate and gadfly Alan Keyes. Smiley successfully held a black debate for Dem candidates in the summer at Howard University in which all of the front-runners participated. http://www.pbs.org/kcet/tavissmiley/special/forums/. You’ll recall I live-blogged from that event. I’m scheduled to live-blog from Thursday’s debate as well.
Well, I’m not angry at the Republican front-runners. In fact, I admire their refreshing honesty. They are not interested in black voters. They know that the Republican nominee, whoever he is, is unlikely to get more than 10% of the black vote. And with a short primary season, they don’t have the time to indulge in the empty gesture of debating about issues of primary importance to black voters. Moreover, most of them (Giuliani, I mean you) would be hypocrites if they stood up on the stage at Morgan and suggested that any part of their former or future policies would be aimed at addressing the particular concerns of African Americans. Why should we expect these candidates to continue the lame story peddled by the Republican Party during the past 10 years that the Party is really, really interested in courting black voters? What policies, advanced by the Republican Party in the last eight years could reasonably support the idea that Party leaders understand and are responsive to problems faced by so many blacks (e.g., over-incarceration based on draconian drug laws, predatory lending, lack of health insurance, hate crimes, property tax-funded education, voter intimidation, racial profiling, sky-high college costs, lack of meaningful public transportation, a living wage, gun violence)? I admit that the Dems have tried to make progressive change on only a few of these, but the Republicans have been resistant, even hostile, to addressing any of these issues.
Perhaps the front-runners’ decision to dis’ the debate at Morgan signals a new period of candor in the Republican Party. My fervent hope is that this honesty will continue through next summer’s convention, where I hope the Party will return to featuring Alan Jackson and the Oak Ridge Boys as the evening talent. That way I can tune-out after the presentation of the nominee, instead of agonizing through every night just to watch Chaka Khan or Brian McKnight (although the deer-in-the-headlights look on Chaka’s face while she sang “Ain’t Nobody” before the disinterested throng of white delegates at the 2004 Convention was priceless).
I’m going to join Giuliani, McCain, Thompson and Romney in a show of
honesty. I’m not going to attend or live-blog from the debate at
Morgan on Thursday. I don’t think we’ll learn much by talking with
candidates who have no hope of even approaching the nomination. In
fact, I think we’ve learned all we need to know about a future
Republican presidency from the decision of the Party’s most viable and
popular candidates that they have better things to do on Thursday night
than focus on the interests of black voters. SOURCE OF THIS STORY
